Mike Theiler - Pool/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Reaction split mostly along party lines to President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. had launched a "precision strike" on Syria Friday night in response to an alleged reported chemical weapons attack last weekend.



Vice President Mike Pence, who is traveling in Peru this week, called congressional leaders on a secure line to inform them about the strikes beforehand, according to press pool reports. Pence spoke with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. He could not reach Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at first but spoke with him later, according to reporters traveling with the vice president.



Members of Congress took to Twitter to react, with top Democrats giving limited support.



Some lawmakers, mostly Republicans, unreservedly praised the president's action, saying there needed to be a strong response to the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons.



Lawmakers from both parties said the decision could be on shaky legal ground because the current legislation that gives the president the authority to use military force without approval from Congress has not been updated since 2001.



After the strike against Syria in 2017 some lawmakers said that under that document, the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, the president had the authority to launch a limited strike without going to Congress. But other experts say that more long-term involvement in Syria would require Congressional approval.



Another criticism of the attack from lawmakers was the lack of a long-term strategy for the U.S. in Syria. Some even pointed out that Trump tweeted last week about taking all U.S. troops out of the country.



In announcing the attack Trump said the U.S. was prepared "to sustain a response" until the Syrian regime ends its use of chemical weapons, but also said that America does not plan to stay in the country indefinitely.

Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement that the president's decision "reflects his seriousness in addressing the scale and depravity of Assad's actions." Senate Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., echoed those sentiments, tweeting "the barbarism from the Assad regime will not be tolerated."

Other supporters of the president's action included House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn.

Others, however, voiced concern about the decision to launch strikes against Syria. House MInority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tweeted that the airstrikes are "no substitute for a coherent strategy."

Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, D-Calif., voiced concern that the strikes could prompt "serious escalation."

Not all responses were along party lines, however. Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan tweeted that the strikes are "unconstitutional, illegal and reckless."

This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.

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Digital EditorTelecom operator Reliance Jio has signed an agreement to raise about Rs 32.5 billion (Rs 3,250 crore) as samurai term loan from Japan-based banks.

"Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has signed an approximately JPY 53.5 billion samurai term loan with 7 year bullet maturity. The facility is guaranteed by Reliance Industries Limited and will be used for funding RJIL's ongoing capital expenditure," RJIL said in a late night statement on Friday.

At an exchange rate of 60 paise per Japanese yen, the loan value comes to around Rs 32.48 billion (Rs 3,248 crore).

This deal represents the largest samurai loan (low interest loans from Japanese investors) for an Asian corporate, the statement said.

"The facility has been fully underwritten by Mizuho Bank, Ltd, MUFG Bank, Ltd and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Singapore Branch and will be shortly launched into syndication," RJIL said.

Last month, the Reliance Jio board had approved raising of around Rs 200 billion (Rs 20,000 crore) in debt. The company has invested over Rs 2 trillion (Rs 2 lakh crore) in the mobile business, which has garnered over 168 million customers.

The Mukesh Ambani firm has also signed agreement to buy mobile business assets of Reliance Communications -- the company led by his younger brother Anil Ambani -- for around Rs 250 billion (Rs 25,000 crore).

The 4G mobile service provider RJIL said that the network of the company is future ready and can be easily upgraded to support even more data, as technologies advance on to 5G, 6G, and beyond.

"Jio will bring transformational changes in the Indian digital services space to enable the vision of Digital India for 1.2 billion Indians and propel India into global leadership in digital economy," the statement said.Doctors who see fewer patients may get better online reviews than physicians who have higher-volume practices, a study of US urologists suggests. Researchers examined data on 665 urologists with Medicare patients in California, looking at how many patients they treated as well as what types of reviews they got on four websites: Yelp.com, Vitals.com, Healthgrades.com, and Ratemd.com. Half of the urologists treated at least 426 patients covered by Medicare in 2014. Overall, the physicians who treated fewer patients got higher satisfaction ratings online, the study ...Nearly three lakh daily passengers at ISBTs in the city will soon be able to access the details of buses to neighbouring states through a mobile app to be launched by the Delhi Transport department.

The app named 'Delhi Transport' is to be launched next week.

"The app will furnish all the details to inter state travellers, like departure time, fare and types of buses available to places in other states," said KK Dahia, Special Commissioner of Transport department.

The facility of live status of buses will also be available at ISBT Kashmere Gate for which necessary system has been put in place, he said.

Delhi has three (ISBTs) at Anand Vihar, Sarai Kale Khan, and Kashmere Gate from where over three lakh passengers embark on travel to destinations in UP, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and other states, Transport officials said.

According to the Transport Department, over 2,200 inter-state buses operate from the three ISBTs. Kashmere Gate is the largest terminal in terms of number of buses from where over 1,700 inter buses operate every day while Anand Vihar records highest daily footfall of nearly 1.5 lakh passengers.

"The app has been designed to serve as a multi-functional tool to bring various services and facilities of Delhi Transport department to the people," an official said.

"Besides helping inter-state travellers, it will also serve in applying for driving licence, registration of vehicles and many other services offered by the Transport department," the official said.The government will seek the Election Commission's (EC) opinion on whether simultaneous election to the and state assemblies be held in multiple phases beginning next year, official sources have said.

The views would be sought from the after the submission of a report by the Law Commission, which is likely to recommend simultaneous election in two phases in 2019 and 2024.

The is likely to submit its report on the matter to the later this month.

A similar report of the government think tank NITI Aayog recommending simultaneous polls in two phases had been referred to the poll panel for its views.

The government, the sources said, wanted the to send its views in coming months so that a view can be firmed up on the issue.

Seeking to give shape to the government's concept of 'one nation, one election', a internal working paper has recommended holding simultaneous election to the and state assemblies in two phases beginning 2019.

The second phase of simultaneous polls can take place in 2024, the document states.

The document has proposed amending the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act to shorten or extend the terms of state legislative assemblies to effect the move.

The amendments are in line with the ones recommended by a parliamentary panel and the NITI Aayog.

The states which are recommended to be covered under phase I are where assembly polls are due in 2021. These include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, and

States which will come under phase II are Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, and To hold elections in these states along with polls, the terms of the assemblies have to be extended.

Based on a suggestion made by the Election Commission, the working paper also says that a no-confidence motion against the government should be followed by a confidence motion. This would ensure that if the opposition does not have numbers to form an alternative government, the regime in office cannot be removed.

Chief Election Commissioner had a word of caution on simultaneous polls when he recently said that the legal framework required for holding of the two elections together will take a lot of time to get ready.

"We cannot put the cart before the horse. Logistical issues are subservient to legal framework. Unless legal framework is in place, we don't have to talk about anything else because legal framework will take a lot of time, making constitutional amendment to (changing) the law, all the process will take time, he said.

He had said once the legal framework was ready, the will deliver.

"EC is a creation of the Constitution. We have to perform willy-nilly, deliver the election, whatever way prescribed in the law," he had said.Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told cane-growing states that the Centre was in no mood to compromise with sugar mills over farmers dues, which stood at over Rs 160 billion as on March 31. He instructed states to take necessary action against sugar mills that have defaulted on their payment to farmers.

Since December last year, the Centre has announced a series of measures to stop sugar prices from dropping sharply under the weight of a bumper harvest. So far, the measures have not seen much success. We have given all sort of help to the sugar mills and are ...Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out an ambitious agenda when he announced his administration's programme in September 2014. The centerpiece of that programme is the National Manufacturing Policy, the purpose of which is to make India a global manufacturing hub. Its intent is to increase manufacturing's share of the country's GDP from 16 per cent to 25 per cent by 2022 and to create 100 million additional jobs by that year.

The policy sets out 11 areas of concentration, including focus sectors, easing of regulatory environments and acquisition of technology and development. It identifies 25 specific focus sectors, including automobiles, defence equipment and medical technology.

As Prime Minister Modi reported during the " week" in February 2016, progress had been made on the manufacturing agenda. Growth in manufacturing's share of the GDP and employment since the introduction of the programme, however, has been quite sluggish.

That is why, in 2017, Parliament's Standing Committee on Commerce issued a report questioning the impact and implementation of the initiative. The government's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion responded by citing a number of measures that had been taken. According to The Hindu newspaper, the committee stated that many of the measures were more than two years old and urged "the department to take effective steps to implement initiatives such as Make in India in a 'more robust manner'..."

More recently, in mid-March, during a visit to India, American economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman called attention to the need for India to hit manufacturing with a much bigger stick. After lauding India for its significant economic growth and becoming a better place to do business, Krugman observed: "India's lack in the manufacturing sector could work against it, as it doesn't have the jobs essential to sustain the projected growth in demography. You have to find jobs for people."

As a knowledgeable Indian-American business person who participated in the India-US CEO Roundtable convened during President Barack Obama's Republic Day visit in 2015, I concur completely with the need to intensify India's manufacturing efforts. The right way to do that, in my opinion, is to create a manufacturing strategic plan for the nation and its states.

The Make in India's National Manufacturing Policy outlines a broad range of initiatives covering a number of diffuse and diverse areas. A policy is not a plan. It is a prescription that must be targeted to achieve the desired end goals -- in this instance, manufacturing being 25 per cent of the GDP and 100 million new jobs by 2022.

A well-constructed strategic plan provides the means for that targeting. It translates policy into action with a laser-beam focus. It delivers the keys to the kingdom. It identifies:

* Key Result Areas: The few areas (3-7) in which strategic action programmes must be developed and implemented effectively and efficiently.

* Key Drivers: The critical factors or sources of competitive advantage that can be leveraged for success.

* Key Partners: The top three allies who can contribute the most to achieving the plan's goals.

The Make in India Manufacturing Strategic Plan should be crafted by an independent commission comprised of a representative cross-section of business, academic, government and other leaders with appropriate experience and expertise. The commission can draw upon the National Manufacturing Policy and multiple other studies and position papers as inputs for the plan.

My quick review of a variety of source material suggests the following as potential items for inclusion in that plan that might have great effect for simultaneously driving GDP growth and job creation:

* Key Result Area: Infrastructure Development. India's infrastructure problems appear consistently as the most important factor that is retarding its growth potential.

* Key Driver: Automobile Manufacturing. The National Manufacturing Policy cites automobiles as an area in which India already has a competitive advantage that can be built upon.

* Key Partner: The United States. These "indispensable partners" have just begun to scratch the surface of trade arrangements and exchanges that can be mutually beneficial.

The Make in India programme is at a pivot point. The McKinsey Global Institute in an August 2016 report titled "India's Ascent: Five Opportunities for Growth and Transformation", observed: "India's appeal to potential investors will be more than just its low-cost labour: manufacturers there are building competitive businesses to tap into the large and growing local market. Further reforms and public infrastructure investments could make it easier for all types of manufacturing."

India continues its ascent, but not as quickly as intended. A Make in India Manufacturing Strategic Plan will kick on the after-burners and accelerate that ascent. Putting the right plan in place and implementing it properly should make the sky the limit for the Indian economy and the Indian people.The is scheduled to meet on May 1 and likely to discuss in-flight connectivity, net-neutrality and method for allocating spectrum bands, E and V, which are capable of transmitting data at 1000 megabit per second.

"It is on May 1," Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan confirmed the meeting of the apex body of the DoT to reporters on sidelines of India Mobile Congress curtain raiser event.

She did not share more details of the issues which will be discussed at the meeting.

An official at the Department of Telecom (DoT) indicated however that a panel's report on in-flight connectivity, net neutrality and allocation of spectrum in E and V bands are in advance stages of completion which may be taken up by the panel.

The in-flight connectivity, if approved by the commission, will pave the way for mobile call and data services during domestic air-travel to flight passengers.

On the controversial issue of net neutrality, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has already suggested prohibiting internet service providers (ISPs) from making any discrimination in the traffic flow while providing web access by either blocking or throttling some apps, websites and services, or by offering 'fast lanes' to others.

Trai, which had barred discrimination in et access through differential pricing in February 2016, wants to "regulate the manner in which the current licensing requirement of unrestricted access to all content on the Internet is implemented and enforced", during pendency of a decision on its recommendations by the government.

If the proposals are accepted, ISPs will not be able to block or throttle any web traffic, be it on computers, laptops or mobile phones, or offer fast lanes for content providers who pay for the privilege.

Telecom operators are eagerly looking forward to allocation of spectrum in the E and V bands which will help them expedite network roll out and save cost of laying optical fibre for short distance mobile tower-to-tower data transmission.

Data through E (71-76 Gigahertz frequency and 81-86 Ghz) and V (57-64 Ghz frequency range) band can be transmitted with speed of around 1,000 megabit per second.

Telecom operators are required to pay huge price for laying OFC to local authorities and frequently maintain it as well. Some experts believe that these bands can be used for developing ecosystem for 5G services as well.

The DoT is expected to finalise agenda around a week closer to the date of the meeting, the officer said.In 2010, Kelly Ellis got the dream Silicon Valley job: a software engineering position at Google. So when she first noticed things at work that suggested she was earning less than her male colleagues, she wasnt sure how to reconcile it with her idea of the company. I think I just didnt want to believe that Google could be evil, she says in the latest episode of the Decrypted podcast.

Ellis left Google in 2014. In September 2017, she and two other women sued Alphabet Inc.s Google for discrimination. They and a fourth plaintiff, added in ...The US Department of Justices inspector general released a report on Friday concluding that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe misled investigators about a decision to break with the agencys standard policy and inform a journalist about a probe into the Clinton Foundation in 2016. The highly anticipated report detailed an investigation that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited when he fired McCabe last month, hours before the 21-year veteran of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was set to retire and receive his full pension. Responding to the inspector ...German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday backed air strikes by the United States, France and Britain as a necessary and appropriate action to warn Syria against further use of chemical weapons. . We support the fact that our American, British and French allies have taken responsibility in this way as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Merkel said. Merkel this week had said Germany would not take part in any military action against Syria."Mission accomplished," declared US President Donald Trump as he praised the "perfectly executed" airstrikes against the Syrian regime.

Trump ordered the launch of air strikes on Syria in retaliation to the alleged chemical attacks by President Bashar al-Assad.

The US president claimed that the joint action was meant to establish a "strong deterrent" against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons.

Trump said he has ordered "precision strikes" against Syria, where dozens of people were killed last weekend in a suspected toxic gas attack on Douma, the largest town in a former rebel stronghold outside Damascus.

In his first reaction after military of the three countries carried out strikes against the chemical weapons infrastructure of Syria, Trump declared "Mission Accomplished".

"A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!" Trump said in a tweet today.

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

"So proud of our great military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our country has ever had. There won't be anything, or anyone, even close!" tweeted the US President.

Congressman Vern Buchanan said that the strike against Syria by the US, British and French forces was a measured response to Assad's use of internationally banned chemical weapons.

"Important not to escalate our role in the conflict or provoke Russian military action," he said.

However, Senator Cory Booker, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he is deeply concerned that Trump continues to conduct military operations without any comprehensive strategy or the necessary congressional authorization.

"Every American, and particularly our men and women in uniform and their families, deserve far better than action without debate, accountability, and a Constitutionally-required authorization for the use of military force," he said.

Senator Marco Rubio applauded the strikes for preventing hostile regimes like Syria's Assad regime from using chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

"I salute the men and women of our Armed Forces who conducted this mission bravely and skilfully with our British and French allies. I urge the Administration to follow up with a real and comprehensive strategy for ending Assad's threat to his people, to the region and to US security, and for countering Russian and Iranian support for the Syrian dictatorship's ongoing barbarity," Rubio said.One Palestinian was killed and 969 were wounded in a fire outbreak reportedly conducted by the Israeli forces during the on-going Israel-Palestine clashes at the Gaza border on Friday.

More than 10,000 protestors marched along the Israel-Gaza border while resorting to burning tires and Israeli flags, various media houses quoted the Gaza Health Ministry as saying.

According to the Israeli army, protests were held at five different sites along the border.

Among those who were injured, 233 were affected wounded by a live fire while 419 were admitted to the hospital. Further 13 Palestinians were injured by rubber-tipped bullets.

Further, a reduction in the number of the protestors has been noted.

A large number of protestors have been killed since the Great March of Return conducted by the Palestine protestors across the Gaza border on March 31. The march has been followed by several violent outbreaks between Israel and Palestine supporters that had led to multiple civilian deaths.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.According to a recent study, the part of the brain commonly associated with memory and dementia could also hold key for emotional regulation.

But new University of Toronto Scarborough research found that it might also yield important clues about a range of mental illnesses including addiction, anxiety and depression.

The research, authored by a team of neuroscientists, found that a specific part of the hippocampus could play an important role in emotional regulation, a finding that calls into question our understanding of how exactly this part of the brain works.

"What this shows is that we may need to rethink how the hippocampus processes information," said researcher Rutsuko Ito.

For this study, Ito and her team looked at the ventral hippocampus in rats, a sub-region that correlates to the anterior hippocampus in humans. They wanted to see what role two further subareas of the ventral hippocampus -- called the CA1 and CA3 -- play in terms of approach-avoidance conflict processing.

Approach-avoidance conflict is a model used in psychology to test how animals deal with regulating fear and anxiety. It basically offers a situation that involves a decision about whether to pursue or avoid something that could have both positive and negative aspects to it.

What they found is that after temporarily inactivating the CA1, it increased avoidance of the conflict. Meanwhile, inactivating the CA3 increased approach behaviour to the conflict.

Ito said that the finding is important because the conventional thinking is that these areas, along with another part called the dentate gyrus, form a circuit through which information flow occurs in one direction. Information processed by the dentate gyrus gets passed along to the CA3, and then on to CA1. In other words, the CA1 and CA3 should carry out the same function because they're both part of the same information processing circuit.

The research is published in the journal Current Biology.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Delhi court on Friday directed Tihar Jail Authority to shift imprisoned gangster Neeraj Bawana from solitary confinement to ordinary high risk ward of Tihar jail.

Bawana had claimed that he was being kept in inhuman conditions in the prison and his fundamental rights were being violated.

On March 17, Bawana wrote a letter to Patiala House Court in which he talked about the poor condition of the inmates lodged in high-risk ward of the country's largest prison.

He threatened to go on a hunger strike if better facilities of food and medicines were not provided to Tihar jail inmates.

On November 28 last year, Tihar Jail authorities were asked to file reply on Bawana's plea.

In his plea, Bawana had told the court that he was kept in a high-risk ward of Jail Number 1 along with other 45 inmates. He also said that the cells were stinking and had thousands of insects and plaster dust kept on falling from the wall.

The gangster has been charge sheeted in various cases including offences under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) lent their voice to the ongoing Pashtun struggle in Pakistan, highlighting the struggles the people of the minority community face in the military-controlled nation.

According to their study, Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen, leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), has been demanding basic human rights for the Pashtun community in Pakistan and the release of disappeared individuals, allegedly abducted by the country's intelligence agencies.

Pashteen asserted on his belief in the rule of law and his demand included presenting the disappeared persons in court, which should be the only grounds to gauge their culpability for the alleged crimes.

Another one of the PTM's demands is the abolishment of the Front Crimes Regulations (FCR), a law which was enacted by the British Empire in an attempt to cease any rebellion by the Pashtuns. The FCR has been deemed by many as a 'legal tool' to violate human rights of the Pashtun community in Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

A former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, while commenting on the FCR, said that it is "obnoxious to all recognized modern principles governing the dispensation of justice".

Former President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, amended the FCR in 2011, yet it has been castigated for its lack of effectiveness and implementation of the revised law.

The study also mentioned the apparent blackout by the Pakistan media during the rally held by Pashtun Youth in Peshawar on April 8, wherein Pashteen delivered an impassionate speech.

"This attitude of the Pakistani media has been a recurring phenomenon when Baloch, Sindhis and Kashmiris have made demands for justice and protested against exploitation of their resources. Often, such protests and demands are conveniently branded as 'Anti-national'and quickly claimed to be supported by 'foreign hands'," the study noted.

According to the study, international experts and analysts say that the reasons behind the inaction of the Pakistani media are closely linked with the military establishments. The media is intimidated with grave consequences it may face if it provides coverage to anything which puts the powerful Military rulers of Pakistan in a bad light.

"Attacks on journalists, like the one on Hamid Mir in 2014 because of extensive reporting on the Taliban, attributed to 'unidentified gunmen', but believed to have been carried out by intelligence agencies, further substantiate this notion," the study added.

Furthermore, in an attempt to bury incidents of human rights violations, the Army and other intelligence agencies often commit more human rights violations. It has been reported that the Police have filed criminal cases against Pashteen for criticizing the government and security agencies.

The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement or Pashtun Protection Movement was started mainly by young Pashtun activists who are demanding an end to what they say are human rights violations by authorities in the country's tribal regions.

They have been calling for the removal of military checkpoints in tribal areas and an end to "enforced disappearances" in which suspects are detained by security forces without due process.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The family members of the eight-year-old rape victim have demanded that an FIR should be lodged against the two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh, who had resigned earlier following accusations of attending a rally in support of the miscreants responsible for the crime.

"We feel that those two had the biggest role in the rape and murder of Asifa. Now, that the truth is coming out, they are resigning. I want to appeal to the central government to at least register an FIR against them," said the victim's uncle.

"I want to appeal to the Prime Minister, as he had launched the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save the Daughter, Teach the Daughter) campaign. I want to get his attention that our Asifa was innocent and was brutally murdered. I want him to serve justice in this matter as swiftly as possible," he added.

"We want action against the people who murdered my girl, they deserve strict punishment. The ministers who supported the culprits, at least an FIR should be filed against them," said the father of the victim.

Meanwhile, a People's Democratic Party leader informed that their government would soon bring a law which would make the death penalty mandatory for those who rape minors.

"I want justice for the 8-year-old at the earliest. This (Jammu and Kashmir) government will soon bring a law in the state under which people who rape minors will be given the death penalty. The entire nation has come with her," said Naeem Akhtar, who is public works department minister in Jammu and Kashmir government.

In Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, an eight-year-old Muslim nomadic girl was allegedly abducted, drugged, gangraped, tortured and killed. After being missing for a week, her body was found on January 17.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India and Swaziland have signed two agreements in the field of Health and Medicine and Visa department on Monday.

One of the agreement deals with granting of the visa waiver for the diplomats and officials holding relevant passports while the other is to ensure cooperation in the field of health and medicine.

The agreements were signed in the presence of Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, who is on his maiden official visit to Swaziland as part of his three-nation tour in Africa.

Earlier on Monday President Kovind inspected a guard of honour in front of the Lozitha Palace in Swaziland and then met Swaziland's King Mswati III at the Lozitha Palace.

President Kovind is on a three-nation state visit to the African countries- Equatorial Guinea, Swaziland and Zambia from April 7 to 12.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran has expressed keen interest in entering into a partnership with Pakistan to explore possibilities in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which falls under the ambitious One Belt, One Road (OBOR).

The remarks were made as Iran's Minister for Roads and Urbanisation Abbas Akhoundi visited Karachi Port Trust (KPT) on Friday along with a high level Iranian delegation, reports the Dawn.

Exhibiting interest in transshipment cargo, the visiting minister underscored that Iran is keen to work with Pakistan for inter-connection linkage between Karachi Port and Iranian port city Bandar Abbas.

Furthermore, the minister touted the ample space of 204,000 hectares available at Bandar Abbas for promoting transshipment cargo handling facility.

Iran is right next to Pakistan geographically having the strategic advantage as both share the ocean waters which will thus help Iran to carry on trade with china as well via Gwadar port (CPEC).

On a related note the Iranian delegation took keen interest in the deepwater container port project of KPT as well and it was given a tour of the South Asia Pakistan Terminals Ltd at the Deepwater Container Port, according to the report.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)People who sleep poorly are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to a recent study.

Researchers at the National Institutes of found that losing just one night of sleep led to an immediate increase in beta-amyloid, a protein in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. In Alzheimer's disease, beta-amyloid proteins clump together to form amyloid plaques, a hallmark of the disease.

"This research provides new insight about the potentially harmful effects of a lack of sleep on the brain and has implications for better characterizing the pathology of Alzheimer's disease," said researcher George F. Koob.

To understand the possible link between beta-amyloid accumulation and sleep, the researchers used positron emission tomography (PET) to scan the brains of 20 healthy subjects, ranging in age from 22 to 72, after a night of rested sleep and after sleep deprivation (being awake for about 31 hours).

They found beta-amyloid increases of about 5 percent after losing a night of sleep in brain regions including the thalamus and hippocampus, regions especially vulnerable to damage in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

In Alzheimer's disease, beta-amyloid is estimated to increase about 43 percent in affected individuals relative to healthy older adults. It is unknown whether the increase in beta-amyloid in the study participants would subside after a night of rest.

The researchers also found that study participants with larger increases in beta-amyloid reported worse mood after sleep deprivation.

It is also important to note that the link between sleep disorders and Alzheimer's risk is considered by many scientists to be "bidirectional," since elevated beta-amyloid may also lead to sleep disturbances.

The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said that the unflinching resolve for ensuring justice in Kathua gang-rape and murder case would go a long way in restoring people's confidence in the institutions and reinforcing the sense of justice in the state.

The Chief Minister lauded the country's political leadership, judiciary, media and the civil society for standing with the Jammu and Kashmir Government to ensure justice in Kathua gang-rape and murder case.

"The essence of India's democracy lies in its robust institutions and it has been once again established that these institutions have the grit to ensure justice with all sections of the society cutting across the divide," Mehbooba said while addressing a meeting of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) legislators and leaders here on Saturday.

The Chief Minister equally commended the role of the people of Jammu for having discounted the divisive agenda of the rabid fringe elements and coming out with unwavering support for the victim. "It has strengthened my belief that Jammu serves as a model of inclusiveness and together the people of J-K inspire secular unity and righteousness," she said and added that this serves as a cue that the people of Jammu and Kashmir can hold a beacon of hope for the whole country amid harshly polarized discourse.

She said the way the whole country came out seeking justice for the eight-year-old victim, has generated a new hope among the people in Jammu and Kashmir which needs to be built on to recreate an inclusive India. "Intolerance and hate are hitting at the country's core values and posing a great threat to the pluralism, the only option for achieving the goals India has set out," she said and added that India comprises a composite culture and no one has domination in it.

Stressing the urgency of responding to the challenges in Jammu and Kashmir through tangible political measures before the crisis degenerates into a catastrophe; Mehbooba said the people of J-K, irrespective of their age, gender, status or the political affiliation, have been suffering the disastrous consequences of the political uncertainties plaguing the state.

Mehbooba said while the ultimate solution to the momentous challenges confronting Jammu and Kashmir shall have to be worked out both on internal and external fronts through a sustained process of engagement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The current state of cooperation between Kazakhstan and India in the energy sector was assessed and discussed on the sidelines of the recently held 16th International Energy Forum here.

According to an Embassy of Kazakhstan release, a delegation from Kazakhstan, led by the Vice-Minister of Energy, M. Mirzagaliyev, held talks with the Indian delegation led by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan with the assistance of Kazakhstan's Ambassador to India Bulat Sarsenbayev and other embassy officials.

The embassy release said that the bilateral component of the talks focussed on "The future of global energy security - transition, technology, trade and investment", as well as how both Kazakhstan and India could enhance their cooperation in the energy sector within the framework of the IEF and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum or GECF.

Meetings were also held with the Secretary General of the IEF, Dr. S. Xiansheng and the Secretary General of the GECF Y. Senturin.

The IEF is the largest international energy organisation to promote inter-governmental dialogue between countries that export, consume and transit energy resources.

More than 700 delegates took part in the event in New Delhi, including 60 heads of ministries and departments, representatives of leading manufacturers and consumers, large companies and international organizations such as IEA, OPEC, etc.

It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid stress on increasing energy demands of the and the need for a gradual shift of economies' to green energy and energy efficiency in accordance with the climate change agenda based on the Paris Agreement.

He also stressed on moving to transparent market for both oil and gas, with the view to serve the energy needs of humanity in an optimal manner.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Responding to the recent suspected chemical strikes in Syria, which claimed over 70 lives, a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, on Saturday, condemned the use of chemical weapons, saying India was closely following the situation.

"We have taken note of the recent strikes in Syria. India is closely following the situation. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable. We call for an impartial and objective investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to establish the facts. In the meantime, we urge all Parties to show restraint and to avoid any further escalation in the situation. The matter should be resolved through dialogue, negotiations, and on the basis of the principles of the United Nations' Charter and in accordance with the international law. We hope that the long drawn suffering of the people of Syria would come to an end soon," a statement read.

On April 7, an unconfirmed chemical strike was carried out in Syria's Douma, a rebel-controlled town in Eastern Ghouta, claiming the lives of over 70 civilians, including children.

The White Helmets, a voluntary aide group, pinned the blame for the assault, which claimed more than 70 civilian lives, on the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

However, the regime has rejected the claim, calling it a "fabrication" by Jaish al-Islam, the Islamist group controlling the area. Russia, which has backed Assad throughout the seven-year-long civil war, rejected the claim too.

United States President Donald Trump was left infuriated by the attacks, who had pledged serious action against the parties responsible. On April 14, airstrikes were launched by a coalition including the US, UK and France, on targets in Syria's capital Damascus.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The family statue at the entrance to Parliament House with motto: United in Peace We ProgressJammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will request state High Court Chief Justice Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar for the establishment of special fast track court for Kathua Rape case, said sources on Saturday.

This special fast track court which would be the first in the state is expected to complete the trial in ninety days.

The nation has been on the boil over Kathua gang rape where an eight-year-old girl was allegedly abducted, drugged, raped, tortured and killed in January.

Earlier, Mufti had expressed her anger over the incident while saying that the state government will bring a new law to make the death penalty mandatory for those who rape minors.

She also called for exemplary punishment for those responsible for the crime.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) was signed between the Indian Army and the Axis Bank on the Defence Salary Package.

The first MoU between Axis Bank and the Indian Army was signed in 2011 and was renewed on March 24, 2015. The current MoU is tailor-made to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and their families.

The signing-in ceremony was chaired by the Director-General (MP&PS), Lt Gen SK Saini and was attended by the top dignitaries of Axis Bank headed by Sanjay Sailas, President and Head, Retail Banking, Axis Bank on Friday.

Recently, the Indian Army has also signed a MoU with the HDFC bank as well.

The MoUs are considered for inception and renewal with banks on analyzing their utility and suitability to the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and their families.

The Army is hoping that this MoU will benefit a large number of serving and retired Army personnel who are having their accounts with the Axis bank and will also provide them with an opportunity to access modern banking facilities.

Under the current MoU, apart from other benefits, the Army personnel will get free personal accident death cover and free permanent total disability cover of Rs 30 lakh and a free educational cover of up to Rs 2 Lakh for children between the age of 12 and 20 years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali will be heading for six-day China visit on Monday.

Gyawali's visit will also finalise the date for the visit of Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's to China.

The visit of the Foreign Minister comes within a week of Oli's India tour.

Nepal which was supposed to attend the BOAO Summit in China remained absent this year.

Along with the talks about the summit, the visit will also be focusing on the visit of Nepal Prime Minister to China, sources inside the ministry have informed.

According to the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gyawali will be in China for six days which is said to be full of engagements between the counterparts of both the nations.

"At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Hon. Mr. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Foreign Affairs, is paying an official visit to China from April 16 to 21, 2018, leading a Nepali delegation," read the release, made late on Friday.

During the six-day visit, Gyawali is scheduled to hold the bilateral meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang on April 18 followed by a joint press address.

During his stay at Chinese capital, Beijing, Gyawali will be meeting with the state leaders of China along with an address to the roundtable meeting of the Chinese think tanks.

Apart from the engagements in Beijing, Gyawali will also be visiting Chengdu City of the Sichuan Province where he will meet the provincial leaders and address a program at the Sichuan University on April 20.

The Foreign Minister and his delegation comprising members from the Foreign Ministry are scheduled to return back on April 21, 2018.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pantaloons, India's leading family fashion destination from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. celebrates 10 years of opening its first store at DT Tower, Guwahati.

Since then, the brand has come a long way.

This week; Pantaloons launched its fourth store at Lachit Nagar while its other stores are located at Roodraksh Mall and Adabari Tiniali.

These milestones coincide with the Assamese New Year Rongali Bihu as Pantaloons thanks the people of Guwahati for their love and support with a 2.5 km long Bihu Xubojatra.

Utpal Das, renowned Assamese actor joined the celebrations.

The spectacular Xubhojatra comprised of beautifully decorated traditional jhankis with artists performing live to the beats of Dhul and Pepa followed by a large fleet of adorned cycle rickshaws with Pantaloons models sporting the latest Summer '18 Collection.

The breath-taking Bihu Xubhojatra saw enthusiastic performances by the Yuva music band and the Joydev Deka dance troupe.

The artists were dressed in traditional Assamese attire; the women looked gorgeous in mekhla chadar while the men danced away in the traditional dhoti, kurta and gamchas.

The city participated wholeheartedly in the Xubhojatra celebration with more than 2,000 people witnessing the live performances.

"Bihu is an integral part of Assamese culture and Pantaloons is delighted to partake in these festivities and bring local communities together through this initiative. We are grateful to our loyal customers for the phenomenal response that we have received over the last decade in Guwahati and we will continue working towards creating enriching experiences that bring us closer to our consumers," said Gaurav Chakravarty, Head - Marketing and Loyalty, Pantaloons Fashion Retail Ltd.

Bihu marks the onset of the new season and Pantaloons Summer collection is something to forward to - the latest styles and trends:

Women's Ethnic Wear: Long length, asymmetric kurtas in floral, geometric and foil prints

Women's Western Wear: Bell sleeves, cold shoulders, pinafore dresses and bardot tops

Menswear: Printed polos and shirts, mandarin necklines and breezy linens

Kids wear: Toon merchandise, floral dresses, summer shorts, patched denims and more.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Paul Ryan, who is set to retire by the end of 2018, has elected US Representative Mc Carthy as his successor, according to reports.

As per an interview of Ryan at NBC, he said that "Kevin is right person".

He also instilled his belief into McCarthy winning the elections for the post while reiterating that he himself would serve the office until the end of 2018.

McCarthy is seen to be a top contender for the post alongside Republican leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

Earlier on Friday White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "The president has a great relationship with Kevin McCarthy, but in terms of an announcement about who he wants to see as the next speaker, I don't have any announcements on that front".

Paul Ryan on Wednesday announced his retirement at a press meeting where he said "If I am here for one more term my kids will only have ever known me as a weekend dad. I just can't let that happen. So I will be setting new priorities in my life", as reported by Capitol Hill.

Later United States President Donald Trump supported Ryan's decision while saying, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question. We are with you Paul!" in a Twitter post.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday arrived at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district.

The Prime Minister is expected to meet the residents of Naxal-hit Bastar district during his two-day visit to the state.

He is also scheduled to launch a new health scheme called Ayushman Bharat Yojana at a district health center in Jangala village of Maoist affected Bijapur district.

The Prime Minister will also launch a scheme for the transformation of 'Aspirational Districts' from Jangala village and also address public there. He is also scheduled to visit Jangala Development Hub.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday paid tribute to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary in New Delhi.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu paid floral tributes to Ambedkar's statue at Parliament House Lawns in the capital.

BJP president Amit Shah also paid homage to Dr Ambedkar at BJP office located in Delhi's Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.

President Kovind remembered Dr Ambedkar as a multifaceted personality whose impact on the society and nation has remained relevant and will remain relevant.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter and said, "Greetings on Ambedkar Jayanti. Pujya Babasaheb gave hope to lakhs of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society. We remain indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of our Constitution".

Earlier in the day, Congress president Rahul Gandhi too paid tribute to Dr Ambedkar.

Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated on April 14 across the nation to remember the Father of the Constitution of India.

Popularly known as Babasaheb, Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement.

He campaigned against social discrimination against untouchables and also supported the rights of women and labourers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Delhi court on Saturday convicted Bollywood actor and comedian Rajpal Yadav, his wife Radha Yadav and a company in connection with a loan case.

An argument on the court's order is likely to be heard on April 23.

Rajpal and his wife allegedly failed to repay a loan of Rs 5 crore which the actor had taken from a Delhi-based businessman for his directorial debut in 2010.

Earlier in 2013, Yadav was sent to Tihar Jail from December 3 to December 6 for submitting a false affidavit in the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia on Saturday confirmed that it was calling an mergency session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the wake of the airstrikes launched by the US-led coalition in Syria.

"Russia will convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions by the US and its allies," the Kremlin, said, in a statement.

"On April 14, the United States, supported by its allies, launched an airstrike against military and civilian targets in the Syrian Arab Republic. An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law, the statement added.

Russia has condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the attack against Syria, where Russian military personnel are assisting the legitimate government in its counterterrorism efforts.

The statement comes in the aftermath of the air strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain, targeting sites associated with the country's chemical weapons capabilities.

United States President Donald Trump, in an address, announced that he ordered precision strikes in Syria in retaliation for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical attack on Syria's rebel-held town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta on April 7.

"I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," CNN reported, Trump as saying at the White House.

On April 7, at least 40 people were killed in the attack on Syria's rebel-held town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta according to volunteer first responders and activists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Cautioning the United States, France and Britain over the military strikes on Syria, the Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

Antonov released a statement on Twitter saying, "A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences."

He further noted that all responsibility for strike rests with Washington, London and Paris while adding that the "US, the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapon has no moral right to blame other countries."

Antonov further stressed that insulting Russian President Vladimir Putin was 'unacceptable and inadmissible.'

Meanwhile, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that Russia was warned ahead of the military attacks on Syria.

US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that the U.S., France and the United Kingdom has carried out military strikes in Syria.

The strikes were in retaliation to alleged chemical weapons attack carried out by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's regime in a suburb of Damascus on April 7.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of a French national, who is accused of sexually assaulting a minor.

Brilliant Patrick Jacky Henry Maurice sexually assaulted a minor in Mumbai last year and was arrested on November 7, six months after an FIR was lodged on May 18, 2017. He was charged under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

A division bench of the apex court on Saturday dismissed the plea and asked Maurice to surrender within three days.

Although a local court granted bail to Maurice on November 24, Bombay High Court quashed his plea on April 2 this year. To challenge the same, the French had approached the top court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China's representative in the United Nations called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take up the responsibility to build unity and consensus and do its utmost to prevent incidents like chemical attacks in Syria's Douma which claimed lives of more than 50 people.

As reported by China's state media Xinhua China's UN representative Ma Zhaoxu said that the current situation in Syria is perilous in a UN Security Council meeting called by Russia to discuss the on-going Syria war and the recent chemical attack in the region.

"We call on the parties concerned to remain calm, exercise restraint, refrain from any move that may lead to further escalation of the situation, solve the issue peacefully through consultation and dialogue," said Zhaoxu.

He further called upon the all the countries to remain calm over the recent incident of chemical attack and think about to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Zhaoxu further said that the pressing priority is to launch a comprehensive, objective and impartial investigation into reports of chemical weapons use in Syria so as to arrive at authoritative conclusions.

While reiterating that China is in favour of peaceful dispute settlements Zhaoxu said: "Unilaterally taking military action by circumventing the Security Council is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and runs counter to the norms of international law and those governing international relations."

He further said that China stands for peace and security in the Middle East and the at large.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Meghan Markle is all set to the nuptial knot with Prince Harry and the industry is abuzz with rumours regarding who shall be her Maid of Honour after all.

Meghan is not likely to have the English weddings, which have younger adults acting as the pageboys or bridesmaid but she could very well still have a maid of honor, as sister-in-law-to-be, Kate Middleton did with her own sister, Pippa Middleton.

But the question is as to who is going to be given the coveted role for Markle!

Will it be like Pippa Middleton the younger sister of Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton who became a viral sensation on the day of Kate's wedding?

Hereafter compiling it from certain media reports, we bring to you the list of top contenders for the Maid of Honour.

Priyanka Chopra

The two stars met at an Elle Women in Television event and bonded over their shared careers as actors. They even took in a performance of Hamilton together. But Chopra herself isn't spilling any details until the big day.

Jessica Mulroney

Stylist, the closest friend of Meghan and the wife of the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is one of the most likely people in the post.

Being a stylist Mulroney had set up the pre-wedding looks for both Harry and Megan. All the three of them also share a close bonding.

Sarah Rafferty

Rafferty and Meghan co-starred on Suits for seven seasons, playing close in-office pals Donna Paulsen and Rachel Zane. Their often viral selfies do confirm that she will be on a guest list but it's not yet sure is shall be the maid of honour.

Kate Middleton

Though she did not act as the maid of honour for own sister's wedding it is highly unlikely that she would be the maid of honour for Markle. However, her two eldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, will probably be a page boy and bridesmaid, representing their family in the wedding party.

Samantha Markle

It would be shocking if we saw Meghan's estranged half-sister anywhere near St. George's Chapel on the big day. The half-siblings are not close, and as per reports, they haven't spoken much since 2008. Thus this entry seems to be just a formality.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are set to get married on May 19 at England's Windsor Castle.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on Saturday that the toxin used to poison former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, was BZ toxin, as confirmed by a Swiss laboratory.

"Based on the results of the examination, traces of the toxic chemical BZ and its precursors, related to chemical weapons of the second category in accordance with the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, were found in the samples. BZ is a nerve agent temporarily disabling a person. The effect is achieved within 30-50 minutes and lasts up to four days," said Lavrov.

However, the most intriguing aspect of his claim remains to be the fact that the toxin has been in the possession of the US and the UK and has never been produced in Russia.

Lavrov further questioned the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is investigating the poisoning incident, for not taking into consideration the information about the BZ nerve agent, which, along with Novichok toxin, was not mentioned in the OPCW's final report.

The Swiss laboratory had concluded examining the samples on March 27.

"If, of course, the OPCW refutes the fact of using the laboratory of Spiez, it will be interesting to listen to its explanations," Lavrov added.

The Skripals were found unconscious at a shopping centre in Salisbury on March 4. They were admitted to a hospital soon after, with Yulia having fully recovered and discharged, while her father was declared to be out of danger.

The UK blamed Russia for the poisoning, following which, it expelled 23 Russian diplomatic workers in retaliation. In a display of solidarity, over 25 western nations, including the United States, have ousted Russian diplomats.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former FBI director James Comey said US President Donald Trump pressured him to investigate "pee tape" while adding that the 'tape could be real.'

"I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013," said Comey, in one of the most extraordinary sentences ever broadcast on breakfast television, according to the media reports.

Comey also claimed that the US President asked him to investigate the allegations from the 'dossier'.

The so-called dossier allegedly contains several salacious and detailed graphic material on Trump, compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent.

One such claim from the 35-page document is that Trump engaged in a sexual encounter with a prostitute in Russia in 2013, following which he urged the prostitute to urinate on a hotel bed that then president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama once slept in. The document also raised the possibilities of the incidence being caught on camera.

In an exclusive interview to ABC News, Comey revealed that he met with the US President to discuss the unverified claims, following which the latter asked him to investigate the matter and "prove that it didn't happen".

Trump even said it would be "terrible" if his wife Melania Trump would believe the allegations mentioned in the dossier to be true.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday stated that the US, the UK and France have fired over 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles at military and civilian targets in Syria.

"Over 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles have been fired at military and civilian targets in Syria by US, British and French planes and ships," the Russian news agency TASS, reported, citing the ministry, as saying.

Russia has condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the attack against Syria, where Russian military personnel are assisting the legitimate government in its counterterrorism efforts. Russia will convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions by the US and its allies, the statement from Kremlin said.

United States President Donald Trump, in an address, announced that he ordered precision strikes in Syria in retaliation for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical attack on Syria's rebel-held town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta on April 7.

"I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," CNN reported, Trump as saying at the White House.

On April 7, at least 40 people were killed in the attack on Syria's rebel-held town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta according to volunteer first responders and activists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Saturday said that the US is "locked and loaded" in an event of a chemical attack by Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

While addressing a United Nations Security Council meeting held to discuss upon the recent chemical attack on Syria, US ambassador Haley reiterated the US commitment to draw a red line by President Trump against the use of chemical weapons, as reported by the Fox News.

"I spoke to President Trump this morning and he said if the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded", Haley said in a statement.

She further said that chemical weapons are so heinous that the entire community has agreed to ban it.

Further Russia and the US engaged in a war of words over the collective decision of the UK, France and the US to launch strikes on Syria on Saturday in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons last week in Douma that took the lives of more than 50 people including children.

Russia had also proposed a draft resolution condemning the US-initiated strikes of Syria which was only supported by China and Bolivia.

Earlier on Saturday, United States took the responsibility for the strikes at Syria conducted on the same day in coordination with the United Kingdom and France.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Friday apprehended a United States from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport for entering a terminal building on a fake ticket.

The accused namely Gurpreet Singh was held at the check-in area of Terminal-3 where he came to see-off his sister, according to the CISF.

After a complete verification, he was handed over to the Delhi Police for further action.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China's President Xi Jinping highlighted the need to develop the Hainan province which is also been declared as the Special Economic Zone of the country.

During the inspection tour of Hainan on Friday Jinping urged to make full use of environmental advantages an build it to be an international tourism island, as reported by the Xinhua news agency.

President Xi underscored advancing reform and opening-up in the southern province of Hainan "from a higher perspective, with a broader vision and greater strength".

He further held discussions with experts regarding the importance of boosting the health sector to serve the people.

Jinping also visited the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Thursday and learned about China's seabed exploration in the Mariana Trench and examined deep-sea research equipment.

He said both cities and the countryside should be developed well to reach the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. Farmers should be encouraged to tap into local resources to develop specialized agriculture, countryside tourism, and courtyard economies to raise their incomes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least eight Egyptian soldiers were killed and 15 others wounded in a terror attack on a military camp in central Sinai, the military said on Saturday.

"A group of 14 militants, four of them wearing explosive belts, attempted to break into one of the armed forces camps in central Sinai before the sunrise," military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay said in a statement.

In the confrontation, the security forces foiled the attack by killing all the terrorists, Xinhua news agency reported citing the statement.

Earlier in the day, the Egyptian armed forces announced 27 militants were killed and 114 others arrested in the latest raids in Sinai Peninsula as part of the country's anti-terror military operation "Sinai 2018".

More than 190 militants and at least 22 soldiers had been killed in the massive operation launched on February 9. Attacks are rarely carried out in central Sinai.

Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has been the centre of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Most of the terror attacks were carried out by a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group.

--IANS

soni/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi Police has booked another Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor for allegedly molesting a student, it said on Saturday.

A complaint was filed on Friday against Ajay Kumar, a faculty member at the university's School of Social Sciences.

"A student of JNU has complained against a professor at the Vasant Kunj Police Station that he misbehaved with her two days back. An FIR under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code for sexual harassment has been lodged. We are investigating the matter," a senior police officer told IANS.

The university administration, however, said it had not received any complaint of molestation from any student.

"We don't know of the particulars of the case. Unless a student files a complaint with the Internal Complaints Committee of the university, we cannot take any action," JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar told IANS.

This is third case of molestation in the university in a month. Four professors in two different cases were accused of harassment earlier.

A police complaint was filed only in one case, while in the other case where three professors were accused of harassment, a complaint was raised internally.

-- IANS

vn/nks/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Days after Indian oil companies signed an agreement with Saudi Aramco for setting up the world's largest refinery complex at Nanar in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri, locals on Saturday started drummed up support from different political parties in a bid to stop the project.

The Konkan Refinery Shetkari-Machhimar Sangharsh Samiti (KRSMSS) and the Refinery Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti (RVSS) have met political leaders across the political spectrum to solicit support for the agitation against the project.

KRSMSS chief Bhai Samant and RVSS head Ashok Welam have called on Congress state President Ashok Chavan, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, besides meeting other leaders.

The anti-Nanar groups got a major boost two days ago when Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Swabhiman Party President Narayan Rane - both constituents of the ruling NDA - openly attacked the project.

They also accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of "treachery" and "going back on his word" as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party kept mum on the issue.

Both Thackeray and Rane have made it clear that they would not permit the destructive project to come up under any circumstances, since the local people are against it.

On his part, Pawar has announced plans to visit Nanar on May 10, meet the villagers who will be affected, assess the ground realities and the implications of the proposed mega-project on the people and environment.

"The local people have given a very different picture than what the state government has claimed," Pawar told media persons on Saturday.

Endorsing the villagers struggle, Chavan said: "Development should have a humane face. If the locals are opposing it, there is no question of implementing it."

The protestors also secured the support of Raj Thackeray who gave them a sympathetic ear and promised to intervene.

Meanwhile, political sources said Fadnavis has reported expressed apprehensions that if the project is opposed and not allowed to come up in Maharashtra, then it may be shifted to adjoining Gujarat.

On April 11, a consortium comprising three major Indian oil marketing companies - IOCL, BPCL and HPCL signed a MoU with Saudi Arabian Oil Co, (Saudi Aramco), for setting up an integrated oil refinery and petroleum products complex in the eco-sensitive Ratnagiri.

When completed, the Rs 3 trillion complex at Nanar will be the world's biggest single-location oil refinery project with a capacity to process 60 million tonnes annually.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bollywood celebrities like megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Hema Malini, wished their fans a prosperous year ahead on the occasion of Baisakhi.

The festival marks the harvest time of Rabi (winter) crops and is one of the most significant festivals for Punjabis around the world.

While Big B wished all Punjabis on Twitter on Saturday, he also took the opportunity to wish Tamilians on Puthandu, also known as Puthuvarusham or Tamil New Year.

"Prosperity, love, peace and togetherness," he tweeted.

Hema Malini wished "Happy Baisakhi to all those celebrating this vibrant festival", while Anil Kapoor wished that "may Wahe Guru fulfill all your wishes and bring you lots of success and happiness".

Akshay Kumar took the opportunity to connect with the Punjabi in him, with a message written in English-Punjabi. He wrote: " Tuhanu saareyaan nu Baisakhi di sohni saver mubarak hove! Hasde vasde raho. (Wish you a very happy Baisakhi. Keep laughing, be happy always).

Varun Dhawan, Raveena Tandon and Harshdeep Kaur wished all their fans and their families "bounty of happiness that this new season brings".

While Yami Gautam broke into a Punjabi song wishing everyone on the occasion, Saqib Saleem wished "peace and prosperity" for all.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Blaming the BJP for politicisation of Unnao and Kathau rape cases, the Congress on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for speaking very little on the incidents and not mention the involvement of his own party's people.

It also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) for always trying to erode the legacy of B.R. Ambedkar.

"Prime Minister's speech yesterday (Friday) reeked of politicisation of everything, and blaming the Congress of everything as if the world came into existence in 2014..as if they had started from the scratch.

"PM yesterday broke his silence after protests across the country and that too in just two lines. But he didn't mention that his own people are involved in the cases. The BJP MLA or ministers. The resignation of ministers is just a joke. They gave it to their own party," said senior Congress leader Kumari Selja.

Noting BJP leaders had asked if such incidents have not taken place during Congress' rule, mentioning the Nirbhaya case, she said: "But they (BJP) forget that everyone stood against it that time. There was no in it..."

On the RSS and the BJP's view of Ambedkar, she said: "We all know about RSS ideologues' views on Baba Saheb and the Dalits. The Congress had given him the responsibility to draft the India's Constitution."

"The RSS and the BJP even talked about changing the Constitution, questioned reservation. Is this how they show respect to Baba Saheb?

"Simply paying lip service, which the Prime Minister is used to, does not take away from the fact that they are always trying to erode the legacy of Baba Saheb Ambedkar," she added.

Congress also hit out at the government for reducing the sub-plan for SC/ST, and nearly halving the budget for SC schemes.

"Just speeches and words can't fulfill the promises they made to SC and STs. According to NCRB, each day 6 Dalit women get raped...

"Babasaheb's statue have been put in a cage in (Uttar Pradesh's) Badaun. Actually, it is very symbolic as they have put his ideology in a cage," said Selja.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 12-year-old boy died and a 10-year-old was injured after a school bus hit them while they were playing near their house here on Friday evening, police said on Saturday. The driver of the bus has been arrested.

The deceased was identified as Rahul, 12, and the injured, Jagdeesh, 10, was stable, police said.

The incident happened around 5.30 p.m. on Friday, when the boys were playing near their house in Vivekananda Camp, a slum cluster falling in the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri.

Bus driver Rashem Pal, 57, reversed the bus near the Camp and then took it forward, hitting the boys, police said and added that the driver was arrested from the spot of the accident.

According to police, the bus belonged to British School and there were no students inside it at the time of the accident.

Though the boys were rushed to a nearby hospital, Rahul died within three-four hours while undergoing treatment, police said.

Sons of daily wage labourers, Rahul studied in class 8, while Jagdeesh was in class 5, police said.

A case has been registered.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will observe a day-long fast on April 20 to protest the Narendra Modi-led Central government's refusal to grant special category status to the state.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President will be staging the protest on his 68th birthday to pressurise the Central government to fulfill all commitments made at the time of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.

His announcement on Saturday came close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's day-long huger strike on April 12 to protest disruption of Parliament.

"Is it not the central government which is responsible for Parliament not functioning smoothly," asked Naidu.

The second half of the budget session was washed out due to protest by various parties including the TDP, which sought to move no-confidence motion against the government after pulling out of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Naidu's decision to sit on fast came amid ongoing protest by various political parties in the state against the Centre for not fulfilling its promises.

At a meeting in Guntur district on Saturday, Naidu said there would be no compromise on the state's rights.

He also announced that a massive public meeting would be organized at Tirupati on April 30 with the slogan "save the state from betrayal and conspiracy", recalling that it was in the same temple that four years ago, Modi, as the Prime Ministerial candidate, had promised special status but did not fulfill it after coming to power.

Lashing out both at the BJP and the opposition parties YSR Congress and Congress, Naidu appealed to people to ensure victory of TDP on all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. "Tomorrow, the government at the Centre will be decided by TDP," he said.

He recalled that TDP played a key role in government formation at the Centre in the past. "We played a key role in the National Front, United Front and NDA-1," he said.

The Chief Minister was speaking at a meeting at Sakhamuru in Guntur district after unveiling the model of Dr B.R Ambedkar memorial park, proposed to be built at a cost of Rs 100 crore on 20 acres. Naidu said 125-feet tall statue of Ambedkar will come up in the proposed park, which will also have a research centre. He vowed to complete the project in 18 months.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Saturday sought an explanation from senior party leader K.V. Thomas after news reports spoke of him praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration. Thomas said he was misquoted.

Former Union Minister Thomas represents the Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency. According to reports Thomas hailed the Prime Minister while speaking at the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Kerala Management Association there on Friday.

The reports quoted Thomas as saying: "Modi is a good administrator who is able to convince others of his actions." The reports said that Thomas felt more comfortable dealing with Modi than the leaders in his own party.

KPCC chief M.M. Hassan's letter to Thomas was circulated to the media wherein he asked the latter to explain if he ever made such a remark.

"Modi is one who is going forward with anti-people policies and programmes and also supports atrocities and violence. We want to know if you (Thomas) made remarks praising Modi," wrote Hassan to Thomas.

Thomas on Saturday said he was misquoted. He said speaking to the management students all he wanted to put across was -- "Despite making a lot of mistakes in his administration, Modi has been able to manage it by propagating lies".

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala told the media that he spoke to Thomas about his comments and the latter explained that he never praised Modi.

Thomas was the Ernakulam MP from 1984 to 1996. He became a legislator in 2001 and was part of then Chief Minister A.K. Antony cabinet.

Thomas has always been considered close to former Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Weightlifter Poonam Yadav, who won India a gold medal in the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Australia's Gold Coast was attacked with bricks and stones by unidentified assailants in Varanasi on Saturday when she was visiting a relative, police said.

When her father, uncle and cousin tried to intervene they too were thrashed. Amid heavy stone pelting and ruckus, the police team escorting her managed to save her and bring her out of the melee.

Superintendent of Police, Rural Amit Kumar said that as soon as the news of the incident reached them, extra police force was sent to secure Yadav and added that the people behind the attack will not be spared.

The attack, according to police, emanated from an old land dispute between a relative of the sportsperson and a neighboring village head. When Yadav tried to intervene, she too was attacked after which she dialed UP 100 service and managed to escape.

Police force has been deployed to ensure that there was no escalation of hostilities.

Poonam won the gold for India in the 69 kg category by lifting 100 kg in the snatch and 122 kg in clean and jerk.English film 'Red, produced by Vignesh Priyadarshan of Bengaluru, has won the Drishti 2017 Golden Eye award. The Silver Eye went to the film 'Chalo Netrdaan Kare produced by Suhail Umri and his team of Agra.

Akhil Srivastav, chief organiser of the event told IANS: "This is seventh year in a row Drishti Creative Contest has been organised for the promotion of eye donation. Posters, design and audio jingles entries were also invited on the common theme of promotion of eye donation."

In poster making, the Golden Eye award was won by M. Arul from Chennai and Silver Eye award went to Harinandanan M from Kerala. In Audio Jingle category Golden Eye award is won by Shefali Chakrvarti of Agra and Silver Eye was went to Saurabh Ahuja of Delhi.

The awards were given in a colourful ceremony held at the auditorium of G. D. Goenka Public School in Agra. Apart from screening of short listed films, award function, main attraction of the event was "Khilona" - A skit on the theme of eye donation was presented by the students of Umri Public school were appreciated by the audience which was present in good attendance.

A talk on problems and perspective of eye donation was also held which was presented by Akhil Srivastava - the core team member of Antardrishti.

During the program Puneet Vashishth, Principal, G D Goenka Public School said: "we are pleased to associate with the program and would like to ensure that we all are with the cause and we wil try our leve best to raise awareness regarding eye donation."

Producer of "Red" Vignesh Priydarshan travelled from Banglore to receive the award. Harinandanan M and Saurabh Ahuja the award winners in poster and Audio Jingles also came here from Kerla and Delhi respectively.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Class 8 student in Jharkhand was abducted by three youths at gunpoint and gang-raped in Gumla district for two days about a fortnight back, the victim told the police on Saturday.

The incident surfaced a day after Governor Draupdi Murmu expressed her concern over the growing cases of sexual atrocities against women and girls.

According to the victim, she was abducted by the three bike-borne youths when she had gone to a neighbouring village to collect water from a well on March 31.

They covered her face and took her to a nearby jungle. They gang raped her throughout night. They again took turns raping her the next day before dumping her in her village.

They threatened her not to tell anyone about the incident otherwise she would be killed.

The traumatised victim was silent for 13 days before finally informing her family members about the attack on Friday.

An FIR has been lodged against the three youths. The victim's medical was yet to be conducted.

Murmu on Friday summoned Jharkhand Director General of Police D.K. Pandey and expressed her unhappiness over the rape incidents taking place in the state.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After facing employee fury over a US Defence Department project, Google is reportedly drafting new ethical standards to guide the company's use of technology and products.

The move comes after more than 3,000 employees of Google signed a letter to the company's CEO Sundar Pichai, demanding that the company scrap the Defence Department project for analysing drone footage using Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques as they feared that the technology could plausibly help target people for death, Fortune.com reported on Friday.

Citing a Defense One article, the report said that chief Diane Greene this week hosted a Town Hall at which she assured employees of new ethical standards for the company.

Called Maven, the programme applies AI and machine learning to the job of classifying objects in surveillance footage, but Google responded to the employee petition saying that the technology was intended to save lives and save people from having to do highly tedious work.

However, Greene promised employees that Google would not sign up for any further work on 'Maven' or similar projects without having new ethical principles in place, according to Defense One's sources.

But some Google employees came out of the town hall still concerned about the company angling for a big Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract that could relate to combat operations, the Fortune report said.In the wake of a raging US-China trade war, India on Sunday offered to export soybean and other agriculture products to Beijing, which has slapped retaliatory tariffs on American products.

India also slammed the US for its "protectionist" trade policies, saying the "unseemly" practice has hurt the world's economic recovery.

At the 5th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajeev Kumar said that Beijing and New Delhi were unruffled by the "protectionist noises" and could well be the important anchor for the world economy.

"We have noticed that you import a lot of agricultural products probably to the tune of $20 billion or more," Kumar said.

"And I was noticing that there were some tariffs that were issued on farmers from Iowa and Ohio etc. Maybe India can substitute for something like soybeans and sugar if we could have access to those exports with all the due quality considerations for that you might have on our farmers. That might be very useful," Kumar said referring to the US-China trade war.

China and the US -- the world's two largest economies -- are locked in an ugly trade spat with both sides hitting back at each other by imposing slapping economic tariffs.

In the first week of April, the US announced tariffs worth $50 billion on Chinese products which, it said, was the result of Beijing forcing the American companies to transfer their technology to China's firms.

Beijing was quick to fire back by imposing taxes on 106 US products.

The wrangling has worried the world, which is witnessing a sluggish economic growth.

In March, US President Donald Trump had threatened India with retaliatory tariffs if New Delhi did not lower taxes on American products.

"There is for the first time a cyclical and synchronized recovery in the world economy happening after a very long time. But this is actually marred and disrupted by some unseemly protectionist noises that are coming out of the Atlantic basin, North America, and Europe," Kumar said in an oblique reference to China.

"But thankfully the emerging economies of Asia have seemed to ignore these protectionist noises and have continued to grow at a very high rate of speed with China growing at 6.8 and India growing 7-7.2 per cent," Kumar added.

The dialogue was attended by the delegation of China's National Development Reforms Commission.

Kumar said that India and China need to work for a better economic climate for our investors and entrepreneurs.

"We both have to do ease of doing business so that our procedures, red tape, and non-tariff barriers get sorted out so that investors from both the countries in their respective fields get the investment opportunities."

"We have liberalized as you know all the business visa regimes for the Chinese investors to come. We now give them multiple three-month visas. If you could make this possible for our investors, it will really help in taking this investment forward from Indian investors who are very keen to come to China."

"Dangal has been a great success in China and if that is so we would like to expose the Chinese population to some more Indian movies. So if there can be liberalization of entertainment and if you can expand working groups from current five to two more: one on culture which includes entertainment; the other one could be one on pharmaceuticals because we import a lot of your pharmaceuticals APIs."

"The time has come for those APIs to be used in some formulation that could be re-exported to China with all the FDA regulations of China and our highest quality."

--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.)A confident Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will aim to extend their winning momentum when they face Kings XI Punjab in Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the PCA stadium here on Sunday.

The southern outfit who have made a comeback in the cash-rich league after serving a two-year suspension, roared in their previous two encounters and once again proved why they are one of the serious contenders for the title.

In their campaign opener against three-time champion Mumbai Indians, Dwayne Bravo and Kedar Jadhav pulled off a thrilling last over win for Chennai.

Chasing 166 against Mumbai, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side was once reeling at 75/5 and victory seemed a distant dream for the yellow brigade. However, Bravo's scintillating 30-ball 68 put them on the brink of the win and later in the last over Jadhav snatched a win from the jaws of defeat.

In the second match, Chennai was handed a challenging 203-run target by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their first home game at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

Winning the toss, Dhoni opted to bowl first and opined his side love to chase, a statement which was hence proved right by his boys.

CSK was off to a flying start with Shane Watson (42) and Ambati Rayudu (39) adding 75 runs for the opening wicket. With just everything going CSK's way, KKR's spinners- Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine striked to bring back their side in the contest.

With Suresh Raina (14) and Dhoni (25) felling cheaply, CSK's foriegn buy- Sam Billings took command and smashed 56 off 23 to keep the hosts on hunt.

Finally, Ravindra Jadeja's six off the final delivery set up an another nail-biting win for CSK.

However, Raina will miss Sunday's clash after being ruled out of the side's next two matches because of a calf injury, which could be a thing of worry for the CSK management.

On the other hand, coming on the back of a disappointing batting performance, hosts Punjab will be looking reverse the performance in this match.

For a win at home against the in-form Dhoni's side, Punjab's batting department needs to fire. Other than Lokesh Rahul, star batsmen Yuvraj Singh, Mayank Agarwal have struggled to get runs.

The team management will have high expectations from Aaron Finch, who missed the opening match against Delhi Daredevils and failed with the bat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Punjab's spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman has surprised the batsmen with his deliveries and will once again try to exploit the home conditions. The hosts have a bowling depth with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Mujeeb, Axar Patel and Andrew Tye.

The Ashwin-led side could bring in Manoj Tiwary to the middle order and Mohit Sharma's expensive performance could axe him from the playing eleven.

Overall, Chennai will once again be the favourites over Punjab, after winning the last three encounters the two sides have met.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress' Maharashtra unit will hold candle-light protests across Mumbai and Maharashtra on Sunday to protest against the recent horrifying rape incidents in Unnao and Kathua.

Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam will lead a procession in the suburbs at 6 a.m., followed by a similar march by state Congress chief Ashok Chavan in Thane at 7 a.m..

Besides, all the district units of the party all over the state shall similar candle-lit marches to protest against the rape incident of an 8-year-old nomadic girl in Jammu & Kashmir's Kathua and a young girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao which have shaken the country.

"Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken over the reins at the centre and in states, there has been a sharp increase in the number of crimes against women. Unfortunately, the government has not initiated any concrete measures to redress it," Chavan said.

Referring to Maharashtra, he said since the present BJP-led administration assumed power, crimes against women and girls here have shot up by 36 percent.

Nirupam said the candle-light protests will express solidarity with the victims and their families and highlight the government's failure to combat the growing cases of atrocities against women.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)France's participation in the US-led military operation in Syria sparked fierce debate at home on Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron defended his decision to join the operation in a statement shortly after the strike was launched late Friday, stressing that France's participation was limited to "the capabilities of the Syrian regime for the production and use of chemical weapons".

"I ordered the French armed forces to intervene as part of an international operation in coalition with the US and the UK directed against the clandestine chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime.

"We can not tolerate the trivialization of the use of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and for our collective security," Macron added.

The allied missile attacks in Syria were "legitimate", "limited" and "proportionate", French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

However, French politicians expressed diverging opinions. Jean-Luc Melenchon, one of Macron's old rivals in the 2017 presidential race, called the operation "a matter of North American revenge, an irresponsible escalation".

"The strikes against Syria are without proof, without a UN mandate, and against it, without a European agreement and without a vote of the French Parliament," Melenchon said on Twitter.

"France deserves better than this role. It must be the strength of the international order and peace," said the leader of the far-left party La France Insoumise.

Meanwhile, leader of the far-right party Front National Marine Le Pen said with its decision to follow the US and Britain to carry out the strikes, France lost "an opportunity to appear in the international scene as an independent power".

"These strikes against Syria engage us in a way with unpredictable and potentially dramatic consequences," she warned on Twitter.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Bigg Boss Season 11" contestant Arshi Khan feels that media should leave some space for celebrities when it comes to their personal or professional life.

Arshi interacted with media at the launch of author Sonalli Gupta's book titled "Of Love.. Life And Everything In Between" along with Rohit Verma and Archana Kochhar on Friday in Mumbai.

Asked about her take on Comedian Kapil Sharma's incident where he was seen hurling abuses on SpotboyE editor Vicky Lalwani via twitter and phone conversation blaming him for maligning his professional image, Arshi said: "It was Kapil Sharma's mistake for whatever he has done but I think media should also understand that an individual is involved in so many things in his life.

"He must have been going through some family or professional issues so media should also give that kind of space to celebrities when it comes to their personal or professional life."

So is Arshi willing to work with Kapil Sharma if she gets an opportunity?

"Definitely... who doesn't want to work with Kapil? He is not only popular in India but he is famous internationally as well."

"He is such a huge comedian so yes, if I get an opportunity to work with him then surely, I will work."

The book was launched by Verma, celebrity plastic surgeon Aamod Rao and actress and karate medalist Sandhya Shetty who joined the stage as panelists.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The medical test of the 17-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh's Unnao who has accused local BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar of rape, was conducted at a hospital here on Saturday, an official said.

Earlier the victim, along with her mother and uncle, were brought to the state capital under tight security as they feared for their lives. The test was carried out at the Lohia hospital here.

The victim later told media persons that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Thursday statement that the guilty will be brought to book was very reassuring and that she now hoped that justice will be done in her case.

She also said that the arrest of Sengar, the legislator from Bangarmau, was also a positive development. She also thanked the media and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for taking up her cause that was, so far, a "lonely and losing battle".

The girl's uncle however accused the Unnao administration of conniving to save the legislator.

Meanwhile, the girl was later taken to the CBI's zonal office here where a detailed statement from her is likely to be recorded.

Informed sources said that a medical examination of the accused legislator was carried sometime in the night of Thursday.

The victim tried to set herself ablaze outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence on last Sunday, claiming inaction in the rape case that took place in 2017.

Later on Sunday, her father was picked up by the police and allegedly beaten up in custody by the MLA's brother Atul Singh and his aides, following which he died.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Mizoram government and the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) have signed an agreement to boost investment and develop tourism in the northeastern state, an official said here on Saturday.

"The Mizoram government and the MTDC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance investment and develop the tourism in the state. The MoU was signed on Friday after a Business Summit and Road Show in Aizawl," a Mizoram tourism department official said.

An official release said that Mizoram Governor Lt. Gen. Nirbhay Sharma (retd), while addressing the summit, said that the tourism and agro-market potential of the state were worth exploring, for which more states like Maharashtra and corporate houses can help.

The Governor said that the best practices of cooperative societies in Maharashtra could be emulated to move away from subsistence farming to a more profitable commercial one.

"The Governor laid emphasis on roping in the film makers and producers to explore the pristine nature of the state and involvement of the community while also giving a cosmopolitan outlook to the state," the release said.

The Business Summit and Road Show, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, was a follow up to the Business Summit and Road Show - Mizoram Calling, organised by the Chamber in January in Mumbai.

Addressing the summit, Horticulture Minister P.C. Lalthanliana highlighted the USPs of several horticulture crops grown in the state which he termed as organic by default.

Development of forward-backward linkages, logistical improvements, food-processing and value addiction are the sectors which the minister considered needs investments.

Maharashtra Tourism Department Director Ashutosh Rathod, who is also the Joint Managing Director of MTDC, said that his government and other business bodies in Maharashtra are eager to form synergies with Mizoram.

"Mizoram is shaping up its policy to be in sync with the Act-East Policy," Rathod said, adding that special attention would be given to people from Mizoram for medical care under the government's medical tourism policy.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will stop over in Germany and meet Chancellor Angela Merkel while on his way back from London, the Ewxternal Affairs Ministry announced on Saturday.

"At the suggestion of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be making a brief stopover in Berlin on April 20 after completing his visits to Sweden and the United Kingdom," the ministry said in a statement.

Modi will meet Merkel and the two leaders will exchange views on a number of bilateral, regional and global issues, it said.

"This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Chancellor Merkel began her fourth term on March 14, 2018.

"The visit demonstrates the commitment by the two countries to maintain the momentum of high level exchanges," it added.

Modi will be visiting Sweden and Britain from April 16 to 20 during the course of which he will also participate in the first ever India-Nordic Summit and this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday wished the nation on the occasions of Ambedkar Jayanti and harvest festivals.

Wishing people on Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary, Modi tweeted: "Pujya Babasaheb gave hope to lakhs of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society.

"We remain indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of our Constitution."

In a series of tweets, Modi wished the people of Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha on their respective harvest festivals and new year celebrations -- Rongali Bihu, Vishu, Naba Barsha, Puthandu Pirappu, and Maha Vishuba Sankranti.

He said the country was proud of its diversity.

"People across the nation are celebrating various festivals. Greetings to everyone on these special occasions," he tweeted.

"Best wishes to the Tamil people on the special occasion of Puthandu. I pray that all your aspirations are fulfilled in the coming year."

The prime minister also greeted the people of Kerala on Vishu, which signifies the sun's transit into the Meda Raasi (first solar month).

"Happy Vishu! May the new year bring with it new hopes, more prosperity and good health."

He also greeted the people of Assam on Rongali or Bohag Bihu which marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year.

He described Bihu as a festival characterised by energy and enthusiasm. "May this auspicious day bring happiness and good health in our society."

Modi greeted the Bengalis on Poila Boishakh and wished that this new year brings peace, prosperity and happiness in everyone's lives. "Shubho Nabo Barsho!"

Along with tweeting his greetings in English, the Prime Minister also wrote his messages various regional languages.

"To all my Odia friends across the world, greetings on Maha Vishuba Sankranti! Have a wonderful year ahead. We take immense pride in the rich Odia culture."

"Baisakhi Greetings to everyone. May this festival bring joy in everyone's lives. We also express gratitude to our hardworking farmers, who work continuously to feed our nation," he added.

--IANS

mg/ksk

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The NATO Secretary General on Saturday backed the joint strikes by the US, the UK, and France targeting the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capabilities.

Jens Stoltenberg said that the strikes would reduce Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime ability to further attack the local population with chemical weapons, Efe news reported.

"NATO has consistently condemned Syria's continued use of chemical weapons as a clear breach of international norms and agreements," Stoltenberg said in a statement.

"The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, and those responsible must be held accountable," he added.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the members of the organisation to show moderation in the prevailing "dangerous" climate and to respect international law.

Guterres' remarks came during a Security Council meeting on Friday, shortly before the strikes were launched in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7.

"I urge all member states to act responsibly in these dangerous circumstances," Guterres said.

The Council has met four times this week to assess the Syrian situation but the sessions have ended without any agreements being reached.

The debates have exposed the deep divisions between the US and Russia on the conflict, which led Guterres to say that "the Cold War is back - with a vengeance".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Newton" which received the Best Hindi Film honour at the 65th National Film Awards, is actually a commercial film as people connected with it, says director Amit Masurkar.

Masurkar made the comment while interacting with the media here on Friday along with actor Krishna Singh Bisht, "Newton" co-writer Mayank Tiwari and music composer Naren Chandavarkar.

When asked whether he WAS open to do typical commercial masala films as "Newton" was considered an offbeat or art house film, Masurkar said: "It all depends on THE script. If such kind of script comes my way then why not? I believe that 'Newton' is a commercial film.

"Commercial films are those which people watch it in theatres. So I would say that 'Newton' was a commercial film because people did go and see the film in the theatres and they connected with it," he added.

Sharing his views further on masala and commercial films, the director said: "I don't know about the word 'masala', as that terminology keeps changing with time. What you call masala films in the 1980s are not the same from the ones in the 1990s. So, if you see the kind of progress we are witnessing in films, it is also changing the definition of commercial.

"I feel it is not necessary that if you want to make a commercial film then you have to make a certain kind of film. You can make film on different kind of stories. I think If you make a good film then it automatically becomes commercial."

"Newton" was also selected as India's official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category for Oscars 2018, but did not make it to the final shortlist.

Regarding the Oscars, Masurkar said: "In the Oscar awards, countries from all over the world send their best film so there is a tough competition. We tried but we were not able to win there but we are happy that we reached that platform."

On "Newton's" lead actor Rajkummar Rao not winning an award on Friday, the director said: "I definitely think Rajkummar (Rao) should have been awarded something. He did a brilliant job not just in 'Newton' but also in other films like 'Trapped' and 'Bareilly Ki Barfi'. He did a lot of good work last year."

Actor Pankaj Tripathi also won a Special Mention at the 65th National Film Awards for his performance in "Newton".

Produced by Manish Mundra, "Newton" revolves around a young government clerk, who is sent on election duty to a Maoist-controlled town. It portrays how the ideological struggle puts him in an awkward situation.

The film was shot in the interiors of Chhattisgarh.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that no one has enough power to end reservation for Dalits and backward classes in education and government jobs.

"No one on the earth has enough power to end reservation," Nitish Kumar, who is also the Janata Dal-United President, said at a function to mark birth anniversary of the Indian Constitution's prime architect and Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar, organised by his party here.

He said that he did not know who is saying something or thinking on reservation, but all should understand that no one can play with reservation.

"We are influenced by thoughts of Ambedkar and have been trying to spread it among people to fulfill his dream," he said.

Nitish Kumar has reiterated that he will not compromise with crime,corruption and communalism. "I have never worried about power but have always worried about people. I don't care whether I am in power or not, but I never compromise with my fundamental principles," 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.)Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan on Saturday called for giving harsh punishment publicly to rapists, saying the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua has deeply disturbed him.

Addressing members of women's wing of his Jana Sena party, students and youth at the party office here, he said the incident shows that man was behaving worse than an animal.

"The eve teasers who stalk women and rape them should be punished publicly. Then only it will instill fear. We should follow Singapore in awarding the punishment," he said.

Pawan said Kathua was not the first incident, regretting that the "system" gets into some action only an incident takes place. He noted that Nirbahaya law was enacted after a rape incident in Delhi.

"Will the MPs react only when something happens before their eyes," asked Pawan, younger brother of super star and Congress leader Chiranjeevi.

The Jana Sena also organized a silent protest at Indira Gandhi statue on Necklace Road here, to demand stringent laws be made to protect women and give harsher punishment to the culprits.

"The law acts tough in dealing with the weak and acts weak in dealing with the powerful. We will fight to bring a change in this attitude," the Jana Sena leader said.A

Pawan said whenever such incidents take place, the media should avoid creating sensation and instead behave in a manner which bring social awareness.

The actor did not agree with the view of some people that crimes against women have increased due to the influence of films. "Was the rape and murder of minor girl in Katuha was inspired by cinema and artistes"" he asked.

"As a brother, I know how difficult it is to protect girls when they go out. A situation has come where parents live in fear till their daughters return home safely."

Narrating an incident that took place few years ago during shooting of a film, he said that some people harassed girls in the presence of 200 members of the film unit and claimed that he had to come forward to protect those girls.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Internet services were suspended in four districts of Punjab on Saturday after tension gripped the industrial town of Phagwara following clashes between the Hindu and Dalit groups over a poster of Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar.

The Punjab Police on Saturday remained on high alert in Phagwara town following the clash. Tension prevailed in the industrial town, around 130 km from here, on Saturday following the clash that started late on Friday over the putting up of the Ambedkar's poster at the Goal Chowk.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered suspension of mobile Internet services in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar (Nawanshahr) districts as a precautionary measure, to check rumour mongering on social media.

Informed sources in the police said that shots were allegedly fired during the clash, which also witnessed some stone pelting. Taking serious note of the clash between the Dalits and "upper caste men", Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said: "Would not spare the culprits.

"Will not allow Punjab's peace to be destroyed at any cost. My government will bear all expenses for treatment of all those injured in the incident."

The Chief Minister directed the Ludhiana district administration to ensure the best treatment for Yashwant Kumar Bobby, reported to be seriously injured in the clash and undergoing treatment at DMC Hospital in Ludhiana.

Trouble arose on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti when one group tried to put up the poster at the crossing which was opposed by the other.

Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Palta was beaten up allegedly by the Dalits during the clash. Senior police personnel along with additional forces have been deployed in the town following the clash.

Amarinder appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony and warned of "stringent action against anyone found disturbing the law and order in the state".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Russian court has banned the popular Telegram messaging app after it refused to give the Federal Security Service (FSB) encryption keys that would grant access to user messaging data, the media reported on Saturday.

Telegram, which has more than 200 million users worldwide, is especially popular with Russia's elite. Both opposition politicians and Kremlin officials use it to stay in touch, and self-described insiders publish anonymous leaks of varying reliability from inside the halls of power, the Guardian reported.

Influential users include Margarita Simonyan, the head of the state-funded TV station Russia Today, and Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, who schedules briefings using the service.

"There are a lot of messaging services, Telegram is a very convenient one, we have been using it to communicate with journalists," Peskov said last week.

"But a law is a law, and if it is violated and no measures are taken, we will search for an alternative."

Telegram was invented by the Russian internet entrepreneur Pavel Durov, who frequently clashed with the security services over his social network VKontakte and left Russia in 2014.

Durov has said publicly he will not give the FSB access to user data. He taunted the security agency last week by posting a photograph of two metal keys, following demands that Telegram provide encryption keys to the government.

Other encrypted messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Signal, remain legal in Russia.

Amnesty International on Thursday criticised the government's case against Telegram as an attack on freedom of expression, reports the Guardian.

"By attempting to block the Telegram messaging app, the Russian authorities are launching the latest in a series of attacks on online freedom of expression in the country," said Denis Krivosheev, the human rights group's deputy director for eastern Europe and central Asia.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Russia-US military contacts on Syria are not enough to meet the needs of dialogue, and the two countries should use diplomatic methods rather than threats when communicating with each other, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

"As far as channels are concerned, the remaining channels include sporadic conversations between presidents and regular contacts between the military, which are being used in this format and within those frameworks... Servicemen are in touch with each other, everything that remains, everything that has not been frozen is being used," Lavrov said at a press conference on Friday, Xinhua reported.

However, other channels, even those that are agreed to be used, are sometimes not used, because the U.S. side tends to "refuse to meet at the last moment without explaining the reasons," he said.

The foreign minister said Moscow and Washington need to broaden channels for communication and cooperation, especially given the extremely alarming atmosphere between the two sides.

"I hope very much that after the US State Department's service ability is restored we will continue contacts on the level of leaders, deputies, and experts. These should be contacts between the diplomats, which imply that we do not include ultimatums and threats," Lavrov said.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to launch a missile attack on Syria over an alleged chemical weapon attack by the Syrian government, although the accusation was strongly denied by the latter.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a news briefing Thursday that the threat to use force against a member state of the United Nations is a "blatant violation of the UN Charter."

The chemical attack dispute is expected to further harm Russia-U.S. relations after tensions between the two sides have already soared to a new high following mutual expulsion of large numbers of diplomatic personnel.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Saudi Arabia on Saturday extended support to the coordinated missile strikes by the US, Britain and France on military targets in Syria.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) cited a source in the Saudi Foreign Ministry as saying that "the Ministry expressed Saudi Arabia's full support to the US, Britain and France's military operations on military targets in Syria".

An official from the Ministry highlighted that the operations were a response to the use of banned chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against innocent civilians and its years of "horrible crimes", the agency report said.

The official held the Syrian government responsible for such military attack and the international community for not taking serious steps against the regime.

The US, Britain and France launched coordinated strikes against Syria's research, storage and military targets to "punish" the Bashar al-Assad regime for an apparent chemical attack in Douma last week that killed over 70 people. The military action was denounced by Damascus and its ally Moscow as a "failure" and "an act of aggression".

Western allies warned Syria on Saturday that they could launch further attacks if chemical weapons were used again.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Saudi Arabia has extended its "full support" to the US, Britain and France strikes on military targets in Syria.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) citing an official source said the military strikes came as a response to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including women and children.

"The use of such internationally prohibited weapons is a continuation of the horrid crimes the regime has been committing for years against the Syrian people," it said, adding that the Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry "expressed the Kingdom's full support of US, Britain and France's military operations in Syria".

"The Syrian government (led by President Bashar Al Assad) bears responsibility for these military operations in light of the international community's failure to take strict measures against the regime."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Attendants of Prayer Writing Workshop for WDP don black to say no to violenceA group of Sikhs held a protest against atrocities against minorities and Dalits in India during B.R. Ambedkar's birth anniversary celebrations here.

About 25 Sikhs, some wearing black turbans and others black bands, held up posters and silently turned their backs on India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin as he spoke on Friday.

Unperturbed, Akbaruddin continued with his speech and no action was taken inside the conference room against the protesters.

The president of the Youth Akali Dal (Amritsar) US, Amandeep Singh told IANS that the group wanted to "expose the hypocrisy" of the Indian government celebrating Ambedkar's birthday before the world while his ideals were violated in India by the atrocities against Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and Dalits.

He said the Golden Temple was violated and thousands of Sikhs have been killed then and later during riots but no action has been taken against many important persons responsible for the killings.

Singh said the protest was held on behalf of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).

As the protesters filed outside the conference room, they were stopped by security personnel, who confiscated their posters and all the papers they had and let them go with a warning that such activities were not allowed inside the UN.

Several security personnel, including emergency services officers in black uniforms, rushed to the conference room entrance but only a couple of them entered the room unobtrusively to keep watch.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@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.)India on Saturday, while describing an alleged chemical attack in Syria as "deplorable", called for restraint after the US, Britain and France launched coordinated missile attacks on the West Asian nation.

"We have taken note of the recent strikes in Syria. India is closely following the situation. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to queries.

He said that India wants "an impartial and objective investigationa by the Organisation for Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to establish the facts.

"In the meantime, we urge all parties to show restraint and to avoid any further escalation in the situation," the spokesperson said.

"The matter should be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, and on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter and in accordance with international law. We hope that the long drawn suffering of the people of Syria would come to an end soon."

The US, Britain and France launched coordinated strikes against Syria's research, storage and military targets to "punish" the Bashar al-Assad regime for an apparent chemical attack in Douma that killed over 70 people.

The military action was denounced by Damascus and its ally Moscow as a "failure" and "an act of aggression".

Western allies warned Syria on Saturday that they could launch further attacks if chemical weapons were used again.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)veteran actress and politician Hema Malini says there should be a strong support from media and a national uprisibng to bring justice for the 8-year-old girl who was gang-raped and killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

Hema took to the social media on Saturday to express her concern.

"There should be a national uprising with strong support from the media, against these animals who don't spare even babies and toddlers. I agree with Manekaji (Gandhi) that death penalty should be instantaneous once proven guilty and there should be no bail or pardon, juveniles included, for all rapes," she tweeted.

Maneka, the Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister, said on Friday that the Ministry intend to bring an amendment to the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act to provide for stringent punishment against rape.

The minor girl from the Bakerwal community was kidnapped on January 10; taken to a temple in Rasana village in Kathua.

Her attackers, who included temple official and policemen, drugged and gang raped her over days before finally killing her and dumping her body in nearby forest seven days later.

The girl was attacked to scare away the nomadic Muslim community out of the village.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Saturday conducted a protest rally demanding justice for Khatua and Unnao rape victims.

Party's senior leaders including ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya and Shashi Panja participated in the rally organised by the Trinamool's women wing.

Participants were shouting slogans for justice, carrying placards against the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh demanding strong action against culprits in the two gang-rape incidents, one at Unnao in Uttar Pradesh and the other at Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.

Demanding exemplary punishments for culprits, Panja accused the BJP government of trying to protect them.

"Following a major outrage in the media and the public, the party was forced to take action. The BJP have even tried to communalize the incident," she said.

Bhattacharya said: "The women are not safe in this country. It is shameful that the government and the Prime Minister was sitting silent for so long."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump has issued a full pardon to Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of revealing the identity of an undercover CIA agent while serving as chief of staff to then-Vice President Dick Cheney in 2001-2005.

"I don't know Mr. Libby, but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly. Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life," Trump said on Friday, Efe news reported.

In 2007, Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice.

The jury determined that the former official serving in the George W. Bush administration had lied to investigators regarding his conversations with journalists about CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The CIA agent's name appeared in the press after her husband, former US diplomat Joseph Wilson, published an article criticizing the Bush administration's justifications for launching the Iraq war.

Libby was sentenced to 30 months in jail, although Bush commuted Libby's sentence, who was still forced to pay a $250,000 fine and remain on probation for two years.

The White House statement regarding the full pardon notes that Libby paid the fine, served the two years of probation and performed 400 hours of community service.

During his eight years in the White House, Bush granted 189 pardons, although he did not pardon Libby, drawing criticisms from Cheney.

Trump had already used his power to pardon in 2017, sparing the controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Apraio a jail sentence after he was convicted of continuing to have his officers racially profile Hispanic drivers in defiance of a court order.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, has been under criminal investigation for months in New York because of his business dealings, the Justice Department said.

The revelation comes amid a courtroom drama that unfolded on Friday, as Cohen's attorneys and Trump's lawyers began a fight hours before with the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan over a massive raid of Cohen's records, reports CNN.

Cohen's attorneys have filed a temporary restraining order in the matter, asking the court to stop federal prosecutors from using some of the records they seized.

Cohen did not appear in court on Friday and has not been charged with a crime.

In response to Cohen's motion to prevent prosecutors from using evidence collected in Monday's raids of his home and office, the US attorney in New York asserted the raids were authorised by a federal judge to seek evidence of conduct "for which Cohen is under criminal investigation".

A court filing did not detail what Cohen is under investigation for. But it contains the first details released by the Justice Department on the searches, which covered Cohen's residence, hotel room, office, safety deposit boxes and two cell phones.

Previous search warrants allowed New York federal prosecutors to search multiple email accounts, the filing said.

In them, they found that Cohen had done "little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump".

Monday's raids also included a search for communications related to efforts to suppress negative information ahead of the November 2016 election, including communications that Trump had with Cohen regarding the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape that captured the President making lewd remarks about women that surfaced in October 2016, CNN reported.

It also potentially involved records related to porn star Stormy Daniels, who was paid $130,000 weeks before the election to silence an alleged affair she had with Trump.

Records related to Cohen's taxi medallion business were also sought.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Paris, April 14 (IANS/WAM) The UAE has chaired a session held on the sidelines of the 204th edition of the Unesco Executive Council to strengthen cooperation and scale up joint operations between the international organisation's national committees in areas of mutual interest.

The session brought together a number of members at Unesco's offices here, the report said on Saturday. The meeting, chaired by Amal Mohammed Al-Koos, Director of the UAE National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, addressed issues including sustainable development, the UNESCO-affiliated school network, cultural and heritage projects.

Al-Koos underlined the importance of supporting the work of Unesco's national committees to develop more innovative ways of enhancing constructive strategic partnerships that can best deliver the agency's vision, mission and values across the world.

She noted that it has been agreed to hold a future meeting in Kenya to address such issues in a more practical way through brainstorming sessions and workshops, to come up with an integrated framework that ensures holistic solutions to current challenges.

--IANS/WAM

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lauded Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as a towering figure in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

"'Mama Winnie,' as she was affectionately known, was a towering figure in the struggle against apartheid. She was an international symbol of resistance who left an indelible mark on the history of the 20th century," Guterres told a memorial service for Madikizela-Mandela at UN Headquarters in New York on Friday, Xinhua reported.

Winnie, a former wife of late Nelson Mandela, died on April 2 in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the age of 81. She was known as Winnie Mandela in apartheid years and modified her name after a divorce from Nelson Mandela in 1996. Nelson Mandela died in 2013.

"Faced with the most heinous of racist and discriminatory regimes, she helped lead the way in showing what it takes to overcome such tyranny: strength, defiance and courage," he said.

"She endured surveillance, harassment, torture and imprisonment, including in solitary confinement, making huge personal sacrifices," Guterres said, in reference to her 17 months in prison, 13 of them in solitary confinement.

"Yet, through her resistance, she inspired countless others and helped keep hope alive through the darkest periods of the struggle."

In her later years Madikizela-Mandela encountered accusations of corruption, extreme physical brutality, kidnapping, even murder.

"None of us would condone all actions across a complex and complicated life, but Winnie Mandela's dedication was evident in her early activism and her work researching infant mortality in the Alexandra Township," the UN chief said.

"As a strong and fearless woman, she had to fight patriarchy's definitions of womanhood," he said. "In apartheid South Africa, the combination of patriarchy and racism together meant that black women confronted enormous obstacles from the cradle to the grave -- making her own achievements all the more exceptional."

In the decades-long fight against apartheid, the United Nations stood with Madikizela-Mandela and all those in South Africa, who faced unrelenting racism and discrimination, 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.)A special CBI court here on Saturday sent, to seven days CBI custody, rape accused Uttar Pradesh BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar, while the medical examination of the 17-year-old victim was conducted at a hospital here earlier in the day.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had sought a 14-day remand but the court only allowed a week-long remand. The agency earlier got Sengar's medical examination done here.

Sengar, the lawmaker from Unnao's Bangamau, however continued to claim that he was innocent and told media persons before he was presented before the court that he had full faith in God and the judiciary.

Accused of raping a 17-year-old and conspiring to kill her father, who died of injuries he sustained while beaten brutally in police custody by Sengar's brother and some aides, was arrested by the CBI on Friday after a day-long interrogation. He was also confronted with some facts by the agency.

Woman Shashi Singh, who is accused of taking the girl to the legislator has also been arrested. Three cases have been filed against the party legislator under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

Earlier, the victim, who along with her mother and uncle, were brought here under tight security in the morning, underwent tests at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.

The victim later told media persons that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Thursday statement that the guilty will be brought to book was very reassuring and that he now hoped that justice will be done in her case. She also said that the arrest of the accused legislator was also a positive development.

She also thanked the media and the CBI for taking up her battle that so far was a "lonely and losing battle".

However, her uncle accused the Unnao administration of conniving to save the legislator.

She was later taken to the CBI's zonal office where a detailed statement from her is likely to be recorded.

The victim tried to set herself ablaze outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence on last Sunday, claiming inaction in the rape case that took place in 2017.

Later on Sunday, her father was picked up by the police and allegedly beaten up in custody by the MLA's brother Atul Singh and his aides, following which he died in hospital.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress on Saturday demanded that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath be sacked for "utterly failing in his constitutional duties as CM" and for "safeguarding the interests of Unnao rape accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar".

"BJP leaders have mastered the art of extending state protection to rapists, shaming the victim and her family, defending the accused and crying conspiracy, blatant cover-ups, absolute whataboutery and superficial damage Control, and the Adityanath government has perfected this art to the hilt," Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement.

"'Jungle raaj' and 'gunda raaj' actively aided and abetted by Adityanath government has become a pain for the people of the state and has conclusively exposed BJP's slogan of 'Beti Bachao'," he added.

Citing a recent high court order, Surjewala said: "In a damning rebuke to the BJP's claims, the Allahabad High Court has unravelled the real truth of the Unnao rape case."

He said the high court was taken aback by the insensitive stand and callous attitude of the Advocate General, who represented the state government in court and received his brief from the highest levels.

"Naari Virodhi (anti-woman) Adityanath has not only utterly failed in his constitutional duties as the Chief Minister and abused the oath of office but also played an important protagonist in safeguarding the interests of the rape accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar," he added.

Pointing out that the BJP rule in the state had become "Ravana Rajya" for women, Dalits and farmers, the party said there was a 33 per cent increase in crime against women in Uttar Pradesh -- from 33,728 cases in 2016-17 to 44,936 in 2017-18.

"The real culprit of Unnao's victim, who was raped reportedly in June 2017, and who pleaded at the doorstep of the BJP CM even attempting self-immolation is no one but the Chief Minister and he should immediately be sacked," said Surjewala.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ambae residents during the day have to use umbrellas and cover their hairs to keep the ash off their bodies.

Photo: William S. MalaThe US and its allies delivered a military strike against Syria precisely at the moment when the country received a chance for a peaceful future, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Those behind it lay claim to moral leadership in this world and declare their exclusiveness and uniqueness," TASS news agency quoted Zakharova as saying in a Facebook post late Friday night.

"In fact, it takes a very peculiar kind of uniqueness to attack Syria's capital at a time when the country has received a chance for peace at last".

On Friday night, the US, France and the UK launched coordinated strikes in Syria as President Donald Trump sought to "punish" his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, that killed over 70 people.

The strikes targeted three facilities associated with Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, including a scientific research facility around Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility around Homs alleged to be used for sarin gas and a nearby command post, according to the Pentagon.

Immediately after the attack, Russia's ambassador in Washington Anatoly Antonov issued a statement saying: "The worst apprehensions have come true. Our warnings have been left unheard," TASS news agency reported.

"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again we're being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

"Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible. The US, possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons, has no moral right to blame other countries," Antonov added.

The US Department of State has not commented if Russia had been notified over the strikes.

A department official told TASS that nothing could be said at this point.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)South Africa's liberation struggle icon Winnie Madikizela Mandela, who was once married to former President Nelson Mandela, was laid to rest here on Saturday with full military honours.

The government dispatched 600 buses which started collecting people around 4.30 a.m. to the stadium where the service took place.

After family rituals in the morning, Madikizela Mandela's body was taken to the stadium draped in the national flag. South Africans stood by the road side as the funeral procession proceeded to the stadium. Many sung liberation struggle songs, Xinhua news agency reported.

Madikizela Mandela died on April 2 in Johannesburg at the age of 81. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said her death unified people across political divide and beyond the country's borders.

"In death, she has brought us all together, from near and far, across many nations and continents, to mourn, to pay homage, to remember and to fondly reminisce.

"In death, she has demonstrated that our many differences along political party and racial lines and the numerous disputes we may have are eclipsed by our shared desire to follow her lead in building a just, equitable and caring society," he said.

Ramaphosa said Madikizela Mandela provided leadership at the most difficult time and never demanded a reward. "We must continue to touch Mama's wounds, acknowledge her immense pain and torment, and pass on the stories of her suffering to future generations so that it may always be known that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a giant, a pathfinder... and forever the Mother of the Nation."

Madikizela Mandela's young sister, Zukiswa Madikizela described her sister as fearless, courageous, loving and good at street fighting.

Madikizela Mandela's daughter Zenani, broke down on the podium while paying her last respects to her mother.

British supermodel Naomi Campbell also addressed the mourners where she also broke down. She said the world came to know about Nelson Mandela through the late Madikizela Mandela.

Campbell said: "She was a heroine, of a whole continent, a courageous symbol of resistance for all of us. She was the eyes and ears of the world during those dark days.

From the stadium, Madikizela Mandela was taken to Fourways Memorial Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, where she was laid to rest.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Members of Dalit community on Saturday "cleansed" B R Ambedkar's statue here soon after Union minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes on his 127th birth anniversary, a Dalit leader said, claiming that their presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

Thakor Solanki, general secretary of SC/ST the Employees Union of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, claimed that they had gathered at the venue to pay their tributes before the BJP leaders.

The members of the Dalit community raised slogans at the GEB Circle area on Race Course against other party leaders and Gandhi, the Women and Child Development minister who is in the city to attend a number of events.

She arrived at Ambedkar's statue along with BJP MP Ranjanben Bhatt, city mayor Bharat Dangar, BJP MLA Yogesh Patel and others.

The members of the Dalit community, led by Solanki, started raising slogans against them. An argument broke out between them and the police personnel, but no untoward incident took place.

After Gandhi and other leaders garlanded the statue around 9 am and left the venue, the members of the community washed it with milk and water, saying the BJP leaders' presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

"We told the police that since we had gathered there much before the BJP leaders came, it was our right to pay tributes first. However, police prevented us from garlanding the statue stating that as per the protocol, it was the mayor's right. This angered our members," Solanki said.

"The statue and the atmosphere in the GEB circle area was polluted after the arrival of Gandhi and other BJP leaders. Therefore, we cleansed Ambedkar's statue with milk and water after it was garlanded by the BJP leaders," he added.

Before Gandhi's arrival, Jivraj Chauhan, general secretary of SC/ST cell of BJP's state unit, was also gheraoed by the Dalit members, who shouted slogans against him, forcing him to leave the venue.



Tension over Ambedkar statue in Punjab town

Tension prevailed in Phagwara town of Punjab's Kapurthala district on Saturday following a late night clash between two groups over the installation of a Babasaheb BR Ambedkar statue.

The trouble arose on the eve of when one group tried to put up the statue at the Balmiki Chowk crossing which was opposed by the other group.



A group of Sikhs has protested against alleged atrocities perpetrated against minority communities in India during the commemoration of Babasaheb Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary at the world body's headquarters.

India's Permanent Mission to the UN had organised a special event titled Leaving No One Behind' at the UN yesterday to celebrate Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary. UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steiner delivered the keynote address at the event.Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said 100 BPOs will be opened at Common Service Centres (CSCs) in Bihar as part of the government's efforts to empower women and people belonging to Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribe.

"We have started programmes to open BPO centres. We will be opening smaller BPO centres of 5-10 seats for SC and ST in villages," Prasad, the minister for Electronics, IT and Law and Justice, told reporters here.

Prasad was here to address a function on 'The Vision and Mission of Dr B R Ambedkar' organised by the Electronics and IT ministry on the occasion of Ambedkar's birth anniversary.

The minister also addressed CSC Village Level Entrepreneurs on the occasion.

BPO centres have already come up in Patna and Muzaffarpur, while such centres would soon be opened in smaller cities like Samastipur, Dewaria, Ghazipur etc, he said.

Prasad also said the government is taking steps to empower the SCs and STs with technology and a special digital literacy drive on a "mission mode" will be launched soon.

Besides, the best performing Village Level Entrepreneur, run by SC and ST, will be rewarded Rs 1 lakh cash prize, Prasad said.

Emphasising on the need for increasing digital literacy in the country, the minister said the central government has set a target of making 6 crore people digitally literate under PM Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA).

Of the government's target of making 6 crore people digitally literate, Prasad said 1.12 crore people have got digital training which included 23 lakh SC and 1.5 lakh ST.

He said 8.02 lakh people have been digitally trained in Bihar that includes 2 lakh people belonging to SC and ST.

Exhorting the CSCs to help in making people digitally literate, Prasad said that the NDA government has saved Rs 83,000 crore through Direct Benefit Transfer scheme by removing middlemen.

"This happened because the government opened 31 crore Jandhan accounts and integrated them with Aadhaar," he said.

Drawing an analogy between the present NDA government led by Narendra Modi and the Rajiv Gandhi government in the 1980s, Prasad said "Rajiv Gandhi used to say that merely 15 out of 100 paise would reach the beneficiary, but today, when the government sends Rs 1,000 to the beneficiary, then all of it reaches his/her accounts...This is the difference between Narendra Modi government and Rajiv Gandhi government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The oath of affirmation was administered to 158 young soldiers who passed out of the Mahar Regiment Centre here after a rigorous military course of 34 weeks, Army officials said today.

They were administered the oath at the Passing Out ceremony yesterday by the Centre's officiating commandant, Colonel Brajesh Singh, who asked the young soldiers to perform selfless service and to be prepared to meet existing operational challenges, an Army release stated today.

The Colonel recounted the contribution of gallant and brave Mahar soldiers who achieved martyrdom in the service of the nation.

The release informed that the recruits were presented with medals for excelling in various fields including drill, physical training, firing among others.

The "Gaurav Padak" was also presented to the proud parents of young soldiers in the presence of army personnel, civil dignitaries and students of local schools attending the parade, the release said.

The Mahars have a long tradition of bearing arms and were respected members of Shivaji's and later the Maratha armies, the release said, adding that they became part of the Bombay Presidency Army when the British administration in India formed the Indian Infantry in the early 19th century.

The first Mahar battalion was raised in 1917 and saw action in the First World War.

After being merged with other regiments, it was re-raised in 1941 and fought valiantly in Burma, Persia and Iraq in the Second World War, the release said.

In 1946, the regiment converted to the specialised role of fielding medium machine guns and for a decade and half rendered the most effective combat support for infantry troops.

In 1956, the regiment absorbed three battalions of the Border Scouts, which were raised for manning the Punjab border, the release informed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four Palestinian militants from Islamic Jihad were killed in an apparent accidental explosion near the Gaza-Israel border today, the group said.

Islamic Jihad's armed wing, in a statement, said four of its fighters had been killed during "preparations", without giving further details.

The men died when a tuk tuk vehicle exploded a few hundred metres from the border with Israel, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Islamic Jihad is an ally of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.

The group, which is supported by Iran, has fought alongside Hamas against Israel in multiple wars, most recently in 2014.

The explosions comes a day after a third Friday of protests along the Gaza-Israel border.

Thousands gathered to call for a return to their historic homelands in what is now Israel.

One person was killed yesterday as Israeli forces along the border fired at stone-throwing protesters.

Israel has accused Hamas and other militant groups of seeking to use the Gaza protests as cover for planning attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today alleged that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was the "real culprit" in the Unnao rape case and demanded his immediate sacking.

The opposition party also hit out at the BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh over its "indictment" by the Allahabad High Court, saying the chief minister's position had become "rudderless" in the state.

"The real culprit of the Unnao victim, who was reportedly raped in June, 2017 and who pleaded at the doorstep of the BJP chief minister, even attempting self-immolation, is no one else but the CM, Ajay Singh Bisht alias Adityanath, and he should immediately be sacked," Congress communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement here.

He also referred to excerpts from the court's observation on the Unnao case and alleged that Uttar Pradesh had become "Ravana Rajya" for women, Dalits and farmers during the BJP rule.

"BJP leaders have mastered the art of extending state protection to rapists, shaming the victim and her family, defending the accused and crying conspiracy...And the Adityanath government has perfected this art to the hilt," Surjewala alleged.

The high court's observations yesterday revealed "how a chief minister can become deaf, blind and mute to a heinous crime like rape, the custodial death of the victim's father and the continuous loud cries of the victim's family", he said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) made the second arrest in the Unnao rape case today as it took into custody Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly took the 17-year-old victim girl to the prime accused, BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)All India Radio (AIR) today launched a weekly interview programme, Jan Seva Sambad, with Union minister Smriti Irani featuring in its first episode wherein she expressed anguish over the washout of the Budget session of Parliament.

The half-an-hour weekly programme would be broadcast every Saturday morning at 10.30 on the entire AIR network, according to a statement.

The first episode of the programme featured Information and Broadcasting Minister Irani wherein she "expressed her anguish over the washout of the Budget session of Parliament and underlined how it adversely affects the common man and taxpayer", the release read.

'Jan Seva Sambad' is a platform where ministers, legislators, and senior government functionaries can directly communicate with people about various welfare measures and other issues, the release said.

The first episode was broadcast on the entire AIR network, including FM Rainbow channels, except in election-bound Karnataka.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A series of air strikes in Syria by the US and its allies were designed to send a "clear message" to President Bashar al-Assad to stop his chemical weapons programme, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said today and asked all civilised nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war.

His remarks came after President Donald Trump announced targeted strikes on Syria in collaboration with the UK and France to retaliate against the April 7 chemical attack in the Syrian town of Duma.

"The authoritarian Assad regime did not get the message last year as it was hit by American missiles after it carried out chemical weapons attack against its own people," Mattis said adding that it carried used chemical weapons again this year.

Emphasising that the strikes are directed at the Syrian regime, Mattis said in conducting these strikes, the US has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties.

"But it is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process," he said.

General Jon Dunford, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the targets that were struck and destroyed were specifically associated with the Syrian regimes chemical weapons program.

The first target was a scientific research center located in the Greater Damascus area.

"This military facility was a Syrian Center for the research development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology," he said, adding that the second target was a chemical weapons storage facility.

"We assessed that this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment. The third target, which was in the vicinity of the second target, contain both the chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post," he said.

Dunford said that the nw strikes were qualitatively and quantitatively different than the one conducted in 2017.

Last year, the US conducted a unilateral strike on a single site.

The focus was on the aircraft associated with the Syrian chemical weapons attack in April of 2017.

"This evening, we conducted strikes with two allies on multiple sites that will result in a long-term degradation of Syrians capability to research, develop and employee, chemical and biological weapons. Important infrastructure was destroyed which will result in a setback for the Syrian regime," he said.

"They will lose years of research and development data, specialized equipment, and expensive chemical weapons precursors. The strike was not only a strong message to the regime that their actions were inexcusable, but it also inflicted maximum damage without unnecessary risk to innocent civilians," Dunford said.

Responding to questions, Mattis said that "right now this is a one-time shot" and it sent a very strong message to Assad.

"We did have some initial surface to air missile activity from the Syrian regime. That is the only retaliatory action that we're aware of at this time," Dunford said, adding that the nature of the operation and targets that were assigned to the United States Central Command have been completed.

The United States, France and Britain, Dunford said, "did not do any coordination" with the Russians on the strikes, nor did they were pre-notified by the US.

The only communications that took place specifically (with Russians) with this operation before the targets were struck was the normal deconfliction of the airspace, the procedures that are in place for all of our operations in Syria," he said.

US Vice President Mike Pence, who is currently travelling to Lime in Peru to attend the Summit of the Americas, abruptly left its opening ceremony to notify the Congressional leadership of the air strikes in Syria.

Pence spoke to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, his spokesperson Jarrod Agen told reporters travelling with him. He also spoke with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Protests and tensions in parts of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, and a political slugfest marked the Ambedkar Jayanti today, a day top leaders, including President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi paid tributes to the Dalit icon on his 127th birth anniversary.

Kovind became the first President to visit the birthplace of the chief architect of the Constitution in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow to pay homage on the occasion.

Kovind urged people to follow the path of peace, harmony and brotherhood shown by Ambedkar.

His statement assumes significance in the backdrop of the April 2 nationwide Dalit bandh, which saw large-scale violence in several states, including Madhya Pradesh where more than half a dozen people lost their lives.

"The society needs 'samrasta' (harmony) today and not 'samar' (conflict or war)...It needs non-violence and peace," he said at a function in Mhow, where the MP government has built a large memorial dedicated to Ambedkar.

Kovind said, "The country saw 13 presidents before me. I came to know I am the first president to visit Ambedkar's birthplace on the occasion of his birth anniversary."



Modi, who was in Jangala in Chhattisgarh on a day's visit, said Ambedkar has given a Constitution that protects the rights of weaker sections of the society and appealed to people not to join Naxals to achieve their goals.

The prime minister said awakening among the poor and backward sections about their rights, hopes and aspirations was due to Ambedkar, and attributed his own success to the legendary social reformer.

Modi said, "A son of a poor mother, belonging to a very backward community, this partner of yours is if today the prime minister, that is too due to Babasaheb Ambedkar."



In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, "Paying rich tribute to Baba Saheb Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. His thoughts and struggle will keep inspiring us in our struggle to bring equality, human dignity and social justice in the society".

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the BJP can inaugurate as many memorials as they like, "but the fact is that they are reducing sub-plans, financial allocations".

"You are robbing them of their scholarships, you are participating in conspiracies to dilute their reservations and then you are shedding crocodile tears in the name of Dalits," he said.

The DMK Working President M K Stalin alleged that the BJP-led Centre was hampering Ambedkar's ideals behind the making of the Constitution.

Coinciding with the birth anniversary of the country's first law minister, the prime minister launched a healthcare and wellness centre under the "Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission".

He also launched the Gram Swaraj scheme to empower weaker sections, tribals, women and backward people, besides the Van Dhan scheme to ensure better marketing and value addition to minor forest produce to benefit forest dwellers.

Meanwhile in Phagwara (Punjab), members of two Hindu groups and a Dalit outfit clashed, injuring four persons, with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today appealing for peace and ordering suspension of mobile Internet and text services in four districts.

The groups clashed last night, on the eve of Ambedkar's birth anniversary, over the installation of a board and renaming of a "chowk" (intersection) in Phagwara, the police said.

The chief minister has ordered suspension of mobile Internet services in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar districts to check rumour-mongering on social media, according to an official release.

In Greater Noida in UP, a statue of Ambedkar was found damaged yesterday. The incident in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh came to light when the villagers spotted the damaged statue. A large police contingent was deployed in view of the tense situation.

SP (rural) Suniti Singh said a case was registered against unidentified persons for vandalism and that the guilty would not be spared.

A large number of people from nearby villages had gathered after the spread. Police, however, controlled the situation. Security has been beefed up across the state.

Singh said that the damaged statue was being replaced with a new one.

A group of Sikhs also protested outside the United Nations headquarters in New York against alleged atrocities perpetrated against minority communities in India.

In Vadodara in Gujarat, members of a Dalit group "cleansed" Ambedkar's statue soon after Union minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes, a community leader said, claiming that their presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

Dalit leaders also took strong objection to the painting of the upper part of an under construction Ambedkar memorial in Gorakhpur (UP) in saffron colour.

After the new found bonhomie with its arch rival BSP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav unveiled a statue of Ambedkar at its Lucknow office.

Among other leaders, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and chief ministers of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana -- Devendra Fadnavis, Raghubar Das, Yogi Adityanath, K Palanisami and K Chadrasekhar Rao respectively -- also paid homage to Ambedkar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that B R Ambedkar had made provisions in the Constitution for the protection of the rights of backward classes as he appealed to the people not to join the Naxals for securing their rights.

He asked the parents of those who had joined Naxalism to not hand over their children's lives to the leaders who were keeping themselves safe while letting the locals die.

Modi asserted that awakening among poor and backward sections about their rights and aspirations was due to Ambedkar and also attributed his own success to the Dalit icon and framer of the Constitution.

"Son of a poor mother like me hails from a very backward section of the society and could become prime minister due to Babasaheb Ambedkar," he said.

After launching of the first phase of Ayushman Bharat scheme, the prime minister said his government was focusing on a new approach for the development of the poor.

"Baba Sahab has given us the Constitution. He ensured protection of your rights...It is the duty of the government to take care of your rights. You need not pick up weapons...ruin your lives," he told a gathering.

"I want to tell parents that their sons and daughters have chosen a path...But at least think about those who are leading them. None of them is local and they are not from among you. They have come from outside.

"They keep themselves safe in jungles and keep your kids in the front and leave them to die. Why are you giving your children in their hands," the prime minister said.

He said the government was committed to protecting their rights. It was committed to working on the path of development and asked them to educate their children.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme aims to work on the development and upgradation of sub-centres and primary health centres in 1.5 lakh villages.

He said these primary healthcare centres will be developed as health and wellness centres by 2022.

The prime minister said his government was working with new ideas for the development of 115 backward districts of the country as he asked each district to come up with its own model of development according to their available resources.

"115 backward districts in the country will be given priority in the Ayushman Bharat scheme," Modi said.

"We can't reach new destinations by treading on old paths. New models of development are needed to be chalked out and the Centre has been working in these areas," he said.

The prime minister said the Gram Swaraj Yojana which was also launched today would focus on welfare of the poor, Dalits, tribals, women and backward sections of the society.

The prime minister congratulated the Bijapur district administration, which is among the most backward 115 districts in the country, for improving its development statistics in the last three months.

"Even after 70 years of Independence, more than 100 districts have been left out of development. These districts, if encouraged, can be turned into models of development. Local administration, elected representatives and people of these districts should unitedly create their own development model," he said.

He added the most backward districts are rich with abundant natural resources, which can further aid their development.

Paying tributes to Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary, Modi said the Dalit icon was highly educated and could have easily led a lavish life in any developed country.

"But he studied outside, came back to India and dedicated his life to welfare and uplift of Dalits. The aspirations and hope of people are associated with Ambedkar's name," he said.

"It is because of Ambedkar that today Dalits have the realisation of their rights and aspirations to live a dignified life and the government is working to fulfil their wishes and aspirations," he added.

The prime minister, who inaugurated several development projects including a new rail line, Internet services, roads and bridges here, said the identity of Bastar, a Naxalite stronghold, was changing and in the future it would be known as an economic and transport hub.

He inaugurated the first health centre under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme here. He also launched Van Dhan scheme which was announced in the budget.

Under it, Van Vikas Kendras would be established which would ensure better marketing and value addition to minor forest produce to benefit forest dwellers.

Modi is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur and this was his fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where Assembly elections are due later this year.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Health Minister J P Nadda were also present on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government will open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre by 2022, which will be equipped to treat host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has ordered a vigilance inquiry into alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Kheri Lamba village in Kaithal district.

Vij, who was presiding over a meeting of the District Grievance Redressal Committee in Kaithal today, ordered the inquiry after hearing complaints from villagers regarding fake job cards and other irregularities, according to an official release.

A total of 12 complaints were taken up by the minister in the meeting.

On other complaints, Vij ordered action against the sarpanch of Dherdu village for irregularities in various development works. A villager accused the sarpanch of embezzlement of funds sanctioned for construction of a cremation ground.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hollywood star Ben Affleck today shared his condolences after a "Batman" fan, an 11-year-old refugee, who reached out for the superhero's help, died of cancer.

Last week, the 45-year-old actor took a break from filming "Triple Frontier" in Hawaii and FaceTimed with Mukuta after the boy had requested the Dark Knight to help reunite his family.

Affleck took to Twitter to share his sorrow on Mukuta's demise.

"Mukuta was a strong and brave young man. Sending my heartfelt condolences to his family," the actor wrote, alongside a article on Mukuta's death.

Mukuta's last wish was for his family - his father and seven of his brothers and sisters living in Atlanta and his mother and four siblings in Zimbabwe - to be reunited before he passed.

While in an Atlanta hospice, the boy's call on Facebook for Batman's, his favourite superhero, help went viral on social media.

"Such a memorable day for Mukuta who's a super #Batman fan. He received a phone call from @BenAffleck today. Thanks to the widespread community support and helping us deliver on our mission: To Improve the Lives of Those We Serve," Hospice Atlanta centre tweeted.

Affleck also offered to help fly Mukuta's mother from Zimbabwe to Atlanta to be with her son during this difficult time.

"#HospiceAtlanta & Mukuta's family are so thankful to @BenAffleck, who following his FaceTime conversation w/Mukuta yesterday, has graciously offered to fly his mother from Zimbabwe to reunite with her son," the centre said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Haryana government has decided to set up a three-member panel to review the police cases filed in connection with violence during the April 2 "Bharat Bandh" called by Dalits to protest the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act.

At a programme to mark the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the committee would review all the cases and "the guilty would be punished and innocent people would be let off".

An IAS officer, an IPS officer and a public representative would be members of the committee, he said.

Referring to the incidents of violence on April 2, he said, "A section of society was demonstrating peacefully in the state when some anti-social elements infiltrated and tried to disturb the law and order situation."



Around 100 people were arrested in connection with the violence during the bandh called by Dalit organisations in Haryana. 47 FIRs have been filed at different police stations in this regard.

Khattar said the state government would soon constitute the Haryana Scheduled Castes Commission and notify all posts meant for Scheduled Castes at one go to clear the backlog.

The chief minister asked people not to get mislead by the Opposition.

He said Bharat Ratna should have been awarded to Ambedkar immediately after he wrote the Constitution.

"But he got the award in 1991. The first Bharat Ratna was given to Jawahar Lal Nehru instead in 1955. This underscores the pick and choose policy adopted by the then ruling party," he alleged.

"Similarly, Indira Gandhi was awarded Bharat Ratna when she became prime minister in 1971. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, who worked for the political unity of the country, got the award in 1990, 39 years after his demise in 1951," he said.

Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated seven Antyodaya Bhawans in Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Jind, Yamunanagar, Faridabad and Gurugram for dissemination of information about government welfare schemes.

At these Bhawans, people will get information about all available schemes of different departments.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BJP and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh poured scorn on each other, making desperate attempts to claim the legacy of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary today.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Congress of trampling the spirit of the Constitution by imposing Emergency in 1975.

The opposition party hit back, alleging the BJP was talking about changing the Constitution.

Mhow, the birthplace of the social reformer, became the stage for both the parties to exchange bards.

The Congress launched "Save the Constitution" campaign, which the BJP claimed was a disrespect to Ambedkar.

"These (Congress) people have launched 'Save the Constitution' campaign. They had trampled the Constitution by imposing Emergency in 1975," Chouhan said at a function organised to mark Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary.

"The Constitution is not in danger under the current President (Ram Nath Kovind) and Prime Minister (Narendra Modi). It is completely safe," Chouhan said at the function attended by Kovind.

The chief minister alleged that Jawaharlal Nehru had tried hard to ensure Ambedkar did not become a member of Parliament.

"They disrespected the architect of the Constitution when he was alive, and after his death, they want to save the Constitution. They are offering flowers at the statue of Ambedkar," he said.

Kicking off the campaign, state Congress president Arun Yadav said his party had always endeavored to promote the views of India's first law minister.

"We have always tried to promote Ambedkar's views, his principle of social harmony. The BJP's ideology is about dividing society," he said.

"The BJP is talking about changing the Constitution. Under its rule, the reservation system is facing tough challenges," Yadav alleged.

Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot said the BJP government built a grand Ambedkar memorial here in 2008, but the Congress failed to do so despite being in power in Madhya Pradesh for long.

The Narendra Modi government is turning the places linked with Ambedkar into memorials, the Dalit leader said.

"The Constitution faced challenges on many counts and the possibility of a threat to the interest of the reserved categories did emerge.

"But our governments have always worked to set such situations right," Gehlot said.

Leader of Opposition in the MP Assembly Ajay Singh said, "We have held Babasaheb in high esteem in the last 60 years. Under the BJP rule, even his statues are not safe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Union government and the ruling BJP today embarked on a massive rural outreach, especially towards Dalits and tribals, with the launch of 'gram swaraj abhiyan', which aims to cover thousands of villages with seven key welfare schemes of the Modi dispensation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bijapur, a tribal district in Chhattisgarh, to launch several government projects, including a wellness centre under the ambitious health insurance scheme 'Ayushmaan Bharat'. There, he invoked his humble origins while paying tribute to Bhimrao Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary.

BJP president Amit Shah paid tributes to the Dalit icon at the party's headquarters while hundreds of its MPs, including Union ministers, fanned out across India to join people as part of the outreach programme.

Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Radha Mohan Singh were in Patna and Motihari. Prasad met women rural entrepreneurs from the two backward communities, while Singh joined them in listening to Modi's speech.

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan was in a Telangana region to launch the 'Ujjwala' scheme.

The 'gram swaraj ahiyan', which will continue till May 5, is being seen as a part of the BJP's massive outreach to the rural poor, especially Dalits, as it gears up for a string of assembly elections leading to the Lok Sabha polls due by next year.

The campaign comes against the backdrop of opposition parties targeting the Modi government over its alleged anti-Dalit policies.

Modi has asked BJP MPs, including Union ministers, to ensure everyone in villages, where the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes constitute more than 50 per cent of the population, is covered under the schemes, which aims to provide LPG connections, vaccination for children, 'Jan Dhan' bank accounts and electricity for households.

Official sources said there are 20,844 such villages across India but the exercise will not cover West Bengal and Karnataka, where the Model Code of Conduct is in force in view of panchayat and assembly polls in the two states.

BJP MPs have been asked to spend at least a night in one such village, while Union ministers will spend two nights in different parts of the country during the exercise.

They will highlight the government's works for the poor and farmers.

In an address to party MPs, the prime minister had spelled out several programmes with April 18 being observed as 'Swachh Bharat' festival.

April 20, 24 and 28 will be observed as 'Ujjwala Diwas', 'Panchayati Raj Diwas' and 'Gram Shakti Diwas' respectively to highlight various government schemes, he said.

He said he will interact with BJP leaders on April 22 via a video link.

April 30, May 2 and May 5 will be dedicated to highlighting various schemes aimed at benefiting farmers and the poor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP leaders Chander Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh, who have submitted their resignations as minister, today reiterated the demand for a CBI inquiry into the rape-and-murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ganga and Singh submitted their resignations to the BJP's state president yesterday to save the image of the prime minister and the party following a controversy over their presence in a rally in support of the accused.

To safeguard the interest of Jammu, I will not hesitate to fight the government or meet the prime minister personally and reiterate the demand for a CBI probe into the Kathua rape-and-murder case which is the demand of lakhs of people, Ganga told reporters here this evening.

Earlier in the day, Singh also sought a CBI probe and said what is wrong with it. They agency will not indulge in any wrongdoing.

However, both the ministers demanded stern and an exemplary punishment to the culprits involved in the incident, with Ganga seeking capital punishment for the accused.

The crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police has submitted a charge sheet in the case against eight accused, including two special police officers and a sub-inspector and a head constable for destroying evidence.

The body of the girl was recovered from the Rassana forest in January, a week after she went missing from the area while grazing horses.

Accusing the Congress of creating a perception in the country that daughters are not getting justice here, Ganga said, We felt that the image of the party and the prime minister is at stake and under a conspiracy the whole thing is going on. We felt it better (to submit our resignations) to save the image of the party from getting tarnished and to save the image of the prime minister. We were not under any pressure.

He said it was the party high command which sent them to Kathua to control the situation. I was very clear in my words while condemning the brutal killing of the girl and want the culprits be hanged," he said.

However, he said, since there was a public demand for a CBI probe, I said we will put forth the demand before the chief minister.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two controversial BJP ministers, who participated in a rally in support of the people arrested for the rape-cum-murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Kathua, today exited from the PDP-BJP alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir, ending a simmering political crisis in the state.

A much-relieved Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for defusing the situation and said the unfortunate incident had brought the people of the state and the rest of the country "together".

She said a sense of justice had been reinforced in the state and urged "New Delhi to wake up to the Kashmir cauldron".

Both the alliance partners -- the BJP and the PDP -- had separate legislature party meetings in Srinagar and Jammu to discuss the situation arising out of the polarisation in the state over the rape-cum-murder of the girl after some leaders of the lesser-known Hindu Ekta Manch were arrested in connection with the case.

BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, who flew in to Jammu this morning, had a meeting with party leaders as well as legislators after which a decision to hand over the resignations of ministers Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga to the chief minister was taken.

Both Ganga and Singh had participated in the rally on March 1 after the Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police had arrested the nephew of a caretaker of a 'devisathan' (temple) in connection with the kidnapping and rape of the little girl.

Later, during investigation, the police arrested the caretaker and alleged that he was the mastermind of kidnapping, rape and killing of the girl from a nomadic tribe with an ulterior motive of terrifying the community and drive them out of the village.

The BJP sent the resignations to the chief minister who in turn will pass it on to Governor N N Vohra for acceptance, PDP leaders said.

Madhav, who has been the BJP's pointsman on scripting the agenda with the PDP, told reporters in Jammu that the resignations of the two ministers would be handed over to Mehbooba Mufti for further action and also admitted that the two ministers had displayed a lack of discretion by taking part in the rally.

However, he made it clear that there was no attempt to sabotage the investigations as charged by the Congress party.

"The charge that the two ministers were pro-rapist is absolutely wrong. It was sheer indiscretion on their part," he said.

He rejected reports that there was any pressure from his alliance partner PDP for withdrawal of the two ministers. "No pressure, no ultimatum. This is all your figment of imagination," Madhav said in his reply to a query from a reporter that the PDP had threatened to walk out of the alliance if the two ministers did not resign.

Asked whether a dent has been created in the alliance after the Kathua case, Madhav said, "As far as this case is concerned, we have done our bit by allaying the fears and misconception created in the minds of not only the people of Jammu and Kashmir but also in the entire country by asking our two ministers to resign. Beyond that, I don't think there will be any impact of this incident or these developments on the coalition."



Mehbooba Mufti, who chaired the party's meeting in Srinagar, thanked the prime minister and the national media and said the unity in ranks was an emotional reach out to protest against the heinous crimes.

She said the unfortunate incident changed the discourse and brought the people of the state and the rest of the country together.

The chief minister said that she was in constant touch with BJP president Amit Shah and Madhav as well as Home Minister Rajnath Singh. "I want to thank people of Jammu for standing united against the gory crime," she said.

Madhav maintained that the two BJP leaders had gone to Kathua in March to pacify the public and also to look into the matter of the gruesome crime.

The girl was kidnapped on January 10 and her body was found on January 17. During investigation, the crime branch alleged that the girl was drugged and repeatedly raped before being killed by hitting her head with stones.

To a question that the two ministers had participated in the rally in support of the accused in the rape case where the national tricolour was being waved, Madhav said, "That is why they had to resign. During my visit last month here, I made it clear to everyone that in this matter no one speaks and let us allow the investigations to complete."



"Certain amount of discretion should have been maintained. Certainly, there was a lack of discretion. Sometimes a lack of discretion does not tantamount of any guilt...that has led to certain misconceptions about them (two ministers) also, so they decided they will quit as ministers," he responded, when asked about the two ministers having termed the action of the Crime Branch as "jungle raj" and warned police from arresting anyone.

He cautioned that there should be no communal played over the ghastly crime and everyone should ensure speedy justice and exemplary punishment to the culprits.

Madhav accused the Congress party of playing double standards. "In Jammu, the Congress leaders are casting aspersion over the probe and their senior leaders were creating law and order situation through Bar Council," he alleged.

He said the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government in the state had been told to withdraw the directive concerning Tribal with regard to encroachments in Jammu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot today alleged that the BJP's ideology was about promoting divisive thinking in the country.

He accused the ruling party of working for its personal interests by putting people's welfare at stake and alleged that it was exploiting all sections of the society through its oppressive policies.

The former Union minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's long silence on the Kathua and Unnao rape incidents reflected his insensitivity.

Had Congress chief Rahul Gandhi not led a candlelight march (in New Delhi), demanding justice (for the rape victims), the prime minister's silence would not have broken, he claimed, while speaking at an event organised on the occasion of the 127th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Stating that the relevance of Ambedkar's principles was being felt more in the present times, Pilot alleged that the BJP was making all efforts to usurp the legacy of the Dalit icon, whereas in reality, atrocities on the members of the backward community had increased during the saffron party's rule in the country.

Only those, who had goodwill and brotherhood in their hearts, could take forward Ambedkar's legacy, the Congress leader said.

The people would see through the pretence of the BJP, the ideology of which was about promoting discrimination, he claimed, adding that the Congress had always implemented Ambedkar's principles to preserve the unity and integrity of the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An explosion rocked an area in northern Syria near a base where pro-regime Iranian fighters and allied Shiite militias have been stationed, a monitor said.

The origin of the blast was not immediately clear and could have been caused by an air strike or an incident at an ammunition depot, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"A powerful explosion went off late yesterday in an area of southern Aleppo province," the Britain-based monitoring group said.

The war monitor's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the area was known to host Iranian forces deployed in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime as well as allied Afghan fighters from the Fatemiyoun Brigade.

Western powers carried out their biggest attack on Assad's regime before dawn yesterday with strikes on targets they said were linked to Syria's chemical weapons programme.

The Pentagon subsequently said no further strikes were planned as part of an operation launched a week after a suspected chemical attack on the holdout rebel town of Douma killed dozens of people.

Israel, which was not involved in yesterday's unprecedented wave of missile strikes but expressed full support, has unilaterally launched air raids on targets inside Syria on several occasions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of ZimbabweThe United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of pre-dawn strikes against Syria's regime today in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack, lighting up the sky of Damascus as explosions shook the city.

Branding last week's alleged gas attack the "crimes of a monster", US President Donald Trump announced the action against President Bashar al-Assad's regime in a White House address, defying fierce warnings from Damascus ally Russia.

A few minutes later, an AFP correspondent in Damascus heard a series of huge blasts and residents rushed to their balconies. For around 45 minutes, explosions echoed and the sound of warplanes roared over the city, as flashes flared in the distance.

When dawn broke, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the city's north and east.

In the biggest foreign military action so far against Syria's regime, Western officials said a barrage of cruise and air-to-land missiles hit what they said were sites linked to chemical weapons development.

The targets included a scientific research facility in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs and a third location near Homs that contained both a command post and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility, the US military said.

But while Trump's belligerent tweets this week seemed to raise the prospect of large-scale military action, Saturday's strikes were narrowly targeted and the facilities hit had reportedly been evacuated in recent days.

Syrian state media reported only three people injured and Russia's defence ministry said there were "no victims" among Syrian civilians and military personnel.

Trump said the strikes were a direct response to an alleged April 7 chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma that rescuers and monitors say killed more than 40 people.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis called the strikes a "one-time shot" with no additional military action planned for now.

Assad, who has denied ever using chemical weapons and regularly denounces his opponents as "terrorists", responded to the strikes with a defiant vow.

"This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," he said in comments published by his office.

Russia denounced the strikes as "aggressive actions" and called an emergency session of the UN Security Council.

Assad's other key ally Iran also denounced the attack, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing Western leaders as "criminals".

The targets appeared to steer well clear of any Russian personnel or equipment in Syria, where Moscow launched a military intervention in support of Assad in 2015.

The Russian military said the allies had fired 103 cruise missiles but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them.

At a rally in central Damascus, 48-year-old Nedher Hammoud claimed to have seen missiles "being shot down like flies".

"Let them do what they want, kill who they want... History will record that Syria shot down missiles -- and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance."



The impromptu early morning rally saw crowds of people heading to the famed Umayyad Square to show their support for Assad, waving government flags and blaring patriotic songs.

Inspectors with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were due later Saturday to start work on a probe into the events of April 7 in Douma, the last rebel-held pocket of the onetime opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

The OPCW said in a statement after the strikes that its fact-finding mission would continue.

The Jaish al-Islam rebel group in control of Douma said the suspected chemical attack forced them to agree to a Russia-brokered evacuation deal, paving the way for Syria's government to secure Eastern Ghouta.

Mohammad Alloush, a key member of Jaish al-Islam, said Saturday the Western strikes had not gone far enough.

"Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal -- a farce," Alloush wrote on Twitter.

Syrian state media reported that internal security forces had entered Douma on Saturday and that the town would be secured within hours. The spectre of military strikes had hung over Syria since Trump reacted furiously to harrowing footage that surfaced of the aftermath of the attack in Douma.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A bike-borne daredevil team of the BSF have created a new record of stunt riding by covering a kilometre of distance with 36 men on three bikes in less than a minute, officials said today.

The Royal Enfield (350cc) riding 'Janbaaz' bikers of the Border Security Force (BSF) also broke the record made by a similar team of the Indian Army in 2011.

"The BSF 'Janbaaz' team yesterday created the record by carrying 36 jawans on three bullet motorcyles for a kilometre on a state highway in Delhi.

"The team accomplished the feat in 55.52 seconds and bettered the Army record of 30 men on three bikes which they finished in a minute over the same distance," training officer of the squad, second-in-command S K Mishra, told PTI.

The record was created under the set international protocols and watch of designated observers and the feat will now be registered in the Limca Book of World Records, he said.

The BSF team had first made a record in this solo bike stunt category in 2006 which the Army bettered in 2011. We have reclaimed it again, Mishra said.

The force will attempt three more such challenges-- in the categories of driving while standing on seat, back riding and pole riding-- on April 16, he said.

The daredevil team of the country's largest border guarding force was raised in 1990.

It made few years back when the former US president Barack Obama, while officiating as the chief guest of the 2015 parade, signalled a thumbs up to the bikers from his dais on Rajpath and had later called their stunts "impressive".

The BSF, for the first time, also trained and unveiled its all-women daredevils squad named 'Seema Bhawani' that enthralled the country by their stunts during the Republic Day parade this year in January.

The about 2.5 lakh personnel strong force is tasked to guard Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh apart from rendering a variety of duties in the internal security domain.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China today opposed the joint attack by the US, France and the UK on Syria, saying any action bypassing the UN charter violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations.

The US ordered the launch of air strikes on Syria in retaliation to the alleged chemical attacks by President Bashar al-Assad.

US President Donald Trump claimed that the joint action was meant to establish a "strong deterrent" against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons.

Trump said he has ordered "precision strikes" against Syria, where dozens of people were killed last weekend in a suspected toxic gas attack on Douma, the largest town in a former rebel stronghold outside Damascus.

Calling for the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the Syria issue through dialogue and negotiation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Beijing is opposed the use of force.

China opposed the use of force in international relations and called for respect for other countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity," she said in response to media queries, seeking Beijing reaction to the air strikes.

"Any unilateral military action bypassing the Security Council runs contrary to the purpose and principles of the United Nations (UN) Charter and violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and will further complicate the Syrian issue," Hua said.

Hua said China believes a comprehensive, impartial and objective investigation should be carried out to reach a reliable conclusion that could stand the test of time.

"Yet before that, a prejudgment should not be made," she added.

China believes that political settlement is the only viable way out for the Syrian issue. Relevant parties of the international community should continue to support the role of the UN as the main channel for mediation and make relentless efforts to facilitate the final settlement of the Syrian issue.

When asked about the current situation of Chinese citizens in Syria, Hua said the Chinese government took their safety very seriously and the Chinese Embassy in Syria had maintained close communication with them. They are all safe so far, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today appealed to people to maintain peace and harmony in the wake of a clash between two communities in Phagwara, while warning of stringent action against anyone found disturbing law and order in the state.

The chief minister, who is personally monitoring the situation following the incident, has ordered suspension of mobile Internet services in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar districts as a precautionary measure to check rumor-mongering on social media, according to an official release.

Amarinder has also directed the police to maintain a tight vigil and crackdown on disruptive elements to ensure that the situation does not escalate further.

He has asked the police to thoroughly investigate the clash between some Dalit workers and so-called Hindu organisations.

The chief minister announced that the state government would bear the entire expenses for the treatment of all those injured in the clashes, whether admitted to government or private hospitals.

He directed the Ludhiana district administration to ensure the best treatment for Yashwant Kumar Bobby, reported to be seriously injured in the clash and undergoing treatment at DMC Ludhiana.

Urging people to exercise restraint, the chief minister sought their cooperation to maintain peace and communal harmony, and thwart the nefarious designs of anti-national and anti-social elements.

Four persons were injured in a clash between two groups last night over the installation of a board and renaming of a chowk (roundabout) in Phagwara.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The one-day strike called by the four central trade unions of Coal India Ltd on April 16 against the government move of allowing commercial coal mining, has been withdrawn due to lack of cohesion among themselves, a union leader today said.

Coal India officials too confirmed that the strike has been called off.

The four central trade unions of CITU, BMS, HMS and AITUC had served the strike notice on March 14.

"Based on yesterday's meeting with Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar for setting up a committee under a joint secretary to listen to the issues, BMS and HMS signed withdrawal minutes. But, CITU and AITUC though had not signed the minutes, had to withdraw from the strike against our will, keeping unity if the trade unions in mind," CITU-backed coal union leader D D Ramanandan told PTI.

In a major reform in the coal sector since its nationalisation in 1973, the government in February this year allowed private companies to mine the fossil fuel for commercial use, ending the monopoly of state-run Coal India.

INTUC said althiugh it was not keen on withdrawal, it had to do so after two unions had walked out.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Dalit government employee of the state secretariat here has complained to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, alleging mental harassment by a senior IAS officer.

According to the complaint by V Devadas, an office assistant, he was allegedly being forced by Principal Secretary, General Administration, Biswanath Sinha, to wash his lunch box, plates and clean the table.

He alleged that if he protested, he was forcibly made to do more odd jobs.

The complainant urged the chief minister to transfer him to another department.

However, Sinha has described the allegations as "baseless.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 40-year-old man was today apprehended at a Delhi Metro station for allegedly carrying a live bullet in his baggage, officials said.

They said Anil Kumar, hailing from Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh, was found carrying the rounds by CISF personnel at the Shahdara station when his bag was being scanned.

Kumar could not furnish any license or document for carrying the bullet round, suspected to be of a country-wide pistol, the officials said.

He was handed over to the Delhi Police by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) team for further investigation, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has extended a state of emergency in Egypt for another three months.

The decree says the armed forces and police should take all necessary measures "to confront the threats and funding of terrorism and maintain security throughout the country." It was published Saturday in the official gazette.

The state of emergency has been in place since April 2017 after bombings struck two Coptic Christian churches on Palm Sunday, later claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.

In February, Egypt began a wide-scale anti-militant operation mainly in the restive Sinai Peninsula, the epicenter of a years-long Islamic insurgency. It involves land, sea and air forces and covers parts of Egypt's Nile Delta and the Western Desert, along the porous border with Libya.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIAThe Egyptian army today said it has foiled a major terror attack in the restive central Sinai by shooting dead 14 terrorists who attempted to break into camps of the armed forces and killed 8 Army personnel.

Egypt's Sinai has witnessed many terrorists attacks since the January 2011 revolution.

Eight army personnel were also killed while 15 others were injured during the attack, the armed forces said in a statement.

The attacks, mainly targeting police and military, increased after ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. Hundreds of police and army personnel were killed since then.

The military has launched security campaigns in the North Sinai area, in which some terrorists are based.

The security forces have arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today welcomed Western strikes against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's regime as "appropriate" in retaliation for Damascus' "inhumane" attacks.

"We consider this operation as appropriate," Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling party in Istanbul.

"The regime has seen that its mounting attacks in recent days against dissidents... will not be left unanswered."



The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of pre-dawn strikes against the Assad regime today in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians on April 7.

Erdogan said he had a "sleepless night" as he monitored all the developments.

"It is not possible for us to approve the situation encountered by (Syrian) babies as a result of the use of chemicals weapons," he said.

"Whoever the perpetrators they should pay a price." Erdogan, who had a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Theresa May following the strikes, said he would also speak with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Turkish leader told May his country "clearly condemned" the use of chemical weapons since the very beginning, in a call with the British premier, a Turkish presidential source said.

He said the only way to long-lasting peace in Syria was a "political solution," the source added. The Turkish leader also emphasised the importance of de-escalating the tension in the region.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the strikes had not been launched via Turkey's southern Incirlik air base.

"Turkey was informed ahead of the attack," he wrote on Twitter. "The Incirlik base was not used in the attack." In a statement, the Turkish foreign ministry said the US-led operation "has eased humanity's conscience in the face of" the suspected chemical attack.

"The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannising its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes," it said.

"The conscience of the international community is in no doubt about that." Turkey is a vocal critic of Assad's regime in Damascus and backed rebels fighting for his ouster. In recent months, however, it has closely worked with Russia for a political solution in Syria even though Moscow remains a chief ally of the regime.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following are the business highlights till 1800 hrs today:



DEL9 BIZ-GOLD CLOSE



New Delhi: Gold regained its sheen by bouncing Rs 300 to Rs 32,100 per ten grams at the bullion market today largely due to a firm trend overseas as tensions in the Middle East rose amid fresh buying by local jewellers.

DCM8 BIZ-TAX-ADVANCE RULING



New Delhi: The tax department today said it will modify the forms for advance ruling in order to bring greater transparency in cross national transactions.

DCM23 BIZ-TELECOM COMMISSION



New Delhi: The Telecom Commission is scheduled to meet on May 1 and likely to discuss in-flight connectivity, net-neutrality and method for allocating spectrum bands, E and V, which are capable of transmitting data at 1000 megabit per second.

DCM26 BIZ-EWAY-CONFISCATION



New Delhi: Tax authorities have asked field officers to follow standard procedure for interception of conveyances for inspection of goods and their confiscation under the e-way bill rules.

DCM4 BIZ-INFOSYS-ANALYST MEET



New Delhi: Infosys today announced it will hold an analysts' meet on April 23 in Mumbai where the Bengaluru-based outsourcing giant is expected to unveil its new strategy.

DCM2 BIZ-PAN-CORPORATE



New Delhi: The Income Tax department today said certificate of incorporation issued by the Corporate Affairs Ministry will be considered sufficient proof of PAN or TAN for corporates.

DCM1 BIZ-RELIANCE JIO



New Delhi: Telecom operator Reliance Jio has signed an agreement to raise about Rs 3,250 crore as samurai term loan from Japan-based banks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Gun rights supporters many carrying rifles and ammunition gathered at state capitols across the US today to push back against efforts to pass stricter gun control laws that they fear threaten their constitutional right to bear arms.

From Delaware to Wyoming, hundreds gathered at peaceful protests to listen to speakers who warned that any restrictions on gun ownership or use eventually could lead to a ban on gun ownership, which is guaranteed under the Second Amendment.

"If you have a building and you take a brick out every so often, after a while you're not going to have a building," said Westley Williams, who carried an AR-15 rifle as he joined about 100 people braving blustery weather in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for a pro-gun-rights rally in front of the state supreme court building.

Dave Gulya, one of the organisers of a rally in Augusta, Maine, said about 800 people showed up to make the point that "we are law-abiding." Saturday's protests were planned in dozens of state capitols less than three weeks after hundreds of thousands marched in Washington, New York and elsewhere to demand tougher gun laws after the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17.

Organisers of those protests demanded a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and called for universal background checks on potential gun owners.

During a pro-gun-rights gathering in Atlanta on Saturday, more than a quarter of the estimated 180 rally-goers carried weapons, as well as flags and signs saying "Don't Tread On Me" as they listened to speakers talk about the right to bear arms. A few people wearing "Black Lives Matter" T-shirts showed up at the rally and made videos, but didn't interact with the rally-goers.

The coalition behind the gun rights rallies describes itself as a collection of patriotic-based groups that "come from all walks of life, including Three Percent groups and local militias."



The Three Percent movement vows to resist any government that infringes on the US Constitution. Its name refers to the belief that just 3 per cent of colonists rose up to fight the British.

Such groups lack the following of more mainstream Second Amendment advocates such as the National Rifle Association. A group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans spread word of the rallies on social media.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Haryana minister Anil Vij has slammed the Opposition for attacking the BJP-led central government over incidents of rape, asking whether such incidents did not occur during the UPA regime.

"Incidents of rape did not take place during the UPA regime?" he shot back while responding to a reporter's question in Kaithal yesterday.

The state health minister was asked about the Congress' allegation that incidents of rape were on the rise during the BJP rule at the Centre.

"If such (rape) incidents are happening in this regime, then tell me about one case, in which the Haryana government did not take action," Vij said, adding, "The opposition does not have any issues now."



The Congress has mounted an attack on the BJP-led regime at the Centre, saying incidents of violence against women and children were increasing in the country.

An eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community had gone missing from a spot near her house in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir on January 10. A week later, her body was found from the same area.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight persons, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable, in connection with the incident.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Veteran actor and BJP MP Hema Malini today echoed the views expressed by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and demanded that rapists of children below 12 years must be "hanged to death".

Yesterday, Maneka said that she had asked her department to work on a proposal to amend the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to bring in the provision of death penalty for the rape of a minor below the age of 12 years.

Taking to Twitter, Malini called for a national movement against "animals who don't spare even babies" and said media should also support the cause.

"Daily newspaper reports of rape happening in every part of our country! Kathua, Unnao are (nothing) but two of the long list of shame. Can these mindless rapists even be classified as human beings? They are beasts on the rampage & should be hanged to death for their heinous crimes," Malini, who is the BJP MP from Mathura, tweeted.

"There should be a national uprising with strong support from the media, against these animals who don't spare even babies & toddlers! I agree with Manekaji that death penalty should be instantaneous once proven guilty & there should be no bail or pardon, juveniles included, for all rapes," she added.

In the present POCSO law, there is no provision for capital punishment, with the maximum sentence being life imprisonment for penetrative sexual assault as well aggravated penetrative sexual assault.

In Kathua, an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Bakerwal community had gone missing from near her house on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area.

In the Unnao case, a 17-year-old girl has alleged that she was raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence on June 4 last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Terming as "horrific" the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

The girl from the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community disappeared near her house on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area.

She was allegedly raped by six men who had held her in captivity in a village temple for a week in January. The victim was drugged, rapped repeatedly before being bludgeoned to death.

The incident has sparked outrage across India.

"I think we've seen the media reports of this horrific case, of the abuse and the murder of a young girl. We very much hope that the authorities will bring the perpetrators to justice so they can be held accountable for the murder of this young girl," Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric told reporters at his daily press briefing here yesterday.

Dujjaric was responding to a question about the Secretary General's response to the rape and murder of the girl.

A Special Investigation Team of Crime Branch, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable and a sub-inspector, who were charged with destroying evidence.

Expressing anguish over the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday called it as a "shame" for the country and asserted that the guilty will not be spared.

"I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared. Justice will be done. Our daughters will get justice," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Indian Air Force (IAF) today carried out a maritime air operation on the western sea board to check its deep strike capability in the Indian Ocean Region and beyond.

The drill was part of a mega combat exercise launched last week by the IAF to check its operational preparedness with a focus on dealing with all possible security challenges including from China and Pakistan.

"As part of the ongoing massive IAF exercise Gaganshakti', IAF conducted maritime air operations on the western sea board, with the clear aim of air dominance and deep strike validation over the extended area of interest in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)," the IAF said in a statement.

Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal S B Deo visited the Sirsa air force base in Haryana to take stock of the mega exercise. Later, Mitra and Deo took a sortie in Sukhoi fighter jet.

In today's drill, a fleet of Su-30 fighter jets took off from a base on the eastern coast, engaged multiple targets in the western seaboard, at distances beyond 2,500 km, and landed at a southern base, covering a total distance of 4,000 km, in a single mission, it said.

"These staggering ranges were made possible by support of IL-78 flight refuelling aircraft, thus ensuring long-range strike capabilities for our fighter aircraft, " the IAF said.

The operation was supported by Indian Navy's P-8i reconnaissance aircraft and AWACS of IAF.

Officials said the two-week-long exercise is involving almost the entire assets of the IAF including its fighter squadrons and the main objective of the day-and-night drill is to check war waging capability of the force.

The IAF said the exercise 'Gaganshakti' has provided an ideal environment to evaluate joint operations with the Navy.

"The exploitation of the combat support assets helps to extend the reach in the entire IOR, our strategic area of influence," the IAF said.

The officials said the exercise from April 8-22 is one of the biggest in recent decades, adding Pakistan has already been informed about it as per laid down protocol.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sharply criticising protectionist policies of western countries, India on Saturday offered to export and sugar to China amid the tariff spat between Beijing and Washington and sought major Chinese investments specially in India's housing-for-all project.

You import a lot of agricultural products, up to $20 billion or more, NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said in his address to the fifth India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED).

I was noticing that there are some tariffs you imposed on farmers' from Iowa and Ohio. Maybe India can substitute for and sugar, if we could access those exports with all the due quality considerations to our farmers. That is very useful, he told the chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) He Lifeng.

Both, Kumar and He led the India-China SED here which broadly covers various aspects of economic and trade relations between the two countries.

It was not held last year amid the Dokalam standoff. The meeting took place amid growing rapprochement between the two countries after the standoff.

On Friday, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held wide ranging talks with top official of the ruling Communist Party Yang Jiechi to step up engagement between the two countries.on Saturday announced it will hold an analysts' meet on April 23 in Mumbai where the Bengaluru-based outsourcing giant is expected to unveil its new strategy.

The IT major on Friday reported a 2.4 per cent rise in the March quarter net profit and projected better revenues in FY19 as it focuses on digital business and increasing localisation in key markets like the US and Europe.

"This is to inform that the Company will organise an analyst meeting in Mumbai on April 23, 2018 at Hotel Taj Lands End, Bandra between 4:00 PM and 7:30 PM," the company said in a BSE filing.

said the proceedings of the meet will be webcast live on the company's website along with the presentations made at the event and transcripts of discussions.

Outlining the strategy, the firm's CEO Salil Parekh on Friday said will focus on four pillars -- scaling digital business ($ 2.79 billion in revenue currently), energising client's core technology landscape via artificial intelligence and automation, re-skilling employees, and expanding localisation in markets like US, Europe, and Australia.Sryrian militants began using drone attacks in Syria; following repeated strikes against Russian ground forces operating in the country, Russian and Syrian forces repelled a massive attack on Saturday night, downing and capturing 13 improvised, armed suicide drones. The recent attack included ten drones directed against the Russian forces at the Hmeimim airbase near Latakia; another strike targeted the Russian maritime logistical base at Tartus with three drones.

The identity of the faction responsible for these attacks has yet to be disclosed, but the frequency of attacks and rapid growth in the number of drones used in each strike indicate the high level of maturity and know-how acquired by the perpetrators.

According to Russian and Syrian media reports, several drone attacks occurred in the past week. On the night of December 31th, 2017 two Russian service members were killed in what was described as a mortar attack on the Hmeimim airbase. Syrian insurgents claimed several Russian aircraft were damaged in the attack, but the Russian Ministry of Defense denied this despite that some photos aired on Southfront.org clearly showed the damage. Rebel sources later said that drones were also used in that attack but provided no evidence to their claim.

Armed drones were used two days later, as improvised armed drones attempted to attack a Russian mine clearing operation near Homs, on January 2nd. Another drone strike followed two days later, as improvised drones dropped small mortar bombs on the Syrian town of Qardaha, east of Latakia, and on the village of Jableh near the Russian airbase at Hmeimim. Both drones were downed by Syrian machine gun fire, although it is not clear if this incident was supported by the Russians.

The largest and most recent attack happened two days ago, on January 6th, as 13 improvised armed drones were launched against two Russian bases  the air force contingent at Hmeimim and the naval logistical base in Tartus. This time some of the drones managed to reach the bases perimeter, three of them were downed by Pantsir anti-aircraft fire along with heavy and medium machine gun fire.

Russian government sources confirmed the news, claiming all drones were detected, tracked and neutralized  downed or captured by counter-UAV and air defenses. Russian operated Electronic Warfare assets managed to defeat six of the drones, and take control and land three of them. Three of the drones penetrated the base perimeter but did not cause damage or casualties, Russian sources confirmed. The official report said Russian electronic surveillance detected the attacking drones at a considerable distance from the objectives.

The remaining seven were shot down by Pantsir-S1 (NATO Reporting name: SA-22) Short Range Gun/Missile air defense systems and Syrian heavy machine guns. Since arriving in Syria Pantsir demonstrated its capability against larger drones. The Russian and Syrian forces claimed kills of not less than six drones by the system, including three Heron type drones of unknown origin (Turkish? Israeli?), one RQ-21 (operated by the US Marine Corps) and one Baykatar (a Turkish tactical UAV).

The Russian report said the improvised drones that attacked Hmeimim were launched from a range of 50 km. They were detected and tracked for a large part of their flight, at a distance from their objective, enabling the forces defending the bases to prepare and carry out a defense plan that successfully captured some of the drones and destroy the rest.

It is not clear whether the attack was simultaneous or coordinated, but, given the low tech of the drone devices, it was unlikely a swarm attack (a dynamic attack conducted by multiple drones that autonomously coordinate their actions according to preset mission parameters), but could have employed simultaneous approaches from different directions using catapult launches, that followed preset flight paths.

Preliminary Technical Evaluation

A technical examination determined that the drones were not used at their maximum range  and could easily be launched from 100 km. The captured drones revealed the aircraft are made of wood, Styrofoam, plastic, and aluminum profiles. The drone implements basic, commercially available Radio Controlled aircraft components. It is powered by a small diesel engine and uses GPS navigation for guidance, with autopilot control using pressure transducers for altitude control and servo actuators to move the control surfaces. Russian analysts indicated that each of the drones carried two bomblets containing professionally assembled explosives activated by fuses derived from mortar of foreign origin. The Russians are performing a forensic investigation to determine the explosives origin. Since these UAVs do not have a camera they arent likely controlled from the ground and thus used as one-way suicide drones. Bombs release is likely autonomous, using GPS control. It is possible that a third explosive charge would be carried inside the fuselage box.

The first attack reported by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was attributed to an unnamed Islamic faction and Islamic Extremists. A day later the Free Alawite Movement claimed responsibility for the two attacks that targeted the Russian forces at Hmeimim airbase. The group said the attack damaged an S-400 air defense unit and seven Russian aircraft at the base.

Pro-government sources contradict the Alawite movement claim saying the perpetrators were the Ahrar al-Sham Movement or Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Syrian El Qaida affiliated group. HTS has the resources and motivation for attacks of this type. They may have received assistance form ex-ISIS experts that practiced drone attacks in the past, in Syria and Iraq. Palestinian Hamas Movement has also used similar concepts in Gaza.

Electronic Combat VS Counter UAVs

Aware of the drone threats in the region the Russian forces deployed several C-UAV systems to Syria. According to Defense-Update C-UAV Study 2018, the Russian forces deployed mobile C-UAV assets, including the LEER-2 system, an EW system developed by KERT and mounted on Tiger light armored vehicles. LEER-2 detects and localize multi-rotors, drones, and mini-UAVs and uses dedicated jamming systems to disable such drones.

Another Russian system reportedly sent to Syria is Repellant, a truck-mounted system specially designed for counter-UAV missions, equipped with passive UAV detection and active jamming suppression capabilities. The system comprises two surveillance systems and two jamming systems with sensors and emitters mounted on elevated masts, to enable simultaneous engagements of multiple targets, over a frequency range of 200-1000 MHz and 1-14 GHz. Operating multiple jammers at up to one kilowatt of power, Repellant-1 can jam simultaneously over 12 frequencies, targeting satellite navigation systems such as GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou, telemetry, and uplinks in line-of-sight, at ranges up to 30 km. The system employs several jamming protocols, including pseudo-random sequence and frequency-aimed phase manipulation.

The Russian forces also deployed to Syria the Krasukha-4, a powerful, highly sophisticated electronic surveillance and jamming system. Krasukha-4 was used extensively to mask the Russian air deployment to Syria in the initial phases of Russian deployment, and later, jammed datalinks of coalition forces attempting to disrupt certain attacks. These systems can also conduct electronic surveillance of the entire region but are considered an overkill to the improvised drones used by the rebels.The Kerala police has begun investigation into the death of Gopinath Pillai, father of Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh who was shot dead in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, in a road accident.

Seventy eight year-old Pillai, who hailed from Charummodu in the district was involved in an accident on April 11 when he was on his way to Kochi for medical treatment.

He died yesterday.

Police said they have seized three vehicles involved in the mishap.

The probe was only to rule out any foul play in the mishap as some suspicions had been raised by some quarters.

However, investigation so far has revealed that it was an accident.

A case under 304A (causing death by negligence) has been registered, they said.

Pillai's younger brother, who was driving the car, has also said the family was not suspecting any foul play and it was an accident.

Javed Sheikh was among the four alleged terrorists shot dead on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The others gunned down were 19-year-old college girl Ishrat Jahan from Mumbra in Maharashtra, Zeeshan Johar and Amzad Rana.

The police termed them Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives allegedly on a mission to kill then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Veteran actor Jacqueline Bisset has come aboard the cast of the film "Honey in the Head".

The 73-year-old actor joins Nick Nolte, Matt Dillon and Emily Mortimer in the film, which will be directed by Til Schweiger. She will play the mother of Mortimer's character, reported Variety.

The film is the English-language remake of the German drama "Honig Im Kopf", which was also directed by Schweiger.

The story follows the son of a retired veteran suffering from Alzheimer's disease who convinces his widowed father to move in with him.

The production on the project is expected to start in May and it will be filmed in Germany, Italy, and the UK.

Bisset will be next seen in the drama "Backstabbing for Beginners" opposite Ben Kingsley and Theo James.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) and the Jammu High Court Bar Assocation (JHBA) today held candlelight marches here to protest the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Kathua district.

Scores of state JKCC leaders led by president G A Mir staged nearly an hour-long candlelight vigil in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue at Satwari chowk on Airport road this evening demanding security and protection of the women across the country.

JKPCC senior vice president Sham Lal Sharma said, We will not hesitate to sacrifice our lives for the greater cause of protecting our women from beasts. The attacks on women in the country demonstrate the lawlessness and the failure of the governments to fulfil its basic responsibility of protecting the citizens."



Mir said the party was being portrayed falsely over its stand on the rape and murder case.

From day one, the party was of the view that the culprits behind this heinous act should be brought to book and handed over an exemplary punishment, he said.

Earlier, JHBA members led by president B S Slathia took out a candlelight march from district court complex to Ambhala chowk in the city in memory of the rape victim.

Carrying banners and placards seeking justice for the victim, the participants observed two minute silence and prayed for peace to the soul of the minor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Celebrity fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has slammed the #MeToo movement, saying he is "fed up" with it.

Lagerfeld, who has been the head designer at Chanel since 1983, criticised women for taking 20 years "to remember" and narrate their stories of sexual harassment they were allegedly subjected to.

The 84-year-old German designer pointed out that "there were no prosecution witnesses" in all cases that came to light under #MeToo.

"I'm fed up with (the Me too movement)... What shocks me most in all of this are the starlets who have taken 20 years to remember what happened. Not to mention the fact there are no prosecution witnesses," Lagerfeld told French magazine Numero.

Asked whether the movements like #MeToo and Time's Up prove to be hurdles in his approach to work, Lagerfeld said, "Absolutely not."



"I read somewhere that now you must ask a model if she is comfortable with posing. It's simply too much, from now on, as a designer, you can't do anything," he added.

He also said that he did not believe the claims against ousted Interview creative director Karl Templar.

"A girl complained he tried to pull her pants down and he is instantly excommunicated from a profession that up until then had venerated him. It's unbelievable. If you don't want your pants pulled about, don't become a model! Join a nunnery, there'll always be a place for you in the convent. They're recruiting even!" Lagerfeld said.

The designer, however, said that he "cannot stand" disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

"That said, I cannot stand Mr Weinstein. I had a problem with him at amfAR," he said.

Several Hollywood A-listers such as Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o, Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow, among many others, have levelled accusations of sexual abuse and harassment against the media mogul.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The "precise, overwhelming and effective" military strike in Syria was aimed to "cripple" the chemical weapons infrastructure of the Syrian regime and it succeeded in destroying three chemical weapons facilities in the war-torn country, the Pentagon today said.

It said the "precise, overwhelming and effective" military strike in Syria by the US, France and Britain were intended to send a clear message that the use of chemical weapons against its own civilians is inexcusable.

The Pentagon said it destroyed three chemical weapons facilities of the Syrian regime.

Marine Lt Gen Kenneth F McKenzie director, Joint Staff, told reporters that the US, France and Britain in all deployed 105 missiles against three targets.

"Taken together were able to overwhelm the Syrian air defence system," he said.

The US assesses that the Syrians fired about 40 missiles in retaliation, but none of them endangered the US forces and its allies. Defensive effort of Syria was ineffective, he said.

The Syrian regime had a pattern of using chemical weapons against the chemical weapons convention, alleged the Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana White.

"This is a heinous regime, which murders its people daily," she said.

It was a deliberate decision to the target the storage and research and development facilities, she said.

"We are confident that we have significantly degraded the ability to ever use the chemical weapons again," White said, asserting that the US policy on Syria has not changed.

"Our mission in Syria remains the same, to defeat the Islamic State and not be involved in the civil war," White said, adding that the US is 100 per cent behind the Geneva peace process.

The new UN envoy provides an opportunity for everyone to work towards a Syrian peace process.

"We are confident that the UN process will move forward," White told reporters in response to a question.

"We took action. What happens next is in the hands of Assad," she said.

The US did no coordination with the Russians, McKenzie said.

Responding to questions, he said it is possible that some people might have left from the strike facilities. The strikes were carried out in the week hours of the morning (3 am-4 am) so as to reduce the possibility of any civilian casualty.

The US believes that the material and equipment at the source of this site was not movable.

"This is far more damaging to Syria," he said.

Responding to questions, White said this was a fully legitimate operation and the President had the authority to order conducting these strikes.

"It was a successful mission. What happens next depends on what the Assad regime decides to do," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Anguished over the tussle between the Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat camps within the CPI(M), an All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader has suggested that a worker-farmer alliance and a Left and democratic front should unite all the secular and democratic forces in the country, including the Congress, to defeat the BJP.

In an article published in the latest edition of CPI(M) organ "People's Democracy", K Krishnaprasad, an office-bearer of the AIKS, the farmers' wing of the party, has tried to find a middle path, keeping in mind the political lines of both the Karat and Yechury camps.

However, he has also mentioned that under no circumstances should the leadership of the front be conceded to the Congress.

"The worker-peasant alliance and a Left and Democratic Front can work as a thread to unite all secular and democratic forces, including the Congress, and ensure the consolidation of all the anti BJP-RSS votes to make sure the defeat of the (Narendra) Modi government as well as take up the challenges that India faces toady.

"Hence, the basic issue is not the correlation of the Left with the Congress party, but the leadership role of it in the vast alliance against the BJP, which is controlled by the fascistic RSS," Krishnaprasad has written in the article.

The leader from Kerala has described the recent farmers' agitations in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka as "victorious struggles" of the trade unions against privatisation, adding that these movements have shown that the Left organisations can mobilise "millions of toiling" people not only in Tripura, Kerala and West Bengal, but even in the Hindi heartland.

The leader, who is scheduled to attend the party congress in Hyderabad from April 18-22, has said that the need of the hour is to remain united against the BJP-RSS and revive the party's struggle among the Dalits, farmers and workers.

"A consensus needs to be built, so that there is no deviation in the party and it remains united. I have pointed out that only through a struggle, we can first revive the party in Bengal and then, all over the country," Krishnaprasad told PTI.

Though the majority of the Kerala unit of the CPI(M) supports the line of maintaining an equal distance with both the BJP and the Congress, Krishnaprasad's article hints at a softening of stance as regards the Congress.

Interestingly, after the Central Committee meeting last month, the party had given a call to defeat the BJP in the May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls and announced its decision to support the "strongest candidates" to defeat the saffron party, besides fielding its own nominees in 18-19 seats.

It meant extending support to the Congress nominees, wherever required.

The hardliners in the party, who had earlier strongly advocated the line of having "no understanding with the Congress", had even said that though the CPI(M) would not take the name of any particular party during the campaign for the seats where it would not field its own candidates, it would give an open call to defeat the BJP in Karnataka.

According to a party insider, the decision clearly indicates that the Karat camp has softened its stance after the Uttar Pradesh by-elections, where a united SP-BSP wrested two Lok Sabha seats from the BJP.

Krishnaprasad's article provides an insight into the growing feeling within the party that a united Left should independently assert its political leadership to facilitate an alliance of all the secular and democratic forces and bring together all sections of the society, including progressive groups and individuals.

"Without any political understanding or electoral alliance with the Congress, the united Left can extend cooperation to it to ensure the defeat of the BJP, wherever there is a direct fight (between the two parties)," Krishnaprasad has observed.

He has also cautioned the party that accepting the Congress' leadership for the alliance against the BJP-RSS will not help the struggle against the dual menace of neo-liberal and communal forces.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra government today extended till May 1 the deadline for online submission of applications by farmers to avail benefits under its mega loan waiver scheme.

The existing last date for filing applications under the scheme, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana (CSMSSY), was April 14.

A statement from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' office said the date of filing online applications by farmers for the loan waiver has been extended up to May 1.

The BJP-led government has been extending the deadline time and again since the announcement of the scheme in June last year to allow more eligible farmers to get its benefits.

The late date of availing benefits of One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme under the CSMSSY is June 30.

The Fadnavis government had announced a Rs 34,000- crore crop loan waiver for marginal farmers nearly a year ago. At that time, the government had said the scheme was expected to benefit about 89 lakh farmers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other political leaders in the state today paid tributes to Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary.

Apart from political leaders, thousands of followers of Ambedkar visited Chaityabhoomi, Dr Ambedkar's memorial at Dadar in central Mumbai, to pay their respects.

Fadnavis garlanded a portrait of Ambedkar in Mumbai this morning. Later in the day, he paid floral tributes to the architect of the Indian Constitution at his statue in Samvidhan square in Nagpur.

"Our salutations to the father of Indian constitution Bharat Ratna, Mahamanav Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his birth anniversary today! It is because of him that every citizen of India can live a dignified life! His teachings and values of humanity will inspire generations to come," Fadnavis tweeted.

State Congress chief and former chief minister Ashok Chavan visited Chaityabhoomi in Dadar to pay floral tributes along with party office-bearers and leaders.

In his tribute, NCP leader and former minister Ajit Pawar tweeted, "Ambedkar broke caste barriers and created the Indian constitution for Human rights."



NCP leader Sachin Ahir also visited Chaityabhoomi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron late yesterday and agreed to "keep working closely" on a response to an alleged Syrian chemical attack, her office said.

"The prime minister spoke to the French president Emmanuel Macron this evening about the horrific attack in Douma, Syria, on Saturday," a Downing Street spokesman said. "They agreed to keep working closely together on the international response." The United States says it has proof that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime launched the alleged attack on the then rebel-held suburb of Douma on April 7.

France's UN ambassador Francois Delattre said that in choosing once again to use banned chemical weapons against civilians, Assad's regime had "reached a point of no-return.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Milos Forman, the Oscar-winning director of the films "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus", has died. He was 86.

The Czech-born director died in the US after a brief illness, his wife, Martina, told Czech agency CTK, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Considered one of the pioneers of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Forman left his home country in 1968 after his films, particularly "The Fireman's Ball", got in trouble with the administration. He became a US citizen in 1977.

His first American film was "Taking Off" in 1971 and he followed it up with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975, which became the second film to win five Oscars -- picture, director, actor, actress and adapted screenplay.

Starring Jack Nicholson, the film was an adaptation of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name.

Forman's "Amadeus", a fictionalised biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, also swept the Oscars, fetching him his second best director trophy apart from registering seven other wins at the 57th Academy Awards.

His other notable films include "Hair" (1979), "Ragtime" (1981) and "Valmont" (1989).

He received his last best director Oscar nod for the 1996 film,"The People Vs Larry Flynt".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Telangana Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, TRS MP K Kavitha and actor-turned-politician Pavan Kalyan today expressed concern over growing violence against women and children against the backdrop of Unnao and Kathua incidents.

"This type of atrocious incidents are happening at a time when knowledge is growing in society. This is very painful," Reddy told reporters.

People who indulge in such crimes should be given capital punishment, he added.

Regretting that atrocities against Dalits and women were increasing, Kavitha said the Centre should intervene and ensure justice.

"Either in Unnao incident or in the Jammu and Kashmir incident, it is very inhuman. In such inhuman action, I felt bad as a woman with the government elders behaving in a way to protect the guilty," she said.

The Centre must intervene to ensure justice for women concerned, she said.

Meanwhile, Pavan Kalyan, who held a protest at Indira Gandhi statue here, told reporters that tough laws were needed to put an end to atrocities against women.

The problem of assaults on women should be addressed from the stage of eve-teasing, he said.

He favoured bringing in punishments like caning, which is being followed in some countries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today Dalit icon B R Ambedkar gave us a constitution that protects the rights of the weaker sections of society as he urged people not to join Naxals in a bid to secure their rights.

He said the awakening among the poor and backward sections about their rights, their hopes and aspirations was due to Ambedkar, whose 127th birth anniversary was celebrated today. He attributed his own success to the chief framer of the Constitution.

Addressing a huge gathering of villagers in Jangala in the Naxal-heartland of Bijapur in this tribal-dominated region of Chhattisgarh, Modi asked people not to hand over the rights of their children to Naxal leaders who keep themselves safe but allow locals to die.

"Babasahab has given us the Constitution. He ensured protection of your rights. It is the duty of the government to take care of your rights. You need not pick up weapons, ruin your lives," the prime minister said, expressing his government's commitment to develop the backward region.

"I want to tell parents that their sons and daughters have chosen a path. But at least think about those who are leading them. None of them is a local and they are not from amongst you. They have come from outside (referring to Naxal leaders from other states who are active in Chhattisgarh)," he said.

Welcoming those who had gathered here in 'Halbi', a local dialect, Modi gave a 'charan paduka' to a woman and hearing aid to another woman.

In his address, he asked people to check the surnames of Naxal leaders and "you will come to know who are they and from where they have come."



"Why you have given your children's lives in their hands. The government is committed to protect your rights," he said.

He said security forces personnel have sacrificed lives to ensure safety of the people of Bastar. These jawans have made a crucial contribution to building roads, hospitals and schools.

Saluting security forces during the speech that lasted for over an hour, Modi said a memorial has been built in Bijapur to honour the personnel who died in Naxal violence.

He paid rich tributes to Ambedkar and devoted a large part of his address to the social reformer. He said April 14 is an important day for the 125 crore people of India as it is the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar and asked those gathered to chant 'Jai Bhim' - three times after him.

BJP leaders have been reaching out to Dalits following a huge uproar over alleged dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, pursuant to a Supreme Court order.

While the government has pressed for a review of the court order, a nationwide protest earlier this month by Dalit bodies turned violent in several states. At least 11 people died in the violence.

Modi also launched the first phase of the ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme here. He mentioned the Ayushman Bharat and Gram Swaraj programmes, saying these will empower the weaker sections.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme aims to create a network of health and wellness centres. It also aims to provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary healthcare for 10 crore poor and vulnerable families.

The government aims to develop these centres by 2022.

As part of the Gram Swaraj scheme, the Centre will reach out to the poor in 21,000 most-backward villages and will make them aware about the Centre's welfare programmes. It will run until May 5.

"I am confident the projects launched on the birth anniversary of Ambedkar will set new parameters," said Modi.

Crediting Ambedkar for his own political success, he said: "A son of a poor mother, belonging to a very backward community, this partner of yours is if today the prime minister that is due to Babasaheb Ambedkar.

"Ambedkar had a huge contribution in awakening the aspirations and expectations of millions of people like me."



He said the NDA government will help in realising the dreams and aspirations of the people of Bastar. "I have come here to say that the Centre supports your dreams, aspirations and expectations.""Bijapur was labelled a backward district. So were more than 100 other districts in the country. After so many years of independence these districts still remain backward," he said.

"Ambedkar's Constitution had provided many opportunities for development of these districts but still they remained backward," the prime minister said.

On January 5, Modi had asked officials to devote the coming three months in developing these backward districts.

"These three months have passed. If all people of the district and local administration, public representatives make an effort together then something which has not be done in the past 70 years can be achieved in a short time," he emphasised.

"I want to make these districts not only 'abhilashi' (aspirational) but also 'mahtvakanshi' (ambitious) so that they emerge as a development model," he said.

Modi said the government was working on a dual strategy to develop Naxal-affected regions by developing them also trying to bring back the misguided youth back into the mainstream.

Apart from the first phase of Ayushman Bharat scheme, Modi launched the Van Dhan scheme announced in the budget.

Under the scheme, Van Vikas Kendras will be set up to ensure better marketing and value addition to forest produce.

He inaugurated a slew of projects including a new rail lie, Internet service, roads and bridges here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A new UN report puts Myanmar's armed forces on a UN blacklist of government and rebel groups "credibly suspected" of carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence in conflict for the first time.

An advance copy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' report to the Security Council, obtained on Saturday by The Associated Press, says medical staff and in Bangladesh have documented that many of the almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled from Myanmar "bear the physical and psychological scars of brutal sexual assault."



The UN chief said the assaults were allegedly perpetrated by the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, "at times acting in concert with local militias, in the course of military 'clearance' operations in October 2016 and August 2017."



"The widespread threat and use of sexual violence was integral to this strategy, serving to humiliate, terrorise and collectively punish the Rohingya community, as a calculated tool to force them to flee their homelands and prevent their return," Guterres said.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar doesn't recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic group, insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. It has denied them citizenship, leaving them stateless.

The recent spasm of violence began when Rohingya insurgents launched a series of attacks last August 25 on about 30 security outposts and other targets. Myanmar security forces then began a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages that the UN and human rights groups have called a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

"Violence was visited upon women, including pregnant women, who are seen as custodians and propagators of ethnic identity, as well as on young children, who represent the future of the group," Guterres said.

"This can be linked to an inflammatory narrative alleging that high fertility rates among the Rohingya represent an existential threat to the majority population."



The report, which will be a focus of a UN Security Council meeting on Monday on preventing sexual violence in conflict, puts 51 government, rebel and extremist groups on the list.

They include 17 from Congo including the armed forces and national police, seven from Syria including the armed forces and intelligence services, six each from Central African Republic and South Sudan, five from Mali, four from Somalia, three from Sudan, one each from Iraq and Myanmar, and Boko Haram which operates in several countries.One person was killed and four others injured when an auto-rickshaw overturned in Howrah district today, police said.

The incident took place at Khaujjtui under the jurisdiction of Bagnan police station, they said.

One person died on the spot while the injured were rushed to Bagnan hospital from where they were referred to Uluberia sub-divisional hospital, police added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US and its allies fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Syria, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian air defences, the Russian defence ministry said today.

"More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets," the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti agency, adding that "a significant number" were shot down by Syrian air defences.

It said that 12 cruise missiles were fired at an airfield close to Damascus and all were intercepted by Syria's air defences. "Russian air defence systems located on Syrian territory have not been used to counter the missile strikes", it said.

It said earlier that none of the Western strikes in Syria had hit areas covered by Russia's air defences around its Hmeimim air base and naval facility in Tartus.

The Russian military said the missiles were fired from US ships in the Red Sea as well as from tactical aircraft over the Mediterranean and by US strategic bombers from the Al-Tanf base in southeastern Syria.

The US, France, and Britain announced a joint operation against Syria's government, a week after an alleged chemical attack outside the capital Damascus that was said to have left more than 40 people dead.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan today expressed "grave concern" over the situation in Syria and urged all sides to follow the UN Charter and resolve the crisis in the war-torn country.

Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) in a statement also condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

The US, Britain and France carried out a wave of pre-dawn strikes against the Syrian regime today in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack.

"We are following the situation in Syria with grave concern. We call on all sides to refrain from actions inconsistent with the UN Charter," it said.

Pakistan said it was important to establish facts through urgent and transparent investigations by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and called on all parties to strive for an agreement within the OPCW framework and extend full support to the organisation.

"At this time our thoughts are with the people of Syria who have suffered as a result of ongoing turmoil in that country. We hope that all parties will work to find an urgent solution to end the suffering of the Syrian people," the FO said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has inaugurated the first unit of a key hydropower mega project built with the financial and technical support of China in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The 969 MW Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project near Muzaffarabad was announced more than 12 years ago but work on it lingered on until ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif vowed in 2013 to build it before the end of five-year tenure of his government.

Though Sharif stepped down last year after disqualification by the Supreme Court his nominee and successor, Abbasi, yesterday lauded his vision and efforts for the project.

"Only 10 per cent work was done when former prime minister (Sharif) decided to complete it. If we have succeeded it is due to his vision and efforts," Abbasi said.

As the project was delayed, the cost climbed to USD 5 billion, a three-fold increase to the initial estimates, Abbasi said, adding the project would be fully operational before the end of this year.

Abbasi thanked China for support and also paid tribute to 21 workers who died while working on the project.

Abbasi further said that government added about 10,400 MW power into the system in five years and addressed the chronic power shortage.

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider addressing on the occasion demanded that 250 MW of electricity from project should be dedicated to PoK to end energy crisis.

Earlier, chief of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), Muzammil Hussain, said the NJHPP was conceived some three decades ago but the work was started only after it became evident that India was planning to build Kishanganga project.Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently undergoing treatment in the US for a pancreatic ailment, today paid tributes to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary.

"Humble tributes to Bharat Ratna Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, the chief architect of our Constitution, on his birth anniversary," Parrikar tweeted.

The state government has organised several programmes to mark the day.

The main event was held in Panaji, which was addressed by Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The students of the fashion wing of The Pearl Academy, one of the premier institutions in design, fashion, business and media will be taking part in the Graduate Fashion Week in London this June.

This would be for the first time an Indian school will be taking part in the Graduate Fashion Week, UK, said the head of School of Fashion, Pearl Academy, Antonio Mourizio Grioli.

The Graduate Fashion Week in London is one of the world's most important sources of spotting new talent for the global design industry.

The School of Fashion has a collaboration with Fashion Design Council of India, the premier body of prominent fashion designers, "which allows our students exhibit their products at Amazon India Fashion Week which is one of the two most important fashion weeks in the country," Grioli said.

The renowned Italian fashion expert said the fashion wing of the institute has international collaboration with global schools like the FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York and the students interacted with each other through snapchats and together build up collections.

"We take students every year to Paris Fashion Week and just started collaboration with renowned Indian fashion designer Manish Arora who has considerable experience with French fashion," he said.

"During my four year stint in India, I have seen a big change. A change which would have taken 10-15 years in Europe.... More Indians are now open into western kind of clothing," he said.

Grioli came to the city to attend a programme where the academy's new undergraduate and post-graduate courses in Media and Communication and Advertising & Marketing were announced.

Pearl also announced 50 per cent merit scholarship on tuition fee for these new courses for select students.

The heads of other disciplines of Pearl were also present and briefed the media.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Showing solidarity with opposition leaders, US Vice President Mike Pence urged Latin American allies today to further isolate Venezuela, suggesting the Trump administration would seek additional sanctions to counter the country's political crisis.

Pence, in Lima for the Summit of the Americas, announced that the US would provide nearly USD 16 million in humanitarian assistance to Venezuelans who have fled their country under the rule of President Nicolas Maduro.

"We want one message to be clear: We are with the people of Venezuela," Pence said at the US ambassador's residence, seated with a group of Venezuelan opposition leaders. The vice president called Maduro's government a "dictatorship" and said the US would continue to push a hard line against the country's leadership.

"The US and our allies, I believe, are prepared to do much more," Pence said, accusing Maduro of "refusing humanitarian aid to be delivered to Venezuela." He said the US would push "additional sanctions, additional isolation and additional diplomatic pressure beginning in our hemisphere but across the wider world."



Pence is subbing for President Donald Trump after the president pulled out of his first planned visit to Latin America to manage the US response to an apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria.

The White House said Pence would sit down Saturday with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has yet to meet with Trump in an impasse over the wall Trump has pledged to build along the US-Mexico border.

Pence's meeting with Pena Nieto will follow Trump's calls to send National Guard troops to the border. That adds further tensions as the neighbours, along with Canada, work to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In a series of meetings with Latin American leaders, Pence plans to promote good governance and democratic institutions and urge allies to maintain pressure on Maduro.

The US has sanctioned Maduro and dozens of top officials, accusing the country of human rights abuses and sliding into a dictatorship.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Members of two Hindu groups and a Dalit outfit clashed in Punjab's Phagwara district, injuring four persons, with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today appealing for peace and ordering suspension of mobile Internet and text services in four districts.

The groups clashed last night, on the eve of Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary, over the installation of a board and renaming of a "chowk" (intersection) in Phagwara, police said.

The chief minister, who is personally monitoring the situation after the incident, has ordered suspension of mobile Internet services in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar districts to check rumour-mongering on social media, according to an official release.

The services were suspended with immediate effect for 24 hours, an order issued by Secretary, Home Affairs, Punjab, said.

"There is a likelihood of tension, annoyance, obstruction, injury to persons, danger to human life and property, disturbance of public peace and tranquillity in Punjab by miscreants, anti-national and anti-social elements in view of the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar after the clash," it said.

"The order of suspension of mobile internet services (2G/3G/4G/CDMA), all SMS and all dongle services provided by mobile networks, except voice calls shall be in force for the next 24 hours with immediate effect," the order said.

The chief minister also directed the police to maintain tight vigil and crackdown on disruptive elements to ensure that the situation does not escalate, the release said.

He has also asked the police to thoroughly investigate the clash between some Dalit workers and "so-called Hindu organisations".

The clashes were between "Hindu workers (Shiv Sena Bal Thakeray and Hindu Suraksha Samiti) and Dalit workers (Ambedkar Sena) in Phagwara (Kapurthala district)", the order said.

Several vehicles were damaged during the clashes as members of both the groups threw stones at each other, police said.

The incident took place when members of a group allegedly installed a board carrying a picture of Ambedkar at Gol Chowk here on National Highway (NH)-1. They also tried to rename it Savidhan Chowk, they said.

However, members of another group objected to it and that led to a clash between them, police said.

The police said around 150 people, including 32 by name, were booked under relevant section of the IPC, including attempt to murder, and provisions of the Arms Act and National Highways Act.

Jimmy, the son of Inderjit Karwal, vice president Shiv Sena Bal Thackeray, were among those who were injured. Punjab Shiv Sena vice president Rajesh Palta was also allegedly thrashed by members of the opposite group, they said.

Some shots were also fired during the clash, police said.

The chief minister has announced that the state government would bear the entire expenses for the medical treatment of those injured in the clashes.

Amarinder has also directed the Ludhiana district administration to ensure the best treatment for Yashwant Kumar Bobby, reported to be seriously injured.

Tension prevailed in Phagwara following yesterday's clash as several shops and commercial establishments remained closed and around 1,500 security men took out a flag march this morning and evening to instill confidence in the public.

The situation is being monitored by an IG rank officer.

Deputy Commissioner (DC), Kapurthala, Mohammad Tayyab and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sandeep Sharma were part of the flag march.

They also visited the Hanumangarhi and the Chak Hakeem Ravidas temples to meet the activists of the groups.

Members of one of the groups demanded transfer of the local sub-divisional magistrate and the superintendent of police.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha member and Punjab BJP chief Shwait Malik cancelled his Phagwara visit in view of the tension prevailing there.

Phagwara Municipal Corporation Mayor Arun Khosla had yesterday invited all party workers to the corporation hall today for a meeting.

The meeting was to be addressed by Malik during his maiden visit to Phagwara after his elevation to the post of state party president.

In the wake of the clash, authorities this afternoon diverted traffic, passing through the city's NH-1 stretch, to Phagwara bypass.

Traffic from Ludhiana was diverted via the Hargobindnagar locality and those coming from Jalandhar were diverted via the Mehtan and Sugarmill-Hoshiarpur road.

Urging people to exercise restraint, the chief minister sought their cooperation to maintain peace and communal harmony, and thwart the nefarious designs of anti-national and anti-social elements.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here today on a day's visit to inaugurate the 'Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission' and other development projects.

Modi first arrived in Jagdalpur in Bastar district, where he was welcomed by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, his cabinet colleagues and other BJP leaders.

From Jagdalpur, Modi headed for Jangla in Bijapur district in a chopper and arrived here around 12.10 pm.

The prime minister will launch a healthcare and wellness centre under the 'Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission'.

He will also interact with a number of people, and take stock of several development initiatives in the region.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme has twin missions -- first, creating a network of health and wellness centres to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare close to the community, and second, providing insurance cover to 40 per cent of India's population, that is most deprived, for secondary and tertiary care, including for instance, hospitalisation costs.

It aims at covering 10 crore poor and vulnerable families and provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

According to an official, the prime minister will also commission a newly-laid railway line between Gudum and Bhanupratappur will be commissioned through video-conferencing.

The prime minister will also inaugurate the first phase of the state government's Bastar Net Project, which aims at expanding the reach of Internet to the remote villages of the division.

As part of the project, an optical fibre cable network is being laid over an area of 40,000 square kilometres in Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada districts of the Bastar division, the official said.

This is the prime minister's fourth visit to the state since the NDA came to power in 2014 and second to Bastar, having visited the area earlier on May 9, 2015.

The prime minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme here Saturday.

He also inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region.

The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

Modi, who is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur, also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map.

This was the prime minister's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are due later the year. He had visited Dantewada in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.

Modi also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. The BPO centre is provided Internet by the Bastar internet scheme.

He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 17 billion.

The prime minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh chaired the programme while Health Minister J P Nadda was the chief guest on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government aims to open 150,000 health and wellness centre by 2022, which would be equipped to treat host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.

Also under the scheme, the government has prepared the broad contour of the Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and work is on to finalise parameters for identifying beneficiaries and hospital entitlement.Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme here today.

He also visited Jangala Development Hub, situated in a panchayat that has emerged as a model panchayat. He interacted with local Champions of Change' in this Left Wing Extremism-affected district especially post the launch of Aspirational District programme on January 5.

He inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cables would be spread across seven districts of the tribal region. The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

Modi, who is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur, also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map.

This is the prime minister's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where Assembly elections are due later this year. He had visited Dantewada in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.

The prime minister also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. The BPO centre is provided Internet by the Bastar Internet scheme.

He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 1,700 crore.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Health Minister J P Nadda were also present on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government will open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre by 2022, which will be equipped to treat host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.

Also under the scheme, the government has prepared the broad contour of the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and the work is on to finalise parameters for identifying beneficiaries and hospital entitlement.

On January 5, Modi had asked officials to devote these coming three months in developing these less develop districts and had said he would like to visit one of these areas which would be well-performing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a stopover in Berlin on April 20 after concluding his visits to Sweden and the United Kingdom, the External Affairs Ministry said today.

It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Merkel began her fourth term as German chancellor on March 14.

The ministry said Modi will make the stopover in Berlin following a suggestion by Merkel.

"At the suggestion of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be making a brief stopover in Berlin on 20 April after completing his visits to Sweden and the United Kingdom. During his visit, PM will meet Chancellor Merkel and the two leaders will exchange views on a number of bilateral, regional and global issues," it said.

It said the visit "demonstrates the commitment by the two countries to maintain the momentum of high level exchanges."



Modi will begin a five-day visit to Sweden and the UK from April 16 with an aim to boost bilateral cooperation in key areas, including trade and investment.

In the UK, the prime minister will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, besides exploring ways to further deepen ties between the two countries, the ministry said.

In Sweden, Modi will attend the India-Nordic Summit. The summit is being co-hosted by India and Sweden.

Prime Ministers of all Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden - will attend the summit.

Modi will first travel to Sweden on a two-day visit from April 16-17. On the second leg of his visit, he will travel to the UK.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister R K Singh today inaugurated an assembly and distribution centre for solar study lamps at Mahuli village in Arrah and also laid the foundation (remotely) for a photovoltaic module manufacturing plant in Sherghati block of Gaya district (Bihar).

Local women Self Help Group (SHG) will assemble solar study lamps in the centre and distribute them to underprivileged students who do not have access to electricity.

"Thus the Centre will not only provide kerosene-free affordable illumination to students, but also empower rural women with the skills to assemble, distribute and repair solar lamps," an official statement said.

The initiative is part of the central government's scheme of providing 70 lakh solar study lamps in five states, where rural household electrification levels are low. In Bihar, the target is to provide more than 18.84 lakh underprivileged students with solar study lamps. Around 4.57 lakh such lamps have already been distributed to the students.

The solar photovoltaic module manufacturing plant will be first of its kind in the state, and will be entirely owned and operated by local women Self Help Group Federations. For this purpose, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (BRLPS) - Jeevika, IIT-Bombay, and the Cluster Level Federation of women self-help group members.

Initiating the Centre's Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, Singh flagged off the UJALA van from Arrah. The van will travel across Bihar, distributing LED bulbs and spreading awareness about energy efficiency and energy conservation.

"As part of this initiative, 16,000 Indian villages with a significantly large number of low income households will be able to buy LED bulbs for a special price of Rs 50 under the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme.

"In Bihar, 635 villages will benefit under this programme. The LED bulbs will equip homes with energy-efficient, cost-effective lighting, and higher lumen output than conventional incandescent bulbs," the statement said.

Power Minister Singh, who also holds the new & renewable energy portfolio, launched the initiatives on the occasion of 127th Birth Anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar for the welfare of the underprivileged.

The minister reiterated the government's commitment to provide 24x7 power supply to all. He said that every household in the country will get electricity connection by December, 2018 under 'Saubhagya'.

Emphasising the importance of renewable energy for rural areas, the minister said, "Off-grid solutions will empower the local women and provide a reliable source of electricity for school going children so they can study and progress well. Thus, it will help in integrating the deprived sections of society with the mainstream".

The Gram Swaraj Abhiyan is launched by the government to promote social harmony and apprise rural communities of various government welfare schemes and initiatives. The campaign will be implemented between 14 April and May 5, 2018 in 16,000 villages across India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh today told Congress MPs from the state to fight in Parliament to ensure that the SC/ST Act is not diluted, while asserting his government's commitment to implementing the 85th amendment to the Constitution for the benefit of the Dalit community.

Expressing concern about the dilution of the SC/ST Act, the chief minister said the Congress would strive to restore powers given to the Dalits under it.

Recalling that he had implemented the 85th amendment during his previous term in office, he pointed out that his government had enacted the Punjab Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act, 2006, providing for reservation in promotions in government jobs.

Amarinder announced a grant of Rs 20 crore for establishing Sri Guru Ravidass Memorial at Khuralgarh Sahib in Hoshiarpur, besides Rs six crore for completion of Ambedkar Bhawan in Ludhiana.

He lashed out at the Akalis for putting the legislation in cold storage during their regime, and asserted that he would ensure its implementation while fulfilling the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had struck down the provisions providing for accelerated reservations in promotions due to certain administrative shortcomings.

Asserting his government's commitment to safeguarding the interests of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Amarinder assured that his government would take all necessary steps to restore the legal position in the matter.

Addressing a state-level function here to mark B R Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary, the chief minister paid glowing tributes to the social reformer, describing him as a far-sighted man who could visualise the future and who drafted the Constitution accordingly.

Lauding Ambedkar's role in promoting the welfare of Dalits, Amarinder said he was hand-picked by India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for his extensive knowledge.

The chief minister also announced a new degree college in Buta Mandi, Jalandhar and establishment of B R Ambedkar Chair in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

In his address, Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said that had the Akalis accepted the request of Ambedkar back in 1936 to allow the conversion of Dalits into Sikhs, the entire community would have been holding the reins of powers today in the country.

Lambasting the Akalis for their "anti-Dalit" policies, he claimed the Congress and Amarinder were the only hope to rescue the Dalit samaj from their miseries.

Social Welfare Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot also blasted the Akalis over their "failure" to do anything for the welfare of the community.

Punjab Congress president and Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar appreciated Amarinder's efforts to uplift the Dalit community, saying the chief minister had announced the waiver of their loans up to Rs 50,000 for this reason.

He lashed out at the BJP-led government at the Centre for allegedly dividing the country on communal and caste lines, pointing out that under their rule, Ambedkar's statues were being desecrated and defiled around the country.

The BJP was "destroying" India's social fabric, alleged.

He also flayed what the Centre had done to undermine the Dalits by diluting the SC/ST Act. "What was more, the Centre owed Rs 1,100 crore to Punjab in connection with the post-matric scholarship scheme for Scheduled Caste students," he claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Charlize Theron has said she considers moving out of the US as she fears for the lives of her two black children in the racially-charged environment in the country.

In an interview with Elle magazine, the "Atomic Blonde" actor, who was born and raised in South Africa during the apartheid, talked about the prevalent social climate and raising two black children in the US.

The actor said she would not consider taking up jobs in certain areas of the country over fears for her family and how they would be treated.

"Racism is much more alive and well than people thought. We can't deny it anymore. We have to be vocal. There are places in this country where, if I got a job, I wouldn't take it. I wouldn't travel with my kids to some parts of America, and that's really problematic," Theron said.

"There are a lot of times when I look at my kids and I'm like, If this continues, I might have to (leave America). Because the last thing I want is for my children to feel unsafe.

The actor is a mother to 2-year-old August and 6-year-old Jackson, whom she adopted as a single parent. Her mother, the children's grandmother, is helping her co-parent.

"I want them to know who they are, and I want them to be so f**king proud of who they are. Building confidence for them right now is an oath I made to myself when I brought them home. They need to know where they come from and be proud of that.

"But they're going to have to know that it's a different climate for them than it is for me, and how unfair that is. If I can do something about that, of course I'm going to," Theron said.

Theron will be next seen in comedy-drama "Tully", where she reunited with her "Young Adult" director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody. She plays a mother in the film who develops a friendship with her babysitter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Activists here today protested a new amendment in the Rajasthan Bovine Animal Act, 1995, which, they claim, allowed slaughter of buffaloes.

The Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) (Amendment) Bill, 2018, was passed in the Assembly on March 9.

It clarified that "bovine animal" means and includes cow, calf, heifer, bull and bullock. The bill excludes buffalo and progeny from the definition.

The activists protested the decision saying that the state government was headed toward "gruesome cruelty" by amending the existing Act which will give a license to kill innumerable dumb, hapless buffaloes.

"We have started a signature campaign and also requested the president of India to not give assent to the Bill, which was passed in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly in March this year. Slaughter of buffaloes is banned in 15 states and is against Article 51 A (G) and Article 48 of the constitution," national chairman of Bharatiya Prani Mitra Sangh, Jasraj Shrishrimal said at a press conference here today.

Former MLA from Nagar constitutency, Gopi Gurjar said that with this amendment the state government had asked the people "to sign their death warrant".

"Milk supply is scarce and the amendment will encourage slaughter of buffaloes. The amendment will add fuel to the fire. It will create an ecological imbalance which can never be replenished,"he said.

Slaughter of buffaloes is banned in India's 15 states.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Superstar Rajinikanth on Saturday said the life for the people in Tamil Nadu has become a "struggle" as they have to launch protests to secure and ensure their due rights.

The actor was referring to the agitations over the Cauvery issue to get the share of water for Tamil Nadu, and the protest seeking closure of the Sterlite Copper Smelter Plant in Tuticorin district on health and environmental grounds.

The actor also greeted people on the occasion of the which falls on Saturday and wished it be "joyful."



"At a time when life has become a struggle where they (protests) are required even to protect the land that is tilled, the air that is inhaled and the water that is drunk, to get justice and our rights...greetings for a new year that should be joyful to all," he tweeted in Tamil.

The actor, who had announced his entry into politics, wished divine blessings to all and overall prosperity in the new year.

The state has been witnessing protests over the past few days by various political parties and outfits demanding setting up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) by the Centre.

In Tuticorin, protests have been on for nearly two months against the Sterlite Copper Smelter Plant, a unit of Vedanta Limited.Parents of Nirbhaya, the paramedic student raped and murdered in 2012, today advocated death penalty for rapes and said though society had progressed, "our daughters are not safe".

The 23-year-old student was brutally gangraped on a moving bus in the national capital on December 16, 2012, and a fortnight later, on December 29, she succumbed in a Singapore hospital.

"I feel very sad that we have progressed as a society a lot, but still our daughters are not safe today. I demand rapists should be hanged," Nirbhaya's mother said at the venue of DCW chief Swati Maliwal's indefinite hunger strike that entered its second day today.

The strike by Maliwal comes in wake of the recent incidents of rape in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief continued her strike at Samta Sthal (Rajghat) demanding the government take concrete actions to curb sexual crimes against women.

"I am working with Swatiji for a long time and I support her 'anshan' (hunger strike) and all demands," Nirbhaya's mother said.

In a letter on Thursday to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maliwal had said, "Prime minister did fast for one day. We were hoping that he will speak something on the issue and will give assurance to the countrymen to ensure safety of our daughters. But the silence of the PM and the entire government is very heart breaking."



The DCW chief had said this before beginning the strike.

In his first comments on the gruesome incidents in Unnao and Kathua, Modi had yesterday called them as a "shame" for the country and asserted that the guilty will not be spared and daughters will get justice.

MLAs Vandana Kumari and Alka Lamba also reached the venue and expressed their support to the strike. They advocated for strong anti-rape laws.

H N Sharma, political advisor to former PM Chandrashekhar, also attended the strike.

Maliwal reiterated that she will not break her indefinite fast until the prime minister does not assure the nation a better system to ensure security of women.

She said these incidents are not happening from the last two days. "Daily thousands of girls become 'Nirbhaya' in our country," Maliwal said.

The prime minister should tell the nation when he would provide a system in which the police's accountability is fixed and enough fast track courts are there to ensure punishment to accused within six months, she said.

In Kathua, an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Bakerwal community had gone missing from near her house on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area.

In the Unnao case, a 17-year-old girl has alleged that she was raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence on June 4, 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Republican party lawmakers have hailed President Donald Trump for his decision to carry out air strikes on Syria's chemical weapons infrastructure, while the Democrats sought action against Russia, alleging that Moscow was behind the Assad regime's "atrocities" against his own people.

In a combined operation, the US, Britain and France today launched military strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime, nearly a week after a suspected chemical attack outside the capital Damascus left over 40 people dead.

"Applaud" Trump for taking military action against the Assad regime for its latest use of chemical weapons, and for signalling his resolve to do so again if these heinous attacks continue, said Senator John McCain, Chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee.

McCain said the message to Assad must be that the cost of using chemical weapons is worse than any perceived benefit.

He said the message must demonstrate that the US and its allies have the will and capability to continue imposing those costs, and that Iran and Russia will ultimately be unsuccessful in protecting Assad from our punitive response.

"To succeed in the long run, we need a comprehensive strategy for Syria and the entire region. The President needs to lay out our goals, not just with regard to ISIS, but also the ongoing conflict in Syria and malign Russian and Iranian influence in the region," McCain said.

"Air strikes disconnected from a broader strategy may be necessary, but they alone will not achieve US objectives in the Middle East," he said.

However, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said that one night of air strikes was not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

"The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorisation for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians," she said.

"President Trump must also hold Putin accountable for his enabling of the Assad regime's atrocities against the Syrian people," Pelosi said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the US had taken decisive action in coordination with its allies.

"We are united in our resolve that Assad's barbaric use of chemical weapons cannot go unanswered. His regime's unconscionable brutality against innocent civilians cannot be tolerated," he said.

"There should be no doubt that Russia and Iran have blood on their hands, and their partnership with Assad reveals the true nature of their regimes. The United States and our allies must continue to seek ways to hold Assad's enablers accountable," Ryan said.

The administration is justified to take limited action in coordination with its allies to hold Assad accountable for the use of chemical weapons, said Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Commitee.

"The horrifying chemical weapon attacks on innocent civilians is a war crime and Bashar al-Assad and his regime must be held accountable. However, air strikes alone will not achieve that goal," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley.

President Trump's pledge for sustained military action demands a strategic plan to be authorised and reviewed by Congress.

"Any strategy must also address Russian President Vladimir Putin's role in financing and enabling Assad's regime, as Russia must be held equally accountable for these heinous crimes," Crowley said.

Noting that Assad should know that the use of chemical weapons will be met with a strong response, House Democratic Whip Steny H Hoyer said the US acted with its allies to respond to the use of chemical weapons in violation of international law.

"We must have a clear strategy for ending the conflict in Syria, and the Administration must articulate a clear plan to not just respond to this horrific chemical attack but to reach a lasting political solution in Syria: one that ends civilian casualties and ensures there is no permanent Iranian presence," he said.

He added that the Congress must have a full role in reviewing and approving the strategy.

"While the US and our allies must not turn a blind eye to Assad's vile and inhumane attacks against his own citizens, military action in Syria must be measured, as part of a coherent strategy to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons without further destabilising an already-volatile region or inadvertently expanding the conflict," said Senator Mark Warner.

"A pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate, but the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria," said Senate Minority Leader, Senator Chuck Schumer.

Senator Mazie K Hirono said she was deeply concerned by the Trump's incoherent strategy on Syria where there are layers of complexity and no easy answers.

Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said Trump has just conducted another set of unconstitutional strikes.

"He does not have the power to take these actions without consulting Congress. Only Congress not the White House has the power to declare war," she said.

"Tonight's air strikes are not a long term plan to resolve the Syrian crisis, and they will do little to stop a dictator like Assad from repeating his crimes against humanity," she said.

"We need a considered, debated, real strategy to end the violence in Syria and protect innocent people from dying. These air strikes are not only unconstitutional, they are dangerously escalating a conflict that could send us into a war with multiple countries," Jayapal said.

"This is a debate that must take place in Congress immediately, and we should be clear that the President has exceeded the authority afforded to him by the Constitution," she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rescuers in the US have found the body of a woman while searching for a missing Indian family of four who are feared drowned in a California river.

An inter-agency search and rescue team in California yesterday recovered some personal items and numerous parts of a vehicle from a swollen river in which the missing Indian family was travelling last week.

Personal belongings of the four members of the family from Santa Clarita in California, who were believed to be travelling through Humboldt and Mendocino County on US-101 while on a vacation, were also found by the team over a two-day period on Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said.

Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, vice president of the Union Bank on Santa Clarita, and his wife Soumya Thottapilly, 38, were on a road trip along with their two kids -- Siddhanth, 12 and Saachi, nine -- in the maroon Honda Pilot from Portland, Oregon to San Jose in Southern California, during which they went missing on April 5.

The body has been sent for identification, amidst fear that that this could be that from the missing Thottapilly family.

"Searchers located the deceased body of an adult female approximately seven miles north of the reported crash site (Eel River flows in a northern direction)," California's Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

The body was found yesterday on an exposed terrain which appeared to have covered by the Eel River within the last few days as a result of a recent weather storm which brought heavy rain to the area.

Identification of the body is pending at this time and an autopsy is anticipated to be conducted on April 17.

Searchers are looking for the missing family members and their vehicle which is believed to be submerged somewhere in the Eel River.

Meanwhile, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol, Garberville Area Office, are continuing their efforts along the South Fork of the Eel River, just north of the town of Leggett California, to locate and recover a vehicle that was reported to have been submerged in the river on around 1:10 PM on Friday, April 6.

Between the two search days, the Swift Water Rescue Teams were able to cover approximately 12 miles of the Eel river, just north of the town of Leggett in California.

The vehicle is reported to have submerged in the river around 1:10 pm on April 6.

"The teams were unsuccessful in locating the vehicle or any occupants from the vehicle. They were able to locate numerous items that appeared to have come from a vehicle body and interior," the Garberville office of the California Highway Patrol said.

It said several items were identified by the family members of those missing.

"Some of these items were consistent with a Honda vehicle. Also located were various personal items that were consistent with a family travelling on vacation. Several items have been positively identified, by the family members, as belonging to the Thottapilly family," it said.

"These items were of a personal nature and will not be described further at this time, but it does confirm the fact the vehicle that was seen going into the river was that of the Thottapilly family," the California Highway Patrol said.

According to the San Jose Police Department, the Thottapilly family was supposed to have arrived to visit a friend in the San Jose area on April 6 but did not make it as scheduled.

The family was last heard from in the town of Klamath, Del Norte County, on April 5.

The California Highway Patrol developed information that the family were travelling in a family vehicle, a 2016 maroon Honda Pilot.

The family was officially reported as missing to the San Jose Police Department on April 8.

Sandeep grew up in Surat city in Gujarat and settled down in the US over 15 years ago.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the country's resolve for ensuring justice in the Kathua rape-and-murder case would go a long way in restoring people's confidence in the system.

She hailed the country's political leadership, the judiciary, the media and the civil society for standing with the Jammu and Kashmir government to ensure justice for the eight-year-old victim in the case.

"The essence of India's democracy lies in its robust institutions and it has been once again established that these institutions have the grit to ensure justice to all sections of society," Mehbooba said at a meeting of PDP legislators here.

"The unflinching resolve for ensuring justice in this heinous crime will go a long way in restoring people's confidence in the institutions and reinforcing the sense of justice in J&K," she said.

The chief minister also commended the people of Jammu for having discounted the divisive agenda of the "rabid fringe elements" and coming out with unwavering support for the girl.

It has strengthened my belief that Jammu serves as a model of inclusiveness, she said.

"This serves as a cue that the people of Jammu and Kashmir can hold a beacon of hope for the whole country amid the harshly polarized discourse," she added.

"India comprises a composite culture and no one has domination in it. We have to keep this civilization alive," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An association of retired teachers here today said that they would hold a five-day sit-in protest from April 16 in Delhi to press for their demands.

C M Dubey of the All India Kendra Vidyalaya Sanghathan Retired Teachers Employees Welfare Society (AIKVSRTEWS) listed a hike in pension and retirement benefits in accordance with the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations as one of their primary demands.

"We are going to burn the effigy of Kendra Vidyalaya Sanghathan Commissioner on April 16 in Delhi for not implementing the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations," he added.

Dubey said that more than 2,000 retired employees and teachers are going to take part in the protest.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rich tributes were today paid to B R Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary with Ram Nath Kovind becoming the first President to visit the birthplace of the chief architect of the Constitution in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow to pay homage on the occasion.

Speaking at a function, Kovind urged people to follow the path of peace, harmony and brotherhood shown by the Dalit icon.

His statement assumes significance in the backdrop of the April 2 nationwide Dalit bandh, which saw large-scale violence in several states, including Madhya Pradesh where more than half a dozen people lost their lives.

"The society needs 'samrasta' (harmony) today and not 'samar' (conflict or war)...It needs non-violence and peace," he said.

Kovind said, "The country saw 13 presidents before me. I came to know I am the first president to visit Ambedkar's birthplace on the occasion of his birth anniversary."



Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Jangala in Chhattisgarh on a day's visit, said Ambedkar has given a Constitution that protects the rights of weaker sections of the society and appealed to people not to join Naxals to achieve their goals.

"Babasahab has given us the Constitution. He ensured protection of your rights...It is the duty of the government to take care of your rights. You need not pick up weapons... ruin your lives," he said.

The prime minister said awakening among the poor and backward sections about their rights, hopes and aspirations was due to Ambedkar, and attributed his own success to the legendary social reformer.

Modi said "A son of a poor mother, belonging to a very backward community, this partner of yours is if today the prime minister that too is due to Babasaheb Ambedkar.

"Ambedkar had a huge contribution in awakening the aspirations and expectations of millions of people like me," he said.

Modi was addressing a huge gathering of villagers in Jangala, located in Naxal-heartland of Bijapur in the state's tribal-dominated region.

Coinciding with the birth anniversary of the country's first law minister, the prime minister launched a healthcare and wellness centre under the "Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission".

He also launched the Gram Swaraj scheme to empower weaker sections, tribals, women and backward people, besides the Van Dhan scheme to ensure better marketing and value addition to minor forest produce to benefit forest dwellers.

Meanwhile, in Phagwara in Punjab, members of two Hindu groups and a Dalit outfit clashed, injuring four persons, with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today appealing for peace and ordering suspension of mobile Internet and text services in four districts.

The groups clashed last night, on the eve of Ambedkar's birth anniversary, over the installation of a board and renaming of a "chowk" (intersection) in Phagwara, the police said.

The chief minister, who is personally monitoring the situation after the incident, has ordered suspension of mobile Internet services in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar districts to check rumour-mongering on social media, according to an official release.

The services were suspended with immediate effect for 24 hours, an order issued by Secretary, Home Affairs, Punjab, said.

In Greater Noida, a statue of Ambedkar was found damaged yesterday. The incident in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh came to light when the villagers spotted the damaged statue.

A large police contingent was deployed in view of the tense situation.

SP (rural) Suniti Singh said a case was registered against unidentiied persons for vandalism and that the guilty would not be spared.

A large number of people from nearby villages had gathered after spread. Police, however, controlled the situation. Security has been beefed up across Uttar Pradesh.

Singh said that the damaged statue was being replaced with a new one.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and chief ministers of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana -- Devendra Fadnavis, Raghubar Das, Yogi Adityanath, K Palanisami and K Chadrasekhar Rao respectively -- also paid homage to Ambedkar, besides other leaders.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently undergoing treatment in the US for a pancreatic ailment, also paid tributes to the Dalit icon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russians have been told to be prepared for a Third World War which could be sparked off by the current crisis in Syria, a state-run Russian TV channel has reported.

The Kremlin-owned channel suggested the ideal supplies for survival and told people to pack iodine to protect the body from radiation while taking refuge in bomb shelters.

The report on Rossiya-24 came amid deep tensions over Syria and as a top military analyst warned that the world is already witnessing a second Cuban Missile Crisis.

Alexander Golts told Rain TV in Moscow, "A year ago when I said we had entered a new Cold War, nobody agreed with me. Now everyone agrees but it has become clear that events in this second Cold War develop a lot quicker. It's only just started and, here you go, we already have Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0".

The bomb shelter advice included stated, "The food supply for doomsday includes many items but the main idea behind packing an emergency stock is less sweets, more water. Viewers were told to pack rice - it can be stored for up to eight years, oatmeal for three to seven years".

Experts "say that it is also necessary to take supplies of medicines with iodine that help body deal with radiation".

However, the same report also claimed there were too many Western scare stories about a catastrophic global conflict.

It said the panic was worse in America, adding, "It is interesting whether Russians believe this nonsense. After electing (Donald) Trump, the business of American producers of bomb shelters is booming".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of Sikhs has protested against alleged atrocities perpetrated against minority communities in India during the commemoration of Babasaheb Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary at the world body's headquarters.

India's Permanent Mission to the UN had organised a special event titled Leaving No One Behind' at the UN yesterday to celebrate Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary. UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steiner delivered the keynote address at the event.

As India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin began his opening remarks at the event, a group of Sikhs stood up in the conference room and held up posters that read 'Minorities Under Threat' and 'Never Forget 84' alongside pictures of Ayodhya's Babri Masjid and the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Akbaruddin remained unperturbed by the protest and continued to deliver his speech. The Sikhs, about 15 in number, had tied black bands on their turbans and they stood silently for the entire duration of Akbaruddin's remarks, holding up the posters for the attendees to see.

As soon as Akbaruddin concluded his remarks, the group left the conference room. Outside the room, UN police and security personnel assembled and questioned the Sikhs, inspecting their posters and inquired about whether they had permission and valid passes to enter the UN.

The Sikhs, belonging to the Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar USA and Youth Akali Dal Amritsar USA, told the security personnel that they were protesting silently and peacefully.

One of the protesters, Sabjeet Singh of the Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar USA told PTI that Ambedkar's vision was to ensure equality for all communities, minorities and Dalits and he had enshrined this in the Indian Constitution.

But the BJP government that has come to power in India wants to build a Hindu nation. They are committing atrocities against Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Dalits. We are here to peacefully convey the message on behalf of all the minority communities in India that Ambedkar's vision of equality remains unfulfilled, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Ram Nath Kovind today cautioned people against divisive forces, saying the nation needed harmony and not conflict.

Speaking here at the birthplace of chief Constitution-maker B R Ambedkar on the occasion of his birth anniversary, Kovind urged people to follow the path of peace, harmony and brotherhood shown by the Dalit icon.

His statements assume significance as they come in the backdrop of the April 2 nationwide Dalit bandh, which saw large -scale violence in several states, including Madhya Pradesh where more than half a dozen people lost their lives.

"The society needs 'samrasta' (harmony) today and not 'samar' (conflict or war)...It needs non-violence and peace," Kovind said.

"I appeal to the countrymen, especially the youth, to follow the path of peace, harmony and brotherhood shown by Ambedkar, and unitedly work to built the country according to Ambedkar's dreams," he said.

Earlier, he paid tributes to Ambedkar at his memorial here. In doing so, Kovind became the first president to pay homage to the legendary social reformer at his birthplace on his birth anniversary.

"The country saw 13 presidents before me. I came to know I am the first president to visit Ambedkar's birthplace on the occasion of his birth anniversary," Kovind said.

The president was addressing a function organised to celebrate the 127th birth anniversary of Independent India's first Law Minister.

"As president, I have got the responsibility to protect the Constitution, whose main architect was Babasaheb Ambedkar. If, after becoming president, I did not bow my head at his birthplace, then I would have felt a sense of guilt," he said.

Referring to Ambedkar's thoughts, he said all citizens should put the nation's interest first and ignore divisive forces.

They should treat themselves only as Indians, he said.

Kovind said, "In his last speech at the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar had said now we have constitutional ways to protest and therefore, we should stay away from lawlessness."



"Our country works on the basis of democratic processes. Today, we need to follow it in an active manner and while doing so we should always remain alert about the good and the bad."



Recalling Ambedkar's contributions to the country, Kovind said he had always adopted non-violent means to fight for the rights of SCs/STs, other weaker sections of the society and women.

The noted jurist-politician always used dialogue for arriving at a consensus, the president said.

"The chant of Jai Bhim means glory to Ambedkar's legacy, ideals and the Constitution that he had given to the country," the president maintained.

Because of the Constitution, every section of the society has got the right to live with dignity, he said.

Kovind said Ambedkar had played a major role in laying the foundation of modern India by establishing the Reserve Bank of India and a few large irrigation and power projects.

The function was chaired by Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gehlot also spoke on the occasion.

Kovind visited the Kalipaltan area where the state government has constructed a grand memorial to the Dalit icon, and paid tributes to him.

The president also had lunch with members of the Dalit community.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Low-cost carrier today said it will launch daily direct flight between Delhi and Adampur (Jalandhar) from May, its sixth destination under the UDAN scheme.

The airline also announced introductory promotional fares for the Delhi-Adampur flight and said the bookings for tickets is now open.

The announcement was made at an event held in Jalandhar.

was awarded Adampur under the first round of UDAN.

In a statement, the carrier said it is the first and only airline to connect Delhi-Adampur with direct flights.

"With the introduction of the daily direct flight services on the Delhi-Adampur-Delhi route, earmarks its sixth destination under the Regional Connectivity Scheme. Passengers from Adampur can now conveniently travel to a host of other cities both on SpiceJet's domestic as well as international network via multiple onward connections from Delhi," the airline said.

With the addition of Adampur-Delhi UDAN route, SpiceJet will operate seven daily UDAN flights. The airline had launched services on the Mumbai-Porbandar, Mumbai-Kandla, Jaipur-Jaisalmer and Hyderabad-Puducherry routes under the UDAN scheme last year.

SpiceJet also recently announced the Hubli-Chennai and Hubli-Hyderabad UDAN routes, which will be in operation from 14 May.

"The second largest military airbase of India, Adampur houses a large number of non-residential Indians from Doaba, the NRI belt of Punjab. With no direct air connectivity, a typical traveller has to travel to Delhi via an Amritsar flight," SpiceJet said.

SpiceJet has announced a limited period special introductory all-inclusive one-way fare of Rs 2,062 for Delhi-Adampur and Rs 1,953 for Adampur-Delhi. The offer is applicable for bookings made on a first come first serve basis.

Deploying its Bombardier Q400 aircraft on the route, SG 8731 will take off from Delhi at 3.30 pm and reach Adampur at 4.45 pm. The return flight, SG 8732, will take off at 5.05 pm and reach Delhi at 6.15 pm.

(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.)Telugu actress Sri Reddy, who caused a flutter recently by stripping in front of the film chamber office, today complained to police that two women, who had taken part in a TV debate with her, were making defamatory comments about her.

She complained that she was also threatened, police said.

Police said appropriate action would be taken after conducting an inquiry and obtaining legal opinion.

The TV channel is located under a different police station limits, they said.

The actress had on April 7 stripped in public and staged a protest in front of the film chamber office here, alleging that local artistes were not being given enough opportunities in the industry.

She also complained of sexual exploitation of women in the regional film industry.

The NHRC has sent notices to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry as well as the Telangana government, seeking detailed reports on the issue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Comic legend Stan Lee has filed a case against his former manager Jerardo Olivarez for business fraud.

The 92-year-old former editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics has sued Olivarez after an in-depth investigative piece by The Hollywood Reporter about an alleged elder abuse and a sour feud over his estate came to light.

As per the complaint, filed yesterday by his attorney Jonathan Freund in LA County Superior Court, Lee alleges Olivarez is one of many "unscrupulous businessmen, sycophants and opportunists" who are seeking to take advantage of him after his wife, Joan Lee's death in July last year.

Freund writes in the complaint, "While Lee was in great distress over this severe loss, Olivarez... Fired his banker of 26 years. They also fired his lawyers of many years and caused approximately USD 4.6 million dollars to be transferred out of Lee's Merrill Lynch Account without Lee's authorisation."



The former manager, who was introduced to Lee by his daughter JC, then convinced the veteran writer to hand over the power of attorney to him, as per the complaint.

Olivarez also allegedly tricked Lee into loaning USD 300,000 to a fake non-profit organisation dedicated to racial peace, bought a USD 850,000 condo in West Hollywood without his approval, siphoned out almost USD 1.4 million from Lee's accounts through a series of wire transfers and used his position as a fiduciary to modify Lee's will.

He is being sued on the charges of conversion, fraud, financial abuse of an elder and misappropriation of his name.

Olivarez is yet to respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tuticorin district collector N Venkatesh today warned of severe action against those trying to disturb peace in the name of protests against the Sterlite Copper unit here.

"Untoward incidents have occurred due to anti socials who are trying to instill fear among the people," he said and warned of severe action against such elements.

The Tamil Nadu government was taking steps to meet the demands of the people over the issue.

People should find a peaceful solution, he said.

The district has been witnessing several protests by locals and others against the Sterlite Copper plant here and its proposed expansion.

Protesters have alleged that the plant was polluting ground water in their area.

Sterlite Copper represents the copper unit of Vedanta Limited which operates a 400,000 tonnes per annum-plant in Tuticorin.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Veteran actor Helen Mirren believes streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, are "devastating" for film directors and audiences.

The "Queen" actor said watching a film in a cinema hall is considered a "communal" experience and feels the expansion of the digital platform poses danger to the theatres.

"It's devastating for people like my husband, film directors, because they want their movies to be watched in a cinema with a group of people," Mirren told Total Film magazine.

"An audience, a movie, and you're all in it together. You're frightened, you laugh, you cry all together. So it's a communal thing. And that's beginning to disappear," she added.

The 72 year-old actor is married to Taylor Hackford, best known for 2004 biopic "Ray".

The Oscar-winner's comments came after the feud between Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival organisers.

The 12-day festival, which starts from May 8, has made it mandatory for films to be released in French theatres in order for them to become eligible for the main competition.

Following the rule change, the streaming giant refused to showcase its films in cinema halls and pulled them out of the festival.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Syrian army has declared that all anti-regime forces had left Eastern Ghouta, nearly two months into a blistering offensive on the rebel enclave on the outskirts of the capital.

"All terrorists have left Douma, the last of their holdouts in Eastern Ghouta," state agency SANA yesterday quoted an army spokesman as saying, using the regime's usual term for rebels.

"Areas of Eastern Ghouta in rural Damascus have been fully cleansed of terrorism," an army spokesman also said in a statement delivered on state television.

The announcement comes after a massive assault launched by Syrian government and allied forces on February 18 to retake the enclave, which had been out of regime control since 2012.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, at least 1,700 civilians have been killed in bombardment on the enclave in eight weeks.

Douma is the main town in what at the start of the year was a sprawling semi-rural area just east of Damascus, home to almost 400,000 inhabitants.

The regime has been accused of carrying out a chemical weapons attack last week on the town of Douma, the final part of the enclave where rebels were balking at a Russian-brokered deal to evacuate them to northern Syria.

The United States, France and Britain responded yesterday with pre-dawn strikes on alleged regime chemical weapons sites.

A team of experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is currently in Damascus and expected to investigate the site of the alleged chemical attack.

President Bashar al-Assad had made the reconquest of Eastern Ghouta a strategic goal.

Dozens of civilians in government-controlled central Damascus have also been killed by rockets and mortar rounds fired from Eastern Ghouta by the rebel groups that held it.

The aerial blitz the regime and Russia launched in mid-February has caused extensive destruction in the region's towns.

"Engineering units are starting to clear the mines and explosives sewn by the terrorists in the town to allow the rest of the units to secure the liberated areas and prepare them for the return of civilians to their homes," the army spokesman said.

The last convoy of buses transporting members of the Islamist group Jaish al-Islam and their relatives left Douma yesterday.

Thousands of civilians who fled the offensive have already returned to areas previously retaken by the army and allied forces.

The two-month assault on Eastern Ghouta sparked an international outcry, with the head of the United Nations describing the conditions endured by civilians there as "hell on Earth".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Vice President Mike Pence today warned the Syrian regime against using chemical weapons, saying there will be a price to pay for such a misadventure.

The US and its allies France and Britain launched air strikes, targeting sites associated with Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

The joint operation was in response to a suspected chemical attack in the city of Douma last week.

There "will be a price to pay" if Syria ever uses chemical weapons again, as the US is ready to take additional action, Pence told reporters travelling with him to Peru to attend the Summit of the Americas.

Pence repeatedly praised the "strong leadership" of President Donald Trump and American allies in responding to the chemical attacks in Syria.

Calling the strike "successful" and an "extraordinary success", Trump said the strike "degraded and crippled" and "significantly eroded" Syria's ability to use chemical weapons.

"This was the morally right act to take," he said.

Pence said that the Trump administration considered every potential response in developing its plan for the Syrian strike and its monitoring the environment for any retaliation.

There were almost daily calls between France, the UK and the US, he said in response to a question.

Pence said the administration is "absolutely" sure the Assad regime carried out the chemical attack.

At a minimum, Chlorine was used and he said that an investigation could show that Sarin was also used.

Responding to a question, Pence said that the US message to Russia is: "You're on the wrong side of history".

Noting that "you're known by the company you keep," Pence said Russia needs to join other nations in opposing the use of chemical weapons in Syria and "live up to the commitments they made".

This was Pence's first media interaction after US forces launched precision strikes against Assad regime targets associated with the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Air strikes by Britain, France and the United States in Syria sent a "clear message" against the use of chemical weapons, British Prime Minister Theresa May said today and declared the action as successful.

The British Prime Minister told reporters at a Downing Street press conference on Saturday that the coordinated strikes to degrade the Bashar al-Assad led Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability involved four Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR 4s.

"This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons," she said.

The tornadoes launched storm shadow missiles at a military facility some 15 miles west of Homs, where the Assad regime was assessed to have kept chemical weapons in breach of Syria's obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

"While the full assessment of the strike is ongoing, we are confident of its success it was a limited, targeted and effective strike with clear boundaries that expressly sought to avoid escalation and did everything possible to prevent civilian casualties," May said.

Acknowledging that there no "graver decision" for a prime minister than to commit the country's forces to combat, Theresa May said that following discussions with US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron the trio had agreed to hit a specific and limited set of targets.

These included a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a key chemical weapons research centre and a military bunker involved in chemical weapons attacks.

"Hitting these targets with the force that we have deployed will significantly degrade the Syrian Regime's ability to research, develop and deploy chemical weapons," she said.

Making a reference to Russia, which has been supporting the Syrian regime, Theresa May indicated that the strikes were also intended as a message to Moscow over its own use of a deadly nerve agent against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last month.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere. We must reinstate the global consensus that chemical weapons cannot be used," she said.

In a statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the air strikes as an "act of aggression" by the three western allies, which would worsen the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

The UK's Opposition Labour party branded the strikes as "legally questionable", conducted without the backing or vote in the UK Parliament. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned the government's involvement in the US-led strikes, saying it "makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely".

May said that due to "operational security reasons" it had been "right and legal" to take the action in the way that the US, France and Britain had.

The strikes, which had been expected since Trump had tweeted a series of warnings to Syria over the past week, follows reports last Saturday of up to 75 people, including young children, being killed in the Syrian city of Douma.

Theresa May stressed that after assessments, alongside the US and France, all the indications were that it had been a chemical weapons attack which led to some harrowing images of men, women and children lying dead with foam in their mouths.

The British PM had received her Cabinet's backing for military action during an emergency meeting on Thursday. The UK asserts that the action is not about interfering in a civil war or about regime change.

Earlier on Saturday, UK defence secretary Gavin Williamson also described the air strikes as a "highly successful mission", adding that the UK, France and America had played an important role in "degrading the ability of the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP leader Mukul Roy today alleged that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has throttled democracy in West Bengal.

Those who do not respect the democratic rights and values should not talk big about democracy, Roy said.

"There is an unprecedented attack on the basic democratic rights of the opposition parties. The Trinamool Congress has resorted to a full-fledged assault on democracy. Even mediapersons have not been spared," Roy alleged.

The BJP state leadership led by Roy today took out a rally to observe the 127th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar.

Referring to the violence during nomination filing for next month's panchayat polls, Roy alleged that the TMC didn't allow the opposition parties to file nominations as they are afraid of free and fair polls.

He asked, "If they were so sure of their developmental work, why did they not allow the opposition parties to file nominations?"



The Calcutta High Court on April 12 had stayed till further orders the ongoing panchayat election process in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit today extended his Tamil new year greetings to chief minister K Palaniswami.

A government release said that Purohit sent a message to the Chief Minister in this regard.

"On the occasion of Tamil New Year's day heralding the arrival of Vilambi (new year), I extend my best wishes and greetings to you for a glorious year ahead," the release quoted Purohit as saying in his message.

"May God bestow peace, prosperity and joy on your family," he added.

The Chief Minister thanked the Governor for his message, it added.

Seperately, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam greeted the Governor on the new year.

The Governor also sent a new year message to the Deputy Chief Minister, a release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump was set to address the nation at 6:30 am IST today on the situation in Syria, and how he plans to respond to an alleged chemical weapons attack outside Damascus, US media reported.

Trump spent the last few days huddling with his senior military advisers, and speaking to allies France and Britain, in deciding what action to take after the deadly attack in Douma, the largest town in the former rebel-held bastion of Eastern Ghouta.

Fox reported that the Trump administration had taken the decision to strike Syria, citing an unnamed administration official, but without saying whether the attack had been launched.

US naval assets would be involved in the operation, including the USS Donald Cook which is in the region, while British Prime Minister Theresa May had authorised the use of submarines as a show of support, the official told the network.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The UAE-based Business Leaders Forum (BLF) has sought investments of up to Rs 100 billion in Andhra Pradesh with the partnership of the state government to spur growth in avenues such as food park.

The BLF and India Trade & Exhibition Centre m.e. (ITEC) signed two separate Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB).

The MoUs were signed last week in Hyderabad in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who has secured investments of over $12.52 billion.

The BLF is a joint initiative by the UAE Ministry of Economy, Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and Indian Consulate in Dubai to boost cross-border investment.

"We are looking at a sizeable project that could require investment of up to Rs 100 billion in which the state government would be a possible partner. We are looking at a possible food park, a medical city, large infrastructure project, among other avenues," Dr Ram Buxani, President, BLF, said.

The ITEC, represented by its Director General Sripriyaa Kumaria, has signed an MoU with the APEDB to provide employment to 1,000 skilled people from Andhra Pradesh in the UAE by engaging with the UAE's employers and help boost two-way investment between Andhra Pradesh and the UAE.

The BLF recently led a 10-member investment delegation to the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to explore new investment opportunities in partnership with the state government in key economic sectors, including health, education, manufacturing food services, information technology and infrastructure.

The delegation, mostly comprising NRI investors and businessmen, met Naidu and discussed ways to facilitate investment from the UAE to Andhra Pradesh. The move is part of the annual mega business conference India-UAE Partnership Summit that was launched last year. Its second edition will be held from October 30-31, 2018.

"I am pleased to announce the signing of two important MoUs with Andhra Pradesh government that will form the basis of our future cooperation and continuous engagement to boost investment," Buxani said.

The signing of MoUs comes weeks after the Andhra Pradesh government signed a $4.62 billion investment agreement with Emirates Airline to develop a large maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility.

In October 2017, Naidu witnessed the signing of two MoUs with as many UAE business groups which collectively committed to invest $7.5 billion in the state.

Chairman of ITEC, Shri Sudesh Agarwal assured that ITEC would engage with the large investor groups to invest in high-growth investment areas and expressed hope to bring other major states in India under a similar process.

Lulu Group, a retail group based in the UAE, is developing a hotel and a convention centre with a total investment outlay of $400 million in the state. The collective value of these four projects exceeds $12.52 billion.An attempted suicide bombing and mortar fire left at least six UN peacekeepers wounded in northern Mali, a foreign security source told AFP.

"At least six blue helmets were wounded during an unprecedented attack in Timbuktu," the source said yesterday.

In a tweet, the UN force "confirmed a major and complex attack on the camp at Timbuktu this afternoon (mortars + exchanges of fire + suicide attack vehicle)".

It made no mention of casualties but said the situation was "under control".

"It's the first time there has been an attack on this scale against the MINUSMA in Timbuktu," the security source said, adding that the final casualty toll was still awaited.

"We've never seen an attack like this," an official from the Timbuktu governorate told AFP.

"Shell fire, rockets, explosions and perhaps even suicide bombers." Unrest in Mali stems from a 2012 Tuareg separatist uprising against the state, which was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

More than a dozen of Timbuktu's holy shrines, built in the 15th and 16th centuries when the city was revered as a centre of Islamic learning, were razed by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.

The United Nations has 13,000 troops and police in Mali, many of whom are deployed in the country's lawless north.

Seven UN peacekeepers have been killed in attacks in Mali this year alone, serving in a mission that has been described as the UN's most dangerous.

Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

Insurgents remain active, linked to drug, arms and migrant trafficking in the vast Sahel region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The UN Security Council will meet today at Russia's request to discuss air strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain on Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will brief the council during the public meeting scheduled for 1500 GMT, a UN official said.

Guterres said in a statement earlier that all countries should "show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people."



Western officials said a barrage of cruise and air-to-land missiles hit what they said were sites linked to chemical weapons development.

The one-night operation hit three targets: a scientific research facility in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage site west of the city of Homs and a command post near Homs, the US military said.

Russia has warned that any military action against Syria would be in violation of international law as it was carried out without UN Security Council approval.

At a council meeting yesterday, the United States, Britain and France made the case for military action, arguing that President Bashar Assad's forces had used toxic gases multiple times in violation of international law.

Russia countered that their action was aimed at overthrowing Assad and keeping Moscow's influence in check.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Stepping up the attack on the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the Unnao rape case, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav today held the state director general of police (DGP) and Principal Secretary (Home) responsible for "shielding" the accused MLA of the ruling party.

"The DGP and the Principal Secretary (Home) were shielding the accused. The entire country has seen how they were referring to him (the MLA) as 'mananiya' (honourable) at a press conference," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister told reporters at the SP office here.

"This government is perpetrating atrocities on the people and opposition party leaders," he alleged.

BJP MLA from Bangarmau, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, is the prime accused in the Unnao rape case.

On whether he was satisfied with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) taking up the probe in the case, Yadav said, "I hope the truth will come to the fore."



"The tall claims of the state government on law-and-order stand exposed with the Unnao incident. Even the (Allahabad) High Court had to intervene. The government is guilty of not taking timely action," he added.

The SP chief had yesterday demanded action against the policemen for their handling of the Unnao rape case, a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the victim's family and a government job to the 17-year-old victim girl.

"The policemen involved in the incident should also be identified and punished. The victim's family should be given a Rs 50 lakh compensation and the victim should be given a government job, security, accommodation and other facilities," he had said.

Claiming that the people of the state were living in fear and feeling insecure, he had said, "After the (Allahabad) High Court's observation, it is proved that law-and-order has collapsed in the state. The governor should take suo motu congnizance and recommend President's Rule in Uttar Pradesh."



The CBI has taken over the probe in three cases related to the Unnao incident. The central probe agency arrested the accused BJP MLA yesterday, hours after the Allahabad High Court ordered his immediate arrest, saying he was influencing the "law-and-order machinery".

Following a nationwide outcry over the incident, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh had referred the cases lodged by the state police to the CBI.

The case came into the limelight after the victim attempted self-immolation outside Adityanath's residence on Sunday, alleging police inaction against Sengar.

The victim's father had died in judicial custody the next day, almost a week after he was reportedly thrashed by the MLA's brother and others.

A video, purportedly showing the girl's father before his death, has gone viral. Several television channels have also aired it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CBI today made a second arrest in the Unnao rape case as it took into custody Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly took the victim to BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on the day of crime, officials said.

A special court in Lucknow has sent Sengar, the prime accused in the case, to a seven-day CBI custody, they said.

In her complaint to UP Police, now part of the CBI FIR, the victim's mother has alleged that Shashi Singh had lured her daughter and took her to Sengar's residence where he raped her.

She has also alleged that while the MLA was raping her daughter, Shashi Singh stood outside the room as a guard.

The agency arrested the BJP MLA from Bangarmau last night after 16 hours of questioning at its office in Lucknow.

After a massive public outrage over the inaction of the UP police, the case was handed over to the CBI on April 12. The agency took over the investigation in three cases related to the alleged rape of the 17-year-old girl by the BJP MLA.

Within hours of taking over the investigation, the CBI brought Sengar, who had remained untouched by the state police, to its office in Lucknow, where he was questioned for nearly 16 hours before being taken into custody.

In a scathing order yesterday, the Allahabad High Court slammed the inaction by the Uttar Pradesh government and the state police. The court underlined that in spite of complaint from the victim to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on August 17, 2017, no substantial action was taken by the police.

"The disturbing feature of the case is that the law and order machinery and the government officials were directly in league and under the influence of Kuldeep Singh," a bench of Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale and Justice Sunit Kumar said.

"The prosecutrix and her family members have been running from post to pillar but her complaint was not registered, despite approaching the chief minister. The influence of the accused is such that the circle officer also declined to lodge the report on the complaint duly forwarded by the office of the chief minister," it said.

The agency, which was referred the matter on Wednesday, took immediate action by re-registering the FIRs filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

A team visited the crime scenes in Makhi village in Unnao district and talked to the victim's family, witnesses and officials of the hospital where the victim and her father were taken for treatment.

The first FIR pertains to the alleged rape of the girl in which Sengar and Shashi Singh have been named as accused.

The second pertains to rioting, in which four locals have been booked, and the alleged killing of the victim's father in judicial custody. Since the murder charge was added later by the state police, it does not reflect in the CBI FIR.

The third case pertains to the allegations against the victim's father, who was arrested by the police under the Arms Act and put in jail, where he died. According to the post-mortem examination report, he had suffered serious injuries.

According to the rules, the CBI re-registers the FIRs filed by a state police when taking over a probe, but remains at freedom to arrive at its own conclusions, which are filed before a special court in its final report.

The final report can either be a closure report or a chargesheet.

The victim has alleged that on June 4, 2017, she was raped by BJP MLA Sengar at his residence, when she had gone to meet him, along with a relative, seeking a job.

In February, the girl's family had moved the court, seeking to include the MLA's name in the case. Subsequently, the victim's father was booked by the police under the Arms Act on April 3 and put in jail on April 5.

Frustrated with the alleged police inaction and coercion from influential people, the victim attempted self-immolation in front of Chief Minister Adityanath's residence on April 8.

The next day, her father died in jail with the post-mortem examination report suggesting serious injuries on his body.

Sengar, a four-time MLA, enjoys an immense clout, cutting across party lines, in rural areas of Unnao district, a semi-urban area about 70 km from Lucknow.

A video, purportedly showing the victim's father before his death, has gone viral. Several television channels have also aired it.

In the video, the victim's father alleged he was mercilessly beaten up, including with rifle butts, by the MLA's brother and others in presence of police personnel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today paid floral tributes to BR Ambedkar here on his 127 th birth anniversary, but the highlight of the day was unveiling of the Dalit icon's statue at the SP office, reflecting the new found love with arch rival BSP.

SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav unveiled Ambedkar's statue at Lohia auditorium next to the statues of Ram Manohar Lohia, Jai Prakash Narayan and other socialist leaders.

"We cannot forget the contributions of Dr Ambedkar, who united people of all caste. He wrote the Constitution and on his anniversary we take pledge to follow path of secularism. Some people have either not studied the Constitution or are ignoring it...," Yadav said.

After its new found bonhomie with the BSP won it two Lok Sabha seats in recent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party took their friendship a step forward by installing Amebdkar's statue in the party office here.

The SP, which had earlier stayed content with celebrating anniversaries of socialist idealogue asked all its district units to celebrate the occasion at the district party headquarters or any public place to mark the day.

This was perhaps for the first time that a conscious effort was being made by the SP to ensure celebrations on Ambedkar Jayanti on a big scale.

Earlier in the day, Adityanath, accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, paid tributes to Ambedkar.

UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey also paid floral tributes to Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution.

Adityanath earlier participated in the birth anniversary celebrations of the Dalit icon at Ambedkar Mahasabha here, where he was honoured with the title of 'Dalit Mitra'.

Addressing the public, Adityanath said, "The BJP government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked tirelessly for the emancipation and upliftment of Dalits by construction of more than 40 lakh toilets in the rural areas."



In a tweet, Adityanath said, "Babasaheb has made a number of provisions in the Constitution of India to remove social disparities and provide social justice to the oppressed sections of the society...Every citizen of India will always remain obliged towards the contribution of Babasaheb.

"Babasaheb struggled throughout his life for the rights of Dalits and oppressed sections of the society."



The state government organised several programmes to mark the day amid tight security to prevent any possible attempt at inciting violence.

Districts magistrates and superintendents of police were asked to ensure peace and check any violence in their respective areas of jurisdiction, an official spokesperson said here.

District authorities were directed by the Home Department to intensify patrolling to ensure that no loss of life and property takes place and clamp prohibitory orders wherever necessary, he said.

Meanwhile, a statue of Ambedkar was found damaged in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh in Greater Noida yesterday.

When villagers spotted the damaged statue, heavy police force was deployed in view of the tense situation.

Suniti Singh, SP (rural) said a case was registered against unknown persons for vandalism. The damaged statue was being replaced.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime today in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks that President Donald Trump branded the "crimes of a monster."



As Trump embarked on a White House address to announce the action - taken in defiance of Russian warnings - explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.

An AFP correspondent in the city heard consecutive blasts at 4:00 am (local time), followed by the sound of airplanes overhead. Smoke could be seen rising from the northern and eastern edges of the capital.

After dawn, Syrians draped in government flags descended on the heart of the capital in a show of defiance against the strikes.

Trump said he had ordered US forces to launch precision strikes "on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad."



He said a combined operation had been launched with the forces of Britain and France, whose leaders have rallied behind Trump's call for a response to an alleged chemical attack on the town of Douma a week ago that rescuers and monitors say killed more than 40 people.

"This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," Trump said. "The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead."



Joseph Dunford, Washington's top general, said the strikes hit targets near Damascus and in Homs province including a scientific research centre, storage facilities and a command post.

Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries had attempted to fire back, but there were no initial reports of losses, he added.

Syrian state media said air defences were activated to block the attack and published images of smoke clouds hanging over the capital.

At the rally in central Damascus, 48-year-old Nedher Hammoud claimed to have seen US missiles "being shot down like flies".

"Let them do what they want, kill who they want... History will record that Syria shot down missiles -- and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance."



Syria's foreign ministry denounced the strikes as a "brutal, barbaric aggression" and suggested they were aimed at "hindering" the work of inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons due to start in Damascus later today.

The strikes were a marked escalation compared with a US strike following a chemical attack a year ago, when only cruise missiles were used against a single airfield.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said no additional strikes were planned. "Right now this is a one-time shot," he said.

Dunford said Russia's forces in Syria had been warned through existing "deconfliction" channels that Western planes would be in Syrian air space, but Washington had not revealed the target sites or timing in advance.

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus. "Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

Russia's defence ministry said more than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles had been fired and that "a significant number" were shot down.

It said that none of the Western strikes in Syria had hit areas covered by Russia's air defences around its Hmeimim air base and naval facility in Tartus.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the attack in Douma, which prompted a furious reaction from Trump.

Trump's anger was shared by France's President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

"We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons," Macron said in a statement.

Defence Minister Florence Parly said France fired cruise missiles from frigates in the Mediterranean and deployed fighter jets from home bases as part of its strikes.

Britain's defence ministry said that four British Tornado jets had fired Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles (25 kilometres) west of Homs city.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world," Prime Minister Theresa May said, referring to a recent assassination attempt on a Russian double agent.

In the days between the attack in Douma and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling statements and debates.

Moscow denied Assad had any role in the alleged attack, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain staged the event. At the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and yesterday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof." The Western leaders apparently found this a convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Top US lawmakers today greeted Sikhs around the world on the occasion of Vaisakhi.

Vaisakhi refers to the harvest festival in several parts of north India, specially in Punjab. It is observed every year to celebrate a good agricultural year and pray for abundant crop produce for the next year.

"On this historically significant day for Sikhs, I want to wish our Sikh American friends a happy and healthy Vaisakhi!" tweeted Senator Maria Cantwell as she was joined by more than a dozen top lawmakers from either side in sending greetings to the members of the Sikh community.

"On this historically significant day for Sikhs, I'm wishing our Sikh American friends a very happy #Vaisakhi!" tweeted Congressman Eliot Engel, who is the Ranking Member of the powerful House Foreign Relations Committee.

"Today our Sikh American neighbours celebrate one of the most significant days in Sikh history. Please join me in wishing our Sikh American friends a happy #Vaisakhi!" said Congressman Jerry McNerney.

"Wishing our Sikh American neighbours and friends a happy #Vaisakhi!" tweeted Congressman Josh Gottheimer.

"On this historically significant day for Sikhs, I'm wishing our Sikh American friends a happy #Vaisakhi!" tweeted Congresswoman Judy Chu, along with a collage of Sikhs.

"Wishing our Sikh American neighbours, classmates & colleagues a happy #Vaisakhi!" tweeted Congresswoman Terri Sewell.

Noting that the Sikh neighbours have been an integral part of the Central Valley community, Congressman David Valadao tweeted: "Today, we join them in celebrating #Vaisakhi, one of the most historically significant days for Sikhs all over the world!".

Congressman Ruben K Kihuen in his tweet wished all his Sikh American friends and neighbours in Nevada and all across the world a joyful and blessed Vaisakhi.

Sikhs have been an integral part of America's fabric for more than 125 years, said Congressman Ted Lieu from California.

"Today we join our Sikh American neighbours in celebrating #Vaisakhi, one of the most historically significant days for Sikhs all over the world. Happy Vaisakhi!" he said.

Wishing Sikh Americans, a very happy #Vaisakhi, Congresswoman Grace Meng said she is honored to recognize this important celebration and salute all that the Sikh American community has contributed to the United States.

"Today s #Vaisakhi, a day of celebration for our #Sikh friends, neighbours, classmates, & colleagues. Join me in wishing everyone celebrating," tweeted Congressman Jim Costa.

Among others lawmakers who greeted Sikhs on the occasion of Vaisakhi were Al Green, Linda Teresa Sanchez, Dan Kildee, John Larson, Jamie Raskin, Randy Hultgren, Dave Reichert and Senator Pat Toomey.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punitive US-led strikes on Syria are justified because of the "murderous actions" of the Damascus government, an Israeli official said today.

"Last year (US) President Donald Trump said that the use of chemical weapons would violate a red line. This night, under America's guidance, the United States, France and Britain acted accordingly (because) Syria continues to carry out its murderous actions," the official, who declined to be identified, said.

"Syria also serves as a base to carry out such action, namely on behalf of Iran, endangering its territory, its forces and its leadership," the official added.

Public radio said that Israel had been informed ahead of time of the strikes that were carried out by the United States, France and Britain.

Tensions have been running high between Israel and its arch-foe Iran, a key backer of the Syrian regime which provides military advisors and "volunteer" ground forces to Damascus.

On Monday seven Iranian personnel were among 14 people killed in an early-morning strike on the T-4 airbase in Syria, with regime allies Iran and Russia blaming Israel for the attack.

Israel did not deny or confirm any responsibility.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US is "locked and loaded" if Syria uses chemical weapons again, America's UN envoy Nikki Haley said today.

The US and its allies France and Britain launched air strikes, targeting sites associated with Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

The joint operation was in response to a suspected chemical attack in the city of Douma last week.

President Donald Trump "enforces" the red line and the US will sustain the pressure on the war-torn nation, she said.

"With yesterday's military action, our message was crystal clear. The United States of America will not allow the Assad regime to continue to use chemical weapons.

"Last night, we obliterated the major research facility that it used to assemble weapons of mass murder," Haley told an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Syria here.

Haley said she had spoken to President Trump, who said if the Syrian regime uses "this poison gas" again, the United States is "locked and loaded".

"When our President draws a red line, our President enforces the red line," she said.

Haley said the US successfully hit the heart of Syria's chemical weapons enterprise, and because of these actions, it is confident that it has crippled Syria's chemical weapons programme.

"We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will," Haley said.

She blamed the Security Council and Russia's actions for failing in its duty to hold those who use chemical weapons to account.

"That failure is largely due to Russian obstruction. We call on Russia to take a hard look at the company it keeps, and live up to its responsibilities as a Permanent Member of the Council and defend the actual principles the United Nations was meant to promote," she said.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council that the airstrikes were reportedly limited to three military locations inside Syria.

The first target included the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre at al-Mazzah Airport in Damascus; the second, an alleged chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs; and the third, an alleged chemical weapons equipment storage site and command post, also near Homs.

Guterres said the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and called on the members of the Security Council to unite and exercise that responsibility.

"I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people," the UN Secretary General said.

Guterres emphasised that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis and the solution must be "political".

Urging the Security Council to assume its responsibilities, Guterres said a "lack of accountability" emboldens those who would use such chemical weapons by providing them with the "reassurance of impunity".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A US national was apprehended at the Delhi airport here for allegedly using a fake ticket to enter the terminal area, officials said today.

Gurpreet S was apprehended last night when CISF personnel intercepted him while he was leaving the terminal-III building of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, they said.

He was stopped and questioned as exiting the terminal area is not normally permitted, the sources said.

Gurpreet told the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel that he used a "cancelled" ticket to enter the terminal area to see off his sister, who was travelling to Jeddah, they said.

He was subsequently handed over to the police as his ticket was fake, the officials said.

Entering an airport terminal without a valid ticket is illegal under the aviation rules.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US has "a large body" of evidence indicating that the Assad regime was responsibile for the April 7 chemical attack in Duma and that Syrian military officials coordinated the attack, the White House said today as it defended the joint air strikes on the war-torn country.

The White House released an information sheet making its case for the Syrian regime's involvement in the Duma attack shortly after President Donald Trump announced targeted strikes on Syria in collaboration with the UK and France to retaliate against it.

"A large body of information indicates that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in the Duma area of East Ghutah, near Damascus, on April 7, 2018. Our information is consistent and corroborated by multiple sources," the White House statement said.

"This conclusion is based on descriptions of the attack in multiple media sources, the reported symptoms experienced by victims, videos and images showing two assessed barrel bombs from the attack, and reliable information indicating coordination between Syrian military officials before the attack," the White House assessment said.

The White House said the Duma poison gas attack was part of a major offensive on the rebel-held area by the regime.

According to the White House, Bashar al-Assad's regime's continued use of chemical weapons threatens to desensitise the world to their use and proliferation, weaken prohibitions against their use, and increase the likelihood that additional states will acquire and use these weapons.

"To underscore this point, not only has Russia shielded the Assad regime from accountability for its chemical weapons use, but on March 4, 2018, Russia used a nerve agent in an attempted assassination in the United Kingdom, showing an uncommonly brazen disregard for the taboo against chemical weapons," the White House alleged.

"A significant body of information points to the regime using chlorine in its bombardment of Duma, while some additional information points to the regime also using the nerve agent sarin. This is not an isolated incident the Syrian regime has a clear history of using chemical weapons even after pledging that it had given up its chemical weapons program," it said.

On April 7, social media users, non-governmental organisations, and other open-source outlets reported a chemical weapons bombardment in Duma.

Videos and images show remnants of at least two chlorine barrel bombs from the attacks with features consistent with chlorine barrel bombs from past attacks, it said.

In addition, a large volume of high-resolution, reliable photos and video from Duma clearly documents victims suffering from asphyxiation and foaming at the mouth, with no visible signs of external wounds.

The World Health Organisation issued a statement about its concern over suspected chemical attacks in Syria, noting that victims showed symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals, the White House said.

According to the Trump administration, multiple government helicopters were observed over Duma on April 7, with witnesses specifically reporting a Mi-8 helicopter, known to have taken off from the Syrian regime's nearby Dumayr airfield, circling over Duma during the attack.

Numerous eyewitnesses corroborate that barrel bombs were dropped from these helicopters, a tactic used to target civilians indiscriminately throughout the war.

Photos of barrel bombs dropped in Duma closely match those used previously by the regime.

"Following these barrel bomb attacks, doctors and aid organizations on the ground in Duma reported the strong smell of chlorine and described symptoms consistent with exposure to sarin," the US alleged.

The White House alleged that the Assad regime chooses to deploy chemical weapons to terrorise and subdue both opposition fighters and the civilian population.

"It seeks to minimize regime casualties, in part because its military lacks the strength needed to otherwise prevail. Because the regime's intent is to terrorize, it makes no effort to discriminate between military and civilian targets," it said.

In its statement, the White House alleged that the Syrian regime has repeatedly used chemical weapons to compensate for its lack of military manpower, to achieve battlefield goals, and to compel rebel surrender, especially when the regime believed critical infrastructure or territory in the core of the country to be at risk.

The regime has also demonstrated a willingness to use chemical weapons against entrenched opposition forces to maintain offensive momentum when as it calculates this behavior will not be detected and punished, it said.

"The Syrian regime's chemical weapons attacks on Duma were part of an effort to recapture the city in order to eliminate the final opposition pocket in East Ghutah capable of threatening the capital. The regime also seeks to punish Duma's civilian population, who have long resisted Assad's domination, as a deterrent to further rebellion," it said.

If not stopped, the White House said, Syria has the ability to produce and use more chemical weapons.

Damascus and Moscow have denied any involvement in the Douma attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Himachal Pradesh governor V S Kokje was today elected as VHP's new international president for which voting was held for the first time in over five decades.

Kokje got 131 votes and defeated incumbent Raghava Reddy who could muster 60 votes. In total, 192 delegates of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were entitled to cast their votes in today's election in Gurgaon.

The election was necessitated after the organisation's members failed to reach a consensus on a new international president.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Parents of the missing Chibok schoolgirls today marked the fourth anniversary of their daughters' kidnapping by Boko Haram, renewing calls for their release and thousands of others seized in the bloody conflict in northeast Nigeria.

Mothers and fathers were among several thousand people who marched to the Government Girls Secondary School, where 276 girls were abducted on the evening of April 14, 2014.

Fifty-seven escaped in the immediate aftermath and four years on, 112 are still being held -- a global symbol of the Islamist insurgency that has devastated the region.

Parents whose daughters have been released wore white tabards over their clothes at the two-hour ceremony, while those whose daughters are still being held wore black.

Hannatu Daudu, whose daughter Saratu, is among the captives told the crowd: "Our only prayer is for our girls to be released and returned to us.

"We need to know if they are alive or dead. If they are alive, let them come back to us. If they are dead, let us know so we can at least pray for them and then overcome this grief.

"It is better to know if our daughters are dead than being left in suspense. This adds to our grief." The Chibok ceremony, which included Christian and Muslim prayers, was one of a number of vigils and protests to mark the four-year anniversary of the abduction across Nigeria.

Nigeria's president in 2014, Goodluck Jonathan, was heavily criticised for his response to the Chibok abduction but the man who replaced him, Muhammadu Buhari, has had more success.

Since 2016, 107 girls have been found, released or escaped as part of a government deal with Boko Haram and the administration has said back-channel talks are ongoing for further releases and a possible end to the wider conflict.

Yakubu Nkeki, the head of the Chibok girls parents association, told AFP: "We are praying for every Nigerian who is in the custody of Boko Haram. "Let the government do its best to see that every Nigerian citizen in the hands of Boko Haram is released during this year."



Buhari, who is seeking re-election next year, told the Chibok girls' parents their daughters "will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate".

The former military ruler has repeatedly claimed Boko Haram was virtually defeated but while there have been clear army gains, security threats remain. In February, fighters loyal to a Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Mus'ab al-Barnawi seized 112 schoolgirls and one boy from the town of Dapchi, in Yobe state.

One hundred and seven were returned in mid-March. Five reportedly died, while one girl -- the only Christian in the group -- is still being held.

Buhari said the return of so many students from Dapchi and Chibok "should give confidence that all hope is not lost" and showed the government was "doing its very best".

Some Dapchi parents were in Chibok on Saturday in a show of solidarity. Buhari said there had been "unexpected setbacks" in talks because of infighting within Boko Haram.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi today conveyed his greetings to the people of the state on the eve of the Bengali new year.

'Poila Boishak' marks the beginning of the Bengali New Year, a significant day in the lives of the people of West Bengal, Tripathi said in a message released from his official residence at Raj Bhawan.

"May the Bengali New Year bring with it peace and prosperity to all people of the state. I Pray that this New Year fulfils the hopes and desires of the entire people of West Bengal.

"On this auspicious occasion, I convey my heartiest greetings to the people of West Bengal and Bengalis all over the country as also abroad and wish them a happy, prosperous and joyful new year, Tripathi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Will Ferrell was hospitalised following a serious car crash in Orange County, California.

The "Daddy's Home 2" star was in a SUV that sideswiped and flipped after it was hit by another car, said Rafael Reynoso, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, reported Variety



Ferrell, 50, was travelling to Los Angeles, along with three other persons, after attending an event in San Diego.

Ferrell and his colleague, Andrew Steele, were not seriously injured in the accident and were released from the hospital, a statement from United Talent Agency said.

However, Mark Thompson, Ferrell's driver, and another passenger of the car, Carolina Barlow, are still hospitalised and receiving treatment.

"Will is staying close by as his friends are being treated, and has expressed his deep gratitude to the first responders who were immediately at the scene and to the hospital team that took such great care of them," UTA said.

"He's also grateful for all the well wishes he and his friends are receiving," it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As the Bakerwals make their way to the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir with their belongings, she trudges along burdened by the weight of her eight-year-old daughter's death.

"She was so beautiful and intelligent. I wanted her to be a doctor when she grew up," the biological mother of the girl reminisces.

The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.

"My only wish is the culprits should be hanged for the heinous crime, so that no other family has to go through it," she says.

The girl was adopted by the woman's brother and his wife in Rasana hamlet of Kathua district when she was one year old.

Still in shock, she blames herself for leaving her daughter at brother's house.

"Why was she killed? She was grazing cattle and taking care of horses. She was eight years old. Why did they kill her in such a brutal way. They should be given death sentence," she says.

The girl's father said she was at maternal uncle's home in Rasana.

"The killers should be given death penalty. We do not need a CBI probe, we have faith in investigation by the Crime Branch," he says.

Jammu has been on tenterhooks since the brutal rape and killing of the girl belonging to the nomadic Muslim Bakerwal community.

Her body was found in Rasana forest on January 17, a week after she went missing while grazing horses in the forest area.

The couple along with their two kids and cattle left their hamlet in Samba and in Round-Domail in Udhampur district as part of their annual trek to Sanasar mountainous belt.

The mother says that earlier they had good relations with Hindus and lived in harmony with them.

"But after this incident, the relations have soured and we are fearful. We only want justice for her. She was our dear child. She was beautiful and we loved her," she says.

They wanted take her back, teach her and make her a doctor, the mother said, adding that she was very intelligent.

"The prime minister had said "Beti Padavo Beti Bachavo" but how are they teaching and saving girls like this," her adoptive father asks.

"The ministers are supporting the rape accused, saying that they are innocent, but they are wrong," he says.

The biological father says the world knows that their daughter, who did not know about the difference between Hindus and Muslims, was wronged and murdered in most barbaric manner.

"The world and entire India knows it. They are supporting them. I do not say she was our only child, she was everyone's child. The incident should not be looked at through the religious lens," he said.

On January 23, the government had handed over the case to the Crime Branch of the state police which formed a special investigation team and arrested eight people including two Special Police Officers (SPOs) and a head constable.

The police have arrested eight people in the case, but the Bar Association has opposed the action, alleging targeting of minority Dogras.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India's top singles players Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan set up the title clash of the Taipei Challenger against each other while Saketh Myneni and Prajnesh Gunneswaran also made the doubles summit clash of the USD 150,000 tournament, here today.

The Indians had to work hard to down their Japanese opponents as Ramkumar fought past seventh seed Go Soeda 7-6(9) 6-4 and Yuki came from behind to beat Tatsuma Ito 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the other semifinal.

The last time Yuki and Ramkumar clashed was in the final of the Pune Challenger where the Delhi lad emerged winner in straight sets. Overall, in four meetings, Yuki leads the head-to-head record 3-1.

With this performance, Yuki is all set to reclaim his place in the top-100 while Ramkumar is expected to better his career-best rank.

Meanwhile, Saketh, who is playing only his second tournament of the 2018 season due to ankle and shoulder issues, combined with Prajnesh Gunneswaran to defeat local wild card team Yu Hsiou Hsu and Jimmy Wang 2-6 6-4 14-12 in a close semi-final.

Myneni and Prajnesh, who played a key role in India's Davis Cup win in China by winning the decisive fifth rubber, had entered the tournament at the last minute.

"We are happy to be playing in the final after a last minute entry as Alternates. I am trying to enjoy my game with Prajnesh and get back to playing," Myneni said after his win.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Saturday it has filed a case against a former chairman of state-run UCO Bank and several business executives alleging criminal conspiracy that caused a loss of 6.21 billion rupees ($95.17 million).Police said officials at the bank had colluded with private infrastructure firm Era Engineering Infra Ltd, and investment banking firm Altius Finserve Pvt Ltd, to siphon bank loans.CBI said in a statement that Arun Kaul, the bank's chairman between 2010-2015, had helped clear the loan.Kaul did not respond to Reuters' calls for ...By Kane WuHONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based private equity firm PAG is planning a new Asia fund that aims to raise as much as $6 billion, two people with knowledge of the plan said, potentially adding to a massive pool of buyout money for acquisitions in the region.PAG has started sounding out investors about the fund in recent weeks, the two people and others told Reuters. The firm raised $3.6 billion with its second Asian fund in 2016 and the third fund will be its largest to date.PAG has not yet formalised the fund size or the fundraising schedule, the people said, adding that the plan ...LOGAN  The three-day jury trial for Jose L. Almaguer, accused of raping a woman in June 2015, will proceed next month after a judge refused to postpone it again. The 33-year-old Logan man is already serving up to five-years in prison for intentionally shooting himself in the arm, prompting a neighborhood lock-down.

Court records show Almaguer appeared in 1st District Court Monday afternoon for a final pre-trial conference. He has been charged with one count of rape, a first-degree felony.

State attorney Barbara Lachmar asked the court to postpone the May trial date because the victim is planning on getting married a week later.

Judge Thomas Willmore denied the request and ordered the trial to begin on May 2.

In August 2016, Almaguer was sentenced to prison after previously pleading guilty to possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony and 16 other misdemeanors.

The charges stemmed from an incident in October 2015, when Almaguer showed up at a womans home saying he shot himself. Police set up a perimeter around the neighborhood and placed several nearby schools on lock-down. Officers later found him hiding behind a home near 1394 North 290 West. He had what appeared to be a small caliber gunshot wound to his right wrist. He was hospitalized and later arrested.

Almaguers trial on the latest charges had been postponed previously so attorneys could work out a possible plea deal. There had also been difficulty, locating a DNA expert, who will be called as an expert witness.

will@cvradio.comInternational Coffee Day means time to celebrate with your fave cup of joe

All over the world, millions are enjoying that first cup of coffee of the day. Perhaps you are, too, and, given Oct. 1 is International Coffee Day (not to be confused with National Coffee Day of a few days ago), theres more to this delicious cup of joe than being the best jump-start a body needs.Faculty and students win at IPSN 2018

April 13, 2018

Carnegie Mellon University had a strong showing at this years International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN) in Porto, Portugal, by winning Best Paper, Best Demo, and taking first and second place in the Microsoft Indoor Localization Competition.



Best Paper

Professors Bob Iannucci, Swarun Kumar, and Anthony Rowe teamed up with ECE Ph.D. students Artur Balanuta, Adwait Dongare, and Akshay Gadre, along with Anh Luong and Revathy Narayanan from CyLab, to present their paper, Charm: Exploiting Geographical Diversity Through Coherent Combining in Low-Power Wide-Area Networks. The team won Best Paper for their research on allowing wireless base stations to collaboratively decode weak signals from low-power devices.

Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs) are an emerging wireless platform which can support battery-powered devices lasting 10-years while communicating at low data-rates to gateways several kilometers away. The work in this paper explores how to combine extremely faint signals from multiple gateways to receive packets that normally would have been dropped. This has enormous potential in increasing the number of sensors supported in an area and dramatically improves the battery-life of these sensors. Over the next few years, society will likely see many LP-WAN systems deployed across the US as part of ongoing smart city projects. This is all part of the OpenChirp project currently being deployed on Carnegie Mellons campus to help transform how future communities sense reason about and manage utilities, roads, traffic lights, bridges, parking complexes, agriculture, waterways, and the broader environment.



Best Demo

Professor Anthony Rowe and students Niranjini Rajagopal, John Miller, Krishna Kumar, and Anh Luong won Best Demo for their paper, Welcome to My World: Demystifying Multi-User AR with the Cloud. Recently, there has been a rapid growth in the platforms and devices that support Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) applications which have the potential to revolutionize connecting virtual information with physical environments. Over the past year, the emergence of Apples ARKit and Androids ARCore have made AR a reality in mobile devices and accessible to the masses. These toolkits allow people to visualize virtual holograms, viewed through phones, that interact with the real world. Current mobile AR systems provides three key features: (1) visual tracking to precisely monitor the devices motion in a scene, (2) scene understanding to find floor surfaces and walls, and (3) rendering to draw realistic 3D objects. However, the AR experience on mobile devices is limited due to the lack of persistent data across session and multi-user interaction. In this demo, the team showed how using precise localization and information from magnetic fields, it is possible to create a truly persistent AR experience that can support any number of users simultaneously. The demo worked by allowing multiple people to independently drop blocks in the world similar to in Minecraft that would immediately show up on everyones view of the world. This showed one of the critical missing building blocks to what will likely be an exciting future for mobile augmented reality.

Microsoft Indoor Localization Competition

Two Carnegie Mellon teams consisting of Professor Anthony Rowe and students Niranjini Rajagopal, John Miller, Krishna Kumar, Anh Luong, Patrick Lazik, and Nick Wikerson came in first and second place out of 34 international teams consisting of a mix of academia and industry in the Microsoft Indoor Localization Competition. In this years competition, each team placed a mobile device on a backpack LiDAR-based ground truth setup to see how well they could measure a 3D location while in motion. The winning team, consisting of Niranjini Rajagopal, John Miller, and Anh Luong, achieved an average accuracy of 27cm using a combination of UWB and visual inertial odometry. The second Carnegie Mellon team, consisting of Patrick Lazik and Nick Wilkerson, was able to achieve 47cm of accuracy using a standard and completely unmodified smartphone that listened to ultrasonic beacons. This type of localization is critical for a wide-range of applications ranging from navigation for the visually impaired to optimizing warehouse and hospital operations.Friday, April 13, 2018 at 9:50PM

For those wishing to be untethered when they use Android Auto in their cars, your prayers have been answered sort of. There are a few caveats. One is that it only works with select Pixel and Nexus devices as well as specific head units that are Wi-Fi-certified. The smartphones you need would be the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Nexus 5, or the Nexus 6P. JVC and Kenwood have a few head units that are Wi-Fi-certified but a lot of these havent hit the market yet.

If youre one of the select few that does have access to these devices, setup is pretty painless. You first have to connect your phone via USB to set the feature up. But once youve done that, you can connect your phone to your dash wirelessly the next time. Google says they do plan to support other phones in the future. So were keeping an eye out for that.

Source: Android Authoritynews, latest-news

Cartier is a name synonymous with luxury, glittering beauty and conspicuous consumption. Its products graced royalty, film stars, celebrities and the super rich and have become status symbols for social climbers. The Cartier exhibition, aptly subtitled From royal style to Hollywood glamour, assembles more than 300 Cartier objects of many types of jewellery to various timepieces and paraphernalia associated with smoking, from a time when smoking was still considered a fashionable activity. Although jewellery has been around for about as long as the human species, it was in the 19th century and the Industrial Revolution that jewellery shrugged off its exclusivity and was mass produced for the burgeoning middle classes. In a move to counter this democratisation, a number of artistic commercial firms sprung up that produced high-quality jewellery that targeted the pockets and tastes of the prosperous bourgeois class and remnants of the aristocracy. Their tastes were fairly conservative, favouring exquisite craftsmanship, expensive exotic materials and usable objects that could be worn for public display. The House of Faberge was founded in St Petersburg in 1842 and employed a greater variety of precious and semiprecious stones in the history of jewellery than anyone before it. It attained great fame for its jewel-encrusted Easter eggs and other luxury objects that received widespread recognition at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900. In 1837, in Brooklyn, Connecticut, Charles Lewis Tiffany established a "stationery and fancy goods emporium" that was rebadged as Tiffany and Company in New York in 1853 and focused on exquisite jewellery and silverware inspired by the Art Nouveau style. Louis-Francois Cartier founded in Paris in 1847 a firm that became known as Cartier, which became renown for its exemplary workmanship in jewellery and watch making. He boasted that he could satisfy the most extravagant tastes and became a favourite of Princess Mathilde, the cousin of Napoleon III, and through her patronage the door opened to Parisian high society. In 1874 Alfred Cartier took over from his father and subsequently moved the firm to rue de la Paix, one of Paris's most expensive streets, which was known as the street of luxury. The brand became famous and the business expanded with a branch opening in London in 1902 and another in New York in 1909. Cartier for a very long time was a family-operated firm that built up a personal relationship with many famous clients who included Dame Nellie Melba, the English royals (from 1901, when Edward VII bought his first piece), Hollywood starlets, international socialites as well as numerous nouveaux riches clients. By 1968, Cartier moved from being a family concern to a multinational organisation and in 1972 a financial syndicate, led by Joseph Kanoui, bought Cartier Paris. Soon London and New York were acquired and reintegrated into the Cartier empire and in 1983 the company launched a campaign to buy back some of its historical pieces to create a collection that would bear witness to its illustrious heritage. Loans from the Cartier collection form the basis of this exhibition, together with strategic loans from private collections, including from that of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and from the Princely Palace of Monaco. The National Gallery of Australia has produced an exceptionally effective and dramatic display where showcases of precious jewels have a luminous lure and on the surrounding walls are images of the worthy subjects decked out in the jewels shown nearby. The Ballets Russes, Dame Nellie Melba, the royals and film celebrities grace the walls of this spacious exhibition, where the relatively small-scale exhibits inevitably result in crowding around the display wall cabinets. The lavish and scholarly catalogue is essential reading for the show, although I was frustrated in being unable to find most of the captions identifying the figures shown wearing the Cartier products. The stylistic development of the jewellery as narrated in the exhibition, is from the earlier garland-styled jewellery  with flowers, leafy branches and baskets  reflecting both Art Nouveau and the Edwardian tastes, through to the Art Deco style in the inter-war years. Here there was a mixture of the exotic and erotic fantasies, where the empire plundered poorly understood motifs from Egypt, India, China, Japan and the Islamic world. An important development in Cartier garland-style jewellery was the way their craftsmen wove platinum into extremely fine threads and in this manner enhanced the sparkling quality of the diamonds. The Cartier jewellers specialised in very fine craftsmanship where the flood of diamonds from South Africa was set into platinum or heavy gold settings and the resulting encrusted tiaras, necklaces, brooches and luxury objects bore the Cartier stylistic hallmark. Their range of Tutti Frutti jewellery mixed rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds to make a polychrome statement of exuberance. Cartier also manufactured watches that were small and elegant and by owning their distribution outlets, unlike other watch makers, they could stay abreast and manipulate the fluctuating fashion trends. Whereas consensus was that gentlemen wore the classic pocket watch, the stylish Cartier wristwatches gradually changed the accepted social and fashion standards. Cartier also led the field for fashionable accessories for smoking tobacco with cigarette cases, cigarette holders and ashtrays, all encrusted and exquisitely worked in detail. The exhibition holds great store in who wore what and on what occasion, for example, a diamond Halo tiara given to Her Majesty at the age of 18 and subsequently worn by Catherine Middleton at her wedding to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge in 2011. Likewise linking the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Grace of Monaco, Maria Felix (a Mexican actress) and Elizabeth Taylor to particular items of jewellery. Personally, I find more interesting the marketing strategies of Cartier, where they set new benchmarks for items of social desirability and carefully manipulated ideas of stylishness amongst the wealthy elite. This is an exhibition of dazzling excess, where the Queen's great pink diamond brooch, Grace Kelly's engagement ring and Elizabeth Taylor's ruby and diamond necklace, are subsumed within a glittering haze of a thousand diamonds. Cartier: The exhibition is on at the National Gallery of Australia until July 22, 2018.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/d251422e-2586-4e4f-88b8-c0dcd55fa137/r0_624_1330_1375_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgTo the editor:

Charles Hampton wrote a letter to The Breeze for the April 6 opinion page. He made a lot of statements that I question.

First, the writer states he is a Republican, which I find hard to believe. The letter states he is a long-time hunter and gun owner. I have a hard time believing that, too. Third, he was a member of the NRA. If the writer was ever a member of the NRA he should know what the NRA was and what it stood for.

The main purpose of the NRA is to promote safe gun use and protection of the Second Amendment so gun owners will have an organization working for them.

The writer states we give birds and animals more protection than children.

First off, the protection of the children is of top importance but the FBI screwed up big time and gave gun stores the OK to sell misfits guns that, by law, they should not have been able to purchase. The misfit in Parkland should have not been able to buy a sling shot, but it seems there were several missteps by the FBI.

The local sheriff had like 39 calls about Nikolas Jacob Cruz and nothing was done. Then the deputies would not go into the school when they would have had the opportunity to kill the garbage before he could keep on killing.

When you have places like schools and then make them a gun free zone, this is the same as telling these misfits it is a place I can get into and kill a whole lot of innocent people before anybody with a gun can get in to take me out.

If a store or business has a gun free zone sign then I just go to a different place to do business. Why not hang a sign that no guns are allowed in this store!! There isnt anybody that can shoot back!!

The letter writer then asks an off-the- wall question: When is the last time you heard of a massacre of game animals or birds? What do you want, like Buffalo Bill and his people shooting thousands of buffalo to feed the railway workers and for the fun of it?

The letter states the government controls guns used for hunting and shooting in populated areas. Since when do you shoot a rifle or a shotgun in a populated area?? The letter states a great number of states have restrictions on the number of bullets allowed in a magazine. Where was that information picked up from?? California and a couple of other states have passed this, but they are also having lawsuits against their stupid laws.

I was in the army in the military police and overseas. I had a 30 cal carbine with (heaven forbid) a 30 round banana magazine and a 1911 .45 cal pistol. I also fired every weapon made available to me including .30 cal and .50 cal full auto machine guns.

It doesnt matter if a person has two 20- round magazines or four 10-round magazines. It takes a couple seconds to drop the empty and slap a full one back in. The rage over magazine size or capacity is something brought up by the Democrats.

The letter also states there are too many guns. What is too many?? Who has too many??

Back to the NRA.

The letter blames the NRA -that it is not telling the truth about noise suppressors. It has been documented that the so-called silencers only lower the noise level to a level to help prevent hearing loss.

It also states the NRA is lying when they state that gun ownership is saving lives. The letter claims that is not true; it is the medical people that are doing that.

Obama was the best gun salesman this country has ever had. He scared people so bad about gun ownership people, both Republican and Democrat, were buying guns.

When President Trump took office, gun sales dropped off as people were not scared that he would push for changes to the Second Amendment.

I am glad some people arent members of the NRA. They cant handle the truth and what it stands for.

Richard Wallace

Cape CoralUnfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.The Lee County Mosquito Control District is preparing to implement a new program on Captiva, as well as the north end of Sanibel, aimed at reducing the population of one disease-carrying insect.

At the Captiva Community Panel meeting on April 10, representatives from the district provided information on its Sterile Insect Technique, or SIT, program. The program will target the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is an invasive exotic species that is a transmitting carrier for a variety of viruses.

The list includes yellow fever, dengue fever, the chikungunya virus and the Zika virus.

Which is why were targeting just them, Assistant Director Dr. David Hoel said.

If successfully implemented, the program will greatly reduce the population of the species, which currently poses a serious public health risk. He noted that the insect has few natural predators due to its preferred breeding habitat, so reducing the population will not significantly impact the food chain.

Theres no benefits to the population, Hoel said, explaining that other species of mosquitoes such as the salt water mosquito are sources of food for fish and other wildlife. Not so with these guys.

Introduced to America by way of slave ships from North Africa, the Aedes aegypti mosquito is an urban mosquito, meaning that is breeds around homes  inside water-holding containers, tires, bird baths, potted plants, gutters, cans and bottles, even storm drains  and prefers to feed on humans.

The species is difficult to control by conventional means, like insecticide applications and source reduction, due to its cryptic behavior and daytime biting habits, which only the females take part in.

These are hard mosquitoes to control, he said.

SIT is a technique used to sterilize insects to reduce or eradicate their populations. It involves the release of lab-reared sterilized males, which mate with the wild population. Female mosquitoes mate once in their lifetime. If she mates with a sterilized one, she will not produce any viable offspring.

The girls chance of mating with a viable male is greatly reduce, Hoel said.

The process for sterilization requires no genetic manipulation, only gamma rays or X-rays.

Theres no radioactive reside, he said. Its perfectly safe.

The district began trapping the species in June across Captiva and on part of Sanibel.

We have an idea of the mosquito density for the island because of the trappings, Hoel said.

Eric Jackson, spokesman for the district, explained that the initial figures will be used as a baseline to analyze the effectiveness of the program once the releases begin, which are set for winter of 2019.

Captiva is a prime location because of the species size and abundance on the island.

The trapped mosquitoes are also being harvested for their eggs. Once the lab-grown mosquitoes reach the pupae stage in their life, X-rays will be used to render them sterile for when they hit adulthood.

The sterile males will then be released to mate with the wild population.

The (lab-reared) females wont be released, Jackson said.

Any female mosquitoes accidentally released will also be sterile, so of little concern.

According to Hoel, SIT is not a new technology. Its first use in the United States took place on Sanibel in 1951 to eliminate the screwworm fly. Recently, sterile screwworm flies were released successfully in the Florida Keys to control one outbreak. SIT is used in agriculture to control fruit flies and tsetse flies.

The district noted that is is only trapping mosquitoes now, not releasing any of them.

Its not operational yet, Hoel said of the program.

Jackson added that district will set up educational talks, classroom presentations in local schools and town hall meetings to answer questions and explain the program before any of the releases occur.

This is just the beginning, he said of the presentation for the panel.

For more information, visit online at www.lcmcd.com or www.mosquitoed.com.A man charged with four counts of attempted murder for reportedly shooting at three Sanibel police officers and a deputy sheriff in November 2016 has been found competent to stand trial.

Jon Webster Hay, 50, was back in a Lee County courtroom on April 9 for motions.

According to court documents, the administrator for the Treasure Coast Forensic Treatment Center relayed through the Florida Department of Children and Families that Hay no longer meets the criteria for continued commitment under state law covering mentally deficient and mentally ill defendants.

A psychological evaluation on Hay was later filed with the Lee County Clerk of Courts.

At the recent hearing, Circuit Judge Bruce Kyle found him competent to stand trial.

He has been deemed competent to proceed, Samantha Syoen, the spokeswoman for the State Attorneys Office, said. The case is moving forward now.

Hay had been found incompetent to stand trial last year due to mental illness.

Assistant Public Defender Travis Atkinson is representing Hay.

He did not return a message seeking comment on the case.

Hay has a court appearance set for June 27.

According to court records, Hay filed notice of appeal on March 1 in the Second District Court of Appeals regarding the case against him. He alleges in the handwritten document that federal law was violated, in conjunction with his civil rights, and he asks the court to dismiss the case as not guilty.

On April 5, the Second District Court of Appeals filed an order directing Hay to show cause as to why his appeal should not be dismissed. The documents indicate that he has 15 days to respond.

Hay is facing four counts of attempted first-degree premeditated murder on law enforcement officer, along with one count each of resist officer flee elude law enforcement officer with lights siren active and weapon offense missile into dwelling vehicle building or aircraft  all the charges are felonies.

At about 8 p.m. Nov. 20, 2016, Sanibel police Officer Jared Ciccone conducted a traffic stop in the area of 2330 Periwinkle Way. A gray van passed by and shot at him, striking him once in the upper body. Ciccone radioed that shots had been fired and provided a vehicle description, where the shots had come from, the direction the van was traveling and that the driver was a man, according to official records.

Officer Christopher Dowaliby heard the call while at 979 E. Gulf Drive. He turned west onto Periwinkle Way and located a gray-green van traveling eastbound in the 1200 block. Dowaliby pursed the vehicle with his sirens and lights flashing until it came to a stop on Sand Castle Road.

Dowaliby saw a man, later identified as Hay, exit the van. Hay fired several shots at Dowaliby with what appeared to be a rifle. Officer Chad Maik reported that Hay opened fire with an AR-15 style rifle.

Both of the officers vehicles were struck by gunfire, with 28 spent cartridge cases found where Hay was shooting from. Seventeen spent cartridge cases were recovered near where the officers were, according to a SAO review of the incident. Dowaliby and Maik, as well as Lee County Sheriffs Office Deputy Julie Weber, fired at Hay. Hay received a penetrating gunshot wound to the left shoulder.

In statements to the state investigator, the officers reported that commands were yelled for Hay to get out of the van and to show his hands. All three stated that Hay began shooting at them, which caused them to return fire because they were in fear for their own lives and for the lives of the other two law enforcement officers. The back-and-forth shooting continued for about one minute.

Hay then exited the van and ran to the front it of. He continued shooting at the officers before getting back into the vehicle and driving away. At about 8:40 p.m., 911 received a call from a man who stated that his son just returned home from an altercation with police and it appeared that he had been shot.

Within an hour, Hay was detained in the driveway of his Sanibel home. A .45-caliber pistol was recovered from a fanny pack around his waist. He was transported to Lee Memorial Hospital.

At the home, a .223-caliber rifle was found inside a duffle bag inside the truck of a car in the garage, as well as a .10 mm cartridge case. A loaded Glock .10 mm pistol was recovered from the nearby woods.

On Jan. 22, the SAO announced that it had completed its review of the incident and found the use of deadly force by Dowaliby, Maik and Weber justified in the officer-involved shooting on the island.Following months of work, the city of Sanibel has completed the new Bowmans Beach Road shared use path, which will be officially open for public use sometime next week.

On April 12, the Public Works Department finished the projects road and path striping work.

Director Keith Williams explained that the last step is a safety walk-though to check it.

We anticipate having it fully open to the public next week, he said today.

The project encompassed the Bowmans Beach path and road intersection, along with installing a new crosswalk and legends across Sanibel Captive Road and Bowmans Beach Road, officials reported.

This project has been years in the planning, City Manager Judie Zimomra said.

She noted that it was the final element of a major expansion of the citys shared use path.

We currently have 25.54 miles of SUP (shared use path) on the island, Williams said. So, with the addition of the Bowmans Beach Road path, our total will rise to 26.06 miles.

He explained that the project was part of the citys Shared Use Path Master Plan. In particular, it focused on the stretch of road from Sanibel Captiva Road south to Bowmans Beach Park.

People had to walk or bike along Bowmans Beach Road itself, Williams said.

The project created a new shared use path for the public instead.

We try to make an effort to provide non-motorized opportunities for the public, he said.

The city received a $200,000 grant through the Florida Department of Environmental Protections Recreational Trails Program to cover half of the projects total cost, which was about $400,000.

The other $200,000 was budgeted out of the citys parking funds, or beach parking fees.

Thats whats funding this project, Williams said.

The new path is approximately 2,750 feet long and 10 feet wide.

We do have some center lines in places where theres curves, he said.

Zimomra noted that island wildlife was taken into consideration.

The route was very meticulously selected each step of the way to avoid gopher tortoise habitat, she said.

The path is located along the west side of Bowmans road.

It winds through some native habitat before entering Bowmans Beach Park, Williams said. Also, we did some slight alignment of Bowmans Beach Road near Sanibel Captiva Road.

Zimomra added that the scope of the project was adjusted after the initial design to accommodate additional drainage improvements.

Both pointed out that the recent storm season had an impact on the projects timeline.

The project was actually delayed a little bit by Hurricane Irma, he said.

Paving for the project was completed toward the end of March.

Bowmans Beach is a very popular beach park on Sanibel, Williams said, adding that the road was one lacking safe access into the park for non-motorists. So, it was high on our list to address.

For more information on the Shared Use Path Master Plan, visit www.mysanibel.com.Photo: Castanet file photo

Parents who pay to have their children bused to school each day in the Central Okanagan will be getting a bit of a break.

The Central Okanagan board of education voted this week to lower busing fees by $5 a month from $25 to $20. This means the yearly cost per student would drop from $250 to $200 over the course of the school year.

The fee change will begin for the upcoming school year.

The district was able to lower the fees after the provincial government allowed school districts the flexibility to use $600,000 in specific transportation funding how they saw fit within the busing system.

When the funding was introduced initially by the previous Liberal government, districts were required to use the money to eliminate fees for students outside the traditional walk limits.

Board chair Moyra Baxter said that stipulation created a two-tier system where some students paid for the service while others did not.

Prior to the additional funding, all students paid $250 a year for busing.

With the new fees in place for next year, the district estimates it could run a busing surplus of about $190,000.

"We do know we do need some more bus routes in certain areas," said Baxter.

"We talked about the fact this (surplus) would give us some flexibility to put more bus routes in."

She added with the grade reconfiguration on the Westside set for next year, some grade nine students will remain at Glenrosa Middle school for one year.

Those students may take courses at Mount Boucherie to get the feel for the secondary school, and some of the surplus could be used to bus those students back and forth.Madison Erhardt

The International Association of Arson Investigators and The Fire Prevention Officers Association of British Columbia have joined forces with the RCMP in Kelowna for specialized technical training this week.

Paul Johnson with the Kelowna Fire Department is the Director for Zone 3, he tells Castanet that they will be studying eight different fire cases, some are arson-related and some are not, "the ones that are not, actually gave false indicators showing that it was an arson fire when it was not. So what we are doing is studying the difference between a real arson fire and what appears to be an arson fire."

As part of the training, Johnson says firefighters will start fires using different accelerants and different materials like hardwood versus laminate or carpet.

"This course today is to allow the RCMP members to gain valuable arson-related knowledge and to help train our firefighters on what to look for if it is, in fact, a criminal fire."

Johnson says one of the big things investigators look for when determining whether a fire is arson, is charring, usually, if there's more charring in a certain area it's likely the area of origin.

"We can almost immediately tell if it was a gasoline fire versus a smoldering a fire."

Johnson says it takes a trained eye to spot a criminal fire and once a fire has been deemed criminal in nature the investigation is handed over to police, however, fire investigators generally continue to work with the RCMP.Madison Erhardt

A Kelowna animal care society says it's only a matter of time before a deadly rabbit disease reaches the Okanagan.

The Responsible Animal Care Society is urging all rabbit owners, breeders and meat suppliers to vaccinate their animals as soon as possible.

A recent outbreak of rabbit hemorrhagic disease on Vancouver Island soon spread to the Lower Mainland, where 66 rabbits had to be euthanized at Richmond Animal Protections Services this week.

"With the deadly disease now in Richmond, we have been told that it is just a matter of time until the virus hits the Okanagan," spokesperson Cheryl Lazarus said in a press release.

"TRACS has been working closely with Dr. Irene Mul of Okanagan Veterinary Hospital and has ordered the vaccine for the disease from France. Due to several shipping delays, the vaccine will not reach Kelowna until Tuesday at the very earliest."

TRACS was responsible for the humane trapping of more than 800 rabbits off the streets of Kelowna in 2008. Close to 175 remain at two sanctuaries near the city.

Both sanctuaries are currently under quarantine, with extreme biosecurity measures in place.

Lazarus says the disease can spread easily and quickly. It can be carried on people's shoes or clothes and transported to new regions, as happened in Europe.

"We would like to educate everyone, even non animal owners, that they could easily be carrying and spreading the virus," she said.Colton Davies

Paddle boarders are making a splash in Naramata for families impacted by cancer.

As part of a fundraiser called Monster and Sea 24, a group of people gathered near Wharf Park and hit the water at 8 a.m. At least one member of the group will be paddle boarding for 24 hours straight.

"We'll have flashlights and headlamps with us, we'll just putter around," organizer Paul Mend said. "We're just out on the water thinking about people... helping out families."

The event was created four years ago in Seattle, and today is taking part in more than two dozen places. In B.C., apart from Naramata, there are three paddle board groups taking part in Vancouver and one in Kelowna, Tofino and Victoria.

Mend pointed out the goal is to raise money for children battling cancer, and he said one of the participants in Naramata, Nick Rutledge, is a cancer survivor himself.

Rutledge, 16, received funding from Monster and Sea 24 when he was battling a rare cancer in grade eight. Today, he's now cancer free.

He came with his parents from North Vancouver to take part in Saturday's event.

"(This event) is very special for us, and to be able to support another family and another child who's going through what Nick went through is huge for us. And it's huge for Nick," Sue Rutledge said.

Mend thanked all the participants taking part, who include Nick, Chris Schoenne, his wife Denise and the owners of Sun n Sup in Naramata Peter and Aileen. Pen-Hi graduate and Penticton Fire Department member Issabeau Venables is also taking part, representing PFD.

In Naramata, the group is hoping to raise at least $5,000, and so far a GoFundMe page they set up has raised close to $3,500.

Last year, the event raised just under $150,000 collectively.

Mend invited anyone to donate online or in person at Wharf Park where the group is set up  and encouraged everyone to bring their paddle board, kayak or canoe and join in on the event.Photo: BC Gov't An aerial few of a mudslide across Highway 3A at Yellow Lake.

Highway 3A at Yellow Lake will remain closed for at least another full day, as crews continue to clean up from a mudslide on Friday morning.

The slide occurred about 19 kilometres northeast of Keremeos at about 7 a.m., spewing debris across the highway.

DriveBC advises travellers to use Highway 97 and Highway 3 as an alternate route.

The Penticton Indian Band is recommending that Green Mountain Road be avoided as a detour, due to the poor condition of the road.

There is still no estimated time of reopening, and DriveBC said another update will be provided at noon on Sunday.Photo: Okanagan College From left to right, Patrick Waunch, Mollie Bono and Rick Thorpe.

Three community builders will be honoured with Okanagan College's highest honour later this spring.

Mollie QuilQuil Sneena Bono, Rick Thorpe and Patrick Waunch will be named Honorary Fellows of Okanagan College in June.

Bono has served multiple terms on council for the Okanagan Indian Band and has been an advisor for OK College's regional advisory council in Vernon. She is currently a trustee for the Vernon school district and last year she received the Community Leadership Award.

Thorpe was an MLA for the Okanagan-Westside and Okanagan-Penticton ridings from 1996 to 2009. He served in the federal cabinet for eight years and was a member of the treasury board of Canada for nine years.

Thorpe was involved in the brewing industry before politics and helped reposition the B.C. grape and wine industry. Since retiring, he has served on many board of directors for local and provincial associations.

He notably created the Rick and Yasmin Thorpe and Friends Scholarship in 2006, which has awarded $112,250 to 53 OK College students.

Waunch has served as the chair for several construction associations, and has received the Canadian Construction Association Community Leader Award. He is the president and CEO of Kelowna-based Rambow Mechanical and holds Red Seal tickets in plumbing, steam fitting, gas fitting and other trades.

The Patrick Waunch Scholarship Award awards $3,500 each year to a mechanical trade apprentice at OK College. Waunch has long been associated with OK College, having served as chair of the program advisory committee.

Each of these remarkable individuals has contributed significantly to our region, province and country, OK College president Jim Hamilton said in a news release.

They have done it in diverse ways and richly deserve the honour our College is bestowing on them.

Including Bono, Thorpe and Waunch, 40 individuals have now been given the Honorary Fellows Award since its inception in 2006, all of whom can be found here.Photo: RCMP Police are looking to speak to several people who may be witnesses, in relation to the investigation into the death of Alexander Hegedus.

Kelowna police continue to look for witnesses in the death of Alexander Hegedus, a death police are now calling suspicious.

Hegedus, the owner of a local painting company, was found dead inside his truck on the Myra Bellevue Forest Service Road on the afternoon of March 22.

The RCMP Serious Crime Unit has been investigating the death since the discovery, and an autopsy has now been completed.

The preliminary results of the post mortem autopsy and toxicology conducted on Alexander Hegedus body were received by investigators this week, said Cpl. Jesse ODonaghey. The circumstances which surround Alex Hegedus death remain suspicious in nature as police now focus their search and ask potential witnesses to come forward.

Police have not said if they've determined the cause of Hegedus' death, only saying it was a "sudden death."

On March 30, police released pictures of the truck Hegedus was found in, in the hopes witnesses might recognize it, and on April 3, police released Hegedus' name.

Investigators are now looking to talk to several possible witnesses they've seen in surveillance footage near Rutland's Houghton Court and Kneller Road between 10 and 11 a.m. on March 22.

"We believe there is a possibility that at least one of those members of the public, may hold a key piece of information, which may aid our investigators. said Cpl. ODonaghey. No detail is too small.

Police have not said how that area of Rutland relates to the investigation.

The RCMP is also looking to talk to anyone who missed an appointment or meeting with Hegedus on March 22, or in the days following his death.

Police are asking anyone with information to call 250-470-6236.

remaining of

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.Pierce was criticized for his lack of seasoning. "The one thing you need to do properly is season it and you have the cheese and the salt as your two main components to lift that risotto, so not your best performance Pierce," Ramsay said.Lewis says he wants to "sincerely apologize" to fans and concentrate on getting better. He hopes to be able to perform again soon. He had been scheduled to perform Aug. 4 at the Wisconsin State Fair.Pet-friendly housing rules tend to be fairly similar from college to college, and they are designed to prevent problems caused by animals in shared spaces. At Southeast Missouri, which has about 11,500 students, critters will have to be family pets that are quiet, housebroken and get a roommate's sign-off. They will not be allowed in dorm bathrooms, and to protect residents with pet allergies, owners may not use laundry facilities to wash pet bedding or toys. (The University of Northern Colorado, on the other hand, dealt with this issue by designating washing machines and dryers for that specific purpose.)"There's a hell of a lot going on in Pritzker World that we can take advantage of," Brady said. "Republicans really don't have a choice here. I think the message has to get out, and I think it will. The message is either we elect Pritzker and give Mike Madigan the keys to the kingdom or we elect Gov. Rauner."Before delving into the arcane details of case law, Mitchell noted that research has outlined how Emanuel's aggressive overhaul of the water system is increasing the chances that Chicagoans are exposed to lead in their tap water. The judge also cited allegations in the complaint that lead is leaching out of pipes conveying otherwise clean water to homes, despite corrosion-inhibiting chemicals the city adds to the water supply.



A spokesman for the Kentucky Education Association declined to comment. Mary Nishimuta, executive director of the Kentucky Democratic Party , said Bevin's comments "crossed a line. As a mother, suggesting children were abused as a prop for his political rhetoric is disturbing and absurdly in poor taste."



Thousands of teachers rallied inside and outside the Capitol on Friday. The rally took on a festival-like atmosphere as some teachers sat in lawn chairs or sprawled out on blankets. Crosby Stills, Nash and Young's hit "Teach Your Children" bellowed from the loud speakers.



"I don't want to be out of my classroom. I want to be in my classroom instructing future citizens, but I'm afraid that spending at the state level is getting worse and worse, and we need those dollars for a 21st century education," said Stephanie Ikanovic, who has been a teacher for 21 years.



Kentucky's two-year operating budget includes record new spending for public education, fueled by a 50-cent increase in the cigarette tax and a 6 percent sales tax on some services including home and auto repair. But Bevin vetoed both the budget and the money in it, calling the bills "sloppy" and "non-transparent." He said they would not raise enough money to cover the new spending.



The veto put Republican lawmakers in a tough position, asking them to vote a second time on a tax increase in an election year. But 57 Republicans eagerly voted to override, asserting their independence after a tumultuous year marred by a sexual harassment scandal.



"You can stand here all day and act like you are all for (education) until it comes time to pay for it. Well, that's a coward," said Republican Rep. Regina Huff, a middle school special education teacher. "We have to have this revenue to fund our schools."



Democrats sided with the governor, but for different reasons. They said the tax increase disproportionately harms the poor while benefiting the wealthy. They wanted the vetoes to stand, forcing the governor to call a special session of the state legislature to pass a new budget.



The house voted 57-40 to override the veto of the tax increase and 66-28 to override the veto of the budget. The Republican-controlled state Senate will take up the vetoes next.



Bevin followed the debate closely, responding to lawmakers' speeches with tweets. He said he met with House and Senate leaders all week to propose a more "responsible way to pay for 100 percent of the requested education funding."



"Crickets," Bevin tweeted.Seated alongside Trudeau, Pence said there was a "real possibility" the U.S. could reach a deal with Canada and Mexico on NAFTA "within the next several weeks." Trump has long assailed the trade deal's impact on U.S. workers and threatened to pull the U.S. out if he's unhappy with the terms."Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a combination of precision, and speed, and boldness the enemy did not expect, and the world had not seen before," Bush said in his speech. "From distant bases or ships at sea, we sent planes and missiles that could destroy an enemy division, or strike a single bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad across 350 miles of hostile ground, in one of the swiftest advances of heavy arms in history. You have shown the world the skill and the might of the American Armed Forces."The U.S. missile strike a year ago, which targeted the airfield from which Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack, was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.On the day Morrow died, two white cardboard boxes labeled with the words "mix it, shake it, shoot it" sat in his apartment, along with three more packages labeled "sonic boom," according to state investigator Kevin Heimerl, who stated in the warrant application that he suspected the boxes contained materials that, when combined, were destructive. In addition to the bombmaking materials, Morrow also possessed guns and accessories, such as a rifle scope, masks, vests and thousands of rounds of ammunition, The Daily Beast reported.Often I've been about to say, "Who needs it?" But I don't, having been calmed down by the thought of what a bizarre wonder Israel is: A country where I'm put off by hyper-religious Jews, even as they must be offended by my impiety. Yet it hasn't broken apart on religious or ethnic fault lines like Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.Assad and his handlers knew before using poisonous weapons that Trump would answer with the sort of retaliation he ordered used Friday. The Syrians want U.S. troops out of Syria; they could have waited Trump out, let him withdraw the troops and then attacked Syrian civilians. Instead, Assad chose to press his overwhelming advantage. A few missiles, that he can tolerate. He knows he won't incur an outsize U.S. reaction.We know that replacing the water mains disturbs the lead and increases lead in water from the taps in our kitchens or bathroom. The phosphate compounds the city uses to coat the lead service line cannot stop the disturbed line from increasing the lead in the water that enters our homes. In fact the outdated information the Chicago Department of Water Management is giving us about letting the water run for three to five minutes or longer can sometimes increase the amount of lead in the water from what it would have been in the first draw if the lead in the service line has been disturbed by new water main construction and connections to the service line."My kids were leavin' Illinois. I got six kids. They were leavin' Illinois. I said 'This is ridiculous.' And my partners in my bidness said, 'Bruce we gotta get outta here, we gotta leave.' And I said: 'I ain't not leavin' Illinois. I was born here. I've lived here my whole life. I'm not gonna run away. We're gonna fix this.' "Saying goodbye to summer can be bittersweet; the seasons long days, consistent warmth and ample outdoor activities leave little to be desired. But as October rolls in, a new season that's also abundant with plenty of things to do, eat and drink emerges: Fall. But with so many things to choose from  apple picking, baking, pumpkin spice lattes  where do you start? Dont worry; we have 30 fun and filling activities for your fall foodie bucket list."Because of my heartfelt commitment to respond to the tragedy of the sexual abuse of minors, and to the recently announced allegation of sexual abuse against Fr. Richard McGrath, I want to offer some words of explanation regarding the Augustinian response to the sexual abuse of minors," the statement read.Engel, who works as director of physician credentialing at Rush Hospital, said her sister was the first to move into the property and both were impressed with the level of "care and attention" given by staff to residents. Engel said her sister no longer drives and "needs everything contained" in one location.There were no signs of unruliness at Saturday's meeting but, at one point, it did raise the ire of state rifle association supporters, when speaker Sara Knizhnik, an organizer for the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, mentioned that the NRA receives some of its funding from Russians."The large number of districts in Financial Recognition is a testament to the acumen of our superintendents and boards of education," said State Superintendent of Education Tony Smith, in a news release. "What the profiles do not show, however, are the hard choices and sacrifices school districts have had to make in terms of academic opportunity in order to maintain fiscal solvency.""I had skin cancer on my eyelid and I had to have it taken out and then had to have plastic surgery to fix the eyelid," he said. The person who was in charge of the internship program, he said, didn't comprehend that he had to miss a week of teaching, something that is not ordinarily allowed."For years and years, the truth was whatever the strong man said it was. There are forces in our country that want us to move back to that. But that's not the way the truth actually works, certainly not in science and certainly it should not be that way in politics," Foster said. "If you are a scientist and stand up and say something that is false, it is a career ending move. It used to be that way in politics.""The main problem of vape products is we don't see the same level of perception of harm with either parents or kids," said Matt Cassity, community alliance for prevention project coordinator for 360 Youth Services, based in Naperville. "The vast majority of them have no idea about e-juice. It's water vapor rather than smoke. It doesn't mean there's no harm. The majority of students make their decision based on the false belief it's harmless."Federal prison workers protest unsafe working conditions

Federal prison workers say they are facing dangerous working conditions at the Florence Correctional Complex run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday announced a decision to develop the island of Hainan into a pilot free trade zone.







"Here I solemnly announce that the Communist Party of China Central Committee has decided to support Hainan in developing the whole island into a pilot free trade zone, and gradually exploring and steadily promoting the establishment of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics," Xi said.





Policies and institutional systems for building a free trade port in Hainan will be established "step by step and stage by stage," Xi said at a gathering celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hainan Province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone.





Hainan will be China's largest free trade zone enjoying higher-level opening-up policies. It will also be the country's first free trade port since the founding of New China.





Calling the decision a major move, Xi said it highlighted the country's resolution of further opening-up and promoting economic globalization.





In developing the island into a pilot free trade zone, Hainan will be granted more autonomy to reform, and speed up the fostering of a law-based, international, and convenient business environment as well as a fair, open, unified, and efficient market environment.





The pilot free trade zone will implement high-level trade and investment liberalization and facilitation policies, and overseas businesses there will receive pre-establishment national treatment with a negative list management system, Xi said.





Focusing on sectors including seeds, medical care, education, sport, telecommunication and finance, the pilot free trade zone will push forward opening up of modern agriculture, high-tech industries and modern services, boost the development of service trade, protect the interests of overseas investors and promote the gradual opening-up of the shipping industry.





A free trade port represents the highest level of opening-up. The Hainan free trade port should carry Chinese characteristics, conform with China's conditions and the province's development orientation, Xi said.





The president also invited investors worldwide to invest and develop in Hainan and participate in developing the free trade port, and share the country's development opportunities and reform outcomes.





He noted that Hainan should focus on the development of tourism, modern services, and high-tech sectors, instead of intermediary trade and manufacturing.





In the development of the free trade port, Hainan should also enhance cooperation with countries and regions along the Belt and Road.





PROACTIVE OPENING-UP





China is implementing a high-level trade and investment liberalization policy and exploring to establish a free trade system with Chinese characteristics in Hainan as it marks the 40th anniversary of its reform and opening-up this year, said Chi Fulin, head of the Hainan-based China Institute for Reform and Development.





"This is a significant opening-up policy and action, and the proactive move will help promote economic globalization," said Chi.





"The major breakthrough marks a further transition from policy-oriented to system-oriented opening-up," he said.





In his keynote speech at the opening of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference Tuesday, Xi said China will translate the major initiatives of opening-up into reality, sooner rather than later, and wants the outcomes of the opening-up efforts to deliver benefits as soon as possible to all enterprises and people in China and around the world.





Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said the new opening-up policy in Hainan will bring about substantial progress in Belt and Road construction and boost regional economic cooperation and integration between China and relevant countries.





"Hainan will be a key bridge connecting the countries surrounding the South China Sea and the Asia-Pacific region with the Chinese market," said Wu.





The province will form a complementary relationship with other free trade zones and ports, thus achieving mutual benefits and win-win results, he added.





"The South China Sea will be a sea of friendship and peace," Wu said.





With a land area of only 35,400 square kilometers, Hainan administers two-thirds of China's sea areas and is an important link on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.





Hainan is China's largest special economic zone. The southern-most island province also won the central government's approval to develop itself into an international tourism island in 2010.





Once remote and underdeveloped, it has become one of China's most open and dynamic regions and also a window for the country's reform and opening-up.



China's foreign trade volume registered hefty growth of 9.4 percent year-on-year to 6.75 trillion yuan ($1.07 trillion) in the first quarter of the year, buoyed by the steady recovery of the global economy and solid domestic demand, a customs spokesman said on Friday.





The country's exports increased by 7.4 percent year-on-year to 3.54 trillion yuan in the first three months, while imports surged by 11.7 percent to 3.21 trillion yuan, Huang Songping, spokesman for the General Administration of Customs, said at a news conference.





China's trade performance has gotten off to a strong start this year, thanks to the stable recovery of the world economy, sustained demand in the domestic market and advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative, Huang said.





However, uncertainties in the international environment and rising protectionism pose challenges to the stable growth of the global economy and trade in the next quarter, Huang added.





The sudden spike in trade tensions between China and the United States has clouded the outlook for trade growth.





The World Trade Organization said on Thursday that global merchandise trade volume would grow by 4.4 percent this year, after posting its largest increase in six years in 2017. But the report also pointed out that there are signs that escalating trade tensions may already be affecting business confidence and investment decisions, which could compromise the current outlook.





"The tit-for-tat trade tensions between China and the US could not only undermine the two countries' trade volume, but also add a drag to global economic growth," Deng Haiqing, chief economist with JZ Securities, said in a research note.





Sino-US trade volume exceeded $141.59 billion between January and March, an increase of 13 percent year-on-year. Specifically, China's exports to the US jumped by 14.8 percent and imports from the US rose by 8.9 percent, resulting in a trade surplus of $58.25 billion.





Huang reiterated that the China-US trade imbalance was determined by the two countries' economic structure and industrial competitiveness. "If we take into account the factors such as statistical method, transit trade and trade in service, China's trade surplus with the US is actually not that big," Huang added.





He said China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus.





In March, China's exports denominated in yuan shrank by 9.8 percent year-on-year, while imports surged by 5.9 percent, leading to a trade deficit of 29.78 billion yuan in that month, the customs administration figures show. China's trade surplus stood at 326.18 billion yuan in the first quarter, a decline of 21.8 percent from the same period last year.





Huang called on the administration of US President Donald Trump to listen patiently to rational and pragmatic voices on such issues, and to propose constructive measures to solve disputes and get the bilateral trade relations back on track.



It is all too familiar: Palestinians protestors hurling stones and Molotov cocktail bottles at Israeli soldiers who in retaliation fire live bullets, killing several civilians.





Anger and anguish mount and condemnations follow but nothing else happens, except that another distraught mother is left to cry for the rest of life at the untimely death of her young lad.

This was the scene at the Gaza-Israel border more than a week ago. At least 16 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,400 injured as part of the annual Land Day protests, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which said that at least 773 Palestinians were wounded due to the firing of live ammunition.





Most of the victims were between 17 and 35 years old. This is the generation born and brought up in the middle of wars and tension. There might be hardly any family in Gaza and the rest of Palestine who have not suffered directly or indirectly due to violence and bloodshed.





The Palestinians live in an environment of death and face it as a way of life. It is also a way of showing defiance and justifying their struggle. But it should be only cold comfort to an aging mother and father who see the future in children, especially sons in these more traditional societies.





The unending conflict has a huge impact on the ordinary lives in the two communities. But being oppressed and dispossessed of their land, the Palestinians are continuously on the receiving end. Their crime is based on a desire for social justice, economic empowerment and political rights.





One of their demands is to let the people driven out of their homes in 1948 to come back. Israels birth resulted in the eviction of thousands of people. It is called Nakba or Catastrophe and the Palestinians commemorate it with annual protests.





According to Israeli estimates more than 30,000 people had gathered along the 65 km frontier as part of the six-week protest which is scheduled to end on May 15. On that fatal day, reportedly some of protestors came close to the fenced border. Israeli soldiers first fired warning shots and later directly targeted the civilians.





The right of return of refugees is the stickiest point along with the status of East Jerusalem between the two communities. The Jewish state fears that it would be numerically outclassed if all the refugees were allowed to return to their native places which are under occupation and part of the state of Israel.





The only hope for these refugees is resettlement in the future state of Palestine but it is nowhere in sight. The peace process has been frozen since 2014 and any chance of revival in the near future is not possible. Rather, the situation is expected to get tense and even bloodier in the coming months as the U.S. has announced it will shift its embassy to Jerusalem this year.





Israel insists that the Hamas activists were leading the protest and there is an element of truth as the group claimed that it lost about five members in the latest violence. But even the presence of Hamas supporters cannot provide justification for killing people with impunity when they had not crossed the fence.





The lives of those living in embattled Gaza can be compared with ghettos, of which many Jews should have been well aware of. The Jews had been among the most prosecuted people in the world. One wonders that such people who suffered the worst at hands of different rulers and governments would allow their government to commit similar tyranny to another group of people.





Bullets and merciless killings have failed to bring security to Israel. The shifting of the embassy to Jerusalem will not add anything to the goal of peace. The issue is not just the callous treatment of Palestinians. The state of Israel should decide if it wants normal relations with other communities and countries for long term stability or continue to play a pawn of powers for regional great games.





Israel is an undeclared nuclear power with the potential to defeat any military threat from its regional rivals. It also has the backing of the U.S. and other countries but its citizens might not have lived even a single day of peace in the last seven decades. Israeli leaders should sit and think if they are really winning?

Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.



 Flash

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu on Friday called on parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint over the situation in Syria.







The current situation in Syria is perilous, Ma told a Security Council meeting requested by Russia, adding that it's at a crossroads of war and peace.





"We call on the parties concerned to remain calm, exercise restraint, refrain from any move that may lead to further escalation of the situation, solve the issue peacefully through consultation and dialogue," said Ma.





At this critical juncture, the Security Council should take up its responsibilities to build unity and consensus and do its utmost to prevent war, he said.





The pressing priority is to launch a comprehensive, objective and impartial investigation into reports of chemical weapons use in Syria so as to arrive at authoritative conclusions, he said.





China has consistently been in favor of peaceful settlement of disputes, and has been opposed to the use of force or threat of use force in international relations, he said.





"Unilaterally taking military action by circumventing the Security Council is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and runs counter to the norms of international law and those governing international relations."





Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity should be respected, he said.





China is convinced that there is no military solution to the Syrian issue and that the only way out is a political settlement, he said.





China supports the United Nations in playing an active role and calls on the international community to stick to diplomacy and the course of political settlement, give full play to the role of the United Nations as the main mediator, he said.





The situation in Syria has a bearing on regional and global peace and stability, has a bearing on the credibility and authority of the Security Council, said Ma, adding that China is ready to work tirelessly for peace and security in the Middle East and the world at large.



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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349In 2020, we were the church on our heels. A global pandemic shut down much of our world. But the church has been on the move since it was birthed; it will continue to be on the move until God makes all things new.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to formWe attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.BROOK PARK, Ohio -- City Council unanimously passed a resolution April 3 that urges state and federal lawmakers to provide more money to address the problem of opioid overdose deaths.

Ohio leads the nation in fatalities, according to a study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Councilman Rich Scott also announced plans to hold a Mental Health Awareness Forum on May 17 at the John A. Polonye Recreation Center. The agenda and format have not been finalized yet, but Scott indicated that Brook Park Neighborhood Watch and Southwest General Health Center's Oakview Behavioral Health Center will be involved with the program. Law enforcement officials, as well as a local judge, will present information as it applies to the opioid crisis.

"It will address mental health issues and how they apply to the opioid and all other chemical dependencies," Scott said, noting that two similar forums were presented in Brook Park last year. "We want to keep the community informed about what's going on."

The resolution emphasizes that the number of opioid-induced deaths constitutes "a public health emergency."

"A lot of our surrounding cities are acting on some of this," said Council President Mike Vecchio. "As we all know, this is widespread and is an epidemic nationwide. As a city, we need to get behind this to try to keep our citizens healthy."

Councilman Jim Mencini agreed, calling passage of the resolution "a no-brainer."

"As in other municipalities, I know the opioid crisis has affected each one of us," Mencini said. "It's a disease I would like to see stopped now."

Copies of the resolution were sent to Ohio's U.S. senators, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-9) and Ohio General Assembly legislators representing the city of Brook Park.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The 2018 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony has been sold out for a while now. As has the museum's annual simulcast.

Truth be told, those wanting to see Bon Jovi, The Cars, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe inducted live on Saturday are mostly out of luck. Unless you want to pay a 500 percent markup for tickets to the ceremony at Public Hall.

However, HBO will air the ceremony May 5 with limited editing. If you can't want that long, there are other ways to participate in Saturday's festivities.

For the first time, the Rock Hall will live stream the red carpet arrivals. You can tune into cleveland.com to watch the live feed or head over to the Rock Hall's website and various social media channels.

Cleveland.com will also be hosting its annual live blog with updates, photos and videos from the ceremony in real time. Live coverage from Public Hall begins at 5:30 p.m, when the first acts hit the red carpet. The actual ceremony starts at 7:30 p.m.BRUNSWICK HILLS, Ohio -- An early morning fire displaced a couple and their daughter Saturday, officials say.

The fire broke out shortly after 1 a.m. on Caxton Lane near Ingleton Drive, according to a news release from the Brunswick Hills Fire Department.

Brunswick Hills police confirmed the house was fully involved before firefighters arrived on scene.

Firefighters found the fire coming from the front and the back of the home, the release says.

The fire was under control shortly before 2 a.m.

Fire departments from Brunswick, Hinckley Township, Strongsville, Valley City, Columbia Township and Medina assisted Brunswick Hills in putting out the blaze.

The Medina County Fire Investigation Task Force is investigating the fire.

The house was determined to be a total loss.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Reversing Republican restrictions on abortion, LGBTQ rights and immigration were among the policy positions Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Rich Cordray offered to a youthful audience here Friday afternoon in a campaign stop with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Cordray said he wants young Ohioans to stay in the state and be proud of it.

"We can be a welcoming state that sets an example for the other states in this country, that we all came here from somewhere at some time... and we built a country together," Cordray said on stage at the Newport Music Hall, steps away from the Ohio State University.

Warren's presence in Ohio -- on the trail and at private fundraisers -- could boost Cordray's liberal bona fides at a crucial time. Early voting in the May 8 primary began Monday, and former congressman and ex-Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich has been prodding Cordray, a former state attorney general, from the left on issues such as guns and marijuana.

Recent polling has shown the two in a dead heat, although a poll released Thursday showed Cordray leading a crowded Democratic field with 27.5 percent support.

Warren created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where Cordray served as its first director. He left the post late last year to run for governor.

"Rich understood what was at stake for American families," Warren said. "He wouldn't be coming to Washington to make a name for himself. He would be coming to Washington to fight for you, because that's the kind of person he is."

Warren warmed up the crowd of about 200 with rallying cries for health care, science and expanding Social Security and Medicaid, pumping her fists as the cheers escalated.

"Let's face it, Rich is not flashy. He's a nerd. Just like me," Warren said. "He's quiet, he's unassuming, he's humble, but deep down there is a fighter and not just any kind of fighter. Rich is the kind of fighter I love. He is a fearless fighter. My kind of man."

Warren and Cordray appeared together earlier Friday at a Cincinnati-area substance abuse treatment center. Warren called for better cooperation between federal and state officials to fight the opioid addiction crisis killing thousands in Ohio each year.

Ohio Republicans have brought up Warren's name in the context of incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown's race, declaring Brown one of the most liberal senators in "lockstep" with Warren.

"By bringing the most radical liberal in Congress to campaign on his behalf, Richard Cordray has proven that he left his Ohio values in Washington," Ohio GOP spokesman Blaine Kelly said. "Ohioans rejected Elizabeth Warren's far left agenda when she campaigned for Hillary Clinton, and they will reject it again in 2018."

Cordray and Kucinich are battling state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill, Larry Ealy and Paul Ray in the May primary.

The winner will face either Attorney General Mike DeWine or Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor in November's general election.MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A Maple Heights man is facing charges for inappropriately touching two teenage girls, police said.

James Pyles

James Pyles, 33, is charged with two count of gross sexual imposition for groping two girls on their way to school, Maple Heights police said.

Authorities said at 6:41 a.m. a 13-year-old girl was passing through Stafford Park, located in the 5400 block of Mayville Avenue, when a man approached her in the parking lot. The man touched her inappropriately, complimented her on how she looked and told her to keep walking, police said.

Police were called but was unable to find the man after he ran away when he saw a vehicle passing by.

Investigators were called Friday after a 17-year-old girl was dropped off at 7:45 a.m. near her high school. A man approached the girl from behind, groped her and walked along side her telling her how she looked, police said.

The girl was able to get away from the man and called her father, who then dialed 911.

Officers arrested Pyles after a brief foot chase through houses and several backyards. Pyles also jumped multiple fences trying to get away from police, authorities said. Authorities released a 16 second video clip of the chase from an officer's body camera. Pyles was being held in the Maple Heights Police Department Jail.

To comment on this story, visit Friday's crime and courts comments page.MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Police are searching for a man who left his home and went missing overnight.

Richard Berensen was last seen by his wife about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, according to Maple Heights police.

He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and Dementia and may not know his name, police said.

He is assumed to be wearing a brown leather jacket, jeans with patches, glasses and an Air Force hat.

Anyone who locates Berensen is asked to call Maple Heights police at 216-662-1234.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.PERRY, Ohio - Northeast Ohio has an abundance of wildlife, and environmental science students at Perry High School are getting a hands-on education about the sustainability of fauna and flora here.

One example is a 60-gallon cold-water tank holding 75 trout too small to release into the wild. They hatched from eggs acquired in January from the London State Fish Hatchery in Madison County.

The plan is to release them into the Grand River next month, said Bill Crow, who teaches environmental science and health.

The program is called Trout in the Classroom which was conceived by the conservation group Trout Unlimited more than 20 years ago. It now is in hundreds of schools across the country.

Crow heard about it from a Trout Unlimited member here.

A $975 STEM Grant from First Energy covered all of the equipment, including the tank and a device to keep the water at 55 degrees, which trout like.

Crow said that each week the students test the following water quality parameters: pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, dissolved oxygen, and temperature.

"They clean the tank and change the water twice a week. Feeding occurs multiple times a day," he said. "I use the project to help students learn about the nitrogen cycle, the importance of water quality monitoring and human impacts on local watersheds. It ties in nicely with many of the objectives we cover in the course."

Crow favors hands-on experience, which his students certainly get in the classroom. But he wants them out in the field 25 percent of the time. That can include cleaning up a beach at the Lake Metroparks' Lake Erie Bluffs reservation.

Crow's students are working with the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District to compile water-quality data three or four times a year, according to a news release from the school.

They'll do something similar at Holden Arboretum, gathering information on some of the trees there.

Ongoing projects abound in Crow's classroom.

Yael Hernandez Castillo has an aquaponics project. As he explains it, a tank holds a live sunfish. Waste water from the tank enriches plants rooted in rockwool, a foam-like substance made from spun basalt and chalk. Water runoff from the rockwool bed gets recycled back into the sunfish tank. Castillo wants to go into medicine so he can work with stem cells.

Melinda Kirk is growing organic tomatoes in the classroom, in soil that is generated from compost there. She wants to major in biochemistry and is interested in genetics.

Crow said he plans on keeping the trout program in the curriculum, and next year might start it in November so both of his semester-length classes can participate.Colleen Mary O'Toole

Neither outspoken Judge Colleen Mary O'Toole of the 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals nor combative ex-state Rep. Matt Lynch are shrinking violets. But the gloves are off in their Republican primary battle for O'Toole's seat on the Warren-based appellate court, which hears appeals from state courts in Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Trumbull counties.

Lynch, 66, has gone after O'Toole for serving on the board of the Lake County NAACP, calling it a political organization off-limits to a sitting judge, and demanding she step down.

O'Toole, 57, counters that the Lake County NAACP is a 501(c)(4) "social welfare organization" that is not a political group and that the organization has never appeared before her in a case -- but that if it did, she would recuse. She said joining the local NAACP board was a way to reach out to the local African-American community to build bridges and improve how well the courts meet the needs of underrepresented groups.

She accuses Lynch, in turn, of having "demonstrated actual bias" in his political stances and in the targets of his sharp political critiques that she argues would impede his ability to be an impartial judge.

Lynch is a former Bainbridge Township trustee who was appointed to the Ohio House in April 2012 representing parts of Geauga and Portage counties and elected to that seat in November 2012. He left the Ohio House at the end of that term to run from the right in GOP primaries for the 14th Congressional District, losing twice, in 2014 and 2016, to incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce.

O'Toole, of Concord Township in Lake County, first served on the 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals from 2005 to 2011, and was elected to the court again in 2012. After that 2012 campaign, she was reprimanded by the Ohio Supreme Court and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $2,500 in costs for wearing a button identifying her as an 11th District judge when she was out of office at the time.

O'Toole demonstrated poor judgment then but she's on solid ground now in wanting to expand the circle to make sure those who seek justice in Ohio courts don't feel excluded.

Republican voters in Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga, Portage and Trumbull counties should renominate Judge Colleen Mary O'Toole in their party primary on May 8. On the Democratic side, write-in candidate Darya Klammer awaits the winner in the fall. Early voting in the primary has begun.

Incumbent 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals Judge Colleen Mary O'Toole and Matt Lynch, candidates in the Republican primary for 11th District judge, were interviewed by the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer on March 20, 2018 as part of the endorsement process for the May 8 Republican primary. Listen to audio of the interview below:

About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization.

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* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments on this editorial to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- "I Am Evidence," a gripping 90-minute documentary premiering on HBO at 8 p.m. Monday, is as deeply disturbing as it is profoundly inspiring.

It is deeply disturbing because it tells in shocking detail how many untested rape kits were stacked up in police-evidence storage facilities around the country. How many? The estimate is 400,000.

The number is so staggering, so immense, it might be difficult to wrap your mind around a national shame of that magnitude. How can you even begin to put that in any proportion? "I Am Evidence" does it, powerfully and hauntingly, by introducing us to a few of the survivors behind those boxes sealed and ignored for years.

"I am evidence, literally," a survivor named Ericka says. "My name is on a box, on a shelf, that has never been tested."

Ericka recalls being raped on her 21st birthday. She recalls going through the arduous process of getting her rape kit done at a Detroit-area hospital. And she recalls a police detective telling her and her father that nothing would happen with the investigation, then offering to show them the thousands of rape kits waiting to be tested.

The memories are harrowing. The pain is palpable. The anger is something that quickly takes on a shape and force -- not their anger, but yours over how they were treated by an uncaring system that denied them any chance of justice.

"The victims attached to these kits are overwhelmingly women ... and those that report are historically treated very badly," says Kym Worthy, the prosecutor for Michigan's Wayne County. In August 2009, 11,000 untested rape kits at a Detroit annex warehouse were brought to her attention.

"It's not just the fact that nobody cared about these women," Worthy tells "I Am Evidence" producer Mariska Hargitay. "It's not the fact that they treated them with no dignity. It's the fact that they were violated in the most intimate of ways and nobody gave a damn. Nobody gives a damn about women in this country."

But some people did give a damn, and that's also a vital part of the compelling story told by Hargitay and the film's directors, Trish Adlesic and Geeta Gandbhir.

So, yes, "I Am Evidence" also inspires, because it describes the efforts of law enforcement officers, journalists, advocates and these survivors to right the monstrous wrongs. The film in no way suggests the problem has been solved, but it does, in riveting fashion, chart the paths that can lead to solutions.

Hargitay, who has played sex crimes detective Lt. Olivia Benson on NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" since 1999, tells how she became an activist after receiving numerous letters from survivors of sexual assault. In 2004, she founded the Joyful Heart Foundation. Its mission is to change society's response to sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.

"I educated myself and I got involved," Hargitay says in "I Am Evidence."

One of the foundation's initiatives, End the Backlog, was started to eliminate the backlog of untested rape kits. Much has been done, as this film makes clear in a straightforward manner that adopts the tone of an investigation, not an inquisition. And there's an astounding amount of work left to do, as "I Am Evidence" also drives home.

The documentary moves at a brisk pace among three cities: Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles. In Detroit, the first stop, we see how Worthy has been leading the battle to get the rape kits tested.

The film then shifts to Cleveland. Among those interviewed during the Northeast Ohio segments are former Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, survivors Danielle Erbs and Allyssa Allison, Cuyahoga County investigator Nicole DiSanto and Plain Dealer reporter Rachel Dissell, who, with cleveland .com colleague Leila Atassi, uncovered about 4,000 untested rape kits in Cleveland.

In each city, one conclusion is inescapable. Testing the evidence kits leads to matches, and matches lead to convictions. Out of about 5,000 tested, there already have been 1,935 DNA matches in CODIS, the national criminal database.

"These rape kits are the best bargain in the history of law enforcement," McGinty says. "Four hundred dollars a rape kit, and one in four results in an indictment. One in four of the four is a serial rapist. I've never seen an opportunity like this in law enforcement."

We see this played out as DiSanto travels to North Carolina and locates Erbs' attacker. "Looks like you're getting a trip back to Cleveland," she tells him.

And back in Cleveland, he was convicted of a 19 rape and kidnapping.

Still, the enormity of the backlog makes prioritizing cases a challenge for law enforcement. There is much sadness here, therefore, but a realistic note of hope is summarized by Dissell: "You can't change or fix what happened to one person. ... You can't change that. What you can change is what might happen to someone else."

Worthy adds her own hopeful observation: "If anything positive has happened from all of this, it's that people are talking about it and people know about it and others have come forward."

And "I Am Evidence," which also was screened during the Tribeca Film Festival and the Cleveland International Film Festival, is a stirring effort to keep people talking about it while increasing the urgency of the discussion.

REVIEW

I Am Evidence

What: A documentary, filmed partly in Cleveland, about the enormous backlog of untested rape kits.

When: 8 p.m. Monday, April 16.

Where: HBOCLEVELAND, Ohio - A stationary front centered over Northeast Ohio's coastline means more than a 20-degree difference for inland versus lake-side areas. Either way, Friday night is looking warm, but thunderstorms will help cool things back down the rest of the weekend.

A strong front that just won't budge over Lake Erie's coastline will bring today's highs into the low 70s for areas on the lake, like around Burke Lakefront Airport, but could skyrocket temperatures close to 80 degrees farther south near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The record is 83 degrees. At 11 a.m. today, there was a 24-degree difference between the two weather-observing locations, just to give an idea of how sharp that front is -- and how conveniently located.

11 a.m. | 49 at Burke, 73 at Cleveland Hopkins. Amazing. @clevelanddotcom  Kelly Reardon (@KellyRWeather) April 13, 2018

For inland areas, temperatures will cool to the 70s and eventually 60s through midnight, closer to the coast will hit the 50s. Cloudiness will build tonight, and I can't rule out a stray sprinkle.

Winds will shift from the southwest Friday to the northeast on Saturday, cooling high temperatures into low 50s and low temperatures to the upper 30s. Rain showers are likely throughout the day, including during the Indians and Toronto Blue Jays game. Winds will be a bit breezy so it would be easier to grab a rain coat rather than an umbrella.

The low-pressure center tracking in from the Midwest triggering the rain and few rumbles of thunder Saturday will continue to influence the area Sunday. Rain showers are again likely throughout the day, along with over 20-mph winds.

Another shift in winds to the southeast will allow a slight warm-up, compared to Saturday, to just around 62 degrees in Cleveland.

Check out the forecast:

Temperatures

Temperature forecast.

Precipitation chances

Precipitation forecast.

Winds

Wind speed and direction forecast.

Keep checking cleveland.com/weather for daily weather updates for Northeast Ohio, and don't forget to submit any weather questions you may have!

Kelly Reardon is cleveland.com's meteorologist. Please follow me on Facebook and Twitter @KellyRWeather.When you hear the angry rhetoric from politicians about preserving gendered bathrooms and abolishing transgender rights, you might think, "If things are still this tough for transgender people today, I can't imagine how bad they were in the past." While that's not always wrong, it's not always right, either.

Hundreds of years ago, some Native American tribes actually held a deep respect for people who identified themselves as outside the gender binary -- or as they were called, "two-spirits." It was believed that such people were especially important, as they could participate in all aspects of Native life, rather than those reserved for one gender. In fact, some tribes saw it as crucial to recognize the balance between one's masculine and feminine sides.For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browserCharge daffaires of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam Yin Haihong said that in the past five years, Chinas posted an annual average growth rate of 7.1 percent, while its contribution to the world economy rose from 11.4 percent to 15 percent.

During the period, peoples consumption contributing to the countrys economic growth increased from 54.9 percent to 58.8 percent, she said, adding that the ratio of service sector rose from 45.3 percent to 51.6 percent, making it a major motivation of Chinas economic development.

Charge daffaires of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam Yin Haihong (second, left) speaks at the meeting (Source: tuoitre.vn)



Chinas urbanization ratio rose from 52.6 percent to 58.5 percent, while its contributions in technological advance increased from 52.2 percent to 57.5 percent. Its poverty rate dropped to 3.1 percent from 10.2 percent, said Yin.

While highlighting the relationship between China and Vietnam, Yin said that China has always paid much attention to developing relations with Vietnam.

She noted that after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Party General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping chose Vietnam as the destination for his first visit abroad, showing Chinas great attention to the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The diplomat said that after the two important meetings in 2018, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Vietnam, marking the first visit to a foreign nation by a leader of the new Chinese government after the meetings.

According to Yin, China and China are maintaining a sound relationship that is entering a new period. Two-way trade exceeded USD100 billion in 2017, she said, adding that China has been the biggest trade partner of Vietnam in many years. About 10 million people of both countries have visited each others country.

Yin stressed that the two nations should boost cross-border cooperation, while fostering connectivity and seeking stronger partnership in economy, trade, investment, culture, tourism, military affairs, law enforcement and science-technology.

The Chinese official also highlighted the role of the press in boosting the growth of bilateral ties and enhancing mutual understanding between people of the two countries.

She said China welcomes Vietnamese reporters to visit China to introduce the development of the relations between the two Parties, nations and people, affirming that the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam is willing to support and prioritise jounalists.

Regarding prioritised areas in Vietnam-China cooperative ties in the coming time, Yin said that the two sides will continue maintaining meetings and mutual visits by senior leaders of the two Parties and countries, while stepping up cooperation in the areas of investment, labour, culture, tourism, people-to-people exchanges, and media./.The Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VTPA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade introduced the event during a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City on April 13th.

Processing farm produce for exports (Photo: VNA)



VTPA Director Vu Ba Phu said the expo will create an excellent opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to make inroads into the market, helping narrow the trade gap with China, as well as expand cooperation with Chinese partners and hundreds of other participating economies.

To boost exports to China, businesses need to increase the quality of products, build brand names, and improve packaging and designing. At the same time, they need to update information about the market, import-export policies, and customers demand in different Chinese localities.

More than 100 countries are expected to join the CIIE 2018 with over 150,000 customers in and outside China. The business exhibition area of the expo will cover 210,000 square meters, consisting of two sections: goods and services.

The goods section will feature high-end intelligent equipment, consumer electronics and appliances, automobile, apparel, accessories and consumer goods, food and agricultural products, medical equipment and medical care products.

Meanwhile the services section will comprises tourism services, emerging technologies, culture and education, creative design and service outsourcing./.One of the most enduring mysteries of the modern world is the continuing influence of the 'Neo-conservatives'.

This is the name given to the political philosophy championed by George W. Bush and his British prime minister buddy, whom he once greeted with the words 'Yo, Blair . . .'

A dictionary definition of 'Neo-conservatism' is 'the assertive promotion of democracy and U.S. national interest in international affairs including through military means'.

Of course, this was the thinking behind the West's invasion of Iraq 15 years ago  a fiasco which I believe was the most morally shameful international disaster of recent times.

Not only did it result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands (including 179 British service personnel), but it also led to years of political chaos in Iraq, to the calamity of the Syrian civil war and the rise of Islamic State.

In any sane world, those responsible would now be pariahs  disgraced and discredited men ostracised by the media and reduced to writing their pitifully self-justifying memoirs.

But we don't live in such sane times.

'Neo-conservatives' is the name given to the political philosophy championed by George W. Bush and his British prime minister buddy, whom he once greeted with the words 'Yo, Blair . . .'

War-monger Blair seems to be a constant presence in BBC studios  this week alone he used the Syria crisis to justify his calamitous invasion of Iraq, arrogantly called for a second referendum on Brexit and basked in praise at an event to celebrate 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.

With breathtaking hubris, Blair urged military intervention in Syria. And with his typically sneering attitude to democracy, he urged Theresa May to authorise the use of the British military without a Commons debate.

He is supported by another man who pig-headedly fails to learn the lessons of history: his chief propagandist, the thuggish Alastair Campbell.

It was the mendacious Campbell, as Blair's spin doctor, who spread falsehoods about Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction' and masterminded the use of the notorious dossier on Iraq's weapons to support claims by Bush that gave a spurious justification for Britain going to war.

There is not a jot of contrition from Campbell, who, when not also being given a comfy platform by the BBC, rages about Brexit and at critics of Blair from his splenetic Twitter account.

Meanwhile, the other Neo-conservative in the unwholesome New Labour troika that duped Britain into going to war is relatively silent. It is not hard to guess why.

Peter Mandelson has close and lucrative business connections with one of Putin's cronies. His great 'friend', metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska, along with a number of the Russian's firms, has been placed on the U.S. Government's sanctions list in response to what Washington called Moscow's 'malign activities'.

It is high time Mandelson  a member of the House of Lords  explained publicly the nature of his connections with someone so close to the Kremlin.

But the toxic influence of Neo-conservatism is not just confined to Labour. As a younger politician, former chancellor George Osborne was a junior member of that clique. A leopard doesn't change his spots. Today, he is demanding military action in Syria.

An editorial in the London Evening Standard, which he edits, was as trenchant as it was misguided. It thundered: 'Britain should take part in air strikes against Assad's forces without holding a parliamentary vote.' Across the Atlantic, although no one would ever describe Donald Trump as having a clear political philosophy, his new national security adviser, John Bolton, is a notoriously hardline Neo-con.

As one of the architects of the Iraq invasion, he refuses to apologise for that war. His presence in the White House is an added threat to world peace.

The legendary French diplomat Charles Talleyrand famously remarked about the House of Bourbon that they had 'learnt nothing and forgotten nothing'. The same applies to the Neo-conservatives as they press for the West to intervene yet again in the Middle East. The first and biggest mistake in Iraq was not to have a proper post-invasion strategy. After Saddam fell, the country degenerated into chaos and the region into a furnace of terrorism.

Likewise now, Western governments seem to have little idea of the long-term purpose of any intervention in Syria.

What are the targets? What is their long-term strategy? How do we avoid an escalation into war with Russia? We are not told.

What's more, there are chilling echoes of what happened with Iraq. Blair and Bush ordered military action before weapons inspectors had completed their task. Had they waited, they would have discovered no 'WMDs' and thus no cause for war.

Western governments seem to have little idea of the long-term purpose of any intervention in Syria (pictured)

With regard to Syria, inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons are due today in the town of Douma, where at least 40 people, including women and children, were killed in an apparent chemical attack last Saturday. They should be allowed to continue fact-finding.

It cannot be stressed too much that military intervention in Syria, like that in Iraq, would be illegal under international law. The warmongering Neo-cons never seem to mind much about matters of legality. But the rest of us should.

For her part, Theresa May, as a member of the opposition, voted for the Iraq war in 2003.

This week, there were welcome signs that she might be erring on the side of caution in Syria.

Undoubtedly she is aware that Britain's defence chiefs are privately reluctant to embark on military action without a clear objective. They understand that things could spin catastrophically out of control.

Some commentators have irresponsibly spoken of a possible 'World War III'. Such feckless talk dishonours the tens of millions who died in the two terrible conflicts of the 20th century.

Nevertheless, there is a genuine danger of an escalation to military confrontation between the United States and Russia.

With such high stakes, I believe it would be a scandal if MPs are not called back early from recess to debate the issue in Parliament.

I rebuked Jeremy Corbyn two weeks ago in this column for being soft on anti-Semitism. But he is right that Parliament must assess all the evidence before Britain embarks on war, as is that Tory big beast Ken Clarke.

Mrs May knows that if she joins Trump in any Syrian military adventure and it goes wrong, she will pay a heavy political price.

The developments of the past days have reminded me of the movie Night Of The Living Dead. It tells how zombies come out of their graves to terrorise people.

This week, we have witnessed several zombies emerge from their political graves to demand this country goes to war with Assad.

The tragedy is, this is real life, not a Hollywood fiction.

Neo-conservatives have turned the Middle East into a charnel house for the past 15 years. I pray they don't get their way again and that wisdom prevails.

Unsung benefits of the Commonwealth

Next week, the Queen hosts a meeting of the heads of state of all 53 Commonwealth member countries.

The Commonwealth has many critics, who sneer that it is a meaningless relic of Britain's colonial past. They are utterly wrong.

The Commonwealth brings together 2.3 billion people  almost a third of the world's population  through mutual understanding and shared values.

Unlike Nato, it does not use force to build trust and prevent conflict. Unlike the EU, it does not encroach on national sovereignty.

Instead, it shares values through a relaxed meeting of minds and a common history.

The Queen (pictured) will host a meeting of the heads of state of all 53 Commonwealth member countries next week

The Commonwealth was instrumental in ending military rule in Pakistan in 2007 and was behind the international boycott of apartheid South Africa.

Also, it benefits members' economies  as shown by a study published last week which reveals that Commonwealth members trade 20 per cent more, on average, with each other and generate 10 per cent more foreign investment than other countries.

There is a reason for this. All Commonwealth countries share a form of the traditional British common law. We have the same legal system and any disputes tend to be settled far more easily.

Membership of the Commonwealth is one of Britain's unsung advantages  one that should be harnessed more after Brexit.Advertisement

Meghan and Harry's wedding date is getting closer and closer, with the royal family remaining tight-lipped about many of the details.

After the heavily awaited walk down the aisle on May 19, the couple will jet off for their honeymoon, but their chosen destination remains unknown.

It is no secret the royals enjoy coming to Australia, with Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, Diana and Charles and the Queen herself all holidaying here in the recent past.

FEMAIL takes a look at the hotels and destinations the newlyweds could and should stay at if they choose to honeymoon Down Under or in neighbouring New Zealand.

Here, FEMAIL takes at the hotels and destinations the newly loved-up duo could and should stay at if they choose to honeymoon in Australia or New Zealand

WILDMAN WILDERNESS LODGE

Wildman Wilderness Lodge is a serene wilderness escape nestled in the Mary River Wetlands - two hours east of Darwin on the fringe of Kakadu National Park.

It provides newlyweds with the opportunity to explore the unique region while still being able to stay in stylish eco lodges and safari tent accommodation.

The buildings feature custom-designed safari tents with picturesque views - the ultimate in bush luxury.

With romantic three-course dinners by candlelight, guests are intimately isolated from other couples and the lodge is sure to give the couple a retreat from everyday life.

This luxurious glamping experience is ideal for those who want to experience adventure in style, as each fan-cooled tent is spacious and comes complete with an en suite bathroom and luxury bedding.

Wildman Wilderness Lodge is a serene wilderness escape nestled in the Mary River Wetlands - just two hours east of Darwin, on the fringe of Kakadu National Park

It provides newlyweds with the opportunity to explore this amazing region while still being able to stay in stylish eco lodges and safari tent accommodation

The buildings contain custom-designed safari tents with picturesque views - the ultimate in bush luxury

This luxurious glamping experience is ideal for those who want to experience adventure in style, as each fan-cooled tent is spacious and comes complete with en suite bathroom and luxury bedding

KUMANU

This opulent retreat is located only 25 minutes away from the vibrant centre of Queenstown in New Zealand, but it feels like you're surrounded by wilderness.

The beautiful lodge boasts show-stopping views of the Remarkables Mountain range and the Wakatipu Basin, making it the perfect location for couples to escape from the rest of the world.

The icing on the cake is the fact that the spacious home has floor-to-ceiling windows, providing views of the stunning mountains and valley from all spots of the lodge.

As well as a luxurious interior, the outside area has a barbecue, seating and a spa so you can recline in warm water while taking in the incredible view.

This luxurious retreat is located only 25 minutes away from the vibrant centre of Queenstown in New Zealand, but it feels like you're surrounded by wilderness

The beautiful lodge boasts show-stopping views of the Remarkables Mountain range and the Wakatipu Basin, making it the perfect location for loved-up couples to escape from the rest of the world

As well as a luxurious interior, the outside area has a BBQ, outdoor seating and an outdoor spa so you can recline in warm water while taking in incredible view

The icing on the cake is the fact that the spacious home has floor to ceiling windows, meaning that the stunning mountains and valley views can be seen no matter where you're standing

SHOTOVER POINT

This beautiful cottage is nestled on the quiet banks of the Shotover River in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand.

The Shotover Point accommodation is located in a peaceful and secluded spot, making it an amazing secret getaway.

The character of the historic old stone farm house and the surrounds of a vineyard ensure it's an ideal country retreat.

As there are no neighbours around you can reside in the comfort of knowing that this slice of serenity is all yours.

There is also a beautiful patio area where you can enjoy alfresco dining or a glass of wine in the evenings while watching the sun set over the valley.

This beautiful cottage is nestled on the quiet banks of the Shotover River in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand

The Shotover Point accommodation is located in a peaceful and secluded location, making it the perfect secret getaway spot

As there are absolutely no neighbours around you can reside in the comfort of knowing that this slice of serenity is all yours

It comes with the character of an historic old stone farmhouse and is surrounded by a vineyard

LONGITUDE 131

Longitude 131 is a luxe tented resort with 15 exclusive pavilions, each with a stunning view of Uluru.

This is where William and Kate stayed in 2014 as they holidayed in Australia, a week before their third wedding anniversary.

The accommodation takes glamping to the next level - incredibly stylish, yet welcoming and relaxed.

Red desert surrounds the location as far as the eye can see, leaving it isolated but magical as the stars light up the sky at night.

During their visit the Duke and Duchess walked around part of Uluru, just as Prince William's parents did 31 years ago.

During their visit the Duke and Duchess walked around part of Uluru, just as Prince William's parents (pictured) did 31 years ago

This is where William and Kate (pictured) stayed in 2014 as they holidayed in Australia, a week before their third wedding anniversary.

Red desert surrounds the location as far as the eye can see, leaving it isolated but magical as the stars light up the sky at night

Longitude 131 offers an unmatched experience of Australia's outback which would suit Prince Harry and Meghan's shared taste for adventure

The accommodation takes glamping to the next level - incredibly stylish, yet welcoming and relaxed (Pictured is a bird's eye view)

SAL SALIS

Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef is a beachside safari camp nestled in the dunes of the Cape Range National Park on Western Australia's mid-north coast. Each of the 16 wilderness tents offers views of the surrounding bush & beach.

It offers the discreet yet luxurious safari vibes which both Prince Harry and Meghan have come to love after their very first trip together in 2016 to Botswana.

Pippa Middleton, the younger sister of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, and her billionaire husband James Matthews honeymooned at the five-star Sal Salis resort, which includes eco-luxe wilderness tents.

It is every bit the magical honeymoon destination fit for a Prince and Princess, and it perfectly encapsulates Australia's ethereal beauty.

Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef is a beachside safari camp nestled in the dunes of Western Australia's Cape Range National Park. Each of the 16 wilderness tents offers views of the surrounding bush and beach

Pippa Middleton, the younger sister of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, and her billionaire husband James Matthews honeymooned at the five-star Sal Salis resort, which includes eco-luxe wilderness tents

It is every bit the magical honeymoon destination fit for a Prince and Princess, and it perfectly encapsulates Australia's ethereal beauty

PARK HYATT IN SYDNEY

The royal lovers again may follow in the footsteps of Prince Harry's sister-in-law Pippa by opting for the luxurious $19,000-a-night Park Hyatt suite in Sydney.

The Park Hyatt offers rooms so exclusive it does not advertise prices on their site, but instead sends information out to potential guests on request.

Nestled in the historic Rocks of Sydney, the hotel sits between the world-famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House, with breathtaking views of both.

The top-class suite boasts a private outdoor terrace with near 360-degree panoramic views of the city.

The master bathroom also features a spa bath, sauna and steam room, while the living room is designed around a central gas fireplace should the royal couple choose to holiday in winter.

The Park Hyatt offers rooms so exclusive the hotel does not advertise prices on its site, but instead sends information out to potential guests on request

Nestled in the historic Rocks of Sydney, the hotel sits between the world-famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House with breathtaking views of bothA former actor who came up with the idea for the UK's first open air cinema in his hospital bed while recovering from a motorbike accident now runs a 3M business showing films at royal palaces.

George Wood, 37, from London founded the Luna cinema which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this summer and boasts celebrity fans such as Colin Farrell, Fearne Cotton and Geri Halliwell.

As the first of its kind, The Luna Cinema gained exclusive access to royal parks, palaces and castles around the country and will be providing the big screen at Kensington Palace for the public to watch Harry and Meghan's wedding on 19th May.

George was 27 when we was thrown off his motorbike in a hit and run in Elephant and Castle in London, and as he recovered in hospital he remembered an idea he had on holiday in Australia to bring outdoor cinema to the UK.

The former Disney Club presenter pitched the idea to council-run Dulwich Park and that summer, while still on crutches, he hired a screen and showed Some Like It Hot, which was a sell-out.

George invested all his savings and compensation cheque from the accident in his new company and ten years on he has a booming business turning over 3M a year.

George Wood, 37, from London set up the UK's first outdoor cinema company in 2007 while recovering from a motorbike accident

The former actor came up with the idea for his business while recovering in hospital, and arranged the first screening at Dulwich Park

'It turned out a witness had seen the whole thing and so I was able to get some compensation which I wasn't expecting,' he recalled.

'It was perfectly timed and allowed me to buy the equipment needed to kick start the venture.'

As he returned to full health, George started planning a calendar of films for the following summer.

He contacted P&0 Ferries, who gave him his very first job working in the on-board bar during school holidays, and managed to secure sponsorship, although there have been a few hiccups along the way.

Darkest Hour at Blenheim Palace is one of 175 screenings that will take place around the UK this summer

George said he has no regrets about giving up his career as an actor and presenter to pursue his business venture, which has grown to 3M turnover

'We once started playing Breakfast at Tiffany's in French which caused quite a bit of confusion,' George said.

And variable weather can sometimes make it slightly testing, although in all the years we've never actually cancelled a screening.

'The reality is that it is hard work  we're essentially moving a battalion of staff around which brings with it a mountain of challenges and we have to ensure that we are adhering to the vast number of health and safety regulations, which means sitting in lots of council meetings and completing mounds of paperwork.

'Organisation is crucial. But it's worth it to see the smiles on people's faces every night even those watching Dirty Dancing for the 17th time.'

The Luna Cinema will be screening the royal wedding at Kensington Palace on 19th May

George hosted the UK version of Disney Club from 1996 to 1997, doing live link-ups with US counterparts, including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling.

He also starred in Annie 2 alongside Joan Collins and the S Club TV spin-off show, I Dream , but has no regrets about turning his back on his acting and presenting career.

George said: 'I think it was always on the cards for me, from my theatre background to my love for collective, communal cinema experiences, to start a company like Luna.

It's never going to be in competition with traditional cinema experiences and that's a good thing.

'People come here for something different, a shared experience whether it's watching a new release or something they've seen a thousand times.

'I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I hadn't been knocked off my bike that day. If I could go back and thank the guy who hit me I would. He changed my life.'

For more information visit thelunacinema.comA few weeks ago, I got talking to a minicab driver who, it turned out, used to be an NHS hospital cook. He told me he had left because he was sick of doing little more than microwaving pre-packaged meals for patients.

'At least with driving, I'm using a skill,' he said rather glumly.

I thought of that taxi driver this week as it was revealed some NHS hospitals are spending as little as 3 a day per patient on food.

Of all the places you'd expect a decent meal, it's in a hospital. I'm not talking haute cuisine, but given the importance of nutrition in helping people make a speedy recovery, you'd at least assume hospital food would be given proper thought and attention.

Yet, this often isn't the case.

Reheated, reconstituted pap is all too common in hospitals in this country, and it's got to stop.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to minicab driver who, it turned out, used to be an NHS hospital cook and told me he had left because he was sick of microwaving meals for patients (stock image)

It's not always what's on the menu that's the problem, but rather what's not. A few years ago, I was working on a dementia ward when I saw that one of the patients, an elderly woman in her 80s, was very distressed. She was shouting that one of the patients had stolen her banana.

I assumed she was simply confused and agitated. She was sitting in the lounge with a nurse next to her. 'You've eaten it already,' the nurse was trying to explain. 'I haven't, he's taken it,' she shouted, pointing to another patient sitting watching TV.

'I never touched her bloody banana,' he shouted back.

'Don't worry,' said my consultant, who had come to see what all the fuss was about, 'we'll get you another banana.'

He looked at the nurses, but there was an embarrassed silence.

'Erm, no, we can't I'm afraid  we've had all the ones we're allowed for today,' one of the nurses told him. 'That's why she hides them under her pillow.'

Yes, the patient had taken to hiding fruit from other patients because it was so prized. The shortage of fruit on the ward, the nurse went on to explain, was because the hospital trust had decided it needed to make cut-backs.

How anyone can justify withholding fresh fruit from sick people is beyond me. But our ward, where there were 15 patients, was allowed just three bananas a day. The nursing staff had taken to either cutting them up so that everyone could get some, or rationing them for each patient over the week.

The ward also got two apples a day, but as most of the patients had dentures or bad teeth, they were traded with other wards for more bananas. An orange had yet to make an appearance.

Here was a group of people for whom fresh fruit would do the world of good, who are actually clamouring for it, but for whom it was being rationed. It was, if you'll excuse the pun, totally bananas.

And, of course, the quality of the food people do get is often pitiful. You'd think hospital cooks would have been embarrassed into improving the dishes being served up  but no, for the simple reason that cooks are now a rare commodity in hospitals.

Instead, the responsibility for providing food has been increasingly outsourced to catering companies. It means meals are mass-produced off-site and then reheated on the wards  or, as it's more ominously described by the industry, 'regenerated'.

This is all being done in the name of 'efficiency'. But it's a false economy. Patients who are undernourished because they can't eat the food they're offered take longer to get better and spend more time in hospital.

And it enrages me because it disproportionately affects the weakest, most vulnerable patients  the elderly and those with mental health problems or learning disabilities who often don't have lots of people visiting them and bringing in extra food.

There is a simple solution: reinstate hospital kitchens and staff them with trained cooks. When we spend so much on cutting-edge treatments and drugs, surely it makes sense to spend a little more on one of the most important medicines of all. Food.

It would be idiotic to deport this GP

We all know general practice is on its knees  no one wants to be a GP these days. So you'd think that if a dedicated, passionate young doctor came along who wanted to be an NHS GP, we would be delighted.

The story of Dr Luke Ong should infuriate every sane, sensible person in this country.

The 31-year-old Manchester doctor has been working for the NHS for seven years. He came from Singapore in September 2007 to study medicine, for which his parents paid almost 100,000.

After graduating, he set his sights on becoming a GP and began his postgraduate training  which is funded by the NHS and the Government.

Now, just a few months off qualifying, he is about to be deported  because he was two weeks late renewing his visa.

What's more, it wasn't even his fault that his visa had expired. Dr Ong tried to book an appointment in July 2017 for indefinite leave to remain in Britain but Home Office officials couldn't see him until September 2.

The story of Dr Luke Ong (pictured) should infuriate every sane, sensible person in this country

His application was then turned down on the grounds that he had met officials after the deadline.

It makes my blood boil. Here is a man who has trained here as a doctor, was working as a GP and was just days away from gaining an automatic right to remain in the UK because he had been here legitimately for ten years.

Meanwhile, the Government has announced it plans to spend 100 million to get GPs from abroad to alleviate our crisis.

Unlike Dr Ong, these recruits will be arriving without any knowledge of the NHS or the population they are serving.

We should be doing all we can to get Dr Ong to stay, not trying to put him on a plane out of here. My sincere hope is that someone in government intervenes to sort out this silliness.

We've come a long way since the straightjacket

Have you been watching the latest series of Hospital, the BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary? I confess I've found it totally gripping.

This week we saw the extraordinary case of Val, a 55-year-old patient who had her mouth and lower jaw destroyed by cancer, leaving her unable to eat, drink or talk. I heard her story and assumed it was hopeless.

But then we were introduced to maxillo-facial surgeon Mr Dilip Srinivasan, who  using pioneering technology  had worked out a way to re-grow Val's jaw. A complex frame was constructed around her face, attached to the underlying bones, and the ends of her remaining jaw were gently encouraged to grow.

It was utterly astonishing and made me think about the mind-boggling advances medicine has made.

Hospital (pictured) is the BBC's fly-on-the-wall documentary. I confess I've found it totally gripping, writes Dr Max Pemberton

Of course, operations like Val's are gripping because we can literally see the impact of modern medicine.

But there are also advances you can't see, but that are just as vital  as in mental health. Until the development of antipsychotics in the Fifties and Sixties, severe symptoms such as psychosis  triggered by a range of conditions from schizophrenia to Parkinson's disease  were untreatable. The best that we could offer was a padded room and a straitjacket.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), now the gold standard along with antidepressants for treating anxiety and depression, wasn't developed until the Sixties. And from autism to Alzheimer's, we understand more and more, and are developing new ways of helping.

There's still much we don't understand about the brain and mental illness  but it's worth reminding ourselves of the huge strides we have made.Advertisement

Food firms and supermarkets are using trendy superfoods to create cheat products that are not quite what they appear.

Foods such as coconuts, avocados, beetroots, blueberries and pomegranates carry a health halo, which brings with it a price premium.

Using their names and images on packs is guaranteed to boost sales.

However, a snapshot survey of big-selling products by the Daily Mail has revealed that often these superfood ingredients make up a tiny fraction of the contents.

For example, Innocent offers a Just for Kids smoothie with Strawberries, blackberries & raspberries in a pack with colourful images of the fruit.

In fact, the main ingredients are apple, orange juice and banana and each pouch contains just one crushed raspberry and three quarters of one crushed strawberry.

Alpro Coconut, which is promoted as an alternative to fresh milk, is mostly water and only 5.3 per cent coconut milk. A more accurate description might be coconut flavoured water.

Food firms and supermarkets are using trendy superfoods to create cheat products that are not quite what they appear. Foods such as coconuts, avocados, beetroots, blueberries and pomegranates carry a health halo, which brings with it a price premium

Last week, the consumer group Which? raised questions about the purity and authenticity of big-selling wholemeal bread brands.

It found that many also contained non-wholemeal ingredients such as soya flour, fortified wheat flour, fermented wheat flour and barley flour.

In fact, this is just one element of a much wider problem where products are not quite what they seem.

The best-selling baby food brand Ellas Kitchen, which is now stocked by Marks & Spencer, has tapped in to the demand for healthy products.

It offers a Blueberry & Pear Baby Brekkie. Yet, despite the prominent use of blueberry in the name and a purple pack design, 51 per cent of the product is pear. Just 16 per cent is blueberries.

Whitworths sells a Tropical Coconut Shot, yet despite the name it is 64 per cent apricot and sultanas.

Tesco sells a Vegan Peanut and Avocado burger, but it is just 6 per cent avocado. In fact, the main ingredients  after peanuts  are brown rice, soya beans, red pepper, spring onion, onion and carrot.

The Strong Roots brand sells a Beetroot & Bean Burger.

Arla Protein Blueberry Yogurt and Innocent brand Pomegranates, Blueberries& Acai Smoothie

Despite the name, only 8 per cent of each burger is beetroot and there is much more bulgur wheat, potato flakes, sunflower oil and water.

Lots of fruit drinks are bulked up with cheap apple juice, but this is not clear from the names or pack designs.

A Naked brand Blueberry Smoothie is only 5 per cent blueberry puree. The main ingredients are apple juice and banana puree.

Tescos Summer Fruits Juice Drink is a pleasing deep red colour, suggesting strawberries and raspberries.

However, the main ingredients are water, followed by cheap apple juice from concentrate and sugar.

Strawberry juice and raspberry juice, both from concentrate, make up only 2 per cent of the drink.

Other products that emphasised their superfood content were Ocean Spray Blueberry Juice Drink, Ellas Kitchen Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkins, Apple + Blueberries Puree, Meridian Coconut And Almond Butter, Happy Monkey Strawberry And Banana Smoothie, Arla Protein Blueberry Yogurt and Innocent brand Pomegranates, Blueberries& Acai Smoothie

EU food labelling regulations stipulate that if a product is named after a particular food, then the smallprint ingredients panel on the pack must state how much is present.

As a result, none of these firms is breaking the law.

Many argued that while the superfood ingredient might be a relatively small part of the contents, it provided the dominant flavour. Which? said that while the firms are not breaking labelling rules, there is a danger that shoppers are not getting clear information.

Alex Neill, its managing director for home products and services, said: Strictly speaking, the labelling on these products does follow legal guidelines, but shoppers may feel misled to discover how limited the quantities of certain ingredients are. Manufacturers should make it easier for shoppers to make informed choices by including the main ingredients clearly upfront on the product and not just in the small print on the back of the pack. She added that if people see food labelling they believe is misleading, they should contact trading standards officers.A diagnosis of cancer is a shattering blow.

The comfort of everyday life is snatched away, replaced with endless rounds of hospital appointments, sickness and hair loss.

Or is it? According to three pioneering women, all diagnosed with cancer before the age of 40, life with it need not be bleak.

As with so many other women, cancer came for Rachael, Deborah and Lauren alongside career breakthroughs, dating and girls nights out.

Inspiring: Rachael Bland, left, Lauren Mahon, middle, and Deborah James

Now, thousands of listeners tune in to BBC Radio Five Live to hear their weekly discussions of the highs and lows of living with cancer.

Frank conversations about toilet-related traumas, intimate medical exams and sex when youre ill has propelled the You, Me & The Big C podcast to the top of the iTunes chart.

And with nearly 50 per cent of those with cancer surviving at least ten years and still juggling relationships, babies and careers, the show is perfectly timed.

'I was a fit young mum'

Deborah James, 36, is a former deputy head teacher from London. In December 2016, the mother- of-two was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer. She is known to her social media followers as @bowelbabe

Deborah James, 36, is a former deputy head teacher from London. In December 2016, the mother- of-two was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer. She is known to her social media followers as @bowelbabe

Read my latest blog post, then we can talk about something normal is how I respond sometimes when people ask me how I am. Its tiring having to answer the same question a thousand times.

One in two of us get cancer so its crazy we still havent worked out how to normalise it.

I had classic symptoms six months before diagnosis  I lost half a stone, I was exhausted, I was going to the toilet eight times a day and there was often blood.

But I was a fit young mum and doctors assumed it was bad IBS. When I finally got a referral, a colonoscopy showed a 6.5cm tumour in my bowel.

I thought I was going to die. But one bowel resection, four lung operations (cancer spread to my lungs) and 21 cycles of chemotherapy later, here I still am, achieving things I wouldnt have dreamt of, such as writing a book and posing for photoshoots.

Sure, some days I cant lift my head off the pillow, but recording the podcast is a perfect distraction.

We chat about things you dont read in leaflets  such as fertility, what we look like and what a proper poo looks like  and have a bit of a laugh.

I feel going public is good for my children (Hugo, ten, and Eloise, eight) too. I take comfort from knowing that if things dont turn out well, they will always know who I am and how I feel about them.

Lauren Mahon, 32, a social media consultant, lives in London and was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2016, aged 31.

'It was like gossiping over cocktails'

Lauren Mahon, 32, a social media consultant, lives in London and was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2016, aged 31. She is known to her social media followers as @girlvscancer

Lauren Mahon, 32, a social media consultant, lives in London and was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2016, aged 31

Doctors discovered my aggressive tumour two months after Id partied for three days at Glastonbury. I burst out crying, telling my consultant I didnt want to die. But youre not going to, she said.

She was right  my tumour was localised so treatment was eight rounds of chemotherapy, followed by a lumpectomy, 21 doses of radiation, then hormonal treatment.

My chemo brain struck after the third cycle of treatment so I had to give up work. I then started to post on Instagram using #GIRLvs CANCER to connect with like-minded women.

With Deborah and Rachael it was like gossiping over cocktails, while others gave me pity faces.

I could talk about the odd experience of telling a guy you have cancer on a first date. Most were fine with it, and it gave me a much-needed boost to have a drink with someone I fancied.

Now Im lucky to have the all-clear. Next month, I start a new job and am launching my own T-shirt brand with 25 per cent of profits going to cancer charities.

'I've found so many inspiring and strong women'

Rachael Bland, 40, is a BBC radio presenter, diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in November 2016

Rachael Bland, 40, is a BBC radio presenter, diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in November 2016.

She lives in Cheshire with husband Steve and two-year-old son Freddie, and writes bigclittleme.co.uk.

When I was diagnosed Id stare at my long blonde hair and think: I cant believe in a few months Ill look sick and bald.

But I never lost my hair  cold caps are a godsend. Treatment wasnt how I imagined: they put a cannula in your arm, you chat with nurses, play Monopoly, go home.

My side effects werent much worse than a bad hangover so I could go on working. Another tumour was found in the same breast last July and I had a mastectomy.

I needed more chemo and 15 rounds of radiotherapy. Afterwards, a scan showed the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes on my opposite side.

I had those taken out in February this year. I looked to social media for others going through a similar experience and found thousands of strong, inspiring women.

This sparked the idea of a podcast to normalise the disease. Despite being Twitter friends, Deborah, Lauren and I first met at the podcast recording but it was as if wed known each other for years.

Since then Ive received hundreds of emails saying: Ive laughed and cried, not because Im sad but because you are speaking exactly of my experience.The Island With Bear Grylls

Monday, Channel 4

Rating:

Made In Yorkshire

Tuesday, Channel 5

Rating:

Civilisations

Thursday, BBC2

Rating:

The Island With Bear Grylls has returned. This time the two teams charged with surviving on a Pacific island are the rich team (they each earn more than 100,000 a year) and the poor team (less than 27,000) and while I know rich people and poor people, and have known rich people and poor people all my life, how come I do not know, and have never known, any people like these people? Perhaps they are made in a factory somewhere. Perhaps they are even made in the same factory that manufactures contestants for The Apprentice.

Perhaps, once they come off the conveyor belt and are submitted to quality control, they must be checked for a complete lack of self-awareness and a complete willingness to play into the programme-makers hands before being packaged and delivered to the relevant TV channel. One day, this could be a subject for Gregg Wallaces Inside The Factory or John Prescotts Made In Yorkshire, which is, we now know, essentially Inside The Factory That Happens To Be In Yorkshire. (More on this later, excitingly.) The two teams did not get off to the best start, which is perfect, of course. These are not my sort of people, said Shereen, from the rich team, on first encountering the poor team. When I saw them coming down the beach it was like a northern dole bus had broken down, said Barnes, the art dealer.

The Island With Bear Grylls has returned. This time the two teams charged with surviving on a Pacific island

The two groups separated to opposite ends of the beach. Phil, from the poor team  Im an alpha male, me; we are going to smash it!  was heading for a fall and was quickly deposed, while Shirking Samantha sunbathed and swam and did not do jobs. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

However, I liked Erance (poor team) because he killed a snake and then quit the show. A lifelong vegetarian, his conscience couldnt take it so you had to think: hello, heres someone who wont do stuff just to be on telly. And how my heart went out to James (rich team), the self-described oddball who was bullied. He was thrilled to find a bottle of Lilt on the beach, yet when he laid it at his groups feet they were mean and derisive. They couldnt be kind? I wanted to charter a helicopter and bring James home and say Lilt! and slap him on the back constantly. There were, admittedly, some signs of civility by the end, but as that would prove a disaster, they will inevitably all go back to being total cretins. I think the factory has to guarantee that.

On to Made In Yorkshire, where John Prescott explores Yorkshires factories making some of the regions best-loved foods. He visited a sausage factory (Northallerton) and a chocolate factory (Skipton), although whether sausages and chocolates are better loved in Yorkshire than in Cornwall, for instance, I cannot say. All political lives, Enoch Powell once famously remarked, end in failure, and while he did not add or poking minced pork while wearing a hair net it was likely just an oversight.

The former Deputy PMs interviewing skills were sorely tested. He met the chocolate factorys taster and asked, When you go home are you sick, or what? He offered a voiceover providing information like, It was in the 1970s that the after-dinner mint went mainstream with the rise of the self-service supermarket. Why? Had everyone previously been embarrassed to ask for them over the counter? Were they the Anusol of their day? God bless him. He did try to ramp up the tension, as in Later, Alison will help me pack the chocolates into the selection boxes. And his political reflexes are still intact. When the boss of the chocolate factory said their manufacturing process combined the old and new, he cried, For the many and not the few! It made no sense whatsoever, but it did rhyme. Gregg Wallace can sleep nights, I think.

I thought Id revisit Civilisations which, this week, had Simon Schama considering radiance in art, but if there was a thesis I didnt get it. It was exclusively about painting, but surely all paintings involve colour and light or there would be nothing to see? It was a catch-all brief, and the artists were the usual suspects: Bellini, Titian, Goya, a quick trip to Japan (Hokusai, Kunisada), then back for Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse and hang on, whoa 400 years of art history and you couldnt include a single woman artist? Admittedly, you have to look a bit harder given the misogyny of the art world, but what about Clara Peeters, the 17th-century painter whose still-lifes are extraordinary and who was the most famous Flemish woman of her day? Maybe the paintings had to be in service to God, but then how do you justify including the impressionists? And there were women impressionists too (Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt). Oh, just edit us all out, Simon, why dont you? In fact, pardon me for breathing sorry.Korean Cowgirl

13 Palace Street,

Canterbury CT1 2DZ

Rating:

Despite sounding like one of Park Chan-wooks more whimsical works, Korean Cowgirl is actually a smokehouse with a difference, sitting in the shadow of Canterbury Cathedral. According to the website blurb, the restaurant was started by a couple of very well-travelled friends, who had a passion to serve up truly great world cuisine. Dont we all. But there being a lot to choose from and all that, they decided to narrow it down to Korean fried chicken and Texas barbecue. Two things I love very much, provided, of course, theyre done properly.

The room certainly embraces this cross-cultural melee, with a cheerful, cliched charm

Both Korea and Texas have fine barbecue traditions, although the former involves direct heat (usually DIY, at the table), and the latter low, slow and indirect cooking. Still, as culinary bedfellows go, theyre not entirely incongruous. And the room certainly embraces this cross-cultural melee, with a cheerful, cliched charm. A star-spangled banner adorns the bare-brick wall, chairs are backed with ponyskin, while stools are topped with western saddles and country and western twangs from the stereo.

Koreas contribution is rather more meagre, confined to pouting, androgynous teenagers gazing moodily from TV screens, mouthing rubbish K-pop. In the mens loos, there are a couple of Athena-style posters featuring scantily clad ladies. Rather more ass than Seoul.

In the wrong hands, the whole place could be as cloying as supermarket barbecue sauce, with all the subtlety of liquid smoke. Especially as the menu bangs on, like a pervy, drunken uncle, about The Cowgirls Baps (phwoarr, fnarr fnarr etc). Vegetarian dishes  miso aubergine, superfood salads  are lumped under The Angelic Cowgirl, while puddings suffer under Sweet Dreams. Urgh. But this is no cynical chain, rather a small, independent restaurant with genuine soul. It takes balls to open a barbecue place in a city where archbishops rather than applewood rule supreme. Especially if youre going to try to take it seriously, with meat smoked fresh every night.

The place is fairly empty on this particular Friday lunch, but our lovely waitress makes up for any unfilled seats. Dinners are a different matter, she tells us, and theres already a waiting list for tonights service.

Joe has just got back from a Texas barbecue pilgrimage (he describes himself as half man, half brisket), which does rather up the ante. Canterburys a long way from Lockhart, and it would be unfair to judge Korean Cowgirl alongside the very best of the Lone Star State. Still, bad brisket is bad brisket, be it in Kent or Corpus Cristi.

We start with good pickles, sweet and sharp. And some half-decent pulled pork (yeah, yeah, I know were venturing away from Texas and into North Carolina, but youd hardly expect strict regional authenticity in a place that promises smokehouse fusion), a dish now so thoroughly debased that I usually cross streets to avoid it. Theres a whiff of real smoke and a luscious, fatty softness, although theres little need for the lazy splodge of commercial barbecue sauce. An eastern-style vinegar and pepper sauce would do just fine.

The Cowgirl platter. It takes balls to open a barbecue place in a city where archbishops rather than applewood rule supreme

A heirloom tomato salad (will someone please take heirloom anything out the back, offer them one last fag before shooting them in the back of the head?) is dull and flaccid. But beans with burnt ends  sharp tomato tang meets low growl of wood smoke  are as Texan as a cowboys swagger. Ribs are decent too. I once spent a day in Lynchburg, Tennessee, training to become a certified judge of the Kansas City Barbeque Society (the one true authority, despite what those rogues at WCBCC may claim). So I could take my seat at the Jack Daniels Invitational, arguably the most prestigious competition of them all. After standing up, placing my hand over my heart and swearing allegiance to truth, justice, excellence in barbecue and the American way of life, I learned that perfectly cooked ribs should have meat that neither flops off in one piece (overcooked) or gleans to the bone too tightly (underdone). The flesh should peel away with a small tug of the teeth. And these ribs are well cooked, but need a bit more smoke. Not raging bonfires, rather evidence of time well spent in the pit. Still, theyre way superior to the usual ersatz rubbish, and beat Bodeans with ease.

Brisket is way above average too. Not SmokeStak brilliant, but then nothing in the UK ever is. We go for the fattier cut, the point, and its smoked by someone who knows their cue. Again, they need more smoke (and a little less salt), but theres the beginning of that all-important pink-hued smoke ring. Joe reckons it could do with an hour or two more. But not bad, he says. Really, not bad at all. With a few very minor fiddles it could be very good indeed.

The Korean fried chicken, though, is merely average, bearing little resemblance to the stuff Ive eaten in Seoul. Or London, New York or Los Angeles. The wings are crisp enough, but lack punch and crunch. Ours are supposed to be spicy, but possess all the kick of a limbless mule.

Despite this, we couldnt help falling for Korean Cowgirl. She wears her passion on her gingham sleeve, and that cheery enthusiasm is infectious. If I owned the place, Id drop Korean and concentrate on Cowgirl. To create bona fide Canterbury barbecue. A taste of Texas in the heart of Kent. Now that really would be something to relish.

About 25 per head

What Tom ate last week

Monday

Goulash soup for lunch at Hotel Valluga in Zurs, Austria. Then schnitzel and chips for dinner at the wonderful Hotel Erzberg, Zurs, where were staying.

Tuesday

Glorious cheese fondue at Hus Nr8 in Zurs. I love Austrian mountain food.

Wednesday

Frankfurters and horseradish at Hotel Flexen, Zurs.

Thursday

Sublime ham and egg with rosti at Hirlanda Hotel in Zurs.Oleg Deripaskas strictly invitation-only party at the World Economic Conference in Davos this year was truly a sight to behold.

In an expansive hilltop schloss nestled in the sleepy Alpine resort, waiters arms craned with boats of Beluga caviar and magnums of Dom Perignon.

Guests, such as advertising boss Sir Martin Sorrell, whooped as a troupe of Cossack dancers warbled traditional folk music. Later, as the champagne gave way to trays of ice-cold Russian vodka, metro-sexual crooner Enrique Iglesias serenaded nubile models with a string of Latino ditties.

Oleg Deripaska: In 2008, Forbes estimated his wealth at 25bn

Such lavish hospitality was strangely at odds with the evenings Gatsby-esque host. Deripaska, Russias so-called Aluminium King, is hardly one of lifes extroverts.

Unsmiling, monosyllabic, with deep set eyes, those whove met him say he seems happier playing with his labradors than he does conversing with humans.

He doesnt touch alcohol. He barely eats either, and prefers to answer journalists questions over thoughtful sips of black tea.

Despite homes in London, Tokyo and Montenegro, he spends most of his time in Russias unglamorous North Caucasus.

Watching him take to the dance floor in Davos that night was as though he were role-playing the plutocrat, like a real-life Bruce Wayne, hiding a far more complex personality. But winning friends and influencing people has been a notable signature to his career.

This week, many of his so-called friends deserted him after the US government targeted him with sanctions, accusing Deripaska of malign activities around the world. Shares in his businesses Rusal and EN+, controlled by his holding company Basic Element, plummeted.

It is the latest twist in an undulating career which began on a farm near Krasnodar. Like many growing up under Soviet rule, Deripaskas early life was not a happy one.

Shares in Deripaska's companies have plummeted.

His widowed mother was largely absent trying to find work, leaving grandparents to raise young Oleg. Leaving school in 1986, he was drafted into the Russian army. Demobilised, he studied physics at university before founding a small metals trading operation. By then the Soviet Union was collapsing. Deripaska developed handy ties to Boris Yeltsins inner circle. He is married to the former presidents step-granddaughter, Polina, with whom he has two children.

By the time he was in his mid-20s, the aluminium wars were raging. This was a murky period during Russias emergence from the old Soviet era, where company takeovers were riven with violence. Executives and bankers had a strange habit of vanishing.

There is no suggestion, of course, Deripaska was involved in any skirmishes. And after emerging from this sour period unscathed, relations with new president Vladimir Putin flourished. So did Deripaskas fortune.

By 2008, Forbes estimated his wealth at 25billion, putting him ninth on their world rich list. But it was a summer sojourn in Corfu around then which brought him global prominence.

Deripaskas yacht Queen K played host to an infamous dinner with (then) EU trade minister Lord Mandelson, shadow chancellor George Osborne and Deripaskas business associate Nat Rothschild.

Osborne crassly leaked to the press some unflattering comments Mandelson had confided to him about Gordon Brown. Irked at his old school friends indiscretion, Rothschild responded by suggesting Osborne tried to solicit a donation from his host. The political fallout rumbled on for weeks. No one emerged with any credit.

Deripaskas fortunes shrivelled as soon as the financial crisis hit. So did his relationship with Putin. In 2009, the president humiliatingly made him sign a document live on television which safeguarded the future of a factory in Pikalyovo.

He and Putin are nowadays back on good terms, which is just as well. While Deripaska attempts to build bridges with the West, he will, in the meantime, also need the support of his own government if he is to save his crumbling empire.

Life remains a careful balancing act for the Aluminium King. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.Mentioning Vietnam  Laos solidarity cultivated by both sides leaders, Man affirmed the Vietnamese Government, Party, National Assembly, Front and people always give priority to cementing the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation with Laos.

President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Tran Thanh Man (R) and President of the Lao Front for National Construction Central Committee Xaysomphone Phomvihane (Photo: VNA)



The front leader suggested both sides work together to build plans to realise their memorandum of understanding on cooperation and the joint communique on outcomes of an international conference on building a Vietnam  Laos borderline of peace, friendship and comprehensive cooperation for 2017  2020.

He asked the Lao Front for National Construction to push for facilitating the searching and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who laid down their lives in Laos during wartime and to propose the Lao Party and Government create favourable conditions for Vietnamese expatriates in the country.

Expressing his delight at fruitful growth of the Vietnam  Laos relations, Xaysomphone Phomvihane stressed activities marking the two countries 55 years of diplomatic ties and 40 years of signing of their Treaty on Amity and Cooperation in 2017 contributed to educating their people, particularly youths, on the special relationship.

He said the two fronts cooperation has achieved effective outcomes via joint programmes, and delegation and experience exchanges.

The Lao official highlighted his belief that the visit to Vietnam will help his front understand more about the VFFs ideology and history, thus contributing to further enhancing the Vietnam  Laos traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation./.Disappointing sales wiped nearly 596million off the value of Britains biggest software company.

In an underwhelming trading update, Sage blamed inconsistent operational execution as it lowered its full-year forecasts. It reported revenue growth of 6.3 per cent in the six months to March 31, compared with 7.4 per cent in the same period last year.

Software subscriptions grew 25.3 per cent cover the period, down from 30.6 per cent in the same period of 2017.

Stephen Kelly, Sages chief executive admitted that growth was lower than expected

The announcement caused Sages shares to suffer its second worst one-day fall since 1999. They fell 8.1 per cent, or 55p, to 617p.

It follows a change in investor sentiment towards technology stocks that has wiped tens of billions off their value in the past month.

As a result of its disappointing update, Newcastle-based Sage has revised down its full-year revenue guidance from 8 per cent to 7 per cent.

Stephen Kelly, Sages chief executive, said: Growth was lower than our expectations as the pace of execution has been lower than we planned. Analysts at investment bank Investec called the update worrying but added that it was not a disaster.

Russ Mould, of broker AJ Bell, said it is likely Sage will fail to make up the shortfall needed to meet its new forecasts, raising concerns it will issue another warning in the near future.

The company is blaming the weaker than anticipated growth in recurring revenue and software subscriptions on operational issues, he added.

While in theory this means the company remains in control of its own destiny, there is minimal detail on how these problems will be fixed.

Investors will be hoping for greater clarity when the company posts its first-half results in May.

The FTSE 100 posted its second consecutive wafer-thin gain yesterday, ending the day up 0.09 per cent, or 6.22 points, at 7264.56. The FTSE 250 rose 0.33 per cent, or 65.61 points, to 19838.54.

Micro Focus shares were up for a second day after it emerged that vulture US hedge fund Elliott had taken a stake in the tech giant. Micro Focus shares were up 7.6pc on Thursday and ended the day on Friday up a further 3.2 per cent, or 40.5p, at 1299p.

Shares in Telecom Plus, which supplies gas, electricity, phone and broadband services, nosedived after broker Peel Hunt said short-term trading looked somewhat dull.

The broker reduced the firms 2019 profit forecast by 2million to 57million. Its shares plunged 10.9 per cent, or 134p, to 1096p, pushing it to the bottom of the FTSE 250.

Analysts at broker RBC Capital Market downgraded Talk Talk, the phone and broadband provider, over fears it will be unable to compete with a resurgent BT looking to reboot its consumer strategy. Slashing Talk Talks rating from outperform to perform and its target price from 140p to 125p, RBC added: We think Talk Talk is relatively defenceless against any aggressive BT bundling [of packages], which could lead to heavy subscriber losses. Talk Talks shares slid 2.2per cent, or 2.7p, to 121.4p.

Lionsgold has made a bid to take control of TRAC Technology

On AIM, shares in Lionsgold, a gold exploration and production firm, shone as it bid 1.35million to take control of TRAC Technology, the firm helping it to develop a digital currency called Goldbloc, which is backed by the precious metal. Lionsgold shares rocketed 34.8 per cent, or 0.8p, to 3.1p.

A dividend hike boosted share in power supply firm XP Power.

The firm reported a 9 per cent increase in orders in the three months ending March 31, as well as a 18 per cent rise in revenue. It declared a 16p per share dividend for the quarter, a 7 per cent increase on the year before.

Shares hopped 5.1 per cent, or 180p yesterday, to 3700p.High flying airport Heathrow recorded its busiest ever departures day last month.

More than 136,000 passengers boarded flights from the West London hub on Good Friday as holidaymakers took advantage of the Easter weekend and half term.

A total of 6.5million passengers travelled through Heathrow in March, up 5.5 per cent year-on-year.

6.5million passengers travelled through Heathrow in March

Long-haul destinations were some of the best performers, with double-digit growth recorded in African (12 per cent) and Middle Eastern markets (11 per cent).

Thrifty luxury

Luxury store Harrods has opened a temporary charity shop in London, stocking Paul Smith, Louis Vuitton and Gucci.

Harrods said the pop-up shop, which is being run with the NSPCC, could be made permanent if successful.

Webb role

Industrials materials maker Low & Bonar has appointed Simon Webb, 54, as chief finance officer. He previously held the role at food casing firm Devro and banknote maker De La Rue.

Low & Bonars chairman Martin Flower said: Simon has strong financial, commercial and operational experience.

Crash land

Neil Morris, the 42-year-old chief finance officer of charter firm Air Partner, has stepped down after it found a black hole of up to 4million in its accounts.

Still gushing

Energy explorer JKX Oil & Gas said group production for the first quarter of 2018 was 8,749 barrels of oil per day, 0.6 per cent higher than in the final quarter of 2017. It said production in Russia remained stable.

Bake off

Bakery and ingredients company Real Good Food is selling its Garrett Ingredients business to Kent Foods for 1.8 million to help reduce debt.

rating set Breakdown cover service the AA has had its credit rating of BBB- reaffirmed by S&P Global Ratings.David Schwimmer the new LSE boss could earn up to 4.5m in 2018

The London Stock Exchange has picked a Goldman Sachs banker to be its chief executive after a bitter boardroom battle saw the previous boss booted out.

American David Schwimmer will take over in August after 20 years at the Wall Street bank, where he most recently headed its metals and mining division.

The 49-year-old could earn up to 4.5m this year, including a one-off payment of 1m to compensate him for money he would have got at Goldman. He will also be given relocation support to help him move from New York to London.

Schwimmer, a married father of two, arrives at the LSE after one of the most turbulent periods in its near-450 year history. Frenchman Xavier Rolet, 58, was ousted in November after a public spat with chairman Donald Brydon. His departure  which followed an intervention from Bank of England governor Mark Carney  was opposed by some investors, including hedge fund boss Sir Chris Hohn.

The row cast doubt over the future of Brydon, who was blamed for masterminding the coup and has said he will stand down next year.

Schwimmer now faces the challenge of rebuilding bridges with the City as the hunt for a chairman gets under way. Were pleased to see clear leadership being put in place, a top-20 investor in the LSE said.

Schwimmer served as chief of staff to Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein when he was president and chief operating officer.

He will be paid an annual salary of 775,000 and qualifies for bonuses worth many times this amount. He will be paid 1.05m next March as compensation for his bonus from Goldman and is in line for more.Lillian Armfield was a pearl-wearing, straight-talking former nurse who as Australia's first female detective took on some of the country's most dangerous gangsters armed only with a handbag.

'Special Constable' Armfield, who joined the New South Wales police in 1915, went up against Sydney's razor gangs of the 1920s and 1930s without a baton, handcuffs or gun.

Initially disapproved of by her male colleagues and often working solo and undercover, Armfield investigated every major crime of the day from opium trafficking to rape and murder.

Along the way she fought the era's leading criminals - many of whom were also women - including Kate Leigh, Tilly Devine and 'Botany' May Smith.

In this studio portrait of Lillian Armfield taken in 1930 she wears her trademark string of pearls. Armfield was Australia's first female detective and spent years working solo undercover

Fearless female detective Lillian Armfield at the wheel of her car in an undated photograph. Armfield would spend almost 35 years policing the violent streets of Sydney's inner-city

The Women's Police worked out of the Criminal Investigation Branch in Sydney. Lillian Armfield is pictured here seated at the rear while her colleagues type and take down handwritten notes

Bitter lifelong rivals sly grog dealer Kate Leigh (left) and brothel madam Tilly Devine (right) made up in later years when the two crime queens were nearing the end of their careers

Armfield's police work also pitted her against vicious thugs such as Frank Green and Guido Calletti. She was portrayed by actor Lucy Wigmore in the television series Underbelly: Razor.

The razor gangs of the era were named for their habit of carrying straight cut-throat razors which were often used to slash up rivals' faces. This was Armfield's world.

Her story is told in the new book Lillian Armfield by academic, historian and writer Leigh Straw, who previously wrote The Worst Woman in Sydney, a biography of Kate Leigh.

'Lillian Armfield's life and achievements were extraordinary,' the publisher says.

'She paved the way for the women of today's police force and her amazing story is also a compelling chapter in Australian true crime history.'

Such was the novelty of a female detective for much of last century there was public fascination - although little publicity in the early years - with everything Armfield did.

A 1938 profile piece in Sydney's The Sun which features in the book was headlined 'Now we know what policewomen do' with the sub-heading 'Sgt Lillian Armfield discusses the work.'

Lucy Wigmore (left) played policewoman Lillian Armfield alongside Anna McGahan (right) who portrayed prostitute Nellie Cameron in the Channel 9 television series Underbelly: Razor

A portrait of the Armfield family taken about 1910 when Lillian was visiting from Sydney. She is seated in the middle with her parents either side and her four siblings standing at the rear

Kate Leigh (left) and Tilly Devine feign friendship for the camera. The women were in fact sworn enemies for much of their lives and a target of female detective Lillian Armfield

'The women police... ' that article begins. 'One thinks of Amazons. A few minutes with Sergeant Lillian Armfield, their chief, explodes that myth.

'Behind those penetrating brown eyes, beyond that kindly smile, you find the realist. A woman of great prudence, student of human nature - "And all day to study it," she says - here is an equable blend of driving force and quiet tolerance.'

Armfield was working at Callan Park Asylum in Sydney's inner-west - an 'excellent place to study human nature!' she said - when she applied for one of two positions advertised for female NSW police.

'We had a year's intensive training, but from the beginning we were put onto the work, and two detectives went round with us,' she told The Sun. 'There were only the two of us then. Now there are eight, and preference is always given to the widows of policemen.

'The women police were primarily established to search women under arrest and for interrogating women and children in cases where they would feel more at ease if a policeman were not present.'

These three terraces at 73-77 Foveaux Street in inner-city Surry Hills near Sydney's Central train station are typical of the area Lillian Armfield patrolled in the 1920s and 1930s

73-77 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills, as it is today. The terraces might be gone but the doorway to the far right of the image is recognisable from the previous picture taken early last century

Beautiful actresses played the roles of Tilly Devine (in maroon hat ) and Kate Leigh (in black hat) in Underbelly: Razor, while the reality of the razor gang queens was rather different

The Sun noted the scope of Armfield's work gave her a 'roving commission'.

'We are free to go anywhere and make what investigations we think wise,' she told the newspaper. 'We are likely to be called out at any hour of the night. Normally we work eight hours a day, with one day off each week and twenty-eight days holiday in the year. We cover the city and the country. If a policewoman is wanted for a female investigation in the country, one goes from the central staff in Sydney.'

Asked if she was ever afraid, Armfield said: 'Never. I never have any trouble.'

The reporter then suggested 'a revolver is an aid to courage'.

'We carry no weapons,' Armfield replied. 'A warrant card explains who we are. Handcuffs! Oh, no, we never handcuff a woman.

'Personally, I try hard never to send a woman to gaol. Kindness and tact do so much. We don't put women in the cells. We bring them here to headquarters.

'If they are young and first offenders, I send for their people or their friends and they talk it over in a quiet room, and usually we find a better way out than gaol.'

Crime queen Kate Leigh offered young girls recently arrived in Sydney work and a place to stay. Lillian Armfield's job was to intercept those girls before they fell into prostitution

Sydney gangster Guido Calletti was a dangerous Italian-Australian street thug who spent some of his youth in reformatories in Gosford and Lillian Armfield's hometown Mittagong

When 'Botany May' Smith (pictured) was taken off the streets in the late 1920s fellow trafficker Kate Leigh quickly stepped into her cocaine-dealing shoes and was soon making a fortune

Nellie Cameron was the lover of several leading gangsters and according to policewoman Lillian Armfield became a prostitute 'for no other reason than she wanted to be one'

There were no apprehended violence orders when Lillian Armfield patrolled the streets.

'In domestic quarrels the police do not make arrests,' she told The Sun. 'But if you can encourage troubled people to meet and advise them, things aren't half so bad as they seem at first.'

Armfield's first day at Central police station in July 1915, along with fellow special constable Maude Rhodes, must have been daunting, author Straw notes.

'There were no precedents, no one already paving the way,' she writes. 'Australia's first policewomen were also the first appointed in the Commonwealth.'

The NSW police Inspector-General James Mitchell was clear about the intentions behind the appointments of special constables Armfield and Rhodes.

Writes Straw: 'Female officers were the frontline of preventative measures to reduce the numbers of young women decoyed into prostitution, charged with public drunkenness, or assaulted late at night in parks. Their main beat was the poor neighbourhoods of eastern Sydney around Woolloomooloo, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills and Paddington.'

Although she never drank alcohol or took drugs, Kate Leigh (pictured) happily dealt in both, acted as a standover merchant, sold stolen property and occasionally shoplifted goods

Sydney vice queen Kate Leigh married her second husband, musician Edward Joseph 'Teddy' Barry, in 1922. She reverted to her previous married name Leigh after her split with Barry

Kate Leigh, pictured on the balcony of her house at her 2 Lansdowne Street, Surry Hills, with her second husband Teddy Barry dressed as Santa Claus for one of their Christmas parties

'One of the benefits of putting women on the streets in police work was that they could go undercover in the brothels and darkened alleyways where streetwalkers worked, and hopefully get the girls to inform on their brothel bosses. This was something males officers could not do. Young girls and women on the streets were less inclined to talk to male officers and felt they could relate better to other women.'

Both Armfield and Rhodes - who was discharged from the force in 1920 - had to sign an indemnity agreeing the police department was not responsible for their safety and welfare.

Neither was supplied with a uniform. They paid for their own civilian clothes. They would not be allowed to marry and no compensation was provided for injuries sustained on the job.

The public may have been told the work of the Women's Police was low risk, but it was in fact extremely dangerous.

While Armfield was unarmed and had no powers of arrest - having to wait for male colleagues to take a suspect into custody - the reality was different on the streets.

Many times Armfield would attempt to detain an offender, despite the criminals knowing she could not arrest them. According to colleague Peg Fisher, Armfield 'swore like a trooper'. Straw writes Armfield could 'hold her own in any of the criminal haunts about eastern Sydney'.

Matilda Devine, better known as Tilly, was born in London in 1900 and listed her occupation on this prison record document as domestic duties. She was in fact a prostitute and madam

Lillian Armfield tried to be the first person to greet young female arrivals in Sydney as they steopped of trains or ferries to prevent them falling into the clutches of crooks like Kate Leigh

Lillian Armfield by Leigh Straw is published by Hachette Australia, RRP $32.99, eBook $14.99

Among the worst criminals in Sydney at that time were the vice queens Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh. Another was 'Botany' May Smith. When Armfield attempted to arrest Smith at Surry Hills for supplying cocaine in 1928 the dealer came at her with a hot flat-iron.

Much of Armfield's early work involved keeping country girls out of harm's way.

'Lillian did her best to get to the girls before crooks like Kate Leigh,' writes Straw. 'Her general method of greeting new arrivals in the city followed a few key steps. She tried to be the first person to greet young women off the trains, or ferries depending on where they were coming from. If they didn't want assistance from the police, and their families hadn't listed them as missing, Lillian told them the safest places to stay, usually where she had the ear of the landlord. Lillian would then make regular visits to the landlord to check on the new arrivals. Any runaways she missed would be tracked through her methodical search of hotels and boarding houses near the station and through the city.'

In later years Armfield expected a lot of new female colleagues. 'Lillian had investigated pimps, prostitutes, drug traffickers and sex offenders,' Straw writes. 'She'd faced down the most notorious eastern Sydney gangsters and underworld leaders and had had to cope with seeing some of the worst of what life could offer on the streets. She couldn't work with other women who cold not handle the realities of the job.'

Sydney gunman Frank Green was described as a 'labourer' in this prison record but was no such thing. Among his 'marks or special features' were bullet wounds to his back and abdomen

Tilly Twiss married James Devine aged just 16, having met the Australian soldier while she was soliciting on the streets of London during World War I; the pair worked together in crime

One of the women Armfield regularly encountered, and seemed to respect to some degree, was prostitute Nellie Cameron. The feeling was mutual.

Cameron had, according to Armfield, 'a charm that was all her own... and a natural dignity that she never lost in the hectic circumstances.'

'Not all runaways wanted the protection of Women's Police and some were certainly very capable of creating a new life in the city, albeit through crime,' Straw writes. 'They were flappers but they were also finding new ways of being and opportunities within Sydney's underworlds. Nellie Cameron was one such woman and would grab Lillian's attention during the Razor Wars of the late 1920s. Nellie defied any attempts on the part of Women's Police to reform her: she embraced a modern identity that had allowed her to run away from home and find work and a new place for herself in the city. She would become one of the most powerful runaways in eastern Sydney, making a name for herself in the criminal underworlds of prostitution and drugs, and she would come to know Lillian Armfield well.'

Cameron had relationships with gangsters Norman Buhn, Frank Green and Guido Calletti, all of whom met violent deaths. She committed suicide in 1953 aged just 41.

'To me she was invariably polite and she accorded me with respect that always puzzled me, because she certainly didn't extend it to another policewoman,' Armfield said of Leigh (above)

Nellie Cameron was a prostitute from Waterloo who impressed Lillian Armfield with her 'beauty, tough character and devil-may-care attitude' according to author Leigh Straw

The Sydney that Lillian Armfield policed, well before the Sydney Opera House was built, was a hotbed of crime, with the streets of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst awash with booze and cocaine

Kate Leigh, according to Straw, also respected Armfield, recognising that like herself the policewoman was operating in what was a male-dominated world.

The author quotes Armfield on Leigh: 'To me she was invariably polite and she accorded me with respect that always puzzled me, because she certainly didn't extend it to another policewoman, nor to any of my male colleagues.'

Straw writes: 'One story, recalled by Lillian's colleague and friend, Peg Fisher, illustrates the respect and familiarity Kate Leigh extended to Lillian as Chief of the Women's Police. Kate stormed into Central Police Station one day in the middle of the 1940s and gave Constable Fisher a mouthful after she'd charged Kate with sly-grog possession. Lillian heard Kate out but took her aside to remind her the constable was only doing her job. Kate replied, "Oh, I know that, Lil, but I can't be seen being nice to her." Lillian Armfield was "Lil" to one of Sydney's most notorious crime bosses. It was respect earned by Lillian's professionalism and genuine commitment to the local community.'

Armfield's opinion of the violent Devine, who loathed all police - and policewomen in particular - seemed more clear-cut. She spent a great deal of time investigating Devine's businesses, regularly raiding her brothels.

'She was more than a handful, even for my male colleagues,' Straw quotes Armfield as saying. 'She even attacked a huge Fijian sailor on one occasion. She was frightened of nobody.'

Sydney policewoman Lillian Armfield said of notorious brothel madam Tilly Devine (pictured): 'She was more than a handful, even for my male colleagues... She was frightened of nobody.'

Australia's first female detective Lillian Armfield (right) is pictured with her sisters Muriel (left) and Ruby (middle) after Lillian's retirement from the NSW police force in 1949

Lucy Wigmore (left) played policewoman Lillian Armfield in the Channel 9 television series Underbelly: Razor; in reality Armfield 'swore like a trooper' and could handle herself

In The Sun story of 1938 Armfield was asked how she handled arresting what the reporter described as 'hysterical women'.

'Authority with kindness,' she said. 'They always come without any fuss. You talk quietly and they come. They know it will be better in the long run. I have no difficulty in convincing them of that.'

Women, the policewoman believed, were more 'philosophical' about being arrested and the aftermath of their crimes than men.

Armfield spoke of how much of her job had been protecting girls from vice.

'Policewomen meet trains coming in from the country, and also ships whenever there is time and other duties permit,' she said. 'In this way we are able to avert many undesirable things happening to girls and young women.

'They usually have very little or no money. We bring them to my rooms here at headquarters, and send for their people and let them have it out.

Kate Leigh gave birth to a daughter when she was only 13. That daughter, Eileen, is believed to be the woman in the white hat pictured in a group shot of criminals at Central police station

Lillian Armfield's former colleagues treated her to an annual birthday cruise on Sydney Harbour for many years after her retirement. Armfield is pictured here seated in the white hat

'If it comes to the worst I arrange for them to be taken into the Girls' Shelter at Glebe. That institution is conducted by the Welfare Department for children and girls who are homeless or waiting to come before the courts. If these country girls have already taken a retrograde step, then all we can do is try to save them from another.'

Many such girls were grateful for being saved from a life of crime, she said.

'They come back. Nearly all of them. Some come to see me after they have married. They bring their babies to admire.'

The reporter then noted: 'Realist uppermost, Miss Armfield acknowledges that there are some girls who are naturally bad, and do not respond to a helping hand.'

The reporter asked Armfield what she did with her one day off a week.

'"Oh, I don't know," she muses, and suddenly one becomes conscious of pearl ear-rings above the tailored suit; of a feminine wave in her crisp short hair. "There is always so much to do at home, isn't there? Stockings to darn, and all that."

Lillian Armfield was awarded the King's Police and Fire Service Medal in 1947, the first woman in the Commonwealth to be so honoured. She retired from the police force in 1949 after almost 35 years of service and died in 1971.

Lillian Armfield, by Leigh Straw, is published by Hachette Australia, RRP $32.99Farm girl: Betty Colt, 50, has lived quite the life since five of her children were taken away by authorities in 2012

This is the secret hideaway of the matriarch of Australia's infamous incest clan - after she ditched the family's putrid bush camp for a faraway farm.

Six years ago, horrified child protection officers saved a dozen 'Colt family' kids from squalid tents and caravans in Boorowa, western New South Wales.

Eleven of the children were inbred. Few knew how to use toilet paper and many had 'warped' ideas about sex and hygiene.

Betty Colt, the mother-of-thirteen at the centre of the horrific saga, has lived quite the life in the years since five of her children were taken away.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the 50-year-old shacked up with refugees and wannabe migrants inside a detention centre, with Colt striking up an unlikely friendship with a young model.

That was before she picked up all her belongings and embarked on an epic 1000km journey west of the family's filthy home base.

With one of her daughters, 34, and two other young male relatives, Colt made herself a home at a farm a farm on the outskirts of a tiny South Australian township, several hours' drive north of Adelaide.

The Daily Mail this week found a quaint cottage on the property, the front door of which was surrounded by cigarette butts and discarded rubbish.

This is the South Australian property Betty Colt and several of her relatives call home

Betty Colt (left) and her daughter Raylene, 34, (right) moved to a small South Australian township

Cigarette butts were scattered around the front door of a cottage on the property when the Daily Mail visited this week

Filthy past: This is the inside of the filthy Boorowa, NSW camp where Betty Colt's kids lived

The family have a long history of picking fruit in the area, locals told Daily Mail Australia.

'They've had a long association with employment in this area,' said a one-time employer of the Colts. 'It stretches back decades.'

Farmers ask few questions of their staff, because workers are 'gold'.

'There's a fair collection of them out here ... They're transient people, they're gypsies'.

Wanderers they may be, but in 2015 Betty Colt was anything but. She was stuck behind the wire fence of a Sydney immigration detention centre.

Sharing a room with wannabe migrants and asylum seekers was a strange place for a woman who had lived most of her life in Australia to find herself.

The Colt family (a name given by a court) have a 'long association' with the area, local farmers said. A chicken pen on the property - which the family do not own - is pictured above

A view of the vineyard on the bush acreage, which is several hours drive north of Adelaide

Dusty highway: A scene in South Australia not far from where the Colt family lived

Fast friends: Colt (blurred) with her model friend and another woman on an apparent night out

Unlikely friends at Villawood

Colt had long hoped to bring two of her children to SA to work as 'fruit pickers'.

But the reunion never happened - and Colt found herself caught in an immigration drama.

The Federal government was planning to deport her to New Zealand.

It was a controversial ruling that made headlines across both countries.

Colt's parents, June and Timothy, were born in New Zealand.

But Betty came to Australia as a kid in the 1970s and had all of her of children here.

Life in detention wasn't lonely, though. She struck up an unlikely friendship with a much younger woman, who was facing migration difficulties of her own.

The woman, who asked not to be named, now works as a Sydney model and is an aspiring actress.

'I can assure you (Betty Colt) is a very nice person,' the university-age model told Daily Mail Australia.

Colt was placed in Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre (file photo) after an immigration drama

The model said she was shocked when she learned of the family's long-running incest drama.

'I didn't even know she was involved in that one. Someone told me about her case (later), I said, "Is that true?"

'And she (Betty Colt) said it's not true at all.'

Their friendship persists to this day.

The pair have enjoyed a night out together with friends, and the twenty-something model referred to Colt as her 'BFF' (best friend forever) online just a year ago.

'Last time she (messaged) me was on March 30 (this year) saying 'happy Easter babe,' the model said.

Colt was never deported. She stepped free of Villawood in November 2015.

Sick posts and a new life with relatives

Betty recently decorated her Facebook photos with the slogan 'love makes a family''

It's no surprise that after detention, Colt headed straight back into the loving arms of her family.

Betty moved in with her daughter, Raylene Colt, 34, and at least two younger male relatives, on a farm several hours drive north of Adelaide.

Incest was still on her mind, social media posts showed.

When a news story popped up on her Facebook news feed about a mother and son who wanted a romantic relationship, but couldn't, Colt had something to say.

'That is sad,' she wrote. Her post was surrounded by comments condemning the relationship as 'the most disgusting thing I have heard'.

Still at it: This was incest clan matriarch Betty Colt's response on Facebook to a story about a 'mother and son (who) are in love and want to change the laws so they can be together'

Colt also adopted 'love makes a family as a motto' on Facebook, tagging the phrase on several photos of her relatives.

Other family members - who live across three states - followed her lead.

Betty Colt was nowhere to be seen at her family farmhouse this week, where she has apparently lived a happy life fruit-picking and tending to the grounds.

A modern ute and 4WD sat in the driveway and the remains of a double-decker bus rusted away at the back of the grounds.

A cross-eyed relative confirmed Betty had been living at the property.

But he wasn't interested in answering questions about the clan's mysterious matriarch.

'Get the f*** off my property or I'll set the dog on you,' he said.

Do you know more? Contact this reporter on daniel.piotrowski@mailonline.comChildhood friends reunite 76 years later after being separated in Brussels during the holocaust.

Alice Gerstel bid an emotional farewell to 'Little Simon' Gronowski, her childhood friend.

Gerstel and her Jewish family had hidden in the Gronowskis' home for nearly two weeks before her father sent word from France that he had reached a deal with a smuggler who would get her, her siblings and their mother safely out of Nazi-occupied Belgium.

The Gronowskis, also Jewish, decided to stay. They hid for 18 months until the Nazis came knocking at the family's door and put Simon, his sister and mother on a death train to Auschwitz.

Childhood Holocaust survivors Simon Gronowski and Alice Gerstel Weit embrace at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum

'I thought the entire family was murdered. I had no idea,' Gerstel (now Gerstel Weit) said Wednesday, the day after their tearful reunion. She and her friend clutched hands at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust as they recounted their story.

'You didn't know that I jumped off the train?' asked Gronowski, now 86.

'No, no. I didn't know anything,' his 89-year-old friend replied.

Holocaust survivors Simon Gronowski, center right, and Alice Gerstel Weit hold hands as they tour the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum on Wednesday

The pair were interviewed at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum memorial after their reunion after more than 70 years on Wednesday

The two will return to the museum Sunday to recount to visitors how the Holocaust ripped apart a pair of families that had become fast friends after a chance meeting at a Belgian beach resort in 1939.

The two recounted about their separate journeys that culminated three-quarters of a century later in a joyful, tear-streaked reunion in Los Angeles just before Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Commemoration Day.

'I didn't recognize him at all. I don't see Little Simon,' Gerstel Weit said Wednesday of her previous day's reunion with the now-bald, white-bearded man who sat next to her chuckling.

'But he's here. Little Simon is here,' she added, her voice breaking as she put her hand over Gronowski's heart.

In their childhood, Simon Gronowski, and Alice Gerstel Weit's families vacationed together

There was much hugging, kissing and crying Wednesday as the two old friends held hands tightly while sitting outside on a museum patio to share memories from a long-ago past.

It was a past that began idyllically before turning nightmarish after the Nazis invaded Belgium in 1940 and began rounding up Jews.

Gerstel Weit's father, a diamond dealer with a wife and four children, decided to flee in 1941. He turned his diamonds into cash, bought nine visas that got his family and brother's family through Nazi-occupied France and to the French-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca. There they boarded a ship bound for Cuba.

Simon Gronowski and Alice Gerstel Weit stand at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum memorial together

After the Nazis invaded Belgium they hidin the Gronowski family's home before the Gerstel family fled on a perilous journey that eventually led them to the United States

Gronowski's father believed naively he and his family would be safe hiding in Brussels.

'My father was not very conscious to tension. My father was not political. He was a poet. He wrote in six languages,' Gronowski said, pausing to wipe away tears.

'And like so many of the families he remember in Brussels,' he continued in Dutch-accented English, 'he cannot believe that in Europe of the 20th century, of that civilization, he cannot believe that Germany can fall into barbarism.'

When the Nazis arrived, Gronowski's father was in a hospital. His wife quickly lied, telling them he was dead and sparing him from Auschwitz.

Simon Gronowski plays What a Wonderful World while he and Alice Gerstel Weit tour the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum after their reunion after more than 70 years

There was much hugging, kissing and crying Wednesday as the two old friends held hands tightly while sitting outside on a museum patio to share memories from a long-ago past

The childhood friends had a joyful yet emotional reunion at the museum in Los Angeles

It was on a train to that death camp a few weeks later that she saved her son, pushing him toward the door of the boxcar they were in and telling him to jump.

After the war he reunited with his father and eventually moved back to the apartment where he grew up. He rented out the other units and used the money to pay for law school. He is a practicing attorney in Brussels.

Gerstel Weit's family immigrated to the United States, where she married, had two sons and eventually settled in Los Angeles and a career in real estate.

Simon Gronowski and Alice Gerstel Weit are pictured hugging at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum memorial

Simon Gronowski and Alice Gerstel Weit exchange photographs they haven't seen in decades

Immediately after the war, her family tried to locate their friends. Gronowski eventually wrote back to Gerstel Weit's late older brother Zoltan, telling him his sister and mother had died at Auschwitz and his father had since passed away. For some reason, Zoltan never told his family 'Little Simon' survived.

She learned he was alive six months ago when her nephew searched her maiden name online looking for more family history. He came across Gronowski's 2002 memoir, 'The Child of the 20th Train,' in which her family is mentioned prominently.

Gronowski says he believes Gerstel Weit's brother was too distraught to say much about his family. His 18-year-old sister, Ita, had been Zoltan Gerstel's girlfriend in Belgium, and he had professed his love for her repeatedly in wartime letters, including some she never lived to see.

Gronowski's own father could never come to grips with the Holocaust either, he said. For a time, Leon Gronowski held out hope his wife and daughter somehow survived and he would find them.

'But when we received information of the concentration camps, the gas chamber, the mountains of corpses, my father understood that his wife and his daughter would not come back. And he died of ...,' he said, his voice trailing off.

'Of a broken heart?' Gerstel Weit asked. 'Of a broken heart,' he replied.Australia's Mary River Turtle - with its green Mohican-style hair and ability to breathe through its genitals - is one of the world's most distinctive reptiles.

But it is also now officially among the most endangered reptiles in the world, ranked the 29th most likely to go extinct by the Zoological Society of London.

Australia has no plan to save the unique animal despite its extreme vulnerability and no known government money is allocated to its conservation.

Australia's Mary River Turtle - with its green Mohican-style hair and ability to breathe through its genitals - is one of the world's most distinctive reptiles

But it is also now officially among the most endangered reptiles in the world, ranked the 29th most likely to go extinct by the Zoological Society of London

Named after the river it inhabits that runs through the Sunshine Coast, the turtle gets its distinctive look from green algae growing on its head and body.

The reptile also has unmissable long fleshy growths under its chin and can breathe through its genitals.

Gill-like organs within its cloaca, an orifice with the double use of mating and excretion, allow it to stay underwater for up to three days.

The 40cm-long turtle's path to becoming endangered was helped by its popularity as a pet in the 1960s-70s that led to its nests being pillaged.

Australia has no plan to save the unique animal despite its extreme vulnerability and no known government money is allocated to its conservation

Conservationists and reptile scientists called for the Mary River turtle to be officially protected under Australian law.

'You have to go back about 50 million years to find a closely related species,' said Marilyn Connell, a researcher at Australia's Charles Darwin University.

'It would be a failure if we let this animal that walked alongside dinosaurs become extinct.'

The exact population of the Mary River Turtle, known to biologists as Elusor macrurus, is unknown.

'Australia is one of the richest places in the world when it comes to reptile biodiversity, yet our federal government's threatened species strategy doesn't even include reptiles,' Australian Foundation policy analyst James Trezise said.

'It is an entire class of species missing from the current national recovery efforts.'

WHAT IS THE MARY RIVER TURTLE? Mary River turtles, also known as the 'penny turtle', are a freshwater turtle that's indigenous to the Mary River, which is in southeast Queensland, Australia. It was first identified by scientists in 1994 but has quickly become one of the world's most endangered species. This, despite the fact that it was a popular pet in the 1960s and 1970s. The short-necked turtle is quite large, with some adult specimens growing to be more than 50cm. One of the Mary River turtle's most outstanding features is its Mohican-like hairdo that's actually just green algae. It also has long fleshy barbels, or feelers, under its chin. But perhaps one of its most distinctive features is that it breathes through its genitals. The Mary River turtle is able to breathe through its bum thanks to gill-like organs in its cloaca. The cloaca is used for both excretion and mating. This enables the Mary River turtle to breathe under water for up to three days at a time. Little else is known about the species' ecology and behavior, aside from its appetite. The Mary River turtle is omnivorous, feasting on plant matter like algae, mollusks and other small creatures. Advertisement

Academic research was hampered in 1974 when traders refused to reveal the habitat of what were then known as 'Penny Turtles' after Australia outlawed the practice of keeping them as pets.

Nearly 20 years later, John Cann, a Sydney-based turtle enthusiast, rediscovered the turtle in the Mary River in Queensland. It was classified as a new species.

The turtle's habitat is not fully protected, Cann said, and the introduction of new fish species to the waterway also threatened juvenile turtles.

'They survived in good numbers for millions of years. Then along came the pigs and foxes, and on top of the native predators and people - that's what has made them endangered,' he said.

Named after the river it inhabits that runs through the Sunshine Coast, the turtle gets its distinctive look from green algae growing on its head and body

WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE EARTH'S SPECIES? - Two species of vertebrate, animals with a backbone, have gone extinct every year, on average, for the past century. - Currently around 41 per cent of amphibian species and more than a quarter of mammals are threatened with extinction. - There are an estimated 8.7 million plant and animal species on our planet and about 86 percent of land species and 91 percent of sea species remain undiscovered. - Of the ones we do know, 1,204 mammal, 1,469 bird, 1,215 reptile, 2,100 amphibian, and 2,386 fish species are considered threatened. - Also threatened are 1,414 insect, 2,187 mollusc, 732 crustacean, 237 coral, 12,505 plant, 33 mushroom, and six brown algae species. - The global populations of 3,706 monitored vertebrate species - fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles - declined by nearly 60 per cent from 1970 to 2012. - More than 25,000 species of 91,523 assessed for the 2017 'Red List' update were classified as 'threatened'. - Of these, 5,583 were 'critically' endangered, 8,455 'endangered', and 11,783 'vulnerable'. Advertisement

Top of the list is one of the turtle's cousins, the Madagascan big-headed turtle (Erymnochelys madagascariensis), the most likely to die out of any amphibian, bird or mammal.

Other stand-out species on the reptiles list include the Round Island keel-scaled boa from Mauritius (casarea dussumieri), that can change colour and is the only vertebrate known to have a hinged upper jaw,

Also high on the list is the Minute Leaf chameleon (Brookesia minima), from Madagascar, which measures just three centimetres, and the Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), a slender-snouted fish-eating crocodile.The body of a woman was found in a Northern California river on Friday after a family of four's SUV fell into the rain-swollen Eel River last week.

A search team found the body about 7 miles south of where the family's SUV Mendocino County Sheriff Thomas Allman told a news conference in the community of Leggett.

Initially, Allman said the body was that of a child but the sheriff's office later corrected that it was a woman's.

The body of a woman was found in a Northern California river on Friday after a family of four's SUV fell into the rain-swollen Eel River last week, suspected to be Soumya Thottapilly, 38

Authorities searching for a family whose SUV plunged into a Northern California river found the body of a woman on Thursday

She was found on exposed ground that a few days ago had been covered by the storm-swollen river, according to a sheriff's office statement.

The woman had not been formally identified but Allman earlier said the body was believed to have been one of the people in the car.

Four members of the Thottapilly family, including a man and wife and two children, went missing this month while traveling from Portland, Oregon, to their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita.

he missing were identified as Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, Soumya Thottapilly, 38, Siddhant Thottapilly, 12, and Saachi Thottapilly, 9, pictured here

The family were traveling from Portland, Oregon, to their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita

They were reported missing April 8 after failing to show up for a visit with relatives in San Jose. They were last heard from while visiting the redwood forests of California's far north coast.

The missing were identified as Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, Soumya Thottapilly, 38, Siddhant Thottapilly, 12, and Saachi Thottapilly, 9.

Before the family was reported missing, authorities were already searching for a vehicle that had been seen falling into the roiling Eel River on April 6. The vehicle submerged and vanished before rescuers reached the scene.

Four members of the Thottapilly family, including a man and wife and two children, went missing this month while traveling from Portland, Oregon, to their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita

Officials later learned it matched the description of the Thottapilly's maroon Honda Pilot. Debris at the accident site and other material found along the riverbanks also was consistent with that vehicle, officials have said.

Searchers also found items described as consistent with a family traveling on vacation and unspecified personal items that allowed officials to confirm that the vehicle seen plunging into the river was the Thottapilly's SUV.

Sandeep's father had posted several messages on social media pleading for help in locating his family.

The worried father also posted a Facebook message asking Sandeep's employer, Union Bank, to assist in finding the family.

Babu said his son is the vice president of the bank.

They were reported missing April 8 after failing to show up for a visit with relatives in San Jose. They were last heard from while visiting the redwood forests of California's far north coast

Before the family was reported missing, authorities were already searching for a vehicle that had been seen falling into the roiling Eel River on April 6

Authorities are also continuing to search for members of another family farther south along the Mendocino County coast.

An SUV made a deadly and possibly intentional plunge off a towering ocean bluff along State Route 1 last month.

Sarah and Jennifer Hart, both 39, and their six adopted children were believed to be in the car at the time.

Five bodies were found March 26 near Mendocino and a body was pulled out of the surf last weekend but its identity was not immediately identified.

Washington state authorities began investigating the Harts for possible child neglect a few days before the five bodies were recovered.A 24-year-old tradie with a man-bun accused of following a woman home before strangling her with a bike lock has been arrested.

The man has been charged over the alleged attack, which happened outside a unit block in Ashfield, in Sydney's inner-west, following an extensive police hunt over 48 hours.

He has been charged with intentionally choke person with recklessness, stalking with the intent to cause physical harm and two counts of assault.

CCTV images (pictured) were released on Friday of a man police were keen to speak to over the alleged assault

The young woman, 27, was walking home on Wednesday night when she noticed that a man was following her down Bland Street.

She turned down a side street in an attempt to lose him and walked into the front yard of a unit complex.

The man is alleged to have then wrapped a bike chain around her neck, pushing her to the ground.

A couple who were sitting in a nearby car heard the woman screams and ran to her assistance.

The attacker punched the man in the face after he confronted him before fleeing the scene.

Her partner had run to the front yard where she found the victim lying semiconscious.

The 27-year-old victim had just turned off Bland St, in Ashfield, and was walking down Julia St when the alleged attacker struck

She was taken to the Prince Alfred Hospital with neck injuries.

CCTV images were released on Friday of a man police were keen to speak to over the alleged assault.

Following the attack police warned residents of the leafy suburb to only walk in groups after dark.

After a 48 hour man hunt and a public appeal for assistance the man, who is from Alexandria, was arrested.

He was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail Court later today.When Enoch Powell died in 1998, he was mourned across the political spectrum.

Tony Blair hailed him as one of the great figures of 20th-century British politics. Lady Thatcher remarked that there will never be another Enoch. And Old Labours Tony Benn, a friend throughout his 36 years in Parliament, attended his funeral at St Margarets Church, in the grounds of Westminster Abbey.

Whatever one thought of Powells often highly divisive views  in particular the notorious Rivers of Blood speech about immigration, for which he was rightly accused of stirring up racial hatred  friend and foe agreed he was a gifted and influential man whose five-decade-long career had left an indelible mark on public life.

When Enoch Powell died in 1998, he was mourned across the political spectrum

His obituary in the Guardian, where he was a columnist for many years, described him as a man of the hard Right who could be a sensitive social reformer. It added that his life took in glittering stints as a soldier, scholar, statesman, arch-rebel [and] poet.

As these tributes suggest, Powell had been a major figure in postwar politics.

What, then, should we make of this weeks kerfuffle over a decision by the BBC to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rivers of Blood speech by broadcasting Powells remarks in full for the first time?

Radio 4s Archive On 4 tonight will have actor Ian McDiarmid voicing the words Powell delivered at a Conservative Party meeting in Birmingham on April 20, 1968.

The reading will be interspersed with commentary from academics, politicians and race-relations campaigners seeking to explore the contents of the speech and assess its historical impact.

In keeping with the BBCs commitment to impartiality, there will be a range of views  some voices will be critical and others supportive.

It is hard, on the face of things, to see why anyone might be particularly outraged by this journalistic exercise.

It is, after all, being broadcast in an off-peak slot on a radio station with a small and relatively highbrow demographic of listeners.

Yet in todays febrile public arena, we are never more than one attention-seeking tweet away from an outbreak of online hysteria. And, inevitably, this has happened after the BBC announced details of tonights broadcast. Labour peer Lord Adonis called for the programme to be pulled because he said it represents an incitement to racial hatred.

Adonis, an arch-Remainer Blairite, has spent recent weeks at war with the BBC, largely over its coverage of Brexit.

On Thursday, he fired off the first of several dozen furious tweets, arguing that broadcasting an actors rendition of the Powell speech (no contemporary recording of the 3,000-word original exists) is nothing less than a hate crime.

Adonis also wrote to Sharon White, head of the broadcasting regulator Ofcom, asking for the programme to be removed from the schedules. He said it was the most incendiary racist speech of modern Britain.

In the echo chamber of social media, his comments triggered depressingly predictable howls of outrage. Within a few hours, Dr Shirin Hirsch, a researcher at Wolverhampton University who had contributed to the programme, said she had been driven sick with worry and asked for her contribution to be removed.

Last night, the BBC agreed, saying it would re-edit the hour-long programme to remove Ms Hirsch, effectively censoring its own content. Earlier, Radio 4s factual commissioning editor, Mohit Bakaya, had defended the programme, saying listeners expect it to tackle difficult subjects at times when they are relevant.

This decision to edit the programme lays bare the corrosive manner in which agenda-driven lobby groups hijack social media to advance their own censorious ends.

However offensive it was in parts, the speech signified an important moment in postwar British history. Yet the BBC felt unable to broadcast a serious programme about it in full  even though the show included rigorous and critical textual analysis of Powell.

The anti-immigration speech, which will be read out in segments by actor Ian McDiarmid, was first delivered to local Conservative party members in Birmingham, ahead of a second reading of the 1968 race relations bill (Enoch Powell, pictured in 1979)

At the time of the Rivers of Blood speech, 20 years had passed since the arrival of the first of the Windrush generation  of immigrants from Britains Caribbean colonies.

Harold Wilsons Labour government was planning to introduce legislation on race relations which would, among other things, make it illegal to refuse either housing or employment to someone because of their ethnic background.

In todays Britain, it seems unthinkable that such a law might be regarded as even remotely controversial. But in that less-enlightened era, the arrival of large numbers of immigrants had led to social tension in some of the mostly working-class urban areas where they had concentrated.

Unlike many of his more privileged parliamentary contemporaries, Powells background gave him an instinctive understanding of their fears.

The upwardly mobile son of teachers whose academic brilliance won him a scholarship to Cambridge University, he became a Tory MP in 1950 and had risen to become Shadow Defence Secretary at the time of his speech.

Feeling distressed at what he felt was his partys weak opposition to the Labour governments immigration policy, he resolved to speak out, in the strongest possible terms, about what he felt had to be done. Powells 25-minute speech contained high rhetoric and vivid language.

It warned, in the starkest possible terms, that unless immigration was stopped  and immigrants already in the UK were given financial incentives to return home  there would be racial strife of a seriousness never before seen in Britain.

Though he never uttered the phrase Rivers of Blood, he quoted the poet Virgil when he said: Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.

In his speech, Powell also quoted extensively from two of his own constituents.

One was a middle-aged working man who, he claimed, had told him: I have three children; all of them been through grammar school and two of them are married now, with family. I shant be satisfied till I have seen them all settled overseas.

In this country in 15 or 20 years time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man.

The other constituent was an elderly woman who was the last remaining white British person on her Wolverhampton street.

At the time of the Rivers of Blood speech, 20 years had passed since the arrival of the first of the Windrush generation  of immigrants from Britains Caribbean colonies

She is becoming afraid to go out, said Powell. Windows are broken. She finds excreta pushed through her letterbox. When she goes to the shops she is followed by children  charming, wide-grinning piccaninnies.

Such slurs peppered the speech. Indeed, much of it was laden with language nowadays rightly considered racist (he repeatedly, for example, refers to negroes).

Other passages contained incitement to hatred, ugly generalisations and ethnic stereotypes.

To a modern ear, his rhetoric seems archaic, dense and profoundly offensive. Yet it also had an immediate impact.

The following day, Powell was condemned as racist in many quarters of the Press and dismissed from the Shadow Cabinet by Tory leader Edward Heath.

The two men never spoke again. Indeed, Powell ended up quitting the Tories in 1974 in protest at Heaths decision to take Britain into the Common Market, serving out his remaining years in Parliament as an Ulster Unionist. Yet for all the opprobrium, the speech also struck a chord with many Britons.

Powell received nearly 200,000 letters, almost all supporting what he had said, and became a hero to a portion of the white working classes.

Dockers, who had previously been tribal Labourites, began to march in support of him. At the 1970 general election, Heaths Conservatives triumphed, in part, it was believed, thanks to the electoral support that Powells remarks had gathered.

To minority communities, these developments understandably had more sinister overtones.

His speech broke the political consensus that immigration was to be universally welcomed, and gave licence to racists who felt that it legitimised discrimination and violence.

It was a very dark time for immigrants in this country, recalled the novelist Hanif Kureshi, the son of Pakistani immigrants, in a Radio 4 interview this week.

The atmosphere was quite dark. Powell seemed to me to be a paranoid, fervent, nationalistic figure who was predicting terrible doom, and I remember being at school and people saying knock knock, were with Enoch  and I remember going to the house of a girlfriend and her dad throwing me out of the house, literally, because he said he was with Enoch.

The passage of time has shown most of Powells dire predictions to be incorrect.

Today, many of the remarks he made seem to smack of paranoia. Britains rivers did not, of course, foam with blood as he predicted and the country has, by and large, become a remarkably tolerant, multiracial society.

His crass contention that in 15 or 20 years time the black man will have the whip hand over the white was nonsense.

When he died, non-whites amounted to a mere six per cent of the population (and todays figure is 14 per cent, according to data from the Office for National Statistics).

Interestingly, however, Kureshi believes that despite the speechs impact on his life and others lives, the BBC should be praised for its decision to broadcast it in full.

He explains that he is not a fan of censorship in any shape or form and argues that it will help modern listeners to understand racism.

My kids, who are in their 20s, have no idea who Enoch Powell was or what he meant or what he said, so the idea that they would be able to hear this speech and debate it, and think about racism in this country in the postwar period, is really important, he added.

But others, it would seem, think they know better. And in a country increasingly run by a social media mob, it is they who, too often, hold the censorious whip hand.

Archive on 4 is on Radio 4 tonight at 8pm.Ferrari's Maurizio Arrivabene shed some light on last weekend's pitstop incident in Bahrain that sidelined Kimi Raikkonen and sent Scuderia mechanic Francesco Cigarini to the hosptial with a broken leg.

Raikkonen was given the green light to accelerate away from his crew following his second tyre change in last Sunday's race.

Unfortunately, the go-ahead was premature as the Ferrari's left rear wheel had not been mounted, the misstep sending Cigarini tumbling head over heels with a broken leg.

In China, Arrivabene explained the sequence of events which led to the painful blunder.

"We have a procedure to ensure that the pit stops during the race are done in the most safe mode," the Ferrari team principal said.

"In this case, we have three factors. One involves human control, the other involves mechanical, and the other involves electronic device.

"What happened there, we had a mishandling and the rear left was not perfectly read by the electronic device, which then gives the green light."

Arrivabene added that the Italian outfit had reviewed its procedures and the Bahrain incident with FIA race director Charlie Whiting.

"We went through all the procedure together with FIA to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again," he said.

"It's in our interest, because we care about our people before anything else."

Needless to say, Ferrari ramped up its pitstop practice in Shanghai to avoid a repeat of the Bahrain stumble.

Arrivabene also provided an update on Francesco Cigarini who is now recovering back home in Italy.

"Francesco is fine, he went back to Italy yesterday so it's all under control," he said.

"As a team principal, I was talking to him every day. He's at home, it's all okay."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and TwitterThe hearing will ramp up the pressure on Business Secretary Greg Clark (pictured)

Ministers could be hauled before MPs to face questions over the controversial takeover of engineering giant GKN by City predator Melrose.

The Daily Mail understands that the defence and business select committees are considering holding a joint hearing into the 8.1billion deal.

It will ramp up the pressure on Business Secretary Greg Clark, who is facing mounting calls to block the sale on national security grounds.

GKN is based in Redditch, Worcestershire and employs 58,000 around the world making parts for planes, cars and fighter jets. There is increasing political concern that the takeover of the 259-year-old firm could harm the UK's industrial base and defence capability.

Sources said MPs were determined to challenge ministers' thinking on the deal, which was narrowly approved by shareholders last month after a hostile takeover battle.

Many critics, backed by a Mail campaign, are concerned about GKN's future under City turnaround firm Melrose because of its strategy of selling firms on at a profit, usually within three to five years, which could see GKN broken up and parts flogged off around the world.

The takeover has become a lightning rod for discussions about Britain's industrial future.

Unite assistant general secretary for aerospace Steve Turner said last night: 'Melrose's self-professed short-term business model is totally at odds with the long-term investment cycles of the UK's world-beating aerospace sector and raises significant concerns for the defence interests of the UK and its allies.

'It would only be right and proper for both the defence and business committees to quiz ministers on the Government's thinking on a takeover which will have a significant impact on a key sector of the economy and the nation's security.'

The deal is due to finalise next week, although Melrose is still waiting for clearance from military and security agencies in France, the US and Germany, as well as facing potential government intervention in the UK.

Redditch-based GKN makes parts for cars, airplanes and fighter jets, employing 58,000 around the world, including 6,000 in the UK

The Ministry of Defence is set to advise Mr Clark on whether he should oppose the deal on national security grounds. Security agencies MI5 and MI6 are also due to have their say.

GKN's military work includes making parts for the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, Airbus A400m military plane and US-UK joint strike fighter.

Melrose said it is now in talks to hammer out potential conditions to help lay any fears to rest. Mr Clark stepped in two days before the shareholder vote to win assurances from Melrose including that it would invest at least 2.2 per cent of GKN's sales in research and development.

It also offered to pledge not to sell the aerospace division, where the defence work lies, for at least five years. However, it has yet to turn the pledge on the aerospace division into a legally-binding post-offer undertaking.

Earlier this week a Melrose spokesman said: 'We are continuing our discussions with all parties to enforce in law the binding undertakings we have already given to the UK Government.

'We welcome scrutiny from all legitimate agencies. Melrose is a British company with the best interests of the UK at the centre of everything we do.'Jeremy Hunt was yesterday forced to issue an apology after he failed to declare a business interest with Companies House and the parliamentary register of MPs' interests

Nine cabinet ministers including Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt are making a fortune renting out properties, it was revealed.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Sajid Javid, is also among the group of politicians raking in more than 10,000 from flats and houses they own.

It comes after Mr Hunt failed to declare the purchase of seven luxury flats that he later rented out.

He was yesterday forced to issue an apology after he failed to declare a business interest with Companies House and the parliamentary register of MPs' interests.

A spokesman for No 10 said: 'Jeremy has rightly apologised for an administrative oversight, and as the Cabinet Office have made clear there has been no breach of the Ministerial Code. We consider the matter closed.'

Mr Hunt amended the register to show he has half a share of a holiday home in Italy and half a share in an office building in Hammersmith, West London, according to The Guardian.

They are in addition to the seven apartments he acquired recently in Southampton.

Other ministers who are landlords are Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, who rents two properties.

Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond, who both live in Downing Street, both rent out the Central London homes.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, International Trade Minister Liam Fox, the Minister without portfolio Brandon Lewis and the Secretary of State for Wales also rent out properties.

Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond, who both live in Downing Street, both rent out the Central London homes

Jeremy Hunt established Mare Pond Properties Ltd with his wife, Lucia Guo, and has purchased seven flats in the 40m Alexandra Wharf development.

Flats in the Southampton waterfront go for 450,000 - 1m.

But when Mr Hunt filed the registration documents in September last year, only his wife was named which constituted a breach of regulations.

Secretary of State for Housing Sajid Javid (right) and Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairnes (left) both rent out properties

Brandon Lewis, the Minister without Portfolio (left) and International Trade Minister Liam Fox (right) also rent out properties

It was also a breach of the Companies Act, which requires anyone with mroe than 25 per cent control of a firm to be declared as a 'person with significant control'.

A spokesman said that Kathryn Hudson, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, had received a complaint about Mr Hunt yesterday and would consider it next week.

MPs with a holding larger than 15 per cent are required to register them within 28 days.

Mr Hunt failed to register his for five months - which he attributed to an honest error by his accountant.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (left) and Transport Secretary Chris Graying rent out properties

But Labour said the Health Secretary's actions were a 'serious breach', and shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett added: 'This is simply unacceptable and especially so given the secretary of state's position at the heart of Theresa May's Government.'

The flat, located in an luxury block, was developed by Nicholas James Group, which has donated more than 50,000 to Mr Hunt's South West Surrey constituency office since 2011, largely in complimentary venue hire.

The Health Secretary and Mr Roach were pictured together in 2011 at the launch of a 60m hotel, which was partly developed by Roach's company in Guildford.

A spokeswoman for Hunt said: 'Jeremy's accountant made an error in the Companies House fi ling, which was a genuine oversight. With respect to ministerial and parliamentary declarations, the Cabinet Office are clear that there has been no breach of the ministerial code.'Michael Bowman (Pictured) told a U.S. District Judge on Thursday that that he is not a tax protester and considers himself a true patriot

An Oregon man who cites his Christian faith as a legal defense against the government in a felony tax evasion case has won the first round in court.

Michael Bowman told U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman on Thursday that that he is not a tax protester and considers himself a true patriot, but refuses to give a dime of his money if its allocated to fund government subsidized abortions.

Mosman noted in his ruling that prosecutors failed to prove Bowman tried to conceal or mislead the government by keeping a low bank account balance so tax collectors couldn't garnish his account to pay taxes, according to The Oregonian.

'Not everything that makes collection efforts more difficult qualifies as evasion,'' the judge added Wednesday.

Bowman said that he has refused to pay federal income taxes since 1999, arguing that the government must make accommodations for his strongly held religious beliefs.

'I'm not a tax protester. I love my country. I have a duty to my country. I have a duty to my conscience,'' the 53-year-old contract engineer from Columbus City.

US federal prosecutors say that Bowman has failed to submit a timely or accurate tax return since 1997.

Bowman said he refuses to give a dime of his money to the government if its allocated to fund government subsidized abortions (Pictured: IRS Building in Washington DC)

In retaliation, the government began garnishing his wages from his bank account in January 2012 to make up for the unpaid dues.

That's when Bowman said he adjusted how he makes his financial transactions, cashing his checks and keeping a low bank statement from January 2010 to January 2014 in order to avoid the government withdrawing cash from his account.

'Defendant's altered bank behavior removed his income from the reach of taxing authorities and allowed him to avoid payment of assessed taxes,'' Assistant U.S Attorneys Donna Brecker Maddux and Rachel K. Sowray wrote in their original criminal complaint against Bowman.

The prosecutors argued that numerous notifications were sent to the Oregon native from 2002 to 2014, informing him that failure to pay his taxes would result in penalties and possible jail time.

The indictment said that Bowman owed $356,857 to the federal government after tallying penalties accumulated in 2000, 2001, 2008 and 2009, along with his failure to pay income tax to the IRS from 2012 to 2014.

Judge Mosman (Pictured) noted in his ruling that prosecutors failed to prove Bowman tried to conceal or mislead the government by keeping a low bank account balance

Bowman's defense lawer argued, however, that it was not a crime to deposit a check and then withdraw the cash from an account, particularly when the checks were all disclosed to the IRS.

'Like a player collapsing as they lose Twister, the government has reached too far forward and stretched way too far back,'' attorney Matthew Schindler wrote in a motion to dismiss the charge.

'Cashing a check at your own bank, made out to you, representing income contemporaneously disclosed by employers through 1099 and W-2 forms to the IRS is not 'handling one's affairs to avoid making records.'

Mosman ultimately agreed with the defense, writing in his decision that "Just cashing checks is not evasion.'

But the judge rules that the case would be dissmissed without prejudice, which means the government can reopen the case against Bowman if they so choose.

Maddux said that the government needs to deliberate on prosecuting the case again and will decide on how to move forward, the Oregonian reported.

Bowman still faces four counts of willful failure to file tax returns, a misdemeanor.A diamond necklace that spells out Dah-ling, an ornate gold-painted grand piano garish enough to have stood in for Liberaces, and a small mountain of monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage  when it came to the most ostentatious excess, few women could hold a gold candelabra to Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Nobody managed to pull off hedonistic, vulgar glamour quite like the Hungarian-born film star who was the first to embody the phrase famous for being famous.

She died aged 99 in December 2016, but shes taking one last suitably splashy curtain call when her ninth and surviving husband  Frederic Prinz von Anhalt  sells off more than a thousand of her possessions today.

The plunging evening gowns that once contained one of Hollywoods most famous cleavages, and the floor-length fur coats that swept along countless red carpets next to husbands who changed almost as quickly as the fashion seasons, are all going under the hammer.

Zsa Zsa Gabor's ninth husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt (pictured together) is selling off more than a thousand of her possessions today

Much of the jewellery and furniture is as imitation as Prinz Frederics title, but that hasnt stopped the Los Angeles online auction house Heritage Auctions reporting early bidding that far exceeded their expectations. The company has put no estimate on the sale, but expects the proceeds to run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Gabor, a former Miss Hungary, loved to make jokes about her string of rich husbands  who included the billionaire hotelier Conrad Hilton and the British film star George Sanders.

Her most famous witticism, of course, is: I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.

Well, her last husband appears to have had the last laugh. As the sole beneficiary of her estate, Prinz Frederic is flogging off pretty much everything down to her prescription pill bottles.

Just weeks ago, in promoting the sale, he admitted he was a shameless huckster who bought his German title, made millions out of selling titles to other wannabes and first met Gabor after gatecrashing a grand Los Angeles party.

Cynics might even say that, having cashed in on her wealth during their 34 years together, hes now wringing the final few dollars out of her.

Among her possessions is this diamond 'Dah-ling' necklace. The former Miss Hungary died aged 99 in December 2016

As the sole beneficiary of her estate, Prinz Frederic is flogging off pretty much everything down to her prescription pill bottles

Its not about the money. I didnt need her money, he told me yesterday. Its about taking care of Zsa Zsas stuff. She took care of all the furniture herself. In the living rooms, nobody was allowed to touch the antiques. She cleaned them herself.

His ex-wife loved all her possessions and wanted them to be appreciated, and so she urged him when she was still alive to put them up for auction, he said.

Besides, he adds, hes 74 and will probably soon be moving out of the mansion they shared in Bel Air and into a much smaller place where he wont have space to put the stuff.

But isnt it a little tacky, to sell the pill bottles of a woman who suffered from years of pain and ill health?

Her Saks Fifth Avenue store card (pictured

Well, that was a surprise to me, he insists. People called me to ask if I would sell them. I was ready to throw them away, but friends of hers, they want them. The auction house said people love to collect those things.

Von Anhalt is sensitive to suggestions that he sponged off his wife, insisting he was a successful businessman in Germany who had come to the U.S. on holiday in 1982  only to meet the multi-millionairess who took an instant shine to his title.

Of course, when she told me to move into her house, I moved into the house, he explains. She didnt want me to get my own business and make my money because she wanted me to be around her. What was I going to do  fight with her every day?

He said he kept back a few of Gabors possessions that had strong personal associations for him. Apparently, the item he found hardest to put up for sale  because of the fond memories it evokes  was his wifes mirrored dining table with ten matching and somewhat stained orange velvet chairs.

We had four presidents sitting there, as well as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Kirk Douglas . . . all those people had dinner with my wife and me, he says.

Endless tea and crockery sets attest to a woman who clearly could never have too much of anything. Von Anhalt says he tried in vain to contain Gabors spending, but she simply loved buying things.

Zsa Zsa's roomful of Louis Vuitton luggage is up for sale. Her most famous witticism, of course, is: I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house

Bidders wanting a slice of Zsa Zsas style can choose between opulent, garish and tacky  or a mix of all three. Gold is the ubiquitous colour.

The Steinway grand was brought over by third husband George Sanders from London after he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the 1950 film All About Eve. The couple had it painted gold. It was so camp that it was used in the 2013 Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra, which was filmed at Gabors mansion.

Also gold is the marital bed  a massive carved wood canopy four-poster, which Gabor shared not only with von Anhalt, but also husbands Six, Seven and Eight.

Similarly guaranteed to impress is a huge Louis XV-style 16-light candelabra that hangs in her hallway and is also for sale.

There are dozens of items from a vast wardrobe that include pieces by Chanel, Dior and Valentino along with several Hermes handbags.

One lot is a 104-piece Moet Imperial champagne collection  reflecting the fact that Gabor typically offered every visitor to her 9,000 sq ft home a glass of champagne.

Few people can have amassed as many paintings of themselves. The sale includes around a dozen, all flattering and showing her in various states of utter gorgeousness.

Zsa Zsas own somewhat underwhelming artwork is contained in a sketchpad in which she drew people in court at her 1989 trial for infamously slapping a police officer who stopped her for driving her Rolls-Royce without proper registration.

Several of her gaudy figurines are up for sale

For a woman said to have had one of the worlds finest diamond collections, the auction is somewhat disappointing. But Gabor reportedly lost most of what was once estimated to be a $40 million fortune thanks to huge medical bills and investing in Bernie Madoffs infamous Ponzi scam.

She sold her mansion  once owned by Elvis Presley  for $11 million in 2013, but von Anhalt persuaded the new owners to let him stay on despite the condition that four months after Gabors death it would be vacated.

Von Anhalt, who shares his late wifes insatiable hunger for the limelight, has long been dogged by controversy. A compulsive teller of tall tales, his stories about his life with Gabor tend to change every time he tells them.

Last month, he told the Hollywood Reporter how he was born Hans Robert Lichtenberg in Germany but became Prinz Frederic von Anhalt, Duke of Saxony and Westphalia, Count of Ascania, in 1979 (despite Germany abolishing its nobility in 1919).

The impoverished Princess Marie von Anhalt, daughter-in-law to the last Kaiser, adopted him in exchange for a monthly pension.

Von Anhalt said he made money from loan-sharking and running gay saunas, but admitted he needed a title as a door-opener to win over the rich and famous.

The Prinz  who reportedly has German convictions for assault, burglary, fraud and theft  said he sold his aristocratic name via brief sham marriages and adopting five adult sons who paid him for the privilege, while claiming to have earned over $10 million from it.

Von Anhalt refuses to discuss his sex life and rumours that hes gay, although he has described his marriage to Gabor as having been about friendship rather than love.

He claims their union ultimately lasted so long because, unlike her previous husbands, he always gave in to his tempestuous wife.

If hes telling the truth about her tempers, the presence of a dozen crockery sets in the auction is a small miracle. Zsa Zsa loved nothing better than to hurl a plate when she was trying to make a point.

For auction details, visit www.ha.comNearly four million pensioners are routinely ripped off because they do not use the internet.

Analysis by Money Mail has found that older customers are being locked out of the best energy, savings, phone and insurance deals.

Official figures show that four in five of those who do not have access to the internet are over the age of 65  equal to 3.8million of a total of 4.8million in that group.

They face a raft of penalties designed to push customers to internet deals for essential services because these are cheaper for big companies to run.

It comes after the Daily Mail revealed yesterday that energy firm EDF is now charging customers 90 a year to pay by cheque, a 15 per cent increase on previous rates.

Last night campaigners and charities said firms should stop discriminating against older customers who cannot or do not want to use computers.

Analysis by Money Mail has found that older customers are facing a raft of penalties designed to push customers to internet deals for essential services because these are cheaper for big companies to run (file photo)

Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said: Companies are profiting from loyal elderly customers who renew or buy in person or over the phone. These trusting older people are hit with unfair penalties or harsh price hikes for not going online.

Money Mails analysis found that in the worst cases older customers have been overcharged by up to 1,673 on their home and car insurance policies over the past ten years because they have been unable to use the internet to shop around. It found that pensioners are being overcharged by a total of 880million each year on their car and home insurance. Experts say one of the main reasons older customers are failing to switch is that most of the best deals are advertised on price comparison websites such as Go Compare or Compare The Market.

A number of major telecoms providers do not offer customers phone lines without demanding that they buy a broadband package. Among those that do offer line-only deals, BT charges 11.99 a month after it was forced to cut its price by the regulator, Ofcom, from 18.99 this month. The Post Office charges 16.99 a month  only 2 less than its deal that includes broadband, which currently costs 19 a month. Last night, the Post Office said it would cut its landline-only fees to 11.50 next month.

Many firms also charge a fee to those who receive bills through the post rather than online. Vodafone says 75,000 of its customers still receive paper bills. It charges 1.54 a month for the service. Vodafone said this reflects the costs of processing payments.

How the elderly lose out Phone giants are raking in millions a year by charging up to 2.50 a time to send out paper statements

Some telecoms firms force homeowners to pay for broadband if they want a phone line  even if they do not own a computer or tablet

All six major energy firms impose fees of up to 94 for paying bills by cheque

British Gas has prevented customers who do not use the internet from getting its best energy tariff

Savers are being deprived of 500 a year in interest because the best deals are online Advertisement

Sky and Virgin charge some of their customers 1.75 for each paper bill. BT charges customers 2.50 a month if they have broadband, but says the fee is waived for landline-only customers.

British Gas has barred customers who do not use the internet from getting its best energy tariff. One offer, which includes eight hours of free energy each Saturday, is said to save users around 60 a year  but customers are being turned down if they do not manage their accounts online.

EDFs 90 annual fee for paying gas and electricity bills by cheque is not the worst among the big suppliers. Npower customers have to fork out an extra 94 a year to pay their bills this way. Eon charges 90, while the fee is 86 at British Gas, 80 at SSE and 79 at Scottish Power.

The best rates on savings accounts are reserved for online customers. As a result, many over-65s who cannot or do not want to use a computer are missing out on up to 1.25 per cent interest with high street banks such as Lloyds, HSBC, Halifax, Santander, NatWest and Barclays.

This works out at 125 a year on each 10,000. On the average savings pot of 45,000, the total in lost interest is 562.50 a year.

The Association of British Insurers said: Our Vulnerable Customers at Renewal Code is helping insurers and brokers to identify customers, including older policyholders, who may need extra help in assessing their options.

The cost and availability of insurance does need to reflect the fact that for some insurances, like motor and travel, the average claim cost increases with age.It is claimed Judith Ramsdale, 44 (pictured), and head of chemistry Paul Bland, 42, had sex while students were on a revision day

A married deputy headteacher and a science teacher have been suspended after a student saw them having sex on a desk.

It is claimed Judith Ramsdale, 44, and head of chemistry Paul Bland, 42, had sex while students were on a revision day.

The pupil is alleged to have caught the teachers - who are both married - in the act after being asked to retrieve material from the school's English department, according to Sun Online.

The teachers are reported to have been suspended while an investigation gets underway at Haslingden School in Rossendale, Lancashire.

A source said: 'A pupil saw them and ran back to the class to tell his teacher, who initially didn't believe him.

'But there are rumours of it being caught on CCTV. It's the talk of every school in the area.'

Mr Bland, who lives with his wife Rebecca, 42, and his three children in Bury, confirmed that he had been suspended.

He told The Sun: 'It's social media. I'm going to speak to my union. No comment'.

Mrs Ramsdale, is a former English teacher who lives in Chorley, Lancashire, with her husband John, 42, who is an assistant head teacher at a separate school.

The school was awarded an overall 'good' rating by Ofsted.

Katrina Allan commented: 'Why have they not been instantly sacked???'

She added: 'Suspended on full pay, sex in the workplace, a school, absolutely disgusting. That poor lad could be traumatised for life after seeing that.'

Haslingden headteacher Mark Jackson told Sun Online that the school was aware of an allegation that is being investigated and the two members of staff were suspended.A trainee GP facing deportation said yesterday that officials were reconsidering his visa application.

Dr Luke Ong, whose case was raised by the Daily Mail, said he lived in fear of a knock at the door and removal. Officials want to kick him out because he was a few days late renewing a visa.

More than 67,000 people have signed a petition in his support.

Luke Ong, 31, who is living in Manchester, appealed against the Home Office decision and an immigration judge ruled it 'would not be proportionate' to remove him

Yesterday Dr Ong, who has been training to become a GP in Manchester for three years, wrote on the Change.org website: The Home Office have sent my lawyers an email saying they would reconsider my application.

The exact meaning of this is hard to decipher but I will keep you updated if I hear anything more.

He said last night: With more pressure it might give officials a bit of a kick. I really wasnt expecting this much support. The British Medical Association and Royal College of GPs reacted with fury to the NHS doctors incomprehensible treatment earlier this week.

Dr Ong only made the formal application for 'indefinite leave to remain' in the UK 18 days after the deadline, making him in breach of immigration law

Dr Ong has thanked the Mail for the support. He said: Im really grateful to the Mail for standing up for me, and the support as a whole is very heartening.

Dr Ong is from Singapore and has been in the UK since beginning his degree in medicine at Manchester University in 2007. He said his seven-month battle to stay had been stressful. He has not been able to work and has been volunteering instead.

The 31-year-old insists his failure to contact immigration officials until last July, a month before his visa was due to expire, was an honest oversight. He was not given an appointment until September  and then told to leave.

The trainee GP won an initial appeal, but the Home Office appealed to a higher tribunal.

A Home Office spokesperson said:

All applications are considered on their individual merits, including any exceptional or compassionate circumstances, and in line with the Immigration Rules.

Dr Ong's case has been reviewed following further representations. The Home Office has applied to withdraw from the ongoing appeal proceedings and will reconsider his application for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).

UK Visas & Immigration are in direct contact with Dr Ong in relation to his case.An invasive Asian hornet - which poses a threat to the native honey bee - has been spotted in Britain.

The insect, which is smaller than the UK's native hornet, was seen by a member of the public in Bury, Lancashire, in a cauliflower that was found to have been grown in Boston, Lincolnshire.

The Asian hornet poses no greater threat to human health than a bee, but they prey on important pollinating insects such as honey bees and could do serious damage to colonies here.

Asian hornets arrived in France in 2004 and are now common across large areas of Europe, with experts on standby in the UK in recent years for the insect's arrival here.

Work is under way in both Bury and Boston to identify any nests, including setting up a surveillance zone and traps in the two locations, and deploying bee inspectors to visit local beekeepers, a spokesman for the Environment Department (Defra) said.

An invasive Asian hornet which poses a threat to the native honey bee was seen by a member of the public in Bury, Lancashire, in a cauliflower (file photo)

It is the first confirmed sighting since last year, when a nest was discovered in Woolacombe in North Devon and destroyed.

The first sighting on the UK mainland was in Gloucestershire in 2016.

Nicola Spence, Defra deputy director for Plant and Bee Health, said: 'While the Asian Hornet poses no greater risk to human health than a bee, we recognise the damage they can cause to honey bee colonies.

'That's why we are taking swift and robust action to locate and investigate any nests in the Bury and Boston areas following this confirmed sighting.

'Following the successful containment of the Asian hornet incursion in North Devon last year, we have a well-established protocol in place to eradicate them and control any potential spread.

'We remain vigilant across the country, working closely with the National Bee Unit and their nationwide network of bee inspectors.'Police recovered the body of a two-year-old girl inside a home after it was destroyed by fire north-west of Sydney Saturday morning.

A man, 44, and a woman, 34, along with two children aged four and one, were treated for minor injuries after fire savaged through a home in Capertee, a village 45 kilometres north of Lithgow.

Fire crews battled the blaze after being alerted at 8am, but the house was unable to be saved.

There are unconfirmed reports an infant has been killed in a house fire in Sydney's north west

Two adults and two children are being treated for minor injuries after fire savaged through a home in Capertee, a village 45 kilometres north of Lithgow

Fire crews were alerted to the blaze 8am Saturday, according to Greg Allan, a NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman

The fire has since been contained, however the home has been completely destroyed and there is a child missing inside

Photos showed a young child, which appeared to be female, being treated inside an ambulance

Five paramedic units responded and two teams from the NSW rural fire service were on the scene.

Officers from Chifley Police District attended and established a crime scene, which continues to be forensically examined.

Emergency services will enter the home in search of the toddler once it is deemed safe to do so.

A male ambulance office was seen carrying a young child towards and ambulance

Emergency workers gathered next to an ambulance on the property, with one holding a young child

Five paramedic units are responding, and there are two teams from the NSW rural fire service on the scene

Emergency services will enter the home in search of the toddler once it is deemed safe to do so

Photos from the burning property show several crews on the scene working to extinguish the blaze

It was a ghastly scene in the aftermath of the blaze, as the haze continued to plague the property

Photos from the burning property show several crews on the scene working to extinguish the blaze.

Several emergency vehicles, including ambulances, firefighting trucks and police cars are pictured at the bush address.

A spokeswoman from the NSW Ambulance Service said more ambulance crews were deployed in case a fire fighter was injured.

Adults and a young child were pictured standing near an abulance, as the adults looked to be consoling each other

Several emergency vehicles, including ambulances, firefighting trucks and police cars are pictured at the bush address

A spokeswoman from the NSW Ambulance Service said more ambulance crews were deployed in case a fire fighter was injuredA jailed pedophile who was sentenced for sexually abusing the daughter of missing newspaper editor was found dead in his prison cell hours after police identified him as a person of interest in the mother's disappearance.

Alison Thresher, 45, disappeared in May 2000 after confronting Fernando Asturizaga over his treatment of her daughter Hannah in Maryland.

Asturizaga was a teacher at the school Hannah attended and had also been employed by her father to babysit occasionally. When Alison disappeared, police did not outrightly deem it suspicious, despite the fact she was excited about a new position at the newspaper.

In 2010, her daughter Hannah, now 31, came forward to tell police that Asturizaga had raped her repeatedly years before her mother went missing.

She said the abuse began in 1999, when she was 12, and went on until after her mother vanished but that she did not connect the dots that he may have been involved in her disappearance until recently.

Asturizaga was found unresponsive on Thursday night in his cell at the Western Correctional Institution after it was announced earlier that day that he would be investigated for the murder, police said Friday.

Alison Thresher vanished from her Maryland home in 2000 aged 45. She was a copy editor for the Washington Post

On Thursday, police named Fernando Asturizaga, 51, who was in jail for raping Thresher's teenage daughter between 1999 and 2001, as a person of interest in Alison's disappearance. He was found dead in his cell later that evening

Asturizaga was jailed in 2012 for his sexual offence and could've faced another charge for murder had the investigation provided lucrative evidence.

But investigators made clear on Thursday before his death that there was not enough to pin the crime on him currently because Alison's body has not been recovered.

It is not clear if Montgomery County police, which investigated the woman's disappearance in 2000, looked into Asturizaga at the time of the disappearance.

Not only had Alison confronted him about his, but she went to the school where he worked and described her concerns in journals.

It is not known if the school ever told police what Alison had warned them of.

At a press conference on Thursday where Hannah Thresher spoke and where police named Asturizaga as a person of interest, they did not indicate if it had ever been explored.

Asturizaga refused to cooperate with their investigation and would not speak about Alison Thresher's disappearance before he was found dead.

A death investigation is being conducted by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

It is unclear how investigators will proceed with the murder investigation in light of Asturizaga's death.

'We're hoping through this announcement that anyone with information about the case will come forward,' Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manager said at the press conference Thursday before Asturizaga was found dead.

'Were seeking information about Asturizagas activities at the time of Alisons murder, any additional instances of inappropriate behavior by Asturizaga, anyone who knew Asturizaga when he taught at the Friends School and any information about places that Asturizaga may have frequented and any information about the case in general.'

At a press conference on Thursday, Hannah Thresher (pictured left) spoke and police named Asturizaga as a person of interest

Thresher's daughter Hannah (above together) reported the rapes to police in 2010 and says she now wants the full truth about her mother's disappearance. Hannah spoke at a press conference on Thursday

In a diary entry from March 18, 2000, two months before she vanished, Alison said she was worried about the babysitter being around her daughter

In a journal entry before she vanished, Alison expressed her worries about the man.

'Mad about my thoughts re F. He is a teacher. Many people have concern about male babysitters. Sometimes teenage too stimulating for them,' she wrote on March 18, 2000, almost two months to the day before she disappeared after dinner with her family in Georgetown.

Alison and her husband James were going through a divorce at the time of her disappearance.

On May 23, she returned to her home after having dinner with her family and wrote a final email at midnight. It is not clear if her children were there at the time or if they were with their father.

Alison is pictured with her son Sam and daughter Hannah. Both appeared at a press conference on Thursday demanding answers over her disappearance

A neighbor later reported that they heard screaming coming from her apartment between 4am and 5am that morning. Another call from someone else reported a suspicious man running through the area at around 6am.

Her Volvo was found later around a mile from the home but there was no sign of her.

For a year, police investigated without great urgency, saying there were no signs of foul play.

In 2001, they began treating it as a homicide but turfed up no leads.

The abuse was still going on of her daughter and Asturizaga relished the fact that Alison was no longer around to stop him, Hannah said.

'Soon after she made her suspicions known, my mother disappeared.

'A few months later, when I expressed frustration at his lack of empathy towards my grief over the loss of my mother, Mr. Asturizaga said to me: "I thought things would be easier for us now that shes gone."

'At the time I didnt think anything of it. But after nine or 10 years of reflection I started to question if his words meant something more,' Hannah, said on Thursday.The weekend's track action kicked off at the Shanghai International Circuit on Friday morning.

Here is our gallery of pictures covering the day's two free practice sessions and the scene in the paddock.Dogs are not breaking the law when they urinate on trees, a judge has ruled in a victory for pet owners against a council that tried to ban the practice.

The ruling was made as part of a case fighting a series of blanket restrictions being imposed by a council.

The proposed ban came as part of a series of blanket restrictions imposed by Richmond council (stock image)

It will help protect dog owners from similar action by other authorities if their dogs are seen urinating on lamp posts or trees.

It is the first time a Public Spaces Protection Order, which gives local authorities the power to issue blanket bans on certain activities, has been successfully challenged in the High Court.

Since they were introduced in 2013, PSPOs have led to dog walking bans and severe restrictions in hundreds of parks and open spaces.

The Public Spaces Protection Order gave local authorities the power to issue blanket bans on certain activities but was successfully challenged in the High Court

Under the PSPOs proposed by Richmond council, dog owners would have been found guilty of an offence if their pet caused an annoyance to another person or animal, or caused damage to any council structure, equipment, tree or turf.

Caroline Summers, a dog owner from the South London suburb, took the issue to the High Court and won.

The Kennel Club said the case was an example of over-zealous councils using their powers to unfairly penalise dog owners and to freeze them out of public spaces.Boris Johnson, pictured, was accused of betraying UK fishermen after he gave lucrative licenses to foreign firms

Boris Johnson was accused of betraying UK fishermen yesterday by handing lucrative licences to foreign firms.

The row erupted after it emerged that 75million worth of licences in the South Atlantic have been handed to firms from Norway, Chile and New Zealand.

Applications from two British-based companies  South Georgia Fisheries and Fortuna Ltd  were rejected.

The decision has angered the firms which operate in the Falkland Islands and critics say it makes a mockery of the Foreign Secretarys pledge to take back control of British waters by leaving the EU.

Six licences allowing access to 200 square miles around the British overseas territory of South Georgia for four years were granted in February.

Four went to vessels from the Norwegian firm Ervik Havfiske, of which three are believed to be sailing under the flag of the British overseas territory of St Helena for Argos Frayanes Ltd, a subsidiary of Ervik Havske.

One went to a New Zealand ship called San Aspiring and the final one to Chiles Antarctic Bay.

Although the decisions were made by the government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, which shares some administrative functions with the Falklands, they were based on advice from the Foreign Office.

Last night one of the failed bidders revealed he had launched a judicial review into the decision.

Mr Farage joined fishermen and Brexiteers to protest at the transition deal which keeps control of the UK's waters with the EU for another 19 months

Rupert Street, chief executive of South Georgia Fisheries, said: This betrayal of British fishermen makes clear the hollow promises of the Government when it comes to control of our waters.

When the Government had the opportunity to give UK fishermen the chance to fish our own waters again, Boris Johnson has instead given the prize to our foreign competitors seemingly to boost the Governments foreign policy rather than to help British business or even just on the merits of the case.

I fear for colleagues in the North Sea and for what they can expect post-Brexit if this murky deal with the Norwegians is anything to go by.

James Wallace, from Fortuna, said Britain had sold out the Falklands. He accused ministers of waving the flag to foster relationships with non-EU member states while rejecting the bids of British vessels and giving four four-year licenses to vessels owned in Norway.

Mr Johnson has repeatedly promised that Brexit will lead to Britain taking back control.

But Mr Street said the decision made on South Georgian fishing rights indicated otherwise. He has now filed for a judicial review through the High Court of the Falkland Islands and the case will be passed on to a British judge.

Tensions over post-Brexit fishing rights were highlighted last month when former Ukip leader Nigel Farage joined protesters opposed to the transition deal being negotiated with the EU dumped fish into the Thames.

Mr Street said: If we dont have a government that supports fisheries, how can we do anything post-Brexit?

His firm is a Falkland Islands company paying Falkland Islands corporation tax, with a UK majority shareholder paying UK tax. The other company that lost out is Fortuna. It was the first locally owned firm to fish in Falklands waters shortly after the declaration of the islands conservation zones in 1987.

A judge will now decide whether Mr Streets firm has legitimate grounds for the case.

Teslyn Barkman, a member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly, said: Why does the (South Georgia Fisheries) application process allow a foreign policy ambition to go against an overseas territorys prosperity?

It is understood the Foreign Office ordered that one licence was set aside for a Chilean-registered boat.

Last night a spokesman for the department admitted it took into account the foreign policy benefits of allocating licences to regional partners.

However, she added: The recent licensing round resulted in three of six licenses being awarded to British vessels: each flagged to the UK overseas territory St Helena, chartered and operated by a British company.

The fact that a vessel is built in Norway, or whether company chooses to operate commercially with Norwegian partners, is not among the primary considerations for licensing.'Advertisement

American, British and French forces launched airstrikes on two chemical weapons facilities and a military command post in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for a chemical attack that left up 75 civilians dead last week.

Donald Trump addressed the U.S. while British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron both gave speeches justifying the use of force.

Trump delivered a national address just after 9 pm EDT as missiles rained down on three sites in Syria. He said he ordered the precision strikes in direct retaliation to Bashar al-Assad's 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.

'This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by the very terrible regime. The evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.' Trump said from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. 'These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster, instead.'

Trump forcefully confronted Iran and Russia for aligning themselves with 'barbarism and brutality' and said the United States and its allies in the strike, France and Britain, are prepared 'to sustain this response' until Assad discontinues his use of internationally prohibited chemical weapons.

'What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?' Trump asked. 'The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.'

Donald Trump is pictured addressing the nation on Friday evening from the Diplomatic Room of the White House, announcing retaliatory airstrikes on Syria

The Damascus sky lights up with missile fire as the US, Britain and France launch an attack on Syria

Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire after Donald Trump announced the strikes on Syria on Friday night ET

A cruise missile is pictured being launched from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria

Part of the calculation this week has also been gaming out how Russia will respond either in the region or around the world

A chemical weapons scientific research center outside Damascus and a chemical weapons storage site and a command post west of Homs were hit in the attack that occurred in early Saturday morning local time.

Shortly after the assault, the Syrian government tweeted, 'Honorable souls cannot be humiliated.'

State TV said the country's air defenses shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area south of Damascus and claimed three civilians were wounded in the attack on the military base.

The strikes carried out by the United States consisted of more than 100 missiles, the Pentagon indicated, with Secretary of Defense James Mattis describing the number as 'a little over double the number of weapons' that were used in last year's air assault on Syria.

That April 7, 2017 attack on a Syrian airbase after Assad's confirmed use of chemical weapons on civilians consisted of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Mattis said the latest round of strikes sent a very strong message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants' and that right now this is a one-time shot driving home a message that conflicted with the president's.

'That will depend on Mr. Assad should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future,' Mattis said of future strikes.

In a news conference that followed Trump's remarks, Mattis confirmed that chlorine gas, and possibly sarin, was used by Assad's forces to poison Syrians a week ago.

Syria air defenses strike back after air strikes by U.S., British and French forces in Damascus

A fighter jet lands at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus, on Saturday, April 14

A fighter jet prepares to land at RAF Akrotiri, a military base Britain maintains on Cyprus

An RAF Tornado comes into land at RAF Akrotiri after concluding its mission.Four Royal Air Force Tornado's took off to conduct strikes

Smoke rises above Damascus after the air strikes. The US, Britain and France waged up to 120 air strikes

Smoke rises over the capital Damascus after air strikes struck Syria early Saturday, April 14, local time

Trump said the purpose of the U.S.-led strike was to 'establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use' of such chemical weapons. But he said America does not seek 'an indefinite presence' in Syria and looks forward to the day when it can withdraw its troops from Syria.

In a statement, British Prime Minister Theresa May described the coalition air assault as a 'limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region.'

'And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity,' she said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the 'red line' set by France in May of 2017 'had been crossed.'

'We cannot tolerate the trivialization of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security,' Macron said. 'This is the direction of the diplomatic initiatives put forward by France at the United Nations Security Council.'

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (right) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford (second from right) brief members of the media on Syria at the Pentagon

A photo released on the Twitter page of the Syrian governments central military media shows anti-aircraft fire through a night-vision device on the outskirts of Damascus

Loud explosions rocked Syria's capital and and lit up the sky with heavy smoke. Hours later crowds of Assad supporters gathered in the center of Damascus in a show of defiance.

Hundreds of residents gathered in Omayyad Square, many waving Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns.

'We are your men, Bashar,' they shouted.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford said that all three areas the coalition 'struck and destroyed' were specific to the Syrian regime's chemical weapons program.

The scientific research center was used for the development and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology, he said. Another target, a storage facility west of Homs, was a primary location for sarin and precursor production equipment. The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command force.

General Dunford said U.S., British and French entrenched naval and air forces were involved, but for operational security, he would not be more specific than that.

The U.S. and the U.K. emphasized that steps had been taken to minimize civilian casualties.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the Assad regime 'crossed a red line' with the chemical attack in Douma. He is pictured centre with close advisers

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the coalition air assault as a 'limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region'

'We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,' Trump in his address said.

He also said in the remarks that lasted a little more than eight minutes that he had a message for 'two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime' -- Iran and Russia.

'In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise,' he said. 'Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace.'

He added, 'Hopefully someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran, but maybe not. I will say this, the United States has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.'

Irans Foreign Ministry on Saturday strongly condemned the attacks on Syria and said Washington and its allies would bear the responsibility of the raids consequences in the region and beyond, Iranian state media reported.

'Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence... will assume the responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism,' Irans Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

Russian lawmaker and the deputy head of Russia's foreign affairs committee Vladimir Dzhabarov said Moscow was likely to call for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the air strikes.

'The situation is being analysed right now. Russia will demand a meeting of the U.N. security council, I am sure.'

Donald Trump said on Friday evening he had ordered 'precision strikes' on Syria in retaliation for the 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people on April 7 (a young victim is pictured)

A child receives oxygen through a respirator following a poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma

A poison gas attack killed up to 75 people that the U.S. and its allies say was carried out by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on April 7 in Douma near Damascus

'These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead,' Trump said referring to Assad (pictured)

Trump also warned Russia and Iran about their association with the Syrian government. President Putin is pictured on April 12

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FRIDAY NIGHT ADDRESS TO THE NATION My fellow Americans: a short time ago I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both. Tonight I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian air force. Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this time in the town of Douma near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by the very terrible regime. the evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster, instead. Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation. The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. I also have a message tonight for two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime. To Iran and to Russia I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators. In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully some day we'll get along with Russia and maybe even Iran, but maybe not. I will say this, the United States has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world. In Syria the United States with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated. The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS. America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria. Under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home and great warriors they are. Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It's a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people. In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of World War I, more than 1 million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return. So today, the nations of Britain, France and the United States of America have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. Tonight I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions. We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God there guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace. And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America. Thank you, and good night. Thank you Advertisement

Russia's Ambassador to the United States warned the White House on Friday that military strikes against its ally 'will not be left without consequences'.

'Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible,' Anatoly Antonov saidl 'The U.S.  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries,' he added.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, said Trump 'can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time - because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union,' according to state news agency RIA-Novosti.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a statement on Facebook, said the U.S. struck Syria when the country finally had a chance at peace.

'One must be really exceptional to strike Syria's capital when the country finally got a chance for a peaceful future,' she wrote.

Israeli officials backed the move, with an unnamed spokesman telling Reuters that the three allies were right to enforce the ban on chemical warfare.

'Last year, President Trump made clear that the use of chemical weapons crosses a red line. Tonight, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom enforced that line,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

'Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk.'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also backed the attack. 'Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons in last week's attack in eastern Ghouta, Syria,' Trudeau said.

'Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regime's ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people. We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice.'

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations

Syrian government supporters chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations in Damascus following the strikes

Protesters stand outside Trump Tower demonstrating against military strikes in Syria, late on Friday in New York

U.S. air strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma a week ago. Trump had reacted with a tweet warning Assad and his allies that the action would not go unchecked.

'Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria,' he declared. 'President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay.'

Trump told reporters that the list of people he'd punish included Russian President Vladimir Putin, if appropriate.

'Everybody's gonna pay a price. He will. Everybody will,' the U.S. president said.

After Russia rejected a U.S.-sponsored resolution authorizing a probe of the gas attack and vowed to shoot down U.S. missiles fired upon Syria, Trump took aim at the Kremlin.

'Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart! You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!' Trump tweeted.

The White House left open the possibility of direct, military engagement with Russia after the tweet.

Russia's deputy prime minister, Arkady Dvorkovich, just brushed the rebuke off, however, saying, according to state media, 'We cannot depend on the mood of someone on the other side of the ocean when he wakes up, on what a specific person takes into his head in the morning.'

The French presidency on Saturday released a video on Twitter showing what it said were Rafale war planes taking off to attack targets in Syria

It was not immediately clear whether the planes were taking off from an aircraft carrier or a military base on land in video released by the French presidency

Moscow has claimed all along that the chemical weapons attack did not take place and on Friday that it had 'irrefutable evidence' that it had been fabricated.

The U.S. meanwhile joined France and the U.K. in pointing the finger for the attack - and their missiles - directly at Assad's forces.

Mattis said Friday evening that he was 'confident' Assad's regime conducted a chemical weapons attack.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said at an emergency meeting of the Security Council, 'We know who did this. Our allies know who did this. Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and cover-ups.'

Defense Secretary James Mattis' statement Good evening. As the world knows, the Syrian people have suffered terribly under the prolonged brutality of the Assad regime. On April 7th, the regime decided to again defy the norms of civilized people, showing callous disregard for international law by using chemical weapons to murder women, children and other innocents. We and our allies find these atrocities inexcusable. As our commander in chief, the president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force overseas to defend important U.S. national interests. Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken decisive action against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure The United States has an important national interest in averting a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, and specifically deterring the use and proliferation of chemical weapons. Last year, in response to a chemical weapons attack against civilians and to signal the regime to cease chemical weapons use, we targeted the military base from which the weapons were delivered. Earlier today, President Trump directed the U.S. military to conduct operations, in consonance with our allies, to destroy the Syrian regime's chemical weapons research, development and production capabilities. Tonight, France, the United Kingdom and the United States took decisive action to strike the Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure. Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year. This time, our allies and we have struck harder. Together, we have sent a clear message to Assad, and his murderous lieutenants, that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable. The 70 nations in the defeat ISIS coalition remain committed to defeating ISIS in Syria. The strike tonight separately demonstrates international resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used on anyone, under any circumstance, in contravention of international law. I want to emphasize that these strikes are directed at the Syrian regime. In conducting these strikes, we have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties. But it is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process. In accordance with the chemical weapons convention prohibiting the use of such weapons, we urge responsible nations to condemn the Assad regime and join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again. General Dunford will provide a military update. Based on recent experience, we fully expect a significant disinformation campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime. In an effort to maintain transparency and accuracy, my assistant for public affairs, Dana White, and Lt. Gen. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, will provide a brief of known details tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Advertisement

The Friday night assault earned tepid support from Democrats in Congress who said they are awaiting additional information from the Trump administration about the targets and goals of the strike.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the upper chamber's Intelligence Committee, said, 'While the U.S. and our allies must not turn a blind eye to Assad's vile and inhumane attacks against his own citizens, military action in Syria must be measured, as part of a coherent strategy to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons without further destabilizing an already-volatile region or inadvertently expanding the conflict.'

Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, said that Assad's weapons attack was a 'brutally inhumane war crime that demands a strong, smart and calculated response.

But she argued, 'One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

'The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorization for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians,' the leading House Democrat insisted in a statement. 'President Trump must also hold Putin accountable for his enabling of the Assad regimes atrocities against the Syrian people.'

Vice President Mike Pence briefed Pelosi and other congressional leaders by phone after skipping a reception and rushing back to his hotel in Lima, Peru.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell received calls notifying them of the action before the president's address, the vice president's communications director, Jarrod Agen, said. So did Pelosi. Pence was unable to reach Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer until afterward, Pence's spokesman explained, because the top-ranking Democrat was on a flight.

The vice president was attending a summit in Peru on Friday in Trump's stead. Trump called off his trip as he mulled how to respond to the attack in Syria.

House Speaker Paul Ryan meanwhile praised Trumps 'decisive action in coordination with our allies,' adding, 'We are united in our resolve.'

Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain applauded the airstrikes but said 'they alone will not achieve U.S. objectives in the Middle East.'

'I hope these strikes impose meaningful costs on Assad. The message to Assad must be that the cost of using chemical weapons is worse than any perceived benefit, that the United States and our allies have the will and capability to continue imposing those costs, and that Iran and Russia will ultimately be unsuccessful in protecting Assad from our punative response,' McCain said in a statement.

Schumer said the airstrikes were 'appropriate' yet cautioned the Trump administration 'to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria.'

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said there 'is absolutely no question' the gas attack merits a strong response. However, he said he remains concerned the U.S. will become mired in the 'horrific and complex civil war that has been raging in Syria.

'While these joint American, British and French strikes are morally justified against the Assad regimes gassing of its own people, they take place with no congressional authorization,' he asserted.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, also said: 'President Trumps decision to launch airstrikes against the Syrian government without Congresss approval is illegal and  absent a broader strategy  its reckless.

'Last week, President Trump was adamant that the U.S. was leaving Syria imminently. This week, he is opening a new military front. Assad must face consequences for his war crimes, but Presidents cannot initiate military action when there isnt an imminent threat to American lives.'

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said his committee would convene a hearing next week on U.S. policy for the region. 'The administration needs to begin fully explaining its strategy for the months ahead,' he said.

'Military force cannot be the only means of responding to these atrocities. The U.S. must leverage strong diplomacy and serious financial pressure. Thats why, last year, the House led in passing tough new sanctions against Assad and his enablers. The Senate needs to move this legislation to the presidents desk quickly.'Bushwalkers in Tasmania's Cradle Mountain were treated to a rare sight when they saw a playful baby wombat hitching a ride on its mother's back.

Anja Boot had been out bushwalking in the rain with her children after an Easter egg hunt when the adorable pair were spotted.

'I've been bushwalking in that area since I was five years old and I've never seen something like this,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'The baby wombat was desperately trying to keep its balance and hold on,' she said.

Bushwalkers in Tasmania's Cradle Mountain were treated to a rare sight when they saw a playful baby wombat hitching a ride on her mother's back

The mother and baby were on their way through a grassy plain along the popular bushwalking trail in Waldheim's within Cradle Mountain National Park.

The area is particularly well known for its thriving wombat population.

It was Ms Boot's 11-year-old daughter Ruby who spotted the wombats, telling her mum: 'That looks really strange, that couldn't be possible.'

Ms Boot said she stood and watched for a while as the mother wombat, with baby on board, jumped over clumps of grass as the baby struggled to hold on.

At one point the baby somersaulted off the mother's back, falling down into the stream between the button grass.

'She got up, climbed back up her bottom and was determined to ride on her back again,' Ms Boot told Daily Mail Australia.

The mother and baby were on their way through a grassy plain along the popular bushwalking trail in Waldheim's within Cradle Mountain National Park (pictured)

'We stood and watched the baby for a while, and the mama was moving between different patches of grass and eating and the baby was holding on. It was a bit wobbly,' Ms Boot said

Ms Boot speculated that it wasn't the first time the baby wombat had hitched a ride.

'It was very rainy and I think the baby wanted to get out of the rain,' she said.

Animal experts say wombats are not designed to ride 'jockey-style' due to the fact they typically have short legs which are used for digging.

Wombats are currently under threat from the deadly sarcoptic mange disease which threatens to wipe out local wombat populations.

The debilitating disease is caused by an infestation of mites, which burrow into the skin, causing severe itching, abnormal thickening of the skin, and loss of fur.

Eventually the wombat becomes deaf and blind and death occurs.

Ms Boot, who is passionate about wildlife conservation, is partnering with Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and the University of Tasmania to help raise funds for a research project to treat the mange.A woman fainted and grown men began tearing up thinking they 'genuinely might die' after a Qantas flight from Perth to Sydney had a nightmare mid-air emergency.

The plane was diverted to Melbourne and passengers scrambled to grab oxygen masks after the plane's crew reported having mid-air problems with its air conditioning system.

The issue affected the aircraft's 'ability to maintain pressure in the cabin' so the crew diverted flight QF568 to Melbourne, a spokeswoman said.

Passenger Nick Scerri told Daily Mail Australia he and many others on board 'genuinely thought we were going to die' during the ordeal.

'It was one of those experiences you go through that gives you a real jolt and reminds you how vulnerable you are,' he said.

Scroll down for video

Passenger Nick Scerri (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia that passengers were openly hysterical while others tried to comfort each other because they 'genuinely thought we would die'

'People were being openly hysterical because the pilots were being so tight lipped about the situation.

'I tried to keep a poker face but the lack of information had us all looking at each other, we genuinely thought we were going to die.'

Even in all the chaos and confusion a doctor who was on board and visibly upset was still able to spring to action and help others.

'An elderly lady fainted and there was a doctor on board who administered first aid and got her an oxygen tank,' he said.

'She had to be sat down and combined with children crying it was terrible

The surgeon has a new born child and thinking his time was up he was showing pictures of him to other passengers on board including Mr Scerri..

Without warning the oxygen masks dropped down over passengers' head and Mr Scerri likened it to the trap door on the gallows.

He said people were writing final messages to loved ones, grown men were tearing up, children were crying and people were hysterical.

A Qantas flight from Perth to Sydney has diverted to Melbourne after declaring an emergency on board (file picture)

'It was terrible,' he said.

The pilot then announced an 'emergency descent' and Mr Scerri said you felt the force of the plane as it changed began to descend.

Mr Scerri said the flight had a number of children on board and he felt for them most.

'Seeing the kids was devastating, there was also a school group on board on a sporting excursion it looked like, that really struck me. Imagine what their parents would have been thinking,' he said.

'I grabbed the shoulder of the guy next to me and told him it would all be ok.

'And then I looked over and saw a women with her child, a girl who was probably about 7 years old.'

He said a man near him showed him pictures of his six year old daughter and said he was glad he didn't bring her on the flight.

Before landing, the flight descended to 10,000 feet, where cabin pressurisation is not required, and the system was successfully restarted

Mr Scerri said he had one major grievance with the way Qantas handled the situation.

'But first I wanted to stress that the ladies in the cabin crew were fantastic and deserve to be commended,' he said.

'But when we got off the plane we not asked a thing, as far as I am concerned there was no after care for passengers and we were able to just walk off and disappear into the airport.'

Mr Scerri said the response seemed inadequate for what had just happened.

'There were only about four or five people on the tarmac with high visibility shirts when we landed, no paramedics, nothing said to me there were emergency vehicles waiting for us,' he said

'It was extremely disappointing.'

There was no after care for passengers and Mr Scerri said he felt like the plane was more important to Qantas than the passengers on board.

'I had the impression this was about the economics of the plane needing to be fixed than our well being,' Mr Scerri said about the way passengers were dealt with after leaving the plane

'I had the impression this was about the economics of the plane needing to be fixed than our well being,' he said.

A Qantas spokesperson said the company wished to apologise for the incident and commended the actions of staff and passengers.

'We thank the crew for their professionalism and passengers for their patience and understanding through this issue,' the spokesperson said.

Despite the terror of the situation Mr Scerri said staff were professional and handled the situation as best as can be expected.

'The staff were very professional. For the most part, there wasnt really that much hysteria. Still, it not something I want to go through again,' he said.

The Airbus A330 landed safely early on Saturday morning and passengers will be transferred to the first available flight to Sydney.

Before landing, the flight descended to 10,000 feet, where cabin pressurisation is not required, and the system was successfully restarted.

Engineers will inspect the plane in Melbourne.

Qantas said oxygen masks are deployed when a flight has a pressurisation issue.Billionaire hi-tech mogul Elon Musk admitted on Thursday that the autopilot program his automotive company is working on will 'never be perfect' at preventing accidents.

Speaking with CBS News on Thursday, Musk said that the system is not designed to replace human control of a vehicle but instead aid motorists with driving tasks like staying within a lane.

'Well what's the purpose of having autopilot if you still have to put your hands on the wheel, Elon?' Gayle King, co-host of 'CBS This Morning,' asked the famed inventor during their interview.

Musk replied: 'Oh it, it's because the probability of an accident with autopilot is just less.'

'The system worked as described, which is that it's a hands-on system. It is not a self-driving system,' he added.

Last month, federal officials forced Musk's electric car company, Tesla, out of an investigation involving the death of a man testing the company's autopilot system after crashing into a highway barrier.

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday that Tesla released information about the probe before coordinating their findings with the government, drawing heavy criticism from federal officials who had not completed their investigation, according to CBS News.

The carmaker said in a statement, however, that it withdrew NTSB panel because 'We believe in transparency, so an agreement that prevents public release of information for over a year is unacceptable.'

The NTSB is currently looking into the autopilot system placed inside Tesla's Model X, the vehicle Walter Huang was testing last month in California.

'It's important to emphasize we'll never be perfect,' Musk said. 'Nothing in the real world is perfect. But I do think that long term, it can reduce accidents by a factor of 10. So there are 10 fewer fatalities and tragedies and serious injuries. And that's a really huge difference.'

The widow of Huang said she intends on suing the car company, claiming Tesla knew, or should have known, that the auto-pilot system was not ready for human testing.

While Tesla said they are 'incredibly sorry' for the family's loss, they blamed the accident on Huang, adding that he did not have his hands on the wheel at the time of the crash, despite repeated warnings to take control of the vehicle.

'Tesla autopilot does not prevent all accidents - such a standard would be impossible - but it makes them much less likely to occur,' the company said in a statement.Advertisement

Syrian state television has broadcast footage showing the ruins of a chemical weapons research centre near Damascus hit during the air strikes.

Pentagon officials say the attacks targeted the heart of Syrian President Bashar Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

The Syrian military says more than 100 missiles were fired against a military base in Syria's central Homs province and the research centre in Barzeh, near Damascus.

A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians

A photograph released by the Syrian official news agency SANA which shows the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Centre

Another image of the damage caused to the Syrian Scientific Research Centre

Wreckage of a building thought to be the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district

The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, during a press tour organised by the Syrian information ministry

The rubble left from the air strikes on a Syrian target in the Barzeh district near Damascus

The mangled remains of the wreckage lie in a heap on the ground

A huge chunk of this building had been reduced to rubble by a co-ordinated strike by allied forces

The missiles were launched by the US, UK and France in the early hours of Saturday morning

The Pentagon claims that none of the missiles which the US launched at its targets were intercepted by Syrian air defences

Fireman extinguish smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by US, British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh,

A Syrian soldier inspects the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district

Syrian Red Crescent members wait for vehicles carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their family members evacuated from the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma

Syrian government forces wait for vehicles carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their family members evacuated from the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma

The Scientific Research Center building that was hit by the strikes that were launched on 14 April 2018 by the United States, Britain and France in Barzeh neighborhood in Damascus, Syria, in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack

Syrian government forces wait for vehicles carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their family members evacuated from Eastern Ghouta

The wreckage left after an airstrike took down the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus

In the images shown on Al-Ikhbariya piles of rubble outside a destroyed building and a burned vehicle are visible.

The Syrian military says the attack on the centre destroyed an educational center and labs.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said three main chemical weapons facilities were targeted by both missiles from the sea and fired from aircraft, which triggered Syrian air defences.

The United States and its allies waged up to 120 air strikes on Syria on Friday in a 'one time shot' that the Pentagon said followed conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for a chemical weapons attack using at least chlorine gas.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (right) and Marine General Joseph Dunford (second from right) brief the press

The Damascus sky lights up with missile fire as the US, Britain and France launches an attack on Syria

The Pentagon said none of its missiles were intercepted by Syria air defence, while Russian military forces claim Assad's defence systems.

Yet Syrian state TV said it shot down 13 missiles, which were taken down in the Kiswah area south of Damascus, the capital. Syrian state TV said three civilians have been wounded on the attack on a military base in Homs.

The footage show the wreckage of the chemical weapons research centre in Barzeh, near Damascus

The facility was one of three facilities hit during the air strikes on Syria

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said chemical weapons facilities were targeted by both missiles from the sea and fired from aircraft

Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire after Donald Trump announced the strikes

A fighter jet lands at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus, on Saturday, April 14

Syria air defences strike back after air strikes by U.S., British and French forces in Damascus

The images shown on Al-Ikhbariya TV are the first of one of the targets. Seen in the footage are piles of rubble outside a destroyed building and a burned vehicle.

The Syrian military says the attack on the center destroyed an educational center and labs.

It says another attack with 'a number of missiles' targeting a scientific research center destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. The network says the building in the research center included an educational center and labs.

Mattis and Dunford acknowledged the strike was designed to degrade Syria's chemical weapons capability without killing civilians or the many foreign fighters in Syria's multi-sided civil war, particularly those from Russia.

'We specifically identified these targets to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved,' Dunford told reporters, adding the U.S. military advised Russia of airspace that would be used in the strike but did not 'pre-notify them.'

The Pentagon said one of the targets was a scientific research center located in the greater Damascus area, which it described as a Syrian center for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weaponry.

The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs.

'We assess that this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment,' Dunford said.

The third target, which was also near Homs, contained both a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and a command post.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdulrahman said all the targeted locations were evacuated three days ago after the Russians told the government they had intelligence that bases including the research centers would be hit. He said there were so far no reports of civilian or military casualties.

The US, France and the UK launched airstrikes on three targets in Syria overnight

A cruise missile is pictured being launched from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria

A fighter jet prepares to land at RAF Akrotiri, a military base Britain maintains on Cyprus

According to CNN, at least one US Navy warship based in the Red Sea took part in the strikes. US B-1 bombers were also used.

British forces launched their attack from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, where four RAF Tornado GR4s aircrafts took off from and launched Storm Shadow missiles at the military facility 15 miles west of Homs.

The Ministry of Defence refused to disclose to MailOnline how many missiles it had launched.

Mattis acknowledged that the United States waged the attacks only with conclusive evidence that chlorine gas was used in the April 7 attack in Syria.

Syrians were pictured out in the streets of Damascus this morning, chanting anti-Trump songs and waving Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags following the airstrikes.

Allegations of Assad's chlorine use are frequent in Syria's conflict, raising questions about whether Washington had lowered the threshold for military action in Syria by now deciding to strike after a chlorine gas attack.

Last year, the United States only waged strikes on Syria after determining that more deadly sarin gas was used and some U.S. media had reported that Washington was confident Assad had also used sarin on April 7.

Mattis, however, suggested the evidence of sarin was so far inconclusive.

'We are very confident that chlorine was used. We are not ruling out sarin right now,' Mattis said.

Mattis said the U.S. has no reports of suffering any losses during the initial airstrikes on Syria Friday.

Syrian supporters wave Russian, Iranian and Syrian flags in the aftermath of the airstrikes

Syrian soldier wave weapons and national flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump

Syrian government supporters wave national flags and chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of airstrikes

Syrians wave the national flag and wave portraits of President Bashar al-Assad as they gather at the Umayyad Square in Damascus today to condemn the strikes carried out by the United States, Britain and France against the Syrian regime

Donald Trump is pictured addressing the nation from the White House, announcing the retaliatory airstrikes on Syria

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after making a statement about Syria at the White House

Mattis said 'right now this is a one-time shot' but is not ruling out further attacks. President Donald Trump had said earlier that the campaign against the regime of Bashar Assad could be 'sustained.'

President Donald Trump said Friday evening in a national address that he ordered precision strikes in Syria in retaliation for Bashar al-Assad's 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed up to 75 people last weekend.

Speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, the commander-in-chief of the United States said the strikes pummeled targets associated with Assad's chemical weapons capabilities.

'This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons used by the very terrible regime. The evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.'

Trump said of the Syrian dictator's horrific April 7 attack on innocent civilians. 'These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster, instead.'

Trump forcefully confronted Iran and Russia for aligning themselves with 'barbarism and brutality' and said the United States and its allies in the strike, France and Britain, are prepared 'to sustain this response' until Assad discontinues his use of internationally prohibited nuclear weapons.

'What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?' Trump asked. 'The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.'

'The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons,' Trump said.

Trump said a combined operation with France and Britain was under way and that they were prepared to sustain the response until Syria stopped its use of chemical weapons.

But he said America does not seek 'an indefinite presence' in Syria and will look to pull out its troops once the Islamic State is totally defeated.

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against Trump

A Syrian woman waves a Russian flag and a placard bearing the portraits of Maher al-Assad, late President Hafez al-Assad, and President Bashar al-AssadCharlize Theron is considering leaving the United States with her two adopted black children over her concerns over what she says is ramped up race tensions in the country today.

The beautiful, South African born actress, grew up during apartheid before coming to pursue her American dream. In a revealing interview with Elle Magazine, she explains her concerns for the future of the country, and how her children will fit into it.

The 42-year-old Monster actress says she now won't take on jobs in certain areas of the country for fears over how her family would be treated. 'I wouldnt travel with my kids to some parts of America, and thats really problematic,' Theron said.

Charlize Theron says she is considering moving out of America over what she calls racial tensions that have been growing in consideration of her two black adopted children

Theron, pictured with her children in 2016, is very hands on with raising her children, and says she feels it is important they grow up happy, and proud of where they came from

'There are a lot of times when I look at my kids and Im like, If this continues, I might have to [leave America]. Because the last thing I want is for my children to feel unsafe.'

Theron also touched on the Trump Administration as potentially stoking the flames of racism in America.

'I dont even know how to talk about the last year under our new administration. But racism is much more alive and well than people thought. We cant deny it anymore. We have to be vocal.'

She also discussed how being raised in South Africa gives her a particularly heightened insight into the devastation that rampant racism can produce for a country and it's people. She also discusses her background in relation to the current era of the Black Lives Matter movement.

'Being raised during the apartheid era in South Africa made me so hyper-aware of equality and human rights.'

She also says that while she is definitely concerned, she's not about to hightail it out of America, the place that she calls home, just yet.

Theron adopted her son Jackson, 6, in 2012 and daughter August, 2, in 2015

'Were not there yet, but trust me, we talk. I want them to know who they are, and I want them to be so f****** proud of who they are.'

'Building confidence for them right now is an oath I made to myself when I brought them home. They need to know where they come from and be proud of that.

'But theyre going to have to know that its a different climate for them than it is for me, and how unfair that is. If I can do something about that, of course Im going to,' Theron concluded.

Theron adopted her son Jackson, 6, in 2012 and daughter August, 2, in 2015.An Arizona mother who has been accused of locking her children in her car to slowly die over 14 hours has pleaded not guilty to murder and child abuse.

Brittany Velasquez, 20, appeared at Pinal County Supreme Court on Friday for her arraignment after she was charged with the murder of her two children.

The young mother's two-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter were found dead in her car in Superior, Arizona, after being left strapped into their seats.

Investigators believe that Valesquez was the last person to see them alive, but she claims a babysitter - who remains a mystery - was watching the children that day.

Velasquez is facing two counts of second-degree murder and child abuse.

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Brittany Velasquez, 20, has been charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of her two-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter. She pleaded not guilty to all charges Friday

Ten-month-old Brooklyn (left, in June) and two-year-old Christopher (right, in July), were found dead inside a car parked outside of their home in Superior, Arizona, Monday night

Family members carry a casket holding two-year-old Lorenzo and ten-month-old Brooklyn out of a church in Superior, Arizona, after their funeral on April 7

Cops were called to the house the woman shares with her children and grandparents in small-town Superior Monday night, where they found the two kids dead inside a car parked in the driveway. They were buckled into their car seats, and cops say there were signs of foul play.

The statement gives Velasquez age as 20 but jail records list her age as 21. She has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

AZFamily.com identified her children as daughter Brooklyn Rose Miranda and son Christopher Miranda.

Velasquez claims the children were being watched by a babysitter, but no such person has come forward.

Cops won't say how the two kids were killed. Above, the house where the children were found. They lived there with their mother and great-grandparents

The victims' grandmother, Cathy Wernett, said that she called CPS several times on the mother

During a phone call with Fox 10 Phoenix, Velasquez said she 'feels betrayed by the babysitter.

'It makes me very mad,' she said to the news station. 'I feel betrayed. I feel very betrayed.'

She claimed she was just hired on at a local restaurant where she worked a 12-hour shift on the day her two children were found strapped to their car seats.

Velasquez's former mother-in-law, the children's grandmother, told Fox 10 that Velasquez was 'volatile' and 'mentally unstable'. She said the children's father recently died of a meth overdose.

The grandmother said that she called Child Protective Services several times to say that Velasquez was a danger to her own kids and that they should be taken out of her care.

The children's father, Christopher Miranda (right, with their mother) had recently died of a meth overdose

'You can only make so many calls. And then when they don't call you back...I mean, come on, what are you supposed to do? Go down there and literally show them?' the woman asked.

She added: 'Do you think 80-year-old grandparents should be taking care of a two year old and 10 month old?

'Come on, they can barely take care of themselves. She's in a walker, he's barely walking around they have a handicapped son.'French President Emmanuel Macron said his 'red line' had been crossed by the Syrian regime as he launched airstrikes on the country alongside the US and UK today.

The president said he ordered his forces to target 'the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons'.

In a statement issued shortly after huge explosions were heard in Damascus, he said: 'We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons.'

He added 'the facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime are not in doubt,' concerning the 'deaths of dozens of men, women and children' in what he said was a chemical weapons attack on April 7 in Douma.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the Assad regime 'crossed a red line' with the chemical attack in Douma. He is pictured centre with close advisers

The French President launched airstrikes alongside the UK and US in Syria today, pictured

'The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed,' he said.

'I have ordered the French army to intervene tonight as part of the international operation in coalition with the US and Britain directed against the secret chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime,' he said.

It came after President Donald Trump said in an address to the world that he ordered precision strikes in Syria in retaliation for Bashar al-Assad's 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last weekend.

Speaking from the White House, the commander-in-chief of the United States said the strikes pummeled targets associated with Assad's chemical weapons capabilities.

Meanwhile Theresa May said Britain had 'no alternative' to use force after the chemical weapon attack in Douma that killed up to 75 people.

Four RAF Tornados took off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus in the early hours and struck regime facilities linked to the production and use of chemical weapons.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed they fired Storm Shadow cruise missiles at a military facility  a former missile base  some fifteen miles west of Homs.

Mr Macron said he had 'no doubt' the Syrian regime was responsible for the deadly use of chemicals in Douma as he confirmed the military action in Syria, picturedRed Bull has revealed the true reason behind Max Verstappen's sudden crash in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend.

The Dutchman lost it in the first segment of the Saturday session, and later blamed a sudden surge of engine power for losing control of his RB14.

The explanation was viewed as a bit fishy by some of his colleagues, with fellow Renault-powered driver Nico Hulkenberg baffled by Verstappen's claims.

"I would like to know where the 150 horsepowers are coming from. Does he have a party mode as well?

"I haven't experienced that. It doesn't change from one lap to another. Let me put it like this  thats Greek to me!"

On a more serious note, Red Bull's Christian Horner shed some light on what exactly caused the sudden power rush.

"It wasnt a stuck throttle," Horner told Motorsport.com.

"I think when he got high on the kerb there was an oscillation on the foot. It was fairly obvious.

"The gearshift around there has always been a bit lumpy, and I think it was a combination of that, pushing flat out, up on the kerb, oscillation with the foot  put a lot of stuff together, thats what happens.

"So theres nothing to read into it."

Renaults' own forensic study of Verstappen's telemetry revealed no particular hardware or software malfunction.

"The engine has done exactly what the throttle was asking, it was very clear, he told Motorsport.com.

"Its a determinist thing, cause and consequence, when you press on the throttle, something is happening to the engine. The engine has reacted in exactly the same way that it was supposed to react."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and TwitterRussian envoy to the US Anatoly Antonov (pictured) warned that Moscow will respond to the strikes on Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced a strike on Syria launched by the United States and its allies as an 'act of aggression' that will exacerbate humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader says Moscow is calling an emergency meeting of the United Nations' Security Council over the strike launched by the U.S., Britain and France.

Putin added that the strike had a 'destructive influence on the entire system of international relations.'

He reaffirmed Russia's view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake.

Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack.

He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

A senior Russian military officer has said Russia may consider supplying S-300 missile systems to.

Putin's comments came as Russia's Ambassador to the United States warned the White House on Friday that military strikes against its ally 'will not be left without consequences' after President Donald Trump ordered the bombing of a multiple targets in Syria.

'The worst apprehensions have come true. Our warnings have been left unheard.A pre-designed scenario is being implemented,' Russian envoy Anatoly Antonov said in a statement.

'Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.'

'Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible,' the ambassador continued. 'The U.S.  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries,' he added.

The statement from Antonov was issued just minutes after the President directed a portion of his remarks towards Russian President Vladimir Putin as he delivered an address to the American people announcing the military action against Damascus.

Meanwhile, a highly placed Russian politician likened Trump to Adolf Hitler after the launch of airstrikes against multiple targets in the Middle East country

Trump issued the statement while speaking to the American people from the White House on Friday

'In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons,' Trump said in a televised address from the White House.

'Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace,' the President continued.

'These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead,' Trump added, referring to the Syrian regime leader and his role in the chemical weapons attacks.

Meanwhile, a highly placed Russian politician likened Trump to Adolf Hitler after the launch of airstrikes against its ally in Syria, and says he regards the action as a move against the Kremlin.

'These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead,' Trump said referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his role in recent chemical weapons attacks (Pictured right: Russian President Vladimir Putin)

President Donald Trump had said earlier that the campaign against the regime of Bashar Assad could be 'sustained'

Trump's comments marks the strongest rhetoric against the Russian leader since taking office last January

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, said Trump 'can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time - because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union,' according to state news agency RIA-Novosti.

'The Nazi forces' opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4am,' the lawmaker added.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a statement on Facebook, said the US struck Syria when the country finally had a chance at peace.

'One must be really exceptional to strike Syria's capital when the country finally got a chance for a peaceful future,' she wrote.

Zakharova accused the White House of relying on media reports to make its decision on whether to strike Syria.

'The White House said that the confidence in the Damascus standing behind the chemical attack is based on 'the media, reports of symptoms, videos and photos, as well as on credible information',' she wrote.

'15 years ago [before invading Iraq], the White House used a test tube and its State Department, now instead of a test tube Washington has used the media.'

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken 'decisive action' against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure.

Briefing reporters at the Pentagon Friday an hour after Trump announced the strike, Mattis said that strikes have 'sent a clear message' to Assad and his 'murderous lieutenants,' adding 'right now this is a one-time shot' but is not ruling out further attacks.

President Donald Trump had said earlier that the campaign against the regime of Bashar Assad could be 'sustained.'

Following the President's speech, US officials said attacks could continue beyond tonight, with a senior administration figure saying 'this isn't over' (Pictured: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis)

Mattis emphasized that he is 'absolutely confident' that Assad is behind the alleged chemical attack on his people that the U.S. and allies retaliated against Friday night.

Russian lawmaker Vladimir Dzhabarov said on Saturday that Russia was likely to call for a meeting of the United Nations security council to discuss U.S., British and French air strikes on Syria, RIA news agency cited him as saying.

'The situation is being analysed right now. Russia will demand a meeting of the U.N. security council, I am sure,' Dzhabarov, who is the deputy head of Russia's foreign affairs committee, was quoted by RIA as saying.

Following the President's speech, US officials said attacks could continue beyond tonight, with a senior administration figure saying 'this isn't over.'

Part of the calculation this week has also been gaming out how Russia will respond either in the region or around the world

'What you've seen tonight is not the end of the US response,' the senior administration official said.

'They have built a lot of flexibility into the plan to allow for further strikes based on what they've hit tonight.'

Another US official said a big concern is how much more sophisticated Russia's capabilities are now compared to last year.

The source says they are 'significantly enhanced' in terms of anti-strike and anti-aircraft capabilities.

Part of the calculation this week has also been gaming out how Russia will respond either in the region or around the world.

'We are watching what Russians do in the next 24 hours,' the official said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday strongly condemned the U.S.-led attacks on Syria and said Washington and its allies would bear the responsibility of the raids' consequences in the region and beyond, Iranian state media reported.

'Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume the responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism,' Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.A former CIA agent whose identity was leaked to the press blasted President Donald Trump after he pardoned I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby - a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

On Friday, Trump announced that he was pardoning Libby because he had 'heard that he has been treated unfairly'.

'Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life,' the president said.

Valeria Plame fired back saying Trump's claim that Libby was not being treated fairly was not true.

Valerie Plame, a former CIA agent whose identity was leaked to the press, lashed out at Scooter Libby's pardon saying Trump claiming the former White House aide was 'treated unfairly' is not true

Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson (right), also lashed out saying the pardon showed disregard for the country's national security

'That is simply false. Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury in a fair trial. President George W. Bush closely reviewed the facts in the case at the behest of Vice President Dick Cheney, who urged a pardon. Both the President and the Vice President willingly testified themselves,' she said.

'President Bush declined to issue a pardon, stating 'I respect the jury's verdict.' He added, 'And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable.' President Trump's pardon is not based on the truth,' she concluded.

Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 press leak of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, an event for which another man, Richard Armitage, later took responsibility.

President George W. Bush quickly commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence, but didn't issue a pardon despite intense pressure from Cheney. No one was ever charged for the leak itself.

President Donald Trump pardoned I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, on Friday

Trump said in a statement that 'I don't know Mr. Libby, but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly'

Valerie Plame (right) was at the center of the Libby case because of a press leak of her role in the CIA. Her husband Joseph (left) was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq un til 1991, and then served as Ambassador to Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe

Plame's husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, also lashed out at Trump during an interview with MSNBC Friday.

'You want to betray your country? That's fine, because Trump will pardon you if it suits his venal political interest. He is a vile and despicable individual who is undermining the democracy of our country,' Wilson said.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Wilson said the president's pardon showed his disregard for the country's national security.

'It has nothing to do with Libby, and it has nothing to do with me,' Wilson said. 'Libby's problem was with the Justice Department. He was indicted, tried and convicted on obstruction of justice and perjury charges for basically violating the national security of the United States of America.'

He added: 'Now he's being pardoned for it, which suggests of course that Mr. Trump is willing to allow people to violate the essence of our defense structure, our national security, our intelligence apparatus and essentially get away with it'.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked Friday whether President Trump was trying to send a message to special counsel Robert Mueller with the pardon  in effect communicating to potential witnesses that they could hold back information with impunity.

'Not at all,' said Sanders. 'One thing has nothing to do with the other. And every case should be reviewed on their own merits,' she said.

'Pardoning Libby was the right thing to do after the principle witness recanted her testimony. The D.C. Court of Appeals panel unanimously voted to restore Mr. Libby's bar membership, after being presented credible evidence in support of his version of events,' she said, in reference to his law license.

'And it appears that key prosecution witness, Judith Miller, changed her recollection of the events in question.'

Then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller, had determined that prosecutors falsely told her Plame was working under a CIA cover, when in fact her cover was with the State Department

WHY 'SCOOTER'? BEHIND LIBBY'S ODD NICKNAME Scooter Libby's full name is usually cited as Irve (or Irving) Lewis Libby, but his childhood nickname has stuck with him for decades. Libby has never said publicly where the name came from. But The New York Times reported in 2001, based on a phone call with his brother, that 'Scooter' came from their father, Irving. 'His nickname derives from the day Mr. Libby's father watched him crawling in his crib and joked, 'He's a Scooter!'' the Times related. The following year during an interview with then-CNN host Larry King, Libby acknowledged that the nickname 'goes way back to when I was a kid.' He also name-checked another famous 'Scooter,' a New York Yankees legend. 'Some people ask me ... if it's related to Phil Rizzuto,' he said. 'I had the range but not the arm.' Advertisement

Libby was chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (left); President George W. Bush commuted his prison sentence but refused to pardon him despite Cheney's repeated requests

Asked what convinced Trump to grant the pardon  Sanders did not further attempt to assemble an argument. 'The president thought it was the right thing to do,' she said.

The Libby case has been criticized by conservatives, who argue he was the victim of an overly zealous and politically motivated prosecution by a special counsel.

Libby was convicted for lying about the leak, not for participating in it. He has always asserted his innocence, despite paying a $250,000 fine, serving two years of probation and performing 400 hours of community service.

He later persuaded the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to reinstate his license to practice law after a bar association investigation found that 'it appears that one key prosecution witness' against him 'changed her recollection of the events in question.'

That witness, then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller, had determined that prosecutors falsely told her Plame was working under a CIA cover, when in fact her cover was with the State Department.

That, Miller realized too late, meant that when Libby told her Plame worked at the CIA, he was talking about her official job, not her secret undercover role at State.

She later said Libby was 'railroaded in his conviction.' And in a 2015 book, Miller described how prosecutors had manipulated her into testifying falsely.

'It was hard not to conclude that my testimony had been wrong. Had I helped to convict an innocent man?' she asked.

Prosecutors told Libby's jury that because Plame's identify was disclosed in the press, CIA assets could be 'arrested, tortured or killed.'

That, former CIA general counsel John Rizzo wrote later, was untrue. Outing Plame, he wrote in his memoirs, never damaged the agency or any of its agents.

'Every case should be reviewed on their own merits,' said Sanders, defending the pardon

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage apologized in 2006  before Libby's conviction  for mistakenly telling columnist Robert Novak in 2003 that Plame worked for the CIA.

'I feel terrible. Every day, I think I let down the president. I let down the Secretary of State. I let down my department, my family and I also let down Mr. and Mrs. Wilson,' he told CBS News, adding that 'I didn't know she was an operative.'

Trump also pardoned political supporter Sheriff Joe Arpaido and Kristian Saucier, a Navy sailor who had taken photos of classified areas of his nuclear-powered sub and destroyed his camera after being asked about it. He was convicted of a security charge and obstruction  and his lawyer had argued for leniency by citing the Hillary Clinton email scandal.

'Every case should be reviewed on their own merits,' said Sanders.

Another twist is that the special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, was appointed by James Comey, deputy attorney general at the time. Comey later became head of the FBI but was fired by Trump, and has since written a book highly critical of the president.

'Many people think that Scooter Libby was the victim of a special counsel gone amok,' White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Friday morning

Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel who prosecuted Scooter Libby, was appointed by James Comey, who was then deputy attorney general; Comey is now in a rhetorical shooting war with President Donald Trump

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said earlier on Friday that 'many people think that Scooter Libby was the victim of a special counsel gone amok.'

Asked if a pardon was about Comey, Conway said no.

Plame appeared on MSNBC Friday morning, saying a pardon would send a message 'that you can commit crimes against national security and you will be pardoned.'

The pardon is Trump's third.

He granted one last year for former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was awaiting sentencing for contempt of court. Trump also has pardoned a U.S. Navy sailor who was convicted after taking photos of classified portions of a submarine.

Conservative criticism of the special counsel in the Plame case echoes critiques of Robert Mueller's Russia probe. Mueller is special counsel leading an investigation into Russian election interference, possible coordination with Trump associates and potential obstruction of justice by the president.

Trump has repeatedly called that probe a 'witch hunt.'Malcolm Turnbull has thrown his support behind Donald Trump's decision to order precision airstrikes in Syria.

The move was announced by the US president Friday evening in retaliation for Bashar al-Assad's 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last weekend.

A statement released from prime minister Turnbull Saturday revealed Australia had taken action against the Syrian regime's illegal use of chemical weapons on April 7.

Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) has thrown his support behind Donald Trump's decision to order precision airstrikes in Syria

The move was announced by the US president Friday evening in retaliation for Bashar al-Assad's 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last weekend

'Australia supports these strikes, which demonstrate a calibrated, proportionate and targeted response,' the statement read.

'They send an unequivocal message to the Assad regime and its backers, Russia and Iran, that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.'

Mr Turnbull revealed the Australian Government had contributed 135 individuals and 42 entities to the cause.

'Australia has long called for a political solution to this crisis and continues to support the UN-led peace process in Geneva,' he said.

'Russia and Syria's other main supporter, Iran, must place pressure on the regime to end its abuse of international law and human rights within the conflict and engage seriously in negotiations to bring the seven-year civil war to an end.'

A poison gas attack killed at least 60 people that the U.S. and its allies say was carried out by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on April 7 in Douma near Damascus

A poison gas attack killed at least 60 people that the U.S. and its allies say was carried out by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on April 7 in Douma near Damascus

Syrian state TV says the country's air defenses shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area south of Damascus fired by the United States and its coalition early Saturday morning local time.

The assault by the United States consisted of roughly 120 missiles, the Pentagon indicated, with Secretary of Defense James Mattis describing the number as 'a little over double' the number of missiles fired in last year's air assault on Syria.A determined driver has forked out $100,000 in legal costs after appealing a $446 speeding fine.

The 24-year-old woman's two year legal battle revealed a technicality with a certificate used by police during court proceedings when drivers would appeal handheld speed gun fines.

The technicality shows that the police commissioner had not approved testing on the speed guns, The Daily Telegraph reported.

A 'legal technicality' over the approved testing of handheld speed guns has helped a woman appealing a fine

After police withdrew their defence to the women's appeal they were forced to award her $33,000 in costs.

The woman says she has spent more than $100,000 on the court proceedings and will apply to recoup further legal costs.

The woman's lawyer Carol Jones said a police certificate tendered during the appeal stated that speed guns had been 'tested for accuracy in accordance with the manufacturer's recommended calibration method as approved by the Commissioner of Police.'

However the Commissioner had never approved the testing.

Police pulled the woman up in Lawson in the Blue Mountains for speeding 20km/h over the limit but she decided to fight the fine because she did not believe she was going that much over.

The revelation of the legal technicality could potentially open doors for other drivers to appeal their fines once again.

Police pulled the woman up in Lawson in the Blue Mountains (pictured) for speeding 20km/h over the limit

'The Commissioner should set the record straight and accept that the courts have been misled in prosecutions, which often have very dire consequences for drivers around the state,' Ms Younes said.

A NSW police spokesman said the technicality had been fixed in March.

'The methods recommended by the manufacturer and the applicable standard were being used to test and calibrate (the devices) however police did not have a document stating that these methods were approved by the Commissioner,' he said.

Assistant Commissioner Mick Corboy said that it would not impact on and current or future issues with the devices and their use.

'I have absolute faith in the accuracy of the devices, their calibration and the training of police in the operation of them,' he said.A model who racked up a crippling debt after becoming a cocaine addict has given evidence in court for his involvement in a Sydney drug syndicate.

George Gerges spent $7,000 a week on cocaine and starting doing drop-offs after owing $25,000 to his dealers.

After spending all his savings, Gerges was offered a drug delivery job to pay off this debt.

Geogre Gerges, 33,(pictured) racked up a crippling debt of $25,000 after his recreational cocaine habit spiralled out of control.

Gerges(pictured left) dated former Bachelor contestant Emma Rose before he was arrested by police in 2015

'I was hesitant at first, but at the same time I needed to keep supplying myself with drugs and I had no other way to work off the debt,' Gerges told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The 33-year-old said he would use code words such as 'rock show tickets' or 'beers' and then deliver the half gram bag for $200.

He was paid $50 per bag and was earning $3500 per week which still fed his own $1000 a day habit.

Gerges was caught by police carrying 182 resealable bags of cocaine in his possession including 40 bags in his underwear

He said: 'Cocaine gives you a stupid amount of confidence, and I felt confident at the time. But now I can see it was an absolutely warped reality'.

Gerges was caught by police carrying 182 resealable bags of cocaine in his possession including 40 bags in his underwear.

The Bondi man, whose family moved from Lebanon to Australia, is now a laborer with his father.

He is now an active volunteer with the homeless, provides maths tutoring, and offers guest speaking at schools about his relationship with drugs. The 33-year-old is now living in Bondi

He is now an active volunteer with the homeless, provides maths tutoring, and offers guest speaking at schools about his relationship with drugs.

Gerges said he has not used drugs since he was arrested by police in 2015.

'I'm disappointed with who I became. I don't know that person,' he said.

He is expected will be sentenced on April 26 at New South Wales District Court.A New Jersey law enforcement is asking for any information pertaining to the identity of a infant girl whose body was found in a suitcase near train tracks.

The baby's remains were found by a Port Authority employee on Wednesday. They had been conducting a routine inspection of train tracks in Jersey City.

Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez shared that the girl's cause and manner of death have not been found, according to ABC News.

The baby's remains were found by a Port Authority employee on Wednesday. They had been conducting a routine inspection of train tracks in Jersey City

The girl was found in what appeared to be a bag but a bright pink suitcase was seen in the middle of the scene

The girl was found in what appeared to be a bag but a bright pink suitcase was seen in the middle of the scene, sources tell NJ.com

Sources say the infant appears to have been found inside a bag. A bright pink suitcase could be seen in the middle of the scene where police were investigating.

Both the Hudson County prosecutors and Port Authority Police are investigating the girl's death.

A map of where the baby's body was found in relation to the closest transit station

Jersey City is located just a few miles away from lower Manhattan

A preliminary medical exam revealed that the infant was either Hispanic or African-American.

She was also identified as being approximately 10-months-old

Jersey City is located just a few miles away from lower Manhattan.A father on the brink of total blindness has made the life altering decision to sell his lucrative business and tour the country with his kids before everything goes black.

Daniel Reddicliffe has slowly lost his eyesight to retinitis pigmentosa since being diagnosed as a 16-year-old, but it has savaged his eyes rapidly in recent months.

The daunting severity of his condition pushed him into selling his company, the tourist-favourite DuckBus in Airlie Beach, on Queensland's Whitsunday Coast.

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Daniel Reddicliffe (pictured) has made the life altering decision to sell his DuckBus business and tour the country with his kids before he can't see anything

Mr Reddicliffe (pictured with children) hopes to see the best of Australia with his children Lachlan, three, and Olivia, one, before his vision is completely gone

While the 30-year-old isn't fussed about travelling overseas, he's determined to experience the best Australia has to offer with his children before it's too late.

At the top of his must-see list is a tropical destination off Australia's eastern Queensland coast, but beyond that he hasn't got anything major planned.

'Believe it or not I really just want to see Frasier Island,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'After that I pretty much want to go up around the top end of Australia. I don't really have any desire to travel overseas as trying to walk through airports frightens the hell out of me.'

The daunting severity of his condition pushed him into selling his company, the tourist-favourite DuckBus (pictured) in Airlie Beach, on Queensland's Whitsunday Coast

While the 30-year-old (pictured) isn't fussed about travelling overseas, he's determined to experience the best Australia has to offer with his children before it's too late

Mr Reddicliffe is an optimist and wields the strong belief that 'if you don't laugh, you'll cry', but he admitted he's been 'freaking out' the past six months.

'They said I would be 40 or more before I lose my sight but the way I've been feeling the last few months I would be surprised if I had another five years,' he told Nine News.

Having been recently declared legally blind by his doctor, Mr Reddicliffe said its not entirely practical for him to be operating his much-loved business anymore.

'It actually got to the stage now where it's not safe for me to be a deckhand on the tour,' he said.

Mr Reddicliffe is an optimist and wields the strong belief that 'if you don't laugh, you'll cry', but he admitted he's been 'freaking out' the past six months

Had his poor vision not forced him to sell-up, Mr Reddicliffe said he would have loved to continue running his touring business.

'It's a fantastic business, if I had good eyes I would drive it and do the commentary, it would be bloody unreal. But now I just want it sold so I have a bit of a life.'

When he's finished traveling he hopes to utilise his love for writing, which he currently expresses on Duckbus Dan, or even try his hand in radio or advertising.

Until then, he hopes to cash in on his famous Duckbus, which is listed Whitsunday Coast's First National Real Estate, taking offers more than $500,000.When Andy Fierlit told his wife that he would stick by her side in sickness and in health he meant it.

Roughly 27 years ago Donna Fierlit suffered a brain aneurysm. She was 45 years old at the time and was left partially paralyzed. She has to use a wheelchair and suffers from short-term memory loss.

Doctors told Andy to put Donna in a nursing home. Andy told CNN in an interview Friday that he refused.

Donna Fierlit suffered a brain aneurysm 27 years ago and doctors told her husband Andy to put her in a nursing home but he refused

Instead the couple decided to travel the world visiting more than 20 countries and all seven continents

'I said no way, that's not gonna happen. I made a promise to her that we would go on to work out as best a life as possible,' Andy said

The next place the couple hope to visit is Scandinavia. They hope with some generosity they will be able to make the trip happen

'I said no way, that's not gonna happen. I made a promise to her that we would go on to work out as best a life as possible,' he said.

Andy and Donna met 58 years ago as teenagers at a church dance. Andy said when he saw Donna he approached her and asked for a stick of gum. She told him to 'get lost' but something sparked between them.

Not long after they began dating, the couple tied the knot. That was in 1966. The Connecticut lovebirds now share four children together, 12 grandchildren and dozens and dozens of memories.

'Love is something you have to work at,' Andy told CNN.

'It has to be part of you.' Donna added.

'You don't spray it on you like a cologne and all of a sudden you're in love.' Andy continued.

Determined to make the best of their situation after Donna's aneurysm, the couple started traveling. Their first trip was a cruise to Bermuda.

In the nearly three decades since the couple has traveled to more than 20 countries and all seven continents.

'Africa, Australia, Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica,' Andy said, rattling off some of the places they've been too.

Traveling with someone in a wheelchair can be tricky, Andy said, but they always manage to make it work.

Andy and Donna met 58 years ago at a church dance. He said when he first approached Donna told him to 'get lost'

The couple, who married in 1966, have four children and 12 grandchildren

Andy and Donna are pictured during one of their vacations. They plan to keep traveling across the world

Donna and Andy, pictured on another vacation, nicknamed her wheelchair 'Proud Mary' because she said it 'keeps on rolling'

During a trip to Europe, he said Donna had to ride in the cargo section of a train because it couldn't accommodate her wheelchair. Regardless, they had a good time.

They even have a hilarious nickname for Donna's wheelchair: 'Proud Mary'.

'She keeps on rolling,' Donna told the outlet.

Up until now, Donna and Andy have been paying for their trips with their personal savings but it's starting to run low.

Andy said he's hopeful that with a bit of generosity they can continue their world travels. The next place they want to visit is Scandinavia.

'One step at a time,' he said. 'That was the goal: to live on, enjoy life.'Australia is largely dependent on oil imported from across the Middle East

As the conflict in Syria escalates, a major US strike is set to drastically disrupt Australia's import-dependent oil and fuel supplies.

The air strikes launched by American president Donald Trump on Saturday could leave Australia with insufficient fuel reserves and soaring petrol prices.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned the strikes will disrupt already low liquid fuel supplies and potentially cripple the Australian economy within weeks, The Australian reports.

US-led strikes on Syria is set to drastically disrupt Australia's import-dependent oil and fuel supplies, experts have warned

The Damascus sky lights up with missile fire as the US, Britain and France launch an attack on Syria after it was announce don Saturday

Smoke rises over the capital Damascus after air strikes struck Syria early Saturday, April 14, local time

The conflict in Syria is building after an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government killed 60 people

The outbreak of hostilities could have profound consequences for Australia, threatening the nation's energy security

The prospect of increasing and broader conflict has global implications. The outbreak of hostilities could have profound consequences for Australia, threatening the nation's energy security.

The country is dependent on importing oil from refineries across the Middle East region, retired air vice-marshal John Blackburn, a former deputy chief of the air force has warned.

'We import 91 per cent of all our transport fuels in this way. And Australia has no government-held stocks, has not told industry what stocks they have to keep and there is no plan B in case of an oil and fuel supply interruption,' he told The Weekend Australian.

'If the Middle East security situation blew up or deteriorated, there is no plan B in this country on how to manage it'.

Australia imports 91 per cent of all oil supplies with only limited amounts of fuel held in reserve (pictured is smoke rising over Damascus)

A cruise missile is pictured being launched from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria

NSW Liberal Senator Jim Molan, the chief of operations for coalition forces during the Iraq War agreed and said Australia depends on oil moved from the Gulf across to Asia to be refined and sent to Australia.

'If that stops, we have insufficient fuel reserves in this country to meet such an emergency,' he said.

'Any function which relies on aviation fuel, diesel fuels or petrol will cease within a few weeks.'

The risk to national fuel security was reiterated by a former SAS commander who said if the fuel supplies were compromised, all Australians would be affected, including those relying on key medicines, because 'we run a just-in-time economy'.

Donald Trump is pictured addressing the nation on Friday evening from the Diplomatic Room of the White House, announcing retaliatory airstrikes on Syria

The International Energy Agency - designed to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in the supply of oil - reported Australia has just 43 days of fuel supply in the event of emergency.

This is the lowest of all 30 member countries of the IEA, the February 2018 report on Australia's energy policy said.

The report indicated it could not see how Australia would cope with a major oil supply disruption that would lead to market failure.

A report published in February revealed Australia has just 43 days of fuel in the event of an emergency shortage (pictured, a fighter jet lands at RAF Akrotiri, the British military base in Cyprus)

'In a major disruption, we would have major problems within two weeks,' Mr Blackburn said.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security also recommended that the Department of Home Affairs review and ensure Australia has a 'continuous supply of fuel to meet its national security priorities'.

The report found there was a 'serious requirement' to test the 'effectiveness of any existing or potential risk mitigations, particularly in scenarios of heightened geopolitical tensions', The Australian reported.

A child receiving oxygen through respirators following a poison gas attack in Douma in Syria which killed at least 60 people last week

A poison gas attack killed up to 75 people that the US and its allies say was carried out by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on April 7 in Douma near Damascus

President Trump announced a combined operation with Britain and France is targeting Syria's chemical weapons capabilities after a poison gas attack killed at least 60 people in Douma last week.

To send a strong signal against the use of chemical weapons, Britain and France joined in action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the Turnbull government has said.

There are concerns that this is the most dangerous encounter with Russia since the Cold War, with the potential to draw in Iran and Israel.Bill Gates, who participated in a Reddit 'Ask Me Anything' says that a financial crisis similar to the 2008 Great Recession is a certainty in the near future.

When the recession hit in 2008, millions of Americans lost their jobs, and it took years for the economy to recover, with people and industries still seeing ripple effects.

According to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates another one is heading to the USA, but he has a more positive spin on it.

Gates was asked if, in the near future there will be a similar crisis to the one in 2008, and he responded: 'Yes. It is hard to say when but this is a certainty,' according to CNBC.

Bill Gates says America will certainly see another financial crisis similar to the Great Recession of 2008, it is just a matter of when

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange moments after the opening bell December 12, 2008 in New York City. Millions of Americans lost their jobs

Bill Gates participated in a Reddit Ask Me Anything and was asked about the possibility of another American financial crisis

He added, 'Fortunately, we got through that one reasonably well. Warren has talked about this and he understands this area far better than I do.'

Both Warren and Gates, who are longtime friends, have been optimistic about the economy in general.

Buffet has said years of growth 'certainly lie ahead,' and 'most American children are going to live far better than their parents did.'

A trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange reacts to the plummeting market on September 15, 2008

The recession had bankrupt financial firm employees packing up their offices, Lehman Brothers employee pictured above in New York

Employees of a bankrupt financial firm leave a London office with their possessions in hand

The recession caused millions to lose their jobs as companies went bankrupt, Lehman Brothers employee pictured above leaving the New York office with his possessions in a box

Sent packing: Cut workers leave their offices with boxes in tow during the financial crisis

Despite the warning, both Gates and his longtime friend Warren Buffett are generally optimistic about the U.S. economy.

In an essay for Time magazine, Buffett stated that years of growth 'certainly lie ahead,' and 'most American children are going to live far better than their parents did.'

Gates concluded his Reddit AMA response by saying, 'Despite this prediction of bumps ahead, I am quite optimistic about how innovation and capitalism will improve the situation for humans everywhere.'

In the Reddit discussion, Gates referenced good friend, Warren Buffett, they believe despite dips in the country's economy the future of finance is America is very bright

As for how you, the investor, should react if the market tanks, keep a level head and stay the course, says Buffett. In response to wild market fluctuations back in 2016, he told CNBC that buy-and-hold is still the best strategy.

'Don't watch the market closely,' he advised those worried about their retirement savings at the time. 'If they're trying to buy and sell stocks, and worry when they go down a little bit  and think they should maybe sell them when they go up, they're not going to have very good results.'

Buffett says don't mess with your stocks through flucuations: 'If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes.'Formula 1 teams are set to discuss a possible scrapping of the sport's current fuel limit for 2019 at a Strategy Group meeting scheduled on April 17.

Teams are limited to 105kg of fuel, a threshold that often leads to fuel saving, or a "lift and coast" tactic by drivers during a race to ensure they see the checkered flag.

However, reporting from Germany's Auto Motor und Sport states that a proposal to scrap the fuel limit altogether will be discussed by the teams at next week's Strategy Group meeting.

At the very least, an increase in the fuel limit may be on the cards. "It's set too low," a Mercedes engineer said.

Another topic to be discussed at the meeting on Tuesday is overtaking, with changes to the wings on the cards for 2019.

It was reported last week that teams had discarded any aero changes for next year in a meeting in Bahrain with Formula 1 sporting boss Ross Brawn, but modification could still happen.

"Yes, we still have time to agree for next year," said Renault technical boss Bob Bell.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and TwitterJohnathan Robinson, 36, fatally shot his ex-girlfriend dead Thursday morning. The horrifying shooting was caught on Facebook Live

A woman was shot dead by her ex-boyfriend after streaming her final moment on Facebook Live in a desperate plea to friends and family.

Rannita Williams, 27, used her phone to start a Facebook Live video at 11am Thursday during an altercation with her ex-boyfriend, Johnathan Robinson.

The shooting occurred in Williams' home in Shreveport, Louisiana, where Robinson, 36, was videoed forcing her to apologize for something. It remains unclear why she had to apologize.

Williams, who is often referred to as 'Nunu', spoke to a live audience as Robinson paced behind her and threatened her life.

Six shots were then fired by Robinson in a horrifying moment captured in the video which shows Williams collapsing to the ground.

Robinson is heard earlier in the video saying: 'B**** wanna be famous?'

Williams replied no as her ex-boyfriend continued to say threats and pace behind her during the video.

Rannita Williams, 27, was shot six times by her ex after she was held hostage in her home Shreveport, Louisiana

Williams appears terrified on camera as she communicates with her family and friends during her last moments. The video ends with viewers seeing the shadow of a shotgun after Williams is shot dead

He was heard muttering 'Everybody wanna be famous, let's be famous today' during the video.

Police said that Robinson was holding Williams hostage in her own home before he grabbed a shotgun and shot her.

The terrified woman is heard screaming 'Stop Johnathan' as he opened fire on her, and the phone dropped to the ground.

At the end of the video, a shadow of the rifle is seen on camera as Robinson stands over the woman.

He is heard saying: 'Now b****, game over. Game over b****.'

Williams was rushed to the hospital, but she died later of her gunshot wounds.

Her family said that she previously dated Robinson off and on for years, but the pair reportedly broke up for good about two years ago.

Robinson was charged with second-degree murder and possession of a firearm before being taken to Caddo Correctional Center

The terrified woman is heard screaming 'Stop Johnathan' as he opened fire on her, and the phone dropped to the ground. She died in the hospital from her gunshot wounds

Nearly 40 officers rushed to the scene after the shots were fired inside the Louisiana home. When they arrived, officers exchanged gunfire with Robinson for nearly 90 minutes before they could arrest him, the Shreveport Times reported.

One police officer sustained a gunshot wound to the wrist but everyone else remained unscathed.

Robinson was charged with second-degree murder and possession of a firearm before being taken to Caddo Correctional Center.

He reportedly was arrested back in 2015 after he allegedly beat his girlfriend when he forced her into a residence.Usain Bolt has been snapped posing for a photo alongside a glamorous Australian model who is facing serious drug-trafficking charges.

The sprinter was photographed with Raquel Petit, the founder of luxury swimwear range Petitkini, who is accused of trafficking and importing steroids into Victoria.

Petit was clubbing on the famous Gold Coast strip with friends when she bumped into the Jamaican track star

The pair were both clubbing on the famous Gold Coast strip when the photo was taken.

World-famous sprinter, Usain Bolt posed for a photograph alongside accused drug trafficker, Raquel Petit (far left)

Raquel Petit is accused of trafficking steroids in to Victoria in 2015 to 2016. She allegedly used the mail service to do so

A spokesperson for Bolt shut down any suggestion the athlete was partying with Petit or knew who she was when he posed for the photo with the busty brunette.

'Usain takes photos with hundreds of fans every night he is out in public,' the spokesperson told the Courier Mail.

'This was a random photo with a member of the public as he was leaving the venue.'

There is no suggestion Usain Bolt had any idea of Petit's criminal charges or colourful history.

The 24-year-old model and bikini tycoon dated Mongols bikie and convicted killer Wade Yates-Taui

Petit, a 24-year-old model and designer from the Gold Coast, once dated Mongols bikie and convicted killer Wade Yates-Taui.

He was sentenced to several years in prison after the fatal stabbing of Bandido associate Max Waller in 2013.

Ms Petit was posting pictures of the pair on holidays which led to the dramatic arrest of her bikie boyfriend in the U.S.

Ms Petit was posting pictures of the pair on holidays which led to the dramatic arrest of her bikie boyfriend in the U.S.

The Gold Coast bikini tycoon has been accused of importing steroids to Victoria over a 16-month period.

She allegedly used the mail service to post the drugs to Victoria from July 10, 2015 to November 2, 2016.

Police also allege she dealt with proceeds of crime at $46,920 worth of cash from April 2015 to May the next year.A mother who is concerned about the level of violence at her daughter's school is calling for security to guards to be put in place if teachers refuse to step in to stops the fights.

Footage of the incident involving the woman's daughter shows a girl running up and repeatedly hitting her on the grounds of Yanchep Secondary College.

Dawn Cary said seeing the footage broke her heart and made her 'feel sick to the stomach,' PerthNow has reported.

Dawn Cary (pictured) said seeing the footage broke her heart and made her 'feel sick to the stomach'

A student had already started filming before the first punch had been thrown.

In the footage you can see the girl run up and repeatedly punching Ms Cary's 13-year-old daughter.

Other students are standing around filming the fight.

Ms Cary's daughter tries to fight back hitting the girl in the head and pushing her away as the violence continues.

She says the most disturbing aspect of the violent video is the teacher who yells at the girls to stop but seems reluctant to step in and end the fight.

A male teacher can be seen watching the fight and telling the girls that it is 'enough.'

She says the most disturbing aspect of the violent video is the teacher who yells at the girls to stop but does not intervene

'The guy was asking them to stop but let's be honest, that's not going to work,'Ms Carey said.

A female teacher eventually stepped in to break the pair up.

Ms Carey told daily Mail Australia that the school had not been in contact with her over the incident.

'No not really they did send someone to the meeting I had with parents, she was there to listen. But no nothing back yet.'

'I think we want to insist in Yanchep to have maybe security at the school because if the teachers have taken the option to not get involved, we need to protect our children.'

In the footage you can see the girl run up and repeatedly punching Ms Cary's 13-year-old daughter

Teachers are allowed to 'take action, including physical contact with a student' to break up fights if they can do it without putting themselves in danger, the education department policy instructs.

The teachers union advisers educators not to get physically involved in schoolyard fights but to instead tell students to stop.

The use of excessive force from teachers trying to restrain students could be deemed as assault.

Both girls were suspended over the fight.White House concerns over the FBI seizing recordings from Trump's personal attorney are confirmed. Tapes of Michael Cohen speaking to an attorney for Storm Daniels and Karen McDougal are among them.

Michael Cohen's conversations with attorney Keith Davidson, who represented Stormy Daniels when she was paid $130,000 hush money settlement, as well as a payment made to Karen McDougal. Both women were paid to keep quiet on their allegations of an affair with a not-yet-president Trump.

A source tells CNN Cohen recorded some of his calls with Davidson, who no longer represents either of the women, but the deals done to keep their stories from becoming public are now playing out in litigation, with each of the women wanting to be released from their agreements.

Another source says in at least one conversation between the two men, 'Cohen was being unusually simplistic, like he had bullet points that he was reading from to try and make himself look good. He was trying to clarify the timeline of the agreements made with Davidson in his (Cohen's) favor.'

Keith Davidson (pictured) represented both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal in negotiations for their hush money with Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen (pictured) Trump's personal attorney, had his offices and home raided Monday. Cohen is known to tape his conversations, and some of those are now in the feds hands

Porn star Stormy Daniels (left) and Playmate Karen McDougal's (right with Trump) hush money payouts, and conversations between their attorney at the time and Trump's attorney, are now in the feds hands

'Attorney Davidson never consented to any recordings of his conversations with Mr. Cohen. If they in fact do exist, Attorney Davidson will pursue all his legal rights under the law,' Dave Wedge, a spokesman for Davidson, said.

Phone calls made within New York are acceptable for one party recordings, however, Davidson is in California and recording him without his consent would be illegal.

The recording could be valuable to the federal criminal investigation of Cohen.

The warrant for the raids also specified that Cohen was being investigated for bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance issues.

Cohen has denied any wrongdoing, however if he chooses to cooperate under the pressure of the investigation rather than fight the case, his knowledge of the President's dealings could create serious problems for Trump as special counsel Robert Mueller continues his investigation.

Prosecutors are 'going to be very excited at the prospect of having an independent means of corroborating what was said between the two parties,' CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Michael Zeldin said.

'If all that stuff gets recorded, then they are in deep hurt because if it was just oral between them, it could be a conspiracy of liars but the tapes undermine that.'

Additionally, Zeldin says, the conversations between Davidson and Cohen would likely not fall under attorney-client privilege.

McDougal in her own lawsuit to get out of her agreement not to share her story, she argues Davidson was part of a 'broad effort to silence and intimidate her and others.'

It is a claim Davidson has denied.

During an interview with CNN last month, Davidson said Cohen had urged him to go public with conversations he had had with his own clients, Daniels and McDougal and reveal what he knew about the women and their agreements.

Donald Trump's personal attorney made it a habit to tape phone conversations and use them as leverage

Michael Cohen's (pictured Thursday) office, home and hotel were raided by the FBI on Monday and what was seized was handed over to the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York

Cohen argued the women had already broken attorney client privilege by going public with their stories.

'He suggested that it would be appropriate for me to go out into the media and spill my guts,' Davidson said.

During Friday's hearing in which Cohen argued to suppress the evidence gathered in the raid there was no mention of the specific recordings.

The Davidson recordings may not be the sole tapes the FBI gathered in Monday's raid. Another source said there are recordings of conversations Cohen had with media and political figures that he played for Trump during the exploratory part of the campaign.

Cohen, who served for a decade at the Trump Organization, was known to tape conversations with associates to use as leverage. It was a practice the president was aware of.

'We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,' said one Trump adviser to the Washington Post, who spoke about the ongoing investigation.

The FBI raided Cohen's home, office and hotel on Monday.

The products of the search warrants were handed to the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.

A view of 30 Rockefeller Center where Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's long-time personal attorney, has an office that was searched Monday

Cohen pictured in front of his New York apartment building (left) and his hotel (right) both this week

It is unknown if Cohen recorded his own conversations with Trump specifically.

Cohen would frequently tout the New York law that only one party in the state had to consent to the taping of conversations.

Trump himself previously boasted he taped people, even teasing that he had taped now former FBI Director James Comey.

'James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!' Trump tweeted after stories surfaced saying Trump asked the former FBI director to pledge his loyalty before he fired Comey.

The White House later acknowledged there weren't any tapes.

Legal experts told the Post taped phone conversations are a gold mine for prosecutors.

'If you are looking for evidence, you can't do any better than people talking on tape,' said Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor.

Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University who specializes in legal ethics expanded, saying that phone conversations are particularly significant.

'The significance is 9.5 to 10 on a 10-point scale,' he added, noting that investigators know 'that when people speak on the phone, they are not guarded. They don't imagine that the conversation will surface.'Advertisement

Sydney sweltered through another scorching April day with temperatures reaching 31 degrees on Saturday - but a cool change is expected leading into next week.

An early morning storm made way for the Saturday heat which forecasters say could be the last breath of summer.

Beach-goers donned cheeky bikinis and budgie smugglers, flocking to Sydney's iconic Bondi to soak up the sun and make a splash in the cool water and making the most of the record-breaking heatwave.

Sydney suffered through another sweltering April day with temperatures reaching 31 degrees today but a cool change is expected leading into next week

the record breaking heat wave has lasted well in April and even with a cooler change next week it is still expected to be slightly above the average

It will be the hottest day over the coming week for Sydney, with temperatures set to drop to a high of 25 by Sunday with an average of 21 degrees.

A Weatherzone spokesperson said today's temperatures won't be breaking any more records however it is warmer than normal for this time of the year.

'Temperatures have been well above average,' the spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

It will be the hottest day over the coming week with temperatures set to drop to a high of 25 by Sunday with an average of 21 degrees

People took to the beach to beat the brutal Saturday heat before a cool change is expected next week

'This is caused by a hot mass of air over the interior across the interior of the country which will move through eastern New south Wales with a trough.'

The heat isn't expected to stick around much longer for the coming week with big winds expected by Saturday afternoon.

'We are seeing a frontal system pushing over today,' the spokesperson said.

'Which will bring strong winds and mild temperatures.

'It will still be a couple of degrees above average but it will still be better than the last couple of days.'

'This is caused by a hot mass of air over the interior across the interior of the country which will move through eastern New south Wales with a trough,' a Weatherzone spokesperson said

The heat isn't expected to stick around much longer for the coming week with big winds expected by Saturday afternoon

Sunday should reach a high of 25 degrees with 33% humidity.

Today will be the fourth day this week to exceed 30 degrees with Monday, Thursday and Friday all going over.

Monday was the highest recorded heat for the month so far with 35.4 degrees.

Today will be the fourth day this week to exceed 30 degrees with Monday, Thursday and Friday all going over

Monday was the highest recorded heat for the month so far with 35.4 degrees

No better time to break out the old 'budgie smugglers' with possibly the last hot spell of the Summer descending on SydneyRepublican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has thrown his support for a successor behind California GOP Representative and current House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

'I think we all think that Kevin is the right person,' Ryan told NBC's Chuck Todd on Friday, using the word 'we' to refer to Republic leadership in the House, in an already released clip from a longer interview that will air on Sunday's episode of Meet the Press.

Ryan made his preference for a successor known just two days after he announced on Wednesday that he will not seek re-election in November, so he can get to know his children as more than a 'weekend Dad.'

However, with every seat in the House up for re-election at the end of the year, it's also possible McCarthy could be vying, instead, for the title of House Minority Leader, if Democrats regain control over the lower house in the mid-terms.

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has thrown his support for a successor behind California GOP Representative and current House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy; McCarthy is seen at left with Ryan at right on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on September 6

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Friday that President Donald Trump 'has a great relationship' with McCarthy but declined to say whom he wants as speaker.

If it is a Republican who turns out to be Ryan's successor, that person will need to secure 218 GOP votes to claim the top position in the House.

That's because the entire chamber votes on the speaker and all Democrats would be sure to oppose any Republican candidate.

But even with backing from Ryan, and potentially Trump, McCarthy's grasp on the highest billed GOP House position in either a majority or minority scenario is uncertain.

McCarthy and Ryan conduct a news conference in the Capitol after a meeting of the House Republican Conference on March 6

In 2015, McCarthy's effort to succeed Republican Speaker John Boehner from Ohio flopped in just a few days as he failed to secure enough votes, especially from conservatives.

To make things more complicated, Rep. Jim Jordan from Ohio, who is the leader of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, said he's 'open to running' and has been encouraged by colleagues to do so.

Although Jordan's candidacy would seem all but certain to fall short, it could potentially serve as a way for that group's roughly 30 members to win leverage by trading their support for promises of leadership and committee posts.

The current third-ranking House Republican leader, Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, is seen as McCarthy's true top rival for the post.

While Scalise, who is viewed as more conservative than McCarthy, has said he wouldn't run against his longtime friend, he's left the door open for seeking the post should McCarthy's effort fall short.

President Donald Trump addresses the nation on the situation in Syria on Friday at the White House in Washington, DC; Trump is believed to support McCarthy as the next House Speaker

With such a major election right around the corner, many Republicans say it's crucial that the party unify behind an effort to pass additional bills on taxes and other subjects and focus on re-election campaigns, not a divisive internal contest over the next leader.

Aides to McCarthy and Scalise declined to immediately provide comment.

Sources with knowledge of a conversation that occurred at the White House on Wednesday between Trump and McCarthy said the president expressed support for Ryan's deputy leader, after asking McCarthy if he really wanted the job.

McCarthy said he did, according to the sources, adding that while Trump tried not to explicitly endorse McCarthy, it was clear the president would be 'very happy' for McCarthy to ascend to the post.

But even in a contest of Republican lawmakers, a Trump endorsement is a double-edged sword. The president is unpopular in many suburban and other swing districts, and many Republicans don't want their leader to be viewed as beholden to the whims of the unpredictable president.

Others bristle at the idea of presidential meddling in their contest.

'This is a matter to be decided by the legislative branch of government, not the executive branch,' Republican Representative Leonard Lance of New Jersey said of Trump supporting a candidate.

McCarthy (left) and Ryan confer following a closed House Republicans conference meeting in the US Capitol in Washington, DC on January 9

Still, the Trump factor will be hard to avoid. With Ryan's departure slated for January, Republicans will lose another establishment force who, at times, pushed back at Trump.

It's far from clear McCarthy intends to play the same role.

He was one of Trump's earliest supporters and has never flinched as Trump endured criticism for his comments on women, minorities and others.

Since Trump's election, the two have advertised their close relationship and a buddy-movie-style bond, highlighted by Trump sometimes calling out 'my Kevin' at events.

Aides say the two men speak frequently, enjoying a partnership that's benefited both men.

In McCarthy, Trump has a Capitol Hill confidant who looks the part of the silver-haired politician with his sharp suits and ready smile. On the flip side, McCarthy is able to boost his conservative credentials every time he has a chance to flaunt his seemingly chummy relationship with Trump.

Neither man is tethered to strict GOP dogma, which creates space for the deal-making both favor. Both like to rely on gut political instincts than expertise in guiding decisions.

In one speed bump in their relationship, The Washington Post reported that a leaked 2016 audiotape included a suggestion by McCarthy that Trump was being paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump repeatedly praised during the presidential campaign.

McCarthy aides said the remark, made to other GOP leaders, was a bad joke.Advertisement

Thousands donned their best frocks and spent the day basking in the sunshine at Randwick Racecourse.

Crowds flocked to for Queen Elizabeth stakes day where the champagne flowed as Australia's champion racehorse made history.

Punters cheered from the rails as Winx won her 25th race in a row, matching the winning streak of fellow champion Black Caviar.

Party time: Drinks were flowing after the historical win where one race-goer appeared to wear a bag full of liquid on her arm

Classy glasses: Two people appeared to be enjoying the night as they wore a pair of sunglasses despite it being dark outside

One woman appeared to be having fun at the Queen Elizabeth stakes day long after the last race was won on Saturday

These women were seen enjoying each others company as the day wore on as they got wild with beverages in paper cups

Well deserved rest: As some danced their way through the afternoon, some put their feet up for a break near a white fence

Thousands flocked to Randwick Racecourse to witness the making of history (pictured) as they dressed in their finest clothes

While racegoers relaxed in shade on quaint yellow chairs, the country's champion racehorse Winx won her 25th race in a row

Smiles all around: Crowds flocked to Queen Elizabeth stakes day (pictured) as Australia's champion racehorse won huge race

Pastel hues covered the grounds as one woman was seen wearing a baby blue dress made of dainty lace (pictured)

Heels made for walking: Long tresses flowed as did the frocks (left and right) and champagne on Saturday afternoon

Feminine frocks were the sought after look for Saturday afternoon's race.

Hues of pink and baby blues appeared to be the popular choice among women who completed their outfits with over sized hats.

Men even jumped on the colour trend as they sported pastel dipped ties.

Gusts of wind proved to be a problem for those in shorter skirts but was a breeze for racegoers wearing flowy dresses.

Traditional fascinators appeared to missing on at Randwick with straw hats acting as a replacement.

Sunshine made for perfect race day conditions where punters were able to relax on the lawn or on quaint pinch benches.

Close call: The strong wind blew in one racegoers favour (pictured) as the extremely high cuts of the skirt flowed behind her

What a day: This pair appeared to be a having a ball at Randwick Racecourse as the historic race day wore on

Comfort over style: Some punters were seeing ditching traditional heels and opted for comfortable lace up canvas shoes

Keeping it classy: As refreshing drinks continued to flow into the night, many race-goers enjoyed the company of friends

Women appeared to put their tanned pins on display in short dresses as they battled the breeze at the NSW racecourse

Groups of women (pictured) spent the afternoon having a laugh and enjoying the sunshine at the Sydney race day

One clever punter opted for a pant suit (far right) to avoid the strong gusts of wind across the racecourse

This lucky woman (third from right) wore a 'Bride to be' sash across her body for the day with a matching flower headband

Day to celebrate: Many people chose a relaxed hairstyle while some wore flower crowns and others chose a head of braids

The champion racehorse's co-owner Peter Tighe described the history making win as 'the most amazing day'.

'This is the best horse in the world, with the best jockey in the world and best trainer in the world,' he told interviewers after the incredible win.

'It seemed the world was on our shoulders today.

'She just makes us prouder every time she goes around.'

Thousands of people watched Winx take the win by about five lengths after trailing in last position for the start of the race

Punters continued to enjoy the race day at Randwick with bottles of refreshing beverages were kept tight in their hands

Groups of people were seen sharing some laughs with fellow race-goers as one appeared to keep relaxed grip on can of drink

Wild wind: Punters were seen struggling to tame their loose locks in the gusty wind on Saturday as the sun began to set

One racegoer appeared to ditch her shoes and go barefoot while another held a strategically placed clutch as the wind blew

Letting loose: Thousands of people kept the night going well after the sun went down on the historical Winx win

Floral frenzy: A group of women appeared to don brightly coloured flower crowns as they celebrated the champion horse

While this group of racegoers seemed to choose white coloured race day outfits, one woman stood out in a firey red dress

Thousands watched Winx take the win by about five lengths after trailing in last position for the start of the race.

As some would have celebrated a lucky financial win and some would have mourned a loss, refreshing drinks kept the day in shape.

While many women were seen sporting simple block coloured dresses, others made sure to catch people's eyes.

A pair of ladies appeared to wear a black, sheer body suit as well as a large straw hat and matching straw bag doused in pom poms.

Seeing double: Two women appeared to coordinate their outfits with matching straw bowler hats and strappy black heels

Thumbs up! Racegoers were seen enjoying the day with refreshing drinks in hand as they basked in the sunshine

Pink was colour of the day with many donning the pastel hue, adding extra femininity to the look with floral lace

Strike a pose: Feminine frocks and dainty fascinators made for a traditional race day look

These two wore eye-catching outfits including a sheer balck body suit and straw basket doused in pompoms and huge hat

Thousands flocked to the racecourse to watch the 'best racehorse in the world' win the dayA mentally unwell refugee who has attempted suicide three times will be rushed from Nauru to Australia following urgent court action.

The girl will be flown to the mainland on Sunday afternoon with her father and brother, Minister Peter Dutton's immigration department promised in a Federal Court hearing on Saturday.

It comes after legal firm Maurice Blackburn lodged an urgent application on the girl's behalf on Friday night, asking for her to be transferred off the island in light of her health.

A mentally unwell refugee who has attempted suicide three times will be rushed from Nauru Detention Centre to Australia following urgent court action. Tent accommodation at Nauru is pictured.

The firm's head of social justice Jennifer Kanis welcomed the decision but said it was 'outrageous' that it took court action to get the girl help.

'We're delighted that the government has this morning agreed to bring our client from Nauru to Australia so she can get the medical attention she so desperately needs,' she said outside court.

In court, Mr Dutton's legal counsel Ashlee Briffa said flights were being booked for the refugee family to travel to Australia on Sunday afternoon.

Minister Peter Dutton (pictured)'s immigration department promised the girl will be flown to Australia on Sunday afternoon

She said a doctor's report on the girl's health had only been received by the department on Friday.

'We were made aware of the medical report less than 24 hours ago,' Ms Briffa said.

'There is a flight tomorrow. This has all happened very quickly.'

However Maurice Blackburn claimed the medical report was more than a week old and the department should have been aware of it.

Maurice Blackburn head of social justice Jennifer Kanis leaves the Federal Court in Melbourne. Her firm lodged an urgent application on the girl's behalf on Friday night

'We don't know why the government are saying they haven't been provided with that report,' Ms Kanis said.

Comment has been sought from Mr Dutton.

Ms Kanis said the girl's medical condition was 'very severe'.

'There is a very real risk she may attempt suicide again,' she said.

Ms Kanis said it was the third time in recent months that court intervention had been sought to get children medical treatment.

'These children deserve much better,' she said.

The Federal Court ordered that the full medical history of the girl and her family be handed over to their lawyers.

The identity of the girl has been suppressed from publication to protect her.

The case will return to court on May 8.Senior British academics are spreading disinformation that benefit Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and conspiracy theories promoted by Russia, The Times has reported.

The academics belong to a self-styled Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (SPM) and work at universities including Edinburgh, Sheffield and Leicester.

Four professors are members of the group, and are accused by The Times of spreading the slur - repeated by the Russian ambassador to Britain on Friday - that the White Helmets civilian volunteer force has fabricated video evidence of attacks by President Assad, who is backed by the Kremlin.

Professor Tim Hayward has been reported by The Times to believe that recent chemical attacks in Syria was staged

A Syrian child receives medical treatment after Syrian government forces allegedly conducted a poisonous gas attack on Douma town of Eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria on April 07, 2018.

A child is pictured receiving oxygen following the recent poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma

Russia argues that images of victims of the purported attack were fakes staged with 'Britain's direct involvement, ' without providing evidence

American academic Mark Crispin Miller was said to have called the US governments account of the 9/11 attacks a 'conspiracy theory'- he is on the SPMs advisory board

Among SPM's advisers are an American who believes the official explanation of the 9/11 attack are as a conspiracy theory and an Australian who suggested that the CIA was behind last weekend's chemical attack in Syria.

The White Helmets have been criticised by Russia for documenting the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun in April last year, which killed 83 people, a third of them children.

Last September the UN unit concluded that there were 'reasonable grounds to believe that Syrian forces dropped a bomb dispersing sarin' on Khan Sheikhoun.

On Friday SPM member Tim Hayward, a professor of environmental political theory at the University of Edinburgh, retweeted a claim about an attack on eastern Ghouta that the 'White Helmets and terrorist factions staged false flag events and 'kidnapped, drugged' children to use as props'.

'Witness statements from civilians and officials in Ghouta raise very disturbing questions,' he added.

Professor Hayward was also reported by The Times to have published a blog article by his colleague Paul McKeigue, a professor of genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics, which claimed that there was almost 'zero likelihood' that Assad carried out chemical attacks. He used 'probability calculus' to assess the evidence.

Professor Hayward has used the hashtag #Syriahoax when discussing chemical attacks in the country.

One member of the group is reported by The Times to be Piers Robinson, Professor of politics, society and political journalism at the University of Sheffield (above) - the university has declined to comment

Tim Hayward is professor of environmental political theory at the University of Edinburgh (above) - it has released a statement which emphasises the importance of upholding freedom of expression

Another SPM academic, Tara McCormack, is a lecturer in international relations at Leicester University (above)

Russia recently claimed it has proof that Britain ordered local volunteer aid organisation White Helmets to 'stage' the attack in Douma, eastern Ghouta, which killed at least 42 people and injured hundreds last Saturday

The Times said that the hashtag went viral after being used by alt-right figures in the US, including Mike Cernovich, a main proponent of the 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theory, which alleged that Hillary Clinton supporters were involved with a child-abuse ring. The hashtag was said to have been promoted by a Russian cyberoperation.

Professor Hayward also linked to a video that appeared to show chemical attack victims that, it was suggested, was staged.

A rescuer removed a headscarf from an apparent victim. Professor Hayward wrote: 'White Helmets' mission: 'To save one headscarf is to save all' #SyriaHoax'. After being contacted by The Times, he deleted the tweet.

SPM board members or apologists for the Syrian government named by The Times include:

21st Century news website Wire Associate Editor Vanessa Beeley , who claims that the White Helmets are al-Qaeda-affiliated and, as 'terrorists', are a 'legit target' for Assad's forces

, who claims that the White Helmets are al-Qaeda-affiliated and, as 'terrorists', are a 'legit target' for Assad's forces Piers Robinson , professor of politics, society and political journalism at the University of Sheffield, who posted a clip in which Ms Beeley repeated the argument that the White Helmets should be a target with the note 'interesting interview'

, professor of politics, society and political journalism at the University of Sheffield, who posted a clip in which Ms Beeley repeated the argument that the White Helmets should be a target with the note 'interesting interview' David Blackall , an Australian academic who tweeted 'CIA stages gas attack pretext for Syria escalation' with a link to a blog article

, an Australian academic who tweeted 'CIA stages gas attack pretext for Syria escalation' with a link to a blog article T ara McCormack , a lecturer in international relations at Leicester University, who has tweeted that it is 'an established fact that the White Helmets are basically Al [Qaeda]'

, a lecturer in international relations at Leicester University, who has tweeted that it is 'an established fact that the White Helmets are basically Al [Qaeda]' American academic Mark Crispin Miller , who was said to have called the US government's account of the 9/11 attacks a 'conspiracy theory'. He is reported to be on the SPM's advisory board



The first briefing note published by SPM, titled 'Doubts about 'Novichoks' ', questioned whether Russia's secret nerve agent programme ever existed.

Britain has blamed Moscow for the poisoning of the former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury last month.

Professor Robinson, a member of SPM, told The Times: 'Everything I say and write I can defend as based on good faith research and due consideration of available evidence.

'Vanessa Beeley produces information that is worthy of consideration and certainly her work on the White Helmets, along with work produced by others, raises extremely important questions for academics to research [and] the public to know about.'

The University of Sheffield declined to comment, saying that it needed more time to consider the matters raised.

Professor Hayward said, regarding his use of #Syriahoax: 'I understood a hashtag to indicate a topic rather than a creed. I do not accept that I am spreading any 'disinformation'. '

The University of Edinburgh said: 'We recognise and uphold the fundamental importance of freedom of expression, and seek to foster a culture that enables it to take place within a framework of mutual respect.'Iran's supreme leader has condemned the attacks on Syria as a crime and labelled the leaders of Britain, the United States and France as criminals.

Ayatollah Ali Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday would not achieve any gains.

'U.S, allies will not gain any achievements from crimes in Syria. Attacking Syria is a crime. U.S. president, UK prime minister and the president of France are criminals,' Khamenei said in a speech cited by Iranian TV.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks at a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Saturday. He condemned the strikes as a 'crime'

The sky above Damascus is lit up by missile fire as the UK, US and France launch attacks on Syria

Smoke hanging in the air in the Syrian capital Damascus after the strikes against the Syrian regime

Iran has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict.

Militias backed by Iran first helped his army stem rebel advances and following Russia's entry into the war in 2015, to turn the tide decisively in Assad's favour.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has condemned the U.S.-led attacks on Syria and said Washington and its allies would bear responsibility for the consequences in the region and beyond, state media said.

'Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume the responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism,' it said in a statement carried by state media.

'Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state.'

Analyst Hossein Sheikholeslam, a former Iranian ambassador to Damascus, told state television the attacks would help unite Syrians behind the government.

Syrians waving the flags of Iran and Syria, who have been the regime's staunchest backers

Government supporters on the streets of Damascus, waving flags and honking their horns in defiance

'These attacks will stabilise the Syrian government... and unite the different tribes in Syria as Syrians become aware of their honour and come to the defence of the independence, territorial integrity and the government of their country,' Sheikholeslam said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said air strikes against the Syrian regime were 'necessary and appropriate' but has ruled out German participation in any action.

'We support the fact that our US, British and French allies ... assumed their responsibilities. The military intervention was necessary and appropriate,' Merkel said in a statement.

European Council president Donald Tusk said the European Union 'will stand with our allies on the side of justice'.

He tweeted: 'Strikes by US, France and UK make it clear that Syrian regime together with Russia & Iran cannot continue this human tragedy, at least not without cost.'

The Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain defended the strikes as justified by evidence of a chemical attack.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement: 'I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France against the Syrian regime's chemical weapons facilities and capabilities.

'This will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg issued a statement backing the military action

'Nato has consistently condemned Syria's continued use of chemical weapons as a clear breach of international norms and agreements. The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, and those responsible must be held accountable.

'Nato considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security, and believes that it is essential to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention. This calls for a collective and effective response by the international community.'

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed U.S., British and French forces' airstrikes on Syria, saying that the operation sent a message to Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

'With the joint operation by U.S., U.K. and France on Saturday, the Syrian regime received the message that its massacres wouldn't be left unanswered,' Erdogan told his ruling AK Party supporters in an Istanbul meeting.

'The innocent Syrian people should have been defended long ago.'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also expressed his support.

'Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regime's ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people,' Trudeau said.

A senior Israeli cabinet minister said on Saturday U.S.-led strikes in Syria are an 'important signal' to Iran, Syria and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

'The use of chemical weapons crosses a red line that humanity can no longer tolerate,' Yoav Gallant, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, said on Twitter.

'The American attack is an important signal to the axis of evil - Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.'

In a statement the Israeli government said: 'Last year, President Trump made clear that the use of chemical weapons crosses a red line. Tonight, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom enforced that line.

'Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk.'

Saudi Arabia on Saturday expressed its full support for US-led strikes on Syrian government military installations, saying they were a response to 'regime crimes' against civilians.

'Saudi Arabia fully supports the strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain against Syria because they represent a response to the regime's crimes,' a foreign ministry statement said.

Qatar was the first Gulf country to react and in a statement published by the official news agency it expressed support for strikes to stop attacks by the Syrian regime against civilians.

Egypt's foreign ministry said it was deeply concerned 'at the current military escalation in Syria'.

It also rejected the use of internationally banned weapons on Syrian territory and demanded a transparent international investigation.

China said it was 'opposed to the use of force' in international relations and called for a political solution as well as a 'return to the framework of international law'.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement: 'I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.

Amnesty International's advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Raed Jarrar, said: 'All precautions must be taken to minimise harm to civilians in any military action.'Li Long polishes a wooden object at his workshop in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Proince, April 13, 2018. Li was born in 1992. He has an interest in carpentry and opened a carpentry workshop after his graduation from Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts in 2015. Visitors can make wooden decorations, toys and small articles for daily use at Li's workshop. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]The government has the air strikes carried out against the Syrian regime were legal given that there was no alternative means of protecting civilians from further chemical attack.

Setting out the legal basis for military action it said UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering.

The government's position was laid out after Jeremy Corbyn branded the UK's airstrikes on the Syrian regime 'legally questionable'.

The Labour leader risked opening a fresh schism with his own MPs by repeatedly declining to say that evidence implicated the Russian-backed Assad regime

For there to be a legal basis for the use of force in humanitarian intervention, three conditions must be met, the Government said.

The first condition is that there is convincing evidence, generally accepted by the international community as a whole, of extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale, requiring immediate and urgent relief.

Secondly it must be objectively clear that there is no practicable alternative to the use of force if lives are to be saved.

The third condition is the proposed use of force must be necessary and proportionate to the aim of relief of humanitarian suffering and must be strictly limited in time and in scope to this aim.

In the document, the government says that the he Syrian regime has been using chemical weapons since 2013 and an attack in Eastern Damascus on August that year left over 800 people dead.

The regime failed to implement its 2013 commitment in 2013 to ensure the destruction of its chemical weapons and went on to commit more atrocities, it states.

A chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 killed approximately 80 people and left hundreds more injured and the recent attack in Douma has killed up to 75 people.

The repeated, lethal use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity, says the government.

The Labour leader was speaking on a visit to Huddersfield. He said he conveyed his concerns about the legality of the air strikes to the Prime Minister in a telephone conversation

In the document, the government says the Syrian regime has been using chemical weapons since 2013 and an attack in Eastern Damascus on August that year left over 800 people dead.

The regime failed to implement its 2013 commitment to ensure the destruction of its chemical weapons and went on to commit more atrocities, it states.

A chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 killed approximately 80 people and left hundreds more injured and the recent attack in Douma has killed up to 75 people.

The repeated, lethal use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity, says the government.

On the basis of what we know about the Syrian regimes pattern of use of chemical weapons to date, it was highly likely that the regime would seek to use chemical weapons again, leading to further suffering and loss of civilian life as well as the continued displacement of the civilian population.

Mr Corbyn said more effort needs to be made to secure a ceasefire in Syria

The government said efforts to alleviate the suffering caused by the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons at the UN Security Council have been repeatedly blocked by the regime and its allies.

Neither previous military action nor diplomatic efforts have sufficiently degraded Syrian chemical weapons capability.

It has not deterred the regime from causing extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale through its persistent use of chemical weapons, said the government.

There was no practicable alternative to the truly exceptional use of force to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their further use by the Syrian regime in order to alleviate humanitarian suffering, it concluded.

The Labour leader condemned the reprisals carried out by RAF jets alongside the US and France in the wake of chemical weapons being deployed by Bashar Assad.

Four RAF Tornados took off from Cyprus in the early hours and struck regime facilities linked to the production and use of chemical weapons.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that Storm Shadow cruise missiles were fired at a former missile base fifteen miles west of Homs, where stockpiles of banned substances are believed to have been held.

In the aftermath of the strike, Corbyn repeated his call for a UN investigation into the atrocity - even though Assad's Russian allies have already vetoed the prospect.

In a statement, Mr Corbyn said: 'Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace.

'This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely.

'Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way.

'Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump.

'The Government should do whatever possible to push Russia and the United States to agree to an independent UN-led investigation of last weekend's horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account.'

Mr Corbyn said there was only a legal basis for action if there was a direct threat to the UK.

He said: 'You could only do it under the basis of self-defence - if there was a direct threat to us, and there wasn't.'

During a visit to Huddersfield, Jeremy Corbyn said: 'I had a late night conversation with the Prime Minister and my whole point is that Parliament should be consulted, parliament should be allowed to take a view on this but, instead, the strikes were launched last night.

'Parliament is in session on Monday. She could have come to Parliament on Monday to discuss the whole situation. Instead, they've launched these strikes.

'She claims there's a legal basis for it. I've asked her in a letter I've just to sent her this morning to publish in full the legal basis and justification for it.'

The Labour leader also called on the Prime Minister to UN secretary general of Antonio Guterres -'who wanted the strikes to be stopped, who wanted the UN charter to be observed, and give time for the OPCW to do its inspection of chemical weapons in Syria.

'And, also, to work again to get a ceasefire in Syria so that no more people are killed in this ghastly civil war in Syria.

'We'll be pushing for publication of the legal advice that the government has given.

'We will be demanding that the government goes back to the United Nations with the support of the Swedish government, or in support of the Swedish government in order the get a new UN resolution and bring Russia and the United States together along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey - all the neighbouring states there.

Fighter jet landing at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus following strikes on Syrian chemical weapons bases

'This civil war is ghastly. It's killed hundreds of thousands. It's driven millions into refuge in other countries and the chemical weapons are obviously appalling and disgusting and completely illegal within international law.'

The gloval chemical warfare watchdog group, the OPCW, said it will continue its investigations even after the US led airstrikes.

The OPCW said in a statement it would 'continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma'.

And this morning, Downing Street said it will release a summary of the legal advice it received about the strikes later on Saturday.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the missions had been 'highly successful' and degraded Assad's ability to repeat the chemical outrage. The jets all returned safely.

But Mrs May is facing a backlash after defying calls from Opposition parties and some Tories to stage a parliamentary vote before sending UK forces into combat.

Mr Corbyn has risked opening a fresh schism with his own MPs by repeatedly declining to say the evidence implicates the Russian-backed Assad regime.

Asked last night about the Kremlin's outlandish claims about the attack being staged by rebels Mr Corbyn would not dismiss the idea outright.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Syria's use of chemical weapons could not be tolerated but questioned whether the strikes would halt their use or contribute to ending the civil war.

'This action risks not just further escalating the civil war in Syria but also a dangerous escalation of international tensions,' said the leader of the left-wing Scottish National Party, the third-biggest force in the British parliament.

'There must be urgent confirmation from the prime minister that there will be no further action... without a full parliamentary debate.'

The Labour leader's response has been condemned by some fellow MPs, who claimed Corbyn could not be trusted with national security.

Some MPs criticised Mr Corbyn's response while others came to his defence and said the Prime Minister should have held a parliamentary vote before launching airstrikes

Conservative MP Nick Boles tweeted: 'Yet again Jeremy Corbyn wants to give Vladimir Putin the benefit of the doubt. When push comes to shove he cannot be trusted to protect our security or defend Britain's national interest.

'Constitutionally there is no requirement for Parliamentary authorisation. Military action is a prerogative power exercised by the PM. Role of Parliament is to hold the Government to account.'

'Politically we should distinguish between 1) military action to defend our national security and protect vital national interests like the international ban on chemical weapons, and 2) military intervention in pursuit of regime change or 'wars of choice'.'

Ben Wallace MP said: 'Corbyn, Abbott and Labour should reflect that this action in Syria took place because the first time Assad gassed his own people they voted to do nothing. So he did it again..and again. Yet still Corbyn would do nothing...'

Nadine Dorries, another Tory MP, tweeted: 'Corbyn now just a purveyor of propaganda and fake news Action was taken in coalition with France, too. President Macron said there was 'proof' that 'at least chlorine' had been used by the Assad regime. 'At least'. Corbyn is grossly irresponsible and wholly unsuited to his position.'

Jamie Reed, a former Labour MP who resigned in 2017, said: 'The PM didn't require a parliamentary vote for this action. She has acted properly and constitutionally. To suggest otherwise is just factually wrong.'

Labour's Mike Japes, MP for Ilford South, also supported Mrs May, saying Mr Macron had set out clearly why action was necessary.

Britain, the US and France last night unleashed a salvo of cruise missiles against Syrian regime forces. In a statement, the PM said the decision was one she had not taken lightly and was done in the national interest. Four RAF Tornados took off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus in the early hours and struck regime facilities linked to the production and use of chemical weapons

But some Labour MPs came to Mr Corbyn's defence, with David Lammy saying: 'PM is wrong to take military action in Syria without any recourse to Parliament. I have serious reservations - why was the PM not prepared to listen to all sides? Why has the PM sidelined Parliament and instead taken orders directly from Donald Trump?'

Emma Lewell-Buck said: 'Theresa May had no right to launch these attacks without any cohesive or strategic plan to bring peace in Syria or stop the use of chemical weapons.

'In matters of such great importance and in the face of public opposition a parliamentary debate and vote was vital.'

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: 'As an elected representative of the people of Ashton Under Lyne I was frozen out of the decision our PM has made to bomb Syria.

'I am still concerned as to how our action will stop the use of chemical weapons and bring peace.'

Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner said the UK 'should not be associated with Trump' and suggested the PM feared losing a vote in the Commons.

'Many, like me, are not convinced that the world is a safer place this morning. PM has acted knowing that she does not have public support and that she would be unable to convince Parliament,' she said.

And Clive Lewis MP suggested the lessons of the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War had not been heeded, saying not having a Commons vote 'makes a mockery of the notion of parliamentary democracy.'

Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leaders, added their voices to the criticism.

'The Prime Minister has trampled over parliamentary democracy by ordering these airstrikes without a debate and vote,' she said.

'Not only are these strikes likely to be ineffective in terms of deterring Assad, but they also risk further escalating an already deadly situation.

'For these attacks to have happened before OPCW inspectors have even been able to investigate the site is also deeply concerning.

'We should be cracking down on Russia through further sanctions and pursuing diplomatic channels - not rushing into bombing missions alongside a trigger happy US President.

'And Britain urgently needs to get its own house in order if we want to be a positive influence on the world stage. That means ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia, standing up to the aggression of the Israeli Government and playing our part as a nation of peace building.

'Theresa May must now bring a debate and vote to Parliament on Monday - and give MPs an unwhipped say on these strikes.'British Gas is ditching its Freephone number so some customers will be forced to pay 55p a minute if they need to get in touch.

The energy giant, which made a 572million profit last year, is changing its enquiries line from an 0800 an 0333 number which charges calls at a local rate.

Although the new number is free within limits under some phone package deals, other customers could end up paying as much as 55p per minute to ring in.

British Gas is ditching its Freephone number so some customers will be forced to pay 55p per minute to phone in

Earlier this week British Gas revealed that 4.1 million standard variable tariff customers face an average 5.5% price hike at the end of May.

Some customers are still receiving bills with the free number on them. And those with the new number on their bills are not being told the free number still works.

BRITISH GAS: The number change Old Freephone British Gas number: 0800 048 0202 New local rate British Gas number: 0333 202 9802 Advertisement

No reason has been given for the switch, which started being rolled out last year, and no definite date has been given by which the free 0800 number will have been entirely phased out.

Centrica, which owns British Gas, made a 1.25billion profit last year.

A spokesman for the parent company told the Mail Online: 'The 0333 number was introduced some time ago. 0333 calls are often free.

'There are 0800 numbers available for vulnerable customers and many of our customers prefer to contact us through digital channels these days.'A performer was violently assaulted by a man with a beer bottle after he asked the group comedians for directions in Melbourne.

Peter Morley and his partner Rachel Kottkamp, who both live in Los Angeles, were sitting with their African-American friend at about midnight Tuesday when the horrific attack took place.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival performer said the man approached them and asked for directions but failed to understand so Mr Morley's friend asked the man to leave, The Age reported.

Peter Morley (pictured) and his partner Rachel Kottkamp were sitting with their African-American friend at midnight Tuesday when they were violently attacked by a man

The man asked the trio (Ms Kottkamp and Mr Morley pictured) for directions but became agitated and run up behind them with a glass bottle starting the violent attack

Mr Morley was left with a broken ankle (pictured) and bruised face where he is about to have a third surgery to fix his injury

'When she spoke up, that's when he got really upset. Partly because she's a woman, but definitely because she's black,' he told the publication.

The attacker reportedly told the African-American friend to 'go back the f*** to your own country' before the trio walked away from the man.

The man ran up behind the group with a beer bottle but Mr Morley was able to turn around in time to knock the glass out of the man's hand.

The man violently punched and knocked the comedian to the ground, breaking his ankle and bruising his face before fleeing the scene.

'Before he got belligerent he seemed like a normal guy - he asked for directions ... then started screaming at us,' Ms Kottkamp told The Herald Sun.

The 29-year-old woman said she tried to break up the fight but got punched instead, making it 'one of the toughest weeks' of their lives.

A 20-year-old man was charged with a number of offences after the frightening attack of Mr Morley (pictured) and is expected to face court in June

'(The abuse) was extremely racially motivated,' she told News Corp.

The 35-year-old man is expecting to have plates inserted into his ankle during a third surgery.

The couple's show All Star Hollywood Big Shot Wheel of Bargains 2000, which they record at different Melbourne venues, will be filmed in hospital this week.

Victoria Police charged a 20-year-old man with a number of offences over the horrific midnight attack including assault with a weapon and intentionally causing injury, the publication reported.

The man is expected to face Melbourne Magistrates' Court on June 19.Sixty primary schools have had to reject pupils who live more than 0.2 miles away as Britain's smallest catchment area shrinks to just 305 feet away.

Competition for school places shows no sign of subsiding with London being the area where parents need to live closest on average to gain a space for their child.

It will be revealed on Monday whether children will get into their first choice of school which they are due to start in September.

The data, which was collated by online service Findaschool, covers this academic year.

St Andrews Church School in Taunton, Somerset had a catchment area of just 300ft this year

Among the schools who have a tiny catchment area is St Andrews Church School in Taunton, Somerset, which could only accept children who lived up to 305ft away.

The next smallest catchment area discovered in the research was Oakgrove in Milton Keynes, which was just 490.8ft.

In London, which is littered with popular schools, Manorside Primary in Barnet had to decline children who lived more than 616.7ft away.

Another favoured school is Bousfield Primary in Kensington and Chelsea where pupils had to live within a 675.8ft range.

The online service was able to discover the data by requesting it from the schools under the freedom of information act.

Oakgrove in Milton Keynes had the next smallest catchment area which was just 490.8ft

Manorside Primary in Barnet had to decline children who lived more than 616.7ft away

The distance between a child's home and school has become a deciding factor in acceptance as 45 per cent of schools in the country are oversubscribed.

In areas including London these figures have swelled to a huge 80 per cent with 12 per cent of parents missing out on a place for their child.

Simon Kelman told the Times that the end of the baby boom generation hasn't helped rising figures.

He said: 'The problem is not that we don't have enough schools, but that they are not in the right places.

The schools who have a tiny catchment area St Andrews Church School in Taunton, Somerset, can only accept children who live up to 305ft away. Oakgrove in Milton Keynes had the next smallest catchment area which was just 490.8ft. Manorside Primary in Barnet had to decline children who lived more than 616.7ft away. Bousfield Primary in Kensington and Chelsea can only accept pupils who live within a 675.8ft range. Advertisement

'Young families are moving into particular areas and new housing is being built where there are just not enough good schools.'

Changes in policies which promote free schools mean although expansion is happening, it may not be in the correct place - where it is needed.

A survey conducted on forum Mumsnet found that parents were going to extreme lengths to make sure their child attended their first choice school.

This included paying premium prices for a house in the catchment area and attending church when they aren't believers.Britain, America and France have launched joint military airstrikes to weaken the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capabilities this morning.

Donald Trump, Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron have all justified their strikes on three facilities linked to the production of chemical weapons in Syria.

The actions have been widely condemned by Russian-backed forces, who claim Syria managed to shoot down more than 70 of the 100 missiles launched.

Theresa May is also facing criticism from home, as Jeremy Corbyn questioned the legality of the air strikes this morning.Residents in Sydney's south-west have been told it is now too late to leave as a massive fire ravages dangerously close to hundreds of homes in the area.

The out-of-control blaze started as a grass fire in Casula, 35 kilometres from the city, but has since tore through multiple properties and into bushland.

Horrific footage showed mammoth clouds of smoke billowing over the entire area as more than 140 firefighters are battling the blaze.

Scroll down for video

Over 100 firefighters are continuing to battle a blaze in Sydney's south-west which has now been burning for more than eight hours

Residents have been told it is now too late to leave as the fire ravages through suburbs including Voyager Point, Pleasure Point, Sandy Point and Picnic Point

The blaze started as a grass fire in 35 kilometres from the city, but has since torn through bushland and threatened hundreds of homes

Horrific footage has shown fire continue to tear through the area in Sydney's south-west

The blaze reportedly took off about 2.30pm on Casula Road, near the suburb's train station

Local fire authorities are continuing to fight the flames long after night fall

Firefighters and locals stand near a fence as bright flames light the night

The fire crossed Heathcote Road before 9pm and is moving easterly towards Menai, Alfords Point and Barden Ridge

The fire crossed Heathcote Road, a major artillery passageway, after sunset and is moving easterly towards Menai, Alfords Point and Barden Ridge.

The blaze has also resulted in the Holsworthy Army Barracks being evacuated and placed into lock down.

Grave concerns are being held for a fuel storage area inside the base which fire crews are said to be working to protect.

Firefighters are protecting the large amount of fuel at the barracks, having created a 200-metre exclusion zone.

Earlier today as fire encroached dangerously close to homes, police officers went door to door, warning residents to leave before it was too late.

A 'watch and act' was issued by Fire and Rescue NSW as flames burned close to Moorebank Avenue and Somercotes Court at Wattle Grove.

The blaze reportedly took off about 2.30pm on Casula Road, near the suburb's train station.

As the fires continue to burn within metres of their homes, Wattle Grove residents watch on

Dozens of people stand in the shadows of the fires as firefighters continue to battle the blaze

Residents watch for potentially dangerous embers to spark in Wattle Grove

Families in affected areas have taken property protection into their own hands after it was deemed too late to leave the region

A local teenager is seen ready to defend the area from any additional fire damage after the flames continue to burn

The fire earlier broke boundary lines into entered Holsworthy Army Barracks which has since been evacuated and placed into lock down

Firefighters have been working to control a grass fire which is burning across south-west Sydney

Police blocked entrance to roads close to the fire as it continues to blanket the town

Heavy smoke has blanketed the area around Holsworthy in Sydney's south-west

It is not yet know just how many people have been evacuated due to the fires which broke the boundary lines of the Holsworthy Army Barracks

There are reports the fire has encroached dangerously close to homes and police officers have commenced door-knocking, telling residents to leave

Crews are reportedly struggling against winds up to 100km/h, with the cause of the fire unknown at this stage.

The Rural Fire Service warned residents in Voyager Point, Pleasure Point, Sandy Point and Picnic Point to remain 'vigilant'.

Giant plumes of smoke created a dark gloomy scene from above as the fire continued to burn at a rapid rate.

Bus companies have replaced train services and passengers leaving or arriving in the area have been advised to delay or cancel their journeys.

The burn started as a grass fire but quickly developed into an out-of-control bushfire

Thick smoke made visibility difficult for fire crews, with up to ten trucks dispatched to fight the blaze

Angry red flames can be seen in the nearby bushland of rows of suburban homes

One truck can be seen parked in the middle of a street as firefighters use a hose on the fireThe family of an 18-year-old Dutch model who fell 14 feet to her death from a wealthy American's apartment in Kuala Lumpur say she was murdered.

Ivana Smit, who had an upcoming role on Belgium's Next Top Model, was found dead, with no clothes on, on the sixth floor of an up-market apartment building on December 7 last year.

Malaysian Police classified the tragedy as 'sudden death' meaning it was the result of an accident or suicide.

Ivana Smit, who had an upcoming role on Belgium's Next Top Model, was found dead, with no clothes on, on the sixth floor of an up-market apartment building on December 7 last year

Ivana's family are now calling for a murder investigation into the teenager's suspicious death

But the teenager's family have said they believe she murdered.

Fred Agenjo Weinhold, Ivana's uncle, 47, told the Sun: 'She had the world at her feet. We simply don't believe she killed herself or it could have been an accident.

'She promised she would be in Belgium for the Top Model final  but she came back in a casket.'

The family have now hired ex-Surrey Police detective Mark Williams-Thomas to investigate the model's untimely death.

Mr Williams-Thomas, who helped expose Jimmy Savile as a paedophile six years ago, is an award-winning TV investigator.

He said that if she had died in the UK he has 'no doubt' this would have been tried as a homicide.

He added the lack of blood around her body indicates she may have been dead falling.

'I cannot believe she went over that balcony of her own free will. There's no way this was a suicide  and she sustained injuries before her death' he said.

Ivana's family have now hired ex-Surrey Police detective Mark Williams-Thomas to investigate the model's untimely death

Ivana's father, Marcel Smit, who identified her body said he saw bruises on her neck 'like fingerprints, as if someone had grabbed her there'family

The family also requested a second post-mortem for the model.

Pathologist Frank van de Goot found Ivana had significant head bruising and multiple bruises on her arms.

'Something happened before she fell from the balcony. Maybe she slipped or maybe someone hit her on the head. Bruises like this one are only possible when the heart is still beating' he said.

Pathologist Frank van de Goot found Ivana had significant head bruising and multiple bruises on her arms

Police insist there were 'no criminal elements' to the young model's death, but her devastated family has demanded an investigation

Her father, Marcel Smit, who identified her body said he saw bruises on her neck 'like fingerprints, as if someone had grabbed her there'.

Ivana spent the night with US tycoon Alex Johnson, 44, and his wife Luna, 31.

The three are alleged to know each other intimately and are believed to have spent the night in a drug-fuelled sex session.

At 5.22am on December 7, cameras in a Kuala Lumpur club show American citizen Alexander Amado Johnson, 45, carrying Ivana in his arms through a hallway.

Mr Johnson is the founder of Everus World, a cryptocurrency company based in Kuala Lumpur.

At 7.30am, Ivana sent her boyfriend a selfie of herself with Luna.

Ivana (pictured) had first moved to Malaysia 13 years ago and lived with her grandfather Fredrik

Malaysian Police classified the tragedy as 'sudden death' meaning it was the result of an accident or suicide

Lukas Kramer, 21, phoned her at 6.30am on December 7 when he woke to find her not with him. Soon after he said Luna Johnson phoned him to say they were 'chilling'

Police believe that around two hours later, at 10am, Ivana plunged from Johnson's 20th-story balcony and landed on a six-story roof.

Her body, which was naked, was not found until around 3pm that day. Police have still not found Ivana's shoes or her underwear.

She had alcohol and Ecstasy in her system at the time of death, an autopsy found.

Mr Van de Goot's second autopsy also found cocaine in Ivana's system.

A month before her death, Ivana and the Johnsons had spent the night at a hotel. Luna claims the 18-year-old had told them she was 26.

They met again at upmarket nightclub Mantra on the night of her death, they moved on to the late-night 9 Club.

They went back to the Johnsons' Capsquare Residence apartment, where, according to Dutch media, a 'drug- fuelled swingers' party' took place.

Luna, a mother-of-one later said: 'Ivana was hammered. I kept talking to her as I got my daughter ready for school. Ivana lay down while I took her there.'

Luna says she found Ivana in bed with her husband around 8.15am when she returned to the apartment.

Her family family have now hired ex-Surrey Police detective Mark Williams-Thomas to investigate the model's untimely death

The Dutch teen model fell from a balcony after partying in the apartment of American citizen Alexander Amado Johnson, 45, and his wife Luna (seen together)

She said: 'I came over and said, 'OK, now I'm free'. We sat on the sofa and after 20 minutes she put on some music and took off all her clothes. So we went into the bedroom and were intimate.'

The couple claim they then fell asleep.

At, 6.30am Ivana's German-born boyfriend Lukas Kramer phoned her. He said: 'She sounded all right. She said it had been a long night and she was at her girlfriend's place.'

Then, at 7.24am, he received a selfie of Ivana and Luna with the text: 'Chilling at my chick's place.'

Mr Kramer said he found the language used in the message suspicious, saying: 'She would have said she was at her girlfriend's place, she never used 'chilling' or 'chicks'.'

Her uncle Mr Weinhold said: 'I believe this message was not sent by Ivana. That is not the kind of terminology that she uses. We have never heard her say 'chicks' before or use 'chilling.'

Luna claims to have woken up at 1.25pm and discovered Ivana's clothes, shoes, bag and phones were in the lounge.

She then fell asleep again and says she did not know of the model's death until 5pm when police knocked on her door to inform her.

Ivana was born in the Sittard, in the Netherlands but grew up in Malaysia with her grandparents Hendrik Smit, 78, and Susan, 77

Ivana's grandfather Fredrik Smit, who has lived in Penang, Malaysia, for more than two decades and raised Ivana as a child there, said at the time: 'We cannot believe she fell from level 20 and the body was found at level 6.

'She was found there naked. Where are her shoes and underwear?

He added: 'We believe there is a criminal element in Ivana's death. Of course we don't believe the story from the police because they can't give us photographs or a report from the scene. Ivana's father has contacted the Dutch ambassador and Interpol.'

Marcel Smit claims Ivana sent her boyfriend a message and selfie at 7.25am before she was found dead around seven hours later at around 2 or 3pm.

He told Dutch media: 'At about 10am she would have fallen from the balcony at 20 floors high. How is that possible? It is strange that she was not found until 3pm.

'She is tall, 1.81 meters, but the barrier is also 1.20 meters. Only when you bend over, do you fall off. She did not fall and did not jump either.'

Ivana was said to be in an 'intimate relationship' with the Johnsons (pictured) who she spent her final hours with

Ivana's family called the footage disturbing after being shown the footage showing the model being carried into a nightclub elevator by Johnson followed by his Indonesian wife, Luna

Mr Williams-Thomas said he was 'convinced she was dead before she fell'.

'Something happened in that apartment probably around the time Luna was out taking her daughter to school.

'Perhaps Ivana fell, perhaps she was struck, but she sustained an injury to the head.'

Mr Kramer, 21, who works for a shipping company, said: 'It is devastating, very tough and I am just trying to find justice for Ivana.

'The police have told me it was suicide and that's it. They are saying it is a sudden death after she overdosed on drugs and fell from the balcony.

Ivana's devastated father claims that police wanted to 'close the case quickly' and that neighbors heard 'shouts and an argument'

'I didn't know the couple she was with at all until it happened. I can't understand what happened.

'She told me on the night that she was going out with some model friends. It was a Wednesday night and I work till 8pm. When I got home she told me she wanted to go out.

'She said she would be out for a couple of hours and have only a couple of drinks. She gave me a hug and said 'I love you' and left.

'I went to the gym for a half-an-hour and went to bed.'

He added: 'The next morning I woke up at 6.30 and she was not laying next to me. So I called her up and she picked up right away. She sounded good. She sounded alright. She said it had been a long night and she was at her girlfriend's place.

'She didn't mention anything about this guy Alex. She said she was going to get some rest and sleep. I didn't think anything of it as she had a job that day.'

Soon after he received a telephone call from Luna Johnson from Ivana's cell phone who introduced herself and said they were just 'chilling'.

Johnson said he was asleep between 10am and 3pm on the day of the death, and his wife reportedly claimed to have been taking their four-year-old daughter to school in the morning

He went to work after receiving a selfie of Ivana and Luna which he said appeared to have been taken by Luna on his girlfriend's phone.

The message under it said 'Chilling at my chicks place', but Lukas is adamant that he had never heard his girlfriend using the phrase 'chicks' before.

'She would have said she as at her girlfriend's place, never use 'chilling' and 'chicks', he added.

The teenager, who had worked in fashion shows for Chanel and other brands, had been partying but reportedly returned to the flat at 5am with the unnamed couple. Her body was discovered that afternoon on a sixth floor balcony with alcohol and drugs found in her blood

After returning from work that evening, he saw his girlfriend hadn't returned or checked her 'Whatsapp' messages on her phone.

He spoke with her parents in Holland and then received a call from one of Ivana's model friends informing him of the tragedy. The news was confirmed by police when he visited a station.

He later joined her parent's when they viewed the teenager's body in hospital.

'I had never known her take drugs, not at all. We went to the gym together and she liked an active, healthy lifestyle.

'She was happy, she was really happy. I cannot accept it was suicide in any way. If you had asked me who was the least (likely) person to commit suicide, then I would have said Ivana for sure. She had a positive attitude all the time.'

'She liked a drink or a beer like anybody else. But nothing like drugs, no wayno way.

The Dutch teen model fell from a balcony after partying in the apartment of American citizen Alexander Amado Johnson, 45, and his wife Luna

'I am angry. Why I haven't sen a proper timeline from the police or CCTV from the block of flats. Was there anybody else in the apartment. What happened: It seems like nobody here is caring. It has all gone quiet. The police need to investigate properly.'

Lukas revealed he had received bizarre text messages from a friend of the Johnsons after his girlfriend died.

One text said: 'She wanted to break up with you. She didn't have nice things to say about you bro.'

But Lukas texted back: 'It is all bull****.'

Ivana was born in the Sittard, in the Netherlands but grew up in Malaysia with her grandparents Hendrik Smit, 78, and Susan, 77.

There she had built a career as a model for the likes of Chanel and other brands.

She began her modelling career aged just 13, and by 15 appeared on TV on 'Malaysia Supermodel Search 2014'. She was second runner-up.Nearly three quarters of a million people are living in dirty or unsafe homes and thousands of lives are at risk because of rogue landlords, new figures reveal.

Home owners are defying the rules on rental standards which were introduced to improve the quality of accommodation - leaving renters in shoddy conditions.

An abandoned ramshackle room with a hole in the wall and debris on the floor. Nearly three quarters of a million people are living in dirty or unsafe homes in the UK

Some 1.8million people reside in HMOs that do not have a carbon monoxide alarm, according to the English Housing Survey.

And at least 690,000 live in HMOs which fail to meet minimum standards - 375,000 of whom are in homes with a category-one hazard, such as a dangerous boiler.

A room with dirty mold-ridden walls. Thousands of tenants' lives are at risk because of rogue landlords

HMOs are properties with at least five people from two or more families residing in them and are often home to students, migrants and families struggling to get by.

There are an estimated half a million in the UK which house at least two and a half million people.

The real figure is thought to be much higher because some can accommodate up to 40 people using bunk beds and mattresses on the floor.

Because HMOs are known for being particularly run-down homes, owners must apply for a licence and their properties may then be inspected.

But the absence of a national database means potentially tens of thousands of properties slip under the radar and their owners avoid inspections.

In one home, a door had been ripped off by a rent collector confronting a tenant who refused to pay a higher sum of rent demanded by the agent (stock image)

Martin Tett, from the Local Government Association, said it wasn't right that civil penalties are greater than those delivered by magistrates.

'A key deterrent to rogue landlords would be for the government to set common sentencing guidelines which deliver consistency across the courts,' he said.

While landlords can be let off with small fines in court, councils have recently been given the power to enforce civil penalties of up to 30,000.

Newham council successfully prosecuted landlord Michael Docker and his agent last year.

His three-bedroom flat above a commercial premises had been converted into an unlicensed HMO with 15 bedrooms and 20 residents.

Council officers were shocked to discover the fire alarm had been turned off and some of the rooms had no windows.

A door had been ripped off by a rent collector confronting a tenant who refused to pay a higher sum of rent demanded by the agent, the court heard.

The landlord and agent were fined 100,000.The first victim in Australia to have her private details from Facebook sold to a third party has been revealed and described her 'shock' at finding out it had happened.

Dominique Maber, 24, from Sydney, discovered her personal information had been on sold on to a company via an app developer after Facebook sent a her a message on Friday.

Ms Maber, an up-and-coming DJ artist who performs as DJ Lionette, was appalled after realising the data could be used to find uncover her shopping trends and where she lives.

Dominique Maber, 24, revealed as the first victim in Australia to have her private details sold to a third party by Facebook

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has been grilled by US Congress this week over the data breach to a UK-based research company in 2014

'I didn't want to give this information away. I didn't sign up for this,' she told NewsCorp.

It comes as Facebook founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, was forced to admit user's personal data ended up in the hands of UK-firm Cambridge Analytica.

There are thought to be around 300,000 Australians who have had private data including location, political views, religion, messages through Facebook's private messaging system and even telephone numbers sold off by the social network, NewsCorp reports.

The firm which bought the data was thought to have used the information to allegedly sway voters through targeted and selected messaging and advertising during the US elections in 2016.

Ms Maber, who performs as DJ Lionette, described she was in shock after finding out about having her data included in the sell-off by the social network

'I didn't want to give this information away. I didn't sign up for this,' she said in an interview with NewsCorp on Saturday

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is investigating how Facebook collects data including the use of selling it to third parties

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is investigating how Facebook collects data after a public consultation ended earlier in April.

It is expected to release a report on its findings in December and provide recommendations about the social network's future in Australia.

Ms Maber claimed the message which initially warned about about her information being sold has since disappeared.

The ACCC report is due in December and could provide recommendations about Facebook's future operation in Australia (pictured Dominique Maber)

Ms Maber says she is now considering how to secure her account or delete it which she says could affect her work as a DJ to promote gigs and interact with fans

Ms Maber now admits posting 'every part' of her life after signing up in its early days was 'really silly and naive'

She is now considering how to secure her account or delete it which she says could affect her work as a DJ to promote gigs and interact with fans.

'I've had Facebook since I was really young  since it started  so there is so much of my life on there,' she said.

Ms Maber now admits posting 'every part' of her life was 'really silly and naive' in light of the way Facebook is now known to operate to drive revenue.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg was grilled for almost 11 hours by 100 lawmakers in Capitol Hill (pictured)

Zuckerberg this week faced questions from US congress in Washington DC where he admitted the data had ended up with the British company.

He admitted his own data had been gathered as part of the breach in 2014 and apologised to the thousands of users affected.

The Facebook chief was grilled for almost 11 hours by 100 lawmakers in Capitol Hill.

During his testimony, Zuckerberg admitted it was 'a big mistake' for Facebook to act over its responsibilities.

He told the Congress hearing: 'It was my mistake and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here.'

Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, uses data gathered from its 1.4 billion daily active users worldwide as a basis for algorithms which link advertising and other materials to a person's online profile.

It can collect data on every element of your digital identity on the network, from your search and Messenger chat history to photos you've uploaded and files sent across its servers.

Facebook also makes use of social media plug-ins and cookies - tracking devices that follow a user's internet activity - to collect data via third-party websites.

Every time you like or share Facebook content or visit sites with Facebook ads and trackers you are being watched, even if you aren't signed in, or have an account.Two boys aged 14 and 16 have been arrested after a young man was shot and seriously injured yesterday in Manchester.

The teenager is being treated for multiple gunshot wounds after he was found in Newton Heath.

A street in Manchester has been cordoned off after officers were called to Scotland Hall Road at 5.15pm.

A road in Manchester has been cordoned off following reports of gunshots yesterday evening

Residents of the area reported hearing a commotion and seeing seeing a man being chased by a gang of men.

One, who asked not to be named, told the M.E.N: 'A guy runs into a house, and there's a big commotion inside the house, then the lads come out and the other lads come out shooting him. It was low calibre.

'It wasn't dead loud, pretty loud, like a starting pistol. It wasn't a big bang but it was [a bang].'

DI Claire McGuire said: 'A young man has been left with serious injuries as a result of this incident and that is why it's vital that we find the people responsible.

Officers were called to Scotland Hall Road, in Newton Heath, Manchester, at 5.15pm last night

'While we've made two arrests, we are in the early stages of the investigation and our inquiries into the full circumstances around how this man came to be shot continues.

'It is important that members of the public who can help us to identify those who were at the scene at the time of the shooting contact police.

'People in the area will see increased patrols, and I'd urge anyone with detail that could help our investigation, or with any concerns, to speak to these officers directly.'

Member of the public can send information to police on 0161 856 1146 quoting incident number 1561 of 13 April 2018.According to media reports, Modern Tech has swindled thousands of investors by advertising certain digital currencies as trendy tech products and promising unusually high returns of up to 60% a month and commissions of up to 8% if they could invite other investors to join the network.

The company continuously announced new records in fund mobilisation and bonuses but at the same time changed the interest payment method from cash to digital currency through online transactions, using what they said was secure software in order to reduce traceability.

Trading in digital currency always contains a handful of risks, including legal, technological and market organisation.

The legal risks are associated with their origin. Calling them digital currencies is misleading since they are merely technological products and not currencies in their own right as they are not recognised as money, without such functions as a measure of value, a medium of exchange or a store of value.

They are not issued by a government so they are not legal nor protected as in the case of national and international currencies. Some countries have not banned the trading of these products because they consider the exchange of such products as a freedom, not because they are recognised as legal currencies.

In Vietnam, those who issue, supply and use illegal instruments of payment could face fines of up to VND200 million (US$8,800) under two Government decrees adopted in 2014.

Under another decree issued in 2016, digital currencies are not legal payment instruments and the issue, supply and use of digital currencies as payment instruments are banned.

These acts can even be prosecuted under the 2015 Criminal Code, which has come into force since 1 January 2018. Owners of digital currencies are also not protected or recognised by law.

Therefore, investors have to face all the risks on their own, while the functional agencies also find it hard to deal with disputes and frauds arising from the trading of digital currencies.

Technical risks in digital currencies are unavoidable and will become more serious due to rapid technological development and improved skills of hackers and cybercriminals. Risks also come from the fact that a digital currency quickly loses its value with the constant appearance of new digital currencies which are more appealing than the old ones.

Because of their illegal status, complexity and tech secrets, exchanges of digital currencies are usually designed in a hasty way, facing manipulative pressure while lacking in regulations, therefore they are highly volatile and only exist for a short time.

The risks will be multiplied and highly unpredictable when the digital currency market is organised under a Ponzi scheme.

Therefore it is an imperative for investors and regulators alike to identify the fraud risks associated with trading digital currency to ensure the stability of the financial system and prevent social disorder arising from scams.Advertisement

More than 100 missiles were launched against alleged chemical weapons facilities in Syria overnight, with the US, Britain and France deploying some of the most powerful weapons in their arsenals.

The raids hit two chemical weapons facilities and a military command post in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for President Assad's chemical attack that left up 75 civilians dead last week.

The strikes were double the size of those in 2017, with each country using some of their most advanced weaponry, which is detailed below.

This graphic shows the location of RAF Akrotiri, from which the four Tornados were launched from. America's Incirklik air base is pictured in the top of the image, although this was not used for the sorties, according to Turkey's deputy PM

Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire as the US unleashes 76 missiles on a chemical weapons facility, which was destroyed

US:

The Americans deployed their B-1B Lancer bombers for the strike. No details were given of the missiles they were carrying, but the US Air Force did confirm air launched cruise missiles were used.

Nicknamed 'the Bone', the B1-B is capable of carrying the most weapons of any bomber in a modern air force.

It is prized for its speed, manoeuvrability and long range.

Like the jets deployed by France and Britain, the B1-Bs would not have been required to cross into Syrian airspace to strike.

They are thought to have taken off from Al Udeid US air base in Qatar, where they were seen arriving earlier this month, although this has not been confirmed by officials.

Earlier this month, the US Air Force released footage of two B-1Bs arriving at the Al Uldeid air base in Qatar.

USS Donald Cook and another unidentified destroyer also struck Syria with a barrage of Tomahawk missiles.

The president wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning: 'Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!'

The first strike hit a scientific research facility in greater Damascus; the second a chemical weapons facility 15 miles west of Homs; and the third a chemical weapons facility and military command post

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows smoke rising from airstrikes on a chemical weapons research center outside Damascus. The flame on the right of the image is an anti-aircraft gun

UK:

The Royal Air Force used four Tornado GR4s to attack a base 15 miles west of Homs.

With a maximum speed of Mach 1.3 and capable of carrying more than eight tonnes of weapons, the GR4 is the latest phase in the evolution of the Tornado  the RAF's strike aircraft of choice for the last three decades.

The GR4s, which were launched from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, involved in the overnight attack were loaded with 'bunker busting' Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Weighing in at 2,866lb, measuring 16.7ft in length and with a range in excess of 150 miles, has been described by the air force as 'arguably the most advanced weapon of its kind in the world'.

The range means that none of the GR4s would have been required to cross into Syrian airspace to launch the assault.

A type-45 destroyer, possibly HMS Duncan, and an unidentified submarine were also in the Mediterranean during the strikes, although it is unclear exactly what role they played.

The Royal Air Force used four Tornado GR4s launched from RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus to attack a base 15 miles west of Homs

France:

The French scrambled Mirage and Rafale fighter jets for their part in the Syrian air strikes together with four frigate warships, launching a total of 12 cruise missiles.

The multi-purpose Rafale is used for reconnaissance, ground support as well as air strikes. It is capable of carrying missiles of a similar capability to the Storm Shadows used by the UK.

Alongside the Rafale, France deployed its supersonic Mirage 2000 fighter jets  which have a maximum speed of Mach 2.

Both jets - which took off from bases in France - have the capacity to carry missiles capable of reaching their Syrian targets without entering Syrian airspace.But ongoing battle between the bikie gangs in the Hunter Valley set to continue

Hopes of an end to a turf war terrorising residents in New South Wales is dashed

Hopes of an end to a turf war terrorising residents between rival bikie gangs have been dashed after a police plea was shot down.

Attempts by senior officers from New South Wales Police to call a truce were ended just weeks after securing a guarantee from leading Nomads members.

The peace deal was supposed to end violence between the Nomads and their rival gang, the Finks, in the Hunter Valley.

Hopes of an end to a turf war between the Nomads and Finks in the Hunter Valley have been dashed

A police plea to draw up a truce between the rival gangs in New South Wales was shot down by gang members

Documents submitted to the NSW Supreme Court - relating to another battle by police to impose new measures in controlling gang members from contacting one another - revealed attempts to secure the truce.

Detective Inspector George Radmore was told by the Nomads there would be no more violence until they had met to discuss terms with the Finks, the Herald Sun reports.

But just a fortnight later, a leading member of the Finks gang said the only way for the conflict to end would be for the rivals to be locked up in prison.

'The member stated that he would never take part in such a meeting as he would never trust them,' Mr Radmore wrote in the files submitted to the court.

'The member was very aggressive in his attitude towards the Nomads.

The peace deal was supposed to end violence between after police approached the Nomads, court documents revealed

Documents submitted to the NSW Supreme Court revealed police were told by leading Nomads there would be no more violence while they discussed terms

'In further conversation with the member about how he saw an end to the conflict, the member stated that the only was for them to be locked up in gaol and he would never feel safe until they were, no matter what agreements were reached.'

The same day as the meeting with the senior member, Mr Radmore called Finks boss Andrew Manners, who is currently serving in prison.

The court documents reportedly say Manners called for bail in order to seek an end to the conflict as he claimed to apparently be the only Fink member to end their ongoing battle.

But just a fortnight later, a leading member of the Finks gang said the only way for the conflict to end would be for the rivals to be locked up

The discussions opened after a firebombing allegedly carried out by Nomads members on a motorcycle owned by Finks member Andrew Chambers on March 16, according to the Herald Sun.

In a new move launched by NSW Police last month, officers proposed a 'draconian' crackdown against five Nomad members from communicating with other gang members.

Police applied to the court to introduce measures, the first of their kind in the state, to protect the public from the bikie turf war.

The discussions opened after a firebombing allegedly carried out by Nomads members on a motorcycle owned by a Finks member

In a new move launched by NSW Police last month, officers proposed a 'draconian' crackdown against five Nomad members from communicating with other gang members

The restrictions would include not being allowed to enter any licensed premises in NSW or travelling in cars at night time over the next 12 months.

The group would be forced to hand their mobile phones over to police and reveal passwords upon the command of officers.

The potential new laws would also restrict the movements of the five men and forbid them using any encryption communication platforms including WhatsApp, Snapchat, Wickr and Hushmail.A pastry giant has been fined 25,000 after a customer found a piece of metal detector kit in a chicken and bacon slice.

The Peter's Pies factory was investigated when a plastic-coated red object was discovered in a pie.

Inspectors visited the pastry HQ where they found the company's metal detection test procedures were not properly carried out.

The Peter's Pies factory was investigated when a plastic-coated red object was discovered in a pie

A court heard staff failings meant pieces of the kits were able to enter the food chain and leave the factory.

Peter's Food Service Ltd, based in Bedwas, Caerphilly, south Wales, admitted one offence of placing food on the market that was unsafe.

The customer found the object on March 6 last year and complained to Caerphilly County Borough Council.

The company was ordered to pay a fine of 25,000.00, prosecution costs of 2,176.25 and 500 compensation to the complainant.

Cllr Eluned Stenner, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Public Protection, said: 'Our Environmental Health Officers conducted a thorough investigation and secured a successful outcome.

'In order to further protect consumers and public health, they also worked with the company to develop new procedures to prevent this happening again. I also acknowledge the full co-operation and assistance from the company.'

A pastry giant has been fined 25,000 after a customer found a piece of metal detector kit in a chicken and bacon slice (stock image)

Peter's Food Service said this was an isolated incident.

In a statement it said: 'The risk of harm from this isolated incident was low.

'The labelling on the product indicated that this product was a test pack.

'In addition, the metal test piece was of a size that it would not have caused choking. It was also distinctly coloured red.'A desperate plea has been launched to find a teenage boy missing for more than two weeks.

Police issued the appeal on Saturday after the 14-year-old boy disappeared from a house in Brisbane's north.

He has not been since March 29 as officers grow increasingly concerned and issued an appeal to the public to help track him down.

The boy, who has not been named by Queensland Police, was last seen at a house in Stebbing Road, Aspley, in Brisbane's north.

A picture of the youngster was issued by police along with a description of him.

He is said to be Caucasian and around 155cm tall. He is slim and has blonde shoulder length hair, police said.

A spokesman for Queensland Police said: 'Police hold concerns for his welfare due to his age.

'Any members of the public who know the whereabouts of the boy or who have any information that may assist are asked to contact police.'

Anyone with information about his whereabouts or any sightings since his disappearance is urged to contact Policelink on 131 444 or provide information using the online form 24hrs per day.

Alternatively, contact CrimeStoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au at any time.This is the moment a criminal who had just robbed a travel agency loses the stolen cash he had stuffed down his trousers to a big gust of wind.

In the clip, the man accompanied by another robber, can be seen fleeing the scene with the money in his trousers before it gets blown into the street.

He desperately tries to clutch at his trousers to try and stop the stray notes, but it's all in vain as stream of cash erupts and spills over the road.

The two men are believed to have stormed into a travel agency in Droylsden, Manchester and threatened staff into giving them money.

The criminals ran from a travel agent on Queens Walk, Manchester before making their escape towards Craven Street where they got into a silver car.

Greater Manchester Police have released this footage to appeal for the public's help, describing the crime as 'utterly unacceptable'.

A burglar clutches at his trousers as he tries to keep hold of the stolen cash he had stuffed inside them

Detective Constable Phil Scargill of GMP's Tameside borough, said: 'This duo threatened innocent people working in the travel agents and should know their actions are utterly unacceptable.

'We would like to speak to the two men in the CCTV footage in connection with this incident, but we need the public's help with this.

'I'd urge anyone who saw something that stood out from the ordinary that day, or who caught sight of the offenders as they fled from the travel agents, to please get in touch with police and share what you know.'

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0161 856 9262, quoting incident number 1122 of 17/03/18. Reports can also be made anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.Cameron McDermott, 32, was accused of 200 counts of predatory sexual assault, rape, sex abuse and unlawful surveillance against two women

A New York trust fund kid has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he filmed himself raping and sexually assaulting two unconscious women.

Cameron McDermott, 32, of Hempstead, Long Island, said to be a prep school student and trust fund heir, was accused of more than 200 counts of predatory sexual assault, rape, sex abuse and unlawful surveillance against two women.

He was sentenced to a decade behind bars on Friday and will register as a sex offender.

In court he cried as he apologized to his family and said he takes 'responsibility for his actions' at Manhattan Supreme Court.

'I am ashamed to be standing here today. I want to apologize to all of those affected by my crimes. First and foremost, I want to apologize to the victims,' McDermott said according to the New York Post.

'I am truly and deeply sorry for what I did,' he added.

On Friday in court McDermott, pictured above, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and told he will have to register as a sex offender

Wearing a white top, khaki pants, and white sneakers he listened as the judge announced his sentence above

He revealed a hard face in court and later shed tears when he apologized for his crimes saying: 'I am truly and deeply sorry for what I did'

His parents Rich and Laura were in the room and were expressionless during the sentencing.

McDermott's 10 year sentence is a part of a plea deal announced in February for pleading guilty.

Police said that between 2010 and 2013, McDermott had recorded himself drugging, raping and sexually assaulting two women at least 13 times at various apartments in Manhattan, including his Upper East Side and Murray Hill residences. He then saved the videos on his computers and meticulously labeled them according to the actions in the video.

The two women, who were said to have known McDermott well, were unconscious during the multiple incidents.

Among McDermott's alleged actions were raping the two women, sodomizing one woman and inserting objects into the other woman's vagina.

His parents Rick and Laura McDermott, pictured above, were present at the sentencing

The wealthy pair were pictured walking near Manhattan Supreme court, above

The wealthy parents, pictured above, were expressionless during the sentencing

The couple is said to have millions to their name, pictured above at a lavish dinner

Rick McDermott Jr., pictured right with wife Laura, spent 25 years as the CEO of bond brokerage firm Chapdelaine & Co, which is now known as Chapdelaine Tullett Prebon, LLC

Neither woman was aware of what had been done to them until authorities discovered the videos that McDermott had made of himself engaging in the actions.

McDermott originally pleaded not guilty to the charges in June, but in February he took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to first degree rape and sexual abuse, the New York Post reported.

As part of the deal, McDermott will serve a concurrent 10-year and a seven-year prison sentence. He will also be forced to register as a sex offender.

In court in February, McDermott answered 'yes' when the judge asked him if he admitted to having had sex with a woman who was physically helpless and incapable of giving her consent.

McDermott will serve a concurrent 10-year and a seven-year prison sentence

The rape and sexual assault charges came after authorities raided McDermott's house on January 19, after he allegedly performed a series of lewd public acts, police said.

Among the acts was allegedly walking up to a woman in the parking lot of Adelphi University and urinating on her leg, while he was wearing a black wig, black yoga pants and lipstick.

During the raid, police allegedly found videos of the sexual assaults as well as a hundreds of child pornography images, which were also said to have been carefully labeled according to the ages of the children and the forced sexual acts they were engaged in.

McDermott, who recently worked in medical device sales, was held without bail because it was determined that he was a flight risk.

McDermott's father, Rick McDermott Jr., spent 25 years as the CEO of bond brokerage firm Chapdelaine & Co, which is now known as Chapdelaine Tullett Prebon, LLC. The family is said to have millions of dollars to their name.

McDermott, pictured above at a birthday party, will spend 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty and will have to register as a sex offender

As part of a plea deal on Friday, McDermott (pictured in June) pleaded guilty to first degree rape and sexual abuse. He will serve a 10-year and seven-year prison sentence concurrentlyAdvertisement

President Donald Trump hailed a 'perfectly executed strike' that he said 'could not have had a better result' after authorizing a series of missile attacks against Syrian targets on Friday in response to the Assad regime's latest chemical weapons attack.

He said Saturday in his first comments since the air raid: 'Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!'

'So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There wont be anything, or anyone, even close!' he tweeted.

U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley backed up the president's rhetoric, declaring the Trump administration 'locked and loaded' to carry out further airstrikes on Syria in the event of a further chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime.

The White House's talking points on the airstrikes emphasized the grotesqueness of the photos 'dead and dying children' as a 'call to action among the worlds civilized nations.'

Surrogates for the administration were told to stress in media appearances that 'actors who use these abhorrent weapons will be held accountable for their actions' but make clear that strikes 'are not intended as a provocation against the Russian Federation or its forces in Syria. We do not seek armed conflict with the Russian Federation.'

Nations that can but do not act to stop horrific attacks like the one in Syria 'make themselves complicit in these outrages,' the White House instructed its allies to say, and 'everyone must understand that the costs of using chemical weapons will always outweigh any military or political benefits.'

The talking points that were provided to DailyMail.com by a source also revealed the United States' intent to impose new sanctions on Russia in response to Moscows 'ongoing support for the Assad regime,' which the White House says has 'enabled the regimes atrocities against the Syrian people.'

Donald Trump hailed a 'perfectly executed strike' just hours after launching a series of attacks on Syria. He wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning: 'Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!'

He added: 'So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There wont be anything, or anyone, even close!'

The president is pictured addressing the nation on Friday evening from the Diplomatic Room of the White House, announcing retaliatory airstrikes on Syria. He said he ordered the precision strikes in direct retaliation to Bashar al-Assad's 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of Douma

The Damascus sky lights up with missile fire as the US, Britain and France launch an attack on Syria

Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire after Donald Trump announced the strikes on Syria on Friday night ET

A cruise missile is pictured being launched from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria

Part of the calculation this week has also been gaming out how Russia will respond either in the region or around the world

President Trump signaled a shift in his attitude toward Vladimir Putin earlier this week when he said that 'everybody' involved in the poison attack, including the Russian president, would 'pay a price.'

He took direct aim at the man he's repeatedly expressed a desire to get along with in spite of Russian aggression and election meddling in his national address on Friday, informing Putin that he and his government will be judged by the company that they keep.

Trump's administration seemed ready to turn the screws on Moscow on Saturday morning as it prepared to make good on the president's promise that Russia, like Syria, would pay for its inhumanity.

The sanctions that were mentioned in the talking points remained unconfirmed, and neither the White House nor the Treasury Department responded to requests for comment on the revelation.

Ambassador Haley said at an emergency meeting of the United Nations called by Russia on Saturday morning that 'the time for talk ended last night.'

'We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will,' she said. 'The United States is locked and loaded.'

Haley warned, 'When our president draws a red line, our president enforces a red line.'

She also accused the Russians of covering for Syria's president, who she said had used chemical weapons 50 times in the past seven years of internal warfare.

'Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and its cover-ups,' she said of Syria's strongest ally. 'Russia was supposed to guarantee Assad would not use chemical weapons, and Russia did the opposite.'

At a morning briefing, the Pentagon said that the airstrikes on Syria 'were very successful' in that the coalition met its objectives.

'We hit the sites,' Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said on Saturday. 'It was mission accomplished.'

Whether the strikes would have the intended effect  keeping Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad from gassing the people of his country again  was not something that the U.S. or its allies could predict in the immediate aftermath.

President Trump's 'mission accomplished' claim drudged up old memories of another Republican president, George W. Bush, standing under a banner in 2003 and declaring the same thing. Bush's war in Iraq lasted for years, and when the U.S. finally left the power vacuum was filled by ISIS.

Trump pledged Friday in a national address that the U.S. would continue to strike Assad until he forsook his chemical weapons attacks.



French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday morning that 'a lot has been destroyed in last night's strikes' but additional strikes could come if Assad crossed the 'red line' of using chemical weapons again.

France says a 'large part' of the Syria's chemical arsenal was destroyed during coordinated strikes that the U.S. and U.K. joined the country in launching on facilities known to be used in the production of the deadly weapons.

American, British and French forces launched the airstrikes on two chemical weapons facilities and a military command post in Syria early Saturday local time in retaliation for a chlorine gas attack a week ago that left up 75 civilians dead.

The strike came as Trump addressed the U.S. and British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron both gave speeches justifying the use of force in response to the 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack.

Trump spoke in a national address at 9pm ET on Friday as missiles rained down on three sites across Syria. He said he ordered the precision strikes in direct retaliation to Bashar al-Assad's 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.

Shortly after the assault, the Syrian government tweeted, 'Honorable souls cannot be humiliated.'

State TV said the country's air defenses shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area south of Damascus and claimed three civilians were wounded in the attack on the military base.

The Pentagon disputed those claims on Saturday, with Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, telling reporters, 'As of right now we're not aware of any civilian casualties.'

A senior official also said that none of the U.S. missiles were intercepted by Syrian forces.

The strikes carried out by the United States consisted of more than 100 missiles, the Pentagon indicated, with Secretary of Defense James Mattis describing the number as 'a little over double the number of weapons' that were used in last year's air assault on Syria.

That April 7, 2017 attack on a Syrian airbase after Assad's confirmed use of chemical weapons on civilians consisted of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

McKenzie on Saturday said the exact number of missiles launched in the latest assault was 105.

At a Friday evening news conference, Mattis said the latest round of strikes sent a very strong message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants' and that right now this is a one-time shot driving home a message that conflicted with the president's.

'That will depend on Mr. Assad should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future,' Mattis said of future strikes.

In the news conference that followed Trump's remarks, Mattis confirmed that chlorine gas, and possibly sarin, was used by Assad's forces to poison Syrians a week ago. He would not be more specific than that.

Syria air defenses strike back after air strikes by U.S., British and French forces in Damascus

A fighter jet lands at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus, on Saturday, April 14

A fighter jet prepares to land at RAF Akrotiri, a military base Britain maintains on Cyprus

An RAF Tornado comes into land at RAF Akrotiri after concluding its mission.Four Royal Air Force Tornado's took off to conduct strikes

Smoke rises above Damascus after the air strikes. The US, Britain and France waged up to 120 air strikes

Smoke rises over the capital Damascus after air strikes struck Syria early Saturday, April 14, local time

Trump said Friday that the purpose of the U.S.-led strike was to 'establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use' of such chemical weapons. But he said America does not seek 'an indefinite presence' in Syria and looks forward to the day when it can withdraw its troops from Syria.

In a statement, May described the coalition air assault as a 'limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region.'

'And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity,' she said.

Macron said the 'red line' set by France in May of 2017 'had been crossed.'

'We cannot tolerate the trivialization of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security,' Macron stated. 'This is the direction of the diplomatic initiatives put forward by France at the United Nations Security Council.'

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (right) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford (second from right) brief members of the media on Syria at the Pentagon

A photo released on the Twitter page of the Syrian governments central military media shows anti-aircraft fire through a night-vision device on the outskirts of Damascu

Loud explosions rocked Syria's capital and and lit up the sky with heavy smoke. Hours later crowds of Assad supporters gathered in the center of Damascus in a show of defiance.

Hundreds of residents gathered in Omayyad Square, many waving Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns.

'We are your men, Bashar,' they shouted.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford said that all three areas the coalition 'struck and destroyed' were specific to the Syrian regime's chemical weapons program.

The scientific research center was used for the development and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology, he said. Another target, a storage facility west of Homs, was a primary location for sarin and precursor production equipment. The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command force.

General Dunford said U.S., British and French entrenched naval and air forces were involved, but for operational security, he would not be more specific than that.

The U.S. and the U.K. emphasized that steps had been taken to minimize civilian casualties.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the Assad regime 'crossed a red line' with the chemical attack in Douma. He is pictured centre with close advisers

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the coalition air assault as a 'limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region'

'We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,' Trump in his address said.

He also said in the remarks that lasted a little more than eight minutes that he had a message for 'two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime' -- Iran and Russia.

'In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise,' he said. 'Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace.'

He added, 'Hopefully someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran, but maybe not. I will say this, the United States has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.'

Irans Foreign Ministry on Saturday strongly condemned the attacks on Syria and said Washington and its allies would bear the responsibility of the raids consequences in the region and beyond, Iranian state media reported.

'Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence... will assume the responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism,' Irans Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

Russian lawmaker and the deputy head of Russia's foreign affairs committee Vladimir Dzhabarov said Moscow was likely to call for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the air strikes.

'The situation is being analysed right now. Russia will demand a meeting of the U.N. security council, I am sure.'

Donald Trump said on Friday evening he had ordered 'precision strikes' on Syria in retaliation for the 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people on April 7 (a young victim is pictured)

A child receives oxygen through a respirator following a poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma

A poison gas attack killed up to 75 people that the U.S. and its allies say was carried out by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on April 7 in Douma near Damascus

'These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead,' Trump said referring to Assad (pictured)

Trump also warned Russia and Iran about their association with the Syrian government. President Putin is pictured on April 12

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FRIDAY NIGHT ADDRESS TO THE NATION My fellow Americans: a short time ago I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both. Tonight I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian air force. Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this time in the town of Douma near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by the very terrible regime. the evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster, instead. Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation. The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. I also have a message tonight for two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime. To Iran and to Russia I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators. In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully some day we'll get along with Russia and maybe even Iran, but maybe not. I will say this, the United States has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world. In Syria the United States with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated. The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS. America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria. Under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home and great warriors they are. Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It's a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people. In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of World War I, more than 1 million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return. So today, the nations of Britain, France and the United States of America have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. Tonight I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions. We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God there guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace. And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America. Thank you, and good night. Thank you Advertisement

Russia's Ambassador to the United States warned the White House on Friday that military strikes against its ally 'will not be left without consequences'.

'Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible,' Anatoly Antonov saidl 'The U.S.  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries,' he added.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, said Trump 'can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time - because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union,' according to state news agency RIA-Novosti.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a statement on Facebook, said the U.S. struck Syria when the country finally had a chance at peace.

'One must be really exceptional to strike Syria's capital when the country finally got a chance for a peaceful future,' she wrote.

Israeli officials backed the move, with an unnamed spokesman telling Reuters that the three allies were right to enforce the ban on chemical warfare.

'Last year, President Trump made clear that the use of chemical weapons crosses a red line. Tonight, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom enforced that line,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

'Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk.'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also backed the attack. 'Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons in last week's attack in eastern Ghouta, Syria,' Trudeau said.

'Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regime's ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people. We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice.'

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations

Syrian government supporters chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations in Damascus following the strikes

Protesters stand outside Trump Tower demonstrating against military strikes in Syria, late on Friday in New York

U.S. air strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma a week ago. Trump had reacted with a tweet warning Assad and his allies that the action would not go unchecked.

'Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria,' he declared. 'President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay.'

Trump told reporters that the list of people he'd punish included the Russian president, if appropriate.

'Everybody's gonna pay a price. He will. Everybody will,' the U.S. president said.

After Russia rejected a U.S.-sponsored resolution authorizing a probe of the gas attack and vowed to shoot down U.S. missiles fired upon Syria, Trump took aim at the Kremlin.

'Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart! You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!' Trump tweeted.

The White House left open the possibility of direct, military engagement with Russia after the tweet.

Russia's deputy prime minister, Arkady Dvorkovich, just brushed the rebuke off, however, saying, according to state media, 'We cannot depend on the mood of someone on the other side of the ocean when he wakes up, on what a specific person takes into his head in the morning.'

The French presidency on Saturday released a video on Twitter showing what it said were Rafale war planes taking off to attack targets in Syria

It was not immediately clear whether the planes were taking off from an aircraft carrier or a military base on land in video released by the French presidency

Moscow has claimed all along that the chemical weapons attack did not take place and on Friday that it had 'irrefutable evidence' that it had been fabricated.

The U.S. meanwhile joined France and the U.K. in pointing the finger for the attack - and their missiles - directly at Assad's forces.

Mattis said Friday evening that he was 'confident' Assad's regime conducted a chemical weapons attack.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said at an emergency meeting of the Security Council, 'We know who did this. Our allies know who did this. Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and cover-ups.'

Defense Secretary James Mattis' statement Good evening. As the world knows, the Syrian people have suffered terribly under the prolonged brutality of the Assad regime. On April 7th, the regime decided to again defy the norms of civilized people, showing callous disregard for international law by using chemical weapons to murder women, children and other innocents. We and our allies find these atrocities inexcusable. As our commander in chief, the president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force overseas to defend important U.S. national interests. Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken decisive action against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure The United States has an important national interest in averting a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, and specifically deterring the use and proliferation of chemical weapons. Last year, in response to a chemical weapons attack against civilians and to signal the regime to cease chemical weapons use, we targeted the military base from which the weapons were delivered. Earlier today, President Trump directed the U.S. military to conduct operations, in consonance with our allies, to destroy the Syrian regime's chemical weapons research, development and production capabilities. Tonight, France, the United Kingdom and the United States took decisive action to strike the Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure. Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year. This time, our allies and we have struck harder. Together, we have sent a clear message to Assad, and his murderous lieutenants, that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable. The 70 nations in the defeat ISIS coalition remain committed to defeating ISIS in Syria. The strike tonight separately demonstrates international resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used on anyone, under any circumstance, in contravention of international law. I want to emphasize that these strikes are directed at the Syrian regime. In conducting these strikes, we have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties. But it is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process. In accordance with the chemical weapons convention prohibiting the use of such weapons, we urge responsible nations to condemn the Assad regime and join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again. General Dunford will provide a military update. Based on recent experience, we fully expect a significant disinformation campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime. In an effort to maintain transparency and accuracy, my assistant for public affairs, Dana White, and Lt. Gen. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, will provide a brief of known details tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Advertisement

The Friday night assault earned tepid support from Democrats in Congress who said they are awaiting additional information from the Trump administration about the targets and goals of the strike.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the upper chamber's Intelligence Committee, said, 'While the U.S. and our allies must not turn a blind eye to Assad's vile and inhumane attacks against his own citizens, military action in Syria must be measured, as part of a coherent strategy to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons without further destabilizing an already-volatile region or inadvertently expanding the conflict.'

Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, said that Assad's weapons attack was a 'brutally inhumane war crime that demands a strong, smart and calculated response.

But she argued, 'One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

'The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorization for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians,' the leading House Democrat insisted in a statement. 'President Trump must also hold Putin accountable for his enabling of the Assad regimes atrocities against the Syrian people.'

Vice President Mike Pence briefed Pelosi and other congressional leaders by phone after skipping a reception and rushing back to his hotel in Lima, Peru.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell received calls notifying them of the action before the president's address, the vice president's communications director, Jarrod Agen, said. So did Pelosi. Pence was unable to reach Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer until afterward, Pence's spokesman explained, because the top-ranking Democrat was on a flight.

The vice president was attending a summit in Peru on Friday in Trump's stead. Trump called off his trip as he mulled how to respond to the attack in Syria.

House Speaker Paul Ryan meanwhile praised Trumps 'decisive action in coordination with our allies,' adding, 'We are united in our resolve.'

Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain applauded the airstrikes but said 'they alone will not achieve U.S. objectives in the Middle East.'

'I hope these strikes impose meaningful costs on Assad. The message to Assad must be that the cost of using chemical weapons is worse than any perceived benefit, that the United States and our allies have the will and capability to continue imposing those costs, and that Iran and Russia will ultimately be unsuccessful in protecting Assad from our punative response,' McCain said in a statement.

Schumer said the airstrikes were 'appropriate' yet cautioned the Trump administration 'to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria.'

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said there 'is absolutely no question' the gas attack merits a strong response. However, he said he remains concerned the U.S. will become mired in the 'horrific and complex civil war that has been raging in Syria.

'While these joint American, British and French strikes are morally justified against the Assad regimes gassing of its own people, they take place with no congressional authorization,' he asserted.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, also said: 'President Trumps decision to launch airstrikes against the Syrian government without Congresss approval is illegal and  absent a broader strategy  its reckless.

'Last week, President Trump was adamant that the U.S. was leaving Syria imminently. This week, he is opening a new military front. Assad must face consequences for his war crimes, but Presidents cannot initiate military action when there isnt an imminent threat to American lives.'

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said his committee would convene a hearing next week on U.S. policy for the region. 'The administration needs to begin fully explaining its strategy for the months ahead,' he said.

'Military force cannot be the only means of responding to these atrocities. The U.S. must leverage strong diplomacy and serious financial pressure. Thats why, last year, the House led in passing tough new sanctions against Assad and his enablers. The Senate needs to move this legislation to the presidents desk quickly.'Czech-American film director Milos Forman died on Friday at the age of 86, near his home at a hospital in Connecticut.

The two-time Oscar winner died suddenly after a 'short illness' his wife, Martina (Zborilova) Forman, told Czech news agency CTK, with his agent adding he passed away at Danbury Hospital in the city of Warren.

'His departure was calm and he was surrounded the whole time by his family and his closest friends,' she said.

Forman, whose legal name was Jan Tomas, was well-know for his work on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Man on the Moon, Hair, Amadeus and The People vs Larry Flynt, among other films.

Czech-American film director Milos Forman died on Friday at the age of 86, near his home at Danbury Hospital in Warren, Connecticut, after a 'short illness'; The famed entertainment elite is seen here at the closing ceremony of the Marrakesh International Film Festival in Morocco on December 15, 2007

It was Michael Douglas who enlisted Forman to adapt One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest into a screenplay in 1975, after taking notice of his early work which centered mostly on Czechoslovakia stories and themes.

'When we started to make our films, they were really Czech films about Czech society and Czech little people  and who cares about Czech little people? So it was satisfying to have people in other countries respond,' Forman told The Los Angeles Times in 2004.

His work on that film won Forman his first Oscar, for Best Director, in 1976 and solidified his place in American media.

Forman, who was born in the Czech Republic's town of Caslav in 1932, had moved to the US in or around 1968, on the heels of his 1967 film, The Firemen's Ball, which was a satirical look at Czechoslovakia's community regime and earned him his second Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language film.

Forman is seen here with his third wife, Martina (Zborilova) Forman, at Tavern on the Green in New York City on January 11, 2005

Forman's passing did not go unnoticed by film industry greats, with actors, directors and writers and producers like Larry Karaszewski, who joined Forman on The People vs Larry Flynt in 1996, sharing their sorrow over death on social media

Josh Gad, the actor currently playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, shared his praise of the late director

His first was for 1965's Loves of a Blonde, which was also nominated in the same category for a Golden Globe.

Forman's passing did not go unnoticed by film industry greats, with actors, writers, directors and producers sharing their thoughts on his death over social media, early on Saturday.

Larry Karaszewski, a writer and producer who joined Forman on The People vs Larry Flynt in 1996), wrote:

'Milos Forman was our friend and our teacher. He was a master filmmaker - no one better at capturing small unrepeatable moments of human behavior. We made two movies together and every day spent with him was a unique adventure. Milos loved life. I will miss his laughter.'

Josh Gad, the actor currently playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, shared his praise of the late director.

'Just learned the sad new about #MilosForman whose movies are among some of my favorites of all time,' Gad wrote.

'A resume that produces both One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus deserves to be up there alongside the greats. Good bye to an icon. And Bravo.'

Actor Ron Perlman, who played Clarence 'Clay' Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, simply wrote, 'Huge talent. Huge loss'

Fellow director Edgar Wright, whose recent works include Baby Driver, shared his thoughts

Actor Ron Perlman, who played Clarence 'Clay' Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, simply wrote, 'Huge talent. Huge loss,' while sharing an article about the legendary director on Twitter.

Fellow director Edgar Wright, whose recent works include Baby Driver, shared his thoughts.

'Very sad to hear that the great director Milos Forman has passed away. He had a tremendous filmography that documented the rebel heart and human spirit,' Wright said.

'I have seen 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' enough times to be able to silently mouth along with the movie. RIP.'

The legendary architect of American film, who became a US citizen in 1975, didn't take his station in America lightly.

Martina and Forman are seen here on their way to an awards show in New York City in 2006

'It's funny to realize, but in my relatively short life I have lived through six or seven different social and cultural systems. First the Democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia, then the limited democracy before World War II, then the Nazi regime,' Forman has been quoted as saying.

'After the Nazi regime there was a kind of democracy again for three years, then came the Stalinist regime, then the reformed Communist regime, and now I am living in a free country.'

Forman found love at least three times in his 86 years, having first married actor Jana Brejchova in 1958, before divorcing in 1962.

In 1964, he remarried another actor, Vera Kresadlova. That relationship ended 35 years later, but not before the two of them gave life to twin sons, Matej and Petr Forman, both age 53.

In 1999, he married his final love, Martina, with whom he had a second set of twin sons.

Their boys, Andrew and James Forman, both 19, were named after Andrew Kaufman and Jim Carrey.Ian Jordan died on Wednesday at the age of 66 after being in a coma for 30 years

A Victoria police officer died on Wednesday at the age of 66 after being in a coma for 30 years.

Ian Jordan got into a near-fatal car accident on September 22 1987 in Canada after his cruiser collided with another responding cruiser.

Jordan, who was 35 at the time of the incident, has been in a coma at Glengarry extended care hospital ever since that night but passed away after suffering complications from a lung infection this week.

'For him, first of all, his 30-year-long struggle is over and he's at peace now,' his wife Hilary Jordan said.

'I think it comes as closure,' said retired sergeant Ole Jorgensen, the officer whose car T-boned Jordan's as the two raced to the scene. He suffered a serious leg injury in the crash.

Jordan, who was heading home to his wife and 16-month-old son Mark, received a call about a possible break-and-enter around 2 a.m.

He was a mere block away from the old Victoria police headquarters on Fisgard Street when the two police vehicles collided at Douglas and Fisgard streets.

Jorgensen and Jordan were very good friends and Jordan would often provide backup when Jorgensen, a canine officer, responded to dangerous calls.

Jorgensen said he slammed on his brakes the minute he saw Jordan's car enter the intersection, but it was too late.

Jordan suffered a permanent brain injury which left him quadriplegic and in a vegetative state and was only kept alive through breathing tubes.

Jordan has had someone visit him every single day for the past 30 years.

Hilary said it was really difficult not knowing Jordan's mental state and if he was aware of anything. 'There were times we really felt he was with us and he did understand,' she said.

'We like to think he was able to get a grasp of his surroundings and his family.'

The family initially held out hope, however they began to realize that was not a reality. 'But as the years went on, and there was no real change, I think we resolved ourselves to the fact that he wouldn't come back,' Jorgensen said.

Ian Jordan got into a near-fatal car accident on September 22 1987 after his cruiser collided with another responding cruiser

'We've all known that this day would come at some point in our lives. We never knew when.'

Hilary met her husband when they were in Grade 12 and were married by the age of 21.

Jordan took a summer job at the Victoria Police Department and decided to join the force after graduation.

He followed after his father, Harry, who was an RCMP officer. Jordan wanted to eventually join the foreign service.

Jordan's son Mark, 31, is now a criminal defense lawyer in Edmonton. 'That's the saddest part that he didn't get to see Mark grow up and all his wonderful accomplishments,' Hilary said.

'I think his spirit and memory will live on in his son because Mark is so much like his dad.'

The Victoria Police Department said a funeral with full police honours is being planned.

The family is asking that donations in Jordan's memory be made to the Canadian Cancer Society's Tour de Rock or Broken Promises animal rescue.Advertisement

The Pentagon has shared new details of the successful, coordinated missile attack on Damascus which set the Syrian regime's chemical weapons program back 'years'.

At a press conference in Washington DC on Saturday morning, Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White and Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie gave a detailed break-down of the 105 missiles launched.

'This is going to set the program back for years. We attacked the heart of the Syrian chemical weapons program,' Gen. McKenzie said.

He also shot down the Syrian media's claim that Assad's missile defense systems took down 71 of the missiles launched, revealing that none were compromised and that they were only fired once the coordinated attack was over.

A Syrian soldier films the damage at the cite of the Barzah Scientific Research Center in Damascus on Saturday morning after it was annihilated by 76 missiles

Smoke was still billowing from the site on Saturday morning, hours after the 4am air and sea missile attack

Soldiers were putting out the flames and smoke on Saturday morning as US officials celebrated the attack and said 'mission accomplished'

Three civilians were injured but there have been no confirmed fatalities.

On Saturday, the General said that if any deaths are reported they may well have been the result of Assad's counter fire.

'Syria shot 40 large missiles into the air using ballistic trajectory, without guidance.

'When we shoot iron into the air without guidance, it's going to come down somewhere.'

He added that Syrian outlets which claimed as many as 71 of the missiles had been brought down were lying, saying playfully: 'I can't help you with what the Syrians are saying but what I am telling you is what actually happened.

All of the US's aircraft returned safely to base after the attack. Gen. McKenzie did not say where the Lancer B-1 Bombers had flown from but other officials suggested they deployed from an airbase in Qatar.

'We met our objective. We hit our target. It was mission accomplished,' White said on Saturday, repeating the president's tweet earlier in the day.

Dramatic before and after satellite photographs of the three targets were also shown and revealed the extent of the damage.

Satellite images show the Barzah Research Center, the main target, before and after the missile attack which took place at 4am local time on Saturday, 9pm EST on Friday. 76 missiles pummeled this site alone

The second target was the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage site which was hit at the same time by 22 missiles

The third target, Him Shinshar CW Bunker, was the smallest and was wiped out by seven missiles

This graphic issued by the Pentagon on Saturday illustrates how the attacks unfolded from air and sea. It does not represent exactly the number of ships or planes deployed by each country. The US used three destroyers and a submarine along with two B-1 Lancer bombers. France used at least two aircraft and four ships and the UK used four aircraft

A map shows the location of the three targets. The Barzah Research Center was nearer the capital and the two storage facilities were to the north

Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White (left) and Joint Staff director Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie gave a briefing on the strike on Saturday and said it 'crippled' Assad's chemical weapon arsenal

The first and largest was the Barzah Research and Development Center which was considered to be the 'heart' of the regime's chemical weapons program.

Between the jets and warships, 76 missiles annihilated the target.

Fifty-seven of those were Tomahawk missiles and 19 were Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles.

The second target was the Hinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Facility.

It was destroyed by 22 weapons including Scalp and Storm Shadows and three Naval cruise missiles.

President Trump celebrated the strikes on Saturday morning in two tweets

The third target, the Hinshar CW Bunker, was hit by seven Scalp missiles.

The Tomahawks were mostly fired from the USS Monterey, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser and the USS Higgins, USS Laboon and the USS John Warner submarine.

France deployed its Mirage and Dassault Rafale jets and reportedly used four frigate warships.

It is not clear how many aircraft were deployed. Britain is believed only to have fired missiles from its Torpedoes and Typhoon aircraft.

Other ships from each nation's military were in the region, including the USS Donald Cook, but did not fire any weapons.

Despite the attack, White said the US was still committed to a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to the ongoing civil war in Syria.

'Our goal has not changed. Our goal in Syria is to defeat ISIS....but Assad's actions were beyond the pale.

'We do not seek conflict in Syria but we cannot allow such grievous violations of international law.

'We will not stand by passively while Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, ignores international law,' she said.Two-way trade has yielded fruitful results, with the EU being the second largest importer of Vietnams products and the destination for 18 percent of Vietnamese exports, he said, noting that the union was the third biggest trade partner of Vietnam with two-way trade reaching US$50 billion in 2017.

Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$31.8 billion with the EU, he added.

He also pointed out some factors that hinder two-way trade such as the yellow card issued by the European Commission on imports of Vietnamese seafood. The local business climate should be improved while administrative procedures need to be streamlined to facilitate trade and investment between Vietnam and the EU, he added.

At the meeting, the Government leader ordered relevant ministries to work closely with the relevant EU bodies to complete the signing and ratification of the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement (EVFTA) at the end of 2018, which will create a breakthrough for economic and trade cooperation between the two sides.

The EVFTA, a new-generation free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EUs 28 member states, is a comprehensive and high-quality trade pact that balances benefits for both Vietnam and the EU, while remaining in line with regulations of the World Trade Organisation.

Leaders of Vietnam and the EU finished negotiations for the deal in 2015.Zimena Barreto was appointed deputy director of communications at the Department of Health and Human Services in December 2017

A Trump administration official has been placed on leave after investigations into her social media use unearthed a series of alarming posts.

Department of Health and Human Services political appointee Ximena Barreto shared an image that claimed 'our forefathers would have hung' former president Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for treason in May 2017, a CNN KFile review found.

Barreto was put on leave on Monday months after joining the department in December 2017 as deputy director of communications.

A Media Matters investigation discovered that, just months before being appointed, the far-right pundit called Islam 'a cult' in and said Obama was a 'Muslim terrorist' and a 'pansy and a traitor'.

Barreto allegedly used her Twitter account, 'RepublicanChick' to criticize an Amazon ad that shows a Christian priest and a Muslim imam, saying 'an Imam would never sit with a priest FYI'.

The Colombian-born pundit was put on leave on Monday after media investigations of her social media uncovered alarming posts

The Colombian-born pundit used the hashtag #BanIslam at least five times and also wrote #DeportSarsour about Women's March organizer Linda Sarsour.

During livestreams posted to her social media pages, Barreto said 'African-Americans are way more racist than white people' and 'she feels bad for white people'.

She said: 'I've been attacked by more African-Americans on Twitter than white people, in all honesty.  They're the most racist people I ever met.'

Barreto also used her social media accounts to promote the false 'Pizzagate' conspiracy, which alleges political figures such as Clinton were involved in trafficking children from a Washington D.C. pizza shop.

The PizzaGate conspiracy theory falsely claims politicians such as Hillary Clinton are involved in trafficking children through a Washington D.C. pizza restaurant

'It's a hoax so we get distracted from #PizzaGate you are going to find fraud from the DNC,' she wrote on a Tweet about a recount of the 2016 presidential election.

Before joining DHH Barreto also hosted a YouTube Show titled 'The Right View by Deplorable Latinas'.

In October 2016 she also pushed the conspiracy theory that murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was killed by Clinton or the DNC. She used the hashtags #KilledByTheDNC #HillaryBodyCount #ClintonBodyBag.

Other bogus claims by Barreto included that Clinton and Obama are controlled by billionaire George Soros and that the Rothschild family has control over French President Emmanuel Macron.

She also falsely claimed the family of Clinton aide Huma Abedin has ties to terrorism.

On her Twitter Barreto also claimed Islam is a 'cult' and former president Barack Obama is a 'Muslim terrorist'

On her now-deleted website, a Barreto biography read: 'Growing up in Colombia during the drug wars, which deeply impacted her life at a young age, Ximena witnessed blatant corruption and extreme violence, lost family members, and came to understand the importance of law and order.

'After moving legally to the United States, Ximena began comparing the social issues between Colombia and the USA, which played a big role in her engagement in political activities as an American.'

An HHS spokesperson told Media Matters 'has no comments on any statements she may have made before joining HHS'.

'Mrs. Barreto-Rice provides specialty media support including: Spanish media, outreach, and other general press related responsibilities. ... In addition to her seven years of media experience, Mrs. Barreto-Rice brings a unique background to the position.'The New York Police Department is heightening security by sending out counterterrorism officers throughout the city.

The ramped up security announced Friday follows Trump's military strike in Syria.

However the city insists that there are no credible threats in the Big Apple.

Department spokesman Phillip Walzak announced that the counterterrorism officers have been deployed 'out of an abundance of caution.'

The New York Police Department released this photo of deployed counterterrorism officers

The NYPD officers, pictured Friday evening, were deployed in response to Trump's military strike in Syria

The move was made 'out of an abundance of caution' as officials insist there is no credible threat in the city

'The NYPD is working with our intelligence bureau liaisons stationed abroad as well as our federal partners, and closely monitoring the U.S. military action in Syria,' Walzak said in a statement.

The counterterrorism officers were announced just an hour after President Donald Trump announced the military strike in Syria on in response to a suspected chemical attack on Friday.

Trump hailed the military action in Syria as a 'perfectly executed strike'.

'Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!' he wrote on Twitter.

The counterterrorism unit was deployed out of caution in response to the strikeIncluding the gender of a baby boy or girl on a birth certificate could become a thing of the past under a proposed law.

The Queensland government is discussing a law which will mean babies can be identified as 'intersex' or 'non-binary' on official documents, The Courier Mail reported.

The proposal has been fuelled by gender diversity conversations which could see the terms includes on documents in the sunshine state.

Including the gender of a baby boy or girl (stock image) on a birth certificate could become a thing of the past under a proposed law

The Queensland government is discussing a law which will mean babies can be identified as 'intersex' or 'non-binary' on official documents (Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk)

A paper commissioned by Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath outlined the changes could 'allow individuals to self-identify their sex or gender when registering a life event'.

'There are many people in the LGBTI community who feel current laws don't adequately reflect or capture the true fabric of all Queensland families,' Ms D'Ath told the publication.

However, Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the sunshine state cares about schools, jobs and hospitals, not the words on a birth certificate.

'These are official government records, you can only be born male or female,' she said.

'The thought police have gone way too far this time.'

In November last year a German court ruled parents could register their new borns as a third gender making it the first European country to do so.

Intersex people, who have a mix of male and female characteristics, make up less than two per cent of the world's population, BBC News reported.

Currently on Australian birth certificates, in some states, non-specific genders are included for the parents, where the labels mother and father can be referred to as 'parent one' and 'parent two'.Michael Cohen, the embattled personal attorney of Donald Trump, has denied fresh reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller obtained evidence he visited Prague in 2016.

'No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven!' Cohen wrote in a withering tweet on Saturday.

'Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone,' he wrote.

Cohen was referring to a McClatchy report on Friday, which cited two sources claiming that Mueller's investigators traced evidence that Cohen entered the Czech Republic through Germany in August or September of 2016.

British ex-spy Christopher Steele's dossier claimed the purpose of the trip was to meet with a prominent ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Konstantin Kosachev, but it is not clear whether Mueller has evidence of such a meeting.

President Trump's longtime attorney Michael Cohen leaves the Lowes Regency Hotel on the way to his parking garage on Saturday morning. He denies new reports he went to Prague

Paparazzi trail Cohen's every move in New York just one day after federal prosecutors revealed that he has been under criminal investigation for months

Cohen has blasted back at claims he visited Prague in 2016 for a secret meeting with a Russian

Investigators working with Mueller (center) reportedly have evidence that Cohen entered the Czech Republic through Germany in August or September of 2016

The sources did not say whether Cohen took a commercial flight or private jet to Europe, and gave no explanation as to why no record of such a trip has surfaced.

If true, evidence of such a trip would confirm one of the most contentious parts of the Steele dossier, one which Cohen and the Trump Organization loudly denied after it was made public in January 2017.

'I have never been to Prague in my life,' tweeted Cohen with a picture of his passport after the dossier's publication.

He later allowed Buzzfeed reporters to examine and photograph the inside of the passport, which does not show stamps indicating travel to Europe in August/September 2016. Cohen denies having a second passport.

Once in Germany, a traveler would not need a passport to travel to and from the Czech Republic, as both countries are within the Schengen Area with open transit.

Cohen crosses the street in Manhattan on Saturday. His office, home and hotel room were raided on Monday by FBI agents seeking evidence related to his payment to Stormy Daniels

Cohen is seen on Saturday driving his Mercedes from the parking garage near his hotel

McClatchy's sources did not say whether Cohen took a commercial flight or private jet to Europe, and gave no explanation as to why no record of such a trip has surfaced.

The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trumps personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

It comes as US attorneys confirmed on Friday that Cohen had been under criminal investigation for months.

On Monday, FBI agents raided Cohen's office, home and hotel room in New York, seeking evidence related to his payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.A West Australian man is among three people stopped at airports in as many days for allegedly carrying child exploitation material.

The 46-year-old was returning to Perth from Vietnam when Australian Border Force officials searched a mobile phone and laptop, allegedly uncovering a number of images of child exploitation.

He was charged with importing child exploitation material and is due to face Perth Magistrate's Court on Friday.

The incident followed two similar intercepts involving international travellers in Sydney and Melbourne on Monday.

Australian Border Force stopped a Chinese national (pictured) for a baggage and phone examination and found two mobile devices containing child exploitation material in Melbourne

A Sierra Leone national, who resides in Indonesia, arrived at Sydney International Airport on a flight from Jakarta after being interviewed there.

Images and videos of child abuse were allegedly found on two mobile phones and the man's visa was immediately scrapped before he was put on a flight to Jakarta.

The third incident involved a 22-year-old Chinese national whose student visa was cancelled after he was allegedly found to be in possession of child abuse material at Melbourne Airport.

He arrived on a flight from Guangzhou on Monday and was found in possession of two mobile devices containing child exploitation material.

A West Australian man is among three people stopped at airports by Australian Border Force (stock image) in as many days for allegedly carrying child exploitation material

ABF Deputy Commissioner Clive Murray said his team was committed to stamping out the movement of the 'sickening' material.

'Child exploitation is a global issue,' he said in a statement.

'We are co-operating with international law enforcement agencies to further investigate this unsavoury character and to prevent any harm to children here or overseas.'Twitter users have compared President Trump's 'mission accomplished' tweet to praise the military for airstrikes on Syria with George W Bush's use of the same phrase just six weeks into the Iraq War.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted: 'A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!'

On May 1 2003, President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant 'Mission Accomplished' banner and declared that 'major combat operations in Iraq have ended' - just six weeks after the invasion.

Twitter users have compared President Trump's 'mission accomplished' tweet (pic) to praise airstrikes on Syria with George W Bush's use of the same phrase six weeks into the Iraq War

On May 1 2003, President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant 'Mission Accomplished' banner, (left) a phrase echoed by Donald Trump (pictured at the White House on April 13)

Bush's former press secretary, Ari Fleischer, was quick on the act, tweeting: 'Um...I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words'

The Iraq War dragged on for many years after that and the banner became a symbol of US misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly conflict. Bush was heavily criticized for the move.

Bush's former press secretary, Ari Fleischer, was quick on the act, tweeting: 'Um...I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words.'

Other Twitter users quickly joined in to mock the president.

Jim Roberts posted the infamous photo of Bush standing on the USS Abraham Lincoln alongside the tweet: 'Mission Accomplished??? Is there ANYONE in the White House with an understanding of history.'

He then added: 'When Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" 139 US soldiers had been killed in the Iraq War. Since then over 4,000 have died there.'

Betty Bowers wrote: 'Donald Trump was 57 when George W Bush was stupid enough to engage in his premature @Mission Accomplished" photo-op.

'Donald Trump was 71 when Donald Trump was stupid enough to repeat the toxic meme because he's oblivious to history.'

Carl Polan tweeted: 'Be careful about saying Mission Accomplished, that was said in the past and it wasn't true!!!'

Others were even more scathing, with Ed Krassenstein writing: 'Trump says "Mission Accomplished" in regards to the Syria attack. Here is a reminder that this isnt an action drama movie, and Trump is not Tom Cruise.'

President Trump was accused of 'stupidity' and not understanding history by Twitter users on Saturday morning

Joy Reid said: 'Saying "mission accomplished" always works out well for presidents...'

Jonathan Weber Kuhn tweeted: 'Oh man. "Mission accomplished." A phrase George W. Bush used in 2003, and later came to regret because it conveyed the wrong message, that the Iraq war was over.'

And Arkansas Fred noted sarcastically: 'Luckily those same words wont come back to haunt him in humiliating fashion. Theres no precedent for it.'

After shifting explanations, the Bush White House eventually said the 'Mission Accomplished' phrase referred to the carrier's crew completing its 10-month mission, not the military completing its mission in Iraq.

Bush, in October 2003, disavowed any connection with the 'Mission Accomplished' message.

He said the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesman later said the ship's crew asked for the sign and the White House staff had it made by a private vendor.

Others were even more scathing, with Ed Krassenstein writing: 'Trump says "Mission Accomplished" in regards to the Syria attack. Here is a reminder that this isnt an action drama movie, and Trump is not Tom Cruise'

Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire on Friday night as the US unleashes 76 missiles on a chemical weapons facility, which was destroyed

Former White House press secretary Dana Perino quipped in 2008: 'We have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner.'

This morning, Trump released another tweet praising the US military for the strikes, which hit three targets and were carried out in partnership with Britain and France.

'So proud of our great Military which wills soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There won't be anything, or anyone, even close!'A woman who crashed a car after smoking ice, drink-driving and speeding has been disqualified from driving in the Northern Territory.

Donna Le-anne Gayford, 41, pleaded guilty to drug-driving, mid-range drink driving, and driving dangerously in the Darwin Local Court, the Northern Territory News reported.

She had been 'drinking,' and 'smoking ice' before she rolled her rented yellow Toyota Corolla in November 2017, the court reportedly heard.

A Jehovah's witness who crashed a car after smoking ice, drink-driving and speeding has been disqualified from driving in the Northern Territory

She was allegedly driving at up to 131 km/h, even though her husband begged her to pull over, Prosecutor Hamish Riley reportedly told the court.

'All of this in suburban streets... the fact that nobody else suffered serious injuries is nothing short of miraculous, the fact that nobody died is very lucky,' he said according to the Northern Territory News.

'Let it not be forgotten that there was a passenger in the vehicle.'

Her defence argued for a suspended sentence, arguing she had 'turned over a new leaf' since joining the Jehovah's Witness, the court reportedly heard. A bible handed out by Jehovah's witness bible is pictured

She had been 'drinking,' and 'smoking ice' before she rolled her rented yellow Toyota Corolla in November 2017, the court reportedly heard

Her defence argued for a suspended sentence, arguing she had 'turned over a new leaf' since joining the religious group, the court reportedly heard.

'She was extremely disappointed with herself,' lawyer Kevin Kardigamar argued.

Ms Gayford was reportedly injured in the crash and appeared in the court with a sling.

Her plea for a suspended sentence was rejected and she was fined $1,200 and disqualified from driving for one year.Kentucky governor Matt Bevin claims teachers who went to the state Capitol to protest education budget cuts caused children to be sexually assaulted, poisoned, physically harmed and drugged.

'I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today, a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them,' Bevin said to NBC5 outside the state Capitol on Friday.

'I guarantee you somewhere today, a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were left alone because a single parent didn't have any money to take care of them.'

Scroll down for video

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin said teachers who went to the state Capitol to protest education budget cuts left children home alone and 'vulnerable' to drugs, poison and assault

'I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today, a child was sexually assaulted because there was nobody there to watch them,' Bevin said outside the state Capitol on Friday

Bevin's comments came just hours after his vetoes to the state's budget and tax reform bills were overridden - precisely what teachers were asking legislators to do when they gathered in Frankfort.

At least 39 school districts cancelled classes so teachers who could join the demonstrations in the state's capital.

The Republican governor said this caused 'hundreds of thousands of children' to be left alone at home and 'vulnerable'.

He added: 'Children were harmed  some physically, some sexually, some were introduced to drugs for the first time.'

Bevin also told reporters he was 'offended by the fact that people so cavalierly, and so flippantly, disregarded what's truly best for children' and claimed he saw 'a lot of people hanging out, shoes-off, smoking, leaving trash around, taking the day off'.

At least 39 school districts cancelled classes so teachers who could join the demonstrations in the state's capital

Bevin's comments came after his vetoes to the state's budget and tax reform bills were overridden - what teachers were asking legislators to do when they gathered in Frankfort

Kentucky Education Association President Stephanie Winkler said she was 'appalled' by the governor's comments, according to NBC5.

The striking Kentucky teachers won a major battle on Friday, when legislators cemented a $480 million tax bill that includes a boost for public school funding.

The state's protests are part of a political shift that has seen teachers organize grassroots campaigns to flex their political muscle in several states where years of budget cuts that began during the 2008 economic downturn left salaries stagnant and many public schools in disrepair.

The final budget increases base funding for schools to $4,000 per student compared to $3,981 in the current school year, and also funds transportation and employee health insurance costs previously set to be paid for by local school districts.

The state's protests are part of a political shift that has seen teachers organize grassroots campaigns to flex their political muscle

Kentucky educators promised to return Saturday - on the last day of the legislative session - to ensure all of their demands are met.

The Kentucky Education Association (KEA), the teachers' union which had previously organized a one-day march earlier this month, estimated that several thousand teachers were at the capital Frankfort on Friday.

'They filled up the whole plaza from the front door of the capitol,' KEA spokesman Charles Main told AFP.

'The slogan of the day, the thought of the day, the message to legislators is: fund our future.'The US has ridiculed Russia's claim that Syrian fighters shot down 71 of the 105 missiles fired in the Damascus airstrikes and described the falsehood as the start of a 'disinformation campaign'.

Since the US, UK and France pummeled three targets on Friday night, Russian troll activity has surged by 2,000 percent, according to the Pentagon.

It is a sign of Moscow's attempt to try to cover up how successful the coordinated attack was and support the Assad regime.

Before the US confirmed on Saturday that none of its missiles were compromised and none of the aircraft interfered with, Russian officials made the claim that only 30 landed on their targets.

Russia claimed that Syrian fighters were able to bring down 71 of the 100 missiles fired at three targets in Damascus, a claim which was rebuffed and ridiculed on Saturday. Above, the sky lights up with missile fire. Syria did fire 40 missiles after the US-led attack but they did not hit any aircraft and the 105 missiles had already been fired

Pentagon spokesperson Dana White (left on Saturday) said the claim by Russian Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi was 'disinformation' and that trolls had spiked in activity trying to cover up how successful the attack was

Russia's Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said the hail of missiles did little damage, claiming Syrian fighters, using the 30-year-old missile defense systems Russia had given them, were able to bring them down.

He credited 'the high effectiveness of the weaponry in Syria and the excellent training of Syrian servicemen prepared by our specialists'

Dana White, the Chief Pentagon Spokesperson, and Joint Staff Director Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie laughed off the claim on Saturday.

'I can't help you with what the Syrians are saying but I what I am telling you is what actually happened,' the General said.

White said the lie was the start of a now well-known troll campaign to spread false information.

'The disinformation campaign has already begun.

'There has been a 2,000 increase in Russian troll activity in the last 24 hours,' she said.

This was what remained of the scientific research center which was obliterated in the airstrikes. The Pentagon said the mission set Syria's chemical weapons attack back 'several years'

An image released by the US Department of Defense on Saturday shows the guided missile cruiser USS Monterey firing a Tomahawk missile towards the research center in Damascus as part of the attack

Putin said on Saturday that the strikes would exacerbate Syria's humanitarian crisis and that they were detrimental to international relations

There was no Russian interference in the airstrikes and US officials have put a firm emphasis on the deconfliction process between the Kremlin and Washington which involves open channels of communication over each country's plan in Syria in order to avoid conflict.

Gen. McKenzie emphasized on Saturday that while deconfliction is in place, Russia has no veto over the US's action in Syria.

'The Russians don't have a veto on anything that we do.

'We are not cooperating with them in Syria.

'We don't want to get into a fight with them and they don't want to get into a fight with us and the best way [to avoid that] is to share information but we are not cooperating with them,' he said.

The Russian military is supporting the Syrian regime, purportedly in its fight against ISIS, however it is yet to condemn or even acknowledge Assad's continued use of chemical weapons on the non-IS rebels he is separately fighting against.Advertisement

More than 100 missiles were launched against alleged chemical weapons facilities in Syria overnight, with the Britain deploying some of the most powerful weapons in its arsenal.

The raids hit two chemical weapons facilities and a military command post in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for President Assad's chemical attack that left up 75 civilians dead last week.

The strikes were double the size of those in 2017, with each country using some of their most advanced weaponry

The Royal Air Force used four Tornado GR4s launched from RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus to attack a base 15 miles west of Homs

A Royal Air Force Tornado on the ground with two Storm Shadows underneath it at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus

UK:

The Royal Air Force used four Tornado GR4s to attack a base 15 miles west of Homs.

With a maximum speed of Mach 1.3 and capable of carrying more than eight tonnes of weapons, the GR4 is the latest phase in the evolution of the Tornado  the RAF's strike aircraft of choice for the last three decades.

The GR4s, which were launched from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, involved in the overnight attack were loaded with 'bunker busting' Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

The Syrian regime and its ally Russia have sophisticated air defences so if the RAF Tornados flew directly over their target they would be in danger.

An RAF Tornado before taking off from RAF Akrotiri the to conduct strikes in support of operations over Syria

A Typhoon aircraft prepares for landing at Akrotiri. The aircraft was also deployed alongside the Tornados

With a maximum speed of Mach 1.3 and capable of carrying more than eight tonnes of weapons, the GR4 is the latest phase in the evolution of the Tornado  the RAF's strike aircraft of choice for the last three decades

The Storm Shadow cruise missile Storm Shadow is described as a 'long-range deep-strike weapon' by MBDA systems, which produces the missile. The company states on its website that it is 'designed to meet the demanding requirements of pre-planned attacks against high-value fixed or stationary targets'. A Storm Shadow missile is prepared for loading to a Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 aircraft Weighing in at 2,866lb (1,300kg), measuring 16.7ft (5.1m) in length and with a range in excess of 150 miles (240km), it is operated from Tornado jets and in future will be carried on Eurofighter Typhoons. The long-range air-to-surface missile, designed as a 'bunker buster', can be used to penetrate underground facilities. It was first brought into service in 2003 and has previously been described by the RAF as 'arguably the most advanced weapon of its kind in the world'. Advertisement

Which is why they used their Storm Shadow cruise missiles, 'fire and forget' weapons can be pre-programmed to hit their targets.

They use GPS mapping to find their target and have a range of up to 300 miles.

The RAF Tornados which can carry two Storm Shadows are then able to stay well clear of any threat.

Weighing in at 2,866lb, measuring 16.7ft in length and with a range in excess of 150 miles, it has been described by the air force as 'arguably the most advanced weapon of its kind in the world'.

The range means that none of the GR4s would have been required to cross into Syrian airspace to launch the assault.

According to the Ministry of Defence: 'Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area.'

A type-45 destroyer, possibly HMS Duncan, and an unidentified submarine were also in the Mediterranean during the strikes, although it is unclear exactly what role they played.

US:

The Americans deployed their B-1B Lancer bombers for the strike. No details were given of the missiles they were carrying, but the US Air Force did confirm air launched cruise missiles were used.

Nicknamed 'the Bone', the B1-B is capable of carrying the most weapons of any bomber in a modern air force.

It is prized for its speed, manoeuvrability and long range.

Like the jets deployed by France and Britain, the B1-Bs would not have been required to cross into Syrian airspace to strike.

They are thought to have taken off from Al Udeid US air base in Qatar, where they were seen arriving earlier this month, although this has not been confirmed by officials.

Earlier this month, the US Air Force released footage of two B-1Bs arriving at the Al Uldeid air base in Qatar.

USS Donald Cook and another unidentified destroyer also struck Syria with a barrage of Tomahawk missiles.

The president wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning: 'Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!'

Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire as the US unleashes 76 missiles on a chemical weapons facility, which was destroyed

The first strike hit a scientific research facility in greater Damascus; the second a chemical weapons facility 15 miles west of Homs; and the third a chemical weapons facility and military command post

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows smoke rising from airstrikes on a chemical weapons research center outside Damascus. The flame on the right of the image is an anti-aircraft gun

This graphic shows the location of RAF Akrotiri, from which the four Tornados were launched from. America's Incirklik air base is pictured in the top of the image, although this was not used for the sorties, according to Turkey's deputy PM

France:

The French scrambled Mirage and Rafale fighter jets for their part in the Syrian air strikes together with four frigate warships, launching a total of 12 cruise missiles.

The multi-purpose Rafale is used for reconnaissance, ground support as well as air strikes. It is capable of carrying missiles of a similar capability to the Storm Shadows used by the UK.

Alongside the Rafale, France deployed its supersonic Mirage 2000 fighter jets  which have a maximum speed of Mach 2.

Both jets - which took off from bases in France - have the capacity to carry missiles capable of reaching their Syrian targets without entering Syrian airspace.During his stay, he held working sessions with Governor of Tamanrasset province Doumi Djillali and leaders of the provincial Chamber of Commerce and Industry, during which both sides discussed their respective socio-economic development, business opportunities, and specific measures to further lift bilateral economic ties.

The provincial authorities expressed their desire to boost ties with Vietnam in the fields of trade, agriculture, mining, and tourism.

On the occasion, the embassy partnered with the provincial Chamber of Commerce and Industry to hold a round-table seminar for the introduction of opportunities for bilateral cooperation in export-import and investment, with more than 30 firms taking part.

Speaking at the event, Ambassador Tru stressed the need to remove existing barriers to trade and investment, refine a synchronous legal framework with support measures, and make it easier for the two countries enterprises to access each others markets.

He also unveiled a plan to hold a tourism business forum in September, to which Tamanrassets travel agencies will be invited.

Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor Hoang Duc Nhuan briefed participants about Vietnam  Algeria economic, trade, and investment ties over the past years and the prospects for future development. He also introduced a French-language book entitled Handbook of doing business with Vietnam and a list of prestigious international fairs and exhibitions held in Vietnam.

While in Tamanrasset, the Vietnamese delegation visited several major local firms operating in the manufacture of construction stones and agricultural farms.The UN Security Council has voted down a Russian proposal to condemn the airstrikes on Syria following a tense meeting that saw Nikki Haley warn the Trump administration was 'locked and loaded' for further action if it became necessary.

Only three countries  Russia, China and Bolivia  voted in favor of the resolution at the end of an emergency meeting of the 15-member council called by Russia on Saturday.

The vote reflected the deep divisions in the U.N.'s most powerful body, which has been paralyzed in dealing with the seven-year Syrian conflict and chemical weapons use in the country.

The US ambassador to the UN, speaking at an emergency meeting called by Russia on Saturday, said President Trump had drawn a 'red line' on the use of chemical weapons which 'he would always keep'

America joined Britain and France in striking three targets as revenge against Assad's chemical attack on the rebel enclave of Douma on April 7, with bombers and fast jets firing more than 100 missiles.

Haley said the US was prepared for further military action if Syria's President Assad crosses the chemical weapons 'red line' in the future.

'The time for talk ended last night,' Haley said. 'We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will.

'The United States is locked and loaded,' she said. 'When our President draws a red line, our President enforces a red line.'

She also accused the Russians of covering up for Assad, who she said had used chemical weapons 50 times in the past seven years of warfare.

'Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and its cover-ups,' she said of Syria's strongest ally,' Haley said.

'Russia was supposed to guarantee Assad would not use chemical weapons, and Russia did the opposite.

'We cannot stand by and let Russia trash every international norm that we stand for, and allow the use of chemical weapons to go unanswered.'

Haley's Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, (right) hit back by accusing the US-led coalition of provoking conflict

Eight countries voted against Russia's motion and three abstained. A resolution needs at least 9 'yes' votes to be approved.

Its UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, hit back by accusing the US of 'hooliganism' and breaking international law.

'Why are you seeking to plunge the Middle East into such difficulties, provoking one conflict after another, pitting one state against another?' he said.

'Is the latest wave of chaos being unleashed only for the sake of that?'

The French and British ambassadors to the UN suggested conditions that could prepare for a negotiated end to the Syrian Civil War, which started in 2011.

It came as Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russian efforts to veto UN action against Syria left US, British and French allies no option but to launch airstrikes against key installations.

The strikes were double the size of those in 2017, and were described as 'perfectly executed' by President Trump, who is pictured on Friday

After a debriefing of Nato ambassadors by the three allies on Saturday, Mr Stoltenberg said that 'before the attack took place last night, Nato allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue to the UNSC by diplomatic and political means'.

He added: 'But since this was blocked by Russia, there was no other alternative.'

Mr Stoltenberg said: 'I am not saying that the attacks last night solved all problems but compared to the alternative to do nothing this was the right thing to do.'

He said all 29 Nato members backed the airstrikes as a consequence of the country conducting a suspected chemical attack against its civilians last weekend.

The strikes were about making sure that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity, he added.

The raids hit two chemical weapons facilities and a military command post in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for President Assad's chemical attack that left up 75 civilians dead last week.

The strikes were double the size of those in 2017, and were described as 'perfectly executed' by President Trump.

Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire as the US unleashes 76 missiles on a chemical weapons facility, which was destroyedA bikini model has pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking, months after her family home was firebombed.

Mother-of-three Kylie Jean Gould, 31, entered the plea at Queensland's Supreme Court on March 29 in relation to to four charges including trafficking ecstasy and ice.

The alleged crimes date back to between July 2015 and early 2016, one year before the accused's Brisbane home was targetted by firebomb.

Mother-of-three Kylie Jean Gould has pleaded guilty to charges of ice trafficking, months after her family home was firebombed

The alleged crimes include trafficking ecstasy and ice and possession of counterfeit money and date back to between July 2015 and early 2016

The Courier Mail reported that Ms Gould's other charges included possession of counterfeit money and possession of a .22 Phoenix Arms pistol.

Ms Gould didn't enter a plea in relation to the gun possession and it was later dropped.

It is also alleged to have been found in the car she was travelling in March 2016.

Ms Gould is said to have ties to Black Uhlans bikie associate Matthew Delande who was driving the car at the time of the arrest.

During the raid last year, police found drugs hidden around the car including in the lining of the roof (file photo)

During the raid, police found drugs hidden around the car including in the lining of the roof.

Last November, while she was 35 weeks pregnant, a group of men smashed a window at Ms Gould's Mackenzie and poured accelerant inside before igniting it and escaping in a car.

She was later hospitalised but released a short time later.Two teachers from Hope Academy in Louisiana have been fired after supposedly making fun of autistic student Camden Davis, 12

Two teachers from Louisiana have been fired for making fun of a severely autistic student.

An audio clip captured the Hope Academy faculty members, who have not been named, apparently mocking and making appropriate comments about Camden Davis, 12.

The boy's mother, Milissa Davis, sent her son to school with a recording device in his backpack after he became aggressive at home and wet the bed, WBRZ reported.

She then heard the teacher and the teacher's assistant taunting the young boy.

'You're just writing the word. What is hard about it?' an adult can be heard saying as the boy grunted in response. The adult then imitated the noise.

The teacher then said: 'Camden, why don't you have anything written down? That's why you can't sit with everyone. Tell your momma that.'

The boy's mother, Milissa Davis (pictured here), sent her son to school with a recording device in his backpack after he became aggressive at home and wet the bed

An adult could also be heard saying, 'Let's see what they do with him in f***ing public school. He was going to go to Live Oak Middle. Uh ah, he wouldn't make it for a minute.'

Davis she was devastated by what she heard. 'I just wanted to cry, scream, and do everything I could because it was so bad.'

'To think that I had sent my son there every day, and what had happened before, that I didn't know about.'

Davis has hired attorney Charlotte McGehee because of the situation and plans to file complaints with the Department of Education.

Principal Linda Stone (pictured here) said, 'This is incredibly unfortunate, and we sincerely apologize to the family. We continue to welcome a meeting with the family'

'If they're special needs, look at the situation as to why your child is acting that way, because no child deserves to go through what my child did,' she said.

Principal Linda Stone said, 'This is incredibly unfortunate, and we sincerely apologize to the family. We continue to welcome a meeting with the family.'

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of conditions related to brain development, including autism and Asperger's syndrome, according to the Mayo Clinic.

People with autism may have difficulty picking up on social cues and perform repetitive behaviors, the organization says.

Davis has hired attorney Charlotte McGehee because of the situation and plans to file complaints with the Department of Education

Two teachers from Hope Academy in Louisiana have been fired after supposedly making fun of an autistic studentSenior Democrats have criticised President Trump (pictured at the White House on April 13) for launching airstrikes on Syria without the approval of Congress

Democrats have criticised President Trump for launching airstrikes on Syria without the approval of Congress, with some branding the move 'illegal'.

On Friday night, the US joined Britain and France in striking three targets as revenge against President Assad's chemical attack on the rebel enclave of Douma on April 7, with bombers and fast jets firing more than 100 missiles.

The decision led to a chorus of disapproval from senior Democrats - with some pointing out that striking Syria without the approval of Congress was exactly what Trump himself warned Obama against in 2013.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi branded Assad's chemical attack 'an inhumane war crime' but accused Trump of lacking a 'coherent strategy' in a statement released on Saturday.

'This latest chemical weapons attack against the Syrian people was a brutally inhumane war crime that demands a strong, smart and calculated response. One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy

'The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorization for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians'

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (pictured at the Capitol in Washington on April 12) released a statement branding Assad's chemical attack 'an inhumane war crime' but accused Trump of lacking a 'coherent strategy'.

Tim Caine branded the move 'illegal' and accused Trump of going back on his own warning to Obama in 2013

Virginia Senator Tim Caine branded the move 'illegal' and accused Trump of going back on his previous comments.

'Trump's decision to launch airstrikes against Syria without Congress's approval is illegal. We need to stop giving presidents a blank check to wage war,' he tweeted.

'Today it's Syria, but what's going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?'

He then added in a further tweet on Saturday: 'Of course citizen Trump said President Obama couldn't strike Syria without congressional approvalbut now President Trump doesn't think he needs Congress. "I just can't wait to be king!"'

By referring to Trump as like a 'king', Caine was suggesting Trump's use of military force without the approval of Congress is unconstitutional.

However, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday said Trump had the authority to attack Syria of his own accord.

He cited an authorization of military force measure passed by Congress in 2001 in response to the 9/11 attacks, which allowed President George W. Bush to attack anyone Al Qaeda or any 'associated forces'.

Caine argues this is out of date and needs to be renewed.

The White House could also cite Trump's powers as commander in chief, which allow him to send troops into battle without an official war declaration in limited circumstances.

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey was another Democrat opposed to the move.

He tweeted: 'While Bashar al-Assad must be held accountable for his unlawful use of chemical weapons against civilians, the strikes that are being carried out are being done without an authorization from Congress, which is unacceptable.'

His criticism was backed up by , Eric Smallwell, a congressman for California, who tweeted: 'If @realDonaldTrump had time to do the wrong thing (saber-rattling on Twitter), then he certainly had time to do the right thing (consulting Congress) before launching the #Syria strike.'

And Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie ran through a list of questions that had been raised by Trump's action, including 'can he strike China, Russia or Britain under the same authority' and 'can he bomb Assad's living quarters'.

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey said Assad had to be 'held accountable' but urged Trump to seek the approval of Congress for any military action

Kentucky representative Thomas Massie ran through a list of questions that had been raised by Trump's action

Despite the reservations of many Democrats, there was plenty of support for Trump's decision to strike Syria.

New York Democratic senator, Chuck Schumer, offered muted praise to Trump.

He tweeted: 'A pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate, but the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria.'

And Arizona senator John McCain added: 'I applaud the President for taking military action against the Assad regime, and I am grateful to our British and French allies for joining us in this action.

'To succeed in the long run, we need a comprehensive strategy for Syria and the entire region.'

New York Democratic senator, Chuck Schumer, (pictured in New York on March 5) offered muted praise to TrumpLast month, Apple caught and fired the employee responsible for leaking details from an internal, confidential meeting about Apples software roadmap. Hundreds of software engineers were in attendance, and thousands more within the organization received details of its proceedings. One person betrayed their trust.

The employee who leaked the meeting to a reporter later told Apple investigators that he did it because he thought he wouldnt be discovered. But people who leak -- whether theyre Apple employees, contractors or suppliers -- do get caught and theyre getting caught faster than ever.

In many cases, leakers dont set out to leak. Instead, people who work for Apple are often targeted by press, analysts and bloggers who befriend them on professional and social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and begin to pry for information. While it may seem flattering to be approached, its important to remember that youre getting played. The success of these outsiders is measured by obtaining Apples secrets from you and making them public. A scoop about an unreleased Apple product can generate massive traffic for a publication and financially benefit the blogger or reporter who broke it. But the Apple employee who leaks has everything to lose.

The impact of a leak goes far beyond the people who work on a project.

Leaking Apples work undermines everyone at Apple and the years theyve invested in creating Apple products. Thousands of people work tirelessly for months to deliver each major software release, says UIKit lead Josh Shaffer, whose teams work was part of the iOS 11 leak last fall. Seeing it leak is devastating for all of us.

The impact of a leak goes beyond the people who work on a particular project  its felt throughout the company. Leaked information about a new product can negatively impact sales of the current model; give rival companies more time to begin on a competitive response; and lead to fewer sales of that new product when it arrives. We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else, says Greg Joswiak of Product Marketing.

Investments by Apple have had an enormous impact on the companys ability to identify and catch leakers. Just before last Septembers special event, an employee leaked a link to the gold master of iOS 11 to the press, again believing he wouldnt be caught. The unreleased OS detailed soon-to-be-announced software and hardware including iPhone X. Within days, the leaker was identified through an internal investigation and fired. Global Securitys digital forensics also helped catch several employees who were feeding confidential details about new products including iPhone X, iPad Pro and AirPods to a blogger at 9to5Mac.

Leakers in the supply chain are getting caught, too. Global Security has worked hand-in-hand with suppliers to prevent theft of Apples intellectual property as well as to identify individuals who try to exceed their access. Theyve also partnered with suppliers to identify vulnerabilities  both physical and technological  and ensure their security levels meet or exceed Apples expectations. These programs have nearly eliminated the theft of prototypes and products from factories, caught leakers and prevented many others from leaking in the first place.

Leakers do not simply lose their jobs at Apple. In some cases, they face jail time and massive fines for network intrusion and theft of trade secrets both classified as federal crimes. In 2017, Apple caught 29 leakers. 12 of those were arrested. Among those were Apple employees, contractors and some partners in Apples supply chain. These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere. The potential criminal consequences of leaking are real, says Tom Moyer of Global Security, and that can become part of your personal and professional identity forever.

While they carry serious consequences, leaks are completely avoidable. They are the result of a decision by someone who may not have considered the impact of their actions. Everyone comes to Apple to do the best work of their lives  work that matters and contributes to what all 135,000 people in this company are doing together, says Joswiak. The best way to honor those contributions is by not leaking.

Source: BloombergGettleson claims two of Theresa May's political advisers were among senior directors at Vote Leave who helped the Brexit youth group

A former Vote Leave employee has accused the campaign of exceeding spending limits 'on an industrial scale'.

Former staffer Mark Gettleson claims two of Theresa May's political advisers were among senior directors at Vote Leave who helped the Brexit youth group, BeLeave - despite it claiming to be a separate organisation.

Vote Leave donated 625,000 to BeLeave which then spent the money on digital advertising in the final days before the vote, reports The Guardian.

Former staffer Mark Gettleson (pictured) has accused 'Vote Leave' of exceeding spending limits 'on an industrial scale'

This was revealed in written evidence to the Electoral Commission, forming part of the basis of a legal opinion submitted to the digital, culture, media and sport committee.

It argues numerous electoral offences may have been committed by Vote Leave.

Official documents submitted during the investigation claim BeLeave was a independent organisation.

The submission says a commission should investigate whether any offences were committed with the 'knowledge, assistance and agreement' of key figures including Stephen Parkinson and Cleo Watson, who both now work for the prime minister, and its chief strategist, Dom Cummings.

But Gettleson's witness statement disputes this.

In it he says: 'That does not match my experience of it. It had no dedicated staff, Darren was a 22-year-old part-time volunteer based in the Vote Leave office who was doing social media and it had no money at all.

'It was literally Darren on Twitter and Facebook under the supervision of Vote Leave staff.

'I was providing support with the overarching message of BeLeave and website creation and Darren was working within Vote Leave and continually asking me, Stephen, Cleo and the Vote Leave design team for support and assistance.'

Gettleson, who formerly worked with Cambridge Analytica, is a friend of whistleblower Christopher Wylie.

Donations are legal if campaigns are genuinely separate.

However, emails submitted by Gettleson, including emails to and from Parkinson and Watson, appear to show they were directly involved in crafting BeLeave's campaign materials.

Vote Leave has maintained it and BeLeave were separate and said the donation was legitimate under electoral law.

On this issue, the Electoral Commission found it agreed with Vote Leave on two occasions.

But it has now reopened its investigation.

The emails suggest BeLeave, headed by a 23-year-old fashion student, Darren Grimes, was directed by Vote Leave.

Sanni, a volunteer for Vote Leave and BeLeave's treasurer, last month said in a submission the youth group had no control over Vote Leave's donation.

'They just pretended to [donate the money],' he said. 'We had no control over it.'

Parkinson issued a statement in response to this claim in which he said he and Sanni had been in a relationship.

Fashion student Darren Grimes, 23 (pictured on results night), headed the Brexit youth campaign BeLeave

He added he gave him 'advice and encouragement' in that context.

Parkinson added: 'I can understand if the lines became blurred for him, but I am clear that I did not direct the activities of any separate campaign groups.'

A statement put out by a Cabinet Office spokesperson said May wholeheartedly supported her political secretary.

In his statement, Gettleson said: 'My understanding is that a lot of groups were created for cosmetic purposes to improve our chances of Electoral Commission designation.'

Emails appear to show Parkinson, Vote Leave's national organiser, involved himself in even minor creative decisions about 'outreach' groups.

In one email, Gettleson asks Parkinson whether he can put the expense on his [Parkinson's] credit card but Parkinson refuses: 'I can't, I'm afraid  it's not VL spend.'

Instead it is thought the payment was taken on Gettleson's card and was later refunded by Vote Leave.

Cummings, Parkinson and Watson have denied the allegations. Parkinson previously said he 'had no responsibility for digital campaigning or donations during the referendum, and am confident that Vote Leave acted entirely within the law and strict spending rules at all times.'Authorities in Wisconsin burned down an apartment building because the late Benjamin Morrow's unit contained chemicals known to be used in ISIS-style bombings that were too dangerous to move

Authorities in Wisconsin were forced to burn down an entire apartment building because a single unit contained chemicals known to be used in ISIS-style bombings that were too dangerous to move.

The chemicals were found at the same time that suspected white supremacist Benjamin Douglas Morrow, 28, was found dead, killed by an explosion that occurred while he was making homemade bombs with ingredients that included triacetone triperoxide, or TATP.

A total of 13 jars of TATP, which is also referred to as the 'Mother of Satan' and has been used in a number of ISIS terror attacks in Europe, were found in the apartment, State investigator Kevin Heimerl said.

Morrow died on March 5 in his Beaver Dam, Wisconsin apartment, with his body found buried in rubble in front of an electric stove, and guns, a pistol, a ballistics helmet and 'white supremacist literature' in his bedroom.

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A total of 13 jars of TATP, which is also referred to as the 'Mother of Satan' and has been used in a number of ISIS terror attacks in Europe, were found in the apartment, State investigator Kevin Heimerl said; The controlled burn from March 15 is shown here

Despite the many troubling things found in Morrow's residence, where he had only lived for two months before his death, it was the TATP in the unit that required the entire structure to be burned to the ground, as there was simply no safe way to remove it from the premises.

It is made with common household items and difficult to detect, but highly unstable and prone to detonate unexpectedly.

Before officials blew up the apartment building and burned down the wreckage to eradicate any trace of the explosive, investigators searched Morrow's heavily damaged apartment.

Before officials blew up the apartment building and burned down the wreckage to eradicate any trace of the explosive, investigators searched Morrow's heavily damaged apartment

'Within his bedroom, literature has been found concerning white supremacy groups,' Heimerl wrote in a warrant reported by WISN.

It is unclear whether Morrow identified as a white supremacist. The warrant does not provide specifics about the literature or groups, and officials declined to provide more information.

The finding prompted a search of Morrow's electronic devices to see if he was acting in concert with anyone.

Also in Morrow's apartment, investigators found three long guns, two handguns, more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, a ballistic helmet and vest, and masks, the warrant said.

'Within his bedroom, literature has been found concerning white supremacy groups,' an investigator said

Watch the latest video at <a href="http://www.foxnews.com">foxnews.com</a>

The building and everything inside, including the volatile explosives, was destroyed within two hours, the Beaver Dam Fire Chief said.

'It felt like kind of a double-edged sword, bittersweet,' he said, while noting the plan was executed flawlessly.

'Having to do this operation in the first place was horrible.'

Temperatures for the blaze reached up to 1600 degrees Fahrenheit inside of what used to be building 109 at the Village Glen apartments in Beaver Dam. Morrow lived in unit 11.

Morrow was born in was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and went to Pensacola Christian College in Florida, according to his obituary.

He graduated in 2013 with a degree in pre-pharmacy and minors in chemistry and math.

From 2014 to last year, Morrow worked as a scientist at PPD Inc. in Madison, a research company specializing in drug development.

Most recently, he worked for Richelieu Foods in Beaver Dam, which makes private label frozen pizzas and salad dressing.

Co-workers there said that Morrow often came to work smelling like mothballs, which are composed of explosive material.

It's not known what Morrow was doing with such a high volume of explosives, or whether anyone else was involved with his plans for the chemicals.

Temperatures for the blaze reached up to 1600 degrees Fahrenheit inside of what used to be building 109 at the Village Glen apartments in Beaver Dam; Morrow lived in unit 11, shown here

Investigators said they are not currently seeking other individuals in the matter but the investigation remains open to follow any leads.

Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg said no one has been referred to his office for prosecution.

Two days after the explosion, officials tried to destroy the remaining TATP with a controlled detonation.

After experts warned that traces of the chemical remained which may pose a hazard, the city took the unusual step of burning down the entire 16-unit apartment building in a controlled burn captured on video by Fox6 News.

Before the burn, FBI bomb techs retrieved some property in other units, including important papers, jewelry, money and other family heirlooms.

Klomberg, the district attorney, said that he stood by the decision to burn the building but that it was very difficult to see residents have 'much of their lives burned up.'

'It was one of the most heart-wrenching things that I have been involved in,' he said.

The controlled burn of the building was carried out by 100 firefighters on March 15.A former Russian spy worked on the deal for Trump Tower Moscow while the president was running for office and told a US businessman with ties to Michael Cohen that he would get a Kremlin-owned bank to fund it, it has been claimed.

The spy has not been named in order to protect their life.

According to two sources cited by BuzzFeed News on Saturday, in 2016, businessman Felix Sater, who was working on the deal, sent Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen an email referencing the spy.

He is a former colonel in Russia's military intelligence agency GRU who Sater contacted the year before asking for help with securing funding for the deal, according to the sources.

Michael Cohen (pictured left on April 14, 2018) knew about the Russian agent's role in the deal, according to sources, because Felix Sater (right) had emailed him about it and described how he'd promised to get funding from a Russian state-owned bank

The retired colonel is said to have promised funding from Russia's VTB bank which is owned by the state and was on a US sanctions list at the time.

VTB denied ever having negotiations with anyone for the deal which was scrapped after Trump won the Republican nomination.

The Russian agent is also said to have worked for US intelligence agencies in the past.

The scrapped deal is part of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into Trump's contact with Russian officials.

Sater later told Cohen in emails that he would get 'all of Putin's team to buy in to the tower' but it was never built thanks to Trump winning the Republican nomination. Sater was grilled by special prosecutors about the agent's role last year. He is pictured with Trump in 2005

The spy promised to secure funding for the deal from state-owned VTB bank but it is unclear how far negotiations ever went. The bank denies ever being involbed

Sater, despite later boasting in an email to Cohen that he would get 'get all of Putins team to buy in' to the tower, has said the remarks amounted to nothing but salesmanship.

He will not comment on the role of the former Russian agent but it was among questions special prosecutors asked him when he was grilled last year as part of the Russia probe, according to the sources.

The officer is how Sater is said to have become an informant for the US government about international deals.

He is who reportedly introduced him to the government after meeting him in 1997.David Buckel, 60, was found in the park at 6.30am on Saturday. He is pictured in a 2006 court case

A prominent gay rights activist set himself on fire in a protest suicide in Brooklyn's Prospect Park in the early hours of Saturday morning.

David Buckel, 60, was found in the park at 6.30am on Saturday before hundreds descended on it to enjoy the warm Spring weather.

He left a note in a bag for police which read: 'My name is David Buckel and I just killed myself by fire as a protest suicide.

'I apologize to you for the mess.'

The note was left in an envelope labeled 'for the police'.

He was protesting over climate change, his note read, and the dramatic method was intended as a metaphor for how fossil fuels are destroying the planet.

Buckel lived near the park and was an avid community leader.

He worked in composting groups for local projects and was also a lawyer who campaigned for gay rights.

The note, according to The New York Daily News, said: 'My early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves.

Buckel's body was found by a jogger in a grassy area of the park on Saturday at 6.30am

A lifetime of service may best be preserved by giving a life ... Honorable purpose in life invites honorable purchase in death.

'This is not new, as many have chose to give a life based on the view that no other action can most meaningfully address the harm they see.

'Here is a hope that giving a life might bring some attention to the need for expanded actions, and help others give a voice to our home, and Earth is heard.'

By the time firefighters got there, his entire body had been burned, FDNY officials said.

Buckel's work included cases for Lambda Legal, the country's largest and oldest LGBTQ legal organization.

Buckel is pictured (left) representing James Dale in 1999. Dale claimed he was kicked out of the Boy Scouts for being gay

Authorities closed off the small section of the southwest corner of the park where he killed himself.

Buckel was the lead attorney in the case of a transgender man whose murder inspired the Hillary Swank film Boys Don't Cry.

He represented Brandon Teena's mother in a lawsuit against the New England sheriff which notified Teena's rapists that he had pressed charges and did nothing to protect him from being killed.

Buckel ran the NYC Composting Project out of Red Hook Community Farm.

A jogger who stumbled across the remains and shared photographs of them on Twitter before they were covered up by police said they were 'freaked out' by the discovery.

'We were a little freaked out. It took us a little while to process it,' she said.Two black men were arrested after they tried to use the bathroom in a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering anything as they waited for a friend.

The display of police force on Thursday shocked the coffee shop customers who defended the arrested pair saying 'they didn't do anything'.

The moment was caught on a video by a customer at the 18th and Spruce Street Starbucks.

The video clip displays the arrest of the two men by a team of six police officers

Outraged: Angry customers protested the arrest saying 'they weren't doing anything'

The two men were taken to the police district where they were later released at 2am after Starbucks said they would not prosecute

The clip sees six officers circle around the two men who were sitting on a couch at the back of the Starbucks. The officers are seen putting them in handcuffs. The two young men say nothing as they are escorted out.

The video has garnered 3.2million views.

Outraged customers watching the arrest unfold talked back to police demanding to know what the arrest was for.

'This is ridiculous' one man says. 'What did they get called for because there were two black guys sitting here meeting. Well what did they do? Someone tell me what they did.'

'They didn't do anything I saw the entire thing,' another echoes.

Customer Melissa DePino who taped the arrest took to Twitter to speak out on the incident.

'The police were called because these men hadnt ordered anything. They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why its never happened to us when we do the same thing (sic),' she said.

Philadelphia Police announced they were launching an investigation in the arrest.

'We are aware of an incident that occurred on 4-12-18 at the Starbucks Cafe at 18th and Spruce. The entire incident, including the actions of the responding officers, is under internal investigation. Once we gather all the facts, we will comment further,' the police said in a statement.

DePino reported that the pair was released at 2am Saturday morning.

The DA's office did not pursue charges due to lack of evidence that a crime was committed, according to ABC11.

'Philly DA's Office declined to arraign, and both men were released from the 9th at approximately 2am,' DePino said on Twitter.

Two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks on Thursday after they refused to leave the cafe and tried to use the bathroom without ordering anything. Outraged customer Melissa DePino posted a viral video of the arrest on Twitter, pictured above

The popular coffee chain issued a statement after the arrest quickly went viral online

On Saturday the chain issued this apology saying they 'are disappointed this led to an arrest'

'They were real estate brokers and were at Starbucks to meet their family friend. Thats all I have for now,' she added.

'Ever since I posted this, Ive had white strangers AND friends say "there must be something more to this story." That assumption is a big part of the problem. It does happen. All the time. Just not to you and me. Believe it and speak up,' DePino said.

She also posted an image of two locals protesting the coffee shop with a sign that read: 'Be black in this Starbucks = Get arrested #BLM'.

At first Starbucks released a statement on Friday saying: 'We're aware of the incident on Thursday in a Philadelphia store with 2 guests and law enforcement, resulting in their removal. We're reviewing the incident with our partners, law enforcement and customers to determine what took place and led to this unfortunate result.'

They issued a second statement Saturday.

'We apologize to the two individuals and our customers and are disappointed this led to an arrest. We take these matters seriously and clearly have more work to do when it comes to how we handle incidents in our stores. We are reviewing out policies and will continue to engage with the community and the police department to try to ensure these types of situations never happen in any of our stores,' the statement said.

On Saturday Commissioner Richard Ross released a statement on the incident on Facebook live.

'At about 4:40 police received a 911 call for a disturbance and trespass. When the police arrived they were met by Starbucks employees who said that two males were trespassing and had refused to leave the establishment,' he said.

Customer DePino vented about the arrest on Twitter pointing to the role of race in the arrest

She also gave updates on the two men who were reportedly at the cafe to meet a friend

Protest: Two locals were seen protesting the arrest outside of the cafe with a sign that said 'Be black in this Starbucks = Get Arrested'

Commissioner Richard Ross gave a lengthy statement Saturday to detail the arrest and stress that 'These officers did absolutely nothing wrong'

'According to employees they had seen the two males come in, they sat down, and after being seated they decided they needed to use the restroom. Starbucks said that according to the company policy they do not allow nonpaying members or nonpaying people to come in and use the restroom. And so they then asked these two males to leave. These two males refused to leave and the police were called,' he added.

He revealed that the officers on the scene called the Starbucks supervisor first to 'avoid the situation from getting out of hand'.

The officers then asked the males on three different occasions 'politely to leave the location because they were asked to leave by employees because they were trespassing'.

The men refused to budge.

Ross revealed that there was alleged rhetoric from the males saying 'you don't know what you're doing. You're only $45,000 a year employee'.

He stressed that the males were not harmed in the arrest and taken to the police district.

It was there that officers processing paperwork learned that Starbucks was no longer interested in prosecuting. The two men were then released from custody.

'It is important to emphasize and underscore that these officers had legal standing to make this arrest. It is important for me to say that in short these officers did absolutely nothing wrong,' he said.

Ross also acknowledged the racial tension surrounding the incident.

'I will say that as an African American male I am very aware of implicit bias. We are committed to fair and unbiased policing and anything less than that will not be tolerated in this department,' he said.At the meeting, the two sides reviewed the implementation of the results reached at their first political consultation which was held in 2015. The two sides agreed that the two Foreign Ministries should promote their role in encouraging the relevant ministries and sectors to effectively implement cooperation agreements in all fields.

Both sides stressed the importance of increasing the regularity of bilateral and multilateral meetings and exchanges of delegations, especially people-to-people exchanges, while agreeing to accelerate the organisation of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic, Cultural, Scientific, and Technological Cooperation in 2018.

In order to enhance economic, trade, and investment relations, the two sides agreed to promote a meeting of the Joint Subcommittee on Trade in 2018 to work out practical and flexible measures to reach their bilateral revenue target of US$1 billion by 2020.

Pakistan welcomed the traditional Vietnamese commodities such as tea, pepper, and basa fish while wishing to expand cooperation with Vietnam in other potential areas.

In addition, Vietnam and Pakistan agreed to continue fostering cooperation in potential sectors such as agriculture, culture-sports and tourism, information and communications, exchanges of scholars, and people-to-people exchanges.

The two sides appreciated the close bilateral cooperation and mutual support at regional and international forums.

The second political consultation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan was a success and the two sides agreed to hold their third political consultation in Hanoi in 2019.The Kremlin has accused the US, the UK and France of 'hooliganism' and breaking international law, after a coordinated series of missile strikes on Syrian airbases last night.

The accusations come as Russia continues to claim chemical attacks by Assad's forces on his own people were staged by civilian volunteer force the White Helmets.

At a highly charged emergency Security Council meeting, in New York, Russian diplomat Vassily Nebenzia condemned the strikes as 'unleashing a wave of chaos.'

Russia demanded a vote on a UN resolution condemning 'the aggression' against Syria, but this was struck out by the Security Council.

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The Kremlin has accused the US, the UK and France of 'hooliganism' and breaking international law, after a coordinated series of missile strikes on Syrian airbases last night. Russian diplomat Vassily Nebenzia (right) condemned the strikes as 'unleashing a wave of chaos'

In a highly charge exchange with his American counterpart Nikki Haley, Nebenzia said: 'Why are you seeking to plunge the Middle East into such difficulties, provoking one conflict after another, pitting one state against another?

'Is the latest wave of chaos being unleashed only for the sake of that?'

Haley in turn defended President Trump's actions, and insisted the time for talk was over following Bashar Assad's chemical weapons attack on his own people.

'The time for talk ended last night,' Haley said. 'We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will.

'The United States is locked and loaded,' she said. 'When our President draws a red line, our President enforces a red line.'

Assad's strikes on his own people provoked international condemnation, after up to 75 people, including women and children, were killed by the Syrian regime.

American diplomat Nikki Haley in turn defended President Trump's actions, and insisted the time for talk was over following Bashar Assad's chemical weapons attack on his own people.

The French and British ambassadors to the UN suggested conditions that could prepare for a negotiated end to the Syrian Civil War, which started in 2011.

Only three countries  Russia, China and Bolivia  voted in favor of the resolution at the end of an emergency meeting of the 15-member council called by Russia on Saturday. Eight countries voted against and three abstained.

In a heated exchange with his American counterpart Nikki Haley, Nebenzia said: 'Why are you seeking to plunge the Middle East into such difficulties, provoking one conflict after another, pitting one state against another?

'The United States is locked and loaded,' she said. 'When our President draws a red line, our President enforces a red line'

Only three countries  Russia, China and Bolivia  voted in favor of the resolution at the end of an emergency meeting of the 15-member council called by Russia on Saturday. Eight countries voted against and three abstained

A resolution needs at least nine 'yes' votes to be approved.

The vote reflected the deep divisions in the U.N.'s most powerful body, which has been paralysed in dealing with the seven-year Syrian conflict and chemical weapons use in the country.

It came as Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russian efforts to veto UN action against Syria left US, British and French allies no option but to launch airstrikes against key installations.

The Kremlin has accused the US, the UK and France of 'hooliganism' and breaking international law, after a coordinated series of missile strikes on Syrian airbases last night

A video shared on the embassy's official twitter channel appeared to show two Syrian doctors who were in Douma, the scene of the attack, declaring that no patients had symptoms specific to chemical bombs

Despite the coalition attacks, Russian channels continue to insist the chemical attacks were staged by the White Helmets.

A video shared on the embassy's official twitter channel appeared to show two Syrian doctors who were in Douma, the scene of the attack, declaring that no patients had symptoms specific to chemical bombs.

The tweet was accompanied with the post: 'Breaking - people from the White Helmets "chemical attack" video explain how it was staged. Retweet to beat jihadist lies!'Mob scion Giovanni Gambino (above) blasted Comey for comparing Trump to a mobster

An heir to the Gambino crime family has spoken out, slamming former FBI Director James Comey for using 'the same lies and corrupted methods' that he says landed his father behind bars against President Donald Trump.

'Comey comparing Trump to a Mob boss is a compliment,' said Giovanni Gambino in an email to DailyMail.com, blasting Comey's new memoir, A Higher Loyalty.

'Maybe we should have a real mob boss for president,' said Giovanni, 43-year-old cousin to infamous crime boss Carlo Gambino. 'I dont reject the FBI, but the corruption within, the very same people Trump is getting rid of.'

In the new book, Comey says that a January 2017 visit to Trump Tower reminded him of the New York Mafia social clubs he knew as a Manhattan federal prosecutor in the 1980s and 1990s - including the notorious Gambino hangout Cafe Giardino.

It was there in December 1988 that the Comey helped bust Giovanni's father, Francesco 'Ciccio' Gambino, for trafficking heroin into the US from Sicily.

In his new book, Comey (above) says that a visit to Trump Tower in January 2017 reminded him of the notorious Gambino hangout Cafe Giardino - where Giovanni's father was arrested

As a federal prosecutor, Comey helped bust Giovanni's father, Francesco 'Ciccio' Gambino (right) in 1988. Giovanni (left) is seen on a prison visit before his dad died behind bars in 2012

Francesco and other associates were arrested in a 2am raid on Cafe Giardino, which the Feds had wired with electronic surveillance for months.

Then-US Attorney Rudolph Giuliani led the case, with Comey assisting as deputy chief of the Criminal Division.

The prosecutors used the help of informant William Kane, who ran an illegal video poker business out of the Brooklyn cafe on 18th Avenue, and secretly worked with the Feds to infiltrate the heroin ring.

'No one know that place better than me,' Giovanni said of Cafe Giardino. 'My father was falsely accused and arrested there by Comey and Giuliani.'

'James Comey used an informer William Kane to manipulate the law, Comey along with Kane used the lies, misleading information to infiltrate and take down innocent people including my father,' said Giovanni.

Francesco Gambino was sentenced to 30 years in prison for conspiring to import and distribute heroin, and died behind bars in 2012 at age 71, federal records show.

'William Kane himself admitted latter how corrupted the feds were, blaming them for keeping him on medication and forcing him to lie in trials,' claimed Giovanni.

Giovanni is cousin to infamous crime boss Carlo Gambino (above in 1970). Carlo gave his name to the crime family and was known as the 'boss of bosses' in New York until he died in 1976

In his new book, Comey writes that a February 2017 meeting in the White House with Trump and then chief of staff Reince Priebus left him recalling his Mob-fighting days.

'The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview. The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth,' Comey wrote, according to an early review in the New York Times.

Giovanni, who has left the family business to author crime fiction, believes that Comey is out to get Trump, and won't be afraid to fight dirty.

'Now Comey and the rest of his dirty entourage are using the same lies and corrupted methods to take down Trump,' he said.

Though Comey is no longer affiliated with the FBI, his firing by Trump last May led Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate any 'links' between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

The probe has widened considerably, leading to Monday's raid on Trump attorney Michael Cohen's office by Manhattan federal prosecutors and the FBI, over payments made to alleged Trump mistresses.

'They dont want to put people behind bars for just a few years, they wanna put them away for life,' said the Mob scion Giovanni. 'And they will lie in order to achieve that goal.'Greg Kelly, 26 (pictured), died five days after the brutal attack, suffering a cardiac arrest

Two killers have been locked up for life after they were found guilty of murdering a man in a dispute over 800.

Greg Kelly, 26, died five days after the brutal attack sparked when he accused the two men of stealing his pay packet.

Robert Keavey, 39, of Atherstone, and Philip Picken, 56, of Mancetter, Warwickshire, were both jailed for life to serve a minimum of 18 years at Warwick Crown Court on Friday.

Kelly had been drinking heavily after picking up 1,000 in wages from his job as a fencer.

He had been at Picken's home where he claimed someone had taken the remaining 800.

He was persuaded to check he had not left it at home, and when Picken and Keavey went there to see if he had found it, he again accused Picken and chased them away with an axe.

They went back to Picken's home.

It was then they discussed what they would do if Kelly came back with a weapon.

They formulated a deadly 'contingency plan', deciding an Audi car would be ready for use, and if Kelly returned Keavey would use that car as a weapon.

As expected, Kelly turned up at the home of Picken in Atherstone, Warwickshire, who lived with a friend Neil Barnes, on March 25 last year.

He had brought a hatchet with him and demanded the money back.

Picken had now also armed himself with an axe and their plan swung into action with deadly consequences.

Keavey 'set off towards him' in an Audi hitting him twice 'at close to 30', sending him onto the bonnet and the ground where he struck his head hard.

After a brief struggle Picken picked up Kelly's axe and swung it at his head twice, court heard.

Robert Keavey, 39 (pictured), was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 18 years at Warwick Crown Court on Friday

Kelly, from New Arley, Coventry, West Midlands, suffered a fractured skull in the attack and was discovered by police with serious injuries to his head, arms and legs.

He died five days later after suffering a cardiac arrest during an operation to try to relieve the pressure caused by swelling to his brain.

After the attack a man, Andrew Gay, 41, took Kelly's car away and dumped it before helping Keavey torch his own Audi.

The next day a friend, Nicholas Casey, 57, wrapped Picken's axe in plastic, put it in a wheelie bin and took it to Gay's car to be disposed of.

Gay, of Atherstone, will serve four years in prison and Casey, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, will serve 27 months after both were found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The murder charge was dropped against Neil Barnes.

However, it was later revealed it had been him who had stolen the money.

Jailing the four men, Judge Lockhart said Kelly had had 'a somewhat troubled life,' but he had turned the corner and had a job and partner by whom he had one child and another on the way, 'who will never get to know his father.'

Philip Picken (pictured) picked up Kelly's axe and swung it at his head twice leaving him with serious injuries

He told Picken and Keavey: 'By your acts, that potential is denied to him, but more importantly, to those around him.'

Kelly's mother Jean Kelly said in a statement: 'My husband Peter and I cannot put into words or begin to describe the pain you Philip Picken and Robert Keavey have caused my family.

'You have not only taken away Greg's life, but have ruined your own lives.'

Michael Holland QC, defending Picken, said: 'This is a series of extremely unfortunate and tragic events where there were so many opportunities for the events not to unfold to a death at the end of it.'

He said: 'It is most likely it fell out of his pocket while he was lying on the roof of a car, but however it happened, it came into the possession of Barnes.

Michael Ivers, defending Keavey, said: 'The word tragic is over-used in these courts, but it truly applies in this case, each step as it drove on to a looming disaster and a young man losing his life in the prime of his life..'

Lee Marklew, defending Gay, said he had acted out of 'misplaced loyalty towards Picken' - and argued: 'All of what he did was under instruction from others.'

Zaheer Afzal, defending Casey, who the court heard was a heroin addict with a 45-a-day habit, pointed out the weapon he disposed of was not the one used to strike the blow and he did so before it became a murder case.

Detective Sergeant Andy Denny of the Warwickshire Police Major Investigation Unit said: 'Despite the evidence against them, Keavey and Picken denied that they intended to kill Greg which meant his family had to endure uncertainty while we investigated the murder and it went to trial.

'Our thoughts today are with Greg's family and I would like to thank them for their support throughout the investigation and trial.'A man who tore down floral tributes to a dead burglar has been told by police he should consider go into hiding following threats to his life.

Musician Iain Gordon was furious that Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, had been arrested after burglar Henry Vincent died during a struggle in his South-East London home.

On Wednesday, Mr Gordon was filmed ripping down flowers and within 24 hours was told it was all over the market that he was destined for a one-way trip to the coast. The next day he was warned by detectives that his life was at risk.

Musician Iain Gordon was filmed ripping down floral tributes to burglar Henry Vincent outside Richard Osborn-Brooks' home on Wednesday

They said they had information that I was going to be killed, he said. They said they had to read a statement to me. The statement said that they suggested I get security lights and CCTV cameras or consider moving to another address. Mr Osborn-Brooks and his disabled wife Maureen, 78, have been forced out of their Hither Green home following the April 4 burglary.

On Thursday, Met Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Craig Mackey appeared on LBC Radio and was asked about the floral tributes. He said: This is a tragedy for the family who have lost a loved one We want those laying flowers to respect the local people and the impact on them. Those opposed to the flowers should act responsibly, respectfully and reasonably.

Mr Gordon, who lives a couple of miles from Mr Osborn-Brooks and continues to protest outside his home, said: I want the Deputy Commissioner sacked for what he said. Its disgusting. The police havent got their focus on dealing with the criminals.

Meanwhile, residents have warned of trouble if Vincents family lead a horse-drawn hearse past Mr Osborn-Brookss home as part of a rumoured 100,000 funeral. One woman said: Itll get nasty. I think there will be a riot.A Police and Crime Commissioner has revealed she was herself a victim of a relentless stalking campaign which left her fearing for her safety and unable to sleep.

Katy Bourne, publicly elected commissioner for Sussex and a noted campaigner on behalf of stalking victims, has told of her five-year ordeal in which she was humiliated on dozens of blogs and websites, and filmed and followed when she left her home.

Yet, despite a dossier of evidence against the man behind the harassment, which includes false online claims that she protected paedophiles, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) declined to bring a prosecution.

Today, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, former Conservative councillor Mrs Bourne, 53, likens the CPS's decision to a 'punch to the stomach'.

In response, she is set to make a major speech in London tomorrow calling for stronger legal protection, and a cultural shift in attitude, to better serve the 700,000 women a year in Britain who find themselves a victim of stalking.

Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne was allegedly stalked for five years but police say there isn't enough evidence to bring charges against him

Although stalking has been a criminal offence since 2012, Mrs Bourne is backing plans, currently going through Parliament, to introduce Stalking Protection Orders, which would allow police to prohibit contact even before a prosecution.

Mrs Bourne said: 'Stalking is a really insidious crime and wears you down over a long period of time. We need a cultural change. Stalking is a crime, not a nuisance.'

Mrs Bourne's ordeal began after she won her bid to become a Police and Crime Commissioner in 2012, having carved out a successful career in local business and politics. The role involves holding her local force to account on behalf of the public.

But problems began after local father-of-two Matthew Taylor set himself up in the self-created role of 'Shadow Police and Crime Commissioner'.

On his website Mr Taylor describes himself as 'an author, writer, actor, performer and public speaker' and claims he has served with the military police. He began attacking Mrs Bourne in blog posts.

Comments in response to the Twitter feed for Mrs Bourne's office began as political but they became steadily more personal, and started to include a series of outlandish lies, including that she was having an affair with a colleague.

'He said on his website I was involved in child abuse and that I covered up the murder of a local woman. I had an official campaign photo which he edited online, writing underneath: 'ensuring paedophiles and masons are all safer in Sussex'.

'Various other doctored images of me started appearing. One was of a woman's body in a negligee with my face pasted on. It was directly targeting me as a woman and making it sexual.'

It was when her stalker covertly filmed her that Katy started fearing for her safety. 'One night in July 2016 I was talking at an event and hadn't realised he'd recorded me. He then filmed me from outside on the street looking in.'

Footage of a charity abseil, although not filmed by Taylor, was posted online with comments such as 'you should have slit her rope'.

Matthew Taylor set himself up as 'Shadow Police and Crime Commissioner' with a blog where he made personal attacks, told lies online and photoshopped her in lingerie

Mrs Bourne's banker husband Kevin, a former soldier, became worried about her safety, and she raised a harassment case, which was passed to the neighbouring Surrey force to avoid any perceived conflict of interest.

She also obtained a civil injunction against Mr Taylor and was given a special phone by police in case of emergencies.

The following year Taylor was arrested yet in May 2017 the CPS dropped the case, saying there was insufficient evidence to bring a prosecution.

Mrs Bourne said: 'I think they thought because I had a civil injunction that was enough.'

She is now campaigning for legal change, and has supported funding for local stalking support service Veritas Justice.

A CPS spokesman said: 'We received a file from the police in March 2017 in relation to an allegation of harassment linked to online blogs.

'After careful consideration, we concluded the evidential test set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors was not met and therefore no charges were authorised.'

Responding to the allegations, Mr Taylor said last night: 'I reject all claims that I harassed and stalked Katy Bourne.

'I simply asked serious questions about police corruption which she and her office choose to ignore.'Meek Mill, 30, has been in jail for five months

Meek Mill is speaking out from his Pennsylvania jail cell, and he says that, just like countless black men in the country, he was put in there because of a biased system.

In an interview with Page Six, the 30-year-old rapper, currently held at the State Correctional Institution in Chester, opens up about the events that led to his situation and what life in prison has been like.

'I am a political prisoner. Yes, I'm frustrated there's no way in a million years I could get a fair trial in front of this judge. Yeah, I am angry, but I am a prisoner of politics  me being in this situation, has brought light to the people who are serving time because of other corrupt cops.'

Mill, whose real name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, has been in jail for five months and is currently fighting to be released on bail while he appeals a two-to-four-year jail sentence.

He received that sentence for violating his 10-year-probation from when he was arrested for 'reckless endangerment' in 2017 after allegedly doing wheelies on a dirk bike in New York without a helmet.

The original offense was a 2008 arrest in which he was accused of selling crack cocaine to an informant and threatening police with a gun.

But the rapper says claims he pointed a gun at police are bogus - and the fact he is alive in a country where black men get killed for holding phones that police mistake for weapons serves as proof.

'Do you believe in America that I could point a gun at two officers and not be killed or at least shot at? They are trainedto shoot into the target and neutralize, that's why you are seeing young black men who are shot 20 times, 15 times, for reaching for their cellphone in their pocket or running from police.

Mill says he's been unfairly imprisoned by 'corrupt cops' and is a victim of a system that persecutes black men

The rapper, real name Robert Rihmeek Williams, is currently at the State Correctional Institution in Chester, Pennsylvania

'Anybody in the world  you don't even have to be a judge  knows I didn't point a gun at these cops. I don't have a reason to point a gun at a police officer, I am not a suicidal person, I never thought about suicide, I don't want to kill myself. Pointing a gun at a cop is suicide.'

Moreover, Mill has claimed his original arrest on drug and gun charges was a setup organized by corrupt cops, as the arresting officer and chief witness against him, Reggie Graham, was recently revealed to be on the state's district attorney's secret list of 'tainted' cops and is said to have 'a history of lying, racial bias, or brutality.'

A different officer present at Mill's original arrest seemed to confirm this view of Graham in a sworn affidavit from February, where he claimed he never saw Mill 'lift his gun and point it'. The officer said Mill threw the gun on the ground and Graham later made up the story.

According to Mil's version of events, he also never sold crack to an informant, and he says the lack of evidence such as the crack itself and the money, which is usually marked when coming from informants, serves as proof.

He said: 'I did not point a gun at policeand they arrested me outside, they handcuffed me, they took me into the house and they beat me upand when I came out my face was bloody, I had abrasions to my facemy hair pulled out of my head. The way the cops treated me, they were the thugs, they beat me, they lied about it, and they sent me to jail.'

Mill's legal team alleges Judge Genece Brinkley has taken an unusual interest in the case

The rapper claims Judge Brinkley invited him and former girlfriend rapper Nicki Minaj into her chambers and even asked him to write a song about her as a judge

Another officer who worked with Graham said in a sworn affidavit that the now-retired cop was involved in fabricating search warrants, stealing property while on searches and beating people up. He claims Graham once bragged that he 'arrested that rapper boy Meek Mill and whooped his ass'.

On April 2, Judge Genece Brinkley turned down Mill's bid for release on bail while he appeals the sentence she issued for what she said was his fifth probation violation.

Mill claims the judge is biased and has shown unusual interest in his case, showing up up to personal check on him at community service, suggesting a new manager for him, inviting him and former girlfriend rapper Nicki Minaj into her chambers and even asking him to write a song about her as a judge.

'It is clearly an obsession with me becauseanybody should be able to handle my casethe judge hand-picked my probation officer and then I am in trouble every time,' Mill said.

The judge has defended herself against attacks by Mill's legal and public relations team, which continued after her latest decision to deny bail.

'This court has impartially and without prejudice presided over numerous proceedings in this matter since 2008, long before his current counsel became involved one week before the violation of probation hearing,' Brinkley wrote. 'None of the allegations by [the] defendant constitute evidence that this court is unable to act impartially and without personal bias or prejudice with respect to this matter.'

Supporters of the rapper have taken to the street to support his cause, and celebrities such as Jay Z and Patriots owner Robert Kraft have spoken out in support of his release.

Pennsylvania's governor and district attorney have also stated they believe Mill should be released on bail.

The Meek mill case has awakened activists who are asking for his release

Celebrities such as Jay Z and Patriots owner Robert Kraft (pictured with Mill) have spoken out in support of his release.

The Philadelphia-born rapper said: 'This has been my life so long it was normal.I come from the ghetto where we don't value life, and going to jail was normal, it was normal to me.

'Every day that goes by I am losing [time with] my family, I am losing millions of dollars, I am wasting time in prison on a case they know they might overturn, but [I'm told] it's a process, it takes time, they know I can't be treated special,' Mill said.

'This is inhumanewith my hands and my feet I can touch both sides of my cell. I am living on a thin mat on a metal slab, I'm eating food that is not healthy, it's dirty, this is not a place for a human being.'

Mill also told the New York paper he is worried for his six-year-old son Papi, who currently lives with his mother in New Jersey, will be irreversibly affected by seeing his father in jail.

He said: [My son] has never been suspended from school and in the five months I've spent in jail, my son has been suspended from school. My son uses YouTube and he sees his dad is in prison, so he thinks that's the right thing to do  be bad.

'He can visit me, but you only get visits once a week here, and I don't even want to make my son get used to this type of way of living, statistically when a black man goes to jail, his son has an 80 percent chance of going to jail after him  statistically.'Last week, Sammy Woodhouse told in heartbreaking detail how she had been groomed for sex as a schoolgirl by a notorious paedophile gang in Rotherham  and was then betrayed by the authorities.

Today, in the final extract from her new book, Sammy reveals how coming to terms with years of abuse led her into a spiral of depression, guilt and thoughts of suicide. Yet worse was to come.

Despite launching a brave quest to bring her abuser to justice, she was again failed by the police and social services and, in the process, faced losing her children. Here, with remarkable courage, Sammy describes how she successfully battled to expose one of the greatest child protection scandals of modern times.

Ill never forget the moment. It was the autumn of 2012 and I was standing in a queue at a petrol station when I glanced at the front pages of the newspapers. My stomach dropped to the floor. There, in black and white, were allegations from leaked files suggesting three unnamed Asian brothers were known to have groomed and abused young teenage girls in Rotherham from 1999 to 2001, but had never been prosecuted.

The reports were horrifying  54 girls had believed that one of these men was her boyfriend. Eighteen thought they were the girlfriend of the ringleader. Sickened, I realised with certainty that the men were my former boyfriend, Arshid Ash Hussain, and his brothers Basharat and Bannaras, known as Bash and Bono. It was more than a decade after my relationship with Ash had ended, and here I was, finally confronting the appalling truth of what had happened to me as a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Sammy Woodhouse, pictured, realised with certainty that the men accused of grooming and abusing teenager girls in Rotherham were her former boyfriend and his brothers

Our entire relationship raced through my head. Wed drifted apart, wasnt that the truth of it? When I reached 16, things went wrong. Sixteen. The thought made me feel nauseous. Ash was most interested in me when I was underage. Id never wanted to listen. Id put my family through hell fighting to be with him.

Id always denied being groomed, whatever that was. The penny finally dropped. At home, I fell to the floor, crying hysterically. I felt like Id fallen into a black hole Id never be able to climb out of. I was now 27, and the past 13 years of my life had been a big, fat lie. But if I thought the authorities would help me now, I was sadly mistaken. Even now, as the sordid truth emerged, I had a fight on my hands

Since my relationship with Ash had ended in 2001, Mum had died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage and I thought about the hell Id put her through. By early 2013, I was struggling to get out of bed in the mornings. I stopped eating and self-harmed, punishing myself over what Id done to my family.

Ash had destroyed my life when I was a child and was now destroying it all over again. How Id been living my life started to make sense. Id become a topless model and lapdancer so effortlessly, so robotically. Ash had brainwashed me to think it was normal to be treated as nothing more than a sex object. I had no self-respect, no self-esteem. He took those things away from me and left me an empty shell.

I thought my two children  Ashs son James, by now 11, and Reece, six, born from a subsequent relationship  would be better off without me. But one NHS mental health worker reported me in disgust to social services, claiming it was unacceptable to admit I was suicidal in front of my children. Social services said my case wasnt severe enough. I was passed around every support service in Rotherham, but nobody was geared up to help a grooming victim like me.

Memories from those days made me so angry it hurt. My foster carers and social workers had been adults trained in caring for and protecting children. What if the police had prosecuted Ash the first time Id got pregnant, or for the girls he abused before me? To make matters worse, Ash  whod been briefly in touch with James some time previously  kept ringing and messaging. When I called him a paedophile, he threatened to have me killed, but after reporting the threat to police they said the dispute was domestic and I should ignore it. They even blamed me for provoking him.

I felt abandoned and betrayed by everyone in authority all over again. It felt like nobody was answering my cries for help, and I was too weak and broken to keep on crying. Eventually, I was diagnosed with severe depression and, following a breakdown, began telling my story from the beginning to Nikki, an emergency social worker.

Sammy, pictured here aged 16 with her son James during their first holiday, has revealed that she was named as one of ten victims - or child prostitutes - in a report into the grooming gang

I described Philip and Richard, two older boyfriends Id had aged 13, before my relationship with Ash. Both had known Ash  Richard had worked for him and his brother, Bash, selling drugs. I think the grooming started earlier than you thought, Nikki said carefully. My heart nearly stopped.

I think the authorities have failed you, she added. I think you were a victim of grooming over many years. Its time this was handled professionally. You were a victim, but now you are a survivor.

I wanted Ash to pay for what hed done; I wanted him jailed so he couldnt harm anybody else.

Heart pounding, Id sat down with two officers from South Yorkshire Police, who came to see me at my sisters house, but their casual dismissal of my credibility was shocking. They were very laid-back.

One, whod known me as a teenager, said Id been Ashs girlfriend and would never be a reliable witness because of my criminal involvement with Ashs gang. Evidence from those years  including my dads 11-page statement and my teenage diary  had seemingly vanished without a trace. The only thing that remained, they claimed, was a missing persons report detailing one of my many disappearances.

Even James couldnt be used as evidence if DNA testing proved he was Ashs son. They said it was inappropriate to tell a boy his age that his father was a suspected paedophile.

I even asked whether police officers could be called on to provide statements about our relationship. But the other officer said: I cant force them to write something if they say, I never saw that. 

He added: Opinions have changed now. Now we identify that as child abuse. Before theyd see it as sort of a lovesick teenager who keeps going back to this fella.

I realised there and then that I couldnt rely on the police to help me. I contacted a solicitor and requested to see my police files before anything else disappeared.

Slowly, I began to piece together the extent of the authorities failures, and the network of people who had covered for Ash and his gang. It transpired, of course, that police and social services knew all about him. In 2000  the year I fell pregnant twice by Ash  the Home Office had commissioned research into child sexual exploitation in various locations, including Rotherham. The report, written in 2001, contains a chapter about Ash as a suspected pimp and drug dealer with convictions for wounding, stabbings, assault, affray, robbery, arson, burglary, kidnapping and false imprisonment. Chillingly, I learned I was named as one of ten victims  or child prostitutes as we were still called then.

The authorities knew which hotels and takeaways he used, which schools he was sighted outside, and had a long list of taxi firms he was linked to that were also suspected of being involved in the exploitation of children.

The researcher had been astonished by the scale of abuse and wrote an interim report criticising Rotherham Council and the police for failing to act. When it was sent to the South Yorkshire Chief Constable, the researcher was given a roasting by senior members of Rotherham police. None of her work was ever published. In desperation, I contacted a journalist who was investigating child sexual exploitation. The police panicked, and on the day my story was published in the newspapers I gave my first formal interview to officers.

Sammy's former boyfriend Arshid Ash Hussain (left), and his brothers Basharat (centre) and Bannaras (right), known as Bash and Bono, were all involved in the grooming gang

One asked me: Do you feel guilty, Sam? Because a lot of good professionals are going to lose their jobs.

I didnt. The interview became the starting point for Operation Clover, the long-running police investigation into Ash and his associates and other historic child exploitation cases in South Yorkshire. There would be separate interviews about the behaviour of police officers and the criminal activity Id been involved in while under Ashs spell.

Lawyers advised me that I risked jail, or even being killed. Every time I heard a knock at the door I was petrified.

I knew what violence Ash was capable of. Two days after the first interview, James said he saw Ash outside in a black car. I called the police, and thats when I really started to see how things had changed. I was listened to, taken seriously, and given an incident number. The days of being viewed as a stupid little girl who got what she deserved, or a white slag who was willingly prostituting herself, had finally ended.

Still, it wasnt always easy. Social workers from Rotherham Council said speaking out had put my own children at risk of harm, and they put James and Reece on a protection plan  a process which could eventually have seen them taken away from me. They had failed to protect me for years, yet now I was naming and shaming them in the media, they wanted to protect my children. It felt like I was being blackmailed to stop campaigning. I considered stopping, but realised it was the very last thing I should do.

False accusations crept into social services reports. One said Id abandoned my children for two weeks to go to Ibiza; another said Id allowed James to be part of a drug-dealing gang when he was six. I could prove both were untrue, but I was furious. I knew I was going to get a hard time for speaking out, but this was ridiculous.

It was just a few days later that Rotherham Council was shamed into ordering an independent inquiry into how the sexual exploitation of children had been handled, which caused massive political fallout and resignations when it was published in 2014. The inquiry concluded that thousands of girls may have been abused over 16 years.

But my biggest victory was putting Ash behind bars after giving evidence at his trial in December 2015. He was found guilty of 23 serious child sexual exploitation crimes, including multiple rapes and sexual assaults dating back to 1990. He was jailed for 35 years.

After the verdict, more victims came forward and eventually a further 20 abusers were convicted. It had turned into one of the biggest child-abuse trials this country had ever seen.

I was proud of what Id achieved. The result gave closure at last. In the end, too, the Crown Prosecution Service rightfully decided not to prosecute me. An astonishing charge of consensual rape on my criminal record sheet now no longer appears, although nobody can explain to me how and when it was added or taken off.

My aim now is to campaign to prevent future generations of children from having their lives devastated by sexual exploitation, and to get victims the support and justice they deserve. My abuser stole my childhood, destroyed my mental health and stripped me of the chance of happiness in my 20s.

I suffered from major depression, was left with disengagement and emotional detachment issues, and developed an eating disorder that I only recently defeated.

I lost precious years with my family and friends. I have major trust issues and have never been able to form new friendships. I also lost my education and gained a criminal record. I lost every last shred of my self-esteem, and I almost lost my children. I have been asked many times how I cope now I know the truth. The answer is simple: I have forgiven him. If I dont move on and look to the future I will always be my abusers victim and I am not that vulnerable little child any more.

My life starts now.

Abridged from Just A Child: Britains Biggest Child Abuse Scandal Exposed, by Sammy Woodhouse, published by Blink Publishing on April 19, priced 7.99. Offer price 5.99 (25 per cent discount) until April 22. Order at mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640; p&p is free on orders over 15.Charlie Elphicke, the MP for Dover, was struck with allegations related to claims of 'low-level sexual harassment'

A Tory MP who was suspended from the party five months ago during the Westminster harassment storm has been interviewed under caution by police investigating alleged sexual offences.

Charlie Elphicke, the MP for Dover, was quizzed by Scotland Yard officers last month amid intense speculation among fellow MPs over why he had lost the party whip.

The saga had put pressure on Chief Whip Julian Smith, who on his first day in the role had suspended Mr Elphicke after referring 'serious allegations' to the police.

Mr Elphicke's colleagues demanded that he be told about the nature of the allegations  or have the whip restored.

Last night, a friend of Mr Elphicke said the allegations related to claims of 'low-level sexual harassment' which was 'pretty minor in the scheme of things'.

Mr Elphicke released a statement to The Mail on Sunday in which he said: 'I met with the police on March 12 [and] was then told for the first time the nature of the allegations made against me.

'Until that point I had no idea whatsoever of the allegations which had led to my having the Conservative whip suspended in early November 2017, despite my repeated requests for clarification to both the Chief Whip and the police.

'Naturally I am co-operating fully with the police and have made it clear to them that I vigorously deny any wrongdoing whatsoever. Now that I am finally aware of the allegations the police are investigating, I am confident that I will be able to clear my name.'

The friend said that the allegations which had been made were 'Michael Fallon level'  a reference to the former Defence Secretary who lost his Cabinet job last year following claims that he had placed a hand on one female journalist's knee and 'tried to kiss' a second woman.

Before the police interview, Mr Elphicke had complained publicly that the saga had cast a long shadow over his family  and said that he had been 'thrown to the wolves' by the Conservative Party.

Last night, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement to The Mail on Sunday which said: 'On March 12, 2018, a man was interviewed under caution, by appointment. The interview was in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual offences.'

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: 'These are serious allegations and subject to an ongoing police investigation. We cannot comment further.'

Aide's 700 'fake claim' for furniture

by Brendan Carlin for the Mail On Sunday

A ministerial aide faces the prospect of a police investigation after he was accused of forgery in a new Commons expenses row.

Chris Davies MP has been hit by claims he fabricated invoices for furniture and photographs to decorate his constituency office.

Mr Davies confessed last night to 'a technical breach' of expenses rules but denied trying to claim money to which he was not entitled.

The allegations have been referred to Scotland Yard by the compliance officer of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which oversees MPs' expenses.

Chris Davies MP (pictured) has been hit by claims he fabricated invoices for furniture and photographs to decorate his constituency office

Mr Davies, 50, is said to have forged two invoices adding up to 700 to get the claims past IPSA officials in early 2016, and of trying to get a member of his local association staff to submit one of the fake bills. A letter from Conservative Party HQ to Brecon and Radnorshire MP Mr Davies, seen by The Mail on Sunday, highlights the 'seriousness of the allegations'.

In a summary of the accusations, it says: 'It appears you were concerned the invoice may be rejected as excessive.

'Instead, to obtain the full amount of 700 by another route, you fabricated or arranged to be fabricated, two smaller invoices, one for 450 and the other for 250.'

It refers to claims that the invoices from Creative Photography Wales (CPW) allegedly fabricated by Mr Davies were for 'furniture/pictures' but in fact 'CPW do not produce furniture'.

Mr Davies, an MP since 2015, has since paid back 450 he received from IPSA.

Scotland Yard said last night that it was assessing 'an allegation of fraudulent expense claims'.

IPSA said it was 'made aware of this issue at the end of March' and had 'taken appropriate action'.

Last night, Mr Davies, a parliamentary aide at the Wales Office, said: 'This was an honest mistake caused by my inexperience of the [IPSA] code.

'I did not and never intended to claim expenses to which I was not entitled.

'I apologise for this mistake and I have personally paid the 700 for the pictures.'Advertisement

It is just a few weeks away now and the Markle family must be bursting with excitement as Meghans marriage to Prince Harry approaches.

But the arrangements are not the first thing on the mind of Meghans nephew Tyler Dooley  hes more focused on the millions of dollars worth of marijuana he is helping to grow.

The 25-year-old boasts of his pride at being a pioneer in an industry that is now legal in the United States.

Meghan Markle's nephew Tyler Dooley is focused on the millions of dollars worth of marijuana he is helping to grow. The 25-year-old boasts of his pride at being a pioneer in an industry that is now legal in the United States. Were he to be caught in the UK with anything close to the quantity of marijuana in his business partners greenhouse, he would be jailed for years

We are family... It's Meghan the babysitter! Meghan regularly used to babysit her nephews Tyler, far right, and his brother TJ, second from left, when they were children. Meghan is aged 11 in this family snap. Also pictured is her father, Thomas Markle Snr

Were he to be caught in the UK with anything close to the quantity of marijuana in his business partners greenhouse, he would be jailed for years.

But while Britain remains determined to ban the drug after new disturbing evidence about the damage it causes, Dooley is a fervent advocate for its benefits, saying: We are passionate about marijuana and all the good things it brings.

But he is not completely ignoring his aunts big day. In his zeal to spread the word, he is planning to develop a potent new hybrid strain of cannabis to mark the wedding, called Markles Sparkle. And should Prince Harry and his bride ever visit Tyler at his home in Grants Pass, Oregon, he will be more than happy to offer them a sample.

Tyler is not the only member of his family involved with marijuana. His brother TJ, 26  another of Meghans nephews  gives it to his dog for pain relief. Their mother Tracy, 52, has a job selling advertising, and many of her clients are marijuana dispensaries.

Tyler is not the only member of his family involved with marijuana. His brother TJ, 26  another of Meghans nephews  gives it to his dog for pain relief. Their mother Tracy, 52, has a job selling advertising, and many of her clients are marijuana dispensaries

In his zeal to spread the word, he is planning to develop a potent new hybrid strain of cannabis to mark the wedding, called Markles Sparkle. And should Prince Harry and his bride ever visit Tyler at his home in Grants Pass, Oregon, he will be more than happy to offer them a sample

Tyler and TJ are the sons of Meghans half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. Tracy is Thomass former wife.

Tyler says he smoked his first joint at high school but no longer uses cannabis. Recreational marijuana was made legal in Oregon in 2015, since when Tyler has become fully immersed in the booming business, from brokering land for growers (for which he takes a hefty commission) to advising growers on the type and strain of plants to grow, to working out complex watering and lighting systems.

He has even built some of the grow facilities that now dot the lush Oregon landscape.

Tyler took The Mail on Sunday to a pot farm called the Southern Oregon Cannabis Connection, run by his best friend and business partner Fred Tamayo, 49. The three-acre growing facility comes complete with a 6,000 square foot warehouse as well as two retail stores, and employs 25 people.

Tyler says he smoked his first joint at high school but no longer uses cannabis. Recreational marijuana was made legal in Oregon in 2015, since when Tyler has become fully immersed in the booming business, from brokering land for growers (for which he takes a hefty commission) to advising growers on the type and strain of plants to grow, to working out complex watering and lighting systems

The stores offer customers hundreds of products ranging from traditional pre-rolled joints to pot-infused gummy bears, oils, vapourisers and pot-laced cookies and popcorn.

Prices range from just 3.50 for a single joint to 230 for several grams of the most potent oil. A lemon doodle cookie two-pack costs 16 while head trip mango guava gummies are 14.

OAPs and military veterans are offered a ten per cent discount.

The business is worth about 3.5 million, and Tyler is now paid a commission for sales and marketing services. He was previously paid for finding the land and helping to build the facility.

Tamayo, a divorced father-of-four, was involved in the illegal marijuana trade from aged 17 and was jailed for a year in 2008 after drug enforcement agents found him illegally growing more than 1,000 cannabis plants in bunkers. By 2015, he had obtained a legal recreational growers licence.

Prices range from just 3.50 for a single joint to 230 for several grams of the most potent oil. A lemon doodle cookie two-pack costs 16 while head trip mango guava gummies are 14

Next month, when the outdoor growing season begins, Tyler, a licensed medical marijuana grower, will plant the legal limit of 48 marijuana plants on his property  pot he will then sell to patients under Oregons medical marijuana laws.

Oregon became the first state to decriminalise marijuana for personal use and has been at the forefront of legalising both medical and recreational marijuana.

Indeed, since the state legalised recreational marijuana three years ago, it has been flooded with growers to the point there is now a glut of legal pot. Prices have plummeted and many small producers have gone out of business. The black market in pot has disappeared, Tyler says.

Meghans nephew openly addresses the criticism from medical experts that it serves as a gateway drug and can permanently affect the brain. A recent study by Professor Sir Robin Murray, from the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London, warned that new super-strength cannabis could lead to a medical ticking time bomb in Britain because of the terrible toll it can take on the brain.

Meghans nephew openly addresses the criticism from medical experts that it serves as a gateway drug and can permanently affect the brain. A recent study by Professor Sir Robin Murray, from the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London, warned that new super-strength cannabis could lead to a medical ticking time bomb in Britain because of the terrible toll it can take on the brain

Skunk cannabis is four times more potent than the cannabis of the 1980s, and Prof Murray warned that regular smokers have a significant increased risk of developing long-term mental-health issues such as psychosis or schizophrenia.

Yes, the strains are way more potent now, Tyler admits. But I would argue against it being a gateway drug. Alcohol and tobacco are far more harmful. Prescription pills kill millions in Britain and America every year. Marijuana can help people coming off opioid painkillers.

He says a wealth of products which do not contain the mind-altering chemical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) but do have in them the medicinal CBD (cannabidiol) used in oils, salves and creams for pain relief are the future. We are learning more and more about the medicinal benefits, particularly of products containing CBD, he says.

Even the family's three legged dog is in on the action... The Dooleys even give cannabidiol hemp oil to the familys three legged dog. TJ, left with his mother Tracy, gives Cody, a wolf/Dutch Shepherd cross, CBD oil on his food after the dog lost a leg to bone cancer. They find CBD (the non hallucinogenic part of the marijuana plant) eases pain, stiffness and tremors

AMERICA'S $11 BILLION MARIJUANA GOLD RUSH Oregon became the first state to decriminalise pot in 1973.

There are nine states where recreational cannabis is legal, including California and Colorado, for adults over the age of 21.

Oregon has some of the most relaxed rules, allowing every resident to grow four plants per household and possess 8oz at home.

Medical marijuana is legal in another 29 states, 17 states limit medicinal use, while four states  Idaho, Kansas, South Dakota and Nebraska  ban it.

It is still illegal to smoke in public spaces or within 100 yards of a school.

A recent poll showed that 64 per cent of Americans favoured legalisation.

National marijuana sales are expected to top $11 billion (7.7 billion) this year and reach $21 billion (14.7 billion) by 2021, becoming more lucrative than the soft drinks industry.

Marijuana raised $1.4 billion (1 billion) in taxes last year.

A new study estimated the industry could generate 1.1 million jobs by 2025 if it is legalised in all states.

The industry employs 125,000 people nationwide.

Celebrity advocates of legalisation include Barack Obama and Jennifer Aniston.

Products on the market include weed cola, weed pizza and weed coffee. Advertisement

I know this is a controversial subject but Im proud to be involved at the start of an industry that will be worth billions and billions of dollars and could help people around the world.

Oregon is at the forefront of a revolution and weve proved legalising recreational marijuana works and doesnt make society descend into chaos.

Tyler, who last spoke to Meghan three years ago but recalls her babysitting him and his brother regularly when they were children, adds: Meghan grew up in California and I am sure has an American view on pot.

I know in England that marijuana is still a taboo subject but its more normal to us here because we grew up around it in high school. Everybody experiments with it here.

Prince Harry enjoys a good party. Id be happy to show them around if they ever come out here and educate them on the medicinal benefits of marijuana which helps everything from post-traumatic stress syndrome to insomnia to pain in cancer patients.

Tracy, who will join her sons as a commentator on the Royal Wedding for Good Morning Britain, sells radio advertising for Opus Broadcasting. I represent 11 dispensaries and the money they generate in taxes is revitalising the local economy, she says.

Tracy says she is a firm believer in all the positive things legalisation of marijuana has brought to Oregon, citing the millions in tax revenue that has been given to schools, homeless shelters and to build new infrastructure.

A properly regulated industry is the way to go, she adds. I hope people in England can see what we are doing here. We havent all turned into pot-tokeing zombies. Instead were creating a strictly regulated industry which has the potential to inject billions of dollars into the economy.

Tracy says she has seen first-hand how medical marijuana has saved a lot of people. Its a miracle drug that can help in so many ways. And its natural. By making it legal you can enforce laws and keep the product and consumers safe. Its a win-win. What happens in America normally makes its way to the UK later. Well, the sky hasnt fallen in here. One of Tracys clients, Medford Council member Clay Bearnson, is the first elected official in Oregon to own a dispensary, Oregon Farmacy. Tracy adds: I hope we get a chance to talk to Meghan and Harry about it one day. Im sure they would be fascinated to see all the great things you can do with pot, once its legalised and properly regulated.

Additional reporting by Charlotte Wace in Grants Pass, OregonAdvertisement

President Trump has vowed to carry out further airstrikes on Syria if the regime dares to use chemical weapons again, as Nikki Haley lashed out at Russia during a fiery meeting of the UN Security Council.

Scores of fast jets, fighters and destroyers fired more than 100 missiles at three military targets in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for President Assad's chemical weapons attack on the rebel enclave of Douma on April 7.

While President Trump greeted the end of the attacks with a tweet saying 'mission accomplished', Ambassador Haley promised the US was ready for another strike if Assad crossed the chemical weapons 'red line' in the future.

'The time for talk ended last night,' Haley told an emergency meeting of the Security Council called by Russia. 'We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will.

'I spoke to President Trump this morning and he said if the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded.'

She also accused the Russians of covering up crimes committed by its ally, Assad, who she said had used chemical weapons 50 times in the past seven years of warfare.

'Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and its cover-ups,' she said of Syria's strongest ally,' Haley said.'Russia was supposed to guarantee Assad would not use chemical weapons, and Russia did the opposite.

'We cannot stand by and let Russia trash every international norm that we stand for, and allow the use of chemical weapons to go unanswered.'

President Trump said Saturday in his first comments since the air raid: 'Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!'

'So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There won't be anything, or anyone, even close!' he tweeted.

President Trump (pictured addressing the nation on the airstrikes on Friday) has vowed to carry out further airstrikes on Syria if the regime dares to use chemical weapons again, as Nikki Haley lashed out at Russia during a fiery meeting of the UN Security Council

Ambassador Haley (lefT) told the UN Security Council the US was ready to strike again if Assad (right) crossed the chemical weapons 'red line' in the future

This footage shows the remains of the Syrian Scientific Research Center, a suspected chemical weapons facility, after Friday's airstrikes

Scores of fast jets, fighters and destroyers fired more than 100 missiles at three military targets in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for President Assad's chemical weapons attack on the rebel enclave of Douma on April 7. Pictured: The remains of the Syrian Scientific Research Center on Saturday

Trump hailed a 'perfectly executed strike' just hours after launching a series of attacks on Syria. He wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning: 'Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!'

He added: 'So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There won't be anything, or anyone, even close!'

Part of the calculation this week has also been gaming out how Russia will respond either in the region or around the world

Russia proposed a motion at the Security Council to pass a resolution condemning the airstrikes, but this was rejected with only Russia, China and Bolivia voting in favour.

The country's ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, hit back at Haley's insults by accusing the US of 'hooliganism' and breaking international law.

'Why are you seeking to plunge the Middle East into such difficulties, provoking one conflict after another, pitting one state against another?' he said. 'Is the latest wave of chaos being unleashed only for the sake of that?'

President Trump signaled a shift in his attitude toward Russia earlier this week when he said that 'everybody' involved in the poison attack, including President Putin, would 'pay a price.'

He took direct aim at the man he's repeatedly expressed a desire to get along with in spite of Russian aggression and election meddling in his national address on Friday, informing Putin that he and his government will be judged by the company that they keep.

He also discussed the issue with Theresa May on Thursday, during a phone call in which both leaders reportedly agreed on the need for action.

Trump's administration seemed ready to turn the screws on Moscow on Saturday morning as it prepared to make good on the president's promise that Russia, like Syria, would pay for its inhumanity.

The sanctions that were mentioned in the talking points remained unconfirmed, and neither the White House nor the Treasury Department immediately responded to requests for comment on the revelation.

At a morning briefing, the Pentagon also said that the airstrikes on Syria 'were very successful' in that the coalition met its objectives.

'We hit the sites,' Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said at a Saturday morning briefing. 'It was mission accomplished,' she said.

The White House's talking points on the airstrikes emphasized the grotesqueness of the photos of children of 'dead and dying children' as a 'call to action among the world's civilized nations.'

Surrogates for the administration were told to stress in media appearance that 'actors who use these abhorrent weapons will be held accountable for their actions' but make clear that strikes 'are not intended as a provocation against the Russian Federation or its forces in Syria. We do not seek armed conflict with the Russian Federation.'

Nations that can but do not act to stop horrific attacks like the one in Syria 'make themselves complicit in these outrages,' the White House instructed its allies to say, and 'everyone must understand that the costs of using chemical weapons will always outweigh any military or political benefits.'

The talking points that were provided to DailyMail.com by a source also revealed the United States' intent to impose new sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow's 'ongoing support for the Assad regime' which the White House says has 'enabled the regime's atrocities against the Syrian people.'

The Damascus sky lights up with missile fire as the US, Britain and France launch an attack on Syria

Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire after Donald Trump announced the strikes on Syria on Friday night ET

A cruise missile is pictured being launched from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria

A fighter jet prepares to land at RAF Akrotiri, a military base Britain maintains on Cyprus

A fighter jet lands at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus, on Saturday, April 14

Syria air defenses strike back after air strikes by U.S., British and French forces in Damascus

'The time for talk ended last night,' Haley told an emergency meeting of the Security Council called by Russia. 'We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will

Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, hit back at Haley's insults by accusing the US of 'hooliganism' and breaking international law

Whether the strikes would have the intended effect  keeping Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad from gassing the people of his country again  remains to be seen.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday morning that 'a lot has been destroyed in last night's strikes' but additional strikes could come if Assad crossed the 'red line' of using chemical weapons again.

President Trump's 'mission accomplished' claim drudged up old memories of another Republican president, George W. Bush, standing under a banner in 2003 and declaring the same thing. Bush's war in Iraq lasted for years, and when the U.S. finally left the power vacuum was filled by ISIS.

France says a 'large part' of the Syria's chemical arsenal was destroyed during coordinated strikes that the U.S. and U.K. joined the country in launching on facilities known to be used in the production of the deadly weapons.

American, British and French forces launched the airstrikes on two chemical weapons facilities and a military command post in Syria early Saturday local time in retaliation for a chlorine gas attack a week ago that left up 75 civilians dead.

He said: 'On the question of chemical weapons, there is a red line that must not be crossed, and if it should be crossed again, there will be another intervention. But I think the lesson has been learned.'

Meanwhile, Syrian government tweeted shortly after the assault, 'Honorable souls cannot be humiliated.'

State TV said the country's air defenses shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area south of Damascus and claimed three civilians were wounded in the attack on the military base.

The Pentagon disputed those claims on Saturday, with Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, telling reporters, 'As of right now we're not aware of any civilian casualties.'

A senior official also said that none of the U.S. missiles were intercepted by Syrian forces.

The strikes carried out by the United States consisted of more than 100 missiles, the Pentagon indicated, with Secretary of Defense James Mattis describing the number as 'a little over double the number of weapons' that were used in last year's air assault on Syria.

That April 7, 2017 attack on a Syrian airbase after Assad's confirmed use of chemical weapons on civilians consisted of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

McKenzie on Saturday said the exact number of missiles launched was 105.

At his Friday evening news conference, Mattis said the latest round of strikes 'sent a very strong message' to Assad and his 'murderous lieutenants' and that 'right now this is a one-time shot' driving home a message that conflicted with the president's.

'That will depend on Mr. Assad should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future,' Mattis said of future strikes.

In a news conference that followed Trump's remarks, Mattis confirmed that chlorine gas, and possibly sarin, was used by Assad's forces to poison Syrians a week ago.

An RAF Tornado comes into land at RAF Akrotiri after concluding its mission.Four Royal Air Force Tornado's took off to conduct strikes

Smoke rises above Damascus after the air strikes. The US, Britain and France waged up to 120 air strikes

Smoke rises over the capital Damascus after air strikes struck Syria early Saturday, April 14, local time

Trump said the purpose of the U.S.-led strike was to 'establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use' of such chemical weapons. But he said America does not seek 'an indefinite presence' in Syria and looks forward to the day when it can withdraw its troops from Syria.

In a statement, British Prime Minister Theresa May described the coalition air assault as a 'limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region.'

'And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity,' she said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the 'red line' set by France in May of 2017 'had been crossed.'

'We cannot tolerate the trivialization of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security,' Macron said. 'This is the direction of the diplomatic initiatives put forward by France at the United Nations Security Council.'

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (right) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford (second from right) brief members of the media on Syria at the Pentagon

A photo released on the Twitter page of the Syrian governments central military media shows anti-aircraft fire through a night-vision device on the outskirts of Damascu

Loud explosions rocked Syria's capital and and lit up the sky with heavy smoke. Hours later crowds of Assad supporters gathered in the center of Damascus in a show of defiance.

Hundreds of residents gathered in Omayyad Square, many waving Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns.

'We are your men, Bashar,' they shouted.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford said that all three areas the coalition 'struck and destroyed' were specific to the Syrian regime's chemical weapons program.

The scientific research center was used for the development and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology, he said. Another target, a storage facility west of Homs, was a primary location for sarin and precursor production equipment. The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command force.

General Dunford said U.S., British and French entrenched naval and air forces were involved, but for operational security, he would not be more specific than that.

The U.S. and the U.K. emphasized that steps had been taken to minimize civilian casualties.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the Assad regime 'crossed a red line' with the chemical attack in Douma. He is pictured centre with close advisers

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the coalition air assault as a 'limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region'

'We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,' Trump in his address said.

He also said in the remarks that lasted a little more than eight minutes that he had a message for 'two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime' -- Iran and Russia.

'In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise,' he said. 'Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace.'

He added, 'Hopefully someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran, but maybe not. I will say this, the United States has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.'

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday strongly condemned the attacks on Syria and said Washington and its allies would bear the responsibility of the raids' consequences in the region and beyond, Iranian state media reported.

'Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence... will assume the responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism,' Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

Russian lawmaker and the deputy head of Russia's foreign affairs committee Vladimir Dzhabarov said Moscow was likely to call for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the air strikes.

'The situation is being analysed right now. Russia will demand a meeting of the U.N. security council, I am sure.'

Donald Trump said on Friday evening he had ordered 'precision strikes' on Syria in retaliation for the 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people on April 7 (a young victim is pictured)

A child receives oxygen through a respirator following a poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma

A poison gas attack killed up to 75 people that the U.S. and its allies say was carried out by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on April 7 in Douma near Damascus

'These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead,' Trump said referring to Assad (pictured)

Trump also warned Russia and Iran about their association with the Syrian government. President Putin is pictured on April 12

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FRIDAY NIGHT ADDRESS TO THE NATION My fellow Americans: a short time ago I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both. Tonight I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian air force. Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this time in the town of Douma near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by the very terrible regime. the evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster, instead. Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation. The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. I also have a message tonight for two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime. To Iran and to Russia I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators. In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully some day we'll get along with Russia and maybe even Iran, but maybe not. I will say this, the United States has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world. In Syria the United States with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated. The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS. America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria. Under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home and great warriors they are. Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It's a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people. In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of World War I, more than 1 million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return. So today, the nations of Britain, France and the United States of America have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. Tonight I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions. We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God there guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace. And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America. Thank you, and good night. Thank you Advertisement

Russia's Ambassador to the United States warned the White House on Friday that military strikes against its ally 'will not be left without consequences'.

'Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible,' Anatoly Antonov saidl 'The U.S.  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries,' he added.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, said Trump 'can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time - because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union,' according to state news agency RIA-Novosti.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a statement on Facebook, said the U.S. struck Syria when the country finally had a chance at peace.

'One must be really exceptional to strike Syria's capital when the country finally got a chance for a peaceful future,' she wrote.

Israeli officials backed the move, with an unnamed spokesman telling Reuters that the three allies were right to enforce the ban on chemical warfare.

'Last year, President Trump made clear that the use of chemical weapons crosses a red line. Tonight, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom enforced that line,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

'Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk.'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also backed the attack. 'Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons in last week's attack in eastern Ghouta, Syria,' Trudeau said.

'Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regime's ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people. We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice.'

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations

Syrian government supporters chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations in Damascus following the strikes

Protesters stand outside Trump Tower demonstrating against military strikes in Syria, late on Friday in New York

U.S. air strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma a week ago. Trump had reacted with a tweet warning Assad and his allies that the action would not go unchecked.

'Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria,' he declared. 'President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay.'

Trump told reporters that the list of people he'd punish included the Russian president, if appropriate.

'Everybody's gonna pay a price. He will. Everybody will,' the U.S. president said.

After Russia rejected a U.S.-sponsored resolution authorizing a probe of the gas attack and vowed to shoot down U.S. missiles fired upon Syria, Trump took aim at the Kremlin.

'Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!' You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!' Trump tweeted.

The White House left open the possibility of direct, military engagement with Russia after the tweet.

Russia's deputy prime minister, Arkady Dvorkovich, just brushed the rebuke off, however, saying, according to state media, 'We cannot depend on the mood of someone on the other side of the ocean when he wakes up, on what a specific person takes into his head in the morning.'

The French presidency on Saturday released a video on Twitter showing what it said were Rafale war planes taking off to attack targets in Syria

It was not immediately clear whether the planes were taking off from an aircraft carrier or a military base on land in video released by the French presidency

Moscow has claimed all along that the chemical weapons attack did not take place and on Friday that it had 'irrefutable evidence' that it had been fabricated.

The U.S. meanwhile joined France and the U.K. in pointing the finger for the attack - and their missiles - directly at Assad's forces.

Mattis said Friday evening that he was 'confident' Assad's regime conducted a chemical weapons attack.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said at an emergency meeting of the Security Council, 'We know who did this. Our allies know who did this. Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and cover-ups.'

Defense Secretary James Mattis' statement Good evening. As the world knows, the Syrian people have suffered terribly under the prolonged brutality of the Assad regime. On April 7th, the regime decided to again defy the norms of civilized people, showing callous disregard for international law by using chemical weapons to murder women, children and other innocents. We and our allies find these atrocities inexcusable. As our commander in chief, the president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force overseas to defend important U.S. national interests. Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken decisive action against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure The United States has an important national interest in averting a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, and specifically deterring the use and proliferation of chemical weapons. Last year, in response to a chemical weapons attack against civilians and to signal the regime to cease chemical weapons use, we targeted the military base from which the weapons were delivered. Earlier today, President Trump directed the U.S. military to conduct operations, in consonance with our allies, to destroy the Syrian regime's chemical weapons research, development and production capabilities. Tonight, France, the United Kingdom and the United States took decisive action to strike the Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure. Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year. This time, our allies and we have struck harder. Together, we have sent a clear message to Assad, and his murderous lieutenants, that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable. The 70 nations in the defeat ISIS coalition remain committed to defeating ISIS in Syria. The strike tonight separately demonstrates international resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used on anyone, under any circumstance, in contravention of international law. I want to emphasize that these strikes are directed at the Syrian regime. In conducting these strikes, we have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties. But it is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process. In accordance with the chemical weapons convention prohibiting the use of such weapons, we urge responsible nations to condemn the Assad regime and join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again. General Dunford will provide a military update. Based on recent experience, we fully expect a significant disinformation campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime. In an effort to maintain transparency and accuracy, my assistant for public affairs, Dana White, and Lt. Gen. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, will provide a brief of known details tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Advertisement

The Friday night assault earned tepid support from Democrats in Congress who said they are awaiting additional information from the Trump administration about the targets and goals of the strike.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the upper chamber's Intelligence Committee, said, 'While the U.S. and our allies must not turn a blind eye to Assad's vile and inhumane attacks against his own citizens, military action in Syria must be measured, as part of a coherent strategy to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons without further destabilizing an already-volatile region or inadvertently expanding the conflict.'

Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, said that Assad's weapons attack was a 'brutally inhumane war crime that demands a strong, smart and calculated response.

But she argued, 'One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

'The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorization for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians,' the leading House Democrat insisted in a statement. 'President Trump must also hold Putin accountable for his enabling of the Assad regime's atrocities against the Syrian people.'

Vice President Mike Pence briefed Pelosi and other congressional leaders by phone after skipping a reception and rushing back to his hotel in Lima, Peru.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell received calls notifying them of the action before the president's address, the vice president's communications director, Jarrod Agen, said. So did Pelosi. Pence was unable to reach Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer until afterward, Pence's spokesman explained, because the top-ranking Democrat was on a flight.

The vice president was attending a summit in Peru on Friday in Trump's stead. Trump called off his trip as he mulled how to respond to the attack in Syria.

House Speaker Paul Ryan meanwhile praised Trump's 'decisive action in coordination with our allies,' adding, 'We are united in our resolve.'

Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain applauded the airstrikes but said 'they alone will not achieve U.S. objectives in the Middle East.'

'I hope these strikes impose meaningful costs on Assad. The message to Assad must be that the cost of using chemical weapons is worse than any perceived benefit, that the United States and our allies have the will and capability to continue imposing those costs, and that Iran and Russia will ultimately be unsuccessful in protecting Assad from our punative response,' McCain said in a statement.

Schumer said the airstrikes were 'appropriate' yet cautioned the Trump administration 'to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria.'

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said there 'is absolutely no question' the gas attack merits a strong response. However, he said he remains concerned the U.S. will become mired in the 'horrific and complex civil war that has been raging in Syria.

'While these joint American, British and French strikes are morally justified against the Assad regime's gassing of its own people, they take place with no congressional authorization,' he asserted.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, also said: 'President Trump's decision to launch airstrikes against the Syrian government without Congress's approval is illegal and  absent a broader strategy  it's reckless.

'Last week, President Trump was adamant that the U.S. was leaving Syria imminently. This week, he is opening a new military front. Assad must face consequences for his war crimes, but Presidents cannot initiate military action when there isn't an imminent threat to American lives.'

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said his committee would convene a hearing next week on U.S. policy for the region. 'The administration needs to begin fully explaining its strategy for the months ahead,' he said.

'Military force cannot be the only means of responding to these atrocities. The U.S. must leverage strong diplomacy and serious financial pressure. That's why, last year, the House led in passing tough new sanctions against Assad and his enablers. The Senate needs to move this legislation to the president's desk quickly.'* Around 93 buses with hundreds of Islam Army militants and their families onboard prepared on April 13 to evacuate Damascus' eastern Douma district, amid reports of the arrival of the chemical weapons investigators on April 14 to look into allegations of toxic gas use in Douma.

* US Vice President Mike Pence, in Lima for the Summit of the Americas, abruptly changed his schedule on April 13 night and returned to his hotel, as the US considers its response to a suspected chemical attack in Syria.

Pence was supposed to attend the opening banquet at the summit but departed suddenly.

* Egypt is to extend its nationwide state of emergency for three months from April 14, the official gazette said early on April 14.

Egypt first imposed the current state of emergency in April 2017 after two church bombings killed at least 45 people. It was extended in July and again in October then January.

* In its newest monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised its forecast for global oil demand growth for this year by 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.63 million bpd. Moreover, the group said

its collective output fell by 201,000 bpd to 31.96 million bpd in March from February, driven by declines in countries such as Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

* The African Union (AU) and the United Nations have reiterated their further strengthened partnership to restore peace and stability in the Central African Republic (CAR), while protecting the people of the country from criminal networks.

The statement was reached in a joint press conference on April 13 at the AU Headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.In her resolute performance at a No 10 press conference yesterday on the Syrian bombing raids, Theresa May was asked by The Mail on Sunday if her decision had given her sleepless nights.

She said: There is no graver decision that a Prime Minister can take than to send service personnel into combat.

It is a decision that I have not taken lightly.

She was similarly at ease fielding political questions over why she had not sought Parliaments support and whether she would approve more raids.

In short, she was back to her old strong and stable self.

We have been here before.

Theresa May was back to her old strong and stable self during a press conference over the air strikes against Syria

Tuesday marks the first anniversary of Mrs Mays shock decision to call a snap Election in a bid to use her strong and stable image to crush Jeremy Corbyn.

At the time it looked a strong certainty: her ratings were a staggering 39 points ahead of the Labour leaders.

Instead a series of own goals left her looking weak and unstable. She lost the Tories Commons majority and, incredibly, in less than two months Corbyns popularity overtook hers.

For most of the past 12 months she has bumped along a few points ahead of the Opposition leader. But that changed on March 4, the day the Russians tried to murder the Skripals in Salisbury.

The Prime Minister's personal rating has bounced back since the Salisbury poison attack, and she is now 13 points ahead of Corbyn

Her lead doubled to 13 points as she responded robustly to the scandal. Meanwhile, Corbyns bubble burst as he was accused of siding with Vladimir Putin and faced toxic allegations of Labour anti-Semitism.

For much of the time since the botched Election Mrs May has seemed cowed: she had taken the only big risk in her life and it had blown up in her face.

But all that was forgotten as she strode the world stage, winning support for her one-woman, Iron Lady-style defiance of the Kremlin  even from the Brexit bruised EU.

It was that renewed confidence that gave her the strength to ignore calls  not just from Corbyn but from heavyweight figures in her own party such as Ken Clarke  to back bombing raids on Syria without a vote in Parliament.

Tory whips warned her the Commons may well have voted against her, putting her in an impossible position.

Of course, if she hadnt called a snap Election a year ago, she would have had a big Tory majority and won the vote easily, giving her the best of both worlds.

If the bombing raids are seen as a success, strong and stable Theresa will get the credit.

If not, she could fall behind Corbyn again.Leaders of the Syrian rescue squad accused by Russia of faking footage of gassed children in the chemical weapons assault at Douma hit back yesterday.

Ammar al-Salmo  a founder of the White Helmets, a civil defence force that pulls people from rubble after military attack  said President Bashar Assad and his Russian allies were trying to cover up atrocities.

He added: 'They do not want their crimes to be witnessed. We publicise their attacks. This is the cause of the Russian and regime propaganda against us.

The White Helmets are a civil defence force that pulls people from rubble after military attacks

'They are not killing terrorists but civilians.'

Co-founder Ismail Alabdullah said: 'We make them angry because we show how they are killing our people. They do not want the world to know what is happening.'

As well as providing vital rescue services, the White Helmets document events with handheld and helmet-mounted cameras.

Their footage helps human rights groups corroborate eyewitness accounts.

Videos released after last weekend's attack showed apparently suffocated corpses and pale toddlers being treated by medical staff. More than 40 people died, with dozens more needing treatment for symptoms indicating exposure to chemicals.

Last year, the White Helmets  officially called Syria Civil Defence  exposed a chemical attack that killed 83 people.

They claim there have been more than 200 chemical weapon attacks in the Syrian struggle.

'I have seen chlorine gas attack,' said al-Salmo. 'We did not know what was happening and what to do.'

But he said worse were lethal barrel bombs, filled with oil or shrapnel along with explosives and dropped from helicopters. 'These are horrible. I've seen terrible things with massacres in hospitals and marketplaces. They kill many more people.'

The group has had 237 volunteers killed in Syria's war. But after exposing last weekend's gas attack in Douma, in Eastern Ghouta, the White Helmets were accused of faking the attack.Alexander Yakovenko, Russia's ambassador to London, called the first responders a 'notorious group' backed by Britain and alleged they had been 'proved more than once to be staging attacks'.

And Lieutenant-General Viktor Poznikhir told a defence briefing in Moscow: 'The odious White Helmets once again staged for the cameras a 'chemical attack' on the civilians of Douma.'

Assad has told the Russian television network RT: 'White Helmets are Al Qaeda members and that's proven on the net.'

The station last week claimed the White Helmets stole aid, then forced desperate people to act on camera in return for bread.

But one volunteer in Eastern Ghouta told this newspaper there had been four previous gas attacks in his area in the five weeks before last weekend's attack.

'It is only natural the Russians will be annoyed because we are the people saving lives and documenting the war crimes carried out by the regime and their Russian allies,' said former student Abdul-Ghany Khabbaz.

Al-Salmo, 35, a former English teacher, set up the group in Aleppo four years ago with ten friends  six of whom have since been killed  and one vehicle. It now has 4,200 members. 'We did not want to fight,' he told The Mail on Sunday from Aleppo. 'We just wanted peace, we wanted dignity.'

Al-Salmo thought about fleeing the city after the government withdrew in late 2012, cutting off electricity and emergency services. 'Those staying suffered so much from shelling,' he said. 'I thought it was my duty to help people.'

'I saw people being killed and fires spreading and thought we should try to stop these things. We were not trained but would just go to damaged places and pull out the injured.'

He still remembers clearly the tears of his team after they wrenched their first child from a crushed building, a young girl whose mother was killed in the air strike. The infant recovered from injuries, later escaping to Turkey with her father.

They recruited more volunteers and won support from abroad, setting up a training base in Turkey as they spread across Syria in areas suffering lack of emergency services. They have saved 113,000 people so far.

Murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, a former aid worker, put forward the group for the Nobel Peace Prize. A Netflix documentary on their work won an Oscar last year.

'We thought this would be for just a few months,' said al-Salmo. 'Every day seemed worse and often we thought about giving up and going abroad. We've seen so many friends killed. But the people of Syria respect us so we will stay to the end.'CIA Director Mike Pompeo faces a tough confirmation process, with the possibility emerging that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could fail to recommend him as secretary of state.

Full-Senate confirmation votes can proceed and pass even after a negative committee recommendation, but it has happened rarely. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is one notable case.

In Pompeo's case, Republican Senator Rand Paul has declared himself opposed, meaning that at least one Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee would have to support Pompeo to pass a recommendation.

The committee membership is split 11-10 with Republicans holding the majority.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo (seen on Thursday) faces a tough confirmation process. It is possible the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could fail to recommend him

The committee also could take no action on the nomination, which is more common than an unfavorable vote, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Pompeo's fate seemed even more uncertain after Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Jeanne Shaheen, who both sit on the panel and backed Pompeo's nomination to be CIA director.

Pompeo was easily confirmed as CIA director in 2017, but faces a tougher road for secretary of state.

If the full Senate does vote on his nomination, at least one Democrat would have to support Pompeo, given Paul's opposition and the absence of Republican Senator John McCain, who is suffering from brain cancer.

Rand Paul (seen Thursday) has said he does not support Pompeo for secretary of state, meaning at least one Democrat will have to come over for the recommendation to pass

No secretary of state nominee has ever been rejected by the Senate. In US history, the Senate has only rejected nine Cabinet-level nominees.

Since the mid 1920s, no secretary of state nominee has received a negative recommendation from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to CNN.

Prior to the mid to late 1920s, nearly all executive Senate committee business was done in closed session, so there was no public record for these actions.

A committee vote on Pompeo's nomination is expected sometime later this month.In a US-led attack supported by Britain and France, 66 American Tomahawk missiles provided the bulk of the firepower.

Air and sea forces including submarines, ships, and warplanes destroyed three plants along with hits on Syrian air and naval bases around the country.

The attack was in response to Syrian dictator Bashad al-Assad's chemical attack on civilians last week that killed at least 42 people, many of them children.

Here we detail how the air strikes came together, the hardware and weapons that were used, and where the missiles fell early on Saturday morning.Explosions have been reported in rural Aleppo amid claims an Iranian military base in Syria has been bombed by fighter jets.

Witnesses are said to have reported loud explosions, flames and casualties - with Iranian soldiers included among them.

Some reports from Syria claim Israeli fighter jets had targeted a weapons depot in Jabal Azan - a government controlled area of Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the explosion took place in an area where Iranian forces were present with the Afghan Fatimiyan Brigade.

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Explosions have been reported in rural Aleppo amid claims an Iranian military base in Syria has been bombed by fighter jets (the view from Damascus as the US and allies launched reprisals after the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime in the early hours of Saturday morning)

Israeli has not commented on the claims.

The reports also suggest a second base, near Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, was also targeted.

The bombings happened hours after American, UK and French forces fired more than 100 missiles at three sites connected to Syria's chemical weapons programme.

Four RAF Tornados took off from Cyprus in the early hours and struck regime facilities linked to the production and use of chemical weapons. They all returned safely.

The allies were galvanised into military action after chlorine gas and another nerve agent were deployed in Douma on Saturday, killing up to 75 people, including young children.

Some reports from Syria claim Israeli fighter jets had targeted a weapons depot in Jabal Azan - a government controlled area of Aleppo (the view from Damascus as the US and allies launched reprisals after the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime Saturday morning)

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that Storm Shadow cruise missiles were fired at a former missile base fifteen miles west of Homs, where stockpiles of banned substances are believed to have been held. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the missions had been 'highly successful' and degraded Assad's ability to repeat the chemical outrage.

France confirmed a 'large part' of the Syrian regime's chemical arsenal was destroyed last night following the strike.

France confirmed a 'large part' of the Syrian regime's chemical arsenal was destroyed last night following the strike (stock image RAF Typhoon)

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Saturday morning: 'A large part of its chemical arsenal has been destroyed. A lot has been destroyed in last night's strikes.'

While no further strikes have been planned, Le Drian refused to rule out a further attack if Assad crossed the 'red line' of using chemical weapons again.

He said: 'On the question of chemical weapons, there is a red line that must not be crossed, and if it should be crossed again, there will be another intervention. But I think the lesson has been learned.'Advertisement

Boris Johnson has defended the government's decision to join America and France in attacking Syria, despite dismay in some corners that Parliament was not consulted first.

The Foreign Secretary said the strikes were aboout 'standing up for principle and for civilized values'.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he added: 'We may not end the barabarism - but we are telling the world that there is one type of barbarism that is banned and that deserves to be banned.'

He also insisted 'A significant body of information including intelligence, suggests the Assad regime was behind the chemical attack at Douma that killed about 75 people. Multiple accounts located a regime Mi-8 in the vicinity at the time. The opposition does not have helicopters and no other actor in the Syrian theatre is though capable of launching a chemical strike of that scale.'

Theresa May is facing low levels of public support for bombingSyria without Parliament's backing despite claiming she had no alternative but to launch airstrikes to stop chemical attacks.

But fears have arisen over a Russian cyber backlash that could see vital services including water supplies, gas networks, banks, hospitals and air traffic control affected in retaliation for the strikes.

GCHQ is thought to be monitoring the web to pick up any signs of cyber aggression from the Kremlin, following the missile strikes on Syrian chemical basis in Damascus.

Counter-terrorism and defence expert Professor Michael Clarke, the former director of defence and security think tank RUSI, said yesterday: 'I suspect Russia will choose not to respond in military terms.

A statement by the Russian ambassador to the US last night said: 'Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

Theresa May, pictured at a press conference today, is facing a public backlash over the Syrian bombing after not going to Parliament for a vote first

'But cyber warfare is highly likely. A Russian attack in the next two to three weeks is a high threat. And it will be an attack on national infrastructure, not just upsetting city firms, but getting inside the transport system, or the health system, or air traffic control. It could affect everyone. One of the biggest concerns is an air crash,' according to the Mirror.

Such cyber attacks could see electricity cuts, while Russian hackers could also disable water supplies, as well as energy grid and financial services being crippled suddenly.

The concerns come as the first poll carried out after yesterday's raids showed that the public believe Mrs May's action was wrong by a majority of almost two to one.

And six out of ten say there must be no more missile strikes unless she wins the backing of MPs  with only one in five in favour of her going it alone again.

GCHQ is thought to be monitoring the web to pick up any signs of cyber aggression from the Kremlin, following the unified missile strikes on Syrian chemical basis in Damascus

RAF Tornado taxiing to the threshold before taking-off on a sortie at RAF Akrotiri to conduct strikes in support of Operations over the Middle East

The findings in the Survation poll for The Mail on Sunday came after:

British war planes bombed the Syrian regime for the first time, in revenge for its 'despicable and barbaric' chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians;

Four RAF Tornado jets launched devastating Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near the city of Homs as part of a joint 105-missile strike with the US and France aimed at stopping President Bashar al-Assad gassing his own people;

UK security sources confirmed to this newspaper that RAF jets targeted the Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage facility, 15 miles west of Homs;

Claims in intelligence reports that the facility was linked to the chlorine attack on civilians in Douma on April 7 which led to at least 75 dead, including children.

A series of missile strikes were launched against Syria by the US, UK and France in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma a week ago

British Royal Air Force Tornado pilot checking the weapons on his Tornado aircfraft at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus

The USS Monterey - an American navy warship stationed in the Red Sea - launches just one of its salvo of 30 Tomahawk missiles against targets in Syria to punish Assad for what President Trump called a 'savage' chemical weapons attack

Public opposition to the raids in the Survation poll was mirrored by signs of political unrest over the strikes  and diplomatic fears Russia might retaliate, escalating the situation towards a global conflict.

The Mail on Sunday has been told that during Thursday's Cabinet war summit, Chancellor Philip Hammond, a former Defence Secretary, reportedly 'caused raised eyebrows' by questioning the RAF's ability to carry out successful strikes.

One source said: 'The Chancellor said that he wasn't sure the RAF would hit their targets because of the Russian-backed Syrian defence systems. There was an awkward silence.'

Fellow Cabinet Ministers David Davis and Esther McVey voiced concern at snubbing Parliament. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the UK's air strikes 'legally questionable', forcing the Government to publish detailed legal advice justifying the bombings. It claimed 'the UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering'.

Mrs May faces a Commons showdown with MPs tomorrow, with even some leading Conservatives warning she has risked worsening the situation in Syria.

However, despite the criticism, the poll shows Mrs May remains far more popular than Labour.

Mrs May faced journalists in Downing Street yesterday after ordering British forces into action in Syria

One of the four RAF Tornadoes which launched Storm Shadow missiles to vaporise a chemical weapons depot in Homs comes back in to land at the RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus after the mission

Scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area

The Tornados, flown by 31 Squadron the Goldstars, were supported by a Voyager aircraft. They launched Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility

Fighter jet landing at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus following strikes on Syrian chemical weapons bases

She is the most trusted Prime Minister to lead the nation into war since Margaret Thatcher, beating David Cameron and Tony Blair. Ordering military action for the first time since entering No 10, a sombre Mrs May used a 9am Downing Street press conference to insist the bombing was the 'right thing to do' to stop the use of banned chemical weapons. She denied Britain was interfering in Syria's long and bloody civil war.

In a letter to MPs, the Prime Minister was defiant, saying: 'This action is absolutely in Britain's national interest. The lesson of history is that when the global rules and standards that keep us safe come under threat, we must take a stand and defend them.'

President Trump's triumphant 'mission accomplished' declaration followed the US-led coalition's launch of 105 cruise missiles at three chemical weapons factories and storage depots across Syria. The comments echoed George W. Bush's premature declaration of victory over Iraq in 2003.

The Pentagon said all of its targets had been hit, despite Syria and its key ally Russia claiming that most of the missiles had been shot down by air defences, while the rest only hit disused or empty sites. The air strikes were launched a week to the day after an estimated 75 people were killed and a further 500 injured, including young children, in the suspected chemical weapons attack on Douma, a suburb of the capital Damascus.

Western intelligence agencies gathered evidence that convinced political leaders that the Assad regime was to blame, including observations of an army helicopter over the city, while aid workers told how chlorine could be smelled in the air and victims were found with foam in their mouth and with burning eyes.

The White House said last night that in addition to chlorine, the nerve agent sarin was also used in Douma. It said doctors and aid organisations on the ground reported the 'strong smell of chlorine and described symptoms consistent with exposure to sarin'.

The view from Damascus as the US and allies launched reprisals after the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime

The Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base on Cyrus where the British planes flew missions from last night

The Ministry of Defence confirmed they fired Storm Shadow cruise missiles (file picture) at a military facility  a former missile base  some fifteen miles west of Homs

A French air force Rafale fighter jet prepares to take off on its mission against Assad after President Macron saw evidence of Syrian war crimes

A senior administration official said the US had 'significant information that points to sarin use'.

President Trump gave the first warning of the attack on Wednesday when he tweeted that Russia should 'get ready' because 'nice and new and smart' missiles would be coming. He also told Vladimir Putin he should not be 'partners with a Gas Killing Animal'.

At some time after 1am UK time yesterday, four GR4 Tornado aircraft bristling with the latest military hardware took off under the cover of darkness from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.

The sorties followed several hours of briefings and meticulous assessments of the chemical weapons site by RAF crews and operational planners, intended to rule out civilian casualties.

Pictures released last night by the Ministry of Defence showed the tense final preparations at Akrotiri before the operation was finally launched, including a Flight Lieutenant dressed in a flying suit and carrying a pistol holster around his shoulder inspecting an ASRAAM air-to-air missile attached to the wing of one of the Tornados.

Each Tornado was flown by a two-man crew drawn from the RAF's 31 Squadron, nicknamed the Gold Stars. These personnel form part of 903 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) based at Akrotiri. Crews have been conducting air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since 2015.

Shortly after 2am yesterday the pilots and weapons systems officers aboard the Tornados released their payloads of Storm Shadow missiles, each costing 750,000, as President Trump announced that military operations against Syria had begun.

David Cameron, who lost a Commons vote on military action against the Syrian regime in 2013, said he backed the strikes. DUP leader Arlene Foster also welcomed it as 'proportionate and justified'

Before and after images provided by the Pentagon show how the targets selected were obliterated in the raids by the allies against Assad's regime

In order to avoid attack from Russian-made rocket systems operated by Syria, the RAF jets remained in international airspace throughout the operation. The missiles have a range of 155 miles and travelled 100 miles. At no time was the safety of the RAF crews endangered. It is understood that all eight British missiles found their targets and caused significant destruction.

Last night the MoD said: 'Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area.

'The facility struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk.

'Our action was proportionate, specifically aimed at degrading the regime's ability to use chemical weapons and deterring further such appalling acts.' The same storage facility was also targeted by nine US Tomahawk missiles fired from a US Navy warship in the Red Sea, three French naval cruise missiles and two Scalp cruise missiles fired from Rafale fighter jets.

The US also launched a huge attack on a chemical weapons laboratory in Damascus thought by intelligence sources to have been involved in the production of sarin and other deadly nerve agents used by the Assad regime.

At around 2am, 57 Tomahawk cruise missiles and 19 high explosive bombs were dropped on the Barzeh Research and Development facility with devastating results.

Early on Saturday US time, President Trump wrote on Twitter: 'A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!'

Commentators were quick to point out that President Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a huge 'Mission Accomplished' banner just six weeks after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but came to regret it, as what followed was a war that cost the lives of hundreds of US and UK soldiers. But Pentagon spokesman Dana White backed Mr Trump's slogan, saying: 'We hit the sites, the heart of the chemical weapons programme. So it was mission accomplished.'

In a detailed briefing, the US military revealed that 105 missiles obliterated three Syrian regime chemical weapons sites in a 'precise, overwhelming and effective' attack.

Barzeh was the primary target, razed to the ground by 57 Tomahawk cruise missiles and 19 JASSM 'smart bombs'  used in combat for the first time. The second target was Him Shinshar, flattened by the eight Storm Shadow missiles from RAF Tornados, which were escorted by Typhoon fighter jets. It was also hit by nine US missiles and five French missiles.

The third target was a nearby chemical weapons bunker, pounded with seven Scalp missiles.

Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie Jr, staff director of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said all missiles fired by Allied forces hit their targets shortly after 4am local time, and denied claims made by Russia and Syria that dozens were shot out of the sky by Soviet-era air defence missiles.

In the early hours UK time, Donald Trump said he had ordered 'precision strikes' on Syria in retaliation for the 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed at least 75 people on April 7 (a young victim is pictured)

The British missions against targets in Syria were launched the RAF Akrotiri base near Limassol on Cyprus in the early hours

He added: 'None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defences and we have no indication that Russian air defence systems were deployed.'

He said Syrian air defence systems fired back 'indiscriminately' only after the devastating strike mission.

He said: 'Over 40 surface-to-air missiles were deployed by the Syrian regime. Most of these launches were conducted after the last impact of our strike was over. We assess that the defensive efforts of Syria were largely ineffective.'

Syrian TV broadcast images of the ruins of the scientific research centre that was reduced to rubble, but the regime claimed the attack had little impact.

Assad loyalists took to the streets of Damascus waving flags and mocking Mr Trump, while a Twitter account run by President Assad's office posted a video of him walking calmly through the presidential palace.

No further sorties were expected by the US or its allies today.

But arguments still raged over the legitimacy of the strikes as well as the truth behind the deaths in rebel-controlled Douma.

At a meeting of the UN Security Council last night called at Russia's request, Mr Putin's envoy called the air strikes an 'act of aggression', while UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged restraint to 'avoid escalation'. The military operation was denounced as a 'crime' by Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but welcomed by Turkey's President Erdogan as sending a message to Assad that his massacre would not go unpunished.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called it 'necessary and appropriate' even though her country did not join in, while Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he backed the action.

In Syria, the opposition was braced for revenge attacks, particularly in rebel-held territory in the north-west. 'Maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons, but it will not hesitate to use weapons,' opposition leader Nasr al-Hariri said.A retired firefighter has been charged with shooting at a black teenager who was asking for directions, but the man told the court there is more to the story.

Jeffrey Zeigler, 53, attended court on Friday on charges of assault with intent to murder and possessing a firearm after he shot at a black teenager who knocked on his door.

The teenager, Brennan Walker, 14, claims he missed his bus to Rochester High School, Michigan, and went up to the home to ask for directions on Thursday.

But during a court appearance, Zeigler disputed the 14-year-old's version of events and said his wife was in tears after the teenager went up to their home in Rochester Hills.

Brennan Walker, 14, (left) said he tried to explain why he was there but had to run away after her husband fired a 12-gauge shotgun at him. Jeffrey Zeigler, 53 (right), was arrested and charged with assault with intent to murder and felony firearms violations

Lisa Wright (left), Walker's mother, said she had taken away his phone as punishment. He stopped at a first door, got directions, then became lost again and knocked on a second door

Walker knocked on the door of this home on the 2200 block of South Christian Hills (pictured) and was allegedly met by a woman who asked: 'Why are you trying to break into my house?'

'There's a lot more to the story than what's being told and I believe that will come out in court,' Zeigler told the judge. 'I was in bed yesterday morning and my wife came in screaming and crying.'

However, Walker said he woke up late on Thursday morning and missed his bus, so he tried to walk his bus route but got lost.

Without his phone on him, he told WJBK that he saw a house with a 'Neighborhood Watch' sticker and knocked on the door to ask for directions.

'She started yelling at me and she was like: "Why are you trying to break into my house?"' Walker told WJBK.

'I was trying to explain to her that I was trying to get directions to Rochester High. And she kept yelling at me. Then [her husband] came downstairs, and he grabbed the gun, I saw it and started to run. And that's when I heard the gunshot,' he said.

Deputies were called to the home on the 2200 block of South Christian Hills Drive after a woman told 911 that her husband had chased a black male who tried to break in, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said in a release.

The release stated that Zeigler chased Walker with a 12-gauge shotgun and fired a round at him.

'We do have the benefit of home security video,' assistant prosecutor Kelly Collins told the court Friday.

The video was taken off of a surveillance camera on Zeigler's doorbell.

Collins said how Walker described the altercation to police 'did bear out' to what was shown on the video.

Zeigler was charged with assault with intent to murder and felony firearms violations. He is being held at the Oakland County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

Zeigler said Walker's (pictured) version events is not accurate. During a court appearance, the retired firefighter claimed his wife came to him in tears because the teenager was trying to break into their home

Walker's mother said investigators showed her a recording of the encounter captured by the home's doorbell monitor and she said she knew the attack was racially motivated when she heard the wife ask: 'Why did these people choose my house?'

Investigators say they contacted Walker's mother Lisa Wright. She told WJBK that the only reason Zeigler missed her son was because he forgot to remove the safety.

Walker's mother said investigators showed her a recording of the encounter captured by the home's doorbell monitor.

'After watching the video and hearing the wife say "Why did these people choose my house?" I knew it was racially motivated,' Wright told WXYZ-TV. 'I don't know what other "these people" she could possibly have been talking about. He was by himself.'

Wright told WDIV that she had taken away her son's phone as punishment and was working an overnight shift and did not get off until 8am.

Walker told the station that he stopped at a first house, was given directions and then got lost again. It was the second door he knocked on where he encountered the man with the gun.Summoned hastily to No 10 at 3.30pm last Thursday, Ministers were greeted by a sombre Theresa May. They listened in hushed respect as she opened the meeting in the Cabinet Room  and explained why she wanted their support for imminent British military action in Syria.

This was the biggest decision she had taken as Prime Minister, and it was clear she knew it.

She was emotional, but steely: Weve held the line on chemical weapons since the end of the First World War, and we cannot let Assad get away with using them now, Im told she said.

The intellectual groundwork had been done. In the course of previous days, she had interrogated her intelligence and defence staff to ascertain answers to the four questions preoccupying her:

Had chemicals been used?

Was Assad himself responsible?

Would military action be effective in degrading his ability to launch another chemical attack?

Had all other avenues, including those at the UN, been explored?

The move to strike Syria was the biggest decision May has taken as Prime Minister - and in her Cabinet Room meeting, it was clear she knew it. Weve held the line on chemical weapons since the end of the First World War, and we cannot let Assad get away with using them now, Im told she said

And satisfied with the answers she received, she was now ready for action.

Assad has been guilty of determined and persistent behaviour in his use of chemical weapons in Syria since his first use in August 2013, I understand she said.

Chemical weapons have now been used on the streets of the United Kingdom and we cant allow the convention outlawing their use to be further eroded.

Committing British troops to action troubles Prime Ministers more than any other decision they ever take. Never is the job more lonely.

She had even spoken to her predecessor, David Cameron, who had himself agonised over the same question but failed to get Parliaments support for a strike on Syria.

This for Mrs May was a profoundly moral decision.

What particularly got to her was that chemical weapons had been used to kill women and children sheltering underground from barrel bombs.

From that moment on, she felt a line had been crossed and it was a strong and confident Prime Minister that addressed the nation yesterday, empathetic in stating her case.

Yet in calling for military action without first seeking Parliaments support, Mrs May has taken a significant gamble. If it backfires, it could spell the end of her premiership, and she knows it.

One year ago on Tuesday, she took the other big gamble of her premiership, which was to call an early General Election  and the result was a catastrophe for her confidence and standing. She became the subject of widespread derision, with her inept handling of the Grenfell fire and the series of mishaps at the party conference adding to her plight.

But out of the ashes, this yo-yo Prime Minister is bouncing back up. Her would-be assassins are retreating to the shadows, realising that the chances of replacing her this side of Brexit are slim.

Her handling of Europe did more than anything to restore her standing. And her handling of the poisoning of the Russians in Salisbury saw her lobby to bring all 27 EU nations behind her common line of condemnation of Russia in a way that confounded her critics.

If the attacks on Syria play well, her popularity and confidence will rise. No Prime Minister in modern times has endured so much derision. Across the political spectrum, many people, including those in her own party, thought six months ago that she just didnt have what it took to be Prime Minister. A nice woman, perhaps, but hopeless.

To endure such sustained humiliation requires special strengths. Some Prime Ministers in history would have crumbled.

But her strong marriage to Philip lies at the heart of her identity and so too does her Christian faith.

Her sense of service is deeply wired into her. Its what keeps her in politics more than any particular set of beliefs.

Shes always been self contained, which arouses scorn in some because shes no good at small talk. She refuses to be knocked down, and whatever the punishment, she keeps bouncing back.

Theres a lot of pride at her heart. She hates failing, or being beaten.

The overwhelming requirement for a Prime Minister of Britain today is to keep a deeply divided country and Conservative Party together to secure the best deal possible for Britain on Brexit.

The ideological certainty of a Thatcher would be disastrous, as would the showmanship of a Harold Wilson or David Cameron.

What is needed is unshowy graft, a willingness to compromise, and a talent for not making enemies of people.Tens of thousands of South Africans packed a Johannesburg stadium yesterday for an emotional, noisy and openly political state funeral for Winnie Mandela

Tens of thousands of South Africans packed a Johannesburg stadium yesterday for an emotional, noisy and openly political state funeral for anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela, the former wife of statesman Nelson Mandela.

Among the mourners were Britains Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, and model Naomi Campbell.

Mrs Mandela, who died on April 2 aged 81, had continued to live in the suburb of Soweto, less than a mile from the Orlando stadium where yesterdays funeral was held  and where she had controversially campaigned during the worst years of apartheid.

Her coffin lay draped in the South African flag and the venue was packed with the black-clad members of her extended family alongside party political groups in their signature colours and people from the poor local community where she lived.

Crowds danced and sang and Mrs Mandelas daughters Zenani and Zindzi shouted Power to the people!  their mothers lifelong battle cry  when they spoke from the podium.

Crowds danced and sang and Mrs Mandelas daughters Zenani and Zindzi shouted Power to the people!  their mothers lifelong battle cry  when they spoke from the podium

Among the mourners were Britains Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, and model Naomi Campbell

Zenani, who is South Africas ambassador to Argentina, said to cheering and applause that the Mandela family had spent many years in profound dismay at lies told about her mother and that she had been subjected to a prolonged smear campaign linked to the death of a teenage boy in the 1980s.

In an interview on South African television last week, former police commissioner George Fivaz said he had carried out a full investigation into the 1988 murder of 14-year-old Stompie Seipei, who was killed as an informer to the apartheid regime, and found no evidence that Mrs Mandela had been involved.

Zenani, in tears, told the crowd that her dream of the truth being told had finally come true.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is overseeing a move to amend South Africas constitution to include the expropriation of farmland, said that shortly before her death, Mrs Mandela had told him of her desire for renewal: She wanted us to heal the divisions in our society. She wanted land to be returned to our people.

Family friend Udo Froese, who attended the funeral, said: Mama Winnie would have loved todays speeches and fighting talk. The stadium was packed. It was uplifting and sad at the same time.

Her coffin lay draped in the South African flag and the venue was packed with the black-clad members of her extended family alongside party political groups in their signature colours and people from the poor local community where she livedFIXATED ON GOLDEN SHOWERS

Comey reveals that President Donald Trump was fixated on proving the tape claim was false.

The very first time they met was when Comey privately told the then-president elect about the dossier- drawn up by ex-British spy Christopher Steele - which alleged there was a 'kompromat' tape from his visit to Moscow.

It purported to show Russian prostitutes defiling a bed in the Moscow Ritz-Carlton where President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama had stayed - because Trump wanted to humiliate the president.

Comey told him it was in wide circulation and later it was published by Buzzfeed.

Comey says Trump interrupted him as he described the material in the dossier.

He 'strongly denied the allegations, asking  rhetorically, I assumed  whether he seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes.

'He then began discussing cases where women had accused him of sexual assault, a subject I had not raised. He mentioned a number of women, and seemed to have memorized their allegations.'

He describes Trump as 'obsessed' with the portions of the dossier dealing with prostitutes.

But amazingly, that was not to be the last time Trump issued a specific denial.

Days before his inauguration there was a phonecall where Trump said he was a 'germophobe'.

'There's no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way,' he said.

In the phone call he claimed that he had not stayed overnight in Moscow and had only used the room to change his clothes.

'I decided not to tell him that the activity alleged did not seem to require either an overnight stay or even being in proximity to the participants,' the Washington Post reveals Comey writes.

That was not Trump's last time on the subject.

On March 27 in the course of another call he said: 'Can you imagine me, hookers. In an apparent play for my sympathy, he added that he has a beautiful wife and the whole thing has been very painful for her.'

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had an affair with Trump, says he once tried to pay her after sex.

'After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually didn't know how to take that,' she told CNN. The White House has denied Trump was involved with the women who have accused him of having affairs.

Obama knew about the allegations and asked Comey the day before the FBI boss and other intelligence chief were due to meet Trump who would tell the president-elect about the dossier.

'He raised and lowered both of his eyebrows with emphasis, and then looked away,' Comey writes.

'To my mind his Groucho Marx eyebrow raise was both subtle humor and an expression of concern.'

TRUMP THE MAFIA DON

He recounts that his first meeting with Trump was at Trump Tower when he and other officials went to brief the president-elect and senior members of his team about Russian efforts to interfere in the election.

'I sat there thinking, Holy crap, they are trying to make each of us 'amica nostra'  friend of ours. To draw us in,' Comey writes.

'As crazy as it sounds, I suddenly had the feeling that, in the blink of an eye, the president-elect was trying to make us all part of the same family and that Team Trump had made it a 'thing of ours.''

Others in the meeting included Vice President Mike Pence, Trump's first chief of staff, Reince Priebus, Michael Flynn, who would become national security adviser, and incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer.

Comey was also joined by NSA Director Mike Rogers, CIA Director John Brennan and DNI Director James Clapper.

Comey says Trump only asked one question, the Washington Post revealed: 'You found there was no impact on the result, right.'

But Clapper told him that there was no such analysis.

After Clapper briefed the team on the intelligence community's findings of Russian election interference, Comey said he was taken aback by what the Trump team didn't ask.

'They were about to lead a country that had been attacked by a foreign adversary, yet they had no questions about what the future Russian threat might be,' Comey writes.

Instead, he writes, they launched into a strategy session about how to 'spin what we'd just told them' for the public.

It was the next meeting - the private dinner - when Trump demanded loyalty.

'You will always get honesty from me,' Comey writes that he responded.

'That's what I want, honest loyalty,' Trump said. 'You will get that from me,' Comey responded.

Comey says he was a mob prosecutor in his earlier career as an assistant district attorney in New York - and that it provided a flashback.

'The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview,' he writes.

'The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth.'

ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN... ARE INADEQUATE

Comey repeats his claim that Trump said to him, weeks later, that he should give up the investigation into Flynn, who is now a felon after admitting lying to the FBI in a plea deal with Mueller.

Comey says that on reflection he should have told Trump it was 'inappropriate' but writes: 'But if he didn't know what he was doing was inappropriate, why had he just ejected everyone, including my boss [Jeff Sessions] and the vice president, from the room so he could speak with me alone?'

He takes a personal swipe at Sessions, comparing him to Alberto Gonzales, George W Bush's attorney general unfavorably.

Both men he says were overwhelmed and overmatched by the job' but Sessions lacked the kindness which his predecessor had.

Comey says he confronted sessions, telling him: 'You can't be kicked out of the room so he can talk to me alone. You have to be between me and the president.'

He writes: 'Sessions just cast his eyes down at the table, and they darted quickly back and forth, side to side. He said nothing. I read in his posture and face a message that he would not be able to help me.'

And Comey he takes a swipe at Reince Preibus, calling him 'confused and irritated' as Trump's first chief of staff.

CLINTON: JE NE REGRETTE RIEN (ALMOST)

Comey writes that he regrets his approach and some of the wording he used in his July 2016 press conference in which he announced the decision not to prosecute Clinton.

He writes that he himself can be 'stubborn, prideful, overconfident and driven by ego.'

He famously chided Clinton for being 'extremely careless' in her handling of her classified email in a June 2016 press conference.

But he says he believes he did the right thing by going before the cameras and making his statement, noting that the Justice Department had done so in other high profile cases.

Every person on the investigative team, Comey writes, found that there was no prosecutable case against Clinton and that the FBI didn't find that she lied under its questioning.

The parts about Clinton will be heavily scrutinized by her supporters - and by the failed presidential candidate herself, whose bitter public condemnations of Comey, he writes, have resonated with him.

'I have read she has felt anger toward me personally, and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry that I couldn't do a better job explaining to her and her supporters why I made the decisions I made.'

But he says that he stands by his handling of the Clinton probe and that he had only two regrets.

One was calling her and her staff's handling of classified information 'extremely careless' because it sounded like the criminal burden for charges of mishandling intelligence, that she had been 'grossly negligent'.

And he says his family accused him of 'Seacresting' his announcement early in July 2016 that Clinton would not be charged by building up a tease to her being cleared instead of starting with it.

Comey said his wife and daughters voted for Clinton and even participated in the Women's March the day after Trump's Inauguration.

He also explained he was so sure Clinton would win the election he worried that if he didn't publicly announce the re-opening her email investigation in October 2016 following the discovery of emails from her on Anthony Weiner's laptop, it would make her seem 'illegitimate'.

'I believed it was my duty to inform Congress that we were restarting the investigation,' Comey writes.

He adds: 'It is entirely possible that, because I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president, my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls.'

OBAMA PRAISED ME AFTER CLINTON LOST

Clinton claims that it cost her the election but Comey discloses an intriguing detail which may re-open the once-buried hostility between her and Obama: that Obama did not criticize him for what he did.

In fact the then president went out of his way to make sure he knew he was happy.

'I picked you to be FBI director because of your integrity and your ability,' Obama told him in the Oval Office after the election.

'I want you to know that nothing  nothing  has happened in the last year to change my view.'

Comey is said to have written that he was close to tears.

'Boy, were those words I needed to hear . . . I'm just trying to do the right thing,' he told the president, who responded: 'I know. I know.'

Obama was not the only Democrat who felt that way.

Comey briefed senators after the election and said that he was confronted by Al Franken - one of many figures the book to be disgraced in the last year, this time for groping - about his treatment of Clinton.

But Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority leader, who served in the Senate with Clinton as both partner and occasional rival, came to his defense, grabbing his hand and said: 'You were in an impossible position.'

'KELLY CALLED TRUMP DISHONORABLE'

He provides new details of his firing. He writes that then-Homeland Security secretary John Kelly - now Trump's chief of staff - offered to quit out of a sense of disgust as to how Comey was dismissed, as well as his first encounter with Trump, a January 2017 briefing at Trump Tower in New York City.

Kelly has been increasingly marginalized in the White House and the president has mused to confidantes about firing the chief of staff.

At the time Comey got his unexpected pink-slip, the West Wing was roiled over what Trump saw as a nonstop drumbeat of FBI digging into unproven allegations that his presidential campaign colluded with Russians to impact the result of the election.

A senior White House official told the Daily Beast that the phone call Comey describes never happened.

Kelly, the official said, has described the call to other senior West Wing aides as lasting only a minute and summarized it as 'I don't know why you got fired, [and] best of luck to you.'

The former four-star Marine general's version does not include calling President Trump 'dishonorable' - but unlike Comey it is not a public, on the record denial.

At the time Comey got his unexpected pink-slip, the West Wing was roiled over what Trump saw as a nonstop drumbeat of FBI digging into unproven allegations that his presidential campaign colluded with Russians to impact the result of the election.

A senior White House official told the Daily Beast that the phone call Comey describes never happened.

Kelly, the official said, has described the call to other senior West Wing aides as lasting only a minute and summarized it as 'I don't know why you got fired, [and] best of luck to you.'

The former four-star Marine general's version does not include calling President Trump 'dishonorable' - but unlike Comey it is not a public, on the record denial.

WHITE HOUSE ATTACK PLAN

Comey's account lands at a particularly sensitive moment for Trump and the White House.

Officials there describe Trump as enraged over a recent FBI raid of his personal lawyer's home and office, raising the prospect that he could fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, or try to shut down the probe on his own.

The Republican National Committee is poised to lead the pushback effort against Comey, who is set to do a series of interviews to promote the book, by launching a website and supplying surrogates with talking points that question the former director's credibility.

Trump has said he fired Comey because of his handling of the FBI's investigation into his Clinton's email practices.

Trump used the investigation as a cudgel in the campaign and repeatedly said Clinton should be jailed for using a personal email system while serving as secretary of state. Democrats, on the other hand, have accused Comey of politicizing the investigation, and Clinton herself has said it hurt her election prospects.

Comey's book will be heavily scrutinized by the president's legal team looking for any inconsistencies between it and his public testimony, under oath, before Congress.

They will be looking to impeach Comey's credibility as a key witness in Mueller's obstruction investigation, which the president has cast as a political motivated witch hunt.US President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House late on Friday. As he spoke, explosions rocked Damascus. British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron said the UK and France had joined in the attack.

Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Assads government stopped its use of chemical weapons.

The US-led intervention in Syria comes just hours before the UNs Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons experts were scheduled to visit the Damascus suburb of Douma on Saturday to determine whether chemical weapons had been used there last week.

Shortly after Trump's announcement, a statement from UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she had authorised British forces to conduct "coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability."

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that he ordered French forces to carry out a military action against Syria in coalition with the US and France. He said in a statement issued by his office that Frances response was limited and solely aimed at the capabilities of the Syrian regime for the production and use of chemical weapons.

According to reports, the US-led attacks hit a research facility located in the capital's Barzeh District. Syrian state media said that the air strikes targeted Damascus and surrounding areas.

Syria's air defences have shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area south of Damascus, SANA state television reported.

The combined decision by the US and its allies to strike Syria comes just after Russian defence ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov presented evidence claiming that last Saturday's alleged chemical attack in Douma was orchestrated. The general also noted that London was directly involved in the provocation.

Weeks ago, Russia warned that the militants in the east Ghouta enclave might stage a chemical weapons attack to win over Western public opinion. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the reports of Saturdays chemical attack fake news, while the Russian military investigating the area found no traces of chlorine or nerve agents, any eyewitnesses who could confirm their use or anyone who might have been affected.Jeremy Corbyn urged Theresa May to postpone the attack on Syria during a midnight telephone conversation on Friday.

Labour sources say Mr Corbyn questioned the legal basis for the action during the call. He demanded the Commons should sanction any strikes and accused her of being dictated to by Washington.

Downing Street yesterday betrayed its nervousness over the legal basis for the strikes  a legacy of the controversy over the legality of Tony Blairs war on Iraq  by publishing the advice of Government lawyers. It argued that the action was permitted under international law in exceptional circumstances in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering.

The advice read: There was no practicable alternative to the truly exceptional use of force to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their further use by the regime in order to alleviate humanitarian suffering.

Downing Street yesterday betrayed its nervousness over the legal basis for the strike by publishing the advice of Government lawyers. The legal argument will form the centrepiece of Mr Corbyns attack

The legal argument will form the centrepiece of Mr Corbyns attack on the Governments handling of the issue when MPs return on Monday after the Easter recess.

Yesterday Mr Corbyn said: Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely.

He added: Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump. The Government should do whatever possible to push Russia and the United States to agree to an independent, UN-led investigation of last weekends horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account.

However, Mr Corbyn faces splits within his party over the Syrian intervention. Labour MP John Woodcock praised Mrs May, saying: It was right that the UK joined our allies in action to degrade Assads chemical weapon capability in Syria  we must act together to remove the threat of these dreadful weapons.'Good evening. As the world knows, the Syrian people have suffered terribly under the prolonged brutality of the Assad regime.

On April 7th, the regime decided to again defy the norms of civilized people, showing callous disregard for international law by using chemical weapons to murder women, children and other innocents.

We and our allies find these atrocities inexcusable. As our commander in chief, the president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force overseas to defend important U.S. national interests.

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken decisive action against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure

The United States has an important national interest in averting a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, and specifically deterring the use and proliferation of chemical weapons.

Last year, in response to a chemical weapons attack against civilians and to signal the regime to cease chemical weapons use, we targeted the military base from which the weapons were delivered.

Earlier today, President Trump directed the U.S. military to conduct operations, in consonance with our allies, to destroy the Syrian regime's chemical weapons research, development and production capabilities.

Tonight, France, the United Kingdom and the United States took decisive action to strike the Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure.

Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year. This time, our allies and we have struck harder.

Together, we have sent a clear message to Assad, and his murderous lieutenants, that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable.

The 70 nations in the defeat ISIS coalition remain committed to defeating ISIS in Syria.

The strike tonight separately demonstrates international resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used on anyone, under any circumstance, in contravention of international law.

I want to emphasize that these strikes are directed at the Syrian regime. In conducting these strikes, we have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties. But it is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process.

In accordance with the chemical weapons convention prohibiting the use of such weapons, we urge responsible nations to condemn the Assad regime and join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again.

General Dunford will provide a military update.

Based on recent experience, we fully expect a significant disinformation campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime.

In an effort to maintain transparency and accuracy, my assistant for public affairs, Dana White, and Lt. Gen. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, will provide a brief of known details tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.'On April 14, the United States, supported by its allies, launched an airstrike against military and civilian targets in the Syrian Arab Republic.

An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law.

Just as one year ago, when the Shayrat Airbase in Syria came under attack, the US used as a pretext a staged chemical attack against civilians, this time in Douma, a Damascus suburb.

The Russian president said the United States for 'the bloody outrage in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya'

Having visited the site of the would-be chemical attack, Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine or any other toxic agent. Not a single local resident was able to confirm that a chemical attack had actually taken place.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons dispatched its experts to Syria in order to investigate all the circumstances.

However, in a sign of cynical disdain, a group of Western countries decided to take military action without waiting for the results of the investigation.

Russia condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack against Syria, where Russian military personnel are assisting the legitimate government in its counterterrorism efforts.

Through its actions, the US makes the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Syria even worse and brings suffering to civilians. In fact, the US panders to the terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for seven years, leading to a wave of refugees fleeing this country and the region.

The current escalation around Syria is destructive for the entire system of international relations. History will set things right, and Washington already bears the heavy responsibility for the bloody outrage in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya.

Russia will convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions by the US and its allies.'1This is the Governments position on the legality of UK military action to alleviate the extreme humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people by degrading the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deterring their further use, following the chemical weapons attack in Douma on 7 April 2018.

2.The Syrian regime has been killing its own people for seven years. Its use of chemical weapons, which has exacerbated the human suffering, is a serious crime of international concern, as a breach of the customary international law prohibition on the use of chemical weapons, and amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity.

3.The UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering. The legal basis for the use of force is humanitarian intervention, which requires three conditions to be met:

(i) there is convincing evidence, generally accepted by the international community as a whole, of extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale, requiring immediate and urgent relief;

(ii) it must be objectively clear that there is no practicable alternative to the use of force if lives are to be saved; and

(iii) the proposed use of force must be necessary and proportionate to the aim of relief of humanitarian suffering and must be strictly limited in time and in scope to this aim (i.e. the minimum necessary to achieve that end and for no other purpose).

4.The UK considers that military action met the requirements of humanitarian intervention in the circumstances of the present case:

(i) The Syrian regime has been using chemical weapons since 2013. The attack in Eastern Damascus on 21 August 2013 left over 800 people dead. The Syrian regime failed to implement its commitment in 2013 to ensure the destruction of its chemical weapons capability. The chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 killed approximately 80 people and left hundreds more injured.

The recent attack in Douma has killed up to 75 people, and injured over 500 people. Over 400,000 people have now died over the course of the conflict in Syria, the vast majority civilians. Over half of the Syrian population has been displaced, with over 13 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

The repeated, lethal use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity. On the basis of what we know about the Syrian regimes pattern of use of chemical weapons to date, it was highly likely that the regime would seek to use chemical weapons again, leading to further suffering and loss of civilian life as well as the continued displacement of the civilian population.

(ii) Actions by the UK and its international partners to alleviate the humanitarian suffering caused by the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime at the UN Security Council have been repeatedly blocked by the regimes and its allies disregard for international norms, including the international law prohibition on the use of chemical weapons.

This last week, Russia vetoed yet another resolution in the Security Council, thwarting the establishment of an impartial investigative mechanism. Since 2013, neither diplomatic action, tough sanctions, nor the US strikes against the Shayrat airbase in April 2017 have sufficiently degraded Syrian chemical weapons capability or deterred the Syrian regime from causing extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale through its persistent use of chemical weapons.

There was no practicable alternative to the truly exceptional use of force to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their further use by the Syrian regime in order to alleviate humanitarian suffering.

(iii) In these circumstances, and as an exceptional measure on grounds of overwhelming humanitarian necessity, military intervention to strike carefully considered, specifically identified targets in order effectively to alleviate humanitarian distress by degrading the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deterring further chemical weapons attacks was necessary and proportionate and therefore legally justifiable.

Such an intervention was directed exclusively to averting a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons, and the action was the minimum judged necessary for that purpose.For Monet there was no such thing as bad weather. Snow, sleet, drizzle, mizzle, fog - all were a source of fascination and inspiration.

A new exhibition at the National Gallery, Monet & Architecture, brings together his paintings of buildings all of which serve as backdrops to his exploration of everchanging light.

It could just make you feel differently about our long winter. Monet can make even make a bleak day in Paris look appealing, as people under umbrella smudges dash through the rain.

Devotion to art: The cathedral at Rouen, which Monet painted 30 times in different lights

It spans the artist's career until 1912 depicting the French capital, Amsterdam, Rouen, Antibes, London and Venice.

It's a wonderful journey you can follow no matter the weather. And now you can stay in Monet's former home in Vetheuil, a B&B 11 or so miles from Giverny and 40 miles north-west of Paris. Claire and Pascal Gardie, the owners, have reimagined it as it might have been in Monet's day, filling rooms with period furniture and the walls with reproductions.

Light fantastic: One of Monet's cathedrals

This period (1878-81) was not a happy one. To save money, Monet, his sick wife, Camille, and their two sons rented with another family, the Hoschedes, who had six children. It must have been a squeeze.

Monet slept in the modest sitting room, now furnished with an elegant bottle-green sofa, while his frail wife was bedridden upstairs. Meanwhile, Monet worked furiously, outside as much as possible.

Vetheuil was an inspiration. He painted the church up the road, with its unexpectedly grand Renaissance front, a view that's not much changed.

He rowed out onto the Seine in his 'bottin', a makeshift floating studio, to capture the village gazing down on the water.

The light reflected by the river must have had him in raptures. At sunset, Vetheuil turns gold, then pink and soft purple.

Monet also painted more conventional holiday spots - jaunty Trouville with its colourful promenade and charming Honfleur.

The Normandy cliffs, with their intriguing textures, became quite a distraction. He painted them in hurried strokes, flicking upwards like the chasing waves, and returned to Etretat to portray its cliff arch again and again.

Inspiring landscape: The white cliffs of Normandy and the arch which Monet loved to paint

Walk along the coast in blustery weather and you'll see why he often retreated to work from a hotel room. Stay in Ferme Saint Simeon in Honfleur and you might even sleep in one of the rooms frequented by the artist in more prosperous times.

Boudin, Corot and Courbet were all visitors, and the hotel is still run by the family who welcomed Monet years ago.

Supremely comfortable, with exposed beams, an open fire and creamy rice pudding for breakfast, it will set you up to explore. The cathedral at Rouen proved as exhilarating as the cliffs. He painted it 30 times, and there's a wall devoted to it in the exhibition, showing the facades in different lights.

In Monet's footsteps: Stay in Ferme Saint Simeon in Honfleur, which was popular with artists

Monet loved our capital, too, clogged as it then was with pollution and thick fog. He wrote enthusiastically in letters to his second wife, Alice, of how the air changed colour: 'At first light this morning there was an extraordinary fog, completely yellow.' He depicted the Houses of Parliament, then a relatively new build, enshrined in mist, backlit by sun and blended into the murky Thames.

'The weather is most variable', he wrote, 'but it's splendid.'Family man: Benedict with wife Lenka and children Natalya, Freddie and Beatrice

Continuing our series featuring the holiday memories of famous people, this week explorer Benedict Allen, 58, recalls his lifetime of adventures

My first holiday:

We used to stay in a glorious old house called Bryn Hall in the Welsh mountains  I can still smell the ferns and moss, and hear the buzzards and the sheep calling out from the hills.

But the best and worst thing was the lack of electricity, so we had to light paraffin lamps each evening before we made the long walk up through the darkness to bed.

First time abroad:

In about 1966, when I was six, we went to Barfleur, the pretty little port in Normandy. I remember the excitement of an expedition to a lighthouse, the sea anemones in rockpools and the invasion beaches still with concrete bunkers and barbed wire. I think they scared me. Apparently I told my granny: If you dont take me back to England right now, Ill never forgive you!

First school trip:

We didnt seem to have any. Perhaps to make up for this, I asked for my tenth birthday party to go to the Imperial War Museum. So 22 boys were shoved into what seemed to be only about three cars.

At the end of the day everyone lined up for their party bags, only to be told there were none. My mother didnt approve of such American excess. I think weve all had a lovely day, havent we? she said firmly. Heres a paper napkin for your slice of cake.

Intrepid: Benedict (pictured) in the Amazon. The explorer is the latest contributor to the Mail On Sunday's holidays of a lifetime series

My honeymoon:

Not an unmitigated success. My wife Lenka was seven-and-a-half months pregnant and something had inspired me to whisk her off to southern Sicily in the heat of summer.

The hotel was a converted monastery  picturesque in the brochure, but you wouldnt actually want to stay there. Our little oven of a room was a clay-roofed former monks cell; and the restaurant chef used too much salt.

The explorer pictured above aged 23 in 1983

Best holiday ever:

When I was 11 my dad  an airline pilot  flew us to Nairobi. The lions, giraffes and hippos were glorious but nothing could beat the excitement of hearing my father announce to all the passengers: This is your captain speaking I was so proud.

Worst holiday ever:

I thought Id propose to Lenka during an Atlantic crossing. But the sea cut up rough and the stately vessel had none of those lovely modern stabilisers. So I spent much of this, the QE2s last-ever Atlantic voyage, in the bathroom. In the end I proposed on solid ground  in Manhattan.

Dream destination:

I have my sights set on East Africa. I wouldnt trust myself to fly the airliner as my dad did, but I could help my own children believe they too could become adventurers.Will Hide laces up his boots to discover the ten best hiking holidays in Europe

1. DISCOVER THE MYSTERIES OF THE ACCURSED MOUNTAINS

This seven-night holiday in September is for those who are on their own or have a partner who is not into hiking. Scenery includes the mysterious-sounding Accursed Mountains and the Theth Waterfall, while the delicious food has Italian and Turkish influences.

Solos Holidays (solosholidays.co.uk) offers a seven-night break from 1,225pp, including flights from Gatwick, accommodation with meals, and guides.

2. BEAR NECESSITIES SLOVAKIA

Go wild: Visit the Tatras Mountains and embark on your very own bear hunt

This eight-day holiday in the Tatras Mountains meanders through nature reserves usually off-limits to the public as you track bears, wolves and deer in their natural habitat. It is led by an experienced park ranger and group size is kept to eight people.

Walks Worldwide (walksworldwide.com) offers this trip in May and October from 1,300pp (two sharing) including accommodation, some meals and flights from Luton.

3. MUNCH YOUR WAY THROUGH THE ALPS

If theres one thing better than walking all day in glorious Alpine scenery, its knowing that at the end, gourmet food awaits. On this seven-night trip to the Ecrins National Park, accommodation has been picked for its great cuisine.

Undiscovered Mountains (undiscoveredmountains.com) has this seven-night holiday from 1,107pp (two sharing) including half-board accommodation and guides. Flights are extra.

4. HIKING UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN? NORWAY!

Hiking high above the Arctic Circle in the Lyngen Alps lets you escape the crowds. After leaving Tromso youll be based in a luxury lodge, so after walking through the remote Reisa Canyon you can return each night to a soft mattress and hot shower.

Best Served Scandinavia (best-served.co.uk) offers this four-night break from 1,725pp (two sharing) including flights from Gatwick, accommodation with most meals, and guides.

5. HUNT FOR TRUFFLES IN PEACEFUL PIEDMONT

If your idea of a hiking holiday includes pausing for a five-course lunch, then this week in Italy is for you. Its based partly in an old farmhouse near Saluzzo, and the rest of the week in a small hotel with a pool surrounded by vineyards. Travel in October and you can hunt for truffles, too.

Hedonistic Hiking (hedonistichiking.com) has a seven-night trip from 2,590pp (two sharing) including accommodation, all meals, and transfers. Flights are extra.

6. A STROLL IN SARDINIA

The rugged terrain along the shores of eastern Sardinia can be tough going at times. But the rewards  breathtaking scenery, gorgeous beaches and wild boar stew  make it worthwhile. Some guides are former shepherds.

Dolomite Mountains (dolomitemountains.com) offers this six-night holiday from 1,335pp (two sharing) with accommodation, meals, and guides. Flights extra.

7. LIGHT UP THE WAY IN GALICIA

This corner of north-west Spain is not well known to Brits. But the Camino dos Faros (Lighthouse Way) will take you through fishing villages, along cliff paths and isolated coves, before finishing at Cape Finisterre. Youll feast on glorious local food and wine along the way.

On Foot Holidays (onfootholidays.co.uk) offers this seven-night trip in late spring or autumn from 660pp (two sharing) including accommodation, some meals, luggage transfers and route information. Flights are extra.

8. FROM MEADOWS TO MARKET TOWNS

Fly to Innsbruck in Austria, then cross by train into the German-speaking part of north Italy to hike in the spectacular Dolomites. Walk through meadows, vineyards and apple orchards, and pause for a cappuccino in quaint market towns such as Bolzano and Merano.

Bspoke (bspoketours.com) offers this six-night, self-guided holiday between May and October from 505pp (two sharing) including B&B accommodation. Flights are extra.

9. SEE THE MOST FAMOUS TRAIL IN THE WORLD

Few people have time to walk all of the 500-mile Camino de Santiago, the most famous hiking trail in the world, so tackling a more manageable chunk, such as a section of the Camino Frances, makes sense.

Camino Ways (caminoways.com) has seven-night guided hikes from 670pp (two sharing) including half-board accommodation, luggage transfer, and airport transfers. Flights are extra.

10. TAKE A PEEK AT THE PYRENEES

Off the beaten track: Admiring the views in the French Pyrenees

This six-night holiday gets you off the beaten path in southern France, staying in mountain refuges, immersing yourself in nature and tasting food with its French and Basque influences.

Adventure Creators (adventurecreators.com) offers this trip from June to September from 875pp (based on four sharing), with accommodation, most meals, guides, and transfers from Toulouse. Flights are extra.The Colosseum, Pantheon, Forum, Vatican City  theres so much to see in the Italian capital, and thats before we get on to great food and tempting shops.

No wonder Rome is a must-do mini-break.

Youre not going to get around all the sightseeing riches the Eternal City has to offer in two days without exhausting yourself, but you can cover the magnificent highlights, and keep control of the budget, too, by staying at a posh new hostel

Roman treasures: The Vatican looks simply stunning when it's lit up at night

DAY ONE

Morning

Head to the Vatican City first. You dont want to spend your whole day waiting in line so buy a skip-the-queue ticket  Attraction Tickets Directs three-day Omnia Vatican and Rome Pass (99 adults, 71 children) includes hop-on/hop-off bus ticket, free Rome travelcard, fast-track entry to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, and free audio guide for St Peters Basilica.

There is also free entry to two other attractions from six choices: Colosseum; Roman Forum and Palatine Hill; Capitolini Museums; Borghese Gallery; Museum of Rome and National Museum of Castel SantAngelo.

And you also get discounts on 30 other attractions and a guidebook (attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk, 0800 077 3723).

For lunch, theres La Soffitta Renovatio in Piazza del Risorgimento (lasoffittarenovatio.com) for the best hamburger e patatine fritte  aka burger and chips  I have ever tasted.

Top attraction: The Trevi Fountain (above) is free to enjoy but can be crowded

Afternoon

Walk off some of those calories looking around the grand Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre ever built and not in bad nick considering, and the ruins of the Roman Forum next door.

You can walk to your hostel from the Colosseum. Generator Rome may offer minimal service (no luggage porter) and facilities (no telly) but they claim the lead-in price for a double room for two is just 40 (35) per person per night.

Needless to say, prices fluctuate throughout the year and you will pay more around special events  and be aware that the city tax is not included in these prices (3.50pp per night), and has to be paid direct at the hostel. Visit generatorhostels.com for more details.

A casual, unfussy but tasty dinner is available  margherita pizza for 7 (about 6.10), for example, plus there are often special offers on food and drink.

Grand: Walk off some of those calories looking around the Colosseum (above), the largest amphitheatre ever built

DAY TWO

Morning

Breakfast at Generator Rome is a bargain  just 5 (4.40) for an all-you-can-eat feast featuring cereals, fruits, boiled eggs, ham, cheese, breads, jams, cake and drinks.

Next, head out on a Scooteroma (scooteroma.com) tour by Vespa  its fun, if slightly terrifying! Guests ride as a passenger behind an expert driver. A classic four-hour tour costs from 200pp (175), so its not cheap, but it zips you around lesser-known sights that would otherwise be a faff to reach. Itineraries can be tailor-made. For example, a street art tour of the Ostiense district takes in Kid Acnes Paint Over The Cracks and JB Rocks Wall Of Fame, and includes a coffee or gelato.

Eat lunch on the run  look out for pizza al metro shops for pieces of pizza with a vast choice of toppings, then pretend you are rich and window-shop outside the designer boutiques at Via Condotti and the Spanish Steps.

'Eat lunch on the run  look out for "pizza al metro" shops for pieces of pizza with a vast choice of toppings,' writes Wendy Gomersall

Afternoon

I adore the Trevi fountain, which is free to enjoy but can be crowded  go in the early evening when many people head back to their hotels for dinner. For unabashed luxury, stay at the Hotel Eden (dorchester collection.com), just a coins-throw away. If its a bunfight close to the water, head for the steps of the Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio church opposite, from where you get a good view. Go inside this church, too  it offers free concerts.

To cool off in summer, pay 3 (2.60) to visit the Citta DellAcqua (City of Water)  underground ruins a minutes walk from the fountain. My tip: dont pay for a guide as displays are in English.

For a casual dinner, head for the brilliant Mercato Centrale Roma (mercatocentrale.it) for great, reasonably priced food  tasty pizza, pasta, veggie burgers and awesome cannoli, all served from a big selection of artisan stalls.

And its just a five-minute walk from Generator and an aperitivo on the roof terrace.

Ciao Roma!He's one of the most famous names in film.

But director/producer Steven Spielberg worked his hardest to blend into the crowd while in Vancouver, Canada with wife-of-27-years Kate Capshaw on Friday.

Though the ET auteur, 71, was easily able to fly under the radar, his stunning actress wife, 64, turned heads in a dramatic ruffled blouse and blue velvet blazer as the couple enjoyed the annual TED Talks conference.

Keeping casual: Steven Spielberg tried his hardest to blend into the crowd while in Vancouver, Canada with wife-of-27-years Kate Capshaw on Friday for the annual Ted Talks conference

Steven looked like any dapper dad as he donned a grey newsboy cap with a sharp brown jacket, scarf and blue jeans.

He kept comfortable in sporty sneakers while jetting around town with Kate.

It looked like the actress could have been sporting Austin Powers drag in her blue and white outfit.

Oh behave! It looked like the Academy Award winner's wife was going for Austin Powers drag in her blue and white outfit

Blazer-ing trails! Though the ET auteur was easily able to fly under the radar, his stunning actress wife turned heads in a dramatic ruffled blouse and blue velvet blazer

Spielberg's wife, who first met the director while shooting Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, went for high-drama in a crisp white blouse with a giant bow.

She matched her the top wearing an angular plaid jacket with wide-legged paper bag trouser featuring a black tie.

The Due East actress continued her Britannic sensibilities with combat boots, yellow sunglasses, and big hoop earrings.

Going strong! Capshaw first met her husband of 27-years while working on Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom in 1984 and the couple were wed five-years later. Above the duo are seen at this year's Oscar festivities in March

Spielberg is still glowing about his latest hit Ready Player One, which has already raked in close to $400million worldwide since its March 29 release.

The Hollywood veteran also had quite the awards season with the success of his film The Post this past Winter.

But though the picture was nominated for two Oscars, it failed to bring home any awards.She is known for her girl-next-door good looks at the hottest showbiz parties.

And Sienna Miller, 36, made sure she stayed in the spotlight at the star-studded Formula E cocktail party in Rome, Italy, on Friday night.

The Alfie actress proudly showed off her enviable figure, and underwear, in a daring and revealing sheer patterned dress.

Glowing: Sienna Miller, 36, made sure she stayed in the spotlight at the star-studded Formula E cocktail party in Rome, Italy, on Friday night

Sienna's black bra and high-waisted knickers could be seen through the bohemian-inspired item of clothing, which had different stripes of material and ruffles in a gorgeous design.

While the American Sniper star completed her ensemble with a pair of Miista Mary Walnut strappy heels and a simple gold choker necklace.

Sienna styled her signature blonde locks into a bohemian and tousled loose hairdo.

Look away!: The Alfie actress proudly showed off her enviable figure, and underwear, in a daring and revealing sheer patterned dress

Daring: Sienna's black bra and high-waisted knickers could be seen through the bohemian-inspired item of clothing

Stylish: While the American Sniper star completed her ensemble with a pair of orange strappy heels and a simple gold choker necklace

Blonde beauty: The model looked fresh-faced as she added a slick of make-up, which included eyeliner and a nude pink lipstick

The model looked fresh-faced as she added a slick of make-up, which included eyeliner and a nude pink lipstick.

Sienna knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm at the star-studded event and posed with best friend, as well as personal assistant, Tori Cook.

Tori, who is older sister of model Poppy Delevingnes husband, James, wore a stunning fuchsia pink coordinating suit with a palm leaf pattern.

Best pals: Sienna knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm at the star-studded event and posed with best friend, as well as personal assistant, Tori Cook

Elegant: The Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson put on an elegant display in a black dress with a frilled hem, while she exposed the tops of her shoulders in the item of clothing

Fun: She was joined by the likes of Nicki Shields, Tamara Beckwith and Carmen Jorda as well as Sienna and Tori

Stylish: Sarah, known as Fergie, 58, completed her ensemble with a pair of light black tights and shoes with a butterfly toe

The fun duo were joined by the likes of Nicki Shields, the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Tamara Beckwith and Carmen Jorda.

Sarah, known as Fergie, 58, put on an elegant display in a black dress with a frilled hem, while she exposed the tops of her shoulders in the item of clothing.

She completed her ensemble with a pair of light black tights and shoes with a butterfly toe.

Wow!: Tamara showed off her slender figure in a stunning metallic and emerald green dress, which frilled at the elbows

Gorgeous: Age-defying Tamara styled her glossy blonde locks into a sleek blow-dry and added a subtle slick of make-up, as she posed with husband Giorgio Veroni

Meanwhile, Tamara showed off her slender figure in a stunning metallic and emerald green dress, which frilled at the elbows.

The English socialite, 47, teamed her ensemble with a pair of neon pink heels and a mermaid-looking patterned clutch bag.

Age-defying Tamara styled her glossy blonde locks into a sleek blow-dry and added a subtle slick of make-up, as she posed with husband Giorgio Veroni.

While Formula E pit lane reporter, Nicki, looked elegant in a white dress with a delicate black rim around the edges.

Classy: While Formula E pit lane reporter, Nicki, looked elegant in a white dress with a delicate black rim around the edges

Stylish touch: The presenter cinched in her waist with a black belt as she added red jewellery and gold sparkly heels

Model: Meanwhile, Spanish racing driver, Carmen knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm in a dramatic structure black jumpsuit and white cape duster jacket

Classic: The 29-year-old completed her look with a pair of silver heels and matching jewellery as she styled her blonde locks into an elegant and sleek sweptback hair do

The presenter cinched in her waist with a black belt as she added red jewellery and gold sparkly heels.

Meanwhile, Spanish racing driver, Carmen knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm in a dramatic structure black jumpsuit and white cape duster jacket.

The 29-year-old completed her look with a pair of silver heels and matching jewellery.

Lovely: Television presenter and DJ, Pips Taylor, also attended the glamorous event as she wore a stunning purple dress with a gold embroidered collar

Glamorous couple: Britain's master gemstone dealer and jeweller, Glenn Spiro, enjoyed the star-studded bash with wife Arabella

While she styled her blonde locks into an elegant and sleek sweptback hair do.

Television presenter and DJ, Pips Taylor, also attended the glamorous event as she wore a stunning purple dress with a gold embroidered collar.

While Britain's master gemstone dealer and jeweller, Glenn Spiro enjoyed the star-studded bash with wife Arabella.

The couple also joined Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag and his wife Ana Aznar Botella.WASHINGTON, April 13-- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he has ordered precise strikes in cooperation with Britain and France against Syrian military facilities.

In a televised speech, Trump said he ordered the U.S. armed forces to launch attacks against targets related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

He added that a combined operation with Britain and France was under way.

Trump also criticized Russia and Iran for supporting the Syrian government as well as their failure to stop the alleged chemical attack.

The speech came all of a sudden, as White House correspondents said they were asked not to share that information until the president went live "in order to ensure the safety of our troops."

U.S. attacks targets 3 sites in Syria

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said on Friday that the ongoing U.S. attack targets multiple targets in Syria including a research center, a chemical weapon storage facility and a facility in the second target.

U.S. defense chief James Mattis also said in a briefing that the attack targets directly at the Syrian government.

Strikes on Syria "will not be left without consequences": Russian envoy to U.S.

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov on Friday warned that the U.S. strikes on Syria "will not be left without consequences."

"All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris," he said in a statement.

British PM says no alternative to use of force in Syria

STRIKES ON SYRIA "ONE TIME SHOT" AGAINST SYRIAN GOV'T -- PENTAGON

SYRIAN STATE MEDIA SAYS U.S.-LED STRIKE ON SYRIA A FLAGRANT VIOLATION OF INT'L LAW

China calls for calm and restraint over Syria

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu on Friday called on parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint over the situation in Syria. FULL STORYAustralian born Hollywood actor Simon Baker has jokingly dubbed himself 'a wanker'.

In a preview of his upcoming segment on 60 Minutes this Sunday, the 48-year-old is lightheartedly scolded by reporter Allison Langdon for being late to their sit-down interview.

'The reason you were late today was because you went out surfing,' Allison revealed.

'You went out surfing!' Simon Baker is scolded by reporter Allison Langdon after the actor is LATE for his 60 Minutes interview

However, there are no hard feelings between the pair, with Simon charmingly quipping back: 'Well, you did say "go we've got plenty of time, we'll be fine."'

In the chat, Simon talks about making directorial debut in his soon to be released film Breath, based on the novel by Tim Winton.

'Yeah I'm a worrier,' he admits, adding: 'I worry about everything, as a person, as an artist, as a wanker.'

Actor and director: In a preview of his upcoming interview 60 Minutes, the 48-year-old talks about directorial debut in his soon to be released film Breath, based on the novel by Tim Winton (movie still from Breath)

Breath is a surf-themed, coming-of-age film is set in the 1970s and follows two teenage boys who form a connection with a former pro surfer, played by Simon himself.

Simon also talks about his wife of 20 years, Rebecca Rigg, and her frank way of showing support for his new venture as a director.

The actor give reporter Allison a tour of his hometown of Ballina and the humble home he was raised in.

Honest: He talks about his wife of 20 years, Rebecca Rigg, and her frank way of showing support for his new venture as a director. Simon said: "honey there's a lot of crap films, so what if yours is just another one," which goes into the lexicon of great quotes from my wife'

Hitting the waves: Breath is a film surf-themed coming-of-age film is set in the 1970s and follows two teenage boys who form a connection with a former pro surfer, played by Simon himself (movie still from Breath)

Simon also talks about dropping by the local pub and trying to use his name as a bragging right, revealing the locals only know him as 'The Mentalist'.

'They don't even know my name,' he laughed.

Breath will be released in Australian cinemas on May 3She juggles being a mother with her jobs as a model, radio host and TV presenter.

But Bec Judd certainly knows how to treat herself, showing off her very decadent cheese platter on Friday night.

The glamorous WAG also confessed she had been eating Easter eggs for dessert for the past 14 days.

'I can't bear to eat another Easter egg!' Bec Judd shows off VERY decadent cheese platter as she confesses to eating chocolate for dessert every day for the past fortnight

Taking to her Instagram Story, Bec showed off her platter which featured cheddar cheese, blue cheese, Jatz crackers, two types of pears, gherkins and walnut crackers.

'Guys I can't bear to eat another Easter egg so this is what I am having for dessert tonight,' she explained.

'It's the first time I haven't eaten Easter eggs for dessert in like 14 days!'

Yum! Taking to her Instagram Story, Bec showed off her platter which featured cheddar cheese, blue cheese, Jatz crackers, two types of pears, gherkins and walnut crackers

Favourite! Bec also showed off her favourite combination from her cheese platter

Bec's decadent cheese platter comes as the mother of four adds another job title to her name - author.

The brunette stunner has written a book on pregnancy, drawing on her own experiences and enlisting the advice of medical experts.

Titled The Baby Bible, Bec will promote the book in a series of speaking engagements hosted by Business Chicks.

Written a book: Bec's decadent cheese platter comes as the mother of four adds another job description to her name - author

Exciting news! The brunette stunner has written a book on pregnancy, drawing on her own experiences and enlisting the advice of medical experts

She took to Instagram last month to announce she would be heading to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.

Bec revealed that for $129 fans could hang out with her and even get the chance to buy a signed copy of her debut tome.

'Bring your girlfriends, sip on rose, nibble on canapes and chat to me about work, life, kids, babies, motherhood and everything in between (plus you can buy the book and I'll sign it for ya too if you're keen),' she wrote on Instagram.She frequently showcases her sartorial credentials at high-profile events.

So it's no surprise Sarah Ferguson commanded attention at the Formula E cocktail party in Rome, Italy on Friday evening.

The Duchess of York, 58, beamed with delight as she flashed her youthful pins in a thigh-skimming skater dress, tied in with fashion-forward cold shoulder features.

Sophisticated: Sarah Ferguson commanded attention at the Formula E cocktail party in Rome, Italy on Friday evening

The leggy star teamed her stylish number with a pair of sheer tights and suede loafers, embellished with pretty butterfly designs.

Enhancing her radiant appearance, Sarah accentuated her features in minimal makeup and wore her tresses in a straight fashion.

The writer upped the ante in the accessory department as she wore delicate dangle earrings, gold bangles and a matching designer watch.

Chic: The Duchess of York, 58, beamed with delight as she flashed her youthful pins in a thigh-skimming skater dress, tied in with fashion-forward cold shoulder features

Cosy: The writer was joined by English socialite Tamara Beckwith and her husband Giorgio Veroni

Sarah's outing comes as royal sources revealed the ex-wife of Prince Andrew will be receiving an invite to the upcoming nuptials of Prince Harry and his actress fiancee Meghan Markle in May.

The mother of Princess Eugenie, who also recently announced her engagement, and Beatrice, was not invited to Prince William's and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011.

However, Fergie is reportedly attending Prince Harry's wedding in a bid to heal broken ties caused by her divorce to Prince Andrew.

Stunning: Enhancing her radiant appearance, Sarah accentuated her features in minimal makeup and wore her tresses in a straight fashion

It is not yet clear whether this will be to the ceremony itself, or just to the reception afterwards.

But Harry is keen to ensure that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie's mother is there in some way on the day.

The prince is particularly close to Eugenie, who will herself get married to her long-time partner Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel on October 12.My Kitchen Rules judge Manu Fieldel has slammed the show's booted show for being a 'bad example'.

The 44-year-old chef claimed the unrevealed team's bad behaviour at the dinner table, which will be seen on Sunday night's episode, is not what the reality show is about.

'We are supposed to be a family show. And I don't think any kids would want to watch this, so it's a bad example for all of us,' he told Weekend Sunrise on Saturday.

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'We are supposed to be a family show!' My Kitchen Rules judge Manu Fieldel has slammed the booted team for being a 'bad example' of show

'I think we have proved that if you are going to act like this, you won't be part of the show anymore,' the French chef said, appearing to issue a warning to future contestants.

Manu added that he and Pete aren't constantly with the teams and don't know the off-camera details that caused the feud to escalate so quickly.

'A lot of things happen when we are not at the table. They feel like they are a bit more free to talk without the teachers in the room,' Manu said.

Booted from the show? This follows reports Sonya and Hadil (pictured) were kicked off the cooking show after an argument with Jess and Emma 'too far'

'It basically happened through a few episodes and suddenly it went too far,' he added.

This follows reports 'villains' Sonya and Hadil were kicked off the cooking show after an argument with Jess and Emma went 'too far'.

A friend of an MKR contestant called into KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday claiming: 'the producers are trying to cover it up.'

Warning: 'I think we have proved that if you are going to act like this, you won't be part of the show anymore,' the French chef warned to future contestants thinking of generating just as much drama

Intense: The feud between Sonya and Hadil and 'Botox sisters' Jess and Emma (pictured) reportedly escalates on Sunday's episode

The female caller, who identified herself as Lisa, said: 'One of my friends is actually contestant on MKR.'

'They've actually said that on Sunday night's episode - the producers are trying to cover it up - but one of the teams actually gets booted out because of a fight.'

It is unclear if Lisa was referring to a physical or verbal altercation.

Judges Manu and Pete are expected to kick Sonya and Hadil off the show on Sunday, in what has been dubbed as the 'biggest scandal' in MKR history.Advertisement

She's known for enjoying the finer things in life.

And Gwyneth Paltrow certainly wasn't pulling the purse strings when she selected the location for her VIP bachelorette party.

The actress and her star-studded squad are staying at the luxury Four Seasons resort Costa Palmas in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Bride to be: Gwyneth Paltrow certainly wasn't pulling the purse strings when she selected the location for her VIP bachelorette party

Only open a year, the 1000-acre private beachfront resort community designed by Guerin Glass Architects boasts two miles of deserted white sands, upon which nestle private villas worthy of the A-list.

While the resort's more modest rooms start at around $700, private oceanfront 5-bedroom villas cost up to $7,000 a night.

After jetting in a a private jet, the girls wasted no time getting stuck into the rose, bonding over a lunch on the sands of the magnificent locale.

While Gwyneth is known for her clean-living lifestyle, it seems even the Goop founder made an exception for her hen do, with a waiter seen topping up glasses of wine as the friends sat together.

Pure luxury: Gwyneth is spending her hen do at the incredibly upmarket Costa Palmas, part of the Four Seasons family

Magnificent: The 1000-acre private beachfront resort community boasts two miles of deserted white sands

Elite: Only open a year and designed by Guerin Glass Architects, it boasts private villas worthy of the A-list

After lunch, it was bikini time, with Gwyneth sharing a picture of herself in a blue two-piece, captioned: '#costapalmas #henweekend.'

Mrs Brad Falchuk-to-be was certainly looking her best as she posed in the snap, presumably taken by one of the 45-year-old's 12 female BFFS.

The group of women come from all aspects of Gwyneth's life - from childhood pals, to the 'mom friends' she made after the birth of her children, and celebrities including Cameron Diaz and Stella McCartney.

The actress was pictured settling into the luxury resort on Friday, after the group arrived earlier in the day.

Bargain: The resort's more modest rooms start at around $700

Pricey: However private oceanfront 5-bedroom villas cost up to $7,000 a night

Guest list: The actress's A-list posse include Cameron Diaz and Stella McCartney

The girls stripped off to soak up in the sunshine beside a beach as servers fluttered around them at the resort.

It was clear Gwyneth had treated her friends, with the women all wearing matching white robes, embroidered with their initials, white sandals, straw trilbys and carrying the same straw bags.

And the location had obviously been carefully picked by Gwyneth, who as Goop-readers will know, makes no secret of her love of luxury.

The bride-to-be has said that she considers her upcoming wedding to producer Falchuk to be her first, having previously eloped with her ex-husband, Coldplay star Chris Martin.

Wow: The location had obviously been carefully picked by Gwyneth, who as Goop-readers will know, makes no secret of her love of luxury

A Goop view of paradise: Gwyneth is not known for being thrifty, and likes the expensive things in life

Bliss: Her squad has teams of servers tending to their every need

The Sliding Doors star - who has been dating Brad since 2014 - admitted that planning her wedding with Brad made her 'feel like a 21-year-old' again.

The Hollywood star - who has daughter Apple, 13, and son Moses, 12, with her ex-husband - said: 'I'm excited about everything! I've never had a wedding before ... So even though I'm 45, I sort of feel like a 21-year-old.'

Gwyneth also revealed she was relishing the planning process, saying her friends have become as giddy about the wedding as she has.

Vista: The views from the oceanside rooms are unrivalled

The perfect place to wedding prep: Gwyneth and Brad, 47, announced their engagement in GOOP Magazine in January

She shared: 'It's kind of fun to talk about with my girlfriends. They send me pictures of dresses - they're as excited about it as I am.'

Gwyneth and Brad, 47, announced their engagement in GOOP Magazine in January, following months of speculation about their romance. In a joint statement for the publication - which is owned by Gwyneth - the loved-up couple revealed they felt 'fortunate' to have found each other at the perfect point in their lives.

They said: 'We feel incredibly lucky to have come together at this junction in our lives when our collective successes and failures can serve as building blocks for a healthy and happy relationship.'

Party time! Gwyneth, centre, is joined by Cameron and Stella as she celebrates her bachelorette with a girls' weekend in Mexico

Time for a toast: The group drank rose as they sat at a table together

Giddy Gwyneth: The actress previously revealed she was relishing the planning process, saying her friends have become as giddy about the wedding as she has

Arriving in style: The girls were flown to Los Cabos on a private jetThe housewives are back for a ninth season.

And they're being joined by two new cast members: Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Aydin, according to UsWeekly.

The lifestyle blogger and the plastic surgeon's wife will be joining the cast as friends initially, joining returning housewives Dolores Catania, Margaret Josephs, Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice.

New blood: Two new cast members are joining RHONJ: Jackie Goldschneider [R] and Jennifer Aydin [L]

According to her Twitter bio, Aydin is 'Just a good ol' fashioned New Jersey housewife with 5 kids. Married to a Plastic Surgeon. Money and beauty? Means nothing without family!'

Mother-of-four Jackie, meanwhile, writes for her own blog, as well as scarymommy.com.

According to UsWeekly, both women have already begun to film their parts on the show.

Animal instincts: Main cast member Teresa recently spoke about serving 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to 41 counts of fraud

Main cast member Teresa recently spoke about serving 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to 41 counts of fraud.

Her 45-year-old husband Joe Giudice, meanwhile, is currently serving his three year prison sentence for the same charges.

And his socialite wife told UsWeekly in February that the time behind bars is doing him well.

'He's lost 60lbs and looks hot,' said Teresa as she attended WE tv's relaunch of the hit wedding show Bridezillas in New York City.

'Joe has lost so much weight,' the author began. 'I saw him last Saturday. He was 245 when he went in, and now he weighs 185.

'He looks so hot and I just cant wait for him to come home. Im really ready for him to come home.'She's been enjoying the warmer weather lately with a variety of skimpy ensembles.

And Kristen Stewart proved on trend as she was spotted in a pair of black short shorts in Los Angeles on Friday.

The Twilight star, 28, and her Victoria's Secret model girlfriend Stella Maxwell, 27, enjoyed a quick jaunt to the local juice bar in the tony neighborhood of Los Feliz.

Loved up: Kristen Stewart, 28, and her Victoria's Secret model girlfriend Stella Maxwell, 27, enjoyed a quick jaunt to the local juice bar in the tony neighborhood of Los Feliz on Friday

Daring to impress, the famous beauty put her enviable figure on full display as she donned a tiny white top to compliment the shorts.

Her gorgeous games were thrust on center stage as the shorts rode high on her thighs and she went sock free in a pair of Adidas trainers.

Stella was no slouch in the pretty pin department either as she stomped the streets in a pair of denim booty shorts.

The loved up couple have been dating since 2016.

Rear view: Daring to impress, the famous beauty put her enviable figure on full display as she donned a tiny white top to compliment the shorts

According to OK! magazine, Kristen has recently been spending time with her ex and Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson.

'They've gotten together a few times over the past several weeks,' a source with knowledge of the situation said.

'They're trying to keep it low-key, but there's still chemistry there. People in their circles are starting to wonder if they're considering a reconciliation.'

The two were spotted together at a bar in Los Angeles in February

Meanwhile, Kristen has a busy next few months ahead of her, as she is set to appear in four projects up until 2019.

This year, she'll star in Against All Enemies, JT Leory, and Underwater. Next year, the talented beauty will star in Charlie's Angels alongside Lupita Nyong'o.She's been a top earning model since 2008.

And Doutzen Kroes showed why on Thursday, when the former's Victoria Secret Angel looked radiant in both casual and formal ensembles at the Holt Renfrew Knot On My Planet gala in Toronto, Canada.

The 33-year-old seamlessly switched from jeans to a formal dress midway through the night.

Angelic: Doutzen Kroes showed why she's a top earning model on Thursday, when the former's Victoria Secret Angel looked radiant in both casual and formal ensembles

The Dutch model began the evening in comfortable blue jeans and ruby red ankle boots.

She paired the casual garment with a simple white T-shirt.

Kroes wore her wavy blonde tresses untied for the evening and sported minimal jewelry, including hoop earrings, a gold bracelet and a silver chain around her neck.

The 33-year-old seamlessly switched from jeans to a formal dress midway through the night. Seen here with Jordan Barrett

Keeping it casual: The Dutch model began the evening in comfortable blue jeans and ruby red ankle boots

Later, the mother-of-two slipped into an elegant black, backless dress.

She paired the formal garment with black leather boots with a peep toe, and wore an elephant pin in honor of the Knot On My Planet movement, which supports elephant conservation and the Elephant Crisis Fund.

The activist - who hosted the black tie event at the Art Gallery Of Ontario - this time wore her blonde tresses palled back in a pony tail, and sported a center part.

Back to black: Later, the mother-of-two slipped into an elegant black, backless dress

She paired the formal garment with black leather boots with a peep toe. Seen here with Alexandra Weston

Doutzen first came to prominence after being chosen as Vogue.com's 'Model Of The Year' in 2005.

She became a Victoria's secret Angel in 2008 and represented the lingerie brand until 2015.

She recently spoke with FASHION magazine for its May issue about her rise to the top of the modeling world.

'I'm very lucky I was born a certain way,' she said.

Flower power: Model Winnie Harlow was also in attendance

Model Dilone (whose real name is Janiece Altagracia Dilone) looked radiant in blue

Suited and booted: Aussie model Jordan Barrett looked dapper in a suit at the gala

She also opined on how the industry has changed since she hit the spotlight saying it used to be 'more playful and not as calculated.'

'Now, because of social media, everyone knows everything - there's all these 15-year-old girls who know all the big photographers and fashion designers,' Doutzen explained.

The 'Ordinary to Extraordinary' issue of the fashion magazine also hails Doutzen's work as the face of the Elephant Crisis Fund and themed the photo shoot after her work with the campaign.

'I love all animals, of course, but it was devastating to hear about the crisis,' said the model, speaking about the statistic that 30,000 elephants are killed each year for their ivory.She's one of the biggest movie stars working today.

But Emma Thompson certainly looked as though she didn't want to be recognized on Friday as she took a stroll with a friend in New York City.

The 58-year-old two-time Oscar winner bundled up for the jaunt despite the somewhat balmy conditions.

Incog-neato! Emma Thompson certainly looked as though she didn't want to be recognized on Friday as she took a stroll with a friend in New York City

The Love Actually actress layered a chocolate brown puffy jacket lined in fleece over a heather grey zip-up sweatshirt.

Apparently the London native was so cold she even opted to raise her hood.

Said sweatshirt was in turn layered over what appeared to be a grey t-shirt.

A pair of caramel-tinted trousers and grey trainers completed her extremely laid-back look.

All bundled up! The Love Actually actress layered a chocolate brown puffy jacket lined in fleece over a heather grey zip-up sweatshirt

Natural beauty! The mother-of-two looked to be mostly make-up free save for a dash of light rose lipstick

She carried her belongings in a small cobalt blue backpack and rocked a large ring on her left hand.

The mother-of-two looked to be mostly make-up free save for a dash of light rose lipstick.

As she walked with a friend Emma seemed to be in great spirits, at one point even flashing a wide smile.

Happy! As she walked with a friend Emma seemed to be in great spirits, at one point even flashing a wide smile

And why wouldn't she be in a fine mood, with the recent announcement of her involvement in a new production of Nanny McPhee.

However, the actress will not be picking up the magical cane of the enchanting nurse once again as she did in the 2005 movie version.

Instead, Emma will direct a show adapted from the 2005 film and Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda stories.

The award-winner divulged to The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye that she was 'excited and naturally nervous' to embark on her latest venture.Tracey Jewel has revealed how her brush with cervical cancer left her unable to breastfeed her daughter.

On Saturday the 34-year-old revealed her previous health scare sharing a photo of herself after a visit to a hair salon.

Captioning the photo, Tracey revealed her hair hadn't grown back the same way after the diagnosis.

'It was devastating': Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel reveals how brush with cervical cancer left her unable to breastfeed her daughter and made her hair 'never grow back the same way'

Tracey told Daily Mail Australia that her doctors discovered she had CIN3 cervical cancer cells six weeks after giving birth to her daughter Grace, who is now eight-years-old.

'I had to have a operation to remove the lesions straight away and then couldnt breast feed which was devastating to me,' she explained.

Now almost a decade on, Tracey was still mindful of her health and had frequent check-ups.

Startling revelation: In an unsuspecting Instagram post of herself getting hair extensions from her friend's South Perth salon

Shock: Tracey exclusively told Daily Mail Australia that her doctors discovered she had CIN3 cervical cancer cells six weeks after giving birth to my daughter Grace, who is now eight-years-old

'I regularly have Pap smears now and still have abnormal cell problems,' the mother of one revealed.

This comes after Tracey confirmed she would be selling her MAFS wedding dress to benefit a domestic violence charity, after previously experiencing abuse at the hands of an ex-partner.

Sharing a snap of her wedding dress to her Instagram Story on Friday, Tracey told Daily Mail Australia the proceeds of the gown's sale would be benefiting Momentum Forum Events and Kiss Violence Against Women Goodbye.

What is CIN 3? CIN stands for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, which are abnormal cells in the neck of the womb. It is classifiable from one to three depending on how deep the abnormal cells are on the surface of the cervix. CIN 1 usually disappears without treatment, while CIN 2 and 3 are precancerous but likely have the potential to develop into cervical cancer later in life. Source: Cancer Council Victoria Advertisement

Up for grabs: This comes after Tracey confirmed she would be selling her dress to benefit a domestic violence charity, after previously experiencing abuse at the hands of an ex-partner

'Well since Im not with Dean anymore, why not,' Tracey said.

Since appearing on Married At First Sight, Tracey has found love with her co-star Sean Thomsen.

Last month, the pair revealed plans to move from Perth to Melbourne, with Tracey's daughter Grace visiting on weekends and school holidays.The United States started its military action against Syria's capital Damascus before daybreak Saturday as loud explosions were heard here with "red dots" seen flying from earth to the sky, reported Syrian state TV and Xinhua reporters in Damascus.

As loud explosions were heard across the capital, the Syrian air defense missiles were launched from Mount Qasioun, which overlooks the capital, with smoke rising from areas in Damascus, according to Xinhua reporters on the ground.

The air defense missiles looked like red dots flying from earth to targets in the sky.

The state TV also reported that the Syrian air defense system was reacting to the "U.S., French and British aggression on Syria."

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said on Friday that the U.S. attack targeted multiple sites in Syria, including a research center, a chemical weapon storage facility and a facility in the second target.

The United States has accused Syria of using chlorine gas in an attack last week in the previously rebel-held Douma district near Damascus, pledging a military strike against the Syrian government forces' positions amid threats of retaliation from both the Syrian forces and Russia.Kim Kardashian shared an adorable photo of her son and her niece embracing on Friday.

In the cute snap, her brother Rob's one-year-old daughter Dream hugs Kim's two-year-old son, Saint.

The 37-year-old reality TV star has simply captioned the picture, 'Blessings'.

Cousins: In the cute snap, her brother Rob's one-year-old daughter Dream hugs Kim's two-year-old son, Saint

The cousins look like they're hugging while lying on the carpeted floor.

Kim shares her son with husband Kanye West, while Dream's mother is 31-year-old sock designer Rob's ex girlfriend, Blac Chyna.

Saint has two siblings: older sister North and little sister Chicago; while Dream has a half brother, King Cairo Stevenson, whom Chyna shares with rapper Tyga.

Adorable: Kim shares her son with husband Kanye West, while Dream's mother is 31-year-old sock designer Rob's ex girlfriend, Blac Chyna

His girl: Rob holds Dream in an Instagram post from March 2018

And the pair have a brand new cousin.

Khloe Kardashian gave birth to her daughter on Thursday with her cheating boyfriend Tristan Thompson by her side.

And according to People, Khloe Kardashian's baby girl 'is very cute with lots of black hair.'

Their source added that the 33-year-old is 'so happy to be a mom' and 'overcome with love and joy' for her daughter.

People said that Kris Jenner 'is still in Ohio' and Tristan's family is still there too - that 'everyone is so excited about the baby.'

The magazine's insider said the new mom is 'doing great' despite the stressful circumstances due to Tristan's infidelities.She's perfected the art of the pose since she graced our television screens on the third season of The Bachelor.

And on Saturday, Lana Jeavons-Fellows looked as pretty as a picture.

The 29-year-old flaunted her svelte figure in a flirty floral frock, at the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day at Sydney's Royal Randwick.

A frill-ing sight! Bachelor star Lana Jeavons-Fellows flaunted her svelte figure in a flirty floral dress, at Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day at Sydney's Royal Randwick on Saturday

The former reality TV star showed off her statuesque frame in a frilly number by Australia designer, Pasduchas.

The floral frock featured a number of gorgeous highlights, including frill peplums and flounce straps.

Pretty as a picture: The floral frock featured a number of gorgeous highlights, including frill peplums and flounce straps

Killer calves: The calf-length hemline of her ensemble put the spotlight on her ultra trim pins

Lana accessorised her darling dress by donning a gold chain shoulder bag and oodles of fine jewellery.

The brunette beauty sparkled in a pair of silver-studded neutral high heel mules.

Lana's hemline of her floral frock also put the spotlight on her ultra trim pins.

She added a touch of gold to her ensemble by donning a ornate Valerie designer headpiece by Heather McDowall.

Statuesque: The former Aussie TV star sparkled in a pair of silver-studded neutral high heel mules

Details: Lana accessoried her darling dress by donning a gold chain shoulder bag and oodles of fine jewellery

Bold: She added a touch of gold to her ensemble by donning a ornate Valerie designer headpiece by Heather McDowall

Tresses: Lana styled her luscious long locks into tousled curls which accentuated her gorgeous caramel highlights

Lana styled her luscious long locks into tousled curls which accentuated her gorgeous caramel highlights.

The Sydney-sider sported a light and bright make up palette consisting of dewy skin, bronzed eye shadow and berry lips.

During the impromptu photo Lana gave onlookers a glimpse at her killer calves.

The stylish social media star attended the VIP event with her British beau Jake Meah.

Makeup highlights: The Aussie beauty sported a light and bright make up palette consisting of dewy skin, bronzed eye shadow and berry lips

Rear-view: During the impromptu photoshoot the brunette beauty gave onlookers a glimpse at her killer calvesShe's the successful fashion blogger who never puts a foot wrong in the fashion stakes.

And Nadia Fairfax's appearance at the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day in Randwick on Saturday was no different.

The 29-year-old looked ravishing in an off-the-shoulder red frock which hung from her slender frame.

Ravishing in red! Nadia Fairfax made an appearance at the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day in Randwick on Saturday

She wore her short blonde tresses styled into effortless waves and opted for a leopard-print hairband instead of the usual fascinator.

The blogging sensation completed her ensemble with a pair of strappy black heels and kept her jewelry to a minimum, choosing to only wear a Longines watch on her wrist.

Staying true to her simple yet chic style Nadia opted to wear minimal makeup and kept her petite features au naturel.

Simple and sweet: She wore her short brunette tresses styled into effortless waves and opted for a leopard-print hairband instead of the usual fascinator

Fashion icon: The blogger spoke to Kate Waterhouse at the event in Randwick

Nadia also brought along a Jacquemus purse, which retails for around $1,100.

During her attendance at the star-studded event, Nadia spoke to Kate Waterhouse about her love of racing.

'It's so nice at Randwick. Randwick Races was the first race I ever attended so I have a feeling of nostalgia and total happiness,' she said.

Joining Nadia at the lavish racing event was a slew of Australian celebrities who enjoyed the festivities.

The Bachelor's Matty J made an appearance, while fellow reality TV alum Lana Jeavons-Fellows also turned heads at the event.She raunchily revealed she and partner Barry Hall have been 'making love on the reg' as they try for a second child.

And now former Hi-5 entertainer Lauren Brant has admitted the couple can't seem to agree on their preferred gender for the future tot.

While the 29-year-old wants their 10-month-old son Miller to have a brother, former AFL star Barry, 41, is pining after a girl.

Decisions, decisions: Lauren Brant, 29, has admitted she clashes with partner Barry Hall, 41, over the preferred gender of a second child (pictured with their 10-month-old son Miller)

'Practice makes perfect, there's a lot going on. We've got a beautiful boy, but he needs a sister,' Barry told the Courier Mail.

'There's a lot of people out there who unfortunately can't have kids because stuff happens, but Miller needs a little sister.'

Lauren added: 'But I also feel like I want Miller to have another boy to play with.'

It comes after Lauren took to Instagram revealing she is hoping to expand her brood by 'making love on the reg' to her ex-AFL star beau.

Clash: While the 29-year-old wants their 10-month-old son Miller to have a brother, former AFL star Barry, 41, is pining after a girl

Thanks for sharing! It comes after Lauren revealed she is 'making love on the reg' to Barry as they try for a second child

The same day, Lauren gave an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, stating: 'We are trying for another baby. It's not happening at the moment, but we definitely want another one'.

The headline of the newspaper's article read: 'Working toward next bub'.

However, in her Instagram post, Lauren cheekily changed the headline to 'Making love on the reg'.

That's cheeky! Lauren changed the headline to 'Making love on the reg'.

The South African-born star isn't shy in sharing snippets of her personal life, including her experiences with raising baby Miller.

Last week, she and Barry took their tot to a Toys 'R Us store to pick up some supplies.

'Miller's auntie got him a gift voucher for Toys R Us for Christmas,' Lauren narrated to her fans as she filmed the retail adventure.

While it seemed Miller was hoping for stuffed giraffe, AFL star Barry appeared to be enamoured with a toy Tonka truck.

'Aw is that fun Baz?' Lauren narrated as her other half played around with a yellow truck in the car park.

The power couple first met while filming I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2015, and welcomed Miller mid-way through last year.High jumper and model Amy Pejkovic has become known for her sartorial choices.

And the blonde beauty certainly didn't disappoint at the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day, at Sydney's Royal Randwick race course on Saturday.

The 25-year-old highlighted her trim figure in a one-shoulder blue silk jumpsuit.

Reaching new heights! High jumper Amy Pejkovic, 25, cut a stylish note in a blue silk jumpsuit at Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day, at Sydney's Royal Randwick race course on Saturday

Amy posed in front of the media wall in a chic jumpsuit by Jonathan Simkhai that revealed one toned arm.

Tie detailing under the bust also accentuated her slender waist.

Amy elongated her frame with nude strappy heels and and added touches of silver bling.

Trim: The sports personality's chic number revealed one toned arm and featured tie detailing at the waist

The athlete styled her tresses into a deep centre part and tied at the nape of the neck, drawing attention to her striking facial features.

Amy finished off her race day look with a dewy complexion, bold brows, a metallic eye shadow and a glossy nude lip.

Appearing in high spirits, the Sydney-sider later took to the stand, perching on a ledge for another photo opportunity.

Amy is quite the social media sensation, often posting snaps of her gym-honed frame to Instagram.

Over the past summer, the fitness enthusiast showed off her washboard abs in a number of skimpy bikinis beachside.

Fans are always quick to flock to the comments section, praising the beauty with statements such as 'Such a beauty!!' and 'Beautiful'.She is no stranger to showing off her figure-flashing ensembles, having tasted fame during her brief stint on last year's Love Island.

And Georgia Harrison paraded her incredible physique once again as she hit the beach in Marbella.

The reality star, 23, ensured plenty of cleavage was on show as she slipped into a skimpy black bikini.

Beach babe: Georgia Harrison paraded her incredible physique once again as she hit the beach in Marbella

Georgia highlighted her taut stomach and ample assets in the halterneck top, which featured a gold embossed design on the straps.

Meanwhile, the tiny tie-side bottoms made the most of her peachy derriere and endless pins.

The former TOWIE star styled her long blonde tresses in crimped waves and amped up the glamour of her beach get-up with a dramatic brown smoky eye, heavily contoured cheeks and a nude lip.

Pert: The Love Island star donned a pair of tiny tie-side bottoms, which made the most of her peachy derriere and endless pins

Busty: The reality star, 23, ensured plenty of cleavage was on show as she slipped into a skimpy black bikini

Soaking up the sun: Georgia appeared thoroughly relaxed as she stopped to top up her tan, reclining on a blue patterned towel

Strolling along the sandy shores, the star shielded her eyes from the sun's rays with a pair of pink-tinted aviators.

Georgia appeared thoroughly relaxed as she stopped to top up her tan, reclining on a blue patterned towel.

The television personality looked preoccupied with her phone before deciding to cool off with a quick dip in the ocean.

Time for a splash: The television personality looked preoccupied with her phone before deciding to cool off with a quick dip in the ocean

Incredible physique: Georgia highlighted her taut stomach and ample assets in the halterneck top, which featured a gold embossed design on the straps

Sun-kissed: The former TOWIE star styled her long blonde tresses in crimped waves and amped up the glamour of her beach get-up with a dramatic brown smoky eye and a nude lip

Georgia caused chaos when she entered the Love Island villa last year, when she chose to couple up with Kem Cetinay - who had just asked Amber Davies to be his girlfriend.

Yet she soon became a favourite on the show after the drama died down thanks to her cheeky fling with Sam Gowland, who she split from in August.

However in February, she candidly shed light on the darker side of the dating circle as she recalled a harrowing abusive relationship she had at 18.

Stunning: Georgia highlighted her taut stomach and ample assets in the halterneck top, which featured a gold embossed design on the straps

Happy: The former PA appeared in high spirits for her beach jaunt

Romance: The star has well and truly moved on following her cheeky fling with Love Island star Sam Gowland, who she split from in August

The blonde beauty described how she feared for her life every day as her now-ex spat in her face, taunted her and smashed up her phone.

Reflecting on her past abusive relationship, Georgia wrote in Women's Fitness: 'I remember being in constant fear throughout the day of what would set him off.

'Would he take my phone again and lock me out so that he can obsessively scroll through it until he finds an innocent message from a friend and smashes it up for the 3rd time?

'Would he taunt me and criticise my appearance to the point where I cant even look at myself?

'Would he take me to dinner and then spit in my face because I "looked at the waiter in a provocative way"? Each day was just a huge contrast of love and fear.'They've been hard at work filming new crime caper, The Hustle, in London.

Yet Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson were able to take a slight break on set on Thursday as their body doubles took over to film some of the more risky scenes.

Still eager to watch over the process, the pair were seen chatting away and hovering around the set - that had been transformed into a Christmas market - whilst their stuntwomen stepped in.

Going for gold! Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson were able to take a slight break on set on Thursday as their body doubles took over to film some of the more risky scenes

Looking festive and with 80s inspired ensembles, the pair and their body doubles donned matching metallic gowns as they filmed the scenes.

Rebel dazzled in a gold midi dress with shoulder pads and ruched detailing across the chest, whilst her platinum locks were styled in loose waves.

Anne - who recently revealed she is gaining weight for an upcoming film role - donned a bronze maxi dress, whilst she styled her chestnut tresses in a half up style.

Seeing double! Still eager to watch over the process, the pair were seen around the set - that had been transformed into a Christmas market - whilst their stuntwomen stepped in

Originally titled Nasty Women, The Hustle - set for release in June - is a remake of the 1988 comedy classic Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

In the original, stars Steve Martin and Michael Caine team up to con an American heiress (played by Glenne Headly) out of $50,000.

The remake will see Rebel and Anne team up to fleece a fortune out of a young tech billionaire (played by Alex Sharp) following in the footsteps of other gender switch remakes such as Ghostbusters and Oceans 8.

Mock The Week and British comedian Chris Addison was seen directing the pair as he takes on his first directorial debut.

Going for gold! Looking festive and with 80s inspired ensembles, the pair and their body doubles donned matching metallic gowns as they filmed the scenes

Golden girl: Rebel dazzled in a gold midi dress with shoulder pads and ruched detailing across the chest, whilst her platinum locks were styled in loose waves

Cheerful! Rebel looked sensational as she stepped out on the set expertly styled

Two's company: Anne and Rebel gave each other a high five as they walked off the set

Bronze beauty: Anne - who recently revealed she is gaining weight for an upcoming film role - donned a bronze maxi dress, whilst she styled her chestnut tresses in a half up style

The pair are no doubt near the end of their filming schedule as Anne recently revealed she's already preparing for her next film role - that requires her to gain weight.

Prepared for an onslaught of comments from internet fat-shamers Anne made sure to warn them in advance with her very amusing caption.

Taking to Instagram last week, the star shared a time-lapse video of her working out that she captioned: 'I am gaining weight for a movie role and it is going well. To all the people who are going to fat shame me in the upcoming months, its not me, its you. Peace xx

'PS- I wanted to set this to Queens Fat Bottomed Girls but copyright said. Continued peace xx'

Hug it out! Rebel was seen giving her body double a bear hug as they finished the scenes

That's a wrap! The star layered up in a padded navy coat between filming scenes

Cruising! Rebel's body double was seen cruising along the River Thames in a speedboat

Two's company: The body doubles chatted away with one another between the scenes

Taking it easy: Rebel and Anne seemed in good spirits as they chatted away together

Feeling festive: The metallic gowns complemented their tanned complexions

Loving life: The duo seemed in high spirits as they filmed together on the set

Meanwhile, Rebel rose to fame in 2012 following her break-out performance in the acapella musical Pitch Perfect, and along with her appearance in the film series has also starred in Grimsby and Night At The Museum 3.

But the screen star recently admitted that despite her large-than-life nature, she battled crippling shyness during her younger years, recalling the terrible fear she felt attending her first drama class.

Speaking on The Producers Guide podcast, Rebel confessed she had to be dragged into the Sydney class crying by her mum, saying: 'I was like the really shy academic child - who was very very shy. At one point my mum got so sick of it because I think she wanted me to be popular and have friends and stuff.'

One to watch: Originally titled Nasty Women, The Hustle - set for release in June - is a remake of the 1988 comedy classic Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Idea: The remake will see Rebel and Anne team up to fleece a fortune out of a young tech billionaire following in the footsteps of other gender switch remakes such as Ghostbusters

Bend and snap! Rebel was seen adjusting her ensemble on the set

Touch up: Whilst holding wads of cash Rebel had her make-up applied by a studio hand

She continued: 'I would not go. She physically dragged me in there. It was so embarrassing I was saying, I don't want to go, I don't want to go.

'For some weird reason I get in there and there's other kids in there, so I put on an American accent, because I was so shy, I couldn't possibly interact with these people.

'The first time it was traumatic and then I started to enjoy it. Then I slowly used creative arts to develop my personality - I could do it through characters and not myself.'He was a the notorious London gangster and associate to the famed crime duo the Kray Twins.

And now Freddie Foreman is back in the spotlight - this time for the release of the biographical film Fred: The Godfather of British Crime which premiered as part of the East End Film Festival at the Genesis Cinema in London on Friday.

The 86-year-old dressed up for the event in a sharp navy blue suit and was accompanied by fellow mobster Dave Courtney, 59, at the star-studded bash.

Back at it: Former gangster Freddie Foreman celebrated his biopic premiere at the East End film festival in London on Friday

Despite using a walking stick, Freddie looked in fighting spirit as he proudly posed alongside Irish boxer and actor Joe Egan.

The hard-man looked just as dapper in his gunmetal grey suit and black button shirt while clenching his fists for the cameras.

Self proclaimed gangster-turned-author Dave stayed true to his mobster roots as he donned a silver buttoned short blazer and black waist coat.

High spirits: Despite using a walking stick, Freddie looked in fighting spirit as he proudly posed alongside Irish boxer and actor Joe Egan (L)

Tough guys: The hard-man looked just as dapper in his gunmetal grey suit and black button shirt while clenching his famous fists for the cameras

Legendary: Joe made sure to get some photos with the notorious gangster who has spent time behind bars for his crimes

Offspring: Fred was joined by Nick Reynolds - son of Bruce Reynolds, who was the mastermind behind the Great Train Robbery

Gangster Fred - once known as Brown Bread Fred - led a discussion with the documentary's director Paul Van Carter on stage.

The film delves into the life of the Fred, who is allegedly responsible for numerous murders while acting as a henchman for the formidable Kray Twins - Ronald and Reginald.

His turbulent rise through the ruthless British crime underworld grabbed headlines - with Fred being one of the only voices from the era still alive.

Throwback: His turbulent rise through the ruthless British crime underworld grabbed headlines - with Fred being one of the only voices from the era still alive

Nostalgia: Former tabloid model Maureen Flanagan - who also had ties to the Kray Twins - also joined in the festivities

All together: Fred and Dave posed for snaps with actor Steve Wraith, who most recently appeared in Rise Of The Footsoldier 3

Dressing the part: Self proclaimed gangster-turned-author Dave stayed true to his mobster roots as he donned a silver buttoned short blazer and black waist coat

Fred was sentenced to ten years in prison for reportedly being involved in disposing the body of Jack 'The Hat' McVitie who had been murdered by Reggie Kray.

Following his prison stint, Fred found himself locked up once again after taking part in the Shoreditch Security Express robbery, which was the largest cash robbery in the UK at the time.

Fred shared his secrets on Reggie and Ronnie Kray with Tom Hardy, who played both of the twins in the gangster hit Legend based on the lives of the notorious duo.

Tell all: Gangster Fred - once known as Brown Bread Fred - led a discussion with the documentary's director Paul Van Carter on stage

Fun times: Good friends of the former gangster made sure to lend their support at the premiere

Fists up: Actor Al Groves (R) flexed his body ink alongside Joe and director Yuppie Wayne (C)

The Battersea native claimed that although Ronnie admitted his homosexuality in his mid-teens, his brother Reggie was also gay and his marriage to Frances Shea was a sham.

He told The Sun: The marriage was never even consummated. That poor girl was a trophy wife, nothing more.

Frances, who was 16 when she met Reggie, married him in 1965 but two years after their wedding, she committed suicide aged 23.

Speaking of the new movie, Foreman said: The film apparently has Reggie looking out of his prison window and saying I love you Frances. But he certainly did not love her like a husband loves a wife. They never had sex.

He also revealed for the first time the gang started by the brothers, known as The Firm, had plans to execute the brothers just before their arrests.She's the Playboy model turned reality TV star.

And Simone Holtznagel put on her provocative best, in an Instagram snap on Saturday.

The busty 24-year-old stared intently at the camera, and covered her famed curves in a T-shirt with text that read: 'Drinking beer and raising hell.'

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'Drinking beer and raising hell': I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! star Simone Holtznagel, 24, sent a bold message in a provocative snap shared to Instagram on Saturday

Taking to Instagram, Simone posed in front of a whitewash wall in a snug T-shirt with with the text 'DRINKING BEER & RAISING HELL.'

The I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! contestant tucked the top into a pair of indigo jeans.

Resting one manicured hand next to her plump lips, Simone smouldered for the camera, also drawing attention to her striking facial features.

The LA-based personality allowed her luscious blonde locks to fall in a deep side part, and finished off her look with a matte foundation, bold brows and defined cheekbones.

Sultry: After her exit from the South African jungle last month, the Playboy model has returned to her glamorous best

Following her stint in the South African jungle, where I'm A Celebrity contestants were presented with the most dire of living conditions, Simone is back to her glamorous self.

A previous Instagram snap saw starlet taking the plunge in an extremely low-cut black ensemble.

Her locks were styled in messy waves, framing her glamorously made-up complexion.

Simone playfully captioned the racy image in part: 'I recommend you all living in the jungle for 42 days.'

Bombshell: A previous image shared to Instagram saw Simone flaunting extreme cleavage in a very low-cut black ensemble, and styled her signature blonde locks in messy waves

The starlet lost 6.3 kilograms after spending 42 days on I'm A Celebrity.

Following her exit last month, Simone told the Herald Sun that her model agents will be happy with the weight loss.

'I could hear all my agents clapping around the world though, I thought they might be happy about that,' Simone told the publication.

'My agent was like, ''Imagine how thin you'll be when you get back [from the jungle]''.

'He was like, 'You are going to be malnutritioned, it will be fabulous',' she added.He has to spend hours in the hair and make-up department transforming himself into Al Capone.

And Tom Hardy looked the spitting image of the notorious gangster as he filmed scenes for upcoming biopic, Chasing Fonzo, in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday.

Looking virtually unrecognisable from his chiselled self, the 40-year-old actor was seen on set with prosthetics and a receding hairline wig.

Looking good: Tom Hardy looked the spitting image of Al Capone as he filmed scenes for upcoming biopic, Chasing Fonzo, in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday

Taking a break between filming the scenes, the Taboo star was seen puffing on an e-cigarette while strolling around the set.

Showing off his extensive inkings - which will no doubt be covered for his role - as he donned a short sleeved black T-shirt.

The star also wore green combat trousers and shades as he relaxed while strolling around the set.

Getting wiggy with it! Looking virtually unrecognisable from his chiselled self, the 40-year-old actor was seen on set with prosthetics and a receding hairline wig

Spot the difference: Tom has to spend hours in the hair and make-up department transforming himself into Al Capone

Once the most feared gangster in America, the Josh Trunk movie will follow Al Capone at the age of 47, as he battles dementia.

According to production notes, the story will show how 'his past becomes present as harrowing memories of his violent and brutal origins melt into his waking life'.

The Dark Knight Rises star, who beefed up considerably to play Bane in the Batman film and MMA fight Tommy Conlon in Warrior, previously spoke about his fears for his health now he's 40.

Puffing away: Taking a break between filming the scenes, the Taboo star was seen puffing on an e-cigarette while strolling around the set

Inked up: Showing off his extensive inkings - which will no doubt be covered for his role - as he donned a short sleeved black T-shirt

For the project, Tom had to once again alter his appearance, however, he claimed it wouldn't be as drastic as his muscular roles.

The Taboo star previously told the Daily Beast: 'It's not the classic Al Capone that you necessarily envision with the silhouette. I don't want to give too much away about it, but there's definitely a transformation with that role.

'I don't know if it's as drastic as Bane. I've probably damaged my body too much. I'm only little!'

On-set: Tom was joined by co-stars Linda Cardellini and Noel Fisher on the set of the film

'If I keep putting on weight I'll collapse like a house of cards under too much pressure.'

The star added that he has aches and pains in places that he shouldn't and admitted he now struggles lifting his children Louis, nine, and the two-year-old he shares with wife Charlotte Riley.

According to iMDB, the Academy Award nominee was once slated to play the role of Capone in a David Yates-directed movie called Cicero, but the film never materialized.Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with model workers and representatives of different occupations at a plaza of the Hainan Museum in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, April 13, 2018. Xi made an inspection tour in Hainan from Wednesday to Friday. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

HAIKOU, April 13 -- President Xi Jinping underscored advancing reform and opening-up in the southern province of Hainan "from a higher perspective, with a broader vision and greater strength."

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the statement during an inspection tour of Hainan from Wednesday to Friday.

He urged the province to make full use of its environmental advantages and its status as a special economic zone (SEZ) and an international tourism island, in a bid to build a "beautiful and new" Hainan.

When touring the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone on Wednesday, Xi learned about the latest development of the project and inspected state-of-the-art medical equipment including an endoscopic capsule robot. He talked to experts and stressed the importance of boosting the health sector to serve the people.

Visiting the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Thursday, Xi learned about China's seabed exploration in the Mariana Trench and examined deep-sea research equipment.

Xi said efforts should be stepped up to build China into a strong maritime country. He said China should take advantage of the South China Sea as its best natural venue for deep-sea research and experiments.

Efforts should be made to develop deep-sea research bases and push for the development of deep-sea science and technologies, he said.

Inspecting a national seed production research base, where thousands of researchers gather every winter and spring, Xi stressed that feeding more than a billion people is the biggest issue for China and good seeds are vital for increasing grain output.

Xi said China should develop good crop species whose intellectual property rights it owns to safeguard the country's food security.

On Friday, Xi visited the Hainan Museum and watched an exhibition on Hainan's progress over the past three decades.

Xi said Hainan has transformed itself from a remote and underdeveloped island into China's largest SEZ and a well-known international tourism island. It proves that the decision of the CPC Central Committee to set up the SEZ was correct. He called for new breakthroughs in reform and opening-up.

In the museum, Xi inspected samples from a gene database of tropical island animals and plants, checked measures to protect natural reserves, and heard analysis reports of the data collected through air quality monitoring. Xi said lucid waters, lush mountains, azure sky and blue sea are Hainan's strongest advantages. He called for more progress in building a socialist ecological civilization.

Xi later visited the provincial administrative data center and watched how data was being used in tourism and disaster relief. He stressed the pressing need for the government to speed up setting up big data platforms to improve social governance. He urged officials to better use the advantage of the internet to improve policy making, social governance, and public services.

Xi then visited the Shicha village in Xiuying District of Haikou and inspected the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. He was pleased to learn that local farmers have rising incomes from rural businesses developed through the cooperation of companies, co-operatives, and rural households.

Xi said both cities and the countryside should be developed well to reach the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. Farmers should be encouraged to tap into local resources to develop specialized agriculture, countryside tourism, and courtyard economies to raise their incomes.

RELATED READING:

Nation to build Hainan into pilot free trade zoneShe's been plagued by rumours that she's split from boyfriend Dave Bashford, after the hunk failed to attend her 29th birthday bash this month.

And Sam Frost did little to end the speculation on Saturday evening, as she partied solo after attending the races without Dave early in the day.

Seeming not to notice Dave's absence, the Bachelorette star was in giddy spirits as she danced wildly with her Home And Away co-stars Sophie Dillman and Lukas Radovich at the bash.

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Where's Dave? Sam Frost danced wildly as she partied with her Home And Away co-stars... amid rumours she has split from absent boyfriend Dave Bashford

Donning a flirty white minidress, Sam giggled as she threw some shapes for the camera in her Instagram Story video.

Grooving alongside an equally giddy Sophie, the former reality star showed off her goofy side as she busted some moves.

Earlier in the day, Sam was featured in Instagram Story videos shared by Tim Franklin, and cast mates Patrick O'Connor and Lukas at the races.

At one point, Sam reclined in the arms of her friend and on-screen lover Tim, as the group watched a race playing on a screen in their marquee.

Hmm: Meanwhile, her actual boyfriend Dave (pictured) was seen having a blast at Sydney's Bondi Beach

Loving life: Seeming not to notice Dave's absence, the Bachelorette star was in giddy spirits as she danced wildly with her Home And Away co-stars Sophie Dillman and Lukas Radovich at the bash

Meanwhile, her actual boyfriend was having a blast at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

He was seen shirtless in the water, showcasing his impressive chest tattoo as he threw a ball around with one of his mates.

Sam went public with Dave last summer and admitted she was 'in love' with him during a Daily Telegraph interview in December.

'It's nice for us just to be in our own little love bubble and keep that for us,' she said.

But she has sparked speculation that they've split after failing to post about Dave since the beginning of the year.

Radio silence: Sam and Dave (R), haven't shared a post about each other since the start of the year

The speculation was seemingly put to an end in late March, after Sam shared a back-and-forth chat with her boyfriend's dad in the comments of one of her posts.

He wrote: 'Nice snap sweetie. Hope all is well. Doing a great job. Don't work too hard. You know there's always a place to rest up any time. All our love'.

Sam was quick to respond, writing: 'Thank you PB I'll definitely have to take you up on that offer soon.. little R&R down the coast sounds perfect. Lots of love xx'.

The interaction comes after NW reported that Sam has 'quietly cooled' things off.

Not invited? Sam attended the races with her Home And Away love interest Tim Franklin earlier in the dayShe welcomed her first child, Ruby Mae, into the world with husband Trent Miller on Thursday.

And Rebecca Maddern looked every inch the glowing mother as she cradled her newborn daughter in a sweet Instagram snap two days later.

The AFL Footy Show co-host, 40, gushed in the caption: 'Ruby Mae Miller is here. 12.4.18. Our hearts are exploding with love.'

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'Our hearts are exploding with love!' Rebecca Maddern, 40, tenderly cradled her newborn daughter Ruby Mae in a sweet first snap of the tot on Saturday

In the heartwarming shot, Rebecca lay down while cuddling Ruby Mae, who was bundled in a wool blanket, in her arms.

Clearly smitten with her bundle of joy, the television presenter also shared an adorable close-up of Ruby Mae on her Instagram Stories.

Rebecca seemed to be settling perfectly into motherhood, after giving birth to Ruby Mae on Thursday night.

Radio presenter Ben Fordham announced the exciting baby news on the Today show on Friday, saying the parents were overjoyed with the latest addition to the family.

Adoring mother: The AFL Footy Show co-host gushed in the caption: 'Ruby Mae Miller is here. 12.4.18. Our hearts are exploding with love'

Sweet: Clearly smitten with her bundle of joy, the television presenter also shared an adorable close-up of Ruby Mae on her Instagram Stories

'Can I share some wonderful breaking news with everyone? My beautiful friend Rebecca Maddern gave birth to a beautiful little girl,' Fordham said.

'Little baby girl Ruby Mae Miller was born last night. She weighed 7.5 pounds [3.4kg] and is absolutely beautiful. Mum and baby are fantastic and dad is pretty happy too.

'So to Trent, Rebecca and little Ruby Mae - she's been so excited about this and the delivery has arrived.'

Last month, Rebecca revealed why the couple wanted to keep the sex of the baby a surprise for them.

Proud parents: Rebecca and her husband Trent Miller welcomed their first child on Thursday night

'I've always maintained that I didn't want to find out. I just felt like it was one of the greatest surprises in life - a true legitimate surprise - there was no cheating,' she told 9Honey last month.

The Geelong-raised journalist, who experienced morning sickness early on in the pregnancy, said that her baby would be a cats supporter.

'My child will be a Cats supporter. There's no debate, no changing, no just going with what your friends do at school. If they like AFL, they will be a Geelong Cats supporter.'

Excited: The new mum has been documenting her preparation in the lead-up to the arrival of her baby

In the lead-up to giving birth, Rebecca shared a photo with her 81,000 followers of the nursery she had set up in her home.

'Love natural light filled rooms EXCEPT when you want a little person to sleep!' she said on Instagram.

'The reoccurring piece of advice from everyone who knew I was expecting was - make the nursery dark.'

She previously expressed her gratitude about falling pregnant at her age and opened up about her struggles to conceive.

Any day now! The pair kept the sex of the baby secret - and they decorated the nursery with neutral colours

'I have fallen pregnant when I'm 40 and that's an extraordinary thing to happen. It really is a minor miracle. I'm enjoying and relishing every day,' Rebecca told the Herald Sun.

The Australian Ninja Warrior co-host also said she and her husband had been trying for a baby for some time but it hadn't been smooth sailing.

'When it happened, that's why there were all these emotions, I was overjoyed and I couldn't believe it until it was real,' she told the publication.

'Until you get to the 12 and 13-week mark you worry, but then when you get to that, there is a collective sigh of relief.'Ewan McGregor has been mending his heartache with 'on-off girlfriend' Mary Elizabeth Winstead, with the pair spotted holding hands earlier in April.

But the actor's daughter Clara seemingly ignored her father's 'romance' when she defiantly shared a throwback to her parents in happier times as a couple.

A youthful Ewan and now-estranged wife Eve can be seen posing for a lovely family portrait with Clara as a baby on a getaway to Nice, in France.

Happier times: Ewan McGregor's daughter Clara, 22, shared throwback snap of her parents on Instagram on Saturday as dad moves on with Mary Winstead

Back in happier days, the trio enjoyed a lavish lunch at Lido Plage in the south of France on their sun-soaked holiday.

Clara revealed the baby was herself when she penned 'lil me' across the snap using typography via Instagram stories.

The Instagram shortly follows pictures of Ewan holding hands with his latest squeeze Mary on the set of her latest movie Gemini Man, in Georgia.

Adorable: Clara revealed the baby was herself when she penned 'lil me' across the snap using typography via Instagram stories

Their loved-up display seems to have silenced rumours that the pair had split but People insisted they were still an item in February despite the break-up reports.

Ewan and Mary first went public with their budding romance in Los Angeles in November as he moves on from his wife of 22 years.

Ewan and his estranged wife Eve have three children together: Clara, 21, Jamyan, 16, Esther, 15, and Anouk, aged six.

Happier times: Ewan's estranged wife Eve left their daughter Clara red-faced as she took to Instagram to share a comment beneath an extremely saucy image

The McGregor family have been hitting headlines of late after patriarch Ewan controversianlly filed for divorce from Eve last month  six months after being spotted kissing his Fargo co-star Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

It was claimed Ewan has been dumped by Mary because she was unhappy with being dubbed a 'homewrecker'.

Model Clara is a prominent Instagram users, boasting a whopping 26,000 followers, and she litters her page with a combination of both stunning shots of herself and also artistic images - hence the now-deleted snap of Helmut Newton's work.

The Trainspotting and Star Wars actor blamed irreconcilable differences for the split from his wife, the mother of his four daughters who are aged between seven and 22. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Eve for comment.

Shock: In images viewed by Mirror , the 22-year-old model is said to have posted a saucy snap of photographer Helmut Newton's Office Love, Paris, which depicts an extremely graphic scene between a couple sprawled across a conference table

Model moments: Clara is an aspiring model and often litters her Instagram account with both saucy pictures of herself and also many artistic shots

Eve was reportedly left devastated after pictures were published last October of Ewan kissing his co-star in a London cafe.

His 15-year-old daughter Esther later posted a song on Instagram about the s*** I found online, singing: Seeing those pictures, theyre making me cry And I dont know how to forgive. I dont know if I can.

The news of Ewans reported split from Mary is revealed in the latest edition of US magazine Star. A source told the publication: Mary hated being labelled a home wrecker and the embarrassment it caused her.

'Its sad because a year ago Ewan and his wife were in great shape and then he decided to throw it all away for Mary. Now it looks like hes lost them both for good.

Eve told The Mail on Sunday, No, I hadnt heard, when asked if she knew about her husbands split from his lover. Asked for comment, she said: I really dont know. Sorry.

Production designer Eve was said to be furious when her husband won the Best Actor In A Limited Series award at this years Golden Globes and thanked both her and his mistress.

I want to take a moment to just say thank you to Eve who always stood by me for 22 years and our four children Clara, Esther, Jamyan and Anouk, he said. And there wouldnt have been any Ray [his Fargo character] without Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

When asked about his words, Eve said: No, I did not like his speech.

She called their divorce disappointing and upsetting before adding: My main concern is our four children are OK. Mary announced she was splitting from her husband of seven years Riley Stearns last May  as she filmed the series.She regularly treats her fans to an array of sizzling snaps during her well-documented holidays.

So it's no wonder Kelly Brook showcased her sensational figure during her getaway in Marrakesh, Morocco on Instagram on Saturday.

The busty model, 38, slipped her curvaceous figure into a plunging white bikini as she posed next to an outdoor shower.

Wow-factor! Kelly Brook showcased her sensational figure during her getaway in Marrakesh, Morocco on Instagram on Saturday

For one snap, the Strictly Come Dancing star put on an eye-popping display in her skimpy attire and captioned the image: 'The best kind of April Shower.'

Ensuring focus remained on her scantily-clad appearance, Kelly sported drenched locks and wore a slash of pink lipstick.

In another image, the One Big Happy actress showcased her peachy derriere as she cheekily lifted her white and lilac beach cover-up.

Sultry: The busty model, 38, showcased her peachy derriere as she cheekily lifted her white and lilac beach cover-up

Racy: The Strictly Come Dancing star slipped her curvaceous figure into a plunging white bikini as she posed next to an outdoor shower

The stunning star has treated herself to a whopping eight holidays this year.

From St Tropez to Hong Kong, Kelly has filled up the pages in her passport with several exotic locations with handsome beau Jeremy Parisi.

Most recently, the Kent native jetted off to Paris for a second time this year, following her romantic visit to the city of love in February.

Prior to the Paris exploration, Kelly and Jeremy visited Hong Kong, Phuket, California, Miami, Antigua and Iceland.

Living it up: Most recently, the Kent native jetted off to Paris for a second time this year, following her romantic visit to the city of love in February

Sweet: Kelly and her beau Jeremy Parisi jetted to Hong Kong and explored the inner workings of the bustling city in March

Idyllic: The Piranha 3D actress beamed with delight as she took a dip in a clear blue pool in Phuket last month

Busy bee: The brunette beauty visited California to film for Skechers in February

During her idyllic getaways, the sizzling star regularly showcases her incredible figure in revealing ensembles.

Kelly recently revealed she is more confident than ever with her body, now she is approaching her 40s.

Speaking to The Sun earlier this month, the television personality admitted she no longer stresses about maintaining a super-slim figure as she wants to live life to the full, and instead focus on keeping fit and healthy.

Cosy: The long-term couple stayed in Miami's Soho Beach house for their holiday in Florida two months ago

Kelly revealed that she has a carefree approach to her body now she is older, and has learned to appreciate her natural self over the years.

She explained: 'To get to an age where you go, 'This is who I am, wrinkles and all, saggy boobs and all' and think, 'Whatever', just makes you really happy.'

Revealing this attitude has made her happier than ever, she said: 'I'm more confident with my body now than I was when I was younger.'

Beach babe: In February, Kelly and Jeremy soaked up the sun during their break in AntiguaShirley Ballas is reportedly set to receive a huge pay rise for the next series of Strictly Come Dancing to match former head judge, Len Goodman.

According to The Mirror, the former professional ballroom dancer, 57, will be paid a staggering 70,000 atop her 180,000 she was paid by the BBC last year following the corporation's recent gender pay row.

A source revealed: 'Shirley was thrilled her salary was brought up to what Len Goodman was paid in the role of head judge' - which was said to be 250,000, the same amount which judge Bruno Tonioli, 62, was also paid.

'Great victory for equal pay': Shirley Ballas, 57, is reportedly set to receive a huge pay rise for the next series of Strictly Come Dancing to match former head judge, Len Goodman

The source continued: 'She couldnt see why she should get less than the person she replaced - especially after more than proving herself in her first year. Its a great victory for equal pay.'

Shirley has yet to confirm that she will be returning as head judge this year, but it is now said that she is 'highly likely' to sign the new contract and wants to 'set the tone' for the BBC with her 'equal gender salary.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Shirley and Strictly Come Dancing for further comment.

Len, 73, had served on the Strictly panel for 12 years before he was replaced by Shirley last year.

Equal: According to The Mirror, the former professional ballroom dancer will be paid a staggering 70,000 atop her 180,000 to match Len's 250,000 salary

'Thrilled her salary was brought up': Shirley is hoping to 'set the tone' with her reported pay rise following on from BBC's recent gender pay row

The Latin ballroom expert was paid 180,000 - the same salary as fellow judges Darcey Bussell, 48, and Craig Revel Horwood, 53.

BBC's gender pay row kicked off in January after China Editor, Carrie Gracie resigned - citing pay inequality with male international editors earning more than her.

The journalist, 55, who was paid 135,000-a-year, quit with a scathing 1,400-word open letter on her blog declaring 'enough is enough' and accusing the corporation of widespread discrimination.

Meanwhile, reports of Shirley's Strictly pay package comes after endless reports that she has signed up for a second series.

According to The Sun, the dancer is set to sign her contract in a matter of days, leaving producers and the rest of the show team 'chuffed'.

Only time will tell: Shirley has yet to confirm that she will be returning as head judge this year, but it is now said that she is 'highly likely' to sign the new contract - with Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell and Bruno Tonioli

Veteran: Len, 73, had served on the Strictly panel for 12 years before he was replaced by Shirley last year

Shirley made her debut as head judge Len Goodman's replacement last year, and delighted viewers with her impressive dance knowledge and on-screen chemistry with her fellow judges.

A source told the paper on Wednesday: 'Shirley and the BBC wanted to do another series so everyone's chuffed they've come to an agreement. The whole panel is coming back.

'Viewers seemed to like the chemistry between them. It's all verbally agreed. Formal contracts should be signed in the coming days.'

Shirley has been open about her desire to return to the beloved BBC dance competition ever since making her debut in September.

Coming back? Meanwhile, reports of Shirley's Strictly pay package comes after endless reports that she has signed up for a second series

Speaking on This Morning ahead of the final last year, she said of her new role: 'Ive had the most spectacular time.

'Theres been some things to get used to like Twitter and the press, but generally Ive thoroughly enjoyed every minute of being on the show. Ive thoroughly enjoyed everybodys journeys.'

While she impressed fans overall, Shirley found herself criticised by viewers for her 'harsh' marking, which caused outrage when Aston Merrygold was voted out of the competition much earlier than anticipated.

She also became embroiled in tension with professional dancer Brendan Cole - with the pair enduring a tiff on-air when Shirley critcised his partner Charlotte Hawkins.

Sticking up for the newsreader, Brendan had blasted Shirley for 'under-marking' their routine, and their feud only intensified from then onwards.

Shirley later claimed that the professional dancer, who she used to teach, had 'hurt' her feelings, although she insisted she would accept his apology if he came to her.

Brendan has since suffered a shock axing from the show, after serving as a professional dance partner for thirteen years.

It is believed that Shirley will be returning to the second series alongside the other three beloved judges - Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell and Bruno Tonioli.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Strictly Come Dancing and Shirley for comment.Sick and injured sea turtles at Australia Zoo have found a saviour in actor Russell Crowe, who has shelled out for a vital piece of medical equipment.

Crowe recently donated a brand new endoscope worth $50,000 to the zoo's Wildlife Hospital.

The endoscope will allow vets to conduct otherwise invasive surgical procedures with minimal impact on the patient, by avoiding large incisions to perform surgeries like removing fish hooks from the gullet and upper gastrointestinal tract.

This will result in faster patient recovery time and a greater chance of survival.

Wildlife Warriors founder Terri Irwin said she was very grateful for the donation.

"This endoscope will mean a higher success rate for rehabilitating sick and injured sea turtles, enabling even more of these endangered animals to be returned to the ocean," she said.

"Russell Crowe's generosity will not only benefit individual sea turtles, but will also contribute to the well being of entire species."US President Donald Trump's announcement of precision strikes in Syria send an unequivocal message to the Assad regime, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says.

President Trump announced a combined operation with Britain and France on Saturday to target Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capabilities after a poison gas attack killed at least 60 people in Douma last week.

"The use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances is illegal and utterly reprehensible. The Assad regime must not be allowed to commit such crimes with impunity," Mr Turnbull said in a statement on Saturday.

"Russia must fulfil its responsibilities as a permanent member of the Security Council and not obstruct UNSC responses to the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

"Russia and Syria's other main supporter, Iran, must place pressure on the regime to end its abuse of international law and human rights."Australian forces have played no part in the joint US, British and French strikes against the Assad regime in Syria, the Coalition has confirmed.

Defence Minister Marise Payne spoke to US Secretary of Defence James Mattis on Saturday morning for a briefing on the three targets of the strike but assured reporters no request for support had been made.

"It has reduced the regime's ability to use chemical weapons in the future and sends a clear and strong message that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated by the international community." Ms Payne told reporters in Sydney.US President Donald Trump's allied-backed missile strikes on Syria "means very little" and won't deter dictators from further chemical weapons attacks, a University of Melbourne expert says.

Saturday's strikes by the US, Britain and France have been designed to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical weapons attack that left 60 civilians dead in Douma a week ago.

But international relations expert Dr Denis Dragovic says the attack, similar to last year's missile strikes, won't stop the use of chemical weapons - unless the US follows with broader long term strategy for Syria.

"It's not going to topple Assad," Dr Dragovic, honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne, told AAP.

"It's not sending a message to tyrants and dictators around the world.

"It's not going to change something on the ground in Syria."

This will be viewed as a short-term intervention by the US and the West, but it does not signify a shift in strategy that will see an end to the war in Syria, Dr Dragovic said.

"For the people in Syria it's a never-ending horror, regardless of what's being used - they're dying," the former aid worker said.

"For the people in the West, it's a new horror so we get shocked into action. This is a show of force."

His comments come as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on Syria's allies to keep the Assad regime in check.

"(The air strikes) send an unequivocal message to the Assad regime and its backers, Russia and Iran, that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated," Mr Turnbull said on Saturday.Today's birthday, April 15: English actress Maisie Williams (1997 - )

In one of her first auditions, actress Maisie Williams beat 300 other contenders to win the part of Arya Stark in what would become one of the world's most popular television series, Game of Thrones.

Williams was born Margaret Constance Williams in Bristol in 1997. She is nicknamed Maisie after a character from the comic strip The Perishers.

She grew up in Clutton, Somerset and attended Norton Hill School before moving to Bath Dance College to study Performing Arts.

Williams was training to become a ballerina when a talent agent spotted her at a local showcase and persuaded her to consider acting. She was only 11 at the time.

A year later she auditioned and won the role of fearless tomboy Arya on HBO's drama series Game of Thrones, which is based on the fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin.

The show premiered in 2011 to near-instant acclaim and continues to attract audiences from around the world.

Williams has earned praise for her performance in the series. Among her numerous award wins include two Portal Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Young Actor in 2012 and the 2015 Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor.

Williams was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2016.

Outside Game of Thrones, the young actress has appeared in several British films and television series, including the BBC show The Secret of Crickley Hall, the Channel 4 docu-drama Cyberbully, and the 2015 film The Falling. For the latter, she won the London Film Critics' Circle Award for Young Performer of the Year.

In 2015 Williams' guest starred in four episodes of BBC's Doctor Who, playing Viking puppet maker and storyteller Ashildr.

She is currently filming the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones.

William's next big project is to star as Wolfsbane in the superhero film New Mutants, set for release in 2019.Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers a speech at a gathering celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hainan Province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone in south China's Hainan Province, April 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

HAIKOU, April 13 (Xinhua) -- China welcomes investors worldwide to invest and start business in Hainan and participate in the building of a free trade port there, President Xi Jinping said Friday.

Xi made the remarks at a celebration marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Hainan Province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone.

China welcomes worldwide investors to share its development opportunities and outcomes of its reform, Xi said.

Xi announced a decision by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee to support building the whole island of Hainan into a pilot free trade zone and support Hainan to gradually and steadily push ahead with the building of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics.A birthday celebration in Sydney's west has turned into a bloody brawl leaving four men with stab wounds and two others with cuts.

Police who were called to a home in Wentworthville about 3am on Sunday found the house empty but a large amount of blood.

Meanwhile the six men who live at the house turned up at Westmead Hospital, four of them with stab wounds and two with abrasions. None of the injuries were life threatening.

Police say the six were celebrating a birthday when the fight broke out.Ivanka Trump, daughter and advisor to US President Donald Trump, has announced a private-public funding plan to boost businesses started by women in Latin America

Ivanka Trump, daughter and advisor to US President Donald Trump, on Friday announced a private-public funding plan to boost businesses started by women in Latin America.

Ivanka Trump unveiled the initiative in Lima, ahead of a summit of leaders across Latin America and North America in which she and US Vice President Mike Pence are standing in for Trump, who canceled at the last minute to oversee the US-led response to a suspected poison gas attack in Syria.

Ivanka Trump said the plan called for $150 million in seed money that would be multiplied three times through private sector contributions.

The funds would help women gain "access to capital, work and opportunities," she said at a pre-summit business event attended by dozens of Peruvian women entrepreneurs.

Ivanka Trump has sought to promote women's empowerment from her perch at her father's White House. She also has her own self-branded fashion line in the United States.

Her husband, Jared Kushner, was set to join her at the Lima summit later Friday, flying in with Pence, who leads the US delegation.The burnt-out classrooms of the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria, are pictured in 2015, a year after Boko Haram Islamist fighters seized 276 schoolgirls on April 14, 2014

On April 14, 2014, Saraya Amos and 56 of her classmates staged a daring escape from Boko Haram jihadists who raided their secondary school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria.

Unlike the 219 girls who were spirited away in a convoy of trucks into the darkness, most of them not to be seen again for several years, the 57 were considered the lucky ones.

But as Nigeria on Saturday marks the fourth anniversary of the mass abduction that captured world attention, some of the ones that got away are unhappy and feel abandoned.

Most of the 106 who have been found or freed as a result of government negotiations with Boko Haram are now studying at the private American University of Nigeria in Yola, Adamawa state.

"We deserve equal treatment and opportunity," said Amos, who still lives with her parents in Chibok and helps on the family farm.

"Those rescued are now studying at the university while we have been forgotten."

While the former captives have gone back to education at the AUN, Amos and other escapees say they have struggled to finish theirs, despite government pledges of support.

High school tuition fees were covered but auxillary costs such as travel and food have made staying in education impossible, they say.

Amos said that has "destroyed" her dream of becoming a lawyer.

"We feel extremely bad and abandoned, our future is hanging in the balance because the chance of furthering our education is bleak," she added.

- 'Frustrated' -

Hadiza Fali, 20, wants to become an agricultural engineer. She said it was painful and frustrating to see that not all the Chibok girls' fortunes have turned out the same.

"I don't envy my colleagues who are in school, I only feel let down and treated like a second-class citizen. I so much want to continue with my education if given the chance," she said.

"We are not in school, we have been idling away at home for the past one year doing nothing, apart from helping out parents on the farm."

Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the Chibok girls parents association, said students who gained the results to head to university were in limbo and their impoverished parents were unable to help.

"It is true the girls are still at home without anything to do because the promise that the government made to them has not been fulfilled," Nkeki said.

"I met with some of the parents of the girls who bitterly complained that the government has abandoned their daughters at home."

Despite global publicity about the kidnapping, the girls' plight is not unusual in Nigeria's remote northeast, where access to education was low even before the start of Boko Haram's bloody insurgency in 2009.

According to Nigeria's Demographic and Health Survey in 2013, just eight per cent of women in the region complete secondary school.

Nine years of fighting has equally made it harder for students in impoverished rural areas, as Boko Haram has targeted schools and teachers.

- 'Too difficult' -

The Borno state government pledged to spend 1.5 million naira ($4,167, 3,400 euros) on each of the girls who escaped their abductors every year until they finished university.

Three attended a missionary college in the United States with the help of a Christian charity.

Fifty-four others from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok were enrolled in two private boarding schools elsewhere in Nigeria.

Christians were sent to study in the central city of Jos while Muslim students were taken to the northern city of Katsina.

Seventeen girls dropped out because their parents could not afford to pay for food and basic toiletries, such as sanitary napkins.

"Surprisingly, the parents of the girls were left to substantially pay for their daughters' upkeep while in school," said Ayuba Alamson, a community leader in Chibok.

"On one occasion I had to kneel before a mother and begged her to allow her daughter return to school in Jos."

Three of the girls sent to Katsina dropped out because their parents could not raise the 12,000 naira ($33, 27-euro) transport fare for the 730-kilometre (450-mile) trip back to school at the end of holidays.

"They found it too difficult to cope and dropped out," said Yagana Yamane, who wants to be a doctor.

Instead of forging a potential career, they are following a familiar path.

"One of them has gotten married and the other two are planning their weddings," said the 18-year-old, who fears marriage may be the only option for her as well.US President Donald Trump's provocative tweets about possible military strikes in Syria have drawn criticism

Several Democratic lawmakers upbraided President Donald Trump on Friday for using social media to telegraph potential attacks against Syria, warning that his "reckless" and "taunting" language endangers American troops.

Nine members of the House of Representatives, all of them US military veterans, urged the president to immediately halt his provocations, which included tweets this week after an apparent chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma where the British government estimates up to 75 people were killed.

"As military veterans, we are profoundly concerned about the president's reckless use of Twitter and other public forums to discuss the use of military force in Syria," Mike Thompson, Ted Lieu, Seth Moulton and others said in a joint statement.

The group acknowledged that deliberate punitive strikes against Syria should be weighed, given the horrors of an attack that the White House blames squarely on the Syrian regime.

But the lawmakers said Trump's "taunting and flippant language" must stop.

"We have looked the horrors of war head on and we know that launching missiles is a serious matter," they added. "We know that the president's strategy is reckless and irresponsible, and that it endangers our men and women serving in uniform."

On Wednesday, the US commander in chief dramatically escalated tensions after the Syrian regime's most powerful ally, Russia, threatened retaliatory action if US missiles are launched at Syria.

"Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!' Trump tweeted.

After missing self-imposed deadlines for a course of action, Trump put off a final Syria decision and softened his timeframe.

"Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!" he wrote.

Before his presidency, Trump spoke out against US administrations telegraphing their military plans.

During the 2016 campaign, he criticized president Barack Obama and Trump's chief Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for being too transparent about how they would use US forces or react to military threats.Experts doubt President Raul Castro stepping down -- marking the end of the Castro era -- will bring warmer US relations

With Donald Trump in the White House, the end of the Castro era in Cuba next week is unlikely to bring warmer relations, analysts say.

President Raul Castro will step down on April 19, ending nearly 60 years of Castro family rule after his brother Fidel seized power during the 1959 Communist revolution.

Decades of Cold War tension with the United States followed, until Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and Raul Castro in December 2014 announced a warming of relations.

The two countries reopened their embassies and Obama made a historic visit to Cuba in 2016.

But Trump vowed to crack down when he assumed office in January 2017. He tightened restrictions on US travelers to Cuba, and relations have cooled.

Raul Castro's Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57, is poised to assume the presidency -- but his ascension still needs to be formally confirmed.

He would be the first Cuban leader not to have fought in the revolution, but analysts say US domestic politics will play a more crucial role in shaping Havana-Washington ties.

"Unless Diaz-Canel or another comes along and changes things radically, I don't imagine there is going to be much change," said Elizabeth Newhouse, director of the Cuba program at the Center for International Policy, a Washington-based research and advocacy group.

This is because it will not do Trump any good politically to change his views towards Cuba, she said.

His supporters in Florida -- a state whose lawmakers lead the way on Cuba policy -- "want to see this relationship in some kind of freeze, exactly where it is right now," Newhouse told AFP.

If Diaz-Canel assumes power he will not significantly change the relationship, added Mavis Anderson, a Cuba specialist at the Latin American Working Group which has pushed for a thawing of tensions.

The ball is in the US's court right now and that is "sad, because the court is broken," she told AFP.

Following decades of Cold War tensions, Barack Obama and Raul Castro, pictured in 2016, in announced a warming of relations in December 2014

Anderson and Newhouse agreed that Trump's administration has put foreign policy into the hands of hardline conservatives, including Mike Pompeo -- still to be confirmed as secretary of state -- and National Security Advisor John Bolton.

At the same time, Cuba-specific policy is led by a pair of ultra-conservative legislators of Cuban origin: Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, both of Florida.

In this environment, analysts said an obvious first step would be to leave behind the controversy over mysterious "attacks" on the health of diplomats in Cuba and make the US embassy in Havana fully operational again.

- 'His hands are tied' -

In March, the State Department said it will permanently scale back its mission to Cuba, which had already been operating with a reduced staff since September 2017, when diplomats and relatives were evacuated because of the health incident.

In all, at least 24 US envoys and family members fell ill with symptoms that resembled concussion but with no exterior signs of trauma, leaving investigators baffled.

The strange illnesses were not only confined to the US embassy. In January, a senior Canadian official said 27 Canadian diplomats and family members were tested after complaining between April and December of dizziness, headaches, nausea, nosebleeds or sleeplessness.

Newhouse noted that Philip Goldberg, the new interim charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Cuba, "would like to see the relationship moving forward. But his hands are tied."

The Havana embassy has now been declared an "unaccompanied post" where staff are not joined by families.

The US embassy in Havana has now been declared an "unaccompanied post" where staff are not joined by families

This designation must end as it "is causing harm to the Cubans," Anderson said.

Although much of the decades-old US economic embargo against Cuba remained entrenched in law, Obama's administration began to loosen some rules, particularly with the aim of boosting travel.

Trump tightened those regulations again.

"The rapprochement process is stagnant but it can be revived if the US administration changes," said Pedro Freyre, a Cuban-American lawyer specializing in bilateral relations.

He said he is "cautiously optimistic" about better US-Cuba ties.

"The conditions that make Cuba attractive and those that make it difficult are still there."US President Donald Trump announces from the White House that strikes are under way on Syria

The United States, Britain and France launched punitive military strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in response to its latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity, President Donald Trump announced Friday.

Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a primetime televised speech to the nation.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen.

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the alleged toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which took place a week ago, and Trump reacted in an emotional tweet.

"Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he declared.

"President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay."

Trump's anger and apparent determination was quickly matched by France's President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition.

May said there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force against Assad.

Trump's language was more brutal: "They are crimes of a monster."

- 'Proof' -

In the six days between the attack and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling press statements and US debates.

Moscow denied its ally Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain had staged the event.

More practically, at the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

An analysis by Human Rights Watch of reported chemical weapon attacks in Syria

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned that the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

That concern was mirrored by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday warned the rival camps against "full-blown military escalation."

"Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," he urged the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

And he stressed the need "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control."

- Decision to act -

But Trump has long criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a previous US "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assad's forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, who took office on Monday, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimize the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syria's civil war.

But other advisors want to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Iran's growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.President Donald Trump told the world of the start of US-French-British strikes on Syria from the White House

President Donald Trump late Friday announced the launch of a joint US-British-French operation targeting Syria's "criminal" regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack that he called a "significant escalation" in the crisis.

Here are key excerpts from Trump's televised address to the nation, which lasted just under eight minutes:

- Operation under way -

"My fellow Americans -- a short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad."

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both."

- 'Crimes of a monster' -

"Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians -- this time in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

"The evil and the despicable attack left mother and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead."

- Strong deterrent -

"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons."

"Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic."

"We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."

- Message to Russia, Iran -

"To Iran and to Russia, I ask: what kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?"

"The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators."

- Russia must decide -

"In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's chemical attack -- and today's response -- are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise."

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace."

- Syria's fate in its own hands -

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances."

"No amount of American blood and treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East."

"The United States will be a partner and a friend but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people."US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joeh Dunford brief members of the media on Syria at the Pentagon April 13, 2018

A quick series of US, French and British air strikes in Syria were designed to send a "clear message" to President Bashar al-Assad and stop his chemical weapons program, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday.

The Pentagon chief stressed the strikes were carefully calibrated to provide a strong response to a suspected chemical attack, but avoid pulling the West into Syria's civil war.

"The targets tonight again were specifically designed to degrade the Syrian war machine's ability to create chemical weapons and to set that back," Mattis said.

"There were no attempts to broaden or expand that target set."

The air strikes at multiple targets began around 9:00 pm Eastern Time (0100 GMT) and saw US, French and British assets firing missiles at the Assad regime's chemical production facilities.

President Donald Trump's decision to strike Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack came a year after he ordered military action against Assad following a deadly sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun.

"Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said.

"This time, the allies struck harder. We sent a clear message to Assad," he added, noting that double the number of weapons were deployed compared to last year, when 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired at Shayrat air base.

The air strikes appeared to last about an hour. Mattis said no additional attacks were planned, though Trump earlier suggested the strikes could last longer.

"It is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process," Mattis said, noting he expected Russia and other Assad backers to pursue a "significant disinformation campaign."

General Joe Dunford, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US chose targets to avoid hitting Russian forces.

The US military warned Russia of areas it would be operating in, but did not coordinate planning or targets, Dunford said.

Dunford added the precision strikes hit three targets -- a scientific research center near Damascus, a storage facility and command post also near the capital and a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

Syrian surface to air missile batteries had attempted to fire back, but there were no initial reports of any allied losses, he said.

Mattis and Dunford were joined at the Pentagon podium by British and French top officers.Back to school: Former child soldiers attend a maths class

Hundreds of former child fighters in Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile Kasai region face an uncertain future, spurned by their families and their dreams brutally shattered.

Antho Panu, a 17-year-old, remembers the day when Kamwina Nsapu militia came to her village to recruit fighters to battle government soldiers.

"After the war, we will build a house for your parents. You will have a better life when we win the war," one of them told her.

"I wanted to make my parents happy so I accepted," Panu told AFP. "We went to enrol -- me, my brother and a neighbourhood friend.

"There were some initiation rites and then we became Kamwina Nsapu fighters," the smiling and plump adolescent said, speaking in Tshiluba, the main language in Kasai.

The vast Kasai region plunged into violence in September 2016, a month after government troops killed an influential local chieftain, Kamwina Nsapu, who was opposed to the government in Kinshasa.

The militia, which also goes by the same name, took in children as fighters. The unrest has claimed more than 3,380 lives and displaced at least 1.4 million people, according to the Catholic church.

The escalating crisis has spurred efforts to raise funds for humanitarian aid for DR Congo, a mineral-rich yet deeply poor and chronically unstable country.

Donors meeting in Geneva on Friday pledged $528 million (428 million euros) -- a major step, but still less than a quarter of the $2.2 billion that the UN says is needed to help people in the DRC and hundreds of thousands of refugees abroad.

- Ordeal by fire -

Panu's parents didn't want her to go but eventually gave in.

Like many other girls, she was sent to the front line.

"The first time we went to fight the soldiers, several of us were killed," Panu said.

Panu said she and her peers wore traditional magic fetishes that they believed would protect them.

"We served as shields for the fighters. I was never hit by a bullet because I respected the taboos: I did not eat meat or certain vegetables and I also shunned oil that had been used for frying," she said.

But she left their ranks when she learned that army soldiers were rounding up children who were fighting alongside militiamen.

Panu returned to her family. A sister took her in and then made her go to a priest who stripped off her magic charms.

She dreams of joining a music school and "becoming a big artist."

"This time around, I want to earn my living properly and not harm anyone. I want to please my parents," she said.

- 'Just want to be normal' -

But Angele, also 17, whose full name was withheld, was not so lucky.

A soldier's daughter, she left the militia last year and went to live with her uncle and aunt.

"My aunt always regarded me as a criminal. She always said she didn't want a fighter in the house," Angele said.

"I just want to become the normal girl I used to be," she said in a quavering voice. "I want people to see me as just a girl and love me like they used to."

About 500 child soldiers -- 93 of them girls -- have left the militia since April last year and registered with the UNICEF-supported National Catholic Child Association (BNCE) in Kananga, a major city in Kasai.

Many former combattants shows signs of trauma and have behavioral problems

Housed at the centre, many children show signs of trauma and have behavioural problems including aggression, panic attacks, insomnia and bouts of crying, said Rebecca, a woman working at the centre.

"We provide therapy on a case-by-case basis," she said.

Some children are still being tracked by the authorities, according to the BNCE. Kasai prosecutors for instance want to jail 11 ex-child fighters who had been released from custody, it said.

Djikenga Ilungu said he had been recruited by force and escaped when he learnt that "NGOs were asking children to leave" the Kamwina Nsapu.

"We've done and seen horrible things -- killed people, seen others die. It was really very difficult. I now hope to learn tailoring and want a normal life and to be accepted by others," the 17-year-old said.A photo released on the twitter page of the Syrian government's central military media shows anti-aircraft fire on the outskirts of Damascus

Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, France, and Britain launched a joint operation against the Damascus government.

"The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail," said state news agency SANA.

Huge blasts were reported around Damascus early on Saturday, moments after the US, France, and Britain announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

AFP's correspondent in Damascus said several consecutive blasts were heard at 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT), followed by the sound of airplanes overhead. Smoke could be seen emerging from the northern and eastern edges of the capital.

SANA reported that the joint operation was targeting military installations around Damascus and near the central city of Homs.

It said three civilians were wounded in the Homs attacks but did not give a toll for Damascus or mention any combatant casualties.

Several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre," SANA reported.

State media published images of a cloud of reddish smoke hanging over the capital and said that air defences were activated to block the attack.

But it said skies were clear over Aleppo in the north, Hasakeh in the northeast, and Latakia and Tartus along the western coast, where key Syrian and Russian military installations are located.

The joint operation came one week after a suspected chemical attack on an opposition-controlled town outside Damascus left more than 40 people dead.

Western powers blamed President Bashar al-Assad, but Syria and its ally Russia categorically denied the claims and accused the West of "fabricating" the incident to justify military action.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was set to begin its investigation inside the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma on Saturday, just hours after the strikes.

Syrian state media accused Western powers of trying to hinder the investigation with their attack.

"The three aggressors preempted the OPCW's mission in Ghouta, with the aim of hiding their lie," SANA said on Saturday.China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu (C, Front) addresses a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 13, 2018. Ma Zhaoxu on Friday called on parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint over the situation in Syria. The current situation in Syria is perilous, Ma told a Security Council meeting requested by Russia, adding that it's at a crossroads of war and peace. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 13 -- China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu on Friday called on parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint over the situation in Syria.

The current situation in Syria is perilous, Ma told a Security Council meeting requested by Russia, adding that it's at a crossroads of war and peace.

"We call on the parties concerned to remain calm, exercise restraint, refrain from any move that may lead to further escalation of the situation, solve the issue peacefully through consultation and dialogue," said Ma.

At this critical juncture, the Security Council should take up its responsibilities to build unity and consensus and do its utmost to prevent war, he said.

The pressing priority is to launch a comprehensive, objective and impartial investigation into reports of chemical weapons use in Syria so as to arrive at authoritative conclusions, he said.

China has consistently been in favor of peaceful settlement of disputes, and has been opposed to the use of force or threat of use force in international relations, he said.

"Unilaterally taking military action by circumventing the Security Council is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and runs counter to the norms of international law and those governing international relations."

Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity should be respected, he said.

China is convinced that there is no military solution to the Syrian issue and that the only way out is a political settlement, he said.

China supports the United Nations in playing an active role and calls on the international community to stick to diplomacy and the course of political settlement, give full play to the role of the United Nations as the main mediator, he said.

The situation in Syria has a bearing on regional and global peace and stability, has a bearing on the credibility and authority of the Security Council, said Ma, adding that China is ready to work tirelessly for peace and security in the Middle East and the world at large.A photo posted on April 14, 2018 on the website of the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows an explosion on the outskirts of Damascus after US-led strikes on Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around the capital

Hours before dawn, a string of powerful blasts jolted awake residents of the Syrian capital. Emerging onto their balconies, they watched Western strikes light up the sky over Damascus.

For around 45 minutes, explosions and the sound of warplanes roared over Damascus, a stronghold of Syria's regime, as the US, France, and Britain carried out raids on military installations nearby and in the province of Homs.

"I heard the strike and woke up. I checked the internet and read: barefaced attack by America, France, and Britain," said Sawsan Abu Tableh.

She and other residents described hearing a volley of fire in the morning, and seeing plumes of thick smoke emerging from the city's north and east.

"I woke up to the sound of the strike at 4:00 am and checked the news," said 49-year-old Rahmeh Abu Hamra, who lives in the eastern suburb of Jarmana.

Residents of Syrian regime bastion Damascus wave the national flag and portraits of President Bashar al-Assad as they gather at the capital's iconic Umayyad Square on April 14, 2018 in defiance of US-led air strikes on Syria

At that moment, halfway around the world, US President Donald Trump was announcing the joint military strikes on Syria.

Abu Hamra rushed out onto her balcony and saw streams of people heading down to central Damascus in an impromptu rally as day broke.

"We don't care about Trump or a million people like him, we don't care about missiles or anything else," she told AFP.

Just after the barrage of strikes began, Syria announced it was activating its air defence system to block the attack.

The army said around 110 missiles were fired on Syria, but air defences shot most of them down.

- 'American arrogance' -

Syrians wave the national flag and portraits of President Bashar al-Assad as they gather at the Umayyad Square in Damascus on April 14, 2018, to condemn the strikes carried out by the United States, Britain and France against the Syrian regime

Nedher Hammoud, 48, jumped out of bed at the sound of the blasts and clambered up to his rooftop.

"I went out on my roof this morning and saw the missiles being shot down like flies," Hammoud told AFP.

"History will record that Syria shot down missiles -- and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance."

Still in his pyjamas, Hammoud scrambled to join the crowds of people heading to the famed Umayyad Square to show their support for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Draped in government flags and blaring patriotic tunes, dozens of Syrians arrived on bicycles, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white, and black colours of the Syrian flag.

A traffic jam had already started to form around the square, and young Syrians leaned out of their car windows to take selfies as military personnel looked on.

"God is protecting you, Damascus!" some called out, and others chanted in support of Assad and the army.

Soldiers threw up two fingers to flash the victory sign near a car with pictures showing the president, his late father Hafez al-Assad and ally Hassan Nasrallah, who heads the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Draped in Syrian government flags and blaring patriotic tunes, Damascus residents on bikes, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white and black colours of the flag rally in the capital after the US-led air strikes

Car horns blared and people clapped, swaying back and forth to pro-army tunes.

"Bashar, we're at your command! Let the world go up in flames!" people chanted.

Amina al-Fares, 58, came to the rally dressed in black.

"I lost my recently-married nephew, my son, my brother's children, all for Bashar al-Assad," she told AFP, of relatives killed in Syria's seven-year war.

Fares said she felt the bombing early in the morning when she was drinking mate, but said she was not afraid.

"I heard the first strike, then the second, and I went out onto my balcony," she said.

"Trump thought we'd be in bomb shelters, but here we are in Umayyad Square."

Assad, too, appeared determined to show he was not unfazed.

In footage published by the presidency, he strolled through the grandiose marble halls of his office holding a briefcase, as if arriving for a normal day of work.The United Nations has strict rules about the use of military force

Britain, France and the US struck suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities Saturday in retaliation for a "clear violation" of international law, but experts warned they were on dubious legal ground themselves in carrying out the unilateral action.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the alleged use of chemicals last weekend in the rebel-held city of Douma was a blatant breach of several resolutions taken against Syria by the UN Security Council.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also called the strikes "right and legal", saying the international community would not tolerate the continued use of chemical weapons.

France says Syria has maintained a clandestine chemical arms programme since 2013 -- when Damascus ostensibly signed on to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) -- which could encourage the use of such weapons by other repressive regimes.

In an analysis released Saturday, French intelligence services said "evidence collected" showed about 11 chemical attacks, mostly involving chlorine, since April 4, 2017, when sarin gas was used in Khan Sheikhoun.

That attack, which killed 88 people, sparked international outrage and prompted US President Donald Trump's first strikes against the Syrian regime.

"For us, a normalisation of chemical weapons use is a threat for our collective security that cannot go without a response," a source in Macron's office told AFP.

But Moscow, Syria's main backer in the seven-year civil war, immediately demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, saying the Western powers had violated "the UN charter and the norms and principles of international law".

Analysts agreed that in striking Syria without UN authorisation -- impossible given Russia's repeated vetoes on the Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France were relying instead on a nebulous concept of "legal morality".

"The violation of conventions doesn't give you the right to use force," said Francoise Saulnier, legal director at the Doctors Without Borders aid group, which has a long history of intervening in humanitarian crises.

Under UN rules, military force against a foreign power is allowed under just three conditions: legitimate self-defence, at the request of the country where it would occur, or in case of a Security Council authorisation.

- 'Smokescreen' -

Western officials are also insisting on the moral argument for action, saying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must be stopped from using particularly cruel and outlawed weapons.

"UN resolutions have been taken, and today we might be outside the framework of these resolutions, but we are within the framework of international law: This dictator is murdering his own people," Jean-Jacques Bridey, head of the French parliament's defence commission, said this past week.

But resorting to such arguments is risky, analysts say, since they could open the door to the unilateral use of force in any number of situations -- in particular by regimes who have already shown little regard for international law.

"Legal morality is an absolute trap, because what's moral for you isn't for me," said Didier Billion of France's Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.

"What would give France and the US the right to bomb a state?" he said, dismissing their arguments as a "smokescreen".

For Patrick Baudouin, a lawyer with the International Federation for Human Rights in Paris, "it's breaking international law with the goal of ensuring it is respected."

"It's the idea that there is some sort of international humanitarian law based on a 'responsibility to protect'. But this isn't something laid down in international law."

Saulnier at Doctors Without Borders agreed that such notions were "empty concepts" that could backfire.

"What's dangerous is that the West, already waging a war against non-state actors in Syria, is risking an escalation toward international conflict in order to potentially get back to the negotiating table" for ending the seven-year civil war, she said.

But by trying to get around the established rules on using force, "we're liquidating the legal structures built since World War II," Saulnier said, warning of a return to "gunboat diplomacy".A Syrian soldier inspects the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district north of Damascus, during a press tour organised by the Syrian government after US-led strikes

US President Donald Trump and his British and French allies on Saturday hailed their joint strikes in Syria in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons, warning Damascus that any repetition would be met with renewed firepower.

Hours later, the allies signaled their resolve to return to diplomacy, launching a new bid at the United Nations to investigate the chemical weapons attacks.

They circulated a joint draft resolution at the Security Council that also calls for unimpeded deliveries of humanitarian aid and enforcement of a ceasefire and demands that Syria engage in UN-led peace talks, according to the text obtained by AFP.

The narrowly targeted pre-dawn military operation, which took aim at three alleged chemical weapons facilities, earned quick scorn from Russia, but a push by Moscow for condemnation of the strikes at the Security Council fell far short.

Trump and his allies ordered the mission in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack a week ago on the rebel-held town of Douma that left more than 40 people dead.

Washington believes both sarin and chlorine were used in the April 7 attack, a senior US administration official told reporters on Saturday.

Both the regime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and its ally Russia have denied all responsibility. Moscow slammed the "aggressive actions" of the Western coalition but has not yet responded militarily.

US ambassador Nikki Haley warned her UN counterparts that although the mission was designed as a one-off, that did not preclude further action against Assad.

"I spoke to the president this morning and he said: 'If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,'" Haley said at emergency Security Council talks.

- Fresh diplomatic push -

US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned her UN counterparts that although the mission was designed as a one-off, that did not preclude further action against Assad

Negotiations on the draft resolution put forward by the US, France and Britain are set to begin on Monday.

Among the contentious proposals, it would establish an independent investigation into allegations of toxic gas attacks in Syria with the aim of identifying the perpetrators.

On the humanitarian side, the measure demands medical evacuations and safe passage for aid convoys to be allowed to all areas.

Diplomats said it remained unclear when the council would vote on the proposal, and they were ready to allow time for negotiations to bring Russia aboard.

- 'Perfectly executed' -

Just before dawn on Saturday, the sounds of massive explosions and the roar of warplanes rang out across Damascus for about 45 minutes.

"A perfectly executed strike last night," Trump tweeted early Saturday.

"Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

Western strikes in Syria

The targets included a scientific research facility near Damascus, and two chemical weapons facilities outside the city of Homs, the US military said, though reports said the buildings had been evacuated in recent days.

Syrian state media reported only three people injured, while Russia's defense ministry said there were "no victims" among Syrian civilians and military personnel.

According to US officials, the operation involved three US destroyers, a French frigate and a US submarine. The vessels were located in the Red Sea, the Gulf and the eastern Mediterranean.

British Tornado and Typhoon warplanes, American B-1 bombers and French Rafale jets also took part in the strikes.

- Assad defiant -

The strikes were the biggest foreign military action so far against Syria's regime.

On Saturday Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron huddled by telephone to discuss their joint action.

"By working together, in a coordinated fashion, we can definitively prevent the Syrian regime from carrying out chemical attacks against its own people," Macron said on Twitter.

May has faced a backlash from her domestic opposition for launching the strikes without consulting parliament, while opposition lawmakers in the US warned Trump that any broader military campaign would require a well-formulated strategic vision -- and authorization from Congress.

An image grab taken from a video released by the Syrian presidency on April 14, 2018, shows Bashar al-Assad walking into an administrative building in the Syrian capital Damascus

Assad responded to the strikes with a defiant vow.

"This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," he said.

Assad's key ally Iran also slammed the attack, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing Western leaders as "criminals."

The targets appeared to steer well clear of any Russian personnel or equipment in Syria, where Moscow launched a military intervention in support of Assad in 2015.

The Russian military claimed Syrian air defense systems had intercepted 71 Western missiles, though the Pentagon flatly dismissed the claim and said all missiles hit their targets.

- Too little, too late? -

Despite the strikes, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it was still pursuing its investigation into the Douma attack.

Thousands of rebels and civilians have been bussed out of the town under a Russian-brokered deal. Syrian internal security forces entered Douma on Saturday and later said the town had been fully retaken.

Jaish al-Islam, the group that held Douma, said it only abandoned the town because of the chemical attack.

Ahmad, a 25-year-old mechanic who had been displaced from Douma, told AFP the Western strikes were nevertheless too little, too late.

"Assad won't collapse. They'll bomb for a day or two and then the regime will take it out on us," he said.

burs-wd/smA photo posted on April 14, 2018 on the website of the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows an explosion on the outskirts of Damascus after US-led strikes on Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around the capital

The United States, France and Britain launched retaliatory strikes on the Syrian regime early Saturday, a week after an alleged chemical attack on an ex-rebel town, despite warnings from Russia.

Here is a recap of a week of high-stakes international drama:

- 'Toxic gas' -

On April 7 the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and Syria's White Helmets rescue force jointly say more than 40 people have died in a "poisonous chlorine gas attack" in Douma, the last opposition-held town in Eastern Ghouta near the capital.

Blaming the government, they say there are "more than 500 cases" of people with "symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent".

US President Donald Trump announces from the White House that strikes are under way on Syria

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, does not confirm a chemical attack. It reports however at least 70 cases of respiratory difficulties among civilians after regime air strikes, saying 11 people had died.

The regime and its key ally Russia deny any chemical attack.

- 'Big price to pay' -

The following day, US President Donald Trump tweets that there will be a "big price to pay" after a "mindless CHEMICAL attack".

Moscow warns Washington against carrying out a "military intervention on fabricated pretexts" which "could have the most dire consequences".

- Military alert -

Photo released on the Twitter page of the Syrian government's central military media shows an explosion on the outskirts of Damascus after Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around the capital

On April 9, US ambassador at the UN, Nikki Haley, says Washington is determined to "see the monster who dropped chemical weapons on the Syrian people is held to account".

The USS Donald Cook -- a guided-missile destroyer -- leaves Cyprus, moving within easy striking range of Syria.

On April 10, the Syrian army puts its airports and military bases on alert, the Observatory reports.

The global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, announces a fact-finding mission to Douma.

- Missiles 'coming' -

On April 11, Trump tells Moscow to be prepared for a retaliatory missile strike. "Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart!" he says on Twitter.

But the White House says later that no final decisions on a response have been made.

Map of Syria showing locations hit by overnight strikes

The Russian defence ministry dismisses footage of attack victims as "yet another fake" and a staged "provocation" to justify Western intervention.

- Ghouta retaken -

On April 12, Russia announces the whole of Ghouta is all but under pro-regime control as more rebel fighters leave Douma.

"Of course, the chemical attack is what pushed us to agree" to a withdrawal, a top rebel official tells AFP.

President Emmanuel Macron says France has "proof" the Syrian regime used chemical weapons and would respond.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls Macron on April 13 to warn against any "dangerous actions" with "unpredictable consequences", the Kremlin says.

Photo obtained April 14, 2018 from the Twitter account of French Defense Minister Florence Parly shows French military aircraft launching early April 14, 2018, as western strikes hit Syrian military bases and research centres

- 'Staged by London' -

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has "irrefutable" evidence the alleged attack was staged as part of a "Russophobic campaign".

The Russian military points the finger at London.

At the Security Council, UN chief Antonio Guterres warns the spiralling tensions could lead to a "full-blown military escalation".

- Strikes launched -

Several consecutive blasts are heard in Damascus at 4 am (0100 GMT), with airplanes overhead and smoke rising from certain areas, an AFP correspondent says.

At the same time Trump announces he has "ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad."

Britain and France confirm their participation and their allies line up behind the action.

More than 100 cruise missiles were fired, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian defences, Russia's defence ministry says.

There were no victims among the Syrian civilians or military, it says.

Syria's government denounces the strikes as "barbaric" and Iran warns of "regional consequences".

Russia calls for an emergency session of the UN Security Council.Egyptian forces man a checkpoint outside Sharm el-Sheikh airport in the Sinai Peninsula on November 11, 2015

Egypt's army said jihadists wearing explosive belts tried to storm a military camp in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday in an assault that left eight soldiers and 14 attackers dead.

The militants blew themselves up outside the camp after they were prevented by security forces from entering, an army statement said.

"The armed forces were able today to foil a large terrorist operation," the military said.

Jihadists who have declared allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS) have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in the Sinai since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, following mass protests against him.

More than 100 jihadists and at least 22 soldiers have been killed in an ongoing operation launched on February 9 against the jihadists, according to army figures.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad talks with government troops in the enclave of Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus, on March 18, 2018

Syria's opposition Saturday said Western strikes on government military positions did not go far enough, with rebels casting them as a "farce" as long as President Bashar al-Assad remains in power.

The US, UK, and French strikes came after an alleged chemical attack a week ago on the rebel holdout of Douma outside Damascus, which rescuers and medics said killed more than 40 people.

"Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal -- a farce," wrote Mohammad Alloush, a key member of the Jaish al-Islam rebel group that was in control of Douma.

Other members of the opposition complained the strikes would not stop Assad from killing civilians with conventional weapons.

Nasr al-Hariri, president of the mainstream Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC), said Assad would keep using other deadly weapons.

"I think the regime will not risk using chemical weapons in Syria again. It will only use explosive barrels, cluster bombs," he said.

SNC member Hadi al-Bahra said the strikes did send a message to the Syrian regime, but not a strong enough one.

"The rocket attacks today sent one message to Assad: 'You cannot continue to kill Syrian children with chemical weapons, use only conventional weapons' -- a shame on humanity," he said.

The day after the alleged chemical attack on Douma on April 7, the regime and its Russian ally announced Jaish al-Islam had agreeed to withdraw from the town, the last rebel holdout in the former opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus.

The regime has won back almost all of Eastern Ghouta since it launched a deadly air and ground assault there in mid-February.

Since the civil war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests, Syria's opposition have repeatedly demanded Assad step down.

But he has managed to cling on to power, retaking swathes of territory with the help of air strikes from his ally Russia.A video released in January by Boko Haram showed at least 14 of the abducted schoolgirls

Parents of the missing Chibok schoolgirls on Saturday marked the fourth anniversary of their daughters' kidnapping by Boko Haram, renewing calls for their release and thousands of others seized in the bloody conflict in northeast Nigeria.

Mothers and fathers were among several thousand people who marched to the Government Girls Secondary School, where 276 girls were abducted on the evening of April 14, 2014.

Fifty-seven escaped in the immediate aftermath and four years on, 112 are still being held -- a global symbol of the Islamist insurgency that has devastated the region.

Parents whose daughters have been released wore white tabards over their clothes at the two-hour ceremony, while those whose daughters are still being held wore black.

Hannatu Daudu, whose daughter Saratu, is among the captives told the crowd: "Our only prayer is for our girls to be released and returned to us.

"We need to know if they are alive or dead. If they are alive, let them come back to us. If they are dead, let us know so we can at least pray for them and then overcome this grief.

"It is better to know if our daughters are dead than being left in suspense. This adds to our grief."

The Chibok ceremony, which included Christian and Muslim prayers, was one of a number of vigils and protests to mark the four-year anniversary of the abduction across Nigeria.

- 'All hope is not lost' -

Nigeria's president in 2014, Goodluck Jonathan, was heavily criticised for his response to the Chibok abduction but the man who replaced him, Muhammadu Buhari, has had more success.

A father of one of the missing schoolgirls prays for his daughter's release at a vigil in Lagos ahead of the four-year anniversary of her abduction

Since 2016, 107 girls have been found, released or escaped as part of a government deal with Boko Haram and the administration has said back-channel talks are ongoing for further releases and a possible end to the wider conflict.

Yakubu Nkeki, the head of the Chibok girls parents association, told AFP: "We are praying for every Nigerian who is in the custody of Boko Haram.

"Let the government do its best to see that every Nigerian citizen in the hands of Boko Haram is released during this year."

Buhari, who is seeking re-election next year, told the Chibok girls' parents their daughters "will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate".

The former military ruler has repeatedly claimed Boko Haram was virtually defeated but while there have been clear army gains, security threats remain.

In February, fighters loyal to a Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Mus'ab al-Barnawi seized 112 schoolgirls and one boy from the town of Dapchi, in Yobe state.

Four years after their kidnap, 112 of the Chibok schoolgirls are still being held

One hundred and seven were returned in mid-March. Five reportedly died, while one girl -- the only Christian in the group -- is still being held.

Buhari said the return of so many students from Dapchi and Chibok "should give confidence that all hope is not lost" and showed the government was "doing its very best".

Some Dapchi parents were in Chibok on Saturday in a show of solidarity.

Buhari said there had been "unexpected setbacks" in talks because of infighting within Boko Haram.

But he added: "We will continue to persist, and the parents should please not give up."

- 'Meaningful action' -

Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war during the conflict, seizing women and girls to act as sex slaves or suicide bombers, and men and boys to fight.

UNICEF said this week more than 1,000 children had been verified as abducted in northeast Nigeria since 2013, although the real figure is estimated to be much higher.

Amnesty International's Nigeria director, Osai Ojigho, said the Chibok abduction was a small part of a bigger issue.

The government needed to deliver "meaningful action on behalf of all these victims of Boko Haram's crimes" and "far more support must also be provided for past victims", she added.

Fighters loyal to a Boko Haram faction seized 112 schoolgirls and one boy from the town of Dapchi. One hundred and seven were returned in mid-March

The International Crisis Group meanwhile said the copycat abduction in Dapchi showed more needed to be done to protect schoolchildren in the restive region.Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie raises as a judge reads out the verdict sentencing him and more than 100 other defendants, including Egypt's deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, to death in May 16, 2015

An Egyptian appeals court on Saturday upheld a life sentence against the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide Mohamed Badie for "planning violent attacks", judicial officials and his lawyer said.

The Court of Cassation also upheld life sentences against two other Brotherhood leaders including Mahmoud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood spokesman, along with five-year prison terms for 14 others, defence lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud told AFP.

Badie's life sentence -- his third -- and the court's other rulings are final and cannot be appealed.

The defendants were accused of conspiring to stir unrest during protests that followed the July 2013 military-led ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood.

The retrial came after the Court of Cassation scrapped a 2015 ruling under which Badie and 13 others were condemned to death and 34 defendants given life terms -- 25 years in Egypt.

The court has cancelled scores of death sentences against Morsi supporters, including against the deposed president himself.

Egypt designated the Brotherhood a "terrorist" organisation in December 2013.Lieutenant General Kenneth . McKenzie briefs the press on the stikes against Syria, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 14

The Pentagon said Saturday that a joint US-British-French operation against Syria's regime had "successfully hit every target," countering assertions from Russia that dozens of missiles were intercepted.

The three allies used ships, a submarine and warplanes to launch a barrage of 105 guided missiles towards three chemical weapons facilities in Syria, officials said, including a research center on the outskirts of Damascus.

The strikes "will significantly impact the Syrian regime's ability to develop, deploy and use chemical weapons in the future," said Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, director of the US military's Joint Staff, though he noted a "residual" element remained.

"I'm not going to say that they are going to be unable to continue to conduct a chemical attack in the future," he said.

"I suspect, however, they'll think long and hard about it based on the activities of last night."

The missiles hit their targets within a minute or two of each other, McKenzie said, striking around 4:00 am Syrian time (0100 GMT).

The overnight operation was the culmination of a week of frenetic planning at the Pentagon, with officials weighing the risks of various targets as President Donald Trump sent out mixed messages on what he wanted to do.

"All the options looked at ways to balance minimizing collateral damage against maximum effect. These three targets seemed to hit the sweet spot and do that," McKenzie said.

He said there were no known civilian casualties, but noted Syria had fired about 40 unguided surface-to-air missiles, most of which didn't launch until after the allied strike was over. These missiles may have come down in populated areas, he said.

"When you shoot iron into the air without guidance, it's going to come down somewhere," McKenzie said.

The Russian military said that 103 cruise missiles were fired including Tomahawk missiles, but that Syrian air defense systems managed to intercept 71.

McKenzie countered that "the Syrian response was remarkably ineffective in all domains."

According to US officials, the operation comprised three US destroyers, a French frigate and a US submarine. The vessels were located in the Red Sea, the Gulf and the eastern Mediterranean.

The US Air Force fired air-launched cruise missiles from B-1 bombers, and French and British planes also shot cruise missiles toward the targets.

The operation was "precise, overwhelming and effective," McKenzie said, adding it will set their chemical weapons program back "for years."

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White reiterated that the United States is only in Syria to fight the Islamic State group and does not want to get drawn into Syria's civil war.

"We do not seek conflict in Syria, but we cannot allow such grievous violations of international law," she said, referring to the suspected chemical attack.

"We successfully hit every target," she said.

"The strikes were justified, legitimate and proportionate."MINUSCA is one of the UN's biggest peacekeeping missions

The UN mission in the Central African Republic said Saturday it had launched a probe after the arrest of a peacekeeper suspected of trafficking arms in the perennially restive nation.

"A MINUSCA blue helmet in civilian clothes was arrested in Bangui on Friday by Central African police in possession of weapons," the UN mission in CAR, known by its French acronym MINUSCA, said in a statement.

A military source said the soldier was Gabonese and was suspected of gun-running in the capital Bangui, where armed groups and security forces have repeatedly clashed in recent days.

MINUSCA said it "strongly condemned" any illicit trade in weapons.

The former French colony of 4.5 million people spiralled into bloodshed after longtime leader Francois Bozize, a Christian, was overthrown in 2013 by a mainly Muslim rebel alliance.

France intervened militarily from 2013 to 2016 to push out the alliance and then wound down the operation.

Last month, Gabon announced it was pulling out its 450-strong contingent from MINUSCA, one of the United Nations' biggest missions with 12,500 soldiers. It was launched in 2014.

Gabon is one of nine countries whose MINUSCA troops have allegedly carried out sexual offences, according to internal case files reported last September by a US-based NGO, Code Blue Campaign.

MINUSCA's mandate was renewed in December, with a pledge of 900 more soldiers to join the mission.

On April 3, a Rwandan UN peacekeeper was killed in clashes that broke out in Bangui in which 19 people died and several others were wounded.Titled Foundations, Errazurizs immersive design for 2018 is based on iron ore, the natural resource at the heart of steel and one of the principal resources for watchmakers. The dynamic installation suspends hundreds of 3D-printed, scanned, and hand-moulded rocks moving in perfect synchrony and evoking the Vallee de Joux, home of Audemars Piguet in the Swiss Jura Mountains. This design evolves from the previous lounge concepts which were inspired by two other core natural materials native to the Vallee de Joux  ice (Ice Cycle, 2016) and wood (Second Nature, 2017). Errazurizs design will travel to all three Art Basel shows in 2018, a venue where Audemars Piguet has presented innovative concepts in the Collectors Lounge since 2013.

Foundations  Audemars Piguet

Similarly, Quayolas new photographic series, titled Remains: Vallee de Joux, unifies the natural roots of Audemars Piguet with his own visual artistry. The work transports viewers to the landscape of the Vallee where Quayolas visual images were crafted. Throughout 2018, Quayolas artwork on the lounge will evolve, concluding in December at Art Basel in Miami Beach with the reveal of a new moving-image artwork: Promenade, a video diptych captured through drone technology and high-precision scanning. Quayolas works use recent hi-tech innovations to help viewers see the natural world in alternative ways, while his techniques reflect the careful craftsmanship and precision of watchmaking.

Remains: Vallee de Joux  Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet works once again with Sebastian Errazuriz who has been creating lounge concepts for Audemars Piguet since 2016, and with Quayola, who first collaborated with the Manufacture in 2012 for the exhibition commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the iconic Royal Oak watch. The brands engagement with Errazuriz and Quayola illustrates its commitment to nurturing long-term relationships with artists, as well as the Manufactures enduring dedication to supporting craft and creative innovation.

"I have loved being able to create and collaborate on a three-part design with Audemars Piguet", said Sebastian Errazuriz. "The material elements at the core of the project ice, water, and this year, iron ore are all integral to their roots. Foundations has a multiplicity of meanings. The foundation is where everything begins, where the new time starts, and where energy and movement come alive. Its also a reference to the founders of the Manufacture and the family legacy that is so beautifully kept alive today."

"Remains: Vallee de Joux and Promenade represent the latest iteration of my ongoing focus on nature and the tradition of landscape painting", added Quayola. "Im interested in the differences between human perception and machine vision and I explore new aesthetics that go beyond our senses and the historic tradition of landscape painting. The result is a series of ultra-high definition digital images that give pause for us to rethink depictions of the landscape today, with admiration for the Vallee de Joux."

Olivier Audemars, Vice President of the Board of Directors, concluded: "It gives us great pleasure and pride to present works by Sebastian and Quayola once again, marking a continuity in Audemars Piguets relationship with two innovative artists whose concepts directly parallel the artisanal quality and craftsmanship at the heart of our heritage. Our partnership is a natural fit, given both artists many similarities with the tradition of watchmaking: creative innovation, technical mastery, skilful precision, and a dedication to creating beauty in their work."Buses carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their families from their former rebel bastion of Douma, arrive at a checkpoint controlled by Turkish-backed rebel fighters near the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab

Hundreds of miles from their homes in Syria's wrecked Eastern Ghouta, displaced Syrians say Western air strikes Saturday in response to an alleged chemical attack there were too little, too late.

The United States, Britain and France targeted military and research sites in Syria after the purported toxic attack on Eastern Ghouta's last rebel holdout of Douma a week earlier.

Medics and rescuers said the alleged chemical attack killed more than 40 people in Douma, weeks into a brutal regime air and ground assault to retake the wider region on the outskirts of Damascus from rebels.

"We're so happy to see that someone felt for us," said Nadia Sidawi, 46, one of thousands of displaced Douma residents now living in northern Syria after they were evacuated from the town.

But "the strikes are not enough," said the mother-of-eight, sitting on a mattress outside a white tent in a camp for the displaced more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) from her home in Douma.

President Bashar al-Assad "killed us -- our children, our women. He destroyed our homes," said the housewife, whose hair was wrapped in a black scarf.

More than 1,700 civilians were killed in a Russia-backed regime assault on Eastern Ghouta since mid-February.

Since then, Assad's forces have retaken almost the entire rebel bastion through the military operation and Moscow-brokered evacuation deals.

An agreement for the Jaish al-Islam rebels who once controlled Douma has seen thousands of people -- rebels and civilians -- bussed up to a rebel-held area of the northern province of Aleppo.

- 'Nobody stopped them' -

Jaish al-Islam fighter Saleh Ibrahim, 26, said he was not optimistic that Saturday's air strikes would have any long-term impact on Syria's seven-year war.

"If Western countries had really wanted to get rid of Assad, they would have done it seven years ago," he said, at the camp for the displaced near the city of Al-Bab.

Syria's conflict started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests and has since spiralled into a complex war involving world powers.

Nada, a 40-year-old nurse from Douma who did not give her second name, said the US-led air strikes were more than warranted but came far too late.

Before the regime launched heavy air strikes on Eastern Ghouta on February 18, people in the former opposition bastion had endured five years of regime siege and food shortages.

"Nobody stopped them from besieging us. Children died of malnutrition," the nurse said.

"Everybody held meetings and negotiations and nothing came of anything," said the mother-of-six, who said she has lost touch with some of her children since being evacuated from Ghouta.

Numerous rounds of UN-backed talks have failed to stem Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced more than half the country's population.

Backed by Russia, regime forces have taken back large parts of Syria in the past few years. Fully retaking Eastern Ghouta would be a major achievement for Assad.

Abu Adnan al-Doumani, 42, said he was also disappointed in Western powers.

"The United States, France and the United Kingdom always said they were friends of the Syrian people," said the unemployed father-of-six, who wore a long black beard.

"But they have proven to be out worst enemies as Assad is in fact their protege," he said.

"They let him do what he wants, kill who he wants."An employee of cement giant Lafarge was killed in Syria and another has been missing for years, an AFP investigation found, as the company faces a judicial probe into its choice to cling on in Syria after other international firms fled the fighting

A former human resources manager of cement giant Lafarge has been charged in France for "endangering the lives of others" during operations in war-torn Syria, sources told AFP on Saturday.

Sonia Artinian, the group's HR director from September 2013 to July 2015, was not charged, however, with financing a terrorist organisation after being summoned last month by investigating judges in Paris.

The choice to cling on in Syria after other international firms fled the fighting has dragged Lafarge, a French company which merged with Swiss firm Holcim in 2015, into a spiral of scandal and recriminations that has embroiled the French state.

Judges are investigating allegations Lafarge funnelled some 13 million euros ($16 million) to armed fighters including IS group jihadists to keep the factory working.

Following interviews, Artinian was indicted for "deliberately endangering the lives of others", but granted "assisted witness" status on the terrorism financing charge.

Her lawyer, Benjamin Grundler, told AFP: "This decision confirms that my client is totally unaware of the alleged facts of financing of a terrorist organisation."

Six former or current top Lafarge executives have been charged with financing a terrorist organisation.

Those bosses could also face prosecution for endangering the lives of their local Syrian employees after 11 of them filed their own lawsuit alleging Lafarge put the prospect of profits from rebuilding Syria after the war ahead of their safety.

In 2013, Syrian mechanic Yassin Ismail, employed at Lafarge's plant at Jalabiya since 2009, was detained by jihadist fighters from a group that would later change its name to the Islamic State.

After several months in captivity Ismail was executed, according to relatives and three former colleagues who spoke to AFP in the northern Syrian town of Ain Issa.

Another mechanic Abdul al-Homada, 35, was kidnapped in 2013 in the city of Aleppo -- and later very likely killed -- after heading there to pick up his salary, four of his former colleagues told AFP.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a conference in Tel Aviv on March 27, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday voiced his "total support" for US-led air strikes against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons.

"A year ago I gave Israel's total support for (US) President Donald Trump's decision to mobilise against the use of chemical weapons," he said, referring to American strikes against the Syrian regime in April 2017 after a sarin gas attack on a rebel-held town.

"Israel's support remains unchanged," Netanyahu said.

"This morning the United States, France and the United Kingdom showed that their commitment is not limited to declarations of principles," he added in a statement.

The three countries had carried out a wave of pre-dawn missile strikes, hitting targets near Damascus and in Homs province, Western officials said.

Netanyahu warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that his "ceaseless efforts to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction... put Syria in danger."

Israeli public radio reported that Western allies had given Israel, which remains technically at war with neighbouring Syria, advance notice of the air strikes.US Vice President Mike Pence, who is in Lima attending the Summit of the Americas, made time to talks NAFTA with the leaders of Canada and Mexico

US Vice President Mike Pence held brief bilateral talks with the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Saturday about the state of play in their NAFTA renegotiations, saying he was "encouraged" by recent progress towards a deal.

The discussions on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Peru came as US officials said they believed they were narrowing differences over a revised North American Free Trade Agreement, 24 years after its inception.

But US relations with Mexico had soured in recent weeks as US President Donald Trump has sought to link the trade talks to Mexican efforts to stop migrants illegally crossing the border into the US, and ordered National Guard troops to the border.

Pence, who met with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R), said he hoped a NAFTA deal was near

Reporters travelling with Pence said the vice president first saw Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and then met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto half an hour later.

Pence's demeanor with Trudeau was notably warmer than with Pena Nieto.

"We are neighbors, we are cherished friends," Pence said after shaking hands with the Canadian leader.

"We think we're close" on a new NAFTA arrangement, Pence said.

"We are encouraged with the progress of our negotiations, and we are hopeful that we can conclude a successful renegotiation."

- 'Very productive' -

Trudeau echoed Pence's assessment, telling reporters he believed "good progress" was being made on NAFTA.

"There is a definite positive momentum," he said, adding there was "potential progress" on issues related to the auto sector.

"We will continue to work hard at the negotiating table, we will continue to negotiate in good faith and hope to reach a win-win-win renegotiation of NAFTA."

With Pena Nieto, meanwhile, Pence said: "I look forward to a discussion not only on NAFTA but on a broad range of issues."

The Mexican leader emphasized the need to talk about "the bilateral relationship we want to have of cooperation and mutual respect."

Neither man responded when reporters asked questions about the wall Trump wants to build along the US-Mexico border, or if Pena Nieto still rejected Trump's demand that Mexico pay for the barrier.

Later, Pence told reporters that the meetings were "very productive."

He confirmed that he and Pena Nieto did not discuss the contentious issue of Trump's border wall.

"I think President Pena Nieto understands that he and President Trump have a difference of opinion on that," he said.

Instead, the pair talked about a recent migrant "caravan" march that left from Central America and was heading to the US before dissipating in Mexico after Trump became agitated over it, and "a great deal about NAFTA," Pence said.

"I'll leave this summit very hopeful that we are very close to a renegotiated better deal for the American people" that is "mutually beneficial" for Mexico and Canada, he said.

"It's not done yet. There are still issues that need to be resolved. But we believe there is a real possibility that we could arrive within the next several weeks at a renegotiated NAFTA."

Mexico has already said it hopes to get agreement on the revised NAFTA deal next month -- but Pena Nieto told reporters there is "absolutely no date" set to sign a new treaty.

The Mexican president has ordered his government to carry out a sweeping review of its cooperation with the United States amid rising tensions.

However, he said in Lima that during his meeting with Pence, he noted a "very positive, receptive and above all understanding attitude" to Mexico's position.

Pence was accompanied by several US officials to Peru, including Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor tasked with handling various international foreign policy issues.

Kushner also took part in the bilateral talks with Trudeau and Pena Nieto, Pence aides said.President of Guinea-Bissau Jose Mario Vaz has been embroiled in political crisis since 2015, when he sacked his then prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira

Guinea-Bissau's President Jose Mario Vaz has nominated another new prime minister, the West African bloc said on Saturday, after talks aimed at ending years of political crisis.

The Economic Community of West African States said Vaz had nominated Aristide Gomes as "prime minister of consensus" after consultations with political actors and civil society.

"This nomination will be taken by presidential decree on April 17, 2018 in Bissau," it added in a final communique after the closed-door talks in Togo's capital, Lome.

Gomes previously served as prime minister of the former Portuguese colony from 2005 to 2007.

Parliament would resume on April 19 and Vaz also announced that parliamentary elections would be held on November 18, 2018.

Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe, who holds the rotating presidency of ECOWAS, and nine other regional heads of state met in extraordinary session to try to end the impasse.

Guinea-Bissau has been in the grip of a power struggle since August 2015, when President Vaz sacked his then prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira.

Vaz has since nominated several prime ministers but he has failed to gain the support of political parties.

ECOWAS has stipulated a consensus candidate who has the president's trust was needed to be a new head of government, and stay in the post until the next elections.

An ECOWAS delegation was in Bissau on Wednesday to meet Vaz and key parties in the dispute.

Regional leaders said they "noted these decisions and dates which will be part of the roadmap" and called on "all actors to work together to bring stability to the country".The intense regime assault on Eastern Ghouta killed hundreds and pulverised swathes of the enclave

The Syrian army has declared that all anti-regime forces have left Eastern Ghouta, after a blistering two month offensive on the rebel enclave on the outskirts of the capital.

The announcement, which represents a key strategic victory for President Bashar al-Assad, came just hours after US-led strikes pounded Syrian government targets in response to a suspected chemical attack on the enclave's main town of Douma.

"All terrorists have left Douma, the last of their holdouts in Eastern Ghouta," state news agency SANA quoted an army spokesman as saying Saturday, using the regime's usual term for rebels.

"Areas of Eastern Ghouta in rural Damascus have been fully cleansed of terrorism," an army spokesman also said in a statement delivered on state television.

At the start of the year Eastern Ghouta was a sprawling semi-rural area just east of Damascus, home to almost 400,000 inhabitants, which had already endured several years under a government siege that slashed access to food, medicine and other goods.

The Syrian government and allied forces launched a massive assault on February 18 to retake the enclave, which had been out of regime control since 2012.

The intense bombardment killed some 1,700 civilians according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, and pulverised the area, reducing many neighbourhoods to rubble.

Damascus has been accused of carrying out an April 7 chemical weapons attack on Douma, the final part of the enclave where rebels were balking at a Russian-brokered deal to evacuate them to northern Syria.

The United States, France and Britain responded Saturday with pre-dawn strikes on alleged regime chemical weapons sites.

The allies have since signalled their resolve to return to diplomacy, launching a new bid at the United Nations to investigate chemical weapons attacks in the country.

A team of experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is in Damascus and expected to investigate the site of the suspected chemical attack.

- Strategic target -

Assad had made the reconquest of Eastern Ghouta a strategic goal.

The last convoy of buses transporting members of Jaish al-Islam and their relatives left the town on Saturday

The Islamist group Jaish al-Islam rebel group, which was in control of Douma, has said it only agreed to leave because of the Syrian government's purported use of toxic chemicals on Douma, which medics said killed more than 40 people.

The group has slammed the Western strikes as insufficient, as Assad maintains his grip on the war-ravaged country.

"Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal -- a farce," wrote Mohammad Alloush, a key member of Jaish al-Islam.

Syria and Russia have both denied using chemical weapons and said the claims were fabrications used to justify Western military action.

- Mine clearing -

The two-month assault on Eastern Ghouta sparked an international outcry, with the head of the United Nations describing the conditions endured by civilians there as "hell on Earth".

Few convoys of humanitarian aid were allowed in while rights groups and aid organisations also condemned the targeting of medical facilities across the besieged territory.

Dozens of civilians in government-controlled central Damascus were also killed by rockets and mortar rounds fired from Eastern Ghouta by the rebel groups that held it.

On Saturday Syria's internal security forces entered Douma, after the last convoy of buses transporting members of Jaish al-Islam and their relatives left the town.

The Syrian army said a clean up operation was under way in the battered enclave.

"Engineering units are starting to clear the mines and explosives sewn by the terrorists in the town to allow the rest of the units to secure the liberated areas and prepare them for the return of civilians to their homes," the army spokesman said.

Thousands of civilians who fled the offensive have already returned to areas previously retaken by the army and allied forces.

A large number of Eastern Ghouta residents were bussed to the northern province of Idlib, which is largely outside government control and hosts several jihadist and other rebel groups.

The civil war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Assad has managed to cling on to power, retaking swathes of territory with the help of ally Russia.Demonstrators take part in the March for Science in Washington, DC on April 14, 2018; local scientists and supporters joined a global March for Science to fight back against what many see as an "assault on facts" by populist politicians

Gesturing towards the White House, home to President Donald Trump who has called himself "a very stable genius," Isaac Newton begged to differ.

"Knowing many geniuses, and being one myself, I would venture to say that was rather a boastful claim on his part," said "Newton," actually Dean Howarth, a Virginia high school physics teacher in period dress.

Howarth was among hundreds of people who turned out to a "March for Science" Saturday in Washington to "create tangible change and call for greater accountability of public officials to enact evidence-based policy," according to organizers.

That was the formal message of the rally, one of more than 200 events being carried out around the world.

But as keynote speaker Sheila Jasanoff said, the signs carried by people like Howarth told a more direct and simple story.

Many of those messages, while more restrained than Howarth's, carried implicit criticism of Trump, who withdrew from the global Paris Agreement on climate change, has defended coal-fired power plants, seeks to roll back environmental regulations, and has yet to name his top science advisor.

"Make America Smart Again," said a placard carried by one demonstrator, giving an alternative take on Trump's "Make America Great Again" pledge.

"We're here because no one wants to be led by the gut feelings of our elected officials," Jasanoff, a Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Harvard, said in her opening address without specifically referring to Trump's widely-reported tendency to govern by instinct rather than analysis.

"Good science depends on good democracy. Let me repeat: good science needs good democracy," she said.

David Titley, a retired rear admiral who led the US Navy's task force on climate change, told the crowd that science shows we need to "take actions now to avoid the worst of the risks we know are highly likely to appear."

Many in the crowd listened under the shade of cherry blossom trees beneath the Washington Monument on the first summer-like Saturday of the year.

Many of the messages at the "March for Science" carried implicit criticism of Trump, who withdrew from the global Paris Agreement on climate change, has defended coal-fired power plants, seeks to roll back environmental regulations, and has yet to name his top science advisor

"Science is what separates facts from fallacies, falsehoods and fanaticism," Titley said. "If we ignore and denigrate science we do so at our own peril."

Suzelle Fiedler, 44, a former laboratory worker, told AFP she attended the rally because of the administration's desire to cut research funding, and "they're dismissing a lot of scientific facts like climate change."

Steven Schrader's sign proclaimed that he is not a "mad scientist. I'm furious."

Schrader, 66, told AFP the administration "is trying to essentially take science out of decision making."Security forces have closed off all opposition meeting points in the Togolese capital as well as firing tear gas near the opposition headquarters

Togo's opposition on Saturday said security forces fired teargas to prevent anti-government protests, as West African heads of state met to try to revive stalled talks to end the months-long political crisis.

"Some members of the security forces positioned themselves just at the entrance to the place where we were meeting," said opposition politician Nathaniel Olympio.

"Very menacingly, they started to throw teargas everywhere. We had to leave the premises after 45 minutes," he told AFP.

The 14-party opposition coalition, which has staged anti-government protests since last August, this week decided to resume demonstrations, despite an official ban.

But since Wednesday, security forces have closed off all opposition meeting points in the capital. The teargas on Saturday was fired near the opposition headquarters.

There was also unrest in Kpalime, some 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Lome, where strong action had been taken to prevent demonstrators taking to the streets.

The opposition is calling for a return to the 1992 constitution, which imposes a two-term limit on presidents, and also the introduction of two-round voting in elections.

Gnassingbe has been president since 2005, taking over after the death of his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled Togo for 37 years.

His son won elections in 2005, 2010 and 2015. The opposition wants the application of the two-term limit to be retroactive to prevent him standing again.

A sticking point to agreement has been the government's refusal to apply the retrospective element, raising the possibility Gnassingbe could remain president until 2030.

Talks brokered by Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo and his Guinean counterpart Alpha Conde stalled earlier this year after just three sessions.

On Saturday, regional heads of state gathered in Lome for a meeting chaired by Gnassingbe, who holds the rotating presidency of the West African bloc ECOWAS.

In a statement issued after closed-door talks, the grouping called on Akufo-Addo and Conde to "intensify their efforts to help Togo's government and political actors" towards reform.

It also called for an end to violence during the process.WASHINGTON (AP) - A Mexican drug kingpin convicted in the 1985 killing of a DEA agent was added Thursday to the FBI's list of most-wanted fugitives.

Rafael Caro Quintero was mistakenly released from a Mexican prison in 2013 while serving a 40-year sentence for the kidnapping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena Salazar.

"We believe he is still in Mexico," FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich said at a news conference.

This image released by the FBI shows the wanted posted for Rafael Caro Quintero. Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug kingpin convicted in the 1985 killing of a DEA agent was added to the FBI's list of most-wanted fugitives. He was mistakenly released from a Mexican prison in 2013 while serving a 40-year sentence for the kidnapping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena Salazar. (FBI via AP)

Bowdich said the most-wanted list is "one of our most valuable tools," and that 484 of the 518 fugitives who have been on the list have been captured.

Authorities also increased the reward for Caro Quintero's capture to $20 million. James Walsh, a deputy assistant secretary in the State Department, said the amount is the highest offered by the Narcotics Reward Program and the highest among the 33 active targets.

No Mexican officials attended the news conference, but DEA acting administrator Robert Patterson said, "Our working relation with Mexico at our level is superb."

Also Thursday, federal officials unsealed an additional indictment against Caro Quintero, accusing him of trafficking in methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and marijuana from 1980 until 2017.

Caro Quintero has controlled the Sinaloa Cartel along with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia since the arrest of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Authorities say it's the first time that a suspect sought by the DEA has been added to the FBI's list.

While the Mexican government has made little progress in capturing Caro Quintero, or in investigating those responsible for his release, Mexican reporter Anabel Hernandez has interviewed him in the mountains of northern Mexico without revealing the location. Caro Quintero claimed in those interviews that he was no longer involved in the drug trade.

__

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this story.

___

Follow Luis Alonso Lugo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/luisalonsolugoPARKLAND, Fla. (AP) - Audio recordings released by a fire department capture the chaos first responders faced as they raced to save victims of a mass shooting that killed 17 at a Florida high school.

Responders quickly realize that many people were wounded and dying in the tapes released by the Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department. There is also confusion over the whereabouts of the shooter as they scramble to take care of the injured at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

A commander tells a dispatcher "this is going to be a big event" and asks for someone to contact hospitals to let them know they'd be "sending patients in all directions."

Paramedics also call for a perimeter around the school to stop parents from rushing in to search for their children.Foreign ministers from the Arab quartet have reiterated that Qatar should abide by the group's list of 13 demands and six principles as a condition to resume normal ties with the Gulf emirate.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain held a preparatory meeting on Thursday on the sidelines of the 29th Arab summit in Saudi Arabia's Dammam, which is scheduled to start on Sunday.

The preparatory meeting discussed the latest regional developments concerning Iran and its intervention in Arab countries' affairs, as well as latest escalations in Syria and the situation in Yemen.

The four countries severed diplomatic and transport links with Qatar in June last year, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism and meddling in their internal affairs, and sparking the region's worst diplomatic dispute in years. Doha has denied the accusations.

In recent months, several diplomatic efforts have taken place to resolve the lingering diplomatic row and support mediation efforts, mainly by Kuwait and the US.

The four states have repeatedly said they are ready for dialogue to ease the dispute if Doha shows a willingness to deal with their demands and stop its "hostile" policies in the region.

Egypt accuses the Gulf Arab state of supporting terrorist organisations, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Former U.S. Sen. John Melcher, a Montana Democrat who narrowly lost a bid for a third term in 1988 just days after a wilderness bill he championed was vetoed, has died. He was 93.

Daughter Joan Melcher said her father died peacefully Thursday at home in Missoula in a chair overlooking Rattlesnake Creek.

She recalled that he had always applied his deliberate nature to his political career.

FILE--In this Sept. 25, 1972, file photo, Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, right, holds a snowball he made, in Billings, Mont., while standing next to Montana Sen. John Melcher. Melcher, a Montana Democrat who narrowly lost a bid for a third term in 1988 just days after a wilderness bill he championed was vetoed, has died. He was 93. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, file)

"He was thoughtful about his votes and the things he supported," Joan Melcher said. "He wanted to see how it would impact everybody, and not just a few people."

Melcher's 35-year career included seven years in the U.S. House and then two terms in the U.S. Senate.

During his time in Washington, Melcher largely stuck to bread-and-butter issues for a farm-state lawmaker, such as crop subsidies and overseas trade. He was a stout defender of federally funded food programs as a way to fight hunger.

"We produce so much in the United States that if we don't have markets overseas, we'll have a glut. It's a continuous struggle to get to those markets," he told The Associated Press in 2002.

A liberal on hunger issues, he was conservative on other issues, supporting Reagan's 1981 tax cuts and opposing abortion rights.

In 1988, he co-sponsored what might have been his greatest legacy for Montana - a heavily debated bill to permanently set aside 1.4 million acres of public land as wilderness, while opening another 4 million acres to logging, drilling, mining and tourism.

President Ronald Reagan vetoed the bill just days before the election, an action Democrats called politically motived. Melcher lost to Republican Conrad Burns, who captured 52 percent of the vote with a campaign that portrayed Melcher as a big-spending liberal.

Melcher backers said his desire to reach a compromise between opposing forces made him vulnerable.

"People on the political extremes, right or left, would not be comfortable with John, who sought the middle to get stuff done," Evan Barrett, a former Melcher aide, said Friday. "He vigorously fought for everything he wanted to get done and would work with anybody to get it done, which is something we don't see much of today."

Melcher attempted a return in 1994 but was trounced in the Democratic primary for the nomination to challenge Burns. Melcher remained in Washington, working as a lobbyist, notably for the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Burns, the first Republican that Montana voters sent to Washington since 1946, was re-elected twice before narrowly losing in 2006 to Democrat Jon Tester.

Melcher blamed himself for his 1988 defeat. In a 2002 AP interview, he estimated that he was so busy in Washington that he had spent only 18 days on the campaign trail that year.

"I was back here trying to get a wilderness bill passed," Melcher said. "When I was defeated, I was a victim of my own lack of form and direction in the campaign."

Melcher started out as a veterinarian in 1950, opening a practice in Forsyth, Montana, among the wheat farms and cattle herds of eastern Montana. Three years later, "Doc" Melcher was elected to alderman in Forsyth, the seat of Rosebud County, and later served as mayor.

Humble enough to mail Montana $50 every year to maintain his vet's license, Melcher was a robust defender of the state's interests.

He kept the Senate in session until 4 a.m. in 1985, blocking final passage of a farm bill because he wanted higher subsidies for his Montana farmers.

Though he preferred to keep a low profile, Melcher was also considered something of a maverick. He was one of only two senators who voted against the Omnibus Drug Bill of 1986, one of only three who opposed the 1986 tax overhaul bill, and one of only three who voted against a U.S.-Canadian trade agreement in 1988.

"If what I get done is beneficial, then that's how I should be judged," he says. "There are very few people in Congress who understand what the West is all about."

One of the things that Melcher knew about the West was cattle - and cowboys. Once, to answer criticism from an out-of-state conservative group, Melcher ran TV ads with talking cows saying they "know bull when they hear it."

And during congressional inquiry into the Iran-Contra affair, Melcher complained about the description of Reagan staffers as "White House cowboys." That, Melcher said, was "mighty degrading to the cowboy profession."GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) - A man sentenced to more than 100 years for sexually abusing a girl was found dead in his prison cell hours after Maryland police identified him as a person of interest in the long-unsolved disappearance of the girl's mother.

Montgomery County police held a news conference Thursday to discuss the 2000 disappearance of Alison Thresher, a copy editor at The Washington Post. Police identified Fernando Asturizaga, who taught and sometimes babysat Thresher's daughter, as a person of interest.

Chief Tom Manger said there wasn't enough evidence to charge him, partly because Thresher's body hasn't been found.

On Friday, police announced Asturizaga was found unresponsive Thursday night in his cell at the Western Correctional Institution.

A death investigation is being conducted by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.WASHINGTON (AP) - Andrew McCabe, the fired FBI deputy director, misled investigators and his own boss about his role in a news media disclosure about Hillary Clinton just days before the 2016 presidential election and authorized the release of information to "advance his personal interests," according to a Justice Department watchdog report.

President Donald Trump, already furious over a forthcoming book from fired FBI Director James Comey, lashed out after the report's release by saying McCabe had "LIED! LIED! LIED!"

The inspector general report concludes that McCabe allowed FBI officials to disclose nonpublic information to a Wall Street Journal reporter for a story about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation, violating agency rules, and then misled FBI officials when questioned about it. It also reveals starkly contradictory accounts from McCabe and Comey about how the conversations with the reporter had come to take place.

FILE - In this June 7, 2017 file photo, then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe appears before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Capitol Hill in Washington. McCabe misled investigators multiple times about his role in a news media disclosure about Hillary Clinton just days before the 2016 presidential election, according to a Justice Department watchdog report. The report alleges that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak with a Wall Street Journal reporter for a story about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation and then misled FBI and Justice Department officials when later questioned about it. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

McCabe, who was fired two days before his scheduled retirement last month, denied the report's allegations in a detailed rebuttal statement. He said that when he believed his answers to the inspector general were misunderstood, he went back and tried to correct them.

McCabe's statement noted that as deputy director he had full authority to authorize sharing information with the media and said he permitted subordinates to do so in this case to correct a false narrative that he had tried to stymie an FBI probe into the Clinton Foundation.

The conversation "was done to protect the institutional reputation of the FBI as a non-political and professional investigative agency, and therefore was squarely within the public interest exception to the FBI's prohibition on sharing sensitive material," the statement said.

McCabe has also said his dismissal was part of the Trump administration's "ongoing war" on the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, adding that he was singled out because of the "role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath" of Comey's firing.

The inspector general report does not square with the Republican narrative of the FBI as a politically biased institution, since the Oct. 30, 2016, story contained derogatory information about Clinton and underscored FBI interest in investigating her foundation. But its conclusion may also be hard for Democrats to embrace, given its harshly critical suggestion that McCabe had put his personal reputation above the interests of the FBI.

Regardless, the report immediately provided fodder for Trump's public attacks on McCabe, a longtime target of the president's ire, especially because of revelations that his wife, during a failed state Senate run, had accepted campaign contributions in 2015 from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close Clinton ally.

The president has made a concerted, Twitter-driven effort to impugn McCabe as a partisan hack, accusing him of covering up unspecified "lies and corruption" at the FBI and calling his firing a "great day for Democracy." On Friday, Trump said the inspector general's report was a "total disaster" for McCabe and asserted "McCabe is controlled by Comey."

"No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!" Trump tweeted.

A lawyer for McCabe, Michael Bromwich, said he was considering filing a defamation lawsuit against Trump and his "colleagues." He responded to Trump's tweet by sarcastically thanking him for "providing even more material" for such a lawsuit.

The inspector general report was sent to congressional committees and obtained by The Associated Press.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the report showed the firing was justified. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the firing "overtly political."

The findings, which had trickled out in news reports over the last month, led FBI disciplinary officials to recommend that the Justice Department fire McCabe. Attorney General Jeff Sessions dismissed him for what he described as a lack of candor.

McCabe, appointed deputy director in 2016, had been a close Comey ally and passionately defended him in a congressional hearing soon after his firing. He could be an important witness for Mueller, who is investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, including his motivation for firing Comey last May.

Yet the report makes clear that the McCabe and Comey were at odds over how the conversations with the reporter unfolded and exactly how it had been approved.

McCabe told the inspector general that he had told Comey the day after the story was published that he had authorized officials to share details of a conversation he had with a top Justice Department official about the Clinton Foundation investigation.

The conversation involved an encounter in which McCabe confronted the official over the suggestion that the FBI should not be taking overt investigative actions against the Clinton Foundation during the course of the election by asking, "Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation?" The official replied, "Of course not," according to the Wall Street Journal story.

According to the report, McCabe said Comey told him that he thought it was a "good" idea to rebut a narrative that the FBI was succumbing to political pressure and not aggressively pursuing the Clinton Foundation.

But Comey told investigators that McCabe did not tell him he had approved sharing details of the call and, in fact, had left him with the opposite impression.

"I don't remember exactly how, but I remember some form or fashion and it could have been like 'Can you believe this crap? How does this stuff get out' kind of thing?" Comey is quoted as saying in the report. "But I took from whatever communication we had that he wasn't involved in it."

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Online:

Inspector general's report: http://apne.ws/lezk1h3The tricks behind a disappearing act that magician David Copperfield performed for years in Las Vegas were revealed in court Friday, the first day of trial in a civil case brought by a British tourist who claims he slipped, fell and was injured after he was randomly selected from the audience to participate in the show.

Attorneys for tourist Gavin Cox, Copperfield, the MGM Grand casino-resort, which hosts the show, and others detailed the route that randomly selected audience members follow during the trick in which Copperfield supposedly makes them disappear from a platform on stage and gets them to reappear in the back of the theater.

Cox was injured along the route in a 2013 show.

Gavin Cox filed the lawsuit in 2014 months after he was chosen for the final trick of David Copperfield's (center) show on Nov. 12, 2013

Attorney Benedict Morelli, who represents Cox and his wife, told the jury during opening statements that the illusion known as the Thirteen was 'an accident waiting to happen' and 'obviously dangerous.' He added that his client was never warned about a possible injury if he participated in the illusion.

'Quite the contrary, he and possibly all of the other participants had an expectation of safety,' Morelli said. 'So, Mr. Cox (said) "OK. I guess I'm going to be OK. Why would David Copperfield, who is so famous, select me and not protect me?"'

Cox filed the lawsuit in 2014 months after he was randomly selected to participate in the final trick of Copperfield's show on Nov. 12, 2013.

Gavin Cox, left, who was injured during an illusion by David Copperfield at the MGM Grand, is overcome with emotion during opening statements

Courtesy of KTNV

Attorneys on Friday described how Cox sat on a platform on stage and later followed a route that took him through hallways and an outdoor area near a door that would have led him back inside. But it was at that point when he hit the floor.

Morelli argued that the audience doesn't get to see the 'chaos' going on behind the scenes, where people are hurried. He said a confluence of events caused his client to fall and be injured - running in a dark area, following an unknown route, encountering an unknown incline, and dust and debris due to construction in the area.

MGM Grand's attorney Jerry Popovich told the jury that Cox simply missed a step when he fell and did not slip. He explained that the site where the accident happened, about 22 feet before reaching the door to re-enter the casino, is essentially level with only a 1-degree drop.

Cox's attorney, Benedict Morelli, told jurors that the magician's illusion known as the Thirteen was 'an accident waiting to happen' and 'obviously dangerous'

MGM Grand's attorney Jerry Popovich told the jury that Cox simply missed a step when he fell and did not slip. He explained that the site where the accident happened, about 22 feet before reaching the door to re-enter the casino, is essentially level with only a 1-degree drop

Popovich said that 10 minutes before Cox went down, Copperfield had walked through that same area as part of another illusion that did not involve audience participation. He said Copperfield would have notified staff if he had noticed any problem in the route.

'Mr. Cox did not slip, he tripped,' Popovich said.

Cox in his lawsuit argues he has spent more than $400,000 on medical care and treatment. He claims to have suffered injuries to his brain, neck and shoulders. He, his wife and sons were in the courtroom. So was Copperfield.

Popovich said that 10 minutes before Cox went down, Copperfield had walked through that same area as part of another illusion that did not involve audience participation. He said Copperfield would have notified staff if he had noticed any problem in the route

The attorneys for Copperfield and MGM Grand sought to keep opening statements, closing arguments and other portions of the trial in which the details of the magician's illusions were discussed closed to the public and the media.

They argued that those are considered trade secrets, but Cox's attorney argued people other than Copperfield, including former audience participants, know what is involved in carrying out the trick.

The judge sided with the plaintiffs.WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on U.S.-led missile strikes on Syria (all times local):

2:50 a.m.

The Russian military says Syria's Soviet-made air defense systems have shot down all 12 cruise missile aimed at a Syrian air base.

Smoke rises after airstrikes targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The Russian Defense Ministry said that 12 cruise missiles have been launched at the Dumayr air base east of Damascus. It said that Syria's air defense assets have downed all of them.

The ministry said that altogether more than 100 cruise and air-to-ground missiles were launched by U.S., British and French aircraft and navy ships. It did not mention the overall number of missiles intercepted by Syrian forces.

The Russian military said it hasn't engaged its air defense assets at its air and naval bases in Syria.

___

2:48 a.m.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says his government "understands" the military action of the three NATO allies in Syria because "the use of chemical weapons is a serious crime the international community cannot accept."

In an early-morning reaction on his Twitter and Facebook feeds, Rutte said it was likely that the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad was behind the suspected chemical attack in Douma.

He also criticized Russia for using its veto at the United Nations Security Council to bring more clarity about the attack. "So again, getting the full truth and the use an international legal approach against the use of chemical weapons has been stopped. We greatly regret this," he said.

___

2:38 a.m.

A Syrian military statement says the U.S., Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside.

Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub, who read the statement on Syrian TV, said "our air defenses effectively shot down most of them." He says one of the missiles hit the Scientific Research Center in Barzeh near Damascus, damaging a building. In Homs, one of the missiles was derailed injuring three people, he said.

Mayhoub says the attacks "will not deter" the Syrian military from its ongoing war to eradicate "armed terrorists" from Syrian territory.

Syria's Foreign Ministry earlier said the attack coincides with the arrival of a fact-finding mission from the international chemical weapons watchdog to inspect the site of the alleged attack in the town of Douma, and "aims to hinder its work."

The OPCW had said that its experts would be visiting Douma on Saturday.

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2:35 a.m.

France's foreign minister says the "chemical escalation" in Syria is not acceptable because it's violating the rules of war and of humanity.

Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters Saturday that the joint military operation in Syria is legitimate, limited and proportionate.

Le Drian says France has two priorities: fighting against the Islamic State group and restoring peace and stability in Syria.

He said "very soon France will launch new political initiatives."

He said France is "ready" to work with other countries involved on a peace plan.

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2:35 a.m.

NATO has issued a strong statement of support for its three allies which launched a military strike against Syria over the suspected chemical attack of last weekend.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Saturday that the alliance "considers the use of chemical weapons unacceptable."

Stoltenberg said that the strike "will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons."

He added that "those responsible must be held accountable."

___

2:15 a.m.

The United Nations Secretary-General says he is closely watching reports related to the airstrikes on Syria conducted by the U.S., France and Britain.

Antonio Guterres says in a statement on Saturday that countries are obligated to act within the guidelines of the Charter of the United Nations and "international law in general."

The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again

Guterres says: "Any use of chemical weapons is abhorrent. The suffering it causes is horrendous." He urged U.N. member states to show restraint and avoid any acts that could escalate the situation.

___

2:10 a.m.

A top Russian lawmaker says Moscow's response to Western airstrikes on Syria must be carefully considered.

"Emotion is not what's needed now, but professional assessment by military specialists working on the scene," Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee of the upper house of parliament, said Saturday, according to state news agency RIA-Novosti.

However, Kosachev said, the attack's meaning was clear: "It's a scandalous violation of international law and this is an attack on a sovereign state without an underlying basis."

Kosachev reiterated the view of other lawmakers that the attack's intent was to interfere with international investigators who want to probe whether a chemical weapons attack took place in the town of Douma last week.

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2:05 a.m.

Iranian state TV is reporting the country's Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria.

The Saturday report said the ministry warned of regional and trans-regional effects and consequences over the attack,.

It said the attack was a flagrant violation of international rules and regulations and ignores Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has sent troops to bolster his forces. Iran insists its soldiers are only in Syria in an advisory role, but hundreds have been killed since the civil war began in 2011.

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2 a.m.

Russia says Syria shot down a significant number of the missiles launched in a Western airstrike, using Soviet-designed air-defense systems.

The Defense Ministry said Saturday that more than 100 cruise and air-to-ground missiles were launched. It did not say how many of the missiles were intercepted by Syrian forces.

However, it noted that the missiles were taken down by decades-old systems, including Neva surface-to-air missiles that were designed in the 1950s. Specifying the age of the systems appeared to be a slap at President Donald Trump who had boasted on Twitter that missiles used against Syria would "nice, new and smart."

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1:35 a.m.

France's defense minister says its joint military operation with the U.S. and Britain against Syria targeted three sites and that Russia was informed ahead of time.

Defense Minister Florence Parly told reporters Saturday that the French military sent fighter jets from multiple bases in France and used missile-equipped frigates in the Mediterranean in the operation. Rafale fighter jets could be seen on a video posted overnight by the French presidential palace on Twitter.

She said strikes targeted the "main research center" for the Syrian chemical weapons program and "two important production sites."

She added that "with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time." Syria's ally Russia has denounced the western military action.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the operation did not target Syria's allies or civilians but President Bashar Assad's government because of its alleged use of chemical weapons. Syria's government denies using them.

1:10 a.m.

Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square of the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance.

The demonstrations broke out early Saturday following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians. The Syrian government has denied the accusations.

In Damascus, the president's seat of power, hundreds of residents gathered in Omayyad Square, many waving Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns.

"We are your men, Bashar," they shouted.

State TV broadcast live from the square where a large crowd of civilians mixed with men in uniforms, including an actor, lawmakers and other figures.

"Good morning steadfastness," one broadcaster said.

___

1:05 a.m.

The British Defense Ministry says four of its Tornado GR4 warplanes fired missiles at a military facility as part of the tripartite attack on Syria.

The ministry says the missiles were fired around 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of Homs, where it was assessed the Syrian regime keeps agents used to make chemical weapons.

The ministry said in a statement Saturday that the warplanes struck the former missile base with Storm Shadow missiles after "very careful analysis" to maximize the destruction of stockpiled chemicals and to minimize any risk of contamination to the surrounding area.

It said the facility is located "some distance from any known concentration" of civilian residential areas.

The ministry said a detailed analysis of how effective the strike was is continuing, but initial indications show a successful attack.

___

1 a.m.

Russia's Defense Ministry says none of the missiles launched in a Western attack on Syria entered the zones guarded by Russia's missile defense.

Russia has two military facilities in Syria -- an air base at Hemeimeem and a naval base at Tartus.

"Not one of the cruise missiles launched by the United States and its partners entered the zone of responsibility for Russian air-defense divisions," a ministry statement said Saturday.

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12:20 a.m.

Syrian state-run TV says three civilians have been wounded in the U.S.-led missile attack on a military base in Homs.

It says the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile but adds nonetheless that three people were wounded.

It says another attack with "a number of missiles" targeting a scientific research center destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. The network says the building in the research center included an educational center and labs.

__

12:05 a.m.

A senior Syrian opposition leader says the international community will have to bear the responsibility for "any revengeful escalation" from the Syrian government or its allies following joint airstrikes from the U.S., Britain and France.

Nasr al-Hariri, who heads the committee that represents the opposition in the flailing U.N. talks with the government, says Syrians need an international understanding and a strategy that leads to a political solution to "save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime."

Al-Hariri tweeted that after the strikes in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack last week, the Syrian government may not "risk using chemical weapons in Syria again." But he added, "It will only use explosive barrels, cluster bombs."

__

11:55 p.m.

The spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry is denouncing the United States for launching airstrikes on Syria. She says the attacks hit a long-troubled country "that for many years has been trying to survive terrorist aggression."

In a statement Saturday on Facebook, Maria Zakharova is also taking Western media reports to task.

Zakharova says: "The White House stated that its assuredness of the chemical attack from Damascus was based on 'mass media, reports of symptoms, video, photos as well as credible information.' After this statement the American and other Western mass media should understand their responsibility in what is happening."

Sakharova is comparing the situation to the start of the Iraq War in 2003 based on claims Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.

__

10:50 p.m.

Syrian TV is reporting that the attack on Syria targeted a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus.

The report says Syria's air defenses confronted the missiles near Homs, and says the airstrikes also targeted an army depot there.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the airstrikes in retaliation for Syrian President Bashar Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons.

Syrian air defenses responded to the joint strikes by the United States, France and Britain

__

10:35 p.m.

A highly placed Russian politician is likening President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler after the launch of airstrikes against Syria, and says he regards the action as a move against Russia.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, says Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time - because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union."

That's according to state news agency RIA-Novosti. The Nazi forces' opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4 a.m.

__

10:20 p.m.

The British defense ministry says "initial indications" show that the airstrikes against Syria produced a "successful attack" on a Syrian military facility.

The U.K., U.S. and France launched the attacks near Damascus early Saturday. The U.K. ministry says in a statement that while the effectiveness of the strike is still being analyzed, "initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack."

British Prime Minister Theresa May is describing the attack as neither "about intervening in a civil war" nor "about regime change," but a limited and targeted strike that "does not further escalate tensions in the region" and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

May says, "We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none."

__

10:17 p.m.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he is "absolutely confident" that Syrian President Bashar Assad is behind the alleged chemical attack on his people that the U.S. and allies retaliated against Friday night.

Mattis tells reporters he is certain Assad conducted a chemical attack on innocent people.

He says the U.S. is "very much aware of one of the chemical agents used." And he says there may have been a second.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that the U.S., France and Britain had launched military strikes against Syria to punish Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons and to deter him from doing it again.

__

10:15 p.m.

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. has no reports of suffering any losses during the initial airstrikes on Syria Friday.

Mattis says "right now this is a one-time shot" but is not ruling out further attacks. President Donald Trump had said earlier that the campaign against the regime of Bashar Assad could be "sustained."

The defense secretary says the airstrikes were launched against several sites that he says helped provide Assad's ability to create chemical weapons. Mattis says the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people last week.

Mattis says the Pentagon will provide more information on the attack Saturday.

__

10:10 p.m.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says military strikes in Syria are "directed at the Syrian regime" and they have "gone to great lengths to avoid civilians and foreign casualties."

Mattis spoke Friday night after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S., France and Britain launched military strikes on Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians and to deter him from doing it again.

Mattis is asking that "responsible nations" join in condemning the Assad regime.

__

10 p.m.

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken "decisive action" against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure.

Mattis briefed reporters at the Pentagon Friday an hour after President Donald Trump announced the strike.

Mattis says the United States, along with France and the United Kingdom, struck because Syrian President Bashar Assad "did not get the message" when the U.S. launched airstrikes after a chemical attack in 2017.

The defense secretary says Friday's strikes have "sent a clear message" to Assad and his "murderous lieutenants."

__

9:50 p.m.

Explosions are being heard to the east, west and south of Damascus as the U.S., U.K. and France conduct airstrikes in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government on its own people.

Witnesses saw blasts surrounding much of the Syrian capital and a huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. An AP reporter in Damascus says the attacks turned the sky orange. Syrian television reported that a scientific research center had been hit.

Syrian media reported that Syrian defenses hit 13 rockets south of Damascus. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, joined by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, speak at the Pentagon, Friday, April 13, 2018, on the U.S. military response, along with France and Britain, to Syria's chemical weapon attack on April 7. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)WASHINGTON (AP) - Text of President Donald Trump's address Friday night regarding airstrikes on Syria, As provided by the White House:

My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.

Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action.

President Donald Trump arrives to speak in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Friday, April 13, 2018, in Washington, about the United States' military response to Syria's chemical weapon attack on April 7. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian Air Force.

Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians - this time, in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead.

Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.

To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?

The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.

In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack - and today's response - are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise.

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran - but maybe not.

I will say this: The United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.

In Syria, the United States - with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS - is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.

The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home. And great warriors they are.

Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil, or act everywhere there is tyranny.

No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It's a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of the World War I, more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return.

So today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.

Tonight, I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions.

We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

Thank you, and goodnight. Thank you.WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump strode directly, with purpose, to the podium.

"My fellow Americans," he began, "a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad."

Sending American troops into harm's way is by definition the most "presidential" act a commander in chief can take. Still, the solemn announcement, delivered in one of the nation's most distinguished settings, was a notable moment of conformity for a president who has scoffed at the conventional.

President Donald Trump walks in to speak in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Friday, April 13, 2018, in Washington, about the United States' military response to Syria's chemical weapon attack on April 7. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The operation had been widely expected, the whole world seemingly anticipating action since the president's Wednesday morning tweet that missiles "will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'"

But on Friday afternoon, nearly a week after the president had first promised a decision within 24 to 48 hours, the White House maintained that Trump hadn't yet settled on a course of action.

That didn't quell the anticipation that had been building for days. The likely window for an operation was well-known: nighttime in Syria, or the evening in Washington, seven hours behind.

The first inkling that something was up on came when the White House sent word to the cadre of reporters who continuously follow the president that they might be staying late Friday night. The early buzz: that Trump would be making a foray to his nearby hotel for dinner.

White House aides put on a determined show of normalcy. Some White House staffers were seen drinking and socializing on the balcony of the nearby Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Other aides were seen grabbing their bags and leaving, ostensibly for the weekend.

But as the sun set, it grew increasingly clear that something more than an off-campus dinner was afoot. Usually chatty aides were hushed, offices empty, doors closed.

Keith Kellogg, chief of staff to the National Security Council, was spotted by a throng of reporters and hurried away, insisting he knew nothing.

Reporters were told to be prepared to move at 8:30 p.m. - destination unknown.

On another continent, Vice President Mike Pence unexpectedly departed from the kickoff of an international summit in Lima, Peru, his motorcade whisking him off to his hotel.

Pence had been tasked with informing congressional leaders about the airstrikes, according to Jarrod Agen, his deputy chief of staff.

Pence spoke to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi before Trump's speech. Pence was unable to reach Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer before the speech but spoke with him later in the evening.

At about the same time, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who had made a show of leaving the building earlier in the day, reappeared. She led a small group of reporters into a hallway, where she announced, in hushed tones, that the president would be delivering an address to the nation, at 9:01:30 p.m. She urged reporters to keep the announcement quiet until the president began speaking, insisting the safety of American troops was at stake.

Reporters were then led into the muraled Diplomatic Reception Room on the ground floor of the Executive Mansion, where the presidential podium and teleprompter were ready.

Trump laid out a joint operation with the forces of France and the U.K. that was meant as retribution for an attack that he said killed dozens, putting the blame squarely on Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air," said the president, who had watched images of the horror play out on cable television. "These are not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster."

While Trump's decision drew criticism from some corners, his public address stood in stark contrast to the often haphazard, misspelled tweets and off-the-cuff statements that are so common in his presidency. And his stern warning to Russia set aside - at least temporarily - Trump's unwillingness to call out Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Russia," Trump said, "must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace."

___

Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report from Lima, Peru.LIMA, Peru (AP) - Thousands of miles from home, Vice President Mike Pence was thrust into a new, more immediate, role on the world stage Saturday: explaining President Donald Trump's military strike in Syria to a summit of Latin America leaders.

Hours after Trump hailed the missile strike targeting the Syria's suspected chemical weapons - tweeting, "Mission Accomplished!" - Pence defended the president while building support among U.S. allies for the joint strikes with Britain and France.

"The objective of the mission the commander in chief gave our military forces and our allies was completely accomplished - with swift professionalism," Pence told reporters, noting there were "no reported civilian casualties."

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a bilateral meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Later, speaking in a cavernous hall of world leaders at the Summit of the Americas, Pence expressed gratitude to Canada, Colombia and other nations that had voiced support for the strike and urged "every nation in this hemisphere of freedom" to support the military action.

Pence's to-do list included smoothing over differences with Mexico, America's southern neighbor, amid unease over Trump's decision to send troops to the border and harsh rhetoric on immigration. And with tensions simmering over trade, Pence expressed hope alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the three nations could soon agree to a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement.

And while Trump grapples with the ongoing Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, Pence sought to draw a bright line against Vladimir Putin's alliance with Syria following the suspected chemical attack. "Our message to Russia is that you're on the wrong side of history," Pence said.

Trump often improvises his remarks and is known for bold declarations in person and on his Twitter account. Pence, meanwhile, tends to be more scripted in his exchanges and frequently glanced down at highlighted index cards as he spoke to Latin American leaders here.

Shortly before Trump's address to the nation Friday night, Pence was whisked away from the summit in his motorcade so he could return to his hotel to inform congressional leaders of the pending missile strikes. Pence watched Trump's speech from his hotel suite, joined by aides.

Unlike past appearances at international summits, the vice president had to dive into the packed agenda on short notice. He learned only Tuesday that he would be attending in Trump's place so the president could manage the U.S. response to Syria.

In meeting after meeting, Pence offered a low-key, extended hand.

Seeking rapprochement with Mexico, which has been at odds with Trump over the border wall and immigration, Pence said the topic of funding for Trump's long-promised border wall did not come up in his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Pence said they simply had a difference of opinion and some issues were "set aside, for a later date." Left unsaid was whether Pence's overtures might eventually lead to a joint Trump-Pena Nieto meeting, their first.

Seated alongside Trudeau, Pence said there was a "real possibility" the U.S. could reach a deal with Canada and Mexico on NAFTA "within the next several weeks." Trump has long assailed the trade deal's impact on U.S. workers and threatened to pull the U.S. out if he's unhappy with the terms.

The summit also gave Pence an opportunity to press the case for tougher sanctions and more isolation of Venezuela across the region.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was barred from attending the summit over his plans to hold a presidential election that the opposition is boycotting and that many foreign governments consider a sham.

Pence urged Maduro to accept humanitarian aid as the once-prosperous nation deals with humanitarian and economic crises. But he called on the region to take a harder line on Maduro's government, a message he intends to deliver in Brazil next month.

"The United States believes now is the time to do more, much more," he said.

___

On Twitter follow Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, meets Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, shakes hands with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto during a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, shakes hands with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, meets Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto during a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, speaks during a bilateral meeting with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto at the Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, speaks with Guatemala's Vice President Jafeth Cabrera after the official photo at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, speaks with Guatemala's Vice President Jafeth Cabrera during the official photo at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, shakes hands with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, meets Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, left, during a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence attends the plenary session at the Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018.(AP Photo/Juan Pablo Azabache)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, arrives with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence waves to the press before the official photo at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center, waves along with other heads of state, during the official photo of the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, shakes hands with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto as they arrive for the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, shakes hands with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto as they arrive for the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Hundreds of Syrians poured into the streets of Damascus on Saturday, dancing and chanting in defiance of what they called the West's "failure" to shake their nation's resolve with airstrikes that jolted the capital only hours earlier.

The demonstrations in support of President Bashar Assad were carried live on state TV, which also reported that Syrian air defenses had intercepted most of the missiles fired by the United States, Britain and France to punish Syria's purported use of chemical weapons. The broadcaster also urged people not to believe media reports that exaggerated the results of the airstrikes.

"We are not scared of America's missiles. We humiliated their missiles," said Mahmoud Ibrahim, who waved a Syrian flag as he hung out of his car window.

Syrian soldiers hold their weapons as they dance and chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

As car horns blared, the crowd moved toward nearby Damascus University where pro-government fighters danced and waved their automatic rifles over their heads. Many denounced U.S. President Donald Trump and also waved flags of Syria's allies, Iran and Russia, as they cheered Assad.

The display of national fervor later mixed with celebrations over the news that the Syrian army declared the eastern suburbs of Damascus "fully liberated" after the last group of rebels left the town of Douma. Its recapture marks the biggest victory for Assad's forces since the capture of the eastern half of the city of Aleppo in 2016.

The fall of Douma came after a punishing government offensive and a surrender deal struck with rebel groups. It also followed the purported use of chemical weapons there on April 7, which activists say killed over 40 people in the town and led to Saturday's airstrikes by the West.

"Trump failed in his aggression," said 51-year-old civil servant Mohammed Hammad. "Trump's failure came with the victory of our army in Douma, which marks the biggest victory for the Syrian Arab Army."

The bombardment began at 4 a.m., with loud explosions thundering in Damascus and the sky turning orange as fires raged in the distance.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising above eastern Damascus and spotted fiery streaks of surface-to-air missiles. The call to morning prayers at dawn mixed with the whoosh of missiles.

Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers blared nationalist songs.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidential account tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Later, a video showing Assad walking into his office carrying a briefcase was posted on the same account. "Good morning, steadfastness," the caption read.

As the sun rose, hundreds had gathered in Damascus' landmark Omayyad Square, celebrating what they said was the army's success in foiling the U.S-led military action.

The widely broadcast celebrations and the hastily organized police deployment in Douma appeared to be the government's response to the airstrikes.

The limited airstrikes came at a time when the Assad government is feeling empowered after having secured the region near the capital following other military victories backed by Russia and Iran in seven years of civil war.

Trump announced the airstrikes Friday night to attack Syria's chemical weapons program. He said Washington is prepared to keep pressure on Assad until he ends a "criminal pattern of killing his own people" with the internationally banned weapons.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted "Mission Accomplished," and the Pentagon said the strikes hit the "heart" of Syria's chemical program.

The U.S. had fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

Syria has repeatedly denied using banned weapons. Inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog group were in Damascus and had been expected to head to Douma on Saturday.

The limited strikes were deplored by the Syrian opposition, which saw the West as lacking an international strategy for dealing with the civil war.

Nasr al-Hariri, a senior opposition leader, said the international community must take responsibility for any retaliation by the Syrian government against civilians in opposition areas. He called for a strategy that leads to a political solution to "save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime."

Mohammad Alloush, spokesman for the Army of Islam rebel group that was expelled from Douma, tweeted that the airstrikes were a "farce."

A Syrian military statement said 110 missiles were fired Saturday by the U.S., Britain and France and that it shot down most of them. Russia's military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 of the missiles.

Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said no missiles were stopped. He added that Syria's air defenses were ineffective and that many of the more than 40 surface-to-air missiles fired by the Syrians were launched after the allied attack was over. He said the U.S. knew of no civilians killed by allied missiles.

The Syrian military said three civilians were wounded in one of the strikes in Homs.

A "number of missiles" targeted a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, and destroyed a building housing an education center and labs and caused other damage, the military said.

An AP reporter who went to the Center for Scientific Research on the northeastern edge of Damascus found the three-story building almost completely destroyed and still smoking hours after it was hit. An official there said the facility was used by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and helped develop cancer drugs.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs also was targeted and was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin production equipment. A chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, west of Homs, also were targeted, he said.

Russia and Iran called the use of force a "military crime" and "act of aggression." The U.N. Security Council met to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the "aggression" by the three Western allies.

___

Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Zeina Karam in Beirut, and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, contributed.

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A Syrian girl holds up a Syrian national flag with a picture of President Bashar Assad as government supporters chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in the landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian soldier wave weapons and national flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises after airstrikes targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

In his image taken Friday, April 13, 2018 and released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) on Saturday, April 14, 2018, a Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft is prepared for airstrikes in Syria at Saint Dizier airbase, eastern France. A Syrian military statement says the U.S., Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. (French Defense Ministry/ECPAD via AP) THIS IMAGE MAY ONLY BE USED FOR 30 DAYS FROM TIME TRANSMISSION.

Syrian soldier wave weapons and dance as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian government supporters wave national flags and chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian soldiers dance as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square in the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire and smoke as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Damascus has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

CORRECTS TO SUNRISE - Smoke rises at sunrise after airstrikes targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A general picture shows the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A fireman extinguishes smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Damage is shown of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Debris surround the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A fireman extinguishes smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

This image provided by the Department of Defense that was presented at the Pentagon briefing on Saturday, April 14, 2018, shows before and after images from the Barzah Research and Development Center in Syria that was struck by missiles from the U.S.-led coalition in response to Syria's use of chemical weapons on April 7. (Department of Defense via AP)

This image provided by the Department of Defense that was presented at the Pentagon briefing on Saturday, April 14, 2018, shows before and after images from the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Site in Syria that was struck by missiles from the U.S.-led coalition in response to Syria's use of chemical weapons on April 7. (Department of Defense via AP)

This image provided by the Department of Defense that was presented at the Pentagon briefing on Saturday, April 14, 2018, shows before and after images from the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Bunker in Syria that was struck by missiles from the U.S.-led coalition in response to Syria's use of chemical weapons on April 7. (Department of Defense via AP)

This image provided by the Department of Defense was presented as part of a briefing slide at the Pentagon briefing on Saturday, April 14, 2018, and shows a photo of a preliminary damage assessment from the Barzah Research and Development Center in Syria that was struck by missiles from the U.S.-led coalition in response to Syria's use of chemical weapons on April 7. (Department of Defense via AP)

This image provided by the Department of Defense was presented as part of a briefing slide at the Pentagon briefing on Saturday, April 14, 2018, and shows a photo of a preliminary damage assessment from the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Site in Syria that was struck by missiles from the U.S.-led coalition in response to Syria's use of chemical weapons on April 7. (Department of Defense via AP)JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The Latest on funeral for anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (all times local):

5:05 p.m.

Anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has been buried in Johannesburg following an emotional five-hour funeral attended by tens of thousands of mourners.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, center, is flanked by daughters of late anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Zenani, third from right, and Zindzi, second from right, during her funeral at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Heads of state joined the five-hour celebration of the powerful figure who will be buried as a national hero following lively debate over how she should be remembered after her death on April 2 at age 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The casket, draped in a South African flag, was taken to the private cemetery in a motorcade escorted by members of the military.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who had delivered the eulogy, attended the private burial, sitting among members of Madikizela-Mandela's family.

Family and friends wept as a military band played and the casket was lowered into the ground. Madikizela-Mandela died April 2 at age 81.

___

2:20 p.m.

South Africa's president has paid an emotional tribute to anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, pledging to propose that she receive the ruling African National Congress' highest honor.

"Proud, defiant, articulate, she exposed the lie of apartheid," President Cyril Ramaphosa said before a packed stadium at the official funeral, the highest-level one the country affords to a non-head of state.

He says the detention, torture and years of banishment that Madikizela-Mandela endured "emboldened" her as a political activist, but also inflicted "deep wounds" that never healed and went largely ignored by many peers.

"She bore witness to our suffering . We did not do the same for her," Ramaphosa said.

And he recited Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise."

___

11:55 a.m.

The elder daughter of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has passionately defended her mother's legacy against detractors during her official funeral.

"Long before it was fashionable to call for Nelson Mandela's release from Robben Island, it was my mother who kept his memory alive," Zenani Mandela-Dlamini said as the audience packing a 40,000-seat stadium erupted in cheers.

Since her death April 2 at 81, many South Africans have fiercely stood up for Madikizela-Mandela's memory against critics who have characterized her as a problematic figure who was implicated in political violence after she returned from years of banishment in a rural town.

Her daughter referred to a social media campaign that has swept South Africa since her death - "Winnie has not died, she multiplied" - in which young women post pictures of themselves in doeks, the traditional head scarf that Madikizela-Mandela often wore.

Dlamini-Mandela accused the media of being complicit in a long "smear campaign" against her mother. "Praising her now that she's gone shows what hypocrites you are . It's become clear that South Africa, and indeed the world, holds men and women to different standards of morality."

___

9:30 a.m.

A packed stadium has broken out in cheers and shouts of "Winnie!" as the casket of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is walked in slowly for her official funeral.

The funeral is the highest level that South Africa accords for someone who was not head of state. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at 81.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is sitting next to the two daughters of Madikizela-Mandela and Nelson Mandela.

Much of the stadium is filled with supporters of the ruling African National Congress party, the former liberation movement that Madikizela-Mandela had a rocky relationship with in recent years.

___

9 a.m.

Millions of South Africans are preparing to say goodbye to anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as her emotionally charged official funeral begins in Soweto, where she lived until her death on April 2 at 81.

Thousands of mourners have packed a 40,000-seat stadium to bid farewell to the powerful figure who will be buried as a national hero, after lively debate over how she should be remembered.

Often called the "Mother of the Nation" and "Mama Winnie," Madikizela-Mandela fought to keep South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle in the international spotlight while her husband, Nelson Mandela, was imprisoned.

Condolences have poured in from around the world in remembrance of one of the 20th century's most prominent political activists.

"She never stopped fighting. She never stopped serving," civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said Friday.

A military honor guard carries anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's coffin, wrapped in the flag of South Africa, out of Orlando stadium following her funeral service, in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Tens of thousands of people sang, cheered and cried as the flag-draped casket of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was escorted from her official funeral on Saturday, after supporters defended her complex legacy with poetry and anger. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

British model Naomi Campbell pays tribute at the funeral of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

A military honor guard carries anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's coffin, wrapped in the flag of South Africa, out of Orlando stadium following her funeral service, in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Tens of thousands of people sang, cheered and cried as the flag-draped casket of anti-apartheid activist Madikizela-Mandela was escorted from her official funeral on Saturday, after supporters defended her complex legacy with poetry and anger. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

The military take over the proceeding at the funeral of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, after her funeral service at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018 on route for burial. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

People follow the hearse carrying the coffin of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela after her funeral service at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018 on route for burial. Tens of thousands of people sang, cheered and cried as the flag-draped casket of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was escorted from her official funeral on Saturday, after supporters defended her complex legacy with poetry and anger. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The flag-draped casket carrying the remains of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela arrives at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Phil Magakoe)

Mourners raise their hands to salute struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, after her funeral service at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malema pays tribute to struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, backdrop, at her funeral at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

ANC supporters celebrate the legacy of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela during her funeral ceremony at Soweto's Orlando stadium Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died April 2, 2018, at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Mourners in party colors attend the funeral of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

US civil right activist, Jesse Jackson, right, attends the funeral of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mourners gather at Soweto's Orlando stadium for the funeral service of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died April 2, 2018, at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

The flag draped coffin carrying the remains of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela arrives for the funeral ceremony in Soweto, South Africa's Orlando stadium Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died April 2, 2018, at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

British model Naomi Campbell pays tribute to anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela during her funeral ceremony at Soweto's Orlando stadium Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died April 2, 2018, at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Sisters Zindzi, left, and Zenani, right, embrace as they appear on stage to pay tribute to their mother struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, backdrop, at her funeral at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mourners gather near Soweto's Orlando stadium for the funeral service of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died April 2, 2018, at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Mourners attend the funeral service of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mourners attend the funeral service of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mourners gather at the Orlando Stadium for the funeral of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, portrait on placard, in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mourners gather at the Orlando Stadium for the funeral of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, portrait on placard, in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Madikizela-Mandela died on April 2 at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)The Egyptian military described 15 among the dead as extremely dangerous, six having died in strikes by the Egyptian Air Forces

The Egyptian army and police in North and Central Sinai have killed 27 takfiris and arrested 114 suspects, 21 of which had criminal records, during the past few days.

A seven-minute video-statement issued Saturday by the Egyptian army is the 19th communique since the launch of Operation Sinai 2018 in early February.

The Arabic word "takfiri" refers to extremist Sunni Muslims who accuse other Muslims of being infidels, often as a justification for using violence against them.

The Egyptian military described 15 among the dead as extremely dangerous, six having died in strikes by the Egyptian Air Forces.

The rest of the 12 were killed during clashes with police personnel. The statement highlighted that ammunition and arms were found inside their hideouts.

Security forces confiscated and destroyed over 15 vehicles and 43 motorcycles.

The military statement added that 150 hideouts filled with weaponry, ammunition and military uniforms were destroyed.

Over the past few days, army engineers have safely detonated 30 IEDs that had been planted by takfiris to target security forces.

The raids also led to the discovery and destruction of 20 marijuana and poppy farms used for drug production in Central Sinai, as well as a number of underground border tunnels in North Sinai's Rafah city.

The navy seized a suspect ship in the Red Sea that was carrying 1,350kg of heroin.

The Egyptian army has stressed that border security forces organised more than 585 patrols on highways and desert roads in the past few days.

Operation Sinai 2018 was launched to implement the plan of comprehensive confrontation of terrorist and criminal elements and organisations in North and Central Sinai, and in other areas in the Nile Delta and desert areas west of the Nile Valley, according to the Egyptian Armed Forces.

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CAIRO (AP) - Militants wearing explosive belts blew themselves up as they tried to infiltrate a military base in Egypt's central Sinai, killing eight soldiers and wounding 15 others, the military said on Saturday.

The clashes at dawn left 14 militants dead. They were armed with rifles and RPGs, the armed forces said in a statement. The attack comes two months after the launch of a massive operation against militants in Sinai as well as parts of Egypt's Nile Delta and Western Desert, along the porous border with Libya.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack which bore the hallmarks of the extremist Islamic State group, whose local affiliate is spearheading an Islamic insurgency in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

In an earlier statement, the army said security forces killed 27 militants including six in airstrikes part of its offensive in turbulent Sinai region. It also said that troops arrested 114 suspected militants, including 21 wanted criminals.

The figures provided by the military could not be independently verified as media access to the northern Sinai is heavily restricted.

Egypt has for years been struggling to contain the Islamic insurgency in the turbulent Sinai region. It has carried out military operations there that, it says, have killed hundreds of militants.

It has also built a buffer zone along the border with Gaza to curb the flow of militants and weapons through a vast tunnel network. The insurgency, however, has shown no signs of abating.BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Romanian caricaturist Mihai Stanescu, censored for mocking the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, has died at 78.

Daiana Stanescu said her father died early Saturday in Bucharest following a long illness.

Under communism, Stanescu made fun of Ceausescu's policy of exporting Romanian produce to pay off its foreign debt. In 1982, he won a prize in Japan that protected him from possible persecution at home.

But reflecting the atmosphere of fear at the time, only four people came to his next book launch, including his two daughters. Authorities then withdrew his book from the market.

After communism, Stanescu opened a shop selling trinkets of his caricatures and created the name "Bookarest" for the capital's book fair. In all, he published a dozen books, including two in France.

Funeral plans were not yet announced.MOSCOW (AP) - Facing a stark choice between engaging the United States, Britain and France in combat or passively watching them strike his ally, President Vladimir Putin has opted for the peaceful route. That cautious response may dent the Russian leader's tough-man image but it won't undermine his gains in Syria or erode his authority at home.

The Kremlin had warned Washington that Russia would fend off any strike that jeopardized its servicemen in Syria, and the West respected the red line by giving advance notice of Saturday's attack, just as it did a year ago when it struck a Syrian air base. Russia had sat idle back then, but this time, it had threatened to retaliate.

Such a clash could have quickly spun out of control - an extremely dangerous scenario that was widely compared to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the world narrowly escaped a nuclear conflict.

Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's General Staff leaves a briefing at the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Rudskoi says Saturday's strike hasn't caused any casualties and Syrian military facilities targeted by the U.S., Britain and France have suffered only minor damage. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

"With our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time," said French Defense Minister Florence Parly. The U.S.-led strike was a response to a purported chemical attack on civilians in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7. Russia said its experts found no trace of chemical agents.

A senior French official noted that President Emmanuel Macron did not tell Putin about the strikes when they spoke on the phone Friday, but "certain de-confliction mechanisms" had already been triggered by that point, and "both knew that a new phase was going to begin quickly."

Putin condemned Saturday's strikes as an "act of aggression" that will worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria and have a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations." He criticized Washington and its allies for attacking without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog group to visit Douma, just outside Damascus.

The Russian military said its air defenses at two bases in Syria tracked the incoming missiles but didn't engage them.

Russian social media buzzed Saturday with angry nationalist comments blasting Putin for failing to protect his ally. But state TV focused on criticizing the West for acting on the basis of what Moscow called a faked chemical attack.

The Kremlin's tight control over the media will help Putin avoid any significant damage to his carefully nurtured image of a strong leader.

In fact, his cautious stance could boost his popularity further amid fears of war that swept Russia. In recent days, state media have been offering tips on how to behave in a nuclear conflict and what supplies to take to bomb shelters.

Most Russians will now heave a sigh of relief and feel grateful to Putin for pulling back from the brink. State TV channels compared what they described as U.S. President Donald Trump's reckless action with the responsible, statesmanlike stance taken by Putin.

Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, an association of top Russian foreign policy and security experts, said on state TV that Moscow's warning to strike back "clearly hasn't come unnoticed by the Pentagon, and the strike was quite careful."

The Kremlin will also use the crisis to advance its narrative of an aggressive West that plunges the world into chaos and disregards international law. Russian officials and lawmakers compared it to the 2003 invasion of Iraq that was launched on claims that Baghdad was developing suspected nuclear weapons - allegations that proved to be false.

Commentators on state TV argued that Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May launched the attack to distract attention from their political problems at home.

For now, Putin has limited his response to calling an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

No military measures were immediately announced, but in a clear warning to the U.S. and its allies, Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said Moscow could boost Syria's Soviet-era air defense assets with batteries of state-of-the-art S-300 missiles. He noted that Moscow so far has heeded Western requests not to provide the missiles to Damascus, but said it may now reconsider.

Rudskoi added that Moscow could also supply long-range missiles to unidentified other countries, a possible reference to Iran that has taken deliveries of S-300s in the past.

The statement clearly was aimed at discouraging the West from more attacks on Syria that could endanger Assad's gains on the battlefield, where Russian support has helped him secure control of most strategic areas.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Vladimir Isachenkov has covered Russia for The Associated Press since 1992.

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Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.

Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's General Staff speaks during a briefing at the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Rudskoi says Saturday's strike hasn't caused any casualties and Syrian military facilities targeted by the U.S., Britain and France have suffered only minor damage. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)MILAN (AP) - Inter Milan's chance of a Champions League berth diminished after it drew at Atalanta 0-0 in Serie A on Saturday.

The top four qualify and Inter was fifth, level on points with the two sides immediately above it, Roma and Lazio.

The two capital clubs meet in a derby on Sunday.

Inter's midfielder Ivan Perisic, top right, shoots on target during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Atalanta and Inter Milan, at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in Bergamo, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Paolo Magni/ANSA via AP)

"It's two points lost because we had two or three chances to score but we didn't," Inter defender Joao Miranda said. "At this stage of the season we have to win, we don't have to play well, because there are only a few matches left.

"We're not really calm because we haven't won for three or four matches and a team like ours has to win all its matches. Everyone has to do more to score."

Atalanta is chasing a Europa League spot and it moved three points behind sixth-placed AC Milan, which hosts title hopeful Napoli on Sunday.

Inter struggled in Bergamo as Atalanta had the better of the chances in the first half.

The 19-year-old Musa Barrow was given his first Serie A start by Atalanta and he went close on three occasions, seeing two efforts saved by Samir Handanovic and sending another narrowly wide.

"He was good," Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said. "He had a good debut, it wasn't easy against Inter's center halves. It's a name to note. He scored so many goals for the youth team and today he showed he has a keen eye for the goal."

There were fewer chances after the break, and Inter failed to score for a third successive match.

RELEGATION FIGHT

In the fight to avoid relegation, Cagliari came from behind to beat Udinese 2-1 and inch further away from the bottom three.

Luca Ceppitelli headed home a corner, six minutes from time, to help Cagliari move five points clear of 18th-placed Crotone, which lost at Genoa 1-0.

Udinese got off to a great start as Antonin Barak dribbled from inside his own half before rolling across the penalty area for an unmarked Kevin Lasagna to fire under the bar.

Cagliari leveled when Luca Cigarini's free kick came off the left post and Leonardo Pavoletti headed in the rebound.

Udinese's ninth successive defeat left it six points above the drop zone.

In Genoa, Daniel Bessa scored the only goal in the 28th minute when he was left unmarked to head in Iuri Medeiros' cross.

Medeiros thought he won a penalty earlier but it was revoked on video review and the Portuguese forward was booked for simulation.

Chievo Verona moved three points clear of the relegation zone by drawing with Torino 0-0.

Chievo defender Mattia Bani was sent off late on for a dangerous tackle.

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More AP Serie A coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/SerieA

Inter coach Luciano Spalletti gestures during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Atalanta and Inter Milan, at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in Bergamo, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The match ended in a scoreless draw. (Paolo Magni/ANSA via AP)

Atalanta's Barrow, left, and Inter defender Miranda vie for the ball during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Atalanta and Inter Milan, at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in Bergamo, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Paolo Magni/ANSA via AP)PAOLO MAGNI

Cagliari players celebrates after scoring second goal during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Cagliari, at the Sardegna Arena in Cagliari, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Fabio Murru/ANSA via AP)

Cagliari's Luca Ceppitelli celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Cagliari, at the Sardegna Arena in Cagliari, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Fabio Murru/ANSA via AP)

Cagliari's Leonardo Pavoletti, left, celebrates after scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Cagliari, at the Sardegna Arena in Cagliari, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Fabio Murru/ANSA via AP)

Cagliari's Leonardo Pavoletti, center, scores during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Cagliari, at the Sardegna Arena in Cagliari, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Fabio Murru/ANSA via AP)

Genoa's coach Davide Ballardini shouts instructions during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Genoa and Crotone at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Luca Zennaro/ANSA via AP)

Genoa's Daniel Bessa celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Genoa and Crotone at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Luca Zennaro/ANSA via AP)

Genoa's Iuri Medeiros, left, and Crotone's goalkkeper Alex Cordaz vie for the ball during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Genoa and Crotone at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Luca Zennaro/ANSA via AP)LIMA, Peru (AP) - The Latest on the Summit of the Americas meeting in Peru (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

Vice President Mike Pence in prepared remarks to regional leaders at the Summit of America twice recalled traveling to the border with Venezuela during a trip last year to Colombia. The problem is he never did.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence meets Chile's President Sebastian Pinera during a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Pence in a visit to Colombia last August did meet and pray with struggling Venezuelan migrants in a trip to Cartagena. But the colonial tourist mecca is several hundred miles from the border with Venezuela.

Despite the mistake, Pence in his speech said that it was time for the region to do more to isolate President Nicolas Maduro, who he said was single-handedly responsible for the humanitarian crisis plaguing the oil-rich nation. He added that the U.S. will not "stand by idly" as Venezuela "crumbles" and would work with its regional partners to restore Venezuelans' democratic "birthright."

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3 p.m.

A press conference with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio took a heated turn when a journalist with Cuba's state-run newspaper Granma asked him about accepting campaign money from the National Rifle Association.

After noting that the theme of this year's Summit of the Americas is stopping corruption, the Granma journalist asked Rubio if he would continue accepting money from the NRA after the recent school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

When the journalist revealed what news outlet he works for a number of Miami-based reporters in the room began crying out that it was great he could be there because many of them haven't been allowed to enter and report in Cuba.

Rubio chimed in saying he was willing to debate questions in an open forum and that anyone who doesn't agree with his position on the Second Amendment has the right to vote him out of office.

When pressed again by the reporter to answer his question, Rubio said he was glad they could have a discussion, "because in Cuba we can't have a debate."

He didn't further address the shooting victims or whether he was considering changing his stance on accepting NRA funds.

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10:25 a.m.

Peru's President Martin Vizcarra has opened the Summit of the Americas plenary session with a call for heads of state to approve a declaration with a list of measures aimed at preventing corruption.

The declaration was met with applause Saturday- but not everyone at the meeting in Lima, Peru, agrees on how to root out corruption.

Bolivian President Evo Morales told his counterparts that the capitalist system allows corruption to prosper and said it should be dismantled. He also assailed the United States as the biggest threat to world peace and democracy.

The theme of the summit is battling corruption though many are skeptical that any agreement reached will lead to practical change.

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10:15 a.m.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has endorsed the U.S.-led military strike against Syria's government.

He says "Canada stands with our friends in this necessary response and we condemn in strongest possible terms" the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

He made the comments Saturday at the Summit of Americas taking place in Lima, Peru.

Trudeau said that Canada will work with others to investigate the use of chemical weapons on Syrian civilians and that "those responsible must be brought to justice."

Bolivia's President Evo Morales, left, shakes hands with Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, right, while Argentina's President Mauricio Macri, center, looks on during the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this handout photo provided by the Peruvian government, Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, right, shakes hands with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at the government palace in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. Trudeau is in Lima to attend the Americas Summit which begins today. (Andres Valle/Peruvian Government via AP)

In this handout photo provided by the Peruvian government, Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, right, poses with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at the government palace in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. Trudeau is in Lima to attend the Americas Summit which begins today. (Andres Valle/Peruvian Government via AP)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, shakes hands with Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, before the Summit of Americas inauguration ceremony, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)Many European leaders and the prime minister of Canada voiced support and understanding for the U.S.-led airstrikes against Syria, but warned against allowing the seven-year conflict to escalate.

Venezuela and China, however, condemned the airstrikes as violating international law.

Here are some reactions:

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends the plenary session at the Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Juan Pablo Azabache)

ASIA

"As always, we oppose the use of force in international relations and call for respect for other countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. Any unilateral military action bypassing the Security Council runs contrary to the purpose and principles of the U.N. charter and violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and will further complicate the Syrian issue." - China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

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"The use of chemical weapon is extremely inhumane and we cannot absolutely tolerate that. Japan supports the determination of the U.S., the U.K. and France not to allow the use and proliferation of chemical weapons." - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

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"By continuing to employ chemical weapons against innocent Syrian civilians, the Assad regime has violated international law and abandoned its own commitments to the international community. These strikes are not seeking to escalate the conflict in Syria, but these violations of international law and norms cannot be allowed to continue." - Australian Defense Minister Marisa Payne.

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EUROPEAN REACTION

"It has always been Bulgaria's position that no cause justifies the killing of innocent people, including children; that the use of chemical weapons is a war crime and the strike on Syrian targets was a response to a war crime." - Bulgarian government statement. Bulgaria currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

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"Strikes by US, France and UK make it clear that Syrian regime together with Russia & Iran cannot continue this human tragedy, at least not without cost. The EU will stand with our allies on the side of justice." - Tweet by European Council President Donald Tusk.

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"Before the attack took place last night, NATO allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue to the U.N. Security Council but ... were blocked by Russia ... I am not saying that the attacks last night solved all problems but compared to the alternative to do nothing, this was the right thing to do." - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

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"We support the fact that our U.S., UK and French allies took on responsibility in this way as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The military strike was necessary and appropriate in order to preserve the effectiveness of the international ban on the use of chemical weapons and to warn the Syrian regime against further violations." - German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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"What has occurred in Syria in recent days goes far beyond the constant violation of cease fires. The response to these atrocities is legitimate and proportionate." - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

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"The people who have been martyred by chemicals is a certain number but the people martyred by conventional weapons is much, much more." - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying more must be done to hold the Syrian regime accountable for the hundreds of thousands it has killed using conventional weapons.

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"Greece unreservedly condemns the use of chemical weapons and supports efforts to eliminate them ... at the same time, the international community should aim for a political and sustainable solution in Syria that will end the war... (and) allow the return of millions of refugees."- Greece's Foreign Ministry.

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"This was a limited and targeted action to strike the capacity of building or diffusing chemical arms. It cannot and should not be the start of an escalation." - Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni.

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"The international community has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable those responsible of any attack with chemical weapons. This was not the first time that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons against civilians but it must be the last." - European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

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NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

"Canada stands with our friends in this necessary response and we condemn in strongest possible terms" the use of chemical weapons in Syria. - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

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Venezuela's government said it "energetically condemns" the attack on Syria, calling it a unilateral action that violates Syria's sovereignty and "the most basic norms of international law."

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"Mexico reiterates its broadest condemnation of the use of chemical weapons." - Mexican government statement that condemned the use of chemical weapons but did not explicitly approve or disapprove of the military strikes against Syria.

Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni speaks during a press conference at Chigi Palace Premier office in Rome, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Gentiloni says air strikes by Italy's allies in Syria ''cannot and should not be the start of an escalation.'' Gentiloni said Saturday that Italy did not participate in the attacks, conducted by the United States, France and Britain. And he said that Italy made clear to its allies that none of the airstrikes could depart from Italian territory, where the United States has military bases. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP)LIMA, Peru (AP) - The Latest on Vice President Mike Pence's trip to Latin America (all times local):

2 a.m.

Vice President Mike Pence's office says the vice president walked out of the Summit of the Americas when Cuba's foreign minister was recognized to speak after him.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, meets Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto during a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Pence deputy chief of staff Jarrod Agen says Pence had been told he'd be the last speaker of the plenary session in Lima, Peru.

In his remarks, Pence denounced Cuba as a "tired communist regime" that impoverishes its people and denies them fundamental rights.

Cuba's foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parilla, was recognized to offer a rebuttal. When Pence realized that Cuba's representative was speaking, he conferred with an official with the Organization of American States and then walked out of the session.

Pence later met with Caribbean leaders before departing Lima to return to Washington.

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3:15 p.m.

Vice President Mike Pence says the topic of funding President Donald Trump's long-promised border wall did not come up in his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at an international summit in Peru.

President Donald Trump promised to build a wall along the southern border and insisted Mexico would pay for it. Mexico has refused.

Pence met with Pena Nieto on Saturday. He acknowledged that the two have a difference of and said that some issues were "set aside, for a later date."

He says they discussed the fact that both countries have strong presidents with strong personalities who are bound to have strong differences at times.

But he says their meeting focused on issues the countries can work together on, including immigration, the North American Free Trade Agreement and combating drugs.

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3:10 p.m.

Vice President Mike Pence has congratulated Chile's Sebastian Pinera on his return to the presidency.

The vice president on Saturday praised Chile as a strong U.S. ally as the two leaders met along the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru.

Pence thanked Pinera for Chile's help in addressing a political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and for supporting the U.S. missile strike in Syria following a suspected chemical weapons attack by Syria against its citizens last weekend.

The billionaire Pinera served as Chile's president from 2010 to 2014 and returned to office in recent weeks.

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3:05 p.m.

Vice President Mike Pence says there's a "real possibility" the U.S. could reach a deal with Canada and Mexico on a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement "within the next several weeks."

Pence told reporters after meeting with the leaders of both countries at a summit in Lima, Peru, on Saturday that he'll leave the summit "very hopeful that we are very close" to a deal that will be better for the U.S.

President Donald Trump has long assailed the impact of NAFTA on U.S. workers and insisted on a new round of negotiations with Canada and Mexico on the deal.

He has said if he's not happy with the terms, then he'll pull the U.S. out.

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Noon

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has told Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto he looks forward to discussing the North American Free Trade Agreement and a "broad range of issues."

The Mexican leader says they will discuss NAFTA and other parts of their relationship involving "cooperation and mutual respect."

Saturday's meeting comes amid tensions between President Donald Trump and Mexico over immigration and the president's calls for a border wall. The two leaders did not respond to shouted questions from reporters about the border wall.

Trump and Pena Nieto have yet to meet in person since Trump became president last year. The meeting with Pence was announced on Friday and follows Trump's push to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

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11:55 a.m.

Vice President Mike Pence has told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the U.S. is "encouraged" by the progress on negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement and hopeful it can lead to "more fair and reciprocal trade."

Trudeau said Saturday that there have been "positive momentum" in the NAFTA talks.

Pence says he looks forward to discussing NAFTA and a broad range of issues between the two countries.

While President Donald Trump has vowed to scrap NAFTA and pull out of trade agreements as part of his America First policy, most of the region has been moving in the opposite direction.

___

10:45 a.m.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is praising Peru's "strong stand" on the "tyranny and humanitarian crisis" in Venezuela.

Pence said Saturday in a meeting with Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra at the Summit of the Americas in Lima that he's grateful for Vizcarra's role in withdrawing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's invitation to the summit.

He says President Donald Trump is sending his regrets that he couldn't attend the summit. Pence took Trump's place at the summit so the president could remain in the U.S. to manage the response to the apparent chemical attack by Syria. The U.S. led a missile strike in Syria earlier Saturday.

Vizcarra says addressing corruption "is the utmost importance to us." He was sworn in after Peru's congress voted to accept the resignation of President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski after a corruption scandal.

___

1:20 a.m.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence plans to address Latin American leaders Saturday on President Donald Trump's decision to launch air strikes in Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack in the war-torn nation.

Pence was whisked away from the Summit of the Americas late Friday so he could inform U.S. congressional leaders by phone of Trump's plans to announce the missile strikes. The vice president spoke to top Republican and Democratic leaders from his hotel suite before attending a banquet hosted by Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra.

For Pence, the calls and schedule changes served as the latest example of his supporting role here in place of Trump, who pulled out of the summit so he could manage the U.S. response to the suspected chemical attack in Syria.

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, third right, shakes hands with Brazil's President Michel Temer, while OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, left, Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, second left, Costa Rica's President Luis Guillermo Solis, second right, and Hondura's President Juan Orlando Hernandez, right, observe during the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, meets Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, left, during a bilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence attends the plenary session at the Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018.(AP Photo/Juan Pablo Azabache)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, arrives with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence waves to the press before the official photo at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center, waves along with other heads of state, during the official photo of the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, shakes hands with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto as they arrive for the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, shakes hands with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto as they arrive for the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, talks with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they arrive for the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)PARIS (AP) - Europe's two biggest military powers took a gamble in lining up behind U.S. President Donald Trump to bombard Syria. Now they need to make sure it doesn't backfire.

Critics swiftly accused Britain and France of playing loyal deputies to an unpredictable American leader, viewed by many in Europe with suspicion or outright scorn. Some worried it could further antagonize Europe's hulking neighbor Russia at an already tense time.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was decried for not seeking parliamentary approval for Saturday's coordinated airstrikes. French President Emmanuel Macron was accused of compromising the independence of a country that famously stayed out of former U.S. President George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. A Syrian military statement said in all, 110 missiles were fired by the U.S., Britain and France and that most of them were shot down or derailed. Russia's military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the U.S. and its allies. (SANA via AP)

And worst of all, Saturday's "one-shot" military operation may not substantially change the course of the war in Syria.

Yet the coordinated bombings tapped into the prevailing mood among leaders of the two powers, who are united in a sense that something had to be done to stop Syrian President Bashar Assad's government from repeatedly using chemical weapons.

"We have seen the harrowing images of men, women and children lying dead with foam in their mouths," May told reporters. "These were innocent families who, at the time this chemical weapon was unleashed, were seeking shelter underground ... This must be stopped."

Boosters see the attack as a way to keep European voices heard in Syria's increasingly globalized civil war. And some even hope that Saturday's rain of cruise missiles could push all sides closer to the negotiating table and an eventual end to the war.

For all their skepticism of Trump, many Europeans have been are brought together by an unequivocal abhorrence of the use of chemical weapons in war, since they were first used on a massive scale in World War I in Europe a century ago. The use of gas was soon outlawed, and that red line in diplomacy should not turn grey, the argument goes.

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons," Macron said in launching French military action, calling that "an immediate danger to the Syrian people and for our collective security."

The move could cost both leaders domestically, however.

May said there was "no other choice" but to act fast, without taking time to recall Parliament from its break. Lawmakers are already crying foul.

While May wasn't legally required to seek lawmakers' approval, opposition leaders had suggested she had a moral responsibility to do so. The tainted legacy of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's rush to back U.S. President George W. Bush in Iraq has overshadowed the debate.

"Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump," said opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. He warned that May could face a backlash in Parliament, calling the allies' bombing "legally questionable" and saying it risks further escalating "an already devastating conflict."

May's Conservative Party lost its majority last June, and since then, her government has limped from crisis to crisis.

In France, Macron is facing the worst labor unrest of his presidency so far, with strikes that halted two-thirds of French trains Saturday and weeks more of walkouts to come.

Macron drew criticism Saturday from the far-left to the far-right. National Front leader Marine Le Pen tweeted that the strikes expose France to "unpredictable and potentially dramatic consequences," and criticized Macron for not taking an "independent" stance.

Yet Macron is trying to keep all his options open.

He talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the eve of the attacks on Russian ally Syria, and hinted that they were imminent, according to top French officials. And as soon as the strikes were over, the French foreign minister pledged to keep open channels of communication with Russia.

But in nine days, Macron goes to Washington for the first state visit under Trump's presidency - and the French leader can't be seen as Trump's lapdog. He also needs to distance himself from comparisons to the 2003 Iraq invasion, which was motivated by suspicions that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that never materialized.

Despite the political risks at home, both May and Macron seem to have calculated that not acting also carried its share of peril.

European nations want to contain what they see as an increasingly brazen Russia on its eastern borders. From the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 to cyberattacks, suspected meddling in elections and the Salisbury nerve agent attack on a former spy, they see Russia as an unchecked force that can cause panic in Europe.

"It has always been Bulgaria's position that no cause justifies the killing of innocent people, including children; that the use of chemical weapons is a war crime and the strike on Syrian targets was a response to a war crime," said the Bulgarian government, which holds the rotating European Union presidency.

Other European leaders were more tempered. German Angela Chancellor Merkel called the military action against Syria "necessary and appropriate" - but happily let Britain and France take the lead.

Germany has taken in more than 700,000 Syrian refugees in recent years and has a strong interest in preventing an escalation that might lead to further refugee movements toward Europe. Germany is also generally averse to military action abroad.

European Council President Donald Tusk - a frequent critic of Trump - said the EU "will stand with our allies on the side of justice."

On the streets near Macron's presidential palace, Parisians had mixed feelings about the airstrikes against Syria.

"It's a difficult question. It's dangerous to face up to Russia. ... but in front of a dictator who is slaughtering his population, if it's confirmed, we cannot stay without reacting," retiree Jean-Claude Barthez said. "So I'm putting my trust in the government of the three nations."

___

Kirka reported from London and Casert from Brussels. Frank Jordans in Berlin and Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, contributed.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during a press conference in 10 Downing Street, London, Saturday, April 14, 2018. British Prime Minister Theresa May says the need to act quickly and protect "operational security" led her to strike Syria without a prior vote in Parliament. (Simon Dawson/Pool Photo via AP)LIMA, Peru (AP) - Leaders from throughout the Americas vowed Saturday to confront systemic corruption with an accord aimed at improving transparency and boosting civil society at a time when graft scandals plague many of their own governments.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra kicked off the Summit of the Americas' first full session asking the Western Hemisphere leaders to approve 57 action points he said would constitute a base for preventing corruption.

The "Lima Commitment: Democratic Governance Against Corruption" was approved with a round of applause, though analysts are skeptical that it will lead to any tangible change. Many heads of state in attendance lead administrations that face allegations of misusing public funds, obstructing justice and accepting bribes.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales, left, shakes hands with Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, right, while Argentina's President Mauricio Macri, center, looks on during the group photo at Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

"The hard part will come when leaders return home," said Shannon O'Neil, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "These initiatives will take much time and effort to implement, and will in many places face significant push back."

As leaders launched into speeches promising to tackle corruption - the theme of this year's summit - turmoil elsewhere threatened to overshadow any concerted effort to root out the deep-seated scourge.

Numerous leaders expressed concerns about an apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria and voiced support for military airstrikes there by the U.S., France and United Kingdom. They also called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to accept humanitarian aid as his nation confronts a crippling economic crisis and urged those gathered not to accept the results of an upcoming presidential election in the embattled South American nation.

"We won't recognize the results of an election designed to disguise a dictatorship," said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, one of the most outspoken on Venezuela.

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez were among the few voices of support for Venezuela, calling on the U.S. to drop sanctions against their ally.

"Our region isn't the backyard of anybody," Morales said, echoing Maduro's comments earlier in the week after U.S. President Donald Trump decided to skip the summit, which some considered a snub to the region.

This year's summit is one of the least attended in recent memory, raising questions about the future of the regional gathering started in 1994 by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.

The summit's initial goal was to promote representative democracy and free trade in the Americas, but in recent years both topics have been testy subjects. Instead it has become a stage for awkward encounters between left-leaning leaders and their more conservative counterparts.

Trump bailed on this year's summit with a few days' notice, scrapping what would have been his first visit to Latin America as president in order to manage the U.S. response to the attack on civilians in Syria. At least seven other presidents are not participating, some like Nicaragua in apparent acts of solidarity with Venezuela, whose invitation was withdrawn, and others saying they needed to tend to domestic matters at home.

In addition to the large roster of no-shows, presidents in attendance from three of Latin America's most populated nations are slated to leave office within the next 12 months, making this year's summit less impactful.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is filling in for Trump, spent part of the summit trying to drum up support for further isolating Venezuela, which faces mounting U.S. sanctions. Maduro was barred from the summit over his plans to hold a presidential election that the opposition is boycotting and that many foreign governments consider a sham.

But much of Pence's focus involved tending to relationships closer to home, including a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has yet to meet with Trump since he won the U.S. election amid an impasse over the wall Trump pledged to build along the U.S.-Mexico border. The leaders were expected to discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has been trying to renegotiate.

The Summit of the Americas has served more than once as a venue to discuss corruption in the Americas. Discussions on the topic at the first 1994 event led to the ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption two years later. Leaders including Vizcarra, however, lamented that two decades later corruption remains just as entrenched if not more so in many public institutions throughout the region.

"That pledge wasn't achieved," Vizcarra said in his opening remarks Friday.

Richard Feinberg, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who helped organize the first Summit of the Americas, said nonetheless that the new declaration against corruption is an important step forward, including timely updates aimed at helping improve transparency in the digital age.

"It's positive that the Lima declaration, in some depth, points toward the types of measures that have to be taken regionally and nationally," he said.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center, speaks with Venezuelan opposition leaders Carlos Vecchio, left, Julio Borges, David Smolansky and Antonio Ledezma during a meeting at the residence of the US ambassador, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife first lady Angelica Rivera, arrive for the Summit of Americas inauguration ceremony, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro flashes a thumbs up as he arrives for the Summit of Americas inauguration ceremony, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Brazil's President Michel Temer flashes a thumbs up as he arrives for the Summit of Americas inauguration ceremony, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is escorted by Peru's Chief of Protocol Juan Carlos Galarreta as he arrives to the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves to the press upon his arrival for the Summit of Americas inauguration ceremony, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Bolivia's President Evo Morales waves to the press upon his arrival for the Summit of Americas inauguration ceremony, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, shakes hands with Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, before the Summit of Americas inauguration ceremony, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence shakes hands with Rosa Maria Paya, daughter of the late Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, after a meeting at the residence of the U.S. ambassador, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

Argentina's President Mauricio Macri and his wife first lady Juliana Awada arrive for the Summit of Americas inauguration ceremony, in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, speaks during a bilateral meeting with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto at the Americas Summit in Lima, Peru, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) - Art Bell, a radio host best known for a paranormal-themed nightly show syndicated on hundreds of stations in the 1990s, died at his home in southern Nevada, authorities said Saturday.

Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly announced in a Facebook video that Bell died Friday in Pahrump. He was 72. An autopsy will be conducted to determine cause of death, she said.

Bell hosted the popular radio talk show "Coast to Coast AM" before he left the airwaves in 2002. He broadcast the show from his radio station, KNYE, in Pahrump.

In this March 7, 1997, photo, shows late night talk show host Art Bell near a satellite dish at his Pahrump, Nev., home. Bell, was the original owner of Pahrump based radio station KNYE 95.1 FM. And perhaps best known for his conspiracy theory in the paranormal, with his radio show "Coast to Coast," which was syndicated across the nation. The Nye County Sheriff's Office says Bell died at his home in Pahrump, Nev. Bell is scheduled for an autopsy later this week to determine the cause of death. He was 72. (Aaron Mayes/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

The program focused on Bell's conspiracy theories and his fascination with the paranormal and unexplained phenomenon such as UFOs and crop circles. He served as his own producer, engineer and host, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Fans, including celebrities like William Shatner and singer Josh Groban, took to Twitter to praise Bell. Groban recalled staying up late to listen to the host's "one of a kind" voice and how "his shows were so weird & spooky but somehow managed to hold off your skepticism."

Former business partner Alan Corbeth said during Bell's 2008 induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame that nobody was better than Bell at understanding "how to create theater of the mind..."

At his peak, Bell was heard on some 500 radio stations nationwide. He retired more than once and had a brief run on SiriusXM satellite radio in 2013.

Bell, who grew up in a military family, became an FCC-licensed radio technician by the age of 13, according to the "Coast to Coast AM" website. He later enlisted in the U.S. Air Force while also starting his own pirate radio station.The incident led to eight casualties and 15 injuries among the Egyptian armed forces

The Egyptian army said in a statement Saturday it had foiled a major terrorist attack in Central Sinai, killing 14 terrorists who attempted to break into camps of the armed forces.

The incident led to eight casualties and 15 injuries among Egyptian armed forces, according to army spokesperson Tamer El-Refai.

Among the 14 terrorist elements there were four wearing explosive belts and they were all armed with automatic rifles, medium-calibre rifles, and RPGs, the statement read.

"They all attempted to break into camps of the Egyptian armed forces at dawn on Saturday, but their attempt was foiled," the statement added.

The incident comes amid Egypt's ongoing Operation Sinai 2018, launched to implement the plan of comprehensive confrontation of terrorist and criminal elements and organisations in North and Central Sinai, and in other areas in the Nile Delta and desert areas west of the Nile Valley, according to the armed forces.

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SAN DIEGO (AP) - Hundreds of thoroughbred horses evacuated during a wildfire late last year are heading back to their home at the San Luis Rey Training Center near San Diego, according to a report.

Forty-six horses were killed when the Lilac Fire on Dec. 7 raced across rolling hills near Fallbrook, known for barns and avocado groves.

More than 400 surviving thoroughbreds are being brought back to new, temporary stables or refurbished older ones that withstood the blaze, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, file photo, Terrified horses gallop from San Luis Rey Downs as the Lilac Fire sweeps through the horse-training facility in San Diego. Hundreds of thoroughbred horses evacuated during a wildfire late last year are being returned to their home at the San Luis Rey Training Center near San Diego. Forty-six horses were killed when the Lilac Fire raced along the rolling hills near Fallbrook, known for its stables and avocado groves. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that more than 400 surviving horses are being brought back to new stables or refurbished older ones that withstood the blaze. (Paul Sisson/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP, File)

The horses had been stabled about 35 miles (56 kilometers) to the south at Del Mar racetrack.

All the horses should be back at the training center by the end of the weekend. Accompanying them are more than 200 trainers, assistant trainers, groomers and stable hands who also had taken up post-fire residence at Del Mar.

"They all love the place and can't wait to get back," San Luis Rey general manager Kevin Habell told the newspaper.

The barns that survived the blaze have new metal roofs and have been pressure-washed to remove the smell of soot, he said. The older barns also have a new coat of paint, and landscaping throughout the facility has been replaced.

The fire destroyed seven barns and damaged an eighth at the 240-acre San Luis Rey site. More than 100 nearby homes were also destroyed.

___

Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/Kylie Minogue has said she is overwhelmed to have scored a number one with her new album Golden.

The Australian pop stars country-inspired pop record sold 48,000 combined sales to debut in pole position, the Official Charts Company said.

It marks her sixth UK number one overall.

Minogue told OfficialCharts.com: I dont know where to start Thank you to everybody who has been involved in getting Golden to number one.

I am so overwhelmed, happy, proud, emotional and very, very thankful and grateful. Much love and many, many, many thanks.

Golden is Minogues 14th studio album, and her first number one record in eight years.

Her previous chart toppers are Kylie (1988), Enjoy Yourself (1989), Fever (2001) and Aphrodite (2010), as well as her 1992 Greatest Hits compilation album.

The album has also been revealed to be number one on the Official Albums Chart, having shifted 6,400 copies on vinyl and becoming the fastest-selling vinyl album of 2018 so far.

She has pushed last weeks number one, The Greatest Showman soundtrack, into second place, outselling it by 13,000 copies.

George Ezras Staying At Tamaras is at number three this week, while US rockers Thirty Seconds To Mars debut at number four with their new album America and the Courteeners are at number five with St. Jude Re: Wired.

Cardi B - Invasion Of Privacy (Jora Frantzis/Atlantic Records)

US rapper Cardi B has achieved a top 10 slot for her hotly-anticipated debut album Invasion Of Privacy, debuting at number six.

Over on the singles chart, Drake has landed his second number one of the year with Nice For What.

The Canadian rappers new track was dropped as a surprise last week, and has pushed last weeks number one  Freaky Friday by Lil Dicky featuring Chris Brown  down to number two.

Earlier this year, Drake ruled the charts as his single Gods Plan remained at number one for nine weeks.

New to the top five this week is Dua Lipa and Calvin Harriss One Kiss, in at number three.

Friends by Marshmello and Anne-Marie is at number four, and Ezras Paradise rounds off the top five.Escalating tensions over the crisis in Syria continue to top the news agenda  with Russia accusing Britain of staging the suspected chemical weapons attack.

The situation has reached boiling point, warns the Daily Mail, which reports that Theresa May was last night locked in a face-off with Vladimir Putin.

Mrs May cited the Salisbury poisonings as evidence that the 100-year taboo on chemical weapons was being eroded, the paper adds, as Moscow responded by warning against a repeat of Tony Blairs reckless military adventure in Iraq.

What the papers say - April 14

The Guardian says the deteriorating relations prompted United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to declare the cold war is back with a vengeance  words which the i describes as a chilling warning to the world.

The Guardian front page, Saturday 14 April 2018: Cold war is back with a vengeance - UN pic.twitter.com/Pqnwe9mmJc  The Guardian (@guardian) April 13, 2018

According to The Sun, Britain was last night within hours of launching air strikes on Syria, running with the headline: War on the Gasman.

The paper adds that the PM has vowed to hit back at Bashar Assad to ensure there is no return to the horrors of the First World War.

Tomorrow's front page: Britain was within hours of launching airstrikes on Syria pic.twitter.com/lQS1a5a63s  The Sun (@TheSun) April 13, 2018

The Times claims senior British academics are spreading pro-Assad disinformation promoted by Russia at universities in the UK.

Tomorrow's front page: Apologists for Assad working in universities #tomorrowspapertoday pic.twitter.com/Vkg3Am645N  The Times (@thetimes) April 13, 2018

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph takes a different angle on the tensions between the UK and Russia, reporting how Mrs May released declassified intelligence on the Salisbury attacks to quash the disinformation campaign by Moscow.

The files revealed that Russian agents had been hacking Yulia Skripals emails for at least five years before the poisonings, the paper adds.

The front page of Saturday's Daily Telegraph: 'Russia was hacking Skripal's daughter' #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/Xg7iDBRlEu  The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 13, 2018

Elsewhere, the Daily Mirror leads on the pensioner who fatally stabbed a burglar, reporting that he is so scared for his safety that he must move house.

And both the Daily Star and the Daily Express lead on Sir Cliff Richards ongoing court battle against the BBC.

STAR: Sir Cliff Torment: BBC nearly killed me #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/MkH8EIeLJp  Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 13, 2018A series of missile strikes have been launched against Syria by the US, UK and France in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma a week ago.

The strikes began at 2am BST and destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected to the Syrian regimes chemical weapons programme, according to the allies.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis said double the number of weapons were used in the strikes compared with the 2017 Shayrat missile strike which involved 59 US Tomahawk cruise missiles and was launched in response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

There were no reports of any allied losses during the latest strikes and only limited resistance in the form of some Syrian surface-to-air missile activity.

Syrias main backer Russia, which has insisted there was no chemical weapons attack in Douma and accused the West of fabricating evidence of it, was not informed of the strikes in advance.

Announcing the operation, Prime Minister Theresa May said there was no practicable alternative to the use of force.

Mrs May said every possible diplomatic channel had been explored before authorising the strikes, adding that it was not a decision she had taken lightly.

She said: This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped  not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons.

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.

It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

US President Donald Trump said the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons on Douma last Saturday was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The Prime Minister @theresa_may has made a statement on Syria: https://t.co/bBfYyowUIo pic.twitter.com/QlTeFXmOkt  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 14, 2018

Giving a statement at the White House, Mr Trump said: This evil and despicable act left mothers and fathers and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.

The combined American, British and French response will integrate all instruments of our national power.

Mrs May said the action would also send a clear signal to anyone else who believed they could use chemical weapons with impunity.

She said: This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.

Mrs May authorised the strikes despite demands from opposition parties that Parliament was consulted before any military action was launched.

But the Prime Minister said she had authorised the operation because I judge this action to be in Britains national interest.

We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world, she added.

Dozens of men, women and children were massacred using chemical weapons in Douma on Saturday, 7 April.

The red line has been crossed.

I have therefore ordered the French armed forces to intervene.https://t.co/mezFfV1Hh9 pic.twitter.com/7lVhMjhx9I  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 14, 2018

French President Emmanuel Macron said there was no doubt the Syrian regime was responsible for the chemical attack in Douma.

He said: We cannot tolerate the trivialisation of the use of chemical weapons, which represent an immediate danger for the Syrian people and for our collective security.

The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed.

There was no immediate military response from Moscow but Russian politicians reacted angrily, with one MP likening Mr Trump to Adolf Hitler.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that the first of the allied strikes on Saturday was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus involved in the development and production of chemical weapons.

The second was at a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, while the third was at a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post.

He added: Important infrastructure was destroyed which will result in a set-back for the Syrian regime. They will lose years of research and development, storage and equipment.

Four Royal Air Force Tornados contributed to strikes, launching Storm Shadow missiles at the target 15 miles west of Homs in a successful attack, the Ministry of Defence said.

The MoD said the Syrian regime was assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors stockpiled in breach of Syrias obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention at the site.

Smoke rises after airstrikes targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: The reprehensible use of chemical weapons in Douma is further evidence of the Syrian regimes appalling cruelty against its own people.

We will not stand by whilst innocent civilians, including women and children, are killed and made to suffer.

The international community has responded decisively with legal and proportionate military force.

Let these united actions send a clear message to the regime  the use of chemical weapons is categorically unacceptable and you will be held to account.

General Dunford said the strike had inflicted maximum damage without unnecessary risk to civilians.

Asked if the US and its allies would continue military operations, he said: That will depend on Mr Assad should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future, and of course the powers that have signed the Chemical Weapons Prohibition (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) have every reason to challenge Assad should he choose to violate that.

But right now this is a one-time shot and I believe that it sent a very strong message to dissuade him, to deter him from doing this again.

Mr Mattis said the US remained in close consultation with its allies, adding: We review the evidence all the time. But right now we have no additional attacks planned.

He also praised the level of trust between the US, UK and France, saying: These allies, the American, the French, the British, we have operated together through thick and thin, through good times and bad, this is a very, very well integrated team.

Wherever we operate, we do so with complete trust in each other, but more than that the belief that one another will be there when the chips are down. Its a statement about the level of trust between our nations.Russian president Vladimir Putin has denounced an air strike on Syria by the United States and its allies as an act of aggression that will exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the country.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader said Moscow is calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the strike launched by the US, Britain and France.

Mr Putin added that the strike had a destructive influence on the entire system of international relations.

Mr Putin said the strike would only worsen international relations (AP)

He reaffirmed Russias view that the purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake.

Mr Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of a chemical attack. He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

Meanwhile, the Russian military said Syrias Soviet-made air defence systems have downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies.

Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian militarys General Staff said Saturdays strike has not caused any casualties, and Syrian military facilities targeted by the US, UK and France have suffered only minor damage.

He said the Russian air defence assets in Syria monitored the strike but did not engage any of the missiles.

Col Gen Rudskoi said the Syrian military used Soviet-era air defence missile systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the missiles aimed at four key Syrian air bases.

He noted that Russia has in the past refrained from providing Syria with its state-of-the-art S-300 air defence missile systems at the insistence of the West, but could reconsider this decision now.Frances foreign minister has threatened further missile strikes against Syria if Bashar Assads government uses chemical weapons again.

France joined the United States and Britain in a joint operation to destroy what French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said is a good part of the Syrian governments chemical weapons arsenal.

He said France has no doubt that the Syrian government was behind a suspected chemical attacks last weekend. Syria denies responsibility.

French defence minister Florence Parly and foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian give an official statement (AP)

Mr Le Drian told BFM television that the goal for the allied mission had been attained, but that if Frances red line is crossed again there could be another attack.

Earlier, the French government said it has no samples of the chemical weapons it believes were used in Syria, but launched its military response based on open-source information and intelligence gathering.

France has released its assessment of what happened in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7  which was the basis for Frances involvement in the joint military operation with the US and UK.

Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom and France to take action against the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks. Statement: https://t.co/P5jkVJPriv  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 14, 2018

The assessment cites the absence to date of chemical samples analysed by our own laboratories. It said the government evaluated publicly available information from nongovernmental organisations and other sources as well as unspecified French intelligence.

It concludes that there is no plausible scenario other than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces.

The assessment notes eight chlorine attacks ahead of the major attack on Douma and 44 allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria over the past year.

Meanwhile, Germanys chancellor said the air strikes are a necessary and appropriate response to the attack on Douma.

Tonight, at the order of @POTUS, U.S. Armed Forces, with Britain and France, launched strikes against chemical weapon sites in Syria. America and our allies will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against men, women and children. God bless our courageous troops & allies.  Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) April 14, 2018

Angela Merkel said the US, Britain and France took responsibility in this way as permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Mrs Merkel said the strikes were needed to maintain the effectiveness of the international rejection of chemical weapons use and to warn the Syrian regime against further violations.

She had said earlier this week that Germany would not join allied military action against Syrian government forces.

The European Commissions president said those who rely on chemical warfare must be held to account by the world.

Jean-Claude Juncker said the suspected use of poison gas last week in the Syrian city of Douma was  as he puts it  a heinous chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime.

Mr Juncker said the world has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable those responsible for that kind of attack.Britains contribution to last nights co-ordinated airstrikes in Syria was launched from its military base in Cyprus.

Located on the southern side of the island, RAF Akrotiri has been used by the British military since the 1950s  including in 2015, when David Cameron ordered Typhoons and Tornado jets to be dispatched on a combat mission to Syria and Iraq to defeat Islamic State.

Akrotiri has also served as a transit point for action in Lebanon and Libya.

An RAF Tornado GR4 landing at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, which was deployed against the regime of President Bashar Assad in Syria last night.

The base is some 213 miles west of the Syrian city of Homs  a key battleground in the civil war.

It is also used for fast jet training, as well as search and rescue operations in collaboration with the Republic of Cyprus Police and National Guard Air Command.Jeremy Corbyn has attacked the Government for launching legally questionable air strikes in Syria.

Prime Minister Theresa May called the Labour leader late on Friday night to discuss the strikes and gave him an updated security briefing.

But the talks failed to persuade Mr Corbyn that launching cruise missiles in response to the chemical weapons attack in Douma was the right course of action.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (Dave Higgins/PA)

Despite Russia repeatedly blocking action against Syria through the United Nations, Mr Corbyn called for Britain to go back to the group of world powers to secure a resolution that has Moscows backing.

He has written to the Prime Minister to say he believes the strikes were legally questionable and said MPs should have been given a vote.

Labours leader in Wales, First Minister Carwyn Jones, struck a different tone in a statement issued following the strikes.

He said: I spoke with the PM late last night about the action in Syria.

I offered my support to any intervention that could prevent a further atrocity, but it is vital that any action forms part of a wider long-term plan for the region.

My statement on Syria pic.twitter.com/cnJTjQgLxd  Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) April 14, 2018

Downing Street is expected to release a summary of the legal advice given to Mrs May ahead of the decision to join the co-ordinated assault with the United States and France.

Mr Corbyn insisted, however, that the full document must be released as he called for renewed diplomatic efforts the bring the conflict in Syria to an end.

In the letter to Mrs May, Mr Corbyn wrote: I believe that Parliament should have been consulted and voted on the matter. The UK Prime Minister is accountable to Parliament, not to the whims of a US pPresident.

I believe the action was legally questionable, and this morning the UN Secretary-General has said as much, reiterating that all countries must act in line with the UN Charter.

"I urge all Member States to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances & to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people." -- @antonioguterres following air strikes in Syria: https://t.co/Q57LPagtvj pic.twitter.com/yVWXrF7nOQ  United Nations (@UN) April 14, 2018

You assured me that the Attorney General had given clear legal advice approving the action. I would therefore be grateful if you would publish this advice in full today.

Russia, the Syrian regimes most powerful ally, used its veto at the United Nations to prevent an investigation into the attack on the rebel-held town of Douma one week ago. It was the latest in a series of occasions when Moscow has blocked action against Syria during the seven-year civil war.

The Labour leader, however, said the UK must go to the UN to secure a new resolution that has the backing of Russia and the United States along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey.

He said an agreement secured in 2013 between then US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria showed an agreement could be reached.

There is precedent that this process can work, and surely it would have been better to do that than start bombing  and goodness knows what the consequences of the bombing could be, he said.Airstrikes in Syria met international laws for military action on humanitarian grounds, according to No 10 documents setting out the legal case.

In a summary of the advice given by Attorney General Jeremy Wright to Prime Minister Theresa May, Downing Street pointed the finger at Moscow over its role in leading the UK and its allies to decide to launch an attack on Bashar Assads regime.

It said international action to alleviate suffering caused by chemical weapons had been repeatedly blocked by Syrias allies.

Prime Minister Theresa May during a press conference in 10 Downing Street on the air strikes against Syria (Simon Dawson/PA)

Diplomatic action, sanctions, and the US strikes against the Shayrat airbase in April 2017 have failed to sufficiently degrade Syrias chemical weapons capability, the document added.

There was no practicable alternative to the truly exceptional use of force to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their further use by the Syrian regime in order to alleviate humanitarian suffering, the paper said.

UK ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce insisted the Government was certain of its legal case.

The No 10 paper said the UK met three demands under international law  that there is convincing evidence of extreme humanitarian distress, there is no practicable alternative to the use of force, and the action is necessary and proportionate  had been met.

It said: In these circumstances, and as an exceptional measure on grounds of overwhelming humanitarian necessity, military intervention to strike carefully considered, specifically identified targets in order effectively to alleviate humanitarian distress by degrading the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deterring further chemical weapons attacks was necessary and proportionate and therefore legally justifiable.

Such an intervention was directed exclusively to averting a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons, and the action was the minimum judged necessary for that purpose.On Saturday, Damascus witnessed a string of powerful blasts, the result of joint military strikes by the US, France and Britain against the Bashar Al-Assad regime, a week after the suspected deadly gas attack on Douma

Egypt voiced Saturday its concern over military escalation in Syria and the threat it poses to the Syrian people and regions that reached agreement on reducing tension, a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry read.

The statement highlighted the importance of a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis and an end to the humanitarian disaster fuelled by the armed conflict.

Egypt underlined its refusal of the use of internationally prohibited weaponry in Syrian territories. It also demanded an international transparent investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons.

Last week, Douma, a rebel-held suburb in eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, was allegedly attacked with chemical weapons, killing dozens. The attacks continued during the week in Homs, with more reported casualties.

A Syrian medical relief group said at least 60 people had been killed and more than 1,000 injured in several sites in Douma.

Egypt continues to show its solidarity to Syria and its nation in order to achieve their aspirations to live in safety and stability and to preserve their national capabilities and territorial integrity through a political consensus that includes all sectors of society, the statement read.

On Saturday, Damascus witnessed a string of powerful blasts, the result of joint military strikes by the US, France and Britain against the Bashar Al-Assad regime, a week after the suspected deadly gas attack on Douma.

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Suspected chemical weapons facilities in Syria were hit by 105 missiles overnight  with Britain, France and the US deploying some of the most powerful weapons in their arsenals.

The three bases targeted were the Barzah Research and Development Centre in greater Damascus, the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Facility, west of Homs, and the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Bunker Facility, as described by Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

The attack was launched from three platforms, the Red Sea, the north Arabian Gulf and from the air.

 UK: The Royal Air Force used four Tornado GR4s to attack the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Facility.

(PA Graphics)

With a maximum speed of Mach 1.3 and capable of carrying more than eight tonnes of weapons, the GR4 is the latest phase in the evolution of the Tornado  the RAFs strike aircraft of choice for the last three decades.

The GR4s involved in the overnight attack deployed eight bunker busting Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Weighing in at 2,866lb (1,300kg), measuring 16.7ft (5.1m) in length and with a range in excess of 150 miles (240km), it has been described by the air force as arguably the most advanced weapon of its kind in the world.

The range means that none of the GR4s would have been required to cross into Syrian airspace to launch the assault.

The GR4s were provided with air support by four Typhoons.

(PA Graphics)

 FRANCE: The French scrambled Mirage and Rafale fighter jets for their part in the Syrian air strikes together with four frigate warships, launching a total of 12 cruise missiles.

The multi-purpose Rafale is used for reconnaissance, ground support as well as air strikes. It is capable of carrying missiles of a similar capability to the Storm Shadows used by the UK.

(PA Graphics)

Alongside the Rafale, France deployed its supersonic Mirage 2000 fighter jets  which have a maximum speed of Mach 2.

Both jets have the capacity to carry missiles capable of reaching their Syrian targets without entering Syrian airspace.

 US: The Americans deployed their B-1B Lancer bombers for the strike. It also launched missiles from the Ticonderoga-class cruiser Monterey, the Virginia-class submarine John Warner, and two other warships.

It launched around 66 Tomahawk missiles, and 19 joint air-to-surface stand-off missiles.

(PA Graphics)

Nicknamed the Bone, the B1-B is capable of carrying the most weapons of any bomber in a modern air force.

It is prized for its speed, manoeuvrability and long range.

Like the jets deployed by France and Britain, the B1-Bs would not have been required to cross into Syrian airspace to strike.

Earlier this month, the US Air Force released footage of two B-1Bs arriving at the Al Uldeid air base in Qatar.

The Barzah facility was hit by 76 missiles in total, the storage facility was hit by 22 weapons and seven missiles fell on the bunker.

The UKs Storm Shadows were used on the storage facility.Russias Foreign Minister has reiterated his claims that the UK may be responsible for the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

In the first full response from Moscow since last nights co-ordinated airstrikes by the allied forces, minister Sergey Lavrov also hit back at the incontrovertible facts the UK, US and France used to justify the strikes in Syria, and said they were not shared with the Russian government.

And he said that the Syrian government is ready to fully co-operate with an investigation into the use of chemical weapons in the city of Douma on April 7.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov (Sergei Poliakov/AP)

Following a press conference at Downing Street in which Theresa May linked the Salisbury nerve agent attack on the Skripals and the use of chemical weaponry by Syrian president Bashar Assad, Mr Lavrov again said Russia had evidence the West was responsible.

Highlighting documents presented to Moscow by Swiss researchers, he said: We have received confidential information and these are questions that have something directly to do with life and death.

They (the Swiss Centre of Radiological and Bacteriological Research) arrived at the following conclusion, and I will quote this word for word: We discovered the traces of toxic element B-Z which was prohibited in the convention.

This is a paralytic gas which takes a person out of self-functioning within an hour. These recipes were available to the US, UK and Russia.

Russia never did carry out the development of such chemical weapon.

His criticism extended to Britains response of the Salisbury poisoning, which he said failed to take into account independent research from experts in Switzerland.

We would like to concentrate in this case and other cases on facts, he said.

Also as far as the so-called Skripal affair, British colleagues refused to answer many of our questions which we asked them in different periods of time and they responded saying that Russia never answered any of the question they asked us.

Therefore we are very, very particular and very, very careful with the facts that we need to ascertain here.The UN Security Council has rejected a resolution tabled by Russia calling for condemnation of the aggression by the United States and its allies against Syria.

Only three countries  Russia, China and Bolivia  voted in favour of the resolution at the end of an emergency meeting of the 15-member council called by Russia on Saturday. Eight countries voted against and three abstained.

A resolution needs at least nine yes votes to be approved.

The vote reflected the deep divisions in the UNs most powerful body, which has been paralysed in dealing with the seven-year Syrian conflict and chemical weapons use in the country.

The US, Britain and France say they launched airstrikes against Syrian chemical sites after obtaining proof that poisonous gas was used last weekend in Douma, killing 41 civilians.

Russia and Syria claim the attack was fabricated.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia votes in faavour of the resolution(Mary Altaffer/AP)

Russias UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the UN meeting in New York that the US and its allies struck without waiting for an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, branding the attack hooliganism.

But the US ambassador to the UN said President Donald Trump told her if the Syrian regime uses poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded to strike again.

Nikki Haley said: When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line.

She said the message from airstrikes that crippled Syrias chemical weapons program was crystal clear.

The United States of America will not allow the Assad regime to continue using chemical weapons.

She accused Russia of defending Syrian President Bashar Assad and failing to ensure that Syrias chemical weapons were destroyed as the Assad regime had pledged in 2013.

Looking ahead, Frances UN ambassador Francois Delattre said France, Britain and the United States would soon be presenting the Security Council with a new draft resolution aimed at achieving a lasting solution to the Syrian conflict that addresses political, chemical and humanitarian issues.

A draft resolution circulated by the three countries would condemn all use of chemical weapons, especially the April 7 attack in Douma.

It would seek answers from Syria on gaps in its chemical weapons declaration to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. And it would establish a new body to determine responsibility for chemical attacks, call for a cease-fire in Syria, unimpeded access for all humanitarian aid, and an urgent resumption of negotiations on a political settlement.

Mr Nebenzia responded saying the environment was not very conducive for any rapprochement and the political and dangerous military situation we are in now must be sorted out first.

Once again, we demand an immediate stop to aggression and refrain from the illegal use of force in the future, he said.Hundreds of Syrians took to the streets of the capital in a show of defiance following joint air strikes by the United States, France and Britain hailed by President Donald Trump as Mission Accomplished.

Just hours earlier, Damascus was rocked by loud explosions and the sky turned bright orange as Syrian air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

A perfectly executed strike, Mr Trump tweeted after warplanes and ships launched more than 100 missiles.

Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire (Hassan Ammar/AP)

Russia and Iran called the use of force a military crime and hooliganism.

The UN Security Council met in emergency session to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the aggression by the three Western allies.

Mr Trumps UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, told the session that the president has made it clear that if Assad uses poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded.

The Syrian president denies he has used chemical weapons, and the Trump administration has yet to present hard evidence of what it says precipitated the allied missiles attack: a chlorine gas attack on civilians in Douma on April 7. The US says it suspects that sarin gas also was used.

Bashar Assad met Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Irans Supreme Leader in Damascus on Thursday (SANA via AP)

As the airstrikes began, Assad tweeted: Good souls will not be humiliated.

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents began gathering in the landmark Omayyad square of the Syrian capital.

Syrian government supporters wave national flags and honk car horns in a show of defiance in Damascus (Hassan Ammar/AP)

The strikes successfully hit every target, US officials said  the Barzah chemical weapons research and development site in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a chemical weapons bunker a few miles from the second target.

Neither Syria nor its Russian or Iranian allies retaliated, Pentagon officials said.

A map shows the areas targeted by airstrikes (Pentagon/AP)

The US-led operation won broad Western support. The Nato alliance gave its full backing; Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels that the attack was about ensuring that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the attack necessary and appropriate.

Pentagon officials said the action took out the heart of Assads chemical weapons arsenal.

Debris surrounds the Syrian Scientific Research Centre (Hassan Ammar/AP)

A former officer in Syrias chemical program, Adulsalam Abdulrazek, said the strikes hit parts of but not the heart of the program and were unlikely to curb the governments ability to produce or launch new attacks.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlins scepticism about the allies Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack.

He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to complete their visit to the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was little doubt the Syrian government used a barrel bomb  large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal  to deliver the chemicals at Douma.

No other group could have carried out that attack, Mrs May said, adding that the allies use of force was right and legal.

The attack began at 4am local time (0100 GMT) with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of Damascus, shaking the ground from a distance.

A protester burns the US flag after the strikes (Yorgos Karahalis/AP)

Syrian TV called the attacks a blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Mr Trumps second order to attack Syria; he authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assads use of sarin gas against civilians.

General Joseph Dunford said targets included a scientific research centre in greater Damascus (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

The strikes appear to signal Mr Trumps willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict.

The participation of British and French forces enables him to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, the president stressed that he has no interest in a lengthy fight with Syria.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances, he said. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.Michael Douglas has led tributes to Milos Forman, the Oscar-winning director of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, following his death at the age of 86.

Actors and Hollywood stars have been remembering the Czech-born film-maker, also known for Amadeus (1984), The People vs Larry Flynt (1996) and Man On The Moon (1999).

Michael Douglas (Ian West/PA)

Edward Norton, Jim Carrey and Mia Farrow are also among those who have paid tribute to the acclaimed film-maker.

Douglas, who was a producer on Cuckoos Nest, said in a statement, published by The Hollywood Reporter: Sadly we lost one of the greatest directors in the history of film.

I had the honour of working with Milos on One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest and cherish what he taught me.

Norton, who starred in The People vs Larry Flynt, called the director one of my true artistic heroes, not just because he was a great film director but because of his capacity to sustain an exuberant belief that individual human spirit can triumph over institutions of oppression and his conviction that art can and must play a role in that fight for the health of a society.

Man On The Moon star Carrey wrote on Twitter: Another great one passes through the doorway.What a force. A lovely man. Im glad we got to play together. It was a monumental experience.

Another great one passes through the doorway. Milos Foreman. What a force. A lovely man. Im glad we got to play together. It was a monumental experience. ;^) pic.twitter.com/wzgmOibDHs  Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) April 14, 2018

Actress Farrow wrote: Proof that the most brilliant of film-makers could also be unfailingly kind, generous, humble and loyal. Thank you Milos Forman.

Proof that the most brilliant of filmmakers could also be unfailingly kind, generous, humble and loyal. Thank you Milos Forman pic.twitter.com/btUmryxjRr  Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) April 14, 2018

Actor Danny DeVito tweeted: Milos the magnificent! cest k jeho pamatce (honour to his memory) light a good cigar, raise a drink, and shout HOVNO HOVNO HOVNO!

Milos the magnificent! cest k jeho pamatce (honour to his memory) light a good cigar, raise a drink, and shout HOVNO HOVNO HOVNO!  Danny DeVito (@DannyDeVito) April 14, 2018

Actor Antonio Banderas wrote: Milos Forman has left us.

Genius of cinematography and master in the portrayal of the human condition. RIP.

Milos Forman has left us. Genius of cinematography and master in the portrayal of the human condition. RIP pic.twitter.com/pLcXIeEH9h  Antonio Banderas (@antoniobanderas) April 14, 2018

Writer and producer Larry Karaszewski, who made Man On The Moon and The People vs Larry Flynt with Forman, wrote: Milos Forman was our friend and our teacher.

Milos Forman and The People Vs Larry Flynt star Courtney Love (Nestor Bachmann/PA)

He was a master film-maker  no-one better at capturing small unrepeatable moments of human behaviour. We made two movies together and every day spent with him was a unique adventure.

Milos loved life. I will miss his laughter.

Milos Forman was our friend and our teacher. He was a master filmmaker - no one better at capturing small unrepeatable moments of human behavior. We made two movies together and every day spent with him was a unique adventure. Milos loved life. I will miss his laughter. pic.twitter.com/1ER5ExUUHx  Larry Karaszewski (@Karaszewski) April 14, 2018

Director Edgar Wright wrote: Very sad to hear that the great director Milos Forman has passed away.

Very sad to hear that the great director Milos Forman has passed away. He had a tremendous filmography that documented the rebel heart and human spirit. I have seen 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' enough times to be able to silently mouth along with the movie. RIP. pic.twitter.com/4QwOHL7tS4  edgarwright (@edgarwright) April 14, 2018

He had a tremendous filmography that documented the rebel heart and human spirit. I have seen One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest enough times to be able to silently mouth along with the movie. RIP.

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, the 1975 film starring Jack Nicholson, and Amadeus both triumphed at the Oscars.The Sri Lanka Army released a record 683 acres of land in Thelippalei to 964 legal owners during a ceremony held on Friday in Thelippalei.

Issuing a statement, the Army said the lands were released without compromising national security interests.

The ceremony was held under the auspices of Army Commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake and the District Secretary for Jaffna Nagalingam Vedanayaham.

The release of those lands continuing for the last couple of months, following an initiative taken by the Army itself, has however not necessitated either the removal or shifting of any security formation operating in the said portion of the land in Thellippalei, Palaly, the Army said.

Release of lands, organized by the Security Force Headquarters - Jaffna (SFHQ-J) under the guidance of Major General Darshana Hettiarachchi, Commander, Security Forces - Jaffna took place as a New Year bonanza on the eve of the Sinhala & Tamil New Year- 2018.

The gesture, organized jointly by Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation, Ministry of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs,District Secretariat for Jaffna and the SFHQ-J was attended by a large gathering of people including the beneficiaries.

The statement further said Fridays release of 683 acres of the Palaly Army camp area, the biggest chunk of land released to the Jaffna public on a single day, adds a historic chapter to the governments ongoing projects of reconciliation and ethnic harmony.

Commander of the Army formally gave away documents pertaining to the release of lands symbolically to the District Secretary who was present there.A Chinese man was arrested while attempting to smuggle in cigarettes valued at Rs. 1.4 million at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake this morning, the Customs Department said.

Customs Spokesman Deputy Director Sunil Jayaratne said the suspect aged 44, arrived from Singapore, was apprehended with illegally brought 28 000 sticks (140 cartoons) of cigarettes valued at Rs. 1,400,000.

He said the haul had been detected by Superintendent of Customs Lal Silva.

On Thursday, another two Chinese nationals were arrested while attempting to smuggle in cigarettes valued at Rs. 2.2 million at the BIA.President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a committee comprising five Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Ministers to look into the future actions of the National Unity Government, a senior minister said.

The committee would be headed by Minister Sarath Amunugama.

SLFP General Secretary Minister Duminda Dissanayake is also a member of the committee. (Thilanka Kanakarathna)Egypt has extended an ongoing nationwide state of emergency another three months, starting Saturday 14 April, the official gazette reported late on Friday.

A presidential decree to extend the state of emergency, which was signed by Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, says that the extension is to allow the Armed Forces and police to undertake necessary measures to face the dangers of terrorism and its funding, safeguard security nationwide, secure private and public property, and protect the lives of citizens.

The state of emergency was first implemented in April 2017 after suicide bombers attacked two churches in Alexandria and Tanta, killing 47 people and injuring dozens.



A new decree further lengthening it was issued in October and then extended in January. According the Egyptian constitution, a state of emergency cannot exceed six months from its date of declaration and decrees imposing or extending it should be approved by the parliament.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail issued a decree to impose a curfew in parts of North Sinai from 7pm until 6am, except in El-Arish city and on the international road, where the curfew is in effect from1am to 5am.

Egypts security forces are continuing to carry out the comprehensive counterterrorism military Operation Sinai 2018.

Operation Sinai 2018 was launched earlier this year to implement the plan of comprehensive confrontation of terrorist and criminal elements and organisations in North and Central Sinai, and in other areas in the Nile Delta and desert areas west of the Nile Valley, according to the army.

On Saturday, the army said it killed 27 takfiris during the past few days. The Arabic word takfiri refers to Sunni Muslims who accuse others of being infidels, often as a justification for using violence against them.

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Members of Egypts Special Forces departed the country on Saturday for Bahrain to participate in the joint training military drill Khaled Bin Al-Waleed 2018 with Bahraini counterparts, a statement by the Egyptian Armed Forces said.

The Egyptian Special Forces members are set to arrive at Bahrains Issa Air Base, where they will prepare for the drill, which will involve the exchange of military experience and training.

The training comes in light of the military partnership and cooperation and the coordination of efforts between the armed forces of the two brotherly countries to reach the highest levels of efficiency and combat readiness, the Armed Forces statement said.





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MPs said the American-led attack against Syria reminds of the British-led tripartite aggression against Egypt in 1956

Egypt's MPs issued statements Saturday condemning what they called "the West's tripartite aggression against Syria," urging the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia to take a united stand.

Parliamentary spokesman Salah Hassaballah said the American-led attack against Syria comes to serve Israel.

"It is in the Israeli interest that Syria remains divided and plagued by armed struggle," Hassaballah said, adding that "America's attack comes without first investigating in a transparent way whether Syria's Bashar Al-Assad has used chemical weapons."

"We all remember how the Americans used fabricated and bogus evidence on Iraq's possession of nuclear weapons to attack it in April 2003," he said, adding that "The same scenario is being used to destroy another Arab country."



The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime on Saturday in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks that President Donald Trump branded the "crimes of a monster."

Tarek Radwan, head of the Egyptian parliament's foreign relations committee, said Trump's aggressive policies come after Syria was able to stem the tide of terrorist organisations on its territories.

"Their attacks today come to help terrorist organisations spread chaos in the Arab world, help Israel and settle old accounts with Russia at the expense of the Syrian people," Radwan said.

Alaa Abed, head of the parliament's human rights committee, said in a statement that the Arab summit scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia Sunday should take a united stand against "America's aggression against an Arab country".

Abed said the attack on Syria comes to serve the interests not only of Israel, but all terrorist organisations that aim to disrupt the Arab world.

"I think it is now high time that Egypt's proposal, that a joint Arab armed force be formed to defend the Arab world against foreign aggression, be discussed," he said.

Mostafa Bakri, an independent MP, said America's bullying and aggressive practices in the Arab world represent a violation of international laws and legitimacy.

Mohamed El-Akkad, an MP from the Nile Delta governorate of Beheira, said America's attack on Syria reminds all Arabs of its aggression on Iraq in 2003 and on Libya in 2011.

"They used the same lies and same conspiracies to spread chaos in the Arab world and help terrorist organisations disrupt it," Al-Aakkad said.

Al-Akkad said the West's tripartite aggression comes after Syria's national army made significant progress in the recent week fighting terrorist organisations.

"What these three countries  the US, UK and France  are doing now is a kind of international bullying," Al-Akkad said.

Hani Morgan, an independent MP, said the American-led attack on Syria reminds of the British-led tripartite aggression against Egypt in October 1956 in what came to be known as the "Suez War."

"History repeats itself and it shows that Western powers only care about their interests in this region," Morgan said.

Abdel-Hamid Kamal, a leftist MP, said "The lies used by America, Britain and France to attack Syria are the same which were used by America and Britain to invade Iraq in 2003, destroy it and leave it divided."

"They want to repeat the same scenario with Syria," Kamal said, asking that the foreign minister be summoned to parliament to address it on America's aggression and clarify Egypt's official position in this respect.

Parliament is expected to issue a statement on airstrikes launched by America and its two European allies Britain and France on some Syrian military targets Saturday.

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A cross-border love between a man from Afghanistan and an Argentian woman ended in Kalaburagi, almost five months after they got married.



Ahmad Zarif Chisty, 30, a Sufi preacher, Daniela Soledad, 33 of Argentina met on social media and decided to get married in India after love blossomed between them. Daniela reportedly too followed Sufism. Accordingly, they arrived in New Delhi on November 22, 2017, and they got married the next day. After travelling to Ajmer in Rajasthan and Vijayapura in Karnataka, the coupled settled in Kalaburagi, a few days ago.

Sources in police said that Chisty, who was preaching Sufism and teaching Quran in the city, had rented a small house in Makkah Colony on Hagarga Road, where the couple stayed. Differences cropped between the two when other senior Sufi preachers started arriving at their house and Chisty asked Daniela to serve them by pressing their hands and legs though he himself refrained from doing so claiming that he too was a Sufi preacher. Daniela was not only upset but also refused to do so as it was against her culture.

The differences aggravated over a period of time and Daniela contacted her parents back in Argentina seeking their help to return. Her parents then contacted the Argentina consulate in Mumbai and sought their help. The consulate then got in touch with the Kalaburagi police. The police not only successfully traced the couple but also inquired about alleged torture and harassment meted out to Daniela.

Sources in the police said that Daniela was upset and felt offended by Chisty's behaviour. She also felt a loss of privacy in the small house and wanted to go back to Argentina. She denied any physical or sexual harassment and didn't wish to lodge any complaint.





The consul general from Argentina consulate in Mumbai arrived in Kalaburagi along with another female colleague on April 10 and took Daniela with them on the same day. Daniela is now reported to be in Argentina, sources said. Chisty was let off as no case was registered against him.Syrian state media lambasted US-led air strikes on Saturday as a breach of international law and said the attack had targeted army depots in the Homs area.

"The tripartite aggression is a flagrant violation of international law," state news agency SANA said.

US, British and French forces pounded Syria with strikes early on Saturday after a suspected gas attack killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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A first year woman student of the Government Law College here was today suspended for allegedly attempting to create a 'communal divide' by her remarks over the rape incidents in Unnao and Khatua.

R Priya was suspended following complaints from fellow students that she had been trying to force them to speak against the government and also asking them to boycott classes over the rape incidents, a release from the college principal K Gopalakrishnan said. She was trying to create a communal divide among the students, it said.

Besides, Assistant Professor, R Ammu who was deputed to inquire into the students' complaint was prevented by her from carrying out his work, the release said. Considering the regulations of the college, she was placed under suspension, on the apprehension that her acts would lead to caste, religious and communal clashes, it said.

Priya has been asked not to enter the college campus without permission from the Principal, the release added. The brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, and Unnao rape case of a 17-year-old girl have sparked an outrage.Congress president Rahul Gandhi said today "India wants to know" when its daughters will get justice as he 'thanked' Prime Minister Narendra Modi for breaking his "long silence" on the Kathua and Unnao rape cases.

"Dear Prime Minister, Thank you for breaking your long silence. You said 'our daughters will get justice'. India wants to know: when?" Gandhi tweeted.

Gandhi's tweet came soon after Modi said at an event in Delhi he wants to "assure the nation that no criminal will be spared" and justice will be delivered to its daughters, a statement seen as a reference to the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl in UP's Unnao and of an 8-year-old girl in J&K's Kathua.

Earlier today, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Modi has done "too little, too late" over the two rape cases, but he said his party hoped the prime minister would now initiate tangible steps to provide justice to the victims.

Singhvi said the two incidents cannot be termed "normal cases" and these cases have shamed the nation. He also accused the BJP of viewing the cases through the "prism of religion" and demanded the sacking of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"We are very thankful to the prime minister that he has spoken at least, even if he spoke after three months of Kathua and after weeks of Unnao and even if he has spoken at the beck and call of opposition parties like us.

"I wish he will now convert his words into deeds... We want that the prime minister should initiate some steps. What matters is deeds count, words do not," he told reporters.

"Mere slogans and 'jumlas' will neither prevent nor reduce Unnaos and Kathuas," he said.

The Congress reaction also came after several BJP leaders hit out at the opposition parties for "shedding crocodile tears" on the issue of safety of women.

In the Kathua case, the rape victim had disappeared from near her house on January 10. A week later, her body was found in the same area.

A Special Investigation Team of Crime Branch, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable and a sub-inspector, who were charged with destroying evidence.

In the Unnao case, a BJP lawmaker has been booked on various charges, including rape. Kuldeep Singh Sengar, MLA from Bangarmau constituency, was today arrested by the CBI.

Singhvi also alleged that the mentality and approach of the government, the BJP, the RSS and Modi was anti-Dalit.

The Congress leader said the BJP can inaugurate as many memorials as they like, "but the fact is that they are reducing sub-plans, financial allocations".

"You are robbing them of their scholarships, you are participating in conspiracies to dilute their reservations and then you are shedding crocodile tears in the name of Dalits," he said.

"Any attempt to rewrite history, erase history will not work," he said.

Singhvi said Babasaheb Ambedkar was a part of the Congress and the freedom movement. "No one has done more in the name of Ambedkar than the Congress," he said.

He criticised BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi for defending two Jammu and Kashmir ministers, who had joined a rally against the police probe in the Kathua case.

"I strongly condemn the party, which sees even rape on religious and class lines. The person, the party and the government that look at rape through the prism of class and religion have to be criticised," he said.

On Twitter, the Congress said: "BJP's MP Meenakshi Lekhi's insensitive remark is an insult to Indian citizens standing up for their rights. Her statement reflects her party's regressive ideology. She must take back her words and apologise immediately."

Singhvi demanded the sacking of Jammu and Kashmir Forest Minister Lal Singh and Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga, who he alleged instigated the protests in Jammu in support of the accused.India will next week host a global conference aimed at helping nations to implement a UN resolution that seeks to check proliferation weapons of mass destruction (WMD)- the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons- to terrorists and other non-state actors, the External Affairs Ministry said today.

The ministry, in cooperation with Germany and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), will host the India-Wiesbaden Conference 2018 from April 16-17, 2018, at the Federation House here.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will be the industry partner for the event titled Securing Global Supply Chains through Government-Industry Partnerships towards Effective Implementation of UNSC Resolution 1540'.

Representatives from the government and Industry of 39 countries, as well as experts from the UNSC 1540 Committee and UN Office for Disarmament Affairs in New York, will be participating in the two-day conference, the MEA said.

The Conference provides an opportunity to participants to share experiences on their export control systems and to identify legal and technical assistance, action plans and challenges in the implementation of UNSC 1540, it said.

The UN Security Council Resolution 1540 of 2004 establishes legally binding obligations on all states to adopt and enforce appropriate and effective measures to prevent the proliferation to non-state actors of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and their delivery systems.

It requires, therefore that states implement appropriate and effective measures to prevent non-state actors such as terrorists, from obtaining access to weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The Wiesbaden Process was initiated by Germany in 2012 to strengthen the implementation of UNSC 1540 through government-industry partnerships.

India, with its long-standing commitment to international non-proliferation, has established a legally backed robust export control system to implement UNSC 1540, the ministry said.

The conference is being held amid reports of an alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria.The Rajasthan Police has moved the high court, seeking a direction to the trial court hearing the rape case against self-styled godman Asaram to pronounce the judgment on April 17.

The police in its plea said a huge number of Asaram's followers would be in the city on April 25, when the special SC/ST Court in Jodhpur is scheduled to pronounce the judgement in the case.

"We have moved an application for the pronouncement of judgment in the case on April 17 instead of April 25 in view of the threat to the law and order situation in the city," said Additional Advocate General S K Vyas.

A bench of Justice G K Vyas and Justice Ram Chandra Singh Jhala posted the matter for hearing on April 17 after the defence sought time for reply.

The police said it would be appropriate to pronounce the order in a "jail court for the safety and security of the public and Asaram himself".

The special SC/ST Court had on April 7 reserved its order for April 25 in the 2012 rape case against Asaram after the final arguments were completed.

A teenage girl had accused Asaram of sexual assault at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur. The girl, who belonged to Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was a student living in the ashram.

Asaram, who is in jail since August 31, 2013, was charged under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

If convicted, Asaram faces a maximum sentence of 10 years, victim's counsel P C Solanki said.

He is also facing a rape case in Gujarat.

Earlier, the apex court had refused to grant bail to Asaram on various grounds in the two sexual assault cases lodged in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The Supreme Court had on April 6 pulled up the Gujarat Police for the delay in completion of recording of evidence in one of the rape cases against self-styled preacher lodged in the Jodhpur jail, and directed it to conclude the process within five weeks.

Asaram's counsel on January 15 told the court that in the Gujarat case, out of 92 witnesses, 22 material witnesses have been examined, 14 of them have been dropped and rest need to be examined.

Two Surat-based sisters had lodged separate complaints against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement, among other charges.Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme on Saturday.

He also inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region.

The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

Modi, who is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur, also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map.

This was the prime minister's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are due later the year. He had visited Dantewada in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.

Modi also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. The BPO centre is provided Internet by the Bastar internet scheme.

He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 1,700 crore.

The prime minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh chaired the programme while Health Minister J P Nadda was the chief guest on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government aims to open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre by 2022, which would be equipped to treat host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.

Also under the scheme, the government has prepared the broad contour of the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and work is on to finalise parameters for identifying beneficiaries and hospital entitlement.Members of Dalit community on Saturday "cleansed" B R Ambedkar's statue here soon after Union minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes on his 127th birth anniversary, a Dalit leader said, claiming that their presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

Thakor Solanki, general secretary of SC/ST the Employees Union of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, claimed that they had gathered at the venue to pay their tributes before the BJP leaders.

The members of the Dalit community raised slogans at the GEB Circle area on Race Course against other party leaders and Gandhi, the Women and Child Development minister who is in the city to attend a number of events.

She arrived at Ambedkar's statue along with BJP MP Ranjanben Bhatt, city mayor Bharat Dangar, BJP MLA Yogesh Patel and others.

The members of the Dalit community, led by Solanki, started raising slogans against them. An argument broke out between them and the police personnel, but no untoward incident took place.

After Gandhi and other leaders garlanded the statue around 9 am and left the venue, the members of the community washed it with milk and water, saying the BJP leaders' presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

"We told the police that since we had gathered there much before the BJP leaders came, it was our right to pay tributes first. However, police prevented us from garlanding the statue stating that as per the protocol, it was the mayor's right. This angered our members," Solanki said.

"The statue and the atmosphere in the GEB circle area was polluted after the arrival of Gandhi and other BJP leaders. Therefore, we cleansed Ambedkar's statue with milk and water after it was garlanded by the BJP leaders," he added.

Before Gandhi's arrival, Jivraj Chauhan, general secretary of SC/ST cell of BJP's state unit, was also gheraoed by the Dalit members, who shouted slogans against him, forcing him to leave the venue.With the Karnataka Assembly poll date nearing, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is likely to make at least three visits to the state, intensifying the party's campaigning as it seeks to retain power there, sources said.

Polling will be held in Karnataka on May 12.

Sources said Gandhi is expected to fan those areas of the state which he has not visited yet as part of his Jana Aashirwada Yatre there.

"All his rallies and meetings till now have received a good response. There is a feeling among Karnataka workers that he should cover more areas in the four regions of the state to ensure our victory," a party leader said.

Gandhi visiting the state will also ensure that workers remain upbeat till the election date, the leader added.

During the Congress president's recent road show in the state's Tumkur, a party man had thrown a garland towards him and it had perfectly landed around the Congress chief's neck.

Asked about it, the source said party workers should ensure there is no repeat of such a case in view of his security.

"Workers love him. But there shouldn't be a repeat of such a case in view of his security. Security personnel will also be more vigilant," the source added.

Gandhi has till now held six rounds of campaigning in the state with the last one being on April 7 and 8.

Karnataka is witnessing a three-corner contest among the Congress, BJP and the H D Deve Gowda-led JD (S). The result of the election will be out on May 15.The Russian military said that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of 103 that Western allies fired.

The Russian military said Saturday that Western allies fired 103 cruise missiles including Tomahawk missiles at Syria but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them.

"All together, 103 cruise missiles were deployed," senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi said at a briefing in Moscow. "Seventy-one cruise missiles were intercepted."

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European Council President Donald Tusk said Saturday the European Union stood by the United States, France and Britain over their air strikes in Syria after alleged chemical attacks by the Damascus regime.



"Strikes by US, France and UK make it clear that Syrian regime together with Russia and Iran cannot continue this human tragedy, at least not without cost. The EU will stand with our allies on the side of justice," Tusk said in a Twitter message.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said this was not the first time that Damascus had used chemical weapons against civilians "but it must be the last.

"The international community has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable those responsible of any attack with chemical weapons," Juncker said in a statement.

"As it enters its 8th year of conflict, Syria desperately needs a lasting ceasefire respected by all parties that paves the way for achieving a negotiated political solution through the United Nations-led Geneva process, to bring peace to the country once and for all."Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has written to the chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, requesting setting up of a special fast-track court to try the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua.

The chief minister requested the chief justice for establishment of the special fast-track court for the case, official sources said.

It would complete trial in 90 days and would be the first such court in the state, they said.

The state government has also decided to terminate from service the cops accused in the case, they added.Air strikes by Britain, France and the United States in Syria sent a "clear message" against the use of chemical weapons, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday and declared the action as successful.

The British Prime Minister told reporters at a Downing Street press conference on Saturday that the coordinated strikes to degrade the Bashar al-Assad led Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability involved four Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR 4s.

"This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons," she said.

The tornadoes launched storm shadow missiles at a military facility some 15 miles west of Homs, where the Assad regime was assessed to have kept chemical weapons in breach of Syria's obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

"While the full assessment of the strike is ongoing, we are confident of its success it was a limited, targeted and effective strike with clear boundaries that expressly sought to avoid escalation and did everything possible to prevent civilian casualties," May said.

Acknowledging that there no "graver decision" for a prime minister than to commit the country's forces to combat, Theresa May said that following discussions with US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron the trio had agreed to hit a specific and limited set of targets.

These included a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a key chemical weapons research centre and a military bunker involved in chemical weapons attacks.

"Hitting these targets with the force that we have deployed will significantly degrade the Syrian Regime's ability to research, develop and deploy chemical weapons," she said.

Making a reference to Russia, which has been supporting the Syrian regime, Theresa May indicated that the strikes were also intended as a message to Moscow over its own use of a deadly nerve agent against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last month.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere. We must reinstate the global consensus that chemical weapons cannot be used," she said.

In a statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the air strikes as an "act of aggression" by the three western allies, which would worsen the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

The UK's Opposition Labour party branded the strikes as "legally questionable", conducted without the backing or vote in the UK Parliament. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned the government's involvement in the US-led strikes, saying it "makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely".

May said that due to "operational security reasons" it had been "right and legal" to take the action in the way that the US, France and Britain had.

The strikes, which had been expected since Trump had tweeted a series of warnings to Syria over the past week, follows reports last Saturday of up to 75 people, including young children, being killed in the Syrian city of Douma.

Theresa May stressed that after assessments, alongside the US and France, all the indications were that it had been a chemical weapons attack which led to some harrowing images of men, women and children lying dead with foam in their mouths.

The British PM had received her Cabinet's backing for military action during an emergency meeting on Thursday. The UK asserts that the action is not about interfering in a civil war or about regime change.

Earlier on Saturday, UK defence secretary Gavin Williamson also described the air strikes as a "highly successful mission", adding that the UK, France and America had played an important role in "degrading the ability of the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons".As the Bakerwals make their way to the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir with their belongings, she trudges along burdened by the weight of her eight-year-old daughter's death.

"She was so beautiful and intelligent. I wanted her to be a doctor when she grew up," the biological mother of the girl reminisces.

The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.

"My only wish is the culprits should be hanged for the heinous crime, so that no other family has to go through it," she says.

The girl was adopted by the woman's brother and his wife in Rasana hamlet of Kathua district when she was one year old.

Still in shock, she blames herself for leaving her daughter at her brother's house.

"Why was she killed? She was grazing cattle and taking care of horses. She was eight years old. Why did they kill her in such a brutal way. They should be given death sentence," she says.

The girl's father said she was at her maternal uncle's home in Rasana.

"The killers should be given death penalty. We do not need a CBI probe, we have faith in investigation by the Crime Branch," he says.

Jammu has been on tenterhooks since the brutal rape and killing of the girl belonging to the nomadic Muslim Bakerwal community.

Her body was found in the Rasana forest on January 17, a week after she went missing while grazing horses in the forest area.

The couple along with their two kids and cattle left their hamlet in Samba in Udhampur district as part of their annual trek to Sanasar mountainous belt.

The mother says that earlier they had good relations with Hindus and lived in harmony with them.

"But after this incident, the relations have soured and we are fearful. We only want justice for her. She was our dear child. She was beautiful and we loved her," she says.

They wanted take her back, teach her and make her a doctor, the mother said, adding that she was very intelligent.

"The prime minister had said "Beti Padavo Beti Bachavo" but how are they teaching and saving girls like this," her adoptive father asks.

"The ministers are supporting the rape accused, saying that they are innocent, but they are wrong," he says.

The biological father says the world knows that their daughter, who did not know about the difference between Hindus and Muslims, was wronged and murdered in most barbaric manner.

"The world and entire India knows it. They are supporting them. I do not say she was our only child, she was everyone's child. The incident should not be looked at through the religious lens," he said.

On January 23, the government had handed over the case to the Crime Branch of the state police which formed a special investigation team and arrested eight people including two Special Police Officers (SPOs) and a head constable.

The police have arrested eight people in the case, but the Bar Association has opposed the action, alleging targeting of minority Dogras.Veteran actor and BJP MP Hema Malini on Saturday echoed the views expressed by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and demanded that rapists of children below 12 years must be "hanged to death".

Yesterday, Maneka said that she had asked her department to work on a proposal to amend the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to bring in the provision of death penalty for the rape of a minor below the age of 12 years.

Taking to Twitter, Malini called for a national movement against "animals who don't spare even babies" and said media should also support the cause.

"Daily newspaper reports of rape happening in every part of our country! Kathua, Unnao are (nothing) but two of the long list of shame. Can these mindless rapists even be classified as human beings? They are beasts on the rampage & should be hanged to death for their heinous crimes," Malini, who is the BJP MP from Mathura, tweeted.

"There should be a national uprising with strong support from the media, against these animals who don't spare even babies & toddlers! I agree with Manekaji that death penalty should be instantaneous once proven guilty & there should be no bail or pardon, juveniles included, for all rapes," she added.

In the present POCSO law, there is no provision for capital punishment, with the maximum sentence being life imprisonment for penetrative sexual assault as well aggravated penetrative sexual assault.

In Kathua, an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Bakerwal community had gone missing from near her house on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area.

In the Unnao case, a 17-year-old girl has alleged that she was raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence on June 4 last year.A video showing a government doctor allegedly beating up a woman patient here in front of policemen, after accusing her of abusing and trying to hit him, has gone viral on social media, prompting the police to book him.



Khushaldeep Singh, an ENT specialist at the Civil Hospital, was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after the video surfaced yesterday, SP, Ferozepur, Ajmer Singh Bath, said.

"We are trying to identify the woman who was thrashed by the doctor and we will record her statement," he said today.

In the video, Khushaldeep can be seen pulling the woman by her hair, slapping and kicking her in front of police personnel at the hospital.

The doctor could be heard using abusive words in the video.

Khushaldeep, however, accused the woman of using abusive language and trying to hit him.

He said the woman had been visiting the hospital for the last 10 to 15 days and regularly demanding medicines from him.

"She seemed to be mentally unstable. When I denied giving her medicines, she used abusive language and tried to hit me.

"My turban got displaced and thereafter, I lost my temper. I agree that I should not have thrashed her like this, but this happened in a fit of rage," Khushaldeep said.

The Superintendent of Police (SP) said taking cognisance of the video, which went viral, the doctor was booked.

The Ferozepur civil surgeon has been asked to submit a report on the incident within 24 hours, officials said.

Congress MLA, Ferozepur (Urban), Parminder Singh Pinki, said no one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands.

"It is indeed a matter of shame for all of us and such actions against women cannot be tolerated", Pinki said.On April 14, the nation celebrated the 127th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, the father of Indian Constitution. In the last one year, members of Dr Ambedkar's community -- the Dalits -- were in the spotlight for positive and negative reasons. We look back at these events and incidents.

On Friday, Prime Minister Modi dedicated the Ambedkar National Memorial in New Delhi to the nation. The Government had converted Ambedkar's residence at 26 Alipur Road into a memorial at a cost of Rs 100 crore. Modi had requested all BJP leaders to spend time with the Dalits beginning Saturday. Modi himself flew to Naxal-hit Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh to launch a couple of schemes for the underprivileged including Dalits.

Early this week, the painting of an Ambedkar statue in Uttar Pradesh in saffron and later re-painting it to blue had grabbed headlines. This was after a statue in the same site was demolished by miscreants.

The 'Bharat Bandh' called by Dalit organisations on April 2 against the Supreme Court's dilution of SC/ST PoA Act, 1989 saw the uprising of Dalits. There was violence against the community following the Bandh. The resentment over violence and government's failure to argue for atrocities law is still a cause of concern for the community.

The good news, however, is that they are celebrating April as 'Dalit History Month', which is in its third year. Several programmes are being organised across India to create awareness about the contribution of backward communities to history.

The last week of March brought to light a murder in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat. It is alleged that the upper caste people angered by a 21-year-old Dalit man owning a horse killed him. Police, however, claimed that the reason for the murder was because the man was harassing girls.

ALSO READ: Ambedkar and Gandhi

The statues of leaders, including that of Periyar and Ambedkar, were demolished after BJP's Tripura victory and the demolition of Lenin's statue. In last one year, there were several such incidents across India.

The year began with the news of violence on the Dalits in Bhima Koregaon, a village near Pune. The village is known for the last Anglo-Maratha war. Every year the Dalits visit the memorial here to celebrate the victory of English army led by the untouchable Mahar warriors against the upper caste Peshwa-Maratha.

This year also marked the 200th year of the battle. Hindu outfits, including some Maratha groups, had unleashed violence against the people visiting the memorial in Bhima Koregaon.

In December 2017, an Ambedkarite, Jignesh Mevani, won the Vadgam constituency seat of Gujarat Assembly. He has been leading the Dalits after the flogging of four men accused of cow slaughter in Gujarat's Una. Mevani, a young face of the community, contested as an independent candidate with the backing of Congress. The Gujarat election also showed the discontent of voters especially those from the lower castes against the incumbent BJP government in the state and centre.

Maharashtra government declared that Students' Day will be celebrated on November 7 to mark the enrollment of Ambedkar in Satara's Pratapsingh High School on the same day in 1900.

For the first time, a Dalit became a priest in a Kerala temple after the government made changes in temple appointments. That apart, the Kerala government instructed authorities to use the word 'Scheduled Caste' instead of 'Dalit' in official documents. The order was justified as the Dalit is just a political term with no caste attached to it.

Dalit youths hit the social media with selfies showing their moustaches and using the hashtag #JativaadNaVirodhMa. The alleged beating of Dalit youths by upper caste people in Gujarat for keeping a moustache and lynching a Dalit man for attending a Garba event led to the campaign.

There were clashes between Thakurs and Dalits in May and September in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The first clash broke out after BJP took out an Ambedkar Jayanti rally through a Muslim-dominated area on April 20. In May first week, the second one happened when the Dalits objected to the celebration of the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap. The Thakurs vandalised Dalit settlements alleging the murder of a Thakur man. Subsequent protests and clashes continued for at least two weeks.

A huge rally in Delhi, led by Bhim Army, a Dalit group, whose leader was Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, wanted the culprits of Saharanpur clash to be punished. The police arrested Bhim Army leaders including Chandrashekhar Azad. He got bail in November but the government imposed the stringent National Security Act on him and put him behind bars.

During his address on Ambedkar Jayanti last year, Prime Minister Modi launched the BHIM App after the first-name of Ambedkar - Bhimrao. This app facilitates digital payment.

ALSO READ: A month to reminisce Dalit contribution to history

Unlike other founding fathers of India, Ambedkar continues to be alive in the Indian socio-political life. He is the only one leader with huge followers. Since his followers are untouchables according to the caste system, they continue to undergo oppression.

The community has been in the growth mode by living the motto of Ambedkar - Educate, agitate and organise.

Timeline of BR Ambedkar's LifeMLA from Molkalmur S Thippeswamy said on Saturday he would contest from any party, if given a chance. Otherwise, he would enter the fray as an independent, he said.

He was speaking to reporters after a meeting with his supporters at his residence at Neralagunte here.

Thippeswamy said MP Sriramulu and state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa had promised him the ticket from Molkalmur on several occasions. But now they had gone back on their words. The legislator vowed to defeat Sriramulu and send him back to Ballari, his native.For around 45 minutes, explosions and the sound of warplanes roared over Damascus, a stronghold of Syria's regime, as the US, France, and Britain carried out raids on military installations nearby and in the province of Homs.

Hours before dawn, a string of powerful blasts jolted awake residents of the Syrian capital. Emerging onto their balconies, they watched Western strikes light up the sky over Damascus.

For around 45 minutes, explosions and the sound of warplanes roared over Damascus, a stronghold of Syria's regime, as the US, France, and Britain carried out raids on military installations nearby and in the province of Homs.

"I heard the strike and woke up. I checked the internet and read: barefaced attack by America, France, and Britain," said Sawsan Abu Tableh.

She and other residents described hearing a volley of fire in the morning, and seeing plumes of thick smoke emerging from the city's north and east.

"I woke up to the sound of the strike at 4:00 am and checked the news," said 49-year-old Rahmeh Abu Hamra, who lives in the eastern suburb of Jarmana.

At that moment, halfway around the world, US President Donald Trump was announcing the joint military strikes on Syria.

Abu Hamra rushed out onto her balcony and saw streams of people heading down to central Damascus in an impromptu rally as day broke.

"We don't care about Trump or a million people like him, we don't care about missiles or anything else," she told AFP.

Just after the barrage of strikes began, Syria announced it was activating its air defence system to block the attack.

The army said around 110 missiles were fired on Syria, but air defences shot most of them down.

Nedher Hammoud, 48, jumped out of bed at the sound of the blasts and clambered up to his rooftop.

"I went out on my roof this morning and saw the missiles being shot down like flies," Hammoud told AFP.

"History will record that Syria shot down missiles -- and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance."

Still in his pyjamas, Hammoud scrambled to join the crowds of people heading to the famed Umayyad Square to show their support for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Draped in government flags and blaring patriotic tunes, dozens of Syrians arrived on bicycles, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white, and black colours of the Syrian flag.

A traffic jam had already started to form around the square, and young Syrians leaned out of their car windows to take selfies as military personnel looked on.

"God is protecting you, Damascus!" some called out, and others chanted in support of Assad and the army.

Soldiers threw up two fingers to flash the victory sign near a car with pictures showing the president, his late father Hafez al-Assad and ally Hassan Nasrallah, who heads the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Car horns blared and people clapped, swaying back and forth to pro-army tunes.

"Bashar, we're at your command! Let the world go up in flames!" people chanted.

Amina al-Fares, 58, came to the rally dressed in black.

"I lost my recently-married nephew, my son, my brother's children, all for Bashar al-Assad," she told AFP, of relatives killed in Syria's seven-year war.

Fares said she felt the bombing early in the morning when she was drinking mate, but said she was not afraid.

"I heard the first strike, then the second, and I went out onto my balcony," she said.

"Trump thought we'd be in bomb shelters, but here we are in Umayyad Square."

Assad, too, appeared determined to show he was not unfazed.

In footage published by the presidency, he strolled through the grandiose marble halls of his office holding a briefcase, as if arriving for a normal day of work.

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Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Kuldeep Senger, who is accused of raping a 17-year-old girl in Unnao district, was on Saturday remanded to CBI custody for seven days.



The central investigation agency also arrested Senger's aide Shashi Singh, the woman who reportedly "lured" the victim to the MLA on the pretext of getting her a job.

The probe agency, which had arrested Senger after the order of the Allahabad High Court on Friday, produced him in a special CBI court here around afternoon and sought a remand for 14 days. The court, however, granted a remand for seven days.

The victim had alleged that the lawmaker, his brother and some of their supporters gang-raped her when she had approached Senger for a job.

The victim had attempted self-immolation near Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's official residence on Sunday in protest against the failure of the police to act against the four-time MLA from Bangarmau but was prevented by some alert cops.

Six police personnel, including the Makhi Station House Officer, has been suspended on charges of laxity. The opposition parties have demanded the resignation of Adityanath on moral grounds.Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was on Saturday conferred the title of "Dalit Mitra" (friend of Dalit) by the outfit Ambedkar Mahasabha outfit amid opposition from some office-bearers.



The title was conferred upon Adityanath at a function here to pay tribute to Dalit icon B R Ambedkar on his 127the birth anniversary.

The chief minister, while speaking on this occasion, announced the setting up 25 special courts to try cases under the SC/ST Act.

Adityanath also listed the schemes his government has initiated for the welfare of Dalitslits and weaker sections in the state and reiterated his commitment to protecting their interests.

He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was fulfilling the dreams of Ambedkar in the true sense.

There was a split in the Mahasabha over its decision to felicitate Adityanath with the title and several members of the outfit on Saturday held a demonstration in protest against it outside the venue of the function.

The members were taken into custody by the police.

Two founding members of the outfit - S R Darapuri and Harish Chandra - claimed that Mahasabha president Lalji Nirmal had been promised a lucrative post by the state government and that was why he wanted to please the chief minister.

"Atrocities on Dalits have increased manifold under the present government... it has failed to ensure the safety of the Dalits...the community is facing persecution," Darapuri charged.As political temperature has been on the rise over Dalit issues, the government and the ruling BJP reached out to them with the launch of a fortnight-long 'gram swaraj abhiyan'.



This move has prompted the Opposition Congress to accuse the Modi dispensation to pay only "lip service".

As part of the nation-wide campaign starting on Saturday on the birth anniversary of Dalit icon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bijapur, a tribal district in Chhattisgarh, to launch several government projects, where he invoked his humble origins.

BJP chief Amit Shah, accompanied by a large contingent of party MPs and ministers, paid tributes to B R Ambedkar on his 127th anniversary in the national headquarters of the party.

During the campaign that concludes on May 5, BJP ministers and MPs will visit around 18,000 villages where the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes constitute more than 50% of the population.

The villages are being covered under seven key schemes of the government, including Ayushmaan, Ujjwala, Ujala, and Jan Dhan Yojana.

The Congress, however, kept up the attack on the government on Dalit issues, fielding its prominent Dalit leader from Haryana, Kumari Selja, who accused the BJP of "eroding" the legacy of Ambedkar.

"The BJP and RSS have an anti-Dalit mindset. They are simply paying lip service (to Ambedkar)" Selja said, while addressing a press conference a day after Modi on Saturday asked people "not to fall into the Congress trap."Homegrown breakfast cereal brand Bagrry's is looking to expand its manufacturing capacity by setting up a plant in the South with an investment of Rs 100 crore.

Bagrry's India Ltd Director Aditya Bagri said, "The South, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad as well as Mumbai in the West are booming markets for us. We are planning a facility by the next fiscal."

The breakfast cereal business is a 20-year old vertical under the 50-year old group, which has been a bulk supplier of oats, wheat bran and other cereal products to leading brands, including Nestle, KFC, ITC and Britannia, among others.

Further, the Rs 120 crore company is set to enter a new dimension in the industry by entering the quick service restaurant (QSR) space, for which it has earmarked an investment of Rs 3-4 crore this fiscal. It has started piloting its kiosks in Delhi and plans to enter Bengaluru soon.

"The 'eating out' culture in Bengaluru is encouraging and so is the 'healthy eating' culture. We are eager to introduce our healthy snacking outlets in the city," said Bagri.

Healthy growth

On expanding the brand's footprint, he said, "As of now, we are looking to achieve brand visibility. As the second most popular brand in the category, we claim a share of about 18% in the country's Rs 1,000-1,200 crore (MRP value) breakfast cereals market." The brand is available at 70,000 points-of-sale in the country, with a further presence in Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives, among others.

Apart from B2C sales, the company is aggressive about its B2C sales, which contribute equally to revenues. Some of its clients are Jet Airways, Taj Hotels and IRCTC. "We plan to do specialised institutional sales going forward, as, with awareness of consumer preferences, the segment is picking up," said Bagri.

The company looks to close FY18 with Rs 120 crore in revenues and expects a growth of 40% in the current financial year.Bengaluru-based IT major Infosys is in the process of integrating its artificial intelligence (AI) platform Nia with its banking solution Finacle, which is expected to help banks detect online frauds.

"We are working on integrating Nia into Finacle. We have some use cases on this, and we are surely working towards it. The AI of Nia will help banks in detecting frauds and secure customers," Infosys COO UB Pravin Rao told DH.

Infosys Nia is an Artificial Intelligence platform which collects and aggregates organisational data from people, processes and legacy systems into a self-learning knowledge base. It then automates repetitive business and IT processes.

The development holds significance as recently, public sector lender Punjab National Bank detected a fraud worth over Rs 12,000 crore by diamond merchants Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

The fraud occurred because Letters of Understanding (LoUs) and international financial communication system SWIFT used by PNB did not get captured by its core banking software. State-owned PNB was apparently working to upgrade to the automated integrated version of Finacle for a year-and-a-half before the scam emerged.

"We will try to experiment and pilot the use of Nia within Finacle and see if from a larger fraud context, whether you can use machine learning to try to detect it in a much better way. But at the same time there has to be tightness in any process you deploy as well," he added.

Finacle is a core banking product developed by Infosys that provides universal banking functionality to banks. In August 2015, Finacle became part of EdgeVerve Systems.

Launched in 2003, Finacle is used by banks across 84 countries that serve over 450 million customers.

Several major customers of Finacle include Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, J&K Bank, Bank of Baroda, and IDBI Bank, among others.

The company, however, said that the PNB fraud was not aided by any failure of its Finacle core banking software, but due to a breakdown of manual processes on the bank's end.

"On the PNB front, I just want to clarify that it has nothing to do with Finacle; it was a process failure," Rao said during the company's Q4 earnings call.

Instead, Rao blamed it on collaboration between the bank employees and alleged fraudsters. "You can have any strong technology, you can have any strong platform, but if there is a collaboration between the maker and the taker, it's very difficult for any system to prevent. It's more of a process failure than anything else," he added.Established in 1982, Eureka Forbes has emerged as a leading homegrown consumer durables brand, best known for its home cleaning and water purifier solutions, which have addressed changing consumer needs and environmental conditions.

Of all the company's offerings, Aquaguard is indeed a household name, having purified drinking water in millions of Indian households since 1984, clinching a market share of over 60%. Marzin Shroff, CEO and MD of Eureka Forbes, tells what has kept Aquaguard steady in its dream run, and shares key industry trends with DH's Hrithik Kiran Bagade in this interview. Edited excerpts:

How has been the journey of Eureka Forbes with regard to the Aquaguard brand?

Eureka Forbes is a leading homegrown consumer durables brand, offering solutions in water purification, air purification and cleaning categories. When we started in 1982, our primary business was to go door-to-door and sell vacuum cleaners.

In 1984, observing an increase in water contamination across the country, the company tapped into the water purifier segment and introduced Aquaguard, our flagship brand. It was the first water purifier launched in India. Today, with a presence across over 18,000 retail outlets, and a direct sales network of over 5,000 certified 'Eurochamps', over 6,500 service technicians and over 1,800 service centres across India, Aquaguard is one of the largest-selling water purifier brands in the world, and the most preferred choice of more than 20 million consumer homes in over 600 Indian cities.

What are the trends and challenges in the water purifier space?

India has long faced the challenge of providing safe drinking water to citizens. While there is a lack of access to water in some parts, there are regions where accessibility has improved, but with deteriorating water quality. Cities in India are growing, which has made it hard for the authorities to provide safe drinking water. As per industry reports, 54% of the nation is facing extremely high water stress, which is bound to get worse. As a result of this rampant expansion, potable water is becoming increasingly scarce.

The growing consumer awareness and lack of access to pure water have led to the growth of the water purification market. India's water purifier market is expected to reach $4.1 billion by the end of 2024, compared to $1.1 billion in 2015, according to Transparency Market Research.

Today, a water purifier at home has become a necessity, rather than a 'good-to-have' product. The demand for affordable potable water at home is expected to play a critical role in shaping the Indian water purifier market. Also, RO (reverse osmosis) and UV (ultraviolet) purifying technologies are expected to show a strong growth rate.

How have you faced those challenges?

Taking cognisance of this situation, Aquaguard has relentlessly introduced new technologies and solutions to address changing customer needs, aspirations and environmental concerns. With the advent of IoT, the implementation of this technology in water and wastewater infrastructure will help ensure optimisation and efficiency. This will further push the demand for smart and sustainable solutions.

What is the size of Eureka Forbes as a company, and what is Aquaguard's size within that?

Eureka Forbes is a multi-product, multi-channel organisation with a gross group turnover of Rs 3,040.7 crore for the year ending March 31, 2017.

Share some details about Aquaguard's market presence.

Eureka Forbes' expertise in mapping the groundwater quality across 6,000 postal codes helps the brand design the most appropriate purification solutions.

Aquaguard has a well-established presence in the East, West and South, and aims to capture the North in the near future. It is the only water purifier brand which understands that in India, water changes after every 100 km, and therefore, has developed 21 water purification technologies to combat 21 different water conditions.

Instead of taking a national approach, Eureka Forbes views markets by smaller geographic regions, socioeconomic categories and the availability of water. Today, the company's market strategy is spread over three brands and the following prospects - AquaSure (a no-frills offering, comprising both electric and non-electric 'smart' purifiers, and sold across rural and urban areas), Aquaguard (the market leader, available as an omnichannel brand), and Dr. Aquaguard (flagship range of premium water purifiers). The brand has more than 130 certifications by leading water laboratories.

What are the latest offerings from Aquaguard?

Aquaguard now has water purifiers that not only purify but also enable better absorption of essential natural minerals present in drinking water. Taking innovation to the next level, the company has recently launched a unique water purification technology a Biotron and NutriTron in its Dr Aquaguard and Aquaguard ranges that supplement essential minerals and nutrients in one's drinking water after purification. Earlier this year, Eureka Forbes also introduced Dr Aquaguard Intelligenz, an IoT-enabled water purifier that operates independently and enables consumers to monitor water quality on a smartphone.

What are your future plans for Aquaguard?

The next thing on agenda for Aquaguard involves penetration and upgrading existing water purifier-users. The focus in the coming years will be to provide technologically-advanced and interconnected appliances that provide customised solutions to cater to the ever-changing needs of consumers. The company plans to introduce an energy-efficient technology called Capacitive De-ionisation (CDI) to address the issue of water scarcity.The association of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools has urged the government to let parents choose whether they want Kannada as the second or third language for their wards.

At a recent meeting with education department officials, the association sought that the decision to choose Kannada as the second language be left to parents and individual schools starting this academic year.

The association has, however, assured the education department that it will be ensured that Kannada is mandatorily introduced in all schools as one of the languages or subjects.

"Schools will give parents an option to choose. It is up to them to decide whether they wish to prioritise Kannada or the other languages. Even as the department has agreed to it in principle, we are yet to receive a circular in this regard," said Srinivasan M, president, Managements of Individual CBSE Schools Association.

The department had, in January 2018, issued a circular mandating that Kannada be taught as either the first or second language in schools, irrespective of which education board they come under. Accordingly, some schools had considered introducing an additional language to be able to teach Kannada to students.

Srinivasan said students study two languages up to class V. Between class V and VIII, they study three languages. "We have sought that the government give schools permission to let parents choose," he added.

Meanwhile, there is no clarity on what Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) schools would be expected to do as schools have received no official communication in this regard.

Gayathri, president, Karnataka ICSE Schools Association, however, said that they would go by the previous circular and start teaching Kannada as either the first or second language.

Speaking to DH about the proposal, P C Jaffer, commissioner, Department of Public Instruction, said that the issue about having Kannada as a third language needed to be decided at the government level.

"This means that the Kannada Language Learning Act needs an amendment. With elections round the corner, the decision cannot be taken at the moment. We will have to wait," he said.

He added that the minister had raised the issue pertaining to KV schools at a meeting in Delhi and the response was awaited.The BJP on Saturday swung into action to contain possible damage to the party, following disgruntled party leader Thippeswamy from Molakalmuru threatening to contest as a rebel candidate.

The party leadership is learnt to have directed state leaders to hold talks with Thippeswamy and make efforts to placate him. Thippeswamy has not only threatened to contest as a rebel, but has been embarrassing the party by openly criticising its leaders.

Thippeswamy rebelled against the party after it denied him the ticket to contest the May 12 Assembly elections from Molakalmuru constituency. He is the sitting BJP MLA from the constituency.

Supporters of Thippeswamy staged a violent protest in Molakalmuru on Friday, throwing stones and slippers at Sriramulu, whom the party has decided to field from the constituency. It is feared in the party that its strategy to field Sriramulu from Molakalmuru would go haywire, if the two leaders continue to fight in public.

The party is planning to win about seven ST reserved constituencies abutting Molakalmuru by fielding Sriramulu, who is an influential leader of the Nayaka community.

Sources in the BJP said state BJP president B S Yedyurappa spoke to B Sriramulu over phone and urged him not to precipitate the issue by openly criticising Thippeswamy. Sriramulu had dared Thippeswamy to contest against him and win the elections.

Besides, efforts are also on to placate other disgruntled leaders Appu Pattanashetti in Bijapur city, Jagadish Metgud in Bailahongal and Seema Masuti in Dharwad.India has called for restraint after the United States, the United Kingdom and France launched air strikes on Syria, accusing President Basher al-Assad's government of using chemical weapons against civilians in a rebel stronghold near Damascus.



New Delhi on Saturday urged "all parties" to "show restraint" and to "avoid any further escalation in the situation". India also called for "an impartial and objective investigation" by Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons into the allegation of use of chemical weapons by the forces loyal to Syrian President Basher al-Assad on civilians during its campaign against rebels at Douma outside Damascus.

"We have taken note of the recent strikes in Syria. India is closely following the situation. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable," Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said.

"We call for an impartial and objective investigation by OPCW to establish the facts. We urge all parties to show restraint and to avoid any escalation," he said in a statement in New Delhi.

New Delhi said that "the matter" should be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, on the basis of the principles of the United Nations Charter and in accordance with international law. "We hope that the long drawn suffering of the people of Syria would come to an end soon," added Kumar.Experts from the world's global chemical arms watchdog are continuing their mission to probe an alleged gas attack in Douma despite Western air strikes in Syria, the body said Saturday.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has been "working in close collaboration" with UN security experts "to assess the situation and ensure the safety of the team," it said.

It vowed in its statement that the fact-finding mission due to go to Douma later Saturday "will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma".

The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of strikes against the Syrian regime on Saturday a week after the suspected deadly gas attack on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma, in which 40 people were said to have been killed.

In the biggest foreign military action so far against Syria's regime, Western officials said a barrage of cruise and air-to-land missiles hit targets near Damascus and in Homs province including a scientific research centre, storage facilities and a command post.

Syrian state media reported that internal security forces had entered Douma on Saturday and that the town would be secured within hours.

Both Syria and its ally Russia have said they would guarantee the safety and security of the OPCW mission -- the first outside Damascus since 2014.

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Amid reported reluctance of the Congress to part with seats for an ally in Karnataka Assembly polls, the Sharad Yadav faction of the JD(U) has sought those constituencies to put up its candidates where the ruling party had slipped to third position in the 2013 polls.



Sources said the Yadav faction has sought seven seats from Congress to contest in the highly-pitched electoral battle where the latter was placed third in the previous polls. However, it expects that the Congress may give at least three seats even if it does not give all the seven demanded.

Yadav had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently to place before him the demand of his faction and the choice of constituencies and candidates of his faction. Sources said a detailed document explaining the voting pattern in these constituencies has also been presented to the Congress leadership.

In all these seats, the Congress was third behind the JD(S) and the BJP in the 2013 polls. Even in 2008, they had not won all these seats.

However, if the Congress does not want to give seats, it may allow a couple of Yadav's candidates to contest the election but on the Congress symbol.

The JD(U) rebels have demanded Chitradurga or Basavangudi seat for former MP and ex-Bengaluru Police Commissioner P Kodandaramaiah, who was MP from the Chitradurga Lok Sabha seat while it had sought Sindagi seat for N S Khed, a former MLA and Lingayat leader.

S K Kantha, another Lingayat leader and a former minister, is also in Yadav's list for Gulbarga South seat while he has also asked Navalgund seat for M P Nadagoud, a four-term MLC.

For Kolar, which he said the Congress has won only once in last 25 years, Yadav has suggested the name of G V Ramachadraiah, a Kuruba community member running educaitonal institutions.In a blow to the ruling Congress, senior party leader V R Sudarshan resigned as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) vice president late on Saturday evening.

According to party sources, Sudarshan resigned as he was not considered for a ticket to contest the May 12 polls.

Sudarshan, a former Legislative Council chairperson, informed KPCC president G Parameshwara of his resignation in a text message, party sources said.

He was an aspirant to contest the upcoming polls from the Kolar Assembly constituency, source said. However, it is learnt that the Kolar ticket may go to either K Srinivas Gowda, who is said to be Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's follower, or retired IAS officer Syed Zameer Pasha, who apparently is former Union minister K H Muniyappa's pick. Sudarshan is expected to tender his resignation formally in writing in a day or two, sources added.JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday began his three-day election campaign in Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency from where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is likely to contest as the Congress candidate.

Kumaraswamy, along with party candidate and sitting MLA G T Devegowda, started the tour of the villages under the constituency after offering puja at Nanneshwari temple at Hinkal, on the outskirts of Mysuru.

Kumaraswamy took out a roadshow in a special bus designed for the election campaign 'Vikaasa Vahini'. The bus started it's journey from Hinkal and passed through Bogadi Ring Road, Datagalli and reached Kotehundi. The roadshow covered as many as 27 villages under the Chamundeshwari segment.

People of Kotehundi gave a warm welcome to Kumaraswamy and took him in a procession in the village. Later, he headed towards Daripur, where he addressed a gathering. Ranjitha and Nisarga, residents of Bardanapur offered 'aarathi' to the vehicle in the JD(S) was taking out the roadshow. The villagers welcomed him by performing folk dances such as 'Nandidwaja Kunita'.

The residents of Kotehundi forced Kumaraswamy to visit their village and take out a roadshow. As per the schedule, he was supposed to just touch the entry point of the village. But, the villagers blocked the bus and did not allow him to move forward unless he visited their village.

Kumaraswamy alighted from the bus and took a minivan to travel on the narrow roads of the village.

Appealing to the voters to support the JD(S), Kumaraswamy said, "G T Devegowda will be made district in-charge minister if the party is voted to power. The JD(S) is committed to protect the welfare of the people, including farmers, members of women self-help groups."The Bangalore Development Authority has an important place in the city's development over the decades, but recent controversies have dealt a severe blow to the agency's credibility.

Inordinate delays in ensuring basic infrastructure for some layouts and denotification of assets to indirectly help real-estate dealers sparked off controversies that could resonate during the forthcoming Assembly polls.

The agency must largely be thanked for the creation of several new layouts that helped in easing the city's housing problem, while the BDA was also instrumental in major infrastructure projects like laying the ring road, maintaining the lakes and constructing shopping complexes to help small businesses.

Not too long ago, people queued up to buy BDA sites, but their confidence in the agency has been severely dented after the Arkavathy Layout denotification scam.

Hundreds lost their sites in the aftermath, but their protests for several weeks was not enough to needle the BDA into a proper response. The agency eventually came forward to give plots to the affected people in Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout.

Layouts ignored

The BDA has also come under fire for failing to build infrastructure for the Vishweshwaraiah and Banashankari Layouts, despite having created them several decades ago. Ironically, these layouts contribute a lot to its income.

The agency invited applications to distribute 5,000 plots at the Kempegowda Layout, but used up the fee collected for the application for other works. It eventually took a loan to repay the unsuccessful applicants, while also borrowing to build homes and pay its employees.

Now, it owes Rs 100 crore to HUDCO, Rs 2,345 crore to Canara Bank, Rs 32 crore to KUIDFC and Rs 220 crore to Syndicate Bank.

Shockingly enough, the BDA does not have proper documents of its own assets. All documents must be digitised.

"There should be a system wherein the commissioner himself should be able to provide details of the plots immediately without having to rely on the engineers," said a senior BDA official, who did not wish to be named.The committee formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), along with the officers from the Karnataka Lake Development and Conservation Authority (KLCDA) and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), inspected the Bellandur Lake on Saturday.

The committee was formed to keep an eye on the condition of the lake after the recent incidents of fire.

The chairperson of the committee, a senior advocate, Raj Panjwani, BDA Commissioner, Rakesh Singh, CEO of KLCDA, Seema Garg, and BBMP Joint Commissioner for Health and Solid Waste Management (SWM), Sarfaraz Khan, were present at the inspection.

They also inspected the S T Bed Layout in Koramangala.

However, the senior officers refused to share the details of today's inspection. "The final report will be available tomorrow," said a senior official who did not wish to be named.

The inspection, however, left the citizens living near Bellandur Lake disappointed as they could not interact with the officials. "We were waiting for them from 11 am and we could not even talk to them as they had to rush to another meeting. They are meeting everyone except the residents who have been closely working towards the betterment of the lake," said a resident who lives near the lake.

She also said that they were planning to request the NGT to quicken the process of cleaning the lake and make it sewage-free and not wait until 2020, as assured by the present state government.In a controversial statement, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president and MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao on Saturday said people should beat Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with chappals.

Speaking at an event organised by the Congress at Maurya Circle in Bengaluru to protest against Unnao and Kathua rape incidents, Rao said Adityanath is unfit to be a chief minister. People should teach him a lesson if he visits Karnataka again, the Congress leader added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately remove Adityanath from the post of chief minister. It is an insult to the people of Karnataka Adityanath visits the state, Rao said while addressing the Uttar Pradesh chief minister in the singular.Congress president Rahul Gandhi's second round of campaigning in Karnataka is expected to have a pronounced urban focus as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah makes a determined bid to retain the state, a feat that will set the tone for the Lok Sabha elections next year.

After the successful 'Janaashirvada Yatre', Rahul is set to hit the campaign trail in Karnataka next week and the Congress has drawn elaborate plans that include a mix of public rallies and roadshows in each of the four regions of the state.

"We would like to have focus on urban centres," a senior leader involved in planning the campaign said.

The Congress chief is expected to hold roadshows in district headquarters and rallies else where.

Of the 224 assembly seats in Karnataka, 154 fall in the rural parts of the state while the remaining 70 cover the urban centres.

In the 2013 Assembly elections, the Congress had won almost 60% of the rural seats in a four-cornered contest involving the BJP, Congress, JD(S) and the KJP then helmed by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.

Of the 70 urban seats, 28 fall in the Bengaluru region, where the Congress had an edge in 2013 having won 13 seats, with the BJP snapping at its heels by pocketing 12 seats. Three seats had gone to the JD(S).

Though Siddaramaiah enjoys a pan-Karnataka appeal, there is a perception that he is more popular in the rural areas than in the urban.

The BJP is aiming to consolidate its hold over the urban areas and had carried out targeted campaigns to reach out to the city voters.

Rahul's 'Janaashirvaada Yatre' took him to 25 out of the 30 districts in the state and efforts would be to cover areas that have been left out of the first leg of his campaign.Iraq warned that Western air strikes Saturday on Syria were a "very dangerous" development that could fuel a jihadist resurgence in the region.

A statement by foreign ministry spokesman Ahmad Mahjoub said the strikes' "consequences threaten the security and stability of the region".

Mahjoub said the raids carried out by the United States, France and Britain were "a very dangerous development... that will provide an opportunity for the expansion of terrorism after it was destroyed in Iraq and largely pushed back in Syria".

He said the ministry was "worried" and called for a "political solution that would satisfy the aspirations of the Syrian people".

Iraq's foreign ministry also called on an Arab League summit to be held on Sunday in Saudi Arabia to "adopt a clear position concerning this dangerous development".

The Iraqi government declared victory over the Islamic State group, which it considers a terrorist organisation, in December after pushing IS jihadists out of their final holdouts along the border with Syria.

But the group retains the capacity to strike despite losing control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory it seized in 2014 and still clings to pockets of desert in war-torn Syria.

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DOJ attorneys representing the Trump administration told Judge Coffin that the trial date he set wont

work for defendants. They claimed they needed additional time to address expert witness reports and

find rebuttal experts for every one of plaintiffs experts, to which Judge Coffin asked:

Where am I missing something? Given your admissions in this case, what is it about the science

that you intend to contest with your rebuttal witnesses?

The Court also made it clear that it is not going to make decisions on summary judgment motions before

the full record at trial, despite defendants intentions to move to summary judgment prior to October 29.

Sophie Kivlehan, 19-year-old plaintiff from Allentown, Pennsylvania said:

It is a relief to see that the Court understands how imperative it is to get this trial underway as

soon as possible, despite all of the delay tactics the U.S. government continues to try to use. I am so excited to have an official trial date on the calendar again so that we can finally bring our voices and our evidence into the courtroom!

Phil Gregory, of Gregory Law Group and co-lead counsel for the youth plaintiffs commented:

By setting a trial date of 29 October 2018 the court clearly recognizes the urgency of the climate

crisis. Further, the court stressed that the science should not be in dispute and that the case should

be able to proceed in a streamlined fashion. On October 29th climate science will finally have its

day in court and the plaintiffs will be ready.

Jaime Butler, 17-year-old plaintiff from Flagstaff, Arizona and a member of the Navajo Nation said:

I am happy that the court is taking us and our case seriously, even though were young people. Im excited to go to trial where I can represent other kids like me, not just Navajos but all Native

Americans. Indigenous people feel the effects of climate change but a lot of them dont have good

representation. By representing people like me, I hope all indigenous people feel more respected

and heard. We should all have an equal say in how the future should be and how we take care of

it.

Miko Vergun, 16-year-old plaintiff from Beaverton, Oregon said:

The Defendants keep making excuses but thankfully Judge Coffin sees the urgency of our case.

Im excited for October 29, our official trial date.

Jacob Lebel, 21-year-old plaintiff from Roseburg, Oregon said:

Its amazing to have finally overcome the smokescreen delay tactics of the U.S. government and

to be headed to trial with such amazing, strengthened momentum. A transparent and

science-based trial is at the core of our judicial system and democracy, and will ensure that

climate justice will be given the appropriate urgency and importance.

Isaac Vergun, 15-year-old plaintiff from Beaverton, Oregon said:

Were on track for October 29 and our attorneys are doing everything in their power to keep this

case from getting delayed any further and theyre doing a great job. We keep jumping over

hurdles and we can see the finish line.

Juliana v. United States is not about the governments failure to act on climate. Instead, the 21 young

plaintiffs assert that the U.S. government, through its affirmative actions in creating a national energy

system that cause climate change, has violated their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, and has failed to protect essential public trust resources. The case is one of many related legal actions brought by youth in several states and countries, all supported by Our Childrens Trust, and all seeking

science-based action by governments to stabilize the climate system.

Contact

To set up interviews with youth plaintiffs, contact: Meg Ward, 503-341-8590, meg@ourchildrenstrust.org.By L.A. McKeown

12 April 2018

(TCTMD)  New data show a surprising pattern of increased emergency department (ED) visits for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems on days when wildfires are burning in California. Researchers say the fine particulate matter created by the fires poses significant risk beyond the states borders, and in particular to people over age 65, who appear to be most greatly affected.

The study adds to accumulating data on the association between air pollution and cardiovascular risk, and highlights the vulnerability of elderly patients with cardiac and vascular risk factors living in areas where the fires are common.

Its a local problem, but its also a national problem, said the studys senior author Ana G. Rappold, PhD (US Environmental Protection Agency, Durham, NC), in an interview with TCTMD. She noted that it is not uncommon for particulate matter from a wildfire in Alaska or the northwest territories to be detectable in the southern region of the United States, for example.For the study, investigators led by Zachary S. Wettstein (University of California, San Francisco) looked at ED visits from May through September 2015, when intense wildfires were occurring in northern and central California. On days when smoke was most dense, visits for all-cause and individual cardiovascular diagnoses were highest across all age groups. For patients over age 65, this translated to a 42% increase in ED visits for MI, a 22% increase in visits for ischemic heart disease, and a 22% increased risk of heart failure. Visits for hypertension also were increased in elderly patients regardless of the density of the smoke, while increases in pulmonary embolism were greatest with medium and dense smoke.Elevated risk of cerebrovascular disease was seen for all adults regardless of the condition of the smoke, while ischemic stroke diagnoses were increased only with lengthy exposure to smoky conditions in the age 65 and over group. Respiratory problems as a reason for the ED visit also were increased among all adults on the heavier smoke days, but again were most pronounced in the elderly. [more]Targeting the Syrian regime, the United States, France and Britain launched air strikes on Syria early Saturday over a recent chemical attack in Douma  located northwest of the capital Damascus  that led to the death of 40 people.

This is not the first time the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad has faced Western accusations that it used chemical weapons against civilians in Syria, though this latest action by the US is widely believed to be the latest manifestation of a clash of wills between the US and Russia.

Russia

Russia has been diplomatically and militarily backing Al-Assad since the 2011 anti-regime uprising turned into a civil war, continuously blocking all scenarios and attempts that could have led to a collapse of the regime.

Syria has historically been a key ally of the Russians: even the challenges  on all levels  that Russia faced in the aftermath of the Soviet Unions collapse did not lead Damascus to reconsider this alliance.

The Syrian war provided Russia with an opportunity to show its military capabilities, the sophistication of Russian-made weaponry  which are among the worlds top five arms exports  and prove itself as a key party and player in the ongoing conflict.

As the aerial strikes look to be limited in scale, Russia is seemingly confident that they will not lead to a military escalation.

The Russians cannot even claim that they were surprised about the strike. On Thursday, the Kremlin announced that a crisis communications line with the United States is in place to avoid a clash of troops in Syria.

The line is used and it is active. In general, the line is used by both sides," Reuters quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying to reporters, responding to a question on whether the so-called deconfliction line between the Russian and US armies was used to avoid Russian casualties.

United States

The United States is certainly uncomfortable with Russias success in helping Al-Assad stay in power, as well as the alleged use of chemical weapons by the latter despite Washingtons continuous warnings against such action.

Investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are currently working in Syria to provide a final report on who actually committed the chemical attack.

However, the administration of US President Donald Trump is insistent that the attack was by Al-Assad.

On 20 August 2012, then-US President Barack Obamas administration described the use of chemical weapons in Syria as a red line. However, chemical weapons were used in Syria one year later, leading to the deaths of 1,500 civilians near Damascus.

At the time, the US Congress rejected a request by Obamas administration to launch a military strike against the Syrian regime.

Nevertheless, Congress did approve a plan by Obama for arming the Syrian opposition and launching air strikes against the Daesh terrorist group in Syria and Iraq in cooperation with an international coalition that included several Arab states.

So, Saturdays strikes are seemingly nothing but an attempt by the US to project an image that it has influence over developments in the Syrian conflict.

After todays strike, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that right now this is a one-time shot.

"We were very precise and proportionate," Mattis said. "But at the same time, it was a heavy strike."

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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday that missile strikes carried out overnight in Syria by Britain, France and the US had destroyed a "large part" of the Damascus government's stocks of chemical weapons.

"A large part of its chemical arsenal has been destroyed," Le Drian told BFM television. "A lot has been destroyed in last night's strikes."

He also said France had "solid intelligence" that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind the gas attack in the rebel-held city of Douma last weekend, which monitors say killed at least 40 people.

"On the question of chemical weapons, there is a red line that must not be crossed, and if it should be crossed again, there will be another intervention," Le Drian said.

"But I think the lesson has been learned."

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Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced US President Donald Trump, France's Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Theresa May after they launched strikes Saturday against the Syrian regime, branding them "criminals".

"The attack this morning against Syria is a crime," Khamenei said in remarks published on his Telegram channel.

"The American president, the French president and the British prime minister are criminals, they will gain nothing from it," he said.

Speaking during a meeting with high-ranking political and military figures, Khamenei added: "The American president says he attacked Syria to fight against chemical weapons. He is lying."

The United States, France and Britain said they launched the air strikes against Syrian government military installations in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack by the regime a week ago -- a claim dismissed by Damascus and its allies Russia and Iran.

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The new budget aims to achieve a GDP growth of 5.8 per cent, lower the budget deficit to 8.4 per cent of GDP, and cut public debt to 91 per cent

Egypt's Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy is scheduled Sunday to address the parliament on the country's new budget for the 2018/19 fiscal year.

A parliamentary report said Minister of Planning and Administrative Reform Hala El-Saeed will also address the parliament in Sunday's plenary session on Egypt's Socioeconomic Plan for the 2018/19 year.

Egypt's new budget and plan were referred to parliament's Budget Committee one week ago after they were approved by the cabinet in their final form 30 March.

According to Egypt's constitution and parliament's internal bylaws, the country's new budget and plan should be submitted to the House of Representatives three months ahead of the end of its legislative season in July of each year.

After the two ministers address parliament Sunday, their statements and the budget and plan will be discussed in the Budget Committee.

Each of parliament's other committees will also hold hearing sessions to discuss the part of the budget and plan related to its business and activities.

At the end of the debate, which is expected to take one month, a general parliamentary report on the new 2018/19 budget and plan will be prepared to be discussed and voted on in a plenary session.

Article 124 of Egypt's constitution gives parliament complete powers to amend any of the budget's items. In case of amending expenditure items, this should be done in coordination with the government.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on 12 April said Egypt's 2018/19 budget targets a GDP growth of 5.8 per cent, up from 5.2 per cent in the current fiscal year, a budget deficit of 8.4 per cent of GDP, 91 per cent public debt, and a two per cent primary budget surplus.

The statement said the new budget targets expenditure of LE1.41 trillion and investment worth LE100 billion, up from LE70 billion in the current budget.

While the new budget will see a 15.5 per cent increase in expenditure, it also seeks to increase revenues by 21.6 per cent.

"This will come through boosting tax and fiscal revenues, focusing on administrative and institutional reform, and switching to cash instead of in-kind subsidies," the statement said.

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By SCMP , April 12, 2018





Beijing announced suddenly on Thursday that it would hold live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait next week, a move military observers said sent a message to Taipei and was also a show of geopolitical support for Russia to put pressure on the United States.





The announcement came just hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping, who also chairs the powerful Central Military Commission, was on the southern island of Hainan to inspect the biggest naval parade in the countrys history, a massive flexing of naval muscle amid Chinas growing rivalry with the US.

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By the Sun , April 11, 2018





Britain, US and France launched more than 100 airstrikes in a "one-time shot" against Syria early this morning.





General Joseph Dunford confirmed three targets had been struck at a Pentagon briefing shortly after Trump's announcement.

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Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com

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Dear @IlhanMN,



I hear you plan to go on a fact-finding tour of Israel. In fact, Israel is doing pretty well. Its, Somalia, your native country, that could truly use your formidable skills. Maybe you could use your frequent flyer miles and swing by.Erdogan: The operation is appropriate

President Erdogan made statements about US and its allies launch strikes in Syria.

Speaking at the sixth ordinary congress of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in Istanbul, President Erdogan issued statements concerning the agenda.

About the air attacks made by US, UK and France targeting chemical weapons facilities in Syria, Erdogan said that "the operation is appropriate".





"With the joint operation by US, UK and France on Saturday, the Syrian regime received the message that its massacres wouldn't be left unanswered" Erdogan stated. "The innocent Syrian people should have been defended long ago" he added.

"TURKEY ALWAYS CONDEMNS THE USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS"

President Erdogan also discussed the latest developments in Syria with British Prime Minister Theresa May over the phone. According to presidential sources, Erdogan highlighted the importance of not escalating tension in Syria further during talks with May. While May informed the Turkish side about the operation against the Assad regime, Erdogan said Turkey always condemns the use of chemical weapons, the source added.

Earlier in today, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had welcomed the air strikes targeting the Assad regime and termed them as a "positive step". "We see this as a positive step but more needs to be done for lasting peace." Yildirim had stated.

In a statement on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Ministry termed the airstrikes as an appropriate response. "We welcome this operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime." the foreign ministry said in a statement.US, France and UK strike Syrian chemical targets

US, UK and French forces launched air strikes on Syria in response to a suspected poison gas attack that killed dozens of people, aiming to degrade its chemical weapons capabilities.

US, France and UK launched military strikes in Syria to punish Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. President Trump announced as that the three allies had marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality on Friday.

With more than 100 missiles fired from ships and manned aircraft, the allies struck three of Syrias main chemical weapons facilities, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford said.

The targets included a Syrian center in the greater Damascus area for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weaponry as well as a chemical weapons storage facility near the city of Homs. A third target, also near Homs, contained both a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and a command post.

US defence secretary, James Mattis, said that US, UK and France had taken decisive action against Syrias chemical weapon infrastructure and did not rule out further strikes. Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last time" he said, referring to the response to the Ghouta chemical attack in 2017. He said the allies had gone to great length to avoid civil and foreign casualties.

US launches missile strikes in Syria WATCH

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as limited and targeted and said that she had authorized the British action after intelligence indicated Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government was responsible for an attack using chemical weapons in Douma last Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes had been limited so far to Syrias chemical weapons facilities.

France launch strikes on Syria WATCH

Last year, the United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the guided missile destroyers USS Porter and the USS Ross that struck the Shayrat air base.

The targets of that strike included Syrian aircraft, aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage facilities, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems and radar. At the time, the Pentagon said that a fifth of Syrias operational aircraft were either damaged or destroyed.Hulu announced that George Clooney has vacated the lead role in the upcoming streaming mini-series, Catch-22. The actor will be portraying a minor character instead.

The two-time Oscar-winning actor and producer decided to leave the role of Colonel Cathcart in the adaptation of the 1961 classic after he saw himself doing too much on the production. Clooney is also producing and directing the six-episode mini-series alongside his creative partner, Grant Heslov. The actor is now taking on the supporting role of Scheisskopf.

Enter Kyle Chandler

Former Friday Night Lights and Bloodline star Kyle Chandler has stepped into the role of Colonel Cathcart. The Hulu series, which is based on the World War II novel by Joseph Heller, will focus on Chandler's Colonel Cathcart as he faces one of the most significant challenges in his military career. He must continue to fight the Axis Forces but also deal with the antics of wildcard pilot Yossarrian (Christopher Abbot). The pilot is unhappy that he is forced to confront a never-ending battle against thousands of people that want him dead and that have not even met the guy.

In Catch-22, a pilot is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly combat missions that put him in harm's way. However, if pilots decide that they want to leave the service, they would be ineligible to leave and go straight back into the war zone.

Hulu has not yet announced when they will release the six-part series.

Clooney's Next Movie

Catch-22 is not the only production that Clooney is working on. The actor-producer is preparing to help Steven Soderbergh release the newest chapter in the Ocean's Eleven franchise. Ocean's 8 focuses on Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) as she tries to rebuild her life by pulling off a significant caper. She has gathered a group of women together to rob the Metropolitan Museum of Art during its legendary Met Ball. The film also stars Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Sarah Paulson, and Anne Hathaway. Ocean's 8 is scheduled to be released in theatres on June 8.

Amal And The Twins

Meanwhile, Clooney's wife, Amal, recently revealed some information regarding their twins, Alexander and Ella. The human rights activist shared that the twins' first words were 'Mamas' and 'Dadas.' Also, Amal stated that she had a bizarre nursing period that involved a mix of cushions, pillows, and machines.

The March Of Our Lives

The Clooneys played a significant role when it came to rallying celebrities behind the March For Our Lives movement. The duo donated over $500,000 for the rally. They even inspired Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, and Oprah Winfrey to each commit $500,000 to help bring the advocacy event to life.Good news for Terminator fans! The reboot has tapped Gabriel Luna, who played Ghost Rider in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as the new terminator.

Luna will join the original cast, Arnold Schwarzenneger and Linda Hamilton, for the reboot of the 1984 film. However, the comeback stars, as per reports, will play minor roles, but will greatly be helpful in being context providers and serve as bridge to the original film.

Luna's films are Transpecos and Freeheld. He was also in the drama series Matador. The film will be directed by Deadpool's Tim Miller and produced by James Cameron. Screen Rant reported that the Terminator reboot will follow Terminator 2: Judgment Day. That said, all other films that follow the 1991 film will be ignored.

David Goyer will be in charge of writing the script of the film. The reboot is a collaboration between Skydance, Fox, and Paramount.

Additionally, this reboot is a bid to save the franchise from the 2015 loss with Terminator Genisys, which, as of writing, has 26 percent rating on RottenTomatoes. The sixth film for the franchise will revolve around Dani as a new Terminator follows her.

Search For Dani

Natalia Reyes will play Dani, a woman from Mexico who finds herself in the midst of a battle between humans and machines. Reports say that the search for the role was long and rigorous, as Cameron combed places for a "discovery," much like what happened with Hamilton during the days.

Reyes took to her Instagram to share the good news to her more than 500,000 followers. She uploaded a cropped screenshot of an article.

"This is the result of dreaming big, working hard, not going over anyone, believing in the universal conspirator, having people around who believe in you and of course tons of luck," she wrote.

The team behind the Terminator reboot's efforts in finding the perfect woman to play the Latina role almost came to a close in the past few months, although obviously nothing materialized. Eventually, they had to look in central and South America. It was noted that Reyes's Birds of Passage was what sealed the role for her.

The Colombian stunner also appeared in Lady, The Seller of Roses and Cumbia Ninja. Meanwhile, Scream Queens's Diego Boneta snatched a role as Dani's brother. The latter was also in Rock of Ages and stars in Netflix's thriller The Titan.

Instead of a July 2019 release, the Terminator reboot was pushed at a later date, Nov. 22, 2019.Yesterday, during the early morning hours, a joint operation was conducted by the Italian and Romanian police and the competent judicial authorities of the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism Buzau Territorial Service and Pitesti Territorial Service, and by the District Antimafia Prosecutor of Naples in a complex and lengthy organised crime investigation concerning a powerful, well-established mafia-style transnational criminal association.

In Italy, the investigation was led by the Italian DIA (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia) under the leadership of the Prosecutor's Office of Naples.

Eurojust provided continuous support in coordinating the investigations and enhancing the judicial cooperation procedures to identify the location of a key member of the criminal group (camorra) and its assets.

According to the Italian investigation, the prime suspect and his Italian accomplices have, for many years, been laundering in Romania the proceeds of crime of a powerful criminal 'family', the well-known Italian clan, Zagaria, the criminal activities of which have generated a financial empire over the last 30 years and have adversely affected a large area of southern Italy, using systematic extortion and corruption of public officials, and have altered and influenced the voting in the local elections.

The suspect, who has now been arrested in execution of an Italian European Arrest Warrant, was a trusted member of this criminal organisation, able to set up numerous commercial companies and business activities in Romania to launder millions of euro for the criminal organisation.

He also ensured  via fictitious transactions  the repatriation of laundered funds to Italy to sustain the numerous members of the criminal 'family' currently in detention. Funds were provided to the families of those in detention to prevent their cooperation with law enforcement and judicial authorities.

The success of this very sensitive operation was made possible due to the active role of both the Italian and the Romanian Desks at Eurojust, through several coordination meetings at Eurojust, during which the information was shared in a timely manner and the procedural measures were prepared so that they could be executed in a coordinated and efficient way. The coordination meetings, chaired jointly by the National Members of Italy and Romania, brought together both the Italian PPO of Naples and its Romanian counterpart from DIICOT Buzau, as well as police representatives of the Italian DDA and their Romanian counterparts.

The Italian and the Romanian Desks at Eurojust also provided crucial advice on the application of judicial cooperation procedures for freezing properties in accordance with FD 577/2003, based on the principle of mutual recognition, only recently implemented in Italian legislation.

Thursday's operation resulted in the total disruption of the financial empire that had supported this criminal organisation.

A huge amount of illegal assets have been seized in Romania for possible future confiscation. The complexity of the illicit profits that have been seized will require an accurate estimation of their value to determine the total amount of goods frozen by the Romanian authorities at the request of the Italian judicial authorities.

For interviews and further information, please contact:

EUROJUST

Corporate Communications Office

E-mail: media@eurojust.europa.eu

For all Eurojust press releases, please see www.eurojust.europa.eu (Press centre)I have a positive assessment from ACS for System Analyst profile and i have PTE score of 65+ across all section as well.



Now I want to claim spouse 5 spouse points. She had already cleared PTE with 50+ across all sections.



She is a BSc (3 yr full time) + MBA (2 yr full time) with around of 10 yrs of exp as a Business Analyst. We have also applied for ACS under Business Analyst category Through RPL. The result is positive for her occupation but there is no mention of her qualification as it is a Non-ICT education.



Do I need to get her assessment done for education through VETASSESS?



I am getting confused with wha,ts mentioned in DIBP site 3 point says only about occupation nothing about education. My wife is under SOL list as Business analyst



1. was under 50 years old

2. had*competent English.

3. had a suitable skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority for their nominated skilled occupation. Your partners nominated skilled occupation must be on the same skilled occupations list as your nominated skilled occupation.





Kindly helpHi ya , We have just arrived from Ireland to tour Portugal for the next 6 months. We wish to buy a vehicle and drive our way around looking for an area and property we like before purchasing it.

What we need to know is once we buy our vehicle what address can we use on the vehicle registration papers? Since we dont have a Portuguese address yet, is there a mail forward agency in Portugal which we can use as an address until we find our property? many thanksLAMBEX 2018 has released its program featuring a strong line-up of international and Australian speakers who will present on an array of local and global issues for the sheep and lamb industry.

The event will be held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre from Sunday, August 5 to Tuesday, August 7 with conference chairwoman Bindi Murray saying it was shaping up to be the biggest and best event yet.

We have a fantastic program and an amazing line-up of speakers from who will provide a thought-provoking and insightful look at the lamb and sheep industry in Australia and internationally, Ms Murray said.

Keynote speakers include The Center for Food Integrity chief executive officer Charlie Arnot and Beef and Lamb New Zealand independent director Melissa Clark-Reynolds.

We are also excited to welcome James Rebanks from the Lake District of the United Kingdom, she said.

Mr Rebanks has been described as a modern day shepherd who has gained a flock of more than 80,000 followers on Twitter.

An Oxford graduate and author with a passion for his Herdwick sheep, his story will inspire all those with a passion for farming a family property.

Other experts to speak include:

p AuctionsPlus chief executive officer Anna Speer will answer the question whether farmers can expect Amazon-style disruption in livestock marketing in years to come and how the company has spent 30 years trying to disrupt the way farmers trade livestock.

p Ed Peter, Duxton Capital, will debate if corporate investment will disrupt the way we do business in the sheep industry.

p Consultant Jason Trompf will navigate potentially the best opening session at LambEx yet with a look at the achievements and leakages of the sheep supply chain  and what can be done about it.

p Meat & Livestock Australias Lisa Sharp will discuss the new generation consumer through the lens of making sure we produce what they want.

The LambEx program also features a number of social events including the Fletcher International Exports Welcome Function, breakfasts hosted by Sheep CRC, AusWest Seeds, Boehringer Ingelheim and Gallagher.

The highlight of the program will be the Virbac International Pre-Dinner Drinks followed by Australian Wool Innovations GrandsLamb Dinner.

Early-bird registrations are open and rates are $500 for farmers, $400 for students and $625 for service providers and industry representatives.

There are further savings for producers who book in groups of 10.

Murdoch University associate professor Graham Gardner will emcee the conference.

All sectors of the lamb industry have come together to build on LambExs previous success and ensure the Australian sheep and lamb industry continues its proud tradition of showcasing its industry, Ms Murray said.

There has already been strong interest in the LambEx 2018 Young Guns Competition with $13,000 worth of prizes being offered.

The competition aims to reward and encourage young and upcoming producers, industry professionals and scientists to consider a future or ongoing career in the Australian lamb industry.

Its never been a more profitable time to be a lamb producer.

In the past 12 months sheep, lamb and wool prices have risen to some of the highest levels theyve ever been, Ms Murray said.

LambEx 2018 will continue to highlight how our industry has grown, and what steps producers and industry stakeholders can continue to take to ensure a lift in production and subsequent profits.

Its the first time in almost a decade that LambEx has returned to WA and I encourage everyone to make sure they take advantage of the great early-bird rates.

The two previous LambEx events in 2014 and 2016 were nearly sell outs so were encouraging people who want to attend to get in early and register.

To view the full program and register go to lambex.com.auAFTER nearly 10 years of prototype testing Belarus is ready to launch a diesel-electric power train for its tractors.

It was in 2009 at the German Agritechnica Show that Belarus unveiled a 3023 prototype  a tractor with a 220 kilowatt (164 horsepower) diesel engine, a 172kW (230hp) generator, a diesel-electric drive train and an electrically-driven front PTO.

And although the use of diesel-electric power trains was not a new concept  they have been used for decades in trains and mining vehicles  the Belarus concept was a world first for agriculture.

The 3023 is still a major project for Belarus.

The tractor is powered by a Stage 3/Tier 3-compliant Deutz engine, making it only available in less-emissionised countries such as Australia.

For places such as Europe or North America, Belarus is looking into various engine options, which will meet emissions standards.

These include Caterpillar, which it already uses in its high horsepower tractors and options from Mercedes and Cummins.

On average, the manufacturer said its electric transmission offered up to 15 per cent fuel savings during cultivation operations and up to 30pc for transport applications.

Surprisingly, the biggest drive for the manufacturer to develop such a transmission was reliability  its claimed to have a maintenance-free life span of at least 30,000 hours.

Industry talk says Belarus will have an electric transmission available for its 224kW (300hp) and 261kW (350hp) models, the 3023 and 3623 respectively.

Essentially the powershift gearbox in each model has been replaced with an electric generator and a brushless motor.

The tractors engine is mated to the electric generator which then powers an electric motor to drive the tractors transaxle.

Apart from two gears offering high and low ranges (0 to 20 kilometres an hour and 0 to 50km/h), everything else remains the same, including the final drives and hydraulics.

Like a hydro-mechanical continuously variable transmission (CVT), this stepless system affords the operator seamless control over travel speeds, using a lever or a pedal.

It has been reported the option to use individual wheel motors was considered, but deemed too costly to produce, with question marks over reliability.

Belarus plans to introduce a full line of electric drive tractors from 112kW (150hp) upwards.

Generators and motors used are said to be industry standard units, made by a Russian company.

Just like a conventional CVT, the electric-driven tractor operates in exactly the same way, with the engine producing just enough power and rpm to satisfy the demands of the transmission, based on the control input from the operator.

Belarus said by using electric drive, both start-up and working torque of the final drive was increased and the transmission is claimed to offer more than 87 per cent power transfer across a greater range of forward speeds compared to a hydro-mechanical CVT.

This effectively gives the 3023 the same pulling power as a 313kW (420hp)-equivalent powershift model.

As well as impressive power application, the transmission has also been designed to provide electrical resistance when slowing down, giving up to 20pc extra braking capacity.

In addition, controls on the rear mudguards allow you to move the tractor forwards and backwards.

It also features a hill-hold function.

To enable trouble shooting, should any occur, the manufacturer is also providing self-diagnostics software.

This allows all critical parameters to be monitored and checked including temperature, current and voltage, along with the ability to diagnose any problems.

An initial option for the tractor will be a stationary invertor, which will allow the tractor to be used as a generator.

Offering a 230 volt, three phase, 270kW (201hp), AC output, Belarus said the invertor could be used as power back-up on the farm, or be used to power stationary equipment such as augers and elevators.

Building on this idea, an invertor could also be mounted on the tractor which would allow power to be supplied to implements, such as large fans on air seeders.

In addition, the wheels of a trailed implement could also be powered, giving extra traction and less soil damage.

Other elements of the tractor could also be electrically-driven in the future such as PTOs, compressors and hydraulic pumps.

And you might not need a starter motor.

Just use an inverted current in the generator to start the tractor.

It is envisaged that in the future, the engine could be swapped for a battery, or a combination of a smaller engine and battery.

Its a sure bet other tractor manufacturers already are well down the track with this technology.

Its just a matter of who will be the first bright spark to follow the Belarus lead.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.Maya Jama wants to be a "Bond girl".

Maya Jama

The 23-year-old presenter has already achieved many of her career goals, including working on MTV and having her own radio show, but she still has big dreams, including a celebrity talk show and a part in a James Bond movie.

She said: "The end goal is a chat show, like Graham Norton or Alan Carr, with a mix between celebrity guests and silly games and then a full sit-down interview with an audience. There's also acting. I would love to be a Bond girl."

The 'Cannonball' host - who has been dating Stormzy since 2014 - almost got her acting big break as a teenager, when casting directors from TV drama 'Skins' auditioned people from her school, but after narrowly missing out on a part, it put her off her career plan for some time.

She said: "It got to the final two, me and another girl. She got it and I was like, 'I don't want to do acting any more.' Really, I should have stuck at it."

After finishing school, Maya moved to London to pursue her dreams, but when her then-boyfriend Rico Gordon was tragically murdered, she almost gave up.

She recalled: "Naturally, when you go through s**t stuff, you either wallow and it takes you ages to get out of it or you decide you don't want to feel like this any more and you focus on things that make you happy."

But moving in with a friend gave her a new focus, though she found it hard to get her presenting breakthrough.

She told Marie Claire magazine: "I'd meet people who'd say, 'Oh yeah, she's got a nice personality, but we need someone with experience.' But how do you get that if no one is giving you a proper chance? It seemed like everyone had been to drama school or they had a friend who's a producer. I had to be everywhere and be in everyone's face. I was the kind of person who'd film YouTube videos and be like, 'Hey, can you repost this please? - harassing anyone with a few followers. That kind of worked at the beginning."Jo Brand is set to host Britain's first medical-themed quiz show.

Jo Brand

The 60-year-old comedian can't wait to start testing the knowledge of the medical professionals and has said it will be much like 'University Challenge'.

She said: "Hooray! Another chance to berate junior doctors for their lack of knowledge. Haven't done that since 1988.

"Seriously though, I'm really looking forward to bringing a sumptuous array of junior doctors and their encyclopaedic knowledge into your homes. It's like University Challenge but it's medical... fingers on organs teams!"

Health expert Dr Helen Lawal will be joining Brand to off her expert knowledge.

The five-part series titled 'Britain's Best Junior Doctor' will see the young doctors battle it out with five rounds of questions on their specialist subjects and carry out tasks including diagnosing and dealing with A+E situations.

Commissioning editor Kalpna Patel-Knight has promised the BBC Two show will bring "a lot of fun" to the channel in the BBC's celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the NHS.

'Britain's Best Junior Doctor' will air this summer.

The 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' star currently hosts 'Great British Bake Off' spin-off 'The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice' on Channel 4, a role she has kept since starting in 2014 when the popular baking contest was on the BBC.Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-CategoryVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 13, 2018) - Blackrock Gold Corporation (the "Company") (TSXV: BRC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Greg Schifrin as a Director of the company. Mr. Schifrin will continue to lead the management team as the Chief Executive Officer of the company and lead BRC forward in achieving its goals.

Mr. Deepak Malhotra remarked on behalf of the board of directors that "We are extremely pleased to have Mr. Greg Schifrin join the board in addition to being the CEO of the Company. He brings extensive experience in efficiently managing resources to enhance the projects to successful completion and will play an important role in forwarding the Agenda of the company outlined by the board of directors. "

Mr. Greg Schifrin has worked as a geologist and manager for over 35 years in the mining and mineral exploration industry where he has been involved in precious, base metals, rare earth and uranium exploration and development. Mr. Schifrin has provided technical services and project management for major and junior mining companies through his consulting and service company. During his various tenures Mr. Schifrin has been an officer and director of numerous public companies where he managed corporate finance, accounting, legal and regulatory requirements, investors, personnel, exploration, geologic evaluation, project development and infrastructure, project generation and land acquisition.

Blackrock also pleased to announces that it has hired a new CFO and business development manager to advance the company in its endeavors.

Mr. Paul Kania will join the Company as the new CFO and will take the position of Mr Randy Minhas. Mr. Kania is a financial professional with over 13 years' experience providing CFO, Controller and financial reporting and consulting services to public and privately held businesses in various sectors in both Canada and the U.S. Past experience includes acting as corporate finance and accounting manager at Brookfield based in New York. Currently he serves as a Principal of Koral Financial Inc. of Toronto, CFO of Arena Minerals Inc, CFO of GT Gold Corp, as well as CFO and Controller of other private companies. Mr. Kania is a registered Certified Public Accountant with the State of New York, holds a HBA, Economics and Philosophy from the University of Toronto, and an Accounting and Finance Certificate from Ryerson University.

The Company thanks Mr. Randy Minhas for his services and wish him the best in his future endeavours.

Mr. Jason Batista will join Blackrock Gold to undertake business development and corporate growth and awareness. Mr. Batista has 16 years experience working with 2 bank owned brokerage firms in a Wealth Advisory capacity and lastly working for Raymond James. Jason brings a strong background in business development and communications to Blackrock Gold.

Greg Schifrin commented "We are pleased to have Mr. Paul Kania and Mr. Jason Batista join Blackrock Gold as the Chief Financial Officer and Business Development Manager. Their industry experience in accounting, finance and business development will be an asset to the company going forward.."

For further information, please contact:

Gregory L. Schifrin, Chief Executive Officer

Blackrock Gold Corp.

Email: gschifrin@blackrockgoldcorp.com

Phone: 1 - 208-290-1180

Website: www.blackrockgoldcorp.com

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 13, 2018) - GCC Global Capital Corporation (TSXV: GCCC) (the "Company") announces the resignation of Mr. Wei Zhang from his position as Director of the Board of Directors of the Company. Mr. Wei Zhang informed the Board of his decision to step down to pursue other business opportunities. The Company would like to thank Mr. Wei Zhang for his outstanding work for the Company and offer our best wishes for his future success.

About GCC Global Capital Corporation

GCC Global Capital Corporation is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange as an Investment Issuer. The Company focuses on Real Estate, Natural Resources and High Tech industries.

For further information, please contact Andrew Liu, Chief Financial Officer at (778) 389-9960.

Neither TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - Russia has alleged that the deadly chemical-weapons attack, which is said to have taken place in the rebel-held eastern Syrian city of Douma on Saturday, was staged by special services of a foreign country. The allegation, which gives a new twist to the complex international rivalry over the Syrian conflict, was made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a news conference on Friday. He did not specify the country, which he said is 'now seeking to be in the first ranks of the Russophobic campaign.' After reports of chemical-weapons attack in Douma came in, Trump put the blame on the Syrian regime and its ally Russia, which provides military backing to Damascus. The governments of Syria and Russia denied any responsibility, but Trump warned that his government is mulling several options for striking Syria. According to Lavrov, the White Helmets, a pro-terrorist group operating in Syria, published a statement on its website on April 8, saying chlorine bombs were dropped on Douma, killing dozens and poisoning many locals who had to be brought to a hospital. The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed that report as fake news. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has deployed a Fact-Finding Mission team to Douma to establish facts surrounding the allegations. Lavrov said the OPCW team set off to Syria 'not so quickly and without abundant enthusiasm,' but under pressure from Syria and Russia. The independent chemical weapons inspectors are due to arrive in Damascus Saturday, the Russian foreign minister told reporters. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed over telephone measures to de-escalate tensions in Syria. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Huge blasts were reported around Syrian capital Damascus in the early hours of Saturday, after the defense forces of the United States, France, and Britain jointly launched a military attack targeting Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.



The US-led airstrikes were announced by US President Donald Trump in an address to the nation:



'My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.'



Syrian news agency SANA reported that the joint operation was targeting military installations around Damascus and near the central city of Homs, in which three civilians were wounded.



The western alliance carried out 'precision srikes' in response to the deadly chemical-weapons attack, which is said to have taken place in the rebel-held eastern Syrian city of Douma last week.



But Russia alleged that the chemical-weapons attack was staged by special services of a foreign country.



Trump put the blame on the Syrian regime and its ally Russia, which provides military backing to Damascus.



The governments of Syria and Russia denied any responsibility.



The western strike started hours before a Fact-Finding Mission team of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was to arrive in Douma to establish facts surrounding the allegations.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.deWASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - U.S. Senator John McCain hailed President Donald Trump for his decision to carry out air strikes on Syria's chemical weapons infrastructure. 'I applaud the President for taking military action against the Assad regime for its latest use of chemical weapons, and for signaling his resolve to do so again if these heinous attacks continue,' the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said in a statement. He called for a comprehensive strategy for Syria and the entire region 'To succeed in the long run'. The President needs to lay out our goals, not just with regard to ISIS, but also the ongoing conflict in Syria and malign Russian and Iranian influence in the region, he added. 'Airstrikes disconnected from a broader strategy may be necessary, but they alone will not achieve U.S. objectives in the Middle East,' according to McCain. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.The latest technologies from ZEISS help doctors advance ophthalmic care with new ways to see pathology and maximize clinical efficiency and performance.

-- ZEISS presents its latest integrated diagnostic and surgical technologies for cataract surgeons to achieve optimal refractive outcomes for their patients.

-- ZEISS celebrates one year since the U.S. introduction of Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE), the latest advancement for laser vision correction.

-- The Advanced Retina Imaging (A R I) Network advances retinal research, and through collaboration with ZEISS, drives Swept-Source OCT innovation to push forward the discovery of new clinical applications.

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --The Medical Technology business group of ZEISS will present its latest ophthalmic diagnostic and surgical advancements at the 2018 American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery's Annual Meeting taking place April 13-17 in Washington, D.C. ZEISS will also be hosting three symposiaand informative sessionswith renowned experts throughout the event.

Integrated technologies for cataract surgeons to precisely1align toric IOLs and improve refractive outcomes

ZEISS will be presenting its complete portfolio of integrated diagnostic and surgical solutions that help cataract surgeons work more efficiently and deliver excellent outcomes for their patients. Using ZEISS Cataract Suite markerless, with the OPMI LUMERAsurgical microscope and CALLISTO eye, the computer-assisted surgery system that enables the exchange of data between diagnostics and the OR, surgeons can more easily and precisely1 align toric IOLs, skipping the manual pre- and intra-operative marking steps and manual data transfer. IOLMaster700 Swept Source Biometry, when integrated into the toric IOL workflow of ZEISS Cataract Suite markerless, helps surgeons achieve target refraction and reduce the risk of refractive surprises for improved refractive outcomes for their patients.

Also on display during ASCRS will be VERACITY' Surgical from ZEISS, an intuitive cloud-based platform for cataract surgery planning, logistics, treatment, risk management, and analysis. This latest digital connected eye care technology from ZEISS provides personalized technology-enabled patient care, synthesizing critical data at each step of the procedure to help cataract surgeons work more efficiently and reduce risks.

"We are continuing to expand our portfolio of integrated digital solutions that span from the office to the OR," says Jim Mazzo, Global President Ophthalmic Devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec. "Digitalization presents many opportunities to improve treatment outcomes and increase the efficiency of clinical workflows. Our goal is to continue to provide doctors and surgeons advanced technologies to help them care for their patients in the best way possible."

Surpassing milestone of 1M procedures worldwide, ZEISS celebrates one year of SMILE laser vision correction in the USA

ZEISS ReLEx SMILE(Small Incision Lenticule Extraction) laser eye surgery is now being performed regularly around the world having been adopted by over 1300 surgeons in 69 countries, surpassing one million procedures worldwide. Using the VisuMax femtosecond laser from ZEISS, SMILE provides refractive surgeons an additional proven laser vision correction option to offer their patients. A new clinical trial has begun outside the USA for SMILE in hyperopic patients. VisuMax Intracorneal Tunnel Cutting Option (ICR), which allows versatile incisions for the implantation of intracorneal rings, is now 510(k) cleared.

Professor Dan Z. Reinstein will be moderating a panel of experts to look back at the last year of SMILE at the ZEISS Meet the Expertssession, "SMILE Adoption: Critical First Steps." He will also be available during the ASCRS to sign copies of his newly released book, "The Surgeon's Guide to SMILE: Small Incision Lenticule Extraction."

ZEISS Swept-Source OCT advancements pushing forward discovery in retinal research

Since its inauguration in 2016, the A R I Network, a global consortium of renowned doctors, clinicians, and scientists, has collaborated with ZEISS to advance the field of retinal imaging to drive further discovery and breakthroughs of new clinical applications for diseases affecting the retina. Having access to the latest Swept-Source OCT technology from ZEISS and with its Open Innovation approach, the A R I Network enables the exchange of ideas between members from around the world, facilitating collaboration to accelerate OCT development with ZEISS scientists. To date, the A R I Network has over 90 ongoing collaborative efforts to advance clinical practice and patient care, with over 45 publications and 60 posters.

"The A R I Network is a perfect example of how ZEISS collaborates with experts in their fields to develop new innovative solutions to advance patient care and to bring these technologies to everyday clinical use," says Dr. Ludwin Monz, President, and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec.

As a result of the A R I Network collaboration, new advanced technologies are being integrated into the PLEX Elite 9000 Swept-Source OCT / OCTA platform from ZEISS to further doctors' understanding and analysis of the critical vasculature of the eye. Among these advancements include visualization tools enabling wider and deeper imaging of the eye for improved visualization of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy. These new visualization technologies developed for PLEX Elite have been integrated into the CIRRUS OCT and OCT Angiography platforms for use in daily clinical practice. Both instruments along with the recently launched ultra-widefield fundus imaging system, CLARUS' 500, are part of ZEISS' comprehensive diagnostic portfolio.

For more information on ZEISS' scientific and educational program and events at ASCRS 2018: www.zeiss.com/ascrs.

1 Clinical data of Prof. Findl / Dr. Hirnschall presented at ESCRS 2013 - technically verified pre- / intraoperative matching precision 1.0 in mean.

Not all products, services or offers are approved or offered in every market and approved labeling and instructions may vary from one country to another. For country specific product information, see the appropriate country website. Product specifications are subject to change in design and scope of delivery as a result of ongoing technical development.

BriefprofileCarl Zeiss Meditec:

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ISIN: DE 0005313704), which is listed on TecDAX of the German stock exchange, is one of the world's leading medical technology companies. The Company supplies innovative technologies and application-oriented solutions designed to help doctors improve the quality of life of their patients. The Company offers complete solutions, including implants and consumables, to diagnose and treat eye diseases. The Company creates innovative visualization solutions in the field of microsurgery. With approximately 3,000 employees worldwide, the Group generated revenue of 1,189.9m in financial year 2016/17 (to 30 September).

The Group's head office is located in Jena, Germany, and it has subsidiaries in Germany and abroad; more than 50 percent of its employees are based in the USA, Japan, Spain, and France. The Center for Application and Research (CARIn) in Bangalore, India and the Carl Zeiss Innovations Center for Research and Development in Shanghai, China, strengthen the Company's presence in these rapidly developing economies. Around 41 percent of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG's shares are in free float. The remaining approx. 59 percent are held by Carl Zeiss AG, one of the world's leading groups in the optical and optoelectronic industries. For more information visit our website at: www.zeiss.com/med.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/676874/Carl_Zeiss_Meditec_Cataract_Suite_with_Callisto_Eye.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/676875/Carl_Zeiss_Meditec_IOL_Master_700.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/676873/Carl_Zeiss_Meditec_ReLEx_SMILE_Treatment.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/546786/Carl_Zeiss_Meditec_Logo.jpgNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2018 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. ('Cemex' or the 'Company') (NYSE: CX) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 18-cv-02352, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Cemex American Depositary Receipts ('ADRs') between August 14, 2014 and March 13, 2018, both dates inclusive (the 'Class Period'). Plaintiff seeks to recover compensable damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 'Exchange Act') and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.

If you are a shareholder who purchased Cemex ADRs between August 14, 2014, and March 13, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until May 15, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Cemex is a global building materials company that produces, distributes, and markets cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and related building materials. Cemex operates throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Cemex executives had engaged in an unlawful bribery scheme in connection with the Company's business dealings in Colombia; (ii) discovery of the foregoing conduct would likely subject the Company to heightened regulatory scrutiny and potential criminal sanctions; (iii) the Company lacked adequate internal controls over financial reporting; and (iv) as a result, Cemex's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On September 23, 2016, post-market, Cemex disclosed the Company's dismissal of two senior executives after an internal probe found that payments worth $20 million relating to a land deal in Colombia had breached company protocols.

On this news, Cemex's American depositary receipt ('ADR') price fell $0.17, or 2.28%, to close at $7.26 on September 26, 2016.

On December 9, 2016, Cemex disclosed receipt of a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking information about irregular payments made at the Company's Colombia unit.

Then, on March 14, 2018, Cemex disclosed that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Company over payments made by the Company related to a cement plant it is building in Colombia to determine whether any violations of federal bribery laws occurred.

On this news, Cemex's ADR price fell $0.12, or 1.64%, to close at $7.21 on March 14, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLPNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2018 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against BRF S.A. ("BRF" or the "Company") (NYSE: BRFS) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 18-cv-02213, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired BRF American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") between April 4, 2013 and March 2, 2018, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased BRF ADRs between April 4, 2013 and March 2, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until May 11, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

BRF S.A. is a food processor and the world's largest poultry exporter. Its portfolio includes established brands in Brazil and abroad, such as Sadia, Perdigao, Qualy, Chester, Perdix and Paty. The Company provides meat (poultry and pork), foods processed from meats, pizzas, pastas and frozen vegetables.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) BRF employees paid bribes to regulators and politicians to subvert inspections in order to conceal unsanitary practices at the Company's meatpacking plants; (ii) the foregoing conduct, when it came to light, would foreseeably subject the Company and its officers to heightened regulatory enforcement and/or prosecution; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, BRF's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On March 17, 2017, news outlets reported that Brazilian federal police had raided the offices of BRF and dozens of other meatpackers following a two-year investigation into alleged bribery of regulators to subvert inspections of their plants. The probe, known as "Operation Weak Flesh", had uncovered some 40 cases of meatpackers who had bribed inspectors and politicians to overlook unsanitary practices, such as processing rotten meat and running plants with traces of salmonella. According to media reports, police found evidence that the companies were tampering with packages to sell products that had already expired and that higher-than permitted levels of parts such as "pig heads" were mixed with sausages and cold cuts. Police arrested three BRF employees, as well as 20 public officials.

On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $0.99, or 7.73%, to close at $11.81 on March 17, 2017.

On February 23, 2018, the Company held an earnings conference call with investors and analysts to discuss the Q4 2017 earnings results. In the call, Chairman of the Board Abilio Diniz and CFO Lorival Luz discussed the impact of "Operation Weak Flesh."

On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $0.76, or 8.00%, to close at $8.73 on February 23, 2018.

On March 5, 2018, Reuters reported that Brazilian federal police arrested BRF's former Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") Pedro de Andrade Faria ("Faria") on charges that he and other executives, including the Company's Vice President of Global Operations Helio dos Santos Junior, were aware that BRF committed fraud by trying to avoid food safety checks. According to the report, the "police cited evidence that five laboratories accredited by the Agriculture Ministry colluded with the analysis department of BRF to "falsify" test results related to the safety of its industrial process." In a court ruling authorizing the arrests, Brazilian federal judge Andre Duszczak said "Faria and other BRF officers sought to cover up claims of possible food contamination, as shown in certain laboratory tests, made by a former employee in a labor lawsuit."

On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $1.83 or 19.42% to close at $7.59 on March 5, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLPNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2018 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Credit Suisse Group A.G. ("Credit Suisse" or the "Company") (NYSE: CS). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.

The investigation concerns whether Credit Suisse and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here to join a class action]

On February 5, 2018, the intraday value of Credit Suisse's VelocityShares Daily Inverse Short-Term Exchange-Traded Note ("XIV") fell to 20% of the previous day's closing value. On the morning of February 6, 2018, citing an "acceleration event", Credit Suisse advised investors that the acceleration date of the XIV note - i.e., the date on which investors will receive a cash payment equal to the closing value that day - is expected to be February 21, 2018, thereby effectively announcing the product's liquidation. The online publication ForexLive noted that "[n]umbers published [September] 30 showed Credit Suisse holding nearly 5 million of the [XIV] shares itself. Those would have been worth $550 million at the open and about $20 million now - a net loss of $530 million for the Swiss bank." Credit Suisse's American Depositary Receipt price fell $0.37, or 2.01%, to close at $18.00 on February 6, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The week that went by started with a couple of big-ticket deals being inked.



Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis (NVS), on April 9th, agreed to acquire clinical-stage gene therapy company AveXis Inc. (AVXS) for $218 per share or a total approximate value of $8.7 billion. Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN), on April 11th, announced that is buying Sweden-based Wilson Therapeutics for $855 million in cash, in a bid to expand its rare disease therapeutic footprint.



AveXis, which is being snapped up by Novartis, was the top gainer of the week- returning 82%.



Another stock that caught the attention of investors in the week was Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (BLCM), which gained more than 40%. On April 12th, the Company announced that the FDA has lifted the clinical hold on BPX-501 studies in the U.S. BPX-501 is under multiple phase 1/2 clinical trials in adults and pediatric patients with leukemias, lymphomas, and genetic blood diseases in the U.S. and Europe.



Now, let's take a look at the pharma/biotech stocks and upcoming events to keep an ear out for in the coming week.



1. BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BVXV)



BiondVax is an advanced clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a universal flu vaccine called M-001.



Last July, the Company reported statistically significant positive results from its phase 2b clinical trial of M-001, conducted in collaboration with the EU-sponsored UNISEC consortium.



Watch out for.



The Company will be presenting the results from the above mentioned clinical trial of M-001 on April 16, 2018. The Company will also be presenting its plans for the pivotal, clinical efficacy phase III trial, expected to begin this year.



BVXV closed Friday's trading at $6.37, up 2.90%.



2. Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (TRIL)



Trillium is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, developing therapies for the treatment of cancer.



The Company's lead program is TTI-621, which is in phase I clinical trial for advanced hematologic malignancies, and solid tumors and mycosis fungoides.



Next up in the pipeline is TTI-622. A two-part, phase 1a/1b study of TTI-622 in patients with advanced relapsed or refractory lymphoma or multiple myeloma has been initiated, with the first patient expected to be dosed in Q2 2018.



Watch out for...



Preclinical data of TTI-621 and TTI-622 programs are expected to be presented at the 109th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research on April 16, 2018.



TRIL closed Friday's trading at $7.05.



3. Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RIGL)



Rigel Pharma's oral drug candidate Tavalisse, proposed for the treatment of adult patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia, is under FDA review, with a decision expected on April 17, 2018.



If approved, analysts expect Tavalisse to rake in peak sales of $360 million.



RIGL closed Friday's trading at $3.95, up 1.02%.



4. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (RARE)



The FDA is slated to announce its decision on Ultragenyx Pharma's investigational drug Burosumab, proposed for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with X-Linked Hypophosphatemia, on April 17, 2018.



X-linked hypophosphatemia, or XLH, is a rare, hereditary renal phosphate-wasting disorder characterized by hypophosphatemia, rickets and/or osteomalacia, and diminished growth.



RARE closed Friday's trading at $53.12, down 3.31%.



5. Celyad SA (CYAD)



Celyad is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of CART-cell therapies.



A phase I study of CYAD-01 in seven refractory cancers including five solid tumors (colorectal, ovarian, bladder, triple-negative breast and pancreatic cancers) and two hematological tumors (acute myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma), dubbed THINK, and a phase I study of multiple doses of CYAD-01, administered concurrently with the neoadjuvant FOLFOX treatment in patients with potentially resectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer, dubbed SHRINK, are ongoing.



Watch out for.



Updates on the ongoing THINK and SHRINK trials are expected to be announced at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting on April 17, 2018.



CYAD closed Friday's trading at $31.38, down 3.05%.



6. Dynavax Technologies Corp. (DVAX)



Dynavax is a biopharmaceutical company focused on leveraging the power of the body's innate and adaptive immune responses through toll-like receptor (TLR) stimulation.



The Company has one commercial product, HEPLISAV-B, a hepatitis B vaccine for adults, approved in the United States, and two investigational cancer immunotherapeutic products - SD-101, currently being evaluated in phase 1/2 studies, and DV281 in phase 1 development.



Watch out for.



Data from an ongoing phase Ib/II study investigating SD-101 in combination with Merck's Keytruda will be presented at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting on April 17, 2018.



DVAX closed Friday's trading at $19.75, down 4.82%.



7. TrovaGene Inc. (TROV)



Trovagene is a clinical-stage, precision medicine oncology therapeutics company.



The Company's lead drug candidate is PCM-075, which is in phase Ib/II clinical trial in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and has completed a phase I clinical trial in advanced solid tumors.



Watch out for.



Preliminary patient data from the ongoing phase 1b/2 trial of PCM-075 in AML patients will be presented on April 17, 2018.



TROV closed Friday's trading at $0.36, up 6.18%.



8. Seattle Genetics Inc. (SGEN)



Seattle Genetics is a biotechnology company developing drugs based on antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology.



The Company has one marketed product Adcetris, and a robust pipeline of novel therapies for solid tumors and blood-related cancers.



Adcetris is a CD30-directed antibody-drug conjugate, indicated for the treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, anaplastic large cell lymphoma, and CD30-expressing mycosis fungoides.



Watch out for.



The first preclinical data describing the novel empowered antibody SEA-BCMA will be presented on April 17, 2018. A phase I trial of SEA-BCMA for multiple myeloma is planned for 2018.



Clinical biomarker data from a phase I trial of SGN-2FF in patients with advanced solid tumors will be presented on April 18, 2018.



SGEN closed Friday's trading at $50.24, down 2.69%.



9. GW Pharmaceuticals plc. (GWPH)



On April 19, 2018, a panel of outside experts convened by the FDA is scheduled to review GW Pharma's NDA for Epidiolex, proposed for the adjunctive treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome or Dravet syndrome in patients 2 years of age and older.



Epidiolex is the Company's proprietary oral solution of pure plant-derived cannabidiol, or CBD.



The FDA's final decision on Epidiolex is expected by June 27, 2018.



If approved, analysts expect Epidiolex to bring in excess of $1 billion in annual peak sales.



GWPH closed Friday's trading at $123.95, up 1.18%.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.deNewly filed court documents reveal longtime Rhode Island mobster Robert "Bobby" DeLuca is set to testify that his brother, Joseph, was inducted into the mob shortly after disposing of a body for former mob boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme.Salemme, 84, is charged with murder of a witness for the 1993 gangland slaying of Boston nightclub owner Steven DiSarro. A flurry of court documents filed ahead of next month's trial in Boston reveal what the DeLuca brothers are expected to say in their testimony.One document filed last week by prosecutors from the Massachusetts U.S. attorney's office states Bobby DeLuca will testify that Salemme elevated him to "capo" - or mob captain - in 1990, and "Salemme also 'made' DeLucas brother, Joseph, shortly after the murder of DiSarro."It marks the first time the government has publicly identified Joseph DeLuca as a made member of the New England La Cosa Nostra.Steven O'Donnell, a law enforcement analyst for Eyewitness News who used to investigate organized crime for the R.I. State Police, said the DiSarro murder likely explains why Joseph DeLuca was inducted into the mob."To shut him up, basically, to be quiet," O'Donnell said. "When you get sworn in you swear an oath of silence, 'omerta,' that you never talk about it ... bring him in so in their mind that would help silence him.""Obviously that's not happening today," he said.In the filings, prosecutors say Bobby DeLuca will testify that his brother volunteered to meet with Salemme alone, and to dispose of the body.Joseph wanted to go without Bobby because "he was concerned that his brother had small children and might be caught," court documents say.Investigators say Joseph DeLuca met Salemme at a pharmacy in North Providence, then drove with him to a nearby jewelry manufacturing plant where DiSarro's body was transferred to DeLuca's car.It was then buried by Joseph and two other unnamed people behind a mill building on Branch Avenue in Providence. Land records show the building was owned by William Ricci, a longtime associate of Bobby DeLuca.The DiSarro cold case was reinvigorated when Ricci confessed to the FBI, following his arrest in a separate case in 2015, that the body was buried on his property.As Target 12 first reported, the FBI exhumed DiSarro's remains in March 2016, and Salemme along with codefendant Paul Weadick were charged a short time later.Prosecutors allege DiSarro was strangled on May 10, 1993, at his Sharon, Massachusetts, home by Salemme's son, Frank Jr., while Weadick held his legs. (The younger Salemme has since died of natural causes.)Salemme, his son and Weadick were revealed to be silent partners in a South Boston nightclub called The Channel, which was officially in DiSarro's name. Investigators allege Salemme's son - who was under investigation at the time - was growing concerned at the time of the murder that DiSarro was cooperating with the FBI."Similarly, Robert DeLuca will testify that Salemme expressed concerns that DiSarro was stealing from them," prosecutors wrote. "According to Deluca, he told Salemme he should 'get rid of him' meaning he should fire DiSarro."Prosecutors say Deluca will tell a jury that Salemme responded, "well Frankie Boy will take care of that."Bobby DeLuca has already pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about what he knew of the DiSarro case and will be sentenced after he testifies against Salemme.O'Donnell said DeLuca's checkered history with the truth makes him a difficult witness for prosecutors."Bobby DeLuca has testified in court that's he's lied, he's pled that he lied, and also 20 years ago he's had a different version of the events," O'Donnell said. "It's a battle of credibility."But he said prosecutors have lined up other witnesses who will corroborate DeLuca's story."That's just what a jury will do, they will decide if somebody lied, are they lying now or were they lying before?" O'Donnell said. "That's the beauty of a trial - letting them figure out what they believe is factual."As Target 12 previously reported, Joseph DeLuca was granted immunity from prosecution.Salemme and Weadick have both pleaded not guilty to charges. Salemme's attorney, Steven Boozang, did not immediately return a call for comment but has previously said his client is looking forward to taking this case to trial.Jury selection is set for the end of this month with opening arguments on May 9.http://www.wpri.com/target-12/court-docs-outline-deluca-brothers-expected-testimony-in-mob-murder-trial/1094519128.            10-   .       .       ...Radio host Art Bell, famous for his show Coast to Coast AM and its "X-Files"-flavored focus on the paranormal, died Friday (his fans will note, that was Friday the 13th) at the age of 72, Nevada authorities confirmed Saturday.

Bell died at his Pahrump, Nev., home, Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly announced in a Facebook post to the community. She described him as a longtime resident of the area and said an autopsy to confirm the cause of death would be performed later this week.

Coast to Coast AM confirmed the news on Twitter, saying its staff was "profoundly saddened with the news that the creator and original host of Coast to Coast AM, Art Bell, has passed away at the age of 72."

ORSON WELLES DAUGHTER PLEADS WITH NETFLIX TO RECONSIDER CANNES BAN AND PREMIERE FATHERS LAST FILM

According to an obituary shared by the program, the show became syndicated across the country in 1993 and drew in listeners with its wee-hours chatter about conspiracy theories and aliens, shadow people and spectral energy.

The obituary said that as Bell begins his journey on the Other Side, we take solace in the hope that he is now finding out all of the answers to the mysteries he pursued for so many nights with all of us.

Even after relinquishing his title as host in the early 2000s, Bell returned to the airwaves now and then, and he also started a show for satellite radio, the obituary said.

Before Coast to Coast AM began, Bell, who was born in 1945, was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and there he indulged his childhood passion for radio by operating a pirate radio station, according to the obituary.

ROSEANNE REVIVAL PLAYS TRIBUTE TO DEPARTED CAST MEMBER IN EPISODE 4

The show tweeted a comment from its current host, George Noory, who described Bell as a legend  a radio icon who went against the grain and developed an amazing show called 'Coast to Coast AM.' His impact on my life is beyond words. He will be missed, but I know he is now on another journey.

Bell broadcast Coast to Coast" from his radio station, KNYE, in Pahrump.

During Bells National Radio Hall of Fame induction in 2008, his former business partner, Alan Corbeth, said no one was better than Bell at understanding how to create theater of the mind.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.It doesnt take much to create a social media frenzy.

Brian Williams, the former host "NBC Nightly News" and now host of MSNBCs The 11th Hour With Brian Williams, was trending on Twitter early Saturday after mistakenly referring to President Trump as "President Obama."

Williams' report was about the U.S. announcement that it would strike against Syria in response to an alleged chemical attack last week.

It all started, nine oclock Eastern time, with about a five-minute address by President Obama, Wiliams said, matter-of-factly to the camera. Heres a portion of that.

The newsman, who lost his coveted network anchor chair in 2015 after being suspended for misrepresenting himself when he claimed his helicopter was hit by enemy fire during the Iraq War, was lambasted on social media for Friday nights flub.

Williams reportedly corrected his error, but social media had a field day.

Honestly, I can understand Brian Williams confusion. Bombing Syria is totally something President Obama would have done too, one person tweeted.Ryan Murphy is throwing a black-tie engagement party for Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuck this weekend, Page Six has exclusively learned.

The dress code had some showbiz insiders buzzing that the event could be a surprise wedding. We hear that 400 friends, family and Hollywood A-listers are expected.

Valentino fashion fixture Giancarlo Giammetti sparked speculation of the secret nuptials when he posted an image of the couple on Instagram on Friday and wrote: These two beauties inside and out get engaged tomorrow!!! All my best wishes my dear @gwynethpaltrowand @bradfalchuk love you and miss not to be there with you!!!

Comments back included: I think she was keeping this a secret lol and, Does he mean they get married?

But weve also heard rumors Paltrow and Falchuck will actually walk down the aisle later this year in the Hamptons.

Either way, Murphy  who will host the shindig with husband David Miller  has reason to celebrate these days himself, and certainly has the cash to splash out on a party worthy of Goop guru Gwyneth: He just signed a deal with Netflix thats reportedly worth up to $300 million. Falchuck and Murphy together created hit series Glee and American Horror Story, and are reportedly behind upcoming Netflix series The Politician with no less than Barbra Streisand, Paltrow and Broadway sensation Ben Platt in talks to star.

Modal TriggerGwyneth Paltrow wears a floral jumpsuit during her bachelorette party in Mexico.Clasos.com.mx / Splash News

Paltrow will be arriving fresh from a VIP bachelorette party in Cabo, Mexico, with pals including designer Stella McCartney and Cameron Diaz. Page Six exclusively reported on the girls trip this week, before Paltrow was seen headed to a private jet to depart for female festivities.

Since Paltrow eloped with husband No. 1, Coldplay rocker Chris Martin, shes treating this wedding as her first and is pulling out all the traditional stops. She told People after announcing her engagement in her own Goop magazines Sex & Love issue: Ive never had a wedding before So even though Im 45, I sort of feel like a 21-year-old. She added: Its kind of fun to talk about with my girlfriends. They send me pictures of dresses  theyre as excited about it as I am.

For her Mexico bachelorette trip, sources told us that pal Diaz booked a private jet for a dozen guests to fly down.

Paltrows famous friends include Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore, Beyonce and Kate Hudson.

This story originally appeared in the New York Post.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Bible is more than clear in its theological claim that Jesus Christ will return to Earth at an undisclosed, future time. In fact, that belief is a central hallmark of the Christian faith.

And the latter point about the timing is essential to highlight, as scripture makes it clear that no one knows exactly when the so-called second coming will unfold. Yet, once again, here we are with some people setting a specific date  April 23, 2018  for the purported fulfillment of certain prophetic signs or events.

This follows other failed claims about the rapture and the end times  predictions that were set for September 23, 2017 and October 15, 2017, yet obviously never came to fruition.

The date-setting all seems quite bizarre, considering that the Bible repeatedly and clearly speaks to our inability to know exactly when end-times events  and particularly Jesus return  will unfold. Matthew 24:36-37 tells us, But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man  and Mark 13:32 says the same.

My guess is that April 23 will be a day like any other. I wouldnt worry; I wouldnt panic. The best line of defense for those who believe the Bible is to be ready and waiting by following Jesus, living our lives right and sticking to our faith.

But as I noted in my book The Armageddon Code: One Journalist's Quest for End-Times Answers, time and again throughout history people have sought to ignore these verses and predict exactly when they believe the rapture  the belief that Christians will be taken up before cataclysmic, end-times events kick into high gear  or the end itself will unfold.

And time and again, they have been wrong, bringing embarrassment not only on themselves and their followers, but on Christians who take the whole of scripture into account when diving into the massively complex debate over eschatology (the study of the end times).

But no matter how many times these predictions fail, some people are still bent on advancing strange and unbiblical eschatological theories.

You might recall Christian leader Harold Camping, who made international headlines in 2011 for twice predicting that the world would end  and getting it wrong both times. In the days and weeks leading up to the dates he set, some of his followers were so convinced he was right that they sold their homes and spent their savings helping spread the message that judgement would soon be upon us.

In the end, they were likely shocked to learn that Camping, as the Bible clearly notes, couldnt have possibly known the day nor hour.

So, that brings us back to April 23, a date that has sparked some chatter. The Express has more about what some end times enthusiasts are proclaiming:

According to conspiracy theorists, codes in the Bible suggest the end of the world is imminent, with Earth set to be destroyed on April 23.

One theory suggests the end times dates back to astrological constellations appearing on November 23, matching the book of Revelation 12:1-2.

The passage signals the start of the Rapture and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

This is pretty similar to what was prophesied last year before Sept. 23 when some said that the alignment of the stars, sun and moon pointed to a coming series of prophetic events  and there were also some stranger theories involving Planet X, a purported planet that NASA says doesnt exist but that some people believe could somehow destroy Earth.

Christian ministry Answers in Genesis, which previously dismissed the Sept. 23 hoopla, explained in a blog post last year the celestial happenings that have led to so much speculation about specific end times dates:

On [Sept. 23], the sun will be in the constellation Virgo (the virgin), along with the moon near Virgos feet. Additionally, Jupiter will be in Virgo, while the planets Venus, Mars, and Mercury will be above and to the right of Virgo in the constellation Leo. Some people claim that this is a very rare event (allegedly only once in 7,000 years) and that it supposedly is a fulfillment of a sign in Revelation 12.

And since Revelation 12 discusses a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head, a connection was made between what is described in Revelation and what was slated to happen in the skies.

And on April 23, since the sun, moon and Jupiter will be in Virgo, theres once again speculation that something biblical could be afoot. On what basis, you ask? Beats me. History shows again and again that these predictions are always wrong.

Dont get me wrong: As a Christian and a journalist who has spent a fair bit of time writing on the end times, I fully agree with Pastor Greg Laurie who recently told me, We need to be students of Bible prophecy. I believe if we understand it correctly, it will just motivate us to live godly lives and do all that we can to reach our generation while we can.

With that said, we also need to take seriously  as Laurie would argue  the scripture in its entirety, including those pesky verses in Mark and Matthew that tell us not to date-set. And sure, Jesus tells us in Luke that there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars, but hes not specific and Christians seizing on various celestial happenings or events to definitively speak what they believe to be the heart and mind of God is unhelpful; in fact, as weve seen, it can be damaging.

My guess is that April 23 will be a day like any other. I wouldnt worry; I wouldnt panic. The best line of defense for those who believe the Bible is to be ready and waiting by following Jesus, living our lives right and sticking to our faith.

Obsessing over the end times isnt healthy, but being aware of the ins and outs of what the Bible says is certainly both beneficial and warranted, which is why I wrote The Armageddon Code  a book that gives you a solid overview of the never-ending debate over Bible prophecy.

Its not crazy to look at world events and ponder whether the signs mentioned in the Bible are, in some form, coming to fruition; but it is bizarre and dangerous to start setting dates in violation of the very scripture you claim to hold dear.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Several surprises  with wide implications  are buried in the report that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released Friday that found fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe lied to federal investigators.

The report provided new details about McCabes lies to cover up his self-serving leaking of information to a Wall Street Journal reporter about an FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation  but also has implications for our constitutional democracy.

And the report shows that both McCabe and fired FBI Director James Comey deserved to be fired for presiding over a culture of unseemly leaks. The two plainly violated longstanding federal priorities, practices and policies. McCabe did so in the extreme, while Comey did so through a display of extraordinarily poor judgment, usurpation of power and abdication of leadership.

A thoughtful reading of the report shows that these FBI policies are sensible, sound and well-enforced.

One policy bars lying to federal officials  whether or not under oath  and quaintly describes such lies as a lack of candor.

The other policy restricts media contacts, saying disclosures to the media must not address an ongoing investigation.

McCabe failed to follow these policies, so he paid the price  just as any FBI employee should.

Through a laborious, systematic and thorough recitation of facts, the report by the inspector general makes a compelling case that Deputy Director McCabe had to go. One cannot wade through the report to the end and come to any other conclusion.

But what the report implies is as important as what it announces.

One revelation is that during the 2016 presidential election, upper reaches of the FBI  including the director, deputy director, agents and lawyers  were clearly confused and conflicted by repeated missteps by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Conducting an investigation of any presidential candidate, at any point in any election cycle, was unprecedented, unnerving and unsettling to many  particularly those who seemed to favor her.

At least two investigations directly implicated Hillary Clinton in wrongdoing.

One investigation was prompted by a referral from the intelligence community, dealing with Clintons mishandling of classified information. That one widened to encompass a flotilla of potential legal violations tied to Clintons rogue email server, destruction of evidence and other bizarre actions.

The second dug into malfeasance, or worse, surrounding the Clinton Foundation and Clintons actions while secretary of state. Reading between the lines, FBI leadership was obviously distraught by the Democratic candidates proclivity for putting herself in legal jeopardy.

For the record, the inspector generals report makes crystal clear that both of these pits of legal jeopardy were investigations, not mere matters, as Democratic Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the FBI to call them.

On balance, the McCabe leak seems par for the course  part of an FBI leadership culture that regularly used the media to influence internal policies in Washington and elsewhere. In short, while the deputy FBI director behaved incorrigibly, he was not alone.

Rather ironically, recall that the FBI stopped working with former British spy Christopher Steele because he leaked information to the media. He had been commissioned by Clintons campaign through a cutout to create the infamous anti-Trump dossier.

Shockingly, the inspector generals report found that McCabe employed news leaks to counter other anonymous FBI and Justice Department news leaks. There is no defense for that kind of manipulation of the public.

The impression left by Inspector General Horowitzs report is sobering. It describes an agency culture, at the top, entirely comfortable with anonymous leaks to the media for bending internal policies and possibly affecting politics.

This seems to fly in the face of the two FBI policies citied above.

Add to this the major news leak by James Comey, who slipped what he thought was damning information to a Columbia University professor on a Russia collusion story.

Comey succeeded in using the leak to prompt the hiring of Robert Mueller as a special counsel to investigate President Trump, the man who fired Comey.

Hell hath no fury like an FBI director scorned.

What is the Justice Department inspector general really saying? The report is about more than McCabe. It says the FBIs leadership culture is in deep need of review, a victim of its own arrogance, indifference and political capture.

Inspector General Horowitz is also saying, in this tidy, detailed, non-political, highly credible report, that Comey and McCabe were both distracted, disinterested, and patently poor leaders.

Intended or not, the ultimate implication in the inspector generals report is this: President Trump was fully entitled to remove both Comey and McCabe. The FBI cleaned out McCabe. The president sent Comey packing. The inspector generals report seems to justify both actions.

With full credit to Winston Churchill, another straight shooter, if this is not the end of the story, or not even the beginning of the end, perhaps it is the end of the beginning. Let us fervently hope so.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

If there is one thing you can count on in your life, its that your path will not always be easy.

It happens to all of us sometimes. Everything seems to be going well for you, and then suddenly a turn of events brings discouragement and frustration, and you feel like you just want to give up.

Maybe youve racked up so many bad decisions that youve almost put any kind of happiness out of reach. You might feel as though you are at the end of your rope, just hanging on for dear life. Or it seems like after a good start you are now running dead last in the race of life, and the finish line looks so far away that you might wonder if you can make it at all.

Our lives are filled with setbacks  those times when things just arent going our way, when victory seems out of our grasp, when happiness and contentment seem downright impossible. Occasional setbacks are probably unavoidable  part of the struggle of living in a fallen world. Other setbacks are due to our own sin and failures, or circumstances outside our control. But God has an answer for our every setback; he wants to orchestrate a comeback in our lives.

I know because Ive been there. I can relate.

Its a miracle that I am where I am today, the pastor of a large church in Dallas who regularly speaks in front of large groups of people. Let me tell you something I dont talk about very often. Maybe youll find it encouraging.

When I was younger, I had a terrible problem with stuttering. It was hard to get through a sentence without hesitation and a bunch of distracting little fillers, like umm and er For years, just getting a complete sentence out of my mouth on the first try was nearly impossible.

Soon after my conversion I knew I wanted to be a speaker who would share about Christ to a room full of listeners. But who would have the patience to listen through all my stuttering?

My parents and doctors didnt know why I stuttered, and they didnt know how to help me. I couldnt express my thoughts clearly, and it looked like I might have to give up my dreams of becoming a speaker.

Comebacks dont seem likely when your back is up against the wall and your hope is depleted. But if you will stay the course, you will discover Gods power to reverse the irreversible in your life.

But God, in his wisdom, had chosen to use me -- even as a broken mouthpiece for him. I wouldnt give up even though the circumstances were lined up against me. I was tempted to let go of my dream, but instead I held on to God.

My comeback didnt happen overnight. I had to work, I had to practice, I had to pray, and I had to get some help from trained speech therapists.

And God gave me a comeback. Today I speak in front of people all the time. Every Sunday, I preach two sermons, each nearly an hour in length, to thousands of people. And I regularly travel around the country for speaking engagements. Ive spoken in front of crowds as large as a million people. I never hesitate to say yes to an opportunity to share my faith in front of an audience.

Me, the kid who couldnt speak a single sentence with clarity or confidence due to my stuttering. Some would have counted me out, but God never did. And I never gave up because it wasnt easy.

I could tell you a lot of other stories about how God has provided comebacks in my life, such as when it seemed academically and financially impossible for me to go to seminary. None of the circumstances were in my favor, and I was sometimes tempted to quit trying. I didnt have the money and I didnt have the grades. And the school I wanted to attend was one that rarely admitted African-Americans at that time.

It would have been easy to give up and lower my goals. But God provided a comeback. Though I was only accepted on probation, I worked hard, and with Gods help I turned around my academic record. I eventually graduated with honors and became the first African-American to graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary with an earned doctoral degree.

Comebacks dont seem likely when your back is up against the wall and your hope is depleted. But if you will stay the course, you will discover Gods power to reverse the irreversible in your life. Look to him always, honor him first, and then watch him blow your mind.

Adapted from "Your Comeback." Copyright  2018 by Tony Evans. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97408. www.harvesthousepublishers.com. Used by Permission.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Justice deferred may be justice denied. But for I. Lewis Scooter Libby  former Vice President Dick Cheneys chief of staff, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in 2007  President Trumps pardon on Friday, however belated, was welcome. For me, too.

Thirteen years ago, as a New York Times reporter, I went to jail to protect the identity of my news sources, and one source in particular  Scooter Libby.

In 2007 I had testified against Libby, saying that I thought he and I had discussed Valerie Plame, a CIA agent whose identity he was said to have leaked to the media to punish her husband for challenging intelligence about weapons of mass destruction that President George W. Bush had cited to justify the 2003 war in Iraq.

Critics of the war were outraged and demanded an independent investigation of the leak by a special prosecutor. While Libby was never charged with leaking Plame's name, he was convicted of lying to the FBI and a grand jury and of obstructing justice in the leak investigation.

At a news conference after Libby's conviction, Patrick Fitzgerald  the special prosecutor appointed by then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey (who later became FBI director)  called my testimony crucial to the verdict.

So why would I be pleased with Libby's pardon? Because after leaving jail and investigating the case, I unearthed information that convinced me not only that my testimony was in error, but that Libby was the victim of an overzealous prosecutor whose investigation should have ended before it began.

I described my findings in a 2015 memoir about high-stakes journalism, The Story, A Reporters Journey.

The first thing I learned was that John Rizzo, the CIAs former general counsel and an agency lawyer for over 30 years, disputed prosecutor Fitzgeralds assertion that Valerie Plame had been a super-secret covert agent who was not well known outside of the intelligence community and that the leak of her name had caused grave, if unspecified, harm to Americas national security.

Rizzo told me in an interview and subsequently wrote in his own book that dozens, if not hundreds of people in Washington knew that Plame worked for the CIA. Even more significantly, he said, a CIA damage assessment of the leak had produced no evidence that her outing had harmed any CIA operation, any agent in the field, or anyone else, including Plame herself.

I also learned that the CIA assessment had been finished in late 2003 or early 2004, long before Libby was indicted or I went to jail. Although prosecutor Fitzgerald knew this, Rizzo's crucial CIA finding became public only after his book was published. But if the leak had caused no national security harm, why had Fitzgerald continued the inquiry?

Fitzgerald refused to discuss the case with me after the trial. Nor would he say why he pursued Libby after learning early in the inquiry that the source of the leak was not Libby, but Richard Armitage, an aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had argued against the war. But Armitage was never punished for releasing classified information.

Then I learned that Fitzgerald had withheld exculpatory evidence not only from me but also from Libby's lawyer that might surely have jogged my memory and prevented me from unwittingly giving false testimony against him. Finally, the prosecutor opposed letting the jury hear information about how often memories of such conversations fail.

I hoped that President Bush might pardon Libby. But while he commuted Libbys sentence of 30 months in jail, he refused to issue a full pardon despite repeated pleas from Vice President Cheney, who argued that Libby was a de facto scapegoat for public fury over and opposition to the war.

In retrospect, it is clear that Libbys prosecution marked the beginning of the criminalization of policy differences  a dangerous trend that continues to this day. In light of all this, I'm pleased that Libby has finally been pardoned.

The ink on the pardon was barely dry, however, when critics began saying that President Trump pardoned Libby to signal those facing charges in Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia probe that he will pardon them as well if they are convicted. The pardon was intended to persuade those facing the special prosecutors scrutiny not to cooperate or to lie, they said.

Since I never discussed a pardon for Libby with any White House official, I have no idea what motivated President Trumps decision. In its announcement, the White House said that my books recantation of my testimony had helped persuade the president that Libby had been treated unfairly.

But Fitzgerald's and Robert Mueller's probes are not the same. The targeting of Libby was baseless, since the prosecutor knew early on that no crime had been committed and that Libby was not the source of the initial leak of Plame's name.

Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, by contrast, was real, whether or not it succeeded, and efforts to determine whether President Trump or senior members of his campaign conspired with the Russians to enable such meddling clearly warrant an independent probe.

The Libby investigation was not prompted by a national security threat, whereas Russian meddling in a presidential election was an attempted assault on a pillar of American democracy. It must not be ignored.

And efforts to understand the depth and scope of Russian disinformation campaign cannot be dismissed as a "witch hunt." Any tweeted signal to obstruct it imperils not only the investigation, but democracy itself.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Ever since Syrian dictator Bashar Assads latest chemical weapons atrocity last weekend, many of President Trumps strongest supporters have gone out of their way to caution against a military response from the United States.

These supporters rightly pointed out that military intervention in the Middle East has been a disaster for the U.S., costing thousands of lives and trillions of dollars  and for what? A situation on the ground that never seems to improve, and a series of conflicts that no amount of American blood or treasure looks likely to bring to an end.

What difference can we possibly make, even with the best of intentions, to religious and ethnic strife with origins that are centuries old? Often  as with the rise of ISIS  our actions seem to make things even worse.

You know the arguments: America shouldnt get involved in foreign wars. Weve had enough of getting bogged down in quagmires overseas. No more nation-building abroad. Lets focus on building our nation here at home.

Lets be clear: those arguments are absolutely right. Only a deeply ideological mindset, divorced from reality and experience, could see it any other way.

Standing firmly behind such a skeptical attitude to U.S. military interventionism was a big part of Donald Trumps political success in 2016. It marked him out from the establishment Republicans he faced in the presidential primaries, and from the establishment Democrat he faced in November.

Hillary Clintons hawkish reputation  she was frequently described by the left in her own party as a warmonger  undoubtedly cost her support.

But as ever in politics, a good argument can fall apart if you push it to extremes. A bias against a swaggering kind of global interventionism does not mean you should never take any action, on any issue, anywhere.

Populists who support President Trump should remember one of the hallmarks of populism: its pragmatic. Its not ideological.

Thats why populists who set their face against any military response to Assads evil are making a mistake. They exhibit exactly the same kind of ideological dogmatism that populism rejects, and weve seen this abundantly on display.

Even as the U.S., British and French strikes were underway before dawn Saturday morning (Syria time), self-styled nationalists were searching for reasons to object. They came across as ideologues.

There is, in fact, a strong, positive populist case for the missile strikes against Syria, and its a simple and practical one: if you appease one dictator, you encourage all dictators.

The missile strikes against Syria are not just about Syria.

When President Obama appeased the Syrian government with his failure to back up his red line rhetoric in 2012  a warning to Assad not to use chemical weapons  that didnt just encourage Assad to use chemical weapons again.

Presidents Obamas empty threat gave the green light to Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine, knowing that the U.S. would never act. It emboldened North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to push harder for nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, believing America was weak.

And most significantly for the populist movement, President Obamas failure to act against Syria strengthened the resolve of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.

Xi saw that America would not confront a bully, so he stepped up his own bullying  seizing territory in the South China Sea, increasing oppression and Communist Party control at home, and developing his plans for military and economic world domination through his One Belt One Road and Made in China 2025 programs.

If President Trump had failed to respond militarily to this latest Syrian chemical attack, dictators and bullies the world over would have gotten a simple message: do whatever you want, because Americas not going to stop you.

That wouldn't just mean the likelihood of more chemical attacks, which could put Americans in danger around the world. It would mean that our hand would be weakened when confronting China over trade as well. A strong America is not only good for security, its good economics  good for American workers.

Furthermore, contrary to the nationalist and isolationist dogma, you can show strength and stand up to bullies without getting entangled in costly, lengthy and counterproductive invasions of other countries.

You can show strength like President Reagan did, with airstrikes on Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. You dont need to follow the disastrous model of President George W. Bush that drew U.S. troops into Afghanistan and Iraq, where they remain today.

That kind of practical, balanced approach  show strength but dont get bogged down overseas  seems to be exactly the strategy on display from President Trump and his team over Syria. Every positive populist should support it.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

By firing 105 missiles at Syrian chemical weapons targets before dawn Saturday, the U.S., Britain and France sent a clear message to dictator Bashar Assad: they will not tolerate his regimes use of toxic gas and other weapons of mass destruction against his own citizens.

But it seems the tripartite alliance is prepared allow Assad to keep killing Syrians on massive scale using conventional weapons. The death toll in Syria after seven years of war is more than 500,000  and rising. The fact that these deaths did not involve chemical weapons makes them no less tragic for their victims and surviving loved ones.

Its hard to know exactly how many of the Syrian deaths have been caused by chemical weapons. But we know they represent a relatively small percentage. The Assad regime has killed far more Syrians through crude barrel bombs, mass executions, starvation and deprivation, and in other ways.

On top of this, there have also been conventional military strikes conducted with and without the help of Assads allies  Iran and Russia. Both those nations have devoted significant resources to the war.

So despite the new attack announced by President Trump, the Syrian-Iranian-Russian conventional war machine that is responsible for the overwhelming majority of the murders of innocent Syrians remains intact. And it is not being threatened by America and our allies.

Of course, President Trump has conveyed his utter contempt for Assad and the forces backing him. He has called Assad an animal, and he has called out Iran and Russia as being responsible for backing him.

But President Trump remains ambivalent about crafting a foreign policy that would prevent those three nations from continuing their slaughter. Just last week, the president vowed to pull Americas estimated 2,000 troops out of Syria very soon. This announcement was certainly welcomed by Assad and his allies.

President Trumps advisers have apparently convinced him to leave U.S. forces in Syria for a little while longer to battle the Islamic State. But administration officials are assiduously avoiding the question of the post-Islamic State reality  namely that Iran, Russia and Assad are poised to grow stronger and keep on killing Syrians until Assad has crushed opposition to his rule.

To be fair, the crisis in Syria is not of President Trumps making. He inherited that disaster from President Obama. But keeping a narrow focus on the Islamic State and chemical weapons while ignoring the rest of the bloodshed is actually perpetuating President Obamas horrendous policies.

The U.S. policy of focusing only on stopping Assads chemical weapons attacks is a recipe for more misery, death and destruction. Its also an abdication of American leadership.

With the world now focused on the atrocities in Syria, the time is right for President Trump to retool Americas policy there. Such a course correction need not lead America into another Middle East quagmire.

What is needed now is a strategy that enables the United States and its allies to make it increasingly more difficult for Syria, Iran and Russia to operate on the battlefield.

There are those who warn of a direct clash between the United States and Russia or Iran. And those concerns are valid. Thats why its time we examine the vulnerabilities of Hezbollah, the terrorist military force from Lebanon that is Irans lethal proxy in Syria.

Hezbollah has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria to attack the Syrian opposition to Assad. Similarly, we need to look at ways to undermine the scores of Shiite militias that Iran has assembled to fight in Syria in support of the Assad dictatorship.

We also need to revisit once again the idea of creating safe havens for Syrians and no-fly zones to protect them. And we need to think creatively about other ways to minimize the abilities of Russia, Iran and Assad to slaughter more Syrians  all without committing to occupy or rebuild the country.

The United States, France and Britain acted morally and responsibly by striking Bashar Assads chemical weapons program in Syria. But without a broader strategy, our air strikes will send the wrong message: that we are not concerned about the vast majorities of mass atrocities that have become commonplace in Syria for the last seven years.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Saturday that the United States is locked and loaded if Syrian President Bashar Assads regime uses chemical gas again in the country.



Haley made the remarks at a fiery meeting of the U.N. Security Council, in which Russia and the U.S. traded barbs over the decision of the U.S., France and the United Kingdom to launch strikes in Syria on Friday in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons last week in Douma. A draft resolution from Russia condemning the strike failed in a vote, with only Bolivia and China voting alongside Russia.



While the Trump administration has said the strikes are now over, with Trump declaring: Mission Accomplished! on Saturday morning, Haley warned in her remarks that should the Assad regime use such weapons again, strikes could resume.



"I spoke to President Trump this morning and he said if the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded," she said.



In what may be seen as a jab at former President Barack Obama, who famously drew a red line on chemical weapons use in Syria in 2012 but was accused of failing to follow through, Haley promised that Trump would not waver: When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line."



Her remarks came after Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzia tore into the U.S. and its allies for the strikes, accusing them of an illegal military adventure and hooliganism in international relations."

"You are constantly tempted by neo-colonialism, he said. You have nothing but disdain for the U.N. Charter and the Security Council which you are unjustifiably trying to use for your illicit aims.



He also expressed doubt the claims about chemical weapons use by the Assad regime, suggesting it was a fabrication by the West as a pretext for intervention in the country.



You want to throw this country back into the Stone Age, he said. You want to finish off what your sanctions havent achieved yet.



Haley in turn dismissed what she said was a Russian disinformation campaign in full force.



The pictures of dead children are not fake news, she said.



Russia was also strongly criticized by ambassadors for the U.K. and France, with both officials criticizing Russian protection of the Assad regime and emphasizing the body of evidence that they say pointed to the Assad regimes fingerprints on the chemical weapons attacks. They also pushed back on Russian claims that the strike was a breach of the U.N. Charter.



I will take no lessons in international law from Russia, U.K. ambassador Karen Pierce said in her remarks.



Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people. He also described the use of chemical weapons as abhorrent and called on the Security Council to agree on a dedicated mechanism to assure accountability for chemical weapons use in Syria.



A lack of accountability emboldens those who would use such weapons by providing them with the reassurance of impunity, he said.



The Pentagon said that 105 missiles all hit their respective targets, destroying three of Assads chemical weapons facilities. A Pentagon spokesperson also warned of a Russian disinformation campaign, telling reporters that there has been a 2,000 percent increase in Russian trolls online in the last 24 hours.

On Saturday, State Department Press Secretary Heather Nauert said on "America's News Headquarters" that it is time for Russia to take responsibility in the region.

"We've been saying to Russia, stop, if you want to be a responsible international member, a responsible party to the international community, then Russia needs to take responsibility and they need to cut this out," she said.

Vice President Mike Pence, speaking in Peru, said that the message to Russia was: "You're on the wrong side of history."

Fox News Ben Evansky, Lucas Tomlinson and Kristin Brown contributed to this report.In Peru on Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence plans to address Latin American leaders on Friday's U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria, which were a response to last week's suspected chemical attack by the Assad regime.

Pence is filling in for President Donald Trump, who decided to skip the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, so he could manage the U.S. response in Syria.

Pence was at his hotel in Lima when Trump announced the retaliatory airstrikes on Friday night from the White House.

Aides said Pence was in touch with Trump "multiple times" as he traveled to Peru aboard Air Force Two and also conferred with newly appointed national security adviser John Bolton.

At the summit, the vice president also plans to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has yet to meet with Trump amid an impasse over the wall Trump has pledged to build along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Pence's meeting with Pena Nieto will follow Trump's recent calls for National Guard troops to be stationed along the border.

Much of Pence's message at the summit will be aimed at building support for further isolating Venezuela, which has faced a political crisis under President Nicolas Maduro.

The vice president said Maduro has turned Venezuela into a dictatorship and has brought about "abject misery."

The U.S. has sanctioned Maduro and dozens of top officials, accusing the country of human rights abuses.

Pence announced that the U.S. would provide nearly $16 million in humanitarian assistance to Venezuelans who have fled their country and met with opposition leaders who pleaded for more sanctions.

In meetings with Latin American leaders, Pence plans to promote "good governance and democratic institutions" and urge allies to maintain pressure on Maduro.

Maduro was barred from the summit over his plans to hold a presidential election that the Venezuelan opposition is boycotting and that many foreign governments consider a sham.

Pence also met with a Cuban opposition leader along the sidelines of the international summit.

Pence told Rosa Maria Paya Acevedo Friday that the Trump administration stands with the Cuban people.

Trump has partially rolled back former President Barack Obama's diplomatic opening with the communist island.

Relations between the countries have also been strained amid mysterious sonic attacks that U.S. diplomats in Havana said have left them with ailments including headaches, hearing problems and concussions.

Pence is also expected to meet with the leaders of Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The nation's oldest and largest advocacy group for Syrian Americans said Friday that it applauded President Donald Trumps decision to take military action in Syria and enforce international law prohibiting the use of chemical weapons.

We send our sincere thanks to the administration for holding [Syrian leader Bashar] Assad accountable for Sundays chemical attack in Douma, and the crimes against humanity over the past seven years of the Syrian war, the Washington-based Syrian American Council (SAC) said in a statement.

The SAC said it sees Trump's action as a genuine opportunity to end Syria's war, a conflict in which the Assad regime has employed chemical weapons, barrel bombs and cluster munitions used to target and kill civilians.

We urge President Trump and the coalition to sustain the strikes and to ground Assads air force, creating a No-Fly Zone and thereby disabling the Assad regimes ability to commit further war crimes and mass atrocities, the council said.

We urge President Trump and the coalition to sustain the strikes and to ground Assads air force, creating a No-Fly Zone and thereby disabling the Assad regimes ability to commit further war crimes and mass atrocities.  Syrian American Council statement

The council said it remains optimistic that the Trump administration will work with the Syrian people to remove Assad, put an end to the slaughter, and bring about peace, freedom, and democracy in Syria.

The SACs mission is to empower the Syrian-American community to organize and advocate for a free, democratic, secular and pluralistic Syria through American support, according to its website.

The organization said that all means to politically and peacefully implement United Nations solutions have been tried to no avail, adding that Syria's allies in Russia and Iran continue to destroy de-escalation zones.

According to a fact sheet on SACs website, around 40 percent of Syrias pre-war population of 22 million people are refugees, which equates to almost 10 million people.

The SAC also urged providing assistance to opposition forces to empower them to collaborate with the United States and other international governments to fight terrorism and terrorist factions in Syria.

But Syrian-Americans are not unanimous in support of Trump's Friday action. A separate group called the Syrian American Forum (SAF) says it opposes the U.S.-led intervention.

Ghias Moussa, head of the group's New York and New Jersey chapters, told USA Today that the Trump administration should not push for regime change in Syria.

We dont think that killing more innocent people in Syria by bombing them will rectify what has happened, whether it was done by the Assad regime or not, Moussa told the newspaper.

Americans should not change regimes around the world to get somebody we like and fight people we dont like.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released a statement Friday commenting on the reports of air strikes in Syria by the U.S. France, and Britain.

Any use of chemical weapons is abhorrent, Guterres said. I have repeatedly expressed my deep disappointment that the Security Council failed to agree on a dedicated mechanism for effective accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. I urge the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and fill this gap.

He also urged U.N. member states "to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.Vice President Mike Pence, attending an international summit on Saturday, said he backs President Trumps assertion earlier in the day that the U.S.-led airstrikes this weekend in Syria resulted in mission accomplished, And he warned Syrian ally Russia that it is on the wrong side of history.

Pence spoke while in Peru about 18 hours after the U.S., France and the United Kingdom launched 105 missiles at three facilities connected to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his purported April 7 chemical attack on civilians, in the countrys years-long civil war.

The vice president attended the Summit of the Americas after Trump earlier this week canceled plans to attend the event so he could craft a response to the chemical attack, for which U.S. officials say there's proof of Assads involvement.

Last night, the objective of the mission of that (our) commander in chief gave our military forces was completely accomplished, with swift professionalism, Pence said in response to reporters questions about whether Trump hastily overstated the missions outcome.

Earlier in the day, Pentagon officials suggested they had proof that the Assad regime was behind the attack but said they couldnt elaborate on the information because it was classified.

Pence said the United States acted after the intelligence community and allies concluded with a high degree of confidence that "at a minimum, chlorine was used in the attack, and possibly serin.

Our message to Russia is, You're on the wrong side of history,  Pence also said. Its time for Russia to get the message President Trump delivered last night. You're known by the company you keep.

He also said the United State will mount a sustained effort against the regime if the attacks continue, echoing what U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Saturday.

Pence said leaders at the summit, which is focused on the collapse of democracy in Venezuela, said they support the missile strikes in Syria.

The vice president acknowledged no change in the stalemate between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Trump over plans to build a U.S.-Mexico wall.

The United States has a strong president, and Mexico has a strong president, Pence said. When you have two people with strong personalities, they have strong differences.

Pence said Trumps call for Mexico to pay for the U.S.-built wall did not come up in meetings.

However, he suggested that the United States, Mexico and Canada are close to renegotiating a new NAFTA deal.

I'll leave this summit very hopeful that we are very close to a renegotiated NAFTA that will be a better deal for the American people, the vice president said, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement involving the U.S., Mexico and Canada. And it will have a kind of fairness that will permit us to go forward in a productive, mutually beneficial relationship.President Donald Trump has reportedly lent his support to a U.S. senator from Colorado, promising to back legislation that protects states rights on legalized marijuana.

The president's decision would represent a split from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who in January rescinded an Obama-era policy, known as "the Cole memo," that gave states more leeway over the federal government on marijuana policy.

The name refers to former Deputy Attorney General James Cole, whose memo explained the policy.

In a statement Friday, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican, said hed received an assurance from the president on the states' rights' issue earlier this week.

Since the campaign, President Trump has consistently supported states rights to decide for themselves how best to approach marijuana, Gardner said. Late Wednesday, I received a commitment from the President that the Department of Justices rescission of the Cole memo will not impact Colorados legal marijuana industry.

Furthermore," Gardner added, "President Trump has assured me that he will support a federalism-based legislative solution to fix this states rights issue once and for all.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Gardner's account of the president's thinking -- but Sessions' reaction was not immediately known. According to The Los Angeles Times, Trump did not inform Sessions in advance of the change in policy.

Trump and Sessions have had moments of friction in their relationship for months, on issues unrelated to the legality of marijuana. For instance, Sessions, an early supporter of candidate Trump, has been sharply criticized by the president in recent months over his decision to recuse himself from an investigation into alleged Moscow meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

As for marijuana itself, during the presidential race Trump said states should be able to decide their own pot policies. "I'm a states person, it should be up to the states, absolutely," he told a television interviewer in Colorado that year.

However, a year earlier at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) in Maryland, Trump had said he supported medical marijuana but called recreational pot "bad."

He singled out Colorado, the first state to allow recreational marijuana sales. "They've got a lot of problems going on right now in Colorado - some big problems," Trump said then.

When Trump selected Sessions, a former federal prosecutor and U.S. senator from Alabama, as his attorney general, marijuana supporters girded for a crackdown. But Gardner said Sessions had promised him he'd do nothing to interfere with Colorado's robust marijuana market.

Gardner said he was blindsided when Sessions made his announcement in January regarding pot prosecutions.

In retaliation, Gardner used his power as a senator to prevent consideration of any nominees for the Department of Justice  an extraordinary step for a senator against an administration run by another member of his own political party.

As recently as earlier this month, marijuana legalization advocates and industry leaders were continuing to brace for an administration crackdown and for fresh tensions with the Trump administration  even coaching those in the business how to handle federal raids  as top officials were anticipating greater enforcement on the horizon.

Its definitely an interesting time. We are nervous, said Beth Collins, senior director of government relations with Americans for Safe Access (ASA).

Gardner and Justice officials have been in discussions for months to get the holds lifted. Gardner has met with Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the official overseeing the Russia probe who has been the target of Trump's ire.

In his Friday statement, Gardner said he had released some holds, but left others in place until he acquired a full commitment that the guidelines of the Cole Memo would be respected.

Meanwhile, legislation to protect states where marijuana is legal is still being drafted. Trump's backing is seen as key to getting a bill through Congress.

Fox News' Adam Shaw and Jake Gibson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.President Trump on Saturday touted the perfectly executed strike against the Assad regime in Syria, thanking France and Britain for joining the US-led assault before declaring Mission Accomplished!

The three countries launched military strikes overnight Friday in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again.

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!, Trump tweeted.

Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, responded to the attack. Syrians poured into the streets for defiant demonstrations of their national pride.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.

Trump said earlier this weekend that the U.S. is prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had, Trump also tweeted Saturday. There wont be anything, or anyone, even close!

The allied attack set off a fierce international debate about whether it was justified.

On Saturday, Putin reaffirmed Russia's view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake. Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

The Syria attack drew support from the European Union, Germany, Israel and other allies while British Prime Minister Theresa May said reports indicate the Syrian government used a barrel bomb to deliver the chemicals used in an attack on Douma. She said the use of force was "right and legal" in this case.

Mattis said the assault was a "one-time shot," so long as Assad does not repeat his use of chemical weapons. The strikes were carried out by manned aircraft and from ships that launched cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea.

Mattis disclosed that the U.S. had not yet confirmed that the most recent suspected Syrian chemical weapons attack, on April 7 in the Damascus suburb of Douma, included the use of sarin gas. He said at least one chemical was used  chlorine, which also has legitimate industrial uses and had not previously triggered a U.S. military response.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

The U.S. missile strike a year ago, which targeted the airfield from where Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack, was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The strikes that hit early Saturday in Syria came hours before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were set to arrive to inspect the site of the apparent attack.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 13, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: All right. Welcome to "Hannity." And this is a Fox News alert.

We are awaiting a statement from President Trump. We're looking at our clock in about 90 seconds from now. We have confirmed that the president has approved military strikes in Syria tonight. Now, this comes after the suspected chemical attack that killed over 40 people, including men, women and children.

Joining us now from Washington tonight is the host of "Special Report", our own Bret Baier.

We expect the president any minute. This is not unexpected. The president has been talking about an answer coming all week, Bret.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST, "SPECIAL REPORT": Sean, that's right. And two senior officials are saying that decision was made this evening with his national security team and that U.S. military strikes will go forward in Syria. What those look like we don't know.

The USS Donald Cook, a naval destroyer, navy destroyer, is in the Eastern Med. We believe that that destroyer will be part of this action tonight. It is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

We saw one year ago, April 17 2017, 59 cruise missiles striking Syria as a result of the chemical weapons attack then. This decision has been made, Sean, and we are told that the president has made the announcement. The vice president, by the way, rushed out of a dinner in Lima, Peru and he is now back at his hotel room, again, awaiting this word from the president of the United States, and the diplomatic room of the White House.

HANNITY: You know, I'll just put up on the screen before we get to this. I mean, you see these heart wrenching images, Bret, of men, women and children, like when President Trump, you know, struck about a year ago, when you look at these images and it literally takes your breath away that it has happened again.

Again, we're looking at -- here is the president.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.

Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action.

One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian Air Force.

Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians -- this time, in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.

Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime. To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?

The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.

In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack -- and today's response -- are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise.

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran -- but maybe not.

I will say this: The United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.

In Syria, the United States -- with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS -- is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.

The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home. And great warriors they are.

Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil, or act everywhere there is tyranny.

No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It's a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of the World War I, more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return.

So today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.

Tonight, I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions.

We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

Thank you, and goodnight. Thank you.

HANNITY: All right, that was the president tonight announcing he has approved U.S. military strikes in Syria against the Assad regime in light of the chemical weapons attack against innocent men, women and children. The president had a strong direct message to Russia and Iran and the president also notifying the U.S. and the American people that it was a coalition of the willing, including Great Britain and France.

From the White House tonight, our John Roberts is standing by -- John.

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And we have not verified this, but a reporter from Agence France Presse is reporting that huge blasts are being heard in Syria's capital of Damascus tonight. And if that, in fact, is the case, Sean, then this would be a very different attack than the one from the 6th to the 7th of April of last year when the United States hit targets in an airfield from which the last big chemical weapon attack was launched with some 58 cruise missiles. This sounds like it is going after the government targets right in the heart of the city there.

The president has been deliberating all week about what to do and hearing from his advisors, grander plan and smaller plan and what the response will be. It appears as though the president has chosen something to send a message, Sean, to the Assad regime to say, we've got your number here, you better stop what you are doing or you're going to lose everything.

The problem is, though, is that you can't take away everything from Assad because then you leave a power vacuum in a place that cannot afford a power vacuum. So, the president has to act very not only tactically, but strategically as well here to really give him a smack up side the head but at the same time, make sure that he doesn't send the whole thing crumbling into the abyss.

But the president also with a very strong message to Russia and Iran tonight saying that you should not stand with this murderous dictator anymore. The president described as a monster a little while ago. He said, these are not the actions of a man, these are the action of a monster.

So, clearly, the message to Vladimir Putin is, if you want to be friends with United States, you have to end the friendship with Assad. Very early on in the going here, Sean, again, reports from Agence France Presse that there are large blasts that are being heard in the capital city of Damascus tonight. We don't know what they hit and clearly it's something designed to hit very close to home for Bashar al-Assad.

HANNITY: All right. John Roberts standing by at the White House. We'll be checking back in with him in a few moments.

Our own Bret Baier joins us.

I want to go that message that John referred to, directly to Russia and to Iran -- the regime of Iran, you know, what nation would want to be associated with. And the president ending remarks about the coalition that is formed between Great Britain and France and this attack against Syria tonight about it's a battle against barbarism and brutality, Bret. This was building throughout the week.

BAIER: Yes, I think those two lines, Sean, stuck out to me, too, when he talked about Assad and crimes of a monster, and then directly talking to Russia and Iran about what kind of nation wants to be associated with this mass murder. The linkage between France and Great Britain, the president speaking to the British prime minister numerous times, Theresa May. Also, the French President Macron, who is actually the first state visit here just coming days. Now, this coalition launching what we believe are Tomahawk missiles.

We are now being told that the Pentagon will have a briefing at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. We expect that will show us specifically what strikes, that the president called targeted strikes associated with Syria's chemical weapon's program. Last time the 59 missiles dealt with the ability of Syria to get their airfield, a specific airfield where those strikes last year, the chemical weapon's attacks had come from.

This sounds the potential -- if it is it near Damascus could be bigger as far as the number of targets hit. But we expect to get that at the top of the hour. And I think the president reiterated that he does not want a long- term presence in Syria, he wants to get the military when they can. But there was not a time line, Sean, in this message tonight. And it's clear that he is sending a signal directly after the April 4th chemical attacks.

HANNITY: It was also interesting how he talked about the weapons with great emotion when he talked about, you know, the crimes being used by monsters and after World War I, and just how they unleashed widespread devastation and how he said tonight, we must stop the production and use of all of these chemical weapons.

BAIER: Yes, and, remember that Russia had pledged as part of this deal with the Obama administration to get the chemical weapons out of Syria. That clearly did not happen. And when they have been used, we are told by several officials that there are dozens and dozens chlorine bombs but chemical weapons attacks of some kind and that the U.N. has been tracking all of this and the U.S. obviously on the ground of believing that they have evidence that they are going to lay out specifically, much of it classified, how they get it, that Syria's military and air forces behind it.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you, Bret Baier. We'll be checking in with you throughout the evening.

Joining us now is Jennifer Griffin. She's at the Pentagon tonight.

The president said precision target associated with chemical weapons capability of the Syrian dictator Assad and a combined operation of forces of France and Great Britain, Jennifer. It sounds like the precision attack sounds very strategic that perhaps maybe they know where these locations are, certainly, militarily, they are looking at the Syrian military?

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. They will be looking at Syrian military, as well as chemical weapon's capabilities. That's what the president said. I'm told from a senior military official who has briefed the president in the past, a year ago when he first saw those images of chemical weapons strike, those children and women who were writhing in pain from not being able to breathe in the nerve agents that were used or the chlorine that was used at the time.

And I'm told that the president was extremely emotional when he saw those initial videos. And that is -- you heard in his voice this time around the same time around the same kind of emotion as he laid out very calmly his case for why the U.S., Britain and France had to respond to this chemical attack.

We've been reporting in recent days about the U.S. assets that are in the region, that are in position, the USS Donald Cook, expected them to have been in play. They have 75 Tomahawk missiles on board that destroyer, which is in Eastern Mediterranean. It was joined by a French frigate. We had reported that they had 12 cruise missiles on board, as well some the surface to air missiles to protect those ships.

Remember in recent days, Sean, a Russian admiral said that Russia would strike back at any U.S. warship that -0 and named the Donald Cook by name if they struck Syria. We also have been reporting that there are two U.S. warships in the Red Sea, south of Israel, in the Red Sea, that are in play tonight, the USS Monterey and USS Laboon. We have been withholding their names at request of the Pentagon. But we do know that they are in position.

What we don't know at this point is whether any aircraft are involved in these strikes. The explosions that are being reported on Twitter in downtown Damascus suggest that the U.S. and its allies will be exacting a price from President Bashar Assad himself. And if you look at the strike a year ago when those 59 Tomahawk, 58 air strikes as the president mentioned, they had targeted just one base, the Shayrat base, where the chemical weapon's attack occurred a year ago.

But that only took out 20 percent of President Bashar Assad aircraft at the time. And within 24 hours, they were flying, his air force was flying again. And so, in order to provide a deterrent, this is going to have to be a stronger signal and at this point, we'll know more at the top of the hour when the pentagon briefs us on what some of those targets were.

HANNITY: And, Jennifer, Russia has been blocking U.N. condemnation, even accusing the U.K. of using chemical weapons. And I think the earliest indication we have this week that something was going down as Russia pulled out all of their vessels from the area and when you talked about and mentioned saber-rattling from Russia, really it was from Moscow, not from Putin himself, correct?

GRIFFIN: Well, we've been hearing it from very senior Russian officials whether it was Sergei Lavrov, his foreign minister, as well as the top general, Gerasimov. He made certain threat, as well as the Russian ambassador to the U.N., and the Russian ambassador here in the U.S.

So, very, very top officials who speak for Vladimir Putin were issuing those threats to the U.S. But again, the U.S. military has forced protection in place. And so, they did not take those threats seriously. And any threats to shoot down the tomahawks or incoming cruise missile. The Russians also have those S-400 air defense system and they can fire off missiles from inside Syria.

But again, the sheer number of Tomahawks that the U.S. and its allies have in position and cruise missiles, they would easily overwhelm that air system, Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Jennifer Griffin at the Pentagon tonight.

The president obviously concerned about the spread of the chemical weapons if the United States doesn't act here. They are especially worrisome because they are so simple and easy to produce and the devastation is beyond comprehension as we were showing videos of earlier.

Let me check in with Mike Tobin tonight. He is in Jerusalem with the very latest. Mike, what's going on there?

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sean, what we are getting really through the wire services, reports of loud explosions in the city of Damascus. I'm getting that from some third party information as well. The Associated Press is talking about bright flashes in the city of Damascus and smoke over the city.

Reuters is a little more specific, saying that the smoke is over the eastern part of the city there. We are hearing information that chemical weapon's facilities are being targeted. It would be very difficult at this stage for people on the ground to be able to tell what exactly is being targeted and facilities that are hit. It is quite possibly they are extrapolating what the president has said just a short time ago.

We do know really through local media and from our sources here in Israel that the Israeli intelligence service have been sharing information with the U.S. in terms of targets, in terms of helping them pick target and identify targets. The Israelis don't want part of this particular fight given all the complexities of the people who are on the ground in Syria and the different alliances, just what a tinderbox that could cause out here.

But the latest information that we have right now is these reports of loud explosions in the city of Damascus, more specifically according to Reuters over the eastern part of the city, there's a lot of smoke there -- Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Mike Tobin in Jerusalem tonight.

Joining us for reaction to this developing news, Fox News national security strategist, Sebastian Gorka, retired Brigadier General Tony Tata, former senior intelligence officer, Lieutenant General Tony Schaefer.

Dr. Gorka, I begin with you. You know, sometimes, I think countries act because it's the right thing to do. The world sees these horrific evil images of men, women and children, innocent people, and we know the ongoing civil war here that has been going on. I think the president is sending a clear message when he said tonight Dr. Gorka the evil despicable attack that left mothers, fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air, these aren't the actions of a man, their crimes of a monster. And then the challenge to Russia and the challenge to Iran directly.

Your reaction?

SEBASTIAN GORKA, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST: The president is not an interventionist, and I know the left doesn't believe this -- he is a very, very compassionate man, whether he's meeting with victims from Parkland or whether he's looking at the footage of that chemical weapons attack in Syria. And we're not interested in a large footprint. That's not what the president believes in, but he believes in a simple saying, for evil to triumph, all you need is for good men to do nothing.

Tonight, we are standing up for the moral rectitude of this nation and what it's stands for. We can't fix everything. The president was clear. There is evil, there are atrocities around the world and we can't solve all of them.

But when we have a capacity to respond to a monster like Assad who has been responsible for a civil war that has caused the deaths in the last seven years of half a million people, if we have a capacity to respond, we are duty-bound to do so. And that is what is happening tonight and he sent a very clear message to Russia and to Iran, you have to draw your own internal red lines now. You have to decide if you are prepared to pay a further price for sponsoring a regime as evil as Bashar al-Assad's regime. That is how simple it is.

It was amazing -- it was also -- and then he held out the advantages of being friends with the United States, the economic advantages that he would prefer to have friendship, as he often does.

General Tata, let me bring you in here. The words of the president tonight following the horrors of World War I, a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare and chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation. And the purpose of these actions is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons and he went on about how these are specific precision strikes.

So I believe Dr. Gorka is right. This is not a long-term protracted conflict that the president is talking about. It is to stop the specific use of chemical weapons as we saw these images this week.

TONY TATA, BRIGADIER GENERAL (RETIRED): Yes, Sean. You know, absolutely, you know, the president was right on the money and talking about the devastation that chemical weapons can cause and, you know, it's part of our national security strategy. There are two underlying principles one is to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to include chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and the other is a international order that's based on the rule of law.

So, the president is very simply implementing our national security strategy and I don't remember in recent history maybe ever in history in administration that is so good at synchronizing the elements of national power that you heard the president mention when he mentioned diplomatic military and economic, and I would add in their information, his tweets in the way that his administration shapes information and targets -- you know, he laid out in one of his tweets and economic olive branch to Russia to try to pull them away from -- and you know, he has a tweet that sends the Russian navy into the Mediterranean. I mean, that's powerful and that's an element of national power.

And, you know, diplomatically, we submitted a U.N. resolution and Russia vetoed it, as they'd done other times with regard to protecting Syria and that murderous regime. And so, when you think about diplomacy, military, economic, this administration has gotten it right on ISIS. They've gotten it right on North Korea, and they're getting it right here in my opinion.

And I think that what we've got tonight is brave souls out there flying air cover and we're going to have cruise missiles going in and I would bet money that they're targeting the SA-2 air defense systems that are Russian built that are -- that can shoot down U.S. air breather airplanes, and then we're going to do some battle damage assessment when the sun comes up and then there will be another wave coming after this thing.

And, you know, initially we're coming in with cruise missiles, but it would not surprise me if we've got B-2 bombers and several other types of aircraft ready to attack targets very specifically in Syria.

Let me go back to Dr. Gorka if I may. Dr. Gorka, the president very specific that these are precision strikes a coalition of the willing, including France and Great Britain, and to your point what the president said what kind of nation wants to be associated at a direct appeal to both Russia and Tehran tonight, what nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men women and children and the nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep and no nation can succeed in the long run by promoting these rogue states these brutal tyrants these murderous murdering despot and dictators.

And remember, it was -- it was Barack Obama that drew the red line in the sand, Dr. Gorka, and it was John Kerry that said 100 percent of these weapons are gone, they're not.

GORKA: They're not, and it was Russia that was supposed to guarantee the withdrawal of those weapons and guess what? The Obama administration believed them. But the point is a completely valid point, and Brigadier Tata made it completely correctly. This isn't just about horrible pictures and some kind of visceral emotional response. This is illegal by all standards of humanity and by international law.

You can go to war, you can defend your nation's national interests, but you cannot use chemical weapons and there -- they are currently being used against women and children and what does it say to all the Fox viewers out there who may be worried, I'd set one question for you. What does it say about America if we do nothing after such an event where a monster uses these kinds of weapons against children?

HANNITY: Yes.

GORKA: America must respond. And it is going to be very precise, surgical, targeting those capabilities and also some symbolic targets as well, that send a very clear message to Assad. We have saved Western civilization already, many times in the 20th century, whether it's fascists and Nazis or whether it's winning the Cold War or whether it's taking down ISIS and their caliphate. Once again, America the most powerful nation on God's earth is duty bound to respond to these horrors.

HANNITY: You know, stay right there, Dr. Gorka, we appreciate it. You know, the world had seen the devastation of chemical weapons in the last century alone. You know, World War I was horrific. World War II, the president knows this. You see these images, you know how easy it is to make these weapons.

And the president also, John Roberts at the White House tonight, he also very clearly, John, put out the olive branch tonight, saying that, listen, hopefully, one day, we'll get along with Russia, maybe even Iran, maybe not. I'd say this, we have a lot to offer, meaning the United States.

ROBERTS: Well, I would think, when it comes to Iran in particular, Sean, maybe not is probably the more likely course. But, you know, in terms of Russia, the United States has had fine relations with Russia. You know, remember, Reagan and Gorbachev, they got along quite well, and then when the Berlin wall and the Soviet empire came down. There were quite close relations between President Clinton and Boris Yeltsin.



So for there to be good relations between the United States and Russia certainly it is not beyond the realm of possibility. But at the moment, I think the president was correctly articulating in the tweet earlier this week when he said that relations between the United States are at lows that it may even surpass those of the Cold War.

There is no question that the United States, the United States and Russia are not seeing eye-to-eye here. But as he did with North Korea when he was speaking to the parliament in South Korea, the national assembly there, the president said look, you know, the United States has got a lot to offer. If you want to partner with us we'll be happy to do it but we've got to work together to reign in people like Assad.

The president holding that olive branch to Iran and Russia to say, what sort of nation wants to be associated with a mass murderer. And the president in his address to the nation saying that happened last week, last weekend in Douma, were not the actions of a man but the crimes of a monster.

And clearly, Sean, when you look at the reports, huge explosions being heard over the eastern part of Damascus. This is a much different attack in terms of its targeting than it was a year and a few days ago when we fired 58 tomahawk cruise missiles. Fired 59 actually but 58 of them hit that air field was at 58 missiles and all aimed at the same place.

This time around we seem to have missiles. We don't know how yet have been fired. We'll hear that from the Pentagon soon. But all aimed at much more sensitive targets designed to really send a message at Bashar al-Assad that we've got your number and you better stop what you are doing or it could be all over for you.

The president is mulling over this decision for the last five days. He went out a little bit of a limb early on last weekend, saying the banned chemical weapons had been used. But it seems though in the last few days that the president was correct about his assessment. Emmanuel Macron saying yesterday that France has proof that chemical weapons were used.

James Mattis a little more equivocal in his statements on that front but the president confident enough tonight, Sean, that he has launched this what appears to be a massive attack against Syria and some very, very sensitive targets right there in Damascus.

You know, just watching Twitter here tonight. The French press is talking about explosions, the A.P. now talking about explosions. I look at one Arabic Twitter channel that was saying that Syria is claiming to have shot down some tomahawk missiles.

And of course, all of this are merely going, not of it fully confirmed just yet. Things are happening very, very quickly but there's no question that something that I would say is on the scope of massive is happening right now in Syria. Sean?

HANNITY: All right. John Roberts, thank you. We'll get back to you in a minute. At the Pentagon tonight, Jennifer Griffin. You know, when the president said tonight that they have rebuilt these relationships with the countries in the Middle East, Jennifer.

This is really an important fact that we missed out of fear of Iranian hegemony in the region, and obviously the relationship or the Iranians with Russians. You see what might have been unthought-of of just a number of years ago. And that's a coalition that has emerge between Israel, the Jordanians, the Egyptians, the Saudi, the Emirates unprecedented cooperation and a new alliance emerging.

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Well, it's interesting that alliance really came together and coalesced around the fight against ISIS. But look at where the U.S. has air bases. The U.S. has a large air base that's in Qatar as well as UAE. There are, and then of course there is the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.

We've just learned, Sean, from U.S. defense officials that B-1 bombers were used in this strike. That's the first we've heard that aircraft that the Air Force was involve. Those B-1 bombers typically fly out of Qatar and those B-1 bombers would be coming in, they are stealth and they would be coming in to those Damascus suburbs, if you will.

We are hearing that are explosions in Holmes, the larger Syrian city to the north. And it's not clear right now exactly what the targets are but those targets in the capital are designed to send a very clear message to Bashar Assad.

As John reported and we've been reporting, this was a different menu of options that the military presented to the president this time. It was a broader menu of options. Because last time they were trying to deter Bashar Assad with those 59 tomahawk and 58 strikes on that one air base. But it did not, he obviously did not get the message.

So it's really a bit of irony that we've been reporting, it was exactly one year to the day that he carried out a chemical strike on his own people. It was almost as though he was daring the U.S. to do something. He believed, so I believe that with the Russians at air bases across his country and Iranian forces on the ground, he thought the U.S. would not strike.

But you heard Mike Pompeo at his confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of state, actually taught the Russians and say, look, U.S. killed hundreds of Russians not long ago on the ground in Syria when they challenged a U.S. base out in the eastern part of the country.

So, it's clear that the U.S., French and British were not going to stand by and allow these chemical weapons to be used. We will get a bomb damage assessment at some point, it will probably taken till first light before the Pentagon can actually see with satellites and other imagery what they actually hit.

But it was notable, Sean, that the president said that this would be a sustained effort of military, economic, as well as diplomatic effort. A sustained effort to stop Bashar Assad from using chemical weapons ever again. Does that mean this goes on in the coming days? It's notable that the French president reached out to the Russian president today, offering that olive branch saying that they want to find a diplomatic situation to the Civil War in Syria.

Now in these recent days, we also have noted that as more time went on, the Syrian air force was moved to protection at the Russian air base at Latakia, so the Syrians have been trying to protect some of their key assets in the last few days after it was telegraphed that some sort of strike was coming. Sean?

HANNITY: All right. Jennifer Griffin, thank you. We're going to stay on those images, we've seen the first images of the British air force now literally taking off from their bases Cyprus, a coalition of the Great Britain, U.K., France, and of course, the United States tonight.

And as you look at some of the comments the president said, one of the things that you have to acknowledge. Nobody, not very many people are talking about a coalition here of the willing although of course, France and Great Britain had publicly defended -- publicly condemned what happened here.

But what you can see is the president's foreign policy, obviously it's been temperate, clear, and very resolute and purposeful and measured. I don't care if we're talking about North Korea, now we have Kim Jong-un talking about the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. In the case of the concessions that China made in the last week as it relates to trade and tariffs and intellectual property rights, and then of course, a direct message to Russia, Iran, and now Syria.

Obviously, the world is watching all of this as it unfolds here. And as the president said, "We can't purge the world of evil or evil acts everywhere because there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce the lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It's a troubled place. We'll try to make it better. But it is a troubled place."

And again, the president mentioned that this will be precision air strikes that are taking place with those coalition tonight as we are on the air.

Joining us now live from Washington is Chief Washington, D.C. bureau White House correspondent Ed Henry is with us. Ed, I hear you have some new news?

ED HENRY, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Yes, Sean, you're talking about the coalition, the U.S., the Brits, the French, we have just in the last moment or two got a statement in fact from President Macron in France talking about that coalition.

I won't read the long statement but part of it says, "The facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime are beyond doubt. The red line set by France in May 2017 - harkening back to that last big chemical weapons attack - has been crossed."

And so, that's from President Macron tonight talking about this alliance between these key allies and in terms of that alliance you have all kinds of congressional reaction pouring in, in the last few moments. Most of it very supportive of the president's military action tonight.

Senator Orrin Hatch there, a very senior Republican obviously saying in part, quote, "The response, deliberated and meticulously with international partners and carried out with their backing and participation reflects the president's commitment to restoring America's leadership in bringing Assad and his backers to justice."

I should note there are some voices on the Hill tonight, Republicans and Democrats, saying they do not believe that President Trump should have moved forward without specific authorization from Congress. That coming from Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky, as well as, Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California. She is long been out there as being against any U.S. military action.

Though, we should note, and what the Trump White House is going to say in the days ahead is, while there is not a specific authorization for this military action tonight, they will harken back to the authorization of the use of force post-9/11. That was passed on a bipartisan basis by Congress over the global war on terror.

That is something that was not just used by the Bush administration, but it was used by the Obama administration and now tonight being used by the Trump administration as well.

So you'll hear some of those voices of dissent. We should note that as well. But many top Republican, we haven't heard from Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi yet. We expect we will soon. But most senior Republicans on the Hill tonight saying they are very supportive of the president and very supportive that he put this coalition together, Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Ed Henry, I also had a private conversation with Senator Lindsay Graham, he'd been very, very encouraging to the president to go ahead and follow-up on this action.

Here now with more reaction is Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. Colonel North, the president making very clear tonight what this is about. This is about a precision strike to send a message and of deterrent to stop the use of chemical weapons as the brutality and the evil, and to use the president's own words here, when he talked frankly, passionately tonight about all of this that it is barbarism and brutality on display that we have been witnessed with men, women, and children.

OLIVER NORTH, HOST, "WAR STORIES": Sean, last night on your show I laid out the target list. It looks like, I guess strike. I haven't talked to anybody in the administration, but I said if there is going to be an attack that's going to deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrians it had to be something more than a one off like last April.

And it clearly looks like that's the case this is going to be in this that it's going to hit economic target, it's going to take out the command and control loads in Damascus. It's going to first takeout as they did the surface to air missiles defenses which the Russians put in.

And just further to the comment that Ed just made. Look, when Ronald Reagan, 32 years ago, did the same thing to Muammar Gaddafi, the strikes out of Great Britain and off the navy carriers. He didn't go to Congress for permission. He just did it. And then what the Congress said, here's why I did it.

And I hope that's what the president does tomorrow if that settles a little bit and if necessary continues to strike at those targets that are going to make sure that this Assad regime cannot do this again. That means going after the sea ports, that means going after (Inaudible) and all of those runways and the command and control.

I tell you, if Russians persist in this effort to deny us the use of our intelligence surveillance assets, meaning the so-called drones and satellites. We've got the capacity in our military that shut the communications down with the Assad regime and the Russian and the Iranian (Inaudible) that they'll have to communicate with carrier thing. If that's what they want and they keep going to interfere with our intelligence surveillance and recognizance.

HANNITY: Yes. Colonel, stand by. We'll get back to you in a minute.

Prime Minister of Great Britain Theresa May has just released a statement that, "This evening, I authorized British Armed Forces to conduct coordinated targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and to deter their use. We're acting together with our American and French allies." And then she went on about the chemical weapons attack that killed up to 75 people including young children in circumstances of pure horror. The fact that this attack should surprise no one.

Mike Tobin has some new information. He's in our Israeli bureau tonight. Mike?

MIKE TOBIN, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: And Sean, what we are hearing from Arab TV, a number of different sources coming out of Arab TV said this first wave of anyway lasted about 15 minutes and they are reporting that at least two structures were hit downtown Damascus. One of them has been identified as a scientific research center.

And as you get into the potential of propaganda you have to be really skeptical when you hear something called the scientific research center. Watch that and see how it develops as they are talking about attacking or targeting of facilities that could produce or support chemical weapons will something could very well be labeled the scientific research center.

So, I'm very skeptical with that bit of information but it's a bit of the identification of some of the targets that have been hit. And it also goes along with what we are hearing now from Elysee Palace as they say the coalition is now directed at the clandestine chemical arsenal. And more specifically they say the strikes will be limited to the capabilities of the Syrian regime for the production of chemical weapons.

So this is some of the first reporting that we are getting out of Damascus right now. A couple of targets that have been identified. A little skeptical on the identification. It could very well be a dual purpose type of facility or even a fabricated name. Sean?

HANNITY: All right. Mike Tobin in Israel tonight. As you can see on the screen those are -- those are British jets taking off from Cyprus just earlier before the strikes. We're getting reports from the A.P. of loud explosions and the skies at Syria around Damascus now being lit up tonight.

Here with more reaction to this breaking news, we have Fox News contributor Sara Carter. We do have other news to bring you tonight. Doctor Sebastian Gorka, and former brigadier general Tony Tata is with us.

General, if you look at it and you look at the statements from Great Britain and France tonight, and the president tonight, it seems like everybody is on the same page. This is a deterrence, these are precision strikes, this is to send a message, but also the president did send a larger message tonight, which was to Vladimir Putin and Russia.

On the one hand, an olive branch, on the other hand basically, who would ever want to be friends with people that treat women and children this way. Same message to Iran.

TONY TATA, RETIRED BRIGADIER GENERAL: Yes. Sean, I really think that the president's comment was right on the money, very concise where he talked very strategically trying to separate Russia, trying to separate Iran from this issue so that we could focus operationally and tactically on destroying the surface-to-air missiles, the command and control nodes, and then get out with our jets and bombers the very precise locations where the chemical weapon's depos are.

And when you hear terms such as degrade and defeat. Those are doctorial terms that our--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: General, if I may -- if I may interrupt one second.

TATA: Sure.

HANNITY: We are hearing again that in addition to the U.S. warships, we do know the B-1 bombers now took part of the strikes. There's a lot of chatter that in fact, the airport is completely destroyed in Damascus. I got a report from some friend of mine in the region that that may have happened too early to absolutely say 100 percent.

But obviously, this is it a well-coordinated tactical strike. The interesting thing is, there was not a lot of chatter, general, about the fact that we would have an alliance in the strike tonight.

TATA: Yes. And that's what took a few extra days, Sean, was pulling the alliance together. You've air space coordination issues that you give sectors to each country, you got to de-conflict air space and altitude and targets and so that you make sure you're doing this exactly right.

You got to destroy the air defense weaponry that Russia has put in there all throughout Syria, Damascus especially, and then you've got to get at their command and control so they can't communicate and coordinate response. And it looks like that, we're doing that.

And then finally, you know, you unleash the B-1 and B-2 bombers. You unleash the F35s and you get in there and attack and you unleash the French and British brave fighter pilots and anybody else who is involved in this thing and allow them to attack and do what they do best. And that's what is happening right now.

HANNITY: Yes.

TATA: That it's a very carefully coordinated plan that has been worked out over the last several days. And people who were impatient have to understand that it took a few days to pull this together. And still been very rapidly pull together and it looks like--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Remember the lead up to the Iraq war.

TATA: Right.

HANNITY: And going back to the U.N. It just, you can't give that much lead time when we're dealing with something like this.

Let me go back to Dr. Gorka, we have other news that we're going to get to in a minute. Dr. Gorka, I mentioned this earlier to Jennifer Griffin. When you look, there's a new configuration in the world that I think was pretty much unimaginable just a short time. And that is this unprecedented alliance.

This is a moment in history where we may look back and see that Iran has literally brought together the Israelis, Jordanians, Egyptians, the Saudis, the Emirates. And I'm sure by the time all is said and done in what as an amazing new coalition which has all the prospects for peace aligned against Iranian hegemony with the help of the Soviet Union and Vladimir Putin.

SEBASTIAN GORKA, NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST, FOX NEWS: Right. But it's not just Iran that help create this coalition. It's a fact that we have a new commander in chief as of January 20th of last year. A global reset was pressed and it's not a cheap plastic button delivered to the Kremlin.

The president sent a very simple message. America is back, the world is dangerous without American leadership. And don't forget, Sea, he went into the heart of the Muslim world. He went to Riyadh and he gave a speech in front of more than 50 Arab and Muslim heads of state to say we are back and we are not going to allow the evil things that have gone on for the last 16 years to persist.

But you're very, very correct. Think about the fact that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia is comparing last week the regime of the mullahs in Iran to that of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Think about the fact that countries like Saudi Arabia are now closer to Israel than they have ever been since Israel was created after World War II.

We have a completely new constellation and there are high hopes for the fact that evil doers like Assad can be dealt with in the way that we have never seen before, Sean.

HANNITY: We're going to keep these images on the screen. There is other breaking news tonight. The inspector general only what is the first of what will be many reports. This initial report on the firing of Andrew McCabe that has happened.

Also a stunning admission by James Comey today that he doesn't know if the dossier, that we know that the Grassley grand memo had actually said was the bulk of information that was used to obtain the FISA warrant in the FISA warrant application, the three subsequent applications, renewal applications that he still doesn't know whether or not was presented to those FISA court judges is true by law or FISA law. It's supposed to be verified.

GORKA: Yes.

HANNITY: It is supposed to be. It is supposed to be vetted in every way. So in the days to come, this is it obviously going to be a big issue.

With the latest on that, Sara Carter is standing by. Sara, what do you have on that?

SARA CARTER, CONTRIBUTOR, FOX NEWS: Well, certainly this scathing report by Inspector General Horowitz on McCabe I think was so telling and not only verifies the reasons why OPR, the Office of Professional Responsibility, Sean, with the FBI fired McCabe and that this wasn't a move by President Trump even if he wanted him fired. It was a move by the FBI.

Because what we saw was the detailed interviews even with Comey about McCabe and the reasons why he lied. I mean, look, he lied directly to the FBI director.

He lied to the inspector general and these investigators, he lied under oath, and then he tried to throw two of his own FBI executives under the bus, and basically tried to blame them for leaking, and even reprimanded them in a phone call apparently, even though he had originally authorized the leak.

HANNITY: Yes.

CARTER: And now with Comey, we're seeing the same kind of issues coming up.

HANNITY: Yes. You know, we look at these image and I know we'll have a lot to say about James Comey and this whole dossier and the presentation of the FISA court. Those images on the right side of your screen literally, you know, showing the horrors of this chemical weapon's attack against innocent men, women, and children.

Hang on, Sara, we'll get back to you in a second. But we have new breaking information. Our own Jennifer Griffin is at the Pentagon. Jennifer?

GRIFFIN: Well, Sean, those images you see taking off from the British air base in Cyrus. Those are British tornado fighter jets, they are taking off as we speak where that's a live feed that we are getting from that base.

But as we just reported, the B-1 bombers, the U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers, those are supersonic bombers that fly from a base in Qatar. They were involved in the air strikes tonight over Syria. They likely would have been escorted by F-22 fighter jets. Because I misspoke earlier the B-1 is not stealth and so they would have had to have been escorted. The F-22 would have been the most likely escort in case they were challenged by any Syrian or Russian aircraft.

But those B-1 bombers are interesting because they can fire standoff missiles from up to 600 miles away. They are known as JASSM missiles. They are anywhere from 200 to 600 miles out. Those standoff missiles can strike a target, so B-1s are extremely lethal and they would be joining those tomahawk missiles being fired from the navy's USS Donald Cook that's in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Those tomahawks of course can fly up to 1500 miles. They fly at a rate -- the tomahawk flies at the rate of 550 miles per hour, they are low, they are radar evading and they -- its light if you were to look up, it would be like a flying telephone going past. But those tomahawks are now joined, we're told, by B-1 bombers from the U.S. Air Force, Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Jennifer Griffin, stand by. Your description by the way, the absolute might and power of our military is inspiring. These people are incredible. Mike Tobin has more information from Jerusalem just breaking now. Mike?

TOBIN: We got a lot of information that the Syrian air defense did engage as the strike was beginning. Specifically now we have from Syrian state TV reports are acclaimed by them that they shot down some 13 tomahawk missiles.

Again, now what we have heard from people on the ground there, at least a lot of it through Arab TV that I'm getting now, is that this first wave anyway was rather brief. But the development that I have right now is a claim through Syrian state TV that 13 tomahawk missiles were shut down and multiple reports that the Syrian air defense did engage at the beginning of this strike.

HANNITY: What about the capability that you know of, Mike. In other words--

TOBIN: You know-- go ahead. What's your question?

HANNITY: No, no, what would be -- do they have the capability to take this out of the air. And if so, is that Syria doing that or remember there was a threat from Moscow that they would try to take the missile out of the air.

TOBIN: You know, I can't really hazard a guess certainly about cooperation with Russia in terms of activating their air defense. I've been in and out of Syria and their stuff does look a dramatically antiquated, certainly compared to the modern resources at the United States military has.

So it can and you can kind of guess that it's a stretch and the precision that would be required to intercept an incoming tomahawk missile. But d all I can go give you right now is the report from state TV. They claim that they intercepted some 13 tomahawks.

HANNITY: Yes, OK. We'll find out more about that. We also have one thing to remind our viewers on this tonight as this -- that was underway even as we speak here. But John Kerry said 100 percent of these weapons are gone as did Russia. The assurances came often.

We'll hear from the White House right now. We check it with our own John Roberts. He has some news as well, John, what's going on there tonight?

ROBERTS: Good evening to you, Sean. We were told just a short time ago by a White House official that the president made the decision about whether to use military force against Syria a while ago. And that probably would have been toward the beginning of this week.

The question was not if we are going to take military action, it's what sort of military action we would take. The president met with his national security team several times over the course of the last few days to listen to the plans, the options varying degrees of response. And the president picked the one that he wanted to he thought would be the most effective and that's what we are seeing going on tonight.

But it wasn't a matter of the president delivering over whether we should or whether we shouldn't. I asked him in the cabinet room on Wednesday if it was inevitable, and he said, well, we're going to meet about it and we'll see.

But it looked like by that time, Sean, the president had already made up his mind that it was just a matter of hearing from the Pentagon about what targets they thought would be the most effective and then the order went down to put everything in to place.

I got to say the White House did a pretty good job of playing its cards very close to its vest. There was a lot of Kabuki theater that was going on all day today and into tonight with a lot of head picks going on. But when the pool got called, even when the pool got called into the diplomatic room we were being told that the president and the first lady were going to Trump international hotel for dinner.

But we kind of got the idea pretty quickly that that wasn't what was going to happen. But you know, we're in the clear light of day tomorrow, we'll find out what the bomb damage assessment was here. We're not expected to hear from the White House until sometime tomorrow morning, so we'll see what they have to say. But in the next few minutes, Sean, we will be hearing from briefers at the Pentagon about what the targets were and the assets that were used.

HANNITY: John, do you have any, obviously it was it deliberative or it was well thought ought. You're right. They didn't show their hand. That was a major campaign promise of the president but in the meantime too, while independently, Great Britain and France had said that they, too, had their own redline in the sand. This coalition was put together without a lot of fanfare.

ROBERTS: Yes, it was. And it was really interesting to see the degree of forcefulness with which both French President Macron and the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May came out here. Theresa May in her statement tonight saying that there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.

As you can see them getting ready for the briefing there at the Pentagon.

She went on to say, now this was deep into her statement. "This is not about intervening in the Civil War, it is not about regime change." So clearly they weren't trying to cut out the head of the Assad regime. She said, "It's about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and does everything it can -- everything possible to prevent civilian casualties."

So, limited and targeted strike. I think those are two key words that we should take a look at here, Sean, as we watch what's unfolding there with the jets taking off from Cyprus and when we begin to get those initial bomb damage assessments. Because it is just about daybreak there in Syria. The sun should be starting to breakthrough about an hour's time.

HANNITY: You know, all right, John Roberts at the White House tonight.

The president, if you're just joining us, has ordered air strikes against Syria tonight in the wake of the chemical weapon's attack against innocent men, women and children. It was a coalition of the willing, including the French and Brits.

The president saying that these are precision targeted attacks. President going through the heart wrenching videos that the world saw of men, women, children and infants victims of these vicious and horrible and terrible weapons.

I want to give a shout out. We wish our military forces much success there. They are in our prayer and in our thoughts tonight. We're waiting a Pentagon press briefing on the coalition attacks in Syria.

Stay with the Fox News Channel for continuing live breaking news coverage as we pick it up. The Pentagon now will have that press conference in mere moments. Thanks for being with us.

END

Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.It was a joy ride gone wrong.

Two Jet Airways commanders in India have been officially grounded by the carrier for allowing an unauthorized "lady friend" to sit in the cockpit for the duration of the trip from Goa to Mumbai.

The pilots are now in even bigger trouble, as they ignored a temporary month-long license suspension from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and illicitly agreed to fly again for Jet Airways, the Times of India reported on April 14. Both went through simulator training, and one pilot even operated a flight during their initial grounding period.

ARIZONA RESIDENTS WILL SOON NEED 'TRAVEL ID' TO BOARD PLANES

For their part, Jet Airways has blamed an organizational oversight as the root of the escalating trouble in what the Times has dubbed the lady-in-cockpit episode.

An administrative oversight led to a Jet Airways pilot, currently off flying duties, being assigned a training flight after completing a ground training session, an airline spokesman told the outlet. The company has proactively reported the event to the DGCA and has already fixed the gap in the assignment process, to prevent its reoccurrence, following an internal investigation.

GUEST GOES OVERBOARD ON P&O CRUISE: IT WAS 'WORST THING IVE SEEN ON A CRUISE,' SAYS PASSENGER

DGCA official Lalit Gupta told Jet Airways that the pilots actions aboard flight 9W 762 on January 8 compromised with the safety of aircraft operations and its occupants, a disgrace to the privilege of their pilots licenses.

As of press time, the status of the pilot's employment with Jet Airways is not immediately clear, as the carrier did not immediately return Fox News request for comment.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWSAfter saying I do, many millennial newlyweds are forsaking the traditional honeymoon for a new trend: the "many-moon." Between their sense of adventure and career-focused lifestyles, a few quick getaways through the first year of marriage are both more exciting and practical than a traditional two-week tropical vacation, one expert says.

Today's couples don't want to sit on the same beach for 10 days straight. Often, they want to mix it up and yes, sip some cocktails in Tulum but at the same time, they want to take in the artists season in Prague, wedding planner Amy Shey Jacobs told Yahoo Lifestyle on April 12 of the many-moon phenomenon. Its easier to do that by taking shorter trips to more places.

JET AIRWAYS GROUNDS TWO PILOTS WHO LET 'LADY FRIEND' FLY IN COCKPIT

According to the latest Romance Travel Study from The Knot, roughly 82% of newlyweds are opting for two- to five-day romantic getaways after the big day, USA Today reports. A few exotic trips are not only appealing, but also a smart career move, for many hardworking lovebirds.

Couples can't get away from work when they want to anymore. The pressure doesn't comport with the traditional two-weeks-off-the-grid honeymoon, Jacobs adds.

After getting married in September 2017, Juliette Scwab told Yahoo that she and her husband Brett Caspi didnt want to celebrate with a huge honeymoon given their obligations at the office.

ARIZONA RESIDENTS WILL SOON NEED 'TRAVEL ID' TO BOARD PLANES

September was an extremely busy time for both us with work. So, rather than taking a big trip after our wedding, we decided to take a week off and go to Napa and Sonoma in California doing what we love doing: eating, drinking, and just being together, she said. I figured its best to fit it all in and travel as much as possible before we have a family.

The many-moon approach worked out for the couple. Schwab and Caspi have since visited Columbia, and intend to get to London, Paris and Barcelona this year.

As per Yahoos advice, newlyweds are wise to schedule many-moons around weekends and federal holidays to maximize their adventures.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWSA woman who died after being set on fire by her boyfriend will testify at his murder trial from beyond the grave.

Judy Malinowski, 33, died in August 2017, two years after being torched by her boyfriend Michael Slager outside a gas station near Columbus, Ohio, in June 2015 but recorded a video in hospital before she lost her fight for life.

Slager goes on trial for her murder in July, and in a rare move, a judge has allowed the interview Malinowski gave from her hospital bed to be heard by the jury. The judge ruled Friday.

The mother of two suffered burns to 80 percent of her body and clung to life in a hospital for two years.

Slager was charged with assault and was due to go to trial in 2016.

OHIO WOMAN SET ON FIRE BY EX-BOYFRIEND HAS DIED, FAMILY SAYS

Malinowski recorded her video testimony for his court case from her hospital bed.

Slagers attorneys tried to stop the tape from being used by citing a legal technicality.

They claimed it was improperly obtained by prosecutors.

But the judge allowed it on the grounds that it is an unprecedented case where the victim is able to give evidence after their own death.

Malinowski also spoke to the media from her hospital bed before she died.

Although she could barely speak, she managed to say: "I never knew that a human being could be so evil. He just stood there and did nothing."

"God please, please help me," she said.

Slager has always maintained that he set her on fire by accident when he lit a cigarette.

BURN VICTIM WHO COULDN'T TESTIFY AGAINST EX-BOYFRIEND SHOWS HER INJURIES

After her death, Ohio passed Judy's Law, which added six years onto the sentence of anyone convicted of an assault which permanently maimed their victim.

Malinowski lost both of her ears and two fingers in the attack and was left with open wounds on her back and buttocks.

She underwent 56 surgeries before she died.

Malinowski also suffered horrendous damage to her throat and never walked again after the incident.

Click here for more from The Sun.The United States, Britain and France launched precision military strikes in Syria to punish the Assad regime for an apparent chemical weapons attack against civilians.

President Donald Trump called the assault a combined operation with two European allies; as Defense Secretary James Mattis said, they targeted three locations in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.

Fox News confirmed that warships and U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers, which flew out of Qatar, were used in Fridays campaign.

Mattis said no follow-up attacks are planned and that the Pentagon was careful to ensure the safety of Russian troops and Syrian civilians in the area.

Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

The strikes did not cause any casualties and the facilities targeted only had minor damages.

The U.S. officials said Fridays airstrikes were twice the size of the U.S. assault last year, which targeted a single airbase.

"Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said. "This time our allies and we have struck harder."

Mattis said the U.S. intelligence has determined that the Syrian government used chlorine gas in last Saturday's poison attack.

The attacks stirred up angry responses from Syrias allies and ignited a debate over whether the attacks were justified.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the strikes an act of aggression that had the destructive influence on the entire system of international relations and will exacerbate humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

Russia condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack against Syria, where Russian military personnel are assisting the legitimate government in its counterterrorism efforts, he said in a statement.

Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, responded to the attack. Syrians poured into the streets for defiant demonstrations of their national pride.

Trump said the U.S. is prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

Assad tweeted on his official account following the strike that, "Good souls will not be humiliated." He vowed his country would respond to the strikes.

The Syria attack drew support from the European Union, Germany, Israel and other allies

French President Emmanuel Macron said the operation was targeting the "clandestine chemical arsenal."

"We cannot tolerate the trivialization of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security. This is the direction of the diplomatic initiatives put forward by France at the United Nations Security Council," he said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she "authorized British armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use."

"The Syrian regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way," May wrote in a statement.

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties. And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity," she continued.

Trump's announcement immediately preceded reports of loud explosions lighting up the sky in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace "de-confliction" communications.

Dunford said missiles first struck a scientific research center in the Damascus area that he said was a center of Syrian research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs. He said this was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin and precursor chemical production equipment.

The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs, Dunford said.

Trump said the U.S. is prepared to "sustain" pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

At least 40 people died in the chemical attack in Douma last Saturday, about 10 miles east of Damascus, and more than 500 people, mostly women and children, were injured and brought to medical centers.

The attack occurred amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse of a truce. Syrian activists, rescuers and medics said families suffocated in their homes.

Assad's actions, Trump said, "are not the actions of a man," but "are the crimes of a monster instead."

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said.

A similar chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 that killed nearly 100 people prompted the U.S. to launch dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield to dissuade Assad from using chemical weapons in the future, officials said. But during the weekend, images of dead and sick women and children again circulated following another alleged chemical attack.

Trump also hit Russia and Iran for their sustained support of the Assad regime.

"The nations of the world can be judged by the friends that they keep," he continued. "Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or continue with civilized nations."

Fox News Matt Richardson, Edmund DeMarche, Lucas Tomlinson, Ben Evansky, Alex Pappas and the Associated Press contributed to this report.Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle reacted Friday night after President Donald Trump announced that U.S. military strikes would be carried out in Syria against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The news came after a suspected chemical attack by pro-regime forces last weekend in the rebel-held town of Douma. At least 40 people died in the attack and more than 500 people, mostly women and children, were hospitalized.

On Friday, Trump said Assads actions were not those of a man but rather the crimes of a monster instead.

Immediately following Trumps address to the nation, loud explosions and thick smoke were reported in Damascus.

Here's what members of Congress and other officials had to say about the announcement:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, Tonight, the administration notified me of the president's decision to use military action to deter Bashar al-Assad and respond to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against its own people. I support both the action and objective.

"The planning for this robust operation by the United States and our allies was clearly well-considered," McConnell continued. "It is evident that the President was provided with a number of options, and that our forces executed a challenging mission."

"The planning for this robust operation by the United States and our allies was clearly well-considered. It is evident that the President was provided with a number of options, and that our forces executed a challenging mission."  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., released a statement saying, "Tonight, the United States has taken decisive action in coordination with our allies. We are united in our resolve that Assad's barbaric use of chemical weapons cannot go unanswered. His regime's unconscionable brutality against innocent civilians cannot be tolerated."

"There should be no doubt that Russia and Iran have blood on their hands, and their partnership with Assad reveals the true nature of their regimes," he continued. "The United States and our allies must continue to seek ways to hold Assad's enablers accountable. Let us all pay tribute to the men and women of our armed forces."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stated, "A pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate, but the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tweeted a statement and added that the president "must come to Congress to obtain a new AUMF [Authorization for Use of Military Force], present a clear set of objectives, & ultimately hold Putin accountable for the bloodshed he has enabled."

U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, tweeted a statement saying, "The President's decision to retaliate with air strikes as part of a broader military response reflect his seriousness in addressing the scale and depravity of Assad's actions."

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., shared his support for the attack, saying "Assad musut be held accountable for the use of chemical weapons.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., called Trump's move to launch airstrikes without congressional approval "illegal."

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said, "It is Congress, not the president, which has the constitutional responsibility for making war. The international community must uphold the prohibition against the use of chemical weapons, but it is unclear how Trump's illegal and unauthorized strikes on Syria achieve that goal."

U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., issued a statement saying, Chemical attacks against innocent children and civilians are horrific and totally unacceptable. Assad must know his inhumane actions will not be tolerated. Ive met some of the Syrian families who fled Assads terror and are living in a refugee camp at the Turkish border. For too long, the world has been asking: when will Assad stop? It is time for action. President Trump is engaged and led our allies in measured response to hold Assad accountable."

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., tweeted his strong support of Trump's decision to ally with the U.K. and France in response "to the Syrian regime's criminal use of chemical weapons against innocent men, women and children."

He added that the president was "right to assert that the Assad regime's evil acts cannot go unanswered."

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., tweeted, I havent read Frances or Britains Constitution, but Ive read ours and no where in it is Presidential authority to strike Syria.

U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., in a tweet called the strikes unconstitutional, illegal, and reckless.

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, issued a statement, saying he supported "the President's decision to undertake this strike together with out allies."

"Assad's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians is unacceptable," he said. "Equally concerning, the attack is part of a trend of Russian supported chemical weapons attacks across the world."

"Tough questions about the future of our policy in Syria remain, but those questions should not detract from the justness of tonight's actions," he continued.Obada Alstof, a 21-year-old opposition activist from the northern countryside of Homs, was woken up with a loud jolt and tremor in the early hours of Saturday morning.

It came as a welcome surprise.

The explosions were so loud, Alstof told Fox News in the immediate aftermath. We had no idea what was happening but we immediately expected that the international coalition was targeting the regime locations.

The United States and its allies wasted little time before retaliating against the Bashar al-Assad regime over its use last week of chemical weapons, sending bombs raining down at a former missile base - some 15 miles west of Homs. That's where the regime is believed to keep chemical-weapon precursors stockpiled -- in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

According to Pentagon officials, a number of facilities were struck: a chemical weapons storage facility; a chemical weapons equipment storage and crucial command post near Homs; and a scientific research facility in Damascus, believed to be key in the production of chemical and biological weapons.

Alsatof lives just miles from the Scientific Research Center in the western countryside of Homs, in a rebel-held area besieged by Syrian forces.

What will happen next?

Immediately after the U.S.-led strikes, those in the neighborhood started calling one another and speculating on what would happen next.

We hope for the future that strikes will expand to include all the Syrian regime and its supported militias military locations," Alstof continued, "because the regime and its allies are committing massacres against the civilians every day.

We hope for the future that strikes will expand to include all the Syrian regime and its supported militias military locations, because the regime and its allies are committing massacres against the civilians every day.  Obada Alstof, 21, of Homs, an anti-Assad activist

Others were wrought with mixed emotions.

Early morning today, I woke up because of the sound of Syrian anti-aircraft. I did not see the explosions but I heard the sounds, Zilal Mansour, a 33-year-old in Damascus, recalled. These were weaker compared to the sounds of shelling in Al-Ghouta, although I knew that military area near my residential Barza was being targeted.

Mansour said she didnt feel any shaking, but was left with a kind of emptiness that comes in the heat of long and arduous war.

I did not feel anything, I was not sad or happy. Assad should be punished, she said. But would this strike be like the previous one? Or is it for pressing him for political concessions?

Meanwhile, Said al-Hamawi, 20, a business student at a private Damascus university, said he saw a rocket shoot across the sky around 5:30 a.m., heading from the west to the northeast before being hit by Syrian anti-aircraft defense mechanisms.

It exploded in the sky. It was very clear. There were far explosions in the sky, but that was the clearest, Hamawi recalled. I hope that this attack will achieve almost Assad's weapons destruction, whch will rid the Syrians civilians of weapons that will be used against them.

"We don't want to see our people killed'

Further north in Syria from Kobane to Manbij, currently under control of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), news of the strikes was met, overall, quite favorably among locals, who still deeply fear retaliation from the authoritarian regime.

If we know the U.S. will stay here long-term to protect us, it is no problem, we can speak freely, one local explained in Manbij. But until then, we dont know what will happen. We dont want to see our people killed in retaliation. The situation is too sensitive.

Nonetheless, others were quick to indicate that the strikes were less effective than they could have been. Reports from within Syrian regime territory claimed that advance warnings from Russia gave them leeway to evacuate the bases, and furthermore, insist several of the missiles were shot down.

Assad during the previous days transferred many aircraft and weapons from their places to another one. Most of the targeted areas were empty and only the building has been damaged, Ayman Bakla, 53, a retired worker in Damascus, lamented. Assad came out on the television a little while ago, going to his office with a message to the world that I am fine and your beating did not affect.

Mansour too noted that a few days prior to the attack, when escalations were brewing, many people aligned with Assad thought that if the American strike had happened, it would be like the previous one and that Russia would protect them -- so they opted to not take it seriously.

The strike has also provided a propaganda opportunity for Syrian government loyalists.

'It is time to be judged'

On Saturday morning, regime supporters were encouraging each other to gather near Umaween Square, near the Syrian television building, to declare their victory over the American aggression.

Several people in opposition areas within Damascus indicated that the response paled in comparison to the level of shelling inflicted on the Ghouta area by regime and Russian forces.

Yet the symbolism of striking back is a potent one.

The Assad regime has continued using chemical weapons on Syrian people, causing unlimited murders at the expense of Syrians. It is time to be judged for the crimes, Firas al-Marhoum, an Eastern Ghouta-based youth and human rights activist, said. I hope the global coalition will do more strikes on the Assad regime to punish it for his murders. I hope these strikes will not stop until Assads departure.

I hope the global coalition will do more strikes on the Assad regime to punish it for his murders. I hope these strikes will not stop until Assads departure.  Firas al-Marhoum, activist in Eastern Ghouta

While it remains to be seen what happens next, Syrians are hopeful of a newfound resolution.

The U.S. will push to accelerate the Geneva process to reach a political solution in Syria, Ayman Abdel Nour, founder of Syrian Christians for Peace, and a key player in Washington and opposition dialogue, said regarding the conflict. Russia asked to reduce the strike in order to keep its face, in exchange to push for a real political solution, which requires Assad to be out.Pro-government supporters flooded the streets of Syrias capital at daybreak Saturday in a show of nationalistic pride after airstrikes by the U.S., Britain and France against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Convoys of honking cars accompanied Syrian flags and victory signs in Damascus Omayyad Square immediately after the attack. Some residents waved the flags of regime allies Russia and Iran, while others clapped and danced in a show of defiance.

"We're going around in our car to prove to the whole world that Syria is fine and that everything is fine," one driver told Syrian state television, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Syrian TV broadcast live from the square where a crowd of civilians and men in uniforms amassed.

"We are your men, Bashar," they shouted.

The national song, "Oh Syria, You Are My Love," boomed from a cars loudspeakers as it drove through central Damascus amid the attack.

A BBC news producer tweeted a video of the morning scenes celebratory atmosphere.

Just hours earlier loud explosions rang out over Damascus as Syrian air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of strikes targeting the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

The U.S.-led coalition strikes came after a suspected chemical attack by the regime last weekend in rebel-held Douma, a town about 10 miles east of Damascus, killed at least 40 people and injured more than 500, mostly women and children. The attack occurred amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse of a truce.

Syrian TV said three civilians were wounded in one of the U.S.-led strikes on a military base in Homs, although the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Russian officials warned of consequences after President Donald Trump announced his approval of U.S.-led military strikes in Syria against the Russian-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Early Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement saying the Western coalitions act of aggression would only exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

Putin called the strike a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations" and said Moscow would call for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Immediately following Trumps televised address Friday night, announcing the U.S.-led strikes, loud explosions and thick smoke were reported in the Syrian capital city, Damascus.

Syrian air defense units shot down 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the U.S., Britain and France, the Russian military claimed Saturday.

Russias Defense Ministry had earlier asserted that none of the missiles launched by the U.S. and its allies entered areas protected by Russias missile defense.

Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said Saturday that the Syrian military used a Soviet-made missile defense system to shoot down all the missiles targeting four key Syrian air bases. He added that there were no casualties from the strike and its targets suffered only minor damage.

Rudskoi said Russian air defense assets in Syria monitored the strike, but didn't engage. He also noted that while Russia had refrained from supplying Syria with its state-of-the-art S-300 air defense missile systems, that could be reconsidered now.

Prior to Putin's statement, other Russian officials issued grim reactions to the Western military effort.

The worst apprehensions have come true, Anatoly Antonov, Russias ambassador to the U.S., tweeted Friday. Our warnings have been left unheard.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Antonov said. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible, he said. The U.S.the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weaponshas no moral right to blame other countries.

Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible. The U.S.  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries.  Anatoly Antonov, Russias ambassador to the U.S.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, denounced the U.S. in a Facebook post Friday for the strikes on Syria -- a country that, she wrote, for many years has been trying to survive terrorist aggression."

"The White House stated that its assuredness of the chemical attack from Damascus was based on 'mass media, reports of symptoms, video, photos as well as credible information,' she wrote. After this statement the American and other Western mass media should understand their responsibility in what is happening."

Russia and the U.S. had disagreed over a proper response in Syria after a suspected chemical attack by the regime last weekend in rebel-held Douma, a town about 10 miles east of Damascus, killed at least 40 people and injured more than 500, mostly women and children. The attack occurred amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse of a truce.

Earlier Friday, Russias foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters in Moscow that the claims of the suspected gas attack were a fabrication.

"Intelligence agencies of a state that is now striving to spearhead a Russo-phobic campaign were involved in that fabrication," Lavrov said, without elaborating or naming the state.

A Russian lawmaker claimed the strikes were aimed at disrupting the work of international investigators looking into whether Syria used chemical weapons in the town of Douma.

"The airstrikes were carried out by the U.S.-led coalition consciously to spoil the investigation," Russian parliament member Dmitry Sablin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, likened Trump to Adolf Hitler, and considered the strikes to be a move against Russia.

Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time  because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union," state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Sherin as saying.

The strike came hours after Trumps U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that "the United States estimates that Assad has used chemical weapons in the Syrian war at least 50 times."

Did a chemical weapons attack happen? Yes, Haley told reporters before the meeting. The U.S. has analyzed, yes, it has happened. The U.K. has analyzed, yes, it has happened. France analyzed, yes, it has happened. Three separate analysis all coming back with same thing. There is proof that this happened.

Haley said during the meeting that should the U.S. and its allies decide to act in Syria, it would in the defense of "a bedrock international norm that benefits all nations" from the use of chemical weapons.

Russias military on Friday again refuted the claim that chemical weapons had been used in Douma, citing a lack of evidence.

"According to the results of a survey of witnesses, studying samples and investigating locations undertaken by Russian specialists and medical personnel in the city of Douma, where chemical weapons purportedly were used, the use of poisonous substances was not shown, said Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko, head of the Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria.

Yevtushenko also said the Russian military would supply security for investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as they worked to determine whether chemical weapons had been used.

Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier Thursday that Douma was under the control of Syrian forces and that some 1,500 fighters of the Army of Islam group had left the city.

Yevtushenko said that the action was to "prevent provocations, guarantee security, for the support of law and order and organize aid for the local population."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Following U.S.-led coalition strikes in Syria to degrade chemical weapons capabilities, the Pentagon says it's seen a 2,000 percent increase in Russian disinformation.



Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has reportedly started a new campaign to spread propaganda and other false narratives on social media after the U.S., France and the United Kingdom staged airstrikes in Syria this weekend in response to Assads alleged use of chemical weapons.

Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said at a briefing on Saturday that there has been a 2,000 percent increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours.

Saturdays briefing was an attempt to counter any false information.

An investigation into the 2016 presidential elections by the federal government has found that a number of Kremlin-backed hacking groups spread politically charged content across social media platforms in an attempt to influence the outcome.

At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council Saturday, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley took aim at Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzia over the fake news.

The pictures of dead children are not fake news, she said.

Russia drafted a U.N. resolution condemning the strike against Syria but it failed with only China and Bolivia showing support.

The Pentagon doubled down on the presidents claims that the missile strikes were a success after confirming that all three targets were hit and that Assads ability to produce more chemical weapons significantly crippled.

Fox News Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.A military convoy rolled down a rubbled road outside the northern Syrian city of Manjib on Saturday afternoon, just hours after news that the U.S and allied forces had struck a number of Syrian regime facilities in and around the capital of Damascus.

Gule, a young female soldier with the 5,000-strong Manbij Military Council (MMC) stops and stares in awe for a moment as they pass.

It is beautiful, she declares to no one in particular.

Gules sentiment is echoing this city once held by the Islamic State (ISIS), which now houses numerous U.S. military installations backing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) controlling much of the region.

After weeks of questions and concerns from locals over the U.S commitment to the region -- concerns fueled by President Trumps recent statement that would soon be pulled -- many see the U.S strikes against the authoritarian regime as a hopeful sign: Not only is America willing to take the lead against blatant violations putting civilians in dire peril, it is here to stay.

While much of Syria remains plagued by changing checkpoints and intermittent bombing, Manbij remains a bustling yet seemingly calm city. The streets are filled with markets and motorcycles, women and men roam freely through the bazaars and sip tea along the sidewalk.

We are so happy the U.S. troops are here. The most important thing is we know we wont be bombed when the U.S. is here, said Khalid, a 31-year-old mobile phone seller and graduate of Homs University. If they leave, we worry Russians will be the first to come in and bomb us. Right now, we are calm and comfortable.

Mahmoud, a 60-year-old purveyor of sweets, also expressed gratitude over being spared the aerial bombardment that has ravaged much of Syria.

Of all the players in Syria, America is better than the others, he said. Seven years of this war, and no one else has come to take care of us. Im happy for this strike. This gives me hope.

Mahmoud described Trumps hard-line approach as heroic.

He said he would hit, so he did, he continued.

Others, sitting in the streets with cigarettes and tea, said they werent familiar with all the political ins and outs, but recognized their environment was far more stable than others'.

The most important thing is we have some stability, noted Raheem, 45, a tradesman. We just want to keep this peace. We want anyone who will help is keep this peace.

But the peace, in which Kurds, Arabs, Turks and other minorities live together, remains fragile.

ISIS cant control Manbij again, but there are sleeper cells here. This is a big country and we liberated this city alongside the U.S., said Abu Adel, 39, head of the Manbij Military Council, who first joined the Syrian Revolution in 2011 as a fighter with the Free Syrian Army (FSA). We still have threats, we still need their expertise.

While ISIS and Turkey remain the most immediate concerns for the council, Adel pointed out that the regime brings with it a fear of losing their newfound freedom.

When we started with the revolution, it was not about wanting Assad to leave. We just wanted changes, we wanted a chance to speak freely and we waited for the changes to happen, he said. But those changes did not happen. And the protests moved from peaceful to military.

And overlooking a front line, amid growing concern that Turkish forces nearby could encroach farther into Manbij (given their concerns of hideouts occupied by designated terrorist group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)), one Manbij Military Council soldier Laurence reiterated his desire for the U.S. to stay engaged.

I was so happy for this bombing. Innocent children should not be killed with chemicals. Fighting military troops is one thing, civilians is another, Laurence said, before eagerly detailing his life-saving medic training under U.S. forces.

We can defend ourselves, but having the U.S. morale behind us has been important. We hope they stay.

Nonetheless, the future of Manbij remains unclear for now, prompting others to crave a time before the uprisings of 2011, which later developed into a bloody and protracted conflict.

We dont know what will happen tomorrow, lamented Tahsin, a displaced Yazidi from Afrin living in an abandoned building in the Kurdish city of Kobane. Yazidi people are an ethnic minority.

We dont know what Islamic rule could come in and whether we will allowed still to be Yazidi.ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump ordered a strike on Syria Friday in response to last weekend's chemical weapons attack.



Addressing the nation Friday evening, Trump said the strike was a joint operation with France and the United Kingdom.



"A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said.



Trump said the "massacre" last weekend in Syria was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."



"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man," Trump said, referring to Assad. "They are crimes of a monster instead."



In a later briefing, Defense Secretary James Mattis said the strike demonstrates the international resolve to prevent the use of chemical weapons, saying that he is "confident the Syrian regime conducted a chemical attack on innocent people in the last week."



"Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said, adding that this time the U.S. struck harder.



"We have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties," he said, adding, "I believe that we sent a very strong message."



Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said the strike specifically hit three targets associated with the production and storage of chemical weapons: a scientific research center, a storage center for sarin and its precursor components, and a chemical weapons storage facility and command post.



"Important infrastructure was destroyed," said Dunford.



There were no reports of American losses, Mattis said.



Russia was not notified before launching airstrikes against Syria, Dunford said, adding that no additional strikes are planned.



Social posts out of Syria showed flames lighting up the dark skies. Explosions could be heard as well.



Syrian state media confirmed that the scientific research center in Barzeh, north of Damascus, was targeted in the attack, adding that a number of rockets targeting warehouses belonging to the Syrian army in Homs were allegedly intercepted.



The Russian Defense Ministry held a briefing Saturday in which they said 71 of the 103 missiles fired were intercepted. The Syrian government offered similar claims, though neither provided evidence to back up the claims. Russia also said no one was killed by any of the strikes.



Syrian state media said it was a "cowardly terrorist attack," only done for America to save face.



In his remarks, Trump also delivered a message to Iran and Russia.



"To Iran and to Russia, I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators," Trump said.



"In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons," he said of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. "Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia and maybe even Iran. But maybe not."



Putin responded to the attack against Syria on Saturday, saying "an act of aggression against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism has been committed."



"Very quickly we need to put options on the table to see if Russia is willing to engage in a multilateral process," a source within the French presidency said Saturday.



Trump added that the U.S. "does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria."



"We look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," he said," adding, "We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East."



Trump concluded, "We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace. And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America."



The strike came as Trump has alluded to military action in Syria all week, even tweeting on Wednesday that Russia should be "ready" because "nice and new and 'smart'" missiles "will be coming." But Thursday, he seemed to walk back that statement, tweeting that military action "could be very soon or not so soon at all."



Trump has reportedly been moved by images of the suspected chemical weapons attack on the Syrian city of Douma outside of Damascus all week, calling it "atrocious."



"We cannot allow atrocities like that. Cannot allow it," Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on Monday, adding that he expected to make a decision on a response in the next 24 to 48 hours.



Images showed victims of the attack foaming at the mouth.



Mattis and Dunford met with the president at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Syria. There were additional National Security Council meetings on Thursday and Friday.



Trump also spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May several times by phone this week. The administration said previously that any response Assad's alleged chemical weapons use would be done in consultation with allies.



In a statement Friday night, May called last weekend's chemical attack "pure horror."



"The Syrian regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way," May said. "And a significant body of information, including intelligence, indicates the Syrian regime is responsible for this latest attack."



May held a press conference with reporters early Saturday morning for about 40 minutes, taking dozens of questions from reporters.



"There is no graver decision for a prime minister than to commit our forces to combat. And this is the first time that I've had to do so," May said.



May said the attack was designed specifically to damage chemical weapons facilities and "was not about interfering in a civil war" or "regime change." She said the best option remains a "political solution."



Perhaps in preparation for a strike, Syria repositioned some of its aircraft from bases earlier in the week, a U.S. official told ABC News. A second official said the Syrian military had gone into an increased defensive posture.



Macron, meanwhile, said the response is "limited to the Syrian regime's capabilities to produce and use chemical weapons."



"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons, which is a direct threat to the security of the Syrian people and our collective security," he said.



On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said that during the shelling of Douma, "an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals."



"More than 70 people sheltering in basements have reportedly died, with 43 of those deaths related to symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals," the organization said. "Two health facilities were also reportedly affected by these attacks."



On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said analysis done by the U.S., U.K. and France proved the chemical attack. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert also confirmed the use of chemical weapons, but said the U.S. was still looking into the exact kind or the mix of agent used.



Despite the air strikes on Friday, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it will continue its fact-finding mission in Syria to "establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma."

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.The gain of whole chromosome 7 is an early event in the development of one of the more aggressive types of glioblastoma. Platelet-derived growth factor A, or PDGFA, is located on the tip of chromosome 7 and actively promotes glioblastoma development. But when glioblastoma cells could acquire extra copies of PDGFA by simply amplifying the tip of chromosome 7, why do they instead replicate the whole thing?

Holland and Michor set out to solve the mystery. Michors group developed the mathematical models that allowed the collaborators to scan across all the genes coded on chromosome 7 that, when increased in copy number, might give glioblastoma cells a leg up. One gene, homeobox A5, or HOXA5, stood out. Homeobox genes encode transcription factors that control whether other genes are turned on and are usually expressed early in development. Hollands team examined what cancer cells might gain from having more copies of HOXA5.

Extra HOXA5 by itself doesnt cause brain tumors. But the researchers found that extra HOXA5 made PDGFA-driven glioblastomas more aggressive and resistant to radiation therapy. They saw that glioblastoma patients whose tumors had increased levels of HOXA5 had decreased survival, and they confirmed this association in a preclinical model of the highly malignant disease.

Hollands group also found that HOXA5 levels are increased in glioblastoma tumors that have recurred after treatment. Mouse glioblastoma cells with elevated HOXA5 levels multiplied more than those with normal amounts of the gene. HOXA5 also appears to protect glioblastoma from the damaging effects of radiation. By gaining an extra chromosome 7, glioblastoma cells gain both PDGFAs cancer-promoting power and HOXA5s ability to both promote cell growth and protect against damage.

Holland and Michor plan to apply their method to gaining a deeper understanding of cancer-contributing genes in other tumors characterized by the gain or loss of large pieces of DNA.

It gives us a window of understanding we didnt have before, Holland said.Free Freightnet Membership

List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours.Review: A Peace to End All Peace

Title A Peace to End All Peace Author David Fromkin Publisher New York: Henry Hold and Company, 1989 ISBN 0-8050-6884-8 Review Copyright  2002 Garret Wilson  8 August 2002 8:43am

Most contemporary discussions on the Middle East ignore how the current system of states there were formed. Modern debates often assume that the particular borders we see nowIraq, Syria, Jordan, etc.always existed in the arrangement we see now, with similar political structures. As David Fromkin points out in A Peace to End All Peace, such an assumption is displaced from reality. The system of states as we know it in the Middle East (a term only invented in 1902) (224), was crafted by Europeans around 1922 as a way to grab new expansions to their empire, to carve up the fallen Ottoman Empire and establish influence as they had done with other countries after previous wars.

The process of Middle Eastern statehood is a story involving Britain, France, Russia, Greece, and on the fringes, America. The road is littered with misinformation on all sides; disasterous assumptions and unwarrented mistakes; egos; and blatant grabs for power. The story goes something like this, as I remember it from the book.

The Turks had been trying to find a powerful to ally with them for some time, but had been rebuffed by one after another. After was was started with Germany, the British thought the Germans, who finally accepted Ottoman requests for an alliance, were the ones who initiated the relationship. Russia, an ally at the time, at one point was having problems on a front and asked Britain to attack Turkey. Russia later realized it wasn't having problems anymore, but Britain went ahead and attacked.

After Britain got into the Ottoman empire, it made a series of mistakes that meant instead of finishing the invasion quickly, as was possible then, they instead were defeated in various battles and wound up being entrenched in a drawn out war in the Middle East. Through a variety of political changes in Britain, such as Prime Minister Asquith being replaced by Lloyd George (and Winston Churchill being thrown out of relevant politics altogether), the new government decided it wanted carve up the Middle East as spoils of the war, once it was finished, in a similar manner to the aftermath of previous conflicts.

The British decided to set up Hussein as a sort of "Pope" for Islam, so that Britain could control Arabia through Hussein. Unfortunately for them, such a position for Hussein was not possible due to the political and social arrangements in the Middle East, so the British wound up stationing troops for years in an effort to control the territories over which they now wanted power. To make matters worse for Britain, Russia changed sides.

Adding to all this turmoil was the (incorrect) suspician by Britains and many other Europeans of some worldwide Jewish conspiracy that had the power to control events in several countries. Hoping to use this power to their advantage, Britain made overtures to Jewish Zionism by issuing the Balfour Declaration which advocated a Jewish national home in Palestine, which originally included Jordan. Implementing such a declaration wasn't easy, not only because some Arabs didn't like an influx of Jews but because even some local British governors and military promoted Arab uprisings. Although British promises to the Jews and to the Arabs were ambiguous as to boundaries and timetables, Britain never intended to satisfy the agreements in the first place.

By 1922, the year that everything in the Middle East seems to culminate, the USSR was formed; Britain tinkered with elections in the new state of Iraq to set up and control Feisal (Hussein's son) as ruler; Britain set up Abdullah (Hussein's other son) in Jordan; ibn Saud, who kept causing problems with Abdullah, was given Saudia Arabia; and Britain managed to mollify France by parceling out Syria and Lebanon.

Fromkin's main point is that by 1922, European powers had partitioned the former Ottoman Empire into states and setup puppet regimes, drawing boundaries and imposing rulers while ignoring the wishes of those who actually lived there. It would appear difficult to understand the present-day Middle East without an appreciation of its formation, which is explained in detail in the pages of A Peace to End All Peace. Points I found particularly interesting can be found below.

"In Kitchener's Egypt a hereditary prince and native Cabinet ministers and governors went through the motions of governing. They promulgated under their own name decisions recommended to them by the British advisors attached to their respective offices; that was the form of protectorate government favored by the Kitchener group. In the artful words of Ronald Storrs: 'We deprecated the Imperative, preferring the Subjunctive, even the wistful, Optative mood'" (85).

By 1915 "The British intended to support the candidacy of Hussein for the position of 'Pope' of Islama position that (unbeknown to them) did not exist; while (unbeknown to them too) the language they used encouraged him to attempt to become ruler of the entire Arab worldthough in fact Storrs believe4d that it was a mistake for Hussein to aim at extending his rule at all" (105).

Mecca and Medina "was a territory that none of the Great Powers coveted. David Lloyd George later wrote that 'no one comtemplated that foreign troops should occupy any part of Arabia. It was too arid a country to make it worth the while of any ravenous Power to occupy as a permanent pasture.' It was not then known that there were immense deposits of oil in the region" (140).

...Kitchener... vehemently insisted on authorizing Cairo to respond immediately and to reach agreement with Hussein... Authorized and directed to do so by London, Sir Henry McMahon then resumed the correspondence with Meccathe famous McMahon letters, the meaning of which has been debated so much and so long by partisans of Arab and Jewish causes in Palestine" (182). But effectively, "Britain did not bind herself to support Hussein's claims anywhere at all" (183). McMahon, an experienced bureaucrat, had seen the need to be completely noncommittal" (184). Gilbert Clayon later summarized that "'Luckily, we have been very careful indeed to commit ourselves to nothing whatsoever.' ...In London the Foreign Office took the view that the promises would never become due for payment: that Britain had pledged herself to suppot Arab independence only if the Arab half o the Ottoman Empire rose against the Sultan..." (185).

"While most Palestinian Jews chose to avoid involvement in the world war, David Ben-Gurion and Itzhak Ben Zvi, former law students at the University of Constantinople who were leaders of the Labor Zionist movement, offered to organize a Palestinian Jewish army in 1914 to defend Ottoman Palestine. But, instead of accepting their offer, Djemal deported them and other Zionist leaders in 1915" (211).

"During the summer of 1916, Sykes spent a good deal of time making public speeches. In his speeches he gave currency to the new descriptive phrase, 'the Middle East,' which the American naval officer and historian Alfred Thayer Mahan had invented in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India..." (224).

"It was typical that even in the economoic section of the Middle Eatern group's report [commissioned by President Wilson in 1917], there was no mention of the possibility that significant deposits of petroleam might be found in that part of the world" (261).

"Most of the world's Jews then lived within the section of the Russian Empire to which they were confined so long as they lived within the Czar's domains: the Pale, or enclosure (from the word for a wooden stake used in bulding fences)" (272).

During its formative years, then, David Lloyd George [later Prime Minister of Great Britain] ha drepresented the Zionish movement [as a layyer on behalf of his London firm, Lloyd George, Roberts & Co.] as it sought to define itself... As he contemplated the conquest of Palestine in 1917 and 1918, nobody had a clearer idea than he of what to do with it once it was his" (274).

The Balfour Declaration, 2 November 1917: Dear Lord Rothschild, I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet: His Majesty's 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." I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation (297).

"Baghdad, along with Jerusalem, was [in the early 1900s] one of the two great Jewish cities of Asia, and a thousand years before had become the seat of the exilarchthe head of the Jewish religion in the eastern diasporaand thus the capital of oriental Judaism" (306).

"The nature of the electorate had been radically transformed by wartime legislation that for the first time gave the vote to women (from the age of thirty) and to all men (from the age of twenty-one) (384).

At the Paris Peace Conference of World War I, "Decisions, by all accounts, including those of the participants, were made with little knowledge of, or concern for, the lands and peoples about which and whom the decisions were made (399).

Even though Britain had repeatedly promised Egypt independence, when Saad Zeghul, a leader of a delegation of out-of-office Egyption political figures, met with Sir Reginald Wingate,the British High Commisional in Cairo, and on 13 November 1918 "expressed the desire to go to London to put forward a programme of complete autonomy," the proposal "was rejected as calculated to serve no good object" (418).

"The Sultan and Egypt's other leaders refused to accept mere autonomy or even nominal independence; they demanded full and complete indpendence, which Britaindependent upon the Suez Canalwould not grant" (420).

The president of the Oeuvre des Ecoles d'Orient, which represented French Catholic missionaries in the Middle East, stated that "it is inadmissible that the 'Country of Christ' should become the prety of Jewry and of Anglo-Saxon heresy. It must remain the inviolable inheritance of France and the Church. It would be a national infamy and an irreparable crime not to remove this sacred land fromt he brutal rapacity of our allies" (442).

Lenin had for years argued against what he called "Great Russian chauvinism", and in 1915 wrote that "We Great Russian workers must demand that our government should get out of Mongolia, Turkestan, and Persia"... (475). But in 1920 the supposed lack of a proletariat in the ruled countries "in effect... meant that the peoples of the East were not yet ready to exercise their right to be free. According to [the Bashkir leader, Zeki Velidi] Togan, Lenin said that even after the socialist revolution had succeeded everywhere in the world, the former colonies of the European Great Powers would have to remain in tutelage of their former masters until such time as they developed an industrial working class of their own" (476).

Even though T. E. Lawrence's accounts were full of hyperbole, his "indirect influence on policy was considerable, for his account of the Arab uprising was believed by Churchill, who lacked personal knowledge of the matter, not having been involved in Middle Eastern affairs during the war after 1916" (498).

"On 28 February 1922, the British government unilaterally issued the so-called Allenby Declaration conceding formal indpendence to Egypt." Around the same time, Churchill convened a conference in Egypt to discuss Mesopotamia and Palestine. "By an accident of geography, in 1921, both Allenby's and Churchill's contrary policies were elaborated in the city of Cairo; and in fact there was a substantive similarity between them, for they both represented unilateral British decisions about how the Arab world should be runand Arab leaders did not agree to either one of them" (502).

Before the Baghdad eliections, Sir Percy Cox "hurried back to Baghdad to persuade rival candidates" to the British-proposed candidate, Feisal, "to withdraw from the contestamong them, Ibn Saud, who objected to Hashemite candidacy, but was mollified by cash ahnd other British favors" (507). Sayyid Talib, the "dominant local political leader of Basra", tourted Iraq with the slogan, "Iraq for the Iraqis", and British intelligence officers reported that he was getting "a magnificent reception everywhere." Consequently, because of some hearsay of remarks made by Talib at a tea party with Lady Cox, Talib was arrested and deported to the island of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean, supposedly to preserve law and order. "On 11 July [1922] the Council of Ministers unanimously adopted a resolution declaring Feisal to be the constitutional monarch of IRaq. On 16 July the Council authorized a plebiscite to ratify its choice. On 19 August the Ministry of the INterior announced that Feisal had won an overwhelming victory in the yes-or-no plebiscite. On 23 August Feisal's coronation was celebrated; and in official usage Iraq ('well-rooted country') replaced Mesopotamia as the name of this new kingdom" (508).

Around 75 percent of the land allocated to be divided between Jews and Palestinians "had already been given to an Arab dynasty [, Abdullah, son of Hussein,] that was not Palestinian." As this posed a problem, "The newly created province of Transjordan, later to become the independent state of Jordan, gradually drifted into existence as an entity separate from the rest of Palestine; indeed, today it is often forgotten that Jordan was ever part of Palestine" (514).

The Arab complaints about Jewish land purchases were thin; most of the complainers sold land to Jews. "The genuine grievance was that of the impoverished Arab peasantry. As socialists, the Jewish farmers were opposed to the exploitation of others and therefore did all their own work; when Jews bough Arab farms the Arab farm laborers therefore lost their jobs" (522).

In the autumn of 1921, "Turks supplied by France were at war with Greeks backed by Britain and the former Entente Powers found themselves ranged on opposite sides of the Ottoman war that they had entered together as allies in 1914" (537).

"In November 1922, the Kemalist National Assembly deposed the Sultan. The Sultan fled from Constantinople into exile. Thus in 1922 the centuries-old Ottoman Empire came to an end; and Turkey, which for 500 years had dominated the Middle East, departed from Middle Eastern history to seek to make herself European" (552).

On 8 October 1922 Andrew Bonary Law, the retired leader of the Unionist-Conservative Party, wrote a letter to two newspapers. "We cannot alone act as policeman of the world," he said, urging France and others to assist in enforcint the settlement in Germany (554).

[Britain] placed Fuad I on the thrown of Egypt in [1922], and made Egypt a nominally independent protectorate by the terms of the Allenby Declaration of 1922. She established a protectorate in Iraq by her treaty that year with that country: a country that she had created and upon whose thrown she had placed her own nominee, Feisal. By the terms of the Palestine Mandate of 1922 and Churchill's White Paper for Palestine in 1922, Transjordan was set on the road to a political existence separate from that of PalestineAbdullah, appointed by Britain, was to permanently preside over the new entity by a decision made in 1922while west of the Jordan, Jews were promised a National Home and non-Jews were promised full rights. Independence or autonomy for the Kurds, which had been on the agenda in 1922, somehow disappeared from the agenda in 1922, so that there was to be no Kurdistan: it was a nondecision of 1922 that was, in effect, a decision. In 1922, too, Britain imposed frontier agreements upon Ibn Saud that established boundaries between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait (560).

Copyright  2002 Garret Wilsonbohlah at 14-04-2018 12:02 PM (3 years ago) (m)

2016 Miss Tourism Nigeria, Sasha Ekama has revealed via an Instagram post how an expired Nutri-C product she bought almost killed her. She said she was rushed to an hospital shortly after she took the product, but all the antibiotics the doctor gave her proved abortive. Luckily for her, an advice her father gave prevented her from going to an early grave.

2016 Miss Tourism Nigeria, Sasha Ekama has revealed via an Instagram post how an expired Nutri-C product she bought almost killed her. She said she was rushed to an hospital shortly after she took the product, but all the antibiotics the doctor gave her proved abortive. Luckily for her, an advice her father gave prevented her from going to an early grave.

Read her account below.



Quote So that how i consumed 4 sachet of an Expired product,and i almost died 2Days Ago of a NUTRIC-C i bought @hubmart_stores. victoria island, Unkown to me it has EXPIREDmy experience was really bad was rushed to d hospital,d doctor said nothing is wrong and gave me some drugs but still i felt sick and worse,d sharp pains didnt go away..my tempature was up beyond normal,my stomach is still sour,i couldnt move or talk much!. Until i called my dad and he said have u taken palm oil (Red oil)i said no he said do that now!! And stop taking the Antibiotics Immediately I drank d palm oil that night i slept off and next morning I was totally relieved of pains.. my pain is why would they allow such expired product still stay at d store almost lost my life because of ignorance!!..please and please!!my people check for expired dates of products before you buy. I thank God Am alive to see dis day



Post Reply I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist Posted: at 14-04-2018 12:02 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted HeroBEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China has urged the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the Syria issue through dialogue and negotiation, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Saturday.

When asked about China's comments on the military strikes against Syria by the United States, Britain and France, Hua said China opposed the use of force in international relations and called for respect for other countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

"Any unilateral military action bypassing the Security Council runs contrary to the purpose and principles of the United Nations (UN) Charter and violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and will further complicate the Syrian issue," Hua said.

According to the spokesperson, China has urged the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation.

Referring to the three countries' saying that the military strikes were launched in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, Hua said China believes a comprehensive, impartial and objective investigation should be carried out to reach a reliable conclusion that could stand the test of time.

"Yet before that, a prejudgment should not be made," she added.

China believes that political settlement is the only viable way out for the Syrian issue. Relevant parties of the international community should continue to support the role of the UN as the main channel for mediation and make relentless efforts to facilitate the final settlement of the Syrian issue.

When asked about the current situation of Chinese citizens in Syria, Hua said the Chinese government took their safety very seriously, and the Chinese Embassy in Syria had maintained close communication with them. They are all safe so far.SIGN UP

(TNS)  Kentuckys ambitious project to build a high-speed Internet network across the state could fall through if the legislature does not approve funding this weekend to settle outstanding claims by contractors, according to a bond-rating service.The administration of Gov. Matt Bevin worked out a deal to resolve unbudgeted costs to contractors on the Kentucky Wired project  and cut down some risk of more claims  but the legislature has not approved funding for the settlement.Without such a deal, the broadband project could collapse, Fitch Ratings said in a report this week.If the state does not keep its commitment to build the network, it could lead to a significant downgrade in Kentuckys credit rating, Fitch said.That would make it more expensive for the state to borrow money, and could also hurt its ability to put together public-private infrastructure partnerships.Its a threat to the entire economy of the state, said Phillip K. Brown, executive director of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority, which oversees the broadband project.Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Republican who chairs the Senate budget committee and has been critical of the costs of the project, said earlier ratings on the bonds were based on faulty projections.Kentucky Wired started in 2015 with the goal of extending high-speed Internet across the state, where many residents do not have access to broadband.The project  comprising 3,400 miles of fiber-optic cable, much of it strung on existing utility poles  would create an access point in each county to high-speed service, but local providers would have to extend service to individual customers.It is a public-private project, with privately-issued bonds to pay for it and a private company, Macquarie Capital of Australia, building and operating it. Much of its revenue would come from providing Internet service to state offices. Supporters argue the project will provide critical benefits in economic development, education, telemedicine and other areas in an increasingly digital economy.Fitch said the project was the first statewide effort in the country to build access to high-speed Internet.The original timetable called for the whole project to be done by late 2018, but that proved unrealistic , in part because of delays in getting permission to attach the cable to poles owned by telephone companies and others.The contractor has made claims for payments related to those delays which were not part of the original project budget, and the state has to pay for some of those under the contract.The state has paid about $8 million for those claims so far, using savings from changes in the project, such as incorporating systems owned by other providers into the network, Brown said.However, the state faces additional potential claims of tens of millions of dollars.State officials worked out a deal with the private-sector partners in the project to resolve the outstanding claims and reset the construction schedule to avoid additional claims.The settlement called for completing the network by mid-2020, with incentives to finish even earlier and the ability to begin using some parts of the network before the whole thing was done, Brown said.The settlement was to be financed through Senate Bill 223, which would have given the network authority the ability to borrow another $110 million for the project. Of that, $88 million would have gone to pay off outstanding claims and the rest would have been for contingencies.That would have brought the total construction cost of the project to $342 million, Brown said.The bill, though, has floundered in the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee.Fitch Ratings said in a report this week that the failure of the legislature to authorize funding for the settlement through SB 223 or another mechanism threatens the viability of the settlement agreement and the project itself.The Bevin Administration has warned that not making good on the contract to build the broadband network would hurt the state, leaving taxpayers potentially facing hundreds of millions in costs, but with no network to show for it and no revenue from it to pay those costs.Why wouldnt we spend an extra $88 million and complete the network? Brown said.However, McDaniel, said hes not convinced there would be adequate revenue from the network to justify the extra spending.Ive seen numbers from this project time and time again that dont come to fruition, McDaniel said.Critics of Kentucky Wired have argued state government should not be involved in providing a service that the private sector provides, though supporters say public backing is the only way to extend broadband availability to every corner of the state.Brown said theres no reason now to debate whether the state should have embarked on the deal in 2015 because the state is obligated.In addition to not approving legislation to fund the settlement, the legislature did not set aside money in the General Fund to make payments the state owes Macquarie for operating the network and repaying the bonds, called availability payments.However, legislators designated money in the states budget reserve fund, commonly called the rainy day fund, to make the payments to Macquarie.Fitch said it considers that a solid financial commitment to the project.Bevin noted a concern over the use of that reserve fund to pay known, on-going costs such as the broadband network, rather than keeping it intact for emergencies or unforeseen shortfalls.That was one reason he gave in vetoing the budget.The administration would like to see the legislature designate funding for the Kentucky Wired payments from the General Fund and approve the settlement funding outlined in SB 223, Brown said.Friday and Saturday are the last two days of this years law-making session. McDaniel said he did not think legislators will approve money for the settlement.Im not going to put more good Kentucky taxpayer dollars at risk, he said.BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese air force has donated 15 million yuan (2.39 million U.S. dollars) to the China Children and Teenagers' Fund.

It targeted education in impoverished old revolutionary bases, including south Jiangxi, Fujian, the Guangdong border area, north Shaanxi, east Gansu, the Ningxia border area and Dabie Mountain, in order to provide intellectual support.

"The donation is to ensure that the children in these areas can attend and afford school, to give full play to the role of education in poverty alleviation, and to stop poverty from passing from generation to generation," Song Kun, a disciplinary official of the air force, said at the donation ceremony.

The donation came as a part of the latest round of the air force's charity project to help impoverished children back to school. They will target their aid towards 3,600 college, middle school and primary school students, and help build 13 schools in the provinces of Jiangxi and Yunnan.

Over the 24-year history of the project, a total of 140 million yuan has been donated by officers and soldiers of the air force, helping more than 28,800 children finish school.

They have also helped build 94 schools, held skill training for 3,910 teachers and teenage girls, treated and cured over 1,000 children with congenital heart disease, covering 14 extremely poor regions across the country.(TNS)  Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux on Thursday proposed the city-parish government create its own cryptocurrency, something only a handful of local governments around the world have contemplated or tried.Doing so would position conservative Lafayette to follow the lead of Berkeley, California, the U.S. city that has garnered the most press for doing what Robideaux wants to do.The virtual currency proposal was the biggest reveal in Robideauxs annual address at the Heymann Center, in which he portrayed Lafayette as a technological hub, one that needs to use this advantage to diversify the local economy and improve government services.Cryptocurrency, which uses encryption techniques and operates independently of a central bank, could potentially be a new way of financing public works, one that invites local residents to participate.Robideaux was vague, however, in explaining why Lafayette should consider a cryptocurrency, other than the potential to develop solutions targeting government inefficiencies, and, more importantly, alternatives for financing public infrastructure.Cryptocurrency was pioneered by Bitcoin and has exploded as a global industry over the last year. The total market capitalization for cryptocurrencies on April 12, 2017, was $24.4 billion, according to www.coinmarketcap.com . On Thursday it was $300.5 billion, but that mark has followed a staggering drop over the last three months from the peak market capitalization of $813.9 billion market on Jan. 7.Its not just a bunch of global libertarians that want unregulated, untraceable and secure digital currency transactions, Robideaux said, referring to concerns that cryptocurrency can be used for money laundering or other nefarious purposes. Its the recognition of global stakeholders that the world of banking, finance and payment systems is forever changed, that the world of healthcare, government and possibly every other industry is about to be disrupted.Robideaux didnt elaborate in his speech how, exactly, his proposal for a municipal cryptocurrency might work, or what might motivate investors to sink money into Lafayette's version. Berkeley is backing its currency with municipal bonds, and the city plans to sell crypto enabled microbonds to raise money for affordable housing and other initiatives to help the homeless, according to Forbes Robideaux said he wants to use the proceeds from an initial coin offering to build a living lab of blockchain researchers and developers, without explaining what such a lab might consist of, how much it would cost or where it might be located.Robideaux challenged residents to consider what technological concepts such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning systems could mean for local government. These terms, Robideaux said, are just phrases and acronyms that translate to better stormwater management, traffic lights that adjust in real time, and improved government transparency.Coming this year, Robideaux said, is LUS Fibers offering of 10-gigabyte internet service and continued expansion beyond Lafayette city limits, a hub of Lafayette mobile app to provide real-time information, 311 dial service and 911 texting.As he often does, Robideaux said Lafayette needs to look to its culture to diversify its economy, noting steep job losses since the 2014 oil crash. To that end, he highlighted his "CREATE" initiative to brand the city-parish and to develop a way to quantify returns on investments in the cultural economy."Our cultural economy is the low-hanging fruit. It already exists and it can only get bigger," Robideaux said. "It will become the stabilizing force in our budget."Turning to other matters, Robideaux used his annual speech to stump for four property tax renewals on the April 28 ballot, two of which are confined to the city of Lafayette. The city-only taxes are for recreation as well as roads and bridges, and the parishwide taxes are for libraries and juvenile detention.Robideaux faced a crisis last year when voters initially rejected 10-year renewals for the courthouse and jail, stirring the mayor-president and other city leaders to plead with voters to approve them on the November ballot, which they did.Robideaux took personal responsibility for failing to explain the importance of the property taxes prior to the first vote last year."I'm guilty of not talking about them," Robideaux said, explaining why he dedicated a portion of his speech to the upcoming renewals. "I'm not taking anything for granted."The parish budget remains a crisis, with the general fund basically wiped out. The mayor-president did not touch on the increasing likelihood the City-Parish Council would look to a tax measure on the November ballot to raise revenue, although thats not certain and its unclear if the measure would be a new tax or a rededication.The council on Tuesday held a special meeting to announce it will consider such measures at its regular meeting on May 15, the latest date by which it must approve any measures for the Nov. 6 ballot. Voters will have final say over any tax measure.Council Chairman Kevin Naquin said after Tuesday's meeting that existing property taxes are inadequate. Naquin wouldnt speculate as to what the council will consider next month, but he said some type of tax increase, along with rededications, are likely.Im not going to hide around it, Naquin said. You could probably see a combination of everything.(TNS)  Rice University will transform the iconic Sears property in Midtown into a new innovation district, part of an effort to spur on the local startup community in the wake of Houstons failed bid for Amazons second headquarters.The roughly 200,000-square-foot former Sears building at 4201 Main will be renovated into a startup incubator featuring co-working spaces, classrooms, meeting areas, offices for academic, medical and corporate partners, as well as as a cafe and other amenities.The $100 million redevelopment, formally announced by university, city and business leaders Thursday morning, aims to cultivate and attract new technology companies and venture capital firms to a region known more for its established energy corporations and hospitals than disruptive startups and tech titans.The goal for the innovation district is to create a vibrant place where startups can create, collaborate and access resources to innovate in Houstons energy, industrial, health care and data and logistics industries.We are laying the groundwork to make Houston the next great center for startups and imaginative endeavors in the digital universe, and now we have a pivotal physical home for our work on the next frontier, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.Station Houston, a downtown incubator that has more than 260 member companies, will operate the innovation district and program workshops and events to create a community of entrepreneurs. Houston Exponential, a new nonprofit created by city and business leaders, will also have a presence in the innovation district to raise venture capital and coordinate efforts to build a stronger startup ecosystem in the city.The yet-to-be-named innovation district will be designed and developed by Hines in partnership with architects Gensler and James Carpenter. The university plans to preserve the buildings art deco features. The first phase of construction is expected to be completed by early 2020.City and business leaders have long envisioned an innovation district to foster tech startups in Houston. Two task forces, one put together by the city and the other by the business community, last year recommended the districts creation as the first of several steps toward building a stronger startup ecosystem.When Amazon eliminated Houston as a candidate for its HQ2 earlier this year  the largest U.S. city taken out of the running for online retailers coveted $5 billion campus and 50,000 jobs  it underscored the regions need for an innovation district and accelerated plans for its development, said Bob Harvey, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership.I think there is a growing realization that Houston needs to act and act quickly to build up the digital economy, Harvey said. The Amazon result served as a catalyst for much more immediate action than we had previously anticipated.Officials toured several innovation centers around the globe, including 1871 in Chicago, Tech Square in Atlanta and Tech City in London, to develop plans for Houstons innovation district.Wide-open spaces

(TNS)  A small pilot project in Scott County, Kan., is part of a national movement to convince the Federal Communications Commission to reserve unused television broadcasting space around the country for use by broadband providers.Regional internet and telephone provider Pioneer Communications, using a grant from Microsoft, is providing about a half dozen homes in the county with an internet connection using signals within the television signal spectrum broadcast from towers."What we're talking about is the bandwidth below the 700 megahertz range, where a lot of TV channels historically occupied public airwaves before the digital transition in 2009," said Zachary Cikanek, national spokesperson for Connect Americans Now and a Washington, D.C. lobbyist.Digital TV signals use less of the spectrum than UHF or VHF signals, so there are now vacant channels previously designated for television."The reason TV broadcasters used these channels was that they can carry a high data signal over a long distance, through foliage, over hills, and through walls, and still carry a powerful signal with a lot of data," Cikanek said. "This spectrum is in the sweet spot."Radio waves can carry a much farther distance, but they can't carry nearly the amount of data, he said. Broadband signals sent by 3G and 4G technology, on the other hand, travel shorter distances and often need line-of-sight receivers.The group is asking the FCC to reserve at least three channels in every state order to provide enough broadband space for every market across the county."Right now FCC regulations allow for TV white space broadband over one channel," he explained. "A second regulation, allowing for temporary use of a second channel, is pending final regulatory approval. It's not finalized, but we're using those two channels to allow us to demonstrate its effectiveness."In every market, they're already vacant, but we need regulatory certainty they'll remain available for broadband in the future. If we have three channels, that's enough to deliver the full broadband spectrum needed by the modern consumer and to do it in every market in the country."The signal would be delivered similarly to cell service, only on a different frequency, with the provider sending the signal to a tower, which then transmits it to a router in the home that would be programmed to receive specific channels.The space is unlicensed, so broadband providers would not have to buy the spectrum, and it wouldn't be limited to just one provider. The technology is especially important in rural areas where there are only a few homes per mile and the cost of stringing fiber is prohibitively expensive.Pilot projects are currently running in about a dozen locations around the country. The pilot in Scott County began last October. Initial results were not as successful as hoped because of signal interference, officials at Pioneer said in December, but technicians were still "working through the challenges."Latest reports, Cikanek said, were positive. The News was unable to reach Pioneer for an update.The technology will likely work best in wide-open spaces, with little broadcast "congestion," said Kasey Krueger, Director of Marketing at Pioneer Communications. Microsoft has launched similar successful efforts in Africa.A study was done for Microsoft by a company called Boston Consulting Group, which found that using TV white spaces is also useful in more densely populated areas, particularly for expanding coverage within buildings.The group determined the technologies do not interfere with TV broadcast reception or licensed wireless microphones that use the same spectrum band.That study found the use of TV white space is more cost-effective when combined with other technologies, though it was the best approach to reach some 80 percent of underserved rural populations.Combing white space technology with fiber and satellite delivery could cut costs over fiber alone by about 80 percent and over LTE fixed wireless by 50 percent, the study found.While Connect American Now partners include some major corporation and associations across the U.S., including Microsoft and the National Rural Education Association, in Kansas partners include the Lincoln, Rooks and Russell County economic development associations."We're trying to rally rural voices, to make sure people who can't get online easily are heard in Washington," he said. "Our coalition has surpassed 100 members a few weeks ago."The most important thing, Cicanek said, is that the FCC has made delivery of rural broadband a priority and the debate over the use of white space remains open."We haven't had the commitment we need yet, in terms of ensuring at least three channels in every market in the country, but we're making progress on that front," he said. "We're building excitement among lawmakers and leaders around the issue."He suggested consumers contact the FCC and their Congressional representatives to also lobby for the commitment.More information can be found at their website, connectamericansnow.com.Unsafe release is a major buzzword in the paddock ahead of the Chinese grand prix.

In Australia, both Haas cars were released from pitstops with loose wheels.

Then in Bahrain, a Ferrari mechanic's leg was sickeningly snapped in an incident, and already in China, an incident has occurred during a practice pitstop involving Stoffel Vandoorne.

The FIA is investigating, but Haas driver Kevin Magnussen denied it is time for the governing body to impose a mandatory minimum 5 second pitstop time.

"No, it's not (time for that)," said the Dane.

"When you're striving for the maximum, you reach the limit and then maybe you have to go back a little," Magnussen explained.

"We're approaching the time when it's impossible to change the tyres faster, but maybe it's time to stop looking for more fractions of a second and focus more on reliability and safety."

Renault technical boss Bob Bell said teams have been improving techniques and technology to speed up pitstops in past years.

"This year something has changed," he admitted, "although I think it's nothing more than evolutionary.

"But when you're gradually reducing the pitstop time, you can reach a certain limit when the situation gets out of control more often," said Bell.

Asked if F1 authorities should intervene, Bell admitted that the FIA and FOM will be looking into the matter.

"It might be argued that certain standards would be safer and also less expensive, so I have no doubt that FOM and the FIA are looking at it," he said.

Haas boss Gunther Steiner, though, agrees with Magnussen that intervention is not necessary.

"Of course you have to take a look when things get dangerous, but I don't think we need to change the rules," he said.

"Why would anyone even watch formula one anymore if everything is 100 per cent safe? We need that human element and the risk that mistakes can happen.

"If everything is controlled and executed by robots, fast pitstops would not be a problem anymore. But who would watch it?" Steiner added.

Kimi Raikkonen was the driver at the wheel when the Ferrari mechanic's leg was snapped, and he said in China: "Of course it would be safer if we had no pitstops at all.

"So whenever we do have them, something can go wrong," said the Finn.

(GMM)Sergio Marchionne has warned that Ferrari's F1 quit threat is still very much real.

In Bahrain, the Maranello team remained notably silent as Liberty Media revealed its blueprint for the regulations beyond 2020.

But president Marchionne has now said during a shareholders' meeting in Amsterdam: "If F1 becomes more spectacle than sport, if we go the direction of Nascar, then we leave."

Liberty's headline proposal for 2021 is a $150 budget cap, but also proposed are significant changes to the engine regulations.

"If there are any proposals that distort F1, I think Ferrari will pull out," Marchionne added. "We are working with Liberty Media to find acceptable solutions."

He indicated that fellow top team Mercedes also supports Ferrari's stance.

"Some people want a less technological approach, but we and Mercedes have the will to maintain a high standard," said the Italian-Canadian.

(GMM)Bob Fernley has denied that Force India is on the brink of bankruptcy.

What is clear is that after finishing fourth overall in both 2016 and 2017, the small Silverstone based team is now outpaced by other midfield runners.

But deputy boss Fernley told Finnish broadcaster C More that reports the new car is fundamentally flawed are wrong.

"If you compare our times with Australia and Bahrain last year, then we are actually significantly faster," he said.

"Between eighth and 15th places there is a difference of maybe two tenths, so the competition is incredibly tight," Fernley added.

Fernley also denied reports that Force India is on the brink of financial paralysis.

The report said the team needed an advance in its official F1 income within weeks just to survive.

But Fernley smiled: "We've apparently been on the verge of bankruptcy every month for ten years but we're still here, and we're still going well."

(GMM)Human rights will not be on the agenda of a historic inter-Korean summit in two weeks' time. The meeting in the border truce village of Panmunjom is expected to lay the groundwork for a solution to the North Korean nuclear standoff. But the North's gross human rights abuses will be passed over in silence.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other international human rights organizations sent a letter to President Moon Jae-in on Monday calling on him to include human rights on the agenda. Last month, around 30 human rights groups in South Korea also sent a petition to Cheong Wa Dae. Former vice unification minister Kim Suk-woo said, "There can be no genuine peace without resolving the human rights problems in North Korea."

But the South Korean government is not responding to the requests. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said on April 4, "The summit will proceed according to agenda that has been agreed in advance, so more preparations would be needed if we were to include it at this point."

Kang Chol-hwan, a defector and head of North Korea Strategy Center, said, "The issue is too big to be excluded from the agenda simply because it would make North Korea feel uncomfortable. It must go hand-in-hand with the improvement of inter-Korean relations."

The South's attitude contrasts with calls from both the U.S. and the public for the issue to be included on the agenda of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Lee Young-hwan, the head of activist group Transitional Justice Working Group, said, "The non-partisan stance of the U.S. should be viewed as normal when it comes to the human rights issue, while Seoul's failure to address this issue is abnormal. We need to use this opportunity to discuss the issue."

President Trump announced Friday night "a combined operation" by the U.S., France and Britain against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, aimed at ending his government's use of chemical weapons.

Trump said the U.S. was prepared to "sustain'' pressure on Assad until he ended what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

Last week, at least 40 people were killed and hundreds were sickened in the Syrian city of Douma, in what the U.S. and other nations said was a chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian government. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in her country Saturday, according to Reuters, that the allied response was "not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties."

RAY LHEUREUX ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY FOR GOVERNOR OF HAWAII

Pledges to Bring Trust and Confidence back to Government with sound servant leadership

AUDIO: Ray LHeureux on Rick Hamada Show

News Release from LHeureux Campaign

Honolulu, Hawaii  Friday, April 6th 2018  Ray LHeureux, President & Chairman of The Education Institute of Hawaii, Former Assistant Superintendent, Office of School Facilities and Support Services, and Retired Marine, declared his candidacy for Governor of the State of Hawaii today. The announcement was made at the Natatorium in Waikiki.

I am privileged and honored to announce my candidacy for Governor of Hawaii. I have a compelling vision and common message of leadership for all. I will bring a comprehensive set of big ideas to address the challenges facing Hawaii today, and most certainly our children in the not so distant future. My candidacy will focus on a succinct message of statesman-like leadership for all instead of the politician brand style of leadership that has not served Hawaii or its people optimally. The voters of Hawaii should have and deserve another viewpoint, a fresh set of ideas, and a different voice rather than the one size fits all government that has accepted the minimum as the standard for too long.

In my candidacy, I will seek the voice and concerns of all Hawaii citizens that have carried an untenable tax burden for too long, and commit to a fiscal transparency campaign that will answer their question of where is my tax dollar being spent?

A system is designed perfectly for the results it is currently getting. I would submit that we need to change the system to achieve the results we deserve, and that we pay for.

Most importantly, the primary role of any public servant should be to be an advocate for the people of the State. I promise to be that advocate. There are many challenging issues that will need to be discussed and solutions planned for, but my three main focus areas will be public education, infrastructure, and the economy.

The issues before us will demand an era of balancing fiscal responsibility with servant leadership. I believe that one of the tenets of servant leadership is the art of creating greatness in others I will strive to put confidence and trust back into a Government that is results driven and functions with the people it serves as its priority.

I look forward to a positive campaign, meeting citizens, and tackling the challenges that face us all.

For more information, please follow www.trustingovernment.org

WHT: Ray LHeureux Campaigns in Kailua-Kona

2017: Pearl Harbor nonprofit CEO leaves organization

* * * * *

STEVE LIPSCOMB ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF HAWAII

Honolulu, Hawaii  Friday, April 6th 2018 -- Steve Lipscomb announced from the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial today that he is seeking election to Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii with the Republican Party. Lipscomb comes from the military, business and information technology (IT) sectors and enters this race a political outsider.

"I'm excited to announce my candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii. My primary focus is on what I call the '3 Es': Economy, Education and Environment. I'm a fiscal conservative -- it's critical that we keep both our taxes and our expenses as low as possible and to ensure the factors that result in a healthy economy are foremost in our actions. I want our kids to excel in school and compete favorably across the United States, but also find satisfying job opportunities here in the islands. Lastly, I want to ensure our local environment remains healthy, especially in support of our economy. That means taking care of our paradise by having a healthy ocean, land, and beaches."

Lipscomb chose to announce from the Natatorium to highlight the decline of this memorial to World War I veterans from the territory of Hawaii. "My grandfather came to America from Italy, served as a Private in WWI, and received the Purple Heart for wounds sustained on the battlefield. My vision is to see this monument restored to its original glory as a tribute to those who served, and also as a fun place for all of us to gather to enjoy the outdoors."

A retired Air Force combat veteran and strategic airlift pilot, Lipscomb made his final move to Hawaii in 2007. After his Air Force retirement, Lipscomb ran Dell's Outside Continental United States (OCONUS) - Pacific business for 3 years focused on Army and Air Force IT requirements and then directed and managed Microsoft's OCONUS-Pacific business for 6 years concentrating on nearly all Department of Defense units in the pacific. "When I retired from the Air Force in 2007, we could have moved anywhere -- we chose Hawaii."

"I have a vision for the impact that the office of Lieutenant Governor can have. In reinventing this role, I'll ensure that 'we the people' get maximum value and I'll be a voice in support of my 3 Es. I need your help to 'Revive Hawaii Now!'"

For inquiries please see Lipscomb's website at www.revivehawaiinow.com , or email him at steve.lipscomb@revivehawaiinow.com.

Steve Lipscomb

"Revive Hawaii Now"

PO Box 290194

Honolulu, HI 96824

Revivehawaiinow.com#Air Force Air Force launches new investigation unit following sexual abuse case The Air Force on Friday launched a new probe unit under the direct control of its headquarters to better guarantee the independence of investigators, the military said, following a...

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ISLAMABAD: The top court in a landmark judgment on Friday ruled that disqualification handed down under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution is for life.



In view of the judgment, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, ex-General Secretary Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Jahangir Tareen, and around 17 MNAs and MPAs cant become members of the Parliament and hold any public office for life. A total of 17 appeals and petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the length of disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) for possessing fake degrees.



Nawaz Sharif was disqualified as a prime minister by a five-member Supreme Court bench on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case under Article 62(1)(f) of Constitution, while Jehangir Tareen was disqualified by a SC three-member bench on Dec 15, 2017 under the same constitutional provision.



A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Umer Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, on February 14, 2018, had reserved its judgment.



The unanimous 50-page verdict, authored by Justice Umer Ata Bandial, said the disqualification of any member of Parliament or a public servant under Article 62 (1)(f) in the future will be permanent and such a person will be ineligible to contest elections, become a member of Parliament or hold any public office. Justice Azmat Saeed wrote an additional 10-page note.



The qualities of sagacity, righteousness, honesty and trustworthiness laid down in Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution as qualifications for membership to the elected Houses are actually derived from the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Such strengths can never be equaled by ordinary mortals for whom these are goals to strive for and more importantly not to consciously violate, says the judgment.



The court observed that Ziaul Haq had incorporated the amendments in Articles 62 and 63 of Constitution, which were affirmed by the Parliament in 8th amendment in 1985. It also stated that in the 18th Amendment many changes were made in the Constitution but it retained Islamic provisions in Article 62 introduced by Ziaul Haq in 1985.



Considering that the Constitution does not fix the period of incapacitation of such a judgment debtor shows a clear intention that the lack of qualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution should extend so long as the declaration of law envisaged in Article 62(1)(f) remains in the field, the verdict reads.



Before the announcement of the verdict, the Chief Justice observed that the public deserves leaders of good character and prestige. The verdict states that the restriction imposed by Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution for the eligibility of a candidate for election to Parliament serves the public need and public interest for honest, upright, truthful, trustworthy and prudent elected representatives.



It states that the judicial mechanism in Article 62 (1)(f) grants a fair opportunity for relief to a candidate under challenge to vindicate himself, thus the permanent incapacity of a candidate for election under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution is not an arbitrary, excessive or unreasonable curtailment of his fundamental right under Article 17(2) of the Constitution.



In the post-18th Constitutional Amendment scenario, an adverse declaration by a court of law against a candidate is necessary to oust him from an election. However, it was held in Abdul Ghafoor Lehri vs Returning Officer, PB-29 (2013 SCMR 1271) that a false declaration made in the nomination papers by a candidate about his academic qualification led to a permanent embargo on the candidature for election. This is because Article 62 of the Constitution did not provide any period for which a person would stand debarred from contesting elections and, therefore, the appellant before the court could not become qualified merely by efflux of time, the verdict stated.



In the result, we are inclined to hold that the incapacity created for failing to meet the qualifications under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution imposes a permanent bar which remains in effect so long as the declaratory judgment supporting the conclusion of one of the delinquent kinds of conduct under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution remains in effect, the verdict ruled.



In his additional note, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed noted that the court was empowered to interpret the Constitution but not to amend it. It is an equally elemental principle of interpretation of the Constitution that nothing can be added thereto, therefore, we (SC) cannot read into Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, a period of such lack of qualification, which is not mentioned therein, he wrote.



He stated that some counsel had expressed concern over lifetime disqualification, saying this may be disproportionate and a little harsh. Such arguments are perhaps more suitable to the floor of the Parliament than at the bar before this court. We, as stated above, can only interpret the Constitution and not amend or change it, he noted.



This aspect of the matter is rather ironic as several persons before us were or had been the members of Parliament at some point of time and may have passed the amendments, which now stand in their way, he further noted.



This court on more than one occasions has already held that lack of qualification suffered under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution is in perpetuity, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed wrote in his additional notes.



The School Building Committee is debating whether to keep the already ordered Bluetooth whiteboards or switch them for touchscreen technology.

Mount Greylock Building Committee Grapples With Technology Issue



Richard Cohen, center, participates in a School Building Committee meeting in January 2017 in this file photo. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  One Mount Greylock School Building Committee member pressed hard Tuesday to make sure the new school is part of the digital age  in every sense of the word digital.

Richard Cohen pushed back hard against a decision not to purchase classroom whiteboards that are compatible with the touchscreen capability in the projectors the district has purchased  challenging both the decision itself and the process by which it was made.

Cohen, who has called in the past for greater committee oversight of purchases in the $64 million addition/renovation project, convinced his colleagues Tuesday to appoint a working group to gather information on whether the whiteboards already purchased by the district can be switched out without adding undue cost or creating a schedule delay in the project.

At issue was the district's decision to go with boards that are compatible with Bluetooth-enabled pens but not appropriate for fingertip manipulation of images.

Cohen argued that the fingertip control is preferred by educators at the school who have utilized it, more compatible with some educational programs  particularly those that teach higher math  and easier to adopt by students used to touchscreens on their cellphones and tablets.

On the other hand, the committee had a two-page memo from the district's audio and visual technology director that explained the concerns the district has with the touchscreen technology, a question Mount Greylock first started addressing three years ago.

"During the schematic design phase in October 2015, [Mount Greylock] staff met with then [furniture, fixtures and equipment] consultant Peter Constable to discuss technology in the new building," Rob Wnuk wrote in an email included in the committee's Tuesday packet. "The projectors were a major topic of conversation. On other projects, Peter installed the touch sensors/modules and had nothing but problems. He explained to us that they did not work well and had a very narrow margin of error/tolerances and were very sensitive to any imperfections in the walls or marker boards.

"He strongly suggested that we not use the touch sensors/modules and use a Bluetooth pen system."

Wnuk's email goes on to explain that the "touch sensors/modules" can interfere with medical devices and have proven problematic where installed at other nearby schools.

"At this stage of the building project, all of the marker boards have been approved, purchased and are waiting to be installed," Wnuk wrote in his March 29 email. "It would not be cost effective or in the best interest of the project schedule to return over 50 marker boards.

"In summary, given all the many cons of this touch sensor/module, MG plans to not install the sensor module and use Bluetooth pens. Other than not being able to use a finger to control things, we will not lose any functionality by solely using the Bluetooth pens."

Cohen argued that the technology has progressed since 2015 and that the manufacturer of the projectors and touch sensors  which the district already has acquired  recommends a specific board with a rigid, steel-reinforced back to eliminate some of the "imperfections" that have plagued the technology in the past.

The committee Tuesday heard that it might cost about $30,000 to replace the whiteboards it already has acquired for the project, but the bigger question is how a delay at this point will factor into finishing the project in time for the start of the 2018-19 academic year.

The district's owner's project manager and other members of the construction team in attendance at Tuesday's meeting could not give a definitive answer on how much  if at all  the delay in installing the boards could alter the timeline. But the choice of board impacts the location of the overhead projectors, which are hardwired into the ceiling.

Delaying the installation of the projectors could have a ripple effect on finishing the classrooms themselves, and the already tight project timeline may not be able to absorb the impact.

"We all agree that getting the building open in September is the No. 1 priority," Cohen said.

"It's just we're putting a lot of communities' resources into getting a building that will serve our students' needs as much as possible. This is not a marginal issue. This is a central, core issue."

It took some time for Cohen to convince the room that the issue is as critical as he believes.

"The bias that our local officials have is a durability bias," co-Chairwoman Paula Consolini said early in the conversation. "It's an operational cost bias. And the best-looking new technology can sometimes be problematic to adopt early on because the bugs can make it not worth it."

Cohen appeared to take exception to the "best looking new technology" characterization.

"That's completely irrelevant to the conversation we're going to have," he said. "It's not about the 'shiny new objects.' It's about teachers who are well informed about what they need and have experience using it and other stakeholders who are involved in the educational process not being consulted and not being part of the process."

Process was very much on Cohen's mind. Although the immediate issue  touchscreen vs. Bluetooth pens  is one that the committee wants to get resolved as soon as possible to avoid a project delay, he said it is part of a broader concern he has about the project's procurement process.

The conversation began with a discussion of the project's invoices, and, specifically, the fact that the district was not paying as much as planned on a consultant for "FF&E" purchases.

"I didn't understand this committee decided we were going to forgo the use of experts," Cohen said.

Informed the decision was made in October and after consultation with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, Cohen persisted.

"I remember the committee saying we could forgo experts on furniture, but this line item relates specifically to technical decisions as well," he said.

Cohen said that while "smart people" can make good decisions, there are "risks" involved when those smart people make decisions for the first time. And he gave a handout to his colleagues that gave the committee a grade of "unsatisfactory" for its decision-making process on FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment).

"We had a long conversation around this issue," committee member Carolyn Greene said. "And we found that a lot of time spent talking to the consultants that could be better used [by staff] doing the work itself. We decided this was more efficient. This wasn't done lightly.

"We knew that our administration was taking on work that was above and beyond. That was a decision that was made."

"That was relative to furniture decisions," Cohen answered.

"It was about FF&E," Greene replied.

"Yes, and it was all about furniture," Cohen said.

FF&E, which includes everything from bookshelves to Bluetooth pens, is a $1.6 million line item in the $64.7 million project budget.

The committee ended Tuesday's discussion by appointing a working group that includes Cohen, committee and faculty member Lyndon Moors, Director of Academic Technology Eileen Belastock and Wnuk and to invite the teacher Cohen referenced in his remarks to join that group.

The group is charged with assessing the impact of a potential fix to the issue with the hope that the committee can find a resolution and, perhaps, hold a special meeting within the next couple of weeks.Vote For Susan organizer Virginia Duval holds a sign encouraging residents to vote that will be placed on town property.

Adams Selectmen Opt for Higher Administrator Salary Range



The Board of Selectmen debate the salary range for potential town administrator candidates. Selectman Richard Blanchard was absent. ADAMS, Mass.  The Selectmen are sticking with a higher salary cap on the town administrator position in order to have more room for negotiation.

But the decision to keep the $95,000 line item in the budget wasn't unanimous.

The 3-1 vote on Wednesday was prompted by a request by one member of the Finance Committee to deflate the town administrator's salary line item from $95,000 to $80,000 because the member feared the capped salary would only limit the hiring process.

Selectman Joseph Nowak was the lone vote against the higher amount and he originally motioned to cap the amount at $85,000. "I think $85,000 is a good amount of money for a town administrator doing their work in the community," he said. "I say that because the cost of living here is a lot less in areas where they may be able to get more." Selectwoman Christine Hoyt, who voted against Nowak's motion, said she felt capping the salary at $85,000 would do the town a disservice and is not in line with surrounding communities. She said Lanesborough, who is also searching for a new town administrator, is offering up $85,000. "They are a smaller community and they are looking at $85,000," she said. "It would be the same amount, but this person would have a much larger responsibility and a larger community."

With the departure of former Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco last year, the Selectmen formed a committee to lead the new search process. Although the salary range was not advertised in the job posting, the Selectmen have gone back and forth on what they could actually offer. Director of Community Development Donna Cesan, who has stepped into the town administrator post in the interim, said the amount was placed in the budget to provide "flexibility."

"It would provide the Board of Selectmen with some wiggle room and it doesn't mean it has to be that high," she said. "It just seems to be healthy amount to provide you folks with some flexibility."

Hoyt added that, although not directly comparable, Williamstown pays out $119,000 and Great Barrington pays $120,000. Although these communities are more affluent, they are smaller than Adams, which is the third largest community by population in the Berkshires.

She added that during an exit interview with Mazzucco, he noted that although he left Adams because he wanted to move closer to his home in the eastern part of the state (Mazzucco was hired as the general manager of Norwood), the salary in Adams was not up to par.

"I know part of the reason why he left was he was looking for more money," Hoyt said. "He was working with colleagues across the county and he was making a lot less than they did."

Mazzucco's starting salary with the town was nearly $85,000.

If the salary was capped at $85,000, the town will not be competitive, echoed Cesan.

"People don't want to come here. The trend is toward urban centers. That is where the talent is going," she said. "We in Berkshire county have to actually pay more to attract a similar level of talent ... we are not competitive."

Cesan added that at $85,000, a new town administrator would be making less money than some of the employees he or she would be supervising.

Duval said even though $95,000 is marked in the budget, it doesn't mean the board will offer that amount right off the bat. He added if they find someone with more experience they may want to have room to offer more money, closer to what they may have made.

"It is number and a range. We want to have some wiggle room," he said. "It does not mean we are going to offer $95,000. This will just open us up to more applicants."

Nowak said he did not think increasing the amount would necessarily make the town more attractive to younger talent and noted if someone did not want to move to Adams they probably won't move to Adams.

"If they don't want to come here they are not going to come no matter what the salary range is because that is not their thing," he said. "I picture someone with a young family who wants to raise their family here to come here."

Nowak said he would feel better with the higher salary if it was earned and added he did not think a new administrator should receive this higher amount if they opted out of living in Adams.

The town has gone through many administrators over the past few years, he said, and that he hoped the search committee really looked into candidates' pasts before recommending them to the full board for an interview.

"I have seen a lot of good candidates on paper ... Tony came in we said, 'don't leave we are hiring you' and bang we had him," Nowak said. "I think quality can come with a good tongue and good mouth and not with action so whoever is selected we have to look deeply into some of these people."

Although the Finance Committee cannot change this number they may not recommend it to town meeting.

In other business, the Selectmen approved Vote For Susan organizer Virginia Duval's request to place signs encouraging residents to vote on town property.

"Obviously they are not political signs in they don't support any candidate. They just encourage people to vote," Duval said.

The Vote For Susan project piggybacks off of the efforts of the Suffrage Centennial Celebration Committee who plan to hold a celebration in 2020.

The project encourages residents to register to vote, vote and get involved in local government.

Duval said residents can also get their own signs at McAndrews-King and Monarch Reality, however, the group does ask for a donation of some kind.

Before closing, Nowak said he has heard numerous complaints about folks not cleaning up after their dogs downtown.

"I walk every morning and there are always more droppings somewhere on Park Street," he said. "It shouldn't be going on."

Nowak added that the problem seems to even be plaguing the Greylock Glen walking trails.

There really isn't much the town can do but, he said, but he urged residents to take a stand against dog owners who don't clean up after their animals.

"I don't know how to solve it and all I can say is ... if anyone sees a dog and their owner and the dog defecates on the sidewalk or anywhere and they don't pick it up question them," he said. "It is getting bad."Zoe Hypolite kicked off the conference with an inspiring speech to her peers.

Youth Conference Inspires Teens To Become 'Tools of Change'



The arts was one of the four tracks students could choose for the workshops. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Zoe Hypolite watched as Hurricane Maria devastated her home country of Dominica.

She knew something had to be done to help. She started fundraising.

"I decided that I am going to do something about it. This is why I am the head of Miss Hall's natural disaster relief group where we have raised thousands of dollars for schools of areas affected by natural disasters," Hypolite.

Hypolite is a student at Miss Hall's and comes from a background checkered in trauma. From nearly being blind as a child to bullied in high school to feeling suicidal, Hypolite hadn't thought she had much power in this world.

But that changed. At some point, she realized that if she doesn't work to make this world better, who else will?

"We are the only ones who are going to take action because we are the tools for change," she told high school students from across the region on Thursday morning.

She advised them to learn their voices and have confidence. She asked the students to find the things they are passionate about and fight for them.

"We have the power. We have the ability. We have the drive. And we have the answers. So let's go out there and show the world what we are made of because, can't you see it, change is coming," Hypolite said.

Hypolite's story kicked off a daylong convention when 113 students from 13 different Berkshire high schools descended on Hancock Shaker Village for a series of workshops. The annual 411 in the 413 Youth Conference brings teens together to learn things they want to learn outside of the classroom setting. The program is youth run and organized by area teens and is supported by the Berkshire United Way, Railroad Street Youth Project and the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition.

"One point is to get students from different schools to meet each other, delve into their passions. It is really about getting out of the classrooms and learning in a new way," Kat Toomey, coordinator of positive youth development for the Berkshire United Way, said.

The high school's nominate up to 10 students to attend the conference. Interns from the various agencies work with other teens to develop a series of workshops led by area businesses and organizations. The sessions range from arts to wellness to paying for college. The lessons are much more unique than the typical high school curriculum.

"This is really a youth-led day," Toomey said. "It is really just about this different learning style."

The program is in its 12th year and was started completely by area teens. Later the nonprofits joined the effort to help coordinate professionals in the area to provide the workshops and work out logistics.

This year's theme was "tools for change" and Hypolite's speech motivated the students to become those tools for change. However, the other keynote speaker for the event brought a somber, yet still motivating, story.

Madison Quinn is a student at Pittsfield High School whose life was changed when she met 9-year-old Landen Palatino. Battling through tears, Quinn told the students stories of how close the two had gotten leading up to his death. Palatino lost his fight with childhood cancer.

"Childhood cancer has stolen a part of who I was and is pushing me to be who I am," Quinn said.

Quinn has started her own non-profit, Strong Little Souls. Through that, she raises thousands of dollars to help the families of children with cancer. When Shavez Forte died, she raised money to help cover the cost of the funeral and get him a headstone. When other teens take trips to New York City, they want to see Times Square, but she finds the nearest children's hospital.

"These kids make me the happiest person Ive ever known possible. I'd like to continue on this path forever and keep raising awareness, keep raising funds, keep raising funds to help these children," Quinn said.

But Quinn's story wasn't meant just to sadden the audience because the lesson she has learned is that there are plenty of people in the community who will support efforts to make change happen and that any individual has the ability to change other people's lives for the better.

"Each and every one of you holds the potential to change lives. Knowing changed lives is a gift that keeps on giving. Giving back to the community or an individual who needs the support, find a path to pursue it. And whatever you do, do not give up," Quinn said.

Following the speakers, the students took off to various parts of Hancock Shaker Village for the hour-long lessons. The students chose between different tracks - the arts, compassion in action, wellness, and adulting.

"I think this conference is such an amazing opportunity for students to learn and explore new topics outside the classroom. Things like therapy, yoga, self-dense, and how to pay for college will help us a lot in the future," said Julie Xu, of Miss Hall's School who helped organize the conference.Imperial Valley News Center

A Triple Dose of Adorable Three Wallaby Joeys

Escondido, California - The Ione and Paul Harter Animal Care Center nursery at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park received a trio of new arrivals this week: three red-necked wallaby joeys. The female joeys, ranging in age from 5 to 6 months, are being hand raised until they are old enough to join the Safari Parks mob of wallabies.

These wallaby joeys are mostly nocturnal and spend much of their day in their pouches, where they are most comfortable, stated Kimberly Millspaugh, senior keeper, San Diego Zoo Safari Park. They come out for their bottle-feedings and some occasional playtime. They are aware of each other and tend to be a little curious of one another. We see them poke their heads out at each other and touch noses from time to time.

The wallaby joeys currently are drinking 3 to 5 ounces of a special marsupial formula, three to five times a day. They also are eating solid food, consisting of hay and marsupial feed pellets. They currently stand about a foot tall and weigh between 2 and 3 pounds each. They will continue to be bottle-fed for a few more months, with the amount of formula reduced and the amount of solid food increasing as they grow. When full grown, wallaby females can weigh between 26 and 35 pounds and reach a length of up to 3 feet from head to tail.

Wallabies are members of the kangaroo family, found primarily in Australia and on nearby islands. Wallabies are listed as an animal of Least Concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

These wallabies will eventually join numerous other red-necked wallabies and gray kangaroos in an exhibit at the soon-to-open Walkabout Australia. This one-of-a-kind walkabout experience will allow Safari Park guests to explore the unique habitats and species of Australia, learn how they interact with humans who share their world and discover the challenges they face in finding water, food and shelter in their environment.

Walkabout Australia will offer guests an opportunity for up-close animal interactions with unique species like the wallabies, kangaroos and wombats. The experiences are similar to those offered by zoos in Australia, which are a key part of their work to engage local communities in species preservation.

Guests visiting the Safari Park may get a chance to see the wallaby joeys resting in their pouches, playing or being bottle-fed at the Animal Care Center at Nairobi Station, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily.

Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is made accessible to children through the San Diego Zoo Kids network, reaching out through the internet and in childrens hospitals nationwide. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible by the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of San Diego Zoo Global.Imperial Valley News Center

President Donald J. Trumps Success Opening International Markets To U.S. Agriculture

Washington, DC - President Trump is announcing that the Administration has finalized technical requirements to allow the export of U.S. pork to Argentina for the first time since 1992. This announcement concludes a process started by the President in April 2017 when he first raised the issue of U.S. pork exports during a meeting with Argentine President Mauricio Macri.

Since the beginning of his Administration, the President has negotiated deals to increase market access for U.S. agriculture around the world. In May 2017, the Trump Administration announced that the European Union agreed to reduce burdensome inspection requirements for U.S. citrus exports. Around the same time, the Trump Administration announced the arrival of U.S. beef in Brazil, the first shipment to the country in 13 years.

Building on that success, the Trump Administration reached agreements opening Vietnam to distillers dried grains for the first time since 2016, Japan to Idaho chipping potatoes for the first time in 11 years, and Korea to poultry for the first time since 2014.

The actions of the Administration will provide U.S. agriculture and food producers with access to markets worth billions in trade.

President Trump believes that American food producers have not been treated fairly on the international stage and has committed to levelling the playing field for Americas farmers.

Throughout his presidency, President Trump has called for better treatment of Americas farmers. Countries such as China have not played fairly when it comes to trade in agricultural products. For years, these countries have taken advantage of the U.S. by throwing up barriers to U.S. exports while enjoying the benefits of the U.S. economy uninhibited.

President Trump has vowed to level the playing field. He will work to increase access for our farmers to the international markets that have tried to shut them out, including through trade agreements that break down unfair barriers.

At the same time, the President will not allow farmers to bear the brunt of the trade dispute with China. The President will take strong action to confront those countries who do not treat us fairly and work to get a better deal for American exports. He will continue to seek fairer trade for U.S. products, including agriculture. President Trump will fight for our farmers and level the playing field for U.S. agriculture around the world.Governor Brown Creates California Complete Count Committee

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the creation of the California Complete Count Committee, a statewide panel of community members that will guide Californias outreach for the 2020 federal census.

It is vitally important for California to do everything it can to ensure that every Californian is counted in the upcoming census, said Governor Brown.

The 25 Committee members represent a diverse cross-section of the state with participants from both the public and private sectors. Governor Brown appointed 23 individuals to the Committee, and Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon each appointed one member to the Committee.

Todays Executive Order creating the California Complete Count Committee can be found here.

California Complete Count Committee Members:

Gita Amar, 48, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Amar has been senior director at PMK BNC since 2016. She was a self-employed senior media relations consultant from 2004 to 2016, a senior consulting producer at Fleishman-Hillard Communications from 2001 to 2016 and a senior media relations consultant at Golin Harris from 2004 to 2006. Amar was a producer at National Public Radio from 2002 to 2003 and an executive producer at Fox News Channel and Fox News Online from 1996 to 2001. She is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association. Amar earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Syracuse University College of Law and a Master of Arts degree in television, radio and film from the Syracuse University S.I. Newhouse School of Communications. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Amar is a Democrat.

Tho Vinh Banh, 44, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Banh has been supervising attorney and supervisor of the multicultural affairs outreach unit at Disability Rights California since 2015, where she has held several positions since 2001, including staff attorney and advocate. She was a legal intern at the Lindesmith Center, Drug Policy Foundation through the University of California, Hastings College of the Laws Civil Justice Clinic in 2001. Banh earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Banh is a Democrat.

Carolyn Coleman, 56, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Coleman has been executive director at the League of California Cities since 2016. She was senior executive, director of federal advocacy at the National League of Cities from 2006 to 2016, vice president and of counsel at B&D Consulting from 2005 to 2006 and deputy mayor and director of the Department of Metropolitan Development for the City of Indianapolis from 2000 to 2005. Coleman was an attorney at Baker and Daniels from 1997 to 2000. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Indiana University School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Coleman is a Democrat.

Kathleen Domingo, 43, of Pasadena, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Domingo has been a director in the Office of Life, Justice and Peace at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles since 2013. She earned a Master of Arts degree in theology from the John Paul II Institute. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Domingo is registered without party preference.

Basim Elkarra, 38, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Elkarra has been an executive director at the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations since 2004. He is a member of the Twin Rivers Unified School District Board of Trustees, chair of the City of Sacramento Community Policy Review Commission and an executive board member of the California Democratic Party. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Elkarra is a Democrat.

Efrain Escobedo, 43, of Pomona, has been appointed by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Escobedo has been vice president for education and immigration programs at the California Community Foundation since 2015. He was manager of government and legislative affairs for the Los Angeles County Clerks Office from 2009 to 2015 and senior director of civic engagement at the NALEO Education Fund from 2008 to 2009. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Escobedo is a Democrat.

Amy Fairweather, 53, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Fairweather has been a policy director at Swords to Plowshares Institute for Veteran Policy since 2005. She was a policy associate at the Trauma Foundation from 1999 to 2003. Fairweather is a member of the California Association of Veteran Service Organizations. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Fairweather is a Democrat.

Nicholas Hatten, 43, of Stockton, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Hatten has been executive director at the San Joaquin Pride Center since 2011. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Hatten is a Democrat.

Lisa Hershey, 54, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Hershey has been an executive director at Housing California since 2016, where she was associate director in 2016 and a sustainable communities coordinator from 2014 to 2015. She was an associate and program manager-director at the Public Health Institute from 2009 to 2014 and a chief in the Office for Obesity Prevention at the California Department of Public Health from 2007 to 2009. Hershey served in several positions at the California Department of Health Services from 1993 to 2007, including special assistant to the state public health officer, chief, program coordinator and program director. She was a health educator at Sacramento County Health and Human Services from 1990 to 1993 and health educator specialist at the California Department of Health Services from 1988 to 1990. Hershey earned a Master of Public Health degree from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Hershey is a Democrat.

John Joanino, 25, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Joanino has been a senior communications associate at Advancement Project California since 2017. He was an account associate at RALLY from 2016 to 2017 and a partnerships associate at Omaze.com from 2014 to 2016. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Joanino is a Democrat.

Alex Johnson, 37, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Johnson has been managing director at Californians for Safety and Justice since 2017. He was executive director at Childrens Defense Fund-California from 2014 to 2016. Johnson was assistant senior deputy for education and public safety in the Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas from 2012 to 2014, where he was deputy for education and public safety from 2010 to 2012. He was an attorney at the New York City Department of Education from 2008 to 2010 and an assistant district attorney in the Bronx District Attorneys Office from 2005 to 2008. Johnson is president of the Los Angeles County Board of Education and a member of the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network Board of Directors and the Wiley Center for Speech and Language Development Board. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the American University College of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Johnson is a Democrat.

Loren Kaye, 61, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Kaye has been a foundation president at the California Chamber of Commerce since 2006. He was a partner at KP Public Affairs from 1996 to 2005, an undersecretary at the California Trade and Commerce Agency from 1993 to 1996 and cabinet secretary in the Governors Office from 1991 to 1992. Kaye was a director of issues and research for Governor Pete Wilsons campaign in 1990, a deputy cabinet secretary in the Governors Office from 1987 to 1989 and director of writing and research for Governor George Deukmejians campaign in 1986. He was a policy advocate at the California Taxpayers Association from 1983 to 1985, where he was a senior research analyst from 1981 to 1982. Kaye was a research director for Pete Wilsons Senate Campaign Committee in 1982 and a policy analyst for the California State Senate Republican Caucus in 1980. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Kaye is a Republican.

Kate Kendell, 57, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Kendell has been executive director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights since 1994. She was a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah from 1990 to 1994. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Utah College of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Kendell is a Democrat.

Jesus Martinez, 57, of Clovis, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Martinez has been a founding member and chair at the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative since 2014. He was a coordinator of the Central Valley DACA Project at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center from 2012 to 2015, an independent consultant from 2008 to 2013 and a postdoctoral fellow at El Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. Jose Maria Luis Mora from 2009 to 2010. Martinez was a director general at the Michoacan Institute for Michoacanos Abroad from 2007 to 2008, state legislator at the Michoacan State Congress from 2005 to 2007 and an assistant professor in the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department at California State University, Fresno from 2000 to 2004. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in ethnic studies and a Master of Arts degree in Latin American studies from the University of California, Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Martinez is a Democrat.

Gerald McIntyre, 74, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. McIntyre has been special counsel at Justice in Aging, formerly the National Senior Citizens Law Center, since 2016, where he was directing attorney from 1993 to 2016. He was a lecturer and staff attorney at Cornell Law School from 1991 to 1992. McIntyre held several positions at the Monroe County Legal Assistance Corporation from 1973 to 1979, including counsel and project director of the Southern Tier Legal Services Unit and of the Flood Disaster Relief Project. McIntyre was a staff attorney at Bronx Legal Services from 1970 to 1973 and a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1967 to 1970. He earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from Yale Law School. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. McIntyre is a Democrat.

Margie Mejia, 61, of Atwater, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Mejia has been chairwoman at the Lytton Rancheria of California since 1995. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Mejia is a Democrat.

Eloy Ortiz Oakley, 52, of Long Beach, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Oakley has served as chancellor of the California Community Colleges since 2016. He was superintendent and president at Long Beach City College from 2007 to 2016, where he was executive vice president of administrative services from 2004 to 2006 and vice president of administrative services from 2002 to 2004. He was vice president of college services at Oxnard College from 2001 to 2002 and an assistant vice president at Keenan and Associates from 1999 to 2001. Oakley was a program coordinator and adjunct instructor at Golden West College from 1994 to 1999 and a manager of risk services at the Coast Community College District from 1993 to 1999. He was appointed by Governor Brown to the University of California Board of Regents in 2014. Oakley is a member of the LA 2028 Board of Directors and Rework America Task Force and a board member of the California Chamber of Commerce and the College Futures Foundation. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Irvine. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Oakley is a Democrat.

Jennifer Rodriguez, 41, of Davis, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Rodriguez has been executive director at the Youth Law Center since 2012, where she was a staff attorney from 2009 to 2012 and a fellow from 2007 to 2009. She held several positions at California Youth Connection from 1999 to 2007, including youth organizer, chapter outreach coordinator and legislative and policy manager. Rodriguez earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Rodriguez is a Democrat.

Tom Saenz, 51, of Alhambra, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Saenz has been president and general counsel at MALDEF since 2009. He was counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa from 2005 to 2009. Saenz is a board member of the Campaign for College Opportunity, Los Angeles County Board of Education, Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Saenz is a Democrat.

Lee Salter, 76, of Redding, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Salter was president and chief executive officer at the McConnell Foundation from 1989 to 2016 and an attorney at Carr, Kennedy, Peterson from 1977 to 1989. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Salter is a Republican.

Daniel Torres, 44, of Sacramento, has been appointed chair of the California Complete Count Census Committee. Torres has served as director of immigrant integration in the Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. since 2016. He was chief of the Immigration Branch at the California Department of Social Services Welfare to Work Division from 2015 to 2016. He was deputy director of programs and new initiatives and program director at California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Torres was an attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center from 2008 to 2010, at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 2005 to 2008 and at the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation from 2001 to 2005. He was a clinical instructor at the University of California, Davis School of Law Immigration Law Clinic from 2004 to 2005. Torres earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation.Torres is a Democrat.

Angie Wei, 47, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Wei has been chief of staff at the California Labor Federation since 2011, where she has held several positions since 2000, including legislative director and public policy director. She was a program associate at PolicyLink in 2000, policy analyst at the California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative from 1998 to 1999 and policy director at the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights from 1996 to 1998. Wei earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Wei is a Democrat.

Regina Brown Wilson, 41, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Wilson has been a director at California Black Media since 2013. She was a statewide education and faith-based outreach manager for Census 2010 and head of communications in the California Secretary of Educations Office from 2007 to 2008. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Wilson is registered without party preference.

Christopher Wilson, 51, of San Diego, has been appointed by Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Wilson has been an associate director at Alliance San Diego since 2015, where he was a director of civic engagement from 2010 to 2015. He was principal consultant at CRW Enterprises from 2006 to 2010, general manager at KeytoChange Publishing Inc. from 2003 to 2006 and an independent consultant at Jones and Associates Consulting Inc. from 2002 to 2009. Wilson was a senior field service engineer at ITT Gilfillan from 1992 to 1999 and an air traffic control RADAR technician for the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1992. He is a member of the Urban League of San Diego County Board of Directors and the Engage San Diego Mobilization Fund. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Wilson is a Democrat.

Tom K. Wong, 36, of San Diego, has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Wong has been an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego since 2017, where he served as an assistant professor from 2012 to 2016. He served as an advisor to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in 2016. Wong is a member of the California Immigrant Policy Center, New American Leaders and Alliance San Diego. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in political science from the University of California, Riverside. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Wong is a Democrat.Rocklin Man Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Sacramento, California - Aleksandr Kovalev, 54, of Rocklin, was sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to three years and 10 months in prison for wire fraud involving financial institutions, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Kovalev was in the business of developing, building and selling real property in Sacramento, Fairfield, and Stockton. As the real estate market began to weaken, Kovalev offered to make incentive payments to purchasers, through down payment assistance or by making other payments to the buyers to be used in whatever manner the buyers wanted. Most of the payments to the buyers were out of escrow and were often paid through intermediaries, originating in Kovalevs bank account. These payments were not disclosed to the lenders, and had the effect of substantially reducing the sales price below what was represented to the lenders.

Dozens of properties were involved in Kovalevs mortgage fraud scheme, with several million dollars of losses to the lenders. Kovalev is the last to be sentenced out of nine individuals who were prosecuted as part of this mortgage fraud scheme.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd A. Pickles prosecuted the case.Chagall Oil Painting Recovered Nearly 30 Years After Heist

Washington, DC - Nearly 30 years after an elderly New York couples 1911 painting by Marc Chagall was stolen from their Manhattan home, the modernist oil-on-canvas work is being returned to the familys estate.

The painting, entitled Othello and Desdemona, was recovered last year after a Maryland man contacted the FBIs Washington Field Office. The mans repeated efforts to consign the painting had been rebuffed by a Washington, D.C., gallery owner who was suspicious about the lack of paperwork supporting the paintings authenticity and provenance. The gallery owner suggested the man call law enforcement, which is how it became an FBI investigation.

We took the case from there, said Special Agent Marc Hess, one of a handful of FBI investigators on the Bureaus specialized Art Crime Team. Hess said the investigation led to the mans home in Maryland, where he had stored the painting in his attic for years in a custom box he crafted out of a door jamb and plywood. Hand-scrawled on the top of box were the words Misc. High School artwork.

According to court documents, the Maryland man had obtained the painting in the late 1980s or early 1990s from the man who stole the Chagall in New York in 1988. The thief, it turned out, was a worker in the Upper East Side building where Ernest and Rose Heller lived in an apartment surrounded by paintings and sculptures by renowned artists like Renoir, Picasso, Hopper, and Chagall. Several other works of art also disappeared in the heist.

It was an inside job, Hess said. A person who had regular access to the building was stealing from apartments while the tenants were away.

Shortly afterward, the thief met with the Maryland man in Virginia to try to sell the painting, court documents show. The Maryland man found a potential buyer, but the deal collapsed when he learned he wasnt going to receive a cut of the proceeds. The Maryland man kept possession of the painting and stashed it in his attic for years. He brought it out in 2011and again in January 2017in his fruitless appeals to the D.C. gallery owner to exhibit and try to sell the stolen art.

Well documented and known art is very hard to move once it has been stolen, said Supervisory Special Agent Tim Carpenter of the FBIs Art Crime Team. Gallery owners are our first line of defense in identifying pieces of art that do not have the appropriate documentation and should be brought to the attention of law enforcement.

The Hellers, who bought the painting in the 1920s, have both passed away. The artwork, which shows Shakespeares titular Othello holding a sword and looking at his bride, Desdemona, lying on a bed, was painted by Chagall when the Belarusian painter lived in Paris. In 1967, the Hellers painting was on exhibit at the Kunsthaus Zurich in Geneva, Switzerland.

They went on vacation back in 1988, Hess said. They returned, and this work of artalong with several otherswas missing.

The statute of limitations for the theft has expired, so no charges are pending against the individual who initially stole the painting, nor the individual who kept it. The Maryland man is not named in court filings. The suspected thief in the case was convicted in federal court and served time on charges related to selling stolen property, including art from other apartment buildings.

The investigation into the other missing paintings continues, Hess said. The Chagall painting, which until recently was still stored in the makeshift wooden box, will be returned to the Hellers estate, which plans to place it on auction. Proceeds will reimburse the insurance company that paid the theft claim years ago and be directed to several non-profit organizations supported by the estate, including an artists colony in New Hampshire.

As the FBI returns this painting to the estate of its proper owners, we do so with the purpose of preserving history, said Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara. This piece of artwork is of significance not just for its monetary value, but for its place in the world of art and culture. The FBI continues to commit investigative resources to recover cultural property.FBI Director Christopher Wray Announces Three Senior Executives

Washington, DC - FBI Director Christopher Wray has named executives to three senior leadership positions: David T. Resch as executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch; Andrew W. Vale as executive assistant director of the Human Resources Branch; and Nancy McNamara as assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office.

David T. Resch

As executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, Mr. Resch oversees all FBI criminal and cyber investigations worldwide, international operations, critical incident response, and victim assistance.

He most recently served as assistant director of the Training Division at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Mr. Resch began his FBI career as a special agent in 1996 in the Houston Field Office, where he primarily worked criminal matters and served as the crimes against children coordinator and the kidnapping coordinator. In 2003, he was promoted to the Crisis Management Unit in the Critical Incident Response Group and then transferred to the Behavioral Analysis Unit in 2004. Mr. Resch was promoted to lead that unit in 2006. In 2008, Mr. Resch became the supervisory special agent of the gangs, violent crimes, and cyber programs in the Richmond Field Office and subsequently served there as the Joint Terrorism Task Force supervisor. In 2012, he became the assistant special agent in charge and was responsible for all criminal and administrative programs in the Richmond Field Office.

Mr. Resch then served as the chief of the Tactical Operations Section in the Operational Technology Division. In 2014, he became the special agent in charge of the FBIs Little Rock Field Office, where he served until 2016.

Andrew W. Vale

As executive assistant director of the Human Resources Branch, Mr. Vale oversees the Human Resources, Training, and Security Divisions as well as the FBIs leadership development program.

Most recently, he served as assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office.

Mr. Vale began his career as a special agent in 1991 in the Newark Field Office, where he investigated terrorism, background, and civil rights matters. In October 1998, he was promoted to supervisory special agent of Newarks Joint Terrorism Task Force, overseeing domestic and international terrorism investigations.

In November 2001, Mr. Vale transferred to the Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit at FBI Headquarters and provided program management oversight for all domestic terrorism investigations in the Northeast region of the United States. He was promoted to chief of the unit in August 2003. In January 2005, Mr. Vale was appointed unit chief of the Directors Research Group, where he reviewed, edited, and approved briefing materials for congressional testimony, domestic and international travel, and meetings.

Mr. Vale transferred to the Albany Field Office in August 2006 as the assistant special agent in charge of the National Security Branch. In this capacity, he provided program management oversight for the counterterrorism, counterintelligence and intelligence programs. Mr. Vale returned to FBI Headquarters in September 2011 as the special assistant to the deputy director. From January 2013 until January 2017, Mr. Vale served as the special agent in charge of the Albany Field Office.

Nancy McNamara

As assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, Ms. McNamara oversees the FBIs second largest field office, responsible for protecting the nations capital and Northern Virginia.

She most recently served as the assistant director of the FBIs Inspection Division.

Ms. McNamara began her career as a special agent in 1996 in the New York Field Office, where she investigated public corruption cases. She became a supervisory special agent for the applicant program in 2002 and for the public corruption/government fraud squad in the White-Collar Crime Branch in 2005. Later that year, she transferred to FBI Headquarters as an assistant inspector in the Inspection Division, leading teams that reviewed and assessed investigative programs in field offices, legal attaches, and Headquarters.

In 2007, Ms. McNamara was promoted to assistant special agent in charge in the Los Angeles Field Office, with responsibility over the White-Collar Crime Branch. She returned to FBI Headquarters in 2009 as the chief of the Public Corruption/Civil Rights Section, overseeing public and international corruption and civil rights investigations. In 2010, Ms. McNamara became the special agent in charge of the Milwaukee Field Office. She returned to Headquarters one year later as the deputy assistant director in the Counterintelligence Division, where she served until 2013.United States Announces Additional Humanitarian Assistance for the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Geneva, Switzerland - Today, the U.S. government announced nearly $67 million in additional humanitarian assistance for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at the DRC Humanitarian Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland.

With the assistance announced today, the United States is providing food, protection, shelter, health care, and other urgent aid for vulnerable Congolese and refugees in the DRC. This funding is also supporting the humanitarian response for new Congolese refugees in the region, including the construction of new settlements, water infrastructure, logistics, and other life-saving assistance. While the United States is disappointed that the government of the DRC elected not to participate in todays conference, we nevertheless urge the government of the DRC to continue working to ensure that life-saving humanitarian assistance reaches those in need.

The intensifying conflicts in the DRC since late 2016 have left more than 13 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, including 7.7 million people facing acute food insecurity. There are now 4.5 million Congolese displaced from their homes within the countrydouble the number displaced at the beginning of 2017. Countries neighboring the DRC host some 700,000 Congolese refugees, including more than 50,000 who have fled so far in 2018.

The DRC is at a critical juncture, with the opportunity for the countrys first ever peaceful, democratic transfer of power. While elections alone will not address the DRCs many challenges, a credible electoral process that leads to a democratic transfer of power without violence is essential for securing a more prosperous and peaceful future for the DRC and its people.

The United States is the single largest donor to this humanitarian response. Since October 2016, the U.S. government has provided nearly $277 million in critical assistance to people in need in the DRC and for Congolese refugees in the region. We applaud the contributions of countries in the region that are hosting Congolese refugees, and the other donors who joined us in announcing new funding today. We urge more donors to provide new and additional resources to help those who are suffering in the midst of this terrible conflict and the DRC government to take steps to address underlying causes of insecurity that have given rise to the displacement and conflict and fueled the humanitarian crisis.DaVinci11 is a company that claims to be the worlds first artificial intelligence big data marketing cloud company. Its Whisper Network is a blockchain technology developed by Kaur and Chahal, according to a Hindustan Times report. (pixabay.com photo)April 13, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Russia doesnt have to respond in force to American bombs, and it doesnt have to engage the U.S. forces directly. All it has to do is outlast the Americans. Thats all that Assad or a successor to him have to do.

The Taliban has shown in Afghanistan that Americans can be defeated, just as Ho Chi Minh showed in Vietnam. Before that, both China and North Korea showed that American forces can be neutralized.

Americas leaders are living on myths of American superiority. Trumps shiny new and smart missiles are a graphic example of this kind of thinking, as is Obamas American exceptionalism and Rumsfelds shock and awe. Theyre all living in a dream world.

America is committing suicide by degrees. Russia need only exercise patience as we kill ourselves. What are thought to be nickel and dime wars and engagements turn out to be long lasting sponges that soak up enormous resources. Russia and China need only wait.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

The U.S. government has outmoded second generation military forces that are incapable of conducting 4GW (fourth generation warfare). The U.S. leadership is poor. It doesnt think ahead. It focuses on unimportant side issues. It acts emotionally. Its motivated at times by moral considerations that are irrelevant, and then at other times it ignores moral issues that are of great importance. To top it off, the U.S. makes huge strategic blunders, as in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere. American taxpayers are stretched thin paying for expensive military hardware that cannot deal with foes who are prepared to fight the Americans for 100 years if they have to. Americans are losing the spirit, morale and trust to maintain a far-flung empire.

Russia doesnt have to engage the U.S. to the point where World War III starts. If it understands Americas weaknesses, it can wait while we self-destruct.

Expediency, Not Principle, in the Rogue U.S. Empire

By Michael S. Rozeff

The bottom line here is this. The U.S. doesnt abide by fixed principles or laws relating to statehood, new or established states, their independence, or their sovereignty. It also doesnt abide by fixed principles relating to rebellions and revolutions within a given territory. Since its inception, the U.S. acts on its interests, conceived or misconceived. When convenient, it upholds law; when inconvenient, it breaks law. The resulting behavior it exhibits is inconsistent with respect to principle, but it does consistently serve one main goal: the expedient preservation and expansion of its Empire. The U.S. is often a lawbreaker; but because it invariably poses as the upholder of law, it also is a hypocrite.

Before mentioning a few specific cases, consider how new, independent and sovereign states are formed. The key four elements are a People, a Declaration, a territory, and a system of government. All four are present in our 1776 Declaration. One people is mentioned at the outset and people, 9 more times. The territories involved were the Colonies, and all had established governments with stated procedures for voting. The American Declaration of Independence near its conclusion reads

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

The states within the Confederate States of America met these four conditions and announced them, among other reasons for secession. The South Carolina declaration is here. The North or the Union didnt recognize the new southern states and launched an aggression to keep them from becoming independent sovereign states, even though its own history was based upon the Declaration of Independence. The maintenance of an Empire was the prime consideration.



Catalonia and Crimea are two recent examples of new states. Both met the four conditions for independence that our own founders proclaimed. Spain has contested Catalonias secession. Crimea successfully broke away from Ukraine and then joined the Russian Federation. In both cases, the U.S. has been against the secession. On the other hand, the U.S. supported secession of Kosovo, the breakup of Yugoslavia and any secessions from the USSR. Again, the prime consideration has been to maintain the unity of the Empire, control over its component states, and to expand the Empire wherever possible.

The U.S. does not believe in the principles of its founding. It doesnt believe in the self-determination of nations. These principles form a kind of social, legal and political law based upon the natural rights of the persons who get together to form by declaration a People, a territory, and a government. That is, the individual persons have the right to associate with other like-minded persons in a region or territory to form a government. This is a non-aggressive collaboration. Self-determination as a social, legal and political concept has a basis in individual rights. Whenever the U.S. refuses to abide by self-determination movements that meet reasonable criteria like the four Ive singled out, it is at the same time denying basic underlying rights. The guiding aim of our Empire is not, except where expedient, consistent with the rights of persons or the states they may have formed.

Consider Syria. Syrias form of government is a presidential republic (see CIA). Bashar al-Assad was elected president in the most recent elections, held on June 3, 2014. Syria is a sovereign state, having become independent in the period 1941-1944. As an independent state, Syria is a member of the U.N.

States have sovereignty over their territories. This includes the right to exclude the uninvited interventions of other states on their domains. This principle is acknowledged in Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the U.N. Charter.

Despite Syrias sovereignty, the U.S., uninvited by Syria and expressly told by Assad to get out of Syria, feels free to cross its borders and invade it with whatever military forces and armaments it deems convenient and expedient. Stated aims, noble or not, do not count as legal foundations. Retaliation for alleged chemical attacks dont count. Respect for Syrian sovereignty is orders of magnitude more critical and foundational to peace than crossing established frontiers to discipline perpetrators of chemical attacks; and especially when there is huge uncertainty about who may have done what. Borders are critical to international peace in the existing system of states.

The same four conditions as expressed in our Declaration to govern the formation of new states also apply to justifiable attempts to alter the form of government by rebellion and revolution. Our own Declaration meant war, and it had to be justified.

The rebellion that began in Syria in 2011 and the revolution that began in Kiev in Ukraine in 2014 didnt meet these conditions, as one can readily verify. The whole People were not involved, even by a representative body. The rebellious elements could not justifiably claim legitimate rule over the entire territory. Terror elements were at work. Foreign states were working behind the scenes. There was literally no legitimacy to these attempts to replace one government with another.

Yet the U.S. supported, even instigated, the anti-government forces in both cases. Principles of law and right are not the basis of U.S. policies.

A recent article by Joel B. Pollak thats favorable to U.S. incursions into Syria lays out clearly the lack of principle of our government. Pollak takes the Empire and its role as protector of its members or allies for granted:

The United States cannot allow Syria to fall into Iranian hands. If it does, Iran will extend its military influence into the Mediterranean, threatening American bases as well as American allies. It will also strengthen its emerging position as a regional power that threatens Israel and the Sunni Arab states.

The U.S. does have client states in that region that have gone in with the Empire, but does the resulting obligation of the Empire justify its activities outside of the Empires domain, as in Syria and other nearby countries not under the Empires protection? If Israel is made an ally, does that mean we look the other way when it invades Lebanon or Syria? Do we impose sanctions, an aggressive move, on Iran because the Empire finds it in its interest? Do we attack Iran or foment revolution there? The viability and growth of the Empire do not justify all this illegality and violations of rights.

Furthermore, there are many practical issues. Although this paragraph of Pollak exaggerates the prospects and fails entirely to contemplate what other states in the region would do if America withdrew its military umbrella, it does accurately capture the Empire idea. Important questions are being ignored, however, by this acceptance of the Empire. How much is this costing us? What does the Empire do for us Americans? What alternatives to military means are we ignoring? Isnt the Empire rife with corruption and inefficiency? How can we be so sure that Iran will run Syria? How can the U.S. expect ever to attain peace and justice if its always interfering in alien lands? Why should we expect the U.S. to do anything but blunder further, as it already has in Iraq and Libya? Whats so great about siding with Israel or with Sunni Arab states? Arent we dragged into their conflicts, and dont they form powerful lobbies in our Congress? Dont they distort what we conceive of as our interests?

Without even realizing what hes doing, Pollak spells out the Empires lack of law for us:

That does not mean the U.S. must send troops to Syria, or that it must topple the Assad regime. These are alternatives that the U.S. might use in pursue of its interest, but there are alternatives  such as, for example, arming the Kurds and perhaps supporting their ambitions for independence. [Emphasis added.]

Indeed, these are in fact tools that the U.S. has used in many countries and could use in Syria. They are also aggressive. Pursuit of interest is not pursuit of self-defense except in certain instances that hardly ever occur and hardly ever explain U.S. interventions.

The U.S. is an unprincipled state actor, what might be called without exaggeration a rogue state: a nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.By HELENE COOPER, MICHAEL D. SHEAR and BEN HUBBARD

In choosing to strike, it appeared that Mr. Trumps desire to punish Mr. Assad for what he called a barbaric act  and make good on his tweets promising action this week  outweighed his desire to limit the United States military involvement in the conflict, at least in the short term.

The strikes risked pulling the United States deeper into the complex, multi-sided war in Syria from which Mr. Trump only last week said he wanted to withdraw. They also raised the possibility of confrontation with Russia and Iran, both of which have military forces in Syria to support Mr. Assad.

Mr. Trump said Britain and France had joined the United States in the strikes.

April 14, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - President Trump said on Friday he had ordered strikes on Syrian targets, seeking to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus that killed more than 40 people.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda?

Theresa May confirms British armed forces are involved in a combined operation with the US and France to strike Syria.

Here is her full statement:

This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regime's chemical weapons capability and deter their use.

We are acting together with our American and French allies.

In Douma, last Saturday a chemical weapons attack killed up to 75 people, including young children, in circumstances of pure horror.

The fact of this attack should surprise no-one.

The Syrian Regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way.

And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack.

This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped - not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons.

We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this.

But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted. Even this week the Russians vetoed a Resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack.

So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime.

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.

It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian Regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity.

At this time, my thoughts are with our brave British servicemen and women - and our French and American partners - who are carrying out their duty with the greatest professionalism.

The speed with which we are acting is essential in co-operating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations.

This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat - and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.

I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain's national interest.

We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world.Home Search ICH Strike On Syria Won't Remain Without Consequences  Russian Ambassador to US By RT - The Russian Ambassador to the US has warned of "consequences" after the US and its allies launched a coordinated military action against Syria. April 14, 2018 " Information Clearing House The Russian Ambassador to the US has warned of "consequences" after the US and its allies launched a coordinated military action against Syria. Russia feels threatened by the US decision to strike Syrian targets in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack in Douma on April 7, which Moscow believes was staged. "A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences," Anatoly Antonov said in a statement on Friday night. "All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris." Despite repeated warnings from Russia, US President Donald Trump has ordered American forces, along with their British and French allies, to strike military targets in Syria on Friday night. The Russian military operating in Syria was not notified about the American targets in advance, General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters following the attacks. The US "specifically identified targets to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved," Dunford said. "We used the normal deconfliction channel to deconflict airspace. We did not coordinate targets. While Trump said that the purpose of the US actions is to "establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons, Antonov reminded that "the US  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries." The combined decision by the US and its allies to strike Syria comes after Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Major-General Igor Konashenkov presented evidence claiming that last Saturday's alleged chemical attack in Douma was orchestrated. The attack also comes just hours before experts from the UN Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were scheduled to visit Douma on Saturday to determine whether chemical weapons had indeed been used there. Amid escalating tensions in the region, Russia has repeatedly warned the US and its allies against taking any military action in Syria, as it might lead to grave consequences for the whole world, especially given the fact that Russian troops are deployed in the country. Moscow also suggested that it will shoot down any projectiles that threaten Russian personnel fighting jihadists in Syria. So far, there is no information that Russian citizens have been injured in the strike, the embassy in Damascus told RIA. This article was originally published by "RT " - ===== Join the Discussion It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. We ask that you treat others with respect. Take a moment to read the following - Comment Policy - What Or Who is Information Clearing House and Purpose and Intent of this website: It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.Popular musician flavour was pictured with 2face Idibias younger daughter, Olivia.

So cute.

Recently, A Nigerian lady identified as Naturize on Twitter revealed how ladies were defiled at Flavors concert in Enugu.

She added that despite the presence of security agencies, the ridiculous acts still took place.

Read her post below;

So your favourite celebrity decided to give back to the community, makes his concert free, but his fans(most) present at the square starts to rape girls like its part of the script!

They not only Rape girls, but go in turns, protect the rapist from security agents and then start to play with the victims undies! Please someone tell me this is Sodom$Gomorrah !

Never seen or heard of Rape being this glorified, truth is if your community is filled with toxic people, dont live in denial, fix your problem even if it means not putting up a show, Yes please dont, more so dont make it worse!

Before you come here to ask what the girls wore?( which just shows your low IQ) Girls on jeans were RAPED! These boys came with X-Men claws, they ripped jeans like it was a wet piece of paper, still had the nerves to wear condoms, have an erect and rape a lady till she bled

See ehn, No Artiste should ever have a free Show! The amount of fans that dont appreciate the efforts are the ones to traumatize ladies for life, and its not worth it! NO F.O.C! What a systematic rape!

They had their Governor on seat, over 100 force men on standby, Bouncers were there too, but these retarded fools still found a way to leave girls naked, how do you rape a girl in front of her boyfriend? Are you normal? They beat and tossed boyfriends off!

They bought condoms! Aswear these guys are far from normal! To the men around me arguing about the wrong choice of clothes the girls wore, may your mothers in the village be raped while shes fully dressed to go for a meeting, fully clad up, after that Ill be here waiting!

Coal city with 80% of its youth being stupid and mentally derailed, the ones that leave their rooms just to cause havoc! Its safe to say IM NEVER GOING TO ENUGU STATE AGAIN! Never HEARD of this craziness in Lagos!

No free shows! if this show had 5k as the least ticket, these beast wont afford it! Im literally shouting No free shows again some messed up fools! Apparently its perceived as a norm! I kept hearing  E no new na, e happen for phynosfest Walahi people are mad

People had to donate clothes to cover victims at intervals! It was that bad! Thought they said sex is cheap, so pls walk down the street and buy it cheap or take it free, dont rape girls, dont ever do it!

With the policemen on ground, the rape scenerio we witnessed helpless was over 20, and this was right beside the front of house, which is not far from the stage.

Arik Im ready to leave this place, thanks but no thanks for having me! Happy Easter and remember Rape should never be justified!Choc Boi Nation president DJ Lambo releases latest single KUNTE KUNTE featuring Small Doctor & Mr. Real as they all come together to bring life to this master piece created for the street and inspired by them. Production credits go to CKay.

I guess no one expected this star studded record from the disc jockey, certainly this is going to the peak on the charts as all featured acts brought in their A-game in this Shaku Shaku record.

Hit the download button and enjoy. Dont forget to share your thoughts

DOWNLOADEniola Badmus calls out Toyin Abraham

Eniola Badmus has called out her colleague Toyin abraham for stylishly stealing her movie title Ghetto Bred!

The actress took to her Instagram page earlier today to rant about her effort, hard work and creativity being stolen and taken for granted.

Although the actress made no mention of any particular film producer, she emphasized that there can only be one Ghetto Bred produced by Eniola Badmus.

A closer look at the matter has reminded us that actress Toyin Abraham is set to release one of her movies (The Ghost and The Tour) into the cinema,the sensitization has started and in the trailer, a part referred to Toyin as Pure Ghetto Bred

Apparently, this is the bone of contention for Eniola who thinks the title was stolen sugarcoated.

Toyin Abrahams fans are however not taking this allegation and insult lightlythey have attacked Eniola in their large numbers!

Leave a Comment

commentsA former wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Taiwo, in this interview with Tunde Ajaja, gives an update on her son, who is said to be missing.

Its Been About Five Months Since Your Son Allegedly Left His Matrimonial Home, Have You Heard From Him Since Then?

Fortunately, there is good news. I have not seen him one-on-one but he called me and he assured me that he was okay. I asked where he was but he didnt tell me, which shows that hes still in hiding. At the moment, hes not in Abekouta where hes supposed to be; hes not at his place of work in his fathers company, and that means hes still hiding himself from his wife. Im his biological mother and we are not quarrelling, so he has no reason to stay away from me but for the issues with his wife.

But The Former President Has Been In The News From Time To Time, Especially With The Formation Of The Coalition For Nigeria Movement

(Cuts in) He cannot be troubled with this one, and that is what Im saying about the duality of his character. I dont think hes the right person to be talking about the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, but I want to appeal to him to please use his coalition to unite the whole nation and his family. Daddy Obasanjo should let God use him to bring a peaceful change into this nation and his own family. However, I think that coalition should metamorphose into coalition for restoration of peace, reconciliation, unity and oneness, to bring everybody together because Nigeria is so divided now. People are traumatised and that is why many people are abusing President Muhammadu Buhari. I like to use this medium to appeal to Nigerians not to abuse the President. Hes human and hes liable to make mistakes. What Chief Obasanjo and Buhari need to do is to come together because they have a lot in common. They are both very powerful and they have great influence in this nation. They have both served as military Heads of State and civilian presidents. I dont think this nation should be going through this trauma, but truth is that Nigerians are going through the worst kind of suffering at this time, even though its not his doing. I think we should all find a way of helping him out of office so he could go and rest. The Almighty God is forever in the business of answering prayers. He will answer the prayers of many of us in this nation that are saying we dont want him for second term.

Are You Saying He Shouldnt Recontest?

God forbid. Im saying it loud and clear without fear. He should just go back to Katsina. Im praying to God that as He (God) aborted the third term plan of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, God should also abort his re-election bid for 2019. I respect the two of them, but they should stay out of power. Whoever is coming should be someone who would treat us well and remove the hardship. As a president, you are like an executive prisoner because you dont see what is happening. Chief Obasanjo is now out of office, so his eyes are wide open now. I love President Buhari, but I dont want him to contest. When he goes back to Katsina, I would love to go with my children and grandchildren to visit him in Daura. In a nation of over 150 million people, both of them have ruled under two different dispensations, and I think the electoral process should be reviewed so that we would have only one term, because its enough for anyone who has a plan. Chief Lateef Jakande spent only one term in office as governor of Lagos State, but look at the wonders he performed. So, anyone that cannot do it in one term should leave peacefully. We need fresh hands and we need to abolish this do or die mentality. Im not a hypocrite. I love him and I dont want people to be insulting him, but I dont want him again. We need a fresh person that can be corrected, a unifying figure who is not divisive or tribalistic. God has been very good to President Buhari; he was a Petroleum Minister, military Head of State and now hes the incumbent President. He should not be in the league of those desperate to do a second term at all cost because I want him to be another Nelson Mandela; to leave an enduring legacy of love, unity, humility, forgiveness and selflessness that succeeding generations can learn from. I also have an advice for the government as regards the herdsmen and Boko Haram crises; I feel they should look for the sponsors and call them into a dialogue. Nigeria needs peace. Specifically on the herdsmen crisis, I believe modern ranching presents an investment opportunity and a way out of the crisis.

Source  LadunliadiNigerian filmmaker and CEO of Ebony Life TV Mo Abudu has received criticism after she hosted Nigerian Hollywood actor and film maker john Boyega to a dinner date. John Boyega is currently spending a good time in the soils of Nigeria after a successful production of his movie Pacific Rim (the uprising).

He recently revealed that he wants to produce some Nollywood movies and as estimated a sum of 9 billion naira for a very low budget movie, this has captured the interest of many Nollywood investors.

Top Nollywood stars and colleagues of Ebony Life CEO were present at the dinner for Boyega. Also present was Temide, the daughter of Mo Abudu who is also her mothers right hand.

Mo shared photos from the evening of herself and in one of the photos, she sat in between her daughter and the 26 year old successful Hollywood John Boyega.

Nigerians who were quick to sense this act commented to let her know that they understand her intention.

Captioning the photo she said; #EbonyLife dinner with @johnboyega. Beautiful evening. My Temidee looking so pretty.

Her fans said;

Bukymaj: See major match making moves correct mum

iam_tutuh: Mum.. Are you trying to match make us? Lol

doxologyp67: @iam_tutuh thought the same tooPunch

Rivers State governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has called on the Nigerian media to wake up and defend Nigerians, who are suffering untold hardship under the APC Federal Government.

Vanguard

THE Nigeria Police have arrested additional 12 suspects in connection with last weeks banks raid by armed robbers in Offa, Kwara State.

The Sun

Spokesman of pro-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, has said that the group is not going to support President Muhammadu Buharis re-election because the president failed to deliver on his campaign promises.

Daily Times

An All Progressives Congress (APC), governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Victor Kolade has described the state governor, Ayodele Fayose as the most wasteful governor in the history of the state.

Guardian

A rivers State High Court, yesterday, granted the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, leave to issue a writ of summons to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the Federal Government, to be serve by substituted means.

Tribune

ON the fourth year anniversary of the abduction of schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno State, President Muhammadu Buhari has assured their parents that their daughters will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate, despite four long years since they were taken away by terrorists.

The Nation

THE police yesterday named a 29-year-old alleged drug baron as one of the brains behind the April 5 bank robberies in Offa, Kwara State

New Telegraph

Gunmen in the army uniforms yesterday went berserk, killing 26 people, following an attack on Jandeikyura, a border settlement between Taraba and Benue states.

Daily Independent

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, has been named by the New African, a London-based magazine, as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans of 2017 in the category of Business and Finance.The Nigerian film industry has lost another icon who has contributed immensely to the local industry, with the news still developing.

Tony Aleg who is popuarly regarded as Green Onions has passed away amidst tears.

It would be recalled the actor acted one one of the most popular movies including in those days that he made this statement as a character, Green Onions.

The cause of his demise is yet to be clearly ascertained but condolence messages have been circulated on social media.Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Alan Kay, one of the key members at Xerox Corporations Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), to develop prototypes of networked workstations using the programming language Smalltalk, provides a nice walk down memory lane.

Smalltalk commercialized by Steve Jobs and Apple in their Lisa and Macintosh computers after Steve Jobs famous visit to Xerox.

He recently answered a question on Quora about what he and Steve Jobs talked about at the keynote where the original iPhone was unveiled in 2007:

I think he invited me to the 2007 iPhone unveiling partly because it was kind of a tiny Dynabook  and he had always wanted to do one  and partly because he was going to use a quote of mine that he had always taken to heart People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. The photo of us chatting was taken right after the event. He brought the iPhone to me, put it in my hands, and asked: Alan, is this good enough to be criticized?. My reply was to make a shape with my hands the size of an iPad: Steve, make it this size and youll rule the world. When the iPhone had been revealed a few minutes earlier I realized that they must already have done an iPad/Dynabook-like machine (easier) and that the iPhone first must have been a marketing/timing decision.

It is interesting to know that Steve Jobs invited him to the iPhone Keynote because he was going to use his quote. As John Gruber points out, while iPad has been a huge success, the iPhone still rules the world.

Heres the video of former PARC engineer and former Apples Chief Scientist Larry Tesler talks about Steve Jobs famous visit to Xeroxs PARC:

Xeroxs inability to commercialize Smalltalk was probably one of technologys biggest missed opportunities.

[via The LoopMy name is Matt, I am photographer and "BTS search Guru".On ISO 1200 Magazine we have the best team searching brand new behind the scenes videos around the world to learn all the secrets of the best photographers :    ,     

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SALEM, Ore.  In an attempt to raise awareness regarding Oregon's gun safety laws, state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced a new, easy to use document outlining the process and purpose of the state's "red flag law." The move coincides with National Crime Victims' Rights Week, April 8 - 14.

Oregon's Red Flag Law is one of the few tools we have to reasonably quickly remove a gun or weapon from somebody who is at risk. When we realized that not that many Oregonians seem to realize this law is an option, we decided to create a resource for Oregonians that was simple and easy to understand, said Attorney General Rosenblum.

Oregon Gun Violence Facts (from the Oregon Health Authority): On average, at least one Oregonian dies from firearm injuries every day.

Most firearm deaths in Oregon are due to suicide. Firearm fatalities can and do occur due to suicide, homicide, legal intervention, unintentional shootings, and undetermined intent shootings.

Males are nearly six times more likely than females to die from a firearm injury.

Older males (65 years and up) have the highest risk of death by firearm suicide.

Young adults age 18 - 24 years are at the highest risk of being victims of homicide by firearm.

A statement from Rosenblum's office calls the law "new," which is not entirely the case. It has been in effect in Oregon for nearly a year now. However, the purpose of the law and its utility have yet to become common knowledge.

This law is not complicated, but its effects could be significant. I hope that by making people aware of the law and breaking down the steps involved in the Red Flag Law process, we are able to help save lives, said Attorney General Rosenblum.

A Horrifying Example

Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local law enforcement in Broward County, Florida have received criticism since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High on Valentine's Day. The shooter, Nicolas Cruz, had a long history of reports to law enforcementincluding 911 calls and at least two tips to the FBIand nobody intervened.

Yet, at least in many of these cases, Florida law enforcement can justifiably deny having had the ability to intervene. There is no law in Florida that would allow police to arrest a person or seize their firearms based on the sheer volume of warningsif no single one of them merited an arrest and conviction. Nor is there a law that would allow police to step in with any effectiveness just because a friend or family member expressed special concern about a person's mental state, not without evidence of a crime, or of debilitating mental illness.

Raising Red Flags

Enter the so-called "red flag law." The 911 calls, the accumulation of guns, the antisocial behavior and morbid posts on social mediaAmericans largely refer to these as red flags. In some recent mass shootings, though not all, there were plenty of signs that the perpetrator was on a dangerous path. And some people are clamoring for legislation that would allow law enforcement to act on these signs alone.

The term "red flag law" seems to be new, but the practice is not. Oregon has one, and so does Washington, California, Connecticut, and Indiana. The typical name for these measures, however, is ERPOor extreme risk protection order.

None of these laws are identical, however they all aim to give law enforcement special authority to remove deadly weapons from a potentially dangerous individual.

What Florida Didn't Have, But Oregon Does

Oregon's ERPO law, Senate Bill 719, was adopted in August of 2017. The bill describes a process that must begin with a law enforcement officer, a family or household member of the individual filing a petition with a court.

The petition would name a potentially dangerous individual, and request that the court issue an extreme risk protection order, barring that individual from possessing or attempting to possess a "deadly weapon"which includes all firearms, but can include any "instrument, article or substance specifically designed for and presently capable of causing death or serious physical injury," from the language of the bill itself.

A court served with an ERPO petition must address it within the same day. The petitioner (the police officer or loved one) can explain orally or in writing why the ERPO is necessary. The court also must consider all previous reports to law enforcement of threats that the individual made against others or themselves.

If the court chooses to issue the ERPO, then law enforcement can go ahead with confiscating the individual's guns, assuming they've already been identified. The individual can appeal after 30 days. If the appeal fails, then the ERPO will stay in place for one year.

What If?

The process is not without pitfalls. To pursue a hypothetical, what if Florida had an ERPO law identical to Oregon's? First, someone would have had to take enough interest to deliver such a petition to the court. Cruz had no family left, although he did have friends and a "household," somewhat. Someone, a police officer, a friend, his host family, or one of the people that made one of those 911 calls, would have then taken it a step further, identifying Cruz as a significant threat to himself or others. They would have had to make enough of an effort to file the petition.

According to the New York Times, these laws and the necessary processes to achieve an ERPO are still fairly unknown, even to law enforcement.

After a petition is drafted, the decision would go to a court. The court would have to decide, based on the petitioner's statement and Cruz's past history, that he was a significant danger. Based on what we now know about Cruz's history, there's a good chance that the ERPO would have been issued. However, there's no guaranteethe petitioner must meet the burden of proof that Cruz presented an imminent risk of suicide or harm to another person.

As many will point out, an ERPO and resulting confiscation of weapons is a fairly serious imposition on a person's Constitutional rights, and it doesn't necessarily arise from a clear crime. In Oregon, Republicans largely opposed the billand so did some Democrats. However, the bill was sponsored by Senator Brian Boquist (R-Dallas), who drafted it after his stepson, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, committed suicide, according to The Oregonian.

Boquist hoped that the bill would allow authorities to intervene, particularly in cases where troubled veterans became a demonstrable danger to themselves or others. Boquist was the only Republican who voted in favor of the billit was carried by Oregon's Democrat majority in the House and Senate.

There are still plenty of people who oppose such laws, because of what they allow authorities to do. And they might askquite reasonablywould an ERPO law in Florida have even caught Cruz? Would taking his guns have been enough?

What the Data Says

Connecticut implemented their ERPO law in 1999. A 2016 study on the law's effects in Connecticut found that the law was at least somewhat effective in reducing suicides. The academics who carried out the study, largely professors from Duke University, concluded that "10 to 20 gun seizures were carried out for every 1 suicide averted." Of some 762 gun seizures, 21 people still managed to commit suicide, only 6 of them with guns. The study did not address murders or mass shootings.

States with ERPO laws tend to see an uptick in the law's use after mass shootings, according to the New York Times. In recent years, as mass shootings have become more common, that usage has only continued to rise.

The most common scenario for the law's employment has been in cases of suicide risk. It's more difficult to tell in which cases the law has been effective in preventing murders or mass shootings.

Although Connecticut has boasted such a law for over almost two decades, it did not prevent the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. in 2012. However, there was never any petition for an ERPO to take the shooter's guns. This could lend credence to the argument that an ERPO law in Florida may have still missed Cruzor that these laws deserve greater publicity and support.

The National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups have largely opposed such laws on the grounds that they may step on due process or Second Amendment right. However, it remains to be seen how public opinion in various states may swing after the Parkland shooting. The Associated Press reports that Governor Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, now supports a "red flag" law in Ohio, among other gun control measures.

The issue may be one of increments. The Umpqua Community College shooting in Oregon, our last mass-casualty event, came before the ERPO law was passed. However, the effectiveness of an ERPO depends entirely on people identifying warning signs and taking the appropriate stepswhich may perfectly explain Attorney General Rosenblum's statement on Friday.

Many of us are asking right now how we can better keep Oregonians safe and keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people," said Attorney General Rosenblum. "While there is still a lot of work to do, Oregon has made significant gains to strengthen our gun safety laws. This is the first in a series of one-pagers on these new laws. It is my hope that all Oregonians know about these laws so we can get guns and other weapons out of the hands of people who shouldnt have them.MEDFORD, Ore. -- Students from Oregon Institute of Technology and Klamath Community College joined students from Rogue Community College in Medford and Southern Oregon University for an informative day of meetings with local technology-savvy companies in Medford.

Multiple local technology and engineering businesses were a part of the Rogue Tech Tour.

The annual tour is designed to introduce students in technology-related fields to potential employment opportunities in hopes of reassuring students of employment opportunities in Southern Oregon.

The tour began at the Million Air Building in Medford, where students were able to meet multiple companies to network and discuss employment opportunities.

Students then toured multiple companies in downtown Medford. Students interested in embedded systems were able to meet with a variety of relevant companies at Rogue Community College.

According to SOREDI and the Rogue Workforce Partnership, there is a great demand for technology skills in Southern Oregon. Many local tech positions offer an entry level annual salary of $50,000, which is above the average wage for our two-county region.Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Amarjeet Sohi responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, June 5, 2017. Leadership at a new federal infrastructure financing agency has been told to largely avoid the riskiest of investment options to help private companies make projects a reality, and deliver early wins to show its value. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian WyldBritish Columbia Premier John Horgan listens during a housing announcement in Coquitlam, B.C., on Friday April 13, 2018. British Columbia's government has issued a progress report on permits for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, just as Horgan readies to travel to Ottawa for a meeting on the controversial project. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl DyckMissiles streak across the Damascus skyline as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Hassan AmmarIn this image provided by the Conway (Ark.) Police Department, Robert Rook is seen in this June 3, 2016, photo. An Associated Press investigation finds that even as Hollywood moguls, elite journalists and politicians have been pushed out of their jobs or resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct, the world of medicine is more forgiving. Rook was allowed to keep his family practice open, so long as heAos chaperoned, despite facing multiple criminal charges for rape. Prosecutors subsequently downgraded the charges to more than 20 counts of sexual assault in the second- and third-degree, charges for which Rook says he is innocent. (Conway Police Department via AP)Attorney Joanna Hendon, representing President Donald Trump, second right, talks to Michael Avenatti, attorney and spokesperson for adult film actress Stormy Daniels, second left, at Federal court, Friday, April 13, 2018, in New York. A hearing has been scheduled before U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood to address President Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen's request for a temporary restraining order related to the judicial warrant that authorized a search of his Manhattan office, apartment and hotel room this week. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)FILE - In this June 7, 2017 file photo, then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe appears before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Capitol Hill in Washington. McCabe misled investigators multiple times about his role in a news media disclosure about Hillary Clinton just days before the 2016 presidential election, according to a Justice Department watchdog report. The report alleges that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak with a Wall Street Journal reporter for a story about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation and then misled FBI and Justice Department officials when later questioned about it. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)FILE - In this May 2, 2003 file photo, President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast. As he declares the U.S.-led airstrikes against Syria a success, President Donald Trump is adopting a phrase that a previous president came to regret _ Aumission accomplished.Au Back in 2003, a flight suit-clad President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have endedAu _ just six weeks after the invasion. But the war dragged on for many years after that. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)A protester holds a burning U.S. flag during a rally outside the U.S. embassy in Athens, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Thousands of supporters of the Greek Communist party marched to the embassy during an anti-war rally opposing the military strikes by western countries in Syria. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)In this image released by the Department of Defense, a U.S. Air Force B-1 Bomber separates from the boom pod after receiving fuel from an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker on April 13, 2018, en route to strike chemical weapons targets in Syria. President Donald Trump declared "Mission Accomplished" for a U.S.-led allied missile attack on Syria's chemical weapons program, but the Pentagon said the pummeling of three chemical-related facilities left enough others intact to enable the Assad government to use banned weapons against civilians if it chooses. (Department of Defense via AP)FILE - This March 20, 2016, file photo shows Hart family of Woodland, Wash., at a Bernie Sanders rally in Vancouver, Wash. A body was recovered Saturday, April 7, 2018, in the vicinity where an SUV plunged off a Northern California cliff last month, killing the family of eight in what authorities suspect may have been an intentional crash. One of the women were drunk when she drove her large family off a Northern California cliff last month and her wife and several children had large amounts of a drug in their systems that can cause drowsiness, authorities said Friday, April 13, 2018. (Tristan Fortsch/KATU News via AP, File)ALLEGANY, Ore.  Oregon State Police have identified the man found dead in a truck submerged in the Coos River near Allegany.

Troopers say they responded to a report of a pickup in the river around 10:30 a.m. on April 11.

They say the truck was heading east on Highway 241 when it drifted off the road down a steep embankment and into the river. They have not determined why.

The vehicle was completely submerged in eight feet of water, officials said.

The driver, Kenneth Nailon, 66, of Creswell was found dead inside. No one else was in the truck.

Troopers say witnesses spotted the truck in the water and they tried to save Nailon but were unsuccessful.WASHINGTON (AP)  The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Donald Trump announced Friday.

Explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump spoke from the White House.

Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, have responded to the attack. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

Trump said the U.S. is prepared to sustain pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in London that the West had tried "every possible" diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted" by Syria and Russia, she said.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," May said. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change."

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."

Trump did not provide details on the joint U.S.-British-French attack, but it was expected to include barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace. He described the main aim as establishing "a strong deterrent" against chemical weapons use. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria. He authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said the strike was "harder" on the Syrian regime than the 2017 strike and targeted "Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure." He described it as a "a one-time shot," adding, "I believe it has sent a very strong message."

Mattis said there were "no reports of losses" on the part of U.S. and allied forces participating in the strike, which included manned aircraft.

The air campaign could frustrate those in Trump's base who oppose military intervention and are wary of open-ended conflicts.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," Trump said. "Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran  but maybe not."

The U.S. missile strike a year ago was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The strikes that hit early Saturday in Syria came hours before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were set to arrive to inspect the sight of the apparent attack.

The one-off missile strike in April 2017 targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

A broader question is whether the allied attacks are part of a revamped, coherent political strategy to end the war on terms that do not leave Assad in power.

Friday's strikes appear to signal Trump's willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. Just weeks ago, Trump said he wanted to end U.S. involvement in Syria and bring American troops home to focus on the homeland. The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

"As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," Trump said. "And great warriors they are."

The U.S. has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A U.S.-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.

Jarrod Agen, Vice President Mike Pence's deputy chief of staff, said Pence called congressional leaders from his hotel suite in Lima, Peru, to notify them of the president's plan to address the nation about the Syrian air strikes.

Pence spoke to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi before Trump's speech. Agen said Pence was unable to reach Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer before the speech but planned to speak to him after.

---

AP Writer Ken Thomas contributed from Lima, Peru.EUGENE, Ore -- A Eugene man will be honored for his service to his country and to his community.

John Gent is a World War II veteran and a lifelong volunteer. On Sunday, April 15, he will be recognized at St. Mary Catholic Church for his 75 years of service as a Knight of Columbus, a Catholic service organization.

Gent joined the Knights of Columbus when he turned 18, the same year he was drafted. Gent says he wanted to join the U.S. Navy, but was declined.

"Everything was fine mentally -- physically they said I couldn't do it because I had four teeth taken out. They did not align and I thought that was terrible," Gent said.

The U.S Army enrolled Gent with no trouble. Gent served as a plane spotter and arrived in Normandy shortly after the landings in 1944.

"I remember it pretty good. There's a lot of incidents in there. They mean something to me, but somebody else might say, "Let's turn the page and listen to something else.'"

Gent adds, "In '46, I was told I could go home and that was one of the nicest things I've heard in a long time."

Gent returned to Oregon and to volunteering. He's been a greeter at the same door at St. Mary's since 1988. Gent is also a Eucharistic Minister, an usher, and eager to help in any capacity including kitchen duty.

"If I didn't have something else I had to do, no problem. I do that, too," Gent said.

Gent doesn't think of himself as a hero, just an regular guy with a mission.

"I wanted to make the world safe for humankind, all of us."

Do you know a Hometown Hero? We're looking for first responders, active members of the military and veterans or anyone who's been a hero in someone's life. Click here for information and to submit pictures and your story.April has shown a spike in oil prices which could translate to higher travel prices for you, right as the summer travel season starts. Sara Otte Coleman, the state tourism director says this might actually improve the tourism industry for North Dakota.

Ads by the North Dakota Department of Commerce are actually targeted at states in the Midwest where traveling to North Dakota might be more economical than other vacations if gas prices are on the rise.

"It really doesn't make that much difference in the whole budget of a trip. Right now you'd be looking at about $20 more on a round trip from, say, Minneapolis to Bismarck. So in the light of, are you going to skip your vacation, are you going to not go? We don't usually think that it's a deal breaker," said Coleman.

Coleman says that higher oil prices right now might actually increase tourists coming to see what our state has to offer. Though this trend might not hold up.

"Throughout the rest of 2018, they are actually anticipating a slight downward trend in oil pricing in the US before supply and demand starts to shift prices higher in 2019 and beyond," said Justin Kringstad, ND Pipeline Authority Director.

For the rest of the year, gas prices might be going back down. Coleman says another factor affecting tourism this year might be the long winter the state has seen.

"I think that everyone is going to have so much pent up energy, and be so anxious to get out and about once it warms up in our part of the country, that I think we're going to see a strong early summer travel season once the weather lines up," said Coleman.

Thousands of reservations have already been made to tour Fort Abraham Lincoln next month.

To find more things to do across the state, go to ndtourism.comWINNESHIEK COUNTY, Iowa  A man who was in the Winneshiek County Jail is in more trouble after damaging the toilet in his cell.

Ramon Sepulveda, 37, of Postville, has been charged with felony criminal mischief in the second degree.

Sepulveda allegedly intentionally damaged/destroyed a toilet in his cell area on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

The total to repair the damage is listed at between $1,000 and $10,000 dollars.OELWEIN, Iowa  A Fayette County man is accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing three children.

Roger Allen Kline, 52 of Oelwein, is charged with three counts of 1st degree kidnapping and three counts of 1st degree sexual abuse. He was arrested Friday after a criminal complaint was filed Thursday.

Authorities say between April 4 and April 26 in 2015, Kline took three minor children from their home and put them into a commercial semi-truck he was operating at the time. Court documents state the children were taken to a park area in Oelwein, where they were handcuffed and secured to the inside of the truck while they were sexually abused.

Authorities say all three victims were under the age of 11 when they were abused.

Kline is being held without bond in the Fayette County Jail.LAKE MILLS, Iowa- With what politicians are calling a looming trade war having a big impact on farmers, Iowa Democratic candidate for Governor Fred Hubbell was in Lake Mills Friday to hear their concerns.

Hubbell said federal tariffs that china has put on agricultural goods after the United States put tariffs on steel imports are going to impact rural areas the hardest, which is why he is starting is Standing up for Iowa Farmers tour.

Its under a threat, he said. Weve already had four or five years in a row of low commodity prices and now whether its the renewable fuel standard, NAFTA or tariffs, we have a lot of challenges in agriculture.

Hubbell will be touring much of the northern half of the state this weekend.DES MOINES, Iowa  Several North Iowans were honored Friday at the 32nd Annual Main Street Iowa Awards.

Main Street Mason City and Allyson Krull, Charles City Community Revitalization and Nancy Clarke, and Greater Franklin County Area Chamber of Commerce and Sister Carmen Hernandez all won 2018 Leadership Awards, which recognize inspirational leadership and volunteers who make significant contributions to the local Main Street program.

The Main Street Iowa program is a powerful catalyst for local revitalization and community investment, says Governor Kim Reynolds. As I travel across the state, I see over and over that Main Streeters are passionate, innovative and creative. Theyre also committed to making their downtowns - and our state - a stronger, more sustainable place to live, work and raise a family.

18 individual projects were also awarded out of 117 submitted nominations and 13 communities were recognized for the private dollar investments made in the purchase and revitalization of properties within their respective commercial districts.

For a full list of award winners, click here.ROCHESTER, Minn. --

"I want the consumer to make their choice. I want them to be informed - that's all I can do. The consumer has more power to fight this than I do," says Terry Throndson, owner of Throndson Oil and LP Gas.

Beginning May 1st, Minnesota will require 20% biodiesel to be blended with between the months of April through the end of September. Previously, only 10% biodeisel was mandated.

From October through March, only 5% is required.

Throndson says that because biodiesel is more expensive, it's going to cause increases in prices for himself and consumers. He is writing letters to legislatures expressing his concern for the new mandate.

"If they know what's going in this fuel, they should be upset," says Throndson. He explains he wants consumers to be informed about what is going into their tanks, and to have the choice of what fuel they use.

According the the U.S. Department of Energy, 100% biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 74% compared to petroleum diesel.Winter Weather Advisory

Areas Affected: Allamakee; Chickasaw; Clayton; Fayette; Winneshiek

NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa)

...Periods of Wintry Weather Continue into Sunday... .A complex spring storm system will continue to bring rounds of wintry precipitation to the area tonight and Sunday. The wintry mix of mainly snow and sleet will gradually change over to all snow for most areas Sunday, with the possibility for locally heavy snow at times as well. By the time the snow ends Sunday evening, additional accumulations of 5 to 12 inches are expected from the Interstate 90 corridor and north, highest across central Wisconsin. South of the Interstate 90 corridor, additional snow and sleet amounts of 2 to 5 inches are likely to occur. Along with the wintry precipitation, northeast winds gusting to 30 to 40 mph through tonight will produce areas of blowing snow, further reducing visibility. Near white-out conditions could occur at times across southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa as well as along ridge top locations into Wisconsin. ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Periods of snow and sleet continue, becoming all snow on Sunday. Additional snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches are expected.

* WHERE...Portions of southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa.

* WHEN...Until 7 PM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Plan on difficult travel conditions. Tree branches could fall. Winds gusting as high as 45 mph will cause patchy blowing and drifting snow.

A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow, sleet or freezing rain will cause travel difficulties. Expect slippery roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

Blizzard Warning

Areas Affected: Anoka; Blue Earth; Brown; Carver; Chippewa; Dakota; Faribault; Freeborn; Goodhue; Hennepin; Kandiyohi; Lac Qui Parle; Le Sueur; Martin; McLeod; Meeker; Nicollet; Ramsey; Redwood; Renville; Rice; Scott; Sibley; Steele; Waseca; Washington; Watonwan; Wright;

NWS Minneapolis (Southern Minnesota)

...HISTORIC WINTER STORM CONTINUES THIS EVENING... .Widespread snowfall totals of 6 to 13 inches, along with visibilities down to a few hundred feet at times, have been reported across the warning area. Please stay off the roads unless it is an emergency. Heavy snow will continue this evening across much of central Minnesota and west central Wisconsin. Snowfall rates of around 1 to 2 inches per hour can be expected through the early evening hours in central Minnesota through west central Wisconsin. The snow intensity will decrease later tonight, but light snow will continue on Sunday. A Blizzard Warning remains in effect until 7 AM Sunday for the southern third of Minnesota and far western Wisconsin. A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect to the north and east of the Blizzard Warning, including a portion of central Minnesota and the rest of west central Wisconsin. A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect for a few counties in Minnesota that will receive less snow. Total snow accumulations of 8 to 20 inches are expected in the warning areas by the time the storm ends Sunday. Totals will taper off to 4 to 8 inches in the advisory areas across central and west central Minnesota. There will likely be a sharp gradient on the north side of the heavy snow band. ...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 AM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Blizzard conditions. Winds gusting as high as 40 mph will cause whiteout conditions in blowing snow. Significant drifting of the snow is likely. Additional snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches, with localized amounts up to 6 inches, are expected.

* WHERE...Portions of west central Wisconsin and central, east central, south central, southeast, southwest and west central Minnesota.

* WHEN...Until 7 AM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Travel will be very dangerous to impossible.

A Blizzard Warning means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring. Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely. This will lead to whiteout conditions, making travel extremely dangerous. Do not travel. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle. The latest road conditions for Minnesota can be found at 511mn.org and for Wisconsin at 511wi.gov, or by calling 5 1 1 in either state.

Blizzard Warning

Areas Affected: Calhoun; Emmet; Hancock; Humboldt; Kossuth; Palo Alto; Pocahontas; Sac; Winnebago

NWS DesMoines (Central Iowa)

...Blizzard Conditions Possible Through Tonight Across Northern Iowa... .A brief break in the precipitation has developed across a large portion of central Iowa by mid afternoon. Expect precipitation to return through this evening. Strong and gusty winds of 25 to 35 mph will gust over 45 mph at times. In addition, periods of moderate to heavy snow are possible over northern Iowa. The combination of strong wind and heavy snow will lead to blizzard conditions across portions of north central and northwest Iowa. Winter weather conditions will exist south of the Blizzard Warning area where a mix of snow, freezing drizzle and wind will occur including the Ames and Des Moines areas. ...BLIZZARD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 AM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Blizzard conditions. Winds gusting in excess of 45 mph will cause whiteout conditions in blowing snow. Significant drifting of the snow is likely. Additional snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are expected with total amounts in the 3 to 6 inch range with locally higher amounts.

* WHERE...Hancock County.

* WHEN...Until 7 AM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Travel will be very dangerous to impossible. Tree branches could fall.

A Blizzard Warning means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring. Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely. This will lead to whiteout conditions, making travel extremely dangerous. Do not travel. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

Blizzard Warning

Areas Affected: Cerro Gordo; Worth

NWS DesMoines (Central Iowa)

...Blizzard Conditions Possible Through Tonight Across Northern Iowa... .A brief break in the precipitation has developed across a large portion of central Iowa by mid afternoon. Expect precipitation to return through this evening. Strong and gusty winds of 25 to 35 mph will gust over 45 mph at times. In addition, periods of moderate to heavy snow are possible over northern Iowa. The combination of strong wind and heavy snow will lead to blizzard conditions across portions of north central and northwest Iowa. Winter weather conditions will exist south of the Blizzard Warning area where a mix of snow, freezing drizzle and wind will occur including the Ames and Des Moines areas. ...BLIZZARD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 AM CDT SUNDAY... ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM TO 1 PM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Blizzard conditions. Snow expected with a brief period of freezing drizzle possible. Winds gusting in excess of 45 mph will cause whiteout conditions in blowing snow. Significant drifting of the snow is likely. Additional snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are expected. Total snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches are expected.

* WHERE...Northern Iowa.

* WHEN...For the Blizzard Warning, until 7 AM CDT Sunday. For the Winter Weather Advisory, from 7 AM to 1 PM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Travel will be very dangerous to impossible. Plan on slippery road conditions. Expect reduced visibilities at times.

A Blizzard Warning means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring. Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely. This will lead to whiteout conditions, making travel extremely dangerous. Do not travel. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1. A Winter Weather Advisory for snow means periods of snow will cause primarily travel difficulties. Expect snow covered roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

Winter Weather Advisory

Areas Affected: Cerro Gordo; Worth

NWS DesMoines (Central Iowa)

...Blizzard Conditions Possible Through Tonight Across Northern Iowa... .A brief break in the precipitation has developed across a large portion of central Iowa by mid afternoon. Expect precipitation to return through this evening. Strong and gusty winds of 25 to 35 mph will gust over 45 mph at times. In addition, periods of moderate to heavy snow are possible over northern Iowa. The combination of strong wind and heavy snow will lead to blizzard conditions across portions of north central and northwest Iowa. Winter weather conditions will exist south of the Blizzard Warning area where a mix of snow, freezing drizzle and wind will occur including the Ames and Des Moines areas. ...BLIZZARD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 AM CDT SUNDAY... ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM TO 1 PM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Blizzard conditions. Snow expected with a brief period of freezing drizzle possible. Winds gusting in excess of 45 mph will cause whiteout conditions in blowing snow. Significant drifting of the snow is likely. Additional snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are expected. Total snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches are expected.

* WHERE...Northern Iowa.

* WHEN...For the Blizzard Warning, until 7 AM CDT Sunday. For the Winter Weather Advisory, from 7 AM to 1 PM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Travel will be very dangerous to impossible. Plan on slippery road conditions. Expect reduced visibilities at times.

A Blizzard Warning means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring. Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely. This will lead to whiteout conditions, making travel extremely dangerous. Do not travel. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1. A Winter Weather Advisory for snow means periods of snow will cause primarily travel difficulties. Expect snow covered roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

Winter Storm Warning

Areas Affected: Dodge; Olmsted; Wabasha; Winona

NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa)

...Periods of Wintry Weather Continue into Sunday... .A complex spring storm system will continue to bring rounds of wintry precipitation to the area tonight and Sunday. The wintry mix of mainly snow and sleet will gradually change over to all snow for most areas Sunday, with the possibility for locally heavy snow at times as well. By the time the snow ends Sunday evening, additional accumulations of 5 to 12 inches are expected from the Interstate 90 corridor and north, highest across central Wisconsin. South of the Interstate 90 corridor, additional snow and sleet amounts of 2 to 5 inches are likely to occur. Along with the wintry precipitation, northeast winds gusting to 30 to 40 mph through tonight will produce areas of blowing snow, further reducing visibility. Near white-out conditions could occur at times across southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa as well as along ridge top locations into Wisconsin. ...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Periods of snow and blowing snow continue. Additional snow accumulations of 4 to 7 inches are expected, with locally higher amounts possible closer to the Mississippi River.

* WHERE...Wabasha, Dodge, Olmsted and Winona Counties.

* WHEN...Until 7 PM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Plan on difficult travel conditions. Winds gusting as high as 40 mph will cause areas of blowing and drifting snow.

A Winter Storm Warning for snow and blowing snow means severe winter weather conditions will make travel very hazardous or impossible. If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

Winter Storm Warning

Areas Affected: Fillmore; Mower

NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa)

...Periods of Wintry Weather Continue into Sunday... .A complex spring storm system will continue to bring rounds of wintry precipitation to the area tonight and Sunday. The wintry mix of mainly snow and sleet will gradually change over to all snow for most areas Sunday, with the possibility for locally heavy snow at times as well. By the time the snow ends Sunday evening, additional accumulations of 5 to 12 inches are expected from the Interstate 90 corridor and north, highest across central Wisconsin. South of the Interstate 90 corridor, additional snow and sleet amounts of 2 to 5 inches are likely to occur. Along with the wintry precipitation, northeast winds gusting to 30 to 40 mph through tonight will produce areas of blowing snow, further reducing visibility. Near white-out conditions could occur at times across southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa as well as along ridge top locations into Wisconsin. ...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Periods of snow and blowing snow continue. Additional snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are expected.

* WHERE...In Iowa, Mitchell, Howard and Floyd Counties. In Minnesota, Mower and Fillmore Counties.

* WHEN...Until 7 PM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Plan on difficult travel conditions. Winds gusting as high as 40 mph will cause areas of blowing and drifting snow.

A Winter Storm Warning for snow and blowing snow means severe winter weather conditions will make travel very hazardous or impossible. If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

Winter Storm Warning

Areas Affected: Floyd; Howard; Mitchell

NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa)

...Periods of Wintry Weather Continue into Sunday... .A complex spring storm system will continue to bring rounds of wintry precipitation to the area tonight and Sunday. The wintry mix of mainly snow and sleet will gradually change over to all snow for most areas Sunday, with the possibility for locally heavy snow at times as well. By the time the snow ends Sunday evening, additional accumulations of 5 to 12 inches are expected from the Interstate 90 corridor and north, highest across central Wisconsin. South of the Interstate 90 corridor, additional snow and sleet amounts of 2 to 5 inches are likely to occur. Along with the wintry precipitation, northeast winds gusting to 30 to 40 mph through tonight will produce areas of blowing snow, further reducing visibility. Near white-out conditions could occur at times across southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa as well as along ridge top locations into Wisconsin. ...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Periods of snow and blowing snow continue. Additional snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are expected.

* WHERE...In Iowa, Mitchell, Howard and Floyd Counties. In Minnesota, Mower and Fillmore Counties.

* WHEN...Until 7 PM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Plan on difficult travel conditions. Winds gusting as high as 40 mph will cause areas of blowing and drifting snow.

A Winter Storm Warning for snow and blowing snow means severe winter weather conditions will make travel very hazardous or impossible. If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

Winter Weather Advisory

Areas Affected: Franklin

NWS DesMoines (Central Iowa)

...Blizzard Conditions Possible Through Tonight Across Northern Iowa... .A brief break in the precipitation has developed across a large portion of central Iowa by mid afternoon. Expect precipitation to return through this evening. Strong and gusty winds of 25 to 35 mph will gust over 45 mph at times. In addition, periods of moderate to heavy snow are possible over northern Iowa. The combination of strong wind and heavy snow will lead to blizzard conditions across portions of north central and northwest Iowa. Winter weather conditions will exist south of the Blizzard Warning area where a mix of snow, freezing drizzle and wind will occur including the Ames and Des Moines areas. ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM CDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Mixed precipitation. Total snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches and minor ice accumulations expected.

* WHERE...Northern Iowa.

* WHEN...Until 1 PM CDT Sunday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Plan on difficult travel conditions. Tree branches could fall. Expect reduced visibilities at times.

A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow, sleet or freezing rain will cause travel difficulties. Expect slippery roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.Gold futures (June 2018 Comex contract) gained $6.70 today and are currently trading at $1,348.60 per ounce. Gold closed higher on four of the five trading days this week, resulting in an $11 gain. This marks the second consecutive week of higher pricing for gold.

However, it is the high achieved this week that is the most significant event. On Wednesday, gold futures traded to an intraday high of $1,369.30. This price point is well above the three former highs that were achieved in September of last year and during the first quarter of this year.

This marks the fourth time since September 2017 that gold prices have broken above $1,350 per ounce. Prior to that, these rallies were unable to sustain a price point of even $1,300.

What makes Wednesdays high so significant is the fact that you have to go back to August 2016 to find a time in which gold traded at this price level. The highs achieved during the 2016 rally took gold pricing just above $1,375 per ounce.

More importantly, the highs achieved during that rally were the first occurrence of a higher high since the multiyear correction began in the middle of 2011. It is for that reason that that price point is so significant now.

Since the end of 2016, gold has traded with a series of higher lows on multiple occasions. However, each rally following the conclusion of a correction was unable to trade to a higher high. Wednesdays high at $1,369.30 was, in fact, the closest gold prices have come close to the former high.

It is the geopolitical events that have fueled this current rally and could ultimately take gold above the high achieved in 2016.

On a technical basis, that would confirm that the lows achieved at the end of 2015 were the absolute conclusion of the multiyear correction. That is why this weeks high is so significant.

Currently, gold is once again becoming a safe haven-asset reacting to the strong possibility that the United States will initiate a military response to the recent chemical weapon use in Syria.

The current crisis is much different from the response President Trump took after a chemical weapon attack by Syria last year. The Russians responded to a potential U.S. attack by warning that missiles fired into Syria would be shot down and their launch sites targeted. It is the last part of that statement that is so worrisome.

Obviously, a retaliatory strike by Russia targeting either U.S. carriers or airplanes could be catastrophic and devastating globally. It is for that reason that the United States is working with allies to create a unified plan for a military strike.

Whatever the outcome of this current crisis, I fear that it will get worse before it gets better, which would be bullish for gold. Addressing that fact, Daniela Cambone, Editor in Chief of Kitco News, made the most appropriate comment in her commentary today titled Be Careful What You Wish For.

For those who would like more information, simply use this link.

Wishing you as always, good trading,Steve Holland, Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S., British and French forces pounded Syria with air strikes early on Saturday in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House late on Friday. As he spoke, explosions rocked Damascus. British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron said the UK and France had joined in the attack.

Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Assads government stopped its use of chemical weapons.

The strikes were the biggest intervention by Western powers against Assad in the countrys seven-year-old civil war and pitted the United States and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad.

A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Trump said in a televised address from the White House.

Speaking of Assad and his suspected role in last weeks chemical weapons attack, Trump said, These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.

A U.S. official told Reuters the strikes were aimed at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.

At least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus in the early hours of Saturday and smoke was seen rising over the Syrian capital, a Reuters witness said. A second witness said the Barzah district of Damascus had been hit in the strikes. Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research center.

At a Pentagon briefing, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford said the targets included a Syrian research facility and a chemical weapons storage facility.

A second U.S. official said targets were being carefully selected with the aim of damaging Assads ability to conduct further gas attacks, while avoiding the risk of spreading poisonous fallout in civilian areas.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, Trump said.

The U.S. president, who has tried to build good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had sharply critical words for both Russia and Iran, which have backed Assads government.

To Iran and to Russia, I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? Trump said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she had authorized British armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability. She described it as a limited and targeted strike aimed at minimizing civilian casualties.

The military action is not about intervening in Syrias civil war or changing its government, she said.

It was not immediately clear how extensive the strikes were. U.S. officials had earlier said that Trump had pressed for a more aggressive U.S. strike against Syria than his military chiefs had recommended.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Matt and other military leaders had warned that the larger the attack, the greater the risk of a confrontation with Russia, two U.S. officials said.

Trump made clear in his eight-minute television address that he is wary of a deeper entanglement in Syria, where about 2,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to fight Islamic State.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, he said.

The air strikes, however, risk dragging the United States further into Syrias civil war, particularly if Russia, Iran and Ass opt to retaliate.

Reporting by Steve Holland, Tim Ahmann, Eric Beech, Lesley Wroughton in Washington D.C.; Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul and Tom Perry in Beirut, Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge in London, and Jean-Baptiste Vey, Geert de Clerq and Matthias Blamont in Paris; Writing by Yara Bayoumy and Warren Strobel; Editing by Clive McKeefShenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Thunderstorms - some may contain locally heavy rain, especially this evening. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms - some may contain locally heavy rain, especially this evening. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.U.S., Allies strike Syrian targets in response to regimes chemical attacks

By Jim Garamone, DoD



WASHINGTON, April 13, 2018  U.S., French and British forces have struck targets in Syria as punishment for Syrian leader Bashar Assad using chemical weapons against his own people.



President Donald J. Trump announced the combined force launched precision strikes against the chemical weapons capabilities.



The strike against the capabilities is designed to stop Assad from using the banned weapons.



This is the second time the United States struck Assads chemical network. In April 2017, Trump ordered an attack against the Shayrat air base after Syrian aircraft at the base dropped bombs containing the nerve agent sarin. Some 58 missiles hit the aircraft and chemical weapons facilities at the base.



But the Syrian dictator did not learn the lesson, and the regime again launched poison gas against its own people April 7.





Evil and Despicable Act



This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime, Trump said during an announcement from the White House tonight. The evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead.



Chemical weapons have been banned since their widespread use during World War I. The purpose of our action tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, the president said. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, French and British response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power.



The president said the United States is prepared to sustain the response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.



The Syrian regime is propped up by Russia and Iran. To Iran and Russia I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with a mass murderer of innocent men, women and children? the president said. The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run, by supporting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.



Defense Secretary James N. Mattis called the chemical attack beyond the pale when he testified before the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. The attack, he said, was in the worst interest of civilization itself.





Not a Widening of U.S. Involvement



The action does not indicate a widening of U.S. involvement in Syria, the president said. U.S. troops are in eastern Syria to advise Syrian Democratic Forces in actions to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.



Chemical attacks, however, are a different and horrendous exception. The use of such weapons on civilians is particularly heinous. In 2013, President [Vladimir] Putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of Syrias chemical weapons, Trump said. Assads recent attack and todays response are a direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise.



The Russians are now complicit in Syrian use of such weapons, and the nation must decide if they will continue its partnership with Assad or join civilized nations as a force for stability and peace, the president said.



The United States remains committed to the Geneva process and the U.N.-orchestrated effort. Russia continues to block this.

Published April 13, 2018VRMA favors Tennessee Senate step to protect property rights, fuel Tennessees tourism economy





WASHINGTON, DC  After the Tennessee Senate passed SB1086, sending the Short Term Rental Unit Act back to the Tennessee House of Representatives, Mike Copps, Executive Director of the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) issued the following statement:



While the final bill that passed the Senate might not be perfect, it is a step in the right direction. However, we do feel that it may prove difficult to enforce and overall does not accomplish our goal of protecting the property rights of second homeowners and statewide standards for the vacation rental industry. We hope that future versions are more straightforward and permissive.



In general, overturning local bans is the right move for Tennessee, for the states residents, and for the states economy. With this bill in place, most regular Tennesseans looking to make a living and contribute to the state and local economy will still be able to do so. It will encourage tourism in the Volunteer State by providing travelers with the lodging options that they want and that they are increasingly looking for when choosing vacation destinations.



In addition to luring visitors to the state, the vacation rental industry offers immeasurable direct and indirect benefits, with second homeowners providing a significant portion of tax revenues and travelers staying in vacation rentals spending higher than average sums of money in the local community, generating additional tax revenue, employment, and economic development. For example, a recent study demonstrated that Nashvilles short-term rental market had a $477 million economic impact on the community.



With the passage of these regulations, the role of a professional vacation rental manager is more important than ever. These professionals in our industry bring a core set of principles to the job, including a dedication to quality service, an understanding of the 360-degree guest experience, knowledge of the latest safety techniques, and the key relationships needed to address almost any issue that might arise. Their service-oriented backgrounds have uniquely equipped them to help their guests with the entire experience from reservation to goodbye.



Under the legislation, communities are prevented from banning short-term rentals that are already operating, however it does preserve some local prohibitions of renting a home as a short-term rental. An amendment to the bill, which cleared the chamber, abolishes the grandfathered status if the property is sold. Local governments would still be able to regulate the industry for health and safety reasons. In addition, the bill clarifies how lodging taxes are to be applied and collected.



Copps continued, We hope that the Tennessee House and Senate will continue to consider the protection of rights for thousands of property owners in Tennessee as they work on a final version of HB1020/SB1086, solidifying the state governments position of standing for Tennessees tourism economy.



The legislation passed the State Senate by a vote of 24-5. An earlier version of the bill passed the House by a vote of 53-35.



VRMA is the leading voice in advancing professionally managed vacation rentals as a safe and reliable lodging option for traveling consumers. VRMAs top mission is to drive professionalism in the industry, preparing managers to more responsibly represent and work with property owners and local communities to provide guests with the highest standards in maintenance, housekeeping, guest protection, safety, proper inspections, and a host of other issues. This high level of professionalism is the key differentiating factor between professionally managed rentals and owner-managed or non-professionally managed properties.

Published April 14, 2018













Kim Jong-un should keep up with the world



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's charm offensive and diplomatic overtures have raised a question: Is he really changing his leadership style and his policy of building a nuclear arsenal and achieving economic growth at the same time? No one knows for sure, except Kim himself.



Kim, 34, is widely known as being an unpredictable and volatile young leader of the reclusive country. He was educated in Switzerland, and took the helm of North Korea in a hereditary succession after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011.



He was apparently trying to look and behave like his grandfather and founder of the country, Kim Il-sung. He was also seen as a ruthless dictator who ordered his men to kill his uncle Jang Song-thaek and his half-brother Kim Jong-nam.



But now, he looks like a totally different person. He has begun to wave an olive branch toward Seoul and Washington since the start of this year. This marks an abrupt change from a series of provocations  long-range missile launches and a nuclear test last year.



Kim has gone on a charm offensive by sending his sister, Kim Yo-jong, to the South during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. He has expressed his willingness to denuclearize the North, offering to hold an inter-Korean summit and a North Korea-U.S. summit.



Kim is scheduled to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in, April 27, and U.S. President Donald Trump in May or June. In late March, he made a surprise visit to China and met President Xi Jinping. His aim was to restore the Pyongyang-Beijing alliance and seek Chinese help in dealing with Moon and Trump in the upcoming summits.



Kim has also shown some signs of changing how to govern the country. On Tuesday, he presided over a meeting of the Politburo of the ruling Worker's Party ahead of the Supreme People's Assembly sessions. It is worth noting that he lowered the status of the head of the military's powerful General Political Bureau to a lay member of the State Affairs Commission.



The move could weaken the military's influence over state affairs. Kim appears to be trying to strengthen the role of the party in running the country just as other socialist countries do. It is considered a positive sign that Kim and his country are changing.



One may argue that he is just attempting to portray himself and North Korea as a normal leader and normal country before the denuclearization talks. This attempt was evident when he was accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-ju when meeting with Xi as well as having dinner with the South Korean delegates led by National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong early last month.



Yet it is too early to tell if Kim has changed. He might try to change his tactics without altering any key strategies. However, what's for sure is that Kim and his country cannot survive by sticking to the old ways. In this sense, he should change for the better to keep up with the world.

By Emanuel Pastreich





Emanuel Pastreich

The Author interviewed political scientist Francis Fukuyama, best known for his book The End of History and the Last Man, and asked him what advice he had for young people in this age of growing uncertainty.

Emanuel Pastreich:

Many young people feel trapped these days. They find themselves in a system that places them at a disadvantage and there does not seem to be any way to change it. There is a profound gap between what they expect can be achieved and what actually happens.



Why is our society this way? Why is there such a gap between what young people feel is important and what actually becomes policy? What is the origin of that gap?



Francis Fukuyama:

There are several ways of answering that question.

At the most basic level, young people have always felt that they are left out of the system. They are young. They do not have the social status and the qualifications that would allow them to participate in the political process. They understand vividly current problems but they are not involved in the decision-making. That has been a constant throughout history, especially modern history.



Francis Fukuyama



But there are also changes within the labor market itself  most obvious in the United States but also true for Asia. Finding a decent job is increasingly difficult and the prerequisites for a job are increasing steadily. Essentially, if you do not have the right set of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), you are disqualified from even applying for many jobs. Employers will not even look at you on the basis of your major.By Jacco Zwetsloot





My first time on an American military base was an unauthorized entry. Such a trespass would have been near impossible after the events of September 11, 2001, which led to tougher security at all U.S. installations around the world.





I was with five friends, and we were discussing where to go for dinner. One of us had a base pass, and suggested eating at the Dragon Hill Lodge, the hotel on Yongsan Garrison. We all agreed, but there were too many of us all to be signed on as guests.





Our hostess could only escort four people at a time. It was decided that we would walk on to one of the least strict gates. We had to walk five abreast, with the base pass holder closest to the gate guards, and the rest of us on the far side, showing our alien registration cards. Somehow it worked, and we were through.





We went to Oasis, a Tex-Mex restaurant. For me it was a very unusual experience because I was in Korea yet in a completely American environment, eating Western food and served in English. I enjoyed the incongruousness and discontinuity, but also the feeling that I was somewhere I didn't have a right to be. Also, one of the waiters dressed and styled his hair like Elvis in his Vegas years.





Living in Paju meant that there were many U.S. bases nearby because Paju is inside the Western Corridor, part of the 2nd Infantry Division north of Seoul, and west of the main military hubs of Uijeongbu and Dongducheon.





Not far from my first apartment in Geumchon there were Camp Howze and Camp Edwards. Further north, near Munsan, lay Camp Garry Owen, the USFK Eagle FM substation, Camp Giant, and Camp Stanton.





When Amos and I were joined in September 1996 by a third teacher named Gerry, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was married to a woman serving in the U.S. Navy. because Gerry was retired in the U.S., that made him a military dependent, meaning he also had a pass.





Gerry and Amos quickly had a falling out (as Amos and I had had some time earlier) so Gerry and I spent most evenings eating out together. We learned to appreciate Korean food, but at least once a week one or both of us had a craving for something Western, and that would mean a visit to one of the camps.





We got to see all of them eventually, and Gerry became a member of the library at Camp Edwards, regularly borrowing novels.





The next year I moved to the outskirts of Pyeongtaek, where my new neighbor and colleague Robert also had a base pass, by dint of his stint in the Army many years previously. Almost every Friday, he, Daniel and I took two buses, transferring in downtown Pyeongtaek, to get to Camp Humphreys on the other side of the city. The trip took at least 45 minutes, made to seem even longer by Friday evening traffic, but it gave us a satisfaction to sit down in the Nightwatch Cafe and eat a steak or some ribs and watch American television.





If we felt like something "fancier," we took a base shuttle bus to the other side of Camp Humphreys to a restaurant with a quieter atmosphere. While it is now a much bigger base with more soldiers and more facilities, back then we knew of only two worthwhile places to eat.





In Korea in the late '90s, places that served ribs, steak or other fatty but often comforting meals, were rare and expensive. Some American restaurant chains could be found, like Chilis, TGI Fridays, and the now disappeared Coco's family restaurants, but mostly in Seoul or Busan. These eateries certainly did not have branches where we lived. And it was hard to get a nice burger anywhere.





All bases in the Western Corridor were shut in 2004, and the land turned over to the Korean government. Just before the closure, I went back to Camp Garry Owens with a Korean friend to have a final meal in the club.





At the bar I met an elderly African-American gentleman who told me he had lived in Korea for decades, and had a house somewhere near the base. He had first come just after the Korean War with the U.S. Army, and despite returning to the U.S. after his tour, had ultimately come back to Korea to live.





He had remarried to a Korean woman, who died of cancer in the 1990s, leaving him all alone. With no family in the U.S. to go back to, and his only regular hobby seemingly playing the slot machines and having a beer at the base, I wondered what he would do after Camp Garry Owens closed.





e told me he would keep living here, but travel to the Philippines when the winters became too harsh. Sadly, I never saw him again.





The next year, in 2005, I was able to get my own base pass. Members of the American Chamber of Commerce used to be able to register for one via an indirect route. This program was eventually stopped due to abuse  some people were signing on guests in exchange for money so that they (the guests) could play slot machines.





Daniel and I both got passes and visited to Yongsan Garrison quite often, together with Robert and our wives. To us, the atmosphere was almost that of a country club: we enjoyed eating brunch in the Dragon Hill Lodge and then sitting outside when the weather was good, listening to birds fly overhead.





The idyllic nature of the surroundings was in stark variance to the nature of what is, after all, a giant foreign military base in the center of one of the world's largest and busiest capital cities.





An interest developed in the history of Yongsan, and I learned that about one-third of the buildings on it were built when it was the headquarters for the Japanese Korean Army during the period of colonial rule.





Later, my friend Master Sergeant Kim Cheon-su told me that before the Japanese, Ching Dynasty China had also housed a small garrison in what is now part of Camp Coyner in Huam-dong. Clearly, the history goes back much further than September 1950, when the American forces took Yongsan back from the retreating North Korean army.





In 2012 I took a job inside the Dragon Hill Lodge, but that is another story. However, I would like to direct people interested in learning or sharing their own stories about Yongsan Garrison to the website

, which is an important and worthwhile project started by my friends Daniel Oh and Coco Cugat to archive digitally the history of Yongsan before the real thing disappears.





The thoughts in this column do not necessary reflect those of HMP Law.





Jacco Zwetsloot is Director of Business Innovation at HMP Law.By Andrew Hammond





Tuesday marked the 20th anniversary of the 1998 Good Friday agreement which sought to put an end to around 30 years of conflict stemming from tensions between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.



While the deal has achieved significant success, it now faces a new test with Brexit which raises the specter of a "harder border" between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the threat of renewed sectarian tensions.



Less than a year before the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the EU, and despite last December's interim Brexit agreement and March's transitional deal, progress has been very slow on the future status of the border between the Republic of Ireland (which will remain in the EU) and Northern Ireland (which will leave the Brussels-based club along with the rest of the United Kingdom). Indeed, Ireland may be the last big Brexit block to a final EU-U.K. deal.



To be sure, all parties have repeatedly stated their desire to avoid a harder border (any kind of physical border or visible customs checks), and the preference of all sides is to keep an open border in the context of an over-arching future post-Brexit U.K.-EU trade deal. Yet, Brussels insists such a frictionless border is incompatible with Prime Minister Theresa May's promise of the United Kingdom leaving the EU Customs Union.



Last year, the EU's Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and European Parliament chief negotiator Guy Verhofstadt poured cold water on the U.K.'s Brexit negotiating publication on Ireland with its call for continuation, post-Brexit, of the current soft border even if Northern Ireland left the Customs Union.



Verhofstadt described London's positions as a "fantasy," while Barnier repeated that U.K. officials appear to still not be listening that "frictionless trade is not possible outside of the European Single Market and Customs Union" given the longstanding EU commitment to the four freedoms of goods, capital, services and labor.



Some of the rhetoric from Verhofstadt and Barnier is aimed at turning the screws on London in the negotiations, and EU decision-makers also need to engage much more constructively. Yet, Brussels rightly believes the U.K. government has still not fully reconciled many key negotiating "trade-offs" by apparently wanting close, favorable post-Brexit ties without the costs.



Given the difficulty of finding a breakthrough, the United Kingdom and the EU have agreed to a "backstop solution" unless or until an alternative solution is agreed to by all sides to ensure there is no hard border.



Under this backstop, Northern Ireland will remain "in full alignment" with the EU Customs Union and Single Market with harmonization with the Republic of Ireland over customs, VAT, energy, environment protections, and agricultural and fisheries laws. Under this so-called "special EU status," Northern Ireland would also adhere to EU rules on state aid and be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in these areas.



In effect this would mean Northern Ireland submitting to EU economic rules and, potentially, becoming politically isolated from the British mainland. On these issues, May is on a diplomatic tight rope given her political pact with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) whose contingent of 10 MPs from Northern Ireland has agreed to support her government in Westminster on key votes.



The DUP is very sensitive to any post-Brexit arrangement for Ireland that would leave Northern Ireland out of sync with the rest of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, and Wales) given its strong commitment to remaining in the union. And this position is shared by most within the unionist community in Northern Ireland.



Take the example of Lord Trimble who was the leader of the Ulster Unionists (a more moderate party than the DUP), and first minister of Northern Ireland, at the time of the Good Friday Agreement winning the Noble Peace Prize.



He warned this week that any Brexit deal that leaves Northern Ireland with special status in the EU would kill a key tenet of the 1998 peace accord that there would be no constitutional change without majority consent in Northern Ireland. And Trimble warned of the possibility that loyalist paramilitary groups could be provoked into action, again, if that core principle of consent was threatened.



The position of the DUP is supported too by most, if not all, conservatives MPs in May's own Conservative Party. Part of the reason for this is that allowing Northern Ireland to be treated differently to the rest of the United Kingdom would be a political fillip to the Scottish National Party and others in England and Wales who want to see the United Kingdom remain in the Single Market and Customs Union.



Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that if Northern Ireland was allowed to operate under different rules there is "surely no good practical reason" why other parts of the U.K. could not do the same. This is a message echoed by Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.



Taken overall, significant distance still needs to be bridged if a big breakthrough on Ireland is to be secured. Failure to move forward in coming weeks will not just potentially delay already tight overall negotiating timelines, but also increase prospects of talks breaking down and a hard, and potentially disorderly Brexit in 2019 or beyond.



Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics. Contact him at andrew.hammond.james@gmail.com .





U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Friday the air strikes on targets in Syria were a "one time shot" to send a strong message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.







U.S., British and French forces hit Syria with air strikes early on Saturday Syria time in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week. (REUTERS)

Syrian state media lambasted U.S.-led air strikes on Saturday as a breach of international law and said the attack had targeted army depots in the Homs area.



"The tripartite aggression is a flagrant violation of international law," state news agency SANA said.





U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement about Syria at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 13. / REUTERS-Yonhap



About 10 days ago, U.S. President Donald Trump told national security aides that he wanted U.S. forces out of Syria in six months or so, adamant that it was time to bring them home after largely defeating Islamic State militants.



"Very soon, very soon, we're coming out," Trump said in telegraphing his thoughts to a crowd in Richfield, Ohio, on March 30. "We're going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be."



Now, Trump has abruptly deepened U.S. involvement in Syria, mustering a coalition of U.S., French and British forces to attack Syrian facilities related to production of chemical weapons after a poison gas attack last week killed dozens of people in Douma, Syria.



Aides said Trump's attitude changed when he was shown images of Syrians killed by the chemical weapons last Saturday, about a year after he first ordered air strikes against Syrian targets to retaliate for an earlier use of the banned substances.



"When he sees these sorts of things, they outrage him," said a source familiar with the internal debate at the White House.



Trump had also grown exasperated with Russia for doing nothing to stop the Syrian government from using the weapons.







Russia's ambassador to the United States on Friday warned that there would be consequences for the U.S.-led military strikes on Syria, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russia's president.





"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. "Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences."





"Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible," he added. "The U.S.  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries."





A senior Russian lawmaker was also quoted by Interfax as saying on Saturday that the air strikes on Syria are a violation of international law and are likely meant to prevent investigators from the global chemical weapons watchdog from doing their work.





The chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, described the air strikes as a groundless attack on a sovereign government, Interfax said.





"It's also highly likely an attempt to create complications for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission which was just starting its work in Syria's Douma, or an attempt to completely derail it," Kosachev was quoted as saying.





None of the air strikes hit zones where Russian air defence systems protect the Russian bases of Tartus and Hmeimim, Russian news agencies cited the Ministry of Defence as saying. (REUTERS)on this Friday alone the civilian victims in Gaza were more than 700 victim: at least one killed, and the rest injured by bullets of the Zionists of Tel Aviv

he semi-closes his eyes

haaretz.com/israel-news/gaza-protests-dozens-of-palestinians-wounded-by-israeli-fire-reports-say-1.5994845

killed nearly 30 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more

vox.com/2018/4/2/17188162/gaza-protest-israel-border-violence-demonstrations-palestinian

quran-ayat.com/conflicts/english3.htm#Jews_Work_According_to_Their_Illusions_

Trump does not see the suffering of the people of Gaza;, while in the previous Friday there was a massive chemical gas against the demonstrators in Gaza.Moreover, the rest of his allies are they blind like him? Why don't they condemn the Wicked Zionists of Tel Aviv, if they are humanists as do they claim?To prove Trump is short-sighted: see howwhen he peers or looks forward. :lol:====================================================See also this Zionist newspaper admit less number of victims by the Zionist bullets:=====================================================The following is on the previous Friday April 6"Israeli forces havein two weeks of mass protests at the Gaza border."=================================================================And still the Zionists of Tel Aviv move with their arrogance against Palestinians, the Arab and Muslims; and they are blind about the coming consequences of their evil.Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Mainly clear. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable.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.LOL, yes I realize that's a new thing to get used to. Like fire water, Indians never had those before."Crooked Hillary says we must call on Saudi Arabia and other countries to stop funding hate," Trump wrote on June 13, 2016. "I am calling on her to immediately return the $25 million plus she got from them for the Clinton Foundation!"Nonprofits, such as the Clinton Foundation, have nearly no obligation to publicly reveal who gives them money. They might need to tell a government agency, but the details remain confidential.John Wonderlich, head of the Sunlight Foundation, a group that advocates for greater transparency in government, told PolitiFact, "The Clinton Foundations work, by its nature, blurs the lines between charity, business, politics, and public service, making it very difficult to evaluate in a traditional way."How the Clinton Foundation Got Rich off Poor Haitiansn January 2015 a group of Haitians surrounded the New York offices of the Clinton Foundation. They chanted slogans, accusing Bill and Hillary Clinton of having robbed them of billions of dollars. Two months later, the Haitians were at it again, accusing the Clintons of duplicity, malfeasance, and theft. And in May 2015, they were back, this time outside New Yorks Cipriani, where Bill Clinton received an award and collected a $500,000 check for his foundation. Clinton, wheres the money? the Haitian signs read. In whose pockets? Said Dhoud Andre of the Commission Against Dictatorship, We are telling the world of the crimes that Bill and Hillary Clinton are responsible for in Haiti.Haitians like Andre may sound a bit strident, but he and the protesters had good reason to be disgruntled. They had suffered a heavy blow from Mother Nature, and now it appeared that they were being battered again  this time by the Clintons. Their story goes back to 2010, when a massive 7.0 earthquake devastated the island, killing more than 200,000 people, leveling 100,000 homes, and leaving 1.5 million people destitute.While it looks like this is from the last time assad was accused, it clearly puts doubt on this whole operation this time.



Senator Richard Black Exposes Chemical False Flag in SYRIA



[youtube]rRuXsEC3l3Q[/youtube]



Virginia Senator Dick Black exposes the WMD false flag in Syria, which was really carried out by the remnants of ISIS and not Syrian President Assad. Why would Assad use chemical weapons on civilians, knowing that it would draw world-wide condemnation and intervention, when the jihadists are surrounded and on the brink of annihilation?



Senator Black also confirms that Hillary Clinton ordered the murder of Libyan Ambassador Christopher Stevens in order to cover up her own treasonous weapons deals with Syrian al-Qaeda/ISIS forces.



A war with Syria means a war with Russia and Iran. If you're on Twitter send this to @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS so President Trump will see it. On Facebook, post it on President Donald Trumps page.









US And Allies Strike Syria TRUST Trump, Back Channel, Casualties ? Missiles Intercepted



[youtube]fri-jYU0DJk&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]



73 out of 103 circa missiles were intercepted by the Syrian air defense forces thanks to the coordinates given secretly to Assad by Trump via their back channel. No casualties reported and no Russian nor Iranian zones were hit, though the attack carried out reportedly by the US-UK-France Alliance, and though reports here say that France did not even fire a missile from its warship. As we know, Germany did not participate, and neither did Italy. Trust the plan.



My name is Andy Giardina, I hold 2 M.A. Degrees (Political Science and History) and am a published author/independent researcher who has worked for 2 decades in the non-profit, business, public and government sectors. I am also the voice of the US metal band TOTAL ECLIPSEWhite_Unifier said: The White Right might be even worse than the White Left. Click to expand...

Ex-Texas congressman convicted of fraud, conspiracy

By Associated Press April 12HOUSTON  A federal jury convicted a former Texas congressman of fraud and conspiracy on Thursday for misusing charitable donations to pay for personal and political expenses.Steve Stockman, a Republican, was accused of conspiring with two staffers to bilk conservative foundations out of at least $775,000 that was meant for charitable purposes and voter education. A campaign worker and an aide have pleaded guilty to various charges.Stockman, 61, showed no emotion as the verdict was read in a Houston courtroom: Jurors found him guilty of 23 of the 24 counts he faced, including mail and wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He was found not guilty on one count of wire fraud.Are we tired of winning yet?MAGA!Syria air strikes: US and allies attack 'chemical weapons sites'

Analysis: Will this time be different?

BBC News14 April 2018The US, UK and France have bombed multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites.The strikes were in response to a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week.Explosions hit the capital Damascus as well as two locations near the city of Homs, the Pentagon said.Russia's ambassador to the US responded by saying the attack on its ally "will not be left without consequences"."The nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality," US President Donald Trump said in an address from the White House at about 21:00 local time (02:00 BST)."The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons," he said.The wave of strikes is the most significant attack against President Bashar al-Assad's government by Western powers in seven years of Syria's civil war.At a Pentagon briefing shortly after Mr Trump's announcement, Gen Joseph Dunford listed three targets that had been struck:According to a Russian defence ministry statement, "preliminary information" said there had been no casualties among the Syrian army or civilians.There were initial reports that three civilians had been injured in Homs.Reuters news agency cites a pro-Assad militia commander saying other locations were hit, including various sites close to Damascus: a military base in the Dimas area; army depots in the eastern Qalamoun; the Kiswah area, where Iran is believed to have been building a base; and a site in the Qasyoun hills, plus a research centre in Masyaf, further north. These reports are unverified.UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights suggested more targets than the three listed by the Pentagon had been hit.US Secretary of Defence James Mattis told journalists there were no reports of US losses in the operation.In his earlier address, President Trump had said: "We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."But Secretary Mattis said that "right now, this is a one-time shot". Gen Dunford confirmed the wave of strikes had ended.Gen Dunford said the US had specifically identified targets that would "mitigate" the risk of Russian casualties. But the Pentagon said that Russia - which has forces on the ground in Syria in support of the government - had not been given advance notice of the targets.UK Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed British involvement, saying there was "no practicable alternative to the use of force".But she also said the strikes were not about "regime change".In a further press briefing on Saturday morning, she said that while the assessment of the strike's results was ongoing, she was confident of its success.UK strikes carried out by four Tornado jets hit one of the targets mentioned by the Pentagon - a military site near the city of Homs which is believed to have housed precursor materials for chemical weapons, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.French President Emmanuel Macron also confirmed his country's participation in the operation."Dozens of men, women and children were massacred with chemical weapons," he said of the Douma incident a week ago - adding that "the red line had been crossed".Syria has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons.The international Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has dispatched a fact-finding mission to the site of the alleged attack in Syria. Investigators were due to start their probe later on Saturday.Sana, Syria's official state news agency, called the Western action "a flagrant violation of international law"."The American, French and British aggression against Syria will fail," it said.The Syrian presidency has tweeted a short video of Bashar al-Assad walking into his office at 09:00 local time with the caption: "Morning of steadfastness".In his speech, President Trump said Mr Assad had committed "the crimes of a monster".A US official told Reuters news agency that Tomahawk cruise missiles were used against multiple locations in Syria.Secretary Mattis also said the scale of the strikes was about "double" what was launched in April 2017 after a chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed more than 80 people.One Damascus resident told BBC News: "It was mayhem above us.""I saw more than 20 anti-air missiles launched. They'd fly really high then start weaving across, like they were following their target."I didn't see the cruise missiles, but I saw some falling debris nearby."Reaction to the strikes was mixed among the international community.Russian President Vladimir Putin said he "condemns the attack in the most serious way".German Chancellor Angela Merkel - who had ruled out joining the military action - said she supported the strikes as "necessary and appropriate".The Nato Secretary General, Jen Stoltenberg, tweeted support for the strikes, saying those who use chemical weapons "must be held accountable".Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also expressed his nation's support.Senator John McCain applauded Mr Trump for taking military action. The leading Republican and former prisoner-of-war, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, is often critical of the president.Some Democrats argued that President Trump should come before Congress and receive authorisation for the use of military force.Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned UN members of their responsibilities."There's an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nations and with international law in general," he said."I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances."Norm Langer, 73, is president and chief executive of Langers Delicatessen-Restaurant near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles.

His father, Albert J. Langer, founded the business in 1947 and expanded it from the 12-seat deli he initially purchased. Known for its iconic No. 19 pastrami sandwich, Langers employs 40 people and has won critical acclaim, including a James Beard Foundation award in 2001.

Starting from the bottom

Langer is the older of two children and grew up in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. As a teenager, he went to work at one of the hot dog stands owned by his father and his fathers business partner, Joe Berlatsky. His job: cleaning the restrooms.

My dads partner felt that it was important that if you were going to learn, you learn from the bottom, Langer said. Nepotism here did not apply.

All in the family

After graduating in 1962 from Hamilton High School, Langer enlisted in the U.S. Army as a cook and went up to Ft. Ord on Monterey Bay for basic training. He served two months and 18 days before he was granted a medical discharge for acute asthma.

When he returned to Los Angeles, Langer asked his father for a job. Al Langer said no, steering him instead to a meatpacking plant in Vernon so he could learn the other side of the business.

But Norm Langer had been a sickly kid, and the cold in the refrigerators and freezers didnt agree with him. So in 1963 the teenager came to work at Langers and was immediately set up to, again, clean the restrooms.

Father and son

Norm Langer said he gradually took over the role of Langers president and CEO from the day he started working at his fathers restaurant.

His father, along with a Langers manager, took the younger Langer under their wing and taught him the business. Norm Langer supplemented their lessons by frequently asking questions.

Langer said his relationship with his father was so strong that Al shared with his son early on what was in his and his wifes will. Al Langer died in 2007.

That was communication, he said. Our ability to communicate with each other was something that most families dont have.

Norm Langer, left, with father Al Langer in front of Langer's Deli in 1997. Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times

More success stories from How I Made It 

I trusted my dad. Norm Langer

Menu updates

Over the years, Langer began to make changes to the original menu his father had set.

As the neighborhood changed around the restaurant, Langers stopped selling items such as baloney and liverwurst. About 15 years ago, per his wifes suggestion, he started selling salads. More recently, Langers began selling pastrami chili cheese fries after a customer request  a new item Langer said is the biggest change he has made.

Although hes modernized his offerings, he said he has tried to hold on to the old Jewish tradition and the old customs.

Promise of the Red Line

Langers saw a major decline in business in the late 1980s and early 1990s, partly because of gang, prostitution and drug problems in the neighborhood. Langer said he wrote checks back to the business to try to keep the doors open when daily revenue decreased. He had serious thoughts about closing.

The opening of the Red Line subway in 1993 was my light, Langer said, as it drove more business to the restaurant.

The big benefit to it now is people dont have to take their car out of a parking lot, he said. They can jump on public transportation.

Getting the word out

Over its more than 70 years in existence, Langers has made a name for itself as a foodie destination. Since the restaurant has been in business, Langer said, he has sold over 10 million pounds of pastrami.

Although Langer has embarked on several advertising campaigns, he said his claim to fame is word of mouth.

You can do all the advertising in the world and sometimes it brings people in, Langer said. But when your friend  says to you, I went to Langers and I had a corned beef sandwich thats the credential you want. Its personal.

Pastrami is sliced to make some of Langer's signature #19 sandwiches in 2012. Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

The customer is always right

At least 21 years ago, Langer saw an employee bagging a sandwich and taking it outside. He asked the employee what he was doing, and the employee responded that a customer had asked for the order to be taken outside because they were running late.

Langers initial response was that the employee had opened a can of worms that we cannot close. But the employee told him he had given the customer his word.

That was the beginning of Langers curb service, which was a big win for customers in parking-limited Westlake.

Now, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Langer said, the business delivers 35 to 70 orders to customers cars.

Personal life

Langer lives in Woodland Hills with his wife, Jeannette. He has a daughter, 40, and a son, 43.

Langer spends a lot of time at the restaurant and is there five or six days a week. Hell come in around 9:30 or 10 a.m. and sometimes stay until 5 or 6 p.m. He said he considers the employees as family.

Sheila Abramson, a waitress at Langer's Delicatessen on Alvarado Street in Los Angeles, reaches for a plate containing a pastrami sandwich in 2013. Mel Melcon / Los Angeles TimesGood morning. Im Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, April 14, 2018. You probably knew this, but tomorrow  April 15  is not Tax Day; this year, we have until April 17 to file. Lets take a look back at the week in Opinion.

President Trump announced Friday evening that U.S. forces had launched missile strikes against Syria in retaliation for Bashar Assads recent chemical-weapons attack, saying that we are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

Doyle McManus, a former Los Angeles Times Opinion columnist, predicted earlier this week that the president would say this, and he had some advice for how we should react: Dont believe him, McManus wrote:

It won't change much on the ground. It won't alter the course of Syria's seven-year war, which Bashar Assad is winning with help from Russia and Iran. It won't even protect Syrian civilians from future chemical attacks. It's mostly about us  and mainly about the president's irritation that his "red line" has been ignored  not about them. At the most basic level, Trump's missile strike will be aimed at punishing Assad for dropping chemical weapons on a neighborhood full of children, and deterring him from doing it again. But the Syrian president, "Animal Assad" in Trump's tweets, is willing to absorb the punishment. He proved that after the U.S. missile strike against a Syrian airbase last year. That attack was intended to deter, too, but Assad resumed using chlorine gas after a few months. For the Syrian leader, the chance to eliminate pockets of opposition and demoralize his enemies by suffocating their children is worth the risk. An effective deterrent would require a much larger action than last year's pinprick strike. Trump would need to promise that future attacks will be met with a continuing, escalating campaign against Syrian military assets. But that would draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian war, a step Trump has resisted, just as Barack Obama did. In 2011, Obama declared that Assad must go, but he never found a way to enforce that wish at an acceptable cost. It was his greatest foreign policy failure. >> Click here to read more

Dont overthrow Assad. Sure, hes a brutal despot, and his attacks on his own people using chemical weapons are unacceptable. But the United States should focus its military operations on suppressing the unique threat posed to the world by Islamic State and, separately, punishing Assad and trying to prevent him from further use of weapons of mass destruction, says The Times Editorial Board. L.A. Times

Everyone should be horrified by Trumps behavior. His meltdown over the FBI raid of his personal attorneys office, home and hotel room  calling this action a disgrace and an attack on the whole country  represents a stunning escalation of his rhetoric against special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, says the editorial board: Ideally Trump would stop ranting about Mueller and the witch hunt and turn his attention to his duties. But even if he continues to complain, he needs to know that acting to abort or obstruct the investigation will have grievous consequences for his presidency. L.A. Times

In case you havent read enough about the Golden States anti-Trumpism, New Yorker columnist John Cassidy offers up some lessons for Trump that he learned during a recent visit to Southern California. Namely: Reagan-Nixon Republicans once had their major stronghold in this area, and yet virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric in the 1990s made the GOP brand so toxic that not a single Republican serves in an elected statewide office; and its good to embrace products and culture from China. New Yorker

The rich really are different from everyone else, and it isnt pretty. In a conversation with L.A. Times columnist Patt Morrison, UC Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner summarizes some of his research on the difference between those with wealth and power, and those without: We found upper-class people are more likely to lie in a gambling game to win some money. Theyre more likely to take more candy from a bowl that has candy thats meant for kids. Theyre more likely to blaze through a pedestrian zone when a pedestrians trying to cross the street. L.A. TimesHello, my name is John Cherwa and welcome back to our horse racing newsletter as we getting ready for the final two Kentucky Derby preps.

Well know the likely field for the Kentucky Derby after Saturdays final two prep racesthe Arkansas Derby and Lexington Stakes. The $1 million Arkansas Derby was supposed to be a showdown between undefeated Magnum Moon and Justify, but when McKinzie pulled off the Derby trail, trainer Bob Baffert decided to keep Justify home, where he won the Santa Anita Derby.

Baffert instead sent Solomini to Oaklawn, pulling the colt from a scheduled appearance in the Wood Memorial. Magnum Moon is the 8-5 favorite and Solomini is 2-1. Quip, winner of the Tampa Bay Derby, is also in the race.

Also on the card is the Oaklawn Handicap, with a familiar horse as the 9-5 favorite. Accelerate, winner of the Santa Anita Handicap and trained by John Sadler , will lead a field of 11. City Of Light is also in the race at 3-1.

The other race is the $200,000 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. We take at look at two of the horsesMy Boy Jack and Greyvitos in another story. To read, just click here.

Heres our weekly contribution from Rob Henie of the WCHR (West Coast Handicapping Report) and the ECHR (East Coast Handicapping Report). The thinking is if you can know and understand the strategies, it will make you a better handicapper.

Maiden $50,000 claimers going 5  furlongs, and heres a good example of simply understanding the local horsemen, in regard to our top choice FOR THE HUSTLE (#4). Trainer Bruce Headley is an Oats and Hay trainer, just an old school horseman, and by the same token, a bit harder on his young runners, still pin firing (an old school method used to strengthen the shins, but not used by the majority of trainers), and simply asking a lot of his young horses, precisely why youll see so many 4 and 5 year olds debuting for Bruce. When they do show up, you can bet theyre mentally tough, and ready for their first try, usually worth the wait. This guys been working super for his 4-year-old debut, and Headley gives Matt Garcia the mount, which is rare these days for a guy whos been in and around the track forever. POLITY (#5) returns off a nearly two-year layoff, but hes ready. A nice set of drills followed by the recent slower one, a good sign, telling us they needed nothing more from him while awaiting this next effort, and not eligible to be claimed, a California rule enabling a trainer to run back while protecting off the long layoff.

8 Rebel On the Run - Drills are nice for new trainer Curtis, but wed prefer to give the effort, likely better with two turns next time out.

Halo Darlin won Fridays feature, an allowance for Cal-bred fillies and mares going 6  furlongs down the hillside course on the turf. She went four wide into the stretch to rally and win by 2  lengths. Queen Bee To You finished second and All Of A Sudden was third. Halo Darlin paid $15.80, $6.80 and $3.80 for trainer Peter Miller . Stewart Elliott was the jockey.

Santa Anita has a larger than normal card of 11 races, starting at noon. While it doesnt have the caliber of racing that it did last Saturday, its a nice betting card with no small fields. In fact, the smallest field is seven horses in the second and seventh races. There was a time last year that seven was one of the larger fields during some dirt races.

The feature is seventh, the $100,000 Thors Echo Handicap for Cal-breds 3 and up going 6 furlongs. It should be a competitive race with Edwards Going Left listed at 6-5, Tough Sunday is 7-5 and B Squared is 2-1.

Edwards Going Left is taking a big class drop after running third in the Triple Bend and second in the Malibu Stakes, both Grade 1s won by City Of Light. Tough Sunday is coming off a win in the ungraded Sensational Star Stakes and B Squared, who hasnt won in his last six starts.

Older turf horse from Robert Falcone stable was in steep last time when battling on the lead and tiring in the Grade 2 San Luis Rey going 1 1/2 miles. He now shortens up to a mile, gets back in with his friends and seems much more effective with a target at which to run. Look for a big rebound effort today.

Friday Result: All of a Sudden did not break alertly, moved up along the inside, got through a big opening at top of the stretch but could only manage third in the eighth race.

He showed sharp improvement when disqualified from rapid victory two weeks ago while making second start for trainer Valentin Zamudio , who is winning at a 20 percent clip. He leveled with a big stride after shifting out early to impede two rivals and now gets a positive class hike from $8,000 to $12,500. He also lands 2016 leading quarter horse rider Cesar DeAlba .

Still looking to jump the circulation of this newsletter. Cant beat the price. If you like it, tell someone. If you dont like it, then youre probably not reading this. Either way, send to a friend and just have them click here and sign up . Remember, its free, and all we need is your email, nothing more.

Santa Anita Charts Results for Friday, April 13. Copyright 2018 by Equibase Company. Reproduction prohibited. Santa Anita, Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California. 1st day of a 42-day meet. Clear & Fast

FIRST RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $14,000. Claiming. 4 year olds and up. Claiming Price $6,250. Time 24.47 48.42 1:13.41 1:26.63 1:40.68

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 4 DQHackleton 121 4 2 1 1hd 1 11 1 Maldonado 15.50 3 Orejas 116 3 5 2 2 21 21 22 Ceballos 1.40 5 Roman Tizzy 121 5 3 3hd 54 56 31 32 Roman 2.40 6 Awe 121 6 4 4 31 3 4 41 T Baze 4.50 1 Harrovian 114 1 1 51 4 41 56 52 C. Franco 51.10 2 Southern Freedom 121 2 6 6 6 6 6 6 G. Franco 3.40

3 OREJAS 4.80 3.40 2.80 4 DQHACKLETON 8.40 5.20 5 ROMAN TIZZY 2.40

$1 EXACTA (3-4) $22.00 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (3-4-5-6) $15.15 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-4-5) $30.70

WinnerOrejas B.g.4 by Tapizar out of Princess Turandot, by Gold Legend. Bred by Brian Russell Cleveland (KY). Trainer: Richard Baltas. Owner: DA Meah Racing, Cavalli, John, Marasa, William and Peal, Larry. Mutuel Pool $111,524 Exacta Pool $49,234 Superfecta Pool $19,222 Trifecta Pool $30,196. ClaimedOrejas by Halasz, Thomas and Knapp, Steve R. Trainer: Steve Knapp. ClaimedRoman Tizzy by David Jacobson. Trainer: David Jacobson. ClaimedAwe by Battle Born Racing Stable. Trainer: Francisco Vallejo. Scratchednone. DQ#4 Hackletonfinished 1st, disqualified, placed 2nd.

HACKLETON had speed three deep between horses, angled in on the first turn and set a pressured pace inside, drifted out into the stretch, continued to drift out through the drive despite right handed urging and held gamely. OREJAS pressed the pace between horses then outside HACKLETON, came out into the stretch, also drifted out some in the drive then was fanned out through the final furlong and steadied briefly in deep stretch but continued willingly. ROMAN TIZZY four wide into the first turn, stalked between horses then outside a rival leaving the backstretch and on the second turn, came out four wide into the stretch and picked up the show. AWE five wide into the first turn, stalked outside then bid three deep on the backstretch, tracked the leaders outside on the second turn and three wide into the stretch, drifted in through the final furlong and weakened. HARROVIAN saved ground, steadied in tight early on the first turn then was in a bit tight again early on the backstretch, stalked inside throughout and lacked a response in the stretch. SOUTHERN FREEDOM saved ground chasing the pace, dropped back on the backstretch and second turn and also lacked a further response. Following a stewards' inquiry and a claim of foul by the rider of the OREJAS against HACKLETON, the latter was disqualified and placed second for interference through the stretch.

SECOND RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $21,000. Maiden Claiming. 3 year olds. Claiming Price $30,000. Time 23.29 47.87 1:14.10 1:27.32 1:41.23

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 7 Dare to Enter 122 6 6 42 42 21 1 1nk Franco 1.00 2 Write Me a Song 122 2 1 22 1hd 11 24 24 T Baze 2.30 1 Ministertomyheart 122 1 4 51 54 51 5hd 3hd Roman 5.50 3 I'm Amore 122 3 2 1hd 21 3 31 41 Gonzalez 9.80 5 When Jesus Walked 117 4 3 6 6 6 6 54 Ceballos 39.40 6 Tre 122 5 5 32 32 42 4hd 6 Van Dyke 6.90

7 DARE TO ENTER 4.00 2.40 2.10 2 WRITE ME A SONG 3.20 2.40 1 MINISTERTOMYHEART 2.60

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-7) $11.60 $1 EXACTA (7-2) $5.90 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (7-2-1-3) $4.40 50-CENT TRIFECTA (7-2-1) $5.90

WinnerDare to Enter B.g.3 by Point of Entry out of I Dare U Em, by Lunarpal. Bred by Nursery Place, Donaldson & Broadbent (KY). Trainer: Michael Pender. Owner: St. Hilaire, Christopher and Vali, Adam. Mutuel Pool $104,671 Daily Double Pool $24,485 Exacta Pool $57,010 Superfecta Pool $23,152 Trifecta Pool $37,094. ScratchedSharp Ruler.

DARE TO ENTER four wide into the first turn, chased off the rail, moved up outside on the second turn, took the lead three wide into the stretch, drifted in some through the final furlong and held under urging. WRITE ME A SONG had good early speed and dueled inside, inched away on the second turn, fought back from the inside through the stretch and continued gamely to the end. MINISTERTOMYHEART came off the rail early on the first turn, went outside a rival then chased off the inside, angled in some for the second turn, came out into the stretch, drifted in some in the final furlong and just got the show. I'M AMORE between horses early, dueled outside a rival, stalked just off the inside on the second turn and just lost third. WHEN JESUS WALKED chased off the inside, came four wide into the stretch and lacked a rally. TRE stalked off the rail, split horses midway on the second turn, came three wide into the stretch, drifted in and weakened.

THIRD RACE. About 6 Furlongs Turf. Purse: $54,000. Maiden Special Weight. Fillies and Mares. 3 year olds and up. Time 22.30 44.93 1:08.16 1:14.22

Pgm Horse Wt PP St   Str Fin Jockey $1 6 Bella Sierra 126 6 2 22 21 1 11 Roman 4.00 2 Paprika 120 2 5 3hd 3 34 21 Couton 1.80 5 Whoa Nessie 120 5 1 1 1 21 33 Gutierrez 1.90 8 And Counting 120 8 7 71 65 65 4 T Baze 10.60 7 Pulpacheeks 120 7 3 55 54 4hd 51 Maldonado 11.50 3 Full Court 115 3 4 8 8 71 62 Ceballos 45.40 1 Bad and Bougie 120 1 6 4hd 4hd 5 76 Talamo 9.90 4 I Adore You 120 4 8 6 71 8 8 Pena 107.90

6 BELLA SIERRA 10.00 4.00 2.40 2 PAPRIKA 3.60 2.40 5 WHOA NESSIE 2.40

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (7-6) $25.20 $1 EXACTA (6-2) $19.70 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (6-2-5-8) $22.48 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (6-2-5-8-7) $761.00 50-CENT TRIFECTA (6-2-5) $26.95

WinnerBella Sierra B.m.6 by Council Member out of Bigtimeaffair, by Arch. Bred by Special T Thoroughbreds, Inc. (CA). Trainer: Javier Jose Sierra. Owner: Sierra Stables, Inc.. Mutuel Pool $181,427 Daily Double Pool $12,892 Exacta Pool $106,640 Superfecta Pool $42,305 Super High Five Pool $28,813 Trifecta Pool $67,290. Scratchednone. $1 Pick Three (3-7-6) paid $50.60. Pick Three Pool $34,356.

BELLA SIERRA dueled outside a rival, came out into the stretch while taking the lead, battled outside that foe in the stretch, inched clear under left handed urging in deep stretch and proved best. PAPRIKA stalked between horses then outside a rival, came out into the stretch, drifted inward in midstretch and gained the place. WHOA NESSIE had good early speed and angled in, dueled inside, came a bit off the rail into the stretch, fought back past midstretch and bested the others. AND COUNTING broke slowly, settled outside a rival then angled in on the hill, came out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. PULPACHEEKS stalked three deep, drifted four wide into the stretch and weakened. FULL COURT settled a bit off the rail, continued outside a rival into the stretch and did not rally. BAD AND BOUGIE saved ground stalking the pace, continued inside into and through the stretch and weakened. I ADORE YOU hesitated to be off slowly, angled in and saved ground chasing the pace, cut the corner into the stretch and had little left for the drive. Rail on hill at 14 feet.

FOURTH RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $29,000. Claiming. 3 year olds. Claiming Prices $25,000-$22,500. Time 24.10 48.34 1:13.51 1:26.31 1:39.53

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 6 Elevated Knight 122 5 1 21 2 21 1 11 Pereira 2.00 3 Studly Perfection 117 2 2 1 1hd 1 24 28 Ceballos 3.20 4 Lipster 122 3 5 4 4hd 6 4hd 3nk Quinonez 6.50 2 Kaleidoscope Kid 122 1 4 5 5 3 32 44 Roman 4.40 5 Mac McLovin 122 4 6 6 6 5 6 51 T Baze 12.00 7 Shackalov 122 6 3 3hd 31 41 52 6 Talamo 3.30

6 ELEVATED KNIGHT 6.00 3.40 2.60 3 STUDLY PERFECTION 3.80 2.60 4 LIPSTER 3.20

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (6-6) $34.20 $1 EXACTA (6-3) $14.30 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (6-3-4-2) $12.33 50-CENT TRIFECTA (6-3-4) $20.95

WinnerElevated Knight B.c.3 by Bellamy Road out of Encore, by Storm Cat. Bred by Haymarket Farm LLC (KY). Trainer: Philip D'Amato. Owner: Mersad Metanovic Bloodstock, LLC and Bartlett, Jr., Richard J.. Mutuel Pool $154,438 Daily Double Pool $14,053 Exacta Pool $77,137 Superfecta Pool $24,836 Trifecta Pool $40,900. ScratchedTime for Cioppino. $1 Pick Three (7-6-6) paid $56.60. Pick Three Pool $12,586.

ELEVATED KNIGHT angled in and dueled outside a rival, took the lead in upper stretch, battled outside the runner-up through a stiff drive and inched away under urging nearing the wire. STUDLY PERFECTION had good early speed and dueled inside, fought back through the lane, could not match the winner late but was clearly second best. LIPSTER stalked between horses then a bit off the rail on the second turn, angled to the inside into the stretch, continued along the rail and edged a rival for the show. KALEIDOSCOPE KID tugged along the inside early, saved ground stalking the pace, came out into the stretch and was edged for third. MAC MCLOVIN a step slow to begin, chased three deep, continued outside on the second turn and three wide into the stretch and lacked a rally. SHACKALOV four wide into the first turn, stalked outside then bid three deep on the backstretch, continued outside a rival on the second turn and three wide into the stretch and weakened.

FIFTH RACE. About 6 Furlongs Turf. Purse: $33,000. Claiming. Fillies and Mares. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $40,000. Time 22.02 44.99 1:07.75 1:13.55

Pgm Horse Wt PP St   Str Fin Jockey $1 5 Goseecal 126 5 8 61 61 31 12 Maldonado 5.30 1 An Eddie Surprise 120 1 2 3 2hd 2hd 21 Gutierrez 6.80 4 Neon Gypsy 120 4 1 42 4hd 4hd 31 Van Dyke 11.60 2 Zero Zee 126 2 7 11 11 1hd 4 T Baze 2.20 8 Looking At Thelake 126 8 6 7hd 72 6 5 Roman 7.20 6 Midnight Lilly 126 6 5 8 8 71 6 Franco 12.40 7 Cynthiana 126 7 3 5hd 51 52 712 Quinonez 2.90 3 Dr. Ann 120 3 4 21 31 8 8 Sanchez 15.00

5 GOSEECAL 12.60 6.20 4.40 1 AN EDDIE SURPRISE 8.00 5.40 4 NEON GYPSY 8.00

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (6-5) $61.00 $1 EXACTA (5-1) $52.40 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (5-1-4-2) $182.64 50-CENT TRIFECTA (5-1-4) $210.55 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (5-1-4-2-8) Carryover $1,700

WinnerGoseecal Grr.f.4 by Cowboy Cal out of Pandora's Secret, by Wolf Power (SAF). Bred by Chyna White Investments (KY). Trainer: Vladimir Cerin. Owner: Wilson, Holly and David. Mutuel Pool $203,559 Daily Double Pool $19,841 Exacta Pool $121,172 Superfecta Pool $48,455 Trifecta Pool $75,247 X-5 Super High Five Pool $2,229. Scratchednone. $1 Pick Three (6-6-5) paid $129.50. Pick Three Pool $28,540. 50-Cent Pick Four (4/7-6-1/6-5) 291 tickets with 4 correct paid $201.50. Pick Four Pool $76,765. 50-Cent Pick Five (3-4/7-6-1/6-5) 397 tickets with 5 correct paid $643.90. Pick Five Pool $297,303.

GOSEECAL chased a bit off the rail then inside on the hill, bid along the fence in the stretch under urging to gain the lead and won clear. AN EDDIE SURPRISE stalked inside, came out into the stretch, bid outside the pacesetter then three deep in midstretch and held second. NEON GYPSY chased outside a rival then between horses leaving the hill, came out nearing the dirt crossing then was fanned four wide into the stretch and gained the show. ZERO ZEE sped between horses to the early lead, set the pace a bit off the rail ten inside, came a bit off the fence in the stretch, fought back between horses in midstretch and weakened late. LOOKING AT THELAKE chased outside a rival then off the rail, came out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. MIDNIGHT LILLY hopped slightly at the start, angled in and saved ground chasing the pace, continued inside in the stretch and could not offer the needed late kick. CYNTHIANA chased outside a rival then three deep leaving the hill, came out nearing the dirt crossing, was fanned five wide into the stretch and lacked the necessary response. DR. ANN between horses early, stalked a bit off the rail then outside a rival, was fanned three deep into the stretch and weakened. Rail on hill at 14 feet.

SIXTH RACE. 5 Furlongs. Purse: $18,000. Maiden Claiming. Fillies and Mares. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $20,000. Time 22.45 46.28 59.15

Pgm Horse Wt PP St 3/16 3/8 Str Fin Jockey $1 8 Creative Spark 120 7 1 1hd 11 12 14 Pereira 6.70 10 Spacerika 120 9 7 6 3hd 33 2hd Fuentes 36.00 9 Dee Way to Go 120 8 6 22 22 2 3hd Roman 1.40 7 Topaz Time 126 6 5 83 61 52 44 Frey 5.20 6 Blame the Weather 126 5 2 41 41 4 52 Maldonado 2.70 3 Tengs Wonder 113 2 4 3hd 53 64 62 Espinoza 16.10 4 Heather's Wish 120 3 9 9 9 81 72 Sanchez 81.10 1 Biscotti Gal 126 1 8 7 7hd 7 83 Pena 11.10 5 Tengas Best Girl 121 4 3 5hd 81 9 9 Ceballos 27.80

8 CREATIVE SPARK 15.40 9.20 5.00 10 SPACERIKA 24.00 15.80 9 DEE WAY TO GO 2.60

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (5-8) $150.40 $1 EXACTA (8-10) $211.00 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (8-10-9-7) $162.63 50-CENT TRIFECTA (8-10-9) $261.70 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (8-10-9-7-6) Carryover $3,215

WinnerCreative Spark Grr.f.3 by Creative Cause out of Victoria's On Fire, by Langfuhr. Bred by Eric Steinmann (KY). Trainer: Daniel Dunham. Owner: Huntertown Farm LLC, Frank, Jeri and Frank, Randy. Mutuel Pool $165,909 Daily Double Pool $17,224 Exacta Pool $87,810 Superfecta Pool $56,276 Trifecta Pool $67,289 X-5 Super High Five Pool $1,988. ScratchedLake Shore Lady. $1 Pick Three (6-5-8) paid $225.40. Pick Three Pool $26,095.

CREATIVE SPARK sped to the early lead and angled in, dueled inside, inched away on the turn, came a bit off the rail into the stretch and drew clear under some urging and steady handling. SPACERIKA chased outside then four wide leaving the backstretch and three deep on the turn and into the stretch, drifted in some and edged foes for second between rivals late. DEE WAY TO GO hopped some at the start, angled in and dueled outside the winner then stalked off the rail on the turn, came out into the stretch, drifted in through the final furlong and was edged for the place. TOPAZ TIME chased outside then three deep on the turn and four wide into the stretch and was edged for a minor award three wide on the line. BLAME THE WEATHER between horses early, stalked outside a rival then a bit off the rail leaving the turn and lacked a rally. TENGS WONDER bumped between horses at the start, stalked just off the rail then inside, saved ground on the turn and into the stretch and weakened. HEATHER'S WISH broke in, bumped a rival and bobbled then steadied at the start, saved ground off the pace, came out into the stretch and did not rally. BISCOTTI GAL bumped at the start, was sent inside then saved ground chasing the pace to the stretch and weakened. TENGAS BEST GIRL broke inward, chased between horses then off the rail on the turn, came three wide into the stretch and had little left for the drive.

SEVENTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $22,000. Claiming. Fillies. 3 year olds. Claiming Price $16,000. Time 21.90 45.30 58.46 1:11.97

Pgm Horse Wt PP St   Str Fin Jockey $1 1 Cinnamon Twist 122 1 6 4 41 3 14 Talamo 1.60 7 Cow Dog 122 7 1 1hd 1 11 21 Roman 6.50 4 All Net 122 4 4 51 64 41 3 Franco 2.40 6 Estherfourfourteen 117 6 3 32 2hd 2 44 Ceballos 5.70 3 Mama's Kid 115 3 7 6hd 5hd 65 52 Espinoza 34.60 5 Innyminniemineymoe 122 5 2 7 7 7 65 Van Dyke 10.30 2 Condi 122 2 5 2hd 32 51 7 T Baze 7.20

1 CINNAMON TWIST 5.20 3.20 2.40 7 COW DOG 5.40 3.20 4 ALL NET 2.80

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (8-1) $54.60 $1 EXACTA (1-7) $11.50 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (1-7-4-6) $14.95 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (1-7-4-6-3) $753.20 50-CENT TRIFECTA (1-7-4) $18.25

WinnerCinnamon Twist Ch.f.3 by First Samurai out of Way to Go, by Gone West. Bred by St. George Farm, LLC (KY). Trainer: Simon Callaghan. Owner: TNIP, LLC and VIP Farms. Mutuel Pool $198,162 Daily Double Pool $14,754 Exacta Pool $97,577 Superfecta Pool $45,845 Super High Five Pool $14,491 Trifecta Pool $70,948. ClaimedCinnamon Twist by Epic. Trainer: Vladimir Cerin. ClaimedCondi by Mathilde Powell. Trainer: Leonard Powell. Scratchednone. $1 Pick Three (5-8-1) paid $244.90. Pick Three Pool $20,159.

CINNAMON TWIST saved ground stalking the pace, came out leaving the turn and again into the stretch, bid outside the pacesetter past the eighth pole, gained the lead under urging and won clear. COW DOG sped to the early lead off the rail, angled in and dueled inside, inched away in the stretch, was not a match for the winner in the final sixteenth but held second. ALL NET stalked outside a rival then off the rail on the turn, angled in entering the stretch, came a bit off the fence in the drive and edged a foe for third. ESTHERFOURFOURTEEN stalked outside then bid three deep to duel for the lead on the backstretch and turn and into the stretch and was outfinished for the show. MAMA'S KID bobbled at the start, dropped back off the rail then chased outside, angled in outside a rival on the turn, came four wide into the stretch, drifted inward in the drive and weakened. INNYMINNIEMINEYMOE fell back off the inside early, came out four wide into the stretch and did not rally. CONDI stalked inside then bid between horses to duel for the lead on the backstretch and turn and into the stretch and wakened in the final furlong.

EIGHTH RACE. About 6 Furlongs Turf. Purse: $56,000. Allowance Optional Claiming. Fillies and Mares. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $16,000. Time 21.92 44.37 1:07.35 1:13.18

Pgm Horse Wt PP St   Str Fin Jockey $1 7 Halo Darlin 124 6 3 51 52 3 12 Elliott 6.90 9 Queen Bee to You 124 8 4 13 11 1hd 2 Roman 21.40 6 All of a Sudden 124 5 7 4 41 21 32 Talamo 3.40 5 Silverspun Pickup 118 4 5 2 3hd 4hd 42 Pedroza 6.50 10 Lady Espionage 124 9 6 9 83 61 5 T Baze 6.10 8 Promnesia 124 7 1 31 2hd 53 61 Gutierrez 3.00 1 Li'l Grazen 124 1 8 7hd 9 9 71 Van Dyke 10.10 4 Wonderful Lie 126 3 2 6hd 6 71 82 Franco 5.50 3 Ashley's Charms 124 2 9 8 7hd 8 9 Quinonez 37.00

7 HALO DARLIN 15.80 6.80 3.80 9 QUEEN BEE TO YOU 15.80 10.80 6 ALL OF A SUDDEN 4.40

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (1-7) $34.40 $1 EXACTA (7-9) $98.30 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (7-9-6-5) $354.84 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (7-9-6-5-10) $5,171.50 50-CENT TRIFECTA (7-9-6) $320.00

WinnerHalo Darlin Dbb.m.5 by Lucky Pulpit out of Lady Railrider, by Ride the Rails. Bred by Mr. & Mrs. Larry D. Williams (CA). Trainer: Mike Puype. Owner: Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Larry D.. Mutuel Pool $359,565 Daily Double Pool $84,352 Exacta Pool $207,252 Superfecta Pool $105,551 Super High Five Pool $13,552 Trifecta Pool $148,307. ClaimedWonderful Lie by Rockingham Ranch. Trainer: Peter Miller. ScratchedEasydoes It Please. $2 Pick Six Jackpot (6-1/6-5-8-1-7) . Pick Six Jackpot Carryover $5,894. $1 Pick Three (8-1-7) paid $285.50. Pick Three Pool $78,462. 50-Cent Pick Four (5-8-1-7) 241 tickets with 4 correct paid $950.70. Pick Four Pool $300,000. 50-Cent Pick Five (1/6-5-8-1-7) 25 tickets with 5 correct paid $4,541.10. Pick Five Pool $148,753. $2 Pick Six (6-1/6-5-8-1-7) 6 tickets with 5 out of 6 paid $1,056.20. Pick Six Pool $51,489. Pick Six Carryover $27,508.

HALO DARLIN chased outside then four wide midway on the hill, continued three deep leaving the hill and four wide into the stretch, bid three wide under left handed urging to gain the lead a sixteenth out and pulled clear. QUEEN BEE TO YOU sped to a clear early lead, set the pace off the rail, drifted out some into the stretch, battled outside a rival in midstretch, drifted in and fought back between foes a sixteenth out and held second. ALL OF A SUDDEN a bit slow to begin, chased just off the rail then inside, cut the corner into the stretch then bid inside in the drive and was edged for the place. SILVERSPUN PICKUP stalked a bit off the inside then between horses down the hill, continued just off the fence in the stretch and lacked a rally. LADY ESPIONAGE chased four wide then three deep leaving the hill and into the stretch and could not summon the necessary response. PROMNESIA close up stalking the pace outside a rival then three deep on the hill and into the stretch and weakened. LI'L GRAZEN broke a bit slowly, saved ground chasing the pace, steadied in tight midway on the hill, came out in the stretch and lacked a rally. WONDERFUL LIE chased between horses, angled in midway on the hill, saved ground chasing the pace and weakened in the drive. ASHLEY'S CHARMS broke in and a bit slowly, chased between horses to the stretch and weakened in the lane. Rail on hill at 14 feet.Milos Forman came of age as a filmmaker under the watchful eyes of the Soviets in postwar Czechoslovakia. And though he blossomed in exile in 1970s America, his memory of totalitarianism would forever be his muse.

In every one of his films, from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Ragtime and Amadeus to The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon, Forman celebrated real-life outsiders and eccentrics who challenged the establishment with heroic self-expression.

Forman died Friday at age 86 at Danbury Hospital, near his home in Warren, Conn., according to a statement released by his agent. A winner of two Academy Awards for directing One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984), Forman was nominated again in 1997 for The People vs. Larry Flynt. His earlier films The Firemans Ball and Loves of a Blonde were nominated for best foreign language film.

Born Feb. 18, 1932, outside Prague, Forman was the youngest of three brothers. His father, a Jewish army reservist from World War I and university teacher, was arrested for disseminating banned books to his students. His Protestant mother was arrested after shopping at a local grocery where anti-Nazi propaganda was found. Both died in concentration camps, making Forman an orphan at age 10.

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After World War II, as Czechoslovakia fell under Soviet control, Forman drifted from the homes of relatives to boarding school and then to the Prague Film Academy.

There, he helped establish the Czech New Wave, a group of filmmakers chronicling the grim realities of life behind the Iron Curtain. They favored documentary techniques, using long takes, improvised scenes and amateur actors.

When we started to make our films they were really Czech films about Czech society and Czech little people  and who cares about Czech little people? Forman told The Times in 2004. So it was satisfying to have people in other countries respond.

He earned international acclaim on the festival circuit with his feature debut in 1964 of Black Peter. Oscar nominations followed for his 1965 film Loves of a Blonde and 1967s The Firemens Ball.

1 / 5 Milos Forman is flanked by actors Tom Hulce, left, and F. Murray Abraham at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences screening of Amadeus in July 2007 in New York. (Albert Ferreira / Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences/AP) 2 / 5 Milos Forman, right, with publisher Larry Flynt as they arrive at Hoffmeister Hotel in Prague, Czech Republic, in October 1996. Forman was in Prague to present The People vs. Larry Flynt. (Tomas Turek / AP) 3 / 5 Milos Forman and Javier Bardem on the set of the 2006 movie Goyas Ghosts. (Phil Bray / Samuel Goldwyn Films) 4 / 5 Milos Forman with his Oscar for Amadeus at the 57th Academy Awards in March 1985. (AFP/Getty Images) 5 / 5 Among the winners in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nests sweep of the 33rd Golden Globe Awards were, from left, director Milos Forman, actress Louise Fletcher and producer Michael Douglas, accepting the Best Picture honor. (Los Angeles Times)

After that success, Forman was allowed by the Czech government to make a film in the U.S. But while he was in Paris negotiating the project, Soviet tanks rolled onto the streets of Prague, halting a dissident uprising. Rather than return home, Forman went to New York to live in exile.

He made his American debut in 1970 with Taking Off, a dark comedy about a teenage girl who runs away to be a hippie. But the film was a flop, Forman thought, because his storytelling didnt translate and he couldnt write in fluent English.

After years spent searching for inspiration, he was hired to direct the adaptation of Ken Keseys 1960 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

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It was a tricky shoot in an Oregon psychiatric hospital with real patients as extras. Some of the cast actually slept on the ward. Much of the dialogue was improvised. The cinematographer was fired more than halfway through and Jack Nicholson stopped speaking to Forman.

But when it was released, the movie was universally acclaimed, becoming only the second in history to earn an Oscar in every major category.

Though Forman had no experience in musicals and was pro-Vietnam War, he was eager to adapt the Broadway musical Hair. The hippie movements idealized notion of freedom fascinated him. His 1978 film adaptation earned critical acclaim and nominations for a Cesar award and two Golden Globes.

Around that time, Forman settled into American life, becoming a naturalized citizen and buying an old dairy farm outside Danbury. He continued through the 1980s to make a film every few years, toiling for months on scripts, never taking a writing credit.

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For his adaptation of E.L. Doctorows novel Ragtime in 1981, Forman brought James Cagney out of retirement. The film, which tells the story of a black piano player seeking justice against a white fireman who humiliates him, was nominated for eight Oscars and a Grammy.

Next, Forman returned to Czechoslovakia for the first time in more than a decade to shoot Amadeus, even though the production would be under the control of Czech State Security. When his crew pranked him by playing the Star Spangled Banner during playback, Forman panicked that theyd all end up in jail.

In the end, though, the film was one of his best, earning eight Oscars in 1984, including best director.

Forman took a long hiatus following the failure of Valmont, his 1988 adaptation of a book he loved in college, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. He resurfaced in 1996 with The People vs. Larry Flynt.

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That film earned two Oscar nominations, one for Formans directing and another for star Woody Harrelson. But the Oscar campaign was hurt by Gloria Steinems criticism, claiming Forman glorified Flynts misogyny. Forman naturally argued in favor of freedom of speech.

We have to fight for 100 percent freedom, he told The Times in 1997. Otherwise, we can lose it altogether.

While shooting Man in the Moon, a quirky 1999 profile of the late provocateur Andy Kaufman, Forman endured the over-the-top Method acting antics of Jim Carrey. Carrey-as-Andy pummeled the director with obscenities and threw tantrums on set until Forman begged to let him get on with the movie.

Formans pace slowed after that. He went on in 2007 to direct the historical drama Goyas Ghosts which was poorly received. That same year, he directed his first opera at the Czech National Theater in Prague.

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Formans last film as a director was A Walk Worthwhile, a 2009 musical comedy released only in the Czech Republic. But he continued to generate ideas and serve as professor emeritus at the Columbia University film school.

In 2013, he received a Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award.

Forman is survived by his wife, Martina Forman; and children Petr Forman, Matej Forman, Andrew Forman and James Forman.

Czech-born director Milos Forman, who won best directing Oscars for One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Amadeus, has died. He was 86.



Milos Forman with Jack Nicholson on the set of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. pic.twitter.com/hOcJoCr09f  Juan Ferrer (@JuanFerrerVila) April 14, 2018

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Amadeus won eight Academy Awards (including Best Picture), four BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globes, and a Directors Guild of America award. Milos Forman RIP. pic.twitter.com/bmegLDbbAn  Angus Robertson (@AngusRobertson) April 14, 2018

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Hector Barajas, who became the voice for hundreds of deported U.S. military veterans around the world, returned Friday to the country he served and became a citizen.

Barajas began raising awareness about deported veterans after his own removal from the U.S. and in 2013 founded the Deported Veterans Support House, known as the Bunker, in Tijuana. With aid from a coalition of supporters called Honorably Discharged, Dishonorably Deported that launched in 2016, Barajas applied for citizenship. After a pardon from Gov. Jerry Brown for the offense that got him deported, he was approved last month.

I believe in this country, Barajas said shortly after his naturalization ceremony. I believe we can make things right.

In the Bunker on Friday, Barajas  whose family moved to Los Angeles in 1984 when he was 7 years old  donned his military uniform for the journey north.

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Barajas grew up as a green card holder. After high school, he joined the Army and was part of the 82nd Airborne Division from 1995 to 2001. In 2002, he took a plea deal for a charge of shooting at an occupied car. The government took away his green card and deported him in 2004 after he finished a prison sentence.

I want to apologize once more for what got me deported, Barajas said after taking the oath of citizenship. Im not proud of it, but I am proud of what I have done since then.

While his actions cost him dearly, Barajas said, I believe I am no less of an American because of the mistakes that I made.

We must ensure our leave no man behind motto is not left on the battlefield.

Noncitizens generally must be green card holders to serve in the military. Because they served, they dont have to wait the three to five years required for other noncitizens to naturalize, but U.S. citizenship doesnt happen automatically. They still have to pass the same tests and go through the screening process. Like any green card holder, noncitizens who serve or have served in the military can be deported if they are convicted of certain crimes.

The American Civil Liberties Union has documented at least 239 cases of deported veterans living in 34 countries.

Yolanda Varona, the founder of Dreamers Moms who works alongside Barajas at the Bunker, fought to contain her emotions as she rushed around quietly Friday making sure everything was ready for his trip.

Hector is realizing the dream that all of those deported have, Varona said.

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She was happy for Barajas, she said, but sad that she would no longer see him every day.

Everything will change in my life, in the group dynamics, Varona said. But we have to keep pushing forward. We have the ability to win more with what were doing.

Barajas plans to continue to run the Bunker for another year and then hand off the program to Joaquin Aviles, a Marine Corps veteran who was deported in 2001 for a firearm possession conviction.

Aviles said hes going to try to carry on what Barajas started.

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I know what he does. I see him, Aviles said. I just dont know if Ill be able to take that whole role. Hes committed to this every minute, every hour, every day of his life.

After a prayer at the Bunker and countless hugs, Barajas led a caravan of cars to the border.

When he reached the front of the line into the port of entry, he waited for officials to escort him to the secondary inspection area.

Ill see you guys on the other side, he said with a salute to his crowd of supporters.

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After spending an hour at the border answering officials questions that took a conference call with his attorney to resolve, Barajas arrived at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego for a private citizenship ceremony attended by his parents and 11-year-old daughter, Liliana.

When he emerged as a U.S. citizen, veterans in and out of uniform cheered.

Norma Chavez Peterson, executive director of the ACLU in San Diego, reminded the crowd that Barajas is one of many facing similar circumstances and urged more Americans to support those she called abandoned veterans.

This is an American issue, Chavez Peterson said. Its not a partisan issue.

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Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside) who has championed the cause of deported veterans, called on Congress to pass reforms that would protect those who serve in the military from deportation and bring back veterans who were already deported.

They were loyal to us, Takano said. We need to be loyal back.

The wait at the border was the only time on Friday that Barajas said made him nervous. On his way to a celebratory barbecue, he was still processing the reality of his new life.

He will spend a few days with his family in Los Angeles, where he said he hopes to hang out with his daughter and do normal things like go to the store or park. After he finishes his commitment at the Bunker, he plans to find a job in the U.S. that allows him to keep pushing for deported veterans to come back home.

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Im just happy to finally be with my daughter, Barajas said. Being able for her to have that comfort that Dad is not going to leave.

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com

Morrissey writes for the San Diego Union-TribuneHomeless veterans who live in their cars will soon be able to park overnight on the Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles campus, City Councilman Mike Bonin has announced.

The pilot program will provide the veterans an assigned spot where they may sleep safely, as well as access to social services and eventually housing, Bonins office said Friday.

The program on the sprawling campus will launch in the next two weeks and is being run by the nonprofit group Safe Parking L.A. It initially will serve 10 vehicles, but could later accommodate dozens more, Safe Parking L.A.s executive director, Dr. Scott Sale, said in a statement provided by the councilmans office.

Bonin said the programs launch demonstrated the VAs renewed commitment to serving our homeless veterans. More than 35 neighborhood council and homeowners groups on the Westside supported the proposal, his office said.

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The city now has three safe parking sites; the others are in South Los Angeles and Koreatown.

Using vehicles as a primary shelter has become a fact of life in Los Angeles, where more than 34,000 people are homeless. However, neighbors and businesses complain about the trash and human waste from the parked campers, cars and RVs. Those who live in the vehicles criticize city rules barring them from parking in some residential and commercial areas.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who represents the Westside, said in the statement that it was important to find partners like the VA who will create safe parking areas for the more than 8,500 Angelenos currently living in cars, vans and campers.

Bonin said hes seeking additional safe parking sites on the Westside.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmithSome activists registered people to vote. Others urged visitors to stamp their cash with political messages. Daniel McDonald was collecting poop.

The UC San Diego researcher was among more than 1,000 scientists, data geeks and everyday people to attend the March for Science at Waterfront Park on Saturday, the second annual drive to celebrate knowledge and connect data to everyday life.

McDonald was staffing a booth promoting American Gut, a self-proclaimed citizen science project that aims to sequence and study millions of donated stools to better understand how individual human microbiomes can save lives.

The scientific director of the American Gut project said research like his is critical, and grants from sources like the National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency are drying up.

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Science generates innovation, which generates new economies, he said.

The 2018 march, which unfolded in hundreds of other cities across the nation on Saturday, was nowhere near as well-attended as the inaugural event a year ago, when 15,000 people paraded through downtown San Diego to support scientific research.

But the organizers, speakers and attendees this year were every bit as passionate about what they see as a need to shield science from political influence and make sure public policies are based on evidence rather than ideology.

They spoke about how science can save lives, create new industries and improve the human condition. They talked about pushing for explanations about arcane and routine questions that can spark innovations that change the world.

Science is going to be political, but it doesnt have to be partisan, said Mary Canady, one of the march organizers and the co-founder of a newly established nonprofit called San Diego For Science. We tell people what the important issues are when looking at candidates.

While speakers at the March for Science were largely non-partisan, some marchers carried signs criticizing President Trump because he has called climate change a hoax and threatened to cut funding for research.

Science is important, not only to science but to the world, said Robbie Todd, a professional photographer from North Park. To me, science and art go hand in hand because they both work toward proving things. It seems like today science is under attack.

Trump supporters did not appear to attend the march in great numbers.

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Emily Knight, a volunteer with the activist group Represent San Diego, attended the march to promote an effort to reduce the influence of money in politics by stamping messages like This Bill Shall Not Be Used To Bribe Politicians directly onto dollar bills.

An average of 875 people will see your bill over its lifetime, Knight told one woman who stopped by the booth. This is completely legal, but make sure you dont stamp it in the center.

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com

McDonala writes for the San Diego Union-TribuneTwo people were killed and three others were injured Saturday when a fire ripped through a music recording facility in Studio City.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Amy Bastman said crews found heavy smoke when they responded shortly before 7 a.m. to the blaze at 3779 N. Cahuenga Blvd.

Two people were dead at the scene and two others were in grave condition. One person was in fair condition, Bastman said.

(Jon Schleuss / Los Angeles Times )

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The one-story commercial building has about a dozen recording studios, which are used around the clock, police said. Witnesses described a chaotic scene as they fled from the dark, soundproof studios.

Songwriter and artist L.A. Pryce said he had worked all night in one of the studios, fallen asleep and was awakened by a friend.

My boy was like, Yo, wake up, wake up. Smell that? So I opened the door. Its just ... blacked-out smoke, Pryce said. And then I see flames.

I broke for the door and got out. I lost everything  hard drive, computer, everything gone.

Los Angeles police Capt. William Hayes said the department was leading the investigation.

We have a fire and we have fatalities and we are trying to put that together, Hayes said.

The building houses independent producers and independent studios, according to Shad Rabbani, who said he was in charge of leasing the building but did not own it.

They have a lot of clients ... and its 24/7, so I have no idea who is coming and who is going out, Rabbani said.

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A 23-year-old rapper and producer known as Cruz said the building was called Time Zone studios. He said he was working in one of the studios and had left shortly before 4 a.m. Saturday, but returned later after getting texts about the fire.

He said he had the biggest studio in the building, but everything burnt down.

Some witnesses said they had not seen fire extinguishers in the building. Rabbani said two were located in the hallways, but he said he did not know whether the building had fire alarms.

Devan Greene, a security guard who works nearby, said he saw smoke and called 911 at 6:54 a.m.

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Then I saw about six or seven guys running out, and the next thing you know, its black smoke and the whole thing was just on fire, Greene said.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmith

irfan.khan@latimes.com

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Twitter: @latfoto

UPDATES:

3:25 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Cruz.

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11:05 a.m.: This article was updated with information about the police department leading the investigation.

10:40 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from Rabbani and Pryce.

9:35 a.m.: This article was updated with Times staff reporting, including a witness account.

This article was originally published at 8:55 a.m.Actor Will Ferrell was recovering from minor injuries after being involved in an Orange County crash late Thursday after a get-out-the-vote event at Oceanside High School, authorities said.

He and comedian Billy Eichner were at the 500-seat high school auditorium in San Diego County on the first stop in the Glam Up the Midterms campaign, to encourage people to register and vote in the midterm elections on Nov. 6.

Im getting a little peeved that people are relaxing and pronouncing it San Diego,  Ferrell said onstage. Its pronounced Sahn Di-Ah-go. Discovered by the Germans in 1904. They named it Sahn Di-Ah-go, which of course means a whales vagina. 

Fans of Ferrells recognized the absurd comment from the 2004 movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, a comedy about a fictional San Diego TV anchor in the 1970s, and many joined in to recite the lines with Ferrell.

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While the event was billed as a nonpartisan effort to increase voter participation, the jokes and the audience response did seem left-leaning.

You idiots let Darrell Issa represent Legoland? Eichner said. I didnt even care about District 49 at all until someone said, Billy, this election concerns the people of Legoland. 

After leaving the event, Ferrell was involved in a crash on the 5 Freeway, north of La Paz Road in Mission Viejo, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The 50-year-old actor was one of four people in a 2017 Lincoln driving in the carpool lane, which is separated from regular traffic lanes by paint, not a physical barrier, according to a CHP news release.

A 2007 Toyota Highlander  driven by a 22-year-old from Fallbrook  also was headed north, two lanes over in the regular freeway lanes. The SUV veered left, crossed at least one lane and struck the Lincoln in the back corner on the passengers side about 10:55 p.m. Thursday.

The impact forced the Lincoln into the center divider, and the vehicle then flipped.

A woman riding in the Lincoln suffered major injuries, according to the CHP. Ferrell, the driver and another man riding in the Lincoln suffered minor injuries. All four were transported to area hospitals.

The driver of the Toyota was not injured.

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CHP Officer Rafael Reynoso said neither alcohol nor drugs played a role in the crash.

Figueroa and Warth write for the San Diego Union-Tribune.Despite President Trumps warnings that a U.S. attack on Syria may be imminent, the Pentagon moved cautiously Friday out of concern it may not have legal justification for an assault because it hasnt confirmed that Syrian forces used a banned nerve agent in an attack on civilians near Damascus last weekend.

The wariness may be aimed at restraining the White House from ordering a multi-day campaign of heavy airstrikes on multiple Syrian targets. It also could be a smokescreen to buy time while the U.S. and its allies, including England and France, move more warships and other military resources into position.

Two U.S. guided missile destroyers armed with cruise missiles are in, or on the way to, the eastern Mediterranean and a U.S. carrier task force, led by the Harry S. Truman, is also en route.

Defense Secretary James N. Mattis has warned that wide-scale military reprisals using manned bombers could spiral into a direct clash with Russia, which has installed a sophisticated network of ground-to-air missiles in Syria, or pull the Trump administration deeper into the war if Syria, Iran or other proxies respond by attacking U.S. forces in the country.

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In White House meetings, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, also has urged caution, one official said, citing the need to tailor the intensity of a U.S. response to the severity of a suspected gas attack that left 43 people dead, and hundreds wounded, in the rebel-held enclave of Douma.

The Pentagons Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, has made heavy use of a special communication channel with Russias armed forces, called a deconfliction line, to gain a better picture of where Russian forces are deployed in Syria and to reassure Moscow that any U.S. strike will target Syrian military units, facilities and equipment involved in last Saturdays attack.

Forensic evidence from alleged victims of that attack, including blood and urine samples, that the U.S. has received through intermediaries indicate the presence of chlorine gas, but evidence that a deadly nerve agent such as sarin also was used is less clear, two officials said on condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments.

Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman, said U.S. authorities had a very high level of confidence that Assads forces used chemical agents in Douma. The exact kind or the mix  that we are still looking into, she said.

Partly as a result, Pentagon officials have argued in high-level meetings that the legal justification for retaliation may be weak. Use of any lethal chemical agent as a weapon, especially against civilians, is barred under international law, but unlike sarin, chlorine gas is not specifically prohibited by international treaty.

There are so many unknowns that we want to make sure this is all legal and we dont go off half-cocked, said a U.S. official who asked not to be identified in order to discuss internal deliberations.

Trump and his advisors, including his new national security advisor John Bolton, face a conundrum.

A heavy attack involving manned bombers and missile strikes on multiple targets risks triggering a wider war, especially with Russia. But airstrikes that are too small might not send the desired signal to Assad to halt use of chemical agents.

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Last April, in Trumps first military action, U.S. warships fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against a single Syrian airfield in response to a nerve gas attack several days earlier. In that case, officials said, there was clear evidence that Syria had used sarin  evidence that is apparently not as clear this time.

Moreover, the Al Shayrat airfield was back in operation soon after the fiery barrage  and Assads military forces continued using chemical agents against civilians.

Trumps tweeting in recent days has given Syria time to move aircraft and troops out of likely target areas, and provided Moscow advance warning, making it more likely its advanced air defense batteries could succeed in shooting down U.S. cruise missiles or warplanes, complicating the Pentagons task of preparing a response.

Fact-finding teams from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international watchdog agency based in The Hague, are expected to arrive in Douma on Saturday to collect evidence. The town fell to Syrian forces after last weeks bombardment, and Russian troops also have entered the area. Thousands of rebels and civilian residents have been evacuated.

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Russia has repeatedly denied that a poison gas attack occurred, saying gruesome photographs of the victims were fake. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went much further, telling a state-run news site that Moscow had irrefutable evidence that the gas attack was a performance staged by a foreign spy service. He did not identify the country or show any proof for his claim.

But Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian ministry of defense, blamed the United Kingdom, telling reporters that London had direct involvement, according to Russias state news agency.

Konashenkov also said a Syrian medic who claimed to work at Doumas central hospital said the victims suffered from smoke inhalation, not chemical exposure. He said a rent-a-mob had entered the hospital saying there was a chemical weapons attack and begun washing each other in front of cameras. The medic insisted he had not seen a single patient with signs of poisoning with chemicals, Konashenkov said.

The British Foreign Office dismissed Moscows charges as the latest in a number of ludicrous allegations from Russia, who have also said that no attack ever happened. This simply shows their desperation to pin the blame on anyone but their client: the Assad regime.

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British relations with Moscow already are in a tailspin. Prime Minister Theresa Mays government has accused the Kremlin of trying to murder a former Russian spy and his daughter in southern England with a military-grade nerve agent known as Novichok. The two survived the March 4 poisoning and Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has appeared as determined as Trump to respond in Syria, signaled Friday that he too had questions about the evidence  and the timing of an attack.

We have the proof that chemical weapons  at least chlorine gas  were used by Assads regime, he told a TV interviewer. He said France will respond when it will be most effective.

Macron has spoken to Trump several times this week and on Friday he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well. Later, in a statement, Macron said he wanted dialogue between France and Russia to continue and intensify in order to bring peace and stability to Syria.

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Putin called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the Douma attack, but warned of ill-considered and dangerous steps that have unpredictable consequences, according to a report from the Kremlins press service.

The finger-pointing continued during an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Friday.

Ambassador Nikki Haley, President Trumps envoy to the U.N., said Trump has not yet made a decision on a response, but said any military action would be in defense of a bedrock international norm that benefits all nations, Haley said.

She said Assads forces had used chemical weapons at least 50 times since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011. She blamed Russia, in part, accusing it of lies and cover-ups that have led to the trashing of all international standards against the use of chemical weapons.

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Russias ambassador to the U.N., Vassily Nebenzia, fired back, saying the U.S. irresponsible behavior was unworthy of its status as a permanent member of the security council.

He evoked the bitter memory of when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell held up a test tube as part of his effort to convince the Security Council in March 2003 that the U.S. had ironclad evidence that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was building and hiding chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. None was found after the U.S.-led invasion, and the intelligence later was deemed to be faulty.

You are showing us the same virtual empty test tube now, too, Nebenzia said.

Top Senate Democrats, including Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), said that Trump was sending mixed messages about a possible U.S. attack in Syria and called on him to make a clear and compelling legal case before any strikes.

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The use of U.S. military capabilities to conduct offensive action against another nation is a momentous decision that poses serious risks to the lives of U.S. military personnel involved and the possibility of escalation into a broader conflict, the senators wrote in a letter to Trump released Friday. We ask that you promptly provide the legal basis for any potential or anticipated military action.

In testimony Thursday to the House Armed Services Committee, Mattis said he worried that Assad might retaliate for a major U.S. attack by using poison gas against the 2,000 American troops deployed in Syria.

We have forces in the field, as you know, in Syria, and the use of chemical weapons in Syria is not something that we should assume that, well, because he didnt use them on us this time, he wouldnt use them on us next time, he said.

david.cloud@latimes.com

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Twitter: @davidcloudLAT

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

Twitter: @alexzavis

Zavis reported from Beirut. Special correspondent Nabih Bulos contributed from Beirut and Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed from Washington.President Trump declared Mission Accomplished! Saturday while the Pentagon said its initial assessment was that a powerful predawn missile barrage by the United States, Britain and France had degraded but may not have fully destroyed Syrias chemical weapons stockpiles.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council  the fifth in a week  that Trump was locked and loaded to order another punitive attack if Syrian President Bashar Assad uses chemical weapons again.

The Trump administration thus appeared to draw a new red line, suggesting that using even chlorine, which is not an illegal substance, would spark military reprisals.

The crisis seemed to quickly ease, however. Russia leveled scathing criticism at what it called a military crime and acts of aggression, but a Russian-drafted resolution of condemnation of the missile attack on Syria failed to pass the Security Council. Neither Moscow, Iran nor their armed proxies moved to retaliate against U.S. forces or interests.

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Syrians said the rain of 105 missiles had caused no deaths or toxic chemical clouds, and hit only a handful of military facilities that the Trump administration said were used to research, produce or stockpile chemical and biological warfare agents.

The one-night show of force was not enough to shake Assads grip on power. Despite Trumps bellicose threats last week, he made no attempt to decapitate the government in Damascus, or even to incapacitate its war-making ability.

Defense Secretary James N. Mattis had warned all week that a multi-day air campaign aimed at Syrian military command and control facilities, or its air defense systems, could pull Russia and Iran into a direct conflict with the U.S.  or pull the U.S. into another quicksand war in the Middle East.

Indeed, Trumps Mission Accomplished tweet was an awkward  or taunting  reminder of the giant banner that famously served as a backdrop when President George W. Bush, wearing an aviators flight suit, stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier six weeks after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and declared that major combat operations had ended.

Americas war in Iraq dragged on for eight more painful years, and the phrase haunted Bush as a symbol of the misjudgments and mistakes in a conflict that left 4,500 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead. The U.S. still has troops deployed in Iraq as well as Syria.

Trump spoke by phone with British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron. They affirmed the joint airstrikes were successful and necessary to deter Assad from any further use of chemical weapons, the White House said.

Pentagon officials refused to say how they would respond if another deadly chlorine attack occurred, though they explicitly warned Moscow to restrain Assad and force him to live up to pledges to give up his chemical weapons stockpiles completely.

In this case, every missile launched Saturday struck its target and none was shot down by Syrian or Russian air defense systems, the Pentagon said. Nor were any attacking aircraft struck.

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All of the coalition missiles were fired from warplanes or naval vessels in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and eastern Mediterranean Sea, hundreds of miles from their targets and out of range of Syrias antiaircraft batteries. The missile salvo hit almost simultaneously, within minutes of 4 a.m. local time, officials said.

The strategy of avoiding Syrian airspace and firing from multiple directions simultaneously was designed to confuse and overwhelm Syrian and Russian air defense systems.

Syria sent 40 air defense missiles streaking into the night sky, but only after all the U.S., French and British weapons had struck their targets, Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., director of the Pentagons Joint Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.

The Syrian response was remarkably ineffective, McKenzie said. Russian forces in Syria fired no missiles, he added.

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It wasnt yet clear whether Syria had preemptively trucked away any of its chemical weapons or production equipment from the three facilities targeted by the U.S.  one near Damascus and two around the city of Homs  after Trump repeatedly warned in tweets last week that airstrikes were coming.

But McKenzie said Syrian forces could not have moved all the equipment and precursor chemicals necessary to produce nerve gas and other weaponized chemical agents.

I believe that there was materiel and equipment associated with each of these sites that was not movable, and thats what really sets them back, he said. He said the installations that produced chlorine gas and sarin, a deadly nerve agent, were damaged or destroyed.

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The goal of the strikes was to cripple Syrias ability to use chemical weapons in the future, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters.

It was a deliberate decision to go to the storage facilities, to go to the research facilities, she added. Were confident that weve significantly degraded his ability ever to use chemical weapons again.

The largest and most important target was the Barzeh Research and Development Center near Damascus. U.S. officials described it as a key part of the Syrian chemical and biological weapons program.

The center was leveled by 57 cruise missiles fired by U.S. warships and submarines, and 19 long-range air-to-ground attack missiles fired from Air Force B-1 bombers, officials said.

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Before-and-after pictures released by the Pentagon show three buildings and a parking garage collapsed and in rubble.

They had three buildings there and a parking deck, and now they dont, McKenzie said.

British Tornado and Typhoon fighters fired long-range air-to-ground missiles at the Him-Shinshar chemical storage facility, west of Homs. The U.S. and French also hit the facility with multiple missiles.

Our initial assessment is that this target was completely destroyed,McKenzie said.

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France targeted a nearby storage bunker where chemical and biological weapons were kept, hitting it with seven cruise missiles. McKenzie said the facility had been successfully hit and sustained damage.

Pentagon officials worried that the airstrikes might lead to an accidental release of toxic chemical agents. But they said highly accurate Tomahawk missiles mitigated the danger by striking the facilities and incinerating or destroying the contents. There were no reports of poison gas leaks.

The coordinated attack was launched in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack on April 7 that killed at least 43 people during a government-backed offensive on Duma, a rebel-held bastion near the Syrian capital. Government troops later captured the area.

Citing circumstantial evidence, the Trump administration argued that sarin, a banned nerve agent, was probably mixed with chlorine in the Duma attack, although it doesnt have ironclad evidence that sarin was used.

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A senior administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said high-resolution photographs of victims in Duma showed them choking and foaming at the mouth, with constricted pupils and convulsions  symptoms of chemical poisoning, likely sarin.

The official also said that U.S. intelligence had tracked Syrian military helicopters above Duma before the attack and that they had dropped so-called barrel bombs, which Assads forces have used in the past for chemical agents. Victims and medical personnel reported a strong smell of chlorine and other chemicals.

Trump ordered a missile strike last April after a sarin attack killed dozens of people in Idlib province. U.S. warships fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a single Syrian airfield, careful to avoid suspected sarin stockpiles there.

But Assad continued to use chlorine gas against civilians over the past year, the White House said.

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Analysts said the latest airstrikes, which used twice as many missiles, may stop Assad from using chemical weapons again. But he already has survived a civil war that has killed more than 400,000 Syrians, and appears within reach of consolidating his victory.

These limited strikes may serve to deter future chemical weapons use, but assuming they dont trigger escalation or a retaliation, they wont dramatically alter the course of the conflict, tweeted Emma Beals, a Beirut-based expert who has been monitoring the war.

Times staff writer Alexandra Zavis contributed to this report from Beirut.

david.cloud@latimes.com

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Twitter: @davidcloudLAT

UPDATES:

4:40 p.m.: This article was updated with changes throughout.

This article was originally published at 11:35 a.m.U.S. and allied warships and warplanes in the eastern Mediterranean launched a fiery barrage of missiles at multiple military targets in Syria to punish the Russian-backed government in Damascus for its alleged use of poison gas against civilians last weekend, President Trump announced.

Trump authorized the punitive attack against President Bashar Assads government and sought to cripple its chemical and biological weapons facilities with what he called precision airstrikes. French and British forces joined the attack, Trump said in a televised address Friday night.

The Pentagon said about 120 missiles targeted a scientific center near Damascus that was used for research, development and production of chemical and biological agents; a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs; and a separate chemical agent storage site and command post near Homs. Officials said no U.S., French or British casualties were reported.

We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, Trump said. Loud explosions and air raid sirens were reported in the Syrian capital as he spoke at 9 p.m. in Washington. It was before dawn Saturday in Damascus.

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At a subsequent Pentagon news conference, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said that no follow-up strikes were planned, calling the attack a one-time shot intended to deter Assad from using poison gas again.

Right now we have no additional attacks planned, he said.

He said Pentagon planners took precautions to try to avoid endangering civilians or any Russian troops in Syria. He said he could not guarantee that the attacks on poison gas stockpiles did not release toxic agents in the air.

U.S., British and French warplanes apparently fired air-to-ground missiles from hundreds of miles offshore, out of range of Syrias sophisticated air defense batteries.

Attack areas (Source: U.S. Department of Defense )

That allowed a more ambitious attack, with a more aggressive target list, than last years U.S. strike with 59 Tomahawk missiles on a single Syrian airfield in response to a nerve gas attack.

Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year, Mattis said. This time our allies and we have struck harder.

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Mattis acknowledged that the U.S. had not confirmed yet that Syria had used sarin or other deadly nerve agents in last Saturdays attack on a rebel-held town, but said U.S. intelligence had confirmed use of chlorine gas.

Were very confident chlorine was used, Mattis said. Were not ruling out sarin right now.

The British Defense Ministry said in a statement that four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 warplanes took part in the attack and fired Storm Shadow missiles at a Syrian military base 15 miles west of Homs, near the Lebanon border.

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Very careful scientific analysis was applied to  maximize the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimize any risks of contamination to the surrounding area, the statement said.

Trump promised that the United States would not maintain an indefinite presence in the war-torn region, saying that no amount of American blood or treasure can bring stability to the Middle East. It is a troubled place.

He called on Russia and Iran, which he said are the chief enablers of the Syrian government, to relinquish their support. What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men women and children? he said, accusing the two countries of supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime.

The predawn air assault Saturday raised concerns of a direct confrontation with Russia, which has an extensive network of ground-to-air missiles in Syria, as well as hundreds of troops and warplanes, and threatened to shoot down any U.S. missiles or planes that it saw as a threat.

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U.S. officials have been deeply worried that the strikes could inadvertently kill Russian troops. But Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the Pentagon had not given Moscow advance warning of the attack.

The Pentagon used a special communications channel with Moscow to make sure the airspace where the U.S. was launching missiles was clear, Dunford said. In last years airstrike, the U.S. gave Russia advance warning of the attack in time for Russia to move its troops and equipment out of danger.

The Pentagons Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, made heavy use of the so-called deconfliction line with Moscow in recent days to gain a better picture of where Russian forces were deployed in Syria and to reassure Moscow that any U.S. strike would target only Syrian military units, facilities and equipment involved in last Saturdays attack.

Trumps Twitter posts and comments this week gave Syria time to move aircraft and troops out of likely target areas, and the advance warning made it more likely its advanced air defense batteries could shoot down U.S. cruise missiles or warplanes, complicating the Pentagons task of preparing a response.

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Syrian state media said government air defenses had successfully intercepted 13 missiles targeting Kisweh in suburban Damascus and the Homs area. There was no independent confirmation.

Syrian casualties werent yet known. Syrian government troops had evacuated airports and primary military air bases in government-held areas in anticipation of a U.S. air attack, and reportedly moved some Syrian warplanes to Russian-controlled airfields for protection.

Fact-finding teams from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international watchdog agency based in The Hague, were expected to arrive in Douma on Saturday to collect evidence on the April 7 attack that left 43 people dead and wounded hundreds more.

U.S. officials said Syrian helicopters dropped gas-filled barrel bombs in Douma, a suburb east of Damascus. Photos and videos showed victims, including children, foaming at the mouth, choking and twitching in agony.

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Local medics and rescue workers said some of the victims emitted an odor that suggested chlorine gas had been used. Others showed symptoms, including constriction of the pupils and convulsions, that suggested an illegal nerve agent such as sarin was mixed in.

The rebel-held town fell to Syrian forces after last weeks bombardment, and Russian troops also have entered the area. Thousands of rebels and civilian residents have been evacuated.

Trump had telegraphed the attack early Wednesday in a tweet that taunted Russia as well as Assad.

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart! You shouldnt be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it! Trump wrote.

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Trumps tweet followed a mid-level Russian diplomats claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin had authorized shooting down any U.S. missiles aimed at Syria. The Kremlin did not confirm the warning.

Russia will execute the statement of its president related to any U.S. aggression against Syria, knocking down American missiles and striking at the sources of fire, Alexander Zasypkin, Russias ambassador to Lebanon, told the Lebanese television channel Al-Manar.

Russia has disputed claims by the U.S. and its allies that Assads forces used lethal chemical agents against civilians in Douma.

The airstrikes come almost exactly a year after U.S. warships fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base that U.S. intelligence said was used to carry out a nerve gas attack that killed about 75 people in the town of Khan Sheikhoun.

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In that attack, the Pentagon avoided hitting suspected chemical-agent storage facilities at the Shayrat air base, for fear of spreading a toxic cloud, targeting planes and hangars there instead. The Pentagon also gave advance notice to Moscow to ensure any Russian personnel at the base could leave before the attack.

The airfield was back in operation soon after, and Assads government began using less-lethal chlorine gas against rebel positions.

Before the latest U.S. attack, the Pentagon had raised concerns that it might not have legal justification for an assault because it hasnt confirmed that Syrian forces used a banned nerve agent.

Use of any lethal chemical agent as a weapon, especially against civilians, is barred under international law, but unlike sarin, chlorine gas is not specifically prohibited by international treaty.

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Forensic evidence from alleged victims of the Douma attack, including blood and urine samples, that the U.S. has received through intermediaries indicate the presence of chlorine gas, but evidence that a deadly nerve agent such as sarin also was used is less clear, two officials said on condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments.

Russia has repeatedly denied that a poison gas attack occurred, saying that gruesome photographs of victims were fake.

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went much further, telling a state-run news site that Moscow had irrefutable evidence that the gas attack was a performance staged by a foreign spy service. He did not identify the country or show any proof for his claim.

But Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, blamed Britain, telling reporters that London had direct involvement, according to Russias state news agency.

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Konashenkov also said a Syrian medic who claimed to work at Doumas central hospital said the victims suffered from smoke inhalation, not chemical exposure. He said a rent-a-mob had entered the hospital saying there was a chemical weapons attack and had begun washing one another in front of cameras. The medic said he had not seen a single patient with signs of poisoning with chemicals, Konashenkov said.

The British Foreign Office dismissed Moscows charges as the latest in a number of ludicrous allegations from Russia, who have also said that no attack ever happened. This simply shows their desperation to pin the blame on anyone but their client: the Assad regime.

British relations with Moscow already are in a tailspin. Prime Minister Theresa Mays government has accused the Kremlin of trying to murder a former Russian spy and his daughter in southern England with a military-grade nerve agent known as Novichok. The two survived the March 4 poisoning, and Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

The finger-pointing continued during an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Friday.

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Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said any military action would be in defense of a bedrock international norm that benefits all nations.

She said Assads forces had used chemical weapons at least 50 times since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011. She blamed Russia, in part, accusing it of lies and cover-ups that have led to the trashing of all international standards against the use of chemical weapons.

Russias ambassador to the U.N., Vassily Nebenzia, fired back, saying the United States irresponsible behavior was unworthy of its status as a permanent member of the Security Council.

He evoked the bitter memory of when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell held up a test tube as part of his effort to convince the Security Council in March 2003 that the U.S. had ironclad evidence that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was building and hiding chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. None was found after the U.S.-led invasion, and the intelligence later was deemed to be faulty.

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You are showing us the same virtual empty test tube now, too, Nebenzia said.

Times staff writer Alexandra Zavis and special correspondent Nabih Bulos in Beirut and staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report.

david.cloud@latimes.com

Twitter: @davidcloudLAT

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UPDATES:

8:25 p.m.: This story was updated with details of the British attack.

8:00 p.m.: This story has been updated with additional quotes and details.

7:20 p.m.: This story has been updated with details from a Pentagon briefing.

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7:00 p.m.: This story has been updated with additional quotes and details.

This story originally posted at 6:15 p.m.It has been clear for some time  telegraphed in typically blustering language on Twitter  that President Trump intended to make Syrian President Bashar Assad pay a price for the poisoning deaths of dozens of people earlier this month in the rebel-held town of Duma. On Friday evening, Trump announced that he had indeed ordered precision strikes on facilities associated with Syrias chemical weapons program and that they were being coordinated with the armed forces of Britain and France. On Saturday morning, Trump and other administration officials declared the mission a success.

Whatever one thinks of the wisdom of Trumps decision, he is right to see the use of chemical weapons as especially abhorrent. Of course, conventional weapons also cause death and injury, and a child killed by a barrel bomb is just as dead as a child poisoned by sarin or chlorine gas. But for a century, chemical weapons have been viewed by civilized nations as beyond the pale. The descriptions in recent days of Syrian victims gasping, trembling and foaming at the mouth only reinforces that view. If the deployment of such weapons in Syria goes unpunished, other governments and movements might be emboldened to violate that prohibition. That Britain and France were willing to participate in the strikes with the United States is proof that alarm about these atrocities isnt unique to the United States.

A more ambitious military strike would have posed the immediate danger of a confrontation with Russian forces.

Whether this weekends attack will succeed in its objective of deterring Assad from using chemical weapons is less clear. On Saturday, Trump tweeted, Mission Accomplished! and a Pentagon spokeswoman said that U.S. officials believed the strikes had significantly crippled Assads ability to carry out future chemical weapons attacks. Yet Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, the Pentagons Joint Staff director, acknowledged that theres still a residual element of the Syrian program thats out there.

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Of course, the risk of such a strike is that it will further entangle the United States in this tragic and terribly complex conflict, and that it will lead, ultimately, to confrontation with Russia, Iran and other powers involved in the region. Trump has asserted repeatedly that he wants to disengage from Syria, yet in his address to the nation Friday evening, he said: We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. And Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency Security Council meeting Saturday that the U.S. is locked and loaded for further military action in the event the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons again.

If Trump indeed decides further military action is necessary  and we firmly hope that it will not be  he should seek authority in advance from Congress, as he should have done in this case. He also should seek approval for the current deployment of 2,000 troops engaged in combating the remnants of Islamic State.

In his speech, Trump reiterated that he intends to withdraw those U.S. forces once they complete their mission, adding that America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria. That was an implicit rebuke to those who have argued that the U.S. should use its military presence in Syria not only to deter Assad from using chemical weapons but also to undermine his influence or even drive him from power.

Some of those who believe the U.S. should play a larger role in the Syrian conflict had hoped that Trumps retaliation for the use of chemical weapons in Duma would be an attack powerful enough to destroy much of Assads military. The president, wisely, rejected that advice. A more ambitious military strike would have posed the immediate danger of a confrontation with Russian forces and other consequences, not all of them foreseeable.

Trump said Friday that the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. He was right not to extend the mission to regime change.

To read this article in Spanish, click here

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookTheres a quality of urban life that people either love or hate: Everywhere you look in a city is a terminal point of human desire.

If youre in a city right now, look around. Church. Manicure joint. Strip club. Condos. The populations collective demands for religion, sex, shelter and (above all) #nailart are inscribed in the cityscape. Contrast this with an untamed natural landscape where human desires arent answered at all. Want a bed or simple hydration? The forest and desert dont care.

Facebook is a hypertropolis that can make even the most committed urbanite long for the countryside. Its engineered to stoke and satisfy desires. Initially, users turn to Facebook for clients, romance and popularity. Eventually were trained to crave and demand everything from overpriced socks to political propaganda.

Thats when we start shelling out resources, in dollars and in the more precious coin of our attention and data.

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But where a city fulfills the wants and needs of its entire population, Facebook is perpetually reading individual users. It both installs our buttons and pushes the hell out of them. It speaks to us in our own voice, cobbled together from what it interprets to be our longings and desires.

It was interesting to hear senators and congresspeople voice their anxiety and to hear Zuckerberg express contempt for it.

Facebook then coarsens that voice, and amplifies it. The data-and-targeting algorithm acts like Iago, amping up our basest emotions while pretending to be merely concerned for our welfare. Mention the word cheating in Messenger, for example, and Facebooks Iago jumps to conclusions, showing you ads for private-eye services. (Not that I know this firsthand.)

It was this icky part of Facebooks UX that seemed most to bother the members of Congress who interrogated Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg last week. Ostensibly the hearings were to determine whether government ought to regulate Facebook, which enjoys unprecedented power over 2 billion users. But the hearings often seemed more like a 10-hour encounter group for boomers and senior citizens terrified of digitization.

Understandably, the gang on Capitol Hill was deeply concerned about the targeting of users with bespoke come-ons. Targeted ads are one of the few ways ordinary people see visible evidence of Facebooks arcane data operation, and concern about ads is a proxy for the broader worry about data-gathering.

It was interesting to hear senators and congresspeople voice their anxiety and to hear Zuckerberg express contempt for it.

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida (b. 1942) asked an especially sweet, pained question: Im communicating with my friends on Facebook and indicate that I love a certain kind of chocolate. And all of a sudden I start receiving advertisements for chocolate. What if I dont want to receive those commercial advertisements?

If you want to have an experience where your ads arent targeted using all the information that we have available, Zuckerberg replied, you can turn off third-party information.

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The implication was that Nelsons squeamishness was not just odd, but self-defeating. Why wouldnt he want targeted ads using all the dirt on him in Facebooks arsenal?

Zuckerbergs answer implied one of Facebooks more far-fetched talking points. According to the company line, data-harvesting and user-targeting are not done in the name of surveillance or even profits. Rather, theyre done for the same reason Facebook does all else: Because it cares about us. Hmm. Unlikely.

When Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska (b. 1951) pressed Zuckerberg on data storage, he said even more clearly than he had to Nelson that Facebook does it for our own good.

We store data about what people share on the service and information thats required to do ranking better, to show you what you care about in news feed.

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What you care about was an insidious Zuckerberg euphemism for targeted ads and propaganda. Another was relevant content. He was proposing that human beings want to be confronted with nothing but things theyre presumed to desire.

As he flatly asserted, The overwhelming feedback that we get from our community is that people would rather have us show relevant content there than not.

Clearly, the chocolate-loving Nelson was not part of that feedback. And if those who fail to opt out of the data-gathering are considered to be overwhelmingly in favor of it, thats a hopeless indicator. Opting out is, of course, made as tricky as possible.

But thats not the point. Zuckerberg and Facebook believe we are not only desperate to connect but desperate to be understood  if only by an algorithm that sees us as a nothing but a ball of needs and wants ripe for exploitation.

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Then it mirrors and refracts that image back at us until we come to believe it, and  worse  until we yield to the exploitation as evidence that Facebook cares about us.

Its devilish logic. No wonder the reflex of many in Congress was a kind of disbelief and dysphoria. And every time Zuckerberg insisted that data-gathering and targeting are for the benefit of the people, they looked more defeated.

Nelson is from Florida. Fisch is from Nebraska. Come the next recess, I hope they go home for a bit. Maybe visit the Everglades or the Wildcat Hills. In swamps and rugged terrain, it takes some doing even to meet baseline desires for comfort.

But when no ones telling you to want  well, the traditional American word for that is freedom.

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Twitter:@page88Almost as low in our letter writers esteem as President Trump  and mind you, were talking about a readership concentrated in deep-blue Los Angeles, writing about one of the most consistently unpopular commanders in chief since the advent of tracking polls  is the politician many consider to have served as the presidents most effective enabler, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.).

Since the former vice presidential candidate, nine-term member of Congress and onetime-reluctant Trump endorser announced on Wednesday his impending departure from the House, not a single letter writer has expressed support for Ryan or even wished him well. To them, his legacy is, more or less, whatever is that of the Trump presidency.

Here are some of those letters.

Marcia Goldstein of Laguna Beach warns Ryan that he will not escape historys harsh judgment:

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Nice try, Speaker Ryan, but jumping ship is not going to keep your name out of the history books.

Some historians may debate whether you and your fellow Republicans were merely Trumps enablers or his active collaborators. The truth is that the Republican Party knowingly fobbed Trump off on this country to achieve power, regardless of the consequences.

Even at the outset, you knew you were dealing a man who was totally unfit for office, but you proceeded so that you could achieve tax cuts for your wealthy donors and continue motivating your base with disrespect for the important functions of government. Your destructive actions have harmed millions of Americans.

Alexander Astin of Los Angeles accuses Ryan of dishonesty:

Ryan also showed us all that he is, like his president, a liar.

When he was hyping his major achievement, the debt-busting tax bill that benefits primarily corporations and the very rich, he stated with a straight face that the entire purpose of this tax bill is to cut middle-class taxes.

Tom Stapleton of Glendale wants Ryans successor to stand up to Trump:

So Ryan finally sees the handwriting on the wall and, like many fellow GOP representatives, is stepping down from his do-nothing post.

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Ryan long ago abandoned any principles he may have had, capitulating to Trumps complete lack of principle. The speakers shameful inability to face up to a reprehensible president will be his dubious legacy. Sadly for America, well have to abide eight more months of his lame-duck drifting in the swamp.

Lets hope his replacement has the temerity to face up to an administration in it only for itself, and to truly represent the best interests of the constituency that put him in office.

Glendale resident Susan Straughn Harris adds some levity to the conversation:

As a died-in-the wool Democrat, I was not unhappy to learn of Ryans retirement from Congress. But as a former working mother, I was in admiration of his reasons, one being to spend more time with his children.

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Then I read that his children are all teenagers, and now I fear he has lost his mind.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookTo the editor: I really like this idea by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to build small homes in the backyards of owners who agree to take in the most stable of the 58,000 homeless people in the area. It is almost perfect. (L.A. County wants to help build guest houses in backyards  for homeless people, April 11)

First, it will be far cheaper than relying solely on the construction of larger supportive housing units. Second, less bureaucracy is involved. And finally, the homeless people who end up living in these neighborhood homes will more than likely feel a part of the community and maintain their new homes with pride.

If any problems with this idea exist, perhaps they will be from neighbors who feel unsettled by formerly homeless people living in nearby backyards. Although there would be no justifiable reason for worry, some people live by old stereotypes.

Kudos to Garcetti and the supervisors for their compassion and innovative thinking. I hope this idea succeeds and spreads to other areas.

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Brian Miller, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: I was pleasantly surprised to read that others have had the same idea to exploit empty spaces that exist all over Los Angeles to help solve the homelessness problem by building inexpensive add-ons.

Currently, with a few others, I am building an experimental tiny house that will take a somewhat different approach to the problem. We are aiming to keep the cost of a 276-square-foot home to less than $10,000 and make it movable, but not like a trailer. Cost is the critical factor in housing homeless people.

Although our focus is on homeless veterans who we intend to challenge by giving them a plan and materials to build their own home that remains theirs, we can see where all of these solutions can help solve the problem.

William Bergmann, Hollywood

..

To the editor: Great idea. Now lets start leading by example.

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All elected officials, from the mayor and county supervisors on down, should be the first people to place these tiny houses on their properties. If its such a good idea, they should be first in line.

James Tyner, Venice

..

To the editor: I have been riding Metros Red Line subway to Hollywood every day for the last three months. Overall, my experience has been positive and quite different from some of the people who feel the presence of homeless people makes the taking the train less safe. (Feelings of despair seeing L.A.s homeless take shelter in Metro trains and stations, Readers React, April 10)

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The rides have have all been safe, as there are plenty of police and Metro security staff. They have been clean; in fact, I see Metro cleaners come through every day.

Yes, seeing homelessness and despair up close can be unsettling, but my overwhelming feeling is of impotence in the face of a significant problem. Reading about the social workers trying to connect with some of the people on the train gives me some hope, because I dont think this problem will improve unless we are able to directly help people one by one.

It also gave me an opportunity to donate in support of the program, which I hope will grow beyond the Red Line to others. Hiding homelessness doesnt make it go away.

Miriam Steuart, Rancho Cucamonga

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookPresident Trump declared, Mission Accomplished! on Saturday after the U.S. and its allies hit at least three chemical and biological weapons facilities in Syria with more than 120 missiles in a coordinated pre-dawn attack.

A perfectly executed strike, Trump said on Twitter, even as top Pentagon officials said they still were assessing the damage.

The military officials said they were confident that Syrian government installations that produced chlorine gas and sarin, a nerve agent, were destroyed or damaged.

The Pentagon said it knew of no civilian casualties at this time.

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Russia angrily accused Britain, France and the U.S., the three nations involved in the airstrikes  all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council  of committing a military crime and convened an emergency session of the Security Council, the fifth this week.

Trumps declaration of mission accomplished had an awkward historic ring. It famously was on a backdrop banner when President George W. Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier in May 2003 and prematurely declared victory in Iraq. The U.S. war there dragged on for eight more years.

Defense Secretary James N. Mattis told reporters Friday night that the administration still did not know whether a Syrian attack on a rebel-held area near Damascus last Saturday involved an illegal nerve agent as well as chlorine. The U.S. and other Western powers have blamed the suspected gas attack on Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran.

At the Security Council meeting in New York, Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said that Russian and Syrian forces are attacking terrorists, not civilians, and that overnight attack by the U.S. and its European allies had worsened an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.

Nebenzia accused the U.S., France and Britain of committing illegal acts of aggression by attacking without U.N. approval.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., countered that Russias track record of vetoing Security Council resolutions designed to rein in the Assad government had given the Syrian leader a green light for the use of barbaric weapons.

Haley said the airstrikes did not change U.S. strategy in Syria. The Trump administration has never articulated its strategy or goal in Syria beyond fighting Islamic State militants and calling for political negotiations to replace Assad.

She said Trump was locked and loaded to order more airstrikes if Assad conducts another poison gas attack.

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Most members of the Security Council, with the notable exception of Bolivia, voiced support for the airstrikes.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in London that the West had tried every possible diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons.

But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted by Syria and Russia, she said.

In Syria, government supporters appeared relieved that the airstrikes were not more extensive.

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While the Pentagon claimed the missile barrage hit their targets and would cripple Assads ability to develop, produce or deploy chemical or biological weapons, the long-term impact was less clear.

These limited strikes may serve to deter future chemical weapons use, but assuming they dont trigger escalation or a retaliation, they wont dramatically alter the course of the conflict, Emma Beals, a Beirut-based expert who has been monitoring the war in Syria, said on Twitter.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter

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UPDATES:

10:05 a.m.: This article was updated with details from the U.N. Security Council.

This article was originally published at 7:35 a.m.Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti brought his all-but-announced 2020 presidential candidacy to Iowa on Friday, visiting for two days of stumping in the state that traditionally casts the first ballots of the presidential campaign.

Having called on New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, Garcetti has now completed the circuit of early-voting states, though he insists a final decision on running wont come until next year.

The Democrat not only starts the race as an extreme long shot  even just to win his partys nomination  but he also is bucking history: No mayor has ever gone straight from City Hall to the White House.

After breakfast Saturday morning with firefighters in a cafe on the east side of Des Moines, the Democratic hopeful sat for an interview about his presidential ambitions and, as an aside, music.

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Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.

What was the precise moment you said to yourself, You know what, I could be president. I could do that job?

Look, Ive worked closely with presidents, especially with President Obama, and I realized that what good leaders do at the national level is no different than what we do at the local level. Leadership is leadership, producing results is producing results.

I mean, Im always intimidated in life about the next step and pleasantly surprised when I get there that, Hey, human beings figured out a way to do this before, and I can too. But I dont have a precise moment.

Ive always been a little scared by the next step in life. If that can keep you humble, dont be scared and jump in.

Would you be running if Donald Trump wasnt president?

No.

Is that because you think hes changed the rules and the threshold for being elected president?

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Oh, I think the old rules were dying out long before Trump was elected president. No African American had become president until one was.

What would dissuade you from running at this point?

Somebody else who checks the boxes that I can get behind. At the end of the day, its a very personal decision, for my family, for me, for my daughter. Ive got a family that comes first and a city that I still want to finish the work for.

I know if I were to be president, I could maybe have a greater impact on helping Los Angeles than I can even today because some of the frustrations, from homelessness to the environment, we have no help [on] from Washington.

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Eric Garcetti, presidential long shot, journeys to Iowa, the land of dreams 

So those things will all factor in. I feel a real responsibility to my city, my family. And I always look for somebody else. I never assume Im the guy.

Check what boxes?

Im like a voter. Its a feeling for me. I dont have boxes, and I dont have an agenda. Elections are about a visceral feeling, especially presidential elections  of whether people can lead. Id be looking for the same thing that a voter did.

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Youre a mayor, youre a dad, youre exploring a run for president. How do you juggle those?

I work 18 hours a day almost every day and [weekends.] I prioritize my daughter and my wife. I either come home to tuck her into bed, or come home to have dinner  virtually every night. I didnt run for governor partially because I didnt want to be gone from home for a year. At the same time, I dont want my daughter to grow up in an America that looks like this right now and that feels like this.

In good conscience, I have to balance my obligations to them, and the power that we all have as Americans and patriots right now to turn this tide. I dont want her growing up thinking this is normal.

Youre a very private person when it comes to your personal life. How do you deal with the fishbowl of a presidential campaign?

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Im in what feels like a pretty transparent fishbowl as mayor. People see you at the market, people see you at the diner, people see you wherever you are, talk to you. You dont shave, theyre taking selfies of you. You come back from your jog, theyre talking to you. I live in that world already right now.

The national stage amplifies that, but thats my day-to-day reality and its part of what I love is that people know and can find me, knock on my door, can visit me during office hours. Im meeting with somebody who is struggling with homelessness one hour and the head of state the next and everything in between, so Im very comfortable in that space.

In a potentially large and varied Democratic field, what makes you uniquely qualified or suited to be president?

I leave that to others like you to analyze. Im proud of the record weve built in Los Angeles and its applicability to the smallest town, the biggest city, all the local communities.

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I think I bring a perspective that local communities are what make this country great, and they are the laboratories of democracy.

I think I bring the perspective of doing things, and having to do things.  Im not just for raising the minimum wage, I did it. Im not just for free community college, Ive done it. Im not just for middle-class jobs, Ive produced them.

Youre an accomplished jazz pianist. Your three favorites?

Keith Jarrett. Oscar Peterson. Those are my first two, by far. Ahmad Jamal, probably the other one.

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Why Keith Jarrett?

He just speaks to me. Its how I play.

mark.barabak@latimes.com

@markzbarabakAllies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook

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Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook

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U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook

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Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook

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He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect  despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook

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Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram  which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal  claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook

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It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook

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New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook

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Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause.  #Georgia  Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook

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Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook

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Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook

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Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook

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Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution  something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm  U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush.



The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T  Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY  LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook

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Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook

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Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook

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Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook

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James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump  as recently as Tuesday  continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along  that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right  to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook

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Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook

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Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops  You really are our heroes, he said  as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water  we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook

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Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook

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Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see.  James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook

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Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes  he last won reelection by a 14-point margin  suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook

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Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook

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Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January  eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook

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Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook

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Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook

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Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook

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Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election  again, in blowout fashion  but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook

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Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook

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Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes  which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook

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Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook

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Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook

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GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10.  Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook

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Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook

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Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook

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Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook

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Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook

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CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook

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Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks  Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank  when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while  including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook

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Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook

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ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook

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Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters...  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook

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Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press  President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook

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Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there  the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day  and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event  a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook

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Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children  the older ones are 5 and 2  about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals  her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican  she the race felt mWhen President Obama considered launching airstrikes against Syria in August 2013 in retaliation for a nerve gas attack that killed hundreds of people, businessman Donald Trump strongly opposed U.S. intervention.

We should stay the hell out of Syria, he tweeted at the time. He later added, The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!

Obama never did order an attack. But as president, Trump now has ordered missile strikes twice against Syria  once last April and again Friday night  without any suggestion that he needs congressional approval. And many lawmakers on Capitol Hill seem content to leave it that way.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) praised the decisive action taken by the U.S., Britain and France against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

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We are united in our resolve that Assads barbaric use of chemical weapons cannot go unanswered, Ryan said in a statement. His regimes unconscionable brutality against innocent civilians cannot be tolerated.

Trump had a free hand in large measure because Syria remains a vexing humanitarian, military and political crisis with no end in sight. Now in its eighth year, the multisided war has pulled in a half-dozen nations, including Russia, and it has scrambled partisan battle lines in Washington.

The predawn attack Saturday targeted three Syrian sites that the Pentagon said were used to research, produce or stockpile chemical agents. The attack did not threaten Assads grip on power.

Some Republicans, and more Democrats, demanded Trump seek authority for future missile strikes from Congress, which under the Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Resolution is required to approve military action.

Congress last declared war in 1941. Since then, it has used resolutions to approve use of military force  or not. Obama canceled his planned airstrikes in 2013 because congressional leaders refused to call a vote to authorize the use of force.

The largest group of lawmakers offered tentative approval for the airstrike, mixed with caution, as they watch to see whether Trump launches a follow-up attack, or if the military response leads to further turmoil in the Middle East.

Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) said he hopes the attack will end Assads chemical weapons program and dissuade him from ever pursuing them again. He carefully added, I await a briefing on the scope and success of the mission.

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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee and frequently jousts with Trump on foreign policy, was more blunt in suggesting that the White House needs to explain where it intends to go next.

To succeed in the long run, we need a comprehensive strategy for Syria and the entire region, he tweeted.

But unusual contours of the war in Syria have created some odd alliances in Washington.

Hawkish conservatives favored the aggressive pushback against Assad. So did some liberals, who applauded the airstrikes as a way to stop the horrors of chemical weapons, which have become a grim feature of the Syrian civil war.

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But it also created another group of strange bedfellows  liberals and conservatives upset that Trump neglected to consult Congress.

An aide to Vice President Mike Pence said that he had called legislative leaders and alerted them shortly before the missiles began hitting their targets at 9 p.m. Friday in Washington. No formal approval was sought.

President Trumps decision to launch military strikes against the Syrian regime  without congressional input or authorization  shows a contempt for the U.S Constitution and is without legal justification, said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), one of the most liberal members of the House.

I fully support all international accountability mechanisms to prosecute these war crimes and to negotiate a political solution to the war in Syria, she said. But as weve seen over the last 16 years, we cannot bomb our way to peace.

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Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) criticized congressional leaders for not demanding that Trump seek approval from Congress. These offensive strikes against Syria are unconstitutional, illegal, and reckless, he tweeted.

A total of 88 members of Congress from both parties wrote Trump on Friday to urge him to consult with legislators before taking action. To do otherwise, the letter said, violated the separation of powers outlined by the Constitution.

Neither Ryan nor Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) demanded that Trump seek congressional approval before further action.

On Thursday, after the president made clear he was nearing a decision, Ryan batted down suggestions that Trump should ask Congress to approve an authorization of military force, or AUMF.

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The speaker said Trump could use existing authorization, which was approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It authorized use of force against anyone involved in those attacks or related forces, and has been used to justify U.S. military actions since then, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The last thing I want to see is an AUMF that makes it much more difficult for our military to respond to keep us safe, because they have the authority to do that right now, Ryan told reporters Thursday.

Democratic leaders were more critical.

One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy, said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco. She said Trump must secure congressional authority by outlining clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians.

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Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) said lawmakers bear some of the blame, noting that Congress has willingly abdicated its role in approving or disproving military action.

That must change, he said. The risk of escalation with any military action in a country in which Russia, Iran and Turkey have deployed troops and proxies is far too great to leave to any executive acting on their own.

The latest from Washington 

For more on politics from Cathleen Decker 

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cathleen.decker@latimes.com

Twitter: @cathleendeckerAt the midpoint of one of the most tumultuous weeks in his presidency, President Trump on Wednesday dined on ravioli, hen and fruit compote with a celebrity lawyer he hardly knows, Alan Dershowitz, an iconoclastic legal scholar who has emerged as a prime Trump defender in cable televisions court of public opinion.

What I saw was an upbeat president having a nice dinner, Dershowitz said.

The moment of calm stood in contrast to the days that bracketed it, as Trump cycled through assorted controversies, public rages, policy vacillations, salacious tabloid scandals, diplomatic snafus and conflicting military strategies that each would have created a months worth of political fallout in another presidency.

Yet for Trump, the congenial dinner in the midst of crises, some self-inflicted, illustrated just how ordinary chaos is in his White House, and the degree to which Trumps erratic behavior is the dominant feature of his presidency.

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The White House is no different than the 26th floor, said Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, referring to the floor of Trump Tower where Trump ran his business, presiding over a small group of loyalists and family members accustomed to indulging his whims.

What has changed lately is that Trump has seemed to grow more isolated by the departures of longtime confidants, including some who date to the Trump Tower days. That has elicited fears among Republicans from the White House to Capitol Hill that he has abandoned whatever inclination he had to steer in a straight line.

Follow the latest news of the Trump administration on Essential Washington 

Trumps most trusted aide and sounding board, Hope Hicks, left the White House late last month. His body man and sometime fixer, Keith Schiller, departed last fall. Rob Porter, a young aide who had become a trusted West Wing filter, was forced out in February amid allegations of spousal abuse. Daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner both have seen their stature and access diminish.

I think he is lonely, one longtime confidant said. The absence of Hope Hicks, the absence of Schiller  all those things make him lonely.

At the weeks start, Trumps sense of loss  and personal violation  seemed to boil over when the FBI raided the office, home and hotel room of his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen  a possible signal that the wide-ranging inquiry of Trumps closest associates was edging closer to the president himself. Cohen is at the center of several controversies, including preelection payments to silence women who said they had affairs with Trump.

The loss of close aides coincided with the arrival of less familiar newcomers. Trump prepared an attack on Syria, in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens, just as his new national security advisor, John Bolton, showed up to work at the White House on Monday and began immediately reshuffling the team. His new chief economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, was a week into the job when Trump, at a meeting with Republican senators Thursday, floated a major reversal on trade policy.

Neither man is a natural Trump ally. Bolton was a leading proponent of the Iraq war for President George W. Bush, a conflict that Trump has called the single worst decision ever made. Kudlow has spent much of his career pushing free trade proposals that Trump has lambasted for raping American workers.

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I dont know if Trumps ever found a group of people hes quote used to, said a former Bush administration official in regular contact with the White House, listing Cabinet officers who have come and gone in Trumps first 15 months.

Some of those who have known Trump on a personal level say he is continuing to rely heavily on people outside the White House  a collection of New York business people, media moguls, old political hands, wealthy members of his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and those, like Dershowitz and Sean Hannity, whom hes befriended for being supportive cable television personalities.

Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and sometime Trump advisor, saw in Dershowitzs dinner invitation a suggestion that the lawyer might be moving into the presidents inner circle, noting that Bolton and others have come for meals before they won a place as insiders.

Yet Gingrich also noted how quickly Trump can run through such confidants. Hes a guy who has gone through his entire business career having people come and go, Gingrich said.

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Trump often calls outside advisors in the evenings or on weekends to evade the notice of John F. Kelly, his White House chief of staff who has tried with limited success to provide a more orderly decision-making process and information flow. Those who speak with Trump most often try to downplay their access, to avoid losing it.

As Trump shifts among advisors, however, their confusion about him and about their place in his network grows.

Its very hard to understand in this atmosphere who hes listening to, one confidant said.

The response to the international crisis over Syria was a prominent example of Trumps shifting posture on a fundamental issue.

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Late last month, he promised to withdraw troops from Syria very soon and let the other people take care of it. That prospect unnerved his national security advisors because the United States departure would leave Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime  three parties at odds with American policy  in charge without check.

Yet this week, the chemical attack allegedly by the Syrian government changed Trumps calculus.

Trump was quick to denounce what he called a humanitarian atrocity and warned Moscow hed launch a barrage of nice and new and smart! missiles in the face of Russias threats to shoot them down, an exchange that risked widening the conflict.

He also abruptly canceled a trip to Latin America this weekend for an annual summit of Western Hemisphere nations, sending Vice President Mike Pence in his place and surely vexing allies already antagonistic to his rhetoric and policy against Latino immigrants.

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But soon after promising swift action in Syria, Trump pulled back again, ignoring timelines that he set earlier in the week to launch an attack.

Never said when an attack on Syria would take place, he tweeted Thursday. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!

The attack finally came Friday night, with a prime-time announcement.

We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, Trump said.

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Trump surprised advisors on another core issue, trade. Along with immigration, Trumps opposition to trade deals was at the center of his campaign and his political appeal. Days after taking office, he withdrew the United States from the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement with 11 nations that he frequently called a disaster, and boasted of fulfilling a promise to American workers.

Yet Trump on Thursday told a group of farm-state Republican senators who favor the deal that he would review his decision to withdraw. Hours later, he tweeted a message that cast doubt on any such possibility, reiterating his demands for better terms and endorsing bilateral pacts as alternatives.

In each case, Trumps aides have been forced to adjust strategy and messaging to meet his unexpected and changing pronouncements.

Late Thursday night, Trump signed an executive order to review the finances of the United States Postal Service, following weeks of angry tweets falsely blaming Amazon for the agencys shortfalls. Amazon is run by Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, whose coverage has angered Trump.

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Amid the policy shifts, Trump engaged in public tirades  sparked by the Cohen raid  suggesting anew that he might fire Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who oversees the Mueller inquiry of Russian election campaign interference and possible Trump campaign complicity.

Trump called the raid on Cohen an attack on democracy and the end of attorney-client privilege, assertions that were widely dismissed, including by the legal community.

His attitude is, its my turn. Im going to do things my way, said Steele, the former GOP chair.

On Friday, Trump dropped another surprise, pardoning I. Lewis Scooter Libby, a former Bush administration official who was convicted of lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice. Bush had declined to pardon Libby, and Libbys cause hardly seemed one for Trump to take up. Not only was Libby behind the Iraq war effort, but the investigation that led to his conviction centered around leaking classified information, which Trump has criticized others for.

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Only hours before announcing the pardon, Trump had lashed out on Twitter against fired FBI Director James B. Comey, calling him a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Comey has begun promoting a new memoir in which he criticizes Trump as an immoral liar who acts like a mob boss, demanding unquestioning loyalty.

Comey is to appear on ABC on Sunday night for an hourlong interview about the book  an event all but certain to mean another wild week for the Trump presidency.

noah.bierman@latimes.com

Twitter: @noahbiermanWait  did the president really say, Mission Accomplished? By Marc Olson Some are recalling the last time a president declared Mission accomplished, in May 2003 when George W. Bush was talking about Iraq. (Stephen Jaffe / AFP/Getty Images) President Trump on Saturday morning thanked his allies in a tweet that declared the airstrikes on Syria perfectly executed, but he might have wished hed stopped there. Instead, he ended his message with the phrase, Mission Accomplished! Thats a line that might have a previous president shaking his head. On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq under a Mission Accomplished banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That war, which began in March 2003, grew into a prolonged conflict that didnt end until 2011. In 2008, the White House said it had paid a price for the backdrop. A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018 Facebook

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Auditor says Pentagon is censoring key data on the war in Afghanistan By Shashank Bengali The Pentagon is blocking the release of data showing how much of Afghanistans territory lies outside government control, censoring a key metric used to gauge progress in the 16-year war, a watchdog agency said Tuesday. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, an auditing agency established by Congress, said in its latest report that the Pentagon instructed it not to release unclassified data on how many districts and people are controlled or influenced by insurgent groups. This is the first time SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked unclassified to the American taxpayer, the head of the agency, John F. Sopko, wrote in a letter. Sopko also said the U.S.-led military coalition, for the first time since 2009, classified information about the size and attrition rates of the Afghan security forces, important indicators of progress in building up army and police forces on which the U.S. already has spent $70 billion since 2002. The decision to withhold more information from congressional oversight and the public comes amid growing violence in Afghanistan and an intensifying combat mission involving a greater number of American troops. Following a series of bombings in Kabul that left at least 136 people dead in 10 days, President Trump signaled on Monday that he was focused on trying to win the conflict militarily, saying, We dont want to talk with the Taliban. But data released by SIGAR since 2015 have shown how the insurgents have gained ground against Afghan security forces. In its previous quarterly report, the watchdog said that only 57% of Afghanistans 407 districts were under Afghan government control or influence as of August 2017, the lowest level of control since it began tracking the statistic in December 2015. The steady decline in government control should cause even more concern about its disappearance from public disclosure and discussion, Sopko wrote. The watchdog also accused the Pentagon of overstating the impact of its efforts to combat drug cultivation and trafficking, among the Talibans main sources of revenue. The Pentagon touted airstrikes that destroyed 25 drug labs in November and December, saying it eliminated nearly $100 million of Taliban revenue. The labs being destroyed are cheap and easy to replace, SIGAR said. According to some estimates, they only take three or four days to replace. Facebook

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Women journalists shunted to rear for Pences visit to Western Wall By Noga Tarnopolsky The view from the womens section. (Noga Tarnopolsky / Los Angeles Times) Vice-President Mike Pences 48-hour visit to Israel stumbled into a public storm Tuesday when female reporters covering his final stop at Jerusalems Western Wall were penned behind four rows of their male colleagues. White House officials told stunned journalists that the arrangement emanated from a request made by the Western Wall rabbi, Shmuel Rabinowitz, and followed Western Wall rules. Some women journalists said they could not recall such treatment in the past. In a statement to Israels Channel 10 news, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said it was exactly as it was during the visit of the U.S. president to the Western Wall last May. Later in the day, in a statement to the newspaper Haaretz, the foundation blamed the United States embassy in Tel Aviv and Israeli security officials for the segregation, and announced they would reexamine the way they handle such events. Women who covered previous VIP visits said the Pence arrangements were significantly more onerous than previous visits, when male and female journalists were separated but not offered substantially different work conditions. LIVE coverage of our male colleagues granted access to cover VP at Western Wall as we are penned into #PenceFence pic.twitter.com/k3svkxfQsa  Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) January 23, 2018 The arrangement reflected procedures at the Western Wall, Judaisms holiest site, where on regular days, men have access to two thirds of the area available for prayer. Tal Schneider, the diplomatic analyst for Globes, a financial newspaper, protested that the separation of men and women may be valid for the requirements of Orthodox prayer, but no one is praying here. We are here to work. I dont appreciate being restricted in my ability to work because I am a woman, she said. The discriminatory attitude towards women is infuriating and is unbefitting of a modern country. Yael Freidson, the Jerusalem affairs correspondent for Yediot Ahronot, Israels widest circulation newspaper, said she worried that her editors could choose male colleagues for the next assignment, knowing they would have better access. Before Pence arrived, journalists were herded onto a specially constructed platform in the middle of the Western Walls esplanade, with women guided to the right behind a white fence, and men, many carrying cameras, directed to the left, where they had more than double the space. Towards the end of the vice presidents 10-minute visit, male journalists were permitted into the VIP tent where he received a gift from Rabinowitz, while the women remained in their enclosure. None of the men publicly protested the treatment of their female colleagues. Israels Association of Women Journalists filed a formal complaint with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, herself a woman. Facebook

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Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, after his pardon from Trump, says hell run for Senate in Arizona By Kurtis Lee (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press) (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press) Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who last year was pardoned by President Trump in a case stemming from his enforcement tactics aimed at immigrants, announced Tuesday he will run for the open Senate seat in his home state. I am running for the U.S. Senate from the Great State of Arizona, for one unwavering reason: to support the agenda and policies of President Donald Trump in his mission to Make America Great Again, Arpaio, 85, said on Twitter. Hell enter a Republican primary for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake. Last summer, Trump pardoned Arpaio, who was convicted in July of criminal contempt for violating a federal court order to stop racially profiling Latinos. It was Arpaios roughly quarter-century as sheriff that gave him a national reputation for his tough treatment of people suspected of being in the country illegally. Repeated court rulings against his office for civil rights violations cost local taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. In the early 1990s, Arpaio directed construction of a tent city for immigration detainees, a measure he said was intended both to alleviate overcrowding and to underscore his aggressive enforcement measures. But it was open to the burning Arizona sun, and drew widespread criticism. After Trump entered the presidential race in July 2015, Arpaio invited him to Phoenix to talk about a crackdown on illegal immigration. He endorsed Trump just before the first votes in the Iowa caucuses in 2016 and frequently spoke out on behalf of Trumps campaign. Facebook

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President Trump ends controversial voter fraud commission By Kurtis Lee President Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday ending the voter fraud commission he launched last year as the panel faces a flurry of lawsuits and criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump signed the order disbanding the commission rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, created by executive order in May with the stated goal of restoring confidence and integrity in the electoral process, has faced a barrage of lawsuits in recent months over privacy concerns, as the commission sought personal data on voters across the country. Read More Facebook

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Congress returns to work with slimmer GOP majority to accomplish Trumps agenda By Lisa Mascaro Congress returns to work this week with unfinished business on spending, immigration and other crucial issues, but with an even narrower GOP majority that will make it tougher to move on President Trumps agenda. The House and Senate will convene Wednesday, swearing in the newly elected Democratic senator from Alabama, Doug Jones, and Minnesotas Tina Smith to replace a fellow Democrat, Sen. Al Franken, who is resigning as the latest high-profile public figure sidelined by allegations of sexual misconduct. The change gives Republicans only a one-seat margin in the Senate. Trump, fresh off passage of the GOP tax cuts bill, is pushing lawmakers to pivot quickly on his new year priorities of infrastructure investment and immigration, as well as his foreign policy agenda. But another legislative victory seems far off. Republicans have struggled to hold their majority together and Congress first must tackle critical stalled agenda items that leaders punted to 2018. President Trump and Republican lawmakers hold a rally at the White House after passage of the tax cut plan last month. (Michael Reynolds / European Pressphoto Agency) Read More Facebook

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Trump threatens to cut off U.S. aid to Palestinians By Tracy Wilkinson (European Pressphoto Agency) President Trump on Tuesday angrily threatened to cut off U.S. aid to Palestinians as punishment for what he called their failure to show appreciation or respect to the United States. Writing on Twitter, the president compared the Palestinians to Pakistan, a nuclear-armed ally that abruptly drew his ire this week and a similar threat to drastically curtail aid. He accused the Palestinians of recalcitrance in what he described as their refusal to negotiate a peace deal with Israel. Palestinian officials have said they can no longer use Washington as a broker to restart peace talks with Israel following Trumps Dec. 6 decision to overturn decades of U.S. policy and recognize the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and ultimately to move the U.S. Embassy there. The Palestinians also claim part of Jerusalem as the capital of an eventual independent state. Until now, the United States and most of the world agreed the citys political status was a matter to settle in final peace talks. The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly condemned any effort to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the Palestinian leadership said it would not meet with Vice President Mike Pence, who had planned a trip to the region. That trip is on hold. [W]e pay the Palestinians HUNDRED [sic] OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect, Trump wrote on Twitter. [W]ith the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them? In response to Trumps tweet, Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, issued a statement saying: Palestinian rights are not for sale. By recognizing Occupied Jerusalem as Israels capital Donald Trump has not only violated international law, but he has also singlehandedly destroyed the very foundations of peace and condoned Israels illegal annexation of the city. We will not be blackmailed, she said. President Trump has sabotaged our search for peace, freedom and justice. Now he dares to blame the Palestinians for the consequences of his own irresponsible actions! The United States does not pay large amounts of money directly to the Palestinian Authority, the government that rules over parts of the Palestinian West Bank. Instead, most money goes to the U.N., refugee or aid agencies and even Israel to pay for roads, welfare, schools, security and other Palestinian projects. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said Tuesday that the administration was planning to cut off one of those organizations, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, until the Palestinians return to the negotiating table. UNRWA, which receives around $300 million annually from the U.S., for years has been the lifeline to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It was not clear if Haley was threatening to cut all U.S. support for the agency. Special correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky in Jerusalem contributed to this report. Facebook

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The White House stops short of calling for government overthrow in Iran By Brian Bennett University students attend an anti-government protest at Tehran University on Dec. 30, 2017. (AP) President Trump wants Iran to give its citizens basic human rights and stop being a state sponsor of terror, his top spokeswoman said, but the White House stopped short of calling for a change of government in Tehran. If they want to do that through current leadership, if thats possible, OK, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. Sanders praised the organic popular uprising, which she said the widespread protests in Iran represented. The protests grew out of years of years of mismanagement, corruption, and foreign adventurism have eroded the Iranian peoples trust in their leaders, she said. Earlier Tuesday, Trump called Irans government brutal and corrupt and wrote in a tweet: The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching! Trump also blamed President Obama for foolishly giving Iran money that he said went to fund terrorism. The money he referred to were funds belonging to Iran that had been frozen by the U.S. and were released as part of the deal in 2015, which blocked Irans development of nuclear weapons. The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Facebook

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Retirement of Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch clears the way for a Mitt Romney revival By David Lauter (Romney family) The retirement of Utahs senior senator, Orrin G. Hatch, opens the way for a widely expected Senate bid by Mitt Romney, the Republicans 2012 presidential nominee and a frequent critic of President Trump. Although Romney previously served for two terms as governor of Massachusetts (and was raised in Michigan, where his father was governor and his mother ran for the Senate), he comes from a prominent Mormon family with strong ties to Utah. He also served as chief executive of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Hes viewed as a strong candidate for the Senate seat. Romneys criticisms of Trump, however, could prompt a challenge in a Republican primary. Trump was widely reported to have tried to convince Hatch to run for a seventh term, in part to head off a Romney candidacy. Last month, Romney and Trump were on opposite sides of one of the biggest political fights of the fall  the battle over the Senate seat from Alabama. The president strongly supported Roy Moore, the Republican candidate who had been accused of sexual misconduct by several women. Romney called Moore a stain on the GOP. Roy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity.  Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) December 4, 2017 On Tuesday, Romney tweeted praise for Hatch, but did not immediately reveal his own plans. I join the people of Utah in thanking my friend, Senator Orrin Hatch for his more than forty years of service to our great state and nation. Read my full statement: https://t.co/YwjUpjez5y  Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) January 2, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. calls on Iran to unblock social media sites amid protests By The Associated Press Anti-riot police prevent university students from joining other protesters in Tehran on Dec. 30. (Associated Press) The Trump administration is calling on Irans government to stop blocking Instagram and other popular social media sites as Iranians are demonstrating in the streets. Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein says the U.S. wants Iran to open these sites. He says Instagram, Telegram and other platforms are legitimate avenues for communication. The United States is encouraging Iranians to use virtual private networks, known as VPNs. Those services create encrypted links between computers and can be used to access blocked websites. Goldstein says the U.S. is still communicating with Iranians in Persian through State Department accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. He says the U.S. wants to encourage the protesters to continue to fight for whats right. Goldstein says the U.S. has an obligation not to stand by. Read More Facebook

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Trump blasts Democrats in advance of immigration meeting By Brian Bennett (Brendan Smialowski / Agence-France Presse) The day before a meeting of administration officials and congressional leaders on outstanding legislative business, President Trump accused Democrats of doing nothing to hammer out an immigration deal to protect from deportation people brought to the country illegally as children. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA  just interested in politics, Trump wrote in a Tweet on Tuesday morning, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by its acronym. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start falling in love with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer along with the Republican leaders, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are scheduled to meet on Wednesday at the Capitol with Trumps legislative director, Marc Short, and budget director, Mick Mulvaney. The White House on Tuesday said the meeting is to discuss separate spending caps on military and domestic programs. Yet the Democrats insist the discussion also must include a variety of legislative issues that Trump and Congress punted into the new year  on immigration, the budget, healthcare and more. That stance reflects Democrats leverage: Republicans need Democratic votes to pass a government-funding bill and avert a federal shutdown when the current funding expires Jan. 19. Democrats especially want separate legislation replacing the Obama-era DACA program; Trump in September ordered a phase-out of the program, beginning March 6, and called on Congress to act before then on an alternative way to address the plight of the group. However, Trump has demanded that any alternative must be part of a package including both money for a border wall and immigration limits. Democrats are opposed. Facebook

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Pakistan hits back after Trump accuses its leaders of lies and deceit By Aoun Sahi Pakistan lashed out Monday after President Trump accused its leaders of lies and deceit and suggested the United States would withdraw financial assistance to the nuclear-armed nation it once saw as a key ally against terrorism. U.S. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to discuss the presidents statement, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said. Pakistan lodged a strongly worded protest, according to two foreign office officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Pakistans prime minister, Shahid Abbasi, called a Cabinet meeting for Tuesday and a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday to discuss Trumps New Years Day tweet. It was the presidents latest broadside against Pakistan after a speech in August in which he demanded its leaders crack down on the safe havens enjoyed by Taliban militants fighting U.S.-backed forces in neighboring Afghanistan. Read More Facebook

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Trump again cheers on Iran protests By Laura King President Trump expressed renewed support Sunday for protesters in Iran, declaring that people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. In a tweet from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, the president said the nationwide economic protests that began on Thursday  and have taken on wider political overtones as they have grown in size --- were a signal that Iranians will not take it any longer. Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 The presidents earlier hailing of the protests drew condemnation from Irans government. A Foreign Ministry spokesman called his comments deceitful and opportunistic. Following an overnight report of the first two fatalities stemming from the protests, Trump raised some eyebrows by expressing concern over human rights violations as authorities move to crack down on the demonstrations. During his first year in office, the president has shown scant inclination to press foreign governments to respect the fundamental rights of their citizens. The USA is watching closely for human rights violations! Trump said in his tweet Sunday. Some domestic critics have pointed to the presidents inclusion of Iranian nationals in his travel ban, suggesting he was more interested in bashing the Tehran government than in supporting freedom of speech in Iran. Even some of the presidents allies said that supporting the protesters on social media did not amount to making policy. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he had urged Trump to give a national address laying out his Iran strategy. President Trump is tweeting very sympathetically to the Iranian people, Graham said on CBS Face the Nation. But you just cant tweet here. You have to lay out a plan. Facebook

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Australian diplomats tip a factor in FBIs Russia inquiry By Associated Press Australian High Commissioner Alexander Downer. (Alastair Grant / Associated Press) An Australian diplomats tip appears to have helped persuade the FBI to investigate Russian meddling in the U.S. election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign, the New York Times reported Saturday. Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos told the diplomat, Alexander Downer, during a meeting in London in May 2016 that Russia had thousands of emails that would embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, the report said. Downer, a former foreign minister, is Australias top diplomat in Britain. Australia passed the information on to the FBI after the Democratic emails were leaked, according to the Times, which cited four current and former U.S. and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians role. The hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the FBI to open an investigation in July 2016, the newspaper said. White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment, saying in a statement that the administration is continuing to cooperate with the investigation now led by special counsel Robert Mueller to help complete their inquiry expeditiously. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is a cooperating witness. Court documents unsealed two months ago show he met in April 2016 with Joseph Mifsud, a professor in London who told him about Russias cache of emails. This was before the Democratic National Committee became aware of the scope of the intrusion into its email systems by hackers later linked to the Russian government. The Times said Papadopoulos shared this information with Downer, but it was unclear whether he also shared it with anyone in the Trump campaign. Facebook

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Trump offers fresh support for protesters in Iran as demonstrations continue By Lisa Mascaro Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! pic.twitter.com/kvv1uAqcZ9  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2017 President Trump again offered support Saturday for anti-government protesters in Iran, where a third day of demonstrations, the largest in years, spilled across the country amid fears of a crackdown. Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! Trump wrote on Twitter. Trump took a break from playing golf near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to tweet clips from his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September when he called for Iranian democratic reforms. Iranian authorities warned of potential violence as the street demonstrations, which began over economic conditions, swelled into frustrations with the theocratic rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump has maintained a hawkish stance toward Iran, sharply criticizing the landmark nuclear disarmament accord that Tehran reached with then-President Obama and five other nations in 2015. In October, Trump declined to certify the accord to Congress although the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says Iran is complying with it. Several conservative GOP senators signaled their support for Trumps position and backed the protesters in Iran. Others in Congress did not immediately respond, however, amid conflicting reports over who had organized the demonstrations. Even after the billions in sanctions relief they secured through the nuclear deal, the ayatollahs still cant provide for the basic needs of their own people, said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a Trump ally and opponent of the nuclear deal. We should support the Iranian people who are willing to risk their lives to speak out against it, he added. Trump initially tweeted his support on Friday night. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement at that time as protests spread. There are many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with the regimes corruption and its squandering of the nations wealth to fund terrorism abroad, Sanders said. The Iranian government should respect their peoples rights, including their right to express themselves. The world is watching. Facebook

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When it comes to U.S.-Russia relations, it takes two to tango, Kremlin says By Sabra Ayres The deteriorating relationship between the United States and Russia is one of the biggest disappointments of 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman told reporters today. Russia would like to rebuild relations between the two adversaries, but it takes two to tango, Dmitry Peskov said today during a conference call with the press. We want and are looking for good mutually beneficial relations based on mutual respect, mutual trust with all countries, primarily with European ones, including the United States, but it is necessary to dance tango, as they say. Peskov blamed the ongoing anti-Russian Russophobia in Washington for playing a major role in blocking the two countries from moving forward in their relationship. U.S. investigations into the Trump presidential campaigns alleged collusion with the Kremlin during the 2016 U.S. election and accusations that the Kremlin tried to interfere with the electoral process continue to cast a dark shadow over the relationship, he said. Peskov told reporters that Moscow was perplexed by the investigations. The Kremlin has continued to deny having any involvement with the Trump campaign or doing anything to interfere with the American election. This is definitely a U.S. domestic affair, but in this case it naturally hurts our bilateral relations, which is regrettable, Peskov said. Relations between the U.S. and Russia have been categorized as the worst theyve been since the end of the Cold War. This year, Washington and Moscow have engaged in a diplomatic tit-for-tat in which both sides have been forced to reduce diplomatic staff, embassy properties have been repossessed by the hosting countries and visa services have been interrupted. The U.S. diplomatic mission to Russia shrank from 1,200 personnel, including some Russian local staff, to just over 450 across all its three consulates and embassy in Moscow. In the U.S., Russia was forced to vacate its San Francisco consulate. Moscow has also blamed anti-Russian sentiments on the recent decision by the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian teams from wearing their tricolor uniforms or flags during the upcoming games in South Korea. The international body accused some of the Russian national teams of doping. Facebook

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U.S. and Turkey resume reciprocal issuing of visas but frictions remain By Tracy Wilkinson Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Associated Press) The United States and Turkey began issuing reciprocal visas again on Thursday, more than two months after normal visa service was suspended in a dispute over the arrest of two U.S. diplomatic staffers in Istanbul  the latest friction between the two nominal allies. The State Department said it was lifting the visa restrictions after it was assured by the Turkish government that U.S. Embassy employees would not be arrested when performing their official duties. But the Turkish Embassy in Washington denied assurances were offered concerning the ongoing judicial processes, and suggested that the arrests were legal and justified. It is inappropriate to misinform the Turkish and American public that such assurances were provided, the embassy said in a statement. The dispute has aggravated the already tense relationship between the United States and Turkey, which is a member of the NATO military alliance. The two countries have clashed over U.S. support for Kurdish rebels in Syria and over Turkeys demands that the U.S. extradite a Turkish cleric who lives in rural Pennsylvania. After a failed coup attempt killed more than 250 people in July 2016, Turkeys autocratic president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched a harsh crackdown on his political opponents, arresting or firing tens of thousands of teachers, police, journalists, military officers and others. Erdogan accused Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic educator and former political ally, of orchestrating the coup. Gulen, who has lived in a compound in the Pocono Mountains, has denied any involvement. The Justice Department has so far denied Turkeys repeated demands to extradite Gulen. Erdogan raised the issue again at the White House in May, but his visit ended in a public relations disaster when his security guards brutally beat peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassadors residence. Two Turkish employees of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul were arrested this fall for alleged ties to the 2016 coup attempt. The U.S. responded by suspending most visa services at its missions in Turkey in October. The Turkish government reciprocated in November. State Department officials said they have repeatedly demanded more information about any formal charges against the two employees. They reiterated on Thursday that serious concerns about the allegations remained. Facebook

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Trump: China caught RED HANDED allowing oil to reach North Korea By Brian Bennett (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) President Trump isnt taking a holiday vacation from Twitter. In one of three tweets early on Thursday from his West Palm Beach golf club, he charged that China was caught RED HANDED allowing oil shipments to reach North Korean ports. Pronouncing himself very disappointed, Trump in effect was acknowledging the failure of his months-long effort to convince China to clamp down further on energy shipments going to the isolated country, which relies heavily on Beijing, as a way to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2017 Trumps tweet came after a South Korean newspaper published what it said were U.S. spy satellite images of Chinese ships selling oil to North Korean ships. The United Nations Security Council, which includes China, has voted repeatedly to restrict fuel shipments to North Korea. Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping in November to cut off North Koreas oil supply entirely, the American ambassador to the U.N., Nikki R. Haley, said at the time. It is unclear if Trumps admonishment of China was based on news reports or classified information he received from U.S. intelligence officials. There was no daily intelligence briefing on Trumps public schedule Thursday. He is expected to return to Washington next week after spending the Christmas holiday and New Years Eve at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Facebook

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President Trump again falsely claims hes signed more bills than any president By Brian Bennett President Trump visits a firehouse in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP) After another morning at his Florida golf club, President Trump visited firefighters and paramedics at a West Palm Beach firehouse and praised his own performance as president, including with a false boast. Trump touted his administrations work to roll back government regulations and cut taxes and claimed credit for the stock market hitting record highs. He also said hes signed more bills into law than any other president, which isnt true. We have signed more legislation than anybody, Trump said, standing in front of a rescue vehicle inside the fire station. We have more legislation passed, including  the record was Harry Truman a long time ago, and we broke that record, so we got a lot done, Trump said. An analysis by GovTrack, a website that tracks bills in Congress, shows that Trump has signed the fewest bills into law at this point than any president in more than 60 years, back to Dwight D. Eisenhower. Facebook

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Trump administration urges Russia to reinstate monitors in Ukraine, lower violence By Tracy Wilkinson Sergei Lavrov (AFP/Getty Images) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Russia on Wednesday to reinstate its military personnel at a monitoring station in eastern Ukraine intended to quell escalating bloodshed. In a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Tillerson also urged Russia to lower the level of violence and underscored the Trump administrations concern over increased fighting in Ukraine, the State Department said in a statement. Russia last week withdrew its monitors from the Joint Center on Coordination and Control, which is tasked with verifying a much-violated ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists. Moscow cited what it called restrictions and provocations from Ukrainian authorities that made it impossible for the observers to do their jobs. Washington has accused the pro-Russia forces of being responsible for many of the truce violations. Late last week, the State Department also announced plans to provide Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, a decision that angered Moscow. The State Department statement did not say whether the weapons deal came up in Tillersons conversation with Lavrov. The two also discussed North Korea, its destabilizing nuclear program and the need for a diplomatic solution to achieve a denuclearized Korean peninsula, the statement said. Russia has offered to serve as a mediator between Washington and Pyongyang, but direct talks do not seem likely at this point. Facebook

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U.S. sanctions two more North Korean officials for ballistic missile program By Tracy Wilkinson (Associated Press) The Trump administration announced sanctions Tuesday against two more North Korean officials for their alleged role in Pyongyangs expanding ballistic missiles program. The Treasury Department is targeting leaders of North Koreas ballistic missile programs, as part of our maximum pressure campaign to isolate [North Korea] and achieve a fully denuclearized Korean Peninsula, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement. The nuclear-armed country tested an intercontinental ballistic missile last month that U.S. officials said appeared capable of reaching New York or Washington, a significant milestone in the countrys growing arsenal. The Treasury Department identified the two North Korean officials as Kim Jong Sik, who reportedly is a key figure in the ballistic missile program and led efforts to switch missiles from liquid to solid fuel (which makes them easier to hide before launch), and Ri Pyong Chol, who was reported to be a key official in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The sanctions block banks, companies and individuals from doing any business with the targeted officials. It also allows the U.S. government to freeze any American assets owned by the officials. On Friday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to add more sanctions on North Korea, its third round this year. The new measures order North Koreans working abroad to return home within two years, and ban nearly 90% of refined petroleum exports to the country. In a statement published Sunday by North Koreas state-run KCNA news agency, the foreign ministry denounced the new U.N. sanctions as an act of war. We define this sanctions resolution rigged up by the US and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the region and categorically reject the resolution, it said. Facebook

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Salt Lake Tribune calls on Sen. Orrin Hatch to not seek reelection in scathing editorial Perhaps the most significant move of Hatchs career is the one that should, if there is any justice, end it. The last time the senator was up for reelection, in 2012, he promised that it would be his last campaign. That was enough for many likely successors, of both parties, to stand down, to let the elder statesman have his victory tour and to prepare to run for an open seat in 2018. Clearly, it was a lie. Read the editorial>> Facebook

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Christmas Eve, Trump on Twitter: New attacks on FBI official, decrying Fake News By Laura King (Associated Press) President Trump launched a Christmas Eve attack on FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whom he accuses of favoritism toward his former opponent, Hillary Clinton, and also returned to a longtime favored theme, excoriating the news media for failing to sufficiently extol his accomplishments. .@FoxNews-FBIs Andrew McCabe, in addition to his wife getting all of this money from M (Clinton Puppet), he was using, allegedly, his FBI Official Email Account to promote her campaign. You obviously cannot do this. These were the people who were investigating Hillary Clinton.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2017 Thank you President TRUMP!! pic.twitter.com/LKdkT0FL99  oregon4TRUMP (@shawgerald4) December 23, 2017 The Fake News refuses to talk about how Big and how Strong our BASE is. They show Fake Polls just like they report Fake News. Despite only negative reporting, we are doing well - nobody is going to beat us. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2017 Trump, who is spending the holidays at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, also sent Christmas greetings to deployed military personnel, praising them for success in the fight against terrorism. The early-morning swipe at McCabe followed a flurry of tweets attacking the deputy FBI chief on Saturday. McCabe, who has been a lightning rod for Republican attacks on the FBI, is expected to retire early in the new year. How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wifes campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017 FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017 Critics say the president and his allies are in the midst of a systematic campaign to denigrate the FBI and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is looking into potential collusion by the Trump campaign in Russias attempts to sway the 2016 presidential election. In a pair of statements on Twitter, Trump again expressed scorn regarding news coverage of his administration. For months, the president has been particularly critical of reports regarding the Russia investigation and more recently has repeatedly complained he does not receive enough credit for a booming stock market. In his video conference message to troops overseas, the president made apparent reference to the fight against the militants of Islamic State, who over the last year have lost most of the territory they previously controlled in Iraq and Syria, including former strongholds in Mosul and Raqqah. Were winning, Trump told military personnel deployed in Qatar, Kuwait, Guantanamo Bay and aboard the guided missile destroyer Sampson. Reporters traveling with the president heard his address, but were ushered from the room before he took questions from the troops. The president often breaks with longtime custom and makes politically charged statements at events in which he addresses military personnel. Facebook

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Trumps Wells Fargo tweet cited in court hearing as reason to remove Mulvaney as CFPB acting chief By Jim Puzzanghera A recent tweet by President Trump about possible penalties against Wells Fargo & Co. was cited during a court hearing Friday as a reason for removing White House official Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The attorney for Leandra English  the bureaus deputy director who has said she is the rightful acting head  said Trumps tweet showed he was trying to exercise improper influence over the independent consumer watchdog. I think that [tweet] shows you this isnt just some hypothetical concern, the attorney, Deepak Gupta, told Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia during a nearly two-hour hearing. Read More Facebook

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Trump administration recognizes Honduran presidents reelection By Tracy Wilkinson Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is shown during a trip to Texas a year and a half ago. (Associated Press) The Trump administration on Friday formally recognized the incumbent president of Honduras, conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez, as the winner of a bitterly contested presidential election held last month. In a statement, the State Department congratulated Hernandez while also acknowledging widespread irregularities in the Nov. 26 vote and calling for a robust national dialogue to overcome political discord in the Central American country, a close ally of the administration. The Organization of American States, which monitored the election, said it was so flawed that only a new round of voting could establish a fair and transparent outcome. But the U.S. rejected that determination. Uproar over the contest led to demonstrations in Honduras that left numerous civilians dead after state security forces opened fire on the protests. Activists and others voiced criticism Friday of the administrations decision. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a leading Democratic voice on Central American issues, said he was angry and deeply disturbed by the State Department decision. The recent elections in Honduras were deeply flawed, chaotic and marred by numerous irregularities, McGovern said. U.S.-Honduran cooperation on matters such as drug-trafficking, violence and immigration requires a credible, legitimate government that has the support of its people, in Honduras, McGovern said. Hernandezs victory also was controversial because it was the first time a sitting president was allowed to run for re-election, barred until now by the Honduran Constitution. Facebook

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Senate Leader Mitch McConnell says fixing DACA is no emergency until March By Lisa Mascaro Amanda Bayer, left with banner, and Marisol Maqueda, right, join a rally in support of so-called Dreamers outside the White House. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday hes committed to allowing a vote on a bill for so-called Dreamers in January, but sees no rush to resolve the deportation threat posed by President Trumps decision to end a program protecting immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. There isnt that much of an emergency there, he said. There is no emergency until March. Well keep talking about it. Trump called for phasing out by March the Obama-era program that allows the young immigrants, many of them longtime residents, to get two-year deferrals of any deportation threat so they can legally attend school or work. Beneficiaries must be vetted for security purposes. Trump told Congress to come up with a legislative alternative for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Obama created by executive order, to protect those currently eligible. A bipartisan Senate group has been working with the White House, but talks stalled this week amid administration demands for curbs on legal immigration flows in exchange for protecting the DACA recipients. Meanwhile, Dreamers and immigrant advocates stormed the Capitol in recent days pressing for the help promised by Trump and Democratic congressional leaders that failed to materialize in the years final legislation. Advocacy groups say more than 120 immigrants each day are falling out of compliance without DACA renewals, putting them at risk of deportation. The number that is projected to swell to more than 1,000 a day in March. Weve been gridlocked on this issue for years, McConnell said. We want to have a signature. We dont just want to spin our wheels and have nothing to show for it. Facebook

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President Trump signs tax bill By Noah Bierman (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump on Friday morning signed a sweeping tax-cut measure  his first major legislative achievement  before heading off for a Christmas vacation at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla. The president also privately signed a short-term spending bill to fund government operations through Jan. 19. Congress approved it Thursday, after Republican leaders were unable to bridge differences in their own party as well as with Democrats to get agreement on funding for the full fiscal year. The stopgap bill punts fights on immigration and other issues to January. The tax bill, approved earlier this week in Congress in largely party-line votes, slashes corporate tax rates from 35% to 21% and also includes a host of other provisions for individuals, all intended to boost the economy. Critics point to nonpartisan analyses showing that the package, including changes greatly reducing the number of estates subject to taxes, steers the bulk of tax benefits to top earners and the wealthy, including Trump, despite his repeated claims that hell take a hit. Trump signed the bill quietly Friday, but held a public ceremony with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday after the bills passage; he also tweeted about the measure extensively. He is expected to hold another public ceremony after the New Years holiday. Facebook

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Pelosi urges Ryan to prevent Republicans from curtailing Houses Russia probe By Chris Megerian House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin greets House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Friday urging him to ensure the Houses investigation into Russian interference with last years presidential campaign is not cut short. The American people deserve a comprehensive and fair investigation into Russias attacks, wrote Pelosi, of San Francisco, in her letter. Political haste must not cut short valid investigatory threads. The House Intelligence Committee has been probing the issue since March 1, and Democrats have repeatedly warned that Republicans are trying to wrap up its work prematurely. Pelosi said Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, should take urgent action to ensure this investigation can continue. AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said Pelosi simply wants to see this investigation go on forever in order to suit her political agenda. Whether it concludes next month, next year, or in three years, she will say it is too soon, Strong said in a statement. She added, The investigation will conclude when the committee has reached a conclusion. The committees work is led by Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Texas). His spokeswoman, Emily Hytha, said he remains committed to conducting this investigation as thoroughly and expeditiously as possible. With more interviews scheduled, the investigation shows signs of extending into next year, Bloomberg reported Friday. BREAKING: Steve Bannon and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski have been sent letters requesting they testify to House Intel panel in early January, per @HouseInSession  Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) December 22, 2017 Facebook

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Congress votes to avert government shutdown, but Senate fails to pass disaster aid package By Lisa Mascaro ( (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)) Congress approved a temporary spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, but failed to complete work on an $81-billion disaster aid package to help California, Gulf Coast states and Puerto Rico recover from wildfires and hurricanes, as lawmakers scrambled Thursday to wrap up business before a Christmas break. The stopgap measure continues federal operations for a few more weeks, setting up another deadline for Jan. 19. But it left undone a long list of priorities that members of both parties had hoped to finish this year. Read More Facebook

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Wells Fargo says raises were not linked to tax bill passage  then backtracks By James Rufus Koren Wells Fargo & Co.s move to raise its minimum pay to $15 an hour was part of a long-term plan and not related to the passage of the Republican tax overhaul as the company implied, said a bank spokesman, who later backtracked and stated the hikes were a result of the bills approval. The bank was among several large corporations to publicly announce pay raises or new investments immediately following the final House vote in an apparent public relations offensive to boost the popularity of the tax bill The San Francisco bank had implied the direct linkage to the tax legislation in a news release Wednesday, shortly after Congress passed the tax overhaul, which slashes the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% starting Jan. 1. Read More Facebook

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Obamacare signups beat expectations, despite Trump administrations opposition By Noam N. Levey President Trump with Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) Despite Trump administration efforts to discourage people from signing up, the number of people enrolling for Affordable Care Act coverage nearly hit last years level, the government revealed Thursday. Exchange open enrollment for 2018 coverage ended w/ approx 8.8M people enrolling in coverage. Great job to the @CMSGov team for the work you did to make this the smoothest experience for consumers to date. We take pride in providing great customer service.  Administrator Seema Verma (@SeemaCMS) December 21, 2017 The 8.8 million people who enrolled in the 36 states that use the federal governments healthcare.gov system significantly exceeded most forecasts. The Trump administration stopped most outreach and other efforts this year aimed at getting people to sign up. The president also repeatedly said publicly that Obamacare was dead. Open enrollment continues in California and several other states that run their own healthcare marketplaces. The figures from the federal government indicate that when those states wrap up for the year, the number of people covered by Obamacare will be nearly the same as in 2017. Read More Facebook

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U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly condemns U.S. policy change on Jerusalem despite Trumps threats By Tracy Wilkinson U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. (Getty Images) The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted Thursday to condemn President Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite Trumps threats to punish countries that voted against the U.S. position. The resolution passed in an emergency session at U.N. headquarters in New York with 128 in favor, nine opposed and 35 abstentions. The nonbinding resolution demands that Washington rescind its declaration, which included a plan to transfer the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in coming years. The resolution value is mostly symbolic, showing how isolated the U.S. is in the move. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., warned this week that she would be taking names of countries that opposed the U.S., and Trump on Wednesday suggested he might cut U.S. aid to governments that voted in favor of the resolution. Let them vote against us, Trump said. Well save a lot. We dont care. The U.S. recognition of Jerusalem reversed decades of international consensus on the political status of the divided city. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as their capital in a future independent state. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the U.N. was facing an unprecedented test and that history would remember those who stand by what is right. Facebook

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Democrats defend Robert Mueller, saying Russia investigation must be allowed to continue By Chris Megerian Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) speaking during a committee hearing earlier this year. (Molly Riley / Associated Press) House Democrats said they will fight Republican attempts to discredit and undermine the work of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating whether President Trumps associates helped Russian meddling in last years election. There is an organized effort by Republicans, in concert with Fox News, to spin a false narrative and conjure up outrageous scenarios to accuse special counsel Mueller of being biased, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said. Trump has said he has no plan to fire Mueller, but Democrats are alarmed by escalating criticism of the special counsels work. Why is the president afraid of the facts and the truth? Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said. He added, No matter what the facts are, were satisfied if the investigation is complete. A letter of support signed by 171 Democratic members of Congress will be sent to Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, a former FBI director, and oversees his investigation. Rosenstein has defended Mueller in the face of Republican criticisms. Facebook

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U.S. blacklists Myanmar army general who it says oversaw atrocities against Rohingya Muslims By Shashank Bengali The Trump administration on Thursday blacklisted a Myanmar army general who it said oversaw human rights abuses committed by security forces against Rohingya Muslims. Imposing economic sanctions against the general, Maung Maung Soe, was the toughest action the United States has taken in response to a brutal army offensive that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has described as ethnic cleansing. In a statement, the Treasury Department said it had examined credible evidence of Maung Maung Soes activities, including allegations against Burmese security forces of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages. The Rohingya are an ethnic and religious minority of about 1 million people in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, also known as Burma. The United Nations says that more than 640,000 Rohingya have fled the country since August, after the army launched clearance operations in response to attacks carried out by a Rohingya insurgent group against security forces. Rohingya refugees in crowded camps in neighboring Bangladesh have described horrific violence by Myanmar forces, including mass rapes, summary executions and children being burned alive. The aid group Doctors Without Borders estimates that 6,700 people were killed in the first month of the operation. Myanmar authorities deny committing atrocities and say that only a few hundred fighters were killed. Maung Maung Soe was chief of the armys Western Command, which carried out the offensive. He was transferred from his position last month, according to news reports. He was one of 13 individuals worldwide who were blacklisted Thursday under a new U.S. law that gives the Treasury Department authority to target officials for human rights abuses and corruption. Others included former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh; Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the late Uzbekistan dictator Islam Karimov; and Artem Chaika, son of Russias prosecutor-general. Today, the United States is taking a strong stand against human rights abuse and corruption globally by shutting these bad actors out of the U.S. financial system, said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. The sanctions freeze any assets Maung Maung Soe holds in the United States and bars Americans from doing business with him. It is also a sign of how quickly U.S. relations with Myanmar have soured. Under the Obama administration, the United States forged closer ties with the former military dictatorship and eased economic and political sanctions as the country began implementing democratic reforms. But Myanmar, which does not regard the Rohingya as citizens, has lashed out at the international community over the current crisis. It has jailed journalists, blocked access to affected areas in the western state of Rakhine and this week barred a U.N. human rights investigator from entering the country. Rohingya activists said the U.S. action would not have much effect on a country that survived under economic sanctions for years. It is the whole military institution that has a policy to persecute these people, said Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist and blogger in Germany. According to the U.S.s own definition, the army is carrying out ethnic cleansing. They have a responsibility to protect these people. Sanctions on one person are really not enough. Facebook

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Dreamers will have to wait until next year for Congress long-promised protections By Lisa Mascaro Amanda Bayer, left with banner, and Marisol Maqueda, right, join a rally in support of so-called Dreamers outside the White House. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)) A promised year-end deal to protect the young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation collapsed Wednesday as Republicans in Congress  fresh off passage of their tax plan  prepared to punt nearly all remaining must-do agenda items into the new year. Congressional leaders still hope that before leaving town this week they can pass an $81-billion disaster relief package with recovery funds for California wildfires and Gulf Coast states hit during the devastating hurricane season. But passage even of that relatively popular measure remained in doubt as conservatives balked at the price tag. Rather than finish the year wrapping up the legislative agenda, the GOP majorities in the House and Senate struggled over their next steps. Read More Facebook

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Chants of protest drown out any caroling this holiday season at the Capitol By Lisa Mascaro U.S. Capitol Police arrest a man wearing a Santa Claus hat during a protest against the Republican tax bill. (Alex Edelman / AFP/Getty Image) Outside the U.S. Capitol, the lights on a towering Christmas tree are flipped on each evening, giving the Engelmann spruce a festive twinkle; inside the marble halls, wreaths and garlands decorate doorways and alcoves ahead of the holidays. But the spirit of the season has been punctuated by other sights: a Jumbotron parked across from the Capitol reflecting pool broadcasts images of young immigrants who face deportation; Little Lobbyists, children with complex medical needs, were featured in a recent news conference; protesters filed into the visitor galleries to shout against the Republican tax plan. While its beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Capitol, its also shaping up to be a holiday season of protest. Read More Facebook

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Tax bill simplifies filing for some but complicates it for others  and dont count on that postcard By Jim Puzzanghera A priority of the Republicans tax overhaul was simplification, and they drove home the point this fall with an omnipresent prop: a red-white-and-blue postcard. Were making things so simple that you can do your taxes on a form the size of a postcard, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said last month, pulling one from his jacket pocket as he and Republican leaders unveiled their bill. They gave a couple of the cards to President Trump at a White House meeting a few hours later and flashed them often during news conferences and TV interviews in the coming days. Read More Facebook

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Top U.N. human rights official reportedly wont seek reelection (Getty Images) The top United Nations official for human rights, who has frequently criticized the Trump administration, has reportedly decided not to seek a second term, saying his work had become untenable. Zeid Raad Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, notified his staff in an email that was obtained by several news outlets, including Agence France-Presse. Staying when his four-year term is up for renewal at the end of August might involve bending a knee in supplication, AFP quoted Husseins email as saying. Hussein is a Jordanian prince who has criticized, among other things, President Trumps attempts to ban visitors or refugees from six predominantly Muslim countries. The news comes a day before the U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote on a nonbinding resolution condemning the Trump administrations formal declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that went against international consensus. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., has warned she will be taking names of those who vote against the United States on Thursday. Trump echoed that sentiment Wednesday, voiced support for Haley and implying to reporters that he would consider cutting off U.S. aid to countries that vote against the U.S. Well, were watching those votes, Trump said. Let them vote against us. Well save a lot. We dont care. On Monday, the United States lost a Security Council vote 14-1 on a binding resolution that would have required Washington to rescind its declaration. Haley then vetoed the resolution. Facebook

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Top Democrat warns Trump not to fire Mueller or interfere with his investigation By Chris Megerian (Shawn Thew / European Pressphoto Agency) Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, one of the top Democrats involved in the congressional inquiries into Russian interference in last years election, said Wednesday that any attempt by President Trump to interfere with the separate criminal investigation would be a gross abuse of power. Warner, who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, delivered his warning from the Senate floor as Republicans escalate their criticism of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team of prosecutors and FBI agents. Some Democrats believe Trump is laying the groundwork to fire Mueller even though the president has publicly denied it. Mueller was appointed in May after Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey. In the United States of America, no one, no one is above the law, not even the president, Warner said. Congress must make clear to the president that firing the special counsel or interfering with his investigation by issuing pardons of essential witnesses is unacceptable and would have immediate and significant consequences. Some Democrats say the White House may try to in effect short-circuit the Mueller investigation by replacing Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who is the only official empowered to fire Mueller. Rosenstein recently told Congress that the special counsel is acting appropriately and that he would not dismiss Mueller without just cause. Facebook

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We have essentially repealed Obamacare, Trump says after tax bill passes By Brian Bennett President Trump at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the White House. (Chris Kleponis / Getty Images) President Trump is celebrating Republicans passage of the tax overhaul bill as a two-fer: On Wednesday, in addition to tax cuts, he checked off his promise to repeal Obamacare, pointing to a provision in the bill to end the penalty on Americans who dont get health insurance. We have essentially repealed Obamacare, Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Other provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act are still in place, and Trump and congressional Republicans failed completely on the replace half of their vow to repeal and replace the program. In Trumps view, however, stripping away the laws individual mandate to get insurance or else pay a tax penalty amounts to repeal of the whole law. Congressional analysts have said that millions of people would lose insurance as a result, either by choice or because they cannot afford it without subsidies, and that premiums would increase for others as younger, healthy people drop coverage. We will come up with something much better, Trump said, adding that block grants to states could be one approach. By his comments, Trump tacitly acknowledged that repeal of the mandate is likely the best he can do following Republicans failure this year to agree on a repeal-and-replace bill. Looking back on his first year, Trump also boasted of his administrations efforts against the Islamic State and increased immigration enforcement. He said he had not given up on funding a border wall or tightening immigration law to limit citizens ability to resettle foreign relatives in the country. He said he would very shortly visit the border with Mexico near San Diego to see wall prototypes that have been built. He didnt answer a reporters shouted question about how he would personally benefit from the tax bill. Facebook

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House gives final OK to GOP tax plan, sending it to Trump By Lisa Mascaro Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), left, is with GOP leaders in the Capitol. (Michael Reynolds/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock) Congress gave final approval to the GOP tax plan Wednesday, 224-201, after the House took an unusual do-over vote to clear up differences with the Senate-passed bill. The $1.5-trillion package now heads to President Trump, who plans to sign it into law. The House had approved the tax bill on Tuesday but was forced to take another vote Wednesday because a couple of provisions in the version it approved were found to be in violation of Senate procedures. Those provisions were dropped before the Senate gave its approval early Wednesday. Critics complained the Republicans rushed to pass the sweeping tax plan to deliver Trump a year-end legislative victory, but supporters shrugged off the problems as minor. The tax plan dramatically cuts corporate rates and provides some individual rate reductions, overhauling the tax code for the first time in 30 years. Facebook

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Trump administration effort to block immigrant from having an abortion fails By David Savage Scott Lloyd is director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) President Trumps lawyers rushed to the Supreme Court and U.S. appeals court in Washington on Monday evening to file emergency appeals seeking to prevent an immigrant in detention, dubbed Jane Roe in court, from having an abortion. That set the stage for a legal showdown on whether the administration can block pregnant minors in custody from choosing to have an abortion. But the legal clash, which the administration has seemed eager to have, fizzled out Tuesday when the governments lawyers admitted the 17-year-old unaccompanied minor in their custody was actually 19. They said they had obtained her birth certificate and realized she was not a minor after all. As a result, Roe, who is 10 weeks pregnant, will no longer be held in a detention center for immigrant minors, and will not be subject to an administration policy that tries to prevent minors in immigration detention from having abortions. Administration lawyers told appeals court judges Tuesday night that Roe was being sent to a facility for adults and likely would be released until her immigration status can be resolved. In a brief order, the D.C. Circuit Court agreed to put the case on hold, but told government attorneys to confirm that she will be permitted to obtain an abortion. The administration had earlier tried to delay another young woman, referred to in court as Jane Poe, from having an abortion, but officials relented on Monday because she was 22 weeks pregnant and nearing the time limit for a legal abortion. Facebook

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Senate panel rejects Trumps pick to lead Export-Import Bank, a leader in the effort to shut it down By Jim Puzzanghera A Senate committee on Tuesday rejected President Trumps nominee to lead the Export-Import Bank, extending the chaos at the embattled agency whose job is to help U.S. companies sell their goods abroad. Two Republicans joined all Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee in voting against former Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) to be the banks president. Garrett had been a vocal critic of the Ex-Im Bank and a leader of a conservative effort that shut the bank down for five months in 2015 by blocking its congressional authorization. He and other bank opponents branded the banks aid as crony capitalism. Read More Facebook

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Congress proposes $81-billion disaster aid package, including funds for California wildfires By Lisa Mascaro The Thomas fire rages near Ojai this month. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Congress is set to consider an $81-billion disaster aid package that includes wildfire recovery money for California and other Western states as well as hurricane relief with a price tag reflecting a year of record-setting natural calamities. The legislation, the text of which was released late Monday, would provide almost twice as much as the $44 billion the White House sought last month to cover relief efforts along the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean. Republican congressional leaders added more money after California lawmakers objected that the administration had failed to include help for areas damaged by wildfires and Democrats protested that the overall amount President Trump asked for was insufficient. Read More Facebook

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White House blames North Korea for worldwide WannaCry cyber attack By Noah Bierman The Royal London Hospital, a victim of the unprecedented global cyberattack in May. (Niklas Hallen / AFP/Getty Images) The White House officially blamed North Korea on Tuesday for the cyberattack in May known as WannaCry that infected hundreds of thousands of computers in 150 countries, affecting healthcare, financial services and vital infrastructure. Thomas P. Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, noted in a briefing with reporters that the consequences were beyond economic. He warned that North Koreas malicious behavior is growing more egregious. Bossert did not specify what evidence American officials have to blame North Korea, citing security issues, but he cited the countrys prior attacks as revealing hallmarks of how Pyongyang and its network of hackers operates. He said other allied countries had joined the United States in making the determination. The administration did not announce any penalties on the regime, which is already subject to severe sanctions over its nuclear program. They want to hold the entire world at risk, Bossert said of North Koreas rulers, referring to the nations nuclear and missile provocations as well as its alleged cyberattack. Given its isolation and international sanctions, North Korea is desperate for funds. Bossert said the country did not appear to make much money on the ransom attack, as word spread that paying a ransom did not result in getting computers unlocked. Its primary goal, he said, was spreading chaos. Bossert and Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary of homeland security for cybersecurity and communication, said the United States, through a combination of preparation and luck, escaped the worst of the attack, as a patch to the malware was found before U.S. companies and other interests were severely crippled. However, Manfra said, We cannot be complacent. Bossert added, Next time were not going to get so lucky. Manfra praised Microsoft and Facebook for their efforts to combat WannaCry and to block more recent attempts to hack U.S. systems. She and Bossert urged more cooperation and information-sharing from American and multinational companies, arguing a united front is vital to protecting against bad actors who do not differentiate between government and business. Bossert rejected criticism that the the Trump administration has more aggressively called out North Korean cyberattacks than it has Russias meddling in the 2016 election. He said the administration has continued the national emergency initiated by President Obama. Facebook

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GOP lures some mountain bike groups in its push to roll back protections for public land By Evan Halper When their vision of creating a scenic cycling trail through a protected alpine backcountry hit a snag, San Diego area mountain bikers turned to an unlikely ally: congressional Republicans aiming to dilute conservation laws. The frustrations of the San Diego cycling group and a handful of similar organizations are providing tailwind to the GOP movement to lift restrictions on the countrys most ecologically fragile and pristine landscapes, officially designated wilderness. Resentment of these cyclists over the longstanding ban on mechanized transportation in that fraction of the nations public lands presents a political opportunity for Republicans eager to drill fissures in the broad coalition of conservation-minded groups united against the GOP environmental agenda. Read More Facebook

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Vice president postpones Israel trip a second time in case his vote is needed to pass tax cut bill By Noah Bierman (Ethan Miller / Getty Images) Vice President Mike Pence is delaying his trip to Egypt and Israel for a second time in case he is needed to break a tie in the Senate for the tax bill that is expected to pass narrowly this week. Two White House officials confirmed the changed schedule, which they say is unrelated to to protests in the region over the administrations decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. Pence had initially been scheduled to leave last Saturday. Late last week, the White House moved the trip back a few days to Tuesday night, in case Pence was needed to break a Senate tie. But Monday, they decided to postpone the trip further, to January, given the possibility of a late Senate vote and the coming holidays. He wants to see it through the finish line, said a White House official, referring to the tax measure that is a centerpiece of the Republican legislative agenda. We dont want to leave anything to chance. The mid-January dates will allow Pence more breathing room to merge schedules with embassies and hotels, the official said. Trump still plans to address the Israeli Knesset, a high-profile venue to discuss the Jerusalem decision where it is most popular. Facebook

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Trump judicial pick who drew ridicule at hearing withdraws By Associated Press A White House official says the Trump judicial nominee whose qualifications were questioned by a Republican senator has withdrawn his nomination. Matthew Petersen, who was nominated by President Trump to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has been the subject of widespread ridicule since he was unable to define basic legal terms during his confirmation hearing Wednesday. A White House official says Petersen has withdrawn his nomination and that Trump has accepted the withdrawal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the development publicly. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy pressed Petersen, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, who testified he had never tried a case, on his qualifications to the bench. Facebook

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Trump says McCain will return to Washington if needed for tax vote By Laura King (Associated Press) President Trump said Sunday that Sen. John McCain, who is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, was returning home to Arizona for the holidays but would come back to Washington if needed to cast a vote on the Republicans tax overhaul bill. The Arizona Republicans office announced last week that McCain was receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington for complications from his cancer treatment. McCains daughter Meghan tweeted earlier Sunday that her 81-year-old father would be spending Christmas in Arizona. The Senate is expected to vote early this week on the tax cut legislation, but the GOP appeared to have secured sufficient support without McCains vote. John will come back if we need his vote, Trump told reporters as he returned from a weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David. Hes going through a very tough time. Facebook

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Putin calls Trump to thank him for U.S. help foiling terrorist strike By Laura King (Getty Images) Vladimir Putin phoned President Trump to thank him for what the Russian president said was CIA help in foiling a terrorist attack, the Kremlin said on Sunday. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the two leaders conversation to reporters. It was the second time that the two leaders had talked in four days; Trump called Putin on Thursday to thank the Russian leader for lauding the U.S. economy. Putin, in his annual year-end news conference, had praised Trump for a strong performance by the U.S. stock market. Perhaps ironically, given his credit to the CIAs recent help, Putin at that news event dismissed as hysteria the consensus among American intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign. In reporting Putins call to Trump on Sunday, the official Russian news agency Tass said Putin thanked his American counterpart for information shared by the US Central Intelligence Agency that had helped break up a plot to set off explosives in St. Petersburgs landmark Kazan Cathedral and elsewhere in the city, which is Russias second-largest. Russian authorities last week had credited their countrys counter-intelligence service, the FSB, for foiling the attacks. They reported that seven people affiliated with Islamic State had been detained in St. Petersburg in connection with the plot. The FSB, the successor organization to the KGB, announced Friday that the group had planned to carry out the attacks on Saturday, and that one of those in custody had confessed to the cathedral bomb plot. Facebook

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Mnuchin: Government shutdown unlikely but could happen By Laura King Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said on Sunday that a government shutdown this week was unlikely but possible. A two-week stopgap spending bill passed by Congress earlier this month provided enough funding to keep the government running through Friday. A deadlock on another temporary funding measure would open the door to a possible shutdown. I cant rule it out, but I cant imagine it occurring, Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday, suggesting everyone had an interest in avoiding the government grinding to a halt and federal workers going unpaid, especially in the holiday season. I would expect that both the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats, understand if they cant agree on this, they need to have another short-term extension to move this to January, the Treasury secretary said. We cant have a government shutdown in front of Christmas. In May, irate over concessions made to Democrats in hammering out a spending measure, President Trump tweeted that a good shutdown might help matters. While both parties agree that a government shutdown involves a degree of disruption that is not beneficial to either side, shutdowns in 1995-96 and in 2013 mainly caused a backlash against Republicans. The latest funding measure is to be taken up after a vote on a massive GOP tax overhaul, expected by midweek. Facebook

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Trump transition team says sensitive emails should not have been shared with Robert Mueller By Chris Megerian (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) President Trumps transition team is crying foul over how special counsel Robert S. Mueller III obtained emails for his investigation into Russian meddling in last years campaign and possible Trump campaign complicity. Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for the transition team, sent a letter to Congress on Saturday saying there was an unauthorized disclosure of emails. While the Trump transition is long over, the transition team remains a nonprofit organization. Its emails were hosted by the General Services Administration, a federal agency. Mueller reportedly obtained the emails directly from the agency. There are attorney-client communications, Langhofer said in an interview. There are executive-privileged communications. He added, What were asking Congress to do is to take some legislative action to make sure this never happens again. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsels office, defended the process for obtaining emails. When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owners consent or appropriate criminal process, he said. The letter was first reported by Fox News. A request for comment from the General Services Administration was not immediately answered. This story has been updated with a comment from the special counsels office. Facebook

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Virginia house arrest is ending for Paul Manafort By Chris Megerian (Mark Wilson / Getty Images) A federal judge agreed Friday to end Paul Manaforts house arrest in Virginia, allowing President Trumps former campaign manager to return to Florida while awaiting trial. The decision followed a dispute between Manaforts legal team and prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who accused Manafort of violating a court order restricting public statements about the case. Under the terms of the judges order, Manafort will be allowed to live at his home in Florida as long as he stays within Palm Beach and Broward counties and obeys a curfew from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. If he misses a court appearance, he would forfeit four properties valued at $10 million total. The deal, which includes GPS monitoring, is not as permissive as Manafort originally sought. He had asked to be able to travel freely among Florida, New York, Virginia and Washington. Manafort faces criminal charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty. Facebook

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GOP negotiators enhance child tax credit to win over Sen. Rubio By Lisa Mascaro Republican negotiators slightly increased the refundable portion of the expanded child tax credit in their tax plan, raising it to $1,400 in hopes of winning back Sen. Marco Rubios (R-Fla.) support ahead of next weeks vote. Rubio announced Thursday he was withholding support after negotiators ignored his push to make the expanded tax credit, which increases from the current $1,000 to $2,000 in the proposed bill, fully refundable for lower- and moderate-income filers. The refundable portion in the original bill was $1,100. The Florida senator argued that was not enough to help working-class Americans, many of whom already view the GOP plan as tilted toward the wealthy. Rubios office was waiting to see the final text before commenting on whether the change was enough to win him over. We have not seen the bill text, and until we see if the percentage of the refundable credit is significantly higher, then our position remains the same, Rubios spokeswoman said. Negotiators meeting Friday before unveiling the bill said they thought they had the support they needed from Rubio and other holdouts. Im confident both chambers will pass it next week, said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). Facebook

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Sen. Marco Rubio opposes GOP tax bill, depriving leaders of crucial support By Lisa Mascaro Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks to a reporter in Washington. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) 20.94% Corp. rate to pay for tax cut for working family making $40k was anti-growth but 21% to cut tax for couples making $1million is fine?  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 12, 2017 Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says he is currently opposed to the GOP tax plan because it fails to include his proposed enhancements to the child tax credit, leaving leaders without crucial support ahead of next weeks expected vote. Republicans can only lose two GOP senators from their slim 52-48 majority as they push the plan forward under special budget rules to prevent a Democratic filibuster. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday altered his planned Israel trip so he could be on hand, if needed, to cast a tie-breaking vote. Rubio, and GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, have fought to increase the child tax credit, doubling it to $2,000 in the GOP plan, but they also want to increase its refundability. They argue it will lower taxes on middle-income families at a time when the tax plan is being criticized as tilted to the wealthy. Sen. Rubio has consistently communicated to the Senate tax negotiators that his vote on final passage would depend on whether the refundability of the Child Tax Credit was increased in a meaningful way, Rubios spokeswoman said. Lee stopped short of opposing the bill, but his spokesman said Wednesday he is undecided. GOP leaders, though, have said they believe they have the support for passage. Facebook

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White House gives Roy Moore a unsubtle shove: Time to concede By David Lauter (Alex Wong / Getty Images) The White House sent a clear signal Thursday to the defeated Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama: Its time to concede. Roy Moore refused to concede the race on Tuesday night when Doug Jones, the Democrat, was declared the winner. Election night results show Jones winning by about 1.5 percentage points, three times more than the states standard for a recount. Although a few absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted, theres no indication they would change the result. On Wednesday, Moore notably did not call to congratulate Jones  even as President Trump and other leading Republicans did. Instead, he released a video declaring the battle rages on. Asked at the daily news briefing whether the White House thinks Moore should concede today, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, It probably sounds like it maybe should have already taken place. Sanders also dismissed the idea, pushed by some Moore supporters, that Jones victory was tainted in some fashion. Asked if the Democrat had won fair and square, she said, I think the numbers reflect that. The states Republican senator, Richard Shelby, offered a similar comment in an interview with MSNBC in which he said he was willing to work with Jones. If I was 25,000 votes behind, its not going to change much, Shelby said. Facebook

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House Speaker Paul Ryan says hes not leaving anytime soon By Lisa Mascaro House Speaker Paul D. Ryan speaks earlier this year in Washington. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan shot down suggestions Thursday that he might soon be retiring. Stories often circulate that party leaders, especially the House speaker, are stepping aside. Ryans tenure has been as rocky as that of his predecessor, Rep. John Boehner, who abruptly resigned in 2015 amid GOP infighting. Asked Thursday if he would be leaving, Ryan answered a simple no, as he left his weekly press conference in the Capitol. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who reluctantly took over the speakers gavel after Boehners departure, had just finished talking up the GOP tax plan, which leaders hope to pass next week. He also outlined his sweeping agenda for his longtime goal of entitlement reform of welfare benefits next year. Two stories published Thursday suggested Ryan may soon be out. This is pure speculation, said spokeswoman AshLee Strong. As the speaker himself said today, hes not going anywhere anytime soon. Facebook

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GOP leaders reach tax deal, cutting corporate rate to 21% and top individual rate to 37% By Lisa Mascaro Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, center, and other Republican lawmakers. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Republican leaders on Wednesday agreed on a revised plan to cut taxes that would lower the corporate rate from 35% to 21% and drop the top individual rate for the richest Americans to 37%, according to GOP senators and others briefed on the deal. The tentative accord marked a significant step in the Republican push to have a tax bill on President Trumps desk by Christmas. Leaders did not release details of the compromise or the text of a final bill as negotiations continued. Its critically important for Congress to quickly pass these historic tax cuts, Trump said Wednesday, promising that Americans could begin to reap the benefits of the plan as early as February, if passed. Critics, however, said the latest changes  particularly the lowering of the top individual rate from the current 39.6%  only reaffirmed several independent analyses that show the bulk of the savings from the Republican plan would go to businesses and the wealthy. Read More Facebook

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Farenthold to retire from House amid harassment accusations By Associated Press Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold wont seek reelection next year, two Republicans said Thursday, adding his name to the list of lawmakers leaving Congress amid sexual harassment allegations that have cost powerful men their jobs in politics, the arts and other fields. The accusations against Farenthold surfaced in 2014,Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered 50 years ago this month in 1968 and, when it was first screened in New York City, it polarized its audience.

The crowd erupted into jeers, booing the movie and shouting next scene at the screen. When Michael Bensons mother took him to see the film that same year when he was 6 years old, and after Kubrick had trimmed about 19 minutes from the films running time, he was enraptured.

It really got me and blew me away, he said. It kind of influenced the way I perceived a lot of things.

This influence led the now 56-year-old author to publish a book detailing the films four-year production, along with the relationship between Kubrick and sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke, who collaborated with the director on the movies story.

Called Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke and the Making of a Masterpiece, the book touches on the hours-long conversations Clarke and Kubrick had with each other as well as Kubricks meticulous, bordering-on-obsessive, directing style.

On Tuesday, Benson visited the Buena Vista Branch Library in Burbank to talk about his book and the film. He was also joined by three people involved with 2001s production  visual effects artist Bruce Logan, visual effects supervisor Con Pederson and Dan Richter, who played the lead ape-man in the films opening sequence.

Fans of the film packed the librarys auditorium for the talk, with many standing against the walls and sitting on the floor.

Librarian Hubert Kozak estimated around 250 people came out for the event.

Prior to his talk, Benson detailed one instance during the films production that stood out to him while writing the book involving stuntman Bill Weston and a scene set in a zero-gravity environment.

Weston was suspended 30 feet in the air over a concrete floor in a sealed space suit with only 10 minutes of air and no way to vent the exhaled carbon dioxide.

So, he was hanging up there and getting increasingly poisoned by carbon dioxide as he was doing very complex stunts, Benson said.

Attempts by Weston to convince Kubrick to allow for air holes in the suits helmet were shot down because the director worried about light leaking through the holes and ruining the scene.

As a result, Benson said the stuntman passed out during filming and wanted to teach the director a lesson after he regained consciousness.

This is a guy who was a mercenary in South Africa, you dont mess with Bill Weston, he said. Stanley Kubrick fled the set and didnt come back to the studio for three days.

Kubricks intenseness during production was also echoed during the library discussion, with Richter characterizing him as relentless in a very caring way while Pederson joked about having his office being at the other end of the hall to be away from the director.

Logan recalled a story about when he was sick during filming, and Kubrick called him up to say he was going to have an ambulance take him over to the studio to shoot some animation scenes.

He was a very sweet, friendly man, Logan said. When it came to this production, he was totally ruthless.

Bensons book is available in stores now.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_TrucThree local women were honored earlier this month by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) as part of his annual Women of the Year luncheon.

Fourteen women were honored at the event, nominated from across Schiffs 28th congressional district.

These women have worked to found or support a myriad of charitable organizations, started multiple businesses and given so much of themselves to improve the common good. They are all pillars of our communities and I thank them for their invaluable service, Schiff said in a statement.

Vicky Marachelian of Burbank, Lori Hartwell of Glendale and Kiljoo Lee Kurumada of La Crescenta were honored for their commitment to their local communities.

Since 1995, Marachelian has helped her community both at home and abroad through her work with the Armenian Relief Society. She has served in various roles with the organization over the years and helped oversee construction of a Soseh Kindergarten in Stepanakert, Artsakh.

In addition to her work with the relief society, Marachelian also helped raise funds for construction of a new gym and library for the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School in Los Angeles, where her children attended.

Hartwell, who suffers from chronic kidney disease, has dedicated herself to helping others with chronic illnesses. In 1993, she started the Renal Support Network, an organization that provides aid to those with kidney disease.

She has also given presentations on dealing with chronic kidney disease and wrote a book about her own experiences.

Kurumada co-founded the Korean Resource Center in 1983 whose mission is to help immigrant, low-income, Asian-American, Pacific Islander and minority communities across Southern California.

The nonprofit works toward improving their lives through getting access to health insurance and affordable housing as well as holding voter registration drives, lobbying for immigration reform and senior advocacy.

Kurumada is also involved with the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, a group that helps promote the participation of Korean and other Asian-American to achieve economic and social justice.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_TrucA proposal for a conditional use permit to develop a three-story, 12-suite hotel along Pacific Coast Highway will go before the Huntington Beach Planning Commission during a study session Tuesday on appeal from a commissioner who was concerned about its parking.

The project, planned for 17145 Pacific Coast Hwy., would require demolition of an onsite car wash that stopped operating in 2015.

The proposal includes 1,800 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, with the hotel units on the second and third floors. The luxury units would have three or four bedrooms and private kitchens and balconies.

The second floor also would contain guest amenities such as a pool and fitness center.

The units would be available for rent on a weekly basis, though daily rentals could be accommodated.

The project also proposes 12 compact parking spaces on the ground level, accessible from Pacific Coast Highway and Pacific Avenue.

The plan, which was approved by the city zoning administrator March 7, was appealed a week later by the Planning Commissions vice chairman, Pat Garcia, who cited concerns related to its retail parking and setback requirements.

The Los Angeles-based applicant, Cliff Neiman, submitted a parking study by KOA Corp. indicating the project could accommodate the proposed retail and hotel uses with fewer than the 32 spaces city code would require.

The study session will be an opportunity for commissioners to review the proposal and request more information in time for a public hearing slated for May 8.

The California Coastal Commission ultimately must review and approve the conditional use permit.

Tuesdays session begins at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 2000 Main St.

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscellaA former death row inmate whose conviction was overturned and then reinstated by a new jury received a sentence Friday of life in prison without parole.

An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated for about two days in May 2017 before finding James Andrew Melton, 66, of Los Angeles guilty of first-degree murder, robbery and burglary.

He had seduced and strangled Anthony DeSousa, 77, in a plot to steal from him.

The 2017 trial was Meltons third for the crime. He originally was convicted of killing DeSousa in in 1982 and sentenced to death.

But a federal judge overturned that conviction in 2007 after determining that jail staff overmedicated Melton to the point that he was unable to participate in his defense or understand his trial.

The Orange County district attorneys office decided not to seek the death penalty in the trials that followed.

In the 2014 retrial, a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting Melton. Jurors did not hear testimony from Meltons former lover, Johnny Boyd, to whom prosecutors claimed Melton confessed shortly after DeSousas death.

Meltons defense attorney, Denise Gragg, failed in her motion for a fourth trial Friday, which she sought after a court clerk reported overhearing a juror discussing the case mid-trial in May while getting her nails done at a Fountain Valley salon.

Jurors are prohibited from discussing a case with anyone until a trial is over.

In his third trial, the prosecution alleged that Melton and Boyd, while serving prison sentences in San Luis Obispo in 1980, concocted a plan to make money by robbing older gay men.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Stephen McGreevy said Boyd, who was released from prison before Melton, met DeSousa through a personal ad.

DeSousa, who had come out as gay after his wife died, told Boyd that he liked black men, and Boyd offered to set him up with a man he said was his cousin, Melton.

Boyd was arrested in an unrelated case a few days before the three men were to rendezvous. According to the prosecution, Melton decided to meet DeSousa alone on Oct. 10, 1981, at the Disneyland Hotel.

That day, McGreevy contended, Melton strangled DeSousa and made off with his car and valuables.

Three days later, DeSousas body was found in his bedroom. He had been badly beaten and strangled with the cord from an electric mirror.

Gragg contended there were no fingerprints or DNA evidence at DeSousas home linking Melton to the crime. She said Boyd, a key prosecution witness who was given immunity to testify in Meltons first trial, had credibility issues.

Boyd died of complications of AIDS in 1992, so in the recent trial the jury heard a reading of transcripts from his prior testimony.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCNThe California Coastal Commission just doesnt see Newport Harbor as a port.

Newport Beach Councilman Scott Peotter and Don Schmitz, a lobbyist the city contracted, traveled to the commissions meeting in Redondo Beach on Thursday to support a bill that could help the city achieve port status and to ask the commission for an additional month to make a case for the citys idea for a port master plan.

They were largely unsuccessful. Some observers at the meeting even found the idea laughable.

The commission voted 9-3, with members Erik Howell, Ryan Sundberg and Roberto Uranga dissenting, to oppose Assembly Bill 1196, which would amend the California Coastal Act to establish Newport Beach as a port  a status it needs before it can seek a port master plan. It would join Los Angeles, Long Beach, Hueneme and San Diego, all deepwater industrial ports.

With the port master plan, the city could issue state-sanctioned permits for in-water harbor projects such as small dredging work and private pier repair  much like it handles development on land close to shore through its Coastal Commission-granted local coastal program, which went into effect last year. But it would retain its nature as a recreational harbor, officials say.

Thursdays commission vote doesnt directly affect the bills outcome in the Legislature, but it does firm up the opposition that commission staff laid out in a report before the meeting.

Commission legislative analyst Sarah Christie said the agencys staff was concerned about the precedent it would set to re-label a municipal harbor as a port and cede the commissions authority. She said one could sympathize with the desire of a local government to want to take some control but said its outside the boundaries of the Coastal Act.

The problem is, quite simply and sort of obviously, is that the city of Newport Beachs municipal harbor is not a port, Christie said to laughter from the audience. For a municipal harbor to be managed under a port master plan, its like the wrong suit of clothes for it.

Ports are distinct from municipal harbors, of which there are dozens around California, in that the harbors focus on recreation and generally light commercial uses like sportfishing, she said.

Peotter said Newport is looking for an efficient way to address its aging infrastructure and is committed to working with the commission.

Newport Harbor is unique even amongst recreational harbors, he said.

Schmitz said Newport Harbor fits the dictionary definition of port  Websters defines a port as a place where ships may ride out secure from storms.

He said its also an economic hub and a home for ship repair facilities, the Coast Guard and the Orange County Sheriffs Department Harbor Patrol.

Christie said the four existing ports have their own governing bodies and thus their own plans, which give highest priority for industrial port uses. One reason for port plans is for ports to modernize and manage their activities without a need to create new ports, she said.

Commissioner Mark Vargas also said Newport isnt a good fit for port status.

Port of L.A., Port of Long Beach, Port Hueneme, Port San Diego. Port of Newport? he said, drawing more chuckles from the audience. One of these things is not like the other.

Christie said commission staff reached out with a list of concerns to the office of AB 1196s sponsor, Assemblyman Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach), soon after the bill was introduced.

Commission Executive Director Jack Ainsworth suggested Newport Beach consider other available management mechanisms, such as master permits or a public works plan.

I dont want to waste any of the citys time or staffs time pursuing this legislation, Ainsworth said. Lets work on those other mechanisms that are authorized under the act and move forward.

But Uranga, who also is a city councilman in Long Beach, said he empathized with Newport and did not consider it a waste of time to try to work things out.

Peotter said that if after a month the city didnt see a way to proceed, he would support the bills withdrawal.

Christie didnt see a reason for optimism.

I dont see us getting any new information that would change our perspective on the proposal, she said. We take legislative changes to the Coastal Act very seriously.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHDJan Laman Craig, wife of the late H. Rex Craig, who was head of Glendale Community College, passed away March 10 in Altadena of a degenerative disorder of the autonomic nervous system. She was very active in the community.

In 1982, her husband was named president of Glendale Community College and superintendent of the Glendale Community College District.

He was the first to hold these two positions after the college broke away from the Glendale Unified School District. He died in 1985 of lymphoma.

Born in Grand Junction, Colo., in 1940, Jan Craig became a speech therapist. She was affiliated with the HEAR Center, the Oralingua School for the Hearing Impaired and Glendale Unified schools and was named a professional fellow at the House Ear Institute.

Toward the end of her career, she transitioned to special education with Glendale Unified.

In December 1986, she opened her historic 1896 home, built in the Classic Revival style on Kenneth Road, to benefit two groups, the Hoover High Parent Teacher Student Assn. and the HEAR Center.

She was a member of Assistance League of Glendale, National Charity League, Oakmont League, Patrons Club, PEO Chapter MQ, Rossmoyne Book Club, the Glendale Historical Society, Verdugo Hills Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Womens Committee of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Assn. as well as the Parent Teacher Student associations at Keppel Elementary, Toll Junior High and Hoover High.

She is survived by her son, Kirby, daughter, Kira, grandson Lamin Rex Touray, sister-in-law, Joyce Laman, and several nieces and nephews.

mark.kellam@latimes.com

Twitter: @lamarkkellamMembers of the Glendale Tenants Union joined a coalition of about 100 renters from communities throughout Southern California Thursday afternoon outside Los Angeles County offices to rally for rent control and improved conditions for renters.

Along with an expansion of rent control beyond the 15 California cities where it is currently in effect, rally participants urged the repeal of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act  a state law that bars rent-control measures from being placed on single-family homes and apartments built after 1995.

Mike Van Gorder, who rents near downtown Glendale and is a captain with the Glendale Tenants Union, spoke alongside representatives from 12 similar tenant groups from cities such as Los Angeles, Pasadena, Long Beach and Santa Ana on the steps of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration building in a push for regional rent control.

He shared the story of a 27-year Glendale resident whose rent increased about $900 over five years as well as a family who he said had to move 60 miles away from their home because of a $700 jump in rent.

Our communities are bleeding residents to satisfy the unstoppable greed of predatory corporate landlords and the scrappy opportunism of property flippers, he said. We, the renters, homeowners, property owners of the Glendale Tenants Union value our community more than your right to take economic advantage of our community for your own enrichment.

Members of the Glendale Tenants Union submitted a proposed rent-stabilization ordinance to the city of Glendale in January and are currently working to collect 10,000 signatures to qualify for the November 2018 municipal ballot.

The proposal would regulate several rental agreements, including a cap on the amount of rent a landlord can charge, with an annual increase restriction of 4%.

Like Glendale, the Pasadena Tenants Union is in the process of collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would amend Pasadenas city charter to cap rent increases at 4.5% annually.

Allison Henry, who spoke as a member of the Pasadena Tenants Union, said uncontrolled rent increases also add to the regions homeless population.

We cannot have more homeless people on the streets than in houses in Los Angeles, she said.

Promise Li, a member of the grassroots collective Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, said local residents and small businesses in Chinatown have been displaced due to irresponsible development and high rent hikes.

Some experts tell us that expansion of rent control is destructive and discourages community growth but, as other people have said here, the opposite is, in fact, true, he said.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLandaAuthorities announced on Friday the arrest of a West Covina man suspected of participating in a series of vehicle burglaries in January in which 28 vehicles were broken into in a La Crescenta neighborhood and two more were stolen.

Andrew Cordia, 20, is charged with 26 counts of vehicle burglary, four counts of burglary and two counts of vehicle theft. The charges stem from an incident that occurred on Jan. 31 in the 3000 block of Montrose and 3900 block of Pennsylvania avenues.

The thefts happened overnight and involved the thieves entering a multiunit garage through an unlocked gate, according to Tahnee Lightfoot, a spokeswoman with the Glendale Police Department.

She said the thieves smashed the windows of several vehicles in order to steal personal items inside.

She said a security camera from one of the garages filmed at least three people committing the burglaries.

Cordia was arrested after one of the credit cards stolen during the break-in was used at an Irwindale gas station. A video from the station showed a man matching Cordias description pumping gas into one of the stolen vehicles, according to Lightfoot.

A witness also identified him and he was taken into custody on Feb. 18.

Although an arrest was made, Lightfoot said the burglaries remain under investigation.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_TrucThe sounds of such classic songs as Tonight, Maria and America will be heard in the Glendale Centre Theatre through May 26 as the musical West Side Story opened Friday.

The production was co-directed by Danny Michaels and Orlando Alexander, with Alexander handling the choreography.

While Alexander has been involved in West Side Story productions in the past  including a national tour  this is the first time hes choreographed the musical in the round, with audience members on all sides of the stage.

Some of it was a challenge as far as bending [the choreography], Alexander said. Other parts werent at all because the choreography was shaped actually nicely.

Michaels said every number in the musical is iconic, so there is no favorite for him.

Its a really perfect piece of theater  the shows over 60 years old, so theres not a song in it you dont know, he said.

Michaels and Alexander, both Pasadena residents, have collaborated on several productions at the Glendale Centre Theatre in the past including Big River, Thoroughly Modern Millie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Will Rogers Follies.

They have also worked on shows together throughout the region. In addition to West Side Story, they are also currently working on a production of Les Miserables in La Canada Flintridge that opens on Thursday.

For more information about West Side Story, visit glendalecentretheatre.com or call (818) 244-8481.

mark.kellam@latimes.com

Twitter: @lamarkkellamPolice on Friday released surveillance footage showing a suspected mail thief stealing a package from a La Crescenta porch last week, police said.

Around 11:20 a.m. on Feb. 3, the suspect drove by during a FedEx delivery to a home on the 5100 block of New York Avenue, said Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.

NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >>

Shortly after the delivery truck left, the suspect vehicle  a blue, four-door BMW 3 Series missing a front license plate  drove up to the home, after which a man jumped out of the passengers seat, snagged the package and hopped back in the car before fleeing.

The suspect was described as in his early 20s, around 5 feet, 8 inches tall with a thin build. A description of the getaway driver was not available.

Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call Glendale police at (818) 548-4811. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

--

Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchekThe more an academic subject relates to the lives of students, the better for student learning.

Thats my recollection of a key lesson from my three graduate classes in secondary education.

Turns out, the lesson is probably true for all us, at every age. I think thats why my recent experience interviewing individuals about their names and family histories was so rewarding.

Its important to think and talk about the people and events that shaped our paths, and many of us dont give ourselves or others enough opportunities to tell those stories.

I mentioned these interviews as a work in progress in my last column (Reading expands minds, develops relationships, March 31), a first step by the Glendale Library Foundation in the development of the librarys oral history project. Very soon, the 15 short interviews will be available for viewing on the city of Glendale and Library Foundation websites  thanks especially to the work of Davian Engle, a talented young videographer and editor from the crew of Glendales GTV6.

The videos feature members of the community whose stories are at least partly reflective of the librarys recent ReflectSpace exhibits.

The ReflectSpace, if youre not yet familiar with it, is Downtown Central Librarys gallery of rotating cultural and historical exhibits. Curated by the dynamic duo of Ara and Anahid Oshagan, the ReflectSpace employs art, technology and interactive media  as well as visits from the artists  to depict the histories of Glendales diverse communities.

Interview participants answered three questions: What is your name, and where did it come from? When did your family come here (to the United States and to Glendale) and why? and Could you share a favorite family tradition?

Responses to the name question ranged from definitions  shining flourishingly, warrior, and revenge,  to historical references to kings, queens and princesses. Some parents had impressed on their children the importance of the history carried in their names; others let their children discover their names meanings for themselves. Many parents named children for family members, and some chose names to reflect both the familys native and adopted countries.

Glendale News-Press columnist Katherine Peters Yamada traced the history of her first name and came to realize she was one of a long line of Katherines, a long line of Mennonites who lived in the Ukraine, she wrote in a written outline of her interview. They had been invited there by Catherine the Great, [who] promised them free land and freedom of religion. Learning the story behind my name drew me into writing history.

Betty Porto, co-owner of Portos Bakery, traced her names history from Cuba back to Galicia in Northern Spain, where it was brought by the Italians who settled there.

Lila Ramirez, whose ancestors in New Mexico predate the Revolutionary War, spent time before the interview looking at the current ReflectSpace exhibit, which features representations of traditional herbs of Armenia. She commented on the similarities to herbs used in the American Southwest and the connection to her last name, Ramirez, which derives from the name Romero and from rosemary. She understands her given name  Audelia, shortened to Lila by her brothers  is related to the Roman name Aurelius.

Longtime area educator Alice Petrossian shared how her mother had chosen the name Alice, thinking it a particularly Armenian and rather unique name, commemorating a river in Armenia. Only when they arrived in the United States did her mother find the name had its own history here.

The themes of family, history and country conveyed in names also permeated the answers to the second and third questions. One after another came the stories of parents making choices for the safety, security and future of their children: families who left Iran just before the fall of the Shah; parents or young adults who came to the United States to pursue educational opportunities; a widow with four children who accepted her sisters invitation to establish a life here.

All of them shared the importance of family in their lives and the ways in which they have maintained and adapted their family traditions.

Burbank Supt. Matt Hill, speaking this week at the invitation of the Community Foundation of the Verdugos, shared key lessons hes learned in the course of writing his dissertation on leadership and social justice. One of them is the importance of sharing our stories and helping our students share theirs.

JOYLENE WAGNER is a past member of the Glendale Unified school board, from 2005 to 2013, and currently serves on the boards of Glendale Educational Foundation and other nonprofit organizations. Email her at jkate4400@aol.com.One of Mexicos legendary drug lords, a fugitive convicted in the notorious 1985 slaying of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, is back in the narco business  at least thats what U.S. prosecutors say.

This week, the FBI placed Rafael Caro Quintero, aging co-founder of the once-dominant, now defunct Guadalajara Cartel, on its 10 most-wanted list. It also announced a reward for information leading to his arrest: $20 million.

Caro Quintero, believed to be at least 65 years old, has been a fugitive in Mexico since 2013.

Thats when a Mexican judge sprang him from prison on a technicality after he had served 28 years of a 40-year sentence for drug trafficking and for the murder of the DEAs Enrique Kiki Camarena. The judge ruled that Caro Quintero should have been tried in a state court, not a federal court.

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His release enraged U.S. officials. Mexican authorities vowed to arrest him anew.

But the fabled mob boss, his exploits the subject of countless corridos, or ballads, immediately went underground.

U.S. prosecutors say Caro Quintero continued his drug-trafficking activity while in prison in Mexico and after his release.

On Thursday, they unsealed a new indictment against the veteran trafficker, known as The Prince and el narco de los narcos in Mexico, alleging his leadership role in smuggling heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamines into the United States between 1980 and 2017.

We take the Caro Quintero situation extremely personally, said Rusty Payne, a DEA spokesman in Washington. He is someone who we desperately want to see face justice.

According to the DEA, Caro Quintero has emerged as a co-leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was once headed by Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, now jailed in New York.

Both men hail from the remote municipality of Badiraguato in northwestern Sinaloa state, deep in Mexicos so-called Golden Triangle of illicit opium-poppy production. There, clan loyalties are tied to the multibillion-dollar smuggling industry.

The DEA would like to see Caro Quintero, like Guzman, extradited to the United States.

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Were not going to stop looking for Caro Quintero until we find him and put him back behind bars where he belongs, FBI Deputy Director David L. Bowdich said in a statement on Thursday.

Caro Quintero has given the Mexican press several interviews from hiding, depicting himself as an infirm retiree who did his time and is now hounded by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement helicopters, drones and assault squads.

I dont belong to any cartel, Caro-Quintero told an interviewer from Mexicos Aristegui Noticias news site, in an account published this month. Whoever says [otherwise] is lying!

He said that he had trafficked only in marijuana, and had long ago left that contraband trade behind. Now that Im out I dont want to know anything about drugs.  I want to live in peace.  Everyone deserves a second chance.

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He suggested the allegations were based on information supplied by a cousin, Sajid Emilio Quintero Navidad (a.k.a. The Cadet), who pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in January in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Sajid is lying! Caro Quintero told the Mexican interviewer.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys office in San Diego declined to comment when asked whether Quintero Navidad was cooperating with authorities.

The article in Aristegui Noticias depicted Caro Quintero as an anguished wild cat, avoiding surveillance drones, never sleeping in the same place and always in the countryside in a tent or sleeping bag.

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During the day he wanders the mountain like a ghost, always looking at the sky, it reported.

U.S. authorities call Caro Quintero one of the godfathers of Mexican drug trafficking and say he was directly responsible for Camarenas kidnapping and murder. Camarena was bundled into a car on the streets of Guadalajara en route to lunch with his wife on Feb. 7, 1985.

His disappearance sparked a massive manhunt and triggered a crisis in binational relations, as a livid Reagan administration shut down most commerce through the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bodies of Camarena and his Mexican pilot, Alfredo Zavala, who was kidnapped separately, were found almost a month after the men were abducted. Their remains, dumped in the western state of Michoacan, showed signs of torture.

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According to U.S. officials, Camarena was executed in retaliation for a 1984 raid by Mexican authorities on a vast marijuana plantation owned by Caro Quintero. The Guadalajara cartel blamed Camarena for the takedown and sought payback, officials say.

The Camarena case has inspired films, books and television miniseries.

The law enforcement crackdown following his kidnapping also led to the disintegration of the Guadalajara cartel, which originated in the 1970s and forged lucrative relationships with Pablo Escobar and other Colombian cocaine producers, and bribed Mexican cops and politicians. The syndicate later fragmented into regional drug gangs in Sinaloa state, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and elsewhere.

Nonetheless, the illicit drug trade from Mexico to the United States has continued to thrive, employing many of the cartels tactics and smuggling routes.

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While Caro Quintero is still a fugitive, two other Guadalajara cartel cofounders  Miguel (The Godfather) Angel Felix Gallardo and Ernesto (Don Neto) Fonseca Carrillo  are serving long prison sentences in Mexico. Fonseca was transferred to house arrest in 2016 under terms granted to elderly prisoners with health problems.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Twitter: @PmcdonnellLAT

Cecilia Sanchez of The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.Allied missiles struck at the heart of Syrian chemical weapons arsenal in a show of force and resolve aimed at punishing the Assad government for a suspected poison gas attack against civilians and deterring the possible future use of such banned weapons.

"A perfectly executed strike," President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday in the aftermath of his second decision in two years to fire missiles against Syria. "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

His choice of words recalled a similar claim associated with President George W. Bush following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Bush addressed sailors aboard a ship in May 2003 alongside a "Mission Accomplished" banner, just weeks before it became apparent that Iraqis had organized an insurgency that tied down U.S. forces for years.

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There wont be anything, or anyone, even close!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

Syria's chief allies, Russia and Iran, called the use of force by the United States, Britain and France a "military crime" and "act of aggression" with the potential to worsen a humanitarian crisis after years of civil war. The U.N. Security Council planned to meet later Saturday at Moscow's request.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syrian President Bashar Assad tweeted, while hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus, the capital, where they flashed victory signs and waved flags in scenes of defiance after the one-hour barrage launched Friday evening (early Saturday in Syria).

In this May 2, 2003, file photo, President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast. The a flight suit-clad president stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended," just six weeks after the invasion. The war dragged on for many years after that. (AP file photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Before a planned Pentagon briefing Saturday, officials said Air Force B-1B strategic bombers launched JASSM "standoff" missiles for the first time in combat, evading Syrian air defenses. In all, the Navy launched a little more than 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles from destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea. The officials, who provided details on condition of anonymity ahead of public announcements, said Syria's air defenses were ineffective.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma, where the apparent use of poison gas against civilians on April 7 that killed more than 40 people compelled the Western allies to launch their attack. Syria has denied the accusation.

But France's foreign minister said there was "no doubt" the Assad government was responsible, and he threatened further retaliatory strikes if chemical weapons were used again, as did Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who said the assault was a "one-time shot," as long as chemical weapons weren't used again.

NATO representatives planned a special session to hear from U.S., British and French officials.

Pentagon officials said the attacks, carried out by manned aircraft and from ships that launched cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea, targeted the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons. Russia's military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles fired by the allies.

Mattis said Friday there were no reports of U.S. losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.

Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire as the U.S., U.K. and France launch an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital was rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Trump said the U.S. was prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what Trump called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. That did not mean military strikes would continue; in fact, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said no additional attacks were currently planned.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlin's skepticism about the allies' Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to visit the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May cited reports she said indicated the Syrian government used a barrel bomb -- large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal -- to deliver the chemicals. "No other group" could have carried out that attack, she said, adding that the allies' use of force was "right and legal."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the West's response was "necessary and appropriate."

Mattis disclosed that the U.S. had not yet confirmed that the Douma attack -- the most recent suspected Syrian chemical weapons attack, on April 7 -- included the use of sarin gas. He said at least one chemical was used -- chlorine, which also has legitimate industrial uses and had not previously triggered a U.S. military response.

He said the targets selected by U.S., British and French officials were meant to minimize civilian casualties.

"This is difficult to do in a situation like this," he said, in light of the volatility of chemical agents.

Defense officials from the countries involved in the attack gave differing accounts of how much warning was given to the Russians, Syria's powerful ally.

Dunford said the U.S. did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace "de-confliction" communications. But the description from an ally put things differently. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that "with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time."

At a Pentagon news conference alongside Mattis, and with British and French military officers beside them to emphasize allied unity, Dunford said the attacks targeted mainly three targets in western Syria.

Dunford said missiles first struck a scientific research center in the Damascus area that he said was a center of Syrian research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs. He said this was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin and precursor chemical production equipment.

The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs, Dunford said.

I hope the actions taken tonight will bring a permanent end to Bashar al Assads chemical weapons program and dissuade him from ever pursuing them again. I await a briefing on the scope and success of the mission.  Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) April 14, 2018

British leader May said in London that the West had tried "every possible" diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted" by Syria and Russia, she said.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," May said. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change."

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria. He authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

"As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," Trump said. "And great warriors they are."

Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Culture / Art Republik

The significance of a whole generation of post-war Taiwanese artists is coming to the fore against a backdrop of global interest in reevaluating the historically overlooked

Apr 14, 2018 | By Art Republik

The story of abstract arts emergence and dominance in the post-war decades, particularly in the western world, is a story that needs little further narration. New Yorks affinity with abstract expressionism propelled it to dominate the world stage, no matter how much it was in fact a pinpoint art movement centred around a small number of artists and critics in a particular time and place. Contemporaneous to it and across the Atlantic, movements such as Art Brut and Tachisme prevailed upon a new generation of artists. From the 1960s onwards, colour field and hard-edge painting, as well as geometric abstraction began to gain greater traction. Through these internal struggles between movements, much of the narrative that has been told and continues to ring loudest is largely western-centric, focused on developments and artists from both sides of the Atlantic.

For the longest time, artists of Asian descent even those who were part of the discourse in the west rarely feature in the big broad brushstroke that defined western post-war abstraction. There has, however, been recent broader interest to resuscitate and rediscover forgotten or marginalised modern artists; and with it, Asia and its artists have now firmly become a focal point of this fresh global uptake.

In the history of Chinese art, an important historical development is how modern art in mainland China was stymied by the Cultural Revolution; art was wielded to the service of political purposes, with no natural function or value of its own. There was, however, a whole cohort of artists and other intellectuals who had left mainland China for Taiwan in the immediate post-war decades. They articulated liberal values through their works and broke new ground, forging an abstract visual vocabulary, and cementing their place in the history of Chinese art as modern pioneers. Their avant-gardist stance arose against a backdrop of the rise of western liberalism, where abstraction, especially of the expressionistic mold, signified freedom, particularly poignant to generations of Taiwanese artists who lived through three decades of martial law.

The central figure behind modern abstractions rise in Taiwan is Li Chun-Shan who was educated in art in Tokyo. Modern art concepts promulgated in 1930s Shanghai and Tokyo, due largely to mediators such as Li, who, as artist, writer and art educator in Hangzhou and Guangzhou, imbibed modernism and influenced generations simultaneously. Moving to Taiwan in 1949, he continued to advocate liberal values, aligning it with the modern movement in art, essentially birthing abstract art as the dominant form of modern art in Taiwan. His students include Hsiao Chin, Ho Kan and Chin Sung who established the Ton Fan Art Group while other students like Chen Ting-Shih founded the Fifth Moon Art Group.

In the immediate decades following the end of World War II, Taiwanese artists pursued a modernist stance and propelled Chinese art into the modern period. The most significant art movements, Ton Fan Art Group and Fifth Moon Art Group, were established in 1957. The Modern Print-Making Association followed a year later. Abstraction as advocated and practiced by these artists form perhaps the most significant but overlooked chapter in the narrative of modern abstractions emergence in the fragmented post-war artworld in Asia.

Wang Zineng is the founder of Art Agenda, S.E.A..

This article was written by Wang Zineng for Art Republik 18.

More information at artagendasea.org.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > The Davos Disaster: The Heyday of the Halwaii

The annual event of the World Economic Forum now underway in Switzerland is with us again. Indeed, it is the scent of the air. This annual jamboree of the worlds top politicians, businessmen and international organisations like the IMF, World Bank and WTO is our planets capitalist show-case. Everybody who is anybody on the world stage is at Davos. The pronouncements at Davos are eagerly looked forward to by a non-existent entity called the international community. The political leaders of nations go to Davos to show-case their countries as not just safe but also attractive destinations of industrial and financial capital, their markets as attractive to foreign capital in particular. If you are blessed at Davos, you have made it.

It is not surprising, therefore, that our Prime Minister and the Government of India as a whole have not just dressed themselves up to look as attractive as they can be. Our PM chose to focus on three themes for his much-awaited inaugural addressClimate Change, Terrorism and Protectionism in trade and commerce. [It is far from clear why the PM chose those particular themes. Are they what one would say are the burning problems of the approximately 800 million Indians who, even today, 70 years after political independence, go to bed and try to sleep with empty stomachs? Are they the most important for our massively malnourished population?] As usual, the abiding focus is on national and global growth rates. Little was said on what kind of growth for whom. The actual experience of practically all developing countries, including the so-called emerging marketsnote

not

emerging nationsis that growth must be composed of basic needswater, food, health, shelter and employment. Above all, it must be recognised and accepted that growth per se is not an end in itself but only a means for a much larger objectiveDevelopmentbest defined as meeting the Basic Needs of ALL the people. The almost one thousand participants at Davos merely stated and heard, rather were shamed by the much reapeated statistic at the forum that one per cent of Indians own 73 per cent of the wealth of India.

What does Climate Change or Protectionism mean in such a countryor mean to such a country? What does it mean to the approximately 55 Least Developed Countriesthat is, countries in which the people live on less than one US dollar a daythe Gabons, the Mauritanias or the Paraguayas? What does it mean to the people of UP, Bihar and Odisha in our own country? Davos is a place where the famous statement of the French Empress Marie Antoinett applies: If they cannot get bread why dont they eat cake?

To one like me who has been involved in issues of Development and Human Security for some 40 years, both at home and internationally, it can mean only one thingshame on you, elites of both rich and poor countries. To me as an Indian, a citizen of one of the poorest countries of the world, to see not just my ruling class, but no less than the Prime Minister of my country, running after the rich nations and pleading with them to be accepted by them as a member of the Rich Mans Club, is nauseating.

Nothing reflects such shame more than the fact that the Prime Minister took with him to Davos no less than 500 cooksyes, cooksdrawn from all the five-star hotels in Delhi! Davos was thus no less than the Heyday of the Halwaii.

The author is a former S & T Adviser to the late Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Bihar: Communal Violence Smears the Progressive Image of Nitish

by Arun Srivastava

The politics of communal chasm and hatred has been the gift of the Hindu hardliners. Whether it has been the partition of India or marginalisation of the Muslims in independent India, these hardliners have simply worked to vitiate the communal harmony. No doubt the Muslim fundamentalists have only acted to further worsen the situation.

I often wonder: cant these elements allow the people to live in peace? While the marginalisation of Muslims began soon after partition, the Indian politics was communalised by political parties and governments. It is deplorable that through their actions they have been decrying the cultural traditions and tenets of the respective communities.

Even a layman knows the fact that the communal clashes are planned and engineered by the political parties for simply gaining the support of the rival community members. Of course, the marginalisation of Muslims is said to have been insitutionalised in India. But one thing I would pose before the Muslims of the country: who forced you not to send your children and wards to a better school? The common refrain would be: since we did not have money and were poor we could not afford to provide good education to them. This is simply a lie.

The grip of the Mullahas and Maulavis have been so acute and strong on the Muslim community that a common poor Muslim cannot ever think of disobeying their diktat and asserting his freedom. Though the political leaders often complain of incongruity against the Muslims, the fact cannot be denied that the ordinary Muslims have to suffer due to the short-sightedness and nursing of skewed egos by the religious leaders of the community. It is pertinent to ask why so far they have been averse to modernising the education at the madrasas and in introducing technical education.

It is not that they have been the victims of the present-day governance which is primarily based on the class-exploitation perpetrated in the name of caste. The Dalits have to suffer the same nature of debase and humiliation that a lower-caste Muslim suffers. The fact that the rich and upper-caste Muslims are quite well off cannot be denied. But their population is not so high which is why the visibility of Muslims in important positions and places is not discernible. Like the upper-caste and rich Hindus they are the public face of the Muslims. In public they represent the class and community interest of the Muslims.

Abul Kalam Azad opposed the partition for many reasons; one of them was that a predominantly Hindu India will be majoritarian and oppressive to non-Hindus. Some experts and social scientists nurse the view that people want the Muslims to be liberal. The same applies in the case of Dalits. Often the upper-caste people complain that the present-day Dalits have become arrogant. This was not the case with their fathers and forefathers. They want the Dalits to be docile and liberal.

Muslims have to redefine themselves. And this cannot be done through armed resistance or resorting to violence. Like Dalits, they have to empower the community. Of late most of the Muslim youths are taking to self-employment. This is not the reason that government jobs are less or they are not educationally well equipped to take up private jobs, but for the reason that this is self-assertive. They feel independent. They treat themselves as the new class of entrepreneurs. A minority in a democracy must make a statement of its identity instead of looking at the government for pittance.

Apart from the Maulavis and Mullahs, the progressive intellectuals and experts ought to share a fare amount of blame for pushing the Muslims into a dark pathway. They kept on reminding them of the repression and discrimination. How could these people forget that Hindus too had to suffer the same trauma and crossness? Instead, they should have voiced for their empowerment and resurgence. It is unfortunate that the issue was politicised and Congress was blamed for creation of this situation.

The Muslims, lacking a sane and far-sighted leadership, spend their energies on non-issues, fighting for petty questions of religious practice. It is a fact that 95 per cent of the countrys population, whether Hindus or Muslims, were not born before the partition. They have been briefed of the miseries of the partition by some ill-conceived Hindu or Muslim who himself has not felt the wrench of the partition. Everything relayed from one person to another was purely a hearsay.

It is the projection of the Muslims as the vote-bank that has been primarily the reason for the communal clashes. A politics of violence would turn the Muslims scared and force them to follow the dictates of the majority community becoming the order of modern politics. The same pattern follows in the case of the Dalits. Every political party striving to get the vote of the Dalits pays its reverence to Ambedkar. These leaders tend to believe that all the Dalits and Harijans are the followers of Ambedkar. These leaders even do not subscribe to the view that Dalits can also be hardcore Marxist-Leninists. After winning the two by-elections to the Lok Sabha the Samajwadi Party had interestingly issued directives to its district and city presidents to hold programmes on Ambedkars achievements, his role in drafting the Constitution. This revisiting Ambedkar is simply a gimmick. The SP is celebrating the 127th birth anniversary of the Dalit icon, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, on a grand scale in districts across UP on April 14. The politicians are too keen to celebrate the birthday of Ambedkar but are not keen to put a full stop on violence against the Dalits.

Politics of differentiation has in fact been at the base of communal politics. Only a couple of days back lakhs of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh threatened to convert to Islam if the atrocities against them were not stopped. This reflects the brutal and inhuman face of the politic and polity. The emergence of some leaders committed to social justice had instilled a trust in the minds of the common people that communal politics will get a decent burial. But it proved to be a utopia. These leaders in fact adopted and mastered the art of communal politics. In Bihar alone during 2018, till date, 64 such cases have been registered.

A total of 200 incidents of communal tensions have been registered in Bihar since the JD(U), led by Nitish Kumar, broke its alliance with the RJD-Congress and went back to the BJP-led NDA. Compare this with the data of the last five years: 50 such incidents in 2012, 112 in 2013, 110 in 2014, 155 in 2015, 230 in 2016. At 270, 2017 recorded the highest number of communal incidents in recent times. Though some parts of West Bengal, particularly Asansol-Raniganj, witnessed communal clashes during the Ram Navami processions, the situation is worse in Bihar where communal violence spread to at least nine districts since March 17.

Union Minister of State Ashwini Kumar Choubeys son, Arijit Shashwat, is said to have engineered the clash in Bhagalpur. He has been booked for rioting and inciting violence in Bhagalpur where clashes erupted during an unauthorised procession taken out by the BJP, Bajrang Dal and RSS activists on March 17.

Arijit Shashwat, the son of Choubey, led a rally in Bhagalpur on March 17 to celebrate the start of the Hindu New Year. The bike processionfor which police permission was not takenpassed through Muslim-dominated areas, shouting provocative slogans. This led to stone-pelting and shots being fired, injuring several people. A bike rally was taken out in Aurangabad, on Ram Navami day. The bike rally caused violence.

In Kasganj of UP a similar slogan-raising procession unleashed a reign of terror and violence on the Republic Day in a Muslim neighbourhood. After the incident, the Bareilly District Magistrate had said it was becoming a trend to force processions into Muslim mohallas and shout anti-Pakistan slogans. The same thing has happened in Bihar. A germane query arises: why did the Nitish Government not take pre-emptive measures? Does the incident point to Nitish losing his grip on the police administration? Is it that the rule of the Saffron Brigade prevails in the State?

One thing is obvious: the incident is the greater part of the BJP design to immobilise Nitish. This also underlines that the BJP does not have faith in him and wants to replace him with its own person as the Chief Minister before the 2019 polls. At the ground level the incident is not isolated, it is part of a recent trend in the State that raises several questions on Nitishs tryst with secularism, with power, and with the BJP.

Cut up at the machination of the BJP, JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi accused Ashiwni Choubey for his statement that the FIR lodged against his son, Arijit Shashwat, for allegedly inciting communal tension in Bhagalpur was a piece of garbage. This statement from Choubey apparently implied that the BJP has no faith in the Nitish Government. He was unmoved by Tyagis assertion: Choubey holds a constitutional post and is aware of the laws of the land. If the police have lodged an FIR against his son after initial probe, he should either surrender or approach the judiciary to defend himself. It is certainly not a responsible act to call the FIR a piece of garbage,

The internecine clash and conflict of interest between the national BJP leaders and Nitish have been so intense that some BJP leaders are not even trying to make a secret of where their sympathies lie. This has put them on a direct collision course with Nitish Kumars avowedly secular image. Choubey has accused the police of registering a fabricated case against him at the instance of powerful persons.

Incidentally Choubey ought to know. Is there anything wrong in leading a procession to celebrate the Hindu New Year? Kya Bharat Ma ki baat karna galat hai? Kya Vande Mataram kehna gunah hai? (Is it a crime to talk about Bharat Ma? Is it a crime to say Vande Mataram?). It is at the insistence of the BJP that Nitish has had to appoint the hero of the Bhagalpur riot, in which thousands of Muslims were killed, as the chief of the State Police. This time too the communal violence erupted first in Bhagalpur and from there spread to at least 12 districts of Bihar.

The rise in the incidents of communal violence underlines the fact that Nitish has lost his grip over the administration and bureaucracy. Senior bureaucrats say that Nitishs higher bureaucracy is cozying up with his dominant partner for more remunerative Central assignments. They are no more abiding by his instructions for maintaining law and order and preventing armed processions shouting provocative slogans.

But this weakness is new. Kumar has never been so weak. The story of his downfall started when he broke his first alliance with the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Then whatever was left of his credibility took a complete nosedive in 2017 when again he broke his alliance with RJD and went back to the alliance with the BJP.

The marriage of deceit and intrigue is on the verge of cessation. Publically both the partners, the JD(U) and BJP, have been claiming to enjoy a successful and happy connubial, but the reality is that they have ceased to be perfect bed-partners. The major partner, the BJP, has been systematically resorting to arm twisting and giving a bad name to the JD(U).

The relationship between the two has dipped to such a low in the wake of communal clashes in Bihar that for the last two days the JD(U) General Secretary, K.C. Tyagi, has been sending warnings to the BJP by way of cautioning the NDA allies not to indulge in any action that could give the opposition an opportunity to raise an accusing finger against the ruling alliance.

Bihar has always been communally sensitive. But this time, coinciding with Ram Navami, the communal passion was aroused by the BJP leaders in the State, especially by the son of the Union Minister Ashwini Choubey. During the last fortnight the State witnessed two incidents spookily similar to the Kasganj violence which claimed a life in Uttar Pradesh in January. Ominously a leader of the BJP, an ally of Nitish, is involved in one of the incidents but has refused to surrender despite an arrest warrant for rioting and inciting communal violence.

The BJP has also resorted to describing the communal clashes as related to land disputes. A week back a man was beheaded in Darbhanga. Intriguingly, the BJPs State chief Nityanand Rai and Union Minister Giriraj Singh tried to communalise it even while Nitish maintained it was the result of a land dispute. While the communal passion has been on the rise during the last six months, Nitish has been finding it tough to put a curb on it. In 2017, the State saw the fourth largest number of communal incidents (85) in the country, according to statistics prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Over the past few years, groups such as the Hindu Yuva Vahini and the Bajrang Dal have expanded rapidly in the State. Senior RJD leaders point out that the BJP has been trying to communalise the migrant workers and has been primarily focussing on the areas where Yadavs and Muslims are dominant.

Bihar is crucial for the BJPs plans for an absolute majority in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In the present scenario the real task for the BJP is cutting down to size Nitish Kumar. The BJP nurses the feeling that eventually he may approach the RJD with the request to pardon him and accept him as a member.

The author is a senior journalist and can be contacted at sriv52[at]gmail.comHome > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Is a Federal Party possible?

When former Congress President Sonia Gandhi said that they would not allow the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to return to power, she hinted at a joint action on the part of the Opposition. It also means that she does not want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to win a second term. On its own, the Congress does not have the numbers to pose any threat to the BJP-run government or Modi.

In all probability, as things stand today, Modi looks good enough to return to power. The three reverses in recent by-elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies notwithstanding, the BJP is capturing power in State after State and spreading its tentacles slowly but surely. Yet, the 2019 general elections are some way to go and the impending State election in Karnataka and the subsequent ones in other States later this year would be the real test to assess Modis strengths and weaknesses.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken the initiative to get the non-BJP parties together for a federal combination to contest against the BJP in 2019. To underline the Congress cooperation, Mamata has said that she is in daily touch with Sonia Gandhi. In fact, the leaders from other non-BJP-ruled States are constantly in touch with each other to see the possibility of a federal combination.

If you recall, the Janata Party was a federal combination. It did not last its course and fell because the then leaders, particularly the top ones like Morarji Desai and Charan Singh, were quarrelling in public all the time, much to the exasperation of the people. The then Jana Sangh wielded power because the opponents were a divided lot. Once the non-Jana Sangh parties came together, the Jana Sangh Government was reduced to a minority.

The federal combination that would come up, courtesy the top leaders like Sonia Gandhi or, for that matter, Mamata Banerjee, has to take a leaf out of the book of the Janata Party and learn to work together. The moot question would be: who among the leaders has enough support to be the Prime Minister? Once this question is settled, things will fall into place and the federal combination could survive.

The question the country faces today is: if pluralism, the nations ethos, is defeated which forces would come to power? The BJP is determined to divide the people. They have been trying for a pro-Hindu government in some shape or the other. The RSS, which is the mentor of the BJP, is playing its role to perfection to help realise the dreams of Modi.

This is where the new federal combination has to be careful about. It is better they come up with a Minimum Common Programme with all parties endorsing the views and aspirations of all leaders. This is just one important issue which the top non-BJP leaders have to address as the peoples interests should be above everything else.

For the idea of India, which is founded on secularism and democracy, to survive and flourish, the parties based on religion or caste should have no place in the federal combination. The danger is that the various elements would try to pull in different directions to corner power. Even individual leaders should keep the countrys unity ahead of personal or their party interests.



If they learn to live together, the warning about their disarray would be repulsed. Secularism would have gone through the fire to prove its intrinsic strength. With coalition politics inevitable in India, the best possible way to defeat the idea of the BJP or, for that matter, Modi and his cohorts, is to stay together and learn, in the process, to rule together.

The BJP cannot defeat the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi based on unity in diversity. In fact, what it has done is to prove Gandhi right. The unity of India could face the danger of separatism. Pakistan, whom I wish well, is the fallout of the mistrust in the Hindu majority. Qaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who was once an apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity, said that he could not trust the majority, the Hindus. This mistrust is the reason why people left their homes after partition. One million were killed on both sides and Hindus and Muslims went apart further.

The RSS looks like copying the idea of division. Its philosophy is nothing but making a mockery of Gandhis preaching. The RSS elements did not succeed as the communal forces could not silence Gandhi. They had to ultimately kill him so as to still the same voice which the people heard and respected. I had seen the letter which Nathuram Godse wrote in defence of what he did. He avowed respect to Gandhiji but argued that the country would have suffered if the Mahatma had lived longer.

I recall one incident from his prayer meetings. I was present when, before the Mahatma started his meeting, one person from Punjab got up and said that he would not listen to the Quran. At the meeting all the three scripturesthe Gita, the Quran and the Biblewere read. Gandhi said that there would be no meeting until the objector withdrew his dissent. For days, there was no prayer congregation. It was resumed only after the person finally withdrew his objection.

Today, when the fanatic RSS guides the government in appointment of teachers, librarians and heads of academic institutions, there is little hope for merit to take over. Under the circumstances, how can a federal party fight against such elements? The danger to the nation is from those who think that since the country has 80 per cent of Hindu population, they have the right to rule.

Leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel saw to it that there would be no Hindutva. They converted the then Assembly into a Constituent Assembly to have a Constitution. India is ruled today not by the 80 per cent but by the Constitution which assures one vote to one individual. Even when the Hindus are in a majority, they cannot subvert the idea of India because the Constitution is supreme.

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 > Human Rights Movement must rise to the occasion to defeat Hindutva Fascist (...)

COMMUNICATION

I am delighted to read Mainstreams founder-editor, N.C.s article Human Rights: Basic Issues (published on pp. 11-12 in the Mainstream issue of December 9, 2017). Though the lucid but thought-provoking article was written 25 years ago, it is more relevant in the present situation. The human rights situation throughout the country is, to say the least, very much alarming. One may not agree with all the views expressed in the article but the concerns articulated in the article deserve close attention and deliberation to meet the present challenging situation to chalk out a befitting response to the pervasive violation of human rights. The governments decision to set up a National Human Rights Commission occasioned N.C.s brilliant piece. The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, was enacted by Parliament to provide for the constitution of a National Human Rights Commission and the State Human Rights Commissions in the States.

The international obligation compelled the Union Government to set up a National Human Rights Commission. But the Act, 1993 has many inherent weaknesses and deficiencies. The National Human Rights Commission and the States Human Rights Commissions have not been clothed with effective power, only recommendatory power was given to the Human Rights Commission both at the national level and State level. Moreover, in the Act, 1993, formation of the State Human Right Commission for a State or States was not made mandatory. As a result thereof upto April, 2015 as many as six States did not have State Human Rights Commissions. The Supreme Court in a PIL judgment; passed in April, 2015, directed the defaulter States to form Human Rights Comm-issions within the next six months without fail or to face the music. Tripura has been one of the six defaulter States. In this regard, it may be pertinent to mention that the Tripura Human Rights Organisation (THRO), with which this writer is deeply associated since its formation in 2007, has been demanding the formation of the State Human Rights Commission in Tripura. The State Governments response has been two pronged: Tripura does not require a Human Rights Commission as being a Left-ruled State in Tripura no human rights violation takes place; and Tripura cannot have the luxury of a State Commission at the expense of the poor taxpayers money. Both the planks were unacceptable. In Tripura also human rights violations by the State and its agencies take place frequently. Resource constraint was a baseless ploy to avoid the setting up of the State Commission there.

The THRO did not have the slightest illusion that once the State Human Rights Commission is established, it will be a panacea. Ultimately the Tripura Government, to escape from committing contempt of the Supreme Court, was left with no other alternative but to form a State Human Rights Commission. The section 21 (2) of the Act, 1993 provides that a State Human Rights Commission shall consist of (a) a Chairperson, who has been a Chief Justice of a High Court, (b) one Member, who is or has been a Judge of a High Court or District Judge in the State with a minimum of seven years experience as a District Judge, (c) one Member to be appointed from amongst persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights. The provision for including one person having knowledge of or practical experience in matters relating to human rights has been made to ensure that the State Human Rights Commission has grassroot representation because the Chief Justice of the High Court or District Judge is generally residing in an ivory tower. In Tripura the government has not found a single person in the State who has knowledge of as well as practical experience about human rights. A retired IAS Officer, who hails from Rajasthan, has been made a member of the State Human Rights Commission. As Chairperson Kalyanbrata Sengupta, a retired Chief Justice and presently Lokayukta of Sikkim, has been appointed. The question has been raised whether Lokayuktya is a office of profit and if it is so, any man holding an office of profit cannot be made Chairperson of the State Human Rights Commission. The Tripura Human Rights Commi-ssion is an absentee Commission and it is in the lap of the State Government.

Almost all the State Human Rights Comm-issions as well as NHRC are in deep slumber. Throughout the country custodial deaths, encounter deaths, Dalit oppression, ruthless violence against women and weaker sections of the society, mindless brutality against STs, SCs and Minorities and sexual offence against children are going on unabated but the Human Rights Commissions are in deep sleep. To remedy this situation, Human Rights Commissions at the national level and State levels should be made more broadbased by making necessary amendments of the Act, 1993, to make Human Rights Commissions responsive to the ground realities and aspirations of the sufferers and victims. The Central Government and State governments are very much interested to staff the Commissions with likeminded people.

Human rights violation is inbuilt in the present socio-economic situation. From the dawn of civilisation, when classless primitive societies in the course of development paved the way for class-based societies, the violation of the human rights of the majority by the minority, who has State power and hegemony, began and it is continuing till date. Human rights violation takes place in two forms: naked violation of right to life, liberty by the state and non-state actors and violation of the citizens right to food, health, education, shelter, work by the state by pursuing socio-economic policics which operate against the interest of the majority of people. In our country market-driven and corporate-backed economic liberalisation has been ruthlessly plundering the country and pushing the vast majority to the brink of disaster. The State has become the brutest of the brutes, state violence has become monstrously violent.

India faces the most dangerous challenge to its Republican character. The communal fascism is knocking at the door. Right to expression, right to protest, right to eat, right to think, that is, all the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, are being bombarded every moment throughout the country by the RSS-led Hindutava holigans being patronised by the BJP Government in Delhi and State capitals. In such a bleak situation the civil liberties movement and human rights movement have a very onerous responsibility to discharge. N.C. has rightly said that during the Emergency, when India was chained and darkness was clamped in mid-day, the human rights movement was re-born. The pre-independence legacy of the human rights movement, which had the active support and patronage of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, was revived. Then it was a declared Emergency, now it is an undeclared Emergency.

The middle class intellectuals have been considerably infected by the communal virus and ultra-nationalist bacteria. In such a situation the human rights movement faces a daunting challenge. This challenge must be squarely met. The Tripura Human Rights Organisation (THRO), in its humble and convinced way, is trying to meet the challenge of the times. The THRO is not an NGO-type cosmetic organisation. It does not take a single paisa from the government or foreign donor agencies or from the corporates. It is exposing each and every violation of human rights by the State government and at the same time it is exposing tirelessly the RSS and BJPs fascist manifesto and opposing tooth and nail the Central Governments each and every onslaught on human rights, the Constitution and Republican character and syncretism of our country. We are hopeful the battle against fascism may be bloody but the people of India will ultimately win this protracted battle.

Purushuttam Roy Barman, (Secretary, THRO Agartala Advocate, Tripura High Court)

January 5, 2018Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Birth Anniversary of Dr Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar: Wild India at her Worst (...)

Prime Minister Narendra Modis impassioned statement on Sunday, August 7, 2016 could have done a sea of good in placing Indias tens of thousands of Dalit and tribal people in a zone marked by high security and dignity: If you want to attack, attack me, not Dalits.1 He further resolved about one-and-a-half year ago, as quoted by the media, as saying: We should put a full stop to it. You can shoot me rather than target the Dalits.2 Every word uttered in public space by the Prime Minister of India should assume biblical significance and ramification for his government and those ruling the States and UTs irrespective of their political hue. Sadly, the aforesaid appeal did not. This has rather driven a sense of cynicism among the Dalit and tribal communities. They now nurse a feeling that even their Prime Minister cannot be taken on his face value! His utterances were calculated for public consumption, not for official action or initiatives as desired.

To speak plainly, this is a bad lesson and a deplorable realisation for the vast unsophisticated, inarticulate and credulous masses of the country about his government. Security and protection of administration and justice elude them as ever. They will henceforth not believe their Prime Minister nor will they take him at his face value. The Prime Minister has forfeited his goodwill among the poor and innocent people, who are exposed to atrocities, discrimination and violence and denied of justice.

How and why so? Pradeep Rathod, 21, had bought a horse about two months ago. He was threatened ever since by some of his co-villagers, reportedly Kshatriyas, of dire consequences. He was told peremptorily to sell off the noble animal. He did not. The disobedience did not perhaps go well with the proud community. Pradeep and his father, Kalubhai Rathod, rode to and fro their farm. So, he was killed soon.3 alongwith the gruesome consequences as threatened. The horse too was hacked into pieces like his master. This occurred in Timbi village in Umrala tehsil, district Bhavnagar, Gujarat.

The Prime Ministers goodwill about we should put a full stop to it (killing) does not carry an ounce of weight in the backyard of his stable, does it? The Wire has reported with banner headline, One Year on, There Is No Justice for Una Flogging Victims. No elabo-ration or elucidation is warranted as to how serious even Gujarat is about the Prime Ministers sacred desire of protecting and securing the vulnerable Scheduled Castes and Tribes. They were promised action within two months. All the accused are bailed out by now and expectedly will cast a malefic influence at every layer of administration, politics, not to speak of the judiciary to the detriment of justice for the victims. A global audience had a unique opportunity to watch the flogging of five Dalit youths at Una of Gir Somnath district in presence of the Gujarat Police in attendance as curious onlookers. They did not intervene. That something as primitive a spectacle as flogging of five persons tied in one pack could publicly be committed again in the very backyard of the Prime Ministers stable is simply eyepopping and incredible! This occurred on July 11, 2017 after the Prime Minister declared the holy crusade favouring protection for the Dalit and tribal. This has undermined his standing not only in the eye of the people of the Republic that had solemnly resolved long ago to secure to them inter alia justice, equality and fraternity assuring not only the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation but also of the global audience. What is today at stake is the very unity and integrity of the nation. The proud and the privileged can show apathy and neglect for the Dalit and the tribal who account for 300 million, if not more. The tragic lesson of history unfolding in 1947 leading to the partition of India did not guide the countrymen. The untouchables, who converted to Islam in the face of unprecedented discrimination, deprivation, injustice and oppression, provided the much-needed majority of the population over the Hindus. (Is partition and Pakistan a Hindu gift to Jinnah? http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article6825.html)

The Upper House of the Indian Parliament was told on July 26, 2017 that atrocities against the SCs in Gujarat saw a rise to the tune of 31 per centfrom 1009 cases in 2015 to 1321 in 2016. The national record of atrocities against SCs showed an increase of six per centfrom 38,564 in 2015 to 41,014 in 2016. In terms of number of cases, with 10,457 cases Uttar Pradesh topped the list of cases, followed by Bihar (5701), Rajasthan (5134), Madhya Pradesh (5123) and Andhra Pradesh (2343) in that order.4 In 2012, The Daily Mail, October 7, shamed the Haryana Chief Minister thus: Hissar Police Range, with no fewer than 94 rapes, topped Haryanas ignominious list, followed by the Karnal (92), Rewari (89) and Rohtak (87) Police Ranges, which covered former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hoodas home town.5

The State of Gujarat seemed to travel in the same boat of shame with Haryana sans the international media glare as above. An RTI query revealed that rape of Dalit women registered 500 per cent increase since 2001 in Gujarat over the last 13 years, reaching the highest level in 2014, higher by 500 per cent since 2001.6 During this interregnum Narendra Damodar Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The discredit for the state of affairs cannot, therefore, be apportioned on anybody else.

The international media is pretty focused and has been building the countrys image as a savage nation that cannot protect with humanism the dignity of its autochthonous citizens who aggregate in millions. A decade ago, the American Congress as well as European Parliament had passed critical resolutions, highlighting Indias grossest failure and appealed to the government for securing dignity and protection to the Dalit and tribal communities as enshrined in our Constitution. Our country-men had perhaps little knowledge about such a development in those countries simply because it was a shame for them to highlight a blame harped on India. A Hindu representing Britain in the European Parliament had opposed the resolution because she felt the culture at her ancient home was under attack though the resolutions were drawn up on the basis of official documents. The Indian media dominated by similar elements share the same sentiments.

A columnist in a national English daily of the country recently analysed the plight of Dalits injustice and observed that India has over 180 million Dalits. A crime is committed against a Dalit every 15 minutes. Six Dalit women are raped every day. Over the last 10 years (2007-2017), there has been a 66 per cent growth in crime against Dalits. Further, data from the National Crime Records Bureau, on which the Supreme Court based its recent judgment that sought to protect public servants and private citizens from arbitrary arrests under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, show that the rape of Dalit women has doubled in the last 10 years. The figures represent only a tip of the iceberg since most Dalits do not register cases for fear of retaliation by the higher castes. Even if a case reaches the court, the most likely outcome is acquittal due to caste biases at every stage.7

The Dalit and tribal communities continue to live under a thick blanket of caste prejudice and persecution, marked by bigotry resulting in atrocities, injustice, indignity and discrimination from one end of India to the other. Their education, which alone is capable of their emancipation, has become their chosen target. Any Dalit or tribal student with promise or potential invariably invites the ire and hatred of the upper-caste students, teachers and administrators. The plight of Rohith Vemula has been experienced by many Dalit and tribal students of the AIIMS, IITs, IIMs, Central Universities, IISCs, engineering, management and medical colleges of national repute and this has been testified again and again over the decades. Yet their persecution has not stopped.

Employment in the government sector has dried up with lakhs of openings remaining vacant across the board under the Central or the State governments and their autonomous bodies or attached offices. On top of the same, reservation in jobs stands threatened facing abolition. Interestingly, the political reservation, I have very strong reasons to believe, will continue as it is critically useful. The SC and ST representatives rarely stand up to publicly promote and/or defend the causes of the communities/tribes they are supposed to represent. They are mortally afraid to speak and uphold their rights and dignity for fear of incurring the displeasure of the upper castes who are numerically superior to the SCs and STs in every constituency. With overzealous actions and utterances, if any, favouring their own constituencies, no SC or ST can hope to win elections with the growing number of unhappy upper-caste voters. The social construction of India is such that no action to benefit the reserved communities is possible without instilling ill-feeling in or rubbing the feathers of the upper castes. They take strong umbrage at everything calculated to help the underdogs move upward or live with dignity.

In the Kasganj district of UP a case for taking out a Dalit marriage procession, fearing opposition from the dominant castes, has reached the Allahabad High Court. The opponents of the Dalit barat feel their dignity would be undermined if such a procession was allowed. A Dalit with a moustache, an upper-caste pride and exclusive privilege, drives them into murderous rage. A Dalit youth was brutally killed in the temple town of Shirdi in Maharashtra over his mobile ringtone of a song on Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.8 A Dalit has been murdered, yet again, in Gujarat because he saw the garba dance. In the Hindutva theatre, this is perhaps an unpardonable offence to invite death of the Dalit intruder. On October 2, 2017 Jayesh Solanki, 21-year old Dalit, reported BBC, was killed for watching a Hindu celebration. In the end, therefore, we can conclude that any Hindu can use any issue, any flimsy ground, to harm, hurt even murder a Dalit. They block his avenue for upward mobility and finish his career remorselessly.

A 20-year-old Dalit woman from Madhya Pradeshs Satna district has alleged that she was gang-raped for months and forcibly made to abort her five-month-old foetus, which she brought wrapped in a bundle to the Superinten-dent of Polices office in her desperate effort for justice. The Superintendent of Police, Rajesh Hingankar, said several cases have been registered against Neeraj Pandey, his brother Dheeraj Pandey and their accomplices, Prem Singh and Rajkumar, and Sapna Pandey, a nurse who helped in the abortion. Cases under rape, kidnapping, criminal intimidation, SC/ST Act [Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989], Arms Act and other sections have been registered against the accused, Hingankar said.9 Sub-Inspector R.P. Tewari, however, reported a Bengali daily of Calcutta, found many discrepancies in the victims statement!

The Supreme Court has displayed admirable concern for the innocent people being harassed and arrested under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 in its recent verdict on April 2, 2018. The Apex Court is not against the special Act. But with a grand caste axis in place, as in the case of the Satna Dalit girl, seeking justice could not convince the police with her bag of aborted foetus about the crime committed against her by Neeraj Pandey, Dheeraj Pandey and their accomplices, Prem Singh and Rajkumar and Sapna Pandey, who would benefit with a Sub-Inspector of Police like Tewari there. Such instances are not few across India to frustrate justice for the SCs and STs. The countrys custom, practices, social institutions place certain sections in a high pedestal against punishment. They take advantage of the same against the struggling millions whose upward mobilisation they strongly hate and detest.

A greatly concerned Greek-French writer and thinker about the sharp decline of the Hindu strength, Maximiani Julia Portas (September 1905October 1982) under a pseudonym Savitri Devi Mukherjee, known as the priestess of Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, issued a stern warning to the Hindus 1939:

It is for social reasons, and, practically, for social reasons alone, that thousands of Hindus have abandoned the Hindu fold. The social reasons identified by her were three at work which, during the last centuries, were the cause of an enormous numerical loss for Hindudom:

1. The denial of elementary social rights to the majority of Hindus.

2. The strictness of social rules, within the Hindu fold (resulting in the too-easy out-casting of transgressors).

3. The refusal of the Hindu fold to re-accept those who wish to come back to it, not to speak of those who may wish to join it, without themselves or their forefathers having belonged to it before.

Unless and until these three main causes of disintegration are removed, Hindudom will not be able to face the increasing dangers to which it is exposed. And, if it cannot remove these sources of weakness, Hindudom, in spite of its value, will ultimately be crushed. This is the bitter truth that must be spoken, and understood at once and now; tomorrow might be too late.10

No sane counsel instils any sense in them. On the contrary, they have discovered hundreds of ways to harass, humiliate and incarcerate the Dalit and tribals.

In the face of relentless and savage perse-cution the latter have, with their backs to the wall, demonstrated their unflagging deter-mination and commitment through their all-India protests on April 2, 2018 how strongly they detest discrimination, hatred, injustice, marginalisation and apathy. At least nine persons were killed and hundreds injured on Monday (April 2) in violence across several States during a nationwide bandh against the alleged dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Nobody should see politics in it. The victims of Indias social, cultural, political and economic harrow running over them would no longer hesitate to sacrifice their life for their own uplift and mobilisation. This is but only natural. If a calm sea turns turbulent, the waves become devas-tating.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar has become a convenient tool or a symbol for grabs to the political class for use against warring opponents. None has demonstrated real commitment to his objective and philosophy and reform in every aspect of the society to move forward. The Dalit and tribals are an extremely neglected and discriminated lot and the country will rue for this in the long run. If the country develops leaving them at the base, the base will remain weak, brittle and vulnerable to sustain the weight and onward march of the glamorous edifice. With a vast discontented population in a state of marginalisation is decidedly the most serious danger for India. Let the rulers not be blind to see the consequences of such a danger in future.

References

1. The Times of India, PM Modi slams attack on Dalits: If you want to shoot, shoot me... August 7, 2016. The Huffington Post, dateline Hyderabad, August 7, 2016 If You Have To Shoot, Shoot Me, But Not My Dalit Brothers.

2. The Hindu, August 7, 2016.

3. Indo-Asian News Service, March 31, 2018, Dalit Man Killed in Gujarat For Riding Horse, Say Police.

4. News 18.com, October 6, 2017, Gujarat Among 5 Worst States in Atrocities Against Dalits.

5. The Daily Mail, Haryanas rape shame: Registered cases show two women are attacked in State every day, October 7, 2012.

6. The Indian Express, March 8, 2015.

7. Faizan Mustafa, Sending the wrong signal: SC order in SC/ST Act in The Hindu, March 29, 2018.

8. The Hindu, Dalit youth killed for keeping Ambedkar song as ringtone, May 22, 2015.

9. Hindustan Times, April 5, 2018, Madhya Pradesh: Dalit woman alleges rape, brings aborted foetus to SP office.

10. Savitri Devi, A Warning to the Hindus, Calcutta 1939, p. 81.

A retired IAS officer and former Vice-Chancellor, B.R. Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, A.K. Biswas, Ph.D, is a social anthropologist and commentator.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > What is in a name? Highlighting Ramji in Ambedkars name!

by Ram Puniyani

Currently many Dalit leaders are up in arms and criticising the move of the UP Government of adding Ramji in the official records of Bhimrao Ambedkar. It is true that Babasaheb signed the Constitution as Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, but as such not too often Ramji is added to his name. The addition may not be challenged technically but it reminds one that this addition is a part of political symbolism, part of co-opting him for Hindutva politics. For the BJP, Lord Ram is the central figure for communalising the society, be it the Ram temple issue or violence unleashed on the eve of Ram Navami. With the coming to power of the Modi-BJP Government, one can clearly see two antagonistic trends at the same time. One is the rise in the atrocities against Dalits and the other is organising Ambedkar anniversaries on a grander scale with the show of public respect for him by the Hindu nationalists.

For almost four years, we saw the clamp down on the Periyar Study Circle in IIT-Madras, the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula and anti-Dalit violence in the name of beef in Una. During the Saharanpur violence of May 2017, with Yogi as the Chief Minister of UP, there occurred the burning of Dalit households. Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Ravan, despite getting bail, is still in custody allegedly for the violence. This burning of Dalit households was in the aftermath of the procession taken out by a BJP MP, chanting slogans such as UP mein Rahna hai to Yogi Yogi Kahna Hoga and Jai Shree Ram. In Maharashtra the Bhima Koregaon violence against the Dalits was instigated. Dalits have been compared to dogs by V.K. Singh in 2016, and recently by Ramakrishna Hegde in Karnataka. In UPs Kushinagar, when Yogi was to visit the Mushahars, the officials distributed soap bars and shampoos for cleaning up before the visit of Yogi.

Ambedkar was for Indian nationalism, for Annihilation of Caste and attributed caste and untouchablity to the Hindu scriptures. In an attempt to distance himself from these values he went on to burn the Manusmriti. He also drafted the Indian Constitution which embodied the core values of the freedom movement. On the other side we see that the Hindu Mahasabha, which began with the Hindu Rajas and landlords, harping on back to the glorious past, which was dictated by the scriptures where varna (caste) is regarded as being of divine making. From here the concept of Hindutva was highlighted. The Hindutva or Total Hinduness, aims at a Hindu nation (as per Savarkar) with Aryan race and culture. This politics was taken up further by the RSS.

Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar and most of the other Hindutva ideologues upheld the scriptures opposed by Ambedkar. Savarkar stated that Manusmriti is the Hindu law today. Golwalkar went on further to declare Lord Manu as the greatest ever law-giver, whose laws are relevant even today. He had said: ...Brahmin is the head, Kshatriya the hands, Vaishya the thighs and Shudra the feet. This means that the people who have this fourfold arrangement, that is, the Hindu people, is our god. This supreme vision of godhead is the very core of our concept of nation and has permeated our thinking and given rise to various unique concepts of our cultural heritage.

In the wake of the Indian Constitution coming into force, the RSS mouthpiece Organiser wrote an editorial running down the same. The RSS, and even Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde, have publicly spoken of changing the Constitution. Following Ambedkars putting forward Hindu Code Bill, there was a severe opposition to it. Ambedkar stood his ground and stated. You must not only discard the Shastras, you must deny their authority, as did Buddha and Nanak. You must have the courage to tell the Hindus that what is wrong with them is their religionthe religion which has produced in them this notion of the sacredness of caste.

What is happening currently? The caste is being upheld in various ways. The dilution of the anti-Dalit Atrocities Act and removal of the reservation clause for teachers in universities is a direct affront to the social justice credo, the central mission of Ambedkar.

Hindu nationalist politics is based on the values in which caste and gender hierarchy is the central part of its agenda. They have on one side to bypass the aspirations of the Dalits and on the other to woo them for electoral goals. The latter is manifest in their tokenism towards the issues of Dalits and especially paying obeisance to Babasaheb Ambedkar. At the same time the strategy of cooption of Dalit sections to their agenda is to be mixed up with their own core agenda, which is centred on Lord Ram, the Holy cow, stepping up religiosity by targeting the religious minorities.

There is an attempted running down of the principles and values for which Ambedkar struggled all his life, while on surface he is being eulogised. Now comes another dimension to the Hindu nationalist politics: to strengthen the politics of Ram by using the name of Ambedkar.

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 > Honouring Ambedkar

From N.C.s Writings

Today, April 14, 2018 marks the 127th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. On this occasion we are reproducing the following piece by N.C. to offer our sincere homage to the abiding memory of that towering personality.

The award of the Bharat Ratna posthumously on B.R. Ambedkar raises mixed feelings. No doubt Ambedkar was one of the stalwarts of modern India; the high water-mark of his career was that he contributed most to the drafting of the Indian Constitution and piloting it through the Constituent Assembly. There is, therefore, a touch of irony in Ambedkar being awarded the Bharat Ratna 40 years after he eminently deserved it when the Constitution came into force in 1950.

Not only that. All these years, there has hardly been any recognition for him or his memory from those enthroned in power. That was largely because Ambedkar never belonged to the exclusive circle of the Congress leadership. Rather, in the thirties, he had to face angry diatribes and vilification at the hands of the Congress leaders, many of whom did not hesitate to malign him as a stooge of the British Raj.

But he was no toady of the Raj. Ambedkars antipathy towards the Congress leadership arose mainly because of his concern for the millions of untouchables in the country. He discovered that while the poor and the downtrodden responded to Gandhijis call for satyagraha against the Raj, the Congress bosses treated them shabbily in the social hierarchy. This gap between the profession and practice of the national leaders embittered Ambedkar who throughout his life remained a steadfast friend, philosopher and guide of the millions of untouchable outcasts in our society.

The clash with the Congress leadership came in the early thirties as the talks for constitutional reforms started with the British Government. At that time, Ambedkar challenged the Congress claim to speak on behalf of the untouchables. This was resented by the Congress leaders who, even the best of them, turned hostile to Ambedkar. But Ambedkar stuck to his guns.

Gandhiji understood the significance of the Ambedkar phenomenon, because he saw in it the alienation and isolation of the untouchable community from the mainstream of the freedom struggle represented by the Congress. He paid special attention to the untouchables, whom he called the Harijans to boost their self-respect. He himself underlook the Temple entry movement thereby seeking to break the ban by Hindu orthodoxy upon the untouchables entering the temples to pray.

Although Gandhijis movement did create a stir among the untouchables, it could not shake Ambedkars hold upon the depressed class community. He demanded a separate electorate for the untouchables, marked out in a special schedule of the British Governments reforms plan for India. Gandhiji opposed tooth and nail the idea of a separate electorate for the Scheduled Castes, and went on a fast unto death over the issue. Finally, after protracted negotiations, the Congress leaders brought Ambedkar around to a compro-mise formulaa joint electorate but reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes.

After this, the Congress attempt was to boost some leader from among the Scheduled Castes who could challenge Ambedkars hold over the depressed class community. A young Harijan graduate from Bihar picked up by Rajendra Prasad was groomed by Gandhiji himself. Thus began the political career of Jagjivan Ram.

But Jagjivan Ram, though influential in the Scheduled Caste community, could hardly dislodge Ambedkar from his standing as the supreme leader of the depressed caste community.

After independence, particularly after the passing of the Constitution which had specifically banned untouchability, Ambedkar had hoped that the era of social inequity would now end. When he found that the upper-caste domination not only continued as before in Hindu society but was reinforced by the higher castes getting affluent and powerful, leaving the untouchables in a state of destitution, Ambedkar in a state of thorough disenchantment left the Hindu fold and embraced Buddhism, as it enjoins social equality. He died embittered as he found that despite all his labours, untouchability persisted in the land of his birth.

It is in this background that one views the award of the Bharat Ratna to the memory of Ambedkar as a cynical gesture on the part of the government. One felt that this award has come more with an eye on the votes of his followers rather than as a genuine acknowledgement of the services of this great son of India to the cause of the uplift of the downtrodden.

(Mainstream, April 21, 1990)In March 1934 Stalin re-criminalised homosexuality across the whole of the Soviet Union. Henceforth anyone involved in homosexual acts could be sent to prison for three to five years. In the early years of the Russian Revolution, however, homosexuality had been legalised  but this is something you will find little mention of in the literature produced by the official Communist Parties after 1934. Todays Stalinists, who model themselves on Stalins regime, have a lot of explaining to do.

In 1922, homosexuality was legalised in revolutionary Soviet Russia, making it one of the most advanced countries in the world on this question. While Britain or the United States were still incarcerating homosexuals, gay men could live openly with their partners in Russia. England did not legalise homosexuality until 1967, with certain limitations, and full legalisation of homosexuality did not come about until 2000! In the United States, before 1962, homosexuality was considered a crime in every state, punishable with imprisonment; in Idaho one even risked a life sentence.

Illinois was the first state to decriminalise consensual acts of same-sex love in 1962, but it was only in 2003 that, finally, homosexuality was no longer considered a crime across the whole of the USA. Spain decriminalized homosexuality in 1979, after the fall of the Franco regime; Canada did so in 1969, as did West Germany, Austria in 1971, Finland in 1971, Norway in 1972, and Ireland in 1993.

I am writing a longer series of articles on the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Russia after the October revolution, how homosexuality was subsequently viewed, how the bureaucratic degeneration of the Russian revolution also slowly suffocated the freedoms won by homosexuals, and finally the build up to re-criminalisation in 1934. I will not, therefore deal with these questions in detail here.

In the 1930s, after the criminalisation of homosexuality in the Soviet Union, the Stalinist Communist International became permeated with homophobia and in almost all those countries where Stalinist regimes came to power, homosexuality was criminalised, from Eastern Europe, to China, to Cuba. This only began to change under the pressure of the growing gay rights movement, especially on the back of the 1968 movement.

This had not always been the case, however. The German Communist Party prior to the rise of Hitler in 1933 was in favour of homosexual emancipation, and it would have been unimaginable to members of that party that, in the mid-1930s, the very same anti-gay laws introduced by Hitler would also be adopted by Stalin.

Stalin adopted the same anti-gay laws as Hitler in the mid-30s / Image: public domain

A brief look at the 1920s shows that, in the early years, there was a general questioning of the old values that had dominated Russian society under the Tsar. Family law was changed from one of male priority within the family set up, to one of equality between the sexes. Men and women were declared equal, divorce was made easily available, abortion was legalised and so on. It was in this context that homosexuality was also legalised.

It is also true to say that there were two trends present in Soviet society in the early days. There was a revolutionary trend that aimed to radically change the structure of society, but there was also an underlying conservative trend, an expression of the remnants of the old society and also the petit-bourgeois nature of the caste of bureaucrats that was beginning to emerge.

There were the attempts to build communal kitchens, communal housing, communal laundries, to provide free generalised childcare and many other changes to facilitate the life of women in particular. At the same time, however, the limited development of the economy meant that the resources for all this to become a long-lasting reality did not exist.

The isolation of the revolution to one country, and a backward one at that, meant that the leap towards a genuine communist society was not possible, and the other, more conservative trend eventually predominated. The traditional values began to creep back into society. Let us not forget that, especially within the state officialdom, it was the same old conservative petit-bourgeois layer in control. Once the complete isolation of the revolution had become evident, the hope of an international revolution saving the Soviet workers dissipated and was eventually lost in the consciousness of millions of people in the Soviet Union.

In these conditions, one observes a change even in the ability to debate different opinions. In the early years there was genuine debate within the press, with sometimes very contrasting opinions being expressed. This was also seen in art and literature. But already from the early years there was another layer, that of the mediocre non-entities, those incapable of independent thought, the sycophants and yes-men and women. This layer was only interested in being seen as the perfect party activist, always carrying out the correct line. This line, however, was no longer to be achieved through genuine open debate, as had been the case when Lenin and Trotsky led the Bolshevik Party. Now the line was to be learnt by rote and passed down from above.

In this atmosphere, the conservative views that permeated the bureaucracy slowly started emerging as the only accepted views. This did not take place overnight, but was a process drawn out over several years. More and more conservative views were expressed as the years went by.

This was to have a tremendous impact on the treatment of homosexuals. Already, before the actual criminalisation of homosexuality in 1934, the regime under Stalin had been making life more difficult for homosexuals.

The fate of Kuzmin

The fate of one prominent figure, Mikhail Kuzmin, a famous poet and author, highlights the process. He was openly gay and had written much before the revolution. His most famous work was his 1906 Wings, the story of a young man who discovers his own homosexuality. Kuzmin welcomed the Russian Revolution and became a member of the Presidium of the Association of Artists in Petrograd together with writers such as Alexander Blok and Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Mikhail Kuzmin was an openly gay, Russian author who was persecuted for his sexuality / Image: public domain

By 1928, however, he enjoyed much less freedom. That was the year of his last public reading at the Institute of the History of Art. Although permission for the event was granted, no advertising was allowed and admission was to be on invitation only. Despite these attempts to stifle the event, on the evening the auditorium was overflowing, with people standing in the aisles and sitting on the floor. Many of those attending were homosexuals.

In 1929 Kuzmin published a significant work, The Trout Breaks the Ice, a series of poems on a homosexual love affair. It was to be his last publication, after which none of his works were ever published again in the Soviet Union. But this was not the end of the victimisation of Kuzmin.

Kazumin's 1906 book, Wings, is a book about a young man discovering his homosexuality / Image: fair use

In 1931 his flat was searched by the security police. Before the police raid, his partner, Yuri Yurkun, had come under pressure from the GPU to inform on Kuzmin. In 1933 Kuzmin sold his diaries to the State Literary Museum. Its director, V. D. Bonch-Bruevich, was questioned as to why he had purchased such uncommonly trashy material, and then a purge of the staff at the museum was carried out. This was all before the actual re-criminalisation of homosexuality in 1934.

Kuzmin had the fortune of dying of natural causes in 1936. His partner was not so fortunate. In 1938 he was arrested, interrogated for seven months and then executed on charges of counter-revolution.

Counter-revolution in word and deed

The 1920s saw a process of gradual bureaucratisation. It was the Left Opposition led by Leon Trotsky that fought to stop this. By the 1930s the Stalinist bureaucracy had a full grip on power and the political counter-revolution was complete. In the process, starting in the late 1920s and all through the 1930s, tens-of-thousands of genuine Bolsheviks were arrested on trumped-up charges, dragged to the gulags and made to work in the most terrible conditions until they literally dropped dead. Others were tortured to force them to confess to the most absurd crimes and then summarily shot. It was literally a one-sided civil war, with the bureaucracy having in its hands all the means to physically eliminate the defenceless oppositionists.

All of this was depicted as a struggle against bourgeois counter-revolution. But this was just a means of covering up what they were really doing. In the process of degeneration, a privileged bureaucracy had risen above the workers. While still defending the state-owned planned economy, the bureaucracy snuffed out all elements of the genuine workers democracy that had prevailed in the early years of the revolution.

In these conditions no critical thought was allowed. To allow such thinking would have meant a defence of workers democracy, something the bureaucracy could not tolerate. Had the workers had the power to elect their officials with the right of recall and to impose workers wages on those same officials, the bureaucracy as a privileged caste would have been endangered. The bureaucracy created an atmosphere where supposed counter-revolutionaries were to be found in every corner of Soviet society. This was also at a critical moment in the development of the Soviet Union. The negative impact of the forced collectivisation in the countryside was being felt and the bureaucracy was concerned by an actual fall in the population.

Thus, everything shifted towards promoting the bourgeois family as the basis for the production and reproduction of labour. With this came the idealisation of motherhood, up to the point where mothers with more than seven children received incentives, very much like what Mussolini and Hitler were doing in the same period. Thus abortion was banned and divorce made less accessible. As we can see, this is the final triumph of the backward traditions of old Russia embodied in the prejudices of the bureaucracy. And these prejudices reached right to the top in the person of Stalin himself.

At the same time a big purge of so-called counter-revolutionary elements was taking place throughout the country. The regime of terror was reaching its high point and an atmosphere of suspicion scapegoating was promoted everywhere.

The 1934 re-criminalisation of homosexuality

In this environment, the clampdown on homosexuals began. As we have seen in the case of Kuzmin, this occurred well before the actual, formal criminalisation of homosexuality. But by 1933 the process had picked up momentum. That year in late summer, for example, 130 men were arrested in Moscow and Leningrad during police raids against homosexuals. Such arrests continued into 1934. As there was as yet no law banning homosexuality, those arrested were accused of other crimes, usually counter-revolutionary activity. One witness stated that the gatherings of homosexuals were madeto appear as counterrevolutionary, Trotskyite, or even Hitlerite.

The actual initiative for re-criminalising homosexuality came from the deputy chief of the OGPU, the secret police, G. G. Iagoda in September 1933, when he wrote a letter to Stalin insisting that a law against homosexuals was necessary from the point of view of state security. He presented homosexuals as belonging to a network of counter-revolutionary spies. Stalin was only too keen to act on Iagodas request, passing it onto Kaganovich, a member of the Politburo with an added note that, these scoundrels must receive exemplary punishment, and a corresponding guiding decree must be introduced in our legislation.

Second from left: G. G. Iagoda / Image: public domain

The note in the archives bears notes of acknowledgement, Correct! L. Kaganovich, and Of course. It is necessary. Molotov. Lazar Kaganovich and Molotov, belonging to the type of mediocre elements now at the top of the party, would have had no qualms in simply obeying Stalin. Had they had such qualms, they would have ended up facing a firing squad at some point. Instead, unlike many old Bolsheviks, they had the luxury of dying of old age!

Iagoda then proceeded to draft a text for the law on 13 December of 1933. Just a few days later, on 16 December, the Politburo approved the draft. The very next day the All-Union Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted the same draft, to be applied by all the component republics of the Union. On 7 March 1934 the draft became law in the USSR, followed on 1 April in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). In the process several changes were made to the original draft. Henceforth, men caught in homosexual acts could be arrested and sentenced to between three and five years in prison. In the subsequent years, thousands of homosexuals ended up in Stalins prisons and labour camps.

The case of Harry Whyte, a British Communist

Before the 1934 criminalisation in the Soviet Union, the Communist parties in Europe had been campaigning for homosexual emancipation, especially in Germany where there was a strong and organised gay rights movement  which was to be subsequently brutally clamped down on by Hitler, with many homosexuals ending up in the concentration camps. It is an irony of history that the Stalinist regime denounced homosexuality as a bourgeois depravity, quoting Germany and the Nazis as examples, precisely when Hitler was moving in exactly the same direction as Stalin on this question!

An example of the difficulties Stalin had in overcoming concern among European Communist Party members at this reactionary turn in the Soviet Union is provided by the experience of a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain who was working in Moscow at the Moscow Daily News. When he got news of the new law, he wrote a letter to Stalin asking him how he could justify it. (See his letter here: Can a homosexual be a communist?) In the letter, Harry Whyte, who was a gay man living with a Russian gay partner, recounted his efforts to find his partner who had just been arrested by the secret police during raids against homosexuals. In his letter, Whyte pointed out how the new law was cancelling all the progress that had been made in such matters after the revolution. Harry Whyte, reflecting the thinking of a loyal party member, believed that only homosexuals involved in genuine counter-revolutionary activities would be prosecuted, but was very quickly to discover that the law applied to all homosexuals.

Stalin had Whytes letter archived, but first added his own note, An idiot and a degenerate, a clear reference to the author of the letter. Although he had the letter archived, such protests from gay Communists alerted Stalin to the need for a propaganda campaign to sway public opinion. Here he called on the help of someone who was more able than himself as a writer, Maksim Gorky, who hurriedly wrote an article, Proletarian Humanism, published in both Pravda and Izvestia in May 1934. The article was a rabidly homophobic text which positioned homosexuality as a western bourgeois disease, even an expression of the demoralising influence of Fascism. And the slogan he raised was, Destroy the homosexuals  Fascism will disappear.

Krylenko makes clear that all homosexuals are criminals

In spite of all this, getting the law applied as firmly as Iagoda had wished for proved difficult. Both in the medical world and the judiciary, 15 years of legalised homosexuality had left their mark. Doctors, psychiatrists and judges had become accustomed to homosexuality being legal. Some even refused to believe that such a law could have been passed. Among this layer there was, therefore, an initial tendency to be lenient on homosexuals.

Enforcing re-criminalisation was not as easy as Iagoda hoped / Image: public domain

Krylenko, Peoples Commissar of Justice, in 1936, felt the need to explain the real nature of the new law. At a meeting of the Central Executive Committee he explained that homosexuals were class enemies and criminals. In reference to the decriminalisation of homosexuality after the revolution, he explained that legislation had been influenced by thinking in the West which viewed homosexuality as an illness and not a crime.

It is worth quoting a section of his speech, which gives a taste of the bureaucracys rampant homophobia:

In our environment, in the environment of the workers taking the point of view of normal relations between the sexes, who are building their society on healthy principles, we dont need little gentlemen of this type. Who then for the most part are our customers in these affairs? Workers? No! Declassed rabble. [Mirthful animation in the hall, laughter] Declassed rabble, either from the dregs of society or from the remnants of the exploiting classes. [Applause] They dont know which way to turn. [Laughter] So they turn to pederasty. [Laughter] (Quoted in Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia, by Dan Healey)

With his speech, Krylenko made it crystal clear that all homosexuals were to be treated as criminals. In the period of the purges and show trials the repression of homosexuals was severe and was often used to hit dissidents. Once the task of rooting out all potential dissent had been carried out, with imprisonment, labour camps, torture, confessions and executions, the law continued to be acted on, but it seems with less vehemence.

Gays were persecuted by the bureaucracy / Image: public domain

Stalin would discover, however, that homosexuality cannot be decreed out of existence. The subsequent trials of homosexuals revealed that a gay subculture continued to exist, with known meeting places frequented by gay men. In the same trials, despite the prejudices of the bureaucrats charged with pursuing the law against homosexuality, it emerged that sex between men could be accompanied by genuine emotions of love and care. Incapable of understanding this as a natural human trait, it was explained away as due to some kind of defect in the men that produced a female and a male type.

De-Stalinisation and the plight of homosexuals

The repression of homosexuals continued right up to the death of Stalin and beyond. Thousands of homosexuals ended up in Stalins prisons and gulags. When he died, they were among the more than two million people condemned to forced labour. After Stalins death, the regime moved to reduce the population of the gulags with an amnesty for many of those held there. But the homosexuals were not included because they were considered common criminals.

In fact, while the regime moved away from some of the worst aspects of the Stalinist terror, in the case of same-sex relations repression actually increased. Paradoxically, the forced enclosure of large numbers of men  and women in separate camps  in the prisons and labour camps actually increased the numbers involved in same-sex love. It seems that one of the things the regime feared upon releasing many of the gulag inmates was that these could infect wider society with the corrupting influence of homosexuality!

Thousands of homosexuals were worked to death in gulags / Image: public domain

The fate of lesbians was no better. If anything, things worsened for them. Many ended up being treated like political dissidents, declared mentally ill and sent to psychiatric hospitals for treatment, which meant being forced to take medication.

Homosexuality would only finally be decriminalised in April 1993 and in 1996 this was confirmed in the drafting of a new criminal code. This was done in the context of the new regime wishing to break with much of the old Stalinist set up, as the bureaucracy moved towards capitalism, and away from the planned economy. Nonetheless, although same-sex relations were formally legalised, in practice life is not easy for gays in contemporary Russia. And there is still a widespread idea that homosexuality is alien to Russian society. Gays and lesbians have still to achieve the same level of freedom as achieved under the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. As such the legacy of Stalinism is s clear contributing factor to the appalling treatment LGBT Russians face today.

How many gay people suffered the humiliation of trial and imprisonment during the long 59-year period in which Soviet law criminalised homosexuality? It is difficult to calculate, with some claiming that up to 250,000 gay men were convicted, although more recent calculations seem to indicate that the real figure was about 60,000. From the 1960s through to the 1970s there was actually an increase in the number of men prosecuted for homosexual activities, the peak being reached in 1977-78 when over 1,300 were convicted in each of those years.

The other Stalinist countries

Prior to 1933-34, Communist Parties in different countries  as we have seen  had a position of calling for the emancipation of homosexuals. The German Communist Party, the biggest outside the Soviet Union at that time, had such a position. This was to radically change once homosexuality had been re-criminalised in the Soviet Union.

This should not surprise us, as the Communist International and its national sections were no longer that vibrant, living, revolutionary force of the first four world congresses. If one reads the speeches, resolutions and statements of those congresses one will find genuine debate with different opinions expressed by delegates from the various national sections. One will see that the method of Lenin and Trotsky was to debate and convince those delegates that had contrasting views.

With the rise of the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union this all changed. Stalins method was that of manoeuvres in the corridors and behind peoples backs. His speciality was calumny and slander. He was far better at organising witch-hunts than debating political ideas. Stalins rise was also the rise of the petty bureaucrat with petty conservative views.

In this environment homophobia spread throughout the Comintern, and later, when regimes modelled on the bureaucratised Soviet Union were put in place in Eastern Europe, a similar hostile environment towards homosexuals was created. Homosexuality in most of the official Communist parties became seen as a degenerate behaviour emanating from bourgeois society. This had an enormously negative impact on the struggle against LGBT oppressions and served to sever the LGBT movement from Marxism and socialism for decades.

Poland was the only exception, where the old 1932 Penal Code had decriminalised consensual same-sex acts, and that law was carried over into the Stalinist regime after the Second World War. However, in all the other Eastern bloc regimes homosexuality was treated as a criminal offence. Only years later did some of those regimes begin liberalising on the question. The decriminalisation of same-sex acts in Czechoslovakia and Hungary took place in 1962, in Bulgaria and East Germany in 1968, with the exception of Romania, which only decriminalised in 1996, several years after the fall of the Stalinist regimes. In Romania anti-gay legislation was particularly severe, with prison sentences that could be as high as 10 years.

In Yugoslavia, which was not a satellite of the Soviet Union, each republic that made up the federation had autonomy in such legislation. Thus Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia decriminalised in 1977, while the other republics did so only after the collapse of the Yugoslav federal republic. Albania, an extremely autarchic regime, decriminalised in 1977, although complete decriminalisation did not take place until 1995, a few years after the collapse of the Stalinist regime of Hoxha.

Homosexuality was eventually clamped down upon in Cuba, although attitudes have improved markedly since / Image: public domain

In Cuba also, after the coming to power of Castro and also under the influence of the Soviet Union, homosexuality was criminalised. In the immediate aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, many prominent artists and intellectuals of a gay orientation were sympathetic to the new regime, seeing in it the prospect of social justice, including a liberalisation of attitudes towards homosexuality. But within a couple of years all this changed and there was a general clampdown on same-sex acts, with many homosexuals ending up imprisoned. It was only in the mid-1970s that a more tolerant approach began to emerge and in 1979 same-sex acts were legalised.

What happened under the Maoist regime is of particular interest because China historically had had a tradition of accepted homosexuality going back to the very early period of its ancient civilisation. No one could claim that homosexuality had no place in Chinese society. It was only in more recent history that this had changed. And after the 1949 revolution, the same homophobic environment prevalent in the Soviet Union was also promoted in China. Maoist China adopted the same approach as the Soviet Union under Stalin, arresting gays and imprisoning them. During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, homosexuals were publicly humiliated and sentenced to long terms in prison. This remained the case throughout the Maoist period and homosexuality was only finally decriminalised in 1997, more than twenty years after Maos death. And it wasnt until 2001, that homosexuality was no longer officially classed as mental disorder. Even then, official attitudes towards same-sex activity were that it was an abnormality.

Mao banned homosexuality / Image: public domain

Vietnam is very different, where there is no record of homosexuality ever having been criminalised. That does not mean that official attitudes were friendly to gay people. It was often presented as a social evil and at one point there were calls for a law banning same-sex activities, but nothing came of it.

Todays Stalinists and Maoists must give an answer

As we can see, most of the Stalinist regimes after the Second World War criminalised homosexuality or carried over previous anti-gay legislation into their criminal codes. And most of them, gradually, from the 1960s through to the 1980s, decriminalised homosexuality. In this there were parallels with what was going on in the west. So one could argue they were no worse than what we had in Britain or the United States. But this would be missing one very important point.

In 1922, at the time of Lenin and Trotsky, when the Soviet Union was still a relatively healthy workers state and the process of bureaucratic degeneration was only in its very early stages, under Bolshevik power, homosexuality was decriminalised. This placed the USSR in the vanguard internationally, far ahead of most of the more economically advanced countries in the West. And as we have seen, for almost 15 years same-sex relations were free from legal interference. Gay men and women could not be arrested and imprisoned.

Today there are still adherents to the Stalinist tradition. The openly hard-line Stalinists still refer to the regime under Stalin as a model. The Maoists  who claim Stalin as theirs and only condemn the Soviet Union after his death  look to the regime under Mao as their model. They still refer to such theories as the Protracted Peoples War, historically modelled on Maos Long March, and try and apply this to modern, urbanised conditions. This leads to much confusion as to what it actually is. Where in the past it has been applied in practice in highly urbanised areas, such as in Latin America, it has ended up as urban guerrilla warfare totally isolated from the organised working class, and playing a counter-productive role.

The same Maoists talk of the future regime they envisage as being one where there is freedom of dissent and unity in action, and they claim this comes from Mao! It is totally outside of historical reality to claim that there was freedom to dissent, either under Stalin or under Mao. They also talk of a future vanguard party in power whose elected representatives would be recallable by the people. Again, where and when was such a basic democratic right applied in Stalinist Russia or Maoist China? All of this is apologia for what was a monstrous bureaucratic regime. It denies historical reality.

This doesnt stop some of these Stalinists, in particular latter-day Maoists, from adhering to identity politics, to promote the theory of intersectionality and so on. In doing so, they are very dishonest with their own past. Under Stalin and Mao if you were a gay person  not to mention transgender  you would suffer terrible treatment, humiliation and imprisonment.

Modern-day Stalinists who adopt intersectionality ingore their own historical traditions of abusing and oppressing LGBT people / Image: public domain

Other former Stalinists have abandoned any pretence of being Marxist or Communist and have moved over to the camp of bourgeois liberalism, and in so doing have embraced ideas which serve to divide the oppressed, rather than unite them. It is ironic that these people, who in the past would have been apologists of the totalitarian Stalinist regimes, now dress themselves up in the stinking clothes of bourgeois liberalism and prefer that no mention be made of their own past traditions.

Those that still define themselves as Stalinists or Maoists, but who today campaign on LGBT issues, have to explain why they adhere to ideas that emanated from a privileged bureaucratic caste that destroyed the many rights won by the workers and peasants in 1917. They have to explain why this bureaucracy, which they idealise as true communists, overturned the 1922 law that decriminalised homosexuality. What role did that play in building communism?

The reason they cannot give an explanation is because they do not recognise the fact that there was a bureaucracy which had usurped political power and had broken with much of what the Bolsheviks had fought for. They cannot accept that what came with this was a return to many of the prejudices of the old Tsarist class society. In the process basic, elementary rights, such as the right to an abortion for women, were lost. And in the process gay people were once again demoted to the level of common criminals.

We, the Marxists, on the other hand, have every interest in setting straight the historical record. And part of this is establishing the truth of what the October revolution achieved in terms of homosexual emancipation and also how that was destroyed in the process of Stalinist degeneration.

---

Note: Below are the main books and articles I read and consulted to establish the facts outlined in this article. They all make for interesting reading, but all of them have their own interpretations of what happened. The common weakness in all of them is a lack of understanding of the process of bureaucratisation which transformed the original Bolshevik regime, based on workers power, into a regime which destroyed workers power. The term Bolshevik is often used to describe the party and the government of the early 1920s as well as the later Stalinist totalitarian bureaucratic regime.

Books:

Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia, by Dan Healey, University of Chicago Press, 2001

Sexual Revolution in Bolshevik Russia, by Gregory Carleton, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005

Gay Men and the Sexual History of the Political Left, edited by Gert Hekma, Harry Oosterhuis and James Steakley, Harrington Park Press, 1995

Articles:

Can a homosexual be a communist? Harry Whytes letter to Stalin, 1934

Was Homosexuality Illegal in Communist Europe? By Lukasz Szulc, 24 October 2017

China: Information on treatment of homosexuals, published by United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, 1 March 2001

A History Of Homosexuality In China by Hayden Blain, Updated: 2 November 2016

Mikhail Kuzmins short novel, Wings, is also available in English, published by Hesperus Press Limited in 2007The US and its allies, the UK and France have bombed multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites. Explosions hit the capital, Damascus, as well as two locations near the city of Homs, the Pentagon said. "The nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality," President Trump said in an address to the nation from the White House at about 21:00 local time (02:00 BST).

At a Pentagon briefing shortly after Mr Trump's announcement, Gen Joseph Dunford listed three targets that had been struck:

A scientific research facility in Damascus, allegedly connected to the production of chemical and biological weapons.

A chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs.

A chemical weapons equipment storage site and an important command post, also near Homs.

Early reports indicate that 110 cruise and air to land missiles targeted two chemical weapons facilities and one command centre inside Syria. But some reports claim that Syrian air defences had brought down the majority of missiles. In any case, all these sites had already been evacuated. This was because Russia, which had been informed of the attack in advance by the Americans, had passed on the warning to their Syrian allies.

Syrian state television said government forces had shot down more than a dozen missiles and claimed only the research facility in Damascus had been damaged. Three civilians had been injured in Homs, it said.

An empty gesture

This is an exact repetition of what occurred 12 months ago, when the Americans launched around 50 Tomahawk missiles against an empty airfield in Syria. Whatever limited damage had been caused was rapidly repaired. The actual effects on Syrias ongoing Civil War were precisely zero. And although this time they launched twice the number of missiles, it is evident to any thinking person that the practical effects in Syria this time will be less than zero.

This is a repetition of 12 months ago, when the US launched 50 Tomahawk missiles against an empty airfield in Syria / Image: public domain

There are a number of peculiar aspects to the present operation. It is alleged that the motive behind it  now they say the only motive  was the alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians in Douma. The Russians and Syrians have repeatedly denied that any such attack took place. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated categorically that the Russians have irrefutable evidence that the whole thing was a put-up job organised by the Jihadis in Douma with the collaboration of an unnamed foreign power.

From a military point of view this mornings attack can be of no significance. It cannot have caused any serious or lasting damage to Assads military potential. Nor can it aid the so-called rebels to regain what they have lost. To all intents and purposes, Syrias Civil War is now at an end. Assad is in a stronger position than ever. All talk of removing him by Western intervention now is just so much hot air, and they know it.

To all intents and purposes, Syrias Civil War is over. Assad is in a stronger position than ever / Image: public domain

The accusation of chemical warfare has been used repeatedly by the West to justify aggressive actions against Syria, aimed at tilting the military balance in favour of the so-called rebels (in reality Jihadi extremists linked to Al Qaeda, who were recently described by a prominent British Tory MP as maniacs) and topple Bashar al-Assad.

However, they are suddenly singing a different song. Theresa May is stressing that the present attack is nothing to do with regime change in Syria. They are only limited actions with limited goals  to deter the use of chemical weapons, et cetera et cetera. Behind these pathetic comments one detects a note of impotence, fear, even panic. And that note, far more than the public belligerence, boasting and breast-beating, is far nearer to the truth.

"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons," Trump was careful to add in his speech this morning. The intention of the present action is not to win the war or to topple Assad  aims which are entirely beyond their ability to achieve. It is an empty gesture, aimed at convincing the world that American power is still a factor of some importance. It was also dictated by Donald Trumps need to shore up his position in the face of a sustained and determined assault by his enemies in Washington and prove his anti-Russian credentials.

The strike was partly dictated by Donald Trumps need to shore up his position in Washington and prove his anti-Russian credentials / Image: Flickr, Gage Skidmore

Fear of provoking Russia

In his earlier address, President Trump had said: "We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents." But Gen Dunford confirmed the wave of strikes had ended. And US Secretary of Defence James Mattis hastened to assure journalists, saying that "right now, this is a one-time shot". Despite the Pentagons denials, it is quite clear that Russia was given advance notice of the targets. Gen Dunford said the US had specifically identified targets that would "mitigate" the risk of Russian casualties.

Suddenly the Western leaders are falling over themselves to assure the world (and particularly Moscow) that, having made their point, they have no wish whatsoever to continue showering missiles on Syria. Nor do they wish to provoke Russia any further. In the last few days, after the initial hysterical media campaign and belligerent statements from the White House, Trumps tweets have been unusually moderate in their tone.

Although there has so far been no response from Russia, its ambassador to the US said the attack on its ally "will not be left without consequences". The main reason why there has been no military reaction is because none of the missiles have come anywhere near areas covered by Russian air defences. If they had, they would have been shot out of the sky. The Russians even warned that they might counter-attack, hitting the bases or ships from which the offending missiles were fired.

It is quite clear that wiser heads in Washington have prevailed and a more serious confrontation has been averted. In the last 24-hour period, submerged throughout all the present crisis, presidents Trump and Putin have been in regular phone contact, as have the Russian and American military. This fact, far more than the shrill shouting and bawling in London and Paris, reveals the real situation.

Despite his nickname mad dog Mattis, general James Mattis is quite an intelligent man who understands very well the potential consequences of precipitate military action in Syria. After the disastrous experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan, neither he, nor the Pentagon, nor the American public have any appetite for being drawn into a ground war in Syria. Paradoxically, on this occasion, the American generals have shown greater sense than many of the politicians.

Will Trump seek a deal?

If we know anything about the present occupant of the White House, the recent escapade will probably be the first step in an attempt to reach an agreement with Putin  which was Trumps intention from the beginning. Donald Trump is an isolationist. He has less than no interest in Syria and would like to do a deal (he prides himself on being an ace dealmaker) with the man in the Kremlin. Having shown his muscle and his determination to stand up to Russia, the stage is set for negotiations and deal-making.

Does this seem unlikely? It is no more unlikely than Trumps declared intentions to negotiate face-to-face with that same Little rocket man, whose country he promised not long ago to wipe off the face of the earth. On the contrary, he will argue that now that he has saved the planet from World War Three and put Russia in its place, the time has come to negotiate peace and put an end to an expensive and useless arms race.

If Trump moves to make a 'deal' with Putin, it would embarrass the likes of Boris Johnson, who has been beating the war drums against the Kremlin / Image: EU2017EE

Such a move would be the smart thing to do from Trumps point of view. It would certainly put his enemies in an awkward position both at home and abroad. It would also embarrass the likes of Theresa May and her Foreign Secretary Boris, the buffoons who have been baying louder than the rest of the pack about the Russian menace and will now have to find ways and means to eat their own words. We wish them, bon appetit.

After seven years of civil war, Syria has been devastated, and millions of people have been killed, maimed or forced to leave their homes. Syria has been torn apart and may never be mended. All right-minded people desire fervently to end this bloody conflict. However, those who shout most loudly and insistently about humanitarianism and peace are the ones who are doing most to pour petrol on the flames and keep the war going. The main culprits are the American imperialists and their servile, cynical, boot-licking lackeys in London and Paris.

The righteous power of Britain, France, and the United States of America is the power of imperialism that at no time and nowhere has represented anything other than the cynical interests of the ruling class. The whole history of these powers is precisely one of barbarism and brutality, particularly against the peoples of the Middle East.

What concerns these ladies and gentlemen least of all is the fate of the poor people of Syria who remain silent victims of their cynical intrigues and manoeuvres. Their talk of peace and humanitarianism is only a hypocritical cover for the pursuit of their own selfish interests in the Middle East. In the words of the Roman historian Tacitus: And when they have created a wilderness, they call it Peace.(Mount Ida)

By Kristin LaFratta

Leigha Jurasik, a college junior, spent the last three years shuttling from her home near Atlantic City to the Mount Ida campus in Newton. She chose the small Massachusetts school of about 1,500 students for the same reason as others in her program: It was said to have the most prestigious funeral services program in the country.

For those enrolled in some of Mount Ida's specialty majors like the funeral services program and for admitted students who do not reach a certain threshold for UMass's academic standards, the news that Mount Ida is closing and UMass is acquiring the campus has been a devastating blow.

Many involved say they feel blindsided by the deal and are left with little time to find solutions for the next academic year.

"I am beside myself, honestly," said Lori Jurasik, Leigha's mother.

"I can't even sleep at night thinking of having to work to pay this debt off and I have absolutely nothing to show for it," she said of her daughter's studies.

Students and parents who chose to spend their money on an education from Mount Ida College are now feeling betrayed by the school that they once viewed as a perfect fit, as the college scrambles to find solutions for students facing uneasy transitions.

The University of Massachusetts last week announced that the flagship campus in Amherst would acquire Mount Ida's 74 acres in Newton, as well as the private college's multi-million dollar debt. The transaction has drawn scrutiny from the state board of higher education and senators at the State House.

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(Mount Ida)

Mount Ida students have been offered automatic admission into UMass Dartmouth, and are open to other UMass campuses, though that solution may not work for a portion of students. Some small colleges like Curry and Lasell have extended applications to Mount Ida students, and the school will host a "College Fair" on April 17.

At Mount Ida, the funeral services program offers both associate and bachelor degrees in the science of funeral services, where professors teach the study of death and dying, as well as training in mortuary science and the funeral-home business. The Fine Mortuary College in Norwood, a smaller for-profit college with few full-time students, is the one other certified funeral science program in Massachusetts. It is unlikely the Norwood school could fit the 70-plus students, and 30-plus prospective students, from Mount Ida.

The educational funeral program will be moved to Cape Cod Community College in Barnstable.

For a parent like Lori Jurasik, who said she was determined to make it work for her daughter despite incurring costs for travel and tuition, the resolution to complete the funeral service program at Cape Cod Community College isn't ideal.

"It's senseless," Jurasik said. "As a New Jersey resident, why I would pay a Massachusetts community college?"

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Chris Ellis, 26, is a commuter student at Mount Ida's funeral services program while working at Solimine Funeral Home in Lynn.

Chris Ellis, a 26-year-old from Lynn, earned an English degree from Salem State College.

It wasn't until he worked as a body transporter at Lynn's Solimine Funeral Home that he learned his "calling." By watching staff console and truly help families cope with the distress of death, he said he knew he wanted to work professionally in a funeral home.

His mentors advised him to apply for Mount Ida. He spent the last year-and-a-half commuting from Lynn to Newton to earn an associate degree in funeral services.

"Now I'm just afraid," Ellis said. Faculty have tried to be helpful, he added, but as someone who works on the North Shore, traveling hours away for school is an unfeasible option.

UMass Dartmouth, which has promised enrollment to Mount Ida students, says those who belong to specialized programs must take it up with Mount Ida.

"At the end of the day...when it comes to a program that UMass may not offer, that becomes an issue for Mount Ida to deal with," said John Hoey, vice chancellor for public affairs at UMass Dartmouth.

That problem extends beyond students currently enrolled at Mount Ida. The college recently accepted a new batch of students for the next academic year and had even scheduled an accepted students day for last weekend.

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(Mount Ida)

"We're just basically starting over. We wasted a lot of time, and a lot of money," said mother Julie Drahos, whose daughter Emma Halstead, still a senior in high school, was accepted into the funeral services program this year. The family lives in Dutchess County, New York, and Drahos said she knew other parents of prospective students who had bought airfare and made travel arrangements to come out to the school.

"I feel like they wasted our time and strung us along, because they could not have not known that something was going to happen," Drahos said of Mount Ida's leadership. "That's not a last minute thing. Now my daughter has to find another school."

Even some students who would find similar courses at UMass Dartmouth may be out of luck. Alex Casagrande, an Essex Technical High School senior from Peabody, was accepted into Mount Ida's photography program. He had his roommates picked out and was prepared to live in Newton next fall.

Now his future educational career hangs in the balance as he applies to schools that have re-opened admissions for Mount Ida students left in limbo. The promise that Mount Ida students could attend UMass Dartmouth will unlikely be upheld for Alex, and students like him, because his high school grade point average falls beneath the 3.0 threshold necessary for acceptance, though advisors say UMass will work on a case-by-case basis with students.

UMass Dartmouth "will do the best we can to make sure as many students as possible get placed back on a path to timely degree completion," according to Vice Chancellor Hoey. He said costs and student loan debt accrual will likely be less for students than it was at Mount Ida.

Cheaper costs are of little comfort to students and parents who have already signed off on years of loans to study at Mount Ida. The college's website says estimated total costs per year are $49,400 for students on campus and $35,720 for commuters.

Other specialty majors besides the school's funeral services program saw quicker fixes. Mount Ida announced that programs in animation, digital visualization fashion, graphic design, game art and interior architecture/design are now being absorbed by UMass Dartmouth. The school said there will also be "opportunities" for some Mount Ida faculty to crossover.

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(Mount Ida)

Students in Mount Ida's tracks in veterinary technology and dental hygiene are also left in the gray, though the school says on its website that it is in talks with Regis College, which may take over the programs.

Some believe the splintering of the school's programs is unnecessary.

Peter Stefan, the funeral director of Worcester's Graham Putnam and Mahoney Funeral Home, attended Mount Ida back when it was a junior college in the early 1960's. As an outspoken alumni, Stefan said he has become a point person for parents and students who are distraught by the news of Mount Ida closing.

"Someone put my name on Facebook," Stefan said, adding he had been in contact with hundreds of people impacted by the news and believes UMass should leave the college as is.

"If this is about education, this has been the worst example I've ever seen about it. It's not about the school, it's about the students," Stefan said. "What could possibly be more important to put there than what's already there? I don't think they can answer that."

According to Stefan, there are currently not enough people to staff the funeral mortuary profession, which requires a formal, multi-year training and educational process, like that offered at Mount Ida. He said many of the students in the program are also women, who have a difficult time breaking into the industry.

"You would just never want this for your kid," Lori Jurasik said. "It's sad because college is stressful enough. It leaves a very sour taste in your mouth."

Mount Ida spokespeople did not return multiple requests for comment.

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(UMass Amherst)

Related:Massachusetts lawmakers voted on issues ranging from a student loan bill of rights to rules for the House's budget debate as they met for a series of legislative session this week.

Here's how members of the state's Western Massachusetts delegation voted on Beacon Hill:

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

HOUSE

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(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Rules for House budget debate

The House, on a 120 to 33 vote along party lines, approved a set of Democratic leadership-sponsored rules to be followed when the House considers the $40.983 billion fiscal 2019 state budget beginning on Monday, April 23.

Provisions include requiring all amendments to be filed online by Friday, April 13 and any proposed tax hikes or reductions to be considered early in the process.

Republican attempts to amend the rules failed on voice votes without a roll call. Defeated were amendments to give representatives until April 17, instead of April 13, to file amendments and at least two hours to review consolidated amendments prior to voting on them.

The consolidated amendment system works as follows: Individual representatives file dozens of amendments on the same general subject matters including local aid, social services and public safety. They are then invited to "subject meetings" where they pitch their amendments to Democratic leaders, who draft lengthy consolidated amendments which include some of the individual representatives' amendments while excluding others. The House then approves the consolidated amendment.

Supporters said these rules are fair and responsible and will help make the budget debate go smoothly. They noted the House has adopted many reforms over the years to make the process more transparent.

Opponents said the rules include several provisions that are anti-democratic and weaken the input of individual members. They noted legislators should have more time to file budget amendments and review complicated consolidated amendments which are often voted on before members can finishing reviewing them.

Voting "Yes," or for the rules were: Reps. Brian Ashe, John Barrett, Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Michael Finn, Solomon Goldstein-Rose, Carlos Gonzalez, Stephen Kulik, Paul Mark, Thomas Petrolati, William Pignatelli, Angelo Puppolo, John Scibak, Jose Tosado, John Velis, Joseph Wagner, Susannah Whipps and Bud Williams.

Voting "No," or against them were: Reps. Donald Berthiaume, Nicholas Boldyga and Todd Smola.

Rep. Aaron Vega did not vote.

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Patrick Johnson

SENATE

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(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Student loan bill of rights

The Senate, on a 36 to 0 vote, approved and sent to the House a bill giving greater protections to borrowers in disputes with companies servicing their student loans.

Provisions include: requiring that all student loan servicers be licensed by the Division of Banks; creating the position of Student Loan Ombudsman in the attorney generals office; assisting in resolving complaints from students; allowing the Commissioner of Banks to revoke or refuse to renew a lenders license if the company is engaged in abusive practices, such as overcharging students or steering them into costlier repayment plans to make higher profits; and permitting the Commissioner of Banks to take enforcement action against companies that are violating any of these laws or regulations.

A college degree has never cost so much, said Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, the lead sponsor of the bill in the Senate. As a result, students are taking on substantial debt, and they are being taken advantage of by servicers who use deceptive practices and wrongly steer them into costly repayment plans. While the Trump Administration, led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, continues to side with large for-profit student loan servicers and strip away protections for student loan borrowers, we in Massachusetts are standing up to protect our residents from predatory student loan companies.

It is critical that we protect our students and student loan borrowers from predatory and unscrupulous loan servicers, said Deirdre Cummings, legislative director of MASSPIRG. The need for state oversight could not be more urgent. "

With the cost of college tuition skyrocketing, more students and families are driven to seek student loans to pay for it, said Theresa Soldan, a student at Salem State University and chairwoman of MASSPIRG Students. Data collected by The Institute for College Access and Success shows that in Massachusetts last year, nearly two-thirds of students in an undergraduate program graduated with student debt. This debt amounted to almost $30,000 per student on average -- an astonishing 75 percent increase since 2004. Massachusetts students have the 11th highest average student debt in the nation, according to TICAS.

Voting "Yes," or for the bill were: Sens. Anne Gobi, Adam Hinds, Donald Humason, Eric Lesser, Stanley Rosenberg and James Welch.

No one voted against the bill.

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(MARK M. MURRAY / THE REPUBLICAN)

$600 million for local roads and bridges

The Senate, on a 36 to 0 vote, approved a bill authorizing $600 million over three years to fund the maintenance and repair of local roads and bridges in cities and towns across the state.

The package is a bond bill under which the funding would be borrowed by the state through the sale of bonds. Another provision reduces the term of the bond from 30 years to 20 years and will save an estimated $50 million.

Supporters said the $600 million would help cities and towns keep their roads and bridges safe and allow many vital municipal road projects to move forward. They noted that approving $200 million per year for three years is helpful to cities and towns who will now know the money is guaranteed each year.

The House has approved only one-year funding of $200 million and a House-Senate conference committee will now work out a compromise version.

Voting "Yes," or for the bill were: Sens. Anne Gobi, Adam Hinds, Donald Humason, Eric Lesser, Stanley Rosenberg.

No one voted against the bill.

Don't EditTwo days after one of their own was killed while serving a warrant at a home in Barnstable, the Yarmouth Police Department said the Massachusetts Criminal Justice System has let them down.

In a Facebook post Saturday, the department wrote that the attack on Yarmouth Police Officer Sean Gannon "stunned us and brought (us) to our knees." Gannon, 32, was allegedly shot and killed by Thomas Latanowich while serving him a warrant at a home on Blueberry Lane in Barnstable Thursday.

Latanowich has been charged with murder and ordered held without bail.

Police have described the 29-year-old as a "career criminal" who had more than 100 prior offenses.

Police K-9 Nero was also seriously injured during the shooting.

Yarmouth police wrote that they will not use Latanowich's name in their building or in any media releases.

"We only refer to him as 125...which stands for the number of prior criminal charges he has on his Board of Probation criminal record in Massachusetts," the department wrote. "The Massachusetts Criminal Justice System has let us down and failed to protect our community and our Yarmouth Police Department."

BOLD AS A LION Good Morning! Less than 48 hours ago, a coward took the life of one of our Police Officers. The... Posted by Yarmouth Police Dept. on Saturday, April 14, 2018

A vigil for Gannon will be held Saturday at 7 p.m. at the 911 Memorial on the grounds of the Yarmouth Police headquarters, 340 Higgins Crowell Road in West Yarmouth.CHICOPEE - Four Fire Department employees with a collective experience of 68 years were promoted last week.

Mayor Richard Kos, Fire Chief Dean Desmarais attended the promotion ceremony with friends and family of the honorees and members of the Fire Department. The promotions are effective April 15.

The group includes a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, one person who holds a master's degree and the second woman to be promoted to fire lieutenant in the history of the Chicopee Department.

"I am pleased to welcome these new promotions and the expertise they bring to our fire department," Kos said.

The new officers are:

Ryan Lynch was sworn-in as the new fire captain. He was hired as a firefighter in 2005 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2010. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Westfield State University.

Robert McQueen was promoted to fire captain. He was hired as a firefighter in 2000 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2015. McQueen served four years in the United States Marine Corps.

William Anderson was promoted to fire lieutenant and previously served as acting lieutenant. He was hired as a firefighter in 1994 and has attended 31 Massachusetts Fire Academy classes.

Dina Brunetti, a firefighter since 2005, was promoted to fire lieutenant. Brunetti holds a bachelor's degree from Bay Path College and a master's degree in criminal justice from American International College.SPRINGFIELD -- Firefighters Friday afternoon were able to extinguish a fire in the ductwork of a Chinese restaurant in the 1-Stop Plaza on Central Street.

Dennis Leger, aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Bernard Calvi, said the 4:30 p.m. fire was seen at the roof of the 494 Central St. building, which houses the Fu Soun Chinese restaurant among six businesses.

The plaza is located near the intersection of Central and Hancock streets.

Using an aerial ladder, firefighters were able to gain access to the vent opening on the roof of the building and extinguish the fire burning within the ductwork. There was no apparent structural damage to the building.

The city health department was called in to inspect the restaurant before it was allowed to reopen.GREENFIELD -- Friends and family of Thomas Harty and Joanna Fisher wept and held each other tightly in the courthouse lobby on Friday only moments after a Franklin County jury found Joshua Hart, 25, of Athol, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the older couple's deaths.

Prosecutors say that on Oct. 5, 2016, Hart and Brittany Smith, 29, broke into Harty and Fisher's Orange home, brutally murdered Harty, 95, and left Fisher, 77, for dead. Hart and Smith fled the state, and were apprehended days later in a Virginia Walmart parking lot.

The brutal nature of the crime shocked Franklin County and its tight-knit North Quabbin region. But Harty's youngest son said Friday that nothing can tarnish memories of the couple's legendary kindness and vitality.

"Nothing will bring my father and Joanna back," said Don Harty, of Epsom, New Hampshire. "Their lives may have been ended, but no one can change their legacy. Nothing has been done to end the memory of two beautiful people."

Thomas Harty was in terrific shape, was still working 40 hours a week and was an ardent hiker, said Harty, who described his dad as a longtime Boy Scout troop leader who helped those in need.

"My dad set up a fund at the Athol YMCA to help the children of single moms," he said. "Every month he would sponsor a membership. He must have paid $35,000 over the years. And he did it when he himself was living on a shoestring. My father was not rich. But he was rich in spirit. Hundreds of people loved him."

Fisher was originally from Connecticut, and before an illness confined her to a wheelchair, enjoyed hiking with her husband.

She was a founder and director of Valuing Our Children in Athol; was the North Quabbin Community Coalition's sixth recipient of the Barbara Corey Award for her work with children; and received a Children's Trust Fund Recognition award in 1999, according to her obituary.

"They married late in life," said Harty. "It was the perfect match. She was beautiful and she was kind, full of life. Nobody deserved to die that way."

He acknowledged that news reports described his father and stepmother as "elderly," but said that they were anything but.

"My father last climbed Mount Monadnock in 2014 at the age of 93. He first climbed Monadnock in 1927 at the age of 7, the year Lindbergh flew solo over the Atlantic. He hiked the Grand Canyon 41 times."

Harty was the oldest participant in the Greylock Ramble, an annual climb to the top of the highest peak in Massachusetts. He finished the Appalachian Trail at age 75, and hiked Mount Katahdin in Maine at 88.

The World War II Navy veteran was employed for decades at a local foundry and was still working for a family business, Donbeck Sales, in Orange.

Friends and family members plan to return the Grand Canyon in November for the epic hike, said Don Harty. "And my father will be right there with us."Thomas M. Latanowich, the 29-year-old man charged with killing a Yarmouth police officer Thursday, may have evaded police in Everett last week, multiple media outlets have reported.

The Boston Globe and CBS Boston both report that State Police tried to stop Latanowich for a traffic violation on April 3 after the car he was believed to have been driving was seen traveling in the breakdown lane. The pursuit began on Route 1 northbound just before 4:30 p.m., according to both news outlets.

State Police spokesman David Procopio told the Globe that a trooper tried to pull the car over after it was seen traveling in the breakdown lane. The vehicle did not stop and exited the highway near the Revere/Everett line.

Police did not pursue the car because it had entered a thickly-settled area and roads were slick due to rain. They later found the vehicle parked and empty inside Glenwood Cemetery in Everett, according to the Globe.

The vehicle was registered to Latanowich's father, according to CBS Boston, but State Police told the television station that items found in the car led them to believe Latanowich was driving.

Police used K-9s to track Latanowich but were unable to find him. He did not have an active warrant at the time, according to the Globe and CBS.

Nine days later, Latanowich allegedly shot and killed Yarmouth Police Officer Sean Gannon, 32, as he was serving a warrant to Latanowich at a home on Blueberry Lane in Barnstable.

Latanowich was held without bail and charged with murder during his arraignment in Barnstable District Court Friday.

Latanowich, who had 114 prior offenses, was out on probation for a gun charge at the time of the shooting. Gannon's K-9 partner, Nero, was also wounded.In the simpler times of a bygone age, a student's acceptance to college was a moment of celebration - a time of triumph that would resonate in his or her mind throughout their lives.

The letter would come in the mail, it was opened with anticipation, and its content rewarded years of work, preparation and study. But in the past generation, the relationship between incoming freshman and college has become as much a business transaction as an exciting accomplishment, and with it, the assumption of shared goals by the student and the institution has taken a hit.

The abrupt closing of Mount Ida College in Newton, and sale of its property to the University of Massachusetts, is the worst kind of next chapter to that changing dynamic. Known as one of the best colleges in America for funeral service programs - a vital service industry in need of new talent - the school gave no warning it was shutting down. Now its undergraduates and incoming freshmen are left in the lurch.

What rightly infuriates students and families is not just that Mount Ida decided to close, although that's bad enough. It's the apparent lack of desire to let students know it might happen - until it actually did happen.

This is best illustrated by how the college recently accepted new students for next year. Families have every reason to believe the closing was not an instant or overnight decision and that these new students were deceived by not being told the college's future was in doubt.

UMass-Dartmouth has pledged to lend a hand to abandoned Mount Ida students, but John Hoey, its vice chancellor for public affairs, gave chilling news to students in specialized programs.

"At the end of the day, when it comes to a program that UMass may not offer, that becomes an issue for Mount Ida to deal with," Hoey said. In real terms, that means students must fend for themselves because there won't be a Mount Ida to deal with anymore.

Schools with funeral service programs are very scarce, and for many students, transportation to qualified alternative schools is an insurmountable problem. In keeping with their practice of withholding comment at a time information is desperately needed, Mount Ida officials did not respond to several requests from MassLive.com for comment.

Even small colleges are big business, and even big business should be expected to have some consideration for its customers. If the school really had no choice but to close, it's still hard to imagine that waiting until spring to abruptly break the news, which left students with few options and precious little time, was the most principled way to do it.

That doesn't even take into account the money students and their families have already invested in Mount Ida, with nothing to show for it.

When a college or university enters a relationship with any student, it is accepting the responsibility of recognizing how much is at stake for that student. That doesn't remove the college from the stress and financial obligations of today's changing educational climate.

But more and more families are not looking at colleges and universities more warily. The understanding of a mutual alliance is disappearing, and that's more than a shame, it's a damaging blow to what should be an exciting time for both an institution and its students. The closing of Mount Ida, and the way it was done, will only deepen that mistrust.American families hold $1.2 trillion in student debt. That's trillion, not billion. And Massachusetts has the seventh highest debt level of any state.

As with any daunting crisis, the solution is not to kick the can down the road. That's what happened with the subprime mortgage crisis, when states like Massachusetts attempted to regulate lenders but big banks lobbied federal regulators to preempt state laws. That was a calamity, and without serious action, the student debt crisis will be, too.

Massachusetts Senator Eric Lesser has introduced a Student Loan Bill of Rights, which would only provide what common sense and fairness should have guaranteed in the first place. It would require student loan servicers to be licensed companies (making them no different than any other licensed service business), and it would empower state officials to investigate student loan servicers and take action against those who break consumer protection laws (including forcing them to repay students they've overcharged).

It would also create the position of student loan ombudsman in Attorney General Maura Healey's office. That would give students an avenue to understand their rights as they navigate through a crucial and often perilous time in their lives.



The bill has cleared the Senate. It must still be approved by the House and signed by the governor. There is no reason not to do so as quickly as possible.

.

That Massachusetts is moving forward is a credit to a state that is not being sidetracked by interference from the Trump Administration. In her most most callous and unrealistic policy position to date, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is discouraging states from taking similar action because, she says, federal regulations preempt state regulations.

What does that say? Simply this: officials at the federal level, have no problem letting America's next generation of leaders and workforce employees drown in debt - and not only that, they are telling states "don't you dare try to help them, either."

That's not only mean, it's incredibly blind to the problem the Student Loan Bill of Rights addresses. Student loan debtors are not scofflaws trying to skirt their responsibilities.

They are young people with families who face the prospect of beginning their careers so far behind the starting line that they may never catch up. It's a terrifying situation they did not create, yet they feel they have no choice because the alternative of skipping college could doom millions of them, too.

DeVos' federal bullying does nothing to address that. All the Student Loan Bill of Rights does is require loan servicers to be fair and above-board, and give students a chance to know their rights in addition to their obligations.

if any criticism in the bill is to be found, it's not that it goes too far but that it doesn't go far enough. But in fact, this is a major and comprehensive piece of legislation that is justly receiving national attention, and it will help Massachusetts families and students who deserve to be helped.

This legislation must pass. It speaks to what government exists to provide, regardless of whether that message seems lost on the Education Department in Washington or ignored for fear of retribution in other states.Exxon Mobil remained mum on its next step as Attorney General Maura Healey called on the company to produce documents she asked for two years ago.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Friday that Healey can compel Exxon Mobil to comply with her investigation into what the oil giant knew when about climate change.

A spokesman for Exxon Mobil did not return a call requesting comment.

"I hope this decision will encourage Exxon to end their scorched earth campaign and will result in them giving us answers and producing documents we've been waiting for for almost two years," Healey said in a conference call with reporters.

Healey has demanded extensive documents and testimony from Exxon Mobil to determine whether the oil company knew and lied to the public and investors about the impact of burning fossil fuels on climate change. She argued that the company violated Massachusetts' consumer protection law.

The oil company challenged Healey's request in both federal and state court. The federal suit was dismissed two weeks ago, and the SJC ruling concludes the state case. The only potential recourse for Exxon Mobil would be an appeal of the federal case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"For last two years, we've been fighting to determine what Exxon know about climate change, when they knew it and what they told the world," Healey said. "The people of Massachusetts, consumers and investors deserve the truth. They deserve answers."

Healey said she would not prejudge the outcome of her eventual investigation, and she would not say whether she was trying to obtain a settlement from the company.

"We will go where the facts lead us," Healey said.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is pursuing a similar investigation.

Jamie Henn, a spokesman for the environmental group 350.org, said in a statement, "This latest ruling brings us one step closer to holding Exxon and its ilk accountable for lying for decades about its role in causing climate change."Although members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation agreed that the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria cannot go unchallenged, they argued that any military actions -- including Friday night's airstrikes -- must first get approval from Congress.

Hours after the Trump administration announced that it, in conjunction with the United Kingdom and France, had launched airstrikes targeting Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure, Massachusetts federal lawmakers called on the White House Saturday to let Congress exercise its Constitutional power to authorize military action.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized President Donald Trump's decision to conduct military strikes in retaliation for last week's reported chemical attacks without first receiving congressional authorization.

The senator argued that the military strikes were "neither constitutional nor wise" and push the United States closer to an "all-out conflict" in Syria.

"Although (Syrian leader) Bashar al-Assad's murder of innocent Syrian civilians by poison gas is barbaric, President Trump's response - carried out this way - will do nothing to deter future chemical weapons use, nor help end the Syrian civil war," he said in a statement. "There is no congressional authorization for the use of military force against Syrian government targets. ... Absent a robust diplomatic process, military strikes will not change Assad's calculus regarding the use of chemical weapons against his own people."

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, called the recent reported chemical attacks in Syria "horrifying" and a "clear violation of international law," adding that the U.S. "should be part of a planned, coordinated multilateral effort" to hold the Syrian government accountable.

She, however, offered that the Constitution gives Congress -- not the White House -- the power to authorize military action.

"If Donald Trump wants to expand American military involvement in Syria's civil war, he must seek approval from Congress - and provide a comprehensive strategy with clear goals and a plan to achieve them," she said in a Saturday email to supporters.

Warren further argued that if Trump "truly wants to help Syrians fleeing murderers, he should immediately drop his heartless, relentless effort to ban their children from America."

U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Brookline, agreed that "Assad must be held accountable for his horrific use of chemical weapons on his own people," but stressed that the U.S. can't put its own troops into potential harm without a strategy.

"President Trump must present one to the nation and Congress must vote," he tweeted.

Assad must be held accountable for his horrific use of chemical weapons on his own people. But we dont put our troops in harms way without a strategy. Pres. Trump must present one to the nation and Congress must vote.  Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) April 14, 2018

Congresswoman Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, also called on Trump to "provide a comprehensive strategy" to Congress before further military involvement in Syria.

Assads horrific chemical attacks on the Syrian people cannot go unchallenged. But our Constitution requires that Congress authorize military action. President Trump must provide a comprehensive strategy and Congress must vote before sending our troops into harms way.  Katherine Clark (@RepKClark) April 14, 2018

Assads horrific chemical attacks on the Syrian people cannot go unchallenged. But our Constitution requires that Congress authorize military action. President Trump must provide a comprehensive strategy and Congress must vote before sending our troops into harms way.  Katherine Clark (@RepKClark) April 14, 2018

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, called on the Trump administration to detail its strategy for Syria, arguging that a "sustained response" is equal to war, which requires congressional authorization -- "unless you don't beleive in the Constitution."

Moulton added that "all Americans, but especially our troops on the ground should be asking what our strategy is in Syria," he tweeted. "Why will this strike work when Trump's last one failed? When will (the president) make up his mind about leaving or staying? How does this end?"

All Americans, but especially our troops on the ground, should be asking what our strategy is in Syria. Why will this strike work when Trumps last one failed? When will @POTUS make up his mind about leaving or staying? How does this end...? https://t.co/xSUdTSwHR9  Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) April 14, 2018

Congressman Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, meanwhile, argued that while the international community must hold Assad accountable for his reported use of chemical weapons, more airstrikes "will not improve the situation of Syrian civilians."

"What we need is a clear plan for ending this war -- not more bombs," he tweeted, calling on House Speaker Paul Ryan to let the House debate the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

More strikes will not improve the situation of Syrian civilians. What we need is a clear plan for ending this war  not more bombs. Whos next? North Korea? Iran? #NoMoreWar  Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) April 14, 2018

Defense Secretary James Mattis announced Friday that the president ordered the strike, using his authority to defend important U.S. national interests under Article II of the Constitution.

Defense officials said the strikes hit Assad's chemical weapon research, development and production facilities and were "far harder than the ones last year, when the United State launched 58 missiles against the Shayrat air base following a chemical attack."

Mattis said the latest strikes are "meant to deter Assad from contemplating another attack, and allied forces are ready to continue the action if Assad continues to use these banned weapons."President Donald Trump told a Republican senator this week that he will support efforts to shield states that have legalized marijuana from legal threats -- a policy that appears to be at odds with his administration's January push to ramp up federal enforcement.

The White House confirmed this week that while the Department of Justice rescinded an Obama-era policy, which largely kept federal prosecutors from pursuing marijuana-related charges in states that had legalized the drug, the change will not impact states' legal marijuana industries.

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican who placed a hold on all DOJ nominees until receiving assurances that his state's rights would not be infringed by the rescission of the so-called "Cole Memo," announced Friday that Trump had made such commitments.

"Since the campaign, President Trump has consistently supported states' rights to decide for themselves how best to approach marijuana. Late Wednesday, I received a commitment from the president that the Department of Justice's rescission of the Cole memo will not impact Colorado's legal marijuana industry," he said in a statement.

The senator added that "President Trump has assured (him) that he will support a federalism-based legislative solution to fix this states' rights issue once and for all."

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that the president had made such commitments to Gardner, when asked at Friday's press briefing.

"I can confirm the president did speak with Sen. Gardner yesterday and again today. We're always consulting Congress about issues, including states' rights, of which the president is a firm believer," she said. "And the statement that the senator put out earlier today is accurate."

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat and founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, however, cast doubt on the president's commitment to addressing federal marijuana laws.

"We can't take anything for granted. Trump changes with the wind and GOP leadership is still in our way," he tweeted. "We need to protect the integrity of state-legal marijuana programs by acting now."

We cant take anything for granted. Trump changes with the wind & GOP leadership is still in our way. We need to protect the integrity of state-legal marijuana programs by acting NOW.  Earl Blumenauer (@repblumenauer) April 13, 2018

The Justice Department issued a memo on federal marijuana enforcement policy in early January, in which Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed all U.S. attorneys "to enforce the laws enacted by Congress and to follow well-established principles when pursuing prosecutions related to marijuana activities."

DOJ noted that since passing the Controlled Substance Act in 1970, Congress has largely prohibited the cultivation, distribution and possession of marijuana, which is classified as a Schedule I drug.

Although marijuana remains illegal at the federal legal, nine states -- including Massachusetts -- have legalized small amounts of the drug for adult recreational use, according to Business Insider. Many others, meanwhile, have legalized it for medical use or have legalization bills pending.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, in response to the Justice Department's January memo, said she was committed to implementing the "will of the voters."

"The people of Massachusetts have voted to make marijuana legal under state law and the Cannabis Control Commission has been given the authority to establish a strong regulatory system that ensures public safety and allows for responsible sale and use of marijuana products," she said in a statement. "My office is committed to assisting the commission, local municipalities and our partners in law enforcement to implement the will of the voters effectively."

Andrew Lelling, the U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts, however, said in a January statement that he could not "provide assurances that certain categories of participants in the state-level marijuana trade will be immune from federal prosecution."

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission received more than 200 applications for retail pot shop licenses as of early April.

Starting May 1, applicants will be accepted from microbusinesses, cultivators, craft marijuana cooperatives and independent testing labs. Marijuana retailers, manufacturers and transporters can apply for licenses on June 1.The Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) (www.AWIEForum.org) in 2020 launched a new initiative Enterprise Development for Women-Owned Ventures in Green Energy in partnership with the African Womens Development Fund (AWDF) (https://AWDF.org). The programme is implemented in Malawi and Nigeria.

AWIEF is pleased to announce the call for applications for an Accelerator Programme targeting 10 women-owned and/or women-led enterprises involved in renewable and green energy production or service.

What does the programme offer?

Entrepreneurs will receive tailored support and training for scaling; one-on-one expert mentoring and coaching; tangible opportunity to raise capital; access to networks, partners and investors for growth.

Who is eligible to apply?

Women owners or leaders of scalable renewable and green energy businesses

Business must be registered and operating in either Malawi or Nigeria

Business is post-revenue and operating for not less than two (2) years

You are looking for opportunities to raise growth capital

You are dynamic and ready to take your business to the next level

Programme duration

The Women in Green Energy Ventures Accelerator will take place over a period of eight weeks from 15th March to 7th May 2021.

To submit an application, please follow this link: http://bit.ly/2MYRjbX

Applications close on 1st March 2021.

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LinkedInCALGARY, April 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Calgary has nearly double the number of schools that Edmonton has in the top 100 of the Fraser Institutes annual ranking of Alberta elementary schools released today.



The Report Card on Albertas Elementary Schools, 2018 ranks 819 public, separate, francophone, independent and charter schools based on seven academic indicators derived from provincewide test results.

Educators in Edmonton should ask their counterparts in Calgary what, if anything, Calgary schools do differently so schools in the Edmonton area might learn and improve, said Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the report.

Of the 103 top-ranked schools provincewide, 58 were from Calgary and the surrounding area compared to only 31 from the Edmonton area. Notably, Edmonton actually has more schools (276) than Calgary (249) included in the ranking.

This years report card also found a statistically significant improvement in the average Grade 6 math and science test results (for all Alberta schools) over the past four years. Average math scores increased from 56.6 per cent in 2013 to 61.5 per cent in 2017, and science scores jumped from 66.2 per cent to 69.5 per cent over the same period.

Across Alberta, 46 schools experienced statistically significant declines in their ratings over the past four years, and 40 schoolslocated across the provinceimproved over the same period.

No one type of school has a monopoly on improvement, and successful schools find ways to improve no matter what challenges their students face, Cowley said.

For detailed results of all 819 schools, to see how individual schools performed over the past four years, or to compare schools, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org .

MEDIA CONTACT:

Peter Cowley, Director, School Performance Studies (in Calgary)

Fraser Institute

Cell: (604) 789-0475

Email: peter.cowley@fraserinstitute.org

For more information, please contact:

Bryn Weese, Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute

Office: 604-688-0221 ext. 589

Cell: 604-250-8076

Email: bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org

Follow us on Twitter | Like us on FacebookZURICH, Switzerland, April 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thunderbird Resorts Inc. (Thunderbird or Group) (Euronext Amsterdam:TBIRD) (FSE:4TR): In accordance with the Groups press release of October 5, 2017, the Group is pleased to announce that it has sold all of our Peruvian gaming operations to Sun Dreams S.A. of Chile for a sale price of USD $26 million. The Peruvian gaming operations include our local flagship Fiesta Casino consisting of approximately 680 gaming positions and 3 other gaming operations in Peru, with approximately 560 gaming positions. The sale also includes approximately 7,000 m2 of gaming real estate and 150 parking spaces.

The Group continues to own a mixed-use, 19-story tower in Lima, Peru comprised of a 66 all-suite hotel, approximately 5,400 m2 of leasable offices, and 158 underground parking spaces.

More information about the Groups remaining assets, liabilities, and its plans for the future will be published in its 2017 Annual Report no later than April 30, 2018.

We will keep you informed as there are material events and progress.

Salomon Guggenheim

Chief Executive Officer and President

ABOUT THE COMPANY: We are an international provider of branded casino and hospitality services, focused on markets in Latin America. Our mission is to create extraordinary experiences for our guests. Additional information about the Group is available at www.thunderbirdresorts.com.

Contact : Peter LeSar, Chief Financial Officer  Email : plesar@thunderbirdresorts.com

Cautionary Notice: Cautionary Notice: This disclosure contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the securities laws and regulations of various international, federal, and state jurisdictions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this press release, half year report and Annual Report, including without limitation, statements regarding financial statements, balance sheet, debt, potential revenue and future plans and objectives of Thunderbird are forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Thunderbird's forward-looking statements include competitive pressures, unfavorable changes in regulatory structures, and general risks associated with business, all of which are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Thunderbird's documents filed from time-to-time with the Euronext Amsterdam and other regulatory authorities.

How the world swapped a big idea for a bad one



It is now fashionable to dismiss the assumptions of the post-cold war order



Philip Stephens







Sad to say, Donald Trump cannot be blamed for everything. Watching the US president lavish praise on autocrats, throw up trade barriers and disdain global rules and institutions, it seems a fair conclusion that he wants to upturn the liberal international order. Much of this work, though, had been done before he reached the White House. Mr Trump is as much emblem as cause of the descent into disorder.



The west misread the collapse of Soviet communism. It was not, after all, the end of history.



Happy assumptions about the permanent hegemony of laissez-faire capitalism and the historical inevitability of liberal democracy were rooted in a hubris that invited nemesis. For all that, the end of the cold war did produce a big idea. Now, as we are daily reminded by Mr Trumps Twitter feed, it is being swapped for a very bad idea.



Communisms demise promised, in a favourite phrase of my Chinese friends, a world of win, win. The revolutionary thought was that the selfish interests of rich and rising states could be accommodated if everyone played by the rules. The deep interdependence woven by globalisation would square the circle between competing national interests and multilateral obligations.



In Europe, where borders had long been blurred by the EU, the idea gave impetus to further integration. Europeans embraced what the British diplomat Robert Cooper called a postmodern view of state relations. Elsewhere, national sovereignty was more highly prized, but the new order seemed enough to prevent a return to Hobbesian conflict among the great powers.



The rules and institutions were necessarily imperfect, not least because they had been written largely by the rich nations. There was too much triumphalism in the west and insufficient recognition of the redistribution of global power to the south and east. The goal, though, was a good one: China, India, Brazil et al would rise in a fashion that did not collide with established powers. Robert Zoellick, then a senior official at the US state department, coined the phrase responsible stakeholders to describe their role in the existing order.



The fashion now is to dismiss such assumptions as naive. China may have been the biggest winner from the wests design  its entry to the World Trade Organization was the seismic geopolitical event of the early 21st century  but Beijing was never going to accept a second-fiddle place in a US-led system.



Xi Jinping, now installed as emperor-president for life, is held up as proof. Mr Xi judges the time has come for China to expunge two centuries of humiliation. The aim of the Belt and Road Initiative is to shift the centre of global gravity to Eurasia. The Middle Kingdom can then take its rightful place centre stage.



What is less clear is what Mr Zoellick and others could have sensibly proposed as an alternative to positive engagement. Should the west have sought to halt Chinas rise  declared it an enemy and locked it out of the WTO and other global institutions? Would such containment have extended to a naval blockade of the South China Sea? These are not approaches likely to have safeguarded the international peace.



In the event, the US has turned out to be a bigger enemy than Beijing of its own grand design. Washington has seemed more determined to throw away the big idea faster than Beijing has been to challenge it. Wars of choice in Afghanistan and Iraq sapped Americas moral authority. The attempt to impose democracy at the point of a cruise missile undercut faith in political pluralism. The 2008 financial crash put paid to the consensus that liberal, open markets were a certain route to prosperity.



Mr Trump is picking up where others left off. If the west was careless in the defence of the rules-based system, the present occupant of the White House flatly repudiates it. Mr Trump lives in a world of winners and losers. He blames the postwar structures built by America and its allies for western weakness. He is allergic to multilateralism. I do bilateral, he said the other day. Everything in Trumpworld is zero sum.



So the only surprise about his decision to slap higher tariffs on imports of steel, aluminium and a range of other goods is that anyone should have been surprised. Mr Trump has few deep-rooted beliefs, but economic nationalism has always been at the centre of his worldview. He blames weak leadership in Washington for allowing others to challenge US pre-eminence.



Protectionism is his only remedy. When Mr Trump rails about unfair trade as often as not he is making a general point rather than aiming specifically at, say, China, Canada, or Mexico. His target is the system.



The problem is not simply that trade wars are a very bad idea. History tells protectionism is virulently contagious. Europe has its own populists. These mount-the-barricades nationalists hail from both extreme right and extreme left. Their demands for trade barriers could soon enough secure them a larger following. The snag with zero-sum games is that win or lose can quite quickly turn into lose, lose.



A dwindling band of optimists among my American friends tell me that Mr Trump is as bad as it gets  whoever comes next will rebalance US policy. Maybe. But Mr Trump is setting a direction that other nations feel compelled to follow. Beijing now belongs to nationalists.



Europe has its own nativists. There will not be any winners. Before long all those cynics may realise that Mr Zoellick was right after all.Estimados amigos,

Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia.

Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro.

Gonzalo Raffo de Lavalle

Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras.

Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada.

Helenio Herrera

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

Karl Marx

If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

Sun Tzu









We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.



Paulo Coelho

The West Is Wrong About Chinas President



Keyu Jin









BEIJING  Chinas recent constitutional amendment eliminating the term limits for the president and vice president has left much of the West aghast. Critics fear the emergence of a new and unaccountable dictatorship, with President Xi Jinping becoming Chairman Mao 2.0. This response is more than a little inappropriate.



Long tenures are not exactly unheard of in the West. For example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has just begun her fourth four-year term  a development that the rest of Europe has largely welcomed rather than criticized.



Of course, a Westerner might argue that Merkel has an electoral mandate, whereas Xi does not. But democratic elections are not the only way to achieve accountability. And Xis approval rating, according to almost all international surveys, seems to exceed the combined approval ratings of US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. While there may be reason to worry that Chinese politics could change for the worse, the same is true in the United States and the United Kingdom.



Term limits are little more than an arbitrary constraint, which are not needed to ensure competent and responsive government in China. In fact, term limits could do just the opposite, cutting short the tenure of effective leaders, leading to policy disruptions, or even leading to political chaos.



The US has long recognized this. Alexander Hamilton wrote that it is necessary to give leaders the inclination and the resolution to do the best possible job. They can thus prove their merits to the people, who can choose to prolong the utility of [their leaders] talents and virtues, and to secure to the government the advantage of permanency in a wise system of administration.



In 1947, however, following President Franklin D. Roosevelts election to four terms in office, Congress enacted the Twenty-Second Amendment to the US Constitution; since its ratification in 1951, US presidents have been limited to two four-year terms. The idea was to make a virtue of inexperience. But most new presidents make significant blunders at the start, and now there are more starts. If the US had no term limits, Trump might well not be in office today.



To be sure, term limits have their value. Deng Xiaoping added them to the Chinese constitution after the Cultural Revolution, in order to prevent the recurrence of chaotic and brutal one-man rule. But the new generation of Chinese leaders is not just well-educated, but also well aware of international norms and standards. Unlike the ideological diehards of the past, they can be expected to behave rationally, intelligently, and responsibly.



In this context, the removal of term limits will enable Xi to sustain a complex reform process that will take years to complete. It will not make him president for life, nor deliver him unbridled and undivided power.



Western critics emphasize that Xi has done much to concentrate power in his own hands over the last six years. And, to some extent, that is true. For example, he has taken over some of the economic policy decisions that used to be the prime ministers domain.



But a strong leader is not necessarily an autocratic leader. And, in a high-stakes environment, a strong leader is needed to neutralize vested interests that resist crucial reforms. Xi knows the obstacles that blocked the implementation of his initiatives during his first term, and he is committed to overcoming them.



In any case, the situation is hardly a one-man show, as much foreign commentary suggests.



Half of the members of the Politburo Standing Committee, Chinas supreme government body, are not of Xis choosing. And compromises were made in the placement of many senior officials, including key cabinet members.



It would be a mistake to assume that because China has vowed not to copy the Western political model, there are not hidden democratic processes at work. While leaders are not elected, either directly or by a representative body, their performance is subject to close scrutiny  for example, by the National Peoples Congress (NPC) and local peoples congresses. The Chinese government is also unusually responsive to citizens on social media.



Moreover, checks and balances, though still inadequate, have been strengthened in recent years. Policy changes require consensus within the Politburo, especially the Standing Committee. On major issues, the NPC must give the green light. Nothing stops deputies from casting a dissenting vote, thanks in part to the growing prevalence of secret ballots. A small but significant feature of this years Congress is the elimination of the electronic voting system; instead, officials will drop paper slips into a ballot box.



This is not the first time that Western media have adopted a perspective on Chinese political developments that runs completely counter to the prevailing view in China itself. Over the last few years, Xis anti-corruption drive has raised many eyebrows in the West, where it is often regarded as just a means for Xi to remove would-be political rivals. But the almost two million officials who have been indicted surely werent all Xis opponents. Among Chinese, the effort to root out corruption has boosted respect and support for Xi.



In the West, government accountability is closely identified with democratic elections. In China, it is a function of how  and how well  the government responds to and protects the needs and interests of the people. Given the sheer complexity of modern China  not to mention the paramount need for the government to continue the countrys progress toward high-income status  success may require leaders to stay in place longer than initially expected. But, if recent history is any guide, the recent changes will contribute to making Chinas political and economic system increasingly stable  without undermining accountability.







Keyu Jin, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics, is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a member of the Richemont Group Advisory Board.Trump has no business in South America



By John Paul Rathbone





Donald Trump has no business in Latin America. That is not a slur. It is a statement of fact.



The US president is to remain at home during this weekends Summit of the Americas in order to oversee the US response to Syria. That makes him the first US president to skip the summit  although with a 16 per cent approval rating in the region, he is unlikely to be missed.



Yet Mr Trump has no business in Latin America in the sharper sense of Calvin Coolidges famous quote: The chief business of the American people is business. The past week saw a kerfuffle over his former hotel in Panama City. It transpired that on March 22, Trump Organization lawyers appealed directly to Juan Carlos Varela, Panamas president, to reverse the companys acrimonious eviction as managers of the 70-storey luxury high rise, formerly known as the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower.



The letter is unusual on several counts. While never mentioning Mr Trumps presidency, it notes Panamas separation of powers but then essentially asks Mr Varela to intervene anyway. It suggests that the eviction of its management team by the hotels majority owner, Orestes Fintiklis, violates a bilateral investment treaty  although the Trump Organization is not an investor in Panama but rather a service provider. It then adds that the Panamanian government could be blamed for any wrongdoing.



A conflict of interest? Not for Trump Organization lawyers in Panama, who in a statement said the letter was not an attempt to pressure any official of the government and such appeals were very common.



In strict business terms, the letter is moot anyway. That same day, a New York judge blocked the Trump company from pursuing additional arbitration claims aimed at restoring its management of the hotel. That decision followed a March 9 ruling by a Panama judge, which argued the same. Finally, on March 27, an international arbitration panel also declined to reinstate the Trump team.



Now that the hotel management question has been definitely settled, and the Trumps thrown out, all that is left now is for both sides to finish their fight about damages, lost profits and other costs. The Trump Organization has, for some reason, dropped its alleged damages from an initial $150m claim to $9m, versus a $15m claim by the hotel owner.



After losing Panama, nixing a 2009 hotel project in Mexico, dropping out of a Brazil luxury hotel and cancelling a mooted Buenos Aires project, the only other Trump business project in South America is a licensed building in Uruguays Punta del Este. According to the company website, it will open late this year.



Donald Trump has no business in Latin America. That is not a slur. It is a statement of fact. The US president is to remain at home during this weekends Summit of the Americas in order to oversee the US response to Syria. That makes him the first US president to skip the summit  although with a 16 per cent approval rating in the region, he is unlikely to be missed.



Yet Mr Trump has no business in Latin America in the sharper sense of Calvin Coolidges famous quote: The chief business of the American people is business. The past week saw a kerfuffle over his former hotel in Panama City. It transpired that on March 22, Trump Organization lawyers appealed directly to Juan Carlos Varela, Panamas president, to reverse the companys acrimonious eviction as managers of the 70-storey luxury high rise, formerly known as the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower.



The letter is unusual on several counts. While never mentioning Mr Trumps presidency, it notes Panamas separation of powers but then essentially asks Mr Varela to intervene anyway. It suggests that the eviction of its management team by the hotels majority owner, Orestes Fintiklis, violates a bilateral investment treaty  although the Trump Organization is not an investor in Panama but rather a service provider. It then adds that the Panamanian government could be blamed for any wrongdoing.



A conflict of interest? Not for Trump Organization lawyers in Panama, who in a statement said the letter was not an attempt to pressure any official of the government and such appeals were very common.



In strict business terms, the letter is moot anyway. That same day, a New York judge blocked the Trump company from pursuing additional arbitration claims aimed at restoring its management of the hotel. That decision followed a March 9 ruling by a Panama judge, which argued the same. Finally, on March 27, an international arbitration panel also declined to reinstate the Trump team.



Now that the hotel management question has been definitely settled, and the Trumps thrown out, all that is left now is for both sides to finish their fight about damages, lost profits and other costs. The Trump Organization has, for some reason, dropped its alleged damages from an initial $150m claim to $9m, versus a $15m claim by the hotel owner.



After losing Panama, nixing a 2009 hotel project in Mexico, dropping out of a Brazil luxury hotel and cancelling a mooted Buenos Aires project, the only other Trump business project in South America is a licensed building in Uruguays Punta del Este. According to the company website, it will open late this year.BANGOR TWP, MI -- Lakeshore flooding is sweeping through Bangor Township.

"We've got flooding on the Saginaw River and on the Kawkawlin River, (the latter) being probably the worst because a lot more people live on that," said Township Supervisor Glenn Rowley the morning of Saturday, April 14. "We have water over the roadway on River Road and Lagoon Beach Drive and all other roads coming across the Kawkawlin River."

Rowley said the Bangor Township Fire Department was beginning to go door-to-door at homes within Wenona Beach Estates, 4444 National Drive. The firefighters plan to offer to remove any residents who may want to leave their homes, Rowley said.

He added the American Red Cross has been put on alert and the Bangor Township Hall, 3921 Wheeler Road, will be open in case need to stay overnight.

"If people are not comfortable in their houses, they can seek refuge in our township hall," Rowley said.

Bay County Sheriff Troy R. Cunningham said deputies will assist in any evacuations and that the agency's recently acquired Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) truck may be deployed.

"It'll be on standby, ready to go for the next 24 hours at least," Cunningham said of the 39,000-pound vehicle. "We know we can get that wherever we need to go."

The sheriff added there have been numerous power lines and trees knocked down by the storm, as well as several property-damage traffic crashes. There haven't been any collisions that resulted in serious injuries, he said.

"It's been a really busy morning for the deputies," Cunningham said. "We're encouraging residents to stay off the roads unless necessary."

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for much of northern lower and mid-Michigan. The multi-day storm is expected to come in waves of precipitation and high winds between through Monday. Some areas will get snow, while others will see sleet, accumulating ice and heavy rain.

Rowley said the biggest peril in his neck of the woods is high wind pushing the Kawkawlin River over its banks.

"We've got this until midnight, 2 a.m., until the winds subside," Rowley said. "It's going to be a bumpy ride."FLINT TWP., MI -- Baker College and The Tom Sumner Program will partner together to bring the candidates running for Governor of Michigan to the Flint-area for debate-style forums, according to a press release.

The forums will be held on three consecutive days from 3-6 p.m. in the Center for Undergraduate Studies, E101/103, at Baker College, 1050 W. Bristol Rd.

The candidates listed below are expected to participate:

Monday, April 30 - Independent and third-party candidates:

Bill Gelineau and John Tatar, Libertarians

Kevin Hogan Graves, Green Party

Todd Schleiger, Independent

Tuesday, May 1 - Democratic candidates:

Bill Cobbs

Abdul El Sayed

Shri Thanedar

Gretchen Whitmer

Wednesday, May 2 - Republican candidates:

Brian Calley

Patrick Colbeck

Jim Hines

Evan Space

Bill Schuette was invited but has a prior speaking engagement

Candidates will face questions from a panel of pundits/journalists including Paul Rozycki from Mott Community College and Gary Ridley from MLive-The Flint Journal, the release said.

Michigan Radio reporter/producer Steve Carmody will join the panel on Monday, East Village Magazine Editor Jan Worth-Nelson will participate on Tuesday and former Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau Chief Chris Christoff will round out the panel on Wednesday. Candidates will have an opportunity to ask questions in between questions from the panel, the release said.

The forums will be live streamed at tomsumnerprogram.com and re-broadcast on WFOV 92.1 FM in Flint. The public and other media outlets are invited to participate, the release said.

"This is a great opportunity for the people in Flint and the surrounding area to meet all of the candidates running to be Michigan's next governor," according to radio talk show host Tom Sumner who will be moderating the forums. "Whether they attend the forum, stream it online or hear it on Flint radio, they'll have an opportunity to get to know the candidates better and all of the choices they have."GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Five individuals, including four teenagers, were arrested and charged earlier this year in connection to a Feb. 28 armed robbery.

Two of the teens -- ages 14 and 15 -- were charged with armed robbery, while a 13-year-old was charged with carrying a firearm in public. A 16-year-old was charged with a curfew violation.

The charges stemmed from a Feb. 28 armed robbery of a person in the 600 block of Eastern Avenue SE. Grand Rapids police reported the incident April 10 as part of a collection of firearm recovery summaries from earlier this year.

"In keeping with the mission to better serve the community, we periodically highlight some of the illegal guns that have been removed from the streets of Grand Rapids," police said in a press release. "We do this in an attempt to open dialogue with the community through education, awareness and transparency."

Grand Rapids police were notified during the evening of Feb. 28 that a 27-year-old woman had been robbed of a sweatshirt in the 600 block of Eastern Avenue. A witness description led officers to a group of four teens and a 23-year-old man around 2 a.m. March 1 about two blocks away from the alleged incident.

Sgt. Catherine Williams said the officers did not pull their weapons during the incident. They used verbal commands and "de-escalation" techniques before taking all five individuals into custody.

Police said they recovered two BB guns and evidence of the earlier robbery.

The 14- and 15-year-old teens were booked at the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center on charges of armed robbery.

Police arrested all five individuals for at least curfew violations. They were later petitioned to juvenile court.

Two of the remaining teens were charged and released to their parents, and the 23-year-old was also released.

Below is a collection of narratives from additional incidents in which police recovered illegal guns this year in Grand Rapids.

Revolver recovery

Police responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the 800 block of Benjamin Avenue SE. Officers made contact with the occupants of the vehicle and determined that they were smoking marijuana inside.

Police searched the vehicle for evidence of marijuana and located a loaded revolver.

Further investigation resulted in a 19-year-old male being arrested and charged with illegally carrying a concealed weapon, possession of marijuana and violation of bond.

He was out on bond in connection to charges of fleeing and eluding police and illegal possession of a firearm, police said.

Assault investigation

Police were dispatched to the area of Hoyt Street and Madison Avenue SE on a report of a man assaulting a woman and then shooting two rounds from a handgun before getting into a van with the victim.

Officers made contact and detained all five individuals in the van while investigating the incident.

A loaded revolver was located in the vehicle along with narcotics. Police arrested a 20-year-old man on drug and gun charges.

Northwest shooting

Police were dispatched to a call of gunshots heard in the area of 900 block of McReynolds Avenue NW.

On scene, officers located and stopped a vehicle attempting to flee.

Police said the driver, a 20-year-old, fled on foot and threw something while officers were chasing him. Officers later determined that the item was a pistol.

The man was charged with receiving and concealing stolen property, illegally carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a controlled substance.

Eight arrests, four guns

Officers with the Grand Rapids Police Department's Vice Unit, Special Response Team and detective unit conducted a search warrant Jan. 27 at a residence in the 800 block of Neland Avenue SE near Worden Street.

During the incident, six individuals fled the house. All six were apprehended by perimeter units, two of which were armed with loaded firearms.

Following the "highly dangerous, yet collaborative effort," police arrested eight individuals and seized four guns, police said.

Erratic driving

Police were dispatched to a report of teenagers driving erratically in the area of Logan Street and Eastern Avenue SE. Using a witness description, officers located, observed and stopped the vehicle.

All five individuals in the vehicle -- ages 17-25 -- were asked to exit the car due to the smell of marijuana, police said. During a search of the vehicle, police said they recovered a stolen, loaded handgun.

The case is temporarily on hold without an arrest pending DNA analysis.

Detained at gunpoint

While conducting a traffic stop in the area of Portland Avenue and Spencer Street NE, officers observed evidence of drug sales in a vehicle.

Police asked the driver to exit the vehicle. As he was getting out, officers observed a handgun in plain view inside the vehicle, police said.

"Due to the dangerousness of a loose firearm in close proximity to occupants, all were ordered out at gunpoint and detained," Williams wrote in a report.

After police searched the vehicle, two males were arrested. One was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and possession with intent to deliver marijuana, and the other for four outstanding warrants.

Drug house

Officers executed a search warrant at a residence in the area of Leonard Street and Plainfield Avenue NE for narcotics.

Police said they located two handguns, including one with an extended magazine. They also recovered multiple types of drugs including marijuana edibles and cocaine.

A 34-year-old man was arrested and charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana, maintaining a drug house, felon in possession of ammunition, possession of cocaine and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm.UPDATE: Police found the suspected shooter's body on property off Rickey Drive early Saturday, April 14

UPDATE: Woman dead, man critically injured in double-shooting believed domestic-related

MUSKEGON, MI -One person is dead and in a double-shooting in downtown Muskegon late Friday and police are looking for the suspect.

The shooting was reported about 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 13 in a parking lot across the street from Pigeon Hill Brewing Company at 500 W. Western Ave.

Witnesses told dispatchers that one person was on the ground by a vehicle in the parking lot.

Police received reports that a second person also was shot.

Muskegon police have blocked off the area and a medical examiner arrived at the scene about 10:25 p.m.

Police soon after converged on a residence in the 1700 block of Ricky Drive in Muskegon Township in a search for the shooting suspect. At 11:15 p.m., several Muskegon County sheriff's cruisers and state police cruisers were blocking off roads in the area.

The area is southeast of the Holton Road exit at U.S. 31.UPDATE: The suspected shooter was found dead on property off Rickey Drive in Muskegon Township just after midnight, in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 14

MUSKEGON, MI -- A 28-year-old Muskegon Township woman was killed and a man critically injured in a double-shooting in downtown Muskegon that police believe was domestic-related.

Police were searching for the suspected shooter -- someone who may have been in a domestic relationship with the female victim -- late Friday, April 13 in an area of Muskegon Township.

Officers at 9:26 p.m. responded to the parking lot across the street from 500 W. Western Ave. on a report that two people were shot.

Police quickly found the woman and injured man, a 29-year-old Muskegon Township man, and determined that bullets also had struck a vehicle.

Muskegon police said the man was rushed to the hospital and was undergoing treatment for gunshot injuries. The woman died at the scene.

Witnesses told police that a man in a hooded sweatshirt approached the victims before the shooting.

Police believe the female victim may have been involved in a domestic-type relationship with the shooter.

Only moments after the shooting, police were looking for an already identified person.

They quickly converged on a residence in the 1700 block of Ricky Drive in Muskegon Township, southeast of the Holton Road exit at U.S. 31.

Police at 11:15 p.m. were blocking off roads in the area.April 24, 2013 Syria: Shaving Cream As Chemical Weapon Due to considerable progress by the Syrian government against the foreign sponsored, jihadist insurgency new allegations have to be found to justify additional foreign intervention. Due to considerable progress by the Syrian government against the foreign sponsored, jihadist insurgency new allegations have to be found to justify additional foreign intervention. These now come in the form of alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government: "Shrunken pupils, foaming at the mouth and other signs indicate, in our view, that lethal chemical weapons were used." The U.S. government The U.S. government does not support these unsubstantiated allegations. While "foaming at the mouth" can be a sign of chemical weapon exposure other possible causes for apparent "foaming at the mouth" do exist.

A man "foaming at the mouth" One therefore should be cautious about the "proof" under the Telegraph's headline Syria doctor's Facebook video proof that Assad used chemicals in Aleppo: Syria's regime dropped chemical weapons from a plane on a district of Aleppo earlier this month, killing two infants and a woman, experts said after a doctor in Aleppo posted a video of apparent victims to his Facebook page.

...

Niazi Habash, a British-trained doctor who treated the Aleppo victims, said they showed symptoms of exposure to chemicals, including breathing difficulties, foaming at the mouth and pinprick pupils. The short video posted at the Telegraph site shows three persons laying on hospital stretchers. All three persons have some white foam around their mouths. None of them shows any acute breathing problem. All three seem rather relaxed. Here are three screenshots from the doctor's video showing each of the three "victims". You may judge yourself what kind of "chemical weapon" might have produced their "foaming at the mouth" symptom. The short video posted at the Telegraph site shows three persons laying on hospital stretchers. All three persons have some white foam around their mouths. None of them shows any acute breathing problem. All three seem rather relaxed. Here are three screenshots from the doctor's video showing each of the three "victims". You may judge yourself what kind of "chemical weapon" might have produced their "foaming at the mouth" symptom.

A man "foaming at the mouth"

Another man "foaming at the mouth"

Another person chewing on a tube and with heavy "foaming at the mouth" This "foaming at the mouth" video proof of chemical weapons usage is fake. That is not to say that the above people are not [M]any of these shaving creams feature more harmful ingredients than beneficial ones. Here's what to keep an eye out for. Propolene glycol is a humectant like glycerin, but unlike glycerin, it's more frequently found in antifreeze and brake fluid. Triethanolamine, better known as TEA, is an emulsifying agent, meaning it helps keep the oil and water from separating. It's also a very controversial ingredient in the cosmetic industry because not only is it a skin irritant, but many formulas containing TEA are found to be contaminated with nitrosamines, which are linked to cancer. Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulphate (SLES) are two more controversial skincare ingredients. These make a great lather, but they also have a number of health implications. Lauryl mimics estrogen, which is especially problematic for women, and laureth often hosts a known carcinogen called dioxane. This "foaming at the mouth" video proof of chemical weapons usage is fake. That is not to say that the above people are not under chemical attack Should we bomb Assad for this massive chemical shaving cream attack? Maybe not. Faking videos of alleged bombing and allegedly wounded victims has been a standard practice of the Syrian insurgents. This "foaming at the mouth" shaving cream video posted by a doctor who is on the side of the insurgency is just another example of such fakery. But the Telegraph has an additional "expert" judging about the "chemical weapon" usage: Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army specialist and director of a biological consultancy, said the most likely explanation was the chemical sarin had been used. "From what we've seen, and the descriptions of containers being dropped from the air, it certainly seems that the regime is using sarin in an unprepared state in these attacks," he said. That a is somewhat funny "expert opinion" by a biological consultancy" about "chemical weapons" as "foaming at the mouth" is NOT a

That a is somewhat funny "expert opinion" by a former tank regiment commander from a "consultancy" about "weapons" as "foaming at the mouth" is standard symptom of sarin exposure . Yet, looking at fake videos with shaving foam, he claims to see sarin usage. These fake videos and fake experts are not proof of anything but of warmongering by certain "western" media. Posted by b on April 24, 2013 at 8:45 UTC | Permalink CommentsApril 14, 2018

F.U.K.U.S. Strikes Syria - Who Won?

Last night France, the UK and the U.S. launched an illegal attack on Syria and bombed several military and civilian sites within the country. They justify their attack as revenge or punishment for an alleged 'chemical attack' that had taken place a week earlier.

The 'chemical incident' on April 7 in Douma was designed to reverse Trump's publicly announced decision to order the U.S. military out of Syria. The Saudi financed Salafi 'rebels' in Douma collected bodies, probably from another incident, and stacked them up in one apartment to stage a scene and to create fake videos of a 'chemcial attack' which they falsely attributed to the Syrian government.

Trump pretended to fall for the videos and tweeted threats against Syria and Russia. Russia threatened to respond with strong force should any U.S. attack hurt its soldiers or interests in Syria.

The UK and France, who like the U.S. were only recently visited by the Saudi clown prince and showered with fresh Saudi billions, jumped onto the case. France now admits that its 'intelligence' of the Douma incident is solely based on the obviously staged youtube videos and claims made by 'western' financed propaganda operations who cooperate with the Jihadis.

Yesterday the Russian Defense Ministry accused Britain of having organized the 'chemical incident':

Today, there are other evidences at the disposal of the Russian military department, which testify to the direct participation of Great Britain in organizing this provocation in the Eastern Ghouta. The Russian party knows for certain that from April 3 to 6, representatives of the so-called White Helmets were influenced by London for the speedy implementation of the provocation prepared in advance. The White Helmets received information that Jaysh al-Islam militants were to conduct a series of powerful artillery shelling of Damascus on April 3 to 6. This will promote a response from the government troops, which the White Helmets representatives will have to use to carry out provocations with alleged chemical weapons.

The 'White Helmets' are financed by the British government and are led by a 'former' British military intelligence officer. The direct accusations against Britain may have been a factor in the hasty launch of last night's strike. Another was surely the arrival of technicians of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in Damascus. These will today investigate the alleged incident in Douma and will likely find that it did not take place. That the three countries did not even wait for preliminary results from the investigation must be seen as an admission of guilt. They know that the 'chemical attack' did not take place.

The U.S. military was wary of any potential conflict with Russia. Intense negotiations took place over the last week between the Pentagon and the Russian defense ministry. Secretary of Defense Mattis is said to have talked Trump out of a more serious strike. World War III was avoided.

Last night some 107 missiles and cruise missiles were fired against two research sites and eight military airports in Syria by U.S., French and British forces. The Russian and Syrian forces were warned. People and equipment had been moved. The Russian forces did not directly respond as their areas in Syria were not targeted. The Syrian air defense managed to shoot down or divert 71 of the incoming missiles before they reached their target. The Pentagon claims that none of its missiles were destroyed or diverted from its aim. A well known Syrian opposition outlet disagrees with the Pentagon's claim:

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights managed to monitored interception by the regime forces to tens of missiles which targeted their positions and military bases in the Syrian territory, where several intersected sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory, that the number missiles that were downed, exceeded 65 missiles ...

A 60 to 70% air defense success rate against incoming missiles is stunning. Most of these will have been killed by the Pantsir-S1 systems Russia supplied to Syria. Every Syrian military airport is now protected by such short range systems and while eight were targeted only one was hit.

One of the targets that were hit was the undefended Barzah Scientific Research Center near Damascus. The Pentagon claims that chemical weapons are made or stored there. That claim is obviously a lie:

In 2013 Syrian joined the Chemical Warfare Convention and gave up all its chemical weapons.

The OPCW has checked all accessible former chemical weapon sites in Syria and observed the destruction of the production equipment.

It has since visited and inspected (pdf) the Barzeh facility at least twice. That last time in November 2017.

One does not attack a site with normal bombs if one knows that chemical weapons are stored their. The bombs would distribute the dangerous chemicals and everyone downwind would be seriously affected.

After the U.S. strikes people can be seen walking through the fresh ruins. None wear any protection. There surely was nothing 'chemical' there.

The same holds for the Jaramana facility hit by the strikes. The Pentagon's claim that the strikes hit Syrian 'chemical production and storage facilities' is a lie.

No one has been reported killed by the strikes. The Russian Defense Ministry assessment says that three people were injured. Further assessments of the strikes can be found here: 1, 2 and 3.

What will be the consequences of these strikes?

Last weeks push by the media, by interventionists and by neoconservatives for a wider war on Syria (and Russia) has now been calmed down. Even John McCain, who always wants more wars, seems somewhat satisfied.

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin issued a strong statement:

An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law.

The Chinese government likewise laments the violation of international law and the UN charter.

In ordering the strike President Trump also broke U.S. law specifically the War Powers Resolution.

A Security Council meeting will take place today but, as the U.S., Britain and France have vetos, will have no consequences.

One issue the U.S. is certainly not happy about is the successful demonstration of the Russian supplied air defenses which was used last night against the U.S. strikes. This announcement from the Russian Defense Ministry statement will create additional headaches:

It is to be stressed that several years ago given the strong request by our western partners, Russia opted out of supplying the S-300 AD systems to Syria. Taking into account the recent incident, Russia believes it possible to reconsider this issue not only regarding Syria but other countries as well .

More countries will now be able to buy and receive state-of-the-art Russian air defense equipment. Future interferences by the U.S. as well as Israeli strikes against Syria will become significantly more risky. When Syrian receives the S-300 systems it will have the reach to detect and attack any Israeli plane flying over Lebanon. Israel has often used Lebanese airspace to attack targets in Syria. It will soon lose that luxury.

Syria, Iran and Hizbullah all issued statement promising retaliation for the attack. Their responses will likely come on the ground against U.S. targets and assets in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Israel. The Syrian people in Damascus could observe the success of the air defenses and were quite happy with it. They will respond with more support for their government and its plans to liberate all of Syria.

Trump evaded the public pressure created by the fake 'chemical attack' with a more or less symbolic airstrike. He tweeted "Mission Accomplished!" I expect that he will continue to press for an end of U.S. operations in Syria. Whoever instigated the faked attack has won nothing.

Trumps reaction to the incident is also an invitation to Jihadis and those who influence them to repeat such stunts whenever it suits them.

The Pentagon keeps the option open for such further 'chemical attack' stunts and U.S. strikes. It today claimed that Syria still has additional chemical weapon facilities. If this were really the case why isn't the U.S. demanding an inspection and dismantling of these facilities by the OPCW? Syria has signed the Chemical Warfare Convention and would have to accept that.

The obvious U.S. disregard for any international law and for the international organizations like the UN, the OPCW and IAEA will have serious consequences. The U.S. can now surely forget about its desire for an disarmament agreement with North Korea. Russia, China and others will use the example of last night's strikes to disregard international law when it will suit them. There will be no more favors like holding back S-300 systems or adhering to U.S. sanctions against other countries.

In the end the instigators of the incident, the U.S., and its partners in crime will have hurt themselves more with these strikes than they hurt Syria.

---

Previous Moon of Alabama posts on the 'chemical attack' in Douma and its consequences.

Posted by b on April 14, 2018 at 17:09 UTC | Permalink

Comments

next page The City of Morgan Hill has launched OpenCounter, a new computer station in the front lobby at City Hall, where the citys business community can quickly access city government services.

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Small businesses play a vital role in the Morgan Hill economy, said Mayor Steve Tate. A high priority in the Citys Economic Blueprint is to grow business investment in Morgan Hill. Small businesses contribute to local charities and community efforts along with providing jobs and revenue to our City. OpenCounter provides clarity about the City entitlement process and fees for the business community.

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The web-based tool is designed to help small business owners easily access information regarding fees, permits, approval processes and available locationsand its a place where they can pay fees such as water bills.

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The city hosted a ribbon cutting April 11 to commemorate the services launch, but OpenCounter can be accessed anytime over the internet, from any location.

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OpenCounter has been designed for those individuals starting a business who need to learn basic city regulations (zoning), potential permitting requirements (building permit, use permit, business license), fees, and other departmental and agency requirements, reads a press release issued by the citys Economic Development Department. The online tool interacts with users by asking questions, in the right order, so business owners see the requirements and fees specific to their use and location.

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OpenCounter will also incorporate data it collects to help city officials collect information regarding what kind of businesses are started, where they wish to be located and what kind of questions the business community is asking.

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The City of Santa Cruz, in a partnership with Code For America, a nonprofit organization that works to streamline government services through technology, developed OpenCounter in 2012.

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OpenCounter is valuable in shaping Morgan Hills new economic development policies and programs, said Assistant City Manager Leslie Little.

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OpenCounter offers services in both English and Spanish.

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Residents, business owners, developers and other users can access OpenCounter at https://openforbusiness.morgan-hill.ca.gov.Inspired by Harper's Index (with a tip of the hat to FiveThirtyEight's Significant Digits blog), Morningstar Runs the Numbers uses a numbers-based approach to highlight recent Morningstar research, along with some outside news stories.

3

Target-date funds are a great all-in-one, hands-off option for investors saving for retirement. But not all target-date series are created equally. From fees to the mix of asset classes it owns to how that mix changes over time, there could be a lot to consider. Our analysts share three of their favorite series.Saturday, April 14th Yellow Springs Brewery is celebrating their fifth anniversary of crafting and sharing their brews with the super supportive Ohio craft beer community! Fifth anniversaries are traditionally known as the wood anniversary so this celebration has a special significance to them as wood serves as an integral part in aging, conditioning and flavoring craft brews. Theyve decided to show their appreciation to our loyal customers with a barrel- and wood-aged Birthday Bash!

Master Brewer, Jeffrey McElfresh has created a limited release white oak IPA in honor of this special occasion and it will be available in 12 oz. cans for $12 per 4-pack. This IPA is aged with American white oak staves giving it a sweet, earthy bouquet with warm vanilla overtones. Dry hopping lends a piney and grapefruit flavor that enhances the soft character of the white oak. And theres no better way to enjoy this delicious IPA than in their new limited-edition 5th anniversary glassware! This Perl Goblet style glassware features a design by Just A Jar Design Press in Marietta, OH, and has a delightfully low price tag of $10!

This celebration is loaded with opportunities to obtain limited-edition brewery merch and we will feature a series of timed raffles from 2-9 PM. The day-long raffle includes prizes from House of Aum, Current Cuisine, Dinos Coffee, The Winds and many more! Raffle tickets will be sold as a pack of 5 tickets for $5 or 20 tickets for $10 and all proceeds from the raffle will benefit Glen Helen Nature Preserve. They will also be on site for the Birthday Bash to hand out special gifts to those who become members during the celebration! Culinary options include the incredible wood-fired food of La Pampa Argentinian Grill and Bella Sorella Pizza! There will also be selling a limited-edition woodcut poster, created by Just A Jar Design Press, which will be on sale for $15. Only 100 of these have been printed!

The hit of the day may very well be the selection of some of the areas most rare and sought after barrel-aged beers that will be featured on our taps! YSBs resident beer curator, Chris Hutson, has managed to acquire a list of brews that is sure to please the palate of even the most particular beer geeks out there. Two bars will be set up for timed trappings of our celebratory beers. These taps will occur once every two hours starting at 2 pm with White Oak IPA, with the last tapping at 7 pm! Dont miss out on this anniversary extravaganza, join Yellow Springs Brewery in celebration of 5 years growing with this amazing community!

Yellow Springs Brewery is located at 305 North Walnut Street, Suite B in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Taproom Hours:

Mon-Fri 3-10pm, Sat 1-10pm, Sun 1-8pmThis item is available in full to subscribers.

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Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.LIMA, Peru (AP)  Showing solidarity with opposition leaders, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence urged Latin American allies on Friday to further isolate Venezuela, suggesting the Trump administration would seek additional sanctions to counter the country's political crisis.

Pence, in Lima for the Summit of the Americas, was whisked away from the gathering and to his hotel shortly before President Donald Trump announced retaliatory strikes in Syria for apparent chemical weapons use. Pence had been scheduled to attend a banquet hosted by Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra on Friday night, and it was not immediately clear if he would still attend.

The vice president announced that the U.S. would provide nearly $16 million in humanitarian assistance to Venezuelans who have fled their country under the rule of President Nicolas Maduro.

"We want one message to be clear: We are with the people of Venezuela," Pence said at the U.S. ambassador's residence, seated with a group of Venezuelan opposition leaders. The vice president called Maduro's government a "dictatorship" and said the U.S. would continue to push a hard line against the country's leadership.

"The U.S. and our allies, I believe, are prepared to do much more," Pence said, accusing Maduro of "refusing humanitarian aid to be delivered to Venezuela." He said the U.S. would push "additional sanctions, additional isolation and additional diplomatic pressure  beginning in our hemisphere but across the wider world."

Pence is subbing for President Donald Trump after the president pulled out of his first planned visit to Latin America to manage the U.S. response to an apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria.

The White House said Pence would sit down Saturday with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has yet to meet with Trump in an impasse over the wall Trump has pledged to build along the U.S.-Mexico border. Pence's meeting with Pena Nieto will follow Trump's calls to send National Guard troops to the border. That adds further tensions as the neighbors, along with Canada, work to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In a series of meetings with Latin American leaders, Pence plans to promote good governance and democratic institutions and urge allies to maintain pressure on Maduro. The U.S. has sanctioned Maduro and dozens of top officials, accusing the country of human rights abuses and sliding into a dictatorship.

With the White House's encouragement, Maduro has been barred from the summit over his plans to hold a presidential election that the opposition is boycotting and that many foreign governments consider a sham. During the meeting with four opposition leaders, Pence listened as they described their once-prosperous country devolving into chaos.

Antonio Ledezma, the former mayor of Caracas, pleaded with Pence through a translator to bolster sanctions against Maduro, asking for "not only humanitarian aid but humanitarian intervention."

The Trump administration is considering imposing an oil embargo on the OPEC nation, while Panama recently said it would pursue sanctions of its own  the first Latin American nation do so  by blacklisting dozens of Venezuelan officials from doing business in the Central American country.

Ana Quintana, a senior policy analyst on Latin America and the Western Hemisphere for the Heritage Foundation, said Pence would seek to "continue the momentum" of U.S. policy on Venezuela. She said the "vast majority of the region's democratic leaders have been so united on addressing the crisis."

Pence will also aim to counter China's attempt to exert more economic influence in the Americas at a time when the Trump administration has been embroiled in a trade dispute with the Chinese. White House officials said the vice president would emphasize the U.S. as the "partner of choice" in Latin American trade, noting that nearly half of the U.S. trade agreements are based in the Western Hemisphere.

Yet the timing of the trade pitch will be delicate. Pence landed in Peru shortly after Trump signaled his interest in possibly rejoining negotiations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Pacific Rim trade pact he frequently blasted during the 2016 campaign, injecting a dose of uncertainty among U.S. trading partners.

Richard Feinberg, a senior fellow in the Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said it would be difficult for the U.S. to make a case to become the "preferential trading partner" as Trump seeks to upend trade agreements.

"If it means reliable, predictable, Trump is the opposite," Feinberg said. "If preferred means lowering trade barriers, Trump is the opposite of that. He's talking about higher trade barriers and tariffs."

Trump, meanwhile, has long assailed the impact of NAFTA on U.S. workers and has insisted on a new round of negotiations between the U.S., Canada and Mexico on NAFTA. In addition to Pena Nieto, Pence is also planning to meet in Lima with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The U.S. president has been pushing a tougher line on immigration and seeking stronger protections along the U.S.-Mexican border in recent weeks. The president's recent tweets called on Mexico to halt "caravans" of migrants, many from Honduras, a message that Pence may be asked about in his discussions.

___

On Twitter follow Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.By Leigh Tauss

Record-Journal staff

MERIDEN  Students at Platt High School bounced questions off U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal Friday in a Town Hall-style forum addressing gun control, immigration, social media data harvesting and other topics.

Prior to fielding questions, Blumenthal thanked the students for their help on gun issues.

I have never felt nearer to real reform on gun safety than today because of you, Blumenthal said. This social change movement has begun a new era in the fight against gun violence. This movement will be directed by young people.

About one hundred students enrolled in the schools government classes participated in the forum.

Senior Ben Ruben asked what could be done to improve mental health care. Blumenthal responded that the federal government needs to put more funding into mental health and opioid addiction treatment.

We need more investment, more resources and we need to remove the stigma, Blumenthal said.

Senior Carson Coon asked the senator for his views on technology given the recent revelations about data harvesting from Facebook. Blumenthal condemned the recent repeal of net neutrality and noted social media companies benefit from the data their users provide.

Youre not the clients. You are the product they are selling, Blumenthal said.

In response to a question from junior Katherine Aceves about the DREAM Act, which deals with undocumented immigrants brought over as children, Blumenthal said that the immigration system as a whole is broken.

There are 11 million people in this country living in the shadows. They are undocumented, Blumenthal said. We should be welcoming them. Not turning them away.

When we (were) talking about gun regulations in Connecticut it kind of makes you feel safer in school, said student Destiny Matas.

Adriel Gill, also a junior, was glad to hear the senator address the situation in Puerto Rico.

I feel inspired, Gill said. His views on the different crises, his thoughts on how to help Puerto Rico It was very interesting.

ltauss@record-journal.com

203-317-2231

Twitter: @LeighTaussRJSign up to receive the First Reading newsletter, your guide to the world of Canadian politics.

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Sign up now>By PTI

NEW DELHI: Veteran Hindi film actor Vinod Khanna was today named this year's Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner in a befitting homage to the legend whose first death anniversary is barely a fortnight away.

HERE IS THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Khanna is the 49th recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Indian cinema's highest honour.

He is probably the second personality after Prithviraj Kapoor to get the honour posthumously.

The actor died on April 27 last year at the age of 70 after battling cancer.

VIEW PHOTO GALLERY | 65th National Film Awards: Sridevi wins BestActress award, Jayaraj wins Best Director award, Assamese film Village Rockstars is Best Film

Khanna's son, Rahul posted a heartfelt message on Twitter after the awards were announced today.

"So proud to hear that my dad has been posthumously awarded India's highest honour in cinema, the #DadasahebPhalkeAward at the #NationalFilmAwards! "As we approach his first death anniversary, it's such a lovely way to celebrate his life and work because, at his core, he wasn't just an actor but also a lifelong film fan!" Rahul wrote.

One of the most handsome stars ever to grace the Indian cinema screens, Khanna started off as an antagonist and went on to grow as a performer into the main lead from a supporting actor, after a string of films such as "Purab Aur Paschim", "Aan Milo Sajna", "Sachaa Jhutha" and "Mera Gaon Mera Desh".

The actor had a very successful pairing with Amitabh Bachchan.

They worked together in blockbusters such as "Amar Akbar Anthony", "Parvarish", "Reshma Aur Shera", "Muqaddar Ka Sikandar", "Zameer", "Hera Pheri" and "Khoon Paseena".

He made his Bollywood debut in 1968 film "Mann Ka Meet", which was produced by Sunil Dutt, who was reportedly struck by Khanna's good looks.

Khanna first made a mark as Shyam in Gulzar's 1971 film "Mere Apne", where he stood out as a disillusioned young man.

He got his first break as a hero in "Hum Tum Aur Woh" (1971).

A great many films followed including hits such as "Elaan" and "Mera Gaon Mera Desh".

The actor's real life as dramatic as his cinematic career.

He shocked fans by abandoning his fame to don orange robes to follow Osho Rajneesh to Oregon (US) in 1982.

Khanna, however, returned to cinema five years later and it did not take him long to reclaim his position in the industry.

A string of hits followed including "Insaaf" and "Dayavan".

The actor, who was born in a Punjabi family of textile merchants in Peshawar in 1946, chose Punjab to make his political debut in 1997 when he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He fought and won from Gurdaspur in Punjab, a seat that he lost only once in 2009 but won again in the 2014 general elections.

In 2002, Atal Bihari Vajpayee made him his Culture and Tourism minister.

He was later given the External Affairs portfolio.

Khanna was active in Bollywood till the very end.

His last few memorable screen outings were in Salman Khan's "Dabangg" series and Shah Rukh Khan's "Dilwale" in 2015.By PTI

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Ben Affleck today shared his condolences after a "Batman" fan, an 11-year-old refugee, who reached out for the superhero's help, died of cancer.

Last week, the 45-year-old actor took a break from filming "Triple Frontier" in Hawaii and FaceTimed with Mukuta after the boy had requested the Dark Knight to help reunite his family.

Affleck took to Twitter to share his sorrow on Mukuta's demise.

"Mukuta was a strong and brave young man.

Sending my heartfelt condolences to his family," the actor wrote, alongside a news article on Mukuta's death.

Mukuta's last wish was for his family - his father and seven of his brothers and sisters living in Atlanta and his mother and four siblings in Zimbabwe - to be reunited before he passed.

While in an Atlanta hospice, the boy's call on Facebook for Batman's, his favourite superhero, help went viral on social media.

"Such a memorable day for Mukuta who's a super #Batman fan.

He received a phone call from @BenAffleck today.

Mukuta was a strong and brave young man. Sending my heartfelt condolences to his family. https://t.co/1iLK7agB64  Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) 13 April 2018

Thanks to the widespread community support and helping us deliver on our mission: To Improve the Lives of Those We Serve," Hospice Atlanta centre tweeted.

Affleck also offered to help fly Mukuta's mother from Zimbabwe to Atlanta to be with her son during this difficult time.

"#HospiceAtlanta & Mukuta's family are so thankful to @BenAffleck, who following his FaceTime conversation w/Mukuta yesterday, has graciously offered to fly his mother from Zimbabwe to reunite with her son," the centre said.

"A true superhero in action!"By PTI

KOLKATA: Bengali film 'Nagar Kirtan' won big today at the 65th National Film Awards, with four honours to its credit - Special Jury, Best Actor, Best Costume and Best Makeup Artist.

Riddhi Sen, who bagged the Best Actor award, said the news reached him while he was busy shooting in Mumbai.

HERE IS THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS

"For an actor, it is befitting that he receives an award for his performance while he is in the midst of a shoot for another film," he asserted.

'Nagar Kirtan', helmed by acclaimed director Kaushik Ganguly, is a transgender love story, starring Riddhi Sen and Ritwick Chakraborty in pivotal roles.

VIEW PHOTO GALLERY | 65th National Film Awards: Sridevi wins BestActress award, Jayaraj wins Best Director award, Assamese film Village Rockstars is Best Film

The film had courted controversy last year when a Calcutta High Court advocate shot a letter to the chairman of Central Board of Film Certification, Prasoon Joshi, asking him to ensure that no law is violated in clearing the film.

Sen (19), who has received critical acclaim in the past for his performances in 'Parched', 'Bhoomi' and 'Chauranga', said he was happy that an "uncommon subject" was appreciated by the jury.

His father and seasoned actor Koushik Sen echoed similar sentiments.

The film dealt with a "sensitive subject", not something that we get to see in mainstream films, he said.

"I am glad that Riddhi could pull off the role so well, that too at such a young age. It was made possible by his own understanding of life, the guidance of filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly and his mother, who is a theatre personality," he added.

Director Ganguly, who has multiple National Film Awards in his kitty, said he was happy that 'Nagar Kirtan' got its due".

"I am extremely pleased to learn that 'Nagar Kirtan' won four national awards in different categories. It is a matter of pride for me and my entire cast and team," he added.Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGRAH: Former cricketer and Punjab Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu is in a

catch-22 situation, as his own Congress-led state government has urged the Supreme Court to uphold three-year jail sentence ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the road rage case against him.

As Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh defended his governments stand in the Navjot Singh Sidhu case in the Supreme Court as being the only legal option available before it, he expressed hope

that the judge would take into account the ministers contribution to the society and the country in his final verdict.

Though the government could not have taken any other stand in the apex court, other than what it had been taken in the trial and high court earlier, Sidhu deserved the courts consideration, Amarinder said, adding that Had we done so, we would have been accused of lying either now or earlier, he quipped, adding that he did not believe in playing politics in judicial cases.

ALSO READ: 1988 road rage case: Navjot Singh Sidhu says will submit to the law

Sidhu, whom he had known since the latter was a child, was a person totally above board, who went out of the way to help people in need, said Amarinder, rejecting charges of not liking the minister.

Sidhu had refused to comment on the stand of his partys government in the Supreme Court in the road rage case he is facing. "Whether I am shocked or annoyed, I am not going to share with anybody. I

will not blame anybody either. Whatever the verdict, I will alone bear the burden. I have full faith in the judiciary. I have retained this faith for the last thirty years and will continue to retain it in future as well. I am hopeful of getting justice, he added.

Earlier when asked about his own partys government stand in the apex court, Sidhu said that only the CM or the Advocate General could comment on this.  I will not comment, he reiterated.

READ MORE: Punjab Government seeks Navjot Singh Sidhu's conviction in road rage case

The state government has urged the apex court to uphold the three-year jail sentence ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the road rage case in which an old man Gurnam Singh had died in Patiala. This is the same stand taken by the state government in the HC in this case in 2006 when Amarinder was the Chief Minister. Then Sidhu was the BJP Member of Parliament from Amritsar.

Just before the assembly elections last year Sidhu had switched sides and had left the BJP and joined the Congress and called it a homecoming.

Sidhu had challenged the high court order in the supreme court which had granted him bail. The hearing in the case is going on and the verdict is awaited.

A trial court in Patiala had acquitted Sidhu and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu, but in 2006 the High Court reserved the finding and declared them guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, sentencing them for three years in jail.Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: In a first in the country, Punjab Government has found out a new method to

circumvent the constitutional cap on the number of ministers, which should not exceed 15 per cent of the total strength of the Legislative Assembly. As it will now appoint MLAs as Legislative Assistants to Ministers.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to meet Congress President Rahul Gandhi on April 19 in Delhi and discuss cabinet expansion and also give him the report card of his government and what all it

has done in last one year. Amarinder announced that the state government would appoint MLAs as Legislative Assistants to Ministers soon. These assistants will help the ministers in their departmental responsibilities.

Singh said that this move was aimed at assisting the ministers in the work. He defended his governments move to install legislative assistants, saying that with 42 departments, it was not possible for the ministers to handle the work alone.

He reiterated his stand that the ministers and party MLAs could continue with their own businesses along with their official work but made it clear that no favoritism or corruption would be tolerated, nor would any illegal activity allowed. He said that he will inform speaker to take the approval of the state assembly.

To a question on the cabinet expansion, Amarinder said he would be meeting Congress President Rahul Gandhi in the next few days and expected most of the remaining sanctioned posts to be filled up in this round of expansion. He made it clear that all party MLAs would be accommodated, either as ministers or legislative assistants or as chairmen of Boards and Corporations.

As per rules, there can be 18 cabinet ministers, including Chief Minister in the state as the total strength of the state assembly is 117. While the ruling Congress has 77 MLAs in the assembly.

Reacting to this move of the Congress Government, Leader of Opposition and AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira said that this was making a mockery of the constitution.

He said that Capt Amarinder Singh Chief Minister was going to appoint Congress MLAs as Legislative Assistants with independent portfolios and powers of Ministers, which was nothing but making a mockery of the constitution provision that doesnt allow more than 15 per cent Ministers of the strength of Vidhan Sabha.

He said, "These new unconstitutional appointments are being made on the similar lines of Parliamentary Secretaries which were quashed by the High Court. Now this was the new modus operandi of Capt Amarinder Singh to bypass and hoodwink the constitution and pacify agitating Congress MLAs at the cost of public exchequer. Lastly developed countries like USA do appoint Legislative Assistants but theyre paid employees to assist elected Senators and Congressmen.

He said that he would move the High Court against this illegitimate step of the government. In 2016, Punjab and Haryana High Court had set aside the appointment of 24 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs) appointed by the then Prakash Singh Badal led SAD-BJP Government. As the petitioners had then questioned the legal sanctity of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries on the ground that there was no provision for their appointment in the Constitution.By UNI

CHENNAI: The 10th edition of Defexpo India, a biennial exhibition on Land, Naval and Internal Homeland Security Systems, concluded at Thiruvidanthai in Kancheepuram district, with the Indian military displaying its might with a live demonstration of its various aircraft, helicopter, battle tanks and submarines.

VIEW PHOTOS | DefExpo leaves Chennai spellbound

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit presided over the valedictory, which was also attended by Secretary (Defence Production) Dr Ajay Kumar, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Chairman and Managing Director T Suvarna Raju, Additional Secretary (Defence Production) Subhash Chandra and District Collector P Ponniah.

Speaking on the occasion, the Governor congratulated the Ministry of Defence for having successfully organised the DefExpo, attracting a large number of Indian and foreign exhibitors.

On the concluding day on Saturday, very large crowd turned up making the event a grand success.

Enthusiasm was also evident among organised groups from schools and colleges and visiting youth who were curious and showing keen interest in defence technology, an official release said.

On the sidelines of the DefExpo, indigenously designed and built Indian Naval ships Sahydari--a stealth frigate, Kamorta - anti submarine warfare corvette, Sumitra, a naval advanced offshore patrol vessel, Airavat - an amphibious ship and Kirch - a missile corvette were kept 'Open to Visitors' at Chennai Port for the first time in the history of DefExpo for three days that would end tomorrow.

The ships visit witnessed overwhelming response from the people of Chennai and adjoining districts.

The DefExpo witnessed four-days of hectic activities which underlined the theme of 'India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub' showcasing India's capability in export of defence systems and components.

More than 670 exhibitors, including over 150 international exhibitors, took part in the event.

The MSME sector had representation of around 15 per cent.By AFP

BAGHDAD: Iraq warned that Western air strikes Saturday on Syria were a "very dangerous" development that could fuel a jihadist resurgence in the region.

A statement by foreign ministry spokesman Ahmad Mahjoub said the strikes' "consequences threaten the security and stability of the region".

Mahjoub said the raids carried out by the United States, France and Britain were "a very dangerous development... that will provide an opportunity for the expansion of terrorism after it was destroyed in Iraq and largely pushed back in Syria".

He said the ministry was "worried" and called for a "political solution that would satisfy the aspirations of the Syrian people".

Syria airstrikes UPDATES | France warns further strikes; Assad says country more determined to 'fight terrorism'

Iraq's foreign ministry also called on an Arab League summit to be held on Sunday in Saudi Arabia to "adopt a clear position concerning this dangerous development".

The Iraqi government declared victory over the Islamic State group, which it considers a terrorist organisation, in December after pushing IS jihadists out of their final holdouts along the border with Syria.

But the group retains the capacity to strike despite losing control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory it seized in 2014 and still clings to pockets of desert in war-torn Syria.By Associated Press

WASHINGTON: Allied missiles struck at the heart of Syrian chemical weapons arsenal in a show of force and resolve aimed at punishing the Assad government for a suspected poison gas attack against civilians and deterring the possible future use of such banned weapons.

"A perfectly executed strike," President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday in the aftermath of his second decision in two years to fire missiles against Syria. "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES OF SYRIA AIRSTRIKES HERE

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

His choice of words recalled a similar claim associated with President George W. Bush following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Bush addressed sailors aboard a ship in May 2003 alongside a "Mission Accomplished" banner, just weeks before it became apparent that Iraqis had organized an insurgency that tied down U.S. forces for years.

Syria's chief allies, Russia and Iran, called the use of force by the United States, Britain and France a "military crime" and "act of aggression" with the potential to worsen a humanitarian crisis after years of civil war. The U.N. Security Council planned to meet later Saturday at Moscow's request.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syrian President Bashar Assad tweeted, while hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus, the capital, where they flashed victory signs and waved flags in scenes of defiance after the one-hour barrage launched Friday evening (early Saturday in Syria).

Before a planned Pentagon briefing Saturday, officials said Air Force B-1B strategic bombers launched JASSM "standoff" missiles for the first time in combat, evading Syrian air defenses. In all, the Navy launched a little more than 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles from destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea. The officials, who provided details on condition of anonymity ahead of public announcements, said Syria's air defenses were ineffective.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma, where the apparent use of poison gas against civilians on April 7 that killed more than 40 people compelled the Western allies to launch their attack. Syria has denied the accusation.

But France's foreign minister said there was "no doubt" the Assad government was responsible, and he threatened further retaliatory strikes if chemical weapons were used again, as did Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who said the assault was a "one-time shot," as long as chemical weapons weren't used again.

NATO representatives planned a special session to hear from U.S., British and French officials.

All you need to know about the seven years of conflict in Syria

Pentagon officials said the attacks, carried out by manned aircraft and from ships that launched cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea, targeted the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons. Russia's military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles fired by the allies.

Mattis said Friday there were no reports of U.S. losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.

Trump said the U.S. was prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what Trump called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. That did not mean military strikes would continue; in fact, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said no additional attacks were currently planned.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlin's skepticism about the allies' Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to visit the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May cited reports she said indicated the Syrian government used a barrel bomb  large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal  to deliver the chemicals. "No other group" could have carried out that attack, she said, adding that the allies' use of force was "right and legal."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the West's response was "necessary and appropriate."

Mattis disclosed that the U.S. had not yet confirmed that the Douma attack -- the most recent suspected Syrian chemical weapons attack, on April 7 -- included the use of sarin gas. He said at least one chemical was used  chlorine, which also has legitimate industrial uses and had not previously triggered a U.S. military response.

He said the targets selected by U.S., British and French officials were meant to minimize civilian casualties.

"This is difficult to do in a situation like this," he said, in light of the volatility of chemical agents.

Defense officials from the countries involved in the attack gave differing accounts of how much warning was given to the Russians, Syria's powerful ally.

Dunford said the U.S. did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace "de-confliction" communications. But the description from an ally put things differently. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that "with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time."

At a Pentagon news conference alongside Mattis, and with British and French military officers beside them to emphasize allied unity, Dunford said the attacks targeted mainly three targets in western Syria.

Dunford said missiles first struck a scientific research center in the Damascus area that he said was a center of Syrian research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs. He said this was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin and precursor chemical production equipment.

The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs, Dunford said.

British leader May said in London that the West had tried "every possible" diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted" by Syria and Russia, she said.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," May said. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change."

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria. He authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

"As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," Trump said. "And great warriors they are."

By Online Desk

The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime on Saturday in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks that President Donald Trump branded the "crimes of a monster."

ALSO READ:

Western strikes hit bases, chemical research centres around Syria's Damascus

All you need to know about the seven years of conflict in Syria

Russia denies sarin gas attack, wants UN report on it shelved

Here are the latest updates:

15 April, 7.00 am IST: The UN Security Council overwhelmingly rejects a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of "aggression" by the United States, United Kingdom and France against Syria today, a vote reflecting support for the allied air strikes on Syrian chemical sites.

But the vote at the end of an emergency meeting called by Russia also demonstrated again the paralysis of the UN's most powerful body in dealing with Syria's seven-year conflict.

07.00pm:

The UN Security Council will meet Saturday at Russia's request to discuss air strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain on Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will brief the council during the public meeting scheduled for 11:00 am (1500 GMT), a UN official said.

6 pm:

"A perfectly executed strike," US President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday in the aftermath of his second decision in two years to fire missiles against Syria. His choice of words recalled a similar claim associated with President George W. Bush following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

4.58pm:

A global chemical warfare watchdog group says its fact-finding mission to Syria will go ahead even after the US-led airstrikes.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says in a statement that its team will stick to its plan to investigate last weekend's suspected poison gas attack in Douma.

The group says the mission "will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma."

Russia and Syria disagree with Western allies that gas was used by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces to suppress opposition close to Damascus in an April 7 attack.

4.50pm:

Iranian officials have made calls to Syrian leaders in the wake of the U.S.-led airstrikes against Syrian targets.

Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani (hah-SAHN' roh-HAH'-nee), tells Syria's Bashar Assad (bah-SHAR' AH'-sahd) that America's goal is to justify its continued presence in the region.

That description of their conversation comes from Syrian and Iranian state news agencies.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has spoken with his Syrian counterpart, too. Zarif says the U.S. is using allegations of chemical weapons to justify attacking Syria before inspectors from a chemical weapons watchdog agency begin their work.

4.15pm: Saudi Arabia on Saturday expressed its full support for US-led strikes on Syrian government military installations, saying they were a response to "regime crimes" against civilians.

"Saudi Arabia fully supports the strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain against Syria because they represent a response to the regime's crimes," a foreign ministry statement said.

3.55pm:

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Western strikes on government military installations Saturday only made him more keen to fight back against his opponents, in comments published by his office.

3.45pm:

Iraq warned that Western air strikes Saturday on Syria were a "very dangerous" development that could fuel a jihadist resurgence in the region. A statement by foreign ministry spokesman Ahmad Mahjoub said the strikes' "consequences threaten the security and stability of the region".

3.40 pm:

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency says Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (hah-meh-neh-EE') has called the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria a "military crime."

He spoke at a meeting with Iranian officials and ambassadors from some Islamic countries.

The report quotes Khamenei as calling the leaders of the United States, Britain and France  the countries that launched the attack  "criminals."

The allies' operation was intended to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again.

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3.30 pm:

NATO representatives are planning a special session to hear from U.S., British and French officials about their military strike against Syria.

The alliance briefing is expected later Saturday, and NATO's secretary-general has expressed strong support for the coordinated military action aimed at the Syrian governor's chemical weapons program.

Jens Stoltenberg says the missile strikes will erode the Syrian government's "ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons."

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3.30 pm:

The leader of Britain's largest opposition party is suggesting Prime Minister Theresa May could face a backlash in Parliament for her decision to join the United States and France in launching airstrikes against Syria.

The Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn says the allies' bombing is "legally questionable" and risks further escalating "an already devastating conflict."

Corbyn says "May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump."

The prime minister will appear before the House of Commons on Monday to explain her decision on joining the airstrikes

Corbyn says the strikes will make assigning blame for the use of chemical weapons in Syria "less, not more likely." He says Britain should be leading the response and "not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way."

3.29pm:

China said Saturday it was "opposed to the use of force" following US-led air strikes against Syria and called for a "return to the framework of international law". "We consistently oppose the use of force in international relations, and advocate respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on its website.

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3.20pm:

Syrian state TV has broadcast images of the destruction at a scientific research center near the capital of Damascus that was targeted in airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain.

Pentagon officials say the attacks targeted the heart of Syrian President Bashar Assad's (bah-SHAR' AH'-sahds) programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

The Syrian military says more than one 100 missiles were fired against a military base in Syria's central Homs province and the research center in Barzeh, near Damascus.

The images shown on Al-Ikhbariya TV are the first of one of the targets. Seen in the footage are piles of rubble outside a destroyed building and a burned vehicle.

The Syrian military says the attack on the center destroyed an educational center and labs.

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3.10 pm:

France's foreign minister is threatening further missile strikes against Syria if the Syrian government uses chemical weapons again.

France joined the United States and Britain in a joint operation that has destroyed what Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says is a "good part" of the Syrian government's chemical weapons arsenal.

He says France has "no doubt" that the Syrian government was behind a suspected chemical attacks last weekend. Syria denies responsibility.

Le Drian tells BFM television that the goal for the allied mission "was attained" but that if France's "red line is crossed again" there could be another attack.

2.36pm:

Turkey on Saturday welcomed Western strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime as an "appropriate response" to a suspected chemical attack that left dozens dead. "We welcome this operation which has eased humanity's conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

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2.20 pm:

British Prime Minister Theresa May says the need to act quickly and protect what she calls "operational security" led her to decide to join the allied strikes in Syria without a prior vote in Parliament.

She says she'll make a statement in Parliament on Monday explaining her actions. A spirited debate is expected.

The United States, France and Britain have launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad (bah-SHAR' AH'-sahd) for an apparent chemical attack against civilians last week and to deter him from doing it again.

May has come under criticism from some British lawmakers for not bringing back Parliament into session before taking action against Syria.

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2.15 pm:

The European Union Commission's president says those who rely on chemical warfare must be held to account by the world.

Jean-Claude Juncker says the suspected use of poison gas last week in the Syrian city of Douma was  as he puts it  a "heinous chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime."

Juncker says the world "has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable those responsible" for that kind of attack.

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2.10 pm:

Germany's chancellor says the allied strikes in Syria were  in her words  a "necessary and appropriate" response to what the U.S. and its allies say was a recent chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma.

Angela Merkel (AHN'-geh-lah MEHR'-kuhl) says Berlin says the U.S., Britain and France "took responsibility in this way as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council."

Merkel says the strikes were needed "to maintain the effectiveness of the international rejection of chemical weapons use and to warn the Syrian regime against further violations."

Merkel had said earlier this week that Germany wouldn't join allied military action against Syrian government forces.

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2.05 pm:

British Prime Minister Theresa May is citing reports she says indicate the Syrian government used a barrel bomb to deliver the chemicals used in an attack on Douma.

Barrel bombs are large containers that are packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal.

May says the accounts about the use of a barrel bomb suggest that a Syrian government helicopter was seen flying above Douma just before last weekend's attack.

She says "no other group" could have carried out that attack.



2.00pm:

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the overnight US-led missile attack on Syria and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting

in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 13, 2018. | AP

Putin said the US actions in Syria made the humanitarian catastrophe worse and caused pain for civilians, as well has damaging international relations.

2.00 pm:

France's government says it has no samples of the chemical weapons it believes were used in Syria, but launched a military response based on open-source information and intelligence gathering.

France released its assessment Saturday of what happened in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7. It was the basis for France's involvement in a joint military operation launched Saturday with the U.S. and Britain to target Syrian chemical weapons facilities.

The assessment cites "the absence to date of chemical samples analyzed by our own laboratories." It says the government evaluated publicly available information from non-governmental organizations and other sources as well as unspecified French intelligence.

It concludes that there is "no plausible scenario other than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces." Syria denies responsibility and says it gave up its chemical arsenal.

The assessment notes eight chlorine attacks ahead of the "major attack" on Douma and 44 allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria over the past year.

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12.10 pm:

A Syrian military statement says the U.S., Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside.

Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub, who read the statement on Syrian TV, said "our air defenses effectively shot down most of them." He says one of the missiles hit the Scientific Research Center in Barzeh near Damascus, damaging a building. In Homs, one of the missiles was derailed injuring three people, he said.

Mayhoub says the attacks "will not deter" the Syrian military from its ongoing war to eradicate "armed terrorists" from Syrian territory.

Syria's Foreign Ministry earlier said the attack coincides with the arrival of a fact-finding mission from the international chemical weapons watchdog to inspect the site of the alleged attack in the town of Douma, and "aims to hinder its work."

The OPCW had said that its experts would be visiting Douma on Saturday.

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11.40 am:

Turkey on Saturday welcomed Western strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime as an "appropriate reaction" in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack that left dozens dead.

"We welcome this operation that articulates the conscience of all humanity in the face of the Douma attack which has a strong suspicion of being carried out by the regime," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

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11.30 am:

France wants to start working "right now" on resuming the political process aimed at ending the conflict in Syria, the French foreign minister said Saturday, following air strikes by Western powers against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

French Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian gives an official

statement in the press room after attending an emergency meeting

with President Emmanuel Macron | AP

"A plan for ending the crisis must be found, with a political solution. We are ready to start working right now with all countries who want to participate," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a press conference.

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11.05 am:

France's defense minister says its joint military operation with the U.S. and Britain against Syria targeted three sites and that Russia was informed ahead of time.

Defense Minister Florence Parly told reporters Saturday that the French military sent fighter jets from multiple bases in France and used missile-equipped frigates in the Mediterranean in the operation. Rafale fighter jets could be seen on a video posted overnight by the French presidential palace on Twitter.

She said strikes targeted the "main research center" for the Syrian chemical weapons program and "two important production sites."

She added that "with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time." Syria's ally Russia has denounced the western military action.

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10.40 am:

Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square of the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance.

READ | Syria condemns 'brutal, barbaric aggression' by Western powers

The demonstrations broke out early Saturday following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians. The Syrian government has denied the accusations.

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations | AP

In Damascus, the president's seat of power, hundreds of residents gathered in Omayyad Square, many waving Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns.

"We are your men, Bashar," they shouted.

State TV broadcast live from the square where a large crowd of civilians mixed with men in uniforms, including an actor, lawmakers and other figures.

"Good morning steadfastness," one broadcaster said.

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10.30 am:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for restraint and for countries to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation in Syria after the United States, France and Britain carried out strikes.

Guterres delayed a planned trip to Saudi Arabia to deal with the aftermath of the military action.

"I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people," Guterres said in a statement.

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9.50 am:

Syrian state-run TV says three civilians have been wounded in the U.S.-led missile attack on a military base in Homs.

Smoke rises after airstrikes targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria. | AP

It says the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile but adds nonetheless that three people were wounded.

It says another attack with "a number of missiles" targeting a scientific research center destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. The network says the building in the research center included an educational center and labs.

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9.25 am:

The spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry is denouncing the United States for launching airstrikes on Syria. She says the attacks hit a long-troubled country "that for many years has been trying to survive terrorist aggression."

In a statement Saturday on Facebook, Maria Zakharova is also taking Western media reports to task.

Zakharova says: "The White House stated that its assuredness of the chemical attack from Damascus was based on 'mass media, reports of symptoms, video, photos as well as credible information.' After this statement the American and other Western mass media should understand their responsibility in what is happening."

Sakharova is comparing the situation to the start of the Iraq War in 2003 based on claims Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.

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8.20 am:

Syrian TV is reporting that the attack on Syria targeted a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus.

The report says Syria's air defenses confronted the missiles near Homs, and says the airstrikes also targeted an army depot there.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the airstrikes in retaliation for Syrian President Bashar Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons.

Syrian air defenses responded to the joint strikes by the United States, France and Britain

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8.05 am:

A highly placed Russian politician is likening President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler after the launch of airstrikes against Syria, and says he regards the action as a move against Russia.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, says Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time  because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union."

That's according to state news agency RIA-Novosti. The Nazi forces' opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4 a.m.

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7.50 am:

The British defense ministry says "initial indications" show that the airstrikes against Syria produced a "successful attack" on a Syrian military facility.

The U.K., U.S. and France launched the attacks near Damascus early Saturday. The U.K. ministry says in a statement that while the effectiveness of the strike is still being analyzed, "initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack."

British Prime Minister Theresa May is describing the attack as neither "about intervening in a civil war" nor "about regime change," but a limited and targeted strike that "does not further escalate tensions in the region" and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

May says, "We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none.

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7.30am:

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken "decisive action" against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, joined by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, speaks at the Pentagon, Friday, April 13, 2018 | AP

Mattis briefed reporters at the Pentagon Friday an hour after President Donald Trump announced the strike.

Mattis says the United States, along with France and the United Kingdom, struck because Syrian President Bashar Assad "did not get the message" when the U.S. launched airstrikes after a chemical attack in 2017.

The defense secretary says Friday's strikes have "sent a clear message" to Assad and his "murderous lieutenants."

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7.20am:

Missiles streak across the Damascus skyline as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. | AP

Explosions are being heard to the east, west and south of Damascus as the U.S., U.K. and France conduct airstrikes in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government on its own people.

Witnesses saw blasts surrounding much of the Syrian capital and a huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. An AP reporter in Damascus says the attacks turned the sky orange. Syrian television reported that a scientific research center had been hit.

Syrian media reported that Syrian defenses hit 13 rockets south of Damascus. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

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7.10am:

French President Emmanuel Macron says his nation, the United States and Britain have launched a military operation against the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."

Macron says in a statement Saturday that France's "red line has been crossed" after a suspected chemical attack last week in the Syrian town of Douma.

He says there is "no doubt" that the Syrian government is responsible. President Bashar Assad's government denies responsibility.

Macron says the operation is limited to Syria's abilities to produce chemical weapons. He is not giving details about what equipment is involved in the operation or what sites it is targeting.

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6.50am:

Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons.

Associated Press reporters in Damascus saw smoke rising from east Damascus early Saturday morning local time. Syrian state TV says the attack has begun on the capital, though it wasn't immediately clear what was targeted.

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6.30am:

US President Donald Trump says the United States has "launched precision strikes" on targets associated with Syrian chemical weapons program.

WATCH | Trump orders strikes against Syria over chemical weapons attack

Trump spoke from the White House Friday night. He says a "combined operation" with France and the United Kingdom is underway.

Trump says that last Saturday, Syrian President Bashar Assad deployed chemical weapons in what was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

(With inputs from AP and AFP)By AFP

JERUSALEM: Punitive US-led strikes on Syria are justified because of the "murderous actions" of the Damascus government, an Israeli official said today.

"Last year (US) President Donald Trump said that the use of chemical weapons would violate a red line.

This night, under America's guidance, the United States, France and Britain acted accordingly (because) Syria continues to carry out its murderous actions," the official, who declined to be identified, said.

"Syria also serves as a base to carry out such action, namely on behalf of Iran, endangering its territory, its forces and its leadership," the official added.

Syria airstrikes UPDATES | US, France, Britain target military bases; Syrian government says 110 missiles fired

Public radio said that Israel had been informed ahead of time of the strikes that were carried out by the United States, France and Britain.

Tensions have been running high between Israel and its arch-foe Iran, a key backer of the Syrian regime which provides military advisors and "volunteer" ground forces to Damascus.

On Monday seven Iranian personnel were among 14 people killed in an early-morning strike on the T-4 airbase in Syria, with regime allies Iran and Russia blaming Israel for the attack.

Israel did not deny or confirm any responsibility.Historic Miramar estate on Bellevue Avenue in Newport is sold

The home was built for streetcar magnate George Dunton Widener of Philadelphia and the property last sold in 2006 for $17.5 million.Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a symbol of the liberation movement and a voice for the oppressed people of the region, Vice-President Dr Constantino Chiwenga has said.



In a telephone interview with The Sunday Mail after a farewell service for Mama Madikizela-Mandela at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, VP Chiwenga said her courage had been an inspiration for many.



The Vice-President was among scores of dignitaries who joined thousands of people to pay their last respects to the ANC Womens League former leader.





Mama Madikizela-Mandela died aged 81 on April 2 and was buried yesterday at Fourways Memorial Park north of Johannesburg.





Said VP Chiwenga: She was not just for South Africa; she became a symbol of the revolution for all those who were fighting for their independence in the Southern African region.





When her husband, Nelson Mandela, was incarcerated at Robben Island, she became the voice of the liberation movement, the voice of the ANC in South Africa and for all liberation movements.

Her courage encouraged girls, women and men as well to pick up guns and go and fight for their liberation.





He added: Mama Winnies voice reverberated across the whole world, and that is why we had to come to pay our final respects as the Government of Zimbabwe and representing the people of Zimbabwe.

If there was any voice that made the world understand what South Africas struggle was about and what Africans were fighting for, it was the voice of Mama Winnie.





That is why she became the Mother of the Nation; and that is also why she was villified and accused of doing all sorts of things that she did not do.





VP Chiwenga said Zimbabwe was happy that South Africans recognised the role she played and would honour her in a fitting manner.





In his eulogy, South Africas President Cyril Ramaphosa said Mama Madikizela-Mandela was a visionary who championed reconciliation.





We gather here not only to pay our final respects to a great African woman, but to affirm the common humanity that, through her life, she revealed in us, he said.

She was the Mother of the Nation because she cared for all and hated corruption. The title of Mother of Nation was more befitting and she carried it with respect and honour.





President Ramaphosa said Mama Madikizela-Mandela had undergone extreme torture and humiliation but never surrendered.





In death, she has brought us all together, from near and far, across many nations and continents, to mourn, to pay homage, to remember and to fondly reminisce.





In death, she has demonstrated that our many differences along political party and racial lines and the numerous disputes we may have are eclipsed by our shared desire to follow her lead in building a just, equitable and caring society, he said. Sunday MailZimbabwe has been invited to the Commonwealth Heads of State Summit that begins in Britain tomorrow and ends next Sunday, marking the latest high-level sign of thawing of relations between Harare and London.



Zimbabwe will have observer status, ahead of planned re-admission into the bloc before year-end.



Before the Summit, there will be an official call on the United States, where Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Busi Moyo will meet American government authorities.

Following the mission to the United States, Dr Moyo leads his delegation to Europe, as President Emmerson Mnangagwas administration builds bridges with countries that were hostile to Zimbabwe because of the previous regimes policies.





In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Joey Bimha said the Commonwealth invitation was an indication of reciprocity to Zimbabwes re-engagement efforts.

The minister has been invited by his British counterpart for a visit. He is going to attend the (Commonwealth) meeting, but he will not participate, he said.





We are not privy to the agenda of the Summit since we are not participants . . . But this shows that our re-engagement exercise is working, he said.





After London, Dr Moyo heads to Brussels where he is scheduled to meet European Union head of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Ms Federica Mogherini.

Ambassador Bimha said Zimbabwes re-engagement missions had been going well.

The President has been on record as saying we should make overtures to woo the West again following a long period of isolation. I think the exercise is going on well. We have been to Japan, UK Portugal, China and Spain.





To signal the level of reciprocity Zimbabwe has been enjoying from the West, delegations have visited the country from the European Union, the UK, the US and other countries, he said.

President Mnangagwas first foreign visitor following his inauguration was then British Minister for Africa, Mr Rory Stewart.

UK minister for Africa in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development, Mr Harriet Bladwin also visited him in February.

Last month, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa was in Britain where he met Foreign Minister Boris Johnson.





A fortnight ago, a five-member delegation of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee visited Zimbabwe and met President Mnangagwa; and last week EU International Development Commissioner Mr Nevin Mimica also paid him a visit. Sunday MailGet the news faster.

Tap to install our app. Access Newser even faster.

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X(Newser)  The US, France, and Britain together launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Trump announced Friday. The AP reports that explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump announced the airstrikes from the White House. Syrian television reported that Syrian air defenses have responded to the attack. Trump says the US is prepared to "sustain" pressure on Assad until he ends what the president calls a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.

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Trump did not provide details on the joint US-British-French attack, but it was expected to include barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace. He described the main aim as establishing "a strong deterrent" against chemical weapons use. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons. French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the attack, saying it was launched against a "clandestine chemical arsenal" run by Syria's government, the AP reports. Macron says France's "red line has been crossed" after a suspected chemical attack last week in the Syrian town of Douma. The US decision to strike marked Trump's second order to attack Syria; he authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

(Read more Syria stories.)(Newser)  Russia, Iran, and Syria reacted angrily Saturday to the US-led airstrikes that hit Syria overnight, though so far the move hasn't led to the worst-case scenario: direct conflict between US and Russian forces, reports the Washington Post. Vladimir Putin called the airstrikes by the US, France, and Britain an "act of aggression" and was expected to call an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, reports USA Today. Russia's ambassador to the US warned of "consequences," while Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the strikes a "military crime," reports the AP. Syria's Bashar al-Assad's regime similarly called the military action a "barbaric aggression" and promised that his nation would respond.

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As President Trump said in a brief address late Friday, the airstrikes were delivered to punish Syria for a chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians. Trump faulted "Russia's failure" for allowing that attack to take place, though Moscow and Damascus deny that Syria is to blame, or even that chemical weapons were used. "Insulting the president of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible," said Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov. "The USthe possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weaponshas no moral right to blame other countries." Reuters reports that more than 100 missiles struck sites in Syria, including in Damascus, affiliated with the nation's chemical weapons research. We were scared of a bigger assault," a Damascus resident tells the Post. I think this strike is only a flexing of muscles by Trump to show his power. (Read more Syria stories.)(Newser)  The Czech-born filmmaker who directed films such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeusboth of which won him Oscars for directinghas died at 86. Milos Forman died in the US after a short illness, reports the Guardian. Forman also earned an Oscar nomination for The People vs. Larry Flynt and won acclaim with another American biopic, Man on the Moon, about Andy Kaufman. Both of Forman's parents died in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and he wound up being raised by relatives before entering the Prague Film Academy. "Though he blossomed in exile in 1970s America, his memory of totalitarianism would forever be his muse," writes Gina Piccalo at the Los Angeles Times.

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The Hollywood Reporter describes Forman as an "anti-authoritarian" director, noting that his 1967 film The Fireman's Ball got him into trouble with communist leaders in his then home of Czechoslovakia. He achieved international acclaim with the 1975 Cuckoo's Nest, starring Jack Nicholson and set inside a mental institution. The film won five major Oscars, for best picture, director, actor, actress, and adapted screenplay. About a decade later, Forman again scored Academy Award success with Amadeus. The film about Mozart earned 11 nominations and eight Oscars, including director and best picture. Forman became an American citizen in 1975. (Read more Milos Forman stories.)(Newser)  Millions of South Africans said an emotional goodbye to anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on Saturday during her official funeral, with supporters fiercely defending her complex legacy. Thousands of mourners packed a 40,000-seat stadium to celebrate the powerful figure who will be buried as a national hero, after lively debate over how she should be remembered after her death on April 2 at age 81, per the AP. Often called the "Mother of the Nation" and "Mama Winnie," Madikizela-Mandela fought to keep South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle in the international spotlight while her husband, Nelson Mandela, was imprisoned.

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"Long before it was fashionable to call for Nelson Mandela's release from Robben Island, it was my mother who kept his memory alive," elder daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini said, as the audience erupted in cheers. Many South Africans have stood up for Madikizela-Mandela's memory against critics who have characterized her as a problematic figure who was implicated in political violence after she returned from years of banishment in a rural town. Condolences have poured in from around the world in remembrance of one of the 20th century's most prominent political activists. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who attended the funeral, said Friday that Madikizela-Mandela was responsible for making the anti-apartheid movement "a global struggle."

(Read more Winnie Madikizela-Mandela stories.)(Newser)  McClatchy is out with a report about Trump attorney Michael Cohen that could prove to be a significant development in the Robert Mueller investigation. The news service, quoting anonymous sources, reports that Mueller can prove Cohen visited Prague in 2016 in the midst of the election. For those asking, 'So what?', the development takes a little unpacking. Among the allegations in the infamous Trump dossier compiled by Christopher Steele is that Cohen went to Prague and met with powerful Russian figures, including a Putin ally named Konstantin Kosachev. When the allegations surfaced, Cohen flatly denied them: "I have never (been) to Prague in my life," he tweeted, along with a photo of the front of his passport. President Trump similarly dismissed the allegation as false.

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But according to the McClatchy report, Mueller now has evidence that Cohen entered Prague from Germany. The report does not say that Mueller can show he met with any Russian figures, but simply proving that Cohen visited Prague despite his adamant denial "could be quite significant," writes Philip Bump in the Washington Post. The dossier makes unsubstantiated allegations of collusion, but they hinge on the Prague trip. If Cohen was never there, "none of this happened. If he visited Prague? Well, then we go a level deeper." Andrew Prokop at Vox sees it this way: "There is no reason for Cohen to try to debunk the Steele dossier by lying and saying that he didnt visit Prague at all if he actually did, unless he was trying to cover up extremely serious wrongdoing that happened during that visit." (Read more Michael Cohen stories.)(Newser)  President Trump trotted out a familiar presidential phrase Saturday morning to praise the Friday night strikes on Syria: "Mission Accomplished!" The phrase came at the end of a tweet in which Trump hailed "a perfectly executed strike last night." He also thanked France and Britian "for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military," adding, "Could not have had a better result." A second tweet praised the US military, which he said would soon be "the finest that our Country has ever had," thanks to "the spending of billions of fully approved dollars."

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In an address to the nation Friday night, Trump said the US and its allies were punishing Syria for a chemical attack on its civilians, and on Saturday, Syria and backers Russia and Iran condemned the airstrikes and warned of unspecified payback. The UN Security Council was expected to meet Saturday to discuss the matter at the request of Russia. During the assault, the Navy launched more than 100 Tomahawk missiles from destroyers in the Mediterranean, while Air Force B-15 bombers dropped JASSM "standoff" missiles for the first time in combat, reports the AP. Russia claims that Syria shot down 71 of 103 cruise missiles. (Read more President Trump stories.)(Newser)  Pundits are calling the latest airstrike in Syria everything from "a restrained operation" to a risky move that could throw the US into "a cycle of escalation" in the Syrian conflict. Supporters of President Trump from Fox News and other conservative outlets were surprisingly negative, with Infowars' Alex Jones hating it so much he broke down crying and said, "It makes me sick." From around the Web:



A deterrence: "The one-night burst of ordnance appears unlikely to change the overall balance of forces in Syria seven years into its bloody civil war," write Peter Baker and Rick Gladstone in the New York Times. "But the president hoped it would be enough to deter Mr. Assad from using chemical weapons again without being so damaging as to compel Russia and Iran to intervene."

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Possible retaliation: Some analysts are pointing out "the risk" of America getting "more deeply in the Syrian conflict than the administration intended," writes Paul Sonne at the Washington Post. He quotes retired US Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik, who warns that Russia or Iransupporters of Assad's regimemight retaliate. "Then what do we do?" asks Dubik.

Limited gains: Yet Washington did let Russian air force commanders know which air space the US and its allies would use, lowering the risk of escalation, write Michael Gordon and Dion Nissenbaum at the Wall Street Journal. "The effort to avoid a clash with Russian forces appeared to succeed," they note. "Still, the limited nature of the military intervention is likely to yield only limited gains" in Syria.

Assad remains at large: Top Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara echoed that note in a harsher manner, calling the attack "almost pinprick strikes toward three [chemical weapons] facilities." He says that Assad, "the man responsible ... for the death of half a million [Syrians] remains at large" and suggests that President Trump used the strikes to defer attention from "his Stormy Daniels crisis and his issue with his lawyers."

Openly weeping: Conservative media pundits aren't taking kindly to the airstrikes, the Hill reports, with Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham questioning them, Michael Savage tweeting about "sad warmongers hijacking our nation," and Alex Jones shedding tears. "If he had been a piece of crap from the beginning, it wouldnt be so bad," says Jones of the president. "Weve made so many sacrifices and now hes crapping all over us. It makes me sick."

(Read more Syria stories.)(Newser)  A Swedish zoo that couldn't properly house over 500 reptiles made the hard choice of having them dropped into liquid nitrogen, The Local in Sweden reports. The Tropicarium Rescue Centre at Kolmarden Zoo near Norrkoping took in the reptiles after Swedish police rescued 760 lizards and other creatures from animal smugglers last month. But housing them was pricey, and other institutions only took 50 of over 550 helmethead geckos off their hands, so the decision was made. "We applied for an exemption so we could use a killing method that is not yet approved in Sweden but is used internationally," says a police officer. "That is to kill them in liquid nitrogen." In other European lizard news, a judge ruled last year that children are no longer allowed to swim with crocodiles and alligators at the Crocodile Zoo in Friedberg, The Local in Germany reported. (Read more lizards stories.)Sorry!

This content is not available in your regionBorderline Bagaran village in Armenias Armavir Province has no centralized water supply. Villagers collect water from a brook, full of frogs in the summer.

Iveta Mkhitaryan and her husband came here to collect drinking water for the week. Iveta says its been 30 years that shes married and all those years theyve been carrying water in containers.

"Its true, we take this water for a week, but, as a mother, I know we are doing a dangerous thing. However, since I dont have the opportunity to come here every day, I have to do it. We used to carry it by hand, and now we have purchased a Willys car to transport water, says Iveta.

Iveta and Grigor

Her husband, Grigor Ghazaryan, tells us that he cannot afford buying petrol every day, thats why they have to drink old water. The state health inspectorate prohibits us to drink this water, but what can we do, shall we die? Doesnt our government know how we live? asks Grigor.

Iveta Mkhitaryan says young people leave the village because of the water. They still use washing machines left from Soviet times, as they cannot buy modern equipment because of a lack of water. The girls do not want to marry Bagaran boys, and the boys leave the village.

"I have two sons, and they both want to leave. We take a bath with brook water. We take the water home, leave it for a couple of days, and then bathe. We let the dirt fall on the bottom. Right now, people in the village have diarrhea, they have intestinal issues, all because of water," adds Iveta.

Artur Garoumov

Bagaran residents are served by the Yervandashat Health Center CJSC. Company Director Artur Garoumov told Hetq that they havent yet learnt about any cases of intestinal illnesses in Bagaran. He says the relevant bodies inspect Bagaran water once in a year, but there is no chlorination done there.

"People use irrigation water a lot in Bagaran. They wash their plates with brook water, and so on. There are many cases where they build a toilet on the irrigation water, and sewage flows into the irrigation water. It's dangerous. The water issue should be resolved quickly, since there might be an infection at any time, says Garoumov.

Bagaran Mayor Gevorg Margaryan says nothing is done to address the drinking water issue. He says they had centralized water supply until 1989, when pipes went out of order. Government bodies dont seem to respond to the issue, and the community does not have the financial means to change the pipes on their own.

Bacteriological deviations and gastrointestinal diseases caused by water

Hetq studied the state of drinking water in ten provinces of Armenia, using the data of two years - 2016 and 2017. Bacteriological deviations in drinking water were found in 277 communities, according to the Order on Requirements for Drinking Water.

Theoretically, a small number of bacteria and coliform bacteria is considered to be a low risk for the health of the population, but there are types of bacteria that can cause disease. According to the Ministry of Health, despite the existing norms, the symptoms of the disease depend on a persons specifications, such as immune system, age, health, etc.

According to the Health Ministry, in 2017, 37 cases of intestinal infectious disease were registered in Metsavan community of Lori Province, 12 cases - in Sasunik community of Aragatsotn Province, 35 cases - in Khndzoresk community of Syunik Province.

Veolia Jour claims that it has inherited a bad system

Sona Martirosyan, Press Secretary of the State Committee of Water Economy, noted that Veolia Jour CJSC serves 400 settlements, while there are 570 other settlements not served by them.

According to the Committee, 700 million euros are required for the reconstruction of water supply and drainage systems throughout Armenia.

Since January 1 of 2017, Veolia Jour assumed the responsibilities of a single operator. Under the lease contract, the company has committed to ensuring the management of drinking water production and sales, wastewater treatment systems, increasing the efficiency and development of the distribution network.

In 2017, the company studied the overall situation and inventory defects and noted that the system had not been in good condition.

"We take samples every day from the whole system. If 95% have a positive index, it is believed that we provide good quality. Last year, we achieved 97.7%. In the part that we did not secure, there were shortcomings, but they were quickly settled, says the head of Veolia Jour CJSC public relations service Mourad Sargsyan.

He mentions the need to build water purification stations, since they were incorrectly built years ago. Seven laboratories were set up to strengthen water monitoring in the provinces.Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 24F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 24F. Winds light and variable.The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.

Community Perspective

Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer.

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Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer.Thousands gathered this evening in Yerevans Liberty Square to voice their opposition to former Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan from becoming the countrys next prime minister.

Rally participants, led by Civil Contract political party head Nikol Pashinyan then marched on France Square and staged a sit-down protest.Mumbai:

'Newton' director Amit V Masurkar on Friday said Rajkummar Rao deserved to win a National Award for best actor.

Rao played the title role of a green-horn government clerk who perseveres to conduct fair, free elections Masurkar's dark comedy on Indian democracy.

"Newton" was named the best Hindi film and a special mention was given to its actor Pankaj Tripathi.

The filmmaker said Rajkummar, who already has a best actor National Award to his credit for "Shahid", should have been recognised for the work he has done in the year gone by.

"I definitely feel Rajkummar should have been awarded, he has done a brilliant job not only in 'Newton' but others films like in 'Trapped', 'Bareilly Ki Barfi', he has done lot of good work this year (2017). And it would have been great if he would have got some award.

"(But) I don't think he holds such expectations. He is someone who does his work and moves on. He has worked on four-five films after 'Newton'," Masurkar told reporters here.

Actor Riddhi Sen was named the best actor for his performance in Bengali film "Nagarkirtan" at the 65th National Film Awards, that were announced on Friday.

He said Rajkummar is elated over how "Newton" performed at the awards.

"Yes. He is a very happy. He is a very positive person. He has won National award before. For us, it is the first time," the filmmaker said.

On "Newton" emerging victorious, Masurkar said, "It feels very good. We are very happy that 'Newton' got the best Hindi film award, thank you jury and people for the love and the whole team."

The director is happy that Tripathi received a special mention.

"We are happy that Pankaj ji got special mention. I did speak to them they all are very happy. Both Rajkummar and him are busy shooting. I wish they were here."

"Newton" was also India's official entry to this year's Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category. It did not, however, make it to the shortlist.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, extended his greetings to the nation on the auspicious occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

Launching a series of developmental projects the prime minister claimed that Bijapur will no longer be known as a backward district.

As per an official statement, PM Modi has dedicated the Bhanupratappur-Gudum Railway Line via video conference to the nation.

The prime minister has flagged off a train between Dalli Rajhara and Bhanupratappur on Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary. The passenger train will bring the north Bastar region on railways' map.

Besides these, he has inaugurated various other programmes, including a dialysis centre at Bijapur Hospital and a Health and Wellness Centre in Jangala.

The inauguration of both the centre mark the launch of the Union governments ambitious Health Assurance Programme Ayushman Bharat.

Ayushman Bharat aims to provide an amount of Rs 5 lakh to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

Later in the day, Modi has unveiled the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region.

This was PM Modi's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh.

Here are the Highlights on Ambedkar Jayanti:

# 08:19 PM: President Ram Nath Kovind & Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu launched a book 'Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar-Vyakti Nahin Sankalp' at Rashtrapati Bhawan. President said book covered the inspiring life of Dr. Ambedkar. It also referenced how PM Modi had been inspired by the life&message of Dr. Ambedkar.

#06:40 PM: Madhya Pradesh: President Ram Nath Kovind took part in a function in Mhow on the 127th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, earlier on Saturday. Governor Anandiben Patel and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan were also present.

Madhya Pradesh: President Ram Nath Kovind took part in a function in Mhow on the 127th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, earlier today. Governor Anandiben Patel and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan were also present. pic.twitter.com/81EQM92TCQ  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#02:54 PM: Today, I took a ride on the e-rickshaw of Savita Sahu Ji. She told me that she lost her husband in violence by Naxals and then she chose the path of empowerment. The government helped her and now she is living a life of dignity: PM Narendra Modi in Bijapur.

Today, I took a ride on the e-rickshaw of Savita Sahu Ji. She told me that she lost her husband in violence by Naxals and then she choosed the path of empowerment. The government helped her and now she is living a life of dignity: PM Narendra Modi in Bijapur pic.twitter.com/uEEmjRhYk8  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#02:22 PM: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar pays tribute to the Dalit icon on his 127th birth anniversary.

#02:21 PM: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and other state leaders pay tributes to Ambedkar.



#02:20 PM:

#WATCH PM Modi presented a pair of slippers to a tribal woman under the Charan-Paduka (footwear) Scheme. The scheme aims to provide footwear to Tendu leaves (tendupatta) collectors to facilitate smooth movement in the forest area pic.twitter.com/foExDYehoH  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#02:06 PM: If Bijapur can see development in 100 days then why can't the other districts witness the same? I came here to assure you that with all the development projects now Bijapur district will no longer be known as a backward district: PM Narendra Modi.

#01:58 PM: I salute the security personnel who are playing an important role in infrastructure development in Chhattisgarh: PM Narendra Modi in Bijapur

#01:49 PM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi presents a pair of slippers to a tribal woman under the Charan-Paduka (footwear) Scheme in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur. The scheme aims to provide footwear to Tendu leaves (tendupatta) collectors to facilitate smooth movement in the forest area.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presents a pair of slippers to a tribal woman in #Chhattisgarh's Bijapur. pic.twitter.com/PBq10BwxiA  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#01:45 PM: PM Narendra Modi at the launch of India's first wellness centre under Ayushman Bharat in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur.

#WATCH PM Narendra Modi at launch of India's first wellness centre under Ayushman Bharat in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur https://t.co/OC6HrnxBsP  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#01:44 PM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stones of various projects of central and state government in Bijapur.

#Chhattisgarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches India's first wellness centre under Ayushmaan Bharat and lays foundation stones of various projects of central & state government in Bijapur pic.twitter.com/QL0pvzpGjr  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#01:12 PM: Chhattisgarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of India's first wellness centre under Ayushmaan Bharat, in Bijapur.

#Chhattisgarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of India's first wellness centre under Ayushmaan Bharat, in Bijapur pic.twitter.com/IViuae6j4u  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#12:46 PM: Union minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes on his 127th birth anniversary.

#12:04 PM: BJP President Amit Shah paid tributes to BR Ambedkar at BJP office located on Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in Delhi.

BJP President Amit Shah paid tributes to BR Ambedkar at BJP office located on Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in #Delhi pic.twitter.com/bKcI1YP2Ji  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#11:41 AM: I want to tell Modi Ji and his govt that commemorating places related to Baba Saheb's life and inaugurating schemes in his name, will in no way lead to the development of Dalits: BSP Supremo Mayawati on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

I want to tell Modi Ji and his govt that commemorating places related to Baba Saheb's life and inaugurating schemes in his name, will in no way lead to development of Dalits: BSP's Mayawati #AmbedkarJayanti pic.twitter.com/xfp4Mt8qPl  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 14, 2018

#11:03 AM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Chhattisgarh's Jagdalpur.

#10:30 AM: Ahmedabad: Ruckus at an event on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti as MLA Jignesh Mevani's supporters tried to obstruct BJP MPs and members from garlanding BR Ambedkar's statue.

Ahmedabad: Ruckus at an event on the occasion of #AmbedkarJayanti as MLA Jignesh Mevani's supporters tried to obstruct BJP MPs & members from garlanding BR Ambedkar's statue. #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/eghNs9TDfG  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#10:24 AM: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pays tribute to Consitution maker B R Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary.

#9:23 AM: Congress President Rahul Gandhi and senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani paid tributes to BR Ambedkar at Parliament House.



Congress President Rahul Gandhi and senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani paid tributes to BR Ambedkar at Parliament House in #Delhi pic.twitter.com/reUES0r3Dp  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#9:20 AM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and others paid tributes to BR Ambedkar at Parliament House in New Delhi.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and others paid tributes to BR Ambedkar at Parliament House in #Delhi pic.twitter.com/dTX7HJOO4R  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

#8:50 AM: Greetings on Ambedkar Jayanti. Pujya Babasaheb gave hope to lakhs of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society. We remain indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of our Constitution, PM Modi tweeted on Ambedkar Jayanti.

Greetings on Ambedkar Jayanti. Pujya Babasaheb gave hope to lakhs of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society. We remain indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of our Constitution.



aaa aaaaaaaaaa aa aaaaaaaa aaaaa aa aaaaaaaaaaa aa aaa! pic.twitter.com/NZW6QsKgN0  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 14, 2018

#8:45 AM: On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, PM Modi greets nation; says the country remains indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of Constitution.

Honoured to inaugurate the Dr. Ambedkar National Memorial at 26, Alipur Road in Delhi. Sharing my speech on the occasion. https://t.co/SEi55s07DQ pic.twitter.com/qNXBWXDbAW  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 13, 2018

#8:40 AM: PM Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission in Chhatisgarh on Saturday.

#8:35 AM: PM Narendra Modi will visit Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar. PM Modi will leave New Delhi by an Air Force plane at around 9:20 am and reach Jagdalpur at 11:30 am. Post that he will take a helicopter to reach Jangla by 12:25 pm.

#8:30 AM: On Friday, PM Modi boarded the train at the Lok Kalyan Marg metro station to participate in the event, where he inaugurated the Dr Ambedkar National Memorial at 26, Alipur Road, on the eve of the Dalit icons birth anniversary.

#8:25 AM: On the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti, PM Narendra Modi travelled to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar National Memorial and back by the Delhi Metro.

#8:20 AM: Security has been beefed up in Uttar Pradesh in view of Ambedkar Jayanti to prevent any possible attempt at inciting violence, with political parties drawing up separate plans for the occasion.

#08:06 AM: A statue of BR Ambedkar in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh in Greater Noida was found damaged on Thursday - Read the full story here

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

A 21-year-old student of Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his hostel room on Friday, according to police.

The student, later identified as Gopal Maloo was a first-year student of Masters in Chemistry at the institute. Gopal, son of Samat Maloo was living in the Nilgiri boys hostel in Delhi and was a native of Hooghly district in West Bengal.

Police rescued his one-page suicide note from the spot. The note, written in Bengali, revealed that he was suffering from depression over being sexually abused since his childhood. He has also mentioned a few names in his suicide note. One of his roommates found him hanging and informed the police at 8:05 am on Friday.

Read | Woman alleges rape by BJP MLA, attempts suicide outside Yogi Adityanaths house

As per the police statement, earlier on April 10, Gopal tried to commit suicide by consuming sleeping pills and was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital. Post that, his brother, Bachoo ram, stayed with him and counselled for the betterment of his mental state.

According to sources, police will register an FIR under sections of unnatural sexual assault and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on the basis of the suicide note and handed it over to the West Bengal police.

Gopal had completed his graduation from a well-known university in Kolkata and had joined IIT-Delhi two months back for his masters.

Read | Indian-origin teenager found hanged in UK school grounds

He had never complained about being sexually assaulted when he was in Kolkata and he had shown no signs of depression either., according to his family members. The suicide note has been sent for forensic analysis. Gopal's brother is taking the body home on Saturday.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said "India wants to know" when its daughters will get justice as he thanked him for breaking his long silence on the Kathua and Unnao rape cases on Friday.

"Dear Prime Minister, Thank you for breaking your long silence. You said our daughters will get justice. India wants to know: when? #SpeakUp," Rahul tweeted.

Gandhi's tweet came soon after PM Modi assured justice in Kathua and Unnao rape cases claiming that no criminal will be spared.

Dear Prime Minister,



Thank you for breaking your long silence.



You said our daughters will get justice.



India wants to know: when?#SpeakUp  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 13, 2018

The prime minister opened up on the monstrous act after the Opposition upped the ante accusing the ruling BJP of shielding perpetrators of heinous crimes against women.

Speaking at an event in Delhi, the prime minister on Thursday said, " I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared and justice will be delivered to its daughters." His statement came as a reference to the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl in UPs Unnao and of an 8-year-old girl in J&Ks Kathua.

Later, on Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti requested J&K HC Chief Justice for the establishment of special fast-track court for Kathua Rape Case.

Read | Kathua rape case: Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti asks for fast track court to finish trial in 90 days

It will be the first special fast-track court in the state and is expected to complete the trial in 90 days.

According to PDP sources, accused Policeman are being terminated from service in connection to the case.

J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti to request J&K HC Chief Justice for establishment of special fast track court for #KathuaRapeCase, which will be the first in the state & is expected to complete trial in 90 days; accused Policeman are being terminated from service, say PDP sources.  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

Earlier, on Thursday, BJP MP Lal Singh said, "Those responsible for rape and murder of the 8-year-old in Kathua should be nabbed." Singh has submitted his resignation as J&K minister to state BJP President Sat Sharma on Thursday.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Kuldeep Singh Sengar, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker who is the main accused in the Unnao rape case, has been sent to seven-day CBI custody by a Lucknow court on Saturday.

Sengar, who was produced before the Lucknow court in the gang-rape case of a minor girl from Unnao, said he had full faith in the judiciary. While being taken to the court, Sengar was quoted saying I have faith in judiciary.

Sengar's lawyer said, "We support fair investigation. He has been sent to 7-day CBI custody"

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) detained Sengar on Friday morning and confirmed his arrest later in the day. Earlier in the day, the Allahabad High Courts bench comprising of Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Suneet Kumar had directed the CBI to arrest Sengar.

The court also ordered to investigate the case strictly in accordance with law and also consider to file an application for the cancellation of bail granted to the other accused in the case.

The Allahabad High Court had on Thursday rapped the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh (UP) government over its failure to arrest the accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar.

Also Read| Unnao Rape Case: CBI arrests BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar after High Court orders

After the high courts slamming, Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervened in the matter and ordered the CBI to take up the case and seriously investigate it.

The CBI had filed three FIRs (First Information Report) against Sengar, one being the alleged rape of the minor, second one pertains to rioting, where four locals had also been booked for allegedly killing the victims father, and third one pertains to the allegations against the victims father who was arrested under the arms act.

Sengar has been charged under the POSCO Act and other relevant sections under the Indian Penal Code.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said that various forces in the country are trying to divide the nation for their narrow political gains, thus slamming the Opposition directly.

Unfortunately, various forces in the country are trying to divide the nation for their narrow political gains. Nation means all living creatures of this land, unless you respect each human being, you cannot be called a nationalist, Naidu said, while simultaneously slamming the Opposition.

Naidu was addressing a gathering of media on the occasion of the book launch on Dr. Ambedkars life and experiences titled 'Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Vyakti Nahin Sankalp'. Naidu, along with President Ram Nath Kovind, launched the book at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.

The book was launched on Ambedkar Jayanti on Saturday.

Naidu said, A lawyer, an Economist, a Teacher, a Philosopher, a Social visionary and a Statesman - Dr. Ambedkar was the symbol of excellence that every Indian was inspired by. Dr. Ambedkar's thoughts have left an indelible, lasting footprint on the sands of contemporary Indian history.

Also Read| Ambedkar Jayanti LIVE updates: President Kovind, Venkaiah Naidu launch book on Dalit icon's life

The vice president praised Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision to run the country and said, We are indeed fortunate that the country is being led by a visionary leader like Narendrabhai Modi who has not only been inspired by Dr. Ambedkar's grand vision but has made it a mission to integrate this vision into the overall governance of the country.

On the 127th birth anniversary of the Dalit leader on Saturday, Naidu paid tribute to Ambedkars statue set up in Parliament.

While PM Modi flagged off a train between Dalli Rajhara and Bhanupratapur, President Ram Nath Kovind took part in a function in Mhow on the occasion of the Dalit icons birth anniversary.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced a joint attack on Syria along with its allies Britain and France. The operation was to target the 'criminal' regime of Bashar al-Assad and saying an alleged chemical attack had marked a 'significant escalation'.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a primetime televised address to the nation.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."A

LIVE Updates

# Donald Trump thanks France and UK, and tweets Mission Accomplished. He wrote, "A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished! a Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

#A Syria rebels say Western air strikes a 'farce' as long as Assad stays

#A Russian military says Syrian air defence systems intercepted 71 out of 103 cruise missiles

#A Military action in Syria was 'right and legal': British PM May

#A Germany backs 'necessary and appropriate military intervention' in Syria: Merkel

#A Russia calls emergency session of UN Security Council over Syria strikes: Kremlin

#A UK strikes in Syria appear 'highly successful': UK minister

#A Iran's Khamenei slams 'criminals' Trump, Macron, May after Syria strikes

#A France wants to relaunch Syria political process 'right now': minister

#A US-led strikes on Syria 'justified': Israeli official

#A Over 100 missiles fired at Syria, 'significant number' intercepted: Russian defence ministry

#A Iran warns of 'regional consequences' of Syria strikes

#A Strikes on Syria did not hit areas near Russian bases: Moscow

# In a statement released by NATO chief, they have shown support to Syrian strikes.

#A Strikes hit Syria as country had 'chance for peaceful future': Moscow

#A We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris, says Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador to the US

#A Russian envoy warns of 'consequences' after US-led strikes on Syria

#A 'Insulting' Putin is 'unacceptable': Russian embassy to US

#A Syria says joint attack 'flagrant violation,' 'doomed to fail'

#A The worst apprehensions have come true. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences: Anatoly Antonov, Russian Ambassador to US, on the strikes on Syria

# US Defense Secretary James Mattis says, 'No additional attacks planned in Syria'. He further said there are no reports of any loss from US in the operation.

#BREAKING No reports of US losses in Syria operation: Mattis a AFP news agency (@AFP) April 14, 2018

#A Macron says 'cannot tolerate normalisation of chemical weapons' in Syria

#A France's Macron says Syria strikes target 'regime chemical weapons capacity'

Map of Syria showing the overall military situation, with airports and key installations pic.twitter.com/YdXDQHTKww a AFP news agency (@AFP) April 14, 2018

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.paraklisi

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker (feastday: Dec 6/19) is one of the most beloved Saints of the Church. He is loved by so many because God has revealed St. Nicholas to be an ever-active intercessor, oftenThe icon of St Nicholas from upper Pinegaby V. Vereshchagin (1894)performing very practical, straightforward, miracles of healing and rescue that anyone can comprehend. Among these miracles, a number have been worked through the icons of Nicholas. Below is a small selection of St Nicholas icons that have performed, or continue to perform, miracles.1) Icon of St. Nicholas of ZarazskSt Nicholas of Zarazsk, Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (16th Century)The icon of St Nicholas of Zarazsk ( ) is one of the most well-known icons in Russia that plays a significant role in the nations early medieval history. Hailing from the ancient Byzantine colony of Korsun, in the Crimea, the icon of St Nicholas was said to be situated in the church in which Vladimir the Great was baptized in 988.In 1225 the icon was escorted by the priest Eustathius from Korsun to the Russian principality of Ryazan. This meant traversing the dangerous Polovtsian lands of the Tartars. Guided miraculously by St Nicholas, Fr Eustathius safely delivered the icon to Ryazans Prince Theodore. The prince built a church in honour of St. Nicholas, and placed the miraculous image within it.Catastrophe later came upon the land of Ryazan in the form of the Tartar-Ruler Batus forces. Prince Theodore was captured and later died. On hearing the news, Theodores wife, Eupraxia, threw herself, along with her baby son, from the bell-tower of a church rather than face Tatar captivity herself. It is this manner and/or location of death, associated with a prophecy of St Nicholas icon regarding Ryazan, that gave the icon its name Zaraysk.It wasnt until the 16th century, when the icon was transferred to Kolomna, that St Nickolas of Zarazsk gained a wider devotion. This is also the time the stories of the capture of Ryazan were written in their present form. Consequently, copies of the icon spread widely throughout Russia  distinctive in showing St Nicholas full-length, right arm raised in blessing, and left arm holding aloft a Gospel book. Some of these copies have also been considered wonder-working.2) Saint Nicholas Reappears on a Burnt IconFace of St. Nicholas Appears On Burnt Icon, Ukraine (2011)In more recent times, burnt planks of wood manifested the faces of Christ and St Nicholas when moved to the home of a villager in the Ukraine. The villagers farm belonged to a priest just before WWII, but the house was bombed by the Germans, and a new one was built. A much older shed remained until it burned down in a fire six years ago. Dismantling the wreckage, the 80 year-old woman was surprised to find two small planks with faint images upon them. Believing they were icons that had survived the fire, the lady removed them to her house, but promptly forgot about the indistinct images.Not long after the images cleared to reveal the faces of Christ and St. Nicholas. The boards were taken to the local church to be sanctified, and since then have gradually become clearer and clearer, with no cleaning by the owners. The old ladys house is now regularly visited by locals wishing to venerate the icons.3) The Miraculous Icon of St Nicholas in KokkariSt Nicholas of Kokkari, painted on Mt Athos, 1909In the secluded fishing harbour of Kokkari, is the largest church on Samos, and home to a wonder-working icon of St Nicholas. As a village based on fishing, it is unsurprising that the inhabitants wanted a church dedicated to St Nicholas  the patron of sea-travellers  nearby. Started in 1902, building of the church halted just a few years later due to political squabbles on Samos. At the same time, the icon of St Nicholas arrived from Mt Athos, where it had been specially painted for the church in Kokkari. As building had been halted, many of the churchs patrons were unwilling to pay for this costly icon, and it was set to be returned. However, a local wealthy doctor, received in a dream the message that his greed should not prevent the icon from staying in Kokkari, and settled the balance.From then on, the numerous miracles have been attributed to the icon. A sailor from Marathokampos, who had run aground in stormy seas, was guided to a safe beach by the light emitted by an image of St Nicholas. Heading to the nearest church, in Kokkari, to give thanks to St Nicholas, the sailor was amazed to see the icon, which had the same composition as the image which had guided him to safety. This miracle helped settle the petty squabbles of the villagers, and construction of the church was resumed, being finally completed in 1938. A little later, in the Summer of 1940, the icon began to weep  a miracle that was seen as a forewarning the terrible events that were to befall Greece during World War II.4) The Strange and Modern Miracle of St Nicholas IconThe miracle of Nicholas Icon and Zoe, 1956Through an icon of St Nicholas, a miraculous incident shocked and brought repentance to hundreds of people in the Russian Soviet city of Kuibyshev (modern day Samara), in the year 1956.On New Years Eve, a young woman called Zoe, caught up in the worldly celebrations, took down one of her pious mothers icons of St Nicholas and started to irreverently dance with it. Upon taunting God with the words, If He exists, let Him punish me, there was a flash of light, and Zoe became frozen to the spot, still clutching St Nicholas icon to her chest.Alive, conscious, but unable to move a limb, Zoe remained frozen like a statue until Easter, 128 days later. During that time physicians, a professor of medicine, priests, and the local bishop all visited her and left unable to explain what had happened, nor move her from where she stood. Meanwhile, Soviet guards were placed on the houses door to prevent the news spreading too far. Zoe could speak, and related her dreadful visions of the world burning lost because of its sins. On Easter day her muscles relaxed and she could finally move freely again. The young woman, now exhausted, related her experiences and the need for repentance, before reposing peacefully three days later.5) St. Nicholas O Streidas (of the Oyster)St. Nicholas of the Oyster ( )During the Iconoclastic period, the monks of Mt Athos sometimes threw the holy icons into the sea, reasoning that at least in the waves there was a chance of survival, whereas to hold on to them would mean sure destruction at the hand of the icon-smashers. Among these icons, was an rare mosaic (rather than painted) icon of St Nicholas.After the iconoclastic heresy was defeated, many of the monasteries of Athos were rebuilt. The brethren of one of these monasteries, dedicated to St John the Baptist, were fishing one day when they found in their net the mosaic icon of St Nicholas thrown into the sea years before. The icon had been miraculously preserved, except for one thing: an oyster shell was embedded in St Nicholas face. When the monks pulled the shell from the icon, they were amazed to see blood run from the wound. On hearing of this miracle, Patriarch Jeremiah the Elder rededicated the monastery of St John to Nicholas, giving it the name Stavronikita. The monastery remains today, along with the miraculous icon: crack and dried blood still clearly visible.6) The Myrrh-Streaming Icon of MichiganProcession of the Myrrh-Streaming IconThis icon is remarkable, but not unique, for being a myrrh-streaming printed image laminated onto a wooden board. The icon was made by the Isaac of Syria Skete in Wisconsin, but was not put on sale because it had failed the sketes strict quality-control standards. Placed in the reject bin of icons available as free gifts to visitors, it was given to the priest (Fr Elias) of St Georges Church, Michigan City, Indiana.In 1996, on St Nicholas feastday, Fr Elias and the Reader, Timothy, entered the church to be greeted by the strong smell of roses engulfing the entire nave. The smell was traced to the icon of St Nicholas, which had been placed on the icon-stand specially for the feast. The icon was found to be exuding myrrh in three streams, originating on Nicholas forehead, and coming through the icons laminate.Miracles have been attributed to this holy oil, and the icon itself travels around the United States, still exuding myrrh.7) Embroidered Icon of St Nicholas in AndrosIcon from Andros (17th century)The ancient St Nicholas Monastery in Andros is blessed with not only relics of the Saint himself, but at least two wonder-working icons of the Mother of God. In the narthex of the main church is also an unusual embroidered icon of St Nicholas that is claimed to work miracles too. The icon dates to the 17th century, when the abbot, Jakavos, went to Smyrna on monastery business. There he met an uneducated woman, Triandaphyla, who had gained a reputation for healing the sick, not only with herbs, but also with magic. Among those she had helped was a wealthy Turkish Pasha who, in gratitude, had given her a bag of gold. Abbot Jakovos spoke to her about the dangers to herself and others of using magic, and repenting, shereturned with him to Andros where she lived in the village of Messarion and was tonsured a nun with the name Leonida. She spent eleven years sewing the icon of St. Nicholas, and the threads of the hands and face are her own hair.8) Icon of Nicholas the Wet ( )An Icon of Nicholas the Wet ( )In Ukraine, and around Kiev in particular, are numerous churches dedicated to St Nicholas the Wet. This recounts a famous miracle of St Nicholas, as well as linking in with the Saints well known care for sailors and travelers. A Kievan man was sailing home on the river Dneper with his wife and baby, after celebrating the feast day of Ss Boris and Gleb in Vyshgorod. The wife dozed off and allowed her baby to fall into the waters. Frantically the two parents tried to save their child, calling out to St Nicholas in particular for help, but the baby was pulled under by the strong currents, lost. Distraught, the young couple returned home, begging St Nicholas that their child might at least survive.The next morning, the sacristan of St Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, heard the crying of a baby coming from within. To his amazement, despite the doors being locked all night, an infant was found dripping wet underneath the icon of St Nicholas. News spread and the parents were reunited with their child, confessing it to be a miracle of St Nicholas. Pilgrims flocked to the icon, which remained an object of veneration right up until it disappeared during the Second World War. The icon shown here is not the original, but an icon of the miracle. Here is what is thought to be a photograph of the original icon.9) The Wonder-Working Icon of Saint Nicholas in SpataMiraculous Icon of St Nicholas, SpataWithin the olive groves and rich farmland east of Athens, lays the small village of Spata, renamed Agios Nikolaos because of the miracles the Saint has performed in this area.There are two stories relating how the icon of St Nicholas was discovered. Both stories describe the icon being discovered by locals in a secluded, forested, spring, either a cave or an abandoned hermits cell, leading to speculation it is an ancient icon hidden during the iconoclastic period. Either way, each time the icon was brought to Spata for veneration, it miraculously returned to its original spot, letting the villagers know that is where the church to St Nicholas should be built near the spring.Innumerable examples of healing have been attributed to the St Nicholas shrine, including visions of the Saint himself. Among these phenomena are the account of wild animals entering the church, and unguided walking up to the holy icon of St Nicholas, and venerating it!10. The Invincible Icon of Nikolskaya TowerNicholas of Mozhaisk Icon on the KremlinGate icons, painted over the entrances to cities or palaces, were often found protecting gatehouses throughout Byzantium and, later, the Russian Empire. The Kremlin in Moscow had numerous, including the icon of St Nicholas over the entrance to St Nicholas (Nikolskaya) Tower.The icon itself depicts the miracle of Mozhaisk of 1302, when a besieging army of Tartars was routed by a giant apparition of St Nicholas above the city. The saintly-bishop appeared brandishing a sword in his right hand, and the city of Mozhaisk in his left hand, which put the Tartar horde to flight. From the 14th century onwards, icons of this miracle have been among the most popular depictions of St Nicholas in Russia. The vividness of the apparition is preserved in the remarkable number of statues and bas-relief icons of St Nicholas of Mozhaisk that exist, where such depictions are otherwise rare in Orthodox iconography. Nicholas of Mozhaisk is especially regarded as an image of protection from attack, which is presumably why it was chosen as the gate-icon for the Nikolskaya Tower, sometime in the 16th century.In 1812 when Napoleon retreated from Moscow, the tower, with the rest of the Kremlin, was set on fire. The spire was blown up and the roof over the gateway destroyed. However, the icon itself survived unscathed.Procession before the Kremlin icon (1918)The icons miraculous surviving ability was really put to test during the October Revolution. In the fighting, both Nikolskaya Tower and Nikolskaya Gate were damaged by explosives, machine-gun fire, hand grenades and rifle shots. Icons decorating the building were destroyed, but again St Nicholass image survived. Though pocked with bullet-holes, the stern gaze of St Nicholas continued to stare out at the Muscovites. Not long after, the Bolsheviks covered the icon with a red cloth, aware of how St Nicholas might be able to rally peoples faith in God.Then, in May of 1918, the red cloth covering St Nicholas was discovered ripped to shreds. Once again, the image of St Nicholas was miraculously revealed, and thousands of faithful thronged the square before Nicholas Tower carrying banners and icons. But the Godless Soviet government could not tolerate such devotion to Christ and His Saints, and the icons disappeared. No documentation existed, but it was assumed the icons were removed  perhaps destroyed  and the recesses plastered over.Now considered lost, the recesses above the gates of the Kremlin remained in this state until well into the 21st century. Wanting to replace the lost gate-icons, the plaster was removed in around 2004, only to reveal a metal mesh over the original icons. St Nicholas had been watching over the gates all the time, and a sympathetic workman had obviously sought to preserve his icon, and others, by applying the plaster over a protective metal mesh.An icon of Christ the Saviour was unveiled in August 2010, before the miraculous image of St Nicholas of Mozhaisk was also blessed by Patriarch Kirill on November 4, 2010, the Day of National Unity in Russia that commemorates the liberation of Moscow from foreign intervention.The last time I visited Bagaran, a community in Armavir Province bordering Turkey, was in 2009.

I recently returned and saw that nothing has changed.

Bagaran has no drinking water, natural gas and public transportation. The cultural center is shut and the dirt streets lack night lights.

Upon entering Bagaran, I saw that the door to the municipal building was open. No one was inside. Residents told me that one needs luck to meet with municipal employees since theyre not always at work.

The streets were empty as well. It was as if residents had locked their doors and left.

I did bump into a few people at a place called Frog Spring. They were loading water into various sized containers.

They were disillusioned. Living just a few hundred meters from the border had effectively made them invisible to the government in Yerevan.

Anghalat Ginosyan (photo) a nurse with the Yervandashat Health Center, often travels to Bagaran to see patients and complains about the condition of the roads. She also points an accusing finger at the indifference exhibited by local officials.

Theres no progress in the village. If you want to know the truth, no one oversees our village. Youve seen the condition of the streets. Theres no public transport, so we must wait in the road for someone to drive by and take us. But we have to take a taxi on the way back. And theres no gas. Were totally left on our own, Ginosyan says.

Bagaran Mayor Gevorg Margaryan told Hetq that the communitys budget amounts to AMD 15 million (US$31,000), of which 32% derives from local taxes and other revenue.

Noting that the budget cant pay for major projects like building a natural gas pipeline, Margaryan pins his hope on the central government or donor organizations.

In 2006, the community allocated 46 million drams to get a natural gas pipeline installed. Some of the money was pocketed, so the work was never finished, the mayor says.

Eight years ago, four villages in Armavir Province (Vanand, Koghbavan, Bagaran and Yervandashat) jointly launched a project to bring in natural gas from the main grid.

The four villages contracted with a company called Manshin Ltd. and handed over half the money up front. The company installed a large diameter gas pipe, but it only reached the village of Vanand.

Vahan Mkrtchyan, the Armavir branch manager of HayRusGazArd who founded Manshin Ltd., was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to four years in 2010. The court reduced the sentence to two years conditional release.

Referring to the problems facing Bagaran, Mayor Margaryan would begin each sentence with the words, Theres no money. If we have the money, well do the work.

When I asked Margaryan what steps he planned to take to renovate the cultural center, fix the roads, and install street lighting, the mayor responded such things needed a government approach.

Those are matters we cant tackle on our own. Our priority is drinking water. We can then work on fixing the cultural house, which used to show a movie every ten or twenty days, the mayor said, adding that the center shut its doors in 1990. (I wrote about the water problem in Bagaran in an April 12 article.)

The cultural center is quite large but has been completely stripped bare. It lacks doors and windows.

Trees, nourished by leaking rain water, have taken root on the second floorReject Serzh movement supporters have forced their way into the building housing Armenian Public Radio.

Nikol Pashinyan, who heads the Civil Contract political party, and is one of the leaders trying to prevent ex-Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan from becoming the countrys next prime minister, is demanding that the radio station provide him free airtime.

Reports are coming in that electricity to the building has been switched off.

Public Radio Executive Director Mark Grigoryan said he would consider the matter.The Osaka District Court on Friday sentenced a 25-year-old man to 30 years in prison for stabbing a resident to death with a dagger and injuring his three children at their home in the prefecture in 2016.

The Osaka District Court handed the term to Yuma Kobayashi, for whom prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

Defense lawyers had argued that Kobayashi, who had a history of schizophrenia, was mentally incompetent and could not be held criminally responsible for the attack.

According to the ruling, Kobayashi broke into the home of 43-year-old carpenter Yukinobu Kawakami, whom he had never met, in the city of Kadoma early on Oct. 19, 2016. It said he fatally stabbed Kawakami in the chest and back multiple times while he was asleep on the second floor, and injured his daughters, 19 and 21, as well as his 17-year-old son.

Presiding Judge Ryuta Asaka dismissed the prosecutorsa argument that Kobayashi was capable of taking full criminal responsibility, saying he asignificantly lost self-controla due to paranoid schizophrenia.

aThe act was cold-blooded and cruel as the defendant quietly broke into the home to make sure the family would be killed and one-sidedly attacked the four, who were defenseless,a the judge said.

The judge said the 30 times the defendant stabbed Kawakami highlighted the persistent and inhumane nature of the crime and that the maximum prison term of 30 years was appropriate.Last week, the anime world suffered the sad loss of Isao Takahata, one of the mediumas most respected directors and a founding member of Studio Ghibli, who passed away on April 5 at the age of 82.

Though Takahata is best known for his 1988 postwar tragedy Grave of the Fireflies, his 1994 Pom Poko (also known as Heisei Era Tanuki War Pom Poko) has its own tale of sadness to weave as it follows a pack of tanuki (raccoon dogs) who, like their folklore counterparts, can speak and have magical powers. In the film, the tanukisa woodland home in the Tokyo suburbs is being increasingly encroached upon by human residential development, mirroring real-life expansion of the city during the period when the anime was released. Pom Poko is filled with fantastical and farcical comedy (such as tanuki swinging their famously large testicles as weapons), but also presents the conflict as a genuine life-or-death situation, with casualties on both the human and tanuki sides dryly included as a matter-of-fact consequence of the conflict.

Once again opting for realism over sentimentalism, as the movie goes on the tanuki have to resign themselves to the fact that their animal concerns and coercive capabilities arenat enough to deter the construction, and their land is redeveloped. Now, in a parallel to that, a Shinto shrine featured in Pom Poko might be being torn down in order to make room for a parking lot. - soranews24.comThe operator of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain says it has just passed an important milestone, the brand's overseas sales topped those at home in Japan for the first time for a fiscal half-year.

Fast Retailing is aggressively expanding overseas operations and the boss is pumped.

Fast Retailing CEO Tadashi Yanai said, "I'm feeling more excited than ever before in my life. Our clothes have achieved wide brand recognition around the world."

The chain's overseas sales jumped 29% to 4.7 billion dollars in the six months through February.

Domestic revenue came to 4.6 billion.

Thermal underwear and light down jackets sold well in China and South Korea.

Fast Retailing revised its outlook up. It now expects record sales and net profit for the whole year through August.Japanese men and women seem to sleep as much as one hour less than people from other countries.

In 2014, we shared a study that suggested that Japanese citizens sleep far less than their international counterparts. Four years have passed, and it seems like that still holds true. Using worldwide data compiled through their Polar A370 and Polar M430 model fitness trackers, Polar Electroas Japan branch revealed that once again, Japan is lacking in the sleep department.

The data compares male and female fitness tracker users from 28 countries all over the world, and reveals that Japanese men and women sleep an average of 6 hours and 35 minutes per night, which is 45 minutes less than the international average, and nearly an hour difference from Finland, whose users seem to sleep the most.

The top five countries where men and women got the most sleep on average were:

Men: Finland (7:24), women: Finland and Belgium (7:45)

Men: Estonia (7:23)

Men and women: France and Estonia (7:23 and 7:44 respectively)

Men and women: Austria (7:21 and (7:36, respectively)

Men: Holland (7:20), women: Holland and Canada (7:41)Ending a two-week anti-Serzh Sargsyan march that kicked off in Gyumri and that wound its way throughout various towns in Armenia, Civil Contract political party head Nikol Pashinyan and supporters reached Yerevan on April 13.

The Im Kayl (My Step) march, an amalgam of citizens opposed to ex-Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans likely election as the countrys next prime minister, ended in Yerevans Liberty Square where several thousand people were waiting to hear what the movements leadership would propose in terms of a specific strategy.

Pashinyan had told reporters that the plan was to bring Yerevan life to a halt, blocking traffic and staging sit-downs in strategic locations.

Before reaching Liberty Square, the marchers headed for Yerevan State University, demanding a face-to-face meeting with Rector Aram Simonyan.

They wanted to confront Simonyan and charge him with turning the university into a tool used by Serzh Sargsyan and the ruling Republican Party of Armenia to enslave students entering into adulthood.

In Pashinyans words, the university had become a den of the Republican Party Mafiosi.

The marchers pushed their way in, demanding to see Simonyan, but the rector never appeared. The joke appearing in the social media was that the rector had hid under a desk.

Pashinyan and the activists left the university and proceeded to Liberty Square.

Taking the impromptu installed stage on the steps of the Opera House, Pashinyan told the crowd that the movements number one priority would be to prevent Sargsyans election as prime minister and forever remove him from a position of government power.

Pashinyan began a rhetorical critique of Sargsyans last ten years as president of Armenia, citing the lack of any progress in tackling systematic corruption, halting emigration from the country, and improving the preparedness of the countrys military.

The firebrand parliamentary deputy, who leads the Yelk Alliance Faction in the National Assembly, then called out Sargsyan for breaking an earlier promise not to seek the office of prime minister, describing Sargsyans argument that ensuring Armenias continued security was the main reason he couldnt just walk away and retire from politics.

Pashinyan shot this justification full of holes, reminding the crowd that the army, under Sargsyans tenure as both defense minister, prime minister and president had fallen woefully behind Azerbaijan when it comes to procuring modern military equipment.

Pashinyan noted that Armenian soldiers on the frontline, in Artsakh and along Armenias border with Azerbaijan are equipped with secondhand military equipment dating back to the 1980s and that families of the soldiers are forced to send them clothes and other basic items.

He also declared that if enough people show up in support, the movement planned to encircle the National Assembly to prevent deputies from staging an election on April 17 to select the countrys next prime minister, a position with expanded powers under the new constitution that sets the stage for Armenia to transition into a parliamentary form of government.

When the speeches ended at Liberty Square, those in attendance then marched on nearby France Square. Pushing past the police, the protesters occupied the square. Tents were pitched, and many spent the night there.

On April 14, a contingent of activists, including Pashinyan, marched on the building housing Armenian Public Radio. Pushing past a security guard or two, the activists confronted management and demanded that Pashinyan be afforded some free airtime to announce an upcoming rally scheduled for later in the evening.

After some tense negotiations, Management rejected this demand.

Pashinyan told reporters on the scene that he wasn't surprised that the government-controlled station rejected the demand and urged citizens to attend todays rally.

That rally kicked off today at around 7pm local time.

Pashinyan told the crowd that the movement, which united the My Step and Reject Serzh initiatives, is now tasked with locating Serzh Sargsyan who seems to have gone underground.

He said that todays scheduled council session of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia took place in Tzaghkadzor, and not the partys main Yerevan office. Pashinyan claimed the change of venue was due to the fact that the Anti-Serzh Movement had declared its intention to encircle the Republican Partys Yerevan office.

At the rally, Pashinyan told the crowd that earlier today, upon entering the Public Radio building, the marchers were confronted by a Kalashnikov carrying policeman who loaded his weapon when seeing the activists storming through the doors. Pashinyan said they raised their hands in the air to signal their peaceful intentions.

Pashinyan affirmed his resolve to struggle on, despite what awaits him.

You want to open fire, go ahead. I will not stop in the face of your illegalities. I will go on, and if the people follow, do your worst. March on and reject Serzh, Pashinyan told the crowd, reaffirming the movements intention to form a human chain around the parliament building.

He urged opposition forces to unite, declaring they had no right to disillusion the people yet again.

Photo of Nikol Pashinyan by Saro BaghdasaryanOTL in 1842:

The Prussian army had adopted the only breech-loading, paper cartridge, rapid fire rifle in the world. The rest of the world used muskets.

Austro-Hungary alone had a larger army than the French army and the German league included dozens of other armies, including the large Prussian, Bavarian and Saxon armies.



Mexico and Cuba are extremely weak. Texas and Yucatan are independent countries with very weak navies and armies, yet the Mexican army is not in a condition to defeat them and reincorate the valuable provinces.



Individually, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Holland, Sardinia, Naples, Spain and France had much weaker armies than the combined German League's forces. Especially since Prussia had the new rifle.



Boer South Africa, the PI, Thailand and Uruguay have extremely weak armies and valuable territories and location.



Even the US army and navy are quite weak.



ATL:



The king of Prussia is a worthy descendant of Frederick the Great, he has studied Frederick, Genghis Khan and Sun Tsu asiduously for years. He realizes that the Dreyse gun will make the unified German army invincible.



Prussia builds 3 large factories to mass produce the Dreyse gun.



In October 1941 the king travels to Vienna and Munich with Dreyse guns. He explains to governments and kings that a huge, unified and retrained German army, armed with hundreds of thousands of dreyse guns will allow Germany to incorporate all the invaluable countries in western Europe, incorporating their navies (Danish, Swedish, Dutch, French, etc,), armies (Swiss, French, Dutch, Danish, etc,) and colonies, and enabling unified Germany to invade Sardinia, Sicily, Naples and extremely weak, but most valuable Texas, Mexico, Cuba, Yucatan, Uruguay, Boer South Africa, PI, Thailand, etc, incurring few casualties and in a short time.



If Germany is promptly unified, it will build a large RR network, shipyards in Italya and factories to produce Dreyse guns in Milano, Stutgart, Munich, Leipzig, etc, and expand the armed forces, creating large numbers of jobs.



A large and superiorly armed German army will coax piecemeal Denmark, Switzerland (almost surrounded by German forces), Holland, Sweden, and eventually France to request German annexation, Germany will incorporate, retrain and rearm the armed forces of the annexed territories, to invade weak Latin America, S. Africa, PI, etc, and eventually the US.



As soon as Denmark is annexed, its navy will enable German invasion of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, etc, consolidating German domination in Italy.



The entire German league realizes that this is a golden opportunity. Germany unifies in Feb 1842, the king of Prussia is crowned Kaiser.



Two weaks after his crowing, the Kaiser travels to Denmark and shows government and king the Dreyse gun. He explains that if Denmark requests German annexation, its armed forces will be incorporated into the German army and expanded. Germany will order dozens of ships from Danish shipyards, build RRs, factories, etc, and buy all surplus agricultuiral products at the lowest price in the market.

If Denmark does not request annexation within a week, Germany will invade it with a large army, armed with this gun.

The Kaiser also dispatches a delegation with a Dreyse gun and cartridges to Boer S. Africa. The delegation arrives and shows the gun to government leaders. If S. Africa requests German annexation, Germany will build a factory to produce gun can cartridges. It will also build a RR line, shipyards, towns, etc, and send over 100,000 settlers to secure, develop and expand S. Africa. If S. Africa does not request annexation within a week, Germany will invade it.



Within 5 days Denmark requests German annexation, since its tiny army is no match for the German army and since it needs German trade and funds to modernize itself.



S. Africa knows that it is a matter of time until a large force from Britian, France or Germany invades it and it is impressed by the new rifle and the influx of Europeans to boost the vast country. It also requests annexation.



The Kaiser orders the Danish navy to deploy to the Med to enable the invasion of Sardinia, etc, He sends delegations to Switzerland and Holland to show the gun and offer orders for ships to be built in the Holland and factories and RR to be built in Switzerland and Holland, Suriname and the DEI if they request annexation. Otherwise, they will be invaded after a week.

Swiss and Cuthc are impressed by the gun and the size and training of the German army. They both have small armies and long German borders. They are untenable. On the other hand, they can greatly benefit from strong trade with a rapidly expanding Germany. Both request annexation a day before the ultimatum expires, while German forces build up along their borders.Gregory Vincent

GENEVA, N.Y. -- The president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges resigned Friday, according to a news release from the colleges.

Gregory Vincent told the board of trustees about his resignation just eight months after being named the schools' president, the release said.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, an anonymous email was sent to several media outlets that claimed Vincent plagiarized his dissertation that earned him his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania.

In a statement to The Chronicle, Thomas S. Bozzuto, the chair of the Board of Trustees, said "Hobart and William Smith Colleges are aware of the allegations in the anonymous email and are committed to thoroughly and seriously investigating them. This process to examine the issue fully and fairly has already begun."

The email said Vincent used other works without citing them, according to The Chronicle.Syracuse, N.Y. -- A destructive ice storm could bring down trees today in Western New York, and high winds expected Sunday and Monday could cause even more damage and power outages.

The National Weather Service has issued a rare ice storm warning for Western New York, and a winter storm warning for the Tug Hill.

Weather service forecasters say a half-inch of ice is possible today and Sunday, enough to break tree branches and bring down power lines. High winds could make it worse; a high wind watch is in effect for the Tug Hill, where gusts could hit 60 mph.

Total ice accumulation expected in Upstate New York through 2 p.m. Sunday.

"Significant icing and gusty winds are expected," the weather service said. "Power outages and tree damage are likely due to the strong winds and ice."

The ice storm warning is in effect from 2 p.m. today until 2 p.m. Sunday for Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, and Livingston counties. The wind watch is for Tug Hill counties from Sunday night through Monday afternoon.

"Damaging winds will be possible, which will bring down numerous trees and power lines, which may still be coated with ice," the watch said.

Most of Upstate New York is under a winter weather advisory today for sleet and freezing rain.

Contact Glenn Coin: Email | Twitter | Google + | (315) 470-3251To avoid a repeat of some of the mistakes and flaws that hallmarked the 2015 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has embarked on moves to ensure credible polls, next year. It has also urged the electorate to do their part of the duties by getting registered as voters, collecting their Permanent Voters Card, PVC, and coming out to vote during the elections.Lamenting that some Nigerians are already hurting the electoral process, the INEC told Saturday Vanguard that many people are unwilling to collect their PVCs, lamenting that it now has over eight million of such uncollected cards in its kitty.Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)INECs Director in-charge of Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and Civil Society Liaison, Mr Oluwole Osaze Uzi, in an interview with Saturday Vanguard, added that while the commission in some cases had tried to reach out to some Nigerians to come and claim their cards, many of them said they were not interested or that they had relocated from were they were registered.His words: You know we do not distribute PVCs. They are collected. The onus is on those collecting. There are quite a few cases where the cards have not been printed but that is not the main issue. The issue is the collection. We have over eight million cards lying down in our offices, uncollected, and we have distributed them to our distribution points. It is now an issue of the collection. So, we are putting in place measures to assist those that are willing to collect their cards. We are simplifying the process, ensuring maximum publicity so that people will know the importance because, automatically, they are disenfranchising themselves when they do not pick up their cards. We are trying to persuade people. Some are not interested.Sometimes, we even try to call them. In Oyo State, I know that they even had to call people on phone but those that they were able to reach said they were not interested in the cards. Some said that they had relocated. So, we are making efforts. In some states, they have sent text messages too for collection.2015 election mistakesNon-distribution/collection of PVCs was one of the problems that plagued the 2015 election. While the INEC insisted on individual collection in some parts of the country, it allowed monarchs or district heads to collect and distribute the cards in other parts of the country.Other problems included: malfunctioning card readers; inability of Direct Data Capturing Machine, DDCM, to capture fingerprints of voters in many locations; some states had surplus DDCMs and accessories while others had few; people dislocated by violence vote in some locations but could not vote in some parts of the country; and poor handling of the voters register in which 82,206 men were captured as housewives (due to input error during voter enrolment) among others.According to the INECs Smart Card Reader Accreditation Backend Transmission System of the 2015 Presidential and National Assembly Elections, only 10,266,139 (43 per cent) of the 23,643,479 voters accredited had full-biometric authentication while 13,377,340 (57 per cent) failed biometric authentication and were allowed to vote if they showed their PVC.Going further, there were 23,643,479 accreditations but the total votes cast (declared result) was 29,432,083 and percentage of voters accredited with smart card readers, CSRs, was put at 80.A breakdown of the accreditation showed that while the INEC enforced full-biometric accreditation in many parts of the South the measure was relaxed in most parts of the North.For instance, states where most of the voters voted without full-biometric accreditation include: Kano (82.5%), Nasarawa (78.6%), Sokoto (77.1 %), Zamfara (75%), Taraba (75 %), Kwara (73.4%), Katsina (72.4%), Borno (69.6%), Yobe (68.6 per cent), Kebbi (66.8 %), Jigawa (66%), Bauchi (61.3%), Niger (57.2%), Kaduna (54%), and Plateau (52.6%).Southern states where most voters voted without full-biometric accreditation were Bayelsa (77%), Imo (64.1%), Ebonyi (59.4%), Anambra (57.1%), Akwa Ibom (55.2%), Enugu (52.9%, and Ekiti (50.5%).States where the INEC strictly ensured full-biometric accreditation until later in the day had a lower percentage of people voting with only PVC accreditation. Most of such states are in the South. They include: Lagos (24.6%), Abia (31.9%), FCT (36.5%), Osun (38.9%), Delta (39.8%), Oyo (41.2%), Kogi (42.2%), Edo (43.7%), Ogun (44.4%), Cross River (45.5%), Ondo (46.3%), Gombe (47%), Benue (48.5%), and Adamawa (48.9%) (see table).I have heard it said on BBC reports and in several major newspapers that (for example) 'Russia has rejected calls for an independent inquiry' (into the alleged gas attack at Douma, Syria). or that Russia has 'rejected Washington's call for an independent investigation'. (Both these are verbatim quotations from a major BBC news programme). A similar cliam ws repeated as fact by a panellist on BBC Radio 4's 'Any Questions' last night, I have no doubt this panellist believed it, had no intention to mislead and was reasonably relying on the veracity of reports form reputable media. But....

To put it mildly, these reports are seriously misleading. In some cases they are actual untrue statements (Suggestio Falsi) in others, they involve the telling of half-truths which conceal the full truth (Suppressio Veri).

This is easily checked. the shocking thing is that these reports see,m to have been made without any such checking. I checked them because they struck me (as, I might claim, a fairly experienced reporter of political and diplomatic matters) as highly unlikely to be true.

The UN's own website shows

that the Russian Federation, as well as the USA, proposed a motion at the Security Council ca;ling for an independent inquiry into the incident. . The UN says: 'By the terms of that text, the Council would have established a United Nations *independent mechanism of investigation* (my emphasis,PH) , also for an initial period of one year, and urged it to fully ensure a truly impartial, independent, professional and credible way to conduct its investigation. It would have further directed the mechanism to make full use of all credible, verified and corroborated evidence collected by the OPCW fact-finding mission, while also directing it to collect and examine additional information and sources not obtained or prepared by the mission, including all information provided by the Government of Syria and others on the activities of non-State actors.'The Nigerian Army said it has arrested the masterminds of killings in Taraba State.The army said its troops on the ongoing Exercise Ayem Akpatuma, last Friday, arrested two persons, Mr Danasebe Gasama and Mr Danjuma a.k.a. American in connection with the killings and uprising in Takum and Ussa Local Government Area of Taraba State.Army spokesman, Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, in a statement, Saturday morning, said the two suspects were arrested at Takum following an intelligence that they were the coordinators of several attacks both on Fulani and the locals.The statement said: Preliminary investigation has further identified these two individuals as key players in the killings and uprising in the two local government areas of the state.The general public is advised to always give useful and timely information to the security agency for prompt action, it added.The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of pre-dawn strikes against Syrias regime Saturday in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack, lighting up the sky of Damascus as explosions shook the city.Branding the alleged gas attack the crimes of a monster, US President Donald Trump announced the action against President Bashar al-Assads regime in a White House address, defying fierce warnings from Damascus ally Russia.A few minutes later, an AFP correspondent in Damascus heard a series of huge blasts and residents rushed to their balconies. For around 45 minutes, explosions echoed and the sound of warplanes roared over the city, as flashes flared in the distance.As dawn broke, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the citys north and east.In the biggest foreign military action so far against Syrias regime, Western officials said a barrage of cruise and air-to-land missiles hit targets near Damascus and in Homs province including a scientific research centre, storage facilities and a command post.Trump had suggested US military action could be on a large scale, but Saturdays attacks were narrowly targeted and the facilities hit had reportedly been evacuated in recent days.Syrian state media reported only three people injured and Russias defence ministry said there were no victims among Syrian civilians and military personnel. Evil and despicable attack Trump left no doubt the strikes were a direct response to an alleged April 7 chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma that rescuers and monitors say killed more than 40 people.The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead, Trump said.US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said no additional strikes were planned for now. Right now this is a one-time shot, he said.Syrias regime, which has repeatedly denied any use of chemical weapons, immediately denounced the strikes as a brutal, barbaric aggression that was doomed to fail.Russia said it was calling an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions of the United States and its allies.Without the sanction of the UN Security Council, in breach of the UN charter and the norms and principles of international law, an act of aggression was committed against a sovereign state, the Kremlin said.Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also denounced the leaders of the United States, France and Britain as criminals.Joseph Dunford, Washingtons top general, said Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries had attempted to fire back, but there were no initial reports of losses, he added.The Russian military said the allies had fired 103 cruise missiles including Tomahawk missiles but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them. Defiant rally in Damascus At a rally in central Damascus, 48-year-old Nedher Hammoud claimed to have seen missiles being shot down like flies.Let them do what they want, kill who they want History will record that Syria shot down missiles  and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance.The impromptu early morning rally saw crowds of people heading to the famed Umayyad Square to show their support for Assad.Draped in government flags and blaring patriotic tunes, dozens of Syrians arrived on bicycles, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white, and black colours of the Syrian flag.Inspectors with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were due later Saturday to start work on a probe into the events of April 7 in Douma, the last rebel-held pocket of the onetime opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.The Jaish al-Islam rebel group in control of Douma said the attack forced them to agree to a Russia-brokered evacuation deal, paving the way for Syrias government to secure Eastern Ghouta.Mohammad Alloush, a key member of Jaish al-Islam, said Saturday the Western strikes had not gone far enough.Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal  a farce, Alloush wrote on Twitter.Syrian state media reported that internal security forces had entered Douma on Saturday and that the town would be secured within hours.The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the attack in Douma, which prompted a furious reaction from Trump.Trumps anger was shared by Frances President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons, Macron said in a statement.France said it fired cruise missiles from frigates in the Mediterranean and deployed fighter jets from home bases as part of its strikes.Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said a large part of the Damascus governments stocks of chemical weapons had been destroyed.Britains defence ministry said that four British Tornado jets had fired Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles (25 kilometres) west of Homs city.This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons, Prime Minister Theresa May said at a press conference after the strikes. UN chief urges restraint In the days between the attack in Douma and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling statements and debates.Moscow denied Assad had any role in the alleged attack, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain staged the event.Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assads guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had proof.The Western leaders apparently found the evidence conclusive enough to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned the crisis could escalate.The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putins administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for calm, delaying a planned trip to Saudi Arabia to deal with the aftermath of the military action.I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances, he said in a statement.President Muhammadu Buhari has reassured the parents of the school girls that were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School Chibo...

President Muhammadu Buhari has reassured the parents of the school girls that were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno State, that their daughters will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate, despite four long years since they were taken away by terrorists.President Buhari, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, joined the Borno State government, parents of the children and Nigerians in commemorating the fourth anniversary of the sad incidentHe prayed that the event at the daughters school today will go well.The President urged the parents to keep their hopes alive on the return of their daughters, noting that the recovery of more than a 100 of the girls that were kidnapped through the Federal Governments determined effort should give confidence that all hope is not lost.He re-affirmed that the government remains focused and determined to see the girls return to their homes, urging the parents to be expectant of more good news in due course.We are concerned and aware that it is taking long to bring the rest of our daughters back home, but be assured that this administration is doing its very best to free the girls from their captors.Unfortunately, the negotiations between the government and Boko Haram suffered some unexpected setbacks, owing mainly to a lack of agreement among their abductors, whose internal differences have led to a divergence of voices regarding the outcome of the talks. We know that this is not the news parents want to hear after four whole years of waiting, but we want to be as honest as possible with you.However, this government is not relenting. We will continue to persist, and the parents should please not give up. Dont give up hope of seeing our daughters back home again. Dont lose faith in this governments ability to fulfill our promise of reuniting you with our daughters.Dont imagine for a moment that we have forgotten about our daughters or that we consider their freedom a lost course, the President said.President Buhari assured that as long as he remains the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces the Chibok girls will never be forgotten and all will be done to have them reunited with their families.On April 14, 2014, Saraya Amos and 56 of her classmates staged a daring escape from Boko Haram jihadists who raided their secondary school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria.Unlike the 219 girls who were spirited away in a convoy of trucks into the darkness, most of them not to be seen again for several years, the 57 were considered the lucky ones.But as Nigeria on Saturday marks the fourth anniversary of the mass abduction that captured world attention, some of the ones that got away are unhappy and feel abandoned.Most of the 106 who have been found or freed as a result of government negotiations with Boko Haram are now studying at the private American University of Nigeria in Yola, Adamawa state.We deserve equal treatment and opportunity, said Amos, who still lives with her parents in Chibok and helps on the family farm.Those rescued are now studying at the university while we have been forgotten.While the former captives have gone back to education at the AUN, Amos and other escapees say they have struggled to finish theirs, despite government pledges of support.High school tuition fees were covered but auxillary costs such as travel and food have made staying in education impossible, they say.Amos said that has destroyed her dream of becoming a lawyer.We feel extremely bad and abandoned, our future is hanging in the balance because the chance of furthering our education is bleak, she added. Frustrated Hadiza Fali, 20, wants to become an agricultural engineer. She said it was painful and frustrating to see that not all the Chibok girls fortunes have turned out the same.I dont envy my colleagues who are in school, I only feel let down and treated like a second-class citizen. I so much want to continue with my education if given the chance, she said.We are not in school, we have been idling away at home for the past one year doing nothing, apart from helping out parents on the farm.Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the Chibok girls parents association, said students who gained the results to head to university were in limbo and their impoverished parents were unable to help.It is true the girls are still at home without anything to do because the promise that the government made to them has not been fulfilled, Nkeki said.I met with some of the parents of the girls who bitterly complained that the government has abandoned their daughters at home.Despite global publicity about the kidnapping, the girls plight is not unusual in Nigerias remote northeast, where access to education was low even before the start of Boko Harams bloody insurgency in 2009.According to Nigerias Demographic and Health Survey in 2013, just eight per cent of women in the region complete secondary school.Nine years of fighting has equally made it harder for students in impoverished rural areas, as Boko Haram has targeted schools and teachers. Too difficult The Borno state government pledged to spend 1.5 million naira ($4,167, 3,400 euros) on each of the girls who escaped their abductors every year until they finished university.Three attended a missionary college in the United States with the help of a Christian charity.Fifty-four others from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok were enrolled in two private boarding schools elsewhere in Nigeria.Christians were sent to study in the central city of Jos while Muslim students were taken to the northern city of Katsina.Seventeen girls dropped out because their parents could not afford to pay for food and basic toiletries, such as sanitary napkins.Surprisingly, the parents of the girls were left to substantially pay for their daughters upkeep while in school, said Ayuba Alamson, a community leader in Chibok.On one occasion I had to kneel before a mother and begged her to allow her daughter return to school in Jos.Three of the girls sent to Katsina dropped out because their parents could not raise the 12,000 naira ($33, 27-euro) transport fare for the 730-kilometre (450-mile) trip back to school at the end of holidays.They found it too difficult to cope and dropped out, said Yagana Yamane, who wants to be a doctor.Instead of forging a potential career, they are following a familiar path.One of them has gotten married and the other two are planning their weddings, said the 18-year-old, who fears marriage may be the only option for her as well.In commemoration of the 4th year since the abduction of Chibok Schoolgirls, speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has expressed sadness that all the abducted girls have not been accounted for while urging the executive to intensify efforts towards providing adequate security to schools in the country.This, he said in a statement on the fourth year since the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls.He also called on the executive to intensify efforts for the release of Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi girl who was not released along with other abductees, reportedly for refusing to renounce her faith.Hon Dogara said, It is unfortunate that four years after, all of our daughters have still not been accounted for. This underpins the need to take swift action when such incidents occur and to provide adequate security, not on a temporary basis but permanently, so that such tragedies can be prevented.Nigeria has an alarming number of children out of school and if we genuinely want to solve this challenge, then we must make our learning institutions as safe and secure as possible.One can only imagine the amount of grief that the parents of those whose daughters are yet to be rescued have to cope with on a daily basis. While we may offer words of support, the fact remains that nothing will put them in better spirits than to be reunited with their children.I hereby call on President Muhammadu Buhari, as the father of the nation and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, to put an end to their sorrow by freeing their daughters from captivity.We must also remember Leah Sharibu and her remarkable bravery and intensify efforts as a nation to bring her home. All others who were taken by these terrorists against their will must also be reunited with their people. The security of lives and property is the foremost function of government and we must fulfil this responsibility because the Constitution makes it binding upon us to do so.We must ensure, as a nation, that attacks on schools and on our children are brought to an end; for there is no better way to safeguard the future than to guarantee access to education.We will not forget the Chibok Girls and everything that they represent, and we in Parliament will not cease to push for their rescue.American President, Donald Trump announced that a coalition of America, Britain and France have begun airstrikes against the Syrian govern...

American President, Donald Trump announced that a coalition of America, Britain and France have begun airstrikes against the Syrian government to punish its alleged chemical attack that presumably killed more than 70 people.

He announced the airstrikes in a national address on Friday evening, saying the airstrikes would target the Syrian government chemical weapon capabilities.





America President Donald Trumps statement:

My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.





Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action.

One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian Air Force.





Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians  this time, in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.





The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead.





Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation.





The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power  military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.





I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.





To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?





The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.

In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syrias chemical weapons. Assads recent attack  and todays response  are the direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise.





Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday well get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran  but maybe not.

I will say this: The United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.





In Syria, the United States  with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS  is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.





The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS.





America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home. And great warriors they are.

Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil, or act everywhere there is tyranny.





No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. Its a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of the World War I, more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return.





So today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.

Tonight, I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions.





We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

Thank you, and goodnight. Thank you.





British Prime Minister Theresa Mays statement:

This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use. We are acting together with our American and French allies. In Douma, last Saturday a chemical weapons attack killed up to 75 people, including young children, in circumstances of pure horror.





The fact of this attack should surprise no-one. The Syrian Regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way. And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack. This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped  not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons. The fact of this attack should surprise no-one. The Syrian Regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way. And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack. This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped  not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons.





We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this. But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted. Even this week the Russians vetoed a Resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack. So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime.





This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties. And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian Regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity.





At this time, my thoughts are with our brave British servicemen and women  and our French and American partners  who are carrying out their duty with the greatest professionalism. The speed with which we are acting is essential in co-operating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations. At this time, my thoughts are with our brave British servicemen and women  and our French and American partners  who are carrying out their duty with the greatest professionalism. The speed with which we are acting is essential in co-operating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations.





This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly. I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britains national interest. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world. We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none.





History teaches us that the international community must defend the global rules and standards that keep us all safe. That is what our country has always done. And what we will continue to do.





France President Emmanuel Macrons statement:

On Saturday, April 7, 2018, in Douma, dozens of men, women and children were massacred by chemical weapons, in total violation of international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions.





The facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime are not in any doubt.

The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed.





I have thus ordered the French forces to intervene tonight, as part of an international operation with the United States of America and the United Kingdom, directed against the hidden chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime.





Our response has been limited to hitting the capacities of the Syrian regime that permit the production and use of chemical weapons.





We cannot tolerate the trivialization of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security. This is the direction of the diplomatic initiatives put forward by France at the United Nations Security Council.





From today, France and its partners will renew their efforts at the United Nations to allow the establishment of an international mechanism to establish responsibility, prevent impunity and prevent any recurrence by the Syrian regime.





Since May 2017, the priorities of France in Syria have been constant: End the fight against Daesh [Islamic State], permit access for humanitarian aid to the Syrian civilian populations, to find a political resolution to the conflict so that Syria can finally live at peace, and to ensure the stability of the region.





I will pursue these priorities with determination in the days and weeks to come.





In conformity with Article 35, Line 2 of the Constitution, the Parliament will be informed and a parliamentary debate will be organized, following this decision to use our armed forces in an overseas operation.



A principal suspect over the alleged murder of One Lawan Maiduna of Kaduna state Garba Isa, weekend painted a gruesome picture of how the military compelled him to frame a Senator representing Kaduna Central at upper chamber, Alhaji Shehu Sani.Isa, 46 a resident of Kabalan Doki in Kaduna state told newsmen that I saw hell in the hands of the military and police over their desperate attempt to implicate senator Sani.He said Iam a professional painter and also a member of vigilante, I swear to God that Shehu Sani never knew me. Even if he can passes here, I believed that he does not know me all but they insisted I must implicate him which I declined.Isa said they tortured him to accept the fact that Senator Sani gave one Bashir Hamdada money to kill Maiduna.He told Vanguard that the military took him to Ahmed Aruwas Farm located along Kaduna- Abuja road were they threatened to kill him if he did not accept to implicate Senator Sani as the man that hired to kill Lawan Maiduna.Isa explained, I never knew Bashir Hamdada, let alone his illicit activities, but tortured and forced to make a statement that can implicate the senator over the alleged murder.Speaking further over his experiences at the military detention centres, Isa revealed that  I spent two weeks facing different kinds of tortured while with the military before I was handed over to Kaduna state CID.He said that it all began when I was invited by the military to identify some persons arrested in connection with the alleged, murder of the said person. Immediately was there to identify the arrested persons, the military began to torture me and insisted that I must mention Sanis name as the behind the murder.At Kaduna police CID, I spent a month before I was taken to prison on awaiting trial, but quickly granted bail to go and seek medical attention over wounds sustained while in detention that arose from right violation.He lamented that I was accused without any physical evidence to support their charges.The police have trailed and arrested in Lagos two of the Offa robbery suspects who took part in the deadly attack on five banks and a pol...

WATCH CCTV FOOTAGE BELOW...Mr. Jimoh Moshood, the Police Police PRO identified the two suspects as 39 year-old Alexander Reuben and 28 year-old Jimoh Isa. They were all arrested on 11 April.They were among the 12 suspects so far arrested by the police.Another suspect Adetoyese Muftau, 23 was picked up in Ibadan, while three other suspects were arrested in Ilorin, capital of Kwara state. The three were identified as 18 year-old Aminu Ibrahim, 23 year-old Richard Buba Terry and 25 year-old Peter Jafar Kuunfa.Jimoh also said in the update released today that six suspects were arrested in Offa, where the dastardly crime was staged.Two out of the suspects nabbed in Offa were caught with the SIM cards and phones of some of the victims of the robbery violence. They were identified as Azeez Salawudeen, who is aged 20 and Adewale Popoola, who is 22 years old.Police gave the names of the four other suspects arrested in Offa as 29 year-old Adegoke Shogo, Kayode Opadokun a 35 year-old man, Kazeem Abdulrasheed, 36 andAzeez Abdullahi, who is 27.Police said they recovered from the three suspects picked in Ilorin a Beretta pistol and 14 bullets.In all the police have collected from the suspects, two Beretta pistols, 20 bullets, four Phones and SIM cards belonging to victims, some of whom were killed during the attack.According to the police, nine of the suspects now in custody took part in the robbery and attack on a police station in the town. They were arrested by the high powered police investigation team, who worked in synergy with the State Criminal Investigation team.The Police teams engaged in massive raids of identified criminal spots and flashpoints, stop and search operations, visibility and confidence building patrols, intelligence gathering which led to the arrest of the suspects. Some of the arrest also involved serious exchange of gun fire between the Police and the suspects in their various hideouts, Moshood said.The police gave the details of some of the suspects arrested and their confessions:Police said three suspects from whom two phones and SIM cards belonging to victims were recovered have also made confessional statements admitting to the various roles they played in the commission of the crime.The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris in reaction to the crime, has deployed armoured personnel carrier (APC), three units of Police Mobile Force (PMF) and Anti-Robbery equipment to the state to prevent future attacks.President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, has revealed what the northern youths are doing to ensure P...

President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, has revealed what the northern youths are doing to ensure President Muhammdu Buhari does not return to power in 2019.

Buhari had earlier in the week declared to re-contest in 2019.





Shettima also attacked the governors of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and others for pressuring the President to seek reelection.





He described the governors and some Buharis ministers as failures who have nothing to offer.





Shettima, speaking with Sun, said his group was going around the country mobilizing the youths to obtain the PVCs with which President Buhari would be sacked.





He said, We have expected this and we have already prepared for him. We are ensuring that every Nigerian youth obtains his or her voters card.









We will ensure that we secure our votes and our votes count. We didnt expect him to say that he was not going to contest. This is democracy and no one can deny him the right to contest.





He had admitted that he ought to have been doing something better than he is doing, but age and ill health have actually overtaken a lot of things in him.





So, we were thinking that, as a man with integrity; a man who had said he would only go for one term, should understand that he would be under pressure put on him by his cabinet members and governors, who have failed and want to use him to be relevant.





Because of the presidents age, and health, these people want to control Nigeria, and they have to pressure him in order for them to remain in power. Since he has made up his mind, there is no problem, but we are going to ensure that he fails when the time comes.





We know he is under pressure by some governors, ministers and kitchen cabinet, we are also mindful that some of these governors have failed woefully and dont have anything to show to their people, especially, the governors of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, they are calamitous to our society.





They have nothing to offer. If Buhari is not contesting, they are finished because they have allegedly amassed public funds. They cannot explain what they did with the Paris refund loan.



Najatu Muhammad, a former senator from Kano state, says the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan spent a total of N2 billion ...

Najatu Muhammad, a former senator from Kano state, says the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan spent a total of N2 billion daily on security.





Muhammad, who was in the first female senator from Kano, said despite the expenses, the insurgents continued their attacks unabated.





She said this on Saturday at the 2nd annual Chibok girls lecture organised by the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement, held in Abuja.





Muhammad blamed the irresponsibility of the political and military elite in Nigeria as the root cause for the continued Boko Haram insurgency.





She alleged that one of the root causes of Boko Haram is Ali Modu Sheriff, a former governor of Borno state.





We all know what started Boko Haram. It was started in Borno by the then governor, Ali Sherrif. He armed them as his political thugs, she said.





He even made one of them a commissioner but they become too powerful. The military came in and turned the north-east into cash cow; military jumbo budgets unaccounted for. I remember Jonathan was spending N2 billion every day on security but there was no security.





She said the army more than anything else has contributed to this terrorism.





According to her, terrorism has become a multi-billion dollar industry.





I have been part of a committee that investigated the atrocities of Boko Haram and the committee more than anything has indicted the military, she said.





There is no house in Borno that the military has not either killed or raped anyone in it.





The former senator also said Nigeria currently has no government because the primary responsibility of any government is to secure the territorial integrity of the country and the lives of the citizens  something the government has failed to do.





As for our military, we are demanding a thorough overhaul of it. Anything short of this is to say our government are beneficiaries of the failure, she added.





Muhammad had rejected her appointment as chairperson of the Federal University, Dutse by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.



Lydia Joshua, one of the 276 girls kidnapped at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, on April 14, 2014, has disclosed t...

Lydia Joshua, one of the 276 girls kidnapped at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, on April 14, 2014, has disclosed that during the three years she spent in the captivity, she only drank water when it rained.





Joshua was among the captives released through a negotiation with the Boko Haram sect in 2017. She is now trying to adjust to life outside the strange environment. She narrated her experience in bondage and the plight of those who are yet to be free. Though one could not freely speak to her largely due to certain governmental restrictions, her parents and loved ones were happy and enthusiastic to retell what she had told them of the dark years.





Matina Butu, the victims aunt revaled that the tales were heart-wrenching.





The girls suffered, especially the ones who refused to marry Boko Haram. The Boko Haram people would ask the girls to raise their hands if they wanted to marry any of the men. The girls who did not express interest were starved, said Butu who left Borno for Lagos as a result of Boko Haram activities.





SCARY TALES OF SNAKES, HUNGER AND FEAR

When it rained, they would be drenched and their clothes would dry up on their bodies. It is also when it rains that they get to drink water. Lydia told her stories of sleeping beside snakes, going several days without food and sewing clothes with what she described as hand needles.

They slept on flooded floors for three years. Its only God that kept Lydia alive and I am still shocked. Lydia told me they ate leaves and when they gave them food, it was never enough until the negotiations for their release started taking place and they started giving them food.





Butu also spoke about the trauma of Lydias absence and the effect of insurgency on her family.





Although she is just 26 years old, five years older than her niece, Butu is a widow with three children.





She narrated how the insurgents killed her husband.





Our village is empty. Nobody is there, people have gone to different places. They also took our farms so that we cannot feed any longer, she said.





They (Boko Haram) are leaving widows of women. They will come to your house and kill your husband and leave you alone to take care of the children. They killed my husband and I am left alone with three children take care of.





She disclosed that Lydias grandfather died suddenly in 2014 because he was traumatised.





His granddaughter had been kidnapped and shortly after, his son was beheaded in front of him, she said.





LOVE BEYOND BORDERS

Yakubu Amos, Lydias boyfriend got the test of his life when Boko Haram abducted her. A young man full of life, he could have moved on and found someone else but like a loyal partner, he stood by her all through the years in bondage. He talked about his plans to marry her after school. His eyes lit up when he spoke about the time Lydia came to visit her parents in Lagos, last December.





I threw her a party. Just here, he said, pointing at a camp in Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos. Everyone was happy to see her.

Amos said it was he who took Lydia to school before the kidnap happened.





That is why anytime I thought of her when she was with Boko Haram, I cried terribly, he said.





Lydia told me she did not have clothes to wear. She said they made their clothes themselves in the bush and almost died of hunger. Only when it rained did she have water to drink. She suffered greatly.





The government is responsible for the education and upkeep of the freed girls. In September 2017, government enrolled 86 girls at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa state, for pre-degree courses that will enable them meet the criteria for entry into degree programmes. Ordinarily, this should make family members of the victim excited but Lydias aunt is worried.





Lydia and all the other girls were already taking their final paper when they were kidnapped, so why are they in JSS1? How long will it be before they write secondary school certificate examination and then get into the universities? When they are old women? she asked.





CONFUSION OVER EDUCATION OF THE GIRLS





Some of the freed Chibok schoolgirls with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo





Butus worry matches that of her sister, Mary Joshua, who is also Lydias mum. She protested the decision to enrol her daughter is in JSS1.





But Amos seems to be the only one with this understanding as he insists she is studying for a diploma.





Aisha Oyebode, founder of the Murtala Muhammed foundation and member of the Bring Back our Girls campaign, said the confusions stems from a weak communication structure between the government and the parents of the girls.





Oyebode said it is important to carry the families of the girls along in their process of reintegration.





While Butu is worried that Lydia is getting a poor education especially because she could not interact in English language when she came to visit her parents in Lagos in December, Oyebode insisted that the education the girls are currently getting is standard.





They are currently at the American University of Nigeria in Yola; and that is a silver lining that they will get the opportunity to get a good education. Oyebode says.





I have always advocated that the work with the girls should be done with the knowledge of their parents. Before the girls were taken away, they were in the custody of the parents. So, they should be returned to the custody of their parents.





The families have to be patient. What the insurgency has done is to put the spotlight on how bad education is in the north. The damage (poor education for Lydia) has been done and it will take more than one year to reverse it.













culled: TheCableVice-President Yemi Osinbajo has travelled to Lome, Togo where he is representing Nigeria at an emergency meeting of leaders of the Economic Community of West African States.According to a statement on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, the Vice-President is expected back in the country later in the day.The statement read, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, is representing Nigeria today at an emergency meeting of leaders of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, holding in Lome, the capital city of Togo.The meeting is to take stock on developments in Guinea-Bissau. ECOWAS leaders will receive a report on the situation, deliberate on the presentation and issue a communique at the end of the meeting.Prof. Osinbajo, who is accompanied to the meeting by Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, is expected back in Abuja later today.When Anna Rezk was just 13 years old, her family suffered a tragedy, the severe illness and death of her father.

The Bayonne teenager not only filled the family void of her father's death by helping to raise her two brothers, she also channeled her grief over her dad's fatal bout with pancreatic cancer into a determination to fight the disease. She wrote about the experience in a spectacularly successful college admissions essay.

"I think seeing him in the hospital atmosphere, seeing the strongest person I had ever known get smaller physically, it was a hard experience, it was really traumatizing on different levels," said Rezk, now an 18-year-old senior at Hudson County High Tech High School in North Bergen. "But I think that in itself, it kind of invoked this feeling in me that I had a responsibility to other people's dads, that if I had the ability to change the way that other people's lives could be affected then I should take advantage of that."

"I'm kind of honoring my dad in that way," she added.

Anna's father, Rezk Wanis Rezk, died at age 55.

The essay, along with other signs of Rezk's drive and intelligence that included stellar grades with a schedule of virtually all advanced-placement and honors classes, helped win her a distinction unmatched in the memory of High Tech High guidance officials: She was accepted into all eight Ivy League colleges.

Moreover, every single one of them  Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale  offered her a full scholarship.

Anna hasn't decided just where she'll enroll in September, though she is leaning toward New Jersey's own Princeton University, in Mercer County, to stay relatively close to her mother, Mervat Andrawes, or Brown University in Providence, R.I., which offers an accelerated medical degree program. News 12 first reported on Anna's multiple acceptances.

And Anna didn't do a bad job helping raise her brothers: Peter, 20, is now a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh; while her twin and High Tech classmate, John, is headed to Princeton, where he was also offered a full scholarship and will study engineering.

"I'm kind of the bossy one," she said, adding that her responsibilities included making sure her brothers had dinner. "So I would tell them what to do."

It was John, the more outgoing of the twins, who spread the word around school that his sister was in such high academic demand.

"I'm not bragging!" John said, beaming with pride at his sister's smarts during an interview in the office of Assistant Principal Allyson Krone. "I just wanted to let people know."

The school's longtime senior guidance counselor, Vincent Nardiello, said he could not recall a student ever having been accepted to all eight Ivies, as well as to her dozen safety schools.

This is a special year not only for Anna and John, but for High Tech as well, which had a total of five students accepted to Princeton among 272 graduating seniors, an unheard-of number for a single school, Nardiello said. The other three are Mousy Lo of Jersey City, Erica De Lacerda of North Bergen, and Muhammad Umar, another Class of '22 Ivy Leaguer from Bayonne.

High Tech High, which will move into a new building in September, is a career-oriented magnet school whose 1,121 students are drawn from all over Hudson County. Despite the traditional conception  or misconception  of technical schools, Krone said High Tech prides itself on its rigorous academics. Each student is enrolled in an "academy," akin to a college major, which Krone and Nardiello said may give Hi Tech graduates an advantage over their counterparts.

Anna and her bothers were born in Brooklyn after their parents immigrated to the United States from Egypt. The family soon moved to Jersey City, where they joined the city's large Coptic Christian community. Their father, an armored car driver, moved the family to Bayonne when Anna and John were in 3rd grade, where their intellect was evident even then.

"They were, like, automatic superstars," said Ghenwa Hassan, 17, of Bayonne, a friend of Anna's since elementary school, who's now a classmate at High Tech High and will be headed to the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy in September. "They were the smartest kids in the class."

Hassan and others said Anna was not all academics. She was a normal teen, with a social life, a social conscience, and likes away from school, including fiction writing, something Anna said she thought of pursuing before medicine.

While her father's death did influence her decision on just what it was she wanted to pursue, Anna said it was her dad and mom, who, though not college grads, had instilled a joy of learning and a strong work ethic in her.

"I guess I was always like that," said Anna, who laughs easily and takes herself less seriously than her studies. "It's hard to predict whether I might have been a slacker if he hadn't passed away."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.With a ring of gun-toting German soldiers surrounding him, Robert Max was ordered out of the shack he and several other American soldiers were hiding in and into the snow during the second World War.

As a barrage of artillery was exchanged between the Allies and the Axis, Max looked at the German officer who ordered him into the snow and asked "What will you do with me?" The sergeant looked at him and said, in perfect English, "I have to kill you."

Max, now 94, was captured at the Battle of the Bulge on Jan. 4, 1945, he explained to the audience at the annual Bayonne Holocaust Remembrance ceremony in the city council chambers on April 12. He is the last living American to have escaped and survived Nazi forced labor.

"You have to be very lucky to have survived and that was my first element of luck," said Max. "I ran into a German, who spoke well enough English, and conversation was all I had. As the mode of the conversation shifted, he pulled out his wallet and showed me a picture of his family. He had a son who was teenager, not much younger than I. He looked at me and looked at the picture several times."

While the sergeant never admitted it to him, Max suspected the German officer thought what if it were his own son in the same situation. Max was spared and sent to a P.O.W. camp.

But that wasn't the only thing that saved him, especially if his captors had found the Star of David he had attached to his dog tags. But by another stroke of luck, Max was redirected to a slave labor camp, where they didn't care to ask who was Jewish and who wasn't.

"From there I was thrown into a mass of humanity," said Max. "They didn't ask for my name and they didn't give me a number. I was just a body and I was introduced to slave labor."

After months of forced marches, sleeping on ice- and snow-covered roads in temperatures that hovered around 0 -- with no winter garments and facing starvation -- Max eventually made his escape from a transport train.

He and two other soldiers, whose names he didn't know because prisoners weren't allowed to speak to each other, jumped from their box car into the snow.

"I realized that two things could happen. Either the war could end or I could escape," said Max. "I told the other two soldiers, and I would signal them, and we would throw ourselves out."

Driven by instinct, Max and the two soldiers managed to crawl their way to a small village were they were sheltered by a German family who would later help them to a hospital for better care. Over the course of the ordeal, Max withered to 89 pounds.

The 2018 Holocaust Remembrance Day Observance in Bayonne is organized by the city, the UJA Federation of Bayonne, the Interfaith Clergy of Bayonne, Father John Fencik, and Helene Nagiar and Dr. Joseph E. Ryan, Co-Chairpersons of the program.

The event included a memorial candle-lighting ceremony and a presentation by Bayonne High School 12th-grader Paige Bishop, who presented her poem, "Remember, Never Forget." The poem placed first for the Col. Anthony K. Podbieiski Memorial Essay Contest.

"As each year passes, we get further and further away from World War II and the Holocaust," Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis said. "It's days like today where it's up to us to teach the next generation to never forget what happened and that we do what we can to ensure that it doesn't happen again."A physics teacher in Hudson County is facing possible deportation to Egypt, where a military court sentenced him to death in a 2016 case maligned by a prominent human rights watchdog.

Ahmed Abdelbasit, 33, was detained outside his home in Jersey City last week by ICE officials and is being held at the Elizabeth Detention Center on administrative immigration charges, according to a report by HuffPost.

A teacher at Rising Star Academy, an Islamic private school in Union City, Abdelbasit came to the United States in 2016, seeking asylum. A former doctoral candidate and physics professor at the University of Cairo, Abdelbasit was expelled from the institution after organizing peaceful protests of a military coup to remove former President Mohamed Morsy, as well as human rights violations by security forces.

He left the country and got a job at Qatar University, but in May 2016 an Egyptian military court sentenced him to death in absentia after he and 27 others were convicted of terrorism charges. Human Rights Watch wrote that the military trial denied the men "basic due process rights and relied on confessions that the defendants said were obtained under torture."

According to a June 2017 report by Human Rights Watch:

"Abd al-Basit," one of the cell's two alleged founders, is mentioned only once in the indictment, in a section that summarizes the confession of Ghazali, the cell's purported leader, and states that (Ahmed Amin) Ghazali admitted to receiving an unidentified amount of money from Abd al-Basit. The prosecution's file contains no evidence of this money transfer. Defense lawyers stated in court that all the defendants renounced their confessions and said they had been obtained under torture. Abd al-Basit, who was expelled from Cairo University in 2015 for organizing peaceful protests against the military's removal of former President Mohamed Morsy and human rights abuses by the security forces, and who lives abroad, told Human Rights Watch that he believed Ghazali had mentioned his name under torture because they knew each other from the university.

A husband and father of two children, Abdelbasit came to the United States in June 2016 on a visitor visa and applied for asylum two months later. He was given permission to work legally while his case was being processed and when the visa expired, he was permitted to continue working with a pending asylum application, HuffPost reported.

In April 2017, he was notified that the final decision on his asylum application would arrive by mail, according to HuffPost.

But on April 5, he was taken into custody by ICE agents outside his home. HuffPost reported that documentation came three days later notifying him that his case was transferred to immigration court.

His lawyer told the website Abdelbasit has fulfilled all requirements and interviews and has repeatedly checked in with immigration officials since his arrival in the United States.

The teacher is scheduled to appear at a hearing next month in immigration court.

His students, meanwhile, have launched a website -- savebasit.com -- publicizing their teacher's plight and started an online petition calling for his release.

"I look at him as my role model," one of his students, Yusef Haddabah, told HuffPost. "There are traits and different things about his personality that he holds (that) I only dream to hold in my future."After Belmar's mayor noticed last summer that the Monmouth County borough wasn't staffing all its lifeguard stands, he led a shakeup that ousted the lifeguarding leadership in Belmar and raised the official starting pay for guards.

The mayor, Matt Doherty, was criticized during a Feb. 20 Borough Council meeting by current and former lifeguards and supervisors, many of them angered or confused about who would get to keep their job under the shakeup. But most agreed on at least one point: low pay makes it tough to attract and keep qualified lifeguards.

"It's the biggest thing," Bill Karatz, a retired Belmar lifeguard supervisor, said of the pay issue. "You talk to Sea Girt, you talk to Manasquan, you talk to Spring Lake. They can't cover all their stands, either."

Up and down the shore, officials say pay is a critical issue for lifeguards and the local officials who hire them to protect not only the public, but the reputation of shore communities as safe places for often inexperienced beach goers to frolic in the inviting but deceptively dangerous surf along New Jersey's Atlantic coast.

"We're not the pool," said Steve Downey, chief of the Atlantic City Beach Patrol, whose guards made over 1,000 saves last summer. "I can't tell you how many times a day people come up and ask me, 'Where's the rip tide?' And I point out it's right in front of where their kids are swimming. You'd be surprised how many people we get that have never seen the ocean before. People ask me, 'Where's the ocean?' and they're standing right next to it."

Officials say it's true that many life guards are high school or college students who don't have to rely on the job to support a family or pay the rent.

But, they add, many other lifeguards take the job at least in part for the money, especially veteran supervisors and trainers, who have built the summer guarding season into their overall annual income scheme, whether it's in addition to teaching in the fall, winter and spring, or to supplement a night shift in a casino, bar, or patrol car.

For those guards, lifesaving officials say, if the pay doesn't meet their material needs, they may chose to look for summer employment elsewhere.

"People can't find lifeguards because they're not paying enough," said Tom Gill, a spokesman for the United States Lifesaving Association, a lifeguarding education organization based in Virginia Beach. "I think people see it as a lot more of a job than they used to, but I think there's still some people who may say, 'Who wouldn't want to spend all summer on the beach?'"

The City of Atlantic City pays rookie lifeguards $12.50 an hour, rising to $22 an hour for those with 20 years of service.

Downey said austerity measures under a state takeover of the city's finances included a 10 to 15 percent reduction in lifeguard pay last summer. Downey said the pay cut resulted in a younger, less experienced pool of applicants from which the corps of 150 guards were culled.

"Did it hurt recruitment? I believe so," Downey said. "We had 59 hires under age 18. That's probably the youngest group we've ever had."

The struggle to retain lifeguards is nothing new, and Atlantic City is among several shore towns that have long contributed to a state-sponsored pension plan for guards created in the 1920's.

Doherty, who stepped down as Belmar's mayor on April 10 to head the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, said the borough could afford the recent pay hike, which raised the official starting wage from $8.50 to $10 an hour.

He and Borough Administrator Colleen Connolly said the pay hike helped attract 125 applications this year through the end of March for 70 lifeguarding slots. They said the borough hoped to hire a new lifeguard director by the second week of April, and have a full staff in place by early May.

As in many shore towns, Connolly said part of Belmar's guard contingent will officially go on duty Memorial Day weekend, building to a full contingent by July Fourth.

Hourly pay tops out at $15 for all lifesaving staff in Belmar, including training officers, lieutenants, captains, supervisors and even the director. But starting pay for leadership positions is higher, and assistant supervisors are paid summer season salaries ranging from $8,000 to $15,000 depending on experience, while the director makes $11,000 to $15,500.

State lifeguards at Island Beach State Park, lakes and other locations tend to earn less than their municipal counterparts, ranging from $8.60 to $10.50 an hour, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, their employer.

The hiring age is a tender 16 years old, and DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said the relatively low wages are supplemented by the training and certification that young state lifeguards can use to land other jobs.

The feds earn the most. At Sandy Hook, in the National Park Service's Gateway National Recreation Area, the starting hourly pay is $17.51, topping out at $22.60, said Daphne Yun, a park service spokesperson.

Like state and local life guards, Yun said those at Sandy Hook are a combination of students, teachers and others, most of whom live the area. She said some learn about the job and apply through the park service job portal.

About three quarters of this summer's 80 lifeguarding jobs at Sandy Hook had been filled by the end of March, said Yun, adding that the annual turnover rate is about 20 percent.

Thanks at least in part to the higher federal pay, Yun said, "We do have a lot of returning lifeguards."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.The man arrested Wednesday as part of a federal sex trafficking case involving a 17-year-old girl is a retired New Jersey police officer.

James Keenan, 47, was a patrolman with the Middletown Police Department from 1990 to 2016, township police spokesman Det. Lt. Paul Bailey confirmed Saturday.

Keenan was arrested by FBI agents in Hazlet on Wednesday and charged with sex trafficking of a child, attempted sex trafficking of a child and attempted enticement, according to police.

Keenan -- who still owns a home in Hazlet, tax records show -- had been living in Vancouver, Washington, where he collected his police pension of $79,876 per year, according to New Jersey pension records.

Keenan is being held without bail after the federal court Judge Tonianne Bongiovanni ruled he posed a danger to the community and was a flight risk, according to court records. He is set to be extradited to Oregon.

A grand jury indicted Keenan on April 5 in Portland, Oregon, police said in a release. The arrest came after a month-long investigation from local Oregon police and federal agents.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsThe U.S. Coast Guard has called off its search for a man who jumped overboard from a cruise ship on Friday afternoon.

The 24-year-old jumped from the 'Anthem of the Seas' ship around 3:30 p.m. when the ship was 65 miles offshore Chincoteague, Virginia, according to Petty Officer Andrew Kendrick, a spokesman for the Coast Guard.

The Royal Caribbean ship was making its way back to dock in Bayonne from the Bahamas, Kendrick said.

The Coast Guard searched for signs of the man with the use of a helicopter, airplane and cutter boat since Friday. The U.S. Navy had also assisted in the search.

The search was called off at 11:02 a.m. Saturday, according to Kendrick.

"There's not a possibility that he is alive," Kendrick said, citing the man's distance from the shore when he went overboard, the temperature of the water and the number of hours the Coast Guard had been searching for him.

Reports of a man overboard on #AnthemoftheSeas. We heard the captain asking witnesses to go to Guest Services with what they saw. It looks like theres another cruise line assisting the search. pic.twitter.com/FC2PtTPzWh  Heather Fountaine (@WHAS11Heather) April 13, 2018

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Find NJ.com on FacebookFormer FBI Director James Comey's forthcoming memoir depicts Donald Trump as a president "untethered to truth" and likened him to a mob boss.

Trump didn't take the revelations lying down, calling out Comey on Twitter a "weak and untruthful slime ball," and a "proven LEAKER & LIAR."

"Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did -- until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH."

Comey's book "A Higher Loyalty," details his conversations with the President, mocks Trump's appearance, and slams the "forest fire that is the Trump presidency."

The president accused Comey of "grandstanding" in order to make money off Trump's name.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also attacked Comey's credibility on Friday, saying that even Democrats don't trust him.

She accused Comey of leaking classified information and breaking his "sacred trust with the president of the United States, the dedicated agents of the FBI and the American people."

Many blame Comey for Democrat Hillary Clinton's loss to Trump in the 2016 Electoral College.

In the final days of the campaign, Comey announced he was reopening the investigation into Clinton's private email server.

In his book, Comey, who graduated high school in Allendale, says that he thought the former secretary of state would defeat Trump, and that hiding the email news would have made her presidency "illegitimate."

A poll out Friday found that Comey was seen as more believable than Trump.

So who do you think is more credible: Trump or Comey? Or do you think neither of them are?

Vote in our informal and unscientific poll and tell us why in the comments.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on President Donald Trump to consult with Congress following the U.S. military attack on Syria for its use of chemical weapons.

"Military strikes are no substitute for a real strategy," said Menendez, D-N.J., the top Democrat on Foreign Relations, even as he acknowledged that the Syrian regime must be held accountable for its actions.

The U.S., backed by the United Kingdom and France, launched attacks on Syria Friday night after President Bashar al-Assad allegedly used chemical weapons against citizens of his country. It is the second time the U.S. has stuck Syria over its use of chemical weapons during the ongoing civil war there.

"The president has asserted authority under Article II of the Constitution for these strikes, but any sustained military action in Syria would require congressional authorization," Menendez said. "I expect the Trump administration to promptly brief Congress on these strikes, their plan for Syria, including countering Russian and Iranian support for the regime, and any future use of military force."

Booker, D-N.J., was more skeptical of Trump's actions.

"I'm deeply concerned that President Trump continues to conduct military operations without any comprehensive strategy or the necessary congressional authorization," Booker said.

"Every American, and particularly our men and women in uniform and their families, deserve far better than action without debate, accountability, and a constitutionally-required authorization for the use of military force," he said.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.Here's another initiative Gov. Phil Murphy is touting as he sells his first state budget proposal: devoting a few million taxpayer dollars toward improving New Jersey's downtowns and neighborhoods.

Murphy this week highlighted how his budget plan would restore $3 million in funding for two programs focused on that -- $500,000 to Main Street New Jersey and $2.5 million to the Neighborhood Preservation Program.

The Democratic governor -- who is less than three months on the job -- lamented that his Republican predecessor, Gov. Chris Christie, "neglected" the programs over the last eight years.

"For whatever reason, both of these programs were left to die on the vine during the previous administration," Murphy said during a roundtable on the programs at Montclair Fire Department on Thursday.

Murphy called the programs "critical" to helping "empower and strength our communities."

Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, seated next to Murphy at the event, said it will also help small businesses thrive and thus create jobs.

Plus, she said, it'll attract millennials.

"Our millennials want walkable communities, access to their lattes, their macchiatos, their fresh food," said Oliver, who is also the commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs. "And (these programs) will enable the proprietors of businesses in these communities to offer millennials what they want."

The price tag is a relatively small slice of the $37.4 billion state budget that Murphy has proposed.

The budget, though, includes more than $1.6 billion in new taxes and moves to close loopholes to help fund the governor's priorities.

The Democrat-controlled state Legislature can make changes and Murphy can then veto their changes. But the budget must be enacted by June 30.

Main Street New Jersey was founded in 1989 as part of the National Main Street Program and operated until 2017.

Under the program, the state helps support the renewal of historic downtowns, village centers, and more.

From 1990 to 2017, the program brought in more than $1.2 billion of private reinvestment in Main Street districts in the state, as well as more than 10,000 full-time jobs, Murphy's office said.

The Neighborhood Preservation program has been around for 34 years but hasn't been funded since 2009.

Towns involved must maintain community development offices and staff to create preservation activities and engage residents, Murphy's office said.

In turn, the state Department of Community Affairs helps encourage job creation, improve affordable housing access, and more.

The program has invested more than $56 million in 187 neighborhoods -- such as cities like Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson and suburbs like Collingswood, Salem City, and Berlin Township -- over the years, Murphy's office said.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.New Jersey would be the first state in the country to enact a law protecting the health insurance marketplace created by Obamacare under legislation that now awaits Gov. Phil Murphy's signature.

The "New Jersey Health Insurance Market Preservation Act, which passed both houses of the state Legislature Thursday, would require people who lack health insurance to buy a policy or face a fine at tax time.

The state legislation mirrors the federal "individual mandate" included in the Affordable Care Act, which requires individuals to buy a policy if they do not have one or face a fine at tax time. The law was meant to ensure younger and healthier people who might otherwise forgo insurance will participate in the insurance market, stabilizing it sharing costs.

But the federal tax package approved by the Republican-led Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump, a Republican, in November ended the individual mandate in 2019. Experts predict the insurance pool will be dominated by sick or older policy holders, driving up premiums.

"The magnitude of the consequences of that decision will usher in an era of higher health insurance costs for everyone and lower health coverage rates," said state Sen. Troy Singleton, D-Burlington, one of the bill's sponsors.

The money collected from people who forgo buying insurance would be deposited into the New Jersey Health Insurance Premium Security Fund, created by a second bill, (S1878), lawmakers also approved. This fund would help pay the claims of people who are catastrophically ill, so the larger pool of covered people do not see their rates rise dramatically.

The legislation requires the state to seek approval from the federal government to create a reinsurance program.

"We cannot stand idle as our residents are put at risk. We fought long and hard to get more people insured in New Jersey because it's both fiscally and socially responsible," Assemblyman John McKeon, D-Essex, one of the bills' prime sponsors. "We will continue that fight because it's the right thing to do."

About 300,000 New Jersey residents obtained health the individual insurance market created by Obamacare.

Murphy, a Democrat who took office in January, has not commented directly on the two bills that passed the Legislature, but he is expected to support them based on comments he made during and immediately after the campaign that the program should be protected.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.Imagine you leave three guns in a locked box in the backseat of your car, head inside your home and go to bed.

A few hours later, you're awakened by multiple fraud alerts from your bank, and you discover someone has broken into your car and stolen all three firearms, plus several credit and debit cards.

Do you get charged with a crime for leaving your guns in your car?

After this scenario played out for an Elizabeth municipal judge in February, no charges were filed against the gun owner.

Experts say although the judge may technically have violated the law, more information would be necessary to know for sure. Even then, they disagreed about whether most prosecutors would be inclined to file charges in a case like this.

"We don't need to hit a fly with a sledgehammer for every minor infraction of the law that was not done purposefully and knowingly," said Robert A. Bianchi, a former Morris County prosecutor who is now a partner at the Bianchi Law Group. "I would not be prosecuting that case."

One gun is still missing after three were stolen from Richard Obuch's car while it was parked outside his home the night of Feb. 21. A Kel-Tec .380 caliber auto pistol, a Springfield .40 caliber pistol and a Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver were in a locked box that was stolen from the back seat, according to a police report.

A Garmin GPS valued at $250, six credit and debit cards, and a New Jersey driver's license were also taken, the report says.

Reached in person Tuesday at his private law office in neighboring Union Township, Obuch declined to comment on the theft.

New Jersey law says people may transport guns between two locations where state law expressly permits possession of a firearm, as long as the guns are unloaded and are carried in a closed and fastened case or in the car's locked trunk.

Places where gun owners are legally allowed to bring their firearms include their private homes, their personally-owned places of business, licensed firearms dealers, hunting and fishing locations, target ranges and gun shows.

"A limited degree of deviation," dependent on the circumstances, is allowed when owners are bringing their guns from one legally permitted place to another, according to a 2016 Attorney General's office memo on the law.

Violations of this law could lead to a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm.

In Obuch's case, Bianchi said leaving the guns in his car was likely a technical violation of the law. He should have brought the guns all the way into his home to ensure they got to a place where possessing firearms is legal, Bianchi said.

Still, he said many prosecutors would decline to go after a decision that could well have been "a simple mistake."

"What does the prosecutor ultimately decide needs to be done when you balance the gravity of the offense, the harm to any other person, the background of that person, whether they've been in trouble before and whether you need to make a statement of deterrence to protect the community?" Bianchi said. "These are the things that prosecutors really talk about in deciding what to do."

And, no, Bianchi said, he doesn't think Obuch's job as a judge would play into prosecutors' decision not to charge him.

"My experience is when you're a judge or a high-level official, you get treated harsher than another citizen does because you're afraid it's going to look biased."

Evan F. Nappen, a longtime Eatontown-based gun rights attorney, disagreed.

"There could be prosecutorial discretion, and I'm sure it will be liberally exercised for a judge," he said. "That kind of mistake that endangers public safety, they wouldn't tolerate it (for most people)."

Nappen added, however, that more information would be needed to determine for certain whether Obuch broke any laws: Were the guns loaded or unloaded in the car? Does Obuch have a permit to carry firearms on his person?

If Obuch has a permit, Nappen said prosecutors could try to get his gun license taken away by arguing he stored his firearms negligently and created a public-safety threat. If he doesn't have a permit, leaving the guns in his car could lead to a charge of unlawful possession of a weapon.

Ryan Magee, an attorney at Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti and former assistant prosecutor, said a lawfully issued permit to carry a handgun could exempt someone from only being allowed to transport between certain locations.

"But reasonable members of law enforcement might disagree as to whether or not that includes overnight storage in a personal vehicle," Magee said in an emailed statement.

City spokeswoman Kelly Martins did not respond to a question about whether Obuch has a permit to carry, and the identities of carry permit-holders are not public in New Jersey.

Nappen said he would want to know why Obuch left the guns in his car when he went inside his home.

"I've had cases where they've (prosecutors have) tried to take individuals' licenses to have guns because they've had guns stolen and didn't care for them properly," Nappen said. "But we don't know that he (Obuch) didn't care for them properly, because we don't know the reason."

In any case, Nappen said guns should not be stored in cars overnight.

"Generally speaking, no, you don't leave your firearms unattended in a vehicle overnight," Nappen said. "That's not a good idea for this very reason, which is that cars get broken into."

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsThree males were wounded, one fatally, in a gunbattle early Saturday (April 14) in the St. Roch neighborhood, New Orleans police said. All three victims were in a vehicle exchanging shots at about 1:30 a.m. with people on the street in the 2500 block of North Prieur.

The wounded victims stopped the vehicle and jumped out, leaving behind their fatally shot companion. They flagged down a person to drive them to a hospital.

Their conditions were not immediately known. The identity of the dead person was not released.A van driver for the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office was fired Friday (April 13) after he was arrested by FBI agents on federal drug charges, Coroner Jeffrey Rouse confirmed Friday evening.

The FBI New Orleans Field Division had no comment Friday on the arrest of the former Coroner's Office employee, Rodney Robinson.

According to a statement from Rouse, the Coroner's Office "is currently cooperating fully with the FBI's investigation."

"Due to the nature of the circumstances, no additional information can be shared at this time," Rouse said.

Robinson is the second Coroner's Office employee arrested in the past two months.

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In late February, Thomas Evans Jr. was booked with malfeasance in office, theft and obstruction of justice, after authorities say he tried to pawn a camera containing a memory card with crime scene photos, including images of corpses.

Evans was arrested by the New Orleans Police Department Pawnshop Unit in connection with the incident that occurred in November 2017, police said in a news release last month.

Evans was also fired following his arrest, a Coroner's Office spokesman said in March.

NOLA.com|The Times-Picayune's Hanna Krueger contributed to this report.The first time I got a good look at Equest Farm after Hurricane Katrina, it was a 27-acre oasis at the corner of Filmore Avenue and Marconi Drive. That was in May of 2006, when much of New Orleans City Park still felt ruined.

I had gone to Equest because Leslie Kramer, owner and director of the stables, had organized a cleanup of the north end of the park. The hurricane had done $43 million in damage and destroyed all the maintenance equipment, so Kramer had asked volunteers to show up with lawn mowers, weed trimmers, machetes and rakes -- whatever they had to help spruce up the overgrown park.

"I hate seeing this special place unkempt," she told me.

I learned that week that Kramer was a force of nature herself. People came from all over southeast Louisiana for her clean-up day.

Last week, she explained why she'd been determined to bring the stables and her life back after the storm, even though at first the damage seemed insurmountable. The cypress barns she and her sisters had refurbished had sat in 7 feet of water, the concession stand had flipped over, and the office and tack shop had been destroyed along with dozens of trees. Her home had flooded, too.

"I was picking through the ruins of my house when I found a very fragile cup and saucer my grandmother had brought from Ireland," she said. "And it was if I could hear her voice saying, 'Quit crying, get up off your ass, and get to work.'"

So Kramer got up and got to work and discovered that a lot of other people were willing to help her.

"It was the riding school people who came back. It was the community," she said. "It was the best time because it gave me something to get up for every morning. It was a place to enjoy in the devastated neighborhood."

Now, when few large cities feature horse farms, Equest Farm is a thriving equestrian center where children can learn to ride and attend summer camp and horse-lovers of all ages can get a taste of the country in New Orleans.

"I love to see the children come in on Saturday morning," Kramer said. "Riding is a sport where you not only have to be able to practice yourself. You have to become a partner with an animal. And it doesn't matter how old you are, you can still ride."

If you've yet to discover Equest, the annual Tails but no Black Tie benefit on April 21 could be the perfect introduction. The unique fund-raiser is a chance to see the improvements made to the stables over the years and to watch an action-packed jumping competition that has a $10,000 prize and attracts top riders from around the country.

"The sounds and visual effects are just tremendous," Kramer said.

You can get up-close-and-personal with beautiful horses and their riders, and it's a great night or families on a budget as well as high rollers. General bleacher admission is only $15 for adults and $10 for children. Or you can splurge on a $175 grandstand seat, which includes dinner, an open bar and a chance to bet on your favorite horse and rider.

The course includes 15 jumps and, if a horse misses one jump, the rider is out of the competition.

"As the riders compete, the jumps get taller, and the excitement builds up," Kramer said. "In the second round, the fastest time wins, and it's thrilling to watch."

Kramer dreamed up Tails but no Black Tie in 2002.

"The park was in such dire straits, and I went to Bob Becker (CEO of City Park) and said, 'Look. just trust me here. I know how to throw a good party, and with horses, I bet I can get people to donate money for the park,'" she said. "The first year it was kind of hilarious, but then each year it has become more successful. Last year we raised $50,000."

This year, the money raised will go to infrastructure repairs at the stables, including fixing drainage problems between the two barns, replacing broken asphalt and building a compost pit.

"We need a place to scoop the manure up," Kramer said.

For Buddy Kullman, 81, who discovered Equest Farms in 2004, Kramer has been an inspiration.

"She's made a big commitment because it's a hard job," he said. "I've seen her getting into a stall and shoveling out the foolishness. She'll do anything to keep things running smoothly. She's been a wonderful encouragement over the years."

Kullman grew up in New Orleans and learned to ride and break horses when he worked at a summer day camp for children. When he went off to Washington and Lee University in Lexington Va., he trained horses to earn spending money.

"But I'd never had a horse of my own," he said.

When he came back to New Orleans after college, his priority was starting a career as a financial advisor.

"I'm still working for Morgan Stanley in investments," he said. "It will be 60 years next year."

Fourteen years ago, his son suggested he start riding again, but at first he resisted.

"I thought I'd have to go to the north shore to find a stable," he said.

Then his son took him to Equest Farm, and Kullman learned that if he bought his own horse he could board it there. He bought Domonique, a 4-year-old paso fino -- a breed noted for its gait -- from a breeder, but didn't take delivery of him right away.

"I knew I had to lose some weight if I was going to start riding again," he said. "I didn't want to see a grown horse cry."

Once he was a few pounds lighter, Kullman started riding Domonique every day the weather cooperated.

"It's a way of releasing stress," he said. "You have to give riding your full attention so you don't hurt yourself, and it's a wonderful, relaxing sport."

Kramer evacuated the Equest Farm horses before Katrina, and Kullman went to Memphis with his family. The first time he saw City Park after the storm, he was dismayed.

"I was afraid they weren't going to reopen because it was such a mess," he said. "It took a lot on Leslie's part to even get it back and running."

Thankfully, volunteers poured into the city to help along with the community effort.

"Now, it's much better than it was before Katrina, with a covered arena and a new barn," Kullman said. "Leslie has certainly put her life into it."

Most mornings, Kullman shows up at the stables around 5:30 a.m. and rides until it's time to head for his office.

"I'm just fortunate I can ride 5 minutes from my home," he said. "It's wonderful for the community to have the place right in the middle of the city."

Kramer has enjoyed seeing Kullman show up to ride for 14 years. She feels like he's a kindred spirit.

"I've been riding for 55 years, ever since my dad started bringing me and my sister on trail rides," she said. "It began my lifelong passion for the park."

Tails but no Black Tie

What: Nationally-ranked jumping horses and their riders compete during a benefit for Equest Farm in New Orleans City Park. Dress is "Cowboy Casual."

When: Saturday, April 21. Gates open at 4 p.m., and the Grand Prix begins at 7 p.m.

Where: Equest Farm, 1001 Filmore Ave., (at Marconi Drive).

Cost: General admission tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children. Children must be at least 4 to attend. Families are welcome to bring their own food and beverages. Grandstand tickets are $175 each and include dinner, an open bar, and betting on your favorite horse and rider in Calcutta Betting. To learn more and purchase tickets, go to http:tailsbutnoblacktie.org or call 504-483-9398.A U.S. warship in the Arabian Sea fired missiles into Syria early Saturday (April 14) as part of a strike on what President Donald Trump's administration said were chemical weapon sites. The Defense Department released two videos, above and below, showing the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) launching Tomahawk land attack missiles while deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

The Monterey is a Ticonderoga Class cruiser built by Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine. Its home port is Norfolk, Va. Launched in 1989 and commissioned in 1990, the Monterey carries both Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles as well as two LAMPS MK III helicopters.

All Ticonderoga cruisers are named for great U.S. battles, and the current Monterey is the fourth in Navy history to be named for the Sept. 20-24, 1846, battle in the war with Mexico. The U.S. military there was commanded by Gen. Zachary Taylor, the future U.S. president who had spent five years stationed in Louisiana.

The Defense Department released this map showing the targets of Saturday's missile strikes:

Great Britain and France joined the U.S. attack on Syria. Here's more from the BBC:

. . . . . . .

Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and Louisiana interests in Congress, plus other odds and ends, for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1. Google+: Drew Broach.U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise of Old Jefferson, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, reiterated Friday (April 13) that he will not run against No. 2 GOP member Kevin McCarthy of California for speaker of the chamber. Scalise spokesman Chris Bond issued this statement on behalf of the majority whip after retiring Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed McCarthy, the majority leader, for the top job:

"As whip Scalise has said publicly for weeks, he will not challenge leader McCarthy should he choose to seek the speaker's gavel."

Ryan announced this week he will not seek re-election this fall in his Wisconsin district. He said he will remain speaker through 2018, although some Republicans, worried they will lose their House majority during the 2018 mid-term elections, want to pick a new speaker sooner.

Neither McCarthy nor Scalise has announced he will run for speaker. But both have been jockeying for the position for months.

McCarthy has raised more money for Republicans and some consider him closer to President Donald Trump, but Scalise has more support from the party's conservative House members. McCarthy backed out of a leadership race three years ago amid similar divisions.

. . . . . . .

Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and Louisiana interests in Congress, plus other odds and ends, for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1. Google+: Drew Broach.A Franklinton man, believe to be on the run in a stolen pickup truck, is being sought for questioning in connection with numerous burglaries in the Covington and Bush areas, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office reported.

John Busby, 35, has been identified as a person of interest in the burglaries and vehicle theft and the Sheriff's Office is seeking the public's help in determining his whereabouts.

At around 3:30 p.m. Thursday (April 12), a St. Tammany Parish deputy was dispatched to the area of Louisiana 40 and Five Lakes Road near Waldheim to investigate a report of a suspicious person riding an ATV with what appeared to be stolen items. The deputy located Busby driving the ATV on Louisiana 40 and attempted to stop him. Busby refused to stop and eventually ditched the vehicle in the wood line near a residence before fleeing on foot, the Sheriff's Office reported in a news release.

Members of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's K-9 and Operations divisions were called out to assist with the search. Meanwhile a nearby resident called authorities to report his pickup truck had been stolen from his home, according to the release.

The vehicle, a Ford F-250 King Ranch with Mississippi license plate LB5080, had been left unlocked and with the keys in the ignition. K-9 Nero was able to track Busby's scent to the location where the truck when it was taken.

Busby is a suspect in a residential burglary earlier this week off Section Road in western St. Tammany. The ATV he abandoned during Thursday's pursuit had been reported stolen from the Lee Road area. Along with the abandoned ATV, deputies also recovered items believed to have been stolen from unreported burglaries, the Sheriff's Office reported.

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Busby or the stolen pickup truck is asked to immediately call 911 or 985-898-2338.A suspect in the robberies of three western St. Tammany Parish businesses was captured Friday afternoon (April 13) after he crashed a vehicle into a ditch in the Tammany Hills subdivision south of Covington, authorities said.

Michael Williams, 47, was taken into custody on 10th Street after being pursued by a St. Tammany Parish sheriff's deputy and a Covington police officer, the Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Williams was booked into the parish jail with one count of simple robbery, one count of flight from an officer and traffic violations, the release said. He faces additional charges from Covington Police for two robberies inside city limits, it said.

Williams is accused of robbing a Shell gasoline station on Tyler Street and another Shell station at Claiborne Hill, both in Covington, and a Winn-Dixie store on Louisiana 21, just south of the city, authorities said. In all three cases, Williams waited for employees to open the cash registers before grabbing what cash he could before fleeing, the Sheriff's Office said.

Covington police and the Sheriff's Office quickly identified Williams as a suspect in the cases.

At about 3 p.m. Friday, a deputy on patrol on U.S. 190 spotted a white Ford Focus matching the description of the one Williams was believed to be driving, the release said. The deputy, along with a Covington police officer, tried to stop the southbound car.

But Williams continued driving and a slow pursuit ensued, ending when Williams crashed the vehicle, authorities said. An undisclosed amount of stolen cash was located inside the vehicle, according to the release.State workers and students in Louisiana likely will soon have to show proof of immunization, or an exception to being vaccinated, now that the federal Food & Drug Administration fully approved Monday one of the COVID vaccines.A 16-year-old KIPP student is in critical condition Friday (April 13) after he jumped from a moving school bus in the Bywater Thursday afternoon, according to New Orleans police.

Shortly after 3:50 p.m., the 10th-grade student told his classmates he wanted to get off the bus, according to NOPD, while the bus was driving down the 3500 block of Burgundy Street.

The boy then got up, walked to the back of the bus, opened the emergency exit door and jumped, according to police.

Police said the student sustained "significant injuries," and as of Friday morning he was listed in critical condition.

KIPP spokesman Jonathan Bertsch said Thursday the teen is a sophomore at KIPP Renaissance High School. Bertsch did not immediately respond to requests for further information Friday.

At Burgundy and Congress streets, a man wearing a KIPP T-shirt stood watching the investigation. A passerby also approached him, asking if the school would receive updates on the boy's condition.

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Near the scene Thursday, a couple of neighbors said they had not seen the incident occur, but did see the student lying in the street afterward.

Rodd Babin said he was inside his Burgundy Street home when he heard a commotion outside, including hysterical screaming "because there was someone on the ground."

Babin said he walked out of his home to see the student in the roadway. He said the student appeared badly injured and others said he had suffered a head injury.

Police would not comment Friday on the events that led up to the student jumping from the bus. Police said the incident was being investigated as an accident with injury.

Staff reporter Laura McKnight contributed to this story.Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 74F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 74F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Showers in the morning, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 82F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.Registration is open for the 22nd annual LCEC United Way Fishing Tournament.

Tournament Coordinator Dana Nicloy said the annual LCEC United Way Fishing Tournament started out with a group of guys who worked together sharing their enjoyment of fishing. After a while it grew, which then turned into a money making tournament for United Way.

We like to raise money doing things we like to do. We have so many people that love to fish, Nicloy said.

The benefactor for the tournament has always been United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties.

So far, just through this tournament, we raised $450,000, Nicloy said.

The 22nd annual LCEC United Way Fishing Tournament will take place Saturday, April 21, at D&D Matlacha Bait and Tackle. It is $65 per angler before Wednesday, April 18, and $75 thereafter. Students (with valid student identification) are also welcomed to join the tournament for $50 before Wednesday, April 18, or $55 thereafter.

A captains meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, April 20, also at D&D Matlacha Bait and Tackle.

Last year we had about 283 anglers and we had close to 80 boats, Nicloy said.

On average the tournament attracts between 70 to 90 boats and between 250 to 300 anglers.

We fish for snapper, trout, redfish and snook. We pay out for each one of those, she said.

The tournament also pays out for the grand slam, usually $600, which is the heaviest combined weight of a snook, red fish, trout and snapper.

A lot of times people donate the money back. Its all about the prestige of winning because its such a large tournament, Nicloy said.

Anglers put their lines in the water at 7 a.m. the day of the tournament and have to be at D&D Matlacha Bait & Tackle for weigh in by 3 p.m.

They can fish anywhere, she said.

In addition to the tournament, the event also includes a big barbecue, silent auction and raffles.

A lot of the wives and local people come out just to have barbecue, Nicloy said.

Five dollar donations are requested from the public who wish to enjoy some barbecue.

The big ticket raffle item this year is a 2002 Ford F150 44 automatic with 86,000 miles. Some of the Ford options includes new tires, chrome wheels, A/C and bed cover. Raffle tickets are $5 each, or six for $25.

Its a used vehicle that is repurposed. Last year we had a Ford Ranger. We raised an additional $6,000 just raffling it off, Nicloy said, adding that tickets are already being sold for the truck raffle.

There are other raffles with items ranging from $49 to $100 ($1 for one, or $6 for $5) and from $100 to $400 ($5 a ticket).

The silent auction includes such items as a beautiful original painting donated by Hillary Hemmingway, stays at various places, iPad and baskets. The auction will open at the captains meeting Friday night and conclude after the weigh in and award ceremony.

Its a great day for anyone. Between the raffle, food and weigh in, watching the fish come in, its always exciting. Everyone in the community can come out and enjoy, Nicloy said.

She said the tournament benefits United Way because they cover the need of the community through its various programs offered through more than 90 agencies.

For more information about registration, sponsorships and raffles visit uw.lcec.net/SitePages/Fish.aspx , email contactfish@lcec.net, or call (239) 656-2122.It will take government some 74 years to clear outstanding court awards arising from civil cases currently standing at a tune of Shs 676 billion.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Gen Kahinda Otafiire told legislators on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee that his ministry doesn't have a clear financial strategy in how the outstanding arrears will be cleared. Otafiire told the MPs that the ministry needs at least Shs 9 billion every financial year to clear the the bill.

President Museveni (R) with Kahinda Otafiire the minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs

Now, the legislators have asked government to borrow money and pay off the awards that has accumulated over the last 10 years and this arises mainly from civil cases ruled in favour of people or entities and compensations awarded.



Legal Affairs committee chairperson also West Budama South MP Jacob Oboth Oboth, said the only viable option for government now, is to seek a loan and clear the huge figure which is attracting costly interests for government.



"Providing only Shs 9.35 billion per financial year, let us take it as a yardstick, is government prepared to pay the total arrears assuming no interest arises again from the Shs 657 billion? Is government prepared to pay in 74 years because if every financial year youre paying Shs 9 billion, then it will take you 74 years to clear the arrears. Why cant government borrow to pay because court awards are already debt. Were borrowing here to do infrastructure?", said Oboth Oboth.



Otafiire pleaded with parliament to devise means of helping government to punish errant government officers whose indiscipline and character has caused government financial loss.



"The primary remedy to these court awards is ensuring that government doesnt cause these court awards and that can be best done by governments and departments and agencies by ensuring that their officials dont transgress on the rights of citizens and therefore cause court awards." said Otafiire.

"For instance you take a department like Lands, a registrar issues three titles on the same land and those who have received the three titles when they go to court then you find court awards and etc and etc. And when these people are called to come and defend themselves or provide information to the directorate of civil litigation for proper management of the case, they are missing. And those who are missing in action, nothing is done. So honourable members, I think it is time parliament put its foot down and punish these MDAs and individuals. Individuals can make mistakes in the course of their work and but their instances when the mistakes are deliberate."



Otafiire further told the committee that the ministry's main remedy to court awards accumulation is to have more state attorneys, judges, judicial officers and prosecutors whose inadequate number has been contributing to government loss of cases hence court awards.



The committee members asked the ministry to provide a list of court awards that originate from all government agencies. Solomon Muyita, the judiciary spokesperson, says in some cases, government breaches terms of contract which leads to the awards.

He says awards from Uganda Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) for victims of human rights violations are also what contributes to the huge amounts.



"When court awards someone, it takes long because government has to pay this money in phases, and so you find someone going five to ten years without getting compensated. And the money government releases to the ministry is never enough," says Muyita.iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The U.S. announced that overnight airstrikes succeeded in dealing a severe blow against the Syrian government's capacity to use chemical weapons.



But U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley also warned Saturday that the U.S. is "locked and loaded" in case Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons again.



"Last night, we successfully hit the heart of Syrias chemical weapons enterprise, and because of these actions, we are confident that we have crippled Syrias chemical weapons program," Haley said at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. "If [Syria] uses this poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded."



She added, "When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line."

The Security Council meanwhile rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the "aggression" by the U.S. and its allies against Syria. Only two other countries, China and Bolivia, joined Russia in supporting the resolution. Eight countries voted against it, and three abstained. A resolution needs at least nine "yes" votes to pass.



Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador to the United States, tweeted that the strike would have repercussions. "We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences."



President Trump, like other administration officials, declared victory with the airstrikes launched in collaboration with the U.K. and France. "Mission Accomplished," he tweeted.

The Pentagon missile strike launched overnight in collaboration with the U.K. and France crippled the Syrian regime's chemical weapons program, Dana White, assistant defense secretary for public affairs, said at a briefing Saturday morning.

More than 100 missiles launched

In the predawn strike, 105 missiles were used to obliterate three key chemical weapons facilities, officials said.



Video shows the Syrian Scientific Research Center in Barzeh reduced to rubble. Two targets near Homs, Syria, including a chemical weapons storage facility, were also taken out in what Pentagon officials said was a "powerful show of allied unity."



Despite threats from Russia -- an Assad ally -- to intercept missiles targeting Syria, there was no evidence that Russia deployed its air-defense systems in response to the missiles.



The assault by the U.S., Britain and France was "able to overwhelm the Syrian air defense system," Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said Saturday. "None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by the Syrian air defenses. And we have no indication that Russian air defense systems were deployed."



The missile strikes were prompted by an alleged chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians April 7 by Assad forces in a Damascus suburb, an atrocity that U.S. officials said Syria has committed in the past.



"Americans are united" in condemning Syria's "inexcusable use of chemical weapons," Dana White, chief Pentagon spokesperson, said at a briefing Saturday morning. The airstrikes against Syria were "carefully orchestrated and methodically planned to minimize potential collateral damage."

Russia responds

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's U.N. ambassador, denied that a chemical attack occurred last weekend, saying that it was staged.



"There were people found who took part in this staging and, in fact, the inspirers and organizers of that staging were foreign intelligence services," Nebenzia said at the U.N.



The White House in a statement Saturday afternoon rejected any notion of the chemical attack being faked.

"Such a widespread fabrication would require a highly organized and compartmented campaign to deceive multiple media outlets while evading our detection," the White House statement reads.



The statement goes on to say, "A significant body of information points to the regime using chlorine in its bombardment of Duma, while some additional information points to the regime also using the nerve agent sarin."

Damage assessment



McKenzie said the missile strike was twice the size of one that the U.S. launched on Syria a year ago, in April 2017. He said the three targets hit were "fundamental components of the regime's chemical warfare infrastructure."



"This strike aimed to deliver a clear and unambiguous message to the Syrian regime that their use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians is inexcusable and to deter any future use of chemical weapons," McKenzie said, adding that while more detailed damage assessment was still being conducted, initial reports showed that all three targets were taken out.



"Initial indication is that we accomplished our military objectives without material interference from Syria," McKenzie said. "I'd use three words to describe this operation: precise, overwhelming and effective."



He said the first target hit was the Barzeh research facility and that the United States deployed 76 missiles, including 57 Tomahawk cruise missiles.



Showing graphics of the leveled and smoldering facility, he said, "This target was destroyed."



"It's going to set the Syrian chemical weapons program back for years," McKenzie said.



The second target -- the chemical weapons storage facility near Homs -- was destroyed by 22 weapons, including British and French missiles.



"This target was attacked by all coalition forces," McKenzie said.



Seven missiles were targeted at the weapons bunker, a little over 4 miles from the Homs storage facility, McKenzie said.



"Again, the initial assessment was that this bunker was successfully hit," McKenzie said.

Missiles fired from air and sea



He said all 105 missiles used in the strike were fired from U.S., British and French ships, and aircraft positioned in the Red Sea, the northern Gulf and the eastern Mediterranean.



The USS Ticonderoga and the USS Laboon, both in the Red Sea, fired a total of 37 Tomahawk cruise missiles, McKenzie said. He said the USS Higgins in the northern Gulf fired 23 Tomahawks. From the eastern Mediterranean, the French frigate Languedoc launched three missiles, and the USS John Warner Navy submarine fired six Tomahawks, McKenzie said.



From the air, two U.S. B-1 Lancer bombers fired 19 missiles, while British Tornado and Typhoon aircraft bombers launched eight Storm Shadow missiles, he said. French Rafale and Mirage fighter jets launched nine missiles, according to McKenzie.



He said there were no initial reports of civilian casualties and that all U.S. and allied aircraft safely returned to their bases.



Mckenzie said that more than 40 surface-to-air missiles were launched by the Syrian regime, most after the "last impact of our strike was over."



He said it is likely the Syrian missiles were fired "without guidance."



"We assess that the defensive efforts of Syria were largely ineffective and clearly increased the risk to their own people based on this indiscriminate response," McKenzie said. "When you shoot iron in the air without guidance, it's gonna come down somewhere."



"By contrast, the precise nature of our strike, and the care of which our allied team planned and executed, significantly reduced the risk of collateral damage to civilians," McKenzie said. "We have not seen any military response from actors within Syria" since the airstrikes.

No change in U.S. policy



White said the United States and its allies "do not seek conflict in Syria."



"This operation does not represent a change in U.S. policy, nor an attempt to depose the Syrian regime," White said. "These strikes were a justified, legitimate and proportionate response to the Syrian regime's continued use of chemical weapons on its own people."



NATO Secretary-General Jen Stoltenberg said all 29 NATO members supported the airstrikes in Syria.



"This will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons," Stoltenberg said.



Meanwhile, Iran, another ally of Syria, joined Russia in denouncing the airstrikes.



"Last night's strike that happened at dawn against Syria is a crime," Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement. "I clearly announce that the U.S. president, the French president and the British prime minister are criminals and have committed a crime."

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.By Mike Rogoway and Ted Sickinger | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The interim chief executive of Oregon's largest business group says it needs to move quickly if it's to recover from a difficult merger and the sudden firing of her predecessor.

Oregon Business & Industry fired Mark Johnson this past week, not long after The Oregonian/OregonLive published a report outlining allegations the CEO had mismanaged the trade group and used racially charged language to disparage a former colleague in the Oregon House.

The business association installed Ginny Lang the same day. Though the Salem lobbyist said she doesn't want the job long term, she doesn't intend to be a placeholder. Lang plans to move quickly to fill some vacant positions and begin developing policy goals ahead of the 2019 legislative session.

"We need to get cracking," Lang said. "There's work to be done."

Oregon Business & Industry emerged last year after an old-line business organization, Associated Oregon Industries, joined with the progressive upstart, Oregon Business Association.

Business and political leaders had been seeking a merger for years, hoping to forge a proactive, well-funded and, most importantly, unified political force in Salem. The combined organization has 1,700 members and an annual budget around $2.2 million.

Oregon Business & Industry has the potential to be a powerful voice in Salem, a prospective counterweight to labor groups that often hold sway with the state's Democratic majority. That was the prospect raised in 2016 when the business community crushed a union-backed initiative, Measure 97, that would have raised corporate taxes by $3 billion.

In practice, though, the combination proved difficult. The trade group lost several top staffers after Johnson took over, and member businesses split over such issues as the state's response to climate change.

Then, on Wednesday, the association's board fired Johnson after The Oregonian/OregonLive reported he had denigrated Rep. Diego Hernandez, "and his chain-migration homeboys from the hood."

In a prior interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, Johnson had said he didn't believe he had used the racially charged language. He issued a statement Wednesday apologizing "for any insensitive comments I may have made."

Hernandez called Johnson's reported comments "disheartening" but said he considered them unrepresentative of Oregon's larger business community. He said he has a meeting scheduled with Lang later this month.

With Johnson out, the business association needs a long-term CEO, a chief operating officer, a political director, a membership director and perhaps a communications chief.

Moreover, Lang said, she will continue the push to make Oregon Business & Industry a full partner with the Oregon Business Council and the Portland Business Alliance in developing the business community's annual policy playbook, the Oregon Business Plan, which lays out a consensus vision on a variety of issues, from education and tax policy to pension reform and the environment.

Oregon Business & Industry

Mission

: A trade group representing state business interests in Salem through lobbying and policy efforts

History

: Formed after the groups Associated Oregon Industries and the Oregon Business Association combined last year

Size

: 1,700 members

Annual budget

: about $2.2 million

Interim chief executive

: Ginny Lang, a former AOI board member

Chairman: Scott Parrish, formerly with AOI, chief executive of Newberg-based A-dec

Oregon Business & Industry's unique role in that partnership, she said, will be converting policy ideas into pieces of legislation and helping push them through the 2019 process, "so it's not just an academic exercise."

That will require the organization to find and fund its own stable of in-house lobbyists, versus outsourcing many of those important topic areas to contractors, as it did last year.

"We need to build the bench and find people who are top-notch in their subject matter areas and be ready to do our part," Lang said. "We're working through that. I've been here about 20 minutes."

A registered Democrat living in Southwest Portland, Lang is originally from Spokane, where she worked as a soda jerk in her father's corner pharmacy. She came to Oregon in 1973 and spent three decades in government affairs for a succession of large phone companies. She served on AOI's board until 2011, when she left CenturyLink and entered into a brief, semiretirement.

Since then she's lobbied for Oregon universities and worked on the Oregon Business Plan. Lang said she didn't hesitate to take over when the business association descended into crisis last week.

"There are interesting things to learn about and people to meet, and I'm all over that," she said. "This is important work, and I care about it."

Under Johnson, Oregon Business & Industry was intent on preventing Democrats from winning a three-fifths "supermajority" in November, which would give the party the power to raise taxes without Republican sign-off.

With $188,000 on hand, the business association's political action committee is underfunded relative to big labor groups and smaller, more specialized business organizations. But Lang said it can still be a force in the general election.

"I don't see why we can't generate the wherewithal that we need to be a key player in the key races," she said.

Just a day into her new role, Lang said she hadn't yet consulted with the business association's board on many key questions  including the timing of its executive search and its goals and budget for filling other top positions. Lang indicated she might delay filling some positions while she makes her own evaluation of the organization's needs.

Even before Johnson's ouster, though, Lang said the merged organization was just months old and its board and staff were still finding their way. In many respects, she said, it's a startup.

"The board, everything they're doing is new because they've created a different organization and a different way of doing things and they're going to have to build a culture around it," Lang said. "I'm certainly not going to tell you there aren't challenges around filling key slots, but I don't think it's an impossible task. We need to get on it."

Divisions remain, she allows, between rural and urban businesses, between liberal executives and conservative industrialists. Lang said that's neither bad nor surprising.

"The idea that this is a business community that thinks and speaks and acts in the same way just makes me chuckle a little bit," she said.

Part of the process of forming a new organization, she said, involves sorting through differences to find common ground and policies a broad group of members can support around education funding, taxes and the environment.

"It's important," she said, "for businesses to figure out ways to talk among themselves and disagree among themselves, then put forward options that everyone is willing to live with."

-- Ted Sickinger; 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger

-- Mike Rogoway; 503-294-7699; @rogowayClackamas County Sheriff's Office

Above: A Clackamas County man was killed Dec. 26, 2017 during a shootout with county deputies at his property in Boring. Authorities said hed gone to his estranged wifes home in Sandy with an AR-15 rifle beforehand, threatened her with it, then later led deputies on a chase back to his home and exchanged gunfire with them.





By Everton Bailey Jr.

The Oregonian | OregonLive



Tammie MacAlevy was alone Christmas night when she saw her estranged husband inside the Sandy home they once shared.



He was pointing an AR-15 rifle at her and wearing camouflage, a ballistic helmet and a ballistic vest. She grabbed a handgun and aimed back at him. Nathan MacAlevy told her he loved her.



"It ends tonight," he repeated.



By morning, he was dead  killed in a shootout with police at his rental home about 6 miles away in Boring.

Don't Edit

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office

Above: A photo from a Dec. 26, 2017 fatal officer-involved shooting in Boring shows a Clackamas County Sheriffs patrol car struck several times with bullets.





Tammie MacAlevy, 41, had filed a restraining order against her husband that August, saying he was "a danger to himself and others with physical violence, verbal abuse, drunk driving." She wrote that he "does not like law enforcement" and owned guns. She said he had one on him when he was arrested a day earlier for attacking her in front of their daughter.



After Nathan MacAlevy, 44, posted bail on resulting charges of fourth-degree assault and harassment, a Clackamas County judge ordered he not contact his wife, their home in Sandy or possess any alcohol or weapons, court records show.



Later that month, the FBI alerted all county police agencies about MacAlevy, telling them about his connections with occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The alert said he was a threat to police for possible retaliation over the death of LaVoy Finicum and had a large amount of weapons and ammo, according to the county district attorney's office.



None of that stopped MacAlevy from threatening his wife with a gun and later opening fire on police. Before the August arrest, he had no prior criminal history.

Don't Edit

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office

Above: A photo from a Dec. 26, 2017 fatal officer-involved shooting in Boring shows a Clackamas County Sheriffs patrol car struck several times with bullets.





Since 2015, Oregon has banned gun ownership by people convicted of domestic abuse and stalking. In March, Gov. Kate Brown signed into law a bill that closed a loophole allowing abusers who arent married to or living with their victims to own guns.



Had MacAlevy been convicted of a felony or any domestic violence charges, he would have been prohibited from possessing firearms, said Lewis Burkhart, a Clackamas County deputy district attorney who presented the case to a grand jury. But the court order doesn't require someone to surrender their weapons or have them seized by police. Compliance relies upon the defendant, Burkhart said. Violating the order could lead to contempt of court charges or bail revocation.



Sending police to people's homes to seize firearms carries its own risks, said county sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Brian Jensen. Some gun owners may comply, but others may not and it could lead to a confrontation, he said.



"We hope when a judge makes an order that people comply with that order," Jensen said.

Don't Edit

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office

Above: A photo from a Dec. 26, 2017 fatal officer-involved shooting in Boring shows the trajectory of several bullets that struck a Clackamas County Sheriffs patrol car during the encounter.





Nathan MacAlevy dealt with depression on and off for years, family members said.



By December, he seemed to sink into despair partly because of his pending divorce, his sister Angie MacAlevy said. He told her and his girlfriend, Tricia Hall, that he planned to get involved in a police shooting, according to the district attorney's office. Hall told investigators that she decided not to report MacAlevy's statements. She feared he would attempt suicide with the help of police.



Hall did not respond to a request for comment.



Angie MacAlevy said she didn't inform police because she thought it would further agitate her brother.



MacAlevy was drinking at his home in Boring on Christmas Day.



"You don't understand," read one message he sent his sister and girlfriend that day. "I'm done tonight one way or the other. I can't go back, follow through with the plan. I can take some pos with me or alone it doesn't matter."

Don't Edit



Tammie MacAlevy estimated her husband came into the home sometime after 11 p.m. She eventually lowered her handgun and convinced him to go outside so they could talk.



She texted her mom to call 911 as her husband headed out the back door. While they stood on the back deck, something caught Nathan MacAlevy's attention and he ran, his wife said. The district attorney's office said it was likely spotlights from arriving deputies.



Police searched the property but didn't find MacAlevy. His wife left the house unharmed and was driven by police to her mother's home. Police left the house in Sandy a little before 4 a.m. MacAlevy was spotted in his van around 4:30 a.m. along U.S. 26 still in town. Police gave chase.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office

Above:A Clackamas County Sheriff's armored truck rams a work van belonging to Nathan MacAlevy, who was killed by police during a shooting on his rental property in Boring on Dec. 26, 2017.





It ended at MacAlevy's home in Boring a little after 4:40 a.m., where MacAlevy shot at deputies. Police returned fire. As MacAlevy ran toward a barn, the fatal bullet hit him in the head and spinal cord, the district attorney's office said. The shooting ended within five minutes. No one else was injured.



In total, MacAlevy fired 30 rounds, and seven law enforcement officers fired 60 shots, according to the district attorney's office. Toxicology results found MacAlevy's blood-alcohol content was 0.12 percent.



Investigators found seven AR-15 magazines, almost 500 cartridges of ammo and a container of tannerite, an explosive used for target practice, on the property.



The district attorney's office concluded MacAlevy was "on a mission to complete a 'suicide by cop.'" A grand jury deemed the shooting justified.



MacAlevy was one of 12 people killed by police in Oregon in 2017. Fifteen had been killed the year before.

Don't Edit

Courtesy of Tricia Hall

Above: Nathan MacAlevy



Kathryn Bourn, an ex-Clatsop County prosecutor who represents Tammie MacAlevy in the divorce case, questioned how someone facing felony domestic assault charges and a restraining order still managed to possess firearms.



"The system really didn't work and very much failed Mrs. MacAlevy and their daughter," she said.



Tammie MacAlevy said she and her daughter are still reeling from the death of Nathan MacAlevy. "Some days are harder than others," she said.



"He was a good and decent guy when he was sober," she said. "But he gave police no option. He made his choice."

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343

@EvertonBaileySpend enough time in Spain and you might find yourself adopting the national breakfast habit, a slice or two of grilled toast topped with a bright, jammy smear of pulped tomato. It makes sense, then, that much of the new "wood-fired brunch" at Bar Casa Vale, the close-in Spanish resto-bar, would be devoted to Spanish-tinged ingredients on thick-cut, lightly charred slices of Ken's Artisan bread. In other words, things on toast. Here in this tucked away corner of Southeast Portland, new chef Jacob Harth has designed a morning tapas menu that might include warm brioche doughnuts with tangerine curd or fried chicken with skinny churros and honey, but will almost always include bread. And at least in these early days, it's often possible to drop by with no wait.

The dish: During a recent meal, when we were one of just two groups in the dining room, our meal began with a half slice of toast was topped with thin sheep's cheese, mellow nettle pesto, slippery radish wedges and fresh mint leaves made tart with a squeeze of lemon. A searing hot cazuela of chewy tripe, warm tomato sauce, fried egg, garlic chips and charred scallion salsa verde comes, as you might expect, with four slices of bread on the side. Airy salt cod fritters wrapped in a wonton-like crunchy skin emanate an oceanic funk accentuated by its kelp drapery, while a kaleidoscopic winter citrus salad with dehydrated black olive, shaved pecorino and sunflower seed butter wouldn't have been out of place at Olympia Provisions, Bar Casa Vale's twin sister restaurants. The olives are Spanish, the cured ham is American, and while some dishes seem loaded up with one ingredient too many, the flavors tend to work together well.

Drinks: Coffee, tea, juice, beer, cider, wine and breakfast cocktails. The Sidra Ponche ($11) blends brandy and sherry with Basque cider, accentuating the best of each.

Sample menu: Sheep's cheese toast ($10), salt cod fritters ($12), tripe and hominy cazuela ($15), fried chicken ($14), BCV burger ($10).

Go: If you like Spanish flavors and wait-free brunches, and don't mind deviating from tradition.

Scouting report

Details: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday-Sunday; 215 S.E. Ninth Ave.; 503-477-9081; barcasavale.com

-- Michael RussellHe ran for student body president at Lincoln High School in 1980  and lost to a classmate named Ted Wheeler.

He grew up in the West Hills, a place of money, power and influence.

And by the time David Bangsberg left for college, by his own admission, his existence had left him naive, privileged and racist.

That would change. The Portland native would go on to a career in public health, working on the frontlines of the heroin crisis in Baltimore and the HIV/AIDS crisis in San Francisco and New York. He would spend years traveling to Africa to help improve health outcomes at the heart of the AIDS epidemic.

Now, more than a year after returning home to lead a new public health school, Bangsberg is at the forefront of helping solve one of his hometown's most pressing problems: homelessness.

On Tuesday, he shared the mic with one of Portland's most prominent developers and one of the state's few billionaires as they revealed plans for a homeless shelter. It wasn't a coming out party for the already influential Bangsberg, but it felt like one: The dynamic 55-year-old injected urgency, clarity and energy into the malaise of a disjointed news conference.

"We need humane, sensible strategies with lifesaving treatment called affordable housing," Bangsberg, 55, said before a standing room only crowd of some of the metro area's political and civic leaders, his glasses on the tip of his nose. Cameras rolled. Reporters scribbled notes.

"If we can solve the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we can solve homelessness here at home."

It was quintessential Bangsberg. When he talks  whether it's about HIV and AIDS, or homelessness, or depression and suicide  people tend to listen.

"He's a big man in every way," said Margot Kushel, a longtime friend, homelessness expert and professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco's. "He's tall, he speaks loudly. He sort of commands a room."

NEUROSURGEON

Don Mazziotti is a former Portland urban renewal director who now leads developer Homer Williams' nonprofit Harbor of Hope, which is creating the new homeless shelter. Mazziotti said it didn't take long to size up Bangsberg as a key player bridging the public and private sectors.

"It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that he has the skillset necessary to assume a leadership role in addressing homelessness in Portland and nationally," Mazziotti said.

David Bangsberg pictured in a 1981 Oregonian file photo.

It was an apt analogy for the man who once wanted to be a brain surgeon.

In 1985, Bangsberg graduated from the University of Rochester with a bachelor's in neuroscience. He was one of five recipients of a full-ride scholarship his year in Johns Hopkins University's joint M.D.-Ph.D. program.

He was on a neurosurgeon's path.

But the path zigged when he arrived in Baltimore, where Bangsberg learned African Americans lived a different existence just based on where they happened to grow up.

This was all new to the Portland kid.

He met Paul, a black teen. He joked with Paul as he tested him for the then-little-known HIV virus. "All my patients are HIV negative, you'll be just fine," Bangsberg told the teen.

Paul was HIV-positive. He also had pneumonia. He died weeks later.

"All of a sudden, being a brain surgeon didn't seem all that important anymore," Bangsberg said in an interview.

Bangsberg told the same story during a packed lecture at Oregon Health & Science University's South Waterfront campus before a crowd of more than 200 people in February. He teared up.

He also talked about Anthony, a 6-foot-2 black man who was his first patient in Baltimore. "I am terribly ashamed to say, I was terrified to go into that room," he told the crowd. That was when he realized he was a racist, he said.

Bangsberg was outraged that a ZIP code could determine someone's health, their family's health and their future, that a family's fate was tied to something so arbitrary.

"That's not right," he said, "And that's why public health matters."

AIDS WORK

It was 2 a.m. at the University of California-San Francisco's hospital in 1995, and Margot Kushel had met Bangsberg in the cardiac care unit for the first time. They talked about how to improve health for sex workers. She thought, this mile-a-minute talker was a tireless advocate for stigmatized, marginalized populations.

Bangsberg was in his first year of a fellowship there, where he studied infectious diseases and AIDS prevention.

The young physician had already been the chief resident at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, where he decided his new path would be with HIV among the urban poor.

As HIV treatment made significant breakthroughs, Bangsberg helped spread the medical advances to the African poor.

Kushel said Bangsberg wasn't the one working in the lab on biological breakthrough. Rather, it was about connecting the social and medical dots.

"His passion about HIV was always once we knew what to do, are we going to be able to get that to the people that need it, and also can we prevent it from happening?" she said.

Racist and classist prejudices persisted, and the conventional wisdom was poverty-stricken Africans wouldn't take the drugs or do the preventative work needed to stem the epidemic.

Bangsberg said that was untrue. "People who are ill want to be treated," he said.

He went on to become director of Global Health at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. In the past decade, he worked in Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa, Bangladesh and India.

NOW HOMELESSNESS

Many issues with HIV/AIDS are the same as with homelessness, a point on which Kushel says she and Bangsberg agree.

"We know how to address it; it's more of a moral and political challenge than anything," Kushel said.

HIV and AIDS, Bangsberg said, were first met with "fear, stigma and denial," just like homelessness is today. He pledged to bring evidence-based research from his school and others at Portland State to help create a "multi-pronged approach to end homelessness."

"The most important thing is to create a community understanding that poverty is not a crime," Bangsberg said in an interview last year. "There are complex reasons that lead people to being homeless."

Homelessness is not a new phenomenon in Portland or any other American city, and Bangsberg doesn't claim to be a savior.

"This problem is too big for any one person, any one organization to solve," he said Tuesday after the news conference. He said he's excited to see Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle and others in the private sector chipping in.

It takes a true believer to move society. Kushel said Bangsberg can use his communication skills to make people realize that change is possible. He speaks the language, and he owns his privileges up front.

"Decisions made by human beings are changeable," she said. "We have the power to change it."

A rendering showing a proposed building at SW 4th Avenue and Montgomery Street, which will house the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health and other programs.

NEW BUILDING

When OHSU and Portland State teamed up on the joint School of Public health, they knew eventually the schools needed a home for their health college.

In January, crews are expected to break ground on a $100 million building at Southwest 4th and Montgomery Street that will eventually house Bangsberg's program as well as other city services and higher education programs.

The schools still need to raise $10 million to make the building a reality.

Those who know him say his drive, passion and commitment are the perfect fit for the new role.

His fellow medical school classmate, Knute Buehler, said he remembers Bangsberg was always "humble, insightful and driven" to improve health outcomes for society's most vulnerable.

"Oregon is very fortunate to have someone of his caliber and experience want to come back here and dedicate some of the most productive times of his career here," Buehler, a Bend lawmaker and Republican candidate for governor, said in an interview last year.

Bangsberg brings the gravity of decades of experience working in urban cities and rural Africa to the table. A decade ago, OHSU tried unsuccessfully to woo him home. It finally happened.

Bangsberg said he was drawn home for a number of reasons. He still has family here, and his wife and two daughters spent a lot of time in Portland through the years.

He was also attracted to working at Portland State, where more than one-third of his students are the first generation of their families to go to college. Bangsberg and his wife, Lynn O'Kelley, contributed $100,000 toward scholarships for first-generation students.

He also feels the same urgency to tackle substance abuse, depression and homelessness in Oregon, widescale issues he sees today. He feels the same moral outrage he did in the late 1980s and 1990s with HIV and AIDS.

"He is one of a handful of individuals who helped turn it from a death sentence to manageable disease," Joe Robertson, OHSU's president said in an interview last year.

At the news conference, he said the homeless shelter was an important step forward "in one of the most important journeys of our time." He pledged to be there every step of the way with a team of six other Portland State deans contributing expertise and research.

Bangsberg sees the path forward.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheenWASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has promised a top Senate Republican that he will support congressional efforts to protect states that have legalized marijuana - defusing a months-long standoff between Sen. Cory Gardner and the administration over Justice Department nominees.

In January, the Colorado Republican said he would block all DOJ nominations after Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo that heightened the prospect of a federal marijuana crackdown in states that had legalized the substance. Gardner's home state made recreational marijuana legal in 2014.

But in a phone call late Wednesday, Trump told Gardner that despite the DOJ memo, the marijuana industry in Colorado won't be targeted, the senator said in a statement Friday. Satisfied, the first-term senator is now backing down from his nominee blockade.

"Since the campaign, President Trump has consistently supported states' rights to decide for themselves how best to approach marijuana," Gardner said Friday. "Late Wednesday, I received a commitment from the President that the Department of Justice's rescission of the Cole memo will not impact Colorado's legal marijuana industry."

He added: "Furthermore, President Trump has assured me that he will support a federalism-based legislative solution to fix this states' rights issue once and for all. Because of these commitments, I have informed the administration that I will be lifting my remaining holds on Department of Justice nominees."

Gardner, who heads the campaign operation charged with hanging on to the Republicans' Senate majority, was irate in January when Sessions revoked guidance from the Obama administration, known as the Cole memo, that had discouraged prosecutors from enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that had legalized the drug. Especially infuriating, from Gardner's perspective, was that Sessions had pledged during his confirmation process for attorney general that he would leave states that had legalized marijuana alone, according to the senator.

The January memo from Sessions stated that prosecutors should use their discretion in weighing whether charges were warranted, rather than abiding by the Obama-era guidance.

But Trump has held a sharply different view from Sessions on the issue. During the presidential campaign, Trump said in an interview with KUSA-TV in Colorado that he said "it's up to the states" on the marijuana issue.

Trump "does respect Colorado's right to decide for themselves how to best approach this issue," White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said in an interview Friday.

Gardner held up about 20 Justice nominees, a significant number considering Senate Republicans and the White House have for months accused Democrats of slowing down consideration of other Trump picks.

"Clearly, we've expressed our frustration with the delay with a lot of our nominees and feel that too often, senators hijack a nominee for a policy solution," Short said. "So we're reluctant to reward that sort of behavior. But at the same time, we're anxious to get our team at the Department of Justice."

A bill has not been finalized, but Gardner has been talking quietly with other senators about a legislative fix that would, in effect, make clear that the federal government cannot interfere with states that have voted to legalize marijuana.

"My colleagues and I are continuing to work diligently on a bipartisan legislative solution that can pass Congress and head to the President's desk to deliver on his campaign position," Gardner said.

In addition to Gardner's holds, DOJ has faced notable bipartisan pushback from Capitol Hill when it comes to marijuana.

Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., wrote to Sessions this week, urging him to back off efforts to curtail medical marijuana research at the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Washington Post reported in August that Sessions' DOJ was effectively hamstringing the agency's research efforts by making it harder to grow marijuana.

Separately, former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced this week that he was joining the board of directors for a cannabis company and engaged in efforts to allow veterans to access marijuana for medicinal use. He has opposed decriminalizing the substance as an elected official.

--The Washington PostThe bulk of this week's national editorial cartoonists take shots at Paul Ryan's announcement that he won't seek another term. Other pieces touch on sending National Guard troops to the border, tensions with Syria and the ongoing turmoil with the Mueller probe.BY ROXANNA ASGARIAN

HOUSTON  By the time Devonte Hart's biological mom saw the viral photo that made him famous, her son was already missing and presumed dead, along with one of her other children. A third was confirmed dead.

And Sherry Davis was devastated.

Friday, in her first interview since her children died, Davis spoke with The Oregonian/OregonLive, describing her heartbreak, how she lost her kids, and how she'd gotten clean with the hope of one day getting them back.

Davis' children Devonte, Sierra and Jeremiah were with their adoptive parents, Jennifer and Sarah Hart, and their three adopted siblings when Jennifer Hart apparently drove the family off a California cliff last month.

Clarence Celestine, father of Jeremiah and Sierra, said he hasn't been able to sleep since he heard the news. He wants to leave every time someone mentions the crash and concerns of abuse that followed the children and their adoptive parents in three states. He wishes his sister, Priscilla Celestine, who fought to keep the kids when Davis lost custody, had been able to keep them.

"I don't understand why they took the kids from my sister," said Clarence Celestine, 66.

"And gave them to monsters," Davis added.

What also tears at Davis and Celestine: Had a local family law attorney who represented the kids' aunt in a failed custody bid not recognized the children in news reports, Davis believes she might never have known their fate.

Cocaine addiction led to Davis losing custody of Devonte in 2006, along with siblings Jeremiah and Sierra, whom she'd named Ciara Rose. She said she's spent the years since getting clean and back on her feet, praying that her children were somewhere happy and that they knew she still loved them. She even hoped to one day regain custody.

Sherry Davis and Clarence Celestine.

Davis said that even while she was using drugs, her children were well fed, well dressed and never neglected. Back then, she said, she was doing live-in care at least two days a week for work and housekeeping on the side to make ends meet.

Once the three children and a fourth older child, Dontay, were taken by Texas' Department of Family and Protective Services, they were temporarily placed with their aunt, Priscilla Celestine. They were put into foster care about five months later when a caseworker arrived at Celestine's home and found Davis there with the children, unsupervised.

Davis said she'd been undergoing a court-ordered drug treatment program when the kids were first placed with the aunt and hoped to one day regain custody. She ultimately feels her past dealings with CPS, which included previously losing custody of three older children, worked against her and led to the four younger kids being immediately removed from their biological family.

When she found out the Harts adopted Devonte, Jeremiah and Sierra in 2009, Davis said, she relapsed. Having her kids taken again took everything out of her, she said, crying. There were days where she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"I gave up," Davis said. It took about a year for her to begin regaining sobriety.

Today, Davis is an in-home care worker. She's married and said she's been clean for eight years. She never gave up hoping she'd one day reunite her family. Learning of her children's deaths -- and of the abuse allegations that preceeded them -- has been devastating.

"They're so quick to snatch [children] from people like us," she said, "but once they're adopted, they don't even check on them?"

Clarence Celestine said he was in prison when the kids were in and out of his sister's custody. He doesn't understand why the children weren't spared in the crash, left somewhere someone could find them and keep them safe, he said.

"They'd be better off with us," said Celestine, who's owned a landscaping business for the last eight years.

Thursday was the first time Davis saw the now-famous viral photo of her son Devonte giving a Portland police officer a teary hug.

Baby D, as she knew him, was always smart, quiet and observant. The photo of him brought her no comfort. In fact, it left her unsettled.

"That should've been a happy moment," Davis, 48, said at her Houston home Friday. "I believe he wanted to speak to the officer but was probably too scared."

She spoke the same day California authorities announced Jennifer Hart was drunk when she drove off the coastal cliff. Jennifer Hart had an alcohol level of .102 percent, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. The agency also said Sarah Hart and two of the children who died in the crash had diphenhydramine, an active ingredient in Benadryl, in their systems.

Benadryl can make people sleepy. Toxicology results for the third child who died in the crash aren't yet complete, the sheriff's office said.

The body of an African American female found in the ocean near the crash scene still hasn't been identified, and Devonte, Hannah and Sierra Hart remain missing.

Lt. Shannon Barney, a sheriff's office spokesman, said Friday that authorities can't rely on dental records to identify the body that was recovered last weekend because authorities haven't been able to find a dentist who treated the children.

He said it will take a couple of weeks to get DNA results back from a lab and positively identify the body.

For Davis, there's one last thing she'd like to do for her babies. She hopes to bring their bodies back to Texas. She'd like to bury them somewhere close to her.

We welcome comments on this story on our Facebook page.

Roxanna Asgarian is a freelance reporter. Lizzy Acker, Everton Bailey Jr., and Jim Ryan of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this report.Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Friday signed into law stronger regulations to help keep kids safe at day cares.

Brown's official blessing, which had been expected, comes one month after HB 4065 unanimously passed the Legislature. Brown also touted the roughly $2 million she secured from lawmakers to increase childcare oversight, among other things.

"HB 4065 and the additional staffing funding will help provide the state with the tools and resources needed to protect our youngest Oregonians," Brown said in a statement. "We know there is more work to do, and will continue to focus on improving Oregon's system of early education and care."

The push for stronger sanctions and greater staffing followed extensive coverage by The Oregonian/OregonLive last year exposing gaps across the childcare oversight system. Oregon's Office of Child Care regulates about 4,200 licensed facilities that provide care to more than 100,000 kids.

The new law dramatically increases penalties that rule-breaking day cares could face. Fines for large centers could hit up to $2,500 per violation, up from a maximum of $1,000 per quarter no matter the number of problems.

Regulators also closed a loophole to ensure they can sanction a provider even after a childcare license expires.

Brown didn't specify how many new employees the Office of Child Care will hire with increased funding. But agency officials previously said they hoped to secure money for 14 positions, a modest increase that, according to one lawmaker, would still leaving oversight ratios "substandard."

State officials also launched a new web portal this spring after acknowledging their old system was inadequate. The portal, which went live two weeks ago, is intended to help parents secure better information about day cares.

Meanwhile, state auditors are planning to review Oregon's childcare oversight system.

Brown's office in October asked for a "small audit" to evaluate how the Office of Child Care works with the Department of Human Services and law enforcement when a child safety issue is identified, according to documents obtained through a public records request.

But Brown's office in January requested a 90-day delay, records show, to allow state officials time to launch a new pilot program. It's not clear when the audit will be completed.

-- Brad Schmidt

bschmidt@oregonian.com

503-294-7628

@_brad_schmidtSALEM -- Joe Colello, the former Energy Department employee who took more than $300,000 in bribes for helping arrange the sale of state energy tax credits for a Seattle-based energy consultant, reached the end of his legal road Friday.

Led into Marion County Circuit Court in handcuffs, navy blue prison scrubs and pair of orange moccasins, Colello was sentenced to five years in prison and three years of probation on charges of racketeering, bribe receiving, aggravated theft, tax evasion and official misconduct.

A federal judge in Portland had already sentenced Colello earlier this month to an identical term for money laundering, defrauding the IRS and filing false tax returns. The sentences will be served concurrently, and Colello will be eligible for parole after four years with good behavior. He has requested to serve his sentence in federal prison, likely in Sheridan.

He also was ordered to pay restitution  which will be shared if someone else is convicted  of $1.25 million to the cities, transit agencies, universities and private companies defrauded in the tax credit brokering scheme. Separately, Colello was ordered to pay $120,945 to cover the state's investigation and prosecutions costs. He also owes some $81,000 in back taxes to the IRS.

As part of his plea agreement, Colello was supposed to make a $170,000 down payment on the restitution on the day of sentencing, and repay the state's $120,945. Judge Donald Abar noted Friday that he'd already missed those payments.

Colello did, however, turn over a spreadsheet to the state that he'd used to track the bribes he'd received, presumably to make sure he was getting his share of the commissions earned on the tax credit sales.

Martin Shain, the Seattle-based energy consultant who allegedly bribed Colello, is scheduled to go to trial in September on forgery, racketeering, bribery, theft and tax evasion charges. He has pleaded not guilty, though state prosecutors have held settlement talks with his lawyers.

Until 2015, Colello oversaw the sale of state energy tax credits at the Oregon Department of Energy. State rules allowed the original recipients of the credits to sell them to a third party at a discount, and it was Colello's job to match sellers with buyers and process the transactions for a small fee.

Sellers also could use outside brokers to find buyers and complete the deals. In 2012, Colello started crediting one broker, Shain, for matching buyers and sellers who had actually gone directly to the state to complete their deals.

Using his insider knowledge, Colello would steer Shain to public agencies and companies looking to sell their credits, authorities said. Once Shain had secured a brokerage contract, Colello would complete the deals, crediting Shain with finding buyers who had actually gone directly to the state looking for available credits, prosecutors said.

From 2012 to 2015, Shain's brokerage company earned $1.3 million in commissions from 11 clients, including cities, transit agencies universities and companies around the state. In turn, prosecutors say, Shain sent approximately 58 cashier's checks to Colello or his girlfriend totaling more than $300,000.

The kickback scheme came to light after The Oregonian/OregonLive published an investigation showing the state had improperly awarded the $12 million in tax credits to a series of university solar projects based on forged documents. Shain was the state's consultant on those projects, responsible for obtaining the tax credits. With Colello's assistance, he also sold the tax credits for the solar projects, which brought in the largest portion of the illicit commissions earned.

The FBI and the Oregon Department of Justice launched an investigation after the news report and uncovered Colello and Shain's arrangement.

- Ted Sickinger

503-221-8505; @tedsickingerU.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez delivered a severe rebuke Friday to a defendant who sent a letter to his home, boasting that he was handing out the judge's home address like Halloween candy to other inmates.

"If this is your address, it's the only law-abiding way to fight back personally while you hold me for something I didn't do,'' Cyrus Sullivan wrote to Hernandez. "If you stop, so will I.''

The judge read the entire letter into the court record as Sullivan, 34, sat beside his lawyer in a black-and-white-striped jumpsuit, confined by extra restraints -- his wrists handcuffed and linked to a chain around his waist and his ankles shackled together.

Cyrus Sullivan

Included with the letter was a page with the heading "Copblaster'' and the words "Recuse Yourself, Por Favor.''

Copblaster is the name of a website Sullivan created that posts biographies of law enforcement officers, correctional guards and judges accompanied by his complaints and those of others against them.

Sullivan didn't direct his written comments only at the judge, but also mentioned prosecutor Greg Nyhus, saying in the letter that he wanted to "mail dog poop'' to Nyhus' house.

The judge called Sullivan's letter a "disgusting, offensive and perhaps illegal'' way to intimidate and influence the criminal justice system.

"It is not how justice works,'' Hernandez said. "Justice cannot bend to these tactics.''

Hernandez denied Sullivan's motion to have him removed from handling Sullivan's pending case  three counts of impeding federal officers in an alleged June 2017 scuffle in custody with Multnomah County sheriff's deputies. Defense lawyers said Sullivan's arm was broken in the course of the encounter.

And the judge then imposed more restrictions on Sullivan, including no contact with any of the judge's family or any other judge's family, no discussion of home addresses of any judge or any government official and no access to any computer at any time for any reason.

As Hernandez listed the restrictions, Sullivan yelled out, "I'm not going to obey anything you (expletive) say ... and I'm telling everybody where you do live. (Expletive) you!''

The judge told Sullivan not to interrupt.

Hernandez, in a prior hearing last week, decided not to do anything about a report by Sullivan's cellmate that Sullivan had offered him $200,000 to kill the judge and two other federal officials. It couldn't be verified, and Sullivan denied it. Hernandez then said he intended to treat the reported "threat'' as gossip and felt he could remain on the case unless Sullivan requested that another judge take the case.

Sullivan earlier spent time in prison on a conviction of threatening a woman in a running dispute over his controversial stdcarriers.com website. The site allowed people to post names of people who allegedly have a sexually transmitted disease, and the woman's name had been falsely added by an ex-boyfriend. He was sentenced to two years in 2013 in the case.

He also was convicted in November 2014 of assaulting a federal employee at a halfway house.

But by the end of Friday's hearing, Hernandez decided that he would recuse himself after all from Sullivan's case.

The judge asked if the prosecutor or defense lawyer had anything to say.

There was a stunned silence, and Hernandez adjourned the hearing.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonianA 25-year-old man is accused of pushing a 78-year-old woman to the ground as he walked behind her on Northeast Broadway in an unprovoked attack that dislocated her shoulder and fractured bones in her face.

The woman fell face-first, striking a parked Prius about 5 p.m. Wednesday, police and a witness said.

Mike Nuss, an owner of RareBird Real Estate on Broadway, said he was in the office, walking to a conference room and heard a man outside scream, "I hate you.''

He looked out the glass windows of the office and saw a man suddenly knock the woman down. She had her back to the man, Nuss said.

Justin Dean Ames

Nuss ran to get his cellphone, called 911 and bolted outside. The woman was bleeding and had a gash beside her eye, he said.

She had parked elsewhere and then walked up to her friend's Prius. She was waiting for her friend to get out of the car when, Nuss said, "I saw him push her extremely hard."

The attacker kept walking, Nuss said.

"She did nothing to provoke this person,'' Nuss said. "She had her back to him. There was plenty of space for him to walk. She was just the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.''

As the woman's friend helped her up, Nuss gave the dispatcher a description of the suspect and followed him for about one or two blocks. He saw the man, wearing a silver-colored raincoat, walk east on Broadway, then north on Northeast Ninth Avenue.

"It's terrible to know anything like that can happen out of nowhere as a citizen in our city,'' Nuss said. "It's a huge safety concern.''

Police looked at video surveillance footage from the real estate business and on Thursday arrested Justin Dean Ames, 25, as he was walking near North Larrabee Avenue and Broadway.

He was arraigned Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court on a second-degree assault allegation. Ames, described as transient in court papers, told court officials that he's been diagnosed in the past with post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia.

Police also learned that officers stopped and briefly held Ames at the Portland Expo Center on Wednesday night, accused of spitting at a security guard after he was told to leave the premises. Ames told officers he sleeps under the Fremont Bridge.

Ames has prior convictions for possession of methamphetamine, carrying a concealed knife, harassment and trespassing, court records show.

Police asked that anyone with more information about Ames contact Detective Travis Fields at 503-823-4104 or at Travis.Fields@portlandoregon.gov

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonianBEIRUT -- Loud explosions rocked Syria's capital and filled the sky with heavy smoke early Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Syrian television reported that air defenses responded to the attack.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and the sky turned orange. A huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. Syrian television reported that a scientific research center had been hit.

Syrian media reported that air defenses hit 13 rockets south of Damascus. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after airstrikes began.

Defense Secretary James Mattis said the U.S. had no reports that it had suffered any losses during the initial airstrikes.

Trump announced Friday night that the U.S., Britain and France had launched military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for the alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again.

The U.S. president said the U.S. is prepared to "sustain" pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.

Trump said the joint attack was expected to include barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace. He described the main aim as establishing "a strong deterrent" against chemical weapons use.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria; he authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

The allied operation comes a year after the U.S. missile strike that Trump said was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The one-off missile strike in April 2017 targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

Friday's strikes appear to signal Trump's willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances," he said. "As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home."

The U.S. has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A U.S.-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.

-- By Sarah el DeebWe have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.On Friday night, Trump addressed the nation to announce that he had authorized air strikes in Syria. Trump explained that the strikes were in response to the chemical attacks launched by the dictatorial Assad regime against the Syrian people.

The strikes were conducted in coordination with the British and French military. According to the Secretary of Defense, Gen. James Mattis, the combined forces shot missiles at three targets in the Damascus area: a chemical weapons research lab and two chemical weapons storage facilities. At a press conference, Mattis also said that the strikes have now ended and there is no immediate report of losses. "Right now, this is a one-time shot, and I believe it has sent a very strong message," he said. It is not currently known at this time if there will be additional strikes, or if the mission has been considered successful.

These strikes are significant because Assad government, which runs Syria, is an ally of Russia. Indeed, there are Russian troops in Syria, along with Iranian and Turkish forces. Mattis indicated that the strikes were designed to avoid an escalation with foreign forces.

Several American lawmakers rebuked the President's action, which were taken without Congressional approval. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, issued a disapproving statement about Trump's decision, according to the Guardian. "One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy," said Pelosi on Twitter. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee during the 2016 election, also disagreed with the strikes, writing that "Trump's decision to launch airstrikes against Syria without Congress's approval is illegal. We need to stop giving presidents a blank check to wage war. Today it's Syria, but what's going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?"





The latest chemical weapons attack against the Syrian people was a brutally inhuman war crime. Yet one night of airstrikes is no substitute for a coherent strategy.

 Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) April 14, 2018

Trump's decision to launch airstrikes against Syria without Congress's approval is illegal. We need to stop giving presidents a blank check to wage war. Today it's Syria, but what's going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?

 Tim Kaine (@timkaine) April 14, 2018

This is a developing story, and we will update it as more information becomes available.The world bids goodbye to another beautiful female icon of color. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was not only first lady to anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, but was a great South African anti-apartheid activist and political leader herself. Mama Winnie fought the good fight, even as she was regularly detained and tortured by the National Party government. She did everything she could to plant seeds for justice and equality in South Africa, and did so until the age of 82 with bravery and pride.

Among the people who honored the "Mother of the Nation" at her funeral in the township of Soweto was Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, who said, "I am not here not so much to bury Mama, because Queen Mothers do not die. They multiply into a million red flowers of love and freedom." Instead, he was there to defend Mam'Winnie and express his anger at those who betrayed her, calling out the African National Congress party and the United Democratic Front specifically.

British supermodel and activist Naomi Campbell also went up on the podium at the Orlando stadium to give her tribute "She was the epitome of courage and strength" she said. "She was a heroine of the whole continent. She never ever waiver in her conviction and courage."

Campbell, who recalled Madikizela-Mandela's warmth and kindness on her visits to South Africa, ended her speech in tears. "Let freedom reign. God bless Winnie Mandela. May you rest in the greatness of the Kingdom of God next to extraordinary people. I love you."

Naomi Campbell paying tribute to Mama Winnie pic.twitter.com/qTKTJIEvVI

 SABC News Online (@SABCNewsOnline) April 14, 2018

Image via Getty

This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questionsThis service is a courtesy for our print subscribers to give them access to our online edition at no additional cost. If you haven't registered on the new site, you must do it now before you do anything else.A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who, like some vocal others, is highly indignant about my article on Islam in the current issue of the Ensign wrote to me yesterday, accusing Muhammad, Islam, and Muslims of a number of very bad things. Ill discuss one of those accusations here.

Look into Dearborn Michigan and its status, he advised me. Now ruled by an islamic mayor. Trying to enforce Sharia law over the constitution.

So I have looked into Dearborn, Michigan, and its status.

I havent been able to determine the religious affiliation of Dearborns Democratic mayor, Jack OReilly. I suppose its possible that he comes from the Islamic Republic of Oreillystan or belongs to the infamous OReillys of central Sudan. But, just going way out on a limb, Im guessing that hes most likely not a Muslim at all. Mr. OReilly has been the citys mayor since 2007, and he was reelected to a four-year term most recently in 2017. Barring unforeseen developments, that makes him mayor until 2021.

You can read here about the five candidates who contested the 2017 Dearborn mayoral election. They were Jim Parrelly, Thomas Patrick Tafelski, John B. OReilly Jr. (the incumbent), Hakim Fakhouri, and Edward John Binkley. Of these, only Hakim Fakhouri has a Middle Eastern name; hes likely a Muslim, though he might well be an Arab Christian. (Many of the Arabs who live in Dearborn are Christians; Christian Arabs were the first immigrants from the Middle East to settle there.)

Claims about sharia being imposed in Dearborn were already circulating back in 2010. Here, Mayor OReilly responds to something said by the buffoonish Republican nominee for the Nevada Senate seat then held by Harry Reid:

Sharia law in Dearborn

And here, from the now-defunct Bill OReilly show on Fox News  note the name: is Bill OReilly perhaps also of Muslim or Middle Eastern extraction? hmmmm? inquiring minds want to know!  Jesse Watters talks to several scary wannabe Muslim theocrats in Dearborn:

Watters World: Dearborn edition

So much for Dearborn.

But then theres the horror of Hamtramck, Michigan, where  to the shock and outrage of at least some  the population of a town in a democratic nation has elected a city council that reflects itself:

This U.S. city has become the first to elect a Muslim-majority city council

Whats Life Like in Americas First City With a Muslim-Majority City Council? While the media highlight conflict, residents say theres not much ethnic tension worth mentioning.

This article was written before the 2016 presidential election:

What Americas Only Muslim-Governed City Thinks of Donald Trump

And heres yet another Muslim-inflicted horror in Michigan:

Did a Muslim Mayor Outlaw Christmas in 2017? Reports that the Muslim mayor of a Michigan town banned Christmas festivities and decorations are fake news.

***

In this light, Im very gratified by a newly issued report:

Anti-Muslim rhetoric by politicians happened in every state but Utah, analysis finds

There are many reasons to be proud of my adopted state, and the tolerance and genuine respect that has characterized its politicians on this issue certainly ranks among them.

Posted from Phoenix, Arizona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.Professor Joshua Alabi, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), has called for the establishment of an accountability court to assist the Ghana Audit Service to prosecute cases of corruption in public offices.



He said the issue of corruption was national and that it would take both the government and the citizenry to curb the menace.



Prof. Alabi was speaking at the maiden lecture of the UPSA Alumni Association in Accra.



It was on the theme Sustainable Leadership: The Panacea for Modern-Day Political Corruption in Africa.



Prof. Alabi also stressed the need for the government to resource and equip the Audit Service to make the fight against the menace more effective.



He noted that more needed to be done to deal with the growing corruption that had plagued government institutions and agencies.

In order to address corruption in Ghana, the former Vice Chancellor called for more drastic measures to be put in place to support the existing structures.



Prof. Alabi commended the government for establishing the Office of Special Prosecutor, describing it as one of the several strong systems that would put public office holders on their toes.



He urged politicians to desist from interfering in student politics and to allow young persons to make their mark, as achievements at that level would open opportunities for them when they branch into mainstream politics.



Prof. Alabi expressed concern that the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) had become powerless and said in the past political leaders were terrified of the Union.



He commended the alumni for their foresight and called for the collaboration between them and the University to ensure the total development of the University.



Dr Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, President of the UPSA Alumni Association, called on Ghanaians to help fight the canker which had eaten deep into the fabric of the society.

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One Philly eatery is going high tech.

Fuel in Philadelphia now has facial recognition ordering available at its Center City and University City locations.

Facial recognition ordering felt like the best way to tackle the need for fast food.

"People don't have that hour anymore for a lunch break," said Rocco Cima, owner of Fuel. "They want to be in and out."

"So we designed a new menu for speed and designed a new ordering technique for speed," Cima said. "You can be in and out in just a matter of minutes and get a fresh prepared meal rather than pre-packaged."

Guests simply go to one of the ordering kiosks and select their desired food or smoothie. They can then choose to have the order remembered using facial recognition. After that initial order, they can use the kiosks anytime to scan their faces and pull the order back up, making ordering faster than ever.

"From the time you walk in the door to the time you've ordered it's only a matter of seconds," Cima said. "If you're on the go and you don't have the long lunch break it's a perfect solution."

The new ordering method isn't the only new thing at Fuel. The restaurant has also revamped its menu with 17 new items -- all priced at $10 or less. The new menu items include acai bowls, toast boxes and tahini smoothies. The folks at Fuel also teamed up with "Bar Rescue" chef Brian Duffy for two new items: the Fuel Portobello Cheesesteak Wrap ($9.95) and Pitatini ($8.95). The Pitatini is loaded with hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, chickpeas, red onions, kalamata olives, feta and Za'atar seasoning.

You can learn more about Fuel at fuelrechargeyourself.com. It has three locations in Philadelphia: University City (3200 Chestnut St.), Center City (1225 Walnut St.) and South Philadelphia (1917 E. Passyunk Ave.).

Want more stories about Philadelphia? Click here to read all our coverage of the City of Brotherly Love. You may also enjoy these videos of unique eats in the area:WASHINGTON -- As he declares the U.S.-led airstrikes against Syria a success, President Donald Trump is adopting a phrase that a previous president came to regret -- "mission accomplished."

On Saturday, Trump tweeted: "A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

In May 2003, President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" -- just six weeks after the invasion.

But the war dragged on for many years after that and the banner became a symbol of U.S. misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly conflict. Bush was heavily criticized for the move.

After shifting explanations, the White House eventually said the "Mission Accomplished" phrase referred to the carrier's crew completing its 10-month mission, not the military completing its mission in Iraq.

Bush, in October 2003, disavowed any connection with the "Mission Accomplished" message. He said the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesman later said the ship's crew asked for the sign and the White House staff had it made by a private vendor.

Said former White House press secretary Dana Perino in 2008: "We have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner."

The Pentagon backed Trump's assertion in his tweet Saturday, with chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White saying: "We met our objectives. We hit the sites, the heart of the chemical weapons program. So it was mission accomplished."

She added, "What happens next depends on what the Assad regime decides to do."

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

By Catherine Lucey, Associated PressWill Ferrell was taken to a California hospital Thursday after the vehicle he was riding in got over flipped in an accident.

The actor, 50, was a passenger in an SUV traveling along I-5 in Orange County when another vehicle struck the side of their car, TMZ reported.

Video from the scene shows Ferrell sitting up in a stretcher and speaking on his cellphone as firefighters lift him into an ambulance.

The Orange County Fire Authority received a call reporting the accident, which occurred in Laguna Hills, shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, Capt. Larry Kurtz confirmed. He could not reveal the identities of those involved in the accident.

"There were two vehicles involved," Kurtz told The News. "One was a limousine SUV. We have a total of four patients from the SUV. One is a female in her 20s and then three males in their 40s to 50s.

"Three of the patients had minor injuries and were transported to local area hospitals," he said. "One was designated a trauma patient and transported to a local trauma center."

Ferrell was released after being treated, his rep said

A woman who was in the SUV with Ferrell was seen bleeding profusely after the accident, an onlooker told TMZ. The other car involved in the crash was a sedan, Kurtz said. He said the accident is being investigated by California Highway Patrol.

The accident occurred after Ferrell appeared at a function for the online comedy channel he co-founded, Funny or Die, near San Diego, according to TMZ. He reprised his classic "Anchorman" character Ron Burgundy at the event.

By Nancy Dillon and Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News (TNS)Nexstar announced number of new anchor lineups and programming enhancements for WHTM-TV, abc27.

The company said Friday that it is investing more than $3 million to expand local coverage and service by reopening the new agency's York and Lancaster news bureaus. Newsroom and technical infrastructure also will be upgraded, according to a news release.

New studios are expected to launch this fall with new equipment, advanced weather technology and on-air graphics.

It also includes anchor changes, which abc27 - in the wake of controversy stemming from longtime anchor Flora Posteraro's departure and subsequent complaint of sexual discrimination and retaliation - had said were long in the works for the station.

"I am grateful for the ongoing hard work and support of ABC27's exceptional news teams and employees who have been instrumental in advancing our mission as we move toward completing many exciting enhancements in the coming months," said Robert Bee, WHTM-TV's vice president and general manager.

"Importantly, our renewed dedication to the communities throughout the 10 counties of southcentral Pennsylvania serves as a guiding principle of who abc27 is today and who we want to continue to be for the viewers and customers that we proudly serve each day."

Here's a look at the new program schedule:

Daybreak

Reporters Ali Lanyon and James Crummel will continue to co-anchor abc27 Daybreak. Meteorologist Brett Thackara will continue to deliver the latest forecasts, and reporter Amanda Peterson provides traffic coverage.

News at Noon

Reporter James Crummel will be the news anchor, joined by meteorologist Brett Thackara.

News at 5 p.m.

Reporters Alicia Richard and Valerie Pritchett will co-anchor the broadcast, while chief meteorologist Eric Finkenbinder will report the weather.

abc27 News at 6 p.m.

Reporters Dennis Owens and Alicia Richards will co-anchor the show, chief meteorologist Eric Finkenbinder will report the weather, and sports director Gregg Mace will provide sports coverage.

News at 7 p.m.

Reporters Dennis Owens and Valeria Pritchett will co-anchor the show, and chief meteorologist Eric Finkenbinder will provide weather coverage.

News at 11 p.m.

Reporters Alicia Richards and Dennis Owens will co-anchor the snow, chief meteorologist Eric Finkenbinder will report the weather, and Gregg Mace will provide sports coverage.

News Daybreak Weekend

Reporter Janel Knight will anchor the broadcast at 6 and 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Meteorologist Ann Rodden will provide forecasts.

News Weekend

Reporters Mike Parker and Amanda St. Hilaire will co-anchor the broadcasts at 6 and 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Meteorologist Dan Tomaso will provide weather coverage.

ABC27, Bee and corporate parent Nexstar have seen controversy since the departure of 20-year veteran of the station Posteraro, who has filed a sexual discrimination complaint.

Former abc27 daytime anchor Flora Posteraro, left, on the WHTM set with co-anchor Valerie Pritchett.

Posteraro left the station on March 12 after refusing to accept reassignment to a weekend anchor/reporter slot that she said was tied to her participation in a summer 2017 hostile work environment complaint.

She maintains, in her complaint before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, that she was fired when she refused that reassignment. The station holds that Posteraro resigned.

Nexstar maintains that Posteraro's reassignment - which it says involved no pay cut - was part of the broader plan of anchor changes announced Friday. Nexstar also has said the August 2017 allegations, filed anonymously with corporate human resources staff by a group of WHTM employees, were thoroughly investigated and deemed unfounded.

Nexstar said the station is taking proactive measures to try to prevent any economic damage from the ongoing controversy, such as advertisers suspending their business.

In her complaint to the PHRC, Posteraro has alleged that her demotion was the direct result of her active pushback against what she believed to be unequal and disparaging treatment of women staffers at the station by Bee. PennLive has since interviewed several WHTM employees who said they felt there was merit in the August 2017 complaints. The staffers also made plain that Posteraro was not alone in raising complaints with Bee over wardrobe, scheduling and his in-office commentary.

Of that complaint, Nexstar said, "These allegations are not only preposterous, but totally contrary to the true reasons for her proposed broadcast reassignment."

Previous reporting by PennLive staff writer Charlie Thompson contributed to this report.Organizers are encouraging gun rights supporters to bring unloaded rifles to rallies at state capitols across the U.S. this weekend, pushing back against a wave of student-led gun violence protests that some see as a threat to the Second Amendment.

A group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans spread word of the gatherings on social media. Organizers have permits for rallies Saturday outside 45 statehouses, said David Clayton, of West Virginia, one of the coalition's founders.

A rally is expected at the Capitol in Harrisburg Saturday afternoon.

The rallies come less than three weeks after hundreds of thousands marched in Washington, New York and other U.S. cities to demand tougher gun laws after the February school shooting that killed 17 in Parkland, Florida.

It's unclear how many will show up.

Clayton said a new gun law in Florida and similar measures being considered in other states threaten the rights of law-abiding gun owners. He said those attending rallies are encouraged to carry rifles -- unloaded, with no magazines inserted -- in states where it's legal.

"This is a very peaceful approach to a show of force," Clayton said. "What that means is we're not going to go there looking for a fight. We're saying, 'Look at all the people gathered here. We have a voice, too.'"

Most U.S. states allow long guns to be carried openly in public spaces, though other legal restrictions may apply.

The Three Percent movement vows to resist any government that infringes on the U.S. Constitution. Its name refers to the belief that just 3 percent of colonists rose up to fight the British.

Clayton leads a group called the Three Percent Republic. Such groups lack the following of more mainstream Second Amendment advocates such as the National Rifle Association.

Clayton said the organizers' goal is for attendance to reach 1 million nationwide. That would require average turnout of 20,000 per state.Paul Mango has gotten more attention in recent weeks from his

on one of his two Republican gubernatorial opponents than he received when he ran issue-based ads, so don't expect them to stop.

Mango, 59, talked about the much-talked about ad and several other topics with PennLive/The Patriot-News editorial board on Friday.

He is hoping to emerge from the May 15 primary as the GOP nominee to challenge incumbent Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in November.

Here are some of the topics addressed during his conversation with the editorial board:

Why he's in the race?

The retired Pittsburgh health care executive and former U.S. Army officer sees a lot of missed opportunities in Pennsylvania that have resulted in factories closing, jobs leaving, people leaving, the number of representatives it has in Congress shrinking and being ranked in the bottom third of states "in just about everything."

"This campaign is really about the leadership necessary to take Pennsylvania in a new direction," Mango said, "and I believe what leaders do extremely well is offer hope and optimism about the future and the people they're leading."

He said that's what his "Restore the Dream" plan, cobbled together from listening to people at hundreds of meetings, would do. "The good news about Pennsylvania is we have everything within our grasp to be a wonderfully prosperous successful, shaping, leading commonwealth. We need someone with a different agenda. Someone who is actually going to lead Pennsylvanians and that's the role I intend to play starting in January 2019."

About the ad: If you think he has any regrets about attacking Wagner and calling him such names as a "slum lord" or "sleazy bail bondsmen," think again. Mango said the ad has been a hit with his base although not so much with the state Republican Party leaders who have called on him to take down the ad.

"The response to that has been phenomenal," he said, particularly from the media.

"When we were running positive issue-based ad, we never got any attention from anyone. We're getting a heckuva lot of attention from the media now. So I'm not sure exactly who likes them and who dislikes them."

Besides, he said Wagner started it. Back on July 30, Wagner criticized Mango's military credentials, saying West Point is a nothing but a "free education," which Mango said insulted anyone who graduated from a service academy among others. After that there were other attacks by Wagner that arose during the campaign until finally he had enough and he said his supporters applauded the fighting spirit he showed in his retaliatory ad.

At the end of the ad, it teases to a coming attraction about "violent Wagner," which Mango said he plans on running. He said it speaks to an incident from last summer where Wagner grabbed the camera equipment from an uninvited Democratic campaign tracker and then got into a scuffle with him as the tracker tried to retrieve it.

"We think character matters. No one knows a year from now, two years from now, four years from now, six years from now, what the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is going to face. What voters should understand is how any leader would respond to an uncertain situation," Mango said. "He has responded violently to many situations in his past," which "differs from what my past has been."

Mango had less to say about his other opponent, Pittsburgh attorney Laura Ellsworth, who accused her two opponents of engaging in a "race to the bottom." Mango said given Ellsworth's financial support of Democratic candidates and her failure to vote for Donald Trump, with whom he closely aligns his views, "she should be running in the Democratic primary against Tom Wolf."

School funding: In another of his recent ads, Mango talks bout giving "our schools the resources necessary to improve security." But what about the funding necessary to improve education?

"I would be eager to invest more in education if we could prove to ourselves that that's going to lead to positive outcomes for our children. I don't think we're there yet," Mango said.

Wolf's push to restore the billion-dollar reduction that public schools experienced in the prior administration has not produced a discernible increase in standardized test scores, he said. From teachers he has spoken with, Mango said they told him their innovation in their teaching is stifled by mandates and some standardized testing.

He said he could support more money for public education but only if the money goes toward ensuring students leave high school with the skills "necessary to be competitive in a globally relevant economy" and "prepared to be good citizens."

However, if the state loses the school funding lawsuit pending in Commonwealth Court and is forced to come up with what some estimate to be as much as $4 billion more for education, Mango said he thinks he would have to comply with the court order. But he added, "I hope I'm not faced with a decision of asking taxpayers for $4 billion more against the same system. I really hope I don't have to face that."

Among other school-related topics that were discussed were his support for giving parents and students alternatives to public schools, his belief that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to making schools safer, his willingness to allow teachers to possess weapons in school provided they want to and are trained, and his interest in running pilots that would allow districts to centralize their administrative functions while allowing each to keep its own identity.

Marijuana legalization: He supports the state's legalization of medical marijuana but that's where it stops.

"I'm completely against the use and approval of recreational marijuana," he said. "We are in the midst of the worst public health crisis in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which is a drug overdose epidemic. We need to put all of the possible resources, leadership, time, focus, attention we can on addressing that issue.

"I think it would be completely incoherent to say we're going to make it easier for kids, young adults to get their hands on a gateway drug that might lead to more of these overdoses."

Down syndrome abortions: He is unabashedly in the anti-abortion camp and firmly believes a better choice to aborting a baby is to offer alternatives to women who receive a prenatal diagnosis that the unborn child has Down syndrome. Legislation banning those abortions of fetuses could be considered by the state House of Representatives as early as Monday.

"I just don't think it's the mother's decision. I think it's God's decision," he said.

"If they don't feel they are capable of taking care of a child with certain disabilities, I think we ought to offer them options: adoption, foster homes and so forth. We ought to promote the culture of life and that's what I would do as governor."Evidence from the Nicholas Butcher murder trial, including this floor plan of the murder scene, is seen at Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on Thursday, April 12, 2018. Butcher is accused of murdering Kristin Johnston, a Montreal-born yoga instructor, who had ended her relationship with Butcher hours before he allegedly killed her. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew VaughanGrace Harmon is shown in this undated handout photo. A Nova Scotia woman who lost her daughter a little over a year ago says there aren't enough resources for grieving parents in Canada. Paula Harmon, whose three-year-old daughter Grace died of a bowel condition in December 2016, will head to Parliament later this month to support a bill that would improve access to such services. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Paula HarmonMaria Rose Belding was just 23 years old in 2018 when she was named a CNN Hero. She discusses how the honor helped validate the work she and her team at ME...

14 minutes agoThis image provided by the Department of Defense that was presented at the Pentagon briefing on Saturday, April 14, 2018, shows before and after images from the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Site in Syria that was struck by missiles from the U.S.-led coalition in response to Syria's use of chemical weapons on April 7. (Department of Defense via AP)Im fine with it, we need the revenue and it will encourage cycling/public transit

Hate it, its too tough on local business/too confusing

I dont like it, but its probably necessary

Vote

View ResultsAzir Harris, 17, was shot and likely paralyzed in Philadelphia on Feb. 15, 2018. Read more

It wasn't like Troy Harris to ignore messages, thought Michelle Lyu. Especially now.

Harris, a longtime beloved cook at Penn's kosher dining hall, had joined with another cook, as well as Lyu and a couple of other students, to put a food truck on the streets.

They were just months from firing up the grill. His sudden silence made no sense.

And then, as Lyu biked by Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, they spotted each other.

"Man, my son got shot," Harris told Lyu.

It was the cruelest of ironies, Lyu said. The vegetarian food truck that Harris, 43, had worked so hard to launch was meant to get at-risk teens off the streets by giving them jobs.

Much like the job at Penn Hillel's Falk Dining Commons, where Harris has worked for 17 years, did for him as he watched friends die or end up in jail. He was 15 when he watched his friend, gunned down, take his last breath.

"Now the Grim Reaper is knocking on my door," he said.

Around dinnertime one night in February, his youngest son, Azir, was walking to a store near their home at the Wilson Park housing development in South Philadelphia with two friends to grab something to eat.

Gunfire rang out. They were all struck.

Azir, 17, got it the worst, hit five times and left indefinitely in a wheelchair.

I'm guessing most people reading this column didn't hear much, if anything, about it. A headline tersely read: "Police: 3 Teens Hospitalized Following Triple Shooting."

That would be because the Philly teen had the unfortunate timing of being shot the day after the Parkland school shooting, and despite all the talk of mass shootings, gun violence in cities like Philly is still mostly overlooked.

Mass shootings move people. They inspire movements.

Everyday shootings mostly get a "meh."

Since the beginning of the year, there have been about 300 shootings in Philly. Many victims, like Harris, survive. But they face a long, painful, and expensive road they're left to navigate, out of sight and out of mind.

Unlike after Parkland, there are no collective calls for change, no celebrities lining up to help the victims.

For Harris and his wife, Debra, 41, who works full time at a rehabilitative nursing home, that means juggling full-time jobs, caring for their five other children ages 17 to 24, while watching their medical bills pile up, even with health insurance.

Lyu, a Wharton junior, struggled to find a way to help. She and another student visited Harris and his family at the hospital, where they sat vigil while Azir lay unconscious for three weeks. Debra, trying to shake the tightness in her chest that took hold the moment someone called to tell her that Azir had been shot. Troy, reliving the moment when he fell to his knees at the hospital.

"My soul left me."

Lyu called it "heart-wrenching" as we visited Azir and his parents the other day at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, where he's expecting at least another month of treatments after bullets ripped through his legs, back, and a lung during the drive-by shooting.

She looked at Azir, sitting in his wheelchair. "Azir, the way he looked at you " Her eyes filled with tears as she turned to Troy. "I could see the pain in your eyes, Troy. I could see the suffering, definitely. It was a very, very sobering sight to see."

Until she created a fund-raiser to help with the medical expenses, Lyu concedes she had weaved an uncomplicated story in her mind of how the situation would get resolved.

"I'd very, very conveniently imagined that everything would work out for the Harris family," she said. "I'm a Penn student, I'm obviously a privileged person. I have racial privilege. I have socio-economic privilege. I have academic privilege. It's so easy for someone like me to imagine that everything will work out."

Now here she was, face to face with the deep disparities that coexist in our city every day. A loved and devoted cook, who fought to improve working conditions and increase wages in the dining hall where he always warmly welcomed the students, was in crisis. The incident shook loose truths she was no longer willing to deny, that she readily acknowledges might make some of her peers defensive, even ashamed.

She's grateful that people have contributed so readily to the fund-raiser (https://www.youcaring.com/azirharris-1150323)  the fund is slowly but steadily nearing its goal. But that's not enough for Lyu, who fears that once they reach the $20,000 goal, people will retreat to their bubbles, and will think, "That's it. The problem goes away. They just need a little bit of money."

"We need to bridge this disconnect," she says before putting out a call to action as much to herself as to her Penn community.

"Privilege is a gift. Use it."K9 Abal had full run of Officer Galantis house, including permission to hang out on the sofa Read more

SEPTA on Friday announced that its police dog Abal will be retired and reunited with the family of his longtime handler, a move that comes days after facing national outrage over their separation.

In a tweeted news release, the transit agency said the German shepherd-Akita mix had a degenerative disc that veterinarians diagnosed after the dog had "difficulties physically" while training with his new SEPTA police handler.

"Due to the strenuous nature of the work required of a dual-purpose explosive detection and patrol," the release said, the agency "today made the decision to retire Abal from active duty. SEPTA is grateful for his service over the last five years. Abal will be made available for adoption to the family of his former handler, Ofc. Richard Galanti."

Galanti and his wife, Nicole, did not respond to requests for comment.

>> READ MORE: Abal the K-9 able to return home. Don't sweat the why and how | Stu Bykofsky

Last month, SEPTA notified Galanti that he was being transferred from the K-9 unit and that Abal would be reassigned to another handler. SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel III has refused to discuss the decision. The Fraternal Order of Transit Police has said it was retaliation because Galanti refused to update his uniform jacket without reimbursement.

After Nicole Galanti posted an online Change.org petition about a week ago to have Abal returned, the story went national. More than 161,000 people had signed the petition by Friday. Congressman Bob Brady and others offered to raise money to buy SEPTA a dog to replace Abal.

The Galantis, who live in Wenonah, did not return a call for comment, but Brady said they were delighted.

"I talked to Nicole. She's happy, crying on the phone," Brady said. "SEPTA made the right decision. A dog is a member of the family, not just a pet."

Abal, who was rescued as a stray on the streets of New York, also helped the Galanti family deal with a devastating loss.

"We lost our son and brother Benjamin (14yo) in June 2014," Nicole wrote on the change.org petition. "Abal, who adored Ben, has been an important part of that healing for me and my children but especially for my husband."?? Compartimos el Compromiso de Lima: Gobernabilidad Democratica frente a la Corrupcion adoptado por Jefes de Estado y de Gobierno del hemisferio en #CumbrePeru https://t.co/2VVhHXOn6F pic.twitter.com/iN6iVPeFXBA Honduran man who has repeatedly been deported was sentenced Friday to 24 years in prison for kidnapping his estranged girlfriend in Kansas City, Mo., and raping her while they traveled to New Jersey, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey.

Jose Amaya-Vasquez, 33, was arrested in Texas in 2005 for attempting to enter the country illegally. He was released, but failed to show up for a court date, records show.

In June, 2014, Kansas City police arrested him for domestic assault. He was turned over to immigration officials and deported. Three months later, immigration officers arrested him near Eagle Pass, Texas, for illegally re-entering the U.S.

Although he was again deported and barred from coming back for 20 years, he returned in May 2015 and kidnapped his former girlfriend and her 2-year-old child in the parking lot of the Burlington Coat factory in Independence, Mo. He spent two days taking them across the country, staying in motels, and repeatedly raping the woman. He was arrested near a motel in Bellmawr, N.J., by local police acting on a tip from Kansas City police.

In addition to the prison term, U.S District Judge Noel L. Hillman ordered Amaya-Vasquez to pay $6,100 and have no contact with his victim.A federal grand jury has indicted a 59-year-old man for illegally applying pesticides that left a Wilmington family vacationing in a condominium in the Virgin Islands gravely ill in 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.

Jose Rivera, who worked for Terminix International and was a branch manager for the company in St. Croix, knowingly sprayed fumigants containing the odorless chemical methyl bromide to exterminate pests inside residential units in several locations on the Virgin Islands, the Justice Department statement said. Indoor use of the pesticide was banned in 1984 because of its nerve toxicity.

In March 2015, the Esmond family checked into a condo on St. John that was directly above a unit that had been sprayed. Stephen Esmond became paralyzed and his teenage sons were in critical condition when they were airlifted to Philadelphia hospitals for treatment. Only their mother, dentist Theresa Devine, was able to be discharged from the hospital soon after the exposure.

Earlier this year, Terminix was sentenced to pay $9.2 million in criminal fines and restitution. The company was also ordered to perform community service to train commercial pesticide applicators, the Justice Department said.

Last year, the corporate parent of Terminix reached a tentative agreement to pay $87 million to the Esmond family.

In September 2015, the family met Pope Francis during his visit to Philadelphia. At the time, Esmond, an administrator at the Tatnall School in Wilmington, still suffered tremors and struggled to speak, family attorney James J. Maron told CNN. The family has declined media interviews.Once a month, on a given Saturday, volunteers from the South Jersey Sikh community meet for several hours in downtown Camden to put their faith into action by distributing home-cooked meals to the homeless.

The service project will take on extra meaning this month as the faithful celebrate Vaisakhi, the most significant of the annual Sikh gatherings that mark the spring harvest in India's Punjab region. This year, the festival coincides with the first Sikh Awareness Month in New Jersey.

About 300 people are expected to partake in the service of langar, or free community meals, said Tony Rahil, the project director. About a dozen volunteers will help serve traditional Indian vegetarian dishes, mostly beans and rice and rice pudding, near the Walter Rand Transportation Center.

Launched in 2012, the community service project follows one of the basic tenets of Sikhism, the fifth-largest world religion, by performing selfless acts of service to others. Sikhs in Jersey City, Newark, Glen Rock, and Trenton also regularly provide meals to the needy.

Tony Rahil, a Sikh, started a project to feed the homeless in Camden in 2012. "We really feel strongly about it," said Rahil, of Voorhees, a real estate agent. "You're blessed to do the work."

Rahil and Sikh leaders are trying to break down barriers and dispel stereotypes about Sikhs, who have been the target of hate crimes. They want to develop relationships with people of different faiths and backgrounds, especially in service projects such as feeding the homeless.

"Most of the people in the U.S., all they see are the turbans," said Jagvinder S. Chattha, 45, of Westampton, an auto wholesaler. "We have not clarified our identity to our neighbors."

This month, Gov. Murphy signed a bill designating every April in New Jersey as Sikh Awareness Month. New Jersey is home to about 100,000 Sikh Americans, one of the largest populations in the country. It is estimated that about 500,000 Sikhs live in the United States (The Census Bureau doesn't ask questions about religion so there is no official count.) Worldwide, there are more than 25 million Sikhs.

Lawmakers said they hope the measure would help counter bigotry and educate the public about Sikhism, often wrongly viewed as a combination of Islam and Hinduism. Their distinct physical identity  unshorn hair and turbans for men and head coverings for women  make them easily identified and targeted for hate crimes.

"As we see a surge in hate crimes this year, so also is a surge in our resolve to heal with love," Manwinder Singh, director of United Sikhs,said in a statement.

In New Jersey and elsewhere, there have been a spate of hate crimes and attacks against Sikhs, especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In Hightstown, the turban of a Sikh student was set on fire by a classmate in 2008. In Wisconsin, six Sikhs were killed during a hate-crime attack at a gurdwara, a place of worship, in 2012. Ravi Singh Bhalla, who took office in January as Hoboken's first Sikh mayor, has reported receiving death threats.

Rahil said Sikhs have been warmly embraced by the community in Pine Hill, where his family belongs to one of the oldest gurdwaras in New Jersey, Sikh Gurdwara Pine Hill. Located on a busy stretch of Blackwood-Clementon Road, the gurdwara is a center for learning, worship, and gathering for the faithful.

A steady stream of congregants came to the temple Friday, where a 48-hour worship service for Vaisakhi will conclude Saturday to celebrate their history and rededication to their religious traditions. Before entering, they removed their shoes and covered their heads. They reverently approached the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture, which sits on a throne in the center of the ornate room, and bowed as a sign of submission.

In a nearby room, a priest and members took shifts reciting scriptures without interruption. In the kitchen, three women prepared spices for langar after Friday night's worship service.

A first-generation Sikh American, Rahil founded a nonprofit, Sachkhand Express Corp., that began the Camden project distributing fresh fruit in Farnham Park in the city's Parkside section several years ago. He moved the project downtown to reach more people and began providing hot meals and giving out toiletry packages.

Rahil said the volunteers, who are greeted warmly when they pull up in a white bus, dole out generous portions, including seconds if requested. They give hugs, too, but do no preaching, although religious materials are available, he said.

"It's not just about the meal. You want to share words with them and encourage them to keep fighting," he said. "We're all God's children."

About 100 people, mostly from the congregation, support the project with donations and fundraisers, Rahil said. It costs about $800 a month to feed the crowd. A core group of about 15 to 25 volunteers distributes food on a Saturday, he said.

"You feel very comfortable when you help somebody," said Parminder Singh, 61, of Voorhees, a gas station retailer. "It gives you peace of mind."In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Read more

A clear majority of Americans support special counsel Robert Mueller III's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and alleged collusion with President Trump's campaign, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.

The results show backing for inquiries into Trump's orbit on several fronts.

Nearly 7 in 10 adults say they support Mueller's focus on possible collusion with Russia. Sixty-four percent say they want the special counsel investigating Trump's business activities. And 58 percent support investigating alleged payments by Trump associates to silence women who say they had affairs with him.

The broad public mandate for Mueller's investigation comes as many Trump allies are calling for the president to thwart the special counsel's work. Trump has considered ousting the Justice Department official overseeing the probe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein  a move that some Trump associates hope would cripple the inquiry.

Trump this week blasted the Russia investigation as "never ending and corrupt."

The poll was conducted Sunday to Wednesday, with interviews overlapping the FBI's Monday raid of the home and office of Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime attorney. Agents seized communications between Cohen and Trump, as well as records related to a 2016 payment Cohen made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump. The Cohen inquiry was opened by the Manhattan-based U.S. attorney's office following a referral from Mueller.

Mueller was appointed to investigate any links between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as any other matter directly arising from that probe. While Mueller has subpoenaed Trump Organization documents related to business activities in Russia, there has so far been no confirmation that his investigation has expanded to cover Trump business activities that do not relate to Russia. There is also no indication that Mueller's team is exploring accusations by women about Trump's personal conduct.

Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey in May has also been probed by Mueller and is receiving renewed attention with the release next week of Comey's book and several media interviews surrounding its publication.

The Post-ABC poll finds Americans' views of Comey include division and indifference, with 3 in 10 seeing him favorably, just over 3 in 10 unfavorably and the rest offering no opinion. But by 48 percent to 32 percent, Comey is seen as more believable than Trump, and adults disapprove of Comey's firing by a similar margin, though a sizable share chose neither or had no opinion.

Views of Comey's firing are heavily colored by partisanship.

Almost three-quarters of Democrats, unsurprisingly, disapprove of Trump's decision to fire Comey, while 70 percent of Republicans approve. Half of independents disapprove of Trump's action.

Almost half of Democrats, 47 percent, are favorable toward Comey, while most Republicans  56 percent  are unfavorable toward the former FBI director. Independents are exactly split, 30 percent favorable, 30 percent unfavorable.

Support for Mueller's investigation also splits sharply across partisan lines. Over half of Republicans oppose the probing of each subject tested in the survey. A narrow 51 percent majority of Republicans oppose Mueller investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russian government in 2016, while 62 percent oppose investigation of Trump's businesses, and 64 percent oppose investigating whether there were hush-money payments to Trump's alleged mistresses.

Democrats are more united, with over 8 in 10 expressing support for Mueller investigating each issue. Independents undergird support for Mueller's probe, with 7 in 10 saying he should investigate Russian interference, 65 percent saying he should examine Trump's business activity and 59 percent saying he should probe alleged hush-money payments.

Beyond Mueller's probe, a 51 percent majority say the question of whether Trump engaged in a pattern of sexual misconduct is an important issue, while 46 percent say it's not. Opinions overall are fairly similar to two decades ago, when Post and ABC polls found nearly half saying repeated misconduct was an important issue for President Bill Clinton.

But the partisan balance has flipped. The share of Republicans saying sexual misconduct by the president is an important issue has fallen from 70 percent under Clinton to 25 percent under Trump, while the issue has grown in importance among Democrats, from 38 percent under Clinton to 75 percent under Trump.

Men and women differ significantly on two questions about Trump's relations with women. Women are 14 percentage points more likely to say it's important whether Trump engaged in a pattern of sexual misconduct, 58 percent compared with 44 percent for men. And women are 15 points more likely to support Mueller investigating hush-money payments to women who say they had affairs with Trump, 65 percent to 50 percent.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted April 8-11 among a random national sample of 1,002 adults reached on cell and landline telephones. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The Washington Post's Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.Protesters in Philadelphia demonstrate against the U.S. air strike against Syria. Read more

About 50 chanting, sign-carrying demonstrators lined the western edge of Dilworth Plaza outside Philadelphia City Hall on Saturday afternoon to protest the latest U.S. airstrikes in Syria.

President Trump announced the attacks late Friday as explosions were reported over Damascus, the Syrian capital. Trump said the action was in retaliation for a recent suspected chemical-weapons attack that killed civilians in a town controlled by rebels against the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad and its Russian and Iranian allies. Trump blamed Assad for that attack, though some international observers have said it is hard to prove who was behind it.

>> READ MORE: I'll be traveling to Moscow as tensions with Russia over Syria heat up | Trudy Rubin

"It's short notice, but many people want to show they are against this war," said Scott Williams, a Philadelphia schoolteacher who helped organize the protest Saturday as a leader of the Workers World Party. He said other "left-wing" and pro-Arab groups asked members to express their opposition, as they have against previous U.S. attacks in Syria and other countries.

Friday's strike was Trump's second ordered attack in Syria. The first was last April, when he authorized Tomahawk cruise missiles to strike a Syrian airfield following Assad's use of sarin gas on civilians.

Williams said Trump's recent appointment of John Bolton as national security adviser underscored Trump's similarity to mainstream politicians and those sectors of the business community that benefit from war. Bolton has often justified U.S. military involvement in distant countries. Williams added that the money spent on Tomahawk missiles would be better spent on meeting social needs at home.

>> READ MORE: After Syria attack, US and Russia tensions rise, but military confrontation fears ease

The United States launched the military strikes along with two of its NATO allies, Britain and France. The protesters planned to walk from City Hall to Philadelphia's French and British honorary consulates nearby.

Saturday's protests are expected to be followed by other demonstrations.

"We are going to be part of a number of protests coming up," said Aram Bowen, an organizer of the Philadelphia Rojava Solidarity Network, which sympathizes with the independent administration that governs much of northwest Syria, led by members of that country's Kurdish minority.

"Last night's strike on Syria could have endangered civilians, causing more suffering to the people of Syria," Bowen said in an interview via Facebook.

Syria's people face many threats, Bowen added. While American special forces have fought alongside the Kurds in driving the ISIS terrorist militia out of Syria's northern provinces, Bowen said the Kurds have in recent months themselves been attacked by soldiers and militias backed by Turkey, another NATO ally. The Turkish government says the Kurds in Syria are allied with groups it calls terrorists in Turkey.

Bowen called Rojava, the Kurds' name for the part of Syria they control, "a peaceful and democratic community" where Muslim sects, Christians, and members of other Syrian groups have sought refuge from warfare between Assad's allies and Islamist rebels. He called on the United States to pressure Turkey to end its military expeditions in Syria.There havent been many dancers at New York City Ballet over the past nearly fifty years who havent been directly influenced by Suki Schorer. This summer, June 15-17, ballet teachers will have a chance to learn how to effectively teach Balanchine technique from the former New York City Ballet principal and longtime School of American Ballet master teacher. The workshop, titled Step by Step with Suki Schorer, will be held at the Eglevsky Ballet studios in Long Island, NY.

Schorer has devoted her entire career to Balanchine technique. In the early 1960s, George Balanchine invited her to assist him with a series of workshops for dance teachers presented by the Ford Foundation. After many years dancing as a principal with NYCB, Schorer became a permanent faculty member at SAB in 1972. She has also published Suki Schorer on Ballet Technique and the video series co-produced with Merrill Ashley titled Balanchine Essays.

Step by Step with Suki Schorer is intended for teachers of intermediate and advanced students. Highlights of the weekend include a general presentation on Balanchine aesthetics as well as technique and pointe classes with expanded commentary. Schorer invites the participants to take class themselves in order to feel the differences in their own bodies; theyre also welcome to bring a student. Shell also teach excerpts of Balanchine choreography to illustrate how the technique can be applied. And it gets even better: The workshop will include demonstrations by some current members of NYCB. Get a sneak peek of Schorers teaching style with her five tips for a better entrechat six.



For more information and to register, contact Eglevsky Ballet at stepbystep@eglevskyballet.org.President Trump has pardoned Scooter Libby, vice president Cheneys former chief of staff. Libby was found by a jury to have committed perjury and obstruction of justice, and to have made false statements, in connection with an investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.

It could hardly be more obvious that Trumps pardon of Libby is designed to send the message that he is prepared to pardon those charged with (and even convicted of) making false statements in connection with the Russia collusion matter.

The parallel between Fitzgerald and Robert Mueller is also obvious. Fitzgerald didnt convict anyone of the underlying crime he was charged with investigating  the outing of Valerie Plame. So far, Mueller hasnt charged anyone with colluding with Russia. Rather, its been mostly about alleged false statements, just as it was with Libby.

As if to drive home his point, Trump made no serious attempt to address Libbys case. He said, in essence, that he doesnt know Libby, but heard he got a raw deal. Normally, this isnt the stuff of pardons.

Theres a case for pardoning Libby, but Trump wasnt interested in making it. The pardon wasnt about Libby, and it was in Trumps interest not to disguise this reality.President Obama drew his infamous red line (red line for us) against the use of chemical weapons by the the Syrian regime on August 20, 2012. It proved to be something of a Chamberlainite red line for our time. The Syrian regime employed chemical weapons against civilians in Ghouta one year later, in August 2013. In the event, President Obama revealed his red line to be imaginary. He invited Vladimir Putin to remove Assads store of chemical weapons. President Obama counts it among his proudest moments. Twas a famous victory.

In truth, Obama ceded Syria to Russia and Iran. He trusted (or entrusted) Putin. He looks like a chump, but I doubt that he believed his own baloney. He had something else in mind. He wanted to pursue his romance with the mullahs of Iran and didnt want to do anything to endanger it. On this point see Michael Dorans Mosaic essay Obamas secret Iran strategy.

Funny thing about Obama. He undermined our allies and empowered our enemies. Despite his claims to the contrary, Obama did not achieve his professed objective.

Assad emerged with a store of chemical weapons and the means to replenish his supplies. He used them last year on April 4 to attack the town of Khan Shaykhun. President Trump sought to let Assad know there was a new sheriff in town. He sent 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles Assads way to take out the Shayrat Airbase (the source of the attack on Khan Shaykhun) and create or restore deterrence against the use of chemical weapons.

Assad celebrated the one-year anniversary of his chemical attack on Khan Shaykun with another such attack, this time on the suburb of Douma at dusk a week ago. We responded to the attack last night together with British and French forces in a targeted series of strikes. The United States, the Brits and the French have all concluded that the attack on Douma used chemical weapons and was committed by Assads forces. The evidence supporting this conclusion has not been set forth in detail, but eyewitness testimony supports it and it is entirely consistent with Assads past practice.

Russian diplomacy has prevented further investigation on the ground. The Russians are protecting their Syrian client and lying absurdly about it. Of course, Putin himself is a murderer who has found chemical weapons to be of use. The Russian obstruction constitutes circumstantial evidence supporting the conclusion that Assads forces committed the attack.

President Trump spoke last night shortly after he the attacks commenced. His statement is here. Prime Minister May gave a statement followed by questions at a press conference a few hours ago. Her statement is posted here.

I found one passage of President Trumps statement jarring. Here it is: I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime. To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.

This passage has an unsavory Obamaian twist, advising two murderous regimes to hang out with better friends. Like Obama, Trump instructs Russia and Iran in their true interests, as though either regime is itself something other than a rogue state. Indeed, Iran is a murderous regime with genocidal aspirations. Only the arc of history was missing from this passage.

President Trump is doing his best under difficult circumstances to vindicate a red line against the use of chemical weapons. I think it is to his credit and he is deserving of our support.In What is to be done? I set forth the possibility that President Trump might shut down his entanglement in the Mueller probe (the Mueller Switch Project) by pardoning its criminal targets so far: Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and the Dutch lawyer. He could do so with the explanation that Muellers probe has come up dry on its supposed predicate of Russian collusion with the Trump presidential campaign. Rush Limbaugh argued the pardon option in If you want to end this, Mr. President, start pardoning.

As President Trump has said repeatedly, there was no collusion. Thus the never-ending detours of the Mueller probe. In this scenario President Trump would leave Mueller free to write up the results of his investigation into Russian interference in the presidential campaign and even the evidence of alleged collusion, if any. I have assumed the veracity of the presidents claim of no collusion from the outset. If it werent true, we would have heard about the facts that make it out by now and we havent.

If Mueller is interested in Russian interference in the election, it is exceedingly strange that his probe has left the Clinton campaign untouched. So far as we know, it has failed to take the allegedly hacked DNC servers into custody and search them. Muellers investigation of Russian interference appears to be frustratingly partial.

What about Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen? According to this McClatchy story, he may be wrapped into the collusion investigation as well. I seriously doubt it, but I dont know.

Andrew McCarthy takes the criminal investigation of Cohen in the Southern District of New York to be the case that threatens Trump. McCarthy elaborates on the twists and turns in the case in his column The real investigation. Todays New York Times story is a useful companion to McCarthys column.

Cohens case complicates the pardon scenario but Trump could still employ it. If he were to to do so, I think it should be sooner rather than later. It would create a furor, but the furor might be tamped down somewhat before the midterm elections. Lets get it over with.

Mulling this over a bit further, I have one final thought. If President Trump were to take up the pardon solution, I think he would be well advised to include Hillary Clinton and the entire Clinton circle in the pardons. He could explain that he is trying to put the controversies arising from the past election behind us for the good of the country. It might make him look magnanimous and would have the additional advantage of driving them and their friends absolutely nuts.

UPDATE: Michael Cohen comments on the McClatchy story via Twitter (below).

Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC. No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven! https://t.co/ra7nwjUA0X  Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) April 14, 2018I got excited when I heard that all across the country, activists would be marching for science today. Promoting, no doubt, information about X and Y chromosomes and the fact thatscientifically speakingthere are only two genders.

Just kidding. Actually, the March For Science movementit gives off a strong odor of Astroturfcovers a broad range of left-wing talking points. But first among them is global warming. When the organizers of the Minnesota March For Science planned their event for April 14, featuring an alarmist weatherman as a speaker, they no doubt thought they were beyond the risk of the Al Gore Effect. They were wrong.

Due to the extreme winter storm approaching this weekend, the #MarchForScience rally in St. Paul is going to be postponed. New date will be announced later. Trust us, even @pdouglasweather thinks postponing was a good idea. pic.twitter.com/ZOUdu9Cm2C  March for Science MN (@ScienceMarchMN) April 12, 2018

Where I live in the Twin Cities suburbs, snow has been falling heavily for quite a while, and conditions are approaching white-out. Blizzard warnings have been issued, and the forecast is for up to a foot and a half of snow. This is what my neighborhood looked like as the snow began to come down:

This could be the biggest April snowfall on record in the Twin Cities, and 2018 already ranks in the top 20 years for the latest date on which the temperature first reached 60 degrees. The record is held by 1874, when the thermometer didnt hit 60 until April 29. I dont think we will break that record, but 2018 will undoubtedly rank in the top 10 years for latest 60 degree date.

There is no reason even to try to avoid schadenfreude when the Al Gore Effect strikes. Mostly, its just fun, and the alarmists richly deserve it. But there is a serious point. Of course, individual weather events tell us nothing about global climate trends. But the alarmists try to connect every hot day and every violent storm to global warming, so turn about is fair play. More important, it was just a few years ago that the alarmists were telling us that before long, there would be no snow. Winter will be a thing of the past!

When that prediction turned out to be obviously false, the warmists changed their tune: now they tell us that global warming will produce more snow, and maybe colder temperatures, too. But of course they hedge their bets. Next time we have a winter with below-average snowfall, they will tell us (more plausibly) that global warming caused that, too.

I will be more impressed with the alarmists models when they predict something before it happens.President Trump has kept his promise to strike Syria in response to the recent chemical attack launched by the Assad regime. Tonight, U.S. air power attacked three Syrian targets.

The first was a research center believed to be used to develop chemical weapons. The second was a chemical weapons storage facility. The third was a command center believed to be used in connection with chemical warfare.

The U.S. acted together with the French and the British. This was a joint operation.

Unlike last April, we used manned aircraft in this attack, along with missiles. The Syrians countered by firing surface-to-air missiles.

Secretary of Defense Mattis said he is not aware at this time (about an hour after the attack) of any loss of U.S. personnel or aircraft. He was not prepared to say whether the Syrians hit any of our missiles or to assess the damage we caused. The Pentagon expects to provide information on these matters tomorrow morning.

Before attacking, we engaged in deconfliction talks with the Russians regarding the air space we would be using. However, we did not identify the targets we planned to strike.

This attack differed from the one last year in that, instead of targeting an air field, we targeted what can be described as infrastructure. The attack was also on a somewhat larger scale. This time we hit three targets, not just one. And, according to the Pentagon, we used about twice the amount of weaponry.

The attack was limited, though. It was not a massive strike.

Mattis emphasized that we were constrained by our desire not to endanger civilians. Apparently, the three targets were chosen over other elements of Syrian weapons infrastructure because we thought that hitting them carried less risk of civilian casualties.

I infer that the Trump administration construed Assads latest chemical attack as strike two. The next Syrian attack  strike three  will likely produce a large-scale U.S. response.

I hope the Syrians and the Russians draw the same inference.Poland supports the missile and air strikes on Syria by the US, UK and France because they were needed and decent states can not allow innocent people to be killed in chemical attacks, President Andrzej Duda said on Saturday.

In the early hours of Saturday, US, British and French forces carried out a series of missile and air strikes against Syrian targets in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7, which left more than 60 people dead.

"We are a member of the coalition, we are a member of NATO and of course we support the activities undertaken by our allies, particularly when we are informed and consulted with about these matters, it was no surprise to me that such an intervention did take place," the president told reporters on Saturday.

Decent countries "can not allow innocent people to be killed with chemical weapons," Andrzej Duda stressed. (PAP)BENGALURU, India, April 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Dear Sir, Madam,

This is to inform that the Company will organize an analyst meeting in Mumbai on April 23, 2018 at Hotel Taj Lands End, Bandra between 4:00 PM and 7:30 PM.

The proceedings of the meet will be webcast live on the Company's website at www.infosys.com along with the presentations made at the event and transcripts of discussions.

This is for your information and records.

This is a disclosure announcement from PR Newswire.

SOURCE Infosys LimitedNEW DELHI, India, April 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Servokon Systems Limited, India's leading manufacturer of power conditioning products will be participating in Coolex 2018, an Exclusive Exhibition on Air Conditioning, Refrigeration & Ventilation to be held from 13th April 2018 to 16th April 2018, at Himachal Bhawan, Sector 28, Chandigarh. The exhibition Coolex is being organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with an aim to provide a platform to showcase the best of latest technologies and products to customers and clients. Further, the expo is also intended to be a platform to facilitate dealer interest and dealership queries.

A prominent name in the inverter/stabilizer industry across India, Servokon will showcase its broad range of power solutions at the four day expo.

Thousands of stakeholders in the cooling and refrigeration segment are expected to visit the 4 day industry extravaganza. Some of the other brands participating in the expo include leading names such as LG, Blue Star, Daikin, Carrier, Godrej, Haier, and Hitachi, among others. The list of products that will be on display include Air Conditioners, Chilling Units Systems, Components, Coolers, Cooling Towers, Compressors, Deep Freezers, Electrical Panels, Fans, Humidification Systems, Industrial Ventilation, Packaged Unit Air Conditioners, Power Generators, Refrigerators, Voltage Stabilizers, Water Coolers, Water Treatment Plants, and Industrial Refrigeration Equipment, apart from the launch of new products by many players in the industry.

Servokon Systems Limited's Managing Director, Mr. Kamruddin said such exhibitions are an important platform for the company to reach out to its corporate and individual clients and showcase its latest offerings. He further added that events like Coolex also help the company in strengthening its relationships with its dealer network.

Coolex is an exhibition of India's best companies in the cooling, refrigeration and ventilation segment. Past editions of the event have been held in 2009, 2016, and 2017. This year, the fourth edition promises to be even bigger and better in terms of products and solutions to be showcased and the buzz that the event has been generating.

About Servokon Systems Limited

Launched in 1990, Servokon is a pioneer in advanced power conditioning solutions with a wide range of products, including Distribution & Power Transformers, Servo Voltage Stabilizers, Rolling Contact Servo Stabiliser, HT AVR, Transformer with built in HT AVR, automatic voltage stabiliser and special transformers. With a customer base across India as well as various countries in the Middle East and Asia Pacific region, Servokon is India's first company to stabilize maximum voltage classes, including 22kV, 33kV and much more.

Servokon is a professionally-managed ISO 9001 & 14001 certified company churning a turnover of over Rs. 40 crores annually and is expanding at a faster pace every year. The company has strength of more than 250 professional and trained personnel at all levels to provide highly reliable, robust and versatile products and prominent services.

For further information about Servokon Systems Limited and its products, you can visit: http://www.servokon.com/

YouTube Link for TV commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfHgVmZ23vY

YouTube Link for corporate profile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nZKvv3VR9I&t=45s

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ServokonSystems/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/servokonsystems

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servokon-systems-limited

Zakir Hussain Siddiqui

[email protected]

+91-9873630786

Director, Servokon Systems Limited

SOURCE Servokon Systems LimitedZEISS will be presenting its complete portfolio of integrated diagnostic and surgical solutions that help cataract surgeons work more efficiently and deliver excellent outcomes for their patients. Using ZEISS Cataract Suite markerless, with the OPMI LUMERA surgical microscope and CALLISTO eye, the computer-assisted surgery system that enables the exchange of data between diagnostics and the OR, surgeons can more easily and precisely1 align toric IOLs, skipping the manual pre- and intra-operative marking steps and manual data transfer. IOLMaster 700 Swept Source Biometry, when integrated into the toric IOL workflow of ZEISS Cataract Suite markerless, helps surgeons achieve target refraction and reduce the risk of refractive surprises for improved refractive outcomes for their patients.

Also on display during ASCRS will be VERACITY Surgical from ZEISS, an intuitive cloud-based platform for cataract surgery planning, logistics, treatment, risk management, and analysis. This latest digital connected eye care technology from ZEISS provides personalized technology-enabled patient care, synthesizing critical data at each step of the procedure to help cataract surgeons work more efficiently and reduce risks.

"We are continuing to expand our portfolio of integrated digital solutions that span from the office to the OR," says Jim Mazzo, Global President Ophthalmic Devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec. "Digitalization presents many opportunities to improve treatment outcomes and increase the efficiency of clinical workflows. Our goal is to continue to provide doctors and surgeons advanced technologies to help them care for their patients in the best way possible."

Surpassing milestone of 1M procedures worldwide, ZEISS celebrates one year of SMILE laser vision correction in the USA

ZEISS ReLEx SMILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction) laser eye surgery is now being performed regularly around the world having been adopted by over 1300 surgeons in 69 countries, surpassing one million procedures worldwide. Using the VisuMax femtosecond laser from ZEISS, SMILE provides refractive surgeons an additional proven laser vision correction option to offer their patients. A new clinical trial has begun outside the USA for SMILE in hyperopic patients. VisuMax Intracorneal Tunnel Cutting Option (ICR), which allows versatile incisions for the implantation of intracorneal rings, is now 510(k) cleared.

Professor Dan Z. Reinstein will be moderating a panel of experts to look back at the last year of SMILE at the ZEISS Meet the Experts session, "SMILE Adoption: Critical First Steps." He will also be available during the ASCRS to sign copies of his newly released book, "The Surgeon's Guide to SMILE: Small Incision Lenticule Extraction."

ZEISS Swept-Source OCT advancements pushing forward discovery in retinal research

Since its inauguration in 2016, the A R I Network, a global consortium of renowned doctors, clinicians, and scientists, has collaborated with ZEISS to advance the field of retinal imaging to drive further discovery and breakthroughs of new clinical applications for diseases affecting the retina. Having access to the latest Swept-Source OCT technology from ZEISS and with its Open Innovation approach, the A R I Network enables the exchange of ideas between members from around the world, facilitating collaboration to accelerate OCT development with ZEISS scientists. To date, the A R I Network has over 90 ongoing collaborative efforts to advance clinical practice and patient care, with over 45 publications and 60 posters.

"The A R I Network is a perfect example of how ZEISS collaborates with experts in their fields to develop new innovative solutions to advance patient care and to bring these technologies to everyday clinical use," says Dr. Ludwin Monz, President, and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec.

As a result of the A R I Network collaboration, new advanced technologies are being integrated into the PLEX Elite 9000 Swept-Source OCT / OCTA platform from ZEISS to further doctors' understanding and analysis of the critical vasculature of the eye. Among these advancements include visualization tools enabling wider and deeper imaging of the eye for improved visualization of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy. These new visualization technologies developed for PLEX Elite have been integrated into the CIRRUS OCT and OCT Angiography platforms for use in daily clinical practice. Both instruments along with the recently launched ultra-widefield fundus imaging system, CLARUS 500, are part of ZEISS' comprehensive diagnostic portfolio.

For more information on ZEISS' scientific and educational program and events at ASCRS 2018: www.zeiss.com/ascrs.

1 Clinical data of Prof. Findl / Dr. Hirnschall presented at ESCRS 2013  technically verified pre- / intraoperative matching precision  1.0 in mean.

Not all products, services or offers are approved or offered in every market and approved labeling and instructions may vary from one country to another. For country specific product information, see the appropriate country website. Product specifications are subject to change in design and scope of delivery as a result of ongoing technical development.

Brief profile Carl Zeiss Meditec:

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ISIN: DE 0005313704), which is listed on TecDAX of the German stock exchange, is one of the world's leading medical technology companies. The Company supplies innovative technologies and application-oriented solutions designed to help doctors improve the quality of life of their patients. The Company offers complete solutions, including implants and consumables, to diagnose and treat eye diseases. The Company creates innovative visualization solutions in the field of microsurgery. With approximately 3,000 employees worldwide, the Group generated revenue of 1,189.9m in financial year 2016/17 (to 30 September).

The Group's head office is located in Jena, Germany, and it has subsidiaries in Germany and abroad; more than 50 percent of its employees are based in the USA, Japan, Spain, and France. The Center for Application and Research (CARIn) in Bangalore, India and the Carl Zeiss Innovations Center for Research and Development in Shanghai, China, strengthen the Company's presence in these rapidly developing economies. Around 41 percent of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG's shares are in free float. The remaining approx. 59 percent are held by Carl Zeiss AG, one of the world's leading groups in the optical and optoelectronic industries. For more information visit our website at: www.zeiss.com/med.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/676874/Carl_Zeiss_Meditec_Cataract_Suite_with_Callisto_Eye.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/676875/Carl_Zeiss_Meditec_IOL_Master_700.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/676873/Carl_Zeiss_Meditec_ReLEx_SMILE_Treatment.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/546786/Carl_Zeiss_Meditec_Logo.jpg

Related Links

http://www.zeiss.com



SOURCE Carl Zeiss MeditecLONDON, April 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited, which advises funds (together "Elliott"), yesterday notified Whitbread PLC ("the Company") that Elliott held an economic interest in excess of 5% of the Company. As of today, Elliott currently holds an economic interest in excess of 6% of the Company. Accordingly, based on publicly available information from FactSet, Thomson Reuters, and the Whitbread 2017 Annual Report, Elliott believes that it is currently the largest investor in the Company.

About Elliott

Elliott Management Corporation manages two multi-strategy funds which combined have approximately $35 billion of assets under management. Its flagship fund, Elliott Associates, L.P., was founded in 1977, making it one of the oldest funds of its kind under continuous management. The Elliott funds' investors include pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, funds-of-funds, and employees of the firm. Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited is an affiliate of Elliott Management Corporation.

Media Contacts

Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited

Sarah Rajani CFA

Director of Communications

+44(0)20-3009-1818

srajani@elliottadvisors.co.uk



Camarco

Ed Gascoigne-Pees, +44(0)7884-001-949, ed.gascoigne-pees@camarco.co.uk

Billy Clegg, +44(0)7977-578-153, billy.clegg@camarco.co.uk

Hazel Stevenson, +44(0)7986-009-720, hazel.stevenson@camarco.co.uk





SOURCE Elliott Advisors (UK) LimitedRICHMOND, Virginia, April 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Markel Corporation (NYSE: MKL) announced today that it has reorganized the leadership structure of its excess casualty team. The underwriting unit, with teams in the US, Bermuda, Dublin, and London, reports into Alan Rodrigues, Executive Underwriting Officer, Casualty.

Matt Mullen and Colin Shaw, both Managing Directors, Casualty, report to Rodrigues directly. Mullen and Shaw are responsible for running the risk management excess casualty business within the Markel Assurance division, focusing on cultivating broker relationships and making Markel a more attractive market.

Mullen is based in New York and leads the excess casualty underwriting teams located in the US and Bermuda. Elizabeth Stewart, Senior Director, reports to Mullen and now oversees Markel's excess casualty underwriting efforts in Bermuda. "Liz has worked directly with our Bermuda brokers for a number of years and knows what it takes to develop meaningful, long-term relationships. She has done an excellent job increasing our visibility in the market and representing Markel and its expanding product portfolio," said Mullen.

Shaw is based in Dublin and leads the European excess casualty teams in Dublin and London. Siobhan Walshe reports to Shaw and oversees the excess casualty business in London. "Siobhan has a wealth of experience in the London excess casualty market space. She manages the day-to-day operations for the casualty team and continues to develop meaningful and valuable relationships with brokers and clients in the London marketplace," said Shaw.

"Both Matt and Colin have developed long-tenured teams and forged enduring and valuable relationships with brokers in their respective markets," stated Rodrigues. "Coupled with their years of underwriting expertise in this space, I am confident they will lead the excess casualty team to continued growth and new opportunities."

The excess casualty underwriting unit focuses on large accounts and targets Fortune 1000 companies and businesses that specialize in health care, life sciences, transportation, industrials, construction, and energy.

About Markel Assurance

The Markel Assurance business division offers products for standard and hard-to-place risks in the US, Bermuda, Dublin, and London. Policies are written on admitted and excess and surplus lines bases. Product verticals include professional liability, casualty, and property/marine. Regional offices in the US are located in Richmond, Virginia; Atlanta; Dallas; Scottsdale, Arizona; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; New York City; and Red Bank, New Jersey.

Markel Assurance is a business division of Markel Service, Incorporated. Markel Service, Incorporated provides underwriting management and claim services for the Markel insurance companies. In California, Markel West Insurance Services (license numbers 0D95581 and 2E11302) provides risk analysis and claim services to their wholesale partners in need of excess and surplus lines products offered by Markel Assurance.

About Markel Corporation

Markel Corporation is a diverse financial holding company serving a variety of niche markets. The Company's principal business markets and underwrites specialty insurance products. In each of the Company's businesses, it seeks to provide quality products and excellent customer service so that it can be a market leader. The financial goals of the Company are to earn consistent underwriting and operating profits and superior investment returns to build shareholder value. Visit Markel Corporation on the web at markelcorp.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/73238/markel_event_insurance_markel_logo.jpg

Related Links

http://www.markelcorp.com



SOURCE Markel CorporationBitcoin Gains Value: 2 Days in a Row. Over 10% a Day

Now it seems that the long-term retracement of the USD/BTC exchange rate seen over the first quarter of the year is gradually reversing back for the uptrend.

According to CoinMarketCap, earlier today, exchange rate broke above the 8000 USD/BTC threshold but then went back below it. It has been staying close to the threshold ever since. For now, its somewhere around 7900 USD/BTC. Anyway, over the last 24 hours the worlds first and most expensive cryptocurrency has appreciated by 13%. At the same time, 14 out of the TOP 15 cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap have also gained 7% to 27% over the same reporting period.

Its interesting to note that yesterdays expert forecasts were pessimistic since the experts didnt believe in a strong recovery in the near future. However, the digital currency did manage to disprove the pessimistic forecast later on by recovering by almost 14% (the trading volume exceeded 10 billion dollars). At the same time, optimists believe the downtrend is over and expect a new rally.



BTC has been gaining over 10% a day for the second day in a row. According to NordFX, the BTC used to trade well over $8000 on Bitfinex earlier today.









You are free to discuss this article here: forum for traders and investors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DIPG...couldn't make a more powerful case to fight for the lives of children with cancer... Past News Releases RSS

The DIPG Advocacy Group, organized by childhood cancer advocate Janet Demeter of Agua Dulce, CA, is preparing a trip to Washington DC for the week of April 16, 2018 to visit the offices of Congress in support of H.Res.69, the DIPG Awareness Resolution. The Resolution, jointly introduced by Reps Steve Knight (R-CA-25) and Jackie Speier (D-CA-14) in January of 2017, designates a national DIPG Awareness Day, May 17. DIPG is arguably one of the worlds deadliest pediatric cancers; the Resolution encourages greater research consideration for children and the dying in our current medical research system, which, according to Demeter is, "nonapologetically and systematically divested of concern."

The group traveling to DC consists of individual advocates including Paul Miller, co-founder of the group and also candidate for representing the 28th District of the Colorado State legislature, the Psar family of Knoxville TN of the Julia Barbara Foundation, Melany Knott of Mt. Airy, Maryland, and her daughter Kaisy (13) who is in active experimental treatment in Monterrey Mexico for DIPG, among others.

DIPG, or diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, is an horrific death sentence for a young child. A malignant, diffusely infiltrating brain tumor, DIPG develops in the pons area of the brainstem which is responsible for neural transmissions to and from the brain to the body, and is also the most protected area of the body; DIPG is resistant to conventional medical chemotherapy treatments, and is inoperable. The median survival time post-diagnosis is 9 months with radiation treatment, and long-term survival prognosis is a dismal less than 1%. Parents are routinely told to go ahead and make memories, and enjoy last moments with the child. Neil Armstrongs daughter died of DIPG in 1962, and todays standard treatment protocol and terminal prognosis have seen no change since then.*

Janet Demeter, DIPG Advocacy Groups organizer, lost her own son Jack to DIPG July 30 of 2012, and founded Jack's Angels for DIPG awareness and research in Agua Dulce CA. It was a hope-obliterating experience...and to discover that there has been insufficient research activity for decades, literally, because the numbers arent great enough for investors...as if this were a rationale for doing nothing...its terrible beyond my ability to explain, she said.

Motivating her further, after the death of her son she discovered that brain tumors are the leading cause of death in kids with cancer, and that DIPG, a disease marginalized as rare, like most childhood cancers, and therefore unworthy of research investment, is responsible for the majority of brain tumor deaths annually in the United States.* It couldnt make a more powerful case to fight for the lives of children with cancer, maintains the group organizer.

California was actually the first state to pass a DIPG Awareness Resolution in 2014, due to the appreciation for Jack's Angels Foundation of then CA-State Assemblyman Scott Wilk(R-38), currently CA-State Senator Wilk(R-21), and then CA-State Senator Knight. After Steve Knight (R-CA-25) took office in Congress in 2015, Mrs. Demeter began working with his office to create the initial version of the bill introduced Jan. 13, 2016 as H.Res.586. That year the Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation began to help DIPG families organize in as many states as possible to push for May 17 DIPG Awareness Day, and before the national resolution was reintroduced in 2017, the awareness week(last week of May, Brain Tumor Awareness Month) was changed to May 17 for a coherent effort among advocates.

H.Res.69 requires only a vote in the House of Representatives to instate DIPG Awareness Day, and thus far has 29 co-sponsors, Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-7) most recently, and also Andy Barr (R-KY-6), Duncan Hunter (R-CA-50), Jackie Rosen (D-NV-3) and Doris Matsui (D-CA-6). Yet raising awareness can be slow-going, as the bill has not been considered by the Energy and Commerce Committee where it sits, and which controls its fate. Roughly 800 more children have died of DIPG since its initial introduction 2  years ago to the 114th Congress; were very motivated to get this recognized and passed. In our DIPG community we see kids diagnosed and and kids die, daily.

Appointments on the Hill include meetings with staff for Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR-2), Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2), and Chairman of the Health Subcommittee Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX-26), other committee members, and those representatives to whom the group is bringing special constituent requests for H.Res.69 co-sponsorship. Senate office meetings have also been scheduled; the group feels the cause may be better represented in the Senate, as the movement in the states is strong, while for our bereaved community it is more difficult to organize at the level of congressional districts...its an unfair burden; we need the support for those who cannot speak."

For more information about this event, the DIPG awareness movement, and the activities of the DIPG Advocacy Group, visit http://www.hres69.org, or their group page on Facebook, DIPG Advocacy Group. The group is a grassroots organization with no corporate backing, just volunteering advocates, initiated by Jacks Angels Foundation in Agua Dulce, CA.

*Statistical sources:

American Childhood Cancer Organization http://www.acco.org,

CureSearch http://www.curesearch.org,

Treatment of newly diagnosed diffuse brain stem gliomas in children - David N. Korones,

St. Judes Research Center http://www.stjudes.org,

Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation http://pbtf.us,

The Lyla Nsouli Foundation for DIPG Research, http://www.lylansoulifoundation.org

Jack's Angels Foundation, http://www.jacksangels.orgITW Professional Automotive Products today introduced a newly updated Full Throttle Performance Products brand of automotive aftermarket maintenance chemicals for professional installers and service providers. Effective immediately, this complete line replaces every product in the recently retired Heartland and MileGuard product lines available through authorized distributors.

Relaunching Full Throttle helps us serve all our customers better by focusing our resources on one exceptional brand rather than dividing our attention among three brands, explained Joe Farr, Distributor Channel Sales Manager for ITW Professional Automotive Products. Of all the brands in our maintenance chemicals portfolio, research showed end consumers overwhelmingly favored the Full Throttle brand as an automotive maintenance product.

In addition to a new logo and brand identity system, the new Full Throttle brand also features new packaging and labeling, including color-coded labels by vehicle system to help technicians easily identify products. The enhanced packaging features QR codes on products tied to ITWs popular Tech U Training & Rewards programs for installers.

Whats inside the new Full Throttle packaging is new, too. Each product features new and improved technologies, formulations and broader application coverage for todays advanced automotive technologies. Farr adds, The new Full Throttle line has a replacement for virtually every old Heartland and MileGuard product. And our distributor partners are ready to help make an easy transition.

Beyond new packaging and formulations, the new Full Throttle is backed by the resources of ITW Professional Automotive Products, which includes world-class production facilities and quality controls, consumer promotional support, in-store merchandising aids, technical support, application guides, and a customer satisfaction guarantee, all designed to meet the professional automotive service communitys evolving needs at a competitive cost.

Altogether, this new brand is about products that bring extended life and efficiency to vehicles today, with the support and training that professionals need to bring more value to todays consumer.

About Full Throttle

Since 1986, Full Throttle has been dedicated to maintaining the operational systems of today's and tomorrow's vehicles. The company develops and manufactures its own products, specialized tools and equipment at its ISO 9001 certified facilities in Lakeland, Florida, USA. Full Throttle serves these markets every day with a global network of professional automotive industry service professionals, end users and authorized distributors.Despite the recent implementation of Smart Snacks guidelines, one in three children in the U.S. still struggles with obesity.

Every Kid Healthy Week is an annual observance created to celebrate school health and wellness achievements and is recognized on the calendar of National Health Observances. Observed the last week of April each year, this special week shines a spotlight on the great efforts schools are making to improve the health and wellness of their students and the link between nutrition, physical activity and learning.

In July 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) set new standards for snacks and drinks sold during school hours. These new nutritional guidelines, known as Smart Snacks in Schools, require schools to find ways to adhere to the new standards while maintaining profitability.

To meet Smart Snacks nutrition standards, snack foods sold in schools are required to have:



less than 200 calories

less than 35% saturated fat

0 grams of trans fat

nutritional value instead of empty calories

Despite the recent implementation of Smart Snacks guidelines, one in three children in the U.S. still struggles with obesity. In addition to this startling statistic, one in two U.S. students do not receive physical education in an average week. In addition to the adverse physical effects of obesity, there are also educational ramifications; severely obese children miss school four times as often as children of a healthy weight.

Unfortunately, many schools lack the resources and support necessary to implement changes that can positively impact not only health outcomes for students, but also their readiness to learn and succeed in school and beyond. However, by partnering with like-minded companies, such as HealthyYOU Vending, healthy choices can be promoted in schools.

HealthyYOU Vending machines hold up to 21 different snack selections and nine drink selections. With more than 1,100 healthy snack and beverage options, schools and healthy vending operators are able to offer plenty of healthy vending machine snacks that appeal to students. HealthyYOU Vending machines are locally owned and operated, which means schools and students can give feedback on which products they like best.

Good nutrition at school is more important than ever, leading to improved focus and sustained energy, both of which kids need to stay focused. With a renewed focus on healthy choices and lifestyle, we can help all 130,000+ U.S. schools provide healthy foods, quality health, physical education and comprehensive physical activity.

For more information about HealthyYOU Vending, its entrepreneurial philosophy and the HealthyYOU Difference, go to http://www.healthyyouvending.com/.

HealthyYOU Vending is the world leader in the healthy vending industry. With their corporate offices located in Kaysville, Utah, everyone at HealthyYOU Vending is dedicated to making healthy snacks, drinks and food products available to people across North America. All company vending machines are privately manufactured in the United States at a state-of-the-art facility. Owner/Operator opportunities for serious-minded entrepreneurs are currently available.El Cid Resorts, Mexicos award-winning, luxury resort group is proud to attend Tianguis Turistico, which will be held from April 15-18 at the Mazatlan International Center.

Established in 1975, Tianguis Turistico is the most important event of the year pertaining to the tourism sector of Mexico. Attracting entrepreneurs, hoteliers, travel agents, in-bound operators, meeting planners, and media moguls, this special gathering unites tourism professionals from over 80 countries to gain knowledge about the wonderful destinations Mexico has to offer. Along with educational sessions and networking opportunities, Tianguis Turistico will welcome Apple Co-founder, Steve Wozniak as the events keynote speaker.

As a leader in the resort industry of Mexico, El Cid Resorts will play a pivotal role during this years Tianguis Turistico. El Cid Resorts Mazatlan properties, El Cid El Moro, El Cid Granada Country Club, and El Cid Marina Beach Resort and Yacht Club have been selected as the host hotels for the international press. El Cid Resorts will also be the meeting destination for wedding and event planners attending Tianguis Turistico. Continuing to expand its footprint as a top-tier resort group, El Cid will also be exhibiting at Tianguis Turistico. This year, El Cid will be highlighting its properties in Mazatlan; a destination that has seen tremendous growth in tourism over the past couple of years.

Whether staying at El Cid El Moro, El Cid Granada Country Club, or El Cid Marina Beach Resort and Yacht Club, El Cid Resorts guests have superior access to all of the natural and cultural beauty Mazatlan has to offer. For close to 50 years, El Cid Resorts and El Cid Vacations Club has continued to raise the bar when it comes to providing generations of guests with unrivaled hospitality and service. El Cid Resorts is honored for being a vital part of the fabric of the tourism industry in Mazatlan and throughout Mexico.

For more information about El Cid Vacations Clubs properties in Mazatlan visit: https://elcidvacationsclub.com/destinations/destination-mazatlan/

About El Cid Vacations Club

El Cid Vacations Club is a global leader in the vacation ownership and resort industry, delivering a wide variety of memorable vacation experiences for members. El Cid Vacations Club continually strives to enhance its member services and guest experiences. Members are invited to take advantage of downloading the complimentary El Cid Vacations Club Member mobile app available on both the App Store and Google Play (keyword ecvc). This application allows members to stay up to date on the most recent news, make reservations, and always stay in contact with El Cid Vacations Club. This is the perfect opportunity for El Cid Vacations Club members to plan their next dream vacation at one of the many stunning El Cid properties. For more information, visit http://www.elcidvacationsclub.com.Mental health issues are striking the young at a disturbing rate. Young people, as young as the age of 12, are experiencing symptoms of depression and anxietyand this is a major concern.

Many mental health red flags may be dismissed by parents and teachers as normal teenage angst or a cry for attention: A tendency toward isolation, nervousness, lashing out, or sleeping too much. Perhaps far worse is the knee-jerk reaction of dealing with issues like attention problems or hyperactivity by prescribing medication.

A recent study by researchers at PsychTests, however, suggests a need to take a more serious and practical approach to mental well-being in youth. Their study reveals a higher incidence of mental health issues in individuals below the age of 25, particularly for 12 to 17 year olds.

In their analysis of the 7883 people who took their free Mental Health Assessment, researchers at PsychTests compared participant scores on symptoms of depression and anxiety. Youths below the age of 18 outscored older age groups on the following symptoms:

(Note: Scores range from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the stronger the symptom)

DEPRESSION-RELATED SYMPTOMS

Depressed mood; frequent feelings of sadness



Score for below 18 age group: 69

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 62

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 56

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 51

Score for 40 and older age group: 51

Diminished interest in things once enjoyed



Score for below 18 age group: 62

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 59

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 56

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 54

Score for 40 and older age group: 54

Fatigue, low energy



Score for below 18 age group: 74

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 71

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 68

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 65

Score for 40 and older age group: 62

Feelings of worthlessness and guilt



Score for below 18 age group: 70

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 65

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 63

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 57

Score for 40 and older age group: 54

Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep



Score for below 18 age group: 71

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 68

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 68

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 64

Score for 40 and older age group: 63

Suicidal thoughts, ideation, or attempts



Score for below 18 age group: 55

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 45

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 38

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 34

Score for 40 and older age group: 34

Symptoms were so severe, they affected daily life



Score for below 18 age group: 63

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 61

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 57

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 55

Score for 40 and older age group: 52

ANXIETY-RELATED SYMPTOMS

Worrying excessively about many things



Score for below 18 age group: 74

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 73

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 72

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 67

Score for 40 and older age group: 63

Difficulty regulating anxiety/controlling the tendency to worry



Score for below 18 age group: 63

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 62

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 60

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 55

Score for 40 and older age group: 52

Restlessness; feeling tense or on edge



Score for below 18 age group: 71

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 68

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 68

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 63

Score for 40 and older age group: 58

Easily fatigued



Score for below 18 age group: 74

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 71

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 68

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 65

Score for 40 and older age group: 62

Avoidance of situations or activities that cause anxiety or panic



Score for below 18 age group: 61

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 60

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 58

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 54

Score for 40 and older age group: 51

Trembling or shaking



Score for below 18 age group: 52

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 43

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 40

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 38

Score for 40 and older age group: 33

Nausea or abdominal distress



Score for below 18 age group: 56

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 53

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 49

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 46

Score for 40 and older age group: 44

Fear of losing control, going crazy, or dying



Score for below 18 age group: 54

Score for 18 to 24 age group: 49

Score for 25 to 29 age group: 50

Score for 30 to 39 age group: 44

Score for 40 and older age group: 38

PsychTests study also reveals that while a greater percentage of older subjects in their sample had been clinically diagnosed with depression and anxiety (25% of the below 18 age group vs. 30% of 40+ age group) or were currently being treated for it (14% and 21% respectively), this may be because they have the wherewithal to seek out help. Case in point: When asked whether they believed they needed treatment for depression or anxiety, 55% of participants under the age of 18 felt so, compared to 38% of those 40 and older.

While its important to keep in mind that this sample is somewhat skewed  in that only people who are suffering are likely to take the test  we cannot so easily dismiss what the data reveal: Young people, as young as the age of 12, are experiencing symptoms of depression and anxietyand this is a major concern, explains Dr. Jerabek, president of PsychTests. What is equally worrisome is that aside from the fact that nearly half (49%) of the below 18 age group indicated that they are dissatisfied with their life, 71% have contemplated suicide within the last 2 years. So children who should be out having fun and enjoying their life are thinking about putting an end to it all. This is more than a cry for attention: Its a desperate plea for help. And we feel that initiatives must be taken to make mental health and well-being a staple in school programs. We are only just starting to understand the importance of stress management and Employee Assistance Programs at work, but it is time to start focusing on mental health long before our young people head out into the world. The stigma of a mental health issue still inhibits many people from seeking help, but perhaps even more so for young people, perhaps for fear of not being taken seriously. The current approach of Diagnose & Medicate is simply creating more problems. I find the trend of exposing developing brains to psychotropic medication highly disturbing. While prescription drugs might be beneficial or even necessary in some cases, for most children and teens, they are not. We need to teach our kids how to cope with stress, how to overcome setbacks, how to resolve conflicts in a civilized manner, how to deal with loss and trauma. We need to teach them social skills and emotional intelligence. We need to teach them life skills, set an example, and show them how to reach deep within to find the source of an issue. Popping a pill is not the answer.

Want to assess your mental health? Check out https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3897

Professional users of this test can download a sample report for this test or request a free demo for any assessment from ARCH Profiles extensive battery: http://hrtests.archprofile.com/testdrive_gen_1

To learn more about psychological testing, download this free eBook: Spotting Diamonds in the Rough. (http://hrtests.archprofile.com/personality-tests-in-hr)

About PsychTests AIM Inc.

PsychTests AIM Inc. originally appeared on the internet scene in 1996. Since its inception, it has become a pre-eminent provider of psychological assessment products and services to human resource personnel, therapists, academics, researchers and a host of other professionals around the world. PsychTests AIM Inc. staff is comprised of a dedicated team of psychologists, test developers, researchers, statisticians, writers, and artificial intelligence experts (see ARCHProfile.com). The companys research division, Plumeus Inc., is supported in part by Research and Development Tax Credit awarded by Industry Canada.Were committed to helping Ontarios research, education and innovation community maintain the security of their important assets.

ORION is bringing one of the most well-regarded cybersecurity leadership training programs to Toronto on April 30-May 1 in conjunction with their 2018 THINK conference (http://www.thinkconference.ca/). CCISO (https://ciso.eccouncil.org/cciso-certification/) is an ANSI 17024-accredited training and certification program which is the first program of its kind, aimed at producing top-level information security executives. The CCISO workshop focuses on the application of information security management (https://iclass.eccouncil.org/our-courses/certified-chief-information-security-officer-cciso/) principles from an executive management point of view. The program was developed by sitting CISOs for current and aspiring CISOs. The training focuses on governance, project management, strategic planning, and finance  areas not covered by more technically-focused certification and training programs.

According to a recent report from Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime will cost the world more than $6 trillion annually by 2021. The demand for cybersecurity experts is expected to rise to 6 million globally by 2019, with a projected shortfall of 1.5 million, cybersecurity personnel have become one of the most sought-after resources in which organizations are now looking to invest. Danish Arshad, the Executive Director of EC-Council said, Canada is seeing a massive paradigm shift towards the issue of cybersecurity and for the first time in 2018 both the Federal government as well as private companies are taking very strong measures to bring the cybersecurity maturity of Canadian enterprises and institutions on par with other developed countries. ORIONs CCISO workshop will help current and prospective cybersecurity leaders learn critical skills and to help build a strong cybersecurity posture, strategy and infrastructure for their respective organizations.

ORION has listened to our constituents and theyve told us that security training is a top priority, says Alfonso Licata, President and CEO of ORION. Were committed to helping Ontarios research, education and innovation community maintain the security of their important assets. Everyone should have access to the best training available  so weve partnered to bring it to their own backyard. The more than 2 million students, researchers, educators and other innovators that we support across the province deserve it.

The CCISO training program includes case studies and examples of real world situations CISOs face in their daily jobs. Participants will be challenged to develop a business continuity plan for an organization in a particular situation, use metrics to communicate cyber risk to different audiences, and describe how to align a security program with the goals of the organization.

To register for the workshop or for more event details, please see: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/think-innovation-ecosystem-orions-2018-conference-tickets-41145714941

About EC-Council and CCISO:

EC-Council has been the worlds leading information security certification body since the launch of their flagship program, Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), which created the ethical hacking industry in 2002. Since the launch of CEH, EC-Council has added industry-leading programs to their portfolio to cover all aspects of information security including EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (CHFI), Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO), among others. EC-Council Foundation, the non-profit branch of EC-Council, created Global CyberLympics, the worlds first global hacking competition. EC-Council Foundation also hosts a suite of conferences across the US and around the world including Hacker Halted, Global CISO Forum, TakeDownCon, and CISO Summit.

For more information about EC-Council, please see http://www.eccouncil.org.

The CCISO certification is an industry-leading program that teaches the real-world experience necessary to succeed at the highest executive levels of information security. EC-Councils CCISO program has certified leading information security professionals around the world. A core group of high-level information security executives, the CCISO Advisory Board, formed the foundation of the program and outlined the content to be covered by the exam, the body of knowledge, and the training. Each segment of the program was developed with the aspiring CISO in mind and looks to transfer the knowledge of seasoned professionals to the next generation in the areas that are most critical in the development and maintenance of a successful information security program.

About ORION:

ORION is a not-for-profit organization committed to actively supporting Ontarios researchers, educators and innovators. Since 2001, weve facilitated new discoveries and learning by connecting institutions and regions, enabling collaboration, forging partnerships, and providing our community with the digital tools they need to make the world a better place. ORION is Ontarios only provincial research and education network. Covering 6,000 kilometres, it connects institutions and regions all over the province, including more than a hundred universities, colleges, hospitals and research institutions, as well as the majority of Ontarios school boards. More than two million researchers, educators and innovators rely on ORION to share and communicate with each other and to connect to a global grid of similar networks across Canada and around the world. https://www.orion.on.ca/Bob Ibanez, longtime Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program manager, will join the Novogradac group of companies, effective April 16.

Ibanez will be a senior manager in Novogradacs public policy group, initially in Washington, D.C., prior to establishing an office in Jacksonville later this year. Bob will work with NMTC clients and as part of the NMTC Working Group. He will also focus on expanding Novogradacs work with CDFIs around the country.

We are thrilled to have Bob join our team, said Michael J. Novogradac, CPA, managing partner in Novogradac & Company LLPs San Francisco office. He has been an asset to the community development world during his tenure at the CDFI Fund, and before, and his experience and depth of understanding of the NMTC program and community development in general will benefit our clients and the communities they serve. With the next NMTC application round opening soon, this is an exciting time to have Bob join our team.

Ibanez spent the past 13 years at the CDFI Fund, the past six as program manager of the New Markets Tax Credit and Bank Enterprise Award programs. Before that, Ibanez had a private consulting practice. He also has worked in the financial and community development industries. Ibanez has a bachelors degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a masters degree from The American College of Financial Services.

Ibanez will be among those gathering at the Novogradac 2018 New Markets Tax Credit Spring Conference, June 7-8 in Washington, D.C.

About Novogradac & Company

Novogradac began operations in 1989 and has since grown to more than 600 employees and partners with offices in San Francisco, San Rafael, Walnut Creek and Long Beach, Calif.; Dover, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Austin, Dallas and El Paso, Texas; Toms River and Iselin, N.J.; St. Louis; Boston; New York; Chicago; Portland, Ore.; Naples, Fla., Raleigh, N.C.; and the greater metropolitan areas of Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Detroit; Kansas City, Mo.; and Seattle.

Specialty practice areas include tax, audit and consulting services for tax-credit-assisted affordable housing, community revitalization, rehabilitation of historic properties and renewable energy. Other areas of expertise include business valuation, preparation and analysis of market studies and appraisals of multifamily housing investments and renewable energy tax credit projects.Alchemist Money Summit, the place where the global blockchain community convenes, announced today its final speaker lineup on April 17-18, 2018 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Produced by Jeff Pulver, and presented by Alchemist, this years Money Summit will take place concurrently with Spring 2018 MONage, a three-day event focused on the future of communications.

The evolution of Blockchain Technology is more disruptive than the introduction of the commercial internet. The adoption of security tokens in business offers the opportunity to be disruptive to the global capital markets industry, said Jeff Pulver.

I personally believe trillions of dollars of assets will shift from traditional markets and trading platforms and will move into the security tokens market by 2023.

We are looking forward to welcoming friends to one of the most important gatherings and conversations in the Blockchain economy, said Steven Nerayoff, Founder of Alchemist.

Full Agenda and Schedule of Sessions here: https://monagemoneysummit2018.sched.com/?iframe=no

A full list of Alchemist Money Summit speakers can be found here: https://monagemoneysummit2018.sched.com/?iframe=no

Tickets to the Money Summit, presented by Alchemist are available: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alchemist-money-summit-tickets-43069641457

Use promotional code 300 for a $300 discount.

ABOUT ALECHEMIST MONEY SUMMIT

The Money Summit is an intimate, world-class gathering of business leaders responsible for creating the multi-trillion dollar Blockchain Industry. The central theme of this summit will be the evolution of Tokens: from Utility to Security. Whether you are an experienced crypto geek or just downloaded your wallet yesterday, you will have an opportunity to listen, connect and engage with Industry Leaders. You will learn something new and maybe be inspired to create your own token. 2018 will be known as the year when Blockchain went Mainstream.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Jessica Klahrm, Jessica(at)chickpr.com | (786) 298-5747

L.A. Lassek | la(at)narratecommunications.com | @LA

###we are excited to be able to offer real time credit card matching to business owners

Seek Capital is proud to announce that Joel Rose has joined the team as the VP of Credit & Risk.

Joel has had a longstanding and successful track record in the financial and credit card space.

Joel has extensive experience in Risk Management at HSBC, Chase Card and Citi Card specializing in risk assessment and maximize customer value. Joel moved to California in 2010, joining Kinecta Federal Credit Union where he was the Product Director for Kinecta Cards. Joel oversaw the launch of the BBCN Bank Visa Credit Card including establishing the credit underwriting policy and product features.

Joel Rose stated, I am very excited about joining the team at Seek Capital. I have seen first-hand how the company has grown in the past 8 months and I look forward to the next phase of our growth. We have developed some really exciting technology that we are excited to release this week. It will be an absolute game changer for startup businesses with respect to securing fast funding to launch new businesses.

Seek Capital CEO Roy Ferman stated, We could not be more thrilled about Joel Rose joining our team as the VP of Credit & Risk. The profound impact he has had on our team made it a natural fit to have Joel join the senior ranks of the Seek Capital management team.

Ferman further stated, With Joels expertise, we are excited to be able to offer real time credit card matching to business owners. We recognize the enormity of this opportunity to help significantly more business owners thanks to the matching platform that Joel and our team have developed.

ABOUT SEEK CAPITAL

Seek Capital is the leader in startup business loans. Launched in 2015, Seek Capital has helped solve the challenge of early stage business owners obtaining capital to launch and grow their small business.

The company has grown by combining the Seek Capital proprietary lender matching platform, Capital Seeker with its dedication to providing a hands-on, consultative approach to each client. By utilizing the Capital Seeker the company is able to provide real time underwriting decisions allowing business owners to instantly know their funding options.

To date, the company has used the matching software for over 20,000 successful applications for unsecured lines of credit across the United States. Seek Capital has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau, is a consistent Top 3 rated or Winner of Lending Tree's Lender Award and was Ranked #44 by Glassdoor Best Place to Work 2017."Our purpose is to empower hospitals to increase profit by decreasing their denial write-offs. Our hospital clients are better equipped to communicate across their appeal teams, win more disputes, and ultimately reduce denials."Brian McGraw CEO, Intersect Healthcare

Intersect Healthcare, a leading developer of Payer Compliance, Audit & Denial Management software for healthcare providers, announced its full suite of VERACITY revenue recovery software will be presented at HCCAs 22nd Annual Compliance Institute.

Intersect Healthcare is the pioneer in online solutions for managing audits, denials, and appeals. Its VERACITY software suite is a business process, workflow management and appeal communication tool designed to help providers accelerate their response to commercial denials and regulatory audits, as well as identify their underlying causes. VERACITY is now used by over 400 hospitals and health systems nationwide to recover revenue from thousands of payer audits and denials each year.

Brian McGraw, Intersect Healthcare CEO, shared, Healthcare Providers are facing new challenges every day to providing excellent care while maintaining profitability. Our purpose is to empower hospitals to increase profit by decreasing their denial write-offs so they can focus on what they do best. Our hospital clients are better equipped to communicate across their appeal teams, win more disputes, and ultimately reduce denials.

Along with the VERACITY software suite, members of AppealMasters staff will be in attendance. AppealMasters is a team of revenue recovery experts who educate and assist healthcare providers in responding rapidly to government audits and commercial denials. They rank among the leading appeal educators in the U.S. and hold regular webinars designed to educate the appeals community on how to use evidence-based guidelines to win more clinical and coding appeals.

Denise Wilson, MS, RN, RRT, Vice President of Clinical Appeals at AppealMasters, added, Winning appeals and protecting hospital revenue requires effective tools, medical knowledge and a strategic approach. With our VERACITY software, combined with the education from our AppealMasters team, we train and equip hospitals to win more appeals.

Intersect Healthcare will be hosting the popular Whack-A-Payer game during the expo. Participants are welcome to stop by and compete to win fun prizes. Intersect Healthcare will have a grand prize of one dozen Jumbo Maryland Crab Cakes that can be shipped to anywhere in the U.S.

Case managers and transitions of care professionals can also visit Intersect Healthcare and AppealMasters at the following upcoming industry event:



The 2018 ACMA National Conference, April 24-27 in Houston: Visit Intersect Healthcare and AppealMasters at Booth #631

To learn more about Intersect Healthcare or AppealMasters, please visit http://www.intersecthealthcare.com or call (410) 252-4343. Get live updates on Twitter by searching for #HCCAci. Connect with Intersect Healthcare on Twitter and LinkedIn for insightful industry trends and best practices.

About Intersect Healthcare & AppealMasters

Intersect Healthcare, Inc. (IHI) is one of the nations leading vendors of Payer Compliance, Audit & Denial Management software for healthcare providers. Intersect Healthcare has developed the most comprehensive solution for managing audits, risks, denials, and appeals. Currently used by over 300 healthcare systems nationwide, the VERACITY software suite is aeasy-to-usese, effective, and affordable appeal management solution for payer denials. Intersect Healthcare, Inc. leverages Software as a Service (SaaS) technology to assist organizations in streamlining appeal processes, reducing denials and complying with government audit requirements.

AppealMasters is a team of medical necessity and coding appeal specialists providing bench support services and appeal education to hospitals throughout the U.S. Their staff consists of experienced appeal experts made up of physicians, certified coders, and registered nurses with specialized training to protect hospital revenues.

Intersect Healthcare Press Contact

John Centofanti

Creative Stream Marketing for Intersect Healthcare

Phone: +1 (330) 333-2738

info(at)intersecthealthcare(dot)com"Rosie the Pawsitive Pup" teaches children dog bite prevention and safety Its the lack of dog safety education that leads to dog bites, said Breanna Brancheau, who graduated and earned her professional certification in 2015. She is the author of the book, Rosie the Pawsitive Pup.

Responsible pet owners know the best way to prevent their dogs from biting people is to socialize and seek professional training for them. Each year approximately 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs in the U.S. and at least half of them are children, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Child victims of dog bites are often left traumatized and emotionally scarred. Teaching children dog safety is an important way to prevent dog bites. This week April 8 -14 is National Dog Bite Prevention Week and Animal Behavior College (ABC) Dog Obedience Program Graduate (DOP) Breanna Brancheau has written a dog safety book for children.

Its the lack of dog safety education that leads to dog bites, said Breanna, who graduated and earned her ABC DOP certification in 2015 and is the author of the book, Rosie the Pawsitive Pup. Hopefully, this book will help children to better understand dog behaviors so they learn to respect them.

Rosie the Pawsitive Pup teaches dog safety to children as seen through the eyes of Rosie, Breannas Newfoundland. The 18-page book uses various rhymes and colorful illustrations to explain how to avoid dog bites and identify behaviors dogs exhibit before they are about to attack. Some of those behaviors include growling, lunging, snapping and snarling. The book teaches the proper way to approach and interact with dogs, how to tell if a dog is feeling anxious and why its important to leave a dog alone while hes eating and sleeping.

Kids should always be polite to animals and respect a dogs personal space, she said. Its important that kids understand that sometimes dogs just want to be left alone.

It was an incident at a local park that inspired Breanna to write the book. She was holding her baby son while walking Rosie on a leash. Her husband was several feet away pushing their young daughter on a swing. Two medium-sized dogs got loose from a nearby neighborhood and darted towards Rosie. One of the dogs tail and ears were up and the hair on his back was raised. He stared with eyes focused on Rosie. Thanks to the training she received through ABC, Breanna knew it was important to remain calm and not make eye contact with the canine. The professional training she had given Rosie ensured that she remained calm and controlled at her side. Not knowing what was happening her husband let her daughter down off the swing. Within seconds, the toddler spotted the loose dogs, ran to one of them and placed her small hand on his back.

My heart stopped for a moment, Breanna recalled. I calmly told her to go back to her dad. Luckily, the dog continued to focus on Rosie who sat relaxed by my side and didnt react to him. The dog finally lost interest and ran away.

Breanna couldnt stop thinking about the incident and the consequences if things had gone differently. It was then she realized the importance of educating children about dogs to keep them safe. She shares her book with friends and parents who use it as a teaching tool for their children. Breanna and Rosie even visited her daughters ballet class.

ABC taught me the science of dog behavior and why they do what they do, Breanna said. I want to use what Ive learned about them to keep all kids safe.

Rosie the Pawsitive Pup is available in eBook format as well as soft cover. To place an order, visit the website: https://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStore/rosie-the-pawsitive-pup/774b634c-9035-4f22-9438-110fbd90fd93?isbn=9781682735909.

In addition to the Dog Obedience Program, Animal Behavior College offers professional certifications in three other core programs including, the Cat Training Program, the Grooming Instruction Program and the Veterinary Assistant Program. In addition, ABC offers specialized certificates of completion in five Short-Term Programs on subjects including pet massage, pet nutrition, pet sitting, training shelter dogs, and selling and teaching private lessons.

As of March 31, 2018, ABC has graduated and certified more than 14,893 students from the Dog Obedience Program. For more information, call 800-795-3294 or visit ABCs website at http://www.AnimalBehaviorCollege.com.

About Animal Behavior College

Now celebrating its 20th Anniversary, Animal Behavior College is a vocational school that trains professional dog trainers, cat trainers, veterinary assistants and pet groomers nationwide and in the 10 provinces of Canada. As of March 31, 2018, ABC has graduated more than 25,700 students from all of its four core programs combined. Students obtain practical hands-on experience applying what they learn by working side-by-side with a member of ABC's expert mentors group. These professional mentors include thousands of professional dog trainers, veterinary hospitals and clinics and grooming salons from all across the U.S. and Canada who are dedicated to helping students succeed in the pet services industry.Immigration Lawyers Spokane WA People might not even notice where Spokane ends and Spokane Valley begins.

The Elliott Law Group, leading immigration attorneys servicing Spokane and Spokane Valley in Washington as well as Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, is proud to announce a new page focused on Spokane, Washington, and services relevant to that community, including immigration, DUI / DWI, and traffic tickets. While the law firm is technically located in Spokane Valley, Washington, it services many clients looking for some of the best immigration attorneys in Spokane.

People might not even notice where Spokane ends and Spokane Valley begins, explained Lana Elliott, managing partner at the law firm. "Our new city-specific page focuses on Spokane, so that through the Internet, we can better reach out to that client base as they seek for immigration, DUI / DWI, and traffic ticket attorneys.

Interested persons can review the new informational page on Spokane at https://www.elliottlawgroup.com/spokane/. There, they can browse the key practice areas of the law firm, namely: immigration, visas, DUI / DWI, and traffic tickets. The firm can also act as criminal defense attorneys. The new page includes driving directions from Spokane as well as a factoid about the city. In this way, it acts as an easy Internet brochure so that anyone in Spokane who is seeking to find an attorney can quickly get educated as to what the firm has to offer, reach out for a phone consultation, and even get easy driving directions from Spokane to the law firm.

IMMIGRATION LAWYERS FOR SPOKANE, WASHINGTON

With Spokane having a population of approximately 250,000, and Spokane Valley having one of approximately, 100,000, the combined cities form the second-largest area in Washington State, after the Seattle / Tacoma region. The area is home to many immigrants, and accordingly many who seek legal representation from the best immigration attorneys in Spokane. It is no accident that Elliott Law Group has obtained a reputation as one of the best law firms for these issues in Eastern Washington. Indeed, with law offices not only in Spokane Valley but no in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the firm services those people who either live or reside in nearby Idaho. Accordingly, the firm has a city-specific page on Coeur D'Alene at https://www.elliottlawgroup.com/coeur-d-alene/.

If a non-citizen living in the Spokane Valley needs to renew a green card or manage a visa it might appear to be difficult. A local area resident could believe it requires driving a long distance to receive support from an expert immigration attorney. It may be important to learn, therefore, that a top team of immigration lawyers in Spokane Washington can be found close by. Up-to-date details regarding green card, work visas or permanent residency status can be reviewed with the assistance of a trained lawyer. The new page explains that answers can be located closer than one might think.

ABOUT ELLIOTT LAW GROUP

With law firm offices in both Spokane Valley, Washington, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Elliott Law Group (http://www.elliottlawgroup.com/) aims to be one of the top-rated immigration law firms in Spokane, Spokane Valley, Coeur dAlene and all of Spokane, Okanogan and Kootenai Counties. Persons looking for not only an immigration lawyer but also a DWI / DUI attorney or perhaps a lawyer for defense against traffic tickets, can seek help. Areas of specialty include visa issues (including DACA), working as DUI defense attorneys or criminal attorneys (including marijuana DUI and traffic ticket charges), assisting with green cards or obtaining K1 (fiance) visas and citizenship in both Washington and Idaho. The firm has attorneys who are both Russian-speaking and Spanish-speaking attorneys and staff. Service areas include Brewster, Cheney, Airway Heights, and Moses Lake in Washington, as well as Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint in Idaho.

Media Relations. 509-891-4301HNTB's Ron Deverman has been named a Fellow by the National Association of Environmental Professionals. Rons dedication to technical excellence is matched only by his commitment to advancing the environmental planning profession across the U.S.

Ron Deverman, CEP, has been named a Fellow by the National Association of Environmental Professionalsonly the 10th Fellow named by the organization in its 43-year history. Deverman, based in HNTBs Chicago office, is principal environmental planning manager and associate vice president.

The NAEP serves as a forum for environmental study and professional advancement, a networking platform, an industry resource and a proponent of ethical standards.

Rons dedication to technical excellence is matched only by his commitment to advancing the environmental planning profession across the U.S., said Jack Allen, HNTB National Environmental Planning Practice leader and vice president. Since 2012, Ron has masterfully led delivery of the Chicago Regional Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE), a massive, complex undertaking which will improve safety and reliability of passenger and freight rail systems in the Chicago regionthe nations busiest rail hub.

A $4.4 billion, 70-project rail improvements construction program estimated to return $31.5 billion in regional benefits, CREATE is a national model. It is a first-of-its-kind partnership between U.S. DOT, the State of Illinois, City of Chicago, Cook County, Metra, Amtrak, and six of the nation's Class I freight railroads.

Deverman also was recently named an HNTB Fellow in March 2018, the highest technical honor in the firm. HNTBs Fellow designation recognizes experts who have distinguished themselves at the company and in their professional careers.

Deverman is a nationally recognized environmental planning expert with 34 years of experience managing large transportation infrastructure projects, including highways, interstates, transit and rail, major interchanges and bridges.

He is a past president of NAEP and a contributor to Environmental Practice, NAEPs national environmental journal. He also chaired the NAEP Steering Committee that developed Guidance on Best Practice Principles for Environmental Assessments, the result of a successful joint NAEP/White House Council on Environmental Quality Pilot Project.

Devermans academic background includes a Master of Arts in English from the University of Illinois Springfield and a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

About HNTB

HNTB Corporation is an employee-owned infrastructure firm serving public and private owners and contractors. With more than a century of service in the United States, HNTB understands the life cycle of infrastructure and addresses clients most complex technical, financial and operational challenges. Professionals nationwide deliver a full range of infrastructure-related services, including award-winning planning, design, program management and construction management. For more information, visit http://www.hntb.com.Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP has added David C. Fixler to its Boston office as of counsel in the firms growing Energy & Natural Resources Practice.

Fixler represents energy companies and corporate entities in administrative and regulatory proceedings, as well as litigation, and counsels on permitting, contracting, and financing issues related to the development, operation, sale, and purchase of energy services and projects. Fixler has wide-ranging experience representing developers of renewable, distributed generation, demand response, and fossil fuel energy facilities in permitting and construction matters, including due diligence, plant and transmission line siting, local zoning, MEPA, DEP, and environmental permitting, ISO-NE interconnection, and permit compliance. He also advises boards of directors and management on corporate governance, management, contractual, litigation, real estate, and employment matters.

Davids multidisciplinary skill set and knowledge will be a great asset to our growing Energy Practice, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the team, said Terence P. McCourt, managing shareholder of the firms Boston office.

The addition of Fixler is the latest in a series of strategic hires in the firms Energy Practice. Most recently joining the Energy Practice in Greenberg Traurigs Boston office were John DeTore and Gregory K. Lawrence. DeTores practice encompasses all aspects of energy project development. He has worked on numerous major energy projects involving billions of dollars in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. Lawrence focuses his practice on the electricity and natural gas industries.

About Greenberg Traurigs Energy and Natural Resources Practice

Greenberg Traurigs Energy and Natural Resources Practice brings together attorneys from across the firm and around the globe who provide advice to clients on important aspects of their business and the energy and natural resources world. The attorneys knowledge and experience (including wide-ranging in-house and governmental experience) within many segments of the energy and natural resources industry  coupled with GTs transactional, regulatory and litigation capabilities  enable them to develop and implement energy and natural resources-related legal strategies throughout the U.S., and in international markets including Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The team is known for its broad-ranging representation of upstream and midstream energy companies as well as renewable energy companies and traditional power generation companies. The Energy and Natural Resources Practice is further distinguished by lawyers with substantial FERC experience and extensive energy finance representations. Several of the firms energy attorneys are former general counsel at energy industry companies, and provide a valuable business perspective for GTs energy clients across the globe. Greenberg Traurig's Global Energy practice has expanded significantly in Latin America and Europe with the establishment of the firms Mexico City and Warsaw offices.

The firms E2 Environmental and Energy Law blog offers insights and analysis of new environmental and energy legislation, regulations, cases, policies, and trends, with a focus on relevant business opportunities and risks.

About Greenberg Traurigs Boston Office

Established in 1999, Greenberg Traurigs Boston office is home to over 70 attorneys practicing in the areas of bankruptcy, corporate, emerging technology, energy, governmental affairs, intellectual property, labor and employment, life sciences and medical technology, litigation, public finance, and real estate. An important contributor to the firm's international platform, the Boston office includes a team of nationally recognized attorneys with both public and private sector experience. The team offers clients the value of decades of legal experience and hands-on knowledge of the local business community, supported by the firm's vast network of global resources.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2017, and is among the Top 20 on the 2017 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.Without Georges persistence, perseverance and dedication this deal would not have happened. He was in constant contact and helped overcome the many obstacles that occur in any buy sell.

Performance Brokerage Services, a new car and motorcycle dealership broker is pleased to announce the sale of Indian Motorcycle Charlotte in Lowell, North Carolina from Steve Heese and Mark Moses to Tim Sutherland and Lloyd Greer, industry leaders for custom designed and high-performance motorcycles.

Founded in 2008, Indian Motorcycle Charlotte is the flagship dealership for the company as motorcycles were originally being manufactured in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. During its grand opening, there were 6,000 people in attendance celebrating the renaissance of the legendary brand. The dealership is known for its unique architecture, its display of historic early models, and a collection of memorabilia. From 2010 through 2015, the dealership was recognized as a Top 100 Powersports Dealer, and also won other awards for Best Exterior Design, Best In-Store Display, and even Top 10 Powersports Dealer in the country by DealerNews magazine. Following the sale of his dealership, Steve Heese commented, Mark Moses, our operating partner, referred me to George Chaconas of Performance Brokerage Services about selling our Indian dealership. George did a phenomenal job and identified the perfect unique buyer. He was very professional and exceeded our expectations. If you are considering selling your dealership I would highly recommend George and PBS!

Industry leaders, Sutherland and Greer, are joining forces to create one of the countrys premier Indian Motorcycle dealerships. Sutherland owns and operates Coastal Indian Motorcycle and Slingshot of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and also 1901 Customs, providing custom designed bikes using HotVic accessories. Greer, well known for building engines and bikes that have set world records for land speeds, owns Lloydz Motorworkz in Pine Bush, New York delivering the best aftermarket performance parts. The two are teaming up in attempt to make Indian Motorcycle Charlotte the gold standard for dealerships offering custom and high performance Indian motorcycles.

Following the purchase, Greer shared, Were excited to take ownership of one of the most iconic and best Indian Motorcycle dealerships in the country, and we feel its a perfect match of our shared skills. Sutherland and Greer have retained all the dealerships employees, including Mark Moses, the founder of the business. Greer commented, Mark is highly respected for his Indian Motorcycle expertise, and were excited that he will stat to help us optimize the dealerships tremendous potential.

When asked about their experiences working with George Chaconas, Sutherland commented, Without Georges persistence, perseverance and dedication this deal would not have happened. He was in constant contact and helped overcome the many obstacles that occur in any buy sell. I would highly recommend him!

The dealership will operate under the same name, Indian Motorcycle Charlotte and at the same location of 110 Indian Walk in Lowell, North Carolina 28098. Sutherland even plans to design and create a line of exclusive Charlotte Indian Motorcycle customs. The dealership is also authorized to service Victory Motorcycles.

George C. Chaconas, the exclusive agent for this transaction and the head of the National Harley-Davidson and Powersports Division for Performance Brokerage Services commented, It was a great experience working with Mark and Steve, and I am grateful to have helped Tim and Lloyd grow their business and maximize the potential of Indian Motorcycle Charlotte.

About Performance Brokerage Services

Performance Brokerage Services, an auto dealership broker, specializes in professional intermediary services to buyers and sellers of automotive, Harley-Davidson and Powersports dealerships.

The company offers a different approach to the automotive, Harley-Davidson and Powersports industries by providing complimentary dealership assessments, no upfront fees, no reimbursement of costs and is paid a success fee only. Performance Brokerage Services gets paid only after the client gets paid.

With over 25 years of experience, the company utilizes an extensive network of industry related accountants, attorneys, hundreds of registered buyers and enjoys longstanding relationships with most of the auto manufacturers and the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. The intermediaries at Performance Brokerage Services have been involved in well over 600 transactions. Pledging loyal and unwavering representation, confidentiality is vigilantly protected during the selling process and after the transaction closes.

With corporate offices in Irvine, California, six regional offices in Utah, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Alberta and Ontario, and a dedicated Harley-Davidson and Powersports Division, Performance Brokerage Services provides its clients national exposure with local representation. For more information about the services offered by Performance Brokerage Services, visit https://performancebrokerageservices.com.The Clean Energy Conference was held yesterday as part of the Tom Tom Founders Festival in Charlottesville, VA and featured a full day of workshops, presentations, and keynotes from the most influential leaders in the energy space. Government officials and industry experts from all over the east coast gathered to discuss energy policy in Virginia, the future of storage, how corporate demand is changing the energy equation, and more.

The Conference, held at the Violet Crown Theater, represents the first time that Tom Tom has dedicated a full day of programming to the clean energy revolution. During the conference, a special luncheon interview was held to discuss the next twenty-five years in energy with industry icon Jigar Shah, founder of SunEdison, and Co-Founder of Generate Capital.

Are we on track, is that curve bent in the right direction of where we want to go? It is not, said Mr. Shah. We all have to do way more to get to where we want to go. But I am inspired every day by all the people that are here, who are working tirelessly to make it happen. And I think we have enough people power to get there. So, it keeps me optimistic.

With Microsofts recent announcement that they will be adding 315MW of new solar power in Virginia in the largest corporate solar agreement in the United States, corporate commitments to clean energy was a hot topic and focus of a session led by Roger Ballentine, President of Green Strategies and former Chairman of the White House Climate Change Task Force and Deputy Assistant to the President for Environmental Initiatives.

I think whereas policy used to be the main driver in renewable energy, it is not anymore. It is corporate demand. Corporates want this, said Mr. Ballentine. Theyre willing to pay for it. They dont have to pay a premium anymore. They just need access to it. This is the major driver we are dealing with right now, and I think that its the accelerant that the renewable energy industry is looking for in places like Virginia that havent traditionally been on the cutting edge of clean energy. Youve now got your employers and the major players in your economy saying we want this. And its beginning to work here, so Im very optimistic about Virginia.

Charlottesville-based Sun Tribe Solar was the presenting sponsor for the day, helping to shape the Conferences content and bring in representatives from industry powerhouses.

To have the countrys preeminent experts gather in our city to chart the future of energy is further proof that Charlottesville is leading the renewable energy movement in Virginia and destined to be the clean energy hub of the southeast, said Devin Welch, co-founder of Sun Tribe Solar.

The day concluded with a focus on Charlottesvilles vision for its sustainability and how it can be an example to the state and the east coast.

Today was a great conversation about the future for climate action for Charlottesville, said Grey McLean, founder of the Charlottesville Climate Collaborative. Ultimately, the broader Cville community must look at itself and decide what it wants. Do we want to lead or follow in this defining moment? It is ours for the taking, but we, as a whole community, have to engage.

Footage from the interview with Jigar Shah at the Clean Energy Conference can be found here: https://youtu.be/ALyxIoN0B2M. The Tom Tom Founders Festival continues through tomorrow, Sunday, April 15th.Princeton Bedroom Collection We are excited to offer our clients the latest style offerings and great savings.

Brandenberry Amish Furniture of Shipshewana, Indiana, is hosting a Spring Sale on April 13, 14 and 16, 2018.

Special sale prices on furniture items include up to 70 percent off discontinued floor models, $100 off any TV cabinet, 20 percent off Flexsteel furniture and 15 percent off all Amish bedroom furniture.

Mattresses are also on sale, with full-size mattresses starting at $199. In addition, Brandenberry is offering 20 percent off accessories, framed art and pictures. Also, customers can sign up and win a prize.

Brandenberry Amish Furniture is located at 1045 N. State Road 5 in Shipshewana, at the intersection of State Road 5 and US 20, near the Indiana Toll Road. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment.

About Brandenberry Amish Furniture:

Brandenberry Furniture opened its doors in 2008. The Brandenberry Furniture concept allows customers to design the furniture of their dreamsto explore the rich woods and stains that only nature can offer. Nothing matches the feel, the smell and the weight of hickory, oak, cherry, maplereal woods that come to life in an Amish handcrafted piece. They are meant to last a lifetime and beyond.

Whether a customers favorite style is Mission, Traditional, Modern or something in between, if Brandenberry Furniture doesnt carry it, their craftsmen will build it to specification.

Brandenberry Furniture offers everything from bedroom and dining collections to home accessories, patio and exclusive furniture pieces. Browse our easy-to-use website with detailed photographs and information, and youll find furniture categorized by room (including family room, dining room, bedroom, office, childrens) as well as by wood species (including oak, hickory, cherry, elm, maple, pine and cedar) and style.Welcome Guest! You Are Here:The US fired more than 118 missiles on Syria on Friday in precision strikes that were fired in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack last weekend.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis confirmed that the US used more than twice as many missiles as it did in a 2017 strike on Syria's Sharyat Airbase on April 7, 2017. That attack used 59 Tomahawk missiles, and was ordered by President Donald Trump, who said the action was in response to a chemical attack three days earlier.

"We used a little over double the number of weapons this year than we used last year," Mattis said on Friday.

"We were very precise and proportionate, but at the same time it was a heavy strike," he said.

It's unclear yet what weapons were used. But if the Raytheon-produced Tomahawk missiles, which have an estimated cost of $1.4 million each, were used in Friday's strike, that puts the minimum weapons cost at $165.2 million.

Friday's strike was launched in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack last Saturday which killed dozens of people, and injured scores more.

Shortly after the attack, President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to a "strong, joint response" if it was found the attack believed to be made by Assad's regime used a chemical weapon. UK Prime Minister Theresa May reportedly also spoke with Trump this week.The US, UK, and France conducted air strikes against the Syrian government at around 9:00 PM EST on Friday night.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said at a press conference on Friday night that double the amount of weapons were used compared with the strike in April 2017, which consisted of 59 Tomahawk missiles. The Pentagon confirmed Saturday morning that

The US deployed B-1B Lancer long-range bombers, and launched Tomahawk missiles from three US destroyers  the USS Monterey, USS Laboon, and USS Higgins. Tomahawk missiles were also launched from the USS John Warner, a

The French used fourth generation Mirage fighter jets, while the British used Tornados jets.

France reportedly deployed Rafale jets loaded with SCALP-EG cruise missiles, according to The Drive's Tyler Rogoway. A video has been released by the French government showing the Rafale jets taking off before the strike.

Rogoway also reported Friday night that the US B-1B bombers might have been carrying JASSMs, which are also air-launched cruise missiles.

Related content

The Pentagon confirmed on Saturday monring that JASSM missiles were used in the strike.

The US military struck targets that were "specifically associated" with Syria's chemical weapons program while minimizing the risk to civilians, according to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford.

It's unclear yet if any civilians were killed.President Donald Trump announced "precision strikes" on Syria on Friday, in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack that reportedly killed dozens of people there earlier this month.

Britain and France have joined the US in the military operation, Trump said.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime was suspected of orchestrating a chlorine attack against the rebel-held town of Douma, near the capital of Damascus, on April 7. Although exact figures were unclear, the attack is believed to have killed dozens, many of them children. The New York Times said at least 43 of the victims showed signs of having been exposed to "highly toxic chemicals."

"This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," Trump said on Friday.

Trump called the incident a "heinous attack on innocent" Syrians and vowed that the US would respond: "This is about humanity; it can't be allowed to happen."

Trump also accused Russia and Iran of being "responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing" Assad's regime: "What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children," Trump asked.

"The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep," the president said. "No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators."

Trump continued: "Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran. But maybe not."

Britain and France join in the military action

In a statement on Friday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said: "We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world. We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none.

"History teaches us that the international community must defend the global rules and standards that keep us all safe. That is what our country has always done. And what we will continue to do."

In his own announcement on the new strikes, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France's "red line has been crossed," adding that there is "no doubt" that the Syrian government is responsible.

Macron says the operation is limited to Syria's abilities to produce chemical weapons

An international uproar over chemical weapons

The chemical attack prompted several nations to respond, including the UK, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Israel. Trump had reportedly talked to UK Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron this week, both of whom believed that the Syrian regime should be held accountable.

"I just want to say very clearly, that if they use chemical weapons, they are going to pay a very, very stiff price," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said.

Although Trump reportedly advocated for a broad military strike that would punish Syria, and to an extent, its allies Russia and Iran, he is believed to have been met with resistance from Mattis and other military officials, who feared the White House lacked a broad strategy, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The latest chemical attack follows the suspected Syrian-sponsored sarin attack in April 2017, which reportedly killed 89 people. The US responded by firing 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airbase that was suspected of playing a role in the chemical attacks.

Despite overwhelming evidence of the government's involvement in the attacks, Syria has denied responsibility for both incidents.

In addition to Assad's denials, Russia, one of Syria's staunchest allies, has also dismissed the allegations as "fake news," and said its own experts found no "trace of chlorine or any other chemical substance used against civilians."

On Tuesday, Russia took its response a step further and vetoed the US-backed United Nations resolution that condemned the apparent chemical attack.

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley rebuked the decision and called it a "sad day."

"When the people of Douma, along with the rest of the international community, looked to this council to act, one country stood in the way," Haley said. "History will record that. History will record that, on this day, Russia chose protecting a monster over the lives of the Syrian people."The Warner fired six Tomahawk missiles.

We got the chance to tour the Warner as it was docked at Naval Station Norfolk in November 2017.

Named after the former US senator John Warner  but nicknamed the "Sledgehammer of Freedom" by the crew  the Warner can perform a variety of missions for the US Navy, including surveillance, reconnaissance, and search and rescue, as well as launch land-attack missiles, torpedoes, and mines.

US submarines, including the Warner, are highly classified and rarely seen by the public.

But we got to take a tour of it  here's what we saw.

We walked onto to the submarine pier at Naval Station Norfolk as the sun was setting and the crew members were loading a special-operations force box onto the Warner.

The Warner is 377 feet long, 34 feet wide, and about 50 feet tall. We weren't allowed to photograph the antennas atop the tower, as they are classified.

The ship also has a displacement of 7,800 tons and can hit depths of 800 feet or more.

We then met our tour guide, Senior Chief Mark Eichenlaub, who began by telling us about the cruise-missile-payload tubes on the front of the sub.

Missile Launcher

Overall, the Warner has a payload of 38 weapons along with special operating forces.

Now let's step aboard. This short video shows you how.

Submarine Entrance

Commanded by Burt J. Canfield, the Warner is divided into three levels.

The upper level is mostly living and sleeping (or berthing) quarters for the crew, the middle level is operational space, and the lower level has the nuclear reactor and other engineering devices.

We entered the upper level of the ship, and this was our first glimpse inside. As you can see, it's a little tight in there.

Eichenlaub showed us the "lockout trunk," a built-in Navy SEAL staging area.

"This is actually how we would get SEALs off the ship submerged," Eichenlaub said. "So you would stick a platoon of SEALs in here, 14 guys ... you fill this chamber with water until you match the outer sea pressure. Once the pressure in and outside the ship match, the hatch will lift off open, and they can swim out of a fully filled chamber into open ocean."

Once there, the SEALs can retrieve any weapons or gear from the SOF box (which we saw being loaded into the tower in the first picture).

A short video gives an even better look at the hatch that leads to open water.

SEAL Hatch

As we made our way to the middle level, we ran into a group of sailors performing a preventative maintenance check of the ship's electrical components.

On the middle level, we saw the flare and countermeasure launcher, situated in a small office.

Across the hall from the countermeasure launcher is a food closet, one of many that the ship needs to feed the crew for months at a time.

The closets go back about 15 feet, Eichenlaub said, and are packed strategically so the crew can essentially eat there backward.

Service members eat here in the chow hall, the largest open space in the ship. There's even a soft-serve ice cream machine on the right.

On the opposite wall hangs the literal "Sledgehammer of Freedom." The crew began calling the Warner that after the commander used the moniker in a speech before their first deployment.

This one is for the crew, while officers have their own: "the Sledgehammer of Democracy."

The officers, on the other hand, eat in the officer's chow hall and are served by kitchen staff through the door in the back right. The commander sits in the star chair in front of the "Sledgehammer of Democracy."

Here's a close-up.

This is mission control, the most classified area of the ship. As such, all the monitors were turned off, and we cropped, blurred, and darkened anything sensitive.

Sonar, fire control, and navigation computers are all in mission control. Eichenlaub goes into detail about mission control in this short video.

Mission Control Room

The sonar system onboard is designed with a Large Aperture Bow Array that uses life of the hull hydrophones to detect sound waves produced by other ships and even sea life.

The Warner, interestingly, does not have a periscope and instead uses photonic masts built into the outside tower that provides a view above water that feeds into any monitor on the ship.

Eichenlaub then told us more about fire control, where torpedoes and cruise missiles are launched.

Mission Control

And this computer is where flares and countermeasures are launched.

This nine-second video shows the two voyage-management systems, which plan and navigate the ship.

Navigation

As we exited mission control, Eichenlaub showed us what the crew calls the Fishbowl.

Sailors assigned to the ship are not considered submariners until they receive their warfare qualifications saying they are proficient in every system aboard. Until then, their personal seals are put in this case for motivation.

Every US submarine has a "fishbowl."

The bunks for sailors, or berthing areas, are spread out all over the ship.

And they're a little snug.

Eichenlaub showed us the XO's sleeping quarters.

XO Room

Now let's enter the torpedo room. Behold!

Torpedo Room

Using a "pump-jet propulsor," Mark 48 Advanced Capability torpedoes can travel at more than 50 mph  but its top speed is technically classified.

Eichenlaub said sailors often named the torpedoes, like the one below, after their significant others.

Here's one of the four torpedo launchers in the torpedo room. How quickly they can reload and shoot, however, is classified.

The submariners and sailors who work in the torpedo room also sleep next to the torpedoes.

We were allowed to see only the backup diesel engine on the lower level, as the nuclear reactor is highly classified.

The S9G pressurized water nuclear reactor propels the ship to 25 mph and beyond.

Near the diesel engine is the O2 generator, which provides oxygen to the ship through a ventilation system.You cant make enough money as a woman here because even if you want to get an apartment, in Ghana you pay two years in advance and I just started working, where will I get money to pay for an apartment for two years, she told Amanpour in an interview.

It is true for her to say the Ghanaian economy is weak, it is true for her to suggest the structure of the Ghanaian economy does not favour women and she was absolutely right to bring to fore the disparities in our economy, the horror of having to pay two years advance rent, considering in her own words, she just started working, which I very much doubt.

Since her interview with the CNN went viral, there has been various shades of opinion about her comments. In summary, some suggest she spoke the bitter true while others think the platform she chose was wrongand the truth she spoke is that many more young women are in amorous relationship with married men while others are dating multiple guys to meet ends meat or survive.

However, I am disgusted by the fact that she came across as suggesting she couldnt meet her needs without exchanging sex for it. I know Moesha from childhood when we used to live at the 37 Officers Mess Barracks with her siblings. She certainly wasnt born poor. That is why it is more about her choice to flirt with men for her needs done about the economy.

I digress!

In all the commentaries that has ensued since her comments were published, a tweet by one Twitter user by name @auntahraba caught my attention.

She tweeted: There were 3 women sitting there, Amanpour who dodged bullets and bombs to get where she is, the nail technician who's dating a single guy and working to secure her bag, and there's Moesha who pops the pumz to get her bills paid for. Its not the economy, its life choices.

READ MORE: Actress defends Moesha Boduong

Its Moeshas choice to exchange sex for money, social status or extravagant lifestyle. She cannot impose her wishy-washy attitude on the multitude of hardworking Ghanaian woman who are breaking their fingers to feed themselves or support their family.

It is not the economy, stupid! Women are breaking their backs in this same economy and are making hundreds of cedis if not millions from it.Upon reflection and deep thinking, Moesha apologised for her comments saying "some of my utterances were not a reflection of what happens in most homes."

She went on further to say "I respect all the hard working women of our beloved," adding: "I APOLOGIZE TO ALL, ESPECIALLY MY AFRICAN SISTERS. I pray u all find it in your hearts to forgive me."

The statement, signed by the sector Minister Afisah Otiko Djaba, dissociated Ghanaian women from her comments while recognising her rights to discuss her lifestyle on any platform.

"We wish to dissociate Ghanaian women from the comments of Ms. Moesha Boduong. Ms. Moesha has the right to discuss her lifestyle on any platform but she does not represent the multitudes of hardworking Ghanaian women putting in 10  18 hours a day in the fields, markets and offices across Ghana, to put food on the table, find shelter for their children and guide their families through the turbulence of life to the extraordinary vision of A Ghana Beyond Aid, which is within our reach," the statement noted.

It added: "In the face of the giant strides that women from all walks of life in Ghana are making to assert their independence, re-discover their pride and assert their self-esteem, the sweeping generalizations made by Ms. Moesha on international prime time television have invariably done great damage to Ghanaian womanhood, apart from casting Ghanaian men as predatory, uncaring and rapacious. On behalf of Ghanaian women and men, the Ministry condemns Moeshas statements and in particular her generalizations, which are unjustified."

The ministry said it was outraged by Moesha's "presumption to tar many Ghanaian women with this mercenary behavior."

It continued: "This was made worse by blaming her excessive, lavish lifestyle on the economy of Ghana. Ghana is a developing country but her citizens are striving hard to create an environment in which all citizens can achieve their aspirations with a measure of dignity and respect."

Moesha in her interview with the CNN suggested that the economy was to be blamed for women sleeping with men for money.

But the Gender ministry rejected her claims, attributing her actions to her "opulent, flamboyant and amoral lifestyles without any discernible means of livelihood."

READ MORE: Actress defends Moesha BoduongThe 60-year-old journalist has toured Berlin, Beirut, New Delhi, and Accra in Ghana to gather amazing stories about love and sex.

Speaking to the Cut.com Amanpour revealed that "the six-part series about love and sex around the world. Its mostly done through womens and young girls perspectives, but its really a very unusual and somewhat unprecedented look at the complexity of sex, intimacy, partnership, and motherhood.

READ ALSO: Delay bashes Ghanaians for being hypocrites

In Ghana, she interviewed a local who revealed that he is married to one wife and he doesnt cheat because he was poor when they got married. We understand each other. So when I have money, I let them know today I have money. Sandra, lets share this money. Rich men cheat because when you are rich you can decide to choose any woman you want. But I am a poor person. I have to stay with one lady.The statement, signed by the Minister Otiko Afisa Djaba, comes hours after Moesha expressed regret about her comments following public backlash.

READ MORE: Gifty Anti urges ladies to live within their means

"We wish to dissociate Ghanaian women from the comments of Ms. Moesha Boduong. Ms. Moesha has the right to discuss her lifestyle on any platform but she does not represent the multitudes of hardworking Ghanaian women putting in 10  18 hours a day in the fields, markets and offices across Ghana, to put food on the table, find shelter for their children and guide their families through the turbulence of life to the extraordinary vision of A Ghana Beyond Aid, which is within our reach," the statement noted.

It added: "In the face of the giant strides that women from all walks of life in Ghana are making to assert their independence, re-discover their pride and assert their self-esteem, the sweeping generalizations made by Ms. Moesha on international prime time television have invariably done great damage to Ghanaian womanhood, apart from casting Ghanaian men as predatory, uncaring and rapacious. On behalf of Ghanaian women and men, the Ministry condemns Moeshas statements and in particular her generalizations, which are unjustified."

The ministry said it was outraged by Moesha's "presumption to tar many Ghanaian women with this mercenary behavior."

It continued: "This was made worse by blaming her excessive, lavish lifestyle on the economy of Ghana. Ghana is a developing country but her citizens are striving hard to create an environment in which all citizens can achieve their aspirations with a measure of dignity and respect."

Moesha in her interview with the CNN suggested that the economy was to be blamed for women sleeping with men for money.

But the Gender ministry rejected her claims, attributing her actions to her "opulent, flamboyant and amoral lifestyles without any discernible means of livelihood."

"Indeed, Ghanaian women are considered the engine of growth in the informal sector because of their contributions, tenacity, creativity, sacrifice and hard work in the face of all their challenges. The various Government policies, legislation and poverty reduction interventions for females since independence to date are designed to transform their lives and protect them from various abuses. This is development in progress, as we better enforce laws to reduce inequalities and strengthen institutions for equity, access to eduction, financial and productive inclusion," the ministry said.

Moesha on Friday took to her Instagram page to apologise to Ghanaians for her outlandish comments.

READ MORE: Actress defends Moesha Boduong

She posted: "Dear gh this is Moesha. I have been humbled by all that is going on and I have also learnt a lot in the last few days since the CNN video came out. I have had a lot of time to think and reflect and I APOLOGIZE TO ALL, ESPECIALLY MY AFRICAN SISTERS. I pray u all find it in your hearts to forgive me. It was definitely not my intention to offend any of you.He said he wants to lead Ghana and transform it to be like Switzerland and gave it a name: "Swiss of Africa."

He said: "I am a Ghanaian and I love my country and God tells me it is time for me to come and lead my country, transform it and make it the [Switzerland] of Africa.

"[Switzerland] is a developed country where we have the worlds money and I believe strongly we can make Ghana the Swiss of Africa."

Speaking on a wide range of issues, he said he will make all regional ministers cabinet ministers and give them additional powers.

Mr Alabi, who prior to being appointed as vice chancellor, served as the Greater Accra Regional Minister under the Rawlings administration bemoaned the insignificant roles regional ministers play in governance.The prophetess, known as Efua Eguawaa, was initially said to be on the run.

The deceased, identified as Portia Donkor, was a final year student of the Gomoa Ahyiem SHS and had visited the church with her mother for special prayers to ensure success in the ongoing West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) on April 1.

She caught fire when the anointing oil smeared on her came into contact with the flame from a candle the prophetess had made her hold.

The deceased was initially rushed to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, but passed away on Wednesday, April 11, 2018.

Supt. Baah described her injuries as being serious.The choice to cling on in Syria after other international firms fled the fighting has dragged Lafarge, a French company which merged with Swiss firm Holcim in 2015, into a spiral of scandal and recriminations that has embroiled the French state.

Judges are investigating allegations Lafarge funnelled some 13 million euros ($16 million) to armed fighters including IS group jihadists to keep the factory working.

Following interviews, Artinian was indicted for "deliberately endangering the lives of others", but granted "assisted witness" status on the terrorism financing charge.

Her lawyer, Benjamin Grundler, told AFP: "This decision confirms that my client is totally unaware of the alleged facts of financing of a terrorist organisation."

Six former or current top Lafarge executives have been charged with financing a terrorist organisation.

Those bosses could also face prosecution for endangering the lives of their local Syrian employees after 11 of them filed their own lawsuit alleging Lafarge put the prospect of profits from rebuilding Syria after the war ahead of their safety.

In 2013, Syrian mechanic Yassin Ismail, employed at Lafarge's plant at Jalabiya since 2009, was detained by jihadist fighters from a group that would later change its name to the Islamic State.

After several months in captivity Ismail was executed, according to relatives and three former colleagues who spoke to AFP in the northern Syrian town of Ain Issa.The student representative body, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Saturday, April 13, 2018, rejected the slash, saying it makes no difference.

ALSO READ: Ondo Govt asks students to pay N168m for destroying school properties

The National Public Relations Officer of the students' association, Idowu Odebunmi while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, rejected the slash, saying it makes no difference.

AAUA students threaten to make state Ondo ungovernable

Recall that the students of the university recently protested and threatened to make Ondo state ungovernable for Rotimi Akeredolu if he fails to reverse their school fees which was increased from N30,000 to N180,000.

On Monday, April 9, 2018, the student leaders of AAUA, with solidarity from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and National Association of Ondo State Students (NAOSS) mobilised thousands of students to protest against the hike.

The protesting students barricade major roads in the state capital, Akure, causing a lot of traffic as they expressed their displeasure with the state governor.His post revealed that his baby, a son, was born yesterday, Friday, April 13, 2018, at 2:55 pm, weighing 6.9pounds and 21 inches.

Katung even shared his son's name, revealing it to be Zimai-Kalanii Aduwak.

Big congrats to the couple.

Katung Aduwak: Winner of the pioneer Big Brother Naija show

Recall that the first edition of the Big Brother Naija show began on January 22, 2006, and it is amazing to see that 11 years later, the show is still going strong.

Same can be said of the pioneer set from the show.

The show which featured 14 contestants and boasted a $100,000 cash prize, was won by Katung Aduwak, while Sandra Osaigbovo amongst others came, in as runners-up.

Other housemates included Gideon Okeke, Francisca Owumi, Maureen Osuji, Frank Konwea,

Of course, many of the housemates have since moved on to various career paths, keeping some in the spot and others out of it.

Katung is one of those who has done well but is not so much in the spotlight as would be expected of a BBN winner, unlike Ebuka Obi-Uchendu who still champions BBN as a host.

Since his surprising win in the BBN house, Katung travelled to New York City to get a directorial degree from the Digital Film Academy.

ALSO READ: Ebuka slams the conspiracy theory that he is related to housemates

He later returned to Nigeria and worked on several projects, producing and directing the movies, "Unwanted Guest" and "Heavens Hell".

Katung also several music videos for Chocolate City, Styl Plus, Gabriel Afolayan as well as starring in EbonyLife TVs "Desperate Housewives."

Katung is currently working as the Senior Channel Manager MTV Base and Executive Director at Chocolate City.ALSO READ: Daughter of Fuji musician reportedly dies in Canada

We agree that Akanke looked adorable in the cute photos he shared but the word's that followed, those will warm your heart and bring tears to your eyes.

Read his birthday message to Akanke below:

"Far away in Mississauga Ontario here in Canada, I glorify God Almighty that gives me the grace to celebrate your 1st birthday on this planet earth. My precious, Adorable, cutie and Pretty Angel.

"Olasunkanmi Akanke Melissa Ayinde-Marshal. Your arrival when you were born in the city of Chicago, this day last year, precisely 14th April 2017 says to us another Angel has come to bless our family. Yes, Akanke you double digit everything same as recorded by those born before you.

"The blessings all of you my children brought to this world, says The good Lord is very pleased with this noble family from the Royal lineage of FIDIPOTE RULING HOUSE OF IJEBU-LAND.

"God Almighty shall keep me alive to see you all through the journey of life as you all Destiny from heavenly father to contribute to the wellbeing of the society & the world you are born into.

"From all of your seniors both home and abroad, myself and Titilola Fatia Adufe, your Mom, we all say Happy 1st birthday Meli-Meli our little Baby of the OJUSHAGBOLA DYNASTY."

Recall that K1 De Ultimatewelcomed his third child with wife, Fatia Opeyemi Marshal, on Saturday, April 15, 2017.

Fatia was delivered of a baby girl in Chicago, United States of America. The couple already shares two daughters before welcoming their third.

ALSO READ: Fuji legend is young and in love!

The 60-year-old dad made the announcement on social media.

To God be the glory, my wife Fatia Opeyemi Adufe Marshal did it again, @ Exactly 11:14pm at St Bernard Hospital in the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, delivered another baby Girl. Mother & child doing very well. Opeyemi a new record has been set by you. Thank you, God Almighty. K1 De ultimate, he was quoted by City scoop to have texted.The interview which has since gone viral on social media sees the curvy actress insisting that due to the state of the country's economy, women need men to take care of them, especially when they cannot generate enough money for themselves.

She said, ''Our economy is just in such a way that you just need someone to take care of you. You cannot make enough money as a woman here in Ghana because here in Ghana, when you want to rent an apartment you have to pay for two years and I just started working. When will I get money to get an apartment for two years?''

When asked by Amanpour if she is having sex with her boyfriend essentially to pay her rent, Moesha replied, ''Because he can afford to take care of me''.

Watch the interview below:

Of course, any hard working woman would be infuriated by Moesha's assertion, which has eventually spurred her apology.

See her post below:Tough challenges in getting a regular 'Maga' to fund their lust for luxury and an extra comfortable life has encouraged them to give the fear-inspiring medium called Yahoo Plus a try.

Unfortunately, the occultic saviour offering financial upliftment has required 'Internet fraudsters' to submit to jaw-dropping evil actions in their paper chase.

We have compiled a list of things fetish wealth seekers have done to get money:

1. What do you think of bread sandwiched with human faeces?

Eeeew!!! That is a likely response when the idea of eating bread sandwiched with human faeces is considered but not to some Yahoo Boys.

A lady once overheard her ex-boyfriend in a conversation with pal who listened to him narrate his experience while eating the mixture which is believed to be one of the rights he needed to fulfill in a quest for money.

ALSO READ: Lady regrets dating Yahoo boy who eats bread and excreta for money rituals

This is however minor compared to the next example.

2. Barking once a month as part of money ritual:

A viral video of a Yahoo Boy captured as he barked like a dog for the purpose of money ritual is another cause for concern.

ALSO READ: New money ritual in Ogun has a wealth seeker barking like a dog

While his friends laughed at him in a living room, he continuously made sounds that resembled the animal. A feature that may make one wonder if he indeed is a dog.

3. 'Oshole', the power of compulsion:

The craft of a 'Babalawo', a pastor or a cleric, has helped some Internet fraudsters who patronise Yahoo Plus can help deliver to the money lovers the power to command a 'client' (person scammed) to their bidding. This is an opportunity to cop some huge stash of American Dollars.

4. Wiping a lady's vagina with towel after sex:

It has been rumoured that some ladies in Nigeria are walking dead following encounters with youths who have looked to Yahoo Plus for money.

By wiping moisture from a woman's vagina after sex, it is believed that a wealth seeker is able to get what is desired after using the material in a ritual performed by a 'Babalawo' or any fetish lord.

5. Killing one's nephew for money rituals:

This is not a particular trend but a man's weakness killing his older sister's son for the purpose of Yahoo Plus.Deputy Police Chief of Prampi Makara district, Chea Sok, revealed that the suspects identified as Isaac Chibunna, 50, and his wife, Rejoice Chibunna, 48, were arrested in Veal Vong commune for defrauding the Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) on street 169, Sangkat Veal Vong, Khan Prampel Makara, of US $424,999 from an electronic system.

ALSO READ: Fraudulent couple nabbed in Ogun state

Mr Sok said, "Now the accused are in custody at the district police station and we will send them to court today (Monday)."

He added that the arrests were made following the filing of a lawsuit by the victim, a 36-year-old representative of a bank and head of FTB Operations, in Tuol Kork district, identified as Leng Sovannavat.

In the lawsuit, the accused are alleged to have stolen over $424,999.

LIB reports that Deputy persecutor of Phnom Penh court, Mr. Reil Sophen, charged the couple as scammers before submitting the case before the judge and detaining the suspects.

According to the police, FTB bank received the information from City Bank from the USA about transferring money for 50,000 USD to Nigerian couple account at FTB bank on March 26, 2018.

The reports revealed that the couple went to the FTB bank to withdraw 42,4999 USD on March 29 then transfer the money to China so they had only 15,869 USD left in their Bank account.

It wasn't until April 5, 2018, that the FTB bank got the information from City bank in the USA that the Nigerian couple had scammed the money from City bank's client.

All attempts by FTB bank to contact the couple by phone and email failed.

However, the suspects were arrested immediately they arrived at FTB bank to take the money left in their Bank account.

Nigerians turning to crime overseas

Every other day there seems to be a story of Nigerian arrested or locked up for fraud or scam. In the UK or in America, young Nigerians, even couple's are going to jail for credit card scams and fraud.

In a similar occurrence, one Mr Augustine Ezeama and his wife, Juliet Ezeama, were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice O. H. Oshodi of the Lagos State High Court Ikeja for fraud.

The married couple were arraigned on seven counts bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences, Punch reports.

The commission revealed that the couple had on May 6, 2015, obtained $30,570 from a firm, CIFERCOM LLC under the pretext that the money was for registration of CIFERCOM LLC as a company in Nigeria, preparatory to the award of an $8m contract to CIFERCOM LLC by the Federal Government.

ALSO READ: Couple arraigned by EFCC over N8.6M scam

Punch reports that one of the charges against the couple read,

That you, on Augustine Ezeama, Juliet Ezeama and Mabrubeni Nigeria Limited, on or about the 6th of May, 2015 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this honourable court with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of $30,570 from CIFERCOM LLC under the false pretences that the money was for registration of CIFERCOM LLC as a company in Nigeria preparatory to the award of $8m contract to CIFERCOM LLC by the Federal Government of Nigeria, which representation you knew to be false.

However, the couple pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them.The 37-year-old nurse based in Port Harcourt is alleged to have been housing them till delivery and aiding the sale of their babies.

LIB reports that Okamgba takes a cut of between N70,000 and N80,000, from each sale.

ALSO READ: Female pastor arrested for allegedly selling 64 babies

However, the suspect was arrested on March 19, 2018, by men of the Rumuolumeni Police Station, after they stormed her baby factory.

According to the reports, five ladies, including four pregnant girls, were arrested following the operation.

The pregnant girls have been identified as Obianuju Nze (22), Chinemerum Orji (18), Josephine Chimena (33) and Chidinma Ndukwe (17).

During interrogation, Okamgba, who hails from Obioma-Ngwa in Abia State, said,

The women, some of their boyfriends bring them. They (boyfriends) find and negotiate the baby buyer themselves. The buyer(s), at the delivery of the baby, will settle them.

"I will then give them the bill for feeding, accommodation and treatment. That is the reason they are under my care.

While begging for mercy, Okamgba also revealed that the last baby sold in February 2018, was sold at N350,000.

One of the pregnant young girls, who identified herself as Gift Festus said: My boyfriend brought me here. He said if I put to bed, someone will come for the baby who will take care of the baby. My elder sister is aware of the development.

The growing business that is baby trafficking/Baby factory

The Nigerian police has been doing its best to curb the baby factory menace that has been sweeping the country of late.

There have been reports upon reports of child trafficking rings being exposed for running baby factories in different areas of the country.

Recall that the Abia State Police Command arrested a man of God, Pastor Christopher Tochukwu for allegedly raping pregnant teenage girls and operating a baby factory from where he sells the babies.

Punch reports that Pastor Tochukwu operated a church and a medical center which was converted into a baby factory at number 252 Faulks Road, Aba.

ALSO READ: Female pastor arrested for allegedly selling 64 babies

While parading the suspect at the Command headquarters in Umuahia, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Leye Oyebade, said that the pastor has been constantly and repeatedly raping the pregnant girls at his medical center.

Oyebade said that when one of the rescued girls was interrogated, she claimed that Pastor Tochukwu has been raping them and in one of his attempt to rape one of the girls, he was stabbed in the neck by the victim with a glass object she laid her hands on.Originally established in 2003 for the exhibition of Arts and Crafts during the Commonwealth meeting for the various Heads of Government, the Abuja arts and crafts village has since been adapted and managed as a tourist sight by the National Council for Arts and Culture.

And it has risen to be one of the most popular tourist attractions in Abuja.

It is aptly named Arts and Crafts village because of its rustic setting with thatch houses and hut-like structures.

And in every practical sense, the Arts and crafts village is a market for all sorts of Arts and Crafts. There are different arts and crafts that are displayed and sold to willing tourists at affordable prices.

Another interesting thing about the Arts and Crafts village is that it is home to a large group of extremely talented artists. And it is here they make and sell their work to willing buyers.

However, not all of the work displayed in the village are made in the village, some of them are made outside of the village by local craftsmen but are displayed and sold in the village.

Reputed for its extraordinary works, the Abuja Art and Craft Village is known for its very wide range of exhibited Arts and Crafts. They are so varied and beautiful that even the locals get stunned by them whenever they come visiting.

This, among other reasons, is why the Abuja Art and Craft Village records a lot of visitors and art lovers from all over the world who come not only view the wide range of beautiful and extraordinary arts and crafts but also to purchase any appealing material for themselves.

Located directly across the high brow Sheraton Hotel, the Abuja Arts and Crafts Village can be found at 1161 Sani Abacha Way, Wuse Abuja.

It is an awesome spot for recreation either for yourself alone or for you and your family.

A place to visit if you ever find yourself in the capital city of Nigeria, as it will leave you with an experience you will never forget.MFSs Field Communication Manager, Maro Verli, made the disclosure in a statement issued in Maiduguri.

The statement quoted Claire Lansard, MSFs Emergency Coordinator, as saying that 1, 781 suspected cases of the disease were recorded at various facilities in the country between December 2017 and March 2018.

Lansard said: the current outbreak is the largest in recent years, with 1,781 suspected cases; of which 408 were confirmed, and 146 deaths while 101 were confirmed to be Lassa fever.

However, the number of cases reporting to health facilities has declined in the recent weeks according to figures from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control.

Health workers have also been affected by the outbreak, with deaths occurring amongst nurses, healthcare assistants and doctors become infected by treating patients who were not aware they had the disease or by working without adequate protective equipment such as gowns, gloves and masks.

Lansard stressed that vigilance was required despite reduction of the cases in the past two months.

He explained that the disease could first appear with very mild symptoms, but if people are worried that they might be infected, they should visit the nearest health centre.

Lassa is a viral hemorrhagic fever that occurs every year in Nigeria between December and March.

The disease is spread to humans through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected multimammate rat and could then spread between people in the same way.

Though it starts with symptoms such as fever, nausea and headaches, in around one in five people it could lead to more serious symptoms such as organ failure.

The numbers of cases have reduced in the past few weeks; we still need to be vigilant to protect patients and health workers against Lassa fever.

MSF has long-term experience caring for people affected by viral hemorrhagic fever, and helping health services to protect staff as they care for these patients. We are pleased to be sharing this technical expertise with the Nigerian Health Services, and to be working together to tackle this outbreak, Lansard said.

Verli disclosed further that the organisation had scaled up activities in collaboration with health institutions to respond to severe outbreak in areas where the disease manifested.

He said that MSF teams had been working in three of the most affected states; Bauchi, Ebonyi and Ondo, to control the disease.

The communication manager revealed that the organisation had erected an isolation facility in Bauchi with capacity to treat six persons, while the team was providing training to personnel of the Ministry of Health on how to treat patients.

He added that the organisation had also donated drugs to care for those suffering from the disease and worked with the most affected communities to create awareness on the symptoms of the disease.

MSF is working in collaboration with the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, to support and strengthen the functioning of the Virology Centre dedicated to treat patients with Lassa fever.

The team is also providing training and equipment to staff working in the Virology Centre and to those working at the entry points of the hospital where they could come into contact with patients who might come to the hospital for treatment without knowing that they have Lassa fever.

These include emergency, gynaecology and obstetrics departments as well as emergency departments for adults and children. The training being provided will also help the hospital team to prepare for another outbreak next year, Verli said.

Similarly, the organisation trained health workers in Ondo; where 28 deaths were recorded of the 287 suspected and 98 confirmed cases.

Verli said that apart from the training exercise, MSF donated Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) kits to eight health facilities and rehabilitated the only isolation ward in Akure, Ondo State.

The project, he said, included rehabilitation of the isolation ward, construction of a waste management area, triage, ambulance pathway and other minor works in the hospital.

MSF also trained health workers in Anambra state on how to treat patients and to set up an isolation facility, adding that the team had been deployed to Ebonyi sequel to effective control of the outbreak in Anambra.

According to him, MSF was also running an extensive child and reproductive health projects in Sokoto and Jigawa; provision of care to children affected by lead poisoning in Zamfara and Niger States as well as victims of sexual violence in Port Harcourt.Salkida made this known in a series of posts on his Twitter timeline.

He also stated that Boko Harams leader, Abubakar Shekau cannot facilitate their release, because the remaining girls have been married and the sects leader has no right over them anymore.

Salkida said Today, my painstaking investigations on the #Chibokschoolgirls revealed that just a handful of the 113 #ChibokGirls are alive. Many of the girls have died as a result of cross fires and bombardments of the security forces that no doubt were intent on rescuing them.

I regret to state here that only 15 out of the 113 #Chibokgirls are alive today, based on my investigations in the last 3 months and we have already seen some of them in a video, which I exclusively obtained and was published on SR website.

What is the status of the remaining 15 girls as far as negotiations are concerned? My investigations also revealed that, they are no longer under the control of #AbubakarShekau. According to sources, they are now 'married' and only their 'husbands' can decide their fates.

If they are divorced or the men are killed that is when Shekau's decision takes precedence, and in this instance, since the girls have been indoctrinated, their leader has no right to negotiate for their release, no matter the ransom offered, reliable multiple sources said.

Names of the 15 girls left

Salkida, in his tweet said that it will be unbearable to mention the names of the 15 girls who are alive.

The journalist also said that it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to release their names.

The way out

According to him, The way out for these girls, is a military rescue or negotiate wt individual captors to release their 'wives' in return for some kind of deal, but this will mean death to these fighters bcz the terror group now sees the girls as part of their own and must be protected.

He also alleged that most of the reports that people get are choreographed

Addressing the families of the girls who have not returned yet, Salkida said My heartfelt condolences to the parents of the near 100 that have perished or have not returned home and apparently not with their captors. But you must always remember that your daughters were stronger than the rest of us that couldn't do more to avert this catastrophe.

Salkida declared wanted

In 2016, the Nigerian Army declared Salkida wanted following his reportage and links with Boko haram.

The journalist was subsequently was arrested on Monday, September 5, 2016, when he came into the country from the United Arab Emirate (UAE).

The Department of State Security (DSS) however released him24-hours later, with Salkida saying that he was not arrested, adding that it was a misunderstanding.

FG releases video detailing efforts to release Chibok girls

The Federal Government recently released a videoshowing the efforts made by Buharis administration has made to secure the release of the girls on social media.The students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state in April 2014.

According to him, Four years ago, a middle ranking BH commander led dozens of fighters in search of food and other supplies in the remote town of Chibok, like an afterthought, they saw a chance to abduct school girls in GSS Chibok, the girls at the time were preparing for their exams.

The dozens of BH fighters faced no opposition during the abductn, as they struggled to convey their captives to the forest of Alagarno, the insurgent's first war capital, which they named Timbuktu. It was in Timbuktu that they organised most of the horror we experience today.

Boko Haram didnt know what to do with Chibok girls

Salkida also revealed that Boko Haram did not know what to do with the Chibok girls initially.

He said Some of the girls were lucky to have escaped on their way to Timbuktu that night, because there were fewer fighters to hold more than 200 girls. At the beginning, the group didn't know what to do with the girls, at least, not in the first one month of their captivity.

Students release became business transaction

Salkida also revealed how some people turned the negotiations to release the Chibok girls into a business transaction.

According to him, he was edged out of the negotiations because he became a pain in the neck of the government.

Though he did not state the particular administration in his tweets, he said he was glad.

His words: Govt began to look for alternatives to conclude what I've started & my former couriers stepped in as the primary 'negotiators.' It was a break for me bcz it is no longer negotiations, but mere transaction. Another reason was my insistence that the process must be domesticated.

I was a prickle in the flesh of our leadrs wt my counter claims of official narratives. A day after I exclusivly released a video of the girls, something I'v done in the past, I was declared wanted by same military tht provided me wt escorts, military aircraft for assignments.

I was amazed to learn later that the terms that saw the release of some of the girls was unfavourable than what I presented, but as my friend will say, even if we come up with a cure for cancer, the war economy and elites would rather die than accept a cure from a talaka.

The investigative reporter also revealed that only 15 of the abducted Chibok girls are alive.

According to him, the other girls died during exchange of fire between the Nigerian military and members of the dreaded terror group.He also revealed that former President Goodluck Jonathan began negotiations with Boko Haram two weeks after the students were abducted.

According to him, there was 'an open window, but zero will' by the former Presidents administration to rescue the girls.

He said  I got a proof of life for the president and another for the media in case I didn't get back. The demands of BH then were simple, they wanted detained members taken to Damaturu and they will move the girls to Buniyardi for swap somewhere in between. There was no word on ransom.

I was provided with full military escorts frm Abj to Damaturu, Govt was supposed to make sure that 70 detainees were ready on my arrival in Damaturu to meet 30 there. The rest of the negotiating team was in Abj making sure the prisoners were on a plane before my arrival.

Mission aborted

Salkida also revealed that the planned swap was aborted by the former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), during Jonathans administration.

His words: On arrival in Damaturu, the military commander there was not briefed about my work. He was merely told to expect a VIP? At that time, the girls have been moved by BH, but there was no prisoners for exchange and I got a call from the former CDS to abort the operation.

The president later said before me that he did not call off the swap. There was a credible window, but zero Will to rescue the girls. BH were angry. I returned to the UAE to continue my hustle, but received invitatns not only by the former administratn, but the current govt.

4 out of 5 process that I was involved in, we came close to a swap deal, but Govt in most instances did not provide the platform I presented with the required expertise. And whenever Govt dragged its feet, Shekau will shift the goal post.

ALSO READ: FG releases video detailing efforts made to release students

Shekau has no powers

Speaking on the plans to release the Chibok girls, Salkida said that Boko Harams leader, Abubakar Shekau cannot facilitate their release.

His reason is that the remaining girls have been married and the sects leader has no right over them anymore.

According to him, they are no longer under the control of #AbubakarShekau. According to sources, they are now 'married' and only their 'husbands' can decide their fates.

If they are divorced or the men are killed that is when Shekau's decision takes precedence, and in this instance, since the girls have been indoctrinated, their leader has no right to negotiate for their release, no matter the ransom offered, reliable multiple sources said.

The way out for these girls, is a military rescue or negotiate wt individual captors to release their 'wives' in return for some kind of deal, but this will mean death to these fighters bcz the terror group now sees the girls as part of their own and must be protected, he added.The President stated this in recognition of the fourth anniversary of the abduction of the girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.

On April 14, 2014, the terrorists invaded the school and kidnapped 276 of the girls but some of them managed to escape shortly after they were taken, leaving 219 in captivity.

In May 2016, one of the missing girls, Amina Ali, was found. She claimed that the remaining girls were still there, but that six had died.

The Federal Government had in October 2016 secured the release of 21 girls following negotiations with their captors.

In May 2017, the government also negotiated the release of 82 more girls. Others remain in captivity as at the time of filing this report.

In a series of the tweets, the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said Buhari assured the parents of the girls that "their daughters will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate".

"Dont imagine for a moment that we have forgotten about our daughters or that we consider their freedom a lost course," Shehu quoted the President, who is in London, as saying.

Buhari urged the parents not to lose hope, adding that the government remains focused and determined to see the girls return to their homes.

The President admitted that the process of rescuing the girl has taken too long, blaming the delay on a breakdown of negotiations with Boko Haram terrorists.

"We are concerned and aware that it is taking long to bring the rest of our daughters back home, but be assured that this administration is doing its very best to free the girls from their captors," Buhari said.

"Unfortunately, the negotiations between the government and Boko Haram suffered some unexpected setbacks, owing mainly to a lack of agreement among their abductors, whose internal differences have led to a divergence of voices regarding the outcome of the talks."Nwobo took over from Chief Moses Nome, who was recently sacked Gov. David Umahi.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nome was sacked in March for undisclosed reasons and replaced with Nwobo, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Renewable Energy.

Umahi said on the occasion that the former commissioner was sacked for not being passionate about the job.

Agriculture is what Ebonyi is known for and I enjoin the new commissioner to be passionate about it to ensure his success in office.

I was endeared to Nwobo because of the way he took care of power installations such as the ornamental lights during his stint in the renewable energy sector, he said.

The governor urged him to work with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and FADAMA in the state.

Nwobo thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve as a member of the State Executive Council and pledged to justify the confidence reposed in him.President Buhari gave the reassurance in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Friday.

He noted that despite four long years since they were taken away by terrorists the government would continue its efforts to ensure their safe return to their respective homes.

President Buhari joined the Borno government, parents of the children and Nigerians in commemorating the fourth anniversary of the sad incident.

He prayed that the event at the daughters school today would go well and urged the parents to keep their hopes alive on the return of their daughters.

President Buhari noted that the recovery of more than 100 of the girls that were kidnapped through the Federal Governments determined effort should give confidence that all hope is not lost'.

The President re-affirmed that the government remained focused and determined to see the girls return to their homes.

He, therefore, urged the parents to be expectant of more good news in due course.

We are concerned and aware that it is taking long to bring the rest of our daughters back home, but be assured that this administration is doing its very best to free the girls from their captors.

Unfortunately, the negotiations between the government and Boko Haram suffered some unexpected setbacks, owing mainly to a lack of agreement among their abductors, whose internal differences have led to a divergence of voices regarding the outcome of the talks.

We know that this is not the news parents want to hear after four whole years of waiting, but we want to be as honest as possible with you.

However, this government is not relenting. We will continue to persist, and the parents should please not give up.

Dont give up hope of seeing our daughters back home again. Dont lose faith in this governments ability to fulfill our promise of reuniting you with our daughters.

Dont imagine for a moment that we have forgotten about our daughters or that we consider their freedom a lost course, the President said.The Akure division of the Court of Appeal, in a March 27 ruling, held that requests for information, especially around public expenditure, under the FoI, are made in public interest and should be honoured by all states.

The court ruled in favour of a journalist, Martins Alo, against the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly and Auditor-General of the state.

Alo had requested the audited report of the Ondo State Government between 2012 and 2014 to properly access how public funds are spent in the state but his request was not granted.

This prompted him to take the legal action.

In 2016, the Ondo State High Court, Akure division ruled in favour of the state government, saying Alo had no right to demand how the state was spending money.

The court said the FoI was not applicable to states and that the request was not in public interest to begin with.

Alo was also asked to pay a damage of N10,000 for wasting time and resources of the state.

But the journalist appealed the ruling, arguing that the decision of the High Court was flawed, adding that he acted in public interest.

In its judgment, however, the appeal court said Alo has a right to act on behalf of the public to obtain the information from state authorities.

The court also invalidated the N10,000 fine imposed by the lower court.

"In a democratic dispensation, such as the Nigerias, the citizens have been proclaimed the owners of sovereignty and mandates that place leaders in the saddle,"Obande Ogbuinya, one of the three-member panel which handled the appeal, said.

"The citizens have a right to know details of expenditure of public funds generated from their taxes," Ogbuinya added.

ALSO READ: Federal Government does not intimidate journalists - Lai Mohammed

Other states which have been rejecting FoI requests relating to their activities include Lagos, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom and Ondo.

According to the states, the FoI is a federal law and its provisions are simply not binding on their respective jurisdictionsThe students were kidnapped by Boko Haram members from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state in April 2014.

According to Salkida, However, what many people did not know was that two weeks into the abduction, the Jonathan administration was already in touch with me for the peaceful release of the girls. By the way, I was in self-exile after pressure from the same Govt.

I took an excuse where I was doing a menial job in the UAE (but still reporting the insurgency), to see the president, which was facilitated by Aliyu Gebi and Labaran Maku. By the 3rd of May, I was already on my way from Abuja to Madagali, Marwa and finally to a BH camp.

I got a proof of life for the president and another for the media in case I didn't get back. The demands of BH then were simple, they wanted detained members taken to Damaturu and they will move the girls to Buniyardi for swap somewhere in between. There was no word on ransom.

Only 15 Chibok girls are alive

Salkida, in a series of tweets released recently, has revealed that only 15 of the abducted Chibok girls are alive.

According to him, the other girls died during exchange of fire between the Nigerian military and members of the dreaded terror group.

Shekau has no powers to release the girls

The journalist also stated that Boko Harams leader, Abubakar Shekau cannot facilitate their release, because the remaining girls have been married and the sects leader has no right over them anymore.

According to Salkida,"What is the status of the remaining 15 girls as far as negotiations are concerned? My investigations also revealed that, they are no longer under the control of #AbubakarShekau. According to sources, they are now 'married' and only their 'husbands' can decide their fates.

If they are divorced or the men are killed that is when Shekau's decision takes precedence, and in this instance, since the girls have been indoctrinated, their leader has no right to negotiate for their release, no matter the ransom offered, reliable multiple sources said.

Adding that The way out for these girls, is a military rescue or negotiate wt individual captors to release their 'wives' in return for some kind of deal, but this will mean death to these fighters bcz the terror group now sees the girls as part of their own and must be protected.According to a tweet from the ruling partys timeline, the current owner says he bought the account for '$2k.'

I bought this account for 2k $ from the official owner, the tweet read.

The new owner also said Our government has created a website in order to give you bitcoins.

We love our people, enjoy! We are going to raise wages, and for this we want to celebrate this, and give everyone the bitcoins.

ALSO READ: APC presidential aspirant just challenged President Buhari to a debate

Account manager confirms hack

Philip Obin, the manager of the APC Twitter account, has confirmed that the account was hacked.

Obin, in a tweet said "Account hacked. Efforts to recover it ongoing. Any inconvenience is regretted."

INEC's website hacked

In a related development, the website of the

A group that parade itself as Nigerian Cyber Army has claimed responsibility for the hack.

The hackers said that they hacked and took control of the website to protect results from being manipulated by anyone, through any means.

They also claim to be protecting the rights of Nigerians to elect there leaders.

There has been no official statement from the APC regarding the tweets from their official account yet.Wike said this while hosting the Management of the International Press Institute at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Friday, Punch reports.

According to the Governor, the Nigerian press only speaks for the rich at the expense of the poor.

Wike also called on the media to wake up to its responsibilities and defend poor Nigerians who are suffering under Buharis rule.

Nigerian media has lost its voice

According him the media in Nigeria lost its voice in 2015, when the All Progressives Congress (APC) came into power.

He said The press in Nigeria has been gagged. The press that was at the forefront of Jonathan Must Go can no longer speak up against bad governance, electoral manipulation, electoral fraud and total collapse of national security. What has happened to the conscience of the Nigerian media?

It is good that the International Press Institute was coming to Nigeria to see the injustice and illegality that characterise the present administration.

There is no image for Nigeria to launder. We need the world to know what is happening in the country. The world through the IPI will know the nature of the war against corruption where the Federal Government convicts opponents, who are still before the courts.

The world through the IPI will also know how if you dont want to be a corrupt man, enter the ruling party. It is good for IPI to come to Nigeria to see the atrocities that the Federal Government is committing, Wike said.

The Governor also alleged that the Federal Government is planning to use dubious means to manipulate the upcoming 2019 general elections.

Meanwhile, President Buhari has assured the United Nations of his commitment to a credible, free and fair elections in 2019.The outpouring of emotions was unlike anything I have experienced in my lifetime.

Fast forward to 19th February 2018, about 110 schoolgirls were abducted in the Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi, a small community in Yobe state, by a faction of the terrorist group.

Most of the girls secured their freedom after a series of back-channel negotiations between the sect and the Nigerian government.

While image-makers of the President Muhammadu Buhari led government cheered, and declared victory, I was filled with mixed feelings.

I was delighted in part as mother to see the girls reunited with their parents, but saddened on the other as a Nigerian catholic christian as reports got in that Leah Sharibu,one of the abducted girls remained a captive due to her defiance to the instruction by the terrorists that she renounce her faith.

The girls were returned but not without a warning: Dont ever put your daughters in school again.

A news magazine interview with some parents and students of the school in Dapchi confirmed my fears. One of the girls interviewed, Rakiya Adamu, vowed never to return to school.

ALSO READ: Ahmad Salkida says only 15 Chibok girls are alive

She was not among one of the abducted school kids. Abdullahi Kawi, a father of one of the girls wants his daughter to go back to school but under conditions that security must be provided in the schools.

Many expert observers of the Dapchi abduction find parallels with the tragedy that befell the Chibok schoolgirls about four years ago. Boko Haram is clearly threatened by the power of educated girls and seeks to destroy them.

But the biggest difference this time, is that the sect has stealthily evolved from the dark, evil terrorist group that they really are, into a faux reasonable group with some grievances.

They received heroes welcome as they returned these girls to the community while government officials were stoned during an earlier assessment visit.

Nigerias President, Mr. Buhari appears to have fallen for this charm offensive by the group. He offered amnesty  a move that I am totally opposed to  and which I believe, resonates with most people in my country and most especially my constituency.

Boko Haram is more of an ideological group that is opposed to education and civilisation than an expansionist group seeking to control territory.

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Winning for them would mean that our women and girls do not receive education. Winning for them would mean that our girls get married and pregnant early.

Implications and Prospects

Nigeria has about 10.5 million out-of-school children, making our country the worlds worst afflicted with 60% of these being girls.

The larger fraction is concentrated in the Northeast of Nigeria where the Boko Haram devastation has led to the destruction and shutdown of educational facilities. The situation is worse than imagined.

We have no other choice  our schools must be secure or we would see more people stay out of schools even where they are available.

But the reality is that the current capabilities of the Nigerian security apparatus will not do. The Nigerian Police Force is acutely understaffed while the military has maintained that the same circumstances would make it almost impossible for it to secure all the schools in the region.

The $100m safe schools initiative championed by former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown in partnership with the Nigerian government under the administration of my boss, the former President Goodluck Jonathan seems to have stalled under this current administration.

Donors including the Nigerian government contributed about $20m towards this project but the status is now difficult to track.

This is why I am presently consulting with my colleagues at the Nigerian Senate to proffer a legislative solution to the issue of school safety.

A number of proposals that I am considering include the creation of a Safe Schools Guard. This would not be another agency of government.

The proposal would seek to grant legal backing for security agencies to provide some form of military training to community vigilantes who would get commissioned into the guard.

This could help to provide the much needed security for our schools without putting a drain on public expenditure.

The return on investment on girl child education is immense. Once women are educated, they are more economically empowered to invest in their families and dislodge poverty, which has become the biggest lever for Boko Haram recruitment in the region.

A global study showed that educating girls will reduce child marriage by about 64% in sub-Saharan Africa.

This is why the government of Nigeria and her international partners must by all means ensure that every available resource is deployed to make sure our girls can be safe in schools.

Even Boko Haram understands the power of an uneducated female child. What are we waiting for?For the uninitiated, the terrorist group had been on an insurgency campaign that had raged for five years after the extra-judicial killing of its spiritual leader, Mohammed Yusuf.

With a new blood-thirsty leader in Abubakar Shekau, the group went on the rampage, killing tens of thousands of people especially in the northeastern region of the country.

Boko Haram's most prominent doctrine is its objection to the spread of western education and values in the country and prior to the Chibok incident, the group had shown commitment to this as it began to target schools in 2010.

The attacks on schools intensified in 2014, with the most high profile incident happening in Federal Government College of Buni Yadi in Yobe state where 59 male students were killed in February 2014. Some died from gunshots or knife stabs, while others were burned to death.

The abduction of the 276 Chibok girls happened just a few weeks later.

Abduction

Just before the Chibok incident, Boko Haram had been rumoured to be taking to the trend of abducting schoolgirls whom they used as cooks, sex slaves and porters.

According to reports about the abduction, when the terrorists attacked the school, they were pretending to be guards.

There were 530 students from multiple villages registered for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination at the school which had been closed for four weeks prior to the attack due to the deteriorating security situation in the region, but students had been called in to take final exams.

The girls were loaded into trucks during the night raid with 276 of them believed to have been taken away from the premises of the school.

According to an account by Naomi Adamu, one of the schoolgirls who was released in 2017, the terrorists had not planned to kidnap the girls during the invasion.

In a diary she kept with four other captives while with the terrorists, she noted that they had attacked with the intention of stealing an "engine block" on the school premises which they reportedly failed to find.

Kidnapping the girls was a decision reached on the spot by the militants to appease Shekau, their leader who wasn't part of the operation.

Adamu's diary read, "They started argument in their midst. So one small boy said that they should burn us all and they said, 'No let us take them with us to Sambisa.' Another person said, 'No let's not do that. Let's lead them...to their parent homes.' As they were in argument, then one of them said, 'No, I can't come with empty car and go back with empty car... If we take them to (Abubakar) Shekau (Boko Haram's leader), he will know what to do."

Escapes, rescues and backroom deals

In the initial hours of the abduction when 276 of the girls were being transported from Chibok to the terrorists' Sambisa Forest stronghold, 57 of them escaped by jumping off the trucks and running into the bushes before their captors caught on.

Two of them, Debbie and Grace, reportedly escaped as soon as they got to Sambisa Forest and made a tiring week-long journey back home. In the end, a total of 219 girls made it to Boko Haram's nest.

Amid waves of public criticism of the federal government's lukewarm reaction to the abduction, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili spearheaded the viral #BringBackOurGirls campaign on social media that became an advocacy group pressuring the government for the return of the girls.

The campaign reached far and wide into the corners of the world, all the way into the White House of the United States of America when then-First Lady, Michelle Obama, held up a sign to demand the girls' return.

The BBOG campaign kept the government more on its toes, but the rescue of the girls became more elusive especially after Shekau displayed them in a video and threatened to sell them off.

"Allah instructed me to sell them, they are his properties and I will carry out his instructions," he said.

It took two years before another Chibok girl regained her freedom.

Amina Ali Nkeki was found by a patrol group in May 2016 by the Civilian Joint Task Force along with her 4-month-old child named Safiya and an alleged Boko Haram member, Mohammed Hayatu, who described himself as her husband.

Another four months passed before the first mass release of the girls happened after Boko Haram reached an agreement with the federal government. 21 girls were released in October 2016 before a further 82 regained their freedom in May 2017.

The deal cost the government the release of five Boko Haram commanders who were in the military's custody. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal in December 2017, President Buhari also paid the group 3 million to push the deal through despite his reluctance.

Troops of the Nigerian Army rescued Maryam Ali Maiyanga with her 10-month-old son near Pulka in Gwoza local government area of Borno state in November 2016; while another girl, Rakiya Abubakar, was rescued with her 6-month-old baby in January 2017. The last Chibok girl to have escaped to date is Salomi Pogu who was found by troops in Gwoza in January 2018 after she escaped.

The girls returned with sad tales of having to endure long periods of hunger in captivity as they were made to work as servants for the militants who also reportedly raped them especially if they refused marriage proposals.

With Pogu's escape, there are 112 girls that remain in Boko Haram's custody, but there have been disturbing reports that indicate some may never return home to their parents.

How many have died?

A week after the abduction, a team of vigilantes claimed that four of the girls were killed and hastily buried for being 'stubborn and uncooperative' while they were camped in a scrubland near the village of Ba'ale, an hour's drive from Chibok.

This report was never officially acknowledged but when the first girl, Amina Ali, returned, she disclosed that six of the girls were already dead.

In a video released by Boko Haram in August 2016, a masked terrorist claimed that some girls died in air strikes launched by the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) in its bid to hurt the militants. He disclosed that some of the girls had been wounded and had life-threatening injuries and that 40 had been married off to militants.

This bears some similarity with a December 2017 report by the Wall Street Journal which disclosed that 13 of the schoolgirls had died from a range of causes during the time spent in captivity.

"Some were felled by malaria, hunger or a snake bite. The majority died in airstrikes. Among those forcibly married to fighters, at least two died in childbirth," a source said.

In a confidential report that Reuters reported to be the debrief of the 21 girls released in 2016, they indicated that 61 had married Boko Haram militants, eight had died in NAF airstrikes, three during childbirth, and one of an unknown cause.

When a 12-year-old female suicide bomber was intercepted in Cameroon in March 2016, she claimed to be one of the abducted Chibok girls, but it was later discovered that she had been abducted in Bama, another scene of Boko Haram's carnage in Borno state.

Despite that her story turned out false, there are worries that suicide bombing might have been the fate of a number of Chibok girls as Boko Haram used a record 244 female suicide bombers between April 2011 and June 2017.

However, there is nothing to prove this has ever happened as the group has abducted more than 1,000 children in Nigeria since 2013, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Agency (UNICEF).

What hope is there for the return of others?

While the government continues to fill the Chibok parents with hope that their children will return home from captivity eventually, their prolonged absence becomes worrying with each passing day.

Naomi Adamu disclosed that one of the girls that contributed to her diary while in captivity, Sarah Samuel, succumbed to intense pressure and married a Boko Haram fighter. Such is the fate of some of the girls as many of them that have married have not returned.

In a video released by Boko Haram in January 2018, some of the Chibok girls said they were never going to return home to their parents. In the 20-minute video, where at least 14 of the girls were filmed, the one that spoke also revealed that they have all been married off to fighters.

She said, "We are the Chibok girls that you cry for us to return to you. By the grace of Allah, we will not return to you.

"Poor souls, we pity our other Chibok girls who chose to return to Nigeria. Allah blessed you and brought you to the caliphate for you to worship your creator. But instead, you chose to return to unbelief."

When 82 girls were released in May 2017, the government had negotiated for the release of 83. One of them had turned down the chance to return because she was "happily married".

President Buhari's spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said, "Those who brokered their release told us 83 girls would be on their way. And when 82 out of the expected 83 turned up, the brokers said one of them said she was happily married and didn't want to come back."

What has become of freed girls?

Some of the girls from the group of 57 who first managed to escape abduction were sponsored to continue their education in the United States.

10 of them were sponsored to school in the US by Education Must Continue (EMC), a non-governmental organisation, with the help of a US-based human rights lawyer, Emmanuel Ogebe. They were granted admission with full scholarships upon their arrival.

Two of them, Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu, even met US president, Donald Trump, in the Oval Office in June 2017 after graduating from Canyonville Christian Academy.

In May 2016, the parents of some of the girls signed declaration forms authorizing the federal government to take over guardianship of their daughters after allegations that Ogebe and the NGO were parading the girls in media circles to relive their trauma to raise money.

According to Somiari Demm, a psychologist who provided counselling to the girls, they were subjected to constant media appearances and appeared to have been encouraged to exaggerate their abduction stories to elicit pity and more donations. These appearances were said to affect their academic performances.

"My conclusion is that the support provided to them has been tainted and their worth reduced to iPhones and iPads and a few dollars here and there," Demm said.

Some of the girls were eventually removed from Ogebe's guardianship in May 2016 and moved to another NGO called Murtala Muhammed Foundation with the authority of the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC.

In June 2017, Ogebe disclosed that three of the girls that were left in the EMC's care were in its US college program while two had also graduated high school.

In a report by the BBC in October 2016, another 24 girls out of the original 57 that escaped were flourishing in a New Foundation School (NFS) programme designed specially to address their academic, psychological, social, and emotional challenges at the American University of Nigeria in Yola, Adamawa state.

By their third year of enrollment in August 2017, eight of them had graduated from the NFS and enrolled in the university with three in the AUN's pre-med program, Natural and Environmental Sciences, and two in Accounting. The rest enrolled to study Law, Computer Science and Journalism.

The NFS initiative started in 2014 to cater specially for the kidnapped Chibok girls and when the government secured the release of the 103 and the other four that had been found, AUN administrators offered to incorporate them into the program to prepare them for college life, according to a report by the New York Times.

Only one of the released girls turned down the chance to continue her education with AUN as she returned home to Chibok to be with her husband whom she had married before the fateful abduction.

In November 2017, President Buhari approved the payment of N164,763,759 for the second-semester tuition of the 106 girls who had been enrolled at the AUN.

Since they are still considered high-profile targets, the girls are closely monitored on the AUN campus so much they are not allowed to leave campus without an escort.

Upon their return, before they were enrolled in AUN, the girls had previously undergone months of comprehensive rehabilitation and therapy in the custody of the government where they were tended to by psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers with some of them reported to be suffering from PTSD, nightmares, and insomnia.

While most of the returned girls have enjoyed a good turn in their fortunes, there are some that are still feeling a little unhappy and abandoned.

According to a report by AFP, when the initial 57 escaped in 2014, the Borno state government pledged to spend N1.5 million on each of them every year until they finished university. Christian students were sent to study in Plateau state while Muslim students were sent to Katsina state.

However, despite the government's pledge of support, 17 girls have since dropped out because their parents could not afford to cover auxiliary costs such as travel and food.

The chairman of the Chibok girls parents association, Yakubu Nkeki, lamented that some of the students who qualified to continue their education in the university were denied because their impoverished parents were left to substantially pay for their daughters' upkeep. Some of them have been forced to stay back with their parents in Chibok due to a lack of options.

One of them, Saraya Amos, told AFP, "We deserve equal treatment and opportunity. Those rescued are now studying at the university while we have been forgotten. We feel extremely bad and abandoned, our future is hanging in the balance because the chance of furthering our education is bleak."

20-year-old Hadiza Fali, who wants to become an agricultural engineer, said it is frustrating that she cannot continue her education uninterrupted like the rest of her friends.

"I don't envy my colleagues who are in school, I only feel let down and treated like a second-class citizen. I so much want to continue with my education if given the chance. We are not in school, we have been idling away at home for the past one year doing nothing, apart from helping out parents on the farm," she said.

Three of the girls sent to Katsina dropped out of school because their parents could not raise the N12,000 transport fare for the 450-mile trip back to school at the end of holidays. One of them is married now with the other two planning their weddings.

Chibok parents

After just three months of the abduction of the girls, seven fathers were killed in an attack by Boko Haram on Kautakari, a village close to Chibok, while at least four more parents died of heart failure or trauma related to the abduction of their children. Nine more had died by November 2017.

The past four years have not been kind to the parents, especially those whose children remain in captivity.

Dr Allen Manasseh, spokesperson of Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), an umbrella body of members of the Chibok community, told Pulse Nigeria that the parents can do nothing but wait and keep their spirits high expecting that something positive will happen.

Dr Manasseh, whose niece is one of the girls still in captivity, said it's hard to describe how the parents feel.

"It has not been easy; it's something that no one can describe having a child missing for four years. It's just best described as traumatic," he said.

He also noted that the parents have been able to sustain hope from the return of some of the girls over the years.

"They're hopeful especially when few started escaping after three years and then larger number was negotiated for at some point. With that, it's adding to their hope that one day, they also will gain their freedom.

"The fact that the advocacy group has been calling the attention of the government and the global community on it is something that they also hold on to that."

Dapchi copycat abduction

On the night of February 19, 2018, an attack that was a copycat of Chibok happened when Boko Haram militants invaded Government Girls Science and Technical Secondary School in Dapchi, Bursari local government area of Yobe state and kidnapped 111 schoolgirls and another two students, a boy and a girl, making 113.

After a month of intense scrutiny of the government's efforts to get the hostages back, 107 of them were returned by the terrorists on March 21, 2018. Even though the government claimed no ransom was paid for their return, it has been criticised for allowing the incident happen despite the lessons supposedly learnt from Chibok.

Much like Chibok, six of the abducted girls remain unaccounted for with reliable reports from the freed hostages indicating that five already died while one, Leah Sharibu, remains in captivity for refusing to renounce her Christian faith and convert to Islam.

Forced conversion was one of the many troubles Chibok girls also faced as many of them were coerced into converting, even though the two set of girls were kidnapped by separate Boko Haram factions.

Don't lose hope - Buhari

As the fate of 112 Chibok girls continues to hang in the balance, expectant parents keep looking to the federal government to bring their girls home.

While receiving the released Dapchi girls last month, President Buhari told the Chibok parents not to lose hope.

"While parents of the Dapchi girls rejoice because of the reunion with their children, I want to appeal to the Chibok community never to lose hope or to despair. We are determined as never before, to bring back our remaining Chibok daughters. And this, we must accomplish. And that will be soon, by God's grace." he said.

Despite the president's confident words, Dr Manasseh believes the government is not doing enough to put the mind of troubled parents at more ease.

He said, "It can never be enough in as much as we have one person still abducted. If the government was doing enough, we would have been getting daily updates especially with a large number (that is still missing). The government should be reaching out to the families and giving them situation reports every now and then.

"The government has not been keeping in touch with the parents. We talked to the government and have written and placed courtesy calls to the president, vice president, and the minister of women affairs to correct this issue but they have not. The government is supposed to create a medium where they can talk directly to the parents.

"At least if they're talking to these parents on a continuous basis, they'll know the efforts the government is doing. Nobody is asking that you must disclose the security details or anything that'll jeopardise the negotiation process; but then, there are certain levels of information you need to give the parents to keep them sustaining the hope that their daughters will be found."

While the return of the Dapchi girls may have renewed the hopes of grief-stricken Chibok parents, four years is a long time to be brutally torn from your loved ones without certainty of ever reconnecting.

To commemorate four years of the Chibok abduction today, parents of the girls will assemble on the premises of the school where they were torn away from them and have interdenominational prayers.Ogar told the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday in Enugu that the president had revived some projects abandoned by the immediate past administration in the South East zone.

According to him, President Buharis declaration for presidency in 2019 is good news especially for Igbos.

What he has done in the South East zone is quite remarkable despite the fact that we did not support him in 2015.

He gave us substantive ministers, Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressways are all under construction including the 2nd Niger Bridge in Onitsha.

Most importantly, his emergence will give the zone the opportunity to produce the President in 2023, he said.

Ogar urged people of the zone to support the presidents intention and vote for him massively when the time comes.

On plans to rerun in 2019, the political chieftain said he had not made up his mind adding that he would speak at the appropriate time.

Ogar, who was in Enugu to attend the 43 Annual Synod of the Methodist Church Nigeria, preached for peace in families and the country at large.

Speaking on the theme of the synod, `Strive for Peace and Holiness, the business magnate noted that the world presently was in crisis as nowhere on earth was safe.

We hear constantly about wars and rumours of war around the world. Our world is in trouble and the United Nations as a body is helpless in the face of it all.

I believe it will require reconciliation between man and his maker to bring or enthrone peace on earth.

For every child of God, peace is our vocation. Let us, therefore, do all in our power to live and make peace. Let us apply the dictum of `Live and let live, he said.The cleric gave the directive at the 42nd Annual Maulud and Special Prayer for Nigeria, which was organised by Darikar Tijjaniyya Movement on Saturday in Abuja.

According to Bauchi, the PVC is the most sophisticate weapons that could be used by electorate to choose whoever they want to lead the affairs of the country.

He called on his followers to use their PVC wisely and vote for people who had credible record and ability to satisfy their yearnings and aspirations.

He said the voter registration was the right of all eligible citizens to participate in the affairs of their government and also one of the cornerstones of democracy.

Bauchi said that the objective of the Maulud was to celebrate the legacies of the famous leader of the movement in Africa, Sheikh Ibrahim Niyass of Senegal.

He said that Niyass has contributed immensely to the development of Islam worldwide and left enduring legacies to the Islamic world.

He also said that the event was also organised to pray for the restoration of peace and tranquility in the country, adding that prayer was the solution to all challenges facing the country.

Speaking earlier, President Muhammadu Buhari, commended leaders of Darikar Tijjaniya for their contribution to Islamic scholarship and prayers for the enhancement of peace and harmony in the country.

Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, said truly Niyass had contributed greatly to the development of Islam in Africa, Asia and in Europe through his write-up.

The president also gave the assurance that the Federal Government would continue to support the activities of the movement for enduring peace in the country.Over 200 girls were reportedly kidnapped from their school - Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno state in 2014. It is exactly four years since they were taken.

The government released the video on Twitter, using the handle @AsoRock.

FG vows to rescue Chibok girls

Also, President Buhari has assured the parents of the school girls that their daughters will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate.

This was made known to newsmen by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Friday.

Shehu in a statement, quoted the President saying We are concerned and aware that it is taking long to bring the rest of our daughters back home, but be assured that this administration is doing its very best to free the girls from their captors.

Unfortunately, the negotiations between the government and Boko Haram suffered some unexpected setbacks, owing mainly to a lack of agreement among their abductors, whose internal differences have led to a divergence of voices regarding the outcome of the talks.

We know that this is not the news parents want to hear after four whole years of waiting, but we want to be as honest as possible with you.

However, this government is not relenting. We will continue to persist, and the parents should please not give up.

Dont give up hope of seeing our daughters back home again. Dont lose faith in this governments ability to fulfill our promise of reuniting you with our daughters.

Dont imagine for a moment that we have forgotten about our daughters or that we consider their freedom a lost course.

Ezekwesili takes Buhari down memory lane

Recently, former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili reminded President Buhariof his promise to ensure the return of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls before he was elected president in 2015.

In a post on Twitter on Friday, April 13, 2018, she reminded the president that he hasn't fulfilled his promise.

Ezekwesili tweeted: "Does President Muhammadu Buhari, who used every opportunity he had before February 2015 to talk about injustice of non-rescue of our Chibok Girls, know that in just one day it would be four years of their captivity? Does he remember his pledge to rescue our girls?"

Chibok girls refuse to return

On Monday, January 15, 2018, Boko Haram released a video showing some of the abducted school girls declaring that they dont want to return home.

In the 20-minute video where at least 14 of the girls were filmed, the one that spoke also revealed that they have all been married by the terrorist group's leader, Abubakar Shekau.

Speaking in the Hausa language, she said, "We are the Chibok girls By the grace of Allah, we will not return to you. We live in comfort. He provides us with everything. We lack nothing."'Toxic gas'

On April 7 the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and Syria's White Helmets rescue force jointly say more than 40 people have died in a "poisonous chlorine gas attack" in Douma, the last opposition-held town in Eastern Ghouta near the capital.

Blaming the government, they say there are "more than 500 cases" of people with "symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, does not confirm a chemical attack. It reports however at least 70 cases of respiratory difficulties among civilians after regime air strikes, saying 11 people had died.

The regime and its key ally Russia deny any chemical attack.

'Big price to pay'

The following day, US President Donald Trump tweets that there will be a "big price to pay" after a "mindless CHEMICAL attack".

Moscow warns Washington against carrying out a "military intervention on fabricated pretexts" which "could have the most dire consequences".

Military alert

On April 9, US ambassador at the UN, Nikki Haley, says Washington is determined to "see the monster who dropped chemical weapons on the Syrian people is held to account".

The USS Donald Cook -- a guided-missile destroyer -- leaves Cyprus, moving within easy striking range of Syria.

On April 10, the Syrian army puts its airports and military bases on alert, the Observatory reports.

The global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, announces a fact-finding mission to Douma.

Missiles 'coming'

On April 11, Trump tells Moscow to be prepared for a retaliatory missile strike. "Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart!" he says on Twitter.

But the White House says later that no final decisions on a response have been made.

The Russian defence ministry dismisses footage of attack victims as "yet another fake" and a staged "provocation" to justify Western intervention.

Ghouta retaken

On April 12, Russia announces the whole of Ghouta is all but under pro-regime control as more rebel fighters leave Douma.

"Of course, the chemical attack is what pushed us to agree" to a withdrawal, a top rebel official tells AFP.

President Emmanuel Macron says France has "proof" the Syrian regime used chemical weapons and would respond.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls Macron on April 13 to warn against any "dangerous actions" with "unpredictable consequences", the Kremlin says.

'Staged by London'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has "irrefutable" evidence the alleged attack was staged as part of a "Russophobic campaign".

The Russian military points the finger at London.

At the Security Council, UN chief Antonio Guterres warns the spiralling tensions could lead to a "full-blown military escalation".

Strikes launched

Several consecutive blasts are heard in Damascus at 4 am (0100 GMT), with airplanes overhead and smoke rising from certain areas, an AFP correspondent says.

At the same time Trump announces he has "ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad."

Britain and France confirm their participation and their allies line up behind the action.

More than 100 cruise missiles were fired, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian defences, Russia's defence ministry says.

There were no victims among the Syrian civilians or military, it says.

Syria's government denounces the strikes as "barbaric" and Iran warns of "regional consequences".The Saudi-backed government said in a statement Saturday that the drones are "made in Iran".

It added that Yemen's military did not possess such aircraft and it was "impossible to manufacture them locally".

Iran backs the Huthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military coalition to intervene against the rebels the following year.

But Tehran has repeatedly denied arming the rebels, which would violate a United Nations weapons embargo slapped on Yemen in 2015.

Riyadh said its air defences between Wednesday and Friday intercepted five ballistic missiles and two drones launched from rebel-held northern Yemen.

Saudi Arabia in March 2015 launched a coalition of Arab states fighting to roll back the Huthi rebels in Yemen and restore the country's internationally-recognised government to power.The charge came less than a week after the front-runner in the race, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, began serving a 12-year sentence for corruption.

The charging document, which was signed by Attorney General Raquel Dodge, includes a long list of incendiary remarks by Bolsonaro, who has developed a strong and loyal following by using harsh language and vowing to adopt severe tactics to address Brazils epidemic of violence.

If convicted, Bolsonaro, 63, could face up to three years in prison and a $117,000 fine.

Dodge outlined several passages from a speech Bolsonaro gave a year ago in Rio de Janeiro, alleging that they constituted hate speech. Bolsonaro lamented the state of quilombolas, traditional communities of Afro-Brazilians that enjoy legal protections.

Residents of one quilombola he had visited recently did nothing, Bolsonaro said. He added: I think they dont even manage to procreate anymore. He also spoke dismissively about indigenous territories.

In another part of the speech, Bolsonaro said he had four sons  and one daughter, who he said had been the result of a moment of weakness.

Dodge also noted several homophobic remarks, including an instance in which Bolsonaro said he would prefer that my son die in an accident than show up with some dude with a mustache.

Bolsonaro on Friday night posted a television interview on his social media accounts in which he called allegations of racism baseless.

For the love of God, you cant say anything in this country, he said in the interview.

Dodge also charged one of Bolsonaros sons, Eduardo, a fellow federal lawmaker and one of his fathers most prominent surrogates, with threatening a journalist.

The charging document against the younger Bolsonaro, 33, included a transcript of an exchange on a messaging application in which he called the journalist, Patricia de Oliveira Souza Lelis, a whore and a vagabond.

In the exchange, according to the transcript, Eduardo Bolsonaro said that he would ruin her life and make her regret having been born. The news site G1 quoted a representative of Eduardo Bolsonaro as saying that he had not threatened anyone.

Because they are members of Congress, Jair and Eduardo Bolsonaro enjoy a privileged legal standing under which they may only be tried before the Supreme Court. The court has a large backlog of cases involving elected officials, which makes it unlikely that the matters will be resolved before the election.

The elder Bolsonaro faces a separate case before the court for having told a female lawmaker in 2014 that she was too ugly to rape.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Generic drug developers need samples of brand-name drugs to show that a generic copy is equivalent to the original. The maneuvers by brand-name drug firms, Gottlieb said, frustrate the ability of generic firms to purchase the doses of a branded drug that they need to run their studies.

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the practice, which it says can forestall generic competition and potentially preserve a brand firms monopoly indefinitely.

Federal officials said they were focusing on the anti-competitive practices of brand-name drugmakers under the impetus of a vow by President Donald Trump to hold down prices set by drug companies, which he has said are getting away with murder.

Legislation to ensure access to drug samples for generic drug manufacturers has broad support in Congress, from Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., on the left to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on the right. A similar bill in the House also has diverse backers, including Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who is the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Under the bill, a generic drug developer could file a lawsuit, and a federal court could require a brand-name drugmaker to provide samples of its product to a generic company on commercially reasonable, market-based terms. The court could also award damages if it found that a drugmaker had refused to sell samples without a legitimate business justification.

Brand-name drug companies make several arguments against the legislation. First, they say, it is not needed. The FDA approved 1,027 generic drugs last year, a record number, and nearly 90 percent of prescriptions are filled with generic medicines, suggesting that generic manufacturers have generally been able to obtain the samples they need, the brand-name companies say.

Second, they say, the bill would be a boon to trial lawyers, giving them an incentive to sue brand-name pharmaceutical companies for damages, which could be worth more than sales of the proposed generic drug.

Finally, they say, the legislation could endanger patients because generic drug developers might not follow the strict safety protocols that the government requires for some brand-name drugs.

But the FDA says that no additional requirements are needed to protect patient safety in tests to show the equivalence of generic and brand-name drugs. The testing typically involves a relatively small number of human subjects and a small number of doses and therefore a relatively low level of risk, the agency said.

At a time when researchers are using sophisticated science to develop new treatments and cures, the fight over physical samples  a few thousand pills  sounds mundane. But it has huge implications for consumers access to affordable medicines.

The FDA says it has received more than 150 inquiries from generic drug companies unable to obtain the samples needed to show that a generic product works the same as a brand-name medicine. Some of the disputes over samples involve drugs that are costly to patients and to the Medicare program and that have experienced sharp price increases in recent years.

Without generic competition, there is no pressure to drive down the costs of these medications, the food and drug agency said. Under current law, it said, it cannot compel a brand-name drug manufacturer to sell samples to a generic company.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation would save the federal government $3.8 billion over 10 years, mainly because Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs would spend less on prescription drugs. Savings for consumers and private health insurance plans could be much greater.

Lawmakers of both parties pushed for the legislation to be included in a far-reaching budget bill signed by Trump in February, but it was dropped at the last minute.

Even without action by Congress, generic drug companies say the denial of drug samples needed for testing may violate federal antitrust law because it tends to perpetuate a monopoly for the makers of some brand-name medications. But it typically takes years for courts to resolve such claims.

Mylan, a generic drug company, wants to obtain samples to develop a generic version of Revlimid, a brand-name cancer medicine sold by Celgene. At a court hearing in Newark in December, Jonathan M. Jacobson, a lawyer for Mylan, told a federal district judge that Revlimid costs patients who are dying $20,000 a month.

These are some of the most ill patients in the world, he said, and if there were generics on the market, the price would be much lower, and people would live longer.

Celgene said in court papers that it had no obligation to help a potential competitor and that it had valid business justifications for declining to sell samples on the terms demanded by Mylan. Moreover, Celgene said its overriding concern was for the safety of patients.

But Mylan, the generic drug company, said this was no excuse because it had devised safety protocols similar to those followed by Celgene.

The secretary of health and human services, Alex M. Azar II, has repeatedly said that drug prices are too high. The administration, he said, will soon roll out a whole slate of proposals to reduce those prices.

Azar has suggested that private companies  pharmacy benefit managers  should have a role in negotiating prices for drugs under Part B of Medicare. Those drugs are typically administered by infusion or injection in doctors offices and hospital outpatient departments.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.The funeral was organized by the African National Congress, the governing party that for decades strove to keep her at arms length.

The funeral drew luminaries like the leaders of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and of Namibia, Hage Geingob; as well as British model Naomi Campbell and American politician the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Since her death April 2 from a prolonged illness, the ANC, along with its political rivals, has set out to claim Madikizela-Mandela as one of its own, but it was clear for all to see at the funeral that her friends and supporters were not interested in forgiveness or a rapprochement.

To those of you who vilified my mother, dont think for a minute that weve forgotten, said Madikizela-Mandelas daughter, Zenani Mandela-Dlamini, in a defiant tribute. The pain youve inflicted on her lives on in us. Praising her now that shes gone shows what hypocrites you are.

A fiery leader with mass appeal, Madikizela-Mandela came to represent a more radical strain of liberation politics than her former husbands conciliatory Rainbow Nation ethos, placing her beyond the orthodoxy of the ANC during the final years of apartheid. But her message resonated with millions of dispossessed South Africans, commentators say.

She was an African woman who in her attitude, her words and her actions defied the very premise of apartheid ideology and male superiority, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a eulogy Saturday. Proud, defiant, articulate, she exposed the lie of apartheid.

As we bid her farewell, we are forced to admit that too often as she rose, she rose alone, he added. Too often, we were not there for her. She bore witness to our suffering. She bandaged our wounds. We did not do the same for her.

Madikizela-Mandelas reputation was seriously damaged by accusations that she had ordered the murder of a 14-year-old boy in the township of Soweto  a charge of which she was later acquitted, though she was convicted of kidnapping  and an acrimonious split in 1992 from Mandela amid accusations of infidelity.

In 2016 the ANC had her presented with one of South Africas highest honors, the Order of Luthuli in Silver, for her excellent contribution to the fight for the liberation of the people of South Africa, but only since her death has the party made concerted efforts to be associated with her.

She was the most authentic voice of peoples war against apartheid, said David Makhura, premier of Gauteng province, at the funeral Saturday. Her abiding fidelity to the masses and the ANC is the stuff made of legend. Death has not defeated her.'

Flags stood at half-staff across the country and the government arranged a series of official memorials, including a mass event Wednesday that was moved from South Africas largest Catholic church to Orlando Stadium to accommodate the crowd. At that event, poet Mzwakhe Mbuli hailed her as the embodiment of courage. The embodiment of resilience. The embodiment of strength.

On the same day, the Economic Freedom Fighters, a rival party headed by former ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, held a separate memorial in the town of Brandfort, where Madikizela-Mandela was exiled in 1977 after the Soweto uprisings.

Winnie Mandela is better than the government of the ANC combined, said Malema, who is seen by many as an heir to Madikizela-Mandelas combative tradition, while speaking at her former home.

At the request of Madikizela-Mandelas family, and despite objections from the ANC, Malema also spoke at the funeral Saturday.

Calling his party the sons and daughters of Madikizela-Mandela, he leveled stinging criticism at the governing party.

You were persecuted by the apartheid regime and disowned by your own, he said, to cacophonous cheers. You didnt know that your organization had been rendered incapable of loving you back.

We know what they did to you, he added. Then, addressing members of the ANC who had been hostile to Madikizela-Mandela, he said: We see you in your beautiful suits. Betrayers, we see you.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Previously, personal items that were consistent with a family traveling on vacation as well as parts from a car that belonged to the missing family had been plucked from the fast-moving waters of the Eel River, which winds through five counties for nearly 200 miles.

It does confirm the fact the vehicle that was seen going into the river was that of the Thottapilly family, the California Highway Patrol said late Thursday.

Conditions in the Eel River, engorged with several days worth of rainfall, had hampered the search effort. But its waters may have begun to recede.

The body was found on exposed terrain that appeared to have been covered by recent heavy rains, Capt. Gregory L. Van Patten, field services commander of the sheriffs office, wrote in the statement.

Since identification of the body is pending, all four members of the family  Sandeep, 42, a bank executive; his wife, Soumya, 38; and their children, Siddhant, 12, and Saachi, 9  are still considered missing. An autopsy is scheduled for next week.

The Thottapilly family had taken a road trip from their home in Santa Clarita, California, to Oregon for spring break. On their return April 5, they spoke of plans to stop and visit relatives in San Jose the following day, the San Jose Police Department said in a statement.

But they never made it, and it was the last anyone heard from them, police said.

On April 8, the relatives in San Jose contacted the police department and officially reported the family missing, telling authorities that the family had been traveling from Portland.

Indias minister of external affairs, Sushma Swaraj, said Wednesday that she had been in touch with her countrys consulate in San Francisco after Sandeep Thottapillys father, who lives in Gujarat, a state in western India, asked for her help.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Anti-union ads are showing up in the subways and in the newspapers targeting union boss Gary LaBarbera. In the courts, the two sides have traded lawsuits and complaints claiming corruption and unfair labor practices.

This month, in the most visible skirmish yet, thousands of union lathers, electricians, laborers, ironworkers and carpenters from work sites across Manhattan poured into the intersection of 40th Street and Seventh Avenue near Times Square for a rally against the citys largest developer, Related Cos.

Against the sound of a marching band with drummers and bagpipes and honking support from passing motorists, the workers and union officials vowed to keep New York City a union town.

LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, an umbrella group for construction unions, railed at Related, saying the company continues to look for deeper and deeper concessions, while theyre selling condos for $32 million.

Labor leaders contend that Related is attempting to diminish the unions collective bargaining strength and is now attacking the very labor leader it once praised. But Joanna Rose, a spokeswoman for Related, said LaBarbera has shown bad faith. We will not negotiate with Gary again. He hasnt lived up to his obligations. Why would we negotiate with a party who says he cant enforce the agreement? she said.

Related is not alone in seeking to cut labor costs, eliminate what it says are antiquated work rules and overhaul the once relatively harmonious relationship between unions and developers. In this battle, Related is leading the charge, said developer Douglas Durst.

The roots of the current crisis lie in the 2008 recession that followed a debt-fueled real estate boom. Projects collapsed, lending ceased and apartment buyers disappeared.

But the cost of construction materials and land escalated. So developers and contractors who had projects pushed to cut labor costs.

Gradually over the last decade, nonunion contractors gained a foothold in the city, moving over time from smaller projects to high-rise residential buildings for developers who once used union labor exclusively. Some nonunion workers are paid as little as $15 an hour with few, if any, benefits or training, compared with some experienced union workers who earn $93 an hour in wages and benefits.

One study for the carpenters union indicates that organized labor now accounts for only 65 percent of the projects in Manhattan and a mere 39 percent of the work in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx.

LaBarbera acknowledged that union labor is more costly, but argued that unionized workers are better trained and work faster and more safely. In addition, he said that well-paid construction work has long provided a path into the middle class.

To compete, however, LaBarbera and the unions have made what they said were substantial wage and work-rule concessions in what were known as project labor agreements, which include a no-strike pledge.

Related signed one of the first agreements in January 2013 for the initial phase of its $25 billion residential and commercial project at Hudson Yards, where 4,000 workers labor on any given day.

Another 131 agreements with builders in the private and public sectors followed, covering $64 billion worth of construction, according to LaBarbera.

But developers such as Related and Gotham Construction have argued that the labor agreements did not provide anywhere near the savings the unions had promised. And union contractors have continued to lose work to nonunion builders, especially in residential construction, although they remain dominant on large office buildings and public works.

This has gone from one of the most highly unionized sectors of the American economy to one where huge chunks of it now operate on a nonunion basis, said Joshua B. Freeman, a labor historian at the City University of New York. Theres been a slow chipping away of union clout.

Increasingly, developers who had customarily done all-union jobs have turned to open shops, in which union contractors compete against nonunion outfits for work.

At the Times Square rally, Bryant Nunez, a Marine veteran and a second-year apprentice with the ironworkers union, said, The nonunion guys are taking our work. Its pretty much a bread-and-butter issue for me.

Related insists that its intention is not to break the unions, but to hold unions to their agreements. The company says that some have not made negotiated changes, like having work crews include more apprentices, paid at a lower wage, in order to bring costs down.

Last year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sided with the construction unions, insisting that developers participating in a citywide affordable housing program must pay minimum wage rates that the unions argued would allow them to better compete for work. But it is not clear that the change has resulted in the unions getting more work on residential projects.

Although Related has been the most aggressive in its approach to the unions, the industrys powerful Real Estate Board of New York has also taken up the cause. The unions, said John Banks, president of the board, have chosen to try and apply pressure through the political process and aggressive public theatrics, rather than reform of their work rules and benefit structure. These futile efforts will result in such unions losing even more market share.

More recently, construction unions have come under attack more broadly, with critics like the Regional Plan Association and Citizens Budget Commission criticizing union agreements in the public sector for driving up the cost of subway construction and work at the citys housing authority. Union leaders say the criticism is unfair and blame poor decision-making by management and an unwieldy bureaucracy.

Related has grown more aggressive with the unions as the first phase of its Hudson Yards project nears completion. It is building the nearby tower at 55 Hudson Yards under open-shop conditions, although 92 percent of the workers are union members, according to Related. The company has also started the foundation of another tower at 50 Hudson Yards using nonunion workers and a small contingent of union carpenters.

A few years ago, Related executives expressed support for LaBarbera, but in February Related filed a lawsuit in federal court against him and the Building and Construction Trades Council, claiming that they and some of the unions had violated the labor agreements and bilked the company out of more than $100 million through various corrupt practices.

Executives at Related say they will no longer negotiate with LaBarbera, ending a century-old tradition in which the council bargained on behalf of more than a dozen unions. The developer also said it would no longer work with the laborers, lathers and electricians unions because they had refused to live up to the labor agreements. From now on, it would deal with the other unions individually.

LaBarbera and other union leaders view the lawsuit as an attempt to divide and conquer the labor movement, as well as retaliation for a pro-union rank-and-file movement, #CountMeIn. The group had been holding a weekly picket line at 50 Hudson Yards to protest nonunion contractors.

Related wants to pick and choose who they want to use, LaBarbera said. Relateds been driving all this for some time.

William Wachtell, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Related, adamantly denied the union-busting charge.

Its about working with the majority of unions that are honest, Wachtell said. The fact that Gary LaBarbera made this about an all-or-none proposition is his error in judgment.

But some union officials said that Relateds aggressive posture is linked to cost overruns and mistakes made on the first tower at Hudson Yards, which they blame on the construction manager.

Ive done everything I could to work with them, said Terry Moore, the business manager and financial secretary-treasurer for Local 46 of the lathers union. But the next job starts and it wasnt enough. They want more.

The Trades Council recently filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging that Related had engaged in unlawful surveillance, interrogation and threats against union members wearing pro-union stickers on their hard hats or carrying pro-union signs at Hudson Yards. The mason tenders union has also filed complaints with the board against Trade Off Construction Services, a relatively new nonunion company that supplies low skill workers for construction, saying it fired workers illegally when they complained about safety or working conditions. Also, the state attorney generals office has opened a preliminary investigation into wrongdoing at Trade Off, which pays about $15 an hour.

And several unions have jointly filed suit against a nonunion concrete company that Related hired to work at 50 Hudson Yards, saying it is being used to avoid paying union wages and benefits on the job.

Rose, the spokeswoman for Related, dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous.

David Stronger, a union electrician who attended the raucous rally in Times Square after finishing his shift at Hudson Yards, said he feels that his livelihood is under attack both locally and nationally.

I think about half our work now is nonunion, Stronger said. Without the unions, its a race to the bottom. They pay as little as they can. It doesnt just hurt us, it brings the whole economy down.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.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

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Newshub is owned by Discovery New Zealand.GERMANY: HQ Equita is to sell its stake in safety critical computing technology supplier MEN Mikro Elektronik to Deutsche Beteiligungs, whch will merge the business with Duagon Holding AG. MEN founder Manfred Schmitz will retain his shares and be a member of the board of the new group.Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

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Search Real EstateThumbs everywhere can rejoice now that the MagPump 9mm Luger magazine loader is shipping to retailers to complement their AK47 and AR-15 loaders. MagPump teased the 9mm version at SHOT Show 2018 in their NEXT booth and generated a reasonable amount of buzz.

The new loader is available in either a standard version made from polymer or you can step it up to the heavy duty ELITE version that is machined from 6061-T6 aluminum billet with a black anodizing finish.

The MagPump includes inserts for the following magazines:

SIG320, P224, P226, P228, P229, P250, SP2022, 2340, 2009

GlockGlock 17, Glock 17L, Glock 18, Glock 19, Glock 26, Glock 34

SpringfieldXD double stack magazines, XD mod. 2 double-stack magazines

Smith & Wesson M&PAll double-stack M&P 9mm magazines

CZ USAP10

RugerSR9, SR9c, 9E

Worried about ammunition damage in the loading process? MagPump has built some internal safties into the loader that prevent damage to the ammo or loader. The loader is said to allow the loading of 30-rounds in under 30 seconds and is fed from a 50-round hopper that automatically indexes the cartridges to the correct orientation regardless of projectile type.

Interestingly, the MagPump loader will mount to any Picatinny or Weaver rail allowing you to mount the base at your range but not be required to leave the loader out in the elements.

Both versions of the MagPump 9mm loader carry a no questions asked lifetime warranty that is fully transferable.

MagPump added some comments to their press release:

As gun owners ourselves, we know how time-consuming loading magazines can be, and how repetitive loading fatigues your hands, said Garret Armstrong, MagPumps chief marketing officer. MagPump solves those problems by offering a more efficient way to load magazines. There's no other product like this on the market. We're proud to make the MagPump 9mm Luger available to military personnel, law enforcement, shooting competitors, and gun enthusiasts. The MagPump handgun loader is built for serious shooters, including law enforcement, military, and competition shooters alike, said Doug Koenig, professional shooter and multi-time champion. As a competition shooter, the MagPump gives me a huge competitive advantage.  Save your hands, save your time, and spend most of your time on the range shooting with MagPump.

MSRP for the MagPump standard loader is $149.99 and the ELITE will command $799.99. MagPump says that the new loader will be offered at Brownells, Bass Pro Shops, Midway USA, Optics Planet and on their own website.The I-T department said NuPowers balance sheet did not substantiate the high premium paid by Singapore-based DH Renewables for its shares, and suspects it could be a case of round-tripping of unaccounted income by NuPower.

The income tax departments preliminary findings have smelt the possibility of round-tripping at Deepak Kochhars NuPower Renewables.

Tax authorities have raised the red flag over a Rs 4.05 billion investment by Singapore-based Accion Diversified Strategies Fund (ADSF) through its Mauritius subsidiary, DH Renewables Holding.

The significant premium at which NuPower shares were issued to DH Renewables has raised eyebrows. Between 2014 and 2016, DH Renewables paid a premium of Rs 1,161 apiece, against a face value of Rs 10, to buy compulsory convertible cumulative preferential shares worth over Rs 4.05 billion.

The I-T department said NuPowers balance sheet did not substantiate such a high premium and it could be a case of round-tripping of unaccounted income by NuPower.

In a letter to the tax authorities in Singapore and Mauritius, the I-T department stated that such a modus operandi of infusing funds at a high premium could be an organised manipulative practice.

It added, This practice of issuing shares to a subsidiary of a Singapore-based entity (ADSF) is irregular, suspicious and unexplainable. If the creditworthiness of the Singapore-based entity is not proved, it could be a case of money laundering of unaccounted income, which shall have direct tax implications.

The I-T departments communication with its Singapore and Mauritius counterparts is aimed at investigating the matter further and substantiating its findings against ADSF and DH Renewables. Business Standard has reviewed the letter, dated April 11, sent in accordance with the provision of exchange of information between India and Singapore.

The tax department has sought transcripts of all communication between ADSF and NuPower, agreements between the two, before or after such transfer of funds, share valuation report for investment in NuPower, along with the reason for making an investment at premium, and ADSFs board resolution approving investment to be made in the wind energy firm.

The department has also sought information regarding the nature of activities carried out by ADSF, various financial credentials, such as annual report, tax returns, balance sheet, profit and loss account, promoters, beneficiary shareholders since the companys incorporation, and the change in shareholding pattern to date.

ADSF also has to furnish details about the bank accounts held from the date of opening to date, coordinates of power of attorney holders, authorised signatories and other firms where ADSF is an owner or a beneficiary.

In the letter, the tax department mentioned the information the department possessed indicated that the entity under investigation received funds from a subsidiary of a Singapore-registered entity.

The I-T department had summoned Deepak Kochhar on April 10 and sought details on ADSFs two special purpose vehicles based in Mauritius, Firstland Holdings and DH Renewables, which had invested in NuPower. Tax sleuths asked Kochhar to explain the source of funds that NuPower had received from these two entities.

Kochhar is already under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the alleged investments made by the Videocon group in NuPower. ICICI Bank, headed by Deepak Kochhars wife Chanda Kochhar, had sanctioned a Rs 32.5 billion loan to the consumer durables firm. The agency is investigating allegations of a quid pro quo.

Image: Deepak Kochhar. Photograph: Courtesy, nupowerrenewables.in

Singapore-based fund yet to see returns on NuPower investment

While raising funds from Indian banks, NuPower Renewables had said its 'marquee' equity investor -- Accion Diversified Strategies Fund (ADSF) -- is a private equity fund with a corpus of $250 million with investments all over the world.

NuPower Renewables is the only India-based investment of ADSF, which has shown its address in Cayman Island, a tax haven. NuPower is currently facing investigation by the government agencies.

ADSF invested Rs 3.98 billion in NuPower Renewables, which is now equal to an equity stake of 55 per cent in the company following conversion of preference shares. The rest of the stake in NuPower is owned by Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI Bank MD & CEO, Chanda Kochhar.

The fund has not received any returns till date as NuPower Renewables made losses of Rs 73.1 million on revenues of Rs 2.10 billion in fiscal 2016-17 as compared to Rs 1 billion loss on Rs 1.63 billion revenues in the previous fiscal.

ADSF used two SPVs based in Mauritius -- Firstland Holdings and DH Renewables Holdings -- to invest in NuPower. The investment in NuPower was first made by DH Renewables Holdings besides, it acquired convertible cumulative preference shares from Firstland Holdings in 2014.

Interestingly, a valuation report prepared by one of the top four audit firms in December 2016 had valued NuPower's shares at Rs 1,161 a share. Based on this report, DHRH then converted its CCPS into equity shares in NuPower in March last year. Earlier, DHRH had converted its CCPS at a much higher rate of Rs 2,000 a share.

While raising funds from public sector banks like Central Bank of India, Canara Bank and private sector lender, Axis Bank, Nupower cited ADSF as a 'marquee investor', said a source close to the development.

NuPower Renewables has also told banks that ADSF has some 12 investments in Indonesia, Malaysia, China in diversified industries. NuPower did not give any information on who are the investors of the fund.

NuPower did not reply to an email query sent by this newspaper. An email sent to an address on Accions website did not elicit a response. Business Standard called on their Singapore office number, but these went unanswered.

The Sebi sends us a KYC (know your customer) query for every investment made from all over the world in the Indian stock markets, but this investment was ignored for such a long time by the Indian regulators which is strange, said a fund manager based in Singapore.

The Indian regulators are keen to find who are the actual owners of ADSF. NuPower is facing Central Bureau of Investigation and income-tax department investigations following allegations of conflict of interest as Videocon had given a Rs 640 million loan to NuPower.

NuPower Renewables, ICICI Bank board and Videocon have denied any quid pro quo.

A Videocon official said the Rs 640 million loan to NuPower will be returned with interest in 2021 as per initial contract. But, NuPower has said the loan will be converted into shares of the company.

--Dev Chatterjee in Mumbai'The most striking thing about the US strike on Syria is its futility of purpose beyond a symbolic value to impress the domestic constituency that Trump is a forceful decision-maker,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.



IMAGE: A missile is seen crossing over Damascus, April 14, 2018. Photograph: SANA/Handout via Reuters

US President Donald J Trump's mind took a fourth U-turn in almost as many days on Friday since he began speaking about his decision to withdraw the American forces from Syria and leave it to 'others' to handle the endgame in the conflict.

He swung to the extreme threatening a rain of missiles on Syria, only to back-track a day later to hint there might not be any attack at all, and finally to announce a joint US-UK-France attack on Friday.

If former US deputy secretary of state Nicholas Burns, an experienced career diplomat, got the impression that POTUS was playing a video game, it comes as no surprise.

Indeed, the most striking thing about the US strike on Syria is its futility of purpose beyond a symbolic value to impress the domestic constituency that POTUS is a forceful decision-maker, who unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, lays down 'red lines' and follows up.

Actually, it is a cowardly stance.

Trump hastened to strike just hours before the investigation by the team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was due to begin in Douma -- as if time was running out to act with impunity.

Clearly, Trump felt the compulsion to be seen acting.

He had no authorisation from the United States Congress nor did he secure a mandate from the UN Security Council to launch aggression against a UN member country.

The indignation and outrage in the statement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be widely shared by the world community: 'There's an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nations and with international law in general. The UN Charter is very clear on these issues.'

'The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. I call on the members of the Security Council to unite and exercise that responsibility. I urge all Member States to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.'

Both the constitutionality of Trump's decision and the legality of the US attack under international law is highly questionable.

However, the extenuating fact is that historically domestic public opinion rallies behind POTUS when the US is at war abroad. For Trump's crumbling presidency, that is an over-riding consideration today.

On the other hand, the attack on Syria was carefully choreographed.

Paris has disclosed that Moscow was informed in advance. Indeed, 'deconfliction' proceedures were under discussion between the Pentagon and the Russian defence ministry for the past 2-3 days.

The attack clinically targeted alleged chemical weapon sites in three cities in Syria -- Damascus, Hom and Hama.

No military bases or assets were attacked.

The missiles scrupulously avoided locations where there could be Russian personnel.

Care was taken to avoid 'collateral damage'. In fact, there has been no reported casualty. On the whole, it is as if a riveting fireworks show has been conducted.

The Syrians claim they shot down a fair number of incoming missiles. But like in the Sherlock Holmes story, the dog didn't bark -- not a single move has been reported by Russia to intercept the incoming missiles.

Moscow simply watched a brawl unfold between the US, UK and France on one side and the Syrian regime on the other.

Moscow instead turned on its propaganda apparatus to take the maximum advantage of the senseless, almost bizarre missile attack.

If the OPCW team turns in a 'Nil' report from Douma shortly, Russian propaganda can be trusted to go for Trump's jugular veins.

The US attack will not create any new facts on the ground. The comprehensive victory of President Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the 7-year conflict is becoming an irreversible reality.

Arguably, this could be the last waltz of the Western interventionist powers in Syria who had hoped to overthrow the regime and failed miserably.

In sum, in the absence of a coherent US strategy toward Syria, this latest attack may only stoke the fires of Syrian nationalism.

Russia has spoken of 'serious consequences', without elaborating.

Will Russia escalate the situation? Seems unlikely. It is hard to see a Russian reaction on the ground although Moscow is watchful that the Western strategy ultimately threatens the Russian presence in Syria.

Much depends on the next Western move. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is expected in Ankara on Monday.

In a strongly worded statement, President Vladimir Putin has warned that the 'escalation in Syria is destructive for the entire system of international relations. History will set things right, and Washington already bears the heavy responsibility for the bloody outrage in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Syria.'

Russia proposes to convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council 'to discuss the aggressive actions by the US and its allies,' Putin said.

Of course, new regional alignments will become inevitable. Turkey and Israel have backed the US attack.

The Turks' bazaari instincts are legion and President Recep Erdogan senses a historic opportunity to project Turkish power into Syria and realise his 'neo-Ottoman' dream. Trust him to overreach.

Israel is a bit down in the mouth for the moment due to the messy confrontation at the Gaza border; or else, it would have jumped into the fray.

Israel's best bet will be that the US keeps an open-ended military presence in a Syria that is balkanized and weak and is in no position to reclaim the lost territory in the Golan Heights that are under Israeli occupation since 1967.

All eyes are on Iran. But Tehran will not speak its mind.

For the moment, Tehran's eyes are cast on the May 12 deadline when Trump must decide on the sanctions waiver to the July 2015 nuclear deal.

The big question now is whether Trump would tear up the Iran nuclear deal in the present circumstances when the US needs the support of its European allies.

Syria constitutes Iran's defence line. Significantly, even as Trump was ratcheting up rhetoric against Syria, the powerful Iranian statesman Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, landed in Damascus on Wednesday, met President Assad and toured Douma, the alleged site of the chemical attack.

It was a defiant gesture and act of solidarity with Assad.

Tehran has hinted at 'regional consequences.' But Iran's style will be to avoid direct conflict with the US and opt instead to intensify its political work and consolidate its wide networking with various groups on the ground, which systematically keep undermining the US presence in Syria and Iraq.

No doubt, Iran will intensify the politics of 'resistance' against Israel.

The Russia-Iran partnership in Syria is steadily morphing into an alliance, which is in mutual interests.

The defeat of the US-Israeli-Saudi containment strategy against Iran may turn out to be the most significant and enduring outcome of this US attack on Syria.He said the government was committed to protecting their rights. It was committed to working on the path of development and asked them to educate their children.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing at the inauguration of a Health and Wellness Centre, in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh on Saturday. Photograph: Press Information Bureau of India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that Dr B R Ambedkar had made provisions in the Constitution for the protection of the rights of backward classes as he appealed to the people not to join the Naxals for securing their rights.

He asked the parents of those who had joined Naxalism to not hand over their children's lives to the leaders who were keeping themselves safe while letting the locals die.

Modi asserted that awakening among poor and backward sections about their rights and aspirations was due to Dr Ambedkar and also attributed his own success to the Dalit icon and framer of the Constitution.

"Son of a poor mother like me hails from a very backward section of the society and could become prime minister due to Babasaheb Ambedkar," he said.

After launching of the first phase of Ayushman Bharat scheme, the prime minister said his government was focusing on a new approach for the development of the poor.

"Babasaheb has given us the Constitution. He ensured protection of your rights...It is the duty of the government to take care of your rights. You need not pick up weapons...ruin your lives," he told a gathering.

"I want to tell parents that their sons and daughters have chosen a path...But at least think about those who are leading them. None of them is local and they are not from among you. They have come from outside.

"They keep themselves safe in jungles and keep your kids in the front and leave them to die. Why are you giving your children in their hands," the prime minister said.

He said the government was committed to protecting their rights. It was committed to working on the path of development and asked them to educate their children.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme aims to work on the development and upgradation of sub-centres and primary health centres in 1.5 lakh villages.

Watch: PM Modi presents a pair of slippers to a tribal woman

He said these primary healthcare centres will be developed as health and wellness centres by 2022.

The prime minister said his government was working with new ideas for the development of 115 backward districts of the country as he asked each district to come up with its own model of development according to their available resources.

"115 backward districts in the country will be given priority in the Ayushman Bharat scheme," Modi said.

"We can't reach new destinations by treading on old paths. New models of development are needed to be chalked out and the Centre has been working in these areas," he said.

The prime minister said the Gram Swaraj Yojana which was also launched on Saturday would focus on welfare of the poor, Dalits, tribals, women and backward sections of the society.

The prime minister congratulated the Bijapur district administration, which is among the most backward 115 districts in the country, for improving its development statistics in the last three months.

"Even after 70 years of Independence, more than 100 districts have been left out of development. These districts, if encouraged, can be turned into models of development. Local administration, elected representatives and people of these districts should unitedly create their own development model," he said.

He added the most backward districts are rich with abundant natural resources, which can further aid their development.

Paying tributes to Dr Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary, Modi said the Dalit icon was highly educated and could have easily led a lavish life in any developed country.

"But he studied outside, came back to India and dedicated his life to welfare and uplift of Dalits. The aspirations and hope of people are associated with Dr Ambedkar's name," he said.

"It is because of Dr Ambedkar that today Dalits have the realisation of their rights and aspirations to live a dignified life and the government is working to fulfil their wishes and aspirations," he added.

The prime minister, who inaugurated several development projects including a new rail line, Internet services, roads and bridges in Jangala, Bijapur, said the identity of Bastar, a Naxalite stronghold, was changing and in the future it would be known as an economic and transport hub.

He inaugurated the first health centre under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Jangala.

He also launched Van Dhan scheme which was announced in the budget. Under it, Van Vikas Kendras would be established which would ensure better marketing and value addition to minor forest produce to benefit forest dwellers.

Modi is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur and this was his fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are due later this year.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Union Health Minister J P Nadda were also present on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government will open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre by 2022, which will be equipped to treat host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.A committee was set up after the Bharatiya Janata Partys IT cell chief announced in a tweet the schedule for the Karnataka assembly polls before the official declaration on March 27.

An in-house committee set up by the Election Commission to probe the alleged leak of Karnataka poll schedule minutes before the official announcement, said on Saturday the information was not leaked but mere speculation.

The EC had set up the committee after the Bharatiya Janata Partys IT cell chief announced in a tweet the schedule for the Karnataka assembly polls before the official declaration on March 27. He, however, had got the date for counting of votes wrong.

The committee noted that the media has speculated election schedules before and it seemed similar attempts were made in the case of Karnataka elections.

As pointed out by (a private TV channel) in its response... the alleged leak was not a leak and was merely speculation. Thus, the committee is of the opinion that there was no leak of schedule of elections to Karnataka Legislative assembly 2018, the committee said it its report.

The TV channel had stated it had accessed the details of the poll schedule from informed sources and, given that the information was not entirely accurate, it was obvious that it was not a leak.

The committee, in its report, said the official announcement of schedule is integral to the electoral process.

It is the responsibility of all the stakeholders including media and political parties not to attempt any speculation that may create unnecessary doubts in the minds of our stakeholders and citizens at large. The commission may like to convey this concern to the stakeholders in its future interactions, the report said.

The committee is of the view that the existing system is robust. However, considering the secrecy of the process the committee will separately brief the commission for further strengthening the process, if required, it added.

Ahead of the official announcement on March 27 by Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat, BJP IT-cell chief Amit Malviya had tweeted that voting will be held on May 12 and the counting will take place on May 18.

He was correct about the day of voting, but got the counting date wrong. The counting will take place on May 15.

The panel said Malviya, in another tweet, had attributed a news channel as his source.

In his press conference to announce the poll schedule, Rawat had described the leak as a very serious issue that merited a probe and stringent action.

Immediately after Malviyas tweet, the Congress said: BJP becomes the Super Election Commission as they announce poll dates for Karnataka even before the EC. Credibility of EC is on test.

The committee has noted that the information of alleged leak appeared in public domain for the first time at 11.06 am.

From the responses, it can be safely concluded that the alleged information was first displayed on (the TV channel) which was used by all others in tweet/media (TV), the report said, adding since the counting date did not matched with the actual date, it can be safely concluded that the alleged leak contained different information about the schedule of election.The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.

IMAGE: Youth take part in a candlelight march over Unnao and Kathua rape cases, in Bikaner on Friday night. Photograph: PTI Photo

As the Bakerwals make their way to the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir with their belongings, she trudges along burdened by the weight of her eight-year-old daughter's death.

"She was so beautiful and intelligent. I wanted her to be a doctor when she grew up," the biological mother of the girl reminisces.

The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.

"My only wish is the culprits should be hanged for the heinous crime, so that no other family has to go through it," she says.

CM writes to HC chief justice for setting up fast track court Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has written to the chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir high court, requesting setting up of a special fast track court to try the brutal rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl in Kathua. The chief minister requested the chief justice for establishment of the special fast track court for the case, official sources said. It would complete trial in 90 days and would be the first such court in state, they said. The state government has also decided to terminate from service the cops accused in the case, they added.

The girl was adopted by the woman's brother and his wife in Rasana hamlet of Kathua district when she was one year old.

Still in shock, she blames herself for leaving her daughter at brother's house.

"Why was she killed? She was grazing cattle and taking care of horses. She was eight years old. Why did they kill her in such a brutal way. They should be given death sentence," she says.

The girl's father said she was at maternal uncle's home in Rasana.

"The killers should be given death penalty. We do not need a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe, we have faith in investigation by the Crime Branch," he says.

Jammu has been on tenterhooks since the brutal rape and killing of the girl belonging to the nomadic Muslim Bakerwal community.

Her body was found in Rasana forest on January 17, a week after she went missing while grazing horses in the forest area.

The couple along with their two kids and cattle left their hamlet in Samba and in Round-Domail in Udhampur district as part of their annual trek to Sanasar mountainous belt.

The mother says that earlier they had good relations with Hindus and lived in harmony with them.

"But after this incident, the relations have soured and we are fearful. We only want justice for her. She was our dear child. She was beautiful and we loved her," she says.

They wanted take her back, teach her and make her a doctor, the mother said, adding that she was very intelligent.

"The prime minister had said "Beti Padavo Beti Bachavo" but how are they teaching and saving girls like this," her adoptive father asks.

"The ministers are supporting the rape accused, saying that they are innocent, but they are wrong," he says.

The biological father says the world knows that their daughter, who did not know about the difference between Hindus and Muslims, was wronged and murdered in most barbaric manner.

"The world and entire India knows it. They are supporting them. I do not say she was our only child, she was everyone's child. The incident should not be looked at through the religious lens," he said.

On January 23, the government had handed over the case to the Crime Branch of the state police which formed a special investigation team and arrested eight people including two special police officers and a head constable.

The police has arrested eight people in the case, but the Bar Association has opposed the action, alleging targeting of minority Dogras.Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

The White House said it has 'a large body' of evidence indicating that the Assad regime was responsible for the April 7 chemical attack in Duma.

British PM Theresa May said there was no alternative to military action.

IMAGE: The destroyed Scientific Research Centre is seen in Damascus. Photograph: Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

In a combined operation, the United States, Britain and France on Saturday launched military strikes against Bashar al-Assads Syrian regime, President Donald Trump announced, as he alleged the war-torn nation of using chemical weapons against its own people.

The 'precise, overwhelming and effective' military strike was aimed to 'cripple' the chemical weapons infrastructure of the Syrian regime and it succeeded in destroying three chemical weapons facilities in the war-torn country, the Pentagon said.

It said the 'precise, overwhelming and effective' military strike in Syria by the US, France and Britain were intended to send a clear message that the use of chemical weapons against its own civilians is inexcusable.

The Pentagon said it destroyed three chemical weapons facilities of the Syrian regime.

Marine Lt Gen Kenneth F McKenzie director, Joint Staff, told reporters that the US, France and Britain in all deployed 105 missiles against three targets.

"Taken together were able to overwhelm the Syrian air defence system," he said.

Soon after the strikes were launched, Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

Antonov released a statement on Twitter saying, 'A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.'

IMAGE: A missile is seen crossing over Damascus, Syria on Saturday. Photograph: SANA/Handout via Reuters

He further noted that all responsibility for strike rests with Washington, London and Paris while adding that the 'US, the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapon has no moral right to blame other countries'.

Denouncing the strikes as 'brutal, barbaric aggression' that violated international law, Syria's government said, "The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law."

Assad said Western strikes on government military installations only made him keener to fight back against his opponents, in comments published by his office.

"This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," Assad, in his first reaction to the strikes, told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.

The US president claimed that the joint action was meant to establish a 'strong deterrent' against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons.

In his first reaction after militaries of the three countries carried out the strikes, Trump declared 'Mission Accomplished'.

'A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!' Trump said in a tweet today.

'So proud of our great military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our country has ever had. There won't be anything, or anyone, even close!' tweeted the US President.

IMAGE: A fighter jet prepares to land at RAF Akrotiri, a military base Britain maintains on Cyprus. Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

Earlier in the day, Trump said he has ordered 'precision strikes' against Syria, where dozens of people were killed last weekend in a suspected toxic gas attack on Douma, the largest town in a former rebel stronghold outside Damascus.

"These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said in an address to the nation.

Describing the strike as a deterrent, Trump said the US would maintain pressure on Syria until the Assad regime suspends use of chemical weapons.

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria," he said, thanking the UK and France for joining the US in its fight against the Syrian regime.

"My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both," Trump said in his address to the nation.

"Today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality," Trump said.

He attacked the Assad regime for 'deploying chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians', referring to the alleged atrocity in Douma last Saturday.

"This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," Trump alleged.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," he said.

The US president sought to bring back the vestiges of World War I, after which civilised nations joined together to ban chemical warfare.

IMAGE: An Anti-aircraft fire is seen over Damascus,Syria. Photograph: Feras Makdesi/Reuters

He noted that chemical weapons not only inflict gruesome suffering but also even small amounts of them can unleash widespread devastation.

"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States, Trump said.

"The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, he said.

Trump said he also has a message for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.

"To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children? he asked.

"The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators, he said.

Trump said Assads recent attack was a fallout of Russias failure to keep the promise of eliminating Syrias chemical weapons.

"In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syrias chemical weapons. Assads recent attack are the direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise, Trump said.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday well get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran -- but maybe not, he said.

The US president said America, being the worlds greatest and most powerful economy, has a lot to offer.

"In Syria, the United States -- with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of Islamic State -- is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 per cent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated," he said.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump announces military strikes on Syria while delivering a statement from the White House in Washington on Saturday. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters

British Prime Minister Theresa May said that she had authorised British forces to conduct precision air-launched cruise missile strikes on Syria to degrade its chemical weapons capability, saying there was no alternative to military action.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets using Storm Shadow missiles had taken part in the attack on a military facility near Homs where it was assessed Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

Defending the joint air strikes, the White House said it has a large body of evidence indicating that the Assad regime was responsible for the April 7 chemical attack in Duma and that Syrian military officials coordinated the attack.

The White House released an information sheet making its case for the Syrian regime's involvement in the Duma attack.

A large body of information indicates that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in the Duma area of East Ghutah, near Damascus, on April 7, 2018. Our information is consistent and corroborated by multiple sources, the White House statement said.

This conclusion is based on descriptions of the attack in multiple media sources, the reported symptoms experienced by victims, videos and images showing two assessed barrel bombs from the attack, and reliable information indicating coordination between Syrian military officials before the attack, the White House assessment said.

According to the White House Assad regimes continued use of chemical weapons threatens to desensitise the world to their use and proliferation, weaken prohibitions against their use, and increase the likelihood that additional states will acquire and use these weapons.

To underscore this point, not only has Russia shielded the Assad regime from accountability for its chemical weapons use, but on March 4, 2018, Russia used a nerve agent in an attempted assassination in the United Kingdom, showing an uncommonly brazen disregard for the taboo against chemical weapons, the White House alleged.

A significant body of information points to the regime using chlorine in its bombardment of Duma, while some additional information points to the regime also using the nerve agent sarin. This is not an isolated incident -- the Syrian regime has a clear history of using chemical weapons even after pledging that it had given up its chemical weapons program, it said.

IMAGE: The image provide by the US Navy shows the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) fires a Tomahawk land attack missile on Friday during the military attack on Syria for using chemical weapons. Photograph: US Navy Photo/via PTI

The US assesses that the Syrians fired about 40 missiles in retaliation, but none of them endangered the US forces and its allies. Defensive effort of Syria was ineffective, Lt Gen Kenneth F McKenzie said.

The Syrian regime had a pattern of using chemical weapons against the chemical weapons convention, alleged the Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana White.

"This is a heinous regime, which murders its people daily," she said.

It was a deliberate decision to the target the storage and research and development facilities, she said.

"We are confident that we have significantly degraded the ability to ever use the chemical weapons again," White said, asserting that the US policy on Syria has not changed.

"Our mission in Syria remains the same, to defeat the Islamic State and not be involved in the civil war," White said, adding that the US is 100 per cent behind the Geneva peace process.

The new UN envoy provides an opportunity for everyone to work towards a Syrian peace process.

"We are confident that the UN process will move forward," White told reporters in response to a question.

"We took action. What happens next is in the hands of Assad," she said.

The US did no coordination with the Russians, McKenzie said.

Responding to questions, he said it is possible that some people might have left from the strike facilities. The strikes were carried out in the week hours of the morning (3 am-4 am) so as to reduce the possibility of any civilian casualty.

The US believes that the material and equipment at the source of this site was not movable.

"This is far more damaging to Syria," he said.

Responding to questions, White said this was a fully legitimate operation and the President had the authority to order conducting these strikes.

"It was a successful mission. What happens next depends on what the Assad regime decides to do," she said.

The Republican party lawmakers hailed President Trump for his decision to carry out the strikes, while the Democrats sought action against Russia, alleging that Moscow was behind the Assad regime's atrocities against his own people.

Applaud Trump for taking military action against the Assad regime for its latest use of chemical weapons, and for signalling his resolve to do so again if these heinous attacks continue, said Senator John McCain, Chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee.

IMAGE: Syrians wave Iranian, Russian and Syrian flags during a protest against US-led air strikes in Damascus. Photograph: Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

McCain said the message to Assad must be that the cost of using chemical weapons is worse than any perceived benefit.

However, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said that one night of air strikes was not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

"The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorisation for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians," she said.

"President Trump must also hold Putin accountable for his enabling of the Assad regime's atrocities against the Syrian people," Pelosi said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the US had taken decisive action in coordination with its allies.

"We are united in our resolve that Assad's barbaric use of chemical weapons cannot go unanswered. His regime's unconscionable brutality against innocent civilians cannot be tolerated," he said.

"There should be no doubt that Russia and Iran have blood on their hands, and their partnership with Assad reveals the true nature of their regimes. The United States and our allies must continue to seek ways to hold Assad's enablers accountable," Ryan said.

The administration is justified to take limited action in coordination with its allies to hold Assad accountable for the use of chemical weapons, said Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Commitee.

Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said Trump has just conducted another set of unconstitutional strikes.

"He does not have the power to take these actions without consulting Congress. Only Congress  not the White House  has the power to declare war," she said.

"Tonight's air strikes are not a long term plan to resolve the Syrian crisis, and they will do little to stop a dictator like Assad from repeating his crimes against humanity," she said.

"We need a considered, debated, real strategy to end the violence in Syria and protect innocent people from dying. These air strikes are not only unconstitutional, they are dangerously escalating a conflict that could send us into a war with multiple countries," Jayapal said.

"This is a debate that must take place in Congress immediately, and we should be clear that the President has exceeded the authority afforded to him by the Constitution," she added.

China opposed the joint attack, saying any action bypassing the United Nations charter violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations.

Calling for the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the Syria issue through dialogue and negotiation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Beijing is opposed the use of force.

"China opposed the use of force in international relations and called for respect for other countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity," she said in response to media queries, seeking Beijing reaction to the air strikes.

"Any unilateral military action bypassing the Security Council runs contrary to the purpose and principles of the United Nations (UN) Charter and violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and will further complicate the Syrian issue," Hua said.

Hua said China believes a comprehensive, impartial and objective investigation should be carried out to reach a reliable conclusion that could stand the test of time.

"Yet before that, a prejudgment should not be made," she added.

China believes that political settlement is the only viable way out for the Syrian issue. Relevant parties of the international community should continue to support the role of the UN as the main channel for mediation and make relentless efforts to facilitate the final settlement of the Syrian issue.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced Trump, France's President Emmanuel Macron and May, branding them 'criminals'.

"The attack this morning against Syria is a crime," Khamenei said in remarks published on his Telegram channel. "The American president, the French president and the British prime minister are criminals."

Turkey welcomed Western strikes as an 'appropriate response' in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack that left dozens dead.

'We welcome this operation which has eased humanity's conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime,' the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

'The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannising its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes,' the ministry said.Pravin Togadia, who has been with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad for over three decades, announced quitting the outfit and said he would go on an indefinite fast from Tuesday to push the Hindutva cause.

The veteran leader, who served as the VHP international working president since December 2011, announced his decision in a press conference after his nominee to the post of international president of the VHP was defeated in voting, held for the first time in over five decades.

"I am not in the VHP anymore. I was in it for 32 years. For the welfare of Hindus, I left my home and my lucrative medical practice. I will continue to work for the welfare of Hindus. Hindus first is the mission of my life and from Tuesday, I will go on an indefinite fast in Ahmedabad for fulfilling the longstanding demands of Hindus," he said.

Former Himachal Pradesh governor V S Kokje was on Friday elected the VHP's international president.

Kokje got 131 votes and defeated incumbent Raghava Reddy who mustered 60 votes. 192 delegates of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) were eligible to vote in today's election in Gurugram.

Togadia, who batted for Redyy, however, alleged irregularities in the exercise.

The election was necessitated after the organisation's members failed to reach a consensus on a new international president.

Kokje proposed names for the new central executive team, which were approved the Board of Trustees, according to a VHP statement.

Alok Kumar has been made the VHP working president and Ashok Rao Chowgule the working president (external).

Milind Parande is the new secretary general and Vinayak Rao Deshpande organisational general secretary.

Champat Rai will be the vice-president and Venkata Koteswara Rao the joint general secretary.

After the election, Togadia said they would continue to be the voice of Hindus. He stressed the need to work together for building a Ram Temple at Ayodhya, getting a law enacted to ban cow slaughter and abrogating Article 370 and 35A.

Article 370 gives autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir and Article 35A empowers its legislature to define the state's 'permanent residents', their special rights and privileges.

Togadia alleged that there was an attempt to rig the elections.

It was 'shocking and saddening' to see that the VHP has been made to bow before power 'not for Hindu wellbeing but for individual whims and fancies of some power-mongers', he said in a statement.

"Hindus all over can clearly see through the dirty political designs in cracking the grand VHP," he said.

Togadia has of late been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership.Interestingly, so far Deve Gowda's JD-S is not the target of the attack by the BJP.

Come mid-May, he hopes he will once again play the role he has played before.

Aditi Phadnis reports.



IMAGE: H D Deve Gowda speaks to the media after a crucial meeting with United Front constituents in New Delhi, May 29, 1996. Photographs: Kamal Kishore/Reuters

As regional satraps go, there should have been no one to match Haradanahalli Doddahalli Deve Gowda.

The only Karnataka politician to have become prime minister, he had a profile in the entire state.

No one forced him to confine himself to the Hassan-Old Mysuru belt of Karnataka, immersed in sectarian Vokkaliga politics. But that is what he opted to become and come mid-May, he is hoping he will once again play the role that he has essayed to a fine art -- kingmaker.

Most people go from state politics to national politics. Deve Gowda went from national politics to state politics.

In 1996-1997, after the 13-day Bharatiya Janata Party government was defeated, Deve Gowda became the United Front's candidate to become prime minister -- the coalition United Front's fourth choice because the partners of the coalition wanted to keep each others' ambition in check.

He pipped G K Moopanar at the post, but could not get on with the then Congress president Sitaram Kesri for cultural reasons.

The Congress virtually forced the UF to replace its PM and I K Gujral was installed after a humiliating exit for Deve Gowda.

Between then and 2002, when he was elected MP from the Kanakapura Lok Sabha seat, Deve Gowda managed to lift his southward political career up by the bootstraps and became kingmaker in the assembly elections in 2004.

The thing about Deve Gowda is, he says all the right things, but does all the wrong ones.

In 2001 when he was 'unemployed', he did a padayatra around Bengaluru bringing the message of the villages to the town.

The issue was the killing of two farmers in police firing during an agitation over the right to tap neera from coconut trees.

He spoke of agrarian distress and suicides by farmers owing to faulty economic policies and priorities, de-industrialisation owing to liberalisation, the growth of poverty and unemployment.

Little wonder then that he won the Kanakapura Lok Sabha seat by a big margin.

Then came the Karnataka assembly elections in 2004. The Janata Dal-Secular's campaign was variations on the Kanakapura campaign theme.

But there was an addition: Deve Gowda made it clear he would not be averse to an alliance with the Congress, and went on attacking the BJP during the campaign. So the minorities were greatly enthused.

In 2004, he became kingmaker. The BJP had 75 seats, Congress 65, JD-S 57, and others 27.

The Congress and the JD-S joined up and Dharam Singh became chief minister, supported by the JD-S.

But there were serpents in Eden.

Remnants of the Ramakrishna Hegde-led Janata Dal which had joined the Congress could not get over their distrust of Deve Gowda and their dislike of his style of functioning.

In 2006, Dharam Singh resigned. Rather than face elections, the JD-S's first son, H D Kumaraswamy struck a half-and-half deal with the BJP -- that he would rule for the first half of the government's tenure and the BJP would rule for the second half.

The BJP, with 75 MLAs now became the tail that wagged the dog to the JDSs 57 MLAs.

The first to gasp in disbelief were the minorities.

At first, Deve Gowda claimed his son had broken his heart and done a deal with the BJP behind his back. But this phase lasted precisely one week.

At the end of the day, blood is thicker than water and Gowda sided with his son. So he lost the faith of the minorities.

Kumaraswamy's tenure followed. He went up and down, round and round, trying to carve out an independent place for the JD-S.

He spent nights in the huts of Dalits (although he carried his own commode, mattress and mineral water), talked to minorities to clear the air, and worked really hard.

And then, he decided to dump the BJP by denying it the chance to have its chief minister under the previously agreed arrangement.

Things began to move too fast for Deve Gowda.

The BJP pulled out, but so did his closest lieutenant, the late M P Prakash.

The other promising young leader of the JD-S, Siddaramiah, had already quit.

Thus, the party became secular, lost power, but also came to be known as the 'thande-makkala party' (father and sons party).

Both Prakash and Siddaramiah left citing the father-and-son effect.

When the 2008 assembly elections came around, predictably, an ambitious BJP and a weak and tremulous Congress were all that was left.

From 57 MLAs in the assembly, Deve Gowda came down to 17.

In 2013, because of the BJP's shenanigans, (B S Yeddyurappa split from the BJP and formed his own party) the JD-S got 40 seats, the same as the BJP.

And this time? Interestingly, so far the JD-S is not the target of the attack by the BJP.

What the future will bring, no one can tell.A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.Russia has alleged that the deadly chemical-weapons attack, which is said to have taken place in the rebel-held eastern Syrian city of Douma on Saturday, was staged by special services of a foreign country.

The allegation, which gives a new twist to the complex international rivalry over the Syrian conflict, was made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a news conference on Friday.

He did not specify the country, which he said is "now seeking to be in the first ranks of the Russophobic campaign."

After reports of chemical-weapons attack in Douma came in, Trump put the blame on the Syrian regime and its ally Russia, which provides military backing to Damascus.

The governments of Syria and Russia denied any responsibility, but Trump warned that his government is mulling several options for striking Syria.

According to Lavrov, the White Helmets, a pro-terrorist group operating in Syria, published a statement on its website on April 8, saying chlorine bombs were dropped on Douma, killing dozens and poisoning many locals who had to be brought to a hospital.

The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed that report as fake news.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has deployed a Fact-Finding Mission team to Douma to establish facts surrounding the allegations.

Lavrov said the OPCW team set off to Syria "not so quickly and without abundant enthusiasm," but under pressure from Syria and Russia.

The independent chemical weapons inspectors are due to arrive in Damascus Saturday, the Russian foreign minister told reporters.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed over telephone measures to de-escalate tensions in Syria.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsHostile warplanes intensify airstrikes on provinces of Yemen [14/April/2018]





PROVINCES, Apr 14 (Saba) - The US-backed Saudi aggression warplane intensified its airstrikes on Yemen provinces during the past 24 hours, targeting four provinces and Najran with more than 44 airstrikes left three killing and injuring one another, according to the army's military media.



In Hodeidah province, three civilians killed and injured the forth during Saudi airstrikes on the government compound and a citizen's house in Tahita district.



In Lahia district of Hodeidah, three aggression airstrikes hit Maslm fishing company and three others on a citizen farm.



In Jawf province, a civilians killed with mercenaries sniper in al- Motoon district, an airstrike waged on al- Ghail district, and another on al- Yadha area in al- Masloob district in the province.



In Saada province, an airstrike destroyed a citizen's house in Ghamr district, and another one on the main road west of al- Izd area and another on the general road in Bani Moaen area of Razih border district.



In Saada, two airstrikes targeted water project in al- Hamzat area in Sahar district, four airstrikes hit al- Saifi camp and the airport and an airstrike on Qehzah area, while an airstrike waged on al- Jamalah area in Majz district and four on Mandabah area of Baqem district.



In Manbah and Shada districts, a Saudi artillery and missile shells damaged the citizen's properties in separate areas.



In Hajjah province, 18 airstrikes waged on Haradh and Medi districts and an airstrike on the citizen's farms in al- Jar area of Abs district.



In Najran, two airstrikes waged on al- Sodais site.



Eman





SABA

DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villlar graced the occasion as the keynote speaker during womens celebration in behalf of his mother Senator Cynthia A. Villar on Wednesday, March 14 held at the Activity Center, Capitol Grounds, Calumpang, Naval, Biliran.

Employees of Biliran DEO participate 23rd provincial womens congress

By CHELSEA QUIJANO-SALLOMAN

March 21, 2018

NAVAL, Biliran  Women employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Biliran District Engineering Office participated the 23rd Provincial Womens Congress on Wednesday, March 14 held at the Activity Center, Capitol Grounds, Calumpang, Naval, Biliran.

There were an estimated 3,000 women-participants coming from the 132 barangays, 49 sitios, and 186 chapters of Women for Rural Development  Katipunan ng Liping Pilipino (WORD-KALIPI) province-wide, Provincial Council for Women's Welfare, Incorporated (PCWWI) officials and members, women legislators and other women sectors in the province who joined the said activity.

The event started with a holy mass followed with a parade going to the provincial capitol grounds for the opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Trade Fair and the opening program.

One of the highlights of the celebration was the plenary session/ discussions on interesting topics to provide participants with knowledge on promoting gender equality and empowerment.

There were also slogan writing contest, dance contest and skills training simultaneous with the plenary sessions: skirting, stage decoration, marcotting and grafting, make-over and vermin composting.

Other activities during the celebration includes the trade fair which showcased the livelihood projects of women.

DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villlar graced the occasion as the keynote speaker during womens celebration in behalf of his mother Senator Cynthia A. Villar.

Senator Villar is known for providing livelihood programs to the people. Biliran Province is one of the beneficiaries of her legislation under Republic Act No. 10861 otherwise known as An act for the establishment for provincial fisheries and aquatic resources training, development, and product center.

On his speech, the DPWH Secretary highlighted the strong support of her mother to the group of women. He also vowed to continue supporting the Biliran womens organization especially when it comes to infrastructures and livelihood programs.

The National Womens Celebration every March is part of the worldwide observance of the International Womens Day pursuant to R.A. 6469 series of 1996.Dear Editor,

Re: Customary lands, protests and democracy in a one-party state

Thank you for your editorial. Much has been said and debated about the controversial L.T.R.A. 2008 Legislation. But let me first quote our Constitution regarding Samoa lands that was written by our founding fathers.

The Constitution of The Independent State of Samoa 1960 Article 101. Land in Samoa -

(1) All land in Samoa is customary land, freehold land or public land.

(2) Customary land means land held from Samoa in accordance with Samoan custom and usage and with the law relating to Samoan custom and usage.

(3) Freehold land means land held from Samoa for an estate in fee simple.

(4) Public land means land vested in Samoa being land that is free from customary title and from any estate in fee simple.

The 1960 Constitution formally came into effect when Samoa gained independence from New Zealand on the 1 January 1962. During the struggle for independence our founding fathers foresaw a much needed mechanism to protect our future generations from the Colonial land-grabbing that has taken place all over the Pacific from the early 19th and well into the 20th century.

To further strengthen the Constitution Article 102 states -

No alienation of customary land - It shall not be lawful or competent for any person to make any alienation or disposition of customary land or of any interest in customary land, whether by way of sale, mortgage or otherwise howsoever, nor shall customary land or any interest therein be capable of being taken in execution or be assets for the payment of the debts of any person on his decease or insolvency: PROVIDED THAT an Act of Parliament may authorise:

(a) The granting of a lease or licence of any customary land or of any interest therein;

(b) The taking of any customary land or any interest therein for public purposes.

So it is clearly stated in the Constitution No alienation of customary land or of any interest. And that an Act of Parliament may authorise granting of lease or licence and the taking of customary land for public purposes under Alienation of Customary Land Act 1965. Yet the government went ahead with their reforms. But there was another safeguard that was put in place by our founding fathers and it is Article 109 of the Samoa Constitution.

109. Amendment of Constitution -

(1) Any of the provisions of this Constitution may be amended or repealed by Act, and new provisions may be inserted in this Constitution by Act, if a bill for any such purpose is supported at its third reading by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total number of Members of Parliament (including vacancies) and if not fewer than 90 days elapse between the second and third readings of that bill:

PROVIDED THAT no bill amending, repealing or adding to the provisions of Article 102 or the provisions of this proviso shall be submitted to the Head of State for assent until it has been submitted to a poll of the electors on the rolls for the territorial constituencies established under the provisions of Article 44 and unless it has been supported by two-thirds of the valid votes cast in such a poll.

(2) A certificate under the hand of the Speaker that a bill has been passed under the provisions of clause (1) shall be conclusive and shall not be questioned in any Court.

Article 109 clearly states that no changes to the legislation regarding Article 102 is submitted to the HoS for assent until it has been submitted to a poll (referendum) of the electors (voters). Here is where the H.R.P.P. government did not adhere to the Constitution, went ahead and amended the legislation with L.T.R.A. 2008 without consulting the Samoan people. The H.R.P.P. government knew very well if the land reforms was put to a referendum it would not pass into law.

The H.R.P.P. government may believe freeing up customary lands is the key to economic growth for Samoa but thousands of our people are not convinced. There was never an issue under the old legislation, customary lands could be leased or licensed but not mortgaged. There are already businesses leasing under the Alienation of Customary Land Act 1965. An Act to provide for the leasing and licensing of customary land for certain purposes.

I suppose it comes down to loans needed to implement government projects and help the economy grow and to appease the financial institutions that would naturally need collateral. So a strategy was put in place to facilitate or rather find a solution to allow mortgaging of customary land lease.

To get things going the government had the Land Registration Act 1992/1993 repealed and replaced by L.T.R.A. 2008 under Section 94.

Most critics see the L.T.R.A. 2008 as a Trojan horse for adopting the Torrens title land registration system. And that the purpose of the L.T.R.A. is to establish ownership of interest in land by registration, that is the folio is conclusive evidence of title (L.T.R.A. Section 12) and the estate of the registered proprietor is paramount (L.T.R.A. Section 32).

This can only be interpreted as the person registered is the sole owner of land or interest in land. Smells like Torrens title system to me, lol. Critics point out the damage is caused by Section 32 of the L.T.R.A. 2008.

The Alienation of Customary Land Act 1965 recognizes that the family matai, can on behalf of the extended family offer to lease their customary land to an interested investor. However, if the land is registered in the matais name, the legal system recognizes all of the extended family as owners. So dealing with foreign investors requires the whole extended family recorded and their consent to any deals. This according to ADB Technical Assistance Report prolongs the approval process and discourage long-term land development.

Independent State of Samoa: Promoting Economic Use of Customary Land, Phase III.

A.D.B. provided further assistance to the Samoan government in establishing the CLAC through the Customary Land Advisory Commission Act, 2013. In setting up the Customary Land Leasing Section and amending the Alienation of Customary Land Act, 1965 to allow the mortgage of customary land leases.

C.L.A.C. was formed to advise the Cabinet on the facilitation, encouragement, and promotion of economic use of customary land and conduct public consultations on areas affecting customary land considered to be in need of reform. Also to review all laws affecting customary land in Samoa and make recommendations to the Cabinet for changes to such laws.

The Customary Land Leasing Section, which is housed within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, now acts as the one-stop shop where landowners and investors can get information and advice on customary land.

The government has also ensured that a legal framework is in place to promote the economic use of customary land. While the use of customary land as mortgage is prohibited under Article 102 of the Constitution of Samoa, the H.R.P.P. government amended the legislation so that mortgage of customary land leasehold interest is now possible.

So basically your right or interest in customary land can be mortgaged and this right or interest can be resold if mortgagor defaults. You have given up your right or interest for 99 years and by the time it reverts back your descendants will not know or have forgotten about your family lands.

Well, let us look at the definition of what is freehold and leasehold.

Freehold is defined as permanent and absolute tenure of land or property with freedom to dispose of it at will or the outright ownership of property and land on which it stands.

Leasehold is defined as an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a leasehold estate is typically considered personal property. When the lease expires, ownership of the property reverts back to the freeholder or landlord.

Ok it is a bit confusing but we are trying to see how L.T.R.A. 2008 is seen by critics as a Torrens Title registration system.

L.T.R.A. 2008 Section 12. Manual folio to be considered evidence of title  A manual folio shall be:

(a) received by all Courts or persons having by law or consent of parties authority to hear, receive and examine evidence, as evidence of the particulars recorded in it; and

(b) conclusive evidence that a person recorded in the folio as the registered proprietor of an estate or interest in the land comprised in the folio is the registered proprietor of that estate or interest,  and that the land comprised in that folio has been duly brought under the provisions of this Act.

So subclause (b) is stating that a person recorded in the folio is the registered owner of an estate or interest in the land.

Torrens title is a system of land registration, in which a register of land holdings maintained by the state guarantees an indefeasible title to those included in the register (person registered as owner). Land ownership is transferred through registration of title instead of using deeds.

The impact of the Technical Assistance will be improved access to credit for business investment. This will be measured by credit to the private sector increasing from 43% of gross domestic product in 2012 to 50% in 2019 based on annual figures of the Central Bank of Samoa.

The outcome will be the use of customary land leases as collateral. The achievement will be reflected in commercial banks accepting customary land leases as collateral.

Well the bottom line is the ADB report sums up the intentions behind L.T.R.A. 2008 and the real reason as to why our land laws was amended. Simply to allow the mortgage of customary land leases.

Customary Land Advisory Commission (C.L.A.C.) will establish a legal working group (L.W.G.) to work closely with the Banking Association of Samoa to discuss further actions required to enable commercial banks to take advantage of this legal framework and accept customary land leases as collateral.

As a test case, an overseas investor has approached ANZ Bank (Samoa branch) to borrow money using as collateral the customary land lease they obtained from one of the villages (village unknown). CLAC and the LWG will work closely with the ANZ Bank, the overseas investor, and the government to broker this deal.

Some of the government sympathizers responded by asking why has no one ever taken the government to court to challenge LTRA 2008 legislation. Well guess what because all the lands registered under LRA 1992/1993 were automatically converted to the LTRA 2008 register without much fanfare and most people had no idea.

Section 14 was the first mechanism to bring lands under LTRA 2008 . When it came into effect, all lands registered in the Land Register under LRA 1992/1993 are deemed to be registered under LTRA 2008 as qualified title land.

The second mechanism was the registration of new transactions under Section 9 (1) of LTRA 2008.

No one is to blame for the confusion and objections to the LTRA 2008 except the HRPP government because there was no consultation with landowners or hold a public referendum as instructed by our constitution. There is a shroud of secrecy and denial about customary land leases and mortgages that we have our reservations. The people feel deceived and the mistrust of our politicians is at an all-time high.

I wanted to research and better understand the LTRA 2008 legislation but my understanding and interpretation is very similar to the Torrens title land registration system. So my personal opinion is that it is an unlawful piece of legislation that was fast tracked (by-passing the Constitution) and implemented to achieve the HRPP governments agenda, which is to free up customary land for mortgaging.

I am not against the leasing of customary land but I am against registering one individual as owner and mortgaging of customary lands or interest in the land. This LTRA 2008 should be repealed!

The general public see politicians as dishonest, corrupt and self serving this has contributed to the lack of confidence in the government. They should be more open and transparent about issues that affect the tax payers whom voted them into government.

Truth never damages a cause that is just Mahatma Gandhi.

Soifua,

OisoleThe National University of Samoa has announced the appointment of Aiono Dr. Alec Ekeroma as the founding Professor at the School of Medicine.

Aiono played an instrumental part in setting up the medical school at the N.U.S and also played a lead role in the curriculum committee which put together the schools initial curriculum in 2014.

The announcement was made by the Vice Chancellor and President Prof. Fui Asofou Soo, who officially welcomed Aiono to their institution.

Were very happy to have on board Dr. Aiono Alec Ekeroma as the founding professor of our school of medicine, said Prof. Fui.

As a Professor a lot of things that you do and contribute to the development of the medical school, of course you teach but one of the most important things is to lead our research aspect of work and I thank Dr Ekeroma for the interest to be part of the development of the medical school of Samoa.

Aiono was part of the team that put together the curriculum of our school of medicine. He has always been a part of the development of our medical school and to have somebody of Aionos caliber is very important and critical part in the development of our medical school leading our research and publication of our work.

Aiono Dr Alec Ekeroma has been teaching at the University of Auckland at Middlemore hospital for 22 years. Promoted to Associate Professor three years ago, Aiono also recently was appointed as a Professor at the Wellington School of Medicine as part of the University of Otago. He will be dividing his time between the schools of medicine,

There will still be synergies whereby I can contribute from New Zealand across to Samoa but also then assist our school and medical students looking for opportunities to have programmes from New Zealand as well.

The Professor is looking forward to giving back to his country as he had planned all those years ago when he first left Samoa to set up his own private practice in Auckland specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

For my appointment to be the first foundation professor for the school of medicine at N.U.S I cherish this opportunity to give back to medical education and the country. Aiono said To raise the quality of medical education and to have the medical school recognized across the region and therefore the medical school has the potential to contribute to the improvement of health outcomes of not only in Samoa but in the Pacific region so thats the reason why I have taken up this opportunity to sign up with the N.U. S school of medicine in order to contribute back in the development of medical education and research, to raise the profile of medical.

Dr Ekeroma received his M.B.B.S. degree from the University of P.N.G. in 1982 before pursuing his M.B.A. degree in 1999 MBA from the University of Keele in the United Kingdom. He is also the Chief Editor of two Pacific Health journals  Pacific Journal of Reproductive Health (founder) and the Pacific Health Dialog.Eteru Alualu, 29, of Fuailoloo Mulifanua, has been sentenced to two years in prison.

This is in connection to a sex related case inside a home in Mulifanua.

Eteru appeared for sentencing on one charge of assault with intent to commit sexual violation, burglary and wilful trespass.

He pleaded guilty to the charges on 20 November, 2017.

However because the accused disputed some parts of the summary of facts, a hearing proceeded on 8 March, 2018.

Sentencing was handed down by Supreme Court Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala-Warren yesterday afternoon.

According to the prosecution summary of facts, on the night of 21 October 2017, the victim, who was 15 years old, was sleeping with her younger sister inside their bedroom.

Around 2 a.m., the accused who had been drinking on the seawall in front of the victims house, went into the victims house and into the victims room.

He locked the door from the inside and removed his pants. He lay on the victims back and when she woke up, she began to scream.

The accused blocked her mouth with his hands and tried to pull off her top. The victims younger sister woke up and went to wake their father. The accused ran off leaving his pants, stated Justice Tafaoimalo during sentencing.

She points to the pre-sentence report which says the accused is 29 years old, married and was employed in construction until he was remanded into custody as a result of this matter.

He was fined $300 by the Village Council. He has paid his fine.

The village mayor told probation that the accused attends to duties and activities expected of untitled men in the village.

The accused says about the offending that he was drinking vodka on the seawall behind the victims home when he saw a mobile phone next to the window.

He went inside the room in which the victim and her younger sister were sleeping. He turned on the mobile phone and the victim woke up. She screamed and he blocked her mouth with his hand.

He says it was to silence the victim from waking up other people in the house. He has expressed remorse to probation. There has been no apology by the accused to the victims family, said Justice Tafaoimalo.

The victim is 15 years old and on the night in question, her nose was bruised and her lip was bleeding after the incident.

There has been no reconciliation and she feels scared and unsafe within her own home. She has not forgotten the incident and wants the accused punished.

Justice Tafaoimalo points out that its aggravating that there was actual violence involved in this offending. She suffered minor injuries as a result of his actions.

The effect on the victim has been significant. She does not feel safe anymore and cannot forget what happened.

This offending was part of a home invasion which is aggravating.

The victim was particularly vulnerable because she was sleeping with her younger sister in the same room, and they are both young girls, being 15 and 14 years respectively at the time.

Pertaining to mitigating factors, she took into account his early guilty plea and the penalty paid to the Village Council.

Justice Tafaoimalo said this offending was opportunistic at the outset by an intoxicated man.

However once he entered the house of the victim, his intention to commit sexual violation or in other words rape became apparent by his actions.

Too often alcohol has been the cause of sexual offending. Fortunately for this victim, she woke and her father was alerted before anything more sinister occurred.

Alcohol is no excuse for this type of blatant home invasion as well as intended sexual offending.

The accused got to a point of intoxication whereby he went into the victims house and into her room, undressed himself, physically restrained the victim and tried to remove her top.

He had no regard for her or for her family.

The sentence imposed today (Tuesday) is a sentence of deterrence and to ensure the protection of the community and in particular people who are attacked in their own homes where they have a right to feel safe.

The accused is convicted of assault with intent to commit sexual violation and sentenced to two years imprisonment. For burglary, he was sentenced to one year imprisonment, regarding wilful trespass; he was sentenced to two years.

However sentencing is concurrent, meaning he will serve two years in jail.After 21 years of wishing to visit Samoa, Raewyn and Warwick Allen finally made it a reality.

The couple was only here for seven days and has left the country. It was heartbreaking for them.

The mother of three shared that despite how much she misses her children, she did not want to return to their homeland  Taranaki, New Zealand.

It was a special trip because they celebrated their 10th year anniversary.

Peoples friendliness and the culture have been the highlight of their trip.

In the culture I can feel the spirit, the love, the family and the happiness. Of course not every body is like that but what we have seen the people are just talking to everyone, they are smiling, and we just love it, Raewyn said.

They told us so much about the different culture and the different ways of doing things.

I think everybody is really hospital and friendly here. The service is so much better here than in New Zealand.

We have been at the market and of course they want to sell their stuff, but they have been friendly and answered all our questions. They are happy to be there and tell you about where to go and what to do, she added.

It is their first time being away from their children in 12 years.

She mentioned that the beginning was difficult, but it was absolutely worth it to come to the island.

The fire dance and all it just blows me away, she said.

It is amazing how talented everybody is. They play the guitar, dance or sing.

They had the taro, umu and palusami, which they really enjoyed.

We drank just straight from the coconut that was cool, I loved that, Allen said.

Unfortunately it is already our last day here, I could have stayed here a couple more days.

It is our first time here and we are already planning our trip back.

It is just the combination of a little of everything we want to see again.This much is undeniable. Facebook and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, have been making all the news during the past couple of weeks. Isolated Samoa in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean is certainly not immune.

While Zuckerberg has become deeply embroiled in the raging controversy surrounding data collected by the popular social media platform, here in Samoa, the social network has been giving Prime Minister Tuilaepa and his administration some sleepless nights so that in his rage, the Prime Minister has threatened to ban Zuckerbergs invention completely.

But well come back to that a little later.

In the meantime, even when we are thousands of miles away from Silicon Valley and where the U.S. Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committee hearings have been taking place, its been hard to escape the drama. Fascinating reading, if you ask this writer.

The world media, judging from hundreds of stories, opinions and memes popping up for the past two weeks, has been having a ball. What with the amateurish questions from the Senate, the suit, ears, the haircut to the booster cushion on the seat used, the media had sure found a lot to write.

Perhaps they have finally found something to crucify Zuckerberg about and they have not led up. Its not going to change in a hurry either.

But thats the nature of the beast, isnt it? Besides, why stop when there is plenty of blood to extract, so to speak. So we can expect this saga to continue for sometime.

President Donald Trump would have been mighty relieved though. With Zuckerberg taking all the heat from the world media during the past couple of weeks, at least the story of his Stormy Daniel affair appears to be running out of legs.

Or perhaps maybe until the world has had enough of the Zuckerberg saga.

Either way, these are interesting times. Its certainly a tough old time for Zuckerberg whose bubble has perhaps finally burst given the amount of scrutiny hes been subjected to lately.

Having spent two days facing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers, Facebook is bound to come under more scrutiny. According to reports, Facebooks Chief Technology Officer, Mike Schroepfner, is due to appear before U.K. lawmakers later this month to address the ongoing data scandal enshrouding the company.

One of the biggest questions they will have to explain is how Cambridge Analytica harvested the data of millions of Facebook users without their permission to influence U.S. voters during the 2016 presidential elections.

There are also questions with links to Russia, U.S., Syria and much more in this controversy. We would certainly be following with a lot of interest how this drama unfolds.

Here in Samoa, well its fair to say that Facebook has become part of the furniture, hasnt it? During the past few years, most Samoans have made the platform their daily Bible. Some people cant go quietly to the toilet, they have to tell the world.

But thats life these days and in some cases, platforms like Facebook has brought out the worst in people.

Which makes the latest global developments all the more relevant. It is no secret that Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has threated to ban the platform from Samoa completely. Last week, he said all options remain open while his Government continues to hunt the gutless social media misfits who have been giving Tuilaepa a headache.

The Prime Minister reiterated that he has order Attorney General, Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff, to proceed with the legal process to ensure that whoever the ghostwriters must stand trial.

They must answer to their slander, personal vendetta and unsubstantiated malice posted freely without consequences virally, Tuilaepa said.

To clear the record, I remain firm that these gutless writers should not get away scot free. I have kept no secret in publicly condemning the miss-use of the social media, which has defeated the genuine purpose behind the governments investment to improve our I.C.T. capacities for the benefit of the people.

For almost two decades, my administration has left no stone unturned in developing our I.C.T. Sector.

But Tuilaepa is disappointed that the misfits have used the opportunities to vent out that to slander, personal vendetta and unsubstantiated malice posted freely without consequences.

There is little question when it comes to my vote to support for Facebook and other platforms. I am in favour and thats why I was behind it from the start, when we pushed for the development of the Internet links to speed up communications with the outside world.

But at the point Government is now moving to address the abuse and if it means closing Facebook down then that is what will ultimately happen.

These developments are unfolding at a time when Samoa is at the crossroads.

Poor Tuilaepa though, hes copping it from everywhere.

From the villages, churches, his baby called rugby is falling apart in front of our eyes and this Facebook saga might just be the final nail in the coffin.

What do you think?

Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless!Dear Editor

Why is the government spending $20 million on a prison when families are working hard but still struggling to have the basic necessities to life?

Its hard enough to have food and running water to bath ourselves and our children and to have electricity.

Not all houses have water tanks and some families have to get water from a neighbour or somewhere far.

Why cant the government wake up and care for us first before building a nice new building for convicted prisoners to enjoy a better quality of life?

What is that teaching our children?

That they are not as important as criminals?

That their health and hygiene isnt a priority?

Come on you law-makers, help us get the basics and dont tax us for our chickens. Why are we still living like our forefathers in poverty instead of embracing modern technology and progressing and implementing industrialization like the other countries?

Quit thinking about your own pockets and think of Samoa first!

Shirley Hunt

TulaeleThe Samoa Law Society (S.L.S.) has suspended the practicing certificate for lawyer, Pau Tafaogalupe Mulitalo.

This was confirmed in a letter dated 29 March 2018 to Pau, signed by the S.L.S. Secretary, Rebecca Schuster.

Contacted for a comment, Pau confirmed his suspension to the Sunday Samoan.

He said he is fighting the decision. Lawyer, Unasa Iuni Savusa, will represent him.

Pau declined to comment on the case, noting that it is pending before the Samoa Law Society.

But according to the letter obtained by the Sunday Samoan, the lawyer is accused of breaching the Lawyers and Legal Practitioners Act.

At its meeting on 27, March 2018, Council noted your response and considered the same as not acceptable given the clear breach of section 34 (2) (a) of the L.L.P.A. (Lawyers and Legal Practitioners Act) 2014, the letter signed by the Societys Secretary, Rebecca L. Schuster, reads.

In light of this breach, the Council has determined that it is serious enough to warrant a suspension of your practicing certificate.

Accordingly, you are hereby advised that your practicing certificate is suspended, effective immediately.

The Registrar of the Supreme Court and C.E.O. of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment by copy of this letter are notified accordingly, said Schuster in her letter to Pau.

Last Tuesday, District Court Judge, Alalatoa Rosella Papalii, did not allow Pau to represent a client, in her Court, due to the said suspension, which he did mention to the Judge.

Pau appeared in the District Court Criminal Mention and informed her Judge Alalatoa that he has been suspended. However he can apply for leave of Court which allows him to represent a client.

Pau explained that he spoke to the President of the Samoa Law Society Sua Hellene Wallwork.

She (President of S.L.S.) made it clear that I can seek leave from the Court to appear on this matter.

The Court of Appeal has granted leave for me to appear for a matter there and I also appeared for call overs.

Judge Alalatoa thanked Mulitalo for his honesty.

I am caught by surprise on the status of your practice as a lawyer because I was unaware.

However the cases you referred to where you were granted leave to appear in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court call overs were different in that it was in the interest of justice and that of the clients he represented for some time, so there is finality that the appeal case precedes.

But here in my Court, you accepted instructions from a new client to act and even appeared in Court for first mention knowing full well you are suspended.

There is a difference, Judge Alalatoa pointed out.

Unless Madam President herself appears before me to confirm what you said in seeking leave of Court, or unless I receive a letter from the Law Society Council of a revised resolution to that effect, I will not entertain this application for leave.

Pau attempted to give an explanation, but Judge Alalatoa would not have it.

I have no jurisdiction to hear your explanation and it is for you to sort out your issues with the Law Society.

However if you challenge the suspension take it to the Supreme Court, but dont tell me about it.

But for the matter before me, as you have informed me, you are under suspension which means you have no right of appearance in this Court.

If you are passionate about the interests of the client and having appeared for, then you should instruct another counsel to appear on your behalf.The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal brought by Peseta Vaifou Tevaga against former business associates in a long-standing dispute about a nonu company.

The dispute involves Associate Minister of Cabinet and Prime Minister, Peseta who is up against former Cabinet Minister, Laaulilemalietoa Polata'ivao Schmidt and others.

The decision was delivered by Justice Fisher, Justice Panckhurst and Justice Hansen of the Court of Appeal last Friday, despite the Public Holiday. It was one of six matters heard during the Court of Appeal sitting last week.

Five decisions have been delivered with the decision for one of the cases deferred.

Prior to delivering of the decision, the Court observed a moment of silence to honour fallen Member of the Council of Deputies and one of Samoas longest serving Members of Parliament, Tuiloma Pule Alaimoana Unasa Lameko Gaee, who was laid to rest on Friday.

Peseta is represented by Leuluaialii Olinda Woodroffe while the respondents were represented by Semi Leung Wai.

The case is between Peseta and Laauli, Apulu Lance Polu, Martin Schwalger, Local Partners and Associates Limited and Aldan Civil Engineering Construction Company.

According to the decision on the case, Peseta claims to be a shareholder of L.P.A. and is the holder of 50 percent shares in the Aldan Company.

Peseta in his ex parte application and Court granted leave and appointed an interim manager to be responsible for the daily administration of the financial affairs of L.P.A. and made orders restricting the ability of Laauli and others to engage in the operations of L.P.A.

After a trial of seven days, Justice Tuala-Warren found against Peseta on all causes of actions.

Amongst other things, she found Peseta was not a director or shareholder of L.P.A. and accordingly had no standing to bring to proceedings in behalf.

The appellant appeals against the judgment, and they claim the judge erred in fact and in law, including her finding that Peseta was not a shareholder or director of L.P.A.

Supported by an affidavit filed for the purpose of the appeal, they also claim that the trial judge had connections with the respondents, which gave rise to an apprehension of apparent bias, which should have disqualified her from hearing the case and this was the only ground of appeal ultimately pursued.

The ruling indicates the claims of apparent bias set out in Pesetas affidavit, that Justice Tuala-Warrens brother, Siaki Tuala, was associated with the two companies.

Also that Justice Tuala-Warrens past association with Tuala Law however she was successively employed as a lawyer and then a partner of the firm.

In 2008, she was appointed the first Law Reform Commissioner of Samoa; while her brother continued representation of cases involving Laauli.

Mr. Tuala was a director together with Mrs. Rosary Mumia Leilua, a daughter of Laauli and Malosi ole Nuu which Mr. Tuala, Mrs. Leilua and Apulu were directors.

Woodroffe informed the Court that she was only made aware of this the day before the hearing.

In his affidavit, Tuala confirmed his sisters involvement with Tuala Law ceased in 2008.

Mr. Tuala says that since his sister was appointed Law Reform Commissioner in 2008, he has been careful not to have any professional contact or dealings with her.

He has not discussed his involvement with the two companies or any other matters that might prejudice or compromise her position as Judge.

DISCUSSION

Woodroffe argued that all of the matters linking Tuala Law and Mr. Tuala on the other hand and the respondents or members of their family on the other, should be taken into account in considering, as a first step, what might have led the judge to decide the case other than on its merits.

She said it had to be borne in mind that Samoa is a small country with an enhanced risk that a Judge may be possessed of knowledge acquired outsider a direct professional relationship.

The Appellate Court accepted the Court must be cognizant of life in a small jurisdiction.

And here the unchallenged evidence of Mr. Tuala is that since his sister became Judge in 2013, he has been scrupulous to refrain from any communications with her that might compromise her judicial function.

There is therefore no reason to have regard to any of the dealings between the parties and Tuala Law or Mr. Tuala personally since Tuala-Warren left the firm in 2008.

Furthermore, the Appellate Court pointed out that Woodroffe took them to the other passages of the judgement in which the Judge had preferred the evidence of the respondents or in other ways made findings adverse to the appellant.

But they were all findings that were open to the Judge to make on the evidence and which could not possibly support a finding that she has not acted impartially.

We are satisfied that there is no basis for a finding of apparent bias.

The appeal is dismissed and the respondents are entitled to costs to be subject of memoranda of the parties cannot agree.The Samoa Alliance of Media Practitioner for Development (S.A.M.P.O.D.) has cautioned Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi against continuing with a threat to shut down Facebook in Samoa.

In a statement, the Group has reminded the Government that the right to free expression is fundamental to any democracy.

The right to free expression is fundamental to democracy like Samoa, the Group says in a statement.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the universal right to freedom of opinion and expression, which includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers.

Samoa is a signatory to the declaration.

S.A.M.P.O.D. was founded by media veteran, Rudy Bartley, of WT Media. He is also the President of the Journalists Association of (Western) Samoa (J.A.W.S.)

The group has more than 30 media practitioners as members.

Last month, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Maleilegaoi threatened to ban social media platforms from Samoa completely.

That will happen if gutless anonymous bloggers continue to use the freedom social media affords them to abuse government officials and innocent members of the public.

The Government will do what it takes to settle this matter once and for all, even if it means banning Facebook, Tuilaepa said.

Most Governments have banned Facebook, and we have been holding back because of the positive impact of social media.

In response, S.A.M.P.O.D. points out that while they do not endorse the use of Facebook to defame, incite violence or spread misinformation, they continue to support freedom of speech and freedom of information within reason.

Freedom of information and expression is essential to a functioning democracy, and Facebook provides an avenue for citizens to express their views freely, the group says in a statement.

Measures to control implications can be addressed under Criminal Libel Law and the Media Council Bill.

Blanket actions that hinder the free flow of information and constructive criticism by members of the public are a direct threat to freedom of expression. It is a place for the exchange of ideas, a forum for debate on pressing social and political issues.

In recent years, Facebook has also become an avenue for the media to verify stories and for crisis response and assistance.

This tool is invaluable as we continue to experience disasters on a regular basis, and free access to information is important.

We urge the Government to use existing mechanisms to address issues arising from the misuse of Facebook, but humbly caution against the banning of this essential medium of information for the people of Samoa, according to the statement.

As reported earlier, the Prime Minister, in justifying why the Government is considering banning of Facebook, says Government has had enough of faceless ghosts who use sites such as Facebook to post defamatory claims against unsuspecting victims.

Tuilaepa said these faceless writers have been posting countless allegations including extra marital affairs, corruption and sensitive details about public figures, their families and their children.

Because its all based on lies, those affected are government leaders, he said.

Those behind the social media posts are driven by the devil, their hearts are filled with hatred and Im certain they dont rest at night because they continue to make up fabrications.

Tuilaepa added these writers have gone as far as to level allegations against Church Ministers.

If the allegations are true, they would have been published in the Samoa Observer. It then allows us the opportunity to sue them and find out the accuracy of the allegations.

Only gutless people would such a thing and make up these stories. Maybe their parents did this as well.

He said other lies posted involve parents having sexual intercourse with their children.

Tuilaepa said he has an inkling about whom they are and they would eventually be caught.

He warned that once they are found, they could be dead in two days given the hatred they have provoked.

Tuilaepa said he has some names but does not want to say them yet because bullets will be fired and thats what he doesnt want.

So I advise them not to play with fire. I want them to know that no matter where you hide, you will be caught.

According to the Prime Minister, the only reason the Government is delaying the move to ban Facebook is because there are numerous people who utilise this site for the right reasons.

He said the Tui Samoa Cable was established for the betterment of services and connection to the outside world but this is the negative impact.

The country is in turmoil due to these unfounded allegations.The Government has yet to disclose how much it paid to settle the case involving a three-year-old boy who was locked in a Police cell with his father back in 2014.

Last year, Attorney General Lemalu Herman Retzlaff, in a letter dated 4 May 2017, sent to Woodroffe Lawyers in Auckland, offered $100,000 settlement.

Up until now, attempts to confirm the final settlement amount have been unsuccessful.

Some members of the Police force are questioning how much was paid.

The officers, who did not wished to be named for fear of repercussion, told the Samoa Observer the Commanding Officer in charge is still on duty.

They also claim that no disciplinary action has been taken.

Emails sent since January with latest email last month to the Attorney General Lemalu, Commissioner of Police, Fuiavailiili Egon Keil have not been responded to.

The whether the offer remained $100,000 or if it was more.

Emails also sent pertaining to action taken against the Commanding Officer were also not responded to.

As reported earlier, the father was taken in for a traffic violation but was not given the chance to make arrangements for his son to be taken away.

Both were immediately locked in a cell.

The A.G.s letter from last year was in response to two separate pieces of correspondence from the familys counsel, Leulualii Olinda Woodroffe, who made an offer to the Attorney Generals office.

The plaintiff requests an open letter of apology from the Government of Samoa to the childs parents, to the child personally for his mistreatment and false imprisonment by the Police, Leuluaialii wrote.

The plaintiff invites the Government to make a compensation payment to the child of $100,000 tala and legal costs of $25,000 tala.

The plaintiff invites the Government to give an assurance to members of the public the childs case will be instrumental in the Government, providing legislative compliance of Samoa in relation to interrogation child protection standards, as raised by the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund in its report as mentioned above.

Lemalu, in his letter, noted they sought instructions from their client and the counter offer is listed here.

The defendant appreciates the effects of the event which took place on September 2016 [sic] and that a formal apology can be made by the current Commissioner of Police to the plaintiff and his family under the auspices of the confidential and without prejudice mediation process.

The defendant offers a settlement repayment of $75,000 for the child and $25,000 for legal costs.

The defendant also requests that 50 percent of the settlement payment be held on trust for the child until he attains the maturity age.

Lemalu further urged the plaintiffs attorney to discuss with the clients and said they hoped to hear from them before or by the date set for mediation.

The Attorney General clarified to the plaintiffs attorney that if the client was agreeable to the terms set out, they would seek Cabinets approval before the money is paid out and that the plaintiffs claim would then be withdrawn and dismissed.Phase one of the Faleu Wharf renovation project has been completed and it was a cause for celebration at the village yesterday.

The first phase includes the construction of 22 meters of the wharf using concrete and a cement slab walkway to replace wood posts and stones.

We chose these materials and the design because it was more lasting and environmentally friendly. The wharf should now last us another 50 years, said Leiataualesa Kilali Alailima, the Project Manager of the Faleu Village Development Committee.

The total renovation cost is $226,436. The reconstruction of the Faleu Wharf began in October last year.

The Mormon Welfare Society was the first to donate $25,000 for the project with the Ministry of Finance, through Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure and Samoa Ports Authority, gave $50,000.

The United Nations Development Programme (adaptation funds), through Civil Society Support Programme, donated $50,000.

The Government of Canada, through Canada Fund, ($62,723), Government of New Zealand, through their High Commission, ($25,000), Hamrock Contruction ($1,000) and the community of Faleu Manono, fundraised $12,713 for the project.

In 2009, the Faleu Manono community had asked for assistance to repair their wharf after it was damaged by the 2009 tsunami.

This wharf is used by all of our village and visitors including our tourists, said Leiataualesa.

She adds they also sought funds to build a shelter for waiting passengers and especially schoolchildren who would not attend school on Upolu whenever it rains.

Hamrock Construction came in with the lowest bid of $184,500 or 81 percent, which was within our total budget for the whole project.

The other 19 percent of our total budget was used to purchase our boat engine and other expenses, she said.

Faleu Manono is looking to sought more help to complete the renovation of their wharf.

This will include renovating the last 15 meters remaining of the wharf, putting hand rails, and having another step down for passengers to step in and out of boats, said Leiataualesa.A proud Samoan, Andrea Peteru, celebrated sweet success last Wednesday when she graduated from UNITEC, Auckland NZ, with a Bachelor of Health Science in Medical Imaging.

She was the only Samoan and Pacific Islander among 38 graduates in this field

She has been blessed with a job as Radiographer trainee at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland.

She intends to return and serve Samoa in the future doing the same work her father, Tanuvasa Jesse Peteru is doing; a radiographer.

Her father runs the Js Ultrasound Clinic at Savalalo.

Andrea hails from Vaivase tai and Vailuutai. She went to Vaiala Beach School and then Samoa College. Graduate Andrea is pictured with her proud parents Latama and Jesse Peteru.

Photo: Supplied.A new home for Federal Pacific Group (F.P.G.) in the Cook Islands was officially blessed during a cocktail held at the building located in central Avarua, Rarotonga.

The new building houses Federal Pacific Insurance together with associated companies Western Union Money Transfers, No.1 Currency and Jetsave Travel.

The event was attended by the Cook Islands Minister of Finance, Mark Brown and the Minister of Health, Nandi Classic, together with the members of the Cook Islands business community. Federal Pacific Group Chairman PapaliI Alistair Hutchison attended on behalf of the company.

Speaking on behalf of F.P.G., General Manager for Federal Pacific Insurance, Namulauulu Sami Leota welcomed guests and clients to the cocktail evening.

I acknowledge the F.P.G. Board of Directors for believing in our vision to expand in the Pacific Region, and for their commitment to driving the business in the Cook Islands, in particular Papalii Alan Hutchison, who has supported and encouraged the development of Federal Pacific Insurance from the outset, he said.

Local Understanding

As in our other country operations, the success of our business relies heavily on the local staff and their understanding of the market, so I must acknowledge the hard work of Country Manager Eleanor Rivera and her team.

They have made excellent progress since we launched and I am positive there are great things ahead for the Federal Pacific Insurance service, said Namulauulu.

Namulauulu told guests the opening of the Federal Pacific House in the Cook Islands was in line with the consolidation of the companys regional branding drive.

Federal Pacific has operations in a number of Pacific Island countries, and we are proud to have such an attractive home in the heart of the Cook Islands together with Federal Pacific House in both Apia and Nukualofa, said Namulauulu.

Federal Pacific Insurance began trading in the Cook Islands in 2015.

Partnerships

Namulauulu said the partnership with associated companies Western Union and Jetsave travel, who have solid background and excellent reputation with the Cook Island business community was very valuable for Federal Pacific Insurance.

Namulauulu told guests he hoped the establishment of Federal Pacific House would be seen by the Cook Island people as a term commitment to the Cook Island business community.

In closing, I fully commend the leadership and vision of local Director, Julie Bateman and her team - no doubt without them we will not be where we are today, he said.

Federal Pacific Insurance started trading in Apia since 1999 and have since set up offices in Tonga, Cook Islands, Timor-Leste with supporting underwriting offices in New Zealand and London with further expansion planned in the Pacific Region.Q:My homeowners association is facing a perplexing issue - Internet-based short-term rentals. I understand it is becoming more common. As we revise our CC&Rs, in addition to a no-subletting clause, we want to add another clause that states listing with Internet rental sites is a breach of the governing documents and the tenants lease agreement and cause for eviction. Would this be enforceable in court or is there a more effective way of handling this problem? R.W., Coronado.

A: Many associations amend their governing documents to ban rentals shorter than one year, and often go even further to explicitly ban short-term rentals. I gather from your question that there may be a problem in your association with tenants subletting their units via Internet sites.

Short-term rentals may be inconsistent with the residential usage requirement in the typical HOA CC&Rs. Such rentals are more akin to private hotels than normal residential uses.

Some cities are also cracking down on short term rentals, because many cities believe that short term rental landlords are cheating the city by not paying a bed tax like normal hotels. Anaheim, Laguna Beach, San Francisco and Santa Monica are among the many cities restricting or regulating them. Check your city ordinances, which may also be of help in keeping these under control.

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Some associations establish a lease addendum requirement in dealing with all rentals. In that approach, the lease addendum is required as a condition of renting in the association, and can, among other things, ban subletting. Other lease addendum items might be a requirement that tenants agree to submit to the associations disciplinary jurisdiction as a condition of their tenancy, and owners are responsible for the acts of the owners tenants. This would help deal with tenant misbehavior issues.

It is important to know who is authorized to be in a residence at a given time. Civil Code 4740(d) requires landlords, prior to a rental, to provide the association  the name and contact information of the prospective tenant... This requirement can be either added to the CC&Rs or the association operating rules. Since it is simply a rule to restate existing law, Civil Code 4355(b)(5) exempts this from the 30-day notice process required of most rule changes under Civil Code 4355.

The association may want to consider creating a rough calculation of the associations costs from vacation rentals moving in and out. Under the Watts vs. Oak Shores ruling from 2015, associations may make a reasonable good faith calculation of their costs from short-term rentals, and then establish a fee in that amount.

The lease addendum and its contents are best contained in a CC&Rs amendment, which would require a membership vote. With membership votes, apathy is often a problem, and can stymie good ideas.

Evicting a members tenant (or subtenant) would require an injunction. That can be expensive, and there is no guarantee it would be granted.

In a previous column I discussed the recent Greenfield v. Mandalay Shores case. This might affect your association if it is in the Coastal Zone under the meaning of the California Coastal Act. The HOA should consult with its attorney before drafting rules or CC&R amendments, and to determine that ruling applies.

Kelly G. Richardson, Esq. is a Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and Senior Partner of Richardson Ober PC, a law firm known for community association advice. Submit potential column questions to Kelly@Richardsonober.com. Past columns at www.HOAHomefront.com.Even though the title is just honorary, an East County mountain town has a new mayor.

Jennifer Tschida, associate publisher of The Alpine Sun newspaper, has been named the 2018 Honorary Mayor of Alpine. She will take over for Rose Signore, owner of the Postal Annex of Alpine.

Tschida, who raised money during her campaign for research into a mitochondrial disease that kills children, was named the unincorporated communitys unofficial leader on April 10 at the Alpine Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfast.

The mayoral campaign and race is an annual fundraising effort championed by the chamber and the Alpine Community Foundation.

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The competition raises money for nonprofit community causes. Every dollar donated to a candidates campaign is a vote. The candidate with the most votes wins. Each candidate, who must live or work in Alpine, donates the money to the nonprofit charity, organization or educational purpose of his or her choice.

Between Tschida and three other candidates, a record $22,000 was raised this year. Last years candidates raised about $15,000, according to Chamber Vice Chairman Bob Ring of Alpine Barons Market, twice an Alpine Honorary Mayor.

Caity Yaussi earned money for the Alpine Education Foundation to provide exceptional programs for local students, Louis Russo funded classroom school supplies and teachers wish lists and Sallie Brown campaigned for an Adopt-A-Grandparent USA program to bring holiday cheer to elderly assisted living residents.

Tschida, who grew up in Alpine and is a 2000 graduate of Granite Hills High School, was awarded a small key to the community of Alpine, a purple sash declaring her mayor and a black top hat as symbols of her new status. She will be asked to attend chamber events and other Alpine activities when possible.

She said attending events in Alpine will be easy for her as her newspaper job already places her at most of them.

Its a pretty cool overlap for me, she said.

The married mother of two kids ages 12 and 14, and owner of a big ol 95-pound lap dog, was recently promoted from account executive to publisher at The Alpine Sun.

These things are good for the community, she said of the mayoral run as a whole. We all want the community happy and thriving and not at odds. Its really the kids who won. We want healthy kids running around Alpine. I loved everyones campaign programs.

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When the campaign first started, the goal was to raise money for the teachers wish lists in the Alpine Union School District. Several years ago, it was decided that candidates could donate the money to help the community or a nonprofit charity.

The first winner was Peggy Easterling in 2003. Other winners have included Al Guerra, owner of The Liars Club Tavern & Grill, in 2008, and Alpine Fire Chief Bill Paskle in 2014.

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.comTwo petitions are being circulated in Santee -- one that would limit the number of terms elected officials can serve, another that would require voter approval for certain zoning changes.

Both petitions are backed by environmental activist Van Collinsworth and freshman City Councilman Stephen Houlahan. Calling them The Save Santee Initiatives, each will require 3,219 valid signatures to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.

The term limit petition asks voters to restrict members of the Santee City Council to three four-year terms or no more than 12 years.

I was elected on a platform favoring term limits, Houlahan said. Providing The Santee Term Limits Initiative to the people for a vote fulfills my campaign commitment on this issue. It will keep elections competitive enough to encourage a meaningful discussion of issues at every election and allow enough time to develop experience.

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Collinsworth and Houlahan are also pushing for a General Plan Amendment in Santee that will require voter approval for land-use zoning changes in certain circumstances. Those circumstances include if such changes would increase the density or otherwise intensify the use permitted by law; or change, alter or increase the General Plans land use categories.

The Santee General Plan Protection Initiative, Collinsworth said, seeks to protect Santee from overdevelopment. Collinsworth has been critical of the citys rapid growth and expansion. Close to 500 homes in Santee are currently under construction, with as many as 3,500 homes under review and possibly coming to the city in the near future.

He said Santee streets and highways are already experiencing significant congestion and gridlock and he said he is concerned that City Council members potentially influenced by campaign contributions from special interests will not act appropriately to stop more traffic-generating projects.

Overdevelopment occurs, in major part, due to General Plan amendments granted to development projects by the City Council that increase density or otherwise intensify use of the land, Collinsoworth said, and that in turn, exacerbates traffic congestion and gridlock.

Santee citizens need and deserve a greater voice in order to maintain Santees quality of life, he said.

Houlahan, elected in 2016 but an outspoken activist for many years prior, says he continues to be concerned about worsening traffic for already tough commutes along main streets such as Mast Boulevard and Mission Gorge Road as well as state Routes 125, 52 and 67.

He has consistently cast the lone council vote against a steady stream of developments, often citing a need for improved traffic planning.

City Councilman Ronn Hall said that while he understands the frustrations residents have about the citys growth and he knows from his own experience about the traffic woes, reality sunk in for him earlier this month.

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I received an email (from Collinsworth) about a stopping growth initiative on Friday (April 6) while I was sitting at a SANDAG meeting, Hall said. It was so ironic. I saw it arrive when they were literally telling us they have to build 171,000 homes in San Diego County. Ive talked to Van about this and explained that the state of California will end up taking over and telling us, Well put them in for you. 

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.comPHOTO: The Rancho Buena Vista Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution initiated five new members into the chapter over a month. From left: Laura Nelson, Erin Brown, Suzanne Crockett, Anne Case and Lisa Yon. The group is open to women who are direct descendants of patriots who aided in the American Revolution. Email jbqualnrse@aol.com or visit vista.californiadar.org.

Community news

ENCINITAS

Annual city event celebrates Arbor Day

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The city of Encinitas will hold its annual Encinitas Tree City USA Arbor Day 2018 Celebration and free tree-planting event from 10 a.m. to noon April 21 in the residential block of Melba Road between Nardo Road and Bonita Drive. The event celebrates Arbor Day, Encinitas Tree City USA accreditation, and provides the community with a volunteer opportunity to help protect the local environment. Participants will gather into groups and plant a variety of 15 gallon trees alongside professional arborists. The arborists will teach participants about identifying trees, planting the right tree in the right place, tree-watering requirements and root systems. There will be informational booths and each participant will receive a fabric Arbor Day bag. Participants are asked to wear closed-toe shoes and hats. Call (760) 633-2850.

POWAY

Author to discuss dyslexia, ADHD

The International Dyslexia Association  San Diego Branch will present John Rodrigues, author of High School Dropout to Harvard, as he describes his story with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from 2 to 3:30 p.m. April 29 at the Poway Library, 13137 Poway Road. Rodrigues, the founder of ThinkLexic nonprofit that seeks to rethink and reframe education for K-12 students with dyslexia, is also a professional ice sculptor, a public speaker and dyslexia advocate. His presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Email michelleperryddca@gmail.com. Register at bit.ly/2DfQm43.

RANCHO SANTA FE

Fundraiser to benefit Breast Cancer Angels

The Brunch ... Browse ... and Buy fundraiser benefiting Breast Cancer Angels will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. April 28 at the Santaluz Club, 8170 Caminito Santaluz E., San Diego. Highlights include a chef-inspired menu, wines and a classical flamenco guitarist. There will be more than 15 handpicked vendors, including Designer Details, Duchess of Pearls, Jacki B., Nancy Alvarez Womens Clothing, Satori Designs, Kendra Scott Jewelry, Blu Sands Boutique, Tina Frantz Designs and Willow Tree Candles. Tickets cost $50. Breast Cancer Angels helps breast cancer patients who need financial help during treatments. Reserve by Friday at breastcancerangels.org under the Events link.

VISTA

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Historical museum seeking volunteers

The Vista Historical Museum is in need of volunteers/docents to help with the many tasks of running the museum. Tasks include conducting museum tours, designing and building new displays, updating records, authoring newsletter articles and other articles for other publications, staffing events and booths, research, and watering plants around the museum. Call (760) 630-0444.

More community news

CARLSBAD

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Pirate-themed pool event for families

Families can participate in pirate-themed pool activities and games during the city of Carlsbads annual Pirate Plunge event from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Alga Norte Aquatic Center, 6565 Alicante Road. Pool activities include diving for treasure, cannonball crush, hook it and ship raider race. Other activities include a treasure hunt, pirate ship slide, a tropical bounce house and photo opportunities. The night will finish with a special presentation of the movie The Princess Bride on the giant outdoor movie screen. Cost is $10 per person; free for children ages 3 and younger. Dinner will be available from the Dive In Grill, which will be open during the event. Visit carlsbadconnect.org or call (760) 521-0741.

Childrens authors to visit library Saturday

The Carlsbad City Librarys second Local Childrens Author Festival where childrens authors will talk about their work in a panel discussion will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at 1775 Dove Lane. There will be a meet-and-greet with book sales, signings and refreshments at noon. Call (760) 602-2049.

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ENCINITAS

Gallery features artists handmade jewelry

The Off Track Gallery is holding an artist reception for Cheryl DeLain from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at 937 S. Coast Highway 101. The gallery features DeLains jewelry including pieces of handblown glass from Murano, Italy, vintage handmade silver from India and Thailand, lapis from Afghanistan, old Buddha amulets from Asia, and vintage porcelain from China. Artwork will be 10 percent off from 10 a.m. to closing that day. The Off Track Gallery is owned and operated by the San Dieguito Art Guild. Visit offtrackgallery.com.

SOLANA BEACH

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Learn about benefits of essential oils Saturday

The Solana Beach Library is offering Natural Solutions for Healthy Living with essential oils specialist Virginia Norwood from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at 157 Stevens Ave. She will present ways to aid the bodys own natural defenses and eliminate the need for toxic cleaning products in the home by using pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils. Call (858) 755-1404.Lauren Roberts loves to run.

I think its just because you get to exercise and build your muscles, said the Temecula resident.

In last years Run Through the Vineyard, an annual charity run/walk presented by the Temecula Sunrise Rotary Club and held at the Maurice Carrie Vineyard and Winery, Roberts finished the race second in her class.

The year before that, in 2016, she finished first. She was just 10 years old.

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How did it feel? I felt relieved, said Roberts, and like a superhero.

Roberts is a stellar athlete, no doubt about it. But she also represents a group for whom the annual event has growing appeal: families and children.

This run is a great way to do a fun and healthy family event, introduce the kids to the sport of running and help prevent childhood obesity in the future, said Temecula Sunrise Rotary member and race chairperson Frank Appice.

Two years ago, Appice reported that female participants running or walking behind strollers was a common sight. Then, in 2017, it became clear that families were all in. More than 40 children  not including the infants bumping along in prams  actively participated in the race.

Of course, many parents brought their children to run in the 2k and did the race themselves, Appice said.

Roberts was introduced to Run Through the Vineyard by her father, Greg, an endurance athlete. Together, Greg, Lauren and her then 12-year-old brother Cooper ran what Greg calls a challenging course with a unique terrain. They liked the event, especially the family-friendly atmosphere and the views. When the sun is coming up in the vineyard, recalled Greg Roberts, and youre coming over a hill, you cant believe itthat youre in the middle of the Inland Empire.

That may be why folks come from all over Southern California, including Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego, and as far away as New York, Virginia and Vermont. Last year, there were 708 registrants in all, up from 540 in 2016. This year, Run Through the Vineyard is hoping to attract 800 participants.

At the time of publication, Lauren Roberts hadnt yet registered for the race, but she intends to. When asked if she recommends the event to other young people, she was quick to reply, I absolutely recommend it. Its a way to bond with the community and push yourself to the limit.

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Proceeds from the Run Through the Vineyard are used by the Temecula Sunrise Rotary Club to support its volunteer efforts throughout the year.

The club has an active slate of community service projects. They include literacy programs for Title I elementary schools in Murrieta; leadership training camps for middle and high school students; cash prizes for art, music and speech competitions; scholarships for six students including two for at-risk foster youth from Rancho Damacitas and Oak Grove Center; and funding for the annual Safety Town, a week-long interactive program that teaches kids ages 5-8 about fire, water, stranger danger, pedestrian and emergency safety.

IF YOU GO

When: April 28, 5k at 7:30 a.m., 10k at 7:45 a.m., 2k at 8 a.m.

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Where: Maurice Carrie Vineyard and Winery, 34225 Rancho California Road, Temecula

For race information or to register, visit https://www.temeculasunriserotary.com

On-line registration ends April 25; early registration and bib pick-up are Friday, April 27, 4-6 p.m. at the Running Center Temecula, 28751 Rancho California RoadTo honor a highly-decorated Marine, the public is urged to line the route his remains will take Saturday to a San Diego funeral home.

The body of Gunnery Sgt. Derik Holley, 33, is slated to arrive at San Diego International Airport at 4:40 p.m. A special ceremony will be conducted on the tarmac.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Holley was one of four Warhorse crewmen from the Miramar-based Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465 who died on April 3 when their CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter crashed about 15 miles west of El Centro, near the desert community of Plaster City and the international border with Mexico.

Military investigators continue to probe the cause of the mishap.

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Laura Herzog, the founder and chief executive officer of the Honoring Our Fallen organization, urged well wishers to greet the funeral procession as it winds its way from the airport around 5 p.m. to the Greenwood Mortuary at 4300 Imperial Avenue in San Diego 50 minutes later.

Herzog said that the best locations to stand in honor of the dead Marine is near the airport exit just off Winship Lane and North Harbor Drive or at the entrance to the Greenwood Mortuary.

A hero remembered never dies, she said.

The other Marines lost in the crash were Capt. Samuel Abraham Schultz, 28, of Pennsylvania; 1st Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, 27, of North Carolina; and Lance Cpl. Taylor J. Conrad, 24, of Louisiana.

Born on Sept. 27, 1984, at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to Richard and Sylvia (Rockwell) Holley, Gunnery Sgt. Holley graduated in 2002 from Westlake High School in nearby Waldorf.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps in late 2003 and became a helicopter crew chief.

He served tours in Japan, Iraq and at sea with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

His awards included the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, nine Air Medals with Strike/Flight designations and four Good Conduct Medals.

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A memorial service is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday at Miramar National Cemetery.

Along with his parents and sister Lindsay, he is survived by wife Kasey Carpenter and his son Dane.

The family asks that memorial contributions be sent to the Ronald McDonald House Charities or San Diegos Wingman Foundation.

Arrangements are being handled by San Diegos Clairemont Mortuary, a sister funeral parlor to Greenwood Mortuary.

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cprine@sduniontribune.comMarine Sgt. Jaime Ortiz repeatedly beat the Marine Corps in court but he might be involuntarily discharged anyway.

He was accused of hazing and beating junior troops, but two military courts determined that 1st Marine Division commander Maj. Gen. Eric M. Smith unlawfully meddled in his case.

Marines say that theyve handled Ortizs proposed separation from the Corps ethically and legally, but his attorney disagrees and might have to take the Marines to court again.

Unable so far to beat Sgt. Jaime Ortiz in court, the Marine Corps wants to boot the combat engineer through an administrative discharge.

Signed by 1st Combat Engineer Battalion commander Lt. Col. Christopher M. Haar on April 4, the notification of separation proceedings paperwork alleges that Ortiz displayed misconduct punctuated by an unnamed serious offense.

The problem is that no military court has found him guilty of a crime. Instead, judges have taken aim at what they contend were unlawful actions by 1st Marine Division commander Maj. Gen. Eric M. Smith and his subordinates over the past eight months during an ongoing anti-hazing crackdown.

Smiths initiative already has kicked 18 Marines out of the Corps and Ortiz would have been next on the list because the general on Aug. 15 ordered him to a court-martial  a little more than a month after the combat engineer had been arrested and confined at the Camp Pendleton brig.

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Military prosecutors alleged that the combat engineer conspired with fellow Marines to haze five junior troops by forcing them to get special haircuts and pressing their metal rank insignia against their collarbones during whats called a pinning ceremony following a formal promotion. Ortiz was accused of punching two Marines in the chest during the ceremony, according to court filings.

Thats a statement that gets under my skin because it says that I hit someone with my fist, Ortiz told The San Diego Union-Tribune during a telephone interview. That never happened. The pinning ceremony is a dumb tradition thats carried on but its anything but violent.

Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Paul Gainey said that the investigating officer at the 1st Combat Engineer determined that Ortiz committed multiple assaults and that the division cant condone hazing in the ranks.

Parents send their sons and daughters to the Marine Corps and they expect us to conduct ourselves professionally, Gainey said. Hazing is not the way we do business. Its not the way we lead and we reject it in all of its forms.

On Aug. 29, a military judge freed Ortiz from what was determined to be unlawful pretrial detention ordered by Haar and continued by other 1st Marine Division officers.

On Oct. 17, the charges against Ortiz were tossed after a military judge determined Smith unlawfully strayed from unbiased justice to become a direct accuser against the Marine.

That ruling was upheld by a Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeal tribunal on Feb. 15.

But every judge also told 1st Marine Division that the Corps could try to bring charges back if Smith was removed from the matter and officials sent Ortizs case to a new convening authority to weigh the evidence.

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No Marine general indicted him again but Haar hit him with what the troops call an adsep. It involuntarily discharges personnel with a demonstrated inability to meet Corps standards for conduct, discipline or performance and without the likelihood of reforming the Marine scofflaws.

If approved by 1st Marine Expeditionary Force  the Camp Pendleton command above Smiths division  it will block Ortiz from getting a coveted honorable discharge and bar future reenlistment in any of the other armed forces.

And if the Corps can separate him before December, it will avoid a mandatory hearing on Ortizs fate before a neutral board, a hearing Ortiz thinks he will win, just like the court-martial trial.

Maj. Gen. Smith has recused himself from this process and the package is going from Lt. Col. Haar directly to the MEF, said division spokesman Gainey.

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In his court filings, Ortizs Laguna Hills-based criminal defense attorney, Aaron Meyer, alleges that several of the alleged victim statements against his client were coerced by battalion investigators trying to stamp out hazing on behalf of the commanding general.

Prosecutors alleged that it was actually Ortiz who urged Marines to lie or play dumb to the sergeant major if authorities asked if they were hazed, according to the court-martial records.

Those records do not contain any report from professional Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents. Instead, the documents appear to indicate that a battalion captain and a senior non-commissioned officer handled the probe against Ortiz and others.

The Union-Tribune reviewed Ortizs service book and other records. They reveal that hes the married father of two young children and they live on Camp Pendleton.

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There are no nonjudicial punishment or court-martial verdicts against him. There are no official reprimands or adverse fitness reports.

He has been awarded both the Good Conduct and Navy Achievement medals for model behavior and superior performance of his duties.

Before his court-martial hearing, glowing letters of recommendation were provided by Marine Master Sgt. Carlos E. Barrientos at Special Operations Command, Sgt. Cody R. Foster at the Marine Raider Training Center, Navy Chief Petty Michael Valverde -- who served with him at Camp Lejeune, N.C.-- and several other service members on active or veteran status.

The written statements described the combat engineer as a person of calm demeanor, a respectable Marine of exemplary character who has been nothing short of a candid, ambitious, and highly enthusiastic individual in his spiritual faith, family and professional obligations.

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Ortiz said thats the Marine he thought he was, not the way hes been portrayed in court and in the separation paperwork.

This whole investigation, if youre on the other side against me, its created an image of me as some hateful sergeant, hateful and crazy, a brutal brute, Ortiz said. But obviously the people who know me know thats not true. I genuinely love America and the Marine Corps. I have a passion to serve God and my nation and this hurts me. If I could meet people whove heard about the case, I want to show them who I really am through simple interaction.

Division spokesman Gainey said that Haar took everything into consideration when he made his recommendation for involuntarily discharging Ortiz.

Its also important to remember that while the division has separated 18 individuals, the division retained three. Each of these serious cases is treated differently based on facts alone, Gainey said.

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The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force has not set a date for when it will decide Ortizs fate.

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cprine@sduniontribune.comThree SEALs accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan hope to escape court-martial by expanding an evolving legal concept unique to the military  the appearance of unlawful influence by commanders thats so odious it ruins the publics faith in the criminal justice system.

I dont know how anyone in the general public could look at this without holding their nose, said Colby Vokey, part of the defense team for the SEAL defendants.

No one denies that something very bad happened at Village Stability Platform Kalach in the Chora District of Afghanistans Uruzgan Province on May 31, 2012.

American authorities have long conceded that much of the abuse heaped on bound prisoners inside a SEAL compound came at the hands of Afghan Local Police militiamen wielding sticks and car antennas, with one villager possibly dying after brutal interrogations.

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Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Daniel V. Dambrosio Jr. and two Special Operator Chief Petty Officers, Xavier Silva and David N. Swarts, underwent nonjudicial administrative punishment by Capt. Robert E. Smith in late 2012 and they also cleared two internal SEAL review boards.

Called a Captains Mast in the Navy, the nonjudicial punishment is a far less severe form of justice. The proceedings play out in private, far from public courtrooms and a paper trail citizens can follow.

They ended up in a Naval Base San Diego courtroom six years later thanks to a late 2015 article by The New York Times involving an alleged coverup at Kalach.

On Jan. 19, 2017, Naval Special Warfare commander Rear Adm. Timothy Szymanski charged Dambrosio, Silva and Swarts with assaulting the prisoners. Swarts and Dambrosio allegedly fired their pistols near a detainees head.

Swarts also is accused of conspiring with their commander, SEAL Team 10s Lt. Jason L. Webb, with lying to military leaders about what really happened that night, but the officer isnt standing trial with his enlisted commandos.

But as their trial started this past week, it seemed the Navys criminal justice system was on trial as much as they were. In a series of hearings that started Monday and lasted well into Wednesday night, military judge Cmdr. Arthur Gaston weighed evidence presented by both the SEALs criminal defense attorneys and the Navy prosecutor, Cmdr. Andrea Lockhart.

The defense attorneys claimed that Navy commanders engaged in suspicious conduct to bring the SEALs to trial that was so dicey that it tainted the prosecution and put the entire military court system into question by the general public. Theyve called for the charges to be tossed out.

Cdmr. Lockhart has countered that theres no evidence of unlawful command influence. Even if it existed, she said, an admiral objectively decided that the SEALs should go to trial, with no knowledge of whatever command activity went on behind the scenes.

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These cases are important because they highlight concerns about a systemic problem with military justice. The public must be assured that the prosecution of any service member is fair, said retired Capt. Lawrence Brennan, the Navys former senior admiralty counsel who now teaches at Fordham Universitys School of Law.

In the military, a general or admiral is the convening authority for trials on the most serious crimes. The courts are inherently ad hoc and can be manipulated by the senior leaders who order them into existence.

Flag officers pick the charges and later the members of the jury. They also act on clemency and pardon petitions, but rules guide how much pressure a commander can place on the scales of justice before it becomes unfair to the accused.

Thats called unlawful command influence and it comes in two varieties: actual influence and the appearance of influence.

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Actual influence occurs when a commander improperly manipulates the criminal justice process to negatively affect the fair handling of a case, but thats not what the defense is arguing in the SEAL prosecution.

Theyve invoked the appearance of unlawful command influence and spent three days unveiling what they say is evidence pointing to it in the Kalach case.

First, there are a series of messages exchanged between the SEALs former commander -- now retired Rear Adm. Brian Losey -- and the Navys judge advocate general Vice Adm.James Crawford III that occurred in the midst of great pressure from the media, Congress, senior military leaders and their civilian overseers.

Although Losey appeared in early 2016 to be hedging at reopening a probe into the SEALs, Crawford told him that Smith already was being scrutinized for allegedly bypassing traditional investigative processes  possibly sending a warning to junior leaders that the Navy wanted the commandos prosecuted.

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The Pentagon blocked Smiths promotion and he might never pin on a star before hes forced to retire at the end of the year. A later Navy review found that he did nothing unlawful but his course of action was determined to be imprudent.

In their exchange, Crawford also spoke vaguely about wider issues for the military to consider that went beyond the initial investigation of the four SEALs.

When retired Air Force Col. Billy Lee Little Jr., now a Navy investigator for criminal defense attorneys, met with Losey later to ask about Crawfords involvement in the case and what he meant by these wider issues, the former SEAL leader allegedly became agitated and fearful.

At one point in the interview, he allegedly snatched a sheet of questions Little brought and scribbled political, according to Littles testimony on Tuesday.

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Political  thats what were talking about. Thats why this looks bad, defense attorney Vokey said.

The New York Times story sparked a request from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, for information on the Kalach case partly in order to blunt a renewed attempt by fellow senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, to remove the authority of military commanders to try sexual assault and other serious cases, such as war crimes.

Retired Naval Criminal Investigative Service supervisor Mark O. Fox also testified that in early 2016 he sent out an email saying that there was significant E-ring interest in what happened at Kalach.

The outer wing of the Pentagon, the E-ring, houses the offices of the Secretary of the Navy and a host of four-star officers.

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In early 2013, after he was cleared by Smith of the crimes, Swarts ran into Rear Adm. Szymanski during training at Virginias Ft. Story.

In his testimony, Szymanski agreed that he told him, Hey, Im glad that all got cleared up and worked out.

Four years later, he charged him with war crimes.

Szymanski conceded that critics might have valid questions about how all of the Navy actions in the Kalach case might appear, but insisted that he based his decision on new witnesses uncovered by investigators and strongly insisted that he never thought of Smiths fate when deliberating on what to do.

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Im not looking for promotion, he said.

Playing out behind the scenes was a secret probe by the U.S. Department of Justice, which defense attorneys also say was prodding the Navy to do something.

On Tuesday, the criminal defense attorneys revealed that federal prosecutor Michelle Pettit quietly led a grand jury probe in San Diego that put two of those new witnesses against the SEALs on the stand but triggered no indictments.

Pettit has been linked to another controversial case involving Crawford  the investigation of several SEAL trainers following the May 6, 2016, drowning of Seaman James Derek Lovelace in a Navy pool.

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In July, whistleblowers submitted a slew of internal Navy records to The San Diego Union-Tribune. They included an email sent by Navy Capt. Donald King  the staff judge advocate for San Diegos Navy Region Southwest  to Pettit and Blair Perez, the executive assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California.

King wrote that Crawford had ordered a second look at his teams recommendation to forgo charges against SEAL trainers who were present when Lovelace died, a decision reaffirmed at every other layer of the Navy.

Both Perez and Pettit are military attorneys in the Navy reserves, with Pettit also serving as an appellate judge on the Navy Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, which raised concerns from the criminal defense attorneys in the Lovelace case, too.

A memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Pentagon gives DOJ primary authority over all criminal matters, but the civilian agency routinely cedes it to the military.

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When asked by the Union-Tribune whether Pettit was acting as a commissioned military officer during the Kalach grand jury probe or as a civilian federal prosecutor, SEAL defense attorney Vokey, a retired Marine, said, Thats what wed like to know.

We have no comment on this. Thanks, wrote U.S. Attorneys Office spokeswoman Kelly Thornton in an email on Wednesday.

In her spirited rebuttals before Cmdr. Gaston, prosecutor Lockhart cited murky language in the emails between Losey and Crawford and lambasted the criminal defense teams case as long on speculation and conjecture but short on proof.

Theres no other evidence that he did anything in this case, she said about Crawford.

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And even if everything in the defenses argument were true, she added, theres already been a fix.

The court-martial was ordered by Navy Region Southwest commander Rear Adm. Yancy B. Lurch Lindsey, a career aviator who knew nothing about Capt. Smith or the SEALs when he deliberated on the evidence culled by the multiple investigations. No one is suggesting hes biased, she said.

Thats an important point, according to Robert Feldmeier, an attorney who specializes in court-martial appeals at the New York-based firm of Tully Rinckey.

A former soldier who later prosecuted cases and served as an intelligence law attorney for the National Security Agency, Feldmeier wrote the winning appeal in U.S. v. Boyce, a landmark but controversial military case decided last year that guided the arguments of both sides throughout the week on the Kalach case.

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Boyce doesnt support the defense here but the court can examine the matter, Feldmeier said by telephone.

In Boyce, the court could see that a general removed a subordinate because the Secretary of the Air Force had lost confidence in his ability to court-martial alleged sexual criminals. But theres nothing like this in the Kalach case.

Instead, the defense team is trying to expand the legal theory by saying key influential senior leaders, like Crawford, can exert inappropriate pressure on admirals like Losey, guiding a case toward prosecution when it might have faded away.

The appeals courts are becoming more and more concerned about the political influences and pressures that are playing on convening authorities, Feldmeier said. Theyre looking with less and less favor on arm twisting, overt or otherwise.

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cprine@sduniontribune.comThe United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assads programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

Explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump spoke from the White House.

Syrian television reported that Syrias air defenses, which are substantial, responded to the attack. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.

Trump said the U.S. is prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

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The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead, Trump said.

Mattis, however, said the assault was a one-time shot, so long as Assad does not repeat his use of chemical weapons.

The strikes were carried out by manned aircraft and from ships that launched cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea.

Mattis disclosed that the U.S. had not yet confirmed that the most recent suspected Syrian chemical weapons attack, on April 7 in the Damascus suburb of Douma, included the use of sarin gas. He said at least one chemical was used  chlorine, which also has legitimate industrial uses and had not previously triggered a U.S. military response.

Mattis said the targets selected by U.S., British and French officials were meant to minimize civilian casualties.

This is difficult to do in a situation like this, he said, in light of the volatility of chemical agents.

At a Pentagon news conference alongside Mattis, and with British and French military officers beside them to emphasize allied unity, Gen. Joseph Dunford said the attacks targeted mainly three targets in western Syria.

Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said missiles first struck a scientific research center in the Damascus area that he said was a center of Syrian research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs. He said this was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin and precursor chemical production equipment.

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The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs, Dunford said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in London that the West had tried every possible diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted by Syria and Russia, she said.

So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, May said. This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian governments clandestine chemical arsenal.

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The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trumps second order to attack Syria. He authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assads use of sarin gas against civilians.

Mattis estimated the latest air campaign was about twice the size of the 2017 strike. He added that the U.S. expects the Syrian government and its allies to conduct a significant disinformation campaign, which the Pentagon would rebut with additional information Saturday morning.

The air campaign could frustrate those in Trumps base who oppose military intervention and are wary of open-ended conflicts.

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Trump chastised Syrias two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting murderous dictators, and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace, Trump said. Hopefully, someday well get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran  but maybe not.

The Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, condemned the airstrikes and warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

The U.S. missile strike a year ago, which targeted the airfield from which Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack, was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

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The strikes that hit early Saturday in Syria came hours before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were set to arrive to inspect the site of the apparent attack.

A broader question is whether the allied attacks are part of a revamped, coherent political strategy to end the war on terms that do not leave Assad in power.

The strikes appear to signal Trumps willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. Just weeks ago, Trump said he wanted to end U.S. involvement in Syria and bring American troops home to focus on the homeland. The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

Dunford said the U.S. did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace de-confliction communications. But the description from an ally described things differently.

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French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home, Trump said. And great warriors they are.

The U.S. has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A U.S.-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.

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Jarrod Agen, Vice President Mike Pences deputy chief of staff, said Pence called congressional leaders from his hotel suite in Lima, Peru, to notify them of the presidents plan to address the nation about the Syrian air strikes.

AP Writer Ken Thomas contributed from Lima, Peru.Hector Barajas, who has become the voice for hundreds of deported U.S. military veterans around the world, returned Friday to the country he served and became a citizen.

Barajas began raising awareness about deported veterans after his own removal from the U.S. and in 2013 founded the Deported Veterans Support House, known as the bunker, in Tijuana. With aid from a coalition of supporters called Honorably Discharged, Dishonorably Deported that launched in 2016, Barajas applied for citizenship. After a pardon from Gov. Jerry Brown for the offense that got him deported, he was approved last month.

I believe in this country, Barajas said shortly after his naturalization ceremony. I believe we can make things right.

On Friday, Barajas got up at 4 a.m. By 6:30, media crews were already swarming around the bunker. At least four cameras recorded him putting his socks and boots on before he donned his military uniform for the journey north.

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Barajas is no stranger to the press. For years hes pushed for coverage of the issue that he believes is unjust, and hes told his life story over and over again to help people understand whats at stake.

His family moved to Los Angeles in 1984 when he was seven years old, and he grew up as a green card holder. After high school, he joined the Army and was part of the 82nd Airborne Division from 1995 to 2001.

In 2002, he took a plea deal for a charge of shooting at an occupied car. Because of that conviction, the government took away his green card and deported him in 2004 after he finished a prison sentence.

I want to apologize once more for what got me deported, Barajas said after his oath ceremony. Im not proud of it, but I am proud of what I have done since then.

Barajas said he paid dearly for that decision and missed many moments in his daughters childhood.

I believe I am no less of an American because of the mistakes that I made, Barajas said. We must ensure our leave no man behind motto is not left on the battlefield.

Noncitizens generally must be green card holders to serve in the military. Though they dont have to wait the three to five years required for other noncitizens to naturalize, U.S. citizenship doesnt happen automatically. They still have to pass the tests and go through the process.

Like any green card holder, noncitizens who serve or have served in the military can be deported if they are convicted of certain crimes.

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The American Civil Liberties Union has documented at least 239 cases of deported veterans living in 34 countries.

Those who support deported veterans cause say that the military doesnt do enough to help members naturalize and that many wrongly believe they become citizens when they enlist. They also argue that common conditions that veterans face, like post-traumatic stress disorder, can increase the likelihood that they commit the kinds of crimes that can lead to deportation. They dont object to veterans serving time under the criminal justice system, but they say deportation is too harsh.

Critics of the deported veterans movement say that green card holders have to respect U.S. laws as part of the contract of having the visas. People who violate that contract should have their green cards taken away and be deported, they say.

1 / 27 A day before crossing to the US, deported veteran Hector Barajas deals with media calls. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 2 / 27 Hector Barajas military uniform hangs at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 3 / 27 A day before crossing back to the US, Hector Barajas eats tacos with friends and other deported veterans. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 4 / 27 Hector Barajas with the media at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 5 / 27 Deported veterans sign an American flag at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 6 / 27 Hector Barajas with supporters and fellow deported veterans at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 7 / 27 Hector Barajas at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 8 / 27 Hector Barajas with Yolanda Varona Palacio of Dreamer Moms USA/Tijuana at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. They discuss the travel arraignments towards the border. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 9 / 27 A sign flag for Hector Barajas at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 10 / 27 Hector Barajas with supporters at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 11 / 27 Hector Barajas with the media at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 12 / 27 Hector Barajas holding a stuff bear for his daughter at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 13 / 27 Hector Barajas with the media at the Deported Veterans Bunker in Tijuana. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 14 / 27 Hector Barajas with Yolanda Varona Palacio of Dreamer Moms USA/Tijuana Facetime from the San Ysidro border pedestrian crossing. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 15 / 27 Hector Barajas arrives at the San Ysidro border pedestrian crossing. He is surrounded by the media. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 16 / 27 Hector Barajas arrives at the San Ysidro border pedestrian crossing. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 17 / 27 Hector Barajas arrives at the San Ysidro border pedestrian crossing. He walk through the lanes with an official towards the border. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 18 / 27 Hector Barajas with Nathan Fletcher walk out of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. Hector is greeted by his family. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 19 / 27 Norma Chavez-Peterson, Executive Director of the ACLU San Diego speaks to the media at the press conference outside the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 20 / 27 Hector Barajass mother Margarita Barajas gets emotional at he the press conference outside the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 21 / 27 Norma Chavez-Peterson, Executive Director of the ACLU San Diego speaks to the media at the press conference outside the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 22 / 27 Hector Barajas speaks to the media at the press conference outside the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 23 / 27 Hector Barajas speaks to the media at the press conference outside the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 24 / 27 Hector Barajas speaks to the media at the press conference outside the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 25 / 27 San Diego, California, USA, April 13th, 2018. | Hector Barajas speaks to the media at the press conference outside the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. | Alejandro Tamayo  The San Diego Union Tribune 2018 (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 26 / 27 Hector Barajass mother Margarita Barajas holds a US flag during the press conference. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune) 27 / 27 Hector Barajas speaks to the media at the press conference outside the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union Tribune)

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Yolanda Varona, founder of Dreamers Moms, who works alongside Barajas at the bunker, fought to contain the emotions of the morning as she rushed around quietly making sure everything was ready for his trip past the line that has for so long separated both of them from their families.

Hector is realizing the dream that all of those deported have, Varona said.

She was beyond happy for Barajas, she said, but she was sad that she would no longer see him every day.

Everything will change in my life, in the group dynamics, Varona said. But we have to keep pushing forward. We have the ability to win more with what were doing.

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Barajas will continue to run the bunker for another year, and he will hand off the program to Joaquin Aviles, a Marine Corps veteran who was deported in 2001 for a firearm possession conviction.

Aviles said hes going to try to carry on what Barajas started, but he knows it will be difficult to be what Barajas has been for the deported veterans movement.

I know what he does. I see him, Aviles said. I just dont know if Ill be able to take that whole role. Hes committed to this every minute, every hour, every day of his life.

After a prayer at the bunker and countless hugs, Barajas led a caravan of cars to the border.

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When he reached the front of the line into the port of entry, he waited for officials to escort him to the secondary inspection area.

Ill see you guys on the other side, he said with a salute to his crowd of supporters.

After an hour delay at the border where officials had a few final questions for him that took a conference call with his attorney to resolve, Barajas arrived at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown San Diego for a private oath ceremony attended by his parents and 11-year-old daughter Liliana.

When he emerged as a U.S. citizen, veterans both in and out of uniform cheered and welcomed him home.

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Nathan Fletcher, who is running for county supervisor, and Norma Chavez Peterson, executive director of the ACLU in San Diego, both members of the coalition that supported Barajas, were among the first to congratulate him.

We made a commitment to one another that we would protect each other, care for each other, said Fletcher, who is also a military veteran. When we say everyone comes home, its an oath and a bond, and we mean it. We will keep going until they all come back.

He said that under an administration that has urged lower immigration levels and increased enforcement, Barajass homecoming gave him hope.

In this era of such darkness when it comes to immigration policy, this is a ray of light, Fletcher said. You can get things done. You can make a difference.

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Chavez Peterson reminded the crowd outside the oath ceremony that Barajas is one of many and urged more Americans to support those she called abandoned veterans.

This is an American issue, Chavez Peterson said. Its not a partisan issue.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, who has championed the cause of deported veterans, called on Congress to pass reforms that would protect those who serve in the military from deportation and bring back veterans who were already deported.

They were loyal to us, Takano said. We need to be loyal back.

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Two other deported veterans have returned to the U.S. Daniel Torres, the first, became a U.S. citizen in 2016 after he voluntarily went back to Mexico in 2011 when the Marines found out that he was an unauthorized immigrant. Marco Chavez Medina had his green card reinstated in December after Gov. Brown pardoned him along with Barajas and one other deported veteran.

James Erselius, the attorney who helped Barajas with his case, said his office is working on close to 10 other deported veterans cases through the Honorably Discharged, Dishonorably Deported coalition.

The wait at the border was the only time on Friday that made Barajas said made him nervous. On his way to a celebratory barbecue, he was still processing the reality of his new life.

He will spend a few days with his family in Los Angeles, where he hopes to hang out with his daughter and do normal things like go to the store or park. After he finishes his commitment at the bunker, he plans to find a job in the U.S. that allows him to keep pushing for deported veterans to come back home.

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Im just happy to finally be with my daughter, Barajas said. Being able for her to have that comfort that dad is not going to leave.

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Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

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kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on TwitterA man riding his bicycle early Saturday in Logan Heights was shot and wounded, San Diego police said.

The 40-year-old victim was riding west on the sidewalk of Marcy Avenue near 29th Street about 1:20 a.m. As he approached a black Jeep Cherokee parked along the curb a man got out of the front passengers seat and fired several rounds at the passing bicyclist, police said.

The bicyclist was struck by two gunshots in his buttocks and lower left leg, but he was able to ride away from the scene to a nearby fast-food restaurant for help. He was taken to a hospital with injuries not considered to be life threatening.

Officers could not locate the shooter.Firefighters responded to two separate house fires that broke out about two hours apart and in different neighborhoods Friday night.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokeswoman Monica Munoz said one person was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center for treatment of burns from a house fire on Morse Court east of Linda Vista Road about 8 p.m.

Firefighters found the attic space on fire, but otherwise no flames inside the home, she said.

Red Cross workers arrived to assist three people who were displaced by the fire.

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At about 9:45 p.m., firefighters were called to douse another fire at a vacant house on Park Boulevard in University Heights, Munoz said. The fire was confined to a room at the front of the house and part of the exterior, she said.

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gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

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760-529-4939The Justice Department Inspector General alleges in a damaging report made public Friday that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe inappropriately authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to a reporter and then misled investigators and former FBI Director James Comey about it on several occasions.

The report from Inspector General Michael Horowitz is remarkable for its level of detail, casting McCabe as a man who repeatedly lied to investigators and his own boss about his role in a disclosure of information, even while he lashed out at others who he thought might be responsible for leaks.

It accuses McCabe of lying at least four times, three of them under oath, and says that while he had the power to approve disclosures of information to the media, his doing so in this instance violated policy because it was done in a manner designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership.

It also says McCabe and Comey contradicted one another in their descriptions of how a media disclosure was authorized. While the report favors Comeys account, it will likely generate tough questions for him as he launches a media blitz to promote his new book.

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Those in Washington have long been anticipating release of the document, which formed the basis of McCabes firing just 26 hours before he could retire from the FBI and begin collecting his full retirement benefits. McCabe vigorously disputes its conclusions, and his team distributed a point-by-point rebuttal of the inspector generals allegations.

Release of the report comes at a moment when the Justice Department and FBI are under intense scrutiny from a president upset that agents this week raided the office of his personal lawyer. McCabe had already alleged that his firing was politically motivated, as the president had made clear he disliked McCabe long before the FBIs former No. 2 official was fired.

Trump wrote on Twitter Friday, DOJ just issued the McCabe report - which is a total disaster. 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!

Michael Bromwich, a lawyer for McCabe, said in a statement that McCabes treatment was far more harsh and far less fair than he deserved, and that the inspector generals report utterly failed to support the decision to terminate Mr. McCabe. He said the report did not detail any understandable motive for his alleged wrongdoing, and said Trump had further tainted the process with his previous public comments on the Justice Department inspector general.

Trump has said in the past that the inspector general lacks prosecutorial power, and questioned whether he is an Obama guy. Horowitz was nominated to be the inspector general by former President Barack Obama.

Melissa Schwartz, McCabes spokeswoman, wrote on Twitter that the timing of the document being handed over to Congress Friday was fascinating, then added, But no report transmission to Mr. #McCabe and no public disclosure from the Office of the Inspector General. The transparency of this Friday news dump is a joke.

A spokesman for the inspector generals office declined to comment.

Lying to federal investigators is a crime, and the inspector general asserts that at least one of McCabes alleged lies was done knowingly and intentionally.

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It is not clear if the matter is still being considered for a criminal investigation. The report was referred to the FBI, and the agencys Office of Professional Responsibility recommended firing McCabe, which Attorney General Jeff Sessions did last month. McCabe has raised more than a half-million dollars for a legal-defense fund, and Bromwich said Friday he was actively considering filing a defamation lawsuit against Trump and others.

The conduct at issue in the report centers on an October 2016 news story in the Wall Street Journal, detailing tensions inside the FBI and Justice Department over two high-profile investigations - one into Hillary Clintons use of a private email server and the other into her familys foundation. The story was written by Devlin Barrett, who is now with The Washington Post. At the time, the FBI had just revealed publicly it was resuming the Clinton email case, on the eve of the election.

McCabe now acknowledges he authorized his special counsel, Lisa Page, and Michael Kortan, the FBIs then top spokesman, to talk to Barrett for the story. He has said he did so to push back against the notion that he was trying to stifle the Clinton Foundation investigation.

The story, importantly, disclosed the existence of the Foundation probe and revealed a phone call, which became of keen interest to inspector general investigators, where McCabe pushed back against a Justice Department official he perceived to be asking him to shut it down, or at least warning against overt steps in the case close to an election.

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The inspector general report alleges McCabe for months led officials to believe he had not authorized any disclosures for the story, starting with Comey, his own boss.

By the inspector generals telling, the two men had a conversation the day after the story was published, and later offered contradictory accounts of what happened.

Comey, the report claims, told investigators McCabe definitely did not tell me that he authorized the disclosure contained in the Wall Street Journal story.

I have a strong impression he conveyed to me it wasnt me boss. And I dont think that was by saying those words, I think it was most likely by saying I dont know how this s--- gets in the media or why would people talk about this kind of thing, words that I would fairly take as I, Andy, didnt do it, Comey told investigators of McCabe.

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McCabes team, in responding to the report, disputed Comeys account, asserting that emails between the two clearly show that Mr. McCabe specifically advised Director Comey that he was working with colleagues at the FBI to correct inaccuracies in the story before it was published, and that they remained in contact through the weekend while the work was taking place.

The inspector general said McCabes lawyer had previously argued McCabes account should be credited over Comeys and complained the report paints Director Comey as a white knight carefully guarding FBI information, while overlooking that Mr. McCabes account is more credible. The inspector general ultimately sided with Comey, saying his account was supported by the overwhelming weight of evidence.

Comeys lawyer declined to comment for this story.

McCabe was first questioned under oath about leaks by the FBIs inspection division on May 9, the same day Comey would be fired. Sensitive information appearing in the media was by then a high priority in the bureau. Two other FBI officials, the assistant directors in charge of offices in New York and the District of Columbia, told the inspector general that McCabe had admonished them for leaks in the wake of the Wall Street Journals October story, not revealing he himself had authorized a disclosure.

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By the inspector generals telling, McCabe told inspection division agents under oath on May 9 that he had not authorized the disclosure and did not know who had. But when the agents asked him to sign a statement confirming as much, he did not do so.

The report says McCabe similarly told inspector general investigators on July 28 that he was not aware of his special counsel having been authorized to speak to reporters, and because he was not in Washington on the days she did so, he could not say what she was doing.

By that time, the inspector general had uncovered texts in a separate investigation showing that Page, McCabes counsel, had talked to the reporter. The texts have now become infamous, as they also show Page harbored intense dislike of Trump.

A lawyer for Page did not return a message seeking comment.

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McCabe told the inspector general just days later that he had remembered authorizing Page to talk to the Wall Street Journal. He denied that being shown the text messages, which might raise questions about his story, caused him to change his account. McCabes team noted in a response that McCabes main focus was on the urgent management and personnel decisions he had to take to deal with the text messages he was shown.

A few weeks later, an agent from FBIs inspection division again approached McCabe, and he confirmed he had authorized the disclosure. The agent told the inspector general investigators he confronted McCabe, noting that the team had put in long nights and weekends trying to determine who was responsible for the information in the story.

And he kind of just looked down, kind of nodded, and said, yeah, Im sorry, the agent told inspector general investigators.

Bromwich, McCabes lawyer, said McCabes statements are more properly understood as the result of misunderstanding, miscommunication, and honest failures of recollection based on the swirl of events around him, statements which he subsequently corrected.

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The inspector general shot back that in multiple interviews, McCabe, who was being asked about events he described as being dramatic, has never made this claim of a failed memory, and in any event we did not find this to be a persuasive explanation for his inaccurate statement given McCabes other admissions.Some activists registered people to vote. Others urged visitors to stamp their cash with political messages. Daniel McDonald was collecting poop.

The University of California San Diego researcher was among more than 1,000 scientists, data geeks and everyday people to attend the March for Science at Waterfront Park on Saturday, the second annual drive to celebrate knowledge and connect data to everyday life.

McDonald was staffing a booth promoting American Gut, a self-proclaimed citizen science project that aims to sequence and study millions of donated stools to better understand how individual human microbiomes can save lives.

The scientific director of the American Gut project said research like his is critical, and grants from sources like the National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency are drying up.

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Science generates innovation, which generates new economies, he said.

The 2018 march, which unfolded in hundreds of other cities across the nation on Saturday, was nowhere near as well-attended as the inaugural event a year ago, when 15,000 people paraded through downtown San Diego to support scientific research.

But the organizers, speakers and attendees this year were every bit as passionate about what they see as a need to shield science from political influence and make sure public policies are based on evidence rather than ideology.

1 / 11 With the Star of India in the background, people begin to march south on North Harbor Drive during the San Diego March for Science. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 11 Science majors from California State University San Marcos and Palomar College, from left, Dakotah Shore, Jillian Caputo, Raven Klee, and Jody McAfee, holds signs during the San Diego March for Science at Waterfront Park. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 11 Dakotah Shore, a science major at Palomar College, holds a sign during the San Diego March for Science at Waterfront Park. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 11 Hundreds of people participating in the San Diego March for Science make their way north on Pacific Highway. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 11 While wearing a T-rex costume, Alex Reiss, a UCSD lab manager, participates in the San Diego March for Science on North Harbor Drive. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 11 Alex Reiss, a UCSD lab manager, has to replace the batteries for the electric fan that keeps his T-rex costume inflated while another T-rex costumed marcher walks past him during the San Diego March for Science on North Harbor Drive. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 11 Penelope OSullivan, 6, and her brother Gabriel OSullivan, 7, look at a human brain at the UCSD Neuroscience Outreach Programs booth. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 11 Muscle sensors wired to the right hand of Sebastian Rivard, 6, picks up the electrical pulses in his hand muscles when he moves them sending an electrical signal that activates a mechanical claw, right, as a demonstration of how our brains control our muscles at the UCSD Neuroscience Outreach Programs booth. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 11 Hundreds of people participating in the San Diego March for Science make their way north on Pacific Highway. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 11 Hundreds of people participating in the San Diego March for Science make their way north on Pacific Highway. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 11 A marcher holds a sign as he and hundreds of other people make their way north on Pacific Highway. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

They spoke about how science can save lives, create new industries and improve the human condition. They talked about pushing for explanations about arcane and routine questions that can spark innovations that change the world.

Science is going to be political, but it doesnt have to be partisan, said Mary Canady, one of the march organizers and the co-founder of a newly established nonprofit called San Diego For Science. We tell people what the important issues are when looking at candidates.

While speakers at the March for Science were largely non-partisan, some marchers carried signs criticizing President Donald Trump as anti-science because he has called climate change a hoax, threatened to cut funding for research and dubbed unwelcome information fake news.

Science is important, not only to science but to the world, said Robbie Todd, a professional photographer from North Park who said he came to support research. To me, science and art go hand in hand because they both work toward proving things. It seems like today science is under attack.

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Many Trump supporters, who did not appear to attend the march in great numbers, credit the president for reining in wasteful spending and confronting what they see as a biased media landscape.

Despite the attention to activism over protest, the march was overtly political.

Some of the signs hoisted by marchers Saturday conveyed messages such as Make Science, Not War, Trust the Scientific Method  Not Politicians and No Science, No Beer.

Emily Knight, a volunteer with the activist group Represent San Diego, attended the march to promote an effort to reduce the influence of money in politics by stamping messages like This Bill Shall Not Be Used To Bribe Politicians directly onto dollar bills.

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An average of 875 people will see your bill over its lifetime, Knight told one woman who stopped by the booth to investigate the campaign. This is completely legal, but make sure you dont stamp it in the center.

David Christian, a volunteer with the activist group Indivisible San Diego, was handing out flyers for March To Vote San Diego, a mass appeal scheduled May 19 to promote participation in the California primary election scheduled June 5.

Christian said he is not worried that the event next month could get overlooked amid the March for Science, the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence demonstrations in April and the Womens March in January.

Each march addresses a different vital function, he said. Its not a matter of too much.

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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonaldThe National Assessment of Educational Progress report on the math and English skills of fourth- and eighth-graders in each of the 50 states is perhaps the most respected education test of all. The federally mandated report on 2017 scores that came out this week included both excellent news for the San Diego Unified School District and disappointing news for California in general.

San Diego Unified had math and reading test scores for both fourth- and eighth-grade students that were higher than in the 2015 NAEP tests  the only large U.S. district with such an accomplishment. As noted by Bill Lucia, president of the educational advocacy group EdVoice, a deeper dig into San Diegos test scores raises concerns about the math results of low-income students. But after years of budget headaches and controversies that sometimes deflected attention from the districts most important role  educating kids  district leaders had reason to be elated. San Diego Unified stands out as a hub of academic excellence and innovation, where students learn and thrive thanks to the dedication of our teachers, said Superintendent Cindy Marten, who was appointed in 2013.

Unfortunately, such a claim cant be made for California in general. Even after being adjusted for demographics  reflecting the fact that the Golden State has many English-language learners  California had among the worst test scores of any large state. As the EdSource website analysis noted, it has been in the bottom tier ... for decades.

The states with the best results  starting with Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida  are ones which have adopted comprehensive strategies that emphasize the need to hold students, teachers, principals and districts accountable for their records. Unfortunately for Californians, these are strategies that Gov. Jerry Brown rejects. In 2011, Brown made national headlines with his attack on attempts to use data and metrics to improve public education, mocking what he called the siren song of school reform  dismissing reformers as flakes eager to swoon over trendy new ideas. But the governor wasnt just content with ignoring the success that union and non-union states alike have had with their reforms. Instead, Brown persuaded the state Legislature in 2013 to approve the Local Control Funding Formula law, built on the theory that local districts could figure out how to thrive if they werent saddled with top-down mandates.

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So how has subsidiarity  the governors fancy term for the idea of local control  worked out? A report issued in September by two Canadian education scholars who share Browns skepticism about traditional education reforms praised the good intentions behind his approach. But several of its key findings were downbeat, starting with the near-universal view among district officials that local control had not translated into improved teaching and learning in the classroom. The report suggested that one reason for this grim fact was that instead of being inspired by having more autonomy, local officials saw requirements that they draw up their own education strategies as burdensome.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to public education. While some local school districts are blessed with strong leadership, the main reason that reformers have emphasized top-down edicts for 35 years is an awareness that local school boards often end up paying more attention to the needs and wants of district employees than to improving students performance.

But this deeply relevant history is disregarded by Brown, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and the state Board of Education. So while some districts, like San Diego Unified, may show gains, no one should get their hopes up for California public schools in general  at least as long as the state is governed by someone who believes in, yes, the siren song of local control.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & OpinionRe Less a Prop. 13 fix than a pension bailout (April 9): The editorial misses the mark by suggesting that revenue from closing the commercial property tax loophole in Proposition 13 will be used for paying pensions for unions.

Lets be clear: Any revenue would go to local schools and governments to meet the needs of the community and would be subject to strict oversight and accountability.

Dont be fooled, pensions are not the issue here; closing this loophole that benefits a handful of big corporations and starves California schools and governments is.

The same corporations that have taken advantage of this loophole and have been cheating our schools and communities out of billions of dollars for decades will say anything to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

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Regarding the pensions, many of these deals were made decades ago to defer payment to workers in the form of retirement benefits rather than hard-earned wages. We ended those kinds of deals in San Diego with local ballot measures because voters recognize that we must pay as we go for government services rather than saddle future generations with debt.

Now we have a chance to pass a statewide ballot measure that closes this loophole and allows us to pay as we go to create world-class schools, first-class infrastructure and government services that help everyone get ahead.

The people of California work hard every day to provide for their families and to do their part in building a strong and prosperous state. Big corporations should pay their fair share too.

Guerrero is executive director of Alliance San Diego.

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.Re Retired justice urges repeal of 2nd amendment (March 28): Many op-eds against open carry, against relaxed concealed carry and in favor of enhanced gun control measures co-exist with more conservative approaches  such as merely raising the age limit for gun purchases and prohibiting bump-stock devices. All approaches were effectively done a remarkable disservice by former Justice John Paul Stevens proposed repeal of the Second Amendment.

We live in an era requiring moderate approaches to an issue deserving of everyones thoughtful attention. This nuclear option, to repeal the Second Amendment, serves only to further polarize the significant percentage of Americans on both sides of this aisle.

Some have proposed baby steps and, others, great leaps. But a proposal requiring a divisive, drawn-out, constitutional firefight pushes the left-right gun range beyond the extreme. In a particularly divided nation, one wonders how the Stevens proposal would survive the Article V requirement that a proposed constitutional amendment be ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several states.

Bill Slomanson

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Hillcrest

Justice Stevens might be right when he suggested repealing the Second Amendment. When the Second Amendment was written, the United States did not have any armed forces to defend the country from invaders, hence the phrase An armed militia being required ... .

The United States now has the armed forces for defense and no longer needs the armed militia described in the Second Amendment to defend the country, and therefore the Second Amendment is moot and could be repealed.

John E. Gahan

San Diego

I find Steve Breens recent cartoon juxtaposing the First and Second Amendments to be naive in the extreme. The oft-cited canard that the National Rifle Association wields such enormous power that it prevents changes to the law to imperil school kids and innocent victims is totally bogus.

I wonder if Breen and the U-T would be so cavalier with infringements on the Bill of Rights if some group decided that political cartoons were microaggressions and began a serious lobbying effort to shut down any publication that printed cartoons that hurt their feelings. The outcry from the press would be deafening. And the lobbyists and lawyers for the press would descend upon Congress with an avalanche of suits, threats and protests, as well they should, to keep the First Amendment safe.

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Messing with the Bill of Rights is a slippery slope. Once started, the law of unintended consequences kicks in and who knows what freedoms would end up under the thumb of the political class. Be careful what you wish for.

Max Blumeyer

Oceanside

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.Three Californias?

Yet another attempt to split up California into smaller states is in the works and the man behind the effort says hes collected enough signatures to put a ballot measure calling for three Californias on the November ballot.

Three Californias?! You heard that right. The effort, branded as the CAL 3 initiative, is driven by Tim Draper, a venture capitalist who previously wanted to split the state into six states, but failed to do so, obviously.

This is an unprecedented show of support on behalf of every corner of California to create three state governments that will deliver better education, better infrastructure and lower taxes, Draper said.

Draper announced on Thursday that he plans to deliver the 600,000 signatures hes collected from Californians in 58 counties to the secretary of state in hopes of getting a ballot measure approved. The highly unlikely effort would cut the state up like this, according to the CAL 3 website.

Timothy Draper's vision for Southern California. threestateca.com

How?

After CAL 3 delivers the support of more than 600,000 citizens to the secretary of state and the signatures are properly vetted and approved, the initiative will be slotted for inclusion on the ballot in November, giving everyone in California a chance to be heard. After the measure is approved by voters, the governor will transfer notice of state approval to Congress, which will vote to ratify the creation of the new three-state structure.

Why?

CAL 3 is committed to solving Californias most pressing issues, including the states failing school systems that impact more than 6 million kids, highest-in-the-nation taxes, deteriorating infrastructure and strained government. Partitioning California into three states would empower regional communities to make better, fairer and more sensible decisions for their citizens.

Despite the vast number of signatures Draper says hes collected, a ballot initiative to split up California into three has its set of challenges. To start, Draper needs a total of 366,000 for his initiative to be qualify to go on the ballot. And, as The San Francisco Chronicle points out, its likely that many of the signatures will be discovered to be invalid.

Complicating things, as experts have pointed out, this concept would be extremely difficult to make a reality, especially considering it would have to be approved by Congress. Yeah, good luck with that.

But Drapers dream is still getting some spotlight on social media.

This isnt the first time someone has attempted to slice up California in one way or another. Most recently, there was talk of splitting the state into two pieces.

Any thought to share on CAL 3? Send em our way at @sdutideas.

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin

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.Just Burn a Witch to Stop Armed Murder

By Rob Morse. April 9th, 2018

Original Source

There was a time when children cried so we burned witches. Today, we have some 23 thousand 'Gun control' regulations. We pass new regulations each time a celebrity gets shot or some white kids get attacked. Weve burned that witch before.

Each gun regulation is sold to us in glowing terms as its being debated. Each new regulation is breathlessly described as-

urgently needed..life saving..essential reform..violence prevention..common sense..crime control..limit armed terrorists.. controlling dangerous weapons..firearms safety..controlling unprecedented weapons of war..public safety legislation..

..and it sounds so wonderful.

You have to ask yourself some questions if you dont believe the overhyped press briefing. If each of the 23 thousand 'Gun control' regulations were all that we were told, then why do these regulations fail every few minutes and we have another violent crime? I thought all those earlier laws fixed that.

'Gun control' laws dont stop criminals because criminals dont obey our laws. (We can document that obvious point if you need.) 'Gun control' fails because we dont prosecute criminals with the laws we already have. 'Gun control' fails because background checks look backwards at a persons history. That gives criminals and crazies one free mass murder before they become prohibited persons.

At best, 'Gun control' isnt much of a solution.

Weve looked very hard at the data. 'Gun control' does nothing to reduce violent crimes like mass murder, armed murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault. (And here, here too.) Some data says that 'Gun control' disarms the honest people so crime actually goes up after 'Gun control' is passed. And before you ask, the police collect crime information, mostly for insurance purposes. The police rarely stop violent crimes in progress.

If the stacks and stacks of 'Gun control' legislation failed before, then why do we expect the next bit of legislative-ink-on-paper to stop the next violent criminal? The truth is, we dont. Neither do the politicians who pass these laws.

Why do politicians keep calling for more 'Gun control' when it is such an obvious failure?

That is an important question. We have to ask what 'Gun control' actually accomplishes in order to answer it. Violence is both complicated and simple. Unfortunately, armed criminal violence gets further complicated by politics and personal agendas. It turns out that the important work of passing 'Gun control' isnt about stopping violent crime at all.

'Gun control' legislation makes us feel safer and in control. We might notice that there are violent people in the world..but a few well chosen words on paper will fix that so we can go back to watching videos on our cell phone.

'Gun control' provides personal absolution. We can pretend to change the world rather than change ourselves. We dont have to protect our children, lock our doors, or treat the mentally ill. All we have to do is regulate a piece of metal and plastic.

'Gun control' lets politicians appear competent and capable of controlling violence. That is why politicians keep saying, "We have to do something." The something they have to do is to appear relevant and electable.

'Gun control' lets the politicians distract us from his real political failures that actually produce violence in society. Youll notice that long term democrat control almost always results in a violent city. That isnt an accident. Violence is strongly associated with fatherlessness, unemployment, gangs and addiction.

'Gun control' lets preachers sell compassion. Lots of activists make money by selling 'Gun control'. Come virtue-signal, and join today! All major credit cards accepted.

'Gun control' lets newscaster sell soap. (News editors love a disaster because it means well watch more news.) If the media really wanted to stop violent mass murder, then they wouldnt turn the murderer into a celebrity. The media wouldnt name the murderer and would not put his face on the television for days on end. This matters a lot. There were over 70 copycat crimes after the Columbine High School murders..and they were preventable.

'Gun control' lets socialist billionaires expand big government. They want us disarmed. That is for their benefit, not ours. And they are willing to pay tens of millions of dollars to get what they want.

Those are very powerful forces at work. No wonder we try the same failed idea time after time. Until we are willing to dig past the headlines, we simply burn another witch and pass another 'Gun control' law. After all, it made us feel better last time.

I dont have all the answers. Im not even sure which will come first. Will we stop distracting ourselves with 'Gun control', and then look at the real causes and solutions to public violence? Will we implement a few effective measures and then stop wasting time with 'Gun control' legislation? Either would be fine, and not a minute too soon.

Back to Top

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- We put a different spin on our usual "Friday Nightlife" excursion and ventured over to New Dorp High School, where there was a unusual party going on.

Read on and we'll supply the details!

As a fun and fabulous way to bridge the gap between senior citizens and students, "Where to Turn" joined forces with New Dorp High School's National Honor Society and Student Union to play host to Staten Island's Fifth Annual Senior Citizen's Senior Prom.

For those who are unaware: The mission of "Where to Turn" is to provide crisis relief services for victims of any kind of tragedy by aiding them in obtaining the help they need during the recovery process.

And in the "Big Heart Department," Applebee's Grill & Bar, a proud partner in the event, provided a hot buffet, as well as a photo booth, in order that seniors would have a keepsake of the special occasion -- and all free of charge.

Kudos to Bob Mack whose generation donation meant additional desserts for the crowd of some 200.

Deejay music that spanned generations was on hand and seniors were serenaded in song by James McKeon.

Raffle baskets galore lined the party room and seniors even took chances on who would become the evening's "Prom King and Queen." But more on that later.

In describing the event as the highlight of the school year, New Dorp High School Principal Deirdre DeAngelis stated:

"The New Dorp High School community looks forward to this event every year. Watching the students and other volunteers interact with Staten Island's senior citizens is remarkable. Relationships are formed, smiles -- worth a million dollars -- and happiness are abundant, and memories will last forever. Thank you to 'Where to Turn,' the many sponsors and volunteers and the staff and National Honor Society students of New Dorp High School for creating a magical night for our seniors."

Executive Director Dennis McKeon added:

"This is one of our favorite events. Our volunteers and the New Dorp students always do a phenomenal job for the senior citizens who have done so much for Staten Island. And it's great to see kids interact with seniors and form relationships. A special thank you to Deirdre DeAngelis, Lisa Auriemma, all of the New Dorp High School students involved, as well as Madeline Bergin-Koenig and Karen Keshecki, who worked so hard to put this event together."

Donny Radigan, general manager of the Applebee's Grill & Bar in the Staten Island Mall noted:

"It's a great feeling giving back. The smiles on seniors faces are great. This is our first year, but we are looking forward to participating in years to come."

And Kim Cafaro, area director of Applebee's Grill & Bar, echoed Radigan's words and added:

"We do a lot of work with 'Where to Turn.' We've been collecting dresses and collect them to be distributed to kids who can't afford prom and evening dresses."

The evening was complete when Angela Caputo and Lee Grumbach, last year's "Prom King and Queen," selected the winning ticket for this year's twosome.

Congrats then go to Mindy Espiritus and Vinnie Mosomillo who were crowned "Prom King and Queen" for 2018.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Diving headfirst into the "real world" after high school is likely something that worries young people all over the country.

Many wonder if they have what it takes to keep their heads above water, and some complain that high school may not be preparing them well enough (i.e. they may not now how to balance a checkbook, but boy can they tell you about the intricacies of pre-calculus).

On Friday, April 13, Island Voice tried its hand at putting those fears to rest for the Island's young.

The organization held its 11th annual Youth Summit from 3-8 p.m. in St. George, where students had the opportunity to visit a number of places in the St. George area for money and career advice from pros. These included Santander Bank, the St. George Library and Borough Hall.

Afterwards, attendees met at the St. George Theatre for pizza, a TED Talk-style panel on technology, an awards ceremony, and performances courtesy of Susan E. Wagner high school and DJ H2O and DJ Fussyman.

Bobby Digi, the founder of the summit and Staten Island Voice, and who grew up in Park Hill, says he is committed to giving back to his community, despite his modest upbringing.

"My intention was to create a fun filled day of active learning where young people could engage and interact with one-another positively while learning about their history, self awareness and community."

Launched in 2006, the Youth Summit has grown to become one of the biggest of its kind in all of New York City, pulling from 500-plus groups of people, from middle school to high school.

William "Starda" Perry, a hip-hop artist and keynote speaker at the summit, has been working with Island Voice for around five years. While this is his first time speaking at the Youth Summit, he has witnessed the numbers climb higher over the years.

"It's awesome to watch the participation grow," Perry said. "It's nothing but beneficial to the entire community.

Many of the students present echoed these positive feelings on the summit, saying they appreciated the knowledge they were being given. The lure of free pizza didn't hurt either.

"I loved learning about everything they showed us," said Noorhan Mualla, a senior at Susan E. Wagner high school. "I know it's going to help me in the future."

Digi takes pride in what his passion project has become, noting that William Perry is successfully using the same model to teach his own lessons. He assures that no matter how big it gets, he will never lose sight of what the Youth Summit is meant to do.

"The mission is to strengthen, create, and inspire the next generation of leaders," Digi said. Ultimately we want to increase the opportunity to be successful in life."

The night's award ceremony featured a number of individuals and groups for their contributions to the Staten Island community.

Shirley Chisholm Award:

Island Voice Cultural Enrichment Award:

Capt. John Jackson Award:

The Habiba Halilu Cultural Excellence:

Note: William "Starda" Perry is also part of the #WeJustWorkin College Tour, who will be joining two other events on Staten Island; the Port Richmond Youth Empowerment Day on April 14 and the 9th annual St. George Day Festival on April 22.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Brighton Heights intermediate school student was hurt last year when he slipped on the cafeteria floor while being chased by another pupil who was bullying him, a lawsuit against the city alleges.

Mario H. Nevarez Sr., the boy's father, recently filed the lawsuit, which alleges the city and Department of Education were at fault for failing to supervise students inside Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61), on Jan. 17, 2017, and leaving the cafeteria in an unsafe condition.

The boy's injuries "were caused solely by the negligence of the defendants in the ownership, operation, maintenance and control of the school premises; in failing to inspect and maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition and in failing to provide proper and adequate supervision to those students in their charge at the time and place of the incident," contends a civil complaint.

The complaint further alleges the defendants failed to "reasonably" anticipate the other student's actions, despite having prior knowledge of his "dangerous conduct" and should have prevented the incident.

The complaint said the boy was "teased, taunted, assaulted (and) bullied" before being chased.

He fell due to a "wet, slippery and dangerous condition" on the cafeteria floor, alleges the complaint.

The youngster suffered "severe" physical and psychological injuries, requiring "necessary hospital care and attention for a long period of time," contends the complaint.

The injuries are not specified.

Filed in state Supreme Court, St. George, the suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Nevarez's lawyer, the city Law Department and Education Department did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.The In Class education column will be published regularly to highlight area school happenings.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The new city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza visited Staten Island schools on Thursday as part of his tour across the five boroughs.

After traveling on the Staten Island Ferry, Carranza started his day at New Dorp High School, where he spoke with students and visited several of the school's small learning communities

He then headed over to the Richmond Pre-K Center, co-located with PS 68 in Port Richmond, where he interacted with the young students in various ways, including reading a story, enjoying a tea party and playing the drums.

"We often talk about educating students for the 21st century," Carranza said. "There's a lot of talk about academics and why it's so important that students are academically prepared. I want to find examples of joyful learning, not just academically rigorous learning."

View the gallery above to see more photos from Carranza's visit.

As part of our new education column, In Class, we are highlighting some of the activities Staten Island students are engaged in -- both inside and outside the classroom.

Here's a look at some additional recent education-related happenings.

STUDENT RECEIVES PROCLAMATION

Ava Garnett is presented with a proclamation from Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis for her work in educating others about rare diseases. (Photo courtesy of Heather Garnett)

Fifth-grader Ava Garnett is working hard to raise awareness of rare diseases, and her dedication was recently honored.

The student was presented a proclamation from Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) last week that recognized her significant contributions in educating others about the over 7,000 rare diseases that affect millions of people around the world.

"It is a true honor to be acknowledged for my effort in spreading awareness about rare diseases," Ava said. "This is something that is extremely important to me and for the over 350 million people affected by rare diseases worldwide."

Ten-year-old Ava has Nail Patella Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder involving the bones, joints and connective tissue that occurs in approximately 1 in 50,000 newborns, according to Nail Patella Syndrome Worldwide (NPSW).

"It was a beautiful experience for her," said Heather Garnett, Ava's mother. "Ava hopes to continue her mission in spreading awareness on rare diseases and the importance of inclusion and diversity in all aspects of life."

Ava has organized a school-wide event on Rare Disease Day to educate her classmates about rare diseases for the past two years -- giving ribbons in exchange for a $1 donation to Global Genes, an organization that works to eliminate the challenges of rare disease.

Ava also made extra handmade ribbons with friends from her Girl Scout troop, and handed out homemade sugar cookies to classmates.

"Ava is a very impressive young lady who has turned her disability into a positive opportunity to bring awareness to rare diseases and advocate for ways to improve the lives of others," said Malliotakis.

DEBATE TEAM FUNDRAISES FOR SCHOOL TRIP

Students on the debate team at Egbert Intermediate School (I.S. 2) are raising money for an all-expenses paid overnight school field trip to Washington, D.C.

Teacher Daniel Leahy has taken up multiple fundraising efforts.

"We want to make this trip not only unforgettable, but completely free," Leahy said.

Leahy said he estimates the team is still about $2,000 away from its goal, but he hopes the kids will have a trip and experience they will never forget.

For those interested in helping raise money for the debate team, you can contact the school for more information at 718-987-5336, or visit the team's donation page at DonorsChoose.org.

TRADING ROOM



Students studying business will be able to utilize the College of Staten Island's new Con Edison Trading Room.

Representatives from Con Edison recently cut the ribbon to the trading room at a dedication ceremony celebrating the utility's generous donation to the college's School of Business.

The space was previously a conventional computer lab, but has now been reshaped into a dynamic learning environment equipped with high-performance computer terminals with dual monitors, electronic displays, data feeds and specialized software.

The educational facility emulates the immersive environment of trading and financial analysis spaces.

"Con Edison is delighted to have helped create the Trading Room, where students can learn up-close about finance, business and Wall Street," said Frances A. Resheske, Con Edison senior vice president. "It furthers STEM education. It's a great match because finance is one of the most exciting and dynamic types of math and science."

CSI President William J. Fritz speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the school's Con Edison Trading Room for the School of Business. (Photo courtesy of Steve White for the College of Staten Island)

CALL FOR HOME-SCHOOLERS

We're asking parents who home-school to let us know what it's like to teach their kids, what challenges they face and the benefits that come from home-schooling. And we'd love to learn about what it's like to be a home-schooled student.

If you home-school and would be interested in sharing your experiences, send an email to aknudson@siadvance.com

Do you have a story idea for the new In Class education column? Email education reporter Annalise Knudson at aknudson@siadvance.com.

FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 37-year-old man is accused of using his cell phone and social media to exchange nude photos with a girl.

Stacey Medina, 37, was arrested on Wednesday in front of his apartment on Tompkins Avenue in Fort Wadsworth by the Computer Crimes Squad after a search authorized by a warrant, according to police and the criminal complaint.

The suspect allegedly used his cell phone to transfer images of his genitals to the girl. He also allegedly persuaded the girl to send photos of her naked breasts to him via Facebook Messenger on multiple occasions, according to the criminal complaint.

He allegedly also used the phone to try and meet the girl for sex, the criminal complaint said.

The suspect is charged with promoting a sexual performance by a child and disseminating indecent material to a minor, according to the criminal complaint.

At least one of his alleged crimes dates to June 25, 2017.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police are seeking the whereabouts of Timothy Turner in connection to an armed robbery inside a South Beach barbershop.

Police say the suspect entered Richie's Barbershop, located at 19 Olympia Blvd. on Friday April 6 at about 8:27 p.m. waving a gun and announcing a robbery.

They allege Turner, 31, then engaged in a struggle with a 27 year-old male, at which point the victim was struck in his head and body numerous times with the firearm, police said.

The victim sustained lacerations to the head and abrasions on his back, for which he received 20 staples in head, and was released from an area hospital, police said.

The suspect removed $300 in cash, a Rolex watch, a necklace, a bracelet, and a wedding band, said police.

Police says Turner is not one in the same with the previously released individual.

Turner is described as a black male, approximately 6 foot 5 inches and approximately 280 pounds.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Mariners Harbor man learned the hard way it pays to signal properly when you're driving.

Robert Daniels, 44, of the 200 block of Lisk Avenue, was busted Thursday on drug charges after officers pulled him over for a traffic infraction in Port Richmond, said authorities.

The incident occurred at about 12:10 p.m. at the intersection of Heberton and Castleton avenues, said a criminal complaint.

Daniels, who was behind the wheel of a 2007 Hyundai Entourage minivan, pulled out from a parking spot without signaling, said the complaint. He also failed to signal at least 100 feet before the intersection prior to turning onto Castleton, the complaint said.

A records check showed Daniels' license had been suspended for failing to answer a summons, said the complaint.

After transporting the defendant to the 121st Precinct stationhouse, officers discovered 34 plastic bags of heroin and 31 twists of crack cocaine on the rear seat of the patrol car, the complaint said. The drugs had not been there before Daniels was put in the vehicle.

On searching the minivan, cops found a sock containing 142 plastic bags of heroin on the engine block, said the complaint.

Daniels was charged with multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance.

He's also accused of unlicensed vehicle operation and failing to signal.

The defendant was expected to be arraigned Friday in Criminal Court.

Daniels has a prior case pending in Criminal Court stemming from a Jan. 5 arrest for alleged misdemeanor drug possession, online state court records show.Key world reactions to Syria strikes



Paris, France, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



Here is a roundup of key reactions to the strikes by the United States, Britain and France against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad:



- Syria -



"The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law," the foreign ministry said.



- Russia -



"Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism," the Kremlin said in a statement. It said it was calling an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council.



- China -



China said it was "opposed to the use of force" in international relations. It called for a political solution and a "return to the framework of international law".



- Iran -



Assad's key regional ally, Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, branded US President Donald Trump, France's Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Theresa May "criminals".



- Gulf -



Qatar was the first Gulf country to react. A statement published by the official news agency expressed support for strikes to stop attacks by the Syrian regime against civilians.



- NATO -



NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a statement backed the strikes, saying they "will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons".



- United Nations -



"I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.



- Turkey -



"We welcome this operation which has eased humanity's conscience in the face of the attack in Douma," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. It accused Damascus of "crimes against humanity".



- Europe -



European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter that the European Union supported the strikes and "will stand with our allies on the side of justice".

German chancellor Angela Merkel called the strikes a "necessary and appropriate military intervention".

The Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain defended the strikes as justified by evidence of a chemical attack.



- Amnesty International -



"All precautions must be taken to minimise harm to civilians in any military action," Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at rights watchdog Amnesty International USA said in a statement.

burs-klm/rlp/eclSrinagar, April 14: Bakarwal community on Saturday staged a protest in Srinagar in which they demanded the shifting of trial in Kathua minor rape-and-murder to outside Jammu.

The protesters said they apprehend that hindrances will be created in the way of trial by those elements who do not want justice to be delivered.

Everybody knows how Kathua-based lawyers tried to block Crime Branch from filing charge sheet in the case. Even counsel representing the victim was threatened, said a group of Bakarwals, who had gathered from across the state under the banner of Jammu and Kashmir youth Bakarwal association.

The protesters said two BJP ministers  Chaudhary Lal Singh and Chandra Prakash Ganga should not only be sacked from the cabinet but from running for any political post for their whole lives. This would only serve a deterrent and set a precedent that law still is for righteous in this part of the world, they said.Srinagar, April 14: Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians of Jammu on Friday demanded justice for Kathua rape and murder victim Asifa Bano and severe punishment to the accused.

Shouting slogans Asifa hum sharminda hain tere Qatil zinda hain (Asifa were ashamed that your murderers are alive), people from all four communities assembled at Tallab Khatikan and demanded that the accused should be hanged.

Those who murdered Asifa dont belong to any religion as no religion of the world teaches its disciples to commit such a heinous crime. We demand the accused should be hanged to death, a Muslim youth, Jehangir Ahmed Bhat, said.

He lashed out at the BJP leaders who had attended a rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in Kathua and had questioned the credibility of state police and Crime Branch.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who is also state home minister should withdraw security from the BJP leaders who have lost faith in the police, Bhat said.

Bhat also slammed some anti social elements who are trying to create a communal divide in Jammu region.

He said, We the people of Jammu have lived together for the past 70 years. We would never tolerate such divisive forces who are trying to give a communal colour to Asifa case.

President Rajinder Bazar Association Atul Raj Pal said, Let us not get divided over Asifa case. She was my daughter, every Hindus daughter and those who murdered our daughter ruthlessly need to be hanged publicly.

It is very painful that in a state which is headed by a woman CM it took three months to file the charge sheet. The justice to the girl was delayed. All culprits should be brought to book, he said.

Asked whether the CBI demand in the case was justified, he said, Why CBI? We have complete faith in our police and we know that the case was investigated impartially. Let the judiciary play its role now so that the victim gets justice.

He said, We should not see this brutal murder of humanity in the prism of religion. All communities should join their hands to ensure justice to the innocent girl.

In the evening, students from Ladakh and Jammu organised a candle march.

The students assembled outside the Press Club of Jammu and later marched towards the Bikram Chowk, where they prayed for peace to the departed soul.

A Ladakhi student said, Weve assembled here in support of a girl child who was brutally raped and murdered by some beasts.

We pray for the eternal peace to the departed soul, he said. Similar protests were witnessed in other parts of Jammu.Syria strikes hit Syrian chemical program: Mattis



Washington, United States, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



A quick series of US, French and British air strikes in Syria were designed to send a "clear message" to President Bashar al-Assad and stop his chemical weapons program, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday.

The Pentagon chief stressed the strikes were carefully calibrated to provide a strong response to a suspected chemical attack, but avoid pulling the West into Syria's civil war.

"The targets tonight again were specifically designed to degrade the Syrian war machine's ability to create chemical weapons and to set that back," Mattis said.

"There were no attempts to broaden or expand that target set."

The air strikes at multiple targets began around 9:00 pm Eastern Time (0100 GMT) and saw US, French and British assets firing missiles at the Assad regime's chemical production facilities.

President Donald Trump's decision to strike Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack came a year after he ordered military action against Assad following a deadly sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun.

"Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said.

"This time, the allies struck harder. We sent a clear message to Assad," he added, noting that double the number of weapons were deployed compared to last year, when 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired at Shayrat air base.

The air strikes appeared to last about an hour. Mattis said no additional attacks were planned, though Trump earlier suggested the strikes could last longer.

"It is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process," Mattis said, noting he expected Russia and other Assad backers to pursue a "significant disinformation campaign."

General Joe Dunford, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US chose targets to avoid hitting Russian forces.

The US military warned Russia of areas it would be operating in, but did not coordinate planning or targets, Dunford said.

Dunford added the precision strikes hit three targets -- a scientific research center near Damascus, a storage facility and command post also near the capital and a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

Syrian surface to air missile batteries had attempted to fire back, but there were no initial reports of any allied losses, he said.

Mattis and Dunford were joined at the Pentagon podium by British and French top officers.UK jets fire at Syrian base in 'limited and targeted strike'



London, United Kingdom, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



British jets fired missiles at a Syrian military base suspected of holding chemical weapons ingredients on Saturday in Britain's first military action against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the "limited and targeted strike" was part of joint action with France and the United States in response to Syria's latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity.

"There is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," May said in a televised statement.

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.

"It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties," she said.

May said "a significant body of information including intelligence" pointed to Syrian government responsibility for a suspected chemical attack in Douma last Saturday.

She said the strikes would "send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity".

"This is the first time as prime minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat -- and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.

"I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain's national interest," she added.



- 'Meticulous target planning' -



Britain's defence ministry said in a statement that four British Tornado jets had fired Storm Shadow missiles at the base 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs at 0100 GMT.

The ministry said the facility was "a former missile base... where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors".

"Initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack," it said.

"Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area.

"The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk," it added.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said in the statement that the strikes were a "legal and proportionate" response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.

May held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss possible action on Thursday and there had been calls for the British parliament to be consulted before any air strikes.

Polls in recent days have shown public wariness of military intervention in Syria, with Britain still haunted by its participation in the US-led invasion of Iraq.

A YouGov poll in The Times conducted this week found that 43 percent of voters opposed strikes in Syria, with 34 percent unsure and only 22 percent supportive.

British lawmakers voted down taking military against Damascus in 2013, in what was widely viewed as an assertion of parliamentary sovereignty on the use of force.

But they backed action in Iraq the following year, and again in Syria in 2015, strictly limiting strikes to Islamic State (IS) group targets.

Britain continues to support the US-led coalition targeting IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria, and has conducted more than 1,700 strikes.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had on Friday accused the government of "waiting for instructions" from US President Donald Trump on what to do over Syria.

"Further UK military intervention in Syria's appalling multi-sided war risks escalating an already devastating conflict," he said.Democrats: Trump needs Congress approval for broader Syria effort



Washington, United States, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



US President Donald Trump's announcement on Friday of air strikes in Syria triggered swift warnings from opposition Democrats that any broader military campaign there would require a well-formulated strategic vision -- and authorization from Congress.

Trump said US forces launched "precision" strikes against Syrian targets, and that the United States would "sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi led calls for Trump to map out a detailed plan and present it to Congress if he wants to expand military action.

"One night of air strikes is no substitute for a coherent strategy," Pelosi said in a statement.

Trump "must come to Congress to obtain a new AUMF (authorization for use of military force), present a clear set of objectives, & ultimately hold Putin accountable for the bloodshed he has enabled," she added, referring to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, the Syrian regime's most powerful ally.

US military forces have largely been operating under AUMFs passed by Congress shortly after the 9/11 attacks to conduct operations against extremist groups like the Islamic State, including in Syria.

Some Democrats like Senator Tim Kaine, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2016, said although last week's deadly apparent chemical attack was an abomination, Trump's air strikes were illegal.

"The last thing Congress should be doing is giving this president a blank check to wage war against anyone, anywhere. We need to put clear limits in place before he starts another war," said Kaine.

"Today, it's a strike on Syria - what's going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?"

Congressman Eric Swalwell reminded that Trump launched missile strikes without congressional approval against a Syrian air field last year.

"What's changed? Zero. They're still using chemical weapons," he said. "This is the result of a failure to have a strategy and engage Middle East countries to solve this problem."

Republican lawmakers largely backed the assault.

"The precision targeting of military targets are needed in the fight of good versus evil, a fight of the United States versus the dark edge of humanity," Senator Cory Gardner said.

But some libertarian Republicans, notably congressman Justin Amash, expressed full-throated opposition.

"These offensive strikes against Syria are unconstitutional, illegal, and reckless," Amash said, adding that the next House speaker who succeeds outgoing Paul Ryan should "reclaim congressional war powers."Strikes must minimise harm to Syrian civilians: Amnesty



London, United Kingdom, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



Human rights watchdog Amnesty International on Saturday warned air strikes by Britain, France and the United States on Syria should "minimise harm to civilians" and urged US President Donald Trump to take in Syrian refugees.

"All precautions must be taken to minimise harm to civilians in any military action," Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for Middle East North Africa at Amnesty International USA said in a statement.

"The people of Syria have already endured six years of devastating attacks, including chemical attacks, many of which amount to war crimes," he said.

"People already living in fear of losing their lives in unlawful attacks must not be further punished for the alleged violations of the Syrian government," he added.

Jarrar also pointed to the refugee crisis caused by the conflict in Syria.

"The Trump administration must not turn its back on the suffering of men, women, and children by continuing to ban refugees from entering the United States. It is time for the US to reopen our doors to people trying to escape from the violence in Syria," he said.

Trump last year imposed a controversial travel ban permanently closing the US border for citizens of Yemen, Syria, Libya, Iran, Somalia, North Korea and Chad.Over 100 missiles fired at Syria, 'significant number' intercepted: Moscow



Moscow, Russia, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



The US and its allies fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Syria, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian air defences, the Russian defence ministry said Saturday.

"More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets," the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, adding that "a significant number" were shot down by Syrian air defences.Parting Advice

The police chief shares some thoughts as he heads for Colorado.

by James Leonard

From the April, 2018 issue

"Ann Arbor can be a challenging environment," says AAPD chief Jim Baird. Baird announced his retirement in February after twenty-five years with the department but just two as chief.



The ebullient chief says the timing is unrelated to plans to create a policing commission. "In any police action, there will be a certain percentage of the people that will back us no matter what," he says, and "a certain percentage of the people that will vilify us no matter what." If the commission gives the open-minded people in the middle a better understanding of police, he says, "it can only be a benefit."



Since Baird can retire with full benefits, staying after his silver anniversary didn't make financial sense. But "it's not about leaving here," he says. "It's about going there": he's already been hired as chief in Breckenridge, Colorado, a small resort town with just twenty-five sworn officers.



Baird does have one piece of advice for his bosses on city council: "It's my recommendation that they not post the position immediately." With the powers and makeup of the policing commission still to be decided, "I don't think the likelihood of getting a good candidate to apply is going to be very high, because you don't know what you're walking into."



Mayor Christopher Taylor concurs. "I don't believe we're going to hire a new chief until the policing commission is formed," Taylor says. "I don't expect it will be this calendar year." Till then, deputy chief Bob Pfannes will run the department as interim chief.



[Originally published in April, 2018.]







Srinagar, April 14: Protests were held across Kashmir on Friday against the rape and murder of eight-year-old Asifa in January this year and the killing of four civilians by government forces in Kulgam on Wednesday.

The separatist leadership had called only for protests after Friday prayers but people closed businesses and traffic on roads was thin. The protesters were demanding stern punishment to the accused in the dastardly crime.

Kashmir University female hostellers held a sit-in on Friday evening and demanded fair and speedy trial in Asifa rape and murder case.

Condemning the protests held by the Jammu Bar Association, the students shouted anti-BJP and anti-PDP slogans.

Unlike Aasiya and Neelofar rape and murder case that still awaits justice, this time death penalty should be the sole punishment for the culprits, said the students.

The students held placards that read: We wont stop until you make us feel safe and justice for Asifa.

They say Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao. Is this what that slogan means? asked a female student.

A large number of forces deployed in Nowhatta ensured prayers are not offered at the historic Jamia Masjid even on the occasion of Mehraj-e-Alam (night of ascension). The police did not allow Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who leads prayers at the mosque, to leave home.

Soon after the Friday prayers, leaders and activists of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Muhammad Yasin Bhat, Sheikh Abdur Rashid, Bashir Kashmir, Ashraf Bin-Salam and many others, tried to march towards Lal Chowk but were stopped by the police. They were holding placards with justice for Asifa slogans.

In their slogans, the protesters paid homage to the deceased civilians and demanding an end to bloodbath in Kashmir.

Speaking to reporters, the JKLF leaders termed Asifas rape and murder a blot on the face of the entire humanity.

We will continue to protest till those involved in the heinous crime of first attacking the chastity of minor Asifa and then murdering her mercilessly are not hanged in public, the JKLF leaders said.

Many traders and civil society activists also participated in the protest. The protestors later staged a peaceful sit-in.

Leaders and activists associated with the Hurriyat Conference (M) also demonstrated at Lal Bazar area. A party spokesman said that after Friday prayers activists that included Mushtaq Ahmed Sofi, Advocate Yasir Dalal, Farooq Ahmed Saudagar and others held a protest demonstration and shouted Asifa kay katilon ko phansi dou, hang the murderers of Asifa. The protestors also called for an end to bloodshed in Kashmir.

Hurriyat Conference (G) activists demonstrated at Hyderpora after Friday prayers and called for an exemplary punishment to the culprits in the girls rape and murder.

Hurriyat (G) activists Syed Mohammad Shafi, Rameez Raja, Mudasir Ahmad, Sajad Ahmad Mir, Abdul Ahad, Sajad Ahmad Pala, Ishfaq Ahmad Khan, Gowhar Ahmad and Mohammad Umar and others participated in the protest.

Addressing the people, the protesting leaders said: Growing Indian aggression against unarmed and peaceful people has touched the alarming line and turned this beautiful place into a battle field. Under a well thought out plan, forces and their henchmen are carrying out genocide in Kashmir. Traders in Khanyar under the banner of Gousia Traders Association asked the government to act against the Jammu lawyers who tried to stop the Crime Branch from filing the charge sheet in the girls rape and murder case in a court.

Acts like this have pained every Kashmir and to protest against it is our right, said the protesting traders who had gathered outside the revered shrine of Hazrat Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (RA).

The protesting traders were also joined by locals who demanded capital punishment to the culprits.

It is a shame to call those thugs lawyers who are playing communal politics over this gruesome crime and are creating hurdles in legal process, said Muhammad Latief Sofi, president of the association.

Protests were also held in Nowgam, Batamaloo, Chanapora and many other areas of Srinagar, and Dalipora in Pulwama, where the protesters also shouted slogans in favour of slain Hizb militant Musavir Hussain.

Later, clashes broke out at Muran Chowk, Pulwama, after Friday prayers where protesters threw stones at the police and paramilitary forces. A group of residents also staged protest at Awantipore, accusing the forces of damaging the minaret of local Jamia Masjid. A witness said that clashes were reported in Tral area of Pulwama post Friday prayers.

Local youths organised a candle light protest at Muran Chowk later.

Protest rallies were held in Shopian and Kulgam districts and Bijbehera area of Anantnag town.

A complete shutdown was observed in Banihal on the second consecutive day over rape and murder of Asifa and the killings in Kashmir. A witness said people took out a protest march from Central Jamia Masjid Banihal after Friday prayers against the rape and murder of Asifa.

Protestors also burnt the effigies of cabinet minister Chaudhary Lal Singh and Chander Parkash Ganga, a witness said. The traffic on highway also ffected for some time due to protests on Jammu  Srinagar highway.France used frigates, fighter jets to hit Syria: defence minister



Paris, France, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



France fired cruise missiles from frigates in the Mediterranean and deployed fighter jets from home bases as part of its strikes on Syria, Defence Minister Florence Parly said.

Speaking at the presidential palace, Parly said "these different assets fired cruise missiles in a perfectly coordinated way... closely synchronised with our American and British allies."Over 100 missiles fired at Syria, 'significant number' intercepted: Moscow



Moscow, Russia, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



The US and its allies fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Syria, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian air defences, the Russian defence ministry said Saturday.

"More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets," the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, adding that "a significant number" were shot down by Syrian air defences.

It said that 12 cruise missiles were fired at an airfield close to Damascus and all were intercepted by Syria's air defences.

"Russian air defence systems located on Syrian territory have not been used to counter the missile strikes", it said.

It said earlier that none of the Western strikes in Syria had hit areas covered by Russia's air defences around its Hmeimim air base and naval facility in Tartus.

The Russian military said the missiles were fired from US ships in the Red Sea as well as from tactical aircraft over the Mediterranean and by US strategic bombers from the Al-Tanf base in southeastern Syria.

The US, France, and Britain announced a joint operation against Syria's government, a week after an alleged chemical attack outside the capital Damascus that was said to have left more than 40 people dead.Russia 'severely condemns' attack on Syria: Kremlin



Moscow, Russia, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



The Kremlin on Saturday condemned Western air strikes on Syria where its armed forces are backing President Bashar al-Assad.

"Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism," the Kremlin said in a statement, its first reaction to the strikes.

Moscow also said it was calling an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, where it is a permanent member, to discuss the "aggressive actions" of the US and its allies.

"Without the sanction of the UN Security Council, in breach of the UN charter and the norms and principles of international law, an act of aggression was committed against a sovereign state," the Kremlin said.

Russia said that the Western powers "cynically" carried out military action hours before a team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was set to begin an investigation into the suspected chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta that sparked the intervention by the US and its allies.

The current escalation of the situation in Syria "has a destructive effect on the whole system of international relations," the Kremlin said.Russia military says Syria air defence intercepted 71 of 103 cruise missiles



Moscow, Russia, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



The Russian military said Saturday that Western allies fired 103 cruise missiles including Tomahawk missiles at Syria but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them.

"All together, 103 cruise missiles were deployed," senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi said at a briefing in Moscow. "Seventy-one cruise missiles were intercepted."Key world reactions to US-led strikes on Syria



Paris, France, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



The US, France and Britain unleashed air strikes on Syria early Saturday targeting the Damascus regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack on civilians.

Western powers said the strikes were necessary to halt the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Here is a selection of the main responses from across the world:



- Russia -



Damascus's ally Moscow reacted with fury to the strikes and said it was calling an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council.

"Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said "such actions will not be left without consequences".



- Syria -



"The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law," the foreign ministry said.

State news agency SANA said the attack was "doomed to fail".



- Iran -



Iran, another key backer of Assad's regime, warned the US and its allies were "responsible for the regional consequences of this adventurist action," the foreign ministry said, condemning a "clear violation of international rules and laws".

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced US President Donald Trump, France's Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Theresa May as "criminals" in remarks published on his Telegram channel.



- NATO -



"I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France... This will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

"NATO considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security, and believes that it is essential to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention," the statement added.

"This calls for a collective and effective response by the international community."



- United Nations -



"I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.

He urged the UN Security Council to agree on establishing an inquiry that would identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks.

Russia this week vetoed a US proposal to set up such a panel on the suspected attack in Syria.



- Turkey -



"We welcome this operation which has eased humanity's conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

It accused Damascus of carrying out "crimes against humanity and war crimes" during Syria's seven-year civil war.



- EU -



European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter that the European Union supported the strikes and "will stand with our allies on the side of justice".



- Germany -



German chancellor Angela Merkel backed what she called a "necessary and appropriate military intervention".



- Amnesty International -



"All precautions must be taken to minimise harm to civilians in any military action," Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at rights watchdog Amnesty International USA said in a statement.

burs-klm/rlp/dlSyria strikes send 'clear message' on chemical weapons: British PM



London, United Kingdom, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



Air strikes by Britain, France and the United States in Syria sent a "clear message" against the use of chemical weapons, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday.

"This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons," May told a press conference.

She said that at an emergency cabinet meeting in London on Thursday "we agreed that it was both right and legal to take military action" after hearing legal advice.

"I believe that the action taken will have significantly degraded the Syrian regime's ability to use chemical weapons," she said.

"While the full assessment of the strike is ongoing, we are confident of its success," she added.

Four British fighter jets struck a military base near Homs where Britain said Syrian government forces were holding chemical weapon components.

"We have hit a specific and limited set of targets," she said.

Asked why she had proceeded without consulting parliament, May cited operational security consideration.

"It was right to take the action that we have done in the timing that we have done," she said.

May said she would address parliament on Monday about the strikes.Germany backs 'necessary and appropriate' strikes in Syria: Merkel



Berlin, Germany, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday the air strikes against the Syrian regime were "necessary and appropriate" after the suspected chemical weapons attacks that killed dozens in Douma.

"We support the fact that our US, British and French allies ... assumed their responsibilities. The military intervention was necessary and appropriate," Merkel said in a statement.

"Everything leads us to believe that (Assad) bears responsibility" for the Douma attack, Merkel said.

The chancellor on Thursday had ruled out Germany joining any military action against Syria.

On Saturday she said it appeared likely that the Syrian regime "had used chemical weapons against its own people on several occasions in the past".

Merkel added: "A century after the end of World War I... we must fight against the erosion of the (international) convention on chemical weapons".

"Germany will undertake, in a determined way, diplomatic efforts to support this," Merkel said.'Large part' of Syria chemical arsenal destroyed: France



Paris, France, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday that missile strikes carried out overnight in Syria by Britain, France and the US had destroyed a "large part" of the Damascus government's stocks of chemical weapons.

"A large part of its chemical arsenal has been destroyed," Le Drian told BFM television. "A lot has been destroyed in last night's strikes."

He also said France had "solid intelligence" that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind the gas attack in the rebel-held city of Douma last weekend, which monitors say killed at least 40 people.

"On the question of chemical weapons, there is a red line that must not be crossed, and if it should be crossed again, there will be another intervention," Le Drian said.

"But I think the lesson has been learned."Russia and the West: post-Cold War crises



Paris, France, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



Relations between the West and Russia, which face another crisis after US, French and British air strikes against the Moscow-backed Syrian regime on Saturday, have hit many lows since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

The aftermath of the fall of the USSR initially saw a rare period of cooperation, including over the NATO military alliance, but strains appeared soon afterwards.

Here is a reminder of a difficult relationship that has been key to world affairs.



- Kosovo war -



In 1999 NATO launches a 78-day bombing campaign on Yugoslavia to force its republic of Serbia to withdraw forces from Kosovo where it is accused of repressing separatists.

Russia, an ally of Serbia, had threatened a return to a Cold War-style freeze in relations if NATO acted.

Two days after the strikes start, Russia kicks out NATO's representative and suspends military cooperation.

Tensions resurface after Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence, not recognised by Russia.



- NATO grows east -



In March 1999 NATO admits three former members of the Soviet-era Warsaw Pact -- the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

Moscow warns NATO against allowing former Soviet republics to join but in 2004 it welcomes Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, along with ex-communist states Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Their eventual inclusion into the European Union also annoys Russia.



- Missile shield -



Moscow's suspicions towards NATO's tilt eastwards deepen with plans launched in 2010 for a European missile shield to counter a perceived threat from Iran.

To be operational by 2020, it includes the deployment of missile interceptors and powerful radars in Poland and Romania.



- Georgia conflict -



In August 2008 Russia bombs the Georgian capital Tbilisi after it intervened in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia, and occupies a large part of the former Soviet republic's territory, provoking a Western outcry.

A peace accord negotiated by French president Nicolas Sarkozy leads to the withdrawal of Russian troops. However Moscow recognises separatist South Ossetia and Abkhazia and maintains a heavy military presence in both.

After the war, NATO freezes relations with Moscow until the following June. Moscow then suspends its military cooperation with NATO.



- Ukraine crisis-



Russia in 2014 annexes Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and is accused by the West of backing separatists waging an insurgency.

Washington and Europe impose painful economic sanctions.

NATO suspends civilian and military cooperation with Moscow and the allies put their troops on a state of alert, with battalions deployed in Poland and the ex-Soviet Baltic states.



- Suspicions of US vote meddling -



Accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election sour relations between the two countries.

The claims include suspicion of collusion between Donald Trump's campaign and the Kremlin.

In February 2018, 13 Russians are indicted by Washington for using online posts to influence opinion in favour of Trump.



- Spy poisoning in Britain -



London blames Moscow for the March 8, 2018 poisoning of former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in England.

Moscow strongly denies involvement.

Western allies back Britain and expel more than 150 Russian diplomats; Moscow responds by expelling the same number of Western envoys.



- Syria -



Russia and the West are on opposing sides in Syria's seven-year war, with Moscow supporting President Bashar al-Assad while Western-backed rebels are seeking to unseat him.

Russia uses its veto 12 times against UN Security Council resolutions on the Syrian crisis.

Since 2015 it has carried out a campaign of air strikes in support of Assad.

In 2017 US President Donald Trump orders air strikes against a Syrian airbase after a chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun.

It leads Russia to suspend a hotline with the US army on Syria operations.

In February 2018 the US-led coalition bombs pro-regime fighters in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, reportedly killing several Russian mercenaries.

The United States, Britain and France carry out a wave of strikes against Assad's regime on April 14, a week after a suspected deadly gas attack on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma.

The US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the targets of the strikes were chosen to avoid hitting Russian military assets.

However Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, warns of unspecified repercussions, adding that "insulting" Putin was "unacceptable".France says 'large part' of Syria chemical arsenal destroyed



Paris, France, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday that missile strikes carried out overnight in Syria by Britain, France and the US had destroyed a "large part" of Damascus's stocks of chemical weapons.

"A large part of its chemical arsenal has been destroyed," Le Drian told BFM television. "A lot has been destroyed in last night's strikes."

He also said France had "solid intelligence" that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind the gas attack in the rebel-held city of Douma last weekend, which monitors say killed at least 40 people.

Syria as well as its main backer Russia have denied being behind the attack, a claim that was dismissed by Le Drian, citing "overwhelming testimony" and extensive analysis by French intelligence services and laboratories.

"The analyses are not yet finished... but will allow us to identify all the gases. There was chlorine, that's certain," and preliminary evidence points to other gases as well, he said.

But although France has determined that high-ranking officers in the Syrian army ordered the attack, Le Drian said he could not state with certainty that Assad himself was behind those orders.

He warned, however, that France would not hesitate to strike Syria again in case of further chemical attacks.

"On the question of chemical weapons, there is a red line that must not be crossed, and if it should be crossed again, there will be another intervention," Le Drian said.

"But I think the lesson has been learned."

"The point is to make sure there is no proliferation of chemical weapons," he added. "The point was not to impact the regime's allies, nor even to impact the institutional functioning of the Syrian regime."

Le Drian also said that for now President Emmanuel Macron still planned to travel to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin in May, while urging Moscow to work constructively on applying US Security Council resolutions on Syria.

"We have to keep talking with Russia, and Russia needs to realise that it has voted in favour of UN security resolutions (on Syria) and that they must be applied today, and not be carried away by the barbarity of Bashar al-Assad," he said.Australia Awards to train 21 Nepalis in inclusive education

Twenty-one Nepalis will travel to Brisbane to take part in Australia Awards Short Course on Inclusive Education, administered by Queensland University of Technology.US-led strikes steer clear of Russian military



Moscow, Russia, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



President Donald Trump's administration has made clear it sees Moscow as complicit in the latest suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, but Pentagon planners are taking pains to avoid hitting Russian military assets.

Saturday's strikes were limited in scope despite bellicose rhetoric from both sides, while a direct clash between the West and Russia in Syria could quickly flip the seven-year-old conflict in a new and dangerous direction.

According to General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the strikes hit three targets related to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons programme -- a scientific research centre near Damascus, a weapons storage facility west of Homs and a third location that contained both a command post and an equipment storage facility in the same area.

These targets appeared to steer well clear of any Russian military personnel or equipment.

Moscow said none of the missiles hit its Hmeimim airbase or its naval facility at Tartus adding that it did not activate its own sophisticated air defence systems.

"With regard to the Russian concerns, we specifically identified these targets to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved," Dunford said.

Russia's defence ministry said no Syrian civilians or military were killed in the attacks.

The Russian military said 103 cruise missiles were fired, including Tomahawk missiles, but Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them.

In his primetime address announcing the strikes, Trump accused Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government of failing to guarantee a 2013 deal that was supposed to rid Assad of his chemical weapons.

"Assad's recent attack -- and today's response -- are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise," Trump said.

But both Dunford and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis stressed that strikes were not intended to pull America deeper into Syria's war.

"The targets tonight again were specifically designed to degrade the Syrian war machine's ability to create chemical weapons and to set that back," Mattis said.

"There were no attempts to broaden or expand that target set."

The Kremlin has said it severely condemns the "act of aggression" and has called an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council.

Analyst Alexey Malashenko, a specialist in the Syria conflict, told AFP that military retaliation would be highly risky for Russia and Moscow appeared to be choosing a war of words instead.

"Russia had a choice -- either to risk and respond militarily, which is very dangerous because you can lose, or what is happening now."

Moscow will kick up "a huge row" including at the United Nations, Malashenko predicted, "but no real action will be taken."



- 'Deconfliction' -



Dunford noted that the US military did not coordinate any targets or any plans with the Russians ahead of Friday's strikes.

But he said a long-standing "deconfliction" line was used to tell Moscow the areas where the Americans, French and British would be conducting operations.

Communication on the line is a near-daily occurrence designed to stop mishaps as a US-led coalition conducts an air war against the Islamic State group while Russia pursues its own goals of propping up Assad.

Moscow hardly needed a heads up that military action was coming.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump tweeted that "nice and new and 'smart!'" missiles would be coming Syria's way, and that Russia should "get ready."

He vacillated the next day after being criticized for telegraphing war plans and insisted that no final decision had been made.

"Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War," Trump tweeted on Wednesday.

The air strikes were limited in scope, lasting about an hour. Mattis said no additional attacks were planned, though Trump earlier suggested the strikes could last longer.

Russia has been deeply enmeshed in Syria's civil war since 2015 and Washington and Moscow have already indirectly clashed in the country.

The outgoing head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, this week appeared to confirm reports that around 200 Russian mercenaries were killed in February during a clash with US-led forces in Syria.Iraq says Western strikes on Syria could aid jihadists



Baghdad, Iraq, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



Iraq warned that Western air strikes Saturday on Syria were a "very dangerous" development that could fuel a jihadist resurgence in the region.

A statement by foreign ministry spokesman Ahmad Mahjoub said the strikes' "consequences threaten the security and stability of the region".

Mahjoub said the raids carried out by the United States, France and Britain were "a very dangerous development... that will provide an opportunity for the expansion of terrorism after it was destroyed in Iraq and largely pushed back in Syria".

He said the ministry was "worried" and called for a "political solution that would satisfy the aspirations of the Syrian people".

Iraq's foreign ministry also called on an Arab League summit to be held on Sunday in Saudi Arabia to "adopt a clear position concerning this dangerous development".

The Iraqi government declared victory over the Islamic State group, which it considers a terrorist organisation, in December after pushing IS jihadists out of their final holdouts along the border with Syria.

But the group retains the capacity to strike despite losing control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory it seized in 2014 and still clings to pockets of desert in war-torn Syria.UN Security Council to meet over Syria strikes



United Nations, United States, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



The UN Security Council will meet Saturday at Russia's request to discuss air strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain on Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will brief the council during the public meeting scheduled for 11:00 am (1500 GMT), a UN official said.

Guterres said in a statement earlier that all countries should "show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people."

Western officials said a barrage of cruise and air-to-land missiles hit what they said were sites linked to chemical weapons development.

The one-night operation hit three targets: a scientific research facility in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage site west of the city of Homs and a command post near Homs, the US military said.

Russia has warned that any military action against Syria would be in violation of international law as it was carried out without UN Security Council approval.

At a council meeting on Friday, the United States, Britain and France made the case for military action, arguing that President Bashar Assad's forces had used toxic gases multiple times in violation of international law.

Russia countered that their action was aimed at overthrowing Assad and keeping Moscow's influence in check.Pentagon on Syria strikes: 'We successfully hit every target'



Washington, United States, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



The Pentagon said Saturday that a joint US-British-French operation against Syria's regime had "successfully hit every target," countering assertions from Russia that dozens of missiles were intercepted.

"We do not seek conflict in Syria, but we cannot allow such grievous violations of international law," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters.

"We successfully hit every target," she said. "The strikes were justified, legitimate and proportionate."

Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, also at the briefing, said three sites that are "fundamental components of the regime's chemical weapons infrastructure" were struck.

The operation was "precise, overwhelming and effective," he said, adding it will set their chemical weapons program back "for years."

McKenzie said that none "of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defenses."Trump says 'Mission Accomplished!' after Syria strikes



Washington, United States, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



President Donald Trump on Saturday hailed a US-led missile assault on Syria's regime as "perfectly executed," despite the limited nature of the strikes and Russia's condemnation, which further heightened tensions between the Cold War foes.

The UN Security Council was set to meet at Moscow's request at 1500 GMT over the operation, which was unleashed by the US, Britain and France in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.

The strikes were targeted to inflict maximum damage on sites linked to chemical weapons development. A top Pentagon official, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, said the action would set back Syria's chemical weapons program "for years."

The sounds of massive explosions rang out across Damascus just before dawn on Saturday, ushering in 45 minutes of explosions and the roar of warplanes, AFP's correspondent in the city said.

Flashes flared in the distance and by daybreak, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the city's north and east.

"A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military," Trump tweeted early Saturday.

"Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White later told reporters: "We successfully hit every target."

Both the regime of Syria's Bashar al-Assad and its ally Russia have denied all responsibility for the deadly Douma attack, and Moscow slammed the "aggressive actions" of the Western coalition, but it has not yet responded militarily.



- 'Crimes of a monster' -



US President Donald Trump announced the joint action against Assad's regime from the White House late Friday.

Trump said the strikes were a direct response to the April 7 attack on Douma, outside Damascus, that rescuers and monitors say killed more than 40 people.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called the strikes a "one-time shot" with no additional military action planned for now.

The strikes were the biggest foreign military action so far against Syria's regime.

The targets included a scientific research facility near Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs, and a third location near Homs that contained both a command post and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility, the US military said.

The facilities hit had however reportedly been evacuated in recent days.

Syrian state media reported only three people injured, while Russia's defense ministry said there were "no victims" among Syrian civilians and military personnel.



- Defiant Assad -



Assad, who has denied ever using chemical weapons against his opponents, responded to the strikes with a defiant vow.

"This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," he said.

Assad's key ally Iran also slammed the attack, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing Western leaders as "criminals."

The targets appeared to steer well clear of any Russian personnel or equipment in Syria, where Moscow launched a military intervention in support of Assad in 2015.

The Russian military claimed Syrian air defense systems had intercepted 71 Western missiles, though the Pentagon disputed that.



- Rally in Damascus -



In central Damascus, dozens of Syrians arrived on bicycles, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white, and black colors of the Syrian flag, blaring patriotic tunes.

Nedher Hammoud, 48, claimed to have seen missiles "being shot down like flies."

"Let them do what they want, kill who they want... History will record that Syria shot down missiles -- and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance."

Despite the strikes, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it was still planning on carrying out its investigation into the Douma attack.

Thousands of rebels and civilians have since been bussed out of the town under a Russian-brokered deal. Syrian internal security forces entered Douma on Saturday and were poised to declare their control over it within "hours."

Jaish al-Islam, the group that held Douma, said it only abandoned the town because of the chemical attack.

Leading Jaish al-Islam member Mohammad Alloush said Saturday the Western strikes had not gone far enough.

"Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal -- a farce," Alloush wrote on Twitter.

And Ahmad, a 25-year-old mechanic who had been displaced from Douma, told AFP the Western strikes were too little, too late.

"Assad won't collapse. They'll bomb for a day or two and then the regime will take it out on us," he said.

The specter of military strikes had hung over Syria since harrowing footage of victims in Douma sparked outrage from Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

France said it fired cruise missiles from frigates in the Mediterranean and deployed fighter jets from home bases on Saturday.

Britain's defense ministry said four British Tornado jets had fired Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Homs.



- UN chief urges restraint -



The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

Despite the warnings, Washington, Paris and London insisted their own secret intelligence belied Assad's guilt. A US spokeswoman said Friday the allies had "proof."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who delayed a planned trip to Saudi Arabia and was to brief the Security Council, called for calm.

"I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances," he said in a statement.

burs-mm-sst/chSyria strikes send 'clear message' on chemical weapons: May



London, United Kingdom, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



British, French and US air strikes in Syria on Saturday sent a "clear message" against the use of chemical weapons, said British Prime Minister Theresa May.

"This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons," May told a press conference.

British jets fired missiles at a Syrian military base suspected of holding chemical weapons components, in the UK's first military action against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

May said that at an emergency cabinet meeting in London on Thursday, following an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held Syrian town of Douma on April 7, "we agreed that it was both right and legal to take military action" after hearing legal advice.

The strikes "will have significantly degraded the Syrian regime's ability to use chemical weapons", she said.

Four British Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles at a Syrian base 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs at 0100 GMT.

The prime minister has faced a domestic backlash, with the main opposition parties claiming Saturday's attacks were legally dubious, risked escalating conflict and should have been approved by lawmakers first.



- 'No practicable alternative' -



Asked why she had proceeded without consulting parliament, May cited operational considerations.

"It was right to take the action that we have done in the timing that we have done," she said.

May said she would address parliament on Monday about the strikes and face MPs' questions.

She claimed there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.

May insisted that the strikes were not about intervening in the Syrian civil war or regime change.

She also alluded to a nerve agent attack in Britain last month on a former Russian spy and his daughter.

Britain has blamed Russia for the poisoning -- a charge vehemently denied by the Kremlin in an escalating diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West.

The Russian military on Friday insisted it had proof that the Douma alleged chemical weapons attack was faked by the White Helmets first responders -- on orders from London.

May called the claim "grotesque and absurd".

Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded that the government publish the legal basis for the strikes, which it swiftly did.

"The UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering," the document said.

It said there had to be "convincing evidence" of extreme humanitarian distress, it must be "objectively clear that there is no practicable alternative", and any action "must be necessary and proportionate" and "limited in time and scope".

"The UK considers that military action met the requirements of humanitarian intervention," said the document.



- MoD claims success -



In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said initial indications showed that the strikes had been "successful".

"Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area," the ministry said.

Peter Felstead, editor of Jane's Defence Weekly military magazine, said the strikes were specifically about chemical weapons use and were not about "wider geopolitical goals".

"The strikes would also have been planned to minimise any chance of causing Russian casualties on the ground, lest that widen the conflict," he told AFP.

The Henry Jackson Society foreign policy think-tank said inaction would have been "grossly irresponsible".

Executive director Alan Mendoza added: "This cannot be a token effort to demonstrate our outrage. We need a serious and sustained response to deter further unacceptable and intolerable actions by a reckless regime."Miles from home, disillusioned Syrians say air strikes 'not enough'



Al-Bab, Syria, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



Hundreds of miles from their homes in Syria's wrecked Eastern Ghouta, displaced Syrians say Western air strikes Saturday in response to an alleged chemical attack there were too little, too late.

The United States, Britain and France targeted military and research sites in Syria after the purported toxic attack on Eastern Ghouta's last rebel holdout of Douma a week earlier.

Medics and rescuers said the alleged chemical attack killed more than 40 people in Douma, weeks into a brutal regime air and ground assault to retake the wider region on the outskirts of Damascus from rebels.

"We're so happy to see that someone felt for us," said Nadia Sidawi, 46, one of thousands of displaced Douma residents now living in northern Syria after they were evacuated from the town.

But "the strikes are not enough," said the mother-of-eight, sitting on a mattress outside a white tent in a camp for the displaced more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) from her home in Douma.

President Bashar al-Assad "killed us -- our children, our women. He destroyed our homes," said the housewife, whose hair was wrapped in a black scarf.

More than 1,700 civilians were killed in a Russia-backed regime assault on Eastern Ghouta since mid-February.

Since then, Assad's forces have retaken almost the entire rebel bastion through the military operation and Moscow-brokered evacuation deals.

An agreement for the Jaish al-Islam rebels who once controlled Douma has seen thousands of people -- rebels and civilians -- bussed up to a rebel-held area of the northern province of Aleppo.



- 'Nobody stopped them' -



Jaish al-Islam fighter Saleh Ibrahim, 26, said he was not optimistic that Saturday's air strikes would have any long-term impact on Syria's seven-year war.

"If Western countries had really wanted to get rid of Assad, they would have done it seven years ago," he said, at the camp for the displaced near the city of Al-Bab.

Syria's conflict started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests and has since spiralled into a complex war involving world powers.

Nada, a 40-year-old nurse from Douma who did not give her second name, said the US-led air strikes were more than warranted but came far too late.

Before the regime launched heavy air strikes on Eastern Ghouta on February 18, people in the former opposition bastion had endured five years of regime siege and food shortages.

"Nobody stopped them from besieging us. Children died of malnutrition," the nurse said.

"Everybody held meetings and negotiations and nothing came of anything," said the mother-of-six, who said she has lost touch with some of her children since being evacuated from Ghouta.

Numerous rounds of UN-backed talks have failed to stem Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced more than half the country's population.

Backed by Russia, regime forces have taken back large parts of Syria in the past few years. Fully retaking Eastern Ghouta would be a major achievement for Assad.

Abu Adnan al-Doumani, 42, said he was also disappointed in Western powers.

"The United States, France and the United Kingdom always said they were friends of the Syrian people," said the unemployed father-of-six, who wore a long black beard.

"But they have proven to be out worst enemies as Assad is in fact their protege," he said.

"They let him do what he wants, kill who he wants."Israel's Netanyahu voices 'total support' for Syria strikes



Jerusalem, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his "total support" on Saturday for US-led air strikes against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons.

"A year ago I gave Israel's total support for (US) President Donald Trump's decision to mobilise against the use of chemical weapons," he said, referring to American strikes against the Syrian regime in April 2017 after a sarin gas attack on a rebel-held town.

"Israel's support remains unchanged," Netanyahu said.NATO chief urges Russia to 'exercise responsibility' on Syria



Brussels, Belgium, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg on Saturday called on Russia to "exercise responsibility" in the Syrian conflict.

"In this regard, the Allies call on all supporters of the Syrian regime, notably Russia, to exercise responsibility to ensure that the Syrian regime participates constructively in the UN-led Geneva process," he said after a meeting in Brussels of the amsassadors of 29 NATO member countries.

In a statement on the air strikes against Syria by the US, France and Britain, NATO added that it expressed its "full support for this action intended to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deter further chemical weapon attacks against the people of Syria.

"Chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity or become normalized. They are an immediate danger to the Syrian people and to our collective security."

The strikes were a response to an alleged chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma, outside Damascus, on April 7 that rescuers and monitors say killed more than 40 people.

NATO added that it "strongly condemned the repeated use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime and called for those responsible to be held to account".'Mission Accomplished!': Trump praises Syria strikes



Washington, United States, April 14 (AFP) Apr 14, 2018



President Donald Trump triumphantly declared "Mission Accomplished!" on Saturday following a US-led missile assault on the Syrian regime, and warned another attack could follow if Damascus were to unleash more chemical weapons.

The narrowly targeted pre-dawn US-French-British operation, which took aim at three chemical weapons facilities, earned quick scorn from Russia, But Moscow's push for condemnation of the strikes at the UN Security Council fell short.

Trump and his allies ordered the quick-strike overnight mission in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack a week ago on the rebel-held town of Douma that left more than 40 people dead.

Washington believes both sarin and chlorine were used in the attack, a senior US administration official told reporters on Saturday.

Both the regime of Syria's Bashar al-Assad and its ally Russia have denied all responsibility for the April 7 attack. Moscow slammed the "aggressive actions" of the Western coalition, but has not yet responded militarily.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned her UN counterparts that although the mission was designed as a one-off, that did not preclude further action against Assad.

"I spoke to the president this morning and he said: 'If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,'" Haley said at emergency Security Council talks.

"When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line."



- ' Perfectly executed' -



Just before dawn on Saturday, the sounds of massive explosions and the roar of warplanes rang out across Damascus for about 45 minutes.

"A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military," Trump tweeted early Saturday.

"Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

Trump drew some criticism for his choice of words: former president George W. Bush notoriously stood on an aircraft carrier just a few weeks after the initial Iraq invasion in 2003 in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner.

"We met our objectives. We hit the sites, the heart of the chem weapons program. So it was mission accomplished," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White later said.

The targets included a scientific research facility near Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs, and a third location near Homs that contained both a command post and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility, the US military said.

The facilities had however reportedly been evacuated in recent days.

Syrian state media reported only three people injured, while Russia's defense ministry said there were "no victims" among Syrian civilians and military personnel.

According to US officials, the operation involved three US destroyers, a French frigate and a US submarine. The vessels were located in the Red Sea, the Gulf and the eastern Mediterranean.

A top Pentagon official, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, said the action would set back Syria's chemical weapons program "for years," but he noted a "residual" element remained.

"I'm not going to say that they are going to be unable to continue to conduct a chemical attack in the future," McKenzie said.

"I suspect, however, they'll think long and hard about it based on the activities of last night."



- Defiant Assad -



The strikes were the biggest foreign military action so far against Syria's regime.

Trump, who announced the start of the joint strikes late Friday, called the Douma attack the "crimes of a monster," referring to Assad.

On Saturday, Trump called British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss their joint action.

Assad, who has denied ever using chemical weapons against his opponents, responded to the strikes with a defiant vow.

"This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," he said.

Assad's key ally Iran also slammed the attack, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing Western leaders as "criminals."

The targets appeared to steer well clear of any Russian personnel or equipment in Syria, where Moscow launched a military intervention in support of Assad in 2015.

The Russian military claimed Syrian air defense systems had intercepted 71 Western missiles, though the Pentagon flatly dismissed the claim and said all missiles hit their targets.



- Rally in Damascus -



In central Damascus, dozens of Syrians arrived on bicycles, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white, and black colors of the Syrian flag, blaring patriotic tunes.

Nedher Hammoud, 48, claimed to have seen missiles "being shot down like flies."

"History will record that Syria shot down missiles -- and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance," he said.

Despite the strikes, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it was still pursuing its investigation into the Douma attack.

Thousands of rebels and civilians have since been bussed out of the town under a Russian-brokered deal. Syrian internal security forces entered Douma on Saturday and said the town would be secured within hours.

Jaish al-Islam, the group that held Douma, said it only abandoned the town because of the chemical attack.

Ahmad, a 25-year-old mechanic who had been displaced from Douma, told AFP the Western strikes were nevertheless too little, too late.

"Assad won't collapse. They'll bomb for a day or two and then the regime will take it out on us," he said.



- UN chief urges restraint -



UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres asked for restraint in comments Saturday before the Security Council.

"At this critical juncture, I call on all member states to act consistently with the charter of the United Nations and with international law, including the norms against chemical weapons," he said.

An effort by Russia to secure UN condemnation of the strikes failed in the Council, only winning three of the nine votes needed for adoption.

burs-wat-sst/chBandarmudhe victims tired of false promises

The victims of Bandarmudhe attack have asked CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to stop doling out false assurances about addressing their grievances.Canary Islands, April 14, 2018 (SPS) - Member of United Left, MEP Paloma Lopez, called during a meeting held Thursday at the headquarters of the Canarian Association of Friendship with the Saharawi People for respect of the European legal provisions related to the fishing agreement with Morocco



The MEP called for an end to the plundering of natural resources in Western Sahara, pointing out that the European Court of Justice, which excludes Western Sahara and its territorial waters from the EU-Morocco fishing agreement, should be respected as an independent and separate territory.



She expressed solidarity with the struggle of the Sahrawi people, especially in the field of defending human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara and bringing an end to the looting of the Sahrawi natural resources.



The meeting was attended by Frente POLISARIO representative in the Canary Islands, Hamdi Mansour, and members of the Association as well as delegates from the United Left. (SPS)



062/SPS/TRABrussels, April 14, 2018 (SPS) - The Sahrawi community in Belgium organized Friday afternoon a rally in Brussels to alert the European Union (EU) to the critical situation of the Sahrawi prisoners of Gdeim Izik group, detained in Morocco, and demand their release.



At the European district, headquarters of the European institutions, the demonstrators shouted freedom of the Sahrawi political prisoners and No alternative to referendum on self-determination, at the call of the association of the Sahrawi community in Belgium.



Many of them waved the national flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and banners to call on EU and its member States to save the Sahrawi prisoners from death.



They called for the immediate and unconditional release of all the Sahrawi political prisoners and denounced the inhuman conditions of their imprisonment.



The members of the Sahrawi community in Belgium affirmed following with great concern the situation of the Sahrawi prisoners, detained in Morocco, notably that of Gdeim Izik group who are on the 33rd day of their hunger strike to protest against their detention conditions.



The participants in this rally addressed an urgent call to EUs member States, human rights organizations and political parties to preserve the lives of these Sahrawi people in danger of death. (SPS)



062/SPS/APSTrot Insider has compiled all of the April 15 stakes payment reminders that have been sent to Standardbred Canada from the industry.

The contents of Standardbred Canadas own April 15 stakes payment reminder appear below.

Additional stakes payment reminders will be listed when they are received, so please check back with this notice to find the updates.

To consult SC Stakes Online, please click here.

STANDARDBRED CANADAS APRIL 15 PAYMENT REMINDER

Standardbred Canada would like to remind owners and trainers that the April 15 stakes payment due date falls on a Sunday this year.

Envelopes must be clearly postmarked on or before April 15, 2018 to be accepted, despite the inadequacies of the postal system.

Stakes payments can be paid with debit or credit card using SC Stakes Online. A video tutorial is available to help you get started.

Payment information and stakes conditions can be viewed on the Online Stakes Guide by clicking here or on the name of each stakes race.

If you did not receive notification of payment, a generic stakes form can be used to submit payments by mail. It can be located by clicking here.

Yearling Payments

 Alberta Sires Stakes $25

Two-Year-Old Payments

 Carl & Marg Mackenzie Memorial $75

 Donnie & George Turner Memorial $75

 Frank & Beth Stanfield Memorial $175

 Alberta Sires Stakes $100

 ASHA Colt/Gelding $200

 ASHA Filly $200

 Century Bets Pace $300

 Emerald Filly $300

 Horizon Pace $300

 Jim Rogers Memorial $300

Three-Year-Old Payments

 Alberta Sires Stakes $100

 ASHA Colt/Gelding $200

 ASHA Filly $200

 Brad Gunn $350

 Norm Kennedy Memorial $250

 Meridian Farms Breeders $350

 Moores Mile $250

Aged Payments

 Prix d'Ete $1,000

If not paying by Interac (debit) or with a credit card via SC Stakes Online, please mail and make cheques payable to:

Standardbred Canada  Stakes Department

2150 Meadowvale Blvd.

Mississauga, ON

L5N 6R6

For more information, contact Robin McClure at 905-858-3060 (Ext. 247) or [email protected].

WOODBINE STAKES PAYMENTS DUE APRIL 16

Woodbine Entertainment would like to remind owners and trainers of todays stakes payment deadline (April 16) for events in 2018.

A round of sustaining payments for all 2018 Woodbines major stakes, including the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup, are due today (April 16).

The following major stakes require a sustaining fee payment:

Armbro Flight (Fillies & Mares Trot)

Canadian Pacing Derby (Open Pace)

Canadian Trotting Classic (three-year-old Trot)

Casual Breeze (three-year-old Filly Trot)

Elegantimage (three-year-old Filly Trot)

Eternal Camnation (two-year-old Filly Pace)

Fan Hanover (three-year-old Filly Pace)

Goodtimes (three-year-old Trot)

Maple Leaf Trot (Open Trot)

Metro Pace (two-year-old Pace)

Milton (Fillies & Mares Pace)

Nassagaweya (two-year-old Pace)

North America Cup (three-year-old Pace)

Peaceful Way (two-year-old Filly Trot)

Roses Are Red (Fillies & Mares Pace)

Shes A Great Lady (two-year-old Filly Pace)

Somebeachsomewhere (three-year-old Pace)

William Wellwood Memorial (two-year-old Trot)

The SBOA Stakes for Ontario sired three-year-old fillies also requires a sustaining payment today for this years event (foals of 2015) and next years event (foals of 2016).

Woodbine continues to handle stakes administration duties for tracks throughout Ontario.

A sustaining payment is due today for Grand River Raceways Battle of Waterloo, Battle of the Belles (Ontario-sired two-year-old pace) and Flamboro Downs Confederation Cup (four-year-old pace).

For full details regarding stakes payments, including sustaining fee amounts, click here.

Stakes payments can be made online by clicking here.

If sending stakes payments by mail, envelopes must be clearly postmarked no later than April 16, 2018 or payment will not be accepted. Registered mail is recommended.

(Woodbine Entertainment)

APRIL 15 PAYMENT DEADLINE FOR HAMBLETONIAN SOCIETY-SERVICED STAKES

April sustaining and nominating payments for Hambletonian Society stake events are due Sunday, April 15 and per USTA Rule 12 section 2, must be postmarked by midnight on Monday, April 16.

The remaining payments due on April 15 are those races with previous payments in March.

Eligibility lists for races with final payments in February or March of this year have been posted on the website. Race conditions, payment forms and much more information is available online at www.hambletonian.com. For additional information call the Society offices at 609-371-2211.

April 15, 2018 - Two-Year-Olds

 Breeders Crown No. 32

 The Elevation, Two-Year-Old Pacing Colts

 Kentuckiana Stallion Mgt. Filly Pace & Trot (for Two-Year-Old Fillies)

 Madison County, two-year-olds

 Matron Series, two-year-olds

April 15, 2018 - Three-Year-Olds

 Breeders Crown No. 31

 Jenna's Beach Boy

 Matron Series, three-year-olds

 The Carl Erskine (was Oliver Trot), three-year-olds

 Monument Circle, three-year-olds

April 15, 2018  Four-Year-Olds & Up

 Battle of Lake Erie Supplement

 Breeders Crown No. 30

 Dayton Trotting & Pacing Derby

 Miami Valley Distaff

(Hambletonian Society)

SECOND PRIX DETE PAYMENT DUE

The second nomination payment for the 2018 Prix DEte for four-year-old pacers at the Hippodrome 3R is due this weekend.

The second nomination payment for the 2018 Prix DEte for four-year-old pacers at the Hippodrome 3R is due this weekend.

The 2018 Prix DEte, which will feature a $200,000 purse, will be contested on Sunday, August 19.

There are no supplemental payments allowed for the Prix DEte.

The second payment must be postmarked by Monday, April 16 (April 15 is a Sunday).

To make payments, owners and trainers can click here or here to get the necessary payment forms.

(With files from the Quebec Jockey Club)

MEADOWLANDS LATE CLOSERS DUE APRIL 16

The Meadowlands is offering a pair of late closing series for horses of all ages, one on the trot and one on the pace, to be raced in May.

The conditions and other pertinent information for the "Hot Lead" and "Lucky Jim" are listed on the online nomination form.

The nomination fee of $200 is due by April 16.

Call the Racing Office at (201) 842-5130 with questions.

(Meadowlands)

NJSS STAKES PAYMENTS DUE APRIL 16

The deadline for the New Jersey Sire Stakes and Standardbred Development Funds final sustaining payments is approaching on April 16, 2018.

The deadline for the New Jersey Sire Stakes and Standardbred Development Funds final sustaining payments is approaching on April 16, 2018. Normally the deadline would be on the 15th of the month but since that date falls on a Sunday this year, the deadline is extended to Monday, April 16.

The NJSS Premier Divisions second sustaining payment remains $500 for both two-year-olds and three-year-olds. The Standardbred Development Fund second sustaining payment for both two-year-olds and three-year-olds continues at $150.

Sustaining payment and supplemental nomination forms, as well as race dates and other information, may be found on the NJSS website.

All payments must be in U. S. funds. No late payments will be accepted and no billing notices will be mailed. Certified mail is strongly recommended to NJSS, P.O. Box 330, Trenton, NJ 08625.

(NJSS)

STAKES PAYMENTS DUE IN NJ ON APRIL 15

The Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey has issued a reminder in regard to stakes payments which will be due on April 15.

The second payment of the SBOANJ-sponsored Charles Smith Trot and Helen Smith are due April 15 in the amount of $300.

Eliminations for the Charles Smith Trot (for three-year-old colts) will be held at Freehold Raceway on September 1 and the final will be contested on September 8.

Eliminations for the Helen Smith Trot (for three-year-old fillies) will be held at Freehold Raceway on September 21 and the final will be contested on September 28.

Payment forms can be found here.

If you have any questions, please contact the SBOANJ office.

(With files from the SBOANJ)

HAWTHORNE SERIES DETAILS ANNOUNCED

Hawthorne Race Course Racing Secretary Robin Schadt has posted an ambitious late closing series as well as a claiming series to start the upcoming Spring-Summer meet that promises to give pacers and trotters at all levels the chance to race for added money.

The 10 late closers and claiming series will all carry an entry fee of $200. Nominations are due by April 15 for the late closers while the five claiming series must have their entries postmarked no later than May 1.

The complete late closing and claiming series schedules, as well as instructions and nomination forms, can be found at hawthorneracecourse.com.

Standardbred racing is scheduled to begin on Kentucky Derby weekend with the opener on Friday, May 4 and will be conducted through Monday, September 24.

Another reminder that nominations for the Night of Champions ICF two-year-old stake season are due by April 15. That cost is $1,250. Horsemen will also be able to supplement to these stakes for a cost of $2,250 by May 15. Supplemental nominations for the three-year-old crop of state-bred pacers and trotters are also May 15 and the cost is $2,750. Older stakes for the Night of Champions require only a $500 fee at the time of entry for the stake. A complete stakes schedule and nomination forms can be found on the Hawthorne website as well.

Everyone participating at Hawthorne, whether stabled on track or off track, must submit a stall application and/or stable roster. Stall applications are also available at hawthorneracecourse.com. Applications should be sent to Jim Miller, c/o Hawthorne Race Course, 3501 S. Laramie Ave., Cicero, IL 60804, or they can be faxed to his attention at 708.780.3727. Current proof of up to date vaccinations is also required for any horse entering the grounds at Hawthorne Race Course.

Applications are due no later than April 15. Horsemen are reminded that there is a straw only policy in all barns at Hawthorne. No shavings or sawdust will be allowed.

(Hawthorne Race Course)

SUN STAKES PAYMENTS DUE APRIL 16

The second and final sustaining payment for the Sun Stakes events at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono is due on April 16.

The events include the Earl Beal Jr. Memorial three-year-old Open Trot, the Max C. Hempt Memorial three-year-old Open Pace, the James M. Lynch Memorial three-year-old Filly Pace and the Ben Franklin Free-For-All Pace, which will be held on June 30. Eliminations for these events will be held on June 23.

Payment forms can be found here.

For any questions, please contact the Pocono race office.

(The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono)Caan staff miss bonuses as payment window expires

Employees of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) will miss bonuses worth Rs591.3 million as the payment window has expired even as controversy rages over the legality of the bonus scheme, a government audit report unveiled on Thursday said.Commission begins study of endangered Bankariya language

The Language Commission has started a study of language used by the endangered Bankariya people in Makwanpur district.Drive against child labour in Morang brick plants

A campaign has started in Morang to create awareness against child labour in brick factories.EPG sides exchange report drafts

The Eminent Persons Group on Nepal India relations has exchanged the drafts prepared by both sides to be presented to their respective governments.Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (135) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (348) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (442) Jan 2014 (547) Feb 2014 (476) Mar 2014 (526) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (469) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (443) Oct 2014 (472) Nov 2014 (497) Dec 2014 (536) Jan 2015 (539) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (582) Apr 2015 (658) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (924) Nov 2015 (802) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (866) May 2016 (947) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (967) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (809) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (935) Jul 2019 (950) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (849) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (789) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (812) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791)Anil Giri is a reporter covering diplomacy, international relations and national politics for The Kathmandu Post. Giri has been working as a journalist for a decade-and-a-half, contributing to numerous national and international media outlets.Gold haul accused kills self in police custody

A man accused of smuggling 33.5 kgs of gold along with others committed suicide on Friday while he was in police custody, authorities said.Govt calls back all police from VIP house duties

The Home Ministry has directed Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force to return within a week all their personnel deputed to the residences of VIPs on duties other than security.I don't know how many young women come to this blog or how many are parents of teenage or young adult women, but here are some safety tips from Kelsey's Army:

T

I

P

S

1. Trust your instincts - If something feels wrong then something probably is wrong.2. Know your surroundings - know who and what is around you.3. Always have a plan for where you would go and what you would do if a situation arises.4. Be willing to make a scene in order to be noticed.5. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back.Remember the acronym TIPS:ake Chargenform others of your whereaboutsrepare for any situationurvival Mentality (role play situations so you will respond should they happen)For more information, go to Kelsey's ArmyNepali New Year 2075 marked in Beijing (in photos)

Nepali Embassy in China organised a ceremony in San Li Tun, Beijing of China to mark Nepali New Year 2075 BS.Oli to open Karnali Rara Tourism Year

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will declare the upcoming Nepali year 2075 BS as Karnali Rara Tourism Year at an event organised by the government of Karnali Province on Saturday.LIVERPOOL, N.Y. -- Police are looking for a suspect in a Friday stabbing in Liverpool, according to New York State Police.

At approximately 5:51 p.m., the Onondaga County 911 dispatch center received a call about a stabbing at 380 Electronics Parkway, New York State Trooper Jack Keller said. After an argument between two family members, 24-year-old Yunis Osman Aden stabbed a 54-year-old man in the stomach, Keller said.

Osman Aden ran from the house and was picked up by a 2005 black Chevy Malibu with a license plate tag of HYF 1487, Keller said. Osman Aden is 5-feet, 5-inches tall, 160 pounds, black, wearing a gray hoodie and had a pocket knife, Keller said.

The 54-year-old man underwent surgery at Upstate University Hospital and is listed in stable condition, police said.

Police ask that anyone with information regarding the location of Yunis Osman Aden or the vehicle contact 911 or State Police at (315) 366-6000.SYRACUSE, NY -- Syracuse University students paid $5 or donated five food items to smash a car at the Goldstein Student Center on South Campus on Saturday. Students were relieving stress from final exams.

Food items are being donated to the Hendricks Chapel. Monetary donations are being split between the Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry, the Disaster Relief for Puerto Rico, and Syracuse Habitat for Humanity.The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told the Security Council on Saturday that the United States is "locked and loaded," ready to launch another military strike if the Syrian government ever uses chemical weapons again.

"I spoke to the president this morning, and he said, 'If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,'" Nikki Haley said at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting called by Russia after the U.S. and allies struck three targets in Syria.

"When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line," she added, echoing earlier warnings that Western powers could strike again.

Haley's message came after her Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, said he would ask the Security Council to condemn the pre-dawn military strikes on Syria by the United States, France and Britain - calling the attacks a violation of international law and the U.N. Charter.

"This is how you want international affairs to be conducted now?" said Nebenzia, according to a translation of his comments in Russian. "This is hooliganism in international relations, and not minor hooliganism, given that we're talking about major nuclear powers."

France's U.N. ambassador, Francois Delattre, gave a biting response, telling Nebenzia: "That charter was not designed in order to protect criminals."

Several diplomats at the Security Council warned of the potential danger that the Syrian crisis could spiral out of control and engulf the region and beyond.

But one major worry appeared to ease: That the coordinated attacks by the United States, France and Britain late Friday could have set off a direct confrontation with Syria's most powerful military partner, Russia.

At the Pentagon, the director of the Joint Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, said the more than 100 missile strikes delivered a blow late Friday to the "heart" of Syria's chemical weapons network. He acknowledged, however, that Syria retained "residual" capacity, but gave no details on the scope of what could be left.

The strikes were seen as a middle ground between a limited and largely symbolic strike - such as last year's the U.S. missile attack - and a large-scale assault that could either destroy Syria's chemical weapons or weaken Bashar Assad's grip on power.

By focusing on a narrow set of targets that the allies said are associated with chemical weapons, the military campaign deliberately avoided direct involvement in the seven-year Syrian civil war. It also appeared designed to sidestep Russian forces in Syria.

The strikes also appear to leave Assad firmly in control and with his Russian backing intact. The suburban Damascus area targeted in the suspected chemical attack last Saturday was among a dwindling number of rebel-held areas as Assad expands his control. Russian military assistance since 2015 has allowed Assad to break a stalemate with the rebels, some of whom are backed by the United States.

The Pentagon said a barrage of more than 40 Syrian surface-to-air missiles had "no material effect" on the allied attack, which McKenzie said struck their targets. None of the more sophisticated air defenses that Moscow has positioned in Syria were employed, he said. The general also denied assertions from Russian officials that some incoming missiles were intercepted by the Soviet-made antimissile batteries used by Syrian forces.

McKenzie described one site, the Barzah Research and Development Center, near Damascus, as a "core" facility for Syria's chemical weapons program.

"They lost lot of equipment. They lost a lot of material, and that's going to have a significant effect," McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon.

The rhetoric from Syria's backers was harsh. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes would have "a destructive effect on the entire system of international relations."

Syrian television called the attacks a "flagrant violation" of international law, and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, derided them as a "military crime."

But there were no signs the Russian military was preparing a retaliatory response that could bring Moscow and Washington into direct confrontation.

The head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, predicted: "This will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons."

Washington, Paris and London said they have proof, without identifying it, that chlorine gas caused victims to suffocate.

Inspectors from the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were expected to make their initial foray Saturday to Douma. They will collect soil samples and talk to witnesses in attempts to pin down what occurred.

"A perfectly executed strike last night," tweeted President Trump. "Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

The assault came despite the lack of a definitive independent finding that chemical weapons were used or who had deployed them. An initial team of inspectors had only arrived in Syria on Friday.

"Nothing is certain in these kinds of matters. However, we used a little over double the number of weapons this year than we used last year," said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. "It was done on targets that we believed were selected to hurt the chemical weapons program. We confined it to the chemical weapons-type targets."

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the only communications that took place between the United States and Russia before the operation were "the normal deconfliction of the airspace, the procedures that are in place for all of our operations in Syria."

The European Union voiced support for the allies. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted, "The EU will stand with our allies on the side of justice."

In the wake of last weekend's gruesome attack, some U.S. officials advocated a larger, and therefore riskier, strike than the limited action Trump ordered in April 2017, also in response to suspected chemical weapons use.

That attack involved 59 Tomahawk missiles fired from two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea. It fulfilled Trump's vow that chemical weapons are a "red line" that he, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, would not allow Assad to cross. But the airfield targeted by the Pentagon resumed operations shortly after the attack and, according to Western intelligence assessments, chemical attacks resumed.

Since last year's strike, multiple chemical attacks have been reported in opposition areas, most of them involving chlorine rather than the nerve agent sarin, as was used in 2017, suggesting the government may have adjusted its tactics.

Russia's military had threatened to shoot down any U.S. missiles that put Russian lives at risk. Russia could also fire at the launch platforms used - potentially U.S. planes or ships. Russian officials had said U.S. and Russian military staffs remained in contact regarding Syria, even as Russian media carried stories in recent days about the potential outbreak of "World War III" as a consequence of a U.S. airstrike against Assad.Federal prosecutors said NXIVM founder Keith Raniere's "decades' long history of abusing women and girls" is among the reasons he should remain in custody without bond while his criminal case is pending.

The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn filed a letter in federal District Court late Thursday outlining multiple reasons that they said Raniere is a danger to the community and poses a high risk of fleeing if he is released on bond.

"The defendant has a decades' long history of abusing women and girls," wrote assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Kim Penza. "According to confidential sources, the defendant had repeated sexual encounters with multiple teenage girls in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s. In one instance, the defendant met a fifteen-year-old girl while he was in his 20s and had repeated sexual contact with her."

The allegations of Raniere's alleged sexual contact with underage girls was first reported by the Times Union in a 2012 series on the secretive organization and its controversial leader.

Prosecutors this week indicated they had affirmed the information.

"In another instance, the defendant met a twelve-year-old girl whose mother worked for the defendant and began tutoring her," Penza wrote. "Shortly thereafter, the defendant began having regular sexual intercourse with her, including at his home where he lived with multiple adult sexual partners. One of those partners hired the girl to walk her dog, giving the defendant daily access to the girl."

Prosecutors said that Raniere also has told his followers that the age of consent is "too rigid and that it should be lowered to when a child's parent says the child is capable of consent."

The letter was filed by federal prosecutors in advance of Raniere's appearance Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor. He has been held in custody since he was deported from Mexico on March 25 and taken into custody by federal law enforcement officials in Texas.

There was no bail hearing but a magistrate judge who arraigned Raniere on the federal criminal charges ordered that he remain in the custody of U.S. marshals. The judge scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for April 27.

The FBI in New York City issued a statement Friday asking "possible victims or anyone with information related to Keith Raniere to please contact us at 212-384-1000."

The Times Union reported on Thursday that FBI agents seized more than $520,000 in cash when they raided the Saratoga County residence of NXIVM President Nancy Salzman last month as part of a widening investigation of NXIVM's business dealings.

FBI affidavits filed in support of the search warrant application -- which was unsealed by a judge at the request of the Times Union -- also confirmed that Allison Mack, a television actress who has been part of Raniere's inner circle in NXIVM for many years, was an alleged co-conspirator with Raniere in his efforts to recruit women into a secret slave-master club.

The records say Mack helped recruit women into the club and made them pose for nude photographs that she would forward to Raniere. She also delivered some of the women to Raniere for sexual encounters, and at least one alleged victim described the sex as unwanted.

Penza urged the federal magistrate judge to keep Raniere locked up.

"The defendant is charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor in a scheme involving over fifty female slaves he directed others to recruit on his behalf. He is charged with trafficking these women through coercion and manipulation, tactics that he has used before," she wrote. "After law enforcement began interviewing witnesses about the defendant's criminal conduct, he fled to Mexico where he was apprehended only after a month-and-a-half of active searching."

Raniere was arrested by Mexican federal police at a luxury villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He was with several female devotees, including Mack, when Mexican federal police took him into custody and deported him to the United States, where he was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor.

The federal complaint alleges that Raniere, organized the secret group within NXIVM in which women said they were coerced into joining a slave-master club and later branded with a design that included the initials of Raniere and Mack.

Raniere, in statements previously posted on NXIVM's website, had characterized the slave-master group as a consenting, private "sorority" and said that he and the corporation had no role in it.

But federal court records indicate emails seized from Raniere's private messaging accounts "support the conclusion that Raniere created" the club, which was known as "Dominus Obsequious Sororium," which means "Master Over the Slave Women."

Prosecutors, in arguing for Raniere to remain in custody, also recounted information about a young Mexican woman who was locked in a Halfmoon residence against her will for more than a year as punishment handed out by Raniere. They said Raniere kept the woman, who was in her 20s, locked up because she had developed personal feelings for someone other than Raniere.

"During her approximately 18-month confinement, with limited exceptions, the woman had extremely limited contact with her family or other members of the community and she received limited medical attention," federal authorities said. "Her period of confinement was repeatedly extended for other supposed ethical breaches, including, in one instance, because she cut her hair. The woman felt she could not leave because of the repercussions on her family and also because she was illegally in the United States and the defendant and other members of Nxivm had helped her illegally enter."

The federal search warrant records disclose the support that Raniere has received from Clare W. Bronfman, an heiress of the Seagram Co. business empire who has described herself as the operations director of NXIVM. The records indicate Bronfman assisted Raniere in sending threatening letters purported to be from a Mexican attorney to women who had defected from the secret club or criticized NXIVM.

Raniere fled to Mexico last fall with Bronfman, a member of NXIVM's executive board who has supplied Raniere with access to millions of dollars and private jets, the records indicate.

"Prior to this trip, Raniere had not flown out of the country since 2015, when he visited the heiress' private island in Fiji," according to the FBI.

Raniere's appearance in federal court comes as NXIVM's worldwide operations are foundering. Leaders of the Mexican counterpart to a NXIVM corporation, Executive Success Programs, announced this week they were giving up their control of the organization. NXIVM at one time had thousands of clients and followers in Mexico.

- By Brendan J. Lyons, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.WASHINGTON -- The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Donald Trump announced Friday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the assault was a "one-time shot," so long as Assad does not repeat his use of chemical weapons.

Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

Explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump spoke from the White House.

Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, responded to the attack. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.

Trump said the U.S. is prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said.

The strikes were carried out by manned aircraft and from ships that launched cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea.

Mattis disclosed that the U.S. had not yet confirmed that the most recent suspected Syrian chemical weapons attack, on April 7 in the Damascus suburb of Douma, included the use of sarin gas. He said at least one chemical was used -- chlorine, which also has legitimate industrial uses and had not previously triggered a U.S. military response.

Mattis said the targets selected by U.S., British and French officials were meant to minimize civilian casualties.

"This is difficult to do in a situation like this," he said, in light of the volatility of chemical agents.

At a Pentagon news conference alongside Mattis, and with British and French military officers beside them to emphasize allied unity, Gen. Joseph Dunford said the attacks targeted mainly three targets in western Syria.

Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said missiles first struck a scientific research center in the Damascus area that he said was a center of Syrian research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs. He said this was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin and precursor chemical production equipment.

The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs, Dunford said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in London that the West had tried "every possible" diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted" by Syria and Russia, she said.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," May said. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change."

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria. He authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

Mattis estimated the latest air campaign was about twice the size of the 2017 strike. He added that the U.S. expects the Syrian government and its allies to conduct a "significant disinformation campaign," which the Pentagon would rebut with additional information Saturday morning.

The air campaign could frustrate those in Trump's base who oppose military intervention and are wary of open-ended conflicts.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," Trump said. "Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran -- but maybe not."

The Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, condemned the airstrikes and warned that "such actions will not be left without consequences."

The U.S. missile strike a year ago, which targeted the airfield from which Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack, was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The strikes that hit early Saturday in Syria came hours before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were set to arrive to inspect the site of the apparent attack.

A broader question is whether the allied attacks are part of a revamped, coherent political strategy to end the war on terms that do not leave Assad in power.

The strikes appear to signal Trump's willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. Just weeks ago, Trump said he wanted to end U.S. involvement in Syria and bring American troops home to focus on the homeland. The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

Dunford said the U.S. did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace "de-confliction" communications.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

"As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," Trump said. "And great warriors they are."

The U.S. has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A U.S.-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.

Jarrod Agen, Vice President Mike Pence's deputy chief of staff, said Pence called congressional leaders from his hotel suite in Lima, Peru, to notify them of the president's plan to address the nation about the Syrian air strikes.

-- By Robert Burns, Jim Colvin and Zeke Miller, Associated PressSeduction in print

Seduction of Print Making, a group exhibition of prints, is an ongoing exhibit at the Siddhartha Art Gallery in Babarmahal. The show comprises 199 works by 21 printmakers as well as those by eight guest artists, better known for their facility with media aside from printmaking.Redistricting proposal places Tama County outside Rep. Hinsons district

New maps could lead to a remaking of the political landscape in Iowa  Tama County included. What is now a quadrant of four U.S. ...A house in Silicon Valley that badly burned two years ago has been listed for sale at $800,000. Its market value has become the target of criticism online.

The 5,850-square-foot property in San Francisco's Bay Area is selling way higher than most undilapidated buildings in other states. Homes in Washington, New York, and Hawaii are selling at median prices that do not go as far as $460,000, according to FindTheHome.com.

The house realtor, Holly Barr, said the market value is not necessarily based on the integrity of the structure but the viability of the neighborhood. The house is located in Willow Glen Charm, a neighborhood south of San Jose, California, known for its annual Christmas lights, tree lines, and quaint atmosphere.

Willow Glen Charm is strategically located just a few minutes outside the largest tech hub in the country, Silicon Valley. It is also named the Best of Silicon Valley in 2013, Metro's reader poll where the most favored neighborhood wins.

Social Media Flak

Barr posted photos of the house on 1375 Bird Avenue on April 9 and has since gathered hundreds of comments from social media users. The realtor pitched the house as a place where the potential buyer could build his "dream home."

A Facebook user named Brian King said the house's current value is an example of "unchecked free market capitalism."

"Thousands of properties bought up like this with zero interest in actually living in that lot or renting or anything. The actual housing market shrinks as a result to the point where even Silicon Valley engineers are priced out," said King.

Another commenter, Victoria DaCunha-Ditton, expressed sadness on the current surge of housing prices in the area.

"That is crazy. I have lived in Willow Glen most of my life. Looks like I am probably going to have to move. I love it here but not for that price. It's sad that I can't even afford a burnt down house," DaCunha-Ditton said.

According to Barr, she is only doing her job to advertise the property until someone becomes interested in buying it. She added that every realtor is bound to initially sell at a higher price before negotiations take place.

She added that the would-be buyer will have a "great opportunity to build [their] dream home." Currently, 10 clients are looking into the property, and sale is expected to close in by the end of the week.

Supply And Demand

Rick Smith, a board member of the Santa Clara County Realtors Association, said in a TV interview that it is not surprising how and why the burned house is selling at $800,000. He explained that most properties in Willow Glen Charm and other immediate areas are flagged at a minimum of $1.5 million.

The average price of houses in the San Jose has reached a record of a 70-month high at $1.08 million. Zillow, a real estate company, estimates an increase of market values of up to 8.4 percent over 2018.

News reports in March indicate that more Californians are moving out of the state primarily due to the high cost of living. Taxes and housing take the bulk of the residents' expenses.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Some Android smartphone manufacturers have been caught lying about security updates, which means that your device might not be as safe as you think.

Over recent years, it appeared that the security of Android smartphones was improving. However, after the discovery, owners of the devices should now be more vigilant in making sure that their Android smartphones are safe to use.

Missing Security Updates For Android Smartphones

One of the biggest issues with the Android operating system is the fragmentation problem, as Google has struggled to have smartphone manufacturers and carriers push out updates for Android smartphones. To illustrate, Android Oreo took six months to finally reach usage of 1 percent among Android devices.

However, it looks like there is another major issue regarding Android security updates. Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell from Germany's Security Research Labs, discovered that Android smartphone manufacturers are not only guilty of failing to provide customers with security patches and rolling out the updates on time. The researchers also found out that the phone makers also sometimes tell customers that the devices are fully updated even though they skipped some security patches.

Nohl and Lell reverse engineered the operating system code of about 1,200 Android smartphones to check if the devices really contained the security patches that companies said they did. The researchers found that, in many cases, Android smartphones that were said to have all Android security patches up to certain dates were really missing several updates, which leaves the devices open to a variety of hacking methods.

Only Google's own Pixel and Pixel 2 smartphones contained all the necessary security updates. Even major companies such as Samsung and Sony were guilty of skipping one patch in some of their devices. Smartphones from Nokia, OnePlus, and Xiaomi skipped up to three updates, while devices from Huawei, Motorola, LG, and HTC skipped up to four patches. The worst offenders were said to be ZTE and TCL, which skipped over four patches in their smartphones.

Why Android Phone Makers Skipped Security Updates

Skipping security updates may be related to the chipsets used by the smartphones, according to Security Research Labs. This may be because there are bugs found in the chips, and the smartphone manufacturers will not be able to apply patches unless the chipmakers fix the problems in their products.

Google added that some devices may be skipping updates because they are uncertified, which means that they are not required to meet certain security standards. Some smartphones, meanwhile, may be skipping patches because their contents may be for features not offered by the devices.

The reason behind the skipped security updates, however, is not important. The issue here is that Android smartphone manufacturers are lying to their customers, even if the devices remain hard to crack.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.The hypothetical Planet X will rise on April 23 according to a now-viral but incorrect report. It links the supposed celestial event into a doomsday scenario.

Conspiracy theorists claim that the sun, moon, and Jupiter will be in Virgo, and they will appear with Planet X or Nibiru 11 days from now. Nine stars of Leo, the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars, and the constellation Serpens-Ophiuchus will also join the lineup. This celestial event is supposedly referred in a Bible verse which spoke of the second coming of Jesus and the beginning of Rapture.

Rapture Bible Verse

Conspiracy theorist and numerologist David Mead, claimed that the planetary alignment is the literal meaning of Revelation 12:1-2.

"And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth," the passage reads.

Meade explains that the "woman" refers to Virgo, a woman from Greek and Roman mythology. He adds that Jupiter represents Jesus.

So on April 23  with the sun and moon and Jupiter being in Virgo  the sun "will cloth" Virgo "the woman," and the moon will appear "under her feet." As for the "crown of 12 stars," it will be Leo and the three planetary alignments of Mercury, Venus, and Mars, including the Serpens-Ophiuchus plus the Planet X.

Is Planet X Real?

On April 23, the Jupiter is actually in Libra. As for the moon, it will be positioned between Leo and Cancer, and the sun will be out of view. Thus, the astronomy that Meade used is absolutely incorrect.

In the case of Planet X or Nibiru, NASA has always dismissed it as purely hypothetical.

The research for Planet X or Nibiru was announced in 2015 by Caltech astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown. They also referred to it as the Planet Nine.

The hypothesis goes that there is a giant planet with an unusual orbit about 20 times farther around the sun, far beyond Pluto. It could have a mass about 10 times that of Earth and could take between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to make a full orbit.

The Caltech researchers, however, only based this assumption on detailed mathematical modeling and computer simulations without an actual observation.

"The announcement does not mean there is a new planet in our solar system. The existence of this distant world is only theoretical at this point," NASA says.

The agency adds that it has not yet been discovered, and there is an ongoing debate in the scientific community about whether it truly exists.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Syria air strikes: US and allies attack 'chemical weapons sites'

The US, UK and France have bombed multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites, BBC reported.Two HP Envy printers are now on low orbit after the successful launch of the SpaceX CRS-14 mission on a Falcon 9 rocket on April 2.

Last week, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket had its lift off from Cape Canaveral bringing with it payloads, cargo, and 5,800 pounds of supplies. The shipments will be critical in science and research study onboard the International Space Station.

Together with vehicle hardware, live plants and animals are two HP Printers designed for zero gravity printing on board the ISS.

ISS Crew Members

Astronauts need printers for hard copies of documents containing critical information about their mission. These documents include data on trajectories and timelines. Apart from this mission-related paperwork, the crew members also wanted to print personal letters and photographs they have sent by their loved ones from Earth.

In the estimate, crew members print at least two reams of paper monthly in all of the printers they have in space. For 20 years, astronauts had used Epson 800 printers onboard.

In 2017, however, NASA announced that HP OfficeJet5740 Printer would replace the Epson model. HP was honored about the selection that it developed a custom HP Envy with zero-gravity capability.

HP Envy Printer Ink Cartridge Number

The model uses Original HP 62 and 62XL cartridges that did not require any re-engineering to meet the demand of being in space. Even before its partnership with NASA, HP has created the ink with technology and chemical foundation that is compatible to use on Earth and in space.

The main challenge of a zero-gravity environment is the micro ink droplets during actual printing. These droplets from the printer heads could float inside the spacecraft according to Stephen Hunter, manager for ISS Computer Resources.

Hunter explains to Forbes that HP engineers' was faced with the task to contain those micro ink droplets and prevent it from contaminating the spacecraft.

"Our design team had to step back and think what does gravity do to this part of the printer or the printing process," says Ron Stephens, research & development manager for HP.

Stephens' team did not have the luxury to create the printer in space and was left with the only option of simulating a zero-gravity environment.

First, they 3D printed the printers' parts with the consideration that these parts will experience spinning and whirling in space. They removed the glass panel and sealed the printer from the inside out. As for the printer head, where the microdroplet of inks could come out, the engineers sealed it with fire-retardant plastic materials. For an added protection, they covered the printer head with a white-foam absorbent material for final touches.

At this level, the team was finally given the chance to collaborate with the National Research Council of Canada which posses a zero-gravity aircraft. As an ultimate trial for the printer, the engineers tested it in 20 to 25 seconds of zero-gravity flight in the aircraft for three consecutive days.

And so on April 2, HP Envy ISS printer was launched in space aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Facebook is leveling up its Stories feature. Starting with the new 3D drawings and Instagram's Boomerang, the social media platform hopes to compete with Snapchat.

Facebook Camera New AR Feature Lets Users Draw

The 3D drawing feature, as what the company calls it, allows users make doodles on the screen and combine the drawings with the real world. People can soon draw scribbles before or during recording and then move the camera around to see the markings stay in place.

The AR technology should also be able to detect objects from surfaces. Users will then be able to wrap around their scribbles around the objects, but the technology is still far from perfect. It will not work, for example, in low light conditions and if the software is unsure of the object.

"We wanted to give people an easy way to create with augmented reality and draw in the world around them," said John Barnett, a Camera Product Manager in Facebook.

The feature is only available with a gradient brush as it rolls out over the next few weeks, but Facebook plans to add more brushes.

Boomerang Replacing Facebook Camera Looping GIF

Facebook is also bringing Instagram's Boomerang feature to Stories. Facebook had its own version previously, which had the same effect as Boomerang, except it had some bugs. One noticeable and annoying flaw was that the GIFs return to the beginning once they end.

Boomerang is smoother in this regard, and so it is now coming to the Facebook Camera to replace the social media's own looping tech.

Facebook Intends To Make Its Camera Work

Instagram makes it easy for users to cross-post to Facebook when they publish a Story. Given that it has more users than Snapchat, the pioneer of vanishing posts, Facebook will have an even harder time convincing the people to use its platform and cross-post to Instagram instead.

However, that does not stop Facebook from trying at all. The social media company is currently testing different ways to encourage more people into its Stories.

"The way people share and connect is changing; it's quickly becoming more real-time and visual. We're testing new creative tools to bring pictures and videos to life, and introducing easier ways to find and share stories," a spokesperson from Facebook told TechCrunch.

Apart from the new features, Facebook is also making the panel larger and adding a camera window in the status composer. It is also making users post to Stories by default when they use Facebook Camera.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.April 16 is the scheduled launch date of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The exoplanet hunter will launch aboard SpaceX's flagship Falcon 9 rocket.

The launch of NASA's TESS will commence at 6:32 p.m. on Monday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Launch Preparations

SpaceX posted in a tweet that it had finished static fire testing of the Falcon 9 rocket in preparation for the targeted launch of TESS next week. The TESS was sealed inside the Falcon 9 payload fairing. It will be transported to the launch pad.

During the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket will lift off with 10 Merlin engines on board. Nine engines will be lit on the first stage, and the tenth engine is a vacuum version on the second stage. The engines will fire as soon as the first stage and the interstage separates from the rocket.

NASA announced that its teams are in the final stages of preparation for the launch of the new planet-hunting spacecraft.

NASA will also host a series of live briefings via Facebook on April 15, Sunday. The space agency will give a mission overview at 11 a.m. to be followed with a press conference at 1 p.m. Mission scientists and experts involved in the TESS mission will answer questions during the live broadcast.

The liftoff of the mission is considered as the next big leap in the search for planets outside of the Earth's solar system.

What To Expect?

Should the launch carry out successfully, TESS will travel into its final trajectory around the Earth. It will navigate at an angled orbit. It is expected to finish one orbit around Earth every 13 days or half the time that it takes for the moon to orbit the planet.

According to NASA, the satellite's unique orbit will allow it to transmit data back to Earth each time that it is closest to planet. The angled position of TESS' orbit will maximize the time that the satellite can survey each sector.

For two years, TESS will be on a mission to scan 85 percent of the skies for exoplanets.

In 2016, NASA announced the discovery of seven new exoplanets located some 40 light-years away. The said exoplanets are orbiting the TRAPPIST-1 star.

In February this year, 95 new exoplanets were discovered beyond the solar system through the Kepler telescope. The said planets range in size and shapes, but they are mostly rocky.

To date, ten more exoplanets were added to NASA's exoplanet archive. There are already 3,717 confirmed exoplanets based on the archive's database.

TESS is part of the NASA's Astrophysics Explorer mission that is led and operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The mission is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. George Ricker of MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research is the principal investigator for the mission.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Tender for feasibility study for Tamor project called

The Tamor Storage Hydro Project planned to be built on the Tamor River in eastern Nepal moved a step forward with the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) issuing a call for tenders to conduct a feasibility study and prepare a detailed design on Thursday.Water shortage in Musahar settlement

Seventy Musahar families living in Jugauliya settlement of Gujara Municipality-8 in Rautahat are reeling under a shortage of drinking water for a long time.Wide roads do not A Great city make

Two weeks ago, Kathmandus streets turned once again into a battleground between those asserting power and those challenging it. This time, Newar activists and homeowners went up against the might of the burgeoning neoliberal state.You have permission to edit this article.

Edit CloseAfter less than four months on the job, Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul stepped into the national spotlight, announcing his decision to fire Officer Blane Salamoni for violating department policies during his 2016 fatal shooting of Alton Sterling.

Now attention is set to turn to a relatively obscure board with the power to uphold or overturn the officer's termination  potentially leaving Paul without the last word in a discipline ruling that could prove to be one of his most significant moves as chief. Salamoni filed his appeal Friday with the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board.

Under Louisiana law, civil service boards give a second review to determine whether government employees were fairly disciplined. In this case, the Baton Rouge board will evaluate whether Paul acted "in good faith and for cause" when deciding Salamoni should be kicked off the force.

The board  made up of one employee representative from the Baton Rouge Fire Department, one from the city's Police Department and three members of the public  reviews any appeal of discipline decisions handed down by the leaders of Baton Rouge's fire and police departments.

Alton Sterling case: Officer Blane Salamoni files appeal with civil service board Blane Salamoni on Friday appealed being fired for his actions in the 2016 shooting death of Alton Sterling, disputing the Baton Rouge police c

Both federal and state prosecutors have declined to press charges against Salamoni and Officer Howie Lake II for their actions the night of Sterling's death, saying there isn't evidence to support criminal charges. But use of force experts have raised questions about how Salamoni approached and dealt with Sterling after responding to a 911 call about a man who had brandished a gun. The brief confrontation, which ended with Salamoni pulling the trigger six times, was captured on video.

But the main Baton Rouge police union has objected to Salamoni's firing, expressing hope that the outcome will be different in the civil service process. This would buck the recent trend, as records show the board has affirmed discipline decisions more often than not. Since 2010, the board has upheld the nine termination appeals they've reviewed, voting unanimously in all but one of those cases.

The civil service review is just the next step in the appeal process. As the city and its police force continue seeking a path forward almost two years after Sterling was killed, Salamoni's appeal could spend years inching through the court system on appeals from either side, leaving questions unanswered and tensions unresolved in a case that Paul has continued to call the "cloud that has been over our community for far too long."

'Afforded some protection'

Louisiana's civil service system was established decades ago following a push to protect public employees during the 1930s and '40s, when political influences often played a larger role in determining who was hired to  or fired from  government jobs. In addition to disciplinary reviews, the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board oversees administrative processes, including approving job applications and scheduling tests.

Floyd Falcon, the board attorney, said the system is meant to "ensure employees were treated fairly and afforded some protection."

Falcon said a significant improvement in that protection came after a change to the municipal civil service rules in the early 1970s that shifted the burden of proof during a discipline appeal hearing from the employee to the employer, meaning the police or fire chief would now have to convince the board they had handed down the appropriate discipline.

"Before that, nobody had hardly ever won a civil service case because the burden of proof was on the employee, so you started off as the loser," Falcon said. "That changed the ballgame."

He said unlike in a criminal case where proof "beyond a reasonable doubt" is required, the Civil Service Board uses a lower standard of evaluating whether it's "more probable than not" that the discipline was determined "in good faith and for cause."

Appeal hearings look much like court proceedings. Typically both parties  the employee and the department  have attorneys who present evidence and make their argument to the board, introducing relevant documents and often interviewing subpoenaed witnesses.

Then the five board members vote publicly on whether to uphold, overturn or modify the discipline. A majority is required and at least four members must be present for a quorum.

In the past 15 years, the Civil Service Board has overruled 35 percent of the 66 appealed disciplinary decisions  from letters of reprimand to suspensions and terminations. In most of those cases, the board voted to reduce the severity of the sanction, according to board meeting minutes since 2003 reviewed by The Advocate.

Of the 24 termination cases since 2003, only five were overturned. The board has upheld all 10 of the terminations they heard since 2009  the last time one was overruled.

That 2009 case also happens to be the most recent termination appeal that included a "use of force" violation, the same misstep for which Salamoni was fired. Former Chief Jeff Leduff fired Officer Charles O'Malley in 2008 after finding the officer used a stun gun multiple times and forced a flashlight into the mouth of a handcuffed man suspected of swallowing drugs  and then also failed to accurately report the incident. The board voted in 2009 to replace the termination with a 90-day suspension without pay. LeDuff appealed that ruling, and a state district court judge sided with the chief, a decision later upheld by an appellate judge in 2011.

Either the chief or the officer can appeal the board's decision to the district court, at which point the case can continue advancing to the state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, with some ending up before the Louisiana Supreme Court.

'Fair and impartial'

Controversy surrounding the Sterling shooting  when a struggle between the black man and two white officers quickly escalated to fatal gunfire  arose in July 2016 as cellphone video went viral, prompting local leaders to call for a federal investigation into possible civil rights violations.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice in May declined to pursue such charges. But in closed-door meetings at that time with Sterling family members and lawyers, federal prosecutors singled out Salamoni's actions, describing how the officer drew his gun and threatened to shoot Sterling almost immediately after arriving on scene.

They described other video footage that painted a more complete picture of the incident that wasn't made public until late March, when Paul announced his disciplinary decisions about the involved officers.

New Alton Sterling shooting videos show deadly, heated scene at Triple S Baton Rouge police released graphic new video Friday of the Alton Sterling shooting, including officer-worn body camera footage that offered a

East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, who was one of the people briefed by the feds, soon after called for Salamoni's termination.

Last month, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced he also would not pursue criminal charges against the two officers, describing their attempts to conduct a "legal arrest" of a man who was "actively resisting." Use of force experts advised the Justice Department that at the end of the encounter, when Salamoni shot Sterling, he could have reasonably believed the man was reaching for a gun. That weapon was later retrieved from Sterling's pants pocket.

In Paul's discipline announcement that same week, he made a point to distinguish Salamoni's actions from Lake's  saying Lake "attempted to use de-escalation and disengagement techniques consistent with policy and procedure and training," while Salamoni did not. Paul suspended Lake for three days without pay for violating the department's policy on command of temper.

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The termination letter sent to Salamoni by Paul says the officer's early actions  including saying 'I'll shoot your f****** ass, bitch' to Sterling  ended up "escalating" the situation.

In his appeal of that termination to the board, Salamoni denied that he improperly used force with Sterling and failed to maintain command of temper, the two policy violations cited by the police chief. His attorney, John McLindon, said Friday he plans to call a number of witnesses to show that the Police Department didn't have the proper grounds to fire his client. Right after the firing, McLindon said Salamoni knows it is unlikely he can return to being a cop in Baton Rouge, but wants acknowledgement that he acted correctly.

Members of the Civil Service Board all said the large amount of evidence released and reported about the incident will make their upcoming job more difficult.

"With all the information that's been dumped on the public  I'm going into this with a preconceived notion," said Cpl. Robb Moruzzi, the Police Department employee representative on the board. He said it's been impossible to stay uninformed about this police shooting, an event that has continued to draw national media into Louisiana's capital.

Though Moruzzi would not say whether he plans to vote one way or the other at the hearing, he said one of the two parties will have to bring some completely new evidence to change his mind. Moruzzi also said he's watched all the videos of the incident multiple times since their release.

The Baton Rouge Union of Police, an organization in which Moruzzi remains active, issued a statement after Paul's announcement, saying it stands behind the disciplined officers and looks forward to a "fair and impartial" civil service appeal hearing.

Other board members interviewed said they have tried to keep their distance from the case for now  some even refusing to watch the videos and trying not to engage in discussions about the incident. They spoke about the importance of honoring the hearing process by trying to base their decisions only on the information presented there.

Observers said this could be the board's most high-profile case.

"I don't know if the board has had anything of that magnitude (before)," former Baton Rouge Police Chief Pat Englade said of the appeal. "This one will be a show, I can guarantee that."

Englade said that in his tenure as chief from 2001 to 2004, he never took lightly any termination case and does not believe any chief would. But he said the appeal process gives officers a real chance to come out on top.

"We've all been overturned," Englade said. "With the Police Department, there are so many issues that you have to be careful of  or they'll find a technicality to ram down your throat."

Five board members

Civil Service Board members are selected and appointed for the three-year volunteer position, as dictated by state law. The local police and fire departments vote their representatives into the position, while the other three slots are reserved for members of the public: one appointed by the parish Metro Council, and the other two nominated by a local university, one from Southern University and the other LSU.

Julie Cherry, the board chairwoman, said the system seeks to ensure "employees have due process rights and can't be disciplined basically on a whim." She said the board is designed to be a diverse body and said she thinks the board embodies that mission with two women and two minority members.

Cherry, 58, is a former teacher and the former leader of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers. She now serves as secretary-treasurer of Louisiana's AFL-CIO labor union. The longest-serving active member of the Civil Service Board, she was appointed in 2008 after being nominated by LSU officials.

Fire Capt. Macey Morrison, who has represented the Baton Rouge Fire Department since 2010, said the board offers valuable protections for civil service employees.

"These guys put their lives on the line every day.  It's our duty to make sure all people in the appeal process get a fair shake," said Morrison, 47, who serves as board vice chairman. He has worked at the Fire Department since 1992 and also is an adjunct instructor for industrial firefighting at LSU.

Fran Bussie, 82, was appointed by the Metro Council to fill her husband's seat after his death in 2011. Victor Bussie, an influential labor activist, actually helped establish the state civil service system decades earlier.

Fran Bussie and her husband married after they'd both spent years supporting labor and other causes. They met when she served as director of the Mental Health Association of Baton Rouge and he was president of the AFL-CIO union.

In a 1987 Advocate article, Bussie recalled how she was fired from her job as a secretary more than 20 years earlier because she became pregnant with her son. "I was fired without reason," she said. "In 1960, there was no recourse  nothing I could do but collect unemployment."

Press Robinson, the Southern University nominee, was first appointed to the board in 2013. Now retired, he was a chemistry professor at Southern for more than 40 years and served on the parish School Board for more than 20 years, at one point becoming its first black president.

Both Bussie and Robinson said they believe it's the utmost importance to come into appeal hearings open minded, ready to take at face value what is presented to make a fair decision based on the law.

Moruzzi, the newest member of the board who's represented the Police Department since 2015, brings with him the perspective of an officer who has been disciplined. He was terminated in 2010 by LeDuff following an off-duty fight on Third Street in downtown Baton Rouge.

Moruzzi, 42, said he initially appealed that decision to the Civil Service Board. But before the case went to a hearing, he was able to negotiate his job back that same year  with the support of the Baton Rouge Union of Police. So when union representatives asked him to run for the opening seat on the board, he said he felt like he owed them.

+2 Baton Rouge police officer, man alleging excessive force give conflicting accounts of raid in brutality trial The main players involved in a federal police brutality trial took the stand Tuesday in Baton Rouge, each giving conflicting versions of how a

However, Moruzzi would again enter the public eye in 2016, as a federal jury found he used excessive force after a man claimed Moruzzi stomped on a his head and knocked his teeth out during a 2014 Special Response Team drug raid. The jury awarded the man $25,000 in damages from the department. Moruzzi denies those allegations against him.

The officer describes himself as a fierce advocate of the civil service system, saying the protections allow officers to do their jobs without fear of political backlash.

With the Salamoni appeal looming on the board's horizon, all members were very much aware of the implications their decision will have.

"It's not just a city deal; it's a country deal," Morrison said. "A whole lot of eyes will be on Baton Rouge, this Police Department and this Civil Service Board."Work on the Comite River Diversion Canal could get started in the near future, with funding coming either from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or a recent $1.2 billion federal disaster appropriation for Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Friday.

"We now have the funding we need to move forward with the Comite," Edwards said. "So, I expect that one way or another we are going to deliver this project in full and much sooner than many people thought possible."

The governor told the task force that he met recently with Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general of the Corps of Engineers, and received from him a commitment to expedite the project.

Edwards said Semonite is considering a plan to spend money recently appropriated to the Corps for projects in Louisiana on the diversion canal. This would mean state officials could save more of the $1.2 billion received from a February federal disaster bill for other flood protection projects.

The Comite project, which has been long sought after in the capital region but has remained largely stalled, would require about $350 million to be completed. It is designed to reduce flooding by draining high water from the Comite to the Mississippi River.

The recent $1.2 billion pot from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program will be used for a variety of projects to reduce risk from future disasters across the state, said Pat Forbes, director of the Louisiana Office of Community Development.

Louisiana to get $1.2 billion in federal flood-control funds; these long-stalled projects could benefit WASHINGTON  The federal government will be sending more than $1.2 billion in grant money to pay for flood-control and prevention projects in 

The task force approved a resolution Friday that lays out the basic priority areas that state officials want to target, as well as the agencies responsible for developing an action plan.

"We're not going to spend a billion dollars on planning. We have to get work done that reduces flood risk for the state," Forbes told the task force. "That said, (Edwards) has also said from the very beginning we are going to do this in a smart way, we are going to do this in a regional watershed-based way and that's going to take work."

The agencies responsible for developing the action plan to submit to HUD are OCD, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the Department of Transportation and Development, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

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Forbes said HUD has not yet released guidance on how exactly the state can spend the money. He said it is possible that HUD will allow spending across all 64 parishes.

The planning process will involve local governments, federal agencies and research institutions, he said.

Forbes said a priority will be to create watershed-based organizations that do not currently exist in the state, which would mean that decisions about projects are made more regionally and not just by individual parishes. Forbes noted that Acadiana has taken steps to work together around its watershed and the Amite River Basin Commission exists in the capital area.

"We need to make that happen all over the state if we're gonna do this as wisely as we possibly can. This is going to have to be a combination of the planning and modeling, implementation and then long-term projects," Forbes said.

According to the resolution, another priority would be to review some already identified projects, such as the Comite Diversion and the Red River study.

One of the other priorities is to help local governments cover the 25 percent match they must pay when tapping hazard mitigation money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the 2016 floods. Those dollars can be used for projects such as home buyouts, elevations and localized flood reduction projects.

"Several jurisdictions have essentially told GOHSEP they may not be able to take the grant for lack of ability to come up with match," Forbes said.

Forbes said the agencies will also consider using the money for buyouts in floodways and neighborhoods that flood repeatedly.

In other business, the committee decided to re-appropriate $8 million from Louisiana's $1.7 billion program to be spent on rebuilding homes and rentals destroyed in the 2016 floods. That money will go to help first responder agencies in the ten most flood affected parishes that have lost revenues due to reduced property tax assessments after the 2016 floods.

Forbes also announced that 49,300 homeowners have submitted a survey for the Restore Louisiana program. Of those people, 9,560 homeowners have been awarded grants totaling $255 million.Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commissionClick here to sign up for the New Orleans morning roundup!

The law office that state Sen. Danny Martiny runs made $836,266 from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in 2016.

On the disclosure form that Martiny is required to file with the state ethics office, he listed his earnings from the sheriff as $13,328.

And it was perfectly legal.

It's a case that highlights a big loophole in Louisiana's disclosure rules, as explained here by Rebekah Allen, who has teamed up with the national nonprofit ProPublica on a series of stories about conflicts of interest in state politics.

Just as an oil slick from an accident upriver drifted past the French Quarter.

The U.S. Coast Guard had to shut down a 10-mile stretch of the Mississippi because a cargo ship struck a pier near Nashville Avenue and leaked an estimated 4,200 gallons of oil into the water.

In the Quarter, the wafting stench of diesel fuel competed with the aroma of cochon de lait and barbecue oyster po-boys, spicy meat pies and Caribbean-style fish.

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Louisiana upped its estimate of how much revenue the state will have to spend during the budget year that begins July 1 by $346 million.

That means more to invest in the things that typically face the ax when lawmakers start chopping: health care, higher education, mental health services, etc.

However. That still leaves us $648 million shy of actually having enough money to fund next year's spending plan. So there are still plenty of cuts to come.

From around the web

Trump has ordered a review of postal service finances, apparently with an eye toward backing up accusations he has made that Amazon is taking advantage of the agency. He also said he might try to get the U.S. back into the trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement he once referred to as the "rape of our country." But you have to wonder after episodes like this. The president also plans to keep at China over trade. The Washington Post (and other outlets) got a copy of James Comey's book. Trump met at the White House with the Justice Department's No. 2, who signed off on the FBI's search of Trump's attorney's office and apartment.

Also...

I'm not even sure what to make of this. But those poor dogs.

***

The Morning Briefing is compiled by Andrew Vanacore, deputy editor for the New Orleans Advocate. Get in touch with feedback, tips, complaints at avanacore@theadvocate.com.

Your morning roundup... Click here to sign up!Severe thunderstorms are expected to barrel through southeast Louisiana on Saturday, bringing heavy rain, high winds and the threat of tornadoes.

A tornado watch has been issued for the entire New Orleans area until 2 p.m.

RADAR, LIVE UPDATES

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The forecast led organizers to cancel all French Quarter Festival events set for Saturday, though they plan to resume operations for the final day of the festival on Sunday.

New Orleans officials and the Sewerage & Water Board braced for the storms Friday as the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch and said the region was facing an enhanced risk of severe weather.

The storms could bring 2 to 4 inches of rain throughout the day, with some areas seeing as much as 6 inches, said Mike Shields, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Slidell.

Thats in addition to the threat of tornadoes, hail and 75-mph wind gusts that are expected to accompany the storms, he said.

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The greatest threat to the New Orleans area is expected to start late Saturday morning and extend through the afternoon, Shields said.

Water board officials sought to reassure residents that the agency was preparing for the storm, a point of concern ever since flooding during heavy rains last summer revealed serious problems with the citys drainage system. After the Aug. 5 storm, officials acknowledged that 18 pumps had been down for repairs and that problems with power generation and staffing may have exacerbated the flooding.

Of the citys 120 drainage pumps, all but one are now up and running, S&WB Interim Operations Manager Joe Sensebe said Friday.

With three out of five power-generating turbines operational  and with back-up emergency generators and power converters that can change Entergy-supplied power to the standard used by many of the pumps  the agency is now capable of providing 54 megawatts of power to the pumps, Sensebe said. That is 2 megawatts more than would be needed to run all of them at full power, he said.

The S&WB's power plant and pumping stations will be fully staffed for Saturday's storm, he said.

The citys Emergency Operations Center was already staffed up because of French Quarter Fest, and first-responder agencies will be preparing for the storm, said New Orleans Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell, who is serving as acting director of the citys Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

The city has suspended prohibitions against parking on sidewalks until 8 p.m. Saturday to allow vehicles to be moved to avoid street flooding. However, Acting Public Works Director Dani Galloway warned motorists not to leave their vehicles blocking intersections or streetcar lines.

Police Superintendent Michael Harrison urged residents to stay home during the worst of the weather and, if they have to drive, to be aware of flooding, particularly under overpasses. Police will ticket motorists driving fast enough to create wakes that can cause more flooding, he warned.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell have both been briefed on the storm and the citys preparations, McConnell said.

Landrieu was in Chicago on Friday attending a conference put on by PolicyLink, a research and advocacy organization that has worked with Landrieu's administration on fair housing and racial and economic equality initiatives. He was expected to return to the city Friday evening.DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Democrats searching for potential presidential candidates may find some in an unlikely place: city hall.

A handful of Democratic mayors from around the country are considering the race in 2020, taking early steps in Iowa, which holds the first major contest of the presidential campaign.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti plans to visit Iowa Friday in hopes that his experience running a big city and facing touchy issues like immigration might distinguish him in a field with few traditional contenders.

No mayor has ever gone straight from city hall to the White House, though former mayors have served as president. But could a mayor make the leap? "I don't see why not," said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, among the Democrats seeking to raise their profiles.

"The mayors of some American cities are running cities that are bigger than some countries. We run police departments and deal with public safety. We deal with a plethora of issues, and we're on the ground," Landrieu said. "We're very accountable."

He and other mayors say they aren't worried about the idea that Americans might want candidates who have more experience at the national level. After all, Republican President Donald Trump was elected without ever holding office. And mayors often claim a closer connection to their constituents than that of U.S. senators and representatives.

Being governor has been a more reliable stepping stone, but of the 50 states, only 16 have Democratic governors today, and few seem to be weighing 2020 campaigns. Democrats hold only half of the governorships they did 25 years ago.

And while Sens. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who challenged Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential nomination, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., get attention in Washington, some mayors are getting attention by taking actions on issues on which congressional Democrats, in the minority party in Congress, have been stymied.

Mayors interested in running include New York's Bill De Blasio, Pete Buttigeig of South Bend, Indiana, and Julian Castro, a former San Antonio mayor who served as housing secretary in the Obama administration.

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Landrieu leaves office in New Orleans next month, and he's already ramping up a national book tour promoting his efforts to remove some Confederate monuments in his iconic city.

Garcetti's mission in Iowa is to make it clear to activists that his big-city experience is attractive on the national stage.

His city has roughly 4 million people, about a million more than the entire state of Iowa. He heads a police department of 30,000 and oversees the nation's busiest seaport.

De Blasio, whose city is more than twice the population of Los Angeles, was the guest at a Democratic-leaning activist group's annual dinner in December.

Garcetti and others have stepped forward on national issues such as immigration, a burning concern for Democrats in Iowa angry with the Republican-controlled Legislature and GOP governor for enacting legislation last week outlawing "sanctuary cities." That's a term for jurisdictions that limit local involvement in federal immigration enforcement.

Garcetti promotes his opposition to such measures in Los Angeles, among cities that don't assist with federal immigration enforcement, where he has created a $10-million legal defense fund for immigrants threatened with deportation and defied U.S. Justice Department calls for local police to assist with enforcement of federal immigration laws when no serious crime has been committed.

Landrieu, as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors last year, was vocal among the more than 300 mayors last year who opted for their cities to join an international climate agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from it.

"It's a more hands-on job which can produce both more tangible results and a greater bond with your constituents," Democratic pollster Paul Maslin said. "At a time when frustration with all things Washington, federal government, is at a peak, and state governments are facing tough budget limitations, mayors start looking pretty good."

___

Barrow reported from Atlanta.About books, reading, the power of fiction, some music, some movies. These are my opinions, my thoughts, my views. There is much wisdom afloat in the world and I like finding it in books. Communicating about wisdom found keeps it from getting lost.Zoe Dieringer says most of her fifth-grade classmates want to be athletes or veterinarians. She wants to be an astrophysicist.

Now, the 10-year-old at Madisonville's Lancaster Elementary School hopes her selection as Louisiana's elementary school student of the year will help her reach that career goal, hopefully with a stop at Harvard in between.

Zoe was chosen this week from seven finalists, who were among thousands of fifth-grade students across the state.

I was actually really surprised, she said.

Shes happy, but she has a low-key attitude about winning the award, largely thanking her parents  Ed Dieringer, owner of the Electric Ladyland tattoo parlor on Frenchmen Street in New Orleans, and her mother Adriana Dieringer, an attorney.

Zoes attitude is a contrast to her teachers.

Do you want me to scream? English teacher Sarah Meyer said when asked about the award. Shes not the child to get real excited, so I did it for her.

Meyer said that when Zoe won, it was as if her own daughter had been chosen.

She heard the news while driving and had to pull over because she was screaming and crying. She also wanted to text back Principal Susannah Welch, who attended the award ceremony Wednesday night with Zoe and broke the news to Meyer.

Welch said it wasnt a surprise to see Zoe win because academically she deserved it. But Welch had her doubts earlier in the day Wednesday.

Thats because Zoe awoke that morning covered with hives, nearly swelling her eyes shut. But she powered through, finishing an interview with the committee that named her student of the year that evening.

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Zoes mother said shes not surprised her daughter impressed the state Department of Education committee, even given the circumstances.

Shes a kid in some ways wise beyond her years and has an authenticity that adults love to see, Dieringer said. Shes a great interview.

Dieringer said the award is not just for academic work but also for volunteer efforts. She said her daughter tutors her own classmates and goes out of her way to put in volunteer time outside of school and the three hours a day she dances, seven days a week.

Zoes dancing landed her a spot in the American Ballet Theatres summer program in New York, which she will take part in this year for the second straight year, her mother said.

Whether its dance or academics, Dieringer said, its clear shes just there to assist her daughter however she can, because Zoe can do whatever she sets her mind to.

Ever since she was a baby shes accomplished what she wanted, Dieringer said.

Zoes next goal is a bit of a ways away, with her sights on a Harvard astrophysics degree thanks to a love of Neil deGrasse Tyson and the show Cosmos. But in the meantime, shes focused on not only doing as well as she can in school, but also making her school as good as it can be.

Its a really great school. I love all my teachers, Zoe said, though she added, I dont like when kids arent treated nicely, and Im not that big a fan of pop quizzes.

Welch said Zoes award speaks well for her school and that Zoe is a great example of the kind of students Lancaster is trying to turn out.

I definitely think shes going to Harvard, Welch said.Schiller Graphics/Getty Images

Some of the most magnificent royal jewels in the world reside in the collections of a trio of Danish royal sisters: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark (our current Magpie of the Month!), Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, and Benedikte, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. Today, were focusing on Benediktes diamond floral tiara, which she received as a coming-of-age birthday gift.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Like the tiara given two years later to her younger sister, Anne-Marie, this tiara was made partially from another piece of jewelry; this time, its a brooch. However, the brooch came from the other side of the family. It once belonged to Queen Alexandrine, Benediktes paternal grandmother.

Schiller Graphics/Getty Images

Alexandrine left the floral brooch to Queen Ingrid, who supplemented it with additional diamond elements to form this tiara for Benedikte. The original brooch makes up the center of the reworked piece. Additionally, the diamond that forms the heart of the central floral element can be swapped out for an emerald. Versatile!

Chris Jackson  Pool/Getty Images

And even better, the brooch can still be removed from the tiara and worn separately. In March 2012, Benedikte wore the brooch pinned to her gown during a visit from the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Benedikte has been wearing the tiara since she received it from her parents as an eighteenth-birthday gift in 1962. Although Benedikte was never destined to be a queen (or a queen consort) like her sisters, she has attended numerous high-profile state events throughout her life. An early appearance for the tiara came in April 1964, when she made a visit with her parents to the Vatican.

Benedikte tends to be generous in sharing her tiaras with her daughters, and both Alexandra and Nathalie have been spotted in the piece in recent years. Above, you can see Nathalie sporting the sparkler at the May 2004 wedding of her cousin, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. (Beside her, Alexandra wears another tiara from her mothers collection, Queen Sofias Star and Pearl Tiara.)

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

For the May 2008 wedding of another cousin, Prince Joachim of Denmark, Alexandra wore the tiara with additional diamond accessories and a very sparkly sequinned wrap.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Even though the SWBs are minor royals, Benedikte is still an important part of the Danish royal family. She even serves as one of the formal regents for the country; if the queen and the crown prince both leave the country, another family member  Princess Benedikte, Prince Joachim, or Princess Elisabeth  has to stay behind and act as temporary regent. Thankfully, Benediktes continuing closeness with her Danish family means that we see all of the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg ladies sparkling at tiara events quite regularly.Iconic animals like elephants, tigers, lions and panda bears are everywhere in movies, books and toystores. But their wide pop culture presence skews public perception of how endangered these animals really are, researchers said Thursday.

Online surveys, zoo websites, animated films and school questionnaires were scoured by US and French researchers for the study, published in journal PLOS Biology.

Using these sources, scientists made a list of the top 10 most charismatic animals: tigers, lions, elephants, giraffes, leopards, pandas, cheetahs, polar bears, gray wolves and gorillas.

Researchers also found that almost 49 percent of all the non-teddy bear stuffed animals sold in the United States on Amazon were one of these 10 charismatic animals.

In France, 800,000 "Sophie the giraffe" baby toys were sold in 2010, more than eight times the numbers of giraffes living in Africa.

Lead author Franck Courchamp of the University of Paris said that these animals are so common in pop culture and marketing materials that they create a "virtual population" in people's minds, one that is doing far better in perception than reality.

Read also: Save tigers to save forests, activists say

"Unknowingly, companies using giraffes, cheetahs or polar bears for marketing purposes may be actively contributing to the false perception that these animals are not at risk of extinction, and therefore not in need of conservation," Courchamp said.

The average French citizen "will see more virtual lions through photos, cartoons, logos and brands in one month than there are wild lions left in West Africa," said the report.

Researchers urged companies that use these animals in their marketing to donate a portion of the proceeds to conservation groups.

"The appearance of these beloved animals in stores, in movies, on television, and on a variety of products seems to be deluding the public into believing they are doing okay," said co-author William Ripple, a professor of forest ecology at Oregon State University.

"If we don't act in a concerted effort to save these species, that may soon be the only way anyone will see them."

Ripple added that "a major threat faced by nearly all of them is direct killing by humans, especially from hunting and snaring," a reality he described as "sadly ironic, as these are some of our most beloved animals."A month after news of the data fiasco at Facebook dampened enthusiasm for the idea that innovation can cure all ills, the tech dream was still alive at the big-ideas TED Conference this week.

TED attendees were keenly aware of recent tech troubles, from Facebook being called before Congress over user privacy to a self-driving Uber car's accident that killed a woman pushing a bicycle across a street.

"The beautiful story we told ourselves that if we just connected the world together everything would get better is not working out," TED curator Chris Anderson told the gathering which ends Saturday.

But even if the dream has been shaken, it is not broken, according to many of those attending the week-long deep-thinker conference.

"Our situation with technology is complicated, but the big picture is rather simple," Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Max Tegmark said in a TED talk.

"We can either be complacent about the future, drift in a rudderless ship to our own obsolescence or be ambitious and think of how we want to steer our technology to an age of amazement."

Jaron Lanier, an author and technologist credited with pioneering virtual reality, contended that it was clear decades ago that "we were facing a knife-edge future" where the technology we love could be our undoing.

"We have a challenge," Lanier said during a talk on the TED stage. "We have to create a culture around technology that is so beautiful, so meaningful, so deeply filled with infinite potential that it draws us away from committing mass suicide."

Even amid the gloom of recent weeks, some TED speakers remained upbeat over the prospects for artificial intelligence to help improve the democratic process; for satellite technology to save marine life; and medical tech that delivers new mechanical limbs and organs.

Read also: Should Facebook pay more in taxes? IMF wades into thorny debate

- Free model in question -

Lanier said there needs to be more discussion on the current model of the internet in which free social networks and search engines rely on advertising, with targeting techniques growing increasingly precise.

"What started out as advertising became behavior modification," Lanier said.

"I can't call these things social networks any more; I call them behavior modification empires."

Lanier and others at TED saw promise in titans such as Facebook and Google shifting to subscription models that have proven successful for Netflix and Amazon, with subsidies for those who need them.

He advocated a subscription model with financially strapped people provided subsidies and all users paid for personal data that could be valuable to technology firms.

"I am certain that the Googles and the Facebooks would do better in this world," Lanier said.

There was strong support for the idea of a "digital bill of rights" enshrining in law how people and their data should be treated in a technology-driven world.

Keen attention was being paid to a new data protection standard, the General Data Protection Regulation, set to take effect in May in Europe, with a hope it would blaze a path for others.

The standard gives web users much greater control over how their personal information is stored and used, with big fines for companies that break the rules.

- The upbeat view -

Steven Pinker, a Harvard professor who has gained notoriety for an upbeat view of progress in the world, told the conference that feelings of gloom about the fate of humanity are misguided.

"You can always fool yourself comparing dramatic headlines of the present with rose-tinted views of the past," said Pinker, whose recent book "Enlightenment Now" makes the case that prosperity and other measures of well-being are on the rise, in large part due to technological innovation.

"During the decades when the world has gotten happier and healthier, news has gotten darker," Pinker said.

"The unsolved problems facing the world today are gargantuan, but we must see them as problems to be solved and not inevitable outcomes."Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 14, 2018 15:28 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce98148 1 City anies-baswedan,Kampung-Akuarium,eviction,jakarta Free

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan attended on Saturday an event conducted by residents of Kampung Akuarium, North Jakarta, to commemorate the day they were evicted from their homes by the administration of the former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama.

The residents expressed their gratitude for the city administration's decision to rebuild their demolished residences.

Currently, the remaining residents reside in temporary shelters, which will be demolished once their houses are constructed.

During the event, resident Dharma Diani handed over a 3D model of a house to Anies.

"We hope Bapak can fulfil our dreams. This is our dream," she said, handing over the model house to Anies.

Anies said he was committed to achieving social justice for the residents.

"I receive this [the model house] as a mandate. Insya Allahwe will fulfill [the promise to rebuild the residential area]. Give us a chance to prove that the country is still committed to upholding social justice for all of its residents," Anies said.

Anies added that the city administration had conducted a Community Action Plan (CAP) to gather the residents aspirations on their future kampung.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Bekasi  Sat, April 14, 2018 16:53 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce9c6e8 1 City Bekasi,cannabis,plant,police Free

The Bekasi Police have arrested EDB, 28, a resident of Jatimakmur, Pondok Gede, for allegedly growing cannabis in his house.

According to the police, EDB had three pots of cannabis, which had grown to about two meters tall, on the second floor of his house.

During the raid on Tuesday, the police confiscated the trees and a jar of dried cannabis.

EDB reportedly bought the cannabis seeds from his friend who lived in Bali had them delivered using a courier service.

"EDB said he planted the cannabis seeds seven months ago. He lived alone in his house," Bekasi Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wijonarko said, as reported by kompas.com.

To the police, EDB said he planted the cannabis for his own consumption because he had been an addict for some time, Wijonarko said.

Despite the statement, Wijonarko said the police were still investigating whether EDB was also a marijuana dealer. (cal)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 14, 2018 14:30 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce95b35 1 Business Belt-and-Road-Forum,Silk-Road,China,Luhut-Binsar-Pandjaitan Free

Indonesia and China have signed five contracts worth US$23.3 billion as part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious road, rail and construction project spanning dozens of countries across Asia, Africa and Europe.

The contract, signed in Beijing late on Friday, was signed by companies from both countries and consists of a $2 billion hydropower plant in Kayan, North Kalimantan, a $700 million contract to develop facilities to convert coal to dimethyl-ether and a $17.8 billion joint venture to build a hydropower plant on the Kayan river.

Additionally, the contract includes a $1.6 billion joint venture to build a power plant in Bali and $1.2 billion to develop a steel smelter.

We want to see continuous cooperation between investors from both countries, not just between governments, said Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who was present during the signing of the contract, as quoted by Antara news agency.

The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding on the development of Tanah Kuning Mangkupadi Industrial Park in northern Kalimantan and on the development of electric vehicles.

Luhut said Indonesia would seek further cooperation with China on some of Indonesias economic corridors, including those in North Sumatra, North Kalimantan, North Sulawesi and Bali, with an investment value of $51.9 billion.

Chinese deputy commerce minister Gao Yan during a bilateral meeting with Luhut said she would have further discussions with relevant institutions on the latters offer for an agreement between leaders of both countries. (dwa)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Gisela Swaragita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 14, 2018 13:57 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce940c4 1 National national-exam,Education,students,Indonesia Free

The Education and Culture Ministrys official Instagram account was flooded with student complaints after the four-day national examination for high school students.

Many of the students complained that the questions on the exams were too difficult for them.

Even the number one student in my class said the questions were too difficult. I, just a tiny speck of dust in the air, felt like I wanted to die, a student wrote in a comment, as reported by tribunnews.com.

Other students, meanwhile, have complained about the exams with jest on Twitter.

UNBK = Patient-Based National Exam, one Twitter user said, referring to the acronym of the computer-based exam.

UNBK(ujian nasional berbasis kesabaran)  Anisa fitri (@AnnisaFitri_H) April 11, 2018

(Mathematics). 1% doing the exam. 99% looking at another students answer, discussion, counting buttons, rolling dice made of an eraser, reciting Quran verses, wrote another Twitter user, jokingly.

Responding to this, Education and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy said, for this year's examination, the questions were formulated according to an internationally approved education reform concept, namely the High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).

We applied HOTS to propel the students into thinking critically, he told the press in the vice presidential palace on Friday, as reported by kompas.com.

Assessment tests formulated using HOTS, among others, lead the students to analyze, evaluate and create solutions to problems instead of just memorizing theories like in the Indonesian conservative education concept.

This is important for the students character building, Muhadjir said.

Students said they were blindsided by the ministry.

I understand that formulating the questions according to the HOTS concept is a terrific idea to let us practice critical thinking for problem solving. Unfortunately, you did not notify us about [this policy] earlier so that we could prepare, said a student using the handle @lindalindyy.

Students of SMA Santo Tarcisius senior high school in Dumai, Riau, take the 2018 digital national exam (UNBK) on Apr. 9. (Antara/Aswaddy Hamid)

Most students complained that the math exams, especially the one for social science majors, were not in accordance with the trial exams the students had been doing the past few months to prepare for the national exams, according to the Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI).

The questions also were not ordered by difficulty, from easy to hard.

The propositions of the questions were also different from what they had prepared for. Students had prepared to face two trigonometry problems, but there were six such problems on the real exam.

The FSGI recommended against the ministry making a standardized exam for the whole country, because the students' abilities vary across the archipelago.

Not only students in rural areas protested, but also Jakarta students, Satriawan Salim, an FSGI official, said in a statement on Saturday. (ahw)

Correction: The article has been updated to correct the translation of a quote by the Instagram user with a handle @lindalindyy.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung, West Java  Sat, April 14, 2018 14:17 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce94f6a 1 National blackmail-sex-phone-scam,extortion,inmates,Jelekkong-prison,bandung,West-Java,ITE,ITE-Law Free

The Bandung Police have named three inmates currently serving their sentence at the Class II A Bandung Narcotics Penitentiary, popularly known as Jelekong prison, suspects in a "sextortion" case.

They allegedly committed the crimes from within their cells, in which they were not supposed to have access to mobile phones or other telecommunication devices.

Bandung Police chief Sr. Comr. Hendro Pandowo said the arrests began after a report from a 40-year-old woman who claimed the suspects said they would spread her naked photos and videos on social media if she did not send them a certain amount of money.

The suspects are part of a syndicate known as PELAYARAN. It has been indicated that many other inmates have joined the syndicate, said Hendro in Bandung on Thursday.

The suspects allegedly first searched for their targets, women between 25 and 30 years old, via social media platforms such as Facebook, MeetMe and Instagram. Using fake accounts, the suspects allegedly asked for their victims' contact numbers and enticed them to become their girlfriends or wives. They later asked them to send their naked photos and videos.

During their interrogation, the suspects said they had been committing such crimes since 2016. The victims are from areas across Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, said Hendro.

The police charged them under the Criminal Code's (KUHP) Article 369 on extortion, as well as Article 48 and Article 32 of Law No. 19/2016 on information and electronic transactions (ITE). (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 14, 2018 17:18 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce9ccdf 1 Politics Prabowo-Subianto,Joko-Widodo,Jokowi,presidential-election Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo had offered Gerindra Party leader Prabowo Subianto the chance to be his running mate in the 2019 presidential election, but the latter turned down the offer, a Gerindra official has claimed.

Prabowo immediately declined the offer, the partys deputy secretary general, Andre Rosiade, said as quoted by kompas.com.

Prabowo, who lost to Jokowi in 2014 and is now the de facto leader of the opposition camp, was officially nominated Gerindras presidential candidate on April 11.

The party, which does not have enough votes to field a candidate in the presidential election alone, is currently seeking to create a coalition to back Prabowos candidacy.

Andre said Prabowo had chosen to follow the demand of the people.

It is the Indonesian people who want him to be the president, Andre said, adding that people's quality of life was declining. Prabowo wants to improve the quality of life of Indonesians.

Separately, United Development Party (PPP) chairman Romahurmuziy, a Jokowi ally, told the press that Prabowo had once sent a representative to the State Palace to ask if the offer was still open.

Prabowo felt honored by the offer, he said during a PPP meeting in Semarang, Central Java, on Friday.

Andre denied Romahurmuziys claim, saying Gerindras decision to nominate Prabowo as its presidential candidate was final. (gis/ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 14, 2018 12:03 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce91995 1 National Education,survey,parents,Indonesia,#Indonesia,PISA Free

While many surveys have shown Indonesia has a lot to do to improve its education, particularly when compared to its regional peers, most Indonesian parents, at least in urban areas, are optimistic the nations education is good enough to ensure a safe future for their children, according to a recent survey.

Almost nine in 10 Indonesian parents believe the country's schools are preparing their children well for the world in 2030 and beyond, according to the recently released Global Parents Survey.

The result offers another viewpoint of Indonesian education, which officials and experts said remained subpar in terms of quality based on the poor performance of Indonesian students in international and national competency assessments of late.

The survey, conducted online by London-based education nonprofit Varkey Foundation, interviewed 1,000 parents of children aged four to 18 in Indonesia between Dec. 8 last year and Jan. 15, with equal views from mothers and fathers. The Indonesian parents were among 27,380 parents from 29 countries interviewed for the survey.

In the aforementioned category, Indonesia ranks second behind India, where the result was 88 percent.

The foundation admitted that as Indonesia was among the countries in the survey that had low internet penetration, the results were rather representative of only the urban online population, which "tends to be better educated and financially better off".

The survey highlighted how Indonesian parents believed there was no real concern in enrolling their children in Indonesian schools.

Some 68 percent of Indonesian parents said education standards had improved in the last 10 years, ranking fourth in the category behind India, China and Singapore. By contrast, only 8 percent of surveyed parents in France thought so.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Indonesian parents who thought education standards had worsened was 14 percent, higher than the 10 percent of parents who thought there was no change at all.

Several students take the computer-based National Examination at SMAN 70 High School in Jakarta on Monday. There are 63,883 high-school-level students in Jakarta writing the computer-based national exam on Monday out of 133,961 high school and equivalent-level students. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)

In another category, satisfaction of teachers, 86 percent of Indonesian parents believed the quality of teaching at their children' schools to be "fairly good" or "very good", ranking seventh.

"Despite headlines of funding shortfalls and educational failure around the world, it's remarkable to see how much faith parents have in quality of teaching in their child's school," said Varkey Foundation chief executive Vikas Pota in an emailed statement.

While the survey may only represent Indonesians in urban areas, its findings remain notable as it shows that Indonesian parents are in fact more optimistic than Singaporean parents about their respective children's education.

The survey has found that Indonesia ranks above countries that have higher Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in numerous indicators.

In Singapore, the best performing country in the 2015 PISA edition with an average score of 556, only 69 percent of parents believed their children's school could prepare their children for the world in 2030 and beyond.

Indonesia's average 2015 PISA score was a dismal 395. Out of 72 assessed countries, Indonesia ranked 65th in mathematics, 66th in reading and 64th in science.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration, skeptical of the PISA findings, decided to sponsor a national survey called the Indonesian National Assessment Program in 2016.

The result: 73.61 percent of Indonesian students performed poorly in mathematics, reading and science, only slightly higher than PISA's of 75.7 percent.

"Our conclusion was that we had to work harder in preparing our teachers, providing better school facilities and preparing our students," said Education and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy in a recent interview with The Jakarta Post. (ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Damascus  Sat, April 14, 2018 12:45 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce92b97 2 World Syria,attack,civil-war,Middle-East Free

Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, France, and Britain launched a joint operation against the Damascus government.

"The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail," said state news agency SANA.

Huge blasts were reported around Damascus early on Saturday, moments after the US, France, and Britain announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

AFP's correspondent in Damascus said several consecutive blasts were heard at 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT), followed by the sound of airplanes overhead. Smoke could be seen emerging from the northern and eastern edges of the capital.

SANA reported that the joint operation was targeting military installations around Damascus and near the central city of Homs.

It said three civilians were wounded in the Homs attacks but did not give a toll for Damascus or mention any combatant casualties.

Several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre," SANA reported.

State media published images of a cloud of reddish smoke hanging over the capital and said that air defences were activated to block the attack.

But it said skies were clear over Aleppo in the north, Hasakeh in the northeast, and Latakia and Tartus along the western coast, where key Syrian and Russian military installations are located.

The joint operation came one week after a suspected chemical attack on an opposition-controlled town outside Damascus left more than 40 people dead.

Western powers blamed President Bashar al-Assad, but Syria and its ally Russia categorically denied the claims and accused the West of "fabricating" the incident to justify military action.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was set to begin its investigation inside the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma on Saturday, just hours after the strikes.

Syrian state media accused Western powers of trying to hinder the investigation with their attack.

"The three aggressors preempted the OPCW's mission in Ghouta, with the aim of hiding their lie," SANA said on Saturday.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Andew Beatty (Agence France-Presse) Damascus  Sat, April 14, 2018 09:31 1266 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce88f07 2 World Syria,war,chemical-attack,US,UK Free

The United States, Britain and France launched punitive military strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in response to its latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity, President Donald Trump announced Friday.

Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a primetime televised speech to the nation.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen.

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the alleged toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which took place a week ago, and Trump reacted in an emotional tweet.

"Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he declared.

"President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay."

Trump's anger and apparent determination was quickly matched by France's President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition.

May said there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force against Assad.

Trump's language was more brutal: "They are crimes of a monster."

In the six days between the attack and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling press statements and US debates.

Moscow denied its ally Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain had staged the event.

More practically, at the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned that the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

That concern was mirrored by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday warned the rival camps against "full-blown military escalation."

"Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," he urged the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

And he stressed the need "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control."

But Trump has long criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a previous US "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assad's forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, who took office on Monday, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimize the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syria's civil war.

But other advisors want to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Iran's growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Rim Haddad (Agence France-Presse) Damascus, Syria  Sat, April 14, 2018 15:43 1265 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ce9b794 2 World Syria,Damascus,attack Free

Hours before dawn, a string of powerful blasts jolted awake residents of the Syrian capital. Emerging onto their balconies, they watched Western strikes light up the sky over Damascus.

For around 45 minutes, explosions and the sound of warplanes roared over Damascus, a stronghold of Syria's regime, as the US, France, and Britain carried out raids on military installations nearby and in the province of Homs.

"I heard the strike and woke up. I checked the internet and read: barefaced attack by America, France, and Britain," said Sawsan Abu Tableh.

She and other residents described hearing a volley of fire in the morning, and seeing plumes of thick smoke emerging from the city's north and east.

"I woke up to the sound of the strike at 4:00 am and checked the news," said 49-year-old Rahmeh Abu Hamra, who lives in the eastern suburb of Jarmana.

At that moment, halfway around the world, US President Donald Trump was announcing the joint military strikes on Syria.

Abu Hamra rushed out onto her balcony and saw streams of people heading down to central Damascus in an impromptu rally as day broke.

"We don't care about Trump or a million people like him, we don't care about missiles or anything else," she told AFP.

Just after the barrage of strikes began, Syria announced it was activating its air defence system to block the attack.

The army said around 110 missiles were fired on Syria, but air defences shot most of them down.

Nedher Hammoud, 48, jumped out of bed at the sound of the blasts and clambered up to his rooftop.

"I went out on my roof this morning and saw the missiles being shot down like flies," Hammoud told AFP.

"History will record that Syria shot down missiles -- and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance."

Still in his pyjamas, Hammoud scrambled to join the crowds of people heading to the famed Umayyad Square to show their support for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Draped in government flags and blaring patriotic tunes, dozens of Syrians arrived on bicycles, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white, and black colours of the Syrian flag.

A traffic jam had already started to form around the square, and young Syrians leaned out of their car windows to take selfies as military personnel looked on.

"God is protecting you, Damascus!" some called out, and others chanted in support of Assad and the army.

Soldiers threw up two fingers to flash the victory sign near a car with pictures showing the president, his late father Hafez al-Assad and ally Hassan Nasrallah, who heads the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Car horns blared and people clapped, swaying back and forth to pro-army tunes.

"Bashar, we're at your command! Let the world go up in flames!" people chanted.

Amina al-Fares, 58, came to the rally dressed in black.

"I lost my recently-married nephew, my son, my brother's children, all for Bashar al-Assad," she told AFP, of relatives killed in Syria's seven-year war.

Fares said she felt the bombing early in the morning when she was drinking mate, but said she was not afraid.

"I heard the first strike, then the second, and I went out onto my balcony," she said.

"Trump thought we'd be in bomb shelters, but here we are in Umayyad Square."

Assad, too, appeared determined to show he was not unfazed.

In footage published by the presidency, he strolled through the grandiose marble halls of his office holding a briefcase, as if arriving for a normal day of work.The Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) cultural park in East Jakarta will open for free on April 20 to celebrate its 43rd anniversary that day.

"Tickets to enter TMII will be free on April 20 from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.," reads a statement released by the park management on Wednesday, as reported by tempo.co.

Read also: Four places to enjoy New Year's Eve fireworks in Jakarta

According to the statement signed by TMII president director Tanribali Lamo on April 3, the park will also offer special prices for two-person tickets to all attractions and recreation units. However, vehicles entering TMII that day will still be required to pay parking fees, according to the implemented regulation.

Additionally, all visitors of TMII will enjoy discounted entrance fees from April 16 to April 19 on tickets that are valid for two persons and can be used to explore the place from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. (kes)Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here

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Home PageThe movie is exactly what you'd think it is and it knows what it is: cheesy, entertaining dumb fun anchored all by the Rock.

Video game movies seem are cursed it seems. But once in awhile, you get those diamonds in the rough. Street Fighter (1994) and Mortal Kombat (1995) come to mind. But other than that they're usually decent but sadly but forgettable stuff (aka a certain movie I just saw a few weeks ago. No wait I remember that movie still-- I mean this one) to so bad it's entertaining to Resident Evil movie franchise to-- OH DEAR GOD WHAT THE HELL? HOW DOES UWE BOLL GET THESE VIDEO GAME LICENSES!?

Rampage starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnston basically is that damn diamond. It knows what the material it's handling and just revels in it. The movie isn't expecting some higher level of filmmaking. It knows what you want: giant monsters destroying shit and this is the plot to make all of that stuff happen. It just so happens that this film has the charismatic talents of the Rock to anchor the movie.

That and Jeffery Dean Morgan just steals the damn show as a government spook. Other than the Rock, Morgan just gets the best lines in the movie and delivers it with just so much gusto. There were a bunch times both just had me chuckling like mad at the fiery line banter the two had with one another.

Also in a mini-Watchmen reunion, Malin Akerman does a stellar job playing the main antagonist who orchestrates the events of how three monsters end up ravaging Chicago. She equally just chews the scenery like no one's business, and equally gets the best comeuppance in a long time when it comes to villains in film. Like literally both her and her partner just get the perfect justly ends.

If anything after these three that's basically it on the humans. Naomie Harris as the geneticist who is assisting the Rock's character in stopping these creatures isn't bad. But, compared to the other three. She just doesn't chew it up as they do, save for a few times. The rest of the human cast in this movie are just there and before you know it are gone. Like literally, there's a subplot involving one character at the beginning of the film that is just utterly dropped.

Because really, the movie knows what we're all here: the giant monsters. It knows what you want to see: them doing glorious destruction and utter chaos and damn does this movie deliver that in spades. Each monster gets their moment, and George the Albino Ape is a fantastic character and has some Congo-like moments with the Rock's character. That said-- fuck the ape Lizzy was the scene stealer. And the movie even knows that too giving her the best entrance of the three. But that's not to say, Ralph, the Wolf doesn't get a small role. Nope, all three monsters get their equal due.

The other interesting thing I find about the film was just like last year's Kong: Skull Islan, this movie is dark as fuck, perhaps more so. We see the usual people getting eaten. But not only that, people get crushed, stomped, impaled, and get little glimpses of their remains. This movie feels like it's bordering on a freaking R-Rating at times with its violence, and what it gets away with. Then again, this movie is based on giant monsters destroying tall buildings, military weapons, and eating people.

That said, I can get why people would hate this film. There a plot holes aplenty. But you know what? Fuck it. I enjoyed this film. The movie knew what it was and relished in the cheese and so did I. Amusingly, this movie feels like a hybrid of previous mentioned Congo (you know the movie with bad-ass Laura Linney, equally bad ass Ernie Hudson, and a sign-language ape battling killer apes), 1997's Godzilla (done right), and late 90s Paul Thomas Anderson resulting in an amusingly fun time at the cinema.

Yes, this movie is dumb as hell. Yes, the premise is flimsy. But the movie freaking knows it. It knows what you want and it delivers on that. Giant Monsters running amok with the Rock having to stop it. What more were you expecting with this film?! Giant monsters show up and destroy shit. Everything else is just chocolate sprinkles of fun. So just enjoy the fact that this is the THIRD kaiju movie in a month we've gotten. Three kaiju movies in a month. That's a miracle of American cinema. And I feel like the only way to end this review is sum it all up with this little video:

Yep. That perfectly sums up this film for me in a nutshell.

4 out of 5Arthur Edward Pederson

Dec. 18, 1941  Apr. 2, 2018

Arthur Edward Pederson was born on December 18, 1941 to parents Senvig Marvin Pederson and Inga Marie (Olsen) Pederson in a house in Leeds, North Dakota. He died at the age of 76 on Monday, April 2, 2018 at the Trinity Medical Center in Minot, North Dakota.

Art was raised on his parents farm south of Knox, North Dakota and attended school in a one room country school in Pleasant Lake Township. Before his graduation

from Knox High School, he had joined the ND National Guard and left for basic training following his graduation in 1959. After completing his training, he returned

home to work for Benson County. He was activated to the U.S. Army in 1961 during the Cuban Crisis and was honorably discharged in 1962. He returned to the Army

Reserve and served until 1967. He then attended Hanson Auto Mechanics in Fargo and did various jobs until moving to Washington State and working for Boeing. On March 22, 1969, he was united in marriage to Sharon Luree Hanson in Longview, Washington. The couple moved back to North Dakota where he took a truck driving job with Purina Foods. Other jobs while living in North Dakota during the years of 1969 1980 included a city maintenance manager in Fairmont, a Deputy Sheriff for Ransom County, in Lisbon, a heavy equipment operator in Beulah, a semi driver in Fargo, and a military security officer at the Fargo Air Base. The couple and family moved to Washington State again in 1980 seeking treatment for their oldest son, Bryans Lymphocytic Leukemia, a disease he was diagnosed with at 3 months of age.

He lost his battle with cancer November 2, 1983. Art went to work as a welder at Diamond M Farms in Monroe, WA until a work accident with high voltage electricity

disabled him in this field of work. Never being a quitter, Art enrolled in a 2-year Mechanical Drafting program at Edmonds Community College and earned his certification in this new line of work. Later the family returned to North Dakota where they purchased a home in York. After retiring because of heart disease, he served on the York Town Council and mowed the citys vacant lots until the Fall of 2017.

He is survived by his wife, Sharon; one son, Kelly (Becky); 4 grandchildren; one brother, Leonard (Bev); two aunts, Ruth Bjornstad and Gertie Olsen; other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his son, Bryan; sister, Alice Pederson; brothers, Alton and David; and his parents.

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 14th in the Anderson Funeral Home, Rugby with late spring burial in the Union Cemetery, Knox. There will be no reviewal. Reverend Mike Pretzer, officiate. A light luncheon is planned to follow the service in the Memorial Hall in Rugby.

Military Honors will be accorded by the North Dakota Funeral Honors Detail.

Honorary bearers: Grandchildren, Austin, Emma, Bryan and Michael Pederson

Arrangements with the Anderson Funeral Home of Rugby. Online registry: www.funeralsbyanderson.comAs a conclusion to Rugby Government week, the Ely Elementary 1st graders had a visit from Rugby Police Officer Jeremy Monroe who discussed school safety with the children. His presentation included auto safety, bike riding and other upcoming summer activities for the children.

Monroe had many questions from the first graders about car seat safety. He told them he would be happy to help their parents make sure their car seats were installed correctly. One boy insisted his car seat wasnt working properly and wondered what would happen if they had a crash. Monroe is a certified expert in installing safety equipment for automobiles.

First grader Dallas listened intently and showed his concern over his car seat, saying my car seat flops what will happen in I get in an accident? Monroe reassured him that his car seat would be inspected and installed properly.

The officer also shared information about wearing bike helmets and knee pads and helmets for skating and roller blading.

North Dakota state law states that children younger than 8 years of age are required to ride in a child restraint (car seat or booster seat). The restraint must be used correctly following the manufacturers instructions. A correctly-used seatbelt may be substituted for children younger than 8 who are at least 49 or taller.

When walking to and from places in town this summer, be sure to not talk to people that you dont know, and if someone wants you to come with them, or someone offers you something like candy, just run away to your home or to the guardian who is responsible for you. Do not go with strangers, he emphasized.

Officer Monroe handed out some coloring contest sheets to the students. Monday the students turned in their coloring sheets to their 1st grade teacher, and one boy and one girl winner were annouced. Next week the winners will get a ride to school in a police car with Officer Monroe as a reward.

During lunch, Chief of Police John Rose, Jennifer Stewart, city auditor and Candy Munyer, deputy auditor from the City of Rugby, served hot dogs and all the trimmings for over 300 students at Ely Elementary. Students got to see the human side to government.For Subscribers 50 Years: Watertown High School's boys golf team chasing first state title since 1971

Neither Watertown High School boys golf coach Corey Neale nor the teams veteran leaders Jake Olson and Kaden Rylance claim to know much about the history of schools program.Blog Archive Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (2) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (4) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (3) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) 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(4) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (2) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (7) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (5) Feb 20 (5) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (6) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (3) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 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(3) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (5) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (5) May 18 (6) May 17 (6) May 16 (4) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (4) May 10 (5) May 09 (2) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (4) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (6) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (6) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (8) Feb 23 (7) Feb 22 (8) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (7) Jan 21 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01 (2) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (2) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (4) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (2) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (2) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (2) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (2) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (2) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (2) Mar 22 (1) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (2) Mar 18 (2) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (2) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (2) Mar 07 (1) Mar 06 (2) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (1) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (2) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (2) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (1) Feb 14 (1) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (2) Feb 11 (1) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (1) Feb 08 (1) Feb 07 (1) Feb 06 (1) Feb 05 (5) Feb 03 (1) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (1) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (1) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (6) Dec 14 (4) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (5) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (6) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (2) Aug 06 (2) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (6) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (2) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (2) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (1) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (2) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (4) May 13 (9) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (5) May 09 (4) May 08 (3) May 07 (5) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (1) May 02 (5) May 01 (7) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (1) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (4) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 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31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (2) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (4) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (7) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (2) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (5) 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(3) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (3) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (2) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (2) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (2) Jan 04 (2) Jan 03 (2) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (2) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (2) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (2) Nov 21 (2) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (2) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (2) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (2) Aug 12 (2) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (2) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (2) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (2) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (2) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (2) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (2) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (2) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (2) Jul 03 (2) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (2) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (2) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (2) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (7) May 16 (2) May 15 (3) May 14 (4) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (3) May 08 (2) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (1) May 04 (2) May 03 (4) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (1) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (1) Mar 07 (1) Mar 04 (2) Mar 02 (2) Feb 28 (1) Feb 24 (1) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (2) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (5) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (5) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (1) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (3) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (3) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (3) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (3) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (2) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (2) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (2) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (2) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (1) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (1) Sep 18 (1) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (1) Sep 15 (2) Sep 14 (2) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 11 (2) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (1) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (1) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (2) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 12 (1) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (6) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (6) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (4) May 29 (4) May 28 (5) May 27 (5) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (5) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (3) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (3) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (6) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (7) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (8) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (3) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (4) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (6) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (7) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (5) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (2) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (4) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (8) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (2) Jun 21 (1) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (7) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (3) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (2) May 20 (3) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (2) May 14 (6) May 13 (4) May 12 (2) May 11 (3) May 10 (2) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (2) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 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These bombings were done in concert with France and the UK on Friday night. The number of casualties and other damage is at this time unclear

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.



Explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump spoke from the White House. Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, responded to the attack. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.



Trump said the U.S. is prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. "The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.



The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria. He authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians. The strikes that hit early Saturday in Syria came hours before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were set to arrive to inspect the site of the apparent attack.









Given that the Syrian national regime is winning the civil war with support from both Russia and Iran you may wonder why it would want to ratchet up a conflict with the United States. You also may wonder where is the independent evidence that there was use of chemical weapons or that Assad did it. You might ask yourself what is the United States national interest advanced by firing missiles at Syria. You may muse as to why the United States is supporting ISIS and Al-Quaeda affiliated rebels. You may question that if the US intervention in Libya and Iraq made things worse for citizens of those countries and surrounding areas then will bombing Syria somehow magically have a different effect. Perhaps you will show some curiosity about why Israel can sadistically shoot unarmed protesters on what amounts to a bantustan and beam the footage globally without a peep from the United States but brutality in Syria requires immediate intervention.





You may be suspicious that the bipartisan surrender of Congressional war making power to the President is not really what the Constitution requires or allows. You may suspect that the corporatist left who have been taunting Trump for alleged obsequiousness to Russian President Putin, will now unironically claim that Trump is only attacking Syria to, you guessed it, cover up his Putin connections. And they will be matched by the know nothing right who pulled out their constitution to lecture President Obama about his limited war making abilities but who will fall in line behind President Trump firing off missiles against a sovereign state just because he felt like it.

You may not be surprised to see people who muttered not a mumbling word about Obama wars in Libya and bombs across the world, suddenly dust off their antiwar credentials because Trump's bombs are somehow worse than Obama's.



UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres canceled is trip to Saudi Arabia in connection with the situation in Syria.

April 14, 2018, 12:03 UN chief cancels Saudi Arabia trip

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 14, ARTSAKHPRESS:In a statement following the attack, UN chief said has has been following closely the reports of air strikes in Syria conducted by the United States, France and the United Kingdom, NEWS.am reports.

Theres an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nations and with international law in general, he said.

I call on the members of the Security Council to unite and exercise that responsibility. I urge all Member States to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.

Earlier, the US Department of Defense said the missile attacks targeted three facilities in Damascus and Homs which are related to the production and storage of chemical weapons. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that more than 100 missiles were fired.The glory days of tin mining may be about to return to Cornwall in an unexpected revival of the historic industry which provided the backdrop to the Poldark novels and BBC TV drama.

In towns such as Redruth and Camborne, locals still talk of their pride in the industry which is also celebrated through monuments such as the 90ft granite column Carn Brea, a tribute to a mining philanthropist.

The countys tin mining industry disappeared in 1998 when Cambornes South Crofty followed other mines in closing due to a collapse in the metals value.

Picturesque: The historic industry provided the backdrop to the Poldark novels and BBC drama

But now the bosses of an international mineral exploration firm, who include the son of a former South Crofty worker, are determined to put Cornwall back on the tin map by reopening the mine.

Strongbow Exploration plans to list on the London Stock Exchange by June this year and to get South Crofty back up and running by 2021.

It also has ambitions for the mine, which traces its history back more than 400 years, to compete with rivals in China and Indonesia.

Geologically, Cornwall has shown over the last couple of thousand years  dating back to the bronze age  that there is a high level of metal endowment here, said Strongbow chief executive Richard Williams, a professional geologist.

His ambition is for South Crofty to supply up to 1.5 per cent of the worlds tin  or around 4,500 out of 350,000 tons currently consumed each year.

At current prices, this would mean annual revenues of $90 million to $110 million (63 million to 77 million).

The Cornish tin-mining industry is said to date back more than 2,500 years. It peaked between 1750 and 1850  the period in which the TV drama Poldark is set  when it was a world leader.

Mining still flourished sufficiently to be a major provider of jobs until the late 20th Century. But a sharp drop in the price of tin from $20,000 to $5,000 a ton  prompted by a fall in demand and the 1985 collapse of the International Tin Council, which protected prices, proved fatal for Cornwalls mines. By 1991, South Crofty was the last one standing. It closed in March 1998 when its owners, who still employed 200 people, were unable to secure a rescue package from the Government.

Scenic: Aidan Turner as tin mine owner Ross Poldark in the BBCs 18th Century drama

Just three years later, tin staged a recovery after a ban on lead being used in solders.

Now, the metal is used in most electrical items, including mobile telephones, and its price has recovered to above $20,000 a ton.

There have been several attempts to revive South Crofty in the past 20 years. But Strongbow is convinced, in part thanks to planning permissions and licences already secured, that it can succeed where others have failed.

Owen Mihalop, a mining engineer from Cornwall whose father was managing director of South Crofty in the 1980s, is Strongbows chief operating officer and is based at the site.

Mihalop, who trained at Cambornes School of Mines, believes the companys plans  which he hopes will create 300 jobs  can be a major boost for the local economy.

He said residents are overwhelmingly supportive, adding: A lot of people looking in at Cornwall from other parts of the UK just see it as a tourist destination but people who live here dont.

They want to see good quality, highly skilled, well paid jobs so that their children can stay here rather than having to go off around the world and to other parts of the UK to make a living.

Ambition: Owen Mihalop plans to have South Crofty reopened by 2021

Mihalop added that mining is not the dirty, sweaty business that it was years ago and is now a high-tech industry that can attract ambitious workers.

Its about maintaining high-tech equipment more than using equipment, he said.

Previously, when South Crofty closed, thats how things were done  handheld drills, very hot, hard work. Its still going to be hard work down there, but were going to be using machines that make life a lot easier for them.

Visitors to the area, therefore, are unlikely to encounter many tanned, topless hunks wielding pickaxes like fictional mine owner Ross Poldark in the TV drama. But thats not to say the Poldark effect wont be a boost for South Crofty.

Williams said: I certainly think Poldark has generated a lot of interest, which has been very positive. Its highlighted what were trying to do in Cornwall.

And I think it gives the general population a little bit of background to show that Cornwall does have a strong history of mining.MBABANE  A woman who sustained serious injuries to her head and ribs in a car accident wants SMVAF to make her an offer for compensation.

SMVAF is an acronym for Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accident Fund.



Ellen Chellen, who has since approached the High Court, does not state the amount she is expecting from SMVAF but wants the fund to make an offer.

In her application, Chellen stated that on April 16, 2011, at Nazarene Traffic Lights intersection, she was involved in a motor vehicle accident.



She pointed out that she was a passenger in the vehicle, a Chevrolet registered DSD323AH, which was driven by her husband Jacque Chellen.

The car, according to Ellen, collided with a kombi registered XSD 036 AM that was driven by a certain Manqoba Mtsetfwa.



She told the court that she sustained bodily injuries, which required her to be transferred on an emergency to UNITAS Hospital in Pretoria where she was hospitalised for three months.

Ellen claimed that she was in the intensive care unit (ICU) for approximately three weeks due to the gravity of the injuries, which were almost fatal.

I sustained serious injuries to my head, skull, face, mouth, jaw, blunt chest trauma, fractured ribs and other bodily areas covered in my claim document and medical reports, some of which are now permanent, submitted the applicant (Ellen).



She went on to state that the nature and extent of her injuries were not in dispute.

The applicant further submitted that on her return from Pretoria she instructed her attorney, Jose Rodrigues, to file and lodge a motor vehicle accident claim for her injuries and the costs.

Ellen alleged that the claim was accordingly filed and lodged with SMVAF where she was issued with a claim number.

She said the claim was being dealt with in accordance with the standard claim procedures of SMVAF, where she was inter alia required to undergo numerous medico-legal examinations to date to enable the fund to assess and appreciate the full extent of her injuries for quantification and settlement.



I have, since the filling of the lodgement of my claim, attended numerous medico-legal examinations with neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons, maxillo- facial surgeon, neuropsychologist, ophthalmologist, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, eye surgeon and strabismologists both in Swaziland and South Africa throughout 2012 to date, alleged Ellen.

She averred that in or about December 2014 after attending battery medico-legal examinations throughout 2012, 2013 and 2014, she had a hope that SMVAF had obtained adequate information from the medico-legal examinations reports to enable it to obtain a proper assessment of her claim to settle it.MBABANE  Thievery knows no bounds as head teachers, police are among those caught stealing electricity.



They are among some opinion leaders in society who have been found on the wrong side of the law.

The institutions and individuals, who have been reported to the Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) are mostly in the civil service and schools.



Three schools that have been identified for stealing power  this is despite that schools are meant to instil responsibility among pupils and honesty.

Sifiso Dhlamini, Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager at SEC confirmed that theft of electricity power was rampant in the country.

He did not want to mention the entities but noted that many people and institutions were guilty.



He said this cost the entity over E5 million a month, money that could be diverted to improve the electricity infrastructure in the country.

Whenever someone steals electricity, they are not just stealing from SEC but the companys consumers as well.

Dhlamini noted that the company embarked on disconnections in the fight against illegal connections.



Yes, we disconnect those who are illegally connected; however, due to client-customer confidentiality, I cant divulge much.

It has been established that among the entities that had their electricity supply terminated are business establishments including mortuaries, high schools, and farmers cooperatives.

When one of the head teachers from the high schools was contacted, he pleaded ignorance as to who illegally connected the meter.

He said he was not aware what transpired as this might have been done without his knowledge.



Meanwhile, the Swaziland Principals Association (SWAPA) Deputy President Welcome Mhlanga said he was not aware that desperation had pushed some head teachers to such levels.

Mhlanga noted that schools had financial challenges given the delayed payment of Free Primary Education grants while bills were piling.

However, he said engaging in criminal activities was not an option as that would bring disrepute to the schools.



Head teachers facing financial or any other challenges should report those quagmires to the Regional Education Officer than to take short cuts.

He made an example of head teachers going to money lenders to pay for certain essentials as something that should not happen.

There should be no deals to keep the school afloat.



Mhlanga said if schools were forced to stop operating due to the challenges they faced, they should do so than to bring shame to themselves.

He reiterated that head teachers should report that FPE grant delays brought financial struggles than to be delinquents who steal electricity.

Also, Chief Police Information and Communication Officer Superintendent Khulani Mamba scorned upon such aberrant act.



He said tampering with electrical meters was not just dangerous but it was a criminal offence. Illegal connections are an offence and we warn people to buy electricity units than to tamper with meters.

When informed that among those who are guilty of stealing electricity were police officer, he expressed shock and noted that they brought disrepute to the profession as they were supposed to uphold the law.

Its worse if they are police as they know that criminal acts are not welcome in the police force.MBABANE  The slogan, an injury to one is an injury to all came true when a protester was injured during a confrontation with the police.



This was during the protest march organised by the TUCOSWA to deliver petitions to the Prime Minister office and to nine different ministries, yesterday.

TUCOSWA stands for the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland.



The protester, Nsika Magagula, a teacher by profession, was injured on the back of his left thigh after a stun-grenade exploded when it accidently slipped from a police officers grip.

A few seconds after the explosion was heard, people screamed and ran for cover, some thinking the police were firing at them.



However, a section of the approximately 2 000 protesters regrouped and confronted the heavily armed officers who were clad in riot gear.

Some were shouting, nisidubulelani? (Why are you shooting at us?), while advancing to the officers.

In the background, a group of about 50 protesters were singing, sicela nisibambele naba labaphetse tibhamu.



Spoiling



The protestors who had confronted the officers seemed to be spoiling for a fight as they manhandled the men in blue who were also well prepared for any confrontation.

There was an exchange of unpalatable words, with the marchers demanding to have an audience with the officer who detonated the explosive.

Even the intervention of political legend, Mphandlana Shongwe could not save the situation.



Shongwe eventually, left the fighting group to join other protestors who had marched on to the Ministry of Finance.

Magagula, a teacher at Madlangempisi High School, had sympathisers who assured him that they were prepared to die for him.



True to their words, they stayed with him until an ambulance arrived and took him to an unspecified health centre.

Earlier, two senior police officers, identified as Masango and Bhembe were manhandled while trying to negotiate with the leadership of the union at the intersection of Gwamile and Mdada Streets.

The officers were talking to the leadership, which was on board a van addressing the crowd.



In fact, they had wanted to inform the leaders about the routes to be used by the marchers.

Sukani la (Move away from here), some of the protestors were overheard while shoving the officers away from the vehicle.



Some of the union members struck the officers with open hands on their backs as they walked away.

TUCOSWA Secretary General Mduduzi Gina pleaded with his people to refrain from manhandling the officers.

MBABANE  Manzini North MP Jan Sithole has received a backlash from government for his submissions that Tinkhundla system of Governance was an experiment that went wrong.

The Member of Parliament (MP) spoke during Winnie Madikizela-Mandelas memorial service held at the Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral on Thursday.



Percy Simelane, Government Spokesman, yesterday said they want to believe that MP Sithole was voted into Parliament by people who believe in the system.

Simelane said it would be a fallacy for him to then turnaround and kick them in the mouth.



Tinkhundla System of Governance is no political piracy. It is in place because the people of Swaziland have many a time freely submitted their support to its continuity.

He said it had been reviewed, tried and tested since its conception 63 years ago.



Simelane went on to state that the highest decision making authority in the land (Sibaya) has consistently endorsed the system and it has been periodically strengthened over the years.

In accordance to the principles of true democracy, no one wolf can change this.

The MP and Swaziland Democratic Party (SWADEPA) president during the memorial had also stated that there was a crisis in the country as there was lack of disability and elderly grants; lack of drugs in hospitals; shortage of tertiary education scholarships.



He went on to state that in order to bring about the much needed a change in the country, political parties need to be engaged on a national dialogue to devise strategies that would result in a free country.

He seems to have overstepped the boundary as he remained optimistic that if the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa would come to Swazilands rescue, with the backing of freedom-hungry Swazis, liberation would be possible.



After having said all this he expressed hope that the President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa would come to Swazilands rescue.

Simelane, in the statement issued yesterday, said they view this comment as single handily passing a vote of no confidence on His Majesty the King and Ingwenyama, the Head of State.

We view Mr Sitholes submission that a head of State from a neighbouring country is to come and whip leadership into line as single handily passing a vote of no confidence on His Majesty the King and Ingwenyama, the Head of State.

He said His Majesty would always be open to international advice, but not orders.



Simelane went to state that democracy is about a people defining their destiny and not about other nations shouting orders.

Swaziland is a sovereign State and its destiny is in the hands of its people and not at the mercy of lone political wolfs operating like jukeboxes.

He said the Swazi nation had put together one of the best constitutions in the world, according to seasoned judges around the world, including justices from Mauritius and South Africa.



Further, he pointed out that the way the nation goes to parliamentary elections in the country was constitutional as attested to by the last party of international elections observes only five years ago.

Social grants shall always be determined by the size of the economy at a point in time and laid down rules and regulations to ensure continuity.

Simelane said that there were no scholarships was a fallacy of the first order.



He said the State continues to grant scholarships to thousands of deserving tertiary education applicants every year despite its economic challenges at a time when a majority of countries in the region and abroad do not.

Addressing the issue of Free Primary Education, he said the State funds it and subsidizes stable food, medication and fuel among other services to the peopleHundreds of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital Saturday, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance that followed unprecedented joint airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain.

A few hours earlier, before sunrise, loud explosions jolted Damascus and the sky turned orange as Syrian air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and what appeared to be a fire lighting up the sky. From a distance, U.S. missiles hitting suburbs of the capital sounded like thunder. Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria\s presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents gathered in Damascus\ landmark Omayyad square, celebrating what they said was the army\s success in shooting down or derailing some of the missiles. Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance.

"We are not scared of America\s missiles. We humiliated their missiles," said Mahmoud Ibrahim, half his body hanging outside his car window, waving a Syrian flag. The crowd then moved toward the nearby Damascus University where pro-government fighters danced, waving their automatic rifles over their heads.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday night that the three allies had launched military strikes to punish Assad for alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again. Trump said Washington is prepared to "sustain" pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons. A fact-finding team of inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog was in Damascus and had been expected to head to the town of Douma on Saturday, scene of the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed more than 40 people.

The seemingly limited strikes with no apparent future strategy for how to deal with the wider civil war was a cause for relief and celebration by Assad supporters but criticized by the Syrian opposition.

Mohammad Alloush, spokesman for the Army of Islam rebel group, called the airstrikes a "farce" in a Twitter posting. Nasr al-Hariri, a senior opposition leader, said Syrians need a strategy that leads to a political solution to "save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime."

Al-Hariri, in a tweet, suggested the strikes send the wrong message that while it is not OK to use chemical weapons, the Syrian government can continue to "use explosive barrels and cluster bombs."

A Syrian military statement said in all, 110 missiles were fired by the U.S., Britain and France and that most of them were shot down or derailed. Russia\s military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the U.S. and its allies.

The Syrian statement read by Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub said three civilians were wounded in one of the strikes on a military base in Homs, although the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile. He said another attack with "a number of missiles" targeting a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. Mayhoub said the building housed an educational center and labs.

The attack began at 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of Damascus, shaking the grounds from a distance. The sky looked orange over eastern Damascus, apparently as a result of fires. Air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles from different directions toward incoming missiles.

At about sunrise, the sound of explosions could be heard just as the loudspeakers from the city\s mosques called for morning prayers.

A car with loudspeakers blaring the national song "Oh Syria, You Are My Love" could be heard driving through central Damascus during the attack.

Syrian TV called the attacks a "blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy."

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses during the initial airstrikes.

"Right now this is a one-time shot," he said but did not rule out further attacks. He said the airstrikes were launched against several sites that helped provide Assad\s ability to create chemical weapons.

France\s foreign minister said the "chemical escalation" in Syria is not acceptable because it violated the rules of war and of humanity. Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters Saturday that the joint military operation in Syria is legitimate, limited and proportionate.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as neither "about intervening in a civil war" nor "about regime change" but a limited and targeted strike that "does not further escalate tensions in the region" and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump\s second order to attack Syria; he authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad\s use of sarin gas against civilians.

Trump chastised Syria\s two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

Iran\s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the attack on Syria was a "crime" and declared the leaders of the U.S., France and the U.K. "criminals," according to Iran\s state-run IRNA news agency. The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the strikes and warned of unspecified consequences.

Russia\s U.S. embassy released a statement warning that the airstrikes will "not be left without consequences." It said that "all responsibility" rests with Washington, London and Paris.

The U.S. missile strike in April 2017 was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. That operation targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

Friday\s strikes were aimed to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks. The Pentagon\s Gen. Joseph Dunford said they a scientific research center in the Damascus area that was involved in research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology; a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs he said was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin production equipment; and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs.

SOURCE: Associated Press[April 13, 2018] Autohome Inc. Files Its Annual Report on Form 20-F

BEIJING, April 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Autohome Inc. (NYSE: ATHM) ("Autohome" or the "Company"), the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on April 13, 2018. The annual report on Form 20-F, which contains the Company's audited consolidated financial statements, can be accessed on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov as well as through the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.autohome.com.cn. The Company will provide a hard copy of its annual report containing the audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations Department, Autohome Inc., 10th Floor Tower B, CEC Plaza, 3 Dan Ling Street, Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China. About Autohome Inc. Autohome Inc. (NYSE: ATHM) is the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China. Its mission is to enhance the car-buying and ownership experience for auto consuers in China. Autohome provides professionally produced and user-generated content, a comprehensive automobile library, and extensive automobile listing information to automobile consumers, covering the entire car purchase and ownership cycle. The ability to reach a large and engaged user base of automobile consumers has made Autohome a preferred platform for automakers and dealers to conduct their advertising campaigns. Further, the Company's dealer subscription and advertising services allow dealers to market their inventory and services through Autohome's platform, extending the reach of their physical showrooms to potentially millions of internet users in China and generating sales leads for them. The Company offers sales leads, data analysis, and marketing services to assist automakers and dealers with improving their efficiency and facilitating transactions. As a transaction-centric company, Autohome operates its "Autohome Mall," a full-service online transaction platform, to facilitate transactions for automakers and dealers. Further, through its website and mobile applications, it also provides other value-added services, including auto financing, auto insurance, used car transactions, and aftermarket services. For further information, please visit www.autohome.com.cn.



For investor and media inquiries, please contact: In China:

Autohome Inc.

Investor Relations

Fang Liu

Tel: +86-10-5985-7482

Email: ir@autohome.com.cn The Piacente Group, Inc.

Xi Zhang

Tel: +86-10-5730-6200

E-mail: autohome@tpg-ir.com In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Alan Wang

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-mail: autohome@tpg-ir.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/autohome-inc-files-its-annual-report-on-form-20-f-300629514.html SOURCE Autohome Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 13, 2018] Strive Consulting Named One of the Best Places to Work in Chicago

CHICAGO, April 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Strive Consulting (http://striveconsulting.com), a national business and technology consulting firm, today announced it has been named by Crain's Chicago Business as one of the top 50 Best Places to work. Since 2008, Crain's Chicago Business has set out to find local businesses that have excelled in creating quality workplaces for employees. This year, Crain's partnered with Best Companies Group to survey over 8,000 Chicago employees on all aspects of their organization including everything from benefits and company perks to career development and company culture. "It is a great honor to have been named one of the Best Places to Work in Chicago," said Nate Roberts, Executive Director, Chicago. "We are all working together to build a culture where everyone is able to grow as an individual and have a meaningful impact on those around us. I truly enjoy coming into work every day and working with such a talented group of people. This is another grea award for Strive and one that is shared by everyone in our firm."



Strive works with clients across the United States to help solve a variety of business problems and deliver key technology initiatives. In addition to the Crain's award, Strive has received national recognition by Glassdoor and the Best & Brightest organization for being one of the best places to work in the United States. Strive's benefits for employees helped secure its placement on the Crain's list which include:

Personalized PTO program

401(k) company match

Health Savings Account employer contributions

Wellness Program

Professional development opportunities

Annual President's Club Trip for top performers

Employee-led culture organization, StriveX

Company sponsored lunches

Employee appreciation events About Strive Consulting Founded in 2006, Strive Consulting is a rapidly growing, nationally recognized business and technology consulting firm that helps companies solve problems and delivery on strategic initiatives across our Management Consulting, Technology Enablement, and Data & Analytics practices. Headquartered in Chicago with offices in Atlanta, Columbus, and Dallas Strive has been repeatedly recognized as one of the nation's best places to work. Learn more at striveconsulting.com. Related Links Crain's Best Places to Work View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/strive-consulting-named-one-of-the-best-places-to-work-in-chicago-300629790.html SOURCE Strive Consulting

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]In a characteristically selfish and egotistical move, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens is going to force the entire state to focus on his sexual proclivities and admitted adultery rather than allow government progress on far more important political issues.





And so, we'd like to share some of the better news links on the sordid topic of this ongoing scandal as a former Navy Seal drags Missouri through the mud.

Northeast Against The Guv

Letter to the Editor: Representative Burnett calls for Greitens to resign There are times in in a person's life when the honorable thing to do is to put aside your personal ambition, and direct your attention to your family. Our Governor is in a position to do that now, but he hasn't.

MISSOURI GOP REAL TALK!!!

Lt. Gov. Parson: No official 'is larger than the state of Missouri' Lt. Gov. Mike Parson, who would succeed to the state's top job if the sex scandal embroiling Gov. Eric Greitens results in resignation or impeachment, said Friday night that leaders must have strong moral values and put the state ahead of their own interests.Parson, who was elected in 2016 on the same ticket with Greitens, declined to be interviewed about the governor at the annual Boone County Republican Lincoln Day dinner.

Think Piece On Stubborn Guv

Missouri Governor Greitens Is Going Down Kicking and Screaming Despite blustery attacks (complete with allegations of "fake news" and "witch hunts") on his many tormenters, which are highly reminiscent of the tactics of the current president of the United States, Missouri governor Eric Greitens's political troubles seem to be deepening.

Show-Me The Inevitable Countown

How Long Can Eric Greitens Hold On? The man at the top is in trouble. The attorney general, a member of his own party, won't defend him. There's talk of impeachment. Republican legislators are restive and fear that he's putting their electoral chances at risk. The exec himself remains defiant, insisting he's the subject of political witch hunts and fake news.

Fact Checking The Right-Wing

Did Eric Greitens' accuser say photo may have been a dream? Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is expected to go to trial in May on a felony indictment of invasion of privacy related to an allegation that he took a photo of a woman who was partially nude without her consent.

Show-Me Impeachment Process

House Majority Leader details steps for possible Greitens impeachment (From Rep. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee's Summit) As many of you may know, our governor has been under investigation for allegedly taking a nonconsensual photograph of a woman with whom he engaged in an extramarital affair, prior to being elected governor. As a result, the governor is facing a felony invasion of privacy charge.

Legalese Last Stand

Missouri Gov. Greitens claims prosecutor hid evidence until after 'sexy workout' allegations Attorneys for embattled Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens claimed Thursday that the prosecutor in his felony invasion-of-privacy trial concealed evidence until after the release of a legislative committee report that led to calls for the Republican to step down. In a statement, Greitens claimed St.

Paper Of Record Roundup

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, His Affair, and the Chaos that Followed. In February, prosecutors charged Mr. Greitens with invasion of privacy, a felony in Missouri, in connection with the photograph. The woman, who worked as a hairdresser and had cut Mr. Greitens's hair, has not been publicly identified and has told officials that she did not wish to share her story with law enforcement or the public; she has repeatedly turned down requests for interviews.

Show-Me Democratic Party Stand

Missouri Democrats to oppose special session in push to impeach Gov. Eric Greitens CLOSE JEFFERSON CITY - Though Missouri's elected Democrats are few, there are enough of them to block Republican leaders' plans for a special session regarding discipline for Gov. Eric Greitens. House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, said Friday that her caucus will not support the special session planned by Republican leaders.

Nationwide Scandal Perspective

Greitens' fight for political survival could be tougher than ever in the #MeToo era T he biggest threat facing Gov. Eric Greitens right now might not be Missouri legislators pondering impeachment, or even a St. Louis prosecutor pressing a felony case. His biggest threat might be the era in which we live.

Argument Against Missouri Guv Greitens Now Bigger Than Court Case

Acquittal of Missouri governor Eric Greitens wouldn't guarantee political survival Embattled Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens says his upcoming criminal trial will prove his innocence of an invasion of privacy charge stemming from an extramarital affair and allow him to move past the scandal. Experts say that's far from certain, especially after new and even more troubling allegations emerged this week.

Developing . . .A Jackson County judge has sentenced a 46-year-old Independence man to 24 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old as part of a road rage incident. In February, a jury found John C. Young guilty on six of eight felony counts: involuntary manslaughter, unlawful use of a weapon, assault, two counts of armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence.Hundreds marched in Kansas City on Friday, walking along one street in particular that many want renamed in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The march for peace, followed by a rally inside Morning Star Baptist Church on 27th Street, began on The Paseo.Keeping GO Bond Promises???

GO KC sidewalk repairs get underway on Friday Kansas City gave the green light to the GO KC sidewalk repairs earlier on Friday. It was all a part of the $800 million bond approved by voters about a year ago. About $150 million of that bond will go toward sidewalk repairs, which means smoother walkways and fewer cracks to stumble on.

Kansas City Degree Redux

New Program Gives Kansas City Public School Dropouts Second Shot At A Diploma When Paloma Ramos dropped out of school in 2014, she was already a year behind her classmates at Southwest Early College Campus. Ramos had a plan, though. She would take online classes through the Missouri Options Program, catch up with her peers and graduate within six months. Only that didn't end up happening.

Dead-Tree Hairdo Advocacy!!!

Cut it out: KC-area businesses should drop outdated rules on dreadlocks Businesses are within their legal right to institute a grooming policy that requires employees to maintain hair in a professional manner. But it's troubling that hairstyles such as dreadlocks are singled out because they do not conform to traditional standards.

Domestic Foot Shot Drama

Woman shot near Grandview shopping center during fight about relationship A Kansas City woman has been hospitalized after being shot Thursday near a Grandview shopping center during a planned fight over a relationship.

Locals Take On Highway Trash

Frustrated Blue Springs residents take I-70 trash problem into own hands A busy metro highway, used by many every day, could use a bit of love. Drivers along a stretch of Interstate 70 have been noticing people using the side of the road as a dumping ground and now they're doing something about it.

Celebrate Tech Scene Free Money

Applicants pour in for a chance at $500K in LaunchKC grants Editor's note: This article is sponsored by LaunchKC but was independently produced by Startland News. After dishing out $1.5 million to 29 startups over the last three years, LaunchKC returns in 2018 with more experience and an enduring determination to drive entrepreneurial impact in Kansas City.

News Local Caffeine Junkies Can Use

Food Critics: The Best Coffee Shops In Kansas City In 2018 Kansas City's coffee shop scene has really blossomed over the past few years. In addition to coffee and tea drinks, a number of shops have also been serving great food: pastries made in-house, breakfast, light lunches and grab-and-go snacks.

Hottie Jess offers powerful testimony on the hardships confronting full figured fashionistas . . .Apparently, inclusion and celebration isn't enough, bigger babes now look to dominate the industry.Accordingly, here's a meaty collection of top ranking MSM news for right now . . .And this is thefor right now . . .Police throughout the metro will be on high alert this weekend, targeting drunk drivers. The effort, called Flood the Streets, will honor victims of alcohol-related crashes.





Officers on both sides of the state line will do saturation patrols and arrest anyone they catch impaired behind the wheel. Its part of National Crime Victims Rights Week.

An iconic promo image of classic Candice reminds us that drinking and driving is never in fashion.Accordingly . . .Deets:You've been warned . . .Trump orders strike on Syria in response to chemical attack President Donald Trump announced that he ordered a strike on Syria in response to last weekend's alleged chemical weapons attack. Add Syria as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Syria news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Addressing the nation Friday evening, Trump said the strike is currently underway.

Full text: Trump's remarks on Syria President Donald Trump's statement on Syria, as provided by the Office of the Press Secretary: My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The Kansas City MLK Conversation

GOP Leaders Against Guv Greitens

Missouri Attorney General and Senate candidate Josh Hawley said the Guv should "immediately" step down. Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe said the Guv has "lost the moral authority to lead." Conservative Congresswoman Ann Wagner said the Guv is "unfit to lead."

Kansas City ENDLESS Sales Taxes

In a move telegraphed on Twitter, tonight the we get a look at a power play on a global scale . . .Closer to home these local trends dominated the discourse throughout the week . . .Whilst KCMO debates signage, this week local leaders discussed the legacy of a civil rights era icon inAll three of these Republicans reveal a growing coalition against a Guv who seemingly demands to be forced out.12th & Oakoffers a sign of the times and indication that local life continues to grow increasingly expensive.And so . . .This list has been compiled according toand it's a weekly comprehensive guide to local powerful people, trends and our times.THE ONLY WAY OUT OF THIS HOT MESS FOR GUV GREITENS IS TO CONTINUE ATTACKS AGAINST HIS FORMER MISTRESS AFTER THE ALLEGED ADULTERY SEX ASSAULT!!!

"They argued the tape indicates that she said she was aroused when Greitens tied her hands, even though she said some of the interactions with Greitens were non-consensual."

It Was Soros??? Or Not.

Payment for ex-husband's legal fees elicits legislative scrutiny Lawmakers want to know who helped pay legal expenses for a man intricately involved in Gov. Eric Greitens' legal and political saga. It comes as a bipartisan contingent of lawmakers also want to know who is paying the governor's legal bills.

Right Wing Unsexy Talk

Greitens' attorneys say video of mistress deposition exonerates governor ST. LOUIS - More bombshells Thursday in the invasion of privacy case against Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. The governor's attorneys accused St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner of misconduct and gross incompetence. The story concerns the defense's side in Thursday morning's courtroom wrangling.

Legal Eagle Back & Forth

Wow! Greitens' Prosecutors Fail To Defend Own PI From Perjury Accusation - The Sentinel Gov. Eric Greitens defense attorney James Martin could not have been more blunt: "what we have here is criminal perjury under oath." In open court on Thursday, Martin accused William Tisaby, the private investigator hired by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, of "multiple, multiple lies."

Right wing defense of adultery and rough sex is always entertaining.More to the point . . .It's not exactly an inspiring strategy and something that's turning off even the most strident conservatives.Here's the money line for a video tape that's not gonna help the Guv as impeachment proceedings move forward:Not exactly an inspiring defense for the Guv but definitely captivating content so that newsies can tease locals . . .Check more links that seem to favor the last remnants of Team Greitens:Developing . . .TKC READER: IS MCCLATCHY (MNI), PARENT TO THE KANSAS CITY STAR, IN-PLAY BY MONEY MANAGERS???

Right now we're sharing abit of analysis for local media edification and as a reality check regarding the fate of Kansas City dead-tread media asCheckit:In reviewing the numbers , please pay particular attention to the book value per share, and the cash per share listings. Let's define terms:The term "book value" is a company's assets minus its liabilities and is sometimes referred to as stockholder's equity, owner's equity, shareholder's equity, or simply equity."Cash per share" is the percentage of a firm's share price that is immediately accessible for spending on activities such as research and development, mergers and acquisitions, purchasing assets, paying down debt, buying back shares and making dividend payments to shareholders.In McClatchy's case, you'll notice that the company has a negative book value! More liabilities on the balance sheet than assets. However, it actually appears to have more liquid cash available than what each share is trading for. This is perhaps why the money managers are establishing substantial stakes in MNI stock. So what could they be planning? Well we don't have any insider information to publicly disclose (that would be illegal) but we can make some inferences based on prior activity in past years involving other troubled companies.Generally, money managers acquiring substantial positions in struggling companies are looking for one of 3 options: 1) putting their people into management for a business turnaround, 2) agitate management to force a buyout of their shares at a premium, 3) seize control and strip cash from the company before defaulting on outstanding liabilities.Option #1 is probably not their plan, as nearly the entire newspaper industry has been in decline for years. That leaves 2 bad options or something worse.##########Developing . . .Greeks are very proud of their history and national heritage and are very eager to share both with the country's visitors

Greekreporter.com describes in the following article that Theodoros Griego was the first Greek to set foot in America on April 14, 1528:

It was June 17, 1527 when a fleet of five ships with 600 men left the Spanish port of Sanlucar de Barrameda on a journey to conquer the land from todays Florida and westward. Chief of the mission was conquistador Panfilo de Narvaez. After stops in Santo Domingo and Cuba, in February Narvaez left Cuba with five ships and 400 men to land in the Tampa Bay area.

Indeed, the expedition landed in the area that currently is Clearwater, Florida, on April 14, 1528, according to Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vacas official report of the adventure, which has been translated by history professor emeritus Cyclone Covey.

Among the men who landed in Florida there was a Greek man who appeared later in the history of Cabeza de Vacas expedition. Theodoros Griego, or Don Teodoro Griego as he was later called, played an important role in later developments.

The Spanish conquistadors killed the mother of the local Indian chief and cut off the nose of the chief. Then they moved to northern Florida looking for the gold that the natives had spoken about. The Greek man was in the mission that moved northward in search of the gold.

Once further north, the Spaniards were trapped in the mountains and were attacked by natives. The hardships, the hunger and harassment by the natives brought the invaders to their knees. Most of them were killed and the survivors were forced to flee.

Legends about the ingenious Greek Theodoros Griego

The solution was given by the ingenious Greek. Griego constructed five boats of leather, wood and resin. A Greek, Don Teodoro, made pitch from certain pine resins. Even though we had only one carpenter, work proceeded so rapidly from Aug. 4, when it began, that by Sept. 20 five barges, each 22 elbow-lengths (30 to 32 feet long), caulked with palmetto oakum and tarred with pine-pitch, were finished, Cabeza de Vaca wrote. Using the boats the Spanish conquistadors managed to escape using the tributaries of Mississippi.

A month later they came out into the sea, but they did not know where they were. Thats where they met some natives who were willing to provide them with water and food. Theodoros along with a sailor came out of the boat and followed them.

The natives returned with the food and water, but without Theodoros. The Spaniards tried to find him, but they did not. After almost 10 years of wandering in the new land, they went back to Spain in 1537.

A number of legends were spinned about the cunning Greek. The Spaniards considered that his disappearance was simply an act of disobedience. Others thought that he befriended the natives so that he would get all the gold for himself.

In 1540, Spanish historian Gonzalo Valdez visited the area where the Greek had disappeared and searched for him. The natives told him that two Christians were living with them but at some point they killed them.

According to Covey, soldiers with Hernando de Soto encountered natives who said they remembered the Greek and produced a dagger that once belonged to him. In his account, the natives claimed to have killed Griegos also. Covey has speculated that Theodoros might have gone ashore willingly because he thought that was his best chance to survive.

If the story the natives said was true, Theodoros Griego was not only the first Greek to set foot in America, but he was also the first Greek who had lived with the natives.

Today, in Clearwater Beach, Florida there is a statue of Theodoros Griego. The history of Greeks (Hellenes) in America starts from here is inscribed on the plaque.

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: RoyaltyFreeStuff License: CC-BY-SA

Source: greekreporter.compardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, April 14

The Income Tax Department on Saturday said certificate of incorporation issued by the Corporate Affairs Ministry will be considered sufficient proof of PAN or TAN for corporates.

The Finance Act, 2018 amended section 139A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and removed the requirement of issuing PAN in the form of a laminated card.

Hence, it is clarified that PAN and TAN mentioned in the COI issued by MCA shall also be treated as sufficient proof of PAN and TAN for the said company assessees, it said.

An application for incorporation, allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN) and allotment of Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN) may be made through a Common Application Form submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in case of corporates.

The Certificate of Incorporation (COI) issued by MCA contains a mention of both PAN and TAN, the I-T department said. PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Our Correspondent

Zirakpur, April 14

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Saturday called off rescue operations at the building collapse site in Peer Muchalla believing that no person was trapped under the debris.

The NDRF called off the rescue operation around 12 noon on Saturday, over 48 hours after the tragedy, as it was ascertained that nobody was there in the rubble. At the time of the incident, it was feared that there were more than 10 people.

The under-construction four-storeyed building at Imperial housing project in Peer Muchalla collapsed on Thursday afternoon. NDRF rescuers continued operations entire night to make access to maximum victims feared trapped under the rubble of the collapsed building.

Bhavani Singh, who was heading the NDRF team, said before concluding the operation, a confirmation search was carried out to ensure that no person is trapped under the debris.

He said after 75 per cent of the debris was removed, human detection machines were put in use to look for anyone feared trapped under the rubble. One fire tender and an ambulance were kept on standby.

Gurpreet Kaur Sapra, Deputy Commissioner, Mohali, said now the teams had been asked to clear the area. The DC said she had already directed Paramjit Singh, SDM, Dera Bassi, to prepare a detailed inquiry in a weeks time, adding that she would be sending a written communique to the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Local Government, to constitute a committee comprising engineers from IIT (Roorkee) or any other place so that they could carry out a comprehensive survey of the area to access the structural stability and quality of all buildings around the collapse site.

We cannot risk anymore building falling down and nobody wants something that to be happened again in near future, Sapra said.

The DC has appealed to the buyers to check a builders construction experience.

Samples taken for testing

Samples of materials from the site of the collapsed building were taken for testing and analysis by the authorities concerned on Friday. Confirmation search was carried out to ensure that no person is trapped under debris.editorial@tribune.com

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 14

In the coming five years, the kidney of pigs can be used to treat the renal failure patients. If the government will relax some of its guidelines, then a person sitting in the US can donate his kidney to a matching donor in India or vice-versa through global paired donation.

This was stated by experts during the mid-term meeting of the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation. The conference was to focus on the barriers in organ transplantation.

Replacing patients kidney with that of pig

Imagine a person suffering from renal failure no longer has to look for a donor or go through the series of dialysis to survive. The transplant surgeon will remove the kidney of a renal failure patient and replace it with the kidney of a pig. Michael A Rees, PhD Professor of Urology and Director of Renal Transplant from the University of Toledo Medical Centre, America, said it was possible with xenotransplantation.

Prof Rees was here to deliver a talk on xenotransplantation and paired donation. It appears to be hypothetical, but considering the pace at which a team of doctors are carrying out the research in this regard, it may be a reality in five years, said Prof Rees. He said the transplantation of a pigss kidney into would be possible by genetic engineering.

Professor KL Gupta, head of Department of Nephrology at the PGI, said: In a country like India, there is a shortage of organ donors. Nearly two lakh people suffer from end-stage renal failure every year and 80 per cent of them die and only five to 10 per cent patients manage to get a transplant.

No formal records of patients

Prof Gupta said there is no formal record to ascertain the actual number of renal failure patients in the country. While the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) has directed all hospitals to share the details of renal failure patients, but some private hospitals and patients were not willing to share the details. He said South Korea has successfully managed to keep a record of renal failure patients.Korean experts have been invited to share with us their experience, said Prof Gupta.

Transplant in HIV and Hepatitis-C cases

Prof Dorry Segev, MD, PhD from surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the kidneys of hepatitis-C and HIV patients can be used for transplant. He said the kidney of a hepatitis-C patient would be treated first and the recipient would not suffer from hepatitis-C, while the kidney of an HIV positive patient could be transplanted to another HIV positive patient.

Global kidney exchange transplant

Both Prof Rees and Prof Segev stressed on the need for global kidney exchange programme to meet the need for organs. In India, kidney donation should be legalised otherwise at the rate at which renal failure cases were rising, several people will die to due to lack of donors, said Prof Segev. In the United States (US), people willingly donate kidney. Over 50 percent of the kidney donors are not biologically related, said Prof Segev.

Sugar leading cause of renal failure

The experts said processed food and soft drinks containing high sugar are leading to obesity and high blood pressure. Diabetes, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle and obesity were the main causes behind renal failure.editorial@tribune.com

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, April 14

Sanjeev Rajput, the Commonwealth Games gold winner from Jagadhri in the district has already aimed for gold at the Tokyo Olympics even as celebrations of his victory at Gold Coast in Australia are continuing back home.

The shooter was practising for the next challenge, said Krishan Lal, father of the champion. We were sure that Sanjeev would clinch gold in the ongoing Commonwealth Games. He has proven this by wining gold in the mens 50m rifle 3 position, he said.

He said the family came to know about his victory through TV channels in the morning, but Sanjeev called him up around noon to share the happiness of his victory. After passing Class XII from SD School in Jagadhri, Sanjeev joined the Navy in 1989.

Before joining the Navy, he did not have any interest in games. After his job, he got a chance to serve in Odisha in 2000. There was a shooting range in the Navy camp, where he got attracted towards this game, said his father.

He said his son first played in an international event in Islamabad in 2004 and won three gold, two silver and one bronze. He said Sanjeev had retired from the Navy and had now been representing Haryana. His parents said Sanjeev planned to get married after the Olympics. He has set a target of winning gold for the country in the Olympics. His marriage will be solemnised after the Olympics, said the shooters mother Usha Rani.vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 14

With the arrest of one more person, the CBI on Saturday claimed a major breakthrough in the infamous Gudiya case in which a minor from Kotkhai was raped and done to death in July last year, officials said.

Though the CBI refused to disclose the suspects identity, sources said he was a woodcutter and was arrested on Friday night from Kotkhai area where he used to work. He was produced before a court, which remanded him in police custody till April 24.

A CBI spokesperson said the suspect had been taken to Delhi for investigation.

Sources said the CBI was hopeful of cracking the case soon. Besides locals, the Central agency has also been probing the involvement of outsiders in the case and more than 100 samples had been collected to date.

A 16-year-old girl had gone missing after school hours on July 4, 2017, from Halaila forest in the Kotkhai area of Shimla district. Her naked body was found in the forest on July 6 and the postmortem report confirmed rape.

The rape case had created a furore in the state before the Assembly polls last year. The case was handed over to the CBI by the Himachal Pradesh High Court on July 19 on the state governments plea amid a public outcry against the state police.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Solan, April 14

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of development projects worth Rs 21.22 crore in Solan.

He was here on Social Justice Day to commemorate the 128th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar.

Taking the previous government to task, the CM said the Congress government had announced several schemes, including 16 degree colleges, without any budgetary provisions while his government had set aside funds for all new schemes. This reflected the resolve of the state government to ensure development. It was lamentable that the Congress government had even failed to prepare detailed project reports of 69 national highways sanctioned by the Modi government.

He also laid the foundation stone of Transport Nagar at Kather where 171 workshops and 136 showrooms would be constructed. This would benefit motor mechanic shops which were acquired for four-laning of the highway.

Earlier, he launched the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan from all gram panchayats, development blocks and districts. He also launched the National Nutrition Mission from Anganwadi Centre, Kather, where he served mid-day meal to children of Government Primary School, Kather.

Other development projects inaugurated by him included a park in Ganj Bazar. He laid the foundation stone of a building of the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau at Kather, e-NAM infrastructure, which includes e-auction hall, laboratory, office, canteen and parking and staff quarters at Sabzi Mandi, Solan.

He also launched Ujala and Saubhagya Yojana under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana. Under this scheme, LED bulbs would be distributed by Energy Efficiency Services Limited. He also initiated a cleanliness campaign from bus stand, Solan.

He also announced a statue of Dr Ambedkar at Solan, filling of 10 posts of doctor in Solan hospital, construction of the Shamti bypass by spending Rs 5 crore, enhancement of the Giri lift water scheme, Rs 4.23 crore for irrigation scheme to Skadi village and Rs 4.93 crore for the Dharja-Sangrad water supply scheme. He also announced an additional Rs 2 crore for the building of Degree College, Kandaghat, and to enhance the amount under the Ambedkar scholarship scheme from Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000.

Speaker, Vidhan Sabha, Dr Rajiv Bindal, Urban Development Minister Sarveen Chaudhary and Social Justice Empowerment Minister Dr Rajiv Saizal were also present.

Park in Ganj Bazar thrown openeditorial@tribune.com

Amit Khajuria &Vikas Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 14

The BJP Cabinet ministers who resigned from their ministry on Friday night over the Kathua rape and murder case clarified that they visited the village to control the situation from being explosive, not to intensify it.

After the resignations by Minister for Forest Chowdhary Lal Singh and Minister for Industries and Commerce Chander Prakash Ganga were accepted by their party, both the leaders came out to clarify that they visited the village on the directions of the high command.

I am not guilty of anything. Chander Prakash and I visited Hiranagar to meet the agitating people on the partys directions, said Choudhary Lal Singh while talking to the media in Jammu on Saturday.

Lal Singh said he did not find anything wrong in visiting the village and meeting the protesters.

Another Cabinet minister of the BJP Abdul Gani Kohli was also sent to meet the victims relatives in Rasana. Then what is wrong if we met the protesters? he asked.

Meanwhile, Chander Prakash Ganga who resigned over the issue said the rivals were selectively targeting him and Lal Singh. He said the motive behind the visit to Rasana village in Kathua district was to stop the situation from getting more explosive after the rape and murder of the eight-year-old nomadic Bakerwal community girl.

Talking to The Tribune, Ganga said, There was a lot of anger among the local population, especially the community, after the gruesome act and the situation was getting out of control. We received orders from the high command in Delhi to visit the village and assure the family as well as the locals that the culprits in the brutal rape and murder case will not be spared at any cost.

The victim was not just the daughter of the Bakerwal community, but she was the daughter of the nation and there should be no politics on it. During our visit to Rasana village, locals sought a CBI probe into the case and we assured them that it will be taken up with the CM, he added.rchopra@tribunemail.com

United Nations, April 14

Terming as horrific the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua district, UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

The girl from the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community disappeared near her house on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area.

She was allegedly raped by six men who had held her in captivity in a village temple for a week in January. The victim was drugged, rapped repeatedly before being bludgeoned to death.

The incident has sparked outrage across India.

I think weve seen the media reports of this horrific case, of the abuse and the murder of a young girl. We very much hope that the authorities will bring the perpetrators to justice so they can be held accountable for the murder of this young girl, Guterres spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric told reporters at his daily press briefing here on Friday.

Dujjaric was responding to a question about the Secretary Generals response to the rape and murder of the girl.

A Special Investigation Team of Crime Branch, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable and a sub-inspector, who were charged with destroying evidence.

Expressing anguish over the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called it a shame for the country and asserted that the guilty would not be spared.

I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared. Justice will be done. Our daughters will get justice, he said. PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Ehsan Fazili

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 14

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday emphasised that there was no threat to the coalition government in the backdrop of the situation arising out of the Kathua rape-murder case as the Centre and people of the country had stood behind it.

Senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar said the party observed that there was no substitute to the alliance with the BJP in the state.

At a meeting of the PDP legislators and leaders, held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Mehbooba Mufti, who is also the PDP president, the Kathua rape and murder case and the recent civilian killings in Kashmir were discussed.

Roads and Buildings Minister Naeem Akhtar, who is also the government spokesman, said the party reviewed at a meeting the overall situation in the state in the light of the coalition arrangement with the BJP three years ago.

Our attempt is to get justice for the Kathua victim so that the perpetrators are punished, the minister said. He said the state would bring a law for death penalty for those involved in such heinous crimes. He also appreciated the role of the central leadership at a time when there had been attempts to subvert the investigation process in the case.

The minister held that the people of the country had adopted the Kathua minor and raised their voice against those trying to subvert the investigation into the case.

It is our duty to provide justice to the girl, he said.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Jammu, April 13

The resignations of two BJP ministers, who courted controversy by attending a rally supporting those accused of raping and killing a young girl in Kathua, will be handed over to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for further action, said senior BJP leader Ram Madhav.

The senior BJP leader said the resignation of the ministers was to address the fears of not only its ally PDP and the people of Jammu and Kashmir but also the entire nation.

Madhav, who is the partys general secretary in-charge of the state, also said that the state government was told to withdraw the directive of the tribal affairs department on encroachments by nomads in forest land.

Madhav, who attended the legislative party meeting of the state BJP MLAs and MLC, said state party president Sat Sharma will send the resignations to the chief minister.

Forest Minister Lal Singh and Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga tendered their resignation in view of a perception being created, he said.

He lashed out at the Congress, alleging that it was trying to politicise the issue which should not be done.

We, including the BJP which is in the government, will ensure justice for the girl and punishment for the culprits, he said.

Asked about the demand for a CBI probe into the incident, the BJP leader said, The police has completed the probe and now it is in the court of law. It is for the court to decide. Ganga and Singh had hit out at the police for arresting one or the other person at will in connection with the rape and killing of the 8-year-old girl in January this year.

Asking why the probe was not being handed over to the CBI, Lal Singh had said, We too want that the real accused be punished... We have heard you. We will not allow this jungle raj, under which they (police) are picking up people at will, to continue. What kind of investigation are they doing.

The Hindu Ekta Manch, from which the BJP distanced itself, had also taken out a rally holding a tricolour to press for their demand.

The incident and use of national flag had evoked sharp reaction from Mufti.

Appalled by the marches and protests in defence of the recently apprehended rapist in Kathua. Also horrified by their use of our national flag in these demonstrations, this is nothing short of desecration. The accused has been arrested and the law will follow its course, she tweeted. PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Patna, April 14

One person was killed and two others were injured after being hit on Saturday by a 10-metre-long piece of railway track inside a compartment of a train passing through Bihars Lakhisarai district, the Railway officials said.

The Railways has not ruled out sabotage and have ordered an inquiry into the incident which took place at about 3:30 am, shortly after the Gorakhpur-bound Maurya Express had crossed Bansipur station, they said.

A video footage shows a 10-metre-long piece of railway track flowing inside a general compartment. Three persons were struck by the huge piece of metal, killing one while the remaining two have been referred to the PMCH hospital in Patna, East Central Railway Chief PRO Rajesh Kumar told PTI.

It is an unusual incident and we cannot rule out the possibility of sabotage. The incident has taken place in an area that has been hit by insurgency. Moreover, it is very unusual for a piece of metal, weighing about 600 kg, to fly two metres above the ground level, he said.

Chief Safety Commissioner, ECR, P K Acharya, will file a report on the incident on the basis of which further course of action will be decided, the PRO said.

Normal rail traffic has been restored on the Kiul-Jhajha section which was initially suspended for an hour as a precautionary measure.

Senior railway officials, along with the police, are camping at the site of the incident for investigations, the CPRO said. PTIuttara@tribuneindia.com

New Delhi, April 14

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday made a second arrest in the Unnao rape case as it took into custody Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly took the victim to BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on the day of crime, officials said.

A special court in Lucknow has sent Sengar, the prime accused in the case, to a seven-day CBI custody, they said.

In her complaint to UP Police, now part of the agencys FIR, the victim's mother has alleged that Shashi Singh had lured her daughter and took her to Sengar's residence where he raped her.

She has also alleged that while the MLA was raping her daughter, Shashi Singh stood outside the room as a guard.

The agency arrested the BJP MLA from Bangarmau last night after 16 hours of questioning at its office in Lucknow.

After a massive public outrage over the inaction of the UP police, the case was handed over to the CBI on April 12. The agency took over the investigation in three cases related to the alleged rape of the 17-year-old girl by the BJP MLA.

Within hours of taking over the investigation, the CBI brought Sengar, who had remained untouched by the state police, to its office in Lucknow, where he was questioned for nearly 16 hours before being taken into custody.

In a scathing order on Friday, the Allahabad High Court slammed the inaction by the Uttar Pradesh government and the state police. The court underlined that in spite of complaint from the victim to Chief Minister Adityanath on August 17, 2017, no substantial action was taken by the police.

"The disturbing feature of the case is that the law and order machinery and the government officials were directly in league and under the influence of Kuldeep Singh," a bench of Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale and Justice Sunit Kumar said.

"The prosecutrix and her family members have been running from post to pillar but her complaint was not registered, despite approaching the chief minister. The influence of the accused is such that the circle officer also declined to lodge the report on the complaint duly forwarded by the office of the chief minister," it said.

The agency, which was referred the matter on Wednesday, took immediate action by re-registering the FIRs filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

A team visited the crime scenes in Makhi village in Unnao district and talked to the victim's family, witnesses and officials of the hospital where the victim and her father were taken for treatment.

The first FIR pertains to the alleged rape of the girl in which Sengar and Shashi Singh have been named as accused.

The second pertains to rioting, in which four locals have been booked, and the alleged killing of the victim's father in judicial custody. Since the murder charge was added later by the state police, it isnt part of the agencys FIR.

The third case pertains to the allegations against the victim's father, who was arrested by the police under the Arms Act and put in jail, where he died. According to the post-mortem examination report, he had suffered serious injuries.

According to the rules, the CBI re-registers the FIRs filed by a state police when taking over a probe, but remains at freedom to arrive at its own conclusions, which are filed before a special court in its final report.

The final report can either be a closure report or a chargesheet.

The victim has alleged that on June 4, 2017, she was raped by BJP MLA Sengar at his residence, when she had gone to meet him, along with a relative, seeking a job.

In February, the girl's family had moved the court, seeking to include the MLA's name in the case. Subsequently, the victim's father was booked by the police under the Arms Act on April 3 and put in jail on April 5.

Frustrated with the alleged police inaction and coercion from influential people, the victim attempted self-immolation in front of Chief Minister Adityanath's residence on April 8.

The next day, her father died in jail with the post-mortem examination report suggesting serious injuries on his body.

Sengar, a four-time MLA, enjoys immense clout, cutting across party lines, in rural areas of Unnao district, a semi-urban area about 70 km from Lucknow.

A video, purportedly showing the victim's father before his death, has gone viral. Several television news channels have also aired it.

In the video, the victim's father alleged he was mercilessly beaten up, including with rifle butts, by the MLA's brother and others in presence of police personnel. PTImonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Kochi, April 14

The Kerala Police on Saturday said they have registered a case against a person for offensive social media posts against the eight-year-old Kathua rape and murder victim.

The former Kotak Mahindra Bank employee, Vishnu Nandakumar, was sacked on Wednesday for posting the comments, a Panangad police station officer told IANS.

In his post in Malayalam, Nandakumar had justified the killing of the young victim. He stated that it was good that she was killed otherwise she would have turned into a future human bomb and grown up to be a terrorist.

It caused a huge outcry with many writing to the bank against Nandakumar. The bank on Friday pointed out that his services were terminated on Wednesday due to poor performance. It also condemned its former employee's social media post.

"Since he has been charged under a non-bailable offence, he will be arrested. The probe has begun probe and appropriate actions will follow," said the officer on condition of anonymity.

The minor girl from the Bakerwal community was kidnapped on January 10; taken to a temple in Rasana village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

Her attackers, which included temple official and policemen, drugged and gang raped her over days before finally killing her and dumping her body in forest nearby seven days later.

The girl was attacked to scare away the nomadic Muslim community out of the village.

IANS

One of your employee Mr. Vishnu Nandakumar (an Asst. Manager) is spitting pure communal hatred while the nation is Mourning and protesting for #AsifaBano

Better to take action than inviting public protests to your bank.@KotakBankLtd @KotakCares pic.twitter.com/Iizs8qJpKr  Avinash Balakrishnan (@avithe007) April 13, 2018vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 14

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been overruled by the Central Government which is pushing for the West Coast refinery in Maharashtras Ratnagiri district.

The Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPL) promoted by the Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation will have Saudi Aramco as its main shareholder apart from other investors on board.

The project, which is to be located near the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, has drawn the opposition of local farmers who fear that environmental changes caused by these projects will affect the production of the famous Alphonso mangoes from the region.

Various organisations representing the farmers and fisherfolk in the region have managed to obtain the support of political parties like the Shiv Sena, Congress and even the Nationalist Congress Party.

While Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has come out openly against the project, NCP chief Sharad Pawar in a public statement said he would be visiting the project-affected villages next month to obtain first-hand information on its impact. After sustained opposition towards the project, the Fadnavis

government earlier this year decided not to sign the agreement with Saudi Aramco during the Magnetic Maharashtra investors summit earlier this year. The Chief Minister had then told the reporters that the government was still trying to convince the villagers to part with their land for the project.

However, earlier this month, the Central Government announced that the consortium of public sector oil companies would be setting up the mega refinery in cooperation with the Saudi oil major.

Thackeray openly accused Fadnavis of cheating him since the latter had promised him that the project would be put on the backburner. However, sources say Fadnavis is helpless as the party leadership in New Delhi is keen on the project due to the investment promised by Saudi Arabia.

However with elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly next year, Fadnavis is facing flak from his own party colleagues as well.

Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha on the BJP ticket, too warned the state government against forcefully acquiring land for the project.vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Keki Daruwalla

What with Brexit, the Syrian war and the chemical attacks, the North Korean imbroglio, the bombings in Yemen and the one-a-week dismissal by Donald Trump of his advisers, the world may not appear a very happy place. And yet we get news that makes you happy. I am not talking of the medals we are winning at Gold Coast, Australia. But talking politics, the decision of the Prime Minister to withdraw that draconian directive on fake news by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Smriti Irani, must have gladdened many a heart.

I think the Information and Broadcasting Ministry as a whole needs some education regarding the value of free media and how it becomes an essential component of free democracy. And let me start with a quote from Albert Camus who said, A free press can be good or bad, but most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad. The idea of serving baked news hot from government ovens, is abhorrent. If we had a referendum on the issue, people would prefer fake news to news baked-in-an-Irani cafe.

What happened to the bureaucrats in the ministry? They should have protested vehemently. In a western country there would have been resignations en masse.

The other news that gladdened hearts was the unravelling of the fake fast by Congress leaders  absolutely hilarious. The whole exercise was just as stupid as the fake news embargo. That medieval genius Rabelais, physician and writer of comedies, some of them bawdy, could have perhaps imagined a scene like this. Gorging on channa-bhatura prior to a six-hour fast, great idea. Fasting, as a symbol and a political tactic, should have died with Gandhiji. We are reducing it to a farce. The Congress needs to change its tactics, and its members need not be looking for a menu card while ostensibly on a fast.

Another event that brought cheer (temporarily) was the conviction of actor Salman Khan. Yes, I do agree that five yearsjail was a bit much. But he keeps breaking the law and keeps getting away with it. How come? This time too he got out after two days in jail with Asaram in the next cell! That was more than the two hours it took for him to get bail after being convicted of driving drunk and killing a man sleeping on the pavement.

And with what alacrity he was acquitted by the High Court which made the profound pronouncement that the dead cannot be cross-examined. The chauffeur of the car had died, his statement should not be given credence because he could no longer be cross-examined, wasnt that one of the reasons why he was let off?

Actually, there has been no dearth of glad tidings this month. People in UP are rejoicing over the fact that CM Yogi Adityanath has been chosen by some Ambedkar Mahasabha as Dalit Mitra (Friend of Dalits). The Mahasabha president, one Lalji Nirmal, is believed to have told a national paper: It is for the first time that we decided to felicitate someone as Dalit Mitra. Mr Nirmal, better late than never. The reason given was that Yogiji had issued orders to put Ambedkars photograph in every government office. Now who will dispute the fact that Babasahebs photograph in an office would alleviate the lot of the underclass?

What is most praiseworthy is the fact that this Ambedkar Mahasabha has gone about its business without bothering about what is going on. It ignored the PMs advice to BJP Members of Parliament to spend two nights in Dalit households. That is one night more than Rahul Gandhi used to spend. Our politics needs more than one Rabelais. The PM could not have given this advice if he was not worried about the party image. Five BJP MPs have raised their voice against the government on matters related to the Dalits. A huge Bharat Bandh this month caused havoc on roads. Our higher courts even said that the right to demonstrate (and that too violently) was not a fundamental right. And from Gujarat came the news that a Dalit was shot dead for daring to ride a horse! Manu Rishi would have been scandalised! When the Mamluks ruled over Egypt, Egyptians could not ride a horse. So we have precedents.

The award of Dalit Mitra is especially satisfying in view of the Dalit MP Chhote Lal Kharwars letter to the PM, complaining that he was scolded and thrown out twice (dant ke bhaga diya gaya) by Yogi when he met him regarding his grievances. BJP MP Udit Raj took to Twitter to say the police are slapping false cases on Dalits. Mayawati also warned officers against lodging false cases against the Dalits, particularly after the April 2 Bharat Bandh. But I believe Mr Lalji Nirmal of the Ambedkar Mahasabha!vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Jangala (Bijapur), April 14

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that BR Ambedkar had made provisions in the Constitution for the protection of the rights of backward classes as he appealed to the people not to join the Naxals for securing their rights.

Modi asked the parents of those who had joined Naxalism not to hand over their childrens lives to the leaders who were keeping themselves safe while letting the locals die.

The PM asserted that awakening among poor and backward sections about their rights and aspirations was due to Ambedkar and also attributed his own success to the Dalit icon and framer of the Constitution.

Paying tributes to Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary here in Chhattisgarh, Modi said the Dalit icon was highly educated and could have easily led a lavish life in any developed country. But he studied outside, came back to India and dedicated his life to welfare and uplift of Dalits. The aspirations and hope of people are associated with Ambedkars name, he said.

Son of a poor mother like me hails from a very backward section of the society and could become PM due to Babasaheb Ambedkar, he said. After launching of the first phase of Ayushman Bharat scheme, the PM said his government was focusing on a new approach for the development of the poor. The 115 backward districts will be given priority in the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Modi said.  PTI

PM paying lip-service: Cong

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP of eroding the legacy of BR Ambedkar and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was merely paying him lip service as his party and the RSS have an anti-Dalit mindset. Addressing the media on Ambedkar Jayanti, Congress leader Kumari Selja also charged the PM with doing politics over the legacy of the Dalit icon. PTI

Efforts towards equality made him pioneer: UN official

United Nations: BR Ambedkars efforts towards ensuring excluded groups were politically and socially empowered made him a pioneer in the world and his vision of equality and social justice echoes the ambitions of the UNs 2030 development agenda, a top UN official said at an event at the UN headquarters by Indias Permanent Mission to the UN on Ambedkars 127th birth anniversary. PTIamansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, April 14

Rich tributes were on Saturday paid to B R Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary with Ram Nath Kovind becoming the first President to visit the birthplace of the chief architect of the Constitution, in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow to pay homage on the occasion.

Speaking at a function, Kovind urged people to follow the path of peace, harmony and brotherhood shown by the Dalit icon.

His statement assumes significance in the backdrop of the April 2 nationwide Dalit bandh, which saw large-scale violence in several states, including Madhya Pradesh where more than half a dozen people lost their lives.

"The society needs 'samrasta' (harmony) today and not 'samar' (conflict or war)...It needs non-violence and peace," he said.

Kovind said, "The country saw 13 presidents before me. I came to know I am the first president to visit Ambedkar's birthplace on the occasion of his birth anniversary."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Jangala in Chhattisgarh on a day's visit, said Ambedkar has given a Constitution that protects the rights of weaker sections of the society and appealed to people not to join Naxals to achieve their goals.

"Babasahab has given us the Constitution. He ensured protection of your rights...It is the duty of the government to take care of your rights. You need not pick up weapons...ruin your lives," he said.

The prime minister said awakening among the poor and backward sections about their rights, hopes and aspirations was due to Ambedkar, and attributed his own success to the legendary social reformer.

Modi said, "A son of a poor mother, belonging to a very backward community, this partner of yours is if today the prime minister that too is due to Babasaheb Ambedkar.

"Ambedkar had a huge contribution in awakening the aspirations and expectations of millions of people like me," he said.

Modi was addressing a huge gathering of villagers in Jangala, located in Naxal-heartland of Bijapur in the state's tribal-dominated region.

Coinciding with the birth anniversary of the country's first law minister, the prime minister launched a healthcare and wellness centre under the "Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission".

He also launched the Gram Swaraj scheme to empower weaker sections, tribals, women and backward people, besides the Van Dhan scheme to ensure better marketing and value addition to minor forest produce to benefit forest dwellers.

In Greater Noida, a statue of Ambedkar was found damaged yesterday. The incident in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh came to light when the villagers spotted the damaged statue.

A large police contingent was deployed in view of the tense situation.

SP (rural) Suniti Singh said a case was registered against unidentiied persons for vandalism and that the guilty would not be spared.

A large number of people from nearby villages had gathered after news spread. Police, however, controlled the situation. Security has been beefed up across Uttar Pradesh.

Singh said the damaged statue was being replaced with a new one.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and chief ministers of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana -- Devendra Fadnavis, Raghubar Das, Yogi Adityanath, K Palanisami and K Chadrasekhar Rao respectively -- also paid homage to Ambedkar, besides other leaders.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently undergoing treatment in the US for a pancreatic ailment, also paid tributes to the Dalit icon. - PTIvinaymishra188@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 14

The CBI on Saturday made a second arrest in the Unnao rape case as it took into custody Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly took the victim to BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on the day of crime, officials said.

A special court in Lucknow had sent Sengar, the prime accused in the case, to seven-day CBI custody, they said.

In her complaint to the UP Police, now part of the CBI FIR, the victims mother has alleged that Shashi had lured her daughter and took her to Sengars residence where he raped her.

She has also alleged that while the MLA was raping her daughter, Shashi stood outside the room as a guard.

The agency arrested the BJP MLA from Bangarmau on Friday night after 16 hours of questioning at its office in Lucknow. After a massive public outrage over the inaction of the UP Police, the case was handed over to the CBI on April 12. The agency took over the investigation in three cases related to the alleged rape of the 17-year-old girl by the BJP MLA.

Within hours of taking over the probe, the CBI brought Sengar, who had remained untouched by the state police, to its office in Lucknow.vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Bijay Sankar Bora

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, April 14

The Congress in Meghalaya staged protest in capital city Shillong on Saturday against the idea mooted by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma of issuing work permit to Bangladeshi nationals.

Conrad Sangma in his recent meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj discussed the idea of issuing work permit to the Bangladeshi nationals to tackle the vexed problem of illegal migration from the neighbouring country.

During the protest, senior Congress leaders, party MLAs and workers along with placards and banners demonstrated against the idea at Congress Bhawan in Shillong. State CLP spokesperson Zenith Sangma said, How can the government even think of this idea which is so dangerous.

Making it clear that the idea of issuing permits to Bangladeshi nationals is not acceptable to the party, Sangma said the idea had been mooted though the state was suffering from illegal immigration and influx for the past many years.

According to Sangma, when youths in the state are running from pillar to post for employment where is the necessity to bring people from foreign countries to work here.

Calling the idea of issuing work permits to Bangladeshi nationals as dangerous for the youth of the state, he added that the step of the government might even lead to inter-caste marriage and other social problems after Bangladeshi nationals would be allowed to work in the state. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has clarified that the intention behind mooting the idea of issuing work permit to Bangladeshi nationals was to develop a strong mechanism in the long run to protect the interest of the state for economic benefits with Bangladesh and at the same time protecting the people and the land of the state.

According to the CM, the idea of issuing work permits to Bangladeshi national is worth looking, though more detailed discussions will take place on the matter with other Chief Ministers of the north-eastern state.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 14

There was a tiff between Congress and BSP leaders here on Saturday over the garlanding of statue of Dr BR Ambedkar on his birth anniversary.

Congress leaders were able to perform the ceremony only after police cordoned off Ambedkar Chowk.

Even BJP leaders Manoranjan Kalia, KD Bhandari and ex-mayor Sunil Jyoti were not allowed to perform the ceremony by the BSP.

BSP leaders have been protesting over no reprieve over the dilution of the SC/ST Act.editorial@tribune.com

Ashok Kaura

Phagwara, April 14

A day after a clash between Dalit youths and activists of several Hindu organisations, the Punjab Shiv Sena vice-president, Rajesh Palta, was allegedly attacked by a group of unidentified people near Balmiki Chowk here on Saturday morning.

When the police reached the spot to rescue him, the attackers pelted them with stones and damaged their vehicle. The situation remained tense since then with shopkeepers opting to keep their establishments shut.

Mohammad Tayab, Deputy Commissioner, Kapurthala, claimed that the situation was under control, but being monitored. Sandeep Sharma, SSP, said adequate forces had been deployed in the town. The situation here has been tense since the April 2 bandh.

Earlier on Friday night, the town witnessed violence after activists of the Ambedkar Sena (Mool Niwasi) put up two hoardings to name a chowk as Sanvidhaan Chowk with Dr BR Ambedkars picture on it. The move was opposed by some Hindu groups which resulted into a clash in which six persons were injured.

The police have booked around 30 unknown persons on the charges of creating ruckus. Six persons  Head Constable Amardeep Singh, Zimmi Karwal, son of Shiv Sena leader Inderjit Karwal, Yaswant, alias Bobby, Jaswinder Kumar, Baljinder, Kulwinder Kumar  who sustained injuries were admitted to the local Civil Hospital. Bobby was referred to Ludhiana owing to his critical condition.

Meanwhile, the police tried to pacify both communities by holding separate meetings. The police also held a flag march in the town.

Hindu activists accused the civil and police administration of bias and demanded the transfer of SDM, ADC and SP. The Dalits stuck to their stand on renaming Goal Chowk as Samvidhaan Chowk.

Meanwhile, the proposed visit of state BJP chief Shwait Malik to the town was cancelled. The New Delhi-Lahore buses were diverted from Kartarpur and Phillaur. Even vehicular traffic on highway was diverted via link roads.

Mobile interNet off, CM calls for peace

Chandigarh: In the wake of a violent clash between two communities in Phagwara, the state government has ordered the suspension of mobile internet services in four districts. In a press release, the government said mobile internet services had been suspended in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar districts as a precautionary measure to check rumour mongering on social media. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony, while warning a stringent action against anyone found disturbing law and order in the state. Capt Amarinder has also directed the police to maintain a tight vigil and crack down on any disruptive elements. He has asked the police to thoroughly investigate the incident. He announced that the state government would bear the entire expenses for medical treatment of those injured in the clashes. tnsOne of the bombs exploded on impact but caused no casualties. The other two bombs did not explode and remained in the area.

The bombs landed near Mount Elimbari in the vicinity of Wangoi village some kilometres east of Monono Lutheran mission station.

Sometime during the war, probably in 1944, an American military aircraft encountering problems while flying over the Central Highland area jettisoned its load of bombs.

This event is remembered well by the people of Elimbari, near Chuave in western Simbu.

KUNDIAWA - Apart from a few incidents, World War II had little impact on the highlands of Papua New Guinea. However, there was one tragedy that occurred in Simbu.

One morning, sometime after the war, a man of the Yagari tribe went hunting in the bush with his dog at Garmar under Mount Elimbari. As they were hunting, his dog sniffed something in the ground and barked and then began using its paws to dig into the ground.

A strange object was exposed.

The man came back to check what was happening and saw a big metallic object, mostly buried in the ground. He tried to pull it out but it was heavy and solidly stuck.

The man returned quickly to Wangoi village and then came back to the bomb site with more men whereupon they dug out the object.

It was big, heavy and as shiny as the metal roof of the mission houses and the axes the mission and kiaps had given them.

Discussing what it was, they concluded that many of the good things the white men had brought would be inside. They tried to break the object open with sticks and stones but it was too strong.

The people then carried the strange object back to the village, having strung it to a pole which was carried by two people. The story of the strange discovery travelled and many people from the Kegu and Wanogu clans came to see it.

Wanting to see what the object contained, the people made a bed of split dry casuarina wood, similar to the big fire beds they make to heat stones for their mumus.

They put the object on top and set a fire beneath. They hoped that, if there was anything inside, it would be revealed when the object broke open.

The fire raged into a huge inferno and the people sang and danced around it. After some hours the bomb exploded with a terrible noise that was heard for miles around.

It is said more than 200 people of the Kegu and Wanogu clan of the big Yagari tribe were killed. The figure could be exaggerated, but certainly there were many deaths that day.

Some of the people were blown to pieces, their bodies unrecognisable. After the blast people from a neighbouring tribe collected the pieces of flesh from the bushes and buried them.

The top of the hill near where the bomb exploded is now called Bomkop, meaning Bomb Mountain.

The American missionary at Monono Lutheran Mission was Reverend Bob Heuter but, when the bomb exploded, he was on patrol and not at his base. It is thought he could have prevented the tragedy if he had been informed about the discovery.

When a second bomb was found in the same area some years later, Reverend Heuter heard of it and quickly alerted the government officer at Chuave, Tony Keogh, who notified his superiors in Goroka.

An army bomb expert from a military base in Lae was sent to Chuave.

Together with the army officer, Patrol Officer Bob Cleland, who was supervising road construction over the Daulo Pass from his base at Watabung, walked to Monono where they met Heuter.

Heuter led them to the site of the bomb under Mount Elimbari at Garmar. There they found a huge 1,500 pound bomb stuck in a cleavage in the side of a cliff. It was 1.5 metres long and 30 centimetres wide at its base.

The officer, after ensuring his two companions were in a safe area, detonated the bomb. The massive explosion was heard by people all around the area.

When the three men came back to the village, all the people had left. Others thought they were the spirits of three white men who they believed had been killed in the explosion.

Read here Bob Clelands story, Tales from the Kiap Times - The Bomb of Elimbari, written about the same incident and published in PNG Attitude in November 2016editorial@tribune.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 13

Days after India and Pakistan agreed to de-escalate tensions over the diplomats row, Sikh pilgrims from India are visiting the neighbouring country on the occasion of Baisakhi. The Pakistan High Commission has issued visas to about 2,100 Sikh pilgrims this year, while around 1,600 travelled from India last year.

The Pakistan Government makes assiduous efforts to preserve religious sites and facilitate visits of pilgrims of all faiths. This visit of the Sikh jatha is consistent with the governments commitment and in accordance with provisions of the 1974 Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, Pakistans High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood told The Tribune.

Upon arrival in Lahore, the pilgrims were welcomed by Muhammad Tariq, secretary of the Evacuee Trustee Property Board (ETPB), the statutory body which administers evacuee properties attached to educational, charitable or religious trusts left behind by Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India during Partition. The jatha will visit shrines in Pakistan from April 12 to 21, including Hasan Abdals Gurdwara Panja Sahib and Gurdwara Nankana Sahib.

The desire of the pilgrims to pay obeisance is sacred, as they wait and prepare for their spiritual journey throughout the year. Both sides must, therefore, ensure faithful implementation of the bilateral protocol, Mahmood added.

Over 20,000 Sikh pilgrims from across the globe are expected to attend the Baisakhi festival, with the main celebrations scheduled for Saturday in Pakistans Punjab province amid high security.

Relations between India and Pakistan had soured further amid the bloodshed at the Line of Control and the International Border when Pakistani Zaireens (pilgrims) were not allowed visas to participate in the Urs at Ajmer Sharif and Nizamuddin Auliya in recent months. Islamabad called it a violation of the 1974 protocol arrangement under which Indian pilgrims visit holy sites such as the Katas Raj temple and the gurdwaras in Pakistan during Guru Nanaks Parkash Utsav and Baisakhi.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

United Nations, April 14

A group of Sikhs held a protest against atrocities against minorities and Dalits in India during BR Ambedkar's birth anniversary celebrations here.

About 25 Sikhs, some wearing black turbans and others black bands, held up posters and silently turned their backs on India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin as he spoke on Friday.

Unperturbed, Akbaruddin continued with his speech and no action was taken inside the conference room against the protesters.

The president of the Youth Akali Dal (Amritsar) US, Amandeep Singh told IANS that the group wanted to "expose the hypocrisy" of the Indian government celebrating Ambedkar's birthday before the world while his ideals were violated in India by the atrocities against Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and Dalits.

He said the Golden Temple was violated and thousands of Sikhs have been killed then and later during riots but no action has been taken against many important persons responsible for the killings.

Singh said the protest was held on behalf of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).

As the protesters filed outside the conference room, they were stopped by security personnel, who confiscated their posters and all the papers they had and let them go with a warning that such activities were not allowed inside the UN.

Several security personnel, including emergency services officers in black uniforms, rushed to the conference room entrance but only a couple of them entered the room unobtrusively to keep watch.

IANSrchopra@tribunemail.com

Ashok Kaura

Phagwara, April 14

Situation remained tense on Saturday here with shopkeepers opting to be keep their business establishments closed even as a leader of Punjab Shiv Sena, Rajesh Palta was attacked by a group of unidentified people in local Balmiki Chowk in the morning.

When the police reached the spot to rescue him, the group pelted cops with stones and also damaged a police vehicle near Valmiki Chowk in Subhash Nagar.

Meanwhile, mobile internet services in the entire Doaba region  comprising Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar districts  have been suspended for next 24 hours.

Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Tayab said the situation is under control and being monitored.

Senior Superintendent of Police Sandeep Sharma said adequate forces have been deployed to avoid any untoward incident in the city.

Situation in Phagwara has been tense since the Bharat bandh in protest of dilution of the SC/ST Act on April 2.

Following this, people belonging to the general category protested against the closure of the national highway in Phagwara and demanded an FIR against an LIP leader for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the general community by issuing objectionable statements on April 2.

A night before Ambedkar Jayanti, activists of Ambedkar Sena (Mool Niwasi) on Friday night put up two hoardings to name a chowk on national highway as Samvidhaan Chowk with Dr BR Ambedkars picture on these.

After these hoardings were fixed at around 8 pm, leaders of some right wing groups, including factions of Shiv Sena, gathered there to oppose the move saying that the action of Dalit body was illegal. Police officials rushed to avert a clash and till before midnight activists from both the sides stayed put.

Situation took an ugly turn on Saturday when Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Palta was allegedly beaten up by Dalits at Balmiki Chowk here.

The meetings of both communities were being held at separate places. Hindu activists had assembled at Shri Hanuman Garrhi Shrine complex, while Dalits were present at Shri Ravi Dass Mandir Chack Hakim. Though after a flag march in the town, the DC and SSP had visited the places to pacify both groups who remained adamant on their respective stands.

Hindu activists alleged bias in working of the civil and police administration and demanded immediate transfer of the SDM, ADC and Phagwara SP, whereas Dalits were adamant on installing a flex board naming Goal chowk as Samvidhaan Chowk.

As per the DC and SSP, the Phagwara police have booked around 30 unknown persons under relevant sections of the IPC on the charges of creating ruckus and violating law by blocking highways.

Six persons, including Head Constable Amardeep Singh, Zimmi Karwal, son of Shiv Sena leader Inderjit Karwal;Yaswant aka Bobby, Jaswinder Kumar, Baljinder, Kulwinder Kumar, who sustained injuries were admitted to the civil hospital. Bobby was later referred to a Ludhiana hospital due to his serious condition.

Meanwhile, the visit of Punjab BJP president Shwait Malik to Phagwara to address BJP councillors on Saturday was cancelled owing to prevaling situation.

New Delhi and Lahore-bound international buses were also diverted from Kartarpur and Phillaur. Even vehicular traffic between Ludhiana and Jalandhar was diverted via link roads.

Inspector General of Police Naunihal Singh reached Phagwara in the afternoon to assess the situation.

CM appeals for calm

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has appealed to people to maintain peace and harmony in the wake of a violent clash between two communities in Phagwara, while warning of stringent action against anyone found disturbing the law and order in the state.

The Chief Minister, who is personally monitoring the situation following the incident, has ordered suspension of mobile internet services in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar districts as a precautionary measure, to check rumour mongering on the social media.

Captain Amarinder has also directed the state police to maintain a tight vigil and crack down on any disruptive elements to ensure that the situation does not escalate further. He has asked the police to thoroughly investigate the incident.

The CM announced that the state government would bear the entire expenses for the medical treatment of all those injured in the clashes, whether admitted to government or private hospitals. He directed the Ludhiana district administration to ensure the best treatment for Yashwant Kumar Bobby, reported to be seriously injured in the clash and undergoing treatment at DMC, Ludhiana.

Urging the people to exercise restraint, the Chief Minister sought their cooperation to maintain peace and communal harmony, and thwart the nefarious designs of anti-national and anti-social elements.editorial@tribune.com

B.N.Goswamy

Peacock in the Desert is the title of an exhibition on the Royal Arts of Jodhpur that opened  as a major event  at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, just a few weeks back. And even though I have not seen it  yet  I have been aware of the preparations that went into the making of it for years. There were going to be riches in the show, as I had learnt, which would throw open issues of acquisition and commissioning of objects in a native state, through patronage, diplomacy, matrimonial alliances, trade, and conquest. But when the catalogue of the show arrived, what also caught my eye, among the great treasures of art, was a relatively obscure area: the work that a gifted Polish artist did in and for the famed Umaid Bhavan palace at Jodhpur at the invitation of the then Maharaja, Umaid Singh. That artist was Stefan Norblis.

We might know little of Stefan Norblis, but in his homeland, Poland, he was a celebrity: known for his versatility, fluent in art deco style and highly regarded for his paintings, posters, illustrations, theatrical costumes, and for fashion and interior designs. He was pursuing a successful career there, was being shown extensively, and had married a well-known film actress, Lena Zelichowska, in 1933. But the war which came in 1939 changed everything. The couple escaped their hometown of Warsaw, intending to go to the USA or Brazil, but in the turmoil of the times, had to travel East first. Although virtually homeless now, all through his travels, Stefan kept painting portraits, something that he was deft at, to fund their journey. Travelling via Romania and Turkey, he spent some time in Iraq, making portraits of the royal family there. However, the country he was destined for was India. In 1941, he landed in Bombay.

There, among the first members of the royalty or nobility that he met was a prince who had always dreamt of living in an Art Deco palace, which happened to be exactly the luxury style that was Stefans own: characterised by smooth lines, geometric shapes, streamlined forms and bright colours, sometimes employing costly materials like silver, crystal, ivory, jade and lacquer. Lakhdhirji was the name of that prince of the Jadeja clan, and he came from the small state of Morbi in Gujarat where he had built a luxurious residence. In that residence of his, he wanted this newly-arrived artist to paint works which were in the Art Deco style but also reflected the past heritage of India. Stefan was up to it. That commission, successfully carried out, was to set him on a new path. Some of his work in Morbi still stands: a ceiling painting in the entry hallway, for instance, showing a scene from the Mahabharata: Krishna driving Arjunas chariot on the battlefield of Kurukshetra; at another place, Shiva and Parvati seated on Mount Kailash. The feel of Indian art, at least of Indian themes, had begun to enter the lively, fluent work of the Pole. He had moved into the seductive world of deities and heroes and celestial nymphs.

Commissions began pouring in. In 1943, he was invited to Patna by Maharaja Kamakhya Narain Singh who wanted his Ramgarh Palace to be similarly decorated. In Bombay, his reputation had been steadily growing in the meantime, resulting in an exhibition of his work at the Sir Cowasji Jahangir Gallery in 1944. That very year Stefan was to receive his biggest commission in India: at Jodhpur, however. His work caught the eye of the Jodhpur Maharaja, Umaid Singh, who was just in the process of completing the now famous Umaid Bhawan palace, one of the biggest 20th century structures of its kind. The Maharaja engaged him to make paintings for this residence of his, one that would match its mix of European modernism and traditional Indian architecture. Along with these paintings, Stefan was further asked to prepare designs for the interior since a ship, then transporting furniture for the palace from Europe, sank on the way, having been hit by a torpedo. Now designing interiors and furniture both landed in the lap of the artist from Poland. But he was tireless: for nearly three years, he kept creating painting after painting and design after elegant design for the Palace: scenes from the Ramayana, Shiva and Parvati under a great tree on a mountain, the goddess Durga astride her tiger, even the bravery on the battlefield of the Rathore hero, Durgadas, who had fought valiantly against the Mughals. All this work bore to an extent the impress of the local style of painting at Jodhpur, but it stood out, in the final analysis, as Art Deco.

As for design, many of the things he made for the Umaid Bhawan palace are still intact: the hallway leading to the maharajas private quarters as well as his wifes bathroom, for instance; the first chamber too with its rows of tasteful sofas divided by cabinets, the bathroom with its colour scheme of gold and black and an uber-chic bathtub and sink. Not all his designs were realized, but a collection of 23 drawings of interiors still survives in the palace: a testimony to the talent and the versatility of this gifted Pole.

It was not to last forever, however. In 1946, the Norblins sailed for the United States on account of their son whose health had begun to deteriorate in India. They settled in a place close to San Francisco, and Stefan kept working, making some portraits which have become famous. But even this was not going to last. In the 1950s, the artists problems with his eyesight increased drastically and, convinced that in his blindness he will not be able to work any longer, Stefan Norblin took his own life. A fine and eventful life of a man of many talents had come to an end, far away from his beloved Poland. The year was 1952.editorial@tribune.com

Rumina Sethi

A few years before he died, I happened to meet Mulk Raj Anand at Hauz Khas, New Delhi. Anand wondered aloud why I should have travelled a good distance to see him and asked me humorously whether Indian researchers would ever give up the three chachas of early Anglophone Indian writing, the other two being Raja Rao and RK Narayan. Yet, despite the new breed of Indian-English authors, critical concern with the elder statesmen could never be abandoned. A recent panel discussion on social inclusion at the American Center, New Delhi, where a book on Mulk Raj Anand was the subject of the conversation, gives evidence that the world of academia continues to engage critically with the author.

I am referring to the book launch event of Professor Kamal Vermas Understanding Mulk Raj Anand: His Mind and Art, moderated by his son, former US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma. Kamal Vermas indefatigable efforts in reviving Anand in turn creates an opportunity to raise a toast to Karl Marx, especially when we are so close to his birth bi-centenary, which falls on May 5 this year. What can we say about the ability of Marx and Anand to endure? Has their work gone into oblivion or evolving? Or are both timeless and everlastingly of wide interest? Great writers and philosophers live on, though there are phases when their following begins to wane. I raise a toast to them because they are like inspiring companions for profound thought on the implication of human emancipation and working-class struggles.

Marxism may have been relentlessly deplored as the last decade of the 20th century came to a close with the fall of the Berlin Wall, but protest is by no means a relic of the past. What is particularly relevant is the tenor of protest in Anands novels. But this remonstration is no ordinary one. Anands earliest book, Untouchable, came out a decade before Indias Independence. Interestingly, Anands dissident hero protests not only against social exclusion, but also against the trajectory Indian nationalism was taking in the crucial decades before the Independence. At a moment in history when the definition of Indianness in the face of Colonial occupation was primary, writers as the prophets of the age were attempting to consolidate that identity. Where Raja Rao, Anands contemporary, was constructing a metaphysical and romantic view of Indias lost heritage in his novel Kanthapura, Anand was expressing his uncertainty in the face of wide differences and caste discrimination. Through his early novels, he was attempting to write his own version of history. Kanthapura was also about village India, but it presented a spiritual Indian civilisation as opposed to a material British ethos. But Anand would have none of it. He did not imagine a nation, he saw it clearly. He was not a traditionalist. He favoured the present rather than the past.

And that is why, perhaps, Anand found mythical nationalism an infantile construct. Nationalism often purports to be a political doctrine but it is a form of culture, which has an ideology, a language, a symbolism and a mythology. It insists on classlessness, yet emphasises a brahmanical Hindu past. It claims men and women are equal, but it presents women as frozen in time and space. It will join multinationals and the global system of capitalism where it exhibits its compliance, but it also seeks to show its cultural independence. And most importantly, it speaks proudly of its rural communities united by ethnic ties when it is an urban movement of intellectuals. Indian nationalism exhibited all these strains when it supported, for example, the homogeneous slogan, Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan, which also continues in the present, paradoxically, marginalising many. The truth is that under every nationalism, there exist many sub-nationalisms, those of caste, language, region, sexuality, gender and so on. The freedom of the nation may not translate into freedom for many of its inhabitants.

Anand targeted this kind of regressive nationalism towards the conclusion of his novel, Untouchable (1935), when Bakha, the untouchable hero, looks for a solution to his misery. When Gandhi speaks of non-violence and cow-protection as the ultimate Hindu values, Bakha is agitated. He considers Gandhi to be deviating from the main issue of abolishing manual scavenging. By the time Anand wrote Sword and the Sickle in 1942, he had become more outspoken. He called Gandhi an inveterate, non-stop talker who defined his religion quite narrowly. Its as if the powerless Bakha matured into a more confident Lalu. Anands heroes demand Marxist, revolutionary solutions, whereas the nation was being constructed through spiritual doses.

It is in these areas that Vermas insightful observations make a mark. He speaks of Anands progressive humanism in the face of the Hindu mind that is predominantly caste-conscious, one that cannot ever free itself from the theodicy of casteism. That the process of manual scavenging carries on in independent India despite the many deaths of scavengers, widespread safai karamchari demonstrations, and the court rulings announcing bans, is testimony. The marginalisation of the voices of Anands heroes and their sheer lack of direction hint at another project that would be established by the end of the 20th century  the project of the Subaltern Studies Group of historians, which offers history from below in order to represent those who have been written out of history through elite interpretation, elite history, elite representation and elite records. Perhaps, it is the prescience of Anand that he also anticipates postcolonial studies. One of the pioneering fathers of postcolonialism, Frantz Fanon, wrote his masterpiece Wretched of the Earth 25 years after Untouchable and Coolie. Anand thus becomes the prophet who interrupts and challenges the master narrative of nationalism by pointing out that what is neglected is the politics of the people. In the The Prose of Counter-Insurgency, Ranajit Guha speaks of the peasant not as a clod of earth but as the maker of history.

As we approach the election year in 2019, we need to remember that nationalism is as unsettled in our country today as it was in the 1930s. Our sense of nationalism should work on principles of inclusion, advocated by the champions of collective activism and emancipatory reason mandating a balanced enquiry of the world that is underpinned by a commitment to human freedom. Secondly, we need to cultivate once again the historical materialist approach that Mulk Raj Anand learnt from Marx, which brought about an understanding of the present as history, with particular attention to living conditions of ordinary people and to the economic and political materiality of power. And finally, we must appreciate both of them, one the teacher and the other the faithful pupil, for their dialectical openness and sensitivity to the understanding of inconsistencies, paradoxes and conflicts in social life.ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

So, this is what we have reduced our country to: a place where an eight-year-old child is raped inside a temple by patriotic Indians and a policeman who wants one last chance to rape the drugged child before they kill her, smash her face and dump her lifeless body in a forest. In another state, a young girl is repeatedly raped by a powerful politicians nephew who then threatens her family with dire consequences if they dare to report the crime. When that fails, he gets her father killed by complicit policemen. God alone knows how many other bestial deeds go unreported by victims who are too scared and beaten down by the sheer power of the local goon brigade. I am not even going to speak of the crimes against minorities or the riots and violence they face every day in the remote corners of this benighted country we call Bharat.

The details being unspooled every day by the SIT investigating the Kathua incident are now so vile that even reading about these has become difficult. Just this morning, there was a heart-rending account of her father wailing that his innocent child didnt even know her left from her right limb, what would she know of being a Hindu or a Muslim? What threat was she or her nomadic family to the silky fat cats who have tried to stop any court proceedings by a dharna staged by the towns lawyers? All this happens as our venerable politicians and leaders sit in meaningless fasts and protests to register their outrage against each other.

Are they so dumb that they cannot sense the enormous rage that their callousness is stirring up? From our Parliament to the Supreme Court, from our universities to our banks and financial institutions, what we have witnessed over the last few years is a slow, but determined dismantling of the rule of law. The sin now lies in being caught so the message that has been sent is that every Indian is free to murder and loot and break the law as long as it goes unreported. We swear by the sanctity of the Constitution, touch our forehead reverentially on the steps of the Lok Sabha as we cross its threshold but once inside it is business as usual.

After decades, the chant for a separate South is beginning to sound acceptable to those who live beyond the Vindhyas. The unity that was forged by our founding fathers from the vast diversity of this land is under constant attack and sadly, there are no Gandhis, Nehrus, Azads or Patels to contain it. In the coming year, when several important states will go to the polls, this cycle of violence and hatred will only intensify. Many of us can see the huge public anger that is slowly gathering momentum: from jobless youth to distressed farmers, from persecuted minorities to young women who are no longer willing to submit to the patriarchal bullying of khap panchayats, from those who have lost livelihoods to those who have been cheated by land sharksthe list is growing by the day. One day, sooner than we realise it, this simmering anger will turn into a flood that will swamp all of us, good or bad. Who knows what 2019 will bring us: as Yeats feared almost a century ago, What rough Beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? The choice, it seems to me, is between communalism and corruption. So, choose what you consider the lesser evil.

If we can take any solace, it is in the fact that virtually every nation is undergoing the same angst. Our neighbour and estranged twin is in an even darker place as Husain Haqqanis recent book (Reimagining Pakistan) shows. Look beyond and you will find that from the Americas to Europe and the Middle East and from South Asia to the Far East, a dreadful storm is brewing. As people lose faith in their leaders and democratic values, one can predict a period of anarchy when the weak and the inexperienced will take charge and law and order will cease to hold the system in place.

As a child of the 50s who saw the best years of India and lived in a world that was safe and secure, I am ashamed of what we are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren. India today is a frightening dystopia where the worst have risen to the top and where every system is collapsing after years of neglect and callousness. We have failed our women, our minorities, our children and our peasants. Our banks have been looted by a handful of cronies and our politicians so accustomed to their comfort that they no longer care whether their constituencies are safe or even clean. Unspeakable crimes have been perpetrated by godmen who run profitable deras and ashrams and who practise the very evil they give sermons about. Who does one trust?

If there is any hope for our country it is in those quiet workers who have dedicated their lives to the marginalised and poor. To people, like the Imam of Asansol, whose son was killed in the riots there but who forbade his followers from retaliation or to Asifas father who says his Allah will give him justice. In such people and such an Allah lies our only hope.Mukesh Ranjan in New Delhi

Mukesh Ranjan in New Delhi

Is the government of India about to hit the jackpot? Consider this: the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently gave the go-ahead to the government-appointed custodians to dispose of 'enemy properties.' And guess the worth of these 9,400 properties spread across the country: well over Rs 1,00,000 crore, more than enough to cover one-fifth of the total fiscal deficit (around Rs 5,00,0000 crore estimated in the 2018-19 Budget). The amount would be sufficient to meet the total budgeted expenditure on health, education and social protection for 2018-19, estimated at Rs1.38 lakh crore.

Since the sale proceeds of enemy properties is not going to come in one financial year, the projected amount may also be enough to take care of the need of a new scheme: Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022 announced in the 2018-19 Budget.

Like all the jackpots, there are a few ifs. First the facts: Over the past one decade, it took a Supreme Court judgment, six ordinances and a law passed by Parliament for the government to take the ownership of enemy properties.

But what are these assets? These are the properties left behind by people who took citizenship of Pakistan and China. The Centre's move came after the amendment in the 49-year-old Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act which ensured that the heirs of those who migrated to Pakistan and China during Partition and afterwards will have no claim over the properties left behind in India. At a recent meeting, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh directed that those properties which are free from encumbrance should be disposed of quickly for monetization.

Not so easy

Experts think that the finality to the issue would remain a mirage. The reason is the law enacted by Parliament makes the custodian the owner of enemy property retrospectively from 1968. Thus it voids the "legal sales undertaken by enemies of enemy properties since 1968 to natural citizens of India". This means a person who may have bought an enemy property in good faith, when such sale and purchase were legal, now stands to lose the property. This contravenes the rights given to citizens of the country, they said.

Senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha member Rashid Alvi has personally dealt with the issue during the previous UPA tenure and also with the present government. The decision of the present dispensation will result into gross injustice to those who preferred to stay back in India and chose the country over Pakistan, he said. Alvi said a similar law was also proposed during the UPA regime. "I along with several MPs then had approached the Congress top leadership and also then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and impressed upon them that such a law would be gross injustice to our own citizens. Thus the proposal was shelved."

"The present law does not protect and give justice. It seems the anti-minority mindset of ruling BJP is at work. I am sure once the process of selling properties is set in motion the Supreme Court would take cognizance of injustice," Alvi said.

The NDA government on March 26 kicked off the monetization process of more than 9,400 identified enemy properties by issuing guidelines. The office of the custodian is directed to submit a list of all such movable and immovable assets within three months.

What govt expects

The government has also formed a valuation committee at the district-level, headed by the district magistrate, and an inter-ministerial disposal committee, headed by an additional secretary. According to the database of such identified properties, a senior MHA official said, there are 9,280 units left behind by the people who took citizenship of Pakistan and 126 who left in favour of China. The government has vested these properties in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, an office instituted under the central government, he said.

Law and reality

When nations go to war, they often seize the properties in their countries of the citizens and corporations of the enemy country. This happened during the First and the Second World Wars when the US and the UK seized properties of German corporations and citizens.

Initially, the Indian government acquired such properties under the Defence of India Acts, which were temporary laws and ceased to operate after the wars ended. Therefore, to administer the enemy property seized during the wars, the government enacted the Enemy Property Act in 1968. This law laid down the powers of the custodian of enemy property for management and preservation of the enemy properties.

Pakistan had also enacted similar laws to take over properties and assets of Indian citizens and companies in Pakistan during the wars. But unlike India, it sold off these properties in 1971.

SC rulings, ordinances

The Supreme Court settled some of these questions in 2005. It ruled that the custodian of the enemy property was administering the property as a trustee, and the enemy continued to be its owner. Therefore, on the death of the enemy, the enemy property should be inherited by their legal heirs. In 2010, the government issued an ordinance to expand the powers of the custodian. It sought to permanently vest enemy property in the custodian even in case of the enemy's death or a change in his nationality. But the ordinance was allowed to lapse.

The issue of enemy property attracted legislative interest again in 2016 when five more ordinances were issued. These ordinances went a step further and vested ownership rights over enemy property in the custodian. This effectively negated the Supreme Court decision of 2005, and made the central government the owner of enemy property.

Properties

Pakistanis 9,280 units

Chinese 126 units

State-wise (properties left behind by Pakistanis)

Uttar Pradesh 4,991

West Bengal 2,735

Delhi 487

Goa 263

Those Left behind by Chinese

Meghalaya 57

West Bengal 29Neena Sharma in Dehradun

Neena Sharma in Dehradun

The annual Char Dham pilgrimage begins on April 18: the portals of Yamunotri and Gangotri shrines will reopen. The Uttarakhand government is bracing itself to new challenges posed by construction work for the National Highway Connectivity Improvement Programme. The multi-pronged task involves uninterrupted construction and a smooth flow of pilgrims. There are several uncertainties when pilgrims would rush in when three exalted gateways open for the shrines at Badrinath, Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib by this month and May-end.

Heres an instance: the sides of hills are being cut for right of way in Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts. Then, existing paths are to be widened by 10 meters and 24 meters. This will lead to massive debris, muck and stones all across the route. Add to that the rain. All the hill-side grating and scrubbing underway for the Char Dham highway project will halt after April 30 for facilitating the yatra. This will considerably make it easier for the pilgrims to walk on, says Dilip Jawalkar, secretary, tourism department.

The government wants to keep the remaining Char Dham work uninterrupted. In case of route disruptions, district magistrates can take a call on stopping the work, said Jawalkar. The tourism department has marked 34 landslide-prone areas. Heavy clearing machines along with 18 cranes would be permanently stationed at these places.

The arrangements

The 7-km route from Rambara to Garudchatii and then onwards to Kedarnath was destroyed in the 2013 flash floods (see map). An alternative route was built in the opposite direction, passing through Choti Lincholi, Badi Lincholi, base camp and Rudra point. But the path was too narrow. So, the Bhimbalia-Kedarnath passage is being widened. The work is nearing completion. It will ensure comfortable journey for the pilgrims astride the mules on this strtech, says Mangesh Ghildiyal, district magistrate Rudraprayag.

Registration counters

The biometric card was introduced for tracking pilgrims through GPS after the 2013 disaster. Rishikesh is the gateway to the pilgrimage, so the physical (photometric) registration is undertaken at the several counters there. The government has also announced 30 additional counters at various places. At present 14 registration centres are functional. The toll-free number for inquiries is 18001804145. The cards prove useful for food and lodging at government facilities.

The process of physical registration began in 2014 at Rishkesh followed by online registration the next year. It is also a big draw. Over 1,400 people made their bookings by March-end using online mode. This year we plan to launch a mobile app for registration, says Vivek Chauhan, deputy director, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB). The trial launch is expected by April-end.

But the department has not been able to ensure mandatory fitness certificates. We are already carrying out dual registration of pilgrims who travel to Kedarnath. They are made to register again when they get back. But attempts to introduce certificates in the past have not elicited good response, added Jawalkar.

Buses & choppers

The government has hired nine transport companies to run the buses under the joint rotation system. Over 1,500 buses will be reserved for the yatra. The yatris have to make reservation at the photometric registration counter at the terminal compound of Rishikesh Depot.

The helicopter services, run by private companies, are yet to be finalised. The tendering process starts on April 14. So those awaiting a chopper ride to Char Dham would have to wait for a few days. This time BSNL, the only internet service provider, will offer 3G facility to those visiting Kedarnath. Weather bulletins with complete update about the Char Dham weather conditions too would be provided by the state weather department on its website.

Security, medical aid

The government plans to set up 80 permanent police stations, 171 police posts and 79 new temporary police posts. The new traffic plan would be in place from April 17. Our policemen would act as tourist guides, says Ashok Kumar, ADG, law & order. Over 200 temporary toilets with water facilities will be set up all across the route, in addition to the existing 100 permanent washrooms.

Last year, 112 people died during the yatra. The highest toll was 36 on the way to the Kedarnath shrine followed by Badrinath (28), Yamunotri (25) and Gangotri (23). Director general (health) Dr Archana Srivastav says most of these deaths occurred due to high altitude or mountain sickness that triggered other ailments such as cardiac arrest. Uttarakhand medical services, which are woefully short of specialists, do not have a single cardiologist. Officials claim that talks are on for hiring private Doctors. We will set up 19 relief points for the yatra, says Dr Tripti Bahuguna, nodal officer for the yatra.

All-weather project

In 2016, PM Modi laid the foundation stone for an all-weather Char dham highway project at Dehradun

Included are 899-km stretches of NHs linking shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri

Cost: Rs 12,000 crore

Seven roads in the 889-km stretch will be improved. These include NH-58 Rishikesh-Rudraprayag (140km), Rudraprayag-Mana (160 km), NH-94 Rishikesh-Dharasu (144km), NH-108 Dharasu-Gangotri (124 km), NH-94 Dharasu-Yamunotri (95 km) and NH-109 Rudraprayag-Gaurikund (76km)

Progress so far

The hill-side cutting is underway along 300km of highways. Around 80% land acquisition and forest land transfer is complete

Work halted along 94-km stretch under the Bhagirithi sensitive zone.

It awaits environmental clearance

The Centre has formed a panel to look into objections raised by the National Green Tribunal

Registration centresROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Whether he liked it or not, the fact is the CEO of Facebook, so integrated with our 'real' lives, was put through the grind by senators over privacy lapses. In preparation, the world's most celebrated social media company has unleashed a blitz of activities. Mark Zuckerberg, 33, one of the world's youngest billionaires, spent several days with consultants and a Washington DC law firm. So adamant he was to be ready for any question that might get thrown his way, and so insistent was he to appear charming and contrite, that his team even arranged a mock session, with the staff members filling the roles of senators. As it was, the man kept reminding everyone how he started a company, now valued at $80bn, in his college dorm room.

During a session involving 44 senators from two committees, time and again it appeared those questioning him had only a vague grasp on the subject. Some seemed clueless, and yet that did not stop them from grandstanding during their five-minute questioning.

Orrin Hatch, an 84-year-old Republican from Utah, was among those accused of exposing the generational divide when he asked the Facebook boss about the possibility of a paid service that would enable users to not see any adverts. Zuckerberg insisted there would always be a free version of Facebook. Hatch asked how he could sustain a business without charging anything for it. Sir, we run ads, Zuckerberg explained gently.

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham did ask Zuckerberg one decent question about what Facebook was doing to counter hate speech on its platform in Myanmar. It was one of the few times the 33-year-old seemed to have to think. Graham asked if he believed Facebook was a monopoly. The South Carolina senator said: If I buy a Ford, and it doesnt work well, and I dont like it, I can buy a Chevy. If I'm upset with Facebook, what's the equivalent product I can go sign up for?

Zuckerberg sought to suggest he was not comparing like with like. Asked if Facebook operated a monopoly, he replied: It doesnt feel that way to me.

Perhaps the toughest questions came from Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, one of the few politicians present with a background as a tech executive. She asked several points about tech company Palantir, and whether it scraped Facebook data. Zuckerberg said he did not know.

Yet crucially, nobody pressed Zuckerberg hard about whether Facebook and other similar platforms should face tougher government regulation. Indeed, many of them seemed pleased when he agreed to help in drafting legislation they wished to pass.

ECO WARRIORS

Aru Shiney-Ajay first became genuinely worried about climate change when she visited the family in India and found the streams and grass where she had played as a child had shriveled as a result of drought. Someplace that I knew really well turned into something unrecognizable, said Shiney-Ajay, now 20 and a student at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. So she turned to the Sunrise Movement, a US-based youth network that aims to build an army of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.

When I think of climate change, I am driven by fear and anger, she said. But her activism  including occupying the office of Republican House Representative Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania last December with other Sunrise Movement members  has given her a feeling she can make a difference. The sit-in, she said, was an attempt to stop Meehan from voting on a tax bill that would provide tax cuts to fossil fuel billionaires, among others. Meehan voted for the bill anyway, which passed last December, but Shiney-Ajay now knows how to take a stand.

Her generation is ready to act on climate change, which is a preventable crisis, she said. That's particularly true because younger people  who will live to see the more severe impacts of climate change  have more at stake.

Around the world, youth-led lawsuits, peaceful protests and environmental action events are gathering pace, as younger generations use the most powerful tool they have at their disposal: their voice.

GOING ERROR-FREE

This is height of exactness in democracy: Fabiola Diaz, 18, sits in the food court of her Georgia high school and meticulously fills out a voter registration form. Drivers licence in one hand, she carefully writes her licence number in the box provided, her first name, last name, address, her eyes switching from licence to the paper form and back again to ensure every last detail, down to hyphens and suffixes, is absolutely correct.

Diaz, and the voting rights activists holding a voter registration drive at South Cobb High School in northern Atlanta, know why it is so important not to make an error.

A law passed by the Republican-controlled Georgia state legislature last year requires that all of the letters and numbers of the applicant's name, date of birth, driver's licence number and last four digits of their Social Security number exactly match the same letters and numbers in the motor vehicle department or Social Security databases.

The tiniest discrepancy on a registration form places them on a pending voter list. A Reuters analysis of Georgia's pending voter list, obtained through a public records request, found that black voters landed on the list at a far higher rate than white voters even though a majority of Georgias voters are white.

Both voting rights activists and Georgia's state government say the reason for this is that blacks more frequently fill paper ballots than whites, who are more likely to do them online. Paper ballots are more prone to human error, both sides agree. But they disagree on whether the errors are made by those filling the forms or officials processing the forms.

NOBEL REPUTATION AT STAKE

The Nobel Foundation has warned that the international reputation of the Nobel Prize may be at stake after a series of rows that have rocked the Swedish Academy, the body that awards the Nobel Prize in literature. It stated that its board members had met to discuss the latest developments, which includes three Academy members announcing that they would to step down  a move that has shocked the literary and cultural world. It is unavoidable that a crisis within a prize-awarding institution also damages the Nobel Prize's reputation. We can establish that confidence in the Academy has been severely broken. The way in which what is now happening will come to harm the Nobel Prize cannot yet be fully assessed, it said. The three Academy members chose to step down after a majority of members voted not to exclude a member whose husband has been accused of sexual harassment and of influencing the Academy as well as of allegedly leaking the names of a number of literature laureates in the past.

Sources: The Independent, Thomson Reuters Foundation & IANSsinghking99@yahoo.com

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 14

Colonel HRS Rana, Commanding Officer, 127 Eco-Task Force, on Saturday said he was hopeful that the dying Rispana of Dehradun would be rejuvenated with the support of people.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Rana said, The task force certainly has an expertise, but it is the support of the youth that will revive the river. Taking the past track record of the Eco-Task Force into consideration, the government has assigned the Rispana rejuvenation work to the force. The task force will participate in the massive plantation slated to take place along the banks of the river during the monsoon.

Touching upon the history of environmental restoration that the Eco- Task Force has scripted for Uttarakhand, Col Rana reiterated that with overwhelming youth participation being witnessed in Rispana rejuvenation awareness programmes, he was hopeful that the Rispana would be rejuvenated.

Student organisation Making a Difference by Being the Difference (MAD) president Abhijay Negi said their efforts to work for the survival of the river had got immense boost. He also welcomed the interest shown by both Chief Minister and Chief Secretary towards the rejuvenation of the river and other streams of the region.

He said MAD would organise street plays at Rispana bridge on Sunday to make people aware about the importance of its rejuvenation.singhking99@yahoo.com

Dehradun, April 14

For the beautification and better facilities for pilgrims at Badrinath, the Centre has given its approval for a project of Rs 39 crore.

The project entails construction of cloak rooms, changing room and waiting rooms for the pilgrims.

Uttarakhand Tourism Secretary Dilip Jawalkar said these facilities would make the yatra easy for the pilgrims coming from India and abroad.

The project will be handled by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board and in two years, the Badrinath dham will be the favourite destination for the pilgrims, said Dilip Jawalkar.

The Centre will release the funds in three instalments and a committee will soon be set up for monitoring the project and submit the monthly report to the government.

According to the proposal, the changing room will be constructed near Tapt Kund and Narad Kund, besides the construction of Yatri Suvidha Kendra, Aastha path and a dispensary for pilgrims.  TNSmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Quito, April 14

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has said that the three journalists abducted last month near the Colombian border are dead.

"It is with great sadness that I announce the expiration of the established 12-hour deadline," he said at a packed press conference in Quito on Friday, Efe news reported.

"We have not received proof of life and we, unfortunately, have information confirming the death of our fellow countrymen." Reporter Javier Ortega, 32, photographer Paul Rivas, 45 and presenter Efrain Segarra, 60, were kidnapped in the northern border province of Esmeraldas while investigating a recent surge of violence in the area.

Moreno also announced the resumption of military operations along the border with Colombia and offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the capture of the leader of the group that claimed responsibility for kidnapping and killing the journalists.

Though the president referred to the suspect only as "narco-terrorist alias Guacho," Colombian daily El Tiempo identified him as Walter Patricio Arizala Vernaza, a 27-year-old Ecuadorian who joined Colombia's FARC rebel group as a teenager.

When the FARC demobilized under a November 2016 peace accord with the Colombian government, Arizala struck out on his own, forming what he called the Oliver Sinisterra Front, named for a guerrilla commander killed in 2015, Ecuador's El Universal newspaper said.

"Despite all our efforts, it was confirmed that these criminals never intended to release (the journalists) alive," Moreno said, announcing a series of security measures, including an increase in military and police control over the area.

He also said that he has contacted the Catholic Church and the International Red Cross, among other organisations, for help to "locate and repatriate" the bodies of the abductees.

"We are in mourning," Moreno said. "But we won't be intimidated. Today, more than ever, I ask the country to come together for peace." IANSpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Quito, April 14

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has said that the three journalists abducted last month near the Colombian border are dead.

It is with great sadness that I announce the expiration of the established 12-hour deadline, he said at a packed press conference in Quito on Friday, Efe news reported.

We have not received proof of life and we, unfortunately, have information confirming the death of our fellow countrymen. Reporter Javier Ortega, 32, photographer Paul Rivas, 45 and presenter Efrain Segarra, 60, were kidnapped in the northern border province of Esmeraldas while investigating a recent surge of violence in the area.

Moreno also announced the resumption of military operations along the border with Colombia and offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the capture of the leader of the group that claimed responsibility for kidnapping and killing the journalists.

Though the president referred to the suspect only as narco-terrorist alias Guacho, Colombian daily El Tiempo identified him as Walter Patricio Arizala Vernaza, a 27-year-old Ecuadorian who joined Colombias FARC rebel group as a teenager.

When the FARC demobiliSed under a November 2016 peace accord with the Colombian government, Arizala struck out on his own, forming what he called the Oliver Sinisterra Front, named for a guerrilla commander killed in 2015, Ecuadors El Universal newspaper said.

Despite all our efforts, it was confirmed that these criminals never intended to release (the journalists) alive, Moreno said, announcing a series of security measures, including an increase in military and police control over the area.

He also said that he has contacted the Catholic Church and the International Red Cross, among other organisations, for help to locate and repatriate the bodies of the abductees.

We are in mourning, Moreno said. But we wont be intimidated. Today, more than ever, I ask the country to come together for peace.  IANSrchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington/Beirut, April 14

US, British and French forces struck Syria with more than 100 missiles on Saturday in the first coordinated Western strikes against the Damascus government, targeting what they called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for a poison gas attack.

US President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House, saying the three allies had "marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality".

As he spoke, explosions rocked Damascus. In the morning he tweeted: "Mission accomplished".

The bombing represents a major escalation in the West's confrontation with Assad's superpower ally Russia, but is unlikely to alter the course of a multi-sided war that has killed at least half a million people in the past seven years.

That in turn raises the question of where Western countries go from here, after a volley of strikes denounced by Damascus and Moscow as at once both reckless and pointless.

By morning, the Western countries said their bombing was over for now. Syria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of President Bashar al-Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption "morning of resilience".

There were no immediate reports of casualties, with Damascus allies saying the buildings hit had been evacuated in advance.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as "limited and targeted", with no intention of toppling Assad or intervening more widely in the war. She said she had authorised British action after intelligence showed Assad's government was to blame for gassing the Damascus suburb of Douma a week ago.

In a speech she gave a vivid description of the victims of the chemical strike that killed scores, huddling in basements as gas rained down. She said Russia had thwarted diplomatic efforts to halt Assad's use of poison gas, leaving no option but force.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes had been limited so far to Syria's chemical weapons facilities. Paris released a dossier that it said showed Damascus was to blame for the poison gas attack on Douma, the last town holding out in a rebel-held swathe of territory near Damascus that government forces have recaptured in this year's biggest offensive.

Washington described its targets as a centre near Damascus for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weapons, a chemical weapons storage site near the city of Homs and another site near Homs that stored chemical weapons equipment and housed a command post.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis called the strikes a "one-time shot", although Trump raised the prospect of further strikes if Assad's government again used chemical weapons.

"We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents," the US president said in a televised address.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss what Moscow decried as an unjustified attack on a sovereign state. Diplomats said the meeting would take place in New York at 11.00 am (1500 GMT).

Syrian state media called the attack a "flagrant violation of international law". Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called it a crime and the Western leaders criminals.

Inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW were due to try to visit Douma later on Saturday to inspect the site of the April 7 suspected gas attack. Moscow condemned the Western states for refusing to wait for their findings.

Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated to levels of Cold War-era hostility, has denied any gas attack took place in Douma and even accused Britain of staging it to whip up anti-Russian hysteria.

But despite responding outwardly with fury to Saturday's attack, Damascus and its allies also made clear that they considered it a one-off, unlikely to meaningfully harm Assad.

Absorbed the attacks

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the Syrian government and its allies had "absorbed" the attack. The sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia, the official said.

"If it is finished, and there is no second round, it will be considered limited," the official said.

Dmitry Belik, a Russian member of parliament who was in Damascus and witnessed the strikes, told Reuters by email: The attack was more of a psychological nature rather than practical.

Luckily there are no substantial losses or damages. At least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus and smoke rose over the city, a Reuters witness said. A second witness said the Barzah district of Damascus was hit.

A scientific research lab in Barzah appeared to have been completely destroyed, according to footage broadcast by Syrian state TV station al-Ikhbariya. Smoke rose from piles of rubble and a heavily damaged bus was parked outside.

But the Western intervention has virtually no chance of altering the military balance of power at a time when Assad is in his strongest position since the war's early months.

Assad strong

In Douma, site of last week's suspected gas attack, the final buses were due on Saturday to transport out rebels and their families who agreed to surrender the town, Syrian state TV reported. That effectively ends all resistance in the suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta, marking one of the biggest victories for Assad's government of the entire war.

Russian and Iranian military help over the past three years has let Assad crush the rebel threat to topple him.

The United States, Britain and France have all participated in the Syrian conflict for years, arming rebels, bombing Islamic State fighters and deploying troops on the ground to fight that group. But they have refrained from targeting Assad's government apart from a volley of US missiles last year.

Although the Western countries have all said for seven years that Assad must leave power, they held back in the past from striking his government, lacking a wider strategy to defeat him.

The Western powers were at pains on Saturday to avert any further escalation, including any unexpected conflict with their superpower rival Russia. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said the Russians "were warned beforehand" to avert conflict.

The combined US, British and French assault involved more missiles, but appears to have struck more limited targets, than a similar strike Trump ordered a year ago in retaliation for an earlier suspected chemical weapons attack. Last year's US strike, which Washington said at the time would cripple Assad's air forces and defences, had effectively no impact on the war.

Mattis said the United States conducted the strikes with conclusive evidence that chlorine gas had been used in the April 7 attack in Syria. Evidence that the nerve agent sarin also was used was inconclusive, he said.

Syria agreed in 2013 to give up its chemical weapons after a nerve gas attack killed hundreds of people in Douma. Damascus is still permitted to have chlorine for civilian use, although its use as a weapon is banned. Allegations of Assad's chlorine use have been frequent during the war, although unlike nerve agents chlorine did not produce mass casualties as seen last week.

Mattis, who US officials said had earlier warned in internal debates that too large an attack would risk confrontation with Russia, described the strikes as a one-off to dissuade Assad from "doing this again".

But a US official familiar with the military planning said there could be more air strikes if the intelligence indicates Assad has not stopped making, importing, storing or using chemical weapons, including chlorine. The official said this could require a more sustained US air and naval presence. - ReutersROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

India gave a guarded response to Syrian airstrikes. In a cautious statement, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: We have taken note of the recent strikes in Syria. India is closely following the situation. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable. We call for an impartial and objective investigation by the OPCW to establish the facts.

In the wake of Kremlin calling the chemical attacks as a pretext used by some western countries for aggression, New Delhi also urged all parties for restraint pending investigation of the matter by the global chemical weapons watchdog body OPCW.

The matter should be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, and on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter and in accordance with international law. We hope that the long drawn suffering of the people of Syria would come to an end soon, added Raveesh Kumar. TNS

An act of aggression: Russia

Russia has rejected the allegations of use of chemical weapons in Douma by the Asaad regime. An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law, said the Kremlin. TNS

Saudi backs aggression

An official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia expressed the Kingdoms full support to the joint military operations on military targets in Syria. Justifying the strikes the official argued that they were a response to the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including women and children. The use of such internationally prohibited weapons is a continuation of the horrid crimes the regime has been committing for years against the Syrian people, said the Saudi official. TNS

Attack on Syria a crime: Iran

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the US, France and Britain on Saturday was a crime and would not achieve any gains. Todays dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the President of the US, the President of France and the British PM are criminals, Khamenei said. They will not benefit as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits, Khamenei said. PTi

China opposes joint operation

China opposed the joint attack by the US, France and the UK on Syria, saying any action bypassing the UN charter violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations. Calling for the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the Syria issue through dialogue and negotiation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Beijing is opposed the use of force. PTImonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Brussels, April 14

The NATO Secretary General on Saturday backed the joint strikes by the US, the UK, and France targeting the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capabilities.

Jens Stoltenberg said that the strikes would reduce Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime ability to further attack the local population with chemical weapons, Efe news reported.

"NATO has consistently condemned Syria's continued use of chemical weapons as a clear breach of international norms and agreements," Stoltenberg said in a statement.

"The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, and those responsible must be held accountable," he added.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the members of the organisation to show moderation in the prevailing "dangerous" climate and to respect international law.

Guterres' remarks came during a Security Council meeting on Friday, shortly before the strikes were launched in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7.

"I urge all member states to act responsibly in these dangerous circumstances," Guterres said.

The Council has met four times this week to assess the Syrian situation but the sessions have ended without any agreements being reached.

The debates have exposed the deep divisions between the US and Russia on the conflict, which led Guterres to say that "the Cold War is back - with a vengeance".

IANSpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Moscow, April 14

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced a strike on Syria launched by the United States and its allies as an act of aggression that will exacerbate humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader says Moscow is calling an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over the strike launched by the US, Britain and France.

Putin added that the strike had a destructive influence on the entire system of international relations. He reaffirmed Russias view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake.

Putin said that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack. He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

Israel says in response to the American-led strike in Syria that the Middle Eastern countrys murderous actions put itself in danger.

An official says in a statement today that President Donald Trump made clear last year that the use of chemical weapons was a red line not to be crossed.

He says the overnight operation carried out by the United States, France and Britain followed that example.

The official says that Syria continues to carry out murderous actions and be a base for these actions and others, including Irans, that put its territory, forces and leadership in peril. The official spoke anonymously according to protocol. There has been no other official Israeli response yet.

Israel has issued several stern warnings of late about Irans increased involvement along its border in Syria in Lebanon.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has expressed his support for the airstrikes on Syria authorised by Prime Minister Theresa May.

Johnson tweeted today that he welcomed the news of the military strike against major chemical weapons facilities in Syria in concert with our US and French allies. Johnson said: The world is united in its disgust for any use of chemical weapons, but especially against civilians. May authorised the strikes without a vote from Parliament, which has been in recess. She had received support from her Cabinet in a crisis session.

The US, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, Trump said.

Syrians crowded onto the streets in noisy demonstrations of defiance afterward and their ally Russia denounced the attack. Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assads programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

Syrian television reported that Syrias air defences, which are substantial, responded to the attack. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said there were no reports of US losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.  APpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Washington, April 15

The Republican party lawmakers have hailed President Donald Trump for his decision to carry out air strikes on Syrias chemical weapons infrastructure, while the Democrats sought action against Russia, alleging that Moscow was behind the Assad regimes atrocities against his own people.

In a combined operation, the US, Britain and France today launched military strikes against Bashar al-Assads Syrian regime, nearly a week after a suspected chemical attack outside the capital Damascus left over 40 people dead.

Applaud Trump for taking military action against the Assad regime for its latest use of chemical weapons, and for signalling his resolve to do so again if these heinous attacks continue, said Senator John McCain, Chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee.

McCain said the message to Assad must be that the cost of using chemical weapons is worse than any perceived benefit.

He said the message must demonstrate that the US and its allies have the will and capability to continue imposing those costs, and that Iran and Russia will ultimately be unsuccessful in protecting Assad from our punitive response.

To succeed in the long run, we need a comprehensive strategy for Syria and the entire region. The President needs to lay out our goals, not just with regard to ISIS, but also the ongoing conflict in Syria and malign Russian and Iranian influence in the region, McCain said.

Air strikes disconnected from a broader strategy may be necessary, but they alone will not achieve US objectives in the Middle East, he said.

However, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said that one night of air strikes was not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorisation for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians, she said.

President Trump must also hold Putin accountable for his enabling of the Assad regimes atrocities against the Syrian people, Pelosi said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the US had taken decisive action in coordination with its allies.

We are united in our resolve that Assads barbaric use of chemical weapons cannot go unanswered. His regimes unconscionable brutality against innocent civilians cannot be tolerated, he said.

There should be no doubt that Russia and Iran have blood on their hands, and their partnership with Assad reveals the true nature of their regimes. The United States and our allies must continue to seek ways to hold Assads enablers accountable, Ryan said.

The administration is justified to take limited action in coordination with its allies to hold Assad accountable for the use of chemical weapons, said Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Commitee.

The horrifying chemical weapon attacks on innocent civilians is a war crime and Bashar al-Assad and his regime must be held accountable. However, air strikes alone will not achieve that goal, said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley.

President Trumps pledge for sustained military action demands a strategic plan to be authorised and reviewed by Congress.

Any strategy must also address Russian President Vladimir Putins role in financing and enabling Assads regime, as Russia must be held equally accountable for these heinous crimes, Crowley said.

Noting that Assad should know that the use of chemical weapons will be met with a strong response, House Democratic Whip Steny H Hoyer said the US acted with its allies to respond to the use of chemical weapons in violation of international law.

We must have a clear strategy for ending the conflict in Syria, and the Administration must articulate a clear plan to not just respond to this horrific chemical attack but to reach a lasting political solution in Syria: one that ends civilian casualties and ensures there is no permanent Iranian presence, he said.

He added that the Congress must have a full role in reviewing and approving the strategy.

While the US and our allies must not turn a blind eye to Assads vile and inhumane attacks against his own citizens, military action in Syria must be measured, as part of a coherent strategy to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons without further destabilising an already-volatile region or inadvertently expanding the conflict, said Senator Mark Warner.

A pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate, but the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria, said Senate Minority Leader, Senator Chuck Schumer.

Senator Mazie K Hirono said she was deeply concerned by the Trumps incoherent strategy on Syria where there are layers of complexity and no easy answers.

Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said Trump has just conducted another set of unconstitutional strikes.

He does not have the power to take these actions without consulting Congress. Only Congress  not the White House  has the power to declare war, she said.

Tonights air strikes are not a long term plan to resolve the Syrian crisis, and they will do little to stop a dictator like Assad from repeating his crimes against humanity, she said.

We need a considered, debated, real strategy to end the violence in Syria and protect innocent people from dying. These air strikes are not only unconstitutional, they are dangerously escalating a conflict that could send us into a war with multiple countries, Jayapal said.

This is a debate that must take place in Congress immediately, and we should be clear that the President has exceeded the authority afforded to him by the Constitution, she added. PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Damascus, April 14

Syrias government on Saturday denounced Western strikes on its military installations as a brutal, barbaric aggression that violated international law, even as hundreds of Syrians demonstrated in a landmark square of the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance..

The US, France, and Britain launched a volley of strikes Saturday morning on positions around the capital Damascus and the central city of Homs.

The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, the foreign ministry said.

AFPs correspondent in Damascus said several consecutive blasts were heard at 4:00 am local time, followed by the sound of airplanes overhead.

State news agency SANA also reported the attack, but said it was doomed to fail.

The joint operation came one week after a suspected chemical attack on an opposition-controlled town outside Damascus left more than 40 people dead.

Western powers blamed President Bashar al-Assad, but Syria and its ally Russia categorically denied the claims and accused the West of fabricating the incident to justify military action.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was set to begin its investigation inside the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma on Saturday, just hours after the strikes.

Syrias foreign ministry said the strikes aimed to block their work.

The timing of the aggression coincides with the arrival of the OPCW mission to Syria to investigate the alleged chemical attack in Douma, and mainly aims at hindering the missions work and preempting its results, it said in comments carried by state news agency SANA.

The ministry said it was an attempt to block the exposure of their lies and fabrications.

It said the United States, Britain and France launched around 110 missiles on Syria, but air defences shot most of them down.

Three civilians were wounded in the Homs attacks, the ministry said, but it did not give a toll for Damascus or mention any combatant casualties.

Lebanese movement Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian regime, sharply condemned the strikes, saying they would not achieve their objectives.

Americas war against Syria, and against the regions peoples and resistance movement, will not achieve its aims, the group said in a statement published on its War Media Channel.

Several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre, SANA reported.

State media published images of a cloud of reddish smoke hanging over the capital and said that air defences were activated to block the attack.

But it said skies were clear over Aleppo in the north, Hasakeh in the northeast, and Latakia and Tartus along the western coast, where key Syrian and Russian military installations are located.  AFP/APROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Beirut, April 14

The Syrian opposition said Western strikes on Saturday would not change the course of the seven-year-old war as the army said it would crush remaining rebel parts of the country. The missiles by the United States, Britain, and France targeted President Bashar al-Assads chemical weapons capabilities in response to a deadly poison gas attack near Damascus a week ago, Washington said.

But rebels and opposition politicians said the Western powers should also hit Assads conventional weapons which have killed many more people during the war.

Some insurgent officials said they feared an onslaught against the rebel bastion of Idlib, which a senior Iranian official has indicated could be the next target. Maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons again, but it will not hesitate to use weapons, opposition leader Nasr al-Hariri said.

A rebel fighter said he was bracing for further attacks as revenge by the government with its allies on rebel territory in the northwest, including the Idlib region.

More was expected from the American strike to affect the path of the war and to curb Assads crimes, he told Reuters from Hama province. Damascus and its allies have said reports about poison gas in Douma were fabricated as a pretext for Western strikes.

After the suspected gas attack, which medical relief groups said killed dozens, rebels holed up in Douma finally surrendered the town. That clinched a big victory for Assad, wiping out the last insurgent pocket in the eastern Ghouta region near the capital.

The war has been going Assads way since Russia intervened on his side in 2015. From holding less than a fifth of Syria in 2015, Assad has recovered to control the largest chunk of the country with Russian and Iranian help. Mohamad Alloush, political chief of the Jaish al-Islam faction that had controlled Douma, said the Western strikes on Saturday would not be enough.

As long as this regime and its security agencies exist, the chemical (attacks) will continue because there is safety from the consequences that would end it, he said. And (Assad) is portraying what happened as a victory.

The Syrian presidency posted a video appearing to show Assad arriving for work on Saturday morning a few hours after the U.S.-led attack, dressed in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase.  ReutersUsername: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average

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lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:34 AM











Post: #16 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Advertisement Eustace Muffins Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:26 AM) Prague isn't in Russia

Guests are dumb as ahits



More like the cheq republic Guests are dumb as ahitsMore like the cheq republic LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:34 AM











Post: #17 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:34 AM) Federal Judge has granted permission for Trump to intervene in the Cohen case.



https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/status/9...3299528709



ME THINKS TRUMPS IS SHITTING ENOUGH BRICKS TO BUILD HIS OWN WALL ME THINKS TRUMPS IS SHITTING ENOUGH BRICKS TO BUILD HIS OWN WALL LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:35 AM











Post: #18 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:34 AM) Eustace Muffins Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:26 AM) Prague isn't in Russia

Guests are dumb as ahits



More like the cheq republic



you moron. read the OP

bwahahahahaha you moron. read the OPbwahahahahaha LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:36 AM











Post: #19 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:31 AM) Quote: Update: One of the firmest denials Trumps orbit has made of the Steele dossier has been its report that Michael Cohen met with Russian agents in Prague in the summer of 2016. Cohen has produced a passport showing no Czech visit. But McClatchy reports that Robert Mueller has evidence he did go to Prague to meet with Russians then, going through Germany, which would avoid any mark on his passport. In addition to constituting important evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia, this is significant corroboration of Steeles work. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:37 AM











Post: #20 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump, The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:38 AM











Post: #21 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

[ ] According the the Steele Dossier Cohen while in Prague not only met with Russians  he negotiated to offer payments to some of the Russian hackers who had penetrated the DNC in order to help them relocate before they were identified by the FBI. [/size] LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:39 AM











Post: #22 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:38 AM) [ ] According the the Steele Dossier Cohen while in Prague not only met with Russians  he negotiated to offer payments to some of the Russian hackers who had penetrated the DNC in order to help them relocate before they were identified by the FBI. [/size]



how delicious how delicious LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:40 AM











Post: #23 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:40 AM











Post: #24 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:40 AM) CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic.





Yes, YES dipshit Trumpers, your fake President DID conspire against the United States to violate the right of Americans to vote in free and fair elections. Yes, YES dipshit Trumpers, your fake President DID conspire against the United States to violate the right of Americans to vote in free and fair elections. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:40 AM











Post: #25 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:37 AM) CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump, The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic.

Yes, YES dipshit Trumpers, your fake President DID conspire against the United States to violate the right of Americans to vote in free and fair elections. Yes, YES dipshit Trumpers, your fake President DID conspire against the United States to violate the right of Americans to vote in free and fair elections. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:41 AM











Post: #26 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:40 AM) CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic.

Yes, YES dipshit Trumpers, your fake President DID conspire against the United States to violate the right of Americans to vote in free and fair elections. Yes, YES dipshit Trumpers, your fake President DID conspire against the United States to violate the right of Americans to vote in free and fair elections. Uppity Me

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04-14-2018 02:43 AM



Posts: 36,680









Post: #27 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Trump won by a landslide

Russia had nothing to do with it Quote: Les pauvres n'ont-ils des Euros ?

Alors laissez les pauvres 'sh*t' dans les rues LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:44 AM











Post: #28 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Natasha Bertrand on MSNBC now commenting on why this is Huge:





...Its absolutely massive. This is a rumor that has been swirling around Washington, for months now. The idea was that Cohen had flown into Germany, in early Sept. of 2016, and then had made his way by a bus or a train down the the Chez republic, down to Prague.

It was never something that anyone has really been able to confirm. But now we know that Mueller has evidence that it did happen. Uppity Me

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04-14-2018 02:44 AM



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Post: #29 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:41 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:40 AM) CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic.

Yes, YES dipshit Trumpers, your fake President DID conspire against the United States to violate the right of Americans to vote in free and fair elections.

We don't have free and fair elections which is why our governments are run by Organized Crime We don't have free and fair elections which is why our governments are run by Organized Crime Quote: Les pauvres n'ont-ils des Euros ?

Alors laissez les pauvres 'sh*t' dans les rues LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:45 AM











Post: #30 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Uppity Me Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:43 AM) Trump won by a landslide

Russia had nothing to do with it

They at least made PEPE a household name They at least made PEPE a household name Advertisement

















The UN General Assembly adopted without a vote two resolutions entitled World Bicycle Day and Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea at the 82nd meeting of the 72nd session. The draft resolutions were prepared at Turkmenistans initiative.

Announcing this news at a government meeting, Turkmenistans Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov noted that 56 countries co-sponsored the resolution on World Bicycle Day, and 19 countries co-sponsored the resolution on Cooperation between the UN and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea.

In this regard, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressed that the adoption of the above-mentioned resolutions that were initiated by Turkmenistan provided evidence of the countrys growing international reputation. The head of state issued instructions on preparations for World Bicycle Day to be celebrated annually on June 3 in accordance with the decision of the UN General Assembly. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov also instructed the Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and other relevant officials to organize events marking the adoption of the above-mentioned resolutions of the UN General Assembly.

 TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2021Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average

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lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:17 AM











Post: #1 Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Advertisement The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trumps personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spys report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election. [/size] [ ][/size] LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:19 AM











Post: #2 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

It would also be one of the most significant developments thus far in Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation of whether the Trump campaign and the Kremlin worked together to help Trump win the White House. [...] Cohens alleged communications with the Russians were mentioned multiple times in Steeles reports, which he ultimately shared with the FBI.





HOLY sh*t Eustace Muffins

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04-14-2018 02:20 AM



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Post: #3 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:17 AM) [ ] The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trumps personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spys report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election. [/size]

Cool link bra Cool link bra LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:22 AM











Post: #4 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Eustace Muffins Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:20 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:17 AM) [ ] The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trumps personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spys report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election. [/size]

Cool link bra



http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics...70264.html





[ ] YOU'RE WELCOME [/size] [ ][/size] LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:24 AM











Post: #5 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

@justinjm1





Cohen told Congress he didn't go. If Mueller finds otherwise, it's a violation of 18USC1001, the same charge as lying to the FBI Eustace Muffins

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Post: #6 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Prague isn't in Russia LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:26 AM











Post: #7 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

This is way bigger than Cohen lying to Congress which appears small potatoes at this point. There was more than collusion, there was conspiracy and cover up, and Mueller has it all. Trump is done for. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:26 AM











Post: #8 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Eustace Muffins Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:26 AM) Prague isn't in Russia





I hope you realize it was a different Michael Cohen? You should probably read the dossier. It even states the query returned the wrong person. Yes a Michael Cohen has gone there, however its a different one. Have a nice day. I hope you realize it was a different Michael Cohen? You should probably read the dossier. It even states the query returned the wrong person. Yes a Michael Cohen has gone there, however its a different one. Have a nice day. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:27 AM











Post: #9 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:28 AM











Post: #10 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:27 AM) CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic.



NO COLLUSION. NO COLLUSION

Believe me NO COLLUSION. NO COLLUSIONBelieve me The Ghost Of LOP

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04-14-2018 02:30 AM



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Post: #11 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign



INSERT MEME HERE LOL INSERT MEME HERE LOL I am so confused !!! (This post was last modified: 04-14-2018 02:31 AM by The Ghost Of LOP .) LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:31 AM











Post: #12 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

Quote: Update: One of the firmest denials Trumps orbit has made of the Steele dossier has been its report that Michael Cohen met with Russian agents in Prague in the summer of 2016. Cohen has produced a passport showing no Czech visit. But McClatchy reports that Robert Mueller has evidence he did go to Prague to meet with Russians then, going through Germany, which would avoid any mark on his passport. In addition to constituting important evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia, this is significant corroboration of Steeles work. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:31 AM











Post: #13 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic.



Ditto. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:34 AM











Post: #14 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign





https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/status/9...3299528709 Federal Judge has granted permission for Trump to intervene in the Cohen case. LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:34 AM











Post: #15 RE: Trumps lawyer Cohen went to Russia during election campaign

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:31 AM) CNN Says: Trump Trump Trump The Russians The Russians The Russians. Get Over It Already. Pathetic.



Ditto.

NO COLLUSION. NO COLLUSION

Believe me NO COLLUSION. NO COLLUSIONBelieve me Advertisement

















World must nurture courage to care: UN chief

United Nations, Apr 14 (UNI) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the world to reflect on the suffering of those who perished, as well as survived, the Rwandan genocide, and resolve to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again.

Speaking at an event on Friday commemorating the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, he also said reconciliation is possible, even after a tragedy of such monumental proportions.

Rwanda has learned from the events of 1994. So must the international community, said the Secretary-General.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 12 Vote(s) - 3.67 Average

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Page: 1 2 3 4 5 ... 56 US Strikes On Syria!!! Isabella

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04-14-2018 02:48 AM



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Post: #1 US Strikes On Syria!!!

Advertisement If you want to influence Trump, you got to be the last guy he talks to."



Steve Bannon Breaking now..If you want to influence Trump, you got to be the last guy he talks to."Steve Bannon (This post was last modified: 04-14-2018 08:05 PM by silversides .) Isabella

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04-14-2018 02:50 AM



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Post: #2 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

Phil Mattingly

Verified account @Phil_Mattingly

3m3 minutes ago



President Trump will address the nation about Syria tonight, a White House official said, per @jeffzeleny



A US official says President Trump has made a final decision on Syria after a week of deliberation, per @Kevinliptakcnn If you want to influence Trump, you got to be the last guy he talks to."



Steve Bannon Isabella

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04-14-2018 02:53 AM



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Post: #3 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight





A US official said Trump has made a final decision on Syria after a week of deliberation.

Vice President Mike Pence in Lima, Peru, left a summit event at the National Theater unexpectedly to return to hotel.



This story is breaking and will be updated.



https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics/...index.html Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump will address the nation about Syria Friday night, a White House official said.A US official said Trump has made a final decision on Syria after a week of deliberation.Vice President Mike Pence in Lima, Peru, left a summit event at the National Theater unexpectedly to return to hotel.This story is breaking and will be updated. If you want to influence Trump, you got to be the last guy he talks to."



Steve Bannon LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:54 AM











Post: #4 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

Pin LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:54 AM











Post: #5 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

Unpin everything else too. Mr ifnoc

Vote- Asteroid/Comet 2020

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04-14-2018 02:55 AM



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Post: #6 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight





Pin request She had 7 hairs in the middle of her head.

3 were alive and 4 were dead.

AgalinaHagolina

OkatokaWokeatoka

AckatacaWaka was her name.



;) LoP Guest

lop guest

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Post: #7 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

itll be nothing but filthy neocon war criminal lies, watch cartoons instead LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:55 AM











Post: #8 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight





NO CILLUSION. NO COLLUSION.

BELIEVE ME





and he'll say..NO CILLUSION. NO COLLUSION.BELIEVE ME Disturbed

Finger lickin' good

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04-14-2018 02:55 AM



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Post: #9 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

In Lima (Peru) the VP is unexpectedly rushed backed to his hotel LoP Guest

lop guest

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04-14-2018 02:56 AM











Post: #10 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

Missiles already launched grav

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04-14-2018 02:57 AM



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Post: #11 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

We did not want this mess. Why are we even there? Bolton!  37 Experiments Proving FE: https://youtu.be/OoxhDtnRmBk

 200 Proofs Earth Is Not a Spinning Ball, http://www.atlanteanconspiracy.com/2015/...-ball.html

 Flat Earth Research: pp. 999-1001,

http://lunaticoutpost.com/thread-90006-p...t=Research Hamburgerwagon

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04-14-2018 02:57 AM











Post: #12 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 02:56 AM) Missiles already launched

They will be hitting while he speaks They will be hitting while he speaks Isabella

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04-14-2018 02:58 AM



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Post: #13 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

Andrew Beatty

Verified account @AndrewBeatty

34m34 minutes ago



20:19 at the White House. We still have no lid and the President is not in the West Wing. The expectation is that military strikes against Syria are imminent.



63 replies 643 retweets 383 likes

Andrew Beatty Retweeted

Gregor Peter

 @L0gg0l

53m53 minutes ago



UK PM's May Chief of Staff Gavin Barwell was seen leaving Downing Street 20 minutes ago, 0:45 AM London Time #Syria -- Sky News

5 replies 84 retweets 48 likes If you want to influence Trump, you got to be the last guy he talks to."



Steve Bannon LoP Guest

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04-14-2018 02:59 AM











Post: #14 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

In Syria is Saturday 4.00am. Trump will rain it down on Sunday the 15th.

I`ve said this since the chemical attack took place on 4/7 Uppity Me

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User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 03:00 AM



Posts: 36,680









Post: #15 RE: BREAKING: Trump To Address Nation On Syria Tonight

mass distraction

I guess the lid is off now Quote: Les pauvres n'ont-ils des Euros ?

Alors laissez les pauvres 'sh*t' dans les rues Advertisement

















Lunaticoutpost.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , anaffiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.Amazon, the Amazon logo, MYHABIT, and the MYHABIT logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.Don't be a pest to the forum.No profanity in thread-titles or usernamesNo excessive profanity in postsNo Racism, Antisemitism + HateNo calls for violence against anyone..This website exists for fun and discussion only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. The content of posts on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of LunaticOutPost.Com. The owners or administration of this website can't be hold responsible for content hosted on sites that posters link to in; including, but not limited to, posts, signatures, private messages and such. This site may contain content not suitable for minors and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss (no more than 50% of the source material) provide a link back to the original articleIf you are a legal copyright holder or a designated agent for such and you believe a post on this website falls outside the boundaries of "Fair Use" and legitimately infringes on yours or your clients copyright please contact [email protected] This website is owned by :Marco ZwaneveldDrijfriemstraat 522516 XR The HagueNetherlands.I will not rent, sell, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third party.We might contact you from time to time regarding your purchases or the services (like forums and announcement lists) you have subscribed to.Some of the 3rd party advertisers on lunaticoutpost.com may use cookiesto track peformance and/or to serve relevant ads.If you wish to read more and/or opt out of such cookies, please visit: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/Its been some time since I joined my Wine Pairing Weekend friends so were venturing away from Italy and taking a short jaunt over to the Navarra in Spain. If youre not familiar with the Navarra it is located in northern Spain at the base of the Pyrenees Mountains. Its near Pamplona and part of the Camino de Santiago (the pilgrimage route of St. James), which was used amongst monks traveling to France and is partially why French grapes are part of vineyard life in the Navarra.

Wine region of the Navarra sourced from Navarrawine.us

situated in 1 of the 5 sub zones known as the Ribera Alta district of Navarra. This is considered the heart of the Navarra and home to the Navarra D.O. headquarters. This D.O. is one of the oldest in the country created in 1933 and consists of about 90 wineries and 2,500 growers. The red grapes dominate the landscapes by about 90% over whites. The Ribera Alta is a warmer section of the Navarra with the Rio Elga flowing through the land. Today I'm sharing the wines of Bodega Inurrieta . They aresituated in 1 of the 5 sub zones known as the. This is considered the heart of the Navarra and home to the Navarra D.O. headquarters. This D.O. is one of the oldest in the country created in 1933 and consists of about 90 wineries and 2,500 growers. The red grapes dominate the landscapes by about 90% over whites. The Ribera Alta is a warmer section of the Navarra with the Rio Elga flowing through the land.

The winery is named after the land where the ancestors grew vines over 100 years ago. The vines of today were planted back in 1999 with the first bottle release in 2003. As the President Juan Maria Antonana states Inurrieta is a young winery but our family has a long tradition in the world of wine. The wineries altitude ranges from 300-480 and consists of 3 different soil types so they are able to produce 6 different grape varietals including sauvignon blanc, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, graciano and garnacha.

I tried both their sauvignon blanc known as Orchidea and their Crianza blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon known as Cuatrocientos. Check out the pairings!



2017 Inurrieta Orchidea Sauvignon Blanc

Brilliant, crystal pale yellow in color with a tinge of green. On the nose the aromatics are jumping out of the glass with waves of tropical fruits (pineapples and grapefruits). A light to medium bodied wine rich in tropical fruit with vegetal undertones. Well balanced.

Pairing: I paired this wine with a pintxo appetizer topped with salted ham, roasted peppers and goat cheese drizzled with some delicious extra virgin olive oil I received from Azienda Agricola Pernigo. I was a big fan of this pairing as the acidity and tropical notes of the wine integrated well with the savory ham along with the peppers and goat cheese. I paired this wine with a pintxo appetizer topped with salted ham, roasted peppers and goat cheese drizzled with some delicious extra virgin olive oil I received from Azienda Agricola Pernigo. I was a big fan of this pairing as the acidity and tropical notes of the wine integrated well with the savory ham along with the peppers and goat cheese.

Inurrieta Cuatrocientos Crianza Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine is a blend of 60% merlot and 40% cabernet sauvignon. Crianza in the Navarra has a requirement of 24 months aging with a minimum of 9 months in barrel. Bodega Inurrieta uses both French and American oak. This wine is deep, dark ruby in color. Sweet smelling on the nose and rich in blackberries and raspberries as well as on the palatte. A full bodied, meaty wine with vanilla notes from the barrel aging.

Pairing: I paired with this stuffed peppers filled with turkey, black beans, diced red peppers and corn. I paired with this stuffed peppers filled with turkey, black beans, diced red peppers and corn.Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg testifies earlier this week about the data breaches at the social media which have sparked calls for tougher rules AFP/SAUL LOEB

After years of mounting concern, the European Union will introduce tough new data protection rules next month, which Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg himself has welcomed in the face of the latest scandals.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on May 25, gives web users much greater control over how their personal information is stored and used, with big fines for companies that break the rules.

"I was really desperate about thinking how to make the best possible campaign for GDPR so now this is well done, so thank you Mr Zuckerberg," the EU's justice and consumer affairs commissioner Vera Jourova told reporters in Brussels this week.

"His declaration that they want to expand our European rules globally, it's only good news, it sounds very nice to me."

The GDPR is not the only EU action that has triggered accusations of protectionism against the new digital economy. It has also drawn fire over its massive anti-trust fines against Google and Apple as well as plans to tax internet giants.

During questioning by US senators on Tuesday over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Zuckerberg said Facebook was "committed to rolling out the controls and the affirmative consent" required by the new EU rules "around the world".

Under the new rules, companies will need explicit consent from users to share their data with third parties and people will have the right to know what personal information is stored about them and to ask for it to be deleted.

Breaches can lead to heavy fines -- up to four percent of a company's global turnover.

Zuckerberg said he took personal responsibility for the fact that 87 million people's personal data was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a firm which worked for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

'WAKE-UP CALL'

The Facebook chief "had always said the opposite, that it was going to kill the internet," said Viviane Reding, the centre-right European Parliament member who initiated the GDPR when she was a European commissioner in 2012.

"Now our regulation is seen as a positive step for the internet's future development," she told AFP.

Reding said the Cambridge Analytica scandal was a "wake-up call" to the United States in the same way that whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations about mass US intelligence surveillance was to Europe.

The US senators who questioned Zuckerberg "studied closely the European legislation," Reding said. "They understood that this model is not an internet killer, but the basis for its balanced development."

European Parliament member Maria Joao Rodrigues, a Portuguese socialist, said times have changed, recalling how even some European governments had initially opposed the GDPR.

"US congressmen are contacting us at the European Parliament to learn about our experience," Rodrigues told AFP.

Jan Albrecht, a German MEP from the Greens party, said Europeans have demonstrated they have taken a "necessary step" to protect data, not stall the economy.

"The far-sightedness that the EU has shown is confirmed," Albrecht told AFP, recalling those who said "we must not create any hurdles for the digital economy".

'EXTREMELY PROUD'

He said Europeans should stop doubting themselves and "be extremely proud" that they are leading the way and that their market is big enough to "set standards" for the rest of the world.

"The US Congress has failed to do so for years and left legislative initiatives untreated," Albrecht said.

Guillermo Beltra, a legal expert with the European consumers association BEUC, said the GDPR is a great example of the EU showing industry where "innovation should go towards", with society demanding citizen privacy first.

"What the EU does is try to make technology developments adapt to society's social values, as opposed to the society having to adapt its values to accept the new technology," Beltra said.French theatre company Be Clown performs its circus play Petole for free for audiences in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia. Photo courtesy of the organizer

The Be Clown group is carrying out an Asian Project in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia that brings free performances to children and people at orphanages, schools, hospitals and rural villages.

The play is set on a sailboat where sailors and passengers are waiting to travel by sea. But the sail of the boat so small the boat cannot move.

The performance by the 12-member company will feature contemporary clowns, circus acts, theatre and live music.

In November, Be Clown created the play Petole while residing in La Vie Vu Linh, a community tourism area in Vu Linh Commune in Yen Bai Provinces Yen Binh District. In February, the work premiered at the venue.

Be Clown performs play combining circus, theatre and music, and also organises workshops on circus arts.

The free performance of Petole will take place at 7:30 pm at Luu Huu Phuoc Park on Hoa Binh Boulevard in Ninh Kieu District, as part of celebrations for the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and France.Vietnams development record over the past 30 years is remarkable. Economic and political reforms under the Doi moi policy, launched in 1986, attracted foreign investment to the country, which in turn led to sustained GDP growth reaching an average of 6 per cent annually and deeply transformed Vietnam. It is now one of the fastest-growing economies of Southeast Asia. Foreign investors are particularly attracted by low manufacturing costs and an emerging middle class in the national population.

This economic momentum is served by the willingness of Vietnamese authorities to develop an efficient market economy, which is reflected in the attractive tax rates for companies in some sectors and the (quasi) elimination of import/export trade barriers and tariffs against ASEAN nations and other countries, such as Japan, China, and South Korea. Vietnamese authorities remain eager to further open the national economy to foreign investment, as evidenced by Vietnams active role in the negotiations on new-generation free trade agreements, such as the much-anticipated free trade agreement with the European Union, the EUVFTA, which should enter into force in 2019.

As such, Vietnam offers a good business environment for the development of merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions. The number of M&A transactions as well as the volume of such transactions has consistently increased in recent years.

Examples of significant M&A deals in Vietnam

Foreign investors increasingly opt for M&A transactions as the right approach to enter the Vietnamese market or to expand their business. The value of M&A operations in Vietnam has turned a corner in recent years, as shown by the acquisition of Big C Vietnam  then a Vietnamese business of Groupe Casino  by Thai conglomerate Central Group, for an enterprise value of $1.24 billion. The purchase of Metro Cash and Carry Vietnam from German Metro Group by TCC Group, another Thai entity, is also worth quoting.

2017 has been promising with some interesting deals such as ThaiBevs acquisition of a 54 per cent stake in the Saigon Beer, Alcohol, and Beverage Corporation (Sabeco), which was the largest transaction of the year with a value of $4.8 billion.

Other noteworthy deals include Shinhan Bank acquiring ANZ Vietnams retail division for $240 million, SCG acquiring 100 per cent of VCM for $156 million, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquiring a 7.5-per-cent stake in Masan Nutri-Science and a 4.2-per-cent stake in Masan Group for a total deal value of $250 million, Earth Chemical acquiring A My Gia for $89 million, and China Fortune Land Development acquiring Dai Phuoc Lotus at $64 million.

Key sectors for FDI in Vietnam

Retail, consumer goods manufacturing, and real estate are commonly considered sectors in which M&A activity has been the strongest in recent years.

As a matter of fact, real estate appears to be one of the most attractive sectors for foreign investors, thanks to public incentives. Indeed, the government is prioritising infrastructure development such as residential, offices, retail, hotel, and industrial parks, which have seen increased investment from foreign investors from Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.

Foreign investors in the real estate sector usually prefer joint ventures rather than acquisitions, as local players have land assets and are well connected with local authorities, while foreign investors have the much-needed capital and technical expertise.

In addition, the Vietnamese government has recently made significant new efforts to accelerate the equitisation and divestment of its state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which will undoubtedly create many more opportunities for foreign investors.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment published an SOE divestment plan until 2020 with divestment plans for Petrolimex  the countrys biggest petroleum distributor, from which the state will divest a 24.9-per-cent stake  but also the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM), and Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex).

In 2017, the Vietnamese states investment arm, SCIC, divested 9 per cent of its capital from Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk), a leading dairy producer in Vietnam, with annual turnover in 2016 of about $1.7 billion.

In May, the government approved a blueprint for SOE restructuring for the 2016-2020 period, under which the government aims to equitise 137 more SOEs by 2020, most of which are large-scale entities.

These figures are expected to increase further in 2018, as many foreign investors try to position themselves in Vietnam in order to benefit fully from the free trade agreements expected to enter into force this year, leading to a simpler and more efficient legal framework for foreign investment in Vietnam.

Legal framework for investment

Vietnamese regulations for foreign investors are based on two main laws dated November 26, 2014: the Law on Enterprises (LOE) and the Law on Investment (LOI), which entered into force on July 1, 2015.

These laws represent significant milestones in the development of the legal framework for M&A activities in Vietnam. The implementing legislation issued pursuant to these new laws has also contributed to the simplification of the applicable administrative and regulatory procedures in Vietnam. The laws have brought clarity on a number of questions unresolved under the previous legal framework.

The LOI notably provides a definition of the foreign-invested companies deemed to be foreign investors in Vietnam  and consequently subject to the same conditions as foreign investors in Vietnam. Companies deemed to be foreign investors are (a) companies in which 51 per cent or more of the charter capital is held by foreign investors; (b) companies in which 51 per cent or more of the charter capital is held by companies referred to in point (a); and (c) companies in which 51 per cent or more of the charter capital is held by foreign investors and companies referred to in point (a).

Indeed, the regulations require foreign investors to apply for two different certificates to establish a company in Vietnam: first of all, an investment registration certificate (IRC), issued by the competent investment agency  this is most often the Department of Planning and Investment of the relevant province or city under central authority  and thereafter an enterprise registration certificate (ERC), which serves as the incorporation certificate and is issued by the Business Registration Office under the same Department of Planning and Investment.

The LOI also defines a framework for M&A transactions, allowing foreigners to invest in existing domestic companies either by way of acquisition of shares or contribution to charter capital. Such an investment does not require the foreign investor to apply for any IRC, but the investment must be registered if it is made in a conditional business sector or if it results in the foreigner owning more than 51 per cent of the share capital.

Thanks to this new legal framework, investors are more likely to commit capital in the Vietnamese market, which is evidenced by the growing number of M&A deals occurring lately in the country.

Although the legal framework has improved with the LOE and LOI, it is important to note that Vietnamese legislation includes restrictions in a number of sectors, notably including the retail sector. The LOI lists more than 200 conditional sectors related to national defence and security, social order and security, social ethics, or public health. The specific requirements applicable to each conditional sector are detailed in corresponding regulations. Relatively few sectors are still facing a cap on the ratio of foreign ownership, for example the banking sector  capped at 30 per cent for the acquisition of Vietnamese commercial banks  or the logistics sector. The authorities will also fix a cap for foreign shareholding regarding SOEs in the process of equitisation. Despite these remaining restrictions, the trend remains to further liberalise the economy.Dau Giay-Phan Thiet Expressway will not be implemented until new legislation can clear up guarantee policies, Photo: Le Toan

The prime minister decided in late March to terminate the public-private partnership (PPP) Dau Giay-Phan Thiet Expressway project, the first pilot transport project in PPP format.

The termination could not be avoided, because investors have been discouraged by unresolved problems relating to the risk-sharing mechanism on exchange rates and the revenue guarantee, a senior official of the Ministry of Transport (MoT) told VIR.

The Dau Giay-Phan Thiet Expressway project, which requires investment capital of $757.7 million, has been awaiting implementation for more than 10 years. Though many international groups were shortlisted as potential investors, they then withdrew.

Under the PPP investment structure proposed by the World Bank (WB), the key lender for the project, investors must get loans from international credit institutions to carry out the second section instead of getting on-lending loans as planned in the previous investment structure.

And this is where the plan has stalled. International credit institutions ask the Vietnamese government to directly guarantee the loans, exchange rates, and revenue, said the MoT official. This is a major challenge, as these guarantee policies are still missing in the most current laws. Even the newly issued Decree No.15/2015/ND-CP on the PPP investment form does not include these guarantee policies.

Trying to create a bankable mechanism, MoT has continued to work on its other PPP project, the Tan Van-Nhon Trach section of the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project. However, this is now running into the same obstacles as the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway project.

The Tan Van-Nhon Trach section is divided into two packages, 1A and 1B, with Package 1A using Korean official development assistance, and Package 1B to be developed under the PPP format.

While South Koreas Keximbank is completing the necessary documents to carry out Package 1A, Package 1B has failed to attract foreign investors, though many have expressed interest, and the work mostly remains on paper due to the year-long problem of a lack of guarantee policies.

The amendments to Decree 15 are believed to be currently awaiting the prime ministerial approval. However, obstacles will remain, as guarantee policies are still absent from these amendments.

We will not pilot new PPP transport projects. The decree cannot solve these problems. We expect new PPP investment legislation to be created soon to clear the bottlenecks, the MoT official noted.

The drafting of new PPP investment legislation might start as late as 2019, meaning that interested foreign investors who want guarantees will have to wait.

Vietnam is in need of capital for transport development to serve its economic growth. The Ministry of Planning and Investment has estimated that the country needs around $68 billion of foreign investment in the infrastructure sector in the next five years.Investors follow stock movements at the MB Securities Company (MBS) in Ha Noi.  VNS Photo Truong Vi

The benchmark VN Index on HCM Stock Exchange dropped 1.35 per cent to close at 1,157.14 points. It had risen 0.51 per cent on Thursday.

The HNX Index on Ha Noi Stock Exchange fell 1.69 per cent to end at 133.34 points, extending its downtrend from the previous 1.13 per cent decline.

More than 246 million shares, worth VND8.1 trillion (US$359 million), were traded on the two local exchanges.

Declining stocks dominated the two bourses, outnumbering gainers by 286 to 192, showing investor confidence was quite low.

Large-cap stocks underperformed as the VN30 Index lost 0.81 per cent to reach 1.134,21 points, with 21 declining stocks against nine gainers among the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation.

Across the stock market, banking, securities, mining, retail and insurance were the worst-performing industries.

Their indices declined between 0.4 per cent and 4.1 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.

BIDV Securities JSC (BSC) said in its daily report that the minor recovery efforts from Thursdays session were dampened by strong selling pressure in many stocks, especially the banking sector and petroleum sector.

Laggards in the sectors included Vietcombank, down 4.2 per cent, Military bank, losing 4.9 per cent, Vietinbank, decreasing 4.2 per cent, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation, falling 4.5 per cent and Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation, slumping 5.7 per cent.

At the beginning of morning session, the market showed signs of recovery due to easing of world political tensions, but the caution of investors also returned quickly.

Cash flew back to real estate stocks, especially at the end of the session, FLC Faros Construction JSC (ROS) Vingroup (VIC) and Novaland Investment Group Corporation (NVL) stayed positive despite substantial selling pressure.

BSC said that the conservatism is increasing; making the market unpredictable in the next trading days and investors should carefully observe and limit the opening of short-term positions.

Viet Dragon Securities Company (VDSC) said in its daily report that over the last few days, the market was affected by external factors, including political tension between the US and Russia. However, todays reports stated the US is rethinking of joining the TPP.

After all, when all these things are over, the market will be back on track as it will rely majorly on internal factors like Viet Nams economy and corporate earnings, it added.

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), although profit-taking volume is rising across the board, overall market movement is still supported by positive information of the annual general meeting (AGM) season and solid first quarter earnings results.

The market is likely to move sideways and experience divergence in the next sessions, BVSC said.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) lost 0.59 to close at 59,32 points, totaling a five-day decline of 2.17 per cent.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 1 Average

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Israel will now attack Iran ! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: kaput

04-14-2018 09:36 AM











Post: #1 Israel will now attack Iran !

Advertisement Knowing Russia will piss down it's leg, Bibi will attack soooon ! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 09:38 AM











Post: #2 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

That will awaken china and china and russia together are not f*cking around. People keep forgetting china in all this, They are not happy. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 09:39 AM











Post: #3 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 09:40 AM











Post: #4 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 09:38 AM) That will awaken china and china and russia together are not f*cking around. People keep forgetting china in all this, They are not happy.

China would be doing a after seeing Russia' NON response and will be cutting deals left, right and center now ! China would be doing aafter seeing Russia' NON response and will be cutting deals left, right and center now ! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 09:49 AM











Post: #5 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !





Russia was one step ahead, as usual and this may explain why they didn't feel the need to start WW3 over the attack .



''US, Syrian and Russian military officials say more than 100 cruise missiles were fired at Syria during early Saturday airstrikes by the United State, France and Britain.



The Russian Defense Ministry said Syria shot down a "significant number" of the missiles, and made it clear that Russia's missile defense systems were not involved in intercepting the missiles.



More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets, the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.



Reuters quoted an unnamed Syrian official as saying that a third of the missiles fired in the aggression were shot down. The source also said the targeted sites had earlier been evacuated upon Russias warning.



We have absorbed the strike, he said. We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago.



"Around 110 missiles" were fired at Syrian targets in Damascus and its outskirts, the Syrian Army spokesperson in an official announcement on Syrian state TV.



Lebanon's Hezbollah movement praised the Syrian air defense for confronting "tripartite aggression".



http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/04/14...nald-Trump This puts a different light on the attack, a lot more missiles were fired at Damascus than what we were told .Russia was one step ahead, as usual and this may explain why they didn't feel the need to start WW3 over the attack .''US, Syrian and Russian military officials say more than 100 cruise missiles were fired at Syria during early Saturday airstrikes by the United State, France and Britain.The Russian Defense Ministry said Syria shot down a "significant number" of the missiles, and made it clear that Russia's missile defense systems were not involved in intercepting the missiles.More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets, the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.Reuters quoted an unnamed Syrian official as saying that a third of the missiles fired in the aggression were shot down. The source also said the targeted sites had earlier been evacuated upon Russias warning.We have absorbed the strike, he said. We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago."Around 110 missiles" were fired at Syrian targets in Damascus and its outskirts, the Syrian Army spokesperson in an official announcement on Syrian state TV.Lebanon's Hezbollah movement praised the Syrian air defense for confronting "tripartite aggression". LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 10:00 AM











Post: #6 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

nuke israel for the love of god, these are the real threat!!! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 10:04 AM











Post: #7 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 09:49 AM) This puts a different light on the attack, a lot more missiles were fired at Damascus than what we were told .



Russia was one step ahead, as usual and this may explain why they didn't feel the need to start WW3 over the attack .



''US, Syrian and Russian military officials say more than 100 cruise missiles were fired at Syria during early Saturday airstrikes by the United State, France and Britain.



The Russian Defense Ministry said Syria shot down a "significant number" of the missiles, and made it clear that Russia's missile defense systems were not involved in intercepting the missiles.



More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets, the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.



Reuters quoted an unnamed Syrian official as saying that a third of the missiles fired in the aggression were shot down. The source also said the targeted sites had earlier been evacuated upon Russias warning.



We have absorbed the strike, he said. We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago.



"Around 110 missiles" were fired at Syrian targets in Damascus and its outskirts, the Syrian Army spokesperson in an official announcement on Syrian state TV.



Lebanon's Hezbollah movement praised the Syrian air defense for confronting "tripartite aggression".



http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/04/14...nald-Trump

Yep, We have been lied to, 100 f*ckin missiles is a lot.



There will be retaliation in one form or another. Yep, We have been lied to, 100 f*ckin missiles is a lot.There will be retaliation in one form or another. Corosive

Resident Time Wizard

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 10:27 AM



Posts: 3,785









Post: #8 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 10:04 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 09:49 AM) This puts a different light on the attack, a lot more missiles were fired at Damascus than what we were told .



Russia was one step ahead, as usual and this may explain why they didn't feel the need to start WW3 over the attack .



''US, Syrian and Russian military officials say more than 100 cruise missiles were fired at Syria during early Saturday airstrikes by the United State, France and Britain.



The Russian Defense Ministry said Syria shot down a "significant number" of the missiles, and made it clear that Russia's missile defense systems were not involved in intercepting the missiles.



More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets, the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.



Reuters quoted an unnamed Syrian official as saying that a third of the missiles fired in the aggression were shot down. The source also said the targeted sites had earlier been evacuated upon Russias warning.



We have absorbed the strike, he said. We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago.



"Around 110 missiles" were fired at Syrian targets in Damascus and its outskirts, the Syrian Army spokesperson in an official announcement on Syrian state TV.



Lebanon's Hezbollah movement praised the Syrian air defense for confronting "tripartite aggression".



http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/04/14...nald-Trump

Yep, We have been lied to, 100 f*ckin missiles is a lot.



There will be retaliation in one form or another.



Why? They were warned a head of time :P real enemies don't give each other a heads up. Why? They were warned a head of time :P real enemies don't give each other a heads up. \_(  )_/



If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 02:03 PM











Post: #9 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 10:00 AM) nuke israel for the love of god, these are the real threat!!!



This would put the entire American government in disarray as they would not know what to do if their masters were nuked. This would put the entire American government in disarray as they would not know what to do if their masters were nuked. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-14-2018 02:08 PM











Post: #10 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 10:00 AM) nuke israel for the love of god, these are the real threat!!!

Oh my g-d that would be antisemitic!



Oh my g-d that would be antisemitic! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-15-2018 01:38 AM











Post: #11 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-14-2018 09:36 AM) Knowing Russia will piss down it's leg, Bibi will attack soooon !

Called it ! Called it ! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-15-2018 01:56 AM











Post: #12 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

Has anyone seen Bibi lately? It's been rumored he's dead. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-15-2018 02:08 AM











Post: #13 RE: Israel will now attack Iran !

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-15-2018 01:56 AM) Has anyone seen Bibi lately? It's been rumored he's dead.

















Michelle Park

The symposium, hosted by Korean-backed Mirae N Limited, aims to lay the groundwork for a long-term and sustainable business cooperation between the parties as well as create a platform for women entrepreneurs in Koreas Hwaseong city and Hanoi to present their businesses, exchange experience, and seek investment opportunities.

According to Michelle Park, chairwoman of Hwaseong City Women Entrepreneurs Association (HWEA), the city (just one hour from Seouls city centre) is home to 30 major businesses and about 7,000-8,000 small and medium-sized businesses.

It also hosts R&D centres and the production units of leading Korean industrial groups like Samsung Electronics and Hyundai (the Kia brand, particularly), leading to the presence of numerous satellite units producing components to supply these major players.

Coming to Vietnam this time, we seek to propel international exchange, helping member units increase business opportunities to avail themselves of their advantages and gain more experience to tackle weaknesses.

I expect exchanges like todays will help women entrepreneurs in both South Korea and Vietnam learn more useful things for their business. During this visit, we hope to establish relations with more Vietnamese companies to be able to boost exchanges in the upcoming time, Park added.

According to a study by leading management consultancy firm McKinsey, Hwaseong city has the potential to grow into one of the richest cities in the world by 2025 leveraging its industrial and IT strength.

Park is also the CEO of Ecoco Limited which was founded in 2000 and is specialised in producing algae-preventing water treatment equipment using sunlight, water plant eliminating machines, and decanting devices.

Our company works in the field of water treatment. I think Vietnam has ample water resources, so environmental treatment might be a concern. If possible, we want to engage in technology transfer with the Vietnamese side or sell products to Vietnam.

As Vietnam is rich in water resources, the country may have useful experience and technology in water treatment. After a survey, if we find the conditions suitable, we may import equipment or technology back to Korea, Park told VIR.

Our products have been sold in many countries, including the US, and we are looking to open an agent here in Vietnam to commercialise our products, she added.

Min Ji Young, CEO of another HWEA member unit S Feel Princess Story operating in fashion accessories manufacturing and sales, said, Our products have been on the shelves of major supermarkets across Korea, but we do not have stores abroad yet, so we decided to join the tour to Vietnam and expect further cooperation in the country.

I see that many young Vietnamese people favour Korean products, particularly those of Korean stars.

S Feel Princess Story is named among leading Korean businesses certified by Korean authorised agencies in respect to brand development.

Todays meeting marks the start of our cooperation, and I am confident in our augmented ties in the coming time.

Todays meeting marks the start of our cooperation, and I am confident in our augmented ties in the coming time, said Dinh Thu Hoai, deputy chairwoman of Hanoi Women Entrepreneurs Association.

"Many our members are fond of using Korean goods. Not only potential customers, we can act as your companies reliable partners in producing and distributing products in the Vietnamese market.

Founded in 1999, Hwaseong City Women Entrepreneurs Association consists of 52 members. 75 per cent of the members work in the manufacturing industry, 13 per cent in retail and wholesale, and the remaining 12 per cent in the services sector.

Here below are some images in the symposium:US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (L) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford brief members of the media on Syria at the Pentagon April 13, 2018 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo: AFP)

The Pentagon chief stressed the strikes were carefully calibrated to provide a strong response to a suspected chemical attack, but avoid pulling the West into Syria's civil war.

"The targets tonight again were specifically designed to degrade the Syrian war machine's ability to create chemical weapons and to set that back," Mattis said.

"There were no attempts to broaden or expand that target set."

The air strikes at multiple targets began around 9pm Eastern Time (9am, Singapore time) and saw US, French and British assets firing missiles at the Assad regime's chemical production facilities.

President Donald Trump's decision to strike Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack came a year after he ordered military action against Assad following a deadly sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun.

"Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said.

"This time, the allies struck harder. We sent a clear message to Assad," he added, noting that double the number of weapons were deployed compared to last year, when 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired at Shayrat air base.

The air strikes appeared to last about an hour. Mattis said no additional attacks were planned, though Trump earlier suggested the strikes could last longer.

"It is time for all civilised nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process," Mattis said, noting he expected Russia and other Assad backers to pursue a "significant disinformation campaign."

General Joe Dunford, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US chose targets to avoid hitting Russian forces.

The US military warned Russia of areas it would be operating in, but did not coordinate planning or targets, Dunford said.

Dunford added the precision strikes hit three targets - a scientific research centre near Damascus, a storage facility and command post also near the capital and a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

Syrian surface to air missile batteries had attempted to fire back, but there were no initial reports of any allied losses, he said.

Mattis and Dunford were joined at the Pentagon podium by British and French top officers.President Trump has pardoned Scooter Libby who was convicted of lying to the FBI. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/AFP)

"I don't know Mr. Libby," Trump said of vice president Dick Cheney's former chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

"But for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly," Trump added. "Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life."

Libby was handed a 30-month prison sentence for perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements to investigators in 2007.

His sentence was commuted by former president George W Bush, who declined however to issue a pardon - sparking a rift between him and Cheney.

The affair dates back to July 2003 when the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the wife of a diplomat who had accused the Bush administration of exaggerating the threat posed by Iraq, was leaked to the press.

Libby was not accused of blowing Plame's cover, but of lying during the subsequent inquiry.

Democrats were quick to criticise the decision - and its possible repercussions on the probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election and allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign, as well as possible obstruction of justice.

"President Trump's pardon of Scooter Libby makes clear his contempt for the rule of law," said leading congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

"This pardon sends a troubling signal to the president's allies that obstructing justice will be rewarded," she added.

"The suggestion that those who lie under oath may be rewarded with pardons poses a threat to the integrity of the Special Counsel investigation, and to our democracy. Neither the president nor his allies are above the law."

Former vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine said it "seems like he's sending a message to current WH staff worried about investigation of Trump obstruction: 'Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.'"

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders insisted the two situations should not be linked, telling reporters: "One thing has nothing to do with the other."

'HELD IN HIGH REGARD'

Trump has used his power to pardon sparingly - last year, he pardoned Arizona ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of violating a court order to halt traffic patrols targeting suspected unauthorized immigrants.

The White House said that Libby had "rendered more than a decade of honorable service to the Nation as a public servant at the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the White House."

"His record since his conviction is similarly unblemished, and he continues to be held in high regard by his colleagues and peers," Sanders said earlier in a statement.

Bush critics claim Libby was part of a White House effort to punish Plame's husband, former US ambassador Joseph Wilson, whom the CIA sent to Niger in February 2002 to investigate claims that then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium for nuclear bombs.

The White House pointed out that a "key witnesses against Mr. Libby recanted her testimony" and "the District of Columbia Court of Appeals unanimously reinstated Mr. Libby to the bar."US President Donald Trump addresses the nation on Apr 13, 2018 at the White House, announcing strikes on Syria were under way. (Photo: AFP)

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a primetime televised address to the nation.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

Several huge explosions were heard in Syria's capital early Saturday, AFP's correspondent there said. Syrian state television also reported a US attack on Syria, in coordination with France and Britain.

Trump said the strikes would aim to deter chemical weapons use by the Syrian government, a week after a suspected chemical attack outside Damascus left more than 40 people dead.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force in Syria as she announced Britain had joined France and the United States in launching strikes against Syria.

"This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deter their use," she said in a statement.

A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen.

"Multiple targets, multiple types of munition," the official told AFP.

Among the weapons used are Tomahawk cruise missiles, the official added.

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the alleged toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which took place a week ago, and Trump reacted in an emotional tweet.

"Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he declared.

"President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay."

'PROOF'

In the six days between the attack and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling press statements and US debates.

Moscow denied its ally Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain had staged the event.

More practically, at the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned that the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

That concern was mirrored by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday warned the rival camps against "full-blown military escalation."

"Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," he urged the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

And he stressed the need "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control."

DECISION TO ACT

But Trump has long criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a previous US "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assad's forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, who took office on Monday, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimize the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syria's civil war.

But other advisors want to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Iran's growing power in Syria - even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.US President Donald Trump signing the ordinance to withdraw the US from the TPP

Comparing the multi-country trade agreement to a glasswork, Yoshihide Suga, Japans Chief Cabinet Secretary cautioned against any efforts to change it to accommodate President Trump. He told New York Times: It is difficult to bring part of the pact and re-negotiate the CPTPP, and called it a well-balanced pact that carefully addressed the needs of the current eleven member countries.

Taro Aso, Japanese Minister of Finance, said he would welcome a decision by the US to explore rejoining the CPTPP. If it is true, I would welcome it. But he added that he needed to verify facts carefully. Trump is a person who could change temperamentally, so he may say something different the next day, Reuters reported.

New Zealands Trade Minister David Parker questioned how real the engagement was, given similar comments of President Trump in Davos. The American systems very complex and the administration has many parts and not all of them have the same view, so we are not sure where this ends, he added. The countries have to consider how they would deal with that in the context of the new CPTPP.

Former Trade Minister of New Zealand, Todd McClay assessed that Trump would want a lot more than was in the original TPP, and that would be hard for New Zealand to accept. In the re-negotiated deal, the strategy was to hold back things that America really wanted, but keep the market access there so that US exporters were missing out, he added.

Australias Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said that with a deal already in place, he cant see all being thrown open to appease the US.

Jacinda Arden, Prime Minister of New Zealand, said that, It is not just a matter of slotting into an existing deal and the US rejoining would trigger another process of engagement and negotiation.

A spokeswoman for Singapores Ministry of Trade and Industry appeared similarly open to the US rejoining, noting that, "The TPP was designed to be an inclusive agreement, which is open to like-minded countries willing and able to meet its high standards.

Earlier, the New York Times has quoted Trump calling the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) a disaster and a rape to our country. As a newly-minded president, he pulled the US out of the 12-nation trade deal, proclaiming the move was a great thing for the American worker.

Little more than a year later, Trump reportedly wants back in. The new effort to rejoin the CPTPP is the latest swing in the Trump White Houses volatile trade policy. His administration has opened up several fronts on trade, including one with China and another with Canada and Mexico, under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and with South Korea with which the US has another trade deal. Trumps views on tackling each partner have been zigzagging wildly.

After the US defected from the CPTPP, the other members of the deal went ahead with it. Last month, the 11 remaining countries signed an agreement in Chile, though it still has to be ratified by local officials in some countries. Rebranded as the CPTPP, the new pact will cover an area that makes up 13 per cent of the world economy and is home to 500 million people.

Some Trump officials had already floated the possibility of re-entering the CPTPP earlier this year, as had Trump himself, but Thursdays news caught observers and Trumps allies by surprise.

The announcement was welcomed by lawmakers from some farming states. They have been pressing Trump to back down from his trade spat with China, which has threatened to raise tariffs on US agricultural products.

Against this context, AmCham in Vietnam welcomed the US decision to explore rejoining the agreement. AmCham is pleased that President Trump has now directed US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow to take a fresh look at the trade pact to see whether a better deal can be negotiated.

If the president is serious about reengaging in CPTPP discussions, this is good news for American and Vietnamese companies, investors, workers, farmers, and consumers, said AmCham executive director Adam Sitkoff. Rejoining the CPTPP would be a great opportunity for the US to open new markets, reduce trade barriers, protect innovation, and promote American exports.

A CPTPP that includes the US will have a transformative effect on the Vietnamese business environment and the countrys strategic goal to industrialise, modernise, and globalise. AmCham believes that rejoining the CPTPP is vital for Americas influence and leadership in Asia.Deal between Uber and Grab to be investigated

According to newswire Vnexpress, on April 13, the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued the decision to investigate the deal. The authoritys move came after it joined a working session with Uber and Grab. Accordingly, the investigation will last for 30 days after the decision was issued.

Previously, in a document submitted to VCA, Grab Vietnam affirmed that after the merger, the market share of Grab will remain below 30 per cent, which is not a monopoly in Vietnam. However, at the working session with the authority, the representative of Grab failed to provide evidence to support this claim.

According to Vietnam's Competition Law, if enterprises participating in economic concentration have a combined market share of 30-50 per cent of the relevant market, their lawful representatives must notify the competition-managing agency before implementing the concentration, otherwise they will have to pay a fine of 10 per cent of the revenue of the fiscal year previous to the date the deal was completed (if the deal is completed in 2017, the fine is equal 10 per cent of the revenue of the 2016 fiscal year). In case the combined market shares exceed 50 per cent of the relevant market, the economic concentration will be prohibited.

In late March, Grab announced that it acquired Ubers Southeast Asian operations. Grab will integrate Ubers ridesharing and food delivery business in the region into its existing multi-modal transportation and fintech platform.

Following the deal, Grab will take over Ubers operations and assets in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. As part of the acquisition, Uber will take a 27.5 per cent stake in Grab and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Grabs board.

Grabs purchase of Uber in Southeast Asia raised concerns about a potential monopoly in the region.

Accordingly, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) asked Grab and Uber to postpone the merger so that the authority can have more time to review the merger plan.

CCCS asked the companies to maintain pre-transaction conditions, such as independent pricing and service options, as well as not to take any action that might lead to business integration in Singapore until the commission completes its review of the matter.

Grab and Uber agreed to postpone the merger of their ride-hailing apps in the city-state for seven days, until April 15.

In another movement, the Philippines ordered Uber to keep its local service active while antitrust investigators review the merger.In an exclusive interview during his working visit to the country last week, Joaquim Levy, managing director and chief financial officer of the World Bank Group, told VIRs Thanh Tung about the steps he deems necessary for Vietnams future growth.

What is the purpose of your visit to Vietnam, and to what extent have you fulfilled those objectives?

I was invited to attend the sixth Greater Mekong Subregion Summit (GMS-6) organised in Hanoi. This is a strategic region with a very big market in terms of trade, GDP, and investment, and the forum is a way to increase stability in the region as well as increase trade and welfare, and reduce barriers. The World Bank is an important partner, promoting the development of GMS, alongside other development banks and multilateral organisations.

I also had the opportunity to meet with local authorities. I met Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and leaders of the ministries of Finance, Industry, and Trade, as well as the central bank, discussing Vietnams development priorities and policies.

In addition, I visited two World Bank-funded projects in the northern city of Haiphong  both of them major infrastructure projects  as well as a project to promote inclusiveness and reform the traditional fresh produce market. The projects have been implemented very effectively, reflecting that our capital has been well used.

I have learned a lot from the constructive dialogue with the authorities. The World Bank affirms our total commitment to this region to promote welfare and trade, as well as to provide capital and technical assistance to Vietnam in the fields of finance, banking, climate change adaptation, and grassroots healthcare.

As this is your first time in Vietnam, what has made the greatest impression? What is your view on Vietnams economic performance?

Vietnam has done a very good job in organising the GMS-6, mirroring the countrys increasingly important role regionally and globally, especially in terms of trade and investment co-operation. Last November, Vietnam also expertly organised APEC 2017.

I am also impressed by Vietnams high economic growth and reform drive. The countrys growth rate of more than 6 per cent is high. Notably, Vietnam has significantly improved its business climate. Vietnam climbed 14 places to rank 68th out of 190 economies surveyed in the World Banks latest Ease of Doing Business rankings.

Vietnams economic prospects are very good and will continue to be strong, with an expected growth rate of 6 per cent or more.

However, I think the rate is not as important as the quality of growth. Vietnam needs to improve its growth quality. Specifically, Vietnam needs to create better policies for the private sector, especially considering that it is in critical need of investment capital for socio-economic development.

Vietnam is facing high public debt, almost reaching the debt ceiling level of 65 per cent set by the National Assembly. How can the government mobilise more resources for development?

There is enormous potential to mobilise more private domestic resources for investment, including savings for growth.

One important step is to reduce barriers for the private sector, creating a financial market where private investors have confidence to invest, offering the ability to put your savings into something that creates new wealth.

Transparency is another important factor. State-owned companies need to show transparency and clear accountability, so the public can develop trust in these companies. You will also need professional institutional investors who can assess the companies and know which company is most promising to invest in.

The government has signalled its intention to expand the equitisation process of state-owned enterprises. If this is done well, said companies will have more resources to grow and people will have a safe place to put their investments without draining the governments resources. It would be a win-win situation.

Good supervision of the banking sector is very important, too. Our team here is working with the Vietnamese government to address issues in a systematic way and to share lessons from around the world. The most important thing to know about these steps is their urgency. You cannot wait too long to do these things.

How will this help Vietnam in the long term?

Freeing up important resources for development can help the government focus on another important aspect for long-term growth, which is human capital. Vietnam already has very good primary and secondary education systems. Now, you might want to see how you can reform higher education to make universities more efficient. You will need more investment in universities to make sure that you train a good labour force for the future. If the private sector wants to grow, if you want innovation, you will need to make sure that the labour force is highly skilled. This is very important. You can also offer better healthcare in communities, delivering long-term health benefits if resources are available.

Assisting Vietnam in coping with climate change is one of the World Banks main priorities in Vietnam. Could you elaborate?

I think Vietnam needs to be aware of the negative effects of climate change. In my meeting with the prime minister, he asked for our help in addressing the impacts of climate change impacts, especially in the Mekong Delta. At the corporate level, we have promised to reserve 28 per cent of our portfolio for climate change-related projects, and we aim to increase this to 30 per cent. About $2.3 billion in International Development Association resources have been allocated to Vietnam, and one-third of this can be made available to address the issue of climate change.VSC-Posco Steel is a joint venture established by four investors including Posco and Posco Processing & Service Co. Ltd. Among the four, Haiphong Steel and Mechanical Building Material JSC (Hascom), under a prime ministerial decision, was allowed to rent 60,094 sq.m to contribute capital to the company.

In a document sent to the Government Office and Haiphongs relevant authorities, Posco Vietnam Holdings claimed that the Haiphong Peoples Committee failed to issue the land use right certificate of the land for the joint venture.

Despite our contacting with the relevant competent authorities, we have not been issued the land use right certificate of the land for fully implementing our legitimate rights. The construction works and assets attached to the land were established long time ago, but have not been duly recorded.

VSC-Posco claimed it recently discovered by chance that Hascom had secretly applied for a land use right certificate for the land without consulting the joint venture.

Besides, on July 11, 2016, the Haiphong Peoples Committee issued a decision allowing Hascom to extend the lease for the land. Unfortunately the certificate was issued in the name of Hascom, while this land use right has been contributed by Hascom to the joint venture, VSC-Posco stated in its complaint.

The land lease extension and issuance of land use right certificate to Hascom instead of VSC-Posco Steel Corporation is contrary to directives of the prime minister and the laws of land, enterprises and investment.

According to VIRs sources, the final government decision could be released this month and published on the governments website.

The VSC-Posco Steel Corporations $56 million plant in Haiphong began commercial operation in 2015, with a capacity of 240,000 tonnes per year. Ever since its establishment, the joint ventures output and revenue have been on a steady trajectory of growth, from 13,000 tonnes and VND47.9 billion ($2.2 million) in 1995, to 3.5 million tonnes and VND2 trillion ($94 million) in 2014, respectively.After the misplaced decision to axe a number of popular channels, VTVCab's IPO fell through

According to information published by the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), as of April 10the deadline to register for the IPOthere was only one investor interested in VTVCabs shares. Thus, VTVCab failed to meet the conditions to organise the auction.

Previously, HNX released information about VTVcabs IPO. Accordingly, it will offer 42.3 million shares, equalling a 47.84 per cent stake, at the initial price of VND140,900 ($6.18). With this price, VTVcab is valued at VND12.45 trillion ($546.2 million).

According to the equitisation plan, after the IPO, the state would have kept 51 per cent in the firm.

However, after issuing its IPO plan, VTVCab arbitrarily cut 22 foreign channels without giving notice to customers.

The company's move has elicited outrage among customers. As a result, the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA), under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, asked VTVCab to explain its unreasonable decision. Besides, HBO was replaced by Box Movies, Max by HBO was replaced by Hollywood Classics, Cartoon Network was replaced by Cartoon Kids, among others.

Bui Huy Nam, director of VTVCab, said the switch was part of VTVCabs content strategy to adapt its programmes for multiple platforms.

The explanation was deemed unsatisfactory by customers, thus, Nam appeared on television to apologise to customers who have not been duly notified of the change.

We have researched our customers taste and received valuable feedback for our updated programmes," he said.

However, the explanation was deemed unsatisfactory by customers, thus, Nam appeared on television to apologise to customers who have not been duly notified of the change.

Nam confirmed that the channels will be replaced with a line-up including Cartoon Kids and Woman that will appear for the first time in Vietnam. He promised that the content will be attractive and meet Vietnamese peoples taste. Besides, customers will be able to watch broadcasted programmes on their mobile phones completely free of charge.

He did not mention whether VTVCab will bring back any of the channels axed.

Launched in 2012, VTVCab has become one of the countrys largest pay-TV players in terms of subscribers and service range, broadcasting 200 channels in cooperation with other television service providers. VTVCab is also involved in digital, customised, and Internet TV services.US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley (C), told the Security Council that Washington is taking time to assess the full implications of possible military strikes against Syria. (Photo: AFP/Hector Retamal)

US Ambassador Nikki Haley said no decision had been taken to launch strikes and stressed Washington was taking time to assess the implications of possible military action after Russia warned it could lead to a dangerous US-Russian war.

"Our president has not yet made a decision about possible action in Syria," Haley told a Security Council meeting.

"But should the United States and our allies decide to act in Syria, it will be in defense of a principle on which we all agree."

Citing US estimates that Assad has used chemical weapons "at least 50 times" in the seven-year war, Haley said: "All nations and all people will be harmed if we allow Assad to normalize the use of chemical weapons."

The United States is consulting with Britain and France about a joint military response to an alleged toxic gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma that medics and rescuers said left at least 40 people dead on Saturday.

"You don't rush decisions like this," Haley told reporters ahead of the meeting - the fourth on Syria at the council this week.

Syria and Russia have denied using poisonous gas in Douma on Apr 7, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying that Moscow had evidence that the attack in Douma was staged.

A UN-led panel has determined that Assad's forces had used sarin in the town of Khan Sheikhun last yaer and chlorine in at least three attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.

INTOLERABLE THREAT TO SECURITY

Echoing the US stance, France said Assad's government had reached a "point of no return" with repeated use of chemical weapons.

"France will shoulder its responsibility to end an intolerable threat to our collective security," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre, who called for an end to the "chemical weapons escalation in Syria."

Britain accused Russia of chipping away at international norms on non-proliferation by supporting Assad.

"We will not sacrifice the international order we have collectively built to the Russian desire to protect its ally at all costs," said Ambassador Karen Pierce.

By supporting Assad, Russia's actions are "prejudicial to our security" and will let the Islamic State group "re-establish itself" - something that "we believe we need to take action to defend," said Pierce.

The arguments put forward by the three allies were dismissed by Russia as a pretext to advance the West's goal of overthrowing Assad and keeping Moscow's influence in check.

"The sole thing that they have an interest in is to oust the Syrian government and to deter, contain the Russian Federation," Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council session.

The ambassador urged Britain, France and the United States "not to bring the world to such a dangerous threshold."

Russia has told the United States that it will not allow its troops on the ground in Syria to be put at risk by military action, even though the two countries have channels of communication to avoid such a clash.

The warning from Moscow came as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that increasing tensions over Syria could lead to "full-blown military escalation."

Guterres urged the Security Council to "act responsibly in these dangerous circumstances."

Syria warned that it will have "no other choice" but to defend itself if the West launches military action.

"This is not a threat, this is a promise," Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari told the council.All subscribers have to re-register their information at mobile network operators' outlets

T.Duy (from Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi), user of MobiFone wonders whether the submitting subscribers photos to limit trash SIMs will help prevent trash messages from bombarding subscribers.

Mobile network operators have the right to terminate service if we do not submit the required information. However, I think operators should also be responsible for ensuring no spam is sent to subscribers, added Duy.

This opinion is commonly shared among the more than 34 million subscribers forced to submit their personal information. Many people complained that such a requirement should have been made at the time of signing up for the service, instead of coming up with new regulations every day and forcing subscribers to comply, as put by T.Hang, a Viettel subscriber.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, the total number of trash SIMs is currently more than 28 million, including 24 million blocked and revoked SIMs.

Some mobile subscribers also worry of a potential leak of their personal information as customers calling 1414 to check their personal information often find that many different phone numbers are registered under their names.

Nguyen An shared that three different SIMs are registered under his ID, including two he does not know. When he called 1414 to check, he was told these two SIMs were trash.

Where do trash SIMs get my information from? And why cannot mobile network operators distinguish between real and trash SIMs? asked An.

Responding to these queries, representatives of Viettel, MobiFone, and Vinaphone affirmed that subscribers personal information would never be leaked because their information would be secure in accordance with the Law on Telecommunications and current regulations. However, this statement went only a little way to satisfy the general mass.

The representatives also shared that mobile network operators wish to receive all subscribers co-operation to complete adding information before April 24. They also promise that they will try their best to reduce trash SIMs and spam.

VinaPhone currently has over 31 million subscribers, including 10.47 million full-information subscribers, and about 20 million subscribers who need to add more information.

Viettel has 66.5 million subscribers, including 23 million who updated their information.

Meanwhile, the number of MobiFones subscribers who have not updated their information is only four million out of over 34.6 million subscribers.Two retired police officers will be patrolling the Skaneateles Central School District.

Retired New York State Police troopers Aileen Sherman and James O'Brien were approved "effective immediately" by the board of education at a special board session Thursday, district Superintendent Ken Slentz said in an email. The two will work part-time until the end of the school year, according to a district document outlining the recommendations.

Sherman served for over 30 years, including work as a state police academy instructor and over 20 years as a field training officer, according to the document. The document also explained Sherman's other experiences.

"Over the course of Mrs. Shermans tenure as a New York State trooper, she served six different assignments in post 9/11 New York City, served in post-(Hurricane) Katrina Louisiana, and served a presidential detail as well," the document said.

The document notes that Sherman's three children attended school in the district, and her husband works as a school bus driver for the transportation company First Student, which serves the Skaneateles district.Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, has denounced from

Moscow the role of a Russia-phobic, Western secret service in the White

Helmets staging of the alleged chemical attack in the Ghouta, the rural

region at the gates of Damascus, the Syrian capital.

The spokesperson for the Russian army, Igor Konachenkov, has for his part,

directly challenged the United Kingdom.

Both these declarations took place when Syria had just announced new

witnesses regarding the alleged chemical attack, manipulated by Western

powers to heighten international tension regarding Syria.Gabriel Luna. Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Actor Gabriel Luna is your new Terminator. Follow him if you want to, you know, see him be the new Terminator. According to Deadline, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D actor, who played Ghost Rider on the ABC series, will reportedly portray the titular futuristic cyborg in the franchises upcoming sixth addition. (Okay, so the film technically does not have a confirmed title, but given the previous five Terminator movies, Terminator will probably be in there somewhere.)

Luna will be joined by new costars Natalia Reyes, star of Lady, La Vendedora de Rosas, and Scream Queens Diego Boneta. As previously announced, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton will return for the James Cameron-produced film, which is a sequel to 1991s Terminator 2: Judgement Day. There is almost no way director Tim Miller will ask Gabriel Luna to do an Austrian accent, butwhat if he does?Milos Forman. Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for HBO

Milos Forman, the Oscar-winning director of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, has died at the age of 86, according to a report from the Czech news agency, CTK. Born in the Czech Republic in 1932 , Forman moved to the United States after the Prague Spring uprising in 1968. His first film in the country, Taking Off, won the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival in 1971, and two of his later films, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984) both won several Academy awards, including the awards for Best Picture and Best Director. Forman died on Friday at his home in the United States, his wife Martina told CTK. His departure was calm and he was surrounded the whole time by his family and his closest friends, she said.Here's a look at the 2003 CIA leak involving then-operative Valerie Plame and senior members of the George W. Bush administration.

After a lengthy investigation, one member of the Bush administration, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was brought to trial and convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements.

Timeline: February 2002 - Joseph Wilson, a former US diplomat, travels to Niger for the CIA.

March 2002 - Wilson tells the CIA he doubts Iraq tried to purchase uranium from Niger.

January 28, 2003 - In his State of the Union speech, President Bush says, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

June 12, 2003 - According to the New York Times, a conversation takes place between Vice President Dick Cheney and Libby, his chief of staff, about the covert identity of Valerie Plame, who happened also to be Wilson's wife.

June 23, 2003 - According to 2007 testimony by Judith Miller of the New York Times, the date when Libby revealed to her that Wilson's wife may have worked for the CIA.

July 6, 2003 - Wilson's editorial piece appears in the New York Times: "What I Didn't Find in Africa."

July 11, 2003 - Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, tells Time reporter Matthew Cooper that Wilson's wife "apparently works at the CIA on WMD issues," according to an e-mail Cooper sends to his editor.

July 13, 2003 - Cooper's "A Question of Trust" is posted on Time magazine's website. The article about President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech includes named sources as Libby, Wilson, Plame's superior Alan Foley, and former State Department proliferation expert Greg Thielmann.

July 14, 2003 - Robert Novak's Chicago Sun-Times column names Plame as a CIA operative. He lists two senior administration officials as sources. (At the time, Novak also works at CNN.)

September 2003 - The Justice Department launches a full criminal investigation into the leak, an aggravated felony punishable by up to ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

September 29, 2003 - Rove denies any knowledge of the leaked name when asked by an ABC reporter.

September 30, 2003 - President Bush says, "If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of."

February 15, 2005 - A federal appeals court in Washington rules that Miller and Cooper may have witnessed a federal crime (disclosure by government officials of a CIA officer's identity), and will have to cooperate with the grand juries investigating the crime.

June 27, 2005 - The US Supreme Court declines to hear appeals by Miller and Cooper.

June 30, 2005 - Norman Pearlstine, Time's editor-in-chief, agrees to provide documents concerning the confidential sources of Cooper to a grand jury.

July 6, 2005 - New York Times reporter Miller goes to jail to protect the identity of the person who leaked the identity of a CIA operative to her, despite never having written a story using the information.

July 12, 2005 - Cooper appears before a grand jury investigating the case.

September 19, 2005 - Libby calls Miller in prison to free her from the pledge of confidentiality. She is released on September 19.

October 12, 2005 - Miller testifies for more than an hour before a federal grand jury about a second conversation she had with Libby.

October 28, 2005 - Libby is indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and two counts each of perjury and making false statements. He resigns his position at the White House.

November 3, 2005 - Libby pleads not guilty at his arraignment and is released on his own recognizance.

April 26, 2006 - Rove makes his fifth and final appearance before the federal grand jury investigating the leak.

June 13, 2006 - Rove is told by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald that he will not be charged in the CIA leak case, according to Robert Luskin, Rove's lawyer.

July 13, 2006 - Plame and her husband file a lawsuit in US District Court against Cheney, Rove and Libby. The suit alleges that they conspired to ruin Plame's career in order to seek revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq.

September 7, 2006 - Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage publicly acknowledges for the first time that he was the source who first revealed Plame's identity to Robert Novak, which he said he did inadvertently. His name is added to the Plame/Wilson lawsuit a week later.

January 16, 2007 - Libby's trial begins.

March 6, 2007 - Libby is found guilty of four of five counts in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial.

June 5, 2007 - Libby is sentenced to 30 months in prison for lying to investigators about what he told reporters about CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, two years of probation after his prison sentence, fined $250,000 and $400 dollars in court costs.

June 14, 2007 - Judge Reggie B. Walton rules that Libby is not to remain free (he must begin serving his 2 1/2 year sentence) while his appeal is pending. His attorneys state they will appeal this decision to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

July 2, 2007 - A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejects Libby's bid to remain free on bond while appealing his conviction ruling that Libby has not raised a question for judges "that is 'close' or that 'could very well be decided the other way" - the standard for remaining free on appeal.

July 2, 2007 - President Bush commutes Libby's 30-month prison sentence but leaves in place the $250,000 fine and 2 years of probation.

July 19, 2007- A federal judge in Washington, DC, dismisses the lawsuit brought by Plame and her husband against Cheney, Libby and Rove. A federal appeals court later upholds the dismissal.

October 22, 2007 - Plame's memoir, "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House" is released. "Fair Game" is released as a major motion picture in 2010.

April 12, 2018 - President Donald Trump pardons Scooter Libby.All the televisions in the Amsterdam airport lounge, as I write this, are tuned to news of the bombing in Syria unleashed by the United States and its allies.

One monitor glows with nighttime video of a light streaking across the Damascus sky; others show analysts and reporters, live from Syria, Russia, Washington, London. There's video of President Donald Trump on Friday evening, announcing that the United States and its closest allies decided to strike in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack last week in Douma, near Damascus, which the Washington and its allies are convinced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered. "These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said gravely. But nobody in the airport is watching.

Syria news is everywhere, except on people's minds. The passengers, sitting in the crowded lounge's wide brown chairs, are checking their email, streaming movies on their laptops, gazing absentmindedly at the airplanes on the tarmac. Not one among them appears interested in Syria. It seems no one thinks this nighttime assault signifies much in a war that has been raging for seven years. Perhaps they don't think this war matters.

It's just another moment in a conflict that has, in fact, changed the world, but has done so indirectly. In addition to destroying Syria, displacing millions and killing hundreds of thousands, the Syrian war has transformed much of the planet more profoundly and in more ways than most people realize. The fact is the war in Syria has affected lives around the world -- not only in the Middle East but also in the United States and here in the Netherlands, as in rest of Europe.

The West's largely hands-off approach created a vacuum that Russia eagerly filled, adding to Iran's strength and alarming Tehran's Arab foes, stoking regional rivalries, and wars.

In the West, the images of fleeing Syrian refugees helped empower nationalist politicians from Hungary to the United States, propelling a global trend toward authoritarianism. The multiple conflicts -- diplomatic, political, military -- have contributed to a growing turmoil in global politics, even as the incorrect impression that Syria doesn't matter prevails. Even in Europe, that sentiment seems powerful enough to have so far smothered the instinctive reaction of popular fury that seems to spring to life whenever the United States flexes its military muscle.

It's different this time, of course. This is not George W. Bush going into Iraq. It's not even Barack Obama studiously pondering the pros and cons of action. This is Donald Trump, a man some here now say is so disconcerting and disturbing, they have started trying to ignore his rants.

This time, for a change, he looked serious, thoughtful and calm when announcing military action in Syria in his televised address. It was in sharp contrast with his Twitter rants of the previous days, even the previous hours, when he unleashed a stream of invective, wielding keyboard weaponry, exclamation points, all-caps, multi-tweet attacks, to lash out against James Comey, Assad, Russia and others. It was a gruesome spectacle, and further evidence of the damage his chaotic presidency is doing to America and the world on multiple levels.

By the time the attack finally came, the chaos in the White House and Trump's legal and political problems made it inevitable to think about the phenomenon once known as the "Wag the Dog" effect, using military action to distract and build popular support by stoking patriotic sentiment for personal political benefit.

In this case, Trump's use of force a year ago after Assad used chemical weapons lends some credibility to the latest action, suggesting it is motivated by the US leader's visceral response to the images of the Douma attack, and his determination to define himself as the opposite of Obama. And Obama's greatest failing was not enforcing his own "red line" against Assad's use of chemical weapons. In reality, Trump's action looks in many ways Obamian: measured, splitting the middle, and despite the bravado, hesitant.

Trump's latest strikes are not about Syria. They do nothing to change the equation in that malignant conflict. They are an effort to put the genie of chemical weapons back in the bottle. That in itself is a worthy goal, and one wishes Obama had acted on when he had the opportunity.

But Trump's Syrian policy remains a muddle. Barely two weeks ago he announced he wants the small but important US contingent out. A few days later he was threatening to attack, and then he did.

After all the tweets, all the bombs, all the speeches, no one is sure what exactly he has in mind. In the meantime, the Syrian war remains as radioactive as ever. It may well spawn a war between Iran and Israel. It is adding to tensions between Moscow and Washington and between Riyadh and Tehran.

The latest bombing may change nothing. It didn't seem to change the public's apathy. But it will continue to reverberate in our lives, indirectly, but not subtly.Less than 12 hours after he addressed the nation to announce a series of military strikes against Syria, President Donald Trump celebrated on Twitter.

"A perfectly executed strike last night," he wrote. "Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

Mission. Accomplished.

You might remember those two words emblazoned on a massive red, white and blue banner that hung behind the last Republican president -- George W. Bush -- as he spoke aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003. Bush's speech that day was regarded as a marker of the end of "major combat operations" in Iraq after just over a month of fighting.

As the war in Iraq dragged on for years to come and American casualties piled up, the "Mission Accomplished" banner became a punch line, a telling indication of the Bush administration's gross underestimation of the challenge posed by the conflict.

Years later, as he was preparing to leave office, Bush acknowledged the banner was a mistake.

"It was a sign aimed at the sailors on the ship, but it conveyed a broader knowledge," Bush said in 2008. "To some it said, well, Bush thinks the war in Iraq is over, when I didn't think that. But nonetheless, it conveyed the wrong message."

And now, just hours removed from strikes on Syria that were hotly debated even within his administration -- and for which there is no congressional authorization -- Trump is using those same words to declare victory.

What it suggests is either an ignorance of or a disinterest in recent history. Anyone -- and I mean anyone -- who has followed the political and policy debate in this country for the last 20 years knows exactly what the words "mission accomplished" conjure up. Particularly when in reference to a military strike against a foreign power. In the Middle East. With fears of escalation into a broader regional war rampant.

Words matter. Even if George W. Bush and the "Mission Accomplished" banner never existed, it's more than a little bit strange for Trump to declare victory so soon after he announced the strikes.

Here's the key piece of what he said Friday night (bolding is mine):

"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."

If we are "prepared to sustain" our "response" until Syria stops the use of chemical weapons forever, it may well take more than a single night of missile strikes. And, isn't Trump the one who blasted the likes of President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for supposedly telegraphing the United States' strategic moves?

Trump tweeting out "Mission Accomplished" won't make one missile miss or knock one US ship off course.

But Trump would do well to remember the words of philosopher George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."(ABC News) President Donald Trump ordered a strike on Syria Friday in response to last weekend's chemical weapons attack.

Addressing the nation Friday evening, Trump said the strike was a joint operation with France and the United Kingdom.



President Donald Trump addresses the nation on the situation in Syria April 13, 2018 at the White House in Washington. Trump said strikes on Syria are under way. President Donald Trump addresses the nation on the situation in Syria April 13, 2018 at the White House in Washington. Trump said strikes on Syria are under way.

The Pentagon holds a briefing on situation in Syria after Trump announces airstrikes Friday evening, April 13, 2018. The Pentagon holds a briefing on situation in Syria after Trump announces airstrikes Friday evening, April 13, 2018.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said.

Trump said that the "massacre" last weekend in Syria "was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man," Trump said, referring to Assad. "They are crimes of a monster instead."

In a later briefing, Defense Secretary James Mattis said the strike demonstrates the international resolve to prevent the use of chemical weapons, saying he is "confident the Syrian regime conducted a chemical attack on innocent people in the last week."

"Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said, adding that this time the U.S. struck harder.

"We have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties," he said. "... I believe that we sent a very strong message."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said the strike specifically hit three targets associated with the production and storage of chemical weapons: a scientific research center; a storage center for sarin and its precursor components; and a chemical weapons storage facility and command post.

"Important infrastructure was destroyed," said Dunford.

There were no reports of American losses, Mattis said.

Russia was not notified before launching airstrikes against Syria, Dunford said, adding no additional strikes are planned.

Social posts out of Syria showed flames lighting up the dark skies. Explosions could be heard as well.

Syrian state media confirmed the scientific research center in Barzeh, north of Damascus, was targeted in the attack, adding that a number of rockets targeting warehouses belonging to the Syrian army in Homs were allegedly intercepted.

The Russian Defense Ministry held a briefing Saturday in which they said 71 of the 103 missiles that were fired were intercepted. The Syrian government offered similar claims, though neither provided evidence to back up the claims. Russia also said no one was killed by any of the strikes.

Syrian state media said it was a "cowardly terrorist attack," only done for America to save face.

In his remarks, Trump also delivered a message to Iran and Russia.

"To Iran and to Russia I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators," Trump said.

"In 2013, [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons," he continued. "Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia and maybe even Iran. But maybe not."

Putin responded to the attack against Syria on Saturday saying "an act of aggression against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism has been committed."

"Very quickly we need to put options on the table to see if Russia is willing to engage in a multilateral process," a source within the French presidency said Saturday.

Trump added that the U.S. "does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria."

"We look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," he said. "... We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East.

"... We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria," Trump concluded. "We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace. And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America."

The strike came as Trump has alluded to military action in Syria all week, even tweeting on Wednesday that Russia should be "ready" because "nice and new and 'smart'" missiles "will be coming." But Thursday, he seemed to walk back that statement, tweeting military action "could be very soon or not so soon at all."

Trump has reportedly been moved by images of the suspected chemical weapons attack on the Syrian city of Douma outside of Damascus all week, calling it "atrocious."

"We cannot allow atrocities like that. Cannot allow it," Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on Monday, adding he expected to make a decision on a response in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Images showed victims of the attack foaming at the mouth.

Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford met with the president at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Syria. There were additional National Security Council meetings on Thursday and Friday.

Trump also spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May several times by phone this week. The administration said previously any response Assad's alleged chemical weapons use would be done in consultation with allies.

In a statement Friday night, May called last weekend's chemical attack "pure horror."

"The Syrian regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way," May said.

"And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack."

May held a press conference with reporters early Saturday morning for about 40 minutes, taking dozens of questions from reporters.

"There is no graver decision for a prime minister than to commit our forces to combat. And this is the first time that I've had to do so," May said.

May said the attack was designed specifically to damage chemical weapons facilities and "was not about interfering in a civil war" or "regime change." She said the best option remains a "political solution."

Perhaps in preparation for a strike, Syria repositioned some of its aircraft from bases earlier in the week, a U.S. official told ABC News. A second official said the Syrian military had gone into an increased defensive posture.

Macron, meanwhile, said the response is "limited to the Syrian regime's capabilities to produce and use chemical weapons."

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons, which is a direct threat to the security of the Syrian people and our collective security," he said.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said that during the shelling of Douma, "an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals."

"More than 70 people sheltering in basements have reportedly died, with 43 of those deaths related to symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals," the organization said. "Two health facilities were also reportedly affected by these attacks."

On Friday, U.S. Ambassador the United Nations Nikki Haley said analysis done by the U.S., U.K. and France proved the chemical attack. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert also confirmed the use of chemical weapons, but said the U.S. was still looking into the exact kind or the mix of agent used.

Despite the air strikes Friday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it will continue its fact-finding mission in Syria to "establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma."The truth hurts. And when you blow the whistle, people get upset.

So says Martin Woods, an anti-money laundering expert and whistleblower, who says governments, companies and wider society need to rethink their attitudes towards whistleblowers in all sectors of the economy, from compliance staff in banks to nurses working in aged-care facilities.

This includes compensating them for speaking up - and paying rewards for valuable information.

Whistleblower Martin Woods Credit:Eddie Jim

"It's human conditioning - the human race doesn't like whistleblowers," Woods says. "[As children], we were told, 'don't tell tales', and we tell our kids, 'don't tell tales'. Why do we do that? We have anxiety around their social grouping, and their social acceptance, but we're telling them not to like people who tell tales - the whistleblower."Bernhard says its disappointing and the company is working decisively to turn this around.

This is a period of considerable transformation for us as a business and as a brand. We are reinventing one of the longest-running companies in Australia and, in many ways, were in unchartered territory. Some dealers are fuming  their frustration is understandable. In the first quarter the average Holden dealer shifted just 26 new cars per month. In comparison, the average Toyota dealer sold 85 per month and the average Mazda dealer 72. Even Mercedes-Benz  a premium brand with higher margins  shifted 57 cars per dealer. Many of those sales were classified as demonstrators. (for customer test drives. In the case of Astra, demonstrator registrations outdid sales to private buyers, according to figures reported to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries).

Those cars end up being sold as near-new vehicles, often at big discounts. Sales were expected to dip post-manufacturing, but no one  including Holden  expected them to drop so dramatically. Holdens market share has slumped from 7.1 per cent before the manufacturing shutdown to 5.3 per cent this year. The three most recent brands to cease local manufacturing in Australia  Toyota, Ford and Mitsubishi  experienced nothing like that plunge. Its indicative of a brand thats relied on locally-made large cars, which have been the backbone of Holden for 69 years. The focus has gone off the major product being the Commodore, which they could rely upon and its gone onto other things, says John Conomos, a part-time consultant and the former chief at Toyota Australia who played an instrumental role in making the brand No. 1. They didnt pay attention to the consequences of not having their flagship car and relying solely upon it.

The two and a half millionth Holden rolls of the line at GMH's Dandenong plant. Credit:The Age Archive Turning its back It was once families, farmers, business executives and middle class Australia lining up to buy Holdens. But in recent years its turned its attention to minorities  LGBTI and ethnic groups  to better reflect and connect with todays Australia, none of which is a bad thing. In doing so, it turned its back on traditional Holden buyers, the people arguably most likely to give the brand a chance in its import-only form.

Holden also focused on younger buyers, an odd move considering the average age of a new car buyer is 51. There was backtracking once Holden realised it had alienated so many. Despite the sales slump, orders were in and boats were on their way, leaving dealerships with excess and executives scratching their heads over how to clear the backlog. Panic appears to have set in  and sporadic extended warranties and discounting have been the solution. Holden is selling its small car  which when it launched last year was hailed as stronger than ever  for less than rivals are selling city cars. Heavy discounting on new models has an immediate and ongoing impact on residual values, says Santo Amoddio, managing director of used car valuer Glasss Guide.

It also crunches margins and creates an uneasy feeling with shoppers. This is where General Motors needs to step up, said one analyst who declined to be named. The Holden manufacturing plant at Elizabeth, Adelaide, South Australia closed in October 2017. Credit:Kate Geraghty They need to come in and relieve the pressure. Take a hit on the sales targets and position the brand with a viable strategy moving forward. A consistent strategy is crucial, says Conomos. They dont seem to have a final long term plan where theyre saying to themselves and the organisation this is the plan, this is what were going to do and well fund it and well stick to it.



Blame game Last week, Holden announced its shortlived marketing director Mark Harland had left GM after 20 years. His replacement, Kristian Aquilina, a long time Holden man, has brought hope to dealers. The Herald has heard of calls for Bernhard to resign, something chairman of the Holden Dealer Council, Scott Wakeling, denies. Theres been no official discussion or note  thats definitely not happened, he said. Conomos says the executive changes are poisonous, blaming management failures. Theyve had a succession of MDs, theyve had a succession of marketing people  they dont have the continuity  they lurch from one policy to another. Marketing fight Holden has failed to get its message out succinctly to lure buyers. Dr Abas Merzaei is a brand strategies lecturer at Macquarie University and says Holdens identity has been diluted.

Referencing the discounting, he says it kills brands. Your brand starts to lose energy and losing energy means youre pretty much dead, which is the case for brands like Holden or Gap in Australia. If youre trying to revitalise your brand you can go back to your heritage and history and feature that in a nice signature story, an emotional one. Holden has been forced to make big reductions on new vehicle sale prices. Credit:Nic Walker The news doesnt look better moving forward. Internal Roy Morgan intention-to-purchase figures  an indicator of short term sales - have Holden intentions at 6 per cent and dropping, down from 15 per cent a decade ago. Look to America

Holden admits it has made mistakes, but it has not been helped by Detroit. Despite decades of promises to produce all new models with the steering wheel on the right it hasnt happened, leaving Holden with gaps. And many cars sent Down Under have been lacklustre. Despite sprouting that Holden is poised to pluck cars from across the GM world, the reality is more sobering. Sometimes vehicles arent primed for a market that is big on safety and features.

Peter Hanenberger was the boss of Holden between 1999 and 2003, when its modern market share peaked at 21.6 per cent. He believes there is zero interest in Australia from GM and that it could walk away from the market. They basically have now decided to go on three big markets, he says, citing China, North and South America. Domestic focus Of GMs 9.6 million sales in 2017, 7.6 million were to the US and China, the latter now its biggest market. GMs early investment in China is paying off. But the rise of China has changed GMs focus. Whereas Holden was once a profitable, largely independent outpost that needed little direction, these days its a thorn that requires careful pruning. Holdens Australian sales account for just 0.94 per cent (and falling) of GMs global output. New General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

Hardly enough to warrant the careful attention of CEO Mary Barra, who is making some of the toughest decisions in the industry. Since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in 2009 GM has been fighting its own battles restructuring the company, culling brands and retreating from countries where things were too tough. But GM says it is committed. I am confident in our ability to turn the business around, said Engle in a statement. My mandate  is to deliver profitable growth in each market in which the company competes. My objective is to leverage the learnings from our turnaround in GM South America to make our businesses successful in this part of the world, including Australia and New Zealand. Holden points to the $150 million investment in dealerships of the future.

European hiccup Late in 2014, Holden announced it was turning back to Europe. It committed to sourcing one-third of its cars from Opel, a brand with very similar core values and one seen as a perfect match for Holden. It seemed a return to form; Aussies love European cars and Holden has been successful with them previously. But as the deal was being digested GMs top brass were secretly negotiating to offload Opel, something confirmed early last year. Suddenly, a crucial cog within Holdens delicate post-manufacturing world had been stripped.

The company set to supply one-third of Holdens future models  the most important of those was the new Commodore, a rebadged Opel Insignia  was no longer part of the family. And the company it was part of  PSA, owner of Peugeot and Citroen  has a poor record of building cars Australians like. The ramifications were almost immediate. Since the takeover Fairfax Media has been told the price Holden pays for Commodores has increased.

And, whereas rivals from Toyota, Subaru, Mazda and Hyundai are imported under a Free Trade Agreement, Commodores attract a 5 per cent import tariff. Ironically, Holden is quietly joining the fight with luxury brands with the view to pressuring the government to remove the import tariff  originally implemented to protect local manufacturers such as Holden. Battening down Holden is not unfamiliar with tough times. In the 1980s the brand was on the brink and effectively forced into a joint venture with Toyota. Holden bought Corollas and Camrys off Toyota to be rebadged as Holdens, while Toyota bought Commodores off Holden to be sold as Toyotas.

It was a disaster made in Canberra. Not that it slowed Holden. The company went back to basics  building large family cars people aspire to own  and within a decade it was back on top. But this time its different. Holden denies it is going anywhere. We have great backing from GM, as demonstrated by the product portfolio today and into the future, Bernhard says. Like any business transformation, we get some things right and some wrong. Its important we continue to stay nimble and be able to course correct when required. Wakeling is optimistic, acknowledging some dealers had concerns but through meetings with local executives and those in Detroit he is confident. We want to be selling more cars, theres no doubt, but weve got a pretty robust plan  if we work to that were going to make sure we get there. But things can change quickly. Only a few months before the late 2013 announcement it would cease manufacturing, then-Holden boss Mike Devereux was still committed to building Holdens here until at least 2022 on the promise of $275 million in government assistance.

Former Holden chief executive Mike Devereux. Credit:Regi Varghese Some analysts believe any decision on the future of Holden would be swift. If GM commits, it needs to be long term, according to Conomos. Itll take a decade of very clear thinking  the parent company support of the sibling is crucial, he says. Conomos believes Holden can survive. I think itll become an important importer.

Detroit bound Fortunately, Holden has friends in high places, including GM design boss Mike Simcoe. While he is shaping Chevrolets, Cadillacs and Buicks, his passion is Monaros and Commodores. He is a staunch supporter of the brand. GM president Dan Ammann is a New Zealander who grew up with Holdens. And the man in charge of GM product development is former Holden boss Mark Reuss. Reuss bought an FC Holden during his time in Australia and it now spends time in the GM Heritage Centre in Detroit. Mark Reuss' old FC Holden in Detroit.The UK says it has attacked Syria for one reason: to prevent and deter the use of chemical weapons. But the deterrence element isnt just aimed at Assad. Its a message to Vladimir Putin.

The strikes were to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons, British Prime Minister Theresa May said in the early hours of Saturday morning.

She went on to explain how she came to decide strikes were needed now.But in the days after the statement Obama softened. According to Jeffrey Goldbergs essay on the period in The Atlantic magazine Obama had come to view a military strike unsanctioned by either international law or Congress - and without popular support from the American people - as a mistake. Since then other critics have noted that by then his administration had already begun to focus on the Iran nuclear deal, and Iran backed Assad. Either way, Obamas concerns were compounded when British parliament failed to give David Cameron its support for an attack. Further, Obama feared that any strike on chemical stockpiles might release plumes of lethal chemicals, killing even more civilians. To the dismay of many  including allies and senior voices in his administration  he backed down, delaying any action by asking Congress to authorise the use of force. That was when Vladimir Putin  ally to both Iran and Syria  stepped in. At his instigation and with his aid America and Russia engineered a deal whereby Assad would agree to surrender chemical weapons stockpiles for destruction. Supporters cheered the deal as a victory for peaceful pragmatism over force, critics viewed it as a surrender of American authority. Loading Russia, it appears, took it as a signal that it could fill an American void in Syria. In February 2015 the Russian parliament sanctioned its own use of military action in parliament, and soon its forces were targeting both rebels supported by the US as well as members of ISIS in support of Assad, changing the course of the war. Any hope of a regime change backed by the west vanished.

Then in 2017, two months after Donald Trumps inauguration, a further 74 people were killed in a rebel-held district by chemical weapons unleashed in a Syrian government airstrike. A couple of short years after crafting a deal to have Assad surrender his chemical weapons, Putin was offering him protection as he deployed them again. Two days after the attack Trump ordered a missile strike, unleashing 59 cruise missiles at the airbase from the which the chemical attack had been launched. It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons," he said at the time. The attack was unilateral, but done after consultation with  and the support of  American allies. Russia described the strike as an act of aggression which substantially impaired relations between the two powers. Missiles streak across the Damascus skyline as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. Credit:HASSAN AMMAR

Today relations between the two nations are even worse, both despite and because of the evidence that Russia meddled in the US election in an effort to support Trumps campaign. While Trump has failed to personally condemn the Russian actions in the election  or the recent use of a nerve agent in England  the broader machinery of the US government has responded, most recently with the expulsions of diplomats. Some analysts have fretted that we are veering into Cold War without any of the established mechanisms for deconfliction and back-channel communication in place. The difficult  even dangerous  relationship between the two powers has made military calculous behind the strikes even more complicated. To demonstrate to Syria, Russia and Iran that the goal of the attack was to deter the regime from using illegal weapons, the strikes needed to be confined to targets related to the use of the weapons. Yet to achieve deterrence they also needed to be broader and more destructive than the 2017 strikes. By necessity then the targets included not only airfields, but sites thought to have been used for the development and storage of Assads chemical stockpile. This increased the risk of casualties among both civilians and Russians, and in turn the risk of escalation. Loading

The US Secretary of Defence, Jim Mattis, emphasised to the media after the attack, that planners did all they could to avoid such casualties, but he also said Russia was not notified of the attack beforehand. It is also significant that the attack was conducted in conjunction with Britain and France, signalling to Syria an international resolve that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated, and to Russia that the western order might be frayed, but is not toothless. It is not yet clear how the strike will leave relations between the US and its western allies and Russia. In her statement on the attack the British leader Theresa May was careful to make it clear that the intent of the attack was specific and limited. "We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised within Syria, on the streets of the UK or anywhere else in our world," she said. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about a regime change.A girl in detention on Nauru in a "very severe" condition will be allowed to travel to Australia for urgent medical treatment after lawyers said the child tried to take her own life two days ago.

The girl's case was heard in the Federal Court on Saturday after lawyers acting on her behalf said a request for the child to receive treatment in Australia was rejected by the Department of Home Affairs and its Minister Peter Dutton on Friday afternoon.

Ashlee Briffa, legal counsel for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, leaves court on Saturday. Credit:AAP

Maurice Blackburn's head of social justice, Jennifer Kanis, told reporters after the hearing that the child had attempted to take her own life three times, as recently as two days ago, and had been under 24-hour surveillance on and off for a month on Nauru.

Ms Kanis described the girl's as being in "a very severe medical condition" and that there were fears she "may attempt suicide again in the near future".The rate would be zero for drinks with 5 grams or less of sugar per 100 millilitres, meaning some would stay tax-free, including Schweppes Lemonade, Tesco Lemonade and Lucozade Sport. Itd be heavier for drinks with between 5 and 8 grams of sugar. Among them were Fanta, Sprite and Dr Pepper. And it would be high for drinks with more than 8 grams, such as Coke, Pepsi and Red Bull. His hope was that the drinks above each threshold would cut their sugar until they were below it. Itd cut their tax from 24 pence per litre to 18 pence, or from 18 pence to nothing. They had two years in which to do it. Within months, Tesco said it would reformulate its entire range to escape the levy. Lucozade Ribena followed, also for its entire range. It meant halving the high sugar contents of Lucozade and Ribena. Then Sprite halved its sugar content, Fanta fell from grams 7 to 4.5, and 7 Up from a scary 11 grams to 7 grams. By the time the tax arrived last week, Britain had more than halved its initial estimate of what the tax would raise, cutting its estimate for takings in the first year from 520 million to 240 million ($439.6 million to $952.5 million).

The government-owned Behavioural Insights Team reckons around 750 million litres of drink has been reformatted, which would save a welcome 30,000 tonnes of sugar per year, all before day one. Therell be more change now the tax is in place. Retailers will more prominently display the cheaper drinks that are lower-taxed, producers will shift their marketing to products they are able to sell for less, and customers comparing prices will be more likely to pick the cheap ones. More manufacturers will cut their sugar content as a result, and even those that dont will sell increasing amounts of their zero-sugar products and less of those with sugar. The universal truth about tax is that people dont like paying it. It can be put to good use. After a while, the sugar tax might raise very little. Which was the idea. The universal truth about tax is that people dont like paying it. It can be put to good use. Australia did it with petrol. From 1994 we more heavily taxed leaded petrol, pushing up the price by 2 cents per litre to encourage drivers to switch to unleaded. We do it with tobacco, and, imperfectly, with alcohol.

Whats great about so-called sin taxes (or "Pigovian taxes") is the double pay-off. Taxing more the things we want less of, including things that kill people, allows us to tax less the things we want more of, such as jobs, income and savings. Julia Gillard did it big-time in 2012. Her carbon tax raised $14 billion. She used it to pay out

$14 million in income tax cuts, grants to industries and increases in pensions and benefits. By taxing "bads", she was able to cut taxes on "goods". Electricity emissions slid during those two years, then climbed again after the tax was axed. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gets the idea, at least in theory. He said so during the last election. All of us know that if you want to have less of something, you increase the tax on it, he said, complaining about Labors plan to boost the capital gains tax. That is how health organisations justify and urge governments, as we are doing, to increase the tax on tobacco. Labor clearly wants to have less investment.Rhys Mitchell was working as a chef, living in a sharehouse in Footscray and looking forward to his studies in psychology at Victoria University. But by the time the semester had started he was squatting on an airbed in an abandoned Yarraville hoarder's house, with maggots in the fridge and dead rats decomposing on the floor.

"It was pretty gnarly," the 26-year-old says now. "I ended up having a bit of a breakdown just from being overwhelmed with it all."

While recent headlines have noted Australia's growing homelessness problem, hidden in the figures is the rising number of young people - like Mr Mitchell - who are putting themselves through tertiary education while homeless.

Rhys Mitchell, 26, spent months squatting in a Yarraville house while studying at Victoria University. Credit:Eddie Jim

On the last census night, 10,813 university or TAFE students were homeless, according to statistics released recently. Of those, 1117 were living in facilities for the homeless, 1073 were couchsurfing and 1765 were in boarding houses. Close to 7000 were living in "severely overcrowded" homes, and 81 were sleeping rough or in cars.A Bondi entrepreneur who was "addicted" to cocaine spent about $1000 a day on the drug and became so indebted to his dealers he agreed to become a driver for them, a court has heard.

George Gerges, 33, was working for a strata company in early 2015 and made about $200,000 a year when he was introduced to a new "social scene" where cocaine was used recreationally.

Initially, Gerges had no concerns about trying the drug, thinking his use would only be "temporary".

However, over time, his drug use increased significantly to five grams per day, draining his savings and racking up a $25,000 debt with his dealers.The flag is often associated with white supremacist groups as it was a banner of the slave-holding Confederate southern states during the American Civil War.

The new design features the same colours of red and blue but with just one star, a nod to the original logo, all designed by a club member.

Southside BMX in Bullcreek re-branded and redesigned the logo and uniform, which has featured the controversial flag since the club was established in 1980.

Southside BMX Club President Sandra Winfield said the club never intended any racist meaning behind the former logo.

We are a very family friendly, inclusive club  we are one of the biggest clubs in WA and one of the oldest clubs, she said.

We had had the flag (on the logo) since 1980 when we were founded and it was sponsored by Southside Mitsubishi - they had a huge (Confederate) flag flying over their grounds in Victoria Park at the time so thats the reason we had it and of course because were south of the river  so thats where 'southside' came from.

It was nothing to do with being racist or clan activities  it did not have the other connotations.

The Confederate flag, if you look at the history it was not associated with those sorts of things it was just representing the confederate states and unfortunately some groups took hold of it and it became a different symbol.The two-metre tall Comey describes Trump as shorter than he expected with a "too long" tie and "bright white half-moons" under his eyes that he suggests came from tanning goggles. He also says he made a conscious effort to check the President's hand size, saying it was "smaller than mine but did not seem unusually so." "Donald Trump's presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation," Comey writes, calling the administration a "forest fire" that can't be contained by ethical leaders within the government. On a more-personal level, Comey describes Trump repeatedly asking him to consider investigating an allegation involving Trump and Russian prostitutes urinating on a bed in a Moscow hotel, in order to prove it was a lie. Trump has strongly denied the allegation, and Comey says that it appeared the President wanted it investigated to reassure his wife, Melania Trump. War of words: US President Donald Trump and former FBI boss James Comey. Credit:AP Trump fired Comey in May 2017, setting off a scramble at the Justice Department that led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation. Mueller's probe has expanded to include whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey, which the President denies.

Trump has assailed Comey as a "showboat" and a "liar." Top White House aides also criticised the fired FBI director on Friday. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders questioned Comey's credibility in a tweet and White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway said Comey took "unnecessary, immature pot shots." Comey's account lands at a particularly sensitive moment for Trump and the White House. Officials there describe the President as enraged over a recent FBI raid of his personal lawyer's home and office, raising the prospect that he could fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, or try to shut down the probe on his own. Former FBI director James Comey's new book A Higher Loyalty. The Republican National Committee is poised to lead the pushback effort against Comey by launching a website and supplying surrogates with talking points that question his credibility. Trump has said he fired Comey because of his handling of the FBI's investigation into Clinton's email practices. Trump used the investigation as a cudgel in the campaign and repeatedly said Clinton should be jailed for using a personal email system while serving as secretary of state. Democrats, on the other hand, have accused Comey of politicising the investigation, and Clinton herself has said it hurt her election prospects.

Comey writes that he regrets his approach and some of the wording he used in his July 2016 press conference in which he announced the decision not to prosecute Clinton. But he says he believes he did the right thing by going before the cameras and making his statement, noting that the Justice Department had done so in other high profile cases. Every person on the investigative team, Comey writes, found that there was no prosecutable case against Clinton and that the FBI didn't find that she lied under its questioning. Comey's book will be heavily scrutinised by the Trump's legal team looking for any inconsistencies between it and his public testimony, under oath, before Congress. They will be looking to impeach Comey's credibility as a key witness in Mueller's obstruction investigation, which the President has cast as a political motivated witch hunt. The former FBI director provides new details of his firing. He writes that then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly - Trump's current chief of staff - offered to quit out of disgust at how Comey was dismissed. Kelly has been increasingly marginalised in the White House and the Trump has mused to confidants about firing him. Comey also writes extensively about his first meeting with Trump after the election, a briefing in January 2017 at Trump Tower in New York City. Others in the meeting included Vice-President Mike Pence, Trump's first chief of staff, Reince Priebus, Michael Flynn, who would become national security adviser, and incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer. Comey was also joined by NSA Director Mike Rogers, CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Loading After Clapper briefed the team on the intelligence community's findings of Russian election interference, Comey writes, he was taken aback by what the Trump team didn't ask. "They were about to lead a country that had been attacked by a foreign adversary, yet they had no questions about what the future Russian threat might be," Comey writes. Instead, he writes, they launched into a strategy session about how to "spin what we'd just told them" for the public. Comey says he had flashbacks to his time investigating the Italian Mafia as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, thinking that Trump "was trying to make us all part of the same family." "For my entire career, intelligence was a thing of mine and political spin a thing of yours. Team Trump wanted to change that," he writes.Skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire over Damascus as the US launches an attack on Syria. Credit:AP The airstrikes are being carried out by US, French and British forces and target suspected chemical weapons facilities. Speaking of Assad and his suspected role in last week's chemical weapons attack, Trump said, "These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead." A US official told Reuters the strikes were aimed at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.

At least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus in the early hours of Saturday and smoke was seen rising over the Syrian capital, a Reuters witness said. A second witness said the Barzah district of Damascus had been hit in the strikes. Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research center. At a Pentagon briefing, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford said the targets included a Syrian research facility and a chemical weapons storage facility. A second US official said targets were being carefully selected with the aim of damaging Assads ability to conduct further gas attacks, while avoiding the risk of spreading poisonous fallout in civilian areas. "The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons," Trump said. The US president, who has tried to build good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had sharply critical words for both Russia and Iran, which have backed Assad's government.

"To Iran and to Russia, I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?" Trump said. British Prime Minister Theresa May said she had authorised British armed forces "to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability." She described it as a "limited and targeted strike" aimed at minimizing civilian casualties. The military action is not about intervening in Syria's civil war or changing its government, she said. It was not immediately clear how extensive the strikes were. US officials had earlier said that Trump had pressed for a more aggressive US strike against Syria than his military chiefs had recommended. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and other military leaders had warned that the larger the attack, the greater the risk of a confrontation with Russia, two US officials said.

Trump made clear in his eight-minute television address that he is wary of a deeper entanglement in Syria, where about 2000 US troops have been deployed to fight Islamic State. "America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria," he said.

The military action comes as Washington-Moscow tensions spiral to levels not seen since the Cold War. Despite an ongoing probe into connections between the Trump Admiminstration and Russia, relations continue to deteiorate over issues ranging from Russian election meddling to the poisoning of ex-Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain in March. The United States had been building a circumstantial case, based largely on videos and photographs, that a chemical attack by Syrian forces took place in the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus killed dozens of civilians and affected 500 more. A rescue worker carries a child following an alleged chemical weapons attack in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus, on Saturday night. Credit:Syrian Civil Defence White Helmets via AP

Syria and Russia, meanwhile, have insisted that no chemical attack occurred and that only the opposition groups they call "terrorists" possess chemical weapons. The guided missile destroyer USS Porter launches a Tomahawk missile as the US blasted a Syrian air base with a barrage of cruise missiles. Credit:US Navy The strike a year ago made good on Trump's vow not to let the use of chemical weapons go unpunished, but it failed to deter Assad from using them again. The US and Russia escalated a war of words over Syria on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump warning that US airstrikes "will be coming" despite Russia's pledge to shoot down American missiles aimed at its ally.

The exchange marked a turnabout for a US president who had ridiculed his predecessor for allegedly telegraphing military strategy. "Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!' " Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to missile strikes that have appeared likely since the deaths of more than 40 Syrian civilians, including children, over the weekend. Trump's tweet was the first explicit US statement that a military response is in the offing, and it apparently took US officials by surprise. The White House later said that a final decision had not yet been made and that all options remained open. The National Security Council met on Wednesday afternoon at the White House, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, to finalise options that could be presented to the president, the White House said. In a later tweet Wednesday morning, Trump asserted that "our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War."Calloway County suspect who fled from deputies has been foundEmail To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.

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Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required.McCracken Sheriff's Department Warns of Scam

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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 13, 2018 | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 13, 2018 | 10:59 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

The McCracken County Sheriff's Department is warning of a scam in the local area.



On Friday, deputies received a call from a resident of McCracken County stating she was scammed through a loan company on the internet. The victim said she was told to open an account in order for money to be sent to her. The money was deposited and then a stop payment was put on those funds. She was then told it is was a state tax issue and they could give her money using a different method.



She was instructed to go to a local store and load money on a prepaid card. Next, she was told to give the numbers off the card and to take a picture of it as verification that she actually had it.



The victim was then contacted by a man identifying himself as a deputy with the McCracken County Sheriffs Office. The person gave her a false case number, and said there was a warrant for her arrest, and that she needed to turn herself in. When the scammer called identifying himself as a deputy, the number did come up on her caller ID as the McCracken County Sheriffs Office.



The public is reminded that they can always call the office at 270-444-4719 to verify the identity of someone claiming to be a McCracken County Deputy Sheriff. If anyone receives a similar call, they should notify their local law enforcement immediately.

Miller Honored With Murray State 2018 Alumni Award

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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 13, 2018 | MURRAY, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 13, 2018 | 09:18 PM | MURRAY, KY

Murray State University recently named Dr. Tim Miller, president emeritus and professor emeritus of the University, one of the 2018 recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award.



Murray State presents the Distinguished Alumni Award annually to alumni who have made meaningful contributions to their profession on a local, state and national level. Established in 1962, the award is the highest honor granted by the Murray State University Alumni Association. Its recipients include Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, renowned authors, research scientists, physicians and educators.



Miller grew up in Elizabethtown and transferred to Murray State during his sophomore year of college. Miller ultimately graduated from the University with a bachelors degree in accounting in 1966 and received his Master of Business Administration in 1967. When he began attending the University, he recalled noticing the difference in Murray State from other universities, noting that he felt cared for and that everyone was a lot friendlier.



Everyone would smile at you as you walked by, Miller said. (It was) a totally different environment.



This would begin Millers love affair with Murray State University. Upon receiving his masters degree from Murray State in 1967, Miller took on the role of graduate assistant and loved it. It wasnt long until Murray State noticed his expertise and offered him a job as an instructor for two years. Miller realized then that if he intended to stay in teaching, he needed to obtain his doctorate. He set off to the University of Arkansas, where he graduated in 1973, before returning to his beloved alma mater to begin his teaching career in Murray.



Miller remained a professor of accounting for 47 years, becoming one of the most well-known faces on campus and in the community. He also held significant roles in addition to being a professor, such as serving as the executive director of the Murray State University Foundation for 23 years, planned giving coordinator for five years and chairman for the department of accounting for 17 years as well as serving two separate terms as interim president of Murray State University.



Miller prides himself in holding true to his belief that at the beginning of success is building positive relationships. It was always

his priority to see Murray State succeed, and he believed that it started with the students.



Each semester you get a new group of students that are held captive in a classroom, Miller joked. I knew when I was a student what

kind of professor I wanted to have, so I wanted to be that teacher. I thought how important it was to have a good relationship with students to have them do the best they can to be a success in life. It really worked out.



For Miller, it absolutely did. He was awarded with the first Outstanding Teacher Recognition Award from the College of Business in 1982, selected as Distinguished Professor by the Alumni Association in 1991, honored with the Regents Award for Teaching Excellence in 2008 and selected as the Outstanding Alumnus from the department of accounting in 2011. The bonds that Miller formed with his students led them to do great things and leave a mark on Murray State. Despite all of the awards and achievements, however, Miller said he never had any of that in mind while he was teaching.



What I enjoyed most was teaching, Miller said. I just did my job, and I didnt expect any awards or anything. I just wanted to be

the best teacher I could be. Thats what Im most proud of.



Millers service did not go unnoticed by his alumni brothers of Sigma Chi either. He was recognized in 2014 by Sigma Chi International as a Significant Sig, the highest award bestowed by the fraternity to recognize a Sigma Chi alumnus who has achieved distinction in his chosen career. Miller is only the fourth alumnus of Murray State's Espilon Tau chapter to earn the award, following the Honorable Bill Cunningham of the Kentucky Supreme Court, journalist Gabe Hobbs and Arthur J. Bauernfeind, past chairman of the Murray State Foundation Board of Trustees.



Miller also went the extra mile to keep up with the trends of his expertise. While teaching, he wanted to receive his CPA to become a

Certified Public Accountant. Upon being awarded this he helped establish a firm in Murray while he was teaching and serving as the executive director of the Murray State University Foundation. After retiring in 2014, Murray States accounting departments suite of offices was named the Dr. Tim Miller Center for Accounting Education.



"Looking back on everything I did, I did it to be a better teacher," Miller said. "Teaching was everything to me."



Due to all of his administrative experience and knowledge of the University, the Board of Regents appointed Miller to serve as interim president of Murray State, once in 2006 and again during the 2013-14 academic year. During his second term, Miller battled with

whether it ultimately was the best decision. Teaching was his passion and if he agreed to the presidency he would be unable to teach for his last year. It was no surprise that Miller again put the needs of the University and the students above his own and accepted the position.



During his second term as interim president, he felt it was very important to begin taking steps to influence the University's enrollment. Miller visited all the schools in Murray State's 18-county region, meeting with the superintendents and principals of the high

schools to share how great of a choice Murray State would be for students to further their education. This was also a time that the

legislature was meeting in Frankfort, which resulted in many trips to the state's capitol to convince the legislature that Murray State needed funding. Miller's campaign was successful, awarding Murray State with the most funding for capital projects the University has ever received, which allowed for the construction of the Engineering and Physics Building, Franklin Residential College and the Breathitt Veterinary Center in Hopkinsville. Miller didn't let the short term of his presidency stop him from accomplishing important things and, ultimately, his accomplishments led the Board of Regents to officially name him

Murray State's 12th university president.



One of Miller's projects while president included honoring the retired faculty and staff of Murray State. He and his wife Patsy hosted lunches at Oakhurst to make sure all the retirees hard work did not go unrecognized.



"We started with each residential college as well as food services and facilities and management. All of those who had retired came back. It was a way to say thank you for all that you've done," Miller said.



He credits much of his success over the years to the support of his wife, Patsy, who he fell in love with during his junior year at Murray

State. Patsy received her bachelors degree from the University in elementary education. Miller says one of his greatest accomplishments is meeting and marrying the love of his life. Miller and Patsy have enjoyed 51 years of marriage.



"She has an outstanding personality and everyone who meets her, loves her, Miller said.



Now, being awarded yet another award, Miller was surprised in receiving it but said he could not be more excited.



"Seventeen of the people that served on the Foundation Board when I was a director have received this award. Five of my former accounting students have won (it)," Miller said. "So I'm in great company."



The Murray State community has seen firsthand Miller's impact on students and faculty. Miller never hesitated to lead with humility and

always had his students best interests in mind. The Murray State Alumni Association is thankful for all that he has accomplished to make Murray State a better place, one where Miller has definitely left a legacy behind.



Miller will be honored at the Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner on April 27 at 6 p.m. in the CFSB Centers Murray Room. During the

banquet, he will have the opportunity to speak about his professional experiences and memories of Murray State. The banquet is open to the public and tickets are available for $50 per person at this link:

US, Britain, France Attack Syria: Latest Updates

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By The Associated Press

Apr. 13, 2018 | WASHINGTON, D.C.

By The Associated Press Apr. 13, 2018 | 08:39 PM | WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Latest on United States led missile strikes on Syria, (all times local):



12:05 a.m.



A senior Syrian opposition leader says the international community will have to bear the responsibility for "any revengeful escalation" from the Syrian government or its allies following joint airstrikes from the U.S., Britain and France.



Nasr al-Hariri, who heads the committee that represents the opposition in the flailing U.N. talks with the government, says Syrians need an international understanding and a strategy that leads to a political solution to "save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime."



Al-Hariri tweeted that after the strikes in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack last week, the Syrian government may not "risk using chemical weapons in Syria again." But he added, "It will only use explosive barrels, cluster bombs."



__



11:55 p.m.



The spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry is denouncing the United States for launching airstrikes on Syria. She says the attacks hit a long-troubled country "that for many years has been trying to survive terrorist aggression."



In a statement Saturday on Facebook, Maria Zakharova is also taking Western media reports to task.



Zakharova says: "The White House stated that its assuredness of the chemical attack from Damascus was based on 'mass media, reports of symptoms, video, photos as well as credible information.' After this statement the American and other Western mass media should understand their responsibility in what is happening."



Sakharova is comparing the situation to the start of the Iraq War in 2003 based on claims Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.



__



11:30 p.m.



The Russian ambassador to the United States has condemned the airstrikes on Syria, which he says pose a threat to Russia.



Anatoly Antonov says in a statement that Russia has warned that "such actions will not be left without consequences" and "all responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris."



He adds that "insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible."



The U.S., Britain and France launched the military strikes to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians.



Russia's military, which supports Assad, has described the purported chemical attack as a fake directed by Britain.



__



11:20 p.m.



The head of a delegation of Russian lawmakers visiting Syria claims that Western airstrikes on Syria were aimed at disrupting the work of international investigators looking into whether Syria used chemical weapons in the town of Douma.



The alleged chemical attack prompted the airstrikes. Investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were expected to begin work Saturday on determining whether a chemical attack occurred.



Russian parliament member Dmitry Sablin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying, "The airstrikes were carried out by the U.S.-led coalition consciously to spoil the investigation."



The Russian military said Friday its specialists in Douma have found no evidence of a chemical attack.



__



11 p.m.



Congressional leaders are supporting President Donald Trump's decision to launch airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad in retaliation for an apparent chemical attack against civilians  although there are some reservations.



House Speaker Paul Ryan is praising Trump's "decisive action in coordination with our allies," adding, "We are united in our resolve."



Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain is applauding the airstrikes but says "they alone will not achieve U.S. objectives in the Middle East."



Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is calling the airstrikes "appropriate," but says "the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria."



And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says, "One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy."



__



10:50 p.m.



Syrian TV is reporting that the attack on Syria targeted a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus.



The report says Syria's air defenses confronted the missiles near Homs, and says the airstrikes also targeted an army depot there.



U.S. President Donald Trump announced the airstrikes in retaliation for Syrian President Bashar Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons.



Syrian air defenses responded to the joint strikes by the United States, France and Britain



__



10:35 p.m.



A highly placed Russian politician is likening President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler after the launch of airstrikes against Syria, and says he regards the action as a move against Russia.



Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, says Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time  because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union."



That's according to state news agency RIA-Novosti. The Nazi forces' opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4 a.m.





10:20 p.m.



The British defense ministry says "initial indications" show that the airstrikes against Syria produced a "successful attack" on a Syrian military facility.



The U.K., U.S. and France launched the attacks near Damascus early Saturday. The U.K. ministry says in a statement that while the effectiveness of the strike is still being analyzed, "initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack."



British Prime Minister Theresa May is describing the attack as neither "about intervening in a civil war" nor "about regime change," but a limited and targeted strike that "does not further escalate tensions in the region" and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.



May says, "We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none."



__



10:17 p.m.



Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he is "absolutely confident" that Syrian President Bashar Assad is behind the alleged chemical attack on his people that the U.S. and allies retaliated against Friday night.



Mattis tells reporters he is certain Assad conducted a chemical attack on innocent people.



He says the U.S. is "very much aware of one of the chemical agents used." And he says there may have been a second.



President Donald Trump announced Friday that the U.S., France and Britain had launched military strikes against Syria to punish Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons and to deter him from doing it again.



__



10:15 p.m.



Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. has no reports of suffering any losses during the initial airstrikes on Syria Friday.



Mattis says "right now this is a one-time shot" but is not ruling out further attacks. President Donald Trump had said earlier that the campaign against the regime of Bashar Assad could be "sustained."



The defense secretary says the airstrikes were launched against several sites that he says helped provide Assad's ability to create chemical weapons. Mattis says the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people last week.



Mattis says the Pentagon will provide more information on the attack Saturday.



__



10:10 p.m.



Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says military strikes in Syria are "directed at the Syrian regime" and they have "gone to great lengths to avoid civilians and foreign casualties."



Mattis spoke Friday night after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S., France and Britain launched military strikes on Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians and to deter him from doing it again.



Mattis is asking that "responsible nations" join in condemning the Assad regime.



__



10 p.m.



Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken "decisive action" against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure.



Mattis briefed reporters at the Pentagon Friday an hour after President Donald Trump announced the strike.



Mattis says the United States, along with France and the United Kingdom, struck because Syrian President Bashar Assad "did not get the message" when the U.S. launched airstrikes after a chemical attack in 2017.



The defense secretary says Friday's strikes have "sent a clear message" to Assad and his "murderous lieutenants."



__



9:50 p.m.



Explosions are being heard to the east, west and south of Damascus as the U.S., U.K. and France conduct airstrikes in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government on its own people.



Witnesses saw blasts surrounding much of the Syrian capital and a huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. An AP reporter in Damascus says the attacks turned the sky orange. Syrian television reported that a scientific research center had been hit.



Syrian media reported that Syrian defenses hit 13 rockets south of Damascus. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.



___



9:40 p.m.



French President Emmanuel Macron says his nation, the United States and Britain have launched a military operation against the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."



Macron says in a statement Saturday that France's "red line has been crossed" after a suspected chemical attack last week in the Syrian town of Douma.



He says there is "no doubt" that the Syrian government is responsible. President Bashar Assad's government denies responsibility.



Macron says the operation is limited to Syria's abilities to produce chemical weapons. He is not giving details about what equipment is involved in the operation or what sites it is targeting.



__



9:25 p.m.



President Donald Trump is reiterating his call to have other nations take on more of the burden in Syria.



Trump says he has asked U.S. partners "to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment and all of the anti-ISIS effort."



He says increased engagement from countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt can ensure that Iran does not profit from the defeat of the Islamic State group.



He adds that, "America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria  under no circumstances" and says that, "As other nations step up our contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home."



__



9:20 p.m.



Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons.



Associated Press reporters in Damascus saw smoke rising from east Damascus early Saturday morning local time. Syrian state TV says the attack has begun on the capital, though it wasn't immediately clear what was targeted.



Trump announced Friday night that the U.S., France and Britain have launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians and to deter him from doing it again.



__



9:15 p.m.



President Donald Trump is warning Russia and Iran about their association with Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad's government, as he announces the launch of retaliatory strikes after an apparent chemical weapons attack last week.



Speaking from the White House, Trump says, "To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?"



Trump calls the two countries those "most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime."



Trump says, "The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep."



He adds ominously, "Hopefully someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran, but maybe not."



__



9:10 p.m.



President Donald Trump is asking for a "prayer for our noble warriors" as he concludes his remarks announcing strikes on targets associated with the Syrian chemical weapons program.



Trump announced the strikes, in coordination with France and Britain, from the White House Friday night. He said the three nations have "marshaled their righteous power."



Trump is also offering prayers for the Middle East and for the United States.



__



9:05 p.m.



President Donald Trump says he is "prepared to sustain" strikes against Syria until the use of chemical agents stops.



The United States, along with assurance from France and the United Kingdom, launched a response Friday against the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad days after his government allegedly used chemical weapons on its citizens.



But Trump says America does not seek "an indefinite presence" in Syria and will look to pull out its troops once the Islamic State is totally defeated.



Trump has signaled in recent weeks that, despite advice from his national security team, he wanted to accelerate the timetable of the withdrawal of American forces.



__



9 p.m.



President Donald Trump says the United States has "launched precision strikes" on targets associated with Syrian chemical weapons program.



Trump spoke from the White House Friday night. He says a "combined operation" with France and the United Kingdom is underway.



Trump says that last Saturday, Syrian President Bashar Assad deployed chemical weapons in what was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."



__



8:55 p.m.



President Donald Trump is set to address the nation Friday night amid anticipation of a retaliatory strike for an apparent Syrian chemical weapon attack last week.



That's according to a source familiar with the president's plans, who was not authorized to speak publicly.



Trump has said he will hold the Syrian government, as well as its Russian and Iranian allies, accountable for the suspected attack.



White House spokesman Raj Shah said Friday afternoon that Trump "is going to hold the Syrian government accountable. He's also going to hold the Russians and the Iranians who are propping up this regime responsible."



___



5 p.m.



The U.S. Navy was moving an additional Tomahawk missile-armed ship within striking range of Syria as President Donald Trump and his national security aides mulled the scope and timing of an expected military assault in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack.



Trump's U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, said the president had not yet made a final decision, two days after he tweeted that Russia should "get ready" because a missile attack "will be coming" at Moscow's chief Middle East ally.



The presence of Russian troops and air defenses in Syria were among numerous complications weighing on Trump, who must also consider the dangers to roughly 2,000 American troops in the country if Russia were to retaliate for U.S. strikes.





Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons.



Associated Press reporters in Damascus saw smoke rising from east Damascus early Saturday morning local time. Syrian state TV says the attack has begun on the capital, though it wasn't immediately clear what was targeted.



Trump announced Friday night that the U.S., France and Britain have launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians and to deter him from doing it again.



Trump says he is "prepared to sustain" strikes against Syria until the use of chemical agents stops, but he said America does not seek "an indefinite presence" in Syria and will look to pull out its troops once the Islamic State is totally defeated.



Trump has signaled in recent weeks that, despite advice from his national security team, he wanted to accelerate the timetable of the withdrawal of American forces.By WestKyStar Staff Apr. 14, 2018 | 08:22 AM | WASHINGTON DC

This is a historic day for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, as Leader McConnell has introduced a bipartisan bill to legalize hemp as an agricultural commodity, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles said. This is an incredible milestone for the Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program weve built here in Kentucky.





The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, Democrats from Oregon.



























Kentucky US Senator Mitch McConnell introduced a bill on the Senate floor Thursday which would remove hemp from the list of controlled substances and open the door for farmers to sell and grow it as an agricultural product.McConnell said Kentucky farmers are optimistic about the legislation concerning the plant which is closely related to marijuana.Brazilian side Chapecoense have revealed their new away kit will proudly sport the colours of the Colombian flag as a demonstration of their gratitude to the entire country for the love and support the club received in the wake of the tragic plane crash that nearly wiped out their entire team.

Chapes plane went down on its approach to Medellin airport ahead of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana final, killing 71 of the 77 people on board.

Of course, the final never went ahead, but that didnt stop tens of thousands of fans flooding to the Atanasio Girardot stadium to pay their respects.

To say thank-you, and to reaffirm the bond between Chape and the Colombian people, the club have gone and dedicated their new strip to them

A paixao e o que move o futebol e motiva qualquer superacao. Tambem e o que une torcedores da Chape e da Colombia. Isso inspirou a nova camisa da Umbro, feita para voce carregar essa paixao no peito. #VamosChape #Colombia #LaPasion #UmbroNations pic.twitter.com/pjJhczXIjr  Chapecoense (@ChapecoenseReal) April 14, 2018

According to the official Umbro blurb, the main white base of the shirt represents the transmitting of all peace and harmony while the Colombian colours are just that.

Pretty darn lovely, and a bloomin handsome shirt to boot.As protests continue to erupt in the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and across the world in outrage against the horrific shooting of Jacob Bla Read moreA Camden man is facing drug charges following an investigation into the sale and distribution of narcotics, according to the Oneida County Sheriffs Office.

Around 9 a.m. Friday, members of the Sheriffs Offices Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant at 29 Second St. in Camden. Deputies say a quantity of marijuana and methamphetamine were found during the search.

Ronald Forbes, 28, is charged with misdemeanor seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and the violation of unlawful possession of marijuana. He was released on an appearance ticket and hes due back in Camden court at a later date.

Deputies say more charges are pending as the investigation continues.

The Rome Police Departments Special Investigations Unit, the Madison County Sheriffs Office and the Oneida County Sheriffs Offices Road Patrol also assisted in the investigation.WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on U.S.-led missile strikes on Syria (all times local):

10:35 p.m.

A highly placed Russian politician is likening President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler after the launch of airstrikes against Syria, and says he regards the action as a move against Russia.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, says Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time - because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union."

That's according to state news agency RIA-Novosti. The Nazi forces' opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4 a.m.

__

10:20 p.m.

The British defense ministry says "initial indications" show that the airstrikes against Syria produced a "successful attack" on a Syrian military facility.

The U.K., U.S. and France launched the attacks near Damascus early Saturday. The U.K. ministry says in a statement that while the effectiveness of the strike is still being analyzed, "initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack."

British Prime Minister Theresa May is describing the attack as neither "about intervening in a civil war" nor "about regime change," but a limited and targeted strike that "does not further escalate tensions in the region" and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

May says, "We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none."

__

10:17 p.m.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he is "absolutely confident" that Syrian President Bashar Assad is behind the alleged chemical attack on his people that the U.S. and allies retaliated against Friday night.

Mattis tells reporters he is certain Assad conducted a chemical attack on innocent people.

He says the U.S. is "very much aware of one of the chemical agents used." And he says there may have been a second.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that the U.S., France and Britain had launched military strikes against Syria to punish Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons and to deter him from doing it again.

__

10:15 p.m.

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. has no reports of suffering any losses during the initial airstrikes on Syria Friday.

Mattis says "right now this is a one-time shot" but is not ruling out further attacks. President Donald Trump had said earlier that the campaign against the regime of Bashar Assad could be "sustained."

The defense secretary says the airstrikes were launched against several sites that he says helped provide Assad's ability to create chemical weapons. Mattis says the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people last week.

Mattis says the Pentagon will provide more information on the attack Saturday.

__

10:10 p.m.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says military strikes in Syria are "directed at the Syrian regime" and they have "gone to great lengths to avoid civilians and foreign casualties."

Mattis spoke Friday night after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S., France and Britain launched military strikes on Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians and to deter him from doing it again.

Mattis is asking that "responsible nations" join in condemning the Assad regime.

__

10 p.m.

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. and its allies have taken "decisive action" against Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure.

Mattis briefed reporters at the Pentagon Friday an hour after President Donald Trump announced the strike.

Mattis says the United States, along with France and the United Kingdom, struck because Syrian President Bashar Assad "did not get the message" when the U.S. launched airstrikes after a chemical attack in 2017.

The defense secretary says Friday's strikes have "sent a clear message" to Assad and his "murderous lieutenants."

__

9:50 p.m.

Explosions are being heard to the east, west and south of Damascus as the U.S., U.K. and France conduct airstrikes in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government on its own people.

Witnesses saw blasts surrounding much of the Syrian capital and a huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. An AP reporter in Damascus says the attacks turned the sky orange. Syrian television reported that a scientific research center had been hit.

Syrian media reported that Syrian defenses hit 13 rockets south of Damascus. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

___

9:40 p.m.

French President Emmanuel Macron says his nation, the United States and Britain have launched a military operation against the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."

Macron says in a statement Saturday that France's "red line has been crossed" after a suspected chemical attack last week in the Syrian town of Douma.

He says there is "no doubt" that the Syrian government is responsible. President Bashar Assad's government denies responsibility.

Macron says the operation is limited to Syria's abilities to produce chemical weapons. He is not giving details about what equipment is involved in the operation or what sites it is targeting.

__

9:25 p.m.

President Donald Trump is reiterating his call to have other nations take on more of the burden in Syria.

Trump says he has asked U.S. partners "to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment and all of the anti-ISIS effort."

He says increased engagement from countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt can ensure that Iran does not profit from the defeat of the Islamic State group.

He adds that, "America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria - under no circumstances" and says that, "As other nations step up our contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home."

__

9:20 p.m.

Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons.

Associated Press reporters in Damascus saw smoke rising from east Damascus early Saturday morning local time. Syrian state TV says the attack has begun on the capital, though it wasn't immediately clear what was targeted.

Trump announced Friday night that the U.S., France and Britain have launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians and to deter him from doing it again.

__

9:15 p.m.

President Donald Trump is warning Russia and Iran about their association with Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad's government, as he announces the launch of retaliatory strikes after an apparent chemical weapons attack last week.

Speaking from the White House, Trump says, "To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?"

Trump calls the two countries those "most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime."

Trump says, "The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep."

He adds ominously, "Hopefully someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran, but maybe not."

__

9:10 p.m.

President Donald Trump is asking for a "prayer for our noble warriors" as he concludes his remarks announcing strikes on targets associated with the Syrian chemical weapons program.

Trump announced the strikes, in coordination with France and Britain, from the White House Friday night. He said the three nations have "marshaled their righteous power."

Trump is also offering prayers for the Middle East and for the United States.

__

9:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he is "prepared to sustain" strikes against Syria until the use of chemical agents stops.

The United States, along with assurance from France and the United Kingdom, launched a response Friday against the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad days after his government allegedly used chemical weapons on its citizens.

But Trump says America does not seek "an indefinite presence" in Syria and will look to pull out its troops once the Islamic State is totally defeated.

Trump has signaled in recent weeks that, despite advice from his national security team, he wanted to accelerate the timetable of the withdrawal of American forces.

__

9 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the United States has "launched precision strikes" on targets associated with Syrian chemical weapons program.

Trump spoke from the White House Friday night. He says a "combined operation" with France and the United Kingdom is underway.

Trump says that last Saturday, Syrian President Bashar Assad deployed chemical weapons in what was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."Following recent Airstrikes in Syria, local representatives in Congress are responding to the United State's action to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians.

Here are statements from some Congressional Leaders regarding the United State's joining France and Great Britain in conducting these attacks.

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R) 22nd District

"Last night, the United States along with our British and French allies showed the world that the United States will not sit idly by while the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons to murder and maim its own people. While the Russians continue to support these heinous war crimes, the Syrian regime continues to violate its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the UN's Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. I support President Trumps limited action to target chemical weapons facilities and hold this brutal regime accountable. I also support the extraordinary service and sacrifice of our brave men and women who serve this nation in our armed forces. Going forward it is vitally important that the administration involve Congress in any future decisions regarding the region beyond these limited actions."

Congressman John Faso (R) 19th District

"The coalition strike in Syria is a measured response to Assads barbaric use of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons have been prohibited for decades and we must enforce this prohibition."

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R) 21st District

"Last night, U.S. and allied forces launched precision air strikes against the Syrian regime in response to its use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians. This kind of brutality cannot stand, and I support the Presidents decision to respond with the support of our allies in the UK and France.

There are many questions that remain about our policy in Syria, and I will continue working with my colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee to conduct rigorous oversight of our strategy. I pray for the safety of our brave men and women serving in uniform as they carry out this mission.

The White House says the leaders agreed the airstrikes in Syria "were successful and necessary to deter" the future use of chemical weapons.LAPORTE, Ind. (AP)  A former Indiana mail carrier has been accused of paying someone to dispose 11,000 pieces of mail and hiding another 6,000 in his home.

Kristopher Block, 39, was charged Tuesday in LaPorte Circuit Court with felony official misconduct and misdemeanor theft. A judge issued a warrant for Block's arrest, but online jail records indicate he's yet to be taken into custody. His bond will be set at $7,500, according to court records.

The U.S. Postal Service began an investigation when a Berrien County sheriff's deputy discovered multiple tubs of undelivered mail in a Michigan ravine last year. The letters originated from the LaPorte Post Office, where Block was the assigned mail carrier, court documents said. Some letters dated back to August 2016.

LaPorte resident Wally Bass said his mail used to regularly go missing.

"At least two to three times a week, we wouldn't get no mail and I knew that we had mail that was supposed to come, bills and different stuff," Bass said. He eventually purchased a P.O. box to ensure he would receive his mail.

Block told authorities he took mail home in 2016-17 when he couldn't deliver it by the end of his shift. He would also routinely pay a friend to burn the letters, according to court records. It's unclear whether any of the mail was actually destroyed.

Block started working at the post office in 2015 and resigned in February 2017.

Authorities have yet to locate Block's accomplice, who hasn't been formally charged with a crime, records said.

The U.S. Postal Service released a statement that said the alleged behavior isn't tolerated and betrays the "trust of the American people."The U.S. on Friday launched "precision" military strikes against targets inside Syria linked to recent chemical attacks, said President Trump in a statement from the White House. The strike is the culmination of days of threats by President Trump against the Syrian government over a suspected chemical attack against civilians in Douma on the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday.

"A short time ago, I ordered the U.S. Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad," the president said from the White House.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way," he continued.

President Trump claimed the U.S. will have a "sustained" response to curtail Syria. He also called out Iran and Russia.

"To Iran and Russia I ask, what kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?" Mr. Trump said. "The nations of the world can be judged by the fiends they keep."

Secretary of Defense James Mattis said at 10 p.m. eastern time that the first wave of airstrikes were over. He said there were "no reports of losses" on U.S. and allies.

Mr. Trump described a very specific type of target that the U.S. would go after, which are Syria's chemical weapon capabilities. That could be everything from aircraft that dropped chemical weapons to the headquarters that control the forces that drop the chemical weapons, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford said in a news conference Friday that the three target areas included a scientific research center located in Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs and a nearby storage facility with chemical weapons equipment and an "important" command post.

CBS News foreign correspondent Seth Doane, who is the only American network correspondent in Damascus, reported that as President Trump was speaking around 4 a.m. local time, they could hear "rumblings" that appeared to be the airstrikes.

The U.S. State Department said Friday that it has proof that Syria was behind the suspected chemical attack.

The airstrikes are the second time Mr. Trump has retaliated against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad for using chemical weapons against civilians. In April 2017, Mr. Trump ordered a strike of nearly 60 Tomahawk missiles that destroyed a Syrian air base days after Assad used sarin gas in an attack that killed dozens of civilians, many of them children.

Mr. Trump met with his national security team at the White House Wednesday afternoon to discuss options for striking the Syrian regime. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement following the meeting that no decision had been made about a response. In the days since the suspected attack, the president has repeatedly warned that a military strike was on the table.

Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday during a congressional hearing that an attack was "not yet in the offing."

Friday's strikes come in response to the suspected poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the capital of Damascus that left dozens dead, according to opposition groups. The alleged attack has been denied by Syria and Russia, Assad's closest ally.



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Chief executive retires from North Wales housing group

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Apr 14th, 2018

A housing association chief executive has retired after more than 20 years working to provide quality affordable homes across the region.

Graham Worthington had worked for Pennaf Housing Group, which includes Clwyd Alyn Housing Association, managing over 5,700 homes across North and Mid Wales from the Isle of Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire to the Wrexham and Powys County areas.

He started working in the housing sector in 1974 and has spent the last 23 years working for the Pennaf Group.

Commenting on his career, Graham said: I have always been passionate about the need to provide good quality affordable housing and it has been a privilege to work with dedicated staff and Board Members over the years who have helped to achieve this.

Im confident that the Pennaf Group is in safe hands going forward and will continue to thrive, working in partnership with local authorities to meet the needs of communities across the region.

It is excellent that Claire Budden, chief officer for community enterprise at Flintshire County Council, will take up her post as the new Pennaf chief executive on April 16 as she will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the role.

He added: It has been a pleasure and an honour to have worked with an amazing group of people who are doing a fantastic job for families in need across North Wales.

A retirement presentation party was recently attended by staff from across the Group when Mr Worthington thanked staff for their commitment as well as their kind wishes on his retirement.

Trevor Henderson, deputy Chief executive of Pennaf said: On behalf of the Management Team and staff, wed like to thank Graham for all that he has done to help the Group thrive over the years and we wish him all the very best for a long and happy retirement.Commonwealth Games mascot brought to life by Wrexham Glyndwr University alumni

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Apr 14th, 2018

An eye-catching mascot for Australias Gold Coast Commonwealth Games was brought to life by a former Wrexham student.

Animation director Ian Anderson, who studied design communications and animation at Wrexham Glyndwr University, lead a team of artists to design Borobi, a blue koala, and bring the character to life.

Borobi was selected as the winning design after being picked out of 4,000 entries in a competition and Ian, worked with his team to develop his backstory and character.

Ian, who left Wrexham Glyndwr University in 1990 when it was known as North East Wales Institute (NEWI), is now an animation director at Australian production studio Cutting Edge.

He said: It was such an honour to work on a project of such national significance with a very talented team.

Im responsible with my colleague Zenon Kohler, in leading the team of talented Cutting Edge artists from the beginning to the end of a production, and this project was a very enjoyable one. Its been wonderful seeing how well the mascot has been embraced by the spectators and the athletes.

Originally from Liverpool, Ian got his first break into the industry on the production of The Thief and the Cobbler and then headed to Australia and worked on Disney TVs Goof Troop before working on TV adverts at Catflap Animation.

Pauline Amphlett, senior lecturer in graphic design at Wrexham Glyndwr University, taught Ian from 1988-90.

She said: Ive kept in touch with Ian through an alumni page and it has been wonderful seeing his work on television over the past few days  I turned on the TV the other day and Claire Balding was there holding a Borobi mascot.

I know that seeing Ians work during the Commonwealth games must have been wonderful for his family in the UK as well as all of us at the University who remember him.

Ian was always very focussed on gaining a career in animation and it has been wonderful watching him succeed.

The philosophy behind his course remains the same today. We want all of our graduates to gain relevant employment in the design industry and to make a name for themselves  just as Ian has.

Wrexham Glyndwr University has a strong focus on employability, with 93 per cent of students who completed a full-time degree in 2015/16 in work or further study six months after graduation.

For more on Universitys BA Hons in Graphic Design, click here: https://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/Designgraphicdesignandmultimedia/ and BA Hons in Animation, click here: https://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/Animation/Syria missile strikes: First Minister offered support to any intervention that could prevent a further atrocity

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Apr 14th, 2018

There has been political reaction in Wales this morning after missile strikes by Allied forces on Syrian installations, believed to be involved in the regimes use of chemical weapons.

A busy day in Washington that saw Mr Trumps lawyer placed under formal investigation, plus reports that evidence has emerged that Mr Cohen had been in Prague in 2016 despite claims by the President to the contrary, ended with an evening TV address from the White House announcing the Syrian strikes.

The strikes began at 2am UK time, and were launched as a response to the alleged chemical weapon attack on 7th April in Douma.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s launched Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility  a former missile base  some fifteen miles west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors stockpiled in breach of Syrias obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area.

The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk. According to an MOD spokesperson.

First minister Carwyn Jones said he spoke with Theresa May late last night about military action in Syria.

I offered my support to any intervention that could prevent a further atrocity, but it is vital that any action forms part of a wider long-term plan for the region. He said.

Mr Jones added:

I have urged the Prime Minister to do all she can to avoid civilian casualties given the complicated picture on the ground in Syria, and she has given me assurances in that regard.

Our thoughts today are with our service personnel and the people of Syria who have endured beyond all measure.

The Prime Minister @Theresa_May is holding a press conference on Syria. https://t.co/mwcHYPRfB5  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 14, 2018

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies said;

Theresa Mays considered response is the right one against a Syrian regime which has been persistent in its barbaric use of chemical weapons against its own people.

My gratitude as ever goes to our armed forces personnel who protect and uphold our countrys values.

There has been no specific comment at the time of writing we can see from Plaid Cymrus Leanne Wood, however yesterday she retweeted an event later today in Bangor entitled Dont Bomb Syria.

We have looked for other Independent, UKIP and Welsh Liberal Democrat comment from the Welsh Assembly with no comments yet published this morning.

UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

The reprehensible use of chemical weapons in Douma is further evidence of the Syrian regimes appalling cruelty against its own people. We will not stand by whilst innocent civilians, including women and children, are killed and made to suffer.

The international community has responded decisively with legal and proportionate military force. Let these united actions send a clear message to the regime  the use of chemical weapons is categorically unacceptable and you will be held to account.

Top Image: thinkdefence.co.ukContracts covering 14,000 telecommunication workers at AT&Ts Midwest and Legacy T regions expire at midnight Saturday. Workers in both regions have voted overwhelmingly to strike, expressing outrage over the companys demands for massive concessions in health care and continued job cuts.

The over 90 percent vote to strike is also part of a growing movement of the working class, particularly teachers who have struck in West Virginia and Oklahoma, demanding better pay, health care and increased funding for education.

Communication Workers of America officials have not set a strike date, saying only that the vote authorizes them to call a strike. While union officials have told workers to take home their personal things, the union also holds open the possibility of working under a contract extension, or without a contract, if no new contract is reached.

AT&T Midwest covers workers in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, while the AT&T Legacy T contract covers workers nationwide.

Workers in both regions have faced massive job cuts and cuts to health care. In the AT&T Legacy T region, which covers about 6,000 workers, health care costs have increased by 28 percent a year for the past 5 years, forcing many workers to opt out of health coverage entirely, according to the union.

On top of this, AT&T is demanding that workers pay a third of the total cost of health care. At the current cost this would amount to about $6,000 per year, which is 12 percent of earnings for a worker making $50,000 a year.

The company is also seeking to continue their job-cutting. Since their last contract in 2015, the company has cut nearly 10 percent of the workforce.

Last year, AT&T reported $160.5 billion total revenue and earnings per share of stock of $4.76, compared to $2.10 in 2016. Randall Stephenson, AT&T CEO, was a strong supporter of the Trump tax cut and made headlines when he promised to pay each worker a $1,000 bonus and to create 7,000 jobs.

The $200 million that the company will pay in bonuses amounts to a small percentage of the billions that the company will reap in extra profits from the tax cut. As far as the promised new jobs, those have yet to materialize.

Stephenson made $28.7 million last year, or roughly 570 times that of the average worker at AT&T. Other top executives at the company made equally obscene amounts.

But while the company is making billions in profits, it continues to contract out work and demand that remaining workers take massive concessions. AT&T, along with the other major telecommunications provider Verizon, cites the decline in landline use to justify the attack on its workers.

In fact, the landline business is still making enormous profits for both AT&T and Verizon. But compared to the wireless side of the business it has become a smaller share of the companies overall revenue. And both companies are seeking to cut costs by driving down living standards of the workforce.

While the CWA is claiming to be fighting for health care and job security, the current loss of jobs and cuts to health care are the product of past concessions contracts in which the CWA traded away workers jobs and benefits in exchange for the company agreeing to allow the CWA to represent workers in the companys growing wireless division.

The CWA currently represents 45,000 workers in the wireless division. The CWA consistently traded workers benefits and jobs to insure a steady stream of dues income. When the union refers to job security, they are really referring to the job security of the union officials.

If the union does call a strike, the union has already made clear that it intends to isolate the workers, to be used as an example for the rest of the industry. Over the past year, the CWA and the company have signed contracts in their five other regions. Just last month, the CWA ordered striking Frontier workers in West Virginia back to work after a three-week strike.The Trump administrations Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is establishing a database of the public activities, sentiments and personal information of hundreds of thousands of news publications, journalists, bloggers and media influencers around the world. The project was revealed in an April 3 notice on the governmental Federal Business Opportunities website requesting proposals from private contractors to administer the project.

The Media Monitoring Service will provide DHS with 24/7 access to a password protected, media influencer database, which will include journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, etc.

There are no constraints on who should be placed in the database or what information it should contain. The instructions state: For each media influencer found, present contact details and any other information that could be relevant. Given that the brief specifically refers to monitoring the sentiments of publishers, relevant information undoubtedly will include journalists political views and affiliations, personal relations, and more.

The document specifically calls for the capacity to draw up lists of journalists and publications, specifying an ability to build media lists based on beat, location, outlet type/size, and journalist role.

The unlimited scope of this program is made clear by the section, objectives, which calls for monitoring any and all media coverage either related to the DHS or a particular event. The database must track information from more than 290,000 global news sources, including online, print, broadcast, cable, radio, trade and industry publications, local sources, national/international outlets, traditional news sources, and social media. It adds: Unlimited coverage per search (no cap on coverage).

Significantly, while the document calls for tracking news in more than 100 languages, it specifically mentions only languages spoken in Syria and the Middle East, Russia and China, the regions most immediately targeted for US military and diplomatic aggression. The database must contain coverage written in Arabic, Chinese and Russian and the ability to access English translation of this coverage within a mobile app.

The DHS was created by the George W. Bush administration in 2002 and provided with vast powers of domestic repression as part of the fraudulent war on terror. It controls the customs and border patrol forces as well as the secret service. It is now headed by Kirstjen Nielsen, the former chief of staff to retired marine general John Kelly, who headed the DHS before being nominated as Trumps chief of staff. Nielsen was previously a special assistant to Bush and a senior director at the White House Homeland Security Council.

The DHSs construction of a journalist database follows reports of numerous journalists, artists and writers being detained and questioned while crossing the US border after having made critical statements against the Trump administration. The DHS announced last September that it has begun collecting social media information and search results of all immigrantsincluding green card holders and permanent residentsfrom Facebook and Twitter.

The database will be overseen by a sub-branch of the DHS, the National Protection and Programs Directorate, which oversees cybersecurity and communications.

Given the threat to the journalistic and democratic rights demonstrated in the latest revelations, it is particularly noteworthy that they have been met with a virtual blackout in the corporate-controlled media. Of the major media broadcasters, only CBS News and Forbes published a single article on the subject since Bloomberg Law broke the story on April 5. Neither the New York Times, the supposed newspaper of record, MSNBC, or the Washington Post have written on the issue.

One can only imagine the howls of indignation that would be scrawled across the pages of the Times, Post and other corporate outlets if it was revealed that a similar operation to track and database the activities and sentiments of the worlds journalists and bloggers was being conducted by the government of Vladimir Putin in Russia. It would be taken as the latest proof of the nefarious activities of the Kremlin to influence public opinion around the world and undermine American democracy.

But the columnists and editors at the Times and Post, which function as clearing houses for American government propaganda, take it for granted that the US government should monitor and database the views of journalists in the United States and around the world.

These publications are currently engaged in a ferocious campaign, led by the Democratic Party and intelligence agencies, to justify the censorship of the internet and alternative news sources, particularly socialist and left-wing publications, supposedly in the name of combating fake news and defending authoritative news. They are insisting that the only legitimate sources of news information are the pages of the corporate-controlled press.Behind-the-scenes talks are underway between US and North Korean officials over a possible summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The talks about talks have been taking place as Trump instals two militaristsMike Pompeo and John Boltonas secretary of state and national security adviser, respectively.

During his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, Pompeo re-affirmed his support for military action to end the so-called North Korean nuclear threat. He said he was not optimistic, based on past record, that the Pyongyang regime would agree to dismantle its nuclear program. Pompeo insisted that the US would not provide rewards before we get that outcome permanently, irreversibly. He was hopeful that President Trump can achieve that through sound diplomacy.

The US is effectively demanding that North Korea destroy its nuclear arsenal and dismantle its nuclear facilities ahead of any easing of crippling sanctions or moves to end decades of US-led diplomatic isolation and military threats. Previous denuclearisation deals with North Korea in 1994 and 2007 were sabotaged, not by Pyongyang, but by Washingtonleading to deep suspicion in North Korea.

While claiming he did not support regime-change in Pyongyang, Pompeo made clear that the US would attack North Korea if it did not bow to Washingtons demands. He said Trump would not allow North Korea to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons capable of striking the United States of America, adding that Defence Secretary James Mattis has been directed to present to the president a set of [military] options, should diplomatic efforts fail.

Asked if he would envisage a scenario where he would support a US ground invasion of North Korea, Pompeo declared: Could I imagine one? Yes, yes senator, I could  Yes I can imagine times when America would need to take a response that moved past diplomacy. When it was suggested that such an invasion would be catastrophic, Pompeo interjected: I agree with that.

Bolton took over this week as Trumps national security advisera post that does not require congressional confirmation. Prior to his nomination, Bolton was contemptuous of any suggestion of talks with Pyongyang and pushed for a military attack on North Korea. He wrote a Wall Street Journal commentary in February setting out a phony legal argument to justify such a war and emphasising it could not wait until the last minute.

The character of the proposed Trump-Kim summit is underscored by the fact that Pompeo and Bolton are in charge of preparing it. Whether by design or accident, the proposal for a meeting, possibly in late May or early June, took the focus off the Korean Peninsula as the Trump administration prepared to launch its war on Syria, risking conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. In the lead-up to a summit, North Korea agreed to postpone any nuclear or missile testing.

The American media has confirmed that direct talks have been held between US and North Korean officials. A Trump official told the Wall Street Journal last Sunday that the US has confirmed that Kim Jong-un is willing to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. South Korean officials who had met with Kim, briefed Trump on Pyongyangs offer of talks on the nuclear issue in March, when the US president agreed to the summit.

A huge gulf exists, however, between what the US and North Korea mean by denuclearisation. While Washington is demanding an immediate end to North Koreas nuclear and missile programs and an ever-more intrusive inspection regime, Pyongyang will undoubtedly press its longstanding call for security guarantees from the US. For North Korea, denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula means an end to the US military presence in South Korea, which includes nuclear-capable warships and strategic bombers.

CNN reported last weekend that Pompeo, who is currently CIA director, and a team of CIA officials have taken the lead in preparing the summit via intelligence back-channels. The article said: American and North Korean officials have spoken several times and have even met in a third country, with a focus on nailing down a location for the talks. Efforts had been made to set up a meeting between Pompeo and his North Korean counterpart to discuss the framework for the summit. A location had yet to be agreed, however.

Even though Pompeo has been nominated as secretary of state, it is significant that the CIA has effectively sidelined the State Department in a matter of foreign policy. It is another indication that Trumps offer to take part in a summit with Kim is a cynical manoeuvre. The encounter, if it does take place, could well result in a US provocation calculated to provide the pretext for war.

Both sides are shoring up support ahead of any summit. In late March, Kim visited Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijinghis first trip abroad as North Korean leaderin a bid to mend the increasingly fractured relations between the two allies. On Tuesday, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow and extended an invitation for Lavrov to visit Pyongyang.

President Trump is due to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida next week, with North Korea high on the agenda. Abe, who has been dismissive of any talks with North Korea, was caught off guard by Trumps announcement to hold the summit. Abe will be seeking reassurances that Japanese interests are taken into account in any discussions with Pyongyang.

In his confirmation hearing, Pompeo declared that any summit would seek an agreement that the North Korean leadership will step away from its efforts to hold America at risk with nuclear weapons. US State Department spokeswoman Katina Adams had to offer reassurances that the US remained committed to defending its ally Japan and to complete denuclearisation, not simply the abandonment of long-range nuclear missiles. North Korea says it already has missiles capable of hitting both Japan and South Korea.

Amid the discussion about a summit, the US and South Korea are holding massive joint military exercises, involving up to 300,000 troops and a range of heavy armaments, that amount to a rehearsal for war with North Korea. At the same time, Britain has announced the dispatch of a third warship, the HMS Albion, to the Asia Pacific to join US-led efforts to keep up pressure and strictly enforce existing sanctions on North Korea.The World Socialist Web Site condemns the strikes against Syria carried out Friday night by US, French and British forces. The attack is a flagrant and illegal act of aggression. The administrations of American President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May are guilty of a war crime, which poses the danger of triggering a conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.

The pretext for the attack on Syria is unproven allegations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assads military forces used banned chemical weapons against US-backed rebel militias in the city of Douma. Russia, which has significant military contingents in Syria to support Assads government in its seven-year civil war against predominantly Islamist-based militias, has categorically rejected the US and allied propaganda. It has openly accused British intelligence of pressuring Syrian rebel organisations to manufacture a video that purports to show victims of a chemical weapons attack.

A team from the ostensibly independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was scheduled to arrive in Douma to carry out an inspection of the alleged site this weekend. Trumps order to initiate strikes was calculated to pre-empt such an inspection and a confirmation by the OPCW that the entire pretext for any attack on Syria was a lie.

The fraudulent basis for the assault was underscored shortly after Trumps broadcast, during the subsequent press briefing by his defense secretary, General Jim Mattis. Mattis could not provide any coherent details as to the US accusations. Moreover, contradicting the presidents vow of a protracted campaign against Syria, the general appeared to indicate that there would be no more action apart from the missile strikes that had already taken place.

If this does prove to be the case, the action ordered by Trump will fall far short of what was being demanded within the American political and media establishment.

Given the extreme vitriol directed against Bashar al-Assad, there is no doubt that advocates of a military strike expected that any attack would include an attempt to assassinate the Syrian president.

A column in the German journal Die Welt provided one indication of the homicidal nature of what large sections of the imperialist ruling class internationally want unleashed against Syria. It declared: War against Assad should be guided by one goal Can the Assad regime be exterminated (ausloschen) with a missile strike? In using the term ausloschen to refer to the Syrian president, the German publication adopted a term associated with the extermination of the Jews under the Nazisthat is, using language that could have appeared in Hitlers Volkischer Beobachter .

Far from the destruction of the Assad government, however, the strike against Syria appears to have had minimal impact. The Russian military has boasted that Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles fired into Syria, and that none of its personnel or assets in the country were impacted. Bashar al-Assad reportedly walked to his office on Saturday morning.

At this point, the attack has served primarily to underscore the debacle facing the US-led imperialist intrigues for regime-change in Syria. It will most likely not be long before sections of the American political and media establishment are accusing Trump of a climb-down and capitulation to Vladimir Putin. Demands will inevitably be made for far more extensive, and murderous, operations.

The propaganda campaign justifying the attack on Syria was concocted to provide a pretext for a massive military onslaughtnot one-off missile strikes.

Facing the prospect of a military rout of its Islamist proxy forces fighting to overthrow the Syrian government, the decision for an escalation was made in Washington and London, and it was left to the CIA, MI6 and their Syrian agents to manufacture a pretext.

On Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defense provided the most coherent and logical account given so far regarding the incident in Douma on April 7, which the Western press has unanimously proclaimed a chemical weapons attack on civilians by the Assad government.

We have irrefutable evidence that it was another staged attack, and the special services of a state which is in the forefront of the Russo-phobic campaign had a hand in staging it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

The Russian Defense Ministry showed a video interview with two people, one of whom was a medical student working at Doumas only operational hospital. The witnesses said that after a Syrian Army artillery barrage hit a building, people suffering from smoke inhalation were being treated at a hospital. Then, unknown individualslater revealed to be associated with the CIA-backed Syrian rebel White Helmetsran into the hospital screaming that there had been a chemical weapons attack. They encouraged the victims to douse each other with water, which they then proceeded to film.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov stated: We know for certain that between April 3 and April 6 the so-called White Helmets were seriously pressured from London to speed up the provocation that they were preparing.

RT.com reported: According to Konashenkov, the group, which was a primary source of photos and footage of the purported chemical attack, was informed of a large-scale artillery attack on Damascus planned by the Islamist group Army of Islam, which controlled Douma at the time. The White Helmets were ordered to arrange the provocation after retaliatory strikes by the Syrian government forces, which the shelling was certain to lead to, he said.

Despite vehemently denouncing the Russian claims, neither Washington nor London made any attempt to factually refute them. In contrast to the categorical statements of the Russian government, backed up by video testimony, Theresa May has only claimed it was highly likely that Syria carried out the attack. But even that was more definite than the statements of Defense Secretary Mattis, who declared the United States was still looking for the actual evidence.

With the initiation of attacks on Syria, the US and its allies have signaled that the unravelling of the nominal reasons for war is irrelevant. Their onslaught is driven by far deeper causes than the lies used to justify them.

What is taking place is directly in line with the analysis of imperialism made by the great 20th century Marxists, Lenin and Trotsky. World imperialism is undertaking a new re-division of the world. Britain and France want to be recognized as full-scale participants in the new carve-up of the Middle East and its effective recolonization: their oil corporations do not want to be left out of the plunder.

All of the governments participating in this new onslaught are crisis-ridden and lack any electoral legitimacy. The vast gulf between them and their populations is expressed in the fact that none of them has been able to create any broad-based support for war. According to one YouGov poll, only 22 percent of the British population supports a military strike on Syria.

Moreover, the launching of a major new military campaign is seen in London, Paris, and Washington as a means of implementing police-state rule, including mass censorship, to prop up their crisis-ridden governments in the face of mounting popular opposition and a growing strike movement by the working class.

This new conflict will not stop with the attack on Syria, just as the expansion of war did not stop with the invasion of Iraq. The stage is being set for a confrontation with Iran, Russia and, ultimately, China. More and more, imperialist policy is acquiring a completely reckless and unhinged character.

So far, the ruling class has been able to rely on the absence of any organized resistance to war. But popular anti-war sentiment will inevitably take on active forms and meet up with rising opposition to austerity and the destruction of democratic rights.In another turn in the trade war against China, US President Donald Trump has asked his top economic advisers to investigate the possibility of re-entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), after having withdrawn from the trade pact on his first day in office.

The surprise move came after Trump met with a group of governors and lawmakers from agricultural states concerned over the impact of threatened tariffs by China on US farm products, announced after Trump threatened tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods.

During the meeting, Trump said he would ask US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the new head of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, to examine whether the US should look to re-join the TPP fashioned under the Obama administration.

During the election campaign of 2016, Trump said the TPP was a deal pushed by special interests who want to rape our country. The apparent turnaround has been motivated by two immediate considerations: the need to be seen as taking action to alleviate pressure on farmers threatened by the China tariffs and the search for international allies against China.

Speaking after the meeting with Trump, Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the decision to take another look at the TPP would be greeted as good news all throughout farm country.

Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who has criticised Trumps imposition of tariffs on China while agreeing with the need to take action against Beijing, said rejoining the TPP would be the best way to do this.

The best thing the United States can do to push back against Chinese cheating now is to lead the other eleven Pacific nations that believe in free trade and the rule of law, he said.

US agricultural producers were generally supportive of the TPP under Obama because it would have meant greater opportunities for them in Japan and in areas of South East Asia. Last February, a group of 25 Republicans sent a letter to Trump asking him to re-engage with the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

After Trump scrapped participation in the TPP upon his inauguration, the other major powers, with Japan taking the lead, sought to keep the agreement alive. They have developed a lesser version of the deal, called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Trump has dropped hints at various times that he could look again at the TPP. Last January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland he told the business channel CNBC, I would do TPP if we were able to make a better deal.

But a better deal for the US could mean a worse deal for the other 11 nations, and whether they would sign off on it after protracted negotiations to arrive at the initial agreement is another question.

The Trump administration has not done any exploratory or preparatory work in this direction, with all attention devoted since last August to the preparation of measures against China under section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. However, adverse international reaction to the section 301 tariff measures and the resistance of China have brought the US face to face with the fact that it does not command the global economic power it once enjoyed, and that it will need to cultivate international allies to secure its objectives.

One manifestation of this need is seen in the decision by the administration to exempt so-called strategic international allies from the tariffs on steel and aluminium while negotiations take place. The US has made it clear that permanent exemption will have to include support for action against Chinese steel, which is blamed for global overcapacity, and for wider US measures, particularly over what it claims is misappropriation of intellectual property rights by Chinese firms.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, international trade economist Gary Hufbauer of the Peterson Institute for International Economics pointed to the international considerations behind Trumps TPP turn. You can explain this entirely in the context of US-China relations, he said. Trump has got to get some allies. As of now (Chinese President) Xi has the upper hand.

The conflict is expected to intensify next week as the US prepares a list for imposts on the additional $100 billion worth of goods announced by Trump in retaliation for the threatened Chinse agricultural tariffs.

The initial list of goods, worth $50 billion, was carefully selected to target those that are part of Beijings Made in China 2025 program aimed at boosting Chinese technological development. An investigation cited by Bloomberg found that 70 percent of the products targeted fell under the program. Consumer items such as clothes, furniture and electronic goods such as phones were largely avoided. But the threatened tariff coverage could rapidly spread.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, US Trade Representative Lighthizer could detail as early next week the goods that will be covered in the additional tariffs on $100 billion worth of products, and the sheer size of the expansion of the hit list makes the inclusion of consumer items inevitable.

Trumps turn to the TPP and possible American re-entry into the agreement is based on the recognition that the Obama approach may have had some tactical advantages. Like the Trump measures, the TPP was aimed at the most fundamental level at holding back Chinese technological development and ensuring that the US would maintain its dominant position through a system of measures to protect so-called intellectual property rights.

Trump has been denounced for moving outside the rules of the international trading system under the World Trade Organisation. But the TPP had the same aim. It set up a trade bloc centred on the US and covering the Asia-Pacific, from which China was to be specifically excluded. The objective was to force China to seek entry under terms dictated by the US.

Like the Trump America First measures aimed at Chinese high-tech development, which the US regards as threatening both its economic and military supremacy, the TPP was bound up with the military push against China under Obamas pivot to Asia.

This connection was laid out most clearly in a speech delivered by Obamas defence secretary, Ashton Carter, on April 6, 2015 devoted to the next phase of the US rebalance to the Asia-Pacific.

[Y]ou may not expect to hear this from a secretary of defence, but in terms of our rebalance in the broadest sense, passing TPP [through the US Congress] is as important to me as another aircraft carrier. It would deepen our alliances and partnerships  and it would help us promote a global order.

The words are different but the aims are the same as those of Trump. Recalling them makes clear that trade war, and the threat of economic chaos and military conflict it brings, has not sprung from the heads of Trump or his advisers but is an expression of the historic crisis of American imperialism as it strives to maintain global dominance.INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - State health officials are urging Indiana residents to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases as the nation marks STD Awareness Month during April.

The Indiana State Department of Health said Thursday that chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are of particular concern in the state. Indiana has nearly 31,000 cases of chlamydia, 9,500 cases of gonorrhea and 800 cases of primary and secondary syphilis reported in 2016.

State Health Commissioner Kris Box warns that STDs could cause serious health problems, including brain and nervous system damage, infertility and babies born prematurely. People with such diseases also are more likely to transmit HIV.

Most STDs can be treated but are hard to find out as they often have no symptoms.

Box urges anyone who is sexually active to get tested annually.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI)- Though it was cold and soggy outside that didnt stop expecting mothers from coming to Union Hospital Saturday morning. Mothers like Monica Bryant who is 34 weeks pregnant.

"I think its awesome. I didn't even know they did things like this so when I heard about it I thought it was pretty cool," said Bryant.

Shes was talking about the third annual community baby shower. It was a free event for the community to come and learn some tips when it comes to their newborns.

Rachael Spencer is a certified lactation consultant for Union Hosptial. She says this day is a way to try to reduce the infant mortality rates in Terre Haute.

"Terre Haute is one of the highest areas in Indiana with Marion County and Gary being higher than us but we're really trying to address that issue here right now because of that," said Spencer.

There were twenty-five vendors at the event to aid these future mothers. There were hands-on training on how to properly put your child to sleep and a birth demonstration.

The event wasnt just for future mothers, rather anyone wishing to know how to properly take care of an infant.

"Its an opportunity to educate the public and not only moms and dads but grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles on things like safe sleep. You know they all have a hand sometimes in watching babies so its important they learn that knowledge," said Spencer.

Even though parents will learn many lessons from experience, this will be a baby shower many first time moms will never forget.

"Im just nervous as a first time mom that yeah this is going to be so helpful to me," said Bryant.

Union Hospital also holds various other mother training classes throughout the year. If you would like to learn more, check out their website here.(CNN) -- Russia has condemned US, UK and French strikes against targets in Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons as the Western allies argued they were essential to deter the future use of illegal munitions.

The overnight strikes hit three sites -- one in Damascus and two in Homs -- which US President Donald Trump said were "associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad."

The action followed a week of threats of retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack on civilians in Douma, outside Damascus, where Syrian forces have long been battling rebels.

Trump hailed the strike as "perfectly executed" in a tweet posted Saturday, adding "Mission Accomplished!"

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the missile strikes an "act of aggression against a sovereign state" and said they were against the UN charter. Russia, a key ally of the Assad government, is calling for an immediate UN Security Council meeting, he said.

Assad said the airstrikes would "only increase the determination of Syria and its people to continue fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," according to Syrian state TV.

Latest developments

 The UN Security Council will meet on Syria at 11 a.m. ET Saturday, Swedish ambassador Carl Skau said.

 Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States and its allies had committed a "major crime" in Syria.

 The European Union foreign policy chief said the EU supported efforts to prevent the use of chemical weapons.

 UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the military action was believed to have been successful.

 Three civilians were wounded in Homs after "several" missiles were intercepted by Syrian air defense systems, Syrian state TV said.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry called on the international community "to strongly condemn this aggression," warning it would "pose a threat to international peace and security as a whole," in a statement published by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

Earlier, Assad's office tweeted a video of the Syrian President going to work Saturday, with the caption "a morning of steadfastness."

Danny Makki, a British-born Syrian journalist in Damascus, told CNN the strikes woke up his neighborhood near the capital. "You could tell straight away that this wasn't your average Damascus night-time battle. It was something far bigger," he said.

Syrians expressed doubt the military action would change anything.

"Frankly I expected a stronger strike, especially with the blasts that I heard. At least I am glad the strikes didn't attack civilian areas," said Yasser, 28, a Damascus teacher whose last name was not used for security reasons.

"I think this strike is a strong message to Assad for the chemical weapons, but I don't think Assad will change."

Firas Abdullah, a media activist recently evacuated from Ghouta, said, "It is not enough. I can describe it as -- it's just a media strike."

In a televised address Friday night announcing the strikes, Trump said he had decided to take action because last weekend's action by Assad "was a significant attack against his own people" and "not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster instead."

Trump said the purpose of the campaign was to "establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons."

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that the first allied strike targeted a scientific research center in greater Damascus involved in the development and production of chemical weapons.

The second site targeted was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, while the third was a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post.

Two defense officials told CNN that at least three US ships participated in the airstrikes.

The strikes -- the strongest concerted action yet by Western forces in Syria -- were launched at 9 p.m. ET Friday, as most of Europe and the Middle East was shrouded in darkness.

The Syrian armed forces said in a statement that 110 missiles were fired on Syrian targets and that the country's defense systems "intercepted most of the missiles, but some hit targets including the Research Center in Barzeh."

The Russian Defense Ministry said Syria had intercepted 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies, according to the Russian Embassy in London. It said only seven missiles had reached two Syrian military airfields and that "no serious damage to infrastructure was inflicted."

Russian state news agency TASS reported that none of the missiles fired by the three Western nations struck areas near its naval and air bases in Syria. Those bases come under the protection of Russian air defense units.

A meeting of the North Atlantic Council will be held Saturday afternoon, a NATO official told CNN. France, the United Kingdom and the United States will brief allies on actions taken in Syria, the official said.

UK's May: 'Not about regime change'

In a televised statement Saturday, May said UK forces had undertaken a "limited and targeted strike" and that there had been "no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime."

While a full assessment has not yet been completed, "we believe that the action was successful," she said. "This was not about interfering in a civil war. And it was not about regime change."

While insisting the military action was a direct consequence of the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma, May also alluded to the use of a nerve agent last month in the English city of Salisbury. "We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized -- within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world," she said. Britain says Russia is behind the Salisbury poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter, an allegation Moscow denies.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: "This action is a proportionate and targeted one. It is not trying to target Assad's allies nor the civilian population but to dissuade the Syrian regime from pursuing its criminal deeds."

Experts from the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, were en route to the site in Douma before the joint military strikes. The group said Saturday it would continue on to Syria as planned.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said it believed the Western allies' action was not in retaliation for what happened in Douma but instead was a reaction to the Syrian army's "success" in liberating territory from rebels.

Iran, another key ally of the Assad government, also condemned the strikes. "I firmly declare that the Presidents of US and France and British PM committed a major crime," Khamenei tweeted. "They will gain no benefit; just as they did not while in Iraq, Syria & Afghanistan, over the past years, committing the same criminal acts."

Syrian state TV reported that Assad received a phone call Saturday from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in which he said Iran would continue to stand by Syria.

International response

Turkey, another important player in the Syrian conflict, said it viewed the airstrikes as "an appropriate response" to the Douma attack, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.

"We see the operation as a positive step, but there is more to be done for sustainable peace," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said all available evidence pointed to the Assad regime being responsible for the Douma attack and criticized Russia for blocking an independent investigation through the Security Council.

"The military operation was necessary and appropriate to preserve the effectiveness of the international ban on the use of chemical weapons and to warn the Syrian regime of further violations," Merkel said in a statement voicing support for the joint US, UK and French action.

An Israeli official told CNN that the strikes enforced the red line drawn by Trump last year. In April 2017, the United States launched a military strike on a Syrian government airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians.

"Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk," the Israeli official said.

A spokesman for Jordan's government said a political solution was the only way "to ensure Syria's stability, territorial integrity and the security of its people."

Australia's defense minister issued a statement in support of the strikes, calling them "a calibrated, proportionate and targeted response."

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Gul Tuysuz, Ryan Browne, Sara Mazloumsaki, Saskya Vandoorne, Frederik Pleitgen, Milena Veselinovic, Nathan Hodge, Tamara Qiblawi and Richard Roth contributed to this report.

TM &  2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.(CNN) -- Russia has condemned US, UK and French strikes against targets in Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons as the Western allies argued they were essential to deter the future use of illegal munitions.

The overnight strikes hit three sites -- one in Damascus and two in Homs -- which President Donald Trump said were "associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad."

The United States "is locked and loaded" to strike Syria again in response to new chemical attacks, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Saturday.

Her Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, called for a Security Council vote condemning the strikes. Russia is a key ally of the Assad government.

"Today is not the day to shirk your responsibilities," he said. "The whole world is looking at you. Take a principled stand."

The airstrikes followed a week of threats of retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack on civilians in Douma, outside Damascus, where Syrian forces have long been battling rebels.

Trump hailed the strike as "perfectly executed" in a tweet posted Saturday, adding "Mission Accomplished!"

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the strikes an "act of aggression against a sovereign state" and said they were against the UN charter.

Assad said the airstrikes would "only increase the determination of Syria and its people to continue fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," according to Syrian state TV.

Latest developments

 Francois Delattre, France's ambassador to the United Nations, called for a dismantling of Syria's chemical program "in a verifiable and irreversible way," a ceasefire so that humanitarian convoys can reach Eastern Ghouta on a daily basis and a "inclusive political solution" to the conflict.

 Nebenzia called the strikes an "illegal military adventure" and "hooliganism in international relations" that undermined the authority of the governing body.

 Haley said the UK, France and the United States "acted, not as revenge" but to "deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the Syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity."

"The pictures of dead children were not fake news," she said of the attack in Douma. "They were the result of the Syrian regime's barbaric inhumanity."

 UK Ambassador Karen Pierce told the Security Council that her country, France and the United States will pursue a diplomatic solution so long as Syria halts its chemical weapons program and destroys its weapons stockpiles, among other conditions.

 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the states to show restraint in "these dangerous circumstances and avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people."

 Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States and its allies had committed a "major crime" in Syria.

 The European Union foreign policy chief said the EU supported efforts to prevent the use of chemical weapons.

 UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the military action was believed to have been successful.

 Three civilians were wounded in Homs after "several" missiles were intercepted by Syrian air defense systems, Syrian state TV said.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry called on the international community "to strongly condemn this aggression," warning it would "pose a threat to international peace and security as a whole," in a statement published by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

Earlier, Assad's office tweeted a video of the Syrian President going to work Saturday, with the caption "a morning of steadfastness."

Danny Makki, a British-born Syrian journalist in Damascus, told CNN the strikes woke up his neighborhood. "You could tell straight away that this wasn't your average Damascus night-time battle. It was something far bigger," he said.

Syrians expressed doubt the military action would change anything.

"Frankly I expected a stronger strike, especially with the blasts that I heard. At least I am glad the strikes didn't attack civilian areas," said Yasser, 28, a Damascus teacher whose last name was not used for security reasons.

"I think this strike is a strong message to Assad for the chemical weapons, but I don't think Assad will change."

Firas Abdullah, a media activist recently evacuated from Ghouta, said, "It is not enough. I can describe it as -- it's just a media strike."

In a televised address Friday night announcing the strikes, Trump said he had decided to take action because last weekend's action by Assad "was a significant attack against his own people" and "not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster instead."

The strikes -- the strongest concerted action yet by Western forces in Syria -- were launched at 9 p.m. ET Friday, as most of Europe and the Middle East was shrouded in darkness.

Pentagon: 'Precise, overwhelming and effective'

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first allied strike targeted a scientific research center in greater Damascus involved in the development and production of chemical weapons.

The second site targeted was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, while the third was a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post.

In a Pentagon briefing Saturday, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff, said the strikes would set back Syria's chemical weapons capability "for years."

McKenzie described the mission as "precise, overwhelming and effective," adding that "none of our aircraft or missiles in this operation were successfully engaged" by Syrian forces.

The Pentagon assessed that some chemical or nerve agents were likely present at one of the targets, the Barzeh research center, McKenzie said.

Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said the strikes "successfully hit every target" and that the allies "took every measure" to hit only the intended targets.

Syrian and Russian officials gave a different assessment of the effectiveness of Syrian air defenses.

The Syrian armed forces said 110 missiles were fired on Syrian targets and that the country's defense systems "intercepted most of the missiles, but some hit targets including the Research Center in Barzeh."

The Russian Defense Ministry said Syria had intercepted 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies, according to the Russian Embassy in London. It said only seven missiles had reached two Syrian military airfields and that "no serious damage to infrastructure was inflicted."

Russian state news agency TASS reported that none of the missiles fired by the three Western nations struck areas near its naval and air bases in Syria. Those bases come under the protection of Russian air defense units.

A meeting of the North Atlantic Council will be held Saturday afternoon, a NATO official told CNN. France, the United Kingdom and the United States will brief allies on actions taken in Syria, the official said.

UK's May: 'Not about regime change'

In a televised statement Saturday, May said UK forces had undertaken a "limited and targeted strike" and that there had been "no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime."

While a full assessment has not yet been completed, "we believe that the action was successful," she said. "This was not about interfering in a civil war. And it was not about regime change."

May also alluded to the use of a nerve agent last month in the English city of Salisbury. "We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized -- within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world," she said. Britain says Russia is behind the Salisbury poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter, an allegation Moscow denies.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: "This action is a proportionate and targeted one. It is not trying to target Assad's allies nor the civilian population but to dissuade the Syrian regime from pursuing its criminal deeds."

Experts from the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, arrived Saturday in Damascus, the group said on Twitter. Its team aims to establish the facts around the allegations of chemical attack in Douma.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said it believed the Western allies' action was not in retaliation for what happened in Douma but instead was a reaction to the Syrian army's "success" in liberating territory from rebels.

Iran, another key ally of the Assad government, also condemned the strikes. "I firmly declare that the Presidents of US and France and British PM committed a major crime," Khamenei tweeted. "They will gain no benefit; just as they did not while in Iraq, Syria & Afghanistan, over the past years, committing the same criminal acts."

Syrian state TV reported that Assad received a phone call Saturday from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in which he said Iran would continue to stand by Syria.

International response

Turkey, another important player in the Syrian conflict, said it viewed the airstrikes as "an appropriate response" to the Douma attack, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a televised speech to supporters of his political party, said that not responding would be "unthinkable."

"It's impossible for us to accept the situation that Syrian children fall into," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said all available evidence pointed to the Assad regime being responsible for the Douma attack and criticized Russia for blocking an independent investigation through the Security Council.

"The military operation was necessary and appropriate to preserve the effectiveness of the international ban on the use of chemical weapons and to warn the Syrian regime of further violations," Merkel said in a statement voicing support for the joint US, UK and French action.

An Israeli official told CNN that the strikes enforced the red line drawn by Trump last year. In April 2017, the United States launched a military strike on a Syrian government airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians.

"Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk," the Israeli official said.

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Gul Tuysuz, Ryan Browne, Sara Mazloumsaki, Saskya Vandoorne, Frederik Pleitgen, Milena Veselinovic, Nathan Hodge, Tamara Qiblawi and Richard Roth contributed to this report.

TM &  2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.When the skies above Damascus lit up in the early morning hours of Saturday, shock swept through the capital. Hearing explosions and watching Syrian military surface-to-air missiles streak through the skies, many in Syria suspected a large-scale US-led intervention was underway.

"You could tell that this wasn't your average Damascus night-time battle. It was something far bigger," said British-born Syrian journalist Danny Makki from his home in the capital.

The skies cleared and dawn broke. It became clear that America and its allies had barked, but the bite was lacking.

The Syrian military claimed that US, British and French aircraft and ships fired around 110 missiles but that very few had hit their targets. The General Command claimed that the "Syrian Air Defense systems confronted, with high competence, the missiles of the aggression and shot down most of them."

The Pentagon denied that any missiles were intercepted by the Syrian regime and said that strikes "successfully hit every target."

Pictures posted on various pro-Assad social media accounts showed Syrian soldiers standing next to what was said to be the remnants of American cruise missiles. The message was clear: the airstrike have not weakened Assad, despite US President Donald Trump having gloated that he would fire "new, shiny and smart" missiles.

Meanwhile, the Russian army took a swipe at Trump. "Soviet-made" Syrian weapons, Russian general staff's main operations department head Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi said, had repelled the attack by the US and its allies' jets and naval ships.

The embattled Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, projected a "business as usual" attitude. Video posted on the Syrian Presidency's Twitter page showed Assad showing up for work at one of his offices at 9 a.m. sharp. Casually walking through the hallways of what appeared to be one of his presidential palaces, his briefcase in hand, he later issued a defiant statement: "This aggression will only increase the determination of Syria and its people to continue fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country."

'Gas Killing Animal'

Trump lashed out at Assad after the alleged chemical attack in then rebel-held Douma on April 7-which, according to opposition sources, killed more than 40 people while affecting hundreds more. In a tweet, he called Assad a "Gas Killing Animal." The United States, Britain and France all say they have proof that chemicals were used and that it was the Assad government that used them. Assad, who is routinely condemned by the international community for war crimes, and his Russian backers deny the allegations.

President Trump's strong words and the UN Security Council's failure to pass a resolution after the incident led to widespread fears among Assad's supporters that a US intervention would be strong. They were concerned it would potentially reverse the Syrian military's gains in the past years, or even target Assad directly.

But in the morning after the limited strikes, hundreds took to the streets in Damascus to celebrate.

"Syria celebrating! Impossible for European mentality! But here Syria everything will be okay..." Russian journalist Aleksandr Karchenko wrote on his Facebook account from Damascus.

The feeling among many supporters of Assad and his military is that the latest airstrikes were symbolic rather than game-changing, that Trump issued wide-ranging threats and tough tweets, but then blinked. The intervention will not change the momentum that had swung in favor of Assad in Syria's seven-year-long civil war that had claimed 400,000 lives when the UN stopped updating the death toll in 2014.

After condemning the airstrikes, Syria's foreign ministry issued a statement promising Damascus would continue its military campaign against the opposition, which it classifies as Takfiri, or extremist. The US-led strikes, the statement said, "will not affect the determination and will of the Syrian people and their armed forces to continue pursuing the remnants of Takfiri terrorism and defending Syria's sovereignty."WASHINGTON (AP)  The Pentagon says the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria "successfully hit every target."

Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said Saturday that the strikes were launched to "cripple Syria's ability to use chemical weapons in the future."

The U.S., France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria on Friday night to punish President Bashar Assad (bah-SHAR' AH'-sahd) for an apparent chemical attack against civilians last week and to deter him from doing it again.

White says the strikes do not "represent a change in U.S. policy or an attempt to depose the Syrian regime." But she says, "We cannot allow such grievous violations of international law."

She also called on Russia to "honor its commitment" to ensure the Assad regime gives up chemical weapons.COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - The Columbus Police Department has placed one of its officers on administrative leave without pay.

Columbus police did not release the name of the officer. However, police say the officer was taken into custody by West Point police for "actions that allegedly occurred while he was not on duty as a Columbus police officer."

"Since this is a personnel matter, we will not be releasing any details on the charges or the officer involved," said Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton. "This is an ongoing criminal investigation that is being conducted by the West Point Police Department. The Columbus Police Department is not involved in the investigation but is cooperating fully."



The Columbus city council will consider the issue and will act on it in executive session at their regular meeting Tuesday night.(RNN) - The United States has launched strikes against Syria, President Trump said in an address to the nation on Friday night.

The strikes are in response to a gas attack on the rebel-held city of Douma last weekend.

The U.S. is conducting the strikes in coordination with Britain and France, the president said.

According to the World Health Organization, the attack on the Damascus suburb of Douma by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad may have exposed around 500 people to toxic chemicals.

Graphic images of small children being treated by medics and bodies foaming at the mouth circulated after the attack. Russia claims it was staged.

The president called the attack "the crime of a monster" in his address to the nation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that Moscow has "irrefutable information that it was another fabrication."

Trump tweeted early Thursday about the possibility of a strike: "Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!"

Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our Thank you America?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2018

The president had threatened a military response days before.

He tweeted there would be "a big price to pay" on Sunday. He also wrote Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran were complicit in the attack, and referred to the Syrian president as "Animal Assad."

He then warned Russia on Wednesday that missiles "will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'" He wrote on Twitter: "You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart! You shouldnt be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018

The White House insisted throughout Wednesday a decision to strike had not been made.

Mattis said the U.S. was "still assessing the intelligence" related to the gas attack in Douma and noted "we stand ready to provide military options if they're appropriate, as the president determines."

Sanders only said "all options are on the table" at her daily briefing.

Earlier this week, missiles were launched at the T-4 airbase in central Homs Governorate. Russia and Syria blamed Israel for the strikes.

Following a sarin attack on Syrian civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017, Trump ordered strikes on the Shayrat air base in Homs.

In that strike, 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from the USS Ross and USS Porter in the Mediterranean. They destroyed or damaged a number of Syrian military aircraft and infrastructure at the base.

The Syrians said as many as 16 people were killed in the strikes, including nine civilians in the surrounding area.

Operations resumed at the air base just a couple days later.

Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.TEN SLEEP  The Washakie County Commission will hold a special public hearing on Tuesday to address changes at the Ten Sleep Public Library, following a major renovation and addition.

The meeting will be held at the Ten Sleep Public Library at 6 p.m., and is open to public comment and input.

We want to give people a chance to see how the money was utilized and make sure it was spent properly and hear their concerns, said Commission Chairman Terry Wolf.

On Oct. 17, 2017, the county commission voted to award the project contract to Fox General Construction, even though the bid was $38,000 over the initial, forecasted budget.

With an initial project cost of $185,558, the expansion was financed by a Wyoming Business Council community block grant in the amount of $136,117, an in-kind loan of $14,520 and cash in the amount of $21,929 from the county and a land donation equal to $12,992 from Washakie County School District #2 in Ten Sleep. Total expenses for the finished project were $231,380, paid for by the above and matching funds from the county.

The addition, on the north end of the current library, follows the design and roofline of the original building, adding space for community meetings and events, as well as a place away from the main library for after-school learning.

After reaching a financial crisis in 2016, Washakie County Commissioners stepped in and with help from a grant from Youth Alternatives, were able to transfer the After School program to the Library, under a new director. The program is now called After the Bell, and hosts students from 3:15 until 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday for homework assistance, crafts and games.

The service, which is free to Ten Sleep parents, has provided after-school care, activities, and healthy snacks to kindergarten through fifth-graders since 2003. Previously, the Ten Sleep Learning Center rented the old Ten Sleep Fire Hall from Ten Sleep Development for $500 per month, and utilities were paid by the school from the After School fund.

In other commission business on the agenda for Tuesdays regular session, commissioners will open bids for a road gravel and sealing project, consult with TCT regarding a water line project on the Lower Nowood and will coordinate the Veterans Affairs personnel on cleaning the VA Clinic in Worland.

Commission meetings begin and 9 a.m. in the Commission chambers at the Washakie County Courthouse in Worland. All meetings are open to the public.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-12 16:36:50|Editor: Lifang

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DAMASCUS, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Russian military police have started deploying in Douma district in east of Syrian capital Damascus, after the Islam Army rebels handed over their medium and heavy weapons, a monitor group reported Thursday.

This came as the third batch of Islam Army rebels and their families left Douma toward the rebel-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria after midnight Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

In Moscow, Russian Defence Ministry also confirmed Thursday that its military police had started patrolling Douma to maintain law and order there.

The Russian military police are expected to be deployed in all of Douma in accordance with the deal reached on April 8, under which the Syrian official flag will be raised in Douma, the last rebel bastion in Eastern Ghouta.

The SOHR, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, reported that the leaders of Islam Army left in the batch after midnight Thursday.

It added that other Islam Army rebels, who remained in Douma, asked for the Russian military police to enter due to the lawlessness that has prevailed in Douma.

Douma has grabbed headlines worldwide recently as the Western governments and media accused the Syrian army of using chlorine gas on people there, sparking the U.S.-led West's threat of military strikes on Syria.

The Syrian government and Russia have denied the use of chemical weapons by Syrian army, accusing the rebels and the West of fabricating it to use it as an excuse to attack Syria.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 03:41:02|Editor: ZD

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Palestinians protest along the barrier between Gaza and Israel near Nahal Oz, on April 13, 2018. One Palestinian was killed and at least 968 wounded Friday in daylong clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers stationed at the barrier between Israel and Gaza, medics said. (Xinhua/Guo Yu)

GAZA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- One Palestinian was killed and at least 968 wounded Friday in daylong clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers stationed at the border between Israel and Gaza, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the health ministry spokesman in Gaza told reporters that Islam Herzallah, 28 years old from Gaza city, died of an Israeli gunshot in his abdomen in the protest.

He added that among the 968 injuries, 170 were caused by live ammunition, including ten paramedics and seven local journalists and cameramen.

Thousands of Palestinians participated in the protests and clashed with Israeli soldiers close to the border in eastern Gaza with Israel. They burned tires to create smoke as shield to interrupt Israeli gunshots.

They also burned Israeli flags and waved Palestinian flags.

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman said burning Israeli flags is a message to those "who believe in normalization with the occupation and a message to the world that this occupation's presence on the land of Palestine is illegal."

Eyewitnesses said that dozens of Palestinian demonstrators managed to cut part of the barbed wire of the border.

The health ministry said in an official press statement that Israeli soldiers are targeting with live ammunition and tear gas the paramedics and the medical clinics established in the tents near the border.

Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip began on March 30 six-week rallies that they named "the Great March of Return."

The march is expected to peak on May 15, the day after the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence but marked by the Palestinians as the Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe."

The Gaza Health Ministry said in an official figure that 34 Palestinians were killed, including two Hamas militants, and more than 2,800 were wounded since the start of the popular rallies.RIGA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian Corruption Prevention Bureau no longer considers blocking Facebook in the run-up to Latvia's coming parliamentary election after successful talks with the social network's representatives, the anti-corruption bureau's chief Jekabs Straume told reporters on Friday.

After the meeting with the Facebook delegation, which had arrived in Riga, Straume said at the news conference that Facebook was open to cooperation with Latvian authorities and that further talks via video conference were being planned for May.

The meeting between the Corruption Prevention Bureau's officials and the Facebook representatives focused on ensuring the transparency of the election process, particularly the financing of political parties' campaign advertisements, as well as curbing dissemination of fake news.

Straume said after the meeting that the Latvian side no longer considered blocking Facebook ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, which Latvia is going to hold in October.

The Latvian Corruption Prevention Bureau wants Facebook to provide information on the persons and organizations that finance political advertising on the social network so that the anti-corruption bureau could make sure that these campaigns are not paid with money of obscure origin.

Straume admitted that other unlike Facebook, other global social networks have so far been less cooperative in their relations with the Latvian authorities. Latvia's once hugely popular national social network Draugiem.lv, meanwhile does not plan to allow political advertising on its website at all.

Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, who met with Facebook representatives during his visit to the United States last week, also said the social network's representatives had assured him of their readiness for cooperation.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 04:01:07|Editor: pengying

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Workers are seen at the construction site of Istanbul's new airport in Istanbul, Turkey on April 13, 2018. The Istanbul's new airport being constructed is expected to be a new aviation hub in the world, a Turkish minister said on Friday. (Xinhua/He Canling)

ISTANBUL, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The Istanbul new airport being constructed is expected to be a new aviation hub in the world, a Turkish minister said on Friday.

"The global aviation sector has shifted toward the eastern part of the world, mostly due to the growth of Asian countries, such as China and India," Ahmet Arslan, Turkey's Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication, told reporters at the new airport site.

He said the shift in the sector has forced Turkey to become a global player, thanks to its fast-growing aviation industry and unique geographical location.

"These developments give significant importance to Istanbul's new airport, which will be the world's largest," said the minister.

According to Arslan, 85 percent of the initial phase of the new airport has been completed and it is scheduled to be operational on Oct. 29 to serve 90 million passengers.

It has the capacity to host 200 million travelers a year offering service to over 100 airlines covering 350 destinations around the world when all the phases of the project are completed.

The new airport, which covers an area of 76.5 million squares meters, costs 12 billion U.S. dollars, the minister said.

"The project has altered the entire land which was covered by marsh due to the presence of coal mines, providing job opportunities for at least 100,000 people," he said, noting the figure will go up to 225,000 after the construction is finished.DUBLIN, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Ireland will provide at least 5 million euros (6.16 million U.S. dollars) of humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), said the Irish Foreign Ministry on Friday.

The aid will be announced at a United Nations pledging conference scheduled to be held in Geneva, said the ministry in a press release.

The DRC represents one of the world's largest humanitarian crises in terms of people in need, the statement said.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said: "A shocking 4.5 million Congolese are internally displaced today, the highest number on the African continent. A further 750,000 have sought protection in neighboring countries as a result of violence, food insecurity and widespread human rights violations and abuses."

Ireland is a long-standing humanitarian donor in the DRC and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Congolese people as part of the international response, added Coveney.

Ireland has provided over 21 million euros of humanitarian aid including the latest pledge of 5 million euros to the DRC since 2016. (1 euro = 1.23 U.S. dollars)Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 04:21:11|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The trauma unit at a major hospital in the Central African Republic (CR) capital is full after an outbreak of fighting, where ambulances ferrying the wounded have faced delays due to street battles and barricades, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday.

The ICRC said it and the Central African Red Cross (CRCA) are providing emergency services following the eruption of violence in Bangui's PK5 district on April 8.

"Our 34-bed trauma unit at Bangui's community hospital is completely full," Marcelle Baltzinger, ICRC's hospital project manager, was quoted as saying in a statement.

"We have set up a close surveillance room and another casualty ward. They are full as well. We have two tents ready to be put up in case of need. They can accommodate at least another 20 patients," he added.

Bangui's community hospital has received 52 people injured in the fighting so far. Ten surgical operations were carried out on Tuesday, including eight by an ICRC surgeon.

At the same time, CRCA volunteers have been working in the hospital around-the-clock to carry patients on stretchers, run triage, and give support to ensure that people receive quick care.

"Every person who is wounded or in need of medical care during violence is entitled to safe and timely access to facilities where they can be treated," said Diana Stoecklin, the acting head of the ICRC's delegation in CAR.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 04:41:21|Editor: yan

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QUITO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- President of Ecuador Lenin Moreno on Friday confirmed the deaths of three press workers who were kidnapped by dissident Colombian rebel group last month near the border.

"Tragically, we have information which confirms the murder of our countrymen," said the president at a press conference, after an emergency meeting of the national public security council.

Moreno said that he had given the kidnappers until 10:50 a.m. local time Friday to provide proof that journalist Javier Ortega, photographer Paul Rivas and their driver Efrain Segarra, who worked for the local daily, El Comercio, were alive.

After the deadline expired, Moreno said that "it has been confirmed that these criminals never had the intention of delivering them safe and sound."

The team was captured in the area of Mataje in the northeastern province of Esmeraldas, near the Colombian border. The kidnapping was allegedly carried out by a dissident front of now extinct the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group.

The president announced that Ecuador had got in touch with international cooperation organisms, the Red Cross and the Catholic Church "to immediately begin the finding and repatriation of the bodies of our countrymen."

He added that military and police controls would increase in the area of the kidnapping, along with "coordinated actions" carried out with Colombian forced along the border.

Moreno explained that he had asked the Colombian government, army and police to immediately begin these actions.

Ecuador is "suffering the consequences of the (armed) conflict in our brother nation," he said.

The announcement confirming the deaths of the journalists caused widespread grief in the country. On Thursday, photos allegedly showing the bodies of the team were published and were judged by experts to be authentic.

Ecuador had not previously suffered any such kidnappings along its border with Colombia, despite the presence of illegal armed groups and drug traffickers.

Security forces in the area have seen a rise in violence since January and have seized drugs, weapons and equipment worth 600 million U.S. dollars in recent months.

At least 22 members linked to such groups have been arrested while four soldiers have been killed and at least 40 more injured while they were on duty.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 05:06:27|Editor: Mengjie

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C, Front) addresses a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 13, 2018. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned of the danger of a full-blown military escalation in Syria. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned of the danger of a full-blown military escalation in Syria.

"Increasing tensions and the inability to reach a compromise in the establishment of an accountability mechanism (for chemical weapons use in Syria) threaten to lead to a full-blown military escalation," Guterres told the Security Council.

"In my contacts with you -- especially with the permanent members of the Security Council -- I have been reiterating my deep concerns about the risks of the current impasse and stressed the need to avoid the situation spiralling out of control. This is exactly the risk we face today -- that things spiral out of control," said the UN chief.

"It is our common duty to stop it."

"In Syria, we see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies, a number of armed opposition groups, many national and international militia, foreign fighters from everywhere in the world, and various terrorist organizations," he told the Security Council, which was convening at the request of Russia.

"From the beginning, we have witnessed systematic violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international law tout court -- in utter disregard of the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter."

For eight years, the people of Syria have lived through a litany of horrors: atrocity crimes, sieges, starvation, indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, the use of chemical weapons, forced displacement, sexual violence, torture, detention and enforced disappearances, he said.

He noted that Security Council resolution 2401 that demands a cease-fire across Syria to allow humanitarian aid into the country.

The continued reports of chemical weapons use in Syria are outrageous, he said. He deplored the fact that the Security Council could not reach agreement on a dedicated mechanism for attributing accountability in this regard.

"I reiterate my strong condemnation of the use of chemical weapons by any party to the conflict and under any circumstances. Their use is abhorrent and a clear violation of international law."

The seriousness of the recent allegations of a chemical attack in Douma, Syria, requires a thorough investigation using impartial, independent and professional expertise, he said.

Guterres reaffirmed his full support for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and its Fact-Finding Mission in undertaking the required investigation into these allegations.

The OPCW mission should be granted full access, without any restrictions or impediments to perform its activities, he said.

The first team of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission is already in Syria. A second is expected to arrive on Friday or Saturday.

Guterres urged the Security Council, which failed to adopt a resolution on Tuesday on a new investigative mechanism for chemical weapons use in Syria, not to give up on its efforts to agree upon a "dedicated, impartial, objective and independent mechanism" for attributing responsibility.

He stressed that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict. "The solution must be political through the Geneva intra-Syrian talks."

With regard to the wider Middle Eastern region, Guterres said the situation is in chaos, to such an extent it has become a threat to international peace and security.

"The region is facing a true Gordian knot: different fault lines crossing each other and creating a highly volatile situation with risks of escalation, fragmentation and division as far as the eye can see with profound regional and global ramifications."

"The Cold War is back -- with a vengeance but with a difference. The mechanisms and the safeguards to manage the risks of escalation that existed in the past no longer seem to be present," he warned.

He highlighted the Palestinian-Israeli divide, the Sunni-Shiite divide, which is evident from the Gulf to the Mediterranean. "It is important to note that apparent religious divides are normally the result of political or geo-strategic manipulations."

He also noted the involvement of a wide range of different factors -- from opposing attitudes in relation to the role of the Muslim Brotherhood or the status of the Kurds, to the dramatic threats to communities that have been living in the region for millennia and are part of the rich diversity of Middle Eastern societies.

"This multiplicity of divides is reflected in a multiplicity of conflicts with different degrees of interconnection, several of them clearly linked to the threat of global terrorism," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 05:16:30|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday lauded Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as a towering figure in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

"'Mama Winnie,' as she was affectionately known, was a towering figure in the struggle against apartheid. She was an international symbol of resistance who left an indelible mark on the history of the 20th century," Guterres told a memorial service for Madikizela-Mandela at UN Headquarters in New York.

Winnie, a former wife of late Nelson Mandela, died on April 2 in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the age of 81. She was known as Winnie Mandela in apartheid years and modified her name after a divorce from Nelson Mandela in 1996. Nelson Mandela died in 2013.

"Faced with the most heinous of racist and discriminatory regimes, she helped lead the way in showing what it takes to overcome such tyranny: strength, defiance and courage," he said.

"She endured surveillance, harassment, torture and imprisonment, including in solitary confinement, making huge personal sacrifices," Guterres said, in reference to her 17 months in prison, 13 of them in solitary confinement. "Yet, through her resistance, she inspired countless others and helped keep hope alive through the darkest periods of the struggle."

In her later years Madikizela-Mandela encountered accusations of corruption, extreme physical brutality, kidnapping, even murder.

"None of us would condone all actions across a complex and complicated life, but Winnie Mandela's dedication was evident in her early activism and her work researching infant mortality in the Alexandra Township," the UN chief said.

"As a strong and fearless woman, she had to fight patriarchy's definitions of womanhood," he said. "In apartheid South Africa, the combination of patriarchy and racism together meant that black women confronted enormous obstacles from the cradle to the grave -- making her own achievements all the more exceptional."

In the decades-long fight against apartheid, the United Nations stood with Madikizela-Mandela and all those in South Africa, who faced unrelenting racism and discrimination, he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 05:41:33|Editor: yan

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GAZA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- In a rare scene, Palestinian women were on front lines during Friday confrontations with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza-Israel borders.

The heavy shooting of bullets and tear gas by Israeli army did not prevent women demonstrators from joining the weekly rallies in border areas.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered at the eastern area of the Gaza Strip to carry on their protests in the third consecutive Friday mass rally against Israelis.

As part of the six-week rallies called "the Great March of Return," which started on March 30, Palestinians held five rallies in eastern Gaza Strip along with the border with Israel to demonstrate.

The marches are expected to peak on May 15, the day after the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence but marked by the Palestinians as the Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe."

On the third Friday of the mass return marches, women threw stones at Israeli soldiers while others raised the Palestinian flag along the fence.

Other women managed to carry rubber tires and transport them to demonstrators who burned them to obstruct the vision of Israeli soldiers to avoid more casualties among protestors.

"My presence at the rally is to help men in national struggle," Salsabil, a 23-year-old young woman, told Xinhua during a protest in Gaza city.

Salsabil, who is originally a refugee from Jaffa city in Israel, said peaceful demonstrations require the participation of all segments of society.

"Joining such protests brings us closer to returning to our homes that we were forced to leave," she said, holding stones in her hand.

The young lady said she knows it is dangerous for her to be present at such a place, but she stressed that it is important for all women to champion their national causes.

Near Salsabil, Sarah, a 20-year-old girl, carried car tires to demonstrators and helped young men pull up barbed wire placed by the Israeli army before the border fence.

"The Palestinian women are an integral part of the society ... today they are to prove this," Sarah said after she gave a car tire to a masked protestor.

"The national struggle and defending the refugees' right to return are not limited to men. Palestinian women are always at the forefront," she said proudly.

During this Friday rally, one Palestinian was killed and at least 968 others were injured in clashes between demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip.

Health ministry in Gaza said a 28-year-old Palestinian died of bullet wounds he sustained earlier in the day.

Among the injured, 223 with were shot with live ammunition, of whom 15 are in serious conditions.

A total of 17 paramedics and local journalists and cameramen were also injured during the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it troops responded with riot dispersal means in dealing with protestors in Gaza.

The army added that Israel will not allow any harm to security infrastructure that protects Israeli civilians, and will act against violent rioters who threaten to damage it.

"It is really serious and dangerous, but this will not stop Palestinian women from participating in the freedom struggle," Sarah said before she rushed to help evacuate an injured protestor.KFC Guam marketing director Edgar Caper

The countrys leading loyalty program, ZAP Philippines, teamed up with KFC Guam to provide end-to-end support to develop customer loyalty program. The partnership marks the companys first deal in Guam. Landing a deal with KFC in Guam is a testament to how our closed loop model has been able to make an impact in the businesses of our over 800 local partner merchants. We aim to help KFC in making more data-driven decisions in creating campaigns for their consumers.consumers, says Dustin Cheng, chief executive and co-founder of ZAP. KFC is the biggest fast food chain in Guam with a reach of over 180,000 residents on the island. KFC Guam marketing director Edgar Caper says investing in a customer loyalty program will enable KFC to get insights from diners behavior, including average transaction value, frequency of purchase and time of transaction.ZAPs technology brings the ease and relevance both to operations and to the consumers. On the marketing side, the technology is distinct to [ZAP] and highly convenient to manage the database and trigger the consumer with messages of the brand, Caper says.With ZAP as the partner of KFC Guam, the quick-service restaurant will be able to benefit from the closed loop model offered by the leading loyalty program in the Philippines. ZAP introduced the closed loop model in 2013 where merchants have full control of their loyalty programs as they dont share points with others. With this set-up, brands are able to enhance the consumer experience by improving marketing and operations resulting in enhanced brand-consumer relationship.A Palestinian woman uses slingshot to hurls stones at Israeli troops during clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Apr. 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Yasser Qudih)

GAZA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- In a rare scene, Palestinian women were on front lines during Friday confrontations with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza-Israel borders.

The heavy shooting of bullets and tear gas by Israeli army did not prevent women demonstrators from joining the weekly rallies in border areas.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered at the eastern area of the Gaza Strip to carry on their protests in the third consecutive Friday mass rally against Israelis.

As part of the six-week rallies called "the Great March of Return," which started on March 30, Palestinians held five rallies in eastern Gaza Strip along with the border with Israel to demonstrate.

A Palestinian woman hurls stones at Israeli troops during clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Apr. 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Yasser Qudih)

The marches are expected to peak on May 15, the day after the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence but marked by the Palestinians as the Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe."

On the third Friday of the mass return marches, women threw stones at Israeli soldiers while others raised the Palestinian flag along the fence.

Other women managed to carry rubber tires and transport them to demonstrators who burned them to obstruct the vision of Israeli soldiers to avoid more casualties among protestors.

"My presence at the rally is to help men in national struggle," Salsabil, a 23-year-old young woman, told Xinhua during a protest in Gaza city.

A Palestinian woman holds national flag during clashes with Israeli troops on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Apr. 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Yasser Qudih)

Salsabil, who is originally a refugee from Jaffa city in Israel, said peaceful demonstrations require the participation of all segments of society.

"Joining such protests brings us closer to returning to our homes that we were forced to leave," she said, holding stones in her hand.

The young lady said she knows it is dangerous for her to be present at such a place, but she stressed that it is important for all women to champion their national causes.

Near Salsabil, Sarah, a 20-year-old girl, carried car tires to demonstrators and helped young men pull up barbed wire placed by the Israeli army before the border fence.

"The Palestinian women are an integral part of the society ... today they are to prove this," Sarah said after she gave a car tire to a masked protestor.

"The national struggle and defending the refugees' right to return are not limited to men. Palestinian women are always at the forefront," she said proudly.

During this Friday rally, one Palestinian was killed and at least 968 others were injured in clashes between demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip.

Health ministry in Gaza said a 28-year-old Palestinian died of bullet wounds he sustained earlier in the day.

Among the injured, 223 with were shot with live ammunition, of whom 15 are in serious conditions.

A total of 17 paramedics and local journalists and cameramen were also injured during the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it troops responded with riot dispersal means in dealing with protestors in Gaza.

The army added that Israel will not allow any harm to security infrastructure that protects Israeli civilians, and will act against violent rioters who threaten to damage it.

"It is really serious and dangerous, but this will not stop Palestinian women from participating in the freedom struggle," Sarah said before she rushed to help evacuate an injured protestor.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 05:56:36|Editor: ZD

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Buses transporting the rebels and their families from Douma district arrive at the Wafideen area, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria, on April 13, 2018. Hundreds of Islam Army militants and their families were taken out of Douma to the nearby Wafideen area, an assembly point from which the rebels will evacuate to the rebel-held city of Jarablus as soon as the latest batch is ready to set off, according to the state news agency SANA. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Around 93 buses with hundreds of Islam Army militants and their families onboard prepared on Friday to evacuate Damascus' eastern Douma district, amid reports of the arrival of the chemical weapons investigators on Saturday to look into allegations of toxic gas use in Douma.

Hundreds of Islam Army militants and their families were taken out of Douma to the nearby Wafideen area, an assembly point from which the rebels will evacuate to the rebel-held city of Jarablus as soon as the latest batch is ready to set off, according to the state news agency SANA.

Their evacuation is part of a deal concluded earlier this month between the militants and the Syrian side under a Russian mediation.

The report said the evacuation of the rebels from Douma is ongoing until the entire district is declared liberated from the rebels.

A day earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group said Russian military police started deploying in Douma district after the Islam Army rebels handed over their medium and heavy weapons and the Syrian flag was raised in that area.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Ministry also confirmed Thursday that its military police had started patrolling Douma to maintain law and order there.

The Russian military police are expected to be deployed in all of Douma in accordance with the deal reached on April 8, under which the Syrian official institutions will return to Douma, the last rebel bastion in Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus.

Douma has grabbed headlines worldwide recently as the Western governments and media accused the Syrian army of using chlorine gas there, sparking a U.S.-led threat of military strikes on Syria.

The Syrian government and Russia have denied the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army, accusing the rebels and the West of fabricating it as an excuse to attack Syria.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry recently said it forwarded an invitation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send a fact-finding mission to Douma to look into the allegations.

The OPCW later declared it was sending a team of investigators to Syria, with local reports saying the team will arrive in Damascus on Saturday to start its work.

On Thursday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry has reiterated the Syrian government's willingness to cooperate with an investigation team into the chemical attack allegations.

The ministry said the U.S. allegation of chemical weapons' use by the Syrian government forces in Douma is an attempt to mislead the public opinion to serve its "aggressive schemes."

Meanwhile, the ministry said that any delay in the arrival of the OPCW team would be blamed on the Western countries that want to hinder the mission.

This came as the White House on Friday renewed accusation that Syria was behind the suspected toxic gas assault on April 7 that allegedly killed dozens of people in Douma.

Both the White House and state department declared on Friday that the United States had "a high level of confidence" about the Syrian government's culpability for the suspected incident in Douma, marking a new shift from previous statements made by U.S. officials that Washington was still looking at the evidence.

Meanwhile, an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council took place on Friday under the demand of Russia to discuss the threats of potential U.S. strike on Syria.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said during the session that Russian specialists had found no traces of "toxic substance use" in Douma as claimed by the Western countries.

Russia had "clear evidence" that the incident was staged, as his country has made an accusation against Britain of being involved in organizing the attack in Douma.

Russia's Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that "we have evidence that proves Britain was directly involved in organizing this provocation" in Douma.

But the British Foreign Office slammed Moscow's accusation as "ludicrous."

All of the war of words and accusations come as U.S. President Donald Trump recently spoke about dealing a military strike on Syria but didn't say when amid Russian pledges to destroy the missiles that would target Syria and its launching sites as well.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday that any possible attack would only cause further instability of the region, which could threaten the international peace and security.

With every victory of the Syrian army, the Western countries raise the rhetoric and try to change the course of actions, Assad said during his meeting with visiting Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Both sides agreed that the threats of military action on Syria by Western countries are "mere lies made up by such countries and their tools of the terrorist groups inside Syria following the liberation of Eastern Ghouta" east of the capital Damascus.

Velayati reiterated Iran's firm stance in continuing its support for the Syrian government.

A boy is seen as he arrives at the Wafideen area, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria, on April 13, 2018. Hundreds of Islam Army militants and their families were taken out of Douma to the nearby Wafideen area, an assembly point from which the rebels will evacuate to the rebel-held city of Jarablus as soon as the latest batch is ready to set off, according to the state news agency SANA. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 05:56:36|Editor: Lifang

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during an event to commemorate the international day of reflection on the Rwanda genocide, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, April 13, 2018. April 7 was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2003 as the international day of reflection on the Rwanda genocide to commemorate the 1994 atrocities committed by members of the Hutu majority government. An estimated 500,000 to 1 million Rwandans were brutally murdered during 100 days from April 7 to mid-July, the overwhelming majority of the victims being Tutsis. As this year's April 7 was a Saturday, the world body held a commemoration event this Friday at the General Assembly hall. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday asked for action to prevent genocide as well as racism and xenophobia.

"Preventing genocide, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international law is a shared responsibility. It is a core duty of the United Nations," Guterres told an event to mark the international day of reflection on the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

"But warnings are effective only if followed by action," he said.

He was deeply concerned about the rise of racism, hate speech and xenophobia around the world. "These base manifestations of human cruelty provide the breeding ground for far more evil acts. Today, people are being killed, displaced and abused in many parts of the world."

In Myanmar, Rohingya Muslims have been killed, tortured, raped, burnt alive and humiliated, solely because of who they are. In Syria, continued escalation in hostilities, after seven years of conflict, has led to unimaginable violence and suffering. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, violence has forced 4.5 million people to flee their homes in the past year alone, said the UN chief.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Yet some 45 UN member states have still to join the genocide convention, he lamented.

"Ratifying it is a matter of moral obligation. Today, I call on all member states that have not yet done so to become parties to the genocide convention by Dec. 9 this year, when we will commemorate the 70th anniversary of its adoption."

He called on all states to back their commitments with action. "To save people at risk, we must go beyond words. We must nurture the courage to care, and the resolve to act. Only by meeting these challenges can we honour the victims and survivors of genocide and ensure that what happened in Rwanda 24 years ago is never repeated -- anywhere, ever again."

April 7 was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2003 as the international day of reflection on the Rwanda genocide to commemorate the 1994 atrocities committed by members of the Hutu majority government. An estimated 500,000 to 1 million Rwandans were brutally murdered during 100 days from April 7 to mid-July, the overwhelming majority of the victims being Tutsis.

As this year's April 7 was a Saturday, the world body held a commemoration event this Friday at the General Assembly hall.Abdulhamid Yusuf, who lost 19 members of his family, including his wife and two children, visits the graves of his relatives in Syria's Khan Shaykhun town on March 31, 2018. On his wedding anniversary this year, the 29-year-old Syrian widower will have nothing to remember but a suspected chemical attack that killed his wife and two small children. (Xinhua/AFP )

UNITED NATIONS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned of the danger of a full-blown military escalation in Syria.

"Increasing tensions and the inability to reach a compromise in the establishment of an accountability mechanism (for chemical weapons use in Syria) threaten to lead to a full-blown military escalation," Guterres told the Security Council.

"In my contacts with you -- especially with the permanent members of the Security Council -- I have been reiterating my deep concerns about the risks of the current impasse and stressed the need to avoid the situation spiralling out of control. This is exactly the risk we face today -- that things spiral out of control," said the UN chief.

"It is our common duty to stop it."

"In Syria, we see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies, a number of armed opposition groups, many national and international militia, foreign fighters from everywhere in the world, and various terrorist organizations," he told the Security Council, which was convening at the request of Russia.

"From the beginning, we have witnessed systematic violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international law tout court -- in utter disregard of the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter."

For eight years, the people of Syria have lived through a litany of horrors: atrocity crimes, sieges, starvation, indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, the use of chemical weapons, forced displacement, sexual violence, torture, detention and enforced disappearances, he said.

He noted that Security Council resolution 2401 that demands a cease-fire across Syria to allow humanitarian aid into the country.

The continued reports of chemical weapons use in Syria are outrageous, he said. He deplored the fact that the Security Council could not reach agreement on a dedicated mechanism for attributing accountability in this regard.

Syrian children and adults receive treatment for a suspected chemical attack at a makeshift clinic on the rebel-held village of al-Shifuniyah in the Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus late on Feb. 25, 2018. (Xinhua/AFP)

"I reiterate my strong condemnation of the use of chemical weapons by any party to the conflict and under any circumstances. Their use is abhorrent and a clear violation of international law."

The seriousness of the recent allegations of a chemical attack in Douma, Syria, requires a thorough investigation using impartial, independent and professional expertise, he said.

Guterres reaffirmed his full support for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and its Fact-Finding Mission in undertaking the required investigation into these allegations.

The OPCW mission should be granted full access, without any restrictions or impediments to perform its activities, he said.

The first team of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission is already in Syria. A second is expected to arrive on Friday or Saturday.

Guterres urged the Security Council, which failed to adopt a resolution on Tuesday on a new investigative mechanism for chemical weapons use in Syria, not to give up on its efforts to agree upon a "dedicated, impartial, objective and independent mechanism" for attributing responsibility.

He stressed that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict. "The solution must be political through the Geneva intra-Syrian talks."

With regard to the wider Middle Eastern region, Guterres said the situation is in chaos, to such an extent it has become a threat to international peace and security.

"The region is facing a true Gordian knot: different fault lines crossing each other and creating a highly volatile situation with risks of escalation, fragmentation and division as far as the eye can see with profound regional and global ramifications."

"The Cold War is back -- with a vengeance but with a difference. The mechanisms and the safeguards to manage the risks of escalation that existed in the past no longer seem to be present," he warned.

He highlighted the Palestinian-Israeli divide, the Sunni-Shiite divide, which is evident from the Gulf to the Mediterranean. "It is important to note that apparent religious divides are normally the result of political or geo-strategic manipulations."

He also noted the involvement of a wide range of different factors -- from opposing attitudes in relation to the role of the Muslim Brotherhood or the status of the Kurds, to the dramatic threats to communities that have been living in the region for millennia and are part of the rich diversity of Middle Eastern societies.

"This multiplicity of divides is reflected in a multiplicity of conflicts with different degrees of interconnection, several of them clearly linked to the threat of global terrorism," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 06:56:46|Editor: Mengjie

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. western resort city of San Francisco Friday launched an awareness campaign against growing fraudulent phone call scams targeting Chinese community in the city.

"In this past year, we know in New York State that there have been over 21 victims who have been defrauded of over two and a half million (U.S.) dollars," said Assemblyman David Chiu, California State Assembly at a press conference in Chinadown in the city.

Those scammers were particularly targeting senior citizens to cheat them for quick profit.

"Of a scam of the type that has just hit our Chinese Community here in the Bay Area, and in this past week I was surprised to the fact that there were thousands of residents here in San Francisco and in the Chinese Community who are receiving such fraudulent voicemails," Chiu said.

These fraudulent phone calls were made by criminals who are trying to steal money from the public, he said.

There was an increasing number of reports in recent days that people received phone calls in the name of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, which tried to cheat the receivers into disclosing their personal ID, address and bank information.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed told the audience that a public awareness campaign is needed to combat the scams, saying she will work with the police authorities to protect everyone in the community.

"Criminals who prey on our community will not be tolerated in our community and will be prosecuted," she said.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon is very much committed to bringing criminals accountable for these kinds of scams to justice, Breed said, adding that the law enforcing agency will increase police foot patrols to make every member of the community feel safe.

Chinese Deputy Consul General in San Francisco Ren Faqiang said at the press conference that the Chinese Consulate General will not, via phone, ask overseas Chinese to handle cases in China or renew an expired passport or apply for a new one, or demand the information of their bank card or account.

While urging the pubic to remain on high alert against such fraudulent calls, Ren said the Consulate General has asked the U.S. police authorities to investigate these phone scams and bring those criminals to justice.

Senior Inspector Jason Collom of San Francisco District Attorneys Office told Xinhua that in San Francisco "unfortunately we haven't had a victim who has reported the crime on police report that I've seen yet."

Therefore, it is not easy at this time to have an exact number of victims or the total financial losses from the fraudulent scams in San Francisco, he said.

He urged the public to come forward if there are victims or attempted victims and to report the issue to police.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 07:26:55|Editor: Mengjie

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WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Treasury Department said Friday that no major trading partner, including China, manipulated their currencies.

"No trading partner was found to have met the legislative standards for currency manipulation during the current reporting period," said the Treasury Department in its Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies.

According to the report, "the Monitoring List comprises China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Switzerland, and India."

It's the first time for the Treasury Department to put India on the list, due to extensive intervention in its currency markets.

"China is the most successful example of external rebalancing in the post-crisis period among the major surplus economies," said the report.

China's current account surplus was only 1.4 percent of GDP in the second half of 2017, sharply down from the the peak of over 10 percent of GDP in 2007.

The appreciation of the Chinese currency, yuan, in 2017, helped reduce China's trade surplus with the United States, according to the report.

The Treasury Department said it places "significant importance" on China adhering to its G20 commitments to refraining from engaging in competitive devaluation and not to target China's exchange rate for competitive purposes.

As China pushed forward market-oriented reforms on its foreign exchange rate mechanism, the Chinese currency, Renminbi, has been broadly in line with fundamentals in recent years, many economists and institutions pointed out.

According to a research by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, China was not manipulating its currency from 2015 to 2017.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 07:31:56|Editor: Mengjie

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WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Friday that the United States has "a very high level of confidence" that Syria was responsible for the recent chemical attack in the Middle East nation.

Nauert said in a press briefing that the U.S. has proof that the Syrian government was behind this attack, and will "continue to gather information and further assess it."

"I can tell you this. Syria's responsible. We are all in agreement," she said. "We can say that the Syrian government was behind this attack."

However, she refused to show the evidence, saying the thing was "sensitive."

She also refuted the accusation of Russia in the UN meeting earlier on Friday that Britain was behind the Syria attack, saying Moscow tried to "completely change the story" and "turn it upside down."

"The U.K., I'm confident in saying, had absolutely nothing to do with it," she added. "It is the assessment of the U.S. government, the British government, the French government."

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry Spokesman Lgor Konashenkov said that "we have evidence that proves Britain was directly involved in organizing this provocation" in Douma.

Activists and rebels in Syria claimed that Syrian forces used chlorine gas in the attack on April 7 against Douma in the rebel-held area near Damascus.

The Syrian government has denied the allegations and called the reports fake news that the West uses to justify attacking the country.CANBERRA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Australian males are increasingly worried about losing their jobs, a study has found.

The report, published by Curtin University, found that "precarious work" was on the rise in Australia.

Precarious work is non-standard employment that is poorly paid, insecure and unprotected.

Traditionally women are more likely to be precarious workers but the study found men were catching up.

Alan Duncan, a co-author of the report, said there were a number of reasons that men felt less secure in their jobs.

"Fewer hours available, especially for men," Duncan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Saturday.

"The increasing push towards part-time work and casualization, the greater use of independent contractors by businesses, which lends itself ... to a greater degree of insecurity in employment."

Duncan said the fall of job security was particularly prominent among laborers, going as far as to suggest that males should look for work in the services sector, roles generally dominated by women.

"I think roles in the healthcare sector, in education, care services, either aged care, childcare," he said.

"All of these roles I think will offer great opportunities for careers into the future and for career progression."

The report also studied whether male workers believed they had more right to a job than women, a notion that was dismissed by 90 percent of the subjects.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 729,500 Australian adults do not have a job, giving the country an unemployment rate of 5.5 percent.

More than 12.4 million adults are employed, 8.5 million on a full-time basis.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 09:37:19|Editor: pengying

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HANOI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Turtle experts said they have identified a fourth specimen of the Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei), one of the world's largest known freshwater turtle species, also one of the world's rarest, in Vietnam's Hanoi capital, local media reported on Saturday.

The Hanoi-based Asian Turtle Program of Indo-Myanmar Conservation (ATP/IMC), a Britain-based conservation charity, said they have identified the fourth specimen of the Yangtze giant softshell turtle in Xuan Khanh Lake in Hanoi's outskirts, daily newspaper Vietnam News reported.

ATP/IMC researchers and an ecologist at Washington State University matched environmental DNA collected from water samples from the lake to known samples from the species, and then confirmed the presence of at least one giant turtle living in the lake.

The finding helps to raise the number of these turtles living around the world to four and opens up the opportunity for breeding one of the world's rarest animals.

This finding brings new hope, with the possibility of bringing wild animals together in a controlled environment for captive breeding, daily newspaper Nhan Dan (People) reported. However, the conservation and future of this, the world's rarest turtle species, is far from guaranteed, a great deal of effort is now needed to protect these known animals and ensure they are able to breed, this will mean bringing them together in a single location.

In January 2016, a large male Yangtze giant softshell turtle that had lived in Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake died. It was the last surviving individual of the species in the lake and was possibly over 100 years old.

Now believed to be almost extinct in the wild, before the discovery of the fourth specimen in Xuan Khanh Lake, only three specimens were known globally. Two are being kept in Suzhou Zoo in China, a female and a male that have been together since 2008, but despite successful nesting all of their eggs have been infertile.

Meanwhile, a single wild specimen was found in 2007 by the ATP/IMC that resides in Dong Mo Lake west of Hanoi.

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle, also called the Red River giant softshell turtle, Shanghai softshell turtle or Swinhoe's softshell turtle, was once known from the Red River in Vietnam and from China's lower Yangtze River floodplain, according to the Turtle Conservation Coalition which has recently released a report on the world's 50 most threatened turtles.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 09:47:20|Editor: Mengjie

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WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he has ordered precise strikes in cooperation with Britain and France against Syrian military facilities.

In a televised speech, Trump said he ordered the U.S. armed forces to launch attacks against targets related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

He added that a combined operation with Britain and France was under way.

Trump also criticized Russia and Iran for supporting the Syrian government as well as their failure to stop the alleged chemical attack.

The speech came all of a sudden, as White House correspondents said they were asked not to share that information until the president went live "in order to ensure the safety of our troops."

Related:

U.S. attacks sites in Syria's Damascus

U.S. Strike on Syria an act of aggression, violates "all int's norms": Russian lawmaker

Russian ambassador warns consequence of U.S. attack on SyriaThe Philippines is now committed to reduce energy emissions by 70 percent by 2030 as a part of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This has brought a renewed thrust to develop the nations renewable energy sector. With the looming threat of climate change, sustainability needs to be at the forefront of our concerns when it comes to servicing the countrys power needs, said Jocot de Dios, chief executive of GE Philippines, during the digital-industrial companys Powering the Philippines conference. The event organized by GE and the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, aimed at assessing the future of RE in the country and was attended by more than 100 stakeholders from both the public and private sectorsincluding the Department of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission and members of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association. Based on figures from the DoE, coal, oil, and natural gas contribute over half of the Philippine energy mix, while RE sources like biomass, geothermal, solar, hydro, and wind add up to around 36.1 percent, with geothermal being the biggest contributor at 17.9 percent. The DoEs National Renewable Energy Program seeks to increase the RE-based capacity of the country to an estimated 15,304 MW by 2030, and to at least 20,000 MW by 2040, almost quadruple its 2010 level.As of June 30, 2017, the DoE has awarded 831 RE projects under the RE bill, a huge increase from 22 projects since the RE bills passing in 2008. The increased generation from geothermal, hydro, and solar resources has lessened the countrys dependency on fossil fuels, de Dios said. Now, more than ever, the country is open to new ideas and solutions to produce more reliable, sustainable, and affordable electricity. GE, a global solar solutions provider, offers customers with an entire plant-wide development strategy and solution that are less complex and with reduced cost and risks to ultimately lower the levelized cost of energy.HANOI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese prime minister has signed a directive calling for stronger measures to rein in Bitcoin and other digital currencies amid fear that they could destabilize the financial market and hurt traders, local media reported on Saturday.

Under the directive, credit institutions in Vietnam are not allowed to carry out digital currency-related transactions and must swiftly report any suspicious activities, newspaper Vietnam Financial Times reported.

Public companies, brokerages, fund management companies and investment funds are banned from any illegal activities related to digital currencies and are required to comply with the anti-money laundering rules.

The government leader also asked the authorities concerned to restrict the import of coin mining hardware and double down their efforts to prevent fraudulent activities concerning digital currencies.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has been tasked with perfecting the legal framework on regulating digital currencies and virtual assets.

In recent months, government agencies have issued many warnings on the risks of digital currencies and their use for criminal activities due to their anonymity and decentralization.

The directive stated that digital currency investment activities, especially the use of digital currencies to mobilize funds under Ponzi schemes, are developing in a complicated fashion and could affect financial stability, Nhan Dan (People) newspaper reported.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 10:42:17|Editor: pengying

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at the third Business Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, April 13, 2018. The Business Summit of the Americas was opened on Thursday, ahead of the eighth Summit of the Americas, scheduled for Friday and Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Rui)UK armed forces authorized to stage "coordinated, targeted strikes" on Syria: May Source: Xinhua 2018-04-14 10:32:31 LONDON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday said that she has authorised the UK armed forces to conducted "coordinated and targeted strikes" in response to alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria. Editor: pengyingSource: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 11:17:45|Editor: Mengjie

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CHICAGO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- As the second largest soybean producer in the United States in terms of state, Iowa farmers who need markets for their products are impacted by U.S.-China trade frictions, an Iowa official told Xinhua on Thursday.

The ongoing trade disputes between the two countries have an obvious impact on agriculture and Iowa, said Adam Gregg, the lieutenant governor of the midwestern state of Iowa.

"We believe it's very important for Iowa farmers to have markets for our products. We are known for having very safe, reliable, affordable agricultural products," Gregg said.

On April 3, the U.S. administration proposed a list of Chinese products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars to be subject to a 25-percent import tariff. Within several hours, Beijing said it will levy a 25-percent duty on 50 billion dollars worth of U.S. products including soybeans, automobiles and chemicals, among others.

Gregg also said he and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds recently met with officials of U.S. Department of Agriculture to discuss issues impacting the agricultural community, including trade.LONDON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday she has authorized the British armed forces to conduct "coordinated and targeted strikes" in response to the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.

"This evening I have authorized British armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regime's chemical weapons capability and deter their use," May said in a statement issued after her nation's participation in the military strikes on Syria.

"We are acting together with our American and French allies," the statement said.

The United States, France and Britain launched the joint military strikes on Syria on Friday without the authorization of the United Nations, which, under the UN Charter, has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 11:57:53|Editor: pengying

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Surface-to-air missiles are seen over Syria's capital Damascus on April 14, 2018, as the Syrian air defenses were responding to U.S. attacks. The U.S. started military actions against Damascus before daybreak Saturday as loud explosions were heard with "red dots" seen flying from earth to the sky, reported Syrian state TV and Xinhua reporters in Damascus. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States started its military action against Syria's capital Damascus before daybreak Saturday as loud explosions were heard here with "red dots" seen flying from earth to the sky, reported Syrian state TV and Xinhua reporters in Damascus.

As loud explosions were heard across the capital, the Syrian air defense missiles were launched from Mount Qasioun, which overlooks the capital, with smoke rising from areas in Damascus, according to Xinhua reporters on the ground.

The air defense missiles looked like red dots flying from earth to targets in the sky.

The state TV also reported that the Syrian air defense system was reacting to the "U.S., French and British aggression on Syria."

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said on Friday that the U.S. attack targeted multiple sites in Syria, including a research center, a chemical weapon storage facility and a facility in the second target.

The United States has accused Syria of using chlorine gas in an attack last week in the previously rebel-held Douma district near Damascus, pledging a military strike against the Syrian government forces' positions amid threats of retaliation from both the Syrian forces and Russia.WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov on Friday warned that the U.S. strikes on Syria "will not be left without consequences."

"All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris," he said in a statement, adding "the worst apprehensions have come true."

"Our warnings have been left unheard," he said. "A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened."

Earlier on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he ordered the U.S. armed forces to launch an attack together with Britain and France on targets related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he has ordered precise strikes in cooperation with Britain and France against Syrian military facilities.

In a televised speech, Trump said he ordered the U.S. armed forces to launch attacks against targets related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

He added that a combined operation with Britain and France was under way.

"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons," he noted. "Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States."

Trump also criticized Russia and Iran for supporting the Syrian government as well as their failure to stop the alleged April 7 chemical attack against the rebel-held Douma district near Damascus.

"Hopefully someday we will get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran, but maybe not," he said. "The United States has a lot to offer."

Trump's speech came all of a sudden, as White House correspondents said they were asked not to share that information until the president went live "in order to ensure the safety of our troops."

In response, Syrian state TV reported that the Syrian military was confronting the West's air strikes with anti-aircraft weapons.

Trump ordered an air strike against Syria last year to punish the government's another alleged use of chemical weapons against the civilians, in a move that he said has destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian air forces.

Activists and rebels in Syria claimed that the Syrian forces used chlorine gas in the April 7 attack against Douma. The Syrian government has denied the allegations and called the reports fake news the West uses to justify its attacks on the country.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 13:48:12|Editor: pengying

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MOSCOW, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States is violating all international norms, and Russia views the latest military strikes against Syria as an act of aggression, Alexander Sherin, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, said on Saturday.

In an address to the nation on late Friday, Trump said a joint operation against Syria had been launched by United States, France and Britain in response to an alleged chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus on April 7 by Syrian forces.

According to all international norms, this is a violation of all international rights, a declaration of war to a sovereign state, Sputnik news agency quoted Sherin as saying.

Yuri Shvytkin, a deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, said that the strikes on Syria are an ill-thought and provocative step that can lead to unpredictable consequences.

Shvytkin also said that the military action by France, Britain and the United States in Syria does not benefit the effort to build constructive relations with Moscow.

An emergency session of the UN General Assembly is required to condemn the action of the United States and its allies, added Shvytkin.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on Facebook that the United States and its allies delivered a military strike against Syria precisely at a moment when the country has a chance for a peaceful future.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 13:48:12|Editor: pengying

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WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The White House and U.S. State Department said on Friday that they have "a very high confidence" that the Syrian government was responsible for the alleged April 7 chemical weapons attack against Douma near Damascus.

"We are confident in the intelligence that we have and in the fact that we know that Syria is responsible for these actions," White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said in a press conference, adding that Russia's failure to stop Syria on this front "has been part of the problem."

She said U.S. President Donald Trump had spoken with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron about Syria earlier on Friday. "We're continuing to have ongoing conversations with our partners and allies."

Activists and rebels in Syria claimed that Syrian forces used chlorine gas in the attack on April 7 against the rebel-held town of Douma. The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news that the West used to justify attacks to the country.

Also on Friday, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Washington has proof that the Syrian government was behind the attack, and will "continue to gather information and further assess it."

However, she refused to show the evidence, saying the thing was "sensitive."One of the countrys top universities on Saturday called on the Supreme Court to dismiss the quo warranto petition against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Serenoone of its graduatesfiled by Solicitor General Jose Calida in a bid to remove her from the post. Sereno can only be removed through impeachment, said Ateneo de Manila University president Father Jose Ramon Villarin, and that her appointment could not be nullified by a quo warranto, a writ or legal action requiring a person to show by what warrant an office or franchise is held, claimed, or exercised. The Chief Justice, who is on indefinite leave as the petition and a looming impeachment trial in the Senate await resolution, is an economics graduate of Ateneo. With Serenos recent announcement that she has recovered most of her missing Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, which she had filed as a law professor at the University of the Philippines, Calidas petition is thus baseless and must be dismissed immediately, her spokesman said Saturday. SolGen Calidas quo warranto petition was based on his claim that CJ Sereno did not file UP SALNs and that she failed to meet the constitutional requirement of proven integrity when she failed to submit her UP SALNs to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), said lawyer Josalee Deinla. His submission is an admission that his petition is baseless. The recovery of most of the SALNs destroys the SolGens main argument that the Chief Justice should be removed from office on ground that she failed to file her SALNs and submit them to the JBC, Deinla added. At this point, Villarin said in a statement, the legal and proper process is impeachment and not quo warranto. We thus categorically call on the Supreme Court to dismiss the quo warranto petition filed against the Chief Justice, the Ateneo president added. The high court heard oral arguments last week in Baguio City on a petition filed by Calida to invalidate Serenos appointment by then-President Benigno Aquino III, citing her alleged failure to fully disclose her wealth. But Sereno had already retrieved most of her missing SALN even before the Solicitor Generals submission of the top magistrates financial statements to the Supreme Court last March 27. Deinla said at least 11 of the missing SALNs have been found by the Chief Justice prior to Calidas retrieval of the SALNs. Villarin called on the other SC magistrates, including those opposing Sereno, to discern the damage their actions have inflicted on themselves and on the whole of our democratic society.The University expresses its dismay and disappointment at how vicious and malicious the search for accountability has become, he said. It should alarm us when several justices who will decide on whether the Chief Justice has sufficiently complied with the requirement are among those who have accused her of wrongdoing in that regard, during hearings conducted by Congress, thus effectively prejudging the matter, he added. Associate Justices Teresita De Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam had testified against Sereno during the impeachment hearings at the House of Representatives. Let us allow the impeachment to unfold, to guarantee the impeachable officer due process of fundamental law, Villarin said. As the nations highest court, the Supreme Courts focus should always be to keep the freedoms of each person inviolable and sacred, he added. In any event, Deinla said, the fact that Calida confirmed that he had obtained the SALNs himself proved that the Chief Justice had indeed filed her UP SALNs contrary to solicitor generals claim in his petition. Deinla cited Paragraph 23 of the petition where Calida categorically and without qualification stated that the Chief Justice only filed SALNs for the years 1998, 2002 and 2006 during her tenure as law professor at the UP College of Law from 1986 up to 2006. Calida, however, submitted in his reply to the SC on March 27, 2018 Serenos eight SALNs for the years 1985, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997, she said. Deinla also said Calida could not claim that he was the one who retrieved the SALNs since even before the SolGen submitted it to the SC, the Chief Justice had already informed the high tribunal in her Comment filed on March 19, 2018 that she had already recovered most of the missing SALNs. This proves that the Chief Justice had found the missing SALNs even before the SolGen submitted them to the Supreme Court on March 27, 2018, Deinla said. Sereno intends to present the recovered UP SALNs to the Senate impeachment court, without prejudice to her legal defenses, since her alleged failure to file SALNs before she joined the SC is not within the scope of the impeachment complaint, or the grounds for impeachment provided in the Constitution, the spokesperson added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 14:08:15|Editor: Lifang

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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China is taking another step in opening up the financial market with reform of the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement Wednesday that it would work with other government entities to push QDII reform and improve the macro-prudential management of the program.

SAFE will release QDII quotas monthly on its website, it said in the statement.

The scheme allows qualified domestic investors to invest overseas and encourages two-way capital flows, according to Xie Yaxuan, an analyst with China Merchants Securities.

"Opening-up should come both ways. It does not only encourage inflows but also outflows," Xie said.

China has yet to fully liberalize its capital account, with programs such as QDII and Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) providing financial institutions with quotas in outbound and inbound investments, respectively.

"Many countries have adopted mechanisms such as QDII and QFII in the process of opening up the capital account," said Fan Yue, vice president of asset manager E Fund.

SAFE's announcement came as authorities vowed to further open China's economy at the just-concluded Boao Forum for Asia.

Among the opening-up measures, China will expand the business scope of foreign banks and impose no restrictions on the scope of joint-venture securities companies.

The opening up of the financial sector should go together with reform of the exchange rate formation mechanism and the process of advancing capital account convertibility, according to central bank governor Yi Gang.UNITED NATIONS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Britain will take action to "alleviate humanitarian distress and deter the future use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime", the British Ambassador to the United Nations, Karen Pierce, said here Friday.

Pierce said the cabinet met recently and concluded that the "Assad regime" has a track record of using chemical weapons. Therefore it has agreed to take action against the Syrian Government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The British Government's decision comes despite the United Nations (UN) and many UN member states calling for an independent and transparent investigation into the alleged chemical attack in Douma, a Syrian suburb northeast of capital Damascus, on April 7.

While Britain alleges the Syrian Government was behind the attack, the latter has denied any involvement.

Pierce also said France, Britain and the United States support the fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is to investigate the Douma attack.

OPCW inspectors will begin work on Saturday to determine whether chemical weapons were used in Douma, the agency confirmed Friday.

In August 2016, a report by the UN and the OPCW said the Syrian military used chemical weapons in the town of Talmenes in April 2013 and Sarmin in March 2015, while the Islamic State employed mustard gas in the town of Marea in August 2015.PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A total of nine militants were killed and five others injured after an explosive device exploded prematurely in a Taliban commander's house in northern Baghlan province on Friday, an army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said sSaturday.

A group of Taliban militants, according to the official, were busy in making mine at the house of Taliban commander Gul Ahmad in Dand-e-Shahabudin area outside provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri on Friday when the device exploded suddenly killing nine militants on the spot and injuring five others.

Taliban militants who are largely relying on roadside bombs and suicide attacks are yet to make comment on the report.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 15:08:23|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Steady growth in China has promoted global economic recovery and trade growth, and provided unprecedented opportunities for other countries, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

"In recent years, Chinese economic growth held steady at a medium-high rate to become an indispensable engine and anchor for the world economic recovery and sustainable development," the NBS said in a statement.

Calculated with exchange rates of respective years, China's GDP accounted for 14.8 percent of the world economy in 2016, up from 12.5 percent in 2013.

China's average annual growth was 7.2 percent in 2013-2016 calculated with 2010 U.S. dollar prices, noticeably faster than 2.1 percent for the United States, 1.2 percent for the eurozone, 1.1 percent for Japan and 2.7 percent world growth in the same period.

"China's growth provided a strong engine for world economic growth and contributed more than 30 percent on average to world growth during the period," the NBS said.

The country's economy was also less volatile than its counterparts.

In 2013-2016, the Chinese economy fluctuated within a range of just 1.1 percentage points, much smaller than the ranges for the above-mentioned countries and regions.

"As the world's second largest economy, China played a crucial role in lowering the risks from world economic volatility with its stable growth," the NBS said.

If China's positive influences were excluded, the world's annual growth would slow by 0.6 percentage points and the fluctuation range might increase by 5.2 percent, the bureau said.

In 2017, China's economy expanded 6.9 percent, picking up for the first time in seven years and well above the government annual target of around 6.5 percent.

As the World Bank estimated world 2017 growth at about 3 percent, China's economy represents some 15.3 percent in global economy and contributes to about 34 percent to world growth, NBS said.

At the same time, China is a "pivotal force behind world consumption growth," with around one-fifth of the world's population, it added.

In 2013-2016, China's final consumption contributed an average of 23.4 percent to world consumption growth, calculated with constant dollar prices, higher than 23 percent from the United States, 7.9 percent from the eurozone and 2.1 percent from Japan.

Chinese consumption expanded by an annual rate of 7.5 percent in the period, faster than 2.4 percent for the world.

In recent years, China's import demand also rose at a fast pace and contributed significantly to international trade growth and promoted the rebalance of world economy.

The World Bank data showed that the value of goods and services China imported accounted for 9.7 percent of the global total in 2016, up from 8.4 percent in 2011, as the country moved to increase imports from other countries.

"China's development has not only brought benefits to Chinese citizens, but also provided development opportunities to all other countries," the bureau said.

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has won extensive support from countries involved, and many developing countries gained from it through extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

At present, the initiative is participated in by more than 100 countries and international organizations, with more than 80 having signed cooperation agreements with China.

This year, China marks the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up policy, which has been behind China's robust growth over the past four decades.

Earlier this week, Chinese leaders unveiled new measures for expanding reform and opening up, including broadening market access, creating a more attractive investment environment, strengthening intellectual property rights and expanding imports.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 15:28:26|Editor: Xiang Bo

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WUHAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- About 500 captive-bred Chinese sturgeon were released Saturday into a section of the Yangtze River in central China's Hubei Province.

The released sturgeon were aged between one and nine years old.

This is the 60th release by the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute of China Three Gorges Corp., which has introduced more than 5 million sturgeon to the wild since the 1980s.

Believed to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs, the Chinese sturgeon has existed for more than 140 million years. The fish is under top national protection.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 16:13:38|Editor: Yurou

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JERUSALEM, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Saturday lauded the joint airstrikes on Syria by the U.S., Britain and France as an "appropriate" response to the alleged gas attack in Syria.

"Last year, (U.S.) President (Donald) Trump made it clear that using chemical weapons crossed a red line. Tonight, led by the Americans, the U.S., France and Britain acted appropriately," an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity in a statement issued in Jerusalem.

The statement also accused Syria of providing military bases for Iran, putting its "territory, forces and leadership in danger." Iran has been regarded by Israel as its arch enemy in the region.

The U.S., France and Britain launched airstrikes against Syria's capital Damascus before daybreak on Saturday, with loud explosions heard and red dots seen flying into the sky, according to Syrian state TV and Xinhua reporters in Damascus.

The airstrikes were launched under the pretext to punish Syrian government for the alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus. Syrian government has strongly denied the allegations.

Saturday is Israel's Sabbath, or the Jewish day of rest, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu generally refrains from making official statements in his name.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 16:43:45|Editor: Yurou

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RIO DE JANEIRO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Uber on Friday apologized to its 156,000 users in Brazil, whose personal information was leaked in a major data breach in 2016.

In an email to them, the ride-sharing company admitted that their names, emails and cellphone numbers had been seized by hackers in the incident.

However, it added that the specialists hired to investigate the data breach had found no evidence that records of journeys, credit card numbers, bank accounts or birth dates had been seized. It also said it had not found any fraud or illicit use of the data.

Uber was accused of having paid the hackers to hide the lapse for over a year. The company paid hackers 100,000 U.S. dollars to destroy the stolen data of 57 million users worldwide.

The Brazilian users were notified only after an agreement was signed between Uber and the Brazilian attorney-general's personal data protection office.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 16:48:48|Editor: Lu Hui

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Surface-to-air missiles are seen over Syria's capital Damascus on April 14, 2018, as the Syrian air defenses were responding to U.S. attacks. The U.S. started military actions against Damascus before daybreak Saturday as loud explosions were heard with "red dots" seen flying from earth to the sky, reported Syrian state TV and Xinhua reporters in Damascus. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Though U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he had ordered precise strikes on Syrian military facilities in a coordinated action with Britain and France, the legitimacy of the action is questionable.

The U.S. and British governments have said the military actions would deter future use of chemical weapons, referring to an alleged chemical attack in Douma, a Syrian suburb northeast of capital Damascus, on April 7.

While the U.S. and its allies allege Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military was behind the attack, there is no evidence so far to support the suspicion. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which will be investigating the incident, is expected to begin only on Saturday.

SUDDEN ANNOUNCEMENT

In a televised speech late Friday, Trump said he ordered the U.S. armed forces to attack targets related with Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons," he said. "Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said in a press briefing at the Pentagon that the targets were specifically associated with Syria's chemical weapons program.

The first target was a military facility for research and development of chemical and biological warfare technology; the second was assessed as the primary location of Syria's sarin gas equipment; and the third, in the vicinity of the second target, contained a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, Dunford said.

U.S. Defense chief James Mattis also said in the briefing that "right now, this is a one-time shot." However, he did not rule out further attacks.

SYRIA COUNTERS, RUSSIA WARNS

The Syrian state TV said the Syrian military used its anti-aircraft weapons to combat the airstrike and destroyed 13 missiles.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the strike Saturday, saying it violated the international law and the UN Charter, the state-run news agency reported.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said the attacks against Syria "will not be left without consequences."

"The worst apprehensions have come true," Antonov said in a statement. "Our warnings have been left unheard."

The United States violated all international norms, Alexander Sherin, first deputy chairman of Russia's State Duma Defense Committee, said. Russia views the strike as an act of aggression, Sherin said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova commented on Facebook that the United States and its allies struck Syria at a time when the country had a chance for a peaceful future.

Earlier on Friday, China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu had called on the parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint.

QUESTIONABLE POLICY

Middle East experts say the attack reveals Trump's lack of policies on the Middle East.

"While retaliation may briefly relieve Western guilt over the Syrian tragedy and boost Mr. Trump's self-image, it cannot be a substitute for a policy," Roula Khalaf, deputy editor of Financial Times and an expert on Middle East issues, wrote in her commentary "Syria response: bombing is no substitute for policy" Thursday.

"Assad was never realistically going to negotiate his own demise. Not while his allies the Russians and the Iranians backed him on the ground and in the Security Council. So he's here to stay," Rania Abouzeid, author of "No Turning Back: Life, Loss and Hope in Wartime Syria", a chronicle of the Syrian war, told CNN.

"Right now, the concerns that have long shaped American interests in the Middle East will continue to do so, but no one seems willing to defend them -- least of all the president of the United States, who has made the Middle East an extension of the domestic political calculations," Steven Cook, a senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said.

"No wonder no one there cares much anymore about what Washington says or does," he added.

Related:

Syria says over 100 missiles fired in U.S.-led strike

UN chief alarmed by U.S.-led airstrikes against Syria

Syrian Foreign Ministry condemns U.S.-led attack

Syrians defiant after U.S.-led air strikesSource: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 16:48:48|Editor: Yurou

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TEHRAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday denounced the airstrikes on Syria launched by the U.S., Britain and France as a "crime."

"I overtly declare that the presidents of the United States and France and the prime minister of Britain have committed crimes (in Syria) and are criminals," Khamenei said in a meeting with Iranian officials and the ambassadors of Islamic states, reported khamenei.ir website, which is affiliated to the leader's office.

"They (the U.S. and its allies) will not gain from their raid on Syria, as they did not benefit from their crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria over the past years," he added.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday strongly condemned the U.S., Britain and France for launching airstrikes against Syria.

"This invasion is a clear violation of international regulations and undermining Syria's national sovereignty and integrity," the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier Saturday morning, the U.S., in cooperation with Britain and France, attacked Syrian military facilities reportedly related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities to retaliate for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops early the month in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the Syrian capital Damascus.

The Syrian government has strongly denied the allegations.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 16:53:50|Editor: Yurou

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RIO DE JANEIRO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Michel Temer Friday said closing the northern border with Venezuela is unthinkable.

Brazil's northern Roraima state filed a suit in the Supreme Court earlier in the day asking to temporarily close the border with Venezuela to prevent Venezuelan immigrants from entering.

"Closing borders is not a habit of Brazil. Brazil would not close borders, and I hope that is the understanding of the Supreme Court," Temer, who is currently attending the Summit of the Americas in Peru, said.

For over a year, Roraima has been receiving a high influx of immigrants from Venezuela, which is in the middle of a major economic crisis.

Roraima Governor Maria Suely Campos told a local TV station that 500 to 700 people cross the border to enter the state every day and it can't handle the influx.

The state government told the Supreme Court that Roraima, Brazil's "poorest state", cannot offer mandatory services such as public education and healthcare because of the "uncontrolled" increase in the number of immigrants.

Temer said the state's demands for measures to handle the population increase are being met.

"I have just read the petition and I noticed that many of the measures requested are already being taken, such as the shipment of resources and personnel who are going there to provide social assistance and medical care," he said.AT LEAST 2,000 Filipino English language teachers will be hired by China this year under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Philippine and Chinese officials witnessed by President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sideline of Boao Forum For Asia in China. Duterte said the nine MOUs also yielded US$8 billion of investments, expected to generate more than 10,000 jobs for Filipinos. Among these is the Memorandum of Understanding on the employment of Filipino teachers of English language in China that allows for the employment of 2,000 Filipino English language teachers starting this year and will be valid for two years, subject to renewal, the President said. The President said China wanted to learn English which has become the global language and spoken by over 350 million people around the world. Duterte has instructed Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to start the implementation of guidelines for the hiring of Filipino English teachers who will earn at least US$1,200 a month or equivalent to more than P100,000. For his part, Bello said the bilateral agreement with China might be renewed after two years and outlines the salaries, work hours, benefits and other employment rules for Filipino workers.He said China actually needed 100,000 English teachers, and preferred nations whose mother tongue was English. Since English is the second language of Filipinos, China allows us to get a fair share on the market, he said. Bello said the agreement was forged as part of the two countries growing friendship and after China relaxed its rules, allowing foreigners to enter its labor force. The labor chief said China was also set to accept Filipino domestic helpers and might soon replace Middle East countries as the main host to millions of Filipino household workers.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 17:03:52|Editor: Lu Hui

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United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Pompeo testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his nomination to become the secretary of state on the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. April 12, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo's next role as the new U.S. secretary of state is likely to see a more confrontational U.S. foreign policy, despite Pompeo's softened tone on some issues during his confirmation hearing in Senate, U.S. experts said.

Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, observed that Pompeo's nomination comes at a time when Trump has replaced a number of top officials to weed out different voices in his administration.

"I think Pompeo generally lines up with Trump's outlook, which likely means a more bellicose foreign policy and a tendency to see force not as a last resort but one among several alternatives for addressing international crises," Galdieri told Xinhua.

"As a result, I'd expect places that are already warm spots on the map to become hotter, at least in the short term. With Trump and Pompeo reinforcing each other, it's tough to see room for a cooler head to prevail," he added.

"U.S. policy is likely to become more confrontational under Pompeo," Brookings Institution senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. "He is quite hawkish in his attitudes and feels America should take a tough stance on foreign policy."

West said Pompeo is likely to encourage Trump's "aggressive impulses".

West also said things could heat up between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"Pompeo does not want that country to have nuclear weapons and the capacity to launch them at the United States. He is likely to encourage very hard bargaining there and may be supportive of tough action," West said.

Troy Stangarone, senior director at the Korea Economic Institute, said Pompeo is likely to push for talks to move quickly and to dismantle both Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs and missile programs.

The man himself has ruled out a regime change in the DPRK.

"I have never advocated for regime change," Pompeo said at the Senate hearing Thursday, voicing optimism that the a meeting between Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un "will set us down the course of achieving a diplomatic outcome that...America and the world so desperately need."Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 17:18:54|Editor: Yurou

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PARIS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The allied missile attacks in Syria were "legitimate", "limited" and "proportionate", French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday.

In coordination with the United States and Britain, French forces targeted a Syrian military chemical research center and two production sites overnight.

"This action was proportionate and targeted. It was not aimed at (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad's allies nor at the civilian population," Le Drian told reporters.

"It was limited to specific objectives: the destruction of the Syrian regime's chemical capabilities, so as to stop it from committing new chemical massacres," he added at a joint press meeting with Defense Minister Florence Parly.

To avoid an escalation of tension in the region, France is now ready to work on a political alternative with all the countries that can contribute to it, the foreign minister said.

Earlier on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron gave the green light to the French military to join the United States and Britain in an operation targeting "clandestine chemical arsenal" in Syria. The decision came after Syrian Government forces allegedly used chemical weapons against rebels in Douma, a town near Damascus, earlier this month.

The Syrian Government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news used by the West to justify its attacks on Syria.

"We are not looking for confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation. That is the reason why we, with our allies, ensured the Russians were warned beforehand," Parly said.

The minister added that during the operation, cruise missiles were fired from several air bases in France to strike the research center and two production sites.

"The targets were chosen precisely. (They are) the places that allowed the massacre of Syrian women and children in defiance of all norms...in defiance of all humanity," she said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 17:48:58|Editor: Yurou

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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China has urged the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the Syria issue through dialogue, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Saturday.CAIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Egypt extended its nationwide state of emergency for another three months starting April 14, the official gazette said Saturday.

The first three-month state of emergency was imposed in April 2017, following twin bombings on two churches in northern provinces of Gharbiya and Alexandria that killed at least 47 and wounded more than 120 others. It was already extended three times in July and October last year, and January this year.

The extension would allow armed forces and the police to "take necessary measures to confront the dangers and funding of terrorism and safeguard security in all parts of the country," the official gazette said.

Egypt also extended a curfew on parts of North Sinai, including areas in the border towns of Rafah near the Palestinian enclave of Gaza Strip, it added.

The partial curfew in North Sinai will continue as long as the state of emergency remains in effect.

Egypt has been battling terrorist attacks, which have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Terror attacks used to be centered in restive North Sinai, before spreading to other provinces including the capital Cairo and targeting the Coptic minority by church bombings.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 17:59:01|Editor: Xiang Bo

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Smoke is seen from a distance in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of joint airstrikes on Syrian military facilities early Saturday morning without any UN authorization.

In response, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S.-led missile attack, saying it violated international law and the UN Charter.

MISSILE ATTACK ON MILITARY FACILITIES

Loud explosions were heard in Damascus before daybreak, Xinhua reporters in the besieged city said. They saw plumes of smoke rising from areas in the capital while the missiles looked like red dots.

Syrian state TV reports said Syrian military fired air defense missiles from Mount Qasioun that overlooks Damascus to combat the "U.S., French and British aggression on Syria."

The reports also said Syrian forces shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area, south of Damascus.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said U.S. allies hit "Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure". No additional attacks were planned, Mattis added.

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said manned aircraft were used to target a research center, a storage facility and command post, and a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

The British Defense Ministry said four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles at a site assessed to have stockpiled chemicals, 15 km west of Homs, some distance from known concentrations of civilian habitation.

"Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target," minimizing civilian casualties, the ministry said.

PUNITIVE ACTION OVER ALLEGED CHEMICAL ATTACK

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the military operation from Washington on Friday night local time, saying precision attacks were under way in Syria, in coordination with Britain and France, against Syrian military facilities related to chemical weapons capabilities.

He said the operation was intended to deter the Syrian Government, which the United States suspects of carrying out a chemical weapon attack in Douma, a town on the outskirts of Damascus. Dozens of civilians, including children, reportedly died in the April 7 attack.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday the strike was "limited and targeted," adding that it was not about intervening in the seven-year civil war in Syria, nor about changing the government.

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons," French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday in a statement released shortly after huge explosions were heard in Damascus.

The Syrian Government denies the chemical weapon attack accusation, saying the rebels and the West fabricated it as an excuse to attack the country.

While the United Nations Security Council has failed to pass a resolution on the controversial issue, at Syria's invitation, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has sent a fact-finding mission to Douma. The investigators are scheduled to arrive Saturday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced full support for the OPCW investigation, saying the situation requires a thorough investigation using impartial, independent and professional expertise.

On Friday he warned of the danger of a full-blown military escalation in Syria, stressing "the need to avoid the situation spiralling out of control."

ACT SLAMMED AS AGGRESSION

Syria's state news agency SANA called the attack an "aggression" that was "a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will." "It is doomed to fail," it added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also called the strike "an act of aggression" against a sovereign state. In a statement Saturday, he said Russia strongly condemns it.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said the U.S. strikes on Syria "would not be left without consequences."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also denounced the airstrikes on Syria as a "crime".

"This invasion is a clear violation of international regulations and undermining Syria's national sovereignty and integrity," Iran's Foreign Ministry said.8 Egyptian solders killed in terror attack in Sinai Source: Xinhua 2018-04-14 17:59:02 CAIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- At least eight Egyptian soldiers were killed and 15 others were wounded in an attack on a military camp in Central Sinai, a military spokesperson said on Saturday. Editor: YurouSource: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:04:02|Editor: Yurou

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TEHRAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned the joint strike on Syria's military facilities by the United States, Britain and France.

"This invasion is a clear violation of international regulations and undermining Syria's national sovereignty and integrity," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the United States and its allies invaded Syria "without any proof" of the use of chemical weapons. "They are responsible for their adventurism," it said.

The attack was intended to boost the morale of the "terrorist groups" following their defeat by the Syrian Army, it said, referring to rebel forces and the Islamic State terror group.

The ministry said the Syrian people will prevent the plot to change the situation in favor of the terrorist groups.LONDON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Britain on Saturday joined the United States and France in carrying out airstrikes on Syrian installations alleged to be involved in the use of chemical weapons, Britain's defense ministry said.

Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday she authorized the British Armed Forces to conduct "coordinated and targeted strikes" in response to the alleged April 7 chemical weapons attack in Syria.

The ministry said four Tornados combat aircraft of the Royal Air Force fired Storm Shadow missiles at a former missile base 15 miles (about 24.1 km) west of Homs in Syria. The Bashar al-Assad regime is thought to be stockpiling items there to make chemical weapons, the ministry said.

British authorities said while a detailed analysis of the effectiveness of the strike is underway, the initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadows and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack.

The Syrian state TV said the Syrian military used its anti-aircraft weapons to combat the airstrike and destroyed 13 missiles.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the strike Saturday, saying it violated international law and the UN Charter, the state-run news agency SANA reported.

Britain's defense ministry said the action was "proportionate," specifically aimed at "degrading the regime's ability to use chemical weapons and deterring further such appalling acts." It said the attack was focused on the regime's facilities linked to the production and use of chemical weapons.

The ministry also said the strike was in response to the April 7 attack in Syria's Douma, in which up to 75 people were killed. A significant body of information indicates that the Syrian regime was responsible for this latest attack, the ministry said.

However, there has been no disclosed evidence till now that the Syrian Government was behind the chemical attack. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which will be investigating the incident, is expected to arrive in Damascus only on Saturday.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:24:10|Editor: Xiang Bo

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CAIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian security forces killed 27 militants in the Sinai Peninsula in the latest raids as part of the anti-terror military operation "Sinai 2018," a military spokesman said Saturday.

Six militants were killed in airstrikes on their hideouts, while 12 others died in a shootout with security forces, the spokesman said in a statement.

It did not disclose where and how the nine other militants were killed.

As many as 114 suspects were arrested in the raids, according to the statement.

The army found and destroyed a training camp, which included a shooting range, an obstacle course and an underground conference room.

It also seized a large quantity of ammunition and telecommunication equipment, as well as 15 vehicles, and destroyed 43 motorcycles.

More than 190 militants and at least 22 soldiers have been killed in the massive operation launched on Feb. 9.

Egypt's North Sinai Province has been the center of terrorist attacks, which have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Most of the terror attacks were carried out by a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:29:11|Editor: Xiang Bo

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CAIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- At least eight Egyptian soldiers were killed and 15 others were wounded in an attack on a military camp in Central Sinai, the military said Saturday.

"A group of 14 militant terrorists, four of them wearing explosive belts, attempted to break into one of the armed forces camps in Central Sinai before the sunrise," said Tamer al-Refaay, the military spokesman, in a statement.

In the confrontation, the security forces foiled the attack by killing all the terrorists, the statement added.EGYPTEgypts President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi extended for three months from Saturday a state of emergency for the fourth time since it was first declared last year, the official gazette said. A nationwide state of emergency was first imposed in April last year after two church bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 45 people, and was renewed in July, in October and in January. The armed forces and the police will take the necessary measures to confront the dangers of terrorism, its financing, and preserving security across the country, the official gazette said. It cited a decree issued by Sisi stating that the renewed three-month state of emergency would take effect from 1:00 am on Saturday (2300 GMT Friday). The emergency law expands police powers of arrest, surveillance and seizures and can limit freedom of movement. Under Egypts constitution, the three-month state of emergency can only be renewed once, but the president can subsequently reinstate it. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail also extended an overnight curfew in parts of North Sinai, where ISs Egypt affiliate is based, according to another decree published Saturday by the official gazette. It would take place in areas including around the town of Rafah bordering the Palestinian Gaza Strip, and around El-Arish, the capital of North Sinai, according to the gazette.The curfew would stay in effect for as long as the three-month state of emergency, according to the decree. The jihadist group said it was behind the bombings in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria, and it threatened further attacks against Egypts Coptic Christian minority. Egypt had been ruled for decades under a state of emergency, which was cancelled a month before Islamist president Mohamed Morsi took power in 2012. Following Morsis overthrow by Sisi in 2013, when the president was army chief, a state of emergency was declared for a month. It came after clashes between police and Islamist protesters that killed hundreds and after Islamist mobs attacked Christian properties. Sisi was re-elected for a second term with 97 percent of votes in a March 26-28 election, amid a sweeping military operation in Sinai against extremist militants based in the north of the Peninsula.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:34:13|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIRUT, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Shiite party Hezbollah on Saturday slammed the joint airstrikes on Syria by the U.S., Britain and France as "a flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty."

"The war that America is waging against Syria, against the people of the region and resistance and liberation movements, will not realize its goals," Hezbollah said in a statement.

It also lauded Syria's air defense for confronting the missile attack launched earlier Saturday morning at Syrian military facilities and a scientific research center.

The attack was launched under the pretext of punishing the Syrian government for the alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in east of Damascus on April 7.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied the alleged chemical attack as fabrication by the rebels and their foreign supporters to justify military strikes on Syria.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:39:15|Editor: Xiang Bo

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LONDON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday linked the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Government with the attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain, saying the allied airstrike was meant to deter all such acts.

"These strikes are about deterring the barbaric use of chemical weapons in Syria and beyond," she said. "We would have preferred an alternative path but on this occasion, there is none. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized, either in Syria or in Britain or elsewhere."

She was referring to the suspected nerve agent poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last month.

The United States, France and Britain launched a joint military strike on Syria early on Saturday without the authorization of the United Nations.

At a press conference at 10 Downing Street, May said the military strikes were "limited and targeted," designed to degrade the Syrian regime's ability to develop and use chemical weapons.

"It was not about regime change. It was a limited, targeted, effective strike with clear boundaries," she said.

"This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons," she added.

The U.S. and British governments claim the military action will deter future use of chemical weapons, referring to an alleged chemical attack in Douma, a Syrian suburb northeast of capital Damascus, on April 7.

The U.S. and its allies allege Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military was behind the attack. But there is no evidence so far to support the suspicion. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which will be investigating the incident, is expected to move only on Saturday.

May said the British Government attempted to approach Syria through diplomatic channels but to no avail. "The UK Government has been working intensively with international partners to build (an) evidence picture," she remarked.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the strike Saturday, saying it violated international law and the UN Charter.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:39:15|Editor: Xiang Bo

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CAIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- At least eight Egyptian soldiers were killed and 15 others were wounded in a terror attack on a military camp in Central Sinai, the military said Saturday.

"A group of 14 militant terrorists, four of them wearing explosive belts, attempted to break into one of the armed forces camps in Central Sinai before the sunrise," said Tamer al-Refaay, the military spokesman, in a statement.

In the confrontation, the security forces foiled the attack by killing all the terrorists, the statement added.

Earlier on Saturday, the Egyptian armed forces announced 27 militants were killed, and 114 others were arrested in the latest raids in Sinai Peninsula as part of the country's anti-terror military operation "Sinai 2018."

More than 190 militants and at least 22 soldiers have been killed in the massive operation launched on February 9.

Attacks are rarely carried out in Central Sinai.

Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, especially North Sinai province, has been the center of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Most of the terror attacks were carried out by a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:39:17|Editor: Xiang Bo

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DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Saturday that the U.S.-led attack on Syria reflects the "failure" of Western powers to achieve their goals in Syria after the defeat of the foreign-backed militants.

Assad made the remarks during a phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who called Assad after the U.S-led attack on Syria, the state news agency SANA reported.

"The attack took place after the colonial forces supporting terrorists realized they have lost control got the feeling that they have lost credibility in front of their people and the world," Assad said.

He highlighted his country's continued determination to fight terrorists across Syria.

For his part, Rouhani expressed his strongest condemnation of the joint missile attack by the U.S., Britain and France, while reaffirming Iran's support for the Syrian government.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:49:21|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China has decided to set up an investment fund to support Hainan's development of a free trade port, according to a document unveiled Saturday.

China aims to "basically establish" free trade port system in Hainan by 2025 and make the free trade port system and operational mode "more mature" by 2035.

A free trade port is the world's most open form of economic zone, which has brought prosperity to places like Singapore and Hong Kong thanks to its broad-based preferential policies on trade and investment.

The guidelines on supporting Hainan's efforts to deepen reform and opening up were jointly released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 18:54:22|Editor: Xiang Bo

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ANKARA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Saturday welcomed the airstrikes launched by the U.S., Britain and France on Syria as an "appropriate reaction" to an alleged chemical attack.

"We welcome this operation that articulates the conscience of humanity to a chemical attack in Douma, which has a strong suspicion of being carried out by the Assad regime," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The use of mass destruction weapons, including chemical weapons, is a crime against humanity, the statement said.

Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on Saturday called on the international community to unite to avoid chemical attacks in future, while emphasizing the importance of seeking a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Turkey, a NATO member whose ties with the U.S. and European countries have been strained recently due to its military operations inside Syria and a crackdown after the failed coup in 2016, has called for restraint by the related parties on resolving the Syria crisis.

On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged his U.S. and Russian counterparts to avoid escalating regional tensions, and build peace in Syria with all sides together.

Erdogan also reiterated that Turkey's "fight against terror in northern Syria will continue without stopping," referring to the ongoing "Operation Olive Branch" in Syria against Kurdish militants.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:04:24|Editor: Xiang Bo

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LONDON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The leader of British minority party, the Liberal Democrats, echoed the call Saturday by the main opposition Labour Party that Prime Minister Theresa May should have got the green light from Parliament before the air strikes on Syria.

Vince Cable said in a statement: "Riding the coattails of an erratic U.S. President is no substitute for a mandate from the House of Commons. The Prime Minister could and should have recalled Parliament this week and sought the approval of MPs before proceeding."

Cable said the Liberal Democrats stood ready to assess the evidence and objectives for any action and, if it were properly planned and justified, to support a military response.

"The Government's decision fatally undermines the integrity of this mission. It shows a weak Government putting short term political expediency before democracy and in so doing further diminishing the standing of Britain in the world," said Cable.

Britain's main opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday described the U.S.-led military strikes on Syria as a "legally questionable action," saying that the British government should "not taking instructions from Washington."

British Prime Minister "Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump," said Corbyn. "Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further."

"Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way," he said.

"The government should do whatever possible to push Russia and the United States to agree to an independent UN-led investigation of last weekend's horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account," he said

In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the ruling Scottish Nationalist Party, said: "Syria's use of chemical weapons is sickening, but the question that the Prime Minister has not answered is how this action, taken without parliamentary approval, will halt their use or bring long term peace."

"Air strikes have not resolved situation in Syria so far -- nothing I've heard persuades me they will do so now. An international strategy for peace must be pursued -- not a course that risks dangerous escalation. UK foreign policy should be set by Parliament, not U.S. President."

In Northern Ireland, the Deputy leader the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Nigel Dodds, said: "The Prime Minister has the full authority, on the basis of all the information at her disposal, to order the type of military action which has been carried out this morning and we reject any suggestion that she was not entitled to do so."

"We are reassured that the military action is strictly targeted and limited in its purpose. Also that it is not about a wider intervention in the Syrian civil war which would, in our view, be counter productive.

There was also support for the action from May's predecessor, the former prime minister David Cameron.

He said: "I firmly support the military action taken in Syria. The barbaric and intolerable use of chemical weapons should never go unchecked. As we have seen in the past, inaction has its consequences, so the PM is right to join forces with our allies to take targeted and appropriate action. Let the message go out loud and clear: the use of chemical weapons is never acceptable."Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:09:25|Editor: Xiang Bo

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RAMALLAH, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Saturday pressed for a speedy international investigation into the "Israeli aggression" against Palestinian protestors in the Gaza Strip.

The delay of an investigation into Israel's "systematic and continued aggression" against defenseless civilian population would "cost the lives of more Palestinians," PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said in a statement.

A Palestinian was killed and 968 others, including 54 children and 15 women, were injured in peace protests in Gaza on Saturday, Erekat noted.

They marched "to practice their natural and humanitarian right to hold demonstrations calling for liberation and return," he said.

The PLO senior official also accused Israeli forces of preventing the press from "covering its occupation and exposing its crimes" and "targeting medical staff."

Palestinian official reports said at least eight journalists and eight paramedics have been injured by Israeli gunfire during the "Great March of Return" rally in Gaza since March 30.

Palestinian cameraman Yasser Murtaja was killed by Israeli gunfire while covering the clashes.

Official figures from Gaza Health Ministry show 32 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 3,000 others injured since the start of the six-week mass rally on March 30.

The rally is expected to peak on May 15, the day after the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence but marked by the Palestinians as the Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe."Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:09:26|Editor: Yurou

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People celebrate the Bengali New Year 1425 in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Salim reza) DHAKA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- With great splendour, Bangladesh people in the capital and elsewhere in the country on Saturday celebrated the Bengali New Year 1425.

In the morning, thousands wearing masks and traditional dresses, mostly students of colleges and universities, in Dhaka joined a colorful procession -- the Mangal Shobha Jatra -- to welcome the New Year with good spirits.

As always they carried large symbolic figures of birds and animals all made of bamboo during the procession, ushering in Bengali New Year which is now a symbol of cultural unity in Bangladesh without distinction between class or religious affiliations.

Dhaka University's Fine Arts Institute students made the figurines chasing evil spirits.

This year's procession is the 30th that the students of Dhaka University have coordinated to welcome the Bengali New Year.

In Bangladesh, Pohela Boishakh, or the first day of the New Year, is a national holiday.

Dhaka's fashion houses and boutiques were abuzz with shoppers who bought traditional dresses not only for their families but also for their relatives and friends, a traditional activity during the celebration of Pohela Baishakh or Bengali New Year.

During the New Year, Bengalis usually start the day with the traditional simple breakfast of panta-bhat (leftover rice soaked in water) and fried hilsa fish.

Many were seen last week busy buying cakes, sweets and fruits "to sweeten the mood" during the celebration.

Celebration of the Bengali New Year usually begins at sunrise when people wearing new dresses gather in the main venues around the Dhaka University.

Boishakhi Fairs are organized in many parts of Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. The lifestyle of rural Bengal is showcased in almost all these fairs which also stage traditional folk songs and plays.

Moguhal Emperor Akbar introduced the Bangla calendar year and the celebration of Pahela Baishakh, marking the advent of Bengali New Year, which is now considered as an integral part of the Bengali's cultural heritage and tradition.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:14:27|Editor: Xiang Bo

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DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Saturday that the U.S.-led attack on Syria reflects the "failure" of Western powers to achieve their goals in Syria after the defeat of the foreign-backed militants.

Assad made the remarks during a phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who called Assad after the U.S-led attack on Syria, the state news agency SANA reported.

"The attack took place after the colonial forces supporting terrorists realized they have lost control got the feeling that they have lost credibility in front of their people and the world," Assad said.

He highlighted his country's continued determination to fight terrorists across Syria.

For his part, Rouhani expressed his strongest condemnation of the joint missile attack by the U.S., Britain and France, while reaffirming Iran's support for the Syrian government.

Before daybreak on Saturday, the U.S., along with its allies Britain and France, launched airstrikes against Syrian military positions in the capital Damascus and central province of Homs.

People in Damascus were awakened by the sounds of loud explosions and saw red dots flying into the sky, in what later turned out to be the air defenses responding to the missile attack.

The Syrian Army said in a statement that about 110 missiles were fired by the U.S. and its allies on Syrian military sites, damaging the Research Scientific Center in the northeast of Damascus and the military bases in Homs.

Most of the missiles were intercepted before reaching targets, it noted.

The joint airstrikes came under the pretext of punishing the Syrian government for the alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in the east of Damascus on April 7.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he ordered the U.S. military to launch precision strikes on the targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of the Syrian army.

The Syrian government has repeatedly dimissed the alleged chemical attack in Douma as fabrication by the rebels and their foreign supporters to justify military strikes on Syria.CZECH REPUBLICOscar-winning Czech-born film director Milos Forman, known for One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Amadeus, has died aged 86, Czech media said on Saturday. The CTK news agency quoted his wife Martina as saying Forman, who lived in the United States, died suddenly on Friday after a short illness. He passed away quietly, surrounded by his family and his closest people, she said. Born in the town of Caslav east of Prague on February 18, 1932, Forman lost both parents in Nazi concentration camps. In the 1960s, he joined the New Wave of filmmakers standing up against the Communist regime in former Czechoslovakia, making himself famous with Black Peter, Loves of a Blonde and The Firemens Ball.Shortly before the 1968 Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia, which put an end to a liberal period known as the Prague Spring, Forman moved to the United States via France. His career overseas started with Taking Off in 1971, followed by One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest four years later, which brought Forman his first Oscar for the best director. He returned to still-Communist Prague in 1983 to film Amadeus, which earned him a second Oscar, and which won eight out of 11 nominations. Formans other films include Hair (1979), Ragtime (1981), Valmont (1989) and The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), which handed him another best director Oscar nomination, as well as Man on the Moon (1999) and Goyas Ghosts (2006).Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:14:27|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China has urged the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the Syria issue through dialogue and negotiation, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Saturday.

When asked about China's comments on the military strikes against Syria by the United States, Britain and France, Hua said China opposed the use of force in international relations and called for respect for other countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

"Any unilateral military action bypassing the Security Council runs contrary to the purpose and principles of the United Nations (UN) Charter and violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and will further complicate the Syrian issue," Hua said.

According to the spokesperson, China has urged the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation.

Referring to the three countries' saying that the military strikes were launched in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, Hua said China believes a comprehensive, impartial and objective investigation should be carried out to reach a reliable conclusion that could stand the test of time.

"Yet before that, a prejudgment should not be made," she added.

China believes that political settlement is the only viable way out for the Syrian issue. Relevant parties of the international community should continue to support the role of the UN as the main channel for mediation and make relentless efforts to facilitate the final settlement of the Syrian issue.

When asked about the current situation of Chinese citizens in Syria, Hua said the Chinese government took their safety very seriously, and the Chinese Embassy in Syria had maintained close communication with them. They are all safe so far.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:24:31|Editor: Yurou

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RIYADH, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia said on Saturday the kingdom backs the airstrikes on Syria launched by the U.S., Britain and France, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

An official from the Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry highlighted that the operations were a response to the use of banned chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against innocent civilians and its years of "horrible crimes," the report said.

The official held the Syrian government responsible for such military attack and the international community for not taking serious steps against the regime.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the joint airstrikes against Syria along with its allies Britain and France to target the military facilities of the "criminal" regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, calling the alleged chemical attack marked a "significant escalation."

The attack was conducted under the pretext of punishing the Syrian government for the alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in the east of Damascus on April 7.

The Syrian government has repeatedly dismissed the alleged chemical attack in Douma as fabrication by the rebels and their foreign supporters to justify military strikes on Syria.CAIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Egypt expressed on Saturday its deep concern over the ongoing military escalation in Syria, after the U.S. led joint airstrikes on Syria earlier the day.

In an official statement, Egyptian Foreign Ministry said "the raids will threaten the understanding reached on determining the areas of reducing tensions."

Egypt also stressed its absolute opposition to the use of any internationally prohibited weapons in Syria, demanding for a transparent international investigation in this regard.

The statement expressed Egypt's full solidarity with the Syrian people in fulfilling their aspirations for living a stable and secured life through reaching a political consensus among all Syrian factions.

It called on the international community and major countries to bear the responsibility for pushing for a political solution away from polarization and to ensure the access of the humanitarian aid to the besieged areas in Syria.

Earlier Saturday morning, the U.S., in cooperation with Britain and France, attacked Syrian military facilities reportedly related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities to retaliate for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops early the month in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the Syrian capital Damascus.LISBON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Saturday, saying it understood the reasons for the airstrikes on Syria, but urged all parties to seek a peaceful solution.

"This morning's attack on the chemical weapons capabilities of Syria was conducted by the United States of America, France and the United Kingdom, three countries that are friends and allies of Portugal," the statement read.

"Portugal understands the reasons for and the timing of this military intervention. The Syrian regime must fully fulfill its responsibilities. Resorting to means and forms of war deemed intolerable by humanity is unacceptable."

"Portugal emphasizes the need to avoid any escalation of the Syrian conflict, which would generate further insecurity, instability and suffering in the region."

"As the European Union and the Secretary General of the United Nations have insisted repeatedly, all parties must show themselves to be open to independent investigations into war crimes, and they must show restraint in the use of force and commitment to seeking a political, negotiated and peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict, which today represents a threat to global peace and security." the statement concluded.

Also on Saturday, Italian Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Italy did not participate in the overnight joint U.S.-led strikes on Syria, and no such strike departed from the Mediterranean country's territory.

The U.S. has four military bases in Italy, including one at Sigonella in Sicily.

While condemning the use of chemical warfare and its "atrocious" consequences for civilian victims, Gentiloni stressed that "the Syrian crisis cannot be resolved through the use of force" but through negotiations, and that is is "not too late" to find a way out of the civil war that has been raging in the Middle Eastern country since early 2011.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:44:37|Editor: Yurou

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BAGHDAD, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Saturday called on the upcoming Arab summit in Saudi Arabia to adopt a "clear stance" against the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria.

The airstrikes "threaten the security and stability" in the region and "give terrorism a new opportunity to expand after it was defeated in Iraq and diminished significantly in Syria," the ministry said in a statement issued on its website.

The ministry "renews its call to the Arab summit to take a clear stance on this dangerous development," the statement said.

Early on Saturday, the U.S., along with Britain and France, launched missile strikes on Syria over allegations that the Syrian government used poison gas in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the capital Damascus on April 7. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is participating in the foreign ministers meeting in Saudi Arabia ahead of the 29th Arab summit scheduled on April 15.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:49:38|Editor: Yurou

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ISTANBUL, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Saturday called for more efforts to achieve "lasting peace" in Syria, saying the rivalry does not solve the problem.

Calling the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syrian sites a "positive step," Yildirim stressed that "more is needed for a lasting peace in Syria."

He urged Western countries to take more responsibility and work harder toward permanent peace in the region, saying competition in the field does not solve the problem, as people in Syria have been massacred for seven years.

"Where were you until today? Do you remember your humanity only in the use of chemical weapons?" he asked during a party rally in Istanbul.

Earlier in the day, the U.S., Britain and France carried out a wave of joint airstrikes on Syrian military facilities in response to an alleged chemical attack blamed on the Syrian military.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 19:59:39|Editor: Yurou

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PARIS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Saturday announced that strikes targeting Syria's chemical arsenal had met their target, adding further strikes could be planned if the Syrian government would cross again the "red lines."

"The objective is to destroy clandestine chemical arsenal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Therein, the goal is reached," Le Drian told BFMTV news channel.

"A good part of the Syrian regime's chemical arsenal has been destroyed. If, eventually, the red lines would be crossed again, there would be new strikes. But, I think the lesson was understood," he added.

Earlier on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron gave the green light to the French military to join the United States and Britain in an operation targeting "clandestine chemical arsenal" in Syria.

The decision came after Syrian government forces allegedly used chemical weapons against rebels in Douma, a town near Damascus, earlier this month.

The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news used by the West to justify its attacks on Syria.

Macron said the strikes had been limited so far to Syria's chemical weapons facilities, ruling out any confrontation with Russia and Iran, key allies of al-Assad.

Despite a spat over Syria and risk of escalation in the region, Macron maintained a scheduled visit to Russia late May to participate the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, according to the French top diplomat.Surface-to-air missiles are seen over Syria's capital Damascus on April 14, 2018, as the Syrian air defenses were responding to U.S. attacks. The U.S. started military actions against Damascus before daybreak Saturday as loud explosions were heard with "red dots" seen flying from earth to the sky, reported Syrian state TV and Xinhua reporters in Damascus. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of joint airstrikes on Syrian military facilities early Saturday morning without any UN authorization.

In response, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S.-led missile attack, saying it violated international law and the UN Charter.





MISSILE ATTACK ON MILITARY FACILITIES

Loud explosions were heard in Damascus before daybreak, Xinhua reporters in the besieged city said. They saw plumes of smoke rising from areas in the capital while the missiles looked like red dots.

Syrian state TV reports said Syrian military fired air defense missiles from Mount Qasioun that overlooks Damascus to combat the "U.S., French and British aggression on Syria."

The reports also said Syrian forces shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area, south of Damascus.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said U.S. allies hit "Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure". No additional attacks were planned, Mattis added.

Photo taken on April 14, 2018 shows a view of the Syrian capital Damascus. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said manned aircraft were used to target a research center, a storage facility and command post, and a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

The British Defense Ministry said four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles at a site assessed to have stockpiled chemicals, 15 km west of Homs, some distance from known concentrations of civilian habitation.

"Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target," minimizing civilian casualties, the ministry said.





PUNITIVE ACTION OVER ALLEGED CHEMICAL ATTACK

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the military operation from Washington on Friday night local time, saying precision attacks were under way in Syria, in coordination with Britain and France, against Syrian military facilities related to chemical weapons capabilities.

He said the operation was intended to deter the Syrian Government, which the United States suspects of carrying out a chemical weapon attack in Douma, a town on the outskirts of Damascus. Dozens of civilians, including children, reportedly died in the April 7 attack.

U.S. President Donald Trump (front) delivers a speech at the White House, the United States, on April 12, 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was going to hold meeting on Syria and the decisions on the U.S. response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria will be made "fairly soon." (Xinhua/Yang Chenglin)

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday the strike was "limited and targeted," adding that it was not about intervening in the seven-year civil war in Syria, nor about changing the government.

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons," French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday in a statement released shortly after huge explosions were heard in Damascus.

The Syrian Government denies the chemical weapon attack accusation, saying the rebels and the West fabricated it as an excuse to attack the country.

While the United Nations Security Council has failed to pass a resolution on the controversial issue, at Syria's invitation, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has sent a fact-finding mission to Douma. The investigators are scheduled to arrive Saturday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced full support for the OPCW investigation, saying the situation requires a thorough investigation using impartial, independent and professional expertise.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during an event to commemorate the international day of reflection on the Rwanda genocide, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, April 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

On Friday he warned of the danger of a full-blown military escalation in Syria, stressing "the need to avoid the situation spiralling out of control."

ACT SLAMMED AS AGGRESSION

Syria's state news agency SANA called the attack an "aggression" that was "a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will." "It is doomed to fail," it added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also called the strike "an act of aggression" against a sovereign state. In a statement Saturday, he said Russia strongly condemns it.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said the U.S. strikes on Syria "would not be left without consequences."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also denounced the airstrikes on Syria as a "crime".

"This invasion is a clear violation of international regulations and undermining Syria's national sovereignty and integrity," Iran's Foreign Ministry said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 20:24:43|Editor: Yurou

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ADEN, Yemen, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen on Saturday blew up an oil pipeline in Yemen's southeastern province of Shabwa, causing a huge explosion, a local security official told Xinhua.

"An explosion targeted the pipeline which connects the oil field in Oqla area with Aydh district of Shabwa Province," the security source said on condition of anonymity.

"Security troops were deployed in the area and several firefighers went directly to the site to deal with the fire," the source added.

The Shabwa government said it suspects "sabotage elements" of "planting and detonating explosive devices" to destroy the pipeline.

No groups have so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but previous similar attacks in the region were claimed by al-Qaida militants.

Shabwa boasts five sectors of crude oil production, which produce about 15,000 barrels per day.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch and the Islamic State (IS) militants are active in the mountainous areas in the provinces of Shabwa and Abyan and carry out sporadic attacks against government forces.by Xinhua writers Gu Zhenqiu, Gui Tao

LONDON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Although the British government on Saturday defended its decision to join the U.S.-led military strikes on Syria without consulting Parliament first, British opinion leaders immediately questioned about the Whitehall's legal justification of such a military action.

Shortly after the military strikes were launched, Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon said UK foreign policy should be set by Parliament and not Donald Trump after the U.S., UK and France bombed targets in Syria.

Sturgeon said the suspected use of chemical weapons was "sickening", but warned that the latest action risked "dangerous escalation."

Meanwhile, Britain's main opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the U.S.-led military strikes on Syria jointly staged by three leading Western countries as a "legally questionable action," saying that the British government should "not taking instructions from Washington."

Earlier Saturday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said that she has authorised the UK armed forces to conduct "coordinated and targeted strikes" in response to alleged chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma earlier this month.

Speaking in Downing Street, May said the military strikes should be a "warning to Russia" before holding the Syrian government accountable for the chemical attack.

However, May is facing questions over the legality of committing UK forces to any U.S.-led attack on Syria.

The opposition leader questioned the prime minister's statement that the Syria attack is "right and legal."

"Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump," Corbyn said. "Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further."

"Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way," Corbyn said.

"The government should do whatever possible to push Russia and the United States to agree to an independent UN-led investigation of last weekend's horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account," he added.

For his part, the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Gerard Batten, opposed the British military action in Syria. He warned that intervention would lead to a proxy war with Russia which would be "not only dangerous to Britain, but the entire world."

The joint attack by the United States, Britain, and France, which began at 3:55 a.m. local time (0055 GMT), launched some 110 missiles targeting Syrian military sites in the Syrian capital Damascus and elsewhere, Syria's state news agency SANA said, citing the military.

"There is no proof that the Assad regime is responsible for the chemical attack on civilians," Batten said, referring to the Syrian government headed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Questions were also raised to May at her press conference at 10 Downing Street, which came just hours after the launch of the joint military attack, as to why her government did not first ask for the approval from the British Parliament and the authorisation by the UN Security Council.

Correspondents from the British and world press also asked the prime minister to explain what role can the Parliament play in making a decision to attack another sovereign country.

Under the UN Charter, the United Nations has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.

Meanwhile, Former Royal Artillery officer General Sir Richard Barrons, writing a commentary carried by the Times newspaper, warned the strikes may come at a cost.

"We should not be surprised if we detect major intrusions into U.S., UK and French cyberspace and social media," Barrons said. "These risks are a feature of modern confrontation."

"There is also the question as to how this use of force will be linked and subordinated to strategies for bringing the fighting in Syria to a rapid end and for resetting relations between the West and Russia," he said in the commentary.

Professor Iain Begg, Research Fellow at the European Institute and Co-Director of the Dahrendorf Forum at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), told Xinhua: "A volley of bombs may help the U.S. and its allies feel they have reacted in a timely and proportionate manner to the undoubted horror of the use by the Syrian regime of chemical weapons, but the inevitable worry will be that they have not thought through what happens next."SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICASouth Africa will lay to rest anti-apartheid icon Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandelas former wife, with full state honors at a stadium funeral in Soweto on Saturday. The ceremony will conclude 10 days of national mourning during which time thousands of South Africans have paid tribute to the Mother of the Nation at her Soweto home and elsewhere. Winnie Mandela, who died in Johannesburg aged 81 on April 2 after a long illness, has been celebrated for helping keep Nelson Mandelas dream of a non-racial South Africa alive while he was behind bars for 27 years. On the eve of the funeral, Winnie Mandelas body was transferred from a funeral parlor to lie in state at her Soweto home. Hundreds of people lined the townships streets as a black hearse carrying her body slowly drove to her house led by uniformed men bearing the flag of Mandelas African National Congress (ANC). The casket was also draped with an ANC flag. Gloria Mabasa, 40, had a portrait of Winnie Mandela stamped on one cheek and wore a headscarf with the ANCs signature green, gold and black colors as she paid her last respects. In a way we feel orphaned but their legacy lives on, said the gym worker who had taken time off to visit Winnie Mandelas home. South Africas new President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office two months ago, will lead the mourners at a pre-burial service to be held in Sowetos 37,000-capacity Orlando stadium. American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson is expected to attend, as are the presidents of Namibia and the Republic of Congo. She is truly the mother of South Africa, Jackson told journalists on Friday. The township of Soweto is hugely symbolic in South Africa as it became a cauldron of black resistance against white minority rule which ended with elections in 1994. Winnie Mandelas husband became the first black president of democratic South Africa, but she refused to follow many other struggle-era politicians who moved from townships like Soweto to formerly white-only suburbs after the end of apartheid. AFP Instead she remained embedded in the community where she met Nelson Mandela at a bus stop in 1957.After the formal service, Winnie Mandelas body will be buried 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Soweto, at a privately-run graveyard in Johannesburgs upmarket Fourways suburb where two of her great-grandchildren are also buried. The funeral closes the final chapter in the history of a woman who was exalted for her fearless defiance of apartheid rule but also implicated in violence and corruption in later life. In 1991, she was convicted for kidnapping and being an accessory in the assault of a 14-year-old boy and was more generally accused of overseeing violence in black townships. In 2003 she was found guilty of fraud. But her controversial reputation has been largely brushed aside in the wake of her death with tributes to her bravery, independence and integrity dominating public commemorations. The United Nations staged a special memorial sitting at its New York headquarters on Friday to mark her passing. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described her as an international symbol of resistance. South Africas communications minister Nomvula Mokonyane told AFP that Winnie should not only be remembered for mistakes or the casualties of the struggle. In old age Winnie Mandela emerged as a respected elder who was feted as a living reminder of her late husband -- and of the long and celebrated struggle against apartheid. Most of Winnie Mandelas 38-year marriage to Nelson was spent apart, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone as she kept his political dream alive. But when Nelson Mandela died in 2013, it emerged he had left Winnie nothing in his will. On Saturday, a 21-gun salute will be fired, and a full honor guard is expected to escort Winnies remains to her final resting place.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 20:29:44|Editor: Yurou

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BRUSSELS, April 14 (Xinhua)-- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Saturday avoided commenting directly on the U.S.-led strike on Syria, only condemning the use of chemical weapons.

"The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable in any circumstances and must be condemned in the strongest terms," Juncker said in a statement. "The international community has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable anyone responsible for chemical attacks."

The statement said that in its eighth year of conflict, Syria desperately needs a lasting cease-fire respected by all parties that would pave the way for a negotiated political solution through the United Nations-led Geneva negotiations.

The Syrian military said over 100 missiles were fired during the U.S.-led strike on Syria early Saturday.

The joint attack by the United States, Britain and France targeted Syrian military sites in Damascus and elsewhere, Syria's state news agency SANA said.

Most of the missiles were destroyed by the Syrian air defense system, according to a statement by the Syrian military. However, a military research center in Barzeh, northeast of Damascus, suffered damage.

The missiles fired on a military base in the central province of Homs were diverted, leaving three people wounded.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 20:29:44|Editor: Yurou

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ANKARA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Incirlik air base in southern Turkey was not used in the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Saturday.

Turkey was informed of the attack in advance, Bozdag said in a tweet on his twitter account.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Turkish Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar spoke before the strikes, he said.

Bozdag called for an end to the "arm wrestling" by major powers in Syria to avoid more bloodshed.

The U.S.-led coalition has been using Incirlik air base located in Turkey's southern province of Adana in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants.

Turkey, a NATO member, has voiced support to the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria under pretext of punishing Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons.

Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on Saturday called on the international community to unite to avoid chemical attacks in future, while emphasizing the importance of seeking a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Earlier Saturday, the U.S., along with its allies Britain and France, launched missile strikes on Syria over allegations that the Syrian government used poison gas in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the capital Damascus on April 7. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied the allegations.Unknown armed men shoots dead 2 officials in S. Afghanistan Source: Xinhua 2018-04-14 20:34:46 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Unknown armed men gunned down two local officials in the southern Kandahar province on Saturday, officials said. Editor: YurouPhoto taken on April 14, 2018 shows a view of the Syrian capital Damascus. The U.S. started military actions against Damascus before daybreak Saturday as loud explosions were heard with "red dots" seen flying from earth to the sky, reported Syrian state TV and Xinhua reporters in Damascus. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

LONDON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- British anti-war campaigners on Saturday condemned the U.S.-led military strikes on Syria, saying that following instruction from U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May deliberately avoided consulting parliament and risked dramatically widening the war before committing UK forces to the joint military strikes on Syria.

Britain's Stop the War Coalition has organised a demonstration Monday outside the Houses of Parliament as a response to the overnight bombing raids on Syria.

The coalition said in a statement: "We strongly condemn the missile attacks on Syria last night which will have only brought the Syrians more misery and destruction. They will have done nothing to end the war or alleviate their suffering."

"In sanctioning killing at the behest of Donald Trump, Theresa May deliberately avoided consulting parliament and risked dramatically widening the war," said the statement.

Surface-to-air missiles are seen over Syria's capital Damascus on April 14, 2018, as the Syrian air defenses were responding to U.S. attacks. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

"The overwhelming majority of people in this country oppose this action just as they have opposed the series of wars of the last seventeen years," it added.

The coalition said it opposes the British establishment's "disastrous addiction to war and its squandering of public resources on militarism."

The coalition has called for a protest in Parliament Square outside the Houses of Parliament on Monday. The protest has been timed to coincide with the re-opening of parliament after the Easter recess.

The Stop the War Coalition was founded in September, 2001 shortly after 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The coalition in 2003 organised one of the biggest ever demonstrations in Britain when two million people gathered on London's streets to oppose the Iraq war.

In 2013, the coalition was central in mobilising opposition to the bombing by British forces of Syria, as proposed by the then prime minister David Cameron. It led to a decision in parliament when MPs voted against military intervention in Syria.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 21:04:52|Editor: Xiang Bo

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Over 200 students were awarded in San Francisco Friday for their performance in an annual Chinese language contest.

The 14th Chinese Language Cup Contest (CLCC) was held in San Francisco last month, featuring five categories ranging from Chinese calligraphy to Chinese poetry recital.

"Chinese is one of the oldest languages in the world and Chinese characters represent one of the oldest writing systems," Luo Linquan, Chinese consul general in San Francisco, said at a reception for the winners at the consulate general here.

Luo hoped that the schoolchildren would become China-U.S. friendship envoys, making good use of the language to promote mutual understanding and bilateral cooperation.

Nina Oliver, an eight-year-old from the California Connections Academy who won a prize for Chinese poetry recital, said she began to learn Chinese from the age of five.

The poem she chose was "Bidding Farewell" by Li Shutong, a pioneer of the Chinese new literature movement and a master painter during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Though she could not fully understand the poem, Oliver said she knew it was about the sadness of friends when they parted.

The CLCC was jointly hosted by the Confucius Institute at San Francisco State University and San Francisco Unified School District.JOHANNESBURG, April 14 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's liberation struggle icon Winnie Madikizela Mandela was laid to rest on Saturday at Fourways Memorial Park Cemetery in Johannesburg with full military honors.

The government dispatched 600 buses which started collecting people around 4:30 a.m. to the stadium where the service took place.

After family rituals in the morning Madikizela Mandela's body was taken to the stadium draped in the national flag. South Africans stood by the road side as the funeral procession proceeded to the stadium. Many sung liberation struggle songs.

The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the death of Madikizela Mandela, aged 81, has unified people across political divide and beyond the country's borders.

"In death, she has brought us all together, from near and far, across many nations and continents, to mourn, to pay homage, to remember and to fondly reminisce. In death, she has demonstrated that our many differences along political party and racial lines and the numerous disputes we may have are eclipsed by our shared desire to follow her lead in building a just, equitable and caring society. Just as Mam' (mother) Winnie has united us in sorrow, let us honor her memory by uniting in common purpose," said Ramaphosa.

He said the late Madikizela Mandela stood her ground under torture, arrests and forced to live in one place. Ramaphossa said South Africa has a painful history which characterizes the current situation in the country with anger.

He said Madikizela Mandela provided leadership at the most difficult time and never demanded a reward. Ramaphosa said, "We must continue to touch Mama's wounds, acknowledge her immense pain and torment, and pass on the stories of her suffering to future generations so that it may always be known that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a giant, a pathfinder, a soldier, a healer, a champion of people's struggles and forever the Mother of the Nation."

Namibian President Hage Geingob praised the late Mother of the Nation for her determination and for never surrendering while being persecuted by the enemy.

Madikizela Mandela's young sister, Zukiswa Madikizela described her sister as fearless, courageous, loving and good at street fighting. Zukiswa was speaking for the Madikizela family at Orlando stadium during the funeral proceedings. She said, "We knew we could always count on her at all times. I encourage women of South Africa to be active and help communities in whatever way we can. Our sister is proof that we are capable of being revolutionaries." said Zukiswa.

King Azenathi Dalindyebo from Abathembu royal family said they were shocked by the death of Madikizela Mandela. Dalindyebo is a traditional leader from the area where Mandela hails from. He described Madikizela Mandela as brave. King Dalindyebo said they wanted Madikizela Mandela to be buried next to Nelson Mandela but had to respect the decision of Madikizela family. The King called on the people to emulate Madikizela Mandela, saying: "More Winnies must rise..."

Madikizela Mandela's grand-daughter, Swati Dlamini Mandela read the obituary of the fallen liberation hero. Dlamini Mandela is the daughter of Zenani Mandela who was sired by Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela.

She said Madikizela Mandela suffered at the brutality of the Apartheid government and humiliation. Dlamini Mandela said, "She endured continuous harassment at the hands of Apartheid security police and subjected to torture while in prison. While the pain she endured during the years could not be forgiven, she did not allow it to break her spirit and humanity. Until the end Mama (Mother) Winnie raised her voice in support of meaningful transformation in the South African society."

Madikizela Mandela's daughter Zenani, broke down on the podium while paying her last respects to her mother. She said Madkizela Mandela showed them lots of love to them. Zenani and her sister Zindzi were raised by their mother while their father Nelson Mandela was in jail for 27 years. Zenani said, "It was my mother who kept his (Nelson Mandela) memory alive. She kept his name on the lips of the people. It is difficult to accept that she is no longer with us."

She fondly spoke of her mother who loved her family and country. She said, Zenani added, "My mother's life was a remarkable one. For those of us who've been close to her, we have always appreciated just how much she meant to the world. (Because) Hers is one of the most unique stories in recent history. She dared to take on one of the most powerful and evil regimes of the past century and she triumphed."

The leader of the South African opposition political party Julius Malema praised the late struggle icon. Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters EFF) praised Madikizela Mandela for being principled and not "selling out". Malema said Madikizela Mandela put the country first above her own personal safety.

The British supermodel Naomi Campbell also addressed the mourners where she also broke down while on the podium. She said the world came to know about Nelson Mandela through the late Madikizela Mandela. Campbell said, "She was a heroine, of a whole continent, a courageous symbol of resistance for all of us. She was the eyes and ears of the world during those dark days. Without her, we wouldn't know anything of grandpa's (Nelson Mandela) struggles, and what he was going through. She was always striving for equality, and to keep South Africa at the forefront of people's thoughts. She was a true inspiration to all."

From the stadium Madikizela Mandela was taken to Fourways Memorial Park Cemetery in Johannesburg where she was laid to rest.

The late Madikizela Mandela united some people as witnessed by the attendance of people across the political divide. The notable ones were mainly the ruling African National Congress and the Economic Freedom Fighters.

South Africa's former Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma also attended the burial. The funeral was also attended by foreign dignitaries from Swaziland, Namibia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and an American civil activist Jesse Jackson among others.

Madikizela Mandela was the fifth in a family of 11 and is survived by three sisters. She died on April 2, after a long illness. The President declared 10-day mourning with flags flying at half mast.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 21:09:55|Editor: Yurou

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TEHRAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned Saturday that the U.S.-led attack on Syria will result in "further destruction" of the region.

The U.S., Israel, France and Britain have not learned their lessons from the situation in the region over the past two decades, Rouhani was quoted by Iranian media as saying in a meeting with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayattollah Ali Khamenei.

"They are angry with (the defeat of) the terrorist groups in the Syria's Eastern Ghouta," he said, referring to the recent victory by Syrian troops to drive out rebel forces from the suburban area in east o f Syrian capital Damascus.

"The aggression led by the United States will lead to further destruction and annihilation of the region," Rouhani said, adding that "they seek to justify their presence in the region by such invasion."

Rouhani urged the Syrian people for more resistance, while reaffirming Iran's support for the Syrian government.

Earlier Saturday morning, the U.S., in cooperation with Britain and France, attacked Syrian military facilities reportedly related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities to retaliate for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops early the month in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the Syrian capital Damascus.

The Syrian government has strongly denied the allegations.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 21:14:56|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China's local government debt balance stood at 16.61 trillion yuan (2.64 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of March, well within the official limit, according to the Ministry of Finance showed.

The country's top legislative body has decided that the upper limit for local government debt this year should be 20.99 trillion yuan.

China issued local government bonds worth 191 billion yuan in March and 219.5 billion yuan in the first three months of this year, all for debt swaps.

China has made bond issuance the sole legal way for local governments to raise debt amid the nation's efforts to forestall systemic financial crisis, the country's finance minister said last Month.KABUL, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Exactly one year ago, the U.S. military deployed the so-called Mother of All Bombs (MOABs), the biggest non-nuclear bomb, on the stronghold of militants affiliated with the hardliner Islamic State (IS) outfit in Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province with the objective to eliminate the group and curb its operations in the already insurgency-hit Afghanistan.

Contrary to expectations, the passage of time has proved that the operations of the radical group have drastically increased instead of dropping down.

It was April 13, 2017 that certain media outlets reported the explosive news of use of the biggest non-nuclear bomb by U.S. military against IS hideouts in Mohmandara mountains of Achin district, which reportedly killed 36 insurgents and injuring scores others.

The bomb had raised the rays of hope among Afghans including the Afghan security forces that the using 10-tons non-nuclear bomb against IS in Afghanistan gives the message of dismantling the radical group in the already war-torn country.

A spokesman for Afghan Defense Ministry Mohammad Radmanesh, in talks with local media on the first anniversary of the attack April 13 asserted that the Afghan security forces are stationed in the former bases of IS and preventing the militants to enter Afghanistan.

However, the militants, according to Afghans, have expanded their grip in the neighboring Khogiani, Pachiragam and Chaparhar districts and a year later surfaced in the neighboring Kunar, Nuristan province as well as in northern Jawzjan province.

The fanatic group has also conducted series of deadly suicide attacks in Kabul, killing scores of people mostly civilians over the past one year.

Afghans believe that the Islamic State group's fighters have shifted to Afghanistan after their defeats in Iraq and Syria.

Such failures of curbing the IS activities in Afghanistan has raised questions over U.S.-led coalition's seriousness in the so-called war on terror.

Media outlets, quoting the Afghan Defense Ministry and the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, reported the strength of IS militants stands between 1,500 to 2,000 in the country.

Afghan former president Hamid Karzai has also described the hardliner IS group as a danger to the region and said the group has emerged in Afghanistan during the full-scale military presence of U.S. and NATO-led forces in the country.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 21:29:58|Editor: Xiang Bo

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SHENZHEN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The 16th China International Conference on Exchange of Professionals opened Saturday in south China's Shenzhen City, attracting some 5,000 entrepreneurial and innovation programs from China and overseas.

As an event focused on talent exchange, the conference has invited over 4,000 organizations, training institutions, colleges, enterprises and human resource agents from over 50 countries and regions.

About 9,300 representatives from human resource, technology, and education departments and enterprises from China also attended the conference.

During the conference from April 14 to 15, a series of activities are being held such as forums, meetings and job fairs for foreign talent.

The event is jointly hosted by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and Shenzhen municipal government.PINILI, Ilocos NorteKomedia, for scores the high point of many town fiestas in Northern Philippines, has lost its sound and colors with the last sound of the wind instruments accompanying the staged battle between the brightly robed notch performers. Komedia had been undoubtedly the greatest and most popular theater during the last 100 years1798-1898of the Spanish rule, which began in 1521. That was the year Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan discovered the islandslater to be called Las Islas Filipinas in honor of King Philip IIfor Europe, 141 years after an Arab sheikh established the first Muslim mosque in the countrys far southern island of Simunul in the province of Tawi-Tawi. Also known among Ilocanos as the Moro-moro, a common Spanish identification for Muslim, the stage drama had reference to Moros who once invaded Spain. Abruptly interrupted during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in the 1940s, komedia resurfaced in the 1950s and used to be staged at the center of each largely agricultural town. Hundreds, even thousands, trooped to the improvised theater soon before sundown so they would not miss a line from the performers from the time the curtains were raised. There they waited for the stage prompter and his performing artists, all garbed in colorful costumes. Near the performance site, the well-heeled and better-dressed members of the towns social class, many returning students from the metropolis, attend formal programs at the amphitheater or open air auditorium. For three or four nights in those bubble gum years, young Ilocanosand surprisingly even adults and those in their senior yearsenjoyed listening to the stories that usually revolved around tales of love and conquest between Christians and Muslims during the medieval period in Europe. The ear of listeners in those years could compete with the tympanic membrane of todays patrons of telenovelas, mostly imported from overseas. For nights on end during the town fiesta, the Muslims at the performance site were always beaten and ended up embracing the Christian faith. Unlike in better off towns of the archipelago, the duels between the two sides were not choreographed. But the lightingfrom a 350-candle power Coleman or Petromax gas lamps at the timewas sufficient to sustain the enthusiasm and energy of the crowd who preferred the theater to the plaza or the ferris wheels nearby.The dialoguesthanks to the indefatigable prompter who hid very discreetly behind the plywood wall near the hat wearing-musicianswere delivered in rhyming verses. That, while the participants leisurely strutted across the elevated stage as though digging their brains for an appropriate line of response. It is not clear when the first komedia was staged in the different towns of northern Philippines. Debate has been going on as regards the first such performance in the country. But many historians agreed that the first komedia script was written by Jesuit Geronimo Perez which was staged in Manila on July 15, 1637. It was obviously ushered in to mark the triumphant campaigns of Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera against Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat, better known as Sultan Kudarat, who ruled the sultanate of Maguindanao from 1619 to 1671. At the time of his death in 1671, he was, by historical accounts, probably between 80 and 90 years old. Earlier in 1598, or 77 years after the arrival of Magellan and his fleet, Jesuit students performed komedia in Cebu, now described in picture cards as the Queen City of the South. While the debate breathes every now and then on the exact place where the komedia was first staged, which is beyond the ear-split range of the Ilocanos of the countrys far north, what is clear is that the komedia was for decades a favorite show among different generations. It used to mark religious festivals or cap an agro-industrial fair and town fiesta. Ilocanos celebrated their fiesta in April or May in honor of their patron saint San Isidro Labrador. It is enough to soften the impact of the scorching summer sun in any northern town, caressed by the warm sun of northern Philippines during summer.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 21:29:59|Editor: Lu Hui

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Italian President Sergio Mattarella speaks to the media at the end of the second day of consultations at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, capital of Italy, on April 13, 2018. The second round of talks to form a national government has failed to produce a workable majority, Italian President Sergio Mattarella told the country in a live statement on Friday. (Xinhua/Jin Yu)

by Stefania Fumo

ROME, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The battle lines have been drawn in the ongoing push and pull between political factions after Italy's inconclusive March 4 election left the country with a hung parliament and two relative winners -- a center-right bloc led by the rightwing League party, and the populist Five Star Movement.

After two rounds of formal talks led by President Sergio Mattarella, who has the power to name Italy's next prime minister, League leader Matteo Salvini and Five Star chief Luigi Di Maio have grown noticeably closer, but appear to have shied away from the final jump.

The stumbling block is League coalition ally Silvio Berlusconi and his moderate Forza Italia party.

The Five Stars, who pride themselves of being untainted by corruption and cronyism, object to the media mogul, who was expelled from parliament in 2013 following a tax fraud conviction. Berlusconi is also currently a defendant in at least two ongoing witness-tampering trials in connection with alleged so-called "bunga bunga" orgies at his home while he was still prime minister.

The Five Stars has been trying to woo the League away from Berlusconi as a precondition for any government deal.

On Thursday, Di Maio, whose party won 32.5 percent of the national vote, said that while there is "an institutional synergy with the League", the center-right bloc "is an obstacle to change" as long as it includes Berlusconi and his Forza Italia party.

"No one can tell me or my party what to do," an indignant Berlusconi said Friday on a campaign stop in the southern region of Molise ahead of local elections there later this month.

"I am ready to take on the role of government leader," Salvini, whose coalition won 37 percent of the vote, tweeted Friday. "But if the others continue to bicker, we're going back to the vote."

However, some believe the League and the Five Stars have already done a deal, and the rest is just posturing for the benefit of their respective voters.

According to a recent survey by the Demopolis Institute, 46 percent of Five Star voters and 65 percent of League voters would favor a government deal between the two.

However, a whopping 86 percent of Five Star voters said a deal that includes Berlusconi would be "unacceptable".

"Di Maio and Salvini want to make a government together...by pretending Berlusconi is there but he's not there," Matteo Ricci, a prominent member of the center-left Democratic Party of outgoing Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, told Tagada talk show on La7 private broadcaster.

"Clearly this dance can't go on forever. If they don't find an agreement, there will be no government," Ricci added.

As far as Mattarella's next move, the consensus among media pundits appears to be that he will choose between two options: conferring a so-called "exploratory mandate" on one of the speakers of the houses of parliament, or picking one of the two relative winners and entrusting either Salvini or Di Maio with a "pre-mandate" to sound out a possible majority.

The other options for Mattarella are picking a non-political figure to lead a so-called "government of the president" to carry out specific reforms over a set amount of time, or to dissolve parliament and call new elections. Both of these are remote possibilities, according to most media pundits.

However, more might be revealed over the weekend: Di Maio and Salvini are widely reported to have made plans to meet at the Vinitaly wine fair in the northern city of Verona on Sunday. Perhaps the two leaders will make a deal over a glass of Chianti after all.MOGADISHU, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A senior al-Shabab commander on Saturday surrendered to Somali security forces in Bula-hawo town in Gedo region, southern Somalia, officials said.

Ali Hassan Abdi, Somali security official in the region told media that they would welcome anyone of the group fighters or commanders who decides to defect and accept amnesty offered by the government.

"Al-Shabab senior commander for collecting taxes defected from the group and surrendered to us here in this town today, we welcomed him well and we will also welcome others leaving the terrorist network," Abdi said.

The defector, Abdihakim Hussein Yusuf lauded the security forces for welcoming him, adding that there were more al-Shabab fighters who are planning to defect.

The defection comes after another al-Shabab defector who surrendered to Southwest State in Somalia was awarded 15,000 U.S. dollars in Baidoa town on Thursday.

There was no immediate comment from the militant group on the latest defections from its group.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 21:45:02|Editor: Liangyu

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Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visits a mosque in Hotan City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 10, 2018. Wang made an inspection tour in Xinjiang from April 10 to 14. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

URUMQI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The infiltration of religious extremism has been notably curbed, as northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region appears to be stable and much safer, according to a senior Chinese official.

Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the statement during a visit to Xinjiang from April 10 to April 14.

Wang, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that with the significant improvement of law and order, cadres and people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang had a much stronger sense of security.

In Xinjiang, the economy is growing steadily and healthily; people's livelihoods keeps improving; and the exchange and integration of ethnic groups have increased, Wang noted. "These lay a solid foundation to address the issue of maintaining long-term stability at its roots," he said.

Wang asked the local officials to continue to keep high pressure on the three forces of separatism, terrorism and extremism, uphold correct ideology by opposing wrong thoughts, and fight poverty in southern Xinjiang to eradicate extremism.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 21:50:04|Editor: Yurou

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BEIRUT, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Saturday that the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria can't help achieve a political solution for the Syrian crisis.

"What happened in Syria today at dawn doesn't contribute to finding a political solution for the Syrian crisis," the presidency's media office quoted Aoun as saying on Twitter.

"Dialogue is necessary to stop deterioration and end the interference that has further complicated the crisis," he added.

Lebanon "rejects hostilities against Arab states for whatever reasons," Aoun noted.

Earlier Saturday, the U.S., along with its allies Britain and France, launched missile strikes on Syria over allegations that the Syrian government used poison gas in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the capital Damascus on April 7. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied the allegations.

The Syrian Army said in a statement that about 110 missiles were fired by the U.S. and its allies on Syrian military sites, damaging the Research Scientific Center in the northeast of Damascus and the military bases in Homs.

Most of the missiles were intercepted before reaching targets, it noted.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 21:55:04|Editor: Yurou

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AMMAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Saturday reiterated its all for a political solution to the Syrian crisis following the U.S.-led airstrikes against Syria, state-run Petra news agency reported.

Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani said the Syrian crisis has been going on for seven years, stressing that Jordan is committed to promoting a political solution to the situation in Syria.

"The political solution is the sole way to solve the crisis in Syria and to preserve its stability and unity," Momani said.

The minister added that the continuing conflict in Syria will lead to more violence and destruction that will affect all Syrians.

Also Saturday, Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi said Jordan rejected the use of chemical weapons as it is a crime against humanity and a violation of all international laws.

Jordan, he said, stands with the Syrians' right to end their suffering and the crisis in their country, calling for sincere efforts to reach a political solution to the crisis.

The minister called for an independent international investigation into the alleged chemical attack by the Syrian regime.

On Saturday, the United States launched airstrikes on several military targets in Syria with the participation of France and Britain to retaliate for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops in a recent attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the Syrian capital Damascus.

The Syrian government, however, has strongly denied the allegations, calling them a fabrication by the rebels and West to justify their attacks on Damascus.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 22:00:06|Editor: Yurou

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JERUSALEM, April 14 (Xinhua) -- One Israeli soldier was killed and three others injured in a tank accident early Saturday near the Nitzana border crossing between Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Two of the injured soldiers were in serious condition, the Israeli army said in a statement.

Initial investigation showed the tank deviated from its planned path and fell into a river bed, according to Israeli media reports.

The cause of the deviation is still unclear.

The fall caused a shell to ignite, which set off the tank's fire suppression system. The soldier was likely killed in the flames.

The tank was sent to the area as part of an operation to foil a suspected terror attack, local media said.CAIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court upheld on Saturday the life sentence against Mohamed Badie, head of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, over violence charges, official news agency MENA reported.

The Court of Cassation, Egypt's top court that gives final verdicts, upheld the verdicts of life and rigorous imprisonment against Badie and 17 other Brotherhood members for their involvement in the armed sit-in and attempted murder.

Life sentence in Egypt is 25 years in prison.

The defendants are accused of scheming a terrorist plot that aimed at vandalizing vital government facilities and places of worship, said the judge.

They are also charged with directing the Brotherhood members to defy the government and to spread chaos in the country, the report added.

Most Brotherhood leaders, including ousted former President Mohamed Morsi and Badie, are currently in custody. Many of them received appealable death sentences and life imprisonments over various charges varying from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.

Morsi himself is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on charges of inciting clashes between his supporters and opponents outside a presidential palace in Cairo in late 2012 that left 10 people killed.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 22:05:08|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China's charity groups were asked to play their part in the country's rural vitalization strategy.

Liu Fuqing, deputy head of China Charity Alliance (CCA), made the call Saturday as a cross-sector committee was formed between the CCA, Tsinghua University and other entities to facilitate cooperation among government departments, companies, charity groups, research institutes and financial institutions to promote rural development.

Liu called on charity groups to strengthen cooperation with local governments and all sorts of businesses to help rural families earn more. He said charity groups should expand their services to assist the most vulnerable group such as left-behind children and the elderly.

Liu said the new committee would make it easier for charity groups to join efforts with the agricultural sector in driving forward rural development.

The rural vitalization strategy is China's leading agenda for government work on agriculture, rural areas, and rural residents.MOSCOW, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Washington is still willing to cooperate with Moscow on the Syrian issue despite the heightened tensions following the U.S.-led airstrike on Syria, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman said in a statement Saturday.

"We would still welcome cooperation with a Russia that will do the right thing and join the rest of the world in condemning the (Bashar al-) Assad regime for its horrific actions and ensuring they cannot happen again," Huntsman said.

The United States, together with Britain and France, on Saturday launched a missile strike on Syria, saying it was in response to the alleged chemical weapon attack by Syrian government forces in the rebel-held district of Douma near capital Damascus on April 7.

"Before we took action, the United States communicated with the Russian Federation to reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties," Huntsman said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the strike on Syria "an act of aggression" against a sovereign state and said Russia strongly condemns it.

Putin also said Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine gas or other poisonous substances in Douma.

The Syrian government has also categorically denied the accusation.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement urged Western leaders to stop actions that may lead to the breakdown of all agreements on resolving the Syrian crisis.by Farid Behbud

KABUL, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan election officials began voter registration process on Saturday for long-delayed parliamentary and district councils' elections.

Afghans pin hopes on the elections although challenges remain, including lack of funds and increasing insecurity problems.

On April 1, Gula Jan Abdul Badi Sayad, chairman of Independent Election Commission (IEC), announced Oct. 20 as the date for the upcoming polls, which has been delayed for a couple of times over the past years.

"Finlay, the IEC set Oct. 20 as a new date for parliamentary and district councils elections. The announcement is absolutely good news for all, and in my opinion the date is perfect," Asadullah Sadaqat, an English language teacher in Kabul, opined in talks with Xinhua.

"We hope the process put an end to the current political instability and conflicts. People in every parts of the country can participate in the election because the weather or climate will not be a barrier in the process. But we must not forget that the insurgents will do their best to sabotage the process and will remain a main obstructer of the process," Sedaqat said.

First parliamentary election in the post-Taliban Afghanistan was held in 2005 while the second parliamentary polls took place in 2010.

However, the 2015 parliamentary polls, originally set to be held in early 2015 following presidential elections, were repeatedly delayed.

As the political parties in the country did not meet all standards, most of the candidates will contest independently for the 249-seat lower house of parliament for a five-year term.

Despite optimism over the polls, the parliamentary and district councils elections face certain challenges such as lack of budget, insecurity and lack of trust on the election commission's officials.

Insecurity is the most serious challenge and it seems that providing security for the election will be a daunting challenge for the Afghan security forces as well as international troops.

"Out of the total 7,355 polling stations, 1,122 centers are under medium security threat and another 1,120 face serious security threats -- all of which need to be secured by the security institutions," Deputy Minister of Interior Ministry General Murad Ali Murad told local media.

Another key issue is the budget for the election. International donors have previously provided the required budget for the elections but this time it is unknown which sources will pay for the elections.

The 2014 Presidential election, which was marred with massive fraud and led to a second-run, undermined people's trust on the election commissioners and people doubt about the ability of the election authorities to hold a fair, free and transport election.

"I do not want to participate in the upcoming election because my vote will not be counted as it was not counted in the past presidential and parliamentary elections," Murtaza Ashuri, a university student, told Xinhua.

"It is for the interest of all Afghans and the government has to hold election and there is no alternative for it and the international community ought to help the government of Afghanistan's elections both financially and technically," Abdul Wahab Karimi, a law professor at private Ibn-e-Sina University, told Xinhua.

Bahsir Ahmad Qasani, a well-respected local journalist, told local 1TV Television, that lack of funds still remained a challenge for the election body.

"The last presidential and parliamentary polls were marred with massive election fraud. We must do more to encourage people to register for upcoming votes and persuade them to trust on IEC staff and politicians as well," Qasani said.Actor Alden Richards shows off the Silver World Medal for 'Alaala: A Martial Law Special.'

From left: Mark Norella, executive producer for Reel Time: Hawla and Gutom; Neil Gumban, SAVP for Public Affairs; Regie Bautista, FVP for GMA Program Support Department and Corporate Strategic Planning; Ian Simbulan, executive producer for Reporters Notebook; Maki Pulido, host, Reporters Notebook; Jessica Soho; Alden Richards; Joy Madrigal, program manager, Alaala and Brigada; Raffy Tima, reporter, Brigada; Justin Baluyot, researcher for Reel Time: Gutom.

GMA Network sets another record in Philippine broadcast history, this time bringing home eight medals and four finalist certificates at the 2018 New York Festivals Worlds Best TV and Films Competition held in Las Vegas on April 10. Documentary program Reel Time won the gold medal in the Health/Medical Information category for its Hawla (The Untold Story of the Village Monster) episode. Hawla featured the story of Nene, a woman kept in a cage because of her psychological condition. Another Reel Time documentary, meanwhile, earned the country one of its two silver medals this year. The episode Gutom (Starved) about two-year-old Roelwho, because of extreme malnourishment, could not walk, much less crawl at his age, won in the Human Concerns category. Both winning Reel Time documentaries were executive produced by Mark Anthony Norella. Alaala: A Martial Law Special also won a silver award. The special, which was recognized in the Docudrama category, featured the journey of Martial Law activist and award-winning screenwriter Bonifacio Ilagan. Aired in commemoration of the 45th anniversary of President Ferdinand Marcos declaration of Martial Law, the special was bannered by actor Alden Richards who played the role of Boni. Marking another first for the country was Jessica Soho winning the bronze medal in the Best News Anchor category. Soho was the first and only Filipino broadcast journalist to date, who made it to the list. GMA Public Affairs earned three more bronze medals for the country. Documentary program Front Row won a bronze medal in the Best Public Affairs Program category. Its winning episode Batang Bomba (Bomb Pickers) told the story of Aeta children who pick up detonated bombs to earn money. Meanwhile, investigative program Reporters Notebook received a bronze medal in the Community Portraits category for Maki Pulidos Yapak sa Pusod ng Dagat (Footsteps on the Bed). It featured the story of Filipinos who risk their lives diving into the ocean without proper equipment in the hope of mining gold that they could sell.GMA News TV program Brigada also took home a bronze medal in the Current Affairs category for its report on Combat Camera Team. The episode detailed the operation of Philippine Armys Scout Ranger Batallion in Marawi City using combat cameras. The Networks Program Support Department also won a bronze medal for EDSA 31st Anniversary Spot. The project won in the Graphic Design: Promotion/Open and IDs category.Along with these, GMA Network also took home four finalist certificates for I-Witness, which received two Finalist Certificates: one in the Human Concerns category for Kara Davids Sundalong Aso (Soldiers with Paws) and another in the International Affairs category for Atom Araullos Silang Kinalimutan (The Forgotten). GMA News TVs flagship newscast State of the Nation with Jessica Soho also earned a finalist certificate for Best Newscast through its Marawi Liberation: War is Over coverage. Rounding off the recognitions GMA received this year was its Program Support Departments Kulayan Natin ang Summer (Colorful Summer), which received a finalist certificate in the Art Direction: Promotion/Open and IDs category.PARIS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- In a punishment operation over an alleged chemical weapon attack, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a military intervention in Syria in coordination with the United States and Britain, a decision that drew support but also criticism at home.

Ending days of speculation over an imminent use of force against Syrian regime, Macron gave the green light to the French military to join the operation targeting "clandestine chemical arsenal" in Syria.

"We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapon," he said after having repeatedly warned to use force in response to fatal chemical attack in the war-torn country if proved.

Released by the Quai d'Orsay hours after the strikes, a report based on technical analyses of open source information and declassified intelligence document noted "...beyond possible doubt, a chemical attack was carried out against civilians at Douma on 7 April 2018, and that there is no other plausible scenario than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces as part of a wider offensive in the Eastern Ghouta enclave."

To his supporters, the 40-year-old president's first major military intervention since taking office a year ago was legitimate to defend the international laws.

"This action is legitimate and directly aligned with the principles of the United Nations," said Amelie de Montchalin, centrist lawmaker.

"In 2013, there had already been a previous use of chemical weapons and a UN resolution adopted then said if Syria started again (using prohibited toxic gas), the UN would okay an armed intervention. So we are in the continuity of the respect of the international law's principles," she told France info radio.

On his tweeter account, conservative politician Xavier Bertrand hailed France's "right answer" to the use of chemical arms.

"Let's welcome the commitment and professionalism of our armed forces," he wrote.

The same support was expressed by the Socialist leader Olivier Faure. According to him, "the repeated chemical attacks of Damascus regime against its people imposed a reaction."

"It is urgent that new discussions take place within the framework of the United Nations," he said in a statement.

Defense Minister Florence Parly unveiled earlier on Saturday that cruise missiles fired from several air bases in France and naval means have been deployed to strike the research center and two production sites.

In an interview with news channel BFMTV, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that operation's "objective is reached", warning that further strikes could be planned if the Syrian government would cross the chemical weapons red line.

However, Macron's move to defend France's grandeur triggered concerns of igniting tension in the region.

"Adding war to war has never brought peace. This show of force risks fueling terrorism. It feeds the idea that the West is hostile to the Arab world. These strikes weaken our diplomacy," tweeted Bruno Retailleau, president of right-wing "The Republicans" group at the senate.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, one of Macron's old rivals in the 2017 presidential race, called the operation "a matter of North American revenge, an irresponsible escalation."

"The strikes against Syria are without proof, without a UN mandate, and against it, without a European agreement and without a vote of the French Parliament," Melenchon said on Twitter.

"France deserves better than this role. It must be the strength of the international order and peace," said the leader of the far-left party La France Insoumise.

For her turn, far-rightist leader Marine le Pen expressed concerns over "unpredictable consequences" of the strikes.

"These strikes against Syria engage us in a way with unpredictable and potentially dramatic consequences," she said, noting that France lost "an opportunity to appear in the international scene as an independent power."Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 22:35:15|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese air force has donated 15 million yuan (2.39 million U.S. dollars) to the China Children and Teenagers' Fund.

It targeted education in impoverished old revolutionary bases, including south Jiangxi, Fujian, the Guangdong border area, north Shaanxi, east Gansu, the Ningxia border area and Dabie Mountain, in order to provide intellectual support.

"The donation is to ensure that the children in these areas can attend and afford school, to give full play to the role of education in poverty alleviation, and to stop poverty from passing from generation to generation," Song Kun, a disciplinary official of the air force, said at the donation ceremony.

The donation came as a part of the latest round of the air force's charity project to help impoverished children back to school. They will target their aid towards 3,600 college, middle school and primary school students, and help build 13 schools in the provinces of Jiangxi and Yunnan.

Over the 24-year history of the project, a total of 140 million yuan has been donated by officers and soldiers of the air force, helping more than 28,800 children finish school.

They have also helped build 94 schools, held skill training for 3,910 teachers and teenage girls, treated and cured over 1,000 children with congenital heart disease, covering 14 extremely poor regions across the country.TOKYO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Local residents on Saturday commemorated the deadly earthquakes two years ago that claimed hundreds of lives in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures in southwestern Japan.

A commemorative ceremony was held at the Kumamoto prefectural government office Saturday morning, with more than 300 people participating, including family members of those killed in the quakes.

Ikuo Kabashima, governor of Kumamoto prefecture, said that reconstruction work in the quake-hit areas has been making steady progress.

The participants also called for lessons to be learned from the deadly quakes and to be passed on to future generations.

A 6.5-magnitude quake struck Kumamoto prefecture and the neighboring regions on April 14, 2016, followed by a 7.3 magnitude quake two days later, killing a total of 267 people.

Governments statistics showed that as many as 200,000 houses were damaged or destroyed in the quakes, which forced more than 190,000 people to evacuate at one time.

Two years from the disaster, some 38,000 people are still displaced, and the construction of some 1,735 public housing units for people affected by the disaster in Kumamoto prefecture are not to be completed until March 2020.

Meanwhile, experts here warned that strong quakes could still hit the region as small quakes frequented the fault zones that caused the deadly double temblors two years ago.File photo taken on Nov. 5, 2011 shows a general view of downtown Damascus, capital ofSyria. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

PARIS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- In a punishment operation over an alleged chemical weapon attack, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a military intervention in Syria in coordination with the United States and Britain, a decision that drew support but also criticism at home.

Ending days of speculation over an imminent use of force against Syrian regime, Macron gave the green light to the French military to join the operation targeting "clandestine chemical arsenal" in Syria.

"We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapon," he said after having repeatedly warned to use force in response to fatal chemical attack in the war-torn country if proved.

Released by the Quai d'Orsay hours after the strikes, a report based on technical analyses of open source information and declassified intelligence document noted "...beyond possible doubt, a chemical attack was carried out against civilians at Douma on 7 April 2018, and that there is no other plausible scenario than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces as part of a wider offensive in the Eastern Ghouta enclave."

To his supporters, the 40-year-old president's first major military intervention since taking office a year ago was legitimate to defend the international laws.

"This action is legitimate and directly aligned with the principles of the United Nations," said Amelie de Montchalin, centrist lawmaker.

"In 2013, there had already been a previous use of chemical weapons and a UN resolution adopted then said if Syria started again (using prohibited toxic gas), the UN would okay an armed intervention. So we are in the continuity of the respect of the international law's principles," she told France info radio.

On his tweeter account, conservative politician Xavier Bertrand hailed France's "right answer" to the use of chemical arms.

"Let's welcome the commitment and professionalism of our armed forces," he wrote.

The same support was expressed by the Socialist leader Olivier Faure. According to him, "the repeated chemical attacks of Damascus regime against its people imposed a reaction."

"It is urgent that new discussions take place within the framework of the United Nations," he said in a statement.

Defense Minister Florence Parly unveiled earlier on Saturday that cruise missiles fired from several air bases in France and naval means have been deployed to strike the research center and two production sites.

In an interview with news channel BFMTV, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that operation's "objective is reached", warning that further strikes could be planned if the Syrian government would cross the chemical weapons red line.

However, Macron's move to defend France's grandeur triggered concerns of igniting tension in the region.

"Adding war to war has never brought peace. This show of force risks fueling terrorism. It feeds the idea that the West is hostile to the Arab world. These strikes weaken our diplomacy," tweeted Bruno Retailleau, president of right-wing "The Republicans" group at the senate.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, one of Macron's old rivals in the 2017 presidential race, called the operation "a matter of North American revenge, an irresponsible escalation."

"The strikes against Syria are without proof, without a UN mandate, and against it, without a European agreement and without a vote of the French Parliament," Melenchon said on Twitter.

"France deserves better than this role. It must be the strength of the international order and peace," said the leader of the far-left party La France Insoumise.

For her turn, far-rightist leader Marine le Pen expressed concerns over "unpredictable consequences" of the strikes.

"These strikes against Syria engage us in a way with unpredictable and potentially dramatic consequences," she said, noting that France lost "an opportunity to appear in the international scene as an independent power."U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin take part in a family photo at the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam Nov. 10, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

MOSCOW, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Washington is still willing to cooperate with Moscow on the Syrian issue despite the heightened tensions following the U.S.-led airstrike on Syria, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman said in a statement Saturday.

"We would still welcome cooperation with a Russia that will do the right thing and join the rest of the world in condemning the (Bashar al-) Assad regime for its horrific actions and ensuring they cannot happen again," Huntsman said.

The United States, together with Britain and France, on Saturday launched a missile strike on Syria, saying it was in response to the alleged chemical weapon attack by Syrian government forces in the rebel-held district of Douma near capital Damascus on April 7.

"Before we took action, the United States communicated with the Russian Federation to reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties," Huntsman said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the strike on Syria "an act of aggression" against a sovereign state and said Russia strongly condemns it.

Putin also said Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine gas or other poisonous substances in Douma.

The Syrian government has also categorically denied the accusation.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement urged Western leaders to stop actions that may lead to the breakdown of all agreements on resolving the Syrian crisis.WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump will host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a working visit on April 17-18, said a U.S. official.

In a background briefing on Abe's visit Friday, the official, who asked not to be named, said the meetings at Trump's personal resort Mar-a-Lago in Florida would start in the afternoon on April 17 with a one-on-one meeting, followed by a small-group discussion that will include some of their top national security officials.

The Trump-Abe discussions, the second of its kind between the two since last year, would continue with a larger bilateral meeting where the leaders could expand their discussions to include a range of "priority bilateral issues," said the official.

He added that the two sides are likely to focus on how their two countries can jointly promote trade ties and ensure universal access to affordable energy, high-quality trade and investment standards.

Trump and U.S. First Lady Melania Trump will host Abe and Mrs Abe in a small dinner in the evening.

Later on April 18, the two leaders would give a joint press conference, highlighting areas of mutual interest and cooperation. Abe would depart for home on the morning of April 19.

REJOINING TPP?

Speaking of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade pact that Trump pulled his country out last year, the official said Trump now believes that the United States would consider negotiating with member countries "either individually or as a group, if it's in the interests of American business and American workers."

Trump tweeted on Thursday that he "would only join TPP if the deal were substantially better than the deal offered to Pres. Obama."

He added in the same post that Japan "has hit us hard on trade for years!," in an apparent gesture to pressure Abe before his arrival.

"A deal would have to be very attractive from those standpoints, for the U.S. to take another look at TPP," he added.

COORDINATION ON TRUMP-KIM MEETING

The official also said the visit is an opportunity for the two leaders to continue their coordination on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and exchange views before Trump meets Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

He added that the Trump-Kim meeting would take place in May or early June.

Speaking of China's role in the Korean Peninsula issue, the official said the U.S. president "has been thankful for China's efforts."NICOSIA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus said on Saturday that it did not have either prior information or involvement in air strikes against Syria by planes which took off from a British base on the eastern Mediterranean island.

The strikes were launched from Britain's air base at Akrotiri next to the southern port city of Limassol.

Four tornado planes, which took off from the air base close to 4 a.m. local time, fired Storm Shadow missiles, which, according to the British Ministry of Defense, were guided to their targets near Homs by pre-programmed GPS co-ordinates.

Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou hinted that the British authorities did not follow past practice of notifying beforehand the government about military action launched from the bases in neighboring countries.

"Cyprus did not have any participation in this operations...The authorities of the Republic of Cyprus have been monitoring the situation from the first moment, but did not have any prior briefing," he said.

Prodromou said in a written statement that neither the Cypriot air space nor its Flight Information Region (FIR) were used in the military operation.

He also said that conditions of full security prevail in Cyprus and that no civil aviation flights were disturbed by the early morning military action.

"We hope that it will subsequently be possible for military operations to be avoided in Syria, and that sources of danger in this neighboring country will be addressed with peaceful means and through dialogue," he added.

Cypriot largest opposition party Akel said that the government was not entitled to involve Cyprus in any way "in the crime against the people of Syria".

The party said in a statement that it condemns all forms of interference in the interior affairs of Syria. It described the air strikes as illegal and a "violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria".

Akrotiri air base is one of two sovereign bases Britain retained when Cyprus gained its independence in 1960.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 23:05:24|Editor: Yamei

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TOKYO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming China-Japan high-level economic dialogue is expected to consolidate the warming-up of bilateral ties, experts said.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay an official visit to Japan from Sunday to Tuesday and co-chair the fourth high-level economic dialogue between China and Japan with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.

Atsushi Kouketsu, emeritus professor of Yamaguchi University, said improving China-Japan relationship is indispensable for the stability and prosperity of Asia. It is in the interests of the people in both countries as well as the region, he said.

Kouketsu said the current warming-up trend in the bilateral ties should be cherished by both countries. Further improvement of the relationship needs joint efforts by both sides, especially the Japanese Government.

He called for further action from both sides, including holding high-level meetings as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Jin Jianmin, a senior fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo, said that over the past 40 years since China's reform and opening up, economic ties between the two countries have been developing fast despite ups and downs in their political relationship.

Japan has been sharing the fruits of China's development and providing support through trade, investment and technology exchanges.

As this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, it could be a new starting point for the two countries to launch a new edition of win-win cooperation, he said.

He hoped the two sides could discuss cooperation plans in the new era that would benefit the people in both countries as well as the region.

On the Belt and Road Initiative, Jin said Japanese enterprises should seize opportunities to cooperate with leading Chinese companies and share the fruits of China's development by joining the initiative.

Proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to achieve infrastructure, trade and people-to-people connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes, building a new platform for international cooperation to create new drivers of growth.

Ukeru Magosaki, a former Japanese Foreign Ministry official, said political tensions between China and Japan have been hindering economic cooperation in recent years. Now the two sides have a good opportunity to discuss economic ties to achieve win-win cooperation.

He said economic discussions are of particular significance under the current circumstances with protectionism on the rise worldwide.

Liu Di, a professor at Kyorin University in Tokyo, said economic cooperation between China and Japan has a lot of potential under the background of Asian economic integration. The two countries can achieve mutual development if they can enhance mutual trust.

But it's a long-term and challenging task to overcome disturbances and interferences to improve bilateral relationship, and would need the joint efforts of the governments and people of both countries, Liu said.Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (2-R) delivers speech to the crowds as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (3-L) and other senior Iranian officials listen, during a ceremony in Tehran,on April 14, 2018. (EPA/IRANIAN LEADER OFFICE HANDOUT)

TEHRAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday denounced the airstrikes on Syria launched by the U.S., Britain and France as a "crime."

"I overtly declare that the presidents of the United States and France and the prime minister of Britain have committed crimes (in Syria) and are criminals," Khamenei said in a meeting with Iranian officials and the ambassadors of Islamic states, reported khamenei.ir website, which is affiliated to the leader's office.

"They (the U.S. and its allies) will not gain from their raid on Syria, as they did not benefit from their crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria over the past years," he added.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday strongly condemned the U.S., Britain and France for launching airstrikes against Syria.

"This invasion is a clear violation of international regulations and undermining Syria's national sovereignty and integrity," the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier Saturday morning, the U.S., in cooperation with Britain and France, attacked Syrian military facilities reportedly related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities to retaliate for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops early the month in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the Syrian capital Damascus.

The Syrian government has strongly denied the allegations.TOKYO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A man in his thirties was arrested here on suspicion of obstructing public service when participating in a massive rally against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration Saturday afternoon, according to local reports.

Some 30,000 people participated in the rally in front of parliamentary buildings in Tokyo, protesting against the cronyism scandals implicating the prime minister and demanding Abe's cabinet to step down.

"Using public power for private use shall not be allowed!" "Abe shall step down!" Protesters, including students, young parents as well as senior citizens, shouted in front of the parliamentary buildings, holding banners and flags.

The man who was from the neighboring Saitama prefecture, allegedly pushed a police officer when being stopped from crossing a road fence. The man denied the allegation, according to local reports.

The massive protests on Saturday occurred following the revelation on Friday that a document related to one of the influence-peddling scandals implicating the prime minister had been found at a government ministry.

According to Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Ken Saito, the document had been kept at the farm ministry. It allegedly showed that a secretary of Abe's at the time informed local officials that a project to open a veterinary school in Ehime Prefecture is a "matter concerning the prime minister."

Tadao Yanase, Abe's aide at the time, has denied making the comments and has said he does not remember such a meeting with the local officials, which was in contrast to the document's contents.

The meeting was held to discuss the opening of the school, the doors of which opened last week in western Japan by its operator Kake Educational Institution.

Abe has close ties with the school's operator, Kotaro Kake, and suspicions have long been circling that Abe used his influence in the government's approval of the newly-opened department at the Okayama University of Science.

Political observers on Friday said the latest revelation would provide further impetus for the opposition camp to insist the scandal is rectified by Abe and it could take a further toll on the public support rate for Abe's Cabinet and widen distrust in the current administration.

A survey released by Jiji Press on Friday showed that the Abe cabinet's support rate plunged to 38.4 percent, while the disapproval rate rose to 42.6 percent.Representatives of the Philippine Red Cross, Smart Communications and Nokia meet for the drone project. They are (from left) PRC disaster response and chapter support unit head Archieval Molos, operations center manager May Carol Layugan, Finnish Red Cross country delegate Juan Daniel Reyes, Smart community partnerships Joyce Panaligan and Mary Jane Francisco, PRC disaster management services manager Resty Lou Talamayan, Smart community partnerships senior manager Nova Concepcion, Nokia Philippines chief technology officer Timothy Senathirajah, and Nokia Manila Technology Centers Lawrence Madriaga and Kenneth Pingca.

PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications will provide high-speed connectivity for a drone system that will help boost the disaster response efforts of the Philippine Red Cross. Smart will provide connectivity support to Nokia drones, which will be used by the Philippine Red Cross for their humanitarian efforts. The drone system, which will operate on Smarts frequencies during times of emergency, is part of Nokia Saving Lives, a program that aims to provide communications technology and technical assistance to emergency response teams. The initiative was showcased in Barcelona, Spain, at the recent Mobile World Congress organized by GSMA, an organization of nearly 800 operators and more than 300 mobile companies all over the world. The system consists of drones, a portable data center, a mobile broadband network and applications like video streaming, gas sensing, mapping, and analytics, which can help Red Cross responders assess current status of lifelines and analyze immediate needs and gaps. This will enable Red Cross to provide emergency assistance to communities in more timely, effective and efficient ways.Using Smarts high-speed LTE connectivity and Nokias portable Ultra Compact Network, the system can also create a secure communication between drones, other equipment, and rescue team members. The drone can be equipped with different types of cameras, sensors and speakers, and can also be used to carry first aid kits. The portable data center, meanwhile, is a computing and storage unit that can be used for immediate data analysis. Nokia is committed to using technology to make peoples lives better. With our Nokia Manila Technology Center, were honored to collaborate with Smart and the Philippine Red Cross in this disaster management enhancement project utilizing LTE connected drones in Philippines, helping the country improve emergency response, and save lives, said Nicolas Bouverot, head of market unit Asia South.We are happy to be part of this project by providing vital communications support for the operations of the drones. This project is in line with our commitment to deploy tech innovations for the benefit of communities, particularly during times of disasters, said PLDT and Smart public affairs head Ramon R. Isberto. Smart is one of the three founding signatories of GSMAs Human Connectivity Charter. The HCC aims to provide increased access to communication and information of for those affected by calamities, helping reduce loss of lives and contribute to humanitarian response. Since its launch in 2015, HCC has grown to include over 100 mobile operator members and six humanitarian partners across more than 75 countries. HCC was launched to enable network operators and industry partners to formalize their commitments to enhance their capacity to mitigate, prepare for, and respond to disasters through mobile technology. Smarts disaster preparedness programs were cited in GSMA HCCs annual report in 2016. These programs include Smarts Emergency Cell Broadcast System, which sends out location- and hazard-specific alerts; its ICT Bayanihan series of regional summits to institutionalize emergency telecommunications teams; and the Batingaw disaster management app, which has been replicated in the Horn of Africa. In 2017, the report said Smart had sent SMS and ECBS disaster alerts to 10 million people. The company has also been a partner of the Philippine Red Cross for disaster response efforts and blood donation drives. Smart has extended support to Red Cross chapters all over the country on various occasions and in times of calamities by providing communications facilities and helping set up first-aid stations, among other activities. Smarts support to the Red Cross and commitment to HCC are part of the companys #SafePH advocacy, which aims to help build resilient communities and reduce disaster-related casualties through technology.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 23:30:30|Editor: Lifang

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Photo taken on April 14, 2018 shows helicopters during a ceremony show for the "Gulf Shield Joint Exercise-1" in eastern Saudi Arabia. Troops from 25 countries performed a live-ammunition drill in eastern Saudi Arabia on Saturday, one day before the 29th Arab League Summit. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

JUBAIL, Saudi Arabia, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Troops from 25 countries performed a live-ammunition drill in eastern Saudi Arabia on Saturday, one day before the 29th Arab League Summit.

The drill was attended by Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, as well as other countries including Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, India, the United States and Britain.

Soldiers with various weapons simulated sudden attacks, ground battles, airstrikes, amphibious assaults, and airborne assistance, after which a parade of gunships, tanks, armored vehicles, cannons, and vessels was staged.

It is also a ceremony show for the "Gulf Shield Joint Exercise-1" from March 27 to April 7, the biggest such event in the Gulf region.

Abdullah Al Sobeiy, joint operation commander of the drill, said the joint exercise which concluded one week ago has displayed the power of the Gulf region "to fight enemies, and to confront threats and challenges on regional countries."

Qatar also joined Saturday's drill, despite its ongoing rift with the Saudi-led quartet since last year.

On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar over allegations of Doha's support for terrorism and interference in their internal affairs, which Qatar has all denied.

Also on Saturday, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry expressed the kingdom's support for the airstrikes launched by the U.S., Britain and France on Syria earlier in the day, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Therefore, the issue of Syria is expected to lengthen the list of crucial topics during the Arab League Summit to be held in the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran on Sunday.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 23:30:31|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- At 3:55 a.m. local time (0055 GMT) on Saturday, the United States, Britain and France launched a missile attack on military positions in Syrian capital Damascus and the central province of Homs to retaliate for the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons in a rebel-held district east of Damascus last week.

People in Damascus woke up to the sounds of explosions before daybreak, watching red dots flying from earth to the sky, which later appeared to be the air defense responding to around 110 missiles launched by the three Western nations on Syrian military sites.

The Syrian army said in a statement that the air defense system has intercepted most of the missiles, stressing its resolution to continue fighting the foreign-backed terrorism in Syria.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said the defense system intercepted 71 out of 103 missiles launched by the Western forces, giving extra details about the intercepted missiles.

Among the intercepted missiles, four targeted the International Airport of Damascus, 12 were meant to hit the Dumair air base in the countryside of Damascus, and 18 were destroyed before reaching the Beli air base, according to the Russian Defense Ministry statement.

It added five missiles were intercepted out of a total of nine that targeted the Mazzeh district west of Damascus.

Also, 30 missiles targeted Jamraya and Barzeh and the air defense destroyed seven of them while the rest hit their targets.

As for the province of Homs, the air defense system shot down all 12 missiles before reaching the Shuairat air base, the same air base that was targeted last April by the U.S. over similar allegations of chemical weapons use against the Syrian government.

Also in Homs, the air defense deterred 13 out of 16 missiles that targeted the Homs air base.

The attacks came just before the arrival of the international investigators of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), who are supposed to visit the district of Douma, where the alleged gas attack took place last Saturday.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the U.S.-led missile attack was meant to impede the work of the OPCW investigation team, in order to cover the U.S. lies and fabrications about the alleged chemical weapon attack in Douma.

The United States and its Western allies accused the Syrian government of adopting chlorine gas in the latter's recent military operation in Douma, which left civilians to suffocate.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied the allegations, claiming the rebels were fabricating it to draw foreign military action to Eastern Ghouta, the last rebel bastion east of the capital.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that the U.S.-led attack reflects the failure of the Western powers to achieve their goals in Syria after the defeat of the foreign-backed rebel militants, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

Assad made the remarks during a phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who called Assad after the U.S-led strike on Syria, according to SANA.

"The attack took place after the colonial forces which support the terrorists realized that they have lost control... and that they have lost their credibility in front of their people and the world," said Assad.

He stressed his country's firm determination to continue fighting terrorism across Syria.

For his part, Rouhani expressed his strongest condemnation against the attack, stressing Iran's support for Syria.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also strongly condemned the U.S., Britain and France for launching the airstrikes against Syria, calling the attack "a clear violation of international regulations and destruction to Syria's national sovereignty and integrity."

Russia, another key ally of the Syrian government, also condemned the attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the missile strikes "an act of aggression against a sovereignty" which violates the United Nations' charter.

Russia has also called for an immediate UN Security Council meeting to discuss the "aggressive actions" of the United States and its allies, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered the U.S. armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets of the Syrian army that were associated with its chemical weapon capabilities.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said the Saturday's attack was a "one-time shot" to deliver a "strong" message to the Damascus regime.

But in Damascus, people carried on with their daily routine without difficulties after they woke up to the huge explosion sounds.

Earlier on Saturday, dozens of people gathered at the Umayyad Square in the heart of the capital, chanting for Assad and the Syrian army while condemning the U.S.-led attack.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 23:35:31|Editor: yan

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ISTANBUL, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday described the U.S.-led bombing of Syrian sites as "appropriate," expecting the U.S.-Russian conflict to be solved peacefully.

"We spent the night sleepless and followed the operation," Erdogan said at a rally in Istanbul. "We find the operation appropriate."

He said it would be wrong to expect the previous attacks by the Syrian regime to remain unanswered.

"It is not all about the chemicals, more people were slaughtered previously by conventional weapons," he stressed, calling on world countries to put the future of all kinds of weapons on the table for discussions in detail.

"Instead of transferring a massive amount of resources to arms projects, let's use this wealth for the benefit of humanity," said the president.

He also noted that he spoke to British Prime Minister Theresa May earlier in the day over the operation against Syria and that he voiced hope for the conflict between Russia and the U.S. to be settled in a peaceful way.

The U.S., Britain and France hit Syrian military facilities with a wave of joint airstrikes early Saturday in response to an alleged chemical attack blamed on the Syrian military, sparking an outcry from Syria, Russia and Iran.

Turkey has been working with Russia and Iran through the so-called Astana process to achieve peace in Syria, but it has rejected direct dialogue with Damascus until now.ATHENS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Greece on Saturday called on the international community to "remain focused on finding a political and sustainable solution in Syria" following the U.S.-led air strikes against Damascus over the alleged use of chemical weapons.

"Greece unequivocally condemns the use of chemical weapons and supports the efforts to eradicate them. The international community must thoroughly investigate every relevant incident and perpetrators must be held accountable," read an e-mailed statement issued by the Greek Foreign Ministry.

"At the same time, the international community must remain focused on finding a political and sustainable solution in Syria; a solution that will end the war and restore peace in the country and the region, that will allow for the return of millions of refugees to their homes, and that will protect the whole population, including all religious and cultural communities," the statement continued.

Athens called all sides to contribute to efforts to reach ceasefire and assure access to humanitarian aid for battered populations.

"Diplomacy must return to centre stage, and the efforts within the framework of the UN must be continued," the ministry underlined.

Greece's steady policy is that its participation in military operations comes only under UN Security Council mandate, Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yorgos Katrougalos added when asked by local media regarding Greece's stance following the latest developments.

Also on Saturday, Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini expressed his disappointment with the western powers following the overnight attack on Syria.

"The situation in Syria has been horrible for seven years. I am so disappointed with great powers," Soini said, adding that he believes a political dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations will be the only solution.ADDIS ABABA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is currently addressing the various groups of the Ethiopian society, will meet 25,000 representatives of the Ethiopian community and the diplomatic community on Sunday.

The address will take place in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Sunday, Negeri Lencho, Ethiopia's Government Communication Affairs Office Minister told local media on Saturday.

The meeting, which is scheduled to be held at the Millennium Hall in the capital, will bring together officials from federal and regional governments, religious leaders, representatives of women and youth, academia and experts from various disciplines, according to Lencho.

Ahmed's first ever meeting with the public in the capital Addis Ababa is also to be joined by representatives of the diplomatic community that are based in Addis Ababa, which is home to more than 140 diplomatic missions and the headquarters of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The premier has been addressing Ethiopians residing outside the capital over the past week, in which he assured the public of unity and equality.

Ahmed's first trip earlier this week took him to the conflict-hit Somali regional state, followed by a meeting with residents of Ambo town in Ethiopia's largest Oromia regional state, a town that has been a hotbed of protests for the past few years.

He also hosted a dinner reception for the East African country's opposition leaders on Thursday night, in which he promised to widen the democratic space as well as to work with opposition figures so as to bring better socioeconomic conditions for Ethiopia - a country that was rocked by incessant unrests and mass anti-government demonstrations since the second half of 2016.

As part of his third trip outside the capital, Ahmed also on Friday went to the northern city of Mekele, capital of Tigray regional state.ISLAMABAD, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A terrorism attack was foiled by the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad and two suicide jackets along with arms and ammunition were recovered on Saturday, local media reported.

According to local police officials, two explosives-laden jackets and arms were found from the capital's Golra area in the G-14 sector neighborhood, adding that the recovered arms and ammunition included hand grenades, ball bearings, pistols and bullets.

Islamabad's police said that the suicide vests weighed six to eight kilograms and have been made recently to carry out the terrorist activity in the city.

Bomb disposal squad of police successfully defused the jackets and a search operation was also being conducted in the area to arrest the culprits, the reports added.

Police's timely action saved the country's capital from an untoward incident, said Dunya News while quoting security officials, adding that the Counter Terrorism Department registered first information report and launched an investigation into the incident.

The incident also spread terror among the residents of Islamabad. Security forces have issued high alert in the city and additional contingents are deployed at the sensitive points.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-14 23:45:33|Editor: yan

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SHANGHAI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese edition of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie will be published in China to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Scottish writer Muriel Spark's birth.

Visiting Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the publication at Fudan University in Shanghai earlier this week.

Shanghai and Edinburgh international art festivals has signed a memorandum of cooperation to commission and produce a Chinese contemporary dance performance "The Rite of Spring."

Fusing oriental tales and modern dance, the performance will make its international debut in October during the 20th China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF), and move onto the stage at the 72nd Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) in August 2019.

Bilateral exchange has also been active in the educational sector. According to Sturgeon, more than 9,000 students from China now study in Scotland's universities, and over 30,000 people at Scottish schools study Mandarin.

"As a result, communities across Scotland mark the Chinese lunar new year, just as Burns night is celebrated regularly in Shanghai and Beijing," said Sturgeon, believing those interactions between young people really augurs well for the future friendship and relationship between the two countries.

Meanwhile, more and more Chinese tourists are choosing Scotland as their travel destination.

According to Scottish government, the total money spent by Chinese visitors in Scotland has increased by 414 percent -- from 7 million euros(8.63 million U.S. dollars) to 36 million euros since 2007. Over the same period, the number of visitors from China increased by 192 percent, with 41,000 in 2016.UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said Saturday that his delegation is putting forward a "brief" draft resolution for the UN Security Council to vote on at the end of Saturday's emergency meeting on Syria.

The resolution is most likely to condemn the missile attacks on Syria carried out jointly by the United States, France and Britain on Friday.

"We call on the United States and its allies to immediately end the aggressive actions against Syria and to refrain from them in the future," Nebenzia told the Security Council, branding Friday's airstrikes as "hooliganism in international relations."Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-15 01:25:45|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Saturday strongly condemned the U.S.-led strike on Syria's military facilities joined by Britain and France.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced the airstrikes on Syria as a "crime."

"I overtly declare that the presidents of the United States and France and the prime minister of Britain have committed crimes (in Syria) and are criminals," Khamenei said in a meeting with Iranian officials and the ambassadors of Islamic countries on his official website.

"They (the U.S. and its allies) will not gain from their raid on Syria, as they did not benefit from their crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria over the past years," he added.

"Those (the U.S.-led coalition in the region) who were overtly and covertly supporting Daesh (the Islamic State) claim that they have confronted and defeated them. That's a lie. That is not the case. They had no role," Khamenei said.

The United States created the "evil creatures" called Daesh, using the money of Saudi Arabia and others, he said.

However, the resistance against Washington and its agents saved Iraq and Syria, he added.

Khamenei emphasized that "the United States will not achieve anything (in the region) in the future no matter how much money it spends."

Also, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned Saturday that the U.S.-led attack on Syria will result in "further destruction" of the region.

The U.S., Israel, France and Britain have not learned their lessons from the situation in the region over the past two decades, Rouhani was quoted by official IRNA news agency as saying in a meeting with Khamenei.

"They are angry with (the defeat of) the terrorist groups in Syria's Eastern Ghouta," he said, referring to the recent victory by Syrian troops to drive out rebel forces from the suburban area in east of Syrian capital Damascus.

"The aggression led by the United States will lead to further destruction and annihilation of the region," Rouhani said, adding that "they seek to justify their presence in the region by such invasion."

Rouhani urged the Syrian people for more resistance to the United States, while reaffirming Iran's support for the Syrian government.

In the meantime, in a telephone conversation with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Rouhani said that such attacks run counter to the principles of international law and are considered a blatant support for terrorism, according to Press TV.

"At a time that terrorists are suffering a defeat in Syria on a daily basis, such aggressive act certainly means support for these defeated groups," Rouhani was quoted as saying.

The three countries' act of aggression against the Syrian government and nation was a practical move to strengthen terrorism in the region, he said, adding that undermining a country's national sovereignty was tantamount to creating regional instability.

"As we have repeatedly emphasized, the presence of any foreign forces in Syria without its government's permission is against international regulations and is a violation of Syria's territory," Rouhani said.

No foreign power can make decisions about the future of Syria, he pointed out. "The country's people are the main decision-makers."

He stressed that "Iran will continue its activity in all international circles, particularly in cooperation with Russia and Turkey, to help achieve peace and stability in the region and in Syria."

For his part, Assad said the missile attacks would have no impact on the Syrian government and people, adding that they would continue their fight against terrorists.

The Syrian president noted that London, Paris and Washington carried out the airstrikes after they failed to achieve their goals through political means and emphasized that the strikes brought them no military achievements.

Besides, Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on Saturday in a statement.

The U.S. and its allies have invaded Syria "without any proof" of the use of chemical weapons and "they are responsible for their adventurism," the statement said.

The strikes on Syria have been carried out to boost the morale of the terrorist groups following their defeat by the Syrian army, it said.

"However, the Syrian people will annul the plots to change the situation in favor of the terrorist groups," it added.

Earlier Saturday morning, the United States, in cooperation with Britain and France, attacked Syrian military facilities reportedly related to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

The move was to retaliate for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops early the month in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the Syrian capital Damascus.

The Syrian government has strongly denied the allegations.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-15 01:50:48|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A Russian envoy to the United Nations on Saturday accused the United States of violating international law by conducting airstrikes against Syria without the approval of the Security Council.

"This is how you want international affairs to be conducted now?" Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said at a Security Council emergency meeting requested by Russia.

The Russian envoy described the attacks as an act of "hooliganism in the international arena."

The U.S. actions led to deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria, he noted.

Russia asked the Security Council to condemn the "aggression" against Syria from military strikes conducted by the United States, Britain and France, also permanent members of the Security Council.

Russia circulated a draft resolution ahead of the Council meeting to discuss the military operation by the three countries in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.

The brief draft, which was seen by Xinhua, contains only five paragraphs with three operative ones. It condemns "the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the U.S. and its allies in violation of international law and the UN Charter."

It further demands that the United States and its allies immediately end military action against Syria and refrain from any further use of force in the future.

The Russian ambassador has insisted the council vote on the Russian text at the end of Saturday's emergency meeting, which his delegation had requested.

The United States, France and Britain, all of them permanent members of the Security Council, launched missile attacks in Syria on Friday following reports of chemical weapons use in Douma near the capital city of Damascus on April 7.

Nebenzia blamed Friday's joint military strikes, saying they violated international law and undermined the authority of the Security Council.

He reiterated that no chemical attack had happened in Douma.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said at Saturday's emergency meeting that the three countries "acted to deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the Syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity."

She noted that "a large body of information" indicated that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in Douma on April 7.

Haley indicated that the military action came after an impasse at the Security Council.

"We did not give diplomacy just one chance. We gave diplomacy chance after chance. Six times: That's how many times Russia vetoed Security Council resolutions to address chemical weapons in Syria," she told the Security Council.Posted Saturday, April 14, 2018 4:45 am

Arrests

The following arrests were reported by the Webster County Sheriffs Office and are not meant as an indication of guilt.

March 13

 Ryan W. Freeman, 28, was arrested on a Texas County warrant for driving while revoked.

 Thomas T. Rear, 21, came in on a Webster County warrant for receiving stolen property.

 Emily R. Emberg, 30, was arrested on an Ozark Police Department warrant for possession of drug paraphernalia.

 Tina M. Esquivel, 39, came in on a Webster County warrant for fourth-degree assault.

 Jamie L. Hance, 37, was placed on a 24-hour hold for possession of a controlled substance and an El Dorado Springs warrant for property damage.

 Michael R. Martinez, 22, came in on a Webster County warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

March 14

 Jonathan W. Lynn, 25, was arrested on a Webster County warrant for endangering the welfare of a child.

 Brian K. Matlock, 49, was brought in on a Webster County warrant for sodomy, violation of an order of protection, second-degree assault, and failure to register a motor vehicle.

 Shawn A. Jackson, 41, was arrested on a Webster County warrant.

 Ashley D. Dooley, 30, was brought in on a Webster County warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

 Todd A. Chance, 32, was arrested on a Webster County warrant for tampering with a motor vehicle and possession of a controlled substance.

 Rhett D. Wilson, 20, came in on a Webster County warrant for a commitment sentence.

 Melissa D. Brown, 40, was arrested for driving while revoked.

 Kalay M. Julian, 23, was arrested on a violation of an ex parte order.

 Cassandra A. Crocker, 19, was arrested on Marshfield warrants for failure to register a motor vehicle, no insurance and no valid drivers license.

 Mike E. Scranlin, 40, was arrested on a Webster County warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

 Jordan K. Phelps, 19, was arrested for excessive blood alcohol content.

March 15

 Jolene E. Ireland, 27, was brought in on a Webster County warrant for a commitment sentence.

 Diana L. Rankin, 54, was arrested on a Greene County warrant for possession of drug paraphernalia.

 Brandyn D. Shipman, 52, was arrested on Webster County warrants for failure to register a motor vehicle and no insurance.

March 16

 Deven R. Bowe, 22, was arrested on a Greene County warrant for displaying plates of another.

 Sarah F. Brake, 31, was placed on a 24-hour hold for tampering with a motor vehicle and possession of drug paraphernalia.

 Jeffery T. Higdon, 21, was arrested on Marshfield warrants for littering, possession of drug paraphernalia, excessive noise, trespassing, defective equipment, speeding, stealing, failure to stop, careless and imprudent driving, possession of marijuana and a Hickory County warrant for a conservation violation.

 Jerry L. Sunken, 39, was brought in on a writ for court.

 Stuart W. Yost, 29, was arrested on a Webster County warrant for receiving stolen property, a Douglas County warrant for a probation violation and an Ava Police Department warrant for defective equipment.

 Samantha H. Brake, 22, was placed on a 24-hour hold for tampering with a motor vehicle.

March 17

 William J. Bigley, 35, was arrested on a Webster County warrant for a probation violation.

 Jared E. Lowder, 25, was placed on a 24-hour hold for possession of a controlled substance.

 Joseph T. Woods, 27, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

 James A. Haley, 44, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

 Eric J. Fredrick, 26, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

 Terry L. Rippee, 56, was arrested for driving while suspended.

 Mikael L. Werner, 18, was arrested on a Wright County warrant for no insurance.

March 18

 Brandon P. Kehoe, 19, was arrested on Marshfield warrants for minor in possession, no valid drivers license, failure to register a motor vehicle and no insurance, and a Strafford warrant for no insurance.

 Kenneth A. Cline, 32, was placed on a 24-hour hold for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, Marshfield warrants for driving while revoked and stealing, and a Laclede County warrant for a non-moving traffic violation.

 Jordan R. Rozell, 20, was arrested for driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest and third-degree assault of a law enforcement officer.

March 19

 Nicholas S. Buell, 30, was arrested for driving while revoked.

 Alisha L. Jackson, 30, was arrested on a Springfield warrant for trespassing.

 Brayton L. Williamson, 24, came in on a Laclede County warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

 Timothy J. Strickland, 18, was arrested on a parole violation.

 Jeremiah A. Kaberlein, 25, was arrested for driving while revoked, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

 Brandon W. Cantrell, 38, was arrested on a Springfield warrant for larceny.

 Mackenzie W. Ragsdale, 27, was brought in on Webster County warrants for possession of a controlled substance and stealing.

 Jimmy E. Evans, 20, came in on Webster County warrants for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

 Jennifer N. Butler, 27, was arrested on a Webster County warrant for a probation violation and a Christian County warrant for leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident.

 Rocky R. Young, 40, was placed on a 12-hour detox.

Filings

Declaratory judgment

March 21

 Stephanie Mansfield v. Aurora Financial Group et al

March 26

 Robert L. Waltrip v. Missouri Department of Revenue

Change of name

March 23

 In re: Dalton J. Williams-Atkinson

March 27

 In re: Monica D. Tosspon

Dissolution with children

March 23

 Amanda D. Joy v. Jason M. Joy

March 26

 Laura B. Boswell v. Thomas W. Boswell

March 27

 Justin L. Burney v. Shayna M. Burney

Dissolution without children

March 22

 Jessica L. Walker v. Michael S. Walker

Motion to modify

March 21

 Dena Marie Stewart v. Jeffrey Abe Stewart

March 23

 Daniel R. Riggs v. Paula J. Riggs

Felony

March 27

 State of Missouri v. Joshua Keith Harris

 State of Missouri v. Morgan Roberts

 State of Missouri v. Lance Tyler Jones

 State of Missouri v. Katherine Quiroz

 State of Missouri v. Kirby Norman

 State of Missouri v. Scot A. Daellenbach

 State of Missouri v. Marissa Ann Swigert

 State of Missouri v. James-Robert K. Akers

 State of Missouri v. Darin L. Maples

 State of Missouri v. Matthew R. Miller

 State of Missouri v. Taylor D. Jones

 State of Missouri v. Jordan R. Rozell

Certificate of lien - Department of Revenue taxes

March 23

 Department of Revenue - CE v. George S. Hallett

 Department of Revenue - CE v. George H. Hodgkin

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Jackie W. Myers

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Katherine D. Hastings

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Larry D. Maggard

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Tanya Yates

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Savannah Waszczuk

Administrative order

March 27

 Christina Demos v. Nickolous A. Demos

Transcript judgment

March 21

 Division of Employment Security - cont. v. Welker Transportation LLC

Dispositions

The following dispositions were reported by the Webster County Circuit Clerks office.

Transcript judgment

March 21

 Division of Employment Security - cont. v. Welker Transportation LLC - Other final disposition.

Administrative order

March 27

 Christina Demos v. Nickolous A. Demos - Other final disposition.

Certificate of lien - Department of Revenue taxes

March 23

 Department of Revenue - CE v. George S. Hallett - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. George H. Hodgkin - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Jackie W. Myers - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Katherine D. Hastings - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Larry D. Maggard - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Tanya Yates - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Savannah Waszczuk - Other final disposition.

Felony

March 26

 State of Missouri v. Nicholas Noah Huskey - Guilty plea.

 State of Missouri v. Thomas C. Woods - Guilty plea.

Personal injury - vehicular

March 21

 Edward Hall v. Lori Wildeisen - Dismissed by parties.

Personal injury - other

March 22

 Beverly Whipple v. Autozone Stores, LLC et al - Dismissed by parties.

Employment discrimination 213.111

March 23

 Marianne Dinwiddie v. Webco Manor - Dismissed by parties.

Dissolution without children

March 26

 Susan L. Brown v. Clark W. Brown - Consent judgment.

March 27

 Kyleigh A. Dean v. Justin J. Dean - Consent judgment.

Dissolution with children

March 21

 Sarah G. Silkey v. Darren W. Silkey - Consent judgment.

 Cameron R. Potts v. Judy K. Potts - Consent judgment.

Judgments

The following judgments were reported by the Webster County Circuit Clerks office.

March 21

 Dorothy M. Archie v. Scott E. Archie. Court enters judgment of modification.

 Sarah G. Silkey v. Darren W. Silkey. Court dissolves marriage. Debts and property divided.

 Division of Employment Security - cont. v. Welker Transportation LLC. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $700.99.

March 22

 Johnny M. Massoni v. Laurie A. Vanderhoof. Court grants modification.

March 23

 Department of Revenue - CE v. George S. Hallett. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $558.02.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Katherine D. Hastings. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $183.79.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. George H. Hodgkin. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $705.94.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Larry D. Maggard. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $103.03.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Jackie W. Myers. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $481.25.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Savannah V. Waszczuk. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $280.35.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Tanya Yates. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $915.36.

March 26

 Susan L. Brown v. Clark W. Brown. Court dissolves marriage. Property divided.

 State of Missouri v. Nicholas Noah Huskey. Guilty pleas entered by Huskey for first-degree property damage, forgery and possession of a controlled substance, sentenced to three years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on each count, to be served concurrently.

 State of Missouri v. Karlton C. Kinnick. Probation revoked, sentence of seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections previously imposed but suspended is ordered executed, pursuant to RSMo 559.115 (institutional treatment center). Sentence to be served concurrent with separate case.

 State of Missouri v. Adam Trae McGauley. Probation revoked, defendant sentenced to serve seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for second-degree burglary, with restitution previously ordered to remain a condition if defendant is paroled.

 State of Missouri v. Tony Lynn Patterson. Probation revoked, defendants sentence to 10 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for possession of a controlled substance previously imposed but suspended is ordered executed, with credit for time served.

 Cameron R. Potts v. Judy K. Potts. Court dissolves marriage. Debts and property divided.

 State of Missouri v. April Robertson. Probation revoked, defendants sentenced of five years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for possession of a controlled substance previously imposed but suspended is ordered executed, pursuant to RSMo 559.115 (institutional treatment center).

 State of Missouri v. Thomas C. Woods. Guilty plea entered by Woods for forgery, sentenced to four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, concurrent with any other cases.

March 27

 Kyleigh A. Dean v. Justin J. Dean. Court dissolves marriage. Property divided.

Marshfield P.D.

The following calls were handled by the Marshfield Police Department.

Feb. 16

 Assisted agency in the area of Interstate 44.

 Checked well being of person in the 1300 block of Spur Drive.

 Assisted motorist in the 900 block of Washington.

 Responded to theft in the 800 block of Jameson.

 Assisted paramedics in the 700 block of Tomahawk.

 Assisted agency in the area of Interstate 44.

 Assisted citizen in the 1100 block of Spur Drive.

 Assisted motorist in the 200 block of White Oak.

 Responded to alarm in the 1100 block of Spur Drive.

 Assisted motorist in the 300 block of Route DD.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the 700 block of Marshall.

Feb. 17

 Responded to alarm in the 1100 block of Spur Drive.

 Responded to 911 call in the 600 block of Vine.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the area of Jefferson and Hubble.

 Checked well being of person in the area of Spur Drive and Banning.

 Responded to theft in the 900 block of Washington.

 Responded to disturbance in the 700 block of Marshall.

 Checked well being of person in the 500 block of Locust.

 Checked well being of person in the 200 block of Madison.

 Responded to parking complaint in the 200 block of White Oak.

 Responded to suspicious vehicle in the area of Jefferson and Hubble.

Feb. 18

 Checked well being of person in the 600 block of First.

 Assisted motorist in the 700 block of Olive.

 Checked well being of person in the 600 block of Commercial.

 Responded to animal complaint in the 700 block of Olive.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 600 block of First.

 Responded to motor vehicle wreck in the area of Hubble and Banning.

Feb. 19

 Traffic stop made in the area of Spur Drive and Blair. One subject arrested.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 300 block of Buffalo.

 Responded to alarm in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

 Responded to theft in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

 Responded to juvenile complaint in the 300 block of Marshall.

 Checked suspicious subject in the 1000 block of Banning.

 Checked well being of person in the 1300 block of Spur Drive.

 Responded to report of property damage in the 800 block of Smith.

 Assisted motorist in the 1300 block of Washington.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the area of Interstate 44.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the area of Pine and Highway 38.

 Checked suspicious subject in the 1100 block of Richwater.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the 300 block of Route DD.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 300 block of Buffalo.

 Responded to alarm in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

Feb. 20

 Responded to motor vehicle wreck in the 500 block of Lindsey.

 Assisted citizen in the 400 block of Pine.

 Assisted motorist in the 800 block of Washington.

 Assisted citizen in the 300 block of Crittenden.

 Assisted motorist in the 900 block of Washington.

 Assisted motorist in the 300 block of Young.

 Assisted motorist in the 900 block of Washington.

 Responded to alarm in the 1100 block of Spur Drive.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 200 block of McVay.

 Assisted citizen in the 300 block of Vine.

 Assisted agency in the 4000 block of Route W.

Feb. 21

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the area of Spur Drive and Route OO. One subject arrested.

 Checked well being of person in the 100 block of Alford.

 Assisted motorist in the 600 block of Washington.

 Checked well being of person in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

 Assisted agency in the area of Washington and Webster Lane.

 Checked well being of person in the 1400 block of Glenwood.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the area of Jackson and Washington.

 Assisted citizen in the 1200 block of Sunset.

 Assisted citizen in the 700 block of Marshall.

 Assisted citizen in the 800 block of Madison.

 Responded to disturbance in the 200 block of Crestwood.

 Responded to theft in the 1300 block of Spur Drive.

 Checked well being of person in the 600 block of Church Street.

 Responded to theft in the 200 block of White Oak.

 Responded to disturbance in the 200 block of White Oak.

 Traffic stop made in the 1300 block of Banning. One subject arrested.

Feb. 22

 Assisted agency in the 600 block of First.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the area of Foxtrot Ridge and Route W.

 Assisted agency in the 600 block of First.

 Assisted citizen in the 400 block of Hubble.

 Responded to 911 call in the 300 block of Jackson.

 Responded to theft in the 700 block of Hubble.

 Responded to theft in the 900 block of Washington.

 Responded to disturbance in the 500 block of White Oak.

 Responded to noise complaint in the 800 block of Tomahawk.

 Responded to disturbance in the 500 block of White Oak. One subject arrested.

County commission

The following are minutes from recent meetings of the Webster County Commission.

Feb. 12

 The commission did not meet Monday, Feb. 12, in observance of Lincolns Birthday, a holiday recognized by the state of Missouri.

Feb. 13

 Chris Young, representing Murphy Tractor & Equipment Co., discussed equipment leasing programs.

 Shelly Clift, deputy county clerk, presented invoices against funds under commission supervision. Said invoices were reviewed and approved.

 Mary Clair, treasurer, presented invoices paid against officeholder side funds for commission review. She also presented a report of sales tax revenues received from the state during the first two months of the calendar year.

 Wayne Turner, special projects manager for the road and bridge department, gave an update.

 Dale Hartwell, maintenance supervisor, gave a department update.

 Tom Simmons, emergency management director, requested approval of Order #2018-01, drafted by the county clerk to reaffirm and clarify the terms of the creation in 1991 of the Webster County Emergency Management Agency. The order also re-states the countys acceptance of the training standards of the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

Associate commissioner Dale Fraker moved to adopt the order as presented. Associate commissioner Randy Owens seconded. The vote in favor was unanimous; motion carried.

 The commission participated in a monthly jail progress meeting. Also present were: Adam Kuehl, HMN Architects; Nick Smith, Jeff Harrelson and Craig Erickson, of Septagon Construction Management; Sheriff Roye Cole; Ben Berkstresser, prosecuting attorney; Mary Clair, treasurer; Stan Whitehurst, county clerk; Mike Sturdefant, road and bridge department supervisor; Corporal Jared Riley; and Nathan Morris, IT Supervisor. Sam Rost, deputy city administrator, joined the meeting mid-stream.

Erickson started with a recap of construction progress to date (limited thus far to excavation, compaction and installation of stormwater/sewer drainage lines). He stated that the road and bridge department will need to return to the site for additional rock breaking and excavation. When the commission expressed surprise, Smith curtly replied that the work required was routine and would be limited.

Smith then led a review of items requiring action. The first such item dealt with resolution of whether the commission would add Alternate 4  finishing the second floor (sheriffs office), rather leave a section unfinished for future expansion.

A long, tense discussion ensued. The design team took on the role of advocates in favor of proceeding with the alternate (thereby expanding the project by an additional $199,511). The sheriff also argued in favor, and presiding commissioner Paul Ipock immediately agreed. Commissioners Owens and Fraker expressed serious reservations. At one point, the county clerk tried to suggest that adequate review of the second floor layout had never been given  and that the level of custom work and built ins in the sheriffs area appeared to be significant cost drivers; however, Smith curtly cut off debate. Further, he asked for the commission to make their decision immediately to keep the project from getting behind schedule. Smith assured the associate commissioners that the additional work could be accomplished without increasing the projects $18,650,000 budget by simply deducting the added cost from the line item for contingency. Owens pointed out that this would only leave a contingency of only around $300,000, an amount he felt was inadequate for a project of this size. Kuehl suggested that if the project ran into cost overruns, funds could also be taken out of the amount budgeted for FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment). When it was pointed out that no FF&E budget had been developed, the professionals stated that was not their responsibility. Fraker returned to the issue of the size of the contingency, pointedly questioning whether Smith felt that a contingency of less than 2 percent of the construction cost was an adequate safety net. Smith stated he was comfortable with $300,000 as a reserve.

Not convinced, but also not seeing any other option, Owens moved to proceed with Alternate 4. Fraker stated he would reluctantly second. The vote in favor was unanimous; motion carried.

The sheriff expressed appreciation for the decision, to which Owens replied he wanted it made clear that the sheriff (or others) should not even ask for anything else, as he would not support any more additions to the project.

With the jail progress meeting moving well into its allotted time, Smith moved to the next action item  approval of a change order to Gillespie Excavating Company LLC for breaking and removal of rock in a trench for the storm drain line on the northwest boundary of the site. Fraker moved to approve the change order, at an additional cost of $49,450.50. Owens seconded. The vote in favor was unanimous; motion carried.

Another change order was presented, deducting the precast concrete walls around the facilitys generator (and footings), and replacing them with chain link fence. Owens moved to approve the change, which would result in a decrease in cost of $21,243. Fraker seconded. The vote in favor was unanimous; motion carried.

Another change order was suggested, replacing sheet rock walls in an inmate holding area near the proposed third floor courtroom with masonry walls, and adding a metal security ceiling. However, final pricing for this was not yet available, and the matter was postponed for further review.

Sam Rost asked the architect and construction managers about what type of underground utility connection was called for to provide water to the fire suppression system  and whether the cost was included in the project budget or would be the responsibility of the county or city to provide. No clear answer was given, but the matter was dropped due to time considerations.

The final order of business was approval of expenses. Fraker moved to approve packet #3, with invoices totaling $179,971.90. Owens seconded. The vote in favor was unanimous; motion carried.

 Mike Sturdefant, road and bridge department supervisor, and Dorisel Bennett, Fordland crew chief, engaged in a lengthy review of operations including: equipment needs for the road and bridge department; personnel issues; and the schedule for current projects in both the north and south commission districts.

 The commission interviewed a candidate for the position of courthouse custodian.

Feb. 14

 On Wednesday morning, Feb. 14, Ipock participated in a phone conference call as part of the Council of Local Elected Officials (CLEO) of the Workforce Investment Board.

Food service inspections

The following are Webster County restaurant and food service inspections.

Restaurants are graded using a state-issued matrix that rates restaurants according to current health codes. Violations are categorized as either priority or core. Priority items are more likely than other violations to contribute to food contamination, illness, or an environmental health hazard. A priority items application supports, facilitates or enables the elimination, prevention or reduction of hazards associated with foodborne illness or injury to an acceptable level. Core items may lead to conditions favorable for food contamination, illness or environmental health hazards. Core items include general sanitation, operational controls, sanitation standard operating procedures, facilities or structures, equipment design, or general maintenance.

The Webster County Health Units environmental public health specialist is in charge of restaurant inspections, along with the inspection of schools, gas stations and senior citizen centers.

In an effort to make this report more reader friendly, verbiage in this report may differ slightly from the exact wording used by the inspector on the official inspection report form. For a copy of official inspection forms, please contact the Webster County Health Unit at 859-2532.

Pizza Hut

1340 W. Jefferson, Marshfield

Type of inspection: Routine

March 13

Priority violations

 Soda fountain has grime build-up on spouts. Correct by next routine inspection.

Core violations

 Vent hoods over fryers and pizza ovens in need of cleaning. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Hard-to-reach areas are in need of more frequent cleaning. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Cups for customers not completely air dried before storage. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Fan unit in walk-in cooler has dust accumulation. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Floor near 3-compartment sink in need of repair. Correct by next routine inspection.

Apple Market  Meat

319 S. Main St., Rogersville

Type of inspection: Routine

March 15

Priority violations

 No priority violations observed.

Core Violations

 No core violations observed.

Apple Market - Grocery

319 S. Main St., Rogersville

Type of inspection: Routine

March 15

Priority violations

 Ice machine near back storage 3-compartment sink has major particle accumulation. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Store manager not on shift. Corrected at the time of inspection.

Core violations

 Unshielded bulbs in produce walk-in cooler. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Fan unit in walk-in produce cooler is dirty. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Lack of viewable thermometers throughout facility. Correct by next routine inspection.

Apple Market - Deli

319 S. Main St., Rogersville

Type of inspection: Routine

March 15

Priority violations

 Deli cooler not holding foods at 41 F or under. Thermometer reading at 47 F. Correct by April 15.

 Deli slicer has major food accumulation and in need of more frequent cleaning. Correct by April 15.

Core violations

 Walk-in freezer has unshielded bulbs. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Uncovered food items in walk-in cooler. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Walk-in freezer floors have grime buildup. Correct by next routine inspection.

 Pans stored too close to hand sink, hazardous for possible contamination. Correct by next routine inspection.

Marriages

The following marriage licenses were issued by the Webster County Recorders office.

 Terrill Lee Van Zante, 74, Springfield, and Barbara Kay Maness, 59, Marshfield.

 Daniel Lee Lewis, 23, Bolivar, and Julian Elizabeth Lawson, 22, Tallahassee, Florida.

 John Christian Anderson, 61, Heppner, Oregon, and Lori Leigh Bennett, 53, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

 Terry Shane Kindred, 45, and Rose Ann Chambers, 52, both of Marshfield.

 Joshua B. Mitchell, 32, and Cheyenne Cheri Jordan, 33, both of Fair Grove.

 Crista Dawnell Pambianco, 43, and Amanda June Beckley, 28, both of Fordland.

 Willis Albert King, 49, and Janie Irene Glenn, 45, both of Fordland.

 Christian N. M. Schwartz, 19, and Priscilla E. P. Schwartz, 18, both of Seymour.

 Dylan Michael Kruse, 20, and Sierra Marie Scott, 18, both of Springfield.

 Armond Eugene Pitts, 38, and Misty Dawn Shahan, 37, both of Springfield.

 Michael Garrett Harleman, 22, and Rebecca Jo Luebbert, 19, both of Marshfield.BERLIN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Germany is to push for new international efforts together with France to achieve a lasting ceasefire in Syria, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Saturday.

Maas said a new format of talks on the issues of Syria would be introduced since earlier talks in Geneva, Astana and Sochi failed to contain the conflicts.

He added Germany and France will work on all "influential states" to seek a political solution in the war-torn country.

Representatives from Germany, France, the United States and Britain is set to meet in London on Sunday, coordinating future possible measures after U.S.-led strike on Syria on early Saturday.

The air raids targeted at Syrian government forces in response to the alleged chemical weapon use in the rebel-held town Douma a week ago.

The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news used by the West to justify its attacks on Syria.

The German government has maintained a clear stance on the incident as some local media dubbed "Ready to help, but not militarily."

Earlier in this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said twice that Germany would not participate in possible strikes on Syria, but would fully support "all diplomatic steps" and works of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Although Germany has deployed planes over Syria and ships on the Mediterranean, their tasks are strictly restricted to recon, refuel and logistics. The troops need parliamentary authorization to operate beyond their current mission.Photo taken on April 10, 2018 shows Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia attending a Security Council meeting on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia on Thursday warned the United States against military action on Syria. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A Russian envoy to the United Nations on Saturday accused the United States of violating international law by conducting airstrikes against Syria without the approval of the Security Council.

"This is how you want international affairs to be conducted now?" Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said at a Security Council emergency meeting requested by Russia.

The Russian envoy described the attacks as an act of "hooliganism in the international arena."

The U.S. actions led to deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria, he noted.

Russia asked the Security Council to condemn the "aggression" against Syria from military strikes conducted by the United States, Britain and France, also permanent members of the Security Council.

Russia circulated a draft resolution ahead of the Council meeting to discuss the military operation by the three countries in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.

The brief draft, which was seen by Xinhua, contains only five paragraphs with three operative ones. It condemns "the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the U.S. and its allies in violation of international law and the UN Charter."

It further demands that the United States and its allies immediately end military action against Syria and refrain from any further use of force in the future.

The Russian ambassador has insisted the council vote on the Russian text at the end of Saturday's emergency meeting, which his delegation had requested.

The United States, France and Britain, all of them permanent members of the Security Council, launched missile attacks in Syria on Friday following reports of chemical weapons use in Douma near the capital city of Damascus on April 7.

Nebenzia blamed Friday's joint military strikes, saying they violated international law and undermined the authority of the Security Council.

He reiterated that no chemical attack had happened in Douma.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said at Saturday's emergency meeting that the three countries "acted to deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the Syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity."

She noted that "a large body of information" indicated that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in Douma on April 7.

Haley indicated that the military action came after an impasse at the Security Council.

"We did not give diplomacy just one chance. We gave diplomacy chance after chance. Six times: That's how many times Russia vetoed Security Council resolutions to address chemical weapons in Syria," she told the Security Council.PARIS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron called on the UN Security Council to resume initiative to handle political situation and end the humanitarian crisis in Syria after U.S.-led strike reached their target, his office said on Saturday.

Speaking by phone with American and British leaders, Macron asked the UN Security Council to take up "in unity" political and humanitarian initiatives, in addition to act to prevent further use of chemical arms "to ensure the protection of the civilian population and in order that this country finally finds peace."

"On each of these topics, France continues to propose and act as we have done for eleven months," he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Macron gave the green light to the French military to join the United States and Britain in an operation targeting "clandestine chemical arsenal" in Syria.

The decision came after Syrian government forces allegedly used chemical weapons against rebels in Douma, a town near Damascus, earlier this month.

The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news used by the West to justify its attacks on Syria.United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C, front) addresses a Security Council emergency meeting on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, April 14, 2018. Russia has requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council for Saturday to discuss the situation after airstrikes in Syria by the United States, France and Britain. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday expressed concern over Friday's joint military action against Syria by the United States, France and Britain, and called for adherence to the UN Charter and international law on the issue.

"As secretary-general of the United Nations, it is my duty to remind member states that there is an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nations and with international law in general," Guterres told an emergency Security Council meeting requested by Russia.

"The UN Charter is very clear on these issues. The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. I call on the members of the Security Council to unite and exercise that responsibility," he said.

"I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people."

He repeated the need to avoid the situation from spiraling out of control.

"In Syria, we see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies, a number of armed opposition groups, many national and international militia, foreign fighters from everywhere in the world, and various terrorist organizations." he said.

"From the beginning, we have witnessed systematic violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international law tout court -- in utter disregard of the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter."

Guterres said he had been following closely the reports of airstrikes in Syria conducted by the three countries, all of them are permanent members of the Security Council.

The three countries indicated that they were targeting the chemical weapons capabilities of the Syrian government and to deter their future use, said Guterres.

The airstrikes were reportedly limited to three military locations inside Syria. The first target included the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center at al-Mazzah Airport in Damascus; the second, an alleged chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs; and the third, an alleged chemical weapons equipment storage site and command post, also near Homs, said the UN chief.

The Syrian government announced surface-to-air missile response activity. Both U.S. and Russian sources indicated there were no civilian casualties, he said.

The United Nations, however, is unable to independently verify the details of those reports, he said.

The United States, France and Britain launched missile attacks in Syria on Friday following reports of chemical weapons use in Douma near the capital city of Damascus on April 7.

"Any use of chemical weapons is abhorrent. The suffering it causes is horrendous," said Guterres.

He expressed deep disappointment at the failure of the Security Council to agree on a dedicated mechanism for effective accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

"I urge the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and fill this gap. I will continue to engage with member states to help achieve this objective."

A lack of accountability emboldens those who would use such weapons by providing them with the reassurance of impunity. This in turn further weakens the norm proscribing the use of chemical weapons and the international disarmament and non-proliferation architecture as a whole, he said.

The seriousness of the recent allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Douma requires a thorough investigation using impartial, independent and professional expertise, he said.

He reaffirmed his full support for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and its Fact-Finding Mission in undertaking the required investigation.

"The team is already in Syria. I am informed that their operations plan to visit the site is completed and they are ready to go. I am confident that they will have full access, without any restrictions or impediments to perform their activities."

The Fact-Finding Mission of the OPCW may investigate chemical attacks, but it does not have the power to attribute responsibility as the case with the now-defunct Joint Investigative Mechanism between the OPCW and the United Nations.

The Joint Investigative Mechanism had found that both the Syrian government and the Islamic State terrorist group used chemical weapons in Syria. The mechanism ceased to be in November 2017 after Russia blocked the renewal of its mandate.

Guterres stressed that there is no military solution to the Syria crisis. "The solution must be political. We must find ways to make credible progress toward a genuine and credible political solution that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people to dignity and freedom in accordance with (Security Council) Resolution 2254 and the Geneva Communique."

He said he has asked his Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to come to New York as soon as possible to consult on the most effective way to accelerate the political process.RABAT, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Morocco deplored on Saturday the deterioration of the situation in the Middle East, including Saturday's military escalation in Syria, stressing that the solution to the Syrian crisis can only be political.

Morocco, which has always respected international law, can only condemn the use of chemical weapons, particularly against innocent civilian populations, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement added that "past experiences have taught us that military options, including airstrikes - no matter how justified or proportionate they can be - only make it more difficult to find a political solution, deepen the suffering of civilian victims and heighten their anti-West sentiment."

The timing chosen for this escalation, on the eve of important Arab events and the absence of the usual appropriate consultations, may raise questions, misunderstanding and indignation, the statement said.

Similarly, different standards adopted in the management of international conflicts, in some cases resorting quickly to military options and, in other cases, imposing international legality, would only fuel international tensions, it added.

Morocco hopes that reason will prevail with a view to finding a solution to the crisis that preserves the national unity of this country and the dignity of these populations and secures an effective fight against intolerance, extremism and terrorism, the source said.

On earlier Saturday, the United States, Britain and France launched a missile attack on military positions in Syrian capital Damascus and the central province of Homs to retaliate for the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons in a rebel-held district east of Damascus last week.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-15 03:05:58|Editor: yan

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HAVANA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's government condemned the U.S. air strikes in Syria on Friday night, supported by the UK and France, said the island's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Saturday in a release.

The release said that Washington decided to take the "unilateral" measure, using the pretext of the alleged chemical weapons used by the Syrian government against civilians, and out of the frame of the United Nations Security Council, and being a violation of the UN Chart.

"This action is an attack against a sovereign state, and contributes to deepen the conflict in Syria and the Middle East," said the Ministry.

Havana also reiterated its solidarity with the government of Bashar al-Assad, and the Syrian people.

In a statement Friday night addressed to the American nation, President Donald Trump accused al-Assad of "deploying chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this time in the town of Douma near the Syrian capital of Damascus."

The participation of the government forces in the attack in Douma has not been proved, and Damascus has denied in several occasions that it had and used banned weapons, especially against civilians.(File photo)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem April 11, 2018. (AFP photo)

JERUSALEM, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said Israel "fully supports" the joint airstrikes on Syria by the U.S., Britain and France.

"A year ago, I made clear that Israel fully supports President Trump's decision to stand firmly against the use and proliferation of chemical weapons," said Netanyahu in a statement on Saturday, "President Trump's determination and Israel's support have remained unchanged."

"This morning, the U.S., Britain, and France proved that their commitment to the fight against chemical weapons is not limited to statements only," he went on.

Netanyahu said that it should be "clear to President Assad that his irresponsible efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction and its use... and his willingness to allow Iran and its proxies to entrench themselves in Syria" put the country in danger.

The U.S., France and Britain launched airstrikes against Syria's capital Damascus before daybreak on Saturday, with loud explosions heard and red dots seen flying into the sky, according to Syrian state TV and Xinhua reporters in Damascus.

The airstrikes were launched under the pretext to punish Syrian government for the alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus. Syrian government has strongly denied the allegations.

Saturday is Israel's Sabbath, or the Jewish day of rest. Netanyahu made the statement on Saturday night when Sabbath is over.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-15 03:21:02|Editor: Lifang

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Photo taken on April 14, 2018 shows the United Nations Security Council voting on a draft resolution on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, April 14, 2018. UN Security Council fails to adopt resolution that would have condemned military action on Syria. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A Russian-drafted resolution, which would have condemned the military strikes on Syria carried out by the United States, France and Britain, failed to be adopted by the Security Council.

Three of the 15 members of the Security Council -- Russia, Bolivia and China -- voted in favor. Four countries -- Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Peru -- abstained. The remaining eight members of the council voted against it.

For adoption, a resolution requires at least nine votes in favor on the condition that none of the permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States -- votes against.

The draft resolution contains only five paragraphs with three operative ones. It condemns "the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the U.S. and its allies in violation of international law and the UN Charter."

It further demands that the United States and its allies immediately end military action against Syria and refrain from any further use of force in the future.

After the vote, Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said: "Today is a sad day for the world, for the United Nations, and for its Charter, which was blatantly violated."

He reiterated his country's demand that there be no further military action against Syria.

British ambassador Karen Pierce said after the vote that Friday's joint military action against Syria was carried out on the legal basis of humanitarian intervention, which is "wholly within the principles and purposes of the UN Charter."

Explaining why his country abstained, Peruvian ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra said the draft resolution did not adequately reflect the need to guarantee accountability for chemical weapons use in Syria and that it did not help restore unity of the Security Council.

Ethiopian ambassador Tekeda Alemu, whose country also abstained, said the Russian draft carried no substantial significance as it would have been vetoed anyway.

Swedish ambassador Olof Skoog said his country voted against the draft because its language is "imbalanced, not comprehensive, did not cover the entirety of our concerns related to the current situation." He reiterated his country's full support for the UN-led political process in Syria.

The United States, France and Britain launched missile attacks in Syria on Friday following reports of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma near the capital city of Damascus on April 7.Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia (Front) attends a Security Council emergency meeting on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, April 14, 2018. UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Syria requested by Russia on Saturday. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over Friday's joint military action against Syria by the United States, France and Britain, and called for adherence to the UN Charter and international law on the issue. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A Russian-drafted resolution, which would have condemned the military strikes on Syria carried out by the United States, France and Britain, failed to be adopted by the Security Council.

Three of the 15 members of the Security Council -- Russia, Bolivia and China -- voted in favor. Four countries -- Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Peru -- abstained. The remaining eight members of the council voted against it.

For adoption, a resolution requires at least nine votes in favor on the condition that none of the permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States -- votes against.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (L, Front) speaks with one of her delegation during a Security Council emergency meeting on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, April 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

The draft resolution contains only five paragraphs with three operative ones. It condemns "the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the U.S. and its allies in violation of international law and the UN Charter."

It further demands that the United States and its allies immediately end military action against Syria and refrain from any further use of force in the future.

After the vote, Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said: "Today is a sad day for the world, for the United Nations, and for its Charter, which was blatantly violated."

He reiterated his country's demand that there be no further military action against Syria.

British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce (Front) addresses a Security Council emergency meeting on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, April 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

British ambassador Karen Pierce said after the vote that Friday's joint military action against Syria was carried out on the legal basis of humanitarian intervention, which is "wholly within the principles and purposes of the UN Charter."

Explaining why his country abstained, Peruvian ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra said the draft resolution did not adequately reflect the need to guarantee accountability for chemical weapons use in Syria and that it did not help restore unity of the Security Council.

Ethiopian ambassador Tekeda Alemu, whose country also abstained, said the Russian draft carried no substantial significance as it would have been vetoed anyway.

French Ambassador to the United Nations Francois Delattre (Front) addresses a Security Council emergency meeting on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, April 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

Swedish ambassador Olof Skoog said his country voted against the draft because its language is "imbalanced, not comprehensive, did not cover the entirety of our concerns related to the current situation." He reiterated his country's full support for the UN-led political process in Syria.

The United States, France and Britain launched missile attacks in Syria on Friday following reports of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma near the capital city of Damascus on April 7.ABUJA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian military on Saturday confirmed seven Boko Haram fighters were killed in an ongoing operation aimed at clearing remaining terrorists from the country's northeast region.

Military spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu said the terror fighters were neutralized in separate ambushes on the troops on Friday.

Some of the Boko Haram fighters were killed inside the Sambisa Forest, known as the former largest training camp of the group in the northern state of Borno, Nwachukwu said.

A suspected fleeing Boko Haram spy was also nabbed during the operation, according to the military spokesman.

The suspected spy, identified as Modu Chari, was on an espionage mission when he was nabbed by troops, he said.

Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacement of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009.Posted Friday, April 13, 2018 12:00 pm

Starting the week of April 16, and running through May 9, students in grades 3-8, and students enrolled in select courses at the high school in the Marshfield R-1 School District will be participating in the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) Grade-Level Assessments and End-of-Course (EOC) Exams.

MAP evaluates student progress toward mastery of the Missouri Learning Standards. The MAP Grade-Level Assessments include assessments in the subject areas of English language arts (grades 3-8), mathematics (grades 3-8) and science (grades 5 and 8). End-of-Course exams in the Marshfield School District are given in the areas of Algebra 1, Algebra 2, English 2, Biology 1 and Government. EOC Assessments are taken when a student has received instruction on the Missouri Learning Standards for an assessment, regardless of grade level. Assessments given within the MAP provide important information that contributes to decisions concerning individual students, groups of students, and educational programs.

A policy statement, adopted by the Missouri State Board of Education, designates the purpose of the Missouri Assessment Program as:

Improving students acquisition of important knowledge, skills, and competencies; monitoring the performance of Missouris education system; empowering students and their families to improve their educational prospects; and supporting the teaching and learning process.

The effectiveness of an assessment program depends on the wise choice of assessment methods, appropriate administration procedures and accurate interpretation of results.

The MAP Grade-Level Assessments and EOC assessments include multiple types of questions or items:

 Selected Response (also known as multiple choice) items are composed of a question followed by a series of possible responses. Students must select the correct response or responses.

 Constructed Response or Short Text items require students to supply an appropriate response rather than making a selection from a list of choices.

 Performance Tasks/Events allow students to work through more complicated items using real-world scenarios.

 Technology Enhanced items make use of technology in the presentation of the item, the ways in which students respond, or both. For example, students might watch a video and then drag and drop labels into a diagram, or click on specific parts of a text to provide a response.

The students Individual Student Report (ISR) will include an Achievement Level, which will describe his or her performance as Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, or Advanced. The report will also include a short description of the knowledge and skills that are typically demonstrated by students in each Achievement Level. These reports will be made available to parents during the 2018-2019 school year.

Parents of students in the assessed grades and courses can help their children be prepared by doing the following:

 Make sure they get plenty of rest.

 Provide a healthy breakfast at home or encourage them to eat breakfast at school.

 Get students to school on time.

 Send them to school with good-luck wishes.

Additional detailed information related to the testing dates and times taking place for each grade level will be provided by building counselors or your childs teacher(s). Should a child be absent on one of his or her scheduled test dates, the building counselor will schedule a time for the student to make-up the missed assessment upon returning to school. The Marshfield R-I School District would like to thank all of the parents and students for their efforts and cooperation during the MAP testing schedule.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-15 04:06:07|Editor: yan

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DUBAI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Saturday it is following "with concern" the developments in the Syrian arena and the current escalation, local media reported.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Abu Dhabi also "strongly condemns" the use of chemical weapons against civilians, UAE state news agency WAM reported.

An official statement added that the UAE supports all international measures aimed at the elimination and destruction of these internationally prohibited weapons.

It also stressed the need to prevent these weapons from falling into the hands of "armed terrorist organizations in conflict zones."

The UAE also confirmed its support for military operations against these banned weapons and their facilities in Syria.

The statement added the UAE believes that the political solution is the basis for dealing with the Syrian crisis. It also called on all parties to act in accordance with relevant resolutions of international legitimacy.

The statement said further that the UAE hopes to end the Syrian crisis with all the risks it poses to the unity of the country and the escalating human losses. At the same time, it stressed that activating the Arab role in political endeavors is necessary to find a political solution.PRAGUE, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Prague Castle on behalf of Czech President Milos Zeman condemned on Saturday the U.S.-led air strikes on Syria.

The president's spokesman Jiri Ovcacek officially announced on Saturday that "a military solution to the situation should be the last thing to do."

He also told off the journalists for too much speculation over the "hot" war topic and non-governmental organizations for supporting the war.

Chairman of the Czech Foreign Affairs Committee Lubomir Zaoralek described the whole situation as "military power demonstration without much sense and long-term plan". He expressed his condolences to Syrians.

Later on Saturday, leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party Jan Hamacek said he didn't support the strike on Syria as it was carried out without a UN Security Council mandate. He added that it only had further postponed the conflict resolution.

The Czech government, however, had different opinions on the raids. "The strike against the Syrian regime was inevitable," said Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Saturday.

Czech Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky said that there must be carried out an immediate and independent investigation, pointing out the work of the Independent International Investigation Commission.

Czech Defence Minister Karla Slechtova announced that the Czech Republic has been always condemning the use of chemical weapons for a long time. She pointed out that the goal of the attack was not to change the government in the country, but only a "pay off" for the chemical weapons use.

The United States, France and Britain launched a joint military strike on Syria early on Saturday without the authorization of the United Nations.

The air raids targeted at Syrian government forces in response to the alleged chemical weapon use in the rebel-held town Douma a week ago.

The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news used by the West to justify its attacks on Syria.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the strike Saturday, saying it violated international law and the UN Charter.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-15 04:16:09|Editor: yan

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KUWAIT CITY, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) announced Saturday that it will resume regular flights to and from the Lebanese capital Beirut starting from Sunday.

Causes for halting the flights to Beirut no longer exist, the Kuwaiti national carrier said in a press release, noting that passengers who had been affected with the company's Thursday announcement on halting the flights should contact the company, either directly at its offices or via hotline.

KAC announced Thursday it has suspended all flights to Beirut on the basis of serious security warnings that came from the government of Cyprus and the European Aviation Safety Agency about civil aviation in the eastern Mediterranean and in the Nicosia flight region.

The warnings were issued after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to launch a missile attack on Syria over the alleged chemical attack by Syrian government troops in the Douma district east of Syrian capital Damascus.LJUBLJANA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Plenary Assembly of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) discussed here on Saturday the future of regional organisations, especially SEECP Plenary Assembly itself, in light of new geopolitical relations in Europe.

Delegations from SEECP members, including from Turkey, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia, discussed the future of regional organisations as well as the European future of SEECP members that are not EU members yet, according to the Slovenian Press Agency STA.

Slovenian parliamentary Speaker Milan Brglez said before the partners that the SEECP Plenary Assembly was one of the most inclusive organisations as he acknowledged that SEECP had several issues, including finding a permanent seat for the organisation's secretariat.

At the end of the two-day session, delegations adopted a declaration which "welcomes the process of EU enlargement and NATO enlargement to the extent it is in the interest of participating countries", the STA reported citing Brglez.

Participants also adopted the agenda for 2018-2019 and reports that have been drafted by SEECP committees for economy, infrastructure and energy; for judiciary, interior affairs and security cooperation; and for social development, education, research and science.VIENNA, April 14 (Xinhua)-- Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Saturday expressed "serious concern" for the escalation of the conflict in Syria, while showed "understanding" for the coordinated military action of the United States, Britain and France in Syria.

Both Kurz and Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl expressed understanding for the coordinated action, and showed the "serious concern" .

"I understand this limited military action with the aim of preventing further war crimes with chemical weapons, " Kurz said to the Austrian media on Saturday.

But he said it is more important now to prevent further escalation, urging the responsible actors to hold political talks under UN mediation and to comply with international law in order to alleviate the suffering of the people of Syria, who have already suffered enough, said Kurz.

The United States, France and Britain launched a joint military strike on Syria early on Saturday without the authorization of the United Nations.

The air raids targeted at Syrian government forces in response to the alleged chemical weapon use in the rebel-held town Douma a week ago.

The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news used by the West to justify its attacks on Syria.LOS ANGELES, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and four others hospitalized in a fire on Saturday in Studio City, a community located 10 kilometers west of Los Angeles downtown.

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), 83 firefighters responded to the incident at a one-story commercial building about 7:00 a.m. Saturday and extinguished the flames inside a small music studio in just 28 minutes.

The Fire Department said two people were pronounced dead at the scene, two were in critical condition and two others were transported to a hospital in unknown conditions.

Cause of the fire is under investigation by the LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section and cause of death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Coroner.

Los Angeles Times reported that the single-story building houses 13 independent producers and studios who work 24 hours every day.

Devan Greene, a security guard who works nearby, was quoted as saying that he saw smoke and called 911 at 6:54 a.m.

"Then I saw about six or seven guys running out, and the next thing you know, it's black smoke and the whole thing was just on fire," Greene said, adding rap music is recorded at the studios.WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday talked with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May via phone over the three nations' collective strikes on Syria Friday.

According to the White House, Trump and Macron affirmed in the call that the joint airstrikes were "successful and necessary" to deter Syria from any further use of chemical weapons.

They also discussed the need to reinvigorate multinational stabilization efforts in Syria to ensure the long-term defeat of Islamic State (IS).

In a separate call, Trump thanked May for her support of the strikes.

They also said the airstrikes in Syria in response to the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma on April 7 were successful and necessary to deter the further use of these weapons.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump hailed the "perfectly executed strike" of the three western nations on Syria, noting "Mission Accomplished!" in his tweet.

He also thanked France and Britain for their joining in the strike with the United States with "Fine Military," saying the strikes "could not have had a better result."

Trump on Friday ordered precise strikes against Syrian military facilities with Britain and France in a coordinated action. U.S. defense chief James Mattis said later that "right now, this is a one-time shot," rejecting to rule out further strikes against Syria.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday expressed concern over the U.S-led strike in Syria, and called for adherence to the UN Charter and international law on the issue.

The trilateral operations came with questionable legitimacy due to the lacking of proof that could show Syrian government behind the chemical attack, and has been widely criticized by Syria, Russia and Iran, among other nations.TRIPOLI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A conference calling Libya to return to monarchy and to activate the independence Constitution kicked off in Tripoli on Saturday.

Two members of the royal Parliament before coup in 1969 led by the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi attended the national conference for the activation of the Constitution of independence and return of monarchy.

"Through its intensive meetings, this conference calls for Libya to return to the monarchy and to activate the independence Constitution that prevailed until the end of August, 1969," Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Conference Ashraf Boduara said.

Boduara stressed the importance of the constitution of independence and its legitimate heir, the Crown Prince Mohammed Al-Hassan Al-Rida Sonoussi, who must be the legitimate king of Libya.

"This call is a national rescue project after the continuous political failures, Libya's ongoing crisis and the failure of any party to end the division and deterioration in all sectors of the country," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-15 06:11:26|Editor: pengying

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Tourists visit the "O'Connell Tower" in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, Ireland, April 14, 2018. Ireland's tallest tower "O'Connell Tower" was reopened to the public on Saturday after a close of 47 years following a bomb attack whose perpetrator has not been officially identified until now. (Xinhua)

DUBLIN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's tallest tower "O'Connell Tower" reopened to the public here on Saturday after a closure of 47 years following a bomb attack whose perpetrator has not been officially identified until now.

Hundreds of tourists, both local and foreign, were seen coming in from different corners of the city to visit the tower on the first day of its reopening to the public.

A flower vendor at the gate of Glasnevin Cemetery where the tower is located told Xinhua that the number of visitors to the tower and the cemetery had obviously increased on Saturday due to the reopening of the tower.

Located in the north of Dublin city, the tower was built in 1855 in memory of Daniel O'Connell, one of the greatest political figures in the first half of the 19th century in Ireland, who was most famous for its fight for the equal political and civil rights of Catholics in the country.

Daniel O'Connell,born in 1775, died in Italy in 1847 while on a pilgrimage to Rome. According to his wish, his heart was buried in Rome while his remaining body was buried in a coffin placed at the base of the tower.

Measuring 55 meters in height, the round-shaped tower built with stones is the tallest of its kind in Ireland, which provides a 360 degree view of Dublin city and its neighbouring counties of Wicklow and Meath with four windows at the top of the tower, making it once one of the greatest attractions for tourists in the country.

However, in 1971, a huge bomb containing 10 pounds of gelignite hit the base of the tower, causing structural damage and destroying the interior staircase.

Though some group claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, it has never been officially confirmed who really conducted the attack, said officials in charge of the maintenance of the tower.

In 2016, Glasnevin Trust, the largest funeral services provider in Ireland, which also runs Glasnevin Cemetery among others, started the work to restore the destroyed staircase that leads to the top of the tower.

Officials with Glasnevin Cemetery said the destroyed staircase has been restored strictly according to what it looked like in the past. Made of wrought iron, the spiral staircase consists of 198 hand-carved wooden steps ascending to the top of the tower with 6 landing platforms.

With the reinstatement of the staircase, the cemetery expects to make the tower once again a famous tourist destination in Dublin.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-15 06:46:30|Editor: yan

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LIMA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto called on Saturday for relations between Mexico and the United States to be based on "mutual respect" ahead of a meeting with U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence at the eighth Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru.

Speaking to the press ahead of the meeting, Pena Nieto said they would discuss the renegotiation of NAFTA and that he would also demand a respectful relationship.

"The purpose of this meeting is not only to address the topic of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but also to speak of the bilateral relationship, a relationship we must maintain through collaboration and mutual respect," he said.

However, the president avoided answering questions about U.S. President Donald Trump's intention to build a border wall.

Pence has earlier confirmed that the meeting would tackle NAFTA among a "broad range of issues."

Pence expressed his pleasure for being able to meet with Pena Nieto, despite the tensions that have grown between the neighbors over the last year.

Pence appeared to be positive about NAFTA, telling the press there was a "real possibility" a deal could be struck "within the next several weeks."

Relations between Mexico City and Washington have been uneasy due to Trump accusing Mexico of having harmed the American economy, of sending criminals across the border, and has threatened to pull out of NAFTA.Michael-in-Norfolk disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, operability, or availability of information or material displayed on this site and does not claim credit for any images or articles featured on this site, unless otherwise noted. All visual content is copyrighted to it's respectful owners. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies, and Michael-in-Norfolk does not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site's content. If you own rights to any of the images or articles, and do not wish them to appear on this site, please contact Michael-in-Norfolk via e-mail and they will be promptly removed. Michael-in-Norfolk contains links to other Internet sites. These links are provided solely as a convenience and are not endorsements of any products or services in such sites, and no information or content in such site has been endorsed or approved by this blog.HURLEY  The Hurley City Council on Tuesday agreed the Hurley Area Chamber of Commerce can place an events message sign at the downtown trailhead for the snowmobile-all-terrain vehicle trail.

Rita Franzoi, representing the chamber, said it will be a one-sided message center similar to the one in the town of Mercer.

Council members noted in addition to the many events sponsored by the chamber, city happenings may be posted on the sign board.

Franzoi indicated the cost of electricity, at $146 a year, wont be excessive.

The light emitting diode flat panel screens are used in billboards and store signs.

Council member Rob Lanctoe questioned whether the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will need to approve placement of the sign.

Council members noted the Hurley School District is considering placing an events sign along U.S. 51, near the Days Inn.

Ralph Ansami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...The first-ever endangered African Penguin chick has hatched at Lincoln Park Zoos new Robert and Mayari Pritzker Penguin Cove. After a 38-day incubation period, the chick emerged on February 10.

At a recent wellness exam, veterinary staff deemed the chick healthy. During the exam, veterinary staff also drew blood, which will be sent for lab analysis to determine the chicks sex. Once that is revealed, keepers can decide on an appropriate name.

The chick is the offspring of mom, Robben, and dad, Preston. According to Hope B. McCormick Curator of Birds, Sunny Nelson, the first-time parents are proving to be naturals.

Our keepers are constantly monitoring both the parents and the chick to ensure that the parents are meeting the chicks needs as it reaches developmental milestones, said Nelson. Both Robben and Preston are performing parental duties as expected, sharing brooding and feeding responsibilities.

Photo Credits: Lincoln Park Zoo / Chris Bijalba (Image 1)

African Penguin chicks typically fledge around 70 to 80 days after hatching. The chick will retain its downy feathers until it molts into waterproof juvenile plumage. After one to two years, African Penguins molt into their iconic tuxedo-like adult plumage.

Animal Care staff plans to give the chick access to a behind-the-scenes pool to ensure that its feathers are waterproof before introducing the chick to the rest of the exhibit.

The chicks parents were paired as a part of the African Penguin Species Survival Plan (SSP), a collaborative population management effort among institutions within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).Unnao and Kathua rape cases have enraged the entire country with people from all walks of life and from all parts of India almost unanimously calling out for justice for the victims and harsh punishment for those found guilty. And Bengaluru is no exception in raising voice against the heinous crimes.

Bengalureans are now planning a protest movement - scheduled for Sunday (April 15) - to demand justice for the victims and to ensure that the guilty receive the harshest punishment allowed by the country's law.

The protest movement calls for people in the city to come out on the streets at 1500hrs on Sunday - with banners and posters which show just how outraged they are at the heinous crimes committed in UP's Unnao and Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua. While a minor was raped in Unnao and her subsequent pleas for an FIR allegedly ignored by state police because a BJP MLA was reportedly involved, an eight-year-old girl in Kathua was first kidnapped, then sedated, raped and murdered.

The country has now risen above artificial barriers of race, religion, caste, socio-economic background to condemn both crimes. In Bengaluru, people are being urged to come out on the streets and make fellow citizens aware of just why they need to be furious, if they aren't already.

The movement urges Bengalureans to:

* Decide on a street in the neighbourhood.

* Call friends, family and neighbours and inform them about the protest.

* Make posters calling for justice in Unnao and Kathua rape cases.

* Assemble at the chosen place at 1500hrs on Sunday (April 15).

* Explain to passerby if they would like to know what has happened.

* Take a picture and upload with the hashtag #MyStreetMyProtest

Several protests in several cities have already taken place across India. The objective though remains the same - punish the guilty, set an example.PATNA: With an aim to woo the Dalits, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Food Supply Minister Ram Vilas Paswan will hold a joint rally in Patna on Saturday on the birth anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. The constant collaboration by Paswan and Nitish are being seen as a major step to strengthen the National Democratic Alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi and Union Minister of State Upendra Kushwaha will also be attending the event today which is being organised at the Bapu Auditorium on behalf of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Dalit Army. Speculations are rife that Nitish may make a huge announcement during this event on Saturday.

The rally comes at a time when the Central government is facing protests after the recent Supreme Court judgment 'diluted' the SC/SC Act. The BJP government has been asking its ministers to explain to the Dalit population that the government is not against them. Paswan had also recently said that no power can abolish the SC/ST Act. "The SC/ST Act will continue. It is intact and will remain so. People need not worry as no power can abolish the Act," the Union Minister had said.

While the event organised by the Dalit army and the LJP is being held at Bapu Auditorium, the Rashtriya Janata Dal will be holding the Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations in Shri Krishna Memorial Hall situated right next to Bapu Auditorium in Patna. Though RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is behind bars after his conviction in the fodder scam case, he has reportedly sent his letter on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

Meanwhile, several Dalit leaders have called for 14 April to be observed as "Protect Constitution Day" across the country. Dalit organisations are demanding that an ordinance be brought immediately by the Centre to restore the status quo of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.KOTA: Several people are feared trapped after a building collapsed in Kota in Rajasthan on Saturday. The building is located in Dhan Mandi in Kota. Rescue teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) have reached the spot.

Three people have been pulled out alive from under the debris so far. No casualties have been reported in the mishap so far. The two-storeyed building also reportedly houses a beer bar and a restaurant.

#SpotVisuals: Building collapses in Kota's Dhan Mandi. Many people feared trapped in the debris. Teams of NDRF and SDRF have reached the spot. #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/7EGwzEVHYz  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

Those rescued were taken to the emergency ward of Maharao Bhim Singh (MBS) hospital for treatment. They will be kept under observation.

The police control room got a call around 11.20am informing them about the incident. Soon after, teams were rushed to the spot for the rescue operation. Several top officials of the police and administration are at the spot to personally monitor the rescue operation.Jangala: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Jangala on Saturday. He also inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region. The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

Modi, who is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur, also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map.

This was the prime minister's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are due later the year. He had visited Dantewada in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.

Modi also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. The BPO centre is provided Internet by the Bastar internet scheme.

He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 1,700 crore. The prime minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh chaired the programme while Health Minister J P Nadda was the chief guest on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government aims to open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre by 2022, which would be equipped to treat host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.

Also under the scheme, the government has prepared the broad contour of the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and work is on to finalise parameters for identifying beneficiaries and hospital entitlement.BIJAPUR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday presented a pair of slippers to a tribal woman in Bijapur in Chhattisgarh under the Charan-Paduka (footwear) scheme. The scheme aims to provide footwear to Tendu leaves (tendupatta) collectors to facilitate their smooth movement in the forest area.

PM Modi is the first Prime Minister who has visited the tribal district of Bijapur. Addressing the tribals, Modi said: "I have come to Bijapur with Taking inspiration from Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, I have come to Bijapur to give the people and the administration here the confidence that the government at the Centre is yours, it supports your wishes and aspirations."

#WATCH PM Modi presented a pair of slippers to a tribal woman under the Charan-Paduka (footwear) Scheme. The scheme aims to provide footwear to Tendu leaves (tendupatta) collectors to facilitate smooth movement in the forest area pic.twitter.com/foExDYehoH  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

This is also the Prime Minister's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are due later in the year.

During his trip to Chhattisgarh, the PM inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Bijapur on Saturday. He also inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region namely - Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

He also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map.

He inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. The BPO centre is provided Internet by the Bastar internet scheme. He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 1,700 crore.

The PM's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar.

Modi had earlier visited Dantewada in Chhattisgarh in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.New Delhi: Google Doodle celebrated the first day of the Bengali new year by replacing its regular homepage graphic with a special doodle featuring a colourful elephant for the Bangladeshi surfers.

According to Google's blog, the elephant on the search engine signifies Mangal Shobhajatra procession."The procession was first organized in 1989 by the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University in order to symbolize peace and unity regardless of religion, gender, class, or age. The most iconic feature of the processions are the giant, colourful, representations of animalslike the elephant in todays Doodle," the blog read.

Poila Baisakh or Pohela Baisakh is celebrated with much fervour, zeal and happiness all across West Bengal and Bangladesh.This period usually falls in the mid-April according to the Gregorian calendar. This year, it will be celebrated on April 15, 2018.This day is a public holiday in Kolkata as well as Dhaka.NEW DELHI: An MSc student at the Indian Institute of Delhi allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a fan in his room. The incident took place on April 13 at the Nilgiri hostel of IIT-D. His roommate informed the police of the incident.

In a suicide note recovered by the police, he had written that he was suffering from depression over being sexually abused since he was a child. The letter, written in Bengali, was kept on a table next to his bed. The note has been sent for forensic analysis.



He had also allegedly attempted to kill himself on the night of April 10 by eating sleeping pills. After the incident, he was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital from where his brother took him to his apartment. His brother spoke to him for two days and tried to counsel him. After two days, he dropped him at the hostel. However, just a day later, the victim took the extreme step again and it turned fatal this time.

Police have handed over his body to his brother who has taken it home to West Bengal. The details of the suicide letter have been shared with the West Bengal Police. Police is also likely to file an FIR under sections of unnatural sexual assault and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on the basis of the suicide note.

His family told the police that he had done his graduation from a university in Kolkata and had joined IIT just two months back for a postgraduate course. They also said that he had never complained about being sexually assaulted when he was in Kolkata and had no signs of depression also.AHMEDABAD: Chaotic scenes were witnessed in Ahmedabad on Saturday after a scuffle between supporters of Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. The altercation began after Mevani's supporters allegedly tried to obstruct BJP MPs and members from garlanding BR Ambedkar's statue at an event in the city.

The event was organised on Saturday to celebrate the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar. The activists also raised slogans against the BJP at the event.

Ahmedabad: Ruckus at an event on the occasion of #AmbedkarJayanti as MLA Jignesh Mevani's supporters tried to obstruct BJP MPs & members from garlanding BR Ambedkar's statue. #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/eghNs9TDfG  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

Five activists have been detained by the police for attempting to prevent a BJP MP from garlanding the statue. Confirming the incident, Mevani named the activists who have been detained by the police. "While protesting against BJP leaders, Subodh Parmar, Bharat Shah, Jagdish Chavda, Raju Valwaikar and Bipin Roy have been detained from Sarangpur," he tweeted.

        ,  ,  ,   ( )    ( )               Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) April 14, 2018

As per reports, BJP MP Kirit Solanki was among those who were stopped from paying tributes to Dr Ambedkar.Surat: The mutilated body of a minor, suspected to be a case of sexual assault and murder, was recovered from Gujarat's Surat on Saturday, said the police.

More than 86 injuries found on 11-yr-old girl's body including ones on her private parts, said the forensic head of the city's Civil hospital, as reported by news agency ANI.

Injury marks were also found on the victim's private parts, added authorities.

Sample has been taken for Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) tests which will make clear if she suffered sexual assault and if she was strangled to death,' added authorities.

The incident comes amid massive outrage across the country over Unnao and Kathua minor gang-rape case.

Earlier on Saturday, BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the alleged accused in Unnao rape case was sent to seven-days of police custody. After 17 hours of interrogation, the CBI had arrested the BJP legislator on Friday night for alleged rape of a minor. The action came barely hours the Allahabad High Court ordered the probe agency to arrest Sengar, stating that he was influencing the "law-and-order machinery".

In Jammu and Kashmir`s Kathua, an eight-year-old Muslim nomadic girl was allegedly abducted, drugged, raped, tortured and killed. After being missing for a week, her body was found on January 17. State Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who also holds the Home portfolio, on Saturday terminated the services of four policemen accused in the rape and murder of a minor in Kathua district.HYDERABAD: A class 11 student in Kukatpally in Hyderabad allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself after he failed in the finals exams. The victim has been identified as Sai Kumar. Kumar was pursuing his intermediate first year at MNR Junior college and failed in the final exam, Kukatpally police station Circle Inspector Prasanna confirmed.

The body of the deceased was taken to a government hospital for post-mortem. A case has been registered under Section 174 CrPC and the further investigation is underway.

The incident comes just a week after another minor student committed suicide in Hyderabad over alleged academic pressure. Studying in the second year in a private allegedly, the victim allegedly jumped off the fourth floor of his apartment in Kukatpally Housing Board Colony.

His parents were asleep when the incident took place. The boy was reportedly in stress as summer classes were being held in college without a break in academics.

As per police, the boy had dinner and went to sleep by 11 pm but around 3.30 am he suddenly ran out of his room making a loud noise. He then jumped from the building. He was taken to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries there.

Last year in December also, an 18-year-old engineering student hung herself at her home in Kukatpally as she was allegedly afraid of not performing well in her examinations. In a suicide not that was found from her room, she had written that she was sorry for letting her family down and stated that she could not face the exams.

She was a BTech student in the first year of G Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Science, and lived in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar in Kukatpally.NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav, along with his wife, was on Friday convicted in a Rs 5 crore loan recovery case. Holding the actor guilty, the Karkardooma court has set 23 April as the date for his sentencing.

The case dates back to 2010 when Yadav and Radha had taken a loan from a Delhi-based entrepreneur, MG Agarwal (owner of Murli Projects) for his Hindi debut directional film "Ata Pata Laapata". The businessman had filed a case against Yadav and his wife in the high court after they failed to repay him the amount.

In 2013, Yadav was even remanded to 10 days judicial custody for concealing facts about the case. The court had also then ordered attachment of assets of the couple and attached his bank account of the Axis Bank and a company owned by him.

The judge had also issued a contempt of court notice against two women lawyers who were representing the couple and an oath commissioner for submitted an affidavit in the court which had forged signature of the couple.

In 2015, he had claimed in court that he had paid Rs 1.58 crore and has to payback Rs 3.42 crore. He had also told the court that he had got a fresh offer from a company which had agreed to take up the liablity of his loan. He had claimed that the loan would be repaid in 30 days.

The actor is known for his impeccable comic timing. He has been a part of several hit films like Bhoolbhulaiya, Partner, Hungama.Top headlines of the day

Unnao rape case: BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar sent to 7-day police custody

After 17 hours of interrogation, the CBI arrested the BJP legislator on Friday night. Read more



Commonwealth Games 2018: India's medal winners on Day 10

India had a field day on Day 10 of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Saturday, winning 17 medals in all - their biggest haul in a day so far at the event. Read more



IPL 2018 KKR vs SRH scores update: Bhuvneshwar returns as Hyderabad bowl

Follow the KKR-SRH match from the 2018 Indian Premier League here. Read more



Indian Navy's unmanned aircraft crashes in Gujarat's Porbandar

The aircraft was on a routine surveillance mission when it lost datalink communication with the Ground Station. Read more



PM Modi gifts pair of slippers to a tribal woman in Bijapur - Watch

PM Modi is the first Prime Minister who has visited the tribal district of Bijapur. Read more



#MyStretMyprotest: This Sunday, Bengaluru to raise voice against Unnao, Kathua rapists

Bengalureans are known to make their voices known each time the moral fabric of society and that of the country at large, is at risk. The Unnao and Kathua rape cases have shook the entire country and Bengalureans are being urged to make their anger known. Read more

Kareena Kapoor Khan expresses her desire to get married again!Watch video

Both Kareena and Manushi look absolutely stunning in the video. Read moreNew Delhi: India on Saturday, while describing an alleged chemical attack in Syria as "deplorable", called for restraint after the US, Britain and France launched coordinated missile attacks on the West Asian nation.

"We have taken note of the recent strikes in Syria. India is closely following the situation. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to queries.

He said that India wants "an impartial and objective investigation by the Organisation for Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to establish the facts.

"In the meantime, we urge all parties to show restraint and to avoid any further escalation in the situation," the spokesperson said.

"The matter should be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, and on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter and in accordance with international law. We hope that the long drawn suffering of the people of Syria would come to an end soon."

The US, Britain and France launched coordinated strikes against Syria`s research, storage and military targets to "punish" the Bashar al-Assad regime for an apparent chemical attack in Douma that killed over 70 people.

The military action was denounced by Damascus and its ally Moscow as a "failure" and "an act of aggression".

Western allies warned Syria on Saturday that they could launch further attacks if chemical weapons were used again.New Delhi: The Indian Air Force is not just a lethal force in the country's air but showed - once again - just how capable it is handling operations involving casualty evacuation. To this end, it conducted a mass evacuation drill on Saturday with its C-17 Globe Master Aircraft.

The massive transport plane was modified using support structures for stretchers and 88 'casualties' were flown from Leh to Chandigarh in its main cabin. A statement from the Indian Air Force also highlighted how an indigenously-developed Patient Transfer Unit (PTU) was also fitted to provide in-flight treatment. Upon landing, a green corridor was created to the Command Hospital in Chandimandir with the help of local authorities in Chandigarh for swift transfer of the 'patients'.

The Indian Air Force states that the exercise showed that in times of emergency, it can provide swift transfer whenever and wherever required. "With this demonstration, the IAF has proven its flexibility and quick response in carrying out mass casualty evacuations," the IAF statement, which was also posted on its Facebook page, read. "This capability will also be utilised by the IAF in case of Human Assistance & Disaster Relief operations near the incident locations by even landing on the designated highways."NEW DELHI: On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti on Saturday, several Dalit leaders have called for 14 April to be observed as "Protect Constitution Day" across the country. Several Dalit organisations have demanded an ordinance to be immediately brought by the Centre to restore the status quo of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Dalit leaders are also urging the Centre to include the Act in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. The Ninth Schedule provides protection to legislation placed under it. A law placed under the Schedule is not open to judicial scrutiny.

At the meeting in Delhi on Friday, Dalit leaders announced that they will hold a unified action and observe 14 April as "Protect Constitution Day". "The government should issue an ordinance to maintain and restore the status quo of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and put the Act in the Ninth Schedule on the Constitution. We have decided to hold a unified action on April 14 as Protect Constitution Day on Ambedkar Jayanti," Srinivas Rao, Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch leader, said.

The Dalit leaders have threatened to hit the street if Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not announce the government decision on August 15, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, to resolve their demands.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister on Friday asserted that his government will not let the law to prevent atrocities on SCs and STs to be diluted. Hitting out at the Congress, he said: "I want to assure the nation that the law which has been made stringent by us will not allowed to be affected (by the SC order)... Do not get trapped by the Congress and those parties who have surrendered to the Congress culture."

The protests began after the Supreme Court on March 20 "diluted" the provisions of the Act, ruling that government servants should not be arrested without prior sanction and private citizens, too, can be arrested only after an inquiry under the law.

Owing to the protests and the violence that followed, opposition parties have accused the BJP and the government of being anti-Dalit.

However, Modi defended his government saying that under his regime, several new crimes were brought under the ambit of the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.Chennai: An idol in Coimbatore's Sri Muthumariamman Temple was decorated with currency notes worth Rs 5 crore on Saturday, on the occasion of Tamil New Year - Puthandu.

News agency ANI reported that denominations of Rs 200 and Rs 2000 were used to decorate the idol of the goddess here. In addition to the currency, several precious stones like diamond and pearls were also used in the decoration. The Sri Muthumariamman Temple is an ancient temple revered by people. Locals as well as devotees from far-off areas pay regular visits to the temple. It is also thronged by tourists, especially during festivities.

Coimbatore: Idol at Sri Muthumariamman Temple decorated with currency worth Rs 4 Crores and diamonds & pearls worth Rs 1 Crore, on the occasion of Tamil new year. pic.twitter.com/YxNv0yIKUA  ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2018

The Tamil New Year is one such important festival which sees many devotees and tourists reaching the temple.

Puthandu marks the start of the Tamil New Year and is considered auspicious for making new starts. On the eve of the festival, a plate is filled with a varirty of fruits and people see it the first thing in the morning after. After an early bath, devotees make their way to temples to seek blessings from God.Lucknow: In yet another example of the sorry state of Uttar Pradesh's medical infrastructure, a family had to carry one its members on a charpai (mattress) to the nearest hospital because there were no ambulances or medical vans available.

The incident took place in Tilhar district's Bhedpur in Shahjahanpur - about 175 kms from the state capital of Lucknow - where an elderly woman required immediate medical attention. Her family dialled the 108 emergency number but the driver of the ambulance reportedly refused saying his vehicle had no diesel.

With the 70-year-old clearly suffering, the family was left with no option but to wrap her in a mattress, plonk her on a truck and make way to the hospital. Even here, there was no end to their unfortunate plight.

When the family approached hospital staff to come to the gate to bring down the ailing woman, they reportedly said they were not allowed to take hospital stretchers outside the building. Resigned to their fate once again and aghast at the prevailing medical condition, the family carried the elderly woman in the same mattress all the way to the trauma centre where she was finally admitted for treatment.

While it is perhaps good fortune that the elderly woman managed to make it to the hospital despite the ordeal, the ordeal itself once again puts a big black mark on the state of hospitals and medical facilities in Uttar Pradesh. This despite Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently claiming that medical system in place in UP was one of the best in the country. The ground reality though appears shockingly contrary.MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Saturday slammed both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress for the recent one-day hunger strike observed by both the parties calling it a 'drama'. BJP's estranged ally Shiv Sena in its editorial mouthpiece Saamna hit out at both the parties over the photographs that went viral in which politicians could be seen eating while claiming that they were on fast.



"No one can tell exactly what was achieved by this fast. Most of the people of this country are still hungry. Malnutrition is causing the death of children. Families of farmers are committing suicide because of starvation and hunger. In the state of Maharashtra, during the BJP government, three thousand people committed suicide and in the country, four lakh farmers self-styled it," Sena said in its editorial.

The hard-hitting post comes after the Congress and the BJP held fasts against the washout of Parliament's Budget Session. However, both the hunger strikes were drowned in controversies.

When Congress called for the fast, photographs emerged of its party leaders eating 'chole bhature'. Taking to microblogging site Twitter, former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khuranas son and BJP leader Harish Khurana had shared a picture of Congress leaders, including Ajay Maken, Haroon Yusuf and Arvinder Singh Lovely, eating at a restaurant in Delhi.

The same day, Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has been named in connection with 1984 anti-Sikh riots, was asked to leave the stage at the fast venue. And that was not it, the party faced embarassment after its chief Rahul Gandhi arrived late at the venue.

BJP was no better. While the party tweeted pictures of Congress leaders feasting before the fast, a video emebrged where two of BJP MLAs were seen snacking in Pune during the fast hours. The BJP's fast was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and joined by several other party leaders including party chief Amit Shah.SRINAGAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday attempted to douse the controversy that erupted after two of its ministers in Jammu and Kashmir attended a rally supporting the accused in the Kathua rape and murder case. Defending the leaders, BJP's Ram Madhav said: "On 1 March, a huge crowd gathered in Kathua and our ministers went there to pacify them. A misunderstanding took place. They should have been more alert. Their intention was not to hamper the investigation. The allegations on them being pro-rapists aren't true."

The defence comes a day after the two ministers - Chander Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh - resigned from the state Cabinet. Madhav said that the BJP will forward resignations of two ministers to chief minister Mehbooba Mufti for further action.

Dismissing any strain in the PDP-BJP alliance, the BJP National General Secretary said that there was no threat and both parties are working in coordination and will ensure justice for girl and punishment to culprits.

"We will speak to our party legislature and also to the two ministers who have submitted their resignations," Madhav, who is also the BJP incharge for Jammu and Kashmir, said. "Things would be discussed and deliberations will be held about the latest political developments in the state."

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met party legislators and senior ministers in Srinagar to discuss the future course of action on the Kathua rape and murder case of an eight-year-old minor girl. She is likely to request the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to constitute a fast-track trial court to deliver a sentence in the case.

The Chief Minister is also slated to announced the termination of the accused police officers against whom a chargesheet has been filed.

She had earlier expressed her anger over the incident while saying that the state government will bring a new law to make the death penalty mandatory for those who rape minors. She also called for exemplary punishment for those responsible for the crime.AHMEDNAGAR: Just because an 8-year-old could not solve a math problem, his teacher in a government school in Maharashtra allegedly pierced a wooden cane into his throat. The gruesome incident took place on Tuesday in the Zilla Parishad School in Pimpalgaon village in Karjat sub-district.

A Class II student, Rohan D Janjire, was given a math question by his teacher Chandrakant Sopan Shinde which he apparently failed to solve. In a fit of rage, Shinde picked up his cane and shoved it into the child's throat. He pierced the cane through his throat so fiercely that both wind-pipe and the food-pipe of the child were damaged.

The 8-year-old boy fell to the ground in the class, choking and writhing in pain with blood oozing out of his severely punctured throat. He was unable to speak. The incident led to a chaos in the class with all the other horrified students rushing out from the classroom. Sensing that something has gone wrong, the school authorities arrived in the class and found the injured boy. The officials rushed Rohan to a hospital in Rashin.

After initial medical examination, the boy was referred to Pune for treatment. He is currently admitted to the ICU at a Pune hospital.

The school authorities have suspended the teacher and a probe has been launched into the incident. The police have booked the accused on the complaint of the child's mother Sunita Janjire. "The accused has been booked on charges of assault but has not yet been arrested. We are monitoring the student's condition. After we record his statement, and if required, the charges may be enhanced," Karjat Police Station official S. B. Mhetre said.Actress Alia Bhatta, who is awaiting the release of her upcoming period thriller film 'Raazi' was on Saturday snapped outside the office of her mentor and filmmaker Karan Johar. Take a look at her photos. (Photo courtesy: Yogen Shah)

Alia looked as fresh as a lilly dressed in a white polka dotted maxi dress which she wore with nude stiletto heels. She had her hair tied into a pony. The actress happily posed for the camera outside KJo's office building.

In the film, Alia plays an Indian spy married to a Pakistani man, played by Vicky Kaushal, during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The film is said to be inspired by a true incident. 'Raazi' is produced by Dharma Productions and stars noted actor Rajit Kapoor in a pivotal role. The film is slated to hit the screens on May 11.

Apart from 'Raazi, Alia will also be seen in 'Gully Boy' opposite Ranveer Singh and 'Brahmastra' alongside Ranbir Kapoor. The 25-year-old actress will also be seen doing a cameo in Shah Rukh Khan's 'Zero'.

Recently, the 'Highway' star was spotted along with Sanjay Dutt at her father and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's office. Her presence with Sanjay Dutt at Bhatt's office gave rise to speculations that she may play a part in the sequel to 1991 released 'Sadak' starring the 58-year-old actor and her elder sister Pooja Bhatt.

Though, an official confirmation of the same remains awaited.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Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar popularly known as Babasaheb, was a politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit movement and campaigned against the social discrimination against Untouchables (Dalits) and also supported the rights of women. Born on April 14, 1891, BR Ambedkar was the first law minister, who wrote the Constitution of India.

On the 127th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar, let us remember him for his words. Here are 10 inspiring quotes by him.

Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.

"I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity

Life should be great rather than long.

If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.

Every man who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is no fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class.

We must stand on our own feet and fight as best as we can for our rights. So carry on your agitation and organize your forces. Power and prestige will come to you through struggle.

The history of India is nothing but a history of a mortal conflict between Buddhism and Brahminism.

I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.

Men are mortal. So are ideas. An idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering. Otherwise, both will wither and die.

A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society.New Delhi: Actress Karisma Kapoor's ex-husband Sanjay Kapur, who got married to Priya Sachdev, last year celebrated his first wedding anniversary with his wife.

Priya shared a beautiful picture of the duo's wedding reception and wrote, "Happy Anniversary my Darling Husband...Love you from the Sun and Back Infinite Times! You Complete Me in every way possible...Thank you for your unconditional love This last One year has been beautiful and always a roller coaster with you...looking forward to a lifetime of more beautiful years of married life with you my Handsome Husband!, she captioned the photo. Priya is Sunjays third wife. Before her, he was married to actor Karisma Kapoor but the two got divorced in 2016."

It is believed that Sanjay first met Priya during a flight journey and the duo dated each other for five years before walking down the aisle. Both of them exchanged wedding vows on April 13 last year and later hosted a grand reception in New York.

Priya was earlier married to American hotelier and actor Vikram Chatwal while Sanjay was married twice, first to designer Nandita Mahtani and then with actress Karisma Kapoor. He also has two children from Karisma - Samaira and Kiaan Raj Kapoor.

Lately, his daughter Samaira and Kiaan had turned a year old. Interestingly, their birthday falls on March 11 and 12 respectively. Sanjay's wife Priya took to Instagram to wish them.

Happy Birthday #Samaira wishing you a very Happy 13th Birthday Princess. you are officially a Teenager now...! Love you, she wrote for Samaira. Happy Birthday #Kiaan you are 8 years old today ... you are the star in all our lives Shine Bright!, she wrote for Kiaan.

On a related note, Sunjay and Karisma got married in 2003 and they were officially separated in 2016.Czech Republic: Milos Forman, the Czech-born movie director who found fame in Hollywood with the Oscar-winning classics "One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest" and "Amadeus," has died at the age of 86, Czech news agency CTK reported on Saturday.

Forman died on Friday in the United States after a short illness, his wife, Martina, told CTK.

"His departure was calm and he was surrounded the whole time by his family and his closest friends," she said.

Forman was born in the Czech town of Caslav on Feb. 18, 1932, but moved to the United States after the Communist crackdown on the "Prague Spring" uprising in 1968. He became a U.S. citizen in the 1970s.

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest," in which a psychiatric institution becomes a microcosm of the contemporary world, and "Amadeus," the life of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of his rival Antonio Salieri, earned 13 Oscars between them, including those for best director to Forman.

His other notable work included the rock musical "Hair" in 1979, "Ragtime" in 1981 and "The People vs Larry Flint" in 1996, which was nominated for an Academy Award that year.New Delhi: Actor Anil Kapoor shared an emotional for his co-star and sister-in-law Sridevi, moments after she was conferred with the Best Actress award posthumously for her performance in Mom' at the 65th National Film Awards on Friday.

In his note shared on social media, Anil Kapoor thanked the jury for the recognition and said that the National Award means a lot to them.

She might not be among us anymore but her talent, work and memory will live on. Sri was and always will be a shining star in the sky. I know this recognition and this award would mean a lot to her, it surely means a lot to us. So thank you. #NationalFilmAwards"

Earlier, Sridevis husband Boney Kapoor and daughters Jhanvi and Khushi had also issued a joint statement thanking the Indian government and the jury members for the honour. They have also thanked Sridevis friends and fans for their congratulatory messages.

The note read, "We are overjoyed to know that the jury has conferred the best actor award to Sridevi for her performance in Mom. Its a very special moment for all of us. She was always a perfectionist and it showed in all the 300 plus films she did. She was not just a super actor but a super wife and a super mom. Its time to celebrate her life and her achievements. She is not with us today but her legacy will always live on.

Filmmaker and jury member Shekhar Kapur also told the media that late actress Sridevi wasn't chosen for the honour because of his relationship with her but due to her contribution to 'Mom'.

Sridevi breathed her last on February 24, 2018, in Dubai where she had gone to attend a family wedding. Indian cinema's first female superstar's died due to accidental drowning, as per the forensic report.New Delhi: Actress Anushka Sharma was at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to cheer for hubby Virat Kohli, who is in Bengaluru for RCB's match against KXIP. Virat's lady luck proved to be lucky for him yet again as his team defeated Preity Zinta's KXIP by four wickets in the IPL match held on Friday.

Anushka was excited throughout the match and actively cheered for her husband and RCB captain Virat Kohli. Even from a distance, their chemistry was felt as she blew a couple of flying kisses to her hubby during the match. At one moment, when Kohli took a catch, an excited Anushka got up from her seat and acknowledged Virat's catch with a flying kiss.

The match also brought two Bollywood actresses under one roof, Anushka Sharma, who was there to root for her husband and Preity Zinta, who is the owner of KXIP. The two actresses were also spotted sharing a light moment during the match.

Here's the picture posted by a fan:

However, this is not the first time Anushka has graced Bengaluru's stadium for an RCB match. She has been spotted many times at the stands whenever RCB played a match in Bengaluru.

AB de Villiers' brilliant knock helped Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets in the match.

Chasing 156, opener Brendon McCullum departed in the first over and Virat too wasted the start and went back in the fifth over.

Mandeep Singh then came in the middle and supported de Villiers by playing some beautifully crafted shots around the ground.

But just when Bangalore side was at the brink of the win, the South African player was dismissed by Andrew Tye in the 19th over. His 40-ball innings was laced with two boundaries and four sixes. Just after that, Mandeep also got run out in the same over.

(With inputs from IANS)Mumbai: Bigg Boss Season 11contestant Arshi Khan feels that media should leave some space for celebrities when it comes to their personal or professional life.

Arshi interacted with media at the launch of author Sonalli Gupta's book titled "Of Love.. Life And Everything In Between" along with Rohit Verma and Archana Kochhar on Friday in Mumbai.

Asked about her take on Comedian Kapil Sharma's incident where he was seen hurling abuses on SpotboyE editor Vicky Lalwani via twitter and phone conversation blaming him for maligning his professional image, Arshi said: "It was Kapil Sharma's mistake for whatever he has done but I think media should also understand that an individual is involved in so many things in his life.

"He must have been going through some family or professional issues so media should also give that kind of space to celebrities when it comes to their personal or professional life."

So is Arshi willing to work with Kapil Sharma if she gets an opportunity?

"Definitely... who doesn't want to work with Kapil? He is not only popular in India but he is famous internationally as well."

"He is such a huge comedian so yes, if I get an opportunity to work with him then surely, I will work."

The book was launched by Verma, celebrity plastic surgeon Aamod Rao and actress and karate medalist Sandhya Shetty who joined the stage as panellists.NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI arrested another person in connection with the Unnao gang-rape case.

Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly took the victim to BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on the day of crime, was held by the central probe agency on Saturday evening.

Earlier today, the court sent BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the alleged accused in Unnao gang-rape case, to seven-day police custody on Saturday.

We support fair investigation. He has been sent to 7-day CBI custody, said Sengar's lawyer.

In a complaint to the Uttar Pradesh Police, the victim's mother alleged that the Shashi stood guard outside the room where Sengar's raped her daughter.

Meanwhile, Unnao rape victim was taken to Lohia hospital in Lucknow for medical and legal examination.

After 17 hours of interrogation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the BJP legislator on Friday night for alleged rape of a minor. The action came barely hours the Allahabad High Court ordered the probe agency to arrest Sengar, stating that he was influencing the "law-and-order machinery".

"The disturbing feature of the case is that the law and order machinery and the government officials were directly in league and under the influence of Kuldeep Singh," a bench of Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale and Justice Sunit Kumar said.

"The prosecutrix and her family members have been running from post to pillar but her complaint was not registered, despite approaching the chief minister. The influence of the accused is such that the circle officer also declined to lodge the report on the complaint duly forwarded by the office of the chief minister," it said.

After a massive public outrage over the inaction of the UP police, the case was handed over to the CBI on April 12.

Three FIRs have been file dby the Uttar Pradesh Police in the case. The first FIR pertains to the alleged rape of the girl in which Sengar and Shashi Singh have been named as accused.

The second pertains to rioting, in which four locals have been booked, and the alleged killing of the victim's father in judicial custody. Since the murder charge was added later by the state police, it does not reflect in the CBI FIR.

The third case pertains to the allegations against the victim's father, who was arrested by the police under the Arms Act and put in jail, where he died. According to the post-mortem examination report, he had suffered serious injuries.

Nearly a year ago, on June 4, 2017, the victim  a minor at the time  visited the MLA's residence with a relative seeking a job, where she was allegedly raped by Sengar and others. Despite several attempts, the victim failed to register a case.

The case came into limelight after the victim and her family tried to set themselves ablaze in front of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's house last week. The very next day, the victim's father, who was held by police, died in the jail with post-mortem suggesting serious injuries on his body.

Later, UP CM Yogi Adityanath assured of strict action on criminals, no matter how influential they are.

With agency inputsLUCKNOW: BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the alleged accused in Unnao gang-rape case, has been sent to seven-day police custody on Saturday. Earlier in the day, he was produced before a Lucknow court, when he expressed faith in the judicial system. Later, BJP MLA's aide Shashi Singh was also detained by CBI.

Meanwhile, Unnao rape victim was taken to Lohia hospital in Lucknow for medical and legal examination.

After 17 hours of interrogation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the BJP legislator on Friday night for alleged rape of a minor. The action came barely hours the Allahabad High Court ordered the probe agency to arrest Sengar, stating that he was influencing the "law-and-order machinery".

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also broke his silence on the rape cases and assured that strict action will be taken against criminals.

Nearly a year ago, on June 4, 2017, the victim  a minor at the time  visited the MLA's residence with a relative seeking a job, where she was allegedly raped by Sengar and others. Despite several attempts, the victim failed to register a case.

The case came into limelight after the victim and her family tried to set themselves ablaze in front of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's house last week. The very next day, the victim's father, who was held by police, died in the jail with post-mortem suggesting serious injuries on his body.

Later, UP CM Yogi Adityanath assured of strict action on criminals, no matter how influential they are.

A nationwide outrage has emerged over the Unnao and Kathua rape cases, with protestors and Opposition parties demanding quick and swift action against the culprits.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, along with party members and other protestors, led a candle light march in the national capital on Thursday night. Next day, demonstrators protested across the country demanding justice.

"The DGP and the Principal Secretary (Home) were shielding the accused. The entire country has seen how they were referring to him (the MLA) as 'mananiya' (honourable) at a press conference," said the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav.LUCKNOW: Before being produced in front of a Lucknow court, BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar  the alleged rape accused in Unnao gang-rape case  expressed his faith in the judiciary.

I have faith in God, I have faith in the judiciary. Everything will be okay, Sengar told media persons as members of law enforcement agencies hurried him inside the court.

After 17 hours of interrogation, the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI on Friday arrested the BJP legislator for the alleged rape of a minor. The action came barely hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured of action against criminals. Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had also ordered the central probe agency to arrest Sengar immediately, saying he was influencing the "law-and-order machinery".

Nearly a year ago, on June 4, 2017, the victim  a minor at the time  visited the MLA's residence with a relative seeking a job, where she was allegedly raped by Sengar and others. Despite several attempts, the victim failed to register a case.

The case came into limelight after the victim and her family tried to set themselves ablaze in front of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's house last week. The very next day, the victim's father, who was held by police, died inside the jail with postmortem reports indicating at serious injuries.

Later, UP CM Yogi Adityanath assured of strict action on criminals, no matter how influential they are.

A nationwide outrage has emerged over the Unnao and Kathua rape cases, with protestors and Opposition parties demanding quick and swift action against the culprits.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, along with party members and other protestors, led a candlelight march in the national capital on Thursday night. Next day, demonstrators protested across the country demanding justice.

"The DGP and the Principal Secretary (Home) were shielding the accused. The entire country has seen how they were referring to him (the MLA) as 'mananiya' (honourable) at a press conference," said the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav.LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was honoured with the title of 'Dalit Mitra' by the Ambedkar Mahasabha in Lucknow on Saturday on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

Addressing the event, Adityanath said that the BJP government has worked tirelessly for the upliftment of Dalits. "The BJP government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has worked tirelessly for the emancipation and upliftment of Dalits by the construction of more than 40 lakh toilets in the rural areas," he said.

Remembering the role that Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar has played for the lives of Dalits he added: "Babasaheb has made a number of provisions in the Constitution of India to remove social disparities and provide social justice to the oppressed sections of the society...Every citizen of India will always remain obliged towards the contribution of Babasaheb. Babasaheb struggled throughout his life for the rights of Dalits and oppressed sections of the society."

Along with Adityanath, Governor Ram Naik and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma also paid floral tributes to BR Ambedkar at the event organised on the 127th birth anniversary of the architect of the Constitution.

The state government has organised several programmes to mark the day amid tight security to prevent any possible attempt at inciting violence, as several political parties have drawn up separate plans for the occasion.

Districts magistrates and superintendents of police have been asked to ensure peace and check any violence in their respective areas of jurisdiction. District authorities have been directed by the home department to intensify patrolling to ensure that no loss of life and property takes place and clamp prohibitory orders wherever necessary.

(With PTI inputs)China does not have Twitter. Nor does it have Facebook. It has Weibo. And soon, the largest social networking website in the country will ban all gay-related content. Obviously then, the decision has left Chinese gay community absolutely fuming.

Micro-blogging website Weibo has begun a clampdown on content it broadly sees as offensive. While content with extreme violence has become prime target for the website, gay content too is taking a fall in a country which otherwise has not banned homosexuality. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) recently reported that the decision to remove gay content has not gone down too well with the LGBT community with many saying that it is a direct attack on their right to express.I am gay and Im proud, even if I get taken down there are tens of millions like me!, a user reportedly wrote in a post on Weibo, according to SCMP.

It has also been reported that content deemed gay have already begun being banned. Many users reported that their posts were removed and was instead replaced with an 'illegal content' message.

The latest move to 'clean-up' what is posted online in Weibo comes at a time when Facebook - the world's largest social media company - has been facing flak for leaking user data to private firms. While China never allowed Facebook to provide services in the country, Weibo became the most preferred alternative. And Weibo is looking to leave no stone unturned in ensuring content adhere to their rules and policies even though many suspect it is on the directions of a political leadership looking for even more control on the micro-blogging site.In the days following imposition of tariff on Chinese products by the Donald Trump administration, there has been a raging debate on Chinese social media platforms with many urging a counter offensive by boycotting American fast food joints. It is a call not many may be listening.

Burgers, fried chicken, fries and colas have their own way of rising above nationalism, or so it would seem.

China may have kept its economic doors firmly shut to the outside world for several decades but those times are now long gone. Local Chinese , much like most elsewhere, love their fast food. A lot. Little wonder then that messages implying that eating in American restraunts like McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts and KFC is a sign of weak patriotism, is not finding many takers.

News agency AFP reports that there has been no dip in footfall at most American fast ood joints in Beijing. "I received these messages. I deleted them," a customer at McDonalds was quoted as saying. "People who send such messages just want to create ruckus."

There are many who agree with him. "Do you think this doughnut is a symbol of American overreach and imperialism? an employee at Dunkin Donuts was quoted as asking in the AFP report.

But burgers, donuts, fried chicken and other fast food favourites are an exception. The Chinese have not always been so forgiving.

The most-recent incident when Chinese actually did pay heed to boycotting foreign products was when Hyundai sales plumeted after South Korea allowed the United States to install THAAD anti-missile systems on its territory. The system was considered a threat to China and there was a call to boycott the South Korean auto giant. It worked and Hyundai paid a heavy price for a political decision.

A French relatil company called Carrefour too suffered for no fault of its own when its stores were boycotted only because pro-Tibet activists had disrupted the Olympic torch relay in Paris before the 2008 Beijing Games.

When it comes to matters of the belly though, it is not always easy to say no. That and the fact that China, possibly, does not have its own alternatives worthy enough to match American fast food companies. For now, a majority of Chinese are 'lovin' it.'The US and its allies fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Syria, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian air defences, the Russian defence ministry said Saturday. "More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets," the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency. It added that "a significant number" were shot down by Syrian air defences.

The Russian defence ministry also said Saturday that none of the Western strikes in Syria had hit areas covered by Russia`s air defences around its air base and naval facility. "Not one of the cruise missiles released by the US and its allies entered the zone of responsibility of Russian air defences protecting facilities in Tartus and Hmeimim," the ministry said.

As the US attacked Syria, Russia said that actions will have consequences. "Again, we are being threatened. The worst apprehensions have come true. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences," Anatoly Antonov, Russian Ambassador to US said. The Russian ambassador to the US also said that "all responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.

The US, France, and Britain announced a joint operation against Syria's government, a week after a suspected chemical attack outside the capital Damascus left more than 40 people dead.

Western strikes early Saturday hit Syrian military bases and research centres in and around the capital and the country`s centre. The world leaders announced that the strikes targeted positions linked to the chemical weapons facilities of the Syrian government.

Moments after the announcement, loud blasts could be heard from the capital and large plumes of smoke emerged from its northern and eastern edges. Syrian state media reported the joint operation hit a research centre northeast of the capital as well as other military installations around Damascus, but said missiles targeting army depots in Homs had been intercepted.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said, in a primetime address from the White House. "A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both."

"This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," he said of the suspected deadly gas attack a week ago on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma.Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's compensation rose 53.5 percent to $8.9 million in 2017, a regulatory filing showed on Friday, largely due to higher costs related to the 33-year old billionaire's personal security. About 83 percent of the compensation represented security-related expenses, while most of the rest were tied to Zuckerberg`s personal usage of private aircraft.

Zuckerberg spent much of last year travelling after he pledged to visit all the U.S. states that he had not previously been to. His security expenses climbed to $7.3 million in 2017 from $4.9 million a year earlier.

Menlo Park, California-based Facebook paid to buy, install and maintain security measures for Zuckerberg`s personal residences, which include properties in San Francisco and Palo Alto, the filing showed.

The Facebook board`s compensation committee authorized Zuckerberg`s security programme, the filing said, "to address safety concerns due to specific threats to his safety arising directly as a result of his position as our founder, Chairman, and CEO." Zuckerberg`s base salary was unchanged at $1, while his total voting power at Facebook rose marginally to 59.9 percent.

Facebook, which has consistently reported stronger-than-expected earnings over the past two years, has faced public outcry over its role in Russia`s alleged influence over the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Earlier this week, Zuckerberg emerged largely unscathed after facing hours of questioning from U.S. lawmakers on how the personal information of several million Facebook users might have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Stressing that there is an online propaganda "arms race" with Russia and it was important to make sure no one interferes in any more elections including in India, Zuckerberg told Congress that his own personal data was "improperly shared". Appearing before the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, Zuckerberg had told the lawmakers that his own personal data was part of 87 million users' that was "improperly shared" with Cambridge Analytica. He also conveyed his concerns about the upcoming elections globally.Moscow: Russians have been told to be prepared for a Third World War which could be sparked off by the current crisis in Syria, a state-run Russian TV channel has reported.

The Kremlin-owned channel suggested the ideal supplies for survival and told people to pack iodine to protect the body from radiation while taking refuge in bomb shelters.

The report on Rossiya-24 came amid deep tensions over Syria and as a top military analyst warned that the world is already witnessing a second Cuban Missile Crisis.

Alexander Golts told Rain TV in Moscow, "A year ago when I said we had entered a new Cold War, nobody agreed with me. Now everyone agrees but it has become clear that events in this second Cold War develop a lot quicker. It's only just started and, here you go, we already have Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0".

The bomb shelter advice included stated, "The food supply for doomsday includes many items but the main idea behind packing an emergency stock is less sweets, more water. Viewers were told to pack rice - it can be stored for up to eight years, oatmeal for three to seven years".

Experts "say that it is also necessary to take supplies of medicines with iodine that help body deal with radiation".

However, the same report also claimed there were too many Western scare stories about a catastrophic global conflict.

It said the panic was worse in America, adding, "It is interesting whether Russians believe this nonsense. After electing (Donald) Trump, the business of American producers of bomb shelters is booming".WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered precision strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capabilities. Trump said a combined operation with France and Britain was underway and that they were prepared to sustain the response until Syria stopped its use of chemical weapons.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a televised address from the White House. "These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said referring to Assad and his role in the poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last week. "The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons," Trump said.

Explosions in Damascus

As Trump gave his televised address, at least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus and smoke was seen rising over the Syrian capital. A witness was quoted as saying that the Barzah district of Damascus had been hit in the strikes. Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research centre.

Syria retaliates

Syrian TV reports claim that the country's air defence systems have been activated and are responding to the attack. "Syrian air defence blocks American, British, French aggression on Syria," Syrian state television reported.

Britain confirms role in strike

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she had authorised British forces to conduct the precision strikes against Syria to degrade its chemical weapons capability. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties," May said on Saturday in a statement." May said "a significant body of information including intelligence" pointed to Syrian government responsibility for a suspected chemical attack last Saturday. "There is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," she said.

May also said that the strikes would "send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity"."This is the first time as prime minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat -- and it is not a decision I have taken lightly. I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain`s national interest," she added.

France confirms

Confirming the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes in Syria target 'regime chemical weapons capacity. He also added that they 'cannot tolerate normalisation of chemical weapons' in Syria.

Russia warns of 'consequences'

As the US with its allies continues to attack Syria, Russia said that actions will have consequences. "Again, we are being threatened. The worst apprehensions have come true. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences," Anatoly Antonov, Russian Ambassador to US said. The Russian ambassador to the US also said that "all responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.

(With agency inputs)Open source

The militants performed 20 attacks in Donbas conflict zone form the beginning of the day, no casualties reported, as the Donbas conflict HQ reported on Facebook.

Russias occupational troops performed 20 shootings at the Ukrainian positions. The aggressor continues using Minsk-banned weapons, the report says.

The militant used 120- and 82-mm mortar launchers, infantry fighting vehicle, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns near Troitske (Donetsk region). Russias troops used 82-mm mortar launchers near Krymske (Luhansk region) and heavy machine guns near Svitlodarsk (Donetsk region).

The enemy used 82-mm mortar launchers near Opytne and Kamianka. Besides, Russias illegally armed formations were firing from grenade launchers at the Ukrainian defence works near Vodyane, Avdiivka, Kamianka, Lebedynske and Bohdanivka, from heavy machine guns  near Pavlopil, Nevelske and Marinka, and from infantry fighting machine near Bohdanivka.

According to the information of the Donbas conflict HQ, the Armed Forces positions near Kamianka, Lebedynske, Pavlopil were under fire. The sniper was firing near Avdiivka.

Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko stated that the Anti-terrorist operation in the East of Ukraine is to be renamed in Joint Forces Operation since April 30, 2018.112 Agency

The Pentagon says that missile strikes by the United States, Britain and France hit all the targets in Syria. This was stated during a briefing by General Kenneth McKenzie, reports BBC.



He confirmed the information on three main targets, noting that they were successfully hit.



According to him, the objects were chosen cautiously in order to avoid civilian casualties.



The Pentagon also called Syria's "air defense" ineffective.



"We believe that Syria's attempts to defend itself were largely ineffective, and obviously carried a risk to people's lives," he said.



According to the Pentagon, 76 missiles hit the target near Damascus, 22 more rockets were fired at a warehouse west of Homs.



As reported, the armed forces of the United States, Britain and France on April 14 inflicted air strikes on a number of facilities in Syria related to the development and use of chemical weapons. The media report about at least three victims.



Airstrikes became the response to the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Douma, killing 70 people. The West blamed Bashar Assad, as well as Russia.



A number of countries have already supported the actions of the US and its allies. In turn, Russia stated that it convenes an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

Related: Russian ambassador to US threatens with consequences for strikes on Syria112 Agency

Russia's ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said that the US, British and French airstrikes will not be left without consequences. This is written in his statement, published on the facebook page of the embassy.



"The worst fears were justified: our warnings were ignored, a script prepared in advance is being put into practice, and again we are threatened. We warned that such actions will not remain without consequences," the report said.



According to Antonov, all responsibility for this lies on Washington, London and Paris.



"The insult of the Russian president is unacceptable: the US - the owner of the largest arsenal of chemical weapons - has no moral right to blame other countries," the diplomat concluded.

We recall, on the evening of April 13, US President Donald Trump ordered to conduct the rocket attacks on Syrian territory in response to the use of chemical weapons in the Douma. They were also joined by the United Kingdom and France. According to Reuters, the United States struck with cruise missiles Tomahawk.



After the attack, the statement was also made by British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron. The leaders noted that the strikes were applied exclusively to objects that are associated with chemical weapons. The Russian ambassador to the US, Antonov, threatened sides with the consequences for striking Syria.



On April 7, the volunteer organizations reported that the chemical attack at Douma, the East Ghouta took place. As a result of this attack at least 70 people died. The Syrian government and Russia called this information untrue, while the US and allies have blamed Bashar al-Assad for the attack.

Later U.S. President Donald Trump announced about a coming missile attack in Syria and urged Russia to be prepared. Also, the British troops prepare for the operation.

In its turn, Russias Foreign Ministry claimed that the missiles should aim the terrorists. The General Staff of Russia recommended the US and its allies to restore Syrian Raqqa instead of threats.Open source

As a result of the missile strikes of the United States, Britain and France on Syrian territory, three people were injured. This is reported by Reuters with reference to the SANA Syrian news agency.



Reportedly, the external damage received the research center in the province of Homs.



"Missiles launched on the military base in Homs were intercepted and shot down, three civilians were injured," the report said.



At the same time, RIA "Novosti" referring to a source in the security agencies of Syria informs about six civilians affected.

We recall, on the evening of April 13, US President Donald Trump ordered to conduct the rocket attacks on Syrian territory in response to the use of chemical weapons in the Douma. They were also joined by the United Kingdom and France. According to Reuters, the United States struck with cruise missiles Tomahawk.



After the attack, the statement was also made by British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron. The leaders noted that the strikes were applied exclusively to objects that are associated with chemical weapons. The Russian ambassador to the US, Antonov, threatened sides with the consequences for striking Syria.



On April 7, the volunteer organizations reported that the chemical attack at Douma, the East Ghouta took place. As a result of this attack at least 70 people died. The Syrian government and Russia called this information untrue, while the US and allies have blamed Bashar al-Assad for the attack.

Later U.S. President Donald Trump announced about a coming missile attack in Syria and urged Russia to be prepared. Also, the British troops prepare for the operation.

In its turn, Russias Foreign Ministry claimed that the missiles should aim the terrorists. The General Staff of Russia recommended the US and its allies to restore Syrian Raqqa instead of threats.AP photo

US President Donald Trump described the strikes against Syria as "mission accomplished." He wrote about this on his Twitter page.



He said that the United States, France and the United Kingdom had coped well with the missile strikes.



"A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!", He wrote.



As reported, the armed forces of the United States, Britain and France on April 14 inflicted air strikes on a number of facilities in Syria related to the development and use of chemical weapons. The media report about at least three victims.



Airstrikes became the response to the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Douma, killing 70 people. The West blamed the attack on Bashar Assad, as well as Russia.



NATO, the EU, as well as the Czech Republic, Turkey and Ukraine have already spoken in support for the actions of the United States and its allies.



At the same time, Damascus described the attacks as a gross violation of international law. Belarus also strongly condemned it. In turn, Russia stated that it convenes an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

Related: Syrian media report on victims of missile strikeswww.tvc.ru

The armed forces of the United States, Britain and France on April 14 inflicted air strikes on a number of facilities in Syria related to the development and use of chemical weapons. This was stated in the Pentagon, the newspaper The New York Times reported.



The Allies dropped cruise missiles at the research center in Damascus, a chemical weapons storage near Homs and a nearby command post.



US Secretary of Defense James Mattis in a special appeal assured that the blows were applied pointwise to avoid civilian casualties.



We recall, on the evening of April 13, US President Donald Trump ordered to conduct the rocket attacks on Syrian territory in response to the use of chemical weapons in the Douma. They were also joined by the United Kingdom and France. According to Reuters, the United States struck with cruise missiles Tomahawk.



After the attack, the statement was also made by British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron. The leaders noted that the strikes were applied exclusively to objects that are associated with chemical weapons. The Russian ambassador to the US, Antonov, threatened sides with the consequences for striking Syria.



On April 7, the volunteer organizations reported that the chemical attack at Douma, the East Ghouta took place. As a result of this attack at least 70 people died. The Syrian government and Russia called this information untrue, while the US and allies have blamed Bashar al-Assad for the attack.

Later U.S. President Donald Trump announced about a coming missile attack in Syria and urged Russia to be prepared. Also, the British troops prepare for the operation.

In its turn, Russias Foreign Ministry claimed that the missiles should aim the terrorists. The General Staff of Russia recommended the US and its allies to restore Syrian Raqqa instead of threats.Open source

Theresa May, Britains PM, stated that the airstrikes in Syria were successful, as they were targeted at the illegal use of chemical weapons, as CNN reports.

According to her, the British Government believes that the performed attacks on the territory of Syria were successful.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world," the PM stated.

May called these attacks a right and legal step, despite the fact that the decision was made by London without discussing it with the Parliament.

"The best hope for the Syrian people remains a political solution. We need all partners  especially the regime and its backers  to enable humanitarian access to those in desperate need. And the UK will continue to strive for both. But these strikes are about deterring the barbaric use of chemical weapons in Syria and beyond. And so to achieve this there must also be a wider diplomatic effort  including the full range of political and economic levers  to strengthen the global norms prohibiting the use of chemical weapons which have stood for nearly a century," May said.

On April 7, the volunteer organizations reported that the chemical attack at Douma, the East Ghouta took place. As a result of this attack at least 70 people died. The Syrian government and Russia called this information untrue, while the US and allies have blamed Bashar al-Assad for the attack.

Later U.S. President Donald Trump announced about a coming missile attack in Syria and urged Russia to be prepared. Also, the British troops prepare for the operation.

In its turn, Russias Foreign Ministry claimed that the missiles should aim the terrorists. The General Staff of Russia recommended the US and its allies to restore Syrian Raqqa instead of threats.

Also, on April 12, President Trump specified when the US will attack Syria.

Britains and Frances armies started preparing for the military response. As at April 13, Germany and Italy refused to participate in the possible military operation in Syria.Antonio Guterres stated that the chaos in the Middle East poses threat to the world and its security

The chaos on the Middle East threatens the security of the whole world and risks to worsen the regional and global conflicts, as Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, stated at the UN Security Council emergency meeting dedicated to the international security issues, as DW.com reported.

Guterres believes that the world is back in the Cold War period. According to him, the tools which used to impede the escalation of tension between the USA and the Soviet Union, have probably disappeared.

The Secretary General noted that the chaos in the Middle East poses threat to the world and its security. The extremely volatile situation in the Middle East risks to worsen and provokes serious regional and global consequences.

In Syria, we see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies, a number of armed opposition groups, many national and international militia, foreign fighters from everywhere in the world, and various terrorist organizations, Guterres said.

The UN Security Council was held by Russias initiative, which expressed disquietude due to Trumps threats to launch an airstrike in Syria.

Guterres addressed the issue from wider prospects reminding about the Israeli-Palestinian and the Sunni-Shia conflicts, which divides the community from the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Secretary General mentioned the disorders on the Gaza Strip-Israel border, the humanitarian crises in Yemen and armed conflict in Libya.

On April 7, the volunteer organizations reported that the chemical attack at Douma, the East Ghouta took place. As a result of this attack at least 70 people died. The Syrian government and Russia called this information untrue, while the US and allies have blamed Bashar al-Assad for the attack.

Later U.S. President Donald Trump announced about a coming missile attack in Syria and urged Russia to be prepared. Also, the British troops prepare for the operation.

In its turn, Russias Foreign Ministry claimed that the missiles should aim the terrorists. The General Staff of Russia recommended the US and its allies to restore Syrian Raqqa instead of threats.

Also, on April 12, President Trump specified when the US will attack Syria.

Britains and Frances armies started preparing for the military response. As at April 13, Germany and Italy refused to participate in the possible military operation in Syria.The representative of the Ministry stressed that Ukraine confirms its opinion that it is a blatant violation of the international law to use a chemical weapon anywhere, under any circumstances and by anyone

Open source

Ukraine expressed solidarity with the USA, Britain and France and supports the allies response to the chemical weapon use in Douma (Syria), which lead to numerous victims among civilians, as the press-office of the Foreign Ministry reported.

Kremlins support of Damascuss crimes cannot be left without attention, as the Kremlins regime with its actions, including in the UN Security Council, consistently makes it impossible to solve the conflict in Syria in accordance with the UN Charter, the statement says.

The representative of the Ministry stressed that Ukraine confirms its opinion that it is a blatant violation of the international law to use a chemical weapon anywhere, under any circumstances and by anyone. The individuals involved in such actions should be brought to responsibility.

On April 7, the volunteer organizations reported that the chemical attack at Douma, the East Ghouta took place. As a result of this attack at least 70 people died. The Syrian government and Russia called this information untrue, while the US and allies have blamed Bashar al-Assad for the attack.

Later U.S. President Donald Trump announced about a coming missile attack in Syria and urged Russia to be prepared. Also, the British troops prepare for the operation.

In its turn, Russias Foreign Ministry claimed that the missiles should aim the terrorists. The General Staff of Russia recommended the US and its allies to restore Syrian Raqqa instead of threats.

Also, on April 12, President Trump specified when the US will attack Syria.

Britains and Frances armies started preparing for the military response. As at April 13, Germany and Italy refused to participate in the possible military operation in Syria.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!)An evening of visual art and live music presented by John Patrick Funk.

The OT Circus is thrilled to present "Enchanted in New Mexico - An artists visit becomes a soul changing journey in music, photgraphy, and scuplture." - An evening of visual art and live music, presented by John Patrick Funk.

John is excited to be participating with the Albuquerque community at the OT Circus gallery, and has made 14 unique prints for this showing. They are first edition and in limited quantity. The OT Circus will be the first space he has sold these prints before of his captivating photography and graphics produced here in NM. This event is going to be unique in that it combines live music and art in special one night presentation.

A $5 donation is suggested and there will be a $5 art raffle as well, in which 100% of the monies goes to the artist.YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. During the period from April 8 to 14 the Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime more than 300 times in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact by firing nearly 3300 shots from various caliber weapons at the Armenian positions, the defense ministry of Artsakh told Armenpress.

In addition, the Azerbaijani forces also fired automatic grenade launcher (3 grenades) at the northern section of the line of contact.

The Defense Army forces continue strictly fulfilling their military tasks and take countermeasures in case of strict necessity.



English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian sent a congratulatory letter to Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Yuri Hovhannisyan on the 85th birthday, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The letter says:

Dear Mr. Hovhannisyan,

I sincerely congratulate you on your 85th birthday.

Your contribution to development of experimental nuclear physics is invaluable. By your direct participation several elements of the Mendeleev table were discovered, and your name found its permanent place in the table among the last elements known to us. Your scientific merit deserves humbleness and fills the hearts of Armenians with pride.

I once again congratulate you on your jubilee, wish you good health, strength and energy to continue your activity.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Euronews presented a report on Christians in Syria, reports Armenpress.

The report says before the war Syria was a safe place for the Christians of the Middle East, they were comprising 10% of the population. According to preliminary data, since 2011 every second of them had to leave the country. After the defeat of the Islamic State, some of them returned to Syria, but there is still the danger of numerous Islamist groups which refuse to put down their weapons.

Christians are first to appear under fire because they are Christians. One can imagine what will be their fate in case of the victory of jihadists. We have already faced a similar event a century ago, in 1915 when the Christians in Anatolia were being killed for being Christians, representative of the Armenian Union of Belgium Karen Tadevosyan told Euronews.

Euronews writes that in such circumstances its not surprising that many of them stood together with the Syrian government during the civil war, including Petros Petrosyan who is from Aleppo, but currently lives in Brussels.

Syrias Christians support the Syrian statehood, its unity and territorial integrity. Today together with our government we are restoring peace in our land for the sake of the Syrian people, Petros Petrosyan said.

The Euronews writes that this doesnt mean that they oppose political changes. They just think that this can be achieved by peaceful methods.

Of course, some part of the Syrian people was seeking changes, but they didnt want war, tens of thousands of killings and millions of refugees, internally displaced people, rocked cities. This was imposed on us by other states which have not reached what they wanted, Karen Tadevosyan said.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The life in Syrias Aleppo is in its normal course, the residents are engaged in their daily activities, ethnic Armenian lawmaker of the Syrian Parliament Jirair Reisian told ARMENPRESS, commenting on the missile strikes delivered on Syria overnight April 14 by the US, France and the UK.

Of course, the situation is concerning, and everyone wants full peace, but this missile strike caused no change in our activities. We continue living normally. I can only state that during these eight years, facing many difficulties, the people stood together with the Syrian army, today as well they support the army with all possible means striving to continue their life and restoring the country, Jirair Reisian said.

The United States, Great Britain and France launched a joint operation against Syria opening strikes on that country overnight April 14. The strikes are in response to a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week. According to the Russian media reports, there are no casualties in the Syrian side, but three people were injured in the attack.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held a phone talk with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani during which he said the attack carried out by the US, France and the UK increases Syrias resolve to fight against terrorism, TASS reports.

Assad said this aggression will increase the Syrian peoples resolve to fight and crush terrorism in every inch of the country, the statement said.

The United States, Great Britain and France launched a joint operation against Syria opening strikes on that country overnight April 14. The strikes are in response to a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week. According to the Russian media reports, there are no casualties in the Syrian side, but three people were injured in the attack. Russia condemned the attack calling it as violation of international law.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Firing missile strikes on Syrias targets by the US, France and the UK is a provocation and new escalation, Araks Pashayan  expert on Arabic studies, told ARMENPRESS, commenting on the ongoing developments in Syria.

This, in fact, can be called as an aggression against the region and Syria. Most probably, the Syrian platform is used against Russia and Iran. This is a new wave of escalation in international relations. Of course, each aggression, escalation can lead to counter actions. In any case, I think the further expansion of the military operations can be stopped, perhaps the allies would refrain from that just considering this as a warning. But, of course, its too early to speak about the settlement of the crisis, everything seems leads to a new tension, Araks Pashayan said.

The United States, Great Britain and France launched a joint operation against Syria opening strikes on that country overnight April 14. The strikes are in response to a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week. According to the Russian media reports, there are no casualties in the Syrian side, but three people were injured in the attack.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and a few dozen of his followers held a rally April 14 in the streets of Yerevan, as part of the lawmakers My Walk initiative, a walking tour which Pashinyan began earlier from Gyumri city. When the MP arrived to Yerevan, he organized a rally in the Freedom Square, followed by a sit-in at the Square of France in downtown.

As the crowd proceeded through the streets of Yerevan, they suddenly charged onto the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia, breaching into the building and breaking doors in the process.

The Police earlier issued a statement saying that disturbing the peace at nighttime is a misdemeanor. Law enforcement agencies also noted that the streets which pass through the Square of France are of vital importance for the city, and the sit-ins are causing significant inconvenience for citizens.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian community of Damascus, like the other residents of the capital, faced the aggression of the US and its allies. The moral and psychological situation is high, life continues, Nora Arissian  ethnic Armenian lawmaker of the Syrian Parliament, chair of the Armenia-Syria parliamentary friendship committee, told ARMENPRESS, commenting on the ongoing developments around Syria.

Unilateral actions or aggression are violations of the principles of the international law that took place outside the UN Security Council, which at the same time is a gross violation of the principles of a sovereign state. Its over 7 years our people were resisting the international terrorism, and now they resist such aggression. The Syrian people further strengthen the foundations of sovereignty. Today in the morning the squares of the city were full of citizens who were celebrating the victory against the aggression of the US and its allies which didnt achieve its goal, the lawmaker said.

She said the Syrian army said in a statement that the US, France and the UK fired missile strikes on Syria in morning hours.

The United States, Great Britain and France launched a joint operation against Syria firing missile strikes on that country overnight April 14. The strikes are in response to a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week. No casualties were reported in the Syrian side, but three people were injured in the attack.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and his followers have left the headquarters of Public Radio of Armenia after breaching into the building earlier in the day.

The crowd held the building for nearly an hour, demanding airtime.

Executive of the Public Radio agreed to provide airtime to the MP, but at 19:00 specifically. However, the opposition MP did not accept the offer.

Pashinyan instead read his message before reporters who were in the building.

After this, the crowd left the building and resumed the rally in the streets of Yerevan, using loudspeakers to notify about an upcoming rally.

Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and a few dozen of his followers held a rally April 14 in the streets of Yerevan, as part of the lawmakers My Walk initiative, a walking tour which Pashinyan began earlier from Gyumri city. When the MP arrived to Yerevan, he organized a rally in the Freedom Square, followed by a sit-in at the Square of France in downtown.

As the crowd proceeded through the streets of Yerevan, they suddenly charged onto the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia, breaching into the building and breaking doors in the process.

Shortly after the rally-goers breached into the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia in downtown Yerevan, Police released a statement calling on the crowd to maintain law and order.

Member of Parliament Nikol Pashinyan guided the participants of the rally to the Public Radio of Armenia headquarters, which is a strategic structure subject to state protection and is under the protection of police, the Police HQ said in a statement.

Police said the crowd breached into the building by subduing a police officer on duty at the entrance.

The crowd then went on to break an office door inside the building.

The on-duty police officer ordered MP Pashinyan to take out the crowd, but the organizer of the rally failed to notify the lawful order to the rally-goers and failed to ensure the normal process of the rally, an obligation under the law on assembly, the statement said.

Police urged the crowd to immediately vacate the building and maintain law and order.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The United States, Great Britain and France successfully hit every target in strikes on Syria, Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said at a press briefing, TASS reports.

The strikes successfully hit all targets, she said.

The United States, Great Britain and France launched a joint operation against Syria firing missile strikes on that country overnight April 14.

The strikes are in response to a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week.

No casualties were reported in the Syrian side, but three people were injured in the attack. The Russian defense ministry reported that 110 cruise and air-to-surface missiles had been fired, most of them were shot down by Syrias air defense units while approaching the targets.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and his followers continued the rally after leaving the Public Radio headquarters, the building which they breached into by force.

The rally proceeded through the streets of Yerevan and caused a major traffic jam in the Arshakunyats Avenue near the Circus building in downtown.

Drivers were expressing discontent because the rally caused heavy inconvenience to citizens, including public transportation.

After holding the intersection for about 15 minutes, the rally went on through the Grigor Lusavorich Street and Mashtots Avenue.

Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and a few dozen of his followers held a rally April 14 in the streets of Yerevan, as part of the lawmakers My Walk initiative, a walking tour which Pashinyan began earlier from Gyumri city. When the MP arrived to Yerevan, he organized a rally in the Freedom Square, followed by a sit-in at the Square of France in downtown.

As the crowd proceeded through the streets of Yerevan, they suddenly charged onto the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia, breaching into the building and breaking doors in the process.

MP Pashinyan was attempting to calm his supporters down and even apologized to the staff of the office.

The Police earlier issued a statement saying that disturbing the peace at nighttime is a misdemeanor. Law enforcement agencies also noted that the streets which pass through the Square of France are of vital importance for the city, and the sit-ins are causing significant inconvenience for citizens.

Police called on opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and his followers to refrain from unlawful conduct.

Shortly after the rally-goers breached into the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia in downtown Yerevan, Police released a statement calling on the crowd to maintain law and order.

Member of Parliament Nikol Pashinyan guided the participants of the rally to the Public Radio of Armenia headquarters, which is a strategic structure subject to state protection and is under the protection of police, the Police HQ said in a statement.

Police said the crowd breached into the building by subduing a police officer on duty at the entrance.

The crowd then went on to break an office door inside the building.

The on-duty police officer ordered MP Pashinyan to take out the crowd, but the organizer of the rally failed to notify the lawful order to the rally-goers and failed to ensure the normal process of the rally, an obligation under the law on assembly, the statement said.

Pashinyan subsequently demanded airtime on radio.

The on-duty police officer had all grounds to believe that an organized assault is being made on the building.

Police urged the crowd to immediately vacate the building and maintain law and order.

After the statement of the police, Pashinyan and his followers left the building.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Russia has submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council denouncing the missile strikes by the United States and its allies against Syria and demanding that they immediately stop their aggression against the Middle Eastern country, TASS reports.

Russias Permanent Envoy at the UN Vasily Nebenzia said the document "is on the table and ready for voting."

The missile strikes are aggravating the humanitarian situation and provoking a new wave of refugees, he said.

"By its actions, the US is increasingly aggravating the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, bringing sufferings to civilians and actually conniving at terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for seven years and provoking a new wave of refugees from that country and the region as a whole," Nebenzia stressed.

The one-page document, a copy of which has been obtained by TASS, expresses indignation over "the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the United States and its allies, which violates international law and the UN Charter."

The document condemns the Western countries actions and demands that they "halt the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic immediately and without any delay" and refrain from further use-of-force actions in violation of the UN Charter.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Mark Grigoryan, CEO of the Public Radio of Armenia, denied MP Pashinyans purported version of a phone conversation with himself which took place earlier today.

Your words and your breach prove that neither you, nor your followers listen to the broadcasts of the Public Radio, because we havent boycotted your movement and we have covered everything, Grigoryan told local media, presenting his conversation with the opposition MP.

During the conversation, Grigoryan also commented the breach in the following way : Its the same as protesting outside a pharmacy but going to storm into a bakery.

Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and a few dozen of his followers held a rally April 14 in the streets of Yerevan, as part of the lawmakers My Walk initiative, a walking tour which Pashinyan began earlier from Gyumri city. When the MP arrived to Yerevan, he organized a rally in the Freedom Square, followed by a sit-in at the Square of France in downtown.

As the crowd proceeded through the streets of Yerevan, they suddenly charged onto the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia, breaching into the building and breaking doors in the process.

Shortly after the rally-goers breached into the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia in downtown Yerevan, Police released a statement calling on the crowd to maintain law and order.

Member of Parliament Nikol Pashinyan guided the participants of the rally to the Public Radio of Armenia headquarters, which is a strategic structure subject to state protection and is under the protection of police, the Police HQ said in a statement.

Police said the crowd breached into the building by subduing a police officer on duty at the entrance.

The crowd then went on to break an office door inside the building.

The on-duty police officer ordered MP Pashinyan to take out the crowd, but the organizer of the rally failed to notify the lawful order to the rally-goers and failed to ensure the normal process of the rally, an obligation under the law on assembly, the statement said.

Police urged the crowd to immediately vacate the building and maintain law and order.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Prosecutor Generals Office of Armenia tasked the Police Department to launch a motion on the incident involving opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan, when a crowd of protesters breached into the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia. A day earlier a group of the crowd even breached into the Yerevan State University.

The Prosecutor Generals Office released a statement, saying a group of participants of the Pashinyan-led rally breached into the Yerevan State University April 13 by damaging the entrance door and attempted to break into the Rectors office by breaching the doors. Two security guards of the university were injured by the protesters.

On the next day, April 14, lawmaker Pashinyan and his followers subdued an on-duty police officer and breached into the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia in Yerevan, a strategically significant building subject to state protection.

The protesters caused chaos, breached into offices by breaking the doors open.

A police officer ordered the lawmaker to guide his followers out of the building and vacate the headquarters. However, the Member of Parliament, who is the organizer of the rally, failed to comply with the lawful demand of the police, did not notify the rally-goers about the order in an apparent violation of the law on assembly.

Nikol Pashinyan demanded airtime while holding the building.

The Prosecutor Generals Office tasked the Armenian law enforcement to file a motion to determine whether or not the incident includes grounds for launching a criminal case.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. After marching in the streets of Yerevan, opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and his followers held another rally in the Place de France of the Armenian capital.

The rally is part of the lawmakers My Walk initiative, a walking tour which Pashinyan began earlier from Gyumri city. When the MP arrived to Yerevan, he organized a rally in the Freedom Square, followed by a sit-in at the Square of France in downtown.

In the beginning of the rally, Member of Parliament Nikol Pashinyan told his supporters that the Unified Communist Party has joined their movement.

Pashinyan also mentioned that they have already released two reports on the expenditures of the rally, and a third report will be released soon.

All expenses of this rally without exception have been donated by citizens of Armenia  both inside Armenia and beyond its borders. The donations ranged from 100 drams up to 300,000 drams. I would like for all of us to applaud our countrymen, Pashinyan announced.

He also talked about the results of their rally throughout the day, when the crowd breached into the Public Radio headquarters.

This is peaceful civil disobedience, we do not offend anyone, we do not use violence upon anyone, we do not harm anyone, he said, adding that after vacating the Public Radio building they blocked the Circus intersection in Yerevan, and apologized to drivers for causing inconvenience.

Pashinyan told his followers that they will hold two more rallies on April 15, at 14:00 and 18:30.

The Prosecutor Generals Office of Armenia tasked the Police Department to launch a motion on the incident involving opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan, when a crowd of protesters breached into the headquarters of the Public Radio of Armenia, demanding airtime.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanSAN FRANCISCONakedSword Originals is focused on The Chosen Few, available now on DVD and digital download. Directors mr. Pam and Trenton Ducati collaborated on the new title. The DVD and scene downloads are now available on the NakedSword and Falcon Studios Group stores.



NakedSword Originals heads to the Sunshine State to shoot The Chosen Few on location in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Falcon Studios Group and NakedSword's newest exclusive, Alam Wernik, headlines the all-star cast in his first gay porn appearance. Joining him are fan favorites Logan Moore, Dante Colle, Michael DelRay, Jacob Peterson, Arad Winwin and Danny Gunn.



Everyone in South Beach wants to part of The Chosen Few, an exclusive group of the world's hottest men, hand-selected by Logan Moore to live at his private island estate. Stories of their lavish lifestyle and endless hours of sexual debauchery tempt Danny Gunn and Michael DelRay onto Logan's boat, headed to paradise. Logan welcomes them to his home, where there is only one rule: no one touches his personal houseboy, Alam Wernik. Everyone tries to play by the rules except for one person: Alam. The chiseled young horndog can't keep his clothes on or his mouth off of every rock hard cock in sight. From the muscle bound security (Arad WinWin) to the horse-hung houseguests (Dante Colle and Jacob Peterson) there's trouble at every turn. Will Michael and Danny be able to resist temptation, or will they give in, and lose their spot among The Chosen Few?



"The weather isnt the only thing thats hot about this movie! It was an honor to collaborate with model-turned-director, Trenton Ducati and film this all-star cast," states co-director mr. Pam. "Besides being absolutely stunning, the entire cast was so passionate and invested in the production of this film, and it shows. I hope the fans enjoy watching the film as much as we enjoyed making it!



"I'm ecstatic that The Chosen Few will be the hit movie to kick off the vibe to summer 2018," states NakedSword and Falcon Studios Group President, Tim Valenti. "mr. Pam and Trenton really outdid themselves with this amazing cast, and I can't wait for fans to love it as much as I do."



For DVD wholesale purchasing, contact Toby Morris ([email protected]).MONTREALWhats better than finding your ultimate waifu? Being the apple of the eye to every single beauty in an entire group of waifus, according to Nutaku, an online gaming portal featuring 18+ games from around the world.

Playful 2D girls are depending on you to be entertained, fed, cleaned and put to bed. Theyre also relying on your talents to satisfy their sexual appetite. Game publisher, Super Hippo, has paid homage to the old-school and iconic Tamagotchi from the late 90s, ensuring an experience with all the right feelings of nostalgia, and an 18+ twist to it. Are you up for the challenge? Pocket Waifu will have gamers feeling like a hentai version of Hugh Hefner.

Our goal was to create an outlet that would let you find a moment of peace," said a company rep. "Something that could make you smile during each commute to work or every quiet evening. Youd be welcomed by fantastic women, who return all of your attention, affection and time in spades.

With Pocket Waifu, gamers will play a character that has made a risky bargain with a succubus in order to attract girls. Now that they have the ability to get girls to walk right into their house, players must take on the duty of being the ultimate caretaker. Playtime is just as important as the challenges. As their companion, gamers can play six different mini games with these gorgeous girls to keep them entertained. With various animated sex-scenes, players can bring the naughtiest side out of their customizable waifus.

The game is available here.

Now that it is fully apparent, to all who have the ability to pay some modicum of attention, that Imposter President Biden has extreme cognitive issues, in addition to being an inveterate liar: Can OUR Republic continue with this Executive Office that has completely failed, so many times, on far too many issues here at this early date in this abysmal presidency?

No, Joseph R. Biden is completely unqualified, morally and cognitively, to represent real Americans, and lead this Republic of disparate peoples.

Yes, Joseph R. Biden has started whispering again, even softer now than before; so, I know he still cares, plus, OUR media will soon stop reporting on Afghanistan in favor of OUR Socialist ideals.Let's imagine that you felt a lump in your body and went to the doctor. Once you sat down in the examination room, the doctor came in and said,You would be horrified. You would be justified in responding,The example of the distracted doctor raises an important question: When is it wise for people to shift their energies from their job to political participation? How does that affect the people who depend on a person's labor and knowledge? This is not a merely philosophical question.In higher education, there is an ongoing debate about the role that professors should play in politics. One side argues that it is advisable for professors to become political activists. One might call this the "activist-scholar" position. Those who argue for activist-scholars make sensible points. They correctly note that there are many social problems and that scholars are in a position to educate people about these problems. Scholars might also be in a position to provide advice on public policy.In contrast, many people argue for the "professional scholar" position. These people think that professors should not be overly concerned with political participation. This side also has fair points to make. For example, many professors simply are not qualified to make well-informed judgments on matters of public policy. An English professor does not have the training needed to judge the merits of minimum wage policy. Another argument against the activist-scholar position is that blurring the boundaries between scholarship and partisanship encourages classroom instructors to turn their seminars into political rallies. Many people argue for the "professional scholar" position, as Jim Otteson did on the Martin Center website recently.At this point, the reader might expect me to argue that there should be a strict separation between activism and scholarship. I think this is mistaken. Professors are members of society. As such, one would expect that they would have opinions on issues of public concern. In cases where they have expertise, their opinions should be especially welcome. I also disagree with the view that scholarship and activism can be seamlessly blended. As I noted above, being a scholar is a vocation, a full-time pursuit that consumes one's time and attention.Instead, I advocate a third way that I call "scholarship first, activism second." It begins with the observation that the reason we have universities, academic journals, and tenured positions is that we want people to spend their working lives on intellectually demanding research. Without this research, there is no justification for academic institutions. The scholar who abandons their research undermines their claim to authority. Thus, scholars have an obligation to their university and to the people who fund it to produce the best research possible.At the same time, we can recognize many cases where it would be reasonable and prudent for scholars to enter the public sphere. Sometimes, professors do have knowledge the public wants to hear. At other times, grave inequities can be remedied with the strategic use of academic knowledge. A powerful example is Kenneth Clark, the psychologist whose work on the emotional distress caused by segregation was used in the Brown v. Board of Education case. We can also think about Ida B. Wells' research on lynching, which helped the public understand the depth of the problem.Inspired by these examples, some have called for a more thorough blending of activism and scholarship. It may be the case that all teaching can be thought of as activism or that all research should explicitly reflect one's ethical and political stances.This sentiment should be resisted for a few reasons. First, the "activist-scholar" model invites bias. If one believes that their political preferences must be reflected in research, we may begin to ignore evidence that our views may be erroneous. Second, we undermine the credibility of the academic enterprise when we erase the distinction between activist and scholar. When someone reads an article by a professor, they should believe that the professor is making the best argument given available methods and data, not the arguments that support their preferred side in a political debate.Third, by turning all teaching and research into another arena for politics, we dehumanize other people. A core norm in scholarship, though imperfectly enacted, is that anyone can criticize an idea and present an argument. Every person merits attention because they are a thinking being. Infusing politics into all academic work encourages people to see academic work in terms of partisanship. There is not debate, only victory over ill-informed and malicious opponents. Students are not to be developed or cultivated-they are recruits to a political cause. When they leave the university, they do not have the ability to stand back from an argument and critically assess each side of the debate."Scholarship first, activism second" tries to balance two competing values. Academia is a profession with unique goals and a mission that should not be tainted by partisanship. At the same time, professors and scholars can make valuable contributions to the body politic. Thus, the issue is one of moderation, self-restraint, and professionalism. If a student raises their hand and asks a political question, the academic should feel free to offer their opinion. But the scholar should also be able to say if their view is based on research or if it is a personal opinion and respond in a way that makes clear that a student can respectfully disagree. This is a challenging practice, but it is rewarding and sends a clear message that academia is a meeting of minds, not a political battlefield.According to a new survey released on Thursday by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, fully 41 percent of Americans don't know what Auschwitz was, including two-thirds of Millennials. Approximately 22 percent of Millennials had not heard of the Holocaust, and 41 percent of Millennials thought 2 million or fewer Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.This is troubling stuff.It's also informative, because it helps explain just why younger Americans seem so comfortable embracing identity politics and large, intrusive government. If you'd never heard of the genocide of the Jews by an all-encompassing state focused laserlike on race-based differences between people, you might be warmer to the notion that racial hierarchies in politics ought to exist. You might also be warmer to the claims of genocidal Islamist terror groups who claim that Israel is a land of victimizers. And if you'd never heard of the Soviet Union, you might be more sanguine about the possibility of socialism in the United States.This is just one reason why teaching of history in America's public schools matters so much. But that teaching in recent decades has revolved not around signal events in world history, but around the revisionist histories of Leftist advocates like Howard Zinn, who focus in tremendous detail on the sins of America without spelling out the true history of alternatives to the American way throughout the 20th century.Thursday marks Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Clearly the West is doing a pretty awful job of remembering just what happened just two generations ago, given its decision to look the other way at rising anti-Semitism in Europe and to side with the enemies of Israel in the state's existential fight against genocidal Jew-hatred.When researchers write, we don't just describe new findings -- we place them in context by citing the work of others. Citations trace the lineage of ideas, connecting disparate lines of scholarship into a cohesive body of knowledge, and forming the basis of how we know what we know.

Today, citations are also a primary source of data. Funders and evaluation bodies use them to appraise scientific impact and decide which ideas are worth funding to support scientific progress. Because of this, data that forms the citation graph should belong to the public. The Initiative for Open Citations was created to achieve this goal.

Back in the 1950s, reference works like Shepard's Citations provided lawyers with tools to reconstruct which relevant cases to cite in the context of a court trial. No such a tool existed at the time for identifying citations in scientific publications. Eugene Garfield  the pioneer of modern citation analysis and citation indexing  described the idea of extending this approach to science and engineering as his Eureka moment. Garfield's first experimental Genetics Citation Index, compiled by the newly-formed Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in 1961, offered a glimpse into what a full citation index could mean for science at large. It was distributed, for free, to 1,000 libraries and scientists in the United States.

Fast forward to the end of the 20th century. the Web of Science citation index  maintained by Thomson Reuters, who acquired ISI in 1992  has become the canonical source for scientists, librarians, and funders to search scholarly citations, and for the field of scientometrics, to study the structure and evolution of scientific knowledge. ISI could have turned into a publicly funded initiative, but it started instead as a for-profit effort. In 2016, Thomson Reuters sold its Intellectual Property & Science business to a private-equity fund for $3.55 billion. Its citation index is now owned by Clarivate Analytics.

Raw citation data being non-copyrightable, it's ironic that the vision of building a comprehensive index of scientific literature has turned into a billion-dollar business, with academic institutions paying cripplingly expensive annual subscriptions for access and the public locked out.

Companies such as Clarivate Analytics or Elsevier (who owns its own citation index, Scopus) have put substantial efforts into creating proprietary high-quality indexes out of raw citation data, and proprietary metrics based on this data to assess the impact of scientific publications. But the fact that the citation data itself  produced by the labor of millions of researchers as part of their scientific communication activity  is not a public good that anyone can access is nothing short of "a scandal", as long-standing open citations advocate David Shotton eloquently put it.

"Openness is central to the research endeavor," says Cassidy Sugimoto and collaborators in an open letter published by the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics. "It is essential to promote reproducibility and appraisal of research, reduce misconduct, and ensure equitable access to and participation in science. Yet, calls for increased openness in science are often met with initial resistance."

Proprietary citation databases are available to universities and funding bodies via expensive subscriptions, but the restrictive nature of their licenses means that these databases don't allow any kind of reuse or fully reproducible data analysis. Building on citation data is only possible to those people and organizations licensed to access proprietary databases.

There are no citation databases that support the open, unconstrained reuse of their underlying data. Opening up the data that forms the citation graph  to quote the open letter from ISSI  "is a matter of scientific integrity, scientific progress, and equity."

Enter the Initiative for Open Citations.

In 2016, a small group founded the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC) as a voluntary effort to work with scholarly publishers  who routinely publish this data  to persuade them to release it in the open and promote its unrestricted availability. Before the launch of the I4OC, only 1% of indexed scholarly publications with references were making citation data available in the public domain. When the I4OC was officially announced in 2017, we were able to report that this number had shifted from 1% to 40%. In the main, this was thanks to the swift action of a small number of large academic publishers.

In April 2018, we are celebrating the first anniversary of the initiative. Since the launch, the fraction of indexed scientific articles with open citation data (as measured by Crossref) has surpassed 50% and the number of participating publishers has risen to 490. Over half a billion references are now openly available to the public without any copyright restriction. Of the top-20 biggest publishers with citation data, all but 5  Elsevier, IEEE, Wolters Kluwer Health, IOP Publishing, ACS  now make this data open via Crossref and its APIs. Over 50 organisations  including science funders, platforms and technology organizations, libraries, research and advocacy institutions  have joined us in this journey to help advocate and promote the reuse of open citations.

Data liberated by the I4OC is now integrated into bibliometric analysis tools, reused as linked open data in citation corpora, used by volunteer contributors in collaborative knowledge bases and it powers the catalogues of a growing number of scholarly databases.

The publishers who have released their raw citation data into the public domain are making the vision of an open citation graph a reality. But we are only halfway there. We urge the remaining publishers to join this effort  and researchers, practitioners, librarians, scholarly societies, and members of the public who believe in this vision to help us reach our 100% target. The world is waiting for the citation graph to become a public good.

Dario Taraborelli (@readermeter) is an open knowledge advocate and the Director of Research at the @Wikimedia Foundation.





(Image: Dartar, CC-BY)

It's not uncommon for legal opinions from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to be classified; whenever the President wants to do something nefarious  like authorizing the CIA's program of torture  he'll get a memo out of the OLC, and then classify the whole thing: the action and its justification.



But Trump's memo justifying his decision to bomb Syria is classified, while the bombing, obviously, isn't.





What's more, the level of secrecy slapped on the OLC memo explaining how the President could order an act of war when the Constitution explicitly says that Congress alone can authorize this is so secret that even Congress isn't allowed to see it.





That's right: the President got a secret memo drafted that explains why he can go to war without Congressional approval, and Congress isn't allowed to read that memo.





When GW Bush kept his torture-authorizing memos a secret, it was because he wanted to keep the torture a secret, too. But Trump isn't even keeping up with that pretense of internal consistency. Instead, the justification for taking an action that the President personally announced on his Twitter feed is, "I don't want you to know."



So the general outlines of Trump's legal basis for Friday's bombing are fairly clear. There also are truly extreme. As Jack Goldsmith, one of the heads of the OLC during the Bush administration, has said, it's a perspective that "places no limit at all on the president's ability to use significant military force unilaterally." That would be bad enough, of course, if everything were out in the open. But at least then it could be debated on specifics, rather than supposition. Instead, we have allowed the Constitution to be eviscerated to the point that not only does the president have nearly unlimited war powers, we can't even say exactly why.



Donald Trump Ordered Syria Strike Based on a Secret Legal Justification Even Congress Can't See [Jon Schwarz/The Intercept]Entertainment / Music

by Staff Reporter

AFTER conquering Zimbabwe's music scene and achieving nearly all his goals at home, contemporary musician, Jah Prayzah (real name Mukudzei Mukombe), has set his sights on the rest of Africa, where other stars, such as Diamond Platnumz, Cassper Nyovest and Davido, are making waves.For Jah Prayzah, music is a business and he has set up his own record label, Military Touch Movement, which, along with himself, has signed artistes Tahle Wedzinza, Nutty O and ExQ."I've always dreamed of doing my work in a professional manner. I can't treat my music as a tuck-shop business where we meet in the street and someone pays," he says.Although he could not reveal details, Jah Prayzah says he is working on something to invest in outside music just in case he wakes up one day "without a voice".Popularly known as "Musoja" because of his army uniform, Jah Prayzah said he handles his music with military precision, viewing himself as a commander of the troops of instrumentalists, producers and fellow artistes under his stable."I always wanted to be a soldier and at one time, I applied and they invited me for training, but that was when I started to do shows so I couldn't carry on with my dream to be in the military."In 2016, Jah Prayzah was awarded an MTV Africa Music Award in the Listeners' Choice category, something he says came unexpectedly."For the first time in my adult life, I felt like crying," he says.Last year, he was nominated for the Best African Artiste Award at the South African Music Awards alongside fellow Zimbabwean artiste, Oliver Mtukudzi. Both, however, lost out to Nigerian musician Patoranking.But back home, Jah Prayzah has amassed more than 20 awards, such as the Zimbabwe Music Awards and the prestigious National Arts and Merit Awards.The awards and growing airplay on music channels Trace Africa and MTV Base have boosted his confidence to spread his music to other countries."In Zimbabwe, I have tried and have achieved everything I wanted to. Right now, I want to spread my music to every corner of Africa and then to every corner of the world. That's why here and there, there is a change in sound; I want to make music that cuts across most African countries."In Africa, he has been well received after he performed at the Bushfire Festival in Swaziland last year. In Mozambique, he was shocked "to see that there are people who support me" to such lengths. He has also been to Tanzania where he has recorded duets with Diamond Platnumz and Harmonize.Jah Prayzah has more than 230 000 followers on his Facebook fan page and says almost half of his social media followers are from Tanzania owing to the popularity gained on the back of his duet with Diamond Platnumz. He has also collaborated with Davido on track My Lilly as well as Mafikizolo on the song Sendekera. The artistes have a second song Mazuva Akanaka that is on Mafikizolo's latest album.Jah Prayzah has also worked with Botswana's Vee Mampeezy, Namibia's Boss Madam and Uganda's Eddy Kenzo.But, it is not always easy to get hold of Africa's top artistes and convince them to work together."It's more difficult to get hold of other African artistes when you're still pushing your name. I wanted to collaborate with them a long time back," says Jah Prayzah.But this has since changed after he bagged international awards and got good reviews back home. He says this has made it easier for him to sit down with other African artistes and discuss music business.The collaboration with Davido has seen Jah Prayzah get airplay across the continent. But does it come at a cost and do Africa's top artists require a payment for collaborations?"With Davido, Diamond Platnumz and Mafikizolo, we did not pay any money. The only money we use is for work such as videos. It's all about networking and building relationships," he says.The heavy workload can take its toll. He recalls when he had to perform at three shows on the same day as his sister's wedding and he almost lost his eyesight."At one of the shows, there was a light that was too bright. I asked my guys why there was smoke and they laughed at me. Even driving home it was cloudy."On the following day, my eyesight became problematic as the day progressed and I partially lost my eyesight. [It was so bad] that I could not clearly identify people. I then went to see my doctor and he helped me and said it's because of the lighting. I have never been so taken aback in my life."Jah Prayzah says balancing performances, his heavy travel schedule, collaborations and family is "super hectic" but he is always guided by his ethos of hard work and his refusal to limit his dreams."I always aim higher, but sometimes it's painful when I have to travel a lot and also balance family. I still want more awards."As the interview is concluded, Jah Prayzah smiles and says it's not easy to build an African music brand. He is giving it his best shot and believes he is on the right path, especially when he sees the growing support across borders.At home, fans demand their unique Zimbabwean sound while the rest of Africa has its own beat. With his most recent album, Kutonga Kwaro, he had to compromise between the different sounds. It is all part of building a legacy across the continent  after all, he is not selling sweets in a small shop.  ForbesAfricaNews / National

by Staff reporter

THE quiet of the night of December 11, 1978 was shattered by a huge explosion that reverberated over the sleeping town of Salisbury, (now Harare) as efficiently as a thunder clap, which left the Rhodesian military machine in panic, as they sought to establish the source of the explosion.Already, a ball of fire had lit up the western sky of the city of Salisbury and the source of fire was a big diesel tank belonging to BP Shell, where Rhodesia drew most of its fuel.It immediately formed a reddish glow from the distance with flames rising boldly into the sky.The architects of the explosion were a group of eight freedom fighters who had sneaked into the country from Tete Province in Mozambique at the behest of the late Zanla commander, Josiah Tongogara.The eight were Simpson Mukuru Manjonjori whose Chimurenga name was Member Kuvhiringidza, Poison Waungana, Lobo, Brian, Norest, Nhamo, Bombs, America Mudzvanyiriri. Member Kuvhiringidza was the commander of the octet.It had taken the gang one month and a week to plan the assault, which was expected to break Ian Smith's resistance and essentially change the complexion of the Chimurenga war.Member Kuvhiringidza from Chimanimani, had been a bus driver in Harare prior to his departure to join the liberation war in 1975. He had received his training at Tembwe Base 1 in Tete before being sent to the front in 1977.Tongogara had taken advantage of Member Kuvhiringidza's knowledge of Salisbury to make him head of the mission. They entered Salisbury through Domboshava first as a group of three to look for houses to rent in Mbare, Mabvuku and Highfield.They secured lodgings in Mbare at one Mbuya Hwiza's house and at one Mr Muhwati's house while they also got another house at one Mr Ruparanganda's home in Mabvuku. They could not use the Highfield house owing to security concerns."We spent one month in Harare doing some reconnaissance and trying to find all information we needed about the fuel tanks, which were the core source of fuel for the capital city and other vital arms of the Rhodesian government. At one point we even toured the tanks after an old friend, Amon Nyazika, facilitated our entry after introducing us as teachers from Seke."Our mission was to identify the petrol tank, which we knew would create an inferno enough to consume Salisbury if we hit it," said Member Kuvhiringidza in an interview at Manica Post yesterday.He narrated how they had brought their weapons into Salisbury in trucks ferrying vegetables from Domboshava. The trucks belonged to businessman Mverechena and another one called Musiiwa and were stashed in cache established in a grassy area in Kambuzuma for safe keeping.On the night of the attack, Member Kuvhiringidza, now with the rest of the eight had commandeered Rixi taxis from Mbare to Kambuzuma to ferry the weapons to the area of the tanks."All this time the taxis were moving with light switched off to avoid detection. When we got within the range we wanted, we positioned ourselves and Norest who had our most trusted weapon, the MP90 rocket launcher was ready and waiting for my order to fire. When I eventually ordered him to fire, he missed the petrol tank and hit the diesel one but still the impact was huge," he said.Member Kuvhiringidza explained how he took over driving one of the taxis and escaped via Glasgow road to Rugare, then Kambuzuma before exiting Harare along Mazowe Road. When they got to Concession, they released the taxis and gave the drivers a letter and a bullet for their boss.The group then disappeared into the Concession farming area from where they later hijacked a bread delivery truck belonging to London bread and retraced their way to Mabelreign in Harare then Borrowdale en-route to Domboshava. As per their tradition, they also gave the truck driver a letter and bullet for his boss and left."We immediately set out for Mozambique where we received a rapturous welcome especially as the news of our mission had already reached the comrades that had sent us.Norest and Brian requested to remain in Zimbabwe so it was only six of us that made that trip back to Moza," concluded the soft spoken Simpson Mukuru Manjonjori aka Member Kuvhiringidza.News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

Former President Mugabe's critic Mr Raymond Majongwe who is also the secretary general of Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has said Mugabe lowered the bar of Zimbabwean politics.Majongwe took it to micro blogging Twitter saying, "Mugabe lowered the bar so low that everyone sees themselves capable of running this nation."However, in May last year Majongwe told the Herald that Mugabe would win the 2018 election as he had managed to identify himself with people while the opposition has been concentrating on bickering among themselves."Many of us cannot compete against that 93-year-old man and it is unfortunate that l have to tell you that in 2018 (President) Mugabe is going to win with bigger margin. Change does not come by accident."Apparently, Majongwe seems to be contradicting himself after noticing that Mugabe was finally removed by Mnangagwa regime under New dispensation.In a January speech at John Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, United States secretary of defense James Mattis laid out the U.S. geopolitical strategy going forward. Great power competition  not terrorism  is now the primary focus of U.S. national security, Mattis said in his speech. In March, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a record military budget of $700 billion in 2018 and of $716 billion in 2019.

Last year, Canadian minister of foreign affairs Chrystia Freeland said that Canada would need to exercise hard power in order to support Canadian diplomacy and development. Soon after, Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan outlined a defence policy that called for $62 billion in additional military spending. The Canadian defence budget is projected to grow from $18.9 billion in 2017 to $32.7 billion by 2026-27.

The comments from Canadian and U.S. leadership illustrate the re-emergence of great power competition in the 21st century. Multi-polarity dominated global politics from the mid-19th century before culminating in the intensely bloody World Wars in the first half of the 20th century. This is new territory for an independent Canada, and hikes in military spending are an indication that it intends to bolster its capabilities in an attempt to meet these new challenges.

Lets look at three companies that are likely to benefit from increased military spending over the next decade.

CAE Inc. (TSX:CAE)(NYSE:CAE)

CAE is a Quebec-based company that designs, manufactures, and supplies simulation equipment, and provides training for defence and security markets. CAE stock was up over 3% as of close on April 11, and shares are up over 15% year over year. CEO Marc Parent said last year that the pivot to Asia and a resurgent Russia was sparking a run up in defence budgets in Western countries.

In January of 2017, CAE was awarded with Canadian and U.S. military training contracts worth upwards of $1 billion. CAE will deliver classroom, simulator, and live flying support services for helicopter training in the U.S. army. In the fall of 2017, CAE also won contracts with Canadian defence that will see it provide fighter-jet training to the Canadian military.

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Firan Technology Group Corp. (TSX:FTG)

Firan Technology Group is a Toronto-based aerospace and defence electronic product and subsystem supplier. It possesses facilities in Canada, the U.S., and China. Firan released its first-quarter results on April 11. The company booked over $40 million in orders in Q1 2018, and sales rose to $27.5 million compared to $27.2 million in Q1 2017. Shares of Firan have climbed over 380% dating back to April 2013.

Heroux Devtek Inc. (TSX:HRX)

Heroux Devtek is a Quebec-based company that is involved in landing gear and actuation systems and components for the aerospace and defence markets. Shares were down 4.1% in 2018 as of close on April 11, but the stock has climbed over 20% year over year. In its Q3 fiscal 2018 results, cash flow increased to $17.1 million compared to $9.7 million in the prior year.

Heroux Devtek projected positive growth in anticipation of increased defence spending worldwide. However, in the most recent quarter, defence sales dropped 6% to $44.9 million compared to $47.7 million in the previous year. Year-to-date defence sales are still up to $136 million compared to $135.6 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2017.

More reading

Fool contributor Ambrose O'Callaghan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Two Halifax regional firefighters were injured in a blaze Thursday night at a North Preston home when a stairwell inside the burning structure collapsed, plunging one man into the basement.

Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency crews were called to the fire on Simmonds Road at about 6:30 p.m.

"Most of the fire was located under the stairwell so it compromised the stairs  it burnt the stairs out. One firefighter fell through to the basement. [The other] went down and extricated him from the building," said division commander Brad Connors.

The firefighters were taken to Dartmouth General Hospital and held overnight for observation, Connors said. Later Friday, Mayor Mike Savage said both had been released from hospital.

Residents of the home were not inside when fire crews arrived, Connors said.

The home was extensively damaged, he said. About 40 firefighters were at the scene until about 10:30 p.m.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.Some details on the identity of a man killed March 27 during a police standoff in northeast Calgary have been released, but not his name.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which investigates deaths at the hands of police in the province, says the man found in a burned-out garage in Abbeydale was 25-years-old and a resident of British Columbia.

He was identified through dental records and his next of kin was notified on April 11.

The man died after allegedly shooting a Calgary police officer and holing up in the garage, which caught fire with him inside. His lifeless body was found after the flames were extinguished.

ASIRT said it would not be releasing the man's name while it conducts its investigation in keeping with the "established national policy of the independent investigative agencies across Canada."

Police association wants names released

That policy raised the ire of the Calgary Police Association president, who railed Thursday against ASIRT for not releasing the name of the man as well as another man shot and killed by police in Bridgeland on April 9.

Les Kaminski said officers deserve to know who tried to kill them and said the dead men should not be considered victims. He said if ASIRT doesn't release the names, Calgary police should.

The Calgary Police Service said it would not be naming the men.

Kaminski's comments angered the mother of a man shot and killed by police three years ago.

Pat Heffernan said the association didn't advocate for the release of the identity of the officer who killed her son, Anthony Heffernan, in 2015.

ASIRT continues to investigate both incidents.

- MORE CALGARY NEWS | Supreme Court explains why Calgary couple's 1st-degree murder convictions upheld in beating death of girl

- MORE CALGARY NEWS | Parents of twins killed in bobsled crash hope sons' fate will deter other adventurous teensRapper French Montana issued a statement after he was asking about Cleveland Cavaliers player Tristan Thompson cheating on Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Khloe Kardashian. TMZ caught up with the Unforgettable star on Wednesday outside of Poppy nightclub in Los Angeles. He and Kardashian dated in 2014 after she split from ex-husband Lamar Odom.

At first, French Montana ignored the paparazzi. Let me tell you something, he started, I just want everybody to be happy. Thats all we want.

French then started to bop and weave. All this negativity, I duck and move, Papi, he said, indirectly addressing allegations that Thompson cheated on Kardashian multiple times with multiple women while she was pregnant with their child.

Trending: Trump Tax Plan: 80 Percent of Economic Gains Will End Up Going to Foreigners, CBO Says

Ultimately, the Moroccan-born star wanted people to focus on the positive things in life. Were doing good. Were living good. Were healthy. Were wealthy, he said. You know what Im saying?

Kardashian, 33, reportedly gave birth Thursday. The Good American designer confirmed her pregnancy in December after months of speculation.

My greatest dream realized. We are having a baby! she wrote on Instagram at the time. I had been waiting and wondering but God had a plan all along. He knew what He was doing. I simply had to trust in Him and be patient.

Don't miss: Jessica Jones Season 3 Renewed: Heres What to Expect

During a March episode of KUWTK, Kardashian revealed she was disappointed she was having a girl. Instead of the doctor confirming the babys gender, she had sister Kylie Jenner reveal the sexand it wasnt a boy like she had hoped.

Im really hoping Kylies lying, she said. I just was convinced that I was having a boy, so to be having a girl its just like, Okay that wasnt what I thought was going on.

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When you have your mind made up as to what youre having  everyone told me youre going to feel what youre having and youll just kind of know, she continued. And then when you find out its the complete opposite, its just a shock.

French Montana



Moroccan hip-hop star French Montana, pictured April 11, 2018 in Los Angeles, responded to rumors that Cleveland Cavaliers player Tristan Thompson cheated on his ex-girlfriend, "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star Khloe Kardashian.

Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for boohooMAN

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Roberta Rampton and Mitra Taj LIMA (Reuters) - Latin American leaders met in Peru for a regional summit on Friday that was overshadowed by Washington's decision to order military strikes on Syria, prompting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence to abruptly leave the opening ceremony. Pence had been sent to the Summit of the Americas in the capital, Lima, in place of President Donald Trump, who decided to focus on a response to a suspected poison gas attack in Syria that killed at least 60 people last week. But as the summit began late on Friday, Pence cut short his participation to race to his hotel, arriving in time to make secure calls to Republican and Democratic congressional leaders before the strikes started. Within an hour, the attacks had ended and Pence planned to return to a banquet at Peru's presidential palace with other leaders from the region. Despite Trump's absence, U.S. officials sought to use the summit to counter China's rising influence in Latin America and condemn Venezuela's government. Syria is also on the agenda now. Pence's deputy chief of staff, Jarrod Agen, told Reuters he planned to discuss the strikes in his speech on Saturday and in meetings with leaders. Earlier on Friday, Pence met Venezuelan opposition leaders and announced $16 million in aid to help Venezuelan migrants who have fled their country's severe economic crisis. A dozen countries in the region have already been turning up the pressure on socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and are expected to back a statement on the sidelines of the summit condemning the widely-criticized May 20 election. But there was less agreement with Washington on trade. Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, part of a conservative shift in South America in recent years, recalled how free trade was celebrated across the region at the first Summit of the Americas in 1994. "Today, we have the president of the United States facing a trade war with China and other countries," Pinera said on a panel at a joint business summit on Friday. 'TRUMP IS A FREE TRADER' The trade dispute between Beijing and Washington spilled over into Latin America this week. In Lima, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross took aim at China's growing ties and vowed Washington would not cede leadership in the region. But Ross also said Washington wants Latin American nations to do more to reduce trade barriers. "President Trump is a free trader. But free trade has to be fair, it has to be reciprocal, it has to be real," Ross told a press conference Friday. "We're eager to get closer to free trade and to have people's behavior match the rhetoric." Ross said he was "optimistic" there would be an agreement on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), possibly in May. In a sign of possible progress toward that goal, Pence and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto scheduled a one-on-one meeting on Saturday. But some business and political leaders gathered in Lima for the summit said Trump's message on Latin America, and trade, was confusing. On Thursday, Trump ordered his top economic advisers to study rejoining the TPP, a multilateral trade deal he once called the "rape" of the country that he withdrew the United States from last year in one of his first acts as president. In January, Trump also flirted with a return to the TPP, or Trans Pacific Partnership, if he could get better terms. Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said he took Trump's latest signals on TPP "very seriously," telling journalists he thought Washington might have had a change of heart. But Guajardo stopped short of outright optimism. "With this kind of thing you can't be hopeful, you just have to be ready for any opportunity," he said. Under former U.S. President Barack Obama, the TPP had been pitched as a way to secure an edge over China in a fast-growing region that includes large swaths of Latin America. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Mitra Taj; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Clarence Fernandez)This is an older version of this story. To read the latest updates: U.S., France, U.K. to brief NATO allies today on Syria strikes

U.S. President Donald Trump, along with France and the U.K., launched what he called "precision strikes" against targets associated with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons on Friday, saying the strikes were a bid to deter future chemical attacks.

The strikes were in response to an alleged chemical attack last weekend in Douma, a community not far from Damascus. Activists say the attack killed more than 40 people and injured many more  but Syria and its ally Russia have issued various denials.

U.S. military officials told reporters Friday night that the strikes, which targeted three sites, are over for now and there are no additional attacks planned.

The Syrian military said nearly 110 missiles hit targets in the capital Damascus and other territory, and that air defence systems brought most of them down. "Such attacks will not deter our armed forces and allied forces from persisting to crush what is left of the armed terrorist groups," the military said.

Russia, which has said chemical weapons were not used in Douma and accused the West of fabrication, also reacted swiftly.

"Our warnings have been left unheard," said the Russian ambassador to the U.S in a statement.

"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented," Anatoly Antonov said. "We are being threatened. We warned such actions will not be left without consequences."

What those consequences might be, however, wasn't explained.

Russia says no chemical weapons used

When Trump announced the strikes Friday evening he said the U.S. is prepared to sustain the response "until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."

But he also said the U.S. "does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances."

He described the horrors of chemical attacks and said "we never want to see that ghastly spectre return."

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"So today, the nations of Britain, France and the United States of America have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality," he said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement that the strikes should come as a surprise to no one.

"We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this," May said. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted."

Ahead of the strikes, Russia said its experts had been on the ground in Douma and found no sign of chemical weapons.

Trump lambasted Assad during his address  but he also had harsh words for Russia and Iran, blasting them for financing and equipping the Assad regime.

"What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep."

3 sites targeted

The Associated Press reported loud explosions lighting up skies over the Syrian capital of Damascus, along with heavy smoke.

Syrian state TV said the army's air defences were confronting an attack by the United States, France and Britain. U.S. military officials said they had encountered some surface-to-air missiles in response to the strikes.

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters that they "absorbed the strike" and are assessing damage. They said the bases were evacuated "days ago" after an early warning from Russia; the French defence minister did say that Russia was warned ahead of the strike.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S., U.K. and France took "decisive action" to strike the chemical weapons infrastructure.

He said the strikes demonstrate "international resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used on anyone, under any circumstance, in contravention of international law."

Mattis said the military targeted Assad and went to "great lengths" to avoid civilian or foreign casualties. The assault was twice the size and hit two more targets than a strike that Trump ordered last year against a Syrian military airfield.

The strikes targeted three sites, the military said:

- A scientific research centre in the greater Damascus area, which an official said was being used for research and development of chemical and biological warfare.

- A chemical storage facility west of Homs, which the military had assessed to be a location of sarin and production equipment.

- A site in the vicinity of the Homs target, which had been assessed to be used for chemical weapons storage and a command post.

Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses during the airstrikes. The British defence secretary said the strikes were highly successful and thinks they will have an impact on what Syria can do in the future. He also asked Russia to use its influence with Syria to bring an end to the conflict.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement condemning last week's attack on Douma in the "strongest possible terms."

He said Canada supports the decision by the three countries to "take action to degrade the Assad regime's ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people."

"We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice."

Threats of 'big price'

The strikes come after days of heated rhetoric.

Earlier this week, Trump said on Twitter that there would be a "big price to pay" for Douma and, in the days since, tensions rose amid heated debate about what happened and how, or if, to respond.

Speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the top priority had to be to avert a wider war  but he didn't rule out the possibility of a U.S.-Russia conflict.

Nebenzia's remarks came after Russia's ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, offered his own threat, saying, "If there is a strike by the Americans then the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired."

Fact-finding team

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has dispatched a fact-finding team to Syria, and they were expected to start their probe on Saturday. Russia's foreign affairs committee chair Konstantin Kosachev suggested that the strikes were an effort to disrupt the team's findings.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said this week that reports from health partners suggested that during last weekend's shelling, an estimated 500 people "presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals."

The patients presented with "severe irritation of mucous membranes, respiratory failure and disruption to central nervous systems of those exposed," the WHO said.

This isn't the first time Trump has retaliated against Syria over chemical weapons.

Around this time last year, Trump launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at a government-controlled airbase in central Syria in response to a deadly chemical attack that killed dozens of people.Why these young doctors are choosing rural practice over life in the city

Some medical students are preaching the benefits of practising in small communities, echoing requests from hospitals across the country for doctors to put down rural roots.

Several students attending the 26th Annual Rural and Remote Medicine Course in St. John's Thursday shared their plans to practise outside of major metropolitan centres once they graduate.

The course, held by the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada, features dozens of sessions aimed at physicians practising in small towns and remote areas around the world, as well as students who hope to have similar careers.

Michael Curran is one such student. A fourth-year medical student at Memorial University, Curran plans to head to Happy Valley-Goose Bay this July to start his career.

He's attracted to the wide scope of responsibility that exists for doctors in rural areas.

In a place like Labrador, he said, doctors can handle everything from emergency care, fly-in community care and helping out with surgeries, and they often have the opportunity to follow patients long-term.

"I couldn't imagine a better place to work than Goose Bay," Curran said. "Generalism is what I'm interested in, and it's certainly been one of my most positive experiences in medical school, practising there."

Kerry-Lynn Williams is also heading to Labrador in July, and she said she's looking forward to the experience.

"I was lucky to be exposed to Goose Bay through my clerkship training, and there was nowhere else I could see myself as a resident," Williams said.



"The broad scope of practice is something that's really appealing, and the town itself is a nice fit for our personalities and our lifestyle. I would choose rural over urban going forward."

Rural doctors needed

According to James Rourke, director of MUN's Centre for Rural Health Studies, the need for rural doctors is ongoing, both in the province and across the country.

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"Rural doctors are in short supply all over Canada, so we have to make sure that everything we do here works, from recruitment and education, to make it successful here," said Rourke.

He said MUN has one of the best track records in the country at training and developing skills for doctors to work in rural areas, but that more doctors are still needed in the province.

"We don't have enough doctors here," he said. "We still need more rural doctors."

One of the keys to continued success in those areas is not just attracting doctors, but getting them to stay for a long time.

"Any time is good, but it's so important to the patients to have doctors stay for three, four, five, 10 or in my case 25 years in the same community," he said. "Because the patients really find that length of care is so important."Supreme Court of Texas. JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS, PETITIONER, v. JEFFERSON COUNTY CONSTABLES ASSOCIATION, RESPONDENT No. 16-0498 Decided: April 13, 2018

JUSTICE BOYD, joined by JUSTICE JOHNSON, dissenting.

Deputy constables provide important law-enforcement services to the communities they serve. But the policy decision to grant them authority to engage in collective bargaining belongs to the Legislature, not this Court. The Legislature has granted that authority only to fire fighters and police officers. Under Texas law, deputy constables are not police officers any more than police officers are deputy constables. Essentially for the reasons the Beaumont and San Antonio Courts of Appeals have explained, I do not agree with the Court's holding that deputy constables are police officers under the Collective Bargaining Act.

Texas law consistently recognizes that deputy constables serve their communities as peace officers, but it never equates them with police officers and instead consistently refers to the two separately. Texas statutes refer to a variety of police departments, including municipal police departments, school district police departments, campus police departments, and evenin certain countiesa sheriff's county police force, but no Texas statute ever refers to a constable's office as a police department or police force. To the contrary, although Texas statutes consistently include police departments, sheriffs' offices, and constables' offices within the broader category of law enforcement agencies, they unfailingly distinguish between the three types of entities.

Deputy constables may regularly serve[ ] in a professional law enforcement capacity, but they provide that service as employees of the constable's office, not as employees of the police department of a political subdivision. Nothing in the Collective Bargaining Act even suggests that it defines or uses the terms police officer and police department differently than the other Texas statutes that consistently use those terms. Because the Collective Bargaining Act applies only to fire fighters and police officers, it does not apply to deputy constables. If the Legislature had intended to permit deputy constablesor even all peace officersto engage in collective bargaining, it could, should, and would have said so.

Because the Court holds otherwise, I respectfully dissent.

FOOTNOTES

. TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE  174.023, .051(c); see also TEX. GOV'T CODE  617.002(a), (b).

. See Jefferson Cty. v. Stines, 523 S.W.3d 691, 71319 (Tex. App.Beaumont 2017, pet. filed); Wolff v. Deputy Constables Ass'n of Bexar Cty., 441 S.W.3d 362, 366 (Tex. App.San Antonio 2013, no pet.); City of San Antonio v. San Antonio Park Rangers Ass'n, 850 S.W.2d 189, 19293 (Tex. App.San Antonio 1992, writ denied).

. See, e.g., TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 2.12(2), (3) (separately listing deputy constables and police officers as two types of peace officers), art. 2.123(a) (permitting peace officers to serve as adjunct police officers, but only if they obtain additional authorizations), art. 18.21  1(2)(B), (C) (separately listing deputy constables and police officers as two types of authorized peace officer [s]), art. 18B.001(1)(B), (C) (same), art. 42A.751(b) (referring separately to a police officer or other officer with the power of arrest); TEX. EDUC. CODE  37.203(a)(6)(H) (referring separately to a school district police officer or a peace officer whose primary duty consists of working in a public school), 51.203(e) (requiring peace officer commissioned as a campus peace officer to be a certified police officer); TEX. GOV'T CODE  660.209(a) (referring separately to police officers and other peace officers); TEX. HUM. RES. CODE  243.051(a)(1) (referring separately to a constable or a police officer); TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE  141.008(a-2)(1) (referring to peace officers who are not members of a police department covered by a collective bargaining agreement), 306.040(c) (permitting authorized special park police officer to perform service that may be performed by a sheriff, constable, or other peace officer), 324.066(b) (referring separately to police officer, constable, sheriff, or other law enforcement officer), 362.001(2) (separately referring to police officer and deputy constable as two types of law enforcement officer[s]); TEX. OCC. CODE  1704.302(a) (referring separately to police officer and constable), .304(b) (same); TEX. TRANSP. CODE  621.401(5), (6) (referring separately to police officer and constable or deputy constable).

. See TEX. CODE. CRIM. PROC. art. 5.05(c).

. See TEX. EDUC. CODE  37.015(a).

. See id.  51.212(f).

. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE  85.006 (authorizing sheriffs of certain counties to appoint a county police force and deputize police officers to serve on the force); see also TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 49.25  7 (referring to a city or county police department).

. See, e.g., TEX. TRANSP. CODE  683.001(3) (defining law enforcement agency to include the police department of a municipality or of an institution of higher education or to a sheriff or constable), 721.005(b)(1) (referring separately to a police department, sheriff's office, and a constable's office).

. TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE  174.003(3) (emphasis added).

Jeffrey S. Boyd JusticeUnited Nations has launched UN Road Safety Trust Fund to improve road safety worldwide to save lives and prevent the loss of opportunity associated with road accidents. UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is secretariat for the trust fund. The fund has potential to galvanise global efforts to address road safety situation, building on progress made and experience gained over Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

United Nations Road Safety Trust Fund

The fund aims to accelerate progress in improving global road safety by bridging gaps in mobilization of resources for effective action at all levels. It will mobilize resources from governments, intergovernmental or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private sector, philanthropic organizations and individuals.

It will support efforts along five pillars of Global Plan for Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-20), which include improved safety of road infrastructure and broader transport networks; strengthened road safety management capacities; enhanced safety of vehicles; improved behaviour of road users and improved post-crash care.

The fund will serve as catalyst for much-needed progress towards road safety targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG targets 3.6 and 11.2 aim to halve number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents and provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems as well as improve road safety for all.

Resolution on road safety

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) also adopted resolution on road safety, sponsored by Russia. It calls for host of measures to prevent road accidents and to minimising resulting damage. It has urged adoption of policies and measures to implement vehicle safety regulations to ensure that all new motor vehicles meet applicable minimum regulations for protection of occupants and other road users, with seat belts, airbags and active safety systems fitted as standard equipment.Amnesty International Malaysia (AIM) has lauded the government's move to amend the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 to give judges discretion over the previously mandatory death penalty.





At the launch of its Global Report: Death Sentences and Executions 2017, AIM executive director Gwen Lee said the move, though small, was still positive and that the government was progressing towards eliminating capital punishment.





However, she questioned the impact the amendment will have on reducing executions in the country.





"Those convicted of transporting, sending or delivering a prohibited substance who were also found to have cooperated with law enforcement in disrupting drug trafficking activities have an alternative sentence of life imprisonment and no less than 15 strokes of the whip.





"While this might seem like a positive move, it is unclear what impact these changes will have on reducing the number of people executed as the alternative punishment still amounts to torture.





"It creates an impossible choice for people who have been wrongly accused of crimes - admit to a crime they did not commit or maintain their innocence at the risk of death," Lee said.





She then told reporters after the launch that the 1st case after the amendment had taken place still put 3 men on death row.





"Based on a news article on April 4, the High Court Judge sentenced three men to the mandatory death penalty.





"The lawyers tried to use the new amendment but according to the judge there was no proof that the men actually helped bust a drug trafficking ring, thus they were not eligible for life imprisonment," she said.





Lee also presented that last year Malaysia had carried out at least 4 executions - 3 for murder and 1 for discharge of firearm - although she believed there could be more as data on the death penalty is not made public.





She also disclosed that 38 new mandatory death sentences were imposed for 21 drug related offences, 16 murders and 1 discharge of firearms. 4 of those sentenced were women and 12 were foreign nationals.





As of February, data compiled from the Prisons Department showed that 1,122 convicts are on death row. Malaysia was also 1 of the 11 countries that had consecutively executed convicts over the past 5 years.





Lee also brought to attention the case of Hoo Yew Wah who was arrested in March 2005 when he was 20 years old for being in possession 188.5 grams of methamphetamines and was automatically presumed and later convicted of trafficking.





Hoo was convicted based on a statement he made at the time of arrest without a lawyer present. All his appeals had been rejected by the courts and his petition for pardon to the Sultan of Johor, where the offence took place, is still pending.





The launch was also attended by members of the diplomatic corp including the Mexican Ambassador to Malaysia, Carlos Felix Corona and the Spanish Ambassador to Malaysia Carlos Dominguez Diaz.

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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

themalaymailonline.com, April 12, 2018Tunisia has failed to take steps to abolish its law on the death penalty, Amnesty International said in its latest report.





Since the early 1990s, no death sentences have been carried out in Tunisia but the death penalty still exists in the country. At the end of last year, 77 people were on death row in Tunisian prisons and 25 Tunisian courts handed down death sentences in connection with national security crimes, an increase from 44 in 2016.





According to a poll by the 3C Studies Institute, 70 per cent of Tunisians are in favour of the death penalty. Moreover, the new anti-terrorism law, passed in July 2015, has maintained the death penalty despite calls to abolish it.





Since independence, Tunisia has completed 135 executions.





Amnesty also deplored the fact that the measure of death sentences in Algeria has not been properly recorded due to authorities not making official data public. Amnesty recorded 27 death sentences in Algeria last year, less than the 50 recorded in 2016.





In Morocco and the Western Sahara, 15 death sentences were handed out in 2017, compared to at least 6 in 2016.





According to the NGO, the use of the death penalty in the Middle East and North Africa region decreased slightly in 2017 and the number of executions recorded decreased by 1 %, from 856 executions in 2016 to 847 in 2017.





Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq carried out the largest number of executions in the region and account for 92 % of recorded executions in the MENA region. However Egypt was guilty of handing out the most convictions in the region during 2017. Of the 619 convictions of capital punishment recorded by the group, 402 were from Egypt  an increase of about 70 % compared to 2016.





By the end of 2017, 106 countries abolished the death penalty in their legislation.

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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

Middle East Monitor, April 12, 2018Amnesty International's latest annual report has found fewer executions were carried around the world out in 2017 than the year prior. The number of people sentenced to death went down as well.





Last year Amnesty International recorded 923 executions worldwide. Although that number is still high, it is 4 % less than in 2016, when the human rights organization registered 100 more.





4 % fewer executions - is it a global trend? Amnesty International capital punishment expert Oluwatosin Popoola warns there are caveats. The decrease had to do, above all, with the fact that the three countries that carry out the most death penalties worldwide executed fewer people in 2017: Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Iran carried out 11 % fewer executions, according to Amnesty, while Pakistan put 31 % fewer people to death.





Numbers and caveats





The reasons behind the declines in those countries are varied. "In Iran, for instance, the drop can be traced to judicial reforms for dealing with drug-related crime," Popoola told DW. He says it is more difficult to explain the reductions when it comes to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The only thing that is clear is that "executions [in 2017] have decreased after recent peaks." Amnesty also recorded a 20 % drop in Egypt.





Still, the organization warns those numbers do not tell the whole story: They are based on the minimum number, that is, those that could be confirmed beyond doubt. The true number of people executed last year is believed to be higher. In all, 23 countries around the world executed individuals in 2017.





Not included: China





The findings also highlights a massive blind spot. Amnesty opens its report by stating that executions in China, the country that puts the most citizens to death globally, are not included in its figures. "The true scale of death penalties carried out remains unknown since data is classified secret," the report explains. "The number of 993 worldwide executions does not include the thousands of people likely executed in China."





Excluding China, Amnesty says that 84 % of all executions documented worldwide were carried out in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan.





Popoola says authorities in Iraq "continue to resort to the death penalty as a tool of retribution in response to public outrage after attacks claimed by armed groups, including the group calling itself the Islamic State.



Mass executions were carried out on several occasions during the year, with dozens of men being executed in September."





A number of countries actually resumed executions in 2017: Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.





Positive developments in sub-Saharan Africa





One bright spot Amnesty points to in its report is sub-Saharan Africa. Guinea, for instance, abolished the death penalty. And Gambia called a moratorium, promising that the next step would be abolition. Popoola says the region is currently a "hub" for the drop in executions.





Globally, countries are carrying out fewer executions. In 2016 more than 3,100 people were put to death, in 2017 that number dropped to 2,600. However, Amnesty did register almost 22,000 cases of prisoners on death row around the world.





Death penalty not a deterrent





Amnesty prefaced its report with a quote from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: "The death penalty does little to serve victims or deter crime."





Experts say the death penalty is not a deterrent when it comes to crime





According to Popoola, there is no credible evidence to suggest that capital punishment is a stronger deterrent than other sentences: "For example in Canada, the homicide rate in 2016 was almost half that in 1976, when the death penalty was abolished there."





Abolition 'within reach'





Popoola says efforts must now be concentrated on working towards abolishing the death penalty in those countries that still practice it, and he has concrete proposals for doing so. Such countries, he says, "can immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. They could commute, without delay, all death sentences" and "remove prisoners from death row," putting them into normal prison settings instead. He adds that those countries could also "immediately remove from their laws any death penalty provisions, which are in breach of international human rights law."





Overall, Amnesty says the 2017 statistics provide a ray of hope: "These important developments confirm that the world has reached a turning point and that the abolition of this utterly gruesome, inhumane and degrading punishment is within reach."

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Deutsche Welle, April 13, 2018Iran carried out more than 1/2 of all recorded executions in 2017, a new report from Amnesty International revealed on Thursday. Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq are responsible for carrying out 85 % of all reported death sentences worldwide, the report said.





The figures show that the Middle East and North Africa accounted for 847 of 933 reported death sentences carried out worldwide in 2017.





This was despite an overall decrease of 1 % in executions across the region against figures from 2016, the report said.





Figures for China, where thousands are thought to be executed every year, were not recorded.





The report also does not include figures for executions in Libya and Syria, where militant groups are thought to be responsible for thousands of extra-judicial killings.





Lucy Wake, Amnesty International UK's government and political relations manager, told MEE: "Aside from China, the bulk of the world's executions are taking place in the Middle East, which sets an important challenge for the UK's foreign policy towards the region.





"With countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain all appearing in this gruesome tally of Middle Eastern states executing prisoners - many after unfair trials - the UK needs to ensure that abolition of the death penalty is a key part of its Middle East foreign goals.





"As well as condemning executions, we need to see the UK speaking out more often and more critically when it comes to things like torture and unfair trials in Saudi Arabia, especially when these abuses are leading to scores of people being beheaded in public squares every year."





The figures show that Iran executed at least 507 people, accounting for 60 % of all confirmed executions in the region.





"Basic fair trial guarantees" were absent in the country, and death penalty cases often relied on "confessions" extracted under torture, the report said.





More than 200 executions took place in Iran for drug trafficking, despite an amendment to the country's drugs law - which passed last November - to increase the threshold for mandatory death sentences for drug offences.





A further 59 executions were carried out for drug-related offences across the region, the report added.





Saudi Arabia executed 146 people in 2017, a modest decrease from the 2016 figure, according to the rights group. 78 of the executions were for murder, 4 for terrorism-related acts and 59 were for drug-related offences.





The group said that many defendants were sentenced to death "after unfair trials by courts that convicted them without adequately investigating allegations of coerced 'confessions,' including confessions obtained under torture".





The bulk of the executions were carried out after Mohammed Bin Salman was appointed crown prince in July, figures from rights group Reprieve suggest.





Bin Salman has presented himself as a reformer, but in a recent interview with CBS News, during a visit to the US, he said: "We believe in the notion of human rights, but ultimately Saudi standards are not the same as American standards."





"On average, the Saudi authorities currently execute someone more or less every 2 days," Wake told MEE. "Though rulers like Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman trumpet supposed 'reforms' - Saudi executioners are as busy now as they were 2 years ago."





Amnesty said that authorities in Saudi Arabia also "routinely failed to inform families of their relatives" imminent execution".





The group pointed to the execution of Yussuf Ali al-Mushaikhass on 11 July - alongside three other men - in connection with anti-government protests in the Eastern Province in 2011 and 2012. His family only found out about his death following a government announcement on television, the group said.





At least 125 executions were carried out in Iraq, compared to 88 in 2016, all by authorities in central Iraq.





The death penalty continued to be used as "tool of retribution in response to public outrage" over attacks by the Islamic State (IS) group, Amnesty International said. This includes a mass execution carried out on 25 September, 11 days after an IS suicide attack in Nasiriyah, which killed at least 84 people.





Egypt executed 35 people last year, and with 402 people sentenced to death compared to at least 237 in 2016, it handed down the majority of death sentences in the region.





The report also expressed the group's concern that Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all resumed executions in 2017.





On 25 January 2017, Kuwait executed 7 people - the 1st death penalty carried out since 2013. Similarly in Bahrain, 3 men were killed in the 1st executions there since 2010. Amnesty said that the trials of Ali Abdulshaheed al-Sankis, Sami Mirza Mshaima and Abbas Jamil Taher Mhammad al-Samea failed to meet international standards.





The men were executed by firing squad, and Amnesty said their lawyers did not have access to all of the evidence against them.





Sayed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), told MEE: "The extra-judicial execution of three men last year was a heinous crime, a disproportionate punishment, which relied on torture. The execution was signed by King Hamad, and the blood-stained clothes of the executed men were handed to their families, an action usually taken by members of a mafia, not a state."





He added that Bahrain had handed down 15 death sentences in 2017 alone, which was "the highest number in a single year since the modern courts were established in Bahrain in 1923".





In the Gaza Strip, authorities carried out executions of 6 men - 3 for "collaboration with Israeli authorities".





They were carried out without the Palestinian president's approval in violation of Palestinian Basic Law (constitution).

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Middle East Eye, April 12, 2018Mourners lined the streets of Soweto as the hearse carrying the body of the anti-apartheid icon returned to her home. (Photo: AFP)

Soweto: South Africa will lay to rest anti-apartheid icon and Nelson Mandela's former wife Winnie Mandela with full state honours at a stadium funeral in Soweto on Saturday.

The ceremony will conclude 10 days of national mourning during which time thousands of South Africans have paid tribute to the "Mother of the Nation" at her Soweto home and elsewhere.

Winnie Mandela, who died in Johannesburg aged 81 on April 2 after a long illness, has been celebrated for helping keep Nelson Mandela's dream of a non-racial South Africa alive while he was behind bars for 27 years.

On the eve of the funeral, Winnie Mandela's body was transferred from a funeral parlour to lie in state at her Soweto home.

Hundreds of people lined the township's streets as a black hearse carrying her body slowly drove to her house led by uniformed men bearing the flag of Mandela's African National Congress (ANC). The casket was also draped with an ANC flag.

'We feel orphaned'

Gloria Mabasa, 40, had a portrait of Winnie Mandela stamped on one cheek and wore a headscarf with the ANC's signature green, gold and black colours as she paid her last respects.

"In a way, we feel orphaned but their legacy lives on," said the gym worker who had taken time off to visit Winnie Mandela's home.

South Africa's new President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office two months ago, will lead the mourners at a pre-burial service to be held in Soweto's 37,000-capacity Orlando stadium.

American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson is expected to attend, as are the presidents of Namibia and the Republic of Congo. "She is truly the mother of South Africa," Jackson told journalists on Friday.

The township of Soweto is hugely symbolic in South Africa as it became a cauldron of black resistance against white minority rule which ended with elections in 1994.

Winnie Mandela's husband became the first black president of democratic South Africa, but she refused to follow many other struggle-era politicians who moved from townships like Soweto to formerly white-only suburbs after the end of apartheid.

Instead, she remained embedded in the community where she met Nelson Mandela at a bus stop in 1957.

After the formal service, Winnie Mandela's body will be buried 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Soweto, at a privately-run graveyard in Johannesburg's upmarket Fourways suburb where two of her great-grandchildren are also buried.

'Symbol of resistance'

The funeral closes the final chapter in the history of a woman who was exalted for her fearless defiance of apartheid rule but also implicated in violence and corruption in later life.

In 1991, she was convicted for kidnapping and being an accessory in the assault of a 14-year-old boy and was more generally accused of overseeing violence in black townships.

In 2003 she was found guilty of fraud.

But her controversial reputation has been largely brushed aside in the wake of her death with tributes to her bravery, independence and integrity dominating public commemorations.

The United Nations staged a special memorial sitting at its New York headquarters on Friday to mark her passing.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described her as "an international symbol of resistance".

South Africa's communications minister Nomvula Mokonyane said that Winnie should not only be remembered for "mistakes or the casualties of the struggle".

In old age Winnie Mandela emerged as a respected elder who was feted as a living reminder of her late husband -- and of the long and celebrated struggle against apartheid.

Most of Winnie Mandela's 38-year marriage to Nelson was spent apart, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone as she kept his political dream alive.

But when Nelson Mandela died in 2013, it emerged he had left Winnie nothing in his will.

On Saturday, a 21-gun salute will be fired and a full honour guard is expected to escort Winnie's remains to her final resting place.Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday said that the people will not disqualify Nawaz Sharif after the former premier was banned from holding public office for life.

PM Abbasi said that his party accepted the decision regarding disqualification for life but hoped the people will still vote for Mr Sharif. Speaking on the issue of separate Punjab province after inaugurating the 45-kilometer long section of National Highway-5 linking Jalapur Pirwala with Uch Sharif areas of South Punjab, the PM said that the new provinces should be created only through political consensus as no single party could bring about a constitutional amendment, nor it should do.

The premier said all political parties should incorporate the demand of new provinces in their manifestos and hold dialogue after general election to evolve consensus on the subject.

The same demand exists in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw, Sindh and Balochistan. People also talk of South Punjab. People also talk of Hazara and South Khyber Pakhtunkhaw.Unmanned Systems

An autonomous vehicle strategy that ranges from seabed to space

Less than two years after its acquisition by Boeing, underwater drone maker Liquid Robotics is casting itself as a surface expression of the aerospace giants push toward greater seabed-to-space capabilities and overall autonomous market leadership.

Boeing extended its unmanned presence into the sea domain in December 2016 with the acquisition of drone maker Liquid Robotics, nearly eight years after Boeing acquired unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer Insitu.

Almost six months after the Liquid Robotics acquisition, Boeing reorganized the business units within its defense segment to include a standalone autonomous systems unit that houses much of unmanned portfolio, including Liquid Robotics and Insitu.

I spoke with Liquid Robotics CEO Gary Gysin on Monday at the Navy Leagues annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition in National Harbor, Maryland. He provided an update on how the Silicon Valley outfit sees itself playing into the larger Boeing autonomous market play.

Namely, the companys flagship Wave Glider unmanned surface vehicle is designed with payloads and sensors for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in areas that can be difficult for manned vehicles to access.

The idea is that if somethings happening undersea, how you get that information out in real time, Gysin said. The concept with this is grids of Wave Gliders that are sensor networks gathering data and able to transmit it in real time.

Liquid Robotics largest federal customer is the Navy and the company, founded in 2007, has worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration dating back to 2011, Gysin said. Japans coast guard also uses Wave Glider for ocean observation missions.

When Boeing acquired Liquid Robotics, the airplane maker cited a coming need for seabed-to-space capabilities that combine communications and data links from the water to manned and unmanned aircraft, plus satellites.

Where Liquid Robotics and its Wave Glider fit into the larger Boeing autonomous story, Gysin said, is to round out the parent companys portfolio with a surface-of-the-ocean answer to the already vast aerial lineup.

You have things undersea that cant communicate in real time, you have aerial things that cant talk to things undersea, and so we kind of fit that layer of the gateway communication capability between these platforms, Gysin said.

In this setup, Liquid Robotics collaborates with Boeings other autonomous organizations such as Argon ST, Insitu and the team responsible for the underwater Echo Voyager vehicle Boeing is offering for the Navys Orca underwater drone competition. It is competing against Lockheed Martin.

Liquid Robotics hosts Argon ST-made sensors on the Wave Glider, which Gysin said is also able to connect and find an Echo Voyager platform.

We can find something of interest and let the ScanEagle know and it can come over to get video and eyes on the platform, Gysin said.

The next milestone Liquid Robotics is working on is connecting Wave Glider to the Boeing P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane. Liquid Robotics envisions its vehicle acting as a persistent network for the Poseidon to help identify targets, Gysin said.

While the underlying technology is there, Gysin said the overall category of all autonomous systems is still in early days with respect to adoption.

I dont think its a technology thing, its more of a cultural thing. Instead of having the manned ships and aircraft, youre going to replace those things with autonomous vessels and aircraft, Gysin said.

In our space because its newer, you always have to have somebody leaning forward and taking the risk.

In part through Liquid Robotics, Boeing eyes the waters as another avenue for data collection to essentially create an Internet of Things or digital ocean through a vast sensor network.

Gysin said that despite the oceans covering almost two-thirds of the Earth, only 5 percent of the seas is known.

The oceans a harsh place with corrosion and waves and horrible weather, Gysin said. There are a lot of important reasons why we want to know about the ocean.

(NOTE: This article was updated April 11 to clarify that Wave Glider is an unmanned surface vehicle and not an underwater vehicle as previously stated)Cybersecurity

Air Force announces $950M contract for agile cyber R&D

The Air Force has awarded five companies positions on a potential five-year, $950 million contract for agile research-and-development services in cybersecurity.

The Air Force Research Laboratory received 22 offers in total for the new contract intended as a focused yet flexible, rapid contracting vehicle, the Defense Department said in its Thursday contracts digest.

Awardees will work with AFRL, its product centers and operational users on rapid research, development, prototyping demonstration, evaluation and transition of cyber capabilities.

Those winners are:

Assured Information Security

CNF Technologies

Global InfoTek

Invictus International Consulting

Radiance Technologies

Agile Cyber Technology 2 migrated to being a small business set-aside contract versus its full-an-open predecessor awarded in 2012 to six large businesses that included CACI International and Peraton, the former Harris Corp. IT business, according to Deltek data.

Solicitation documents detail AFRLs vision of the program as helping enable global vigilance, global reach and global power in air, space and cyberspace.Cybersecurity

White House reviewing new national cyber strategy

The long-awaited national cyber strategy could materialize this summer.

Defense Department Assistant Secretary for Domestic and Global Security Kenneth Rapuano hinted during an April 11 House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilitieshearing that the much-anticipated national cyber strategy should be forthcoming in the near future.

Its very hard, Rapuano said when asked about the lack of a national strategy. "There are a lot of evolving dynamics at play and we still have a relatively new administration, and there are competing views as to what the right trade space is associated with a variety of equities and risks."

Rapuano told legislators the White House has the national cyber strategy, adding that DOD in the meantime is looking to enhance its cyber posture review, which he said is set to be released in August to sync with the impending national cyber strategy.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said, Its absolutely incumbent upon this administration in light of this threat to provide some guidance...and its hard because were in a whole new world and our adversaries are moving forward.

Cheney said the inability to define the threat, outline how the U.S. will operate, and tell adversaries these are the kinds of things that will result in a response from us is affecting deterrence.

Committee members also homed in on the potential legal and policy gaps, and lack of interagency coordination, when it comes to the services and DODs role in cyber conflict.

The challenge associated with defining traditional military activities in the cyber domain is typically that is done by looking historically, Rapuano said, adding that the Trump administration is looking to understand the implications of changing the current definition of a traditional military operation, if warranted.

Integrating the force

For Cyber Commander and National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers, who also testified on April 11, there needs to more integration at the sector and center levels that ties into a broader Cyber Command strategy.

To address the lack of common operating procedure, Rogers said, there are several questions that must be answered first.

The mission set that Im directly responsible for within the broader DOD effort is the critical infrastructure piece," he said. "So how do we get to an integrated real-time picture that enables us to have accurate sense of what is going on, that enables decision making and helps to speed [up] that decision making. Thats what I would recommend as a first focus, for integration.

Rogers added that DOD is in a supporting role and shouldnt lead the conversation, just be a part of it.

Subcommittee chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) responded, saying the status quo was unsustainable and interagency cooperation needed a jumpstart.

Rapuano pushed back, saying the existing cybersecurity framework drives how we organize and operate within the federal government in terms of our engagement with industry and other players. Everyone has their role, he said: the Department of Homeland Security with asset response, the Federal Bureau of Investigation on threat response, and the Director of National Intelligence for intelligence integration function.Health IT

No protest expected on Coast Guard's heath records move

Electronic health record system vendor Epic won't protest a plan by the Coast Guard to adopt a Department of Defense system based on rival Cerner, an Epic source told FCW.

The Coast Guard is making the move after a botched effort to implement Epic software cost the agency about $60 million and left them without an electronic records system.

The Coast Guard acquired Epic software in 2010 and tapped integrator Leidos to handle the implementation. But after multiple failures, the effort was abandoned and the Coast Guard had to revert to keeping health records on paper.

The seven-year acquisition and implementation effort cost $59.9 million and, according to a January Government Accountability Office report, "no equipment or software could be reused for future efforts."

Epic laid some of the blame on Leidos in a fact sheet published last May, noting that the system's storage area network was first corrupted and then accidentally wiped during the implementation process.

On April 9, the Defense Healthcare Management Systems program office announced that the Coast Guard would be joining MHS Genesis, the $4.3 billion Cerner-based electronic health records system being deployed by the Department of Defense. Leidos is the lead contractor and integrator on the effort.

The news was accompanied by a notice to industry requesting comment on a planned modification to the DOD health records contract to incorporate the Coast Guard and to allow for changes to support the planned shift of the Department of Veterans Affairs to a Cerner system.

The contract modification and an estimate of additional costs will be spelled out in a "justification and approval" document set to be released in about three weeks, according to a DOD spokesperson. The comment period is designed in part for anyone who feels slighted by the deal to register a protest.

Similarly, Epic didn't protest the VA's move to acquire Cerner software on a sole source basis.

"We've never challenged anything," company founder and president Judy Faulkner told Politico in March. "We dont do that. We feel it's the customers right to pick whatever they want."

Between VA and DOD, there may be as much as $15 billion in contract spending on Cerner-based systems by the U.S. government over the next decade.

The VA deal, however, remains on hold after the departure of former agency head David Shulkin. Congress has appropriated money in the 2018 omnibus to fund the launch of the contract, and that money is good for three years. Senate aides have told FCW that they plan to ask Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician selected to lead the VA by President Trump, about his support for a commercial electronic health records system.The day we prayed would never come has come again, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.Chemical weapons have once again been used on Syrian men, women, and children.

Only a monster targets civilians and then ensures that there are no ambulances to transfer the wounded, declared Ambassador Haley. No hospitals to save their lives. No doctors or medicine to ease their pain.

The Russian regimes hands are all covered in the blood of Syrian children, said Ambassador Haley. She added that the international community must not overlook Russia and Irans roles in enabling the Assad regimes murderous destruction. Russia and Iran have military advisers at Assads airfields and operations centers. Russian officials are on the ground helping direct the regimes starve and surrender campaign, and Iranian allied forces do much of the dirty work.

Since the Assad regime used chemical weapons at Khan Sheikhun one year ago, chemical weapons have been reportedly used dozens of times.

Ambassador Haley urged fellow Security Council members to take action. This is about the inhumane use of chemical agents on innocent civilians, something each member of the Security Council is on record as opposing.There can be no more rationalizations for our failure to act, declared Ambassador Haley.

The United States has introduced a resolution demanding unrestricted humanitarian access to the people of Douma. The priority must be to help the starving, the sick, and the injured who have been left behind. We also call on this Council to immediately re-establish a truly professional and impartial mechanism to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

The United States is determined to see that the monster who dropped chemical weapons on the Syrian people is held to account, said Ambassador Haley.

We are on the edge of a dangerous precipice, she warned.The great evil of chemical weapons use that once unified the world in opposition, is on the verge of becoming the new normal. The international community must not let this happen.

History will record this as the moment when the Security Council either discharged its duty or demonstrated its failure to protect the people of Syria.

Either way, said Ambassador Haley, the United States will respond.Ukraine needs to raise around $8 billion on foreign markets for well-timed servicing of its commitments, Lead Economist and Program Leader covering Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Faruk Khan has said.

Ukraine would need large volumes of financing for servicing foreign liabilities and cover the fiscal deficit for 2018-2019. This would require attraction of near $18 billion this year and the coming years, including around $8 billion on foreign markets, he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Khan expressed opinion that for the successful attraction of the financing, which Ukraine needs, it is important to continue cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this year and the coming years. It would be an important signal for international capital markets, he said.Ukraine wants to sign FTA agreement with Turkey in 2018

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said that Ukraine intends to sign an agreement on a free trade zone (FTA) with Turkey before the end of 2018.

"Tomorrow, a delegation headed by the first deputy PM is coming back. We are going to sign an agreement on a free trade zone with Turkey this year," the head of the government said on the Inter TV channel on Friday.

Groysman said that this agreement would positively contribute to the development of the country's economy.U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker plans to visit Ukraine in mid-May, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has reported.

We are still working out the date, and everything looks like it will be approximately in the middle of May. I will also visit the east of Ukraine, not only Kyiv, he told a correspondent of the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty during a meeting with foreign journalists in the Center for International Press of the U.S. State Department on Friday.

The diplomat plans to visit the war zone. At the same time, he is not ready yet to say whether he will visit Russia and whether he will have any negotiations with Russian officials.

As reported, Volker planned to visit Ukraine, in particular, Donbas in late April - early May.

"I want to visit the Eastern part of the country to see the conflict zone from the Ukrainian side. Want to meet with Ukrainian colleagues in Kyiv, but before that, I'd love to hear a response from Russia and to understand what we can speak about," he said in an interview with the Voice of America on March 27.

Volker said that his last contact with the Russians regarding the conflict in Donbas was in January 2018, after that, the representatives of Russia did not get in touch, and added that the United States was disappointed with Russia's actions throughout the world.Local elections in Donbas could be held after the security conditions are ensured involving United Nations peacekeepers and provided that Ukrainian parties run in them, as well as 1.6 million temporary displaced persons being able to participate in it, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"A full-fledged peacekeeping mission, which would have a mandate, powers and capacities in terms of disarming illegal armed units, is needed," Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian television channels on Friday.

Following the establishment of peace in Donbas territories outside Kyiv's control, it could be possible to proceed to the political settlement, he said.

"Peacekeepers [would] enter, help to disarm [militants], establish peace and the necessary security conditions for the beginning of the political settlement by means of local elections, in which [...] Ukrainian political parties, Ukrainian companies, Ukrainian media, international observers could participate. [Elections] which would enable us to carry out the free expression of citizens' will, including taking into consideration the votes of temporary displaced persons, who were forced to leave the occupied territory, and there are 1,600,000 of them," the Ukrainian president said.Special Representative of the U.S. State Department for Ukraine Kurt Volker is convinced that the peacekeeping mission in Donbas will differ in format from all previous ones, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has reported.

Commenting on journalists' words who, having communicated with new adviser to President Donald Trump on national security John Bolton, heard from him strong criticism of the very idea of the peacekeeping mission for Ukraine, Volker said that he had not had an opportunity to discuss this issue with Bolton.

I agree with him [Bolton] that many UN peacekeeping missions are very expensive, often create frozen conflicts instead of solving them. This is a very serious doubt. However, what we are talking about in the case of Eastern Ukraine is completely different. It will not be a traditional UN peacekeeping operation through the United Nations system - it will be based on the voluntary participation of states, Volker explained.

According to the diplomat, he considers the mission for Ukraine exclusively as a transitional mechanism to move from the current situation, when Russia exercises control, to the situation when Ukraine will exercise control.

At the same time Volker doubts that Russia will use the right of veto in the UN Security Council in order to block this peacekeeping operation.EU Council not to raise issue of additional sanctions against Russia at meeting on April 16

The EU Council will discuss Russia in Luxembourg on April 16 in the light of the situation in Syria and around the Salisbury incident, but the issue of additional sanctions is not on the agenda so far, a high-ranking European diplomat told journalists on condition of anonymity on Friday.

I do not think that the high representative [of EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini] will raise the issue of sanctions, he told the media.

He answered the question in such a way whether the EU Council would extend sanctions for a period of more than six months in connection with its position with respect to Russia or toughen them in some other way.

He explained the order of the current EU sanctions against Russia and expressed doubt that the EU Council would deal with this issue on Monday.Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko has reported on the results of his visit to Sweden.

"My official visit to the Kingdom of Sweden had a practical part. I personally became convinced that the rocket anti-tank launcher Carl Gustaf is one of the best examples of weapons of this class in the world," he wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

Muzhenko also thanked Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces Micael Byden "for the productive meeting."Ukraine expresses solidarity with the United States, Great Britain and France and supports the actions of the Allies in response to Damascus's use of chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Douma, which led to numerous civilian casualties, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Attention is also focused on the purposeful support of the crimes of Damascus by the Kremlin regime, which by its actions, including in the UN Security Council, consistently makes it impossible to resolve the conflict in Syria in accordance with the UN Charter," the statement says.

Ukraine reiterates its firm stance that the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances, is a gross violation of international law, and those responsible for such actions must be held accountable.Leading NATO member states must fulfill their obligations regarding Ukrainian security under the Budapest Memorandum, and there are no other mechanisms to ensure Ukrainian security, except for membership in NATO, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"I am confident that we have joint security issues: these are not only issues of Ukrainian security - these are issues of regional security, European security and global transatlantic security. And the world is interested in Ukraine being in the format of a security association," Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian TV channels on Friday, answering the question about how it is realistic for Ukraine to receive the NATO Membership Action Plan.

The president recalled that there is a decision of the 2008 NATO Bucharest summit, which opens doors for Ukraine to NATO. In this context, he stressed that Ukraine should harmonize Ukrainian legislation with the legislation of NATO countries.

"We took a huge step ... The Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law on national security at the first reading, which is the basic bill for Ukraine's integration into NATO," he added.

Poroshenko also said that the leading NATO member countries are guarantors of Ukrainian security on the Budapest Memorandum.

"There are no other mechanisms to ensure Ukrainian security, except Ukraine's membership in NATO. And they are committed to fulfill their obligations. And we will very persistently take all necessary steps to ensure our security," the president said.Courses on the program of the British training mission 'Orbital' in the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were completed on Friday, April 13, the press center of the Navy of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' High Command has reported.

"The exercises with instructors and trainers of different categories were conducted under the guidance of the UK instructors and comprised seven areas of training: the course for countering improvised explosive devices, the course for conduct of defense operations in urban conditions, advanced course in tactical medicine, intelligence, training of senior sergeants, training of platoon commanders and the course of the counter-sniper struggle," the message reads.

Ukrainian servicemen, in turn, shared their combat experience with foreign colleagues.

About 180 military seamen participated in the courses, which were conducted on the basis of the training center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Navy and the Joint Forces Center for Units Training.

The next course on the program of the British training mission 'Orbital' is planned to be held in September, which will also attract the naval staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.Russia's hybrid military forces have attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 43 times in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action (WIA), the press center for the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations in Donbas has reported.

"The Russian-occupation troops continue ignoring the regime of a complete cease-fire. Over the past day, the aggressor has mounted 43 shelling attacks on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations reported on Facebook Saturday morning.

In the Luhansk sector, the invaders used 120mm and 82mm mortars, cannons of infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, and heavy machine guns banned by the Minsk accords to attack Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Troyitske. The enemy also resorted to 82mm mortars near the village of Krymske, while grenade launchers and small arms were used near the village of Zaitseve. The defenders of the town of Svitlodarsk came under fire from heavy machine guns.

In the Donetsk sector, the militants fired 82mm mortars on the Ukrainian positions near the villages of Opytne and Kamianka. In addition, grenade launchers were used to attack the Ukrainian army positions near the towns of Avdiyivka and Maryinka, and the villages of Vodiane, Kamianka, Pavlopil, Lebedynske, and Bohdanivka. The aggressor also used heavy machine guns near Nevelske, Avdiyivka, Maryinka, Pavlopil, and Butovka coal mine, as well as cannons of infantry fighting vehicles near Talakivka, Kamianka and Bohdanivka. The defenders of Kamianka, Opytne, Lebedynske, Talakivka, Pavlopil, Vodiane, and Butovka coal mine came under fire from small arms, while an enemy sniper was active near Avdiyivka.Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Liliia Hrynevych is concerned about the termination of consultations with the Hungarian community of Zakarpattia on the language of instruction and asked Hungarian Ambassador to Ukraine Erno Keskeny to unblock this process.

"We are very concerned that the Hungarian community has stopped any consultations with us, and the leader of the Hungarian community informed us in an official letter that they do not want to participate in the consultation process, because now they are waiting for the decision of the Constitutional Court .... I publicly ask you, the Ambassador of Hungary to Ukraine, to kindly help us ... unblock this situation," Hrynevych said at the 11th Kyiv Security Forum on Friday.

She recalled that 48 deputies, mainly from the Opposition Bloc faction, applied to the Constitutional Court on this issue, which can take a decision only after two years.

In turn Keskeny said that he supports the actions of the Hungarian community. "We support the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia, we know that it is ready to continue negotiations, but we must first get the decision of the Constitutional Court," he said.

Hrynevych expressed confidence that it would be possible to find a mutually acceptable solution.

She also said that Ukraine is ready to implement all the recommendations of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) on this issue. "I would like to assure all our partners ... We have already proposed a road map for the introduction of each recommendation of the Venice Commission ... The Cabinet has already approved the draft amendments to the transition period, expanded the transition period from two to five years," Hrynevych said.

As reported, the Ukrainian law on education came into force on September 28, 2017. Among other things, the law stipulates that the state language is a language of learning at educational institutions, but one or several subjects in two or more languages, namely, the state language, English and other European Union official languages can be taught in compliance with the educational program. People who belong to ethnic minorities are guaranteed the right for learning in the native language along with the Ukrainian language in separate groups of municipal pre-school and primary school institutions.

On September 26, Hungary's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced it would block Ukraine's rapprochement with the European Union because of the law on education. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry sent the law to the Venice Commission for vetting. On December 8, the Ukrainian Education and Science Ministry reported that the Venice Commission had not supported Hungary's accusation of narrowing the rights of national minorities in the article on the language of instruction in Ukraine's law on education. Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science declared its readiness to implement the recommendations of the commission and developed three models for the implementation of the language article in the law "On General Secondary Education."Large-scale testing of Ukrainian-made cruise missiles will be held at the end of this year, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

"As for the preparation of Ukrainian-made cruise missiles, we will see a launcher and a developed technology for the production of these missiles. Serious tests will be also conducted. They are not state ones, but sufficiently broad-scale, which will be conducted approximately at the end of this year," he told journalists on Friday in the margins of the 11th Kyiv Security Forum.

As reported, on January 30, 2018, Turchynov reported the first successful test of the Ukrainian ground-launched cruise missile, capable of hitting ground and sea targets. "During the tests that were successful, the flight characteristics and operation of the missile systems were checked," he said.

In his words, this is a wholly Ukrainian-made product developed by designers of Kyiv's Luch State Design Bureau in cooperation with other state-owned and private defense enterprises of Ukraine.

According to him, this is a milestone for Ukraine, as not a single cruise missile had been left in Ukraine after the Ukrainian army had undergone disarmament under the Budapest Memorandum signed in 1994. "Today's tests mark a new stage of a missile program under which our Armed Forces should get powerful, high-efficiency cruise missiles, which can deliver precise strikes on enemy targets," Turchynov said.

He said that such missiles would be "of important deterrent value against the [Russian] aggressor." In his words, the council, which manages the missile program, has been tasked to "develop not only ground-launched cruise missile complexes, but also sea-and airborne systems."

"The range of our cruise missiles and their warhead type do not violate international agreements signed by Ukraine on this type of weapon," he added.President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has called the the actions of the United States, Britain and France in response to Damascus using chemical weapons in the Syrian city of the Douma "forced but justified" step, and called for the use of all UN mechanisms to prevent such chemical attacks.

"We consider the targeted strike of the international coalition against the objects of the military chemical infrastructure of the Assad regime as a forced but justified step. This is a fair answer to the fact of committing a brutal crime against humanity - a chemical attack in Douma on April 7, which killed dozens of innocent people," the Ukrainian president wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

Poroshenko also stressed that Ukraine calls for the use of all possible mechanisms and instruments of the UN, including the Security Council, "to prevent similar crimes of dictatorial regimes in the future."The United States, along with allies France and Britain, launched air strikes on Syria early on April 14 in response to a suspected Syrian chemical attack that killed dozens of people last week.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House, saying it was aimed at ending the use of such weapons of mass destruction. Trump had vowed to make Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who he called a "monster," a "criminal," and a "murderous dictator," pay a "big price" for an April 7 suspected toxic gas attack on the town of Douma that killed at least 43 civilians.

Noting that he ordered air strikes a year ago over a previous Syrian toxic gas attack that killed nearly 100 people, Trump said the latest "massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the strike would increase Syria's resolve to "fight and crush terrorism in every inch" of the country.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the U.S.-led military action as "act of aggression against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of the battle against terrorism."

Putin also said Russia was calling an emergency session of the UN Security Council. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the U.S.-led action in Syria was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry earlier warned the strike would have regional consequences, Iranian media reported. Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, responded to the attack. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault.

The Syrian military said it had shot down 13 missiles. U.S. General Joseph Dunford said three sites involved in the research and production of chemical weapons in western Syria were the main targets of the attack. Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said missiles first struck a scientific research center in the Damascus area that he said was a center of Syrias chemical and biological weapons program.

The two other strikes targeted chemical weapons storage facilities west of Homs, Dunford said. Trump said the main purpose of the attacks was to establish "a strong deterrent" against chemical weapons use, which he said killed more than 1 million people during World War I a century ago before it was banned worldwide.

About an hour after Trump finished speaking, the Pentagon said the wave of more than 100 missile strikes was over and there were no reports of losses among U.S. and allied forces involved in the attacks.

The British Defense Ministry said initial indications were the attacks were "successful" in destroying their targets. Syrian officials reported injuries among civilians and military personnel.

Mattis said no further attacks are planned, and "right now this is a one-time shot." Any further military action would depend on whether Syria keeps using chemical weapons, he said.

The Pentagon said the strikes were twice as large as those Trump ordered on a Syrian airfield last year. It said targets were chosen so as to avoid hitting Russian forces in Syria, but it did not notify Russia of the targets in advance.

The Russian Defense Ministry said early on April 14 that none of the strikes hit areas near Russia's air and naval bases in Syria.

The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed a majority of the missiles filed by the United States and its allies had been intercepted by Syrian government air defense systems, TASS news agency reported.

The Russian news agency TASS reported that the business center of Damascus, where a parliamentary delegation from Russia was staying at a hotel, was not hit by the bombing.

Trump called on both Russia and Iran to stop supporting Assad's "murderous" and "terrible regime." Trump said the two countries are "most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime."

"What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?" he asked. "The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep."

Addressing Moscow in particular, Trump said Assad's repeated use of chemical weapons against his own people is a "direct result" of Russia's failure to hold its ally to a 2013 agreement to abandon and destroy its chemical weapons.

Russia failed to keep its promise to restrain Assad, Trump said. Now, he said, "Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace."

In his remarks quoted by Russian media on April 14, Putin said the strike had a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations." He also reaffirmed Russia's view that the purported chemical attack in Douma that prompted the strike was a fake. Earlier, the Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov strongly denounced the attacks, saying in a statement that "the worst expectations have materialized.

Our warnings fell on deaf ears... We are being threatened again." "We have warned that such actions will not remain without consequences," Antonov said. "All responsibility for them rests upon Washington, London and Paris." Antonov added that "insulting the Russian president was inadmissible," in an apparent reaction to some of Trump's comments.

"The United States, a country that has the largest arsenal of chemical weapons, has no moral right to accuse other countries,"Antonov said. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was not as confrontational as Antonov in her response, questioning on Facebook why the West would stage such attacks at a time when Syria had "a chance for peace at last," in an apparent reference to the Syrian government's recent success at gaining an upper hand in the civil war.

In Iran, Khamenei said the U.S.-led strike was a "crime." "I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei said. Iranian President Hassan Rohani said the U.S.-led missile attack on Syria would lead to destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rohani was quoted as saying by Tasnim. Rohani told Assad in a telephone call that Iran would continue to stand by Syria, "expressing his confidence that this aggression would not weaken the determination of the Syrian people in its war against terrorism," the Syrian presidency said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke in addresses to their nations within minutes of Trump's statement. "A red line has been crossed," said Macron.

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons." French Defense Minister Florence Parly told reporters on April 14 that its joint military operation targeted three sites and that Russia was informed ahead of time.

Earlier, Dunford said the Russians had not been notified before the strikes, but normal deconfliction channels had been used for airspace issues.

May said the strikes were "limited and targeted" to "degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability" while minimizing civilian casualties. "This is not about intervening in a civil war.

It is not about regime change," she said. The strike will send "a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity," she said.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized  within Syria, on the streets of the U.K., or anywhere else in our world," she said. May later told reporters on April 14 that reports indicate a barrel bomb was used in the Syrian regime chemical attack on Douma.

She said intelligence indicates that Syrian military officials coordinated what appears to have been the use of chlorine in Douma. May said Russian claims the attack was fake were "grotesque and absurd."

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, and dpaA host of Iranian leaders and officials have condemned the Western missile attack on Syrian targets in retaliation for the use of chemical weapons by Bashar Assad's forces.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said coordinated air strikes on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday were a crime that would bring no benefit.

"Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

Iran -- the dominant Shi'ite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States' other Sunni Arab allies -- has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict.

Militias backed by Tehran helped Assad's army stem rebel advances and, following Russia's entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in the Syrian government's favor.

Gulf Arab counties, Israel and the West have accused Iran of trying to expand its influence in the region and threaten its neighbors.

Iran's pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani warned that the U.S.-led missile attacks would lead to further destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rouhani was quoted as saying, signalling that Iran's support for Assad would grow.

"UNRELENTING CONFRONTATION"

An official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic's most powerful arm, said fallout from the attacks would harm Washington.

"With this attack ... the situation will become more complex, and this will surely be at the expense of the United States, which will be responsible for the aftermath of upcoming regional events that will certainly not be in their interest," Yadollah Javani, the Guards' deputy head for political affairs, told Fars news agency.

In a statement, the IRGC said: "This unrelenting confrontation shows that the Syrian people, with the support of the strategic allies of Damascus, will not stop until achieving complete victory," Fars reported.

The IRGC and its Qods force have been assisting Lebanese Hezbollah for more than three decades and more recently have been supporting Yemen's Houthi rebels and Shiite militias in Iraq. Many of their leaders, institutions and companies linked with it have been sanctioned by the West .

Iran's military chief of staff General Mohammad Baqeri assured Syrian Defense Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub of Tehran's continued support. "The nation and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to fight alongside the Syrian people and the Syrian armed forces against the criminal terrorists," Fars quoted Baqeri as telling Ayoub by telephone.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran said Washington and its allies had attacked Syria "despite the absence of any proven evidence." "Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state," it said in a statement carried by state media.

With reporting by ReutersAn Iranian resident of Sweden, Kamran Ghaderi, who started his march for Irans Freedom about a year ago in Stockholm has been detained after entering his homeland, an unidentified relative told the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Ghaderi began his march on March 21, 2017, in Stockholm, carrying Irans pre-Islamic Revolution Lion and Sun flag. I am walking to Iran for freedom and carrying the Lion and Sun flag that I intend to install on Cyrus the Greats mausoleum in Pasargadae, south of Iran, Ghaderi, 48, wrote on Twitter at the time.

Citing the relative, CHRI reported on April 10, In February 2018, after crossing 11 countries, [Ghaderi] was arrested in Iran at the Urmia border near Turkey and charged with propaganda against the state, assembly and collusion against national security, and insulting the supreme leader and officials of the Islamic Republic.

When he crossed into Iranian soil he was detained by border guards for carrying the Lion and Sun flag and released a few days later, said the source, who spoke to CHRI on the condition of anonymity. But it seems the Intelligence Ministry caught wind and arrested him on March 7 and sent him to prison in Tabriz [capital of East Azerbaijan Province].

Kamran Ghaderi in a post on Instagram after crossing into Iran says it took a year for him to cross eleven countries to finally reach his homeland.

The relative also maintained, Kamran told us on the phone that theres a possibility he could be transferred to Tehran, but for now hes in Tabriz.

After the fall of the monarchy in Iran and establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the Lion and Sun flag was replaced with a banner representing dagger-like images of crescent moons, purportedly an image that the Prophet Mohammad drew on the sands of Arabia, with the word Allah written in the middle.

Today, the old flag has become a symbol for some Iranian opposition groups in exile, particularly monarchists seeking the return of the Pahlavi Dynasty (1925-1979), CHRI reported.

Ghaderi emigrated to Sweden at the age of 15. His wife and two children have Swedish citizenship, but he has never applied for it himself.

During his march, Ghaderi posted regularly on Twitter and gave interviews to Persian-language media based outside Iran, including Radio Farda.

CHRIs source says that these interviews have become the basis of an indictment against Ghaderi, who has reportedly been on a hunger strike since March 12.

While on his 8,000-kilometer (roughly 5,000-mile) march, Ghaderi told Radio Farda in October 2017, My destination is Cyrus mausoleum, and my demand is holding free elections in Iran.

Responding to Radio Fardas question about the risk of carrying the pre-revolution flag into Iran, Ghaderi said, If that happens, I will think about it.Beirut, Lebanon, April 14, 2018 (AFP) -

An explosion rocked an area in northern Syria Saturday near a base where pro-regime Iranian fighters and allied Shiite militias have been stationed, a monitor said.

The origin of the blast was not immediately clear and could have been caused by an air strike or an incident at an ammunition depot, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"A powerful explosion went off late Saturday in an area of southern Aleppo province," the Britain-based monitoring group said. The war monitor's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the area was known to host Iranian forces deployed in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime as well as allied Afghan fighters from the Fatemiyoun Brigade.

Western powers carried out their biggest attack on Assad's regime before dawn on Saturday with strikes on targets they said were linked to Syria's chemical weapons program.

The Pentagon subsequently said no further strikes were planned as part of an operation launched a week after a suspected chemical attack on the holdout rebel town of Douma killed dozens of people.

Israel, which was not involved in Saturday's unprecedented wave of missile strikes but expressed full support, has unilaterally launched air raids on targets inside Syria on several occasions.Details added (first version posted on 16:05)



Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14



Trend:





The New Azerbaijan Party has strongly condemned the biased assessment of the presidential elections in the country, according to the press-release issued by the party on the preliminary conclusions made by the OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).



"Presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan on April 11, the press-release said. Different stages of the electoral process conducted with the participation of eight candidates and the voting process were monitored by about 60,000 local and 894 international observers."



The statement made by ODIHR, OSCE PA and PACE with a sharply different preliminary report on the elections, which were appreciated by the absolute majority of international observers from 59 countries and 61 international organizations causes surprise, the press-release reads.



It seems that the abovementioned organizations prepared report about other elections, rather than those held in Azerbaijan, the press-release said. "It is impossible to justify the biased report, ignoring of facts and reality."



According to the press-release, the New Azerbaijan Party, which nominated incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, who won the elections with 86.03 percent of votes, sees the preliminary report prepared by the observation missions of ODIHR, OSCE PA and PACE as biased.



The New Azerbaijan Party strongly condemns such assessment of the elections, which were conducted fairly.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 91 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said April 14.

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, April 14

By Samir Ali  Trend:

The report of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on the presidential election in Azerbaijan caused a sharp protest of not only the public and reporters, but also internally displaced persons (IDPs) who cannot return to their native lands for over 30 years, Azerbaijani MP from Khojaly district Elman Mammadov told Trend.

He made the remarks commenting on the preliminary conclusions of the OSCE/ODIHR presented at a press conference on April 12. The mission, which voiced opinions not reflecting the reality observed at the election, announced that the final report will be made public within two months.

So far, according to Mammadov, over one million Azerbaijanis are still IDPs due to the incompetent activities of the OSCE.

"Our compatriots have turned into IDPs because of such hypocritical international structures as the OSCE. We are outraged that these persons discredit the presidential election in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani lands are still under occupation because of their unfair activity carried out together with Armenians. This is why we live not in our native land," the MP said.

Mammadov further said that the OSCE/ODIHR is an organization financed by Armenians and dancing to the tune of Armenians.

"Representatives of the OSCE do not have the right to come to Azerbaijan and observe the electoral process. How did the OSCE, as an international structure, prove itself to Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue? I can answer - as a hypocritical structure pursing double-standards policy," Mammadov said.

Distributing the biased report on April 12, the OSCE/ODIHR acted against all voters, against the will of the Azerbaijani people and showed disrespect to the entire Azerbaijani people, he said.

"Neither the OSCE/ODIHR nor the Council of Europe are holding elections in Azerbaijan. They don't have the last say. The people is a source of the power in Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani people have the last say on this issue. The Azerbaijani people demonstrated its will on April 11 by voting for development, progress and its future. All international organizations that monitored the presidential election in Azerbaijan confirmed the transparent and fair electoral process," he said.

However, according to Mammadov, ODIHR representatives come to Azerbaijan with pre-prepared protocols.

"They acted the way their owners dictated. Therefore, their opinion is just a piece of paper for the Azerbaijani people," the MP said.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

The presidential election in Azerbaijan was held freely, transparently, fairly, in accordance with national legislation and international standards, Rauf Zeyni, president of the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, which unites up to 700 non-governmental organizations, said.

Zeyni made the remarks at the press-conference at Trend News Agency in Baku April 14 held in connection with the presidential election.

He added that the results of the presidential election reflect the peoples will.

Zeyni stressed that the presidential election in Azerbaijan, having important historical significance in the development of the country and people, was held by the countrys Central Election Commission (CEC) at 5,641 polling stations in 125 electoral districts. The embassies and consulates of Azerbaijan created 41 polling stations.

The election staff was created as an institution of civil society upon the decision of the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, he said. More than 600 of its representatives monitored the election throughout the country.

"According to the conclusion of the observation mission of the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, favorable conditions were created for holding free, democratic, transparent and fair election in the country," he said. During the monitoring held before the election and on the voting day, the observation mission of the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum did not notice violations of electoral legislation or voters rights."

He added that Azerbaijan fully guarantees the rights to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and other rights.

Zeyni added that the CEC installed 1,000 webcams at polling stations and there was an opportunity to observe the election online.

The voting booths and ballots complied with the requirements of the electoral legislation, he said. Wheelchair ramps were installed at 1,455 stations and conditions were created for people with disabilities to participate in the election.

Azerbaijan held a presidential election on April 11. The incumbent head of state, Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party Ilham Aliyev garnered over 86.03 percent of votes in the election, in accordance with the results of processing 99.9 percent of ballots.

On the voting day, 5,426 permanent polling stations and 215 temporary polling stations in 125 constituencies operated in the country. The election was observed by 894 international observers (61 organizations, 59 countries) and 58,175 local observers.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

Trend:

Azerbaijanis once again demonstrated their political will and elected Ilham Aliyev as president in transparent and democratic election on April 11, Azerbaijani MP Sadagat Valiyeva told Trend April 14.

But it is obvious that anti-Azerbaijan circles were greatly concerned over high voter turnout, Valiyeva, who is also chairperson of the Nizami district branch of the New Azerbaijan Party, said.

Those circles were also concerned that the election was organized at a high level and no violations of the law were observed on the voting day, she added. Remaining true to their traditions, the observation missions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe published prejudiced and slanderous reports.

The MP said that the prejudiced reports of the OSCE PA, OSCE/ODIHR and PACE observation missions testify to obvious disrespect to Azerbaijani voters.

The MP added that members of the OSCE PA, OSCE/ODIHR and PACE observation missions held meetings at the headquarters of certain political parties, attended presidential candidate campaigns during the pre-election period.

"The biased reports of the OSCE PA, OSCE/ODIHR and PACE observation missions are a shady action taken against the unity between people and authorities in Azerbaijan," Valiyeva said.

She added that attempts to cast a shadow over transparent and democratic election are doomed to failure.

Valiyeva expressed hope that the OSCE PA, OSCE/ODIHR and PACE observation missions will reconsider their reports and deliver fair and objective final reports.

"First of all, OSCE PA, OSCE/ODIHR and PACE must respect the democratic values promoted by them and appreciate the activity of Azerbaijan," she added.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

The report of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on the presidential election in Azerbaijan was prepared in advance as always, and justly caused a sharp protest of the Azerbaijani society and media, expert Javid Mammadzade told Trend.

Mammadzade made the remarks commenting on the preliminary conclusions of the OSCE/ODIHR presented at a press conference on April 12. The mission, which voiced opinions not reflecting the reality observed at the election, announced that the final report will be made public within two months.

Mammadzade said that such an attitude of the OSCE/ODIHR should not be surprising.

"Because, Azerbaijan faces such a situation not for the first time. They [OSCE/ODIHR] had come to all elections in Azerbaijan with ready and biased reports. Apparently, their aim was not to assess the election, but fulfill someone's order, to cast shadow over the transparent election in Azerbaijan," he said.

He further emphasized that the OSCE/ODIHR representatives have close links with the Armenian lobby and its leadership, who have blood of the Azerbaijani people on their hands.

"Given this, what objective approach can be expected from them?" the expert asked.

Mammadzade said the task of the OSCE/ODIHR is to ensure that the election is held openly and transparently.

"However, it is obvious that the conclusions presented at the press conference on April 12 were prepared before the presidential election. Not the election process itself, but the result did not satisfy ODIHR, despite that evaluation of the election result is not part of its prerogative," according to Mammadzade.

"We can confidently say that the OSCE has not justified itself as an organization. It is enough to mention that the activity of the organization did not give any real result for settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Endless visits of the co-chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group] to Azerbaijan and Armenia is all that the Azerbaijani people and the world community saw," he said.

Mammadzade said that inefficiency of the OSCE was proven even during the April events of 2016, the co-chairs "woke up" only on the third day of the clashes (between the troops of the Azerbaijan and Armenia).

"Now, we know what kind of "benefit" the OSCE group brought us. That is why such pre-prepared reports should not be taken seriously," he said.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Presidential elections in Azerbaijan have demonstrated the will of the people, head of Israel-based NGO International Projects for Society, political analyst Arye Gut, said in his article published in the Jerusalem Post.

I first participated in the presidential elections in Azerbaijan as an international observer. I can say that the elections in Azerbaijan will be the beginning of new reforms and new achievements. I think that the presidential elections on April 11 was held according to the requirements of international norms and rules and at a high level. Azerbaijan was doing its utmost to avoid any defects in the implementation of laws. I believe that the elections have demonstrated the will of the people of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan people know who is the right candidate for new presidential period, Gut says.

The presidential elections in Azerbaijan are conducted openly and transparently. An Israeli delegation of nine people was visiting Azerbaijan to monitor the election process, including members of the Knesset, ex-ministers, and the former head of the Israel National Security Council. The rank of our delegation was very high, representative.

An independent policy of Ilham Aliyev based on national interests is the cornerstone of Azerbaijans foreign policy. Ilham Aliyev's foreign policy strategy is based on accurate diplomacy and a balanced foreign politics. An independent foreign policy primarily rests on the aspiration to forge equal relations with all countries, Gut says.

Azerbaijan is affiliated with no military-political block and focuses on beneficial cooperation with countries of all shapes and sizes. Azerbaijan does not tolerate the language of pressure, and cooperation with foreign partners is based solely on reciprocity. Because of the balanced multi vector diplomacy of Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan today has its own word on the international political arena and is considered to be the most important in geographical sense and the most powerful in economical and defense sense, country in the region of Caucasus. It is undisputable fact that the Ilham Aliyev's foreign policy is very clear and predictable.

He says: Azerbaijan Republic is in favor of fruitful bilateral relations with all the countries, relations which are based on mutual interests, shared values, mutual respect, non-interference into each others internal affairs, and with a spirit of partnership. This approach already proves that it leads to positive results. Azerbaijan's foreign policy is an independent foreign policy.

Azerbaijan is the most powerful country in the South Caucasus region. Today it is a factual reality that no country in Eurasia has closer or warmer ties with Israel than Azerbaijan. Over the 25-year history of diplomatic relations between the two states proved the necessity and viability of a strategic relationship between the Jewish state and the state with the Muslim majority. Our friendly states indeed act as true and reliable strategic partners. Azerbaijanis and Jews, in fact, cannot only co-exist, but also be real friends and develop and strengthen their relations.

As an Israeli citizen, I can proudly say that the President Ilham Aliyev shows a great degree of respect and attention to its Jewish community which an integral part of the contemporary Azerbaijani society. Under the patronage of President Aliyev two synagogues and the largest Jewish educational center in the South Caucasus have been built. Plans are in place for the first Azerbaijani Jewish museum, which will be the first Jewish museum in the South Caucasus, Gut says.

One of the biggest challenges of Azerbaijan's foreign policy is the resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. More 25 years Azerbaijan and Armenian live in a situation of no war, no peace. In 1994 the ceasefire regime was established. Since that time, despite various efforts of the international community, they have not achieved a peaceful settlement. It is true that now the negotiation process is more active, more promising and has already certain results  but it is not enough to finalise the deal and to find a solution which will be based on norms and principles of international law and will restore territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This conflict must be resolved only on the basis of international law and the decisions of international organizations, he says.

The energy policy shaped by Heydar Aliyev and further enhanced under the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev aimed to uphold the countrys national interests. That strategy helped Azerbaijan to secure one of the leading roles in various regional and global projects. Today, Azerbaijan is a steadfast partner in the energy security area and plays a significant role in ensuring the energy security of European countries. It is necessary to point out that even if Israel is one of the main clients to purchase Azerbaijani oil at the world market, it has several more important reasons to seek stronger relations with Baku. A significant portion of the oil consumed by Israel (an estimated 65 percent) is imported from Azerbaijan or by way of Azerbaijan through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) major oil export pipeline.

Baku serves the linchpin for energy diversity and security for Europe and Western markets, as Azerbaijan is not only the major energy and transport hub in the region, but a major producer of oil and natural gas that presents Europe with a non-Russian, non-OPEC and non-Iranian energy alternative. Azerbaijani pipelines, like the BTC (the largest oil pipeline in the world next to Americas Alaskan pipeline) pumps oil from the Caspian Sea through Georgia and to the Mediterranean Sea, terminating in the Turkish port city of Ceyhan.

We have built strong state. We should make Azerbaijan even stronger and I am confident that we will do that. The path we are going on is a glorious path. It is a path of victory and a success. I am confident that we will always go on the path of victories. Go forward to new victories!" - said lham Aliyev, Gut concludes.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

Trend:

President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis has congratulated President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

On behalf of Latvian people and on my own behalf, I sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of re-election as president of Azerbaijan. I am very satisfied with the rapid development of friendly relations between the two countries over the last years. Using this pleasant opportunity, I once again express our commitment to further strengthening the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Latvia. I express you my deepest respect and best wishes, said the congratulatory letter.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

Trend:

Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic has congratulated Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev.

"Accept my sincerest congratulations on the occasion of your re-election as the president of Azerbaijan. I am confident that your rich experience and professionalism will allow to make even greater progress for the sake of welfare of the citizens of your country. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a sincere friend of Azerbaijan, and you can be sure that we will contribute to deepening mutual cooperation and implementing joint projects. Mr. President, it is gratifying that you will soon visit Bosnia and Herzegovina in the new presidential term. Undoubtedly, this will contribute to further strengthening of cooperation and traditional friendship between our peoples, the congratulatory letter reads.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

Trend:

The founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Professor Klaus Schwab has congratulated Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev.

I congratulate you on the occasion of your re-election as president of Azerbaijan. I sincerely wish you success on the path of reforms chosen in the past years and in continuing the agenda for diversification of export. I take great pleasure in inviting you to the 49th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum to be held on January 22-25, 2019 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The annual meeting held in January this year once again demonstrated that there is more need than before in a multilateral meeting forming the global agenda in the beginning of the year, said the congratulatory letter.

Given Azerbaijans growing important role as a transit hub between China and Europe, alongside with the continuing efforts to strengthen Europes energy security through the Southern Gas Corridor, your participation in the event will increase your countrys contribution to the regional and international cooperation. On behalf of 3,000 heads of governments, businesses and civil societies, who will take part in the meeting, I look forward to your active participation in the event.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Elchin Mehdiyev- Trend:

The New Azerbaijan Party has strongly condemned the biased assessment of the presidential elections in the country, according to the press-release issued by the party on the preliminary conclusions made by the OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

"Presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan on April 11, the press-release said. Different stages of the electoral process conducted with the participation of eight candidates and the voting process were monitored by about 60,000 local and 894 international observers."

The statement made by ODIHR, OSCE PA and PACE with a sharply different preliminary report on the elections, which were appreciated by the absolute majority of international observers from 59 countries and 61 international organizations causes surprise, the press-release reads.

It seems that the abovementioned organizations prepared report about other elections, rather than those held in Azerbaijan, the press-release said. "It is impossible to justify the biased report, ignoring of facts and reality."

According to the press-release, the New Azerbaijan Party, which nominated incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, who won the elections with 86.03 percent of votes, sees the preliminary report prepared by the observation missions of ODIHR, OSCE PA and PACE as biased.

The New Azerbaijan Party strongly condemns such assessment of the elections, which were conducted fairly.

"Democratic principles, objectivity and transparency of any elections are measured by the extent to which the population expresses their political will. On the other hand, the most correct assessment can be given by main participants of the elections, the candidates. Each candidate who participated in the electoral process and did not win the election, congratulated the winning candidate and thereby acknowledged the objectivity of the electoral process, reads the press release.

It is also noted that the statement about alleged violations in the presidential election is nothing more than a clear manifestation of flippancy and open bias.

"The New Azerbaijan Party categorically rejects biased statements reflected in the preliminary report of the OSCE/ODIHR, OSCE PA and PACE, including allegations about using administrative resources in the ruling partys campaign and about forcibly bringing people to rallies. All these statements are untrue. The ruling party hopes that in its final report the mission will eliminate the bias and respect the will of Azerbaijani voters, said the press release.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

Global markets have been caught up in rising tit-for-tat US-Sino trade tensions, Ole Hansen, head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, told Trend.

After China fired back at US trade tariffs the market went from risk off to on and back to off again after conflicting signals emerged from the White House, he said.

"Overall, commodities traded down but off their lows with soybeans and crude oil being some of the biggest losers," he added. "Commodities initially got hit when China published a list of 106 US goods worth a combined $50 billion that would be subject to a 25% additional import tax. This followed the White House publication of a list covering 1,300 products of imports from China ranging from industrial technology to transport and medical products. The response from China included a wide range of US goods including soybeans and other agriculture products, as well as items from cars to chemicals and whiskey, cigars and tobacco."

"The announcement triggered heavy selling in global stock market indices with an escalating trade war potentially impacting growth and demand," Ole Hansen noted. "Growth worries hit cyclical commodities such as oil and industrial metals while gold received a muted safe-haven bid. Hardest hit, however, was the agriculture sector with key crops such as soybeans, corn and cotton being hurt by selling from speculative funds being caught on the wrong side of the trade."

What followed was a "good cop bad cop" response from the White House with Donald Trump's recently appointed economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, managing to rally the market after expressing willingness to step up discussions with China, the expert said.

"The calm only lasted for one day until Trump instructed US officials to consider an additional $100 billion tariffs against China," Ole Hansen said. "US soybean futures slumped on the news as it put at risk its trade in the commodity with China, the world's biggest buyer of US soybeans. Once the dust settles it is very unlikely that the US and China can live without each other, as other major exporters, especially in South America, are unable to meet China's fast-rising demand. Last year, Brazil already supplied half of China's soybean imports, with the US shipping around one-third or 33 million tons valued at $12 billion."

"A great deal of speculative longs in soybeans and corn got caught offside on the Chinese announcement," he added. "Not least after traders bought both crops following the recent prospective planting report showing that US farmers intended to plant less soybeans and corn this year than previously expected."

"The market worries that a trade war could derail global growth and with that demand for growth-dependent commodities such as copper," Hansen said. "So far the only damage to the metal these worries have done is to wipe out what was a record speculative long position held by hedge funds in HG copper futures."

Crude oil's pre Easter rally on Iran sanctions risk and the tense Saudi-Iran relations failed to attract enough momentum for the price to break the January high, according to the expert.

"This has left the technical outlook somewhat challenged, not least considering another run up in speculative buying during the past few weeks," he said. "A weekly drop in US inventories provided some relief despite most of the change being driven by another record week for US exports. China has become a major importer of US crude oil and as they vow to fight Trump tariffs 'to the end' a second round of tariffs could potentially hit this growing trade. If realised, it risks adding some relative pressure to WTI against Brent due to a potential struggle to find other buyers without offering a wider discount."

"A relatively high correlation to the US stock market is almost certain to ensure continued volatility in oil prices as trade tensions ebb and flow," he noted. "The May deadline for the US decision on Iran sanctions, combined with continued attempted missile strikes from Yemen into Saudi Arabia, are likely to keep the market supported. This will remain so as long the technical outlook does not deteriorate much further."

"We maintain the view that oil is likely to remain range-bound with the short-term risk skewed to the downside but potentially limited to between $62.5/b and $60/b," Hansen added.Gross domestic product (GDP) of Uzbekistan made up 64.96 trillion soums in January-March 2018 in current prices and grew by 5.1% year-on-year, according to the preliminary data of the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.

The GDP deflator index in relation to prices made up 137.4% in the first quarter of 2018, the committee said.

GDP per capita made up 1.98 million soums, which is 3.3% more than in the corresponding period last year.

The gross added value (GAV), created by all sectors of the economy, made up 83.8% of the total GDP and grew by 5% (contribution to GDP growth - 4.4 percentage points). Net taxes on products accounted for 16.2% of the GDP and rose by 5.3% (contribution to GDP growth - 0.7 percentage points).

Service sector made the largest contribution to GDP growth (2.2 pp), which increased by 4.4% compared to January-March 2017. Trade, accommodation and food services grew by 1.1%, transportation and storage, information and communication - by 7.1% and other services - by 4.6%.

The added value of the industry showed an increase of 5.0%. A positive contribution to GDP growth from industrial production is estimated at 1.3 pp. The mining industry grew by 20.7%, manufacturing - by 1.8% and other industries - by 5.8%.

The volume of construction works rose by 12.2%. A positive contribution to GDP growth from the construction industry sector is estimated at 0.8 pp.

In January-March 2018, a positive growth rate was observed in agriculture, forestry and fisheries at 1.8%. Due to the growth of this sector, the GDP growth is 0.1 pp.

The rate of economic growth is determined by the positive growth rates in the main sectors of the national economy. The gross value added (GVA), created by all sectors of the economy, accounted for 83.8% of the total GDP and grew by 5.0% (contribution to GDP growth - 4.4 percentage points). Net taxes on products accounted for 16.2% of the GDP structure and showed an increase of 5.3% (contribution to GDP growth - 0.7 pp).

The largest contribution to GDP growth was made by the services sector (2.2 pp), which increased by 4.4% compared to January-March of the previous year. From it, trade, accommodation and food services, grew by 1.1%, transportation and storage, information and communication - by 7.1% and other services - by 4.6%.

The added value of the industry showed an increase of 5.0%. A positive contribution to GDP growth from industrial production is estimated at 1.3 pp. Growth in the industry is due to the growth in value added of the mining industry and the development of quarries by 20.7%, manufacturing - by 1.8% and other industries - by 5.8%.

As a result of ongoing large-scale construction of multi-apartment residential buildings, as well as the implementation of investment projects for the construction and modernization of enterprises in the basic industries, the increase in the volume of construction work amounted to 12.2%. A positive contribution to GDP growth from the construction industry sector is estimated at 0.8 pp.

In January-March 2018, agriculture, forestry and fisheries recorded growth at the rate of 1.8%, which contributed to 0.1 pp growth of the GDP.

The share of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the sectoral structure of GDP declined from 6.5% in January-March 2017 to 6.3% in January-March 2018. The share of industry increased from 29.1% to 34.8%, construction - from 7.4% to 7.6%.

The share of services in the sectoral structure of GDP in January-March 2018 was 51.3%, which is 5.7% less than in January-March 2017 (57.0%).

In January-March 2018, the structure of GDP by ownership forms 78.8% of the total volume falls to the non-state sector of the economy, 21.2% to the public sector.

Currency rate for April 4, 2018: 8,100 UZS/USDBaku, Azerbaijan, Apr.14

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

More than $20 billion is expected to be invested in total in Azerbaijan's upstream sector between 2018 and 2025, Ashley Sherman, Principal Research Analyst  Caspian at Wood Mackenzie told Trend.

"Annual investment in Azerbaijan's energy sector peaked in 2014-15, when expenditure was at its greatest for Shah Deniz Phase Two and the Southern Gas Corridor. We do not expect future annual investment to match these highs, as upstream projects will be smaller in scale than the $20 billion Shah Deniz Phase Two," she said.

"In our base case, we expect more than $20 billion to be invested (in total) in Azerbaijan's upstream sector between 2018 and 2025. This includes the new oil platform at ACG (Azeri Central East), for which a Final Investment Decision is targeted in 2019."

However, Sherman believes that several other multi-billion-dollar projects could be confirmed, largely focused on gas: via deals with new partners at Umid-Babek and Karabakh; and full development of Absheron and ACG non-associated (deep) gas.

"In addition, SOCAR GPC would require an additional $4 billion. Renewed exploration in shallow or deep waters could also reveal new oil or gas discoveries," she noted.

However, like any country, Azerbaijan must compete for investment against other attractive oil and gas opportunities in the region and across the globe, Sherman said, adding that cost savings and the profitability of gas exports will be crucial factors.

Wood Mackenzie is an international consulting company providing a wide range of services in the fuel and energy industry. The company was founded in 1973 and its headquarters is located in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In Azerbaijan, Wood Mackenzie works both with representations of its global clients and with local companies.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn

Subscribers of Trend News Agency can read this and other exclusive materials before they are published in open access.

More information on Trends news products can be found here.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Huseyn Valiyev  Trend:

The Board of Goldenpay, a payment system in Azerbaijan, has been reshuffled, the company told Trend on April 14.

Farid Ismayilzade, who served as chairman of the Board of Goldenpay, became a member of the Supervisory Board. Henceforth, he will take an active part in strategic management and development of the company.

Elvin Mirzeyev also left the Board.

Furthermore, Naina Mehdiyeva was appointed the chairman of the Board. She has an 11-year experience in the company and previously served as the first deputy chairman of the Board of Goldenpay and was responsible for its operational activities.

Tugba Ucar, who has experience with leading companies in the US and Turkey, also was appointed to the Board. She earlier held leading marketing positions in Turk Telecom, TTNET, etc. In the Board of Goldenpay, she will be responsible for development of the company's product line and marketing.

Mahammadiya Abdurahimov, who was appointed to the Board, will be responsible for technical work in the company.

The Board reshuffle is aimed at strengthening the company's position and achieving new goals in the market, according to the company.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has banned offering foreign currencies in exchange shops across the country amid growing concerns over the depreciation of the national currency, rial.

The sale of foreign currency through the exchange shops is prohibited, so far, Mohammad Ali Karimi, the head of Public Relations Office at the CBI, told IRIB news agency.

He added that the central bank will provide the nation with the required currencies through its systems.

Saying that the central bank has decided to create its system for trading foreign currency namely Nima, he added that the exporters of non-oil products will supply their foreign currency through the system.

Earlier this week, Iran imposed a 10,000-euro ($12,400) ceiling on the amount of foreign currency that citizens can hold outside banks.

The rial lost close to half its value on the free market since September, driven in part by concerns over a possible return of sanctions in case of US exit from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on Monday evening announced the authorities latest decision on unifying official and free-market exchange rates for the rial in favor of a single rate set at 42,000 against the US dollar.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iran has condemned the recent air strikes by the US and its allies on Syria, warning against its consequences.

The attack is a clear violation of the international law and regulations and it violates the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Syria, the statement by the foreign ministry of Iran read.

The statement added that Iran is against the use of chemical weapons.

The US, UK and France struck multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites.

The strikes, which hit the capital Damascus as well as two locations near the city of Homs, came following a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a telephone conversation with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, condemned the recent attack by the US and allies on the Arab country.

Iran will still stand with Syria and its nation we are sure that the violation will not weaken the will of the people of Syria in the fight against terrorism, Rouhani told Bashar al-Assad on Monday, state media reported.

The US, UK and France struck multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites.

The strikes, which hit the capital Damascus as well as two locations near the city of Homs, came following a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week.

In the meantime, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has termed the recent air strikes conducted by the Westerners on Syria as a crime.

Irans Foreign Ministry through a statement has condemned the US-led attacks on Syria, saying Washington and its allies would bear responsibility for the consequences in the region and beyond.Iran's defense minister said on Saturday that the US-led strike on Syria is a violation of international rules and regulations, according IRNA.

The US, France, and UK's criminal action in attacking Syria is violation of international rules and principles of humanity, Brigadier General Amir Hatami said in a phone conversation with the Syrian Defense Minister General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub.

The Iranian top general referred to failure of US-led attack and said that the missiles cannot break the axis of resistance or the Syrian government's will to return peace and security to Syria.

He stressed Iran's support for the Syrian nation and expressed hope for return of peace to the country in the wake of the terrorists' recent defeats in East Ghouta.

The Syrian defense minister, for his part, said that such criminal attacks will not weaken the Syrian nation's will to eliminate terrorists in the country.

He invited the Iranian defense minister to visit the country's liberated areas.

The US together with its allies, the UK and France targeted the Syrian capital city of Damascus early Saturday.

The US attack on a military base in Homs, western Syria injured 3 civilians, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) earlier reported.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkey, Russia and Iran have great merits in resolution of crisis in Syria. Just thanks to close contacts among Ankara, Moscow and Tehran, division of Syria as a country was prevented. However, despite this, the allies still had disagreements on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 's participation in the further political life of Syria.

Almost all countries announced that the West should be blamed for the tragic events in Syria.

Only a week ago, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said that such terrorist organizations as the "Islamic State" (IS), PKK, PYD and YPG are managed from one center and are a "product" of the West.

Following this, Turkey's Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli made a statement addressed to France, saying that deployment of a military contingent in Syria's Manbij would be assessed as occupation.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford announced on April 14 that the US, UK and France struck multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Dunford, along with British and French counterparts, announced that three targets in Syria were "struck and destroyed", all of which were specifically associated with Syria's chemical weapons program.

Reportedly, the first target was a scientific research center in the greater Damascus area. The military facility was a center for research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological agents, the general said. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs.

We assess this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, Dunford said. The third target  contained both a chemical weapons storage facility and an important command post.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has condemned the recent air strikes by the US and its allies on Syria, warning against its consequences.

The attack is a clear violation of the international law and regulations and it violates the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Syria, the statement by the foreign ministry of Iran read.

Unlike Iran, Russia has not made any official statement regarding the military operation against Syria.

However, a statement made by the Turkish Foreign Ministry was the most unexpected one.

The ministry stated that Ankara considers the operation carried out early this morning by the United States, United Kingdom and France as an appropriate response to the chemical weapons attack, which caused the death of many civilians in Douma on April 7.

"We welcome this operation, which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the [Syrian] regime," the statement reads.

The Turkish side draws attention to presence of serious grounds to suspect the Assad supporters in involvement in the attack on the suburbs of Damascus.

"Attacks with weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, that indiscriminately target civilians constitute crimes against humanity. The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannizing its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes," the statement reads.

The ministry emphasized that Turkey believes that it is of critical importance that such crimes do not go unpunished and that accountability is ensured in order to prevent the recurrence of similar crimes.

Furthermore, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin has today stated that chemical weapons attack in Syria's Douma did not go unanswered.

Given that Tehran and Moscow are on the same side in Syria, backing the Assad regime, one can expect Ankara's statements to negatively affect its relations with Russia and Iran.

In short, the Turkish-Russian-Iranian union for Syria has faced a serious threat.

---

Rufiz Hafizoglu is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Trend Agency. Follow him on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

There are several nations in the world that are used to being called a superpower. All of them are actually engaged in the same affairs  economic expansion, fighting over markets, control over energy resources and trade corridors. However, ways to achieve the goal are different.

China teaches its competitors a lesson how to run things. While, relying on force, the US and Russia are butting in Syria, China continues to conquer the next local or regional market.

China is the owner of excellent muscles too, but it prefers to subdue the enemy without fighting, as was recommended by the Chinese legendary strategist of the 6th century B.C. Sun Zi in his famous The Art of War.

The other two superpowers have a glorious history and their own sages, but China still looks like their great-grandfather.

Energy issues play a key role with regard to Russia's national interests.

In Russia, oil production at traditional oil and gas fields in Western Siberia, the Urals and other regions is declining. By 2035, production there will be reduced by about half, Russian experts from the Skolkovo think-tank say.

Abundant occurrences of hydrocarbons discovered in recent years in the Eastern Mediterranean, in addition to the existing resources in Iran, Iraq and Syria itself, are the potential and closer sources of exports to Europe, which is one of the most comfortable and payable markets.

As an option, it would be attractive for Russia to manage hydrocarbon flows from the friendly ME states rather than to drag them for thousands of kilometers from Siberia to Europe.

This absolutely doesnt suit the US, which has had its own view on sources and routes of delivery of the ME oil and gas to Europe.

The Carter Doctrine of 1980, which is still in force, clearly states that the United States would use military force, if necessary, to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf and South-Western Asia.

So, partners, as they often call each other, had insurmountable odds in this matter, resulting in a war in Syria, which has lasted for seven years and left half a million dead.

Sun Zi warns: There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.

I once read a phrase that has impressed me much (I quote from memory): The world should be grateful to the Chinese leaders for their ability to feed one billion people and keep them within their borders.

Despite its tremendous population and ability to flex its military muscles to the world, China goes the way different from that the other two superpowers are going. Chinese way is the way of the 21st century.

Since the late 1970s, that is, since the time of Deng Xiaoping, China has not been a party to any major conflict, keeping a low profile and preferring to use economic instruments for expansion.

At the same time, the United States and Russia (USSR) participated in numerous bloody conflicts.

Until peace reigns, China has no equal in the superpowers' race. Therefore, voting in the UN Security Council, China usually dampens decisions that can lead to any destabilization or military confrontation.Syrian army command has announced that Eastern Ghouta is now free of militants, state media reported. According to the SANA news agency, the Syrian army is determined to eradicate terrorism in Syria, regardless of what power backs the terrorism, in order to restore security and stability in the country, Sputnik reports.

"All the terrorists have left Douma city, their last bastion in eastern Ghouta," the army statement said.

At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 21,000 people, including militants and their family members, have been evacuated from Eastern Ghouta.

Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko, head of Russia's Reconciliation Center for Syria, said that 3,976 militants left Douma by bus on Friday. He added that at least 67,680 have left the embattled Damascus suburb.

The tensions over Eastern Ghouta escalated rapidly last week after several media outlets, citing Syrian militants, blamed Damascus for using chemical weapons in Douma. Syria's Foreign Ministry denied the allegations, saying that a use of chemical weapons in the Damascus suburb had been planned by terrorist groups.

The Russian military also rejected reports of chemical weapons use in the area of Eastern Ghouta, citing doctors from Douma who denied media reports about receiving patients with symptoms of exposure to toxic substances.

Despite the information, Western coalition members  the US, the UK, and France  on Friday fired over 100 missiles at targets inside of Syria in response to the alleged chemical attack.Hundreds of students, rail workers, medical staff as well as post office workers took to the streets of Paris to protest against French President Emmanuel Macron's labour reform on Friday, Press TV reported.

Protesters marched from Tolbiac University to Salpetriere Hospital, stating that the strike convergence aims to "reverse the government propaganda."

"The idea is to show that those reforms including the selection in the faculties are affecting everybody in the country, train users, students, as well as seniors," one protester said. The demonstration comes after a long string of recent anti-Macron protests in France.French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that he had ordered a military intervention in Syria alongside the United States and Britain in an attack on the chemical weapons arsenal of the countrys regime, Reuters reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier that he had ordered precision strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assads chemical weapons capabilities after a poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last week.

Macron said the attack had been limited so far to Syrias chemical weapons facilities.

We cannot tolerate the recurring use of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security, a statement from the Elysee presidential office said.

On April 7, dozens of men, women and children were massacred in Douma, with the use of a chemical weapon in a total violation of international rules (...) The red line established by France in May 2017 was crossed, Macron said.

He added that the facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime were beyond doubt.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also said she had authorised British forces to conduct strikes against Syria.

Macron, who tweeted a picture of himself in a meeting room with military and diplomatic advisers, said a debate about Frances military involvement would take place in parliament.The French military on Saturday targeted Syrias main chemicals research center as well as two other facilities, French Defence minister Florence Parly said, adding that Russia had been informed before the strikes were carried out, Reuters reports.

The minister was speaking hours after President Emmanuel Macron ordered a military intervention in Syria alongside the United States and Britain in an attack on the chemical weapons arsenal of the countrys regime.

We are not looking for confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation, that is the reason why we, with our allies, ensured the Russians were warned beforehand, Parly told journalists in a short statement alongside Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Parly also said cruise missiles had been fired by the French military.British Prime Minister Theresa May authorized precision air-launched cruise missile strikes against Syria on Saturday to degrade its chemical weapons capability, saying there was no alternative to military action, Reuters reports.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britains Ministry of Defence said.

Britain joined the United States and France in what May cast as a limited and targeted strike after intelligence indicated Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government was responsible for an attack using chemical weapons in Douma.

May said the missile strike, designed to minimize civilian casualties, was aimed at deterring further use of chemical weapons and was not an attempt to topple the Syrian government.

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change, May said in statement made from her country residence at Chequers just minutes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the strikes from the White House.

By launching strikes without prior approval from parliament, May dispensed with a non-binding constitutional convention dating back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She said speed was essential and that military action was in the national interest.

May, whose government is propped up by a small Northern Irish party, said Britain and the West had an obligation to deter both Assad and others from using chemical weapons after the poison gas attack in Douma near Damascus killed up to 75 people, including children, last Saturday.

We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world.

May said Britain and its allies had sought to use every diplomatic means to stop the use of chemical weapons, but had been repeatedly thwarted, citing a Russian veto of an independent investigation into the Douma attack at the U.N. Security Council this week.

So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, she said.

The Western missile strikes demonstrate the volatile nature of the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011 as an anti-Assad uprising but is now a proxy conflict involving a number of world and regional powers and a myriad of insurgent groups.

Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until the Assad government stopped its use of chemical weapons.

Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, has denied there was a chemical attack and has accused Britain of helping to stage the Douma incident to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.British had no alternative but to take military action to degrade Syrias chemical weapons capability, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday after ordering air-launched cruise missile strikes along with the United States and France, Reuters reports.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britains Ministry of Defence said.

May cast the strike as limited and targeted and came after intelligence indicated Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government was responsible for an attack using chemical weapons in the Damascus suburb of Douma a week ago.

May said the missile strike, designed to minimize civilian casualties, was aimed at deterring further use of chemical weapons and was not an attempt to topple the Syrian government.

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change, May said in statement made from her country residence at Chequers just minutes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the strikes from the White House.U.S.-led strikes in Syria are an important signal to Syria and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a senior Israeli cabinet minister said on Saturday, Reuters reports.

The use of chemical weapons crosses a red line that humanity can no longer tolerate, Yoav Gallant, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus security cabinet, said on Twitter.

U.S., British and French forces hit Syria with air strikes overnight in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week. U.S. President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Assads government stopped its use of chemical weapons.

The American attack is an important signal to the axis of evil Gallant said.

An Israeli official said Israel was notified of the strikes ahead of time. Asked how much advanced warning Israel had received, the official told Reuters: Between 12 and 24 hours, I believe.

Asked whether Israel helped choose targets, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: Not to my knowledge.Leaders of Brazils northern state of Roraima on Friday asked the Supreme Court for permission to temporarily close the only land border crossing with neighboring Venezuela to halt the massive and disorderly arrival of refugees, Reuters reported.

Brazils President Michel Temer, attending the Summit of the Americas in Lima, said closing the border was unthinkable.

Roraima Governor Suely Campos petitioned the high court to order the federal government to step up assistance for her state to deal with what she called a humanitarian crisis. She also asked that the border be closed until orderly immigration procedures could be put in place.

Campos said she had to resort to the top court because the federal government had not acted on her states requests. It is not clear if the court with take up her plea.

More than 50,000 Venezuelan refugees have arrived in Roraima since last year, fleeing an economic crisis and political strife in their country, the governor told reporters. The influx was nearly equal to 10 percent of the states population of 520,000 inhabitants. The refugees have overloaded health, housing and education services, Campos said, bringing the threat of disease and social disorder.

Many of the refugees have walked hundreds of kilometers (miles) to reach the state capital Boa Vista and have been sleeping in squares and other precarious areas in the city.

Campos said every day more than 500 Venezuelans crossed the open border, where immigrants are allowed to enter with no visa, just by showing a Venezuelan document.

We have to require more documents, vaccination cards, criminal background checks, the inspection of cars. There has to be a way to contain this influx, Campos said.

The federal government declared an emergency in February to boost funding for Roraima and doubled the number of troops at the border. It has also begun to use Air Force planes to move Venezuelan refugees to larger Brazilian cities.

But it has said it will not close the border because that would violate international treaties.

Temer said his government was delivering assistance requested by Roraima, and he hoped the Supreme Court would deny the states plea to shut the border.

It is not Brazils way of doing things, closing borders, he told reporters.Around 500 migrants were rescued close off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, the Italian coast guard said, Sputnik reported.

A ship of the European Unions EUNAVFOR mission in the Mediterranean and German humanitarian vessel Sea Watch 3 took part in three rescue operations coordinated by Italy, the coast guard added.

In recent years, the European countries have been facing a large-scale migration crisis with hundreds of thousands of people arriving in the EU member states from the Middle East and Northern Africa in order to find asylum or better living conditions.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) figures, 16,847 migrants and refugees have entered Europe via the Mediterranean Sea since the beginning of 2018, while the number of migrants who died in the Mediterranean en route to Europe amounted to 557. In 2017, Mediterranean migrant arrivals reached 171,635, while the number of deaths was 3,116.Not a single missile of those launched against Damascus ventured into the zones of Russian air defenses in Tartus and Hmeymim, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday, TASS reports.

"None of the cruise missiles launched by the United States and its allies entered the zones of Russian air defenses around Tartus and Hmeymim," the Defense Ministry said.

The missile strike against Syrias military and civilian infrastructures was carried out by US planes and naval ships in cooperation with British and French air forces between 03:42 and 05:10 Moscow time on Saturday.

The United States, Britain and France said the strikes were a response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syrias Douma.

According to some sources, approximately ten targets were attacked. The Syrian news agency SANA does not confirm this information. The Pentagon said twice as many weapons were fired as in April 2017 against the Shayrat airbase.The US, the UK and France have fired more than 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles at military and civilian targets in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Saturday, TASS reports.

"Over 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles have been fired at military and civilian targets in Syria by US, British and French planes and ships," the ministry said.

The missile strikes against Syrias military and civilian infrastructures were carried out by US planes and naval ships in cooperation with British and French air forces between 03:42 and 05:10 Moscow time on Saturday.

The United States, Britain and France said the strikes were in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syrias Douma.

A number of non-governmental organizations, including the White Helmets, earlier said chemical weapons had been used in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7. The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed these reports as fake news. The Defense Ministry added that the White Helmets was notorious for spreading falsehoods.

On April 9, officers from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria visited Douma but found no trace of chemical weapons there.

Experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were to begin work there on Saturday.Russia strongly condemns the attack on Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, TASS reports.

"Russia strongly condemns the attack on Syria where Russian servicemen are helping the legitimate government in the war on terrorism," the Kremlin press office quoted Putin as saying.

"By its actions, the United States is increasingly exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria and bringing sufferings to civilians and actually conniving at terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for seven years and provoking a new wave of refugees from that country and the region as a whole," Putin said.

According to Vladimir Putin, the United States used a staged chemical attack against civilians to carry out a strike.

"One again, just like a year ago when the US attacked Shayrat Airbase in Syria, a staged chemical attack against civilians was used as a pretext, this time in Douma, a Damascus suburb. Russian military experts who visited the site of the alleged incident found no traces of the use of chlorine or other chemical agents. Not a single local resident confirmed that a chemical attack had taken place," the Kremlin press service quotes him as saying.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkish Foreign Ministry has welcomed the US air strikes on Syria.

The attack on chemical facilities in Syria is a response to chemical weapons attack against civilians in Syria's Douma, the Foreign Ministry said in a message on April 14.

The United States launched missile strikes on Syria on Friday evening in response to a chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians. The strikes are carried out in cooperation with Britain and France.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, along with British and French counterparts, announced that three targets in Syria were "struck and destroyed", all of which were specifically associated with Syria's chemical weapons program.

Reportedly, the first target was a scientific research center in the greater Damascus area. The military facility was a center for research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological agents, the general said. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs.

We assess this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, Dunford said. The third target  contained both a chemical weapons storage facility and an important command post.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Chemical weapons attack in Syria's Douma did not go unanswered, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said.

He said the air strikes against Syria are aimed at ending the military conflict in the country, Turkish media reported on April 14.

Previously, the Turkish Foreign Ministry welcomed the US air strikes on Syria.

The US, UK and France struck multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites.

The strikes, which hit the capital Damascus as well as two locations near the city of Homs, came following a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, along with British and French counterparts, announced that three targets in Syria were "struck and destroyed", all of which were specifically associated with Syria's chemical weapons program.

Reportedly, the first target was a scientific research center in the greater Damascus area. The military facility was a center for research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological agents, the general said. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs.

We assess this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, Dunford said. The third target  contained both a chemical weapons storage facility and an important command post.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkey was informed about the military operation in Syria, said Mahir Unal, spokesman and deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Turkish media reported on April 14.

He said the national interests are supreme for Turkey. Unal further said that Turkey stands for the territorial integrity of Syria.

The US, UK and France struck multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites.

The strikes, which hit the capital Damascus as well as two locations near the city of Homs, came following a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, along with British and French counterparts, announced that three targets in Syria were "struck and destroyed", all of which were specifically associated with Syria's chemical weapons program.

Reportedly, the first target was a scientific research center in the greater Damascus area. The military facility was a center for research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological agents, the general said. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs.

We assess this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, Dunford said. The third target  contained both a chemical weapons storage facility and an important command post.

Previously, the Turkish Foreign Ministry welcomed the US air strikes on Syria.

The attack on chemical facilities in Syria is a response to chemical weapons attack against civilians in Syria's Douma, the Foreign Ministry said in a message on April 14.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

The US did not use the Incirlik airbase in Turkey to attack the chemical facilities in Syria, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said.

Bozdag stated that Turkey was informed about launch of the military operation in Syria, Turkish media reported on April 14.

Turkey was informed about the military operation in Syria, said previously Mahir Unal, spokesman and deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party.

Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry welcomed the attack on Syria.

The ministry stated that Ankara considers the operation carried out early this morning by the United States, United Kingdom and France as an appropriate response to the chemical weapons attack, which caused the death of many civilians in Douma on April 7.

The US, UK and France struck multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites.

The strikes, which hit the capital Damascus as well as two locations near the city of Homs, came following a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, along with British and French counterparts, announced that three targets in Syria were "struck and destroyed".

Reportedly, the first target was a scientific research center in the greater Damascus area. The military facility was a center for research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological agents, the general said. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs.

We assess this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, Dunford said. The third target  contained both a chemical weapons storage facility and an important command post.

--

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluU.S., British and French forces hammered Syria with air strikes early Saturday Syria time in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers in Syrias civil war, Reuters reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House late on Friday. As he spoke, explosions rocked Damascus.

Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stopped its use of chemical weapons.

A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Trump said in a televised address from the White House.

A U.S. official told Reuters the strikes were aimed at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.

At least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus in the early hours of Saturday and smoke was seen rising over the Syrian capital, a Reuters witness said. A second witness said the Barzah district of Damascus had been hit in the strikes. Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research center.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, Trump said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she had authorized British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability. She described it as a limited and targeted strike aimed at minimizing civilian casualties.

The military action is not about intervening in Syrias civil war or changing its government, she said.U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced in Peru on Friday that Washington was giving $16 million to help Venezuelans who have fled the countrys economic crisis, some of which would go to host communities in Colombia and Brazil, Reuters reported.

Pence was in Lima to attend the Summit of the Americas that gathers regional heads of state on Friday and Saturday. Trump canceled his scheduled visit to the summit to focus on the crisis in Syria.Fire officials say a Delta Air Lines flight made an emergency landing at a North Dakota airport, ABC News reported.

KFGO reports the jet with 189 passengers on board was heading from Minneapolis to Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday evening when the crew reported smoke in the cockpit.

Fire officials say the plane landed safely at Hector International Airport in Fargo about 7:30 p.m. The airline has not explained what caused the smoke.The United States and its allies fired more than 100 missiles at Syria on Friday in a one-time shot the Pentagon said followed evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for a chemical weapons attack using at least chlorine gas, Reuters reported.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said three main chemical weapons facilities were targeted at 9 p.m. EST (1 a.m. GMT) by missiles from both the sea and aircraft, which triggered Syrian air defenses.

The Pentagon could not confirm how many missiles hit their targets but said no other attacks were planned.

Mattis and Dunford acknowledged the strike was designed to degrade Syrias chemical weapons capability without killing civilians or the many foreign fighters in Syrias multi-sided civil war, particularly those from Russia.

We specifically identified these targets to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved, Dunford told reporters, adding the U.S. military advised Russia of airspace that would be used in the strike but did not pre-notify them.

Mattis acknowledged that the United States waged the attacks only with conclusive evidence that chlorine gas was used in the April 7 attack in Syria.

Mattis, however, suggested the evidence of sarin was so far inconclusive.

We are very confident that chlorine was used. We are not ruling out sarin right now, Mattis said.

The Pentagon said one of the targets was a scientific research center located in the greater Damascus area, which it described as a Syrian center for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weaponry.

The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs.

We assess that this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, Dunford said.

The third target, which was also near Homs, contained both a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and a command post.

They characterized this years strikes as more significant than the one waged last year, saying double the number of weapons were used this time.

We were very precise and proportionate, Mattis said. But at the same time, it was a heavy strike.

Last year, 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the guided missile destroyers USS Porter and the USS Ross struck Syrias Shayrat air base.

The targets of that strike included Syrian aircraft, aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage facilities, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems and radar.

At the time, the Pentagon claimed that a fifth of Syrias operational aircraft were either damaged or destroyed.

Although Syrias military had moved aircraft and other military assets in the days preceding Fridays strike, Dunford said he did not believe it had moved chemical weapons materials.KYODO NEWS - Apr 14, 2018 - 20:18 | All

Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Saturday Shinzo Abe is unlikely to win a third term in September's Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, citing the public's growing distrust in the premier after a string of recent scandals.

"Winning a third term will be tough as he is losing public trust," Koizumi told reporters in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. Securing the LDP presidency is seen a prerequisite for Abe to stay on as prime minister.

Touching on the scandal over the heavily discounted sale of state land to a school operator linked to the Japanese leader, Koizumi pointed out Abe's troubles stem from his pledge to quit as premier and lawmaker if he or his wife Akie were to found being involved in the deal.

Noting that Abe's wife briefly served as the honorary principal of an elementary school that the school operator Moritomo Gakuen planned to open on the land, the outspoken former leader said, "How can he say that he is not related (to the matter)?"

Abe returned to office in December 2012 after the LDP wrested power from the Democratic Party of Japan and has become the third-longest serving prime minister in postwar Japan behind Eisaku Sato and Shigeru Yoshida.

While prime ministers in Japan tend to hold power for relatively short periods of time compared with other major developed countries, Koizumi himself managed to stay in the top job from 2001 to 2006.

(Former PM Junichiro Koizumi)By Mohammad Gharebag, KYODO NEWS - Apr 14, 2018 - 18:18 | World, All

Iran strongly condemned the U.S.-led air strike Saturday on Syria, and warned the United States and its allies Britain and France of unspecified consequences.

"This amounts to a flagrant breach of international laws and principles, a violation of Syria's right to national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Incontrovertibly, the U.S. and its allies are responsible and should be held accountable for the consequences of this adventurism both in the region and beyond," it said.

In comments to foreign diplomats in Tehran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the commander of Iran's armed forces, described the leaders of the United States, France and Britain as "criminals" for ordering the joint assault.

(Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Photo courtesy of the Office of Iranian Supreme Leader, UPI/Kyodo)

The "attack on Syria is a crime. I firmly declare that the presidents of the United States and France and the British prime minister committed a major crime. They will gain no benefit," Khamenei's official website quoted him as saying.

Separately, a high-ranking commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has been fighting alongside the military of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from the start of the Syrian war, said the United States and its allies now await the consequences of their strike on Syria.

"The U.S.-led coalition's strike on Syria will make the regional situation more complicated. This complicated situation will be against U.S. interests. Americans will be responsible for further incidents in the region," Tasnim News Agency quoted the deputy IRGC commander for political affairs, Gen. Yadolla Javani, as saying.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday (U.S. time) the United States, Britain and France had launched precision strikes targeting sites in Syria associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of the Assad regime.

Trump ordered the strikes to punish the Assad government for an alleged chemical weapons attack on a rebel-occupied area near Damascus last weekend that reportedly killed more than 40 people, including children.

It was the second U.S. military strike against the Assad regime prompted by its alleged use of banned chemical weapons against rebels during a civil war that began in March 2011. The first air strike ordered by Trump occurred in April last year.

Trump condemned Russia and Iran for their ties to the regime, saying they are "most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime."

"To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?"

The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons against enemy forces. Iran and Russia also said no chemical weapons were used by Syrian government forces last weekend, calling the claim it had "an excuse for attack."25% of 15,914 COVID-19 cases in Kerala on Thursday unvaccinated

The state government has said that there are no reports of anti-COVID vaccination taken by at least 4,031 of the fresh cases.Les lunettes de marque ne sont pas ce qui manque dans les commerces. Il y en a de toutes les sortes dont les lunettes de []A new RAND Corporation report finds that Russia is waging a social media campaign in the Baltics, Ukraine and nearby states to sow dissent against neighboring governments, as well as NATO and the European Union.

In addition to employing a state-funded multi-lingual television network, operating various pro-government news websites and working through Russian-backed "civil society" organizations, Russia also employs a sophisticated social media campaign that includes news tweets, non-attributed comments on web pages, troll and bot social media accounts, and fake hashtag and Twitter campaigns.

"Nowhere is this threat more tangible than in Ukraine, which has been an active propaganda battleground since the 2014 Ukrainian revolution," said Todd Helmus, lead author on the report and senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, a nonpartisan research organization. "Other countries in the region look at Russia's actions and annexation of Crimea and recognize the need to pay careful attention to Russia's propaganda campaign."

In Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, according to the RAND report, Russia aims to divide ethnic Russian or Russian-speaking populations and their host governments.

RAND researchers recommend that to counter the Russian campaign, Western countries need to strengthen and expand means to track, block and tag Russian propaganda more quickly, to offer alternative television, social media and other media to help displace the Russian narrative, and to develop more-compelling arguments for populations to align with the west and better understand NATO troop deployments in the region.

The report also recommends the training of local journalists and funding the creation of alternative media content to counteract Russia propaganda campaigns.

"We paid special attention to the role of non-attributed social media accounts, which are frequently, but not solely, employed on Twitter and Facebook," said Elizabeth Bodine-Baron, an author on the report, engineer and co-director of the RAND Center for Applied Network Analysis and System Science. "Russia has established that during critical moments, such as during the Ukrainian conflict, it can flood news websites with tens of thousands of comments each day,"

The report finds that U.S., EU and NATO efforts to counter Russian influence in the region are complicated by the relatively high presence of historically marginalized Russian-speaking populations in the region, which gives Russia a unique opportunity to communicate with a sympathetic audience.

Host government policies giving priority to national languages have limited government outreach via the Russian language, thus complicating state outreach to Russian speakers. Furthermore, Russian broadcast media dominates in the region, particularly in the Baltics. Ukraine is the exception as it has censored Russian government broadcasting and social media platforms.

Finally, heavy-handed anti-Russian messaging may backfire given local skepticism of Western propaganda.

###

The report, "Russian Social Media Influence: Understanding Russian Propaganda in Eastern Europe," is available at http://www.rand.org. Other authors of the report include Andrew Radin, Madeline Magnuson, Joshua Mendelsohn, Bill Marcellino, Andriy Bega and Zev Winkelman.

The research was sponsored by the Office of Secretary of Defense's Rapid Reaction Technology Office and conducted within the International Security and Defense Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []SYDNEY, April 14 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp will proceed with the second stage of its giant Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant off the northwest coast of Western Australia, the company said on Saturday.

Chevron and its joint venture partners plan to sink 11 new wells in the Gorgon and Jansz-Io fields and build offshore pipelines and subsea structures to pipe the gas to the nearby 15.6 million tonne a year LNG plant on Barrow Island.

The $54 billion Gorgon project came on stream in March 2016 but suffered numerous unplanned shutdowns in its early stages.

Chevron declined to put a cost on stage two of the project, but a spokesman said the development would fit within its planned annual investment of $18 billion to $20 billion through 2020.

Drilling should start next year and the full expansion could take about four years, a source with knowledge of the plans said.

Seven new wells will be drilled thousands of metres below sea level in the Gorgon field while four will be sunk in the Jansz-Io field, about 70 km (44 miles) further out to sea.

Gorgon Stage Two is part of the original Gorgon development plan which includes the expansion of the subsea gas network required to maintain long-term natural gas supply to Barrow Island.

"Through ongoing collaboration, we need to invest in both the infrastructure and the local skills and capability required to maintain our long-term energy position and contribute to the jobs of the future," Chevron Australia managing director Nigel Hearne said in a statement.

"Benefits are expected to flow through to Australian industry, arising from local project management, drilling and completion activities and subsea infrastructure installation."

Chevron is the Gorgon project operator and holds a controlling 47.3 percent, while ExxonMobil and Shell each have a 25 percent stake. The remaining stakes are held by Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and JERA. Chevron also leads the development of the Wheatstone natural gas project, manages a one-sixth interest in the North West Shelf Venture and operates Australia's largest onshore oilfield on Barrow Island.

(Reporting by Alison Bevege; editing by Richard Pullin)Eric Horvitz Microsoft Research

Microsoft

At a conference this week, Microsoft Research scientist and leader Eric Horvitz says that the company has given up "significant sales" because it was worried the customer would use AI for not-good purposes.

Microsoft clarifies with Business Insider that the company has never cut off an existing contract over these concerns, but has turned customers away.

Horvitz says that Microsoft has also placed contractual limits on what customers can do with AI, for ethical reasons.



Long-time Microsoft scientist Eric Horvitz says that the software company takes AI ethics so seriously, significant sales have been cut off" because it was concerned that the potential customer would use its technology for no good.

Horvitz, a director and technical fellow with Microsoft Research, made his remarks on stage at Carnegie Mellon University's K&L Gates Conference on Ethics and AI on Monday, as originally reported by GeekWire.

I got in touch with Microsoft for more clarity on Horvitz's remarks. The company confirmed that Microsoft had never cut off a deal with an existing customer  Horvitz was referring to the loss of possible revenue from potential customers.

Microsoft may decide to forego the pursuit of business proposals for numerous reasons, including the companys commitment to upholding human rights," a spokesperson tells Business Insider.

Beyond just cutting off those deals, Horvitz says that Microsoft has placed limitations on what customers can do with its AI tech: And in other sales, various specific limitations were written down in terms of usage, including may not use data-driven pattern recognition for use in face recognition or predictions of this type,'" he said, per GeekWire.

That's an unusual point for Horvitz to make: Microsoft itself offers cloud-based services for developers to easily put facial recognition capabilities into their software. Still, Horvitz's remarks indicate that Microsoft is willing to place limits on what customers can and can't do with artificial intelligence. Microsoft declined to comment any further on that point.

Story continues

"This committee has teeth"

In a more general sense, Horvitz was discussing Aether, an acronym for "AI and ethics in engineering and research," which is Microsoft's overall AI ethical oversight committee. Its been an intensive effort  and Im happy to say that this committee has teeth, Horvitz said.

We believe it is very important to develop and deploy AI in a responsible, trusted and ethical manner. Microsoft created the Aether committee to identify, study and recommend policies, procedures, and best practices on questions, challenges, and opportunities coming to the fore on influences of AI on people and society," says a Microsoft spokesperson.

This approach is generally in line with Microsoft's public profile: The company's leadership has made much of the idea of ethical artificial intelligence, urging researchers, developers, and consumers to be responsible in how they use the technology.

"[We] want people to go forward in ways that are well informed, that are thoughtful, and in a sense, a commitment to shared responsibility. It is going to take a broad commitment to shared responsibility in order to ensure that AI is used well," Microsoft President Brad Smith told Business Insider earlier this year.

At the same time, the ethical use of AI is a hot topic in Silicon Valley: Earlier in April, Google employees petitioned the company's leadership to stop providing artificial intelligence to the military for use in drones.

NOW WATCH: Humanity could be waste-free if we lived in a Circular Economy  here's how it would work

See Also:

SEE ALSO: Thousands of Google employees asked CEO Sundar Pichai to stop providing AI tech for the US military's dronesFILE PHOTO: A view of one of two Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner during a media tour of the aircraft ahead of the Singapore Airshow in Singapore February 12, 2012. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo

By Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - Rolls-Royce <RR.L> requires more money and more inspections to fix problems with Trent 1000 engines on Boeing <BA.N> 787 Dreamliner planes, leading to further disruption for airlines and testing relations between Rolls and its customers.

Problems with engine turbine blades wearing out sooner than expected have hampered a restructuring program prompted by the engineering company's declining older engine program and plunging demand for oil equipment.

It said on Friday that more regular inspections are required and would lead "to higher than previously guided cash costs being incurred during 2018".

"We sincerely regret the disruption this will cause to our customers," CEO Warren East said in a statement.

Airlines have already been forced to alter schedules or lease other aircraft, but the latest issues could be more far-reaching.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to reduce the amount of time the affected planes can fly on a single engine after a failure of the other. The time limit would drop as low as 140 minutes, compared with the current window of 330 minutes, a source familiar with the plans said.

This effectively curtails operations across oceans or remote areas.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will also order increased inspections of affected engines in line with actions outlined by Rolls-Royce. Currently inspections must be carried out after every 200 flight cycles.

The two advisories are due to be issued on Friday, the source said.

Rolls said it would reprioritize spending to mitigate the costs and kept its 2018 free cash flow guidance unchanged at about 450 million pounds ($643 million), give or take 100 million pounds.

Shares in Rolls, one of the biggest names in British manufacturing, were down 1.3 percent by 1251 GMT.

It announced the need for stepped up inspections after liaising with authorities over a separate issue with the compressor on Trent 1000 Package C series engines. Rolls said there were 380 such engines in service.

Story continues

Boeing said that about 25 percent of the Dreamliners flying were powered by the engine and it was deploying support teams to help to manage service disruptions.

General Electric <GE.N> engines used on some Boeing 787 Dreamliners are not affected.

ENGINE SHORTAGES

The need to inspect and repair Trent 1000 engines has led to an industry-wide shortage.

CEO East said Rolls was working with Boeing and airlines to minimize the disruption.

"Our team of technical experts and service engineers is working around the clock to ensure we return them to full service as soon as possible," he said.

Norwegian Air, which has the engines in 15 of its 27 Boeing 787s, said it hopes to have inspected all of its engines before May 26 and that it had already found one problem that required an engine to be replaced.

"It's disappointing and frustrating that our new aircraft don't work the way they are supposed to," spokesman Lasse Sandaker-Nilsen said, adding that it had canceled a flight from Paris to New York next week as a result.

"We have an ongoing dialogue with both Boeing and Rolls-Royce and we have been told this problem has their full attention."

Virgin Atlantic [VA.UL] has up to four 787s grounded at any one time while it sources replacement engines with Rolls and has also leased three Airbus A330-200s to help to cover its flying program.

A Virgin spokeswoman said it had been aware of the increased inspections announced on Friday and that the cover it had in place would be sufficient.

British Airways <ICAG.L>, Japan's ANA <9202.T>, Air New Zealand <AIR.NZ> and Thai Airways, which also use Trent 1000 engines, were not available for immediate comment.

Scoot, a budget carrier owned by Singapore Airlines <SIAL.SI>, said it expected some impact on operations.

In December the EASA ordered airlines to replace some Trent 1000 engines.

In March, Rolls said the cash hit from the problem should peak at 340 million pounds in 2018 before falling in 2019.

(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher, Joachim Dagenborg, Victoria Bryan, and Jamie Freed; Editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely)* Chemical weapons inspectors to start work soon in Syria

* Top-level diplomacy aiming to avert showdown

* Assad's allies blame Trump for crisis

BEIRUT, April 13 (Reuters) - The prospect of Western military action in Syria that could lead to confrontation with Russia hung over the Middle East on Friday but there was no clear sign that a U.S.-led attack was imminent.

International chemical weapons experts were travelling to Syria to investigate an alleged gas attack by government forces on the town of Douma which killed dozens of people. Two days ago U.S. President Donald Trump warned that missiles "will be coming" in response to that attack.

The allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were eager on Friday to lay blame for the crisis not with him but with Trump.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said international relations should not depend on one person's morning mood, in apparent reference to Trump's tweets.

"We cannot depend on what someone on the other side of the ocean takes into his head in the morning. We cannot take such risks," said Dvorkovich, speaking at a forum.

Russia has warned the West against attacking Assad, who is also supported by Iran, and says there is no evidence of a chemical attack in Douma, a town near Damascus which had been held by rebels until this month.

Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations, said he "cannot exclude" war between the United States and Russia.

"The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war," he told reporters. "We hope there will be no point of no return."

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was in contact with Washington but the atmosphere was alarming. "God forbid anything adventurous will be done in Syria following the Libyan and Iraqi experience," he told a news conference.

Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, told Lebanese daily al-Joumhouria: "The conditions do not point to a total war happening ...unless Trump and (Israeli leader Benjamin) Netanyahu completely lose their minds."

Story continues

U.S. allies have offered strong words of support for Washington but no clear military plans have yet emerged.

British Prime Minister Theresa May won backing from her senior ministers on Thursday to take unspecified action with the United States and France to deter further use of chemical weapons by Syria.

Some national leaders appeared anxious to avert a U.S.-Russian showdown.

Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday France had proof the Syrian government carried out the Douma attack and would decide whether to strike back when all necessary information had been gathered.

But on Friday he appeared conciliatory. Macron's office said he spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing concern about the deterioration of the situation in Syria and calling for more dialogue with Moscow.

NATO members Germany and the Netherlands have said they will not take part in any military action.

Tayyip Erdogan, president of Syria's neighbour Turkey, said on Friday he had spoken by phone with Trump and Putin and told both that increasing tensions in the region was not right.

ASSAD TIGHTENS GRIP

Trump himself appeared on Thursday to cast doubt on at least the timing of any U.S.-led military action, tweeting: "Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!"

He met his national security team on the situation in Syria later in the day and "no final decision has been made," the White House said in a statement.

"We are continuing to assess intelligence and are engaged in conversations with our partners and allies," it said.

Global stock markets have had a whipsaw week, largely fuelled by Trump's tendency to change his mind over key policy issues.

A team of experts from global watchdog the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was travelling to Syria and will start its investigations into the Douma incident on Saturday, the Netherlands-based agency said.

The capture of Douma has clinched a major victory for Assad, crushing what was once a centre of the insurgency near Damascus, and underlines his unassailable position in the war.

He has cemented his control over most of the western, more heavily populated, part of the country, with rebels and jihadist insurgents largely contained to two areas on Syria's northern and southern borders.

They still control the northwestern province of Idlib, near Turkey, and a southern region around Deraa, on the border with Jordan. Turkish forces and rebel allies control territory in northern Syria, while U.S.-backed Kurdish forces hold wide areas of the northeast, and pockets of Islamic State fighters remain.

But none of those any longer directly threaten Assad's grip on power, which has been reinforced by Russian air power and Iran-backed fighters on the ground.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout, Tom Perry, Ellen Francis and Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Andrew Roche; Editing by Angus MacSwan)WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump on Saturday declared "Mission Accomplished" for a U.S.-led allied missile attack on Syria's chemical weapons program, but the Pentagon said the pummeling of three chemical-related facilities left enough others intact to enable the Assad government to use banned weapons against civilians if it chooses.

"A perfectly executed strike," Trump tweeted after U.S., French and British warplanes and ships launched more than 100 missiles nearly unopposed by Syrian air defenses. "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

His choice of words recalled a similar claim associated with President George W. Bush following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Bush addressed sailors aboard a Navy ship in May 2003 alongside a "Mission Accomplished" banner, just weeks before it became apparent that Iraqis had organized an insurgency that tied down U.S. forces for years.

The nighttime Syria assault was carefully limited to minimize civilian casualties and avoid direct conflict with Syria's key ally, Russia, but confusion arose over the extent to which Washington warned Moscow in advance. The Pentagon said it gave no explicit warning. The U.S. ambassador in Moscow, John Huntsman, said in a video, "Before we took action, the United States communicated with" Russia to "reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties."

Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, said that to her knowledge no one in the Defense Department communicated with Moscow in advance, other than the acknowledged use of a military-to-military hotline that has routinely helped minimize the risk of U.S.-Russian collisions or confrontations in Syrian airspace. Officials said this did not include giving Russian advance notice of where or when allied airstrikes would happen.

Russia has military forces, including air defenses, in several areas of Syria to support President Bashar Assad in his long war against anti-government rebels.

Story continues

Russia and Iran called the use of force by the United States and its allies a "military crime" and "act of aggression." The U.N. Security Council met to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the "aggression" by the three Western allies.

Trump's U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, told the session that the president has made it clear that if Assad uses poison gas again, "the United States is locked and loaded."

Assad denies he has used chemical weapons, and the Trump administration has yet to present hard evidence of what it says precipitated the allied missiles attack: a chlorine gas attack on civilians in Douma on April 7. The U.S. says it suspects that sarin gas also was used.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Assad tweeted, while hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus, the capital, where they flashed victory signs and waved flags in scenes of defiance after the early morning barrage.

The strikes "successfully hit every target," White told reporters at the Pentagon. The military said there were three targets: the Barzah chemical weapons research and development site in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a chemical weapons "bunker" a few miles from the second target.

Although officials said the singular target was Assad's chemical weapons capability, his air force, including helicopters he allegedly has used to drop chemical weapons on civilians, were spared. In a U.S. military action a year ago in response to a sarin gas attack, the Pentagon said missiles took out nearly 20 percent of the Syrian air force.

As of Saturday, neither Syria nor its Russian or Iranian allies retaliated, Pentagon officials said.

The U.S.-led operation won broad Western support. The NATO alliance gave its full backing; NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels that the attack was about ensuring that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the attack "necessary and appropriate."

In his televised address from the White House on Friday evening, Trump said the U.S. was prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until the Syrian leader ends what Trump called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. That did not mean military strikes would continue. In fact, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said no additional attacks were planned.

Asked about Trump's "Mission Accomplished" assertion, White said it pointed to the successful targeting of three Syrian chemical weapons sites. What happens next, she said, is up to Assad and to his Russian and Iranian allies.

Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said the allied airstrikes "took out the heart" of Assad's chemical weapons arsenal. He said the missiles hit the "sweet spot," doing the expected level of damage while minimizing the unintentional release of toxic fumes that could be harmful to nearby civilians.

When pressed, he acknowledged that some unspecified portion of Assad's chemical arms infrastructure was not targeted.

"There is still a residual element of the Syrian program that is out there," McKenzie said, adding, "I'm not going to say they're going to be unable to continue to conduct a chemical attack in the future. I suspect, however they'll think long and hard about it."

Assad's Barzah research and development center in Damascus was destroyed, McKenzie said. "It does not exist anymore."

A former officer in Syria's chemical program, Adulsalam Abdulrazek, said Saturday the joint U.S., British, and French strikes hit "parts of but not the heart" of the program. He said the strikes were unlikely to curb the government's ability to produce or launch new attacks. Speaking from rebel-held northern Syria, Abdulrazek told The Associated Press there were perhaps 50 warehouses in Syria that stored chemical weapons before the program was dismantled in 2013.

Vice President Mike Pence, in Peru for a meeting of regional leaders, said "there will be a price to pay" involving military force if Syrian chemical weapons are used again.

Disputing the Russian military's contention that Syrian air defense units downed 71 allied missiles, McKenzie said no U.S. or allies missiles were stopped. He said Syria's air defenses were ineffective and that many of the more than 40 surface-to-air missiles fired by the Syrians were launched after the allied attack was over. He said the U.S. knew of no civilians killed by allied missiles.

McKenzie said 105 U.S. and allied missiles were fired, of which 66 were Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from aboard three U.S. Navy ships and one Navy submarine. U.S., British and French attack aircraft, including two U.S. Air Force B-1B strategic bombers, launched stealthy, long-range missiles from outside Syrian airspace, officials said.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlin's skepticism about the allies' Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to complete their visit to the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was little doubt the Syrian government used a barrel bomb  large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal  to deliver the chemicals at Douma. "No other group" could have carried out that attack, May said, adding that the allies' use of force was "right and legal."

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump called the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership a disaster and a rape to our country. As a newly minted president, he pulled the US out of the 12-nation trade deal, proclaiming the move was a great thing for the American worker.

Little more than a year later, Trump reportedly wants back in. The president has assigned US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and national economic adviser Larry Kudlow to look into getting the US back into the deal, White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said Thursday. The President has consistently said he would be open to a substantially better deal, she added.

The new effort to rejoin the TPP is the latest swing in the Trump White Houses volatile trade policy. His administration has opened up several fronts on trade, including one with China, another with Canada and Mexico, under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA,) and with South Korea, with which the US has another trade deal. Trumps views on how to tackle each one have zigzagged wildly.

After the US defected from the TPP, other members of the trade deal went ahead with it. Last month, the 11 remaining countries signed an agreement in Chile, though it still has to be ratified by local officials in some countries. Rebranded as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, the new pact will cover an area that makes up 13% of the world economy and is home to 500 million people.

Some Trump officials had already floated the possibility of reentering the TPP earlier this year, as had Trump himself, but Thursdays news caught observers and Trump allies by surprise. Mike Pompeo, the presidents pick to head the US Department of State, said he was unaware of any TPP action during his confirmation hearing.

The announcement was welcomed by lawmakers from some farming states. They have been pressing Trump to back down from his trade spat with China, which has threatened to raise tariffs on US agricultural products.

Story continues

It is good news that today the President directed Larry Kudlow and Ambassador Lighthizer to negotiate U.S. entry into TPP: https://t.co/sfzI3eyDOM pic.twitter.com/B75Bsdsm3x  Senator Ben Sasse (@SenSasse) April 12, 2018

Trumps request lands at a particularly busy time for the Office of the US Trade Representative, which is in the midst of NAFTA talks and evaluating a series of tariffs Trump has threatened to impose on China.

Whatever the US does on CPTPP is bound to affect those negotiations. The deal, which covers Pacific-rim countries in Asia and the Americas, was conceived as a counterbalance to China. Canada and Mexico are both signatories.

On Thursday, Trump provided no clues of how the US would proceed on CPTPPor on NAFTA. Despite reports that the three NAFTA parties are getting closer to an agreement, there is no set timeline to finish, he said at a meeting with agricultural state leaders.

Ive told it to the Mexicans: We can negotiate forever, he added. Because as long as we have this negotiation going, nobody is going to build billion-dollar plants in Mexico, which is what theyve been doing a lot. They have taken our auto industry by the throat.

This story has been updated to include comment from the White House.

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.

More stories from Quartz:After the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, the FBI sued Apple to forcibly unlock the suspect's iPhone, asserting that the agency had exhausted all options before taking legal action. In the event, the bureau ended up reportedly paying an external vendor to break into the device. But last month, the Department of Justice poked holes in that justification with a report stating the FBI didn't do everything it could before bringing Apple to court. Today a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a fact-finding letter to the agency's director Christopher Wray questioning whether the FBI could indeed have taken other action before the lawsuit.

Ten members of the House of Representatives, split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, sent the letter. To them, the DOJ's report undermines the FBI's statements that only Apple could have opened up the phone -- and that they didn't investigate all technical options ""precisely because they wanted the suit against Apple to go forward," according to Reuters.

Apple famously resisted the FBI's attempts at coercing them into breaking into the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, and since then, we've learned that the agency has tried and failed to break into around 7,800 devices due to encryption, which Wray has called a 'major public safety issue.' But rising awareness of supposed phone-unlocking third-party tools from firms like Cellebrite and GrayShift have undermined the FBI's story. Lawmakers want to know if the bureau has consulted with these vendors, and if not, why their solutions aren't suitable.

Finally, the legislators want to know if the bureau is erroneously trying to break into devices when they could just get it from a cloud-based Internet service. After all, this is how the agency got information from the 2017 Texas shooter's iPhone after serving Apple with a warrant for data on his iCloud account.The view southward from Central Asia has been grim since 2014, when groups of Taliban militants started fanning out across northern Afghanistan.

Thinly stretched government forces in the area were forced to enlist the help of local paramilitary groups, known as Arbaky, who arguably are often little more than bandits with a sheriffs badge and might not be fighting Taliban forces at all. Some Arbaky are suspected of trafficking narcotics or even selling the weapons and ammunition that the government gives them to the Taliban.

And as the security situation in northern Afghanistan deteriorated, particularly in the northwestern part that not so many years ago was relatively peaceful, the black flag of the militant group Islamic State (IS) was raised in some isolated areas.



It was an added complication few wanted to see, including those north of the Afghan border.



Which is why the killing of Qari Hikmatullah, or simply Qari Hikmat, is probably welcome news for much of Central Asia and Russia.

Hikmat was killed in Faryab Province on April 5. He was the commander of an IS force in the Darzab district of Jowzjan Province, which borders Faryab to the east. Both provinces border Turkmenistan.



Hikmat had managed to hold off government and Taliban forces attacking him since summer 2017, and it was about the time Hikmat seized control of the Darzab district that there were reports that a handful of IS militants were caught in Turkmenistan. Ashgabat never confirmed that, but the Turkmen government in power at the time had virtually never confirmed any security threat to the country.

Russian officials have been warning Central Asian states about the threat from militants in Afghanistan for years. Hikmats announcement that he joined IS, and his ability to hold territory in Darzab, fueled the Kremlins dire predictions of instability spilling over into the CIS southern border.

Russian officials claim there are thousands of IS militants roaming northern Afghanistan, but the only place where there was absolutely someone occupying ground and declaring himself to be IS was Darzab under Hikmat.



Hikmats group was quick to announce a new leader -- Qari Habibul Rahman -- but he will be hard-pressed to replace the formidable Hikmat.

Hikmat was an extraordinary opportunist. He was part of the Taliban, but he apparently grew tired of following the commands of the Taliban leadership so he took his fighters over to the government, pledging to fight against the Taliban.



That did not last long, and he reportedly struck out on his own. He reinforced his own force with pro-IS militants who were already in northwestern Afghanistan, remnants of a Taliban-splinter group that had declared loyalty to IS and also a splinter group from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) militant group that were present in Afghanistan and Pakistans tribal areas, and had also sided with IS.

The two groups joined to fight Taliban forces in northwestern Afghanistan at the end of 2015, but the Taliban pummeled them and the fighters scattered throughout northwestern Afghanistan.



Hikmat, himself an ethnic Uzbek from Afghanistan, was able to gather some of the former IMU fighters and others. There were reports that some IS fighters from Syria and Iraq had fled the battlefields there and joined Hikmats group.

The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, said Afghan and U.S. forces had killed Hikmat and they will kill any successors.



So IS in northwestern Afghanistan seems to have suffered a major setback, and with both the government and Taliban forces intent on attacking them, the IS groups days might be numbered.



It might be a rare bit of welcome news out of Afghanistan for the governments of Central Asia, and presumably Moscow, though it is unlikely the latter will tone down its alarming statements about the IS threat in Afghanistan.

Hikmats armed group is still in Jowzjan Province.



And of course, the Taliban is still there, too.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RLHe spent nearly two decades in prison for what are widely seen as trumped-up charges. But recently freed Uzbek journalist Yusuf Ruzimurodov says he holds no grudges against those who put him behind bars.

The journalist says he knew all along that there would a heavy price to pay for working for a newspaper with ties to the opposition in a country that tolerated no dissent.

Ruzimurodov, who worked for the Erk (Freedom) publication, was tried and sentenced along with five other defendants in 1999 on charges that included attempting to overthrow the government.

The newspaper was linked to the banned opposition party of the same name, Erk.

Ruzimurodov, then a 35-year-old reporter whose hobby was reading history books, found himself sharing an overcrowded prison cell with convicted killers and thieves.

"I lived with hope. I knew that I was innocent and I would be free one day," Ruzimurodov told RFE/RL in a phone interview from the southeastern Qashqadaryo Province, where he is staying at his brothers house.

"It was hope that kept me going."

Ruzimurodov, 54, who was released in February, is reluctant to talk about his years doing hard time.

Brick By Brick

"I spent all my free time reading books. There was a library in prison. And I also had my own books brought by visiting relatives," Ruzimurodov says. "I would read a lot during the night."

During the day, however, Ruzimurodov worked in a factory, loading bricks onto freight cars.

"I loaded at least 8.5 million bricks during the 10 years I spent at the labor colony in Navoyi Province," Ruzimurodov recalls.

"Each prisoner had a daily quota of loading one-and-half train cars with bricks," the journalist says.

"I would fulfill my quota every single day, because I hoped I would be released early for good behavior and working hard. Several fellow inmates were freed early on those grounds."

Early release wasn't in the cards, however. To the contrary, Ruzimurodov, who was initially sentenced to 15 years, ended up serving 19 years instead, becoming one of Uzbekistans longest-held prisoners of conscience.

As was not uncommon under late President Islam Karimov, Ruzimurodov saw his imprisonment extended twice on charges he says were fabricated.

"In 2014, I was counting down the days to my release," the journalist says. "When just 25 days were left till the end of my sentence, I was accused of verbally abusing a fellow inmate and my term was prolonged for another three years."

Charges of "violation of internal prison rules" were routinely used against imprisoned activists and journalists under Karimovs authoritarian rule.

The extended sentence came as Ruzimurodov was suffering from tuberculosis he contracted in prison.

"I tried to find mental strength, and it made the physical hardship easier to deal with," Ruzimurodov says. "I would tell myself that Im an educated person, I must face my situation with patience and dignity."

In the end he persevered despite the hardships, including mistreatment and the loss of both his parents during his incarceration.

Uzbek prisons under Karimov were notorious for torturing inmates, especially those imprisoned for criticizing the government.

Human rights groups have documented that Ruzimurodov and his fellow defendants -- all linked to the opposition -- were tortured upon their arrest in 1999.

Citing a defense lawyer, Human Rights Watch reported at the time that the defendants "testified that they had been cruelly and repeatedly tortured."

"A statement signed by all six claimed that torture methods included electric shocks, beatings with batons and plastic bottles filled with water, and the use of the 'bag of death,' a plastic bag used to temporarily suffocate victims," the rights watchdog said.

No Regrets

Ruzimurodov doesn't want to talk about any mistreatment he might have suffered.

A self-described "optimist by nature," Ruzimurodov says he wants to look to the future instead of dwelling in the past.

His second extended sentence came in 2017, when he was again nearing release. This time he was accused of violating prison rules by "washing his hair outside the designated bathing time."

Ruzimurodov was given another three years, but the extension came at a fortuitous time, because there was a new sheriff in town.

President Shavkat Mirziyoev was now in power, replacing Karimov, whose died in the fall of 2016 after 27 years in power.

Mirziyoev went on to release numerous political activists, journalists, and opposition figures and removed thousands of people from the security services' blacklist.

Ruzimurodov sent a letter from prison to the president, asking for his freedom.He was released on February 22.

Ruzimurodovs release was welcomed by human rights advocates, the OSCE, and the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, among others.

Ruzimurodov says he doesnt have a clear career plan yet, but says he wants "to take part in the ongoing reforms and changes in Uzbekistan."

"For the time being I just enjoy being free," Ruzimurodov says. "As for the past, I have no regrets."

Written by Farangis Najibullah based on interviews conducted by RFE/RL Uzbek Service correspondent Khurmat Babajanov.



English Latvian

Correction: 2017 Annual report in English is added.

In 2017, Baltic International Bank embarked on implementing its business strategy approved in the autumn of 2016. The strategy envisages a business model geared towards various wealth management solutions and socially responsible investing both in Latvia and overseas.

In 2017 the Bank actively worked to transform its operations in line with the Banks new investments-based business model. Upon concluding the organisation of the Banks assets and introducing the new business model, the structure and number of customers of the Bank changed, and deposits decreased significantly.

In the 2nd half of 2017, Baltic International Bank significantly strengthened its clients service team and actively focused on attracting new clients, as well as establishing a new level of business relations with existing clients, thus in the 2nd half of 2017, all financial indicators relating to the amount of client funds increased.

In the 2nd half of 2017, the total of customer funds grew by 18% and reached EUR 444 million, the amount of deposits attracted by Baltic International Bank went up by 25,5% during the reporting period. The assets under management at the end of 2017 amounted to EUR 68,17 million, and the value of financial instruments in brokerage service  EUR 120,71 million.

According to the unaudited results of Baltic International Bank, at the end of December 2017 the banks assets demonstrated 11,5% increase, amounting to EUR 297,95 million. The Banks loan portfolio totalled EUR 62,73 million or 21,1 percent of the total assets as of 31 December 2017.

The financial asset structure is still predominantly represented by investments in available-for-sale financial assets: EUR 42,19 million or 14,2 percent of the total assets. High-quality liquid assets (assets carrying investment-grade credit rating and balances due from the Bank of Latvia) amounted to EUR 159,44 million or 53,5 percent of the total assets. Investments in government bonds totalled EUR 26,87 million or 9 percent of the total assets.

Operations related to changing the business model and customer structure, as well as the quality assessment of some historically acquired assets of the Bank created an expected temporary negative impact on the Banks financial indicators, thus the Bank ended 2017 with a loss of EUR 8,09 million. The financial results were also influenced by investments in continued improvement of the internal control system, development of information technologies and infrastructure that Baltic International Bank carried out in 2017, as well as investments in staff and strengthening their competence.

The operating income totalled EUR 14,4 million, which is less than at the end of previous period. The management of the bank appreciates the dynamics of the income structure - the percentage of fee and commission income increased to 24,5 percent compared to the same period last year when the fee and commission income totalled 17,7%. The net interest income increased by 13,8 percent compared to the same period last year when The net interest income totalled 11,3%.

Administrative costs reached EUR 13,73 million, which is 5,9 percent below the level of the previous year.

The liquidity ratios exceed the regulatory thresholds. As of 31 December 2017, the liquidity ratio was 92,28 percent. The structure of liquid assets is well diversified, as represented by bonds 19,92 percent, due from credit institutions 13,21 percent, due from the Bank of Latvia 65,87 percent and cash 1 percent. The liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) totalled 375,45 percent. The net stable funding ratio (NSFR), characterizing the availability of a stable funding profile in relation to the composition of assets and off-balance sheet activities, reached 158,08 percent.

As of 31 December 2017, the Banks own funds totalled EUR 24,85 million. The Banks Tier I capital ratio (CETI) totalled 9,39 percent. Total capital ratio reached 13%.

Taking into account the financial results of the Bank in 2017, and actively supporting the development of Baltic International Bank, basing on the new business model, shareholders meeting in January 26, 2018 made the decision to increase Banks capital by EUR 6 million. We firmly believe that the capital-increase will give a decisive fillip to the expansion of banks business both domestically and internationally, and the banks current and potential customers will all be winners!

In 2017, Baltic International Bank continued to implement a broad range of social responsibility projects promoting the development of culture, art and public opinion in Latvia. Baltic International Bank supported the publication of several books in the series Mes. Latvija, XX gadsimts (Us. Latvia. The XX century) and other publications of significance to Latvias cultural history. In 2017, the Bank also supported the development of start-ups. The Baltic International Bank Latvian Barometer surveys were carried out throughout the year, providing a unique monthly insight into the general mood and public opinion in Latvia regarding various current topics of national importance. Thanks to its sustainable model of operations and broad range of social responsibility initiatives, Baltic International Bank ranked in the Gold category of the 2017 Sustainability Index.Press Release

First 'real-world' industrial applications of 5G for manufacturing trialed at the Nokia Conscious Factory in Oulu, Finland

Trial leverages ultra-low latency and high-bandwidth capabilities of 5G with machine-learning to enhance production in manufacturing environment

5G trial network uses Nokia AirScale, AirFrame and Multi-access Edge Computing together with Intel 5G Mobile Trial Platform and Finwe video analytics application

12 April 2018

Espoo, Finland - Nokia, Finnish operator Telia and Intel have successfully conducted an industrial trial leveraging the ultra-low latency, high-bandwidth capabilities of 5G to support time-critical applications and enhance production and efficiency in a manufacturing environment.

5G allows operators and businesses to connect assets and take advantage of new flexibilities and capabilities such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and widespread automation to efficiently transform operations.

The trial, which took place at the end of March, represents one of the first real-world applications of 'Industry 4.0', the industrial trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. Nokia and Telia worked with Intel and Finnish software startup Finwe at the Nokia base station Conscious Factory* in Oulu using a trial 5G radio access network operating in the 28 GHz frequency band.

Nokia deployed the network, leveraging its 5G AirScale and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) platforms. In this scenario, the Nokia AirFrame data center solution, equipped with Intel Xeon Scalable processors, delivered network edge and core cloud flexibilities and capabilities, which provide support for myriad applications in the 5G environment. The trial also utilized the Intel 5G Mobile Trial Platform as the end-user device as well as an integrated video analytics application from Finwe.

The use of Multi-access Edge Computing together with 5G allows data to be processed close to where it's needed, dramatically reducing latency. The Finwe video application was used to monitor and analyze a video feed of a process on one assembly line. The application leveraged machine learning to immediately alert the assembly line operator of any inconsistencies in the process so they could be corrected in real-time, ensuring high-performance, reliability and quality.

In a second trial, Nokia and Telia demonstrated the ability of the technology to enable Telia to offer cloud remote service delivery for business customers. This trial used the Nokia AirFrame data center solution, Nokia's Multi-access Edge Computing platform and Finwe's video analytics application at Telia's centralized data center in Helsinki, approximately 600 km from the Nokia Conscious Factory in Oulu.

Nokia will continue to use its Multi-access Edge Computing platform together with the Finwe video analytics application in the Oulu conscious factory over a 4G LTE network. The ability to upgrade the Nokia AirScale platform to 5G via software provides an evolutionary path for industries to expand automation across their business. The 28 GHz frequency band and Massive MIMO antennas deliver the low latency and bandwidth to enable high performance industrial applications.

Janne Koistinen, director of 5G Program at Telia Finland said: "Under our '5G Finland' initiative we are working with companies such as Nokia to accelerate the fourth industrial revolution in the country. In this trial we could show how we can extend our service offering to new industry customers to enable efficiencies that will advance their production capabilities."

Caroline Chan, vice president and general manager, 5G Infrastructure Division, Network Platforms Group, Intel said: "Utilizing the Intel Xeon Scalable Processor family and the Intel Mobile Trial Platform allows operators around the globe to provide the computing, connectivity, and analytics to launch new 5G services. We continue to work with Nokia to deliver the infrastructure needed to pave the way to broad market adoption of open, software defined networks for 5G."

Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: "Nokia's 5G capabilities allow operators such as Telia to leverage machine learning and automation by opening up network data and intelligence. As we continue to deliver machine learning capabilities in Nokia's ReefShark chipsets and develop advanced algorithms we will further enhance our radio performance, allowing customers to take advantage of new business opportunities in the 5G and IoT world."

*To address Industry 4.0, Nokia has applied a 'Conscious Supply Network' concept at its factories leveraging digitalization, analytics, and robotics across the overall supply chain.

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We create the technology to connect the world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.

We adhere to the highest ethical business standards as we create technology with social purpose, quality and integrity. Nokia is enabling the infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things to transform the human experience. nokia.com

Media Inquiries:

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Phone: +358 10 448 4900

Email: press.services@nokia.comAlmere, The Netherlands

April 13, 2018

ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) today announces the nomination of Mr. Marc de Jong for appointment to its Supervisory Board.

Taking due account of the profile of the Supervisory Board, the Supervisory Board proposes to appoint Mr. Marc de Jong during the Annual General Meeting of May 28, 2018, as a member of the Supervisory Board for a term of four years expiring on the date of the Annual General Meeting of 2022.

Mr. De Jong is currently the CEO of LM Wind Power A/S, which produces and sells worldwide wind turbine blades. In 2015 he joined this company, which was acquired by GE in April 2017 and has been integrated as part of GE's Renewable Energy division. Following the integration Mr. De Jong has decided to leave LM Wind Power as per April 30, 2018. Mr. De Jong had an extensive career with Philips until 2013; he then was a member of the Royal Philips Group Management Committee and the executive responsible for the business group Professional Lighting Solutions of Philips Lighting. Before that he was a member of the executive management team of NXP Semiconductors, responsible for the Automotive and Identification businesses. During his career at Philips he also worked with Philips Electron Optics / FEI Electromicroscope.

In his roles with NXP Semiconductors and Philips Lighting Mr. De Jong has gathered extensive knowledge about and experience with the semiconductor industry. He holds a masters in Physics and Mathematics from the Free University of Amsterdam and an executive MBA from the University of Rotterdam (Erasmus) and Rochester (USA).

Mr. De Jong was in the past a member of several supervisory boards (among which Philips EUV (joint venture between ASML, Fraunhofer and Philips) and the Technical University of Eindhoven) and is currently a supervisory board member of the German based company First Sensor AG, the Danish based company Nissens A/S, and Dutch based Sioux B.V.



About ASM International

ASM International NV, headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands, its subsidiaries and participations design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International, its subsidiaries and participations provide production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as for assembly & packaging and surface mount technology (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's website at www.asm.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: All matters discussed in this press release, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, economic conditions and trends in the semiconductor industry generally and the timing of the industry cycles specifically, currency fluctuations, corporate transactions, financing and liquidity matters, the success of restructurings, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholders or other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to natural disasters, terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability, epidemics and other risks indicated in the Company's reports and financial statements. The Company assumes no obligation nor intends to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future developments or circumstances.

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

CONTACT

Investor contact:

Victor Bareno

T: +31 88 100 8500

E: victor.bareno@asm.com

Media contact:

Ian Bickerton

T: +31 625 018 512Zhenek wrote:

I would presume Ivan90 means that it is very easy to grasp the idea, the only moment which might be looking like a "trap" is the fact that it is not mentioned that people who registered were only from the USA, Europe or Asia. But its easily discovered when you read the second statement.



Basically the way an inexperienced person would approach the question would be like this.

step 1 - ok, #1 works fine, seems sufficient, easy equation: 4x + 3x + 2x = 810, nothing special

step 2 - then you read statement #2 and realise that "oh wait, there was indeed nothing about people only being from USA, Europe and Asia, gotta rethink #1 and realise that there is another variable that makes #1 insufficient (4x + 3x +2x + "others" = 810) and a combination of #1 and #2 (nullifying that variable "others") sufficient.



Thats why this question is rather poor, but I'd say it is somewhat helpful in a way that you notice thise little quirks aka "but nothing was mentioned about other countries"

Even without statement (2) we cannot assume that there are no people from other parts of the world._________________HKD1710 wrote:

The new University of Michigan study recommends that the state adopt several common-sense reforms, most of which have already shown promise in other parts of the country.



(A) that the state adopt several common-sense reforms, most of which have already shown



(B) the state adopting several common-sense reforms, which had mostly already shown



(C) that the state adopts several common-sense reforms, most of which had already been showing



(D) that the state adopts several common-sense reforms, most of which have already shown



(E) that the state adopts several common-sense reforms, which had mostly already shown

OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

The most prominent decision point in this problem is the choice between adopts, adopt and adopting. While this type of verb choice is usually easy to assess, it is more difficult in this example. When certain verbs are used to express demands or suggestions such as insist, require, recommend, suggest, etc. the verb that follows requires a special conjugation in what is called the subjunctive mood (versus the normal indicative mood). Since these verbs are quite common in language, they are tested regularly on the GMAT and you must be on the lookout for this scenario. The rule is quite simple to learn: if you have a subjunctive verb followed by that then leave the verb that follows in the base form (the infinitive form without the to). So in this example you have the subjunctive verb recommend followed by that so the correct form of the verb is the base form adopt NOT the normal adopts that you would use in the indicative mood. As a result, you can eliminate (C), (D), and (E) immediately as adopts is wrong.While there are other structures that can properly follow a subjunctive verb other than that + base form of verb, the structure in (B) is clearly incorrect: you cannot say, the study recommends the state adopting so this too can be eliminated. Only (A) uses the correct recommend that the state adopt and is thus the correct answer._________________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Movie-viewing at St. Helenas Cameo Cinema has never been brighter, thanks to two anonymous donors who donated $228,000 for the purchase of a new Barco 4K Cinema Laser Projector.

The generous patrons, according to the theaters press release, gave the funds to The Friends of the Cameo for the purpose of replacing the Cameos Dolby Digital 3K projector with the projector now considered the pinnacle of cinema projection technology.

According to the announcement, this new laser projector once again catapults the little cinema to the forefront of movie theater technology: only 100 Cineplex (multi-screen) theaters in the world have installed Barcos flagship 4K Cinema Laser Projector.

But even more impressive is that the Cameo Cinema is the only single-screen theater in America to install this sought-after cinema technology.

The Cameo will be celebrating its 105th birthday in May, according to Cathy Buck, Cameo Cinema owner and creative director.

What better birthday present could there be? Buck said.Joanne Marie Kirkpatrick Sales passed on Easter, April 1, 2018 on her favorite holiday. She was born in Sanitarium, California on May 23, 1934, daughter of Clyde Kirkpatrick and Lorraine Elizabeth Ballentine. She attended Saint Helena schools, making lifelong friends, graduating from High School in 1952 and continuing on to San Francisco State College. In 1955 Joanne began working as a secretary for Judge Louis D. Vasconi in his insurance business. September 22, 1957 she married John M. Sales and began a new career. Her daughter Jennifer Anne was born in 1959 and her son James Michael followed in 1962. During the adolescence of her children Joanne worked part time and served as a board member and Treasurer of the St. Helena chapter of the American Red Cross. Joanne enjoyed serving on various election boards continuously until finally retiring in 2014.Beijing, Apr 14 (IBNS): China on Saturday slammed the joint attack conducted by the UK, USA and France on war-town Syria following the alleged chemical attack incident in the nation last week.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the entire move violated the UN Charter.

"As always, we oppose the use of force in international relations and call for respect for other countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity," Hua Chunying said in a statement.

"Any unilateral military action bypassing the Security Council runs contrary to the purpose and principles of the UN Charter and violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and will further complicate the Syrian issue," the statement said.

China urged nations to return to the framework of international law.

"China urges the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation," read the statement.

The US, UK and France have bombed three government sites in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons facilities, they say, reported the BBC.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the incident.

"Russia strongly condemns the attack on Syria where Russian servicemen are helping the legitimate government in the war on terrorism," the Kremlin press office quoted Putin as saying as reported by TASS news agency.

Collaborating with the UK and France, US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that he has approved US military strikes against chemical weapon sites in Syria.

The strikes have been approved by the US in response to alleged chemical attacks in Syrian town of Douma last week.

"I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator of Bashar al-Assad," the US President was quoted as saying by CNN.

"The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economic and diplomatic," he said.

British PM Theresa May has also confirmed her country's involvement in the matter.

In a statement, she said: "This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use."

"We are acting together with our American and French allies," she said.

A least 70 people were killed in alleged chemical strikes in Douma last week.

Images: Donald Trump Facebookpage and Wikimedia Commons4 NA men arrested for disturbing peace

A police team deployed from the Area Police Office, Chandranigahapur arrested four Nepal Army personnel for allegedly disturbing peace under the influence of alcohol on Friday. They have also misbehaved police personnel in the custody.PM outlines plans for prosperous Nepal from Rara

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has called on everyone not to harbour doubts over developing a prosperous Nepal and fulfilling the aspirations of people.Tom was raised by his grandparents on a farm in Roseville, Pennsylvania by his grandparents. He had the privilege of going into the woods to hunt and fish at liberty. He worked in the fields of not only his grandparents farm, but neighboring farms as well. Tom joined the military right out of High School, in time to participate in the Korean War as a Naval Flight Engineer. After discharge from the Military, he went to work for Consolidated Freightways as a truck driver, this is where his Teamster affiliation began. As time progressed he became a Steward for the members of CF and eventually ran for Union office. He served the Teamsters Union for 50 years as Business Representative and a term as Secretary Treasurer. Tom is survived by his wife Linda, daughters Sandy, Cheryl, Lauri Paula, Michelle and Gina. Five great grand children and seven grandchildren. Also by his devoted son in laws, Larry Dezorzi, Joe Shipman, Danny Martin and Ken Black. He is predeceased by his son Bruce.Paula Molina Acostas concerns for her own safety on her college campus first started to grow over a year ago.

Molina Acosta studies at the University of Maryland, or UMD, in College Park, Maryland. In the fall of 2016, students began seeing the words Build the Wall written around the school grounds. This was a term then-presidential candidate Donald Trump used during the 2016 election to discuss security on the United States-Mexico border. Molina Acosta, who was born in Colombia, South America, says for students like her the words feel like a threat.

Then in March 2017, a student reported seeing a noose hanging in the official housing of one of the schools social organizations. Nooses have historically been used as weapons against African Americans, and are still seen as a symbol of racial violence.

Two months later, an African American student visiting from Bowie State University was murdered on the UMD campus. A white UMD student suspected of the attack now faces charges of a hate crime.

In light of these events, Molina Acosta says she wants her school to do more to limit speech and actions she says are hateful. The challenge, she notes, is balancing these limits with the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment, which protects Americans right to speak freely.

We all have a right towrite or say what we want to, as long as it doesnt incite violence, Molina Acosta told VOA. And, of course that right has to be protected. But at the same time, ideologies like that aretied toracismwhich is connected to inciting violence.

Diversity vs. free speech

A new study looks at exactly the issues Molina Acosta is weighing. The study finds that a majority of todays college students in the U.S. value diversity more than protecting free speech.

The study, released in March, is a shared effort from the research company Gallup and the non-profit organization the Knight Foundation. In 2017, the two groups asked over 3,000 college students from across the country about how much they valued diversity and free speech.

One major question was: If you had to choose, which do you think is more important? About 53 percent of surveyed students chose a diverse and inclusive society over protecting free speech rights.

Brandon Busteed is the executive director for education and workforce development at Gallup. He offers a number of reasons why students may value diversity over free speech. For one, the college student population in the U.S. has become increasingly diverse. Busteed points out that the majority of white students chose free speech over diversity.

However, Busteed argues that the preference for diversity over free speech is not the only important point to come from this study. He notes that 56 percent of the surveyed students feel that protecting free speech is important to a democracy. And 52 percent say the same about including and protecting different kinds of people.

So it is not like college students today place little value on free speech, Busteed says. But in some situations, students might feel they have to choose between the two.

If you look at the questions we asked about them independently, they value both of them very highly, he said. Butif you value inclusivity and diversity, and somebody is saying hate speech about, lets say African Americans studentsnow youve got two things you believe in that are inconflict with one another.

Free speech versus political correctness

Still, Nico Perrino finds the results of this study troubling. He is the director of communications for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which fights to protect free speech on college campuses.

Perrino says the movement to defend free speech has long been challenged by another movement: political correctness. The term relates to the belief that words or ideas minority groups might feel are insulting or discriminatory should be avoided. Critics of political correctness say efforts not to offend can be carried too far.

Many American college students identified with the politically correct, or PC, movement back in the 1990s, says Perrino. But he says the rise of groups like Black Lives Matter has brought renewed attention to it. The group campaigns on issues such as police violence against African Americans, as well as equality and understanding of the African American experience.

Perrino argues it is the job of universities to welcome all kinds of ideas, especially ones that some people might find problematic. Otherwise students may not be able to fully examine those ideas and possibly solve the problems surrounding them.

Also, diversity not only means including different races and ethnicities. It means accepting people who think differently from you, he says.

Perrino says he has no problem with debating or peacefully protesting. But he worries that limiting hate speech may become a form of violence itself. What is more, he says, trying to silence speakers who express hateful views may accidentally result in supporting them.

For example, Milo Yiannopoulos is a writer known for supporting ideas that many find offensive. In his speaking and writing, he has attacked Muslims, feminists, people whose appearance he does not like, and many others. In February 2017, he was supposed to hold an event at the University of California, Berkeley, but the event was cancelled following violent protests. In the weeks after, Yiannopouloss book became the top seller on the website Amazon.

Perrino says students must understand that the U.S. Supreme Court has never provided a legal definition of hate speech. Therefore schools cannot limit a persons speech, even if it makes another person feel unsafe. And that is with good reason, he says.

The reasonisthe question Who decides? Perrino said. Who decides what speech is allowed and who decides what speech is not allowed? In the era of Donald Trump, if you asked he and his administration to define what hate speech would be, my suspicion is it would be groups like Black Lives Matter. It would not be, for example, the Milo Yiannopouloses of the world.

Paula Molina Acosta of UMD agrees that open discussion between people who hold opposing beliefs is important, and violence is never the answer. Given the choice, she says protecting free speech is more important than diversity.

But Molina Acosta does wonder if there is middle ground between the two sides of the issue. She admits that students may not be fully right in their aim of banning everything they consider to be hate speech. After all, she is only 19 years old and does not have all the answers, she says. But she also believes the next time someone draws an image related to Nazism, as was the case at UMD last October, university officials should take action.

Im Pete Musto.

And Im Dorothy Gundy.

Pete Musto reported this story for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

We want to hear from you. How do you think colleges and universities should deal with incidents of hate speech? Is there a middle ground on this issue? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

QUIZ

Quiz - US College Students Choose Diversity Over Free Speech Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

campus  n. the area and buildings around a university, college, or school

noose  n. a large loop at the end of a rope that gets smaller when you pull the rope and that is used to hang people or to capture animals

symbol  n. an action, object, or event that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality

challenge  n. a difficult task or problem

diversity  n. the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization

survey(ed)  v. to ask many people a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something

preference  n. a feeling of liking or wanting one person or thing more than another person or thing

feminist(s)  n. people who believe that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities

allow(ed)  v. to permit something

era  n. a period of time that is associated with a particular quality, event, or person

draw(s)  v. to make a picture or image by making lines on a surface especially with a pencil, pen, marker, or chalk, but not usually with paintMedia supporters reacted very strongly last week to an order by Indias Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

The government threatened to suspend the work documents of any reporter accused of spreading, what it called, fake news.

The new rule caused such an outcry against the government that Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew it in less than 24 hours.

Opponents of the order said the government was trying to control the media as the country prepares for general elections in 2019.

The governments effort to stop what it considers fake news brought attention to a growing problem in the worlds largest democracy.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said fake news in different mediums, including newspapers and the internet, made the order necessary. The ministry said it would punish journalists accused of creating fake news by not permitting them to go to government offices or press events.

The Editors Guild of India protested the order. The trade group said it would lead to political pressure on journalists.

Media experts pointed out that the government order did not define what fake news was. It also did not target non-traditional media online that have grown in number.

Experts questioned the governments ability to solve the problem.

Jency Jacob is the managing editor for boomlive.in, a fact-checking website that seeks to disprove fake stories. Jency said political parties often create fake news, not the media. Jency added that the order was an attempt by the government to confuse people about the origins of fake news.

How fake news spreads

Many senior journalists questioned the timing of the effort to stop fake news. There will be important state elections before the general elections in 2019. And some observers say Prime Minister Modis Bharatiya Janata Party has lost some support.

The reversal has started. Somewhat bad press is coming up. This is overreaction to that, said N. Bhaskars Rao, head of the Center of Media Studies in New Delhi.

The BJP has ignored the criticism. The party said the order was removed quickly because Modi wanted to reinforce his belief in press freedom.

Most fake news in India spreads through the social media platform WhatsApp. Its influence has grown as the spread of mobile phones increases internet availability around the country.

A few people have started fact-checking websites to stop the spread of fake news. They say many people, especially in the countryside, do not ask where information comes from on social networks.

They have also found that untrue information includes everything from false weather reports to bad health information.

Fact checkers can't keep up

Pratik Sinha started the website Altnews. He said the number of fake stories with political messages on social media often grows at election time.

He said December elections in Modis home state showed that both the ruling and opposition parties have used fake news as a campaign tool.

The biggest problem, Sinha said, is that fake news has the ability to increase religious tension and cause violence. His website has found fake news from many people who are ideologically active.

Last month, the editor of the website Postcard News was arrested for writing an untrue story about Muslims attacking a Jain monk, a religious worker who had been hurt in an accident. A year ago, untrue stories in a village about child kidnappers led to the death of seven people.

Mainstream media not immune

Jacob of boomlive.in said traditional media also is to blame sometimes because they do not check their facts as they hurry to release a story.

Jacob added that a lot of television stations and newspapers are using fake news and then saying it is not my problem.

However, many people agree that a government order is not the way to solve the problem.

Im Susan Shand.

Anjana Pasricha reported this story for VOA. Susan Shand adapted the report for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

fake  adj. not true or real

journalist  n. the activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio

confuse v. to make someone uncertain or unable to understand something

origins n. where something begins or starts

reversal  n. a change to an opposite state, condition, decision,

platform  n. a type of media

ideological  adj. the set of ideas and beliefs of a group or political partyLife for women in Saudi Arabia is changing quickly. They are now experiencing new freedoms, such as riding a bicycle. The government announced the new policy earlier this month.

These freedoms are important for Saudi women like Amirah al-Turkistani.

In 2015, Amirah finished her studies in the American city of Boston. While living in Boston, she rode a light green bicycle. When she was preparing to return to her home in Jeddah, she decided to take her bicycle with her.

Her friends laughed at the idea.

They told me, What will you do with it in Jeddah, hang it on the wall? she said.

Riding a bicycle in public as a woman was unthinkable at the time. In Saudi Arabia, religious police watch public spaces to enforce conservative dress rules, bans on music and alcohol, prayer-time store closures and the mixing of unrelated men and women.

Now, three years later, Amirah often rides her same green bicycle along Jeddahs seaside paths. Sometimes she rides by herself, other times with her husband and children.

The new policy says that women must still be covered in an abaya when riding a bike. Abayas are loose-fitting, full-length robes. They are required public dress for Saudi women.

But abayas are changing, too. In the past, women could only where traditional black abayas. Now, Amirah chooses from several colors of abayas. She designs them herself.

Jeddah today isnt the same as Jeddah five, six years ago, she said. The scrutiny on clothes (has eased), theres more places to go, working opportunities for women are the same as for men.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has been changing from its more traditional past.

Under a reform program aimed at modernizing the kingdom and reducing its economys dependence on oil, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has eased social restrictions. He has also ended a 40-year ban on movie theaters. And he has reduced the activities of the religious police.

Last year, the government announced it would permit women to drive cars, something Amirah is very ready for.

Its not like I want to drive just because I want to drive, she said. Its a need.

Amirah is a 30 year-old mother of two children. She has a full-time job teaching graphic design at Jeddah International College. She works on other design projects outside of work, as well. And she sells her handmade abayas.

In her free time, she does yoga. She also does strength training at an exercise center.

Amirah is part of a young generation of Saudi women seizing new chances.

Yet she realizes that not all women in this country of 32 million people have the same chances as her. Tribal customs, authoritative male relatives and religious conservatism keep many Saudi women from having the same rights.

She can be (modern) but her family isnt, Amirah says of Saudi women. She can be like this but her husband doesnt allow it. She adds that she believes some people oppose the new reforms.

Theres a change, thats true, but Im talking about something very miniscule, she said. I dont know about other places, other cities. Im just talking about Jeddah.

Im Phil Dierking.

This story was originally reported for Reuters News Agency. Phil Dierking adapted the report for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

What are other freedoms that you think all women should have? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story

authoritative - adj. having or showing impressive knowledge about a subject

graphic - adj. relating to the artistic use of pictures, shapes, and words especially in books and magazines

minuscule - adj. very small

opportunity - n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done

robe - n. a long, loose piece of clothing that is worn on top of other clothes to show that someone has a high rank or an important job

scrutiny - n. the act of carefully examining something especially in a critical way

yoga - n. a system of exercises for mental and physical health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.

Read More 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.31 minutes ago

Shortages, shipping, shutdowns hit Asian factory output

Shortages of power, computer chips and other parts, soaring shipping costs and shutdowns of factories to battle the pandemic are taking a toll on Asian economies. While business sentiment is improving in some parts of Asia as governments begin easing restrictions put in place to curb coronavirus infections, there is mounting evidence that such disruptions are slowing a return to business as usual.

Read ArticleChina Hydroelectric Corporation is a developer, owner and operator of small hydroelectric power projects in China. The projects are located in Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan and Sichuan. As of December 31, 2012, wholly owns 22 operating hydroelectric power projects and have controlling interests in three operating hydroelectric power projects. In March 2012, the Company sold 100% of the Yuanping hydroelectric power project. In April 2013, the Company sold the Yuheng hydroelectric power project, a 30 megawatt (MW) project located in Fujian province. In July 2014, the Company announced that it has completed the merger with CPT Wyndham Sub Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPT Wyndham Holdings Ltd.

Read Morethyssenkrupp AG operates in the areas of automotive technology, industrial components, plant technology, marine systems, steel, and materials services in Germany, the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Automotive Technology segment develops and manufactures components and systems and automated production systems for the automotive industry. Its Industrial Components segment manufactures and sells forged components and system solutions for the resource, construction, and mobility sectors; and slewing rings, antifriction bearings, and seamless rolled rings for the wind energy and construction machinery sectors. The company's Plant Technology segment builds plants for the chemical, cement, and mining industries. Its Marine Systems segment provides systems in the submarine and surface ship building, as well as in the field of maritime electronics and security technology. The company's Materials Services segment distributes materials and offers technical services for the production and manufacturing sectors. Its Steel Europe segment provides flat carbon steel products, intelligent material solutions, and finished parts. thyssenkrupp AG was founded in 1811 and is headquartered in Essen, Germany.

Read MoreSACRAMENTO  Three wineries and one farming company that went green in recent years went last week to the state Capitol, where lawmakers praised their examples of sustainability for the California wine industry.

In a joint hearing Wednesday of the state Senate and Assembly Select Committees on Wine, the four companies, including two from Napa, were lauded with this years Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership Awards for their work.

Doling out the awards before the committees, Allison Jordan, executive director of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, praised the companies and the states wine industry in general. The dedication of our industry is truly remarkable, Jordan said, especially when you consider were the fourth-largest wine growing region in the world (in production).

Accepting the Leader Award for Bogle Vineyards, winery vice president Ryan Bogle offered, We always believed we were a green company. But spurred by market data and suggestions from others in the industry, his familys company decided a decade ago to dig in and actually look at our sustainability efforts, he said.The following companies are subsidiares of Crown: Adularia Inversiones 2010 S.L., Angleboard Sweden AB, Bates Cargo-Pak ApS, Butimove, CMB Machinery and Technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CROWN AP (Thailand) Company Limited, CROWN Aerosols & Promotional Nederland, CROWN Aerosols Italia Srl, CROWN Aerosols Nederland BV, CROWN Aerosols UK Limited, CROWN Americas LLC, CROWN Arabia Can Company Ltd, CROWN Asia Pacific Holdings Pte. Ltd., CROWN Asia Pacific Investments (T) Limited, CROWN Bevcan Espana S.L., CROWN Bevcan France SAS, CROWN Bevcan Slovakia s.r.o., CROWN Bevcan Turkiye Ambalaj Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, CROWN Bevcan and Closures (Thailand) Company Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans (Cambodia) Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans (Dong Nai) Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Beijing Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Changchun Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Danang Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Hangzhou Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Hanoi Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Heshan Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Hong Kong Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Huizhou Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Malaysia Sdn Bhd, CROWN Beverage Cans Nanning Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Putian Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Saigon Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Shanghai Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Sihanoukville Limited, CROWN Beverage Cans Singapore Pte. Ltd., CROWN Beverage Cans Ziyang Limited, CROWN Beverage Packaging LLC, CROWN Beverage Packaging Puerto Rico Inc., CROWN Cans Ghana Limited, CROWN China Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited, CROWN Commercial Belgium BVBA, CROWN Commercial France SAS, CROWN Commercial Germany GmbH & Co. KG, CROWN Commercial Hungary Kft, CROWN Commercial Netherlands B.V., CROWN Commercial Vermogensverwaltung GmbH, CROWN Cork & Seal USA Inc., CROWN Embalagens Metalicas da Amazonia S.A., CROWN Emballage France SAS, CROWN Emirates Company Limited, CROWN Envases Mexico S.A. de C.V., CROWN Famosa S.A. de C.V., CROWN Food Packaging (Thailand) Public Company Limited, CROWN Foodcan (Hat Yai) Company Limited, CROWN Foodcan (Nakhon Pathom) Company Limited, CROWN Foodcan Germany GmbH, CROWN Foodcan GmbH, CROWN Imballaggi Italia Srl, CROWN Imgallaggi Italia Srl, CROWN Italy Finance srl, CROWN Khmer Beverage Cans Limited, CROWN Maghreb Can, CROWN Magyarorszag Csomagoloipari KFT, CROWN Metal Packaging Canada Inc., CROWN Metal Packaging Canada LP, CROWN Middle East Can Co. Ltd., CROWN Packaging (Barbados) Limited, CROWN Packaging Holdings LLC, CROWN Packaging Investment (H.K.) Limited, CROWN Packaging Ireland Ltd, CROWN Packaging Jamaica Limited, CROWN Packaging Polska Sp.z.o.o., CROWN Packaging Technology Inc., CROWN Packaging Trinidad Limited, CROWN Packaging UK Limited, CROWN Promotional Packaging UK Ltd, CROWN SIEM, CROWN Senegal, CROWN Societe Malgache d'Emballages Metalliques, CROWN Speciality Packaging BV, CROWN Speciality Packaging Investment Pte. Ltd., CROWN Specialty Packaging UK Ltd, CROWN TCP Beverage Cans Company Limited, CROWN Verpakking Belgie NV, CROWN Verpakking Nederland B.V., Caretex Asia Ltd., CarnaudMetalbox Engineering Ltd, CarnaudMetalbox Food South Africa (Pty) Limited, CarnaudMetalbox Group UK Limited, CarnaudMetalbox Overeseas Limited, CarnaudMetalbox Overseas Limited, Cierres Hermeticos S.A. DE C.V., Constar International, Crown Americas Capital Corp., Crown Americas Capital Corp. II, Crown Americas Capital Corp. III, Crown Americas Capital Corp. IV, Crown Americas Capital Corp. V, Crown Americas Capital Corp. VI, Crown Brasil Holdings Ltda., Crown Canadian Holdings ULC, Crown Closures Spain S.L., Crown Colombiana S.A., Crown Comercial de Envases S.L., Crown Commercial Italy Srl, Crown Commercial Polska Sp. z.o.o., Crown Consultants Inc., Crown Cork & Seal Company (DE) LLC, Crown Cork & Seal Company Inc., Crown Cork & Seal Deutschland Holdings GmbH, Crown Cork & Seal Receivables (DE) Corporation, Crown Cork & Seal de Portugal Embalagens S.A., Crown Cork Kuban, Crown Cork and Seal Receivables II LLC, Crown Developpement SAS, Crown European Holdings, Crown Food Espana S.A.U., Crown Foodcan Turkey Ambalaj Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Crown Hellas Can Packaging SA, Crown Heshan Trading Company Limited, Crown Holdings Italia Srl, Crown Holdings Spain S.L., Crown International Holdings B.V., Crown International Holdings Inc., Crown Luxembourg Holdings, Crown Mexican Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., Crown Overseas Investments B.V., Crown Packaging Commercial UK Limited, Crown Packaging Distribution UK Limited, Crown Packaging European Division GmbH, Crown Packaging European Division Services SAS, Crown Packaging European Holdings GmbH, Crown Packaging Lux I S.a.r.l., Crown Packaging Lux II S.a.r.l., Crown Packaging Lux III S.a.r.l., Crown Packaging Manufacturing UK Limited, Crown Packaging Maroc, Crown Receivables III, Crown Services Iberia, Crown UK Holdings Limited, Crownway Insurance Company, Dacro B.V., EMPAQUE, Fabricas Monterrey S.A. de C.V., Form Koruyucu Ambalaj Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Foshan Continental Can Co. Limited, Foshan Crown Easy-Opening End Co. Limited, Glass & Silice S.A. DE C.V., Globoplastt s.r.o., Gunther S.A.S., Haloila Bulgaria EOOD, Interstrap B.V., Josef Kihlberg AB, Kiwiplan GmbH, Kiwiplan Inc, Lachenmeier ApS, Liljendals Bruk AB, Litec France S.A.S., Mezger Heftsysteme GmbH, Mima Films S.a.r.l., Mima Films Sprl, Mima Packaging Systems S.A.S., Mivisa, Nordic S.A.S., Norsk Signode AS, Oy M. Haloila AB, PT CROWN Beverage Cans Indonesia, Package Design and Manufacturing, Prolatamex S.A. DE C.V., Quandel Verpackungs- und Foerdertechnik GmbH, SMB Schwede Maschinenbau GmbH, SMP Schwede Maschinenbau Weischlitz GmbH, SPG Denmark, SPG France Holdings SAS, SPG Germany Service Management GmbH, SPG Industrial Packaging S.a.r.l, SPG Netherlands B.V., SPG Packaging Ireland Limited, SPG Packaging Systems GmbH, SPG Packaging UK Ltd, Scybele S.A.S., Shippers Europe S.p.r.l., Signode BVBA, Signode Brasileira Ltda, Signode Hong Kong Limited, Signode Industrial Group, Signode Industrial Group AB, Signode Industrial Group Colombia S.A.S., Signode Industrial Group GmbH, Signode Industrial Group Holdings Lux S.a.r.l., Signode Industrial Group Holdings US Inc, Signode Industrial Group Lux S.A., Signode Industrial Group Mexico, Signode Industrial Group Sweden AB, Signode International Holdings LLC, Signode International IP Holdings LLC, Signode International Investment LLC, Signode Kabushiki Kaisha, Signode Korea Inc, Signode NZ Limited, Signode Netherlands B.V., Signode Packaging (Qingdao) Co., Signode Packaging (Shanghai) Co., Signode Packaging Espana S.L., Signode Packaging Group (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Signode Packaging Group Australia Pty Ltd, Signode Packaging Group Canada ULC, Signode Packaging Group NZ, Signode Packaging Systems Limited, Signode Pickling Holding LLC, Signode Polska sp. Z.o.o., Signode Singapore Pte. Ltd., Signode Sweden Holdings AB, Signode System GmbH, Signode System Packaging GmbH & Co. KG, Signode Systems (Thailand) Ltd., Signode US IP Holdings LLC, Silice De Veracruz S.A. DE C. V., Silice Del Istmo S.A. DE C.V., Silices De Veracruz, Societe Civile Immobiliere Rousseau-Ivry, Societe Civile Immobiliere des Baquets, Societe de Participations CarnaudMetalbox, Stopak India Pvt. Ltd, Strapex Austria GmbH, Strapex Embalagem L.d.a., Strapex Holdings Limited, Strapex S.A.S., Strapex Srl, Superior Investments Holdings Pte. Ltd., Superior Multi-Packaging Limited, TopFrame LLC, V.A.C. B.V., Vichisa S.A. de C.V., and Warehouse Automation Iberia S.L..Gildan Activewear Inc. manufactures and sells various apparel products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It provides various activewear products, including T-shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, and sport shirts under the Gildan, Gildan Performance, Gildan Hammer, Comfort Colors, American Apparel, Anvil by Gildan, Alstyle, Prim + Preux, and GoldToe brands. The company also offers hosiery products comprising athletic; dress; and casual, liner, therapeutic, and workwear socks, as well as sheer panty hoses, tights, and leggings under the brands of Gildan, Under Armour, GoldToe, PowerSox, GT a GoldToe Brand, Silver Toe, Signature Gold by Goldtoe, Peds, MediPeds, Kushyfoot, Therapy Plus, All Pro, Secret, Silks, Secret Silky, and American Apparel. In addition, it provides men's and boys' underwear products, and ladies panties under the Gildan and Gildan Platinum brand names; and ladies' shapewear, intimates, and accessories under the Secret and Secret Silky brands. The company sells its products to wholesale distributors, screen printers, or embellishers, as well as to retailers and consumer brand companies. The company was formerly known as Textiles Gildan Inc. and changed its name to Gildan Activewear Inc. in March 1995. Gildan Activewear Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Read MoreTeresa Windish is living life just like the kangaroo logo plastered to the side of her RV: bounding from one place to another with a smile on her face, unsure of where shell end up.

Inside her RV, Windish has all the things any other 54-year-old woman might. Inspirational quotes, family photos, teacups hanging on hooks above her small sink.

The Register has been following Windishs story since last fall when she was first threatened with eviction from the $200 a month room she was renting in American Canyon. In December, after months worrying she would be left on the streets, Windish was gifted an RV. The next problem was that she didnt have anywhere to park it.

Shes been living in that RV for a few months now, driving it from parking lot to parking lot while she tries to find either a permanent place to park it or a permanent apartment to move into. She eats off fast food dollar menus and charges her phone in outlets inside the restaurants. She knows exactly where to go: Taco Bell, Carls Jr., Starbucks.

Shes adjusted to this nomadic life. She makes do, but things still catch her off guard, like when a man approached her Easter Sunday, making nasty remarks and banging on her door.

Its scary, Windish said. I never thought anybody would bother me like that, especially in broad daylight.

Windish locked the door and yelled out the window Get out of here! Then she went out and bought some pepper spray, just in case.

Theres times I lay and cry, but that doesnt do any good, Windish said. Instead, she tries to maintain a positive attitude.

It looked dark before I got this RV, she said. It always looks dark before it gets better, so Im just gonna keep going and keep praying. Itll get better. It has to.

Were lucky that we got this RV for her, Yvonne Baginski, founder of Share the Care, said. It was a total chance thing.

Share the Care works to help older adults like Windish with whatever they need including help grocery shopping, cleaning and, in some cases, finding housing. But Baginski says that RVs arent the answer because there isnt any place to put them.

For a few weeks, Windish was given permission by The Gasser Foundation to park at their property on Valle Verde Drive while it awaits redevelopment, but that agreement ended when neighbors started to complain. Another woman in an RV was also parked at the property.

Windish says that it could be worse  at least she has a roof over her head. Other people dont even have that.

She appreciates all the help shes gotten so far, especially from organizations like Share the Care and Aegis. But theres not much more those agencies can do to help her.

I cant expect them to keep on, keep on, keep on, I know that. Theyve done a lot, Windish said recently.

I dont know what were going to do about Teresa, Baginski admitted Friday.

Windish hopes that things will change when she turns 55 on May 16. Then shell be eligible to apply for senior housing at places like Rohlffs Manor.

Rohlffs Manor has a waiting list, which Windish cant get on until shes qualified. After that, it could take six months to a year to get into a unit.

Shes open to other options, though, including finding a plot of land to rent or even finding an apartment outside of Napa. Windish has been working on finding someplace to go, but keeps hitting dead ends. For instance, she drove all the way to Vacaville in her RV after someone offered her a parking space for $350 a month. When she arrived, though, she found out that it was actually $350 a week  far more than what she can afford with her fixed income of $945 a month.

After parking and reparking a few times at store parking lots in Vacaville, Windish had to come back to Napa  she needed to go to appointments and, she says, this is where her life is.

Windishs 1990 Fleetwood Bounder RV was parked at Walmart in Napa on Thursday along with another RV and about a dozen cars she suspects other people are living in.

Were not bothering anybody, she said. There are plenty of other parking spots on the other side of the lot for employees and customers. We go and we come back in a different spot. Its all we can do.

There are a lot of reasons Windish wants to get a permanent place. She has health problems, including sleep apnea. She is supposed to be using a BiPAP machine at night, but isnt hooked up to electricity. Shes also concerned about her pets.

Its getting warmed and I dont want to leave the animals in the RV  so I have to bring them with me.

When its warm inside the RV, Windish puts her small dogs in a stroller and takes them out with her. She refuses to leave them home.

I cant have em in there, she said. If her situation doesnt change as the weather does, Windish will have to find new homes for her animals.

All I need is a place to plug in my extension cord, to plug in my phone  thats all I want, Windish said. She doesnt cook often and she has an In-Shape membership, so she can take showers there. I dont even use hardly any water, she said. Im not asking to do it for nothing.

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.Oasis Petroleum Inc., an independent exploration and production company, focuses on the acquisition and development of onshore unconventional oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It operates through Exploration and Production(E&P), and Midstream segments. The E&P segment engages in the acquisition and development of oil and gas properties. The Midstream segment offers midstream services, such as natural gas gathering, compression, processing and, gas lift supply; crude oil gathering, terminaling, and transportation; produced and flowback water gathering, and disposal; and water distribution. As of December 31, 2020, the company had 401,766 net leasehold acres in the Williston Basin; and 24,396 net leasehold acres in the Permian Basin, as well as approximately 152.2 million barrels of oil equivalent of estimated net proved reserves. The company sells its crude oil and natural gas to refiners, marketers, and other purchasers that have access to pipeline and rail facilities. Oasis Petroleum Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreSignals at the three intersections were still running independent of each other. The city wanted a coordinated signal timing plan that Caltrans implemented in February.

Travel time went down, Moore said. Delays went down, how much unnecessary time youre sitting there. And average speeds went up. Instead of an average speed of less than 20 mph, our average speed went up above 30 mph.

Now comes the Caltrans project that will repave Highway 29 from near Sierra Avenue in Napa to south of St. Helena. As an initial step, drainage and curb repairs are underway at intersections. The work is damaging traffic sensors and playing havoc with travel times at the gauntlet.

Its going to get worse before it gets better, Moore said. Its going to get as worse as it was last summer, probably for several weeks.

In exchange, motorists will end up with a smoother, 15-mile stretch of Highway 29. Caltrans is to do the repaving work through May.

Resident Philip Pyrce travels the gauntlet and said he didnt notice a big improvement in the traffic signal congestion in recent months. That may be in part to the recent Caltrans work on the drainage and curbs, he said.LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE engages in the manufacture of luxury goods. It operates through the following business segments: Wines & Spirits, Fashion & Leather Goods, Perfumes & Cosmetics, Watches & Jewelry, Selective Retailing, and Other Activities & Eliminations. The Wines & Spirits segment produces and sells high quality champagne wines and sparkling wines. It also distributes vodka and white liquor. The Fashion & Leather Goods segment engages in the manufacture of luggage items, bags, accessories, shoes and clothes. The Perfumes & Cosmetics segment engages in the production and distribution of make-up, perfume and skin care products. The Watches & Jewelry segment manufactures luxury watches and accessories form men and women. It specializes in the field of chronographs and ultimate precision. The Selective Retailing segment is organized to promote an environment that is appropriate to the image and status of the luxury brands. It engages in the sale of luxury products to international travelers and on board cruise ships. This segment also manages beauty stores that combine direct access and customer assistance to customers. The Other Activities & Eliminations segment i

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given Greencore Group a "Buy" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Greencore Group wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Bounty Hunter won't be moving to a planned building at First and Main Street that's gone unconstructed for four years. But the new building proposal is still moving forward, with an unnamed restaurant and a social club, according to developers.That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column, here is one excerpt:

Some historical events are relatively easy to model with game theory: the Cuban Missile crisis, many of the Cold War proxy wars, the crisis over North Korean nuclear weapons. In those conflicts, the number of relevant parties is small and each typically has some degree of internal cohesion.

To find a situation comparable to the Middle East today, with so many involved countries, and so many interrelationships between internal and external political issues, one has to go back to the First World War, not an entirely comforting thought.

The situation right before that war had many distinct yet related moving parts, including the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the imperialist scramble for colonies, the prior Balkan Wars, a rising Germany seeking parity or superiority with Great Britain, an unstable alliance system, an unworkable Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the complex internal politics of Russia, which eventually led to the Bolshevik Revolution.

What do we learn from the history of that time? Well, even if the chance of war was high by early 1914, it was far from obvious that the Central Powers attack on France, Belgium and Russia would be set off by a political assassination in the Balkans.

Nonetheless, in sufficiently complex situations, chain reactions can cause small events to cascade into big changes. In World War I, one goal behind the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was to break off parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a new Yugoslavia. The empire responded by making some demands on Serbia, which were not heeded, a declaration of war followed, and the alliance system activated broader conflicts across Europe.

If you dont quite follow how a single assassination, which was not even seen as so important the day it occurred, triggered the death of so many millions, and the destruction of so much of Europe, that is exactly the point. When there is no clear way for observers to model the situation, a single bad event can take on a very large significance and for reasons that are not entirely explicable.My fellow Americans. A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both. Tonight I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. One year ago Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20% of the Syrian Air Force Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this time in the town of Domo near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime. The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead following the horrors of World War I a century ago civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering. But because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation. The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime to Iran and to Russia. I ask what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children. The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states brutal tyrants and murderous dictators. In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syrias chemical weapons. Assads recent attack and todays response are the direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully some day will get along with Russia. And maybe even Iran. But maybe not. I will say this. The United States has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world in Syria. The United States with. But a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS is doing what is necessary to protect the American people over the last year, nearly 100% of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated. The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti ISIS effort increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates Qatar Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS. America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria. Under no circumstances as other nations step up their contributions. We look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home and great warriors. They are looking around our very troubled world. Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil or act. Everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or a treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. Its a troubled place. We will try to make it better. But it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people. In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of World War I more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly Specter return. So today the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America Marshal their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. Tonight I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions. We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace. And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America. Thank you. And good night. Thank you.YEREVAN.  A group of students have assembled outside Yerevan State University on Friday and started a boycott of their classes.

One of these students told Armenian News-NEWS.am that they have joined the My Step initiative, and they aim to inform other fellow students that a protest rally against the likelihood of now former President Serzh Sargsyan becoming the next Prime Minister of Armenia will take place Friday at Liberty Square, in downtown Yerevan.

These students were calling on all other students to join them.

They added that they will be going and meeting opposition Civil Contract Party chairman, MP Nikol Pashinyan, and his supporters, who are arriving in Yerevan along the lines of the My Step walking campaign.

On March 31, Pashinyan-led Civil Contract Party kicked off the aforesaid walking campaignwhose objective is to prevent the third term in office by Sargsyanthrough numerous towns of Armenia, and which will conclude on Friday at Liberty Square, with round-the-clock rallies.

Also, they had announced that they plan to block the National Assembly building as well as the houses of MPs on April 17, so as not to enable them to take part in the next PMs election at parliament on that day.The reasons for the change are unclear, since there seemingly hadnt been any needle-moving events in the two months since the previous PPIC poll, other than a state Democratic Party convention dominated by pro-Newsom and anti-Villaraigosa liberal activists.

Villarigosa, who has positioned himself a few clicks to the right of Newsom and is anathema to unions, took the poll findings stoically.

This is a top-two election and we have to get in the runoff, he told a meeting with CALmatters journalists on the day the poll was released. Ive got some work to do and Ill keep on working.

While facing a token Republican, presumably Cox, would make Newsom an overwhelming favorite to win it all in November, a duel with Villaraigosa would have different chemistry and a much less certain outcome.

It would be a regional conflict between two former big city mayors with not only ideological differences but ethnic overtones. PPICs polling shows strong support for Villaraigosa among Latinos, for instance, while whites favor Newsom.

The third major Democrat in the race, John Chiang, is Asian, and his support, if he fails to make the cut on June 5, would be up for grabs.As concerns past incidents of genocide, Israel also did not take active steps, despite its historical and moral obligation as the state of the Jewish people, who experienced the most terrible of horrors of the modern era, journalist Mazal Mualem noted.

"In actuality, diplomatic considerations and political interests prevent intervention in real time in cases of crimes against humanity. They are also in play in connection to a genocide that took place about a hundred years ago. Israel, for fear of harming relations with Turkey, avoids recognizing the Armenian genocide, which took place during World War I (1915-18). That mass killing along with the Herero and Nama genocide in South West Africa are considered the first of their kind in the twentieth century. Regarding the more well-known Armenian genocide, no one disputes its horrors and scope. According to estimates, between a million and a million and a half Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman regime," the author of the article noted.

Israels refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide is not a source of national or Jewish pride. In 2015, the centennial of the Armenian genocide was commemorated, and debate once again arose in Israel over the question of recognition. In an essay in Haaretz, former Minister Yossi Sarid related how as prime ministers both Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak avoided recognizing the Armenian Holocaust. Sarid, who tried to change this official position, quoted Peres as saying to him, We should leave the Armenian genocide to the historians. Even with Israeli-Turkish relations having deteriorated under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Israel has not strayed from this policy, Al Monitor reported.

In 2015, Knesset Chair Yuli Edelstein surprised everyone when he declared at a Knesset session marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide that the time had come for the State of Israel to recognize the episode. Edelstein said of the mass killing, This is one of the most despicable and most dramatic incidents that happened in the beginning of the last century. He also noted, It is no secret that the State of Israel has until now taken an ambivalent stand on the Armenian genocide. A thicket of constraints, diplomatic and other, created a state of affairs in which the Israeli position was too hesitant, too restrained, and as a result, it appears to have diminished the importance of this powerful event.

Despite these words, Israel has not changed its outlook. A year later, the Knesset Education Committee renewed debate on the issue and recognized the genocide, but the action has no official, diplomatic weight.U.S., UK and France targeted Syria with 30 missiles, and one third of them were shot down, an official from the Syrian government said.

The missiles hit a research center participating in the production of chemical weapons in Damascus and a storage facility of chemical weapons in Homs.

The U.S., UK and France forces started strikes at 9 p.m. Washington time.

The attack did not affect the government buildings in the Syrian capital. The damage has not been assessed yet. New strikes are not expected in the near future Defence Secretary James Mattis said, adding that this was a one-time shot.A total of 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles were launched at targets in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement following the airstrikes.

Two US warships carried out the attack from the Red Sea, as well as tactical aviation over the Mediterranean Sea and B-1B bombers from al-Tanf area, Sputnik reported quoting the Defense Ministry.

According to the ministry, Syrias air defense forces managed to shoot down significant part of the missiles.

Russia's air defenses haven't been used to repell the missile strike on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, the military said.US, British and French aggression on Syria is a flagrant violation of the international law and the principals of UN charter, Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

An official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said Saturday that Syria condemns with the strongest terms the tripartite US, British and French aggression on Syria as being a flagrant violation of the international law and the principals of UN charter.

The source added that the tripartite aggression showed again the recklessness of the hostile countries with the international legitimacy, SANA agency reported.

The statement also says that the timing of the aggression, which coincides with the arrival of a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), is aimed at impeding the work of the mission, anticipating its results and to put pressure on it I n an attempt to uncover their lies and fabrications.NATO Secretary General supported the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France against the Syrian regimes chemical weapons facilities and capabilities.

This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons, he said in a statement.

NATO has consistently condemned Syria's continued use of chemical weapons as a clear breach of international norms and agreements. The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, and those responsible must be held accountable.

NATO considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security, and believes that it is essential to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention. This calls for a collective and effective response by the international community, the statement reads.

Earlier, the US Department of Defense announced missile attacks on three targets in Damascus and Homs related to the production and storage of chemical weapons. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that more than 100 missiles were fired.

The mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has to begin its work in the city of Douma.The joint military operation of France with the allies from U.S. and UK is legitimate, limited and proportionate, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters Saturday.

The foreign minister said the chemical escalation in Syria is not acceptable because its violating the rules of war and of humanity, AP reported.

Jean-Yves Le Drian said official Damascus crossed the red line. He said very soon France will launch new political initiatives.

In turn, French Defense Minister Florance Parly said Paris is not going to be involved in a confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation. The coalition targeted a scientific research center on production of chemical warfare technology and two other facilities.

The Russians were warned beforehand, she added.

Trump announces start of Syria airstrikes

US, UK and France fire 30 missiles

NATO chief supports Syria operation

Syria: Tripartite attack is flagrant violation of international lawAnkara welcomed the Syria operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime.

The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannizing its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The conscience of the international community carries no doubt to that effect, Turkeys Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Turkey believes that it is of critical importance that such crimes do not go unpunished and that accountability is ensured in order to prevent the recurrence of similar crimes.

In light of this experience, it is essential for the international community, in particular the members of the UN Security Council, to agree upon joint steps to ensure that the use of chemical weapons does not go unpunished.

Earlier, the US Department of Defense announced missile attacks on three targets in Damascus and Homs related to the production and storage of chemical weapons. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that more than 100 missiles were fired.

The mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has to begin its work in the city of Douma on Saturday.

Trump announces start of Syria airstrikes

US, UK and France fire 30 missiles

NATO chief supports Syria operation

Syria: Tripartite attack is flagrant violation of international lawIran's Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the overnight attack by the US and the allies on some Syrian targets, IRNA reported.

The attack is the blatant violation of international laws, as well as ignoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, said Bahram Qasemi, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry.

Iran is against any use of chemical weapons, based on its law, and religious and ethical codes, but at the same time it condemns using pretexts for invading any independent country, he said.

No doubt the US and its allies that are engaged a military intervention in Syria without any substantiated document and before any final report of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and have supposed themselves as the world police and judge, are responsible for regional and international repercussions of the adventure, and should be held accountable,' Qasemi said.

He said that the attack is a reaction to the defeat of the terrorists in Aleppo and Ghouta.

This will reveal once more the US double standards and its biased policies towards the world, he said, adding that such behaviour will certainly weaken the bases of peace and security in the world and will bolster the extremism besides intensifying the instability and unrest in the region.UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres canceled is trip to Saudi Arabia in connection with the situation in Syria.

In a statement following the attack, UN chief said has has been following closely the reports of air strikes in Syria conducted by the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

Theres an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nations and with international law in general, he said.

I call on the members of the Security Council to unite and exercise that responsibility. I urge all Member States to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.

Earlier, the US Department of Defense said the missile attacks targeted three facilities in Damascus and Homs which are related to the production and storage of chemical weapons. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that more than 100 missiles were fired.YEREVAN.  The opposition plans a powerful motor rally to Tsakhkadzor where the ruling party plans to hold the meeting of its Council, leader of Civil Contract Party NikolPashinyan said at France Square.

The Civil Contract and their supporters have been marching throughout Armenia starting from March 31. On Friday they finished their action by a rally at Liberty Square. Later in the evening, Nikol Pashinyan announced the decision to spend night at France Square as a protest against ruling partys decision to nominate Serzh Sargsyan for the post of a Prime Minister.

We are starting a march in the direction of Tsakhkadzor at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. A demonstration will be held ahead of a mortar rally, he said.

The protesters shut down France Square, one of the busiest intersections in downtown Yerevan. They put up tents and brought food and electric kettles.Its not surprising that at a time when its hard to trust Facebook, the president and Congress that truths we once found self-evident have given way to disbelief.

Many Americans have discarded once taken-for-granted beliefs in democracy, science, God, hard work, reputable information, patriotism, marriage and good manners. Some of these currents cross class, age and party lines, although they are especially common among younger Americans, the less educated and those on the political extremes.

Lets be clear: This is not disagreement (youre wrong); it is disbelief (its not true). Todays Age of Disbelief is not unique to the United States, but it is particularly troubling in a nation long characterized by its Lockean optimism, belief in reason and faith in institutions.

What are the contours and dimensions of this disbelief? Who are the disbelievers and where did their disbelief come from? What does it mean for American society and politics? And what can be done about it?Russian president Vladimir Putin condemned the airstirkes in Syria where Russian military help the legitimate government in its fight against terrorism.

Putin warned that the current escalation of the Syrian crisis has a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations.

By using force, Washington is only prompting a new wave of asylum-seekers from Syria and the whole region, Putin said.

He added that the airstrikes were carried out without the sanctions by the UN Security Council in violation of the UN Charter, norms and principles of the international law. He called these actions an act of aggression against a sovereign state which is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism.

Russia is calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions of the US and its allies, the statement concluded.

Trump announces start of Syria airstrikes

US, UK and France fire 30 missiles

NATO chief supports Syria operation

Syria: Tripartite attack is flagrant violation of international law

France says Syria operation is legitimate

Iran strongly condemns Syria airstrikes

Russia says 100 missiles were launched at Syria targetsInternational Court of Justice to hold public hearings over Armenia v. Azerbaijan lawsuit on October 14-15

Israel opens embassy in Bahrain

US couple die from COVID-19 in same hospital one minute apart

GRECO releases interim report on Armenia, says situation incompatible with judicial independence

Russian analyst predicts granting of special status to Karabakh and "eternal" presence of Russian peacekeepers

Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Ground Force commander warns Azerbaijan

Armenia ex-defense minister Davit Tonoyan arrested

South Korean authorities prepare for regular contacts with Pyongyang

More than half of Britons are disappointed with Brexit

Erdogan on purchase of S-400s and Turkey's relations with the US: It was worth it

Russia MFA: Moscow hopes OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' visit helps organize Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders' meeting

Erdogan: "Zangezur corridor will open opportunities for the region"

Serbia, Kosovo agree to reduce tension on border

Digest: Armenian ex-defense minister charged, Putin and Erdogan discuss Karabakh conflict

Armenia FM and Iran Ambassador discuss situation on Goris-Kapan motorway

Newly appointed Ambassador of France presents credentials to Armenia President

Russian MFA: Moscow continues to work on the release of Armenian POWs

Russia MFA: Moscow has submitted proposals to Yerevan, Baku on border delimitation talks

Armenia justice minister meets with head of CoE Office in Yerevan, presents ministry's reforms agenda

Armenia President, parliament speaker discuss collaboration between both institutions

Bloomberg: Europe asks Russia for additional coal supplies

Armenia justice minister has new deputy

Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan tests positive for COVID-19

Armenia Special Investigation Service deputy head sacked

Armenia education, science, culture and sport minister meets with UNESCO Director-General

Alizadeh: Route to Armenia for Iran trucks not changed

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Karabakh emergency service: Remains of another fallen soldier found

Lukashenko: Belarus is open to proposals for further development of strong relations with Armenia in all areas

PACE adopts resolution on Afghanistan

Armenia Parliament Speaker, Peru Ambassador discuss their countries' participation in Ancient Civilizations Forum

Putin and Erdogan planning meeting before end of this year

Did Serzh Sargsyan and Sergey Kopirkin meet?

Czech FM to arrive in Armenia on working visit

Armenia Deputy PM Suren Papikyan: Government to grant nearly AMD 1,000,000,000 to Syunik Province

Armenia ex-Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan visits Syunik Province

Peru new ambassador presents letter of credence to Armenia President

Putin, Erdogan discuss current situation in Karabakh

Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker, Russia Ambassador touch upon peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict

Lithuania to donate to Armenia 50,000 doses of Spikevax vaccine manufactured by Moderna

US Ambassador to Armenia visits 2 renovated local fire stations (PHOTOS)

Azerbaijan PM invites Georgia to using Zangezur corridor

Iran ground forces to hold military exercises on Azerbaijan border

7 people, 3 of them minors, taken to Yerevan hospitals

Armenia government approves draft state budget for 2022

Armenia government provides another funding to Artsakh

Azerbaijan, Belarus discuss collaboration between their missile, artillery troops

What Armenia National Security Service looked for in home of ex-defense ministers elderly mother?

Armenia PM: Our goals in 2022 budget are ambitious, realistic

Hayko's compositions are played at Yerevan subway stations (VIDEO)

1,022 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Protest being staged outside Armenia government building

Senator Menendez to US Ambassador to Turkey nominee: In past you voted against resolutions recognizing Armenian Genocide

What are Armenia former defense minister, arms supplier charged with?

World oil prices falling

Hraparak.am: Armenia former minister of defense released on signature bond

Newspaper: Opposition Armenia Faction in parliament plans to go to Constitutional Court to challenge bonuses legality

Newspaper: Armenia PM Pashinyan had promised now-detained ex-defense minister new position

Amazon introduces home robot of its own production

French authorities close 650 Islamist propaganda centers since 2017

The Vatican to require all employees to provide proof of coronavirus vaccination

Hraparak.am: Motions filed with court to arrest Armenia ex-defense minister and weapons supplier

Slovenia terminates vaccination with Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after death of 20-year-old girl

30 prisoners killed in Ecuadorian prison

Armenia court to examine appeal against decision on arrest of ex-Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan

Armenia minister, Kazakhstan Ambassador consider prospects for cooperation in space technology

Karabakh representative: Armenia citizens who hosted families from Artsakh received financial assistance

Date of Requiem Service for Armenian singer, Honored Artist of Armenia Hayko announced

EU calls on Kosovo and Serbia to resolve their disputes through dialogue

Working consultation over to-be-established patrol service in Armenia's Gyumri, attended by Deputy PM

Georgia, Azerbaijan sign several agreements

Newspaper: Armenia army official: National Security Service summons Armed Forces General Staff's deputy chief

Ukraine, Turkey sign memorandum on construction of UAVs maintenance center

US and EU to begin consultations on technical regulation, trade and China

Newly appointed Ambassador of France presents copies of credentials to Armenia FM

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of 4 Armenian servicemen found in Jrakan

Armenia ex-president Robert Kocharyan expresses condolences over death of singer Hayko

US Ambassador on Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs' talks in New York, normalization of relations with Turkey

Garibashvili says he had 'wonderful' meeting with Aliyev

Putin-Erdogan meeting in Sochi lasts nearly 3 hours

Over 40% of Americans are in favor of reducing US military presence in world

To-be Ambassador of United States to Turkey announces intention to recognize Armenian Genocide

Armenia Deputy PM, Iran Ambassador discuss situation created on Goris-Kapan motorway

Digest: Armenian soldier wounded in Azerbaijan provocations, 3 Armenia soldiers bodies found

Armenian analyst: Azerbaijan's offensive resources were almost used up on November 9, 2020

Armenia Embassy in Georgia: There are accumulations of trucks in detour section of Tbilisi

Armenia Revenue Committee chief on question whether Azeris will stop Armenian truck drivers or not

Artsakh representative to Armenia: Armenian statehood cannot have prosperous future without Karabakh

Armenia Public Services Regulatory Commission chair: There will be some increase in water fee

Hraparak: Armenia ex-defense minister detained

Azerbaijanis launch construction in Vorotan section of Armenia's Goris-Kapan motorway

Armenia President expresses condolences over untimely death of singer Hayko

Dollar rising in Armenia

3,626 foreigners granted Armenia residence status in first half of 2021

Peskov says Putin and Erdogan won't discuss Crimea during talks in Sochi

Man, 81, dies of coronavirus in Karabakh

Erdogan is certain that peace in Middle East depends on Turkey-Russia relations

Taliban rise to power in Afghanistan drives up opium prices on the black market

Azerbaijan President and Georgia PM meet in Baku

Armenia FM receives Bulgaria AmbassadorYEREVAN.  A visiting meeting of the council of Armenias ruling party was held in the resort town of Tsakhkadzor on Saturday.

The Republican Party of Armenia decided to nominate Serzh Sargsyan for the post of Prime Minister of the country.

The decision was presented by the first deputy chairman of the party Karen Karapetyan. After debates, the Council unanimously approved Sargsyans candidacy.

Thus, RPA parliamentary faction will officially submit Sargsyan's candidacy on Monday.A Mexican drug cartel leader whose arrest led to the torture and killings of 12 Mexican police officers has been sentenced in the United States to 43 years in prison on drug charges, according to investigators, NY Post reported.

Arnoldo Rueda-Medina, known as La Minsa in the La Familia Michoacana cartel, was sentenced by a federal judge in Dallas on Wednesday. Rueda-Medina was also ordered to pay a $5 million fine.

The cartel is responsible for smuggling thousands of kilograms of meth into the U.S. and stashing it in Texas and other locations, according to federal officials.

Rueda-Medina, 48, was arrested in Mexico in 2009 and extradited to the U.S. in 2017. Following his arrest, cartel operatives attacked the police station where he was being held with grenades and high-powered rifles. They also ambushed other government facilities and kidnapped the 12 officers in retaliation. The officers bodies were bound and dumped on a mountain road, and showed signs that the men had been tortured.The EU was informed about targeted US, French and UK airstrikes on chemical weapons facilities in Syria, High Representative Federica Mogherini said in a statement.

These specific measures were taken with the sole objective to prevent further use of chemical weapons and chemical substances as weapons by the Syrian regime to kill its own people, the statement says.

Mogehrini reiterated EUs support for the efforts aimed at the prevention of the use of chemical weapons.

The EU calls upon all countries, notably Russia and Iran, to use their influence to prevent any further use of chemical weapons, notably by the Syrian regime, and supports the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, Mogherini said.

The EU reiterates that there can be no other solution to the Syrian conflict than political. We have a common goal in preventing any escalation of violence that could transform the Syrian crisis into a wider regional confrontation, with incalculable consequences for the Middle East and indeed the whole world. The EU calls upon all parties to the conflict, especially the regime and its allies, to implement immediately the ceasefire, and to ensure humanitarian access and medical evacuations as unanimously agreed in UNSC Resolution 2401. The EU repeats that any sustainable solution to the conflict requires a genuine political transition in line with UNSCR 2254 and the 2012 Geneva Communique negotiated by the Syrian parties within the UN-led Geneva process.

The Second Brussels Conference on Syria which will be held on 24-25 April 2018, co-chaired by the EU and the UN, will be the opportunity for the entire international community to relaunch its consistent support for the political process and commit new pledges to help the main victims of this ongoing conflict, namely the Syrian people inside and outside Syria.YEREVAN.  The protestors headed by Civil Contract Party leader Nikol Pashinyan broke into the building of the Public Radio of Armenia, demanding airtime to voice their protest against Serh Sargsyan's nomination for the seat of a prime minister (PHOTOS).

The protesters went in with their hands up and broke one of the doors.

We are here to voice our protests against the fact that the major part of media outlets belong to the family of Serzh Sargsyan. Armenian citizens are in fact deprived of any television which can cover the political life in an unbiased way, he said.Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday received a phone call from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, SANA reported.

President Rouhani strongly condemned the US, British and French aggression on Syria.

President al-Assad briefed President Rouhani on the details of the aggression and means of confronting it.

The aggression came as a result of the knowledge of the colonial western powers, which support terrorism, that they have lost control and credibility in front of their people and the world, President al-Assad said, adding that the aggression came after the failure of the terrorists in achieving the goals of those countries which were involved in the war on Syria.

President al-Assad reiterated that this aggression will lead to nothing rather it will further increase the Syrian peoples determination to continue fighting and crushing terrorism in each inch of the Syrian territories.French President Emmanuel Macron has refused to provide his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin with intelligence proving Damascus alleged guilt for the incident in the Syrian town of Douma, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday at the annual Assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, TASS reported.

"Frances President [Emmanuel] Macron, who announced in public about the irrefutable evidence substantiating the use of chemical weapons in Syrias Douma by [Syrian President Bashar] Assads regime, spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin," Lavrov said.

"During their talk on April 13, the Russian president referred to the French leaders public assertions that those facts existed and asked to share them, because if it were true, we would be the first who would be determined to stymie such illegal activity, that is the use of chemical weapons," he explained.

"The answer was as follows, "It is a secret. We cannot provide the information since it is a secret and what is more, the secret is not ours," Lavrov stated.As a local I would like to share my opinion regarding Measure C, which was the subject of the article. My opinion begins by asking a simple question: What do you want the Napa Valley to be 100 or more years from now? Typically our planning horizons are far too short to be meaningful.

I am not an environmentalist in the current sense of that word. I am a conservationist. As such I recognize that once the natural environment is gone, it is goneif not forever (since we wont be here forever) it will be gone for many generations to come. The problem is one of attrition. As nature is scraped away bit by bit, it is replaced by man-made uses which have a capital life and therefore will be around for decades.

Thus far the Napa Valley has accomplished many positive things, thanks to courageous local initiatives of the past, such as the Agricultural Preserve. At the time the preservation act was proposed, it was bitterly opposed by property owners who believed residential development was the highest and best use of their land. Yet, those very owners benefited the most from the act as the value of their vineyard land increased more than a hundred-fold as a function of supply and demand and Americans increasing taste for wine.Home | News | General | Saraki Urges Reforms Of the International Criminal Court

President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has called on the new President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji, to among others, embark on urgent reforms in the court in order to reassure some African leaders who accuse the ICC of discrimination.

Saraki who gave the charge when Justice Eboe-Osuji visited him at the National Assembly, also urged the international jurist to use his tenure at the Court to restore confidence in the ICC.

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki

The President of the Senate, according to a statement by his Special Assistant on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, said: You have come at a very challenging time because as you know there are brother African countries that have different views about the ICC at this particular time and Nigeria will continue to play the role to stand firm to be able to be a kind of arbiter between different countries.

I think having you as the President is well thought out. It is very important to have someone like you heading the place. I think theres need to look at reforms in order to give everybody a sense of belonging and fulfil the goals and objectives of the ICC. I think that there will be need to always do that which is right to give all countries a sense of belonging.

He also assured Justice Eboe-Osuji of the National Assemblys support saying, What I can assure you, is that here in the National Assembly, we will support you and ensure that you make your mark and be a shinning star among us and other countries.

I am very certain that you will make a very successful tenure as the President of the ICC. Let me also reiterate our countrys and National Assemblys commitment to support the vision of the ICC, which is to ensure that we do as much as we can to fight crimes against humanity.

The President of the Senate lauded Justice Eboe-Osuji for the visit and pledged the support of the National Assembly to the success of the objectives and goals of the founding fathers of the ICC.

Earlier, Justice Eboe-Osuji told the President of the Senate that his visit was to appreciate the support and encouragement from the government and people of Nigeria when he contested for the presidency of the ICC.

He said that he was particularly encouraged by President Muhammadu Buhari who through the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, felicitated with him when he was elected President of the Court.

Justice Eboe-Osuji acknowledged that Nigeria is one of the first sixty signatories of the Rome Statute that established the court.

He said that the court has a global objective to end impunity, fight against genocide, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

Signed by Chuks Okocha , Special Assistant to the President of Senate on Print Media

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralProposition 13 did not take anything from the people or any subset of the people. Prop. 13 limited the ability of the State of California to tax the people. This is direct democracy by the people, unlike our normal representative democracy, which is the American system.

Our founders were wary of direct democracy and wanted to avoid it because it allows a majority of voters to trample the rights of minorities. James Madison was especially worried about the Tyranny of the Majority and pushed hard to make the new government of America a representative democracy.

Direct democracy can have a very dark side to it when the majority puts their own interests above those in the minority. Imagine three wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner. The sheep objects to the selection, but the wolves console the sheep that it was a fair election -- it was democracy after all -- and the sheep lost.

Measure C is no different in principle than all previous historical oppressions of minority groups. If Measure C passes, the majority will take property rights from a minority for their own benefit. Unlike Prop. 13 where the farmers got tax relief for putting their land in the Ag Preserve, Measure C just takes the property rights from the oak woodlands owners and gives nothing in return.Home | News | General | Suspension: Omo-Agege appeals for calm

Following his suspension by the Senate on Thursday, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege representing Delta Central Senatorial District in the red chamber has appealed to his constituents to remain calm, saying that there was no insurmountable challenge before him as he has adequate capacity to address the widely reported suspension matter.

Omo-Agege who spoke through his aide, Prince Efe Duku, said it was a well-known fact the issues acted upon by the Senate are pending before a court of competent jurisdiction and therefore subjudice.

Omo-Agege

He said, it is the Senates view that the issues be withdrawn from court for an amicable resolution to hold. Until a resolution is reached, it is better to respect the court processes by not commenting on them.

We note that as part of the resolution of the issues, the Senate President, ruled that the Parliamentary Support Group in the Senate for President Muhammadu Buhari should be disbanded. This should be a matter for the over 50 members of the PSG to decide, possibly with President Buhari on whose behalf they openly work as Distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic, he added.

He reiterated, we appeal for calm and assure that as a fervent believer in the rule of law, our Senator is in positive spirit. He deeply respects the institution of the Senate and his good friends in the Senate. He will never undermine them. He remains an ardent supporter of Mr. Presidents agenda for a better nation for all and will continue to work assiduously for his re-election.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralAs a Napa County voter whose policy dream is to see greater public support for programs and services to help our children thrive, I did not have strong opinions about Measure C, the Napa County Watershed and Oak Woodland Protection Initiative. Until I read the sign. Now I am 100 percent in favor of it if for nothing else than their opponents tactics are egregious.

Although I know there are others, the sign I reads says Vote No on C. Increases Traffic On 29." I have reviewed the measure and nowhere is there a shred of evidence suggesting any outcome of the measure will impact traffic. New for 21st century election cycles, the opposition is using fake news in their arguments and counting on the voters inability to know the difference and their aversion to traffic to sway votes.Home | News | General | I saw hell over attempt to implicate Senator Sani  Suspected killer

By AbdulSalam Muhammad

KANO  A principal suspect over the alleged murder of One Lawan Maiduna of Kaduna state Garba Isa, weekend painted a gruesome picture of how the military compelled him to frame a Senator representing Kaduna Central at upper chamber, Alhaji Shehu Sani.

Lawan Maiduna

Isa, 46 a resident of Kabalan Doki in Kaduna state told Vanguard that I saw hell in the hands of the military and police over their desperate attempt to implicate senator Sani.

He said Iam a professional painter and also a member of vigilante, I swear to God that Shehu Sani never knew me. Even if he can passes here, I believed that he does not know me all but they insisted I must implicate him which I declined.

Isa said they tortured him to accept the fact that Senator Sani gave one Bashir Hamdada money to kill Maiduna.

He told Vanguard that the military took him to Ahmed Aruwas Farm located along Kaduna- Abuja road were they threatened to kill him if he did not accept to implicate Senator Sani as the man that hired to kill Lawan Maiduna.

Isa explained that, I never knew Bashir Hamdada, let alone his illicit activities, but tortured and forced to make a statement that can implicate the senator over the alleged murder.

Speaking further over his experiences at the military detention centres, Isa revealed that  I spent two weeks facing different kinds of tortured while with military before I was handed over to Kaduna state CID.

He said that it all began when I was invited by the military to identify some persons arrested in connection with the alleged, murder of the said person.

 Immediately was there to identify the arrested persons, the military began to torture me and insisted that I must menstion Sanis name as the behind the murder.

At Kaduna police CID, I spent a month before I was taken to prison on awaiting trial, but quickly granted bail to go and seek medical attention over wounds sustained while in detention that arose from right violation.

He lamented that I was accused without any physical evidence to support their charges.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralSupport justice for Blue Water Navy veterans

I would like to ask everyone reading this for a big favor. We need you to contact the White House at whitehouse.gov or 855-948-2311 in support of Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans.

Here is some history. In 1993, a bill called the Agent Orange Act of 1993 passed in Congress, giving VA benefits to Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans who were suffering from certain diseases. This list has been updated since then.

In 2002, the General Counsel of the VA ruled that Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans didnt qualify for these benefits. Since that time, Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans have been fighting to get these benefits back.

You may ask why this is important. Veterans like myself who served on ships in Vietnam were actually exposed to a higher level of the Dioxin that is in Agent Orange than their fellow veterans who served as boots on the ground. This is due to the fact that the distillations system used on the ships actually enhanced the Dioxins instead of removing them.

This has lead to many of these veterans suffering from diseases related to Agent Orange exposure like myself, who now suffers from prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, heart problems, COPD, emphysema and skin cancer.Home | News | General | Oba Otudeko: Corporate titan with philanthropic touch

By Babajide Komolafe

HE started as a clerk in the defunct Cooperative Bank. With hard work, he progressed to become an accountant and a banker, rising to the position of General Manager and later acting Managing Director of the bank. Today, he is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor who uplifts humanity with his philanthropic touch. He is Dr. Ayoola Obafoluke Otudeko, the widely celebrated Chairman of Honeywell Group of Companies.

Born August 18, 1943, Dr. Otudeko is an astute and highly successful investor and entrepreneur. He is renowned for being in the Forbes list of Africas 50 richest people, ranking at 33 with a net worth of $575 million as of November 2013. He is married to Mrs. Adebisi Aderonke Otudeko. They have three children, a boy and two girls: Foluke, Moyo and Obafemi.

Oba Otudeko

Education and professional qualification

Oba Otudeko studied Accountancy at the Leeds College of Commerce, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. He is a chartered banker, chartered accountant and chartered corporate secretary. He has also attended executive management training programmes at International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland; Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A; and then Arthur D. Little School of Management, U.S.A

Entrepreneurship prowess: To give life to the entrepreneurship gene yearning for expression in his blood, Oba Otudeko in 1972, established the Honeywell Group. His aim was to use the company to sweeten human life, hence the name Honeywell. The company had a humble beginning and operated as a trading concern, importing and marketing commodities such as baking yeast, stock fish, glass and steel rods, among others.

The Group has evolved into a diversified enterprise with businesses in foods and agro-allied; real estate, infrastructure, energy and services. Through additional portfolio investments, it is also a significant provider of capital to other sectors of Nigerias economy including financial services, telecommunications and security management. The Honeywell Group today operates ten companies namely Honeywell Flours Plc, HOGL Energy Limited, Pivot Engineering Limited, Uraga Estate, Anchorage Leisures Services, and Pavilion Technology Limited. Others are Broadview, Hogson, Uraga Power Solutions and Honeywell Energy Resources International Limited.

Through these companies, the Honeywell Group employs over 5000 Nigerians, and contributes to human and social capacity development in Nigeria through diverse platforms. These include the Honeywell Excellence Programme, which provides a platform for young, intelligent Nigerian graduates of tertiary institutions to hone their business management skills by providing them with a comprehensive and robust training in business management principles, over a-12 month period.

Giving Back to Society: In his quest to give back to the society and contribute to human capacity development in the country, Dr. Otudeko in 2003 established the Oba Otudeko Foundation. Notable contributions of the Foundation include institution of a Central Administration Building for the Olabisi Onabanjo University; donation of an Administrative Block to All Saints College, Edun Village, Ibadan; donation of a Students Cafeteria to Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State; endowment of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State

A corporate titan: In addition the Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko has used his entrepreneurship skills to contribute to the growth of many corporate organisations where he has served as chairman or director. These include First Bank of Nigeria Plc, where he recently retired after 12 meritorious years on the Board of the bank. He was, at various times, chairman, First Bank of Nigeria, FBN Bank (UK) Limited; Airtel Nigeria and Fan Milk of Nigeria Plc. between September 2006 and August 2009, he was the 16th President and Chairman of Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. From 1990 to 1997 Otudeko served on the board of Central Bank of Nigeria; Guinness Nigeria Plc, from 1999 to 2003; British American Tobacco Ltd, from 2001 to 2004 and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, headquartered in Lome, Togo from 2002 to 2010.

Oba Otudeko also served as chairman of the Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce (NSACC) and aimed to facilitate investment flows into Nigeria. During his tenure as the NSACC Chairman, the volume of Nigeria-South Africa bilateral trade grew significantly from $16.5 million in 1999 to $2.9 billion in 2010. He was also on the Board of the NEPAD Business Group  Nigeria. He was Chairman of the Business Support Group (BSG) for delivery of the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP).

Bilateral trade

In 2013, he was also appointed the chairman of the Digital Africa Conference Exhibition in Abuja, Nigeria.

Recognitions: In recognition of his achievements as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Oba Otudeko has received several national and international awards. In 2016, he emerged winner of the African Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the Year award. The previous year, 2015, Otudeko was voted Leadership Newspaper Business Person of the Year. Earlier in 2009, Otudeko was conferred with Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the ThisDay Awards, while Silverbird Television conferred on his the Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement Award.

Furthermore, in recognition of his contributions to the nations economic growth, Otudeko was awarded the following national honours: Commander of the Federal Republic in 2011, Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic in 2002 and the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic.

Other awards include Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye. Honorary Doctor of Science in Banking and Finance from Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State; Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (D.Sc.) from Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo Town, Oyo State; Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the ThisDay Awards in 2009. Ernst & Young Lifetime Achievement Award; Leadership Newspaper Business Person of the Year 2015; Silverbird Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement Award and recently, the 2016 Africa CEO Forums Africa CEO of the Year Award.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Check out photos from Winnie Mandelas funeral service in South Africa, she died at the age of 81

South Africans on Saturday, April 14, stepped out to pay their last tribute to wife of their former president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. She died on Monday, April 2, at the age of 81.

Winnie who was referred to as the anti-apartheid icon was honored at Orlando stadium in Soweto, South Africa. She was reported dead after in a hospital in Johannesburg after a long illness.

Tens of thousands of mourners came out in loud cheers as the casket carrying Winnie Mandelas remains was wheeled into the stadium less than two kilometres from her home. The stadium was full.

Photos from Winnie Mandelas funeral in South Africa

READ ALSO: Late Winnie Mandelas granddaughter shares last conversation with her granny on Instagram

Her casket was draped with the multi-colored South African flag and placed in the middle of the 37,500-seater stadium in front of a stage, decked in white and yellow flowers. The emotionally charged official funeral began in Soweto, where she lived until her death. She will be buried as a national hero.

The deceased who was fondly called Mama Winnie also fought to keep South Africas anti-apartheid struggle in the international spotlight while her late husband, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.

Late Winnie Mandela's corpse at the Orlando stadium In Soweto, South Africa

Also in attendance of Winnies funeral was the civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. On Friday, April 13, he disclosed that the deceased was responsible for making the anti-apartheid movement a global struggle.

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See more pictures from the funeral below:

Officers leading the vehicle carrying late Winnie Mandela's corpse to the stadium

Late Winnie Mandelas remains accompanied by officers to the Orlando stadium in South Africa

Photos from Winnie Mandelas funeral in South Africa

South Africans out are the stadium to pay their last tribute to late Winnie Mandela

South Africa's Civil Rights leader present at the funeral of late Winnie Mandela

RIP!

Meet Bayo Adedeji, the Nigerian businessman making millions from selling yam (Success Story) - on NAIJ.com TV.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | British PM speaks out following bomb raid in Syria; reveals why UK joined US, France to take action

- British PM Theresa May has disclosed that her country joined the US and France to carry out bomb raids in Syria because there was no other alternative

- She said the missile strike was aimed at deterring further use of chemical weapons and was not an attempt to topple the Syrian government

- Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a fervent anti-war campaigner, has however called the strikes legally questionable

Britain had no alternative but to take military action to degrade Syrias chemical weapons capability, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday, April 14, after ordering air-launched cruise missile strikes along with the U. S. and France, NAN reports.

Britains Ministry of Defence said four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow Missiles at a military facility near Homs where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals.

READ ALSO: It will take Nigeria 135 years to close the gender gap - Saraki

NAIJ.com gathers that May cast the strike as limited and targeted and came after intelligence reports indicated Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government was responsible for an attack using chemical weapons in the Damascus suburb of Douma on April 8.

May said the missile strike, designed to minimise civilian casualties, was aimed at deterring further use of chemical weapons and was not an attempt to topple the Syrian government.

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change, May said in statement made from her country residence at Chequers just minutes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the strikes from the White House.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the mission had been highly successful and implied that no further action was imminent.

We dont expect that well be a position where were having to make further strikes, he told LBC radio.

We believe that the strikes we have taken last night had a significant impact in terms of what the Syrian regime can do in the future.

By launching strikes without prior approval from parliament, May dispensed with a non-binding constitutional convention dating back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

She said speed was essential and that military action was in the national interest.

May, whose government is propped up by a small Northern Irish party, said Britain and the West had an obligation to deter both Assad and others from using chemical weapons after the poison gas attack in Douma near Damascus killed up to 75 people, including children.

However, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a fervent anti-war campaigner, called the strikes 'legally questionable' and said May should have recalled parliament from a holiday and not trailed after Donald Trump.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace, he said in a statement.

Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harms way.

Britain has accused Russia of being behind last months nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, southern England  a charge Moscow has denied.

While this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity, May said.

We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world.

May said Britain and its allies had sought to use every diplomatic means to stop the use of chemical weapons, but had been repeatedly thwarted, citing a Russian veto of an independent investigation into the Douma attack at the UN Security Council this week.

So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, she said.

The Western missile strikes demonstrate the volatile nature of the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011 as an anti-Assad uprising but is now a proxy conflict involving a number of world and regional powers and a myriad of insurgent groups.

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Recall that NAIJ.com previously reported that United States President Donald Trump announced that he ordered a strike on Syria in response to last weekends chemical weapons attack.

Trump, while addressing the nation on Friday night, April 13, said the joint strike with France and the United Kingdom was underway.

How would you feel if Donald Trump bombed Boko Haram like Syria? - on NAIJ.com TV:

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Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Tension in Mid East as US, UK, France bomb Syria over chemical weapons attack

- The US, UK and France have carried out joint strikes against the Syrian regime, following last weeks use of chemical weapons

- Trump chided the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and described him as a monster; and also criticized Iran and Russia for taking sides with him

- UK Prime Minister Theresa May described the chemical attack as pure horror and held the Syrian regime responsible

- French President Emmanuel Macron said the joint response was limited to the Syrian regimes capabilities to produce and use chemical weapons

United States President Donald Trump has announced that he ordered a strike on Syria in response to last weekends chemical weapons attack, NAN reports.

NAIJ.com gathers that Trump, while addressing the nation on Friday night, April 13, said the joint strike with France and the United Kingdom was currently underway.

READ ALSO: It will take Nigeria 135 years to close the gender gap - Saraki

A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway, Trump said.

Pentagon, at a press briefing on the strike at 10pm, said the strikes did maximum damages to Assads regimes chemical weapons sites.

Trump said that the massacre last weekend in Syria was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead, Trump said.

Trump also took a swipe at Russia and Iran, condemning their continued support to Assads regime.

To Iran and to Russia I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?

The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators, Trump said.

In 2013, President Vladimir Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syrias chemical weapons.

Assads recent attack and todays response are the direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise.

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace.

Hopefully, someday well get along with Russia and maybe even Iran. But maybe not, the president stressed.

Trump however added that the U.S. does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria.

We look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home. We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny.

No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East, Trump said.

We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America, he said.

U.S. Secretary of Defence Gen James Mattis said U.S. and its allies struck harder this time than the 2017 strike against the country which did not seem to deter the Bashar al-Assads regime.

Gen Joseph Dunford, the joint chief of staff, said the strikes were carried out on three Syrian chemical weapons infrastructures and the U.S. believed it would send al-Assad a strong message.

On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said analysis done by the U.S., U.K. and France proved the chemical attack.

In a statement Friday night, UK Prime Minister Theresa May called last weekends chemical attack pure horror.

The Syrian regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way.

And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian regime is responsible for this latest attack, May said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the response was limited to the Syrian regimes capabilities to produce and use chemical weapons.

We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons, which is a direct threat to the security of the Syrian people and our collective security, Macron said.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Rep Ted Lieu of the United States hit at President Donald Trump after he put blame on former president, Barack Obama, following reports of the chemical attack in Syria.

Lieu took to Twitter on Sunday, April 8, to write: "Dear @realDonaldTrump: Remember when you launched cruise missiles at a largely empty field in Syria? That unconstitutional act didn't do very much. Remember when you said last week that US is leaving Syria in six months? So what is your plan? You're the president now. Remember?"

How would you feel if Donald Trump bombed Boko Haram like Syria? - on NAIJ.com TV:

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | NGO wants issues on female genital mutilation in school curriculum

Kuje (FCT)  Women Friendly Initiative, an non-governmental organisation, has called on the Federal Ministry of Education to introduce a subject relating to female genital mutilation in school curriculum.

Prsident Buhari and Dapchi school girls

Mrs Kehinde Afolabi, the coordinator of the group, made the call in an interview in Kuje on Saturday, observing that the inclusion would boost awareness on the dangers of female genital cutting.

According to her, female genital mutilation is deeply rooted in culture and some traditions that should not be allowed to continue in the society.

Afolabi noted that the youth needed necessary information against the practice that could empower them as well as assist them in share such information with their peers.

Female genital mutilation is traditionally the specialisation of traditional healers, birth attendants or members of the community.

Such practice must not be institutionalised nor be performed by any health professionals in any community.

We are calling on the government and relevant stakeholders to support the campaign against female genital mutilation in the country, she said.

However, she urged government and relevant organisations to embark on sensitisation of young girls on the implications of female genital mutilation.

The coordinator said that involving school children in the campaign against female genital cutting by teaching it in schools would build their capacity to become advocates in awareness creation against the practice.

It is necessary to promote awareness of the problem by educating the policy makers, general public, health workers and community leaders in the country.

Why risk the lives of our women? Lets join hands and eliminate female genital mutilation in Nigeria today, Afolabi pleaded.(NAN)

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralClase Azul Spirits' is marking its 20th anniversary with special edition, hand-made bottle of their tequila.

All of the Clase Azul Spirits bottles, however, could be called special. Each takes takes two weeks each to create and paint, and no two are alike.

Inside the bottles is a blend of reposado 100 percent blue agave tequila, aged four months in reclaimed bourbon barrels, then aged an additional four months in reclaimed sherry casks, which blends a special mix from Pedro Ximenez, Oloroso and Amontillado casks.

And, according to a press release, when the luxurious Clase Azul tequila is gone, an enterprising person "can get the toolbox out and turn it into a lamp, candle holder, a set of sipping glasses, or a vase for flowers. Another magical feature, the top of the bottle is a bell, keeping the magic inside the bottle."

Prices range from $79.99-$1,799.

A special collection, a Traves del Tiempo retails for $450,000, and the Causa Azul Foundation donates a portion of the sales to the support of Mexican artists and artisans, providing them with training, equipment for their studios and supplies to as well as the means to take their artworks to exhibition sites.Home | News | General | Man tries to scam young lady by requesting for N75,000, you wont what she did to him (photos)

A young lady has just taken to social media to call out a man identified as Kingsley Obinna who wanted to scam her. She revealed that he told her stories of how he lost his wife in an accident and now taking care of his 8-year-old daughter.

The lady who was identified as Samaria Diala took to her Facebook profile to share pictures of the young man and narrated how he tried to defraud her. He scammed her after they agreed to date each other.

Diala disclosed that after the man agreed to come visit her in Enugu, he faked a call disclosing he accidentally hit a pregnant woman and has been arrested by the police. He then asked her to send the sum of N75,000.

READ ALSO: Hit and run driver kills female FUTA first class student in Ondo state

Her post reads: Hi friends please be careful of this guy, stories behind his late wife and his 8-year old daughter seeking for love she left behind. He came chatting me up with stories of how he lost his wife in an accident when his daughter was 2-year-old. He claimed he is being careful in terms of making choice of the next woman to call wife. He got me into talking to the fake child of his , her words were so touching also that of the grandma .He later claimed at some point to be in Nigeria ,that they would pay me a visit. On the agreed date of the visit from Enugu, he claimed to have ran down a pregnant woman crossing the road on his way coming. He rang me with siren blowing on the background and even claimed police got him arrested. So he needed money to pay the doctor as deposit before he would be allowed to continue with his trip. As the doctor assured him the victim will survive so far he deposits N75,000. He later called me with the request I make the transfer as he isnt allowed to leave the station. Well I knew he was a scam from when he gave an old woman the phone to speak with me. He fled after I made him understand I know what the time says. Please ladies beware of such scam they now come in different ways! His numbers are +19093755502 and 09065509968 please share that no one falls victim.

See post below:

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She also shared another post saying: Just because you forgive a person doesnt mean you have to be around them or let them be around you....accept the fact that some people are not for you...MOVE ON for there is a blessing waiting for you. (As the spirit directs to whom it may concern) natural me.

See post below:

Interesting!

What is the major reason why relationships crash? - on NAIJ.com TV.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | 2019: PDP does not need time wasters; it needs a credible candidate - Lawmaker reveals how opposition party can reclaim power

- Dipo Olorunrinu, a PDP lawmaker in the Lagos state House of Assembly says in order to oust the APC in 2019, the opposition party needs a credible candidate

- Olorunrinu urged Nigerians to reconsider his party, as he stated out that the PDP had learnt how not to fail again

- The lawmaker urged the party to re-brand itself and sell socio-economic recovery and inclusive governance to Nigerians

The only Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member in the Lagos state House of Assembly, Mr Dipo Olorunrinu, says the party needs a popular presidential candidate in order to reclaim power in the 2019 general elections.

Olorunrinu spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday, April 14.

READ ALSO: Only 15 of remaining 113 Chibok girls in captivity are alive - Salkida claims

NAIJ.com gathers that he spoke against the backdrop of the recent declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari to seek re-election in 2019.

Expressing optimism that the party would reclaim power in 2019, Olorunrinu said nothing is impossible in 2019 as long as the PDP presents a popular candidate.

The party has apologised to Nigerians on whatever it might have done wrong.

People should reconsider PDP; as the party has learnt how not to fail again.The PDP will take the bull by the horn; looking at the credibility of the candidate it will present.

We dont need a candidate that the party will begin to start selling. We need someone who is already selling himself or herself before the party begins to sell him or her.

On the increasing number of aspirants eyeing the PDP presidential ticket, the lawmaker said that a candidate with good credentials and credibility would help the party at the polls.

According to him, though everybody has the democratic right to contest the presidential ticket, the party should also consider experience, background, capability and credibility of a would-be candidate.

We dont need time wasters to come on board. We need the PDP to be formidable to go against the ruling party at this moment.

We need to listen to what the people at the grassroots are saying in selecting our candidate. We need to move in the direction people are going, he said.

Olorunrinu urged the party to sell socio-economic recovery and inclusive governance to the people.

The lawmaker advised the party to repackage itself for a good outing in the 2019 general elections.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, stated that any candidate the opposition party fields for the 2019 presidential election would defeat President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking in Abuja, the nations capital, on Thursday, April 12, the PDP chairman opined that there is no way Nigerians would give their votes to Buhari in 2019; as the present administration had failed to deliver majority of its promises.

Secondus listed economic recession, high rate of unemployment, insecurity, high cost of living, daily job losses, and lopsided anti-corruption war as some of the problems the APC government had foisted on citizens.

PDP's Magnificent 7 for 2019 - on NAIJ.com TV:

[embedded content]

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | World | Africa | Chinomona's turbulent political career

SPOTTING her trademark hairstyle, often referred to as Dino in street lingo, Mabel Chinomona (pictured) was not anticipating a bad day after all.

Maybe she wanted the provincial coordinating committee (PCC) meeting held at Zanu-PF provincial offices in Marondera to be over, so that she would attend to other needs on that fateful Saturday in February 2016.

As the national women's league political commissar, Chinomona, bubbling with confidence, sat at the high table, facing the executive members, not even aware that the very same people before her had other things on their minds.

It did not take long for the Deputy Speaker of Parliament to have her day spoiled.

The then interim acting provincial chairman, Bernard Makokove, was leading the proceedings.

"Amai Chinomona, you are the political commissar in the women's league, you could have led by example. Amai (Aplonia) Munzverengi called people barring them from going to Harare, but you did not mobilise people to go and meet the President in Harare," oozing with confidence, Makokove said.

Although the verdict had not been passed yet, Chinomona sensed danger. She interjected: "I gave instructions to Munzverengi . . ."

But before she could finish her line, Makokove, who was in a no-nonsense mood, cut her off, refusing to entertain any explanations.

For at that moment, she was supposed to listen to the allegations levelled against her, and perhaps the following and final statement.

The next utterance was, indeed, a thorn in the flesh to Chinomona and the other victims.

A stone-faced Makokove turned to the gallery: "What can be done to these people? You have heard the allegations."

Like a well-choreographed move, provincial member Everisto-PFumvuti raised his hand. He was given the floor to air his views.

"I suggest that these people be suspended and a board of inquiry should be set to investigate them,"-PFumvuti said.

Chinomona dropped her face. By now, she was aware of the outcome, that she was being stripped off her powers and was probably on her way to the political dungeon.

She was being reduced to a party cell member despite her political influence at both provincial and national level.

"We have heard what Comrade-PFumvuti has suggested. Anyone seconding?" Makokove asked.

Richard Mavhunga, who was the party's provincial deputy secretary for the indigenisation and empowerment portfolio, seconded the motion and that was it.

Chinomona was suspended.

The Mutoko North legislator looked dejected. She tried to explain to anyone who cared to listen on how she had handled the issue, but her explanation fell on deaf ears. She faced massive resistance.

"I have been suspended? What have I done? I called Munzverengi and told her that we have been allocated five buses, and even consulted the secretary for transport Mai Matutu to arrange pick-up points. Was I supposed to go and say get in the bus? I did my part and gave instructions to others," she tried to explain to them.

The explanation begged for mercy and leniency, but the response she got after that was rude.

"We cannot reverse a vote of no confidence. As acting chairperson, I cannot do that. You will defend yourself before a disciplinary committee, or you can appeal against the suspension," Makokove said before chanting the party slogan.

To save her, Chinomona needed the support of politburo member and provincial godfather Sydney Sekeramayi, who was part of the people in the gallery.

The soft-spoken Sekeramayi, who was tasked to give a vote of thanks, was frank in his speech.

Sekeramayi said the party would deal with the outcome of the disciplinary committee and urged those suspended to appeal if they wished to.

That was then.

Chinomona was accused of sabotaging former President Robert Mugabe's rally at Zanu-PF headquarters early last year.

She was reportedly persecuted for being aligned to then Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa's faction known as Team Lacoste.

In 2004, she was allegedly part of a controversial meeting held at Dinyane Secondary School in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North, popularly known as the Tsholotsho Declaration, which was allegedly convened to campaign for Mnangagwa's elevation.

She went into political wilderness for five years, but made a dramatic comeback and clinched the central committee post before becoming the Deputy Speaker of Parliament.

After the February 2016 vote of no-confidence, Chinomona continued carrying her party duties, but this time as a women's league political commissar.

It seemed she knew her fate, and this was shown by how she gyrated and broke into song each time then First Lady Grace Mugabe would rise to address the people.

It took long for her to return to the political wilderness again, a politburo meeting ended it all.

She was relieved off her duties in the women's league and reduced to a card-carrying member, again.

Like a cat with nine lives, the outspoken politician has found another life again.

The demise of Grace came as a blessing to her. She rose from the dust and was very much active in Operation Restore Legacy, as she mobilised support for the November 18 solidarity march.

It worked and a new political dispensation came.

Chinomona was honoured as she took over the position of her tormentor, Grace.

Today, she is the Zanu-PF women league's boss and automatically, a member of the politburo.

But it took humiliation and torture for her to become determined and she trod on in a political field marred with conspiracy and disorder.

Her chief accusers' names, Makokove and Grace, are fast-disappearing on the political arena.

Her co-accused Munzverengi is now the political commissar for the women's league, while Joel Matiza retained the post as provincial chairman.

"I held the provincial women's league post for 15 years. I know this province from corner to corner. But there is someone who came and just expelled me, how do you see it? Someone saying we cannot work with this person, but Zanu-PF is good. After being a member for a long time, here we are.

"After all has been done, I pray to God to give us the power to forget for us to move forward," Chinomona said while addressing scores who had attended a party for her meant to celebrate her elevation to the women league's boss post in Marondera.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: AfricaPolice nationwide took action against a record 3,008 people in cases involving marijuana in 2017, up 472 from the previous year, National Police Agency data showed Thursday, possibly because more people are using marijuana amid toughened measures on kiken (dangerous) drugs.

The data showed a notable increase in marijuana cases involving people aged below 20, raising concern that use of the drug is becoming more widespread among juveniles.

The number of individuals that came to police attention per 100,000 doubled to 3.0 in 2017 from 2013, while the number of those aged between 14 and 19 saw more than a five-fold increase from 0.8 to 4.1. The number of people in their 20s increased from 4.8 to 9.4.

The figure for people in their 40s and 50s came in at well below the overall rate of 3.0, standing at 1.8 and 0.3, respectively.

In a separate survey conducted last year covering some 500 people investigated for involvement in marijuana related-cases, only around 30 percent of respondents said they thought marijuana use was dangerous, compared to some 70 percent for stimulant drugs.

While 42.9 percent of respondents in their 40s said they started using marijuana out of curiosity, a larger 66.3 percent of those aged below 20 cited the same motivation.

aIt is possible that more people are shifting to marijuana on the back of the declining number of people using so-called adangerous drugs,a against which measures have been bolstered,a an agency official said.

The government defines dangerous drugs as those containing chemical agents that can cause hallucinations or have a stimulant effect.

Across all age groups combined, 63.7 percent said they began using marijuana after being influenced by peers while 22.6 percent decided to try it independently of others.

More than 80 percent of respondents aged under 20 said they had been offered the drug, compared with around 70 percent of people in their 20s and about 50 percent of those in their 30s.The Aussie dollar has gone back and forth during the Wednesday session, testing the 0.7750 level for support, and finding it rather quickly. We rallied from there and it looks as if we are going to go towards the 0.7775 level in the short term.

The Australian dollar has been rather noisy during Wednesday trading, pulling back to the 0.7730 level, but finding a support level near the 0.7350 level overall. By doing so, we had formed a W pattern on the hourly chart, and it looks as if we are ready to continue going higher. With that in mind, I believe that the market will eventually go looking towards the 0.78 level above, and then the 0.79 level after that. We had recently tested a major uptrend line and found it to be supportive, so I think that we will continue the same upward grind that we have seen since December 2016, and therefore I believe that we will not only reach the 0.81 level again, but we will eventually break above there.

Pay attention to the gold markets, they always have their influence on the Aussie dollar, but in general right now it looks as if the US dollar is being sold off in a bit of a risk on move. If trade tensions dont get worse between the United States and China, that should help the Aussie as well, as Australia is such a major exporter of raw materials to China. All things being equal, this trade comes down to the trade tariffs, or lack of, between the United States and China more than anything else. If tensions fall, this pair rises and of course vice versa. I think at this point; the 0.77 level should be thought of as a bottom.

AUD/USD Video 12.04.18

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:The premium Lincoln brand of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has announced plans to manufacture up to five new cars for the Chinese market by 2022.

Lincoln will build the cars in China, the largest market in the world for vehicles, with a view to blunting the effects of trade spats between the world top two economies. Additionally, Ford will manufacture a new SUV for the Chinese market by the close of next year. Beyond that, however, Ford has not revealed its future production plans with regards to the Lincoln brand.

Our localization plans to support the China market are on track and will serve to further drive Lincolns growth in China. Beyond that, it would be premature to discuss our future product and production plans or timing, said a spokesperson for the Lincoln brand, Angie Kozleski.

Lincoln Aviator

According to sources who spoke with Reuters, Ford expects to start the production of a new Lincoln Aviator vehicle in China late next year or early 2020. This will be done alongside replacements for other brands such as the MKZ sedan and the MKC crossover. In 2021 production of the new Nautilus is expected to start and this is expected to serve as a replacement of the Lincoln MKX. The production of the fifth model which will be a crossover resembling a small coupe is expected to start in 2022.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based auto manufacturer has a lot to lose should the trade spat between the United States and China progress into a full-blown trade war. In 2017 Ford shipped around 80,000 cars manufactured in North America to China. Over 50% of these cars were Lincolns. Currently, all the Lincoln cars that are sold in China by Ford are made in North America.

Import tariff

Though China has indicated that it could reduce the 25% tariff it imposes on vehicle imports, there are no guarantees that the move would result in a large sustainable rise in the number of Lincolns and Fords made in the United States being shipped to China. The long-term plans of Ford are to manufacture more cars in the worlds most populous country in order to serve a market which is now roughly 60% bigger than the market in the United States.

Story continues

Ford is, however, trailing domestic rival General Motors as well as luxury brands from Germany such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi which have made heavy investments in China in order to protect themselves from currency, political and trade gyrations as well as to reduce the price points of their premium vehicles.

Behind rivals

Last year the total number of cars imported to China rose to 1.2 million but that figure is less than 5% of all the vehicles that were sold in the worlds second-largest economy according to China Automobile Dealers Association figures. Less than 25% of the vehicles that China imported, about 267,000 were from the United States per Statista.

With a tariff rate of 25%, the American premium brands of Ford cannot compete effectively with Germanys luxury brands as well as GMs Cadillac since they are built locally in China and thus avoid the tax.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:Vietnamese authorities have asked local ministries and the police to investigate two allegedly fraudulent initial coin offerings (ICOs) that conned 32,000 investors out of a staggering $660 million.

The operators of the purported cryptocurrency startups fundamentally conducted multi-level marketing schemes, local news outlet Tuoi Tre News reports, pointing the finger at Pincoin and Ifan that claim to be from Dubai and Singapore respectively. The two startups raised money through initial coin offerings under the control of Ho Chi Minh-based Modern Tech, the alleged operator who claims to be the authorized local representative for the two schemes in the country.

An estimated 32,000 investors were persuaded into investing into the schemes that incentivized older investors to rope in new investors. In a further sign of a brazen ponzi fraud, Pincoin  which claims to be an Ethereum standard ERC-20 token  claims to offer investors returns of up to 40% every month on its website that is complete with a picture of a yellow Lamborghini.

While details are scarce about the longevity of the two alleged scams, investors reportedly began to sense trouble after Modern Tech stopped paying commissions in Vietnamese dong, the countrys fiat currency. Instead, they were paid in tokens which were never redeemable for cash, the report added.

It wasnt long before investors turned up at Modern Techs office in downtown Ho Chi Minh to demand compensation from the company. The queries quickly turned to protests with dozens of disgruntled investors holding banners in front of the company including one that reads: Cryptocurrency  the biggest multi-level scams, more than 15 trillion dong ($658 million), pictures on social media showed.

A report from local publication Viet Bao the owner of the building that housed Modern Tech said the company had already left and annulled its contract in March. No one knows where they are moving now, he added.

Story continues

A group of seven Vietnamese nationals are described as the masterminds of promoting the alleged scams across Vietnam including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, the countrys two biggest cities.

The severity of the alleged scams, both in scale of its operation and the reported losses suffered by victims, has seen the office of Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vietnams Prime Minister, publish a directive ordering the State Bank of Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Securities and other authorities to reinforce and strengthen the management of activities related to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

A separate statement from Vietnams deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue has ordered six governmental ministries to quickly consider and take down the scam.

While Vietnam was reported to have been preparing to legalize legitimate cryptocurrencies like bitcoin in mid-2017, the central bank has since enforced laws to prohibit the usage of bitcoin as legal tender in the country.

Featured image from Shutterstock.



The post Vietnam Investigates Alleged $660 Million ICO Fraud of Pincoin, Ifan appeared first on CCN.

Quito (Ecuador) (AFP) - Ecuador on Friday confirmed the deaths of two journalists and their driver who had been kidnapped by renegade Colombian rebels -- and quickly launched a retaliatory military operation in the area where they were snatched.

Bogota also sent troops into the dense jungle border zone where the remnants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group operate -- a key point on the trade route for drugs destined for Central America or the United States.

The killings -- after what is thought to be the first such abduction of journalists on Ecuadoran soil in three decades -- have shaken a country unaccustomed to the cruel violence linked to trafficking that has ravaged Colombia.

The three men, who worked for the influential El Comercio newspaper -- were kidnapped on March 26 while covering a story on violence along the border, where Ecuadoran forces have been battling Colombian rebels engaged in drug trafficking.

Reporter Javier Ortega, 32, photographer Paul Rivas, 45, and their driver Efrain Segarra, 60, were snatched in the coastal region of Mataje on Ecuador's northern border with Colombia.

Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno had given the kidnappers a 12-hour window to provide proof of life for the trio, but that expired on Friday and he announced their deaths shortly thereafter.

"Sadly, we have information confirming the murder of our fellow countrymen," Moreno told reporters in Quito, some of whom broke down in tears, while others exchanged embraces.

He then sent troops into the border zone.

"We have resumed ... military and police operations in the strip of land by the border where they were previously suspended and I am immediately sending in a deployment of elite units from the army and the police," Moreno said.

Ecuadoran officials believe the hostages were taken into Colombia and have made contact with both the Catholic Church and the International Committee of the Red Cross for help in "immediately starting" the process of locating their bodies and bringing them home.

Story continues

- $100,000 bounty -

Speaking in Lima, where he was attending the Summit of the Americas, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos denounced the murders as "a deplorable act," confirming his troops had also been sent in.

"We have already started operations on the Colombian side of the border as they have in Ecuador," he said, while insisting the abduction "happened in Ecuador" and was led by an Ecuadoran national.

Ecuador's military has blamed the abduction on the Oliver Sinisterra Front, a group which counts between 70 and 80 rebels and is headed by Walter Artizala, an Ecuadoran in his 30s who goes by the name "Guacho".

A former FARC rebel with expertise in explosives, drug smuggling and financing, Guacho is one of the most wanted men in both Colombia and Ecuador.

"We have included the drug-smuggling terrorist Guacho on Ecuador's most wanted list and we are offering a reward of $100,000 for any information which leads to his capture," Moreno said.

According to Colonel Polibio Vinueza, who heads the police's anti-hostage unit, Guacho had been in touch with the Ecuadoran authorities "since April 7, using WhatsApp" with the aim of reaching a deal to swap them for three rebels held in Mataje on trafficking charges.

But as his own boss, and without anyone to answer to, the rebel chief could change his mind on a whim, "depending on circumstances," Vinueza explained.

- 'Emotional coverage' -

Late Thursday, a visibly emotional Moreno had issued an ultimatum to the kidnappers after his government received photos from a Colombian TV station suggesting the three were dead.

Cutting short a trip to Lima for the Americas summit, he hunkered down with his cabinet to handle the crisis. But as his 12-hour deadline passed, news of their fate became clear.

The murders were roundly denounced by governments in the region and beyond, with Costa Rica expressing its "absolute condemnation" of the bloodshed and Spain denouncing it as a "vile and criminal act."

The announcement draws a line under a 19-day nightmare for the families, with information emerging on a piecemeal basis and often skewed by rumor and falsehoods.

"This is very painful because we had faith and hope that the team would be found alive," said Alex Llanos, a journalist with Ecuador TV as a group of people held a vigil outside the government building in Quito.

"Our coverage is very unusual because it is filled with emotion."Guatemala City (AFP) - A long-running border dispute between Guatemala and Belize reaches a decision point on Sunday when Guatemalans vote on whether to send the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a ruling.

The referendum will ask the country's 7.5 million electors whether The Hague-based ICJ should determine the final boundaries of the countries, which have been in contention for more than two centuries.

It asks electors to respond "yes" or "no" to whether any legal claims by Guatemala against Belize relating to its territories "should be submitted to the International Court of Justice for final settlement" and boundary determination.

The referendum was meant to have happened earlier.

It was delayed when then-president Otto Perez was forced to resign in 2015 because of a corruption scandal, before an election put current President Jimmy Morales in power.

Belize, too, is to hold a plebiscite on the issue. No date has yet been set, although officials say one could take place next year.

- Troops mobilized -

Both countries agreed to the ICJ route in a 2008 accord, pending voter approval through the referendums.

The path to The Hague is meant to resolve border tensions that have surged and ebbed over the years.

Most recently, in 2016, the dispute nearly turned ugly when Guatemala mobilized thousands of soldiers in the border zone in response to the shooting death of a Guatemalan boy.

A Belize border patrol said it came under fire and acted in self-defense but an investigation by the Organization of American States later found Belize not responsible for the teenager's death.

Guatemala has made claims over more than half of Belize's territory, dating back 150 years to when its English-speaking neighbor was a British colony known as British Honduras.

Despite the tensions between the countries' governments and armed forces, Guatemalan voters appear largely unconcerned about the border issue and the steps to resolve it.

Story continues

The head of Guatemala's Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Maria Eugenia Mijangos, told reporters that voter apathy was the biggest risk.

Previous referendums on other issues have seen turnout below 18 percent.

Although there has been no reliable survey on the border question, some analysts believe turnout could be as low as 10 percent.

Morales has launched a campaign to try to get people to polling stations, but his rapidly declining popularity has failed to stir the electorate.

The border issue goes back to 1783 when Spain, the former colonial power over what is now Guatemala, gave Britain the right to occupy future Belize and exploit its timber in exchange for combating piracy. A century later, it became a British colony.

In 1964, British Honduras won the right to self-government, then in 1973 renamed itself Belize.

Independence came in 1981, though a British military presence remained until the mid-1990s because Guatemala refused for a decade to recognize it as a new country.Honestly it's not safe a lot of places outside of the US. Aren't her kids American? I don't think leaving the US solves everything.

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I believe her children are American but what does that matter?

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I was just asking.

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"But racism is much more alive and well than people thought. We cant deny it anymore."



How can anyone deny this shit!? I don't get how anyone thought racism didn't exist? A fucking freshman in high school was just shot at because he dared to knock on a door and ask for directions while black. He was late for school and lost, and someone fucking SHOT at him.



Edited at 2018-04-14 02:48 pm (UTC)

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racism only exists when white people get oppressed for using racial slurs

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I don't think they think it doesn't exist but more that we had progressed farther than we actually have. If you live in a bubble where you're not only not experiencing it first hand but not seeing blatant forms of it I feel like it's easy for people to downplay or overlook.

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YEAH!!! I saw that news and was so fucking appalled. THAT WAS SO FUCKED UP!!!! JUST.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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she's talking to white people who think that people are comfortable being openly racist because Trump is president when it's really the other way around.

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As if theyd hear her out and then turn a blind eye and pretending everythings fine and peachy in their bubble. Cmon.

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my heart broke when i read about that story.

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Im glad that kid is safe and that there was security recording with audio. I wish the wife could be charged.

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and two black guys were arrested for sitting at a Starbucks without ordering (they were waiting for a friend to order), the manager called the cops on them for "loitering" I think and they were arrested even as costumers around deffended them

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The only way to protect her black children from racism is to build a self-sustaining space station.



Or a private island.



Both sound good to me.

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Yeah and keep them away from her. She was with Sean Penn rather recently.

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Wait really? I love her work but eurgh :/

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Is he racist? I've only ever heard of the stuff he's done it regards to women.

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LMAO

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She's cool with letting racist Sean Penn into her kids' lives though? Racism isn't limited to a collection of southern states, or even the USA. It's so disappointing doing some research how many countries I feel I'd have to skip visiting just because of my skin color. If it took Trump being elected for her to realize all this, that's sad, but typical for white women in this climate tbh.



If I can do something about that, of course Im going to.



I hope she means some sort of activism.



I just read that story about that black teenage boy who got left by the schoolbus, went up to a house to ask for directions to his school and got shot at. I felt like crying.





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And go where?

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First thing I thought was, "South Eefrica? LMAO OK"

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South Africa. Shes been on a glorification of SA for the past few years

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MTE. This is some real tone deaf bullshit.

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In Canada is it slightly better? I mean I feel like I hear more about black people getting shot for ZERO reason here in America. Obviously no where is 100% safe unfortunately.

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/police-deaths-blacks-data-1.4599215 People get shot way less in general here, but it's still racist.

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Well there are less police shootings and school shootings, but there is plenty of racism.

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Lots of racism here, but people like to pretend it doesn't exist and live in their bubbles. Lots of microaggressions and systemic racism. We also treat our indigenous peoples horribly.



Ontario is very likely going to vote our Dollarama version of Trump to be premier (head of the province) in a few months. And this even while we like to circlejerk ourselves about 'how much better we are than the US!' We're not.

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FOR REAL

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such a white person thing to say and contemplate doing. does she know any black people--parents, educators...anyone? coddling and sheltering black children will only make their "black person wake up" call worse. we don't need more clueless people who realize they're black at 39 like zoe saldana. anti-blackness is global, and money and privilege will still get you profiled and shot. idiot.

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This is true the earlier that happens the better.

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Yep! No lies detected.

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(Edit) Anti-white racism was one of the reasons she left South Africa



"with the dismantling of apartheid and the creation of new affirmative action laws, she became convinced there was no future for a white South African. One week after turning 16, she accepted an offer from an Italian model scout, andwith her mothers blessingheaded for Milan. Looking back, she says, I just ran.

http://people.com/archive/that-thing-she-does-vol-46-no-16/



Edited at 2018-04-14 03:11 pm (UTC) I don't understand why a white South African would adopt black children.(Edit) Anti-white racism was one of the reasons she left South Africa"with the dismantling of apartheid and the creation of new affirmative action laws, she became convinced there was no future for a white South African. One week after turning 16, she accepted an offer from an Italian model scout, andwith her mothers blessingheaded for Milan. Looking back, she says, I just ran.

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maybe her views have changed a bit since she was 15/16.

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I think shes a very ignorant person

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You should maybe look for something more recent than 1996. This was her cover story because, at the time, she hadn't publicly shared the story about her mother killing her father in self-defense. She left at 16 because her mother sent her away to avoid the investigation.

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There aren't any quotes about apartheid that make her look better. She absolves herself of guilt, ignores her privilege, and makes herself the victim. She claims to have been raised in Zulu culture and other black cultures during the apartheid.





https://www.news24.com/xArchive/Archive/Charlize-didnt-support-apartheid-20001016



"South Africa was very well-deserving of its demonisation. But I was raised by a family that did not believe in apartheid," the actress said in Sunday`s Daily News.



"My parents had a road construction company and everybody lived on the farm with us. So I was raised from infancy with all these different black cultures, including Zulus."



http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2016/03/30/charlize-theron-breaks-down-talking-about-south-africa-and-what-happened-with-sean-penn/



I have a lot of things I should probably sort out in therapy about my relationship with my country. Because its affected me way more than Ive ever acknowledged. And it was only when I got older that I started realizing that I had a lot of anger; there was a lot of unresolved stuffapartheid, health care, AIDS, povertythat still very much affects me." It was both reasons. Lots of white people left South Africa at that time for the reason she gave. It's still racist as a lie to cover up something else, since it's scapegoating black South Africans.There aren't any quotes about apartheid that make her look better. She absolves herself of guilt, ignores her privilege, and makes herself the victim. She claims to have been raised in Zulu culture and other black cultures during the apartheid."South Africa was very well-deserving of its demonisation. But I was raised by a family that did not believe in apartheid," the actress said in Sunday`s Daily News."My parents had a road construction company and everybody lived on the farm with us. So I was raised from infancy with all these different black cultures, including Zulus."I have a lot of things I should probably sort out in therapy about my relationship with my country. Because its affected me way more than Ive ever acknowledged. And it was only when I got older that I started realizing that I had a lot of anger; there was a lot of unresolved stuffapartheid, health care, AIDS, povertythat still very much affects me."

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Because she lives in the US and its easier to adopt black kids than white ones there.

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Then where ?

I dont think she would go back to south africa. Racism there is pretty much alive too!

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You plan on moving to another dimension?

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Europe isnt any better. Theyre racist just like us.



@ me U.K. ONTD.

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UK won't be European much longer, haha!





Brexit fuckers

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Getting out of the EU doesn't put it in the middle of the atlantic, lol..





Althouhg Nigel Firage probably would like that..

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This comment is killing me. Please tell me you're joking lol

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lmao I'm dead at the Atlantic reply

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lmao

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have some pity for us here in ireland. trump on one side and may on the other

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They already hate her guts, it's going to be good

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lmaoooo I am too tired for that.

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I mean same but I'm confused on where she'd go.



I wish the earth wasnt inhabited by trash people :(

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she's gonna have to move to Wakanda because where will they be totally safe??

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I mean her kids are less likely to get shot just walking down the street in Europe so there is tha at least.

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im a little confused at the tone of the comments of the post.



i mean yes, antiblack racism is everywhere and so is poljce brutality but theres a culture of tolerated violence in the US that i feel is unmatched by a lot of places in the developed world.

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That's just a really American thing to say. America isn't unique in its racism against black people.

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How is it very American though? No country is unique in racism, but America is unique in it's police brutality and gun violence

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i didnt say that

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mte

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yeah, she isn't very eloquent about it, but the usa has a specific epidemic of police killing black people with impunity. her kids will suffer racism anywhere in the western world but there's a lot lower chance of them being shot dead for being black outside the united states

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thank you.



racism is everywhere and idk what charlize theron's real views are exactly, but there IS a specific type of American anti-Black racism and a unique history to it, and to deny that as "meh it's everywhere" is so ignorant.

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im a little confused at the tone of the comments of the post.



I think people are just stating that you cant run away from anti-blackness. Like the idea of an entirely safe place had people going ???!!!. Idk I feel like the way things are summarized is a tad confusing since in one part she says that certain parts of the country are shit and then the next she says the whole country is fucked. Like does she think some places are racism free and others arent or is it that she realized while speaking everything sucks? If she hadnt included that she thinks things are significantly different under the new administration and that some parts are better than others the response might have been different.



Theres been plenty of discussion of us specific racism towards black people so I dont think users here are unaware that death is less likely in other places.



At least this is my interpretation of what happened in this post since some of the commenters going um no are black themselves.



Edit: you know rereading this idk if Im explaining this well at all so you are free to ignore this reply



Edited at 2018-04-14 05:54 pm (UTC)

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LinkUS President Donald Trump and his British and French allies on Saturday hailed their joint strikes in Syria in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons, warning Damascus that any repetition would be met with renewed firepower. Hours later, the allies signaled their resolve to return to diplomacy, launching a new bid at the United Nations to investigate the chemical weapons attacks. They circulated a joint draft resolution at the Security Council that also calls for unimpeded deliveries of humanitarian aid and enforcement of a ceasefire and demands that Syria engage in UN-led peace talks, according to the text obtained by AFP. The narrowly targeted pre-dawn military operation, which took aim at three alleged chemical weapons facilities, earned quick scorn from Russia, but a push by Moscow for condemnation of the strikes at the Security Council fell far short. Trump and his allies ordered the mission in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack a week ago on the rebel-held town of Douma that left more than 40 people dead. Washington believes both sarin and chlorine were used in the April 7 attack, a senior US administration official told reporters on Saturday. Both the regime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and its ally Russia have denied all responsibility. Moscow slammed the "aggressive actions" of the Western coalition but has not yet responded militarily. US ambassador Nikki Haley warned her UN counterparts that although the mission was designed as a one-off, that did not preclude further action against Assad. "I spoke to the president this morning and he said: 'If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,'" Haley said at emergency Security Council talks. - Fresh diplomatic push - Negotiations on the draft resolution put forward by the US, France and Britain are set to begin on Monday. Among the contentious proposals, it would establish an independent investigation into allegations of toxic gas attacks in Syria with the aim of identifying the perpetrators. On the humanitarian side, the measure demands medical evacuations and safe passage for aid convoys to be allowed to all areas. Diplomats said it remained unclear when the council would vote on the proposal, and they were ready to allow time for negotiations to bring Russia aboard. - 'Perfectly executed' - Just before dawn on Saturday, the sounds of massive explosions and the roar of warplanes rang out across Damascus for about 45 minutes. "A perfectly executed strike last night," Trump tweeted early Saturday. "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!" The targets included a scientific research facility near Damascus, and two chemical weapons facilities outside the city of Homs, the US military said, though reports said the buildings had been evacuated in recent days. Syrian state media reported only three people injured, while Russia's defense ministry said there were "no victims" among Syrian civilians and military personnel. According to US officials, the operation involved three US destroyers, a French frigate and a US submarine. The vessels were located in the Red Sea, the Gulf and the eastern Mediterranean. British Tornado and Typhoon warplanes, American B-1 bombers and French Rafale jets also took part in the strikes. - Assad defiant - The strikes were the biggest foreign military action so far against Syria's regime. On Saturday Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron huddled by telephone to discuss their joint action. "By working together, in a coordinated fashion, we can definitively prevent the Syrian regime from carrying out chemical attacks against its own people," Macron said on Twitter. May has faced a backlash from her domestic opposition for launching the strikes without consulting parliament, while opposition lawmakers in the US warned Trump that any broader military campaign would require a well-formulated strategic vision -- and authorization from Congress. Assad responded to the strikes with a defiant vow. "This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," he said. Assad's key ally Iran also slammed the attack, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing Western leaders as "criminals." The targets appeared to steer well clear of any Russian personnel or equipment in Syria, where Moscow launched a military intervention in support of Assad in 2015. The Russian military claimed Syrian air defense systems had intercepted 71 Western missiles, though the Pentagon flatly dismissed the claim and said all missiles hit their targets. - Too little, too late? - Despite the strikes, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it was still pursuing its investigation into the Douma attack. Thousands of rebels and civilians have been bussed out of the town under a Russian-brokered deal. Syrian internal security forces entered Douma on Saturday and later said the town had been fully retaken. Jaish al-Islam, the group that held Douma, said it only abandoned the town because of the chemical attack. Ahmad, a 25-year-old mechanic who had been displaced from Douma, told AFP the Western strikes were nevertheless too little, too late. "Assad won't collapse. They'll bomb for a day or two and then the regime will take it out on us," he said. burs-wd/smThe bald eagle population along Virginia's James River made a stunning comeback after falling to zero in the 1970s.

Scientists now wonder if the James has reached "peak eagle."

William & Mary said in a press release Wednesday that the population has plateaued. Two university biologists are looking out for signs of natural population decline as more and more eagles compete for limited space along the river.

Bald eagles live up to 30 years. They're extremely territorial and generally mate for life.

Biologists survey the river by airplane each spring, and in late April, they'll tally up the number of hatched chicks.

Bald eagle populations plummeted before the federal government banned the pesticide DDT in 1972. Eagles also were given endangered status under the Endangered Species Act in 1967.

Explore further Vermont sees modern-day record for bald eagle reproduction

 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.EnQuest PLC operates as an oil and gas development and production company, explores for, extracts, and produces hydrocarbons in the United Kingdom, North Sea, and Malaysia. It primarily holds interests in the Magnus, Kraken, the Greater Kittiwake Area, Scolty/Crathes, Alba, Thistle/Deveron, Heather/Broom, Alma/Galia, and the Dons area. The company also has interests in the PM8/Seligi and PM409 production sharing contracts in Malaysia. In addition, it holds interests in 10 operated production licenses and 3 production hubs. As of December 31, 2020, the company had proved and probable reserves of 279 million barrels of oil equivalents. Further, it is involved in the construction, ownership, and operation of an oil pipeline; marketing and trading of crude oil; and leasing activities. EnQuest PLC was incorporated in 2010 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Read More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 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.NASAs Juno has kept documenting the things that it comes across in the outer space and has sent back the images to the space agency. We have already heard and seen with Juno, the auroras on the Jupiter and the storm and anti-cyclones. In accordance with the reports of this week, NASA has demonstrated a 3D rendition of Jupiters storms and the planets North Pole.

As revealed at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna at Austria on Wednesday, the 1 minute and 20-seconds plunge through what seems to be hells inferno consists of pictures taken by a camera abroad the Juno spacecraft that now is orbiting the planet.

The key motive of this mission is to begin understanding the inner functioning of Jupiter both in relation to the galaxy as a whole and as a way for NASA to understand the processes which lead to the creation of the planet. What the team is to check is the- level of water in the atmosphere of the planet and the different minerals, rocks, and metals that make up the composition of the planet. Although it may seem insignificant, the team would even tend to estimate the exact temperatures which are there coupled up with the magnetic pull and the level of gravity.

Another Juno co-investigator, Tristan Guillot said that Juno assisted them to find out as to how the interior of Jupiter rotates. The fact is actually something which they were unable to detect in the past, as it was tough for scientists to differentiate between the extreme models of the interior rotation of the Jupiter.

Juno severely has hiked the level of accuracy and precision of data collection as before this satellite was out there gathering the information, the only pieces of evidence which could have been collected were only because of the satellites on Earth which did not possess the similar level of accuracy and precision.

The animation zooms in from the visible-light images of Jupiter to display the 3D reconstruction that was made from JIRAM pictures taken during the fourth high-speed flyby of Juno, or perijove, of the planet on 2nd February 2017. Back in March NASA reported that the Juno discovered that the atmospheric winds on Jupiter travel deep into its atmosphere and can be considered to be unearthly.

The primary mission of Juno should end after its 14th perijove on 16 July 2018. The pictures are really crucial as they provide the data that was required so that the scientists could understand the interior structure of the planet and its magnetic field and composition. This information would help the researchers guide the remaining observations of the spacecraft.As the regulatory debate continues mainly between government agencies and cryptocurrency protagonists, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), through its Governor, Patrick Njoroge joins in the campaign towards slowing down the propagation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

A Recurrent Warning

Njoroge told legislators on Thursday that he had sent a circular to all banks warning them on the dangers of dealing in virtual currencies. According to him while addressing the National Assembly Committee on Finance at Parliament Buildings, the circular cautioned the banks against dealing in virtual currencies or transacting with entities that are engaged in virtual currencies.

This is not the first time that the CBK is getting involved in moves to discourage the countrys citizens from getting involved in what has been popularly described as a risky venture by most regulators. It can be recalled that in December 2015, the consumer protection concerns led CBK to issue a notice warning the public against virtual currencies such as Bitcoin.

These warnings are not peculiar to the CBK alone or to Kenya. In a previous article on CCN, it was reported how the Manager at Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) warned citizens of the lack of insurance on any investment in virtual currencies, qualifying them as very risky ventures that are not backed by any physical commodity, such as gold or other precious stones.

In the same trend, just last Wednesday, World Bank Group Senior Vice President Mahmoud Mohieldin said that Blockchain technology may have many good uses in the world, but Bitcoin could be the biggest bubble in history. This statement reinforces the recurring question that seeks to address if blockchain technology can be isolated from cryptocurrencies, and how possible it is to adopt the technology without implementing its underlying tokens  cryptocurrencies.

Yes to the Blockchain, no to Cryptocurrency

If one would study the tone of these spokespersons in their criticisms so far, it is easy to deduce that while they may have warned against the adoption of these tokens as elements of value, hence investment vehicles or currencies for transaction, none has outrightly noted on the possibility of token extinction. Therefore, adopting the technology and denying the value of their underlying tokens introduces an entirely different dynamics to the debate.

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Imagine the possibility of accessing and implementing specific blockchains and acquiring their underlying tokens at absolutely no costs. This will automatically redefine the total industrial dynamics of the ecosystem. The questions that would arise in such cases would be the basis of token supply and distribution, and the possibility of maintaining order within such an industry, without a marketplace.

Finding Equilibrium

Considering the current stage in the development of blockchain technology, the existing debates and resistances can be considered as normal and beneficial challenges. So far, there have been improved protocols that reflect more balanced implementations, compared to the very early blockchains. These can be credited to research and development exercises, born out of criticisms such as seen from regulatory agencies.

While the industry continues to grow and traditional systems try to find the most appropriate ways to get involved, the role of cryptocurrencies need to be properly defined. Rather than the initial hype by most enthusiasts of the new technology, or the blanket condemnation by traditional agencies, more objective steps are necessary. This will ensure a better defined ecosystem where maximum value can be achieved from a technology that is quickly finding universal approval.

Featured image from Shutterstock.



The post Kenyas Central Bank Warns Against Cryptocurrency appeared first on CCN.

South Africans turned out in thousands to bid final goodbyes to anti-apartheid icon and Nelson Mandela's former wife Winnie Mandela who was laid to rest with full state honours on Saturday. Mourners filled the 37,500-seater Orlando Stadium in the township of Soweto where Winnie lived and erupted into loud cheers as the casket carrying her remains was wheeled in. The casket draped with South Africa's national colours was placed in the middle of the stadium in front of a stage, decked in white and yellow flowers. Mourners dressed in the colours of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), as well those of the radical opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), sang "there's no-one like Winnie", an adapted popular liberation struggle song. In a moving, yet fiery eulogy, her daughter slammed her mother's critics. "It was my mother who kept his (Nelson Mandela's) memory alive," said a teary Zenani. "South Africa, and indeed the world, holds men and women to different standards of morality." She added that "praising her now that she is gone shows what hypocrites you are." "They robbed my mother of her rightful legacy during her lifetime," she said of Winnie, who she praised for taking on "one of the most powerful and evil regimes of the past century". - 'She died a revolutionary' - South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office two months ago, offered an apology for the country's failure to honour Winnie for her contribution to the liberation of the country. "I'm sorry Mama that your organisation (ANC) delayed in according you its honour. I'm sorry that we delayed this much, to this point," he said in an eulogy. Firebrand opposition politician Julius Malema, who was expelled from the ANC, but who remained close to Winnie, said "she died a revolutionary... she never sold out". As soon as speeches drew to a close, stormy clouds formed over the stadium, followed moments after by heavy rains that drenched mourners and the funeral procession as it drove out to a cemetery 40 kilometres away. Mourners broke into another liberation song chanting in Xhosa: "this is the Winnie we know". The ceremony concluded 10 days of national mourning during which time hundreds of thousands of South Africans have paid tribute to the "Mother of the Nation" at her Soweto home and elsewhere. Winnie Mandela, who died in Johannesburg aged 81 on April 2 after a long illness, has been celebrated for helping keep Nelson Mandela's dream of a non-racial South Africa alive while he was behind bars for 27 years. - 'Go well Mama' - "She was one of the most profound leaders of the ANC," said 53-year-old mourner Brian Magqaza. "She fought from beginning to the end. Go well Mama." Former South African presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki also attended the funeral. Mourners booed when the presence of scandal-tainted Zuma was publicly acknowledged. Foreign dignitaries at the funeral include the leaders of Namibia, Swaziland and the Republic of Congo, as well as American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and international supermodel Naomi Campbell. Her "steely leadership...gave strength to us all. She taught us not to be limited in our thoughts," said Campbell. The township of Soweto is hugely symbolic in South Africa as it became a crucible of black resistance against white minority rule, which ended with elections in 1994. Winnie Mandela's husband became the first black president of democratic South Africa, but she refused to follow many other struggle-era politicians who moved from townships like Soweto to formerly white-only suburbs after the end of apartheid. Instead she remained embedded in the community where she met Nelson Mandela at a bus stop in 1957. Her body was buried at a privately run graveyard in Johannesburg's upmarket Fourways suburb where two of her great-grand children are also buried. - 'Symbol of resistance' - The funeral closes the final chapter in the history of a woman who was exalted for her fearless defiance of apartheid rule but also implicated in violence and corruption in later life. In 1991, she was convicted for kidnapping and being an accessory in the assault of a 14-year-old boy. But her controversial reputation was largely brushed aside in the wake of her death with tributes to her bravery, independence and integrity dominating public commemorations. In old age, Winnie Mandela emerged as a respected elder who was feted as a living reminder of her late husband -- and of the long and celebrated struggle against apartheid. Most of their 38-year marriage was spent apart, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone as she kept his political dream alive. But when Nelson Mandela died in 2013, it emerged he had left Winnie nothing in his will. On Saturday, a 21-gun salute will be fired at her final resting place.Syria air defences strike back after air strikes by U.S., British and French forces in Damascus, Syria in this still image obtained from video dated early April 14, 2018. SYRIA TV via Reuters TV

DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Western attack on Syria hit a scientific research facility in Damascus and Syrian army depots in the Homs area, state media said, and a Reuters witness said the Syrian capital was rocked by explosions as smoke rose into the sky.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a second research facility was also struck in Damascus, in addition to a third in the Homs area, and five military bases and depots used by elite army divisions in the Mezzeh area of Damascus.

A senior official in the regional alliance that supports President Bashar al-Assad said the attack by the United States, Britain and France would be viewed as contained if it was now over. "If it is finished, and there is no second round, it will be considered limited," the official told Reuters.

Syrian state TV said air defences were confronting the attack and had shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area south of Damascus. It said a pro-Damascus "anti-terror axis" was confronting the attack, language suggesting that Assad's ally Russia may be helping to fend off the assault.

State TV described the attack as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said all the targeted locations were evacuated three days ago after the Russians told the government they had intelligence that bases including the research centres would be hit. He said there were so far no reports of civilian or military casualties.

(Reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus, Tom Perry, Samia Nakhoul, Laila Bassam and Ellen Francis in Beirut;Editing by Samia Nakhoul)French Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian and French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly make an official statement in the press room at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, April 14, 2018. Michel Euler/Pool via Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - France has concluded after analysing "reliable intelligence" and open sources that a chemical attack on Douma on April 7 was carried out by Syrian government forces, a declassified intelligence report showed on Saturday.

"On the intelligence collected by our services, and in the absence to date of chemical samples analysed by our own laboratories, France considers, beyond possible doubt, a chemical attack was carried out against civilians at Douma ... and that there is no plausible scenario other than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces," the report said.

It was released after coordinated air strikes by Britain, France and the United States on Syrian government targets overnight.

"After examining the videos and images of victims published online, they (intelligence services) were able to conclude with a high degree of confidence that the vast majority are recent and not fabricated," the report said.

It said no deaths from mechanical injuries were visible and all symptoms were characteristic of a chemical weapons attack, particularly choking agents and organophosphorus agents or hydrocyanic acid.

"Reliable intelligence indicates that Syrian military officials have coordinated what appears to be the use of chemical weapons containing chlorine on Douma, on April 7," it said. It gave no other details on the intelligence.

The report, which provided a broad outline of the Syrian government-backed offensive supported by Russia on the eastern Ghouta region over recent months, also said French services had assessed that not all Syrian government chemical stockpiles and capacities had been declared to the U.N.

Syria had omitted to declare many of the activities of its Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC), the report said.

It said Syria had not answered questions on matters including possible remaining stocks of yperite (mustard gas) and DF (a sarin precursor), undeclared chemical weapons of small calibre and signs VX and sarin on production and loading sites.

(Reporting by John Irish; editing by Ingrid Melander and Jason Neely)By Parisa Hafezi

ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said coordinated air strikes on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday were a crime that would bring no benefit.

"Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei added.

Iran -- the dominant Shi'ite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States' other Sunni Arab allies -- has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict.

Militias backed by Tehran helped Assad's army stem rebel advances and, following Russia's entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in the Syrian government's favour.

Iran's pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani warned that the U.S.-led missile attacks would lead to further destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rouhani was quoted as saying, signalling that Iran's support for Assad would grow.

"UNRELENTING CONFRONTATION"

An official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic's most powerful arm, said fallout from the attacks would harm Washington.

"With this attack ... the situation will become more complex, and this will surely be at the expense of the United States, which will be responsible for the aftermath of upcoming regional events that will certainly not be in their interest," Yadollah Javani, the Guards' deputy head for political affairs, told Fars news agency.

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"The resistance front will be strengthened and it will have more capacity to act against (U.S.) acts of intervention. Americans should expect the consequences of their actions," Javani said.

Iran often refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the United States as a "resistance front".

In a statement, the IRGC said: "This unrelenting confrontation shows that the Syrian people, with the support of the strategic allies of Damascus, will not stop until achieving complete victory," Fars reported.

Iran's military chief of staff General Mohammad Baqeri assured Syrian Defence Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub of Tehran's continued support.

"The nation and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to fight alongside the Syrian people and the Syrian armed forces against the criminal terrorists," Fars quoted Baqeri as telling Ayoub by telephone.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran said Washington and its allies had attacked Syria "despite the absence of any proven evidence."

"Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state," it said in a statement carried by state media.

Analyst Hossein Sheikholeslam, a former Iranian ambassador to Damascus, told state television the attacks would bolster support for the Syrian government.

"These attacks will stabilise the Syrian government... and unite the different tribes in Syria as Syrians become aware of their honour and come to the defence of the independence, territorial integrity and the government of their country," he said.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Dubai newsroom; Writing by Samia Nakhoul and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Jason Neely and Helen Popper)By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts' top court on Friday rejected Exxon Mobil Corp's <XOM.N> bid to block the state's attorney general from obtaining records to investigate whether the company for decades concealed its knowledge of the role fossil fuels play in climate change.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Attorney General Maura Healey had jurisdiction to seek records to probe whether the oil company's marketing or sale of fossil fuel products violated the state's consumer protection law.

The ruling marked another setback for Exxon after a federal judge in March dismissed a related lawsuit it filed seeking to block investigations by Healey and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, both of whom are Democrats.

Exxon argued that because it is incorporated in Texas and New Jersey, Healey had no basis to issue a demand for documents in 2016 to conduct a Massachusetts-based investigation of whether it misled consumers and investors.

But Justice Elspeth Cypher, writing for a 6-0 court, said jurisdiction existed because of Exxon's control over advertising conducted for about 300 franchise gas stations operating under the Exxon and Mobil brands in Massachusetts.

She said Healey's probe related to how manmade greenhouse gas emissions had caused climate change, "a distinctly modern threat that grows more serious with time, and the effects of which are already being felt in Massachusetts."

Healey said she hoped Exxon would now turn over documents it has fought hard against disclosing, showing what it knew about climate change and when it knew it.

"I hope this decision will encourage Exxon to end their scorched earth campaign," she said.

Scott Silvestri, a spokesman for Exxon, said the company was considering its next steps.

Healey and Schneiderman launched their investigations following news reports in 2015 saying Exxon's own scientists determined that fossil fuel combustion must be reduced to mitigate the impact of climate change.

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Those reports by InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times were based on documents from the 1970s and 1980s. Exxon contended that the documents were not inconsistent with its public positions.

Exxon has called the investigations politically motivated and in a separate lawsuit filed in federal court claimed that Schneiderman and Healey were conspiring to "silence and intimidate one side of the public policy debate."

But U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan dismissed that case in March, rejecting as "implausible" Exxons' claim Healey and Schneiderman were pursuing bad faith investigations in order to violate its constitutional rights.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio and Bill Trott)Thum Ping Tjin is a Visiting Fellow of the Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group at Oxfords School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, said the university. (PHOTO: Screenshot from Gov.sg YouTube page)

Oxford University has clarified historian Thum Ping Tjins role at the institution, after the Singapore Parliament Secretariat wrote to the academic to inquire about his position there.

Oxfords head of communications Stephen Rouse said Thum is a research associate with the universitys School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, reported The Straits Times on Saturday (14 April).

Responding to the newspapers queries, Rouse said Thum is a Visiting Fellow of the Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group at the school.

The universitys spokesperson added that the school has three categories of research associates, and Thum falls under the category of social scientists based outside the university working with members of the department.

Research associates are not employees of the university, said Rouse, but are valued colleagues with whom we have shared research interests.

The other two categories of research associates at the school are anthropologists based in Oxford and recent doctorate graduates of the department.

Rouse also said that Thum was awarded a doctorate in history by the university in 2011.

The Parliament Secretariat said on Friday (13 April) that it had written to Thum to ask him to clarify his academic credentials after he gave varying accounts of his role at the University of Oxford.

On the final day of the hearings by the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods in March, Thum was grilled for six hours by Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam about his research and writings on the history of Singapore in the 1960s. During the session, Shanmugam also asked Thum about his academic credentials.

Yahoo News Singapore has reached out to Thum for comment.

Related stories:

Parliament asks Thum Ping Tjin to clarify academic credentials

K Shanmugam: Serious allegations about Lee Kuan Yew by Thum Ping Tjin on Operation Coldstore

COMMENT: Truths, half-truths and the Singapore storyPrime Minister Lee Hsien Loong speaking in Parliament. Three ministers are said to be moving to the backbench in the next Cabinet reshuffle. (Image from video released by Parliament via AP)

Three veteran ministers in Singapores government are expected to give up their posts as younger members of the Cabinet are given new portfolios, The Straits Times (ST) reported on Saturday (14 April).

Citing MPs and political analysts, ST said Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say and Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim may step down from the front bench in an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle. This means they would continue to be Members of Parliament but would not hold Cabinet positions.

The ministers expected to be leaving the Cabinet are all in their 60s. Lim Hng Kiang is 64 years old, Lim Swee Say is 63, and Yaacob is 62.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had earlier announced in February that he would reshuffle the Cabinet before Parliament reconvenes in May, in order to give younger ministers more exposure and responsibility.

Younger ministers Heng Swee Keat, Chan Chun Sing and Ong Ye Kung may be given charge of new portfolios that would plug gaps in their experience, STs sources said.

Amid questions over leadership renewal in Singapore, media and political observers have said Heng, Ong and Chan are contenders to be the next prime minister.

Heng, 56, is currently the Finance Minister.

Ong, 48, is one of two Education Ministers, in charge of higher education and skills. He is also Second Minister for Defence. The other education minister is Ng Chee Meng.

Chan, 48, is a minister in the Prime Ministers Office. He is also Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress, an important post in a government that has traditionally worked closely with the labour movement.

Parliament will re-open in May with an address by President Halimah Yacob, and Lee said he was asking the fourth generation of ministers to draft the governments agenda for the address to give Singaporeans a better sense of them and their thoughts.

Related stories:

COMMENT: Singapores political succession in a disruptive world

PM Lee says choosing his potential successor will take a bit longer: reports

Singapore 4G leaders says new PM will be chosen in good time: reportsIt was the ultimate selfie opportunity and but the tourists on Hangzhou-based wildlife filmmaker Xu Chenghuas Antarctic excursion had been told to stay well away from the penguins.

Xu, who has been to Antarctica twice, said the tourists were repeatedly reminded of the rules, including no littering and staying at least five metres (16 feet) from animals.

But some Chinese visitors still behaved badly ... [including] making a lot of noise, dancing in front of the penguins and even shaking hands with them, he said.

This is a place that only rich people can afford, but I think their manners are inconsistent [with their wealth], the filmmaker said.

As the ends of the Earth come with reach of more of the Chinas tourists, scientists and tour operators are growing ever more aware of the need to manage the influx to minimise the impact on the continents fragile environment.

Wang Pei, a member of Chinas 33rd Antarctica scientific study team, said he and his coworkers met visitors frequently when he worked at the Great Wall Station  Chinas first on Antarctica  from December 2016 to February 2017.

When not immersed in field work and handling data, team members at the South Shetland Islands research station were greeting anywhere from 12 to 100 visitors, mostly from China, up to four times a week, Wang said.

It took them a lot to finally land in our own research station, said Wang, a doctoral candidate at the University of Science and Technologys school of Earth and space sciences based in Hefei, in eastern Chinas Anhui province.

We understand that many people wish to see it, and it seems to be unreasonable if we didnt welcome them.

Nevertheless, the frequent visits were getting in the way of research work, and raising worries about the impact of heavy human traffic on the regions sensitive ecosystem, Wang said.

China now trails only the US as a source of visitors to Antarctica, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators.

Story continues

Of the more than 44,000 tourists who visited the worlds coldest, driest and windiest land mass during the 2016-17 summer season, 12 per cent were from China, compared with 33 per cent from the United States, data from the tour operators association showed.

The number of Chinese visitors was up a quarter from a year earlier.

This market is getting bigger and bigger, said Zhang Lei, general manager of polar exploration services for Caissa, one of the first Chinese travel agencies to enter the polar tourism market.

Tourists usually stayed at the Great Wall Station for about an hour, but took much longer to land and leave by boat, Wang said.

At least two or three workers at the station had to meet each group, explain the stations work and prevent the tourists from venturing into dangerous areas, he said.

A tourist group once was stranded at the station for nearly four hours because of extreme weather.

They had to stay until the weather got better  But there wasnt enough space for so many people, Wang said.

And it was noon, so everybody was starving. You know the food supply at Antarctic research stations is tight  we normally unload food once a year.

Wang said the researchers gave the stranded tourists hot water and snacks.

They really could have been forced to stay longer if they had worse luck, he said. By the time they were finally able to board their boats to return to their ships, the waves were still raging and wind still strong.

Wang said authorities should conduct an assessment before further opening the region to tourists. Visits by the public also needed to be better organised, he said.

Industry insiders see the Antarctica tourism boom continuing. Limiting tourist numbers seems unlikely to happen, at least for now.

Amanda Lynnes, head of communications and environment for the Antarctica tour operators association, said she expected growth in the sector to continue in line with global tourism trends, the same being true for Chinese visitors.

Numbers are growing, but although 44,000 is relatively small compared to other wilderness areas or remote destinations  Iceland received 2.2 million visitors in 2017. Continued monitoring and collaboration on a grand and global scale was absolutely vital to protecting Antarcticas extraordinary environment, she said.

Human activity in Antarctica is managed through the Antarctic Treaty System, which provides a framework that the tour operators group works within. More than 50 parties, including China, have signed the treaty.

Limiting visitor numbers could be done only through a consensus of the Antarctic treaty nations, Lynnes said.

Zhang from Caissa said he expected the area to see strong growth over the next few years.

Against the backdrop of Chinas consumption upgrade  consumers new-found preference for higher quality commodities and services and new experiences  taking a polar cruise to explore Antarctica has become the ultimate travelling goal for many mid- and high-end consumers he said.

Zhang said environmental concerns were a major challenge in the outlook for Antarctic tourism.

The travel company had encouraged tourists to treat the environment well, by not disturbing animals or stepping on plants, and not leaving any rubbish, he said.

The companys clients who visit Antarctica generally were well-travelled and love discovering new places, he said.

They have [a sense of] responsibility for the course of the public good and environmental protection, he said.

Wang applauded Chinese visitors who showed environmental awareness and obeyed the stations rules.

But I think the increased visits from big boats would certainly lead to environmental issues and is worth our attention, he said.

The vessels themselves are a mobile source of gas and oil emissions, and we should also consider their impacts on sealife in such a sensitive ecosystem.

But Xu said most Antarctic tourism happened outside the Antarctic Circle  possibly limiting its impact.

Lynnes said, tour operators group mostly took visitors to coastal areas.

Few land-based operators fly visitors and expeditions from Punta Arenas or Cape Town to field camps in Antarcticas interior.

Such deep field tourism accounted for only 1 per cent of overall Antarctic tourism last year, according to statistics from the tour operators group.

People are learning a lot more about Antarctica these days, and its not possible to close the region to travellers, Xu said.

Only when we learn about everything here, can we understand its beauty, implement our research and protection work.

This article Is a tourist boom hurting Chinas scientific research at the bottom of the world? first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.The United States, Britain and France launched punitive military strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in response to its latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war. "A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a primetime televised speech to the nation. "A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime." A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen. Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus. "Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued. The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the alleged toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which took place a week ago, and Trump reacted in an emotional tweet. "Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he declared. "President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay." Trump's anger and apparent determination was quickly matched by France's President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition. May said there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force against Assad. Trump's language was more brutal: "They are crimes of a monster." - 'Proof' - In the six days between the attack and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling press statements and US debates. Moscow denied its ally Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain had staged the event. More practically, at the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame. Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof." The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned that the crisis could escalate. The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path. That concern was mirrored by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday warned the rival camps against "full-blown military escalation." "Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," he urged the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain. And he stressed the need "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control." - Decision to act - But Trump has long criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a previous US "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assad's forces. And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun. Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, who took office on Monday, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimize the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syria's civil war. But other advisors want to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance. These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Iran's growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.Friday nights air and missile attack on Syria was as limited as one might imagine under the circumstances.

At a 10 p.m. news conference, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that more than 100 weapons were fired from U.S., British, and French warships and fighter planes.

But he also said the weapons were aimed at three targets associated strictly with Syrias chemical weapons infrastructurea lab near Damascus, a storage facility west of Homs, and a chemical equipment facility as well as an important command post in the same area.

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Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the targets were chosen, and the strikes were conducted, in order to minimize the chance of civilian and foreign casualties. For that reason, some chemical facilitieshow many, they didnt saywere excluded from the attack.

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In other words, as they said, the attack was designed to degrade Syrias ability to use chemical weaponsmeaning (though they didnt say this explicitly) that it would not necessarily destroy that ability. The two men also said they hoped the attack would deter Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from using such weapons in the future.

Mattis emphasized that this was a one-off attack. He said it began at 9:00 pm and ended before he and Dunford came down to the Pentagon press roommeaning that, from start to finish, it lasted less than an hour. The two men said no further attacks were planned, unless Assad launched chemical weapons again.

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One year ago, President Trump ordered warships in the Mediterranean to fire 59 cruise missiles at the air base from which Syria had recently launched chemical weapons. The next day, Syrian planes attacked anti-Assad forcesthough not with chemical weaponsfrom the very same base.

Mattis acknowledged at the press conference that Assad didnt get the message from last years attack but that Friday nights attack was more potent, since it involved three allied countries (instead of the United States acting unilaterally), three targets (instead of just one), and more than twice as many weapons.

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However, it does not necessarily follow that those differences alone will be enough to alter Assads behavior. Meanwhile, the attackwhich Mattis said was planned and carried out in tight integration with the British and French militariesavoided any targets that might have threatened Assads regime or its support by Russian and Iranian forces.

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Since Trump tweeted earlier this week that he would respond to Assads chemical attack by firing nice and new and smart missiles on Syria, the inevitability of a strike had been assumed by the entire world. Over the past couple of days, Trumps top advisers argued over whether the attack should be limiteda one-wave salvo, confined strictly to targets associated with Syrias chemical weaponsor broadened to include many other targets vital to Assads regime and perhaps spread out over several hours or days. Mattis and Dunford urged a limited strike, mainly to avoid escalating the conflict or sparking a direct war with Russia. Trump and his new national security adviser, John Bolton, were reported to be in favor of a broader attack.

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Mattis and Dunford seem to have won the debate.

In the days leading up to the strike, Kremlin officials warned that Russian air-defense systems would shoot down any U.S. planes or missiles aimed at Syria. Dunford said Friday night that he had no evidence of any such attempt, though he did say some Syrian surface-to-air missiles were fired. Syrian media reported that these SAMs shot down 13 U.S. cruise missiles.

Dunford said he had no information to confirm or deny those reports.

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It will take hours to assess the effects of a bombing campaign; certainly nothing reliable can be said until daylight. Mattis said the Pentagon would release more information Saturday morningincluding the number and types of planes, missiles, and munitions involved, whether any were shot down, how badly the targets were damaged, and whether other targets or people were hit by mistake.

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Its also not clear at this point whether actual stockpiles of chemical agents were hitand, if so, how that can be done without releasing the poison into the air.

Limited as it was, political controversies may erupt over the strike. Mattis said the president had the legal authority to launch the attack on his own, citing Article II of the Constitution and international laws banning chemical weapons. However, Article II gives the president authority to act when vital U.S. interests are endangered, and it is debatable whether they were in this instance. International law is clearly relevant, but some will argue that violations should be addressed by international bodies, such as the United Nations. The British parliament had planned to debate whether or not to join an attack on Syria, but the decision was made without their involvement.

The ultimate effect of the attack may not be known for days, weeks, or even longer, as the world waits to see what Russia and Iran will do and whether Assad will again resume his attackschemical and otherwiseon Syrian civilians.Many of President Donald Trumps most prominent conservative supporters in the media turned against him on Friday following his decision to launch airstrikes on Syria. But likely none had more of an unhinged reaction than Infowars founder Alex Jones, who started crying on the air while he criticized Trump. Fuck Trump, and fuck these fucking people, Jones said. He was doing good and thats what makes it so bad, Jones said as he cried on the air. If he had been a piece of crap from the beginning, it wouldnt be so bad, he added. Weve made so many sacrifices and now hes crapping all over us. It makes me sick. At another point in the broadcast Jones went on to call Trump a fraud and declare that he was done.

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Trump's anti-interventionist base, in this case, Alex Jones, reacts badly to Syria intervention: "Is no one pure in this world?.... F**k Trump!" pic.twitter.com/lBPVctVS1G  WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 14, 2018

Alex Jones on Trump launching strikes in Syria... pic.twitter.com/FkPt3xnok4  Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) April 14, 2018

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Jones may have been the harshest but he was hardly alone. Laura Ingraham got into a tense exchange with former White House national security aide Sebastian Gorka. To anybody who has doubts, think about this one question, Gorka said. What happens when the outside regime uses chemical weapons  and we do nothing? What message does that send to Iran, to Assad, to proxies? Because it sends a clear message as far as Im concerned, that we got away with it and we can do it again. Ingraham pushed back saying that the United States cant afford to get involved. Yeah, were out of money. We have no dough. Its not 1995 anymore, Sebastian, Ingraham said.

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Conservative author and radio host Michael Savage also took to Twitter to express his disappointment: We lost. War machine bombs syria. No evidence Assad did it. Sad warmongers hijacking our nation. Conservative Ann Coulter retweeted several people who were critical of the decision to strike Syria. In one tweet Coulter cites a news story in which former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe says he could beat Trump and she agrees: You mightif you promised no more stupid wars.

We lost. War machine bombs syria. No evidence Assad did it. Sad warmongers hijacking our nation  Michael Savage (@ASavageNation) April 14, 2018

AdvertisementA New York judge made public a government filing on Friday that offered a number of clues as to the subjects of this weeks raids on President Donald Trumps personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

That filinga response from the acting U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of New York to a motion by Cohen seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the government from reviewing the material collected in the raidsmakes a couple of things abundantly clear: The government has a compelling case for reviewing the material and Michael Cohen is in deep, deep trouble.

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The filing confirms that Cohen is under criminal investigation, which led to the warrants for the FBI raids that President Trump called an attack on our country.

From the filing:

A federal magistrate judge found that there was probable cause to believe that Cohens premises and devices contained evidence, fruits and instrumentalities that specified federal crimes were committed.

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Those possible crimes are redacted throughout the filing, but the document still tells us quite a bit about the investigation.

First, the search warrants for Cohens residence, hotel room, office, safety deposit box, and two cell phones involve a separate grand jury from that of Special Counsel Robert Mueller:

These searches were carried out as part of an ongoing grand jury investigation being conducted by the USAO-SDNY and the FBI.

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(ABC News also reported on Friday that FBI officials seized audio recordings during the raid, with Cohen reportedly having been known to record phone conversations.)

This investigation is being led by SDNY Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami, along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas McKay, Rachel Maimin, and Nicolas Roos. This fact serves to potentially inoculate the investigation of Cohen from Trumps attacks against Mueller and potential meddling in the broader Russia investigation, even as rumors have swirled that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is facing the axe. The filing makes explicit the fact that this probe is independent of Muellers:

Although Cohen accurately states that the Special Counsels Office (SCO) referred this investigation to the USAO-SDNY, the investigation has proceeded independent from the SCOs investigation.

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This whole thing is going to make it much harder for Trump to put everything thats happening on Mueller and Rosenstein, at least for audiences who are listening and care about the facts, Duke University School of Law professor and former lead Enron prosecutor Samuel W. Buell told Slate. The network of federal law enforcement professionals with experience and reputations, in different respected offices, involved in these matters makes it much harder to come up with a plausible way to surgically stop this.

The threat of an attempt to obstruct the investigation is a particular concern given that the New York Times reported that Trump spoke with Cohen on Friday, the same day the president gave a pardon to former Vice President Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby. Depending on what was said, the call could be problematic for both men, as defense lawyers often advise their clients not to talk to each other during investigations, the Times noted.

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The filing also signals that the government seeks the opportunity to use a lot of information from the seized materials, offering that investigators have reason to believe that Cohen has exceedingly few clients and a low volume of potentially privileged communications.

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The government notes that Cohens own legal representatives refused to say how many clients the attorney actually represents, and thus to offer any clue as to which communications might be protected by attorney-client privilege. When Judge Kimba Wood, a Ronald Reagan appointee, asked Cohens attorney for that information in court on Friday, the lawyer reportedly said I need more time to really analyze that question.

Wood set a new hearing date to decide on the merits of the temporary restraining order request and responded to Cohens representative: If you dont have the answers by 2 p.m. on Monday, Im likely to discount the argument that there are thousands or more privileged documents.

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Kimba Wood is extremely experienced and wont tolerate any nonsense, Buell told me. The government will win this motion, which is not that legally interesting, he added.

According to the governments filing, Cohen is asking for an unprecedented and [unsupported] by case law in this Circuit ability for his own legal team to conduct a review on lawfully obtained materials to determine what might be privileged or not.

The filing also points to Cohens overbroad claims of privilege, including a letter from the Trump organization claiming:

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We consider each and every communication by, between or amongst Mr. Cohen and the Trump Organization and each of its officers, directors and employees, to be subject to and protected by the attorney- client privilege and/or the work-product privilege.

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The filing further notes:

[The] investigation relates in significant part to Cohens personal business dealings and finances. Moreover, it is neither apparent [] that Cohen, in his capacity as an attorney, has many, or any, attorney-client relationships other than with President Donald Trump 

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The filing also uses Cohens own words and those of the president against the lawyer. It points out that Cohen has reportedly told one witness that Trump is his only client.

It also notes that any communications Cohen has had regarding the alleged hush money paid to adult film performer Stormy Daniels to keep quiet allegations of an affair with Trump might not even be privileged, as

President Trump has publicly denied knowing that Cohen paid [Daniels], and suggested to reporters that they had to ask Michael about the payment.

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As Ive noted repeatedly before, the repeated public insistence of Trump and White House officials that he had no knowledge of the payment to Daniels threatens to nullify the contract. Now, apparently, it also places communications Cohen had on the matter possibly even with Trump himselfunder the microscope of criminal investigators.

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Further, the filing brought to light previous covert warrants against Cohen used to search multiple different email accounts maintained by Cohen, noting that a filter team reviewing those emails had found few privileged communications.

Finally, the prosecutors offered their reasons for conducting the search warrants rather than using less intrusive means. Specifically, they had reason to believe Cohen would not be forthcoming and that he might even destroy evidence.

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The portion here is redacted as to the evidence used to make this determination, but the conclusion itself is clear:

[Redacted]. Accordingly, the nature of the USAOSDNYs investigation and the nature of the offenseswhich sound in fraud and evidence a lack of truthfulnessweighed heavily in favor of the USAO-SDNYs decision to execute search warrants. Furthermore, in the course of its investigation, the USAO-SDNY has learned that [redacted]. As a result, absent a search warrant, these records could have been deleted without record, and without recourse for the law enforcement.

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They previously executed search warrants on Cohen email accounts and clearly found evidence of both crime and obstruction there, giving the probable cause for this weeks searches and the argument why they had to be searches not subpoenas, Buell argues.

Ultimately, as noted, Judge Wood indicated that she would decide how the case would proceed at a hearing on Monday. The judge further ordered that Cohen be present at that hearing.

[T]he government does not know yet what it has because it hasnt looked at the stuff yetcould be anything from small stuff to something explosive, Buell concludes.Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin harshly criticized teachers for taking part in protests across the state Friday, saying they left hundreds of thousands of children vulnerable to sexual assault and drugs. Thousands of teachers descended on the capitol to call on lawmakers to override a veto of a measure that would have boosted funding for schools. Lawmakers did just that and Bevin was none too happy so it seems he decided to lay some blame on teachers for what could have happened when school districts across the state canceled classes to support the demonstration.

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I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today, a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them, Bevin told reporters. I guarantee you somewhere today, a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were left alone because a single parent didnt have any money to take care of them. Im offended by the idea that people so cavalierly and so flippantly disregarded whats truly best for children. He also dismissed the importance of the protest, saying teachers were hanging out with their shoes off, smoking, and leaving trash around.

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Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin on the teacher rallies today. I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them. pic.twitter.com/Q4PpzFsTt2  Marcus Green (@MarcusGreenWDRB) April 13, 2018

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Bevin made it clear that he thought the teachers striking meant that children suffered. Children were harmedsome physically, some sexually, some were introduced to drugs for the first timebecause they were vulnerable and left alone, he added.

Bevins statements were swiftly condemned by both educators and lawmakers. The disgusting comments by Gov. Bevin insinuating that a peaceful protest by teachers would lead to sexual assault are reprehensible, Republican state Sen. Max Wise wrote on Twitter. I dont agree with these comments & I find them repulsive. For her part, Kentucky Education Association President Stephanie Winkler was left pretty speechless by the remark. There is no rational comment I could make to that, Winkler said.Ending a week of threats and speculation, President Trump announced Friday night that the United States, along with Britain and France, is launching missile strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government in response to last weekends chemical attack in the town of Douma. Explosions have already been reported around Damascus.

In a televised statement from the White House, Trump said the strikes would hit targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Assads regime, and that these were intended to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. He also said that the U.S. is prepared to sustain this response in order to deter future use of chemical weapons, though its not clear whether this entails a long-term engagement or the kind of limited symbolic attack launched a little over a year ago in response to a similar use of chemical weapons by Assad.

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Trump has reportedly been at odds with James Mattis on this question, with the president favoring a more aggressive response compared with last year and the defense secretary pushing more limited options in order to avoid direct confrontation with Assads ally Russia, which has a significant military presence on the ground in Syria. Trump, who prior to last weekend was advocating the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, said tonight that America does not seek an indefinite presence in the country.

As with last years strikes, the legal rationale for this action is dubious. Congress has not sanctioned this action, nor has the U.N. Security Council or NATO. This becomes even more of a concern if the response is sustained for a long period of time. Unlike last years strikes, which came with little warning in order to maximize the element of surprise, the regime has had plenty of time to prepare this time, as Trump has been tweeting threats of action at animal Assad and Russia all week. The Syrian military has reportedly been moving planes and other assets to Russian bases, which are less likely to be targeted by the U.S. (Last year, the U.S. gave Russia advance warning to move its assets out of the way.)

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In his statement, Trump specifically addressed the governments of Assads main backers, Russia and Iran, asking, What kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children? He continued: Hopefully some day well get along with Russia and maybe even Iran, but maybe not. If nothing else, this is further indication that, whatever role Russia may have played in Trumps election, it is still more of an adversary than ally.

We will see in the days to come whether these strikes will look more like the limited action Mattis was pushing or the expansive vision that Trump had warmed to, and which new National Security Adviser John Bolton also reportedly supported. The task ahead will be unbelievably tricky: Too aggressive a response risks striking Russian assets and drawing the U.S. and its allies into direct conflict with Putin. Too modest a response will likely have the same result as last yeara brief pause followed by a resumption of Assads criminal activities. Either way, Trumps earlier stated desire to get out of Syria in the near future has clearly been put on hold.

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Update, 10:39 p.m. : Shortly after Trumps initial announcement, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, addressed reporters at the Pentagon and brought clarity to Trumps talk of a potentially sustained attack.

According to Mattis, three targets specifically associated with the Syrian regimes chemical weapons program were hit, and for now that appears to be it.

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Mattis called the operation a one time shot and said that whether there are more strikes going forward will depend on Mr. Assad, should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future.

On Thursday, Mattis said that the U.S. was still assessing information on whether Assad was behind the chemical attacks, but Friday night he said that he had since become confident the Syrian regime had conducted it.

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Dunford said that the targets were chosen to minimize the risk of civilian casualties and to mitigate the risk of the Russians being involved. He said that normal deconfliction channels were used to inform the Russians of the U.S. entry into Syrian airspace but that the Russians were not informed of the specific targets. Dunford said that Syrian surface-to-air missiles had been engaged, but did not share any details on casualties. He said that manned aircraft were involved in the strikes.

Contrasting tonights strikes with the one launched last year, Mattis said, We have struck harder. Together we have sent a clear message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants. Still, it appears that for tonight at least, the attack was more along the lines of the limited response that Mattis was advocating for over the objections of the president.President Donald Trump channeled his Republican predecessor on Saturday, congratulating U.S. military and allied forces for a perfectly executed strike on Syria by declaring Mission Accomplished! That phrase immediately brought to mind the misplaced optimism from President George W. Bush regarding the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

A perfectly executed strike last night, Trump wrote on Twitter. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

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A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

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The words Mission Accomplished became infamous after they were displayed on a banner in an aircraft carrier behind Bush as he addressed the nation and declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq. Although Bush never actually said the words Mission Accomplished critics often cited them as evidence the United States was not ready for the insurgency that began mere weeks later. Even Bush recognized later that using the words was a mistake.

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Um...I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words. https://t.co/h5Fl7kjea6  Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) April 14, 2018

Ari Fleishcer, who was White House press secretary at the time, immediately noticed the parallel and wrote on Twitter: UmI would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words. Even though the White House always insisted that the message on the banner was from the crew and not the president, Fleischer recognizes that the shot of Bush with the banner became a symbol of what went wrong.

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By the Fall, the shot of Bush with the banner became a symbol of what went wrong. And now you know the full story.  Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) April 14, 2018

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Trump also wrote on Twitter that he was so proud of our great Military, giving himself a pat on the back because it will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had.

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Civil society has proven its power in Slovakia but the country has also let the UK down, says Tomas Valasek, head of the Carnegie Institute in Brussels.

Sme: In recent weeks, Slovakia witnessed a murder of a journalist, the ex-prime minister talked about the influence of George Soros, the abuse of EU-subsidies was uncovered, and the country did not join allies in expelling Russian spies. How does this impact the image of Slovakia?

Tomas Valasek (TV): Things that have happened in Slovakia since the murder of Jan Kuciak and his partner have harmed the countrys image very much. In Europe, we were perceived as a positive anomaly among the Visegrad group countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary). The V4 has a very bad image in the European Union as a whole; it's perceived as a group of states that have failed to show enough solidarity during the migration crisis  Visegrad has become a pejorative notion.

Slovakia was considered, unlike Poland or Hungary, as having much more stable institutions where the rule of law was not threatened and the cabinet did not try to violate courts or manipulate the election results. In the West, Slovakia was perceived as an ally in the effort to make Hungary or Poland more normal while preventing them from setting out in the opposite direction.

Sme: How did Slovakia profit from that?

TV: A possible split of Europe still cannot be ruled out. In Brussels, in Paris, in Berlin, the talk is still that about a dozen countries, or slightly more, need to be integrated more deeply. We were considered a country that would be a part of this core, which is exceptionally important for us. If we are not a part of the core, they start to perceive us as a small country on the fringe of Europe, on the border of western civilisation. This is bad for investors, as well as for the countrys image.

Sme: Is this positive perception already a matter of the past?

TV: I dont think its over now. In the central Europe, alternatives are missing, fortunately for us. Relations between Poland and the rest of the EU have been improving but only slowly. After the recent election, Hungary is in a worse situation than before, and the situation in the Czech Republic is not developing positively, either. Maybe we have some remains of positive image out of persistence. It also turned out to our benefit that after the journalists murder, which disclosed the ties between the cabinet and organised crime, the power of civil society was demonstrated.

Brussels sees very well that unlike Hungary, where the problem with democracy is bigger and Viktor Orban got constitutional majority nevertheless, people in Slovakia made it to the streets. Through peaceful protests, they enforced the replacement of the most controversial people in the cabinet and forced the new cabinet to change its approach towards corruption.

Tomas Valasek Worked in the Centre for European Reform think-tank in London, founded the Institute for World Security. For almost four years, he was Slovak Ambassador at NATO, and currently heads the Brussels branch of the Carnegie think-tank.

Sme: Ex-PM Robert Fico spoke about George Soros, thus using the words of conspirators while earlier, he had been pro-European, at least verbally. Was this pro-European stance pretend, or forced?

TV: I dont think this stance is forced. Everyone in a leading position who feels responsible for the fate of their country feels that Slovakia must be in the core of the European Union and in NATO. Without them, we are a really small, unimportant country at the fringe of western civilisation.

Sme: Why did ex-PM Fico talk about Soros then, and why didn't the cabinet join allies who expelled Russian spies in the Skripal case?

TV: Not even the ruling Smer party is unified on this matter. It seems that the weakest point of the chain was the PM who is not the prime minister anymore. The incumbent one and the finance and foreign ministers promote a completely different line.

Sme: Many politicians and the public feel that Britons failed to sufficiently prove that Russia is behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter so we should not expel Russian diplomats. Have Britons really shown convincing evidence to allies, or is this rather a matter of trust among allies?

TV: People dont understand the nature of intelligence evidence. Maybe under the spell of American series where everything is conclusively solved in a laboratory within 45 minutes, we grew lazy and got used to a 100-percent force of evidence. In real life, it has never worked in this way, and never will. In practice, intelligence evidence is an imperfect mosaic put together in the best possible way and then, it is up to the sense and solidarity of allies whether they believe in the evidence or not.

There is surely good reason for scepticism: we remember how back in 2003, it turned out that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction but this doesnt mean that we change this sound scepticism into nihilism and disbelieve any intelligence evidence.

Sme: What has convinced you Russia is guilty in this case?

14. Apr 2018 at 21:29 | By Matus KrcmarikOrmat Technologies, Inc. operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of geothermal and recovered energy power business. It operates through the following segments: Electricity, Product and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment focuses in the sale of electricity from the company's power plants pursuant to PPAs. The Product segment involves in the manufacture, including design and development, of turbines and power units for the supply of electrical energy and in the associated construction of power plants utilizing the power units manufactured by the company to supply energy from geothermal fields and other alternative energy sources. The Energy Storage segment consists of battery energy storage systems as a service and management of curtailable customer loads under contracts with U.S. retail energy providers and directly with large commercial and industrial customers. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Carnival Co. &: 1972 Productions Inc., 6348 Equipment LLC, A.C.N. 098 290 834 Pty. Ltd., A.J. Juneau Dock LLC, AIDA Kundencenter GmbH, Adventure Island Ltd., Air-Sea Holiday GmbH, Alaska Hotel Properties LLC, Barcelona Cruise Terminal SLU, Bay Island Cruise Port S.A., Belize Cruise Terminal Limited, CC U.S. Ventures Inc., CCL Gifts LLC, CSSC Carnival Italy Cruise Investment S.r.L, Carnival (UK) Limited, Carnival Bahamas FC Limited, Carnival Bahamas Holdings Limited, Carnival Corporation & plc Asia Pte. Ltd., Carnival Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Carnival Corporation Korea Ltd., Carnival Corporation Ports Group Japan KK, Carnival Finance LLC, Carnival Grand Bahama Investment Limited, Carnival Investments Limited, Carnival Japan Inc., Carnival License Holdings Limited, Carnival Maritime GmbH, Carnival North America LLC, Carnival Port Holdings Limited, Carnival Ports Inc., Carnival Support Services India Private Limited, Carnival Technical Services (UK) Limited, Carnival Technical Services Finland Limited, Carnival Technical Services GmbH, Carnival Technical Services Inc., Carnival Vanuatu Limited, Costa Crociere PTE Ltd., Costa Crociere S.p.A., Costa Cruceros S.A., Costa Cruise Lines Inc., Costa Cruise Lines UK Limited, Costa Cruises Shipping Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Costa Cruises Travel Agency (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Costa Cruzeiros Agencia Maritima e Turismo Ltda., Costa Group Digital & Strategic Services GmbH, Costa International B.V., Costa Kreuzfahrten GmbH, Cozumel Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Creative Travel Lab Ltd., Cruise Ships Catering & Services International N.V., Cruise Terminal Services S.A. de C.V., Cruiseport Curacao C.V., D.R. Cruise Port Ltd., Ecospray Technologies S.r.L., F.P.M. SAS, F.P.P. SAS, Fleet Maritime Services (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services Holdings (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services International Limited, GXI LLC, Gibs Inc., Global Experience Innovators Inc., Global Fine Arts Inc., Global Shipping Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Grand Cruise Shipping Unipessoal LdA, Grand Turk Cruise Center Ltd., HAL Antillen N.V., HAL Beheer B.V., HAL Cruises Limited, HAL Maritime Ltd., HAL Nederland N.V., HAL Properties Limited, HAL Services B.V., HSE Hamburg School of Entertainment GmbH, Holding Division Iberocruceros SLU, Holland America Line Inc., Holland America Line N.V., Holland America Line Paymaster of Washington LLC, Holland America Line U.S.A. Inc., Ibero Cruzeiros Ltda., Iberocruceros SLU, Information Assistance Corporation, International Cruise Services S.A. de C.V., International Leisure Travel Inc., International Maritime Recruitment Agency S.A. de C.V., Milestone N.V., Navitrans S.R.L., Ocean Bahamas Innovation Ltd., Ocean Medallion Fulfillment Ltd., Operadora Catalina S.r.L., P&O Princess American Holdings, P&O Princess Cruises International Limited, P&O Princess Cruises Pension Trustee Limited, P&O Properties (California) Inc., P&O Travel Limited, Prestige Cruises Management S.A.M., Prestige Cruises N.V., Princess Bermuda Holdings Ltd., Princess Cays Ltd., Princess Cruise Corporation Inc., Princess Cruise Lines Ltd., Princess Cruises and Tours Inc., Princess U.S. Holdings Inc., RCT Maintenance & Related Services S.A., RCT Pilots & Related Services S.A., RCT Security & Related Services S.A., Roatan Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Royal Hyway Tours Inc., Santa Cruz Terminal S.L., SeaVacations Limited, SeaVacations UK Limited, Seabourn Cruise Line Limited, Shanghai Coast Cruise Consulting Co. Lda, Ship Care (Bahamas) Limited, Sitmar Cruises Inc., Spanish Cruise Services N.V., Sunshine Shipping Corporation Ltd., T&T International Inc., Tour Alaska LLC, Transnational Services Corporation, Trident Insurance Company Ltd., Westmark Hotels Inc., Westmark Hotels of Canada Ltd., Westours Motor Coaches LLC, Wind Surf Limited, and World Leading Cruise Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd..Sanchez Energy Corporation, an independent exploration and production company, focuses on the acquisition and development of U.S. onshore unconventional oil and natural gas resources. It engages in the horizontal development of resources from the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. It also holds an undeveloped acreage position in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) in Mississippi and Louisiana. As of December 31, 2017, the company had assembled approximately 285,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale; and owned approximately 37,000 net acres in the TMS. Sanchez Energy Corporation was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Advisors S.r.l., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd., AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited, AIG Asset Management (U.S.) LLC, AIG Assurance Company, AIG Australia Limited, AIG Brazil Holding I LLC, AIG CIS Investments LLC, AIG Canada Holdings Inc., AIG Capital Corporation, AIG Capital Services Inc., AIG Claims Inc., AIG Egypt Insurance Company S.A.E., AIG Employee Services Inc., AIG Europe (Services) Limited, AIG Europe Holdings S.a.rl., AIG Europe S.A., AIG Federal Savings Bank, AIG Financial Products Corp., AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., AIG Global Asset Management Holdings Corp., AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., AIG Global Reinsurance Operations, AIG Holdings Europe Limited, AIG Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, AIG Insurance Company China Limited, AIG Insurance Company JSC, AIG Insurance Company of Canada, AIG Insurance Company-Puerto Rico, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, AIG Insurance Limited, AIG Insurance Management Services Inc., AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited, AIG International Holdings GmbH, AIG Investments UK Limited, AIG Israel Insurance Company Ltd, AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited, AIG Korea Inc., AIG Latin America I.I., AIG Latin America Investments S.L., AIG Lebanon SAL, AIG Life Holdings Inc., AIG Life Insurance Company (Switzerland) Ltd, AIG Life Limited, AIG Life South Africa Limited, AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd., AIG MEA Holdings Limited, AIG MEA Limited, AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, AIG Markets Inc., AIG Matched Funding Corp., AIG PC Global Services Inc., AIG Philippines Insurance Inc., AIG Property Casualty Company, AIG Property Casualty Inc., AIG Property Casualty International LLC, AIG Property Casualty U.S. Inc., AIG Re-Takaful (L) Berhad, AIG Resseguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., AIG Shared Services Corporation, AIG South Africa Limited, AIG Specialty Insurance Company, AIG Technologies Inc., AIG Travel Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., AIG Travel Assist Inc., AIG Travel Assist Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., AIG Travel EMEA Limited, AIG Travel Inc., AIG Uganda Limited, AIG Vietnam Insurance Company Limited, AIG WarrantyGuard Inc., AIG-FP Pinestead Holdings Corp., AIG-Metropolitana Cia. de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., AIGGRE EOLA LLC, AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I LP, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund II GP LLC, AIU Insurance Company, AM Holdings LLC, Ageas Protect, AlphaCat Managers Ltd., American General Corporation, American General Life Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Co. Ltd., American Home Assurance Company, American Home Assurance Company Escritorio de Representacao no Brasil Ltda., American International Group Inc., American International Group UK Limited, American International Overseas Association, American International Overseas Limited, American International Realty Corp., American International Reinsurance Company Ltd., American International Underwriters del Ecuador-Holding S.A., American Security Life Insurance Company Limited, Arthur J. Glatfelter Agency Inc., Avondhu Limited, Blackboard Customer Care Insurance Services LLC, Blackboard Insurance Company, Blackboard Services LLC, Blackboard Specialty Insurance Company, Blackboard U.S. Holdings Inc., Chartis Takaful Enaya B.S.C. (c), Commerce and Industry Insurance Company, Crop Risk Services Inc., Eaglestone Reinsurance Company, Ellipse, Fortitude Group Holdings LLC, Fortitude Life & Annuity Solutions Inc., Fortitude Reinsurance Company Ltd., Franklin Life Insurance Company, Fuji Fire and Marine, Glatfelter Insurance Group, Globe and Rutgers Insurance Group, Grand Isle SAC Limited, Granite State Insurance Company, Group Risk Services Limited, Group Risk Technologies Limited, Illinois National Insurance Co., Jefferson Eola Venture LLC, Johannesburg Insurance Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Laya Healthcare Limited, Lexington Insurance Company, MG Reinsurance Limited, Mt. Mansfield Company Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh Pa., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Vermont, New Hampshire Insurance Company, PT AIG Insurance Indonesia, Pine Street Real Estate Holdings Corp., Private Joint-Stock Company AIG Ukraine Insurance Company, Risk Specialists Companies Insurance Agency Inc., SA Affordable Housing LLC, SAFG Retirement Services Inc., Service Net Warranty LLC, Stratford Insurance Company, SunAmerica Affordable Housing Partners Inc., SunAmerica Asset Management LLC, Talbot Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., Thai CIT Holding Company Limited, The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York, The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, Travel Guard, Travel Guard Group Canada Inc./Groupe Garde Voyage du Canada Inc., Travel Guard Group Inc., Tudor Insurance Company, VALIC Financial Advisors Inc., Valic Retirement Services Company, Validus Holdings, Validus Holdings (UK) Ltd., Validus Holdings Ltd., Validus Reinsurance (Switzerland) Ltd, Validus Reinsurance Ltd., Validus Ventures Ltd., Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc., Western World Insurance Company, and Western World Insurance Group Inc..NCI Building Systems, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets metal products for the nonresidential construction industry in North America. It operates in four segments: Engineered Building Systems, Metal Components, Insulated Metal Panels, and Metal Coil Coating. The Engineered Building Systems segment offers engineered structural members and panels; and self-storage building systems under the Metallic, Mid-West Steel, A & S, All American, Mesco, Star, Ceco, Robertson, Garco, Heritage, and SteelBuilding.com brands to builders, general contractors, developers, and end users directly, as well as through private label companies. The Metal Components segment provides metal roof and wall systems, metal partitions, metal trims, doors, and other related accessories for use in new construction, and repair and retrofit applications; roll-up doors; and interior and exterior walk doors under the MBCI, American Building Components, Eco-ficient, Metal Depots, and Doors and Buildings Components brands to manufacturers, contractors, subcontractors, distributors, lumberyards, cooperative buying groups, and other customers. The Insulated Metal Panels segment offers insulated metal panels for architectural, commercial, industrial, and cold storage end-market applications under the Metl-Span and CENTRIA brands. The Metal Coil Coating segment engages in cleaning, treating, and painting flat-rolled metals in coil form, as well as in slitting and/or embossing the metal, before the metal is fabricated for use by industrial users. It also cleans, treats, and coats heavy and light gauge metal coils for use in construction products, heating and air conditioning systems, water heaters, lighting fixtures, ceiling grids, office furniture, appliances, and other products; and provides toll coating and painted metal package services under the Metal Coaters and Metal Prep brands. NCI Building Systems, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreBristow Group Inc. provides industrial aviation services to the offshore energy companies in Europe Caspian, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers helicopter charter services to transport personnel between onshore bases and offshore production platforms, drilling rigs, and other installations, as well as to transport time-sensitive equipment to these offshore locations. It also provides search and rescue services for the oil and gas industry, and governmental agencies; and aircraft support services. The company was formerly known as Offshore Logistics Inc. and changed its name to Bristow Group Inc. in February 2006. Bristow Group Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreFreeport-McMoRan, Inc. engages in the mining of copper, gold and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining; Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining and Corporate, Other and Eliminations. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico. The South America Mining segment includes Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The Indonesia Mining segment handles the operations of Grasberg minerals district that produces copper concentrate that contains significant quantities of gold and silver. The Molybdenum Mines segment includes the Henderson underground mine and Climax open-pit mine, both in Colorado. The Rod and Refining segment consists of copper conversion facilities located in North America and includes a refinery, rod mills, and a specialty copper products facility. The Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining segment smelts and refines copper concentrate and markets refined copper and precious metals in slimes. The Corporate, Other and Eliminations segment

Read More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Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has disclosed plans to offload a 90% interest in a gas project located in Gaza. Palestine Investment Fund will acquire Shells stake as the oil giant progresses with the $30 billion divestment target. Financial details regarding the transaction were not disclosed.

Shells stake in the Gaza gas project came through its buyout of BG Group as the latter discovered the field in 2000. However BG Group did not make any progress on the field due to commercial and political concerns. An international partner is now being sought by Palestine Investment Fund with a view to taking over a 45% stake in the project.

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Energy exporter

It will also be the responsibility of the international partner to design a development plan for the field in conjunction with the operator. It is hoped that the development will meet the needs of Palestines gas-fired electricity plants as well as aid Palestine in becoming an exporter of energy.

By selling the stake the divestment program of the Anglo-Dutch giant is progressing well and will assist significantly in reducing the debt that was incurred after acquiring BG Group at a price of $47 billion. Not only is the divestment expected to cut company costs but it will also enhance return to capital as well as cash flow. Additionally the divestment will assist Shell in upgrading and streamlining its portfolio.

Divestment deals

Currently Shell is wrapping up divestment deals that are worth over $23 billion and is therefore on track to meet its goals by the end of this year. The Anglo-Dutch giant also recently announced that it was disposing assets worth approximately $2 billion. Royal Dutch Shell is also engaged in discussions over other prospective transactions which would net an extra $5 billion and the talks are in advanced stages.

This comes in the wake of a report by a news organization based in the Netherlands that Shell possessed a deep understanding of both the science as well as the risks posed by fossil fuel emissions. According to the report Shell knew as early as the 1980s that unnatural climate change was being caused by greenhouse gases.

The potential implications for the world are, however, so large that policy options need to be considered much earlier. And the energy industry needs to consider how it should play its part, researchers at Shell wrotein a report that was released in 1988 but which was based on studies that had been concluded two years earlier.Desdemonia unleash their full force on the Kulturfabrik with new album Anguish.

Desdemonia formed in 1994 by Tom Michels and Marc Dosser and over the last two decades, the pioneers of the small but lively Luxembourgish metal scene have built up a strong and dedicated fan base in the metal underground.

Set to release their monstrous new album (the band's 4th) at KUFA on Saturday, the current line-up consists of Michels (Drums), Marc Dosser (guitars/ backing vocals), Tom Dosser (bass/ lead vocals) and David Wagner (guitars).

The new LP has been mixed by uber producer Fredrik Nordstom who counts At the Gates, Arch Enemy, In Flames, Hammerfall, Architects as producing credits.

As the press clipping says itself this is not a night for Ed Sheeran's fans to test their delicate ears: "influenced by the early and mid-nineties American and European death metal scene, Desdemonias sound can be described as a mix of catchy stuff like Amon Amarth, straight forward At The Gates-like beats and more old school oriented melodies and groove in the vein of Dissection or Bolt Thrower!"

Ahead of their album release show at KUFA this Saturday, we catch up with Tom Dosser and take a look into what the band face in a challenging industry and just how far the band has come.

How has the Rock/Metal scene changed over the past few years?

The Rock/Metal scene has changed very drastically. More bands are emerging because of the advent of new technologies in music recording and the live environment.

The biggest alterations over the last 10 years are due to the internet. It makes networking much easier than back in 1994, when we founded the band and no Internet existed. But on the other hand, changes in music are happening so fast that you need to be on the ball to keep pace.

Besides, music in general is also more consumed via streaming, so sales of Cds and Vinyls have dropped.

Musicwise, many new genres in Rock/Metal have developed and are accessible to everyone at any time. This is a great thing and is inspiring. But there seems to be less time to permit a band to grow musically over a longer period. Stadium bands like Iron Maiden, AC/DC or Metallica are not following. But very interesting bands like Opeth and Leprous bring new sounds.

When looking specifically at the Luxembourg Metal scene, I have to admit, that I am really pleased about its tremendous development. When we started out, the entire metal scene consisted of 4-5 bands. Blues was king back then in Luxembourg. 25 years later, there are around 70 bands, 35 of them being active. They all have all their own identity and sound.

A list of Luxembourg band's can be found here

Every band is pursuing its creative journey whilst still helping the other ones out. Big Metal shows at Kufa, Rockhal or Atelier have become a common thing.

How has this affected the way you have to market yourselves?

Instant connection with the music listener via social media is important , such as on our Facebook page. A good digital promotion helps. Our our latest single Endless Fight has been published via video platforms such as Youtube.

The entire new album Anguish can be streamed on all digital platforms. But in the Metal scene, people still like to buy CDs and Vinyls, so we offer them too. T-Shirts and other merchandise is key to create awareness but also to support the band financially.

But for Desdemonia, playing live has always been fundamental and that is what we as musicians love most. This sharing of energy and emotions creates the biggest bond with our supporters.

Here are some of the band's upcoming shows in Luxembourg:

14 April Anguish release show at Kulturfabrik, Esch/Alzette

21 April Metalfestival Kopstal, Kopstal

12 May Mayham Fest, Mertzig

16 June Fete de la Musique, Dudelange

How long was the total recording process? Did you take a different approach this time around?

The making of the new album Anguish has been an incredible journey for the band. Getting back together as a band with a new member (David) and being able to write new songs was a great motivation and felt good.

When we had the new songs together, we recorded them at Holtz Studios and Fautelrock Studios here in Luxembourg. For mixing and mastering, we wanted to have the right sound for our music this time around. We went through our all time favourite records and made a list of producers we liked. And then we contacted them with some demo material.

We were happy when Fredrik Nordstom, legendary producer of bands like At the Gates, Arch Enemy, Opeth and The Architects responded, because he was top choice for us. He said, he liked our music and was willing to do the job.

He gave our music a broad, fat, bright and very listenable sound whilst keeping the typical Desdemonia vibe to it.

When hearing the result, we got many proposals from different record companies. We signed with Mighty Music from Denmark a worldwide deal, because we knew, that this would be the right label for us. We like the music of the other bands theyre promoting and theyre doing a great job.

Our new album Anguish is now distributed worldwide and is available as CD, Vinyl and digital streaming. And I am happy to announce, that the album will also be released in Japan end of this month.

What can people who've not heard Desdemonia expect at one of your shows?

Desdemonia shows are always full of energy. The participation of the audience is one key element of the gig. The essence is to have a good time together. We try also to give people the best sound and lights possible.

For the release show of Anguish on the 14th april at Kulturfabrik in Esch/Alzette, we will play mostly songs of this new album but also some classics. In order to celebrate this the right way, we will have special guests appearing on stage with us.

We will be supported by 4 of the finest bands of the local Rock/Metal scene: Abstract Rapture, Scarlet Anger, Kitschickers and Sublind. Every band has its own musical style and so this will give a good insight in the Luxembourg Metal scene.

Who would you love to open for?

Thats a tough question, because there are so many. But these bands would definitely be in the list (even if defunct): Metallica, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Samael, Cannibal Corpse, Machine Head, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and the 2 Jimmys.

Where is the best place in the world to play?

The best place in the world to play is always that particular stage youre on when playing to an audience. Being together with your band and seeing people in front of you enjoying your music is mind-blowing every time.

But I would love to play South-America and Japan, because these are places, where live-crowds are very enthusiastic when it comes to Metal-shows. Great live albums have been recorded there.

Be sure to catch Desdemonia on Saturday at KUFA, doors are at 6.30pm.

Support : Abstract Rapture, Sublind, Scarlet Anger, Kitschickers

www.desdemonia.netOscar-winning Czech-born film director Milos Forman, celebrated for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus," has died aged 86, his agents told AFP on Saturday.

"I heard from (Forman's wife) Martina Forman very early this morning letting me know Milos passed away at Danbury Hospital near his home in Warren, Connecticut," his friend and agent Dennis Aspland said.

"I can confirm the news," added the director's Czech agent Radka Kadlecova, as Forman's official Facebook page displayed a black square in the place of his profile picture, complete with the dates of birth and death.

The Czech news agency CTK quoted Martina Forman as saying her husband died suddenly on Friday after a short illness.

"He passed away quietly, surrounded by his family and his closest people," she said.

In an obituary on Twitter, Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas labelled the cigar-smoking director a "genius of cinematography."

"Milos Forman has left us. Genius of cinematography and master in the portrayal of the human condition. RIP," the "Desperado" star said.

Jim Carrey, who played comedian Andy Kaufman in Forman's "Man on the Moon" (1999) -- a film that inspired Forman to name his twins James and Andrew -- hailed Forman as "a force" and a lovely man.

"I'm glad we got to play together. It was a monumental experience," he tweeted.

Born in the town of Caslav east of Prague on February 18, 1932, Forman lost both parents in Nazi concentration camps.

In the 1960s, he joined the New Wave of filmmakers standing up to the Communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia, making himself famous with "Black Peter," "Loves of a Blonde" and "The Firemen's Ball."

Shortly before the 1968 Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia, which put an end to a liberal period known as the Prague Spring, Forman moved to the United States via France.

- 'I'll miss his laughter' -

His career overseas started with "Taking Off" in 1971, followed by "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" four years later, which brought him his first 'best director' Oscar.

An American citizen since 1977, the father-of-four returned to still-Communist Prague in 1983 to film "Amadeus," which earned him a second Oscar for best director and won eight out of 11 nominations.

"Milos Forman was... a master filmmaker - no one better at capturing small unrepeatable moments of human behavior," tweeted Forman's screenwriter Larry Karaszewski.

"We made two movies together and every day spent with him was a unique adventure," said Karaszewski, who wrote the screenplays for Forman's "The People vs Larry Flynt" (1996) and "Man on the Moon" together with Scott Alexander.

"Milos loved life. I will miss his laughter," he added.

Larry Flynt, the publisher of sexually graphic magazines, said he would miss Forman's "presence on this Earth".

"I will always be grateful to him for telling my story in The People vs Larry Flynt. He was a remarkable man with extraordinary talent," Flynt tweeted.

- 'Fabulous story-teller' -

"He was my dad's best friend and we both looked up to him," Czech director David Ondricek, the son of Forman's cameraman Miroslav Ondricek, told the website of the Czech broadsheet daily DNES.

"He had a beautiful character and fantastic energy. People wanted to be near him, he was a fabulous story-teller and a kind man," Ondricek added.

"Cuckoo's Nest" star Danny DeVito offered an obituary in a blend of Czech and English.

"Milos the magnificent! cest k jeho pamatce (honour to his memory) light a good cigar, raise a drink, and shout 'HOVNO HOVNO HOVNO! (SHIT SHIT SHIT!)'," he tweeted.

Forman's other films include "Hair" (1979), "Ragtime" (1981), "Valmont" (1989) and "Goya's Ghosts" (2006).

Valmont star Meg Tilly also tweeted a tribute to Forman.

"RIP#MilosForman. Working with you in Prague and France were highlights of my acting life. I feel so blessed to have been gifted with those experiences," she said.

burs-frj/bpAustralian Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud, who was on his first-ever visit to Vietnam, showcased his cooking skills during a stop in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.

As part of his busy schedule, the visiting minister stopped by a butcher shop in District 2 for lunch, where he grilled the meat by himself and had it with chilled Vietnamese-made beer.

The shop, run by a Vietnamese Australian businessman, imports more than 60 percent of its supply, mainly lamb and beef from Australia.

As he toured the store, Littleproud raised questions about the consumption and eating habits of Vietnamese people on meat products, especially western ones such as sausages and lamb.

He was surprised to know that 70 percent of the stores customers are foreigners, meaning local customers are not really familiar with western meat.

However, the minister was told that the number of Vietnamese buyers has also increased significantly in recent times, so has their spending on imported meat.

The Australian beef and lamb currently fetch average prices from VND500,000 (US$22) to more than VND1 million per kg, according to the store owner, Thanh Charles.

While Australian beef enjoys a zero percent import duty to Vietnam, imported lamb is subject to a three percent tariff. These tax rates are already low, Charles said, adding that it would be difficult to expect the price of Australian beef to go any lower.

In return, Vietnamese incomes are increasing rapidly and they are spending more and more, he said.

Minister Littleproud then changed his formal shirt into chef uniform and started grilling the meat himself and enjoying Vietnamese beer for lunch with members of the delegation.

Littleproud told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the trade relations between Vietnam and Australia remain strong, particularly in the agricultural sector.

The Australian Minister learns about the taste of Vietnamese consumers in Ho Chi Minh City on April 13, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Prior to his Ho Chi Minh City stop, Littleproud and his delegation visited Hanoi.

During a meeting with Vietnams Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the capital, the two sides discussed bilateral trade in agricultural products, including exports of Vietnamese live shrimp to Australia.

The Australian guests also attended the launching ceremony of a project on slaughterhouse management training and skills exchange - domestic training component on Friday morning.The new assets tax is expected to add between VND22.7 trillion (US$998.8 million) and VND31 trillion ($1.36 billion) to Vietnams annual state budget, according to the ministry.

Pham Dinh Thi, director general of the finance ministrys tax policies bureau, said the ministry was considering two options for taxing houses, either with a construction value threshold of more than VND700 million ($30,800) or over VND1.2 billion ($52,800).

Construction value of a house is determined by taking various aspects into consideration, including its type, scale and how many years it has been in use since construction.

Construction value is not the total market value of a house but only the cost of its construction, Thi stressed.

An individual is only taxed on the surplus construction value above the proposed tax threshold.

For example, owner of a house that costs VND1.2 billion to build will be taxed on VND500 million ($22,000) if the first option is selected and is not subject to a tax if the second option goes into effect.

More thought is being given on the tax rate, Thi said, with the finance ministry proposing a tax of between 0.3-0.4 percent a year for houses.

We are leaning towards a 0.3-percent tax rate for houses, Thi said.

If applied on the taxable construction value of a VND1.2 billion house, or 0.3 percent of VND500 million, the annual tax payment is VND1.5 million ($66), which Thi asserted is not much at all.

Abandoned villas at a project in Bac Ninh Province in northern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

As for land, the taxable land area is calculated by multiplying its total area by a coefficient of either 0.2 or 0.3, depending on whether it is used for residential or business purpose, respectively.

The finance ministry proposes a tax rate of between 0.23-0.3 percent for occupied land, while unused land will be subject to a higher rate of one percent to prevent wastefulness.

The proposed law also seeks to impose a tax of between 0.3-0.4 percent on personal cars, planes and yachts worth at least VND1.5 billion ($66,000).

Factors such as the length of use of such mobile assets will be taken into account when determining their value for taxing, Thi said.

The official admitted that the tax on mobile assets is currently only applicable in three countries, South Korea, Kazakhstan and Bolivia.

The draft law will be open to public feedback for revisions, and will be evaluated by the Ministry of Justice before it is submitted to the lawmaking National Assembly for approval at an undecided date, Thi said.

If the draft law goes into effect, it is expected to add between VND22.7 trillion (US$998.8 million) and VND31 trillion ($1.36 billion) to Vietnams annual state budget, according to estimates using 2015 statistics.

Imported cars are parked at a port in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Vietnams government raked in more than VND1.39 trillion (US$61.5 million) through divestiture of its stake in several state-owned enterprises in the first quarter of this year, the Ministry of Finance has said.

2018 is the key year of Vietnams restructuring plan for state companies, with the government set to withdraw state holdings at 181 state-owned enterprises and complete equitization at least 86 such companies throughout the year.

Equitization is the process of partially privatizing state-owned enterprises by issuing shares, with the government still holding the majority stake.

Sixty-four major state-run companies in Vietnam are set to be equitized, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

On top of the $61.5 million divestment, the government has also in the first quarter of 2018 approved the equitization plans for two state-owned companies, Phuoc An-Dak Nong Coffee Company and Van Tuong Company, at a total value of VND987 billion ($43.48 million). The state holdings in these companies are VND187 billion ($3.83 million).

The first three months of this year also saw several equitized state-run enterprises complete their initial public offerings (IPO), such as Binh Son Refinary, PV Oil, PV Power and Vietnam Rubber Corporation, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Vietnams stock markets raised VND21.3 trillion ($938.33 million) through the IPO auctions of 12 state-run enterprises in the first quarter, equal to the total IPO value of the previous four years, according to data of securities firm StoxPlus.

Experts attributed the high growth to a series of equitization of many major state companies in recent times, especially in the field of energy.

Experts are also confident that the government can meet its target of the restructuring plan for 2018, given such favorable conditions as high economic growth and macro-economic stability.

Investors are looking forward to the IPOs of such large companies in the trade and services sectors as Mobifone, Ben Thanh Group, Satra and Saigon Tourist, or in the real estate and construction sectors, such as Investment Corporation and Hanoi Housing Development Corporation.

The Vietnamese government raised a total of more than VND144.5 trillion ($6.37 billion) through divestiture of its shares at state-run companies in 2017.

The proceeds were 2.41 times higher than the target of VND60 trillion set by the lawmaking National Assembly, according to the Vietnam News Agency.The disciplinary actions were taken following a meeting among the school board on Friday, said Tran Minh Binh, headmaster of Long Thoi High School in the outer district of Nha Be, where Tran Thi Minh Chau teaches maths.

Chau has since January spent all her time in one specific class, 11A1, writing lessons on the board without speaking a word to her students.

Chaus unusual silence made headlines last months when one of her 11A1 students, Pham Song Toan, burst to tears at a meeting with city officials as she recounted the dreary atmosphere during lessons taught by the female teacher.

According to Toan, she and other classmates had repeatedly informed their homeroom teacher of the phenomenon, but nothing had changed for three months.

I dont understand why she has refused to speak to us, Toan said.

She would only write on the board whenever she was in our class. Thats not what we go to school for.

Pham Song Toan speaks during a meeting with city officials in Ho Chi Minh City on March 23, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Teacher Chau later admitted to remaining silence in class due to rumors that her students were taping her lessons to expose any unexemplary exchanges.

The teacher had in 2012 received a warning for violating school regulations in behaving in front of students, when she was still teaching at her old school.

Chau was transferred to Long Thoi High School after the scandal as per her wish.

According to Long Thoi schoolmaster, Chaus suspension will bar her from any teaching tasks for the rest of this school year.

In the meantime, she will be working at non-teaching positions at the school until a future decision is made, Binh said. At the start of the next school year another meeting will be held to determine whether to allow the teacher to go back to teaching, he added.

Toan, who brought public attention to the teachers silence, has fallen victim to bullying and discrimination from classmates and teachers at Long Thoi since the expose.

The administration of Ho Chi Minh City has requested that the municipal Department of Education and Training provide Toan with all the support she needed to be transferred to another school should she wished to do so.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!However, the local administration and the UNESCO office in Hanoi have warned that careful steps must be taken to review the revised design so as not to do more harm to Hoi An, home to the namesake ancient town recognized as a World Heritage Site.

The theme park in question, built on the Gami river islet in Hoi Ans Cam Nam Ward, included a 2,000-seat open-air theater and a 1,000-seat indoor theater among other high-rising buildings in its initial plan.

Its developer is Gami Hoi An JSC, which received provincial approval to launch the project on August 2, 2017.

Hoi Ans administration, meanwhile, has been a persistent opponent to the project as a whole, claiming that its location would ensue risks of grave damages to the local environment, especially that of the Hoi An Ancient Town.

Without proper evaluation and study, the theme park would have an adverse impact on Hoi Ans ecosystem and the river on which it sits, the citys administration wrote in a letter sent to the Quang Nam administration in May 2016.

In reality, locals have reported landslides and subsidence along the river bank since the project broke grounds last year, while the river current has also been changed substantially.

Locals have also reported excessively loud noise coming from the outdoor theater since its launch, a threat to the tranquil atmosphere of the citys ancient town. All of these have branded the project an 'eyesore.'

The under-construction theme park on the Gami river islet in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province in central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In response to public criticism, Hoang Lan Huong, chairwoman of Gami Hoi An JSC, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday the company had made a decision to completely redesign the theme park to include more green spaces and reduce the height cap of its buildings.

According to the new design, its 1,000-seat indoor theater may be scrapped entirely, while the height of other buildings will be capped at 10.5 meters.

The projects construction density will be reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent to create new spaces for green areas and paddy fields, where local farmers will be allowed to grow crops and harvest.

Embankments surrounding the islet on which the theme park sits will be redesigned to allow the river current to flow naturally and prevent erosion.

All buildings in the theme park will be rotated in a way that will allow flood water to escape quickly in the event of natural disaster, Huong said.

Those are our commitments and not mere empty talk, she stressed.

As soon as we finish sketching our new plan of the theme park, it will be submitted to the administration of Hoi An and other authorities for review and approval.

Nguyen Van Dung, chairman of Hoi An City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Commenting on the developers pledge to adjust its design, Hoi An chairman Nguyen Van Dung said the persistent position of the citys administration on this issue is for the project to include more green spaces and reduce its buildings.

Thats the only way for the project to receive our approval, Dung said.

Pham Thi Thanh Huong, head of the UNESCO office in Hanoi, said the agency had not been consulted about the redesign and that more study must be made to determine whether it is the optimal course of action to be taken.

All options [of redesigning the theme park] must be submitted to relevant authorities for review and should receive full consultations from experts, Huong said.

Hoi An authorities assembled a meeting of its officials on Saturday morning to discuss the latest move by the developer of the Gami theme park.

An aerial view of the under-construction theme park on the Gami river islet in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province in central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Sir, as you know, on 14 April 1912 the British passenger liner RMS Titanic had a terrible accident. She struck an iceberg and sunk. She was the biggest and one of the most sophisticated ships of its time. So, after you have written: "Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!', you perhaps should reconsider some things.

May I draw your attention to a few very dangerous similarities

First, according to some most recent findings on this unparalleled sea disaster, we have reason to believe that the original cause of the catastrophe was not so much an iceberg as the hidden coal fire which had been burning for three weeks at a very high temperature.

That could have weakened the steel construction of the ship, much reducing its strength. Since your big country seems to be overheated because of a few domestic conflicts which no one could call bloodless, it would be a reasonable thing to reduce their size, so they can be handled with greater care in an emergency. America first!

Second, the terrifying fate of the Titanic and her sister ship Britannic demonstrated that ships of such great size are subject to peculiar hazards and that in the event of an accident the results would be devastating on account of their difficulty of navigation. Thus we should be aware that unlimited responsibilities of a US superpower are a terrible burden and difficult to manage.

Third, the fated ship sailed out without a blessing of any Christian ministers. So, you perhaps should, Dear Mister President, reconsider these things and remember the many Christian martyrs who died in Syria because of the sectarian violence. We know perfectly well who murdered them. Don't we?

It's a matter of fact that Titanic sunk because of the stubborn attitude of the leaders of White Star Line

There were many appalling coincidences and miscalculations which led to the outrageous and ultimate demise of this seemingly indestructible ship. But above all, her captain was warned many times about the icebergs on his way.

It was quite true that nowadays no ship, no matter how staunchly built, nor how many water-tight bulkheads protect her, may plunge headlong against a wall of ice without grave results.

But there is still hope somebody can persuade you to take notice of the considerable abilities of the Russian people who proved many times to be like a rock or an iceberg, as they felt their own country to be in danger or could be stripped of its dignity. The Russian President said: "Listen to us now!" So, he's warning you all the time.

And at least but not last: the Titanic was a British, American and French joint venture

According to the American press of its time: "London, Paris and New York are grief-stricken and overwhelmed by the news of the disaster.

Tearful crowds of relatives and friends of passengers on board the Titanic thronged the steamship offices in all three cities, waiting hour after hour for news that more often than not when it does come means bereavement and sorrow. People in Paris and London went to bed last night in the belief that all the passengers on board the Titanic had been saved. This morning brought them the appalling truth."

(REVISED FIGURES INDICATE LIVES OF 1,341 PERSONS WERE LOST IN DISASTER, The Evening Star, 16 April 1912, p. 1)Donald trump, true to his character, has acted in the only way he knows. He has sacked the Secretary Of State Rex, Tillerson, while he was on a tour of Africa. True to his character, Trump praised Tillerson's contribution, but his sacking was long expected. Trump and his Secretary of State were not on the same frequency, especially after Tillerson had once referred to Trump as a "moron." Pointedly, Tillerson did not thank the president for the good words he spoke about him. BBC has reported that Tillerson was not given any advance information about his sacking and he was replaced by the CIA director Mike Pompeo.

Trump sacks

During his 16 months in office, Trump has had a large turnover of his staff.

The president has been acting like a bull in a china shop as he has changed his staff and top aides at will. In addition, the manner of the removal of all his aides and members of his cabinet is by a simple tweet without any advance warning. Maybe he wants to create a spectacular effect. Tillerson is the latest to be sacked but he is not the last and more heads could roll in the months to come.

Many people are wondering at the speed with which Trump sacks his staff. One reason could be that the president, hemmed in by many factors, notably the Russian connection, is feeling insecure.This is leading him to sack anybody who he feels is not toeing his line. In the case of Tillerson, his reference to Trump as a "moron" was not forgotten.

Tillerson never expressed regret for it but Trump was looking for a way out. The Secretary of State has now said that he will retire and go home. There is nothing much he can do anyway.

Trump is decisive

To be fair to the president he has kept his poll promises and acted decisively in many matters. He was against the Iran nuclear deal, while Tillerson felt it was okay.

This was another reason for the sacking. Trump likes a lot of drama, as he was a reality star. He has used this to good effect by sacking Tillerson while he was away on a tour of Africa and grabbed headlines all over the world.

The new incumbent to the post, Mike Pompeo, the CIA director, is not going to have it easy despite all the praise heaped on him by Trump. It's a moot point how long he lasts as Trump had earlier lambasted the intelligence agencies on a number of matters including the Russian investigation.

Future

Trump will now have a free hand and shape foreign policy the way he wants it. He will also like to kill all ideas that Russian has a connection to his win. This is disturbing him the most.WESTERN HYPOCRISY is on display for all to see over Syria. The US filed motions to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to authorise the use of military force to intervene in Syria, this comes after the US and other western powers accused Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad to be the perpetrator of the alleged chemical attack in Douma. The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has stated the governments support of the US.

Russia have said that if the US were to launch an attack on Syria, this would cause a significant rise in tensions between the nations and that they would shoot down incoming missiles.

The right kind of Arab

Without focusing on Syria for the moment, the west is being astoundingly hypocritical over the potential decision to use military force in Syria. The narrative is that Assad is using these weapons against his own people, who are Arabs, and the UK government are toeing the line that this isnt right to kill the innocent Arab population along with the rebels. Of course, the government are correct in saying or even insinuating this but if the UK truly wants to be described as liberal then it shouldnt stop with Syria.

The point is, the government are happy to allow Israel to shoot peaceful protesters, systemically remove the Palestinian population and torture, harass and imprison Arab children. They are also happy to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia, who then use them on the Yemeni population and this kills mostly innocent civilians just trying to make it day by day.

When it comes to Israel, the UK government are happy to support them in their genocide of the Palestinian people, by making it difficult to stand up for them in the UK itself by passing laws that discriminate against pro-Palestinian activism and define anti-Semitism as criticising the Israeli government.

Western intervention

Back to Syria, it was the west that supported the initial uprising in the first place with the US and the UK playing key roles in the formation of the Free Syrian Army, who subsequently played an important role in the formation of ISIL. The whole intervention by the UK and US exacerbated the war in the first place and now they are claiming that Assad is the one who is solely responsible.

Of course, he is in no way a good person and has no doubt committed atrocities, much like his father. But when there is no definitive independence evidence, just claims from the rebels thus far, the west cannot contemplate the use of military force as of yet and even if there is the evidence, the use of military should still be once every other avenue is exhausted.

Back to the chemical attacks, thus far there isnt any evidence and there are even suggestions that it was faked but the OPCW is heading in there to verify whether or not this was a chemical attack or not. There is however, a history of not being able to gather sufficient evidence. The chemical attacks in Ghouta in 2013 and Khan Sheikhoun in 2017 have never been directly linked to Assad, the evidence that did come back pointed the finger but there was never a smoking gun to link him directly to the attacks but there is evidence that links Britain to the export and creation of chemical weapons.

Furthermore, media outlets and investigative journalists around the world and in the region are finding no evidence of a chemical attack, it is only the NATO allies that have magically found the definitive evidence needed for military use.

In 2013 it was revealed that a British company was granted export licences for the dual-use substances for six months in 2012 while Syrias civil war was raging. The licences were revoked due to EU sanctions, at the time the then PM David Cameron stated that the system worked because the chemicals were never sold but the government approved the licence whilst it was the EU that removed it, consequently proving the British system doesnt work. Furthermore, A leaked Foreign Office document says they were supplied in the mid-1980s.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said UK firms provided the materials and that Syria has admitted they played a role in its chemical weapons programme. On Wednesday, a group of international law experts joined forces to issue a statement over the possibility of military action by the US and allies:

We are practitioners and professors of international law. Under international law, military strikes by the United States of America and its allies against the Syrian Arab Republic, unless conducted in self-defense or with United Nations Security Council approval, are illegal and constitute acts of aggression (Consortium News)theresa MAY took the decision to join France and the US in bombing Syria, in a video posted on social media she claims that it is going to a limited and targeted strike to deter Assad and others in the future from using chemical weapons. She also claims that it is to help the children of Syria and it is in the best interest for British security.

On the 7th April, reports emerged from Douma in Syria that a chemical weapons attack had taken place, very quickly the US pinned the blame on Bashar al-Assad and just 7 days later, the coalition of the US, UK and France decided to bomb Syria.

Comments on the PMs statement

I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use.

Firstly, it was the UK who helped Assads father develop the chemical weapons in the 80s, secondly, there has been no evidence that Assad has carried out several chemical weapons attacks in Syria, the only evidence that has been brought forward only points the finger rather than definitively state that it was Assad.

Lastly, the government have been saying since the election that there is no money for other services yet the PM is able to find the money when some murdering needs to be done.

In Douma, last Saturday a chemical weapons attack killed up to 75 people, including young children, in circumstances of pure horror.

There is no definitive evidence that even props up the claim that a chemical weapons attack even took place. There are reports from people on the ground, civilian, saying that nothing of the sort happened. The fact that she claims to be fighting for childrens lives yet is happy to allow the Israeli government to imprison and torture children, says a lot more about her flexible morality.

Although, I guess it is easy to use the children card if you want to bomb another region.

The Syrian Regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way.

See point 1 and 2, there is no evidence to support definitively that Assad is responsible. Furthermore, they have taken 7 days to be able to identify the chemical, just 7 days.

Processes of this nature tend to take long unless you know the specific aspects you are looking for.

This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stoppedwe cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons.

She is right in the sense that this persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped but she aimed it at the wrong country.

This is pattern of behaviour by the west to invade or bomb other nations because they dont get along with the regimes is absurd. Plus, she says that we must prevent these weapons becoming the Norm. The police are issued with tear gas, which is banned by the UN in use during warfare but yet is allowed to be used on the streets of Britain against protesters.

We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this.

You have managed to use every avenue of communication with Assad, Russia and their allies in 7 days? No wonder the government think they can negotiate Brexit trade deals in less than two years. It is also hardly surprising that the Russians would veto an independent investigation set by the United Nations considering the UN largely goes on what the US do anyway and have been historically anti-Russian, not saying they are good but there has always been significant bias.

She fails to mention that this wasnt ratified by the UNSC and the use of military is illegal.

Rhetoric and propaganda

The statement itself does go on longer but I have picked out specific points to highlight how ridiculous a decision this is by the PM. She further claims that this isnt about intervening in a civil war, yet the supposed chemical attack was done on rebels during the Syrian civil warso, this is intervening in the civil war.

She continues with same rhetoric of thoughts to servicemen and women, clear signal being sent, and ended with there is no preferred alternative and upholding global rules and keeping us safe etc. However, history teaches us that these kinds of interventions only exacerbate things.

One last point, she again claims that she didnt take the decision lightly. Yet, it only took 7 days, just a week, to decide to bomb another country and potentially inflicting more damage and increasing the death rate of innocent civilians. Nevertheless, the British government is firmly behind the US president, Donald Trump, who has already told the Syrians and Russians that missiles "are coming".THE GOVERNMENT are ready to take the heroic step and send people to war for absolutely no reason other than to satisfy a violent urge. Also, it might have something to do with the fact that they havent looked particularly good since last year and have been itching for some kind of conflict to try and improve this, traditional colonial foreign policy at work.

There is of course overwhelming evidence that Bashar al-Assad did this and it makes perfect sense, right? French President Emmanuel Macron has even stated that he has evidence but he hasnt revealed what it is and still needs to decide whether action is to be taken.

Senseless violence and war

This all makes perfect patriotic sense, right? There is nothing here that could possibly go wrong, I mean, there are no historical warnings about using military intervention when the evidence doesnt exist and only later it is revealed that the evidence they did claim was in fact, fabricated entirely. It surely takes a heroic and strong step to decide that military intervention is necessary in this entire debacle? There are so many questions rather than answers over the chemical attack itself and the timing makes very little sense on Russia and Assads part.

The Syrian army had surrounded the last town of the resistance and they were negotiating a cease in hostilities.

The next step would be of course to use a chemical attack on that region because why not? Assad is certainly no angel and he has in past used the kinds of weapons that only the US are seemingly allowed to use but tactically, this makes no sense. I have written some articles that had some detail of the complex history of the region and its wars.

It was clear from when the west first began to fund the uprising, that Assad was happy to use excess force to try and quell the threat, he is not a good person.

Yet, not much is being made of the UK and USs initial intervention that helped the rise of ISIL and the media have not questioned the validity of the claims of the attack in the first place and cut off anyone who diverges from the narrative they are trying to sell.

Not to put a too finer point on it but it makes no sense that someone who is about to win, even the US admitted recently that they had won, would intentionally use Chemical Weapons. Plus, in the meantime, Israel are proactively genocidal towards the Palestinians, Saudi Arabia are ploughing through Yemen, yet there is no outrage over those deaths by western powers, however, when it comes to Syria, there is all of a sudden irrefutable evidence that cant ignored.Reuters Videos

Protesters took to the streets of Canada's most-populous city Toronto on Thursday, marking the country's inaugural holiday in honor of the lost children and survivors of indigenous schools."Every single day all of us are just fighting to get our culture back and it was unfair of us to lose it."The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation was established in June by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is facing major backlash for going on vacation instead of attending several key events marking the holiday. The holiday was created after more than a thousand unmarked graves were found near two schools earlier this year.On Thursday protesters wore shirts reading 'Every Child Matters' and flecked the streets with the color orange - the symbol of that initiative. "We should be living our lives on our reservations and on our land and getting our land back and it's hard seeing all these people just protesting something like this, a genocide. We're protesting a genocide and it's emotional."The so-called 'residential school system', which was active from the 1800s to 1996, removed more than 150 000 indigenous children from their families with the stated aim of assimilating them. Some were subjected to abuse, rape and malnutrition at schools. One commission in 2015 called it 'cultural genocide'. Today indigenous communities in the country suffer from higher levels of poverty and violence as well as shorter life expectancies. Canada's newest holiday is not recognized by some provinces including its most-populous Ontario, where schools, the stock market and most businesses remained open.0001_Ronaldo Schemidt_Agence France-Presse

A striking image of a Venezuelan protester engulfed by flames has won the 2018 World Press Photo of the Year Contest. The annual award honors the photographer whose visual creativity and skills made a picture that captures or represents an event or issue of great journalistic importance in that year.

The jury awarded the top prize to Ronaldo Schemidts picture, entitled Venezuela Crisis. It shows Jose Victor Salazar Balza (28) on fire amid violent clashes with riot police during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first- and second-degree burns.

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Schemidt (b. 1971) is a staff photographer for Agence France-Presse, based in Mexico. This image also won first prize in the Spot News Single category.

Magdalena Herrera, director of photography Geo France and chair of the jury, said: "The photo of the year has to tell an event, that is important enough, it also has to bring questions it has to engage and has to show a point of view on what happened in the world this year."

Jury member Whitney C. Johnson, deputy director of photography National Geographic, said: "Its quite symbolic, actually. The man, he has a mask on his face. Hes come to sort of represent not just himself and himself on fire, but sort of this idea of Venezuela burning."

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Jury member Bulent Kilic, chief photographer Turkey Agence France-Presse, added: There is one small detail in the picture. There was a gun on the wall. It reads paz. It means peace. That also makes this picture strong.

The contest is free to enter and drew entries from around the world: 4,548 photographers from 125 countries submitted 73,044 images. The judging process involved four specialized juries and a General Jury, and took place in several rounds over a three-week period in January.

Story continues

The criteria for judging entries were a combination of news values, journalistic standards, and the photographer's creativity and visual skills. In the case of stories and long-term projects, the edit of the material submitted is also taken into account.

A total of 42 photographers from 22 countries were awarded in eight categories. The prize-winning photographs have been assembled into an exhibition that will travel to 100 locations in 45 countries and is expected to be seen by more than four million people. See all the winners in this Newsweek gallery.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekForty-eight years ago, NASA achieved its successful failure, saving the lives of three American astronauts who almost died on their way to the moon.

The eyes of the entire nation were upon the Apollo 13 crew as they watched the countrys leading scientists and engineers try to save astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert during the April 1970 mission, the third that had launched toward the moon. An oxygen tank explosion on the evening of April 13 started the emergency response, as Swigert uttered his now famous line, Houston, weve had a problem here.

On the missions anniversary, you can follow along with the key moments of the mission in real time.

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Liftoff

Apollo 13 launched at 1:13 p.m. central time on April 11, sending Lovell, Haise and Swigert up on a Saturn V rocket.

TV transmission ends

Just before 9 p.m. on April 13, the astronauts end a broadcast in which they had given a tour of their spacecraft. Lovell signs off with, This is the crew of Apollo 13 wishing everyone there a nice evening.

Apollo_13_passing_Moon

NASA

The explosion

A short bang and vibration warns the crew at 9:08 p.m. that one of their oxygen tanks has blown up, according to NASA. The explosion also led to another tank failing, and the command modules normal supply of electricity, light and water was lost.

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In the transcript Swigert reports, I believe weve had a problem here. When asked to repeat, he says, Houston, weve had a problem.

Losing oxygen

It looks to me, looking out the hatch, that we are venting something, Lovell says at 9:22 p.m., upon seeing their supply of oxygen leaking out. We are venting something out into theinto space.

Moving into the lunar module

As part of their strategy for returning safely to Earth, at 11:53 p.m. on April 13 the astronauts powered down the command/service module and powered up the lunar module, which was supposed to be used to touch down onto the moons surface. The CSM would later be used during reentry.

Story continues

The far side of the moon

As they continued on their trajectory to return to Earth, the Apollo 13 crew disappeared behind the moon between 6:21 p.m. and 6:46 p.m. on April 14. Lovell contacts Mission Control by saying, Good morning, Houston. How do you read?

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mailbox-apollo13

NASA

Clearing out the carbon dioxide

In response to a carbon dioxide buildup on the spacecraft, Mission Control sent up a procedure for building a device to clear out the dangerous gas. On April 15 at 8:21 a.m., the three astronauts finish constructing their first carbon dioxide scrubber, casually referred to as a mailbox.

Goodbye, lunar module

As the crew prepares for the final stages of their return journey, the LM was jettisoned at 10:43 a.m. on April 17.

Hello, Earth

The astronauts entered Earths atmosphere at 11:53 a.m. and splashed down 10 minutes later.

apollo13-splashdown

NASA

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) - Two Ecuadorean journalists and their driver, who were kidnapped last month by Colombian insurgents, have been killed, the leaders of both nations said on Friday, vowing justice.

"Regrettably, we have information that confirms the murder of our compatriots," Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno said on state television. "It seems these criminals never planned to deliver them back safely."

On Thursday, Moreno gave the group, former fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who refused to demobilize under last year's peace deal with Colombia, 12 hours to prove the hostages were alive or face a military operation.

Moreno returned to Ecuador that day from a regional summit following reports El Comercio reporter Javier Ortega, photographer Paul Rivas and driver Efrain Segarra were killed.

On Wednesday, a statement apparently issued by the Oliver Sinisterra front - a faction of the former FARC guerrillas that refused to adhere to a 2016 peace agreement - reported the Ecuadoreans had died in a failed rescue operation.

Colombia denied any rescue attempt.

The journalists and their driver were on assignment for the Quito-based El Comercio newspaper on the border between Ecuador and Colombia when they were seized on March 26.

A proof-of-life photograph released shortly after their kidnapping showed them chained and padlocked by their necks.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos pledged full cooperation with Ecuador and said operations had begun against the rebels on both sides of the border.

"The FARC no longer exist... These are criminals dedicated to drug-trafficking," he said at the summit in Lima. "They will feel the full force of the law and our armed forces."

More than a thousand FARC fighters refused to demobilize under the accord with Santos and continued trafficking across the nation. Those operating in Colombia's southern jungles have attacked Ecuadorean security forces along the border.

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The FARC, which battled for more than a half century, attacked military targets and civilian towns but generally allowed journalists to work freely, unless they went against the rebels' interests.

The media crew was reporting on violence in the Esmeraldas region of the border when they were snatched by a group led by an Ecuadorean man identified as Walter Artizala, alias "Guacho."

Colombia and Ecuador have both offered $100,000 each for information leading to his capture.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Additional reporting by Silene Ramirez in Santiago, Terea Cespedes in Lima; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Dan Grebler and Bernadette Baum)CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt said on Saturday it was deeply concerned over a military escalation in Syria which could affect the safety of Syrian people and threaten agreements to curb tension.

U.S., British and French forces struck Syria with more than 100 missiles on Saturday, targeting what they called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for a poison gas attack.

The White House has accused Syria of being behind the toxic gas assault on April 7 that killed dozens of people in Douma, near Damascus.

Without specifically mentioning Saturday's missile strikes, Egypt's foreign ministry said it was deeply concerned "at the current military escalation in Syria". It also rejected the use of internationally banned weapons on Syrian territory and demanded a transparent international investigation.

"The Arab Republic of Egypt expresses its solidarity with the brotherly Syrian people in their aspirations to live in security and stability," the ministry said in a statement.

It called for a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis and efforts to ensure humanitarian aid reaches those affected by the conflict.

(Reporting by Arwa Gaballa; Editing by Dominic Evans)The Pasco County Sheriffs Office in Florida on April 13 shared bodycam footage shot the day before showing Yager, a member of the K9 unit, apprehending a suspect for the first time.

The video shows Deputy Michael Sentner and Yager running into a wooded area in pursuit of a man who the sheriffs office said had bailed from a stolen vehicle after the tire popped.

The man was charged with drug possession, fleeing an officer, and driving with a invalid license, among other charges, the sheriffs office said.

The Pasco County Sheriffs Office regularly shares footage of its K9 unit in an effort to promote their contribution to law enforcement. A previous bodycam video, shared by the sheriffs office in February, showed an officer and his K9 splitting up to catch two men suspected of stealing a car. Credit: Pasco County Sheriffs Office via StoryfulBy Jean-Baptiste Vey, Marine Pennetier and Matthias Blamont

PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Saturday it would not hesitate to strike Syrian government targets again if the chemical red line was crossed, but that no new strikes were planned at this stage, adding that it would renew a push for peace through dialogue with Russia.

President Emmanuel Macron ordered the military intervention in Syria alongside the United States and Britain in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week.

"Our objectives were met," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFM TV.

If the red line banning the use of chemical weapons was crossed again, there would be another intervention, he said, while adding: "I think the lesson will have been learnt."

The French strikes, involving 12 cruise missiles, fighter jets and warships, were Macron's first major military decision since taking office a year ago and was all but inevitable after the young president repeatedly said France would strike if a fatal chemical attack took place in Syria.

"This action was proportionate and targeted, it was not aimed at (Syrian President Bashar al) Assad's allies nor at the civilian population," Le Drian said in a televised statement.

Le Drian said France, which has backed opponents of Assad throughout the civil war, would swiftly take new political initiatives to find a solution to the crisis.

He added that Paris would work with all countries and that there were no changes to Macron's planned trip to Russia next month.

While there had been general public warnings broadcast by U.S. President Donald Trump, Macron himself and other Western leaders, a French presidency source said Macron did not tell Russian President Vladimir Putin the allies would strike overnight when they talked over the phone on Friday.

However, regular "deconfliction" contacts were made with the Russian military once the operation had been kicked off to make sure that they would not be accidentally hit, the source said.

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Defence Minister Florence Parly said this meant Russia had been "warned beforehand" to avoid any confrontation or escalation.

The French presidency issued a video on Twitter showing what it said were war planes taking off as part of the intervention.

Macron said in a written statement that the attack had been limited to Syria's chemical weapons facilities and said the facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime were beyond doubt.

Backing up its reasons for the air strikes, the foreign ministry released an intelligence report based largely on open sources which concluded that there was no other plausible explanation than a chemical attacked coordinated by the Syrian military.

The report said that for now France did not have chemical samples from the attack site analysed by its own laboratories yet.

Macron, who tweeted a picture of himself in a meeting room with military and diplomatic advisers, has not made any address to the nation. He is due to be interviewed by three French media on Sunday night.

The French air force has been active in Syria since 2015 to fight Islamic State, but had not targeted government targets until now.

(Additional reporting by Geert De Clercq and John Irish; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by John Irish)PARIS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned of a humanitarian disaster in the rebel-controlled Syrian city of Idlib, which could be a next target of the Syrian army.

The northwestern Idlib region remains the largest populated area of Syria in the hands of insurgents fighting the Damascus government. In recent years, tens of thousands of fighters and civilians have fled there from parts of the country which the army has recaptured with the help of Russia and Iran.

Le Drian said Idlib now has some 2 million inhabitants, including hundreds of thousands of Syrians evacuated from rebel-held cities taken back by the Syrian regime.

"There is a risk of a new humanitarian disaster. Idlib's fate must be settled by a political process, which includes disarming the militias," Le Drian said in an interview with French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche.

Some insurgent officials have said they feared an onslaught against Idlib, which a senior Iranian official has indicated could be the next target.

He added that France would also keep a close eye on the situation in northeastern Syria, which was freed from Islamic State with French help.

"Let's not forget that our principal enemy remains Islamic State, as well as other terrorist groups which are currently regrouping in the east of the country," Le Drian said.

The insurgents controlling Idlib include both jihadist factions and nationalist FSA rebels. The dominant force there is Hayat Tahrir al Sham, an Islamist alliance spearheaded by the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

Le Drian also said Russia was denying reality in Syria and that its protection of Bashar al-Assad could not be justified.

"There is a denial of reality, and he have seen this several times. Already in 2013 and then again in 2017 the Russians denied that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons," he said.

He said that at the time verification mechanisms already put in place by the United Nations had placed responsibility on the regime.

"It is no wonder that Russia voted against the renewal of this mechanism last autumn," he said, adding that when France proposed last week to put in place a comparable mechanism, Russia had vetoed it.

(Reporting by Geert De Clercqd; editing by Jonathan Oatis)FILE PHOTO: Civil society activists demonstrate outside the Greek Embassy, calling on the Greek government to grant political asylum to Maria Efimova, a Pilatus Bank employee who ignited a political scandal in Malta when she became a source for investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was murdered last year, in Ta' Xbiex, Malta March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek prosecutor appealed on Friday against the rejection of a Maltese request to extradite a whistleblower who supplied documents to murdered investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Malta has issued a European arrest warrant for 36-year-old Russian Maria Efimova, who stirred a political scandal over allegations of wrongdoing at Maltese-registered Pilatus Bank.

Efimova, who left Malta last year with her family, turned herself in to Greek police last month. She was arrested under the warrant for alleged misappropriation of funds, accusations that she denies.

A court ruled on Thursday against extraditing Efimova to Malta and ordered her release. Following the prosecutor's appeal, Greece's top court is expected to hear the case, judiciary sources said on Friday.

Efimova was employed for three months in 2016 by Pilatus Bank [PILAT.UL]. Caruana Galizia, an anti-corruption blogger, identified her as the source of internal bank documents. These, the journalist said before her death, indicated that Michelle Muscat, wife of Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, owned a secret company in Panama.

The Muscats have both denied the accusations.

A group of 36 European parliament members signed a letter following Efimova's arrest, calling for her not to be extradited to Malta.

Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in October 2017 in an attack that shocked Malta. Three men have been charged with killing her but police have yet to give a motive.

Pilatus Bank has accused Efimova of embezzlement. Efimova denies all charges and has counter-sued the bank for failing to pay her salary.

(Reporting by Constantinos Georgizas; Writing by Renee Maltezou; editing by David Stamp)ANKARA (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned on Saturday that a U.S.-led missile attack on Syria would lead to destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Jason Neely)JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coupled praise for U.S.-led strikes on Syrian targets on Saturday with a warning that Iran's presence there further endangers Syria.

U.S., British and French forces hit Syria with air strikes overnight in response to an alleged poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week. U.S. President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Assads government stopped its use of chemical weapons.

"Early this morning, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom demonstrated that their commitment is not limited to proclamations of principle," Netanyahu said in a written statement.

Netanyahu said Syrian president Bashar al-Assad must understand that "his provision of a forward base for Iran and its proxies endangers Syria".

An Israeli official said Israel was notified of the strikes ahead of time. Asked how much warning Israel had received, the official told Reuters: "Between 12 and 24 hours, I believe."

Asked whether Israel helped choose targets, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "Not to my knowledge."

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters that Israel had been notified before the strikes, but she provided no further details.

Irans involvement in Syria in support of Assad has alarmed Israel, which has said it will counter any threat. The armed Iranian-backed Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, which has an extensive missile arsenal, last fought a war with Israel in 2006.

Syria, Iran and Russia say Israel was behind an air strike on a Syrian air base on Monday that killed seven Iranian military personnel, something Israel has neither confirmed nor denied.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Netanyahu and urged him to do nothing to destabilise Syria, according to a Kremlin statement.

Netanyahu said Israel would not allow Iran to establish itself in Syria, according to his office.

Israel has mounted air strikes in Syria on a regular basis, targeting suspected weapons shipments to Lebanese Hezbollah.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell, Ari Rabinovitch and Dan Williams; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Kevin Liffey)In its second year, the March for Science will bring scientists, researchers and technologists together for over 250 rallies on Saturday, April 14.

Thousands of protesters around the world will to advocate for science policies to be involved in policymakers everyday conversations.

The march is a focus on advocating for equitable evidence and based policies to serve the common good. Were making it clear that people want and need science to be a part of a political conversation, said Dr. Caroline Weinberg, interim director of the March for Science told Newsweek.

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Weinberg clarified the march is not an attack on President Donald Trump or his administration on their stance on science-based evidence. Rather, the march aims to make sure science and research are discussed in a political environment.

I think its a mistake to make the conversation around science advocacy around Trump. This has been happening for decades, said Weinberg. I think people were concerned there would be an escalation, but its not a new thing. There are still things that need to be fighting for.

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Weinberg said she has learned a lot from last years efforts, which included some organizational trouble. Among the lessons was the importance of making sure all rallies across the globe are important, not just the one happening in Washington D.C.

One of the most simultaneous things I learned last year was there is no standardized process, said Weinberg. Organizers all over the country have created a community to help each other, which is a great network to see. They are helping with things going on in other cities with a community of other advocates.

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While there is still a lot of work to do when it comes to making science and research an important topic of discussion among lawmakers, the director noted some positive changes in the world of science this year.

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There was the most increase in funding to science research, and some anti-science candidates that have not been appointed into office, said Weinberg. We still need to be advocating. Right now, we have to make sure not just whats in the news but science advocacy in general and constantly sending a message to their local officials.

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Weinberg and organizers are also planning actions after the march by holding outreach events and holding letter writing campaigns.

Were hitting the ground running as soon as this march is over. Were building on thriving community of year-round advocates, said Weinberg. This is not a one day march and not just one year of voting. Were working with organizations all over the world to spend the year advocating for change.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekLONDON (Reuters) - Russia's ambassador to Britain said a claim by a British security advisor on Friday that Russia spied on former agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter for at least five years before they were attacked with a nerve agent was a "big surprise."

"If someone was spying, why were the British services not complaining about that?" Alexander Yakovenko told reporters.

"They always complain if something goes wrong. We didn't see any signs, any applications from the British side that they are not happy with the way Skripals were living in Salisbury."

Sergei Skripal has been living in Britain since 2010 but his daughter only arrived last month, to visit her father.

Earlier on Friday, the national security adviser to Britain's prime minister told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a letter that email accounts of Yulia had been targeted in 2013 by cyber specialists from Russia's GRU military intelligence service.

Yakovenko said he had not seen the letter.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Elisabeth O'Leary; Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Stephen Addison)This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

The massive annual U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise kicked off in full force earlier this month after having been delayed to avoid complicating the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

North Korea normally condemns the manoeuvres as war-mongering, but has been quiet this year during the month-long exercise, perhaps because of its own latest move in the Korean Peninsula chess game.

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04_10_Kim Jong Un

KCNA/via Reuters

In late March, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made his first foreign trip since taking power in 2011, a surprise visit to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party general secretary. Because Kim shares his fathers fear of flying in foreign airspace, he went by trainone so heavily armoured it barely does 60 km/h.

Fortunately for Kim, it also reportedly comes stocked with lobster, fine wines and young women who sing and dance to bide the time.

Chinas Xinhua News Agency called the visit Kims obligation to come to congratulate Xi in person over being re-elected Chinese president and Central Military Commission chairman. Xi thanked Kim for his profound revolutionary friendship and urged that, in future, they pay frequent calls on each other, like relatives.

Xinhua also reported that the Korean Peninsula situation is developing rapidly, and many important changes have taken place, Kim said, adding that he felt he should come in time to inform Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping in person (of) the situation out of comradeship and moral responsibility.

Elephant in the room

Judging by the body language in the Chinese and Korean media coverage, it was an awkward get-together. The elephant in the room is Donald Trump, and his off-the-cuff bombshell that he would meet directly with Kim Jong-un, possibly as soon as next month.

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Its not just China who is alarmed by this prospect.

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reportedly wangled a repeat invitation to Mar-a-Lago next week.

Japan worries that the negotiations will fail because Trump wont go for North Koreas expected demand to resolve tensions with the U.S. through synchronous reciprocal concessionsthe proposal to implement phased-in, step-by-step mutual pullbacks over a long period.

Japans concern is that the North is again just playing for time to refine its ability to prove that, if push comes to shove, it can aim nuclear warheads at American cities.

Once North Koreas nuclear threat to America is confirmed, Japan would rightly doubt that the U.S. would fulfil its commitment to the defence of Japan if that meant that North Korea could retaliate by blowing up a U.S. city.

With uber-hawk John Bolton the new National Security Adviser, the Japanese fear is that if the Kim-Trump summit fails, the next step will be war.

Bolton has said talks with North Korea are useless, and protecting the U.S. from North Korean missiles is Job No. 1, regardless of collateral consequences for the South, Japan or, for that matter, China and Russia.

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Can Trump outsmart China?

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Beijings main concern may be that talks between Kim and Trump actually succeed. Chinas original strategy with North Korea was evidently to let a massive crisis develop, engendered by Pyongyangs weapons program.

China would then resolve it by engineering regime change in the Northif the U.S. withdraws its troops from Japan and South Korea, and abandons its defence of Taiwan.

But it appears that not everything has gone according to Beijings plan. Kim Jong-un outflanked China by publicly arresting his secretly China-friendly scheming uncle at a Communist Party meeting in 2013, then executing him and his cronies by rocket launcher as hundreds watched.

Then Kim had his own estranged older brother murdered in Malaysia, eliminating any possibility the sibling could ever become the face of a North Korean Chinese puppet regime.

So little wonder the smiles looked strained in official photos when the two met last week, and Xinhua characterized the talks as candid.

A potential blow to China

Of course, if Trump and Bolton find a way forward with Kim to de-nuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and set the stage for eventual Korean reunification, then Trump will have succeeded richly where Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama failed dismally.

Trump pulling this off without Beijings help would debase Chinas international prestige, while the U.S. re-consolidates its position in East Asia with no doubts about its future role there. Such a blow to Chinas national pride would have major global consequences.

But its worth noting that the North Korean account of the Kim-Xi meeting made no mention of plans for the Supreme Leader to meet Trump. This week, North Koreas official newswire, KCNA, revealed that Kim had mentioned the development of the north-south relations at present and the prospect of the DPRK-U.S. dialogue at a meeting of his party officials. But this does not rule out the possibility that the whole U.S. summit idea may just be a feint on Pyongyangs part.

Andknowing Trumps temperament as we dothe cause of global stability may well be better served if a Kim-Trump mano-a-mano never happened at all.

Nevertheless, the North Korean regimes threat to world peace festers dangerously and calls for meaningful actionsooner rather than later.

Charles Burton, Associate Professor of Political Science, Brock University.

The Conversation

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekEvery day, millions of children around the world are victims of violence. Deprived of the protection of community, school and family, they are at serious risk of abuse at the hands of slavers, traffickers, armed groups and others who look to exploit them.

At present, around 535 million childrena quarter of the worlds child populationare living in fragile states, affected by natural disasters, epidemics and other emergencies. More than half of these live in countries affected by conflict and around 50 million are on the move worldwide, having been uprooted from their homes.

Just to cite a few examples: in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 13.1 million people60 percent of which are childrenneed humanitarian assistance, 3.4 million children have no access to education and 400 schools have been attacked in the Kasai region alone. In Somalia, 2.8 million children need humanitarian assistance, while in war-torn South Sudan, 1.1 million children need food.

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But while research has shown that inaction on child violence results in huge costs to governments worldwide, very little is spent on protecting children. A 2014 report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and ChildFund Alliance showed that the global costs of physical, sexual and psychological violence against children is between $2 trillion and $7 trillion per year, up to 8 percent of global GDP.

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REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

Yet, globally, less than one per cent of the official development assistance (ODA)an average of $0.65 per childis spent on ending violence against children. In April, Britains International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said that the U.K. was still committed to spending 50 percent of its aid budget on fragile states.

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But while we welcome this and hope that other countries follow suit, we are concerned that yet again, protection of the most vulnerable children has not been made a primary focus. The key in any pledge of funding is that it needs to translate into actual support for the most vulnerable children. Children are the next generation and if they are neglected and their lives are at risk, then they will not be able to thrive and reach their full potential. They may survive, but will they be able to live life to the full?



Any aid, whatever government department oversees it, should prioritize the most vulnerable children and their needs, rather than being used to serve national interests. Aid must be implemented according to international development standards, and have the full engagement of civil society, including those who are at risk of being marginalised such as children. Only this will allow aid to provide results for the worlds most vulnerable children.

Sarah Pickwick is senior conflict adviser at World Vision U.K.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekRyan Avery Fish

A former substitute teacher was arrested yesterday for encouraging students to participate in a fight club inside his Montville High School maths class, in Montville, Connecticut.

Ryan Avery Fish, 23, was seen in cell phone videos encouraging students as they slapped each other in his classroom. Fish told police he only wanted to be liked by the students. Im an idiot, he said, according to his arrest warrant.

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Authorities charged Fish with two counts of risk of injury to a minor, one count of breach of peace and four counts of second-degree reckless endangerment. Fishs bail was set at $75,000 and he was arraigned in Norwich Superior Court on Thursday.

Ryan Avery Fish

Connecticut State Police

Last December, a social worker and juvenile court liaison with the state Department of Children and Families alerted Montville Police Department of a student who showed real and identifiable symptoms of having been traumatized.

Authorities then began investigating into a reported "fight club" held during a math class, the arrest warrant said. They discovered that the one-on-one fights happened under the direct supervision of Fish and involved four other boys who were aged between 14 and 16.

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Fish admitted to police that, starting in September, three or four scheduled fights were held. Authorities say cell phone evidence proves at least two of the fights.

I would let them be teenagers and get their energy out, Fish told Police, during an interview in January. I will admit that I did at one point egg them on.

According to the warrant, one student vomited during one of the fights and another was sent to hospital after he showed symptoms of trauma in December. It is unclear whether any of the victims suffered serious physical injuries.

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Authorities discovered that the school had known about the fight club since October 10, after videos taken on cell phones began circulating around campus. Assistant Principal Tatiana Patton and Principal Jeffrey Theodoss took Fish to Superintendent Brian Levesque, who fired him.

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Boys will be boys, Fish said when confronted by the senior school officials.

Hes not a certified teacher, said Montville Resident State Trooper Sargent Mark Juhola.

And it bothers me that so many teachers work so hard to get where they are and to help 70 students that this wasnt a teacher, but he was in that role.

The truth is Im an idiot and wanted to befriend them, Fish said, according to the warrant. Im immature.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPresident Donald Trump announced Friday that he had ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets linked to chemical weapons facilities of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in response to his alleged use of chemical weapons last weekend.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway," Trump said.

Trump first warned on Monday that he would respond "forcefully" to reports of an alleged chemical weapons attack conducted by the Syrian military against the rebel-held Douma suburb of Damascus on Saturday. Since then, Trump and his military officials have maintained that "all options" were on the table, but that not only Syria, but allies Russia and Iran may pay a "big price" after the toxic gas attack for which some Western governments and their allies have indicted the Syrian government.

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Russia, which has supported Assad in his seven-year war against rebels and jihadis since 2015, has forces deployed across the country, but its most significant assets are located at two military installations on the west coast. As Trump and his team deliberated over what course of action to take, the Syrian military reportedly moved some of its own equipment to the Russian naval base in Tartous and air base in Hmeymim, near Lattakia.

The U.S. and Russia have both supported local allies against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), but disagree over Syria's political future, a dispute that now threatens to take a violent turn.

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After U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley's threats of unilateral U.S. military action against Assad last month, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov warned that "In the event of a threat to our military servicemens lives, Russias armed forces will take retaliatory measures to target both the missiles and their delivery vehicles."

Russian ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin repeated this threat on Tuesday and Moscow's ambassador to the U.N. warned Wednesday that he "could not exclude" a war between the U.S. and Russia if Trump initiated such a clash.

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Defense Secretary James Mattis also cautioned Thursday that U.S. airstrikes in Syria could escalate "out of control" into a wider conflict during his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with developments.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPresident Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he would decide "fairly soon" his response to an alleged chemical weapons attack that some Western governments and their allies have blamed on the Syrian government. Such a move could potentially lead to a direct conflict with Russia and Iran, which fight rebels and jihadis on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Russian military has reportedly taken seriously Trump's taunt Wednesday that "missiles are coming" to Syria and has put air defenses on high alert. Longtime foes the U.S. and Russia have not fought one another directly since the U.S. attempted to snuff out Bolshevik forces in the wake of World War I about a century ago. Now both countries have bigger, stronger and smarter weapons capable of inflicting devastating blows and, as Trump tweeted, "our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War."

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As Trump met with the joint chiefs of staff and other top officials Thursday, Center for Strategic and International Studies associate fellow and associate director Ian Williams told Newsweek that a U.S. missile strike on Syria may still be likely, but a Russian response less so. Still, Williams wouldn't rule it out entirely, and he laid out some of the powerful tools both sides have already brought to the battlefield.

The most likely choice for a U.S. attack in Syria would be the Tomahawk cruise missile, a weapon Williams said the Pentagon has used "countless times for limited, surgical strikes" and the choice last April when U.S. guided missile destroyers USS Ross and USS Porter fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syria's Al-Shayrat air base. Trump ordered the strike hours after reports emerged of another suspected chemical attack, this time the alleged use of sarin gas by the Syrian military in the rebel-held province of Idlib.

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Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alyssa Weeks/U.S. Navy/Reuters

Within a day or so of the U.S. strike, however, Al-Shayrat was back in action, so Trump may opt for a more comprehensive operation. Williams said the U.S. could also use air-launched standoff missiles such as the new and improved ER variant of the AGM-158B JASSM, but this would put U.S. pilots at risk. The Tomahawk cruise missile could be fired from the safety of the Mediterranean Sea, where at least two U.S. destroyers were already poised to attack and the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group may join.

The U.S. has also updated its Tomahawk to the Block IV variant, which may be the "smart" missiles Trump referred to in his Wednesday tweet that told Russia to "get ready." Williams said these sophisticated missiles could be reprogrammed mid-flight, maintain communication throughout the operation, loiter around targets and even coordinate with fellow Tomahawks to conduct swarm attacks.

"These things are hard to hit, they're hard to see, they're small, and by design, they're stealthy as well," he said. "These kinds of missiles are easy to intercept if you see them coming, it's seeing them coming that's the challenge."

For its part, Russia has its own state-of-the-art firepower, complemented by naval radar systems and A-50 early warning aircraft. The S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft system, dubbed "SA-21 Growler" by Western military alliance NATO, is coveted even by regional U.S. allies Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Douglas Barrie, military aerospace analyst at the U.K.-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, previously told Newsweek on Wednesday that "Russias Aerospace Forces and, before that, the Soviet Air Force, have long practiced attempting to locate and shoot down cruise missiles, but it is not an easy task."

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Barrie explained that the S-400, the S-300 that came before it and the short-range Pantsir-S1 point air defense system all have anti-cruise missile capabilities. All were active in Syria, but the latest model S-400s was clustered on the west coast. Russia has two heavily-fortified military installations in Syria, a naval base in Tartous and an air base in Hmeymim. Reports have indicated that the Syrian military has already begun moving vital assets to these sites as they were considered unlikely targets for a direct U.S. attack.

Instead, observers have focused elsewhere on Syrian air bases and suspected chemical weapons production sites, targets more difficult for the coastal S-400 and K-300P Bastion-P (called "SS-C-5 Stooge" by NATO) systems to protect. Russia has also bolstered Syria's native defenses, potentially upgrading the Russian S-200s, Pantsir S-1s and medium-range Buk missile systems. Syria's armed forces reportedly intercepted a number of air-to-surface missiles fired Sunday at the T-4 air base in an attack blamed by Russia on Israel. They also shot down an Israeli jet in February.

However, the strategic value of hitting airfields and suspected chemical sites has likely diminished, as time drags on and potential targets were evacuated. Trump announced Monday he would decide how to respond "forcefully" within "the next 24 to 48 hours" to the chemical weapons charges against Assad, but on Thursday tweeted that a reaction "could be very soon or not so soon at all!" Williams said that this could present a new, dangerous element to Trump's plans, one that the expert said became a more likely scenario with former ambassador and persistent Iraq War supporter John Bolton set to enter the administration as national security adviser.

"There is a possibility that the targets could be more political, going after individuals, people in the upper echelons of the Syrian government and military," Williams told Newsweek, saying Trump may even go after Assad himself.

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Williams said such a plan, even if it failed, may "send a stronger message" to the Syrian leader, but it would significantly enhance the likelihood of civilian and Russian military casualties. If Russian top General Valery Gerasimov makes good on last month's promise that "in the event of a threat to our military servicemens lives, Russias armed forces will take retaliatory measures to target both the missiles and their delivery vehicles," the chance of a direct conflict between the U.S. and Russia increases significantly.

"I don't think the Russians will go there. I would hope they wouldn't," Williams said. "But, then again, I also didn't think they would invade Crimea."

In this case, both powers have warplanes, warships and submarines in the Mediterranean, as well as multi-layered defense systems with long to short-range capabilities and electronic interference. The U.S. has maintained a distinct technological advantage over its Russian foe, but neither have tested their firepower against a near-peer competitor in decades. In an even more unlikely scenario, both countries could unleash the world's largest nuclear arsenals on one another.

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, have long attempted to reconcile their rival countries. Trump was a vocal critic of former President Barack Obama's hardline posture toward Russia as well as his Syria policy. Trump criticized his predecessor for both not attacking Assad after reports of a 2013 chemical attack and for backing anti-Assad insurgents.

Many of these opposition fighters were consumed by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) or other jihadis and later lost U.S. backing. Defeating ISIS became a mutual goal of the U.S. and Russia, but as separate Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and Moscow-backed Syrian military campaigns defeated the militants, local and international tensions have resumed and some proponents of de-escalation have emerged in some unlikely places.

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Defense Secretary James Mattis cautioned Thursday that an imminent U.S. airstrike in Syria could escalate "out of control" into a wider conflict during his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. Mattis, seen as a hawkish Cabinet pick upon his nomination back in 2016, has since become one of the more moderate voices of Trump's inner circle, which was set to soon include Bolton and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

Secretary of State hopeful Pompeo testified Thursday that the historic bad blood between Washington and Moscow was "caused by Russian bad behavior" and claimed "the Russians met their match" after "a couple hundred Russians were killed" in U.S. airstrikes against pro-Syrian government forces in February. These Russians were believed to be volunteers for a private military company, not regular servicemen that Moscow has promised to avenge with force, but the attack drew attention to a potential new front in an already extended civil war that has pitted international actors against one another.

"Vladimir Putin has not yet received the message sufficiently," Pompeo told lawmakers, "and we need to continue to work at that."

Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vasily Nebenzya said Thursday that "the immediate priority is to evade the risk of war," but warned that "we cannot exclude any possibilities, unfortunately."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekThe US, UK and France carried out a missile strike on three sites in and around Damascus and the western Syrian city of Homs with links to the country's chemical weapons programme.

Friday night's strike was conducted by Tornado jets flying from the RAF Akrotiri, Rafale fighter bombers taking off from France and US B-1B bombers, with the latter having possibly taken off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

A french missile frigate operating from an undiclosed location also participated, as did a US destroyer from the Red Sea.

Theresa May stressed the limited and targeted nature of the attacks, emphasising that they were not about 'regime change'.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere," May argued.

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

May left the door open to further strikes in the future, if the Syrian government continued to use chemical weapons, adding that "no one should doubt our resolve".

Similarly, US Defence Secretary reportedly said that: "right now, this is a one-time shot".

Logistical support for the mission was provided, at least in part, by two aircraft flying from Spain, with its Prime Minister voicing his support for the action as did German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

As an aside, earlier on Saturday, France released a de-classified intelligence report containing the information which had led it to conclude that the Syrian military was behind the 7 April chemical weapons attack in Douma.

The scale of the operation, which saw 105 weapons launched against those three targets, was roughly double that of the one conducted in April 2017.

In a press briefing, the Pentagon said that all of the strikes were successful, and the actions carried out by the US, France and UK were "sucessful and effective" because they would put the Assad regime's chemical weapons programme back by years.

No civilian or military casualties were reported, with no targets protected by Russia's most advanced air defence systems having been targeted, which it was believed should significantly reduce the risk of the conflict escalating.

None of the military assets, including a naval base, which Moscow had built in the country while it has helping what it labelled Syria's legitimate government were targeted either.

To take note of, for some observers the attacks might also have served as a signal to Iran that the costs of its involvement in Syria and alliance with Russia is rapidly increasing.

Some reports indicated that other targets, besides those mentioned by the Pentagon might also have been attacked, with Russia's Defence Ministry claiming that some of those strikes, such as one with 12 cruise missiles launched against the Al-Dumayr military airfield outside Damascus had failed, with all of the missiles having been intercepted.

For its part, the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons said it would go ahead with a previously planned mission in Syria to investigate the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma on 7 April.The biggest news of the day comes in the form of former FBI Director James Comey revealing that the infamous "pee tape" from the Christopher Steele dossier could actually exist. With Donald Trump lashing out in opposition, Sarah Huckabee Sanders continued in the president's defense.

JUST IN: Press Sec. Sanders tells @CeciliaVega: James Comey "will be forever known as a disgraced partisan hack."



"One of the president's greatest achievements will go down as firing James Comey." https://t.co/JCvOkUotOi pic.twitter.com/MVcCQheq4u  ABC News (@ABC) April 13, 2018

Sanders on "pee tape"

It was last year when the Russian dossier was released to the public, with CNN being the first major network to reveal information about Donald Trump and his potential ties to the Kremlin.

While CNN released their report, it was Buzzfeed that dug a little deeper, claiming that the president was involved with Russian prostitutes, engaging in questionable sexual activity and that a video could possibly be available and used as blackmail by the Russians. As expected, Trump quickly denied the allegations, labeling them all "fake news" and accusing the media of liberal bias.

CNN's Jim Acosta Throws Sarah Sanders Infamous Tweet About Attacking the FBI Back at Her https://t.co/LtYuMA98oT (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/fDY9XssmMT  Mediaite (@Mediaite) April 13, 2018

With his book "A Higher Truth" set to be released next weekend, James Comey was interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America" and elaborated further on his time as head of the FBI, including the possibility of the "pee tape" being legit.

During her press briefing on April 13, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wasted no time offering a rebuttal. "Comey will be forever known as a disgraced partisan hack that broke his sacred trust with the President of the United States," Sanders said. "One of the Presidents greatest achievements will go down as firing Director Comey," she continued.

Sanders' reminder

During her press briefing, Jim Acosta of CNN decided to go back into Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Twitter feed from 2016 where she made contradictory claims about attacking the FBI. "Youve probably seen this tweet," Acosta said to Sanders, reminding her of her tweet that read "When youre attacking FBI agents because youre under criminal investigation, youre losing." In response, Sanders attempted to dismiss Acosta's reminder, stating, "I think that weve been very clear how we feel about some of the leadership at the FBI.

Particularly James Comey."

When you're attacking FBI agents because you're under criminal investigation, you're losing https://t.co/SIoAxatCjp  Sarah Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) November 3, 2016

Next up

With Donald Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the rest of the administration coming out playing defense in response to the remarks made by James Comey, the Russian investigation only continues to heat up, with special counsel Robert Mueller having already indicted dozens of past and current associates of the president in regards to their link to Russia.Cambridge Analytica, LLC is a data mining company that uses social media to develop advertising. They take public information from social media sites and sell that information to companies for advertising. The key phrase here is public information.

They are not going into your account and using private information. They are using what you post and selling that to companies for more defined advertising. It is information you have willingly posted on the internet.

The argument is this violates your privacy. Notice that they take your public information, package it and sell it to companies for advertising.

Privacy cannot be violated if you publicly disclose the information. Companies have been doing this for years in the form of surveys and test groups. It is nothing new.

No other companies, such as Amazon and Google, are testifying before Congress. The next time you look up an item and do not purchase on Amazon, think about what will happen. It is guaranteed that you will receive an e-mail with related items to your search. The item was not put into your cart, it was only searched for on their site. How do you think they get that information?

Google does the same thing. In fact, Google saves every search that has been completed on their website in their database. When you search for an item on Google, almost immediately the next page you go to will have an advertisement for that same item.

How did that happen?

This is exactly what Facebook does and nobody bats an eye when the other companies do it. All the media has to do is involve the government and it becomes a national breach of our trust. Where are all the other companies that breach our trust? Back in Silicon Valley or Seattle, Washington, watching Mark Zuckerburg's testimony to Congress from their plush offices.

Mark Zuckerburg's testimony

The reason everyone should be up in arms in what Mark Zuckerburg said during his testimony to Congress about Facebook developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to monitor posts. Facebook's artificial intelligence (AI) peruses posts to ensure they are good. AI technology is looking for good in everyone's posts on Facebook.

AI has to be programmed by somebody to mimic human's thought processes which could include a hidden bias for every Facebook post. So the robot decides what to flag, which then goes to their content managers who make the final decision. Facebook now decides what the content should be. This is a violation of the first amendment of our Constitution.

Facebook is not the authority on what is good or bad. The users of Facebook decide - not AI technology. If users like the posted content, then they celebrate it. Likewise, if they do not like it, then they respond accordingly.

Freedom Of Speech does not mean you have to say something that everyone agrees with. It means that you have the right to say what you want as long as it does not violate the letter of the law.

Freedom of speech also gives them the right to oppose the view and state their displeasure.

The reason we should be up in arms against Facebook is the fact that they censor our speech. This great nation gave the authority of its people to speak their minds. Why was this the first amendment? The authors of the constitution just overcame a type of government that took away their voice. Our voice is the only thing we have to keep us free and not allow the government to control us. We have that right and should use it whenever we see injustices in our country.

Conclusion

People have the right to their opinion and do not always have to agree with the opposition. Nothing should be able to take that away from us.

We must step up and demand that Facebook puts all views on equal footing and allows everyone to post as long as it is within the letter of the law.

Here is an example of a post that would violate the letter of the law. Every day someone is charged with assault and battery. The assumption is that assault is the act of hitting somebody but actually, that is battery. Assault is the threat of violence and that is not protected by the first amendment.

All the users of Facebook need to step up and become the final authority on what is good or bad. We do not need a company to tell us whether it is or not. The first amendment protects all opinions regardless of content.

As Facebook's conversation are public, the right to privacy is no longer valid.

Our right to privacy is also protected by the Constitution but once that conversation is made public, it is no longer private. The company now has the right to that conversation and can do whatever they want with it. In fact, anybody on the internet could take that information and do what they want with it.

If you do not want your information sold or re-posted, then do not post it. We must police ourselves in both what we want others to know and whether the content is good or bad. I personally do not want a robot to decide whether my content is good or bad.

When I share something, I want others to judge the content and use their right to respond their approval or disapproval. Readers should not be censored because they have the right to their opinion. Their views, whether negative or positive are protected under the first amendment.On Friday morning (April 13), Trumps attorney, Michael Cohen, appeared in federal court to suppress evidence seized in the FBI raid on Monday (April 9). Trump hired an attorney on Wednesday (April 11) who also appeared in court Friday (April 13) asking the court to suppress materials confiscated in the raid, citing attorney-client privilege. His new attorney argued that Trump is the only one who can waive that privilege; thus, the information shared between the president and Cohen should be protected.

There were many questions left unanswered in court on Friday, but the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that Cohen is indeed the target of a criminal investigation.

According to CNN reports, the court documents stated the judge sees the case to be more about Cohens business dealings and not necessarily about his activity as an attorney. She, the judge, also asserted that the evidence provided did support such an investigation.

With regard to the motion to suppress the evidence collected, the judge asked Cohens legal team to provide a list of clients and provide reasoning as to why the government should not have access to the evidence collected. Michael Cohens attorney could not provide an answer. In response, the judge called a recess to allow Cohens team time throughout the day to provide the list.

Later, Friday afternoon, when Cohens attorney returned to court to fight for him, Michael Cohen lounged outside a hotel smoking a cigar in a style likened to "The Sopranos," laughing it up.

Meanwhile, inside the courthouse, as court resumed, Cohens attorney faced the judge with empty hands and no list in sight. Again, the judge extended more time again and gave Cohens counsel until Monday (April 16) to produce the client list.

A boatload of evidence

CNN reported that there have been covert methods to obtain Cohens emails and that he has been under surveillance for months.

This is how the DOJ learned he wasnt really doing any legal work except for Donald Trump, stating in the court filing that "Cohen is, in fact, performing little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump." Currently, the government is still trying to start their review of the evidence collected from Cohens safe deposit boxes, home, phone, and other devices in addition to the several files confiscated from the lawyers offices.

Media sources such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNN have all reported that among the evidence seized, there are alleged recordings of meetings and phone conversations Cohen had with people, including clients.

Patterns?

On Friday (April 5), Rhonda McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) appeared on CNN and announced she had accepted the resignation of Deputy Finance Chair Elliot Broidy earlier that day. Broidy resigned in light of his secret emerging about impregnating a Playmate model while he was married and the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that followed the affair. The resignation was not surprising considering the circumstance, however, who facilitated the agreement is, you got it, Michael Cohen.

Michael Cohen also serves as a finance director for the RNC, where Broidy worked. Cohen helped him by negotiating a $1.6-million payoff for the model, who, by the way, did not have the baby. McDaniel said there are no changes at this time in Cohen's employment with the RNC, but would be speaking with him about his continuance. She reaffirmed that Cohen has not been charged with anything and the RNC believes in due process.

Is it privilege or entitlement?

Trump, who can be self-absorbed at times, is fighting an uphill battle when it comes to privilege and keeping his secrets secret. Legal analyst Laura Coates explained that attorney-client privilege flew out the window on Thursday, April 5, when President Trump was on Air Force 1 and told reporters he had no idea about the $130,000 hush money payment made by Cohen to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels or the infamous NDA.

He then told the media to ask his attorney Michael Cohen about it.

This in itself smashes the attorney-client privilege defense to smithereens and opens Pandora's Box. Since, and using Trump's own words, Cohen acted without his prior knowledge or consent, and as such, attorney-client privilege for said incident doesn't apply. Bottom line, Trump wants no part of this circus, except, hes the ringleader and there is no escape.

Will the lawyer go to prison?

First off, Cohen is not talking. Period. He isn't even showing up for court. Remember, this is the same gentleman that said he would take a bullet for The President. It seems his loyalty is unwavering. The New York Times and CNN both reported that Trump even called Michael Cohen to check-in with him.

The two reportedly discussed the raid and other things pertaining to the case. Smart right? Now, some are questioning if Cohen will trade his family, wife, and kids for Donald Trump, the man who threw him under a bus just a week ago. Beep beep!Nikki was only trying to save Victoria, but she ended up killing JT Hellstrom when she hit him with a fireplace poker. The women debate what they should do now that JT is lying dead in Victorias room. Will they call the police and take the risk that Nikki  and the rest of them  could be arrested? Meanwhile, Nick has already figured out that Victor is trying to say that JT was responsible for his attempted murder.

Phyllis suggests they should get rid of the body

Previously on The Young and the Restless, Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) attacked JT (Thad Luckinbill) with a fireplace poker and JT fell unconscious on the floor.

On Mondays episode, the girls look for something that they can use to tie JT before he wakes up. However, Phyllis (Gina Tognoni) realizes he is no longer breathing and he has no pulse either. Nikki panics and they want to call 911. But then, they realize JT has gone cold already, according to Soaps.com.

Nikki freaks out and is apologetic, but Victoria (Amelia Heinle) reveals the truth about JT pushing her father off the stairs and trying to finish Victor (Eric Braeden) for good by turning off his ventilator.

Victoria suggests calling the police, but Phyllis says Nikki could go to prison because JT had no weapon. And the rest of them can also be arrested for being accessories to his murder. They argue about how the police will see the incident, and Victoria feels responsible.

They need a plan.

JT is wanted for attempted murder

At the station, the results of the lab test revealed that the blood sample they found at the crime scene is JTs.

Paul (Doug Davidson) remembers JT mentioned he was at the ranch, so he might have lied about the time. He needs to question him.

The Young and the Restless spoilers reveal that while the women are still thinking about the next step, Paul will come to Victorias place. He is looking for JT and Victoria reveals she found out he was working with Paul to investigate Victor and that they already broke up.

Paul is sorry but tells Victoria its a good decision. He leaves, but later he receives a call from Nick (Joshua Morrow) that Victor has identified JT as the one who attacked him. Now, Paul has enough reason to arrest JT for attempted murder.

The girls go back to discussing their course of action. Sharon (Sharon Case) still wants to tell Paul what happened, but Phyllis maintains theres a risk theyd be put in jail. Phyllis then suggests they need to get rid of JTs body. A preview clip for The Young and the Restless shows Victoria, Phyllis, Sharon and Nikki standing on what seems to be JTs grave.

The Young and the Restless airs Mondays to Fridays at 12:30 p.m. on CBS.The fans of "Vanderpump Rules" love watching Ariana Madix and tom sandoval together. This couple gets along great, but Ariana has made it pretty clear that marriage is not something that she wants. Now, In Touch Weekly is sharing if these two plan to get married and a bit about what they say about their future plans. Ariana and Tom do seem to be the one couple on the show that really does have their act together.

The couple says they are "100% committed"

Ariana and Tom sound like they are doing great. Tom said, "We respect and have a lot of pride in each other  I think that solves 99 percent of problems." The thing is that it is still a "no" about getting married from Ariana.

She loves Tom, but she doesn't want to tie the knot with him. Tom explained that they are doing just fine, but they also don't want to spend $600,000 on a wedding that they don't need. Tom has always made it sound like he wants marriage, but he is with Ariana and will stick with her no matter what.

They just don't see the reason to go crazy and spend a ton of money on a big wedding. Instead, they can spend this money on things like a big house and just enjoying life.

Ariana shares an update

Ariana Madix didn't hold back about how they are doing now, though. She really feels like in five years they will still be together and going strong. She wants a big house with Tom and has a lot of goals in life.

She is hoping to end up on a scripted show at some point. There is still no talk about babies, but Tom did admit that he wants a puppy at some point. It sounds like these two are doing great, want to be together but are just enjoying their life the way that it is right now. They may never actually get married, and they seem okay with that idea.

Right now, Ariana and Tom are still on "Vanderpump Rules." The fans have been watching him work hard on his bar Tom Tom that he is doing with Tom Schwartz and Lisa Vanderpump. Ariana says that she wants to be on a scripted show, but she also hasn't shared that she has actually done a show like this or started auditioning for acting jobs.

Are you surprised to hear that Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval still don't want to get married? Do you think that they will ever change their mind? Sound off in the comments section below on your thoughts, and don't miss new episodes of "Vanderpump Rules" when they air on Monday nights on TLC. Fans love getting to see all of the drama of this show, but also the great couples like Tom and Ariana.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Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates integrated natural gas and natural gas liquids and other hydrocarbons (NGLs) pipeline and storage systems in the United States. It operates interstate natural gas and NGLs pipeline systems, and integrated storage facilities, which are located in the Gulf Coast region, Oklahoma, Arkansas and the Midwestern states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. The company's pipeline systems contain approximately 13,880 miles of interconnected natural gas pipelines, directly serving customers in 13 states and indirectly serving customers throughout the northeastern and southeastern United States through various interconnections with unaffiliated pipelines. It also owns and operates approximately 455 miles of NGLs pipelines serving customers in Louisiana and Texas. In addition, the company has underground storage caverns having aggregate capacity of approximately 205.0 billion cubic feet of working natural gas and 24.5 million barrels of NGLs. It serves producers of natural gas, local distribution companies, marketers, electric power generators, industrial users, and interstate and intrastate pipelines. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP is a subsidiary of Boardwalk Pipelines Holding Corp.

Read MoreCan't-miss games in Northeastern South Dakota for Week 7

Things are getting closer to the wire as most teams will have to prove themselves in the next three games ahead of the upcoming postseason for nine-man and 11B.WASHINGTON  A top fundraiser for President Donald Trump resigned from the Republican National Committee on Friday after it was revealed that he paid $1.6 million to a Playboy Playmate with whom he had an extramarital affair. The Playmate became pregnant and elected to have an abortion.

Elliott Broidy called RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Friday afternoon to say that he was resigning immediately.

Elliott and I spoke today, we both had a long conversation and we both agreed that that was the right thing to do, McDaniel said on MSNBC. We dont want to distract from our purpose, which is to elect Republicans.

Trumps personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, helped negotiate the $1.6 million nondisclosure agreement between Broidy and the Playboy model last year, according to two people familiar with the agreement. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the payout Friday.

Broidy apologized to his wife and family for the affair with the Playmate, who discovered she was pregnant and chose to get an abortion.

I acknowledge I had a consensual relationship with a Playboy Playmate. At the end of our relationship, this woman shared with me that she was pregnant. She alone decided that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy and I offered to help her financially during this difficult period, Broidy said in a statement provided to the AP.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders deflected questions about Cohen and the Broidy payout Friday, saying she was not sure if Cohen was still Trumps personal attorney and trying to turn the focus back to critiques of special counsel Robert Muellers probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

News of the payout knit together two of the biggest stories brewing over the past few weeks. Cohens lawyers were in court Friday arguing that federal agents violated attorney-client privilege when they raided Cohens office, home and hotel room Monday. The agents were seeking evidence that Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playmate Karen McDougal hush money after they allegedly slept with Trump more than a decade ago. Trumps lawyer formerly intervened in the New York case, arguing for confidentiality.

Trump has denied the womens allegations.

The lawyer for the Playboy model involved with Broidy said his client had no statement and clarified that she isnt McDougal.

An attorney for Cohen did not return requests for comment Friday.

Broidy was a deputy finance chairman for the RNC until Friday. Cohen is still serving as a deputy finance chairman for the party. Asked if she was considering firing Cohen from the RNC over revelations of his payouts, McDaniel told MSNBC she wanted to talk to him first before making a decision.

Broidy, meanwhile, has been embroiled in controversy stemming from his work with George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who was confronted by agents working for Mueller in January and has since been cooperating with the Russia probe. The AP reported last month that Nader wired Broidy $2.5 million through a Canadian company to pay for a pair of Washington conferences blasting Qatar as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Broidy has blamed the government of Qatar and lobbyists working for Qatar for the hacking and leaking of his emails, but a federal judge in California wrote last week that he was unsure if Broidy could successfully sue the Middle East nation.

___

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.District Attorney Raul Torrez said his office has found several problems with state laws on gun possession that should be changed.

Torrez, in a letter to Gov. Susana Martinez, said that in the wake of school shootings in New Mexico and elsewhere in the country, his office has examined existing laws and thinks the state should expand the list of people prohibited from possessing firearms, strengthen the mechanism for reporting them to law enforcement and increase the states ability to seize firearms used in felonies and violent crimes.

It is imperative that our political representatives take the lead in a combined effort to protect the public from violent and mentally unstable people, Torrez said in the letter, which was also sent Friday to Senate and House leaders.

Torrez said New Mexico law only prohibits people who have been convicted of felonies as adults from prohibiting firearms. He said he thinks that list should also include people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence charges or certain violent crimes as juveniles, people who are subject to domestic violence orders of protection and people who have been found incompetent to stand trial.

Torrez pointed out that Nehemiah Griego, who was convicted of killing his parents and three young siblings when he was 15, would be able to own firearms if he is sentenced as a juvenile, a matter currently being litigated.

The governor will leave office at the end of the year.

Michael Lonergan, a spokesman for the governor, said her administration has improved reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is used to check if people trying to buy firearms are banned from doing so.

Governor Martinez has always been a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment  and having been a prosecutor herself for 25 years, knows firsthand the importance of keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, including through supporting common-sense gun laws, he said in a prepared statement.

Michael Patrick, a spokesman for Torrez, said the district attorney wrote the letter to create discussion about the topic.

We just felt we needed to get the ball rolling, Patrick said.

Torrez this week held a meeting at his office with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to discuss how they can better fight gun crime in Albuquerque.

As a lifelong gun owner, hunter and concealed carry permit holder, I strongly believe in our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, Torrez said in the letter. Just as strongly, however, I believe  as most gun owners do  that violent criminals and the mentally unstable should not have ready access to firearms.Southern New Mexico congressional candidate Yvette Herrell has filed amended financial disclosure reports to reflect that a family-owned real estate company has earned lease income from state agencies.

But Herrell also said Friday she never intended to hide the arrangement from constituents, saying she had been complying with guidance given to her by former Secretary of State Dianna Duran in 2013 in filling out the disclosure reports.

Herrell, an Alamogordo Republican who has served in the state House since 2011, came under fire last week from rival candidates for not listing the lease arrangements under a question about goods and services to state agencies on the disclosure form, which lawmakers and elected officials must submit annually.

She is a partner in the real estate company, Herrell Properties, which is run by her father, but has said she has never pocketed any money from the state.

The amended reports were filed this week  one for each of the past five years  with Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Olivers office, which indicated no further action would be necessary.

Herrell is one of four Republicans vying for the partys nomination for the 2nd Congressional District seat. There are also two Democrats running for the seat, which is being vacated by U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce in order to run for governor.

HOUSE SEAT: County commissioners in three New Mexico counties will soon be sending names to Gov. Susana Martinez for a vacant state House seat.

The House District 22 seat was held by Jim Smith, a Tijeras Republican, but he officially stepped down March 27 after being appointed by the governor to the five-member Bernalillo County Commission.

Now, that county commission  along with commissioners in Santa Fe and Sandoval counties  will send names to Martinez for her consideration. The governor is limited to choosing from among the recommended individuals.

However, its unclear whether whomever is selected will actually take part in a legislative session.

Thats because the House District 22 seat  along with the other 69 state House seats statewide  is up for election in November. Three candidates are running for the seat, Republicans Merritt Allen and Gregg Schmedes, both of Tijeras, and Democrat Jessica Velasquez of Sandia Park.

The district encompasses the East Mountains area, Placitas and Algodones, while also stretching into parts of rural Santa Fe County.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

An employee at an Albuquerque nursery who called police last week to report that five dogs were in a locked car had reported the situation hours earlier to 311 and the citys Animal Welfare Department.

According to a criminal complaint, the employee called the citys 311 help-line at around 1 p.m. last Wednesday to report the animals, which were all alive at that time. When no one from the city intervened, the police were called at around 4:20 p.m. and arrived around 25 minutes later.

By that time, it was too late  all five of the dogs were dead.

A spokeswoman for the citys Animal Welfare Department said an animal control officer received the call and attempted to locate the vehicle but could not find it.

According to the officer, he tried to reach the complainant for more information, Desiree Cawley wrote in an email on Thursday.

Cawleys email did not indicate what those efforts entailed.

Her email also did not indicate what information the caller provided to 311, which is intended to be used in non-emergency situations.

In the days since, Cawley said Mayor Tim Keller instructed the department to conduct an investigation into the incident.

After this tragic incident, we told Animal Welfare to get to the bottom of what occurred, Keller spokeswoman Alicia Manzano said on Thursday. We were also grateful that APD was able to promptly identify and locate the person who appears to be responsible.

Sara Mauter, 31, was apprehended last weekend in Phoenix after a routine traffic stop and extradited to Albuquerque. She has yet to be booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.

She faces five counts of extreme cruelty to animals, a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico.

Mauter had been hired by the animals owner through a craigslist ad to transport them to the owners new home in Texas, but Mauter allegedly left the rented SUV in an alley with its hazard lights on.

Safety at risk

Could bystanders or witnesses have done more to help the animals?

City ordinance states that police or any officer or agent thereof may use whatever force is reasonably necessary to remove a child or animal from a vehicle if their safety is at risk.

It does not mean a civilian can act on behalf of APD under this policy, APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos wrote in an email.

The city and state do not have so-called hot car laws that allow civilians to break into a vehicle to rescue an endangered animal without fear of criminal or civil penalties.

Lora Dunn, an attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, said those laws typically require civilians to take other steps before breaking into a vehicle, including calling law enforcement and attempting to locate the vehicles owner.

We would encourage New Mexico to take up the cause and help protect animals in vehicles this summer, Dunn said.Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel in May 2017 in reaction to a media still gripped by near-hysteria over the inexplicable defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

For nearly a year before Muellers appointment, leaks had spread about collusion between Russia and the Donald Trump campaign that supposedly cost Clinton a sure victory. Most of these stories, as we now know, originated with Christopher Steele and his now-discredited anti-Trump opposition file.

After almost a year, Mueller has offered no evidence Trump colluded with the Russians. Aside from former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a few minor and transitory campaign officials have been indicted or have pleaded guilty to a variety of transgressions other than collusion.

Ironically, the United States has often interfered in foreign elections to massage the result. Recently, Bill Clinton joked about his own efforts as president to collude in the 1996 Israeli election to ensure the defeat of Benjamin Netanyahu. I tried to do it in a way that didnt overtly involve me, Clinton said.

The Obama administration did the same in 2015, when it used State Department funds to support an anti-Netanyahu political action group.

Since Muellers investigation began, a number of top FBI and Department of Justice officials have either retired, or were reassigned or fired.

With the exception of former FBI Director James Comey, all left their jobs due to investigations of improper conduct that took place during the 2016 election cycle. Most were under a cloud of suspicion for lying, having conflicts of interest or misleading investigators.

Mueller is reaching the crossroads of his investigation and faces at least four critical decisions.

 One, Mueller can wind up his investigations now. He can write a report affirming that he has found no evidence while conducting his originally assigned inquiry: Donald Trump did not collude with the Russians to throw the election his way.

 Two, Mueller might pause and await Inspector General Michael Horowitzs report concerning possible Department of Justice and FBI abuses pertaining to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court. If Horowitz finds credible evidence of lawbreaking, then Mueller might seek indictments based on the IGs likely actionable evidence.

 Three, Mueller could continue to investigate anyone close to the Trump campaign for another year. If he did that, he would confirm that his inquiry has descended into a political cause. If Mueller calibrates the release of his findings to the fall midterm elections, he will be hailed by Trump opponents as a crusading prosecutor  despite finding nothing related to collusion. A Democratic takeover of Congress would shut down congressional investigations of FBI and DOJ wrongdoing and further empower Mueller.

 Four, Mueller could more evenly apply his investigations of lying, obstruction of justice and collusion during the campaign. That way, he would reassure the country of equal treatment of all under the law.

For example, in his search for instances of lying, Mueller might also re-examine the false testimonies given to investigators by McCabe and by Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin.

In his search for Russian collusion, Mueller might also investigate Steele, Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS and the Clinton campaign. All used Russian sources to leak unproven gossip and smears to the press to warp the 2016 election.

In his search for obstruction of justice, Mueller might also investigate whether top DOJ and FBI officials deliberately misled the FISA Court by withholding evidence that the Steele dossier was flawed. Did Justice Department officials inform the FISA Court that Steeles dossier was hired research paid for by the Clinton campaign? Did they tell the court that the FBI had stopped using Steele as a source for purportedly leaking information to the media? Did they tell the court that Comey was on record as saying the Steele dossier might not have been credible?

In his search for felonious behavior concerning the leaking of classified documents, Mueller might determine:

 One, whether the memos regarding presidential conversations that Comey leaked to the press were classified;

 Two, whether former top national security and intelligence officials  among them John Brennan, James Clapper, Samantha Power, Ben Rhodes and Susan Rice  requested that the redacted names of surveilled Americans be unmasked, and whether officials then illegally leaked those names to the media;

 Three, whether FBI officials such as Comey and McCabe leaked confidential findings to the press during the 2016 campaign and lied to investigators about it.

If the special counsels investigation has turned into a political cause, Mueller will no doubt prefer the third option. That is, Muellers report  and possibly more indictments of minor campaign aides  would likely appear shortly before the midterm elections. If Democrats win the House, then they will probably shut down all congressional investigations of the FBI and the DOJ  and perhaps all reviews of the actions of Mueller himself.He grew up during the Great Depression, was a decorated combat pilot in two wars and a driving force in establishing the cable television industry.

And though Bill Daniels died in 2000, his legacy lives on through a foundation that strives to make life better for the people of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The Daniels Fund does this through scholarships, by awarding grants to nonprofits and through an ethics initiative.

This year alone, the Daniels Fund announced that it is awarding scholarships to 30 New Mexico high school seniors. The recipients are allowed to attend any accredited nonprofit college or university in the United States. The scholarships cover the expenses that remain after all other financial aid has been applied, effectively giving these students a full-ride.

Those scholarships are targeted to graduating seniors who demonstrate exceptional character, leadership and commitment to serving their communities.

Separately, the Daniels Fund has awarded $110,000 in new money for Boundless Opportunity Scholarships available throughout the state, including at UNM, NMSU, ENMU, CNM, Santa Fe Community College, New Mexico Military Institute, Northern New Mexico College, San Juan College and University of the Southwest.

Those scholarships are designated for students who are motivated to create a better life for themselves and their families and who demonstrate financial need.

To date, the Daniels Fund has awarded more than $96.7 million to New Mexico students and non profits.

The work the organization is doing is truly changing lives. Its an amazing legacy both for the man who left $1.1 billion of his personal fortune to the foundation that bears his name and for the people at the Daniels Fund who are dedicating themselves to carrying out Bill Daniels vision.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

The states Office of the Superintendent of Insurance let New Mexico Health Connections report a $10 million payment it had not yet received as an asset last year, according to recently released financial filings. Doing so kept the organization from triggering a law in which the state assumes control of a financially troubled entity.

According to Health Connections Sept. 30 filing, which was posted on the agencys website last week, the company, with the explicit permission of  (OSI), recorded a receivable for the sale of a specific line of business. If the receivable of $10,000,000 had not been permitted as an admitted asset as of September 30, 2017, the company would have a (deficit) of $6,499,473 and the companys risk-based capital would have triggered a mandatory control level by the OSI.

Mandatory control level is a financial threshold established by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Once an organization passes the threshold, state law dictates the superintendent shall  take such actions as are necessary to place the organization under state control. That involves either liquidating the organization or rehabilitating it with the state conducting business on its behalf.

The $10 million was a payment from Arlington, Va.-based Evolent Health, which purchased the companys commercial business and formed a new entity, True Health New Mexico. That deal was not approved by the state until December.

Lea Geckler, financial examiner supervisor for the superintendents office, said the state would have assumed control of Health Connections had it not approved the Evolent deal.

Superintendent John G. Franchini said the state had, 15 years ago, allowed another insurer  though not a health insurer  to treat a receivable from its parent company as an asset. His office was not able to provide information about how often it had done so for health insurers in recent years.

Dr. Martin Hickey, CEO of Health Connections at the time of the Sept. 30 filings and current CEO of True Health, said the Evolent Health investment allowed for the creation of True Health New Mexico, which he said had very healthy margins at the end of the first quarter of this year.

Ken Wood, CEO of Evolents True Health Inc., said in a statement that the company could not comment on confidential provisions of the deal with Health Connections, but said Evolent has invested $30.25 million in New Mexico since the fall.

A 90-day delay

Health Connections, a not-for-profit co-op created with $77 million in federal loans under the Affordable Care Act, has been under financial supervision since 2015, according to the superintendents office, and remains under supervision today.

Franchini warned Health Connections board about the possibility of state control in a confidential June 23 letter obtained by the Journal. In it, he stated Health Connections would trigger mandatory control once it received an $8.9 million bill from the Affordable Care Acts risk adjustment program, which redistributes money from insurers with healthier customers to those with sicker customers.

(A federal judge recently ruled in favor of Health Connections in a lawsuit alleging the governments formula for determining those payments was arbitrary and capricious. The financial implications of that ruling are still unclear.)

As we discussed, when the federal government assesses the ACA Risk Adjuster, NMHCs risk-based capital will fall below seventy percent  such a financial position creates a mandatory control level event, Franchini wrote.

Franchini also noted that state law allowed him to invoke a 90-day delay if there is a reasonable expectation the organization could improve its finances to the extent that the mandatory control level event is eliminated. He wrote that he believed such an improvement was possible.

The $8.9 million sum was assessed on June 30, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Due to other federal payments that were netted against the charges, that amount was eventually reduced to $3.7 million.

On July 31, the entire Health Connections board resigned, citing the organizations factual insolvency, documents show. The insurer continued under the leadership of a board appointed by then-CEO Hickey, after a change in Health Connections bylaws approved by Franchini and the federal government.

Franchini previously told the Journal he did not know whether Health Connections had reached the threshold for mandatory control when its board resigned in July. Asked about the discrepancy between that statement and the timeline he outlined in the June 23 letter, he said in an interview Thursday that he was indeed aware that the risk adjustment bill had put Health Connections at the threshold of state control at that time.

Substantial and confidential

The sale of Health Connections commercial business, which encompassed about half of its 40,000 members, required approval from the state insurance office and a final sign-off from Franchini.

Franchini and Geckler said in an interview that Evolent had paid $10 million to True Health in September, money that was scheduled to be transferred to Health Connections once the state approved the deal and the transaction closed. Franchini said the fact that the $10 million had already been transferred, albeit to True Health instead of Health Connections, was one reason he allowed Health Connections to report the money as an asset.

On Sept. 27, the day before the end of the 90-day delay, Evolent announced it would purchase Health Connections commercial business for $10.25 million subject to customary closing conditions, which includes certain regulatory approvals, including approval by the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance.

The superintendent approved the deal on Dec. 20. On Jan. 2 of this year, Evolent announced that the transaction had closed.

Today, Health Connections is one of only four remaining health co-ops created under the Affordable Care Act. As of 2014, there were 23 such organizations.

Marlene Baca, the current Health Connections CEO, said in a statement that the company was on track to have a banner year with financial resources that place it far from the mandatory control level.DAMASCUS, Syria  Hundreds of Syrians poured into the streets of Damascus on Saturday, dancing and chanting in defiance of what they called the Wests failure to shake their nations resolve with airstrikes that jolted the capital only hours earlier.

The demonstrations in support of President Bashar Assad were carried live on state TV, which also reported that Syrian air defenses had intercepted most of the missiles fired by the United States, Britain and France to punish Syrias purported use of chemical weapons. The broadcaster also urged people not to believe media reports that exaggerated the results of the airstrikes.

We are not scared of Americas missiles. We humiliated their missiles, said Mahmoud Ibrahim, who waved a Syrian flag as he hung out of his car window.

As car horns blared, the crowd moved toward nearby Damascus University where pro-government fighters danced and waved their automatic rifles over their heads. Many denounced U.S. President Donald Trump and also waved flags of Syrias allies, Iran and Russia, as they cheered Assad.

The display of national fervor later mixed with celebrations over the news that the Syrian army declared the eastern suburbs of Damascus fully liberated after the last group of rebels left the town of Douma. Its recapture marks the biggest victory for Assads forces since the capture of the eastern half of the city of Aleppo in 2016.

The fall of Douma came after a punishing government offensive and a surrender deal struck with rebel groups. It also followed the purported use of chemical weapons there on April 7, which activists say killed over 40 people in the town and led to Saturdays airstrikes by the West.

Trump failed in his aggression, said 51-year-old civil servant Mohammed Hammad. Trumps failure came with the victory of our army in Douma, which marks the biggest victory for the Syrian Arab Army.

The bombardment began at 4 a.m., with loud explosions thundering in Damascus and the sky turning orange as fires raged in the distance.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising above eastern Damascus and spotted fiery streaks of surface-to-air missiles. The call to morning prayers at dawn mixed with the whoosh of missiles.

Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers blared nationalist songs.

Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrias presidential account tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Later, a video showing Assad walking into his office carrying a briefcase was posted on the same account. Good morning, steadfastness, the caption read.

As the sun rose, hundreds had gathered in Damascus landmark Omayyad Square, celebrating what they said was the armys success in foiling the U.S-led military action.

The widely broadcast celebrations and the hastily organized police deployment in Douma appeared to be the governments response to the airstrikes.

The limited airstrikes came at a time when the Assad government is feeling empowered after having secured the region near the capital following other military victories backed by Russia and Iran in seven years of civil war.

Trump announced the airstrikes Friday night to attack Syrias chemical weapons program. He said Washington is prepared to keep pressure on Assad until he ends a criminal pattern of killing his own people with the internationally banned weapons.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted Mission Accomplished, and the Pentagon said the strikes hit the heart of Syrias chemical program.

The U.S. had fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assads use of sarin gas against civilians.

Syria has repeatedly denied using banned weapons. Inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog group were in Damascus and had been expected to head to Douma on Saturday.

The limited strikes were deplored by the Syrian opposition, which saw the West as lacking an international strategy for dealing with the civil war.

Nasr al-Hariri, a senior opposition leader, said the international community must take responsibility for any retaliation by the Syrian government against civilians in opposition areas. He called for a strategy that leads to a political solution to save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime.

Mohammad Alloush, spokesman for the Army of Islam rebel group that was expelled from Douma, tweeted that the airstrikes were a farce.

A Syrian military statement said 110 missiles were fired Saturday by the U.S., Britain and France and that it shot down most of them. Russias military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 of the missiles.

Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said no missiles were stopped. He added that Syrias air defenses were ineffective and that many of the more than 40 surface-to-air missiles fired by the Syrians were launched after the allied attack was over. He said the U.S. knew of no civilians killed by allied missiles.

The Syrian military said three civilians were wounded in one of the strikes in Homs.

A number of missiles targeted a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, and destroyed a building housing an education center and labs and caused other damage, the military said.

An AP reporter who went to the Center for Scientific Research on the northeastern edge of Damascus found the three-story building almost completely destroyed and still smoking hours after it was hit. An official there said the facility was used by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and helped develop cancer drugs.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs also was targeted and was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin production equipment. A chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, west of Homs, also were targeted, he said.

Russia and Iran called the use of force a military crime and act of aggression. The U.N. Security Council met to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the aggression by the three Western allies.

___

Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Zeina Karam in Beirut, and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, contributed.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  The militant Islamic Jihad group said four of its members were killed Saturday in a work accident in the southern Gaza Strip along the border with Israel.

The explosion struck a three-wheeled vehicle near one of the five protest camps Palestinians have set up along the volatile Gaza-Israel border in recent weeks.

Islamic Jihad said all four were killed during preparations without elaborating, implying they were preparing an attack against Israel. The Israeli military said it was unaware of any activity in the area of the blast.

It comes a day after another mass gathering along the border area in which thousands of Palestinians, some burning Israeli flags and torching tires, staged a protest against the ten-year-old blockade. Israel has accused Hamas and other militant groups of using the protests as a cover for attacks and says its snipers have only targeted main instigators.

One protester was killed Friday, bringing the death toll to 28 over the last two weeks, with more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli fire since March 30.

The marches have been organized by Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, but large turnouts on two preceding Fridays were also driven by Gaza's dire living conditions and desperation among the territory's 2 million residents who have been enduring a crippling border closure by Israel and Egypt since 2007.

Rights groups have described the Israeli military's open-fire regulations as unlawful, saying they permit soldiers to use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters.

Hamas leaders have sent mixed signals about whether they plan an eventual mass breach of the border fence. The protests are to culminate in a large rally on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel's creation. Palestinians mourn the event as their nakba, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 war over Israel's creation.

 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.WASHINGTON  As President Donald Trump and top Republicans dined on filet mignon at the White House this week, just hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his stunning retirement, Trump and Ryans top lieutenant found themselves with a moment alone.

Do you really want to be the next speaker of the House, Trump asked Kevin McCarthy, one of his closest allies in Congress. The Californian  the leading but undeclared contender  told the president he wants the job, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.

McCarthy emerged from the Wednesday evening chat confident he had Trumps backing to succeed Ryan, said one of the sources, a GOP operative. Trump tried not to explicitly endorse McCarthy, said the other source, but it was clear the president would be very happy for McCarthy to ascend to the post.

Both people spoke anonymously about the conversation because they werent authorized to relay details of a politically sensitive but possibly critical exchange. Trumps embrace could be crucial for McCarthy, the No. 2 House Republican leader, if he wants to nail down support from conservative lawmakers who have been leery of his GOP establishment ties and could sink his bid.

But even in a contest of Republican lawmakers, a Trump endorsement is a double-edged sword. The president is unpopular in many suburban and other swing districts, and many Republicans dont want their leader to be viewed as beholden to the whims of the unpredictable president. Others bristle at the idea of presidential meddling in their contest.

This is a matter to be decided by the legislative branch of government, not the executive branch, Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., said of Trump supporting a candidate.

Still, the Trump factor will be hard to avoid. With Ryans departure slated for January, Republicans will lose another establishment force who, at times, pushed back at Trump.

Its far from clear McCarthy intends to play the same role.

He was one of Trumps earliest supporters and has never flinched as Trump endured criticism for his comments on women, minorities and others.

Since Trumps election, the two have advertised their close relationship and a buddy-movie-style bond. Aides say the two men speak frequently. Trump sometimes calls out my Kevin at events.

Its a partnership thats benefited both men.

In McCarthy, Trump has a Capitol Hill confidant who fits the presidents tendency to pluck allies from central casting  McCarthy looks the part of the silver-haired politician with his sharp suits and ready smile. McCarthy boosts his conservative credentials every time he is able to flash his link to Trump.

Neither man is tethered to strict GOP dogma, which creates space for the deal-making both favor. Both like to rely on gut political instincts than expertise in guiding decisions.

In one speed bump in their relationship, The Washington Post reported that a leaked 2016 audiotape included a suggestion by McCarthy that Trump was being paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump repeatedly praised during the presidential campaign. McCarthy aides said the remark to other GOP leaders was a bad joke.

The leadership vacancy comes at an awkward time for a GOP that could face massive losses in this Novembers congressional elections, perhaps losing House control. That would make the top Republican in the House the minority leader, not speaker. Many Republicans say its crucial that the party unify behind an effort to pass additional bills on taxes and other subjects and focus on re-election campaigns, not a divisive internal contest over the next leader.

In a sign of the desire to tamp down intra-party squabbling, Ryan himself endorsed McCarthy in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on NBC News Meet the Press, saying, We all think that Kevin is the right person.

Even with backing from the top, McCarthys grasp on the top job is uncertain. In 2015, his effort to succeed Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, flopped in just a few days as he failed to corral enough votes, especially from conservatives.

As if to underscore that problem, a leader of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus said hes open to running and has been encouraged by colleagues to do so. A candidacy by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, would seem all but certain to fall short and would be widely viewed as a way for that groups roughly 30 members to win leverage by trading their support for promises of leadership and committee posts.

Ryans successor will need to secure 218 GOP votes because the entire House votes on the speaker and all Democrats would be sure to oppose the Republican candidate.

No. 3 House Republican leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who is viewed as more conservative than McCarthy, is seen as his top rival for the post. While Scalise has said he wouldnt run against McCarthy  a longtime friend  hes left the door open for seeking the post should McCarthys effort fall short.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Friday that Trump has a great relationship with McCarthy but declined to say whom he wants as speaker. Aides to McCarthy and Scalise declined to immediately provide comment.

___

AP congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed.WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump strode directly, with purpose, to the podium.

My fellow Americans, he began, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Sending American troops into harms way is by definition the most presidential act a commander in chief can take. Still, the solemn announcement, delivered in one of the nations most distinguished settings, was a notable moment of conformity for a president who has scoffed at the conventional.

The operation had been widely expected, the whole world seemingly anticipating action since the presidents Wednesday morning tweet that missiles will be coming, nice and new and smart!'

But on Friday afternoon, nearly a week after the president had first promised a decision within 24 to 48 hours, the White House maintained that Trump hadnt yet settled on a course of action.

That didnt quell the anticipation that had been building for days. The likely window for an operation was well-known: nighttime in Syria, or the evening in Washington, seven hours behind.

The first inkling that something was up on came when the White House sent word to the cadre of reporters who continuously follow the president that they might be staying late Friday night. The early buzz: that Trump would be making a foray to his nearby hotel for dinner.

White House aides put on a determined show of normalcy. Some White House staffers were seen drinking and socializing on the balcony of the nearby Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Other aides were seen grabbing their bags and leaving, ostensibly for the weekend.

But as the sun set, it grew increasingly clear that something more than an off-campus dinner was afoot. Usually chatty aides were hushed, offices empty, doors closed.

Keith Kellogg, chief of staff to the National Security Council, was spotted by a throng of reporters and hurried away, insisting he knew nothing.

Reporters were told to be prepared to move at 8:30 p.m.  destination unknown.

On another continent, Vice President Mike Pence unexpectedly departed from the kickoff of an international summit in Lima, Peru, his motorcade whisking him off to his hotel.

Pence had been tasked with informing congressional leaders about the airstrikes, according to Jarrod Agen, his deputy chief of staff.

Pence spoke to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi before Trumps speech. Pence was unable to reach Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer before the speech but spoke with him later in the evening.

At about the same time, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who had made a show of leaving the building earlier in the day, reappeared. She led a small group of reporters into a hallway, where she announced, in hushed tones, that the president would be delivering an address to the nation, at 9:01:30 p.m. She urged reporters to keep the announcement quiet until the president began speaking, insisting the safety of American troops was at stake.

Reporters were then led into the muraled Diplomatic Reception Room on the ground floor of the Executive Mansion, where the presidential podium and teleprompter were ready.

Trump laid out a joint operation with the forces of France and the U.K. that was meant as retribution for an attack that he said killed dozens, putting the blame squarely on Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air, said the president, who had watched images of the horror play out on cable television. These are not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster.

While Trumps decision drew criticism from some corners, his public address stood in stark contrast to the often haphazard, misspelled tweets and off-the-cuff statements that are so common in his presidency. And his stern warning to Russia set aside  at least temporarily  Trumps unwillingness to call out Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia, Trump said, must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace.

___

Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report from Lima, Peru.LIMA, Peru  Thousands of miles from home, Vice President Mike Pence was thrust into a new, more immediate, role on the world stage Saturday: explaining President Donald Trumps military strike in Syria to a summit of Latin America leaders.

Hours after Trump hailed the missile strike targeting the Syrias suspected chemical weapons  tweeting, Mission Accomplished!  Pence defended the president while building support among U.S. allies for the joint strikes with Britain and France.

The objective of the mission the commander in chief gave our military forces and our allies was completely accomplished  with swift professionalism, Pence told reporters, noting there were no reported civilian casualties.

Later, speaking in a cavernous hall of world leaders at the Summit of the Americas, Pence expressed gratitude to Canada, Colombia and other nations that had voiced support for the strike and urged every nation in this hemisphere of freedom to support the military action.

Pences to-do list included smoothing over differences with Mexico, Americas southern neighbor, amid unease over Trumps decision to send troops to the border and harsh rhetoric on immigration. And with tensions simmering over trade, Pence expressed hope alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the three nations could soon agree to a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement.

And while Trump grapples with the ongoing Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, Pence sought to draw a bright line against Vladimir Putins alliance with Syria following the suspected chemical attack. Our message to Russia is that youre on the wrong side of history, Pence said.

Trump often improvises his remarks and is known for bold declarations in person and on his Twitter account. Pence, meanwhile, tends to be more scripted in his exchanges and frequently glanced down at highlighted index cards as he spoke to Latin American leaders here.

Shortly before Trumps address to the nation Friday night, Pence was whisked away from the summit in his motorcade so he could return to his hotel to inform congressional leaders of the pending missile strikes. Pence watched Trumps speech from his hotel suite, joined by aides.

Unlike past appearances at international summits, the vice president had to dive into the packed agenda on short notice. He learned only Tuesday that he would be attending in Trumps place so the president could manage the U.S. response to Syria.

In meeting after meeting, Pence offered a low-key, extended hand.

Seeking rapprochement with Mexico, which has been at odds with Trump over the border wall and immigration, Pence said the topic of funding for Trumps long-promised border wall did not come up in his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Pence said they simply had a difference of opinion and some issues were set aside, for a later date. Left unsaid was whether Pences overtures might eventually lead to a joint Trump-Pena Nieto meeting, their first.

Seated alongside Trudeau, Pence said there was a real possibility the U.S. could reach a deal with Canada and Mexico on NAFTA within the next several weeks. Trump has long assailed the trade deals impact on U.S. workers and threatened to pull the U.S. out if hes unhappy with the terms.

The summit also gave Pence an opportunity to press the case for tougher sanctions and more isolation of Venezuela across the region.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was barred from attending the summit over his plans to hold a presidential election that the opposition is boycotting and that many foreign governments consider a sham.

Pence urged Maduro to accept humanitarian aid as the once-prosperous nation deals with humanitarian and economic crises. But he called on the region to take a harder line on Maduros government, a message he intends to deliver in Brazil next month.

The United States believes now is the time to do more, much more, he said.

___

On Twitter follow Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDCWASHINGTON  The District of Columbias public school system has misspent millions of dollars designated to help the citys most vulnerable students, directing the money instead to cover day-to-day costs, according to government data, District Council members and education activists.

The money is intended to provide extra academic attention and social services to boost the academic performance of children who lag behind their wealthier peers. But District Public Schools uses a big chunk of the money to plug holes in the budget, covering routine costs such as paying the salaries of art teachers and aides.

Theres no way we are going to help those students rise out of poverty if we dont give them what they need, said Ava Millstone, a parent at Amidon-Bowen Elementary, a school near the Southwest Waterfront with a large population of low-income students.

DCPS distributes about $50 million a year to benefit disadvantaged students in the Districts traditional public schools. That amounts to about $2,000 per eligible child. But nearly half of the money in the 2016-2017 academic year was used for other purposes, according to an independent budget analysis conducted by Mary Levy, a longtime schools budget analyst who in the past has worked as a paid consultant to the school system.

The District Councils education committee also looked at data from the school system and determined that in the proposed education budget for the 2017-2018 academic year, the District risked misspending 60 percent of the money meant for its neediest students. And an October report from the city auditor provided further evidence of misuse.

Levy and other education advocates said the spending violates a 2013 law and that the District appears poised to continue the practice unless Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) substantially increases education spending.

Bowser announced last month that her proposed 2019 general budget would provide $10,658 per student, a 3.9 percent increase over the previous year. A large portion of the increase will cover raises for teachers after their union agreed on a contract with the city for the first time in five years, according to Marlana Wallace, a policy analyst with the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

The money for at-risk students is on top of the $10,658 per pupil funding.

Interim District Schools Chancellor Amanda Alexander said in an interview that the school system invests in programs for its neediest students, noting that many low-performing schools have extended school days and academic years, which money for at-risk students helps fund. But she declined to comment about the citys using at-risk funding to pay for core staffing positions.

The primary focus area for us here in DCPS is to ensure that we do all that we can to close the opportunity gap, Alexander said. Its about providing kids with the opportunity that they need to be successful.

Students are defined as at-risk if they are homeless, recipients of welfare or food stamps, or are more than a year behind in high school. About 44 percent of the nearly 100,000 District students in traditional public and charter schools are considered at-risk.

The extra money for those students is supposed to mitigate the effects of poverty, which can make learning more challenging. Renee Murphy, a senior policy attorney at the Childrens Law Center, said many of her clients are District children in the foster-care system who face significant traumas that can affect brain and language development. The at-risk-program funds are needed to provide those children with extra therapists, behavioral specialists and opportunities to catch up on work.

Attorneys at the Childrens Law Center said the school system is not transparent about its spending, making it difficult to figure out how money for at-risk students is spent. District Council member Robert White Jr., D, who sits on the councils education committee, called for greater clarity.

Its a very complicated situation, and what makes it more difficult is that there is just not enough information from DCPS about where the at-risk funds are being spent, White said. At this point, we need DCPS to be really clear about what the at-risk funding is really for.

The District Council established at-risk funding in 2013 and said the money must be used to supplement school budgets, not supplant them  meaning the money can be used only on programs and staffing targeting at-risk students. The original law gave the schools power to determine how the money was used, but in 2015, the council gave the chancellor discretion  with input from principals and parents  on how to spend it.

The school system is required to submit a report by October detailing how it spent at-risk-student money the previous academic year. But educationadvocates complain thatthe report is vague and does not adequately explainappropriate uses of at-risk funding.

The school systems report for the 2018 fiscal year lists the biggest at-risk expenditures, some of which appear to be appropriate uses, while others do not.

The school system, for example, spends $8.2 million for extended days  an investment that city leaders and activists say is an appropriate use of at-risk money.

But other expenses listed in the report appear more questionable. For example, the District spends $7.7 million of the money for at-risk students on art and language teachers. The general budget is supposed to pay for schools to have art teachers and mental-health workers, while the at-risk funds are designated for hiring extra staff.

Charter schools also receive at-risk money and publish a report each year on their spending, but are allowed more discretion in using the funds. The annual report from the District Public Charter School Board indicates that individual schools spend their money on programs and staffing in a manner similar to the traditional public schools spending.

The fact that DCPS uses at-risk money to pay for core staffing positions is hardly a secret. During a 2017 budget hearing, the schools chancellor at the time, Antwan Wilson, said he needed to dip into at-risk funds to ensure that every campus had an art teacher.

Our ability to ensure that we have art programming equally distributed throughout our district requires that we leverage these funds to provide opportunities for all students, Wilson said.

Last year, the Office of the District Auditor published a report examining the budgets and staffing at eight elementary campuses; it found that more than half of those schools used at-risk dollars to fund core staffing positions. The report determined, for example, that Barnard Elementary in Northwest Washington met basic city staffing requirements only because it used at-risk funds to pay for 2 1/2 arts and language teachers. Moten Elementary in Southeast used at-risk funds to pay for 1 1/2 core staff positions.

Council member David Grosso, I, who chairs the education committee, pressed Wilson at the 2017 public hearing on how the money was used, citing Levys budget analysis showing that the school system misspent nearly half of the funds.

Grosso said he had been working with Wilson to ensure the money was spent as intended, but said the chancellors abrupt resignation in February disrupted that work.

Grosso said schools with small and falling enrollment  which tend to be in low-income neighborhoods  have higher overhead costs and their budgets do not stretch as far. Thoseare the schools where at-risk funds are mostly likely to cover basic staffing.

I agree that there is a serious problem here, Grosso said. Short of taking them to court, Im trying to figure out how to hold them accountable.

Millstone, the parent at Amidon-Bowen Elementary, said the at-risk funds at her childrens school are misused to the detriment of all students. Poor behavior frequently disrupts classes, according to Millstone, whose children are not considered at-risk. And Amidon-Bowen needs extra therapists and behavioral specialists, she said  positions the special funds could cover.

When school budgets are too tight and schools are struggling to maintain basic classroom staff, said Wallace, the Fiscal Policy Institute analyst, theres a far greater risk that they will redirect at-risk funds to those pressing needs rather than creating targeted services to the students who need them.The sheer simplicity of playing a Vinyl and enjoying the rich, warm sounds that follow make Vinyl music listening experience personal and extraordinary. Recognising that its the only physical format of music that has consistently seen a rise in demand, global music giant Sony Music offers music aficionados an opportunity to start or add to their collection on this International Record Store Day (Saturday, April 21) with a one-day Vinyl Pop Up at The Quarter - Royal Opera House in Mumbai. Collaborating with Sony Music is leading beverage brand Heineken.

We are super excited to be associated with such a unique event. Live Your Music with Vinyl Pop Up will be a day well spent amidst the best experience, exclaimed Prashant Patwardhan, GM - Marketing, Heineken.

Over 2,000 + imports of limited edition Vinyls and exclusive Record Store Day Releases will be available at the Vinyl Pop Up.

Collectors can rummage through crates of the best-known, rare and wide offering. From classics like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Miles Davis, Pearl Jam, Eagles, The Doors, Santana, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Boney M, AR Rahman to the modern day Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and many more. The range includes iconic box sets in limited numbers and autographed Vinyls. Audiophiles can also spend their day at the BYOV Session (Bring your Own Vinyl), a DJ Scratching Workshop, Vinyl Listening Sessions, Curated Wine & Dine Experience and vinyl-only sets by DJ Uri and DJ Skip.

Shridhar Subramaniam, President - India and Middle East, Sony Music, commented, The renewed interest in Vinyls is very encouraging as Vinyl Collectors and owners are music buffs and lifelong fans of artists and music. We are seeing increased interest in India, and with The Vinyl Pop Up we are giving the music lovers of Mumbai a rare chance to go through a first of its kind experience. The range is massive, with the some rare collectibles thrown in. Our plan is to roll out this initiative, a city at a time, and we are hoping that young fans discover the charm of listening to Vinyls and building a collection.With an aim to encourage and promote social responsibility in the smaller towns, the I&B Ministry seeks local entrepreneurs to participate in the e-auction of the third batch of private FM radio frequencies under FM Radio Phase-III policy.

Smriti Irani, I&B Minister on the opportunity commented that, We have been engaging with various stakeholders on how to ensure more and more people bid for local FM radio frequencies, especially in smaller towns. In the past, the bidders have been very limited.

We have reached out to industry bodies such as the CII and FICCI and stakeholders in the local industry bodies in this regard. We want more and more local entrepreneurs to bid for these FM radio frequencies, she added.

During December 2017, the cabinet had approved of auctioning 683 and more FM players in 236 cities from even far North and North-East areas of India. Hence, the Ministry has begun to arrange for its infrastructure, including security checks, as part of the preparations for the e-auction. The ministry will also be appointing independent external monitors to oversee the e-auction of the subsequent batches of private FM radio channels.

The first round of auction was conducted in 2015, while the second round took place in 2016. Interestingly, 97 FM radio frequencies were sold in 56 cities in the first round and 66 radio channels in 48 cities were sold in the second round.

All 29 States and 6 Union Territories (Except Dadra and Nagar Haveli) are going to be covered under the complete rollout of FM Phase-III auctions.SVF hosted a meet & greet session with Iranian director, producer and screenwriter, Majid Majidi along with his actors from "Beyond The Clouds" and a few eminent people from the Tollywood Film Industry namely Anjan Dutt, Arindam Sil, Srijit Mukherji, Abir Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Pratim D. Gupta, Anirban Bhattacharya, Neel Dutt & others.

A riveting amalgamation of three film industries; when a number of talented men and women are under one roof, we witness enthralling conversations over treats and coffee which is a frame-worthy moment!

Majid Majidi ventured into cinema after being inspired by various legendary directors, notably Mohsen Makhmalbaf, another Iranian film genius. After foraying into cinema direction, Majidi became well-known around the world especially after garnering an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for his masterpiece, Children of Heaven; becoming the first Iranian film to receive a nomination from the Oscars, in the year 1998.

Beyond The Clouds, which is slated to release on 20th April 2018, is his debut in Indian Film Industry and also the first time that he has moved out of his country to make a film. It is said to be a grown-up version of Children of Heaven, having a 20 year gap between their release dates. Ishaan Khatter, the half-brother of Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor and son of actors, Neelima Azeem and Rajesh Khattar and Malavika Mohanan, daughter of cinematographer, K. U. Mohanan play the lead characters of two siblings from Dhobi Ghat who tackle greater conflicts and many facets of the bustling city of Mumbai intertwined with a heartfelt celebration of love and family. A.R. Rahman has written and composed the original score Beyond The Clouds.

The film is produced by Zee Studios & Namah Pictures. Zee Studios is the studio behind successful films like Secret Superstar, Qarib Qarib Singlle, MOM and Rustom. Beyond The Clouds marks their first international production and that too with a director of the stature of Mr. Majidi.

Mahendra Soni, Co-Founder & Director of SVF said, "Cinema is the most versatile creation and one of the best creators has honored Kolkata with his presence. Kolkata is a city that has long welcomed artistes from all around the world, we are glad SVF could be a part of this memorable moment."Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier?

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Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.Three of the Republican front runners in Alabama's gubernatorial debate squared off in Birmingham Thursday night in an even most noticeable for who wasn't on the stage.

Gov. Kay Ivey did not attend the WVTM 13 debate between Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, evangelist Scott Dawson and Alabama State Sen. Bill Hightower.

Ivey's absence was one of the night's hot topics, with each of the candidates criticizing her for skipping the event in favor of throwing out the first pitch at the Birmingham Baron's game.

The three rarely differed, with notable exceptions. Battle said he favored letting the people of Alabama vote on a lottery; while Hightower said he felt it was more important for the 10 Commandments to be written on someone's heart than guaranteed in public spaces by law. Dawson was the only candidate to specifically say he voted for failed GOP U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore. Battle and Hightower only said they supported the Republican candidate.

The debate offered each of the candidates to address a statewide audience, though separation among the three was minimal. Battle, a known commodity in North Alabama, was able to speak to those in the south while Hightower, of Mobile, expanded his message to other parts of the state.

The big winner - at least in terms of messaging - was likely Dawson, an evangelist who has never run for public office. He scored one of the night's most memorable moments when he took aim at Ivey.

"I'm taking it personally," Dawson said in reference to Ivey's absence. "I had to fly to Kansas City this afternoon to speak to a group of pastors and I flew back here because it's that important. The governor who is sitting in the office right now was not elected to that position. As a voter, I deserve to hear her vision, her dreams and her passion for the people of Alabama."

Dawson's "outsider" message will likely play well with voters and is one of the few things that separates any of the candidates. The real question is if any of the three can separate themselves enough to take on Ivey.

Other than those elements, the night was a draw. No big winners though it's clear - at least to the GOP candidates on the stage - Ivey was the night's biggest loser.

You can watch the entire debate below.If anything, the latest military action against Syria shows that US and Russia still coordinate on the ground.

Once upon a time, when Barack Obama was US president and after the Assad regime gassed over 1,000 civilians to death in August 2013, Donald Trump tweeted, Why do we keep broadcasting when we are going to attack Syria [sic]. Why cant we just be quiet and, if we attack at all, catch them by surprise?

Yet, when faced with a similar chemical weapons attack perpetrated by the regime and its allies this month, Trump took to Twitter once again, doing exactly what he warned against, this time tweeting, Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart! You shouldnt be partners with a Gas Killing Animal [sic] who kills his people and enjoys it!

So, just for the record, according to President Trump, foreign policy under Obama should have been masked in secrecy. But with Trump as president, foreign policy should be formed and announced on Twitter, giving Assad, Russia and Iran a heads up that a vague something was coming.

Not unexpectedly, various commentators in the West again jumped at the opportunity to declare the start of World War III on social media. Interestingly enough, Kremlin-controlled media was also in a WWIII mood, instructing Russians on what supplies to buy before they hide in a bunker.

Perhaps to the dismay of the scaremongers on both sides, the joke of an attack that Trump ordered and Theresa May and Emanuel Macron joined in on, will not change anything, whether in Syria or elsewhere. Nor will it result in an open confrontation between the US and Russia.

These strikes, like the 2017 strike on Shayrat airbase, carefully avoided Russian presence in Syria and will do nothing to dislodge the Syrian regime from its place. Furthermore, they will not change US priorities in Syria, which are simply a continuation of the Obama administrations war on terror policy.

Assad is bad only when hes using chemicals

It is positively ridiculous to hear grown men and women pontificating on the horror of gas attacks against Syrian civilians without the mere mention of the multitude of other ways Syrians are being killed by the regime, Russia and Iran.

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It is even more ridiculous for someone like Trump to be criticising Russia in one breath for allying with Assad, and then in the next breath claiming that the fake and corrupt Russia investigation is the primary cause of bad blood between the US and Russia.

To be fair, the Obama administration is primarily responsible for this rhetoric of limiting the Syria red line to chemical weapons (and even then, not enforcing it), as well as for handing the Syrian file over to Russia and Iran.

When it came to the removal of Assad (a primary demand of the Syrian revolution), Obama instead preferred to prioritise the US rapprochement with Iran and the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Under Obamas command, the US formed the Syrian Democratic Forces, comprised mainly of Kurdish fighters with links to the YPG (Peoples Protection Units), a group that has continued to receive US support under Trump, including several hundred marines sent to Syria early 2017 after Trump was sworn into office.

US-led air strikes on so-called ISIL targets, which began in 2014 and number over 15,000 and counting, have killed thousands of Syrian civilians, including children, as well as contributed to the decimation of Syrian cities such as al-Raqqa and Deir Az Zor.

The bottom line is that Trumps Syria policy hasnt deviated much from that of Obamas, and it isnt likely to do so now as a result of these strikes.

Trump is not a friend of the Syrian people

One of the biggest ramifications of Trumps empty promises on Twitter has been the false hope it gave to people who have lived atrocity after atrocity at the hands of Assad and his allies. Social mediaplatforms were full of Syrians welcoming the strikes on regime-held targets. They were quickly disappointed when Secretary of Defense Mattis declared, Right now, this is a one-time shot, and I believe this has sent a very strong message to dissuade [Assad], to deter him from [using chemical weapons] again.

A US-Russia military confrontation is unlikely in Syria, as Washington and Moscow have coordinated militarily since the Russian intervention in 2015.

But just as a refresher, someone who bans Syrians from his country could not possibly care about them as they die thousands of miles away. It would do us all well to remember that Trumps administration is still fighting to make it much harder for Syrian (and other) refugees to come to the US, as well as to ban Syrians (along with citizens of several other nations) with valid visas to study and work in the US.

Perhaps most importantly, it is prudent to remember Trumps Islamophobic 2013 tweets against US intervention in Syria, in which he described the people who rose up against Bashar al-Assad, Remember, all these freedom fighters in Syria want to fly planes into our buildings, claiming that, Many of the Syrian rebels are radical jihadi Islamists who are murdering Christians. Why would we ever fight with them?

US-Russia coordination, not confrontation

Most analysts are concentrating on what will happen now that the US and its allies conducted strikes on the Syrian regime, ignoring other significant political events which impact Syria policy on an international scale.

Last week, Israel carried out several strikes on a Syrian airbase near Homs, killing at least three Iranian Revolutionary Guard members. On Friday, an Iranian-backed brigade in Syria announced it would begin operations against US forces in eastern Syria. It would be far more likely for the US to respond to such Iranian actions than it would for the US to pursue a policy of regime change at this point, as many of the regimes western-based supporters purport.

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At the same time, Russia has remained remarkably neutral during these and previous Israeli air strikes in Syria, limiting itself to fiery rhetoric rather than substantive action. It is also important to note that during the strikes, the US, the UK and France did not enter Syrian airspace that is currently controlled by Russia. That, along the fact that during this and the previous air strikes, there was coordination with the Russians should be enough to dissipate scaremongers illusions of an imminent World War III.

A US-Russia military confrontation is unlikely in Syria, as Washington and Moscow have coordinated militarily since the Russian intervention in 2015. And whatever happens in Syria in the future will surely involve a settlement between the US and Russia.

Meanwhile, a public that believes the situation is escalating serves both sides.

Domestically, Trump currently finds himself facing less than favourable conditions. While the Russia collusion investigation may not result in any actual consequences for Trump, it was quite uncomfortable for his administration when Trumps lawyer, Michael Cohen, was the target of an FBI raid earlier this week.

The frenzy with which US media was covering the possibility of attacks on the Assad regime has served as a welcome distraction from this latest development in the case being built against Trump.

And in Russia, the Kremlin is facing an economic crisis which is about to worsen as a result of Western sanctions. The narrative of Russia standing up to the US and regaining its superpower status comes at the perfect time to keep the population distracted from these problems at home and abroad.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.The 2017 and 2018 strikes on Syria after alleged chemical weapons attacks were symbolic, changing little on the ground.

Early on Saturday, the US, France and the UK launched strikes on various targets in Syria in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta. A year ago, the US also launched a similar missile strike after a chemical weapons attack.

The outcome of both is the same; both a largely symbolic actions with little consequence on the ground. Both reveal that the US does not have a long-term strategy in Syria. While US President Donald Trump had suggested a possibly open-ended aerial campaign against Syria, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis stated that this was a one-off attack.

This dissonance in US policy to Syria reveals a lack of a coherent strategy, in contrast to Russia and Iran which have demonstrated a steadfast determination in propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. These attacks will not affect their long-term goal of victory.

In this regard, the Syrian state could use chemical weapons again, because their battlefield value in reaching this victory against stubborn rebel holdouts outweighs the risk of US air strikes in the future.

Chemical weapons use by the Syrian regime

Historically, chemical weapons allow states to defeat insurgents ensconced in mountainous or urban terrains. Since urban fighting is costly in terms of regime manpower, and since defenders usually have an advantage when in an urban setting, chemical weapons can terrorise rebels and the civilians in their territory.

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In the case of the Eastern Ghouta attacks of 2013 and 2018, the use of chemical weapons was most likely deployed to break a micro-stalemate in an area where the rebel defences had proven to be tenacious.

If the Syrian regime would need to use this weapon in the future, the benefit would outweigh the risks. The outside world might not act again (as has happened in the past), or strike, just like earlier today, with cruise missiles, which would not affect the military situation on the ground.

The Russian response

Before last years strike, advance warning had been given to Russia, who, in turn, informed the Syrians that the missiles would be launched and the airfield was evacuated beforehand. This year attention was paid not to attack sites where Russian forces could be stationed.

Russia has been on edge in relation to the US in Syria, especially after US aircraft targeted Russian mercenaries in February.

The question remains, will Russian President Vladimir Putin take two US slights sitting down, especially after Trump taunted Russia with tweets?

Surprisingly, the answer might be yes. Russia, Iran, and the Syrian regime are on the brink of victory and would not want to jeopardise the status quo by taunting the US immediately with a retaliatory gesture. They might take this second, symbolic Western military strike as just that, and continue unimpeded with their military offensive scoring the long-term strategic victory in a complicated proxy conflict.

Standoff strikes

Last April, the US launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air force base in the Homs province, the purported site of where the nerve agent sarin was loaded onto aeroplanes that attacked a village in the rebel-held Idlib province. The Saturday attack was to retaliate for the deployment of chlorine gas in the rebel-held area of Douma, in Eastern Ghouta.

This year, British and French participated in the strike, boosting the impact of the US military attack targeting Syria, striking numerous sites related to chemical weapons production and deployment, instead of just one airfield.

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Like in 2017, the US used the same Tomahawk cruise missile, fired from afar, by US naval vessels in the Mediterranean. A slight change this year was the US deployed the B-1 bomber to fire a similar version of this missile, but at a distance that meant the plane did not have to enter Syrian airspace.

After both attacks, media commentary in the US described the cruise missiles that struck Syria as standoff strike weapons. This terminology is used to reassure US, UK, and French domestic audiences that their governments are not going to introduce boots on the ground in Syria and commit themselves to a much larger conflict that could involve action against Russia.

Ironically, the word standoff also reveals how the strikes have little impact on ending the cycle of killing in Syria. Standoff is not just a description of weapons, but the trios approach to the entire conflict, attempting to dictate events on the ground, safely from the air.

Different motivations for the strike

The participation of the UK and France in the US operation has had a precedent in the Middle East, beginning with the 1991 Gulf War, then Libya in 2011, and the war against ISIL.

Operation Desert Storm was the first time the US sought to shape the Middle East from the air. One could now add the UK and France as actors seeking to do the same.

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All three sought to prove to the international community that they would take concrete action to discipline a country that uses weapons of mass destruction. However, it is also hard to discount that the US motivation for an attack differs from the UK and Frances.

Trump began this week facing a domestic crisis as FBI agents raided the home of his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the early morning of April 9, which disappeared from the headlines with the imminent air strikes.

It would be easy to attribute to Trumps foreign policy decisions to simple domestic drama, as news cycles change rapidly and international crises can only dominate the headlines so long. Nonetheless, the rapid fluctuation of events surrounding the White House is indicative of volatility surrounding the node of US power.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.US hits Syrian chemical weapons sites, in collaboration with UK and France, as Russia and Iran warn of consequences.

US President Donald Trump has ordered air attacks in Syria on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities, in collaboration with the UK and France.

The attacks early on Saturday came in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend.

I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Trump said from the White House late on Friday.

Later, the US president tweeted saying the strikes were Mission Accomplished!

Targets were struck in Damascus, Homs and elsewhere in Syria, as Trump spoke.

A US official said the attacks were aimed at multiple sites and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles and fighter jets.

US, UK and France launch attack on 'chemical weapon sites' in Syria. Here are 5 things you need to know: pic.twitter.com/WU85vUijWG  Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 14, 2018

Confirming Britains involvement in the attack, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said: We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none.

She said the attacks were not about regime change or intervening in a civil war, but were to deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.

French President Emmanuel Macron also confirmed Frances involvement in the attack.

The purpose of the campaign is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, Trump said.

Syrian state TV said that air defences responded to the attack by shooting down dozens of missiles. A Russian official said that 71 of a total of 103 missiles were downed by Syrias air defences.

But the Pentagon denied the missiles were deflected by Syrian air defences. None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defences, Lieutenant-General Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said.

In a press briefing on Saturday, the Pentagon said they believed the air strikes attacked the heart of the Syrian chemical weapons programme.

President Bashar al-Assad told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani that the attack would increase Syrias resolve to fight and crush terrorism in every inch of the country, the Syrian presidency said on Saturday.

Condemning the attacks as a breach of international law, state news agency SANA said the attacks had also targeted army depots in the Homs area.

The tripartite aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, SANA reported.

The Syrian presidency posted a video that appeared to show President Assad arriving for work on Saturday morning, hours after the attacks.

The morning of resilience, declared the caption accompanying the video circulated on the presidencys Telegram feed.

The video showed Assad in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase as he walked into the marble-floored entrance of his work palace in Damascus.

Anatoly Antonov, Russias ambassador to the US [File photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

Not without consequences

Russias ambassador to the US warned that there would be consequences for the attacks, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russias president.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter.

Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible, he added.

The US  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries.

Russian defence ministry said that no US or allied missiles had entered Russian air defence zones in Syria.

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Iran also warned of regional consequences following the attacks.

The United States and its allies have no proof and, without even waiting for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to take a position, have carried out this military attack  and are responsible for the regional consequences, said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi on his Telegram channel.

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus said the Syrian government absorbed the attacks, adding that the targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.

We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians  and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago, the official said.

We are carrying out an assessment of the material damages, the official added.

Assad has been backed in the seven-year-long Syrian war by Russia, Iran, and Iran-backed groups, including Lebanons Hezbollah.





The head of NATO expressed his support for the US-led attacks.

I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France  This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for restraint and for countries to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation in Syria further.

Guterres delayed a planned trip to Saudi Arabia to deal with the aftermath of the military action.

I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people, Guterres said in a statement.

Any use of chemical weapons is abhorrent. The suffering it causes is horrendous, Guterres said, adding it was important to act in line with the UN Charter and international law.

Al Jazeeras senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said despite the attacks, the man responsible for this [Assad] remains at large and at the head of the Syrian regime.

We more or less expected these attacks. There has been talks and a lot of boasting about the nice, smart missiles and weve seen in the last 72 hours, the three allies getting together and looking at the evidence, he said.

US pivot to attacks

Only 10 days ago, Trump told national security aides that he wanted US forces out of Syria in about six months.

The US president was adamant that it was time to bring them home after largely defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Very soon, very soon, were coming out, Trump said to a crowd in Richfield, Ohio, on March 30.

Were going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be, he said.

But with Saturdays attacks, Trump has abruptly deepened US involvement in Syria.

Aides told Reuters news agency that Trumps attitude changed when he was shown images of Syrians allegedly killed by the chemical weapons last Saturday.

The attacks come about a year after he first ordered air raids against Syrian targets to retaliate for an earlier use of the banned substances.The missile strikes by the United States and its allies have solved little, since the man responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria remains at large, Al Jazeeras senior political analyst said.

We more or less expected these attacks. There has been talks and a lot of boasting about the nice, smart missiles, Marwan Bishara said.

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Unfortunately, its once again limited to almost pinprick strikes towards three [chemical weapons] facilities. At the end of the day, [Bashar al-Assad] the man responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria and for the death of half a million [Syrians] remains at large, at the head of the Syrian state.

He also said that US President Donald Trump ordered Saturdays attack to distract his local audience and to look presidential.

Just like [former US president] Bill Clinton had Monica Lewinsky and hence attacked Sudan and later Afghanistan, Trump with his Stormy Daniel crisis and his issue with his lawyers, he carries out this attack to look presidential, he said.

Believe it or not  I actually could not believe it  [since the missile strikes] all sorts of pundits and others, even those detractors of the Trump administration and President Trump himself are calling him presidential.The Syrian leader has survived seven years of conflict that has devastated much of the country he presides over.

Syrias President Bashar al-Assad has survived seven years of a devastating war and intense international pressure to step aside.

While Saturdays US-led air strikes on Syrian government facilities will be a blow to his attempts to unify Syria under his rule, theres been little suggestion that they are aimed at ending his presidency.

After rapid rebel gains in the early years of the uprising against his authoritarian rule, the possibility that he would join a growing list of deposed Arab rulers was real.





But today, its the rebels on the back foot, having lost key strongholds inside the Syrian capital, Damascus, and in the northern city of Aleppo.

Even senior diplomats from states opposed to his government, such as the British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, have said Assad can continue running for Syrias top office.

Here, Al Jazeera looks at some of the reasons why he has lasted so long:

1. Foreign backing

In the summer of 2012, it was the rebels who had the momentum. A bomb blast in central Damascus had killed senior Syrian officials including the countrys defence minister and Assads brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat.

The rebels thought victory was near.

The Syrian army had all but collapsed, the Free Syrian Army Commander, Bashar al-Zoubi, told Al Jazeera.

It was at around this time that Iran stepped up its intervention in the country, providing training, experienced commanders, and foot soldiers in the form of Shia militias.

Iranian media outlets put the number of fighters Tehran has provided to the Syrian government in the tens of thousands.

The Iranian-trained National Defence Forces militia had a peak strength of 90,000 fighters and is widely credited with turning the tide of the war.





For Iran, Assad is a crucial ally and pivotal to protecting its interests in the region.

But while Irans contribution has come largely in the form of boots on the ground, it is the Russians who have provided Assad with arguably his biggest boost.

Starting in September 2015, Moscow began air strikes against Syrian rebel targets.

Their aerial campaign helped force Syrian rebels to abandon their strongholds in Aleppo, as well as in Eastern Ghouta.

2. Rebel divisions

Assad has benefited from divisions within the rebel ranks, as the loosely aligned Free Syrian Army broke up into rival factions, and harder line groups took up the anti-government cause.

Opposition groups initially welcomed the support of the fledgling Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), but soon found themselves fighting it, drawing resources and fighters away from the campaign against Assad.

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ISIL won out against the rebels in key cities, such as Raqqa, and forced the opposition from vast tracts of the country.

While rebel groups did regain some territory from ISIL, former rebel territory was recaptured from the group by Kurdish fighters and the government forces.

ISIL was not the only thorn in the rebels side, today there are dozens of rebel factions who are divided over regional affiliation, ethnic identity, political stance, and religious affiliation.

3. International stance

While Western countries and regional powers, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have been vocal in their opposition to Assad, none have taken decisive action to remove the Syrian leader.

Despite rebel appeals, the US has avoided the kind of military intervention that it launched in Libya, which helped rebels there bring down long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.





While arms have come through to rebel groups, opposition leaders say they are insufficient to counter the threat of the Syrian governments air power.

The US decision not to supply weapons capable of doing so is influenced by fears that they could fall into the hands of groups like ISIL and, then later, be used against Western interests.

As the war has dragged on, an increasing number of officials in the West have deprioritised the importance of removing Assad.

In March 2017, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley said that getting rid of Assad was no longer the main focus of US policy.

Two months earlier, the British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said Assad could stay as part of a peace deal.

4. Internal support

Despite widespread opposition to his rule, Assad continues to maintain significant levels of support within Syria.

Such support extends beyond his own Alawite community, and also includes members of the Sunni community who have benefited financially during his rule and have little interest in changing the status quo.Supporters gather to remember the politician and rights activist, and call for her killers to be found.

Sao Paulo  Thousands gathered in Brazilian cities on Saturday to mark one month since the killing of Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco, whose murder shocked the country and the international community, and until now, remains unsolved.

Franco was shot four times in the head at close range in central Rio de Janeiro when a car drove alongside her vehicle and a gunman opened fire, killing her and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

Born in the Mare favela, Franco, a black bisexual, feminist and human rights activist, was an outspoken critic of the endemic police violence in Rios poor communities and of the recent security intervention by Brazils armed forces.

For her supporters, she was also a new hope in Brazils traditionally rich, white and male political atmosphere.

What she represented was enough reason to be murdered, her sister Anielle Silva, a teacher, told Al Jazeera.

Days before her killing, Franco publicly denounced Rios most violent police unit, known as the battalion of death, based in the citys poor northern suburbs.

Franco smiles for a photo in Cinelandia square, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in this photo from January [File: Ellis Rua/AP Photo]

Following her death, Franco was the victim of a defamation campaign on social media that said she had close links to Rio drug traffickers. A Rio court ordered Facebook to remove all related posts.

Her death was very painful, but to have fought the fake news was very good, her sister said.

Dangerous precedent

On Friday, Amnesty International called authorities to conduct a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation that not only identifies the shooters, but also those who ordered the killing.

Local media reported that prosecutors said the case is advancing well. Fingerprints were found on bullet shell casings that could help identify suspects. Rights groups, however, expressed concern, pointing to the number of cases that go unsolved in the country.

Brazil has more than 60,000 homicides annually  of which, only eight to 10 percent are resolved because of poor quality investigations and overreliance on witnesses who can be easily intimidated, according to Bruno Paes Manso, a post-doctoral researcher at the Nucleus of Violence Studies at the University of Sao Paulo.

Rights groups also say if Marielle Francos murder goes unsolved, it will set a dangerous precedent.

If the state fails to bring the culprits to justice it sends a message that human rights defenders can be killed with impunity, said Jurema Werneck, executive director at Amnesty International Brazil in a statement.

Amnesty documented at least 58 human rights defenders who were killed in Brazil in 2017.

Many believe that her killing was ordered by a militia or mafia groups, originally made up of off-duty and ex-police officers, who began to take over Rio favelas in the early 2000s under the pretext of defending against drug gangs and since then have grown increasingly powerful.

If the state fails to bring the culprits to justice it sends a message that human rights defenders can be killed with impunity. Jurema Werneck, Amnesty International Brazil

According to a recent investigation by Brazils G1 news portal, an estimated two million people  nearly an eighth of the population  lived in areas controlled by militias in Rio state.

Initially seen by some authorities as a lesser evil than drug traffickers, militias often extort residents for security and charge for goods and services, such as cooking gas and cable TV. They profit from all economic activity in the community, using violence as coercion, local media have reported.

During elections, they often used their power to elect their preferred candidates, dictating who residents vote for. Several former and standing Rio politicians have been accused and found guilty of militia activity, including those from rival parties asked to give testimony in Francos case.

Franco worked on a congressional investigation (CPI) into militias, which was opened in 2008.

Anielle Silva, left, sister of Franco, cries at a memorial in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday [Diego Herculano/AFP]

Rio Judge Patricia Acioli was shot dead outside her house in 2011, after handing out many sentences to policemen involved in militia activity. A militia group also killed five teenagers in Marica, a city in Rio de Janeiro state, shortly after Francos death.

Jose Claudio Souza Alves, a sociologist who has researched Rio death squads for 25 years, told Al Jazeera that militias are more powerful today than Rios drug trafficking gangs.

Drug traffickers dont have the capacity that militias have to operate within the state, he said. Their ability to expand their economic interests is far greater because of their relationship to the state, he added.

Manso said that the spotlight brought by Rios military intervention and the international repercussion of Francos murder is helping to push the investigation.

The Brazilian state is being forced to react to show that it is in control, not organised crime, he said.

Additional reporting from Thais Cavalcante in Mare, Rio de JaneiroUN chief on Syria: Cold War is back with a vengeance

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres statement came a day before the US, UK, and France launched strikes targeting alleged chemical weapons sites in Syria.With this climb, I will prove that anythings possible, said Jarah al-Hawamdeh.

Jarah al-Hawamdeh, a Palestinian refugee in Jordan who lost one of his legs to cancer, has vowed to reach the summit of Mount Everest in hopes of saving his cash-strapped school.

Al-Hawamdeh, 22, who has lost one of his legs to bone cancer, is climbing the worlds tallest mountain to raise funding for the school that gave him an education.

Al-Jufe School

Located in Jordan, the Al-Jufe School is run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), which is currently facing severe budget shortfalls.

Al-Hawamdeh says his campaign is aimed at raising funding for the school, which is currently providing education to some 750 Palestinian refugees.

On crutches, al-Hawamdeh has already begun climbing the mountain, which is located near the Nepal-China border and reaches an altitude of 8,848 meters.

He has already climbed some 5,100 meters and hopes to soon reach the base camp located at the summit.

Anythings possible

Palestinian refugees have the right to realize their dreams, al-Hawamdeh told the Anadolu news agency. With this climb, I will prove that anythings possible.

By raising awareness, I hope to eventually raise $1m for the school that gave me my education, he said.

Al-Hawamdeh, who grew up in a refugee camp in Jordanian capital Amman, is Palestines first licensed mountaineer with an artificial limb.

Last year, al-Hawamdeh climbed Africas Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about cancer victims.The Pentagon says none of the missiles fired by the US and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defences.

The US and France have denied Russian claim that Syrian air defence had intercepted at least 71 cruise missiles fired by the US, the UK and French forces early on Saturday.

None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defences, Lieutenant-General Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said at a press briefing on Saturday.

He said there were no known civilian casualties, but noted Syria had fired about 40 unguided surface-to-air missiles, most of which didnt launch until after the allied strike was over.

When you shoot iron into the air without guidance, its going to come down somewhere, McKenzie said.

Earlier, French officials said that they believed none of their missiles was intercepted.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow on Saturday, Lieutenant-General Sergey Rudskoy had said that at least 103 cruise missiles, including Tomahawks, were fired into a number of targets in Syria.

Russia has fully restored the air defence system of Syria, and it continues to improve it over the last six months, Rudskoy said.





The Russian defence ministry was quoted as saying that Syria deployed Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, including S-125, S-200, 2K12 Kub and Buk to repel the attacks.

Among those targeted by the US-led operation was the Al-Dumayr military airport outside of Damascus. Russia said all 12 missiles directed at the airport were intercepted.

In his statement, Rudskoy confirmed at least one US Navy warship in the Mediterranean and US B-1 bomber were involved in the operation, as well as UK Tornado fighters.

The US-led strikes on Saturday came after a suspected chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last week.

The United Kingdoms Royal Air Force said four Tornado GR4s fighters jets joined in the operation, while France said it has deployed Mirage and Rafale fighter jets.

French officials said its military had fired at least 12 missiles into Syria.

A British pilot checks the weapons on his Tornado jet in Cyprus after its mission in Syria [AP]

Earlier, the office of Frances President Emanuel Macron said the countrys air force fired missiles from its Mirage and Rafale fighter jets.

On Friday, the US Navy said it was moving additional Tomahawk missile-armed ship within striking distance of Syria.

Tomahawks can carry up to a 1,000-pound warhead at a range of 900 nautical miles (1,667km). It is guided by GPS enabling highly accurate precision attack, according to a 2016 Pentagon report.

A statement from the British Ministry of Defence said it has deployed at least four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s in the strike.

The RAF Tornado fighter jets took off from the British airbase in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

The Tornado fighter is capable of carrying GPS-guided bombs, Brimstone air-to-ground missiles and the 2,860-pound Storm Shadow cruise missiles, as well as air-to-air missiles.

In April 2017, the US targeted a Syrian airbase from where it alleged a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched by the Assad regime against civilians at the town of Khan Sheikhoun. At least 85 people, including children, were killed in that attack.

Assads government and its ally, Russia, have called the allegations fabrications.US President Trump launched an attack on Damascus last year following a chemical attack, and little has changed since.

The tripartite strikes on Syria, which have focused on discouraging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from using chemical weapons again, will have a limited effect on Damascus long-term approach to the war, analysts say.

On Saturday, the US, UK and France launched strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities in Syria after a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend.

The US responded in a similar fashion last year in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town, Khan Sheikhoun, that killed scores of civilians.

It was the first direct military action the US took against Assads forces in the countrys long-running conflict.

Although analysts believe Washington is hopeful that Saturdays response might be more effective in deterring Damascus from its chemical weapons stockpile, many remain doubtful about its long-term effect on the conflict.

It is possible that Assad does stop the use of chemical weapons, especially if we [the US] make it clear that any further use will be met with an even larger and more immediate strike, Jonathan Cristol, a fellow at the World Policy Institute in New York City, told Al Jazeera.





[But] for this [the attack] to be successful, it needs to be backed up with shrewd diplomacy and I am afraid that that is not really this administrations great strength.

The US, UK and France have all reiterated the limited dimensions targeted by the attacks and the unlikelihood of an escalation in their reactions to Assads suspected use of chemical weapons.

While Trump identified the objective behind the air strikes as a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, Theresa May, UK prime minister, said that the attack was specifically about the use of chemical weapons and nothing else.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, Trump said on Saturday.

We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, he added.

When asked if Syrias Assad could remain leader as long as he refrained from further use of chemical weapons, May said: This was specifically about the use of chemical weapons.

There is a wider question on the future political solution for Syria and that is a matter that we will continue to pursue in diplomatic and political channels with our international partners and allies, she added.

May has repeatedly said that the missile strike on Syria was not about regime change.

Commenting on their remarks, Cristol told Al Jazeera that this shared objective among the US, the UK and France can be achieved through the air strikes by destroying his [Assads] chemical weapons programme, which is what was targeted [or] more likely by showing him that there is a major cost to pay for using them.

Bigger and better?

While official remarks about the air strikes against Assads chemical weapons resonate with Trumps statements in 2017, analysts have pointed to key differences between the two.

In 2017, the Pentagon launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat airfield in Homs province, while on Saturday, the US and its allies launched more than 100 missiles on Syria in a one-time shot.

According to Cristol, the key differences between the two responses not only lie in the broader and more severe response this time around but also the fact that the strikes originated from multiple bases in multiple countries and that targets were related to the chemical weapons programme and stockpiles themselves, not just the single location that Assads attack was launched from.





Joe Macaron, a fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, told Al Jazeera that now the Syrian regime will think twice before crossing the US red line of using chemical weapons, but the rationale of the strike is an open invitation to kill with conventional weapons.

But following the statements of Pentagon chief James Mattis, who said the attack would be a one-off, and Frances defence minister, who ruled out confrontation and escalation following its joint military operation with the US and UK, several observers are doubtful that much will change from the way it has been over the past year.

If Trump and Mattis speeches are any indications, there likely wont be much change in US policy towards Syria, said Malak Chabkoun, an independent Middle East researcher based in the US.

It is imperative to remember that the US has carefully avoided any signals of wanting to dislodge the regime at this point.

While many Syrians welcomed the US targeting regime military bases, Syrians are also very well aware that any military actions short of dislodging the regime and removing occupiers Russia and Iran from Syria wont change the status quo.

Ibrahim al-Marashi, an associate professor at the department of history at California State University, agreed.

The outcome of both [responses] is the same, he says.

Both are largely symbolic actions with little consequence on the ground. Both reveal that the US does not have a long-term strategy in Syra.They spray-painted slogans in Hebrew hostile to Arabs and Muslims  including Death to the Arabs.

Jewish settlers set fire to the entrance of a mosque near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus early Friday and spray-painted anti-Arab and anti-Muslim slogans, according to a Palestinian activist.

A group of settlers attacked the town of Aqraba [south of Nablus] and set fire to the entrance of the Al-Sheikh Saada Mosque, activist Yousef Diriya told Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency.

They spray-painted slogans in Hebrew hostile to Arabs and Muslims  including Death to the Arabs  on the walls of the mosque, he said.

Only the vigilance of local residents prevented the mosque from being completely burned to the ground, Diriya added.

Protection

Palestinian political figures have condemned the attack.

President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated calls for international protection for the Palestinians and their holy sites, urging relevant international institutions to ensure that terrorists are punished in reference to the settlers who allegedly carried out the attack.

This is not the first time for settlers to burn mosques and churches in the occupied Palestinian territories, Abbas said.

This [incident] confirms that these heinous crimes by the terrorist settlers  are being carried out under the eyes of the Israeli army, he asserted.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian government likewise condemned the attack, accusing Israel of sponsoring settler terrorism.

The government of [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu is one of Israels most pro-settlement governments ever, Palestinian government spokesman Yusuf al-Mahmoud said in a statement.

Roughly 40,000 Jewish settlers live in and around Nablus in 39 different settlements and outposts, from which they stage occasional attacks on local Palestinians and their property.Jordan, UN help thousands of Syrian refugees find work

Jordanian government has made it easier and cheaper for Syrian refugees to get work permits, as a result more than 95,000 Syrian refugees, mostly men, are now working in factories, farms, construction sites and stores.Tensions are running high amid anger over killings in separatist stronghold.

More video clips from the storyThe US and allies launched an early morning attack on Syrias suspected chemical weapons sites.

The United States and allies have responded to the Syrian governments alleged use of chemical weapons against the rebel-held town of Douma with missile strikes.

US President Donald Trump announced he ordered air strikes in Syria on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities, in collaboration with the UK and France.

The strikes mark the second time Trump ordered attacks against Syria to punish Assads government.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, pledged to retaliate for what it described as a fabricated chemical gas attack.

What was the objective of the attack?

Trump said the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons.

Emmanuel Macron, Frances president, said his country joined the US and UK because Assads government had crossed a red line with the alleged attack on Douma.

Our response has been limited to hitting the capacities of the Syrian regime that permit the production and use of chemical weapons, said Macron.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the Assad governments use of chemical weapons was persistent and must be stopped to protect innocent lives in Syria.

How many missiles were fired?

The US and its allies launched more than 100 missiles on Syria in a one-time shot, according to the Pentagon.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said chemical weapons facilities were targeted by missiles fired from the sea and from aircraft.

The Pentagon could not confirm how many missiles hit their targets.

US, UK and France launch attack on 'chemical weapon sites' in Syria. Here are 5 things you need to know: pic.twitter.com/WU85vUijWG  Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 14, 2018

The Russian military said Syrias defence systems shot down 71 out of the 103 cruise missiles launched in the attack.

Russias Colonel General Sergei Rudoski said the strikes did not cause any casualties and that the Syrian military facilities suffered minor damage.

What type of missiles were fired?

The US used Tomahawk cruise missiles in its strikes in Syria, which were fired at multiple targets in the country, a US official said.

Tomahawk missiles were used in previous US attacks in Syria last year in response to the use of chemical weapons in the rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun town of Idlib province.

According to unofficial sources, the US deployed several [carrier groups] with cruise missiles in the Mediterranean and Red seas, said Fuad Shahbazov, a security and military expert based in Azerbaijan.

Britains defence ministry said four British Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles at a Syrian base 24km west of Homs.

Florence Parly, Frances defence minister, said France provided warships in the Mediterranean Sea and sent in fighter jets stationed at airbases in France.

Reuters news agency, citing a French presidency source, said French Mirage and Rafale fighter jets were involved in the strikes on Syria, along with four frigate warships.

What were the targets?

Dunford added the precision strikes hit three targets.

The first target was a scientific research centre near the capital Damascus and was used for researching, developing, producing and testing chemical and biological warfare technology, Dunford said.

The second was a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

The third, also located near Homs, contained a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, Dunford added.

What is Russias response?

Russias ambassador to the US warned that there would be consequences for the strikes, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russias president.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter.

Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible. The US  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries.US ambassador to UN warns Assad government after more than 100 bombs target chemical weapons facilities in Syria.

The United States has warned it is locked and loaded to strike Syria if there are any more chemical attacks, hours after more than 100 bombs targeted facilities in Damascus and Homs said to be associated with the use of chemical weapons.

Speaking to an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Saturday, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said: If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded.

When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line.

The US, UK and France targeted three sites across Syria on Saturday, including: The Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre in Damascus Barzeh district, the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Facility, 20km west of Homs and the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Bunker Facility, just more than 7km from the storage facility.

Haley said the US and its allies acted, not as revenge but to deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the Syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity.

Sad day for the world

However, her Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, called on the Security Council to condemn the attacks.

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Today is not the day to shirk your responsibilities, he said. The whole world is looking at you. Take a principled stand.

But Russia failed to garner the necessary votes, and was instead handed a stinging diplomatic defeat.

Only three countries  Russia, China and Bolivia  backed the resolution which called the US and its allies strikes an aggression against Syria.

Eight countries voting against, and four countries abstained  Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Peru and Equatorial Guinea.

Today is a very sad day for the world, the UN, its charter, which was blatantly, blatantly violated, Nebenzia said.

A gainst international law

Bashar Jaafari, Syrias ambassador to United Nations, said the strikes were an attack against international law, and called on the three countries to stop supporting terrorists in Syria.

He said members of the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, arrived on Saturday in Damascus and were to meet Syrian authorities.

{articleGUID}

My government will, of course, provide every support to this delegation for it to carry out its mission successfully, Jaafari said.

The attacks on Saturday came in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend.

Around 70 civilians suffocated to death as they tried to seek shelter from government air raids and barrel bombs.

US President Donald Trump took to Twitter and thanked France and the UK for their wisdom and the power of their fine military in an early morning Tweet.

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

A Pentagon briefing later said the attacks had set the Syrian chemical weapons programme back for years.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, described the strikes as an act of aggression and warned they could worsen the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

US pivot to attacks

Only 10 days ago, Trump told national security aides that he wanted US forces out of Syria in about six months.

The US president was adamant that it was time to bring them home after largely defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Very soon, very soon, were coming out, Trump said to a crowd in Richfield, Ohio, on March 30.

Were going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be, he said.

But with Saturdays attacks, Trump has abruptly deepened US involvement in Syria.

Aides told Reuters news agency that Trumps attitude changed when he was shown images of Syrians allegedly killed by the chemical weapons last Saturday.

The attacks come about a year after he first ordered air raids against Syrian targets to retaliate for an earlier use of the banned substances.State outlets in countries allied to Syrian president carry unanimous condemnation of US-led strikes on Syria.

State media outlets in Russia, Iran and Syria have been carrying heavy condemnation of US-led air strikes on Syrian government positions.

US, French and British forces launched the attacks in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack carried out by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week.

Below is a round-up of how they are reacting:

RT (Russia)

Russian state medias English language service Russia Today (RT) is carrying comments by President Vladimir Putin condemning the strikes and warning they would lead to a new wave of asylum seekers from Syria and the whole region.

Sputnik (Russia)

Sputnik, another Russian state-owned media outlet is reporting a claim made by Russian military officials that Syrias air defence system managed to shoot down a majority of cruise missiles fired by the US.

Russian defence officials say 71 of 103 missiles were shot down by Syrian S-125 and S-200 anti-missile systems.

Press TV (Iran)

Irans English language media outlet Press TV is leading with the countrys Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameinis denunciation of the US-led strikes as a crime.

It also repeats the claims made by Russian officials that a majority of the missiles launched by the US had been intercepted.

Press TVs lead story [Screenshot]

Al Manar (Hezbollah)

Hezbollahs media outlet Al-Manar has published a statement by the group condemning the aggression against Syria.

The group said the vicious attack on Syria is a blatant violation of the Syrian sovereignty and its peoples dignity.

We assure that the war launched against the regions people and resistance movements wont reach its goals, and the Ummah (nation) will emerge more powerful and more determined to confront and to triumph.

SANA (Syria)

Syrias state news agency leads with a condemnation of the air strikes and also carries the claim that a majority of missiles fired by the Western states had been intercepted.

SANA also published a story claiming the Syrian army had discovered a laboratory used by rebels for making toxic materials.

It also reports condemnation of the strikes by allied groups and protests by supporters in Western states.US general disputes Russian claim Syria shot down most missiles deployed against facilities near Damascus and Homs.

The Pentagon has said US-led strikes on Syria successfully hit every target, dealing a severe blow to President Bashar al-Assads alleged chemical weapons programme.

Lieutenant-General Kenneth F McKenzie told reporters on Saturday that the US military operation with Britain and France was aimed at delivering a clear and unambiguous message to Bashars government over an alleged chemical weapons attack against civilians in the town of Douma last week.

Calling the suspected gas attack inexcusable, McKenzie said the pre-dawn attacks targeted three facilities used to research, develop and store chemical weapons inside Syria.

The raids, in which the US and its allies deployed a total of 105 missiles, were precise, overwhelming and effective, and successfully hit every target, he said.

These attacks on multiple axes were able to overwhelm the Syrian air defence systems. None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation was successfully engaged by the Syrian air defence system.

The prime target of the operation was the Barza Research and Development Center in the greater Damascus area. A total of 76 missiles, including 57 Tomahawk missiles, were fired at the facility, McKenzie said.

The US and its allies deployed 22 missiles against a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs, and some seven missiles at another chemical weapons bunker in the same area, he added.

McKenzies remarks contradict an earlier assessment by Russia, a key Syrian ally.

Sergey Rudskoy, a lieutenant-general in the Russian military, told a press conference that Syrian air defence had intercepted 71 of the more than 100 missiles.

Vladimir Putin, Russias president, has denounced Saturdays attack as an act of aggression that will only worsen the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

He has called for the UN Security Council meeting over the attacks.

Assad, who denies the suspected chemical attack on Douma, told his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, another key ally, that the latest strikes increased his governments resolve to fight and crush terrorism in every inch of the country.

Irans foreign ministry has meanwhile warned of regional consequences.

Dana White, a spokeswoman for Pentagon, speaking alongside McKenzie, said the US was only in Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and did not want to get drawn into Syrias civil war.

We do not seek conflict in Syria, but we cannot allow such grievous violations of international law, she said, referring to the suspected chemical attack.Experts analyse Moscows possible reaction after repeated threats of retaliation to the US strikes.

Russia has long been threatening the US with serious consequences to its missile strikes against the Syrian regime over the alleged chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Douma.

Speaking after the US air raid on Saturday, Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to Washington, reiterated that such actions will not be left without consequences.

However, Lawrence Korb, former US assistant secretary of defence, told Al Jazeera that Russias reaction would most probably be limited to the public condemnation since the Pentagon did not target the Russian military positions.

The first few hours after the strike indicated that Moscow was indeed taking that route.

Russias President Vladimir Putin condemned the air raid in a statement published on the Kremlins website without mentioning any plans for a retaliation. He said that Moscow called an urgent UN Security Council meeting to discuss the development.

Statement by the Ambassador Antonov on the strikes on #Syria:

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. pic.twitter.com/QEmWEffUzx  Russian Embassy in USA  (@RusEmbUSA) April 14, 2018

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The Russian media was spreading information on Saturday that the US strike aimed at preventing the investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), who arrived in the country, from conducting a probe into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Douma.

One of those voicing the accusation in the Russian press on Saturday was Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian parliaments committee on foreign affairs.

Washington and its allies are trying to cover up their traces in the case of faking the gas attack in Syrias Douma, he said.

Russia possible scenarios

Fuad Shahbazov, a security and military expert focusing on Russia and the Middle East based in Azerbaijan, told Al Jazeera that Moscow is unlikely to limit itself to the anti-US rhetoric.

[Russias response] will include missile attacks against opposition forces and military positions of the US special forces, he said.

But a long-term ground operation against the rebels was highly unlikely, according to Shahbazov.

Russia sees Saturdays missile strike by the US and its French and British allies as the Wests response to Moscows growing role in the world, said Sergei Markov, a Russian political analyst and a former member of Putins United Russia Party.

This strike was, first and foremost, carried out against Russias rising role in the world. Militarily, it is a strike against Syria. But politically, it is a strike against Russia, he said.

Russia was warned about the attack in advance. The territory where the Russian military bases are located were not touched. This means that the US, Britain and France are trying to prevent a military confrontation with Russia in Syria. This is good.

He indicated that Moscow did not even need to respond militarily because the US strike was so much of a failure that it was the sound of a closing door by the Americans who are leaving Syria.

Soon, you will read in the Western press that the West handed over Syria to Putin. And that it cannot do anything against Assad and got off with symbolic strikes for saving its face.Reports say US Tomahawk missiles used to target Syria, as UK and France deploy Tornado, Mirage and Rafale jets.

A senior Russian military official has said that Syrian air defence had intercepted at least 71 cruise missiles fired by US, UK and French forces.

At a news conference in Moscow on Saturday, Lieutenant General Sergey Rudskoy said at least 103 cruise missiles, including Tomahawks, were fired into a number of targets in Syria.

Russia has fully restored the air defence system of Syria, and it continues to improve it over the last six months, Rudskoy said.





The Russian defence ministry was quoted as saying that Syria deployed Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, including S-125, S-200, 2K12 Kub and Buk to repel the attacks.

Among those targeted by the US-led operation was the Al-Dumayr military airport outside of Damascus. Russia said all 12 missiles directed at the airport were intercepted.

In his statement, Rudskoy confirmed at least one US Navy warship in the Mediterranean and US B-1 bomber were involved in the operation, as well as UK Tornado fighters.

The US-led strikes on Saturday came after a suspected chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last week.

A statement from the Pentagon said that at least 58 missiles struck Syrias Shayrat airbase. Reuters quoted a US official saying that Tomahawk missiles were used in the strikes.

The United Kingdoms Royal Air Force said four Tornado GR4s fighters jets joined in the operation, while France said it has deployed Mirage and Rafale fighter jets.

French officials said its military had fired at least 12 missiles into Syria, and that they believe none of their missiles was intercepted.

A British pilot checks the weapons on his Tornado jet in Cyprus after its mission in Syria [AP]

Earlier, the office of Frances President Emanuel Macron said the countrys air force fired missiles from its Mirage and Rafale fighter jets.

On Friday, the US Navy said it was moving additional Tomahawk missile-armed ship within striking distance of Syria.

Tomahawks can carry up to a 1,000-pound warhead at a range of 900 nautical miles (1,667km). It is guided by GPS enabling highly accurate precision attack, according to a 2016 Pentagon report.

A statement from the British Ministry of Defence said it has deployed at least four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s in the strike.

The RAF Tornado fighter jets took off from the British airbase in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

The Tornado fighter is capable of carrying GPS-guided bombs, Brimstone air-to-ground missiles and the 2,860-pound Storm Shadow cruise missiles, as well as air-to-air missiles.

In April 2017, the US targeted a Syrian airbase from where it alleged a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched by the Assad regime against civilians at the town of Khan Sheikhoun. At least 85 people, including children, were killed in that attack.

Assads government and its ally, Russia, have called the allegations fabrications.Despite Saturday nights air strikes in Syria, the OPCW has said it will continue its fact-finding mission in Douma.

Representatives of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have arrived in Damascus, where they will conduct a so-called fact-finding mission into the chemical attack in Douma on April 7.

The OPCW will try to establish facts surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals, reportedly chlorine, for hostile purposes in the Syrian Arab Republic in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

According to the organisation, its mission will continue despite Saturday nights air strikes by the United States, French and British forces, aimed at destroying Syrian chemical weapons facilities.

That mission was announced on April 10, three days after the chemical attack in which at least 85 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

The countries that conducted last nights air strikes on at least three targets in the war-torn country have all claimed they have proof of the Syrian regime being behind the attack on Douma, raising the question how much the OPCW will actually accomplish.

Below is an explainer on the OPCW and its mission in Syria.

What is the OPCW?

The OPCW was founded as part of the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1992 which went into effect in 1997, aiming to eradicate all chemical weapons stockpiles around the world.

In total, the OPCW has 192 member states.

The organisation, which works closely with the United Nations, was behind the destruction of chemical weapons caches in Syria, which lead to the OPCW being awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

What has the OPCW done in Syria so far?

The OPCW lead the campaign to destroy Syrias chemical weapons stockpiles in 2014.

That mission was a result of a deal struck between Syria, the US and Russia after the Syrian government killed anywhere between 300 and 1,400 people in a chemical attack in the city of Ghouta. More than 3,000 people were injured in that attack.

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Following that attack, the US threatened Syria with military retaliation, but eventually struck a deal leading to the dismantling of Syrias chemical weapons stockpile.

In September of that year, head of the joint OPCW-UN mission Sigrid Kaag said in a statement that more than 96 percent of all chemical weapons stockpiles in the country had been destroyed.

But that did not stop the President Bashar al-Assad government from using poisonous gas on its people.

The OPCW was sent there on fact-finding missions on many occasions.

In May 2014, several of these missions were done, leading to a report presented in September of that year claiming there was compelling confirmation that a toxic chemical was used as a weapon, systematically and repeatedly, in the villages of Talmanes, Al Tamanah, and Kafr Zeta in northern Syria.

A year later, in 2015, the OCPW went on another mission regarding alleged use of chemical weapons in three instances.

In its report following that mission, which focused on only one event, the OPCW said it could confirm, therefore, with the utmost confidence that at least two people were exposed to sulfur mustard, adding that it was highly likely a baby died as a result of the chemical attack.

The OPCW also investigated an alleged chemical attack in August 2016. Based on the evidence gathered during that mission, the organisation could not say with certainty a chemical weapon was used in the attack.

The OPCW also went on a fact-finding mission in the wake of the Khan Sheikhoun gas attack in April 2017 in which at least 83 people, a third of them children, were killed and nearly 300 wounded.

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This attack was what triggered US President Donald Trump to launch a limited strike on several Syrian targets, most notably the airbase from where the attack on Khan Sheikhoun was launched.

In June 2017, the OPCW released its report, saying a large number of people, some of whom died, were exposed to sarin or a sarin-like substance.

What will this OPCW mission try to accomplish do?

The new OPCW fact-finding mission, which started on Saturday despite the air strikes, will try to establish what exactly happened during the suspected chemical attack in Douma.

The team will interview victims, visit the site of the attack and try to get information from the Syrian government.

Based on the information gathered, the OPCW will release a report detailing the events leading up to and following the attack in Douma.

How much will this current mission matter?

Just like with the 2017 sarin attack in Khan Sheikhoun, the official OPCW report will most probably be released months after the attack.

However, despite the report coming out a long time after the event, it will still provide the international community with facts and a timeline of what exactly happened in Douma.

What other events has the OPCW been involved in recently?

The OPCW was recently also involved in determining the type of chemical weapon used in the attack on the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK in early March.Service with full state honours concludes 10 days of mourning for anti-apartheid campaigner and Nelson Mandelas ex-wife.

More video clips from the storyHere are some major stories you might not have seen because of the breaking news out of Syria.

With Saturdays US-led airstrikes on Syrian government positions dominating coverage internationally, here is a roundup of some of the stories you may have missed.

Israeli troops open fire on Palestinians

Israeli soldiers killed at least four Palestinians and wounded around a 1,000 others during protests in the Gaza Strip.

The deaths bring the number of people killed by the Israeli army since protests began on March 30 to at least 37.

Medics carry a wounded protester in Fridays March of Return protest in Khan Yunis [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Winnie Mandela funeral

Thousands are gathering in Johannesburg to pay their final respects to the anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela.

The 81-year-old ex-wife of late South African president Nelson Mandela died on Monday.





Vigil for slain activist in Brazil

Thousands are expected to gather in Brazilian cities on Saturday to mark one month since the murder of Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco, whose killing shocked the country and the international community, and until now remains unsolved.

Franco, a rights activist and feminist, was killed when a gunman opened fire on her vehicle at close range in central Rio de Janerio.

Her murder sparked protests throughout Brazil. Many believe the politician, who was critical of the endemic police violence in Rios poor communities, was killed in a targeted attack.

Franco was shot to death on March 14 in Rio de Janeiro [Photo by Fabio Vieira/Getty Images]

Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai

At least eight Egyptian soldiers were killed in Sinai on Saturday when gunmen wearing explosive belts raided a checkpoint.

The countrys military said it had killed at least 12 fighters during the attack.

Egypt is battling an armed campaign by the local affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Chinese social media network bans gay content

Social media platform Weibo has banned content deemed to promote homosexuality in a move it says is to comply with Chinas new cyber security law.

The ban prompted protests and a trending hashtag I am gay.

Indian ministers resign after rally for rape-murder suspects

A pair of officials from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have resigned after they were criticised for attending a protest in support of eight men accused of raping and murdering an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Chaudhary Lan Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga were ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government.

Authorities have arrested eight men in connection with the kidnap, rape, and killing of the Muslim girl at a Hindu temple in the mainly-Hindu Kathua district.

The suspects included a policeman and former government official.

Officials are accused of a cover-up and Hindu nationalists have rallied in support of the accused.

Protests have also broken out calling for justice for the murdered girl.

A protest demanding justice over the rape and murder of Ashifa [Cathal McNaughton/Reuters]

UAE officers leave Somalia

Reports out of Somalia say Emirati military officers have been forced to leave Somalia without their weapons.

The development comes shortly after Somali authorities seized almost $10m in cash from a plane inbound from the UAE.

UAE troops have been training their Somali counterparts but tensions between the two governments have grown partly over the UAEs plans to establish a military base in the breakaway Somaliland territory.

Russia rubbish protests

Thousands of people have come out to protest amid a growing rubbish collection crisis in the Moscow region.

In the town of Volokolamsk, protesters demanded the closure of an overloaded landfill which has been releasing toxic gas and forcing many local residents to seek medical help.

Local activist Artem Lyubimov who has led the protest effort in Volokolamsk and who was detained on charges of resisting arrest went on hunger strike earlier this week.

In eight other towns in Moscows suburbs, Russians protested against mismanaged landfills and plans to build rubbish-burning plants.President Donald Trump late Friday announced the launch of a joint US-British-French operation targeting Syrias criminal regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack that he called a significant escalation in the crisis.

Here are key excerpts from Trumps televised address to the nation, which lasted just under eight minutes:

Operation under way

My fellow Americans  a short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both.

Crimes of a monster

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Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians  this time in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The evil and the despicable attack left mother and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.

Strong deterrent

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons.

Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power  military, economic, and diplomatic.

We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

Message to Russia, Iran

To Iran and to Russia, I ask: what kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?

The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.

Russia must decide

In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syrias chemical weapons. Assads chemical attack  and todays response  are the direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise.

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace.

Syrias fate in its own hands

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances.

No amount of American blood and treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East.

The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.US, UK and France launch attack on chemical weapon sites in Syria. Here are all the latest updates.

The US, UK and France have launched strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities in Syria, US President Donald Trump announced early on Saturday.

The strikes came after a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend.

Here are all the latest updates on the strikes:

The US will not pull its troops out of Syria until Washingtons goals are accomplished, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN said.

According to Haley, the three aims for the US are ensuring chemical weapons are not used in any way that poses a risk to US interests; Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) is defeated; and there is a good vantage point to watch what Iran is doing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian Presiden Hassan Rouhani that further attacks by Western allies in Syria would inevitably lead to chaos in international relations.

In a phone conversation on Sunday, the two leaders agreed that this illegal action seriously damages the prospects for a political settlement in Syria, Russian news agency RIA quoted the Kremlin press service as saying.

Prime Minister Theresa May faced backlash from the domestic opposition after launching military strikes on Syria without consulting parliament.

As the Conservative leader explained her rationale for the air strikes, opposition parties claimed the attacks were legally dubious, risked escalating conflict and should have been approved by legislators.

The shadow of the 2003 invasion of Iraq still lingers in the corridors of Britains parliament, when MPs backed then-prime minister Tony Blair in joining US military action.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace, said Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party

Syria: Strikes hit parts of but not the heart of programme

A former officer in Syrias chemical programme says the joint strikes were unlikely to curb the governments ability to produce chemical weapons or launch new attacks.

Speaking from rebel-held northern Syria, Adulsalam Abdulrazek told the Associated Press news agency there were an estimated 50 warehouses that stored chemical weapons before the programme was dismantled in 2013. He said he believed those facilities remain or were slightly moved.

told the Associated Press news agency there were an estimated 50 warehouses that stored chemical weapons before the programme was dismantled in 2013. He said he believed those facilities remain or were slightly moved. He said the suspected chemical weapons programme was only partially dismantled under the Syria Chemical Weapons Disarmament Deal of 2013 [between the US and Russia] because the Assad government did not allow inspections of existing stockpiles and capabilities.

NATO chief Stoltenberg: All NATO allies back Syria air strikes

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Saturday that all NATO allies back Syria air strikes carried out by the US, UK and France on chemical weapons targets in Syria.

He said the strikes were intended to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter further chemical attacks on civilians such as the one in Douma.

He called on Russia and all supporters of the Syrian regime to exercise responsibility in the Syrian conflict.

Haley: If Syria uses toxic gas again, the US is locked and loaded

Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, has described the Syria strikes as justified, legitimate and proportionate.

The United States and its allies did everything we could to use the tools of diplomacy to get rid of Assads arsenal of chemical weapons. We did not give diplomacy just one chance. We gave diplomacy chance after chance  six times, thats how much Russia vetoed Security Council resolutions to address chemical weapons in Syria, she said.

I spoke to the US president this morning and he said that if the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded. When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line.

Russia to UN: Condemn aggression against Syria

Russia has urged the UN Security Council to condemn the aggression against Syria.

Russian diplomats circulated the resolution on Saturday in advance of Security Council meeting to discuss the military operation.

Chemical inspectors from The Hague arrive in Syria

Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have announced their arrival in Damascus.

In an announcement on social media, OPCW said it will commence its work on the investigation of the use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians in Douma.

The work of the organisation, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, is significant as it will determine the veracity of chemical weapons use. But it would not be able to determine who was responsible for the attack.

Turkeys Erdogan says strikes on Syria appropriate

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the US-led operation in Syria, calling it an appropriate response to the recent chemical attack on civilians.

Binali Yildirim, Turkeys prime minister, added that it was a positive step, saying the people in Syria have been slaughtered for seven years.

Pentagon: US air strikes dealt a severe blow to Syria

Lieutenant-General Kenneth F McKenzie Jr, director of joint staff, said the US air strikes delivered a severe blow to Syrias chemical weapons production capability. He said the operation is far more damaging to Syria.

McKenzie also said that none of its missiles was intercepted, and that all weapons hit the targets at their designated time of target of about 4am local time in Syria.

McKenzie said the US military is ready anytime in case of retaliation.

Dana W White, Pentagon spokesperson, said the use of chemical weapons is an inexcusable violation of international law. She said the US successfully hit all targets.

Syria operation: The aftermath

The Syrian Scientific Research Center in Barzeh, near Damascus, after the attack [SANA via AP]

Trump on Syria operation: Mission accomplished

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

What are Syrians saying about the US-led attacks?

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad releases a video showing it is business as usual in Syria.

Syrian foreign ministry official condemns the operation as barbaric aggression.

Opposition leader Abdul Rahman Mustafa says strikes send a strong message to Russia and Iran.

EU warns Syria of further sanctions; calls on Russia, Iran to act

The EU on Saturday called for Russia and Iran to help stop more chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian government, warning of fresh economic sanctions.

The EU calls upon all countries, notably Russia and Iran, to use their influence to prevent any further use of chemical weapons, notably by the Syrian regime, the EU said in a statement.

It said the EU had imposed Syrian sanctions in July 2017 and March this year and was always ready to consider imposing further measures as appropriate.

Iraq: US-led strikes could have dangerous consequences

The Iraqi foreign ministry said that the US-led strikes marked a very dangerous development.

Such action could have dangerous consequences, threatening the security and stability of the region and giving terrorism another opportunity to expand after it was ousted from Iraq and forced into Syria to retreat to a large extent, the ministry said in a statement.

Assad: Syria even more determined to fight terrorism

President Bashar al-Assad told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani that US-led strikes would increase Syrias resolve to fight and crush terrorism in every inch of the country, the Syrian presidency said on Saturday.

Rouhani told Assad that Iran would continue to stand by Syria, expressing his confidence that this aggression would not weaken the determination of the Syrian people in its war against terrorism.

China: US-led strikes violate international law

Chinas foreign ministry said on Saturday that it believes a political settlement is the only way to resolve the Syrian issue and called for a full, fair and objective investigation into suspected chemical weapon attacks in Syria.

Hua Chunying, the ministrys spokeswoman, made the comments at a press conference according to a transcript posted on its website.

Hua said that China has consistently opposed the use of force in international relations and that any military action that bypassed the UN Security Council violated the principles and basic norms of international law.

RT: Russian state medias English language service Russia Today (RT) is carrying comments by President Vladimir Putin condemning the strikes and warning they would lead to a new wave of asylum seekers from Syria and the whole region.

Sputnik: Sputnik, another Russian state-owned media outlet is reporting a claim made by Russian military officials that Syrias air defence system managed to shoot down a majority of cruise missiles fired by the US.

Press TV: Irans English language media outlet Press TV is leading with the countrys Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneis denunciation of the US-led strikes as a crime.

Al-Manar: Hezbollahs media outlet Al-Manar has published a statement by the group condemning the aggression against Syria. The group said the vicious attack on Syria is a blatant violation of the Syrian sovereignty and its peoples dignity.

SANA: Syrias state news agency leads with a condemnation of the air strikes and also carries the claim that a majority of missiles fired by the Western states had been intercepted. SANA also published a story claiming the Syrian army had discovered a laboratory used by rebels for making toxic materials.

A senior Russian military official has said that Syrian air defence had intercepted at least 71 cruise missiles fired by US, UK and France forces.

At a news conference in Moscow on Saturday, Lieutenant-General Sergey Rudskoy said at least 103 cruise missiles, including Tomahawks, were fired into a number of targets in Syria.

said at least 103 cruise missiles, including Tomahawks, were fired into a number of targets in Syria. Russia has improved the Syrian air defence system in the last six months, Rudskoy said.

France says it fired 12 missiles during Syria intervention

The French military on Saturday fired 12 missiles during its air strikes on Syria, defence ministry officials said, adding there was no indication the missiles had been intercepted.

May declines to say if Assad can stay after missile strikes

British Prime Minister Theresa May declined to say on Saturday whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should stay in power and said talks with allies would continue on finding a political solution to the civil war.

When asked if Syrias Assad could remain the leader as long as he refrained from further use of chemical weapons, May said: This was about, as I have said and you have recognised, this was specifically about the use of chemical weapons.

There is a wider question on the future political solution for Syria and that is a matter that we will continue to pursue in diplomatic and political channels with our international partners and allies, May said.

May: Reports indicate barrel bomb used in chemical attack on Douma

British Prime Minister Theresa May said reports indicated that a barrel bomb used in Syrian chemical attack on Douma.

Germany: Strikes were necessary and appropriate

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the strikes by the US, UK and France against Syria were necessary and appropriate response to the suspected chemical attack in Douma.

May: It was right and legal to take military action in Syria

British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was right and legal to take military action in Syria.

May: Were clear Syrian government is responsible for chemical attack

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK is clear that the government of Syrias Bashar al-Assad is responsible for the suspected chemical attack in Douma.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strike on Syria by the US, UK and France will exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

UKs Corbyn: May should have sought parliamentary approval

British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that Prime Minister Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval before participating in strikes against Syria.

Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harms way, Corbyn said.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace, Corbyn added. This legally questionable action risks escalating further.

Irans Khamenei calls Trump, Macron and May criminals

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced US President Donald Trump, Frances Emmanuel Macron and Britains Theresa May after they launched strikes against Syria.

The attack this morning against Syria is a crime, Khamenei said in remarks published on his Telegram channel. The American president, the French president and the British prime minister are criminals.

Russia calls for UNSC emergency session

Russia has called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council over the US-led strikes in Syria, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

Turkey was informed before strikes on Syria

Turkey was informed before the US, British and French strikes on Syria, ruling AK Party spokesman Mahir Unal said in a televised interview on CNN Turk.

Syrian military: US, UK and France fired 110 missiles

A Syrian military official said the US, UK and France fired 110 missiles during its joint attack on Saturday.

Our air defences effectively shot down most of [the missiles], Ali Mayhoub said on Syrian state TV. The US has not commented on remarks.

Dutch PM understands US-led strikes

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says his government understands the military action of the three NATO allies in Syria because the use of chemical weapons is a serious crime the international community cannot accept.

In an early-morning reaction on his Twitter and Facebook feeds, Rutte said it was likely that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad was behind the suspected chemical attack in Douma.

Russia did not engage its air defence assets in Syria during strikes

The Russian military said Syrias air defence shot down 12 cruise missiles aimed at Syrian airbase east of Damascus. The ministry said that altogether more than 100 cruise and air-to-ground missiles were launched by the US, UK and French aircraft and naval shifts. It did not mention the overall number of missiles intercepted by Syrian forces.

Syrias Assad shown arriving for work in presidency video

The Syrian presidency posted a video that appeared to show President Bashar al-Assad arriving for work on Saturday just hours after a US-led strike on Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapon attack.

The morning of resilience, declared a caption accompanying the video circulated on the presidencys Telegram feed, which showed Assad walking into the building.

Turkey welcomes strikes on Syria

The Turkish foreign ministry said it welcomed US-led strikes on Syria, calling it an appropriate response, Reuters news agency reported, citing a foreign ministry source.

Syria: Strikes will not affect army in any way

The barbaric aggression  will not affect in any way the determination and insistence of the Syrian people and their heroic armed forces, state news agency SANA cited an official source as saying.

This aggression will only lead to inflaming tensions in the world and threatens international security, it added.

Russia: Most missiles fired at Syria were intercepted

Russias defence ministry said that the majority of the missiles fired on Syria by the US, UK and France were intercepted by Syrian government air defence system, TASS news agency reported.

France: Russia warned before strikes

Frances defence minister said Russia was warned before the joint US, UK and French military strikes against Syria.

We are not looking for confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation, that is the reason why we, with our allies, ensured the Russians were warned beforehand, Defence Minister Florence Parly told reporters on Saturday.

France: Strikes were legitimate, limited and proportionate

Frances foreign minister said the joint military operation against Syria is legitimate, limited and proportionate

A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both.

Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians  this time in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The evil and the despicable attack left mother and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons.

To Iran and to Russia, I ask: what kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances.

The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

According to US President Donald Trump, the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. The US and its allies launched more than 100 strikes on Syria in a one-time shot, officials at the Pentagon said. According to a Syrian government official, around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down. The US used Tomahawk cruise missiles in its strikes in Syria, which were fired at multiple targets in the country, a US official said. Joseph Dunford, Washingtons top general, said the precision strikes hit three targets: A scientific research centre near Damascus that is allegedly connected to the production of the chemical weapons; a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs; a command post near the capital. Russias ambassador to the US warned that there would be consequences for the strikes, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russias president.

Iran: Strikes are flagrant violation of international law

Irans foreign ministry has said the strikes against Syria by the US, UK and France are a flagrant violation of international law that ignores sovereignty of Syria, Hezbollahs al-Manar TV said.

UN chief urges restraint after strikes on Syria

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on UN member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.

Any use of chemical weapons is abhorrent. The suffering it causes is horrendous. I have repeatedly expressed my deep disappointment that the Security Council failed to agree on a dedicated mechanism for effective accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. I urge the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and fill this gap, he added.

Iran warns of regional consequences of strikes

The Iranian foreign ministry strongly condemned the strikes against Syria by the US, UK and France.

It also warned of their regional consequences, Hezbollahs al-Manar TV said.

US Democratic leaders cautiously welcome decision on strikes

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer called the strikes appropriate, but said, the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said: One night of air strikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

US Republican leaders praise Trumps decision on strikes

US House Speaker Paul Ryan praised Trumps decisive action in coordination with our allies, adding: We are united in our resolve.

Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain applauded the strikes but says they alone will not achieve US objectives in the Middle East.

Syria state TV: Strikes targeting position in Homs were thwarted

The missiles that targeted a military position in Homs were thwarted and diverted from their path, and injured three civilians, state news agency SANA said.

Syria state TV: Only material losses at research centre near Damascus

Syrian state media said that the US-led strikes caused material damage at a scientific research centre in the Barzeh district of Damascus.

The attack destroyed a building that includes a learning centre and laboratories, state TV said.

Strikes in Syria did not hit areas near Russian bases: Moscow

The Russian defence ministry said that none of the rockets launched in the Syria attack entered the zones where Russian air defence systems are protecting facilities, Russian press agency TASS reported.

Protesters in Damascus rally against US-led strikes: reports

Protesters are rallying in Damascus against the US, UK and French military action in Syria, Lebanese media are reporting.

Amnesty urges Trump to take in Syrian refugees

Amnesty International warned that air strikes on Syria should minimise harm to civilians and urged Trump to take in Syrian refugees.

All precautions must be taken to minimise harm to civilians in any military action, Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for Middle East North Africa at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement on Saturday.

The Trump administration must not turn its back on the suffering of men, women, and children by continuing to ban refugees from entering the United States. It is time for the US to reopen our doors to people trying to escape from the violence in Syria, Jarrar added.

Russia: Pre-designed scenario is being implemented

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, said on Twitter that Russia warned such actions will not be left without consequences.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, he tweeted, adding again, we are being threatened.

Statement by the Ambassador Antonov on the strikes on #Syria:

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. pic.twitter.com/QEmWEffUzx  Russian Embassy in USA  (@RusEmbUSA) April 14, 2018

Washington informed Tel Aviv of attack: sources

US officials informed Israel of the timing of the attack, Israeli sources say.

Pro-Assad official: Targets evacuated prior to attack

The Syrian government evacuated the targeted sites days ago thanks to a warning from Russia, a senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters news agency.

We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians  and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago, Reuters quoted the official as saying.

The official added that around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, saying we are carrying out an assessment of the material damages.

NATO chief: I support actions of US and allies

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he supported the actions taken by the US, UK and France against Syria.

I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France against the Syrian regimes chemical weapons facilities and capabilities. This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons, Stoltenberg said in a statement on Saturday.

Syrian opposition leader: All attacks on civilians must stop

Syrian opposition leader Nasra al-Hariri called for the end to all attacks against civilians in Syria.

Maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons again, but it will not hesitate to use weapons the international community has allowed it, such as barrel bombs and cluster bombs, Hariri said in a tweet early on Saturday.

Russia: Syria hit as country had chance for peaceful future

Russias foreign ministry says Syria was attacked at the very moment the country had a chance for a peaceful future, Russian news agency RIA reported.

Maria Zakharova, the ministry spokeswoman, wrote on Facebook: Those behind all this claim moral leadership in the world and declare they are exceptional. You need to be really exceptional to shell Syrias capital at the moment when it had gained a chance of a peaceful future.

The foreign ministry also said that Western media has some responsibility for the attack on Syria, which was based on its reports, according to RIA.

Three targets hit

Joseph Dunford, Washingtons top general, said the precision strikes hit three targets  a scientific research centre near Damascus, a storage facility and command post also near the capital and a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

US top general: US did not notify Russia of targets

Washingtons top general, Joesph Dunford, said Russias forces in Syria had been warned through existing deconfliction channels that Western planes would be in Syrian airspace, but that Washington had not revealed the target sites or timing in advance.

US chairman of joint chiefs of staff: First wave of attacks ends

US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford announced the first wave of attacks has ended.

Syrian state media says US-led strikes hit army depots

Syrian state media called the attacks by the US, France and the UK a flagrant violation of international law, adding that the attacks had targeted army depots in the Homs area.

Russia warned such actions wont be left without consequences

The Russian ambassador to the US said in a statement on the strikes that Russia warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

Mattis: Right now, this is a one-time shot

Right now, this is a one-time shot, and I believe it has sent a very strong message, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said.

Syrian state TV: Syrian air defences responded to attack

Syrian state TV reports that Syrian air defences responded to the strikes by the US, UK and France

Explosions heard in Damascus

As Trump announced the strikes, explosions were heard from Damascus, Reuters news agency reported.

Emmanuel Macron confirms Frances involvement

French President Emmanuel Macron has confirmed Frances involvement in the strikes.

UKs Theresa May: Strikes meant to deter the use of chemical weapons

UK Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed Britains involvement in the strikes, saying: We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none.

She said the strikes were not about regime change or intervening in a civil war, but were to deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.Moscow and Tehran have warned that there would be consequences for the US-led attacks on Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced a strike on Syria launched by the US and its allies as an act of aggression that will exacerbate humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader says Moscow is calling an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over the strike launched by the US, Britain and France.

Putin added that the strike had a destructive influence on the entire system of international relations.

He reaffirmed Russias view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake.

Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack.

He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

{articleGUID}

US President Donald Trump ordered the air attacks late on Friday on targets associated with chemical weapons capabilities.

Russias ambassador to the US warned that there would be consequences for the attacks.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter.

Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

Antov added that it was not acceptable to insult Russias president: Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.

The US  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries.

Later on Saturday, the Syrian presidency posted a video that appeared to show President Bashar al-Assad arriving for work hours after the strike.

The morning of resilience, declared a caption accompanying the video circulated on the presidencys Telegram feed.

The barbaric aggression  will not affect in any way the determination and insistence of the Syrian people and their heroic armed forces, state news agency SANA cited an official source in the Syrian foreign ministry as saying.





This aggression will only lead to inflaming tensions in the world and threatens international security, the source added.

Iran also warned of regional consequences following the attacks.

The United States and its allies have no proof and, without even waiting for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to take a position, have carried out this military attack and are responsible for the regional consequences, said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi on his Telegram channel.

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus said the Syrian government absorbed the attacks, adding that the targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.

We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians  and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago, the official said.

Around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down, the official added.

We are carrying out an assessment of the material damages, the official added.

President Assad has been backed in the seven-year-long Syrian war by Russia, Iran, and Iran-backed groups, including Lebanons Hezbollah.

Explosions were heard in Damascus, Homs and elsewhere in Syria.

A US official told Reuters news agency the attacks were aimed at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.US and allies launch attack on chemical weapon sites in Syria. Heres what we know about the sites targeted.

The US, UK and France launched early morning strikes on Saturday against targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend.

James Mattis, Pentagon chief, said the strikes had three targets in Syria as part of an effort to destroy the Syrian regimes chemical weapons research, development and production capabilities.

Here is what we know so far about the targeted sites:

1. Research centre in Damascus Barzeh district

General Joseph Dunford, Washingtons top general, said the first attack was directed at Syrias Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Barzeh district outside the capital Damascus.

This military facility was a Syrian centre for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology, Dunford said after the attacks. {articleGUID}

The French military also confirmed the attack on the research facility.

Syrias state news agency SANA said the attack resulted in only material damage.

The attack destroyed a building that includes a learning centre and laboratories, Syrian state TV added.

2. Weapons storage centre near Homs

The second strike targeted a storage facility west of Homs believed to produce chemical weapons, Dunford said.

Syrian state media said that missiles in the attack were intercepted by the countrys missile defence system.

The missiles that targeted a military position in Homs were thwarted and diverted from their path, and injured three civilians, state news agency SANA said.

3. Command post and storage facility near Homs

The third target, which was in the vicinity of the second target, contained both a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, Dunford said.

A senior official in the regional alliance that backs Syrian government forces told Reuters news agency that Damascus had absorbed the strike.

We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians  and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago  We are carrying out an assessment of the material damages, the official said.

Citing a regional military alliance that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reported the targeting of the al-Shirai airbase in al-Dimas, west of Damascus near the Lebanese border. US officials have not commented on the reports.

According to Reuters, attacks were also reported in Masyaf, about 170km north of Damascus, arms depots in the eastern Qalamoun region northeast of the capital, the Kisweh area south of Damascus and a site in the Qasyoun hills overlooking Damascus.The aim of the strikes was destruction of the Syrian regimes chemical capabilities, according to French officials.

Frances defence minister has ruled out confrontation and escalation following its joint military operation with the US and UK that attacked targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities in Syria.

The strikes early on Saturday came in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend.

Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly told reporters the military action targeted the main research centre for Syrias chemical weapons programme and two important production sites.

Frances aim was to deter Syrias government from using chemical weapons, she said, adding that her government did not want to exacerbate the conflict.

We are not looking for a confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation, said Parly.

{articleGUID}

That is why, with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were notified ahead of time.

Russia is one of Assads strongest allies and has military bases in Syria. It has denounced the US-led military action.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, Frances foreign minister, called the US-led response targeted and proportionate.

It was limited to specific objectives: The destruction of the Syrian regimes chemical capabilities to stop it from committing new chemical massacres, said Drian.

He added that France will now return to taking political initiatives to end the crisis in Syria.

Earlier on Saturday, President Emmanuel Macron also said France and its partners will renew their efforts at the UN to allow the establishment of an international mechanism to establish responsibility, prevent impunity and prevent any recurrence by the Syrian regime.





Meanwhile, Theresa May, UK prime minister, said her government resorted to military action only after its efforts at deterring the Syrian government from using chemical weapons were repeatedly thwarted at the UN by Russia.

Just this week, the Russians vetoed a resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into this latest attack, May told a press conference.

So we have no choice but to conclude that diplomatic action on its own will not be any more effective in the future than it has been in the past, she said, arguing that it was both legal and right to carry out the strikes in Syria.

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change, she said.

It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

May went on to dismiss as grotesque and absurd a claim by Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, that the Douma attack was staged by Britain.

She referred specifically to last months nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the southern English cathedral city of Salisbury that she has blamed on Russia. Moscow has denied any involvement.

We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere, May said.

She said almost a century of global acceptance about not using chemical weapons had been eroded in Douma and Salisbury.US, UK and France launch attack on chemical weapon sites in Syria. Heres what Syrians are saying about the strike.

The US alongside its French and British allies launched a military operation on Saturday aimed at destroying Syrias chemical weapons arsenal.

Assessment of the damage caused is ongoing, but a senior Russian military official said Syrias air defence system managed to intercept at least 71 of an estimated 100 cruise missiles fired by the US, UK and France.

Heres how some Syrians reacted to the attack.

Syrian government:

The Syrian presidency posted a video on its social media accounts on Saturday showing President Bashar al-Assad going about his usual morning routine with the caption morning of resistance.

 ..     pic.twitter.com/hhIZT6cOTe  Syrian Presidency (@Presidency_Sy) April 14, 2018

The foreign ministry condemned the tripartite US, British and French attacks as a flagrant violation of international law.

A foreign ministry official told the state SANA news agency the barbaric aggression was timed in such a way as to coincide with the arrival of a team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

:                     #                .    (@SanaAjel) April 14, 2018

Translation: [Foreign ministry] source: The timing of the aggression, coinciding with the arrival of the OPCW investigating mission in Syria to investigate the alleged chemical attack in Douma, is mainly aimed at hindering the work of the mission in anticipation of the results and to pressure it in an attempt to not expose their lies and fabrications.

Syrian opposition:

Nasser al-Hariri, the oppositions chief negotiator, said in a sarcastic tone that while the government may now refrain from using chemical weapons, it will still be able to use the conventional weapons at its disposal.

I think the regime will not risk using chemical weapons in Syria again. It will only use explosive barrels, cluster bombs,  .  (@Nasr_Hariri) April 14, 2018

Hariri added in a separate tweet that the international community ought to take a comprehensive and lasting strategic approach to pave the way for a political solution that will put an end to the bloodshed.

Hadi Albahra, a member of the Syrian Negotiations Commission, expressed scepticism as to the efficiency of a single strike and asked that the campaign is sustained until the regime stops its indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

We appreciate the U.S., UK, & France response to the chemical attacks. What is needed is to sustain the campaign until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents & to deter all indiscriminate attacks, to protect civilians & push forward for political resolution  Hadi Albahra (@hadialbahra) April 14, 2018

The president of the Syrian opposition umbrella group, Abdul Rahman Mustafa, for his part said the strikes send a strong message to Russia and Iran.

                    ..             Nasr al-Hariri (@pofsoc) April 14, 2018

Translation: The targeting of Assads forces and their headquarters send strong messages to the regimes protectors and partners, Russia and Iran, to stop shedding Syrian blood and try to dominate Syria. Youre not the only players in the region or the world.

Reactions on social media

Abdalaziz Alhamza, a journalist and activist, expressed gratitude to the tripartite coalition.

Today, the United States of America, France, and the United Kingdom have stood on the right side of history. We thank you .  Abdalaziz Alhamza (@3z0ooz) April 14, 2018

Meanwhile, Twitter user Eyad Alhosain pointed out that Syrias old Soviet air defence system was used to bring down Trumps new smart missiles.

    ..    ..   :           . #_ .  Eyad Alhussein (@Eyad_Alhosain) April 14, 2018

Translation: In response to the Trump missiles. Beautiful, new, smart Russian Defense Ministry: Syria has used old Soviet air defense systems to shoot down Western missiles. #_.Trump calls Comey slime ball over new critical book

US President Donald Trump called James Comey a weak and untruthful slime ball, reacting to news accounts that cite the fired former FBI director as searingly critical of the president in a memoir due to be published next week.How a small group of Japanese revolutionaries secretly aided the Palestinian cause from Lebanon.

Beirut, Lebanon  To say May Shigenobu had an unusual upbringing would be something of an understatement.

As a child, May had several aliases and was always on the move to protect her from kidnapping or assassination.

If her true identity was close to being revealed, she would be given a new passport, a new nationality, a new name and a new backstory.

I always had to hide my true background, mainly from the Israelis, May explains as we sit down at a cafe in Beiruts bustling Harma district.

These may seem like drastic measures, but they make more sense if you are the daughter of Fusako Shigenobu, founder of the Japanese Red Army (JRA).

Fusako arrived in Lebanon in 1971 without a word of Arabic in her lexicon, but soon managed to make her intentions crystal clear. She was there to offer support to the Palestinian struggle.

Worldwide revolution

It was in Lebanon that Shigenobu founded the JRA, a Marxist-Leninist organisation seeking the overthrow of the Japanese government, the destruction of capitalism and imperialism, and the start of a worldwide revolution.

It was the emphasis on internationalism that drove Shigenobu to align with the Palestinian cause.

Her small but dedicated group of Japanese revolutionaries struck up an organisational relationship with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who at that time had a strong presence throughout Lebanon, including in the Palestinian refugee camps surrounding Beirut.

Once established, the JRA became involved in a series of high-profile international operations including aircraft hijackings and hostage-takings.

The strategy was designed to draw attention to the Palestinian cause, which had suffered devastating defeats in 1948 and 1967. It was in the midst of this campaign that baby May was born.

{articleGUID}

Mays father was also a leader of the PFLP at that time, but she avoids identifying him for security reasons.

Its not like it was 100 years ago; a lot of people would still be affected by unnecessary information going out, May said.

You might be surprised but in general people didnt know about specific members of this organisation.

My mother took on the Arab name Mariam, but very few ever knew who Mariam was or what her real name was.

It wasnt like I was the daughter of a famous person. But I was the daughter of a famous organisation. And I feel proud and lucky to have had a whole community of these idealistic, self-sacrificing people around me, raising me.

Despite being surrounded by people deeply involved in the struggle, May says it was safer for her and for everyone, that she remained in the dark about the specifics of their activities.

As a child, I didnt know much.

May, now a freelance journalist and TV producer, says: That was mostly for security reasons.

You never know which situation I might be in where I could mistakenly say something or get lured into saying something.

I knew who the people around me were, and what they were fighting for, but I didnt know the details.

Terrorist or freedom fighter?

The details have been reported as including an attack on the Israeli Lod Airport in 1972 by three Japanese gunmen which left 22 people dead.

The only person involved in the attack to survive, Kozo Okamoto, was imprisoned by Israel before being released in a prisoner swap in 1985.

He lives in Beirut to this day and remains the only person to have ever been granted political asylum in Lebanon.

While most media at the time reported the attack as an early act by the JRA, this narrative is disputed by May who says it came before the formation of the organisation.

At the time there was no such thing as the Japanese Red Army. It was carried out by activists from different leftist movements in Japan who wanted to act in solidarity with the Palestinians, she says.

Nevertheless, there are many who would condemn her mother and her comrades as terrorists responsible for the deaths of civilians. Again, May says this is due to a false portrayal of the group propagated by sections of the media.

Firstly, their military actions were quite rightly always intended to avoid harming civilians and they were successful in this, she responds, with little hesitation.

Secondly, whether you are a terrorist or a freedom fighter depends on which side you are on. It doesnt have a clear definition.

Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist at one time, Gandhi was considered a terrorist at one time. But are they terrorists today? Of course not. History has recognised them as leaders and heroes of their nation. How history defines you all depends on if you win or lose in the struggle.

I believe in the need to continue for the same cause. [Nadine Beyrouti/Al Jazeera]

Nevertheless, May believes the tactics employed by the JRA are no longer necessary in todays world. There are other ways to spread the message and support struggles.

In the past, we didnt have the connectivity that we have today  we didnt have the internet, we didnt have satellite television and we didnt have social media, she argues.

It was very difficult for activists to spread the word about the struggle they wanted to convey to people around the world.

For them to be able to attract attention and inform others, they had to do drastic things. To get the cameras or the microphones attending to their cause and asking about it. It didnt matter if they were criticised in the report; it would give a platform to talk about the things they were fighting for.

Today you dont need to use armed struggle in all locations unless its a location that is under direct occupation, where people need to have all sorts of options to resist as is their right under the United Nations.





In July 2000, Fusako Shigenobu returned to Japan under a fake identity, checking into a hotel under a mans name.

However, her cover was blown and she was arrested by the Japanese police amid great media fanfare.

She was sentenced to 20-years in prison for orchestrating the 1974 siege of the French embassy in The Hague, a conviction May says was achieved on the basis of flimsy evidence.

May travels back to Japan regularly to see her mother but is pessimistic about the chances of her being out before her 2023 release date.

I would love her to be released early but they want to keep her as long as possible. Societies usually move on but in terms of Japan it is a very different country  its not a place where they hope for social rehabilitation.

Mays life has been shaped by those days of struggle in the 1970s. She grew up without a proper childhood. She was forced to disappear and lose touch with any friends she made and her elderly mother is serving a long sentence in jail.

If she felt a bit bitter at the hand she was drawn in life, it would be understandable. But there is not a hint of it.

I believe in the need to continue for the same cause, she argues.

The Japanese Red Army were internationalists. If this movement was still active today, it would be supporting the civil rights movement in the US, or the oppression that the people of Rohingya are facing in Myanmar.

Their idea of supporting people who are facing injustice and discrimination is still right even today. Most of the time the world is not kind to activists and people who are fighting against the system, but we need to think of the people who are truly in need of their support.

Every action, however small, still matters and makes a difference.

Time may have passed, and tactics may have changed, but theres no doubt that May Shigenobu remains committed to the same cause as her mother. She is, after all, a child of the revolution.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.In an act of delicious irony, James "The Liar" Comey will remind us on 20/20 that in his new book, A Higher Loyalty, he compares President Trump and his alleged demands for loyalty to that required by a crime boss. Comey writes:

"The demand was like Sammy the Bull's Cosa Nostra induction ceremony," referring to Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, a former leader of the Gambino crime family, whose testimony ultimately helped convict mob boss John Gotti.

This extension of his 15 minutes of fame to 20/20 comes soon after the man he got appointed as special counsel, Robert Mueller, shredded the 4th Amendment to the Constitution and the attorney-client privilege by raiding the offices of Trump attorney Michael Cohen looking for anything that might justify Mueller's existence after a failed Russia collusion investigation, taking everything except the towels in Cohen's hotel room.

No doubt Gravano would have been proud of this thuggish action, one not dissimilar to the no-knock raid on Paul Manafort and his family as they slept, another cooperating witness, in stark contrast to the FBI's treatment of Hillary Clinton:

Everything that has happened in the Trump probe stands out against a backdrop of leniency in the Clinton investigation. While Mueller has prosecuted two Trump associates for lying to the FBI, the Obama Justice Department gave a pass to Mrs. Clinton and her subordinates, who gave the FBI misinformation about such key matters as whether Clinton understood markings in classified documents and whether her aides knew about her homebrew server system during their State Department service. Mueller's team conducted a predawn raid at gunpoint in executing a search warrant on Paul Manafort's home while Manafort was cooperating with congressional committees. When it came to the Clinton case, though, the Justice Department not only eschewed search warrants, or even mere subpoenas, but they never even took possession of the DNC server alleged to have been hacked by Russian operatives.

Comey has no problem with being loyal to Robert Mueller, who conducts his business in much the same way as Gravano did. In the Manafort raid, Mueller also violated attorney-client privilege, a pattern from his checkered past of shoddy legal work in which the end justified the means:

One example, which has not been previously reported, came when Mueller's investigators raided Paul Manafort's house in Virginia. Among other items, investigators seized a binder full of information that Manafort and his legal team considered privileged, according to a source familiar with the matter. Manafort's lawyer wrote a strongly worded letter to the special counsel's office saying the material was privileged, and the binder was ultimately returned.

Returned after it was examined by Mueller's people, which is undoubtedly happening with Cohen's files. Someone will be designated to examine them, determine what is privileged, and return them. But you can't unread a document. Someone on Mueller's team will know what he shouldn't know, information that was illegally obtained.

Confronted by the actions of the Mueller mafia, top-heavy with Democratic donors and Clinton operatives, some GOP lawmakers are actually working with Democrats to protect Mueller from a firing that even if politically impossible is legally justified:

Following the FBI's shocking raid Monday at the home, office, and hotel room of President Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, Republican lawmakers are rallying behind the still-unjustified investigation into whether Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. (Like just about everything else the probe has produced so far, the Cohen matter appears unrelated to anything Russian.) Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will partner with Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to introduce legislation that would protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller if Trump fires him. The bill would give Mueller a 10-day window to "seek expedited judicial review of a firing." ... NeverTrumpers, who fantasize about Mueller hauling the president out of the White House in handcuffs, have formed yet another group to solidify congressional support for the special counsel. On Wednesday, "Republicans for the Rule of Law" aired an ad during "Fox and Friends"  Trump's must-watch morning program  that touted Mueller's credentials and urged viewers to call their representatives to demand they "protect the Mueller investigation." Republicans for the Rule of Law is led by Bill Kristol, editor-at-large of The Weekly Standard, and NeverTrump's de facto leader.

The prospect of Lindsey Graham uniting with Cory Booker to protect the Mueller witch hunt into Team Trump is mind-numbing enough, but the widespread ignoring of Mueller's questionable track record takes us into a parallel universe of injustice.

Consider the anthrax case, which James Comey and Robert Mueller bungled together as they hounded the innocent, ignored the guilty, and ended up with one of the most colossal legal failures of all time, complete with human collateral damage:

Comey and Mueller badly bungled the biggest case they ever handled. They botched the investigation of the 2001 anthrax letter attacks that took five lives and infected 17 other people, shut down the U.S. Capitol and Washington's mail system, solidified the Bush administration's antipathy for Iraq, and eventually, when the facts finally came out, made the FBI look feckless, incompetent, and easily manipulated by outside political pressure[.] ... Despite the jihadist slogans accompanying the mailed anthrax, it had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein or any foreign element; the FBI ignored a 2002 tip from a scientific colleague of the actual anthrax killer, who turned out to be a Fort Detrick scientist named Bruce Edwards Ivins; the reason is that they had quickly obsessed on an innocent man named Steven Hatfill; the bureau was bullied into focusing on the government scientist by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy (whose office, along with that of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, was targeted by an anthrax-laced letter) and was duped into focusing on Hatfill by two sources  a conspiracy-minded college professor with a political agenda who'd never met Hatfill and by Nicholas Kristof, who put his conspiracy theories in the paper while mocking the FBI for not arresting Hatfill[.] ... In 2008, after Ivins committed suicide as he was about to be apprehended for his crimes, and the Justice Department had formally exonerated Hatfill  and paid him $5.82 million in a legal settlement  Mueller could not be bothered to walk across the street to attend the press conference announcing the case's resolution. When reporters did ask him about it, Mueller was graceless. "I do not apologize for any aspect of the investigation," he said, adding that it would be erroneous "to say there were mistakes."

Then there's Mueller's handling of the Whitey Bulger case, in which Mueller let four innocent men rot in jail in order to protect Bulger's role as an FBI informant, something that has outraged the likes of Professor Alan Dershowitz:

Sunday on New York AM 970 radio's "The Cats Roundtable," Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz ripped special counsel Robert Mueller, calling him "a zealot." "I think Mueller is a zealot," Dershowitz told host John Catsimatidis. "I don't think he's partisan. I don't think he cares whether he hurts Democrats or Republicans, but he's a [non]-partisan and a zealot. Look, he's the guy who kept four innocent people in prison for many years in order to protect the cover of Whitey Bulger as an FBI informer[.] ... Those of us in Boston don't have such a high regard for Mueller because we remember this story. The government had to pay out tens of millions of dollars because Whitey Bulger, a notorious mass murderer, became a government informer against the mafia." "[T]hese four people  two of them died in jail, and two of them spent long, long periods of time in jail. And that's regarded in Boston as one of the great scandals of modern judicial history. And Mueller was right at the center of it," he recalled.

As investigative journalist Sara Carter notes, Mueller was not above punishing the innocent and withholding exculpatory evidence to achieve his ends, which in his view justified any means:

Journalist Kevin Cullen wrote extensively about the FBI's involvement with Bulger and raised concerns about the old case in a 2011 article in Boston.com after Obama asked Congress to make an exception to allow Mueller to stay on two extra years beyond the mandated 10-year limit as FBI director. Cullen said in his story that Mueller who was first an assistant US attorney, "then as the acting US attorney in Boston" had written "letters to the parole and pardons board throughout the 1980s opposing clemency for the four men framed by FBI lies[.] ... In 2001, those four men, who were convicted in 1965 of Teddy Deegan's murder were exonerated by the courts. It was discovered that the FBI withheld evidence from the court to protect their informant that would have cleared the men, according to reports.

Mueller's record of thuggery; dishonesty; and, yes, criminality under the cover of law shows a record that warrants exposure, not defense, and prosecution, not protection. The only thing that can be said about his persecution of Donald Trump is that it is consistent with his less than stellar past, which resembles more the actions of a mob boss than a seeker of truth and justice.

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.In seeking and executing a warrant to search the offices and home of Michael Cohen, President Trump's longtime personal attorney, leftists have abandoned all pretense that they are not prosecuting civil war against Americans who disagree with them. They have decided that we represent an existential threat to the America they envision would exist under their tutelage. They won't let us mind our own business, raise our children, protect our families, be productive citizens, and be left alone. That won't do  they have plans for us. They want this war, and they will force this fight upon us.

In the scheme of things, America is a young country. Yet its brief history is replete with people who underestimated Americans. Progressives are in the process of doing that today. It is a mistake that will cost them dearly.

To succeed in fundamentally transforming the United States of America, the left must accomplish two things:

Impeach President Donald Trump.

Disarm Americans.

The left, in a national fit of pique, refuses to accept the fact that a majority of the country rejects its "new America," as personified by its hero and god, Barack Obama. He started the transmogrification, which leftists had planned to extend and codify during the reign of Hillary Clinton. Then Donald Trump came along, and their plan fell apart, hence the necessity for the usurpation of the nation's constitution and the will of the people.

They tried to kill his candidacy with the Steele dossier. This flagrantly false and stupendously salacious piece of opposition research was paid for (breaking campaign finance law to do so) by Hillary Clinton's minions and used (also illegally) by Obama administration apparatchiks to inveigle surveillance warrants from the FISA court to inaugurate continuous surveillance on a low-level Trump campaign official.

Going forward, for the progressive left, the purpose of the dossier, which reads like bad fiction, was to cripple the nascent Trump presidency.

It wasn't sufficient, however, leading to the machinations of James Comey, the 6'8" Hillary Clinton "mini-me," in illegally leaking government documents in order to engineer the appointment of his good friend and mentor as special counsel to conduct a counterintelligence investigation into Russian election interference and, of course, lengthen his 15 minutes to lucratively monetize his story for the book deal. Do you notice how leftists, despite being anti-capitalist, always seem to find a way to make money (see Hill and Bill and America's uranium)? The Mueller probe was later expanded in ex post facto fashion to include criminal investigation into tertiary figures: Manafort, Gates, van der Zwaan, et al.

The search of Cohen's law offices and home under the aegis of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, using a warrant attained through information provided by the Mueller investigation, merely demonstrates how progressives will be constrained by neither the law nor probity in their pursuit of what they want  and what they want is the thorough abrogation of this presidency.

Certainly, there will be privileged attorney-client documents involving the president swept up in the search. To protect the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege, the FBI is appointing a "taint team" to decide what is protected and what is not. Yet Alan Dershowitz is correct in saying that the mere seizing of privileged communications probably wrecks any criminal prosecution that might arise.

But then this entire charade, the Steele dossier, Mueller, the search of Cohen's office and the seizure of privileged material, as well as every other flight of fancy employed by the Democrats and their media lapdogs, has never been about criminal charges. It's about impeachment, and you don't need a crime to impeach. You need only the impression of wrongdoing.

Impeachment is a political process for removing the president. All that is required is a majority in the House of Representatives to vote for the articles of impeachment to start proceedings, and Congress gets to define what is meant by "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Many predict that in the upcoming November elections, the Democrats will win a congressional majority, and impeachment will proceed accordingly.

Therefore, since all privileged information is worthless to prosecutors, whatever is scooped up in the search that can in any way be deemed unflattering to Trump will be leaked instead. Since the documents will never publicly be released, leaked information can be portrayed as whatever they want it to be. The material gathered will provide additional avenues of investigation as well. While any evidence is probably also not usable in a criminal prosecution, it can be leaked to help build the impression of illegal action. It doesn't matter that it will be next to impossible to get two thirds of the Senate to vote for impeachment; by the time the dust has settled, the Trump presidency will be ruined  if Americans allow it.

The signs are there that Americans are going to fight this. There is a real possibility of blood in the streets. Regular Americans are tired of the Democrat elite telling them what they must accept.

Leftists feel that they are right: America shouldn't have a choice. In effect, people should not be allowed to vote for anyone leftists do not approve of, and they certainly do not approve of Donald Trump. And since they are on the side of what is right and just, anything they do, no matter how illegal, how immoral, how outwardly and obviously unfair and biased, is justified because the arc of history bends toward justice...or some such nonsense.

Everything they do is geared to unseat this president and nullify the rule of law, but before they can do this, they must disarm and demoralize the part of this nation that disagrees with them, the millions who do not believe they are racists, or clingers, or selfish because they want to protect their jobs and their families  those who believe that the Second Amendment affords them that right.

Make no mistake: the left, as embodied by the coastal elites; Hollywood; the media; and of course the king of them all, Barack Obama, he of the "bitter clingers," "you didn't build that," and "at some point you've made enough money," is prosecuting war against the very idea of America and the Americans who staunchly believe in it.

One can't help but wonder at the stupidity of the left. It's likely true that were there no guns in America, there would be fewer gun deaths. Yet fully mobilizing the armed forces, the National Guard, and all law enforcement in America and going door to door to seize every weapon extant in the nation today would not rid the nation of guns.

There are an estimated 300 million firearms existing in America today. And I wager that that figure is low. I would also wager that most armed citizenry would be loath to voluntarily give up their guns  as well as being even more resistant to giving them up under duress.

So there you have it: the left wants to wage war against the most heavily armed populace ever to exist on this planet, and as weapons, leftists are going to use rhetoric and clever metaphors, mellifluously delivered, a la Barry the brilliant. When Charlton Heston said, "They can have my gun when they pry it from my cold dead hands," it wasn't a threat; it was a promise.

It strains credulity that they are using every trick in the book, from opposition research in the form of the Steele dossier to Sally Yates, Bruce Ohr, Andrew McCabe, Strzok, Page, and probably Barack Obama himself, conspiring to sabotage the candidacy and later the presidency of Donald Trump, and they think there will not be a fight from a well armed populace?

This will not end well, and the blood will be on their hands.America's position as the world's innovation leader is in peril. A decade of bad public policy combined with a judiciary that fundamentally misunderstands the importance of intellectual property protection has driven this downward spiral. Fortunately, recent moves in Congress and a change in administration are sending signals that we have a chance to turn the tide.

We are ceding important ground to other nations like Germany, England, and even China, and we are doing so voluntarily. Indeed, the current innovation crisis is a problem of our own creation. Instead of supporting American inventors and strengthening intellectual property rights, in recent years, some in Congress had continued to push for more policy changes that would further discourage innovation and domestic investment. This disturbing trend must be reversed.

Why should this be considered a crisis? In 2018, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) released its International I.P. index. Regarding patent system strength, the GIPC ranked the United States 12th globally. This is down from 10th last year and 1st in every edition prior to that. This isn't surprising if you consider that our patent system has been under direct attack by legislators, judges, and foreign nations for years. This, in and of itself, should alarm policymakers in D.C.

The decline of our patent system's strength, however, is not inevitable. During the Reagan presidency, we faced a similar situation. Japan was thought to be the leading threat to America's global innovation leadership. Today, that threat comes from China and South Korea. The Reagan administration  through a commission on industrial competitiveness  took steps to turn this around by making significant changes to strengthen patent protections (along with property rights protections), reduce regulatory barriers, and enhance rules-based foreign trading.

It's time for us to take steps to protect American innovation again. Fortunately, some members of Congress have begun to take action. Recently, my fellow Ohioan Rep. Steve Stivers (R) joined with Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and other members on both sides of the aisle to introduce the STRONGER Patents Act  which seeks to strengthen America's weakened patent system and restore our leadership in global innovation.

The legislation, which joins a Senate version sponsored by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), would "restore patents as property rights, make standards of protections in courts uniform, and protect start-ups from being out-resourced by technology incumbents." These bills would reform the out-of-control Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which has become known as a "patent death squad" by experts and would strengthen the ability of patent-holders to protect their innovations.

The STRONGER Patents Act reflects an understanding of the unique challenges inventors face and fully appreciates the important role strong patent protections have in our innovation economy. The barriers American innovators face in maintaining global competitiveness are real but not insurmountable if Congress and the Trump administration take action. STRONGER addresses the erosion of fundamental property rights by Congress and the courts in recent years and helps swing the pendulum back toward American innovators.

In addition to the congressional moves, President Trump recognizes better than anyone that the future of American leadership depends on staying ahead of both our friends and our foes. On trade policy, Trump has challenged conventional wisdom and put China on notice that intellectual property theft will be met with American strength and resolve.

In a positive sign, President Trump's newly confirmed director of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), Andrei Iancu, seems to understand that America's patent system is in decline and that the PTO can be a force in reversing this trend. At a recent address to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Patent Policy Conference, Director Iancu said, "As a nation, we cannot continue down the same path if we want to maintain our global economic leadership. And we will not continue down the same path. This administration has a mission to create sustained economic growth, and innovation and I.P. protection are key goals in support of that mission."

Our innovation slide can be turned around. Making pro-I.P. policy a priority would send a signal to the world that we are not going to willingly give up our historic competitive innovation advantage.

If we fail to address the nation's slide regarding I.P. protections, there will be consequences. We're already seeing inventors trying to obtain patents in countries who have strong patent protection regimes that include injunctive relief for patent-holders. And venture capitalists are moving their investment to inventors holding patents in countries who have strong patents. The message? Strong patents spur research, development, innovation, and investment.

If we continue on the path that the administration and members of Congress supporting STRONGER are beginning to chart, we can be assured that the United States will once again be the best place to innovate.

Ken Blackwell is a member of the policy board of the American Civil Rights Union. He served as a domestic policy adviser to the Trump-Pence Presidential Transitional Team.

Image: Patents Wall Art via Flickr.As the war drums were being beaten for an attack on Syria in response to its apparent use of chlorine gas, I shared some of the fears of such critics as Tucker Carlson and Michael Savage  that we were being led into a possible war that could end up a quagmire. My greatest reservation was the possibility of toppling Assad and reaping another Libya or Iraq, with even worse enemies taking control. And for all the brutality of the Assad regime, it has prevented wholesale religious massacres in a multi-religion state.

But so far, the strike on three targets in Syria appears to have been not too much, not too little, but just right to deliver the necessary message.

Here is the official Pentagon map of the targets:

And just what is that message, you may reasonably wonder? Actually, it includes, but far exceeds, what the Pentagon is saying in a news conference as I write and what other official spokesmen will admit to.

The first message is that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated. The huge "red line" blunder of Obama has been corrected again. This is more than a do-gooder concern for humanity, even though that is what is being said, for the most part. If these weapons are used and not punished, they will used again and again. Not only can terrorists gain access by capturing them in Syria, but chlorine is not that hard to fabricate. A poison gas attack on Israel or the United States is not out of the question.

But there are other messages being delivered. The second one is to Russia.

It is obvious that the timing of the attack enabled Russia to pull its naval fleet from the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has its sole overseas naval base. The message was that the U.S. does not want war and will not knowingly attack Russia unless we are attacked by it. But Russian allies and puppets get no such protection. According to the news conference underway now, Russia was given no special warning of last night's attack. But Russia could read the tea leaves. And now we know how quickly Russia can evacuate its naval (and other) facilities, and no doubt have learned a lot of other precious data from our electronic and satellite monitoring of the Russians' responses to a pending attack.

The third message is to Kim Jong-un and the mullahs of Tehran: that vaunted Russian air defense capability you have purchased for precious hard currency isn't going to do you any good. The B-1 bombers that carried out part of the mission were not even detected, or if they were, the attacks on them were ineffective.

The pending summit between the POTUS and Kim Jong-un probably is of even greater importance than Assad's chemical weapons folly. And Kim now knows that President Trump can and will use American weaponry to destroy what he wishes to destroy, and Russia is powerless to prevent it.

Of course, in war, the enemy has a say, so matters still could turn south. But so far, the needle has been threaded, and the worst fears of critics are unrealized.Everyone who has not seen it should watch this brief interview with David Keyes on Sky News. Keyes is Netanyahu's spokesman for foreign media.

Hamas has vowed to bring about the destruction of Israel since 2007. On April 6, thousands of Gazan Palestinians marched to the border with burning tires, Molotov cocktails, rocks, guns, etc. in their predictable fashion, seeking both martyrdom and to kill Israelis. They put their women and children up front; the more women and children killed by Israelis, the better for their ridiculous cause: their "right of return," which as David Keyes points out, is a euphemism for the destruction of Israel. They are vowing to repeat their demonstrations every Friday until "Nakba Day," the Palestinian term for the celebration of Israel's founding. This year is the fiftieth year of the Jewish homeland's statehood. As usual, the families of the dead and injured are paid handsomely for their part in the violence against the hated Israelis: $3,000 if killed, $500 for those injured.

Certain powers that be around the world blame Israel for the violence that thrills and emboldens the Gazans. Here in the U.S., Bernie Sanders called Israel's self-defense "tragic." He said, "It is the right of all people to protest for a better future without a violent response." Sanders does not address the extraordinary violence perpetrated by the Palestinian protesters. Now "proportionality" is suddenly important. If Palestinians are killed, world opinion dictates that an equal number of Israelis should die as well!

Watch the video. David Keyes does a fine job of responding to the obtuse, amoral Sky News reporter. When will the world be rid of this monstrous hatred?Whenever the United States embarks on a military intervention in or an action involving a foreign land, I try to get some information directly from the foreign source[i]. After a bit of searching on the internet, one can dial in to official state-run television stations from around the world.



Screen shot of Syria TV live April 14, 2018, approx. 8 A.M. Damascus time.

On Friday evening, after the targeted attacks in Syria by U.S., U.K., and French missiles, I located official state-run or state-sanctioned Syria TV in Damascus online. The internet address suggests that it is government-affiliated since it is ortas.gov.sy, with "sy" being the Top Level Domain country code for Syria and "gov" in the address clearly indicating it's an official source. The "English" tab was not working, but I was able to stream the channel's live Arabic-language TV feed from Damascus.

The scene for a half-hour or more involved two men dressed in Western business suits  one, presumably the host, with another on set, presumably the expert, who did almost all of the talking, discussing the Allied attacks that had just occurred. On either side of the frame were what appeared to be live shots of an intersection in Damascus after sunrise Saturday, with heavy traffic moving normally and another shot of the city skyline, suggesting that it was just another typical day in the capital city. The authenticity of the live shots, needless to say, could not be confirmed.

Also at the channel's website were some new political cartoons, and after a search, I discovered a whole page of them. The captions for each one, in Arabic, are on the side of the cartoons and can be translated online.

The cartoon at the top, and probably the most memorable one, was a caricature of President Donald Trump. The caption via Google's translation service translates as "Terrorism ... To the dustbin of history." "Brush artist Nidal_Khalil."



Source: http://ortas.gov.sy.

The cartoons, which largely transcend language barriers, offer direct and telling insights into the official propaganda being issued in a hot spot on the other side of the world.

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.This article in the New Yorker by Dan Piepenbring would make an excellent parody of the incredible provincialism and insularity of the east-coast elites  it if weren't absolutely dead serious.

The author is disturbed by the arrival of Chick-fil-A restaurants in New York City because the corporation espouses "pervasive Christian traditionalism," describing the chain's arrival in Manhattan as an "infiltration."

It gets worse:

Its headquarters, in Atlanta, is adorned with Bible verses and a statue of Jesus washing a disciple's feet. Its stores close on Sundays. Its C.E.O., Dan Cathy, has been accused of bigotry for using the company's charitable wing to fund anti-gay causes, including groups that oppose same-sex marriage. "We're inviting God's judgment on our nation," he once said, "when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.'" The company has since reaffirmed its intention to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect," but it has quietly continued to donate to anti-L.G.B.T. groups. When the first stand-alone New York location opened, in 2015, a throng of protesters appeared. When a location opened in a Queens mall, in 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a boycott. No such controversy greeted the opening of this newest outpost. Chick-fil-A's success here is a marketing coup. Its expansion raises questions about what we expect from our fast food, and to what extent a corporation can join a community.

No doubt many secularists are uncomfortable with the kind of open expressions of faith that Chick-fil-A and other Christian companies have decided to embrace. But the author speaks of these Christian values as something alien or unnatural. Even in New York, there are perhaps millions of Christians who are not perturbed by open declarations of faith.

Worldwide, there are about two billion Christians. Just who is espousing alien or unnatural values?

Of particular concern to the author are Chick-fil-A's ubiquitous cows, who amusingly sport signs in ads saying "Eat mor chikin." The hidden message in the cows, according to the author, is downright evil.

Since their introduction in the mid-nineties  when they began advising Atlanta motorists to "eat mor chikin"  they've remained one of the most popular, and most morbid, advertising campaigns in fast-food history, crucial to Chick-fil-A's corporate culture. S. Truett Cathy, the chain's founder and Dan Cathy's late father, saw them as a tool to spread the gospel of chicken.

The "gospel of chicken"? Yikes.

It's worth asking why Americans fell in love with an ad in which one farm animal begs us to kill another in its place. Most restaurants take pains to distance themselves from the brutalities of the slaughterhouse; Chick-fil-A invites us to go along with the Cows' Schadenfreude. In the portraits at the Fulton Street restaurant, the Cows visit various New York landmarks. They're in Central Park, where "eat mor chikin" has been mowed into the lawn. They're glimpsing the Manhattan Bridge from Dumbo, where they've modified a stop sign: "stop eatin burgrz." They're on the subway, where the advertisements ... you get the picture. The joke is that the Cows are out of place in New York  a winking acknowledgment that Chick-fil-A, too, does not quite belong here.

Not quite belong? The article mentions that Chick-fil-A sells a sandwich every six seconds in Manhattan. Just who is it who doesn't "belong"?

Senator Ted Cruz was roundly and severely criticized during the presidential campaign for citing "New York values" compared to traditional values. This article perfectly captures the mixture of haughtiness, arrogance, cynicism, and a provincial outlook on the rest of us living in flyover country that encapsulate "New York values."

The fear of the author is palpable. Those who have no faith in anything generally fear those who do. But in rejecting the traditional, normal values espoused by Chick-fil-A, the author rejects the values of most of the citizens from the city he lives in.

That is the supreme irony of it all.Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has endorsed his right hand man, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, as his replacement.

McCarthy made a bid for the speakership in 2015 but fell short of the necessary votes. The GOP caucus then turned to Ryan.

Politico:

The Wisconsin Republican told NBC's Chuck Todd that "we all think that Kevin is the right person" and predicted a "seamless transition." He said McCarthy, who failed to garner the votes in his 2015 speaker bid, would be able to muster the needed support this time because he's been instrumental in passing GOP priorities over the past year. "What's changed is we have gotten a lot done. What's changed is we came together as a team in 2015. We put together an agenda. We ran on that agenda. We won the election. We are executing that agenda. We are getting it done," Ryan said. "So what's changed is this leadership team has come together and gelled, this conference has been unified, and we've actually moved the ball and gotten things done." Ryan's endorsement may not matter much in the long run; McCarthy's bigger problem is at the far-right end of the conference. Conservatives blocked McCarthy from the post last time around and are already signaling that they'll be willing to do the same unless he cuts a deal and empowers the group. House Freedom Caucus founder Jim Jordan declared that he was considering his own speakership bid on Friday morning, all but ensuring that McCarthy would not have the votes if the election were held today. Ryan also said he still intended to serve out his term as speaker, arguing that a leadership race now would be a "needless distraction" from trying to keep the House GOP majority.

McCarthy's main rival at the moment is Majority Whip Steve Scalise. But Jordan's expected bid for speaker will almost certainly mean a deadlock in the voting.

Much will depend on whether the Republicans hold the House in November. If they do, expect Scalise to fall in line and endorse McCarthy. But if the GOP loses the House, all bets are off. It is probable that many establishment Republicans will lose their seats, leaving the caucus more conservative and less likely to vote for someone like McCarthy, who is known for working with Democrats occasionally.

But the Freedom Caucus and Jim Jordan do not have near enough votes to elect one of their members speaker. In the case of a deadlock, another candidate may emerge as a compromise. There are several members who might step forward, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who gets high marks from many colleagues.

A loss in November will turn the leadership battle into a war for the soul of the Republican Party. In that case, the already factionalized caucus would become even more divided, giving Democrats a clean shot at impeaching Trump and blocking his agenda.Just as James Comey was building a head of steam for his publicity campaign to earn millions of dollars from his new book and speaking tour, the DOJ inspector general released a detailed 35-page report on the "lack of candor" by former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe that led to McCabe's firing. The New York Times describes the report as "scathing."

The inspector general report was unsparing in its assessment of Mr. McCabe. The review accused Mr. McCabe of lacking candor when he spoke to Mr. Comey shortly after the October 2016 article was published, when he spoke with F.B.I. investigators and then in two conversations with investigators for the inspector general. Lack of candor, or knowingly providing false information, is a fireable offense at the F.B.I. The inspector general said that when investigators asked whether Mr. McCabe had instructed a pair of aides to provide information in October 2016 to Devlin Barrett, then a Wall Street Journal reporter, Mr. McCabe said he did not authorize the disclosure and did not know who did. Mr. McCabe subsequently said he approved the F.B.I.'s contact with the reporter, according to the review.

The I.G. charges that McCabe authorized the leak in order to burnish his own image, not to serve the interests of the FBI, which could have been a justification for a leak. This is the Wall Street Journal article based on the leak from McCabe that painted the FBI as diligent in its pursuit of an investigation of the Clinton Foundation.

Mr. McCabe then instructed the email investigators to talk to the Weiner investigators and see whether the laptop's contents could be relevant to the Clinton email probe, these people said. After the investigators spoke, the agents agreed it was potentially relevant.

Two paragraphs later:

New details show that senior law-enforcement officials repeatedly voiced skepticism of the strength of the evidence in a bureau investigation of the Clinton Foundation, sought to condense what was at times a sprawling cross-country effort, and, according to some people familiar with the matter, told agents to limit their pursuit of the case. The probe of the foundation began more than a year ago to determine whether financial crimes or influence peddling occurred related to the charity. Some investigators grew frustrated, viewing FBI leadership as uninterested in probing the charity, these people said. Others involved disagreed sharply, defending FBI bosses and saying Mr. McCabe in particular was caught between an increasingly acrimonious fight for control between the Justice Department and FBI agents pursuing the Clinton Foundation case. It isn't unusual for field agents to favor a more aggressive approach than supervisors and prosecutors think is merited. But the internal debates about the Clinton Foundation show the high stakes when such disagreements occur surrounding someone who is running for president.

Buried in the report is new information that a senior DOJ official was trying to shut down investigation of the Clinton Foundation.

Breaking: DOJ IG report presents new evidence Obama DOJ sought to shut down FBI investigation of Clinton Foundation. Top Obama DOJ official "expressed concerns about FBI agents taking overt steps in the CF [Clinton Foundation] Investigation during the presidential campaign." https://t.co/WIECL5s6pj  Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) April 13, 2018

Cristina Laila on Gateway Pundit cites the text on page 5 of the I.G. report that speaks to the effort to cool down the inquiry (emphasis Laila's):

McCabe-PADAG Call on the CF [Clinton Foundation] Investigation (August 12) McCabe told the OIG that on August 12, 2016, he received a telephone call from PADAG [Principle Associate Deputy Attorney General] regarding the FBI's handling of the CF Investigation (the "PADAG call"). McCabe said that PADAG expressed concerns about FBI agents taking overt steps in the CF Investigation during the presidential campaign. According to McCabe, he pushed back, asking "are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation?" McCabe told us that the conversation was "very dramatic" and he never had a similar confrontation like the PADAG call with a high level Department official in his entire FBI career.

There are other tidbits in the report that do not reflect glory on McCabe:

On page 11 of DOJ IG report, we learn that McCabe scolded two FBI officials for leaks in an October 30 WSJ story. McCabe was responsible for leaks in the same story.  Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) April 13, 2018

An interesting footnote here about McCabe's conversations about the OIG investigation with James Baker, the FBI general counsel who was abruptly reassigned last December. Why was McCabe discussing an ongoing investigation with a witness? pic.twitter.com/PLeqjNnXvJ  Sean Davis (@seanmdav) April 13, 2018

Meanwhile, now that McCabe has been convincingly revealed as a liar, the question raised by Steriff of RedState is highly relevant:The level of partisan dishonesty that led to a wrongful conviction of Lewis "Scooter" Libby for lying to an independent counsel investigator probing the alleged leak of Valerie Plame's status as a CIA desk jockey lives on. A shocking level of misinformation is being broadcast by purportedly reputable sources like the New York Daily News and Jake Tapper of CNN. More on that below, but first, consider the malpractice that led to Libby's wrongful conviction in the first place.

The best single source of information on the railroading of Libby is the work of Clarice Feldman here on American Thinker. Based on her extraordinary work here, the Weekly Standard asked her to write up a comprehensive view, which she did in 2006. Her lengthy article, "The case of the missing crime," is essential background reading to understand the magnitude of the injustice that befell Libby. The entire operation of the investigation under Independent Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald (who was appointed by none other than his close friend, James Comey!) rapidly became a witch hunt to get something on Vice President Cheney that could drive him from office. The parallels to today's investigation by Robert Mueller are painfully obvious.

Fitzgerald quickly discovered that the leaker was Richard Armitage, an aide to secretary of state Colin Powell, yet continued the investigation and sprang a phony perjury trap on Libby, under which he obtained a conviction, destroying the career and personal finances of a brilliant and dedicated public servant. The testimony of then-N.Y. Times reporter Judith Miller upon which Libby was convicted was later recanted, as Miller claimed in a book:

... that she now believes that she was induced by then-Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to give false testimony in the 2007 trial of I. "Lewis" Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Miller revealed that exculpatory evidence was withheld from her and that her testimony would have been different had she known the information available to Fitzgerald at the time.

Recall that the impetus for the investigation was based on the false premise that by revealing Plame's name, a covert CIA operative was placed in danger. This was untrue, as Plame was a desk jockey at CIA headquarters.

The misrepresentations continue today. The New York Daily News headlines: "Trump pardons Scooter Libby, Bush administration aide who leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity."

Here is a screen grab, in case the Daily News attempts to hide its misreporting:

The kindest thing to say about this headline is that it is recklessly ignorant. Libby was not the leaker. By the time he was interviewed, it was known to Fitzpatrick that the leaker was Armitage. Libby was never charged with being the leaker, either.

Jake Tapper also repeated the falsehood.

Calling @Comey a proven LEAKER & LIAR while youre about to pardon Scooter Libby, who leaked the identity of a covert CIA employee and was convicted for lying about it to the FBI  well, thats quite a thing.  Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 13, 2018

When called out on Twitter, Tapper shamefully tap-danced and obfuscated. Ace called him out on this, using colorful language (not for children).

I cannot forgive President George W. Bush's failure to fully pardon Libby, especially in the face of strong pressure from his vice president to do so. Instead, he commuted the sentence, sparing Libby a prison term but leaving his name and professional standing as a lawyer ruined. Over the years, as the perfidy of the case became clearer, Libby recovered some of his status. But only a full pardon would suffice to correct the wrong, and President Trump has delivered that justice. Of course, the financial losses are not restored, nor can the agony Libby experienced be undone.

Trump-haters are convinced (see, for example, this in the New York Times) that the motive was to signal to Michael Cohen and others that pardons await if they are stand-up guys.

Because I believe that President Trump likes to kill two or three or four birds with one stone, I would not deny that this might be another goal of the pardon. But because as an editor and writer I lived through the horrific injustice of the treatment of Libby, I cannot ignore the fundamentals of the matter: a man wrongfully destroyed financially, reputationally, and professionally has been finally done the minimal justice to which he is entitled.As the late, great William F. Buckley once noted, communism is the greatest curse mankind has ever known. Now a study confirms it.

According to the New York Post, reprinting an item that ran in the Sun of the U.K.:

Living under communism makes countries poorer and less healthy for decades, according to a landmark new study. Researchers testing historical connections between cultures found that whether a country had been under communism was the biggest factor for those with lower health, income and educational levels. In the first undertaking of its kind, they analyzed the fortunes of 44 countries across Europe and Asia and looked at geography, religion, systems of government and a more intangible quality called "deep cultural ancestry."

Obviously, communism not only kills like a disease while it's in operation, but continues to kill after it's eventually shaken off. And no nation not afflicted with it suffers the same lingering side-effects  only the nations that have endured it do. It's like a debilitating disease that ravages so badly that its effects never go away.

The left has yet to come to terms with communism and the lingering terrible after-effects of communism once it's shaken off.

It's really amazing as a study result. The broad pattern of world development has been of countries generally getting richer and richer, but there is one exception: countries that have had exposure to communism.

One reason, and it's an important one, is, as Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.com accurately observes, communism's breakdown of human trust. As the state takes all power and neighbor spies on neighbor in the service of the state, the mitochondria that hold the society together  trust in one's neighbor, in one's street safety, or the guy you are buying arugula from  fall apart, affecting the whole society, leaving only weakness. Any questions as to why Aleksander I. Solzhenitsyn compares communism to cancer?

He also called it anti-human, and the results of this study, conducted by three scholars publishing in the tony Royal Society Open Science, support that.

And yet, incredibly, Millennials with no memory of communism and what it does to people, indoctrinated by rabid leftists in schools, hold this enfeebling political system in high regard. Politicians such as socialist Bernie Sanders promote it, calling the state a panacea, completely failing to read history and admit the truth. Sanders should have repudiated communism long ago, well before he took his honeymoon in Soviet Moscow and praised the Castroites of Cuba and the Chavistas of Venezuela. But he hasn't. A virus remains, still quite possible to pick up and debilitate like cancer or Ebola, with permanent horrible results no one talks about.The Moroccan royal air force will withdraw its F16 fighter jets taking part in the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis in Yemen as the Moroccan army is placed on high alert following the recent tensions with the Algerian-backed Polisario separatists in the north-west of the Sahara territory, Ledesk.com said.

Citing sources from the royal air force, the website said that the retreat of Moroccan F16 jets is not a pullout from the coalition but rather a move to strengthen the Moroccan military capabilities.

Morocco has warned that it will undertake a military response if the Polisario separatists set up any permanent structure or facility in the Sahara territory east of the Moroccan-built security wall.

The polisario, in a blatant violation of the UN-brokered ceasefire agreement, has announced that it will set up a capital in Bir Lahlou, east of the berm in a new maneuver that will alter the buffer zone status. Morocco made it clear that it will not let such a change of the status of the buffer zone and will have to intervene.

Moroccan media are awash with analyses and news of high alert among the ranks of the army and possible air strikes against the Polisario militiamen if they breach the ceasefire.

Hence, a possible repatriation of Moroccos F16 fighter jets is expected amid a context of mobilization.

Moroccos F16 fighter jets are bolstered with the acquisition of advanced medium range air-to-air AMRAAM missiles enabling operational flexibility in a wide variety of combat scenarios, including air-to-air and ground-to-air engagement.

In December 2009, Morocco placed a $841.9 million contract with Lockheed Martins Aeronautics to purchase 18 single-seat F-16Cs and six two-seat F-16Ds, as part of a program to upgrade its armed forces.Android P will offer navigation gestures reminiscent of those Apple implemented into the iPhone X as an alternative to traditional system keys, according to 9to5Google Managing Editor Stephen Hall. The first hint of the feature was provided by Google itself, with the company sharing the image seen below on Friday as part of a blog post explaining why Android P comes with native support for DNS over TLS. The on-screen system keys in the bottom nav bar look unlike anything seen on existing stock Android versions, being a combination of various button styles from different stages of the operating systems history. As first noted by Ars Technica Reviews Editor Ron Amadeo, the device from which the screenshot originates is running an Android P build but lacks a Recents key and has a hollow Back button similar to the one found on Nexus handsets.

The on-screen Home key also comes in pill-shaped form, with Hall stating both buttons disappear in certain situations, presumably when navigation gestures are supported. The claim is attributed to an anonymous source and indicates the previously unseen Home button in question may actually be a gesture marker like the one found on the iPhone X. Even if Google truly ends up implementing gesture support into Android P, such a functionality is likely to be entirely optional in nature. The company already confirmed the next major iteration of the worlds most popular OS will ship with native support for display notches, another smartphone characteristic popularized by Apple in recent times.

With Android P already boasting a new sliding animation used during in-app navigation, Google appears to at least be considering gesture support as part of its upcoming mobile OS upgrade. Android P is still in its first developer preview but should receive the second one no later than early May when the annual Google I/O conference takes place. The OS is scheduled to hit the stable channel in the third quarter of the year, as per the official Android P roadmap.The OPPO A3 leaked once again ahead of launch, having been prematurely listed on the website of China Telecom earlier today. While the product page in question ended up being removed in a relatively swift manner, its been live long enough for the user manual and some official product renders of the OPPO A3 to make their way to other parts of the World Wide Web. Identified by the model number PADM00, the smartphone in question appears to be a mid-ranger set to compete with a broad range of other value-oriented offerings released over the course of this year, with China Telecom citing its price tag at 1,999 yuan, i.e. just under $320.

The handset is equipped with a 6.2-inch screen, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal flash memory, as well as a microSD card slot allowing for up to 256GB of additional storage space, as per the newly leaked listing. Both the user manual and product renders seen in the gallery below confirm the OPPO A3 will feature a display notch housing its 8-megapixel camera, earpiece, and ambient light sensor, with the smartphone also featuring a single-lens rear sensor listed as being of the 16-megapixel variety. A 3.5mm headphone jack is part of the package, as is Android 8.1 Oreo with support for Googles Project Treble. The OPPO A3 boasts the mid-range MediaTek Helio P60 chip, while its screen has a resolution of 2,280 by 1,080 pixels which is highly unusual but also a result of its display notch. Discounting the cutout, the handset will sport a regular 18:9 (2:1) display panel.

The Chinese original equipment manufacturer is expected to announce the A3 by the end of the next month and will most likely be targeting it at its home country and possibly India. The smartphone has been listed with a 3,300mAh non-removable battery, beauty mode support, and 4G LTE compatibility. The entire package is 56  75.3  7.8mm in size, weights 159g, and will be available in Knight Black, Soybean Meal, Blue, Stardust Silver, and Pomegranate, according to the same source. OPPO still isnt making any plans to enter the U.S. market, a company official told AndroidHeadlines last month.In the wake of crackdowns on platforms that allow pirated media to be distributed, it seems as though Telegram may have been prematurely overlooked. Thats according to at least one recent report which suggests that Telegrams highly-lauded privacy features and its uploading and sharing capabilities, enable piracy to thrive. For those who may not already know, Telegram is an instant messaging that features end-to-end encryption and allows for files of all types to be shared. It also features channels for communicating with larger audiences, a bot platform to keep channel owners privacy intact, and unlimited file hosting up to 1.5GB per file. While the companys policies are actually directly anti-piracy, there doesnt seem to be much being done about the use of those enhancements to spread illegal media.

According to the source, as many as 13 channel owners speaking under conditions that they remain anonymous have confirmed as much. Not only do many of the channels in question openly share pirated books, movies, music, and applications. Many of those have a respectably large following  up to 100,000 members  and most can easily be found simply by searching for the content itself. The inherent anonymity and respective APIs built to enhance that, prevents anybody visiting the channel from obtaining any information about the owners of those channels. That includes members of those channels. Of course, the apparently lax attitude toward the distribution of illegal content has allegedly led to far more than just the sharing of media itself. In fact, some channels are allegedly going so far as to offer stolen log-in credentials for media streaming services. Still, others are said to be utilizing free offers in that same vein to garner trust and sell further content once trust has been gained.

For Telegrams part, the company has arguably been less than consistent in enforcing its anti-piracy policies. The company has taken actions to shut down a few channels but the bulk of those appear to have gone untouched. Spokespersons for Telegram have declined to comment on some of the shadier practices surrounding the sale of stolen credentials. Some have questioned the sincerity of Telegram founder Pavel Durovs commitment to addressing the problem. Durov has previously made statements that seem to suggest piracy is the least of his concerns for the platform. Historically, actions that have been taken by Telegram seem to have focused on violence, pornography, and other content which has been specifically called out. Durov has previously stated that his policy is to operate Telegram with whatever degree of openness will be tolerated by the platforms on which it can be found  such as the App Store or Google Play Store. In the meantime, Telegram continues to add new features which could be argued to encourage further abuses, such as direct video streaming. So it seems as though this may remain an ongoing problem for the foreseeable future.Amazon has discounted the Moto G5S Plus today, as part of its Gold Box Deal of the Day. So you can pick up an unlocked Moto G5S Plus today for just $219 for the 32GB model. Thats down from its regular price of $270, which makes this a great deal, and also brings it down to its all-time lowest price.

The Moto G5S Plus is a slightly higher-end version of the Moto G5 Plus, which includes a metal unibody, instead of a faux-metal build. It also 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage along with a micro SD card slot available for expanding said storage. The Moto G5S Plus also has a slightly larger display at 5.5-inches, although it is still a full HD model here. Theres also a 3000mAh battery inside that will keep it running all day long. The Moto G5S Plus is a great smartphone to pick up, since it is cheap, but offers some great specs and stock Android. Additionally, it also has a dual-camera setup, so you can get some great shots out of this smartphone  which is a great thing these days. The Moto G5S Plus is available unlocked and it will work with all four carriers in the US  that includes AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. So you can just slip your SIM card and be on your way.

This item is also eligible for Amazon Primes free shipping. Which includes free two-day shipping, and pretty cheap (usually $3.99) next-day shipping if you need it extra fast. If you are not an Amazon Prime member yet, you can sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime. Youll get 30 days free (if youre a student, you get 6 months), and then its $99/year (or $49/year for students). Prime members do get a whole lot more than just free shipping though, so be sure to check out the full benefits.Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings is up for re-election in his role of a Facebook director, the social media giant revealed in a Friday filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite the fact that Facebooks commitments to original programming are now placing it on course to eventually compete with Netflix on a large scale, Mr. Hastings is likely to spend at least one more year on the companys Board of Directors. During a Saturday TED conference held in Vancouver, Canada, Netflix chief said the $8 billion hes planning to invest in programming over the course of this year isnt as much as it sounds in the context of the entire industry which also includes juggernauts such as Disney.

Early last month, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down from Disneys board, having opted to not run for re-election at the companys annual shareholder meeting. Both described the move as a result of a growing conflict of interest that became difficult to avoid given how Facebook and Twitters programming investments turned them into more direct Disney rivals. Mr. Hastings apparently still believes he can balance his two roles, though many industry watchers are now predicting he, too, will have to step down from Facebooks board in the foreseeable future for similar reasons.

As part of the same Vancouver appearance, Netflixs CEO acknowledged some of the criticism Facebook has recently been enduring has been warranted, having reiterated Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandbergs claims about how the social media giant must strive to do better to protect user data and prevent large-scale misuse of its platform moving forward. The industry veteran also described Netflix as the anti-Apple, having explained how his firm doesnt compartmentalize departments and instead allows for a free flow of all information across its corporate structure, which is a model that Facebook itself is also following to a large degree.A new series of lawsuits brought on by PACid Technologies has been filed in Texas, asserting that Samsung violated at least three patents pertaining to data encryption. The encryption-related research firm claims that the tech giant infringed on patents pertaining to biometrics, Samsung PASS, and Samsung KNOX. The primary concern, however, seems to be Samsungs biometrics security features such as the fingerprint reader, face scanning, and iris scanning Samsung has included. According to the company, the encryption method used in those is a violation of its patents. Two of those patents had been filed in the U.S. and another had been filed in Samsungs home country of South Korea, according to the April 6 complaint.

Meanwhile, at least six of Samsungs devices over the past few years are named in that allegation  include each variation on the companys Galaxy S6, Galaxy S7, and Galaxy S8. PACid Technologies has alleged that it is entitled to a monetary award for damages adequate to compensate for the infringement or, at very least a reasonable royalty payment. Interestingly, the company has not proffered any alleged amounts for which it has lost out. That could be seen in a couple of ways. Opponents of the suit will likely point to that omission as a sign that this is a return to the patent wars that were once common in the mobile industry. PACid is likely to assert that it is difficult to determine total losses since no bargaining or discussion has been had about licensing. Reaching a determination about whether or not there actually has been any kind of violation would be an act of futility at this point.

Representatives for Samsung have not made any public comments on the lawsuit. The company is no stranger to these types of cases and will most likely hold off on issuing statements until the case is accepted by the court and moves forward. It wouldnt be unusual for the case to be dismissed or settled before ever going to trial. So, for now, everybody is just going to have to wait to see if the Texas Eastern District Court chooses to proceed with deliberations.Waymo seeks to expand its self-driving vehicle testing initiatives to California after the Alphabet-owned company applied for a permit with the states Department of Motor Vehicles to operate experimental driverless cars in the area. According to a new report from San Francisco Chronicle, which cites sources briefed on the companys plans, Waymo will begin the road tests in locations close to its Mountain View-based headquarters, where the autonomous car development firm plans to deploy vehicles with backup drivers to study the field first before using driverless cars.

The application comes more than a month after Californias DMV approved the public testing of fully autonomous vehicles in the state. The new regulation officially took effect on April 2 and companies seeking to test cars without drivers in California roads are required to secure a permit from the DMV. Prior to this new ruling, companies that seek to conduct self-driving trials must designate a human driver to ride on the experimental vehicle as part of a precautionary measure in case of an emergency. Under the new regulation, companies conducting autonomous driving testing must assign a technician to remotely monitor and control the driverless vehicle in the event of an impending accident or any untoward event. Thankfully for Waymo, the company has already put a remote driving system in place and is expected to be one of the companies to experiment with self-driving vehicles on public roads in California. Waymos application is reportedly one of two applications the DMV received since the implementation of the new ruling.

It was previously reported that Waymo kicked off testing of its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans in San Francisco early in January as part of its efforts to accelerate the delivery of viable self-driving vehicles. Googles self-driving spinoff also has already been entering into partnerships with several companies with the goal of allowing for the commercialization of its solutions on a large scale. Insurance is one of those goals. Last December, Waymo partnered with on-demand insurance technology startup, Trov, to offer insurance coverage to riders in the companys future self-driving cars. Trov will offer the coverage at no extra cost for passengers as part of a commercial ride-hailing service Waymo plans to launch next year in Phoenix, Arizona.Libyas warlord and chief of self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) Khaliaf Haftar has died in Paris after being whisked to a hospital of the French capital over a cerebral bleed caused by a heart attack, local media Libya Express reports.

Haftar, Field Marshal aligned with the countrys unpopular east-based administration and internationally recognized parliament, House of Representatives (HoR), was flown to Paris on Tuesday from Jordan for medical treatment, east-based officials confirmed, while his office dismissed the reports.

UN support mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has denied reports of Haftars death. UNSMIL head Ghassan Salame reportedly spoke with the Libyan warlord on Friday.

Libyan Observer, a media close to the Government of National Accord (GNA); Libyas UN-backed government, posted pictures of people celebrating in capital Tripoli Haftars death.

Haftar was admitted to Paris military hospital of Val De Grace for treatment of an alleged cerebral bleed following a stroke.

The death of the 75-year military commander is yet to be confirmed by Libyan officials.

Haftar was a former close military aid of Muammar Gaddafi; the countrys longtime strongman brought down in 2011 in NATO-backed revolution.

He fell out with Gaddafi in 1990s and moved to the US for several decades where he got an American citizenship. The army commander is said to be a CIA asset.Michael Beary, chef and owner of Zocalito Latin Bistro, holds a large black cod Wednesday in the Aspen business on the Hyman Avenue mall. He is relocating the establishment to Denver as the current space is to be demolished for redevelopment.Morocco has condemned the deterioration of the situation in the Middle East, and the military escalation in Syria, following Friday overnight airstrikes in the country.

The airstrikes were launched by the United States, with the support from France and the United Kingdom, and targeted installations connected to the countrys chemical weapons capabilities.

US President Donald Trump announced the airstrikes Friday, saying they were in response to last weeks suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma.

Morocco, which has always respected international law, can only condemn the use of chemical weapons, particularly against innocent civilian populations, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said in a statement made public Saturday.

Past experiences have taught us that military options, including air strikes  no matter how justified or proportionate they can be  only make it more difficult to find a political solution, deepen the suffering of civilian victims and heighten their anti-West sentiment, the statement said.

For Morocco, the timing chosen for this escalation, on the eve of major Arab events, and the absence of the usual appropriate consultations, may raise questions, fuel misunderstanding and indignation.

Morocco also warned against the double standards policy adopted in the management of international conflicts. In some cases, the military options come first, in other cases, respect of international legality prevails, facts that would only fan international tensions, the Foreign Ministry said.

Morocco reiterated that a solution to the Syrian crisis can only be political, and expressed hope that reason will prevail in order to reach a solution that is likely to preserve the national unity of this country and the dignity of the Syrian populations and to secure an effective fight against intolerance, extremism and terrorism, the statement added.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cautioned, at an emergency meeting on Syria convened Saturday, against the crisis in Syria spiraling out of control.

He urged the Security Council members, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the UN Charter and with international law in general.

The UN chief called on the 15 ambassadors to unite and exercise their collective role in maintaining international peace and security.

I urge all Member States to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people, he further stated.The fully functioning Boeing 727 parked on Sun n Funs Lakeland campus serves not only as a classroom, conference center and museum exhibit, but also as a safe environment to help individuals with disabilities familiarize themselves with the airline environment before travelling. Florida Air Museum personnel use the exhibits unique setup to allow people to experience the airline process beginning with entering the airport and continuing up through a full engine start. Jayme Jamison, Manager of Aerospace Discovery at the Florida Air Museum, told AVweb more about it in this podcast.

Officially called the Piedmont Aerospace Experience Exhibit, the aircraft was donated by FedEx and has been painted to resemble Piedmont Airlines Tampa Bay Pacemaker. The 727s classroom space is used to introduce students from the Central Florida Aerospace Academy (CFAA) and other local schools to aviation and airline flying. The classroom section is equipped with monitors connected with cameras positioned so students can observe what happens outside as aircraft systems are operated and in the cockpit as pilots (and students) run through checklists and get the engines started.

The plane was delivered in February 2013 and the exhibit opened in March 2016. With the help of donations, the aircraft spent those three years being transformed from decommissioned cargo carrier to showpiece and learning center. The Piedmont Aerospace Experience Exhibit is open for scheduled tours throughout the year.Palestinian protests continued for the third consecutive Friday along the IsraelGaza border, resulting in another 163 Palestinians injured.

The demonstrations began as a grass-roots movement around the March of the Return. But Hamas, seeking to distract from its own mismanagement, has since assumed a key organizational role, taking advantage of Palestinian suffering and Israeli militarism to renew attention on the conflict. For its part, Israel is determined to prevent massive breaches of the border fence, and its use of live fire has left 33 Palestinian dead and over 1,300 injured since the campaign began.

The bottom line: This flare-up has become the bloodiest since the 2014 war. With no diplomatic recourse in sight, it's likely to get even worse.

The campaign has been orchestrated to coincide with a number of meaningful anniversaries, including Israel Independence Day, Nakba day and the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in May. As protests continue, Palestinian funerals will generate new waves of justified anger, feeding Hamas' campaign for popular mobilization  a more effective tactic than their use of high-trajectory weapons or tunneling.

Israel has threatened strikes against Hamas positions in Gaza if the demonstrations continue. Confrontations have not yet spread in any serious way to the West Bank or Jerusalem  which would certainly presage a more serious crisis  but the possibility remains.

The big picture: The chances of resolving the political issues underlying the conflict are slim to none. Most likely Israelis and Palestinians will continue to operate in a space between on-and-off confrontation and largely futile efforts to promote a two-state solution, which remains at once too important to abandon and too difficult to implement.

Aaron David Miller is vice president for new initiatives and director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center.A new Google project called called "Talk to Books" provides answers to questions by drawing on a library of more than 100,000 books.

Tech pioneer and Google Research director of engineering Ray Kurzweil debuted the project at the TED conference in Vancouver, and explained that it differs from traditional search by relying on semantics rather than keywords.

Why it matters: Keyword search is great when you're hunting down a specific piece of information, but Google  and digital technology in general  still has a long way to go when it comes to connecting ideas and answering questions with complete thoughts.

The Talk to Books site explains, "When you type in a question or a statement, the model looks at every sentence in over 100,000 books to find the responses that would most likely come next in a conversation."

Kurzweil said that Google was releasing the tools used to build the experimental project as open source software.A vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill was delayed late Thursday night as leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue continue to hash out a deal on President Biden's larger reconciliation package.

Why it matters: Pelosi had promised centrist Democrats she would bring the Senate-passed measure to the floor today, and spent hours negotiating with members in order to fulfill her pledge.

But progressive Democrats stayed firm in their threat to sink the vote without a detailed commitment between the House, Senate and White House that Biden's reconciliation package would also pass.

They insisted the deal include a top-line number that holdouts like Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) would sign off on.

The latest: After hours of closed-door talks, the vote was delayed around 10:45 p.m. while congressional leaders and senior White House staff continued to finalize a deal that would satisfy all members of the party.

What they're saying: Manchin, leaving the Capitol just before 10 p.m., told reporters: "I dont see a deal tonight." He reiterated he his preferred price-tag for the reconciliation bill is $1.5 trillion, far lower than the $3.5 trillion members were initially working with.

"It is an absurd way to do business, to be negotiating a multi-trillion dollar bill a few minutes before a major vote, with virtually nobody knowing what's going on. That's unacceptable," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who stayed late Thursday to help work on negotiations, told reporters shortly before Pelosi announced the formal delay.

"A great deal of progress has been made this week, and we are closer to an agreement than ever. But we are not there yet, and so, we will need some additional time to finish the work, starting tomorrow morning first thing," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Between the lines: The delay is sure to frustrate moderate Democrats, who say their patience is wearing thin.

Pelosi promised them last month that she would put the $1.2 trillion bill on the floor on Sept. 27 (Monday).

They held their tongues when she delayed the vote the first time, pushing it to Thursday. But they promised to be less agreeable if it got pushed further.

"If the vote were to fail or be delayed, there would be a significant breach of trust that," Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) said earlier this week.

The deadline is also particularly urgent given funding for surface transportation programs runs out on Sept. 30.

Several moderates repeatedly stated throughout the day they were confident the party would pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill before the end of the night.

Now they hope the delay is only for a few hours, and at a minimum gets resolved by the end of the weekend.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a leading House moderate, met with Pelosi around 11pm, shortly after the delay was announced.

"It aint over yet! This is just one long legislative day  we literally arent adjourning. Negotiations are still ongoing, and were continuing to work. As I said earlier: grabbing some Gatorade and Red Bull," Gottheimer tweeted.

Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.), a member of the New Democrat Coalition who met with Pelosi on Thursday, said the worst-case scenario in her mind is the vote gets delayed a couple of days  rather than weeks.

"Keep in mind, just the way Monday became Thursday [for a promised vote], Thursday can become Sunday," she said.

What's next: The House is scheduled to leave town at the end of this week for a two-week recess, which could further delay debate on the president's agenda.

There is also a chance leadership keeps members in town longer to continue hashing out a deal on reconciliation, as well as to address the debt limit.

This story has been updated with additional comments from members of Congress and the White House.Wreckage of a building north of Damascus on Saturday. Photo: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

When it was announced President Trump would speak to the nation regarding military action in Syria on Friday night, there was reason to think that he might say something truly surprising  and truly frightening. A recent Wall Street Journal report had detailed how Trump, who just days ago had expressed his desire to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria, was now eager to punish Russia and Iran in the aftermath of a chemical-weapons attack perpetrated by Bashar al-Assad.

But Trump appears to have taken seriously the counsel of his generals, who had advocated a much more limited approach. In the end, the airstrikes he ordered were among the most conventional actions hes taken as president. The strikes were quite likely unconstitutional, as a smattering of Democrats and Republicans protested, justified based on an authorization of force from 2001 that pretty clearly doesnt encompass the Syrian civil war. And they reflect a foreign-policy apparatus that too often wants to do something, even if that something makes little moral or tactical sense  an ethos perfectly reflected in a tweet from prominent Hillary Clinton ally Anne-Marie Slaughter:

I believe that the US, UK, & France did the right thing by striking Syria over chemical weapons. It will not stop the war nor save the Syrian people from many other horrors. It is illegal under international law. But it at least draws a line somewhere & says enough.  Anne-Marie Slaughter (@SlaughterAM) April 14, 2018

But ineffectual military action in the Middle East has become a grand American tradition, and it was easy to imagine most recent presidents  save Trumps immediate predecessor  following a similar, middle-of-the-road path.

The United States, which was joined by Britain and France in its mission, took special care not to aim its attack near Russian troops, the kind of provocation that people who would like to avoid World War III were particularly anxious about

1/ The final strike package was bigger than last year's (double the missiles, three targets vs one), but still smaller than what most observers, incl the Assad regime, had predicted. The scope of the attack was narrow - entirely focussed on regime chemical weapons facilities.  Tobias Schneider (@tobiaschneider) April 14, 2018

So what exactly did it do? The Pentagon said it had launched more than 100 Tomahawk missiles at three chemical weapons and storage facilities near Damascus, the Syrian capital, and Homs, another major city.

Graphic showing types of missiles and planes reportedly used by Britain, France and the US during air strikes on targets in Syria on April 14 pic.twitter.com/RaRYAowUZY  AFP news agency (@AFP) April 14, 2018

Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said that the missiles had struck at the heart of key facilities.

They lost a lot of equipment. They lost a lot of material, and thats going to have a significant effect, he said.

Syria strike reduces research center to rubble https://t.co/tgNNyZhtUo pic.twitter.com/ppQjVm0t6j  Reuters Top News (@Reuters) April 14, 2018

The strike was surely more effective than last years almost perfunctory pinprick attack on a Syrian airfield, which had no perceptible impact on Assads operational capabilities. But while more targets were hit and more missiles fired this time around, it wont alter the fundamental dynamics of the grinding, seven-year-long conflict, which has left hundreds of thousands dead, almost all as a result of nonchemical weapons of war.

The Assad regime is projecting an image of defiance. The Syrian army claimed that Syrian Air Defense systems confronted, with high competence, the missiles of the aggression and shot down most of them, a claim the U.S. rejected. The overall mood in Damascus was relief that the strikes werent larger in scope.

On Saturday, American officials talked tough anyway.

I spoke to the president this morning, and he said, If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded, said Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line, she added, in a dig at President Obama.

Obama famously failed to enforce his zero-tolerance policy for Syrian chemical weapons with force, choosing instead to cut a deal with Russia that would destroy all of the munitions instead. As weve seen in recent years, that strategy proved ineffective.

But Haleys point is also a reminder that Syria has already made Trump look weak. His last airstrike clearly didnt stop the Assad regime from carrying out more chemical-weapons attacks over the past year. And Syria has a reason to flout international law in this way; last weekends barbaric attack achieved its desired effect, forcing recalcitrant rebels to give up an important piece of territory. For Assad, the incentive to notch incremental victories has, so far, been stronger than the disincentive to incur Americas wrath. Will Fridays relatively weak showing do much to change that equation? And are we to believe that the chemical weapons that were thought to have been destroyed once and for all years ago are now, at last, gone for good?

As ever in the Middle East, the U.S. finds itself with no good options. If it wants to definitely wipe out Assads chemical-weapons capabilities, it risks becoming further embroiled in an already intractable quagmire, or worse, provoking a clash between world powers. If it doesnt, it is merely showing itself to be toothless, an option that, as President Obama learned, involves some loss of face but little in the way of World War risk.

If Assad launches another chemical attack  a very plausible scenario  its easy to imagine Trump going big on the first option. In the meantime, the people of Syria continue to suffer through an endless war, as the United States all but closes its doors to them.The Trump administration is going to war with California. And its just getting started.

Why it matters: The bluest state in the U.S. has managed to wield the power of the courts to impede the Presidents agenda on immigration, the environment and more. And the White House and Jeff Sessions are fighting back.

The latest: This week, California Governor Jerry Brown agreed to accept the Department of Defense's funds to send additional National Guard troops to fight "transnational crime," although he was careful to clarify they would not necessarily be sent to the border  as President Trump has called for.

Lawsuits

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has filed 31 lawsuits against the Trump Administration, with 15 legal victories, according to Becerra's office. About half of the lawsuits are over environmental issues, but suits also address issues ranging from immigration, birth control, the transgender military ban and student rights.

Were not looking to pick a fight but when the White House threatens our values, were ready!

 California AG Becerra

The Department of Justice has now filed two lawsuits against California  one over their practice of "sanctuary cities" and another over the state's ability to interfere in the federal government's sale of land to private owners.

Injunctions

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

Other injunctions have blocked the Trump administration's actions on birth control access, the transgender military ban and environmental protections.

Oakland

The heat was turned up between California and the Trump administration after Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf issued a warning to citizens of an impending ICE raid in the area, infuriating Sessions.

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

In a speech announcing DOJ's first lawsuit against California, Sessions personally attacked Schaaf, saying:

How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of law enforcement just to promote your radical open borders agenda

On Friday, DOJ sent a letter to Schaaf asking for information about Oaklands sanctuary policies which could be in violation of federal law. DOJ will not tolerate this intentional effort to undermine public safety and the rule of law.

Marijuana

Three days after marijuana became legal in California, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the "Cole memo," which allowed states to legalize or decriminalize marijuana without federal interference despite federal law banning the use of marijuana.Friday evening, the United States launched missile strikes on Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack brought by Assad's regime on Syrian civilians. President Trump said the strikes were carried out in cooperation with Britain and France.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, along with British and French counterparts, announced that three targets in Syria were "struck and destroyed." All of which were specifically associated with the Syrian regime's chemical weapons program.

Defense Secretary James Mattis announced earlier in the Pentagon briefing, "tonight France, the United Kingdom and United States took decisive measures to scrape the Syrian weapons infrastructure... clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year."

General Dunford detailed in the briefing tonight the first target was a scientific research center in the greater Damascus area, specifically for testing chemical and biological warfare.

The second was chemical weapon storage facility west of Homs, Syria, Dunford added "this was the primary location of Syrian sarin...production equipment."

The third target was in the vicinity Homs, and contained a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and was an important Syrian command post.

In his announcement, Trump singled out Iran and Russia regarding their response to the chemical attacks: To Iran and Russia I ask: what kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?... We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

Trump continued saying, These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead... The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons."

The big picture: The strike comes on the heels of the U.S. declaring that Bashar al-Assad's regime carried out the chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians last Saturday. It also comes one year after Trump decided on pinprick strikes in response to another regime attack.

The AP is reporting "loud explosions light up skies over Syrian capital, heavy smoke as President Trump announces airstrikes." Reuters confirmed the U.S.' use of Tomahawk missiles in the latest strike, the same missiles used in the strike on Syria one year ago.

The UK's Theresa May has announced a coordinated response, "This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use... And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian Regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity."The U.S. launched coordinated strikes on Syria Friday night, in alliance with France and the U.K., in response to chemical weapons attack brought by the Assad regime. Defense Secretary James Mattis confirmed that this was a "one-time shot," and that the strike was directed solely at the Assad regime, not at Russia  a supporter of the Assad regime.

The fallout to watch for: If the U.S. hit any Russians, we could potentially face an escalating military conflict. If the strikes were too limited, its possible Bashar al-Assad and allies may not be deterred from launching chemical weapons attacks in the future.

The Russian Embassy to the U.S. issued a statement warning that "such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris."

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

General William Boykin, former U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence under President Bush, told Axios: Its important people not think that we just destroyed all of Bashar al Assad's chemical weapons. Theres more out there, and those targets were the ones that were excluded for the potential for significant collateral damage."

Boykin also added: We cannot allow the use of illegal weapons of mass destruction killing innocent peopleif America doesnt respond to this its the same thing as the world turning its back when the holocaust was going on.

Watch for the fallout

Russia said earlier this week if its armed services are targeted, Russia would take retaliatory action. Russia's UN envoy Friday didn't rule out war with the U.S. if military strikes take place. And while last year the U.S. warned the Russians in advance of the strikes, this year, the Russians were not told in advance the targets.

said earlier this week if its armed services are targeted, Russia would take retaliatory action. Russia's UN envoy Friday didn't rule out war with the U.S. if military strikes take place. And while last year the U.S. warned the Russians in advance of the strikes, this year, the Russians were not told in advance the targets. If strikes don't target Russia and Iran , it will not harm Assads backers and therefore is unlikely to weaken [Assad's] resolve, according to Jenny Cafarella of the Institute for the Study of War. Secretary Mattis said Friday, clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year." The question remains, will Assad and his allies get it this year?

, it will not harm Assads backers and therefore is unlikely to weaken [Assad's] resolve, according to Jenny Cafarella of the Institute for the Study of War. Secretary Mattis said Friday, clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year." The question remains, will Assad and his allies get it this year? Civilians: Its also possible there are chemical leaks from the strikes in the air. Watch for reports of civilian casualties as well  although the U.S. was trying to avoid civilians, this is likely a possibility.

Expect fake news

Mattis announced he anticipates a "significant disinformation campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime."

The Pentagon plans to hold a morning briefing on the latest details, "in an effort to maintain transparency and accuracy."

One final thingOpposition leader Nikol Pashinian and hundreds of his supporters seized the offices of Armenias Public Radio and occupied them for about an hour on Saturday on the second day of their anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan.

The protesters unexpectedly burst into the radio building as they marched through the city center to condemn former President Serzh Sarkisians plans to extend his rule.

Two police officers guarding the building pulled their guns in an attempt to stop its seizure. But they did not fire gunshots and were swiftly pushed aside by the crowd, which broke another entrance door and seized key radio studios moments later.

Pashinian attributed the extraordinary action to what he described as the failure of Armenian state television and radio to properly cover his anti-Sarkisian campaign launched on Friday. He called this and other broadcasters mouthpieces of government propaganda.

We are protesting against the fact that Armenias broadcasters have imposed an information blockade on our campaign and recent months political and civic consolidation against Serzh Sarkisian, he told reporters inside one of the seized studios.

Pashinian also apologized to the police officers and Public Radio staff for the inconvenience. But with this action we are fighting against a much greater inconvenience, he said.

Please leave the building. You can continue your action outside it, one of the police guards told Pashinian.

The opposition leader refused to do that before telephoning Public Radios chief executive, Mark Grigorian, to demand that he be allowed to immediately go live on air and appeal to Armenians. He insisted on his demand when a senior radio executive, Lika Tumanian, arrived at the scene.

Why did you smash the door? Has this institution ever deprived you of free speech? she told Pashinian.

Tumanian went on to express readiness to invite to Pashinian to a live talk show that would be aired three hours later.

I have come here not to give an interview but to appeal to people, responded the oppositionist. Tumanian rejected the demand, saying that the state-run broadcaster cannot interrupt its programs.

Shortly afterwards, electricity supply to the building was cut off. Public Radio broadcasts appeared to have also been disrupted.

Pashinian told his supporters to leave the building about one hour after the intrusion. Public Radio broadcasts resumed about 30 minutes later.

The Armenian police condemned Pashinians actions and threatened to launch criminal proceedings in a statement issued shortly after the radio headquarters was vacated. The statement also urged him and his supporters to refrain from further illegal conduct.Ignoring continuing street protests in Yerevan, the ruling Republican Party (HHK) on Saturday nominated its chairman and former President Serzh Sarkisian to be Armenias next prime minister.

The HHKs decision-making Council unexpectedly met in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor, rather than Yerevan, to formalize the nomination the day after the opposition Civil Contract party launched nonstop demonstrations in the capital against Sarkisians continued rule.

The Civil Contract leader, Nikol Pashinian, told supporters on Friday to gear up for marching to the HHK headquarters and surrounding it during the key meeting. After it emerged overnight that the meeting has been moved to Tsaghkadzor, Pashinian planned on Saturday morning to send a large group of his loyalists there late in the afternoon.

The HHK again wrong-footed the protest leaders when it announced afterwards that its Council has already met and nominated Sarkisian for what will now be Armenias top executive post.

A short statement released by the party said the nomination was proposed at the meeting by Karen Karapetian, the outgoing prime minister and the HHKs first deputy chairman. The Council discussed the issue and unanimously approved [Sarkisians] candidacy, it said.

Several photographs of the meeting held at a Tsaghkadzor luxury hotel showed both Sarkisian and Karapetian addressing senior HHK members. Their remarks were not immediately made public.

Sarkisian and Karapetian met to discuss their political future on April 7, two days before the HHK chairman completed his second and final presidential term. The outgoing premier said afterwards that they decided to propose to the HHK leadership to nominate Sarkisian for prime minister.

Karapetian cited the need for a smooth and effective transition to a parliamentary system of government. He is expected to become the number two government figure in his new capacity as first deputy prime minister.

The Armenian parliament is scheduled to vote for the new prime minister on Tuesday. The HHK holds 58 seats in the 105-member National Assembly. Its junior coalition partner, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), controls 7 parliament seats.

The Dashnaktsutyun leadership officially announced its endorsement of Sarkisians candidacy later on Saturday. Although there are numerous serious challenges and problems in our country requiring solutions, certain successes achieved in the last two years make us hope that the chosen path is right, it said in a statement.

Dashnaktsutyun cut a power-sharing deal with Sarkisian and the HHK in March 2016. It is represented in the current government by three ministers.

Sarkisian promised in April 2014 that he will not aspire to the post of prime minister if Armenia becomes a parliamentary republic as a result of his constitutional changes. He downplayed that pledge last month, citing the increased risk of renewed fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh and other security challenges facing the country.

The Armenian opposition and Pashinians Civil Contract in particular accuse Sarkisian of failing to keep his word. The ongoing protests in Yerevan are aimed at scuttling the ex-presidents plans. Pashinian has indicated that his supporters will march to the parliament building and try to thwart the vote on the new prime minister on April 17.President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order changing the presidential order "On the composition of the Mixed Commission on Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Czech Republic from the Republic of Azerbaijan" #1502, dated May 13, 2011.By Trend:

The work to lay two new switches has started at the Gobustan railway station in Azerbaijan, the Public Relations Department of the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC said in a message April 13.

The work is being carried out as part of the overhaul of the 600-kilometer section of the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway.

The process of replacing switches at the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway has been going on since September 2016.

The first new railroad switch was installed Sept. 9, 2016.

So far, 143 new railroad switches have been installed, the message said.

An additional agreement to the export contract for the second stage of reconstruction of the Azerbaijani railways was signed April 14, 2015 by the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and the Czech company Moravia Steel.

The contract envisages material and technical supply and overhaul of 600 kilometers of the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway.

The project to overhaul the 600-km Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway was launched in October 2015.Trend:

President of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has made a phone call to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the press service of the Azerbaijani president said in a statement.

Mohammad Ashraf Ghani congratulated Ilham Aliyev on his victory in the presidential election and wished him success in his presidential activity for the development of Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked Mohammad Ashraf Ghani for the attention and congratulations.

During the phone conversation, the heads of state expressed confidence in further development of relations between the two countries.By Trend:

The Economist, the world-famous publication, has devoted an article to the convincing victory of Ilham Aliyev in the presidential election in Azerbaijan.

The incumbent head of state, Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party Ilham Aliyev has garnered 86.03 percent of votes in the April 11 election.

The Economist highlights that many Azerbaijanis are grateful to President Ilham Aliyev for rising living standards and political stability in a turbulent part of the world. They also like his tough talk on Armenia, which occupies the Nagorno-Karabakh territory of Azerbaijan, according to the article.

The Economist also touched upon a number of economic achievements of President Ilham Aliyev.

"Thanks to abundant oil and gas, its economy grew by an average annual rate of 13 percent in the decade to 2014, making it the fastest-growing in the world for three consecutive years in the late 2000s. The country of 10m has seen its poverty rate fall from 50 percent in 2000 to 5 percent today," the article reads.

But relying on fast-dwindling hydrocarbons is unlikely to be a sustainable model. President Aliyev instead wants to turn Azerbaijan into a transit hub on Chinas new Silk Road, according to The Economist.

The publication notes that the opening of a new railway last October connecting the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to Kars in Turkey and onwards to the Balkans, means that the shortest route between China and Europe now runs through Azerbaijan.

In 2016 two-way trade in goods between China and the EU reached 515 billion ($560 billion). More than 90 percent of that trade currently goes by sea, which takes twice as long, according to the article.

The Economist also informs about another international transport project, to which Azerbaijan is a party.

"Another north-south transport corridor is shortly to link Mumbai and Moscow by rail, passing through Azerbaijan," it reads.What, Im supposed to remember 15 years ago? Photo: AFP Contributor/AFP/Getty Images

The morning after he ordered airstrikes to knock out chemical-weapons facilities in Syria, President Trump kicked off his Saturday tweeting with a phrase that has long been synonymous with American foreign-policy failure:

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

Mission Accomplished is, of course, closely associated with American hubris in the Iraq War. The phrase was displayed on a giant banner as President George W. Bush declared major combat operations in the country over, during a speech on an aircraft carrier in May 2003. Though never spoken aloud by Bush, mission accomplished became an albatross for the president as insurgent forces began their ascent in the country and the war turned into an extended quagmire.

At least one former Bush official, press secretary Ari Fleischer, weighed in on Trumps echoing of his former boss:

Um...I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words. https://t.co/h5Fl7kjea6  Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) April 14, 2018

President Trump claimed over and over during the 2016 campaign, despite copious evidence to the contrary, that he had opposed the Iraq War. He even invoked Bushs infamous speech during a February 2016 news conference, saying, You had him on the aircraft carrier saying all sorts of wonderful things, how the war was essentially over. Guess what, not over. And, you know, the war with Iraq is a disaster.

He has continued to rail against the war while in office, and his supposed aversion to becoming entangled in unwinnable foreign conflicts led him to declare, just a few days ago, that he wanted to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria.

Is Trump really unaware of Mission Accomplisheds history and implications? Or is he just demonstrating that no matter what ahistorical thing he says, no matter how ignorant he demonstrates himself to be, no matter how much he contradicts himself, hell still be labeled presidential for ordering an airstrike, while retaining an approval rating in the high 30s?

Its probably the first one, but theres really no way of knowing.By Trend

Discussions on the presidential elections in Azerbaijan were held at the Expert Council of Baku Network.

The discussions were attended by Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, head of the Expert Council of the Baku Network, Deputy Director General of Trend News Agency Lina Vaitkeviciene and Editor-in-chief of Azernews newspaper Sevil Mikayilova.

Elkhan Alasgarov said that the main factors of Azerbaijans development are the correct foreign policy line, internal stability and the unity of the people.

I think that the next period of Ilham Aliyevs presidency will be successful as in previous years. Once again we congratulate the president on his victory, he added.

Sevil Mikayilova, for her part, said that people voted for Ilham Aliyev to see further development of Azerbaijan.

The election situation in the country was very positive, very fair. As the international observers, who came to Azerbaijan to observe the elections noted, there was no shortcoming during these polls. Azerbaijan has sent an invitation to all international organizations and 894 international observers were here present. They were very delighted with the conditions created here for voters. The conditions were very fair, everyone was free and there was no pressure. At the same time, people went to the polling stations just to vote for their future and this is very obvious, she said.

Further, talking about Azerbaijans achievements on the international arena, Mikayilova noted that the international rating of the country is very high.

Azerbaijan has hosted numerous large-scale international events over these years and at the high level. I want to mention the Eurovision song contest held in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan hosted a very large-scale international event  the European Games, which for the first time took place in a Muslim country which was very remarkable. After two years, Azerbaijan hosted Islamic Solidarity Games, she said.

Mikayilova pointed out that Azerbaijan is well represented both in the Islamic Cooperation Organization and in the Council of Europe, which is not so easy task to have very good representation at these two very different organizations.

She noted that Azerbaijan is implementing large-scale regional projects, which are important not only for the country, the region, but Europe as well.

"Why people voted for Ilham Aliyev? Because they want these good changes, these positive tendencies to continue. They voted for the future, they want these developments to go far. They want the future generations to live in safety and security. They want this progress to continue, Mikayilova concluded.

Lina Vaitkeviciene noted that by voting for Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani people voted for stability and safety.

I think the results were predictable. All the generation, who are now 40-50 and older, remember the hardships in the first years of Azerbaijans independence and they value what they have today: safety and stability. Despite the fact that the country is in the conflict, it is safe and stable and people value it. Especially, in our days, when we see so many conflicts around the world, safety and stability is very important. I think it is one of the main factors why Ilham Aliyev was elected. I could say that people voted here for their safety and stability, she said.

Vaitkeviciene noted that another factor which play a role in the victory of President Ilham Aliyev, is the development, positive changes and achievements of the country.

There is a developed infrastructure with quality roads. Everybody can see nice buildings, renovated hospitals, renovated schools, created new jobs, growing of tourist flow. It is also obvious for everybody that there were done a lot of things for the countrys promotion. A lot of international events were organized in Azerbaijan, she said.

Vaitkeviciene pointed out that Azerbaijan pursues a policy of diversification of economy and there are already results.

All these factors created basis for the new cadency of the president, she added.

Azerbaijan held a presidential election on April 11.

Eight candidates were registered for the election. Six of the candidates were nominated by political parties, one candidate was a self-nominee and another candidate was nominated by an initiative group.

The incumbent head of state, Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party Ilham Aliyev has garnered 86.03 percent of votes in the election, according to the votes counted in 5,641 polling stations.

On the voting day, 5,426 permanent polling stations and 215 temporary polling stations in 125 constituencies operated in the country.

The election was observed by 894 international observers (61 organizations, 59 countries) and 58,175 local observers.

The voter turnout was 74.51 percent. That is 3,962,123 of 5,332,817 voters cast ballot in the election.Trend:

Russias Mir 24 TV channel has prepared a report dedicated to the landslide victory of Ilham Aliyev in the presidential election in Azerbaijan.

The incumbent president of Azerbaijan, chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party Ilham Aliyev won a convincing victory in the presidential election on April 11, gaining 86.03 percent of votes, the TV channel said.

The report notes that over 800 international observers, including 200 observes from the CIS member countries, observed the election in Azerbaijan.

Head of the CIS Executive Committee Sergey Lebedev in an interview with Mir 24 stressed that the observers didnt find any violations during the election.

We closely watched the preparations and the election itself, both in Baku and in all Azerbaijani districts, he said. I personally visited 10 polling stations. The election was well prepared and organized.

The report said the Western observers didnt find any violations during the election, either.

In particular, PACE noted the good level of preparation of Azerbaijans Central Election Commission for the presidential election, according to the report.

The local CEC is pleased with such an assessment, the report said. All night members of the commissions were counting the ballots. Ilham Aliyev left no chances to his rivals, as he garnered 86 percent of the votes.

The TV report then shows the streets of Baku, where the Azerbaijani citizens gather to celebrate Ilham Aliyevs victory in the presidential election.

The voting day turned into a celebration of stability  a name invented on the Baku Boulevard, the report said. Two million tourists walk there every year, which is three times more than it was 15 years ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Ilham Aliyev to congratulate with convincing victory in the presidential election, according to the report.

The landslide victory, as Putin said, means only one thing: the population supports the policy of their leader, Mir 24 noted.Trend:

Azerbaijan has repeatedly witnessed the negative attitude of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in regard to elections held in the country, Azerbaijani MP Elman Nasirov told Trend on April 13.

He made the remarks commenting on the preliminary conclusions of the OSCE/ODIHR presented at a press conference on April 12. The mission, which voiced opinions not reflecting the reality observed at the election, announced that the final report will be made public within two months.

He noted that in most cases the OSCE/ODIHR representatives had a ready report when visiting Azerbaijan to monitor the elections.

Nasirov said that the OSCE/ODIHR did not change its previous position.

"I would very much like to see at least this time the OSCE/ODIHR to demonstrate a fair, objective attitude reflecting reality in connection with the election held in Azerbaijan. However, unfortunately, they once again came to Azerbaijan with a pre-prepared report, and didnt want to mention anything positive in connection with the election," he said.

Nasirov reminded that 894 international observers watched the voting process in Azerbaijan.

"Observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and other numerous structures, parliaments of individual countries unambiguously assessed the presidential election in Azerbaijan as the next step on the path of democratic development. They underscored the objective and transparent holding of the election," he said.

"However, we again witnessed a different approach by the OSCE/ODIHR. It turns out that OSCE/ODIHR again fulfills the order, comes with a ready biased report," he said.

Azerbaijan held a presidential election on April 11.

Eight candidates were registered for the election. Six of the candidates were nominated by political parties, one candidate was a self-nominee and another candidate was nominated by an initiative group.

The incumbent head of state, Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party Ilham Aliyev garnered 86.03 percent of votes in the election.Trend:

The people of Azerbaijan have no other option except for Ilham Aliyev  a strong and visionary leader who can play well on all international diplomatic fronts, Malik Ayub Sumbal, columnist, political analyst and broadcaster, wrote in his article for Chinese CGTN website.

Azerbaijans opposition has a problem in that it is much divided, weak and does not have the confidence of the people, the article said.

There is a lack of vision in the opposition and it has no leader who can face the countrys challenges, like the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the resulting refugee crisis, Sumbal said.

Nagorno-Karabakh was occupied by Armenia and both countries have been involved in cross border firing and skirmishes, the author wrote.

With such challenges on its doorstep, a weak leadership in Azerbaijan could endanger the countrys territorial integrity, he said.

A huge influx of refugees who fled from Nagorno-Karabakh and settled in the capital Baku and surrounding areas has been a big challenge, but the incumbent government managed to resettle one million migrants, the article said.

Meanwhile, Baku, with its fascinating mix of modern and old infrastructure, leaves no doubt that the current leadership has delivered on its promises for the development of the country, according to the article.

Ilham Aliyev launched a massive anti-corruption campaign and cracked down on corrupt officials and ministries in his recent term, the author added.

He carried out reforms to the social services by launching ASAN, a state agency aimed at making government services more accessible to citizens using modern technology, the article said. He also pulled the country out of a severe economic crisis by devaluing the currency after the massive slump in the global oil market, then opened the country to tourism, making it a popular destination for visitors from the Middle East and Asia.Trend:

Azerbaijans Central Election Commission (CEC) has issued a statement on the conclusions made by OSCE/ODIHR, OSCE PA and PACE on the April 11 presidential election in the country.

The statement says:

On February 5, 2018, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, using his right enshrined in Section 1 of Article 101 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, called an early presidential election in the Republic of Azerbaijan. On February 6, 2018, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted a Resolution, pursuant to Article 179 of the Election Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, setting the presidential election in the Republic of Azerbaijan for April 11, 2018.

Preparations for the election were made in compliance with the legislation and with quality, all conditions were created to ensure free and independent conduct of 11 political parties and other participants of the election. All the registered candidates, who freely used the existing fair competitive environment and equal opportunities, expressed their satisfaction with the election and congratulated the candidate who won by a landslide.

All the preparatory measures were taken according to the schedule and with quality in order to ensure that citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan fully and easily use their constitutional right to vote, all conditions were created for voters to freely and independently make their choice. 118 representatives of 51 foreign media outlets, and the vast majority of a nearly 60,000-strong army of observers, including 894 international monitors representing 59 countries and 61 international organizations, who were provided with all opportunities to freely and independently carry out their activity, described the Azerbaijani presidential election as free, fair and transparent, and hailed the voting as an outstanding improvement.

This view was separately echoed by many monitors of the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. But it is with great regret that we note that the statement made on behalf of these organizations exaggerated the negative points, whose source was unknown and which could not affect the results of the election (in a maximum of 156 polling stations, which is less than 2.8 percent of the total number of polling stations), and alleged that technical problems were registered in 1,300 polling stations. Having taken a stand that differed sharply from the views of the aforementioned several thousand observers and of their own representatives, the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe showed a tendency towards casting a shadow on the results of the voting held in all 5,641 polling stations.

The statement bears clear evidence of violation of the principles of objectivity, balance and professionalism, and also includes numerous contradictions. Disregarding the facts that all the presidential candidates were satisfied with the election process, that there were no complaints or appeals about irregularities and that the election saw high turnout, the statement attempts to create an artificial falsification environment. And it is very difficult to understand whom these alleged irregularities disadvantaged.

The aforementioned points fairly raise suspicions about certain politically-motivated pressure made by mission heads on observers in the course of preparation of the statement by the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Even today representatives of the mission met with separate individuals across the country, asking them to provide evidence of only negative cases relating to the election.

In our opinion, such an approach casts a shadow over objectivity and impartiality of the mission, and provides a substantial foundation for the existing public opinion about biased anti-Azerbaijani activity and an openly negative attitude of some people in the management of mission, particularly deputy head of mission Stefan Krause, towards the Azerbaijani government, authorities and the incumbent President, who was one of the presidential candidates. The fact that Mr. Krause was assigned a responsible position within this mission, insisted by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, was an indication that the report to be prepared with his involvement would have been biased.

On many occasions, conclusions featured in the statement contradict each other. For example, the statement says that the election administration was well-resourced and prepared the election efficiently. Then it continues that on election day, international observers reported widespread disregard for mandatory procedures. Such contradictions in the statement at least raise questions. Another contradiction: the statement says that authorities were co-operative and international observers were able to operate freely in the pre-election period. But then it claims that International Election Observation Mission and other observers were restricted in their observation (4 and 8 percent, respectively). Another comment seems to be more absurd  distinction was not made between the incumbent`s campaign and his official activities. It would be reasonable to explain what the essence of this distinction is and how this distinction should be made. In no country in the world, a head of state running for another term quits his/her activities. He/she just cannot do this. The only ethical norm that may be applied to such pre-election situation is that a head of state who continues his activities should not call on his voters to vote for him. This rule has been strictly observed in all presidential elections conducted in Azerbaijan.

The mission`s alleging that on election day, international observers reported lack of transparency is completely unacceptable. The Central Election Commission states that all polling stations were provided with transparent ballot boxes, and web cameras were installed in nearly 1000 polling stations to allow online observation of the voting. This is of crucial importance in ensuring transparency of the election.

The statement says that other candidates refrained from directly challenging or criticizing the incumbent. The word criticize in this phrase is a complete surprise. Firstly, no election can provide for personal criticism of a separate candidate. Criticism can be directed at a candidate`s election campaign only. Secondly, debates held by candidates on TV channels clearly showed that the domestic and foreign policy pursued in the country was criticized by candidates according to their own views. Moreover, one of the candidates even called the Azerbaijani authorities to renounce its sovereignty. Given these facts, the statement`s alleging that this election lacked genuine competition is surprising and unacceptable.

The statement notes that a total of 58,175 domestic observers were registered, including 4,041 observers accredited by NGOs. It claims that obstacles introduced by the government and the election administration limit the possibility of civil-society organizations to operate. It is inappropriate to speak of limitations when more than 4,000 observers were registered by the NGOs, which are key civil society institutions. The Central Election Commission is surprised that when speaking of election observation only the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center is mentioned. They said that the center remains unregistered and its activities are limited. But there are other organizations specializing in election observation in Azerbaijan and they locally monitored the presidential election. For example, one of them is the Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan (AVCIYA). At the same time, National NGO Forum, which is Azerbaijan`s largest NGO platform and which groups more than 600 civil society institutions, conducted monitoring in 590 polling stations before and on election day.

The statement alleges that there are no specific legal measures to promote the participation of women in political life. However, there has been a significant progress in this area in the past few years. Women are broadly represented in election commissions. In addition, in 1 out of 87 regional and city executive authorities the post of head of executive authority is held by a woman, while in 75 (86.2 percent) of them the post of deputy head is held by a woman. In the 2014 municipal election, the number of women among municipality members increased from 8.9 percent to 35 percent, and rose from 12.4 percent to 30 percent among municipally chairs.

The statement also alleges the absence of pluralism, including in the media. The Central Election Commission considers this allegation completely unfounded because in the civilized world the media are not required to criticize or even defame government institutions. The media should remain unbiased. The Central Election Commission states that there are currently nearly 500 daily, weekly and monthly print outlets, and nearly 5,000 internet news resources in Azerbaijan, with many of them sharply criticizing the government`s domestic and foreign policy, head of state and opposition representatives. Around 80 percent of the country`s population are internet users, nearly 3 million people are social network users.

According to observations of the Central Election Commission, a lot of critical and sometimes even unethical material was put out by the media and especially by social networks both before and on election day. The statement says that the 11 television stations with nationwide coverage remain the main source of political information in the country. The ownership structures of these broadcasters are opaque. By making this statement, the mission exceeded its mandate. Each of the 11 channels were registered by the relevant authorities as legal entities, they are taxpayers and all information is available in open resources of those authorities.

The statement alleges that the fact that defamation is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment, with additional penalties for defamation of the president, further limits the freedom of expression that is key to political campaigning. In 42 member states of the Council of Europe, defamation is a criminal offense and in 39 of them it is punishable by imprisonment. But, the statements on the elections in the majority of the OSCE member states did not assess defamation as what limits the freedom of expression that is key to political campaigning. Therefore, this assessment with respect to Azerbaijan witnesses to a selective and double-standard approach. It should also be underlined that for many years the courts in Azerbaijan have not applied imprisonment for defamation. Unfortunately, the observation mission expressed its view without having any intention to study this issue.

What surprises the Central Election Commission the most is that 360 observers (including 270 observers from OSCE ODIHR) of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which constituted 40 percent of the total number of foreign monitors, by tradition, assumed the function of undisputed and supreme judging authority.

The mission`s statement uses the term international observers instead of observers of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which, at least, is disrespect for foreign observers representing 59 countries and numerous international organizations, and a sign of arrogance.

The Central Election Commission does not pursue a goal of thoroughly studying this unfounded report, which is full of contradictions, and hopes that the aforementioned and many other contradictions featured in the statement of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the early presidential election, which was held in the Republic of Azerbaijan on April 11, 2018, will be removed. Otherwise, the Central Election Commission will regretfully be forced to halt cooperation with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, whose representatives constitute the majority in the aforementioned observation mission," .By Trend

Azerbaijani MP, Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Azay Guliyev will leave for Copenhagen, Denmark, on April 14 to attend the OSCE PA Bureau meeting, the Azerbaijani parliament told Trend on April 14.

The meeting participants will consider and exchange views on topics and draft documents to be discussed at the 27th Annual Session of OSCE PA in Berlin on July 7-11, reports on the OSCE PA activities, reports by election observation missions, and events to be held.

Guliyev will voice his position on the issues to be discussed at the meeting.

The visit will end on April 17.The Houston Police Department's Vice Division has released the names and mugshots of more than 120 people arrested for sex trade-related crimes allegedly committed in the first quarter this year.

The suspects were charged with either compelling prostitution (pimps) or solicitation of prostitution (johns) for the first three months of 2018, HPD said in a news release.

"We hope by publishing these suspects' photos we will raise awareness of the issue that is human trafficking and put the community on notice that we will no longer tolerate these crimes in our neighborhoods," HPD Vice Division Captain James Dale said in the release.

CRACKING DOWN: It is now harder for men accused of soliciting a prostitute to get charges dismissed in Houston

The arrests were specifically made between Jan. 1 and March 31. All those arrested are innocent until proven guilty.

As part of the arrest, the Houston Police Deparment announced a new initiate on Thursday to help curb the demand for sex trade-related crimes.

"Today, on our HP Flickr page we've posted the pictures of the buyers, which we labeled the demand side," HPD Vice Captain James Dale said in a news conference. "In the past, it was the supply side that we focused on and we turned a blind eye to what the men were doing. Not anymore."

"They're fueling this crime, and their continued solicitation of these women promotes the victimization of these women," Dale said. "So we decided if you're gonna do that, we're gonna promote you on our HP Flickr page and we're also going to arrest you if you go down there."

The photos and names of persons arrested can be seen on HPD's Flickr page.

Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @fernalfonso.Donald Trump. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

After a strange process that didnt seem to involve a meeting of the presidents national security advisers, the U.S. and its allies began launching airstrikes against Syria on Friday night in retaliation for the alleged chemical weapon attack which killed more than 40 people in Douma last week. The Trump administration and its French and British allies have assembled the largest air and naval force in the region since the end of the Iraq War, but the administration offered little explanation of what its Syria strategy was, even as the strikes got underway. Trump did broadly vow that the U.S. and its allies would use all their powers to deter Bashad al-Assad from using chemical weapons, but that was right before Defense Secretary Jim Mattis acknowledged that the airstrikes were limited to three targets, and that no further strikes were planned.

But while Washington may not appear to have a strategy, others do, and the moves theyve made this week should make us more anxious about the consequences of these strikes than any previous ones.

In the days after the attack on Douma, the Syrian government and its Iranian and Russian allies got what they wanted  the rebel group that had been holding out there agreed to be evacuated. After its departure, Syrian and Russian troops arrived. It is unusual for Russian troops to take such a publicly visible role in patrolling Syrian government territory, and their presence can be seen as a warning to Washington against making a retaliatory attack in Douma. It may also complicate the investigation by the UNs Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which begins this weekend. Already, the World Health Organization has said that 500 people sought treatment at its facilities with symptoms consistent with exposure to chlorine or sarin gas. Russia said its troops on the ground have found no such people.

On Friday, the U.S., Britain, and France said that they were confident what happened last week in Douma was a chemical attack, and that it had been launched by Assads forces. Others insisted that doubts remained, but their credibility was not helped by Russias alternative explanation: that Britain had masterminded a fake attack involving rebels bursting into a hospital and squirting water on surprised and fearful civilians.

Assads regime spent the week letting the world know that, in response to President Trumps initial tweets about what a military response would entail, it had moved many of its assets to bases where Russian troops and planes are also located. Past attacks have avoided targeting Russians  and resulted in limited damages to facilities that are not as difficult to repair or replace. Analysts will be watching claims about what was destroyed, and what Russia, and also Iran, choose to do in response. Former Pentagon and White House security official Julianne Smith pointed out on Twitter Friday night that neither needed to restrict their responses to Syria and could threaten U.S. forces and interests elsewhere around the globe if they chose.

Moscow spent the week preparing its citizens for this with a very stark message: Get ready for war, and not the Cold kind. It chose this week to make public service announcements about how civilians should respond in the event of a nuclear attack. Trumps personal attack on Putin after the chemical attack comes as the latest in what Moscow sees as a string of provocations. First was the international condemnation and embassy drawdowns which followed the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. Then came Washingtons decision to impose a new round of sanctions on the tycoons closest to Putin, months after Congress had empowered the Trump administration to do so.

Even as Trumps substantive actions have been (relatively) narrowly targeted  embassy personnel may be replaced, and sanctions focus on a narrow group of individuals  Putin seems to have decided on a broad response. The national parliament, which his allies control, is now considering legislation targeting a wide range of U.S. exports and intellectual property. This buys him some popularity at home after the terrible deaths of 64 people, including an entire class of schoolchildren, in a mall fire that exposed his government to rare mass criticism. It also distracts attention from the expectation voiced by many Russians that, after his triumphant re-election in March, Putin would focus on cleaning up the corruption that mars life for his supporters and opponents alike.

It is always possible that Trump and his team held Putin personally responsible for the chemical attack for strategic reasons. Or last weekends tweet may simply have been another facet of his rage and frustration at authority figures who fail to yield before him. KGB, FBI, whats the difference? But the consequences of poking Putin personally are very real. It was, after all, criticism of prior elections that Putin perceived as personal that reportedly drove his outsized dislike for then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and his desire to see her humbled in 2016.

The Pentagon, at least, seemed anxious to step back from the Russia-focused rhetoric. Secretary Mattiss statement on the attacks said only Syrian forces were targets  which is to say, not Russias (or Irans)  but the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Joseph Dunford, also said that Russia was not given advance warning about the airstrikes, seemingly putting Russian forces at greater risk. In the last hours before these strikes launched, the Pentagon was busily letting the U.S. and global public know that it did not want to escalate military tensions with Russia  and opposed the White House aim of a military strike in Syria that would be significantly bigger than the one administered a year ago, while punishing Iran and Russia as well as Assad. It appears the Pentagon got its way, since Fridays strikes were apparently only twice as intense as Trumps pinprick retaliation against Assad last year.

But even though Trump said the strikes were intended to be a strong deterrent, and British Prime Minister Theresa May said they didnt constitute an attempt to intervene in the civil war, Trump suggested the strikes might continue until the regimes use of the weapons stopped. Given the depth of evidence suggesting that both the regime and opposition forces have used chemical weapons steadily over the years of the war, it is hard to see that as anything but an invitation to regular bombing runs with a risk of escalation and retaliation, and accompanying questions about whether each round of strikes is legal. Its hard to see that as a step forward for the people of Syria. Trumps understaffed administration is ill-equipped to handle the security challenges it faces. It cant help that Trump appears to be deploying abroad the strategy that he has adopted domestically  improvisational chaos.Louisiana has officially lowered its projected budget deficit for the budget cycle starting July 1 from $994 million to $648 million, leaving additional funding for healthcare initiatives the administration was considering cutting, according to The Times-Picayune.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards was considering cuts that could have closed New Orleans-based University Medical Center before finding the $346 million savings. However, it is unclear where the administration will direct the saved money, as the state's TOPS college scholarship program also stands to lose 80 percent of funding.

Full funding for TOPS would require $233 million, while funding University Medical Center and other safety-net facilities would cost $206 million. Home health services and nursing facility coverage for the elderly and disabled would require $287 million.

House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, has said that the state House leadership's top priority for the excess money is to fund the TOPS program and apply the remainder for healthcare services.Kaiser Permanente San Jose (Calif.) Medical Center discharged a 90-year-old patient with failing kidneys and sent him home in a taxicab without notifying his family, according to NBC Bay Area.

The patient, William Lee, "has Level 5 kidney failure and also chronic heart problems, and his lungs were full of fluid," Dawn Ross, Mr. Lee's daughter, told NBC Bay Area. "He's literally going to be passing at any time now, and a week ago, they shoved him in a taxicab and sent him home with no one."

Although the hospital apologized for the incident, it remains unclear who decided to discharge the patient and send him home in a cab.

Mr. Lee, who was first brought to the Kaiser hospital April 1, was wearing only a hospital gown and socks when he was discharged.

When Mr. Lee was brought to the hospital, Kaiser estimated he'd be released several days later on April 5, according to Mr. Lee's family. When April 5 came, Mr. Lee's son reached out to Kaiser and found out the hospital already discharged Mr. Lee and sent him to a board and care home listed as his address.

"When I got here, the boarding care people told me that he had arrived there in a taxicab." Mr. Lee's son said.

The senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente in San Jose issued a statement, saying in part, "What occurred is a clear violation of our policies and should not have happened," according to the report.It's a rare thing for my husband and I to get a night out together. When we just had two children it wasn't such a big favour, asking someone to come and babysit for a few hours. But with a hyperactive, toddler, deep in the midst of the terrible twos and with all the controlling tendencies of a young Kim Jong-un when she's tired, it's a big ask.

My mum, the angel that she is, is always offering, so last weekend we took her up on her kind gesture.

Out we headed for a lovely dinner and then we planned to catch a movie.

Now a trip to the cinema, in itself, is nothing unusual. I take the older two to watch a new release every couple of weeks and my hubby, Ralph, is a film reviewer for the Sunday Life so he's always buried in a darkened room somewhere with popcorn in one hand and a pen in the other.

But both of us in the same room watching a film that isn't animated? That happens less often than Donald Trump having a good hair day.

Ralph had sat through everything already so it was up to me to choose what to watch and being a big fan of The League of Gentlemen, I selected Ghost Stories, co-written by Jeremy Dyson, one of the League's creators.

Not that I'm a big fan of modern horror movies. Anything with blood and gore and teenagers in peril doesn't get a look in. You can keep your 'Cube', I'm going nowhere near 'Hostel' and the only place I want to see 'Saw' is in the aisles of my local DIY store.

But from the trailer 'Ghost Stories' looked nothing like these carnage-fest films and nor was it. What it was, was one hundred times more frightening. I'm conscious that you may want to watch it in the future, through your fingers if you're anything like me, so I won't give the story away.

Suffice it to say that my poor husband had nail marks on his arm where I was clinging on, I did more ear-splitting screaming than the worst Britain's Got Talent contestant and afterwards I felt like I needed lie down.

Except that would have meant going upstairs on my own and that certainly wasn't going to happen.

Like a big child, I insisted on keeping the light on that night when we retired to bed and when the call of nature woke me in the wee small hours of the morning I tried my best to ignore it and go back to sleep.

There was no way I was stepping foot out of bed and traipsing down a darkened corridor to the bathroom.

It reminded me of the time my aunt went to see Jaws when it first came out back in 1975. She was a very young teenager and had sneaked in to watch the film with her friends.

The result? For the next few weeks she insisted that my granny or her older siblings came into her room to check under the bed before she'd climb out of it, just in case a great white shark had somehow found it's way to Ballymoney, and her bedroom.

I've always laughed at that story  until I understood her fear all too well last weekend.

Yet I'd still say that, in a weird way, I enjoyed Ghost Stories. There's something strange about us humans that we quite enjoy a little fright now and again, especially when we know, deep down, that we're totally safe.

It's why scary movies sell out in the cinema.

We scream and shout and at the end our stress levels are a lot lower than when we went in. The tricky thing is hitting that halfway point, where you jump in your seat but sleep in your bed, a tightrope I'd not managed to manoeuvre across last weekend.

It's probably why I'll go back to sticking with the only scary movies I've ever really loved, those old Hammer Horrors with classic characters like Baron Frankenstein, Count Dracula and the Mummy, villains not of this world but also not of my nightmares.We are determined to bring our readers value for money, so this week I'm reviewing three places for the price of one. All three are within a few yards of each other, which means I am able for the first time to enact the Belfast Fantasy Menu I publish each week on Twitter: pick a dish from each of three restaurants and cafes and build your own perfect three course lunch or dinner.

I've always loved the Ormeau Road. There is something about the way it straddles town and country, offering you the feeling of being one leg in and one leg out of the city centre.

It's a cool, urban place on the one hand, yet it's got the park, the river and a bit of breathing space. Lately the Ormeau has become a bit more than a trunk road.

Orla Smyth's Kaffe O, Soul Food, L'Etoile and Macau have been there long enough now to provide solid foundations for more coffee joints and restaurants, and sure enough a Cafe Nero has just opened down from the Vineyard, one of Belfast's best wine merchants.

The Ormeau Road now hosts General Merchants, Shed, Yarn Cafe and Boden Park, which technically puts it on a par with Ballyhackamore - the world's greatest place to live. And this is a problem.

That crowd in Rosetta loves nothing more than a bit of distressed wood furniture, but really what they're after is raising the postcode value. And now it's inevitable thanks to the restaurant cluster.

Today focuses on three strategically important yet dirt cheap places to eat: Bia Rebel, Al Gelato and Root & Branch the cafe. On the face of it they appeal to all those in the socio-economic demographic spectrum from A to D1. But really, it's all A.

The noodle bar Bia Rebel has moved to dry land by opening a restaurant without wheels. It is more of a takeaway joint frankly, but I did test it and sat down for my lunch there last week. It is uncomfortable - small rickety stools, hanging gales and too little room - but the noodles are sublime.

Bia Rebel is all about the ramen noodles, made fresh daily by Brian Donnelly. Great big bowls of the stuff come in varying degrees of spiced broths with vegetables, meats and herbs which are explosively tasty and wholesome.

I love Banh and Jumon, but Donnelly's ramen noodles have the edge, with flexible texture, big flavour and plenty of bite. Possibly the best of the choice is the Rebel Ramen, which features smoked paprika ground pork, chilli oil, sweetcorn, scallions and "secret house sauce". It's a tom yum kind of broth with plenty of deep flavours and heat, and the portions are generous.

The second course is in Al Gelato, a few doors down. Here, Ali McCauley is making ice cream as good as any we've had in Italy. The bright little parlour offers coffee and cakes, but this is a pukka ice-cream parlour first.

There is a watermelon sorbet which is full of perfumed resonance and a wonderful palate cleanser. I thought that was good until Ali brought out the dark chocolate sorbet.

This vegan-friendly treat packs a coco punch the likes of which you will never have tasted. The almost black chocolate is deep and lasting in the mouth.

There are other less grown up ice-creams too: milk chocolate, creme brulee, honeycomb (the big seller) and pistachio. It's easily the best ice cream in the city. If you can find anywhere better I'll buy you a 3.80 cone myself.

Finally, a walk back up the other side of the road will take you just past the Errigle Inn. In James Street is Root & Branch the tiny coffee shop so cool it makes Established look like a Centra. The coffee is so special and precious you can have a choice of the coffee beans: their own blend for this week, from Columbia, is the amazing Raquel Trujillo.

If you think all coffee talk is b*******, let Lisa explain what she's making for you. A 2.50 espresso will open a whole world of exotic adventure you never expected. Interestingly, Root & Branch is expanding into the next door premises so look out for their lunches after May 1.

There you have it. The holy trinity of the Ormeau Road, and not to be missed. Who says we don't look after you?

The bill

Rebel Ramen in Bia Rebel...................8

Al Gelato large cone.......................3.80

Espresso in Root & Branch.............2.50

Total................................................14.30The DUP has backed Prime Minister Theresa Mays decision to authorise air strikes in Syria.

A series of missile strikes were launched last night against Syria by the US, UK and France in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma a week ago.

The strikes began at 2am BST and destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected to the Syrian regimes chemical weapons programme, according to the allies.

DUP MP Nigel Doods, reacting to the air strikes, said: First and foremost we salute the courage of our brave servicemen and women. They have carried out their duty with typical discipline and valour.

The prime minister has the full authority, on the basis of all the information at her disposal, to order the type of military action which has been carried out this morning and we reject any suggestion that she was not entitled to do so.

We are reassured that the military action is strictly targeted and limited in its purpose. Also that it is not about a wider intervention in the Syrian civil war which would, in our view, be counter productive.

Given the context of the recent international response to the use of a nerve agent in the UK, the clear targeted purpose of the strikes, and the repeated blocking by Russia of diplomatic solutions through the UN, we believe the Prime Minister was justified in standing with our American and French allies in this concerted action.

I have spoken to the Prime Minister. These airstrikes are a limited but proportionate and justified reaction to the events of last week. Our thoughts are with all those in our armed forces involved in this action. https://t.co/gMO83nmrzV  Arlene Foster #WeWillMeetAgain (@ArleneFosterUK) April 14, 2018

Expand Close Prime Minister Theresa May during a press conference in 10 Downing Street, London on the air strikes against Syria. Simon Dawson/PA Wire PA / Facebook

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At a press conference in Downing Street, Mrs May said: There is no graver decision for a prime minister than to commit our forces to combat and this is the first time I have had to do so.

As always, they have served our country with the greatest professionalism and bravery, and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

We would have preferred an alternative path but on this occasion there was none.

We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised, either in Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere."

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SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MLA said: Air strikes and military intervention have not and will not help to solve the ongoing issues in Syria. Parliament should have been recalled and consulted before the British Government pressed ahead with military action in Syria.

"Any foreign policy should be set by and consulted upon by the entire Parliament, not through a solo run by Theresa May or dictated by any US President.

The violence and bloodshed that is happening in Syria is horrific. Any military intervention threatens to escalate the conflict even further.

International cooperation is required to help end Assads brutal regime and deliver a strategy for peace in Syria.Lauren Neilly (23), from Ballymena, who is battling leukaemia in a Glasgow hospital

A Northern Ireland woman has told how her life was thrown into turmoil when she received a shock leukaemia diagnosis.

Lauren Neilly (23) had gone to the dentist with a toothache, but following a root extraction procedure the wound failed to heal.

It was only after a subsequent visit to a doctor for blood tests that the Ballymena woman learned the terrible truth.

Now, one of her friends is crowdfunding to help her with basic living costs as she hasn't been in her job long enough to qualify for sick pay.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph from her hospital bed, bank employee Lauren revealed that she is still reeling from her rapid hospitalisation.

"It was a bit of a shock to the system when they told me I had Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML)," she said.

"They told me that I had to be admitted to hospital immediately and it felt surreal for a while. I felt as though my body had failed me."

Lauren is currently at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where she has already undergone one round of chemotherapy treatment and is due to have another three.

"I'd gone to the doctor at 11am on March 22 and then just went about my daily business as I was due to fly to Belfast later that evening," she said.

"When I got back I realised I'd missed a few calls and then I was told to go to the hospital.

"That's when they said, 'You're not going anywhere for a while'."

After suffering a reaction to one of the products during the first round of chemotherapy, Lauren said the whole thing was a pretty miserable experience.

"I was ill and being sick. It wasn't a highlight," she said. "To be honest, the last three weeks have been a roller coaster. Even now, I still feel tired.

"It's the same battle each day. It is a bit of a struggle."

Lauren said she's been told to expect her hospital stay to last up to six months, but at least she has her mum Sam (48) and dad David (49) by her side.

"Mum flew over when she thought I had a sore tooth and she never left," she said.

"My dad came over later with my 17-year-old brother Adam who has since gone back home, but my parents are staying close by in accommodation provided by the CLIC Sargent charity.

"It's so good to have them here. It really means a lot."

With a wedding planned for next June and her Scottish finance Ben (26), a student teacher, to keep her spirits up, Lauren has a lot to look forward to.

"Ben has been great, I can always rely on him," she said. "We met on separate family holidays in the south of France when I was 15 and we fell in love. That's why I'm living in Scotland now."

When she found out her friend and co-worker Liz Myles had set up a crowdfunding page, which has raised almost 5,000 already, Lauren was really touched.

"There are no words; I broke down in tears when my mum told me," she said.

"I was really worried about paying my rent and my bills while I'm off work and in hospital because I'm only entitled to two months' full sick pay."

On the crowdfunding page Liz wrote: "My colleagues and I wanted to do something to help so on June 10 a group of us are climbing Conic Hill in Scotland. Lauren's family are going to climb Slemish. Then on Sunday, July 15 we will climb Ben Lomond, one of Scotland's great Munros."

To help, visit: https://www.go fundme.com/lomond-for-laurenThe Belfast Agreement is dead and the parties need to move on, TUV leader Jim Allister is set to tell his party conference today.

He is also expected to call on Secretary of State Karen Bradley to "get a move on" and deliver direct rule after 15 months of no government.

His speech comes following a week of events marking the 20th anniversary of the historic 1998 agreement.

But Mr Allister last night blasted those for what he described as "celebrating failure" and urged the DUP to move on.

He also said that he will only participate in a new round of talks if the discussions are aimed at finding a new way forward.

The North Antrim MLA said he will emphasise in his leader's address the importance of the Brexit deal, urging that it needs to be an "emphatic leaving".

"I will say tomorrow that there is an even more important question than devolution and that is Brexit," he said.

"Getting it right is essential not only to our future but the nation's future, and it has to be a clean break from the EU; it has to be an emphatic leaving so that we have the opportunity to make our own trade deals, pass our own laws, adjudicate our own laws, and spend our own money on our own people.

"Brexit will set the course of the UK for several generations to come and therefore it is the most important issue that must be got right for Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK."

But there will also be an examination of the legacy of the Belfast Agreement, in both the leader's address and also a panel discussion involving victims campaigner Kenny Donaldson, former UKUP MLA Paddy Roche as well as commentator Alex Kane, during the conference at the Royal Hotel in Cookstown today.

"It will be a considerable antidote to those sycophantic utterances in respect of an agreement which has failed.

"The core element of the Belfast Agreement was the establishment of the Executive, and it is in tatters," Mr Allister said.

"The promises of the Agreement are in tatters, yet the focus of mainstream politics is how we can put back together again that which has failed, instead of how do we move on to something which has a possibility of working, and that if it is to be devolution, it cannot be mandatory coalition.

"It can only be voluntary coalition, very much like what exists anywhere else. If that is put together then you have a chance of devolution that works.

"Those who can't agree then form the opposition, which is something that has also been sadly lacking."

But Mr Allister emphasised that if it is not possible to agree voluntary coalition, then direct rule must be introduced.

"The Secretary of State needs to bring us government," he said.

"Direct rule is not the best answer but it is the only answer at this time because we have to fundamentally get governance."

He ruled out taking part in any talks if restarted if they focus on resurrecting a mandatory coalition system.

"I think I am unlikely to be invited because my message doesn't fit, and certainly any talks merely directed at how much sticking plaster it takes to put back together again what will never work, I have no interest in," he said.

"To simply go back and patch something together again which didn't work is folly.

"If they were genuine talks about moving on and getting a system that works, I would certainly have many ideas to put to the British Government.

"I would not be talking to the Irish Government about the internal affairs of Northern Ireland, and I think that line has been blurred far too much in the recent talks process."

Mr Allister also accused both the DUP and Sinn Fein of rewriting history when it comes to the Belfast Agreement.

"The DUP quite clearly were vehement opponents until they were strong enough to claim David Trimble's clothes, and then they became the practitioners of the Belfast Agreement.

"The fundamentals of the Belfast Agreement survive unscathed through St Andrews. It is still that fundamental approach to politics, and well the DUP know that.

"Likewise Sinn Fein didn't even formally endorse the Belfast Agreement, but to them it has become a means to an end."

The TUV has just one MLA in the Assembly and 13 councillors.

When asked why the party does not have more elected representatives, Mr Allister blamed the DUP for using "scare tactics".

"Under the Belfast Agreement, as bad as it was, the First Minister was always guaranteed to be a unionist as long as there was a unionist majority because the First Minister came from the largest tradition in the Assembly.

"The DUP conspired to have that changed to coming from the biggest party which created the duress they have since exercised over the unionist electorate, to say, 'you must vote for us to stop Sinn Fein'.

"That was a clever device which changed the dynamic of elections.

"I meet so many people who say 'I don't agree with the DUP but I have to vote for them' because they fear Sinn Fein becoming the largest party and getting the First Minister."Cynthia Nixon at a campaign event in March. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

As expected, New Yorks Working Families Party officially endorsed gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon on Saturday. Nixon, who received more than 90 percent of the vote at the ultra-progressive partys state committee meeting, is now guaranteed a spot on the ballot in November, though the former Sex in the City actress didnt commit to remaining on the partys ballot line if she loses the Democratic primary against current governor Andrew Cuomo.

Nixon wont commit to staying on WFP line if she loses in the Democratic primary to Cuomo. Says shell confer with party leaders. #nygov pic.twitter.com/4JvOWyXrnf  Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) April 14, 2018

Related Stories How Cuomo Played the Working Families Party

Cuomo, who announced on Friday that he would not seek the WFPs endorsement, has reportedly gone to war against the insurgent party, and pressured his powerful union allies to persuade them not to endorse Nixon. That didnt work, however, and large local chapters of the SEIU and Communications Workers of America both left the WFP on Friday as a result, though they were not the first unions to split from the party since it almost endorsed Cuomos last left-liberal challenger, Zephyr Teachout, in 2014. That experience, which resulted in plenty of bad blood between Cuomo and the WFP, undoubtedly set the stage for Saturdays endorsement.

The New York Times reports that Cuomo has also been telling unions to cut off funding for community groups that veer for Nixon, and if they dont they can lose my number. Nixon made a point to criticize such tactics on Saturday, and she had already been characterizing Cuomo as a Trump-like bully.

People should be able to endorse who they want to endorse and not have their livelihoods threatened because of it. -@CynthiaNixon at @NYWFP endorsement pic.twitter.com/EDPdAPgcfG  Nomiki Konst (@NomikiKonst) April 14, 2018

A Cuomo spokesperson reached out to Daily Intelligencer regarding the discord with the WFP, insisting that the governors record of progressive accomplishment is unmatched, and commenting that the schism between the progressive unions who founded the WFP and some of its member organizations is unfortunate, but in that divide the governor stands with the unions who have left the WFP and no longer feel it represents the interests of middle- and working-class New Yorkers.

Even if Nixons long-shot campaign to defeat Cuomo in the Democratic primary were to succeed, the governors name would almost certainly still be on the ballot in November. New Yorks Independence Party, which also has its own ballot line and endorsed Cuomo in 2010 and 2014, has already said they will back the governor again this year.

This post has been updated to include the comment from Cuomos office.A councillor who lost her only son is pressing to see part of the burial fee waived for other grieving parents.

Ulster Unionist councillor Julie Flaherty (40) made the proposal at a meeting of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council (ABC) Environmental Services committee on Thursday night, and was delighted to receive unanimous support from her colleagues across the political spectrum.

The Portadown woman told the Belfast Telegraph she was driven by the experience of having lost her two-year-old son Jake.

The full funeral and burial costs can run into thousands of pounds. Ms Flaherty's proposal is to cover the 52 cost of opening a grave.

She said she would like to see the Children's Funeral Fund for England, under which parents will no longer have to meet the costs of burials or cremations, extended to Northern Ireland.

However, she said that without the funding stream that exists for it in England, she wanted to make a realistic proposal that could be built upon.

She hopes it will be passed at the next full meeting of the council at the end of April, and that other councils across Northern Ireland could follow suit.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Theresa May intervened to create the Children's Funeral Fund for England after being moved by the "dignity and strength" of Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris who had been at the forefront of the cross-party Parliamentary campaign following the death of her eight-year-old son Martin.

It brought England into line with Wales where Ms Harris' campaign saw the removal of fees for funerals for those under the age of 18.

Ms Flaherty said the full scheme cannot currently be implemented in Northern Ireland.

"I am realistic enough to know that," she said.

"But that would be the ultimate aim, to have that same structure in place with a pot of money that would encompass the whole issue.

"With no Executive here, I felt ABC Council, as the second biggest council in Northern Ireland, could put our mark on things for the future. We had, thankfully, only 12 children under 18 buried in the ABC council area last year.

"What I want to see waived is the 52 grave-opening fee. We are not talking about something that is going to rock the budgetary vote, but it is a start."

Ms Flaherty lost her only son, Jake, in May 2015.

He had been born with Down's Syndrome and also battled other medical issues, including a congenital heart defect. "We are very lucky we had him for two years, in the end he was tired," she said. "He was a great wee character."

She sold her private practice as a podiatrist to care for Jake, and, after becoming involved in campaigning for her son, took the decision to become involved in politics.

Ms Flaherty said the cost of Jake's funeral was around 4,000, and when she saw media coverage of Ms May's Children's Funeral Fund for England, she was determined to see some help for other bereaved parents in Northern Ireland.

Ms Flaherty has also urged the council to write to the Department for Communities, head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service David Sterling, and Mrs May, for more support for bereaved parents here.

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council will vote on Ms Flaherty's proposal when it meets on Monday, April 30. A spokeswoman for the council said: "A proposal for officers to bring a report back to committee in relation to the The Children's Funeral Fund scheme was brought to the Environmental Services Committee and was widely supported.

"It was agreed that council officers would look into the scheme and return a full report to committee at a future date."

A spokesperson for the Department of Communities said: "While help with funeral expenses is available to some people on low incomes through the Social Fund, there is no separate Children's Funeral Fund currently in place in Northern Ireland. This would be a matter for consideration by incoming Ministers. In the meantime, council fees for burial or cremation costs is a matter for individual councils."A former UUP special adviser has recalled an impassioned speech by Lord Maginnis as the party's negotiating team pondered in the final hours before the Belfast Agreement was signed.

David Kerr described how 11 of the party's then most high profile politicians - including David Trimble, Reg Empey, Dermot Nesbitt and Jeffrey Donaldson - met in Robert McCartney's empty office at 1.10pm on Good Friday 1998 to decide whether to back the deal.

"We used Robert McCartney's office because he had left and there was nothing else in it, we all sat in there and discussed the Agreement," he said.

"For me that was the key meeting of the UUP talks team that day because it was effectively the party leadership making the decision at that point to go with it."

Mr Kerr said that while many of those present made articulate speeches, the words of the former Fermanagh MP struck him the most powerfully.

He wrote a letter to Lord Maginnis in 2012 after the peer left the UUP, recalling that speech.

"It was your words on that afternoon and no-one else's that convinced me that the Agreement was worth fighting for," he wrote.

"I'm not an overly religious person but if God speaks through men, he spoke through you that day. I can't remember everything you said, but I remember that passion, the steel, the anguish and the hope in your voice."

Hours later Mr Donaldson walked out, while his colleagues went on to sign the Belfast Agreement.

Mr Kerr also spoke of his regret that devolution was not currently working on the 20th anniversary of the historic deal.

But he added he remains optimistic that power sharing government will return to Stormont.

"Truthfully, 20 years on, we would have hoped to have been much further on down the road towards stable government in Northern Ireland," he said.

"We are in a situation now where we need people to find solutions.

"The issues are resolvable, I think, if there is a willingness there between the parties to sort it out.

"But overall I am optimistic, I still think a way will be found to resolve the issues."A trial date has been set for a Co Down man charged with stabbing to death an elderly couple in their home last year.

Thomas Scott McEntee (41), appeared yesterday at Craigavon Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, for an arraignment hearing on a total of nine charges.

McEntee, formerly of Moorfield Court in Kilkeel but now with an address at the secure Shannon Unit in Knockbracken Healthcare Clinic in Belfast, was flanked in the dock by two psychiatric nurses for his hearing.

He pleaded not guilty to murdering Michael and Majorie Cawdrey at their Upper Ramone Park home in Portadown. The couple, both aged 83, were found stabbed to death on May 26, 2017.

McEntee also denied two counts of theft on the same date, stealing a bottle of Oyster Bay red wine valued at 8.99, a torch, a compass, a map and a pair of sunglasses.

He further pleaded not guilty to burgling a house on May 25, 2017, at Derrybeg Lane in Newry and stealing a key.

McEntee also denied offences of indecent exposure and burgling the home of Mr and Mrs Cawdrey with a knife, stealing a Northern Bank cheque book and a set of car keys to their Renault Kangoo, driving off in the van and damaging it.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving the Renault vehicle dangerously on roads including Upper Ramone Park and Killicomaine Road, Portadown on May 26.

Defence counsel Ciaran Mallon QC told the court that McEntee had been assessed by a consultant psychiatrist at Knockbracken Healthcare Clinic who said there was "no issue around the defendant's fitness to plead''.

He said that the defence had retained the services of a second consultant psychiatrist to examine McEntee about his "mental capacity at the time'' of the offences.

But judge Mr Justice Colton said he "didn't see the necessity'' in getting a second report as there was no issue around McEntee's fitness to plead.

The judge set the trial date for Monday, June 18, and it is expected to last up to two weeks.Britain has accused Russia of spying on Sergei Skripal and his daughter for at least five years before the Salisbury attack (Ben Birchall/PA)

Russian intelligence agencies have been spying on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter for at least five years, a top UK security official has said.

National security adviser Sir Mark Sedwill said cyber specialists from the GRU - Russian military intelligence - targeted Yulia Skripal's email accounts as far back as 2013.

In a letter to Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Sir Mark also said that in the 2000s the Russians had begun a programme to train personnel from "special units" in the use of chemical warfare agents.

He said that it included investigating ways of delivering nerve agents by applying them to door handles.

The strongest concentration of the Novichok nerve agent found in the Salisbury incident was on the front door of Mr Skripal's home.

The claims come after the international Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons backed Britain's assertion the Skripals were poisoned by Novichok - a military grade nerve agent developed by the Russians in the 1980s.

In his letter, Sir Mark set out why the Government believes that only Russia has the "technical means, operational experience and the motive" to carry out such an attack.

He said Russia had a "proven record of conducting state-sponsored assassination" and that it was "highly likely" some defectors - like Mr Skripal, a former GRU officer who was exchanged in a spy swap in 2010 - may be regarded as "legitimate targets".

"We have information indicating Russian intelligence service interest in the Skripals dating back at least as far as 2013, when email accounts belonging to Yulia Skripal were targeted by GRU cyber specialists," he said.

Sir Mark also identified the key institute for developing Novichok in the former Soviet Union as a branch of the State Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology near Volgograd.

"It is highly likely that Novichoks were developed to prevent detection by the West and to circumvent international weapons controls," he said.Police at the scene of the shooting

A brutal paramilitary shooting in which a young man was wounded in both legs has been condemned as the work of self-styled vigilantes.

The 20-year-old victim is recovering in hospital after the incident in west Belfast.

Police said he was attacked by three men and shot three times in the legs and ankle.

It happened in Ardmonagh Parade in the Turf Lodge area at around 10.30pm on Thursday.

His condition is not thought to be life-threatening.

SDLP councillor Tim Atwood said graffiti had appeared in the area in recent days warning of violence. He said the "appalling" shooting had the hallmarks of a so-called 'punishment' attack.

"In recent days there's been some sinister graffiti threatening further shootings as well," he commented.

"There are some people out there who are intent to take the law into their own hands.

"There may be some people who were involved in paramilitary activity in the past who still think they can control our communities. Those days are gone."

UUP MLA Doug Beattie said communities must face up to the "thugs" responsible.

"Yet again we have seen another disturbing and appalling shooting of an individual in west Belfast by so-called self-styled vigilantes linked to a variety of violent republican groups.

"While some would want to call this, or refer to it, as a punishment shooting, I am clear it is no more than vile individuals using any excuse to terrorise, intimidate and coerce their own communities through threats of violence," he said.

PSNI Detective Inspector Harvey said: "Shortly before 10.30pm on Thursday it was reported that a 20-year-old man was attacked by three men and shot three times in the legs and ankle.

"The victim was then taken to hospital where he received treatment for the injuries sustained during this violent crime.

"This was a brutal and despicable attack, which has left the victim with potentially life-changing injuries."Tissue samples from a puppy allegedly killed by a Lurgan man have been sent to Scotland to be analysed, a judge heard yesterday.

A prosecuting lawyer told Craigavon Magistrates Court the report on samples taken from Sparky, the 11-week-old puppy allegedly killed by Kyle Keegan, is due back by May 11.

Having perfected his bail, Keegan (23), from Gilpins Manor in Lurgan, appeared in court in person on Friday.

He is charged with causing unnecessary suffering to the puppy on February 3 this year.

Initially bail was refused a month ago by District Judge Bernie Kelly who said that in her almost 40-year legal career "I have never in my life come across something as cruel as what's alleged".

Last week at Belfast High Court, Madam Justice McBride ordered Keegan to be freed once an acceptable bail address had been agreed upon but barred him from having contact with animals.

The court heard claims the puppy's bloody remains were found in a bin in the Ailsbury Park area of Lurgan after a house party in February.

A police officer testified that the case against Keegan is based on forensic evidence with ongoing enquiries being conducted with social media providers.

The update from the PPS on Friday follows on from what they told Judge Kelly a month ago that enquiries were still being made, including a post mortem on the puppy's remains, to establish the cause of death and "whether or not Sparky was placed in the microwave".

"Some of the exhibits have to go to Edinburgh as there is no one in NI to examine animal remains," said the lawyer.

Judge Kelly freed Keegan on continuing bail and ordered him to appear again on May 25 when the prosecuting lawyer said the "full file" should be ready.A senior member of the American government has urged Northern Ireland's politicians to sort out a deal to restore powersharing.

John Sullivan, the acting US Secretary of State, was speaking to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

He said Northern Ireland had travelled far, but challenges still persist.

The comments represent a rare intervention from the Trump administration in Northern Ireland politics.

Mr Sullivan has been acting US Secretary of State since Rex Tillerson's departure last month.

In a statement released by the State Department in Washington, he said: "The Good Friday Agreement, endorsed widely by the people of the region, remains an inspiration around the world.

"As we reflect on this important anniversary, let us remind ourselves - and the generations since the signing in 1998 - of how far the people of the region have travelled, as well as the challenges that persist.

"We encourage all parties in Northern Ireland to work together to form a regional, power-sharing government that benefits all the people of the region."

The US government played a key role during the peace process in the 1990s.

However, American involvement has declined in recent years.The guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey fires a Tomahawk land attack missile as part of the Syrian air strike (US Navy/AP)

The joint bombing campaign in Syria was hailed a success by Theresa May, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron in talks by telephone on Saturday afternoon.

Britain launched cruise missiles as part of the co-ordinated military operation with the United States and France in response to the chemical weapons attack in Douma one week ago.

Mr Trump declared it was mission accomplished and thanked the UK and France for their wisdom and the power of their fine military.

In separate calls, the Prime Minister spoke to the US and French presidents to discuss the offensive.

The three leaders agreed that the military strikes taken against the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons sites had been a success, a No 10 spokesman said.

All Nato allies have given the action their full support, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said.

Speaking in Brussels, he told reporters: Before the strikes took place last night, Nato allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue through the UN Security Council by diplomatic and political means.

Since this was blocked by Russia there was no other alternative than to react the way they reacted at this time.

NATO Allies expressed full support for last nights actions in #Syria. Read the full statement: https://t.co/1sYKK1QJlY pic.twitter.com/kyocn2sxIO  NATO (@NATO) April 14, 2018

Mr Trump said the joint strikes against the Syrian regime were perfectly executed.

He added: Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished.

Speaking at Number 10, Mrs May said action was legal and defended the decision to go ahead without securing the backing of Parliament.

She insisted that joining the military campaign was the right thing for us to do in the wake of the harrowing assault on the Syrian rebel-held town.

The Prime Minister also warned Russia that the air strikes should act as a warning over its use of chemical weapons.

But she was accused of riding the coat-tails of an erratic US president by the Liberal Democrats, and taking instructions from Washington by Labour.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s joined the co-ordinated missile strikes at 2am, launching Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles west of Homs.

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The Prime Minister said the Cabinet had taken advice from the Attorney General, National Security Adviser and military chiefs when it met on Thursday.

She added: We agreed that is was both right and legal to take military action together with our closest allies.

Expand Close Damage to the Syrian Scientific Research Centre (SANA/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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She insisted the action against Bashar Assads regime was a limited and targeted strike to degrade and deter the Syrian government and was not about regime change.

But she also drew a link with the nerve agent attack on Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

RAF Tornados launched Storm Shadow missiles at a regime chemical weapons facility fifteen miles west of Homs, Syria. See images and video here: https://t.co/uSI3loV6Q0 pic.twitter.com/Rd85WLScSR  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 14, 2018

Looking drawn as she spoke to reporters in Downing Street in a hastily arranged press conference, she said: We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere.

.@mod_russia : of 103 missiles, 71 intercepted by Syrias air defences. No serious damage at airfields. Two former industrial sites hit with no people or equipment in place.https://t.co/7g05zNTWoX pic.twitter.com/0qqNZ2Pfvu  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 14, 2018

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes were an act of aggression that would have a destructive influence on international relations.

Asked if the action had also been a warning to Russia, Mrs May said: The action that took place last night was an action which was focused on degrading and deterring the operational capability and the willingness of the Syrian regime to continue to use chemical weapons.

There have been many instances when we have seen them using those chemical weapons.

But I believe it should also be a message to others that the international community is not going to stand by and allow chemical weapons to be used with impunity.

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Jeremy Corbyn said the military action against Syria was legally questionable and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence... Posted by Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday, April 14, 2018

He said: Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US Defence Secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, US ambassador Nikki Haley warned if there was further use of chemical weapons in Syria, America is locked and loaded.

A bid by Russia to garner votes for a resolution condemning the aggression in Syria was roundly defeated.

The PM has not ruled out further action if Syria continues to use chemical weapons.Jeremy Corbyn has attacked the Government for launching legally questionable air strikes in Syria.

Prime Minister Theresa May called the Labour leader late on Friday night to discuss the strikes and gave him an updated security briefing.

But the talks failed to persuade Mr Corbyn that launching cruise missiles in response to the chemical weapons attack in Douma was the right course of action.

Despite Russia repeatedly blocking action against Syria through the United Nations, Mr Corbyn called for Britain to go back to the group of world powers to secure a resolution that has Moscows backing.

He has written to the Prime Minister to say he believes the strikes were legally questionable and said MPs should have been given a vote.

Labours leader in Wales, First Minister Carwyn Jones, struck a different tone in a statement issued following the strikes.

He said: I spoke with the PM late last night about the action in Syria.

I offered my support to any intervention that could prevent a further atrocity, but it is vital that any action forms part of a wider long-term plan for the region.

My statement on Syria pic.twitter.com/cnJTjQgLxd  Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) April 14, 2018

Downing Street is expected to release a summary of the legal advice given to Mrs May ahead of the decision to join the co-ordinated assault with the United States and France.

Mr Corbyn insisted, however, that the full document must be released as he called for renewed diplomatic efforts the bring the conflict in Syria to an end.

In the letter to Mrs May, Mr Corbyn wrote: I believe that Parliament should have been consulted and voted on the matter. The UK Prime Minister is accountable to Parliament, not to the whims of a US pPresident.

I believe the action was legally questionable, and this morning the UN Secretary-General has said as much, reiterating that all countries must act in line with the UN Charter.

"I urge all Member States to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances & to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people." -- @antonioguterres following air strikes in Syria: https://t.co/Q57LPagtvj pic.twitter.com/yVWXrF7nOQ  United Nations (@UN) April 14, 2018

You assured me that the Attorney General had given clear legal advice approving the action. I would therefore be grateful if you would publish this advice in full today.

Russia, the Syrian regimes most powerful ally, used its veto at the United Nations to prevent an investigation into the attack on the rebel-held town of Douma one week ago. It was the latest in a series of occasions when Moscow has blocked action against Syria during the seven-year civil war.

The Labour leader, however, said the UK must go to the UN to secure a new resolution that has the backing of Russia and the United States along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey.

He said an agreement secured in 2013 between then US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria showed an agreement could be reached.

There is precedent that this process can work, and surely it would have been better to do that than start bombing  and goodness knows what the consequences of the bombing could be, he said.US President Donald Trump declared it was mission accomplished after the overnight bombing campaign in Syria.

And he thanked the UK and France for their wisdom and the power of their fine military.

Britain launched cruise missiles as part of the co-ordinated military operation with the United States and France in response to the chemical weapons attack in Douma one week ago.

Mr Trump said the joint strikes against the Syrian regime were perfectly executed.

He added: Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished.

Theresa May insisted that joining the military campaign was the right thing for us to do in the wake of the harrowing assault on the Syrian rebel-held town.

The Prime Minister also warned Russia that the air strikes should act as a warning to Russia over its use of chemical weapons.

Speaking at Number 10, Mrs May said action was legal and defended the decision to go ahead without securing the backing of Parliament.

But she was accused of riding the coat-tails of an erratic US president by the Liberal Democrats, and taking instructions from Washington by Labour.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s joined the co-ordinated missile strikes at 2am, launching Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles west of Homs.

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The Prime Minister said the Cabinet had taken advice from the Attorney General, National Security Adviser and military chiefs when it met on Thursday.

She added: We agreed that is was both right and legal to take military action together with our closest allies.

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Number 10 is expected to put out a summary of the advice it received later on Saturday, Downing Street sources said.

Mrs May said it was right we acted the way that we did for operational security reasons to help protect the military.

RAF Tornados launched Storm Shadow missiles at a regime chemical weapons facility fifteen miles west of Homs, Syria. See images and video here: https://t.co/uSI3loV6Q0 pic.twitter.com/Rd85WLScSR  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 14, 2018

She insisted the action against Bashar Assads regime was a limited and targeted strike to degrade and deter the Syrian government and was not about regime change.

But she also drew a link with the nerve agent attack on Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Looking drawn as she spoke to reporters in Downing Street in a hastily arranged press conference, she said: We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere.

An emergency session of the UN Security Council, called by Russia, will meet at 4pm UK time.

.@mod_russia : of 103 missiles, 71 intercepted by Syrias air defences. No serious damage at airfields. Two former industrial sites hit with no people or equipment in place.https://t.co/7g05zNTWoX pic.twitter.com/0qqNZ2Pfvu  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 14, 2018

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes were an act of aggression that would have a destructive influence on international relations.

Asked if the action had also been a warning to Russia, Mrs May said: The action that took place last night was an action which was focused on degrading and deterring the operational capability and the willingness of the Syrian regime to continue to use chemical weapons.

There have been many instances when we have seen them using those chemical weapons.

But I believe it should also be a message to others that the international community is not going to stand by and allow chemical weapons to be used with impunity.

Expand Close Syria conflict Press Association Images / Facebook

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Jeremy Corbyn said the military action against Syria was legally questionable and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

He said: Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US Defence Secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence... Posted by Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday, April 14, 2018

Mrs May has faced criticism from across the political spectrum for failing to recall Parliament and put the plans to a vote.

The Prime Minister said she will go before the Commons on Monday to answer questions about her decision but insisted there was no alternative path.

On Friday, Russian military chiefs claimed they had evidence the UK had directed the attack in Douma using the White Helmets, a group of humanitarian volunteers on the ground.

Mrs May said the accusation was grotesque and absurd as she criticised Russia for vetoing at the UN calls for an independent investigation.

The PM did not rule out further action if Syria continues to use chemical weapons.

Mr Trump said the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons on Douma was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

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Following the announcement, the US said strikes had been launched at 9pm EST (2am BST) and had destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected with the Syrian regimes chemical weapons programme.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus, involved in the development and production of chemical warfare.

Other strikes targeted an army depot near Homs.Air strikes in Syria should act as a warning to Russia over its use of chemical weapons, Theresa May has said.

The Prime Minister insisted that military action against Bashar Assads regime was a limited strike in response to the harrowing chemical weapons attack in Douma and was not about regime change.

But Mrs May also drew a link with the nerve agent attack on Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

The Prime Minister @Theresa_May is holding a press conference on Syria. https://t.co/mwcHYPRfB5  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 14, 2018

Looking drawn as she spoke to reporters in Downing Street in a hastily arranged press conference, she said: We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will call an emergency session of the UN Security Council over air strikes on Syria.

Asked if the strikes had also been a warning to Russia, the PM said: The action that took place last night was an action which was focused on degrading and deterring the operational capability and the willingness of the Syrian regime to continue to use chemical weapons.

There have been many instances when we have seen them using those chemical weapons.

But I believe it should also be a message to others that the international community is not going to stand by and allow chemical weapons to be used with impunity.

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Mrs May said chemical weapons had all too often been used in recent times.

I think it is right that the international community has come together and said we will not accept this, she added.

The UK, United States and France launched precision strikes in Syria overnight.

US President Donald Trump announced the combined operation on Friday night and Mrs May spoke soon afterwards to explain her decision.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the military action against Syria was legally questionable and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence... Posted by Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday, April 14, 2018

Mrs May has faced criticism from across the political spectrum for failing to recall Parliament and put the plans to a vote.

The Prime Minister said she will go before the Commons on Monday to answer questions about her decision but insisted there was no alternative path.

Mr Trump said the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons on Douma was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The Prime Minister @theresa_may has made a statement on Syria: https://t.co/bBfYyowUIo pic.twitter.com/QlTeFXmOkt  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 14, 2018

Following the announcement, the US said strikes had been launched at 9pm EST (2am BST) and had destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected with the Syrian regimes chemical weapons programme.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus, involved in the development and production of chemical warfare.

Other strikes targeted an army depot near Homs.Cruise missile strikes against the Syrian regime should act as a warning to Russia over its use of chemical weapons, Theresa May has said.

The Prime Minister insisted that joining the bombing campaign with the United States and France was the right thing for us to do in the wake of the harrowing assault on Douma a week ago.

Mrs May said the military action was legal and defended the decision to go ahead without securing the backing of Parliament.

But she was accused of riding the coat-tails of an erratic US president by the Liberal Democrats, and taking instructions from Washington by Labour.

Four Royal Air Force Tornados GR4s joined the co-ordinated missile strikes at 2am, launching Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles west of Homs.

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The Prime Minister said the Cabinet had taken advice from the Attorney General, National Security Adviser and military chiefs when it met on Thursday.

She added: We agreed that is was both right and legal to take military action together with our closest allies.

Mrs May said it was right we acted the way that we did for operational security reasons to help protect the military.

RAF Tornados launched Storm Shadow missiles at a regime chemical weapons facility fifteen miles west of Homs, Syria. See images and video here: https://t.co/uSI3loV6Q0 pic.twitter.com/Rd85WLScSR  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 14, 2018

She insisted the action against Bashar Assads regime was a limited and targeted strike to degrade and deter the Syrian government and was not about regime change.

But she also drew a link with the nerve agent attack on Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Looking drawn as she spoke to reporters in Downing Street in a hastily arranged press conference, she said: We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere.

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will call an emergency session of the UN Security Council over the strikes on Syria.

.@mod_russia : of 103 missiles, 71 intercepted by Syrias air defences. No serious damage at airfields. Two former industrial sites hit with no people or equipment in place.https://t.co/7g05zNTWoX pic.twitter.com/0qqNZ2Pfvu  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 14, 2018

The Russian president said they were an act of aggression that would have a destructive influence on international relations.

Asked if the strikes had also been a warning to Russia, Mrs May said: The action that took place last night was an action which was focused on degrading and deterring the operational capability and the willingness of the Syrian regime to continue to use chemical weapons.

There have been many instances when we have seen them using those chemical weapons.

But I believe it should also be a message to others that the international community is not going to stand by and allow chemical weapons to be used with impunity.

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The PM said chemical weapons had all too often been used in recent times.

I think it is right that the international community has come together and said we will not accept this, she added.

US President Donald Trump announced the combined operation on Friday night and Mrs May spoke soon afterwards to explain her decision.

Jeremy Corbyn said the military action against Syria was legally questionable and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

The Labour leader said he would be pushing for the Government to release the legal advice it received ahead of the strikes.

Number 10 is expected to put out a summary of the advice it received later on Saturday, Downing Street sources said.

He said: Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence... Posted by Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday, April 14, 2018

Mrs May has faced criticism from across the political spectrum for failing to recall Parliament and put the plans to a vote.

The Prime Minister said she will go before the Commons on Monday to answer questions about her decision but insisted there was no alternative path.

On Friday, Russian military chiefs claimed they had evidence the UK had directed the attack in Douma using the White Helmets, a group of humanitarian volunteers on the ground.

Mrs May said the accusation was grotesque and absurd as she criticised Russia for vetoing at the UN calls for an independent investigation.

The PM did not rule out further action if Syria continues to use chemical weapons.

Mr Trump said the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons on Douma was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

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Following the announcement, the US said strikes had been launched at 9pm EST (2am BST) and had destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected with the Syrian regimes chemical weapons programme.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus, involved in the development and production of chemical warfare.

Other strikes targeted an army depot near Homs.Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire as the US launches an attack on Syria (Hassan Ammar/AP)

The US, UK and France have launched co-ordinated missile strikes on Syria following a despicable chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma.

Here is what we know so far:

 Strikes were launched at 2am BST at three sites connected with the Syrian regimes chemical weapons programme.

 The first was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus involved in the development and production of chemical weapons, the second at a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs, and the third at a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post.

Footage from #Damascus shows air defence missiles being launched. Location not specified. #SyriaStrikes pic.twitter.com/EqTUYBeNq0  Riam Dalati (@Dalatrm) April 14, 2018

 The US said important infrastructure had been destroyed, resulting in the loss of years of research and development for the Syrian regime.

 Four Royal Air Force Tornados contributed to the strikes, launching Storm Shadow missiles.

 US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said double the number of weapons had been used in the strikes compared with the 2017 Shayrat missile strike which involved 59 US Tomahawk cruise missiles and was launched in response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

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 Mr Mattis and General Joseph Dunford said there were no reports of any allied losses. Syrian state-run TV later reported that three civilians had been wounded.

 General Dunford described the operation as a one-time shot, and said no additional attacks were planned, but added that the powers that had signed the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons had every reason to challenge Syrian President Bashar Assad if he chose to violate it. The allies remained in close consultation, he said.

 The only retaliatory action was some Syrian surface-to-air missile activity, the US said.

 General Dunford confirmed there was no co-ordination with the Russians and that they were not given prior notification of the strikes.

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 Prime Minister Theresa May said the decision to launch the strikes was not taken lightly, but she believed it to be in the UKs national interest.

 Every possible diplomatic channel had been explored prior to the strikes, Mrs May added.

 Syrian state TV called the attacks a blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy.

 US President Donald Trump condemned Syrias two main allies, Russia and Iran, for supporting murderous dictators.

 In response, the Russian embassy in the US said it had warned that such actions would not be left without consequences, adding that insulting President Vladimir Putin was unacceptable and inadmissible.Sacked FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe misled investigators about his role in a news story about Hillary Clinton just days before the 2016 presidential election, a watchdog has found.

President Donald Trump, already furious over a forthcoming book from fired FBI director James Comey, lashed out after the reports release by saying Mr McCabe had LIED! LIED! LIED!

The inspector general report concludes that Mr McCabe allowed FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for a story about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation, violating agency rules, and then misled FBI officials when questioned about it.

The report also reveals starkly contradictory accounts from Mr McCabe and Mr Comey about how the conversations with the reporter had come to take place.

Mr McCabe, who was fired just two days before his scheduled retirement, denied the reports allegations in a detailed rebuttal statement. He said that when he believed his answers to the inspector general were misunderstood, he went back and tried to correct them.

Mr McCabes statement notes that as deputy director he had full authority to authorise sharing information with the media and says he permitted subordinates to do so in this case to correct a false narrative that he had tried to stymie an FBI probe into the Clinton Foundation.

The conversation was done to protect the institutional reputation of the FBI as a non-political and professional investigative agency, and therefore was squarely within the public interest exception to the FBIs prohibition on sharing sensitive material, the statement said.

Mr McCabe has also said his dismissal was part of the Trump administrations ongoing war on the FBI and special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation and that he was singled out because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of Mr Comeys firing.

The inspector general report does not square with the Republican narrative of the FBI as a politically biased institution since the October 30 story contained derogatory information about Mrs Clinton and underscored FBI interest in investigating her foundation.

But its conclusion may also be hard for Democrats to embrace given its harshly critical suggestion that Mr McCabe had put his personal reputation above the interests of the FBI.

Regardless, the report immediately provided fodder for Mr Trumps public attacks on Mr McCabe.

The president has made a concerted and Twitter-driven effort to impugn Mr McCabe as a partisan hack, accusing him of covering up unspecified lies and corruption at the FBI and calling his firing a great day for Democracy.

Thank you for providing even more material for the defamation suit we are actively considering filing against you and your colleagues. Stay tuned. https://t.co/udFIxVxidl  Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) April 13, 2018

On Friday, Mr Trump called the inspector general report a total disaster and said McCabe is controlled by Comey.

No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes! Mr Trump tweeted.

A lawyer for Mr McCabe, Michael Bromwich, said he is considering filing a defamation lawsuit against Mr Trump and his colleagues. He sarcastically thanked Trump in a Twitter post on Friday for providing even more material for the lawsuit he is considering.A Syrian journalist who fled the country and resettled in Northern Ireland has voiced his support for action against the Assad regime.

Rami Zahra (36) has lived in Londonderry since May 2016 with his wife and young son, but still has family in Syria.

He has been alarmed by reports that dozens of people, including children, were killed during a suspected chemical attack in the formerly rebel-held town of Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region.

Cabinet ministers have agreed "on the need to take action" in Syria after concluding it was "highly likely" the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was responsible.

Mr Zahra said life for people there is so unbearable they actually envy those who die from natural causes.

He continued that he believes the military strikes being considered by the UK, US and France will not make the situation any worse for civilians but could stop the daily onslaught of bombs, torture and now chemical attacks from the Assad regime.

Mr Zahra said: "Whoever dies of natural causes in Syria is envied by Syrians.

"Syrians say to each other that dying of natural causes is better than by barrel bombs, chemical weapons, killed under torture or due to grief and sadness in tents away from their homes. I still have relatives in Syria who are living like others.

"They are facing difficulties in buying food and medicine, the lack of security, and the widespread militias who are fighting with Assad regime loot their houses. Life there is unbearable."

Mr Zahra continued: "Every day Syria has casualties, detention, rape and the destruction of the infrastructure, so a [missile] strike from the US will not be anything new.

"What could be new is that this strike is going to target those responsible for all these crimes, which is why Syrians are supporting it."

Mr Zahra still documents the daily atrocities suffered by his fellow countrymen in Syria.

In 2017, the Syrian Human Rights Network recorded 10,204 civilian deaths, 1,536 of which were women and 2,298 children.

He said it is difficult to predict what the future holds.

"What has happened in Syria has exceeded the limits of expectations of everyone. I believe this is due to the international inaction since Syrians took [to] the streets to demand the end of the injustice by the regime."Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters marched through the Hungarian capital of Budapest, demanding a new election and a new national electoral system in the biggest opposition rally in years.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban was re-elected for a fourth term last week. His right-wing populist Fidesz party won a super-majority in the national assembly, with preliminary results showing that Fidesz and tiny ally the Christian Democratic party won 134 seats in the 199-seat legislature.

Opposition supporters are upset that Hungarys electoral rules have given Mr Orbans party such a large majority in Parliament when it only won around 50% of the vote.

While the left-wing opposition parties won 12 of 18 seats at stake in Budapest districts, Fidesz won 85 of 88 seats outside the capital. The other 93 seats were allocated based on votes for party lists.

Protesters marched from the Opera to Parliament, shouting New elections! We are the majority!

The size of the crowd, overflowing from the citys Kossuth Square outside Parliament, rivalled the pro-government Peace March held on March 15. Organisers said another anti-government protest would be held next weekend.

We want new and fair elections, opposition activist Gergely Gulyas told the huge crowd. This is the responsibility of the government and were going to remind them of this, peacefully and massively.

Mr Orban, whose campaign focused on the demonisation of migrants, has promised significant changes in his next government, which could push for a constitutional amendment against migration.

He claims that opposition parties want to turn Hungary into an immigrant nation with the help of the European Union, the United Nations and Hungarian-American billionaire and philanthropist George Soros.

Opposition members deny the claim.Strong message: the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in conversation with former priest Denis Bradley in Belfast earlier this week

The visit to Belfast this week by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) was further proof that it has attracted attention at the highest levels of Church and State.

He was taking part in a British Council event at the Ulster University.

Whatever we think of the GFA, it is clearly still the only political show in town, even if Stormont remains empty.

Last week I spoke to leading church figures here and I was impressed by the way they responded without hesitation to my request for a comment on the GFA.

One cleric sent me a message from Budapest, another emailed me from Bilbao.

What they all had was a commitment to what had been achieved by the GFA and a clear passion that it must not be abandoned.

Lord Eames, the Church of Ireland Primate in 1998, underlined that the Agreement "opened a door out of the misery of years of suffering. No one questions how far we have moved forward but the sad reality is that we have a long journey to complete before all the dreams of 1998 can be realised".

Fr Patrick McCafferty said: "It was a hard won agreement and we should not underestimate the personal cost to some of the key players."

He added, bluntly: "It would be a colossal tragedy if the Agreement were to be negated by the egotism and bigotry of some politicians of today, who lack the greatness of mind and heart that many of the architects of the 1998 Agreement possessed."

A former Presbyterian Moderator, Dr John Dunlop, was equally blunt.

He reminded politicians that their responsibility is to make the Agreement work and said: "It's not their responsibility to wreck it."

I welcome such forthright comments from these clerical figures because they are prepared to speak out.

One of the problems facing leaders of the major churches is to combine their Christian mission of encouraging reconciliation and too often patting the politicians on the shoulders, even though many of the same politicians need a kick up the transom.

However, we get the politicians we deserve because we vote for them. It is depressing to measure the current crop against those who hammered out the GFA with courage, vision and, in some cases, at great personal cost.

Yet it is wrong to blame the politicians entirely, because we share much of that blame. During the past week I have read church statements and listened to prayers all week where clergy and laity asked God to guide the politicians to find agreement.

Sadly, we in Northern Ireland are good at passing the buck to God. Does God just suddenly decide one day to exert more influence on our politicians in order to make shared government work properly?

It does not work that way. The new testament sets out clearly that the way ahead in every society is to respect and help your neighbour. So why don't we do what God tells us?

As I have often said, many people go to church here and pray for peace, but then they vote for political deadlock.

They don't mean to do so, but they don't think it through.

If they really want peace and power-sharing they should vote for the middle parties who might make it happen and not for the extremist blocs whose 'orange versus green' politics are mutually contradictory.

When, if ever, will the penny drop? My over-riding emotion this week was one of great sadness that the hopes of April 10, 1998, have gradually been buried by the disenchantment on all sides at the lack of political progress.

People still want peace and renewed efforts to solve our shared problems in health, education, jobs and other issues, but how do we get there?

One of the most telling comments to me last week came from Fr Brian D'Arcy, who likened the current political impasse to the comment by GK Chesterton about Christianity.

He said: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried."

The same could truly be said of the Good Friday Agreement and its aftermath.A Rohingya child from Myanmar plays in the dirt at the Kutupalong refugee camp in southeastern Bangladeshs Cox Bazar district, April 9, 2018.

The Myanmar State Counselors Office expressed serious concern on Friday with a statement issued by a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court claiming jurisdiction over the deportation of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmars Rakhine state during a brutal army crackdown that began late last August in response to attacks by a Muslim militant group, and now live in squalid displacement camps in southeastern Bangladesh.

The Myanmar government and military have defended the crackdown, which included large-scale killings, rape, and arson, as a counter-insurgency campaign, though United Nations officials have called the campaign a textbook example of ethnic cleansing that potentially bears the hallmarks of genocide.

On Monday, Gambian lawyer and ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouka asked The Hague, Netherlands-based international tribunals judges to rule on whether the ICC can exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

She raised the jurisdiction issue because Bangladesh is a member of the ICC, while Myanmar is not.

Bensoukas argument  the first request of its kind filed at the ICC  is an attempt to assert jurisdiction over deportation of the Rohingya by Myanmar army soldiers during the crackdown.

This distinction is critical because, since the ICC lacks jurisdiction over Myanmar, the most obvious path to justice for victims of crimes committed against ethnic Rohingya is through a United Nations Security Council referral to the court, wrote Param-Preet Singh, associate director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, in a statement on Tuesday.

It is based on the ICCs ability to assert jurisdiction if the conduct in question for a deportation was committed on the territory of a member state, she wrote. Since crossing a border is a legally required element of the crime of deportation, Bensouda argues, victims being forced to cross into the territory of Bangladesh would be a part of that conduct.

Bensouda has requested a hearing so she and other parties can present their arguments to the court.

The Myanmar government said that the prosecutors assertion of the extension of jurisdiction is not in line with the ICC Charter and other international statutes to which the country is not a party.

The extension of jurisdiction to non-parties may have a reverberating effect on all non-parties in the world challenging long established principles such as legal certainty, the statement issued by Aung San Suu Kyis office said.

What the prosecutor is attempting to do is to override the principle of national sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states in contrary to the principle enshrined in the U.N. Charter and recalled in the ICCs Charter, it said.

Myanmar reiterates that it has not deported any individuals in the areas of concern and in fact has worked hard in collaboration with Bangladesh to repatriate those displaced from their homes, the statement said.

Rohingya repatriation plans

Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement in November for the return of Rohingya refugees who are living in sprawling displacement camps in the southeastern part of the country.

They signed a second agreement in January to complete the repatriation program within two years, though the returns have yet to get under way.

Myanmar government officials say they are prepared to begin the program but that incorrectly completed applications by refugees who want to voluntarily return have delayed the process.

During a visit to Bangladesh on April 11-12, Win Myat Aye, Myanmars minister of social welfare, relief, and resettlement, met with Bangladeshi government officials, U.N. representatives, and Rohingya refugees to brief them on the plan for the return and resettlement of Rohingya living in displacement camps.

It remains unclear how many Rohingya refugees would willingly return to villages from which they were driven by Myanmar army, abetted in many cases by local Buddhist residents.

On Thursday, Myint Thu, permanent secretary of Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Myanmar Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA)  a news service affiliated with BenarNews  that the country would sign memorandums of understanding with the United Nations Development Program and U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) on the repatriation and resettlement of refugees.

Both agencies have raised concerns about the safety of the Rohingya, whom Myanmar considers illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and subjects to systematic discrimination, once the refugees return to Rakhine state.

The Bangladeshi government and the U.N. refugee agency finalized a similar document on Friday ensuring the safe and voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar in line with international standards once conditions are conducive to returns.

The UNHCR has engaged with the government of both countries separately in the absence of a tripartite agreement between all three parties.

Later this month, the 15 ambassadors of the United Nations Security Council will travel to Myanmar and Bangladesh for a week to observe the Rohingya refugee crisis on the ground.Seeking to dampen international criticism and protect children, officials in Indonesias Aceh province have decided to move public canings indoors and regulate who can attend.

Henceforth, canings of people convicted of violating Islamic law will take place inside prisons and not in mosque courtyards, where they have been attended by thousands of people, many of whom filmed the spectacle.

Local officials signed off on the change in the provincial capital on Thursday despite protests by a legislator and a group of students who said public canings serve as a deterrent.

We dont want implementation of this punishment to get in the way of our foreign relations, because of Islamophobia, Aceh Gov. Irwandi Yusuf told journalists, explaining why he issued the regulation. He said a limited number of spectators could still watch indoor canings.

Children are not allowed inside. Visitors cant bring camera, or cell phones, he said.

Can you image if children watch it and see the public cheering, clapping. It is not what Sharia law intends.

National and international human right activists have been critical of the Aceh canings, calling them human rights violations.

The first-ever public caning of a couple convicted of gay sex in Aceh in May 2017 in particular drew international media coverage and widespread condemnation. Islamic Sharia law is in force in Indonesias westernmost province, and allows up to 100 strokes for gay sex or sodomy.

Irwandi said a video of those canings went viral on YouTube, causing potential long-term trauma for the men.

They could go on to become public figures or even clerics and then someone would show them the video and remind them of how they used to be, he said.

Munawar A. Djalil, head of Acehs Sharia law agency, said the regulation was signed to prevent children from watching.

But in reality from 2005 until now, they watched the canings. We can imagine the psychological effect of such violence on children, Munawar said.

Protests

Seven students protested outside the building Thursday while officials signed an agreement on the venue of the canings.

Muharruddin, the chairman of Acehs House of Representatives, called the governors act undemocratic, saying changes to Sharia bylaws must be approved by the provincial assembly, not enacted by executive decree.

In hierarchy, the qanun is positioned higher than a gubernatorial regulation. The technical procedure for whipping is already in the qanun, he told BenarNews, referring to the Islamic bylaws.

Members of the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front said moving canings behind closed doors could lead to more frequent violations of the law.

If it is conducted inside prison, it is the same as being closed [to the public]. Violations to Sharia law will be more rampant. It is already rampant, said protest coordinator Tuwanku Muhammad.

We are against the regulation because caning in public places serves as a lesson for the public not to violate the Sharia law.

Tuwanku said the turnout for the protest was small because he and the others only learned about the signing the night before.

We will stage a rally with more participants from other Islamic mass organizations, he said.

Irwandi shrugged off the objections.

If they disagree, thats all right. It is their right.Voters wait outside a polling station set up at a school in Kuching, the capital of the eastern Malaysian state of Sarawak, April 16, 2011.

Sarawak and Sabah  the two semi-autonomous states in Malaysian Borneo  could provide Prime Minister Najib Razak and his ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition the votes they need to stay in power through next months general election, political analysts say.

The ruling coalition and an opposition alliance led by former longtime Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad are battling ahead of the May 9 vote for electoral support over several issues. But Sabah and Sarawak offer solid blocs of votes for Barisan, analysts told BenarNews.

Yes, Sabah and Sarawak will still be the fixed-deposit states for the BN, said Jeniri Amir, an associate professor at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), referring to a common term for votes from states that have sided with the ruling coalition in previous elections.

Jeniris forecast was grudgingly accepted by some leaders of the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH), both in Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia.

I hope not, Xavier Jayakumar, an opposition assemblyman in Sri Andalas, a township in the peninsular state of Selangor, told BenarNews.

BN, made up of its linchpin party, the United Malay National Organization (UMNO), and 12 other smaller parties that have been in power continuously since the 1950s, won only 86 seats in Peninsular Malaysia during the March 2008 general election  a devastating upset described by local newspapers as a political tsunami.

By contrast, the then-opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition won 89 seats in the 222-member parliament.

But the 54 seats that BN secured in Sabah and Sarawak gave the ruling coalition a slight majority to form a government again.

The electoral setback for Najib and his BN in the peninsula continued in the 2013 general election, during which they lost more seats to the opposition.

Again it was the BN coalition partners in Sabah and Sarawak  where the people are agitating for more autonomy, the return of their rights  that came to shore up Najib's flagging political fortune, Jeniri told BenarNews.

Oppositions pledge

In its manifesto for the upcoming election, called the Book of Hope, Pakatan Harapan has vowed to review the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63), which paved the way to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. The oppositions election pledge was aimed at granting Sabah and Sarawak more autonomy from the federal government.

MA63 was an agreement signed by the Federated Malay states in the peninsula, Singapore and the former British Borneo territories of Sarawak and North Borneo  now renamed Sabah. Singapore withdrew from Malaysia in 1965.

Since the 1970s, as part of Malaysias policy of bridging a wealth gap with the wealthier Chinese community, ethnic Malays and indigenous people in Borneo  who are known locally as bumiputra or sons of the soil  enjoy special privileges in education and business.



After the 2013 election, the 64-year-old Najib appointed six ministers from Sabah and seven from Sarawak to his federal cabinet to reward the territories for helping him maintain his power.

Jeffrey Kitingan, a leader of Star, the local opposition party in Sabah, said the ministerial appointments were rewards to the two states for continuing to be Najibs fixed-deposit states, even as the two Sarawak deputy chief ministers, Douglas Uggah and James Masing, indicated that the cabinet appointments in 2013 fell short of their expectations.

But Najib, in power since 2009, showered Sabah and Sarawak with more rewards by approving major projects, such as the 25 billion ringgit (U.S. $6.47 billion) Pan Borneo Highway. He also promised to return all rights lost advertently or inadvertently as he paved more roads with asphalt.

Kelvin Yii, the oppositions pick for the Stampin federal seat in Sarawak, said the two states offered fragile fixed-deposits because Najib, in his view, was taking the states for granted.

Even though they (Najib and the BN) are throwing out goodies, at end of the day, they are not addressing the real desire and need of the state, which is the return of the special rights, he said.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari, however, defended the federal government and said the discussion was on the way.

Abang, a Barisan politician, had said in the past that the issues being discussed were constitutionally complex and needed time and a detailed study.

Voting for bread-and-butter issues

Meanwhile, despite a corruption scandal surrounding Najib over state investment fund 1MDB that has led to widespread calls in Peninsular Malaysia for the prime minister to resign, rural voters in the two Borneo states will continue to cast their votes for BN because they have a low level of political literacy, said Jeniri, the political analyst.

The 47 seats that BN won in Sarawak and Sabah during the 2013 election are largely rural seats whose voters come from more than 100 tribes. The Dayaks are the largest ethnic tribespeople in Sarawak, and the Kadazadusun, Dusun, Suluk and Bajau are the major ones in Sabah, which has more than 1.1 million registered voters.

In Sarawak, 25 of the 31 federal seats are rural.

The tribes in the rural areas will vote for BN because of fears from the populace that voting for the opposition may result in the loss of vital financial development allocations to fund development projects in their areas, Jeniri said.

To back up Jeniri's assertion, a Unimas analysis in January forecast that 60 percent of Sarawak voters would support BN in the coming election because they are more concerned with bread-and-butter issues.

Thats a fact, said 43-year-old Vatz Lamit, a resident of a Saratok longhouse, the traditional dwelling of natives. Many residents living in isolated longhouses deep in the states interior also share that sentiment, she said.

They want their piped, treated water, a road from their longhouse to the main road and 24-hour electricity from the power grid, she said, adding that despite some unfulfilled promises by the ruling coalition in the past, rural voters still trusted BN to bring the basic amenities.

But, Jeniri said, Najib and the ruling coalition must tread warily. He warned that if they failed to keep rewarding Sabah and Sarawak and pacify residents complaints on the federal governments failure to respect the MA63, the coming election may see a shift in political power.

If Najib does not continue to bring large-scale development projects to Sabah and Sarawak and fail on the MA63, people might not vote for the BN, he said.The Story of Baisakhi Faith Mysticism lekhaka-Subodini Menon

Baisakhi is one of the many harvest festivals celebrated in India. In a country where agriculture is still a way of life, harvest festivals hold a great importance. Every year, Baisakhi is celebrated on the first day of the month Vaishakh as per the Hindu calendar. It usually falls on the 13th or the 14th of April. This year, Baisakhi is to be celebrated on the 13th of April.

Baisakhi is celebrated by the Sikh community in India and abroad with a lot of pomp and show. There is another reason why Baisakhi is so important to the Sikh people. In the year 1699, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs created an order which came to be known as the Khalsa Panth.

If you visit the state of Punjab during the Baisakhi festival, you will face a wonderfully joyous atmosphere. The whole state becomes colourful and is drowned in the festive mood. Gurudwaras (the places of worship) are turned into huge gathering grounds where people meet and enjoy the festivities.

Today, we shall learn more about the story behind Baisakhi and the formation of the Khalsa Panth. Read on to know more.

 Guru Gobind Singh Calls For A Meeting

On the Baisakhi day, in the year 1699, Guru Gobind Singh - the 10th Guru of the Sikh Religion - called for a meeting. People came out in huge numbers in response to the Guru's call. Around 50,000 people joined Guru Gobind Singh to hear him speak.

 Guru Gobind Singh Proclaimed - 'I want a head.'

The crowd had gathered to hear the sweet and comforting words of their beloved Guru. Instead, they were taken aback to see him with a sword drawn in his hand. Guru Gobind Singh looked at the huge crowd and shouted, "I want a head."

 Dya Ram Came Forward

The crowd was astounded on hearing the Guru's demand. Silence prevailed amongst the crowd. The Guru cried out his demand two more times. The third time, a man responded. This man was named Dya Ram who was a Khatri from Lahore, which is now in Pakistan. Guru Gobind Singh took him to his tent. After some time, he came out but the sword that he carried was stained with blood. The crowd was shocked and a few people began to leave.

 Guru Gobind Singh Asked Again

Guru Gobind Singh called out for another head. This time, a Jatt from Delhi came forward. He was called Dharam Das. Again, the Guru took him to his tent and came out alone with his bloodied sword.

 Three More Men Followed The Guru

In a similar fashion, the Guru asked for heads again and again. He received three more volunteers. A washerman who went by the name of Mokam Chand, a barber named Sahib Chand and a water carrier named Himmat Rai. Mokam Chand was from Dwaraka, Sahib Chand from Bidar and Himmat Rai belonged to Puri.

 Guru Gobind Singh Came Out With All The Five Men

The crowd that remained was wondering how long this game of death had to go on. Then, the Guru stepped out of his tent, leading the five men whom he had taken with him. They were alive and hearty.

 Guru Gobind Singh Explained The Reason Behind His Actions

Guru Gobind Singh told the crowd that all this was a test. This test was to see who was faithful and believed in their Guru. The five men who stood behind him proved to be the most faithful among the crowd of 50,000. He said that they will be called the 'Panj Paras' or the five beloved ones of the Guru. They belonged to the Hindu castes that were very different from each other. But he united them under one order. The five were the first people to belong to the 'Khalsa order'. The men were to have the last name 'Singh' and the women were to be called 'Kaur', which meant princess.

 The Sword And The Sugar

Guru Gobind Singh then took a steel bowl and poured water into it. His wife, Mata Sundari, then added sugar to it. Guru then took a short sword and stirred this while chanting his prayers. The water was 'amrit' and the sword stood for 'strength'. The act of stirring the sugar water with the sword symbolized the strength that the Sikh possessed which always is balanced with a sweet temperament. The Guru then sprinkled this water on the five men as a simple initiation ceremony into the Khalsa.

 The Initiation Of The Guru

The Guru then asked the five men to do the same to him. This way, he too was initiated into the Khalsa. The words that were chanted were - "The Khalsa is the Guru, the Guru is the Khalsa".

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 8:00 [IST]Some doctors at the Brandon hospital considered staging a brief walkout last month to protest a recent change to the way patients records are documented in the emergency room.

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This article was published 14/4/2018 (1265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Some doctors at the Brandon hospital considered staging a brief walkout last month to protest a recent change to the way patients records are documented in the emergency room.

Doctors at the Brandon Regional Health Centre have criticized a new method that involves inputing a patients clinical notes into the Emergency Department Information System, or EDIS, saying the time it takes to enter the information into a computer could be better spent with patients instead.

"The programs dont speak to each other well," said one doctor who is familiar with the situation. "They are not compatible, they dont work together."

The doctor, who spoke to The Brandon Sun on the condition of anonymity, questioned whether this new method was the best use of the hospitals resources, especially when a lot of what takes place in the department is responding quickly to an emergency.

For a number of years, the BRHC has used the EDIS as part of an overall move in the health-care system to store health records electronically.

In the past year, a new component called clinical documentation was introduced, which allows a patients clinical notes to be entered into the system.

On top of the difficulties with the EDIS, the doctor said a patients medical chart must also be entered into systems for electrocardiograms, lab tests, X-rays and others, when the process should be more symbiotic.

The source said there are better systems being used already in some clinics within Prairie Mountain Health, adding doctors arent opposed to charting electronically.

In a statement, PMH CEO Penny Gilson said "the implementation of any new system is a change, and the transition can create challenges which need to be managed and overcome working with the end users of the system, and the introduction of the clinical documentation component of EDIS was no different."

She said PMH and Manitoba eHealth have been working with health-care providers to address the challenges.

"In fact, this includes pausing implementation to allow time to ensure any challenges can be managed and overcome. Prairie Mountain Health and Manitoba eHealth remain committed to continue working with the providers in the system to manage the changes in an effective and efficient manner as possible.

"Electronic health records will continue to be advanced and ultimately will ensure improved continuity of care and protection of personal health information."

 mlee@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @mtaylorleeTwo Manitoba students have been suspended  with one being arrested  after threats were reportedly made at one school, and a note referencing to a mass shooting in the United States surfaced at another.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/4/2018 (1267 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Two Manitoba students have been suspended  with one being arrested  after threats were reportedly made at one school, and a note referencing to a mass shooting in the United States surfaced at another.

A 13-year-old student at Gilbert Plains Elementary School was arrested Wednesday, after he allegedly threatened to take a gun to school and shoot teachers and girls.

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre said Thursday that Dauphin RCMP received a call from the school in Gilbert Plains, which is 30 kilometres west of Dauphin, at about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday.

"A student had made threats to harm other students during an incident that occurred earlier in the day at the school," Manaigre said. "An investigation was started, which led to the arrest of a 13-year-old male youth, who has been suspended from school and will be facing charges of uttering threats."

The youth was released on a promise to appear in provincial court at a later date.

"The Dauphin detachment is continuing to work with the Gilbert Plains Elementary School to ensure the students and staff have a safe work and learning environment," Manaigre said.

A statement on the school website, attributed to principal Chris Fisher, said: "We have taken the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of students and staff of Gilbert Plains Elementary."

A parent of another child at the school said parents have been told the student was suspended for two days.

The parent, who asked not to be named, said the student reportedly threatened to take a firearm to the school to shoot teachers and some girls who had complained to the principal about an earlier incident involving the boy.

Mountain View School Division assistant superintendent Dan Ward said division policy prevents him from saying how long the student is suspended.

Ward said once the principal began investigating the matter, the divisions threat-assessment procedures kicked in.

"In any situation where a threat is made, we enact our threat-assessment procedures," he said. "(The principal) followed up on it, contacted students and parents, and then the RCMP."

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old male student at Sergeant Tommy Prince School in Brokenhead First Nation was suspended last month, after a note was found on the property stating: "Only 90s kids will remember Columbine."

Manaigre said RCMP investigated after being notified April 4 about the note, which the school discovered March 19. Brokenhead First Nation is 80 km north of Winnipeg.

Columbine High School was the site of one of the United States most notorious mass shootings. On April 20, 1999, two senior students armed with firearms and homemade explosives killed 12 students and one teacher (and injured more than 20 people) at the Colorado school before killing themselves.

Manaigre said the Tommy Prince student was not arrested because "no direct threat was made towards the school or any student or staff... The matter was dealt with by the school where the student was suspended."

No one at the school or the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre, the organization operated by several First Nations which oversees the school at Brokenhead, could be reached for comment Thursday.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.caBy Shahien Nasiripour and Patrick Clark

Donald Trumps hotel company looked set for a major expansion across the US in the early months of his presidency. A top executive spoke of two dozen US cities under consideration and 39 signed letters of intent. These days, the business appears stalled.

President Trumps name has come off one of his luxury US hotels, and the only four new Trump hotels being developed in the US are clustered in three small towns in the Mississippi Delta.

The Trump name  which in 2015 he considered the Trump Organisations most valuable asset  has become something of a liability.

Interviews with eight hospitality analysts and consultants suggest that property owners, land developers and lenders are wary of going into business with Trump Hotels, worried about the presidents approval rating and the companys lack of experience.

The office of the presidency is casting a shadow over the hotel company, said Bob Hunter, chief executive of brokerage Hunter Hotel Advisors.

Trump Hotels market share has remained largely flat at many of its US hotels, according to System2, a New York-based big-data startup that uses location pings from mobile phones to estimate hotel visits. The Trump Organisation isnt required to publicly disclose its financial statements or its hotel occupancy rates.

There are a few bright spots. His Washington DC hotel is out-charging the competition, winning business from Republican donors and foreign governments, and the company continues to expand in some parts of the world, with projects in India and Indonesia.

Yet struggles remain. President Trumps hotel in Chicago, with 339 rooms in a 92-story tower along the

Chicago River, has spent years struggling to land a single tenant for its more than 60,000 sq ft of open retail space. The Trump name was removed from a lower Manhattan hotel last year, as well as from hotels in Toronto and Panama City.

And ambitious plans to launch two new US brands, Scion and the three-star American Idea, are languishing. Eric Danziger, who runs the hotel business, said last June that Trump Hotels had 39 signed letters of intent for its four-star Scion brand.

Mr Danziger also talked last year about almost tripling the number of its US-based hotels, including the possibility of new luxury hotels in Dallas, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle.

Scion and American Idea, however, have yet to open any of the four planned hotels it has announced under either flag. No other new deals have been announced. These Trump brands just have not gotten legs yet, said Drew Dimond, who runs Dimond Hotel Consulting Group. I havent heard one developer mention thats a brand theyd want, he said.

Some of the challenges for Trumps hotel business include the companys lack of brand recognition and large central reservation system, as well as doubts about whether the US hospitality industry can continue an eight-year long streak of revenue growth.

The company says its revenue remains strong.

President Trumps new line of hotels, Scion and American Idea, are seeing significant interest and we have a number of deals in the pipeline, Trump Hotels spokeswoman Christine Da Silva said.

We are very pleased with the performance of our Trump Hotels portfolio, with most of our properties exceeding our projections to date. Occupancy, revenue and profitability are up across the majority of our hotels.

She didnt provide any figures.

Before he took office, Donald Trumps hotel in Chicago generated 30% more revenue per room in 2016 than the average comparable luxury hotel, according to securities filings.

The hotel in Washington, a 15-minute walk from the White House, often is frequented by President Trump himself and senior officials in his administration, making it a top draw in a town that prizes proximity to power and enabling the hotel to command higher nightly rates than its peers.

Republican campaigns and committees have spent more than $500,000 (405,100) at President Trumps Washington hotel since the start of last year, Federal Election Commission filings show.

Saudi Arabias representatives in Washington spent hundreds of thousands of dollars there, too.

Trump Hotels has publicly disclosed just four new hotels, all of them owned by a pair of Indian-American brothers from Mississippi with a track record of giving money to Republican campaigns.

BloombergBy David Raleigh

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar held a private meeting with managers at the Russian-owned alumina plant in Askeaton in Co Limerick, as concern mounted over the plant and its 450 workers.

Aughinish is the largest alumina refinery in Europe but its operator Rusal has been hit by sanctions imposed by the US on the firms owner, Oleg Deripaska.

The sanctions effectively ban US companies or persons from dealing with Rusal. The sanctions do not directly affect the plant though this could change.

Mr Deripaska, who is reportedly close to Russian president Vladimir Putin, was targeted along with six other oligarchs in President Donald Trumps sanctions hit-list.

Rusals shares have nosedived since the sanctions were imposed last week, shedding half their value on the Hong Kong stock market.

Moodys and Fitch this week both withdrew Rusals credit ratings, according to Rusals own website. It said: Fitch has withdrawn the ratings due to the sanction restrictions of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury of the USA (OFAC).

Management representatives of Aughinish Alumina, including managing director Damien Clancy, travelled to Rusals head offices in Russia in recent days to assess any potential impact on Aughinish, sources have confirmed.

The Taoiseach confirmed he met Aughinish representatives in Limerick yesterday.

He said: Obviously there is a concern that the US sanctions imposed on Russia could have an impact on Rusal.

"Everyone, including the IDA, and the Department of Foreign Affairs, are very aware of the situation, and, the Government will do everything we can to protect the investment (at Aughinish) and protect the jobs there.Volkswagens (VW) new chief executive Herbert Diess said he will consider asset sales and seeks to turn the multi-brand conglomerate into a slimmed down company with strong brands.

Speaking at his first news conference as chief executive at VWs headquarters in Wolfsburg, Mr Diess said he would look at the different assets in VWs portfolio, which includes Renk and MAN Diesel, and review whether keeping them makes sense.

We will review all options, said Mr Diess, adding that this could include investing in the businesses or pursuing a sale.

Shares in VW remained largely unchanged.

It comes as Britains biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover will cut around 1,000 jobs and production at two of its English factories due to a fall in sales caused by uncertainty around Brexit and confusion over diesel policy, a source said.

Output will be cut at its central English Solihull and Castle Bromwich plants, affecting some 1,000 agency workers. A spokesman at Jaguar Land Rover declined to comment on the number of jobs which would be lost but the firm said it would be making changes to its output plans.

Major players in the motor industry have had to rethink strategies after a crackdown across the EU and US following VWs emissions scandal.

VWs new boss was announced after its directors ousted Matthias Mueller and deliberated ways to reform an empire which has motorbike, bus, truck and passenger car brands including Ducati, Bentley, Porsche, Audi, Scania and Skoda. The carmaker also said it will reorganise its 12 brands by creating six new vehicle divisions.

A renowned cost-cutter, Mr Diess took over from Mr Mueller after the latters attempts to reshape the automotive group foundered amid labour opposition, including his plans to sell motorbike brand Ducati.

Mr Mueller had taken on the job days after the Dieselgate scandal broke in September 2015.

In January, Jaguar said it would temporarily reduce production at its other British plant of Halewood later this year in response to weakening demand due to Brexit and tax hikes on diesel cars but did not detail any job losses.

Jaguar sales are down 26% so far this year whilst Land Rover demand dropped 20% in its home market as buyers shun diesel, concerned over planned tax rises and possible bans and restrictions in several countries.

British new car registrations have been falling for a year which the car industry body has partly blamed on weakening consumer confidence in the wake of the Brexit vote, after record demand in 2015 and 2016.

ReutersThere are calls for a new inquest into the 1981 Stardust fire in Artane in Dublin.

It is the worst fire disaster in the history of the state.The Citizens' Assembly is to meet this weekend.

It will discuss 'Fixed-term Parliaments' today ahead of a vote tomorrow.

The Citizens' Assembly will see 99 members hear presentations today relevant to their examination of the topic of 'Fixed-term Parliaments'.

It will decide whether there should be greater restrictions in place on the Taoiseach's ability to advise the President to dissolve the Dail, and will require them to consider a number of constitutional articles.

Today Dr Eoin Daly from NUI Galway will explain current law and practice on the summoning and dissolving of the Dail and Seanad Eireann.

Tomorrow the members will vote by secret ballot on the recommendations they wish to make to the Houses of the Oireachtas.

- Digital DeskFianna Fail says a record high in outpatient waiting list marks a grim month for the overcrowding crisis in the country's hospitals.

The party's new health spokesperson says 504,111 patients were left waiting for appointments, as hospital waiting lists continue to rise.Update 6.40pm: Russian efforts to veto UN action against Syria left US, British and French allies no option but to launch airstrikes against key installations, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

After a debriefing of Nato ambassadors by the three allies on Saturday, Mr Stoltenberg said that "before the attack took place last night, Nato allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue to the UNSC by diplomatic and political means".

He added: "But since this was blocked by Russia, there was no other alternative."

Mr Stoltenberg said: "I am not saying that the attacks last night solved all problems but compared to the alternative to do nothing this was the right thing to do."

He said all 29 Nato members backed the airstrikes as a consequence of the country conducting a suspected chemical attack against its civilians last weekend.

The strikes were about making sure that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity, he added.

But Russia branded the airstrike an act of "hooliganism" and called for a vote on a UN resolution to condemn "the aggression" against Syria.

The resolution is certain to be defeated in the UN Security Council when it is put to a vote later Saturday at the end of an emergency meeting called by Russia.

It demands that military action stop "immediately and without delay".

BREAKING: UN Security Council rejects Russian resolution condemning `aggression' against Syria by the US and its allies.  The Associated Press (@AP) April 14, 2018

Update 6pm: Trump, May and Macron hail military strikes 'a success'

Theresa May, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron agreed the military strikes in Syria "had been a success" during telephone conversations this afternoon, a Downing Street spokesman said.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: "In separate calls, the Prime Minister this afternoon spoke with President Macron and President Trump.

"The three leaders agreed that the military strikes taken against the Syrian Regime's chemical weapons sites had been a success.

"The Prime Minister welcomed the public support which had been given by fellow world leaders for the strong stand the UK, France and the United States had taken in degrading Syria's chemical weapons capability and deterring their use, defending global rules, and sending a clear message that the use of chemical weapons can never become normalised."

Update 5.40pm: Russian UN Ambassador says missile strike was 'act of aggression'

Russia's Ambassador to the UN has said that the Syrian Air Strikes was an "act of aggression" and international experts had not completed their tests.

Vassily Nebenzia. Pic: AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

"In a sign of cynical disdain a group of Western countries decided to take military action without waiting for the results of the investigation," said Russias UN Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia.

"Russia condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack against Syria."

Nato Secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said he had been briefed by the UK, France and the US and had "no reason to doubt" the intelligence.

BREAKING: All #NATO Allies expressed their full support for last nights action, intended to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability & to deter further chemical attacks - SG @jensstoltenberg pic.twitter.com/iktzGaLZCV  Oana Lungescu (@NATOpress) April 14, 2018

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, he said: "Before the strikes took place last night, Nato allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue through the UN Security Council by diplomatic and political means.

"Since this was blocked by Russia there was no other alternative than to react the way they reacted at this time."

He added: "Compared to the alternative of doing nothing, this was the right thing to do."

 BREAKING: #OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team has arrived in Damascus, #Syria to commence its work.  OPCW (@OPCW) April 14, 2018

Update 5pm: UN Secretary General calls for 'restraint in these dangerous circumstances'

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, its secretary general, Antonio Guterres, called for "restraint".

He said: "I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people."

Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said the response followed a "well tried" pattern of provocation, "mendacious" accusation, verdict and punishment.

He said: "This is hooliganism in international relations, and not minor hooliganism given that we are talking about major nuclear powers."

I urge all Member States to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people - @antonioguterres at Saturday's meeting of the Security Council on Syria.  UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) April 14, 2018

US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, pointed out the meeting was the fifth this week on Syria.

"The time for talk ended last night," she said.

She said President Trump had told her that if there was further use of chemical weapons by Assad's regime, the United States was "locked and loaded".

UK ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce

Meanwhile in the UK, No. 10 has said that the legal case for military action has been met

Airstrikes in Syria met international laws for military action on humanitarian grounds, according to No 10 documents setting out the legal case.

In a summary of the advice given by UK Attorney General Jeremy Wright to British Prime Minister Theresa May, Downing Street pointed the finger at Moscow over its role in leading the UK and its allies to decide to launch an attack on Bashar Assad's regime.

It said international action to alleviate suffering caused by chemical weapons had been repeatedly blocked by Syria's allies.

Diplomatic action, sanctions, and the US strikes against the Shayrat airbase in April 2017 have failed to sufficiently degrade Syria's chemical weapons capability, the document added.

"There was no practicable alternative to the truly exceptional use of force to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deter their further use by the Syrian regime in order to alleviate humanitarian suffering," the paper said.

UK ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce insisted the Government was "certain" of its legal case.

The No 10 paper said the UK met three demands under international law - that there is convincing evidence of extreme humanitarian distress, there is no practicable alternative to the use of force, and the action is necessary and proportionate - had been met.

It said: "In these circumstances, and as an exceptional measure on grounds of overwhelming humanitarian necessity, military intervention to strike carefully considered, specifically identified targets in order effectively to alleviate humanitarian distress by degrading the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deterring further chemical weapons attacks was necessary and proportionate and therefore legally justifiable.

"Such an intervention was directed exclusively to averting a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons, and the action was the minimum judged necessary for that purpose."

Alleging that Britain is somehow behind the CW attack on Douma is grotesque.



Its an egregious of fake news, some of the most outlandish weve seen.



I can say categorically that Britain is a member of good standing of the CWC.



We uphold our obligations.  Karen Pierce (@KarenPierceUK) April 13, 2018

Update 2.46pm: Mission Accomplished - Trump uses phrase that haunted Bush

As he declared the US-led airstrikes against Syria a success, President Donald Trump adopted a phrase that a previous president came to regret - "mission accomplished".

On Saturday, President Trump tweeted: "A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

In May 2003, President George W Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" - just six weeks after the invasion.

But the war dragged on for many years after that and the banner became a symbol of US misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly conflict.

President Bush was heavily criticised for the move.

George W Bush.

After shifting explanations, the White House eventually said the "Mission Accomplished" phrase referred to the carrier's crew completing its 10-month mission, not the military completing its mission in Iraq.

President Bush, in October 2003, disavowed any connection with the "Mission Accomplished" message.

He said the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesman later said the ship's crew asked for the sign and the White House staff had it made by a private vendor.

Former White House press secretary Dana Perino said in 2008: "We have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner."

Update 2.25pm: 'Mission Accomplished' in Syria, Trump declares

US President Donald Trump declared it was "mission accomplished" after the overnight bombing campaign in Syria.

And he thanked the UK and France "for their wisdom and the power of their fine military".

President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Friday, April 13, 2018, in Washington, about the United States' military response to Syria's chemical weapon attack on April 7. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Britain launched cruise missiles as part of the co-ordinated military operation with the United States and France in response to the chemical weapons attack in Douma one week ago.

Mr Trump said the joint strikes against the Syrian regime were "perfectly executed".

He added: "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished."

Theresa May insisted that joining the military campaign was the "right thing for us to do" in the wake of the "harrowing" assault on the Syrian rebel-held town.

The Prime Minister also warned Russia that the air strikes should act as a warning to Russia over its use of chemical weapons.

Speaking at Number 10, Mrs May said action was "legal" and defended the decision to go ahead without securing the backing of Parliament.

But she was accused of "riding the coat-tails of an erratic US president" by the Liberal Democrats, and "taking instructions" from Washington by Labour.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s joined the co-ordinated missile strikes at 2am, launching Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles west of Homs.

The Prime Minister said the Cabinet had taken advice from the Attorney General, National Security Adviser and military chiefs when it met on Thursday.

She added:

We agreed that is was both right and legal to take military action together with our closest allies.

Number 10 is expected to put out a summary of the advice it received later on Saturday, Downing Street sources said.

Mrs May said "it was right we acted the way that we did" for operational security reasons to help protect the military.

Syrian president Bashar Assad.

She insisted the action against Bashar Assad's regime was a limited and targeted strike to degrade and deter the Syrian government and was not about regime change.

But she also drew a link with the nerve agent attack on Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Looking drawn as she spoke to reporters in Downing Street in a hastily arranged press conference, she said: "We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere."

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

An emergency session of the UN Security Council, called by Russia, will meet at 4pm UK time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes were an "act of aggression" that would have a "destructive" influence on international relations.

Asked if the action had also been a warning to Russia, Mrs May said: "The action that took place last night was an action which was focused on degrading and deterring the operational capability and the willingness of the Syrian regime to continue to use chemical weapons.

"There have been many instances when we have seen them using those chemical weapons.

"But I believe it should also be a message to others that the international community is not going to stand by and allow chemical weapons to be used with impunity."

I have written to @Theresa_May in response to last nights legally questionable air strikes on Syria.



Parliament should have been consulted and voted on the matter. The UK Prime Minister is accountable to Parliament, not to the whims of a US President. pic.twitter.com/MWHxmoPbPZ  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) April 14, 2018

Jeremy Corbyn said the military action against Syria was "legally questionable" and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

He said: "Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US Defence Secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely."

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have already been killed and millions displaced. The Government must take a diplomatic lead to negotiate a ceasefire in the conflict.  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) April 14, 2018

Mrs May has faced criticism from across the political spectrum for failing to recall Parliament and put the plans to a vote.

The Prime Minister said she will go before the Commons on Monday to answer questions about her decision but insisted there was no "alternative path".

On Friday, Russian military chiefs claimed they had evidence the UK had directed the attack in Douma using the White Helmets, a group of humanitarian volunteers on the ground.

Mrs May said the accusation was "grotesque and absurd" as she criticised Russia for vetoing at the UN calls for an independent investigation.

The PM did not rule out further action if Syria continues to use chemical weapons.

Mr Trump said the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons on Douma was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime".

Following the announcement, the US said strikes had been launched at 9pm EST (2am BST) and had destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected with the Syrian regime's chemical weapons programme.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus, involved in the development and production of chemical warfare.

Other strikes targeted an army depot near Homs.

Update 12.15pm: France warns of further air strikes if chemical weapons used again

France's foreign minister has threatened further missile strikes against Syria if Bashar Assad's government uses chemical weapons again.

France joined the United States and Britain in a joint operation to destroy what French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said is a "good part" of the Syrian government's chemical weapons arsenal.

He said France has "no doubt" that the Syrian government was behind a suspected chemical attacks last weekend. Syria denies responsibility.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Mr Le Drian told BFM television that the goal for the allied mission had been attained, but that if France's "red line" is crossed again there could be another attack.

Earlier, the French government said it has no samples of the chemical weapons it believes were used in Syria, but launched its military response based on open-source information and intelligence gathering.

France has released its assessment of what happened in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 - which was the basis for France's involvement in the joint military operation with the US and UK.

The assessment cites "the absence to date of chemical samples analysed by our own laboratories". It said the government evaluated publicly available information from nongovernmental organisations and other sources as well as unspecified French intelligence.

It concludes that there is "no plausible scenario other than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces".

NEW: French release video showing fighter jets taking off to execute strikes against Syria. https://t.co/yjRxpPgMYY pic.twitter.com/sTORxyB0cC  ABC News (@ABC) April 14, 2018

The assessment notes eight chlorine attacks ahead of the "major attack" on Douma and 44 allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria over the past year.

Meanwhile, Germany's chancellor said the air strikes are a "necessary and appropriate" response to the attack on Douma.

Angela Merkel said the US, Britain and France "took responsibility in this way as permanent members of the UN Security Council".

Mrs Merkel said the strikes were needed "to maintain the effectiveness of the international rejection of chemical weapons use and to warn the Syrian regime against further violations".

She had said earlier this week that Germany would not join allied military action against Syrian government forces.

 "Germany will not join any possible military action" in Syria, says German Chancellor Angela #Merkel.



In light of the suspected use of chemical weapons in #Ghouta, Merkel says the "entire spectrum of measures must be considered." pic.twitter.com/2QvMfTyKPu  DW Politics (@dw_politics) April 12, 2018

The European Commission's president said those who rely on chemical warfare must be held to account by the world.

Jean-Claude Juncker said the suspected use of poison gas last week in the Syrian city of Douma was - as he puts it - a "heinous chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime".

Mr Juncker said the world "has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable those responsible" for that kind of attack.

Update 10.30am: Syrian air strikes are a warning to Russia - Theresa May

Air strikes in Syria should act as a warning to Russia over its use of chemical weapons, Theresa May has said.

The Prime Minister insisted that military action against Bashar Assad's regime was a limited strike in response to the "harrowing" chemical weapons attack in Douma and was not about regime change.

But Mrs May also drew a link with the nerve agent attack on Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Prime Minister Theresa May during a press conference in 10 Downing Street, London on the air strikes against Syria. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.

Looking drawn as she spoke to reporters in Downing Street in a hastily arranged press conference, she said: "We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere."

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will call an emergency session of the UN Security Council over air strikes on Syria.

Asked if the strikes had also been a warning to Russia, the PM said: "The action that took place last night was an action which was focused on degrading and deterring the operational capability and the willingness of the Syrian regime to continue to use chemical weapons.

The Prime Minister @Theresa_May is holding a press conference on Syria. https://t.co/mwcHYPRfB5  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 14, 2018

"There have been many instances when we have seen them using those chemical weapons.

"But I believe it should also be a message to others that the international community is not going to stand by and allow chemical weapons to be used with impunity."

Mrs May said chemical weapons had "all too often" been used in recent times.

"I think it is right that the international community has come together and said we will not accept this," she added.

The UK, United States and France launched "precision strikes" in Syria overnight.

US President Donald Trump announced the "combined operation" on Friday night and Mrs May spoke soon afterwards to explain her decision.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the military action against Syria was "legally questionable" and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace.



My statement responding to air strikes on Syria: https://t.co/R6Yqkk4MV3  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) April 14, 2018

Mrs May has faced criticism from across the political spectrum for failing to recall Parliament and put the plans to a vote.

The Prime Minister said she will go before the Commons on Monday to answer questions about her decision but insisted there was no "alternative path".

Mr Trump said the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons on Douma was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime".

Following the announcement, the US said strikes had been launched at 9pm EST (2am BST) and had destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected with the Syrian regime's chemical weapons programme.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus, involved in the development and production of chemical warfare.

Other strikes targeted an army depot near Homs.

Update 9.40am: Putin: Aggression by US and allies will worsen Syrian humanitarian catastrophe

Russian president Vladimir Putin has denounced an air strike on Syria by the United States and its allies as an "act of aggression" that will exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the country.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader said Moscow is calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the strike launched by the US, Britain and France.

Mr Putin added that the strike had a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations".

Vladimir Putin.

He reaffirmed Russia's view that the purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake.

Mr Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of a chemical attack. He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

Meanwhile, the Russian military said Syria's Soviet-made air defence systems have downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies.

Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said Saturday's strike has not caused any casualties, and Syrian military facilities targeted by the US, UK and France have suffered only minor damage.

He said the Russian air defence assets in Syria monitored the strike but did not engage any of the missiles.

Col Gen Rudskoi said the Syrian military used Soviet-era air defence missile systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the missiles aimed at four key Syrian air bases.

He noted that Russia has in the past refrained from providing Syria with its state-of-the-art S-300 air defence missile systems at the insistence of the West, but could reconsider this decision now.

Earlier: US, Britain and France launch air strikes as allies punish Syria for 'despicable' Douma attack

A series of missile strikes have been launched against Syria by the US, UK and France in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma a week ago.

The strikes began at 2am BST and destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected to the Syrian regime's chemical weapons programme, according to the allies.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis said double the number of weapons were used in the strikes compared with the 2017 Shayrat missile strike which involved 59 US Tomahawk cruise missiles and was launched in response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

There were no reports of any allied losses during the latest strikes and only limited resistance in the form of some Syrian surface-to-air missile activity.

Syria's main backer Russia, which has insisted there was no chemical weapons attack in Douma and accused the West of fabricating evidence of it, was not informed of the strikes in advance.

Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Announcing the operation, Prime Minister Theresa May said there was "no practicable alternative to the use of force".

Mrs May said "every possible diplomatic channel" had been explored before authorising the strikes, adding that it was not a decision she had taken lightly.

She said: "This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped - not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons.

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.

"It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties."

The Prime Minister @theresa_may has made a statement on Syria: https://t.co/bBfYyowUIo pic.twitter.com/QlTeFXmOkt  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 14, 2018

US President Donald Trump said the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons on Douma last Saturday was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime".

Giving a statement at the White House, Mr Trump said: "This evil and despicable act left mothers and fathers and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.

"The combined American, British and French response will integrate all instruments of our national power."

Mrs May said the action would also send a "clear signal" to anyone else who believed they could use chemical weapons "with impunity".

She said: "This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat - and it is not a decision I have taken lightly."

Mrs May authorised the strikes despite demands from opposition parties that Parliament was consulted before any military action was launched.

But the Prime Minister said she had authorised the operation "because I judge this action to be in Britain's national interest".

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world," she added.

Damascus is seen as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French president Emmanuel Macron said there was no doubt the Syrian regime was responsible for the chemical attack in Douma.

He said: "We cannot tolerate the trivialisation of the use of chemical weapons, which represent an immediate danger for the Syrian people and for our collective security.

"The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed."

Dozens of men, women and children were massacred using chemical weapons in Douma on Saturday, 7 April.

The red line has been crossed.

I have therefore ordered the French armed forces to intervene.https://t.co/mezFfV1Hh9 pic.twitter.com/7lVhMjhx9I  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 14, 2018

There was no immediate military response from Moscow but Russian politicians reacted angrily, with one MP likening Mr Trump to Adolf Hitler.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that the first of the allied strikes on Saturday was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus involved in the development and production of chemical weapons.

The second was at a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, while the third was at a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post.

He added: "Important infrastructure was destroyed which will result in a set-back for the Syrian regime. They will lose years of research and development, storage and equipment."

Four Royal Air Force Tornados contributed to strikes, launching Storm Shadow missiles at the target 15 miles west of Homs in a "successful attack", the Ministry of Defence said.

RAF Tornados taking-off on a sortie at RAF Akrotiri to conduct strikes in support of Operations over the Middle East. A series of missile strikes have been launched against Syria by the US, UK and France in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma a week ago. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.

The MoD said the Syrian regime was "assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors stockpiled in breach of Syria's obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention" at the site.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: "The reprehensible use of chemical weapons in Douma is further evidence of the Syrian regime's appalling cruelty against its own people.

"We will not stand by whilst innocent civilians, including women and children, are killed and made to suffer.

"The international community has responded decisively with legal and proportionate military force.

"Let these united actions send a clear message to the regime - the use of chemical weapons is categorically unacceptable and you will be held to account."

General Dunford said the strike had inflicted maximum damage without unnecessary risk to civilians.

Asked if the US and its allies would continue military operations, he said: "That will depend on Mr Assad should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future, and of course the powers that have signed the Chemical Weapons Prohibition (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) have every reason to challenge Assad should he choose to violate that.

But right now this is a one-time shot and I believe that it sent a very strong message to dissuade him, to deter him from doing this again.

Mr Mattis said the US remained in "close consultation" with its allies, adding: "We review the evidence all the time. But right now we have no additional attacks planned."

He also praised the "level of trust" between the US, UK and France, saying: "These allies, the American, the French, the British, we have operated together through thick and thin, through good times and bad, this is a very, very well integrated team.

"Wherever we operate, we do so with complete trust in each other, but more than that the belief that one another will be there when the chips are down. It's a statement about the level of trust between our nations."

- PAUpdate 9.55pm: Hundreds of Syrians took to the streets of the capital in a show of defiance following joint air strikes by the United States, France and Britain hailed by President Donald Trump as "Mission Accomplished".

Just hours earlier, Damascus was rocked by loud explosions and the sky turned bright orange as Syrian air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

"A perfectly executed strike," Mr Trump tweeted after warplanes and ships launched more than 100 missiles.

Russia and Iran called the use of force a "military crime" and "hooliganism".

The UN Security Council met in emergency session to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the "aggression" by the three Western allies.

Mr Trump's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, told the session that the president has made it clear that if Assad uses poison gas again, "the United States is locked and loaded".

The Syrian president denies he has used chemical weapons, and the Trump administration has yet to present hard evidence of what it says precipitated the allied missiles attack: a chlorine gas attack on civilians in Douma on April 7. The US says it suspects that sarin gas also was used.

As the airstrikes began, Assad tweeted: "Good souls will not be humiliated."

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents began gathering in the landmark Omayyad square of the Syrian capital.

The strikes "successfully hit every target," US officials said - the Barzah chemical weapons research and development site in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a chemical weapons "bunker" a few miles from the second target.

Neither Syria nor its Russian or Iranian allies retaliated, Pentagon officials said.

The US-led operation won broad Western support. The Nato alliance gave its full backing; Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels that the attack was about ensuring that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the attack "necessary and appropriate."

Syrian police units entering the town of Douma. Pic: SANA via AP

Pentagon officials said the action "took out the heart" of Assad's chemical weapons arsenal.

A former officer in Syria's chemical program, Adulsalam Abdulrazek, said the strikes hit "parts of but not the heart" of the program and were unlikely to curb the government's ability to produce or launch new attacks.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlin's scepticism about the allies' Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack.

He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to complete their visit to the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was little doubt the Syrian government used a barrel bomb - large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal - to deliver the chemicals at Douma.

"No other group" could have carried out that attack, Mrs May said, adding that the allies' use of force was "right and legal".

The attack began at 4am local time (0100 GMT) with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of Damascus, shaking the ground from a distance.

Syrian TV called the attacks a "blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy".

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Mr Trump's second order to attack Syria; he authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

The strikes appear to signal Mr Trump's willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict.

The participation of British and French forces enables him to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, the president stressed that he has no interest in a lengthy fight with Syria.

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances," he said. "As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home."

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Friday, April 13, 2018, in Washington, about the United States' military response to Syria's chemical weapon attack on April 7. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Update 8pm: UN Council rejects Russia resolution condemning Syria airstrikes

The UN Security Council has rejected a resolution tabled by Russia calling for condemnation of the "aggression" by the United States and its allies against Syria.

Only three countries - Russia, China and Bolivia - voted in favour of the resolution at the end of an emergency meeting of the 15-member council called by Russia on Saturday. Eight countries voted against and three abstained.

A resolution needs at least nine "yes" votes to be approved.

The United Nations Security Council meets on the situation in Syria. Pic: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

The vote reflected the deep divisions in the UN's most powerful body, which has been paralysed in dealing with the seven-year Syrian conflict and chemical weapons use in the country.

The US, Britain and France say they launched airstrikes against Syrian chemical sites after obtaining "proof" that poisonous gas was used last weekend in Douma, killing 41 civilians.

Russia and Syria claim the attack was fabricated.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the UN meeting in New York that the US and its allies struck without waiting for an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, branding the attack "hooliganism".

But the US ambassador to the UN said President Donald Trump told her if the Syrian regime uses poisonous gas again, "the United States is locked and loaded" to strike again.

Nikki Haley said: "When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line."

She said the message from airstrikes that "crippled Syria's chemical weapons program" was "crystal clear".

"The United States of America will not allow the Assad regime to continue using chemical weapons."

She accused Russia of defending Syrian President Bashar Assad and failing to ensure that Syria's chemical weapons were destroyed as the Assad regime had pledged in 2013.Rio Tinto said it would declare force majeure on certain customer contracts after the US imposed sanctions on its partner Russian aluminium producer Rusal.

The mining group said on Friday it was working with its customers to minimise disruptions to supply and would fully comply with US sanctions.

Rio also said it was reviewing Rusal's 20 per cent stake in the Queensland Alumina refinery. Credit:Louie Douvis

Rio also said it was reviewing Rusal's 20 per cent stake in the Queensland Alumina refinery, Rusal's supply and offtake arrangements, bauxite sales to Rusal's refinery in Ireland and offtake contracts for alumina.

The United States imposed sanctions last week against Russian entities and individuals, including Rusal, to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US election and other "malign activity".Those who rarely visit Rhodes may think of it mostly as the home of a Nordic stress colony called IKEA. But a short walk from the Waterside shopping complex, past the land of allen keys, is a corner cafe that's quietly injecting the spirit of a sleepy artist commune into the neighbourhood.

Part-gallery and part-cafe, Auvers takes its name after Auvers-sur-Oise  a small French village north-west of Paris where celebrated impressionists such as Cezanne and Pissarro gathered, and where Vincent Van Gogh painted some of his most important works.

SUNHERALD. Auvers matcha pancakes served at Auvers in Rhodes. April 11, 2018. Photo: Dominic Lorrimer Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

The cafe is something of a passion project by friends Ron Chen and Leo Rong, whose obsession for coffee and art led them to conceive of a space where they can curate both. Where its namesake is known for being colourful, however, the fit-out at Auvers has a predominantly steely, industrial palette. Matt Woods, who designed Rabbit Hole and Devon Barangaroo, has put the spotlight on the wall-to-wall display shelf at the back of the cafe  where local artists exhibit their wares.

While you sip on a caramelly Black Market Roasters flat white, check out the framed portraits, jewellery and handmade ceramics for sale. Sydney potter Denise McDonald makes the cafe's crockery, including the delicate ceramic cups in which all coffee (and some excellent matcha and hojicha by Grow Green Tea) is served.For a number of years now Australia has been winding back its foreign aid to Pacific nations and ignoring the pleas of those nations that are struggling with the effects of rising sea levels. We are providing aid to nations such as Nauru and New Guinea because they are co-operating in an attempt to overcome an Australian domestic political problem. Is it any wonder some of those nations are looking to alternative sources of support? D. O'Connor, Gordon Coal plan a lie Back in 1980 Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen poured water into the first water-powered car and watched with satisfaction as the vehicle drove off down the road. Now "Alchemy Malcolm" has announced a plan to "see brown coal from here in the Latrobe valley converted to hydrogen, liquified, and then exported to Japan".

Elementary chemistry tells us this is actually no more than a plan to burn brown coal in Australia, use the electricity to produce hydrogen from water for Japan, leaving the polluting carbon dioxide for the Latrobe valley to dispose of. No, the only pollution-free way to provide hydrogen for local or overseas use is to use renewable energy; convert the photons that land in Australia every day into electrons, and export them as, for example, hydrogen or aluminium. Adrian Gibbs, Yarralumla Poor rifle form While it is pleasing to see The Honorable Tim Fisher gifting his 303 Enfield rifle to the Museum of Australian Democracy, the photo of him passing the firearm to museum director Daryl Karp depicts a violation of firearm safety rules.

When passing a bolt-action rifle such as an Enfield, the action must be open, with the bolt removed or projecting rearwards, not closed as shown in the photo. David Thompson, Watson One wonders why the Lee-Enfield rifle featured in the report "Former deputy PM Fischer gifts 'weapon of democracy"' (April 13, p16) was referred to as the Enfield .303. Lee designed the rifle's bolt system, so his name is a significant element of the rifle's correct name. Enfield, on the northern outskirts of Greater London, is the location of the Royal Small Arms Factory where the rifle was designed. Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor Look at history

Kevin Donnelly's excellent opinion piece ("Folau a victim for his views", Canberra Times, April 11) missed the latest lunacy that would have white men like me check my white privilege and openly atone for the alleged sins of the past. Never would I submit to such nonsense; it was white men who were overwhelmingly responsible for ushering in the amazing developments in science, medicine, engineering and social change that transformed the world from the brutal dark ages to the wonderful lifestyle most people of all colours either aspire to, or enjoy, today. Certainly that evolution was not without its problems, but no other group in history comes close and I think that deserves applause rather than opprobrium. H.Ronald, Jerrabomberra Impressive feat

I was cynical of Ian Warden's clinical fortune teller and psychic counsellor, Mystic Daphne, until I read that her consulting rooms were on the 18th floor of the 16-storey Nishi Building. Alan Robertson, Campbell Balance missing It warmed the cockles of my heart to read (April 12, p3) that, with the appointment of Liz Cosson as head of Veterans Affairs, half the Commonwealth departmental secretaries will now be women. But I was equally disappointed to note the absence of any people of Asian or African background, as business was urged to do only yesterday by an "expert" in that area who predicted much better outcomes if these people got a go.

Also missing was a breakdown of the secretaries by LGBTI as I am sure we would want a proper balance there too. Stan Marks, Hawker Tax madness The battler has no chance against the Tax Office. Look at this little gem I found in Section 165-55 of the Taxation Act (GST): The Commissioner of Taxation may: a) "treat a particular event that happened as not happened"

b) "treat a particular event that did not happen as having happened" c) "treat a particular event that happened as having happened at a different time from the time it actually happened" Why aren't we protected from legislation like this? Ray Armstrong, Tweed Heads, NSW Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message eld, not as an attached le. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.A "fast-moving" grass fire is burning out-of-control in Sydney's west close to homes and blanketing parts of the city with dark smoke, with some residents being warned it is too late to leave.

Fire and Rescue NSW issued an emergency warning for the fire on Saturday afternoon, which was burning close to Moorebank Avenue and Somercotes Court at Wattle Grove.

Residents in the Wattle Grove community and the Holsworthy military complex are advised to shelter in place.Nick Scerri was on board diverted flight QF568. Credit:Nick Scerri

A Qantas flight from Perth to Sydney has landed safely after experiencing mid-air problems with its air conditioning system.

Qantas flight 568 was diverted to Melbourne and landed safely at Tullamarine at 6.17am on Saturday.

The air conditioning problem affected the aircraft's ability to "maintain pressure in the cabin", so crew diverted the flight to Melbourne and requested priority landing upon arrival as a precaution.

"Following standard procedure, the crew descended to 10,000 feet and were able to restart the system and diverted to Melbourne," Qantas said in a statement.Video has been posted online overnight showing activists torching the Commonwealth Games surfboard countdown clock at South Bank.

The group said the attack was in response to, what they described as, Gold Coast police's "excessive force" at the Indigenous land rights protest on Friday, which saw in five activists arrested and charged.

Activists torch Commonwealth Games countdown clock at South Bank.

In a statement posted with the video, the arsonists said the Commonwealth's "time is up" and called for more activists to travel to the Gold Coast and take part in further protests.

"We watched on social media as the police brutalised and arrested peaceful Stolenwealth Games protestors on the Gold Coast," the activists' statement read.Brisbane has had a hotel boom with more than 4000 hotel rooms opening since 2014, a further 1500 will open in 2018 and at least 1600 more will available by 2022.

In 2011 Brisbanes hotels were creeping towards capacity and had, on average, an occupancy rate of 80.2 per cent for the year.

In response to this Brisbane City Council announced an infrastructure charges incentives to encourage developers of four and five stars hotel to build in Brisbane.

While the supply of hotel rooms has increased on average by about 27 percent between 2011 and 2017, the average occupancy rate has dropped by 6.6 per cent and the average daily rate decreased by $24.10 in the same period.Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy is under pressure to give parents greater access to gay 'conversion' therapy for their children, with sections of the Liberal Party set to push the issue at this months state council meeting.

A motion by a conservative Liberal branch linked to Federal MP Kevin Andrews has called for state legislation allowing health practitioners to offer counselling out of same sex attraction or gender transitioning to patients who request it''.

With seven months before the Victorian election, it also urges Mr Guy to advocate for laws ensuring parents and young people are all given full information about the psychological harms of social, medical and surgical gender transitioning.

Matthew Guy, facing pressure to give greater access to so-called gay 'conversion' therapy. Credit:AAP

It further states that any claims supporting prescribing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender re-assignment surgery as safe and reversible, are in fact "both false and harmful".Imagine you are 10 years old, and terrified.

Youve had very little sleep at an overnight emergency placement. Your clothes are in the bag youre holding. And today youll go to court to find out if you will be removed from your family.

Lee Cameron, from the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, in the new children's Cubby House at the Children's Court. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Its a time most young people will remember vividly, when every effort should be made to reduce the trauma in the process that confronts them.

But enter the austere, glass-clad Melbourne Childrens Court, in the citys legal precinct, and its hard to imagine a space less welcoming to a shell-shocked child.The government has decided to suspend work on a major and controversial planning blueprint, the Perth and Peel Green Growth Plan for 3.5 million, which has been in the making for seven years.

The draft Green Growth Plan outlined how Perth would accommodate a population explosion of almost 70 per cent to more than 3.5 million in the next 30 years without further environmental destruction and urban sprawl.

All agree urban sprawl must be stopped in Perth, but achieving this is a more complex story. Credit:Nick Moir

The former state government released the draft in 2015, following confronting advice from the Environmental Protection Authority in 2014 that uncontrolled urban sprawl could not continue. It recognised that to accommodate Perths present population of 2.1 million, the Swan Coastal Plain had been 70 per cent cleared.

To clear at the same rate until the population reached 3.5 million would see a Perth without native vegetation by 2050.Vanuatus Opposition Leader has questioned the countrys closeness to China and demanded more scrutiny of what Beijing is getting out of the infrastructure loans and donations it is making to the Pacific nation.

Ishmael Kalsakau told Fairfax Media that while he didnt know what was in Beijings mind, it would make strategic sense for the superpower to establish a permanent military presence in Vanuatu - as Fairfax Media reported this week China wants to do.

Mr Kalsakau, who heads the Union of Moderate Parties, said no Vanuatu government in their right mind would support a Chinese base.

Opposition Leader Ishmael Kalsakau at the Parliament of Vanuatu in Port Vila. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But he said he feared China was pursuing its strategic interests by showering Vanuatu with largesse and deepening its influence in the country.Violent crimes against women have been on the rise in India despite tough laws enacted in 2013. In 2012, the fatal gang rape of a young woman in the heart of New Delhi prompted hundreds of thousands of Indians to take to the streets to demand stricter rape laws.

The teen also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governing Bharatiya Janata Party of shielding the lawmaker and police of delaying his prosecution.

Kuldeep Singh Sengar was arrested Friday after being questioned by authorities in Lucknow, the capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state, said Abhishek Dayal, a spokesman for India's Central Bureau of Investigation. He denies the allegation.

Lucknow, India: A lawmaker from India's ruling Hindu nationalist party was arrested after being accused of abducting and raping a teenage girl last year, officials said.

The outrage over the New Delhi attack spurred quick action on legislation doubling prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalising voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. Indian lawmakers also voted to lower to 16 from 18 the age at which a person can be tried as an adult for heinous crimes.

The girl told reporters on Thursday that Sengar was known to her family because they were from the same village in Uttar Pradesh state. She accused Sengar of raping her in June last year when she went to his home in Unnao district, 40 kilometres from Lucknow.

Federal investigators said the teenager's family also accused four other people of kidnapping and raping her. Police are investigating the complaint.

The girl said she protested to state authorities in August last year but nothing happened. She and her family moved to New Delhi because they felt threatened by the lawmaker and his supporters and she sent petitions to India's President, the Prime Minister and the state police chief seeking help.

Last week, she visited the office of the state's top elected official, Yogi Adiyanath. When she was denied meeting with state officials, she took out kerosene and tried to set herself on fire.New York: A suspected chemical attack that killed dozens of Syrians in Douma, a rebel-held town near Damascus, resulted in retaliation from President Donald Trump on Sunday, just days after he instructed his military commanders to quickly end US involvement in Syria.

But if chemical weapons were used in the attack  which Trump blamed on the Syrian government as well as its Russian and Iranian allies  it would be the latest in a string of such attacks in Syria in the last five years. Syria, Russia and Iran have all denied that the Syrian government used chemical weapons.

A Syrian man mourning over a body after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by government forces, according to activists, in Douma, Syria in 2013. Credit:AP

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic says it has confirmed at least 34 chemical attacks since 2013, many of which it said used chlorine or sarin, a nerve agent. All but six were confirmed to have been conducted by the Syrian government. The commission, which is investigating the attack on Douma, is an independent body established by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations in Syria.

It is likely that there have been more than these 34 confirmed chemical attacks in Syria. Rolando Gomez, a spokesman for the UN Human Rights Council, said that the commission was unable to verify reports of chemical attacks in 2015 because of a lack of access during that time.New York: Federal prosecutors revealed on Friday that their probe of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, involved suspected fraud and the attorney's personal business dealings. The probe was going on long enough that investigators had already covertly obtained his emails, they said.

The details in court papers came as lawyers for Cohen and Trump sought to block the Justice Department from examining records and electronic devices, including two mobile phones, seized by the FBI on Monday from Cohen's residences, office and safety deposit box.

Attorney Michael Cohen talks to a reporters as he walks in New York last week. Credit:AP

The raids enraged Trump, who called them an "attack on the country." He sent his own lawyer to a hastily arranged hearing before a federal judge in Manhattan to argue that some of the records and communications seized were confidential attorney-client communications and off-limits to investigators.

Trumps advisers have concluded that a wide-ranging corruption investigation into his personal lawyer poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsels investigation, according to several people close to Mr Trump.Days after reporting the country's biggest bitcoin theft, India-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure has announced around Rs 2 crore reward for anyone who helps the trading firm recover the lost digital currency. In a update on its website, Coinsecure said: "We are seeking help from the Bitcoin community and all our users who can help us identify the hacker or give us any information that could lead us to recover funds."

Earlier this week, Coinsecure registered an FIR with the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police in which it claimed to have lost 438.318 bitcoins worth Rs 20 crore from the company's wallet. In the complaint, the exchange blamed its CSO Amitabh Saxena for playing role in multi-crore heist. To recover the lost bitcoins, Coinsecure in a statement said: "We are happy to issue a bounty of 10 per cent to the community for help rendered for recovery of BTC." The exchange also assured the investors that their funds with the company were safe. The company will inform the users over the next week on how the withdrawals can be requested and processed.

In its earlier statement, Coinsecure had informed about how it lost the bitcoins. It said: "Our system itself has never been compromised or hacked, and the current issue points towards losses caused during an exercise to extract BTG to distribute to our customers. Our CSO Dr Amitabh Saxena was extracting BTG and he claims that funds have been lost in the process during the extraction of the private keys."

However, the company did not find Amitabh Saxena convincing and asked the Delhi Police to probe him. In an FIR to Delhi Police, it said: "As the private keys are kept with Dr. Amitabh Saxena, we feel that he is making a false story to divert our attention and he might have a role to play in this entire incident. The incident reported by Dr. Amitabh Saxena does not seem convincing to us."

This comes weeks after the central bank barred all the regulated entities from dealing with individuals and businesses transacting in virtual currencies. It said that Virtual Currencies or cryptocurrencies raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering. "In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs," the RBI said in a statement.Along with releasing the quarterly results for Q4FY18, Infosys also announced a significant move towards reforming its governance structure. Following the Uday Kotak Committee recommendations on corporate governance, the IT major has appointed Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw as the Lead Independent Director of the Board. This means she will represent all independent directors on the Infosys Board.

Shaw presently holds the office of chairman and managing director at biopharmaceutical major Biocon. She will also continue to chair the NRC (Nomination and Remuneration Committee) and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) committees at Infosys.

Speaking to Business Today, and apparently quite happy with the direction Infosys was taking, Shaw said: "I think Infosys is entering a new phase with new leadership and like the CEO Salil Parekh has said there is a strong focus on new growth areas with the four pillars that he has talked about." The newly appointed Infosys CEO talked abourt scaling the Agile Digital business, energizing the client's core technology landscape, re-skilling the employees, and expanding the localization efforts in markets abroad such as in the US, Europe, and Australia. She felt the company being able to showcase a continued growth momentum in the last quarter was also noteworthy.

The office of lead independent director is a relatively new one in India but has been present abroad under different names for quite some time now - for instance, senior independent director in the UK. A lead independent director acts as a sounding board for the chairman, and an intermediary for the other directors whenever required.India's Fortis Healthcare Ltd said on Friday Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad has offered to buy the company at Rs 160 per share, making it a better bid than Manipal Hospitals. Manipal Hospitals Enterprises Pvt Ltd offered to buy Fortis, which is among India's largest hospital operators, at Rs 155 per share earlier this week.

The offer came under criticism from Fortis's minority shareholders, including investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who called the price "low". IHH, one of Asia's largest healthcare operators, made an "unsolicited non-binding expression of interest" to Fortis for a "possible due diligence and participation with the company", Fortis said in a statement on Friday. The IHH letter, which Fortis made public, states that it was making the offer due to the "inability of the statutory auditors of Fortis to opine on its financial position as at December 31, 2017, and regulatory investigations that are currently underway."

Fortis has also received an investment offer worth Rs 1,250 crore at Rs 156 per share from India's Hero Enterprise Investment Office and the Burman Family Office - private investment arm of the family that owns consumer goods firm Dabur India, the company had said on Thursday. Fortis is under investigations by India's Serious Fraud Investigations Office and the Securities and Exchange Board of India regarding financial fraud. The company's Chief Executive Bhavdeep Singh said last month he expects the probes to be over within the next 12 months. Malaysia's IHH Healthcare is higher than Manipal Health Enterprises' offer of Rs 155 per unit by valuing the company at Rs 6,061 crore.

Manipal Health Enterprises had raised its offer for Fortis Healthcare Ltd to Rs 155 per share by valuing the hospital business higher at Rs 6,061 crore, from an initial total equity valuation of Rs 5,003 crore. In a filing with the stock exchanges on Friday, Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) said it has received an unsolicited nonbinding expression of interest from IHH Healthcare Berhad for possible due diligence and participation with the company.

The company also shared a letter sent by IHH Healthcare Berhard Managing Director and Group CEO Tan See Leng expressing his company's strong interest in Fortis Healthcare Ltd and its affiliates in a suitable manner. Leng claimed : "The recent agreement of Fortis with Manipal Healthcare and TPG Capital for a transaction involved various complex steps over a prolonged period." We believe that we could provide an alternative transaction construct, which in our view, would offer a better option to the company's shareholders at an attractive valuation, Leng added. He also said that Fortis Healthcare faces several issues which pose significant challenges and need to be swiftly addressed.

At this critical juncture, the company needs a visionary strategic partner with significant operational expertise and sufficient balance sheet strength to navigate troubled water and steer the company in the fight direction. As part of the proposal, Leng said, IHH will work with the board and the management of the company to identify optimal financing solutions to enable the company to fulfil its commitments during this challenging phase and stay afloat.

Stressing that its offer is nonbinding, IHH asked the Fortis board to respond on its offer by 1700 hours, April 18. Leng also hinted at the possibility of IHH making revised counter offer if the other suitors were to revise their bids. In March, Fortis Healthcare Ltd. (FHL) board had approved demerger of its hospitals business, which was to be acquired by Manipal Hospitals and TPG Capital, along with the sale of 20 per cent stake in diagnostics chain SRL Ltd, in a Rs 3,900-crore deal.Five Indian banks are now under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate for helping Nirav Modi round trip over Rs 6,000 crore of loans extended to his companies by the Punjab National Bank. These banks are State Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, Axis Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of India. In addition, the Enforcement Directorate is also probing 47 companies of Modi that were allegedly involved in round tripping.

Of these entities, 10 are registered in Belgium, 8 in the Netherlands, 3 in the US and 13 in the UAE. India Today has accessed the complete list of entities that are under the scanner. Funds were to be received by these companies by March 4, 2018. Top government sources confirmed to India Today that, "Modi was routing funds leveraged from the PNB Letter of Understanding through these companies.

Some of the money was paid back to PNB directly but most of it was routed through these companies in jurisdictions across the globe. The modus operandi of round tripping, companies involved are being looked at. But the basic reason for round tripping was to ever green the LoUs." The promoters of these companies are also being questioned for their role in round tripping the funds. ED sources say Modi took advantage of tax laws of different jurisdictions to route money.

Sources said, "The reason so many companies were set up in the UAE is that till last year, there was no requirement for paying VAT or for filing returns. Many corporates were taking advantage of this to rotate money. After the 5 per cent tax regime that came into effect last year, this destination has become less attractive but is still an important destination."

These companies include the parent company, Firestar Diamonds, of which Nirav Modi is the promoter and its branches in Antwerp, Amsterdam and Dubai. Many of the entities are established firms especially in Belgium and others appear to be shell companies. Nirav Modi is believed to be staying in Hong Kong with his sister Purvi Mehta, who herself is the promoter of Singapore based Islington private Limited.Chinese president Xi Jinping at an exhibition in Haikou, Hainan province, on Friday to mark the 30th anniversary of the launch of the island as a special economic zone. Photo: Xinhua

The ruling Communist Party has given the go-ahead to a plan to turn the southern island province of Hainan into a free trade zone (FTZ) to facilitate further reform and opening up of the worlds second largest economy.

The decision was announced Friday by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a celebration in Haikou, the provinces capital, to mark the 30th anniversary of the launch of the island region as a special economic zone.

The move just came days after Xi promised lower tariffs on car imports, harsher punishment for intellectual property rights violations and the further opening of the financial sector in apparent overtures to cool tensions between China and the United States over the bilateral trade imbalance.

Xi did not offer a specific timeframe for developing the Hainan FTZ or how it will operate. But the plan demonstrates our commitment to further reform and opening up and the resolve to actively push ahead with globalization, he said.

The upgrading of Hainan from special economic zone to free trade zone will allow it to serve as test ground for deeper reform and greater environmental conservation as well as a center for international tourism, he said.

A special economic zone has tax and other business incentives to attract foreign business but still operates under Chinese domestic import and export rules. In a free trade zone, goods can be imported, manufactured and re-exported without intervention by Chinese customs.

Hainan has unique advantages  particularly its geographical separation from the rest of the Chinese mainland -- that make it a good place to experiment on the countrys further reforms, Xi said.

China already has 11 small-scale FTZs in operation or under development, including the Shanghai Free Trade Zone launched late in September 2013.

Contact reporter Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com)Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Clerk. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 51625. The last date to apply for the government job is Apr 28, 2018.

Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Clerk Organisation Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank Educational Qualification Any graduate from recognized university Number Of Vacancies 100 Age Limit 20 to 30 years Skills Required Knowledge of English and proficiency in Marathi Salary Scale INR 31520 to INR 51625 Job Location Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka Industry Banking Experience Freshers can apply Application Start Date Apr 12, 2018 Application End Date Apr 28, 2018

How To Apply For The Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for the Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank Recruitment 2018, follow the steps given here:Step 1

Log on to the MPPSC official website.

Step 2

Click Advertisements.

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Click on the link that reads, Assistant Professor Examination 2017 - Corrigendum regarding amendment in age limit, online application submission date and amendments in total post Dated 12-04-2018.

Step 4

The detailed advertisement will be displayed on the screen. Read the details carefully. The application link will be active from Apr 16, 2018.A 48-year-old man, She is suspected of raping her stepmother and getting pregnant when she was between 12 and 13...Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

As much as I love Jonathan Aigner's blog posts ("Ponder Anew") on how bad "Contemporary Worship" is in a church service setting (and the commercial industry behind it), the one other cause that might hinder Aigner's church worship cause is that of so-called Biblical Equality. If Aigner had it his way, all churches would have to submit to his vision (coupled with his wife I would think) and open all church leadership to positions that have been open to men and ONLY men.

Speaking for myself I would not avoid attending or joining a church that believed ordaining women as pastors, priests, elders or deacons; as long as that church (and/or its parent body denomination) made a commitment to following the Holy Bible and obeying that very Bible and not leaning on doctrine and/or dogma that runs contrary to the scriptures and had historical church worship (no Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Passion, Bethel, Jesus Culture etc.). Certain Church bodies like the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) support and/or allow the ordination of women in leadership roles in the church or at least allow a local church congregation the choice to ordain women. Again, as long as the Gospel is preached coupled with liturgy and hymnody that sets itself apart from the macro culture, that is good enough for me (although I have issues with churches that do have historical worship but try to please the Tomlin fans, etc.).

However, a majority of churches that believe the Bible and take a stand for that very Bible have supported the complementarianism theological view regarding men and women. That being  while men and women are equal in the site of God, there are certain biological and spiritual differences between men and women. When it comes to the roles in church I personally strongly believe that 1 Timothy 2:11-15 is just as relevant in the 21st Century as it was back in the emergence of the Christian faith. The fact remains is that the devil went after Eve and not Adam (although it could be argued that Adam was slacking on the day of their downfall), and it was the devil (through a literal snake) that deceived Eve and in turn she deceived Adam into taking the fall with her. Also keep in mind that Adam was formed first, and then Eve with the intention of being Adam's helpmate, companion and wife. If you have a problem with this, take it up with God and not me.

Now most churches that do support the complementarianism view recognize 1 Corinthians 14:33-38 for the lack of education women had in the time of Paul the Apostle, as women have been allowed to speak but yet not challenge the God ordained roles, and Paul did point out that women did prophesize in the church. Also, in many Bible believing churches of today, you have women speaking and discussing in mixed Sunday classes and/or adult education forums.

Aigner's blog post on April 3, 2018 points to another blog post made by Tim Fall a few days before where he claims that Mary Magdalene preached "the first sermon" after her encounter with Jesus on the first Easter/Resurrection Sunday. For Aigner and Fall that is all they need to justify their so called Biblical Christian egalitarian stance, and Aigner himself bluntly has called for all Christian churches to just get over it and ordain women. Just because Jesus decided to let Mary Magdalene see him after the resurrection first and be the first person to preach his Good News under the new covenant does not mean he wanted her to become an apostle.

I say to those churches that support Christian Complementarianism: keep supporting the stance and not cave in to the likes of Aigner, Fall, or some other popular opinion. We need to continue to point out in an age of gender confusion and then some, that men and women ARE different. We need to teach women that it's not a bad thing to be in a support role regarding the church and even in marriage, and that leadership is more than just trying to gain status but the responsibility of that status. There are more pieces I can write about regarding those institutions and the Christian complementarian role. For now, I rest my case.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

"We started out the first mile together, now we'll walk the last mile together." That's how a couple who divorced fifty years ago explained their decision to get married again.

Harold Holland and Lillian Barnes fell in love as teenagers. They married and had five children together but divorced in 1968. They married other people, but their spouses died in 2015. Holland hosted his annual family reunion at his house last summer. This time, Barnes attended.

"One thing led to another," Holland said. He takes full responsibility for their divorce and says he was surprised she gave him another chance. Next week, they will marry again.

Their blended families include ten children, more than twenty grandchildren, and thirty-plus great-grandchildren. Holland says he's lost exact count. He has enjoyed telling them the news, however: "The kids and grandkids got a big bang out of that. Grandma marrying Grandpa sounds a little weird."

Their grandson, Joshua Holland, is a pastor in New Orleans and will officiate their wedding on April 14. He says, "This is the most monumental wedding I'll probably ever do in my life."

"It is not good that the man should be alone"

In a culture filled with challenges, we need each other.

The US Surgeon General issued an advisory yesterday urging more Americans to carry naloxone, a drug which can reverse an opioid overdose. He noted that whether people realize it or not, "folks are overdosing around them each and every day and they can help save a life."

In the technology-will-kill-us-all category, dozens of scientists are boycotting the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology over concerns it is developing killer robots. The center denies the allegation.

The largest earthquake in several years struck Southern California yesterday. Because it occurred offshore, it caused no major damage. However, as one expert noted, "It's a reminder that we need to be ready in the future." Meanwhile, the 2018 hurricane season is expected to be more active than normal.

The news proves every day that God was right to create us as people who need people. "It is not good that the man should be alone," he noted (Genesis 2:18).

Maya Angelou: "We need joy as we need air. We need love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share."

"They had everything in common"

Henri Nouwen observed, "Trees that grow tall have deep roots. Great height without great depth is dangerous."

But there is an exception: redwood trees on America's Pacific Coast. One is the tallest tree in the world at 379 feet, taller than the Statue of Liberty. Many redwoods exceed three hundred feet. Some are believed to be more than two thousand years old.

However, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, these gigantic trees have very shallow root systems. Their roots extend more than one hundred feet from the base, intertwining with the roots of other redwoods. It is their interconnectedness that is the secret to their stability and strength.

This phenomenon is a parable for us today.

After the apostles were ordered by the authorities to stop preaching the gospel, they prayed for boldness to be faithful to God (Acts 4:29). The Lord answered their prayer: "The place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness" (v. 31).

But don't miss the second answer to their prayer: "Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common" (v. 32). God gave them boldness not only through personal inspiration but also through corporate solidarity.

They could stand for Jesus because they stood together.

"Bear one another's burdens"

You and I live in an existentialist culture that focuses on the one to the exclusion of the many. We celebrate the self-made, self-reliant person. We wear headphones when we go out, stare at our cell phones in elevators, and cocoon from our neighbors into houses without porches.

But if you take a coal from the fire, the coal goes out.

One of the most radical and life-giving dimensions of Christianity is its emphasis on solidarity. The church in the New Testament is collectivea vine with many branches (John 15:5), a body with many members (1 Corinthians 12:27). Heaven is comprised of "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" (Revelation 7:9).

God's word calls us to "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). Whose burden will you carry today? Who will carry yours?Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Poisoned! I sat eating my breakfast glued to the TV as the news erupted that Britain was pulling their ambassadors from Russia (as America has now done). It was unnerving because of the atrocities. I was in Moscow preparing to speak to Christian leaders that morning.

I had been to Russia doing media training in the early years after Communism had fallen. The country was rebuilding and in turmoil and it was a bleak time. I remember carrying dollar bills in my pocket and slipping them into elderly people's hands who were standing in freezing cold weather selling their clothes. In those days a dollar would buy three days of food. So, when I got the chance to return this past March I was anxious to see how the country had changed and thrilled to see how God was moving in a wonderful church there, Word of Life Church Moscow. The congregation is thriving and the many pastors, workers, and volunteers that we were able to teach and train was exhaustingly energizing and very special.

The Lord has blessed my husband, Phil Cooke, and I over the past few years to be able to travel globally and work with leaders who are impacting the Kingdom with God's redemptive story. It's humbling to see how ministry leaders "count it all joy" to work in difficult conditions suffering without complaint to bring Jesus to the places where they serve. I'm honored to hear and see the blessing of God's hand of grace and mercy as they work with refugees, the sexually abused, children who are ill or who have been abandoned and in so many impoverished situations with passion, creativity and God's grace.

With the recent passing of Billy Graham, we have all been reminded of his selfless passion to tell others about Jesus. In our culture consumed with selfies, social media, and celebrities, his comment to his personal pastor, Don Wilton, says it all, "His entire life was in pursuit that he would decrease so that Christ would increase."

This recent trip may have been my last opportunity to ever get back into Russia for a long time as diplomatic doors seem to have now shut and Christians are being persecuted. But our dear brothers and sisters in Christ will still be there working and needing our support and prayers as so many others do all over the globe. Next month we're off to Australia and New Zealand with more trips to come to India and Asia. It's easy to get distracted in our own everyday world not thinking about the global Church at large. So take a moment.

When and where will you go? God's given each of us talents and gifts. In John 21: 15-17, Jesus asked Peter three times, Do you love me? Then feed my sheep. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) hasn't changed. You may not be able to travel the globe but you can change a life with the story of Jesus. It can be as simple as starting a conversation with your next door neighbor, helping the homeless on the street, or stopping at a local Salvation Army corps office to see how you might help or give.

Often at speaking events, I'm asked about media projects our company, Cooke Pictures, has been able to produce and places I have been able to film and how rewarding it must be. But I like, Mr. Graham and another great saint of the Church before him, Paul the apostle, said, "... I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..." Philippians 3:8 (NIV).

Our nonprofit, The Influence Lab, was able to take a team this past Fall to Egypt to train three groups of media teams, (one came from Iran doing underground media ministry). As we were packing up on the last day, one of our team members who had worked in the secular media marketplace his entire career doing financially successful television work told me, "being here working and teaching these teams this week has been the most rewarding experience of my entire life and the most meaningful thing I have ever done."

Are you feeling worthless and unfulfilled? Want to change a life?

Go! Just Go!Can Christians support war? What does the Bible say about war?

Can Christians become a part of war? This is a question Christians often ponder. But when this discussion comes up, you'll often find that every Christian has a different opinion about it. It is, therefore, safe to say, that not all Christians will have the same point of view in this matter, and we have to be respectful of that.

The Three Views on Christian Participation in War

There are generally three views on the participation of Christians in war. These are activism, pacifism, and selectivism. Activism is when Christians participate in a war their government enters. Pacificism is when Christians do not participate in any war, especially when there's killing involved. Selectivism, on the other hand, is when Christians participate in what they believe are just wars.

Activist View

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.  Romans 13:1-2

There are Christians who believe that disobeying a government that God ordained is a sign of disobedience to God as well. Nonetheless, it is also important to point out that the Bible doesn't support total activism. What if you believe that your government's stand is wrong? Will you still fight for them? The only measure is to check if the government's goal contradicts the moral laws of God. If the government asks you to kill an innocent life and you know that is contrary to God's commandment, then you certainly should not do that.

Let me cite one perfect example here. Desmand Doss joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and fought in World War II. He was one of the 431 soldiers who received a Congressional Medal of Honor. Would you believe that Doss refused to bear any weapon? He successfully rescued 75 of his comrades without killing an enemy. His only weapons were his Bible and his faith. At first, his comrades disrespected his beliefs and mocked him. But after rescuing them, he received new found respect from his comrades, as well as the entire country. The famous movie "Hacksaw Ridge" is based on his story.

Pacifist View

Pacifists hold on to the Lord's commandment that we should not murder. They also promote strongly Matthew 5:39, which says, "But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

This means that they believe vengeance and violence are not the way to go.

There are some pacifists who simply believe that all wars are influenced by greed.

Selectivist View

The selectivist view is based on what they call a "just war". However, what a just war amounts to is a matter of debate, and often can only be defined by man - there is no mention of specifically what a "just war" would be in the Bible.

At a very basic level, selectivists will believe that a war is just and necessary if it is to defend the innocent, that it is fought for the cause of justice, and it is fought in a just way.

Many Christians who believe this point to evidence in the Bible. In Genesis 14, Abraham's war was an example of fighting against unjust oppressors. There are also instances when God used war to fight evil nations.

Should a Christian support war?

There is really no blanket correct answer to this one, as the topic is very broad to define in black-and-white. However, what you must remember is that God is also a warrior. His angels are also warriors. In Revelation 12, the archangel Michael will fight Satan. Clearly, this is something God had planned as well. At the end of the day, we have our moral values to hold on to, and we have the teachings of God to refer to. If you're someone caught in the middle of this issue or know someone who is, the best way to go about it is to pray, pray, and pray for wisdom and let God help with making the decision.Muslim converts to Christianity; says his family was tormented by demonic bat creatures until he put his faith in Jesus

A former Muslim from Turkey encountered demonic forces while he dabbled in occult practices after moving to Australia, and the only thing that got him and his family through the horrific experience was when he placed his trust in Jesus.

Ismail used to describe himself as a moderate Muslim who wanted to learn more about God and Islam. He also wanted to know if witchcraft came from the devil. In exploring his spirituality, however, a Turkish friend who also lives in Australia introduced the occult to Ismail.

He and his friend performed occult rituals by calling out spirits on a Ouija board. Slowly, Ismail noticed that unusual demonic-looking bats with long fingernails hovered around them.

"Every time they were flapping their wings, there was smoke coming out of them," Ismail told CBN News. "On the last day when actually I was leaving my friend's house, he said, 'Look, two of them are going with you!'"

It did not occur to Ismail that this would have an effect on his two young children who would draw the bats with red eyes.

One night particularly stood out as the scariest encounter for the father, as one of his kids had the most concerning nightmare. The child screamed and threw his fists but Ismail could not wake him up.

Ismail prayed over his son and implored the help of Allah but the boy's condition did not improve. A Christian friend from Iran invited him to join a Bible study and there, Ismail encountered Jesus in a vision.

"All I was seeing was this light coming from everywhere. It was just amazing. And actually, I have fallen in love with Him," Ismail testified. "That's how I converted."

Ismail prayed to Jesus to help his son and to drive the demons out of their house. Since accepting Him in his life, his children's nightmares have disappeared. These days, the father also finds comfort in reading the Bible regularly.

Other Muslims have had similar encounters as Ismail; author Nabeel Qureshi also converted from Islam to Christianity after he had visions while doing research for his book. However, Ex-Muslims converting to be Christians risk a lot for Jesus since they could be ostracized by their communities, or worse, attacked or even killed for turning against Islam.Suicide machine from 'Dr. Death' Philip Nitschke draws outrage

A 3D-printed suicide machine designed to aid euthanasia is planned to be made public for the first time at the Amsterdam Funeral Fair. Dubbed the Sacro, the device was created by Dr. Philip Nitschke, a euthanasia activist who's also known as Australia's "Dr. Death". It has been reported that event attendees could actually try the device using virtual reality technology.

Plans to demonstrate the euthanasia machine has sparked outrage. According to critics, Nitschke's creation is "gruesome" and it also glamorizes suicide.

The capsule-like machine, which Nitschke developed with Dutch engineer Alex Bannink, works like a gas chamber as nitrogen fills the container once a button is pressed. The person inside the machine would lose consciousness within a minute and die, allegedly without feeling anything, after five minutes.

Nitschke, who has carried out assisted suicides in Australia since the 1990s and founded Exit International, has said he plans to provide an online test to determine if the person intending to use the machine has made his or her choice freely. Some 24 hours following the test, the person would receive a special code to use in the machine.

The doctor claimed that he wanted to offer people a dignified death, which can become a euphoric process. In explaining what Sacro could deliver, Nitschke wrote in a piece: "There's no suffocation, choking sensation or 'air hunger' as the user breathes easily in a low-oxygen environment. The sensation is one of well-being and intoxication."

Visitors at the funeral fair, however, would only be able to experience part of how the machine works. They would be provided virtual reality glasses that allow them to choose to "die" with the sea or the Alps as the background. Dutch politicians, social workers and pro-life activists, however, criticized the planned demonstration at the public event.

"Suicide is not a promotional offer and aiding with suicide is a criminal offence in the Netherlands," MP Kees an der Staaij, a Christian conservative from the Reformed Political Party, told reporters.Harris County prosecutors charged a man Thursday with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he ran a red light while allegedly under the influence of an unknown substance, crashing into multiple vehicles and killing a man and injuring his wife.

Tarus M. Lawson, 42, was driving about 20 to 25 mph and swerving between lanes on April 2 in the early afternoon in near Westbury in south Houston, according to the complaint.President Trump is right to target Chinas unfair trade practices. That country routinely steals Americas intellectual property such as patents, blatantly forces American businesses to turn over their valuable technology to Chinese companies, and floods the world with illegally subsidized steel and aluminum-often hiding it by trans-shipping it through other countries into the U.S.

This costs America tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. Its been going on a long time, and China is only getting worse.

The longstanding challenge for any U.S. president, however, has been how to stop this piracy without hurting American workers, families and local businesses. The key is to target unfairly traded goods, without sweeping in fairly traded goods-like steel and aluminum-that help American workers and businesses compete and win throughout the world.

The Ways & Means Committee, which I lead, is the leading international trade committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. Weve been working closely with the President to narrow and target the tariffs so they dont backfire and harm jobs here at home, especially in Texas. On steel and aluminum, I led a letter from 107 Republican conservatives in the House, encouraging the president to exempt countries like Canada, Mexico and others who use fairly traded goods. We also urged the White House to exempt fairly traded steel and aluminum. The White House agreed to both.

* * *

Here is why its important to Texas companies and workers. For example, Grant-Prideco is a U.S. manufacturing company serving the oilfield industry. They ship steel pellets from Corpus Christi to a company in Austria that creates specialized green tubes like no other in the world, which are shipped to the Grant-Prideco plant in Navasota, Texas. Here, 500 skilled workers add threading and other value-then sell them successfully around the world to U.S. and global energy companies.

These green tubes are traded fairly. All good. But if this company faces an extra 25 percent cost imposed by these tariffs, it may not be able to compete and win against foreign competitors who dont face the extra costs. That could harm current or future jobs in Navasota. President Trump cares about American manufacturing jobs, especially in the energy industry. Ive met with him in the Oval Office and he is passionate about protecting U.S. jobs. Thats precisely why Im fighting to make sure fairly traded products are excluded.

Last week President Trump also threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on up to $150 billion of products China sells into America. China has threatened to retaliate by hitting U.S. agriculture, manufacturing, technology and aerospace with tariffs of their own.

Tariffs are taxes. So lower is better, zero is the best. Clearly President Trump is determined to confront Chinas unfair trade practices. It is in both of our countries interests - and frankly the worlds - to find a new path forward on unfair trade practices.

* * *

Good news! This April 17 is the last time youll file your taxes under the old, unfair, complicated tax code. Going forward, America now has a simpler, fairer tax code that lowers taxes for families, protects Main Street businesses, and gives America one of the most competitive tax codes in the world.

U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady chairs the House Ways and Means CommitteeHouston's 31st Art Car Parade entered into day three of the annual festivities despite some early morning storms.

Powered by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Arts, the wide array of whimsical and unique vehicles rolled down Smith Street and showed off the wild imaginations of this year's participants.

PARTY: Houstonians celebrate the Art Car Parade with 2018 Legendary Art Car Ball

According to the parade's official website, the artistic idea started in 1984 when a 1967 Ford station wagon was donated to The Orange Show Foundation to be auctioned. Before it was put up, local artist Jackie Harris turned the car into the "Fruitmobile," complete with paint and plastic fruit.

The first official parade took place shortly after in 1988 with 40 cars seen by a crowd of nearly 2,000.

Now the parade continues to grow and has become one of the Bayou City's most anticipated weekends, with upwards of 250,000 spectators and 250 cars from all over the U.S. as well as Canada and Mexico.

Take a look through the gallery above to see some of the incredible and unusual cars seen at Saturday's event.

Daniela Sternitzky-Di Napoli is a digital producer at Chron.com. You can read more of her stories here and follow her on twitter at @Dani_DiNapoli.Humble ISD Groves Elementary teacher Amanda Kopp not only won the 2018 Teacher of the Year award on Friday night, she also got a new 2018 Jeep Renegade donated by Bert Brocker and Texan Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram.

The Humble ISD Education Foundation held their annual gala at the Humble Civic Center Friday night to help raise funds for their schools and recognize alumni that have made an impact in the community.

Each year, the education foundation selects a Teacher of the Year out of 10 finalists. Finalists are recommended by their campus who submit written applications to the foundation. All finalists received an iPad and iPad cover.

Humble ISD officials said Kopp, a fifth grade teacher enhnaced her students learning experience.

My biggest accomplisment in education is creating a classroom culture that makes kids look forward to coming to school every single day, Kopp said.

Jen Sitton, Humble ISD Education Foundation chair, said Kopp was chosen as Teacher of the Year for constantly finding innovative ways to teach her students.

I follow her on Twitter and the things that she comes up with to make education fun, exciting and basically wanting kids to come back for more and that just really stood our for me, I was just really impressed with her innovative ways, Sitton said. All of our ten finalists were amazing, it was a very tough decision for the panel and were just truly blessed with amazing teachers.

Kopp wasnt the only finalist that left the gala with a prize.

Daniel Green, a seventh grade science teacher at Riverwood Middle School won the title Secondary Teacher of the Year as well as a trip to the Florida Keys with first class round trip for two donated by United Airlines.

One reason why Green was selected as a finalist was after Hurrican Harvey hit, Green launched a program called the East End Park Project where his students and colleagues get involved in the parks ecological restoration.

It is my greatest contribution to breathe faith into my students own heroism, Green said. In spite of all my efforts to impact the lives of my students, they have given me far more than I have given them.

Kopp said what felt better than winning a brand new car is being chosen as Teacher of the Year.

Being chosen among all the amazing educators in Humble ISD including all the people I work with every day. I felt like any of my coworkers could have been in this exact same position so it feels really special, Kopp said.A type of duck more commonly found in northern Europe and Asia was recently spotted at the Katy Prairie Conservancy.

The male Eurasian Wigeon was sighted in a wetland pond next to the KPC's field office on Hebert Road, officials with the conservation group said.

"This handsome fellow is creating quite a stir in the birding community," said Bob Honig, an avid birder who serves on the group's advisory board.

Honig first spotted the bird and said word of the discovery spread quickly.

"I've talked with people who drove from as far as Kerrville and Austin just to get a glimpse of this striking duck," Honig said. "It's possible we've now had up to 200 birders check out Indiangrass Preserve over the last several days in hopes of seeing our Eurasian Wigeon."

He said the Eurasian Wigeon, the European counterpart of the American Wigeon, has a vivid orange-read head and a forehead that seems to glow when the sun hits it.

A Eurasian Wigeon, a member of the dabbling duck genus Mareca, is considered an uncommon visitor on the mid-Atlantic and Pacific coasts and a rare visitor to most other parts of the United States, including Texas, officials with the Katy Prairie Conservancy said.

"We hope more people will realize the joys of identifying and photographing birds out on the Katy Prairie, which is a haven for so many interesting species," Honig said. "It's a wonderful getaway from the urban hustle and bustle."On any given day, the Nottingham Elementary School second-grader endures five to 10 finger pricks and wears two devices to make sure that her blood sugar stays within a healthy range, but her classmates recently helped her to better cope with her disease.

Devin Dyer was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in December 2014 when she was 4.5-years-old. This spring, her class designed purses for her to use to carry a device that helps to keep her healthy.

According to JDRF, 1.25 million Americans live with the disease, including about 200,000 young people less than 20 years old.

"Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the person's body for reasons currently unknown attacks and kills the pancreas' ability to produce insulin, a hormone essential for life," said Devin's mother Erin Dyer. "There is a genetic link, although sometimes hard to connect, because in addition to genetics, this disease requires an environmental trigger as well. There are lots of theories on what the triggers may be, but we don't know for sure."

Erin said living with the disease can be "exhausting" at times because it is a never-ending fight. If Devin's blood sugar gets too low, it is an immediate emergency situation, and if her blood sugar gets too high, it can endanger her long-term health.

Because Devin's blood sugar needs to be constantly monitored, she wears a device called a Dexcom, which she also refers to as Dexi. It lets her caretakers  her parents, her teachers and the school nurseknow when her blood sugar is out of range so that they can take important steps for her care. Additionally, Devin wears an insulin pump, which is changed out every three days and gives her the insulin she needs without her having to face five to 10 shots every day.

Wearing the two devices constantly, Devin looks a little differently than her classmates, but her teacher Melanie Marshall said Devin set a standard of acceptance from the start of the school year.

"At the beginning of the year, we shared what we loved and what we disliked as a get-to-know-you activity. Devin shared she hated diabetes, which let her classmates know she wouldn't be gloating over her extra sugary snacks, pretty purses or her right to carry 'a phone' all day. That set the stage for peer compassion," Marshall said.

When it came time for Marshall to teach her students about measurements, she had them work together to create purses that Devin could use for her Dexcom. Marshall said the students learned about metric measurements as they came up with designs and experimented with different materials including duct tape, material, old clothes, boxes, paper, belts, ribbons, staples, thread and Velcro.

Marshall said some of the purses were put together by the students themselves while others were sewn by two adult family members of the school's students who offered to help. Realizing that boys also get Type 1 diabetes, the class worked on designs for a belt worn around the waist so that boys could use it for their Dexcom devices, Marshall said.

Erin said the process helped Devin to see that her classmates supported her and cared about her.

"It was such a fun experience for her," Erin said. "Her teacher, classmates and classmates' families went above and beyond and really took the project seriously  many making multiple Dexi purses. It showed her that she wasn't alone in her fight against Type 1 Diabetes and that her school community was with her."

One of the ways people can help families like Devin and her parents Erin and Chris Dyer is by supporting the local chapter of JDRF.

Jennifer Sotuyo, development director for JDRF Houston Gulf Coast Chapter, said the organization contributes to the community of Houston through research, mentor programs, support and events. She said it also offers resources to families who have recently received a diagnosis.

On April 21, the chapter is hosting its 2018 Promise Ball: "Through the Looking Glass" beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Marriott Marquis Houston, located at 1777 Walker St., Houston.

Sotuyo said the evening will include activities, drinks, auctions and games.

"Guests will embark on a journey "through the looking glass" and experience a wonder-filled evening that includes characters from the classic story, amidst whimsical decor," Sotuyo said. "The event will include a themed specialty drink, the chance to win fabulous prizes in our silent and live auctions and our Young Leadership Committee After-Party sponsored by Liskow & Lewis, with casino games, a champagne reception and open bar."

According to Sotuyo, the annual event is the chapter's largest fundraiser and a way for the organization to raise awareness about Type 1 diabetes.

"The overall goal of the evening is that people leave with a greater understanding of T1D and how it impacts the lives of those living with the disease [and those that care for them]. We want people to recognize that there is a difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes," Sotuyo said.

Those interesting in attending can learn more and get tickets at http://www.jdrf.org/houston/events/jdrf-2018-promise-ball-through-the-looking-glass/ by April 16. For more information about Type 1 diabetes, JDRF or to donate to the organization, visit www.jdrf.org.

tracy.maness@hcnonline.comDetectives identified the man seen in a Snapchat video shooting a firearm from a moving vehicle in northwest Harris County and are currently looking to arrest him.

Harris County prosecutors filed a felony deadly conduct charge against Brandon Lee Hicks, 21, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. The video appears to have been taken on April 6, authorities said.NEW MILFORD - A North Carolina man who fathered a child with his biological daughter shot and killed her and her adoptive father in Gaylordsville early Thursday, then took his own life in Dover, N.Y., as police closed in.

Meanwhile, authorities visiting the mans home outside Raleigh found the body of the child, who was also dead.

New Milford police said they found the bodies of a man and a woman, both dead of gunshot wounds, in a black pickup truck near the intersection of Routes 7 and 55.

The drivers-side window had been smashed in, and the bodies were still strapped in their seat belts.

The suspect was found shortly afterward in Dover, about 16 miles away, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Police did not identify the suspect or his victims. But police in Knightdale, N.C., identified him as Steven Walter Pladl, 45, the slain woman as his biological daughter, Katie Rose Pladl, 20, and the slain man as her adoptive father, Anthony Fusco, 56.

Authorities in Cary, N.C., released the tape of a 9-1-1 call Pladls mother placed Thursday morning. Her son had called her a few minutes earlier, she said, saying he had killed his child, his wife and his wifes father.

Pladls mother also said he had called the night before to report that he and his wife had broken up, and that he was heading to New York with their child.

Knightdale police said the body of 7-month-old Bennett Pladl was found in a home belonging to his father, but did not say how the boy died.

According to Raleigh-area news reports, Steven and Katie Pladl had been charged with incest in February. They had told authorities they planned to marry.

News reports also said Katie Pladl was adopted at an early age by a family in Dutchess County, N.Y., and graduated from Dover High School. When she turned 18, she found her birth parents through social media.

She went south to meet them, the reports said, and eventually became involved in a relationship with her father, who divorced her mother to join her.

New Milford police have not provided details of the shootings in Gaylordsville, but witnesses said the shooter might have used a semi-automatic weapon.

Jeff Weinzievl, who lives near the intersection, said he was feeding his horses around 8:40 a.m. when he heard six to eight shots from what he believed to be a semi-automatic weapon.

It sound like he emptied out his clip, Weinzievl said. It scared the bejesus out of the horses. A lot of people hunt out here and were used to hearing gunshots, but I knew right away something was wrong with this. It was quite scary.

As a precaution, the nearby Sherman School was placed in a lockdown.

New Milford police notified area police agencies to be on the lookout for the suspects vehicle, described as a light blue mini-van registered in North Carolina.

The car was spotted by a Dutchess County probation officer on Dog Tail Corners Road, east of Berkshire Road in the town of Dover.

Police from the Dutchess County Sheriffs Office, New York State Police and New Milford police converged on the vehicle, which was parked with the engine running on the shoulder next to the Ten Mile River. The suspect apparently took his own life as police approached.

Britains Daily Mail published an extensive story about the incest case in February, based largely on interviews with Alyssa Pladl, Katies biological mother and Steven Pladls former wife.

In the story, Alyssa Pladl said she had always hoped to reunite with the daughter she gave up for adoption, and was at first happy when Katie joined their family, which now included two younger siblings.

But she was disturbed that her husband insisted on sleeping on the floor in Katies room, and horrified to read in her 11-year-old daughter's journal early in 2017 that Katie was pregnant and Steven was the father.

The 11-year-old described her father as Satan and said the baby would be a half-demon, the Daily Mail reported.

Excerpts from the journal included in the Daily Mail story show the 11-year-olds revulsion at her father.

He'll go to hell, but he won't be the one getting tortured, he'll be the one torturing people, she wrote.

dperrefort@newstimes.comResidents who were flooded out of their homes during Hurricane Harvey could see drainage relief in their neighborhoods should their taxing entity choose to take advantage of a federal program that offers financial assistance to rural communities.

Monica Pierre, a representative with the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, gave municipal utility districts a beacon of hope during a presentation at The Woodlands Drainage Task Force meeting on Tuesday, April 9. Pierre was offering MUDs and other agencies with drainage responsibilities in The Woodlands the opportunity to take advantage of a USDA loan guarantee for water and environmental type projects.

These are funds now. The bucket is there now, Pierre said during her presentation before the Drainage Task Force, where board members and several dozen others were crowded into a room at The Woodlands Township office. Its not waiting on anybody to sign anything. We have money available. Lets see if we can get it to you.

Pierre said the USDA had about half a billion dollars to dispense to eligible entities for guaranteed loans and another $4.75 billion in grant funding.

At the conclusion of her presentation, the audience erupted into applause and thanked Pierre, who again urged the individual MUDs to apply for financial assistance.

Nearly eight months after Harvey drenched some parts of Montgomery County with more than 30 inches of rain, MUDs and other agencies with drainage responsibilities in The Woodlands have been diligently studying ways in which to mitigate future flooding.

During Tuesdays meeting, Donnie Reed of LJA Engineering gave the audience a glimpse of how Harvey flooding affected the neighborhoods along Spring Creek near Glenloch and Grogans Point. The 2D model presented as a video gave a time-lapse view of water elevations in the neighborhoods during Harvey in real time.

Jim Stinson, general manager of The Woodlands Joint Powers Agency, said the model didnt reveal any real surprises, because the agency had already run its own topographical simulation.

What this model will do is give us an opportunity to go back and give us What ifs, Stinson said. What if we did this? What would be the results and how would it either improve or impact the high water surface elevation.

By imputing data into the simulator, engineers could determine what the impact would be to a neighborhood if they decided to add a detention basin upstream that held back a certain amount of cubic feet per second, Stinson said.

If you put a levee along this area, it will protect us during a Harvey-like event, Stinson said, referring to suggestions made by some homeowners. Well that may be true but then if we put that levee inhow will it impact adjacent properties across from the levee or upstream from the levee?

Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on the San Jacinto River Authority to better protect the communities along the San Jacinto River and to find ways to mitigate flooding, a task that the authority has never handled.

Jace Houston, general manager of the SJRA, said one of the biggest challenge the various groups face is funding, as it is not set up to collect taxes from the communities it services.

We have always had authority to do flood control, Houston said. What we dont have is the funding.

So while the task force is looking at facts, graphs and water elevations to find ways to prevent another Harvey-like disaster, any potential projects will require lots of money, Houston said.

And thats where the USDA rural development funds come in, Pierre said. There is a caveat, however, she added.

Erika Archie, public information officer for USDA Rural Development, said funding for taxing entities through the USDAs Water and Environmental Programs is contingent on several factors.

Funding is provided once an viable application is developed and an eligible project has been identified, Archie said. Funding amounts vary and are determined on an individual project basis. Eligible areas must have less than 10,000 in population and can be cities, towns or unincorporated areas.

Jackie Chance Sr., general manager of the Montgomery County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1, suggested that the MUDs come up with a single project and apply as a group to the receive the federal funds, but Pierre shot that idea down suggesting instead that the group coordinate with the SJRA to fund a project.

Stinson said he likes the idea.

The area that we are thinking about improving is actually owned by the SJRA, Stinson said. So we will look for options and opportunities for partnering with them to apply for funds. It does impact a handful of MUDs. The details havent been worked out yet, but we are very encouraged about the potential.

michelle.iracheta@chron.comAn analyst was fired from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences crime laboratory on Friday after officials found that two marijuana cases were improperly recorded before the evidence was analyzed.

According to a press release from the institute, the analyst was testing plant material for the presence of marijuana. Standard procedure requires chemical analysis and a microscopic exam.One of the most popular pastors at Lakewood Church will soon move to South Carolina to take the reins at a new church.

After five years of work in Houston, Pastor John Gray announced his upcoming life change via an Instagram posting Monday.

RELATED: From feed store to basketball arena, Lakewood Church ministers to city of second chances

Lakewood's associate pastor, best-selling author, and resident reality TV star will become the new senior pastor of Redemption Church in Greenville, South Carolina in 2018.

He will still continue to be the associate pastor at Lakewood Church on Wednesday nights but will also helm Redemption back east.

Gray and his wife Aventer posed with their two children in the Instagram post to make the announcement. The pair also celebrated seven years of marriage this week.

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. He's an intolerable native Texan with too much ink in his skin and too much brisket stuck in his teeth.

"It is with tremendous gratitude in our hearts for the past and expectancy for the future, that we are honored to share that we have said yes to God's next assignment for our lives," Gray wrote on Instagram. "We will be the new senior pastors of what has been known as Redemption Church in Greenville, South Carolina."

Gray thanked Joel and Victoria Osteen and the Lakewood Church family for their friendship and love the past five years as well.

"We look forward to continuing our relationship with the church and being there as many Wednesdays as we can," Gray added. "Please pray for us as we embark upon the next place God has called us to."

In a statement to Chron.com, Pastor Joel Osteen offered up high praise of Gray.

"John Gray is becoming one of the most respected and influential voices of this generation. His scriptural insights are brilliant and his charismatic speaking style is like no one else," Osteen said. "I can promise you that Greenville, South Carolina will never be the same once John Gray rolls into town."

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Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. He's an intolerable native Texan with too much ink in his skin and too much brisket stuck in his teeth.US, British and French forces pounded Syria with air strikes early on Saturday in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

US President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House late on Friday. As he spoke, explosions rocked Damascus. Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Assad's government stopped its use of chemical weapons.

British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron said the UK and France had joined in the attack.

Syria's seven-year-old civil war has pitted the United States and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad.

Syrian state media said the attack would fail and called it a "flagrant violation of international law." Russia's ambassador to the United States said Moscow had warned that "such actions will not be left without consequences".

In a televised address from the White House, Trump said he had ordered US armed forces to launch "precision strikes" associated with Assad's chemical weapons capabilities.

"The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power - military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents," Trump said.

Speaking of Assad and his suspected role in last week's chemical weapons attack, Trump said, "These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead."

At least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus in the early hours of Saturday and smoke was seen rising over the Syrian capital, a Reuters witness said. A second witness said the Barzah district of Damascus had been hit in the strikes. Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research center.

At a Pentagon briefing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford said the targets included a Syrian research facility and a chemical weapons storage facility.

The combined US, British and French assault appeared to be more intense than the strike Trump ordered almost exactly a year ago against a Syrian airbase in retaliation for an earlier chemical weapons attack that Washington attributed to Assad.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said twice as many weapons were used in the strikes on Saturday compared to last April's strike.

Mattis, who US officials said had earlier warned in internal debates against too large an attack that would risk confrontation with Russia, described the strikes as a "one time shot" to dissuade Assad from "doing this again."

Asked what chemicals were used in the weekend attack, Mattis confirmed that chlorine gas had been used and did not rule out the nerve agent sarin.

Dunford said that manned US aircraft were used in the military operation and that the strike was planned to minimize the risk of casualties among Russia's military forces in Syria. A US official told Reuters that Tomahawk cruise missiles also were involved.

Syrian air defences shot down 13 missiles fired in the US-led attack on the country on Saturday, Syrian state TV said. The missiles had been shot down in the Kiswah area south of the capital Damascus, it said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a total of three scientific research centers had been hit in the attacks, two in Damascus and one in the Homs area, in addition to military bases in Damascus.

In his televised address, Trump said, "Thepurpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons."

The US president, who has tried to build good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had sharply critical words for Russia and Iran, which have backed Assad's government.

"To Iran and to Russia, I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?" Trump said.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she had authorized British armed forces "to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability." She described it as a "limited and targeted strike" aimed at minimizing civilian casualties.

Trump made clear in his eight-minute televised address that he was wary of a deeper entanglement in Syria, where about 2,000 US troops have been deployed to fight Islamic State.

Last year, the United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the guided missile destroyers USS Porter and the USS Ross that struck the Shayrat air base. The targets of that strike included Syrian aircraft, aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage facilities, ammunition supply bunkers, air defence systems and radar. At the time, the Pentagon claimed that a fifth of Syria's operational aircraft were either damaged or destroyed.

A US-led attack on Syria will be seen as limited if it is now over and there is no second round of strikes, said a senior official in the regional alliance that has supported President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian war. "If it is finished, and there is no second round, it will be considered limited," the official told Reuters.

The air strikes, however, risk dragging the United States further into Syria's civil war, particularly if Russia, Iran and Assad opt to retaliate.Justice deferred may be justice denied, but for I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheneys chief of staff, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in 2007, President Donald Trumps pardon on Friday, however belated, was welcome. For me, too.

Thirteen years ago, as a New York Times reporter, I went to jail to protect the identity of my news sources, and one source in particular Scooter Libby. In 2007, I had testified against Libby, saying that I thought he and I had discussed Valerie Plame, a CIA agent whose identity he was said to have leaked to the press to punish her husband for challenging WMD intelligence that President Bush had cited to justify the 2003 war in Iraq. War critics were outraged and demanded that a special prosecutor investigate the leak. While Libby was never charged with leaking Plames name, he was convicted of lying to the FBI and a grand jury and of obstructing justice in the investigation. At a press conference after Libbys conviction, Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor whom his friend, then Deputy Attorney General James Comey, had appointed, called my testimony crucial to the verdict.

So why would I be pleased with Libbys pardon? Because after leaving jail and investigating the case, I unearthed information that convinced me not only that my testimony was in error, but that Libby was the victim of an overzealous prosecutor whose investigation should have ended before it began. I described my findings in a 2015 memoir about high-stakes journalism, The Story, A Reporters Journey.

The first thing I learned was that John Rizzo, the CIAs former general counsel and an agency lawyer for over 30 years, disputed prosecutor Fitzgeralds assertion that Valerie Plame had been a super-secret covert agent, not well known outside of the intelligence community, and that the leak of her name had caused grave, if unspecified, harm to Americas national security. Rizzo told me in an interview and subsequently wrote in his own book that dozens, if not hundreds of people in Washington knew that Plame worked for the CIA. Even more significantly, he said, a CIA damage assessment of the leak had produced no evidence that her outing had harmed any CIA operation, any agent in the field, or anyone else, including Plame herself. I also learned that the CIA assessment had been finished in late 2003 or early 2004, long before Libby was indicted or I went to jail. Though Fitzgerald knew this, Rizzos crucial CIA finding became public only after his book was published. But if the leak had caused no national security harm, why had Fitzgerald continued the inquiry?

Fitzgerald refused to discuss the case with me after the trial. Nor would he say why he pursued Libby after learning early on that the source of the leak was not Libby, but Richard Armitage, an aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had argued against the war. Armitage was never punished for releasing classified information.

Then I learned that Fitzgerald had withheld exculpatory evidence not only from me but also from Libbys lawyerevidence that might have jogged my memory and prevented me from unwittingly giving false testimony against him. Finally, the prosecutor opposed letting the jury hear information about how often memories of such conversations fail.

I hoped that President Bush might pardon Libby. He commuted Libbys sentence of 30 months in jail but refused to issue a full pardon, despite repeated pleas from Cheney, who argued that Libby was a scapegoat for public opposition to the war.

In retrospect, its clear that Libbys prosecution marked the beginning of a criminalization of policy differencesa dangerous trend that continues to this day. In light of this, Im pleased that Libby has finally been pardoned.

The ink on the pardon was barely dry, however, when critics began saying that President Trump had pardoned Libby to signal to those facing charges in Robert Muellers Russia probe that he will pardon them, too, if they are convicted. The presidents move was intended to persuade those facing the special prosecutors scrutiny not to cooperate, they said.

Ive never discussed a Libby pardon with any White House official, so I dont know what might what motivated Trumps decision. In its announcement, the White House said that my recantation of my testimony had helped persuade the president that Libby had been treated unfairly.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesSince 2004, Ive been directing The Republic, a voluntary weekend program for 14-to-18-year-olds in Angra do Heroismo, Azores, that involves seminars about Greek classics, monthly long walks, and public readings. Though I originally conceived of The Republic as a conventional effort to get these students ready for the challenges of university academic work, I soon decided that its true mission should be to prepare them for living. The Republic is not about academic grades but real life. Along with great literature, nature makes a wonderful teacher, especially when these teenagers have to make important decisions in challenging outdoor situations. For the students, The Republic is a four-year intellectual and physical adventure; for me, it has been a renewable blessing, one for which I feel continual gratitude.

The program is divided into four classesBarbarians (ninth grade), Helots (tenth grade), Argonauts (11th grade), and Hoplites (12th grade), with reading lists for each year. In the third year, we devote two seminars to Thucydides spectacular account of the Spartan Brasidass military campaigns in 424422 b.c. From Pylos, in the western Peloponnese, to Amphipolis, in Thrace, Brasidas achieved a stellar reputation as a diplomat and general. Every year, on the first Saturday of February, we cross Terceira Island on an 18-mile night walk named after him. In the preceding weeks, to prepare, Helots and Barbarians, who had been reading and discussing the Iliad and the Odyssey, were introduced to Thucydides, Brasidas, and the geography of the Peloponnesian War. Argonauts and Hoplites contributed with their stories about the longest and most feared night of The Republic. The walk has become the stuff of legend, a kind of badge of honor in our program. Seven students from Lisbons D. Filipa de Lencastre and Antonio Arroio schools and twelve from Oeiras Internacional School (OIS) joined us. Lennard Girard and Jemma Montefiore, teachers at OIS, accompanied the latter group.

Donald Kagan called Brasidas the greatest of Spartan commanders, perhaps in all Spartan history. Indeed, Thucydides shows Brasidas acting quickly and audaciously at night against Megara, Amphipolis, Torone, and Potideia. Brasidas clearly believed that operating at night offered tactical and operational advantages. But what happens at a physical and psychological level during those dark hours? We speak at length about this to prepare for Brasidass Walk.

Night, students quickly learn, changes everything. After the first four miles to Altares in the northern part of Terceira Island, there is no street lighting. Dawn was six hours off. Flashlights helped somewhat. At about two oclock in the morning, we crossed knee-deep peat moss, making everyone tired and wet. I died there, a student told me later. It felt so different and awkward to walk on that type of ground. I thought I was going to sink. My shoes were great but my feet were soaked and cold. Then the terrain changed again when we reached Pico Gaspar, a small volcano in the center of the island. We stopped. The Hoplites had to reconnoiter. They had been here three times before but needed to adjust their senses and find the narrow northern path to the top. The volcano is different on every visit. Training and experience had taught the Hoplites that at night, things change quickly. Cues were crucial in their attempt to adapt. They took their time. It was their decision to make.

We couldnt see a thing! they told me afterward. If it wasnt for the shape of the volcano, we wouldnt have recognized the place. It was so different at night. The grass was tall and wet, there were lots of holes, brambles all over the place, and we fell several times at the start. We talked and explored but had doubts about the right path until the end. But they found it, and the rest of us followed. Girard and Montefiore helped them negotiate the climb to the top. Balance, agility, physical coordination, strength, and cooperation were essential on this section of the walk.

Things got dark and claustrophobic when we crossed the woods. For this part of the journey, students handed in their flashlights and mobile phones. Then, slowly, they found their way through the trees and mud in complete darkness. I could almost feel them trying to syncronize their brains with the strange environment around them. Communication between them increased and improved markedly. They understood how easy it is for one to get lost in the dark.

On Terceira Island, our night had started in high spirits. Music and adrenaline were in the air. Beatriz Mamede, Class of 2018 and a future law student, played songs from Xutos & Pontapes, a Portuguese rock band. Others chose hip-hop and deep house music. A student from Lisbon played The Greatest Showman soundtrack. Helena Lanova, a gifted violinist, spoke about the beauty of Mahlers Fifth Symphony. Groups formed; conversations started; chocolates were exchanged. Girard, Montefiore, and I felt compelled to restrain their high spirits, given what lay ahead. They were puzzled. The Brasidas Walk didnt seem like it would be particularly challenging.

Six hours later, just before dawn, things had changed dramatically. Reality was quite different from what they had anticipated. With a few exceptions, everyone was worn down by the constant movement, darkness, and lack of sleep. I learned that it is really possible to sleepwalk, one Argonaut told me. There were times I no longer knew what I was doing. I just closed my eyes and walked. My feet were killing me.

I was so tired, said another. Dawn was so difficult. It wasnt night and it wasnt day. I just wanted to sleep. Now I understand why Brasidas attacked at night. But how can one fight at this hour?

I realized I was listening to Disney songs, noted a student known for a sense of humor. Need I say more?

The night took away all the adrenaline, reminisced a young Barbarian. Daybreak brought no relief because I realized we were still far away from the end. I rested by the road whenever I could. I was so drained I just didnt care anymore.

Courage, resiliency, and adaptation take practice. Thucydides account of the Peloponnesian War demonstrates how crucial the social, economic, and political contexts are for making informed political choices. Understanding this is vital for the Hoplites, Argonauts, Helots, and Barbarians of the Republic, most of whom will pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level. They belong to the Google Generation and are fully digital. But as Joseph E. Aoun writes in his book Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, we all need a new type of literacy. Data and information are not enough for a good education in a free society.

Enter Thucydides, who makes clear that Sparta was different from all the other Hellenic city-states. This had important consequences for the citys grand strategy. As Paul A. Rahe has written, Spartan policy in the sixth century b.c. was to keep their Argive enemies out, the helots down and the Arcadians, above all others, in. The rise of Athens in the first half of the fifth century led Sparta to rethink its strategy and enlarge its network of allies to Corinth and Thebes, outside the Peloponnese.

When war with the Athenians nevertheless came in 431 b.c., Sparta resorted to an offensive strategy to annihilate the enemy and win quickly. Victory, however, proved elusive. Led by Pericles, Athens employed a strategy of exhaustion to make clear to the Spartans that they didnt have the geography, money, or power to prevail in a protracted war. Athenian victory at Sphacteria in 425 b.c., deep into Spartas rear in Messenia, astonished the Hellenic world. To the Greeks this was the most surprising event of the whole war, wrote Thucydides. They had thought that the Spartans would never surrender their arms, in starvation or any other extremity, but would use them to the last of their strength and die fighting.

Brasidass brilliant 424422 b.c. campaign in Thrace, right at the heart of the Athenian empires sea lines of communication and resources, was an attempt to chart a new grand strategy for Sparta and undermine the international legitimacy of the Athenian empire. Victory over a city like Athens, the general argued, would be possible only if Sparta adapted internally and externally. Initially, the majority of Spartans supported him, and Brasidass diplomatic and military accomplishments among Athenian allies in Thrace were indeed remarkable. Thucydides, whom Brasidas defeated at Amphipolis in the winter of 424/423 B.C., pays him the highest compliment: He was the first Spartan sent out to them, he established a reputation for decency in all his dealings, and left them a firm expectation that the others too were of similar character. Alas, they were not.

Brasidas died in combat in Amphipolis, a victory for Sparta, and he was buried in the city as a hero. Soon afterward, however, Sparta reverted to her traditional grand strategy and sued for peace. War was becoming an acute threat to its internal stability and hegemony in the Southern Peloponnese. Athens, also weakened by war, agreed to terms. Brasidas had understood that his strategic option was losing support in Sparta. Was his final daring run against Cleon, the Athenian commander, in Amphipolis a form of suicide?

It was now seven oclock in the morning. We had been walking for eight hours. Small groups scattered the road. Angra do Heroismo, our final destination, was still five miles away. I looked around and saw exhausted faces. Im sure I looked the same. I am 55. My only advantage is an awareness of the tides at night. Experience taught me that the morning is the most dangerous time of Brasidass Walk. Some students feel that they have done enough and are tempted to quit. Were going to run a bit, I told the small group around me. They gave me a worried look but followed when I started to jog. A quarter of a mile later, the jog became a run. Challenge accepted, shouted one of the students in the leading group.

We ran with abandonment downhill with our gear and backpacks. Farmers and cows looked at us, puzzled. We pushed harder and ran for another half mile. We stopped at Guerrilhass small crossing, gasping for breath, and waited for the others. They laughed at what they had just done. This is madness, an Argonaut said.

Perhaps. But it is a special kind of madnessthe feeling of being free. Im grateful for it. I hope that the memory of Brasidass Walk will serve this years Hoplites, Argonauts, Helots, and Barbarians in real lifeas it has served some of their predecessors in The Republic. Now, they have an idea of what night and nature can do to their minds and bodies. They have read Thucydides. And they have done some living, too.

Photos: Antonio AraujoU.S. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, answers questions during a press conference at the Pentagon.

The United States, Britain, and France pounded Syria in a coordinated air strike in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed approximately 60 people last week. The U.S.-led coalition is being dubbed the biggest intervention by Western powers in Syria's civil war.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis called the strikes a "one time shot" and said that they were aimed at Syrian government's chemical weapons infrastructure. "Right now we have no additional attacks planned," Mattis said Friday evening from the Pentagon.

Speaking alongside Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford named three targets that were struck in the military operation which began at 9 p.m. EST time.

The first target was the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, a government body responsible for research and development of advanced weapons systems.

"The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, we access that this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment," Dunford said.

The last target was a chemical weapons storage facility as well as a military command post.

And while Dunford would not describe the military assets that were deployed, he added that, "this wave of air strikes is over."

"Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said.

"Together we have sent a clear message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable."Unlike Victor Frankenstein's creature, Facebook's birth did not happen in a dreadful lab, but in a docile dorm room at Harvard University. Back then the 19-year old Harvard student wouldn't have estimated that a quarter of the world's population would be hooked to his service. The growth spurt has given Facebook and its creator tremendous power.

From dorm rooms to court rooms, the brand has had a roller coaster ride since its birth in February 2004. Mark Zuckerberg had always been a keen programmer. In college, he developed websites for his peers and even began something as flamboyant as FaceSmash, which was a site made to rate people on the basis of their attractiveness.

He quickly upgraded to Facebook, a site with detailed profiles of students and staff. Right off the bat, the idea took off like wild fire. Within a day, the page received profiles of 1,200 Harvard students and in a month it spread to half of the undergraduate population. From there, it quickly spread to other American Universities.

In August 2005, the company went international with a .com domain which it purchased for $200,000. However, they were still dealing with educational institutions. All that changed in September 2006 when Facebook was open to anyone with a registered e-mail id.

In the year 2007 they registered revenue of $153 million which increased to $272 in the next year. In 2009, they generated revenue of $777 million and a net income of $229 million. They touched the billion mark in terms of revenue in 2011. They listed themself in the stock markets for the first time in 2012. There was an initial dip in stock prices of Facebook Inc. but the company revived quickly and has been on the steady path of growth since then.

Facebook's business model has been developed around advertisements where the main product is the consumer. The company collects data from the subscribers and uses that information to target advertisements. This data was used in events as big as US Elections. In the year 2012, Facebook turned from just being a place to stay connected to an active site of campaigning. Barack Obama created a campaign website where supporters could consensually log-in to the site and provide their details for data collection. This was the one of the occasions Facebook's real potential was unleashed in front of the world. With the world watching, their influence was legitimized after Obama's clear win.

With power comes responsibility, but that might not be the case with Facebook. The company kept expanding in markets all over the world; adding features, better ways to target users and even acquiring big names like WhatsApp and Instagram. The growth was exponential but there was a clear lack of self regulation.

In 2015, the brand uncovered inappropriate extraction of user data by an organization called Cambridge Analytica. However, the company failed to notice legal authorities and asked the organization in question to delete the data on their servers. Facebook took Cambridge Analytica's word when they agreed to deleting it.

The Russian involvement in US Elections was another major blow to Facebook's credibility. Though the company may not be directly involved in spreading agendas, it has turned into a sort of a political weapon. So far, personal data of its 2.2 billion users was seen as a source of revenue, but has suddenly turned into a liability for the brand.

The Network Effect has, in a way, propelled even uninterested people to go on to the biggest social media platform. Network Effect is a phenomenon where a network or brand has made itself so necessary in the online space that it becomes a grave challenge to function without it.

Small businesses too rely heavily on Facebook for daily operations. The Network Effect ends up increasing the number of users and providing Facebook with more personally identifiable data.

After repeated allegations, the now 33-yr old Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of the US Senate and Congress for the first time earlier this week. The questions did throw him off the mark (pun intended) and made us realize that the Frankenstien's monster has gotten too big to control, even for its creator. The advertising model does increase reach but lacks liability on the part of internet giants like Facebook.

Also Watch:

President Donald Trump on Friday night announced targeted strikes on Syria to retaliate against a suspected chemical-weapons attack on a rebel-held town nearly a week ago.



The Pentagon confirmed later that the airstrikes, conducted along with French and UK forces, targeted chemical weapons facilities in Syria.

The White House released its assessment of the attacks late Friday evening, not long after Trump announced the military action.

Read the White House assessment below:

The United States assesses with confidence that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in the eastern Damascus suburb of Duma on April 7, 2018, killing dozens of men, women, and children, and severely injuring hundreds more. This conclusion is based on descriptions of the attack in multiple media sources, the reported symptoms experienced by victims, videos and images showing two assessed barrel bombs from the attack, and reliable information indicating coordination between Syrian military officials before the attack. A significant body of information points to the regime using chlorine in its bombardment of Duma, while some additional information points to the regime also using the nerve agent sarin. This is not an isolated incidentthe Syrian regime has a clear history of using chemical weapons even after pledging that it had given up its chemical weapons program.

Chemical Weapons Use on April 7, 2018

A large body of information indicates that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in the Duma area of East Ghutah, near Damascus, on April 7, 2018. Our information is consistent and corroborated by multiple sources. These chemical weapons were used as part of a weeks-long offensive against this densely populated opposition-held enclave. This assault has killed and wounded thousands of innocent civilians.

On April 7, social media users, non-governmental organizations, and other open-source outlets reported a chemical weapons bombardment in Duma. Videos and images show the remnants of at least two chlorine barrel bombs from the attacks with features consistent with chlorine barrel bombs from past attacks. In addition, a large volume of high-resolution, reliable photos and video from Duma clearly documents victims suffering from asphyxiation and foaming at the mouth, with no visible signs of external wounds. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement about its concern over suspected chemical attacks in Syria, noting that victims showed symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals.

Multiple government helicopters were observed over Duma on April 7, with witnesses specifically reporting a Mi-8 helicopter, known to have taken off from the Syrian regime's nearby Dumayr airfield, circling over Duma during the attack. Numerous eyewitnesses corroborate that barrel bombs were dropped from these helicopters, a tactic used to target civilians indiscriminately throughout the war. Photos of barrel bombs dropped in Duma closely match those used previously by the regime. These barrel bombs were likely used in the chemical attack. Reliable intelligence also indicates that Syrian military officials coordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine in Duma on April 7. Following these barrel bomb attacks, doctors and aid organizations on the ground in Duma reported the strong smell of chlorine and described symptoms consistent with exposure to sarin.

The symptoms described in reporting from media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other open sourcessuch as the WHOinclude miosis (constricted pupils), convulsions, and disruption to central nervous systems. These symptoms, in addition to the dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries reported, suggest that the regime also used sarin in its attacks on April 7.

The Assad regime chooses to deploy chemical weapons to terrorize and subdue both opposition fighters and the civilian population. It seeks to minimize regime casualties, in part because its military lacks the strength needed to otherwise prevail. Because the regime's intent is to terrorize, it makes no effort to discriminate between military and civilian targets. By using these banned weapons and wantonly bombarding civilian neighborhoods with conventional munitions and crude barrel bombs, Assad is collectively punishing his own people as a warning against further rebellion. Further, Assad uses chemical weapons in a manner to maximize suffering, such as against families huddled in underground shelters, as was seen in Dumaa population that was already negotiating for surrender and evacuation.

The regime's continued use of chemical weapons threatens to desensitize the world to their use and proliferation, weaken prohibitions against their use, and increase the likelihood that additional states will acquire and use these weapons. To underscore this point, not only has Russia shielded the Assad regime from accountability for its chemical weapons use, but on March 4, 2018, Russia used a nerve agent in an attempted assassination in the United Kingdom, showing an uncommonly brazen disregard for the taboo against chemical weapons.

In this caseas with previous instances of regime chemical weapons useUnited States experts considered alternative explanations beyond the Syrian regime's culpability for chemical weapons use. Within hours of the first allegation of chemical use on April 7, Syria's state-run news agency painted the reports as a smear campaign by the last remaining opposition group in East Ghouta, Jaysh al-Islam. We have no information to suggest that this group has ever used chemical weapons. Further, it is unlikely that the opposition could fabricate this volume of media reports on regime chemical weapons use. Such a widespread fabrication would require a highly organized and compartmented campaign to deceive multiple media outlets while evading our detection. The Syrian regime and Russia have also claimed that a terrorist group conducted the attacks or that the attacks were staged are not consistent with the existing body of credible information. The Syrian regime, conversely, has already been condemned by United Nations (UN) investigators for past and continued chemical weapons attacks. It is the only actor in Syria with both the motive and the means to deploy nerve agents. The use of helicopters further implicates the regime; no non-state group has conducted air operations in the conflict.

Precedent of Chemical Weapons Use and Retention of Assets

The Assad regime continues to flout international agreements to which it has assented, even after Russia agreed to act as a guarantor of the regime's compliance and claimed that the Syrian chemical weapons program had been neutralized. The Syrian regime and Russia have also worked to undermine international inspection and accountability mechanisms. Assad used sarin in November 2017, as the UN entity for attributing chemical use in Syria expired, ensuring that no UN Security Council (UNSC)-authorized investigative body remained to determine blame for chemical attacks. Since that time, the regime has also used chlorine on multiple occasions. The U.S. assessments of these attacks are based on credible, public information showing victims with symptoms of nerve agent exposure, including pinpoint pupils, as well as munitions of a type that largely matches previously assessed regime chemical munitions.

The Syrian regime has repeatedly used chemical weapons to compensate for its lack of military manpower, to achieve battlefield goals, and to compel rebel surrender, especially when the regime believes critical infrastructure or territory in the core of the country to be at risk. The regime has also demonstrated a willingness to use chemical weapons against entrenched opposition forces to maintain offensive momentum when as it calculates this behavior will not be detected and punished.

The Syrian regime's chemical weapons attacks on Duma were part of an effort to recapture the city in order to eliminate the final opposition pocket in East Ghutah capable of threatening the capital. The regime also seeks to punish Duma's civilian population, who have long resisted Assad's domination, as a deterrent to further rebellion. The regime took advantage of Russia's protection to use chemical weapons to advance its assault on Duma.

If not stopped, Syria has the ability to produce and use more chemical weapons. The Syrian military retains expertise from its traditional chemical weapons agent program to both use sarin and produce and deploy chlorine munitions. The United States also assesses the regime still has chemicalsspecifically, sarin and chlorinethat it can use in future attacks and that the regime retains the expertise necessary to develop new weapons. The Syrian military also has a variety of chemical-capable munitionsincluding grenades, aerial bombs, and improvised munitionsthat it can use with little to no warning.

Last fall, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) determined Syria was responsible for the sarin attack on Khan Shaykhun in April 2017. This determination was based in part on sample analysis that linked signatures from the Khan Shaykhun attack to previous samples from the Syrian regime's sarin stockpile, making clear that Syria retained chemical weapons well past its promise that it had destroyed its stockpiles and eliminated its program.

Chlorine Use Only Weeks after Khan Shaykhun

The most recent attack in Duma represents a continuation of the Syrian regime's pattern of chemical weapons use. Only weeks after the Syrian regime used sarin on Khan Shaykhun, it dropped chlorine barrel bombs as many as three times on opposition forces between April 29 and May 6, 2017, as regime forces attacked toward Al Lataminah, near Khan Shaykhun, where the Syrian regime used sarin in April 2017. The United States has indications of regime helicopters in the vicinity of the targets around this time, pictures of an unexploded chlorine barrel bomb consistent with munitions the regime has used in previous chemical attacks, and a video of chemicals being dispersed. This evidence is consistent with what the OPCW-UN JIM detailed in its fall 2016 reports assigning responsibility to the regime for chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015. Since 2014, the regime has used chlorine in similar battlefronts to terrorize opponents and break their will to fight.

- Photos of barrel bombs used in at least one of these attacks were consistent with regime-designed chlorine barrel bombs used throughout the conflict.

- Regime helicopters were in the vicinity around the time chemical weapons attacks occurred and in the same area where we identified public allegations. At least one public video of the attack showed footage of helicopters in the area.

- Victim accounts of these events specifically mentioned chlorineincluding its distinctive odor after the attackand symptoms consistent with chlorine exposure, including respiratory distress.

- In one of the attacks, pro-opposition social media video footage showed the explosion of a munition that resulted in a yellow-green plume consistent with the dissemination of chlorine.

Chemical Weapons Attacks in Damascus Area

On November 18, 2017, the Syrian regime used sarin against opposition forces in the Damascus suburb of Harasta as part of an increased effort to recapture an opposition stronghold that had resisted Assad's rule for several years. This attack resulted in dozens of injuries and deaths. This assessment is based on credible public information showing victims with symptoms of nerve agent exposure, including pinpoint pupils, and details on the munition type that largely match previously assessed regime chemical munitions.

- A Western NGO received patients suffering from a variety of symptoms, including constricted pupils, coughing, vomiting, and abnormally slow breathing. Some public videos referred to "nerve gas" or an "organophosphate," which would be consistent with the victims' accounts of constricted pupils. Social media and the press estimated varying numbers of casualties, including 19 fatalities and 37 injuries.

- The symptoms described are unlikely to have resulted from a conventional attack given the lack of other injuries associated with conventional weapons use. For instance, we have no reporting of victims experiencing the severe burns that would be expected with white phosphorus exposure.

- Social media reported that regime forces conducted the attack with hand grenades containing toxic gas, which further suggests that sarin was used in the attack.

- The United States assesses that the regime has produced and used sarin-filled hand grenades since 2013 and retained them after acceding to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

- In a public statement in late April 2017, France compared the sarin it detected in samples associated with the Khan Shaykhun attack to its laboratory analysis of sarin-filled grenades the regime used in April 2013.

On January 22, 2018, the regime used at least four chlorine-filled rockets in Duma, demonstrating its willingness and capability to use multiple types of small-scale chemical munitions. A large body of social media and press reporting provided not only written accounts of the event but also images and videos that increased our confidence that a chemical was used and that the Syrian regime was responsible.

- Social media accounts note the attack resulted in tens of victims, including at least some women and children, suffering from symptoms such as asphyxiation, consistent with chlorine exposure. Several photos of the children receiving medical care after the attack were posted to such social media accounts.

- Images of munition fragments from this attack have similar design attributes to chlorine-filled rockets that the regime used in attacks in the Damascus area in early 2017. Multiple public accounts of the January 22 attack also noted that victims smelled a chlorine odoran indicator of chemical use that we have observed in previous regime chlorine attacks.

Given recent regime chemical use in Duma and Harasta, the continued allegations of chemical use in the Damascus area, and the regime's use of chemicals under similar battlefield conditions, we are convinced that there have been other instances of both sarin and chlorine use in this area that we have not verified. We are also convinced the regime will continue to use such munitions.

- The regime's likely objective was to retake the East Ghutah area. East Ghutah has been one of the last pockets of territory in the Damascus suburbs held by entrenched opposition forces. The regime sought to defeat similarly entrenched opposition forces during the Aleppo offensive in fall 2016, where it repeatedly used chlorine.

- Syria's return to small, ground-launched munitions to deliver these toxic chemicals reflects CW tactics employed earlier in the conflict that gave regime ground forces a standoff capability to target personnel in sheltered areas such as buildings and tunnels, similar to those the Syrian regime has faced in East Ghutah.

- Since June 2017, we have identified more than 15 reports of chemical use in East Ghutah. Additionally, accounts of at least four alleged attacks in East Ghutahincluding in the towns of Harasta and Jawbarbetween July and November 2017 have mentioned chemical hand grenades, such as those we assess were used in Harasta.

This history clearly illustrates the Assad regime's consistent use of chemical weapons. Such use will continue until the costs to the regime of using these weapons outweigh any idea that they may provide military advantagesRussia responded angrily to a U.S.-led strike against Syria, warning of unspecified "consequences" that stoked fears the conflict could escalate.

President Donald Trump ordered targeted military action in the country late Friday, following an alleged chemical weapons attack that reportedly left dozens of citizens dead. In recent months, international efforts to broker a ceasefire and organize a humanitarian response to the country's crisis have faltered in the face of stiff opposition from both Russia and Syria.

Russia, which has backed the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has joined Damascus in denying an attack even took place  even though U.S. authorities have declared it did with near certainty. The dispute over Syria was the latest wedge between the West and Russia, which has been embroiled in multiple controversies with western governments.

In a statement released on Twitter, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. said the country was being "threatened," and issued an ominous warning that reprisals could follow. Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, branded the coalition strike as an "act of aggression," as he demanded an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Saturday.

Russia tweet

In the near term, the military strike appeared to ramp up a searing war of words between Washington and Moscow, which regarded the action as a attack on Russia itself.In 2015, the founder of a website called the Silk Road was sentenced to life in prison. The billion-dollar black market site was once the premiere online bazaar for drugs and other contraband, but it remained hidden from casual internet users for years because of something called the dark web. Here's how that dark side of the internet actually works.

Anatomy of the internet

If you think of the web like an iceberg, you have the surface web up top. It's the internet you see and use every day and consists of all the websites indexed by traditional search engines like Google. It's where you shop on Amazon and listen to music on Spotify. What's submerged is the deep web  an anonymous online space only accessible with specific software. Then there's the dark web, which is the part of the deep web that hides your identity and location. It's basically just "a series of encrypted networks that serve to anonymize peoples' use on the internet," said Matthew Swensen, a Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security with an expertise in cyber crimes. It's relatively easy for anyone to access this encrypted network. All it takes is downloading darknet software. Swensen said the most common dark web networks are Tor, I2P, and Freenet, but "Tor is, by far and away, the most popular."

Tor

Tor stands for "the onion routing project." It was developed by the U.S. Navy for the government in the mid-1990s. But it was open-sourced in 2004, and that's when it went public. Tor is now the dark web browser that the vast majority of people use to anonymously surf the internet. To understand how Tor actually works you need to know what happens when you typically search the web. Think of your IP address as an online identity. Any device you use to connect to the internet has one. Each time you visit a website, you can be traced back to your exact location thanks to that IP address.

The Tor browser looks like any other, except that there's a whole lot happening that you don't see. Instead of your connection request bouncing from its origin right to its destination, Tor sends your request on a much more roundabout route. Let's say you're in New York and you want to search a site hosted in New Jersey. Instead of connecting you directly, the Tor browser takes you on at least three random detours called relays. Your request could go from New York to South Africa, from South Africa to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong to New Jersey.

Tor is comprised of people from all over the planet who are donating their computers to the network. It has more than 7,000 relays to choose from. Bouncing your request around to random computers all over the world makes it much harder for people to find you. Software firm Hyperion Gray put together a map showing all 6,608 dark web sites crawled during January 2018. Each screenshot is a site, and the content ranges from the nefarious to the noble.

Map of the Dark Web.President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a targeted military strike in Syria, in retaliation for the government of Bashar Assad launching a chemical attack against civilians.

In conjunction with France and the United Kingdom, Trump declared that the military operation was vital to U.S. national security.

Despite Syria's emphatic denials of having gassed its own citizens amid a prolonged civil war, Trump's actions left little doubt that the U.S. believe a chemical attack took place. In a briefing, Defense Secretary James Mattis said the U.S. was "very confident" chemical weapons were used.

With relations between the U.S. and Russia at a nadir, Trump explicitly called out Moscow for its support of the Assad government. He also put a spotlight on Iran, which has also backed Damascus.

Trump's entire remarks, which he delivered from the White House, can be read below:

My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.

Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action.

One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian Air Force.

Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians -- this time, in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead.

Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.

To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?

The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.

In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack  and today's response  are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise.

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran  but maybe not.

I will say this: The United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.

In Syria, the United States  with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS  is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.

The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home. And great warriors they are.

Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil, or act everywhere there is tyranny.

No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It's a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of the World War I, more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return.

So today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.

Tonight, I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions.

We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

Thank you, and goodnight. Thank you.Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018.

President Donald Trump announced Friday night that he ordered the U.S. military to conduct precision missile strikes against the Syrian government, in retaliation for a chemical attack executed against its citizens.

The order  carried out in conjunction with French and British allies  marked a dramatic reversal for Trump. As recently as last week, had been saying that he wanted the U.S. to withdraw its forces from Syria. Then, days after a suspected chemical attack by Syrian forces on rebels, Trump warned over Twitter that missile strikes would be coming.

In a speech from the White House, Trump declared that the U.S.-led coalition's intent was to "establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States."

Although Trump has indicated his unwillingness to stay in Syria long-term, the president added that "we are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."

During Friday's speech, Trump noted that the strike was underway, but did not give further details of the targets or the military assets used. There were initial indications the strikes could occur over days, but officials at a Pentagon briefing later Friday said that the current wave of attacks was over.

Defense Secretary James Mattis, in a later briefing from the Pentagon, said Trump ordered the strikes to destroy Syria's chemical weapons development infrastructure.

Read more: White House releases the U.S. assessment of alleged chemical attack in Syria

There were reports of Syrian air defense forces firing back, but no immediate indications that U.S. planes were struck.

Trump used the address to also directly call out Russia and Iran, which back the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?" Trump said. "Hopefully someday we will get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran. But maybe not."

Russia responded over Twitter, with a statement from its ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov.

"We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences," the statement said. "All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris."

RUSSIA TWEET

The Syria assault generated mixed reviews on Capitol Hill. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., denounced the attack. "We need to stop giving presidents a blank check to wage war," he tweeted. "Today it's Syria, but what's going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?"

Separately, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi demanded Trump seek Congressional authorization, as well as a clear strategy for an endgame.

PELOSI TWEET

On the other hand, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., lauded the strikes, but called for Trump to draw up a more comprehensive plan for the region.

"Airstrikes disconnected from a broader strategy may be necessary, but they alone will not achieve U.S. objectives in the Middle East," McCain said in a statement. Earlier this week, McCain, the Senate Armed Forces Committee chairman, said Trump's talk of withdrawing from Syria had emboldened Assad to launch the alleged chemical attack.

The U.K. emphasized that the strikes were specifically targeted against Syria's purported chemical-weapons program.

"Our action is proportionate, specifically aimed at degrading the regime's ability to use chemical weapons and deterring further such appalling acts," said a statement from Britain's Royal Air Force. "It is therefore focused on regime facilities linked to the production and use of chemical weapons."

British Prime Minister Theresa May also issued a statement about the strikes.

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties," she said in a statement.There are also more swings in their earnings, and overall less certainty.

Thomas Barwick | Getty Images

Tracy Brasseur works as a waitress at Leo's Coney Island restaurant in Royal Oak, Michigan, from 6 a.m. to 2. p.m., five days a week. Although she only makes $3.52 an hour  the minimum wage for "tipped" workers in the state  she was bringing home around $500 each week, thanks to those gratuities. But lately, things have been tighter for the 46-year-old mother of two. A construction project near her restaurant has resulted in fewer customers coming through the door. Her wages for full-time work have shriveled to around $250 a week. "My landlord doesn't care that we have construction behind the restaurant," Brasseur said. "They want their rent money." Advocates and workers recently celebrated the Department of Labor's decision to back off its proposal to allow employers to use certain workers' tips. The updated law now allows that tips get shared among non-tipped workers, like cooks and dishwashers. But it doesn't cover managers or employers, and it applies only if all workers are paid the regular minimum wage of that region  not the lower hourly compensation paid to some tipped workers. Now labor advocates are focused on a more familiar fight: Abolishing the tipped wage altogether. While the federal minimum wage has been inching up over the last few decades, the federal minimum wage for tipped workers has been frozen at $2.13 since 1996. Some states have raised the tipped wage beyond that, but only seven states guarantee the same minimum wage to all workers.

All over the country, people are working on the One Fair Wage campaign. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this year that he's holding hearings on eliminating the lower hourly wage for tipped workers. Michigan and Washington D.C. are also considering establishing one minimum wage for all workers. "We haven't had this happening before," said Sylvia A. Allegretto, an economist and chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California, Berkeley. Cicely Simpson, executive vice president of the National Restaurant Association, said the tipped wage is a fair practice. "Servers frequently make much more than the minimum wage based upon their level of service," Simpson said. However, critics of the so-called two-tiered wage system argue that it exposes tipped workers to disproportionate levels of poverty and financial uncertainty. While many people might think of a tipped worker in a high-end establishment, frequently picking up $20 bills at the end of a meal, the vast majority of restaurant workers are employed at larger chains, like Denny's and Applebee's, across the country.

Almost 13 percent of tipped workers are in poverty, compared with around 6 percent of non-tipped employees, according to a 2014 joint report by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California, Berkeley. These problems are likely to be exacerbated by the fact that more workers will be making their living in restaurants. While employment in the private sector grew by 33 percent from 1990 to 2016, the number of full service restaurant workers doubled, according to Allegretto. The Department of Labor projects food and beverage related jobs to grow by 14 percent from 2016 to 2026, faster than the average for all occupations. "These jobs are becoming more plentiful, they're becoming a bigger part of our total economy," Allegretto said. "We have to take a hard look at bringing up not just the pay, but the quality of these jobs."

When your paycheck is a question mark

Erik Gullbeg, a waiter in New York City Source: Erik Gullbeg

Unlike most other employees, what tipped workers take home from one week to the next can vary dramatically, based on factors outside of their control. That includes the weather, or whether their boss schedules them during the slow or busy shifts. "That shift where you're raking it in, when combined with other shifts where you're struggling to make it, mean that you have irregular and unpredictable earnings," said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. All workers receive around $16 an hour, compared with just about $10 an hour for tipped workers, according to the report by Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California, Berkeley. "I can never be sure what my paycheck is going to be at the end of the week," said Erik Gullberg, a waiter and bartender at a restaurant in the East Village section of Manhattan in New York City. "One bad Saturday night can throw off the whole week and I basically know I'm only eating at the restaurant."

'Well then go find another place to work'

Tracy Brasseur in her work uniform Source: Tracy Brasseur

Under federal law, workers who are paid the tipped wage must end up with at least the minimum wage after tips. However, advocates and workers say this often doesn't happen. "If you don't make enough in tips it's an awkward situation for the employee to go the employer and say, 'I'm not getting the full minimum wage. I need you to follow the law'," said Shierholz, at the Economic Policy Institute. The Department of Labor's wage and hour division found that between 2010 and 2012, more than 80 percent of the full-service restaurants it investigated had some type of violation. Even for workers who do confront their bosses, problems remain. "They're not receptive at all," said Brasseur, the waitress in Michigan, speaking about confrontations she's had throughout the decades she's waited tables. "I've had bosses go ahead and say, 'Well then go find another place to work." Another line she's heard: "We're not making much money either."

Living without a safety net

Kirsti Esch, who's been a waitress in New York City for five years Source: Kirsti EschAbout Me Oscar Bartoli Washington, DC, United States Avvocato, giornalista pubblicista, collabora con molti media italiani. Risiede negli Stati Uniti dal 1994 e vive tra Washington D.C., Los Angeles e Bangalore (India). Consigliere comunale per il Partito Liberale a Palazzo Vecchio (Firenze) porta ancora addosso i segni delle percosse che i 'compagni' comunisti di allora gli hanno dato per essere andato a parlare nelle piazze dove comandava solo il PCI. Ha lavorato per molti anni nel gruppo SMI,leader europeo nel settore metalli non ferrosi, successivamente nell'IRI come responsabile dei contatti con i media e in seguito direttore IRI USA. Ha insegnato per dieci anni alla scuola di giornalismo della Luiss e per due anni alla Catholic University di Washington DC. Tiene un corso sulla comunicazione nel Master di Relazioni Internazionali dello IULM di Milano. Rotariano da decenni ha contribuito a creare due Club a Roma, e' stato presidente del Cassia Romana ed attualmente fa parte del Washington Rotary Club. Da giovane, per pagarsi gli studi ma, soprattutto, perche' gli piaceva, ha lavorato come chitarrista - cantante suonando nelle case del popolo, circoli cattolici, night clubs, radio e televisione. View my complete profile

Da non perdere "Lei non sa chi sono io" Oscar Bartoli- Prefazione Romano Prodi- Editore Ciuffa



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"Massoneria@FQA-Elogio dell'Informazione e della Comunicazione" di Stefano Bisi e Oscar Bartoli. Editore Luca Betti





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Blog ArchiveSyrians receive treatment at the field hospital after Assad Regime's alleged chlorine gas attack in Hamouriyah district of Eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria on March 6, 2018.

The Syrian opposition said Western strikes on Saturday would not change the course of the seven-year-old war as the army said it would crush remaining rebel parts of the country.

The missiles by the United States, Britain, and France targeted President Bashar Assad's chemical weapons capabilities in response to a deadly poison gas attack near Damascus a week ago, Washington said.

But rebels and opposition politicians said the Western powers should also hit Assad's conventional weapons which have killed many more people during the war.

Some insurgent officials said they feared an onslaught against the rebel bastion of Idlib, which a senior Iranian official has indicated could be the next target.

"Maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons again, but it will not hesitate to use weapons," opposition leader Nasr al-Hariri said.

A rebel fighter said he was bracing for further attacks as "revenge" by the government with its allies on rebel territory in the northwest, including the Idlib region.

"More was expected from the American strike to affect the path of the war and to curb Assad's crimes," he told Reuters from Hama province.

Damascus and its allies have said reports about poison gas in Douma were fabricated as a pretext for Western strikes.

After the suspected gas attack, which medical relief groups said killed dozens, rebels holed up in Douma finally surrendered the town. That clinched a big victory for Assad, wiping out the last insurgent pocket in the eastern Ghouta region near the capital.

The war has been going Assad's way since Russia intervened on his side in 2015. From holding less than a fifth of Syria in 2015, Assad has recovered to control the largest chunk of the country with Russian and Iranian help.

Mohamad Alloush, political chief of the Jaish al-Islam faction that had controlled Douma, said the Western strikes on Saturday would not be enough.

"As long as this regime and its security agencies exist, the chemical (attacks) will continue because there is safety from the consequences that would end it," he said. "And (Assad) is portraying what happened as a victory."

The Syrian presidency posted a video appearing to show Assad arriving for work on Saturday morning a few hours after the U.S.-led attack, dressed in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase.

Though swathes of Syria remain beyond his grasp, the insurgency currently poses no military threat to his rule.

The opposition has praised President Donald Trump for taking action against Assad after criticising former U.S. President Barack Obama for failing to enforce his own red line when Assad was accused of using gas in 2013. But they want more.

"The strike has weakened the regime, but has not strengthened the opposition," said another rebel commander.

Trump last year decided to halt a CIA programme that had funnelled weapons and cash to some Free Syrian Army rebels.The Pentagon on Saturday described the U.S.-led intervention in Syria as successful, adding that the military strike crippled the regime's chemical weapons infrastructure. "These strikes were justified, legitimate and proportionate response to the Syrian regime's continued use of chemical weapons on its own people," Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told reporters. At approximately 9 p.m. Eastern on Friday, the United States, Britain, and France pounded Syria in a coordinated air strike, in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed approximately 60 people last week. The U.S.-led coalition is being called the biggest intervention in Syria's civil war by Western powers since the conflict began in 2011. "This operation was carefully orchestrated and methodically planned to minimize potential collateral damage," White added. "I can assure you we took every measure and precaution to strike only what we targeted and we successfully hit every target."

U.S. Air Force pilots complete a flight in a B-1B Lancer. Department of Defense photo

Speaking alongside White, U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, Director of the Joint Staff, provided details of the overnight military operation. "We are still conducting a more detailed damage assessment, but initial indications, are that we accomplished our military objectives without material interference from Syria," McKenzie said. McKenzie added that none of the aircraft or missiles involved in the operation were successfully engaged by Syrian or Russian air defenses. "We are confident that all of our missiles reached their targets and at the end of the strike mission, all our aircraft returned safely to their bases," McKenzie said. What's more, McKenzie said that more than 40 surface-to-air missiles were employed by the Syrian regime, but most of the launches occurred after the coalition strikes.

Map showing targets of U.S.-led coalition strikes in Syria. Department of Defense photo

The order marked a dramatic reversal for President Donald Trump. As recently as last week, Trump had been saying that he wanted the U.S. to withdraw its forces from Syria. Then, days after a suspected chemical attack by Syrian forces on rebels, Trump warned over Twitter that missile strikes would be coming. Trump praised Western air strikes against the Syrian government on Saturday as "perfectly executed", and added "Mission Accomplished." "A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!" Trump said in a Twitter post. In a Friday speech from the White House, Trump declared that the U.S.-led coalition's intent was to "establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States." Although Trump has indicated his unwillingness to stay in Syria long-term, the president added that "we are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents." A 'one-time shot' strikePresident Donald Trump hailed the U.S.-led intervention in Syria as "perfectly executed," adding that the military campaign to degrade Bashar Assad's chemical weapons capability had accomplished its goals.

Less than a day after U.S., British and French forces targeted suspected chemical weapons sites in retaliation to an attack that left dozens of civilians dead last week, Trump thanked the U.S. coalition partners.

Yet in an echo of former president George W. Bush, Trump used words that ultimately came back to haunt his predecessor, by pronouncing "Mission Accomplished." That characterization raised questions about whether Western forces would intervene again if Assad used chemical weapons again, or if the conflict escalated amid Russia's growing bellicosity.

"A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!" Trump said in a Twitter post.

Defense Secretary James Mattis called the strikes a "one time shot" aimed at the Syrian government's chemical weapons infrastructure.

"Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis told reporters on Friday from the Pentagon.

"Together we have sent a clear message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable."

Back in May 2003, Bush prematurely declared the Iraq war as being over, in the wake of U.S. forces successfully toppling the government of Saddam Hussein. The event, staged on a U.S. bomber under a massive banner that screamed "Mission Accomplished," overshadowed the years of conflict and bloodshed that followed.

In a briefing on Saturday, Pentagon officials also described the Syria bombing as having successfully accomplished its goals.

Trump's declaration came as Moscow, which is backing Syria in its long civil conflict, has denounced the bombing campaign with undisguised contempt. In the wake of Friday's strike, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. warned of "consequences," while Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly called the intervention an "act of aggression."



--CNBC's Amanda Macias contributed to this article.President Donald Trump is clearly not a fan of Amazon. He attacked the company via Twitter five times in one week. Now, he's demanding an audit of the Postal Service's finances. Trump didn't say he's specifically looking into the Post Office's deal with Amazon, but it seems like he's trying to back up his claims. One of his main contentions is that Amazon is ripping off the U.S. Postal Service, but it's not clear whether it is getting the short end of the stick from the Jeff Bezos-led retailing juggernaut. In fact, Amazon may be saving the post office from financial ruin. On April 3, Trump said, "the post office is losing billions of dollars," at U.S. taxpayers' expense. It's true that the post office is losing money. It reported a $2.7 billion net loss in 2017. But the post office is not funded by U.S. tax dollars. And when you look at the revenue breakdown, you can see that shipping and packages is actually one of the few categories that brought in more money than the previous year. While overall revenue fell $1.8 billion, shipping and packages saw a $2.1 billion increase in revenue. Meanwhile, first-class mail revenue was down around $1.8 billion.

USPS 2017 Fiscal Report CNBC | Kyle Walsh

And the post office was in the red long before Amazon became such an online giant. The USPS began to lose money in the early 2000s with the internet's rise. But one of the post office's biggest revenue drainers has nothing to do with shipments, or the Internet. It's all about employee benefits. Back in 2006, Congress enacted a law that required the USPS to pre-fund its employee health benefits for the next 75 years. That move has cost the post office billions. In a note to clients, Baird Equity Research said that any large customer, including Amazon, would actually help the post office subsidize its pension costs.

A United States Postal Service (USPS) letter carrier delivers mail in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

In October 2013, Amazon struck a five-year deal with the Post Office. The specific terms of the contract aren't available to the public, because the postal service's deals with private shippers are considered proprietary. That means there's a decent amount of information we don't know. However, one thing we do know is that the post office is making a profit. In 2006, Congress ruled that the USPS couldn't set its prices lower than its costs, otherwise it would be able to unfairly charge less than its competitors like UPS and FedEx. Every year, an independent agency called the Postal Regulatory Commission makes sure the USPS' deals make economic sense. And year after year, the commission has approved the deal with Amazon. In its 2017 annual report, the USPS even said its shipping and packages business helped the "financial picture of the Postal Service." Trump is right that Amazon does technically receive a discount. Amazon ships a lot of packages, so chances are it's utilizing a bulk discount. But that's not specific to Amazon; it's available to other businesses, too.

Inventory at a warehouse Getty Images

That idea that the post office is losing big likely stems from a Citigroup report. The report alleges the USPS' pricing model is unsustainable, and that parcel rates would need to rise significantly for the agency to break even. The report was mentioned in a widely circulated Wall Street Journal commentary by shipping analyst Josh Sandbulte. The analyst argues that the post office is essentially giving Amazon a $1.46 subsidy for every box it ships. But if true, that figure would hold for all companies across the board, not just Amazon. Which is probably where Trump is coming up with the claim that the post office "will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon." TWEET However, the $1.46 figure has been debated. Just after Trump's latest tweet-storm about Amazon, the Citigroup analyst who wrote the original report clarified that Amazon's business could be profitable for the USPS. The Postal Service does receive reimbursements for some things mandated by Congress, like free mail for the blind and overseas voting. And it borrows money from the government to pay for its employee health benefits. But most analysts seem to agree that the post office isn't losing a fortune to Amazon. The USPS declined to comment on this story. The commission did not return CNBC's request for comment.

Jeff Bezos David Ryder | Getty ImagesBritish Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday that it was right and legal to order cruise missile strikes against Syria after a chemical attack on civilians in the town of Douma.

May said the aim was to deter the Syrian authorities from further use of chemical weapons and to send a message to the wider world that it was unacceptable to use such weapons.

"It was both right and legal to take military action together with our closest allies to alleviate further humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability," May said.

She added that she would address parliament on Monday.

May said intelligence and open source accounts indicated that the Syrian government was behind the attack in Douma last Saturday.

"Reliable intelligence indicates that Syrian military officials coordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine in Douma on the 7th April. No other group could have carried this attack," May said. "The [Syrian] opposition does not operate helicopters or use barrel bombs."Types of obituaries

The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries  family obituaries and life stories.

A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries

A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories.One screen, one user.

But what happens when any screen can serve hundreds of users?

In Steven Spielbergs 2002 sci-fi movie, Minority Report, billboards could display customized ads that addressed each passerby by name (or at least by the name of the person who provided ones eyeballs). Every public holographic billboard became private, targeted and personalized for a couple of seconds as each person walked by.

In reality, the public will likely reject the Minority Report model of their personal data being used to trigger public ad personalization.

As this weeks congressional hearing featuring Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated, the public and politicians are reaching their limits with privacy violations by companies that use personal information to display targeted advertising.

But truly personal data isnt required for this kind of advertising to work.

As far back as year and a half ago, a billboard in Moscow changed the ad on its display based on the brand of car passing by.

The billboard was created by Synaps Labs, which used high-speed cameras placed 180 meters in front of the billboard to take pictures of cars. Machine-learning software determined each cars make and model. The purpose was to show ads for Jaguars expensive new SUV to drivers who already owned expensive cars.

The company has since developed its technology further and installed billboards all over Russia and the United States.

Instead of harvesting and applying actual personal data, Synaps' billboard system used information publicly visible  car makes and models.

That process  to instantly extract actionable data from photographs  is something A.I. is very good at.

A.I. can detect all kinds of things, especially about pedestrians. Existing A.I. can detect whether a person in a photo is young or old, male or female and glean many other facts useful for ad targeting.

So, yes, we'll get Minority Report-style advertising that swaps out billboards as people drive or walk by. But the targeting will be done on the fly by A.I., not by personal information in a database.

The people who view these ads wont necessarily know that the billboards are personalized for them. In other words, real-world ads are going to start working a lot like online ads do today.

Synaps Labs technology can show one billboard ad at a time, so everyone driving by when a high-end car triggers the Jaguar ad will see it. Personalization will become even more powerful when a single billboard can show hundreds of ads at the same time to different people (and no one else can see whats being displayed for you).

Welcome to the future world of multi-view displays.

Think business computing, not advertising

When you walk through an airport today, dozens or even hundreds of signs direct you to baggage claim, taxis, bathrooms, customs and more. Big displays show you all the arriving and departing flights.

At any given time, however, youre concerned only with a tiny amount of this information.

In the future, there will be very few signs, and each will display only the information you might care about. Instead of showing all the flights, a screen will show only your flight. After getting off your flight, the signs will only direct to baggage claim and the bathroom.

Inside corporate office buildings, all the screens you will see, from the lobby to the boardroom and in every office along the way, will show you your own personal notifications, information and data. Any computer in the office will be your own personal computer, and youll be logged in using biometrics.

And all this will occur no matter how many people are looking at any given screen at once.

The technology for this is already in development. Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill describes a system that provides correct eye gaze for multiple users.

And a startup called Misapplied Sciences has developed technology, which it calls parallel reality, that enables hundreds of people to look at a single screen and see completely different, customized views. I could look at a screen and see information in English, while the person standing next to me sees the same information in Mandarin and a third person sees French. Or, for that matter, I could see my texts and the others could see theirs.

Misapplied Sciences, which was founded by former Microsoft employees and Walt Disney Imagineers, has demonstrated screens that send different colors of light  theyre called multi-view pixels  in a huge number, possibly even millions, of directions.

The company says that by using smartphone-like sensors, it can not only show each passerby a unique, individualized screen, but the displayed information or ad could follow people as they walk around, jumping from screen to screen. All this would be private in the sense that nobody else could see it, even in a crowded public space.

While multi-view screen technology is emerging, the other technologies required to make this vision a reality are well-established. First, theres all-cloud computing, as in the Chromebook model. Cloud computing is ubiquitous today, and the all-cloud computing model is solid.

Second are biometric technologies such as face recognition. They are getting faster and more accurate. Biometrics are already the default approach for authentication on the top model of the worlds top smartphone maker (that would be Apples iPhone X). Nearly all future smartphones will use biometric ID for authentication, which will become faster and more accurate with each passing month.

The only missing technology ingredient in the equation is the display technology, and thats definitely coming.

The combination of these three trends will result in a world in which every screen you encounter anywhere, including in public spaces, is personalized and individualized. And unlike with augmented reality, you wont have to wear special glasses.Baroness Helic and Chloe Dalton are former special advisers to William Hague as Foreign Secretary. This article first appeared in Bright Blues latest Centre Write magazine Global Giant?

Over the last few months, we have witnessed an avalanche of revelations of sexual harassment experienced by women internationally. #MeToo has flooded Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, bringing countless individual stories to the world.

In different ways, these women have found their voice. Yet the same still cannot be said of the millions of female and male survivors of wartime sexual and gender-based violence, the vast majority of whom never receive justice, recognition or reparation. Girls like Hala, a teenage Rohingya girl who told Human Rights Watch how she was stripped naked by soldiers, gang-raped and left for dead, during the Burmese militarys campaign of ethnic cleansing. Hala has no hashtag. She is one of thousands of Rohingya women and girls  already some of the most marginalisedand mistreated women in the world  now facing the lifelong consequences of rape, while living in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh where they are vulnerable to forced marriage, human trafficking, and sexual assault.

In conflicts around the world, sexual and gender-based violence is used as a means of terrorising, controlling or expelling a civilian population. It is not the only crime faced by civilians during conflict, but it is one of the most devastating. In South Sudan, UN Human Rights Council investigators have documented horrific cases of violence by armed groups, including a mother who witnessed her son being forced to rape his grandmother, and an 85 year-old woman who was gang raped and forced to watch her husband and son killed.

On top of physical injury, trauma, and unwanted pregnancy, victims are often stigmatised and rejected by their communities. Nor are all survivors female. A 2017 study by UNHCR found that boys as young as 10, and men as old as 80, have been sexually tortured in Assads prisons. The stigma faced by male survivors is especially acute: the same report found that 70 countries criminalise men who report sexual victimisation, due to homophobic policies.

The prevalence of sexual violence as a military strategy, its salience as a factor in creating refugee flows, and its devastating impact on the rights of women and girls, mean that we will not address the security challenges of the twenty-first successfully if we turn a blind eye to this aspect of conflict and insecurity.

The Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) was set up in 2012 by the then Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and Angelina Jolie, with the goal of increasing the number of perpetrators who are brought to justice, and building up the legal and practical capability of other countries to prevent this violence themselves.

The initiative included setting up the first team of diplomats working full-time in the Foreign Office on preventing sexual violence in conflict, and a team of doctors, lawyers, police officers, psychologists and forensic scientists who could be deployed overseas to help gather evidence and train local authorities. Thanks to UK leadership, over two thirds of all UN member states endorsed a Global Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in 2013 pledging, for example, not to include amnesties for sexual violence in peace agreements.

And in 2014 the UK held a summit in London that crystallised a number of other important advances including changes to military training, action plans adopted by some of the worst-affected countries, and the launch of the first international protocol in the documentation and investigation of sexual violence.

The Government has pledged to hold an international meeting in 2019 to review progress made since the summit. It has yet to articulate its goals for the meeting, and should consider three steps.

First, ministers should acknowledge that the case for action is even more urgent today than it was in 2012. ISISs use of rape and sexual slavery as a genocidal strategy towards the Yazidi people, and the brutal sexual violence carried out in Syria and Burma, all point to the continuing centrality of this issue to UK for eign policy. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office should develop and announce a plan for the 2019 conference that is commensurate with the scale of the problem and Britains aspirations to a leading role in tackling global security challenges.

Second, the UK should be at the forefront in insisting on, and helping to enable, justice for survivors. It is disappointing that the Government has so far under-emphasised sexual violence in its response to the Burma crisis. The PSVI team of experts should be deployed, in force, to Bangladesh to gather testimony and evidence for use in future prosecutions. Failure to do this sends a tacit signal to the Burmese authorities that they will pay no serious penalty for the mass violation of the rights of Rohingya women and girls. The UK should also name and shame military commanders on whose watch these crimes have been committed, and make them a target of international sanctions.

Third, even though we know that genderbased violence is endemic in situations of conflict, disaster and human displacement, it is routinely under-funded and insufficiently prioritised in humanitarian responses. For instance, there is often a critical shortage of funds for the provision of post-rape care and other healthcare services. Speaking in December, the UN Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict reported a funding shortfall of $10 million to deliver urgent gender-based violence assistance to Rohingya women. This is a relatively small sum in the context of the $434 million UN appeal for the Rohingya crisis. It is a shortfall that could easily have been prevented if funding for these types of needs were hardwired into the international response on a sufficient scale.

We believe that the UK could set a lead by announcing that it will dedicate a fixed or minimum percentage of the aid budget to fighting sexual and gender based violence, including empowering women and addressing the inequalities that leave them vulnerable. The Development Secretary should announce that the UK will devote a minimum one per cent of the International Development budget to this purpose, and call on like-minded allies to do the same.

Without this kind of coordinated, comprehensive approach, prevention and protection will always lag behind needs, and these war crimes will continue unchecked. The new-found willingness to confront entrenched sexual violence and harassment in our own society should be matched by an equal determination to defend the rights of the most vulnerable women in the world. Girls like Hala deserve nothing less.Mays gambit. To blame Assad not for one attack, but for a persistent pattern of behaviour.

Readers will have noted that the Prime Minister did not claim categorically, in her statement about military action in Syria, that the Assad regime is responsible for the chemical attack in Doura.

Her words were: a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack.

Theresa May is being cautious  understandably so since, if the regime was responsible (and no other explanation is persuasive), the Russian military will have cleansed the area of evidence, or will have tried to, before UN Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inspectors get to work.

Instead, the Governments core argument is that Assad has a persistent pattern of behaviour with chemical weapons. (In which case, some might say, since he is winning Syrias civil war, bit late now.)

Note, too, how she deployed the attack in Salisbury in making her case: We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  within Syria, on the streets of the UK [our italics], or anywhere else in our world. Thats the Prime Ministers way of joining up Russian responsibility for the oversight of the use of such weapons here and abroad.

She referred to a limited and targeted strike. But what happens if the Syrian regime makes another chemical attack in the near future?

Thats a question which, among others, this site has repeatedly asked. It will be worth watching how some Conservative MPs react in the Commons on Monday, torn between reservation about military action and unwillingness to line up with Jeremy Corbyn.

In particular, it will be important to try to get a sense of how many of these there are.

For most Tory MPs, the issue about Commons pre-authorisation of military action will surely have come and gone. But Monday will provide the first opportunity to get a sense of how many are, as it were, on the Tom Tugendhat wing, supporting action enthusiastically, and how many on the Julian Lewis wing, out of sympathy with it.Our survey. Party members back military action without a Commons vote by three to one

At the time of writing yesterday evening, our snap survey on whether or not the UK should intervene in the Syrian civil war had passed the 1,000 respondents mark, and has thrown up a very interesting result.

Party members, it turns out, support the principle that the Government should be able to intervene without the prior authorisation of a vote in the House of Commons.

Such a move would be entirely in line with the constitution, where power over foreign affairs are exercised by the Executive via the royal prerogative, and would be a restoration of the normal practice before Tony Blair set the precedent for getting Parliaments permission in 1998 and 2003.

As with so many of his constitutional whimsies, it has not worked out well.

As MPs such as Johnny Mercer  and on the other side of the House, Wes Streeting  have pointed out, it is very difficult to ask the Commons to make a decision based on only a small portion of the information available to the Cabinet and the National Security Council. James Gray has also made the case on this website.

It also undermines Britains credibility on world stage when Parliament can pull the rug out from beneath the Government without warning  or even by accident:

The irony of the 2013 Syria vote: Labour didnt expect to defeat Cameron and was surprised when he ruled out any military action.  George Eaton (@georgeeaton) April 10, 2018

Nonetheless, its rare for any of Blairs innovations to be so seriously challenged after the fact. Unfortunately, Theresa May might not feel as if she has the strength to antagonise a Commons in which she doesnt command a majority, especially when it looks like the Democratic Unionists favour a vote.

However, our survey suggests that should she decide to press ahead, she will command the support of the Tory grassroots.CORNWALL, Ontario  Cosplayers gather at the Army, Navy, and Airforce Club for the Sakura Cherry Blossom Cosplay on April 14, 2018, to dress as their favourite characters.

The event has grown since their first gathering on Halloween 2 years ago to now be a group of 25 people with well put together costumes from any source they desire.

The event is held in anticipation of the Cornwall Area Pop Event at the Benson Centre next weekend and is a way to celebrate the coming of Spring.

Gathering people with similar interests in a close-knit group allows for a judgment-free environment for those who are anxious about dressing in costumes in public.

The organizer of the event, Britteny Bracey, came dressed as Cutiepie Karuta from the Vocaloids and truly brought the spirit of Cosplay.

I am just glad we get to help the community, and its not a bundle out of our pockets just to go enjoy ourselves. I really think it helps people who have anxiety and its a small event to start the things they want to do, said Britteny.

The $5 entry fee allowed patrons to be entered into a draw for prizes, food, and photos as well as enjoy the company of like-minded individuals.

Sierra Lalonde-Luscombe came to the event dressed as Gumi from the Vocaloids.

It lets me be someone Im not and it is also something really fun to do because it lets me express my self, said Sierra.

In June, the group plans to do a similar event with the theme of Alice in Wonderland.WESTPORT  Christi Caldwell breaks her career up into two periods. The time before her son Rory was born and the time after.

The point of inflection was 2008. At the time, Caldwell taught history at Fairfield Warde High School, but when Rory was born and Caldwell and her husband learned he had down syndrome, Caldwell did not return to Warde in order to attend to Rorys many medical appointments.

It was a really uncertain time in my life and so I found that writing was really cathartic. I put a lot of emotion into it and its where I channeled my energy, Caldwell, 38, said.

When Caldwell was ready to return to work, she couldnt find a teaching job. Facing financial hardship, Caldwell and her husband, a middle-school science teacher, moved to North Carolina, but couldnt find work so returned to their native Connecticut a year later.

The years after Rory was born were undeniably difficult for Caldwell and her family. We ate our Halloween pumpkin one year because we didnt have money for produce, Caldwell said, adding the city of Milford helped her family out with oil because they couldnt afford it and also provided her son with Christmas gifts because she and her husband didnt have the funds.

Caldwell began writing long-before Rory was born but said her work took on a new intensity after his birth. I started to reassess my view of perfections and imperfections and what makes something perfect. I looked at us all as kind of flawed beings and thats what makes the world really beautiful and unique and so I started writing about really flawed characters, Caldwell said.

Ever since she was 13, Caldwell read historical romance novels. What I loved is that it is a blend of history and they always end with a happily ever after because I feel life is hard enough, Caldwell said.

While earning an integrated bachelors and master's degree in history education from the University of Connecticut, Caldwell tried her hand at writing historical romance and continued writing into her teaching career at night after grading papers.

After Rorys birth, Caldwells wrote at night and on the weekends when her husband would take Rory out of the house. Despite all the time Caldwell put into her writing  she wrote two books in total after Rorys birth  she sat on the works and thought theyd never see the light of day.

Eventually, Caldwell and her husband both found teaching jobs again  her at Stamford High School and her husband at Stamfords Cloonan Middle School. In 2013, however, Caldwells world was once again turned upside down. She was pregnant with twin girls, and the pregnancy was difficult and complicated.

For weeks, Caldwell was on bed rest with her twins and continued to write. Out of boredom, she watched episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, including one which featured historical romance author Valerie Bowman. Cadwell saw Bowmans life and decided to self-publish some of her work through IndyPublish.com, not thinking anyone would find them.

In the past, Caldwell had sought out different agents and editors at historical romance fiction fests but was told over and over again that her work wouldnt sell because it was depressing and dark and people read historical romance because they dont want to think.

Nonetheless, the novella Caldwell self-published garnered a following, and quickly. Caldwell could see on IndyPubish that people read and reviewed her book and were asking for more, so Caldwell published her first full-length novel, Forever Betrothed, Never the Bride, which was the first book she wrote after Rorys birth and which became a USA Today Bestseller.

I literally found a readership overnight, Caldwell said, adding, people were asking for more and saying, where are your books? While her newborn twins slept, Caldwell wrote. I was doing it because I love it. Its never work, Caldwell said.

A prolific writer, Caldwell has published nearly 40 books of historical romance in the last five years and is now a full-time romance writer. This month, she and her family moved to Fairfield because she felt it was a community that could embrace Rory and his challenges with down-syndrome.

I always said if I could live in Fairfield I would live in Fairfield, Caldwell said.

All of Caldwells historical romance books are set in the Regency period in England, which spanned from 1805 to 1822 and is the most common setting for historical romance novels set today. People love the pageantry and the curtsies and the manners and the proper way that people behaved. It wasnt overt sexuality. The kiss of the fingertips is just as romantic, if not more, than what you see in other romance novels more about how it is today, Caldwell said.

While Caldwell said readers enjoy the chivalry of the period, it turns out they dont mind that her characters have struggled, and push the boundaries of their time. What people tend to like is the characters who break outside the mod. Its not necessarily about the hero whos polite and proper. Its the one who stands and maybe makes waves in society for different reasons. Or people enjoy the heroine who is strong, blue stockings they're called, and doesnt allow herself to be constrained, Caldwell said.Child tax credit extension: What we know about if it'll last until 2025The Himalayan snows will soon start melting. Every year during the months of May and June, the high passes witness activities not in consonance with the majestic peace-conducive surrounding peaks. This year again, the Chinese will cross over and intrude on the Indian territory, or to put it nicely like the spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs does, in what we perceived our side of the border.

Perceptions

The fact is there are today two Lines of Actual Control (LAC) on the 3,488km-long frontier: the LAC "perceived" by India and the Chinese one. It is said that there are as many as 23 spots where there are differences of "perception" from Ladakh to the east of Arunachal state; at most of these places, "transgressions" are bound to happen.

A year after the Doklam episode, is India ready to tackle the situation? China is undoubtedly prepared, far more than last year when the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) got surprised by Indias decision to defend Bhutan and not permit a road on the latters territory.

During the last few weeks, the Chinese media is full of the news about exercises conducted by the PLA on the Tibetan plateau. And it is not only the ground forces which are practising; the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) often joins in.

On April 10, The Global Times reported that a PLAAF brigade, belonging to the Eastern Theatre Command, successfully hit all targets with four rocket-propelled grenades after it conducted its first live-fire drill on a plateau (read Tibet), a move hailed by experts as a significant progress on the militarys capability in cross-regional missions.

The PLA Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Chinese forces, added: In order to make the exercise more challenging, the unnamed brigade chose a target that was only one-tenth the size of a simulated target. Song Zhongping, a military expert, explained to The Global Times:

Ballistic trajectories are different on high plateaus as the air is thinner at altitude, which demands greater ability from pilots to project and adjust the firing. The oxygen deficit on plateaus is also physically challenging for pilots.

You may say that it is just a PR exercise to impress Indian forces on the other side of the Himalayas. The Communist tabloid recently announced that the PLA has strengthened its power and management in border defence by developing new types of equipment that can be used in all environments, including those with extremes of temperature and topography. Though no particular border is specified, it is clearly a message to India.

The Beijing Evening News gave a long list of new gadgets to defend Chinas borders: A satellite early-warning monitoring system is planned in some border areas difficult to enter and patrol. It clearly points to some remote places in Arunachal Pradesh, still considered by Beijing as part of Chinese territory.

Surveillance

The newspaper also speaks of a surveillance camera network built in border regions, the density of coverage is set to increase to cover blind spots. Add to this, a far greater informatisation and mechanisation of an entire range of equipment to provide an early warning. The level of automation of the PLAs equipment is also said to have greatly increased; it includes the usage drones and setting up of unmanned monitoring systems.

The Pangong Lake, located an altitude of 4,250m, which shares shores with India and Tibet is specifically mentioned; the PLA will be using new patrol boats made of non-metallic materials: The craft has a top speed of 40km per hour and can resist ice collisions.

And of course a BeiDou enhanced satellite navigation with a real-time communication system. As a bonus, scout vehicles have water filters, a kitchen and a toilet and a new type of hot water bottle that can keep water hot for 24 hours.

In the meantime, PTI has reported a new incident in Arunachal Pradesh; for once, it is China that lodged a protest against the Indian Army for "transgressing" in Asaphila, a strategic border area in Upper Subansiri district.

When the Chinese raised the issue during a "Border Personnel Meeting" (BPM) on March 15, the Indian Army had to explain that the area belongs to India and it regularly carries out patrols there.

Model village

It appears that Asaphila has been specifically mentioned by the Chinese because it lies south of the village of Yume, adopted by Xi Jinping, the PLAs Helmsman, during the 19th Congress in November 2017.

Since then, the 34-inhabitants hamlet has become a "model" village for entire China and one of the sisters, who originally received a missive from Xi, has already become a deputy to the National Peoples Congress. For India, Beijings message is: Please dont come close to a village adopted by the Emperor! And is India ready? Not really.

A few days ago, Lt gen PG Kamath, a former commandant of the Army War College in Mhow wrote a strongly-worded article about Indias "Hard Power Deficit": Indias passive acceptance of Chinas dominance is proof of our hard power deficit and acceptance of a country of a tributary status to the Middle Kingdom.

Though perhaps an exaggeration, Kamath quoted the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence which was "a proof of our inability to stand up to China." He particularly complained about a meagre defence budget that is inadequate even to foot the committed liabilities, let alone modernisation. This is, unfortunately, a fact.

Will China force India to wake-up? Not sure, the elephant is always thick-skinned and slow; the dragon is definitively swifter. It does not augur well.

(Courtesy of Mail Today)

Also read: How the fast defines Modi's greatnessGlobally, major democracies are today ruled by the Right: the United States (Republicans), Britain (Conservatives), Japan (Liberal Democrats), India (BJP), Australia (Liberals) and a raft of countries across Europe (Austria, Poland, Hungary and Italy). Note that Japans and Australias centre-right parties are respectively called the Liberal Democratic Party and Liberal Party.

So, are liberalism and the Right compatible? What are the values the liberal Right espouses? And the Left, which has arrogated liberalism to itself - just how liberal really is it?

There are several reasons why the world is turning Right. Disillusionment with the Left is surging even in Canada where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, poster boy of liberalism, has in recent months seen his popularity plummet. Trudeau epitomises all that is right and wrong with the liberal Left.

For example, under the guise of inclusiveness, he has embraced Khalistani separatists. Trudeaus visit to India was marred by the presence of a rabid Sikh separatist who, though not part of Trudeaus official delegation, received a visa despite his extremist views.

Major democracies, including the US and India, are today ruled by the Right.

And yet, Trudeau ticks all the right boxes of modern liberalism. He is determinedly plural: half his cabinet comprises women; several Sikhs head key ministries. He is gay-friendly, supports transgenders and doesnt have a racist bone in his body. He is the anti-Trump.

Just as the Left can be nasty (Stalin and Mao murdered millions of their citizens in Russia and China, Castro impoverished Cuba and Hugo Chavez ruined Venezuela), the Right is often wrongheaded. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is certainly not a product of the liberal Right. It is not even particularly right wing either - a proposition that will shock its core believers.

On economic policy, the RSS is ideologically aligned with the Left.

Consider the RSS position on the economy and society. It favours a swadeshi economy, discourages foreign investment and does not allow women to be a part of the main organisation. They can only be members of the womens wing. Disparate organisations, ranging from business bodies like FICCI to political parties like the BJP and the Congress, have a womens division, but also allow women membership of the parent body. Many have gone on to head such organisations. The parent RSS though remains exclusively male.

On economic policy, the RSS is ideologically aligned with the Left  which too will shock those who hew to the Right. Both the RSS and the Left are stuck in the 19th century. The BJPS economic instincts, in contrast, incline towards an open economy, free markets and foreign investment. That is why traders, businessmen and industrialists have long favoured it. Yet, over the last four years, the BJPs economic policy has moved to the Left. Many of its non-ideological reforms like the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) have been game-changers. But its stupor over labour reforms and continuing inconsistency over tax policy betray confused thinking.

Consider now the five commandments of liberal governance to see whether the Left or the Right makes the cut.

Commandment One: A liberal, open economy must encourage competition and set fair rules. The Narasimha Rao government worked towards these criteria between 1991 and 1996. The Congress-led UPA in 2004-14 had good economic moments but was fatally compromised by corruption. The BJP-led NDA inherited a broken, institutionally corrupt ecosystem in 2014. It has been unable to fix it. That could prove its undoing.

Commandment Two: The judicial system must be firm, fair and fast. The Congress failed on all three counts. So has the BJP. As political theorist Francis Fukuyama wrote in The End of History and the Last Man, a successful country must satisfy three criteria: accountable governance, rule of law and transparent democracy. Neither Congress nor BJP governments have met these criteria.

Commandment Three: A genuinely secular, plural society does not discriminate on the basis of caste, religion or gender, does not appease minorities, does not instigate the majority, and keeps religion out of politics. The Congress has time and again failed these tests - from Shah Bano in 1985 to Batla House in 2008. The BJP has been even more brazen in using majoritarianism to win votes, taking the Congress decades-long appeasement of Muslims to an entirely different level by institutionalising polarisation.

Commandment Four: Foreign policy must be consistent and coherent. Left-leaning Congress did well to deepen the strategic partnership with the United States which the BJP has continued to strengthen. But the BJP-led NDA government has floundered badly on how to deal with Pakistan.

It tried conciliation but got Pathankot and Uri in return. It undertook a surgical strike but then followed a policy of reactive firing across the Line of Control (LOC) rather than proactive destruction of terror modules in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK).

In Kashmir, the security forces have done well to neutralise nearly half of active LeT, JeM and Hizbul terrorists in the Valley. But with summer around the corner, the governments carrot, in the form of interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma, is too small and its stick, held to ransom by alliance partner PDP, too ineffective.

Commandment Five: Leave the media well alone. Rajiv Gandhi tried to muzzle it with the anti-defamation act and failed. The UPA brought strict laws to curtail online freedom - and again failed. The BJP government fell into a trap of its own making when it was compelled to withdraw a circular on fake news. Fake news is a perishible commodity. It dies in the absence of oxygen. The government should steer clear of trying to demonise it. There are enough news warriors on the Right and Left who will do it for them.

In a truly liberal society, ideology does not decide who leans Right and who leans Left.

Issues decide where you stand on, for example, gender equality, freedom of speech, foreign investment, censorship, dissent, pluralism and national security. To be a true-blue liberal you should be equally comfortable with a Muslim man in a skull cap, a Muslim woman in a burqa, a Sikh with a kirpan and a Hindu with a trishul.

Liberal but naive Hindus treat Muslims as if they were an endangered species like the black buck, needing constant care and protection. But what Muslims need is jobs, homes and prosperity. They want to be pulled out of the poverty and ghettos secular India has boxed them into for 71 years. Their mullahs wont help them. Extremist Hindu groups wont either.

Liberal but naive Hindus will only prolong their misery by unwittingly setting them up against decent, moderate, but increasingly resentful Hindus.

Liberals reject prejudice, from wherever it comes. They welcome diversity. They support non-discriminatory civil common codes for Muslims and Parsis, for Hindus and Christians. They abhor appeasement and polarisation. They support rationalism and dismiss superstition. They are inclusive nationalists who put India first and their religious, caste, regional and linguistic identity last.

Those who dont, whether on the Left or Right, are not liberals.

Also read: This is war and it doesn't even spare little girlsInvestigators did not probe Dibb Lupton Broomhead: JIT

ISLAMABAD: The head of Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) admitted before the accountability court on Friday that the investigators did not probe Dibb Lupton Broomhead, its partner Lawrence Radley and the management company, Arena, in the Avenfield apartments reference.



During the Friday proceedings, the supreme leader of the PML-N Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were given exemption from appearing in court for a day due to security reasons.



The defence counsel, Amjad Pervez, who cross-examined JIT head and prosecution witness Wajid Zia, claimed that the investigation might have proved that she had no connection with the Avenfield property and alleged the JIT deliberately avoided investigating the matter to falsely implicate her and her spouse retired captain Mohammad Safdar in the case. The star witness, however, denied the allegation and said: Its incorrect to suggest this.



The prosecution witness said the certification by the British Virgin Island authorities of a correspondence between financial investigation agencies (FIA of BVI) and Mossack Fonseca established the link of Ms Nawaz with Minerva that was documented through a letter dated Dec 5, 2005. There was a documentary evidence to connect her with Nescoll enterprises and Nielsen Limited, as they were owned through bearer shares certificates at the time of their incorporation, he told the defence counsel. However, he added, she had no role in the incorporation of both companies.



He said the JIT did not gather record to establish who had been administering secretarial administration of Nescoll & Nielsen since their incorporation in January 2006. He said the JIT did not have record about the companies managing or maintaining the Avenfield apartments from 1993 to 1996 or about the owner of the flats before the two BVI companies Nescoll and Nielsen.



The counsel for the Sharif family said that as per land registry, Avenfield apartments 17 & 17-A were registered under the proprietorship of Nescoll Enterprises, c/o Dibb Lupton Broomhead, in 1993 & 1996, while the flats 16 and 16-A were registered under the proprietorship of Nielsen c/o Dibb Lupton Broomhead on July 31, 1995.



The defence counsel then produced a letter sent by the partner of Dibb Lupton Broomhead, Lawrence Radley, to the counsel for the Sharif family in the Supreme Court, Salman Akram Raja. Mr Radley in the letter stated: I can confirm that I acted on behalf of the purchasers of the Avenfield apartments around 1993 to 1996. The properties were purchased through two British Virgin Island companies Nielsen & Nescoll and instructions to purchase the properties were not provided by any member of the Sharif family.



When Mr Zia was asked if the JIT had investigated Mr Radley, he said: The JIT decided not to associate Mr Radley in its investigation because the letter clearly states that the flats were purchased through two offshore companies.



Purchase through offshore companies was devised to maintain anonymity, Mr Zia said, admitting that in the JIT report there was no mention of the letter written to Mr Raja.



The defence counsel then confronted the prosecution witness with a letter written by the company, namely Arena, to thank Hussain Nawaz, the son of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, for acquiring management services. Mr Zia said the JIT did not investigate Arena as it was a service provider which had nothing to do with the ownership of Nielsen and NescollJacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides technical, professional, and construction services. The company's Aerospace, Technology, Environmental and Nuclear segment offers scientific, engineering, construction, nuclear, environmental, and technical support services to the aerospace, defense, technical, and automotive industries. Its Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities segment develops/rehabilitates plans for highways, bridges, transit, tunnels, airports, railroads, intermodal facilities, and maritime or port projects; develops or rehabilitates critical water resource systems, water/wastewater conveyance systems, and flood defense projects; and provides engineering design, construction management, design build, and operations and maintenance. This segment also designs and constructs buildings; offers consulting, engineering, procurement, construction management, and delivery services for life sciences clients; and provides services relating to modular construction and other consulting and strategic planning services, as well as offers services in containment, barrier technology, locally controlled environments, building systems automation, off-the-site design, and fabrication of facility modules. The company's Energy, Chemicals and Resources segment offers services relating to onshore and offshore oil and gas production facilities, processing facilities, gathering systems, and transmission pipelines and terminals; feasibility/economic studies, technology evaluation, conceptual engineering, front end loading, detailed engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, and commissioning services; and engineering, procurement, and construction solutions. This segment also provides services, such as manufacturing complex, expansions, modifications, and management of plant relocations; construction management and field construction services; and services to operate and maintain facilities. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Read More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USA hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres 14 April, 2018



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Woke Bingo Western strikes early on Saturday hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around the capital, a monitor said, as the United States (US) announced a joint operation against the Damascus government.



The Western coalition strikes targeted scientific research centres, several military bases, and the bases of the Republican Guard and Fourth Division in the capital Damascus and around it, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.



The US, France, and Britain announced a joint operation against Syria's government, a week after a suspected chemical attack outside the capital Damascus left more than 40 people dead.



The world leaders announced that the strikes targeted positions linked to the chemical weapons facilities of the Syrian government.



Moments after the announcement, loud blasts could be heard from the capital and large plumes of smoke emerged from its northern and eastern edges.



Syrian state media reported the joint operation and said there was preliminary information that a research centre northeast of the capital had been hit.



The US and Europe have both slapped sanctions on the Syrian Scientific Studied and Research Centre for its links to chemical weapons production in Syria.



The United States (US), France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Donald Trump announced on Friday.



Explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump spoke from the White House.



Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, responded to the attack.



After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.



Trump said the US is prepared to sustain pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.



The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead, Trump said.



British Prime Minister Theresa May said in London that the West had tried every possible diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted by Syria and Russia, she said.



So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, May said. This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.



French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's clandestine chemical arsenal".



Trump did not provide details on the joint US-British-French attack, but it was expected to include barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace.



He described the main aim as establishing a strong deterrent against chemical weapons use. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.



The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria. He authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.



At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said the strike was harder on the Syrian regime than the 2017 strike and targeted Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure".



He described it as a a one-time shot, adding: I believe it has sent a very strong message."



Mattis said there were no reports of losses on the part of US and allied forces participating in the strike, which included manned aircraft.



Mattis estimated the air campaign was about twice the size of the 2017 strike. He added that the US expects the Syrian government and its allies to conduct a significant disinformation campaign, which the Pentagon would rebut with additional information Saturday morning.



The air campaign could frustrate those in Trump's base who oppose military intervention and are wary of open-ended conflicts.



Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting murderous dictators, and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.



Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace, Trump said. Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran but maybe not.



The US missile strike a year ago, which targeted the airfield from which Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack, was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons.



Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.



The strikes that hit early on Saturday in Syria came hours before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were set to arrive to inspect the site of the apparent attack.



A broader question is whether the allied attacks are part of a revamped, coherent political strategy to end the war on terms that do not leave Assad in power.



The strikes appear to signal Trump's willingness to draw the US more deeply into the Syrian conflict. Just weeks ago, Trump said he wanted to end US involvement in Syria and bring American troops home to focus on the homeland.



The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.



Gen Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace de-confliction communications.



In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.



As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home, Trump said. And great warriors they are.



The US has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State (IS) fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.



Jarrod Agen, Vice President Mike Pence's deputy chief of staff, said Pence called congressional leaders from his hotel suite in Lima, Peru, to notify them of the president's plan to address the nation about the Syrian air strikes.The following companies are subsidiares of Prudential Financial: 210-220 E. 22nd Street SSGA Owner LLC, AIG Edison, AIG Star, AREF Cayman Co Ltd., AREF GP II Pte. Ltd., AREF GP Ltd., ASPF II - Feeder Fund GmbH, ASPF II - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. 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(Kabushiki Kaisha Sanei Shuuno Service), Senior Housing Partners IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partners V LLC, Senior Housing Partnership Fund IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partnership Fund V LLC, Sterling Private Placement Management LLP, Stetson Street Partners L.P., Strand Investments Limited, TBG Insurance Services Corporation, TENSATOR HOLDINGS LTD, TF Proveedora S.C., TMW ASPF I Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, TMW ASPF Management GmbH, TMW Management LLC, TMW Real Estate Group LLC, TMW Realty Advisors LLC, TMW USPF Verwaltungs GmbH, TRGOAG Company Inc., The Gibraltar Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Keynes Dynamic Beta Strategy (US) Fund GP LLC, The Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corp., The Prudential Brazilian Capital Fund LP, The Prudential Gibraltar Financial Life Insurance Co. 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The Tubes segment includes the production and sale of both seamless and welded steel tubular products and related services mainly for the oil and gas industry, particularly oil country tubular goods used in drilling operations, and for other industrial applications with production processes that consist in the transformation of steel into tubular products. The Other segment includes all other business activities and operating segments, including the production and selling of sucker rods, industrial equipment, coiled tubing, heat exchangers, and utility conduits for buildings and the sale of energy and raw materials that exceed internal requirements. Its principal finished products are seamless and welded steel casing and tubing, line pipe and other mechanical and structural steel pipes for different uses. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Luxembourg.

Read MorePressure continues to mount on government to rescind the controversial joint military cooperation agreement it intends to sign with the United States of America - an agreement many believe is not in the best interest of Ghana.



Latest revelation by an international relations expert and a senior research fellow with the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA), Dr. Ken Ahorsu has brought to light the true intention of the United States in getting the military pact signed.



According to the former lecturer of Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, research shows that Africa holds 30% of the worlds remaining natural resources, a discovery which has been the sole reason for the interest of Western countries.



Dr. Ahorsu further revealed that, an establishment of a military base is an obvious extension of US influence to subtly control Ghanas natural resources; and the continent at large.



Speaking at a public forum organized by the Ghana First Patriotic Front as part of activities to intensify pressure on government to withdraw the Ghana-US Military Cooperation Agreement, Dr. Ahorsu noted that it has been a long-held plan of the US to establish a military base in Ghana, especially in the advent of oil discovery.



The US was worried about much in role China has played into Africa in terms pumping money into the continent and controlling its natural resources. At the face value, the argument is that they are trying to strengthen our military, strengthen government in order to fight terrorism, but in you read in between the lines, this agreement was not signed with Mali, Niger, Mauritania or even Libya, the countries in which we have crisis. Senegal and Ghana are their target and they are the most stable countries on the continent. As I have pointed out the basically because of the natural resources on the continent. he said.



Dr. Ahorsu revealed how a top military officer from the United States in 2007 visited the then President Kufuor to have talks regarding the establishment of a base US in Ghana.



In 2007, when the Kufuor government was in power, a US General called T. Hobbins had actually come and discussed the establishment of a base in Ghana and all these were agreed upon that eventually.the initial plan was the building of the embassy and then the base will follow, he mentioned.



With the Middle East (which hold the worlds largest oil reserve) in turmoil and war-ridden, Gulf of Guinea said to hold vast uranium, the US wants a base to be able to tap into this natural resources, Dr. Ahorsu added.





Source: Ghanaweb.com









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Featured VideoWilliam Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November, 6th. The construction company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.07. The construction company earned $466.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $487.15 million. William Lyon Homes had a net margin of 3.04% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 6.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 EPS.

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View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Royal Dutch Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company worldwide. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Oil Products, Chemicals segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver gas to market. The company also markets and trades natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil, electricity, carbon-emission rights; and markets and sells LNG as a fuel for heavy-duty vehicles and marine vessels. In addition, it trades in and refines crude oil and other feed stocks, such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, aviation fuel, marine fuel, biofuel, lubricants, bitumen, and sulphur; produces and sells petrochemicals for industrial use; and manages oil sands activities. Further, the company produces base chemicals comprising ethylene, propylene, and aromatics, as well as intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomer, propylene oxide, solvents, detergent alcohols, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol. Royal Dutch Shell plc was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Read MoreAnadarko Petroleum Corporation engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of oil and gas properties. It operates through three segments: Exploration and Production, WES Midstream, and Other Midstream. The company explores for and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). It is also involved in gathering, processing, treating, and transporting oil, natural-gas, and NGLs production, as well as the gathering and disposal of produced water. The company's oil and natural gas properties are located in the United States onshore and deepwater Gulf of Mexico; and Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Colombia, Peru, and other countries. As of December 31, 2018, it had approximately 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given Bonavista Energy Co. (BNP.TO) 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 Bonavista Energy Co. (BNP.TO) wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Colombia Hoy



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'Parasite' painted on a statue of Queen, Elizabeth in Kent, England



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La UE le apunta a la paz



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LULA y su Pueblo



Bye Bye



Homenaje al genial Quino



Fueron ellos



Una imagen que resume



Tan bajo ha caido que se deja tocar el trasero?



Porky y el Nene (archiconocido narcotraficante)



Ladrones al poder



Asi mira el perrito a su amo



Crazy



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Bolivia



Chile Hoy



Eso es todo amigos!



Piensalo!



Pinerachet



No More Trump



Adios Macri, hasta nunca



La Marioneta se desinfla



Asi o mas cinico



Almugre



Mexico en 1794



Mas arrastrado imposible



Hasta cuando!



La pura verdad



Solidaridad con Palestina



Serie Capitalismo



Espejismos de la clase trabajadora



Asi es!



Comerciantes o delincuentes



No pasaran!



Asi es la vida



USA HOY



01/01/1959



La avaricia no tiene limites



AYUDA HUMANITARIA?



Chile Hoy



Asi son las cosas



Mapa Electoral de Venezuela



Patagonia argentina?



Un aniversario mas del mayor genocidio de la Humanidad



Retrato del franquismo en Espana



Visca Catalunya!



El Chulo de Madrid



Cuando la policia se roba la democracia



Una imagen dice mas que mil palabras



La purita verdad



Asi gobierna la maldita burguesia



Mi pobre clase media



Como Chavez nadie



Comparte La Colmena via twitter Twittear

Programa de la MUD



Asi o mas clarito



Por que Trump no ataco Corea del Norte?



Hace 15 anos Por que la OEA no se pronuncio?



Una verguenza nacional



La luz que nos guia



La Union Europea Premio Nobel de la Paz?



Feudalismo ayer y hoy



Obama, el mentiroso



Curiosa coincidencia



Un mundo de cerdos



No es extrano?



La Marioneta



Los ricos protestan, los pobres celebran



MARICORI Y OBAMA



Cuantas muertes este ano?



USA TODAY



USA HOY 6



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USA HOY 2



USA HOY (1)



Insaciable



Cronologia de un agresor



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Bolivar y Chavez



Primero Amargado



Dios los cria y ellos se juntan



USA hoy (III)



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USA hoy



Mexico hoy



Mexico hoy



Mexico hoy



Obama



La verdad sea dicha



Los ricos



Que no nos vea Obama



Pobre Obama



SOS PALESTINA



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Chavez Cuanto te queremos!



Por culpa de Chavez



Cerveza Polar







Algun dia Colombia volvera a la ideologia de Bolivar







Translate













LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



























Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



OZ1



OZ2



OZ3



OZ4



Homenaje a Jason Galarraga



La Victoria de Samotracia



Odalisca



Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



























La Sierra Nevada de Merida



Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



Homenaje a Picasso



Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



Capitalismo...



medicos (2)



Quien educa a nuestros hijos?



Los Medios...



Sin Palabras...



Chistes feministas

- Cual es el problema, Eva?

- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz...

- Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.

- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...

- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.

- Que es un hombre?

- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.

- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.

- Cual es el truco?.

- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.

- Cual?

- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.





Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Ellas...



Ellas (2)...



Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1

Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije:

-Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro.

Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria.

Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre?

-Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa!



VENGANZA NUMERO 2

Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris.

A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita:

- Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!!

Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta.

La mujer paso quince dias en Francia.

El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla.

Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es:

- Y amor me trajiste mi francesita??

- Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina.



VENGANZA NUMERO 3

El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion.

- No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo.

- Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz.

Te quiero confesar algo.

- Esta bien, esta bien. Habla!

- He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga.

- Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!!



machismo y cibernetica



Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston.

-Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide.

-Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!.



.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.

Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos.

Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco.

Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas



Gol !!!!



Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso!



Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy!

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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. 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Luxembourg), CCRx Holdings LLC, CCRx of North Carolina LLC, CHP Acquisition LLC, CP Acquisition LLC, CVS 2948 Henderson L.L.C., CVS 3268 Gilbert L.L.C., CVS 3745 Peoria L.L.C., CVS AL Distribution L.L.C., CVS AOC Corporation, CVS AOC Services L.L.C., CVS Albany L.L.C., CVS Bellmore Avenue L.L.C., CVS Care Concierge LLC, CVS Caremark Advanced Technology Pharmacy L.L.C., CVS Caremark Indemnity Ltd., CVS Caremark Part D Services L.L.C., CVS Caremark TN SUTA LLC, CVS Foreign Inc., CVS Gilbert 3272 L.L.C., CVS Health Solutions LLC, CVS Indiana L.L.C., CVS International L.L.C., CVS Kidney Care Advanced Technologies LLC, CVS Kidney Care Health Services LLC, CVS Kidney Care Home Dialysis LLC, CVS Kidney Care LLC, CVS Manchester NH L.L.C., CVS Media Exchange LLC, CVS Michigan L.L.C., CVS Orlando FL Distribution L.L.C., CVS PA Distribution L.L.C., CVS PR Center Inc., CVS Pharmacy Inc., CVS RS Arizona L.L.C., CVS Rx Services Inc., CVS SC Distribution L.L.C., CVS State Capital L.L.C., CVS TN Distribution L.L.C., CVS Transportation L.L.C., CVS Vero FL Distribution L.L.C., Campos Medical Pharmacy LLC, Canal Place LLC, Care Pharmaceutical Services LP, CareCenter Pharmacy L.L.C., Carefree Insurance Services Inc., Caremark Arizona Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Arizona Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark California Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Florida Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Florida Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Hawaii Mail Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Hawaii Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark IPA L.L.C., Caremark Illinois Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Illinois Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Irving Resource Center LLC, Caremark Kansas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark L.L.C., Caremark Logistics LLC, Caremark Louisiana Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Maryland Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Massachusetts Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Michigan Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Minnesota Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark New Jersey Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark North Carolina Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ohio Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Pennsylvania Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark PhC L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Redlands Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Repack LLC, Caremark Rx L.L.C., Caremark Tennessee Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ulysses Holding Corp., Caremark Washington Specialty Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Alabama Mail Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Health L.L.C., CaremarkPCS L.L.C., Central Rx Services LLC, Claims Administration Corp., Cofinity Inc., Compscript LLC, Connecticut CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood Tennessee, Continuing Care Rx LLC, Coram Alternate Site Services Inc., Coram Clinical Trials Inc., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Alabama, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater D.C., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater New York, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Indiana, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Massachusetts, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Mississippi, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Nevada, Coram Healthcare Corporation of North Texas, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Northern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Utah, Coram LLC, Coram Rx LLC, Coram Specialty Infusion, Coram Specialty Infusion Services L.L.C., Coventry Consumer Advantage Inc., Coventry Health Care National Accounts Inc., Coventry Health Care National Network Inc., Coventry Health Care Workers Compensation Inc., Coventry Health Care of Illinois Inc., Coventry Health Care of Kansas Inc., Coventry Health Care of Missouri Inc., Coventry Health Care of Nebraska Inc., Coventry Health Care of Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Care of West Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Plan of Florida Inc., Coventry Health and Life Insurance Company, Coventry HealthCare Management Corporation, Coventry Prescription Management Services Inc., Coventry Rehabilitation Services Inc., Coventry Transplant Network Inc., D & R Pharmaceutical Services LLC, D.A.W. LLC, Delaware CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Delaware Physicians Care Incorporated, Digital eHealth LLC, District of Columbia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., E.T.B. INC., Echo Merger Sub Inc., Eckerd Corporation of Florida Inc., Employee Assistance Services LLC, Enloe Drugs LLC, Enterprise Patient Safety Organization LLC, EntrustRX, Evergreen Pharmaceutical LLC, Evergreen Pharmaceutical of California Inc., Express Pharmacy Services of PA L.L.C., FOCUS HealthCare Management Inc., First Health Group Corp., First Health Life & Health Insurance Company, First Script Network Services Inc., Florida Health Plan Administrators LLC, Garfield Beach CVS L.L.C., Generation Health L.L.C., Geneva Woods Health Services LLC, Geneva Woods LTC Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Management LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Alaska LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Washington LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Wyoming LLC, Geneva Woods Retail Pharmacy LLC, Georgia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., German Dobson CVS L.L.C., Goodhealth Worldwide (Asia) Limited, Goodhealth Worldwide (Global) Limited, Goodyear CVS L.L.C., Grand St. Paul CVS L.L.C., Grandview Pharmacy LLC, Group Dental Service Inc., Group Dental Service of Maryland Inc., Health Care Management Co. 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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.Vivint Solar, Inc. provides distributed solar energy primarily to residential customers in the United States. It owns and installs solar energy systems through long-term customer contracts. The company also sells photovoltaic installation products, as well as solar renewable energy certificates. As of December 31, 2019, it had an aggregate capacity of 1,294.0 megawatts covering approximately 188,300 homes. The company was formerly known as V Solar Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Vivint Solar, Inc. in April 2014. Vivint Solar, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah.

Read MoreBechtle AG provides information technology services primarily in Europe. The company operates in two segments, IT System House & Managed Services, and IT E-Commerce. The IT System House & Managed Services segment offers IT strategy consulting, hardware and software selling, project planning and implementation, system integration, IT services, and training for IT operation. It provides applications for business intelligence, customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, product life-cycle management, computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing, product data management, enterprise content management, document management systems, artificial intelligence, and collaboration; and modern workplace solutions. This segment also offers data center, networking, security, consulting, managed, professional, financial, and remarketing services. The IT E-Commerce segment provides hardware and software products, and peripherals with a multi-brand portfolio that comprises approximately 40,000 products through an online shop and telesales. This segment also offers e-procurement services. The company also provides design, development, and implementation of software services. It serves customers in the fields of industry, trade, finance, and the public sector. Bechtle AG was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Neckarsulm, Germany.

Read MoreBT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Consumer segment sells telephones, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi extenders through high street retailers, online BT Shop, and Website BT.com; and offers home phone, copper and fiber broadband, TV, and mobile services in various packages. The company's EE segment offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile network services; broadband, fixed-voice, and TV services; and postpaid and prepaid plans, and emergency services network. This segment also sells 4G mobile phones, tablets, connected devices, and mobile broadband devices from various manufacturers. Its Business and Public Sector segment provides fixed voice, mobility, fiber and connectivity, and networked IT services to retailers, utilities, public sector, healthcare, sports, construction, finance, and educational sectors. The company's Global Services segment offers business communications and ICT services comprising BT Connect, BT Security, BT One, BT Contact, BT Compute, BT Advise, and BT for financial markets. This segment serves approximately 5,500 customers in 180 countries. Its Wholesale and Ventures segment enables communications providers and other organizations to provide fixed or mobile phone services. Its ventures provide mass-market services, such as directory enquiries and payphones; and enterprise services comprising BT Fleet and BT Redcare. This segment also provides broadband and Ethernet, voice, hosted communication, mobile virtual network operator, managed solutions, machine-to-machine, roaming, and media services. The company's Openreach segment engages in the provision of services over the local access network; and installation and maintenance of fiber and copper communications networks that connect homes and businesses. The company was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in September 2001. BT Group plc was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreDouglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association

Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America.The following companies are subsidiares of The Procter & Gamble: "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, Agile Pursuits, Agile Pursuits Franchising, Arbora, Arbora & Ausonia, Arborinvest, Billie, Braun (Shanghai) Co., Braun GmbH, Braun-Gillette Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Celtic Insurance Company, Compania Procter & Gamble Mexico, Compania Quimica S.A., Corporativo Procter & Gamble, Cosmetic Products Pty. Ltd., Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., Eurocos Cosmetic GmbH, FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Fater S.p.A., Fountain Square Music Publishing Co., Gillette (China) Ltd., Gillette (Shanghai) Ltd., Gillette Aesop Ltd., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette Canada Holdings, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. Ltd., Gillette Egypt S.A.E., Gillette Group UK Ltd, Gillette Gruppe Deutschland GmbH & Co. oHG, Gillette Holding Company LLC, Gillette Holding GmbH, Gillette India Limited, Gillette Industries Ltd., Gillette International B.V., Gillette Latin America Holding B.V., Gillette Management LLC, Gillette Nova Scotia Company, Gillette Pakistan Limited, Gillette Poland International Sp. z.o.o., Gillette Poland S.A., Gillette U.K. Limited, Gillette del Uruguay, Giorgio Beverly Hills Inc., Hyginett KFT, Industries Marocaines Modernes SA, LLC "Procter & Gamble Novomoskovsk", LLL "Procter & Gamble Distributorskaya Compania", Laboratorios Vicks, Liberty Street Music Publishing Company, Limited Liability Company 'Procter & Gamble Trading Ukraine', Limited Liability Company with foreign investments Procter & and Gamble Ukraine, MDVIP, MERCK KGAA NPV, Marcvenca Inversiones, Modern Industries Company - Dammam, Modern Products Company - Jeddah, New Chapter, New Chapter Canada Inc., Olay LLC, Oral-B Laboratories, P&G Distribution Morocco SAS, P&G Hair Care Holding, P&G Industrial Peru S.R.L., P&G Innovation Godo Kaisha, P&G Israel M.D.O. Ltd., P&G K.K., P&G Northeast Asia Pte. Ltd., P&G Prestige Godo Kaisha, P&G Prestige Service GmbH, P&G South African Trading (Pty.) Ltd., PGT Health Care (Zhejiang) Limited, PGT Healthcare LLP, PPI ZAO, PT Procter & Gamble Home Products Indonesia, PT Procter & Gamble Operations Indonesia, Phase II Holdings Corporation, Procter & Gamble (Chengdu) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Sales Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (East Africa) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Egypt) Manufacturing Company, Procter & Gamble (Enterprise Fund) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Consumer Products Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Enterprise Management Service Company Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Health & Beauty Care) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Jiangsu) Ltd. China, Procter & Gamble (L&CP) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Limited, Procter & Gamble (Shanghai) International Trade Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Acquisition GmbH, Procter & Gamble Administration GmbH, Procter & Gamble Algeria EURL, Procter & Gamble Amazon Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Amiens S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Argentina SRL, Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Australia Proprietary Limited, Procter & Gamble Azerbaijan Services LLC, Procter & Gamble Bangladesh Private Ltd., Procter & Gamble Blois S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Brazil Holdings B.V., Procter & Gamble Bulgaria EOOD, Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company, Procter & Gamble Canada Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Chile , Procter & Gamble Chile Limitada, Procter & Gamble Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Commercial LLC, Procter & Gamble Commercial de Cuba S.A., Procter & Gamble Czech Republic s.r.o., Procter & Gamble DS Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS, Procter & Gamble Detergent (Beijing) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Deuttschland GmbH, Procter & Gamble Distributing (Philippines) Inc., Procter & Gamble Distributing New Zealand Limited, Procter & Gamble Distribution Company (Europe) BVBA, Procter & Gamble Distribution S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe, Procter & Gamble Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Procter & Gamble Egypt, Procter & Gamble Egypt Distribution, Procter & Gamble Egypt Holding, Procter & Gamble Egypt Supplies, Procter & Gamble Energy Company LLC, Procter & Gamble Espana, Procter & Gamble Europe SA, Procter & Gamble Export Operations SARL, Procter & Gamble Exportadora e Importadora Ltda., Procter & Gamble Exports, Procter & Gamble Fabricacao e Comercio Ltda., Procter & Gamble Far East, Procter & Gamble Finance (U.K.) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Holding Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Management S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Financial Investments LLP, Procter & Gamble Financial Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Services S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finland OY, Procter & Gamble France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH, Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH & Co. Operations oHG, Procter & Gamble GmbH, Procter & Gamble Grundstucks-und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Procter & Gamble Gulf FZE, Procter & Gamble Hair Care, Procter & Gamble Hellas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Holding (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Holding France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Holding GmbH, Procter & Gamble Holding S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Holdings (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Home Products Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Hong Kong Limited, Procter & Gamble Hungary Wholesale Trading Partnership (KKT), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Procter & Gamble India Holdings, Procter & Gamble Indochina Limited Company, Procter & Gamble Industrial - 2012 C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Industrial S.C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Costa Rica, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Guatemala, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Panama, Procter & Gamble International Operations Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble International Operations SA-ROHQ, Procter & Gamble International S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Investment Company (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Investment GmbH, Procter & Gamble Italia, Procter & Gamble Japan K.K., Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan Distribution LLP, Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan LLP, Procter & Gamble Korea, Procter & Gamble Korea S&D Co., Procter & Gamble Lanka Private Ltd. Sri Lanka, Procter & Gamble Leasing LLC, Procter & Gamble Levant S.A.L., Procter & Gamble Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Berlin GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania SRL, Procter & Gamble Marketing and Services doo, Procter & Gamble Maroc SA, Procter & Gamble Mataro, Procter & Gamble Mexico Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Mexico Inc., Procter & Gamble Middle East FZE, Procter & Gamble Nederland B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Investments B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Services B.V., Procter & Gamble Nigeria Limited, Procter & Gamble Nordic, Procter & Gamble Norge AS, Procter & Gamble Operations Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Overseas India B.V., Procter & Gamble Overseas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Pakistan (Private) Limited, Procter & Gamble Partnership LLP, Procter & Gamble Peru S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals France SAS, Procter & Gamble Philippines, Procter & Gamble Polska Sp. z o.o, Procter & Gamble Portugal - Produtos De Consumo, Procter & Gamble Product Supply (U.K.) Limited U.K., Procter & Gamble Production GmbH, Procter & Gamble Productions, Procter & Gamble Productos de Consumo, Procter & Gamble RHD, Procter & Gamble RSC Regional Service Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Retail Services BVBA, Procter & Gamble S.r.l., Procter & Gamble SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Satis ve Dagitim Ltd. Sti., Procter & Gamble Seine S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Procter & Gamble Services (Switzerland) SA, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., Procter & Gamble Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Share Incentive Plan Trustee Ltd., Procter & Gamble South America Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Spol. s.r.o. (Ltd.), Procter & Gamble Sports and Social Club Ltd., Procter & Gamble Sverige AB, Procter & Gamble Switzerland SARL, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Limited, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Sales Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited, Procter & Gamble Technology (Beijing) Co., Procter & Gamble Trading (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Tuketim Mallari Sanayii A.S., Procter & Gamble UK, Procter & Gamble UK Group Holdings Ltd, Procter & Gamble UK Parent Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Universal Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Verwaltungs GmbH, Procter & Gamble Vietnam, Procter & Gamble d.o.o. za trgovinu, Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.C.A., Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.R.L., Procter & Gamble do Brasil S/A, Procter & Gamble do Brazil, Procter & Gamble do Nordeste S/A, Procter & Gamble-Rakona s.r.o., Progam Realty & Development Corporation, Redmond Products, Richardson-Vicks Real Estate Inc., Richardson-Vicks do Brasil Quimica e Farmaceutica Ltda, Riverfront Music Publishing Co., Rosemount LLC, SPD Development Company Limited, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Scannon S.A.S., Series Acquisition B.V., Shulton, Surfac S.R.L., Sycamore Productions, TAOS - FL, TAOS Retail, Tambrands Inc., Temple Trees Impex & Investment Private Limited, The Art of Shaving - FL, The Dover Wipes Company, The Gillette Company, The Gillette Company LLC, The Gillette co., The Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC, The Procter & Gamble GBS Company, The Procter & Gamble Global Finance Company, The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, The Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, The Procter & Gamble U.S. Business Services Company, This is L., US CD LLC, Vidal Sassoon (Shanghai) Academy, Vidal Sassoon Co., WEBA Betriebsrenten-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Walker & Company Brands, and iMFLUX Inc..Validus Holdings, Ltd. provides reinsurance coverage, insurance coverage, and insurance linked securities management services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Reinsurance, Insurance, and Asset Management. The Reinsurance segment underwrites property reinsurance products on a catastrophe excess of loss, per risk excess of loss and proportional basis; and aerospace and aviation, agriculture, composite, marine, technical lines, terrorism, trade credit, workers' compensation, and other specialty lines, as well as casualty and financial lines. The Insurance segment underwrites property, accident and health, agriculture, aviation, contingency, marine, and political lines insurance products; bankers blanket bond, commercial crime, computer crime, cyber- crime, professional indemnity, and directors' and officers' insurance products for various financial institutions and other companies; and commercial and institutional risks comprising general, professional, and product liability, as well as miscellaneous malpractice insurance products. This segment also underwrites marine and energy liability, and political risk insurance products, as well as insurance products for repair, maintenance, and upkeep of aircrafts and premises for small companies. The Asset Management segment manages capital for third parties through insurance-linked securities, and other property catastrophe and specialty reinsurance investments. Validus Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 2005 and is based in Pembroke, Bermuda.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Amphenol: ARCAS Automotive Group (Luxco 1) S.a.r.l., AUXEL FTG, AUXEL FTG India Pvt Ltd., AUXEL FTG Shanghai Co., AUXEL S.A.S., Air LB International Development S.A., All Systems Broadband, Amphenol (Changzhou) Advanced Connector Co., Amphenol (Changzhou) Connector Systems Co., Amphenol (Changzhou) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Maryland), Amphenol (Ningde) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Qujing) Technology Co., Amphenol (Tianjin) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Xiamen) High Speed Cable Co., Amphenol Adronics, Amphenol Advanced Sensors Germany GmbH, Amphenol Advanced Sensors Puerto Rico, Amphenol Air LB GmbH, Amphenol Air LB North America Inc., Amphenol Air LB SAS, Amphenol Alden Products Company, Amphenol Alden Products Mexico, Amphenol Antenna Solutions, Amphenol Assemble Tech (Xiamen) Co., Amphenol Australia Pty Ltd, Amphenol Automotive Connection Systems (Changzhou) Co., Amphenol Bar-Tec, Amphenol Benelux B.V., Amphenol Borisch Technologies, Amphenol CNT (Xian) Technology Co. Ltd., Amphenol Cables On Demand Corp., Amphenol Canada Acquisition Corporation, Amphenol Canada Corp., Amphenol Comercial, Amphenol Commercial Interconnect Korea Co., Amphenol Commercial Products (Chengdu) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Commercial and Industrial UK, Amphenol ConneXus AB, Amphenol ConneXus Ou, Amphenol Custom Cable, Amphenol DC Electronics, Amphenol Daeshin Electronics and Precision Co., Amphenol EEC, Amphenol East Asia Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Amphenol East Asia Limited, Amphenol FCI, Amphenol FCI Asia Pte. Ltd., Amphenol FCI Connectors Singapore Pte. Ltd., Amphenol Fiber Optic Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Finland Oy, Amphenol France Acquisition SAS, Amphenol France SAS, Amphenol Germany GmbH, Amphenol Gesellschaft m.b.H., Amphenol Goldstar Electronic Systems (Baicheng) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Goldstar Electronic Systems (Yulin) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Holding UK, Amphenol Intercon Systems, Amphenol Interconnect India Private Limited, Amphenol Interconnect Products Corporation, Amphenol Interconnect South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Amphenol International Ltd., Amphenol Invotec Limited, Amphenol Italia S.r.l., Amphenol JET (Haiyan) Interconnect Technology Co., Amphenol Japan Ltd., Amphenol Kai-Jack (Shenzhen) Inc., Amphenol LTW Technology Co., Amphenol Limited, Amphenol MCP Korea Limited, Amphenol Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Amphenol Middle East Enterprises FZE, Amphenol Nelson Dunn Technologies, Amphenol Netherlands Holdings 1 B.V., Amphenol Netherlands Holdings 2 B.V., Amphenol Omniconnect India Private Limited, Amphenol Optimize Manufacturing Co., Amphenol Optimize Mexico S.A. de C.V., Amphenol PCD, Amphenol PCD (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Phitek Limited, Amphenol Printed Circuits, Amphenol Provens SAS, Amphenol RF Asia Limited, Amphenol Sensing Korea Company Limited, Amphenol Shouh Min Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Singapore Pte. Ltd., Amphenol Socapex SAS, Amphenol Sunpool (Liaoning) Automotive Electronics Co., Amphenol T&M Antennas, Amphenol TCS (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Amphenol TCS Ireland Limited, Amphenol TCS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Amphenol TFC Fios E Cabos do Brasil Ltda., Amphenol TFC MDE Participacoes Ltda., Amphenol TFC do Brasil Ltda., Amphenol Taiwan Corporation, Amphenol Technical Products International Co., Amphenol Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Technology (Zhuhai) Co., Amphenol Technology Macedonia Dooel Kocani, Amphenol Tecvox LLC, Amphenol Tel-Ad Ltd., Amphenol Thermometrics, Amphenol Thermometrics (UK) Limited, Amphenol Times Microwave Electronics (Shanghai) Limited, Amphenol Tuchel Electronics GmbH, Amphenol Tuchel Industrial GmbH, Amphenol Tunisia LLC, Amphenol USHoldco Inc., Amphenol-Borg Limited, Amphenol-Borg Pension Trustees Limited, Amphenol-TFC (Changzhou) Communication Equipment Co., Anytek Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd, Anytek International (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Anytek International Co. Ltd., Anytek Technology Corporation Ltd, Asia Connector Services, Berg UK Ltd., Blueline Product Limited, C&S Antennas, C&S Antennas Limited, CSA Limited, Casco Automotive (Suzhou) Co., Casco Automotive Group, Casco Automotive Singapore Pte., Casco Automotive Tunisia S.a.r.l., Casco Holdings Co. Limited, Casco Holdings GmbH, Casco Imos Italia S.r.l., Casco Logistics GmbH, Casco Products Corporation, Casco Schoeller GmbH, Casco do Brasil Ltda., Cemm Thome Corporation, Cemm Thome SK, Cemm-Mex, Changzhou Amphenol Fuyang Communication Equipment Co., ContactServe (Proprietary) Limited, East Asia Connector Services, Edwin Deutgen Kunstofftechnik GmbH, Ehrlich Werkzeug & Geratebau GmbH, FCI Besancon SA, FCI Connectors (Shanghai) Ltd., FCI Connectors Canada, FCI Connectors Dongguan Ltd, FCI Connectors Hong Kong Limited, FCI Connectors Italia S.r.l., FCI Connectors Korea Ltd., FCI Connectors Malaysia Sdn Bhd, FCI Connectors Sweden A.B., FCI Connectors UK Ltd., FCI Deutschland GmbH, FCI Electronics Hungary Kft, FCI GBS India Private Limited, FCI Japan K.K., FCI Nantong Ltd, FCI OEN Connectors Limited, FCI PRC Limited, FCI Taiwan Limited, FCI USA LLC, FCIs-Hertogenbosch B.V., FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna, FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna GmbH & Co. KG, FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna Verwaltungs GmbH, Fiber Systems International, Filec Production SAS, Filec SAS, Friedrich Gohringer Elektrotechnik GmbH, GE - Advanced Sensors Business, Guangzhou Amphenol Electronics Co., Guangzhou Amphenol Sincere Flex Circuits Co., Guangzhou FEP Automotive Electric Co., Hangzhou Amphenol JET Interconnect Technology Co., Hangzhou Amphenol Phoenix Telecom Parts Co., Holland Electronics, Intelligente Sensorsysteme Dresden GmbH, Invotec Circuits Holdings Limited, Invotec Circuits Limited, Invotec Group Limited, Invotec Holdings Limited, Ionix Aerospace Limited, Ionix Holdings Limited, Ionix Systems Limited, Ionix Systems Ou, Jaybeam Limited, Jaybeam Wireless SAS, KE Elektronik GmbH, KE Ostrov  Elektrik, KE Presov Elektrik, Konnektech, Kunshan Amphenol Zhengri Electronics Co., LPL Technologies Holding GmbH, LTW Technology (Samoa) Co., LTW Top Tech (Samoa) Co., Lectric SARL, Martec Limited, Mocorp Holding A/S, Nantong Docharm Amphenol Electronics Co., PROCOM, PT Casco SEA, PerLoga Personal und Logistik GmbH, Piezotech, Piher Sensors & Controls S.A., Piher Sensors And Controls, Precision Cable Manufacturing Corp. de Mexico, Procom A/S, Procom Antennas AB, Procom France SARL, Pyle-National Ltd., RSI International Limited, S.C.I. Palin, SEFEE SA, SGX Europe SP. z.o.o., SGX Sensortech (IS) Limited, SGX Sensortech China Holdco Limited, SGX Sensortech China Limited, SGX Sensortech GmbH, SGX Sensortech SA, SSI Control Technologies, STEMFI SA, SV Microwave, Shanghai Amphenol Airwave Communication Electronics Co., Shanghai Amphenol Electronics Technology Co., Shanghai Tecvox Trading Co., Shenyang Amphenol Sunpool Automotive Electronics Co., Sine Systems Corporation, Skymasts Antennas Ltd., Societe dEtudes et de Fabrications Electroniques et Electriques, Spectra Strip Limited, TCS Japan K.K., TFC South America S.A., Tecvox Europe S.r.l., Telect, Telect Mfg., Telect de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Teradyne Connection Systems, Thermometrics Mexico, Tianjin Amphenol KAE Co., Times Fiber Canada Limited, Times Fiber Communications, Times Microwave Systems, Times Wire and Cable Company, U-Jin Cable Industrial Co., Zhongshan Feisaide Electromechanical Co., and i2s-sensors.Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG provides commercial real estate and public investment finance products. Its commercial real estate financing activities include financing instruments, such as financing investment projects, development finance, cross-border portfolio financing, investment bridge finance facilities, standby/backup facilities, and derivatives. The company primarily finances offices, retail, and logistic real estate companies, as well as residential properties targeting real estate companies, institutional investors, real estate funds, and medium-sized and regionally orientated clients. It is also involved in the public investment financing activities, such as financing for public sector facilities, municipal and residential buildings, utilities, infrastructure, medical and geriatric care facilities, and administration and insurance facilities. In addition, the company operates a digital platform for public sector borrowers and institutional investors under the CAPVERIANT name. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG has offices in four locations in Eschborn, DAsseldorf, Hamburg, and Berlin in Germany; and five locations in London, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm, and New York City. The company was formerly known as Hypo Real Estate Bank AG and changed its name to Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG in June 2009. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG is headquartered in Garching, Germany.

Read MoreThe Boeing Co. is an aerospace company, which engages in the manufacture of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space and Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital. The Commercial Airplanes segment includes the development, production, and market of commercial jet aircraft and provides fleet support services, principally to the commercial airline industry worldwide. The Defense, Space and Security segment refers to the research, development, production and modification of manned and unmanned military aircraft and weapons systems for global strike, including fighter and combat rotorcraft aircraft and missile systems; global mobility, including tanker, rotorcraft and tilt-rotor aircraft; and airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, including command and control, battle management and airborne anti-submarine aircraft. The Global Services segment provides services to commercial and defense customers. The Boeing Capital segment seeks to ensure that Boeing customers have the financing they need to buy and take delivery of their Boeing product and manages overall financing exposure. T

Read MoreGerresheimer AG, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells specialty glass, plastic products, and drug delivery-devices and solutions primarily worldwide. It operates through three divisions: Plastics & Devices, Primary Packaging Glass, and Advanced Technologies. The Plastics & Devices division offers drug delivery systems, including inhalers, pen systems, and injection systems; sterile and non-sterile syringe systems for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries; and disposables for various analysis systems that are used in laboratories and medical practices, quick tests for patients in medical practices or hospitals, skin-prick aids and lancets for diabetics, disposables, and components for dialysis machines, and catheters and surgical devices. It also provides containers for the delivery of tablets and powders, liquid dosages, ophthalmic and rhinological applications, parenteral packaging applications, oral prescription medications, and cosmetics. The Primary Packaging Glass division offers glass primary packaging for pharma and cosmetics industries, such as ampoules, cartridges, vials, syrup and dropper bottles, tablet jars, and wide-neck jars, as well as injection, infusion, and transfusion bottles; flacons and pots for fragrances, deodorants, and care and decorative cosmetics; and bottles and jars for spirits and food. The Advanced Technologies division develops drug delivery products and platforms, such as micro pumps, which are used to self-administer medication for heart failure or Parkinson's for pharmaceutical and biotech customers. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in DAsseldorf, Germany.

Read MoreAugusta Gold Corp., a junior exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in the United States. It primarily explores for gold, silver, and other metals. The company holds interests in the Bullfrog gold project located in the north-west of Las Vegas, Nevada. It also owns, controls, or has acquired mineral rights on Federal patented and unpatented mining claims in the state of Nevada for the purpose of exploration and potential development of metals on a total of approximately 7,800 acres of land. The company was formerly known as Bullfrog Gold Corp. and changed its name to Augusta Gold Corp. in January 2021. Augusta Gold Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Xerox: A B S Digital Limited, Acorn Business Machines (Holmfirth) Limited, Alloy Acquisitions Corp. LLC, Altodigital Networks, Altodigital Networks Limited, American Photocopy Equipment Company of Pittsburgh LLC, Amici, Arena Group, Arena Group Holdings Limited, Arena Group Limited, Arizona Office Technologies Inc., B 2 Business Systems Limited, Back2Business Limited, Bessemer Insurance Limited, Bessemer Trust Limited, Boise Office Equipment Inc., Bright Ceramic Technologies Inc., Bunch CareSolutions, Business Systems (North Wales) Limited, CPAS Systems, CREDITEX - Aluguer de Equipamentos S.A., CTX Business Solutions Inc., Capitol Office Solutions LLC, CareAR Holdings LLC, CareAR Inc., Carolina Office Systems Inc., Carr Business Systems Inc., Chicago Office Technology Group Inc., ComDoc Inc., Concept Group, Concept Group Limited, Connecticut Business Systems LLC, Consilience Software, Continua Limited, Continua Sanctum Limited, Conway Technology Group LLC, Copyrite Business Solutions (Holdings) Limited, Copyrite Business Solutions Limited, Copytrend Limited, Criterion IT Limited, Customer Value Group, Dahill Office Technology Corporation, Digitex, Digitex Canada Inc., Docucentric Holdings Limited, Document Systems, Eastern Managed Print Network LLC, Elan Marketing Inc., Electronic Systems Inc., Fovia (Innovation) Limited, G-Five Inc., GDP Technologies Inc., Global Imaging Systems, Global PR Corporation, Gyricon LLC, Healthy Communities Institute, Heritage Business Systems Inc., ITEC Group, Image Technology Specialists Inc., ImageQuest Inc., Imagetek Office Systems, Impika, Impika SAS, Inland Business Machines Inc., Institute for Research on Learning, Integrity One Technologies Inc., Intrepid Learning, Invoco Group, Irish Business Systems, LRI LLC, LaserNetworks, LaserNetworks Inc., Lateral Data, Learn Something, Lewan & Associates Inc., Limited Liability Company Xerox (C.I.S.), M & S Reprographics Limited, MRC Smart Technology Solutions Inc., MT Business Holdings Inc., MT Business Technologies Inc., MWB Copy Products Inc., Mail A Doc Limited, Merizon Group Incorporated, Michigan Office Solutions Inc., Minnesota Office Technology Group Inc., Mitral Systems Limited, Mr. Copy Inc., Nemo (AKS) Limited, NewField IT, NewField Information Technology LLC, NewField Information Technology Limited, Northeast Office Systems LLC, Osprey Business Systems Limited, PARC China Holdings Inc., Pacific Services and Development Corporation, Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated, Platinum Digital Print Solutions Limited, Precision Copier Service Inc., Quality Business Systems Inc., Quilver Business Services Limited, R. K. Dixon Company, RRXH Limited, RRXIL Limited, RRXO Limited, RSA Medical, Rabbit Copiers Inc., Reflex Digital Solutions (UK) Limited, Reprographics Egypt Limited, Saxon Business Systems Inc., Smart Data Consulting, SoCal Office Technologies Inc., Stem Networks Limited, Stewart Business Systems LLC, Stewart of Alabama Inc., StrataCare, Talegen Holdings Inc., Tektronix - color printing, Text Comm Limited (in receivership), The Xerox (UK) Trust, The Xerox Foundation, Time Business Systems Limited, Triton Business Finance Limited, Una-Stem Limited, Veenman B.V., Veenman Financial Services B.V., WDS, WaterWare Internet Services, XC Asia LLC, XC Global Trading B.V., XC Trading Hong Kong Limited, XC Trading Japan G.K., XC Trading Korea YH, XC Trading Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., XC Trading Shenzhen Co. Ltd., XC Trading Singapore Pte Ltd., XEROX CZECH REPUBLIC s r.o., XESystems Foreign Sales Corporation, XFS Secured Borrowing 2020-1 LLC, XHC Acquisition Corp., XMPie, XMPie Inc., XMPie Ltd., XRI Limited, XRO Limited, Xerox (Europe) Limited, Xerox (Ireland) Limited, Xerox (Nederland) BV, Xerox (Romania) Echipmante Si Servici S.A., Xerox (UK) Limited, Xerox (Ukraine) Ltd LLC, Xerox A/S, Xerox AG, Xerox AS, Xerox Argentina Industrial y Comercial S.A., Xerox Austria GmbH, Xerox Bulgaria EOOD, Xerox Business Equipment Limited, Xerox Business Services Bulgaria EOOD, Xerox Business Solutions Inc., Xerox Business Solutions Southeast LLC, Xerox Buro Araclari Servis ve Ticaret Ltd. Sti, Xerox Canada Inc., Xerox Canada Ltd., Xerox Canada N.S. ULC, Xerox Capital (Europe) Limited, Xerox Capital LLC, Xerox Computer Services Limited, Xerox Comercio e Industria Ltda, Xerox Corporation, Xerox DNHC LLC, Xerox Dienstleistungsgesellschaft GmbH, Xerox Distributor Operations Limited, Xerox Egypt S.A.E., Xerox Equipment Limited, Xerox Equipment UK Limited, Xerox Espana S.A.U., Xerox Exports Limited, Xerox Finance AG, Xerox Finance Leasing S.A.E., Xerox Finance Limited, Xerox Financial Services B.V., Xerox Financial Services Belux NV, Xerox Financial Services Canada Ltd., Xerox Financial Services Danmark A/S, Xerox Financial Services Finland Oy, Xerox Financial Services LLC, Xerox Financial Services Norway AS, Xerox Financial Services SAS, Xerox Financial Services Sverige AB, Xerox Foreign Holdings LLC, Xerox Foreign Sales Corporation, Xerox GmbH, Xerox Health Care LLC, Xerox Hellas AEE, Xerox Holding Deutschland GmbH, Xerox Holdings (Ireland) Limited, Xerox Holdings Inc., Xerox Hungary Trading Limited, Xerox IBS Limited, Xerox IBS NI Limited, Xerox India Limited, Xerox International Joint Marketing Inc., Xerox Investments Europe B.V., Xerox Israel Ltd., Xerox Italia Rental Services Srl, Xerox Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Xerox Latinamerican Holdings Inc., Xerox Leasing Deutschland GmbH, Xerox Leasing GmbH, Xerox Limited, Xerox Luxembourg SA, Xerox Mailing Systems Limited, Xerox Manufacturing (Nederland) B.V., Xerox Maroc S.A., Xerox Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Xerox Middle East Investments (Bermuda) Limited, Xerox N.V., Xerox Overseas Holdings Limited, Xerox Overseas Inc., Xerox Oy, Xerox Pensions Limited, Xerox Polska Sp. z o. o, Xerox Portugal Equipamentos de Escritorio Limitada, Xerox Products Limited, Xerox Products UK Limited, Xerox Professional Services Limited, Xerox Realty Corporation, Xerox Renting S.A.U., Xerox Reprographische Services GmbH, Xerox S.A.S., Xerox S.p.A., Xerox Secured Borrowing 2020-1 LLC, Xerox Servicios Compartidos Guatemala y Compani Limitada, Xerox Servicos e Participacoes Ltda, Xerox Shared Services Romania SRL, Xerox Sverige AB, Xerox Technology Services India LLP, Xerox Technology Services SAS, Xerox Telebusiness GmbH, Xerox Trading Enterprises Limited, Xerox Trinidad Limited, Xerox UK Holdings Limited, Xerox XHB Limited, Xerox XIB Limited, Xerox Xf Holdings (Ireland) DAC, Xerox de Chile S.A., Xerox del Ecuador S.A., Xerox del Peru S.A., Zeno Office Solutions, Zeno Office Solutions Inc., Zoom Imaging Solutions Inc., and inVentiv Patient Access Solutions.The following companies are subsidiares of Whirlpool: 1900 Holdings Corporation, ADC, Aeradriatica S.p.A., Airdun Limited, B. Blend Maquinas e Bebidas S.A., BUD Comercio de Eletrodomesticos Ltda., BWI Products Limited, Bauknecht AG, Bauknecht Hausgerate GmbH, Bauknecht Limited, Beijing Embraco Snowflake Compressor Company Limited, Bill Page Orchestra, Bill Page Orchestra Inc., Brasmotor S.A., Brunson Place Properties, Brunson Place Properties LLC, CNB Consultoria Ltda, Cannon Industries Ltd., Centro de Desarrollo Tecnologico e Innovacion WHM S. de R.L de C.V., Comercial Acros Whirlpool, Comercial Acros Whirlpool S. de R.L. de C.V., Consumer Appliances Service Limited, Ealing Compania de Gestiones y Participaciones S.A., Elera Delaware, Elera Delaware Inc., Elera Holdings Corporation, Embraco Europe S.r.l., Embraco Eurosales S.r.l., Embraco Industria de Compressores e Solucoes em Refrigeracao Ltda., Embraco Luxembourg S.a r.l., Embraco Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Embraco Mexico Servicios, Embraco Mexico Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Embraco North America, Embraco North America Inc., Embraco RUS LLC, Embraco Slovakia S.r.o., Everest Campus, Everest Campus LLC., General Domestic Appliances Holdings Ltd, General Domestic Appliances International Ltd., Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances Co., Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances Co. Ltd., Haceb Whirlpool Industrias S.A.S., Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric, Hefei Whirlpool Enterprise Management Service Co. Ltd., Hoover Comercial Limitada, IRE Beteiligungs GmbH, Indesit Argentina S.A., Indesit Company, Indesit Company Beyaz Esya Pazarlama A.S., Indesit Company Beyaz Esya Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Indesit Company Ceska S.r.o., Indesit Company Domestic Appliances Hellas Mepe, Indesit Company International Business S.A., Indesit Company Luxembourg S.A., Indesit Company Magyarorszag Kft, Indesit Company Nordics AB, Indesit Company Polska Sp. zo.o., Indesit Company Singapore Pte. Ltd., Indesit Company UK Holdings Ltd., Indesit IP S.r.l., Indesit International ZAO, Indesit Ireland Ltd., Indesit Middle East FZE, Indesit Ukraine LLC, Industrias Acros Whirlpool S. de R.L. de C.V., Industrias Acros Whirlpool S.A. de C.V, Jackson Appliances Ltd., Joint-Stock Company Indesit International, KitchenAid, KitchenAid Australia Pty Ltd, KitchenAid Australia Pty Ltd., KitchenAid Delaware Inc., KitchenAid Europa Inc., KitchenAid Global, KitchenAid Global Inc., KitchenAid Inc., KitchenAid Korea Limited, KitchenAid Promotions, KitchenAid Promotions LLC, KitchenAid Trading Co., KitchenAid Trading Co. Ltd., LAWSA S.A., MLOG Armazem Geral Ltda., Maytag Corporation, Maytag Limited, Maytag Properties, Maytag Properties LLC, Maytag Sales, Maytag Sales Inc., Maytag Worldwide N.V., Merloni Domestic Appliances Ltd., Nineteen Hundred Corporation, Polar S.A., Qingdao EECON Electronic Controls and Appliances Co., Qingdao EECON Electronic Controls and Appliances Co. Ltd., South American Sales Partnership, THC Assets Corporation, Up Points Servicos Empresariais S.A., Vitromatic S.A. de C.V., WCGP Nova Scotia Co., WHirlpool EMEA Finanace S.a r.l., Whirlpool (Australia) Pty. Limited, Whirlpool (B.V.I.) Limited, Whirlpool (China) Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (China) Investment Co., Whirlpool (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (Hefei) Trading Co., Whirlpool (Hefei) Trading Co. Ltd, Whirlpool (Hong Kong) Limited, Whirlpool (Japan) Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (Thailand) Limited, Whirlpool ASEAN Co., Whirlpool America Holdings Corp., Whirlpool Argentina S.r.l., Whirlpool Asia B.V., Whirlpool Asia Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Asia Inc., Whirlpool Asia LLP, Whirlpool Belux N.V./S.A., Whirlpool Bermuda Euro Ltd., Whirlpool Beyaz Esya Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S., Whirlpool Bulgaria Ltd., Whirlpool CIS Ltd., Whirlpool CR, Whirlpool CR spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool CSA Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Canada Co., Whirlpool Canada Co. (post 9/1/05 amalgamation company), Whirlpool Canada Holding Co, Whirlpool Canada Holding Co. (post 4/18/06 amalgamation company), Whirlpool Canada Investments S.a r.l., Whirlpool Canada LP, Whirlpool Canada Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Chile Limitada, Whirlpool Colombia S.A.S., Whirlpool Comercial Ltda., Whirlpool Company Polska Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Company Ukraine LLC, Whirlpool Croatia Ltd., Whirlpool EMEA S.p.A., Whirlpool Ecuador S.A., Whirlpool Eesti OU, Whirlpool El Salvador, Whirlpool El Salvador S.A. de C.V., Whirlpool Electrodomesticos S.A., Whirlpool Eletrodomesticos AM S.A., Whirlpool Enterprises, Whirlpool Enterprises LLC, Whirlpool Europe B.V., Whirlpool Europe Coordination Center, Whirlpool Europe Holdings Limited, Whirlpool Ev Aletleri Pazarlama Ve Ticaret A.S., Whirlpool Finance B.V., Whirlpool Finance Center Corp., Whirlpool Finance Luxembourg S.a r.l., Whirlpool Finance Overseas Ltd., Whirlpool Financial Corporation, Whirlpool Financial Corporation International, Whirlpool Floor Care Corp., Whirlpool France Holdings SAS, Whirlpool France SAS, Whirlpool Germany GmbH, Whirlpool Global B.V., Whirlpool Global Investments B.V., Whirlpool Greater China Inc., Whirlpool Guatemala, Whirlpool Guatemala S.A., Whirlpool Hellas S.A., Whirlpool Holdings Corporation, Whirlpool Home Appliances B.V., Whirlpool Home Appliances Limited Liability Company, Whirlpool Hungarian Trading Limited Liability Company, Whirlpool India Holdings Limited, Whirlpool Insurance Company, Whirlpool Insurance Company Ltd., Whirlpool Internacional S. de R.L. de C.V., Whirlpool International GmbH, Whirlpool International Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool International Manufacturing S.a r.l., Whirlpool Ireland Appliances Limited, Whirlpool Ireland Limited, Whirlpool Italia Holdings S.r.l., Whirlpool Italia S.r.l., Whirlpool Japan Co. Ltd., Whirlpool Japan Inc., Whirlpool Kazakhstan LLP, Whirlpool Latin America Corporation, Whirlpool Latvia S.I.A., Whirlpool Lietuva UAB, Whirlpool Ltd Belgrade, Whirlpool Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg Ventures S.a r.l., Whirlpool MEEA DMCC, Whirlpool Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Whirlpool Management Services S.a.g.l., Whirlpool Maroc S. a r.l., Whirlpool Mauritius Limited, Whirlpool Mexico Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Whirlpool Mexico S.A. de C.V., Whirlpool Mexico Ventures LLC, Whirlpool Microwave Products Development Limited, Whirlpool NAAG Holdings Corporation, Whirlpool NAR Holdings, Whirlpool NAR Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Nederland B.V., Whirlpool Nordic, Whirlpool Nordic A/S, Whirlpool Nordic AB, Whirlpool Nordic AS, Whirlpool Nordic OY, Whirlpool Oceania Inc., Whirlpool Overseas Holdings, Whirlpool Overseas Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Overseas Hong Kong Limited, Whirlpool Overseas Manufacturing S.ar.l., Whirlpool Peru S.R.L., Whirlpool Polska Appliances Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Polska Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Portugal, Whirlpool Portugal S.A., Whirlpool Product Development (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Whirlpool Properties, Whirlpool Properties Inc., Whirlpool Puntana S.A., Whirlpool R&D S.r.l., Whirlpool RUS LLC, Whirlpool Realty Corporation, Whirlpool Romania S.r.l., Whirlpool S.A., Whirlpool SSC Limited, Whirlpool Slovakia Home Appliances spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool Slovakia spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Whirlpool Southeast Asia Pte, Whirlpool Sweden Aktiebolag, Whirlpool Taiwan Co. Ltd., Whirlpool Technologies LLC, Whirlpool UK Appliances Limited, Whirlpool UK Pension Scheme Trustee Limited, Whirlpool Ukraine LLC, Whirlpool WW Holdings B.V., Whirlpool do Brasil Investements B.V., Whirlpool do Brasil Ltda., Whirlpool of India Limited, Whirlpool Osterreich GmbH, Whirlpool Osterreich GmbH, Xpelair, Xpelair Ltd., Yummly, Yummly Canada Ltd., and Yummly Inc..The following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan.Nabors Industries Ltd. engages in the provision of platform work over and drilling rigs. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. The U.S. Drilling segment includes land drilling activities in the lower 48 states and Alaska, as well as offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment consists of land-based drilling rigs in Canada. The International segment focuses in maintaining a footprint in the oil and gas market, most notably in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela. The Drilling Solutions segment offers drilling technologies, such as patented steering systems and rig instrumentation software systems that enhance drilling performance and wellbore placement. The Rig Technologies segment comprises Canrig, which manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools. The company was founded by Clair Nabors in 1952 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Nidec: A/O Ansaldo VEI, ANA IMEP S.A, Advanced D.C. Motors GmbH, Advanced Motors & Drives. Inc, Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali GmbH, Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali RO S.r.l., Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali S.p.A., Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali SA, Anselectric LLC, Answer Drives S.r.l., Arisa S.A, Asi Industrial Systems Beijing Co. Ltd., Avtron Industrial Automation Asia Ltd., Avtron Industrial Automation Hong Kong Ltd., Avtron Industrial Automation Inc, Brilliant Manufacturing Ltd., CIMA S.p.A., Canton Elevator Inc, Changzhou Dongyu Automobile Appliance And Motor Co. Ltd, Changzhou Kinetek Motor Master Co. Ltd., Compania de Motores Domesticos S.A. de C.V., Controles Electromecanicos de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Copal Optical and Electronic Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Copal Yamada (Vietnam) Co. Ltd., Copal Yamada Corporation, DESCH Antriebstechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Dalian Chengyue Automobile Component Manufacturing Corporation, E.C.E. S.r.l., E.M.G. Elettromeccanica S.r.l., Embraco Whirlpool Corporations Compressor Business, Emerson Electric Co, Emerson Venezuela C.A., FIR Electromeccanica S.r.l, Foshan Kinetek Commercial Trading Company Limited, Fujisoku Corporation, Genmark Automation Inc., Gerate- und Pumpenbau GmbH Dr. Eugen Schmidt, Globa Sales Co. Ltd., Globa Service Inc., Guangzhou Kinetek Jinghe Machine Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Keming Electronics. Ltd., Honda Elesys Co. Ltd., Japan Servo Motors Singapore Pte Ltd., KB electronics Inc., Kinetek Asia Holding Inc., Kinetek Asia Holdings II Inc., Kinetek Asia Holdings III Inc., Kinetek Asia Holdings IV Inc., Kinetek Asia Hong Kong Limited, Kinetek CMM Hong Kong Limited., Kinetek De Sheng (Foshan) Motor Co. Ltd., Kinetek Electronics Systems Group Inc., Kinetek Elevator Import Export & Mfg LLC, Kinetek European Holdings LLC, Kinetek Group Inc, Kinetek Holdings Corp., Kinetek Industries Inc., Kinetek Italian Holdco 1 S.r.l., Kinetek Italian Holdco 2 S.r.l., Kinetek JH Hong Kong Limited, Kinetek Luxco GP S.a.r.l., Kinetek Luxco GP S.a.r.l. & Partners S.C.S, Kinetek Luxco S.a.r.l., Kinetek UK Ltd., Kinetek ZX Hong Kong Limited, Kinetek de Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., LGB Elettropompe S.r.l., LuzCom Inc., MCE International LLC, MCE Turkey LLC, MS-Graessner GmbH & Co. KG, Mallory Automotive Motors and Controls LLC, Merkle-Korff Industries Inc -dba Kinetek Advanced AC Solutions, Merkle-Korff Industries Inc., Merkle-Korff de Mexico S.A. de C.V, Metal Forming Group LLC, Minster Machine Company, Minster Machine Corporation, Minster Machine GmbH, Mitsubishi Materials C.M.I. Corporation, Motion Control Engineering Inc., Motores Reynosa S.A. de C.V., Motores U.S. de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Motortecnica s.r.l, NMA Property Verwaltungsgesellschaft, NTK Capital Inc., Nidec (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Nidec (Dalian) Ltd., Nidec (Dongguan) Ltd., Nidec (H.K.) Co. Ltd., Nidec (New Territories) Co. Ltd., Nidec (Shanghai) International Trading Co. Ltd., Nidec (Shaoguan) Ltd., Nidec (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Nidec (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec ASI Japan Corporation, Nidec ASI S.p.A., Nidec America Corporation, Nidec Automobile Motor (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec Avtron Automation Corporatio, Nidec BMS (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Nidec BMS Pte. Ltd., Nidec Component Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Nidec Component Technology (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nidec Component Technology Bangpa-In Co. Ltd., Nidec Component Technology Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal, Nidec Copal (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Nidec Copal (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal (U.S.A) Corporation, Nidec Copal (Vietnam) Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal Electronics (Korea) Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal Electronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal Electronics (Taiwan) Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal Electronics (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal Electronics Corporation, Nidec Copal Electronics GmbH, Nidec Copal Electronics Inc., Nidec Copal Electronics Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nidec Copal Hong Kong Co. Ltd., Nidec Copal Philippines Corporation, Nidec Copal Precision (Vietnam) Corporation, Nidec Electronics (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nidec Electronics GmbH, Nidec Global Service Corporation, Nidec India Private Ltd., Nidec Kaiyu Auto Electric (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., Nidec Kinetek Corporation, Nidec Korea Corporation, Nidec Laminaciones de Acero S.A. de C.V., Nidec Logistics Consulting (Pinghu) Corporation, Nidec Logistics Corporation, Nidec Logistics Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nidec Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Nidec Machinery (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nidec Machinery (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec Machinery Corporation, Nidec Management Shanghai Corporation, Nidec Motor (Qingdao) Corporation, Nidec Motor Canada Corporation, Nidec Motor Colombia SAS, Nidec Motor Corporation, Nidec Motor Holdings Corporation, Nidec Motor Philippines Corporation, Nidec Motors & Actuators, Nidec Motors & Actuators (Germany) GmbH, Nidec Motors & Actuators (Mexico) S. de R.L. de C.V., Nidec Motors & Actuators (Poland) Sp.Z o.o., Nidec Motors & Actuators (Spain) S.A., Nidec Motors & Actuators (USA) Inc., Nidec Nissin (H.K.) Co. Ltd., Nidec Philippines Corporation, Nidec Precision (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nidec Precision Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Nidec Precision Philippines Corporation, Nidec Read (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nidec SR Drives Ltd., Nidec SR Drives Manufacturing Ltd., Nidec Sankyo (Dalian) Corporation, Nidec Sankyo (Dongguan) Precision Corporation, Nidec Sankyo (H.K.) Co. Ltd., Nidec Sankyo (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nidec Sankyo (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec Sankyo America Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Electronics (Dongguan) Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Electronics (Shanghai) Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Electronics (Shaoguan) Co. Ltd., Nidec Sankyo Electronics (Shenzhen) Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Europe GmbH, Nidec Sankyo Music Box Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Service Engineering Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nidec Sankyo Taiwan Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Tohoku Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Vietnam (Hanoi) Corporation, Nidec Sankyo Vietnam Corporation, Nidec Seiko Corporation, Nidec Seimitsu (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd., Nidec Seimitsu America Corporation, Nidec Seimitsu Corporation, Nidec Seimitsu Motor Technology (Dongguan) Co. Ltd., Nidec Seimitsu Motor Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Nidec Seimitsu Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nidec Seimitsu Vietnam Corporation, Nidec Servo (Changzhou) Corporation, Nidec Servo (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd., Nidec Servo (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Nidec Servo Corporation, Nidec Servo Europe B.V., Nidec Servo Hotaka Corporation, Nidec Servo Vietnam Corporation, Nidec Shibaura (H.K.) Ltd., Nidec Shibaura (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Nidec Shibaura (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., Nidec Shibaura Electronics (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nidec Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nidec Sole Motor Corporation S.R.L., Nidec Sole Motor Hungary K.F.T., Nidec Subic Philippines Corporation, Nidec Taiwan Corporation, Nidec Techno Motor Corporation, Nidec Tosok (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Nidec Tosok (Vietnam) Co. Ltd., Nidec Tosok (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec Tosok Akiba (Vietnam) Co. Ltd., Nidec Tosok Corporation, Nidec Tosok Precision Vietnam Co. Ltd., Nidec Tosok Uogishi (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec Total Service (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec US Holdings Corporation, Nidec Vietnam Corporation, Nidec-Kyori (Shanghai) Machinery Corporation, Nidec-Kyori (Zhejiang) Machinery Corporation, Nidec-Read (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec-Read Corporation, Nidec-Read Korea Corporation, Nidec-Read Taiwan Corporation, Nidec-Shimpo (H.K.) Co. Ltd., Nidec-Shimpo (Shanghai) International Trading Co. Ltd., Nidec-Shimpo (Zhejiang) Corporation, Nidec-Shimpo America Corporation, Nidec-Shimpo Corporation, Nidec-Shimpo India Sales & Trading Private Ltd., Nidec-Shimpo Korea Corporation, Nidec-Shimpo Philippines Corporation, Nidec-Shimpo Taiwan Corporation, Nidec-Shimpo do Brasil Importacao Exportacoa e Comerico de Equipamentos Ltda., Niigata Nidec Copal Corporation, Ningbo Minster Industrial Machinery Co. Ltd., OMRON Automotive Electronics Co. Ltd, P.T. Nidec Indonesia, P.T. Nidec Sankyo Precision Indonesia, PT Pacific Coatings Batam, PT. Japan Servo Batam, PT. NAGATA OPTO INDONESIA, PT. Nidec Component Technology Indonesia, PT.Nidec Seimitsu Batam, Press Masters LLC, Roboteq Inc., Rotores S.A. de C.V., SC WADO Co. Ltd., SC Wado Component (Cambodia) Co. Ltd., SCD Co. Ltd, SCD Co. Ltd., SR motor drive business of China Tex Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Ltd, SV Probe Pte. Ltd, Secop GmbH, Selin Sistemi S.r.l, Sermed S.a.r.l.., Shimpo Drives Incorporation, Systeme + Steuerungen GmbH, T.E.A International S.r.l, Taima Casting Sdn. Bhd., Tammy Corporation, The Imperial Electric Company., Tundra Equipment Company., U.S.E.M. de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Valmark Industries Inc., Vamco International Inc., Wuxi Zhongxiu Kinetek Elevator Technology Co. Ltd., Xpert GmbH, and home appliance motor business of Appliances Components Companies S.p.A.Saga plc provides general insurance, package and cruise holidays, and personal finance products and services in the United Kingdom. The company operates in three segments: Insurance, Travel, and Other Businesses and Central Costs. It offers car, home, health, travel, landlord, boat, motorhome, caravan, pet, and personal accident, breakdown cover, building, content, renter, holiday, and holiday home insurance. The company also operates and delivers package tours and cruise holiday products; and provides equity release and care funding advice, savings accounts, credit cards, and wealth management services, as well as shares ISA and share dealing services. In addition, it offers mailing house services; retirement benefit schemes; and publishes Saga Magazine, as well as repairs automotive vehicles. The company was formerly known as Saga Limited and changed its name to Saga plc in May 2014. Saga plc was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Folkestone, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreCelanese Corp. engages in the provision of technology and specialty materials businesses. It operates through the following segments: Engineered Materials, Acetate Tow, Acetyl Chain and Other Activities .The Engineered Materials segment includes the engineered materials business, food ingredients business and certain strategic affiliates. The Acetate Tow segment serves consumer-driven applications and is a global producer and supplier of acetate tow and acetate flake used in filter products applications. The Acetyl Chain segment includes the integrated chain of intermediate chemistry, emulsion polymers and ethylene vinyl acetate (""EVA"") polymers businesses, based on similar products, production processes, classes of customers and selling and distribution practices as well as economic similarities over a normal business cycle. The Other Activities segment consists of corporate center costs, including administrative activities such as finance, information technology and human resource functions, interest income and expense associated with financing activities. The company was founded by Camille Dreyfus and Henri Dreyfus in 1918 and is headquartered in Irving, TX.

Read MoreCoreLogic, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property information, insight, analytics, and data-enabled solutions in North America, Western Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Property Intelligence & Risk Management Solutions (PIRM) and Underwriting & Workflow Solutions (UWS). The PIRM segment combines property information, mortgage information, and consumer information to deliver housing market and property-level insights, predictive analytics, and risk management capabilities. It also offers proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with decision-making and compliance tools in the real estate and insurance industries. This segment primarily serves commercial banks, mortgage lenders and brokers, investment banks, fixed-income investors, real estate agents, MLS companies, property and casualty insurance companies, title insurance companies, government agencies, and government-sponsored enterprises. The UWS segment combines property, mortgage, and consumer information to provide comprehensive mortgage origination and monitoring solutions, including underwriting-related solutions, and data-enabled valuations and appraisals. This segment also provides proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with vetting and onboarding prospects, and meeting compliance regulations, as well as understanding, evaluating, monitoring property values. It primarily serves mortgage lenders and servicers, mortgage brokers, credit unions, commercial banks, fixed-income investors, government agencies, and property and casualty insurance companies. The company was formerly known as The First American Corporation and changed its name to CoreLogic, Inc. in June 2010. CoreLogic, Inc. was incorporated in 1894 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

Read MoreWeatherford International plc, an oilfield service company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Western Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere. It offers artificial lift systems, including reciprocating rod, progressing cavity pumping, gas, hydraulic, plunger, and hybrid lift systems, as well as related automation and control systems; pressure pumping and reservoir stimulation services, such as acidizing, fracturing and fluid systems, cementing, and coiled-tubing intervention; and drill stem test tools, and surface well testing and multiphase flow measurement services. The company also provides safety, downhole reservoir monitoring, flow control, and multistage fracturing systems, as well as sand-control technologies, and production and isolation packers; liner hangers to suspend a casing string in high-temperature and high-pressure wells; cementing products, including plugs, float and stage equipment, and torque-and-drag reduction technology for zonal isolation; and pre-job planning and installation services. In addition, it offers directional drilling services, and logging and measurement services while drilling; services related to rotary-steerable systems, high-temperature and high-pressure sensors, drilling reamers, and circulation subs; managed pressure drilling, conventional mud-logging, drilling instrumentation, gas analysis, wellsite consultancy, and open hole and cased-hole logging services; reservoir solutions and software products; and intervention and remediation services. Further, the company provides equipment and drilling tools; tubular handling, management, and connection services; equipment rental services; and onshore contract drilling and related services through a fleet of land drilling and workover rigs. Weatherford International plc was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.

Read MoreThe earlier US announcement that President Donald Trump will not attend the 8th Summit of the Americas to be held this week here in the Peruvian capital reflects a "low priority" for Latin America on Washington's agenda, said Peruvian analysts. White House aides said Pence's presence will reassure allies of the administration's commitment to the region.

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto also urged the Trump administration to join the accord.

Donald Trump's absence marks the first time a U.S. president has not attended the key regional summit.

Senate Democrats are urging Vice President Mike Pence to use his trip to Lima to reset relations with a region where they say President Donald Trump's immigrant-bashing rhetoric is costing the USA influence.

Maduro was not invited to the summit - but said he would not attend.

Vice President Mike Pence says the USA will provide almost $16 million in humanitarian aid for Venezuelans who have fled their country during the political crisis under President Nicolas Maduro.

Technical Secrets - Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE: LYG)

COPYRIGHT VIOLATION NOTICE: This piece was originally published by Enterprise Leader and is the property of of Enterprise Leader. Sell-side analyst recommendations point to a short term price target of $38.44 on the shares of Signet Jewelers Limited (SIG).

Detienen a "El Comandante", lider Templario, en NL

Uno de ellos dijo ser lider de una celula de los Caballeros Templarios , proveniente de Michoacan . La banda criminal tiene su base de operacion en dicho estado del pacifico mexicano .

Assassination Attempts On Melaye: Court Issues Bench Warrant Against Accused

Justice Ajayi, in his ruling, ordered that a bench warrant be issued against Mr Obege, while his sureties be summoned. He thereafter, adjourned the case till May 14 and May 15 for definite hearing.

"I doubt anyone in Washington has more accurate information on Venezuelan than him", said the head of the Venezuelan-American Leadership Council, who has introduced Senator Rubio's office to several Venezuelan defectors looking to cooperate with U.S. law enforcement.

The State Department said the aid will help provide Venezuelan refugees with safe drinking water, hygiene supplies, shelter, work and education opportunities and protection from violence, in coordination with other humanitarian organizations and government partners.

More than a dozen Latin American countries have also strongly criticized Maduro, accusing him of trampling upon democracy by sidelining the opposition and appointing a super-legislative body over the heads of the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

Summit host Peru played down the decision by US President Donald Trump to skip the Summit of the Americas, saying Mike Pence was an acceptable substitution, on April 12, 2018.

Pence is expected to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the leaders of Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Trump canceled in order to manage the US response to an apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria.

The White House said on Thursday that the United States vice president is also expected to hold a multilateral meeting with several Caribbean leaders.I thought about this idea of protection and empowerment as I continue to pray about those being impacted by Covid-19. What came to mind first was the song No Weapon by Fred Hammond. Its always been one of my favorite worship songs because it reminds...New Delhi: The Telecom Commission is scheduled to meet on May 1 and likely to discuss in-flight connectivity, net-neutrality and method for allocating spectrum bands, E and V, which are capable of transmitting data at 1000 megabit per second.

"It is on May 1," Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan confirmed the meeting of the apex body of the DoT to reporters on sidelines of India Mobile Congress curtain raiser event. She did not share details of the issues which will be discussed at the meeting.

An official at the Department of Telecom (DoT) indicated however that a panel's report on in-flight connectivity, net neutrality and allocation of spectrum in E and V bands are in advance stages of completion which may be taken up by the panel.

The in-flight connectivity, if approved by the commission, will pave the way for mobile call and data services during domestic air-travel to flight passengers.

On the controversial issue of net neutrality, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has already suggested prohibiting internet service providers (ISPs) from making any discrimination in the traffic flow while providing web access by either blocking or throttling some apps, websites and services, or by offering 'fast lanes' to others.

Trai, which had barred discrimination in Net access through differential pricing in February 2016, wants to "regulate the manner in which the current licensing requirement of unrestricted access to all content on the Internet is implemented and enforced", during pendency of a decision on its recommendations by the government.

If the proposals are accepted, ISPs will not be able to block or throttle any web traffic, be it on computers, laptops or mobile phones, or offer fast lanes for content providers who pay for the privilege.

Telecom operators are eagerly looking forward to allocation of spectrum in the E and V bands which will help them expedite network roll out and save cost of laying optical fibre for short distance mobile tower-to-tower data transmission.

Data through E (71-76 Gigahertz frequency and 81-86 Ghz) and V (57-64 Ghz frequency range) band can be transmitted with speed of around 1,000 megabit per second.

Telecom operators are required to pay huge price for laying OFC to local authorities and frequently maintain it as well. Some experts believe that these bands can be used for developing ecosystem for 5G services as well.

The DoT is expected to finalise agenda around a week closer to the date of the meeting, the officer said.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Mumbai: Impressed by regional cinema, director Shekhar Kapur, who headed the feature film jury of this year's National Film Awards, says Hindi film industry needs to pull up its socks.

The veteran filmmaker singled out regional films, particularly Malayalam cinema, at the 65th National Film Awards announcement yesterday.

When asked whether a divide still exists between the mainstream and regional cinema, Kapur told PTI, "I think Hindi cinema should now become regional cinema."

"The standard of performances in some of the regional films is completely stunning. Hindi films cannot compete with them, not in the state they are... And I know why... Our Hindi films try too hard to become everything. These (regional films) are rooted," the director said while announcing the name of the winners.

Jayaraj won his second best director award -- this time for Malayalam film "Bhayanakam". He also won the best adapted screenplay award.

Fahadh Faasil won the best supporting actor award for Malayalam film "Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum". The movie also won the award for best Malayalam film and took home the honour in best original screenplay category.

Santhosh Raman got the award for best production design for "Take Off". Its actor Parvathy received a special mention.

Kapur, known for films such as "Mr India" and "Bandit Queen", said after having served in the jury, he is ready to come back home and make movies in India.

In the late '90s, the 72-year-old director turned to Hollywood and made award-winning films such as "Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age".

"My last film in India was 'Bandit Queen'. It was for a reason that I didn't make films in India. I wanted to make better films here. For years, I've been watching films and thinking that 'Nah... the standard of Hindi films is not that good.

"I thought, 'Why should I go back? It should move forward and take up newer challenges'. But after 10 days of watching these films, talking to my jury members, I want to make a film in India."

Kapur said films recognised at the National Awards were supposed to be enjoyed by both audiences and critics.

"Awards are given not only to highlight the work done by the filmmakers, they are also given so that audiences actually go and watch the films. These films are not just meant to be viewed by film critics.

"Why only allow the film critics to see the films? There is a very thin line between prejudice and judgement. Film critics are usually very prejudiced. You must watch these films. A lot of people have done a lot of hard work," he said.HYDERABAD: Actor and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan advised actress Sri Reddy who made allegations of the casting couch syndrome in the Telugu film industry, to file cases on the persons concerned in the police stations and fight in the courts on the injustice meted out to her.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Mr Pawan Kalyan said that Sri Reddy should stop criticising the Telugu film industry on television as this would be of no use to her. Instead, she should openly fight in the courts against the injustice done to her. But first, she should lodge complaints in the police stations against those who had cheated her.

Mr Pawan Kalyan said that there was no forgiveness for those committing atrocities on women across the country and said that there was a need for strong laws to protect women from such things.

Earlier in the morning, Mr Pawan Kalyan paid tributes to B.R. Ambedkar on the occasion of his birth anniversary. Speaking on this occasion, Mr Pawan Kalyan said he had read books about Ambedkar before he came into films and politics. He said that the recent Supreme Court judgment on SC and ST Act was very unfortunate.

He said that Jana Sena was against amendments made to SC and STs Act.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan also staged a dharna at Necklace Road protesting against the Kathuva and Unnao rapes. Mr. Kalyan said that the accused should the punished. He said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi should respond immediately to these incidents. He said that all the Chief Ministers including TS and AP should condemn these incidents.Stjepan Vokic, a retired Croatian primary school caretaker, pets Malena, a white stork he adopted in 1993 after he found it at a nearby pond with a broken wing, shot by hunters. (Photo: AFP)

Croatia: A faithful male flying thousands of miles each year to join his handicapped female who cannot fly -- the story of two storks in Croatia, Klepetan and Malena, is one of love and devotion beating the odds.

By late March, Klepetan was back in the tiny village of Brodski Varos in eastern Croatia for the 16th year in a row, after leaving his winter home in southern Africa.

There he again met the love of his life, white stork Malena -- "Little One" in Croatian -- who was waiting to start having more babies, to add to the 62 the pair already have.

The faithful couple's long-distance relationship has made them celebrities in Croatia.

Local school caretaker Stjepan Vokic, a 71-year-old widower, adopted Malena in 1993 when he found her near a pond, injured by a shot from hunters.

She spends winters in a storage building in what Vokic calls an "improvised Africa" with a nest, heating and aquarium.

In spring Vokic makes a gigantic nest for Malena on the building's roof.

Klepetan, the father stork, teaches his baby storks to fly before migrating with them in early August to southern Africa.

Meanwhile, Malena stays with Vokic, who bathes her and puts cream on her feet to stop them drying out, as she is away from her wetland habitat.

"I also take her fishing since I can't take her to Africa. We even watch TV together," Vokic told AFP.

"If I had left her in the pond foxes would have eaten her. But I changed her fate, so now I'm responsible for her life."

Klepetan, named after a knocking sound storks make with their beaks, wears a tracking ring.

His final migratory destination has been traced to near Cape Town, some 14,500 kilometres (9,000 miles) from Malena. It takes him a little over a month.

Croatia is home to some 1,500 pairs of white storks.

Cigoc, in central Croatia, was proclaimed the first European stork village in 1994.

More than 210 birds live there in nests on the roofs and lamp posts. Their number is more than double the village's human population.In their primary investigation, the police found that the accused Dr Rachana Singh Takoor and her husband Dr Kiran Kumar and a women helper Unissa, were involved in sex termination. (Photo: File | Representational)

Hyderabad: Two doctors and a woman helper were arrested by city police for performing sex-selective abortions in Hyderabad's Saidabad.

According to Saidabad police station Circle Inspector, Sattaiah, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the high court on which the court directed Saidabad police to submit a detailed report on Sri Gayatri Nursing Home, which is ran by the accused.

In the primary investigation, the police found that the accused Dr Rachana Singh Takoor and her husband Dr Kiran Kumar and a woman helper Unissa, were involved in sex termination.

A case has been registered in this regard and the accused are being sent to judicial remand.Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has already completed six rounds of campaigning in Karnataka with the last one on April 7 and 8. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Less than a month before the Karnataka Assembly election day, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to make at least three visits to the state, intensifying the party's campaigning as it seeks to retain power there, sources said.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 12.

Sources said Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit those parts of Karnataka which he has not visited yet as part of his Jana Aashirwada Yatre there.

"All his rallies and meetings till now have received a good response. There is a feeling among Karnataka workers that he should cover more areas in the four regions of the state to ensure our victory," a party leader said.

Rahul Gandhi visiting the state will also ensure that workers remain upbeat till the election date, the leader added.

During the Congress president's recent road show in the state's Tumkur, a party man had thrown a garland towards him and it had perfectly landed around the Congress chief's neck.

Asked about it, the source said party workers should ensure there is no repeat of such a case in view of his security.

"Workers love him. But there shouldn't be a repeat of such a case in view of his security. Security personnel will also be more vigilant," the source added.

Rahul Gandhi has completed six rounds of campaigning in the state with the last one on April 7 and 8.

Karnataka is witnessing a three-corner contest among the Congress, BJP and the HD Deve Gowda-led JD (S). The result of the election will be out on May 15.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced that he will sit on a one-day hunger strike against the Centre's non-cooperation of the state. (Photo: File)

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced that he will sit on a one-day hunger strike against the Centre's non-cooperation of the state.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo said that he will go on strike on his birthday, on April 20.

The Andhra Pradesh politicians have been protesting demanding Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh, which was promised by the Center during the bifurcation of the state in 2014.

Ahead of the 2014 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forged an alliance with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with the promise to grant Special Category status to the state.

The Andhra ruling party and the BJP-ruled Centre have been at the loggerheads ever since the announcement of 2018-19 Union Budget.

The TDP alleged that the Centre ignored the demand of 'Special Category Status' to Andhra Pradesh in the budget, while the latter brushed aside the charges.

On March 16, the ruling TDP reached a deadlock with BJP over this issue and ultimately quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition.Kochi: At the time when the entire country has united once again to protest against the rape and murder of 8-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, a senior employee of a private bank in Kerala made derogatory remarks about the victim, forcing his employers to sack him.

Kotak Mahindra Bank sacked its Kochi branch Assistant Manager Vishnu Nandakumar, for his hate comments on social media.

Vishnu, referring to the 8-year-old girl had said on Facebook that it was "good that she was killed at this age itself. Else, she would have grown up and returned throwing bombs in India".

It's not clear when the comment was posted, however, the post was widely shared and the bank's social media page was flooded with demands for the assistant manger to be sacked.

Twitter was also flooded with demands for dismissing the manager with hashtag #Dismiss_your_manager trending.

WE DON'T HATE YOUR SERVICE, WE RESPECT YOUR SERVICE AND TO GET RESPECT HEREAFTER YOU NEED TO KEEP SOMEONE WHO RESPECTS OTHERS...WE HATE Vishnu nandakumar who don't deserve the job in your Bank.There are somany outside with a goodhearted... Give them the job and get respect..  Dazz (@Dazzkannur) April 13, 2018

Kotak mahindra.... I never knew you were keen to hire people who supports child rape... Is that going to be the new kotak motto???... save your brand name.... Dismiss the accused #dismiss_your_manager_vishnu_nandakumar(palarivattom branch)@KotakBankLtd  Razal salah (@razal_salah) April 13, 2018

@KotakCares

Expell Vishnu Nandakumar

Inhuman enough to curse the victim rather than the culprits  chandramohan (@chamoreid) April 13, 2018

The police has registered case against Vishnu Nandakumar for making derogatory remarks.

The case has been registered under section 153A of IPC.

Late on Friday, Kotak Mahindra Bank in a statement said that it has terminated the services of Vishnu. "We have terminated Vishnu Nandakumar from the services of the bank on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 for poor performance. It is extremely disheartening to see such comments being made in the aftermath of such tragedy by anyone including an ex-employee. We strongly condemn this statement."BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav said the allegation on BJP minister being pro-rapists are not true and that the lawmakers had no intention to hamper the investigation in the Kathua rape case. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Mumbai: BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday came out in defence of the BJP ministers in Jammu and Kashmir over their alleged participation in a Hindu Ekta Manch march defending the rape accused. Madhav said the two ministers had participated in the rally to pacify the crowd.

Ram Madhav said the allegation on BJP minister being pro-rapists are not true and that the lawmakers had no intention to hamper the investigation in the Kathua rape case.

Madhav said the BJP will forward resignations of the two ministers -- Commerce and industries minister Chandra Prakash Ganga and forest minister Chaudhary Lal Singh -- to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for further action.

On March 1, a huge crowd gathered in Kathua and our ministers went there to pacify them. A misunderstanding took place, they should have been more alert. Their intention was not to hamper the investigation. Allegations on them being pro-rapists arent true, news agency ANI quoted Madhav as saying.

A rally was organised by Hindu Ekta Manch in favour of the men accused of raping and killing an eight-year-old girl from the Bakerwal community.

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister had expressed her displeasure and asked BJP to remove ministers Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh from their positions.

BJP ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government, Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh, tendered their resignation on Friday and defended their participation in the rally by saying, I had gone there, (ministers) Bali (Bhagat) and (Abdul Gani) Kohli had gone to Nowshera and Sunderbani to listen to people. Should we not listen to them? For what are we peoples representatives? Should we allow people to burn the state and die.

Read: 2 BJP ministers, who supported Kathua rape case accused, resign

Lal Singh said their primary responsibility was to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state. Is it fine that state keeps on burning and the people become violent I do not believe in Hindu-Muslim politics. Everybody is equal for me, he added.

Ram Madhav, who is also the BJP in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, said there is no threat to the PDP-BJP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir.

"There is no trouble in the BJP-PDP alliance. We are in touch with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is of the view that the BJP should take a stand on these two ministers and the Prime Minister also advised us to take appropriate action to send a right message to people," Ram Madhav said.

Ram Madhav Singh further said that the Jammu and Kashmir government will ensure justice for the 8-year-old rape victim and said that culprits should be punished.

The 18-page chargesheet in the Kathua rape case stated that the girl was gangraped inside a temple, where she was confined using sedatives. The accused then strangled and hit her on the head twice with a stone.

Also Read: Kathua case: Meerut student travelled to J&K to rape 8-yr-old, says chargesheetJammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is pushing for a fast-track court to be set up to expedite the Kathua gangrape and murder case and ensure speedy justice to the family of the 8-year-old victim. (Photo: PTI)

Srinagar: In a big step by the Jammu and Kashmir government, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is pushing for a fast-track court to be set up to expedite the Kathua rape and murder case and ensure speedy justice to the family of the 8-year-old victim.

The Chief Minister has also asked for the termination of arrested officers in the case under Section 126-C and Article 311.

A People's Democratic Party (PDP) source speaking to news agency ANI, said the fast-track court is likely to deliver its verdict in the case within 90 days.

The official order regarding the same is expected to be issued today evening.

The appointed judge in the case will be hearing the case of the gangrape and murder of 8-year-old girl only, till its closure.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has reacted to Kathua rape, terming the case as "horrific".

The UN chief has expressed hope that authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal rape and murder of the 8-year-old in Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua district to justice.

Ahead of the crucial PDP meeting, senior party leader Nayeema Mehjoor, who is also the state's women commission chief, has spoken out and demanded the Chief Minister to pull out from the coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Pressure has been mounting on Mehbooba Mufti to end alliance with the BJP after two BJP leaders were accused of defending Kathua rapists.

Also Read: 2 BJP ministers, who supported Kathua rape case accused, resignKALPETTA: The forest staff of Wayanad district are planning to use rubber bullets to drive out the wild elephants from farm lands. The trial would be on the tusker that has roamed in and around the jungle hamlet of Vadakkanad, near Sulthan Bathery, for the last many months. The farmers living in the border hamlets had organised an indefinite hunger strike in front of the office of Wayanad wildlife warden at Sulthan Bathery recently. They called off the agitation after the forest minister promised to take action to check the animal raids in jungle villages.

Kozhikode DFO K.K. Sunilkumar told DC that he had successfully used rubber bullets during his term in Nilambur to drive elephant herds back to the forest. Since then there were discussions on using the same method in Wayanad and Kannur districts where the farming community is facing threats from elephant herds, he added. Wayanad wildlife warden N.T. Sajan said that rubber bullets may scare the elephants. The animal has become familiar with human settlements and it is fond of devouring crops, Mr Sajan said.

Whenever ferreted out of the farm zones, it returns within no time, he added. The forest department personnel had scared it back to the forest several times. As it refused to go back, it was radio-collared. Later using Kumki elephants, it was pushed back into the interiors of the jungle, he said. However, the farmers are still worried as the presence of elephants prevents them from even the routine agrarian activities, including selling milk early in the morning.















Western countries hit Syria, although neither Russian military experts, nor local residents confirmed fact of chemical attack in the city of Douma, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated.





Putin has vehemently condemned the US-led missile strikes against Syria, which "aggravate humanitarian catatrophe, inflict suffering on civilian population and connive at terrorism." A group of Western countries "cynically disregarded" the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) probe into an alleged chemical incident in the Syrian city of Douma and undertook military action even before the investigation is completed, according to the Russian president.





Putin added that Russian military experts had not found any traces of chlorine or any other chemicals at the site of a supposed incident, as well as "not a single local resident confirmed a chemical attack."





The Russian President called the attack against Syria "act of aggression" against the country which is combating terrorism on its soil, adding that Russian servicemen help legitimate government to fight terrorist threat in the country.









"Russia is convening the urgent session of the UN Security Council to discuss aggressive actions of the United States and its allies," Putin said, pointing out that the strikes had been carried out in violation of norms and principles of the international law and posed a breach of sovereignty of an independent state.





Putin stressed that escalation in Syria has destructive impact on the entire system of international relations.





Earlier in the day, the US alongside with the United Kingdom and France, launched strikes on a number of targets in Syria in response to the alleged chemical attack in the Damascus' suburb of Douma, which they blamed on the Syrian government. Damascus has rejected all the allegations, noting that all chemical stockpiles were destroyed, which was confirmed by the OPCW. No evidence of Damascus' involvement in the reported chemical incident was presented, with a probe due to start on April 14.

































The US and its allies struck civil and military facilities in Syria, violating the UN Charter and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, responding to the American-French-British intervention in Syria. Washington launched an aggression against a sovereign state which is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, the statement from the president said. Putin stressed that the multi-national strikes were not sanctioned by the UN Security Council, and were carried out in violation of the UN Charter and principles of international law.





What's more, the current escalation of the Syrian crisis has a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations.Yet, history will set things straight as it has already found Washington responsible for massacres in Yugoslavia. In fact, by using force, Washington is only prompting a new wave of asylum-seekers from Syria and the whole region, according to the Russian leader. Meanwhile, Russia is calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions of the US and its allies, the statement concluded. Washington and its allies unleashed the bombardment in the early hours of Saturday in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack by the Assad government in the town of Douma, 10 kilometers from Damascus, last week. The strikes were conducted before a team of investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was due to reach Douma to determine whether the attack had indeed taken place.





Syrian air defense systems have intercepted the majority of cruise missiles and air-surface missiles from the allies, the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier, adding that none of its own air defense units were involved in repelling the attack. According to the latest data from the Russian MoD, Syria intercepted at least 71 cruise missiles out of the 103 launched by the allies on Saturday.





Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei harshly criticized the airstrikes on Syrian soil, branding the leaders of the UK, US, and France criminals. He added that the attack will not result in any benefits, recalling the US-led operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.









































On Friday, US President Donald Trump ordered to "launch precision strikes on Syria" in response to the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, described by Moscow and Damascus as a false flag. The attack was joined by British and French air forces. More than 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles were launched at "civilian and military facilities" in Syria on April 14 in line with US President Donald Trump's order. The US warships Porter, Cook  Higgins carried out the attack from the Red Sea, while the French and UK fighters Mirage and Tornado, respectively, interacted with the US bombers B-1 over the Mediterranean Sea.

The ministry explained that Syria repelled the Western attack by air defense complexes made in the USSR over 30 years ago, including the S-125 and S-200 air defense systems, as well as Buk and Kvadrat.













The Syrian Foreign Ministry has denounced the joint US, British and French strikes as a " brutal, barbaric aggression ," saying that the attack "aims at hindering the OPCW [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] mission's work and preempting its results."





The ministry stressed that "this aggression will only lead to inflaming tensions in the world and threatens international security."













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Thrissur: Kerala Agricultural University ( KAU ) and Aleksandras Stulginskis University (ASU) of Lithuania will join hands to promote academic cooperation. The decision to have students and faculty exchange programmes between the universities was taken at a meeting between KAU Vice-Chancellor Dr.R. Chandrababu and a ASU delegation headed by Prof.Raimundas Rukuisa and Prof.Rolandas Domeika held at the KAU Headquarters the other day.

Vice-Chancellor Dr.R.Chandrababu told the delegation that he wanted KAU students to get the advantages of global education and so he was eager to associate with reputed foreign universities.

Aleksandras Stulginskis University being a state owned university is all the more easy to associate with. Students from Lithuania can apply for KAU courses as well. We have expertise in several subject areas in which Lithuanian students can pursue studies. We will work out a memorandum of understanding for the exchange programmes and dual degree programmes, he said. He explained that agricultural students sponsored by KAU could get the tuition fee waived.The Prime Minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar. (Photo: DC)

Jagdalpur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Saturday, will inaugurate the "Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission" and other development projects, officials said.

The mission aims at covering 10 crore poor and vulnerable families and provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

The scheme will be launched by Modi at Jangla village in Bijapur, officials said.

The Prime Minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar.

Modi will reach Jagdalpur in the morning, from where he would take a helicopter to reach Jangla around 12, a government official said.

The PM will launch the Ayushman Bharat scheme from a sub-health centre at Jangla and later inaugurate bank branches in seven villages, including Jangla, of Bijapur district, he said.

A newly-laid railway line between Gudum and Bhanupratappur will be commissioned through video-conferencing, the official said.

He said the line, part of the Dallirajhra-Rowghat railway project, will help connect the people of north Bastar.

The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the first phase of the state government's Bastar Net Project, which aims at expanding the reach of the Internet to the remote villages of the division.

As part of the project, an optical fibre cable network is being laid over an area of 40,000 square kilometres in Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada districts of Bastar division, the official informed.

"The PM will address a public gathering at Jangla and then proceed to Jagdalpur from where he will leave by an Air Force plane for New Delhi at around 4pm," the official said.

This is the PM's fourth visit to the state since the NDA came to power in 2014 and second one to Bastar, having visited the area earlier on May 9, 2015.

The visit will be conducted under a massive security umbrella which will see the deployment of 10,000 personnel, including commandos from the elite Special Protection Group and jawans from the state's Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF).

CCTVs, drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been deployed as part of security arrangements during the visit, said officials.

Naxal groups active in the area have opposed the PM's visit and have pasted pamphlets in several interior pockets of the district asking people to boycott the visit.The rape victim said she has no hope from the Uttar Pradesh administration and that the government should stop itself from interfering in the matter. (Representational Image | AFP)

Budaun: Terming Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's order of revoking the rape case against former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand wrong, the rape survivor has made an appeal to President Ram Nath Kovind, UP Governor Ram Naik and Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, seeking justice.

This decision by the chief minister is completely wrong. Instead of supporting me, the government is supporting the accused. I am not even being allowed a fair trial. The accused is politically too powerful and I am too weak, the 39-year-old rape survivor told NDTV.

Also Read: Yogi government to revoke case against rapist minister Swami Chinmayanand

The rape case against Swami Chinmayanand was filed at a police station in Shahjahanpur in 2011 and police had filed a chargesheet against him in 2012. However, the three-time lawmaker managed to get a stay on his arrest from the Allahabad High Court.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 15 in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Shahjahanpur.

On February 25, Yogi Adityanath had visited Swami Chinmayanand's ashram in Shahjahanpur to inaugurate the Mumuksh Yuva Mahotsav and during this meeting he is said to have requested the Chief Minister to withdraw the case against him.

The Chief Minister then directed the Law department to issue an order for withdrawal of the rape case. Acting on the order dated March 6, Additional District Magistrate (Administration) Jitendra Sharma issued a letter on March 9, directing the public prosecutor to file an application in the court under Section 321 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, to withdraw the case.

The rape victim said she has no hope from the Uttar Pradesh administration and that the government should stop itself from interfering in the matter. Speaking to NDTV, she went on to add, I have no hope with the UP administration so I appealed to the Chief Justice of India. The government needs to stop interfering in the matter.

The rape survivor used to be a disciple of Swami Chinmayanand at his ashram between the year 2000 and 2011. It was during that time she had alleged him of raping her.

The victim said she was not the only one who had undergone the torture; several other girls also had met the same fate. She added that Swami Chinmayanand warned her of dire consequences and she was kept under constant surveillance.

I suffered for 11 years but could not speak out because he would give me death threats and keep me under constant surveillance. Several other girls also went through the torture but could never speak out as he got them married off to his own employees. I got out as I managed to get help from an outsider who later married me, she narrated to NDTV.The victim's mother also alleged that while BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was raping her daughter, Shashi Singh stood outside the room as a guard. (Photo: File | PTI)

New Delhi: The CBI on Saturday made a second arrest in the Unnao rape case as it took into custody Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly took the victim to BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on the day of crime, officials said.

A special court in Lucknow has sent Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the prime accused in the case, to a seven-day CBI custody, they said.

Read: Unnao rape: Accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar sent to 7-day CBI custody

In her complaint to Uttar Pradesh Police, now part of the CBI FIR, the victim's mother has alleged that Shashi Singh had lured her daughter and took her to Kuldeep Singh Sengar's residence where he raped her.

She has also alleged that while the MLA was raping her daughter, Shashi Singh stood outside the room as a guard.

Also Read: Used to call BJP MLA 'bhaiya' until he raped me: 17-yr-old Unnao victim

The agency arrested the BJP MLA from Bangarmau on Friday night after 16 hours of questioning at its office in Lucknow.

After a massive public outrage over the inaction of the Uttar Pradesh police, the case was handed over to the CBI on April 12. The agency took over the investigation in three cases related to the alleged rape of the 17-year-old girl by the BJP MLA.

Within hours of taking over the investigation, the CBI brought Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who had remained untouched by the state police, to its office in Lucknow, where he was questioned for nearly 16 hours before being taken into custody.

In a scathing order on Friday, the Allahabad High Court slammed the inaction by the Uttar Pradesh government and the state police. The court underlined that in spite of complaint from the victim to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on August 17, 2017, no substantial action was taken by the police.

The disturbing feature of the case is that the law and order machinery and the government officials were directly in league and under the influence of Kuldeep Singh, a bench of Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale and Justice Sunit Kumar said.

Also Read: Why accused BJP MLA free even after FIR: Allahabad HC to UP govt

The prosecutrix and her family members have been running from post to pillar but her complaint was not registered, despite approaching the chief minister. The influence of the accused is such that the circle officer also declined to lodge the report on the complaint duly forwarded by the office of the chief minister, it said.

The agency, which was referred the matter on Wednesday, took immediate action by re-registering the FIRs filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

A team visited the crime scenes in Makhi village in Unnao district and talked to the victim's family, witnesses and officials of the hospital where the victim and her father were taken for treatment.

The first FIR pertains to the alleged rape of the girl in which Sengar and Shashi Singh have been named as accused.

The second pertains to rioting, in which four locals have been booked, and the alleged killing of the victim's father in judicial custody. Since the murder charge was added later by the state police, it does not reflect in the CBI FIR.

The third case pertains to the allegations against the victim's father, who was arrested by the police under the Arms Act and put in jail, where he died. According to the post-mortem examination report, he had suffered serious injuries.

According to the rules, the CBI re-registers the FIRs filed by a state police when taking over a probe, but remains at freedom to arrive at its own conclusions, which are filed before a special court in its final report.

The final report can either be a closure report or a chargesheet.

The victim has alleged that on June 4, 2017, she was raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence, when she had gone to meet him, along with a relative, seeking a job.

In February, the girl's family had moved the court, seeking to include the MLA's name in the case. Subsequently, the victim's father was booked by the police under the Arms Act on April 3 and put in jail on April 5.

Frustrated with the alleged police inaction and coercion from influential people, the victim attempted self-immolation in front of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence on April 8.

The next day, her father died in jail with the post-mortem examination report suggesting serious injuries on his body.

Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a four-time MLA, enjoys an immense clout, cutting across party lines, in rural areas of Unnao district, a semi-urban area about 70 km from Lucknow.

A video, purportedly showing the victim's father before his death, has gone viral. Several television news channels have also aired it.

In the video, the victim's father alleged he was mercilessly beaten up, including with rifle butts, by the MLA's brother and others in presence of police personnel.According to the developers of the new satellite, early warning system for the world's 500,000 dams, shrinking reservoirs in India, Morocco, Iraq and Spain could spark the next 'day zero' water crisis, The Guardian reported. (Photo: AFP | Representational)

New Delhi: A new satellite study warns of shrinking reservoirs in India, Morocco, Iraq and Spain which could result in water taps going completely dry in these four countries.

According to the developers of the new satellite, early warning system for the world's 500,000 dams, shrinking reservoirs in India, Morocco, Iraq and Spain could spark the next "day zero" water crisis, The Guardian reported.

The system has named countries where shrinking reservoirs could lead to the taps completely drying up, the study said.

Tensions have been apparent in India over the water allocations for two reservoirs connected by the Narmada river, it said.

Poor rains in 2017, left the upstream Indira Sagar dam in Madhya Pradesh a third below its seasonal average.

When some of this shortfall was passed on to the downstream Sardar Sarovar reservoir, it caused an uproar because the latter is a drinking supply for 30 million people.

In March, the Gujarat state government halted irrigation and appealed to farmers not to sow crops.

Cape Town recently grabbed global headlines by launching a countdown to the day when taps would be cut off to millions of residents as a result of a three-year drought.

Drastic conservation measures have forestalled that moment in South Africa, but dozens of other countries face similar risks from rising demand, mismanagement and climate change, say the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The US-based environmental organisation is working with Deltares, the Dutch government and other partners to build a water and security early warning system that aims to anticipate social instability, economic damage and cross-border migration.

A prototype is due to be rolled out later this year, but a snapshot, unveiled on Wednesday, highlighted four of the worst-affected dams and the potential knock-on risks.

The starkest decline is that of Morocco's second-largest reservoir Al Massira which has shrunk by 60 per cent in three years due to recurring drought, expanding irrigation and the increasing thirst of neighbouring cities such as Casablanca.

Spain has suffered a severe drought that has contributed to a 60 per cent shrinking of the surface area of the Buendia dam over the last five years.

In Iraq, the Mosul Dam has seen a more protracted decline but it is also now down 60 per cent from its peak in the 1990s as a result of low rainfall and competing demand from Turkish hydropower projects upstream on the Tigris and Euphrates.Lucknow: A day after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao, BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Saturday has been sent to CBI custody for seven days by a Lucknow court.

Before being produced in the Court on Saturday, Kuldeep Singh Sengar said, "I have faith in judiciary."

Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been charged under the stringent sexual offences law to protect children and the penal code.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested BJP lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar, main accused in the Unnao rape case, late on Friday evening after the Allahabad High Court ordered his immediate arrest saying he was influencing the "law and order machinery".

Also Read: Unnao rape case: CBI arrests BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar

Hearing a petition in the case of the alleged rape of the 17-year-old girl, the Allahabad High Court on Friday directed the investigating agency to arrest Kuldeep Singh Sengar, MLA from the Bangarmau Assembly constituency in Unnao district, saying officials were directly under his influence.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had agreed to transfer the case to the CBI this week in face of mounting pressure to crack down on the powerful Unnao MLA.

A special team that the government had constituted to probe the case was disbanded and the state police refused to arrest Kuldeep Singh Sengar, because the case was going to be probed by the CBI.

All this week, Kuldeep Singh Sengar has strutted around denying the accusation, disparaging the girl and her family and hitting out at the media in the Unnao rape case. During that time, his brother Atul Singh was arrested for a brutal assault on the girl's father, who was not just arrested with severe wounds on his body but died last week in police custody.

On Wednesday night, Kuldeep Singh Sengar made a dramatic appearance outside the house of the police chief in Lucknow, in a convoy of 20 vehicles. "I have come here because TV channels were saying I will surrender," he appeared to taunt reporters, insisting that he was neither a fugitive nor a rapist.Actress Sunny Leone, who adopted Nisha in 2017, added, 'Children should feel safe against evil hurtful people. Let's hold our children a little closer to us! Protect at all costs!' (Twitter Screengrab | @SunnyLeone)

Mumbai: The horrors of Kathua and Unnao rape incidents have once again shaken the sentiments of people across the globe. Everyone is questioning the security and safety of girls in the country. Amid all of this, actress Sunny Leone makes a "promise" to her baby daughter Nisha.

In a tweet posted on Saturday, Sunny addressed a note to Nisha and said, "I promise with every ounce of my heart, soul and body to protect you from everything and everyone who is evil in this world. Even if that means giving my life for your safety."

Sunny, who adopted Nisha in 2017, added, "Children should feel safe against evil hurtful people. Let's hold our children a little closer to us! Protect at all costs!"

I promise with every ounce of my heart,soul&body 2protect u from everything&everyone who is evil in this world.Even if that means giving my life for ur safety.children should feel safe against evil hurtful people.Let's hold our children a little closer to us!Protect at all costs! pic.twitter.com/d9xijmD6kF  Sunny Leone (@SunnyLeone) April 14, 2018

Sunny Leone and Daniel Weber are also parents to twins Asher and Noah, who were born via surrogacy this year.

Sunny Leone's tweet arrives in the wake of the nationwide outrage over the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old child in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua. She was kept captive, sedated and raped till she was murdered. The incident has prompted nationwide protest with celebrities demanding justice on social media.

In strongly worded tweets, Sonam Kapoor, Karan Johar, Akshay Kumar, Kalki Koechlin, Farhan Akhtar, Richa Chadha and many others have condemned the heinous crime and asked for the minor girl.

Meanwhile in Uttar Pradesh, a 17-year-old girl was alleged rape by BJP MLA and his brother. Earlier this week, the teenager's father died in custody after allegedly being assaulted by goons of the accused.The new sign board of Dr B.R. Ambedkar Balanagar Metro Station installed by the authorities after the Balanagar Metro Station was renamed on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: Balanagar station on Saturday has been renamed as Dr B.R. Ambedkar Balanagar Metro Station after the Telangana government gave its approval. There were representations from local Dalit organisations and also various public representatives to rename Balanagar station after Dr Ambedkar.

Hyderabad Metro Rail managing director N.V.S. Reddy said, We got representations from the elected public representatives and also various Dalit organisations in the state. Hence the process was initated. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and minister for urban development K.T. Rama Rao gave instructions to carry out the procedure for the same.

Metro stations are under the concessionaire agreement with L and T Metro Rail hence they had to follow it up with the company for the change in the name.

L and T Metro Rail is leasing out metro stations to companies for branding purposes and they agreed to the governments proposal to rename it as Dr B.R. Ambedkar Balanagar station. The station now shows the new name.CHENNAI: With the difference of opinion pertaining to the start of Tamil new year among believers and non-believers in the Tamil community prevailing, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit invoked oldest known Tamil literature Tholkaappiyam to determine the date of the start of the year.

Tholkaappiyam is the oldest surviving Tamil grammar that divides the year into six seasons where Chithirai marks the start of the Ilavenil (summer) season. Tamil new year day is celebrated on the first day of the month of Chithirai to mark the entry of Sun god into the first house of zodiac, Banwarilal Purohit said at the valedictory function of DefExpo on Saturday.

The argument regarding the first day of Tamil new year has been existing for over many decades between followers and non-followers of the Dravidian movement. DMK government in 2008 made Thai 1 (January 14) as the new year day, while the AIADMK made Chithirai 1 as new year day in 2011.

Purohit also said that the eighth-century Silappadikaaram mentions the 12 raasis or zodiac signs starting with Mesha or Chithirai. Similarly the New Year in Kerala as Vishu is celebrated on the same day. The harvest festival of Baisakhi of the Punjabis also falls on the same day, he added.Interestingly, the two countries are also together in the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure, an arrangement under which they have to exchange intelligence information on terror.

New Delhi: In less than five months from now, for the first time ever, Indian and Pakistani soldiers will fight together hand in hand in mock operations to eliminate terrorists, neutralise terror networks and thwart possible attacks besides testing combat readiness.

Both the armies have operated together in the past in foreign lands while providing security or in convoy protection deployment as peacekeepers under the United Nations mandate, but this is the first time that the two South Asian neighbours, with a bitter history of wars and a relationship of rancor, will join hands in a military exercise.

A top government source told this newspaper that the exercise called Peace Mission 2018 under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), will be held at Chelyabinsk in west-central Russia. It will begin in August-end and conclude in the first week of September. Chelyabinsk, located close to the Ural mountains, will also host the meeting of the Council of Heads of SCO member states and the meeting of BRICS leaders in 2020.

With aims for political, economic, military cooperation, coordination and solidarity in Eurasia, SCO was formed in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. Now SCO has eight full members including India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

While four nations have been accorded observer status, another six are dialogue partners.

Held once in two years, Peaceful Mission 2018 will be the fifth edition of the multilateral exercise but this will be the first time for both India and Pakistan that became SCO members on June 9, 2017. As members it is mandatory for them to take part in the week-long exercise.

Interestingly, the two countries are also together in the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure, an arrangement under which they have to exchange intelligence information on terror.

Being the host country, Russia is expected to participate in a big way in terms of men, material and sophisticated weapon systems. China is also expected to deploy at least about five hundred soldiers, while the participation of the Indian and Pakistani military contingents are likely to be smaller. The military exercise will begin just after a mega defence expo in Russia that will begin from August 21.New Delhi: As a consequence of the Kathua rape case, both the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government will soon put in place a comprehensive plan to provide adequate security cover to nomadic tribes, specially those belonging to the minority community, whenever they are camping in the Jammu region.

The minor girl who was brutally raped and murdered belong to one such nomadic tribe of the state. Home ministry sources said the Centre was even willing to provide additional Central para-military forces for this purpose.

These nomadic tribes camp in deserted areas near forests or outskirts of villages with their livestock thus making them more vulnerable to possible attacks as was witnessed in the Kathua incident. So, we are talking to the state government to put in place a foolproof security mechanism for protection of such nomadic tribes, specially ones belonging to the minority community, a senior government official said.

Sources said the J&K government will soon carry out a detailed survey regarding movement such tribes both during the summer and winter season to identify the areas where they camp while moving around.

The local administration and the police will then be made responsible for giving adequate protection to these nomadic tribes whenever they are camping their areas. The local administration will also be able to seek reinforcements from central para-military for this purpose.

Both the Centre and the state government are of the view that no outfit should be allowed give a communal colour to such a heinous crime and these have to be prevented at any cost even if it requires giving them a security cover,the official added.

Meanwhile, the home ministry has also assured the state police that it can investigate the Kathua rape case without pressure from any quarters and stern action should be taken against the accused persons.New Delhi: Kerala has joined the Centre in moving the Supreme Court seeking review and recall of the March 20 verdict diluting the provisions of SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act by granting protection from arrest to the accused prior to a preliminary probe. In its petition, filed through advocate G. Prakaksh, seeking review of the verdict, Kerala said the verdict has gone against the provisions of the Atrocities Act and has wide ramifications as the same has created insecurity among SC/ST people. It said when the law is clear no guideline should be issued by the Court.

The state said the apex court has failed to suitably/appropriately appreciate certain facts and settled principles of law. There is an error apparent in the judgment as it goes against the mandate of Parliament and the object of the Act.

It pointed out that while passing the PoA Act, 1989 the Parliament has set out the circumstances surrounding the enactment of the said Act and points to the evil, which the statute said to remedy. The SC/ST are denied number of civil rights. They are subjected to various offences, indignities, humiliations and harassment. They have, in several brutal incidents, been deprived of their life and property. Serious crimes are committed against them for various historical, social and economic reasons.

State said granting protection to the accused from arrest and ordering a preliminary enquiry by a senior police officer into any complaint has virtually diluted the provisions and if this judgment were given effect it would be impossible for registration of any FIR against the accused. On anticipatory bail, the State said Section 18 of the PoA Act is the backbone of the Act as it enforces an inherent deterrence and instills sense of protection amongst members of SCs and STs. Any dilution thereof would shake the very objective of mechanism to prevent offences of atrocities.

The judgment of this Court while seeking to protect persons, whose offences would not normally merit denial of anticipatory bail as in the instant case, would, by its uniform application cause miscarriage of justice even in deserving cases. Kerala pointed out that even in the judgment the apex court had expressed concern that contrary to the assertion of any misuse of the 1989 Act, the facts and the data have demonstrated a weak implementation of the said Act.

The court, thereby has endorsed the requirement for a strict interpretation of the deterrent provisions. There is justification for an apprehension that if benefit of anticipatory bail is made available to persons who are alleged to have committed such offences, there is every likelihood of their misusing their liberty while on anticipatory bail to terrorise their victims and to prevent a proper investigation.Hyderabad: Expressing concern at the rise in sexual assaults against women and even infants in recent times even after the enforcement of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, following rape case in Delhi, the Hyderabad High Court has upheld the life conviction of the convict who brutally killed a five-year-old after raping her in Toopran police station limits in 2011.

A division bench comprising Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice D.V.S.S. Somayajulu while dismissing the appeal by Gaddamidi Bikshapathi challenging the life conviction awarded by the VI Additional District and sessions Judge, at Siddipet, observed that they hoped that the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, would have a punitive effect on the male monsters in the human form.CHENNAI: Religious fervour marked the celebrations of Vilambi Tamil New Year on Saturday and people ushered in the outhandu by visiting temples clad in traditional attire and seeking gods blessings for sweet and prosperous year. Several temples in the city including the Kapaleeswarar temple, Parthasarathy Swamy temple, Maruntheeswarar temple and Mundagakanniamman temple were decorated on the occasion and special abhishekam was performed.

At Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Kancheepuram near here, the mutt organised a Vishukkani to mark the occasion. Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi the 70thShankaracharya visited the samadhi of his guru and 69th pontiff Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamy and offered his respects.

Governor Banwarilal Purohit has extended his Tamil New Year greetings to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. A government release said that Mr Purohit sent a message to the Chief Minister. On the occasion of Tamil New Years day heralding the arrival of Vilambi, I extend my best wishes and greetings to you for a glorious year ahead, he said. May God bestow peace, prosperity and joy on your family, he added.

The Chief Minister thanked the Governor for his message. Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam greeted the Governor who had also sent the New Year message to the Deputy Chief Minister.Jangla (Chhattisgarh)/New Delhi: The battle for Ambedkars legacy continued unabated with both the Congress and the BJP intensifying their atte-mpts to embrace the social icon on his 127th birth anniversary on Saturday. Even as BJP and Congress leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi, made a beeline to pay tributes to Ambedkar, both the parties accused each other of being anti-Dalit.

Paying glorious tribute to Ambedkar at a special function in the remote village of Jangla in Chhattisgarh, Mr Modi said I am PM because of Babasaheb as he helped a Dalit woman wear a pair of slippers.

Mr Modi, who was slated to present a pair of slippers to a tribal woman, surprised the crowd when he walked up to her, bent down and helped the bare-footed woman wear her new pair of slippers. The symbolic gesture received a loud applause.

If a person of a humble background like me could become PM, it is because of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Mr Modi said while rolling out Ayusman Bharat Yojana, popularly known as Modicare, in the tribal-dominated south Bastar district of Bijapur in Chattisgarh which is a Naxal-stronghold.Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidus decision to observe a one-day fast on April 20, his birthday, came as a surprise to political circles as he had opposed the fast by Prime Minister Narendra Modi the other day.

While Mr Modis fast was against the disruption in parliament by opposition parties. Mr Naidus would be against the Central governments stand on not granting special status to AP and also failing to implement the assurances given to AP during State bifurcation.

Mr Naidu had ridiculed Mr Modis fast saying, Never in the history has a Prime Minister observed fast. Who are you trying to hoodwink? You (PM) are protesting against your own inability.

Political leaders felt that leaders in such positions should fight politically unlike Opposition party leaders who took to agitations, including observing fast.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E. Palaniswami observed a one-day fast on April 3, demanding that the Centre constitute the Cauvery management board. On the call given by the Prime Minister, BJP Chief Ministers also observed a fast on April 12 to protest against undemocratic actions of Congress, leading to the washout of the budget session of Parliament.Hyderabad: Ministers in the TRS government are vying for party tickets for their kin in 2019 Assembly elections. The sons of a few ministers are already playing key roles in party activities in respective districts and are claiming to be party candidates for Assembly polls.

This has led to a tussle within the party leaders and cadre. Those who have been working for the party for years with the hope of securing tickets are upset over ministers and their kin trying to grab tickets in their constituencies by exerci-sing their influence and using money power.

In the city, the sons of cinematography minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav and excise minister T. Padma Rao Goud are keen to contest 2019 Assembly elections.

In Adilabad and Nirmal districts, the sons of forest minister Jogu Rama-nna and endowments minister A. Indrakaran Reddy are making all out efforts to get TRS tickets.

This comes in the backdrop of speculations that TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is keen to take some senior party leaders and ministers to Delhi along with him by making them contest for Lok Sabha elections in 2019 as part of his strategy to focus on national politics.

With this, ministers are making advance plans to secure party tickets for their kin for the Assem-bly seats to be vacated by them. In Mahbubnagar district, panchayat raj minister Jupally Krishna Rao is trying for Assem-bly seat for his son.

In Nizamabad district, agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Re-ddy wants his son to contest for Assembly seat in his place. Mr Srinivas Re-ddy is planning to quit active politics on health grounds.

In Warangal district, tourism minister Azmeera Chandulal is vying for Assembly ticket for his son from Mulug constituency. Mr Chandulal too has been facing health issues for the past three years and wants to quit politics but is keen on his seat to be allotted to his son.

With less than a year left for 2019 Assembly elections, the sudden emergence of sons of ministers as probable candidates has led to infighting between party leaders and cadre in districts.

The hopes of second rung leaders who are working for party for years are getting dashed with these developments as ministers and their sons are exercising both political and money power to secure tickets from the party high command.In recent times in the Kashmir Valley, mobs comprising thousands of violent youth have routinely been converging on encounter sites with a view to thwart counter-insurgency operations.

In early April, when the security forces gunned down as many as 13 militants in a couple of villages in the southern part of the Valley, their principal opponents were not the terrorists holed up in houses but mobs shouting anti-India slogans and pelting stones at the security forces. This was repeated in Kulgam district 10 days later when soldiers shooting at three terrorists holed up inside a house were attacked by a huge mob.

The Army lost one soldier in the action while four civilians were killed; and the Army was forced to retreat to prevent further civilian losses, allowing the terrorists to slip away amidst much cheering. This sort of situation has become routine. During anti-insurgency operations, a few hundred soldiers, most of them concentrating on the gunfight, are confronted by a few thousand extremely violent, though unarmed civilians. This invariably poses a dilemma.

In such a situation, one option would be to exit the operations, a choice that has been exercised several times in recent months, allowing militants to slip through and mingle with the crowds. Civilian mob control, on the other hand, inevitably means firing upon adamant and violent youngsters as traditional riot control methods cannot work in such circumstances.

Neither can water cannons or similar means be summoned nor can policemen with shields and batons stop mobs numbering in the thousands. The police and paramilitary forces, who are usually present during every operation, try to use pellet guns to stop the mobs but often fail and have to resort to firing, which can lead to civilian deaths. Pellet and bullet injuries make for sensational headlines, despair and popular anger.

Civilian killings provoke extreme grief and even greater anger, further fuelling the cycle of violence. These killings help recruit more youth and become the casus belli for the armed insurrection. The political leadership, both in Srinagar/Jammu and in New Delhi, have time and again asked the security forces to operate with extreme restraint during operations. The Army brass are also well aware of the vicious dynamics that flow from deaths during mob control.

Yet, civilian deaths continue. Bullets and pellets do not deter the mobs. This increasingly appears to be part of a larger strategy to provoke the security forces into shooting to maim, injure and kill civilians. The response during counter insurgency operations has become routine. As soon as news on an operation is received by the network of anti-India activists in an area, mosques begin to blare out details of the operation and call people to converge on the encounter site.

Young children, even girls, and youth leave the safety of their homes and begin to collect at the operation site. In many cases, the mobs behave as if they want the security forces to fire upon them. For every injury or death is a moral defeat for Indias security forces. Photographs of young people with pellet injuries and mass funerals constitute powerful messages that provide sympathy for the separatist cause, not just in the Kashmir Valley but in the rest of the world as well.

Morality, as the amorphous leadership of young Kashmiri activists have realised, is a more powerful weapon than the gun. Therefore, it is being used as a tool. The use of morality as a weapon is not an invention of the Kashmiri separatists. Mahatma Gandhis non-violent protests used the same basic principle and British colonial violence only served to swell the ranks of Indias freedom fighters.

Unlike the strategy of Kashmiri separatists, however, Gandhian methods did not operate in tandem with brutal terrorists or militants. Non-violence was the only method, and death or martyrdom was never eulogised.

The Kashmiri mob methodology, on the other hand, appears closer to the one evolved by the Palestinian extremists. On March 30 this year, Hamas organised the Great March of Return, where an estimated one hundred thousand Palestinians were to march to the Gaza border, cross it in complete defiance of Israels defence forces and move towards Jerusalem.

The march was expected to be a nightmare for the Israeli forces as letting the protestors through into Israeli territory would mean destruction of the countrys integrity while stopping the thousands would cause an unprecedented bloodbath that would shock the world.

The Israeli forces, however, made it clear that no matter what the moral consequences, they would use as much force as necessary to prevent the Palestinian border march. As it turned out, instead of a turnout of 100,000 marchers, only about 35,000 turned up. The event ended with just 17 casualties.

In other words, it was the resolve as well as the restraint of the Israeli forces that won the day. They had made it amply clear they would use as much force as required to stop the marchers from crossing the border. Yet, instead of using maximum force, they used a minimum, thus keeping down casualties.

Of those killed, Israel claimed that as many as 12 were Hamas terrorists. The Hamas, of course, wont let Israel rest and the failed March 30 event is expected to be the precursor of many similar challenges.

Similarly, the Indian security forces will continue to face mounting challenges during encounters; the aim of its opponents each time would be to provoke soldiers into using excessive force. The administration must respond by convincingly countering the propaganda that Indias security agencies are bent upon massacring innocent civilians.

No matter how difficult the situation, Indias security forces have no option but to constantly calibrate their response. They have to be firm, and yet avoid a bloodbath.

Also, urgently required is a political offensive against the anti-India elements, but this sadly is nowhere on the horizon. The gun thus remains firmly placed on the shoulders of our jawans.The testimony of Mark Zuckerberg and his cross-examination by both the Senate and the House Committees of the US Congress over data harvesting by Cambridge Analytica and other issues like the alleged Russian interference into US elections have thrown up some interesting questions. These proceedings are of as much relevance to the United States as they are in any other part of the world. The Facebook ecosystem, the Twitter world, Instagram domains, WhatsApp groups have been able to achieve is something unique in the evolution of human civilisation. They have been able to complement virtual sovereignty along with Westphalian reality. The Internet and social media platforms recognise no national boundaries and they have helped connect people even in the most adversarial geo-political realities, totally sidestepping passport, visa, immigration and border regimes. At the risk of repatriation may I reiterate that the Internet was the most audacious experiment in anarchy and it has succeeded beyond the wildest imagination of its creators? Today the Internet represents the largest ungoverned space on Planet Earth.

Never before in the history of humankind has so much power for free concurrently resided on so many fingertips. In the next two years alone 40 zettabytes of data will be created. The future of Planet Earth lies at the intersection of the brick and mortar civilisation that evolved over the millennia and the virtual civilisation being created stroke by stroke on the keyboards. Social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and millions of other websites are only the flora and fauna of the Internet. Underneath it lies the hardware  pipes, routers, mathematical codes, fibre optic cables and gateways, etc. In the absence of any agreed rules of engagement with regard to the Internet, the question arises: Is it fair to just go after the subsets of this ochlocracy? Is the targeting of Facebook a bit over the top? What these Congressional hearings really underscore is that there is no free lunch in life. Ever since the Internet got publicly operational in the mid or the late 1990s, the Internati have taken it for granted that this is a free ride. Free email, free social media, free newspaper sites and so on and so forth. Free ride on the dark Net is even more sinister. Such was the seduction of the freebies that no one paused to think as to how were all these services coming free when you have to pay for a postcard, a telephone call and a facsimile transmission?

How come these new economy companies had these humungous valuations? How were they paying establishment costs, salaries and dividends to their shareholders? Were advertising revenues sufficient to sustain such widespread global operations? The cost of these freebies was being paid by people in the form of biometric data, location data, lifestyle choices data, medical history data (the kind of diseases and cures that people search for online), sexual orientations/preferences data and myriad other data points that have unlimited uses targeted advertising being just one of them. Did social media companies then err in not adhering to the doctrine of informed consent before monetising all this data? The answer is yes. After all there are extremely profitable downstream businesses that are built around these data feeds. By way of example Twitter used to give third party access to Twitter fire hose that carried all the raw unfiltered data.

According to Ft.com lexicon the definition of a Twitter firehose is as follows: A syndicated data feed of all the tweets sent  an estimated 500 million tweets a day  which Twitters data partners pay to get access to. Gaining access to the Twitter fire hose, or firehose, means gaining access to that feed. The data companies charge customers for analysis of the feed, from tracking trends in real time to analysing consumer sentiment towards particular products or advertising campaigns. Access is usually granted on a scaled commercial basis with applicants being charged a certain amount for access to a certain percentage of the fire hose. Nonetheless, improvements in big data analysis have ensured that there is growing demand from social media analytics companies for access to the fire hose. This was the situation till April 2015 when Twitter pulled the plug on third party access to the fire hose and replaced it with its own application programming interface (API) protocols to augment its revenue streams even further.

Now why should all this gobbledygook concern you? If someone is making money out of your accesses to a free service that you are availing so be it. However, the question is what are they making their money from? Profiling, sentiment analysis  issues that animate you, data from your work-sleep patterns  what time does your social media activity commence and what are the rest periods, and maybe even what you consider are secure end to end encrypted messaging and conversations. They may not know what you are saying but they do know to whom you are talking to. As a former director of the CIA put it metadata is what we use for selecting targets for our predator drones. Federal Law Enforcement agencies in the United States have access to the Twitter fire hose through the new API mechanisms and other nation states would love to have the same. If therefore you do not mind being the emperor of the digital universe with no clothes on then it is another matter, otherwise right to privacy being a natural and an inalienable right all this should be enough to make you angry. However, then there would be a cost to this privacy. People will have to start paying for services they use on the Internet. That is why Zuckerberg alluded to a paid Facebook with a free version available to those who dont care about privacy. Question: How many of us really do?It must be a new experience for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be greeted with protests and be shown black flags on Thursday when he arrived in Chennai for the Defence Expo at Tiruvidanthai, 40 km away. The hashtag #GoBackModi was all over Twitter. The PM reportedly had to take a helicopter ride in order to duck demonstrators.

The marker of sharp protest against Mr Modi personally has come when he is about to complete four years in office. That makes it early in his career as PM, relatively speaking.

It is notable that the adulation the PM has been used to slipped into a sense of outrage without notice of the coming change of rhythm. Although the rising tempo of dissatisfaction against the Modi government had begun to manifest itself since about the middle of last year  the campaign for the Gujarat Assembly polls made this plain  it was widely felt at the personal level Mr Modi remained well liked enough. The Chennai protest suggests things are now changing.

The protest against the PM was mounted because his government has blatantly avoided, for political reasons to do with the coming Karnataka Assembly elections, forming the Cauvery Management Board in spite of an order by the Supreme Court to do so by a specified date in March. Water is naturally a big issue for farmers everywhere.

Mr Modi and his party would be making a mistake if they think that their stakes in Tamil Nadu are not high enough for them to worry over rising decibels in Chennai. If our rulers look around, they will discover that farmers, unemployed youth, and an economy sliding on a steady basis are causing all-round despair.

In addition, the dalits are rising. The communal temperature is high. Social equations are fragile in the extreme. Kashmir is in a state of crisis as never before since the end of the militancy in the early 1990s. But none of this has made the ruling block humble. Unnao and Kathua are but signs of the arrogance of power.

Speaking in the context of the PDP-BJP alliance government in Kashmir, chief minister Mehbooba Muftis brother Tasadduq Mufti, the state tourism minister, has been reported as saying: Today the threat is that while we are in control, we are no longer trusted.

Mr Modi and his men would be wise to read this as a description of the wider canvas. But are they? On the day that black flags were shown to the PM in South India by the Opposition parties, Mr Modi led the BJPs nationwide dharna to protest against Opposition parties. This has to be a first for any governance system. Can Nero afford to fiddle while Rome burns?Following up on President Donald Trumps threat, the US  along with allies Britain and France  rained cruise missiles at three locations in Syria on Saturday, the biggest strike by the West in the seven years of the war in Syria. This was playing with fire after Russia  Syrias strongest ally  had warned that a missile attack would be met with force by Moscow, raising fears of a straight fight between the US and Russia. The situation appeared grim as Mr Trump also flagged his countrys equation with Russia as being worse than in the Cold War period.

The US keenness to strike stemmed from its charge that the Syrian government had attacked a rebel-held enclave within the country with chemical weapons, killing about 50 people, and the West says it draws the line at chemical weapons, whose use is banned in international law. The White House has since given out that it was guided by news reports and reports by other sources (probably NGOs) in accusing Bashar al-Assad. This tends to cast doubts on the accusation.

Russia had said all along that Syria had no need to use chemical weapons. The war and politics of Syria are broadly going its way. Moscow spoke of a frame-up. Fortunately, the US-led strikes were carefully tailored not to hit Russian or Iranian interests in Syria. It might seem Washington struck just to save face. Moscow has also tempered its tone, saying only that there will be consequences. Post-strike statements from Western capitals suggest they want to lower the tension. The world cannot afford to be on a short fuse because of Americas moods.From Left. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the new Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick and Home Secretary Amber Rudd address the press, outside New Scotland Yard on Victoria Embankment, in London. (Photo: AP)

I think Ill announce my funeral

Just to see who stays away

And what excuse theyve contrived

As exigencies that day

Life must go on with its demands

Remorse is just a waste

Bestowed on those who pass away

Even those whom we embraced

For those who dutifully come

Therell be wine and bread

Though some of those will only come

To make sure I am dead.

From The Big Big Bamboo, Bamboo by Bachchoo

London has in the last three months experienced more murders on the street than New York. Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, and Amber Rudd, UK home secretary, have called conferences and think tanks to discuss and solve the issue.

Thats political chatter. Is there a solution to the fact that a 17-year-old girl is killed in a drive-by shooting? Or that 20 teenagers have been killed in two months through stabbings on the capitals streets?

If there is a solution it has to start with a hard look at who is doing what to whom and why.

Let me deviate, gentle reader, just for a moment to describe my experience and intervention at an event to which I was recently invited.

Sponsored by a national newspaper, the Telegraph (known popularly as the Torygraph because it has stayed for all its life in the blue section of the ideological spectrum, never venturing to step even gingerly towards red opinion), the conference was about the sexual abuse of women being ingrained in institutional structures and traditions.

When I was asked to chair one of the sessions I couldnt see why, and said so. I told the people whod invited me that a woman should be chairing this panel and that I didnt feel qualified. I politely refused, but was called on the phone the day before the conference and told the organisers had ignored my refusal and put my name down on the publicity blurb and would I please not let the friends whod asked me down? I went.

The conference broadened its core topic out as the definitions of sexual, of abuse and of institution allow.

The three women speakers whose session I was chairing were very articulate in their expansive broadening of the meaning of these terms. One of them spoke of having been subject as an infant to female genital mutilation. Another spoke of being beaten and battered by her partners. The third talked about the broader definitions of unacceptable sexual behaviour and, predictably, of rape being an assertion of power balances rather than an attempt to get bodily gratification.

You may have concluded, gentle reader, that the large and uniformly female audience for this event was in complete and complementary agreement with everything that was said from the platform.

In an attempt to be more challenging, I said the term institution should of course not be restricted to Hollywood, to the BBC, to NGO relief organisations in Haiti or to any office or corporate hierarchy. It could and should apply to the institution of caste in India, which has legitimised rape as the right of some higher caste men.

There are, I went on, cultural institutions that allow and connive at abuse. My first example was the speaker sitting to my left who was subjected to female genital mutilation not because she was born a woman or a Muslim, but because she came from a particular part of North Africa. The observation was not popular in the hall.

My second example was the cases in the past years in the English cities of Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford, Bradford and Telford, where gangs of men from the immigrant communities of Mirpur (Pakistan) had been convicted of grooming young, white girls. The girls were almost always those without the protection of families and lived in care homes under the uncaring aegis of the state. The groomers lured them into drugs and sex and then traded them amongst the gang and others. I said these group-crimes clearly had common features and sub-cultural origins.

My platform and some of the audience disagreed. We were all human beings and criminals were criminals, of whatever colour, religion or cultural background, was the burden of their protest. I agreed. I wasnt denying that there were rapists and predators who were Christian and white.

I was, I thought constructively, pointing to the obvious. Unless one looked at the sub-cultural roots and mentalities behind these crimes  and with the cases I had mentioned there was as clear a pattern as planets going around the sun  there could be no depth of understanding and no solution. Yes, crime was crime and once detected should be punished. Prevention would be socially more desirable.

The audience didnt seem to agree. I didnt ask for a show of hands. I never object to being disagreed with but hate losing.

So, back to the knife-and-gun crime that has claimed the life of scores of young people in London and other cities in the past few years. The victims and the perpetrators are almost all black. Very many of the killings are the result of gang rivalry, a fight for drug territories in some cases, but in others, foolishly and tragically, the exercise of injured egos. There may not be an absolute uniformity to the backgrounds and family circumstances of the victims and murderers, but there is such a uniformity in the sub-cultures they espouse.

Its now being said by some commentators, including the home secretary that a form of gangster-rap music called Drill, with lyrics glorifying rivalry, revenge and murder goes some way to encourage killings on the streets.

Ive watched Drill videos and disagree. Art, however vile, reflects reality, it doesnt create it. Lots of killing in Shakespeares plays but the audiences of the Royal Shakespeare Company are not notorious for stabbings and drive-by shootings. The home secretary should instead examine the socio-economic causes of ghetto gangs and territorial disputes among the dispossessed. Drill is but the froth on that Sargasso Sea.How should we as a society react to events as have happened in Kathua and Unnao? India has become notorious around the world as a place where women and children are unsafe from sexual violence, and even if this is not the reality it has become the perception. It should not take foreign media for us to look at ourselves honestly and ask how we can change. What are the reasons we are unable to prevent such episodes and what actions need to follow so that we can reduce them? The first thing is that we must accept that this is not just a function of the justice and policing system. There is a breakdown of values. In a place where women and minorities are respected, there is no encouragement to bestiality. Do we live in such a place?

The honest answer to that is obvious. Saying that the government should do something to stop such violence from happening ignores our own roles. With that understanding, let us now look at what the government can be convinced to do. There are essentially two things that can act as a response to preventing sexual assault and rape. One of those is legislation. One popular demand that recurs ever so often is to hang the rapists. The thinking is that harsh punishment is a deterrent and that the potential rapist will be worried about the consequences and therefore not carry out the act. There are many counters to it, including that having the same punishment for rape and murder encourages the rapist to kill his victim so that there is no witness. But let us ignore that for now. Politicians usually favour this solution and if you look at newspapers of recent days many are in agreement that there should be the death penalty for rapists.

The death penalty exists in India for murderers. Is it a deterrent and does it stop murders? Let us look at the numbers. Indias court awarded 136 death sentences in 2016. But that year, there were over 30,000 murders in India. Handing out death sentences does not stop murderers. Our laws also provide for appeal and remission, and so the number of people who were actually hanged in 2016 was zero. We should understand this when we seek a silver bullet to end rape in the form of the hang the rapists demand. Now let us look at the numbers for rape and sexual assault. In 2016, the total number of rape cases registered in India was 38,947 and there were over 106,000 crimes against children. The problem with the rape number is that government data suggests that 99 per cent of victims of sexual violence in India do not report the incident to the police.

In the US, out of 1,000 instances of rape and sexual assault, 310 (meaning 31 per cent) are reported. And only six people, meaning less than one per cent, are actually finally jailed. This means that we are not alone in not being able to deliver justice and it is a complex issue that requires a lot of thinking and a lot of hard work. There are various issues here, some are social and some that can be corrected by the state. The common factor between victims in India and elsewhere is that rape is an intensely personal crime and that not one that is easy to share. The social issues in India are many, and the position and treatment of women in our society is the main one. The second one is that we believe that family honour is reposed in the body of women and that it is lost when a woman is sexually assaulted. This prevents individuals from revealing details even to family, leave alone strangers in the police station.

There are things that the police can do and it is to follow the law. The law says that all victims in India can report in any police station of their choosing (and not only in the one in whose jurisdiction the crime is committed). Secondly, the victim can choose to record her statement in any language of her choosing. This is difficult because most police stations do not have individuals who speak even English properly, and prefer to record the FIR in the local language only. Thirdly, the victims statement must be recorded by a woman police officer. This again is not done, because of the lack of women police officers and the lack of police generally. One popular slogan is minimum government, maximum governance, but these are meaningless words when the size of the Indian government, as measured by the number of police, doctors, nurses, etc. is very small per capita compared to the rest of the world.

The facts show that to prevent sexual crimes we have to make large changes in our society and its treatment of women at the level of the family. And we need to ensure that the existing laws on reporting sexual violence are followed at the level of every police station across India. This is very, very hard work but it will ensure that the rate of reporting goes up, at least to the levels where it is in the rest of the world. After the rate of reporting goes up, the state needs to ensure that it conducts proper investigations (which need resources and cannot be done with the same force or budget) that increase the rate of convictions. All of this is difficult, and most politicians know that it is close to impossible. That is why the easy way is chosen and that is to demand that rapists be hanged. The fact that murderers are also hanged and it has no effect on murders does not seem to worry us.Barely two days after controversial IAS officer Rajeev Rautela was shifted from the post of Gorakhpur district magistrate and made divisional commissioner of Devipatan in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre decided to shift the babu to Uttarakhand. Mr Rautela, who had hit the headlines for allegedly barring mediapersons from accessing the counting centre while the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypoll was in progress, was promoted as divisional commissioner of Devipatan, which drew a lot of comments in social media and print media.

When the reorganisation of Uttar Pradesh had taken place, Mr Rautelas cadre was determined as Uttarakhand  but he had challenged this and got it stayed by the high court. The stay was lifted in August 2016. However, the Centre did not issue a formal order regarding the final allocation of Mr Rautelas cadre until now, two days after the bypoll result. The transfer has caught many officials by surprise. Mr Rautela is a Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officer of the 1982-batch and was promoted to the IAS in 2002. He was made the Gorakhpur DM soon after Yogi Adityanath took over as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in March last year.

Haryana flouts red beacon rules

Last May, the Centre had banned red beacons on cars of all ministers, politicians and babus as a step towards ending the pervasive VIP culture in Indian public life. Even vehicles of dignitaries like the President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India are not exempt. But it appears that Haryana cadre IPS officers and Haryana State Police Service (HPS) officers are blatantly defying the ban. This violation is the subject of a letter written by additional chief secretary (ACS-transport) R.R. Jowel to the state DGP B.S. Sandhu, sources say. Mr Sandhu has been directed to ensure that the officers comply with the instructions on using red beacons in letter and spirit.

Mr Jowel reportedly said that while it was specifically mentioned in the Centres instructions that the beacon should not be used when the vehicle was not on its designated duty, field police officers were using beacons while not on emergent duty. The letter however did not mention what action the Haryana government plans to take against those officers found flouting the rule on use of red beacons.In the framework of the dysfunctionality of Parliament and a complete breakdown of dialogue between the government and the Opposition, former Union law minister and senior Congress leader Ashwani Kumar, who is known for expressing his views candidly, spoke to Sanjay Kaw about the political challenges facing India today. Dr Kumar said it was imperative to have leadership that was anchored in idealism and committed to the idea of India to take it forward. He also said that the nation deserves leadership befitting the challenges it faces for which it is incumbent upon all to efface personal vanities, prejudices and ambitions. Excerpts from the interview:

What is your take on the countrys prevailing political climate?

I think we have never before witnessed a graver political scenario in the country than what we are facing today. The unprecedented deadlock of Parliament resulted in the passage of the Finance Bill without discussion. The inability of the Lok Sabha to take up the no-confidence motion and to discuss the burning national issues of the day, including the escalating caste conflicts, has confirmed the dysfunctionality of Parliament as the highest forum of our democracy. The almost total absence of deliberation and debate on key national issues in Parliament has the potential of negating the very basis of our constitutional and parliamentary democracy. I believe that the principle reason for such a state of affairs is a complete lack of trust in each other among top political leaders of the country. An atmosphere in which political discourse is defined by vitriol and calumny. Vendetta can never be conducive to the forging of a broad political consensus on national issues, without which we cannot move forward as a nation. The nation is yearning for leadership that can show the way forward and lead to reclaim our republican ideals of inclusion, liberalism, secularism and egalitarianism. I recall a couplet by Allamah Iqbal who said: Nisha-e-rah dikhate the jo sitaro ko, ha kisi mard-e-ralidan ke liye. We deserve a leadership befitting the challenges that we face, for which it is incumbent for all to efface personal vanities, prejudices and ambitions. We need a forum of senior political leaders representing different political parties to facilitate a constructive political dialogue free from rancour and anchored in the consideration of the national interest alone. Winning elections cannot be the sole reason for political parties to exist. We need to do what is right on principle, and not what may seem to be electorally or politically expedient. This would demand leadership rooted in idealism and sustained by the ability to sacrifice personal ambitions if necessary.

You have talked about the need to do in politics what is right as principle. Can you please elaborate on this

I am reminded of what our founding fathers and Mahatma Gandhi told us. We were told what is not morally right over principles cannot be politically correct. We see an increasing tendency to appease majoritarian impulses against matters of principle. For example, without respect for the established rule of criminal jurisprudence that a person is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, we hasten to condemn the person on the basis of mere allegations whether these pertain to charges of corruption, impropriety or criminal offences. Recently a Supreme Court judgement which cautioned against the wrongful arrest of any person invited a huge political reaction, obviously to prevent a political backlash. In my personal view, the move to impeach the Chief Justice of India was constitutionally and in principle unsustainable.

What role do you see for the regional parties in the formation of a national government?

It is clear to me that in the foreseeable future, regional parties will play a major role not only in the states but in the formation of the national government. The rise of the regional parties is the direct consequence of the assertion of sub-identities and local aspirations. We must therefore realise that national parties will need to respond to regional sensitivities within the overall framework of our constitutional scheme. Regional leaders will likewise have to demonstrate political maturity, not to expect the impossible from the Centre.



In the prevailing national scenario, what significance you attach to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections?



The next Lok Sabha elections will be a watershed event in the political history of our country. The parliamentary election should be seen as a choice between the idea of India defined by its plurality, inclusion and liberalism on one side, and the divisive political agenda of the communalists, dogmatics and the authoritarians on the other side. The regional parties will play a decisive role in ensuring the triumph of our republican ideals. Their support in association with national parties will be critical to avoid a split against those who want to script a new idea of India alien to our civilisational ethos. I have hope and confidence in the judgment of the people of India that they would decide correctly.



Before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, we also have polls in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Your comments



The state elections in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will be the curtain-raiser for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. I clearly see huge gains for the Congress Party in these elections.



How do you see the Congress under Rahul Gandhis leadership?



I believe that the resurgence of the Congress and its inclusive ideology is a national necessity. Even the political opponents of the Congress accept this in private conversations. The Congress is in a state of transition, with the baton having been passed to Rahul Gandhi, who is young and has sought to define his leadership through idealism and concern for the marginalised, as it should be. His challenge is to ensure the willing support, affection and respect of all Congress persons through a just and fair recognition of their role and contribution in the party. I believe that he will try to take along all Congress persons while refashioning the party in the image of his ideological and political priorities.



Where do you see Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the 2019 elections?

I do not think anybody is seeking to write off Mr Modi. The political battle ahead is long and hard, and will need to be fought on the issue of reclaiming a liberal India free from fear, in which the cry for freedom remains, as one of my friends has written, an unending frenzy.

How is India being looked at globally under Mr Modis rule?



During UPA-1 and UPA-2, various initiatives were taken by India that firmly established its leadership role not only in Asia but across the world. The India-US civil nuclear deal and the Indo-Japan strategic partnership, among other initiatives, such as the partnership with the African countries, established Indias pre-eminent position in the comity of nations. The foreign policy of India has evolved as a continuing process and is conducted on a non-partisan basis. Mr Modi has sought to carry forward some of the initiatives of the earlier governments. However, the deterioration in our relationship with Pakistan, China and even Nepal is a cause of concern. This needs to be addressed in the larger national interest. It is necessary for us to establish at least a working relationship with all our neighbours, even as we seek to establish a closer rapport with them. It is imperative that the government takes all initiatives to project the country as one committed to the promotion of human rights, social harmony and global peace.The government said the system would allow it to perform crowd analytics and support anti-terror operations.

In the not too distant future, surveillance cameras sitting atop over 100,000 lampposts in Singapore could help authorities pick out and recognise faces in crowds across the island-state.

The plan to install the cameras, which will be linked to facial recognition software, is raising privacy fears among security experts and rights groups. The government said the system would allow it to perform crowd analytics and support anti-terror operations.

GovTech, the Singapore government agency in charge of a Lamppost-as-a-Platform pilot project scheduled to begin next year, has given companies until May to register their interest in providing technology for the network.

As part of the LaaP trial, we are testing out various kinds of sensors on the lampposts, including cameras that can support backend facial recognition capabilities, a GovTech spokesman said.

These capabilities may be used for performing crowd analytics and supporting follow-up investigation in event of a terror incident.

Singapore says the project is part of a broader Smart Nation plan to use cutting-edge technology to improve peoples lives and has pledged to be sensitive to privacy.

Video surveillance networks are common in cities like London or New York. But Ian Wilson, a security lecturer at Australias Murdoch University said he believed that Singapores would be different in that it might involve extensive facial recognition technology.

Such technology has become commonplace in Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Some top officials in Singapore played down the privacy concerns.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last week that the Smart Nation project was aimed at improving peoples lives and that he did not want it done in a way which is overbearing, which is intrusive, which is unethical.

The spokesman for GovTech said: The needs to protect personal data and preserve privacy are key considerations in the technical implementation of the project.

The government also hopes to use other sensors on the lamp posts to monitor air quality and water levels, count electric scooters in public places, and collect footfall data to aid urban and transport planning, GovTech said.

GovTech did not say how many lampposts would be used in the initial pilot project. But a former head of Singapores civil service, Peter Ong, said last year that the country aims to bring all of its 110,000 lampposts into the sensor network.

Adam Schwartz, senior staff attorney at the US-based rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, urged Singapore and other governments not to adopt facial recognition surveillance technology.

He said he was concerned such technology could be turned on political opponents or used to curb free speech by deterring peaceful protest. Facial recognition technology typically allows authorities to match people picked up on cameras with those in databases.

Singapores only opposition party in parliament, The Workers Party, declined to comment.

Yitu Technology, a Chinese company that has recently opened its first international office in Singapore, it was weighing a bid with its partners.

Yitu opened a sales and marketing operation in Singapore this year and also plans to set up a research and development hub in the country.

The company says its facial recognition platform is capable of identifying over 1.8 billion faces in less than 3 seconds. Singapore has a population of 5.6 million people.

We see a big potential in this country. They are ready for the AI revolution said Lance Wang, Yitus general manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau, adding that the firm was discussing a potential bid with partners.

Xjera Labs, a Singapore-based company, said it was putting in a bid with partners.

The scope we are bidding includes most video analytics related components, such as facial recognition, crowd monitoring and human attribute detection, Ethan Chu, Xjeras co-founder said.

A spokeswoman for SenseTime, a facial-recognition software company dual-based in Beijing and Hong Kong, said it was exploring the situation and declined further comment. The company includes Singapores state investor Temasek as one of its backers following a $600 million funding round which closed on Monday.

Wilson, the security lecturer at Murdoch University, said that unlike cities like London or New York, Singapore did not have a high crime or terror-threat level that justified such surveillance capabilities.

In its 2018 risk map published this week, AON, a professional services company, ranked the terror threat in Singapore as low.

The government says, however, that the country faces threats from both home-grown militants and foreign terrorists.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.A reported leaked screenshot from Google Developer Blog suggests that these gestures might come to Android later this year.

The way we interact with our Android phones has been changing lately; previously there were hard buttons on the Android phones for navigation. They were later replaced by capacitive touch buttons, which later were replaced by home screen navigation buttons. However, the counterpart Apple has replaced the navigations across the US with gestures in the iPhone X.

Newly designed Home navigation button (Photo: Android Police)

A reported leaked screenshot from Google Developer Blog suggests that these gestures might come to Android later this year. The post that revealed this massive design overhaul was later edited by Google. The post was about a security patch in which the company has demonstrated the updated DNS settings via a screenshot. This screenshot has revealed a new navigation button, instead of the regular home button. According to the leaked screenshot, the regular circled home button has been replaced by a 'pill' shaped horizontal navigation bar that very much resembles iPhone X's home navigation bar.

However, the screenshot doesn't reveal that new button is really used for gesture-based control, and it also doesn't show the standard 'recents' button as well. But folks at 9to5Google have communicated with Android Twitter and they are confirming that it as actually gesture-based navigation control and would most likely be a new overhaul for Android.

Though Google has deliberately edited the screenshot to stop the rumour mill the cached version of the image is still available on the servers here. This new overhaul might be happening in upcoming Android P this year.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.The attacks, mainly targeting police and military, increased after ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. (Photo: AP)

Cairo: The Egyptian army today said it has foiled a major terror attack in the restive central Sinai region by shooting dead 14 terrorists who attempted to break into camps of the armed forces and killed 8 Army personnel.

The incident led to eight casualties and 15 injuries among Egyptian forces, Army spokesperson Tamer El-Refai was quoted as saying by Al-Ahram.

The incident comes amid Egypt's ongoing Operation Sinai 2018, launched "to implement the plan of comprehensive confrontation of terrorist and criminal elements and organisations in North and Central Sinai, and in other areas in the Nile Delta and desert areas west of the Nile Valley," according to the armed forces.

Among the 14 terrorist elements there were four wearing explosive belts and they were all armed with automatic rifles, medium-calibre rifles, and RPGs, the statement read.

"They all attempted to break into camps of the Egyptian armed forces at dawn on Saturday, but their attempt was foiled," the statement added. Egypt's Sinai has witnessed many terrorists attacks since the January 2011 revolution.

The attacks, mainly targeting police and military, increased after ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.

Hundreds of police and army personnel were killed since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the North Sinai area, in which some terrorists are based.

The security forces have arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.'Such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris,' the Russian ambassador said. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: Syria ally Russia warned Friday of "consequences" following the launch of US-led strikes against Bashar al-Assad's regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack.

"Again, we are being threatened," Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said in a statement.

"We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris," he added.

"Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible," added the envoy, after President Donald Trump directly called out his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over his support for the Assad regime.A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen. (Photo: AP | Hassan Ammar)

Washington: The United States, Britain and France launched punitive military strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in response to its latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity, President Donald Trump announced Friday.

Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a primetime televised speech to the nation.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen.

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

Also Read: Many dead in missile attack on Syrian air base, France, US deny role

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the alleged toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which took place a week ago, and Trump reacted in an emotional tweet.

"Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he declared.

"President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay."

Trump's anger and apparent determination was quickly matched by France's President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

(Photo: Twitter | AFP)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition.

May said there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force against Assad.

Trump's language was more brutal: "They are crimes of a monster."

'Proof'

In the six days between the attack and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling press statements and US debates.

Moscow denied its ally Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain had staged the event.

More practically, at the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned that the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

That concern was mirrored by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday warned the rival camps against "full-blown military escalation."

"Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," he urged the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

And he stressed the need "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control."

Decision to act

But Trump has long criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a previous US "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assad's forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, who took office on Monday, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimize the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syria's civil war.

But other advisors want to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Iran's growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.Washington: President Donald Trump has asked his top economic advisors to study the possibility of rejoining the multi-nation Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade pact he withdrew the US from days after assuming presidency.

"Last year, the President kept his promise to end the TPP deal negotiated by the Obama administration because it was unfair to American workers and farmers. The President has consistently said he would be open to a substantially better deal, including in his speech in Davos earlier this year," White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said.

"To that end, he has asked (US Trade Representative) Amb (Robert) Lighthizer and (White House Economic) Director (Lawrence) Kudlow to take another look at whether or not a better deal could be negotiated," she said.

Trump announced this during a meeting with lawmakers at the White House, Walters said.

In his remarks in Davos on January 26, Trump had said the US was prepared to negotiate mutually beneficial and bilateral trade agreements with all countries.

"This will include the countries in TPP, which are very important. We have agreements with several of them already. We would consider negotiating with the rest, either individually, or perhaps as a group, if it is in the interests of all. he had said in his remarks to the World Economic Forum Congress Centre.

Senator Pat Roberts, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman described, Trump's rethinking on TTP as "certainly good news".

However, Congressman Brad Sherman opposed the move. "The Trump administration is reviving the TPP. The idea that the TPP is a counter to China is nonsense. It benefits and was in large part written by multinational corporations seeking to ease outsourcing," he said.

TPP is an ambitious trade agreement involving 12 countries.A video released in January by Boko Haram showed at least 14 of the abducted schoolgirls. (Photo: AFP)

Lagos: Nigeria on Saturday marked four years since Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the remote town of Chibok, with renewed calls for their release and that of thousands of others seized in the bloody conflict.

A total of 219 girls were taken from the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote town in Borno state on the evening of April 14, 2014, and have become an enduring symbol of the Islamist insurgency.

Four years on, 112 are still being held.

On Friday night, about 100 people attended a vigil in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, under a busy flyover whose pillars are now adorned with brightly painted murals of the missing girls.

"We are here to show (the) government that we are still missing our sisters," Zakaria Galang, a brother of one of the students who is yet to return, said. Further events are planned in the capital, Abuja, on Saturday.

'All hope is not lost'

Nigeria's president in 2014, Goodluck Jonathan, was heavily criticised for his response to the abduction but the man who replaced him, Muhammadu Buhari, has had more success.

Since 2016, 107 girls have been found, released or escaped as part of a government deal with Boko Haram and the administration has said back-channel talks are ongoing for further releases and a possible end to the wider conflict.

Another activist, Habiba Balogun, said she hoped that would happen after nearly nine years of violence that has left at least 20,000 dead and made more than 2.6 million homeless.

"The government has said that they are ready to negotiate; they want to bring this nightmare to an end," she said.

Buhari pledged to the Chibok girls' parents that their daughters "will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate" despite the time that had passed.

The former military ruler has repeatedly claimed Boko Haram was virtually defeated but while there have been clear army gains, security threats remain.

In February, fighters loyal to a Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Mus'ab al-Barnawi seized 112 schoolgirls and one boy from the town of Dapchi, in Yobe state.

One hundred and seven were returned in mid-March. Five reportedly died, while one girl -- the only Christian in the group -- is still being held.

Buhari said the return of so many students from Dapchi and Chibok "should give confidence that all hope is not lost" and showed the government was "doing it's very best".

There had been "unexpected setbacks" in talks because of infighting within Boko Haram.

But he added, "We will continue to persist, and the parents should not give up. Don't give up hope of seeing our daughters back home again."

'Meaningful action'

Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war during the conflict, seizing women and girls to act as sex slaves or suicide bombers, and men and boys to fight.

UNICEF said this week more than 1,000 children had been verified as abducted in northeast Nigeria since 2013, although the real figure is estimated to be much higher.

Amnesty International's Nigeria director, Osai Ojigho, said the Chibok abduction was a small part of a bigger issue.

The government needed to deliver "meaningful action on behalf of all these victims of Boko Haram's crimes".

"Far more support must also be provided for past victims," she said, proposing a register for abducted people.

The International Crisis Group meanwhile said the copycat abduction in Dapchi showed more needed to be done to protect schoolchildren in the restive region.

"The abductions illustrate that Boko Haram remains a menace to swathes of northeast Nigeria," it added in a report published on Thursday.

"They throw into doubt the government's claim to have defeated the movement; instead, insurgents may be newly emboldened to keep fighting.

"The kidnappings cast a pall over education, particularly of girls, and thus the prospects for socio-economic development of the region."Damascus skies erupt with service to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (Photo: AP)

Jerusalem: Punitive US-led strikes on Syria are justified because of the "murderous actions" of the Damascus government, an Israeli official said Saturday.

"Last year (US) President Donald Trump said that the use of chemical weapons would violate a red line. This night, under America's guidance, the United States, France and Britain acted accordingly (because) Syria continues to carry out its murderous actions," the official, who declined to be identified, said.

"Syria also serves as a base to carry out such action, namely on behalf of Iran, endangering its territory, its forces and its leadership," the official added.

Public radio said that Israel had been informed ahead of time of the strikes that were carried out by the United States, France and Britain.

Tensions have been running high between Israel and its arch-foe Iran, a key backer of the Syrian regime which provides military advisors and "volunteer" ground forces to Damascus.

On Monday seven Iranian personnel were among 14 people killed in an early-morning strike on the T-4 airbase in Syria, with regime allies Iran and Russia blaming Israel for the attack.

Israel did not deny or confirm any responsibility.MILLCREEK  A man was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for allegedly committing two violent crimes on consecutive days: Shooting at a woman one day and then assaulting a man another.

About 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, police say Manuel Herrera, 32, was asked to leave an apartment near 4000 S. State.

"As Manuel left, he broke out a window, pointed a firearm through the window, firing it, missing (a woman) by less than a foot," a police affidavit states.

Herrera drove off in a white flatbed tow truck before police arrived, said Unified Police Lt. Brian Lohrke. A shell casing and bullet were recovered from the scene. The incident was believed to be related to domestic violence, he said.

About 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, officers were called to 6178 S. Holladay Blvd. by a passer-by who reported "a man beating another man with a metal tube," Lohrke said.

Officers arrived to find Herrera was yelling at the victim "to give him his truck back," according to another police report, while a second man was swinging a baton at the victim. Herrera also threatened to "go get his gun and shoot him," Lohrke said.

As police arrived with their sirens on, the second suspect drove off, the report states. Herrera, however, allegedly kept moving toward the victim.

"Herrera asked (the man) if he wanted him to get his gun and shoot him," according to the report.

Police arrested Herrera at the scene for investigation of aggravated assault for Wednesday's incident. He was also arrested for investigation of another case of aggravated assault, discharge of a firearm, being a restricted person in possession of a gun, and criminal mischief for Tuesday's incident.

Herrera  who has a lengthy criminal history, according to state court records  also had a warrant out for his arrest at the time Unified police found him this week for another domestic violence-related charge from November.

Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting the YWCA's Women in Jeopardy program at 801-537-8600, or the confidential statewide Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-897-LINK (5465). Resources are also available online at udvc.org.Heres a look at the news for April 13.

MUST-READS THIS MORNING:

Doug Robinson: Simmons-Mitchell Rookie of the Year race a tough call

Who deserves the NBAs Rookie of the Year award? Deseret News sports writer Doug Robinson says its a tough call.

Washington highway safety official on Utah trip talks marijuana and impaired driving

A Washington highway safety official talks to the Deseret News about how theres no clear way to figure out if a driver has been impaired by marijuana.

Hatch calls foul on Zuckerberg media coverage

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch isnt happy with the media coverage of his questions during the Facebook hearing on Tuesday, according to the Deseret News.

During Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs testimony earlier this week, Hatch asked Zuckerberg about how Facebook earns revenue. Media coverage later cut the clip to make it seem Hatch doesn't know about how the tech world works.

Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock said Hatch is upset that media outlets didnt cover the entire question.

Sen. Hatch focused his opening statement and line of questioning on Facebooks business model, noting himself that ads are a necessary part of the internet age," Whitlock said. "After a discussion about Facebooks business model, Hatch asked in summation how a company like Facebook can provide its service for free  a simple question intended to underscore the prior discussion, a common tactic used in Congressional hearings to make a point.

Read more at the Deseret News.

Utah schools collected $71 million in school fees

A new audit from the Utah State Board Education found that Utah public schools collected $71 million in school fees last year, according to the Deseret News.

That number is a 29 percent increase in five years.

"It does sound staggering when you look at it in one lump sum," said Rachel Kitterer, parent of an East High School student.

The audit also found a 20 percent increase in enrollment in Utah secondary schools.

Read more.

Meeting President M. Nelson

Sacha Winters met President Russell M. Nelson, the new president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Thursday, according to the Deseret News.

"I just want to cry, I feel so overwhelmed. It's so surreal," said an emotional Winters, who now teaches Sunday School. "We came back to the church last year and our children were baptized. It just seems impossible. I just felt his love and I just know that he's ordained of God. It's such an honor."

Winters wasn't an active member of the church when she had a miscarriage more than a year ago. However, her Mormon leaders and local missionaries offered her comfort during her time of need.

She said those faith leaders helped her get involved again with the church.

"They helped us get back to church," Winters said. "There was a transition period there where they really supported us and helped us get back to the temple, where I felt so much peace."

Read more at the Deseret News.

Former FBI director James Comey slams Trump in new book

James Comeys upcoming book is already making headlines for slamming President Donald Trump and his administration, according to CNN.

Comey said in his book that Trump has a mob-like mentality in running the presidency.

He also said the Trump presidency is a forest fire.

"This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values," Comey wrote. "His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty."

Read more at CNN.

MORE NEWS:

Washington Post: Almost no one in James B. Comeys new book comes off as virtuous  except maybe Obama

New York Times: How Syrias Death Toll Is Lost in the Fog of War

NPR: Pakistan's High Court Bans Ousted Prime Minister Sharif From Politics

BBC: Russia says Syrian 'chemical attack' was staged

CNN: Arizona governor offers teachers 20% pay raise, but educators have questionsLt. Gov. Spencer Cox is taking over the Utah Department of Transportation traffic signs along Utah's freeways, and he needs your help.

Cox tweeted on Friday that he will take over the signs Monday. He asked his Twitter followers to help him come up with suggestions that are Utah Jazz-themed and, of course, clever.

The suggestions must be three lines and 17 characters per line, including spaces.

Cox encouraged interested parties to tweet their suggestions with the hashtag #JazzSign. The deadline is Saturday at 8 p.m.

Best idea wins, he said.

Ok friends, on Monday Im taking over UDOTs freeway signs & I need your ideas (by tomorrow at 8pm):

1) Must be both @utahjazz AND safety themed. #TakeNote

2) You have 3 lines & 17 characters per line (including spaces).

3) Use hashtag #JazzSign.

Best idea wins! pic.twitter.com/5VjQPtnyjg  Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) April 13, 2018

The Jazz will open up their playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday night.

As the Deseret News reported, UDOT and Zero Fatalities have worked together with a staff of about 10 people to put up clever signs along the freeways as a way to gain attention to safety notices. The group will gather for about 90 minutes to decide on the messages to put up to encourage safety.Utah Gov. Gary Herbert was right when he said that the Medical Cannabis Initiative has significant flaws. He said, It lacks important safeguards regarding its production and utilization and would potentially open the door to recreational use.

Herbert said he would actively oppose the initiative.

In a recent Utah Policy Daily poll, the question was asked, Do you support or oppose legalizing doctor-prescribed use of non-smoking medical marijuana for certain diseases and pain relief? Based on this deceptive question, Utah Policy reported that Utahns' overwhelming support doctor-prescribed medical marijuana, thus concluding that they supported the 28-page proposed initiative to legalize medical marijuana by a vote of the people. Had the poll question stated that the initiative did not include doctor-prescribed marijuana, the poll results would have likely been dramatically different. Most of us support doctor-prescribed medicine, but that is not what is in this initiative.

Doctors, or any medical providers such as psychiatrists, physician assistants or nurses may give the patients a "permission slip" to get a card from the state that allows them to buy whole plant marijuana from a dispensary for themselves or their children. There is not a prescription required in this law. The doctor is not legally permitted to determine amounts, types, ratio of CBD to THC (the psychotropic drug that is part of the marijuana plant) or any other control on what the patient will actually receive at the marijuana dispensary. Components of the marijuana plant may have medical properties, but that is not the same as medicine. Medicine is made when a laboratory extracts the medicinal compound and then standardizes it and doses it. The employees at the dispensary are not pharmacists.

The law does not require that the patient be under a doctors care while using marijuana. There is not even a requirement that doctors or the employees at the dispensary warn the patient about any potential side effects or dangers from using marijuana. And, unlike any other medical treatment, doctors are specifically absolved from any liability should the treatment be harmful to the patient. In fact, those people pushing medical marijuana claim there are not any side effects and that it is completely safe for adults and children. They use anecdotal stories as their proof that it is safe and ignore the stories about those people whose lives have been ruined by the use of marijuana.

According to the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington, likely side effects of marijuana use are decreased memory and learning abilities, decreased motivation in areas such as study, work and concentration, mental health problems, loss of coordination, anxiety and paranoia. Other studies show that 1 in 11 people who use marijuana get addicted.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse stated, marijuana addiction goes up to about 17 percent in those who start using at a young age, and 25 to 50 percent among daily users. (Those using medical marijuana can be daily users, including children.) Studies show that marijuana use changes the structure of the teenage brain, specifically with memory and problem-solving.

It is interesting to me that if you buy a bottle of aspirin, there are two sets of printed instructions and a warning of multiple dangers when taking that aspirin. When you get a prescription, there is such a long list of life-threatening warnings you are not sure if you will live to take a second pill, and yet marijuana is treated as if you are just purchasing a bag M&Ms.

This is dishonest polling and reporting. Utah voters are being misled by these reports and could cast their vote based on false informationSeventy-three years ago this week Irving Roth, 88, was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp. He and his brother had been imprisoned in the Auschwitz death camp, but as Allied troops approached, the boys were sent on a death march to Buchenwald  where his brother died.

On Thursday (April 12), Roth, of Long Island, N.Y., returned to Auschwitz  now a memorial and museum  for the seventh or eighth time since his liberation. He was one of 70 Holocaust survivors who participated in this years March of the Living, a 30-year-old international educational Holocaust program that begins with a week of study and visits to Jewish and Holocaust sites and culminates with a two-mile march from Auschwitz to Birkenau and an emotion-filled ceremony of remembrance.

Roths grandparents were murdered here.

Although each visit to the barracks where he nearly froze to death, and the crematoria where his grandparents perished, causes Roth distress, he decided to return once again because 70-plus years later, there are still hundreds of millions of people who want the Jewish people to disappear, just as they wanted them to disappear during the Holocaust, Roth said.

This year a record 12,000 youths and adults from nearly 50 countries  one third of them non-Jews  took part in the program. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Polish President Andrzej Duda were among the speakers.

At Auschwitz, first-time participants gasped when they saw the piles of shoes, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, leg braces, limb prosthetics and cooking pots those who were sent to the camp brought with them.

Nazi guards took the items from their owners and sent most of them back to Germany for reuse.

These items show that people had no idea they were about to be murdered, Liz Elsby, an Israeli tour guide, said as she stood in front of a glass case containing baby clothes. Each shoe is a memorial.

Elsby, who has visited Auschwitz 18 times, said she returns time and again to give a voice to those who were silenced.

Other than the Holocaust survivors she met, Elsby said she has been particularly moved by the Catholic Poles who visit Auschwitz to learn and show their solidarity with the Jewish people.

Waiting for the march to begin and holding a sign on which was printed a Hebrew prayer, Wojtek Losse, a Polish teenager from this small town whose name is synonymous with the Holocaust, said he and several friends were attending the march to bless the Jewish people in this difficult place.

Losse said he and other high school students have studied the Holocaust in school.

I would like to believe that most Polish people tried to help the Jews, but like every other nation there were those who didnt help, Losse said.

During the visit, the March of the Living groups met with members of todays Polish Jewish community.

Nancy Sherman, from Long Island, said the week she spent in Poland was incredibly sad but she also felt hope and inspiration from seeing so many people, especially young adults from all over the world, unifying together into a collective Jewish community.

While the world Jewish community is often divided by religious and political differences, Sherman said, march participants sought common ground. People from the different religious streams prayed together, she noted.

The experience in Poland reinforced for her that it is really a privilege to be a Jew, and that we must show the world that we are here and not going anywhere.

Tovah Brandwein from Delray Beach, Fla., turned 18 on the day of the march. In her hand she held a list of her relatives who were murdered in the Holocaust.

My grandmothers parents each lost their first spouses and children. They met, married and had my grandmother.

Brandwein said the trip, her first in Poland, has given her a new appreciation for her Jewish heritage and history.

Being here made me realize how important my Judaism is. Im a link in a long chain that the Holocaust tried to break. People my age are the future.

Roth, who accompanied a group of adult children of Holocaust survivors to the march, said that interacting with younger people gives his life meaning.

History is something you try to teach kids but it doesnt affect them directly and they get bored. But unless the younger generation recognizes the signposts that stood along the road to Auschwitz, well get there again.

Roth, who runs a Holocaust center and spends a great deal of time relating his experiences to young people, recalled how he once gave advice to a youth orchestra that was scheduled to perform at Auschwitz.

I told them that the audience wont applaud when they perform but that the souls hovering there will appreciate their music.

When they began to perform, Roth said, it was a warm night with no wind. But right then a breeze picked up and by the time they had finished the trees were blowing up a storm.

The orchestra members emailed Roth to relay what had happened.

They told me it was an experience they will never forget. And that is the point, Roth said.

(Michele Chabin was part of a group of journalists invited to Poland by the March of the Living.)SALT LAKE CITY  Data gathered in a new report shows that Utah's juggernaut tech economy is continuing to gain momentum, leading the country in job growth and among the top 10 states for tech jobs as an overall portion of all occupations.

And while the average wage for tech workers in Utah is lagging behind the national average, it's still almost double the average for non-tech jobs.

Local economists and tech leaders say they're not surprised by the positive metrics gathered in the Computing Technology Industry Association's 2018 Cyberstates report, but also underscored some critical challenges, including how to fill thousands of current tech job openings, that need to be addressed to keep the state's tech mojo rising.

To be clear, the entirety of Utah's economy has been on a tear. Even though the state's 3.9 percent tech job growth, noted by the association's report, outstripped the nation-leading, overall job expansion rate of 3.1 percent in 2017, it still fell far short of the 5.4 percent expansion of Utah's construction-related occupations.

Ben Hart, deputy director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, said Utah's diverse but intertwined economy was bearing a wider benefit from the tech sector's ongoing vibrance.

"I think we've moved past the point of being an up-and-comer and can now consider ourselves one of the top tech economies in the country," Hart said. "The fact that we're No. 1 in year-over-year growth in tech, when viewed through the bigger context, shows that our entire economy is sort of intrinsically linked into tech right now."

Utah's tech vital statistics, as gathered by the Computing Technology Industry Association, all point to excellent economic health and include:

 Utah has 135,500 tech employees (including self employment)

 There were 4,680 new tech jobs added in 2017 (including self employment)

 Tech employment represents 8.6 percent of overall workforce

 There are 6,531 tech businesses (firms with payrolls)

 Utah had 26,020 tech job postings in 2017

 There was a 42.2 percent growth in emerging tech job postings last year

Hidden within those numbers, however, are some red flags that have not gone unnoticed both by those looking to grow their tech business as well as those tasked with working to keep the Utah trends moving forward.

At the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in January, Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard pointed out to almost 15,000 attendees that the state needs to double down on efforts to build a robust education pipeline to help address the 4,000 or so unfilled tech positions in Utah.

Skonnard, whose company specializes in cloud-based tech education courses and has made it a personal mission to work toward better public school preparation for tech-centric jobs, said failing to do so could not only interrupt Utah's robust growth in the tech sector, but send it tumbling the other direction.

Hart said unfilled jobs, not just in the tech world but across all sectors, are a reflection of an economy with functional full employment and noted it also highlights the need, as Skonnard pointed out, to build the tech employment pipeline.

"Four thousand unfilled tech jobs might even be a little bit low," Hart said. "Our growth is only limited by the number of people we can find to fill these positions. Looking forward, we need to provide our students with the things they need to occupy these jobs."

Hart's comments come from an agency that has multiple efforts underway to do exactly that. In addition to GOED's work under the various Talent Ready Utah programs and STEM Action Center, it will also oversee a newly minted, $2.5 million tuition reimbursement plan aiming to incentivize Utah graduates to stay in-state to put their new degrees to work.

The program will apply to five degree/occupation areas that have yet to be stipulated, but Hart noted that tech-related degrees "will be at the heart" of that grouping.

While Utah's overall economy has drawn strength from its diversity, Juliette Tennert, the University of Utah Gardner Policy Institute's director of economics and public policy, said the state's tech sector itself is more multifaceted than many might realize.

"There's a lot of variation among Utah's high-tech industries," Tennert said. "Life sciences, manufacturing, data, products  and likely more that we're not even aware of."

In an effort to root out the tentacles of the Beehive State's expanding tech efforts, and mine a deeper understanding of how the sector influences the rest of the economy, Tennert said the Gardner Institute is about to launch its own yearlong study focused on the industry.

Tennert said the Computing Technology Industry Association data is not surprising and supports much of the same trends being watched closely by state economists. She said numerous factors play into the state's ability to attract and/or retain tech, including cost of living, access to amenities and, of course, wages.

And, while Utah's $83,590 annual tech job wage average dwarfs the $46,010 overall average state wage, it's still well below the $112,900 national tech wage average, not to mention the $161,900 that the average Bay Area techie is taking home every year.

Tennert said Utah's very affordable cost of living helps level out those wage differences, but one of the collateral impacts of the state's thriving economy is a rise in life's overhead expenses.

"Utah's cost of living continues to increase and, as that happens, wage differentials become more significant factors," Tennert said. "Right now, a young graduate deciding whether to live, for very high cost, in Silicon Valley versus staying here and being part of a growing tech community and having incredible access to outdoor recreation, affordable housing and reasonable commutes  that bodes well for Utah.

"But, maintaining high quality of life factors will become even more important as costs continue to rise."

While the experts continue to work on identifying, and planning for, trend-wrecking changes, tech is occupying an outsize role in the state's economy. In 2017, it accounted for over 10 percent of the state's approximately $150 billion in economic activity and there are no current signs of slowing.

Utah Technology Council President/CEO John Knotwell, whose trade organization advocates on behalf of issues important to the state's tech sector, said the association's report is just further evidence of the power, and success, of Utah's technology and innovation industries.

"Technology workers and companies continue to be the rocket fuel to our robust economy and the rest of the world has taken notice," Knotwell said. "It's an exciting time to be in tech in Utah."

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported Utah's 2017 economic activity. It should be $150 billion, not $15 billion..SALT LAKE CITY  When a group of musicians from the Utah Symphony took off recently for a week in the Caribbean, they werent going there to hang out on a beach.

They went so they could put their musical skills to work helping young people in a downtrodden place. In one of the world's poorest nations, they found something uplifting: pride, joy and musical talent.

"I think Haiti has a rich cultural history," said concertmaster Madeline Adkins, one of 17 Utah Symphony musicians who recently put on a weeklong workshop in Cap-Haitien. One hundred young instrumentalists from towns and villages scattered across Haiti attended the free workshop held Sunday, March 25 to Friday, March 30.

In developed countries like the U.S., if someone aspires to play music at a professional level, there are many opportunities for lessons and advanced training. But in a poor country  especially earthquake-and-hurricane-ravaged Haiti  kids are lucky to get any high-level training at all.

"Music education in Haiti goes to a certain point, but it certainly doesn't go to the university-conservatory level," symphony cellist John Eckstein said in an interview at Abravanel Hall.

A couple of years ago, Eckstein recognized that he and his fellow musicians had the skills to provide the high-level training that Haiti needs. He organized the Utah Symphony's first workshop in Haiti in 2017. On this year's second trip, the Utah musicians were joined by several players from the Cleveland Orchestra.

Although their average age is around 22, many of the Haitian musicians are already teachers themselves. The visiting professionals from the United States found that many of the workshop attendees had considerable musical skills.

"It's really impressive actually," Adkins said. "A lot of them may have had lessons but some of them, a lot of things they've learned off the internet."

She noted the contrast with aspiring musicians in the U.S.

Were so privileged to have lessons, many of us from childhood. And so (in Haiti) their dedication and determination is really inspiring.

During the five-day workshop, American musicians conducted some individual lessons, but much of the teaching was in larger sectional rehearsals for each instrumental section of the orchestra. The climax of the workshop was a performance of Tchaikovskys Symphony No. 5 in a free public concert conducted by Thierry Fischer, music director of the Utah Symphony.

"This is wonderful to have some professional people who work with us, said John Carly Fils Menard, a young Haitian bass player who attended the workshop. It's an opportunity, it's a gift, because here in Haiti  most of our schools don't have teachers."

Although the Utah musicians didnt have much time to tour Haiti or to observe its poorest areas, they were well aware that many musicians at the workshop probably came from families with big challenges.

"I dont see them in their everyday lives, but I know that its a struggle, Eckstein said. And so the fact that they have gotten where theyve gotten is pretty remarkable.

The Utah musicians donated their time and money to the trip, and they raised funds to pay for each students transportation, room and board for the workshop. They also handed out 20 musical instruments in Haiti that were donated by Utah Symphony supporters.

And they brought home a sense that their visit had done some good in Haiti.

"They treasure their arts there, it's such a sense of pride and the joy that they bring to that, Adkins said. We get just as much out of it as they do. I think it's really inspiring for us."

Eckstein said Utah Symphony players are already planning to go back next year. Future goals, he said, might include the creation of a youth orchestra or perhaps a Haitian national orchestra.

"And we hope, Eckstein said, it leads to individual lives being, you know, bettered.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah leaders Friday evening said they support airstrikes in Syria designed to stop alleged chemical attacks on civilians there.

The United States, France and Britain launched the strikes in reaction to what President Donald Trump said was Syrian President Bashar Assad's pattern of killing the innocent people of his country, leaving them "thrashing in pain and gasping for air." The Syrian government has denied using such banned weapons.

The action announced by Trump in an address to the nation shortly after 7 p.m. in Utah drew praise from the state's Republican congressional delegation, including Sen. Orrin Hatch.

"The response, deliberated meticulously with international partners and carried out with their backing and participation, reflects the president's commitment to restoring America's leadership in bringing Assad and his backers to justice," Hatch said on Twitter.

Gov. Gary Herbert offered a similar reaction.

Tonight, America and our allies are sending a clear message that we will not stand idly by while the Syrian Regime uses chemical weapons on it's own civilians. My prayers are with our brave military men and women.  Rep. John Curtis (@RepJohnCurtis) April 14, 2018

"Tonight my thoughts are with our troops and their families as allied forces engage in precision air strikes against the Assad regime," he said in a statement. "We cannot tolerate this evil massacre of citizens. We are not free and the world is not safe without the valor of our armed forces."

Rep. John Curtis, from Utah's 3rd Congressional District, also weighed in on Twitter.

Im thankful that our allies are standing with us. The world is united against Assad and his supporters.  Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) April 14, 2018

"Tonight, America and our allies are sending a clear message that we will not stand idly by while the Syrian Regime uses chemical weapons on its own civilians. My prayers are with our brave military men and women," he said.

Rep. Chris Stewart praised Trump's decision, saying he "did the right thing in ordering strikes on Syrian chemical weapons and military facilities. We must show the world that we are serious when we state that we will not allow dictators to use weapons of mass destruction," he wrote on Twitter.

My thoughts and prayers are with the American service men and women in harms way tonight. I look forward to hearing from the President about his strategy for Syria and whether he plans to seek authorization from Congress for any further use of force.  Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) April 14, 2018

"I'm thankful that our allies are standing with us. The world is united against Assad and his supporters," Stewart said.

Sen. Mike Lee also said in a tweet he is focused on the safety of U.S. military members in Syria and sought to learn if the effort would continue in the longterm.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the American service men and women in harms way tonight. I look forward to hearing from the President about his strategy for Syria and whether he plans to seek authorization from Congress for any further use of force," Lee tweeted.

Rep. Mia Love said the strikes were "decisive and precise action in reaction to atrocious human rights violations by a murderous regime in Syria. We stand together as a nation. God bless our brave servicemen and women who are in harm's way and serving our country."

Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox also touched on the military strike in a tweet, referencing a whirlwind of news stories Friday involving the president.

And this all happened before we bombed Syria. Such a crazy day. May God bless our brave soldiers and protect innocent civilians. https://t.co/fEMN7fXnXM  Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) April 14, 2018

U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney, a Republican running for the seat Hatch will leave this year, declined comment through a spokeswoman.

Jenny Wilson, Romney's Democratic opponent, offered measured approval.

"I'll give the administration the benefit of the doubt in this case and say it was an appropriate action, but I think we should go to  now, starting Monday aggressive negotiations with the intelligence committee, the committees in congress that are educated and involved with their role as an essential check and balance on the administration, before we take further action in Syria," Wilson said.Editor's note: Deseret News and Church News writers are chronicling the ministry of LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson as he and other church officials travel to Europe, Africa and Asia during the next two weeks. Sarah Jane Weaver reports today from Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM, Israel  Hours after the United States Armed Forces ordered a strike on Syria, President Russell M. Nelson cut short his stay in Jerusalem, leaving the central location of his global ministry tour following conference sessions at the BYU Jerusalem Center.

At a time of rising tensions, the message of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is more important than ever, he said Saturday morning from the Holy City.

Global Ministry Tour

Follow the Deseret News as we chronicle President Russell M. Nelson's travels through seven countries around the world.The message of the Lord Jesus Christ is a message of hope, it is a message of love, it is a message of joy, said President Nelson. It is underlined in this time of a little heightened tension.The United States, together with British and French allies, launched airstrikes Friday night against Syrian military targets in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad near Damascus a week earlier that killed more than 40 people. Damascus is only 135 miles from Jerusalem.

Amid the tensions in the region and rapidly diminishing available airspace, President Nelson  accompanied by his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife, Sister Patricia Holland  left Jerusalem with plans to commence the Africa portion of their tour sooner than expected.

Students at the churchs BYU Jerusalem Center will remain in Jerusalem in the eight-level building set on five acres on Mount Scopus, overlooking the Mount of Olives and the Old City.

Elder Holland, who first visited Jerusalem in 1972 and has returned so many times since that Jerusalem "now feels like home," said the church would never put President Nelson, those traveling with him or students at the BYU Jerusalem Center at risk.

We face this week what we have faced many, many times here, some difficulty in the region, said Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. We are always very, very conservative. We are very safe.

President Nelson and Elder Holland offered messages of hope from the grounds of the BYU Jerusalem Center. Elder Holland said President Nelson "decisively and instantly" determined that his first major gesture beyond LDS Church headquarters would be a visit to Jerusalem.

"He wanted to walk where the Savior walked and stand where prophets have stood and feel what we all feel here," said Elder Holland. "The rich powerful influence of this land is palpable. I think he wanted that personally, as well as for the church."

President Nelson said he had symbolic reasons for planning the global trip as he did.

"We wanted to start in Jerusalem to fortify ourselves with the message of the Lord Jesus Christ right from its very inception, here where he was born, where he lived, where he ministered and where he was crucified," President Nelson said. "His message is for all of Gods children."

His original itinerary had included visiting the Western Wall, the Garden Tomb and the Sea of Galilee. More than 300 BYU Jerusalem Center students and members of the Jerusalem District attended meetings in the center  instead of the Sea of Galilee. President Nelson and Elder Holland addressed a priesthood session, while Sister Nelson and Sister Holland spoke during a women's meeting.

"Today will be building blocks on your faith," Elder Holland promised the congregation gathered for the general session. "We are not on the Sea of Galilee, you can picture yourself there if you want."

But, he added, the location does not diminish the event. "I suspect none of us in this room can understand the significance of this day .... But we will," said Elder Holland.

Mariette Zaionce of Tel Aviv said she attends a branch so diverse that it is not uncommon to see testimonies translated and then translated again to reach a common language.

"Living in Israel is tough," she said. "You are always on your toes."

Zaionce said she will now draw strength from President Nelson's testimony of the Savior and visit.

John Rey Bautista of Tel Aviv added, "It is a great privilege to be here in Israel and see the living prophet speak to us."

President Nelson told the members that words cannot express his gratitude to be in Jerusalem and "feel of your faith. It is a special joy for us."

"You dont have to come to a scene, a setting, to appreciate the Savior, or the prophets or the events, you could do that in the privacy of a missionary apartment in South America or Asia or you could do it in a primary class in Eastern Europe," said Elder Holland. "But to add to that the privilege of being in the land that [the Savior] loved and on the soil that he walked, it really is a magnificent personal experience and I will never grow tired of that."

Because of the significance of its history, Jerusalem  located in the crossroads between Europe, Africa and Asia  became a central stop on President Nelsons ministering tour. He will now continue his global ministry tour, stopping in Kenya, Zimbabwe, India, Thailand, Hong Kong and Hawaii.

"The message is the same wherever I go," said President Nelson. "We invite all of God's children to come unto their Savior and receive his blessings that are available in the holy temple and have enduring joy and qualify for eternal life with their Father in Heaven."Leaks can cost you more than just your job, Apple warns staff

An internal memo to Apple employees warning them about the consequences of leaking information has ironically been leaked.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple Inc has warned employees to stop leaking internal information on future plans and raised the spectre of not just being sacked, but potential legal action and criminal charges, one of the most-aggressive moves by the worlds largest technology company to control information about its activities.

The Cupertino, California-based company said in a lengthy memo posted to its internal blog that it caught 29 leakers last year and noted that 12 of those were arrested. These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere, Apple added. The company declined to comment on Friday.

Apple outlined situations in which information was leaked to the media, including a meeting earlier this year where Apples software engineering head Craig Federighi told employees that some planned iPhone software features would be delayed. Apple also cited leaks of a yet-to-be-released software package that revealed details about the unreleased iPhone X and new Apple Watch.

Leaked information about a new product can negatively impact sales of current models, give rivals more time to begin on a competitive response, and lead to fewer sales when the new product launches, according to the memo.

We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else, Greg Joswiak, an Apple product marketing executive, said in the memo.

The crackdown is part of broader and long-running attempts by Silicon Valley technology companies to track and limit what information their employees share publicly, the Bloomberg report adds. Firms like Google and Facebook are pretty open with staff about their plans, but keep close tabs on their outside communications and sometime fire people when they find leaks.

Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg last week talked about her disappointment with leakers. In 2016, Google fired an employee after the person shared internal posts criticising an executive. The employee filed a lawsuit claiming their speech was protected under California law.

In messages to staff, tech companies sometimes conflate conversations employees are allowed to have, such as complaining about working conditions, with sharing trade secrets, said Chris Baker, an attorney with Baker Curtis and Schwartz, PC, who represents the fired Googler. The overall broad definition of confidential information makes it so employees dont say anything, even about issues theyre allowed to talk about, he said. Thats problematic.

Apple is notoriously secretive about its product development. In 2012, chief executive officer Tim Cook pledged to double down on keeping the companys work under wraps. Despite that, the media has continued to report news on the company to satisfy demand for information on a company thats become a crucial part of investment portfolios, many of which support public retirement funds for teachers and other essential workers.

In 2017, Apple held a confidential meeting with employees in another bid to stop leaks. Since then, media published details about the iPhone X, a new Apple TV video-streaming box, a new Apple Watch with LTE, the companys upcoming augmented-reality headset, new iPad models, software enhancements, and details about the upcoming iPhones and AirPods headphones.

In many cases, leakers dont set out to leak, part of the lengthy memo reads. Instead, people who work for Apple are often targeted by press, analysts and bloggers who befriend them on professional and social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and begin to pry for information. While it may seem flattering to be approached, its important to remember that youre getting played ... a scoop about an unreleased Apple product can generate massive traffic for a publication and financially benefit the blogger or reporter who broke it. But the Apple employee who leaks has everything to lose.Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train to be fully operational by 2023: Lohani

The Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed bullet train project being implemented by the Indian Railways with technical help from Japan will be fully operational by 2023, Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani said on Friday.

Lohani said some sections of the high-speed, 500-km route will be operational in 2022 itself.

"Bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai will be made fully operational by 2023, while it will be made operational on some sections in 2022. We are moving ahead as per our plan on the project," Lohani told reporters in Patna.

Lohani, who is in Patna to take part in the 63rd Regional Railway Week, was accompanied by East Central Railway (ECR) general manager L C Trivedi and other senior officials.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe launched the Rs1,10,000 crore project in September last year

Japan is extending a loan of Rs88,000 crore for the project at a minimal interest of 0.1 per cent.

The bullet train will run at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, covering the 500-km stretch in under three hours against the seven hours at present.

The train will halt at 12 stations, including four in Maharashtra.

"We have got the Japanese technology on which bullet train is being run since 1965 in Japan and no accidents have taken place since then," he said.

On the issue of cost involved in the project, he said "there will not be any financial burden on us as it is a very soft funding."Infosys to acquire Wongdoody

IT services firm Infosys has signed a definitive agreement to acquire US-based creative and consumer insights agency, Wongdoody, for a total consideration of up to $75 million.

The move strengthens Infosys creative, branding and customer experience capabilities, and demonstrates its continued commitment to bringing innovative thinking, talent and creativity to clients around the world, the company said in a statement.

We are focused on partnering with global brands and CMOs to help them on their digital transformation journeys, by developing a digital experience services ecosystem with services ranging from strategy, design and user experience, to creative and digital marketing across the customer experience value chain, said Ravi Kumar S, President & Deputy COO, Infosys.

Wongdoodys expertise in driving innovative creative solutions is already yielding significant results in our initial collaborations with clients, and this acquisition will further enhance Infosys capabilities in this space, he added.

Wongdoody, with studios in Seattle and Los Angeles, brings to Infosys creative talent and deep marketing and brand engagement expertise. The agency is known for its fully-integrated campaigns, omni-channel programs, expertise in connecting digital experiences to physical in-store experiences, and capabilities to create multi-platform content that marries data and analytics with creative expertise to drive compelling, sharable content.

With services that include strategy, research and insights, brand and marketing positioning, creative design, advertising and production, WONGDOODY elevates global brands across industries from telecommunications and consumer electronics, to healthcare and consumer packaged goods.

Joining forces with Infosys gives us the power to implement our creativity in ways that werent possible before. Brand experiences, powered and backed by Infosys digital and technological might, can change the trajectory of our clients businesses and revolutionize how customers experience their brands, Wongdoody Founder and Chairman Tracy Wong said.

The acquisition is expected to close during the first quarter of fiscal 2019, subject to customary closing conditions. GP Bullhound acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Wongdoody.Microsoft probing partner KPMG in India over customer complaint: report

Microsoft Corp has started an investigation into the methods partner KPMG uses to crack down on the illegal use of its software in India, its biggest market in Asia, after a complaint from a senior member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, news agency Reuters cited documents as showing.

The investigation follows a 2016 report by advocacy group Business Software Alliance that over half of all software installed on computers in India is unlicensed.

This is because a Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system costs around $130 on Microsofts online portal, its pirated version on a compact disc can be bought for around $2 in India.

Microsoft runs a global "software asset management" (SAM) programme to check the use of unlicensed software under which it partners global consultants such as KPMG in India, to ensure compliance.

The investigation follows a complaint by Vinit Goenka, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and technology adviser to the government, to both companies that a KPMG employee "barged in" to his Mumbai recruitment firm without an appointment to check its software.

Rajiv Sodhi, a senior Microsoft India executive, told Goenka in a 20 March email that the company was looking at the issue with "utmost seriousness".

"We are also getting an assessment agency to carry out an audit of the process delivery at KPMG to identify and correct gaps, if any," Reuters cited Sodhi as writing in the email.

Microsoft is reported to have told Reuters that its SAM programme is run being run as per global standards, while KPMG claimed it followed "appropriate procedures agreed in our engagement with clients".

The employee has been identified in the emails as Srijesh, said the report.

Reuters also confirmed the incident with Goenka, who said his company, Ratein Infotech, has only a handful of computers, which used genuine software.

Goenka said he planned to file a police complaint against both companies.

Ratein Infotech also said it received a letter from the US software giant seeking help in "interpreting licensing policies of Microsoft", the emails showed.

Microsoft and KPMG apologised and the employee, Srijesh, resigned, the e-mails showed.RIL to acquire majority stake in AI-based learning platform Embibe

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Friday announced a strategic investment in Embibe, to form Indias largest artificial intelligence (AI) based education platform, and thereby opening a new growth path for Reliance Jio Infocomm.

RIL on Friday signed a definitive agreement to acquire majority shareholding of about 72.69 per cent (on fully diluted basis) from existing investors of Indiavidual Learning Pvt Ltd (Embibe), a leading AI-based education platform leveraging data analytics to deliver personalised learning outcomes to each student.

Reliance plans to invest up to $180 million in Embibe, (including consideration to be paid for acquiring majority stake from existing investors) over the next three years.

Embibe will use the capital over the next three years towards deepening its R&D on AI in education, as well as business growth and geographic expansion, catering to students across K-12, higher education, professional skilling, vernacular languages and all curriculum categories across India and internationally, an RIL release stated.

RIL said the founder and CEO of Embibe, Aditi Avasthi, will continue in her leadership role and will drive the growth of the business.

The investment in Embibe underlines Reliances commitment to growing the education sector in India and the world and making education accessible to the widest possible group of students by deploying technology. Reliance aims to connect over 1.9 million schools and 58,000 universities across India with technology. We are delighted to announce this partnership with Embibe, and believe that their highly experienced management team will be instrumental in enabling Reliance to realise its vision for the education sector, and strengthening Jios leadership position as a digital technology company, Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio, said on the strategic transaction.

Embibes team has built an incredible technology platform that can deliver personalised learning outcomes in a way that is truly scalable across all education markets. With robust AI stacks focused on content intelligence and automation, behavioral recommendations and student intelligence, our products have redefined the way edtech can impact the lives of students and teachers, Aditi Avasthi, founder and CEO at Embibe, said.

We are supercharging our platform with the ability to deliver both content and outcomes for every learning goal in every students journey, to be the leader in personalising education for India and the world. We are excited to partner with Jio  bringing unrivalled acceleration to our growth story through data and device access. Most of all, we are delighted to partner with Reliance and share their deep conviction and visionary passion to sow the seeds of a new India with data as the new soil, she added.

Relentless student focus, investment in the best technology and commitment to real outcomes have helped Embibe deliver tangible score improvements of up to 50 per cent for the toughest exams in India. With 18 billion metadata points associated with insight mining and five patents in progress, Embibe was recently recognised as the best AI company in education by Amazon India.

Over the last 5 years, Embibe has trained over 15 million students. Sixty leading educational institutions from the private and public sectors in India benefit from its newly launched AI driven education platform-as-a-service. Embibe counts Lightbox Ventures and Kalaari Capital amongst its investors.

RIL said the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Citibank acted as financial advisor, AZB & Partners, Covington & Burling LLP and KPMG acted as legal advisors and Pricewaterhouse Coopers provided tax advisory and diligence services to RIL.

Embibe was advised by Arpwood Capital, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Partners and Khaitan & Company as legal advisors and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited for tax advisory services.US, France and Britain launch joint strikes on Syrian capital

US, France and Britain today launched joint strikes at Syrias chemical weapons capabilities, firing missiles into the Barzah district of Syrian capital Damascus, in a move that could escalate the strife in the Middle East.

Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research centre and US President Donald Trump said, "The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons." Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research centre and US President Donald Trump said, "The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons."

Reports said at least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus and smoke was seen rising over the Syrian capital after the early morning strike.

US defence secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Joseph Dunford said more than 100 missiles were fired from ships and aircraft striking three of Syrias main chemical weapons facilities.

Mattis said the strikes are a one-time shot, but Trump raised the prospect of further strikes if Assads government again uses chemical weapons.

Mattis had earlier warned in internal debates that too large an attack would risk confrontation with Russia.

President Trump on Friday said he has ordered precision strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capabilities. Trump said the combined operation with France and Britain is underway and that the strikes will continue until Syria stopped its use of chemical weapons.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a televised address from the White House. "These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said referring to Assad and his alleged role in the poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last week.

Syrian TV reports claim that the country's air defence systems have been activated and are responding to the attack. "Syrian air defence blocks American, British, French aggression on Syria," Syrian state television reported.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she had authorised British forces to conduct the precision strikes against Syria to degrade its chemical weapons capability. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties," May said on Saturday in a statement." May said "a significant body of information, including intelligence" pointed to Syrian government responsibility for a suspected chemical attack last Saturday. "There is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," she said.

May also said that the strikes would "send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity"."This is the first time as prime minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly. I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain`s national interest," she added.

Confirming the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes in Syria target "regime chemical weapons capacity. Cannot tolerate normalisation of chemical weapons in Syria, he added.

Russias ambassador to the United States on Friday warned that there would be consequences for the US-led military strikes on Syria, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russias president.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible, he added. The US  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries.India features in US list meriting close attention to currency practices

For the first time India has been listed along with China, Japan, Germany, South Korea and Switzerland as six major US trading partners that warrant placement on a monitoring list meriting close attention to their currency practices.

The US Department of the Treasury delivered to Congress the semi-annual Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners.

While the currency practices of six countries were found to require close attention, no major trading partner met the relevant legislative criteria for enhanced analysis in 2017. Similarly, no trading partner was found to have met the legislative standards for currency manipulation during the current reporting period.

The Treasury Department is working vigorously to ensure that trade is free, fair, and reciprocal so American workers and companies can compete and succeed globally, said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. We will continue to monitor and combat unfair currency practices, while encouraging policies and reforms to address large trade imbalances.

The findings and recommendations aim to combat potentially unfair currency practices, support the growth of free and fair trade, and secure stronger and more balanced global growth. Achieving these goals requires that all economies durably avoid macroeconomic, foreign exchange, and trade policies that facilitate unfair competitive advantage, said the department.Deutsche Bahn-led consortium awarded Mumbai Metro Line 4 contract

A consortium of Deutsche Bahn AG, Louis Berger and Hill International has won the contract for project management and construction management services, including design review, for the Mumbai Metro Line 4.

The total estimated cost of construction of the Mumbai Metro Line 4 project is Rs15,549 crore ($2.26 billion).

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is implementing the Metro Line 4 project, a 32.3-kilometer (20-mile) long elevated corridor with 32 stations, connecting Wadala in central Mumbai to Kasarvadavali.

Metro Line 4, when completed, will reduce travel time between Wadala and Kasarvadavali by 50 to 75 per cent, and provide interconnectivity between the eastern expressway, central railway, Mumbai Monorail that is partially in operation, proposed Metro Line 2B (D N Nagar and Mandale), proposed Metro Line 5 (Thane to Kalyan), proposed Metro Line 6 (Swami Samarth Nagar to Vikhroli) and proposed Metro Line 8 (Wadala to GPO).

As part of the consortium, Louis Berger will prepare, package and finalise tender documents for system contracts.

The scope of work also includes verification and approval of all civil and system contract design submissions, rolling stock, supervision of all construction activities, certification of vendor sources and inspection of vendor products and services, as well as integration of systems, exercising strict cost control measures, ensuring specifications, installing systems and commissioning rolling stock, monitoring and reporting progress of all works, safety and quality at work sites, and supervision of system trials and system integration.

Were delighted to support the MMRDA on yet another metro rail project in Mumbai, said Kshitish Nadgauda, Louis Berger senior vice president and managing director for Asia. This metro line is a welcome addition for the people of Mumbai. It will help alleviate traffic congestion and provide better connectivity between central Mumbai and the Thane district.Reliance Infra, Tata Projects win five packages in Mumbai Metro Line 4

Reliance Infrastructures joint venture with Italys Astaldi SPA has won a contract worth Rs1,584 crore for developing three of the five packages of Mumbais Metro-4 corridor. Tata Projects won the other two packages of Mumbai Metro Line 4

RInfra EPC has received the Letter of Award from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for three packages worth Rs 1,584 crore for the construction of North-South Metro-4 corridor which will run between Kasarwadavali in Thane and Wadala, RInfra said in a statement on Friday.

Tata Projects has teamed up with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) as a partner to win Package 9 with a bid of Rs538.02 crore and Package 11 with a bid of Rs510.22 crore.

Reliance Infra has won the contracts for Packages 8, 10 and 12, involving the construction of 18 stations, 19.9 km of viaducts and two railway crossings.

Rinfra, which had bid in a joint venture with Astaldi of Italy, said it has been given the letter of award by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the construction of three packages worth Rs1,584 crore for the Mumbai Metros Line 4.

The proposed 32.32-km metro will connect the suburb of Kasarvadavali in Thane to Wadala in central Mumbai. The work has to be completed in a time-frame of two and a half years from the date of award.

Overall, there were 11 bidders in the fray for five packages on Line 4. The companies that participated included Larsen & Toubro, HCC, IL&FS Transportation, NCC, J Kumar Infraprojects and JMC Projects, among others.

The metro is expected to reduce the travel time from over an hour at present to less than 30 minutes as well as provide more north-south rail connectivity, and reduce the burden on the citys existing suburban rail network.

Earlier this week, a consortium led by Germanys DB Engineering was awarded the project and construction management services contract valued at $2.26 billion for Metro Line 4. The MMRDA has proposed 10 metro corridors for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region at a total cost of about Rs85,000 crore.Media representations of animals deceive us about their survival in the wild

The most "charismatic" species have a high status in conservation biology and it is commonly claimed that these species experience a privileged level of attention, often at the expense of other, more ordinary species.

However, in a study publishing 12 April in PLOS Biology, an international research team led by Franck Courchamp, CNRS Director of Research at the University of Paris Saclay, France, find that these animals' popularity may be their downfall, leading to inappropriate complacency about their chances of survival. However, in a study publishing 12 April in PLOS Biology, an international research team led by Franck Courchamp, CNRS Director of Research at the University of Paris Saclay, France, find that these animals' popularity may be their downfall, leading to inappropriate complacency about their chances of survival.

The researchers used a combination of online surveys, school questionnaires, zoo websites and animated movies to identify the 10 most charismatic animals. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the tiger, the lion and the elephant took the lead; however, the researchers were astonished to discover that these species are highly threatened in the wild, with greater declines in recent years.

The scientific community, in fact, knows little about these species; for example, the precise number of panthers, elephants or gorillas living on Earth is unknown, even though this information seems important. The researchers also found that despite the public adoring these species, people paradoxically appear oblivious to the fact that these animals are close to extinction, and therefore fail to mobilise to protect them. Why might this be?

The authors of this study hypothesised that the omnipresence of these animals in our culture and in the marketing media that surround us might form a deceptive "virtual population" that actively biases the public's perception of the status of these animals in the wild, leading the public to believe that that they are more numerous that they actually are.

By continuously seeing virtual representations of these species in movies, books, toys, commercials, etc., people may receive the impression that these animals have healthy populations in the wild.

For example, the researchers showed that a French person will see on average more virtual lions (photos, cartoons, logos and brands) in a month than there are wild lions left in all of West Africa.

"Unknowingly, companies using giraffes, cheetahs or polar bears for marketing purposes may be actively contributing to the false perception that these animals are not at risk of extinction, and therefore not in need of conservation", says Franck Courchamp.

To rectify this unfortunate effect, the researchers propose that companies using the image of threatened species for marketing purposes should contribute to information campaigns to promote their conservation, and that a part of the (often substantial) marketing benefits be used to fund the protection of the species that represent them.Delhi-based crypto-currency exchange boss siphons off Rs19 crore in funds

In a strange twist, just a week after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned banks from dealing in crypto-currencies, the chief strategy officer of a leading exchange has siphoned off with Bitcoins worth Rs19 crore.

Delhi-based Coinsecure claims that its Bitcoin funds have been exposed and siphoned off. Access to the Bitcoin wallet are held by the CEO, Mohit Kalra, and the CSO, Amitabh Saxena.

The companys press release claims that its system has never been compromised or hacked and the current issue points towards losses caused during an exercise to extract BTG to distribute to customers.

Saxena was extracting BTG and he claims that funds hvae been lost in the process during the extraction of private keys, says the company.

The FIR filed with the Delhi police claims that Saxena was making up a false story to divert attention and he might have had a role to play in the offense. The company has asked the authorities to seize Saxenas passport to prevent him from leaving the country.

The company also claims that its INR funds are safe. We are also seeking help from the Bitcoin community and all our users who can help us identify the hacker or give us any information that could lead us to recover funds, it says.

Interestingly, except for two letters addressed to its users (dated April 12 and April 13), the companys web site is also not accessible now. Conisecure has over 200,000 users, of whom more than 10,000 have been affected by the theft.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had earlier declared Bitcoins and other virtual currencies as illegal and compared them to Ponzi schemes.Rape victim wants suspect BJP MLA to be hanged

A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the BJPs UP MLA in the Unnao rape case, the 17-year-old victim told the media that she wants him to be hanged.

My uncles used to say that daddu (Kuldeep Singh Sengar) is very good, she told Aaj Tak TV. But when I met him, he did wrong with me. He is a devil, should be hanged.

The victim, who claims she was raped last June by the MLA at his home, also told The Times of India that Atul Singh, the MLAs brother, spread terror in Makhi, her village, and how he used to torment his opponents. Singh has been arrested for allegedly murdering the victims father Pappu Singh.

She also told the media that following the terror unleashed by the Singhs, she and her father stayed in Delhi. Earlier this month her father returned to Makhi to buy a bicycle for his five-year-old son.

Last week, the victim threatened to immolate herself in front of the chief ministers home if justice was not provided. Following the uproar, the state government also recommended the case to the CBI.

The agency will be questioning the victim, her sister and paternal uncle in Lucknow. The latter told the media that the MLA got his brother killed.

The arrests, however, came only after the Allahabad High Court ordered the CBI to do so.

The victim claimed that she had gone to meet UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and top police officers in August. She gave a written complaint narrating the entire incident  and including her being kidnapped and sold off for Rs60,000, before being rescued by the police  and was promised that the matter would be taken up immediately.

But nothing much happened until the CBI was brought into the picture. Even the top agency was seen going slow in the investigations; however, after the Allahabad high court order, it arrested the BJP MLA and his brother.Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.

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Support our mission and join our community now.By Jennifer Weeks

Scientists and environmental advocates will be speaking out this month about the Trump administration and what they view as its abuses of science. This year's March for Science on Saturday, April 14, has a goal of holding leaders accountable for "developing and enacting evidence-based policy."

Earth Day, which falls on Sunday, April 22 this year, is approaching its 50th anniversary and has become a global event. Although many Earth Day events will focus on issuessuch as this year's theme, plastic pollutionthe Trump administration's efforts to roll back environmental regulation will also loom large.

These articles from our archives provide some examples to support charges that the Trump administration is politicizing science on climate change and other environmental issues to drive an anti-regulatory agenda.

1. Restricting Information



Across many federal agencies, information about climate change and policies to address it has been removed from the internet or archived in hard-to-access locations. Terms like "climate change" have been removed from agency websites, and others have been renamed. For example, the Department of Energy's Clean Energy Investment Center is now simply the Energy Investor Center.

Morgan Currie, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University's Digital Civil Society Lab, and Britt S. Paris, a Ph.D. student in information studies at UCLA, acknowledge that public information on government activities changes to reflect the policy directives of different administrations. But as they note, climate change is still occurring, whether it is reported or not:

"In our view, burying climate science diminishes our democracy. It denies the average citizen the information necessary to make informed decisions, and fuels the flames of rhetoric that denies consensus-based science."



2. Stacking Advisory Panels

Many scientists provide advice without pay to federal agencies on issues within their areas of expertise. But the Trump administration has downgraded or eliminated independent scientific input on a number of key issues.

For example, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has barred scientists receiving agency grants from serving on EPA advisory committees, and has replaced a number of academic board members with representative of industries and state governments.

Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke has created a new advisory board on recreation that is heavily weighted toward industry and another on international wildlife protection made up mainly of trophy hunters.

Past administrations that tried to stack advisory boards ultimately failed to achieve their goals, according to Donald Boesch, a professor of marine science at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has served on many federal advisory committees. Other scientists, not affiliated with the administration, will call out biased conclusions and unsupported recommendations from these slanted panels, Boesch predicts:

"Consequently, policies and regulations based on the panels' recommendations will be less likely to withstand public or political scrutiny and be more open to legal challenges than if they were based on more balanced input."

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, flanked by U.S. Sen. Todd Young and U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski, announces his new 'Made in America Recreation Advisory Committee,' July 18, 2017. DOI, CC BY-SA

3. Manufacturing Controversy



Although his proposal was ultimately rejected by the White House, EPA administrator Pruitt campaigned energetically in 2017 for a "red team-blue team" review of current climate science. Such an exercise, Pruitt asserted, would provide fresh perspective.

Critics viewed this idea as an attempt to undercut a widely supported consensus that human actions are changing Earth's climate, by putting climate deniers on an equal footing with mainstream experts.

Red team-blue team exercises center on "the spirit of challenge by an antagonist," explains University of Michigan climate scientist Richard Rood, who has participated in these types of reviews. Rather than shedding light on serious scientific questions, Rood describes Pruitt's proposal as a performance designed to advance a political agenda:

"Such spectacle will be based on emotional appeal and will rely on manipulating the message about the role that uncertainty plays in scientific investigation. The goal will be the amplification and persistence of public doubta goal that would be undoubtedly achieved."

4. Distorting Scientific Findings



Many statements about climate change by Trump administration officials have questioned whether climate change is occurring or have downplayed the need to take action. Most recently, in late March 2018, EPA staffers received a list of "talking points" about climate change that instructed them to emphasize uncertainty when discussing the issue with local communities and Native American tribes.

For example, one point stated:

"Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner. The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue."



Joe Arvai, a professor of sustainable enterprise at the University of Michigan who served on EPA's Chartered Science Advisory Board from 2011 to 2017, calls this framing an exaggeration of uncertainties around the human causes of climate change. "In effect, Pruitt is asking EPA staffers to lie," Arvai contends.

In another areathe health impacts of exposure to pollutants and toxicsPruitt has proposed to change EPA policy so that the agency would only consider scientific research if underlying raw data can be made public for external scientists and organizations to review. Pruitt says this approach will increase transparency, but Arvai argues otherwise:

"[I]n reality, this rule would mean that critical public health studies could no longer be used to inform EPA policy because some of the data are protected by doctor-patient or researcher-participant confidentiality."

Reposted with permission from our media associate The Conversation.Welcome Guest! You Are Here:

Home Regional News EastBy Chelsea Rochman, Priya Shukla, Susan Williams and Tessa M. Hill

As the first anniversary of the March for Science approaches, researchers continue to reflect on the relationship between science and society. A recent survey of 2017 marchers indicated that nearly all were also actively participating in other types of science advocacy. In the past year, inspired by the call to stand up for science, scientists have written editorials, contacted members of Congress, attended public protests, initiated runs for political office, and organized new groups to support diversity, inclusion and justice.

How are today's scientists rethinking public engagement? Here, four scientists spanning multiple academic career stagesentering Ph.D. student (Shukla), early career (Rochman), midcareer (Hill), and senior scientist (Williams)discuss whether society is witnessing a fundamental change in how scientific researchers perceive their interaction with the public and policymakers.

Author Priya Shukla presents her work to a general audience at a science festival. Taste of Science San Francisco Festival, CC BY-ND

Why should scientists engage?

Williams: The public deserves to know about our science. Scientific discoveries help people understand our world and galaxies beyond, predict the future, fuel economic growth and reconnect all of us back to our childlike wonder.

Hill: I'll add that the majority of science in the U.S. is paid for by taxpayers, thus we work on behalf of the public. Personally, I want to encourage decision-making supported by evidence, both for individuals in their daily lives and for politicians setting official policy. If we don't provide the evidence, how can people make decisions based upon it?

Rochman: Public engagement also improves science literacy. I was inspired by a scientist. Because of him, I am a scientist.

How have your perceptions of public engagement changed over time?

Williams: If scientists had engaged more before now, we as a society might not be in the situation where "alternative facts" exist. Today, I'm more strategic about engagement. I engage when my expertise is core to the issue at hand, and also when I think I can reach a diverse audience.

Rochman: I also prioritize reaching more diverse audiences. More than ever before, I try to connect with people where they arebased upon shared valuesto make headway in this time of political differences. I also engage with both sides of the political aisle.

Shukla: As a young scientist, I feel obligated to stand up for the integrity of science in civic decision-making. I also think it's important to communicate the benefits of research to non-scientists, so that people can understand, and feel part of, the whole enterprise. For me, public engagement is about embedding ourselves in our communities and helping inform a path forward.

Author Tessa Hill presents research findings to legislators and policymakers at the House Committee on Natural Resources Forum on Ocean Change, 2017. Tessa Hill, CC BY-ND

Hill: Important progress sometimes comes from being in uncomfortable situations. In that sense, the current political climate and concerns for the future of science are an opportunitywe shouldn't let this pass us by! What worries me is that many scientists are doing engagement work on their own time because academic institutions primarily value and reward time devoted to research, teaching and institutional service.



Rochman: I am optimistic! I think academic culture is shifting to embrace public engagement. Some departments and universities now encourage these activities and the next generation is hungry for it.

Williams: When I was a student, engagement was discouraged because it reputedly detracted from scholarship and was perceived to sully the ivory tower objectiveness. We've begun to move on from that point of view.

Author Chelsea Rochman presents her research at the United Nations. United Nations, CC BY-ND

What type of engagement do you think has the most impact?

Rochman: Putting scientific evidence in the hands of policymakers in a way they can digest. During my postdoc, bills to ban plastic microbeads were being introduced. In some cases, they were stalled because of a perceived lack of scientific information. I led the development of a policy brief and sent it to state legislators. We also wrote open-access communications in Environmental Science & Technology and The Conversation. This engagement led to media interviews, phone calls with legislators and opportunities to testify. This experience taught me that engagement is valued and without it, scientific evidence may be left out of the policy process.

Williams: My own testimony before U.S. congressional committees provided the background for an expansion of two national marine sanctuaries. Although the process lasted about a decade, the result was tangible. Lines actually changed on maps because of this work.

Shukla: I think about two kinds of "impact": via a medium that influences many people, and via a mode that reinvigorates me. For example, I can write a blog that is viewed by more than 1,000 people. But, public talks, where I can engage one-on-one, remind me why I became a scientist and have taught me that sharing our stories with individuals can be just as important as sharing the ultimate findings of our research.

Hill: Sometimes it is easy to forget how important listening is in advocating for science. Some of the most important engagement opportunities I've had were actually conversations with people about their values, and how science fits in.

Author Susan Williams on a dive. In order to engage with authority, the research must be solid. Susan Williams, CC BY-ND

Williams: I would add that our credibility is ultimately based on establishing our scientific credentials by doing good work. First and foremost, we need to focus on our scientific output. Change does not come overnight it requires vision and perseverance. Over our careers, there are plenty of opportunities to engage meaningfully.

Shukla: So we've come up with these themes around effective engagement:

Start with the highest-quality science. Communicate to diverse audiences to increase scientific literacy, inspire awe and inform evidence-based decision-making. Be strategic and have fun, trusting that true impact takes time.

Reposted with permission from our media associate The Conversation.

By Andy Rowell

Two leading political figures from the U.S. and Canada, who have boasted about the need to fight climate change, are now under fire for being climate change hypocrites: saying they care about the climate, but allowing drilling and fossil fuel infrastructure to be built anyway.

On Wednesday, more than 750 public interest groups from California and around the world, including Oil Change International, started a campaign urging the governor of California, Jerry Brown, to stop building fossil fuel infrastructure, including no new exploration permits offshore.

The letter told Brown to "take immediate action to protect those most vulnerable to climate change or lose their support for the global climate action summit that he will host five months from now in San Francisco."

The campaign has sponsored billboards in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento, placed adverts in local newspapers, and launched a thermal airship over San Francisco Bay to challenge Brown for falling short on plans to limit fossil fuels in the state.

The letter urged Brown, who has stated on numerous times that time is running out to solve climate change and who has stated that fighting the issue will be one of his signature acts, to "champion a vision for California that looks beyond the oil and gas industry to a future that is safe and healthy for everyone," the letter says.

It continues by urging Brown to "set a global precedent by becoming the first oil producing state to announce a phase-out of existing production in line with the Paris climate goals, with a just and equitable transition that protects workers, communities, and economies, starting in places that are suffering most from the impacts of fossil fuel extraction."

But Brown is not the only politician who has promoted their green credentials who is now under fire for failing to adequately act on climate.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is due to fly back from an overseas trip over the weekend to convene a meeting concerning the controversial Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline that will triple production of dirty tar sands going from Alberta to British Columbia.

The pipeline has been subject to sustained protests and legal action by the local community and BC government, led by John Horgan. Earlier this week, Kinder Morgan announced that it was stopping work until the end of May until political and legal opposition is sorted. Many people now see the pipeline as being on "life support."

Even the Economist argues that the pipeline is now likely to become "another flop," and noted that last week David McKay, head of RBC, Canada's largest bank, was concerned that investment was flowing out of the Canadian energy sector "in real time."

Trudeau continues to support the pipeline. Yesterday he tweeted that "I wouldn't approve major pipeline projects if I wasn't confident they could be done safely. And they can be done safely because we've made a massive investment in protecting our oceans and coastlinesin BC and across the country."

The tweet was accompanied by a glossy video, which was posted on Twitter and Facebook.

The reason for the meeting over the weekend, according to press reports, is that Trudeau wants to strong-arm BC Premier "John Horgan to reverse his stance." Horgan responded that he was going to "represent BC, our coast and economy."

Yesterday, 40 civil society groups sent a letter to Trudeau on behalf of their Quebec members, urging the federal government to "immediately cease supporting Kinder Morgan's pipeline. Do not turn this pipeline into your political legacy."

The letter continues:

"We remind you in particular of your government's commitment to end fossil fuel subsidies. The Trudeau government, in supporting a 20th-century sector of the economy, is failing to live up to its responsibility.

The national interest of Canada does not rest in the construction of The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, but in the inevitable energy transition that is so urgently needed in order to counter climate change.

The support that you continue to provide to the pipeline project casts a serious cloud on your credibility as a leader in the fight against climate change.

We repeat: Do not turn this pipeline into your political legacy."

Reposted with permission from our media associate Oil Change International.Part of the brain commonly associated with memory and dementia could also hold key for emotional regulation

The hippocampus is an area of the brain commonly linked with memory and dementia.

But new U of T Scarborough research finds that it may also yield important clues about a range of mental health illnesses including addiction, anxiety and depression.

The research, authored by a team of neuroscientists, found that a specific part of the hippocampus could play an important role in emotional regulation, a finding that calls into question our understanding of how exactly this part of the brain works.

"What this shows is that we may need to rethink how the hippocampus processes information," says Rutsuko Ito, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology.

The hippocampus is a seahorse-shaped structure located deep inside the brain. As part of the limbic system, it plays an important role in memory processing and spatial cognition, including how mammals learn to understand and navigate their environment.

Researchers have long looked at the hippocampus for its role in memory and dementia, especially in relation to Alzheimer's disease. In Alzheimer's patients for instance, this region is one of the first areas of the brain to suffer damage.

But there's been a few studies that suggest the anterior hippocampus, a sub-region located at the front, could play a role in emotional regulation, including anxiety.

For this study, Ito and her team looked at the ventral hippocampus in rats, a sub-region that correlates to the anterior hippocampus in humans. They wanted to see what role two further subareas of the ventral hippocampus -- called the CA1 and CA3 -- play in terms of approach-avoidance conflict processing.

Approach-avoidance conflict is a model used in psychology to test how animals deal with regulating fear and anxiety. It basically offers a situation that involves a decision about whether to pursue or avoid something that could have both positive and negative aspects to it.

"One good example is imagine going to a restaurant you love, but the moment you walk in you see someone you can't stand - do you go in, or avoid going in?" says Associate Professor Andy Lee, who collaborated on the research.

What they found is that after temporarily inactivating the CA1, it increased avoidance of the conflict. Meanwhile, inactivating the CA3 increased approach behaviour to the conflict.

Ito says this finding is important because the conventional thinking is that these areas, along with another part called the dentate gyrus, form a circuit through which information flow occurs in one direction. Information processed by the dentate gyrus gets passed along to the CA3, and then on to CA1. In other words, the CA1 and CA3 should carry out the same function because they're both part of the same information processing circuit.

"But that's not the case, the CA1 and CA3 in the ventral hippocampus seem to do very opposite things in relation to conflict processing," says Ito.

"It's this strange bi-directional or oppositional effect, and that goes against traditional thinking of how information processing takes place in this part of the brain," she says.

Because of its possible role in basic motivational behaviour, it may also offer important insights into a range of mental health illnesses. Addiction, for example, could be linked to deficits of approach motivation. Anxiety and depression on the other hand could be linked to avoidance behaviours, all of which could manifest itself in this part of the brain.

The research, which was published in the journal Current Biology, received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canada Institutes for Health Research.

Ito says the next step is to explore which connections to the CA1, CA3, or other parts of the brain could be responsible for this effect.

Meanwhile, Lee is investigating the role sub-regions of the hippocampus play in conflict processing in humans.

"Some patients have lesions to certain areas of this part of the brain, so hopefully we can assess them to see what particular aspects of approach avoidance behaviour may or may not be impacted," he adds.

###Berlin-based star conductor Daniel Barenboim on Monday became the latest musician in Germany to return in protest his past Echo Music Awards in a row over anti-Semitic rap lyrics.

Outrage has grown after the prize was handed this month to rap duo Kollegah and Farid Bang, who in their song 0815 say their bodies are more defined than an Auschwitz prisoner.

Barenboim, 75, said in a statement that the rappers lyrics are clearly anti-Semitic, misogynist, homophobic and contemptuous of human dignity.

They constituted an abuse of free expression which society must never tolerate, wrote the Jewish general music director of the Berlin State Opera and the Staatskapelle Berlin.

Barenboim said he, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra had jointly decided to return the award because decency and humanity must outweigh commercial interests.

The two rappers this month won the Echo Music Awards Hip-Hop/Urban prize after selling more than 200,000 copies of their album Young, Brutal and Handsome 3.

The award ceremony was held as Israel marked Yom HaShoah, its Holocaust Remembrance Day, dedicated to the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.

Protests were led by Campino of German rock band Die Toten Hosen, who spoke out during the ceremony, and numerous other artists and industry figures have since returned their Echo awards.

Both rappers have said they reject all anti-Semitism, and Kollegah has offered free lifetime tickets to the duos Jewish fans.

Even before the rappers won the Echo prize, which is based on sales figures, the International Auschwitz Committee said their presence at the awards ceremony was a slap in the face for Holocaust survivors.

Germany has been shocked by several recent anti-Semitic incidents, including an assault by a Syrian refugee on two men wearing Jewish kippa skullcaps in Berlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced the emergence of another form of anti-Semitism, aside from that by far-right groups, from refugees of Arab origin in Germany, in an interview with Israeli television broadcast on Sunday.

Merkel reaffirmed that the security of Jews and of the state of Israel was a central concern for Germany because of its eternal responsibility for the Holocaust.Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar is receiving treatment at a Paris hospital, his spokesman said late Friday.

During a scheduled visit program to a number of countries, Marshal Haftar felt ill and visited a hospital in Paris for normal checkups, Ahmed al-Mesmari wrote on Twitter.

The 75-year-old Haftar will be back in Libya within few days, he added.

Contradictory information about the strongmans health and possible demise had been circulating in Libyan press and on social media this week.

Haftar had not made any public appearances recently, fueling the rumours.

Some local media even announced his death Friday, despite repeated denials from his spokesman and relatives.

The UN said that their envoy, Ghassan Salame, had spoken to Haftar Friday and discussed the general situation in Libya and the latest political developments in the country, UNSMIL tweeted.

Khalifa Haftar is very well. He will return to Libya this weekend, a relative of the strongman told AFP speaking on condition of anonymity.

Libya has been gripped by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

Haftar supports an administration based in the east of the country. A UN-backed unity government based in the capital Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority outside the west.

IS jihadists remain active in central and southern Libya despite being forced out of their northern stronghold Sirte in 2016.A rocket and car bomb attack left one UN peacekeeper dead, a dozen wounded and another dozen French soldiers hurt at Timbuktu's airport area, Mali's security ministry said Saturday.

A terrorist attack targeted Frances Barkhan camp as well as UN troops stationed outside the northern Mali city during the afternoon, the ministry said on Facebook.

A dozen rockets were fired at the two camps with gunmen dressed as UN blue helmets riding two vehicles rigged with bombs.

One of the vehicles exploded, while the second bearing the UN sign was halted, the statement said.

The ministry said the latest casualty toll was one UN soldier dead, a dozen wounded, five of them seriously, and a dozen French soldiers also hurt.

The fighting ended towards 18h30. The sector is being searched. The situation is under control, it added.

A foreign security source told AFP that the assault was unprecedented in Timbuktu.

The United Nations had earlier released the same toll for its troops.

In a tweet, the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali announced, One blue helmet was killed in gunfire exchanges with the assailants, a dozen wounded.

MINUSMA had earlier confirmed a major and complex attack on the camp at Timbuktu this afternoon (mortars + exchanges of fire + suicide attack vehicle).

Its the first time there has been an attack on this scale against the MINUSMA in Timbuktu, the security source said.

Weve never seen an attack like this, an official from the Timbuktu governorate told AFP.

Shell fire, rockets, explosions and perhaps even suicide bombers.

Unrest in Mali stems from a 2012 Tuareg separatist uprising against the state, which was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

More than a dozen of Timbuktus holy shrines, built in the 15th and 16th centuries when the city was revered as a centre of Islamic learning, were razed in a campaign against idolatry by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.

The United Nations has nearly 13,000 troops and police in Mali, many of whom are deployed in the countrys lawless north.

Seven UN peacekeepers have been killed in attacks in Mali this year alone, serving in a mission that has been described as the UNs most dangerous.

A total of 102 have been killed since MINUSMAs deployment began in 2013.

Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

Insurgents remain active, linked to drug, arms and migrant trafficking in the vast Sahel region.The head of NATO expressed his support for Western air strikes in Syria on Saturday in response to the latest alleged chemical weapons attack.

I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

He said the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons was a clear breach of international norms and agreements.

The United States, Britain and France staged a wave of air strikes against Assads regime on Saturday, a week after a suspected deadly gas attack on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma.

NATO considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security, and believes that it is essential to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention, the statement added.

This calls for a collective and effective response by the international community.

NATO, which is not directly involved in the operations of the international coalition in Syria, announced its ambassadors would meet later Saturday at its Brussels headquarters.

The objective of the meeting is for France, United Kingdom and the United States to update the Council on the latest developments in Syria, it said in a statement.

Stoltenberg will give a press briefing after the meeting.Canadian Prime Minister Justin has expressed his support for punitive strikes carried out by the US, Britain and France against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people, Trudeau said in a statement Friday.

The strikes came after an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma that killed more than 40 people, according to medics and rescuers.

General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the strikes hit targets related to Syrias chemical weapons program  a scientific research center near Damascus, a weapons storage facility west of Homs, and a third location nearby containing a command post and an equipment storage facility.Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced US President Donald Trump, France's Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Theresa May after they launched strikes Saturday against the Syrian regime, branding them "criminals".

The attack this morning against Syria is a crime, Khamenei said in remarks published on his Telegram channel.

The American president, the French president and the British prime minister are criminals, they will gain nothing from it, he said.

Speaking during a meeting with high-ranking political and military figures, Khamenei added: The American president says he attacked Syria to fight against chemical weapons. He is lying.

The United States, France and Britain said they launched the air strikes against Syrian government military installations in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack by the regime a week ago  a claim dismissed by Damascus and its allies Russia and Iran.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for restraint and for countries to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation in Syria after the United States, France and Britain carried out strikes.

Guterres delayed a planned trip to Saudi Arabia to deal with the aftermath of the military action.

I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people, Guterres said in a statement.

The military operation was ordered in retaliation for what the West says was repeated use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assads forces against civilians.

Any use of chemical weapons is abhorrent. The suffering it causes is horrendous, Guterres said.

The UN chief said it was important to act in line with the UN charter and international law.

He urged the UN Security Council to agree on establishing an inquiry that would identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks.

Russia this week vetoed a US proposal to set up such a panel following an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma that killed more than 40 people, according to medics and rescuers.Western strikes early Saturday hit Syrian military bases and research centres in and around the capital and the country's centre, a monitor said, as the US, France, and Britain announced a joint operation.

The Western coalition strikes targeted scientific research centres, several military bases, and the bases of the Republican Guard and Fourth Division in the capital Damascus and around it, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman later said that a military research centre and depot near the city of Homs in the countrys centre were also hit.

He had no immediate details on casualties.

The US, France, and Britain announced a joint operation against Syrias government, a week after a suspected chemical attack outside the capital Damascus left more than 40 people dead.

The world leaders announced that the strikes targeted positions linked to the chemical weapons facilities of the Syrian government.

Moments after the announcement, loud blasts could be heard from the capital and large plumes of smoke emerged from its northern and eastern edges.

Syrian state media reported the joint operation hit a research centre northeast of the capital as well as other military installations around Damascus, but said missiles targeting army depots in Homs had been intercepted.

The US and Europe have both slapped sanctions on the Syrian Scientific Studied and Research Centre for its links to chemical weapons production in Syria.Here are the main developments since the United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of pre-dawn strikes against Syria's regime Saturday in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on April 7.

 Precision strikes 

On Friday at 9:00 pm in Washington (0100 GMT Saturday, 4:00 am in Syria), US President Donald Trump announced a military operation with France and Britain was taking place in Syria against President Bashar al-Assads regime.

A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Trump said in a primetime address from the White House.

AFPs correspondent in Damascus said a series of huge blasts were heard and residents rushed to their balconies. Explosions echoed and the sound of warplanes roared over the city, as flashes flared in the distance.

When dawn broke, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the citys north and east.

 More than 100 missiles 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the scientific research centres and several military bases hit in the strikes had been completely evacuated.

The three allies used ships, a submarine and warplanes to launch a barrage of 105 guided missiles towards three chemical weapons facilities in Syria, US officials said.

A top Pentagon official, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, said the action would set back Syrias chemical weapons programme for years.

The Western strikes claimed no victims among Syrian civilians or military, according to Moscow.

All centres targeted in the strikes early Saturday were completely empty (of personnel), after those who were present there withdrew more than three days ago, the Syrian Observatory said.

 Mission accomplished! 

Mission Accomplished! Trump tweeted early Saturday.

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White later told reporters: We successfully hit every target.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was no practicable alternative to the use of force in Syria.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the French strikes targeted the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons.

His Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called the strikes proportional and targeted and warned France would not hesitate to strike again in case of further chemical attacks.

On the question of chemical weapons, there is a red line that must not be crossed, and if it should be crossed again, there will be another intervention, Le Drian said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the strikes as necessary and appropriate while Turkey welcomed the appropriate response.

NATO also expressed support while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for restraint in these dangerous circumstances.

Saudi Arabia gave its backing to the strikes, saying they were a response to regime crimes against civilians.

 Doomed to fail 

Syrias government denounced the strikes on its military installations as a brutal, barbaric aggression that violated international law.

SANA said the attack was doomed to fail.

Assad, in a telephone conversation with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, said the strikes only made him more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country.

An impromptu early morning rally in Damascus saw crowds of people heading to the famed Umayyad Square to show support for Assad, waving government flags and blaring patriotic songs.

 UN Security Council 

Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Trump, Macron and May criminals, while China said it was opposed to the use of force and called for a return to the framework of international law.

Russias ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, warned of unspecified repercussions, adding that insulting Putin was unacceptable.

Russia denounced the strikes as aggressive actions and at an emergency session of the UN Security Council demanded a vote condemning the US and its allies for carrying out the strikes.Privacy Settings

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NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.The US and its allies fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Syria, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian air defences, the Russian defence ministry said Saturday.

More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets, the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, adding that a significant number were shot down by Syrian air defences.

Syrias air defences were made in the USSR more than 30 years ago, the ministry said.

Russian air defences based in Syria were not used, the ministry said.

It said that none of the Western strikes in Syria had hit areas covered by Russias air defences around its Hmeimim air base and naval facility in Tartus.

The Russian military said the missiles were fired from US ships in the Red Sea as well as from tactical aircraft above the Mediterranean and by US strategic bombers from near the Al-Tanf base.

The ministry was set to hold a press briefing at around 0630 GMT.Russia's defence ministry said Saturday the Western strikes claimed no victims among Syrian civilians or military.

According to preliminary information, there were no victims among peaceful civilians and the Syrian military, senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi said at a briefing in Moscow.

The Russian military said that 103 cruise missiles were fired including Tomahawk missiles but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 cruise missiles.

All together, 103 cruise missiles were deployed, senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi said at a briefing in Moscow. 71 cruise missiles were intercepted.

Rudskoi said Syria had Soviet-made defence systems that Moscow has completely overhauled, including S-200 systems and Buk missiles.

He called the lack of casualties the result of the excellent skills of the Syrian military trained by our specialists.

Moscow could now revisit its decision not to supply Damascus with its more recent S-300 air defence system, Rudskoi said.

Considering what has happened, we consider it possible to reassess this question and not just as far as concerns Syria, but other countries too, Rudskoi said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013 said after talks with European Union leaders that Moscow had refrained from supplying the powerful S-300 air defence systems to Assads government.

However Russia has S-300 and the more recent S-400 systems protecting its air base and naval facility in Syria.British jets have fired missiles at a Syrian military facility near Homs suspected of storing chemical weapon ingredients, Britain's defence ministry said on Saturday.

Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility  a former missile base  some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors, the ministry said in a statement.

Initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack, the ministry said.

Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area.

The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk, it added.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said in the statement that the strikes were a legal and proportionate response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.Saturday, April 14, 2018

Show Transcript

Hello and welcome back to the Dr. Nilda business foresight strategies show. I have with me my guest host which is Rachel. I have a very special guest coming all the way from Melbourne, Australia. Hello Bridget.

Hi and thanks for having me.

Thanks for being here. I just cant believe youve taken the time for us because youre really far. I know you guys are quite a few hours ahead of us and so this is a big but I really appreciate this. But, you bring so much worth to the audience that I just cant help but beg.

Its a pleasure to be here. The time zone actually works out better than other parts of the world.

Bridget Engleris Course Director for the Master of Design at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. She lectures in strategic foresight, design strategy and management, design thinking, and creativity and innovation. Engelers passion for her field led her to become a Board Member of the Association of Professional Futurists. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in strategic foresight and her research focus is anticipatory thinking in society, technology, and culture. I love it. Welcome Bridget. How are you?

Good, thank you. Thank you very much for having me this afternoon this evening.

Its morning here. Thank you so much. My first question to you is what attracted you to foresight?

Well you could say that it was the Thorin MBA. I decided that an MBA just had too many Excel spreadsheets and numbers to really keep me interested. Like the number of units that are required. But, it was actually I think a more organic process but also a more intuitive process. Ive been working in brand strategy and design for 15 or something years. And I was working in strategy. I was working in verbal identity and I wanted to do something else. I had an undergraduate degree and 1st graduate degree that I was working with on a day to day basis. I kept seeing things just cropping around the edges. So, what I realize now is that I was seeing what signals to me as a futurist. I started exploring what was out there and it led me to a discussion with a colleague who was working at a large beverage company at the time. We had a chat about some work that he was doing. We had a chat about a brief that I was working on for a new product they were developing. He talked me through the evolution of the brief as part of, I suppose, as part of as the result of a foresight process. I thought this has got to be something. This is interesting. I then met a couple of other people and I thought oh this keeps coming back to me. I took myself to Swinburne and found myself a few months later enrolled in masters of strategic foresight. What I also learned later is that for some futurists they look for a three hit. Once you have something it hits you or is put in front of you three times its no longer a weak signal this is something you need to notice. So, I enrolled in the program and found myself in a space where I felt extremely comfortable but also sitting on the edge. It was something in there that was new and interesting. There was something there that felt really familiar and there was something there that really challenged me. But I figured I was probably in the right thing and now Im teaching.

Thats a wonderful story. I love that story and I loved the fact that it was sort of haphazard although it wasnt. It was divine intervention. Although you didnt know it because its sort of how it happened for me it was divine intervention. I was looking for an MBA and sat down with the Dean. I sat down with the Dean of the school who as I was telling him what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go said you are the perfect candidate for foresight strategies. And I was like what is that. And before I knew it I was involved in a program that I have to tell you has forever changed my life because Im so fascinated by futures and by all the potential. Just being able to see the world from that broad perspective. I just cant get enough of it.

I found myself sitting in meetings talking about brands that were going to the market for a few months or had a shorter lifespan. I kept thinking about the consequences of that and not just from well this is a child product or an innovation. And then we want to see what happens with that this could lead to a bigger project with a brand. But it was that what are we using to understand how a brand might emerge in a market? And what does that brand scape look like five years out. I was just looking for something more and felt that the other programs I was looking at for education werent going to give it to me. Just a whole lot of things came together it was serendipitous. Then it was kind of intuitive. But, now that I look at it I can see that there actually was a path I was following and I ended up in the right space. This I think also goes back to future isnt predetermined. There is no one future. I could have done an MBA. I could have done everything else entirely. I could have gone and taken a job at a design agency rather than running it. I could have done a whole load of things instead I made a choice and it took me on a path which feels right and feels comfortable. I really enjoy it and I love my work. I love teaching. I love doing the industry work I do and I love research. Ive ended up in the right space for the moment anyway.

Because even that will evolve.

A PhD is one of those evolving things. Whats a PhD got to do with research and industry work and whats a PhD going to do to support industry collaboration or a work outside? I think the depth of knowledge and the rigor that comes with that level of study and exploration means that its valued with industry and business. Its not just an academic piece. Its not just a bit of work that you produce and grow all that now I checked the PhD box. But theres actually a lot of skill and knowledge that goes into a PhD. And Im not talking about me. Im talking about the process of a PhD.

Exactly the processes. Its vigorous and yet fascinating.

My question is what is the connection between futures thinking and design? I can see how you were going for your MBA and then you kind of changed to adding futures thinking to design. I kind of see it but what is the connection? To me I see futures thinking as almost like another way to create.

I think the connections back to design that design manifests in something whether it be a product or a service or a brand or an organization design. It manifests in some kind of tangible or intangible outcome or service or product or work or whatever. And futures are the creation of futures to come. I think that is a really obvious connection. For me there was that I want to say disconnection or the disconnect but a little bit of interesting tension. That friction between design and foresight which meant that were often talking about designing things for long term but actually not really for the long term. So, long term was a couple of years or maybe six months or maybe five to ten years for a business strategy. But, those things have longevity. And the more I kept saying to smaller organizations small businesses or startups or not-for-profit that were still relatively small by my number or by an activity that every big brand started small. I kept thinking of what did Coca Cola think about when it was a small brand? Did they actually use it? I know they use foresight within their organization now. But what are we designing and what is the lifespan of that? What are the consequences of that? I also felt a little bit of dissatisfaction not with design thinking as I think design thinking is a great process and its a great set of tools and it can be deployed really well in organizations for lots of different things. But, I felt that there was a bit missing from design thinking as a process or a typical innovation or creative process in an organization. Where there wasnt a lot of attention to the longer time span. So, we might have an immediacy around delivering innovation or a new product or service or getting something into the market. But that foresight wasnt always thought through. Even though there were so many different voices and so many different perspectives brought into a process it still felt it was a bit lacking. And then I think I saw a lot of emergent conversations around design thinking being a way to create better futures. And absolutely it is. But if the foresight piece isnt there if the futures thinking and the futures tools arent within that process or part of that process or the foresight work hasnt been done before that design thinking begins to take place its an opportunity lost. Its an opportunity to think 25 50 years out. Its an opportunity to bring different realities and different perspectives into a process that is really well understood and really well known mostly. For me there was just a wall. It isnt the thing. Design thinking is not this global panacea. Its not the pill that we can take and expect everything to be fixed. I think it felt like there was a little bit missing being around that. So, theres a connection a clear connection in the sense designers bring stuff to life. So, they get stuff out of peoples heads and put it in in front of you. They get to use the phrase get it off the whiteboard and into the marketplace. Thats phenomenal I cant do the work I do without equal to bring stuff to life. What I carry in my head is my imagination Im not a designer. I struggle with anything more than a stick figure or a word document. I think that the other thing that there is this connection between the imagination and those futures that can be envisioned and actually making them happen.

What are the challenges in teaching foresight?

I think its the opening up of mind. And the challenges are around the methods and tools. Asking people to think 25 50 years out when we often have trouble thinking about what were doing next week. But then some of the language of course that can be obscure. It can be obtuse. And we live in a world that tends to prioritize and privilege certainty and guarantee and knowing over uncertainty and immergence and trusting that what you are doing will bring about a result. I actually think thats where there is another link to the design process because as a client you brief the designer to do something and you have no real idea of what theyre going to produce until it gets produced. Theres a lot of emergent properties around the design process. Theres a lot of iterations. Same with foresight you dont know what its going to be until you get there and that is kind of tricky. Then this just the challenges of more processes more tools. I sat in many conversations with Joe Varas and Peter Hayward where it was another day another model. But today heres a model use that if it serves you great if it doesnt will there be something else. I think its event depends on whos in the room and what interests they have in thinking longer-term. I think everyone has the capacity to be a futures thinker.

Because its really imaginative. I would feel comfortable saying that Walt Disney was a futurist because he had this imagination and he saw the future. He was able to develop things today that are going to be future centric. So, he always had that. He was always so many steps ahead of everyone else. I think that its fair to say that he was a futurist. He was a futures thinker. Then he coupled that with design imagine. I would agree that although theres a lot of uncertainty you have this opportunity to imagine all of the possibilities. But isnt that how things have happened? Isnt that how Google, isnt that how Facebook, isnt that how all of these people have made things happen? Its been an imagination. It never existed before.

We often as people have imagined things that we might find useful or could be interesting. But we dont bring them to play. We dont actually create them. We dont make them real in our lives. And designers do that. We didnt ask for the internet. We didnt ask for electric vehicles. They were depictions of alternative ways of communicating of ways of their alternate ways of doing business alternative ways of transport. We need these images of alternative in order to prompt us into thinking. And it then is down to the individual to decide you know do we want that? Is that actually a good thing for us? that want presented so many different futures in the work that he led. Its nice to see that people at work are I like that. Yeah, Ill pick that up. And we have choices. So, we can say no. In Design weve had this discussion about print is dead print is dying prints not going to happen. Were still printing stuff. Print is not dead.

At least not while Im alive because I need print. Im very technological. Everything weve run in the is high-tech. However, I still need a book. I still need a highlighter. There are certain things that I need in print. My magazines I feel more comfortable reading them in print. My books I feel more comfortable with print. The Bible I feel more comfortable reading that in print. All of this stuff is available and I guess its good for maybe the Millennials. I dont know Im not comfortable with it yet.

Ive got two research projects at the moment that are not part of my PhD. Theyre part of my research work at Swineburne. and both of those projects are distinctly different theyre both related to health. But one is more in their aging and older and mental health space. The other is in sexual health. What were finding in both is that digital has a role to play but print has a significant role to play. We take print communication out of the equation that communication equation for both of these particular projects. So, there are very specific very important groups of people who use those products and need those products who wont get them. Print is critical. One particular project print is so critical that in some of the research weve been doing were starting to understand that for some people printing is their daily connection to the rest of the world. But print medium is their way of getting news. They cant do digital. They cant do electronic delivery because of their condition. So, this print is dead digital is everything doesnt work for everyone. I know its kind of an extreme example its almost a naive example but its one of those mantras that you hear around foresight and design. Oh, this is dead. Weve got the top 10 predictions this is what is going to beat next year. We can choose whether those things are going to be beat by choosing to use them or not.

There we go. Absolutely because if theres a demand theres a supply.

Going back really quickly to the whole challenges of teaching foresight I think that if we dont stay in that open mindset of like Dr. Gary said. What if we? What if people like Walt Disney, Google and all these companies that have said that very question what if we? They wouldnt be where they are today. Which is interesting.

Exactly and in the classroom when you ask that what if we did this you might be looking at a group of 15 to 20 students from 11 or 12 different countries around the world. So, that we changes because there is no one we. You then get into a discussion around walks for we as a people which is a voice expressed by a student from a particular part of the world or from a particular organization. That we is distinct and needs to be heard. Then someone else expresses their we. And you suddenly got to open a space for descent which is for me one of the most interesting parts in the foresight process. But, open up the space for the conversation. What is it that we want versus what another we wants?

It is based on theirexperience because a different country, adifferent organization, a differentcommunity has a different experience. So,that what if wecomes with that experience. So, theyrebringing that experience to the table. So,theres so much more to work with when youre actually working a project whenyoure actually working on making changebecause youre getting it from differentperspectives and different experiences.

Absolutely and that makes it maybe more challenging. but it also makes some more fun. And it makes it I think more powerful. Not just in terms of a foresight process but for the people participating. So, their learning is much deeper. And a lot of the learning comes from within themselves as opposed to a tool or a process that is introduced in a classroom. And I think thats another part about foresight that often doesnt get as explored. That your personal journey is that important as the learning journey that youre going on. Whether that be in the form of education setting or learning about something going through a process at work.

I wanted to take a couple steps back and to hear a little bit more about design. I have a niece who is a graphic designer and of course she works with me. And I do foresight so I keep telling her we could marry this. We take couple this because she already has that vivid imagination. Ill give her a project and she says tell me what do you want? And I was like I want this, this, and this. And so, shed go away and shed give me that. and then one day she was like can I have like creative autonomy? Can I like just go crazy? And I said I dont know what does go crazy look like? She said just let me do it and came up with an incredible concept that I never thought of. Because she already had that creativity that imagination in her. So, when you talk about design is that what youre saying? And is that what youre coupling with foresight?

I think a lot of the time yes. Im also talking about designers having the capacity for more developed futures thinking. So, that anticipatory thinking capability or capacity for designers to bring that to every project. So, to be asking I suppose bigger and maybe deeper questions about the projects that theyre working on. So, for some people that might be as fundamental as do I actually want to work on this project? Do I really want to take this break from this plant? Do I want to engage in that kind of work? Does it align with my values and my practice? And is that the face I want to be in? Or it could be as small and its actually not a small question but a smaller consideration which is well if I talk to my client about this and say to them dont tell me about the next 12 months but tell me about the next five years or 10 years. What is the entire lifecycle of these products? What do you think is your strategy for 10 years from now? And then do a bit of back casting from there that might help with the design process. But, I do think it is as fundamental as giving designers the capacity to imagine things differently. And asking the right questions as part of the briefing process. So, not the we need a brochure to do this but we need a way to help people understand more about this particular issue. Or we need to find a way to improve the design so that this group of people use it. We need to find a way to design this so that people with this level of ability can engage with it. We need to find a way for this group of people to access our website using a particular mean. it is very much back to that more open-ended approach that you were talking about before. That what if we? And a lot of the time that question from a design thinking process which is how might we? That is a useful question because its not a why or who question but it is a how that challenges the designer. I think sometimes there is a distinction between futures and design which is much more about the why and the who versus the what and the how. The design you could argue maybe plays around the what and the how more than it does the why and the who. But if you dont have a why and a who in your design process then you could really design anything. You dont understand the needs the real what is that what is the reason for doing this and who you are designing it for then you can create anything and someone will kind of pick it up.

Tell me what kind of projects are you working on now?

Well Ive got a rather big project which is to develop a new condom. So, Im part of project geldom which is funded by them Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We are working on using a tough hydrogel to develop a condom that you cant feel. Which should in theory make a lot more people want to use it. Its linked to a bigger strategic initiative around preventing the spread of AIDS globally. And condoms are still the most effective barrier protection you have. So, its not about contraception but it is about sexual health. So, were looking at what we can do with a top hydrogel to make people actually want to use it. But that involves looking at human behavior. It also the anticipatory process of what do you do if you introduce this as an intervention into a community? How does a community to respond to that? How do we do that in a culturally appropriate way? Where do we need to be sensitive to peoples issues around sexual health? What can you and cant you discuss? Then were a team of researchers from universities in Australia and were really passionate about our work. But, we have to engage with someone for them to decide whether they want to hear what we have to say about our product. There is very much a human incentive and futures oriented process in the work that we do.

They also bring their own biases, thoughts and feelings.

Others biases are some of the things that you come up against in design awful lot. And obviously in foresight as well. Thats where there are tools like causal analysis. Which I really enjoy using because they help hear some of those assumptions. Theres also a tool that I was teaching learnt it from Dorie Tunstall whos now located in Canada. Which is a process called QAME questions assumptions methods and evidence. One of the things that that tool lays fair and square on the table is the assumption. For the assumptions that you bring to your research process and to get them out and understand how they might be challenged. Or that to identify assumptions that you didnt even know where assumptions and biases. We have assumptions about how a condom might be used. As me Im female I live in Australia Im nearly 50 I have my assumptions about condoms. But its not about me. I have to design for other people and empathy is only going to get me so far. I need to work with the people who are going to be possibly using these condoms.

You do outreach. You go to the community. You go to the people. How do you do that?

At the moment we are using some neuro testing to determine responses to the material. We will go into the field at some point this year which is really exciting. So, well be able to engage with communities in various parts of the world. So, that that is in planning at the moment.

Youre creating something but at the same time youre doing a human interaction. Youre able to do outreach and to speak to the people and understand where they are. Pretty much like we were speaking before. Who are they? What do they want? Whats their experience? Because theyre going to speak to you from that experience. They cant speak to you from anything else. So, as they speak to you from their experience then you can understand and be able to design best for them.

Yes, because theres no way that I can go into a community and say heres this awesome new product. Its beautifully branded dont you love the way it looks? Isnt it amazing? now use it. If theyve never used one before it doesnt matter how god it is or how attractive it is.

Or they come with those assumptions like this is uncomfortable. I dont like it. I dont want it. It doesnt fit my lifestyle. Im never going to get aids. Those are the things that you have to deal with. So, how do you make something appealing? How do you make it something thats trendy that they would want to do? Rachel and I had an interview the other day we were talking about remember that toy?

The fidget spinners?

A mom created that first son who had autism. So, for his sensory level that helped. But there another kid that thought it was cool and that became all of the rage. Thats why its so important to be able to connect with the audience that A you think would need it or what want it. And sometimes just venture out to possibly people that you may not think want it but theres a very good chance that they would.

And doing it in a way that this is about that meaningfulness in design. Design is a way of making human values and human meaning of what it is to be human. Design is a way of bringing that into reality in the world. This is all about human behavior, our preferences, the things that were comfortable with, the things that were not comfortable with, and helping people understand how that all kind of fits together in a way that is that better world. Which is then the connection to better future for everyone.

I want to thank you so much for being here. For sharing with us. I tip my hat to you. I remember that whole doctoral journey and I dont want to think back. It was amazing because when I was done I remember my last course when it was finished I was like did I learn anything? Am I supposed to go out and implement that stuff that stuff that I just didnt learn. Its amazing how it comes to you. You dont realize. You think that youre learning at such a rapid pace and youre taking all of this information that theres no way that youll ever really know it. and quite the contrary. It was really fascinating. But I remember the journey and I tip my hat to you.

Ive been told by a few people that it not just about the PhD. its not just the thesis. Its the journey along the way. The journey even as important as the destination. I know for some people its just the destination. for others its just the journey. But I see I dont want to say a balance but I can see they are two distinct things.

It really changes your life unlike anything else that Ive ever experienced. It really changes your life. Your whole perspective of thinking it changes your life. Alrighty then so thank you so much for being here. Thank you for taking your time. Thank you for taking your afternoon for us. This is huge thank you so much and we look forward to having more conversations. Were both members of the association of professional futurists so, well continue this this conversation even if its off the air.

I really appreciate the opportunity to have a chat with you both thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alright everyone so this end this segment of business foresight strategies and next week well have another futurist with us. Thank you so much for staying tuned and being with us. Thank you so much we look forward to seeing you next week. Bye.

Bye.

Our Guest

Bridgette Engel is Course Director for the Master of Design at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. She lectures in strategic foresight, design strategy and management, design thinking, and creativity and innovation.

Engelers passion for her field led her to become a Board Member of the Association of Professional Futurists.

She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in strategic foresight and her research focus is anticipatory thinking in society, technology, and culture.

Guest Link

http://www.incognitosum.com/

Interview With Bridgette Engler- Futures Meets Design How Designers are Using Foresight 

#DrNildaShow #BusinessForesightShow #DrNildaBusinessForesightShow

#Bridgette Engler #Futures Meets Design How Designers are Using ForesightDonors and victims of the November mass shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs have begun to question the distribution of funds from the church leadership.

The questions, sparked by the release of design plans for the new $3 million church, came to a head when Lisa McNulty and her granddaughter, Hailey McNulty, expressed to residents and on a local Facebook group page that they were not getting church funds.

Haileys mother, Tara McNulty, was killed in the massacre. Hailey and her brother James now live with Lisa.

Frank Pomeroy, pastor of the church, said there was a lot of misinformation that spun out of control.

It would be nice if people that have confusion, or if theyre worried about misappropriation or anything of that nature, rather than going through Facebook and social media, come sit down and talk to us, Pomeroy said. Lets discuss whats going on, rather than trying to dig up all these conspiracy thoughts out there."

Others piled on, asking for transparency regarding how much money the church raised, how funds were being distributed, and whether survivors and family members of victims were getting their requests denied. Facebook posts got so heated that at one point the group was archived, effectively freezing the page.

We just want to know how much, give us the amount, and then we want to know how much is left. Its simple, simple, math. And all you get is a runaround, McNulty said.

Pat Dziuk, who is head of the churchs Sutherland Springs Restoration Committee in charge of distributing funding, said they had not tallied the total count of donations made to the church just yet, and wants to announce that number to the congregation before he relays it to the media.

Gunman Devin Kelley killed 26 people and wounded 20 others when he opened fire on the congregation with an assault rifle on Nov. 5. Kelley was shot and then killed himself as he was chased from the church.

McNulty and others had wondered why the church cant just pool all its money and divide it up equally among the survivors and victims family.

But Dziuk said the Internal Revenue Services requires the church use a needs-based system.

How do you put a value on someone whose been killed versus someone whose wounded? How do you do that? Dziuk said.

You may have some victims who have very protracted needs, like Kris (Workman) or Zach (Poston), theyll have medical expenses for years. Then you have some folks like us, who lost Annabelle, said Pomeroy, referring to his 14-year-old daughter, who was killed. And how incredibly sad that is, but we have no needs like they do. Its not fair for us to take the same amount of money.

Of the approximately 50 need-based requests from survivors and family members of victims, the committee has only denied one of them, Dziuk said. To get approval, the requests require committee member signatures and reasonable evidence of need.

The review takes a maximum of two weeks, though it may have taken longer for some people if they applied and were rejected for funding from an H-E-B account or the Attorney Generals Crime Victims Compensation office first before coming to the church.

The needs-based application was only recently formalized, as Dziuk called it. Before that, people were sending in requests without an official form.

Pomeroy acknowledged that it might seem like filling out the forms and making requests with differing entities is a lot of bureaucracy, but its required by tax law.

The attorney general can provide medical expenses, and sometimes funerals or lost wages, Dziuk said, and the churchs insurance company, Church Mutual, can also help compensate for lost wages.

But Lisa McNulty isnt worried about lost wages or immediate expenses like paying rent  which is what the church forms indicate. She is worried about James needing braces next year. Shes concerned about Hailey going off to college in two years. How is she going to afford these future, long-term expenses? Will the church be chipping in?

Dziuk said they havent gotten to figuring out these long-term needs for people.

McNulty provided the Express-News with evidence of a check that was sent to the church for her, but has not been transferred to her yet.

Dzuick acknowledged there was a check waiting for her, but that the committee had only just finished sorting through the donations and putting them in their designated funding accounts. (There are about three categories, which include an undesignated, general fund; and funds for victims funerals, building of the new church, and miscellaneous).

The church has been using Amegy Banks lockbox to sort through all of the mail and checks, and then its up to the church committee to ensure they get routed into the proper funding pots.

I know were not doing anything illegal or immoral, were doing our best to meet needs, Dziuk said. We owe that to the donors to be good stewards of the money they sent. So were doing our best to do that.

Funding for the new church and adjoining education center was to come from two sources: the North American Mission Board and a GoFundMe account established by Bradford Beldon, of the roofing company Beldon Enterprises Inc.

Beldon has been a key player in Sutherland Springs recovery after he transformed the sanctuary, which had been the scene of the mass murder, into a serene memorial.

The $1.1 million he raised consisted mostly of in-kind donations of services and materials his friends and colleagues had said they were willing to donate. His GoFundMe account raised $219,474 in cash.

When Beldon was informed that his money would be going to phase II of the project  the construction of a multipurpose facility, two years from now  and not phase I, the building of the church, he shut down the GoFundMe page. He said he couldnt guarantee that the services people offered would be available two years from now.

There were a lot of people who wanted to help. its a shame that  they didnt choose to capitalize on using that help, Beldon said.

Scott Gurosky, president of an Alabama firm managing the project, said they chose to separate their work with phases so there wouldnt be confusion between the two funding streams.

We thought it was cleaner and easier to separate the giving sources. One is NAMB, and the other is GoFundMe Sutherland springs. So theres no overlap. And thats what we did, he said.

But Beldon said there was a lot of secrecy surrounding those decisions, because he was told his fundraising wouldnt be used for the church construction until just before the Alabama firm announced its design plans, he said.

As for what came of that almost $220,000 in cash, he said some of the victims families were upset they didnt have access to the funds.

But there were other fundraisers for the victims. Ours was solely for the purpose of building a new church, he said.

He used $99,643 to pay off the debt on two acres of property where the new church and center will be built. He then sent the remaining $119,000 to the church under restrictive covenants  so the funds would only be used for construction.

Beldon said its a shame that they couldnt work on those projects in tandem, but said thats not stopping his company, Beldon Enterprises, from donating the roofing of the new church.

We very much wanted to help from the bottom of our hearts, but I completely understand them wanting to do something different. Theres no hard feelings, all we asked was for the opportunity to help them with the project, because we care.County officials Friday morning showed off their new state of the art facility for processing people who have been arrested.

The goal of the center being built next to the Bexar County Jail is to improve efficiency and access while treating people with dignity, they said.

Sheriff Javier Salazar and County Judge Nelson Wolff led reporters through the Bexar County Justice Intake and Assessment Center for a first look at the facility. A completion date has not yet been given, but officials said they hope to wrap it up over the summer.

Much of the facility was designed to address the inefficiencies in the Bexar County Central Magistrates Office that were identified by the Council of State Governments. The magistrates office was described as a bottleneck when it came to processing people, which led to many defendants not being adequately screened in accordance with state law.

With this in mind, the new intake facility uses an open booking concept. Mike Lozito, director of judicial services for the county, said the new approach should halve the time individuals spend waiting to see a judge and be booked into jail or bonded out compared with the current system.

Currently, those waiting to be processed are put in small cells in the magistrates office. People are taken out of the cells in groups of eight or more to go before the judge, who sets bail. Those who are able to post bond are released; those who cant are sent to the jail to be booked.

Its an undignified process, Wolff said, that can take more than 12 hours.

You go over there and you look at the little cubbyholes that people have to go to, Wolff said. Youre getting there like youve been convicted already  and theyre not convicted already.

But the new facility will have a large waiting room that seats 150 people. Men are kept on one side and women on the other while theyre waiting to be taken before a judge. There are still cells, but theyre meant only for violent offenders or those who are being unruly, Salazar said. Up to 50 people can be contained in the cells lining the walls of the waiting area. Once theyve been magistrated, theyll go through the booking process before being sent next door to the jail.

In addition, the new facility will put pretrial services, such as checking on individuals financial status, in the same building. Presiding Magistrate Judge Michael Ugarte, who works in the central magistrates office, said that should make it easier to determine a proper bail amount.

Theyre going to give us a lot more information than weve had before, Ugarte said.

The facility also will the space needed to handle physical and mental health screenings.

Theres also space set aside to give people the ability to meet with their public defender after being booked.

The new facility also is designed to benefit those on the law enforcement side. Deputies dropping off a person whos been arrested will be able to consult with staff members of the district attorneys office on the same trip.

The building totals 135,000 square feet and is five stories tall. It also has eight tiered housing units that can be used for overflow. Those units include satellite classrooms and medical spaces.

The facility is also designed to help the county carry out its jail diversion programs by stationing the Center for Health Care Services at the site. The center helps those in need of mental health services.

Were very fortunate to have people trying to really work with the individuals, Lozito said. Ultimately, if you can fix somebody and take care of their issues, thats the best public safety because theyre not coming back and confronting or hurting someone.

Salazar said he and his command staff visited other locations where open booking is used, including Dallas County, when deciding how to set up the new facility.

Were not starting from ground zero here; we actually got out and spoke to the people that are doing it, Salazar said. We learned some of the things not to do as well.

The old magistrates office isnt going away completely. County officials said San Antonio Police Department has decided not to use the facility.

We believe were going to have a state-of-the-art system, and they chose not to participate in it, Wolff said. Im disappointed obviously, but theyll all end up here sooner or later.

SAPD Police Chief William McManus said, There are numerous logistical issues that we tried to address with the county but we couldnt come to a resolution that was satisfactory. The bottom line for us was that switching to the countys booking facility would result in officers spending more time booking prisoners and less time on the streets.

Salazar said he believes the city is waiting to see how procedures are worked out once the facility opens.

We dont mind people watching us while we do it because that will help us refine the process, Salazar said.

jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSAThe San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association wants you to distrust, resent and despise your city government.

Thats not how Chris Steele would put it, of course. At a press conference this week, moments before delivering petitions to City Hall that call for monumental amendments to the city charter, the fire union president sought to portray those demanding change as regular people.

In fact, the most hard-core agitators for the amendments  those arrayed behind Steele at the news conference, including a handful he had selected to speak  are far from typical residents. Unlike the vast majority of San Antonians, many are so steeped in a politics of conspiracy, grievance and hate toward city government, its no wonder theyve embraced Steeles belligerent campaign.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg has vowed not to back down in his opposition to the amendments, calling them destructive to municipal governance here and rooted in a labor dispute between the city and the union. The changes would cap a future city managers salary at no more than 10 times that of the lowest-paid city employee; make it easier to take city ordinances to a public vote; and prohibit the city from going to court over labor agreements.

It seems like the mayor wants to characterize this as a union issue, Steele said at the news conference. So these groups are going to talk to you and tell you why its a people issue.

Behind Steele stood Antonio Diaz, a failed candidate for mayor who earned less than one percent of the vote last year. In a previous interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Diaz spoke about his hatred toward the government.

Ive basically struggled with the city politics for about 15 years just to get a declaration of a date recognizing indigenous people, he said. Was more filled with hatred toward the government because of my oppressed condition. But Ive learned  you can only meet force if you address it with force.

To Diazs left stood perennial council gadfly Jack Finger, hoisting a sign that read, Take That , City Council! In his regular tirades against city government, Finger has dealt in explicit racism and homophobia  once expressing outrage that the city spent tax dollars in support of a Latino-centric event, for instance.

To Diazs right stood Bob Martin of the Homeowner-Taxpayer Association of Bexar County, a man who has spent the past decade opposing a laundry list of government initiatives, including bond programs; a pre-kindergarten program; a pilot program to help city employees purchase homes in the inner city; and a plan to raise wages for the lowest-paid county workers.

Its a lack of trust in government, Martin once said, explaining his opposition to redirecting state funds to maintain roads.

At the press conference, Steele introduced George Alejos, a member of a San Antonio chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens who once fought to block the construction of two downtown transit centers by filing a lawsuit against VIA Metropolitan Transit. Despite a lack of evidence, Alejos alleged the agency had misappropriated funds.

At the mic, Alejos echoed a conspiracy theory first uttered by Steele that the city had scheduled work on the front steps of City Hall that day to foil the unions press conference.

Well, isnt it surprising that City Manager (Sheryl) Sculley last night at 7:30 ordered that this work detail be set up for today knowing full well that were going to be here at 10:30 today to address the public, Alejo said.

The hate-spigot for Sculley stayed on as Steele introduced Democratic activist David Van Os, who described the city managers salary as nauseating, despicable and obscene.

Steele has his own grievances with City Hall, of course. Chief among them: the citys lawsuit against the fire union challenging the constitutionality of an evergreen clause in its labor contract.

In recent elections, as the fire union has refused even to negotiate that contract, Steele has sought leverage in the composition of city council, endorsing candidates presumably friendly to the unions collective bargaining demands. He has largely failed in this endeavor.

As a result, on Wednesday, Steele characterized council as 11 people who dont represent properly the citizens.

This is subterfuge; what the union president means is that council doesnt adequately represent him.

In those arrayed around him, and in the petition signatures drummed up by a firm based in Buda, Steele has channeled the personal grievances of die-hard foes like him  not regular people.

bchasnoff@express-news.netRe: Can we fuse conservatism with Trumpism? Michael Gerson, Other Views, April 3:

Michael Gerson dons his robe, lights his lantern and goes out into broad daylight to find an honest, coherent, intellectual conservative base. It used to exist, he says, but was mostly killed off by Trumpism. Now, to find a fusion of the two.

I have terrible news for one of my favorite writers  intellectual conservative thought died about the time Bill Buckley did. The only people keeping a vestige of it alive today include David Brooks, Kathleen Parker and Mr. Gerson himself.

But there is a sort of fusion between Trumpism and conservatism because now there is no difference between the two.

Just ask those Republicans fleeing their elective posts and, likewise, those apologists clinging to this fiasco some call a president.

They have Trump for better or worse. Till death do them part?

I dont see an honest Republican anywhere

Mark A. Hall

Blissful ignorance

As the POTUS states, we dont know who is crossing the U.S.-Mexico border or what theyre up to. This is a definite cause for major concern.

We can rest assured the illegals are not wasting dollars at the rate of of the EPA chief, Scott Pruitt.

Remarkable how our POTUS can remain so blind and ignorant.

Fred Machado

These guns excluded

Re: No right to bear arms; Proponents of unlimited access fight majority rule, disrespect Constitution, Al Kaufmann, Opinion, Sunday:

Kauffman refers to a 2008 decision in District of Columbia vs. Heller wherein the Supreme Court interpreted the Second Amendment of the Constitution to protect the right of law abiding citizens to use of arms in defense of hearth and home.

The court was careful to state a citizens right does not include the right to keep and bear an AR-15 or similar weapon. The 2008 Heller decision, as well as three subsequent Supreme Court opinions, and opinions of several U.S. Courts of Appeals, have confirmed the constitutional right is limited to the use of guns for defense in the home.

The right excludes machine guns, short-barreled shotguns and any other weapons used for military service.

Bob Bunyard, New Braunfels

History torn down

Re: Big Easys mayor sees racism with fresh eyes, Gilbert Garcia, Books, Sunday:

I was infuriated, but not surprised, to read Gilbert Garcia turn Mitch Landrieu into Nelson Mandela for dividing the city by ripping down iconic landmarks and presiding over a city still marred by violent crime, Katrina malaise, rampant unemployment among African-Americans, and now very strained race relations.

I am a Creole, so unlike Garcia, I know New Orleans, and I know what a disaster removing these statues has been. Landrieu is loathed in much of New Orleans because of his arrogance and the horrible way the removal was handled. He also lied about the cost and what would happen to the statues after their removal. He is leaving, and they still sit in a shed, with zero plan of what to do with them.

Nice job, Mitch.

Nothing has improved in New Orleans, and philanthropy is at a standstill because people feel insulted by this whole episode. The process was a disgrace.

Ron Nirenberg did the same here. I wonder if he will write a book.

Garcia can claim Nirenberg is Gandhi for removing our own statue in the dead of night. No wonder nobody wants the Cenotaph removed. Why would you trust any politician here? It may end up in an undisclosed location for eternity. Why not leave the statues and use them as a teaching tool? No, no, a few are offended, so lets just remove them in the dead of night and store them out of site.

Some are offended by the Cenotaph and the Spanish missions, so should we remove them as well? Oh, and maybe we should rip down Mount Vernon and Monticello, and build a statute of Landrieu and Nirenberg, so that in 100 years someone can topple them as well  at night, of course.

Mandela chose not to remove statues of Paul Kruger and Cecil Rhodes because he wanted peace and knew the statues meant little to black South Africans but a lot to white South Africans. Black South Africans wanted jobs and education and equality, not the destruction of landmarks.

Who was the greater man?

Shannon Deason

Call it sad

Re: Draconian laws, Your Turn, April 7:

Taking God out of the schools, because of different ways to worship him, has resulted in many, many young people never having a chance to hear and understand why we do not allow killing, stealing, bullying, treating others with hatred and putting themselves before others.

Most religions have similar commandments, but without parents teaching them about God, at home or in a church, youth have no way to learn how to be good citizens in this 2018 society.

Call it draconian; I call it sad.

Barbara Kaler

Not native, either

Re: Seeking freedom, Your Turn, Saturday:

The letter writer made the same error as the vast majority of people.

There is no such thing as native Americans as the American Indians ancestors migrated to the Americas maybe 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.

Sam A. KershRe: Helping patients, serving God; Clinic staffed by Muslims treats the uninsured  for free, mySA, April 5:

This was a heart-warming story and I am very proud that Rich Marini wrote it, and that the Express-News ran it.

While not being Muslim myself, I have worked with many over the years who were remarkable individuals and consistently gave back to the community.

We need more of these stories to help combat the fear and uninformed prejudice that is so rampant in society.

Deirdre Lopez-Marquez R.N.

Thats suffering?

Re: This is civil? Your Turn, April 4:

OK, Pop has an opinion, as I, or any other American, has.

The letter writer says she suffered through Obama? How many allegations of infidelity did she suffer through?

How many tariffs, threats of bombs, all the off-the-cuff tirades upset her? Did Obama cozy up to Russian leaders? Did he say, I love Dreamers, then send them to the lions? Our country needs a Bush, a uniter, not a divider, like our current president who fosters racism through his innuendos.

History will judge Mr. Trump. Meanwhile all of us, including Pop, can have an opinion and so state it.

We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Carlos Carranco Jr., Laredo

Southern invasion

The terror exhibited about the citizenship question in the 2020 census is extremely telling. The powers that be are terrified that average Americans could become aware of how illegal aliens have invaded our country if the question is answered truthfully. I think the official estimate of 11 million illegal aliens is a joke. There are more like 20 million, 75 percent from Mexico, most of the rest from other Latino countries, just like the Dreamers.

If average Americans understood how detrimental illegal aliens are to our interests, there would be a revolution. It is unacceptable that our government has tacitly allowed the invasion, while trying to give millions amnesty. The ubiquitous screeching of racism when Americans object to this slow but sure overtaking of our country by Hispanics adds insult to injury.

Democrats are terrified of losing their illegal voters; Republicans are terrified of the ire of the elite who would have to pay decent wages. Both are terrified of losing representation based on legal population. Entities are terrified of losing federal monies based on head counts if illegals do not fill out the census form. Last, but certainly not least, Mexico is terrified all the poor citizens it has foisted on U.S. taxpayers will be sent back, thus ending all the remittances into Mexico. The question should be on the form and the penalty for answering untruthfully should be increased and highlighted.

Sharon Diane Dupree

Shenanigans

I marvel at the diverse opinions of your letter writers. Most messages seem to address Trump  some for, some against. I try to maintain an open mind and want to comprehend why some defend him so strongly.

This is a difficult task for me. Evangelicals, God bless them, are willing to overlook his many ethical and moral shortcomings, which would be understandable from a Christian perspective, if only he displayed the smallest amount of remorse or contrition. Conservatives give him a ton of slack when he and his Republican Congress and cabinet spend taxpayer money with no regard for our growing deficits. Again, this would be plausible if he and his corrupt cronies were not lining their own pockets. These same conservatives used to excoriate those pushing for expenditures that would do the most good for most Americans. What happened to their fear of saddling our kids and grandkids with exorbitant debt?

I am an eternal optimist, so I pray that either I will eventually understand what compels some to accept these shenanigans, or that MAGA enthusiasts will come to their senses and realize how much damage to our democracy is occurring. Trump is not making America greater; rather, he is diminishing it. Hopefully, the epiphany comes sooner rather than later.

J. J. Torres

Low-life tactics

Let me get this straight.

For the next four years, duly-elected President Donald Trump will have to run the gantlet of liberal, fake-news accusations, conspiracy theories and trumped-up investigations by the likes of Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, the Castros, the Clintons, George Soros, Hollywood celebrities, marches, protests, riots and so on, and nothing will get done as far as governing our country?

Have our government leaders fallen to such low-life tactics?

I guess the answer is a resounding YES!

Larry Peabody

Education revolt

The current teachers revolt in several red states should keep Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick awake at night. His plan is to starve the Texas public school system, which the poor and minority people in the state use to educate their children. And while the Legislature is cutting public education funds to the bone, Patrick aims to replace the public education system with a quasi-public collection of charter schools. Patrick wants to give public money to fund charter schools.

Maybe the time is ripe for Texas public school teachers to join other red states in demanding adequate funding to properly educate our children in the public education system.

Jesse OrtizJohn Robben /

Out there  The Greenwich Water Clubs 10th Annual Boat Show took place last weekend on River Road in Cos Cob. The in-water show featured 100 new boats, sea trials and free admission as well as a spectacular VIP party on a chilly Saturday afternoon. What started between two cross-town dealers Beacon Point Marine and Catalano & Sons  has grown over the last 10 years to include 18 dealers and sponsors. The VIP party offered delicious food prepared by chef Todd McGarvey, wine courtesy of Vals Putnam Wines & Liquors in Greenwich and 10th anniversary cupcakes by DiMare Pastry Shop in Riverside. Michael Sexton and Ravi Mallela of Lamborghini Manhattan offered patrons a chance to sit inside two of the highest end Lamborghinis. Boating safety advocates Joe and Pam Fedorko of Old Greenwich, founders of the Emily Catherine Fedorko Foundation (emsway.org), gave out free seat preservers to patrons and full life preserver jackets kits to those who bought a boat from any of the dealers.

On screen  Actress Chloe Sevigny, a Darien native, will be stopping in at the Avon Theatre in Stamford for a post-film Q&A on Saturday, April 21, following a 7:15 p.m. screening of Andrew Haighs film Lean on Pete. In the moving story about a boys connection with a special racehorse, Sevigny plays the jockey, Bonnie. Sevigny earned an Academy Award nomination for the 1999 film Boys Dont Cry and won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in the HBO series Big Love. For tickets ($7 for members/$12 for non-members) visit www.avontheatre.org or call 203-967-3660.Two months after Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin disappeared, police made a grisly discovery on a wooded property in Weston.

Jeffrey Navins body was found in contractor bags, wrapped in a fleece blanket, with his legs bound by painters tape and with a bullet wound in his gut.

His wifes body was next to his, wrapped in a blue tarp. Two J & J Refuse T-shirts were next to the bodies.

Now times nearly up for their son, Kyle Navin.

In two days, he will face a 12-member jury for allegedly shooting his Easton parents to death  and then all possible deals will be off the table.

The 29-year-old Navin has previously turned down an offer of 60 years in prison. If convicted of the two counts of murder by special circumstances, he would face up life in prison with no parole.

But that prospect didnt appear to weigh on Navins mind as he joked and chatted with judicial marshals last week as he waited for a pretrial hearing to begin. He clearly enjoys the attention he has gotten, smiling whenever he sees a television camera in the courtroom.

He's in for the long haul. The trial, starting Tuesday in Bridgeport, will last five weeks, Superior Court Judge Robin Pavia told perspective jurors, with 57 prospective witnesses from state prosecutors Joseph Corradino and Michael DeJoseph.

Heroin habit; new girlfriend

The test could be if Navins girlfriend, Jennifer Valiante, 32, takes the stand and testifies against him.

In November, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and hindering prosecution in the case and is scheduled to be sentenced to up to eight years in prison after Navins trial. Both prosecutors and her Lawyer have said there are no plans for her to testify although her name is on the witness list.

Neither the prosecutors nor Navins lawyer, Eugene Riccio, would comment on the case.

Jeffrey Navin, 56, was born and raised in Westport, attended Staples High School and later graduated from the University of Connecticut.

His wife, Jeanette, 55, was born in Missouri and came to Westport as a teen. She also attended Staples High School and was a year behind Jeffrey. The couple first met while riding the same school bus.

They got married on May 31, 1986. Soon after their marriage, they began their business J & J Refuse. Jeanette Navin also worked for the Weston Public Schools as a librarian in the middle school.

The couple raised their two sons, Taylor and Kyle at their home in Weston, which they sold in June 2015, moving to a rental house in Easton.

By police and family accounts, the relationship between Kyle Navin and his father was a rocky one. At one point, the state Department of Children and Families was called in to investigate a complaint that Jeffrey Navin was emotionally and verbally abusive to his son.

While Taylor Navin moved to Mississippi, his older brother Kyle stayed in the area and worked for his parents refuse company. It was while making a trip to the Westport transfer station that Kyle Navin would strike up a relationship with Jennifer Valiante, who was working at the station as part of a community service order.

Court documents state that both Navin and Valiante had serious heroin addictions. His parents tried to get him treatment and bought Kyle a home in Bridgeport at 142 Aldine Ave.

But his heroin habit only became worse, according to court documents, jumping from $140 a day to $600 a day.

Kyle Navin rolled up a debt of $133,000.

Amazing life; violent deaths

We need to figure out what the best way to take them down whether it is get some money out of them somehow (expletive) him at the business the house something we got to figure out Im got to be real smart and do it quick, Kyle texted Valiante on May 14, 2015, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. Then well have 2000k credit union Weston house and j&j profit. Ive been thinking about it nonstop since yesterday. It would solve every single problem and give us a wealthy amazing life. Think about it little one.

Kyle Navin had broken a vertebra in a fall and on the morning of Aug. 4, 2015, his mother agreed to go on his garbage pickup route with him through Westport to help him load the truck.

She had previously told a friend that she and her husband were fed up with their sons drug use and planned to sell the company and take Kyle out of their will.

Police said sometime in the morning Kyle Navin shot his mother in the chest, through the seatbelt, as she sat in the passenger seat of the garbage truck.

He then drove her lifeless body back to her Easton home, calling Valiante to meet him there. Once at the house, he stole checks from his mothers ledger, police said.

Unable to reach his wife, Jeffrey Navin called and texted Kyle. Police said he later went to his sons Bridgeport home, where Kyle Navin fatally shot him in the stomach.

When police later contacted Taylor Navin to find out if he knew the whereabouts of his parents, they said he told them, When I heard my parents were missing, I thought to myself ... they either went on vacation, or my brother did something to them.When Anna Kain told her story  the one about how she was abused and threatened as a staffer in U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Estys office  she knew there might be backlash.

She knew there might be questions, calls for Estys resignation and a media firestorm.

But Kain said she did not tell her story for revenge or to finally get the help she never received. She did not tell her story to end the political career of a promising congresswoman and the man who abused her.

And she did not tell her story for the apologies.

Kain, 29, saw the movement she had silently helped start come to a screeching halt  and knew she could not stay quiet.

The ultimate reason I came forward is because theres a huge problem on Capitol Hill, Kain said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media. There was all of this momentum but then it stalled and not much was actually done. It seemed to me that the only thing that really motivates lawmakers and keeps the national conversation going is stories like mine being shared.

Kain is a founding member of Congress Too, a group of former Capitol Hill staffers pushing for sweeping reforms of the way sexual harassment and abuse is handled in legislative offices. Founded in November, on the heels of the Me Too movement in Hollywood and long before Kain ever went public with her story, the group has penned letters to both the House of Representatives and, last week, the Senate, urging them to pass legislation that would do just that.

The November letter garnered more than 1,500 signatures of support from former Capitol Hill staffers, and ultimately the legislation passed in the House. But that was two months ago, and its been sitting in the Senate ever since.

So Kain came forward. She told the story of how she was abused for months when Estys former Chief of Staff Tony Baker became her boss, about ultimately being punched and threatened with death by Baker, and about how too little was done far too late.

This isnt just a statistic about the prevalence of harassment in congressional offices, Kain said. It was my way of saying that this not only really happens, but heres exactly what happens and how and why this system failed.

The letter to the Senate, which Kain signed and publicly promoted on her Facebook page after her story was published, closed earlier this week with more than 1,300 additional signatures. In the aftermath of Kains story, dozens of people with experiences just like hers reached out, proving what shed always known  that shes not the only one.

Right now Im interested in focusing on the need for reform of the system that failed me and continues to fail staffers when they need it most, Kain said. Congress Too and this letter to the Senate has been one actionable step that I could take both by signing and helping promote it.

Kain is done rehashing the details of what was or wasnt done in her office. She has no interest in being the face of the story  and she has no inclination to comment on Estys decision not to run for re-election in November. Because for Kain, her part of the story has been told and its not about one office and one incident of abuse.

Its about a culture so pervasive and so ingrained on Capitol Hill that she, as a 24-year-old in her first professional job, thought thats what being an adult was supposed to be like. And when she realized it wasnt, had no idea where to turn.

I didnt even know that the Office of Compliance even existed during the entire time that I worked on the Hill, Kain said. And I looked numerous times to try when it was really bad in the office, desperately in search of someplace to go and someone to talk with about this. I didnt find anything. The only thing that seemed evident was the Ethics Committee, and it was really clear to me when I did look them up, its not the equivalent of an HR.

Theres an obvious hierarchy on Capitol Hill  from interns to the most senior level staffers and elected officials  that creates a power dynamic unlike almost any other industry, Kain said.

Theres also a whispered but unwritten rule across all Congressional offices: dont do anything or bring in any personal business that could reflect poorly on your elected official. And definitely dont burden that person with cries for help.

Its the kind of combined power structure and mentality where abuse can thrive, and the reason Kain waited months to tell anyone in her office, and years to tell the public.

I think a lot of women are inclined to de-escalate, Kain said. I just thought, Maybe this is what its like to be an adult at work and I just needed to toughen up. It just didnt seem worthy of bringing it up. I think the events of May 5, 2016, were quite literally what scared me into being forced to realize all of that.

Esty said she only learned of Bakers abusive relationship with Kain after that alcohol-fueled gathering in May that he organized to celebrate his 10th year of working on Capitol Hill. Baker got drunk and texted or called Kain about 50 times, and he threatened to find her and kill her.

It was obvious from the time she was hired, Kain said, that preventing personal conflicts and offering resources for staffers whove experienced workplace harassment and abuse was not a priority in any legislative office, let alone the one where she worked.

We didnt even have like a basic harassment training or anything like that, Kain said. We had a chemical leak training but not a just general workplace harassment training and what is OK and not OK in the most basic sense ... It sends a pretty strong signal about what is important and what is worthy of even having a policy for.

But Kain doesnt work on Capitol Hill anymore. Shes free to tell her story, and along with the thousands of other former staffers, push for the reform to make available the resources she never had.

My hope is that two things come of this, she said. The first is that it contributes in a meaningful way to the national conversation and gets Congress to do something to fix this problem. The second, is that if after all of this, if even one person, working on the Hill reads my story and recognizes that some of the things sound similar to what theyre going through, and because I shared my story, feel compelled to share theirs, I think that will be a success. I cant even honestly fathom how much of a difference it would have made if people were talking about this when I worked there.

Although Esty fired Baker in 2016 after learning about the abuse of Kain, recent revelations about how the congresswoman mishandled the Baker episode ultimately led to calls for her departure.

On April 2, Esty announced she would not seek re-election for a fourth term in Congress.

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasseltby Clinton Ho | Cardinals Correspondent | Fri, Apr 13th 5:16pm EDT

Nolan Arenado will be suspended five games for his involvement in a brawl that took place between the Rockies and Padres. (Bill Shaikin on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact:

Arenado will be eligible to return to the team next Wednesday, in the team's series finale against the Pirates. For leagues with weekly lineups, you'll want to consider alternative options as that'll only give Arenado three games for Week 3, although two of them will be in Colorado.A farmer has been stabbed after fighting off thieves who raided his farm in broad daylight, and now the police are appealing for more information.

The three thieves made off with a red quad bike from the Herefordshire family farm, in Clodock.

Farmer Oli Watkins, who was driving home with his dad and young daughter, saw his stolen quad bike at the layby on the A465 at Abergavenny on Monday 9 April.

The quad bike was behind a black Audi A4, about nine miles from their family farm.

Mr Watkins confronted the thieves on the layby. But during the heated exchange, he sustained a stab wound to his arm.

The 35-year-old farmer told Herford Times: "He had a hooked blade knife. When he was coming at me he was doing a slashing motion."

The three men left the scene in the Audi, leaving the damaged quad bike behind.

Gwent Police, who are leading the investigation as the altercation took place over the border into Wales, are now appealing for information.

The force are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time and may have witnessed the incident.

The police said: "It is understood that three vehicles, described as a black Audi estate car, a white Ford pick-up and a red quad bike, were parked in the layby at the time.

"We would also like to speak to anyone who may have seen a black Audi estate car driving in or around the Pandy are and/or towing a red quad on April 9."

Anyone with information that could assist with Gwent Police's enquiries is asked to call 101 quoting log number 262 9/4/18.Aamir Khan is currently riding high on the success of Secret Superstar and Dangal. The reason being, both the films have garnered huge numbers at the box-office and have become blockbusters, not only in India, but also in China. The government of China also gave him an honorary title in recognition of his growing popularity in the country. A leading mobile brand of the country also replaced Ranveer Singh with Aamir Khan as their brand ambassador, since they felt the latter would be a better fit because of his popularity.Aamir Khan was recently at an event in Singapore, where he spoke about his growing popularity in the neighboring country, I had nothing to do with it. It is the love that the audience in China gave to my work. he said.He said that the success of his films in a country like China is because the emotional keys that unlock Chinese hearts are very similar to those in India, I have watched my films with the Chinese audiences in China. They have reacted in the same manner as the Indian audiences. he said.At the event, Aamir Khan was also asked if people can expect him to join politics in the future, for which the actor replied saying, I am not cut out for politics. If the goal of politics is to contribute to nation building and shape society for the better, I am better placed to do it as a creative artist.Aamir Khan is currently busy shooting for Thugs Of Hindostan. Thugs Of Hindostan is without a doubt one of the most awaited films of the year, its star studded starcast of Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sanah Sheikh have already got the audience eagerly waiting for the release of the film. The movie is directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, who has already collaborated with Aamir Khan previously in Dhoom 3. The film is produced under the Yash Raj Films banner and is expected to release on 7 November 2018.Heres What Boney Kapoor Said:

Mid-Day quoted Boney Kapoor as saying, "Today, we, as a family, do not know whether we should celebrate or not. We don't know if we should feel elated, laugh with joy, or cry while remembering her."

She Was A Perfectionist

"The National Award has come posthumously, but it's something we cherish while remembering her for the artiste that she was. She was a perfectionist, and that was evident in all the 300-plus films she did. It's time to celebrate her achievements. Her legacy will always live on."

Anil Kapoor Also Released A Statement

Anil Kapoor took to the micro-blogging site and wrote, "She might not be among us anymore but her talent, work and memory will live on. Sri was and always will be a shining star in the sky. I know this recognition and this award would mean a lot to her, it surely means a lot to us. So thank you. #NationalFilmAwards."

Shekhar Kapoor On Sridevi

Yesterday, while announcing Sridevi's name, feature film jury head Shekhar Kapur said the actor was the most deserving candidate. "It was not because of the relationship we shared but because she was the most deserving candidate for her portrayal in 'Mom'," Kapur said.National Awards 2018: Raj Kumar Rao's Newton gets Best Hindi Feature Film Award | FilmiBeat

Newton director Amit V Masurkar says Rajkummar Rao deserved to win a National Award for best actor. Rao played the title role of a green-horn government clerk who perseveres to conduct fair, free elections Masurkar's dark comedy on Indian democracy.

"Newton" was named the best Hindi film and a special mention was given to its actor Pankaj Tripathi. The filmmaker said Rajkummar, who already has a best actor National Award to his credit for "Shahid", should have been recognised for the work he has done in the year gone by.

"I definitely feel Rajkummar should have been awarded, he has done a brilliant job not only in 'Newton' but others films like in 'Trapped', 'Bareilly Ki Barfi', he has done lot of good work this year (2017). And it would have been great if he would have got some award.

"(But) I don't think he holds such expectations. He is someone who does his work and moves on. He has worked on four-five films after 'Newton'," Masurkar told reporters here.

Actor Riddhi Sen was named the best actor for his performance in Bengali film

"Nagarkirtan" at the 65th National Film Awards, that were announced today. He said Rajkummar is elated over how "Newton" performed at the awards.

"Yes. He is a very happy. He is a very positive person. He has won National award before. For us, it is the first time," the filmmaker said.

On "Newton" emerging victorious, Masurkar said, "It feels very good. We are very happy that 'Newton' got the best Hindi film award, thank you jury and people for the love and the whole team."

The director is happy that Tripathi received a special mention. "We are happy that Pankaj ji got special mention. I did speak to them they all are very happy. Both Rajkummar and him are busy shooting. I wish they were here."

"Newton" was also India's official entry to this year's Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category. It did not, however, make it to the shortlist.

On a lighter note, recently, Varun Dhawan was also heard revealing that his father, filmmaker David Dhawan is keen to shift gears and make a serious film, not with him, but with Rajkummar Rao.

Credits - PTIThe terms of reference (ToR)of the first six Finance Commissions did not make any mention of population data at all.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi called critics of the population norms in the terms of reference (ToR) of the Fifteenth Finance Commission (XV-FC) as `vested interests, he was clearly exasperated.

The Congress and Communist governments of Karnataka and Kerala respectively are spearheading a northern-versus-southern-states battle, saying that the ToR works against their interests. The ToR specifies that the XV-FC should use the population figures of the 2011 Census (instead of the 1971 Census, in the case of the earlier Finance Commissions) whenever it had to take population into account when determining the share of individual states in fiscal transfers. Southern states, they say, will get a raw deal since they had made good progress in population control.

But Modis put down would have been more effective if he had, instead, pointed to para 8.25 of the report of the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC): Though we are of the view that the use of dated population data is unfair, we are bound by our ToR [specifying use of the 1971 population figures].

Note the words: `unfair and `dated population data.

Or if he had asked his predecessor Manmohan Singh and his finance minister P Chidambaram about the wording of this particular ToR in the case of the FFC, which was set up when they were in power. While specifying the use of the 1971 population data, it also said the Commission may also take into account the demographic changes that have taken place subsequent to 1971.

Why did this ToR bring in 2011 data when earlier ToRs only mentioned 1971 population data, including the ToR of the Twelfth Finance Commission, which was also set up by the Manmohan Singh government in 2009? Was this not a signal that 2011 data should also be factored in? Was this not meant to be a kind of preparation for the use of just the 2011 data? If the Congress government saw merit in bringing in 2011 population data for the FFC, why is it opposing its use by the XV-FC? The Congress needs to answer this.

In the wake of the current controversy, there has been much commentary about population growth/decline rates in individual states but the more important point is this: Should expenditure needs of a state be based on 40-year-old population figures?

M Govind Rao, member of the FFC, pointed out in a panel discussion Finance Commission transfers are meant to enable states to provide comparable levels of services to residents. When you say comparable levels of services to state means services for the current population and not 2011 or 1971 population (emphasis added). Why, he asks very pertinently, did the ToR have to mention anything about the population at all?

Why indeed? But this is not something this government alone should be faulted for. The ToR of the first six Finance Commissions did not make any mention of population data at all. It was only in the case of the Seventh Finance Commission, constituted in 1978, that the ToR specified the use of 1971 population figures.

Some subsequent Finance Commissions raised objections to this. Specifically, the report of the Eleventh Finance Commission said: We do feel that it is better to avoid a conditionality like this [specifying a particular Census year] in the ToR and a decision on such matters should be left to the best judgement of the Finance Commission.

The FFC got around the `unfair situation by taking both the 1971 and 2011 population data and assigning a 10 percent weight to the latter. The XV-FC may perhaps try to address the objections raised by some other kind of tweaking. But the larger point remains: Why should the ToR of a Finance Commission bind it down to a particular census year? Surely the governments that set the ToR for the first six commissions had some reason for not specifying this? Perhaps it is time for some serious debate on this issue.

In rubbishing the allegations of the Karnataka and Kerala chief ministers of an inherent bias in the present government towards the southern states, both the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have pointed out that there are enough ways the ToR enable better performing states to be rewarded.

Indeed, point number 7 suggests that the XV-FC may consider proposing measurable performance-based incentives for States, at the appropriate level of government, in following areas and goes on to list nine parameters. Of these efforts and progress made in moving towards replacement rate of population growth is the second.

But this cannot be a palliative. Because setting such a condition is itself flawed. In fact, some public finance experts would even call it unconstitutional. A Finance Commission is a constitutional requirement. It is meant to lay down principles for the devolution of taxes and grants-in-aid to the states and the distribution of these transfers among states. At some point in the nineties, it became acceptable for some conditions of good behaviour to be added into the ToR. The ToR of the XV-FC takes this to a whole new level by even bringing in ease of doing business, progress made on sanitation and controlling populist measures.

But is it the job of the Centre to be dictating (because that is what this really is) priorities to state governments? As this article pointed out, state governments had been chafing at the conditionalities in cookie-cutter grants they got for various central government schemes. They had sought freedom to use resources according to the priorities of their individual states. Heeding this, the FFC had given a larger share of untied resources to them. The XV-FC ToR number 7 lays the ground for reversing this fiscal freedom states got.

This particular point is, technically, among the non-core ToR  the core ToR relates to devolution and distribution of taxes and grants-in-aid. Recommendations relating to the non-core ToR are generally kept on the back-burner. But from the Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers statements following the current controversy, this will be implemented if the current government returns to power. This is actually the real danger.

(The writer is a senior journalist. She tweets at @soorpanakha)Proactive and agile policy frameworks have already played a key role in Indias growth based on utilising its technological framework and are now leading to an empowered Bharat.

India, that is, Bharat - the majority of our country that is living in villages -- is symbolic of our aspirations. Policy makers from top down and citizens from bottom up are cognizant of the fact that sustainable transformation of India is incomplete without the inclusion of rural India in its growth story. Transformational stories of rural enterprises and multiple instances of reverse migration are evidence of the concerted efforts taken by the government and policy makers. The early morning image of a rugged peasant pulling a plough has faded before the newer reality of a growing India. It isnt a coincidence that this growth is emerging after the governments commitment towards inclusive growth Sabka Saath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas.

It's been two years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the governments 'Rurban' Mission, with a cluster-based development model, to provide urban amenities to rural India. Three hundred village clusters were created keeping in mind that rural India isnt stand-alone settlements but a collection of villages in close proximity that could derive advantages from location and economic drivers. These centres of economic activity in turn spurred economic growth, empowered individuals and improved the quality of life in rural India.

Growth is impossible in isolation, and Bharat has increasingly been connected, physically and digitally to move from silos to solutions, foster market access, provide banking, enhance self-employment and livelihood opportunities and utilise economies of scale. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) has reached 82 percent of its total target and connected close to 1.5 lakh habitations with all-weather roads. Roads are allowing Bharat to invest in its future, tractor sales alone have risen by 34 percent y-o-y, post GST. Launched last year, Saubhagya will give free electricity to over 10 crore families in rural areas. The ambitious Bharatnet is on its way to conquer the digital divide, with over 1.05 lakh gram panchayats having internet access today. Digital and physical connectivity are growth drivers, they allow self-sustenance, financial independence and greater opportunities.

Till recently, Kuragunda village entrepreneur Satya and wife Padma (names changed), were struggling with the headwinds of urbanisation and lack of local infrastructure, leave alone planning for their and their childrens future. But the past few years have changed that. Satish is now hopeful of a better future and a shiny red tractor parked outside his house proves that. The financial inclusion revolution, fostered by the innovative digital banking system has allowed him to enter the formal economy and benefit from credit lines through MUDRA and other schemes. Internet access has allowed him to look beyond his village as a market for his produce and mobile banking ensures timely payments from his customers. Tech-enabled innovative business models such as the uberisation of tractors has meant that Satish is just one of many who have benefitted from alternative revenue streams supported by digital.

Many women like Padma, are part of the 54 percent women beneficiaries of the MGNREGA scheme, which saw its highest ever allocation in the last Budget. The government has empowered women with the tools, finances and the confidence to chart their and their familys future. They dont need to walk for miles to remote places for daily sanitation needs, the Swachh Bharat mission has translated toilets from being a distant dream to a household amenity in over 3.45 lakh villages in four years. The emphasis on improving the quality of life and safety of rural Indians has also included in its purview improved drinking water and increasing gas connections, both of which have direct effects in uplifting daily lives. Padma and her children no longer have to inhale unhealthy air or collect firewood for the chullah, the Ujjwala scheme is on its way to ensuring clean cooking fuel in every kitchen.

Youth, especially rural youth, have been a prime focus for the governments skilling and education programme. Padmas children are aware of the governments skilling programme, and access to technology has opened up information like never before. The innovative interlinking of Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar and Mobile (JAM), an essential building block of Indias digital infrastructure that enables direct benefits transfer, is ensuring that rural students stay in school with their scholarships credited to their bank accounts directly. The digital ecosystem, affordable smartphone and 4G access have multiplier effects in providing employment and unleashing consumption. Delivery of public services fostered digitally and through Common Service Centers (CSCs), is allowing access to quality content in education, health, telemedicine amongst others. Digital literacy has seen an unprecedented uptake, 5.5 million individuals have already been certified under the PMGDISHA, which is aiming to make at least one person digitally literate in every vulnerable family.

Proactive and agile policy frameworks have already played a key role in Indias growth based on utilising its technological framework and are now leading to an empowered Bharat. The gap between the skilled and the unskilled, the rural and the urban, the online and the offline is reducing and housing for all by 2022 and Universal Health Coverage launched by the government will go even further to ensure that every Indian has access to their deserved quality of life. Bharat is no longer the silent spectator or the backbencher of the growth story, crores of families are taking control of their destiny and are the front runners of this New India.

(The writer is an Eisenhower Innovation Fellow and member of the WEF's Digital Economy & Society Futures Council. Currently he is CEO of MyGov. Views expressed are personal)The Panaya deal became controversial following two anonymous letters, in February 2017, that alleged wrongdoing in some of Infosys' acquisitions, including Panaya

On Friday, while announcing its results for the quarter ended 31 March, 2018, IT services major Infosys said it will sell Panaya, the Israeli automation subsidiary it acquired during former CEO Vishal Sikkas tenure. The 2015 Panaya deal was the tipping point for former Infosys chief Vishal Sikka, handpicked by co-founder Narayana Murthy for the top job. The allegations leveled against Sikka and the Board back then was that Infosys overvalued Panaya. Furthermore, Murthy, a shareholder, also questioned the hefty severance package handed out to former CFO Rajiv Bansal.

In a filing to the BSE on Friday, Indias second-largest software services exporter said, "In the quarter ended March 31, 2018, on conclusion of a strategic review of its portfolio of businesses, the company initiated identification and evaluation of potential buyers for its subsidiaries, Kallidus and Skava (together referred to as "Skava) and Panaya (collectively referred to as the disposal group)."

Infosys putting Panaya up for sale is vindication of what Murthy said about the deal, Manoj Kumar, Founder  Hammurabi & Solomon, and a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, told Firstpost.

The Infosys Board had, during Sikka's tenure, instituted a forensic audit of the issues raised, but found no wrongdoing on the part of any of the company's executives. However, the company did not make the entire audit report public - a summary of the findings was published. "Now, Infosys is not in any financial crisis to sell Panaya and therefore investors have every right to know the rationale behind the decision to offload Panaya", Kumar said.

Investigations were done internally and if nothing was found wrong with the deal, why is Panaya being sold, asked Kumar, adding that there seems to be a contradiction in what the Board said during Sikkas tenure and what Board members are implying by putting Panaya on the block. The company stands exposed, Kumar said.

The Panaya deal became controversial following two anonymous letters, in February 2017, that alleged wrongdoing in some of Infosys' acquisitions, including Panaya. The letters also raised issues such as improper contracting, CEO compensation, as well as expenditure. Post the allegations, the company instituted an independent forensic investigation by US law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.

On the acquisition, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher had said that it did not find any evidence of "inappropriate contracting" or that the mergers and acquisitions team had failed to obtain appropriate approvals. "Gibson Dunn, and Control Risks have now completed their detailed and extensive Independent Investigation and as they have described in the attached document, they did not find any evidence whatsoever of wrongdoing," Infosys had said in a statement. Control Risks, a consultancy, was hired to probe the whistle-blower's complaint.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, in its report, stated that it had found no evidence to support allegations regarding wrongdoing by the company or its directors and employees. It added that there were no conflicts of interest or kickbacks and that approvals required for acquisitions were obtained with regard to the Panaya acquisition. "...Thorough due diligence was conducted, the valuations of the target companies done by an outside financial advisor were reasonable, and the purchase prices were within the range of values determined by that advisor," it had said.

The decision to sell Panaya proves that Murthy was right all along in asking some tough questions about the deal, said Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Associate Professor, Finance, Indian School of Business (ISB). There were issues with it that Murthy pointed out then." The lesson for Infosys and corporate India from this episode is to choose leaders who are the right cultural fit for the organisation, Subramanian added.

From giving a clean chit to the deal in 2017, to putting Panaya on the block, the Board has made a quick turnaround on its decision. A former executive of Infosys said the move makes it clear that there was no value in that deal. The former CEO had an interest in the deal though the company had no real value, the executive said, adding Murthy was right in asking for the release of the report which the Board did not make public. The procedures were shortcut in case of the Panaya acquisition and no due diligence was done, the executive said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Board should sack those members who were on the investment committee, the executive suggested. There is no reason why the investors should pay a price for the Board not carrying out its duties, the executive added.

The decision to sell Panaya can also be seen as a change in mindset of the new management under current CEO Salil Parekh, said sector experts. A merger isnt just about the technology that comes with it but the overall fitment in the broader scheme of things like cultural match which is the hardest task amongst all. We must give Salil time to explain, and more importantly, justify his decision to sell Panaya and not necessarily read it as an undoing of what Vishal did, said Sanchit Gogia, Chief Analyst, Founder & CEO of Greyhound Research. He points out that Parekh is continuing with Sikka's legacy in the form of 'Nia', an AI platform for businesses rolled out by Sikka. "This is going to be a breather for clients and investors."

The controversies of the past must be laid to rest, experts added. As the former executive of Infosys said, the past is in the past. "Now is the time to look forward and that is what the Board is doing."

The company must stay focused on improving margins and cutting attrition - both reflective on overall health or otherwise.

IT budgets are moving away from chief information officers and are now in the hands of chief marketing officers. In this scenario, the WongDoody acquisition is important, said Gogia. According to a recent Greyhound Research report, 50 percent of all IT budgets will sit with roles other than those of the CIO by 2020. "What particularly stands out is the focus on remaining relevant, on relying on CMOs instead of CIOs, which is evident in the WongDoody deal. Its Infosys' first credible attempt in wanting to remain relevant in the new-age of digital. This is a first for Infosys and will take its own course before it becomes a company culture - hence it's critical that the street manages expectations. Lastly, it brings a net-net talent set to the companys portfolio which the clients expect today," Gogia added.Protests and tensions in parts of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, and a political slugfest marked the Ambedkar Jayanti on Saturday.

New Delhi: Protests and tensions in parts of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, and a political slugfest marked the Ambedkar Jayanti on Saturday, a day top leaders, including President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi paid tributes to the Dalit icon on his 127th birth anniversary.

Kovind became the first President to visit the birthplace of the chief architect of the Constitution in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow to pay homage on the occasion. Kovind urged people to follow the path of peace, harmony and brotherhood shown by Ambedkar. His statement assumes significance in the backdrop of the 2 April nationwide Dalit bandh, which saw large-scale violence in several states, including Madhya Pradesh where more than half a dozen people lost their lives.

"The society needs 'samrasta' (harmony) today and not 'samar' (conflict or war)...It needs non-violence and peace," he said at a function in Mhow, where the MP government has built a large memorial dedicated to Ambedkar.

Kovind said, "The country saw 13 presidents before me. I came to know I am the first president to visit Ambedkar's birthplace on the occasion of his birth anniversary."

Modi, who was in Jangala in Chhattisgarh on a day's visit, said Ambedkar has given a Constitution that protects the rights of weaker sections of the society and appealed to people not to join Naxals to achieve their goals.

The prime minister said awakening among the poor and backward sections about their rights, hopes and aspirations was due to Ambedkar, and attributed his own success to the legendary social reformer.

Modi said, "A son of a poor mother, belonging to a very backward community, this partner of yours is today the prime minister, that is too due to Babasaheb Ambedkar."

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, "Paying rich tribute to Babasaheb Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. His thoughts and struggle will keep inspiring us in our struggle to bring equality, human dignity and social justice in the society".

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the BJP can inaugurate as many memorials as they like, "but the fact is that they are reducing sub-plans, financial allocations".

"You are robbing them of their scholarships, you are participating in conspiracies to dilute their reservations and then you are shedding crocodile tears in the name of Dalits,"

he said.

The DMK Working President MK Stalin alleged that the BJP-led Centre was hampering Ambedkar's ideals behind the making of the Constitution.

Coinciding with the birth anniversary of the country's first law minister, the prime minister launched a healthcare and wellness centre under the "Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission".

He also launched the Gram Swaraj scheme to empower weaker sections, tribals, women and backward people, besides the Van Dhan scheme to ensure better marketing and value addition to minor forest produce to benefit forest dwellers.

Meanwhile in Phagwara (Punjab), members of two Hindu groups and a Dalit outfit clashed, injuring four persons, with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today appealing for peace and ordering suspension of mobile Internet and text services in four districts.

The groups clashed last night, on the eve of Ambedkar's birth anniversary, over the installation of a board and renaming of a "chowk" (intersection) in Phagwara, the police said.

The chief minister has ordered suspension of mobile Internet services in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar districts to check rumour-mongering on social media, according to an official release.

In Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, a statue of Ambedkar was found damaged on Friday. The incident in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh came to light when the villagers spotted the damaged statue. A large police contingent was deployed in view of the tense situation.

SP (rural) Suniti Singh said a case was registered against unidentified persons for vandalism and that the guilty would not be spared.

A large number of people from nearby villages had gathered after the news spread. Police, however, controlled the situation. Security has been beefed up across the state. Singh said that the damaged statue was being replaced with a new one.

A group of Sikhs also protested outside the United Nations headquarters in New York against alleged atrocities perpetrated against minority communities in India.

In Vadodara in Gujarat, members of a Dalit group "cleansed" Ambedkar's statue soon after Union minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes, a community leader said, claiming that their presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

Dalit leaders also took strong objection to the painting of the upper part of an under construction Ambedkar memorial in Gorakhpur (UP) in saffron colour.

After the new found bonhomie with its arch rival BSP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav unveiled a statue of Ambedkar at its Lucknow office.

Among other leaders, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and chief ministers of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana  Devendra Fadnavis, Raghubar Das, Yogi Adityanath, K Palanisami and K Chadrasekhar Rao respectively -- also paid homage to Ambedkar.Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that no one has enough power to end reservation for Dalits and backward classes in education and government jobs

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that no one has enough power to end reservation for Dalits and backward classes in education and government jobs.

"No one on the earth has enough power to end reservation," Nitish Kumar, who is also the Janata Dal-United president, said at a function to mark the birth anniversary of the Indian Constitution's prime architect and Dalit icon BR Ambedkar, organised by his party in Patna.

He said that he did not know who is saying something or thinking on reservation, but all should understand that no one can play with reservation.

"We are influenced by thoughts of Ambedkar and have been trying to spread it among people to fulfil his dream," he said.

Nitish Kumar has reiterated that he will not compromise with crime, corruption and communalism. "I have never worried about power but have always worried about people. I don't care whether I am in power or not, but I never compromise with my fundamental principles," he said.President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday cautioned people against divisive forces, saying the nation needed harmony and not conflict

Mhow: President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday cautioned people against divisive forces, saying the nation needed harmony and not conflict.

Speaking in Mhow at the birthplace of chief constitution-maker BR Ambedkar on the occasion of his birth anniversary, Kovind urged people to follow the path of peace, harmony and brotherhood shown by the Dalit icon.

His statements assume significance as they come in the backdrop of the 2 April nationwide Dalit bandh, which saw large -scale violence in several states, including Madhya Pradesh where more than half a dozen people lost their lives.

"The society needs 'samrasta' (harmony) today and not 'samar' (conflict or war). It needs non-violence and peace," Kovind said.

"I appeal to the countrymen, especially the youth, to follow the path of peace, harmony and brotherhood shown by Ambedkar, and unitedly work to built the country according to Ambedkar's dreams," he said.

Earlier, he paid tributes to Ambedkar at his memorial here. In doing so, Kovind became the first president to pay homage to the legendary social reformer at his birthplace on his birth anniversary.

"The country saw 13 presidents before me. I came to know I am the first president to visit Ambedkar's birthplace on the occasion of his birth anniversary," Kovind said.

The president was addressing a function organised to celebrate the 127th birth anniversary of independent India's first law minister.

"As president, I have got the responsibility to protect the Constitution, whose main architect was Babasaheb Ambedkar. If, after becoming president, I did not bow my head at his birthplace, then I would have felt a sense of guilt," he said.

Referring to Ambedkar's thoughts, he said all citizens should put the nation's interest first and ignore divisive forces.

They should treat themselves only as Indians, he said.

Kovind said, "In his last speech at the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar had said now we have constitutional ways to protest and therefore, we should stay away from lawlessness."

"Our country works on the basis of democratic processes. Today, we need to follow it in an active manner and while doing so we should always remain alert about the good and the bad."

Recalling Ambedkar's contributions to the country, Kovind said he had always adopted non-violent means to fight for the rights of SCs/STs, other weaker sections of the society and women.

The noted jurist-politician always used dialogue for arriving at a consensus, the president said.

"The chant of Jai Bhim means glory to Ambedkar's legacy, ideals and the Constitution that he had given to the country," the president maintained.

Because of the Constitution, every section of the society has got the right to live with dignity, he said.

Kovind said Ambedkar had played a major role in laying the foundation of modern India by establishing the Reserve Bank of India and a few large irrigation and power projects.

The function was chaired by Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gehlot also spoke on the occasion.

Kovind visited the Kalipaltan area where the state government has constructed a grand memorial to the Dalit icon, and paid tributes to him.

The president also had lunch with members of the Dalit community.The DMK on Saturday alleged that the BJP-led Centre was hampering BR Ambedkar's ideals behind the making of the Indian Constitution

Chennai: The DMK on Saturday alleged that the BJP-led Centre was hampering BR Ambedkar's ideals behind the making of the Indian Constitution.

DMK's working president MK Stalin said the Centre was working towards "weakening" social justice, without elaborating further.

"The BJP-led Centre steered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working in a way (that is) hampering Ambedkar's ideals which led to the making of the Constitution," said Stalin.

After paying homage to Ambedkar on his birth anniversary here, the DMK leader appealed to his cadres and workers of 'friendly parties' to take a vow to "end such betrayal."

"Let us take a vow (on the birth anniversary of Ambedkar) to save the country from the BJP government which is trying to saffronise all the (public) spheres against Tamil Nadu through its politics of communalism and linguistic chauvinism," he said.

In a tweet in Tamil, he credited Ambedkar with having established social justice and equality.

Stalin, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, said a DMK-led meeting of leaders of opposition parties will be held on April 16 at the headquarters of his party to deliberate the next course of action on the Cauvery issue.

A rally led by Stalin covering the Cauvery basin regions of Tamil Nadu concluded on 12 February and a petition was submitted to Governor Banwarilal Purohit seeking him to facilitate a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

Stalin said a "massive protest demonstration" of the Opposition, led by his party, against the "dilution" of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act will also be held on 16 April at Valluvar Kottam.

In its 20 March judgement, the Supreme Court had 'diluted' the SC/ST Act's stringent provisions mandating immediate arrest, leading to nation-wide bandh by Dalits.

The top court had said that on "several occasions", innocent citizens were being termed as accused and public servants deterred from performing their duties, which was never the intention of the legislature while enacting that Act.

The apex court had directed a preliminary enquiry by a DSP rank officer to find out whether the allegations make out a case under the Atrocities Act and whether the allegations were not frivolous or motivated.

While the Centre filed a petition seeking review of the judgment, massive protests and violence were witnessed on April 2 on the issue.

On 12 April, the Centre submitted in the Supreme Court that its verdict was causing disharmony and damage to the country.Saravana Suresh, the nephew of MDMK leader Vaiko, who had set himself on fire over the Cauvery water dispute, died on Saturday

Madurai: Saravana Suresh, the nephew of MDMK leader Vaiko, who had set himself on fire over the Cauvery water dispute, died on Saturday.

Announcing his death in a local hospital where he was admitted, Vaiko appealed to the youth not to commit self-immolation. He said his entire family was shattered by the development.

Suresh, who is the son of the brother of Vaiko's wife, set himself afire in Virudhunagar after feeling disturbed over the Cauvery water dispute. He was later brought taken to Madurai and hospitalised.

In a statement on Friday, appealed to people to refrain from harming themselves in a similar manner, the MDMK leader said Suresh had listened to his speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Chennai on Thursday and had been feeling disturbed ever since.

According to Vaiko, on Friday morning Suresh said he was going for a walk. Later, it was found that he had doused himself with kerosene and set ablaze.

"I have lost hope of his survival. All in my family are suffering... (due to this incident)," Vaiko said.

Tamil Nadu political parties and various other organisations are protesting against the central government for not setting up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) as per a Supreme Court order.

The Supreme Court on 16 February reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water to 177.25 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) from the earlier 192 TMC granted by a tribunal in 2007, while Karnataka's share of water was increased by 14.75 TMC.

The court also ordered the Centre to set up the CMB within six weeks of its order. But, the government failed to do so within the deadline that ended on 29 March.Real change can happen if politicians and civil society assert that certain crimes are non-negotiable. Till then, crimes like the Kathua rape will continue.

Though there is undoubtedly a sense of deja vu, it would be disingenuous to suggest that the rape cases in Kathua and Unnao are Narendra Modi governments 'Nirbhaya' moment. But, yes it does seem that, the more it changes the more it is the same in India.

It would also be naive to think that a deep social malaise ingrained through generations of psychological depravity and economic power inequities can be eradicated in five years. But, what one can expect is a change in the response of the government and administration as indeed, the reaction of civil society, media, and political classes. Alas, neither seems to have happened.

So, we have another candle light protest at India Gate. The same expressions of righteous indignation are repeated on camera. The age-old blame game. Only a new layer of a communal overtone has been added to the narrative. From earlier accusations of incompetence, this time around the government and administration have been accused of complicity in shielding the guilty due to the political affiliation and religious domination of the alleged perpetrator and victim.

The discussions have expectedly veered away from the heart of the tragedy to the politics of it. The media has happily played along the predictable popular script. What used to be made for television moments has now turned to Social Media threads with the unit of measure changing from TRP to hash tag hits.

The government is at once beleaguered - vacillating between defiance to defensiveness - and clueless.

Many political commentators and public intellectuals have already ordained these twin incidents as the impending nemesis of the BJP-led regime. Viewed together with recent Dalit protests, farmer unrest and political headwinds from the South, they see clear portends of the Modi story unraveling. The Opposition, especially the Congress, can barely contain their glee at being finally able to turn the tables on the government, kicking off the countdown to 2019.

However, one has not heard any cogent argument on how a probable change of guard can be the proverbial panacea of all ills plaguing the country today. Surely, justice for the 8-year-old girl in Kathua is as important as justice for Nirbhaya. But, how can one guarantee there will not be a candle light vigil in 2023 a year before another Lok Sabha election?

In this context, it may be instructive to revisit a similar story from another city. I have chosen it not because it is from a Congress-ruled state, but to underscore the larger national issue that cuts across geographic and political boundaries. Dhanya Rajendran, Editor in Chief of The News Minute recounted on Twitter a case that happened in Bengaluru circa 2014:

"As I see all the outrage over the (8-year-old girl's) case, I am reminded of the protests that rocked Bengaluru in 2014. Parents were out on the streets after a 4-year-old was raped. There were huge marches for justice. Massive pressure on cops to arrest the perpetrators."

She subsequently wrote: Cops first arrested a man called Mustafa. I remember many on Twitter feeling victorious because his name was that. Then the cops said they arrested the wrong man and arrested two more. Those people were angry calling it a conspiracy. But that's not the point of this thread. When I say massive protests, they were massive. But does anyone know what happened to that case? Forget those who hit the streets, they got back with their lives. What happened to that family? What happened to that trial? Was that man punished? We asked for justice then. It's been 4 years now and nothing much has happened. The prosecutor in the case was changed, the family traumatised over the attention. For months, my colleague @thejaram92 could not even find anything about trial because not even the PP knew it properly."

She further wrote: Finally, an NGO helped us get access to what's happening with the trial. Well, nothing much. It is important that a society is outraged at these crimes."

In the end, she asks very pertinently, what justice are we fighting for? For a chargesheet? For an arrest?

If these questions are not answered and we move on to the next tragedy or another topic of outrage before even the candles of protest die out, then no fundamental shift will ever be possible.

Cynical as it may sound  the age of idealism is long over. Genuine social reformers are an extinct species. Those we call activists are really outrage artists  rent-a-cause professionals. Therefore, even laudable initiatives like Beti Bachao and Swachh Bharat (which is linked to a movement against open defecation that indirectly contribute to rape) are seen with a political prism, just as a religious filter is applied to every episode.

Thus, if any counterpoint is met with charges of bigotry and insinuations of conspiracy to marginalise minorities and media is happy to swing by the mood of the moment, those at the receiving end may be justified in seeing it as another orchestrated move like award wapasi to corner the government.

So one is not surprised, when a ruling party spokesperson, Meenakshi Lekhi comes out at a press conference to say:

You see their plan, first shout 'minority minority', then 'Dalit Dalit', and now 'women women' and then try to somehow fix blame of state issues on the Centre. All this while ignoring the strict action being taken by state governments.

Real change can and will only happen if politicians and civil society close ranks to send out the message loud and clear that certain crimes are non-negotiable and will be dealt with zero-tolerance. The best deterrence against such crimes is prompt intervention by the law enforcing authorities. That can only happen if the administration is given a free hand to act without fear or favour. That has to be the collective mandate of the people to the powers that be, irrespective of their political or ideological leanings. The media on its part has to retain its objectivity following the stories to their logical end without falling for the trap of instant judgments of Twitter khaps or TV kangaroo courts.

Till that happens, the saga of brutal rape cases will not end. As a society, we will become more vulnerable to manipulation by organisations like Cambridge Analytica  while politicians like Kuldeep Singh Sengar and perverts like Vishal Jangotra will be born again and again.Cattle-skinners in UP are suffering dual discrimination for their trade. Looked down for their caste, their work is now being shunned even from within their communities.

Editor's note: Khabar Lahariya, an independent feminist news platform reporting out of rural Uttar Pradesh with local women journalists only, is producing a special series looking at Dalit identity in UP . Kaam, Pehchaan, aur Rajneeti will feature interview-based profiles of professions, locales, cultures and lifestyles associated with caste. Firstpost will be publishing these reports as well.

In Bundelkhand, if youre being called chamaar, rest assured assumptions have been made about you, your families professions, your lifestyles, your morals. The chamaars of Bargadh, Manka and Turgava villages in the Mau block of Chitrakoot, a district of Bundelkhand in UP, better known for its shining appearances in the Ramayana, no less, are those Dalit communities whose traditional occupations have been of cattle-skinners. The trade and techniques have been passed on from generation to generation; as Ram Babu, of neighbouring district Banda says, Its been a generational profession, so we saw our grandfathers and fathers doing it, and we simply followed it But now the younger generations dont want to. Ram Babu is alluding to the dual discrimination inherent in the trade that has ensured a huge decrease in this profession  in Chitrakoot, if 70% of the community was in the trade, now it is only 5%. Close to 20% of the Dalit community whove been in the trade have moved to the more respectable (read: socially accepted) leather-based profession of cobblers. As Rakesh, cobbler says, Earlier, the entire mohalla was involved in it. Now I think there are about five people left in my own village.

Another Bargadh local Umakant Ojha says, Mainly, its stopped in Bargadh now. theres been a steady decrease over the past 10 years.

This dip is in a way, inversely proportional to an important spike  according to the NCRB 2014-2016 data, UP witnessed an increase of upto 29% in caste-based violence. And while crimes are still an accounted for statistic, discrimination, which is largely in the social sphere, is almost always unrecorded, and simply a part of the socio-cultural fabric. Sonpal Varma, local BSP neta, calls it a special kind of viewing of these people, as those outside the mainstream, and best if avoided.

Prabhavati, Chitrakoot, speaks of the dual discrimination clearly, how the community that had been traditionally involved in the trade shuns those who continue to work in it, We havent told our relatives we do this work, of course not. Who will marry our girls and boys if we do? So, we continue to do this work in secret.

Shockingly, Shakti Pratap Singh, the BJP representative for RK Patel, the MLA in Karwi, Chitrakoot, is in denial of any discrimination, It probably used to happen years ago, But not anymore. Mahendra, meanwhile, whos considering quitting the trade and even planning an exodus from the village altogether, tells us of what they face on a daily basis, The Brahmins and the pandits all look at us as dirty, that is but natural. It is dirty work.

He continues, We keep thinking about leaving this profession, but the farmers keep calling us, hamaara kaam kar do, and we go. Because what can they do when their cattle dies? They simply throw the carcasses out in the outskirts of the villages and we go and collect them from there There is some money, but money isnt everything. How long can we live as shunned human beings?

Watch Khabar Lahariya's report on the issue.Members of Dalit community 'cleansed' BR Ambedkar's statue in Vadodara soon after Union minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes.

Vadodara: Members of Dalit community on Saturday "cleansed" BR Ambedkar's statue in Vadodara soon after Union minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes on his 127th birth anniversary, a Dalit leader said, claiming that their presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

Thakor Solanki, general secretary of SC/ST the Employees Union of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, claimed that they had gathered at the venue to pay their tributes before the BJP leaders.

The members of the Dalit community raised slogans at the GEB Circle area on Race Course against other party leaders and Gandhi, the Women and Child Development minister who is in the city to attend a number of events.

She arrived at Ambedkar's statue along with BJP MP Ranjanben Bhatt, city mayor Bharat Dangar, BJP MLA Yogesh Patel and others.

The members of the Dalit community, led by Solanki, started raising slogans against them. An argument broke out between them and the police personnel, but no untoward incident took place.

After Gandhi and other leaders garlanded the statue around 9 am and left the venue, the members of the community washed it with milk and water, saying the BJP leaders' presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

"We told the police that since we had gathered there much before the BJP leaders came, it was our right to pay tributes first. However, police prevented us from garlanding the statue stating that as per the protocol, it was the mayor's right. This angered our members," Solanki said.

"The statue and the atmosphere in the GEB circle area was polluted after the arrival of Gandhi and other BJP leaders. Therefore, we cleansed Ambedkar's statue with milk and water after it was garlanded by the BJP leaders," he added.

Before Gandhi's arrival, Jivraj Chauhan, general secretary of SC/ST cell of BJP's state unit, was also gheraoed by the Dalit members, who shouted slogans against him, forcing him to leave the venue.DCW chief Swati Maliwal on Saturday started an indefinite hunger strike demanding government to take concrete actions to curb sexual crimes against women.

New Delhi: Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal on Saturday started an indefinite hunger strike demanding government to take concrete actions to curb sexual crimes against women.

The hunger strike by Maliwal comes in wake of the recent incidents of rape in Kathua and Unnao. On Friday, she had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the same.

"Prime minister did fast for one day yesterday. We were hoping that he will speak something on the issue and will give assurance to the countrymen to ensure safety of our daughters. But silence of the PM and entire govt is very heart breaking," Maliwal said, who offered prayers at Rajghat before beginning the strike.

Thousands of people reached the strike venue to participate in the hunger strike and support the movement.

Cutting across party lines, former Union minister Yashwant Sinha also reached Rajghat.

It is very sad that so many incidents of rape are happening in Delhi and the country. It is sending a wrong message across the world; our country is being called rape capital of the world. Our prime minister is not speaking a word on these incidents. Whatever happened in Kathua and Unnao is very shameful. All parties should come together to demand action against crimes against women," Sinha said.

Former diplomat KC Singh and Samajwadi Party leader Ravinder Manchanda also visited the strike venue to extend their support to Maliwal.

An eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community disappeared near her house on 10 January in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

A week later, her body was found in the same area.

In the Unnao case, a 17-year-old girl has alleged she was raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence on 4 June, 2017.

In February, the girl's family moved the court seeking to include the MLA's name in the case.

After the case was filed, the victim's father was booked by the police under the Arms Act on 3 April this year and put in jail, where he died on 8 April.This years 13 April completes 34 years since the army launched 'Operation Meghdoot' and brought the Siachen glacier and Satoro heights under its control.

This years 13 April completes 34 years since the Indian Army launched Operation Meghdoot and brought the Siachen glacier and the Satoro heights under its control. The move was justified not only to assert Indias claim of the Saltoro ridge being the rightful extension of the Line of Control beyond the point NJ 9842, but also to deny Pakistani control from Indira col to the Karakoram Pass, which would allow the Pakistani Army a virtual access to entire Ladakh. Several skirmishes were fought by both the sides before finally arriving on the 2003 ceasefire agreement.

While it is well known that the dispute has refused to die down despite a dozen rounds of failed negotiations, recently observed developments from the Chinese side in the north of Siachen once again give India an additional reason to hold the worlds highest battlefield. More than three decades into the conflict, a parallel debate had raged on calling upon the respective armies to withdraw from the uninhabitable region but as the signs of Chinese presence grow in High Asias permafrost horizon, Siachen has once again begun to be viewed from two-front conflict scenario, this time from practical perspectives.

Recently obtained satellite imagery points towards infrastructure developments in the Shaksgam valley, lying immediate north of the glacier in the Tarim watershed. Images accessed by The Print show a 36-kilometre road being constructed in the valley. Satellite images show that this new road is linked to two Chinese military posts outside Shaksgam Valleythought to be the headquarters of the PLA unit operating in the area., an article in the magazine states.

The valley became part of the Chinese territory following the China-Pakistan border agreement of 1963, which New Delhi continues to question citing the valley as part of the Kashmiri territory by the Kashmiri rulers suzerainty over a principality which had claims over the Shaksgam tract. After the Indian Army occupied the glacier, the de-facto trijunction shifted to the Indira Col, with the militarys focus largely being limited towards the west of Saltoro, from where Pakistani side has made numerous attempts to dislodge the Indian forces.

From a tactical perspective, while the developments could be viewed as routine border infrastructure development activities otherwise normal on part of the Chinese, the strategic implications could be serious for the region, reviving the talk of a two-front conflict with China and Pakistan, a subject of constant discussion in New Delhis strategic and policy circles, given its hostile relationship with two nations and the ongoing dispute over the Kashmiri territory, which got complicated further in Siachen, owing the Karakoram topography. The fact that the imagery observed shows its development took place immediately after the Doka La standoff possibly points towards Beijings quest to identify and build presence at vulnerable spots on the Sino-Indian border.

While Chinese takeover of Aksai Chin following the 1962 war, the 1963 Sino-Pak border agreement and the Chinese role in the construction of Karakoram Highway made it an active third party to the overall Kashmir dispute, its growing presence close to the Siachen brings Chinese military presence close to Indian and Pakistani deployments in and around the Karakoram region.

Possible scenarios could be deduced from the development, which could have direct security implications on Indias control over the Siachen. Besides facilitating reinforcements from the National Highway 219, the road in Shaksgam could be extended to link it with the Karakoram Highway, possibly near the Khunjerab Pass border crossing (the de-facto Sino-Pak border where the highway enters China), which lies relatively close to the Trans-Karakoram tract. Once completed, the road link could provide an additional route facilitating Pakistani troop movements to north of Siachen, in addition to armys permanent presence to the west of the Saltoro ridge in Baltistan. Joint military drills in the valley could further heighten tension in northern Ladakh, prompting the Indian forces to remain in alert.

While nuclear overhang has reduced the possibility of a sustained conventional conflict either between India and China or India and Pakistan, the concept of a joint Kargil-style territorial grab in the eastern Karakoram cannot be ruled out in case of a conflict, in addition to the Chinese engaging Indians on other disputed fronts spread across the LAC. Drawing lessons from Doka La, such pattern of Chinese infrastructure development at multiple points along the Line of Actual Control has given rise to the possibility of limited thrusts into the Indian-held territories, with the threat amplified in the Siachen region since the Pakistani collusion would not be ruled out.

The new status quo along the LAC is characterised by the establishment of permanent military structures along the Chinese side of the border. The usual Chinese incursion tactics of intermittent border incursions seem to be supplemented with the presence of permanent infrastructure with an aim to sustain incursions and aggressive posturing, as it happened in the aftermath of the Doka La standoff, where construction has revived in the North Doka La. Even though conflict may not be on cards, and some of New Delhis policy shifts (especially the recent Dalai Lama episode) appear to show a tilt towards China, both nations LAC postures have played spoilers in the bilateral relationship. The Shaksgam development gives all the reasons for New Delhi to be prepared for a long haul.

The author is Research Associate with Vivekananda International Foundation, a New Delhi-based public policy think tank.tech2 News Staff

Gmail is all set to get a new design in the coming months. But in addition to these changes, it looks like Google is also planning to add a new feature called Confidential Mode.

According to a report in The Verge, Google is introducing a Confidential Mode, which will let Gmail users stop recipients from forwarding certain emails or taking their prints or downloading them or even copying the mail's content.

Such emails can also be passcode-locked and can only be opened if you enter the correct passcode which will be sent to your phone via SMS. Users can also set an expiration date on certain sent emails.

These features are already available on Microsoft's full Outlook application. While these features may reassure business users who do not want certain information to be shared by the recipient with anyone else, users can still take screenshots of these emails or take a photograph of the email content.

Google is also planning to redesign Gmail for the web with plans to integrate some of the features available on its mobile app, to make it more clean and user-friendly. The redesign brings features like quick reply, offline support to the web version of Gmail.

TechCrunch in a report posted the screenshot of a mail received by Google employees, that provides information about the upcoming redesign and the "Early Adoption Program" (EAP). The Early Adoption Program will be made available to personal users in advance of the public announcement.The Delhi Police has booked another Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor for allegedly molesting a student

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has booked another Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor for allegedly molesting a student, it said on Saturday.

A complaint was filed on Friday against Ajay Kumar, a faculty member at the university's School of Social Sciences.

"A student of JNU has complained against a professor at the Vasant Kunj Police Station that he misbehaved with her two days back. An FIR under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code for sexual harassment has been lodged. We are investigating the matter," a senior police officer told IANS.

The university administration, however, said it had not received any complaint of molestation from any student.

"We don't know of the particulars of the case. Unless a student files a complaint with the Internal Complaints Committee of the university, we cannot take any action," JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar told IANS.

This is third case of molestation in the university in a month. Four professors in two different cases were accused of harassment earlier.

A police complaint was filed only in one case, while in the other case where three professors were accused of harassment, a complaint was raised internally.Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Friday 'India wants to know' when its daughters will get justice as he 'thanked' Prime Minister Narendra Modi for breaking his 'long silence' on the Kathua and Unnao rape cases.

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Friday "India wants to know" when its daughters will get justice as he 'thanked' Prime Minister Narendra Modi for breaking his "long silence" on the Kathua and Unnao rape cases.

"Dear Prime Minister, Thank you for breaking your long silence. You said 'our daughters will get justice'. India wants to know: when?" Gandhi tweeted.

Dear Prime Minister, Thank you for breaking your long silence. You said our daughters will get justice. India wants to know: when?#SpeakUp  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 13, 2018

Gandhi's tweet came soon after Modi said at an event in Delhi he wants to "assure the nation that no criminal will be spared" and justice will be delivered to its daughters, a statement seen as a reference to the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao and of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua.

Earlier on Friday, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Modi has done "too little, too late" over the two rape cases, but he said his party hoped the prime minister would now initiate tangible steps to provide justice to the victims.

Singhvi said the two incidents cannot be termed "normal cases" and these cases have shamed the nation. He also accused the BJP of viewing the cases through the "prism of religion" and demanded the sacking of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

"We are very thankful to the prime minister that he has spoken at least, even if he spoke after three months of Kathua and after weeks of Unnao and even if he has spoken at the beck and call of opposition parties like us."

"I wish he will now convert his words into deeds... We want that the prime minister should initiate some steps. What matters is deeds count, words do not," he told reporters.

"Mere slogans and 'jumlas' will neither prevent nor reduce Unnaos and Kathuas," he said.

The Congress reaction also came after several BJP leaders hit out at the opposition parties for "shedding crocodile tears" on the issue of safety of women.

In the Kathua case, the rape victim had disappeared from near her house on 10 January. A week later, her body was found in the same area.

A Special Investigation Team of Crime Branch, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable and a sub-inspector, who were charged with destroying evidence.

In the Unnao case, a BJP lawmaker has been booked on various charges, including rape. Kuldeep Singh Sengar, MLA from Bangarmau constituency, was on Friday arrested by the CBI.

Singhvi also alleged that the mentality and approach of the government, the BJP, the RSS and Modi was anti-Dalit.

The Congress leader said the BJP can inaugurate as many memorials as they like, "but the fact is that they are reducing sub-plans, financial allocations".

"You are robbing them of their scholarships, you are participating in conspiracies to dilute their reservations and then you are shedding crocodile tears in the name of Dalits," he said.

"Any attempt to rewrite history, erase history will not work," he said.

Singhvi said Babasaheb Ambedkar was a part of the Congress and the freedom movement. "No one has done more in the name of Ambedkar than the Congress," he said.

He criticised BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi for defending two Jammu and Kashmir ministers, who had joined a rally against the police probe in the Kathua case.

"I strongly condemn the party, which sees even rape on religious and class lines. The person, the party and the government that look at rape through the prism of class and religion have to be criticised," he said.

On Twitter, the Congress said: "BJP's MP Meenakshi Lekhi's insensitive remark is an insult to Indian citizens standing up for their rights. Her statement reflects her party's regressive ideology. She must take back her words and apologise immediately."

Singhvi had demanded the sacking of Jammu and Kashmir Forest Minister Lal Singh and Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga, who he alleged instigated the protests in Jammu in support of the accused.A meeting of senior leaders of the ruling PDP has been called on Saturday to decide the party's course of action against two BJP ministers for participating in a rally supporting those accused in the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua.

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"The SIT has done a very professional job and filed chargesheet, now we hope justice will be done," Vaid told ANI.

Reacting to the Kathua rape case and the shoddy investigation that has led to the massive outrage against the crime, Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid said that it couldn't get worse than this.

Breaking her silence for the first time since the Kathua rape case, Information and Broadcast Minister Smriti Irani said, "Law agencies and government are taking necessary action. As a woman, I believe and request there should be no victim shaming."

Hearing the issue, the CJI asks the group to bring "some material before" the court to proceed. A PIL is likely to be filed during the course of the day.

A group of Supreme Court lawyers has requested the Chief Justice of India to take suo motu cognisance against lawyers' conduct in Kathua rape case. Advocate P V Dinesh mentioned the case before CJI Dipak Misra and asked for action against Jammu lawyers for impeding justice.

Coming from the Muslim nomadic shepherd Bakarwal community, eight-year-old *****'s sister says that they have spent their lives roaming in the jungles with their cattle, but never have they felt such kind of fear that they are facing now. The chargesheet filed by the CBI stated the plot was carried to dislodge the Bakarwal community in Rassana, the village in Kathua district where the minor lived.

Lawyer PV Dinesh told the Supreme Court about Jammu lawyers preventing the course of law in Kathua rape case and requested CJI Dipak Misra to take suo moto cognisance of it.

Maneka said her Women and Child Development Ministry would move a cabinet note on Monday to amend POCSO, the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act. "I have been deeply, deeply disturbed by the rape case in Kathua and all the recent rape cases that have happened on children. I and the ministry intend to bring an amendment to the POCSO Act asking for the death penalty for rape on children below 12 years," said Maneka Gandhi in a video posted on YouTube.

Amid nationwide grief and anger over the gang-rape and murder of eight-year-old *****, there is a move to change the law for sexual crimes against children to bring in the death penalty for child rape. Union Minister Maneka Gandhi declared it in a video message in which she said she was "deeply, deeply" disturbed by the Kathua rape case.

"We were not even allowed to bury her in our area. We were forced to consign the body to a grave far away. We want her tormentors to be hanged. We are satisfied with the investigation till now, but justice will only be delivered after those people are hanged," her sister says, adding that the family has also received threats.

Speaking to News18 , *****'s sister said that the aggrieved family saw the victim's hand, leg and jaw broken.

Hundreds of Congress workers assembled at the India Gate on the call of their party chief to protest against the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over rape incidents in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua and Uttar Pradesh's Unnao, and seek justice for the victims. Several senior Congress leaders, including Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni, joined the Thursday midnight candle-light protest. People also gathered at the place in sizeable numbers to express their support.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted a note of thanks for all those who participated in Thursday's midnight candlelight vigil. "Thousands of men and women stood up to be counted in the battle for justice and to protest the rising acts of violence against girls and women. I thank each and every one of you for your support. It shall not be in vain."

The law of the land states that the identity of a rape victim cannot be disclosed and those guilty of doing so face be punished under Section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code. However, Jammu and Kashmir is ruled by State Ranbir Penal Code or RPC. Indian Penal Code is not applicable in the Valley under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notices to several media houses who disclosed identity of Kathua victim, asking them why action should not be taken against the organisations. The high court took up the issue on its own after coming across print and electronic media reports revealing victim's name.

Why should action be not taken against you? Delhi HC issues notices to media houses who disclosed identity of 8-year-old victim

"I miss my daughter everyday. Those responsible for killing my daughter should be hanged till death."

Sanji Ram's son Vishal Jangotra was arrested on the basis of forensic tests. Vishal, studying in Meerut, travelled to Kathua after a phone-call from the teen who said he could "satisfy his lust", the police chargesheet said.

The fourth accused is another Special Police Officer, Surinder Kumar . Witnesses saw him at the crime scene. Call data records also prove his presence. The teen named his friend Parvesh Kumar , who is the fifth accused. He was one of the men who repeatedly raped the child.

The man who allegedly wanted to rape ***** one more time before she was killed is Special Police Officer Deepak Khajuria , police chargesheet said. He was named in the teen's statement to the police. Call data records also established his presence at the place where ***** was kept locked in for days.

Medical tests confirmed that the teen, who had first claimed to be 15, was not underage. He confessed, NDTV quoted the police as saying. Accused no.2 is Sanji Ram  a former government official reportedly planned the crime and even kept side a huge amount of money for bribes. He was arrested after the teen's confession, forensic tests and based on the interrogation of various suspects.

The Kathua rape victim's body was found on 17 January after days of brutality. Investigations led the police to the 19-year-old school dropout who had often seen the victim grazing horses, and to his uncle Sanji Ram, who was in charge of the temple where police found forensic evidence.

The Bar Association of Jammu (BAJ), had alleged that its agitation for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the Kathua rape and murder was wrongly being portrayed as "communal". The Jammu city has been tense since the brutal rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl belonging to the nomadic Muslim Bakharwal community. The police have arrested eight people in the case, but the Bar Association has opposed the action alleging "targeting of minority Dogras".

Alleging that the Congress is playing "dirty" politics in the country and playing with the future of children and women, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said that a fair investigation was conducted in the Kathua murder and rape case. "SIT was formed and six-seven people were arrested. Also, I would like to say it on record that the Jammu Bar Association president BS Slathia was the polling agent of Ghulam Nabi Azad ji," Lekhi said.

Lekhi was speaking on behalf of the ruling government and alleged that Congress is playing dirty political games involving women and children. The BJP spokesperson also alleged misreporting by the media.

"Apart from Kathua and Unnao cases, there was another case in Assam's Naigon where a Class XII student was raped first and then burnt to death. Why no candle march for her," Lekhi asked mediapersons.

Lekhi further alleged that this was Congress' plan all along: "...first shout 'minority minority', then 'Dalit Dalit', and now 'women women' and then try to somehow fix blame of state issues on the Centre. All this while ignoring the strict action being taken by state governments. Party (BJP) has already condemned this act, two individuals (BJP Jammu and Kashmir ministers) were mislead and misguided by people. Lesson to them is not to believe one side or the other and let the law take its course."

"Aap log (media) chaahte hain ki 2 minute mein karyavahi ho jaye (You guys want investigations to conclude in two minutes ). Action is being taken by state governments. Also, we are contemplating an amendment in law which awards death penalty to rapists of minors below 12 years of age," Maneka was quoted as saying by ANI.

Confirming her earlier statement on amending the POCSO Act, Maneka Gandhi slammed media by saying that important decisions aren't taken in two minutes.

Addressing BJP's claim on Congress' links with the Jammu Bar Association(JBA), senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "Yes he(JBA chief BS Slathia) was my polling agent, and also Lal Singh(BJP Jammu and Kashmir minister) was in Congress.They were secular then, but BJP has vitiated the atmosphere so badly in Jammu and Kashmir that these individuals have now turned communal."

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah demanded that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti show her "braveness" by sacking the two BJP ministers who reportedly attended a rally in support of the accused in the Kathua rape and murder case. "The prime minister job is not the decide on Jammu and Kashmir; that is the chief minister's job. Mehbooba Mufti has to decide if she wants such ministers in her Cabinet who are set to save eight-year-old's murderers," Abdullah told reporters.

'Mehbooba Mufti must decide if she wants supporters of eight-year-old's murderers in her Cabinet'

"It's not when you wish your friends and others in the US or Europe happy birthday, but when you join the suffering and pain of your own people that you become a leader with a big heart," said Chandy.

"The news of this incident surfaced when you were on fast and by now several hours have passed and you continue to be silent. This is the biggest challenge to our country.

In his Facebook post, Chandy said this was one of the worst incidents that the country had witnessed. "Instead of writing slogans of 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padao', "you should first correct your supporters who have done this ghastly crime to turn into a human being.

Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence on the rape and murder of a minor in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

Supreme Court issues notice to Bar Council of India, Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association, Jammu High Court Bar Association and Kathua Bar Association on a plea against lawyers allegedly blocking filing of chargesheet, reports ANI .

Quoting sources, CNN-News18 reported that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wants the Centre to take a call on the action to be taken against BJP ministers for showing support to culprits in the Kathua rape and murder case.

'Mehbooba Mufti wants Centre to take a call on sacking of two ministers'

The apex court has issued notices to four lawyers' bodies for obstructing the victim's counsel appearing in the Kathua gangrape and murder case. It has also sought their responses by 19 April.

Congress to hold candlelight march at capitals of all the states against Kathua and Unnao rape cases, reports ANI .

The victim's family told News18 that they are in a lot of pain and live in constant fear after the incident. "The accused should be hanged," they added.

Union minister Rajnath Singh said that the victim's family should get justice. Singh told reporters that he is in favour of ensuring proper justice to the family of the 8-year-old girl. - PTI

The apex court agreed to take suo motu cognisance of the case after several lawyers who had mentioned the matter before it came out with materials about the incident.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud sought responses from the Bar Council of India, state bar council, Jammu High Court Bar Association and Kathua district bar association by 19 April.

The Supreme Court directed members of the bar not to obstruct judicial proceedings in the case in Jammu and Kashmir as it took note of lawyers obstructing the victim's counsel from appearing in court.

News18 reported that hundreds of people have gathered at Mumbai's Azad Maidan to demand justice for the Kathua rape victim. They also want amendments in the POCSO act.

Rai said the party would also launch a country-wide campaign after Sunday on rising attacks against women. He also said the prime minister became silent whenever the country faced trouble. "Why is he silent? What is the reason? Even Manmohan Singh used to speak at times." - IANS

The Aam Aadmi Party will 'gherao' Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence on Sunday over what it said was his silence on the rapes in Unnao and Kathua.Addressing the media, senior party leader Gopal

"We will do whatever is required and take care of it. Nothing to worry about," Vaid said when asked about alleged threats to the witnesses, including the family members of the victim. - PTI

Jammu and Kashmir Police chief SP Vaid asserted that all necessary steps will be taken to provide protection to the family members of the eight-year-old girl, and the witnesses in the case.

Sources said Congress president Rahul Gandhi has asked party cadres to organise similar protests on Friday in support of protection of women. - PTI

The Congress is seeking to take forward the protest against the Kathua and Unnao rape cases and has asked its cadres at state and district headquarters to stage similar demonstrations across the country, demanding justice for the victims.

Expressing solidarity with the victim's family, the NC said that it will not cooperate with the state government "until and unless the two erring cabinet ministers are sacked for their unacceptable, abhorrent and criminal behaviour in the light of this tragedy and its politicisation". - IANS

A party statement said that a day long meeting of the party's core group at its headquarters on Thursday, chaired by party president Farooq Abdullah and attended by working president Omar Abdullah, discussed "in detail the insensitive handling of the horrific Kathua rape and murder case by the state government".

National Conference on Friday demanded sacking of two BJP ministers for defending the accused in the Kathua rape case.

The two ministers had attended a meeting in the girl's village in support of the accused in the case and demanded a CBI probe in the matter last month. - PTI

According to PDP sources, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who will chair the meeting, is likely to tell the BJP, a coalition partner in the ruling coalition in the state, to ask its ministers - Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga - to resign.

The PDP leadership will meet on Saturday in Srinagar to discuss the situation emerging following the brutal gangrape and killing of the eight-year-old girl in Kathua, a party spokesman said.

Two BJP Ministers Chaudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga who backed Kathua rape accused have submitted their resignation to Jammu and Kashmir state BJP president Sat Sharma for further action.

The prime minister was speaking at an event to mark the inauguration of Ambedkar memorial in New Delhi.

"Incidents being discussed since past two days cannot be part of a civilised society. As a country, as a society we all are ashamed of it. I want to assure the country that no culprit will be spared, complete justice will be done. Our daughters will definitely get justice," he said.

BJP's national general secretary Ram Madhav will leave for Jammu shortly as the news of two ministers resigning from the Mehbooba Mufti cabinet came, India Today report.

The two BJP ministers who supported the rape accused in the Kathua rape case have handed over their resignations, reportedly after Mehbooba Mufti expressed her displeasure to BJP's central leadership.

Two BJP ministers resigned after Mehbooba Mufti expressed displeasure on their stand to BJP, says report

"When we met people they put forward a demand of CBI inquiry, we had simply put it across being people's representatives. Now, such a perception is being created that I deemed it fit to tender my resignation (as Jammu and Kashmir minister)," Chaudhary Lal Singh told ANI .

There was indiscretion on part of our two ministers (Lal Singh & PC Ganga), coming under pressure of local public they spoke at a gathering. I immediately flew to Jammu as soon as I got to know and told the party that we should fully support the investigation," Ram Madhav said.

"We actually acted very fast, state govt & Police acted swiftly. Congress is trying to politicize the issue, I am accusing Congress of being behind the agitations in Jammu," Ram Madhav told ANI .

A meeting of senior leaders of the ruling PDP has been called on Saturday to decide the party's course of action amid demands to remove two ministers of its ally BJP from the Jammu and Kashmir government for participating in a rally supporting those accused in the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua.

Speaking to ANI , BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav in Jammu said: "A meeting will be held. We will take stock of the current situation. The resignation of two ministers will be discussed as well."

"We've been thinking of amendments to POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) to bring death penalty for rape or provision that instills fear in people so that they refrain from doing anything wrong with children," Maneka Gandhi , Women and Child Development Minister told reporters

Following the rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, the victim's mother told The Economic Times that the perpetrators of the crime must be hanged. I am sure she is waiting for justice. I will see her in dream again when she gets answers, when the perpetrators of the crime are hanged, when she gets justice, she said.

"I think we've seen the media reports of this horrific case, of the abuse and the murder of a young girl. We very much hope that the authorities will bring the perpetrators to justice so they can be held accountable for the murder of this young girl," Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric told reporters at his daily press briefing on Friday.

Terming as "horrific" the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

"We had gone to defuse the situation created due to migration one and half months back. We told them they should go back. Abdul Gani Kohli (minister) was sent to the house of the victim, so that an ugly situation was not created," Lal told reporters.

Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, BJP ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir coalition government, on Friday tendered their resignations after facing criticism for their participation in the event.

BJP leader Chaudhary Lal Singh on Saturday defended his participation in a rally supporting the accused in the Kathua rape and killing case, saying that it was meant to defuse the situation and restore normalcy.

"I commend the manner in which the people of Jammu dismissed communal forces and were unwavering in their support for a little girl. It has strengthened my belief that Jammu serves as a model of inclusiveness and together the people of J-K inspire secular unity and righteousness," Mufti said in a tweet.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday lauded the people of Jammu for dismissing communal forces and their unwavering support for justice to an eight-year-old girl who was raped and killed in Kathua.

The 15-year-old boy accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua is reportedly a "problem child" who often got into fights, reported Hindustan Times .His relatives described him as a "lean and thin boy afraid of the dark. However, officials investigating the case said that the boy had developed a hatred for nomadic Muslims and got into fights with Gujjars, for which the police lodged a police complaint against him, three months before the Kathua rape took place.

PDP sources also said that accused policemen are being terminated from service.

According to ANI , Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti will request the state high court Chief Justice to establish a special fast-track court for the Kathua rape case. It will be the first in the state where the trial will be expected to be completed within 90 days.

According to CNN-News18, the key PDP legislative meet will take place at 2 pm on Saturday. The Kathua rape case is likely to on the top agenda during the meet. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had raised the issue of two BJP ministers obstructing the process of justice, in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, last week with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who assured her that heads will roll. The BJP's architect of alliance with the PDP, Ram Madhav, has arrived in the state on Saturday to follow up on the prime ministers commitment even as the two tainted ministers have resigned.

"A misunderstanding took place, they should have been more alert. Their intention was not to hamper the investigation. Allegations on them being pro-rapists aren't true," Madhav added. He said that the ministers decided that they will resign from their post. "We held discussions on it and their resignation will be sent to Jammu and Kashmir chief minister today," he said to the press in Kathua.

"On 1 March, a huge crowd gathered in Kathua and our ministers went there to pacify them," Ram Madhav said about the two BJP ministers who had attended a rally in support of the accused in Kathua rape and murder case on Friday.

BJP leaders who attended rally should have been more alert, did not intend to hamper investigation

BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav meets two BJP ministers, Choudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga in Kathua, reports India Today. The leaders had tender their resignations after facing criticism for their participation in an event related to the Kathua rape case.

India Today also reported that BJP has accepted the resignation of two Jammu and Kashmir ministers and will send the letters to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

"There was no pressure on me to resign, I have done it by myself. If my resignation can save the image of my party, I will give this sacrifice," BJP leader Chander Prakash Ganga said about his resignation to ANI. He added that he has demanded a CBI enquiry into the case and asserted that he has never practised "politics for power."

Akhtar also said that the Jammu and Kashmir high court is now monitoring the case and that the government is considering formulating a law for awarding death penalty to rapists who abuse minors.

Akhtar also thanked BJP leaders for their support in the case. "We appreciate BJP leaders for their support in the case. It's a confidence-building measure. If BJP-PDP continues to resolve their differences, there will be no alternative to this alliance," he added. He indicated that the PDP-BJP alliance was safe through this statement.

"If the people of the country are united and think that Kashmir also has people just like the rest of India, it will help bridge the differences," he said.

The Kathua case has united people of Jammu and Kashmir with rest of India, senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar said on Saturday. Speaking with reporters after the PDP meeting in Srinagar, Akhtar said that the way people of India have reacted to the incident and shown empathy will work towards unifying the people of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country.

According to ANI , the family members of the eight-year-old Kathua rape victim, said that an FIR should be lodged against the two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh, who had resigned after drawing criticism for attending a rally in support of the accused in the case.

Hussain also opposed vehemently the demand of Jammu lawyers for transfer of the investigations in this case to the CBI. Police said they have taken cognizance of Hussain's complaint and started investigations. IANS

Talib Hussain, a local lawyer has been in the forefront of seeking justice for the Kathua rape and murder victim during the last two months.

A lawyer fighting for justice for Kathua rape and murder victim on Saturday alleged he had been attacked by goons in Udhampur town.

We were sent by the party. Our party president Sat Sharma sent us. We went there on the partys instruction, he said, speaking with Times Now on Saturday. "If my resignation can save the image of my party, I will give this sacrifice," he added.

BJP leader Chander Prakash Ganga, who drew criticism for attending a rally in support of the accused in Kathua rape case, alleged that BJP's state party leadership had sent the leaders to attend the meeting of the Hindu Ekta Manch.

Bar Council of India says five-member team to investigate Kathua case, committee to submit report to Supreme Court on 19 April, reports ANI

"If any lawyer is found guilty in the case, we have the rights to cancel their license for life," Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra said to ANI

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti accepts resignations of state ministers Chandra Prakash Ganga and Chaudhary Lal Singh, reports ANI. Mufti has forwarded the resignations to Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra, the report adds.

While visiting the Rajghat where Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal's fast on the same issue entered the third day, Kejriwal said his government was ready to make amendments to the existing law to ensure death penalty to rapists of minors.  IANS

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday demanded death penalty for those raping minors and also blasted the BJP for defending its MLA accused of raping a teenager in Uttar Pradesh.

The trial in the gruesome Kathua rape and murder case begins on Monday against eight accused who allegedly held an eight-year-old girl in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district for a week in January this year during which she was kept sedated and sexually assaulted before being bludgeoned to death.

"Today we mourn the rape and murder of a little girl in Kathua. Her crime was that she belonged to the Bakarwal Muslim community that the Hindutva forces want out of the area. Her rape and murder are part of a larger narrative of communal violence with women's bodies being used as a battlefield," said Saba.

Gurugram-based filmmaker Saba Dewan led the protest. The protest included artistes and students, who vented their anger over the incidents and claimed that Muslims in the country were living in fear. They said the rights of Dalits and Adivasis were being questioned.

Hundreds of people on Sunday participated in a protest march called "Not In My Name" at Parliament Street in the national capital against increasing incidents of rape and atrocities on Dalits and minorities.

Speaking to ANI on Sunday, the Kathua victim's family's counsel Deepika Rajawat said that she was threatened on Saturday and does not know till when she will be alive. "I don't know till when I will be alive. I can be raped, my modesty can be outraged, I can be killed, I can be damaged. I was threatened yesterday that 'we will not forgive you'. I am going to tell SC tomorrow that I am in danger," ANI quoted Rajawat as saying.

The charge sheet also names investigating officers head constable Tilak Raj and Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Ram and destroyed crucial evidence.

The chargesheet lists the caretaker of 'Devisthan', a small temple, in a village in Kathua, about 90 kilometres from Jammu, as the main conspirator behind the crime. Sanji Ram was allegedly joined by special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma, friend Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu, Ram's nephew, a juvenile, and his son Vishal Jangotra alias "Shamma".

"If the state would have booked the perpetrators (armed forces) who unleashed terror in the village and raped our mothers, sisters, daughters and wives; a minor girl would not have been raped. Kunan-Poshpara could have acted as a deterrent, so that no girl in Jammu and Kashmir would ever be raped, she further said.

While expressing happiness that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is seeking to expedite the process by asking for a fast track court, a victim who had come along with other people from the village, said: "If this one rape has shaken her conscience, why is she unfazed by the mass rape of women by armed forces in Kunan-Poshpora? Doesnt she have a responsibility towards us also?"

For the survivors of the horrific 1991 Kunan-Poshpora mass rapes, the murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua has reopened old wounds, reported Greater Kashmir . The survivors came from their hamlet to show solidarity for the minor victim in Kathua.

"Media should have heard us, our side and our fears on the probe by the Crime Branch. Wanting a CBI probe to give justice to 8-year girl, meant to media that we were shielding culprits or creating hurdle in the probe. It was wrong. We always batted for justice for the girl," she said. - PTI

"My father (Sanji Ram) and brother (Vishal) should be hanged to death if they are found guilty, provided the investigation is conducted by a credible agency. We want justice for the girl by a probe through credible agency and only such probe can ensure our father's and brother's innocence," one of Ram's daughters said.

The family members of Sanji Ram, the alleged conspirator of the Kathua rape and murder case, have said that he should be hanged publicly but only if a CBI probe into the case finds him guilty.

According to media reports, the eight-year-old girl's father will approach the Supreme Court today to seek to move the trial of the rape and murder of his daughter to Chandigarh from Kathua.

Various civil society groups sent invites on social media asking people to unite and demand justice for the two girls. Protests were held at Parliament Street in New Delhi where people gathered under the banner of NotInMyName against increasing incidents of rape and atrocities on Dalits and minorities.

Scores of people took to streets on Sunday protesting over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district and the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. Condemning the government response in the two cases, protesters demanded swift trial and strict punishment for the culprits.

The lawyers will march to the Bar Council of India and present a memorandum demanding action against the Jammu lawyers.

Lawyers in New Delhi will be holding a march in protest at 3 pm on Monday against the "conduct" of lawyers of the Bar Association Jammu, who earlier had come out in support of those accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua.

Speaking to ANI, the counsel for accused constable Tilak Raj, in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, said that he has not been provided with the copy of the full chargesheet. "Full chargesheet copy has not been provided to us. We are depending on information from social media. We are handicapped," counsel Aseem Sahni said.

Eight-year-old victim's father approached the Supreme Court seeking safety, security and transfer of the case outside Jammu and Kashmir. The family will ask the apex court to let the case be heard in Chandigarh instead. The Supreme Court wil hear the matter at 2 pm, reports said.

According to the main accused in the Kathua rape case, Sanji Ram said that everything will be clear after Narco test.

"After the case was called and all accused appeared, I filed my Wakalatnama. I asked for a copy of chargesheet. There is 490-page copy and I did not receive any copy. Is this a hallmark of a fair trial?" asked one of the accused's lawyers.

The juvenile accused arrested in the Kathua rape and murder case has moved a bail application before the judicial magistrate. The matter will be heard later on Monday.

A plea filed by Delhi-based lawyer Anuja Kapur, seeks transfer of the sensational gangrape case from Kathua trial court to a local court in the National Capital.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud considered the submission advanced by senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing Deepika Rajawat and Anuja Kapur, for urgent hearing of the two petitions on Monday itself.

According to the copy of the PIL with Bar and Bench , the appellants have requested for the following:

Relatives of the victim present outside the Kathua court on Monday accused the media of ignoring extensive reportage of this heinous crime for nearly three months. - IANS

Lawyer Deepika Rajawat, who is representing the victim's family in the Kathua rape and murder case, said that she was being called "anti-Hindu" and facing social boycott for taking up the case, as per The Indian Express ."Today, I dont know, I am not in my senses. I can be raped, I can be killed and may be they wont allow me to practice in court. They (have) isolated me, I dont know how I can survive," the report quoted Rajawat as saying.

"We are not favouring rapists, we demand justice for the victims. The dispensation of justice should not become a political football," said Kaur, adding, "There was a writ petition filed by the victim's family that said that the police had not launched a proper inquiry into the case.

After lawyer Deepika Singh Rajwat  who is fighting the case of an eight-year-old girl from Kathua who was raped and murdered  accused the Jammu High Court Bar Association president of threatening her, the Jammu Bar on Sunday sent a team of women lawyers to defend its president Bopinder Singh Salathia. The Bar had come under criticism for calling a strike against the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and demanding a CBI probe into the incident.

According to the chargesheets filed by the Crime Branch, the abduction, rape and killing of the girl was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the nomadic community from the area. A separate chargesheet was filed for the juvenile. The counsel for the accused demanded a copy of the chargesheet filed by the Crime Branch on April 9 before the chief judicial magistrate.- PTI

The victim from a minority nomadic community was allegedly held in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district for a week in January this year during which she was kept sedated and sexually assaulted before being bludgeoned to death.

According to NDTV, chargesheet will be provided to the accused on Tuesday while the plea to move the case out of Jammu and Kashmir will be heard on Monday.

A shutdown called by a section of social media users against the rape and murder of a girl in Jammu and Kashmir derailed normal life in parts of Kerala. Police took several protesters into custody. The worst affected districts included Kozhikode, Kannur, Malappuram, Palakkad and parts of Thiruvananthapuram. What began as a campaign in the social media on Sunday against the brutality heaped on an eight-year-old in Kathua region led to a shutdown on Monday. Angry demonstrators, some shouting anti-RSS slogans, blocked traffic and forced shops to shut. - Read more here

As Kerala shuts down to protest incident, normal life gets derailed; several protesters taken into custody

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Jammu and Kashmir state government seeing a reply on the Kathua rape and murder case plea that was file by the victim's father. The apex court has also ordered security to victim's family and lawyer. The next hearing on the plea to transfer case will be on 27 April. ( Read more here. )

Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising told the apex court, said, "State police had done a good job and it not only arrested all the accused persons on evidence but also on a scientific basis." Appearing for the victim's father, she told the Supreme Court, "The atmosphere is not conducive to a fair trial. The atmosphere is highly polarised."- ANI

The lawyers demand that the lawyers who stood for accused should be punished by cancellation of licenses.

Protesting lawyers take out silent march from Indian Law Institute to Bar Council of India in Delhi

Shalu Nigam says lawyers who stood for the accused should be punished by the cancellation of licenses

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Ravinder Raina said, "We will ensure that justice is given. We have full faith in the judicial system. It's the most autonomous body and doesn't work under anyone's pressure."- CNN-News 18

Lawyers protesting near the Supreme Court say that those who try to interfere with the rule of law after raising saffron flags, must be punished.

One of the protesting lawyers, Som Dutt, said that a section of lawyers in Jammu and Kashmir is not allowing legal course to be taken smoothly in the case and it is unfair.

A section of lawyers are not allowing legal action to be taken smoothly

One of the protesting lawyers Advocate ND Pachauli asked how can lawyers in Jammu and Kashmir not allow chargesheet to be filed when such a heinous crime has been committed.

Advocate ND Pachauli asks 'how can lawyers in Jammu and Kashmir not allow chargesheet to be filed?'

The general house decided to temporarily suspend the agitation, responding to the appeal of Bar Council of India (BCI), and the Supreme Court taking cognizance of the issue (Kathua rape and murder case), Slathia said. - PTI ( Read more here

The Jammu High Court Bar Association (JHCBA) on Monday resumed work after staying away from courts for 12 days in support of their various demands including handing over the Kathua rape and murder case to CBI and deportation of illegally settled Rohingyas. The decision to resume work was taken at a general house meeting of the JHCBA held under the chairmanship of its president B S Slathia.

#Delhi : Lawyers protest outside Supreme Court over the conduct of lawyers in Jammu in connection with #KathuaRapeCase . pic.twitter.com/qoD6uVlxSX

Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising told the apex court, said, "State police had done a good job and it not only arrested all the accused persons on evidence but also on a scientific basis." Appearing for the victim's father, she told the Supreme Court, "The atmosphere is not conducive to a fair trial. The atmosphere is highly polarised."- ANI

The lawyers demand that the lawyers who stood for accused should be punished by cancellation of licenses.

Protesting lawyers take out silent march from Indian Law Institute to Bar Council of India in Delhi

Shalu Nigam says lawyers who stood for the accused should be punished by the cancellation of licenses

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Ravinder Raina said, "We will ensure that justice is given. We have full faith in the judicial system. It's the most autonomous body and doesn't work under anyone's pressure."- CNN-News 18

The Supreme Court has issued directions to the authorities to provide protection to us (victim family and their counsel): Deepika S Rajawat, Counsel, #Kathua victim's family pic.twitter.com/HP4pV3uB5u

Lawyers protesting near the Supreme Court say that those who try to interfere with the rule of law after raising saffron flags, must be punished.

One of the protesting lawyers, Som Dutt, said that a section of lawyers in Jammu and Kashmir is not allowing legal course to be taken smoothly in the case and it is unfair.

A section of lawyers are not allowing legal action to be taken smoothly

One of the protesting lawyers Advocate ND Pachauli asked how can lawyers in Jammu and Kashmir not allow chargesheet to be filed when such a heinous crime has been committed.

Advocate ND Pachauli asks 'how can lawyers in Jammu and Kashmir not allow chargesheet to be filed?'

The general house decided to temporarily suspend the agitation, responding to the appeal of Bar Council of India (BCI), and the Supreme Court taking cognizance of the issue (Kathua rape and murder case), Slathia said. - PTI ( Read more here

The Jammu High Court Bar Association (JHCBA) on Monday resumed work after staying away from courts for 12 days in support of their various demands including handing over the Kathua rape and murder case to CBI and deportation of illegally settled Rohingyas. The decision to resume work was taken at a general house meeting of the JHCBA held under the chairmanship of its president B S Slathia.

Kathua rape and murder case latest updates: "There was no pressure on me to resign, I have done it by myself. If my resignation can save the image of my party, I will give this sacrifice," BJP leader Chander Prakash Ganga said about his resignation to ANI. He added that he has demanded a CBI enquiry into the case and asserted that he has never practised "politics for power."

The resignations of two BJP ministers, who courted controversy by attending a rally supporting those accused of raping and killing a young girl in Kathua, will be handed over to Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti for further action, said senior BJP leader Ram Madhav.

The senior BJP leader said the resignation of the ministers was to address the fears of not only its ally PDP and the people of Jammu and Kashmir but also the entire nation.

Terming as "horrific" the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

"I think we've seen the media reports of this horrific case, of the abuse and the murder of a young girl. We very much hope that the authorities will bring the perpetrators to justice so they can be held accountable for the murder of this young girl," Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric told reporters at his daily press briefing on Friday.

According to CNN-News18, the key PDP legislative meet will take place at 2 pm on Saturday. The Kathua rape case is likely to on the top agenda during the meet. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had raised the issue of two BJP ministers obstructing the process of justice, in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, last week with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who assured her that heads will roll. The BJP's architect of alliance with the PDP, Ram Madhav, has arrived in the state on Saturday to follow up on the prime ministers commitment even as the two tainted ministers have resigned.

According to ANI, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti will request the state high court Chief Justice to establish a special fast track court for the Kathua rape case. It will be the first in the state where the trial will be expected to be completed within 90 days. PDP sources also said that the accused policemen are being terminated from service.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday lauded the people of Jammu for dismissing communal forces and their unwavering support for justice to an eight-year-old girl who was raped and killed in Kathua. "I commend the manner in which the people of Jammu dismissed communal forces and were unwavering in their support for a little girl. It has strengthened my belief that Jammu serves as a model of inclusiveness and together the people of J-K inspire secular unity and righteousness," Mufti said in a tweet.

BJP leader Chaudhary Lal Singh on Saturday defended his participation in a rally supporting the accused in the Kathua rape and killing case, saying that it was meant to defuse the situation and restore normalcy. Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, BJP ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir coalition government, on Friday tendered their resignations after facing criticism for their participation in the event.

Speaking to ANI, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav in Jammu said: "A meeting will be held. We will take stock of the current situation. The resignation of two ministers will be discussed as well."

A meeting of senior leaders of the ruling PDP has been called on Saturday to decide the party's course of action amid demands to remove two ministers of its ally BJP from the Jammu and Kashmir government for participating in a rally supporting those accused in the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua.

On the eve of the meeting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came out with a statement signed by its senior leader Nizamuddin Bhat in which it blamed the Centre and "hawkish and communal" elements in its coalition partner BJP for failing the purpose of the alliance between the two parties in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The conduct of communal and hawkish elements in BJP is giving serious blow to PDP's expectations on Kashmir and New Delhi's own attitudes are failing the purpose of alliance between the two parties," Bhat, who is considered to be a close aide of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, said.

He said it was time for the party to decide its future course of action, "befitting its sacrifice and hard earned reputation as a guardian of people's honour and dignity".

Bhat endorsed the sentiments of Tourism Minister Tasaduq Mufti, who had said that the PDP had become a "partner in crime with the BJP and the gradual schism of state's residents may lead to unprecedented bloodshed."

Bhat said Tasaduq Mufti has represented the sentiment of the party's rank and file.

He said he cannot remain quiet just because he is in the government and that the PDP will have to "take one last bow and apologise to people for having unknowingly pushed them into something they did not deserve."

"PDP owes its emergence to avowed objectives of peace, and reconciliation and it cannot commit a sin to defeat the mission of its patron or undermine the sacrifices of its people and party workers by compromising on the basic agenda," he said.

Bhat said the PDP hoped that the massive mandate to BJP at the national level would be used to the advantage of peace and resolution.

"Similarly, it (PDP) expected that state will witness a sustainable political atmosphere of harmony and shared concerns. Unfortunately, that is seemingly not happening. On the contrary, uncertainty is gripping the state. Conflict is devouring lives and resource," he said.

Bhat said Mehbooba Mufti was pained with every killing in Kashmir.

"Unfortunately her every hope is belied through perpetual betrayals and the state reels under the shadow of death and destruction," he said.

Sources within the party said Mehbooba Mufti, who is also president of the PDP, has been holding consultations with senior leaders of the party who have conveyed their displeasure over the statements issued by two the two BJP ministers  Industries and Commerce Minister Chander Prakash and Forest Minister Lal Singh  during a rally in March this year.

"It is too difficult to sit with the same ministers who have been openly supporting people accused of rape," a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.

"A meeting of senior party leaders is being held [on Saturday] and important issues relating to political, party and administration in Jammu and Kashmir will be discussed," PDP chief spokesman Rafi Ahmed Mir said.

The leaders may also discuss the emerging situation in Jammu, he said.

Asked whether Mehbooba Mufti has given an ultimatum to the BJP to sack the two ministers, Mir said it was matter to be discussed between the alliance partners "and after that we well see".

Ganga and Singh had hit out at the police for arresting "one or the other person at will" in connection with the rape of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua.

The girl, who belonged to the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community, had disappeared from a spot near her house in Kathua on 10 January. A week later, her body was found in the same area.

A Special Investigation Team, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable, who was charged with destroying evidence.

Jammu has been on tenterhooks since the brutal rape and murder.

With inputs from PTIMehbooba Mufti had raised the issue of the two BJP ministers obstructing the process of justice in the Kathua rape and murder case with Narendra Modi.

Jammu: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had raised the issue of the two BJP ministers obstructing the process of justice in the Kathua case last week with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who assured her that heads will roll. The BJP's architect of alliance with the PDP, Ram Madhav, has arrived in the state on Saturday to follow up on the prime ministers commitment even as the two tainted ministers have resigned.

She (Mufti) told the PM that Lal Singh and CP Ganga were creating hurdles in the process of delivering justice to the girl but he assured her that action will be taken within few days. The ministers accused the J&K Police of carrying out a biased investigation which vitiated the atmosphere in Jammu and emboldened the people to hit the streets, a senior PDP leader told Firstpost.

According to PDP sources, the chief minister had taken a strong exception to the BJP ministers pointing fingers at the crime branch probe into the case which could have also demoralised the forces. When they (police) fight and lay down their lives in encounters with militants, at that time, they are not biased. How dare they raise fingers at the police force now and accuse it of being prejudiced? Just because the investigation didnt suit their communal agenda, a senior PDP leader said.

The BJP legislators are meeting in the afternoon where all the party leaders, including MLAs and MLC, are likely to be present. The meeting is likely to be presided by Madhav.

Madhav, sources said, was told in no uncertain terms by the prime minister that the party has to act against the tainted ministers who had proffered support to the agitation demanding a CBI probe into the case and release of the accused. He called up Ganga and Lal Singh some two days ago and categorically told them to put in their papers, BJP sources said.

Madhav, who stitched the alliance along with the PDP's Haseeb Drabu, has arrived in Jammu and Kashmir today and he will choose fresh faces from the BJP for the cabinet after the unceremonious exit of Ganga and Lal Singh. There may be a change of portfolio of one minister who has also been playing the communal card to keep the Jammu region on boil over the arrest of culprits in Kathua case, sources said. BJP has nine ministers in the coalition government.

In its 18-page chargesheet, the crime branch has unearthed a brazenly communal conspiracy by a former revenue officer Sanji Ram with the help of his son, nephew and police officers to make an example out of the eight-year-old nomadic girl's rape and murder which, according to the chargesheet, was meant to terrorise the Muslims community in Rasana and compel them to abandon their homes.

Madhavji will speak with our leaders and legislators and perhaps he may also have some message from the party high command for us. The Kathua case tested the durability of the alliance but we have come out even stronger, a senior BJP leader, who is also a minister in the Jammu and Kashmir government, told Firstpost.

BJP spokesman Ashok Kaul told Firstpost that the meeting would take place at the saffron party's office and all the leaders would attend the meeting, including the two leaders who have sent in their resignations.

We will discuss the agenda of meeting after the meeting, Kaul said.The Kathua rape case has left the Bakkarwals stunned. Their way is to evade and move on. But how do they negotiate this present time without entering the quagmire of the civilised settled?

Editor's note: This article was originally published on 14 April, 2018  a few months after the Kathua rape and murder. It is being republished in light of the Pathankot special court convicting six people accused of being involved in the case.

The abduction, rape and murder of the Bakkarwal girl ***** on 10 January, 2018, at Rassana village, Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir has received wide coverage in the press and social media recently. Like so many stories of this kind, the attempt in the coverage of the case has been to show the horrible plight of the community and the parents of the little girl, in being subjected to this kind of predation. This is the first time that the Bakkarwals (although Firstpost's style guide recommends that the name of the community be spelled 'Bakarwal', we've retained the author's spelling in deference to her scholarship) and Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir have appeared so consistently within the horizon of the nations attention. As with all the typically tragic and unfortunate stories that lead communities to representation within a modern democracy, the Bakkarwals have been forced to demand their rights to representation within the nation, by incidents and political manoeuvres that have made their traditional ways of life fragile and untenable. It is thus important that we consider seriously their claims and the effects of this case on them, as this is a moment that will shape this community decisively.

In its very essence, political representation, particularly of the kind created by collective trauma, forces a community to face many distasteful and mortifying realities of the political present. One of these is surely the conflation of the Kathua rape with the Unnao rape. Under the din of primetime news, the more complex relationships between people in the field, and ambivalent status of the Bakkarwals with regard to other groups of Jammu and Kashmir has received scant attention. As Bakkarwals have been courageous enough to stand up for their rights at such a trying moment, it is surely incumbent upon us, those who are already well ensconced within the nation to pay careful attention to the details of the case that are significant for them.

This case has taken some time to fully surface upon the national stage and discussions with Bakkarwal friends reveal how the case had to be drummed up by Bakkarwal and Gujjar activists and sympathisers, some of whom arrived at Rassana village on 16 January, the day before her body was found in the forest after the girl had been missing for seven days. Zahid Parwaz Chaudhary, Talib Hussain Chaudhary, Ch Fayaz Karnahi, Nazakat Khatana, Ch Mohd Yaseen Poswal, Guftar Ahmed Chaudhary, Zafar Chaudhary, Sadiq Chaudhary, Ch Mohd Aslam, Haji Yousif Gorsi, Rafaqat Ajaz and several others were among the activists. Post-mortem reports revealed sedation, rape, rupture of internal organs, and eventual death by strangulation and head injury. Something like this has never happened to any Bakkarwal in Kathua before. This was capped by the denial of access to the local burial ground to her parents owing to which the little girl now lies buried all by herself, on a hill, in the forest about 4-5 km from the village.

The fact of the denial of burial grounds to the Bakkarwals is particularly poignant. It shows a steady decline in their relations with sedentary populations. Increasingly, for both the Kashmiri Muslim and the Jammu Hindus, the Bakkarwals are perceived as outsiders. As nomadic people, they also suffered acutely because of the militancy in the Valley. Many Bakkarwals, however, continued their migration up and down the mountains in-spite of the daunting odds posed by militancy, by adopting various diversifying strategies such as leaving their children behind with settled friends and relatives, as some young boys were kidnapped by militants. But incidents such as the Kathua rape have left them stunned. The Bakkarwals are not used to being in the news. Their way is to evade and move on. But how to negotiate this present time without entering the quagmire of the civilised settled?

Kashmiris ridicule them, some taunt them for being supporters of India  but must now also woo them as the Kashmiri movement for azadi needs the Bakkarwals on their side for their own moral legitimacy. The Jammu Hindus with whom the Bakkarwals shared a warmer relationship are increasingly collating them with Muslim migrants, especially in Kathua and Sambha where their numbers are small. The Bakkarwals have little choice but to sit on the fence every time there is a crisis. After the killing of Burhan Wani we were told that since we are faithful to the Indian nation we will be thrown out, and our land will be distributed amongst them. We just had to grin and bear it.

Successive governments have systematically failed to recognise their Forest Rights or rehabilitation needs, and the FRA is still not applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, the one piece of proposed legislation that is still making attempts at securing the Bakkarwals' traditional way of life. This suits everyone  both Hindu and Muslim. As a Bakkarwal friend who teaches at a government college said, All we get is lip-service, If the PDP really wants to help us why didnt they pass the Act when we tabled it recently? It is precisely such political opportunism that has left the Bakkarwal stranded, and often forced to take on dangerous and precarious modes of survival, which leaves them at the mercy of people who see them as powerless and thus easily exploited. The Bakkarwals who wield any power have gradually amassed land, and have sedentarised or are in the process of sedentarising, while continuing to profit from herding by employing servants or uneducated family and clan members. On the other hand, poor Bakkarwals with growing cash demands, are being driven out of nomadism altogether towards other employment opportunities in towns and cities as daily wage labour, farm-hands etc. gradually diluting their distinctiveness as a nomadic people, and their sense of self.

Nation-states promote democracy by empowering sedentary local populations i.e at the most basic level  villages. But it is only beyond the village that lies the realm of the Bakkarwals. The Bakkarwals live beyond the reach of the village, hamlet and cluster and are thus away from processes of village empowerment and development, which marks them off increasingly as a kind of sub-civilized population. This positioning of them as the backward illiterate homeless is ironically a reversal of their former roles when the Bakkarwals were, in fact, the first population to introduce the outside world to remote Kashmiri villagers. However, it is the continued history of hostility towards nomads, coupled with the emerging wish to educate their children that is pulling many towards semi-sedentarisation or new strategies and networks that allow for the education of their children. The little girls parents also wanted her to go to school.

The wide coverage of the Kathua rape has left many Bakkarwals bewildered. Divisive politics is engineering new forms of social rules. They are tapping in on a sense of loss or perceived loss, and producing a new kind of violence out of it, turning nostalgia and melancholy into rage and revenge. For every loss, there is a target in sight to be brought down. And any means will do, whether fair or foul. Such strange political means are particularly visible in the quickly fluctuating reactions the incidents incited from surrounding village peoples. As a friend and Bakkarwal student activist said, Many women from the village cried after her body was recovered and spoke lovingly of the girl and expressed anguish at what had happened to her. Now many of those same women are part of the group demonstrating for a CBI inquiry.

There was another incident that left us mystified said Zahid Parwaz Choudhary, another friend and Bakkarwal activist. The day after we buried her was Friday. We decided to go to different mosques in the region to spread the news about the poor girl. I went to Kathua town and spoke to several people. Then we tried to block a road but we were unsuccessful as we were few in number. It is the Panther Party who helped us in Kathua after learning about what had happened to the girl, and we managed to block a road with their help. The matter was not about Hindu-Muslim in January, the Panther Party consists mainly of Hindus but they were sympathetic and understood that what had happened to our girl was beyond matters of religion. Now we find the same members of the Panther Party agitating along with the Hindu Ekta Manch So we cant say that this is about Hindu-Muslim divisions, it is politics. If it was about religion then how have we lived peacefully together year after year for so long?

Another regional factor to consider is that Kathua and Sambha have much smaller populations of Gujjars and Bakkarwals, unlike districts such as Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi where the Gujjars and Bakkarwals are a sizeable population and wield some political muscle. Their small numbers in Kathua and Sambha and the rise of divisive politics leaves the nomads here vulnerable.

Vulnerability, in many ways, seems to be the focal point of this case. The Bakkarwals are not a traditionally vulnerable community, they are a community whose men and women scale the most difficult peaks and passes of the Himalayas and the Pir Panjals. They have rich knowledge traditions and specialised skills of their own. They open the high mountain passes in Kashmir that the entire trekking industry relies upon, even the forest department grudgingly acknowledge their superior knowledge. Bakkarwal women are known for being tough and more than self-sufficient in protecting themselves. It is perhaps this fiery streak of independence that makes them so difficult for us to understand, but also so liable to be demarcated as backward. Their history over the last 28 years in Kashmir has been one of increasing fragility, and dependence on the state, and it is only in such a condition that a people can be exploited. The Bakkarwals need this moment to resound within the high halls of justice and legality, so that it may not happen again, so that at the basic level of existence they might preserve themselves, but it has been a high price to pay, to show themselves as victims and to demand this justice. Let us hope the moment does not swiftly ebb away, after the initial fascination with a peoples misery, to remain one among the many false promises of justice made at the price of their honour and pride.

The young girls father and family have now left Kathua for their onward summer migration to Sanasar in the Pir Panjals, perhaps because walking, moving and evading the strange machinations of settled life for a time in the worlds highest peaks is what he knows best and what he must do to cope with his grief.

The author is a sociologist on nomadism based in New Delhi. She is the author of The Bakkarwals of Jammu and Kashmir, and has worked with the Bakkarwals for over a decade now.A look at the ideological positions of those who led protests defending the Kathua rape accused reveals their role in spreading communal hatred.

The men who began an agitation defending the accused in the rape and murder of a nomad girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, have been either associated with the BJP, or espouse the belief that Hindus have been discriminated against by governments led by Muslim chief ministers.

The protests that followed the filing of a case against 8 people, including some police officials, were spearheaded by a BJP state secretary. Subsequently, other community groups and political parties also joined them. The agitation took up a number of issues apart from seeking a CBI probe in the case  including discrimination against Hindus in terms of representation in the Legislative Assembly and in jobs. These issues were used to fuel the unrest.

Lawyers in Jammu have continued to strike work, seeking that the CBI should investigate the Kathua rape case instead of the Crime Branch. In Kathua, protesters have demanded that the Crime Branch chargesheet be held as invalid.

The agitators have been holding public rallies against the Crime Branch officials, terming them tainted. They have even organised community meetings of influential Hindu groups to rally support.

A look at the ideological positions of those who led the agitation reveals that they have played an active role in spreading communal hatred. They have also tried to shut down markets to seek a CBI probe in the case. Even as trade associations and some influential community groups lend support for the CBI probe, here are some of those who spearheaded the agitation.

Vijay Sharma

The president of the Hindu Ekta Manch (HEM), Sharma is also the state secretary of the BJP. He launched the HEM after the death of the nomad girl, contending that the accused were being framed by the Crime Branch. The BJP didnt act against him or the two ministers who participated in the protests  Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga  until they resigned on Friday. Sharma, a practicing lawyer has been organising protest rallies in Kathua near the home of the victim, seeking the release of the accused. The BJP had been seeing this agitation as a new issue which would help it gain Hindu votes, before the Congress slammed it for supporting the rape accused.

Sharma told Firstpost that he sympathised with the girl and the family but was concerned that the probe was motivated and driven by anti-Hindu sentiment by the chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. He said that the mood of people reflected this concern. The officers who probed the case have been charged of rape and murder, he alleged. A probe by the CBI, he said, will unravel the truth. He said that the people of Jammu will continue their protest until the demand is met. He has been regularly attending BJP meetings, including a state working committee meeting which was held earlier this month at RS Pura in Jammu. However, he said that he was not invited by the BJP in a meeting on Saturday which was headed by party national general secretary Ram Madhav in Jammu after the resignation of two BJP ministers. He has been leading the protests against the police and authorities regularly in Jammu.

Professor Hari Om

A former Dean of Social Sciences of Jammu University, Hari Om was always at the forefront of agitations that sought to pit Hindu majority Jammu areas against the Muslim-majority Kashmir region. As a spokesperson of the BJP, he was a staunch opponent of political parties of Kashmir, including the NC and PDP. He has denounced them for discriminating against Jammu in jobs and representation in Assembly seats. He contends that the Hindu majority areas of Jammu, which have a higher population and larger area than Kashmir, have been given less seats in the Assembly. He was expelled by the BJP in November 2015, as he has been openly criticising it for giving in to the pressure of alliance partner PDP to go soft on separatists.

Hari Om has been writing in favour of a CBI probe in the rape and murder of the 8-year-old girl. He also took part in the protest rallies of the HEM. He, however, said that the politics in the state has turned so brazen that even the justified demand of a CBI probe in the case is being seen a communal agenda.

BS Slathia

A former additional advocate general and the president of the Jammu Bar Association, Slathia had earlier rallied lawyers first to seek the deportation of Rohingya Muslims from Jammu. More recently, he sought that the probe in the Kathua rape case should be handed over to the CBI. On his call, lawyers have struck work in the courts. He was associated with the Congress in its legal cell and remained the chief election agent of former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during the 2014 Lok Sabha election. However, he had resigned as the Additional Advocate General during the 2008 agitation that was started against the transfer of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) in Kashmir. Congress spokesman Ravinder Sharma said that Slathia had been active in the agitation that brought down the government of Azad. He said that he was not associated with the Congress and due to his legal background worked as an election agent of the former chief minister.

Sheikh Shakeel, a prominent advocate from Jammu, described Slathia as a  fundamentalist and an opportunist.

After a series of meetings, the Jammu Bar Association decided to hold a strike on 11 April in Jammu to seek handing over the Kathua probe to CBI, and to demand that the Rohingyas should be deported.

Gulchain Singh Charak

A former Congress minister, Charak wields considerable support of the Dogra Hindus of Jammu. As the president of the Dogra Sadar Sabha, Charak was approached by lawyers and civil society members to lend support to the 11 April strike call of the Jammu Bar Association.

He favoured the call and later issued a statement that the Jammu region was being discriminated against. He also took part in a meeting which was held to chalk out the strategy for enforcing the shutdown in Jammu. Charak, who has been expelled by the Congress, said that he supports the agitation of the lawyers as it was about the issue of Jammu getting a raw deal.Columnist and author Tavleen Singh believe felt that by keeping the name of the rape victims a secret the world might not truly know what they went through.

The gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl at Rasana village of Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir that shocked the nation brought to the fore another issue  whether names of victims should be revealed or not. Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code prohibits the disclosure of identity of victims when it comes to certain offences. "Whoever prints or publishes the name or any matter which may make known the identity of any person against whom an offence under Section 376, Section 376A, Section 376B, Section 376C or Section 376D is alleged or found to have been committed (hereafter in this section referred to as the victim) shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years and shall also be liable to fine," the IPC says.

Columnist and author Tavleen Singh, however, believes that by keeping the name of rape victims a secret, the world may not understand what they truly went through.

"When a rape victim's name and pictures are not allowed to be used, does it not end up protecting the rapists? If we had not seen what those beasts did to little *****'s innocent face, would ordinary people have responded with so much anger?" Singh tweeted on Saturday.

The columnist believed that norms of not naming victims of rape are from the pre-social media era.

"This attempt to conceal the identity of a rape victim, especially a child, is with the intention of protecting her privacy, but it's an idea from a time before social media. It was social media that first showed *****'s pictures, but it is on mainstream media that the court's order takes effect after everyone knows the child's name and everything that happened to her," Singh told Firstpost.

"So you have erased her today, while TV reporters are busy interviewing relations of the rapists who are all saying they have been wrongly arrested. So what are we doing? We are helping the rapists tell their side of the story, when in fact the matter is now subjudice, because they have been charged with the crime. It was those pictures of *****s beautiful little face, and the one of her after she was killed in which that same face is bruised and bloodied, that woke everyone up to the horror of what had happened to this girl who was no more than a baby. Without these pictures, she would have been like the five-year-old girl in Delhi who we call Gudiya, who was raped and brutalised in exactly the way that Jyoti Singh (2012 New Delhi rape victim) was, but her story has disappeared because she was made anonymous," Singh told Firstpost.

"In the case of Jyoti Singh, her mother pleaded with reporters to stop calling her Nirbhaya, and call her by her real name. So in no way does this anonymity help the victim. To actually help rape survivors, we (must) tell every story in detail, so that ordinary Indians realise the extent of the horror," she said.

Drawing a parallel with rampant dowry deaths that used to grab headlines at one point of time in the country, Tavleen pointed out that the naming of victims in these cases have actually brought awareness to these heinous crimes and helped stem them to a great extent.

"In the 70s, dowry deaths made no more than one para with the victim anonymous and a cursory mention that a woman had died in her kitchen from a gas cylinder exploding. It was when women journalists started to write full stories on these women with pictures and details about their lives that people realised that what was happening was completely wrong," Singh said.

The columnist felt that until the media is allowed full freedom to publish names of victims and rapists, the possibility of the crime coming down was low.

"No amount of laws will prevent rapes. What will help is if the media continues to publish names and pictures of the victims and their rapists," Singh said.

On 12 April, the columnist had tweeted expressing her disappointment over the silence observed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when two detestable crimes against a woman and a child shook the very conscience of the nation.

However, she expressed happiness when Modi broke his silence and said in no uncertain terms that the perpetrators won't be spared.

"It's good that the prime minister has spoken. The immediate consequences of his remarks were the arrests in Unnao and the resignation of two ministers supporting the rapists in Kathua," Singh said.The grief-stricken mother of the eight-year-old girl, who was raped and murdered in Kathua, wishes for death penalty for the guilty

Udhampur: As the Bakarwals make their way to the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir with their belongings, she trudges along burdened by the weight of her eight-year-old daughter's death.

"She was so beautiful and intelligent. I wanted her to be a doctor when she grew up," the biological mother of the girl reminisces.

The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty. "My only wish is the culprits should be hanged for the heinous crime, so that no other family has to go through it," she said.

The girl was adopted by the woman's brother and his wife in Rasana hamlet of Kathua district when she was one year old.

Still in shock, she blames herself for leaving her daughter at brother's house. "Why was she killed? She was grazing cattle and taking care of horses. She was eight years old. Why did they kill her in such a brutal way. They should be given death sentence," she says.

The girl's father said she was at maternal uncle's home in Rasana. "The killers should be given death penalty. We do not need a CBI probe, we have faith in investigation by the Crime Branch," he said.

Jammu has been on tenterhooks since the brutal rape and killing of the girl belonging to the nomadic Muslim Bakarwal community. Her body was found in Rasana forest on 17 January, a week after she went missing while grazing horses in the forest area.

The couple along with their two kids and cattle left their hamlet in Samba and in Round-Domail in Udhampur district as part of their annual trek to Sanasar mountainous belt. The mother said that earlier they had good relations with Hindus and lived in harmony with them.

"But after this incident, the relations have soured and we are fearful. We only want justice for her. She was our dear child. She was beautiful and we loved her," she said.

The parents wanted to take her back, teach her and make her a doctor, the mother said, adding that she was very intelligent.

"The prime minister had said "Beti Padhao Beti Bachao" but how are they teaching and saving girls like this," her adoptive father asks. "The ministers are supporting the rape accused, saying that they are innocent, but they are wrong," he said.

The biological father said the world knows that their daughter, who did not know about the difference between Hindus and Muslims, was wronged and murdered in most barbaric manner.

"The world and entire India knows it. They are supporting them. I do not say she was our only child, she was everyone's child. The incident should not be looked at through the religious lens," he said.

On 23 January, the government had handed over the case to the Crime Branch of the state police which formed a special investigation team and arrested eight people including two Special Police Officers (SPOs) and a head constable.

The police have arrested eight people in the case, but the Bar Association has opposed the action, alleging targeting of minority Dogras.

Click here to follow LIVE updates on the Kathua rape and murder caseSome may say he could have spoken sooner but Narendra Modi assured the nation that those who are guilty of crimes against women shall not be spared.

Some may say he could have spoken sooner but Narendra Modi assured the nation that those who are guilty of crimes against women shall not be spared and India's women will definitely get justice. The prime minister's statement comes in the backdrop of nationwide outrage over Unnao and Kathua rape-and-murder incidents that have shaken the nation's conscience.

The depravity of the crime in Jammu's Kathua where an eight-year-old girl was kidnapped, sedated, raped, tortured and eventually killed and subsequent developments that sought to turn the criminal incident into a communal flashpoint in a volatile region raised disturbing questions about the failure of India's criminal justice system when it is politically inexpedient to take action against the accused.

The rape in Unnao, that happened last year, came to light when the victim tried to self-immolate before Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence last week. Her father died under mysterious circumstances in police custody. BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the accused and local power broker, proved too powerful for the Yogi administration and roamed around with a swagger till he was eventually detained after the case was transferred to the CBI. The administrative apathy in twin cases put the BJP under pressure and paved the way for the Opposition to target the prime minister.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi organised a midnight protest march demanding justice for the victims and lashed out at the prime minister's silence, after breaking his own silence on the Kathua incident after a period of deliberation. The prime minister is not known for bowing to Opposition pressure but he may have realised that the anger over Kathua and Unnao was vociferous, organic and had crossed a certain line where not speaking would be tantamount to complicity.

Speaking during the inauguration of Ambedkar Jayanti, Modi said: "Incidents being discussed since past two days cannot be part of a civilised society. As a country, as a society, we all are ashamed of it. I want to assure the country that no culprit will be spared, complete justice will be done. Our daughters will definitely get justice."

Modi added that there is a need for all to "come together", keeping aside differences when it came to crimes against women.

"Such incidents, be it in any state of the country, shatter human emotions. I want to assure the nation that no culprit will be spared. Justice will be done. We all need to come together in fight against such evil of the society."

The BJP had also been at a loss to explain why two of its ministers in Jammu and Kashmir government were part of a protest march in favour of the rape and murder accused in Kathua. According to reports, state industries minister Chandra Prakash Ganga and forest minister Lal Singh had addressed a rally in support of the accused by a group called the Hindu Ekta Manch on 4 March. On Friday, both ministers tendered their resignation.

It is a simple resignation letter, but they have done it to save party from the adverse publicity going on in the media about their publicly supporting the Hindu Ekta Manch who have been demanding shifting of investigations into the girls rape and murder case from states Crime Branch to CBI, according to state chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi.

Modi's statement was solemn and delivered with a seriousness and clarity that the situation called for. That, and the sacking of ministers seem a concerted effort to ameliorate the pressure on BJP. Equivocations on timing may continue, but it is tangible action and may go some distance in healing a nation's troubled conscience.Kotak Mahindra Bank in Kerala fired an employee for sharing a post on Facebook which justified the Kathua rape and murder.

Kotak Mahindra Bank in Kerala on Friday fired an employee for sharing a post on Facebook which justified the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua.

"It is good that she (the rape victim) was killed now. Otherwise, she would have come as a bomb against India," The Indian Express quoted the employee Vishnu Nandakumar as saying.

Nandakumar, an assistant manager with the bank's Kochi branch, reportedly deactivated his Facebook page after he faced backlash for his insensitive remark.

In a Facebook post, Kotak Mahindra Bank said it had terminated Nandakumar from the services of the bank due to "poor performance".

Hindustan Times reported that Nandakumar claimed to be a relative of BJP's Kerala state general secretary AN Radhakrishnan. After he posted his message, people on social media started a hashtag campaign "#dismiss_your_manager".

Cyber police in Kochi has also said that it will take action after getting all the details.

The Kathua rape and murder was condemned by United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres as well. Terming as "horrific" the rape and murder, Guterres expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

"I think we've seen the media reports of this horrific case, of the abuse and the murder of a young girl. We very much hope that the authorities will bring the perpetrators to justice so they can be held accountable for the murder of this young girl," Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric told reporters at his daily press briefing at the United Nations on Friday.

Dujjaric was responding to a question about the Secretary General's response to the rape and murder of the girl.

A Special Investigation Team of Jammu and Kashmir Police Crime Branch, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable and a sub-inspector, who were charged with destroying evidence.

Breaking his silence over the incident on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called it a "shame" for the country and asserted that the guilty will not be spared.

"I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared. Justice will be done. Our daughters will get justice," he said.

With inputs from PTIThe Maharashtra government on Saturday extended till 1 May the deadline for online submission of applications by farmers to avail benefits under its mega loan waiver scheme

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Saturday extended till 1 May the deadline for online submission of applications by farmers to avail benefits under its mega loan waiver scheme.

The existing last date for filing applications under the scheme, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana (CSMSSY), was 14 April.

A statement from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' office said the date of filing online applications by farmers for the loan waiver has been extended up to 1 May.

The BJP-led government has been extending the deadline time and again since the announcement of the scheme in June last year to allow more eligible farmers to get its benefits.

The late date of availing benefits of One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme under the CSMSSY is 30 June.

The Fadnavis government had announced a Rs 34,000- crore crop loan waiver for marginal farmers nearly a year ago.

At that time, the government had said the scheme was expected to benefit about 89 lakh farmers.While plastic is immensely useful in certain industries, it is equally wasteful and damaging in others.

The widespread use of plastic presents an interesting dilemma. A ubiquitous product, on the one hand it is utilised universally, across communities and industries, in electronic products and appliances, packaging, furniture, aviation, the automotive sector, machinery, and even life-saving products in healthcare amongst various other diverse sectors. On the other hand, it is single-handedly responsible for the rapid deterioration of our environment, water bodies, soil, and natural landscape.

While plastic is immensely useful in certain industries, it is equally wasteful and damaging in others. Most notably, single-use plastic products such as disposable straws, cups, and plates, and plastic bags commonly used by street vendors such as vegetable and fruit sellers, are some of the most harmful and unnecessary forms of plastic use in India. These plastic products cannot be recycled; they are largely trashed and dumped in landfills, and sooner or later find their way into the increasingly polluted ocean.

The extent of the worldwide damage caused by excessive and unnecessary plastic use is exemplified by the Great Pacific garbage patch or the Pacific trash vortex  a scattered collection of marine debris located between California and Hawaii, now believed to be three times the size of France, containing 79,000 tons of plastic in the form of 1.8 trillion plastic pieces.

Particularly threatening is the alarming quantity of microplastics in the ocean, which severely disrupt the marine ecosystem, including inhibiting the ability of several species to reproduce. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2050, oceans will contain more plastics than fish by the pound, if we continue to produce, utilise and improperly dispose of plastic at predicted rates calculated on the basis of current statistics.

I have also been a witness to this rapid deterioration of our water bodies. When I first visited the beaches in Tulum, Mexico, they were stunning expanses of pristine water and sand. Four years later, in 2014, those same beaches were swimming in plastic.

Not all is bleak and hopeless. There is an increasing amount of awareness and activism against the wasteful use of plastic in India, and I personally know several individuals who are trying to facilitate change, if not on a large scale, then in their own small ways. I categorically refuse to accept plastic straws and stirrers in restaurants and coffee shops, and urge people to not store water in plastic bottles or to carry their own bags for grocery shopping. While we may be trying to protest the use of plastic through such actions, I do believe that at this point, its simply not enough. I believe that the world is far too late to effectively fight single-use plastic simply by generating awareness or personally sacrificing its use.

What we require is determined, large-scale, nation-wide action. Until someone invents the technology to ensure that all plastic is properly recycled, or can be converted into petroleum products again, its time for us as a community to collectively make the ultimate sacrifice and ban as many plastic products as we possibly can.

In that context, the Maharashtra governments recent ban on the manufacture, sale, distribution, use, and storage of a variety of plastic items was welcome and necessary. However, merely a fortnight after this notification, the government has already succumbed to pressure from plastic lobbyists by exempting certain items such as milk packets and PET bottles from the ban, making it largely inconsequential. Moreover, the ban was merely a notification with no realistic enforcement or oversight mechanisms, and there is evidence to show that merely banning plastic rarely has any concrete impact.

Both the government at the Centre and the government of Maharashtra could perhaps counter the credibility crisis that theyre facing today by grabbing the bull by its horns and ensuring effective implementation of a blanket ban on single-use plastic without being swayed or pressured by the plastic lobby. However, until our governments can find the strength to unshackle themselves from external influences, it is up to each one of us to collaborate and build a movement in order to petition and pressure our elected representatives to champion the cause of a state-wide or nation-wide ban on single-use plastic.Terming as 'horrific' the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

United Nations: Terming as "horrific" the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

The girl from the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community disappeared near her house on 10 January and a week later, her body was found in the same area.

She was allegedly raped by six men who had held her in captivity in a village temple for a week in January. The victim was drugged, rapped repeatedly before being bludgeoned to death.

The incident has sparked outrage across India.

"I think we've seen the media reports of this horrific case, of the abuse and the murder of a young girl. We very much hope that the authorities will bring the perpetrators to justice so they can be held accountable for the murder of this young girl," Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric told reporters at his daily press briefing on Friday.

Dujjaric was responding to a question about the Secretary-General's response to the rape and murder of the girl.

A Special Investigation Team of the Crime Branch, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable and a sub-inspector, who were charged with destroying evidence.

Expressing anguish over the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called it as a "shame" for the country and asserted that the guilty will not be spared.

"I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared. Justice will be done. Our daughters will get justice," he said.

Follow LIVE updates hereUpendra Kushwaha, Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, rued the lack of representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the judiciary.

Upendra Kushwaha, Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), on Saturday, rued the lack of representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the judiciary. He called for introducing a quota system in the judiciary for the SC/ST and OBC communities, India Today reported.

He was speaking at an event organised by RLSP in Bihar to commemorate BR Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary

On 9 April too, he had called for changes in the present system of employment in the judiciary to ensure that it gets adequate representation from all sections of the society. Kushwaha, who is the Minister of State for Human Resource Development in the NDA government led by BJP's Narendra Modi, had made this statement in Kishanganj, Bihar.

Expressing concern over the 2 April Bharat Bandh against a Supreme Court judgment "diluting" the SC/ST Act, Kushwaha said the magnitude of the protests was a warning signal for the country's democratic setup.

The Bharat Bandh called by Dalit and tribal organisations, and supported by many Opposition parties, had resulted in large-scale violence in states like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

"A tea-seller can rise to the position of the prime minister and children of daily wage labourers can become district magistrates and superintendents of police. Yet, it is hard for anybody from a humble background to become a judge under the present system," Kushwaha had told reporters.

With inputs from PTIIndia, while describing an alleged chemical attack in Syria as 'deplorable', called for restraint after the US, Britain and France launched coordinated missile attacks on the West Asian nation

New Delhi: India on Saturday, while describing an alleged chemical attack in Syria as "deplorable", called for restraint after the US, Britain and France launched coordinated missile attacks on the West Asian nation.

"We have taken note of the recent strikes in Syria. India is closely following the situation. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable," external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to queries.

He said that India wants "an impartial and objective investigation by the Organisation for Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to establish the facts.

"In the meantime, we urge all parties to show restraint and to avoid any further escalation in the situation," the spokesperson said.

"The matter should be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, and on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter and in accordance with international law. We hope that the long drawn suffering of the people of Syria would come to an end soon."

The US, Britain and France launched coordinated strikes against Syria's research, storage and military targets to "punish" the Bashar al-Assad regime for an apparent chemical attack in Douma that killed over 70 people.

The military action was denounced by Damascus and its ally Moscow as a "failure" and "an act of aggression".

Western allies warned Syria on Saturday that they could launch further attacks if chemical weapons were used again.Former Himachal Pradesh governor VS Kokje was on Saturday elected as VHP's new international president for which voting was held for the first time in over five decades.

Former Himachal Pradesh governor Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje was appointed as the new president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), in what was the first election in over five decades.

Kokje got 131 votes and defeated incumbent Raghava Reddy who could muster 60 votes. In total, 192 delegates of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were entitled to cast their votes in Saturday's election in Gurugram.

The election was necessitated after the organisation's members failed to reach a consensus on a new international president.

Who is Kokje

The former Himachal Pradesh governor is considered to be very close to both the VHP as well as the RSS.

Prior to his election to the international president on Saturday, Kokje was the international vice president of the VHP. He also worked as the president of the India Development Council of RSS.

Kokje became the governor of Himachal Pradesh from 2003 to 2008 during the Vajpayee government. He was born on September 6, 1939, in Madhya Pradesh. After passing LLB from Indore, Kokje started practicing law in 1964, the same year when Vishwa Hindu Parishad was established.

He has also held several judicial posts in his career. In July 1990, Kokje was appointed the judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. In 2001, he was also the judge of Rajasthan High Court.

With inputs from PTIThis speech by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar provided untouchables with a vast number of reasons to consider renouncing Hinduism | #FirstCulture

In a Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference held on 31 May 1936, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar delivered a speech titled 'Mukti Kon Pathe?' (What Way to Salvation?). A year before, in Yeola in Nashik district, he proclaimed his decision to renounce Hinduism. This sent waves of shock across India, especially impacting so-called Hindu reformers. He was severely criticised for this. Nevertheless, he remained firm on his decision. He had all reasons for it.

The speech, 'Mukti Kon Pathe?', then became the most intensely thoughtful critique of Hinduism. It also became the blueprint for the religion he was going to embrace. It was only on 14 October 1956, 21 years after his proclamation, that he converted to Buddhism in Nagpur. But the speech he had delivered two decades before turned out to be the manifestation of the vision behind his conversion. Unlike many of his earlier works, when this speech was transcribed and published as a small book, it became his most passionately articulated work.

In this, interestingly, he argued for his experiences which later transformed into insights to understand his philosophy of emancipation and what he meant by annihilation of caste. His ideas and arguments in this small but seminal work, responsible for transforming the consciousness of generations of Dalits, were crystal-clear. His passion for annihilating caste was reflected in each word he uttered at the conference. Not only did he explain the spiritual gains from conversion, but he also touched upon the material aspects of it. Mistaking his decision and reason for conversion as being only polemic, especially in this speech, would never offer the reader a glimpse of the imagination from which he was speaking. He said:

"There are two aspects of conversion: social as well as religious, material as well as spiritual. Whatever may be the aspect or line of thinking, it is necessary to understand at the beginning the nature of Untouchability and how it is practised. Without this understanding, you will not be able to realise the real meaning underlying my declaration of Conversion. In order to have a clear understanding of the problem of Untouchability and its practice in real life, I would want you to recall the stories of atrocities perpetrated against you."

He was advising untouchables to revisit their experiences and think. When I read this small book first in Marathi and then in English, I was astounded by the depth of his understanding of religions in India, as well as the possible way out from centuries-old slavery. This speech became the vast canvas of reasons for untouchables to consider renouncing Hinduism.

But the problem was more severe. Untouchables were not even allowed to think freely, let alone act upon their thoughts. Since his stay in America and Europe provided him with the experience of being assimilated or accepted as a fellow human being, he could see what it means to be kept silent for centuries in India.

This gave birth to a weird kind of material dialectics, but if we read his speech patiently and honestly, we find that he acquired an understanding of this oppressive weirdness, which, over the years, developed as a common sense. He wanted to regain this strength (good sense, as opposed to common sense). While addressing the Mahars at this conference, he said:

"Financial strength is also just the same. It is an undisputed fact that you have a little bit of manpower; but finances you have none. You have no trade, no business, no service, no land. The piece of bread thrown by the higher castes is your means of livelihood. You have no food, no clothes. What financial strength can you have? You have no capacity to get redress from the law courts. Thousands of Untouchables tolerate insult, tyranny, and oppression at the hands of Hindus without a sigh of complaint, because they have no capacity to bear the expenses of the courts.

As regards mental strength, the condition is still worse. The tolerance of insults and tyranny without grudge and complaint has killed the sense of retort and revolt. Confidence, vigour, and ambition have completely vanished from you. All of you have become helpless, unenergetic, and pale. Everywhere there is an atmosphere of defeatism and pessimism. Even the slight idea that you can do something, cannot peep [penetrate] into your minds."

He then vehemently explained to the untouchables:

"In the Hindu religion, one can[not] have freedom of speech. A Hindu must surrender his freedom of speech. He must act according to the Vedas. If the Vedas do not support the actions, instructions must be sought from the Smritis, and if the Smritis fail to provide any such instructions, he must follow in the footsteps of the great men. He is not supposed to reason. Hence, so long as you are in the Hindu religion, you cannot expect to have freedom of thought."

After over 50 years since Babasaheb converted to Buddhism, my interactions with people across caste lines who claim to have been fighting for the annihilation of caste have provided me with different sets of experiences. However, I have always tested them with what Babasaheb said in this speech, and to my anticipation, much of these anti-caste crusaders appeared to be hypocrites.

The reason is simple, and perhaps naive. Babasaheb warned and explained to untouchables in the conference that If there is any reason for your being treated as Untouchables and unequals, it is your relation with the Hindu religion. Over the years, this speech had made an impact on my mind. I began to ask questions such as, "Is it possible for a person to remain within Hinduism and aspire to annihilate caste?", "Wouldnt it be hypocrisy to cling on to a religion which is fundamentally based on inequality and justifies the oppression of one by another?", and "What is the psychological impact of a religion which restricts two people from loving each other?"

I think this speech provided me with a multitude of dimensions about and through which I could think, and perhaps find answers to such questions. It would not be an exaggeration to say at this point that this speech had attained a historical significance, as it had challenged the slavery put into place by Hinduism/Brahminism. It showed people a way to get rid of the toxic and abnormal system of caste(s).The DMK on Saturday alleged that the BJP-led Centre was hampering BR Ambedkar's ideals behind the making of the Indian Constitution.

Chennai: The DMK on Saturday alleged that the BJP-led Centre was hampering BR Ambedkar's ideals behind the making of the Indian Constitution.

DMK's working president MK Stalin said the Centre was working towards "weakening" social justice, without elaborating further.

"The BJP-led Centre steered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working in a way (that is) hampering Ambedkar's ideals which led to the making of the Constitution," said Stalin.

After paying homage to Ambedkar on his birth anniversary in Chennai, the DMK leader appealed to his cadres and workers of 'friendly parties' to take a vow to "end such betrayal."

"Let us take a vow (on the birth anniversary of Ambedkar) to save the country from the BJP government which is trying to saffronise all the (public) spheres against Tamil Nadu through its politics of communalism and linguistic chauvinism," he said.

In a tweet in Tamil, he credited Ambedkar with having established social justice and equality.

Stalin, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, said a DMK-led meeting of leaders of opposition parties will be held on April 16 at the headquarters of his party to deliberate the next course of action on the Cauvery issue.

A rally led by Stalin covering the Cauvery basin regions of Tamil Nadu concluded on 12 February and a petition was submitted to Governor Banwarilal Purohit seeking him to facilitate a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

Stalin said a "massive protest demonstration" of the Opposition, led by his party, against the "dilution" of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act will also be held on 16 April at Valluvar Kottam in Chennai.

In its 20 March judgement, the Supreme Court had 'diluted' the SC/ST Act's stringent provisions mandating immediate arrest, leading to nation-wide bandh by Dalits.

The top court had said that on "several occasions", innocent citizens were being termed as accused and public servants deterred from performing their duties, which was never the intention of the legislature while enacting that Act.

The apex court had directed a preliminary enquiry by a DSP rank officer to find out whether the allegations make out a case under the Atrocities Act and whether the allegations were not frivolous or motivated.

While the Centre filed a petition seeking review of the judgment, massive protests and violence were witnessed on 2 April on the issue.

On 12 April, the Centre submitted in the Supreme Court that its verdict was causing disharmony and damage to the country.An in-house committee set up by the Election Commission to probe the alleged leak of Karnataka poll schedule minutes before the official announcement, said on Friday the information was not leaked but mere speculation.

New Delhi: An in-house committee set up by the Election Commission to probe the alleged leak of Karnataka poll schedule minutes before the official announcement, said on Friday the information was not leaked but mere speculation.

The EC had set up the committee after the BJP's IT cell chief announced in a tweet the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly polls before the official declaration on 27 March. He, however, had got the date for counting of votes wrong.

The committee noted that the media has speculated election schedules before and it seemed similar attempts were made in the case of Karnataka elections.

"As pointed out by (a private TV channel) in its response..., the alleged leak was not a leak and was merely speculation. Thus, the committee is of the opinion that there was no leak of schedule of elections to Karnataka Legislative Assembly 2018," the committee said it its report.

The TV channel had stated it had accessed the details of the poll schedule from informed sources and, given that the information was not entirely accurate, it was obvious that it was not a leak.

The committee, in its report, said the official announcement of schedule is integral to the electoral process.

"It is the responsibility of all the stakeholders including media and political parties not to attempt any speculation that may create unnecessary doubts in the minds of our stakeholders and citizens at large. The commission may like to convey this concern to the stakeholders in its future interactions," the report said.

The committee is of the view that the existing system is robust. "However, considering the secrecy of the process the committee will separately brief the commission for further strengthening the process, if required," it added.

Ahead of the official announcement on 27 March by Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat, BJP IT-cell chief Amit Malviya had tweeted that voting will be held on 12 May and the counting will take place on 18 May.

He was correct about the day of voting, but got the counting date wrong. The counting will take place on 15 May.

The panel said Malviya, in another tweet, had attributed a news channel as his source.

In his press conference to announce the poll schedule, Rawat had described the leak as a "very serious" issue that merited a probe and "stringent action".

Immediately after Malviya's tweet, the Congress said: "BJP becomes the 'Super Election Commission' as they announce poll dates for Karnataka even before the EC. Credibility of EC is on test."

The committee has noted that the information of alleged leak appeared in public domain for the first time at 11.06 am.

"From the responses, it can be safely concluded that the alleged information was first displayed on (the TV channel) which was used by all others in tweet/media (TV)," the report said, adding since the counting date did not match with the actual date, "it can be safely concluded that the alleged leak contained different information about the schedule of election".BJP leader Chander Prakash Ganga, who drew criticism for attending a rally in support of the accused in Kathua rape case, alleged that BJP's state party leadership had sent the leaders to attend the meeting of the Hindu Ekta Manch

BJP leader Chander Prakash Ganga, who drew criticism for attending a rally in support of the accused in Kathua rape case, alleged that BJP's state party leadership had sent the leaders to attend the meeting of the Hindu Ekta Manch.

We were sent by the party. Our party president Sat Sharma sent us. We went there on the partys instruction, he said, speaking with Times Now on Saturday. "If my resignation can save the image of my party, I will give this sacrifice," he added.

ANI reports that the Ganga also vouched that he never practised "politics for power".

Ganga and another BJP leader Choudhary Lal Singh's resignation was announced on Saturday after the party faced criticism over the two BJP leaders' participation in a rally supporting those arrested for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua.

Earlier on Saturday, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, said, "The resignations of two BJP ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government have been accepted and now being forwarded to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti."

Ganga, however, denied any pressure to resign. "There was no pressure on me to resign, I have done it by myself," he said.

Singh had also made comments on the same vein earlier on Saturday. He defended his participation in the rally, saying that it was meant to defuse the situation and restore normalcy.

"We had gone to defuse the situation created due to migration one and half months back. We told them they should go back. Abdul Gani Kohli (minister) was sent to the house of the victim so that an ugly situation was not created," Lal told reporters.

He said they had gone to Rasana as they had a responsibility to reach out to the people.

"Migration had taken place. Our party leadership, the party president, sent us there with responsibility. They did the right thing. We sat with over 5,000 people and made them understand. They heard us and went back to their homes," he claimed.

Both the leaders also reiterated their demand for a CBI inquiry into the rape-and-murder of the eight-year-old girl in Kathua.

To safeguard the interest of Jammu, I will not hesitate to fight the government or meet the prime minister personally and reiterate the demand for a CBI probe into the Kathua rape-and-murder case which is the demand of lakhs of people, Ganga said.

Earlier in the day, Singh also sought a CBI probe and said, What is wrong with it. The agency will not indulge in any wrongdoing."

With inputs from agenciesNarendra Modi said that BR Ambedkar had made provisions in the Constitution for the protection of the rights of backward classes as he appealed to the people not to join the Naxals for securing their rights

Jangala (Bijapur): Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that BR Ambedkar had made provisions in the Constitution for the protection of the rights of backward classes as he appealed to the people not to join the Naxals for securing their rights.

He asked the parents of those who had joined Naxalism to not hand over their children's lives to the leaders who were keeping themselves safe while letting the locals die.

Modi asserted that awakening among poor and backward sections about their rights and aspirations was due to Ambedkar and also attributed his own success to the Dalit icon and framer of the Constitution.

"Son of a poor mother like me hails from a very backward section of the society and could become prime minister due to Babasaheb Ambedkar," he said.

After launching of the first phase of Ayushman Bharat scheme, the prime minister said his government was focusing on a new approach for the development of the poor.

"Babasaheb has given us the Constitution. He ensured the protection of your rights...It is the duty of the government to take care of your rights. You need not pick up weapons...ruin your lives," he told a gathering.

"I want to tell parents that their sons and daughters have chosen a path...But at least think about those who are leading them. None of them is local and they are not from among you. They have come from outside.

"They keep themselves safe in jungles and keep your kids in the front and leave them to die. Why are you giving your children in their hands," the prime minister said.

He said the government was committed to protecting their rights. It was committed to working on the path of development and asked them to educate their children.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme aims to work on the development and upgradation of sub-centres and primary health centres in 1.5 lakh villages.

He said these primary healthcare centres will be developed as health and wellness centres by 2022.

The prime minister said his government was working with new ideas for the development of 115 backward districts of the country as he asked each district to come up with its own model of development according to their available resources.

"115 backward districts in the country will be given priority in the Ayushman Bharat scheme," Modi said.

"We can't reach new destinations by treading on old paths. New models of development are needed to be chalked out and the Centre has been working in these areas," he said.

The prime minister said the Gram Swaraj Yojana which was also launched on Saturday would focus on the welfare of the poor, Dalits, tribals, women and backward sections of the society.

The prime minister congratulated the Bijapur district administration, which is among the most backward 115 districts in the country, for improving its development statistics in the last three months.

"Even after 70 years of Independence, more than 100 districts have been left out of development. These districts, if encouraged, can be turned into models of development. Local administration, elected representatives and people of these districts should unitedly create their own development model," he said.

He added the most backward districts are rich with abundant natural resources, which can further aid their development.

Paying tributes to Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary, Modi said the Dalit icon was highly educated and could have easily led a lavish life in any developed country.

"But he studied outside, came back to India and dedicated his life to welfare and uplift of Dalits. The aspirations and hope of people are associated with Ambedkar's name," he said.

"It is because of Ambedkar that today Dalits have the realisation of their rights and aspirations to live a dignified life and the government is working to fulfil their wishes and aspirations," he added.

The prime minister, who inaugurated several development projects including a new rail line, internet services, roads and bridges in Bijapur, said the identity of Bastar, a Naxalite stronghold, was changing and in the future, it would be known as an economic and transport hub.

He inaugurated the first health centre under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Jangala. He also launched Van Dhan scheme which was announced in the budget.

Under it, Van Vikas Kendras would be established which would ensure better marketing and value addition to minor forest produce to benefit forest dwellers.

Modi is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur and this was his fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where Assembly elections are due later this year.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Health Minister JP Nadda were also present on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government will open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre by 2022, which will be equipped to treat a host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.

Follow LIVE updates of Ambedkar Jayanti hereReuters

Microsoft Corp is investigating the methods partner KPMG uses to crack down on the illegal use of its software in India, after a complaint from a senior member of the countrys ruling political party, documents were seen by Reuters showed.

India is one of the US technology firms biggest markets in Asia, yet over half of all software installed on computers in the country is unlicensed, advocacy group Business Software Alliance said in 2016.

A pirated compact disc of Microsofts Windows 10 can be bought for around $2 in New Delhi, compared with $130 needed to buy the operating system from Microsofts online portal.

To ensure compliance, Microsoft runs a global software asset management (SAM) program under which it partners global consultants, such as KPMG in India, which seek permission from business owners to check for the use of unlicensed software.

Last month, Vinit Goenka, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and technology adviser to the government, complained to both companies that a KPMG employee barged in to his Mumbai recruitment firm without an appointment to check its software, according to emails reviewed by Reuters.

Rajiv Sodhi, a senior Microsoft India executive, told Goenka in a 20 March email that the company was looking at the issue with utmost seriousness.

We are also getting an assessment agency to carry out an audit of the process delivery at KPMG to identify and correct gaps if any, Sodhi wrote in the email reviewed by Reuters. Sodhi did not respond to a request for comment.

Microsoft told Reuters its SAM program is run as per global standards, while KPMG said it follows appropriate procedures agreed in our engagement with clients. Both declined to comment on the alleged incident and probe. The employee, who identified himself in the emails as Srijesh, declined to comment.

Goenka confirmed the incident and complaint, telling Reuters the handful of computers at his company, Ratein Infotech, used genuine software. He said he planned to file a police complaint against both companies.

Ratein Infotech last month received a letter from the US software firm saying it needed help in interpreting licensing policies of Microsoft, the emails showed. The issue escalated when the KPMG employee entered Ratiens office on 15 March.

Microsoft and KPMG apologized and the employee, Srijesh, resigned, the e-mails showed.

This is part of my regular job, that I do on a daily basis as directed by KPMG and Microsoft, Srijesh wrote in an apology email to Goenka, seen by Reuters. Goenka is a former employee of International Business Machines Corp and advises government committees on information technology initiatives.tech2 News Staff

The chief executive of the Telegram messenger service, Pavel Durov, said on Friday the application will use built-in systems to circumnavigate a ban in Russia imposed by a court earlier on Friday.

He said on his page in the VK social network that he still cannot guarantee that Telegram users will retain access to the messenger without using virtual private networks (VPNs).

Telegram's self-exiled Russian founder Durov has long said he will reject any attempt by the country security's services to gain backdoor access to the app. The free application, which lets people exchange messages, photos, and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people, has attracted more than 200 million users since its launch in 2013.

Speaking to his followers on the Telegram group 'Durov's Channel', he stated that at Telegram they have the luxury to not care about revenue streams. He stressed that privacy was non-negotiable.

"The power that local governments have over IT corporations is based on money. At any given moment, a government can crash their stocks by threatening to block revenue streams from its markets and thus force these companies to do strange things (remember how last year Apple moved iCloud servers to China).

At Telegram, we have the luxury of not caring about revenue streams or ad sales. Privacy is not for sale, and human rights should not be compromised out of fear or greed," said Durov.

With inputs from Reuterstech2 News Staff

Twitter has redesigned its pistol emoji and has now changed it to look like a green water gun.

According to the Emojipedia blog, this change has been brought in an update. To be at par with other companies like Apple and Samsung, Twitter has also adopted the emoji. Even WhatsApp had changed the gun emoji into an orange water-gun emoji.

In the blog, Emojipedia has said that it hopes that the days of the realistic gun emojis were 'numbered'. This is an indication of the gun problem which is persistent in the US. Emojis play a big role in our lives to demonstrate our emotions and feelings easily. Since most of the people communicate through texting or vent their feelings or opine on social media, harmless emojis like the plastic water gun could reduce the chances of extremism in an online context.

Twemoji 2.6 is out now and replaces the realistic pistol  emoji with a water pistol / squirt gun https://t.co/srPCdA93ui pic.twitter.com/CoPHHSB0ZB  Emojipedia  (@Emojipedia) April 11, 2018

#MarchforourLives had become a popular movement on Twitter in the aftermath of the incessant mass shooting in early 2018 especially in high schools in the US. This has led to a widespread demand for tighter gun control laws.

In the wake of this, it is good to see online social media companies showing some sensitivity on the matter.

Twitter has been criticised for allowing violent and extremist content to flourish on its platform. Meanwhile, Google keyboard or GBoard shows a rifle gun and is yet to change it.Trumps personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, filed for a 90-day delay in porn star Stormy Daniels lawsuit, citing Mondays raids on his home, office and hotel room

President Donald Trumps personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Friday filed for a 90-day delay in porn star Stormy Daniels defamation lawsuit, citing Mondays raids on his home, office and hotel room by US prosecutors.

Cohen had already notified US District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday that he intended to request a stay in Daniels lawsuit against him and Trump on the grounds that an ongoing criminal investigation overlaps with the facts of this case.

The Friday motion said that because of that overlap, Mr Cohens Fifth Amendment rights may be adversely impacted if this case proceeds, a reference to the possibility that his testimony could be used by prosecutors to build a related criminal case against him.

Cohen, who has denied wrongdoing, has been at the centre of a controversy surrounding a $1,30,000 payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. She has alleged that she had sex once in 2006 with Trump and was paid shortly before the 2016 election to keep quiet about it. Daniels claims Cohens denials portray her as a liar and sued for defamation. Her allegation was based on a 13 February statement by Cohen that she said hurt her reputation.

Cohen has admitted making the payment to Daniels and said he paid from his own pocket from a personal home equity loan.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Cohens offices and home on Monday as part of a probe into possible bank and tax fraud and possible campaign law violation connected to the payment, a source familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

A lawyer for Cohen, Stephen M. Ryan, on Monday said that US prosecutors conducted a search that was partly a referral by the Office of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.

In the defamation-case filing, Cohen raised the possibility of invoking his constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination if the stay is not granted, which would allow him to refuse to testify.

Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for Stormy Daniels, told Reuters on Thursday that Cohens attorney told him that Cohen will plead the Fifth if his application for a stay is denied.

Cohens attorney Brent Blakely said on Thursday, No decision has been made for Mr. Cohen to assert his Fifth Amendment rights.

It is common for a civil case to be stayed under these circumstances, and that is what we will be requesting of the US District Court tomorrow, Blakely said in an email.

The judge in the suit had given Cohen until Friday evening to formally request the stay.

Daniels has until Monday evening to file her opposition, and then Cohen will have through Tuesday evening to respond.Macron said that France had joined the US and Britain to target 'the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons'

Paris: French president Emmanuel Macron said that France had joined the US and Britain in an ongoing operation of strikes to target "the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons".

"We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons," he said in a statement issued shortly after huge explosions were heard in Syria's capital early on Saturday followed by the sound of airplanes overhead.

For Macron, "the facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime are not in doubt," concerning the "deaths of dozens of men, women and children" in what he said was a chemical weapons attack on 7 April in Douma.

"The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed," he said.

"I have ordered the French army to intervene tonight as part of the international operation in coalition with the US and Britain directed against the secret chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime," he said.A new UN report puts Myanmar's armed forces on a UN blacklist of govt and rebel groups 'credibly suspected' of carrying acts of sexual violence

United Nations: A new UN report puts Myanmar's armed forces on a UN blacklist of government and rebel groups "credibly suspected" of carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence in conflict for the first time.

An advance copy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' report to the Security Council, obtained today by The Associated Press, says international medical staff and others in Bangladesh have documented that many of the almost 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled from Myanmar "bear the physical and psychological scars of brutal sexual assault."

The UN chief said the assaults were allegedly perpetrated by the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, "at times acting in concert with local militias, in the course of military 'clearance' operations in October 2016 and August 2017."

"The widespread threat and use of sexual violence was integral to this strategy, serving to humiliate, terrorise and collectively punish the Rohingya community, as a calculated tool to force them to flee their homelands and prevent their return," Guterres said.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar doesn't recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic group, insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. It has denied them citizenship, leaving them stateless.

The recent spasm of violence began when Rohingya insurgents launched a series of attacks last August 25 on about 30 security outposts and other targets. Myanmar security forces then began a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages that the UN and human rights groups have called a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

"Violence was visited upon women, including pregnant women, who are seen as custodians and propagators of ethnic identity, as well as on young children, who represent the future of the group," Guterres said.

"This can be linked to an inflammatory narrative alleging that high fertility rates among the Rohingya represent an existential threat to the majority population."

The report, which will be a focus of a UN Security Council meeting on Monday on preventing sexual violence in conflict, puts 51 government, rebel and extremist groups on the list.

They include 17 from Congo including the armed forces and national police, seven from Syria including the armed forces and intelligence services, six each from Central African Republic and South Sudan, five from Mali, four from Somalia, three from Sudan, one each from Iraq and Myanmar, and Boko Haram which operates in several countries.Russias ambassador to the United States on Friday warned that there would be consequences for the US-led military strikes on Syria, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russias president.

Washington: Russias ambassador to the United States on Friday warned that there would be consequences for the US-led military strikes on Syria, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russias president.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible, he added. The U.S. - the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons - has no moral right to blame other countries.This could turn out to be a record-breaking year for the marijuana industry, and it has nothing to do with overall sales. Instead, I'm talking about the very strong likelihood that Canada will pass, and sign into law, bill C-45, which is more commonly known as the Cannabis Act.

The Cannabis Act seeks to legalize recreational marijuana throughout Canada, making it legal for adults over the age of 18 to purchase pot and pay an excise tax, just as adults do in Canada when buying liquor. If passed, Canada would become only the second country in the world to have legalized adult-use marijuana, and would be the first developed country to have done so.

Again, the chance of passage appears very high. Conservatives who have an unfavorable view of cannabis are handily outnumbered in parliament, and the Canadian federal government has worked out a two-year tax-sharing agreement with all but one province (Manitoba). In fact, the excise tax rate on recreational marijuana will be significantly lower than that of alcohol, making it relatively price-competitive with the black market. If the industry is to be successful, it'll need to drive consumers out of the black market and into legal sales channels.

Legalization is also expected to have marijuana stock investors seeing big green dollar signs. Though estimates are absolutely all over the place, green-lighting the sale of recreational marijuana should open the door to $5 billion or more in added annual sales over what the industry is currently generating via medical cannabis sales and exporting to medically legal countries. These are figures that investors and Canadian growers can definitely get behind.

Canadian marijuana growers ramp up production

Given that there is no precedent to a developed country legalizing adult-use marijuana, Canadian growers are using every bit of capital on their balance sheets to expand their growing capacity. The thinking here is that the growers with the most production to offer when the proverbial green flag waves should be able to lock in long-term supply agreements, as well as build brand engagement with consumers. Thus, the rush to expand.

Though production estimates have been exceptionally fluid as a result of partnerships, acquisitions, and organic growth announcements, there are six publicly traded growers expected to (eventually) yield in excess of 100,000 kilograms of dried cannabis a year. These growers are:

Canopy Growth Corp. NASDAQ:CGC)

Aurora Cannabis : 283,000 kilograms

: 283,000 kilograms Aphria : 230,000 kilograms

: 230,000 kilograms MedReleaf : 140,000 kilograms

: 140,000 kilograms OrganiGram Holdings : 113,000 kilograms

: 113,000 kilograms Hydropothecary Corporation: 108,000 kilograms

By perhaps 2021, these six growers could be completely ramped up and producing more than 1.17 million kilograms annually.

But there's another side to this story: demand.

Is it time to be genuinely worried about Canadian pot stocks?

Even though demand for legalized cannabis should be incredibly high, and Canadian growers will have the opportunity to export marijuana to foreign countries that've legalized medicinal marijuana, there are no guarantees that supply and demand will be in harmony. That's worrisome, and it's an alarm that yet another analyst sounded recently.

Jason Zandberg of PI Financial expects there to be an oversupply of marijuana in Canada within three to five years. In a Feb. 15 note, according to Reuters, Zandberg suggested that Canadian demand could reach 900,000 kilograms a year by 2023. Comparatively, he estimated that supply would be around 1.5 million kilograms in 2023, representing roughly 600,000 kilograms of oversupply.

There are additional concerns that margins for publicly traded marijuana stocks may not be as robust as expected. Aside from oversupply concerns, regulations from Health Canada and select provinces could weigh on the ability of pot stocks to be profitable. Health Canada announced strict packaging and labeling requirements that'll de-emphasize brand names and logos on packaging, making it tougher for growers to create an attachment with consumers. Furthermore, Quebec and Ontario have planned to allow only a limited number of government-controlled dispensaries that'll sell just cannabis flowers and cannabis oil.

These oversupply and top-line sale concerns may be what's behind Wall Street's falling full-year EPS estimates for marijuana stocks in 2019.

The sideline is looking mighty attractive these days for investors

Making matters worse, quite a few growers are so busy reinvesting every bit of operating cash flow back into capacity expansion that it could be quite some time before they're profitable.

Canopy Growth, the largest marijuana stock by market cap, and likely the largest annual producer of cannabis in Canada, may not be profitable on a recurring basis as a result of high expansion costs until 2020. Now, investors let a company like Amazon.com get away with an exceptionally high price-to-earnings ratio because it's building success in so many industries these days, including those that offer potentially higher margins than its e-commerce site. Canopy Growth really doesn't offer diverse channels of revenue (at least not yet). This makes Canopy, and practically all of its peers, frothy from a fundamental perspective.

Given the staggered nature of expansion projects, it may also take a good two or three years before investors get any sort of bead on whether or not supply and demand will be in balance. While Aurora Cannabis could have most of its projects complete by the end of this year, a company like OrganiGram Holdings isn't expected to finish the expansion of its Moncton, New Brunswick, facility until April 2020. We're only going to get bits and pieces of the puzzle each year, rather than the whole picture all at once.

Despite the excitement surrounding legal cannabis in Canada, the sideline is looking like an ever-more-attractive place for investors to be.Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.Apple might only sell around 2 million HomePod units this year News oi-Vishal Kawadkar Apple HomePods might soon get a stripped down variant due to low sales figures.

Apple might sell only 2 million HomePod units in 2018 if the new report from KGI is to be believed. Earlier this week it was reported that the company has cut orders for its smart speaker due to lower than expected demand for the HomePods.

Known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities suggests that Cupertino-based tech giant might only be able to sell between 2 and 2.5 million units this year. Previously, he estimated that HomePod would sell over 7 million units in 2018, with some reports even suggesting a number of 10 million units.

Some analysts even believed that the HomePods would challenge both Amazon's Echo and Google Home line of speakers in term of sales numbers. However, now it appears that the demand for the speaker isn't as high as they expected, with many blaming the $349 price tag as the prime reason for the weak sales numbers.

Due to this, Apple is reportedly planning a stripped down version of the HomePods to gain more customers on a budget, while pushing users towards Apple Music, which is currently the only music service available for the smart speaker.

Although KGi report doesn't confirm the existence of a low-end model since Apple is yet to finalize the decision. Also, Apple HomePods' is only limited to English-speaking markets at the moment.

Apple is also not expected to officially disclose the sales numbers any time soon. But, since the company is said to be planning a low-end variant, it could be a notable hint at how well the HomePod is doing in the market.

To add to Apple's troubles, the company was recently ordered to pay $502.6 million to VirnetX Holding Corp. after the company lost a patent infringement lawsuit. The verdict was announced by the grand jury in Texas after finding that Apple infringed patents that were related to secure communications, reports Bloomberg.

8 Ways To Make Your iPhone Battery Last Longer!

The legal battle between the companies has been going on for past eight years. VirnetX makes most of its money from licensing patented technology that powers virtual private networks over the web. The company filed three lawsuits against Apple back in 2010 alleging that Apple's FaceTime, iMessage, and VPN on Demand are already patented by VirnetX. In February 2016, Apple was ordered to pay $625.6 million in damages after two of the lawsuits were combined, but the verdict was later voided by a federal judge saying that combining two lawsuits would be unfair to Apple.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsHow to check where your Aadhaar has been used Features oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Worried about your Aadhaar details usage? Well, you can check where your details were used from here.

We have been coming across several incidents related to Aadhaar credentials being leaked exposing sensitive data. Despite these claims even from security researchers, UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) states that the database is secure. Notably, UIDAI is a body responsible for managing Aadhaar. Due to these breaches, there is a possibility for the Aadhaar information to have been exposed to unauthorized people.

Given that you would have used your Aadhaar card for several authentication and verification purposes, you might be concerned about your privacy. There is a way to check where all your Aadhaar card was used in the past six months. If you find any discrepancy in the usage of your Aadhaar card, you can lodge a complaint from the UIDAI website itself. The website also lets you update your Aadhaar details online.

How to check where your Aadhaar card was used?

Step 1: Visit the UIDAI website and go to the Aadhaar authentication history page https://resident.uidai.gov.in/notification-aadhaar.

Step 2: Enter your 12-digit Aadhaar number and type in the security code as seen in the picture.

Step 3: Click on the option stating 'Generate OTP'.

Step 4: You will get an OTP on the registered/linked mobile number. Remember that in order to receive the OTP, your mobile number should have been verified with the UIDAI website.

Step 5: On the entering the OTP, a page will open with options such as Authentication Type, Select Date Range, Number of Record (maximum 50 records) and OTP. You need to choose the authentication type you are looking for or all and select the date range. Notably, the maximum duration is up to six months. Now, enter the number of records you want to see in a page, enter the OTP and hit submit.

Step 6: You will see the date, time as well as the type of Aadhaar authentication requests those were made in the chosen period. Though this page will not show who made these requests, this will be helpful in knowing where your Aadhaar was used in the past six months and find out if your details were misused.

Easily Download YouTube Videos without any Software! - GIZBOT

If you find any suspicious activity in the Aadhaar usage history in the past six months, then you can lock your Aadhaar information and unlock it later online.

Best Mobiles in IndiaMake in India: Xiaomi looking to start production in India News oi-Karan Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is looking forward to expanding its products in India. It seems that the company is planning to start the production soon in India.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has indicated its interest in manufacturing Smart TVs, routers and other products locally in India. But this move will require enough amount of demand for its product in the Indian market.

Manu Jain, Xiaomi's India head and international VP told Economic times, that "the company's focus is to launch more product categories in the country. He added that the company is expecting to make investments in more startups this year."

The company is gradually moving into the product categories in the Indian market. Last month Xiaomi has launched its smart LED TV range in the country. Now the company is looking forward to expanding its smartphone business by launching six new smartphones by the end of this year.

Yesterday we have reported that Apple has started the trial production of iPhone 6S in Bangalore. Now, Xiaomi is also showing interest in Make in India campaign and interested to invest in the Indian industrial sector.

Xiaomi also has plans to increase the investments over the next few years as part of its strategy of investing $1 billion in Indian ventures. The company is not only planning to launch six new smartphones but also aims to expand its offline presence in the country.

Xiaomi is targetting to build 100 exclusive stores to introduce new products categories, which will promote its non-smartphone business. Under Jain's leadership, Xiaomi has crossed $1 billion in revenue in India. The company is now aiming to achieve the $2 billion mark soon.

"Our journey in India has just started. We can achieve a lot more on every front," Jain is quoted as saying in the report. "We have smart scooters, we have smart cycles, smart water purifiers, weighing scales, smart cookers, smart shoes, etc. - people keep talking about these products and asking when we will launch them in India. We don't know at the moment whether those products will do well in India, firstly, and secondly, even if we were to launch them for India, how would we customize them for Indian conditions?" Jain added.

Xiaomi Redmi 5, a budget category smartphone

The plans seem to be very interesting, let's see how Xiaomi will execute all these and achieve their goals by the ends of this year. As there are other competitors who already earned a good market value in terms of non-smartphone products.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsWorldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.7 trillion in 2018: Gartner News oi-Priyanka Even with a strong end to 2017, worldwide spending on data center systems is forecast to grow 3.7 percent in 2018, down from 6.3 percent growth in 2017.

According to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc, worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.7 trillion in 2018, an increase of 6.2 percent from 2017.

"Although global IT spending is forecast to grow 6.2 percent this year, the declining US dollar has caused currency tailwinds, which are the main reason for this strong growth," said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner.

Lovelock said "This is the highest annual growth rate that Gartner has forecast since 2007 and would be a sign of a new cycle of IT growth. However, spending on IT around the world is growing at expected levels and is in line with expected global economic growth. Through 2018 and 2019, the U.S. dollar is expected to trend stronger while enduring tremendous volatility due to the uncertain political environment, the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation and the potential for trade wars."

The report said that enterprise software spending is forecast to experience the highest growth in 2018 with an 11.1 percent increase barring unexpected disruption, the software industry is expected to continue capitalizing on the evolution of digital business.

Even with a strong end to 2017, worldwide spending on data center systems is forecast to grow 3.7 percent in 2018, down from 6.3 percent growth in 2017. The longer-term outlook continues to have challenges, particularly for the storage segment. The strength at the end of 2017 was primarily driven by the component shortage for memory components, and prices have increased at a greater rate than previously expected. Whereas previously, component shortages were expected to ease into 2018, the shortages are now expected to continue throughout the year with the supply not expected to ease until the end of the year.

Worldwide spending for devices - PCs, tablets and mobile phones - is forecast to grow in 2018, reaching $706 billion, an increase of 6.6 percent from 2017. "The device market continues to see dual dynamics. Some users are holding back from buying, and those that are buying are doing so, on average, at higher price points," Lovelock added. "As a result, end-user spending will increase faster than units through 2022. However, total end-user spending and unit shipments are expected to be lower compared with previous forecasts, as demand for ultramobile premium devices, ultramobile utility devices and basic

phones are expected to be slow."

Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 First Impressions

Gartner's IT spending forecast methodology relies heavily on rigorous analysis of sales by thousands of vendors across the entire range of IT products and services. Gartner uses primary research techniques, complemented by secondary research sources, to build a comprehensive database of market size data on which to base its forecast.

Best Mobiles in IndiaHere's how Apple Watch saved Kansas woman's life News oi-Karan Heather Hendershot who lives in Topeka in Kansas got a notification on her smartwatch about her higher than usual pulse rate. Apple watch has done its job very well and saved a life.

Heather Hendershot who lives in Topeka in Kansas, purchased an Apple watch in the hope of getting encouraged to do more physical activities. However, she had no idea that how wise this purchase was going to be proven

She was watching TV with her husband one a Saturday evening, when she got a notification on her smartwatch about her higher than usual pulse rate. "It vibrated and then it beeped at me and told me that my resting heart rate was too high," said Hendershot. "So, I checked it myself and it was correct."

When she checked her pulse rate it was counted more than 160 beats per minutes, which is double of her normal resting rate. Without taking any measures she went to bed as she was not feeling any symptoms. They ignored it at first but the beeping continued over the next 24 hours.

"She was just going to wait it out and I kind of told her I'd feel better if we went in and checked it out," Heather's husband, Cody Hendershot, said.

The next day they drove to hospital Stormont Vail, where doctors immediately moved her to the ICU.

"That's when my husband and I kind of looked at each other with big eyes and the doctor told me that it was thyroid storm," said Heather Hendershot. "He said, 'Don't Google it 'cause it's just going to tell you that you're going to die."

According to doctors, she had untreated hyperthyroidism, a condition where the thyroid gland produces excessive thyroid hormone and becomes overactive. This causes shocking high heart rates, body temperature and blood pressure.

Heather Hendershot is a young lady who never experienced any heart issues ever before. She has given birth to a baby four months back without any complication.

Doctors still wanted to monitor her in the ICU, though they have treated her hyperthyroidism and lowered her heart rate, they don't want to take any risk with her life.

After spending a night in the hospital, Hendershot's heart rate gets stabilised and doctors discharged her for home. For now, she is on medication to control her heart rates any thyroid.

Silly Mac Trick: iPhone Headsets Can Stick to MacBook

Apple watch has done its job very well and saved a life. Other should learn from her experience and do not ignore health warnings, it's better to always do cross check when it comes to health. As we all know life is once and precious.

Source

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsChief Minister Making A Fool Of Himself

Chandrababu Naidu has rushed off to Singapore once again where he asked foreign companies to invest in Amaravati.

Taking part in a round table organised by Singapore Business Federation, Chandrababu Naidu said it was his aim to make Andhra Pradesh, one of the top three States in India by 2022.

Given the current situation of the State, this is certainly a laughable proposition. When Andhra Pradesh could get nothing by being a part of the NDA for four years, how exactly does he intend to realise his goal, now that he is on his own?

Another claim made by Naidu is that AP has attracted $20 billion in investments so far. Translated into crores, this would be roughly around Rs 1,40,000 crores. This is nothing short of a blatant lie!

And in the past, he has claimed that AP has a growth rate of 12 percent per anum when the national average is 6 percent. This would make AP, the fastest growing State in not just the country but across the world.

Why then would such a State need special category status? Is SCS not for those states which need a helping hand? Thus, Chandrababu in making these kinds of claims is giving ample fodder to the Centre to reject the peoples demands for SCS to the State.

Click Here for Latest Direct-to-OTT Releases (List Updates Daily)GREENWICH  Just a day after the United States, the United Kingdom and France launched airstrikes on Syria, organizers set up a planned peace rally on Greenwich Common to spread their anti-war message.

Groups involved in the Saturday event  called The Greenwich Rally Teach-in on Peace and Economic Justice  included Code Pink, Friends of Congo, Veterans for Peace, the Muslim Peace Fellowship, the Greater New Haven Peace Council and more.

War is not a positive way to solve a problem, said Andrew Ryan, of Westchester County, N.Y., who has been protesting since the My Lai massacre in the Vietnam War in 1968, as he walked past a replica of a drone and Code Pink signs that said Divest from War with his backpack, hat, and buttons. It takes lives, childrens limbs.

The airstrikes targeted three sites in Syria linked to the alleged use of deadly chemical weapons on civilians by leader Bashar Assad last weekend.

We are screaming about Syria, Ryan said. How many people have we killed with drones? We have no right to tell anyone about their abuse. We do the same thing. I do not like what Syria is doing in any way, shape or form. I dont know what bombing them will do but destabilize another region.

Organizers said they picked the Greenwich location for the rally because the town is home to billionaire investors  10 of whom have a combined net worth of $35.5 billion and six of whom oversee hedge funds, private equity funds or other investment firms managing assets totaling nearly $525 billion. One of the organizers, Nick Mottern, said the affluent citizens could use their economic status to influence governmental decisions about war and militarization, and to restore honest democracy.

We are hoping we reach into an affluent and contented community with an urgent call, one speaker, Medea Benjamin, said in an interview before her 10-minute segment at the rally.

People can educate themselves and pressure officials, but also move our economy from a war economy to a peace economy.  contributing to a more peaceful world, said Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink and the human rights group Global Exchange.

With the missile strikes overnight in Syria, those participating in the event added up-to-the-minute relevance to their speeches, hoping to garner support from wealthy passersby.

Certainly I want to talk about (Syria), and it just emphasizes my main point, Benjamin said. War is profitable for a small group of people and companies, and the only people to profit from the strike last night are weapons-makers.

(These strikes) are not going to help Syria or make the United States safer, she said, because we were never threatened by Syria.

About 60 people attended the rally throughout the four-hour time frame, shuffling in and out. Some residents ate lunch on the sidelines, while some families ignored the gathering to enjoy the spring weather in the park.

A lineup of speakers throughout the afternoon spoke on topics ranging from the awareness of privilege to U.S. military bases across the globe.

Susan Smith, of the Muslim Peace Fellowship, had planned to talk about bombing in Yemen, but it took her a while to get to her topic.

I was asked to speak about Yemen, but I would be remiss if I did not mention what happened last night in Syria, Alexander said to the crowd of mostly middle-age and silver-haired locals. Most sat in chairs or on lawn blankets, wearing buttons with anti-war and Black Lives Matter messages. Some were barefoot.

Town resident Gary Masouredis sat on the periphery. Masouredis said he learned about the rally through a newspaper article and felt compelled to listen in because of his passion for environmental issues.

This fits into the whole thing, he said, because basically if we have a nuclear war its all finished.  Its already started, World War III. Economic sanctions are a form of warfare, economic warfare.

We are taking on thousands-of-years-old civilizations: Russia is a thousand years old, China is a 5,000-year-old civilization, Iran, which is even older than Greece, he said of the state of world affairs. There have to be some adults in the room. Its very dicey.

Masouredis said he noticed that many of the participants were picking up where they left off when protesting the Vietnam War in the 70s.

Look, he said, there are all baby boomers here. They need kids, young people dancing. I see just a couple kids.

As Smith continued talking about the strikes in the Middle East, two young Western Middle School students watched from a shady table behind a tree.

Im listening, but I dont really understand it, said Franklin Sousa, 13.

He and his friend, Amedeo Furaro, also 13, were walking around outside, enjoying the warm spring day and decided to stop by the rally.

They were the only kids in the vicinity.

I think theyre trying to imply safety of not only America, but other countries, Sousa said. Was it gas bombs or a missile (last night)? I dont think it helps. The United Nations needs to help. More violence is just going to weaken the peace.

Across the street, at Starbucks, Emily Best, 35, was checking email on her laptop and said that even though many in the younger generations ignore politics, she knows many who are very active.

Its probably always been this way, she said. But half the people I talk to have very strong opinions and are very educated about it. But when you see older people protesting, its important to watch because theyve been around so much longer, Best said. Theyve had experience and theyve seen the effects of war. Its just important.

The event was a springboard to a Sunday rally  Spring Action Against Wars At Home & Abroad  set for Sunday in New York City. Marchers will leave Herald Square at 34th Street and Sixth Avenue and march to Trump Tower in a call for peace.

E: jturiano@greenwichtime.com; T: @jturianoGT; IG: @greenwichgreen

EDIT: An earlier version of this story noted that Kate Alexander from Peace Action New York spoke about bombing Yemen. Although she was the scheduled speaker, she was unable to make it and it was actually Susan Smith of the Muslim Peace Fellowship who spoke during that segment.HMD Global's plan to resurrect the legendary Nokia brand has been going smoothly so far. The new Finnish management owns a lot of that to just a few, very important, core design principles. Instead of blindly trying to outspec its competitors, HMD went about things a bit differently, building solid devices, with a focus on a pure and clean Android experience and timely updates

The Nokia 7 Plus is the perfect embodiment of that ideology. Rocking a Snapdragon 660 chipset, it doesn't try to outdo its mid-range standing and get in the Nokia 8 Sirocco's way. Yet, in many ways, the Nokia 7 Plus feels like a premium device.

Nokia 7 Plus Specs

Body: Aluminum body with ceramic-feel coating; 158.38x75.64x9.55mm.

Aluminum body with ceramic-feel coating; 158.38x75.64x9.55mm. Screen: 6.0-inch, 18:9, FHD+ 2160x1080, IPS LCD, laminated, polarized

6.0-inch, 18:9, FHD+ 2160x1080, IPS LCD, laminated, polarized Rear Camera: Main 12MP, 1.4um, f/1.75 lens; Secondary 13MP 2x Telephoto, 1.0um, f/2.6 lens; Dual-tone LED flash, ZEISS optics

Main 12MP, 1.4um, f/1.75 lens; Secondary 13MP 2x Telephoto, 1.0um, f/2.6 lens; Dual-tone LED flash, ZEISS optics Front Camera: 16MP (1.0um), f/2.0

16MP (1.0um), f/2.0 Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, octa-core 2.2GHz + 1.8GHz

Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, octa-core 2.2GHz + 1.8GHz Memory: 4GB RAM, 64GB, microSD slot for up to 256GB expansion

4GB RAM, 64GB, microSD slot for up to 256GB expansion OS: Android 8.0 Oreo

Android 8.0 Oreo Battery: 3800mAh, Quick Charge

3800mAh, Quick Charge Connectivity: Optional dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, USB Type-C

Optional dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, USB Type-C Misc: Fingerprint reader

We already got the chance to spend a few hours with the Nokia 7 Plus at this year's MWC. There is a hands-on review from the event, full of photos, camera samples and even benchmarks for you to check out. But now that the handset is finally at the office, ready for its full review, it's even easier to appreciate just why it left us feeling so positive the first time.

The Nokia 7 Plus is one really well-crafted device. It is milled from a single piece of Series 6000 aluminum and has then received 6 layers of paint for a matte finish that not only makes the phone less slippery but also hides the antenna lines. It is available in either Black of White, with copper highlights either way. These make for an incredibly distinct look and feel, even though, the Nokia 7 Plus is quite reminiscent of Google's Pixel 2 XL in shape and form. Especially when looked at from the front.

And that's kind of a compliment, rather than a complaint. Even though the Nokia 8 Sirocco has more potent internals, it's the Nokia 7 Plus that brings the trendy tall display look to HMD's lineup. Sure, the 6-inch FHD+ (2160x1080), 18:9 panel is of the LCD variety, rather than a fancier OLED, but it is still one of Nokia's best displays. It promises 500 nits of brightness and is laminated and polarized for better clarity and contrast. Plus, the rounded corners are yet another splash of 2018 chic.

The wider top and bottom chins offer another common point with Google's design language. It might not be the edgeless and notched style of the day, but having more finger room does make for a very comfortable and ergonomic device. No excessive thumb stretching or odd UI concerns and notch hiding tricks required. The nicely rounded back, complete with an almost rubberized finish also boosts handling. It is a lot less prone to smudging than glass.

While we're looking at the back, the dual camera system here consists of a 12MP regular camera with large 1.4um pixels and a bright f/1.75 lens and a 2x telephoto 12MP camera with 1.0um pixels and an f/2.6 aperture. Both lenses bear the ZEISS brand - an equally legendary mark of quality, old-school Nokia fans remember fondly.





Nokia camera UI

The hardware setup is matched to Nokia's Pro Camera allowing full control over shooting parameters like shutter speed, ISO, focus, White Balance. It's an excellent camera experience overall. On the video side of things, there is 360 degree spacial audio for surround sound capture and playback - a surprisingly convincing effect.

But even in auto mode, the Nokia 7 Plus clearly uses its capable camera hardware well. Here are a few samples from the main 12MP snapper, with its large 1.4um pixels and a bright f/1.75 lens. Specs-wise, it actually compares pretty well with the Google Pixel 2 XL, even topping it a bit through the use of a slightly brighter ZEISS lens.





Nokia 7 Plus camera samples

The front camera has Smart Pixel technology for better selfies in low light. The promise is that the selfie snapper can capture and combine up to 4 frames for a photo with less noise.



Nokia 7 Plus low-light samples

Nokia is still pushing its Bothie mode as well. It captures stills or video from the front and back cameras simultaneously. Unless you are a vlogger, using it is a bit awkward, while framing properly with it is almost nearly impossible. Still, it can be quite handy in a few use cases.



Nokia 7 Plus bothie sample

We'll have some more in-depth observations to share a bout the camera in the full review. But our initial impressions are quite positive and the experience - really fluent. Speaking of which, the nearly vanilla Android ROM on the Nokia 7 Plus is a breeze to use overall.

As signified by the markings on the back of the phone, it's part of the Android One initiative. That means practically no bloatware, a snappy UI and a promise for speedy updates, which HMD has mostly been keeping true to so far.

Naturally, we'll delve deeper into performance metrics in the full review as well, to see just how much power Nokia's pure Android experience can squeeze out of the Snapdragon 660 chip. Stay tuned for that and more on HMD's 399, "non-flagship, flagship", coming to the review section soon.These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.By Vasia Orion | Published on 2018/04/13

We may have a sort-of-love rival for the titular handsome guy or "The Undateables", as actor Choi Tae-joon is reportedly reviewing the role of the heroine's friend-but-not-quite. The actor's agency has confirmed the offer, but stressed that he is only considering the newly described character.

Advertisement

If he does accept, Choi Tae-joon will be playing Jung-eum's friend, Choi Joon-soo. Joon-soo is a friendly and handsome rehabilitation clinic doctor. He is a friend close enough to be mistaken for a lover, meaning that he will have a relationship between love and friendship with Jung-eum, and therefore become involved with Namgoong Min's character as well.

I am pretty such of nasty jealous second leads by now, and that "friendly and handsome and perfect" description seems highly suspicious, but I guess we'll see how well his friendship holds when he can't take any interest present further. Maybe this will be a case of bromantic clashing with a mutual understanding of their place in the heroine's life. A woman can dream.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

Sources (1) (2) (3)Published on 2018/04/14 | Source

Added episode 14 captures for the Korean drama "Queen of Mystery Season 2" (2018)

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Written by Lee Seong-min-II

Network : KBS

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16 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00

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"Queen of Mystery" tells the story of a prosecutor's wife who's always dreamed of being a detective. After actually solving a case, she ends up in an unlikely crime-fighting duo with a young police captain.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/02/28

MoreThe scene of the 1981 tragedy at the Stardust nightclub

Relatives of the Stardust victims are gearing up for a nationwide campaign to demand a new inquest into the 1981 tragedy.

Families of the 48 victims of the Stardust nightclub fire tragedy in Artane have been pushing for a second inquest into the tragedy.

Sinn Fein TD Denise Mitchell has now publicly announced her support for the Stardust Relatives and Victims Committee

Justice

Expand Close Sinn Fein TD Denise Mitchell. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

Twitter

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Whatsapp Sinn Fein TD Denise Mitchell. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

"For the past 37 years, these families have had no justice.

"They have never got the full truth of what happened on St Valentine's night 1981.

"They have been let down by the justice system and by the State," said Ms Mitchell.

"We have seen from the North of Ireland and from Britain how fresh inquests can assist in bringing closure and justice to families who have painstakingly waited a very long time for the truth.

"One example is that of the Hillsborough disaster," she said.

The families and their legal team had recently written to the Attorney General urgently requesting an inquest into the deaths be convened.

Antoinette Keegan, whose two sisters perished in the blaze, told the Herald: "We're still searching for answers and we won't stop until we get justice for our loved ones."

Ms Keegan, who was 18 at the time of the 1981 fire, said the victims' committee has new evidence of where the fire started but is "constantly being ignored". She insists the main source of the fire came from the roof and not the seating area, as currently documented.

"I was there and saw first-hand where the fire was coming from," she said.

"We're now starting a big campaign across the country and designing postcards, so people can write to the Minister for Justice and Attorney General to demand this inquest.

"Their mailbox will be full every day so then hopefully they'll have no choice but to act upon our request."

The Stardust nightclub was in full swing when, at around 1.40am, a fire suddenly broke out on Valentine's Day, 1981.

A total of 214 people were injured, 128 of them seriously, and 48 young people lost their lives.

A crucial factor in the new material was that an emergency 999 call reporting flames in the roof of the Artane venue during the early stages of the incident did not get sufficient weight in the original inquiry into the tragedy, Ms Keegan claimed.

She indicated that if the contents of that telephone call were not included in any new investigation, she would want her sisters' names removed, as "that is not the fire they died in".

The original inquest into the deaths was held in 1982.Alicia Mikielewska said she was flung out of the go-kart

A 26-year-old beautician who injured her buttocks and tailbone when she was catapulted from a go-kart has lost a 60,000 personal injuries claim against Kylemore Karting.

Polish national Alicia Mikielewska, who has been in Ireland since she was 18 and owns a beauty salon in Portlaoise, told Judge Terence O'Sullivan in the Circuit Civil Court that she was flung out of the kart when it hit a barrier.

Friends thought she was dead, she said.

Ms Mikielewska, of Mell Street, Kilminchy, Portlaoise, Co Laois, said her helmet had gone one way and a shoe another as she was catapulted on to the Kylemore Karting track at the Kylemore Industrial Estate, Killeen Road, Dublin.

Barrister Peter O'Brien, for Grovepark Services Limited, which trades as Kylemore Karting, told the court that a full defence had been entered to Ms Mikielewska's claims and negligence was denied.

Ms Mikielewska said that her go-kart had been struck by another on the finishing straight as the driver tried to undertake her, spinning her into a barrier.

She said she sustained a significant impact to her buttocks and tailbone and suffered soft tissue injuries which, for two weeks, had made it difficult for her to sit down because of the pain.

She had also complained of pain in the mid-thoracic region of her spine.

Ms Mikielewska told Mr O'Brien that she had undergone an X-ray examination which showed some underlying scoliosis which, in itself, could cause pain.

Her pain was consistent with the type of accident that had happened.

She agreed she had been given a helmet, racing suit and driving gloves, all of which she wore, and had watched a seven-minute safety video about go-karting.

She told Mr O'Brien she had go-karted on several occasions before her accident, and on each occasion the video highlighting the risks and dangers of the activity had been shown.

Physiotherapy

She was treated at Naas General Hospital and was told to take over-the-counter analgesics and anti-inflammatories. She had also undergone physiotherapy.

Cross-examined by Mr O'Brien, she said she had made three previous damage claims against insurance companies, all of which had been settled for undisclosed amounts.

She said that in the previous accidents she had been a passenger in cars driven by others.

Judge O'Sullivan said there were certain risks and dangers attached to go-karting. Ms Mikielewska had participated in the sport on several previous occasions and he was satisfied she was aware of those risks.

She had been catapulted from the kart which, the court had been told, had not contained seat belts for specific safety reasons.

An expert appearing on behalf of Kylemore Karting said the go-kart was treated like a motorbike or quad bike and that it was safer for a driver to be thrown clear rather than be strapped into the vehicle.

Dismissing Ms Mikielewska's claim, Judge O'Sullivan said she had failed to show negligence on the part of Kylemore Karting, but he found her a genuine plaintiff and refused to grant an order for costs against her.A tenant "went overboard" after he fell out with his landlord and smashed the front door of the house he was renting.

Nice Usoro (44) caused 1,500 worth of damage to the door.

He was sentenced to three months in prison after he failed to come up with compensation.

He had already paid 500 and was supposed to bring a further 1,000 to court, but his mother died.

Swords District Court heard the defendant's mother had died in Nigeria and he had the money he had saved as compensation to attend her funeral.

"He had fully planned to bring the money with him but his mother died and he had to return to Nigeria," said solicitor John Hennessy.

"He apologises and is asking for one final chance."

Judge Dermot Dempsey told Usoro he had had "ample opp- ortunity" to come up with the money.

Warning

"The case was put back five times and he was given a specific warning the last time to come up with the money," said Judge Dempsey and he imposed a three-month prison sentence.

The defendant, of Cherry- garth, Balbriggan, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to a house at Castleland Court in Balbriggan on March 15 last year.

Usoro had gone to the house to collect his belongings after he was evicted and panicked as he had valuable items that his family had given him in the house.

Gda Kevin Fitzpatrick gave evidence that Usoro had an argument with his landlord and smashed the glass front door, which came off its hinges.

"He had gone back to collect his items, some of which were valuable," his solicitor said.

"There was an element of panic, but he knows he went way overboard."

Judge Dempsey fixed recognisances for an appeal.Gardai said a number of people went into Lidl, filled a trolley and walked out without paying. (stock photo)

A woman who helped to steal a trolley full of groceries has promised "never to come out to Rathfarnham again".

Rose Gavin (27) was dependent on others for a lift and felt obliged to take part in the theft while her accomplice, Bridget Mongan (23), got involved because she was under financial pressure.

A third accomplice is still before the courts.

Judge Patricia McNamara ordered both women to donate 200 to Temple Street Children's Hospital and said she would apply the Probation Act.

Mongan, of Moyne Park, Baldoyle, and Gavin, of St Berach's Place, Kilbarrack, admitted before Tallaght District Court to stealing groceries worth 200 from Lidl in Rathfarnham last August 23.

Det Gda Austin Larkin said a number of people went into Lidl, filled a trolley and walked out without paying.

LOOKOUT

Gda Larkin said Mongan helped to fill the trolley while Gavin stood at the door keeping it open as another individual pushed the trolley outside.

He said gardai stopped a vehicle a short distance away and the groceries were recovered.

The detective accepted that neither woman was the instigator in the theft.

Defence solicitor Anne Fitz- gibbon said Gavin was a mother of two children and her husband was in prison.

Ms Fitzgibbon said Gavin had a low IQ and was easily led. She was "a good hearted person" and got involved in this incident as she was relying on other people for a lift and felt she had no choice but to join in.

Ms Fitzgibbon said Gavin promised gardai at the scene to "never come out to Rathfarnham again".

In relation to Mongan, Ms Fitzgibbon said she was a separated mother-of-one. At the time of this incident she was under pressure to get money.David Fetherston (31) pleaded guilty to carrying out robberies in various shops around north Dublin (stock photo)

A man who stole a mobile phone from a teenage schoolgirl and went on to carry out six more robberies has been jailed for four years and ordered to stay away from his victims for 30 years.

David Fetherston (31), of Moatview Court, Priorswood, Dublin 17, was found guilty by a jury last July of one count of robbing a mobile phone from the girl on Malahide Road, Coolock, on March 7, 2013.

After the trial, he pleaded guilty to a further six counts of carrying out robberies in various shops around north Dublin in August and September 2016, including the same off-licence three times in two weeks.

A knife was brandished on a number of occasions.

James Dwyer, prosecuting, previously told the court that Fetherston's mobile phone robbery victim found the trial experience very difficult.

The court heard Fetherston had an outburst during his trial, which led to his young victim having "concerns".

Sentencing Fetherston yesterday, Judge Patricia Ryan ordered him to stay away from all of his victims for a period of 30 years.

She noted that many of his offences were "crimes of violence".

However, she accepted he was remorseful, has accepted his guilt, is doing well in custody and has rehabilitated himself from drugs.

She backdated the sentence to last July, when Fetherston went into custody.

The trial heard the girl was on her way home from school on a bus when Fetherston approached her and robbed her mobile phone.

Emmet Nolan, defending, said his client now accepts the verdict of the jury.

He said Fetherston has spent two of the past three years in custody for previous offences.

Mr Nolan said that at the time of the offence, Fetherston was addicted to heroin. In the lead-up to his trial for this offence, he became drug-free and is now a prisoner with enhanced privileges for good behaviour.

Desperate

The lawyer said his client left school at the age of 15 and had a troubled background. He became addicted to drugs at the age of 16.

Fetherston's actions were committed by a "desperate drug addict who was desperate to get money to get more drugs".

In relation to Fetherston's outburst at trial, Mr Nolan said his client was "distressed at the result" and "acted in a manner that was entirely inappropriate".BYU researchers make micro lab-on-a-chip breakthrough

Academic jargon can often confuse the average person about the topic at hand, but make no mistake on this, researchers at Brigham Young University have made a monumental leap  and people are talking about it. BYU researchers are among the worlds leaders in creating labs on a chip at increasingly small sizes, and have just had another breakthrough with a new 3D printing technique that allows them to print valves at 15 microns in size. Commercial 3D printers cant print near that small, said Todd Hollingshead, BYU spokesperson. BYU researchers have demonstrated the ...Also the proven standard interface to our ERP system PSIPenta is a great advantage from our point of view, because the ETL process is quickly implemented." With the STAS CONTROL portal has FIBRO in the future a central platform, which enables fast and secure access to all own reports from the BI solution, as well as future data from the integrated planning tool all over the world and all subsidiaries and representatives. The introduction to finance and sales will be completed until the end of the year already, end of 2009 all functional areas of STAS CONTROL should be productive in use. With FIBRO another worldwide successful medium-sized company in the industry has decided for us", Uwe Schulze is looking forward, Managing Director of STAS GmbH. shows us the decision again, how important is pre-configured business know-how, especially for medium-sized enterprises, which is a quick and expect low-risk introduction." You will find more information about the FIBRO group under. Andreessen Horowitz oftentimes addresses this issue. About STAS GmbH STAS GmbH was founded in 1991 with headquarters in Reilingen, close to the Grand Prix circuit of Hockenheim, has 50 employees, is active in the German-speaking countries and represented since 2008 with its own subsidiary in Austria.



Under the brand name of STAS CONTROL develops and distributes STAS turnkey business software solutions (BI, CPM) for planning, analysis and control of medium-sized companies. Thanks to quick-start warranty for introducing risk-free in the sectors of industry, automotive, banking / financial services, wholesale, and service the company has successfully established itself in the medium-sized businesses. 600 customers such prestigious companies such as banner include batteries, BBS rims, ELTA electronic devices, Faller model toys, Felina lingerie, Gloria Feuerloschsysteme, HeidelbergCement, Hermann Pfanner drinks, IWC watch manufacturer, Mitsubishi Electric, Truma Geratetechnik, as well as around 50 Cooperative banks. Since early 2008, the Reilinger specialist for controlling middle-class solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ulm group FRITZ & orbit: INFOMA and thus part of the Dutch technology group of Imtech N.Hogan touts Md. booster vaccine progress, calls out Biden administration

Gov. Larry Hogan touted his administrations rollout of the COVID-19 booster vaccine Thursday and expressed frustration with the Biden administration.Houston : A 38-year-old Indian engineer in the US state of Ohio, accused of funding a top al-Qaida leader, has pleaded guilty to concealment of financing of terrorism.

Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, second of the two brothers, is accused of sending money to Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. Al-Awlaki was later designated a terrorist and killed by a US drone in 2011.

Mohammad, is to receive an agreed-upon prison sentence of 60 months, although he would receive credit for the 30 months he already has spent in the Lucas County jail awaiting trial, The Blade newspaper reported yesterday.

US District Judge Jeffrey Helmick told him that due to his plea and conviction, he would be deported to India.

You ultimately will be removed from this country and told you are not welcome to come back, the judge said.

Mohammad had studied at the University of Illinois and lived in Toledo since 2006.

As part of a plea agreement, the four original charges brought by a federal grand jury in 2015 are to be dismissed at the time of sentencing, which was not scheduled, the report said.

Two co-defendants, Sultane Roome Salim, 43, and his brother, Asif Ahmed Salim, 37, are scheduled for a change of plea hearing before Judge Helmick later today. Mohammad and the Salims had been set for trial April 23 with jury selection beginning on Monday.

A fourth co-defendant, Mohammads brother, Yahya Farooq Mohammad, 39, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to provide and conceal material support or resources to terrorists.

He had also pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit a crime of violence for a separate case in which he tried to hire a hitman to kill Judge Jack Zouhary. At the time, Judge Zouhary was presiding over the terrorism case.

Yahya Farooq Mohammad was sentenced to a total of 27 years in prison and ordered deported to India once he completes his prison term.

Michael Freeman, an assistant US attorney, outlined the factual basis for the charge to which Ibrahim Mohammad pleaded guilty.

Freeman said Mohammads brother and others raised money in 2009 in the United Arab Emirates to deliver to al-Awlaki in Yemen.

Freeman said Farooq raised some funds through credit card fraud, sought funds from others he knew, and enlisted his brother in the United States to help.

Two associates of Farooq delivered USD 7,000 to an associate of al-Awlaki in Yemen in late January, 2009, Freeman said. In July, 2009, Farooq delivered USD 22,000 to an associate of al-Awlaki.

Ibrahim knew, Freeman said, that al-Awlaki had expressed support for the killing of 13 US service personnel at Fort Hood, Texas, by Nidal Hasan on November 5, 2009, and that al-Awlaki had been involved in the attempt to destroy an airliner over Detroit on December 25, 2009.

When interviewed by the FBI in Chicago in 2011, Ibrahim lied about the financial transactions, Freeman said, and later deleted emails that contained words such as Awlaki, jihad, Taliban, and Yemen from his email account.

Source : TOIAn aganwadi worker and a co-worker have been stopped from working at their respective anganwadi centres for the past ten days by villagers in Shyamrya village of Chhattarpur district following allegations that the husband of the anganwadi worker had killed a cow. The co-worker is her relative.

Interestingly, the project officer, instead of solving the matter has asked the duo to abstain from work till the problem is resolved.

Around 10 days back that anganwadi worker Ramsakhi Ahirwars husband Arjun was accused of killing a cow by a fellow villager. Arjun pleaded that he was not guilty but the community panchayat, which is different from the elected panchayat, ordered Arjun to perform several rituals, going to Allahabad to take a holy dip in the Ganga and then give a feast to the entire community in the village to atone for his sin. Fearing the wrath of the villagers, Arjun left his house without telling anybody.

Miffed by Arjuns decision to leave the village the villagers stopped Ramsakhi Ahirwar who is aganwadi worker at center number 2 and her relative Hemvati Ahirwar who is co- worker at anganwadi center number 1 from opening their respective centers and preparing meals for the children.

Faced with the boycott, they informed their seniors but instead of solving the matter, project officer of Ishanagar Raghav Bhushan Mishra ordered them in the letter dated April 9 to abstain from work till the matter was resolved.

Ramsakhi Ahirwar while talking to the media said the allegations against her husband were false. My husband ran away fearing for his life and now he is missing for the past eight days. The local police too are aware of the situation but are doing nothing. The villagers have stopped us from opening our aganwadi centers as a result of which the children too have stopped coming and are not getting their meals. Our senior (Mishra Sir) also ordered us to abstain from going to our Aganwadi center till the matter is solved.

Minister of state for woman and child welfare department, Lalita Yadav said she has asked the collector to conduct an inquiry into the matter. The project officer has been removed as the inquiry is also against him. The matter is serious and I will meet the village sarpanch and other elders and ask them to stop this evil custom. If needed, I will go to the village.Actor Amit Sadh garnered a lot of praise when he featured in the Salman Khan-starrer Sultan. While the actor is now gearing up for his next release, Gold, starring Akshay Kumar in the lead, he cant stop gushing about the time he spent shooting with Khan for the 2016 film.

Recalling the memories, Amit confesses that he gets tongue tied each time he talks about Salman. Amit says, I have a lot of love and respect for him. I genuinely look up to him for the goodness that he represents and the kindness he does. Its a treat to watch him onscreen. I feel privileged that I got to see him act with that poise and gravity. Hes the coolest guy.

Though Salman shares a cordial equation with most people in Bollywood, he is known to be moody. Amit, however, says he never came across that side of him. There is no need for such a superstar to invite you for lunch or to make you comfortable or to introduce you to his gym. For me, that touched me the most. He acknowledges people around, says Amit.

Stating that he feels privileged to have received all this goodness from Salman, Amit says he would love to work with the actor again. I cant wait to be in a film or in the same frame with Salman Sir again. I hope he reads this and I wish the day comes soon. Really, I really miss being on his set with that energy and aura, quips Amit.

Interact with Monika Rawal Kukreja at Twitter/@monikarawalPriya Sachdev is celebrating her first anniversary with husband Sunjay Kapur. The doting wife shared a sweet message for him on Instagram with a few photos from their wedding in April last year.

Happy Anniversary my Darling Husband...Love you from the Sun and Back Infinite Times! You Complete Me in every way possible...Thank you for your unconditional love This last One year has been beautiful and always a roller coaster with you...looking forward to a lifetime of more beautiful years of married life with you my Handsome Husband!, she captioned the photo. Priya is Sunjays third wife. Before her, he was married to actor Karisma Kapoor but the two got divorced in 2016.

The Delhi-based industrialist and his model wife tied the knot on April 13 in New Delhi then flew to New York for the reception. The two had been dating since 2013.

Priya recently also posted birthday wishes for Karisma and Sunjays two kids, daughter Samaira and son Kiaan. Happy Birthday #Samaira wishing you a very Happy 13th Birthday Princess you are officially a Teenager now...! Love you, she had written in an Instagram post.

Check out a few more pictures of the couple:

Sunjay and Karisma tied the knot in 2003 and their very divorce was finalised in June 2016. The Delhi high court advised the couple to explore the possibility of a settlement when they wanted a divorce in 2005. Karisma moved out of his house in Delhi in 2010 to Mumbai, which was when her younger son Kiaan was born. In 2014, the two decided to end their marriage and filed for divorce.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreActor Sunny Leone has vowed to protect her children from all the evil in the world. On Saturday, she posted a picture on Twitter with her daughter, Nisha, cradled in her arms.

The 36-year-old actors remarks come after the entire country erupted in outrage against the Kathua rape-murder and Unnao rape. Leone took to Twitter to condemn the two brutal incidents, saying children should be protected at all costs.

I promise with every ounce of my heart, soul and body to protect you from everything and everyone who is evil in this world. Even if that means giving my life for your safety.

Children should feel safe against evil, hurtful people. Lets hold our children a little closer to us! Protect at all costs! she wrote.

I promise with every ounce of my heart,soul&body 2protect u from everything&everyone who is evil in this world.Even if that means giving my life for ur safety.children should feel safe against evil hurtful people.Let's hold our children a little closer to us!Protect at all costs! pic.twitter.com/d9xijmD6kF  Sunny Leone (@SunnyLeone) April 14, 2018

Sunny had adopted Nisha, with husband Daniel Weber in July 2017. The couple also welcomed twins - Asher and Noah - via surrogacy last March.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreBarsha Sen was 19 when she stumbled upon The God of Small Things. Living on the outskirts of the city then known as Calcutta, she had heard of debutant author Arundhati Roys book after it made waves across the world on its way to the Man Booker award. The book had just started triggering raucous conversations across city colleges and Sen says she remembers finishing the book at a feverish pace. It was then that she decided to use the Booker prize as a guide for future reads.

Fast forward 20 years and the situation hasnt changed much. The Booker and the Pulitzer continue to be the most important guides for discerning Indian readers for English fiction, buoyed by the several Indians and people of Indian origin who have won these prizes. Sen herself credits the Booker for discovering Aravind Adigas 2008 novel The White Tiger. Ask which Indian prize she follows, and she draws a blank.

But this might soon change.

Two big literary awards were launched earlier this month, both carrying enough prize money and prestige to make a splash in a market where new English fiction is fast losing its sheen and popular titles, guides and celebrity memoirs are grabbing headlines once reserved for literary superstars.

The bigger of these two, indeed the biggest prize in Indian literature, is the Rs 25 Lakh JCB Prize, financed by the eponymous British construction equipment manufacturing firm. The other is the New India Foundation Prize for non-fiction valued at Rs 15 lakh.

But what can prizes do to boost literary culture in a country like India? According to Rana Dasgupta, author and director of the JCB Prize, a lot.

The prize imagines a world that doesnt exist yet, where Indian readers know what is going on in every language. It implies a new kind of India, where people know far more about what other people are thinking, writing, he says on the sidelines of the prizes launch in Delhi this week.We dont know that very well because were not reading each other. This prize is part of the attempt to create that.

Dasgupta has grand plans. The JCB Prize will award not just the winner but also shortlisted books, and a separate prize of Rs 5 lakh should the winning entry be a translation. The campaign will be mounted on television, and curiously, radio to reach out to outliers and expand the conversation around books. We want the books talked about and sold outside bookshops, we want to create new Indian literary superstars, Dasgupta adds.

These are lofty ambitions in an increasingly difficult market for Indian writing in English. Dasgupta himself admits average print-runs of fiction titles have shrunk to around 1,500-2,000 and books are disappearing from the public conversation faster than ever.

The market, comprising around 18,000 books annually and which data management firm Nielsen estimated in 2017 to be around $ 6.5 billion according to Bloomberg, is dominated by guides, education books, memoirs and popular fiction  where writers such as Chetan Bhagat sell more than a million copies of their latest release. It is the middle of the market that is the problem.

MANY PRIZES, LITTLE IMPACT

Indias fiction landscape is cluttered with prizes for fiction and non-fiction given out by both the government and private agencies  with the Sahitya Akademi and the Jnanpith among the oldest and the most prestigious. In recent years, many awards have mushroomed in English writing as have literary festivals, even in smaller, more far-flung cities such as Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh. But they may have done little to expand the culture of discussing and buying new books, owing partially to the focus on celebrity authors, filmstars and politicians.

Indian literature prizes havent been bigger than the literature scene. And with that space shrinking, and the diminishing impact by an individual book, the impact of a literary prize is decreasing too, says translator Arunava Sinha.

Sinha says in many cases, people dont even appear to know there is a prize, let alone be curious about who won it. Prizes give the author and the publisher some satisfaction but make no difference to sales or to peoples preferences, he adds. Indeed, the only times writers have hit newspaper headlines in recent years are during violent protests  think Perumal Murugan or Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar.

This is where prizes such as the JCB can make a difference, feels author Vivek Shanbag, who is on the jury of the award along with filmmaker Deepa Mehta, founder of the Murty Classical Library of India, Rohan Murty, astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan; and author and translator Arshia Sattar.

A prize brings lot of attention to the book, more people read it and it is discussed. All that is good for a book. JCB Prize will help writers in English, says Shanbag.

Harper Collins India publisher Diya Kar Hazra agrees. The two prizes that have been recently announced, the New India Foundation Prize and the JCB Prize, are fantastic initiatives. There arent enough serious prizes in the subcontinent that reward and recognise. These will encourage writers and good writing, and contribute greatly to literature centred on the subcontinent, she says.

Shanbag, whose Kannada novel Ghachar Ghochar was translated into English to widespread acclaim in 2016, is excited by the thrust on translation  two of the four JCB nomination spots are reserved for translations.

Translation always get you a new reader and new responses. People who do not share the same culture and ethos also respond. When a work goes beyond its original language, it acquires a new and different meaning, which is always a pleasure for a writer, he adds.

DEEPER PROBLEM?

Can literary prizes, which have existed for English writing in the country since at least 1960, solve the readership problem?

In the early 2000s, there was great enthusiasm about English writing. With a booming economy, hordes of new and young people entering colleges and learning English, and a phalanx of new authors fronted by Bhagat, it was imagined that Indias famed youth bulge  two-thirds of the country is under 35  will manifest itself in bigger audiences for fiction and non-fiction.

Since then, some of that hope has gone bust as first-time readers and fans of popular fiction havent transitioned into more serious writing and the blockbuster success of new genres, say mythological fiction, hasnt helped others. Moreover, as Sinha says, the culture of reading might be slowly eroding. Prizes can help augment when there is an existing culture of reading, as with the Man Booker. But if there are few books to begin with, what will a prize do? he asks.

There are other challenges, say, that of diversity that Sujatha Gidlas 2017 memoir Ants among Elephants underlined adeptly. There has never been reservation of any sort in literature. Literature doesnt need it. It defeats the very purpose of writing. However it is very important to have writers from all castes and classes to bring diversity and different worldview into literature, Shanbag says.

In some ways, writing in Indian languages has not only survived this, but has also forged its separate path ahead by inculcating a fierce culture of debate and dissent. In languages such as Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Assamese, Marathi and indeed Hindi, little magazines feature vibrant discussions on new releases, and writers are popular figures in everyday cultural life.

Prizes such as the Bankim Purashkar in Bengali or the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in Malayalam are both coveted, talked about and popularly discussed. Engagement of the readers with the writers. I see that more direct in Indian languages. Indian language writers are more accessible, argues Shanbag. Maybe the way ahead is more inward.

INDIAN LITERARY PRIZES The JCB Prize

Rs 25 lakh Each of the five shortlisted books of fiction in English get Rs 1 lakh; the winner gets Rs 25 lakh; if the book is a translation, the translator gets Rs 5 lakh. The New India Foundation Prize

Rs 15 lakh The prize will be given every year to the best non-fiction book about modern/ contemporary India. The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature

$ 25,000 (Rs 16.3 lakh under current exchange rates) Awarded to the best full-length novel written in Each of the five shortlisted books of fiction in English get Rs 1 lakh; the winner gets Rs 25 lakh; if the book is a translation, the translator gets Rs 5 lakh.The prize will be given every year to the best non-fiction book about modern/ contemporary India.(Rs 16.3 lakh under current exchange rates) Awarded to the best full-length novel written in The Hindu Prize

Rs 5 lakh Awarded to the best novel in English. Crossword Book Award

Rs 3 lakh Given to each of the 4 jury categories (fiction, non-fiction, children, translation) and Rs 1 lakh to 6 popular categories (fiction, non-fiction, business, health, children, biography). The Sahitya Akademi Prize

Rs 1 lakh Each given to works in 24 languages, ranging from fiction to literary criticism and travel writing. or translated into English about South Asia.Awarded to the best novel in English.Given to each of the 4 jury categories (fiction, non-fiction, children, translation) and Rs 1 lakh to 6 popular categories (fiction, non-fiction, business, health, children, biography).Each given to works in 24 languages, ranging from fiction to literary criticism and travel writing.Telecom operator Reliance Jio has signed an agreement to raise about Rs 3,250 crore as samurai term loan from Japan-based banks.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has signed an approximately JPY 53.5 billion samurai term loan with 7 year bullet maturity. The facility is guaranteed by Reliance Industries Limited and will be used for funding RJILs ongoing capital expenditure, RJIL said in a late night statement on Friday.

At exchange rate of 60 paise per Japanese yen, the loan value comes to around Rs 3,248 crore.

This deal represents the largest samurai loan (low interest loans from Japanese investors) for an Asian corporate, the statement said.

The facility has been fully underwritten by Mizuho Bank, Ltd., MUFG Bank, Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Singapore Branch and will be shortly launched into syndication, RJIL said.

Last month, the Reliance Jio board had approved raising of around Rs 20,000 crore in debt. The company has invested over Rs 2 lakh crore in the mobile business which has garnered over 168 million customers.

The Mukesh Ambani firm has also signed agreement to buy mobile business assets of Reliance Communications -- the company led by his younger brother Anil Ambani -- for around Rs 25,000 crore.

The 4G mobile service provider RJIL said that the network of the company is future ready and can be easily upgraded to support even more data, as technologies advance on to 5G, 6G and beyond.

Jio will bring transformational changes in the Indian digital services space to enable the vision of Digital India for 1.2 billion Indians and propel India into global leadership in digital economy, the statement said.Its New Year this weekend in a number of regions across India, so best wishes to us all, dear readers. Id like to share a most unusual and quaint story for the occasion. Late last month was the Brahmotsavam or 10-day annual festival of the grand temple in Mylapore, an ancient inland pocket of Chennai. Mylapore is an anglicised form of Mayurapuram, meaning the place of peacocks.

The 16th century Portuguese poet, Luis Vaz de Camoes, in his travelogue / poem The Lusiads, described it as the potent city, Meliapore.

Mylapore is built around that gigantic temple to Shiva-Parvati where they are worshipped as Kapalishwar and Karpagambal. Theres a big shrine to their son, Kartikeya, in the compound. A raising-of-the-dead miracle attributed to the 7th-century boy-saint and poet Gnana Sambandhar is believed to have happened nearby.

Its said that the original Shiva-Parvati temple was by the ocean, but was destroyed in the early colonial period. It shifted to its present location thereafter, which, jokes Carnatic historian Sriram V, who leads excellent heritage tours, amounts to the parents moving into the sons house. The link with the old site is maintained even now, through an annual ritual by the sea.

The Mylapore temple somehow survived the usual attention paid to temples by foreigners; indeed, an old Nawab of Arcot donated land to the present Kapalishwar temple for a water tank because a temple is incomplete without a dedicated source of water, temple, tank, town being a traditional plan for settlements.

Sriram V told us of another unusual foreign contribution on the heritage walk he led recently during the Mylapore Brahmotsavam. We gathered at 6 am at Kapalishwars door to see the days magnificent, peaceful and orderly Adhikara Nandi procession. I cannot properly describe the joy of witnessing that beautiful living tradition, or the mannerly, gentle crowd, or the good energy of local residents who drew kolams and did harati in welcome along the route, or the melodious singing of Thevaram, the ancient Shaiva litanies, inside the temple.

A family that lived by the temple tank was known to have performed annadanam or food seva for pilgrims during Brahmotsavam since the mid-19th century.

But why were temple ropes and pandal poles along the processions route wrapped in red and white cloth, the colours of the Union Jack? Sriram V told us that for centuries, the temple chariot used to be pulled by left and right groups during Brahmotsavam. The left group wrapped its ropes in white cloth and the right group used cloth of many colours. However, they quarrelled so violently in the 19th century that the East India Company, which ruled the land then, had to intervene. Colours from the Union Jack were accepted for good and Kapalishwars chariot did the rounds under British rule with the flag of St George and the dragon flying above in protection.

Surely the moral, if any, of this extraordinary story is that every so-called spiritual conflict has a practical solution. After all, the enigmatic smiles of the deities are meant to be a reminder that the Eternal God is far above human conflicts and quarrels.

shebaba09@gmail.com

(The views expressed are personal)Last week, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry came together to oppose the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the 15th Finance Commission. The TOR suggests that the Commission take into account the 2011 census, rather than the 1971 census, while framing its recommendations. Southern governments allege that this will end up penalising them for better governance and population control, reduce their share of the revenue, and thus reflects an anti-federal, pro-north bias of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.

The fact that all the four finance ministers who met represented parties opposed to the Centre  the Congress in Puducherry and Karanataka, the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala - gives the move a distinct political flavour. And the fact that the two states, which did not send senior political representatives - Tamil Nadu and Telangana - are run by parties seen as friendly to BJP is further evidence that party politics is an important variable in this battle.

But it would be a mistake to see the churn in the South as merely dictated by tactical political compulsions.

In Karnataka, the Congress - in a rare move for a national party - has adopted a strong sub-national political platform, emphasising a distinct flag and strongly asserting and promoting the use of Kannada.

In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP may have walked out of the the NDA, but it has framed the split in the vocabulary of regional pride, the injustice that has been meted out to the state, the betrayal by the Delhi establishment and the entire political class. The other party in the state, YSR Congress, uses the same language and the competitive politics of Andhra Pradesh is about who can take a more radical position against the Centre.

In Kerala, there has been a strong resistance to what has been seen as a possible attempt to impose food norms of the North, particularly with regard to beef.

And, most sharply, in Tamil Nadu, there is a strong political discourse around the need to resist the North; protect the Tamil language; ensure that a northern party is not able to penetrate the state, with even suggestions by new political actors that the southern states unite under a unified Dravidian identity.

Whats going on?

The answer to what is happening in the South perhaps lies in the North - and the remarkable political expansion of the BJP. The BJP has been able to cross every barrier but one.

It was seen as a purely urban party - but it expanded and won over substantial rural areas in north, central and west India. It was seen a merely middle class party - but it has been able to win the vote of the poor in multiple elections and now its key political plank is welfare. It was seen as an upper caste party - but it has won the votes of backward and Dalits even though this remains fragile. It was perceived as merely as cow-belt or Hindi heartland party - but it has been successful in the most unlikely of regions, the northeast, winning election after election.

But the BJP has failed to make headway in the south - and it may have in fact contributed to the alienation of parts of the South.

How?

Take the top leadership. Barring a few exceptions, the key decision-makers in both the party and the government - Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh - are not from the South. In terms of larger political representation, the fact that a majority of the Members of Parliament from the party are from northern, central and western states means that voices which could have alerted the leadership to the sensitivities in the South are missing. The fact that the party - barring Karnataka - does not have strong regional leaders means that the feedback from below is limited.

Take the larger ideological framework. It is to the BJPs credit that it has adapted and been flexible and broken its exclusivist image in the North. But the partys emphasis on uniformity - as a key of nationalism - often clouds the respect for diversity. And southern states, with their distinct traditions, languages, political history, social movements, tend to react to this push for uniformity strongly. There is a history to it. States like Tamil Nadu have seen a strong secessionist movement; the politics of Andhra Pradesh changed with the rise of NT Rama Rao purely on the plank of Andhra pride. Do remember the fragile compact on the language policy that was arrived at after much unrest and agitation in the early decades after Independence. Any push at uniformity will draw a backlash. And the BJP continues to carry the baggage of being seen as a party of Hindus and Hindi speakers even if this is not entirely true anymore. Insensitive comments by its leaders - like the claim that it would vandalise statues of Periyar - only confirm the worst suspicions.

Take imagery. The BJPs icons (Syama Prasad Mookerjee or Deen Dayal Upadhyay), the ones it has sought to appropriate (be it a Sardar Patel or Babasaheb Ambedkar), its language (leaders speak entirely in Hindi even during state campaigns as we are seeing in Karnataka) do not reflect the richness of the South. And this often means that citizens cannot often relate to it.

So here we have a paradox.

There is an almost hegemonic party ruling the Centre and in power in 21 states. Yet, it is not in power in any of the five southern states and one Union territory - and we have to wait till the Karnataka elections to see if it changes. This is a party that has very strongly appropriated the nationalism platform. But it is facing a potentially strong sub- nationalist political reaction from south.

If the implications were just confined to the fortunes of one party or the other, it would not have mattered. But India cannot, and must not, forget how deep identity cleavages have often jeopardised its growth and stability. If the divide between the Centre and the South, or the North and South, grows, it will have implications for the federal structure, for the constitutional order, for political stability, for economic growth and for national unity. Instead of divergence, Indias parties across the divide must focus on convergence.

letters@hindustantimescomThe Ranipur police in Haridwar on Sunday registered a case against three doctors of a state-run hospital for alleged negligence leading to the death of an employee of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).

The case was registered at the Ranipur police station after the wife of the BHEL employee Krishna Kumar, 44, filed a complaint, saying that her husband died due to negligence of the three doctors of the public sector unit, police said.

The three doctors at the BHEL-run hospital against whom the case has been registered include Balwant Singh Kuswaha, Parmanand Joshi and Sarabjeet Singh, police said.

On January 12, Kumar, who collapsed following chest pain, was rushed to the BHEL hospital, where doctors him dead at 11.30pm. Soon after, the body was shifted to the mortuary.

The next day, on January 13, doctors carried out the post-mortem examination at 2pm. As per the report, the death occurred about six hours before the post-mortem examination, putting its time at around 8am  a gap of more than eight hours after Kumar was declared dead.

The victims brother, Yogendra Kumar, in a police complaint, accused the doctors of negligence leading to Kumars death.

In the complaint, he said the family members and others present during the opening of the mortuary had found that Kumars body was reportedly wet due to pee. They also noticed vomit fluid near Kumars mouth.

Kumar was declared dead by a panel of doctors the same night and his body was kept at the hospital mortuary overnight and an autopsy was conducted the next day at 2pm.

Later, it came to light from the postmortem report, which indicated that the death occurred just six hours before the postmortem was carried out, which meant that Kumar was alive the whole night at the mortuary, the autopsy report has revealed.

The then chief medical officer Ashok Gairola ordered a probe after Haridwars senior superintendent of police Krishan Kumar VK wrote to him citing details of the post-mortem report.

A panel of two senior doctors will verify the postmortem report and submit their findings within a week.

The panel in its findings held the doctors to be liable for gross negligence in the case and confirmed the autopsy report.

The BHEL hospital authorities, too conducted an internal enquiry, seeking explanation from the doctors. The doctors were found guilty of negligence, leading to death of the employee.

National Human Rights Commission, too sent a notice to the BHEL hospital management, seeking an explanation and ensuring that proper aid was provided to the victims family members.

Ranipur police station in-charge Aishwarya Pal said a case has been registered on complaint of deceased BHEL employees wife under Section 304 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Police have started an investigation into the case, she told Hindustan Times.

Yogendra Kumar, the brother of deceased BHEL employee, said his brother could have been saved had the doctors not deprived him of medical treatment instead of declaring him dead without proper examination.

The doctors killed my brother, first by depriving him medical treatment and then by shifting him to a mortuary where the temperature was near freezing point, Yogendra Kumar said.

For the whole night, an alive but unconscious Krishan was kept in the frozen mortuary, which was the reason he died, after registration of a case against the doctors, we now hope to get justice, though we know our brother will not return again.The Uttarakhand school education department has listed about 30 government secondary schools (from Class 6 to 12) for merger to ensure better facilities, more teachers and enhanced infrastructure, though officials said the number could be reduced owing to local and political pressure.

School education minister Arvind Pandey decided last year to merge schools, running in the same building or within a 1 km area, with an objective to minimise expenditure and provide better teaching-learning environment.

The state has over 19,000 schools -- basic, junior and secondary  with 57,300 teaching staff, a shortage of 6000 teachers against the sanctioned strength.

The merger will help in providing quality education to students. All subject teachers will be provided under one roof, Pandey said.

The department had listed 400 basic and junior schools for merger. Most of the schools are located in Haridwar and Dehradun districts. The secondary schools listed for merger are also located in the same districts. The department will put up the before the cabinet to get approval for merger.

The Uttarakhand high court has also recommended that the state government may frame a scheme to merge existing schools, instead of establishing new one without adequate infrastructure.

The merger secondary schools wont be a cakewalk. This is going to be difficult as local and political pressure is going to come. Reason: People are keen on convenience of their kids, rather than their future, an education official said requesting anonymity.

School education director RK Kunwar emphasised the importance of merger, especially of secondary schools.

Through merger of secondary schools we will be able to provide teachers for each subject, which we are presently not able to give to schools that are located within 1 km area and have less than 20 students. It will better the quality of education, Kunwar said.

The list is likely to be put up before the minister by next week. He will then consult the chief minister and seek approval from the cabinet, officials said.

Government teachers support the move. Its a great move. Instead of cluster of schools, we should have one big school with complete facilities, said Sohan Singh, a member of the government teachers association.

The Rajasthan government has also decided for integration of schools and establishment of model schools to address the issues of insufficient enrolment and the existence of more than one school in a neighbourhood.A special investigative team (SIT), probing the 300-crore NH 74 scam, is planning to obtain property attachment order from court against absconding farmers who have allegedly taken high compensation from the NHAI.

The scam involves compensations in crores of rupees to farmers for agricultural land, acquired for NH 74 expansion in Udham Singh Nagar, at commercial rates.

The SIT has so far arrested 20 people, including four sub divisional magistrate rank officers. Two farmers Charan Singh and Omprakash are also in jail for obtaining fatty compensation after getting land use changed in back date causing fraud.

Bank accounts of several farmers, who have obtained 10 fold compensation for commercial land on their agricultural land, already been frozen by the SIT. Some of the farmers have already become government witness against accused of the scam.

According to police, eight farmers of Jaspur and Kashipur, who obtained fatty compensation, are on the run to evade arrest. They are now under the radar of the SIT.

The SIT has conducted raids in the past to arrest them but failed. It obtained non-bailable warrant against them when failed to arrest.

According to sources in police, two of the farmers have deposited some amount in a bank account opened by the special land acquisition officers office in Rudrapur for such farmers who intend to return fatty compensation.

This account was opened in SBI in February after getting permission of a special court.

Sadanand Date, senior superintendent of police, US Nagar, said, The SIT has conducted raids to arrest these farmers but in vain. Now, police will obtain attachment of property orders against such farmers.

As far as probe of Gadarpur, Rudrapur, Kichha and Sitarganj tehsil, it is underway and we are waiting for Forensic Science Laboratory, Dehraduns report for further action against the accused, he said.A 19-year-old woman was kidnapped, confined in a house and sexually assaulted for 10 days allegedly by a 30-year-old man in outer Delhis Aman Vihar, police said on Saturday.

The woman, who had suffered multiple injuries, was given medical attention at a government hospital and is now being counselled by members of an NGO, police said.

The suspect, identified as Kuldeep, is absconding since an FIR was registered against him at the Aman Vihar police station on April 9. The woman managed to flee from confinement on the same day. She has alleged that Kuldeep had been stalking her for a few months.

The FIR was registered under sections 345D (stalking) 365 (Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 344 (Wrongful confinement for ten or more days), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code, said police.

Police are questioning Kuldeeps family members to know his whereabouts. They also sought to know why the family did not inform the police when their son had illegally kept the woman and tortured her for several days in the house.

Police said the victim knew Kuldeep for more than a year. She initially lived with her family in the same locality in Delhis Sultanpuri, where the suspect live with his family. Two teams have been formed to track down the suspects hideouts and nab him.

MN Tiwari, deputy commissioner of police (outer), said the woman is a school drop out and she had shifted to their new home in Aman Vihar around a month ago. Her father works in a private company while the mother is a housewife. The woman in her complaint told police that she had come in contact with her neighbour and they became friends a year ago.

On March 30, Tiwari said, the woman went out with the man and was with him till 11.30pm. The man later took her to his home and confined her in a room on the first floor. He made physical relationship with her repeatedly and forcefully, said DCP Tiwari, quoting the womans complaint.

It is surprising that the womans family had not filed her missing or kidnapping complaint even as she was missing for 10 days. We are looking into this angle as well, said Tiwari.

A police officer said the woman has alleged in her complaint that Kuldeep used to tie her with ropes and gag her with a cloth so that she could not raise alarm or scream for help. He allegedly locked the room from outside to prevent her from fleeing.

His family members knew everything but they kept mum. We spoke to neighbours but they were not aware of the matter. Nobody knew that Kuldeep had illegally kept the woman in his home, the officer said.

On April 9, the woman fled Kuldeeps home and reached her parents home. Her father accompanied to the police station where she filed a case against the accused, the officer said.An 11-year-old boy was killed and another child was critically injured after they were hit by a school bus of a prominent school while its driver was parking the vehicle outside the school in central Delhis Chanakyapuri diplomatic area on Friday evening. The accident took place around 5.30pm at Jose P Rizal Marg.

Eyewitnesses told police the two boys were playing outside the school with other children when the rashly driven bus hit them from its front.

One of the boys, who later died on the accident spot, was reportedly sandwiched between the bus and a wall of the school.

The other boy, who is 10-year-old, suffered multiple fractures and is undergoing treatment at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

A police officer said the bus is owned by a private transporter but was attached with the school on contract basis. The bus ferried school children. The driver used to park the vehicle outside the school only, said the officer.

On Friday evening, some children from the nearby Vivekanand Camp slum were playing in the parking area outside the school.

The bus driver and helper returned after dropping school children to their respective homes.

The driver was parking the bus and the helper was guiding him. During the process, the driver failed to see the two children and hit them with the front portion of the bus. Other children and onlookers screamed and tried to alert the driver. He panicked and the bus hit the school wall, sandwiching one of the boys, said the officer.

The injured boys were rushed to a nearby hospital where one of them was declared brought dead. The driver was caught on the accident spot.

The boy, who died in the accident, was identified as Rahul Kumar.

He lived with his family in Vivekanand Camp slum. He was a Class 8 student in a government school. His father is a labourer.

The injured boy, Jagdish, too lives in the same slum with his family. He is a Class 6 student in the same government school.

Madhur Verma, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), said the bus driver, identified as Resham Pal, 57, was arrested and booked for rash and negligent driving causing death and injury. We have arrested the bus driver and confiscated the bus, said Verma.

The helper has also been taken into custody for questioning. We will take a decision on his arrest only if he is found guilty, the officer added.A teacher at the Jawaharlal Nehru University has been booked for allegedly molesting, sexually harassing and threatening a female research scholar.

This is the third sexual harassment case to surface in the university in recent times

Deputy Commissioner of Police Milind Dumbere confirmed a complaint had been filed. A PhD scholar from JNU filed a police complaint and alleged that she was molested, sexually harassed and threatened allegedly by a professor of the School of Social Sciences of the university. A case under sections 354, 506, and 509 of IPC has been registered, he said.

The complaint was received on Friday, and a case was registered the same day, Dumbere said.

The JNU Students Union (JNUSU) and gender sensitisation committee against sexual harassment said that the complainant had gone to the police directly, and had not approached them.

I am trying to get more details on this, said Geeta Kumari, the president of JNUSU.

READ: 50% increase in sexual harassment cases on campuses in 2017: UGC data

The current JNU-unit president of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Vijay Kumar, however, claims the accused teacher is from the group of adult education. His Facebook post says, another communist professor and ex-JNUTA (JNU Teachers Association) convenor sexually assaulted his student. ABVP demands immediate suspension and arrest of this demon professor.

It is a fourth year PhD student who has filed the complaint, as far as we know. The teacher is from the group of adult education at the School of Social Sciences, and had allegedly accessed the complainants laptop also at some point to send inappropriate emails. He has also allegedly misbehaved with her. The student has not been able to make submissions either, said.

The teacher in question, when contacted by HT, said he has not been notified about anything of this nature yet. I am hearing this for the first time from you, he said.

Last month, professor Atul Johri of the School of Life Sciences was arrested on charges of sexual harassment levelled against him by eight female students.

A Delhi court later granted him bail and asked him to furnish Rs 30,000 as bail bond in each case. The students have since been agitating demanding that he be suspended from his post as a teacher and not be allowed on the campus.

The administration says that the teacher has resigned from his posts.

A teacher from the School of International Studies was also accused of sexual harassment in March, and the case is pending in the universitys Internal Complaints Committee.The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has put the brakes on the proposal of using 65 acres of land in Sehrawan for setting up new toll booths. The proposal had been put forward by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the district administration of Gurugram. The NGT heard the complaint filed by a social activist from Manesar on Friday and fixed the next hearing on April 13. It also sent notices to NHAI and other respondents to remain present at the next hearing.

The NGT notice has brought big relief to complainant Ramavtar Yadav and other social activists who have been trying to save the 65 acres of forest land from being destroyed by the government.

We will go to any extent to save the 65 acres of forest land. We doubt the intentions of the Haryana government and the Centre, as across the country, no place has required 65 acres of land for a toll booth. The government is bent on destroying the forest land of Manesar and Sehrawan, which is the only safe place for wild animals and a grazing land. We hope the NGT will be just, said Yadav.

After Nitin Gadkri, Union Minister, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, announced the shifting of toll booths 11 kilometres from Kherki Daula to Sehrawan in August 2017, the NHAI had appealed to the Gurugram administration to hand over 65 acres of land in Sehrawan.

Read I MCEPL biggest hurdle in Kherki Daula toll shift

The Manesar panchayat, which owns 59 acres of the 65 acres of land, initially gave its consent to lease the land out to the NHAI. However, after a meeting with the village residents, the panchayat decided against the lease.

Residents have received support from green and social activists in their fight to save the forest land.

We have questioned the Gurugram administrations repeated attempts to take possession of 65 acres of the Aravalli forest land in violation of the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, said Vivek Kamboj, founder-director of Hariyali NGO.

Sanjiv Singla, sub divisional magistrate, Gurugram north, said, We have not seen the NGT notice yet.

The Kherki Daula toll has been a big deterrent to the commute between Gurugram and Manesar, causing massive perennial traffic jams. Residents, industrialists, home buyers and others struggle through the traffic jam at a cost of time, energy and money everyday.Milos Forman, the Czech-born movie director who found fame in Hollywood with the Oscar-winning classics One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Amadeus, has died at the age of 86, Czech news agency CTK reported on Saturday.

Forman died on Friday in the United States after a short illness, his wife, Martina, told CTK.

His departure was calm and he was surrounded the whole time by his family and his closest friends, she said.

Forman was born in the Czech town of Caslav on February 18, 1932, but moved to the United States after the Communist crackdown on the Prague Spring uprising in 1968. He became a US citizen in the 1970s.

In this file photo taken on March 25, 1985 Czech-born US film director Milos Forman holds up his Oscar trophy for his film 'Amadeus' at the 57th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood. (AFP)

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, in which a psychiatric institution becomes a microcosm of the contemporary world, and Amadeus, the life of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of his rival Antonio Salieri, earned 13 Oscars between them, including those for best director to Forman.

His other notable work included the rock musical Hair in 1979, Ragtime in 1981 and The People vs Larry Flint in 1996, which was nominated for an Academy Award that year.

Follow @htshowbiz for morePrime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a health and wellness centre in Chhattisgarhs Bijapur to mark the launch of Ayushman Bharat Yojana on the 127th birth anniversary of Bhim Rao Ambedkar on Saturday.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said: Babasaheb was educated and well read. He could have lived a comfortable life in a foreign country if he so desired. He studied abroad but came back to India and dedicated his life to working for adivasis and the Dalits. He wanted to give Dalits their rights.

The Congress was quick to respond to the PM speech accusing that the BJP was eroding the legacy of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and that PM Modi was merely paying him lip service as the BJP and the RSS have an anti-Dalit mindset.

Here are the highlights:

8.25pm: Unfortunately, various forces in the country are trying to divide the nation for their narrow political gains. Nation means all living creatures of this land, unless you respect each human being, you cannot be called a nationalist, says Naidu.

8.20pm: President Ram Nath Kovind and vice president Venkaiah Naidu launch a book Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar-Vyakti Nahin Sankalp at Rashtrapati Bhawan. President said book covers the inspiring life of Dr Ambedkar and also has references how PM Modi had been inspired by the life and message of Dr Ambedkar.

6.53pm: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh appealed to people to maintain peace and harmony in the wake of a clash between two groups in Phagwara, while warning of stringent action against anyone found disturbing law and order in the state.

5.20 pm: While paying homage to BR Ambedkar in Chennai, DMK leader MK Stalin took a swipe at the BJP government at the centre, alleging that the party was hampering Ambedkars ideals. Urging party workers to save the country from BJP, Stalin said, The BJP-led Centre steered by prime minister Narendra Modi is working in a way (that is) hampering Ambedkars ideals which led to the making of the Constitution.

4.10pm: The Punjab government suspends mobile internet, SMS and dongle services in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar following clashes between two groups, ANI reports.

3.15pm: President Ram Nath Kovind paid tributes to BR Ambedkar at the Dalit icons birthplace in the Kalipaltan area, where the Madhya Pradesh government has built a memorial. Kovind is the first president to visit Ambedkars birthplace in the Mhow cantonment town, which has been rechristened as Ambedkar Nagar in memory of the leader.

2.59pm: The Congress accused the BJP of eroding the legacy of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and said that PM Modi was merely paying him lip service as the BJP and the RSS have an anti-Dalit mindset.

While addressing a press conference, Congress leader Selja charged the prime minister with doing politics over the legacy of the Dalit icon.

2.41pm: Babasaheb has enshrined your rights in the Constitution. It is the governments responsibility to take care of your rights. You dont need to take up arms: PM Modi

2.16pm: By treading on old paths, you can never reach new destinations. We are working with new approach for 115 districts of the country including Bijapur: PM Modi

2.12pm: PM Modi says, If Bijapur can see development in 100 days then why cant the other districts witness the same? I came here to assure you that with all the development projects now Bijapur district will no longer be known as a backward district.

2.07pm: I salute the security personnel who are playing an important role in infrastructure development in Chhattisgarh: PM Modi

2.05pm: Modi says, Centre is committed to the dreams and aspirations of all people I have come here to remove the backward tag attached to Bijapur.

2.03pm: If a person from a poor background like me could become PM, it is because of Babasaheb Ambedkar, says Modi.

1.56pm: Modi says, Babasaheb was educated and well read. He could have lived a comfortable life in a foreign country if he so desired. He studied abroad but came back to India and dedicated his life to working for adivasis and the Dalits. He wanted to give Dalits their rights.

1.52pm: PM Modi asks the crowd to chant Jai Bhim. Modi says hes blessed to be among the people of Bijapur on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

1.50pm: PM Modi speaks at Bijapur after inaugurating a health and wellness centre to mark the launch of Ayushman Bharat Yojana.The prime minister also laid foundation stones of various projects of the central and state governments.

1.04pm: Five men, including members of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, were detained when they tried to protest garlanding of Ambedkars statue at Sarangpur in Ahmedabad by BJP MP Kirit Solanki. Alleging that BJP is anti-dalit, convener of RDAM and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani had given call to prevent BJP members from paying tribute to Ambedkar on his birth anniversary.

12.15pm: BJP president Amit Shah paid tribute to Ambedkar at the party office on Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in Delhi.

12pm: BSPs Mayawati says, I want to tell Modi ji and his government that commemorating places related to Babasahebs life and inaugurating schemes in his name, will in no way lead to development of Dalits.

11.55am: A group of Sikhs held a protest against atrocities against minorities and Dalits in India during BR Ambedkars birth anniversary celebrations at the UN.

11.50am: Ambedkars tireless efforts towards ensuring excluded groups were politically and socially empowered made him a pioneer in the world and his vision of equality and social justice echo the ambitions of the UNs 2030 development agenda, UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner said in his keynote address at a special event organised at the UN headquarters by Indias Permanent Mission to the UN.

11.45am: Ruckus at an Ambedkar Jayanti event in Gujarat as MLA Jignesh Mevanis supporters try to obstruct BJP MPs and members from garlanding Ambedkars statue.

11.40am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Chhattisgarhs Jagdalpur. He is scheduled to launch a new health scheme called Ayushman Bharat Yojana at a district health center in Jangala village of Maoist affected Bijapur district.

11.35am: Tension prevailed in Punjabs Phagwara after a communal clash broke out between a Dalit and a Hindu outfit over renaming of a chowk in a bid to pay tribute to Ambedkar on Friday late night. Read more

11.30am: Meerut, which witnessed widespread protests by Dalits during the nationwide protests on April 2, is on high alert. The security measures taken include blocking of internet services from 9 pm on Friday to 8 pm on Saturday, an official at the district magistrates office said. Read moreThe government plans an ordinance to keep the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe act unchanged in case the Supreme Court does not reverse a recent judgment that many Dalits alleged diluted the law safeguarding them, two Union ministers said on Friday.

According to consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who heads the Lok Janshakti Party, the government hopes the top court would revoke it verdict.

The SC/ST act is a special act. We hope the Supreme Court will take note of the fact that the SC/ST act is a special law. We are determined to maintain the status of the law as it was enacted. If it calls for bringing an ordinance it will be done, the Bihar politician said.

Another senior minister, requesting anonymity, said necessary steps will be taken in this regard.

We felt that the governments law officers could not effectively and clearly put the Centres views on this before the court when the matter was being heard, the minister said.

According to a government source, the issue was discussed at a meeting of senior ministers and bureaucrats on Wednesday that home minister Rajnath Singh chaired. The source wasnt authorised to be quoted by name and demanded anonymity.

All legal options will be explored only after the Supreme Court takes a call on the review petition that the government filed on April 2 against the March 20 judgment, which triggered nationwide Dalit protests. At least a dozen people were killed in clashes between protesters, police and people opposing a general strike called by Dalits against the court ruling on April 2.

A day after the meeting, the Centre urged the Supreme Court to recall its March 20 verdict banning automatic arrests and registration of cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, saying the ruling had done great damage by giving rise to anger among the people the law was meant to protect.

Written submissions drafted by attorney general KK Venugopal and submitted to the court on Thursday support the review petition filed by the Centre against the judgment, which made a preliminary enquiry of a complaint under the law mandatory before the registration of a first information report (FIR) by the police.Defying popular traditions, a Hindu priest in Hyderabad will carry a Dalit devotee into the temples sanctum sanctorum on Monday to propagate equality of humans in the wake of growing atrocities on backward caste communities across the country.

Amidst chanting of Vedic hymns and divine music, 60-year-old priest CS Rangarajan will carry Aditya Parasri, a local Dalit devotee, on his shoulders into the sanctum sanctorum of the famous Sri Ranganatha temple at Jiaguda in Hyderabad and make him perform puja at 4 pm on April 16.

The re-enactment of a 2,700-year-old ritual comes in the wake of rising atrocities against backward caste communities and alleged dilution of a law ensuring their protection.

The programme is aimed at propagating equality of people. We want to perform the ritual coinciding with the 1000th birth anniversary celebrations of Vaishavaite saint Ramanucharya, who preached equality of human beings, said Rangarajan, who is also the chairman of the Telangana Temples Protection Committee.

The ritual, known as Munivahana Seva, was first performed in Tamil Nadu when Vaishanava priest Loka Saranga carried a Paanar youth (an outcast in Tamil Nadu) on his shoulder into the Sri Ranganatha temple at Sri Rangam on the banks of Cauvery river, the priest said.

Not many people know that the Alwars of the Vaishanava tradition also comprised Dalits and even a woman. Our Sanathana Dharma has treated everybody equally before the god, Rangarajan said.

The Paanar youth who was carried on his shoulders by Loka Saranga later became a staunch devotee of Lord Ranganatha and attained the name of Thiruppaan Alwar, the eleventh of the 12 Alwars, the Vaishnavaite Saints, he added. ]

The priest regretted that though the Constitution of India had provided protection to the downtrodden sections and several legislations were made to safeguard their rights, they were still being looked down upon. This, he said, prompting people from these communities to adopt other religions to get respect.

Rangarajan also offered to provide training to Dalits in Vedic rituals so that they could be appointed as priests in all the temples.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which manages the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, has already started conducting classes for SCs and STs in priesthood and other Vedic literature so as to make them eligible for appointment as priests in temples in their respective areas.Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed BR Ambedkar for drawing up a Constitution that protected the rights of backward classes and attributed his political success to the Dalit icon, whose 127 birth anniversary was celebrated on Saturday.

Addressing a public meeting in Jangla in Chhattisgarhs Maoist-hit Bijapur district, he requested the youth to shun violence and not join Maoist ranks for securing their rights.

Baba Sahib has given us the Constitution. He ensured protection of your rights... It is the duty of the government to take care of your rights. You need not pick up weapons...ruin your lives, he told the gathering.

The awakening among poor and backward sections about their rights and aspirations was due to Ambedkar.

Son of a poor mother like me hails from a very backward section of society and could become the prime minister due to Babasaheb Ambedkar, he said.

Ambedkar was highly educated and could have easily lived in any developed country but he returned to India and dedicated his life to the welfare and uplift of Dalits, Modi said.

It is because of Ambedkar that today Dalits have the realisation of their rights and aspirations to live a dignified life and the government is working to fulfil their wishes and aspirations. he said.

Modi urged parents not to hand over their children to Maoist leaders who, he said, kept themselves safe but let the locals die.

I want to say to the parents of these young kids who have chosen the path of violence that not a single leader among them (Maosits ) are born in your area or native to your area and they never die Why have you given them the right to kill your kids? he said.

Bijapur is part of the Bastar region, which has seven districts, where Maoists have a huge presence. On April 9, two jawans were killed in an attack by Maoists who targeted their vehicle with an explosive device.

Modi also launched the first phase of Ayushman Bharat, inaugurating a health centre as part of his governments ambitious healthcare scheme.

The government would open 150,000 health and wellness centre by 2022, which would be equipped to treat a host of ailments, including diabetes, cancer and age-related illnesses.

Of these, 15,000 sub-centres or wellness centres would be ready in 2018-19 and headed by a trained healthcare provider, he said.

Announced in this years budget, Ayushman Bharat has two major components -- comprehensive primary healthcare and the national health insurance scheme (NHPS), which offers insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to every vulnerable family. The effort, which is also referred to as Modicare, is expected to benefit more than 100 million families and 500 million people.

The Prime Minister said his government was working with new ideas for the development of 115 backward districts of the country as he asked each district to come up with its own model of development according to resources available.

He said 115 backward districts of the country would be given priority in the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

The Gram Swaraj Yojana that was also launched during the day would focus on welfare of the poor, Dalits, tribals, women and the backward sections of society.

He also launched Van Dhan scheme which was announced in the budget. Under it, Van Vikas Kendras would be established to ensure better marketing and value addition to minor forest produce to benefit forest dwellers.

Modis visit to the tribal district of Bijapur was the first by a prime minister in the last three decades and his fourth to Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are due later this year.

The inauguration programme was chaired by Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh while union health minister JP Nadda was the chief guest.

(With agency inputs)Meerut, which witnessed widespread protests by Dalits during the nationwide protests on April 2, is on high alert on Saturday the 127th birth anniversary of Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar .

The security measures taken include blocking of internet services from 9 pm on Friday to 8 pm on Saturday, an official at the district magistrates office said.

The administration has identified 21 spots in Meerut city and 35 in rural areas as hyper-sensitive . The district has been divided into 22 sectors (12 in urban and 10 in rural areas) and each sector is under a circle officer and a magistrate who have local police and Rapid Action Force to assist them. The forces will trail the processions that will be taken out in the different parts of the district on Ambedkar Jayanti , the official said.

The west UP region, including Meerut, was rocked by violent protest during a Bharat bandh called by Dalit outfits on April 2 against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST atrocities act. One person each died in the clashes in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar . A police post was also set on fire in Shobhapur.

In the tension that followed , a Bahujan Samaj Partys (BSP) Dalit worker was shot dead in Shobhapur village on April 4 .

The village has decide not observe any event on Ambedkar Jayanti as a mark of protest over the BSP workers murder.

.As the Bakerwals make their way to the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir with their belongings, she trudges along burdened by the weight of her eight-year-old daughters death.

She was so beautiful and intelligent. I wanted her to be a doctor when she grew up, the biological mother of the girl reminisces.

The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.

My only wish is the culprits should be hanged for the heinous crime, so that no other family has to go through it, she says.

The girl was adopted by the womans brother and his wife in Rasana hamlet of Kathua district when she was one year old.

Still in shock, she blames herself for leaving her daughter at brothers house.

Why was she killed? She was grazing cattle and taking care of horses. She was eight years old. Why did they kill her in such a brutal way. They should be given death sentence, she says.

The girls father said she was at maternal uncles home in Rasana.

The killers should be given death penalty. We do not need a CBI probe, we have faith in investigation by the Crime Branch, he says.

Jammu has been on tenterhooks since the brutal rape and killing of the girl belonging to the nomadic Muslim Bakerwal community.

Her body was found in Rasana forest on January 17, a week after she went missing while grazing horses in the forest area.

The couple along with their two kids and cattle left their hamlet in Samba and in Round-Domail in Udhampur district as part of their annual trek to Sanasar mountainous belt.

The mother says that earlier they had good relations with Hindus and lived in harmony with them.

But after this incident, the relations have soured and we are fearful. We only want justice for her. She was our dear child. She was beautiful and we loved her, she says.

They wanted take her back, teach her and make her a doctor, the mother said, adding that she was very intelligent.

The prime minister had said Beti Padavo Beti Bachavo but how are they teaching and saving girls like this, her adoptive father asks.

The ministers are supporting the rape accused, saying that they are innocent, but they are wrong, he says.

The biological father says the world knows that their daughter, who did not know about the difference between Hindus and Muslims, was wronged and murdered in most barbaric manner.

The world and entire India knows it. They are supporting them. I do not say she was our only child, she was everyones child. The incident should not be looked at through the religious lens, he said.

On January 23, the government had handed over the case to the Crime Branch of the state police which formed a special investigation team and arrested eight people including two Special Police Officers (SPOs) and a head constable.

The police have arrested eight people in the case, but the Bar Association has opposed the action, alleging targeting of minority Dogras.

(This story has not been modified from its original version.)The nondescript temple at the end of a narrow forested road in Kathuas Rasana village has been in focus ever since an eight-year-old girl was allegedly bound, sedated and gang raped inside the structure three months ago.

But not many know that Hindu residents of this village also worship a tree dedicated to a pir baba (Sufi saint). This tree shrine stands next to the two-decade-old temple. The Muslim nomad residents, if at all, venture near the temple only in pursuit of their cattle.

The trunk of this tree shrine is wrapped with sacred threads and green cloth bearing prints of 786 and crescent and star (symbols considered holy in Islam). We have been praying to pir baba for nearly a decade and also light a lamp under the tree during every visit, said Shrishta Devi, a resident of Rasana village.

The 300 sq ft temple hall is bare, with just some posters of Hindu deities on its inner walls and a devsthan (holy place) for the clan deities of local Hindus at one end.

According to the police charge sheet, the Bakarwal girl was confined under an iron table in a corner of the temple before she was killed.

The temple hall has doors on three sides and the police allege that its keys were in the custody of the family accused of committing the crime. Three members of this family -- including a 62-year-old retired revenue department official, his son and 15-year-old nephew -- have been held for the crime.

Villagers draw attention to the daily routine at the temple while dismissing the charges filed by the Jammu and Kashmir Polices crime branch. I can believe anything but the claim that the girl was hidden inside the temple. I visited the temple every morning and evening during that week, claimed Beena Devi.

Several village women claimed they visited the temple every day during the week in question while their children played around there.

The killers would be fools to hide a girl in there. At least a dozen devotees visit the temple every morning and evening, said Anjana Sharma. For us, the temple is like Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. No one would dare defy our deity by committing such a crime there, Sharma added.

The villagers claimed the three sets of keys to the temple are in the custody of different families.

However, a crime branch officer, familiar with the case but not wanting to be named, said duplicate keys were made after the crime came to light. The villagers also claimed that the temple sees scores of devotees every Sunday when a bhandara (feast) is organised. They said they had gathered there on January 13 and 14 to celebrate Lohri and Makarsankranti.

But the crime branch officer claimed that the alleged mastermind ensured the feast and the devotees were confined to the outdoors. Since the girl was heavily sedated, it was easy to conceal her under the table. They covered her using plastic mats and rugs, alleged the officer. The girls body was found on January 17 in the jungle, barely 100 metres from the temple.Two separate incidents of rape in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh have triggered a spate of citizen-led protests across the country.

The rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, the rape of a teenager in Unnao and the custodial death of her father have led to people from different social and economic backgrounds taking to the streets demanding strict action against the perpetrators. The stir is reminiscent of another peoples movement that had rocked the country almost six years ago following the gang rape and the subsequent death of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi.

What happened

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was returning home with a friend in a chartered bus after watching a movie in a South Delhi mall.

Apart from the duo, there were only six others on the bus, including the driver. As the bus began moving, the culprits started taunting the victim and her friend. Following an altercation with the bus staff, the womans friend was beaten up and she was brutally raped and tortured. Her internal organs were damaged using an iron rod. The culprits later threw both the woman and her friend out of the moving bus late at night. Passersby informed the police, which rushed the two to the Safdarjung Hospital.

The woman was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment 11 days after the assault but succumbed to her injuries two days later.

The crime had triggered massive public outrage and demand for justice.

Context

Spontaneous protests broke out across the country as the horror of the December 2016 gang rape unfolded. The victim was given the moniker Nirbhaya, meaning the brave one for the way she fought the rapists before being incapacitated. A group of college students marched to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to meet the then President Pranab Mukherjee to demand a strong law to deal with women harassment. The government was eventually forced to take note. A three-member panel headed by retired CJI JS Verma was set up to frame a revamped, strong anti-rape law. The committees report formed the basis for the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act in 2013.

This time also the mounting public pressure has prompted the government to act, leading to the arrest of the BJP MLA accused of raping the Unnao teen and the ouster of two BJP ministers, who had supported the Kathua rape accused, from the J&K cabinet.

On Friday, the Centre said it was planning to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act, 2012 and seek death penalty for the rape of children below the age of 12 years.

Significance

In a country where crimes against women have increased rapidly in the last decade, the brutality of the December 16 incident stood out. Public protests had taken place earlier too, but the collective outrage and demand for justice that broke out after the Delhi gang rape was unparalleled.

The marches, candle light protests and public rallies organised by the civil society forced the government to come up with a slew of reforms across sectors to bolster women safety. Ensuring that there was no delay in bringing out the revamped laws, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of the time took just four months to change the antiquated rape laws by bringing the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act in April 2013, which provides for life sentence and death penalty for gang rape.

The central government also announced a special Rs 1,000 crore corpus to support the initiatives to increase the security of women. Six fast-track courts were set up to handle rape cases.

The events that followed the December 16 incident set the tempo for similar spontaneous, citizen-led protests that hold the government accountable.Kotak Mahindra Bank on Friday sacked an employee in Kerala for his Facebook hateful rant post condoning the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua district in January.

Vishnu Nandukumar, an assistant manager working with the Kotak Mahindra Bank in Kochi,who triggered a social media furore over his alleged comments against the Kathua rape victim, was sacked the same day for non-performance.

When his Facebook comment saying that it is better that shes killed now otherwise she would have been a bomb tomorrow snowballed into a massive controversy, he tried to wriggle out by deleting his Facebook page, but his employer was not amused.

The bank posted action against him both on Facebook and Twitter.

Soon after Nandakumar, who claimed to be a relative of BJP state general secretary AN Radhakrishnan, posted the message, netizens took to social media with a hashtag campaign #dismiss_your_manager.

Many people have sought strict action against him and the cyber police in Kochi said they will take action after obtaining all the details. A senior police officer said Facebook will be approached to retrieve the original message.

BJP leader A N Radhakrishnan was not available for his comments.

Many commended the bank for taking action against him. Thank you @Kotak Bank Ltd for acting against the pervert, said a comment posted by one Tanvir Ahmed.

The girl from the nomadic Bakerwal community disappeared near her house in Kathua on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area.

She was allegedly raped by six men who had held her in captivity in a village temple for a week in January. The victim was drugged, raped repeatedly before being bludgeoned to death.

The police in its charge sheet has said that the rape and abduction was allegedly masterminded by a 62-year-old retired revenue department official Sanji Ram to drive away the Bakerwal community from Kathua.The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Saturday sought an explanation from senior party leader KV Thomas after news reports spoke of him praising Prime Minister Narendra Modis administration. Thomas said he was misquoted.

Former Union minister Thomas represents the Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency. According to reports, Thomas hailed the Prime Minister while speaking at the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Kerala Management Association there on Friday.

The reports quoted Thomas as saying: Modi is a good administrator who is able to convince others of his actions. The reports said that Thomas felt more comfortable dealing with Modi than the leaders in his own party.

KPCC chief MM Hassans letter to Thomas was circulated to the media wherein he asked the latter to explain if he ever made such a remark.

Modi is one who is going forward with anti-people policies and programmes and also supports atrocities and violence. We want to know if you (Thomas) made remarks praising Modi, wrote Hassan to Thomas.

Thomas on Saturday said he was misquoted. He said speaking to the management students all he wanted to put across was -- Despite making a lot of mistakes in his administration, Modi has been able to manage it by propagating lies.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala told the media that he spoke to Thomas about his comments and the latter explained that he never praised Modi.

Thomas was the Ernakulam MP from 1984 to 1996. He became a legislator in 2001 and was part of then chief minister AK Antony cabinet.

Thomas has always been considered close to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

(This story has not been modified from its original version.)The Kerala police have begun investigation into the death of Gopinath Pillai, father of Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh who was shot dead in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, in a road accident.

Seventy-eight-year-old Pillai, who hailed from Charummodu in the district, was involved in an accident on April 11 when he was on his way to Kochi for medical treatment. He died on Friday.

Police said they have seized three vehicles involved in the mishap.

The probe was only to rule out any foul play in the mishap as some suspicions had been raised by some quarters.

However, investigation so far has revealed that it was an accident.

A case under 304A (causing death by negligence) has been registered, they said.

Pillais younger brother, who was driving the car, has also said the family was not suspecting any foul play and it was an accident.

Javed Sheikh was among the four alleged terrorists shot dead on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The others gunned down were 19-year-old college girl Ishrat Jahan from Mumbra in Maharashtra, Zeeshan Johar and Amzad Rana.

The police termed them Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives allegedly on a mission to kill then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday said it has solved the Kotkhai rape and murder case with the arrest of a person, who was not among the six accused held last year by the local police.

We have arrested one local in connection with the Gudiya rape and murder case, CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said and added that the accused was taken to Delhi for further interrogation.

The probe agency, however, refused to divulge the identity of the accused, stating that the probe into the case was still underway and was being monitored by Himachal high court.

The accused was zeroed-in on with the help of forensic analysis of the crime spot. Investigators were looking for him for quite some time. Finally, he was located and arrested last (Friday) night. He was produced before the court, which has remanded him to CBIs custody till April 25, a CBI official familiar with the matter said.

The official said the accused had a prior criminal history and had gone missing after committing the crime.

The CBI had taken up the case on July 22 last and was recently pulled up by the Himachal high court for the delay in completing the probe.

The probe agency had collected around 150 blood samples of locals as part of its investigation and informed the court on March 29 that it was close to cracking the case.

The case pertains to the rape and murder of a Class 10 girl whose body was recovered from Halaila forest in Kotkhai on July 6, two days after she was reported missing. A special investigation team (SIT) headed by the then inspector general (IG) southern range S Zahur Zaidi was setup to probe the case.

On July 12, the SIT had arrested six people and announced that the case had been solved. However, locals staged violent protests saying that the real culprits had not been arrested. The stir prompted the state government to hand over the case to the CBI. However, before the CBI could start the investigation, an accused Suraj (a Nepalese) died in the police custody, triggering more protests.

On August 29, the CBI arrested IG Zaidi and seven other policemen in the custodial death case. The then Shimla superintended of police DW Negi was arrested on September 16 in the same case.

In December of last year, the CBI had announced a reward of10 lakh for providing credible information about the accused.

The remaining five people who were arrested by Himachal Police initially are currently out on bail.President Ram Nath Kovind appealed for dialogue, compassion and ahimsa (non-violence) while solving disputes, saying this was the way shown by Dalit icon and architect of the Constitution Dr BR Ambedkar.

Kovind was addressing a gathering in Mhow, Ambedkars birthplace, on the Dalit icons 128th birth anniversary.

The Presidents comments on peaceful resolution of conflicts come in the backdrop of the perception of Dalit discontent in general and the Bharat Bandh called by Dalit groups on April 2. The violence claimed eight lives in the state.

Kovind said, Babasaheb believed that everyone was our own people so we should solve our problems peacefully, especially since the country became independent. The President emphasised that while fighting for the welfare of weaker sections, Ambedkars path was non-violent. He recalled his final speech in the Constituent Assembly, hinting at recent protests,

Dr Ambedkar said now that we have constitutional methods of expressing opposition, we should avoid disruptive mechanisms. Stressing that Ambedkar was against any kind of divisive forces, the President said, He always said he was an Indian first, the second and also the third time. He did not want people to identify themselves by caste or religion.

A firm believer of Gautam Buddhas teachings, Ambedkars life was an inspiration for everybody, Kovind said. The way he struggled against prejudice to become perhaps the most educated minister, in terms of the number of degrees he held, when he became law minister in the Nehru cabinet, shows his focus in life. Referring to the far-reaching decisions taken by Ambedkar, especially for women and the poor, Kovind said it was Ambedkar who pushed for the rights of women in property and universal suffrage among other progressive legislations.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar, accused of raping a teenager last year, was sent to police custody for seven days by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Saturday, a day after he was arrested by the investigating agency.

The police remand, granted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, will continue till 10 am on April 21. The lawmaker from Bangarmau in Unnao district has also been charged under Sections 363 and 366 (kidnapping of a minor girl), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Additional chief judicial magistrate of the CBI court Sunil Kumar also approved judicial remand of the accused from April 21 until April 28.

Read | CBI arrests woman who allegedly lured Unnao rape victim to meet MLA Sengar

As he was produced before the court around 4pm, Sengar claimed he was innocent and reposed faith in the judiciary and God.

The MLAs counsel Satyendra Singh did not oppose the CBIs remand plea, saying, We are willing to cooperate in the investigation.

The CBI on Saturday also took into custody Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly took the victim to the MLA on the day of the crime in June last year.

The victims mother, in her complaint to the UP Police, which is now part of the CBIs first information report ( FIR), alleged that while the MLA was raping her daughter, Singh stood guard outside.

Medical tests done

Earlier in the day, the medical examination of the 17-year-old rape victim was conducted at the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Lucknow amid tight security.

A panel of doctors conducted the test for about three hours after a CBI team brought her from Unnao around 11.45am.

Gynaecological examination was conducted apart from general check-up and X-ray was also done to determine her age, said a senior doctor of the hospital.

At least a dozen of policemen were seen guarding the hospitals entrance and nearby areas as the victim was taken inside the examination room flanked by her sister-in-law and a woman constable, who accompanied her from Unnao.

The girls family had earlier said they feared for their lives after her father died in police custody on Monday. He was allegedly fatally assaulted by the MLAs brother, and arrested on charges that he possessed an unlicensed firearm.

Political attack

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav accused states director general of police (DGP) and principal secretary (home) of shielding the accused MLA. He also demanded imposition of Presidents Rule in the state.

The entire country has seen how they (the officials) were referring to him (the accused) as mananiya (respected) at a press conference, Yadav said.

He said the failure of the state government on the law-and-order front had been completely exposed by the Unnao incident, where a lawmaker of the ruling party was accused of rape and police were found protecting him.

In a statement earlier, the SP chief demanded a government job for the victim and a compensation of 50 lakh, a house and security cover for her family.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday led the country in paying tributes to the architect of the Indian Constitution Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary even as tension gripped several parts of India.

Pujya Babasaheb gave hope to lakhs of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society. We remain indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of our Constitution, Modi tweeted. (Live updates)

President Ram Nath Kovind greeted the nation and tweeted: Homage to Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. An icon of our nation, Dr Ambedkar was a multifaceted personality who waged a life-long struggle for a modern India free of caste and other prejudices, ensuring equal rights to women and for the disadvantaged.

BJP president Amit Shah paid tribute to Ambedkar at the party office in Delhi. His Congress counterpart Rahul Gandhi tweeted, His life and thoughts about equality, humanity, brotherhood, social justice give us inspiration to carry on the struggle.

But amid an undercurrent of anger in the community and allegations that the government was sidelining Dalits, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the BJPs overdrive to cultivate Dalits with the help of optics wont cut.

I want to tell Modi ji and his government that commemorating places related to Babasahebs life and inaugurating schemes in his name, will in no way lead to development of Dalits, Mayawati said.

In Ahmedabad, five men including members of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, were detained when they tried to protest garlanding of Ambedkars statue at Sarngpur in Ahmedabad by BJP MP Kirit Solanki.

Alleging that BJP is anti-dalit, convener of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani had given call to prevent BJP members from paying tribute to Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. But events led by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar and BJP president Jitu Vaghani in Surat did not see any protest.

In western Uttar Pradesh, Meerut, which witnessed widespread protests by Dalits during the nationwide protests on April 2, is on high alert. The security measures taken include blocking of internet services from 9 pm on Friday to 8 pm on Saturday, an official at the district magistrates office said.

Punjabs Phagwara was tense after a communal clash broke out between a Dalit and a Hindu outfit over renaming of a traffic intersection in a bid to pay tribute to Ambedkar late Friday night.

Outside the country, Ambedkars birth anniversary became a rallying point at the UN where a group of Sikhs held a protest against atrocities against minorities and Dalits in India.

(With agency inputs)A group of Sikhs held a protest against atrocities against minorities and Dalits in India during BR Ambedkars birth anniversary celebrations at the United Nations (UN).

About 25 Sikhs, some wearing black turbans and others black bands, held up posters and silently turned their backs on Indias Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin as he spoke on Friday.

Unperturbed, Akbaruddin continued with his speech and no action was taken inside the conference room against the protesters.

The president of the Youth Akali Dal (Amritsar) US, Amandeep Singh told IANS that the group wanted to expose the hypocrisy of the Indian government celebrating Ambedkars birthday before the world while his ideals were violated in India by the atrocities against Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and Dalits.

He said the Golden Temple was violated and thousands of Sikhs have been killed then and later during riots but no action has been taken against many important persons responsible for the killings.

Singh said the protest was held on behalf of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).

As the protesters filed outside the conference room, they were stopped by security personnel, who confiscated their posters and all the papers they had and let them go with a warning that such activities were not allowed inside the UN.

Several security personnel, including emergency services officers in black uniforms, rushed to the conference room entrance but only a couple of them entered the room unobtrusively to keep watch.One person was killed and two others were injured after being hit by a 10-metre-long piece of railway track inside a compartment of a train passing through Bihars Lakhisarai district on Saturday, the Railway officials said.

The Railways have not ruled out a sabotage and have ordered an inquiry into the incident which took place at about 3:30 am, shortly after the Gorakhpur-bound Maurya Express had crossed Bansipur station, they said.

A video footage shows a 10-metre-long piece of railway track flowing inside a general compartment. Three persons were struck by the huge piece of metal, killing one while the remaining two have been referred to the PMCH hospital in Patna, East Central Railway Chief PRO Rajesh Kumar told PTI.

It is an unusual incident and we cannot rule out the possibility of a sabotage. The incident has taken place in an area that has been hit by insurgency. Moreover, it is very unusual for a piece of metal, weighing about 600 kg, to fly two metres above the ground level, he said.

Chief Safety Commissioner, ECR, P K Acharya will file a report on the incident on the basis of which further course of action will be decided, the PRO said.

Normal rail traffic has been restored on the Kiul-Jhajha section which was initially suspended for an hour as a precautionary measure.

Senior railway officials, along with the police, are camping at the site of the incident for investigations, the CPRO said.Over 100 militants of Hmar Peoples Convention-Democratic (HPC-D), Mizorams last active rebel outfit, surrendered and laid down arms on Friday at an official function near the state capital Aizawl.

The home coming ceremony of the rebels including its leaders and cadres at the Central Training Institute, Sesawng, 39 km from Aizawl, was attended by Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla and several senior dignitaries.

The surrender and laying down of arms, which follows the signing of a peace agreement on April 2 between HPC-D and the state government is expected to bring lasting peace to the northeastern state.

A total of 102 armed cadres of HPC-D and 12 civilian members of the outfit took part in Fridays ceremony, said senior Congress MLA Lalrinmawia Ralte, who was the chief government negotiator in the peace talks.

The surrendered militants, clad in olive green outfits, also laid down 44 sophisticated weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

According to the peace deal, the Sinlung Hills Development Council (SHDC) in Mizoram would be renamed as Sinlung Hills Council by an Act of the state legislature. The new council would have administrative autonomy.

The agreement stipulates the state government would grant amnesty to HPC-D cadres who have criminal cases pending against them and also take steps to provide relief and rehabilitation to surrendered militants.

The founder of the group - Lalhmingthanga Sanate  who heads another faction is in jail. Mizoram government says the faction isnt strong enough to disrupt peace.

Mizoram is a small state and cant afford creation of another district as demanded by Lalhmingthangs faction. They are a small gang and isnt that significant, Mizoram home minister R Lalzirliana had said at the signing of the peace accord.

According to the 2011 census, the Hmar population in Mizoram is 29,587. Most of them are concentrated in the north and northeast part of the state. The total population of the state is 10.91 lakh.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a stopover in Berlin on April 20 after concluding his visits to Sweden and the United Kingdom, the External Affairs Ministry said on Saturday.

It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Merkel began her fourth term as German chancellor on March 14.

The ministry said Modi will make the stopover in Berlin following a suggestion by Merkel.

At the suggestion of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be making a brief stopover in Berlin on 20 April after completing his visits to Sweden and the United Kingdom. During his visit, PM will meet Chancellor Merkel and the two leaders will exchange views on a number of bilateral, regional and global issues, it said.

It said the visit demonstrates the commitment by the two countries to maintain the momentum of high level exchanges.

Modi will begin a five-day visit to Sweden and the UK from April 16 with an aim to boost bilateral cooperation in key areas, including trade and investment.

In the UK, the prime minister will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, besides exploring ways to further deepen ties between the two countries, the ministry said.

In Sweden, Modi will attend the India-Nordic Summit. The summit is being co-hosted by India and Sweden.

Prime Ministers of all Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden - will attend the summit.

Modi will first travel to Sweden on a two-day visit from April 16-17. On the second leg of his visit, he will travel to the UK.

(This story has not been modified from its original version.)On a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the country in paying tributes to the architect of the Indian Constitution Dr BR Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary, tension prevailed in several parts of the country although no incidents of violence were reported.

State governments of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh imposed prohibitory orders in places that had witnessed violence during the Bharat Bandh protest by Dalits against the Supreme Court order introducing a mechanism to register cases under the SC/ST Atrocities Act. In some regions, internet was also suspended anticipating violence.

In western Uttar Pradesh, Meerut, which witnessed widespread protests by Dalits during the April 2 protests, was on high alert. The security measures taken include blocking of internet services from 9 pm on Friday to 8 pm on Saturday, an official at the district magistrates office said.

A person had died in Meerut, another in the nearby Muzaffarnagar in the April 2 nationwide Dalit agitation. A Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) worker was shot dead in Shobhapur village on April 4 for reportedly participating in the Dalit agitation. The Dalit-dominated Shobhapur village, where a police post was burnt on April 2, did not hold any event on Ambedkar Jayanti as a mark of protest over the BSP workers murder.

The administration has identified a total of 21 spots in Meerut city as hyper-sensitive and 35 in rural areas. The district has been divided into 22 sectors (12 in urban and 10 in rural areas) and each sector is under a circle officer and a magistrate who have local police and Rapid Action Force ready with them. The forces will trail the processions that will be taken out in the different parts of the district on Ambedkar Jayanti on Saturday, the official said.

In Ahmedabad, five men, including members of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM), were detained when they tried to protest garlanding of Ambedkars statue at Sarngpur in Ahmedabad by BJP MP Kirit Solanki.

Alleging that BJP is anti-Dalit, convener of the Manch and Vadgam legislator Jignesh Mevani had given call to prevent BJP members from paying tributes to Ambedkar on his birth anniversary.

While events led by chief minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar and BJP president Jitu Vaghani in Surat did not see any protest, Subodh Parma and other five supporters of Mevani were detained from Sarngpur. Police said they were detained from preventing the BJP MP from garlanding the statue of Ambedkar.

In Vadodara, members of Dalit community cleansed BR Ambedkars statue after Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes on his 127th birth anniversary.

Earlier, Dalits led by Thakor Solanki, leader of a local union of Dalits, raised slogans against Gandhi as police prevented them from garlanding the statue. We told the police that since we had gathered there much before the BJP leaders came, it was our right to pay tributes first, Solanki said.

After Gandhi and other leaders garlanded the statue and left, the members of the community washed the statue with milk and water, saying the BJP leaders presence had polluted the atmosphere.

In Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior-Bhind region, where eight persons died in violent April 2 protests, the administration deployed additional police force and prohibited assembly of four or more people to prevent any untoward incident.

Punjabs Phagwara was tense after a communal clash broke out between a Dalit and a Hindu outfit over renaming of a traffic intersection in a bid to pay tribute to Ambedkar late Friday night. Four persons were injured in the clash forcing the administration to suspend internet connection in four districts of the state  Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar.

The situation was said to be under control as authorities imposed prohibitory conditions and deployed additional police force. Punjab has highest proportion of Dalit population in the country.

Outside the country, Ambedkars birth anniversary became a rallying point at the UN where a group of Sikhs held a protest against the atrocities against minorities and Dalits in India.

In the morning, Prime Minister Modi tweeted: Pujya Babasaheb gave hope to lakhs of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society. We remain indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of our Constitution.

President Ram Nath Kovind greeted the nation and tweeted: Homage to Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. An icon of our nation, Dr Ambedkar was a multifaceted personality who waged a life-long struggle for a modern India free of caste and other prejudices, ensuring equal rights to women and for the disadvantaged.

But amid an undercurrent of anger in the community and allegations that the government was sidelining Dalits, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the BJPs overdrive to cultivate Dalits with the help of optics wont cut.

I want to tell Modiji and his government that commemorating places related to Babasahebs life and inaugurating schemes in his name, will in no way lead to development of Dalits, she said.

(With inputs from agencies)Congress president Rahul Gandhi said India wants to know when its daughters will get justice as he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for breaking his long silence on the Kathua and Unnao rape cases.

Gandhis tweet came soon after Modi said at an event in Delhi he wants to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared and justice will be delivered to its daughters, a statement seen as a reference to the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl in UPs Unnao and of an 8-year-old girl in J&Ks Kathua.

Earlier on Friday, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Modi has done too little, too late over the two rape cases, but he said his party hoped the prime minister would now initiate tangible steps to provide justice to the victims.

Dear Prime Minister,



Thank you for breaking your long silence.



You said "our daughters will get justice".



India wants to know: when?#SpeakUp  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 13, 2018

Singhvi said the two incidents cannot be termed normal cases and these cases have shamed the nation. He also accused the BJP of viewing the cases through the prism of religion and demanded the sacking of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

We are very thankful to the prime minister that he has spoken at least, even if he spoke after three months of Kathua and after weeks of Unnao and even if he has spoken at the beck and call of opposition parties like us.

But at least he has spoken. I wish he will now convert his words to deeds. We want him to take some serious action, Singhvi added.

I wish he will now convert his words into deeds... We want that the prime minister should initiate some steps. What matters is deeds count, words do not, he told reporters.

Mere slogans and jumlas will neither prevent nor reduce Unnaos and Kathuas, he said.

The Congress reaction also came after several BJP leaders hit out at the opposition parties for shedding crocodile tears on the issue of safety of women.

In the Kathua case, the rape victim had disappeared from near her house on January 10. A week later, her body was found in the same area.

A Special Investigation Team of Crime Branch, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable and a sub-inspector, who were charged with destroying evidence.

In the Unnao case, a BJP lawmaker has been booked on various charges, including rape. Kuldeep Singh Sengar, MLA from Bangarmau constituency, was arrested by the CBI on Friday.

Singhvi also alleged that the mentality and approach of the government, the BJP, the RSS and Modi was anti-Dalit.

The Congress leader said the BJP can inaugurate as many memorials as they like, but the fact is that they are reducing sub-plans, financial allocations.

You are robbing them of their scholarships, you are participating in conspiracies to dilute their reservations and then you are shedding crocodile tears in the name of Dalits, he said.

On the Prime Minister saying Congress didnt give Babasaheb Ambedkar due respect and also didnt confer Bharat Ratna on him, Singhvi said: Any attempt to rewrite, reinvent and erase history will not work.

Ambedkar was part of Congress movement. He had healthy positive differences of opinion on policy matters. But he was a part of the freedom movement with the Congress. He was a minister in Nehrus cabinet. He was respected person. No one has done more in the name of Babasaheb and the Dalits then Congress has, he said.

Do you know about RSS views on Baba Saheb and the Dalits, their attitude towards reservation. They even made fun of Baba Saheb. Now, they are trying to turn over a new leaf and become crusaders for Dalits.

He criticised BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi for defending two Jammu and Kashmir ministers, who had joined a rally against the police probe in the Kathua case.

I strongly condemn the party, which sees even rape on religious and class lines. The person, the party and the government that look at rape through the prism of class and religion have to be criticised, he said.

On Twitter, the Congress said: BJPs MP Meenakshi Lekhis insensitive remark is an insult to Indian citizens standing up for their rights. Her statement reflects her partys regressive ideology. She must take back her words and apologise immediately.

Singhvi demanded the sacking of Jammu and Kashmir Forest Minister Lal Singh and Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga, who he alleged instigated the protests in Jammu in support of the accused.The 127th birthday celebrations of Bhimrao Ambedkar on Saturday set the stage for a fight for Dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh.

Political parties tried to outdo each other to woo Dalit voters on the occasion.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP state unit president offered floral tribute at the Ambedkar statue at Hazrataganj crossing in the heart of the city.

The chief minister also visited Ambedkar Mahasabha where he was conferred Dalit Mitra (friend of Dalits) award. Yogi highlighted the welfare and development schemes launched by his government for the Dalit.

In a bid to woo Dalits, the BJP organised yatras in all 75 districts of the state and held meetings in Dalit dominated villages.

Community feasts were also organised in the villages to spread the message of brotherhood among various castes, said a BJP leader.

Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav unveiled a bronze bust of Ambedkar at the partys state headquarters in Lucknow. The statue will be permanently installed at the Lohia auditorium which so far had only statues of six socialist leaders (SP icons).

Paying floral tribute, Akhilesh Yadav talked about Ambedkars contribution to Indias democracy and social justice.

All along the Vikramaditya Marg, where the SP office is located, the party replaced all of its other hoardings with those featuring Ambedkar.

The party also celebrated Ambedkar Jayanti at all the district headquarters. It distributed sweets too in some places.

Bahujan Samaj Party workers, led by zonal coordinator Naushad Ali and Akhilesh Ambedkar, gathered on the premises of the iconic Ambedkar Memorial in Lucknow to pay tribute to the Dalit icon.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati visited the Ambedkar memorial located near her official residence in New Delhi to pay obeisance to the Dalit icon. She attacked the central government and accused it of diluting the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.

The BSP leaders called on party supporters to ensure the partys victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.They cautioned party workers against a conspiracy by rival parties to divide the Dalit and backward voters. Under the BSP rule, several schemes for the welfare of the Dalits were launched but the BJP government put the schemes in cold storage after coming to power in UP in 2017, the Mayawati-led party claims.

The Congress leaders organised programmes in party offices in all the districts. Party leaders alleged that the BJP was using Ambedkar to try and grab Dalit votes but had done little for the uplift of the scheduled castes.

They called upon the party supporters to teach the BJP a lesson in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

A special programme organised at UPCC headquarters here on Saturday.

Senior Congress leader and former minister Ram Krishna Dwivedi said the Constitution written by Ambedkar gave rights to the weaker and deprived sections of society. Attempts were now being made to weaken the Constitution, he said. Former minister Ammar Rizvi said by following the path shown by Ambedkar, the country could face prevailing challenges on the political front.Social justice and empowerment minister Arun Chaturvedi on Saturday alleged the Congress is just misguiding people in the name of reservation and working to disrupt communal harmony in the country.

Congress never gave the respect and honour due to Dr BR Ambedkar. Even in the Constitution Committee, Congress did not nominate Baba Saheb and did not give partys ticket to contest election, he said, while addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Jaipur.

Chaturvedi said state Congress president Sachin Pilot does not like to celebrate birth anniversary of any great personalities with pomp and show except that of the Nehru family. The BJP, through Rajasthan Heritage Protection and Promotion Authority, is developing panorama of many great personalities and saints, who have given direction to the society, at various places. It has started with BJP government, whereas Congress never looked at the memorials of these great personalities, he added.

Calling Ambedkar as national personality, Chaturvedi said despite his childhood adversities, Ambedkar always gave message to strengthen social harmony, patriotism and India. Baba Saheb has played important role in uplifting the social status of women, took initiative to reduce the working hours to 8 hours from 12 hours, envisioned Reserve Bank of India and suggested adopting grid system for electricity distribution, he added.

He said the BJP at the centre has taken the work of developing places related to Ambedkar such as the place of birth and education, where he embraced Budhism, and the place of his death and cremation as Panch Teerth.Kota airport authorities have stopped all flights of a private carrier connecting the city as it failed to submit mandatory clearances.

Low cost carrier Supreme Airlines, which is the only airline operating from the city, had started flights between Kota and Delhi on April 11 using a nine-seat fixed-wing craft. It had also been operating flights connecting Jaipur and Kota since August last year.

Both the flights were stopped on Friday after the airline failed to submit mandatory clearances from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said Kota airport officer, Lokesh Nirwan.

Nirwan said the flights were started after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the company.

Flights connecting Jaipur were operating until now as the airline had obtained a non-schedule operation permit, but when the company started operating flights to Delhi, without obtaining the mandatory clearances from the AAI and the DGCA, AAI instructed Kota airport authorities to stop the flights, Nirwan said.

Supreme Airlines general manager, Bhagwat Prasad said it was not fair to stop the flights as Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje wanted air connectivity between smaller cities in the state to ensure people can avail low-cost air travel.

He also questioned the manner of stopping flight operations when the airline had been running flights between Jaipur and Kota since August last year.

It is unfair that the Kota airport authority has suddenly sent us a mail on Friday to stop operating the flights, he said.

Prasad noted that passengers had to de-board at Delhi after they had completed boarding formalities, following the cancellation of the flight by the Kota airport authority.

Prasad, however, said that Supreme Airlines is trying to obtain the mandatory clearances from the DGCA and the AAI to resume flights to Jaipur and Delhi as early as possible.The Kukrail gharial breeding centre in Lucknow alone houses around 300 gharials -- once considered to be the total population of the crocodilian in the country. And there are still eggs left for new ones to make an appearance.

We have 300 gharials with us. But this figure represents only what is left after hundreds were sent for breeding to different places over the years, said Ashok Prasad Sinha, conservator of forest endangered species project, Uttar Pradesh forest department.

The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a type of Asian crocodilian set apart by its long and thin snout. It is different from the crocodile or the alligator, which exist in bigger numbers. It is native to the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.

The jaws of the gharial are too thin and delicate to grab a larger prey. They keep lying in wait for fishes to swim by and then quickly catch them by whipping their heads sideways. They do not chew their prey, but swallow it.

Sinha said that the Kukrail centre is responsible for sending gharials for breeding to places like Madhya Pradesh and Chennai in Tamil Nadu. In all, 238 gharials were sent to Delhi, Rampur, Bijnor, Etah, Mathura and Kanpur. Thirty-one gharials were also sent to other countries, including Bhutan, the US (New York), Pakistan and China, he shared.

The latest batches of 116 gharials left the centre for the natural habitat of Kartania forest range on March 15 and 29. We are happy that even after sending so many, we still have 300 gharials left. According to wildlife statistics, gharials fall under the critically endangered category, said Sinha.

The gharial is threatened by the loss of its riverine habitat, depletion of fishes, and entanglement in fishing nets. As its population has sharply declined since the 1930s, it has been listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List -- a comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.Actor Divya Dutta is a busy person these days. The actor, who bagged National Award for best supporting role in Irada on Friday, has 11 films lined-up for release and is also writing her second book.

On winning the national award I am elated to get my first national award specially for a socially relevant film like Irada. There is always a right time for everything and my time is now. I am happy and grateful.

The actor is shooting in Lucknow for Anubhav Sinhas Abhi toh party shuru hui hai (ATPSHH) these days and spoke to HT City on the sidelines, I am getting some wonderful films. This year I have 11 films releasing one after another that too before September. Good work is coming my way and it happens very less that for one actor people write different characters. This (film) Industry has a tendency to typecast actors but then one has to overcome it. I am lucky to have the freedom to do a variety of roles. I feel blessed.

You are back in Lucknow once again?

I have come here so many times that it feels like home now. I have shot Monika, Lucknow Times, Babhmoshai Bandookbaaz, and now ATPSHH. I have made so many friends here. As for Lucknawi food..I am in love with it. For us the day starts with what (food) should we try today?

So tell us something about the film you are shooting?

Its one of the most hilarious films, which has 10-12 actors who all are fantastic in their own craft. They are the gems of this industry. This is going to be one the most fantastic script of its time and if I had not become a part of it then it would have been a loss for me.

Divya Dutta with Anubhav Sinha and Vinay Pathak in Lucknow.

You have done less of comedy films?

I just did Blackmail (starring Irrfan) which got a great response. I have done Welcome to Sajjanpur too but yes I have done less comedy films. Doing comic roles is a great relief considering the power-packed roles that are usually offered to me.

You do such different roles. How do you choose your scripts?

Its your heart, which tells what is right and what is wrong! If I get a good script to which my heart says yes then I take it up without any further thought. I got a lot of love for Babumoshai Bandookbaaz and Chalk & Duster, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, and Blackmail. I got good response from the industry, audience and critics. Its a great feeling with (Amitabh) Bachchanji, Naseer(uddin shah) saheb or Shabanaji (Azmi) praising my performance.

Last year you turned into an author. Whats next?

I am starting my next book, which will release in 2019. It will have short stories. I never thought that I will become an author. I wrote Me and Ma to celebrate a beautiful phase of my life with people. But, I had no idea that I will get such a response. It feels good that people not only connect with you as an actor but also as an author. Its a beautiful feeling to see your book on stands. In fact it was dream come true.

How about writing scripts?

The other day director Neeraj Pandey was suggesting me to write a screenplay next. But, I dont know. I have never planned my life. Right now I am enjoying writing books. I had written columns before and what lies in future I cant predict.Founders of social media platform ShareChat -- hailing from Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Ghaziabad -- have made it to the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2018 list. The list features young disruptors, innovators and entrepreneurs across Asia, all under the age of 30.

The Forbes website reads: Farid Ahsan, Bhanu Pratap Singh and Ankush Sachdeva met as students, and in 2015 they created ShareChat, an online local language-based social media platform.

All three are alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K).

Farid Ahsan, 25, of Lucknow, Bhanu Pratap Singh, 26, of Gorakhpur and Ankush Sachdeva, 24, of Ghaziabad developed the vernacular social networking application ShareChat as a technology led start-up based out of Bangalore.

According to information mentioned on the Forbes website, the youngsters aim was to share the social media experience with speakers of South Asian languages, Hindi and Punjabi, allowing them to make profile, upload content and establish followers.

Their app is used by eight million users monthly. Currently, they have raised $23.6 million from investors such as SAIF Partners and Xiaomi, reads the website.

Speaking on how their platform was designed to cater to the needs of the Indian internet users, Farid said, ShareChat is changing the way in which the next set of billion Indian users consume the internet through their multi-lingual user-generated content platform and cutting-edge technology infrastructure. It is the first social network that gathers geo-specific data on Indian content on a large scale and leverages a highly data-oriented approach to cater to the diverse needs of the Indian internet users.

Bhanu added, ShareChat app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and used in various regional languages. It allows users to create posts, follow people, consume multimedia content, interact with other people through comments and share things with various other communication platforms in an easy way.

Calling the application intuitive and convenient, Ankush said, ShareChat aims to optimise social media content for Indian users and become a unique problem solver for the mass vernacular audience in the country.

Backed by strategic investors, ShareChat has an established user base of almost 30 million users spread across the country and provides the platform in 14 languages including Hindi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Odia, Kannada, Assamese, Haryanvi, Rajasthani and Bhojpuri.In theory, it sounds perfect. You spot a bird in the wild (or on the windowsill of your concrete jungle), take a quick shot with your smartphone, and an app identifies the species in seconds with 90% accuracy.

For those whove used it, four-year-old Merlin Bird ID has revolutionised birdwatching. But the app, developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Caltech, using crowdsourced photographs, is perhaps better known for how academia, machine learning and crowdsourced data can collaborate towards conservation. In North America, where it was launched, its allowed ordinary folks to identify birds without bulky field guides or long-drawn-out Google searches. Among established birdwatching groups, its cut down endless debates on which bird was spotted. Naturalists the world over have been using the data to understand migratory patterns, habitat changes and other avian issues.

In January, the Cornell Lab announced plans to extend the app for birds in India  a decision that is as exciting as it is daunting. India ranks among the worlds 12 megadiversity nations, with 1,266 or 13% of the worlds bird species. But for Merlin to identify Indian birds, it needs more than 500 reference photos for every species. Local birders have been urged to contribute their pictures to build the database.

Some birds like the bright blue verditer flycatcher are easy enough  contributions have already crossed 750. Others like the blue-yellow Banasura Laughingthrush are so rare, there are only seven pictures uploaded.

Indias birdwatching community is divided over the use of tech-driven tools like bird-identification apps. Some say it will popularise the hobby. Others fear it will become a distraction, reducing the activity to almost a game. (Pramod Thakur / HT File Photo)

SPREADING WINGS

Mohit Aggarwal, 31, a bank executive who has lived in several cities and is now based in Mumbai, has contributed over 100 images, most of rare species. Ive focused on filling the gaps left by other contributors, says the birder.

He hopes the app will soothe the ruffled feathers of Indias birding community. A unique sighting usually causes controversy, he says. Older birdwatchers, whove been bird-spotting before digital cameras, tend to be dismissive, even disbelieving, of younger enthusiasts pictures, he says. Photos offer proof that a certain bird has been in an unlikely region. When a picture is up for identification, youre typically up against someones ego. Machine learning may be able to answer without bias.

For Albin Jacob, 36, a software engineer from Bengaluru, contributing more than 3,000 pictures was a breeze. Hes photographed more than 800 species across India and is a reviewer for the India portal of Ebird, Cornell Labs massive crowdsourced database of bird observations.

Im excited that the app will be available for India, he says.

SWOOPING IN

When it goes live next year, the Merlin app is likely to galvanise Indias changing birding community. Phone cameras, a surge in nature tourism, and online communities have fueled an interest in bird-spotting.

Public participation has improved data quality as there are more eyes trained on more habitats.

When I lived in Bangalore, my building complex was near the Madiwala Lake and Id photographed four white birds landing on the water, recalls Aravind AM, 36, a brand consultant in Chennai. They turned out to be slender-billed gulls, rarely found so far away from a coast. That record is on Ebird and will go to Merlin, the only record of them so far inland.

Many naturalists prefer old-school methods: binoculars, field notes, watching and learning to smartphones, fancy camera zooms and other aids. (Kunal Patil / HT File Photo)

HEED THE CALL

Birdwatching stands apart from other nature activities. Its part treasure hunt, part serendipity, says Aggarwal.

A single app, created with public input for the wider public can serve as an ever-evolving tool to track how bird populations have changed or moved with time. There are data sets that let you track where lesser-known species are being sighted, identify understudied birds and regions, and record surprises, he says. All of it is valuable information for research, and ultimately helping bird survive.

Not everyone is as excited about the app. Naturalist Sunjoy Monga, whose books include the 2017 edition of Birds of the Mumbai Region, says he prefers old-school methods: binoculars, field notes, watching and learning.

The app wont make you more observant. You could have a pair of binoculars with the ID app built in  its not going to make you a better birder, he says.

Pravin Subramanian, who organizes the India Bird Races, citywide contests for bird spotting, fears the app could reduce birdwatching to a mere game of photographing, identifying and naming species without a focus on their habits or ecosystems.

If you work on becoming familiar with a habitat, youll find you wont need an app, says Monga.

Subramanian is more poetic: Just dont miss the forest for the birds.Theres a new plant milk in town, and its started such a craze that coffee shops across America are struggling to keep up with demand. Its called oat milk, and baristas love its light, hearty flavour that lets the java beans take centre stage. As more consumers choose plant alternatives to dairy, its gotten so popular that just in the last month, some coffee shops were left without oat milk for days, even weeks. To meet demand, producer Oatly Inc. is working with its manufacturing partners to increase output by 50 percent by this summer, said Mike Messersmith, general manager for U.S. operations, which are based in New York.

Oat milk tastes the best of all the milk alternatives, said 22-year Micah Lindsey, who works as a barista at an Intelligentsia coffee shop in Chicagos Logan Square neighbourhood. It has a really creamy texture that mimics real dairy and works well for latte art, she said.

Plant-based beverages have been stealing market share from dairy for years, and the trend isnt showing signs of slowing. In 2018, U.S. retail sales of traditional milk are projected to drop 1.2 percent, while alternatives like oat and almond are expected to climb 3 percent, according to researcher Euromonitor. The switch has taken a toll on companies like Dean Foods Co., the largest U.S. dairy producer, which in February unveiled a $150-million plan for cost cutting amid sluggish sales.

Oats milk is gaining popularity as an alternative to dairy milk. (Getty Images/iStock photo)

Supply Shortage

Dollop Coffee Co., a Chicago chain, began carrying Oatly oat milk in October 2017. Demand is especially growing among customers who are switching from soy milk, said spokesman Nate Furstenau. In March, the shops ran out of oat milk for about two weeks, and the companys heard from its distributor that shortages could continue over the next month. Oatly arrived to the American market in September 2016 through Chicago-based company Intelligentsia, which has 11 U.S. coffee houses. Its now offered at more than 1,000 coffee shops nationwide and is moving onto retail shelves, Messersmith said. About 13 percent of Intelligentsia drinks are now made with oat milk, for which customers pay a 50-cent premium over dairy milk, according to James McLaughlin, the companys chief executive officer.

Swedish Milk

Malmo, Sweden-based Oatly started making its product two decades ago based on research from the nations Lund University. To make the beverage, the company mixes oats with water then adds a proprietary enzyme to break down starch and sweeten the pot. After that, loose shells from the oats are removed from the liquid base. There are no sugars or thickeners added. The dairy industry is lobbying regulators to enforce labeling laws that would stop plant-based beverages from using the word milk in branding. The National Milk Producers Federation point out that in Sweden, its called an oat drink. The very same packages sold in the U.S. with terms such as a oat milk or almond milk are not able to use dairy terms when sold overseas, said Chris Galen, spokesman for the group.

In the meantime, business is booming for plant-based beverage makers like Pacific Foods of Oregon, which is also looking to expand its production of oat milk, according to brand manager Kimberly Nieves. While the company has offered an oat product for 20 years, demand has really taken off recently amid the coffee-shop craze. We have seen a surge in demand for our oat products beyond what we were able to supply, Nieves said.

Takeover Speculation

As consumers drive big changes in the world of agriculture and food, traditional companies have been buying up natural food startups. Campbell Soup Co. last year bought Pacific Foods for $700 million. Oatly could become a takeover target, said Kenneth Shea, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, citing possible buyers such as PepsiCo Inc., which makes Quaker oats products. PepsiCo didnt respond to requests for comment on a possible deal. When asked about the possibility of a takeover, Messersmith said the company still needs to ramp up its production. We are at a very early stage, he said.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreDantewada has found its golden goose, except, its a chicken. An iridescent black, from eyes to wattles, with slate-grey feet and protein-rich black meat, they call it the Kadaknath or kariakukdi. And its changing lives in this impoverished and conflict-ridden region of Chhattisgarh.

The chicken sells for Rs 400 to Rs 900 a piece, at the farm level  against Rs 150 to Rs 300 for a regular chicken.

As part of a district-level initiative, women are being given Kadaknath chicks at a fraction of the cost, and with the money they are making from rearing and selling them, theyre rain-proofing their homes, paying for siblings to go to college and, in one case, buying a motorcycle.

The tale of how the Kadaknath came to their aid is part of a larger story of change in Dantewada that now encompasses a free wi-fi zone, e-rickshaws, an education zone, and the districts first BPO.

The Naxalite threat remains  the last attempted attack on CRPF officials was less than a month ago. We are not Naxalite-free, but we hope to be, says district collector Saurabh Kumar. It wont be an armed victory. We will achieve victory when villagers repose their faith in the administration. When they start believing that if they have a problem, they can approach the authorities and we will listen to them. That day, we will have won.

***

Champa Atami (above right), 24, had to drop out of school because her parents, both paddy farmers, couldnt afford it. With the money she is now earning raising Kadaknath chickens, her younger sister is set to graduate. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

What is the Kadaknath? Native to the Jhabua and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh, the Kadaknath is also found in adjoining areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Its meat is considered a delicacy for its gamey flavour, unusual appearance, aphrodisiac properties, and more recently for the fact that it is high in protein and low in fats, including cholesterol. Both MP and Chhattisgarh had been tussling over ownership; both applied for a Geographical Indication or GI tag. MPs application was recently accepted.

There are nearly 1,500 women raising Kadaknath in Dantewada, either individually or as part of the districts 160 self-help groups. The women receive 21-day-old chicks from the governments district-level Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK).

Each batch of 500 chicks needs a 450-sq-ft shed. They are fed three times a day, checked on regularly for any signs of illness. Its also become the norm to hang bamboo swings for them to play on.

In three months, the chicks generally reach the target weight of 1.5 kg and are sold either to local traders or to a company that has tied up with the district administration to buy the chickens in bulk. And then its time for the next round of chicks to arrive.

The district subsidises 90% of cost for the first batch of chicks, and 75% for the second batch. KVK helps with training and basic infrastructure like construction of the sheds and chicken feed.

Most of the birds go to markets in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. There is now demand growing in Delhi too, but its difficult for the birds to survive a journey of 16 hours. So there are plans for a slaughterhouse and cold storage in Dantewada.

The Kadaknath is part of a larger story of change in Dantewada. The district now has a free wi-fi zone, an education hub and a BPO, launched in January. Here, 300 younsgers work on data entry, earning Rs 8,000 per month. Hindi voice training is underway too. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Eventually, the subsidies will be phased out, the farmers encouraged to buy incubators (the Kadaknath does not hatch its own eggs) and the farming of the black chicken will, hopefully, take off in earnest.

Most of the women are aged 18 to 45; high-school dropouts, former farm labourers, widows and single parents.

Champa Atami, 24, is both a dropout and former labourer. I used to earn Rs 172 a day, on days when I could find work, she says. Since May, I earn a steady Rs 30,000 every three months.

A new tin roof glints on Atamis mud home. Where her parents  paddy farmers  couldnt afford her school fees, she is now saving up so her sister Ranjeeta, the youngest of four siblings, can graduate.

***

Where to dig in The market for Kadaknath is concentrated in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune, and its not on a lot of menus. In Delhi, it was one of Guppys winter special. Kadaknath eggs are being whipped into omelettes at Greater Kailash 1s Yellow Eye until the end of the month. In Mumbai, youll find it at Bandras Arth, all outlets of Indigo Deli and Toni Daa Dhaba along old Mumbai-Pune Highway. At Arth, Bird In A Nest (Rs 475 plus taxes; above left), stars Kadaknath cooked for four hours in a sandpit, flavoured with black sesame and served on purple yam idiyappam. Indigo Deli serves it as a slow-cooked Black Fowl and Root Vegetable Stew (Rs 950 plus taxes; above right). Hyderabads Ulavacharu serves it in two forms  as pulusu and vepudu (Rs 540 plus taxes each). The former is an Andhra-style curry-like stew; the latter is a fried chicken preparation.

In Kasoli village, a sparkling Hero Splendor stands in Jhunni Nethams courtyard. The 40-year-old mother of four has earned Rs 1.5 lakh over seven months, thrice as much as her husband, Sukalu, makes in a year from his millet farm.

The bike, bought last month, is their prized possession. I earn only once a year, Sukalu says proudly. Kadaknath grows fast and is ready for sale within three months. So we can now earn through four cycles a year. In the absence of public transport, we needed a bike to run errands and now we have one.

In Karli village, about 7 km away, Lachhan Dais family eat paneer twice a month, courtesy the clucking birds. With the money we earned from farming, we used to live on dal-rice and sometimes leafy greens from the forest, says the 40-something Dai, who is now helping support her two brothers and their five children.

Elsewhere, savings are accumulating in banks. Since October, weve earned Rs 30,000, says Asmati Arya, 33, head of a 10-member self-help group in Hiranar village. We plan to start a kirana store.

***

Dantewada district is divided into four blocks  Dantewada, Geedam, Katekalyan and Kuakonda. Together, they hold five towns, 14 iron ore mining reserves (of which three are active), and 229 villages with a combined population of 2.83 lakh.

Until the black chicken, the main source of income here was paddy cultivation, foraging for forest produce and poultry farming. This gave the villages a per capita income of Rs 26,000 (as of 2006-07), putting the district in the bottom 50 in India.

In 2015, the union government introduced District Mineral Foundations (DMF) in states affected by mining activity. Funds collected from mining companies as royalty went into the DMF to be used for development and welfare programmes. Dantewada receives Rs 70 crore annually under this scheme, since 2015.

With this money, collector Kumar identified gaps in the public sector and began allocating funds for projects. There was no public transport in Dantewada, so he offered e-rickshaws on subsidy to women who were willing to learn to ply them. Women now ferry locals about in 144 battery-charged autos in the district.

Women are also growing mushrooms and operating mini rice-mills at home.

Dantewadas agricultural productivity is about half the national average, says Kumar, an IAS officer who served as sub-divisional officer and assistant collector of Dantewada for two years before taking over as collector in 2016. Instead of trying to raise it, which we wouldnt be able to do anyway, we decided to differentiate the district on the basis of product. Thats how the exotic bird came to be introduced.

***

Also part of the change is public transport, in the form of e-rickshaws driven by women. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

The black fowl crossed over from Madhya Pradesh in 2013, when the Kanker KVK procured 300 chicks. MP had been rearing the breed, native to the states Jhabua and Dhar districts, since 1978.

In the early 19th century, Kadaknath was hunted as game, and for its aphrodisiac properties, says Delhi-based culinary historian Ashish Chopra. I tried it for the first time at a dinner hosted by the royal family of Panna, MP, in the early 1980s. Over the years, it became tough to find it, even in the forests of Madhya Pradesh.

The breeding project was MPs attempt to preserve the bird. When we set up the first Kadaknath poultry farm in Jhabua, we found barely 300 birds in the region. That was a wake-up call, says Bhagwan Manghnani, the departments additional deputy director.

Today, the state has nine poultry farms and produces 3 lakh birds a year. These are sold in markets locally and as far away as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Kadaknath reached Dantewadas KVK in 2015 and the birds were distributed for rearing last year.

When the birds lay eggs, the women bring them to us. We have a hatchery machine because the Kadaknath doesnt sit on its own eggs. Thats one reason its population was declining, says Narayan Sahu, senior scientist at KVK.

***

These initiatives are concentrated in certain parts of certain blocks, and a few centrally located villages. Real change will happen when they are expanded to the grassroot level, says tribal rights activist and local AAP leader Soni Sori.

Sadly, several parts of Dantewada district are still out of the reach of most of these initiatives. When we tried to set up self-help groups in the interiors of Katekalyan, Naxalites threatened to chop off our feet off, says Chhaya Ishwar, 25, of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission.

In the market area of the district headquarters, though, theres a free wi-fi zone, an Education City houses a polytechnic institute, a school for children with special needs, and Livelihood College for courses in fashion design, carpentry, cooking.

Next door is Yuva, the districts first BPO, launched in January in partnership with Hyderabad-based Sixth Generation Technologies, where 300 employees work on data entry, earning Rs 8,000 per month. Hindi voice training is underway too.

Up next: Homestays and tour packages that offer the authentic tribal experience  living with Murias, seeing their tribal dance forms, and gorging on red ant chutney.

These initiatives are concentrated in certain parts of certain blocks, and a few centrally located villages, says tribal rights activist Soni Sori, now a local leader with the Aam Aadmi Party. Real change will happen when they are expanded to the grassroot level  to the many villages in each block that are 20km away from the centre and still disconnected.Sensationally coloured foods have a short shelf life in the Instagram news cycle. Unicorn lattes might last a few months, before fading from view. Black foods are an exception to the rule. Two summers ago, black ice cream was a social media sensation, thanks especially to the glossy, black coconut ash ice cream from Morgensterns in New York, followed up by Goth soft serve from Little Damage in Los Angeles. That should have been the end of it.

Instead, black-coloured foods have proliferated. Among the reasons are the popularity of bitter, charred foods from such places as Scandinavia, the acceptance of squid ink as more than a novelty ingredient, and the rise of activated charcoal as a health food. And theres the visual impact, which should never be underestimated in this age.

In South Korea, an entire holiday celebrates black food. On April 14, Black Day, in a ritual that started in the early 2000s as the antithesis of Valentines Day, single women and men wear black and eat black bean noodles (jjajangmyeon). Sales of black coffee reportedly spike as well.

Squid Power

If theres one ingredient driving the black food trend, its squid ink. Chefs are using the ingredient to rethink notable dishes from around the world, even one of the original black foods: squid ink pasta. When hes not splashing luxury vinegars on salmon tartare, Michael Vignola at Henry at Life Hotel in New York offers homemade cavatelli with squid, shrimp, and fennel on a pool of inky sauce Nero instead of the traditional black pasta. I was thinking flavor first, aesthetic second. Besides squid ink, he fortifies the sauce with super-charred, wood-fired bread, so its extra-dark.

Of the black food trend, Vignola sees two factors at play. First is pricing. Im looking for more ways to cook nose-to-tail: Its my environmental duty as a chef, but its also an economic one. Ingredients are so expensive, you cant not get creative in finding ways to use all of your product. The ink from squid is a perfect example. Another way is to use ingredients like leeks that might just be lost to a stock pot, by incorporating char. Which leads him to the second factor: flavour. Its a departure from the classic French technique we learned in culinary school, which frowns on anything burnt, he explains, but now chefs are playing with char for flavour and texture, and diners are into it.

Farther downtown at Hanoi House, chef John Nguyen adds squid ink to colour his grilled seafood-filled Vietnamese rice crepes. He credits classic European cooking influences as his motivation. Asian chefs who grow up in the U.S. normally learn French or Italian food as their cooking foundation, says Nguyen. The combination of squid ink with seafood is such an Italian classic. Its one of my favourite ingredients to cook with now.

In Honolulu, Senia chefs Chris Kajioka and Anthony Rush use squid ink when paying homage to the ubiquitous Hawaiian poke, serving the raw, chopped fish salad on airy, black crackers. Theyve become a signature snack that will always be on our menu, says Kajioka. We make the crackers black to resemble coral, so it has a direct connection to the tuna. Not only are they visually striking, but charring and blackening is in our cooking repertoire because it creates another layer of flavour. 

At Del Mar in Washington, (pro tip: dont miss the charcuterie here), its the burger buns that are going dark. The idea was to spin the classic bocata de calamares [calamari sandwich], says chef Fabio Trabocchio of his chorizo burger on squid ink brioche. The jet-black bun is also stuffed with fried wild calamari and pepper aioli. Whats important to understand is that its not just cosmetic, Trabocchio continues. Squid ink provides a wonderful, deep, rich sea flavour to whatever dish its used in. Now its having a broader moment.

Black Is the Meal

In the Northern Catskills at Deer Mountain Inn in Tannersville, N.Y., Michelin-starred chef Ryan Tate chars the majority of dishes on his tasting menu. Black-hued courses include quail eggs coated in hay ash; rainbow trout topped with fried black trumpet mushrooms and served in a sauce of black truffle jus; and venison cooked in charred leek ash. I see a lot of black foods from European and Scandinavian kitchens. Chefs like the bold look, and it is Instagramable, says Tate. But its coming from a larger appreciation of Japanese cooking that is resonating with diners. Chefs have been exploring it for years, and now the dining public is beginning to accept those flavours.

An Antidote to Sweetness

At the updated Italian red sauce spot Don Angie in New York, co-owner Angie Rito makes her version of tiramisu with a rich, jet-black cocoa cake, topped with espresso-soaked ladyfingers with and a heavy dusting of alkalized black cocoa powder, whichdepending on the lightingcan look blackish-purple or a deep, dark brown.

We chose to use black cocoa because of the especially dark, intense flavour it imparts. The cocoas bitter notes add a savory element to the dish, so the dessert isnt too sweet, says Rito. It also creates a stark colour contrast within the dish between the black cocoa cake and the white zabaglione creamso the end result is a more interesting combination of black and white, instead of just drab shades of brown.

Black continues to play in the ice cream world, too. Portland, Ore.-based Salt & Straw is renowned for wacky ice cream flavours, such as goat cheese and black olive brittle, that it ships around the country. But at its soft-serve dessert bar, Wiz Bang, the Rocky Road Magic Cone is served in a black-charcoal cocoa-waffle cone.

The cocoa cone is starkly beautifulit pops! says co-founder Tyler Malek. Bold colours in ice cream have been so popular this last year. My favourite part of this black trend is that people are having fun with these visual cues while avoiding traditional, artificial food colouring. It forces a different sense of creativity. With the arrival of spring, Malek has other colours on his mind: Weve been blending fresh flower petals into cream, yielding ranges of colour from pale pinks to gentle blues. Hes also working with berries, one of which gives the ice cream a bright purple hueright in sync with ultraviolet, which Pantone picked as colour of the year. Your Instagram feed is waiting.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreUnfreedom

Director: Raj Amit Kumar

Cast: Adil Hussain, Victor Banerjee

Rating: 1.5/5

Communal hatred, terrorism, religious restrictions and the societal hindrances in exercising ones freedom  these are all potential topics for sensitive, serious and gripping cinema. Unfortunately, Unfreedom gets overwhelmed by the pressure and ends up being a chaotic piece of work that fails to bring home any of the messages it aims to deliver.

Unfreedom, Raj Amit Kumars first feature film, was banned in India, but it is now available on Netflix. For a film that claimed to be the voice of sexual liberty and freedom, its a major let down.

The film narrates two parallel and unrelated stories  one is about a girls struggle with her own dad to practice her own sexual choices while the other traces the tussle between a Muslim terrorist and a liberal Muslim. Director-writer Raj must be lauded for his intentions and courage.

Addressing the atrocities deeply embedded in hardline practices of both Hinduism and Islam, Raj ensures his film is not labelled as biased against a certain community, and is viewed in consideration of the religious violence, the suppression of choices and the rampant homophobia in our society.

With actors Adil Hussain and Victor Banerjee, Raj has good support in terms of convincing performances. However, the confused non-linear narrative obscures all efforts and renders them ineffective.

Hazily written characters, sloppy narrative and oft-forced nudity further kill the movies poignant themes. It keeps going back and forth both chronologically and geographically and you are left wondering about the sequence of events.

This is a movie you can totally skip.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

The author tweets @SwetaKaushal

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopA 30-year-old man was booked for allegedly sedating a 21-year-old woman, raping her and extorting Rs2 lakh from her by threatening to make a video of the act public.

A case has been registered against him by the Arnala Coastal police station on Thursday. The accused, Ubed Jamal Shaikh, and the complainant, a college student from Nallasopara, met in August 2017. On a visit to Arnala beach, he spiked her cold drink rendering her semi-conscious. He took her to a lodge, repeatedly raped her and also filmed the incident, said an official.

Shaikh blackmailed her that he would make the clip public.He demanded Rs2 lakh. The complainant stole the amount from home and gave it to Shaikh but he demanded more money.

She then told her parents and approached the police.In order to promote the culture of scientific thinking, city-based scientists, researchers and students participated in the nationwide March for Science event on Saturday evening.

They demanded an increase in funds for research and education. Around 400 people walked from Nehru Planetarium, Worli to Haji Ali, holding placards with messages that read, Defend Science, Dont De-fund Science.

The March for Science was an event that started last year, globally, by scientists to promote the inclusion of evidence-based science in public policies.

Faculty members of leading city-based institutes such as Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay and Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education were amongst the participants. They have called out the government to increase its expenditure on Research and Development to at least 3% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 10% for education.

India has a bad performance with its expenditure on research and development, less than 1% of its GDP. Places such as South Korea, China spend close to 3%. This essentially shows lack of interest from the government in science, said MC Arunan, who heads the Collaborative Undergraduate Biology Education at Homi Bhabha Research Center.

They unanimously criticised the unscientific statements made by ministers, such as junior human resource development minister, Satyapal Singh.

Earlier this year, he said that Charles Darwins theory of evolution of man was scientifically wrong and needs to be changed in school and college curriculum.

We have always had problems with ministers saying silly things. Currently, this has become endemic which is a matter of great concern. said T Jayaraman, professor, school of habitat studies, TISS.

An elderly couple, Srikrishna Dani, 70, former TIFR professor in the department of Mathematics and his wife Jyostna Dani, 70, a former professor at University of Mumbai, travelled from Panvel to participate in the March.

Many of us are concerned that the importance science once had in India is depleting. There is a neglect for science, said Srikrishna Dani.In an attempt to save the national carrier, Air India, from being privatised, the airline unions and its subsidiaries will be wearing Save Air India badges from April 16 as a protest against privatisation.

The unions and joint forums of the airline came up with the notice on April 13. This notice was addressed to the airlines top management. It stated that in order to protest program against the announced disinvestment of the national carrier and its subsidiaries, members of all the unions/ guild/association of Air India along with its subsidiaries will be wearing badges from Monday onwards.

The unions to participate in the protest include Air Corporation Employees Union, All India Service Engineers Association, Air India Employees Union, Aviation Industry Employee Guild, Air India Aircraft Engineers Association, All India Aircraft Engineers Association, Air India Engineers Association and United Air India Officers Association and Aviation Industry Employees.

Not only this, some of the employees on Tuesday had a protest meeting against the sale of national carrier to private airlines. The protest that lasted for 30 minutes, had the airlines spreading awareness about the threat due to privatisation that would be caused on the employees job. The airline forum had then said that by holding such meetings they are trying to create awareness among employees about impending job losses.In a scathing open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Unnao and Kathua gang-rape cases, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule has demanded action against those who were trying to shield the culprits.

Sule asked Modi, who gave a slogan of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, if the eight-year-old child, who was gang-raped and murdered in J&Ks Kathua, and 17-year-old girl from Unnao are not his daughters too.

Sule targeted the ruling parties in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir for lack of political will in taking action against the accused. While Uttar Pradesh is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Peoples Democratic Party in alliance with the BJP is in power in Jammu and Kashmir. The alleged inept handling of chilling gang-rape cases has shocked the nation, leading to a public outcry and nationwide protests.

The victims of both Kathua and Unnao were daughters of this country. When you raise a slogan to save daughters, the responsibility for safety of these daughters is on you as well. In a way, you have become a guardian of all daughter of the country. By this way, doesnt the Kathua child become your daughter? Being a mother of a daughter, I am urging you to act against those who are trying to shield the perpetrators, read the letter sent to Modi on Saturday. She has also termed the stand taken by some BJP members as a precursor to anarchy. Lack of political will was clearly visible when it came to action... If you (Modi) keep quiet today, this tendency will be encouraged, Sule wrote.

She added that she was expecting justice from a person like Modi who speaks for women empowerment.The Bombay high court (HC) has held that an aggrieved woman can file a complaint under the Protection of Woman from Domestic Violence (DV) Act, 2005, only at a place where she is residing temporarily. The high court reversed an October 2016 order passed by the principal district judge at Nagpur.

Justice SB Shukre said section 27 of the DV Act requires the complainant to be at least a temporary resident of the place to confer territorial jurisdiction upon a local judicial magistrate.

The Nagpur magistrate court had held that a complaint under section 12 of the DV Act was not maintainable in the case of a woman who filed the complaint in Nagpur. In the complaint, she had stated the address of her brothers residence in Nagpur, when she was not even a temporary resident of the city.

The magistrate had taken note of the fact that the complainant, a mother of two, had earlier filed an application before a local court at Saunsar, 71km from Nagpur, seeking maintenance from her estranged husband under section 125 of the criminal procedure code.

She had stated that she had been residing at Saunsar since 2014. Justice Shukre clarified that in the context of Section 27 of the DV Act, temporary residence means a residence set up or acquired in the ordinary course of human affairs, and is not a residence set up with the intention to file a case. He said temporary residence requires residence at a place on a continuing basis in pursuit of some activity, want or need. It said such a residence cannot be created just for filing the case. Otherwise, he said, it would be easy for a resourceful woman to go to faraway places, set up a temporary residence, and file a case to get the pleasure of seeing her estranged husband put to travails of high expenses.Upholding an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) principal bench from November 2017, the Apex Court passed an order earlier this week that the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has been asked to prepare the final draft of the coastal zone maps by April 30.

However, the MCZMA chief and additional chief secretary, state environment department, Satish Gavai said that they will ask the SC for more time to submit the draft maps, as maps from three districts are yet to be finalised.

These maps indicate the high tide line and hazard line, and also demarcate coastal regulation zone (CRZ) areas. This has great significance for Mumbai, where builders have been rampaging through CRZ areas, and on the flipside the state has passed notifications relaxing CRZ norms for ease of business.

On November 22, 2017, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Delhi passed an order directing all coastal states to submit draft of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) maps by April 30 and further directed the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to develop the final maps by July 31.

In the event any state government or union territory do not submit the said plan, they shall be liable for exemplary costs of Rs5 lakh, which should be recovered from the salary of the defaulting officer. Non-compliance would invite action for violating orders of the tribunal, read the order passed by the NGT bench.

Upholding the same order while hearing a special leave petition (SPL) filed by NGO Vanashakti at the Apex Court, the SC bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Rohintan Fali Nariman passed an order on Wednesday, which was made public on Saturday, read, It has been pointed out at the Bar that the CZMP is being submitted by April 30 as recorded by NGT in its order. In view of the above, no further order is necessary for these petitions which are hereby disposed of.

Gavai said the draft of CZMP maps for Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Mumbai were ready, but maps for Sindhudurg, Thane and Palghar will take time, beyond April 30.

We will be sending the final draft CZMP for Mumbai to the union environment ministry by next week, making us the first such state to submit any CZMP map. While for Ratnagiri and Raigad CZMPs, we have received suggestions and objections, and final process is underway, the remaining maps have been sent to an institute in Kerala for modifications. This process will take time to be completed, Gavai said.

We will have to ask for more time from the courts.

In November last year, the NGT western bench in Pune had told MCZMA not to clear any coastal regulation zone (CRZ) projects until CZMP maps were ready.

We are following this order and no clearances or meetings have been held until these draft maps are sent, said Gavai.

The counsel for Vanashakti said there had been a delay of over five years.

The draft maps were supposed to be out by the end of 2013. Maximum CRZ violations are being reported from Thane and Palghar, which is a serious problem, said Zaman Ali, counsel for Vanashakti.

Meanwhile, the petitioner said if CZMPs were not submitted soon, the risk to human life and property in CRZ areas continues to be high.

All actions of the state machinery are aimed at diluting the CRZ to help builders. We have won this battle as of now as the state is on the backfoot. We are committed to protecting coastal zones and keeping them free from construction for the benefit of the larger population, to protect the integrity of our coastline, said Stalin D, director, NGO Vanashakti.The preliminary inquiry into the death of Lalbaug resident Rajesh Maru, who got sucked into the MRI machine at Nair Hospital in January, holds the MRI rooms ward boy and ayaa (help) responsible for the fatal incident.

The inquiry report, which was submitted to Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Thursday, states that the hospital staff failed to follow procedure, due to which Maru was able to carry an oxygen cylinder into the MRI room.

Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said, This inquiry pins responsibility on the ward boy and the hospital help. Now, a detailed enquiry will be conducted into the exact role played by them which led to the incident. The quantum of punishment will be decided based on this enquiry.

As per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) procedure, the inquiry will include charge sheets against the hospital staff that has been responsible for the incident, and they will be given a chance to defend their case.

Maru, 32, died after being sucked into the MRI machine when he carried an oxygen cylinder  a metal object  into the room. It is prohibited to carry metal objects into the MRI room.

The incident took place on January 27 this year.

After three weeks of investigation, BMC concluded its preliminary inquiry.

Additional Municipal Commissioner, I A Kundan, who is in charge of municipal hospitals and health departments said, We have pinned the responsibility on two members of hospital staff after interviews, questioning, and examination of CCTV footage available from that day. Events that took place prior to the incident were recorded on the camera outside the MRI room. A standard operating procedure for availing medical facilities is already in place but it was not followed. The two members of the staff failed to do their duty.

The report also enlists administrative reforms to prevent such incidents from repeating in the future. BMC will soon set up a core committee of specialised doctors at each hospital level to outline procedures for each specialised service available at the hospital.

The report also recommends tightening security, reducing burden on municipal hospitals by 50 per cent, and regulating the entry of relatives of patients into hospital premises in order to manage crowds more efficiently, said Kundan.

Simultaneously, an independent departmental inquiry is ongoing against the doctors and nurses that were present in the MRI room at the time of the incident.The plogging event from Utsav Chowk to Central Park on Saturday morning saw participation from around 25 people, mostly Kharghar residents and volunteers of the Earth Kids Foundation.

Plogging is a Swedish term, which means picking up trash while exercising; more specifically, while running or jogging.

The event, which was organised jointly by the NGO Robinhood Army and Abhivyaktit ,was planned after the success of a similar event conducted at Thanes Yeoor forest early this month.

The initiative, which is being spearheaded by Deepak Singh, Navi Mumbai head of Robinhood Army, got a positive response from the citizens. People who came for their morning walks and jogs picked up trash like wrappers, straws, plastic bottles and caps all across the road, while they were walking. This impressed many others, who enquired about the move and said they will participate in future events.

Our plogging event has become the talking point. We were able to send out a positive message and also appealed for a plastic-free society. Our ultimate aim is to get rid of plastic, said Singh.

I have asked participants to reduce the use of plastic, only then will we be able to get rid of it, Singh added.

The ploggers collected around 12 bags of trash and then requested the City Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) to lift it from a common place.

Lalita Ravichandran, a Kharghar resident, said, I didnt know what plogging was. I saw a video of the event at Yeoor forest in Thane. This is an exciting event and will motivate youngsters to keep the city clean.

Pallavi Singh, 31, associated with NGO Robinhood Army, said, My home is mostly plastic-free, but I ensure to reduce even the minimal usage of plastic. The aim of participating in the event was to help people know that we can lead a plastic-free life and stop littering.

The plogging group of Kharghar has decided to hold the event every Saturday. They will organise another plogging event at Sector 18 and 19 on April 21.

The areas have a jurisdiction issue as the Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and Cidco officials pass the buck, when it comes to cleaning the area.

The area has around 20 housing societies and volunteers will be urging residents to participate in the initiative.A special committee that was appointed to select the new vice-chancellor (VC) of the University of Mumbai (MU) has shortlisted five candidates for the post. After interviews of 32 candidates concluded on Saturday, the committee handed over five names to Ch Vidyasagar Rao, the governor and chancellor of all state universities.

After completing 28 interviews on Friday, the remaining eight candidates were interviewed on Saturday. Following this, a short meeting was conducted among the selection committee to shortlist the finalists, said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

The committee had met the governor and handed over the list by 5 pm on Saturday, said the official.

On special orders, the committee has refused to share names of these five selected candidates.

Candidates vying for the post of MUs vice-chancellor had to make a presentation before the three-member selection committee on their ideas to resolve the mess surrounding exams and results that has plagued the university for over a year.

Since all important posts at the university are either lying vacant or filled by an ad-hoc member, the new VC also needs to be clear on how he or she plans to fill these posts, said a senior university official.

Following the dismissal of former MU vice-chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh on October 25, 2017 over the delay in announcing results and the ensuing fiasco, the governor had set up a search committee to find a replacement. The committee is headed by K Kasturirangan, renowned space scientist and former vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

In November 2017, the state government nominated City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) vice-chairman and managing director Bhushan Gagrani, and the academic and management councils of the University of Mumbai in December nominated Shyam Lal Soni, director, National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand, completing the search committee.

The governors office will intimate the five candidates over the next two days, and invite them for a final interaction with the governor. The final call will be taken by the governor.

This will be an informal interaction because the selection committee has already gone through the qualifications as well as future plans of the candidates for the university, said another official.The Bhandup police have registered a case against three unidentified people who allegedly cheated a senior citizen of Rs4 lakh. They sold fake gold to the senior citizen claiming that they had found it while carrying out digging work in Bhandup, said the police.

The complainant, Tejbahadur Maurya, 63, is a resident of Pratapnagar, Bhandup (West). He owns a grocery shop.

Maurya claims that on April 2, the trio came to his residence. They said they were labourers and had unearthed a huge quantity of gold while digging. They were willing to sell the gold at a throwaway price.

Maurya, who fell for the trap, paid them the amount within the next four days.

However, when he checked the purity of the gold, it turned out to be fake. He then registered a complaint with the Bhandup police on Wednesday.

The trio is not known to the complainant, said Shrinivas Panhale, senior police inspector, Bhandup police station.

Police are inquiring with the locals and will soon start scanning CCTV footage. They are also going through files of history sheeters to investigate crimes with similar modus operandi to identify the accused.To bypass the upcoming housing hub  Raj Nagar Extension  the Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) has planned an 8km alternative route for movement of vehicles between the newly opened Hindon elevated road and the Delhi-Meerut (erstwhile NH-58) Road. The project will be implemented on the basis of a public-private partnership (PPP).

According to the members of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI)  Raj Nagar Extension), nearly 17,000 families have already arrived and another 10,000 will arrive by the end of this year. The area has nearly 45 real estate projects, which are either occupied or under-construction.

The officials said that there is already a major flow of traffic from Delhi-Meerut Road and Raj Nagar Extension (RNE) towards the Hindon elevated road, which connects commuters to UP Gate and the Delhi-Ghaziabad border near East Delhi. However, the elevated road is, for now, open for light motor vehicles and two-wheelers only.

The 8km bypass road is planned, as a large number of vehicles from the elevated road will completely bypass the residential hub of RNE and will take commuters further to Manan Dham near Morta on Delhi-Meerut Road. Commuters coming from Meerut and other areas on the route can also take the same route and move to the elevated road for proceeding to Delhi, SS Verma, superintending engineer, GDA, said.

The first 5km portion of the road will move parallel to River Hindon, avoiding RNE, and is proposed to meet the Northern Peripheral Road (NPR) or Dwarka Expressway. From there, the commuters will travel 3km (on the NPR) further to proceed to the Delhi-Meerut Road.

The new bypass road is planned on PPP model and we are trying to find interested private players for the six-lane (three sides each) road, which is estimated at 200 crore. A revenue model is also being chalked out. For the first 5km, the GDA has land available and some part of the land is also available on the 3km stretch of the NPR. The land acquisition cost is estimated at around 520 crore and majority of the payment has been made by the authority, Verma added.

The bypass road is planned considering that the Hindon elevated road will also see movement of commercial vehicles in future.

Once the commercial vehicles get access to the elevated road, there would be major congestion at RNE as more housing development is planned along the stretch, Ruchin Mehra, a resident, said.

With the help of the bypass road, the commuters will be able to reach UP Gate within 20 minutes, bypassing the RNE.Amid tension and heightened security, Ambedkar Jayanti was observed by Ambedkar followers and Dalit groups along with political parties in Noida and Greater Noida on Saturday.

No incident of ruckus or vandalism was reported from villages of Gautam Budh Nagar as processions and festivities were witnessed across the district to observe the birth anniversary of the countrys first law minister.

The main celebration was held in Dalit Prenra Sthal in Noida and Badalpur village of Greater Noida which is the native place of Mayawati, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

As many as 5,000 people joined in the celebrations at Badalpur village of Greater Noida where many representatives of Bhaujan Samaj Party had arrived including Shamsuddin Rai, the zonal in-charge of the party. On this occasion, we remembered the efforts of Baba Saheb who fought for the rights of the oppressed all his life and contributed towards nation building. All women, children, youth and oppressed masses consider Baba Saheb their inspiration and share his vision of an India where every human being lives with dignity and respect, Lakhmi Singh, district president, BSP, said.

However, the day was celebrated amid high security in Noida and Greater Noida after an Ambedkar statue was vandalised by miscreants in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh in Greater Noida on Friday morning. Within a few hours, a new idol was placed at the same spot.

We celebrated Baba Sahebs birth anniversary by lighting candles and distributing food through bhandara in the Ambedkar park of the village. Every resident of the village contributed towards the celebrations and no incident of ruckus was reported, Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Richhpal Garhi, said.

Police personnel were deployed at important junctions in Noida and Greater Noida where pro-Dalit groups had taken out rallies and processions.

We had deployed policemen in all sensitive areas of Noida, including important junctions such as Sector 37, Noida stadium, Sector 12/22 and Dalit Prerna Sthal. The processions started from various points in the city and ended at Dalit Prerna Sthal. We ensured that the processions went by without any untoward incident. People from the local intelligence unit were also deployed at crucial spots, AK Singh, superintendent of police (city), said.

Similarly, in Greater Noida, a battalion of the reserve police force was deployed to check any untoward incident.

After the incident in Richhpal Garhi, we stationed a police team in the village and similarly, police personnel were deployed at all sensitive villages. No untoward incident was reported today, Suniti, superintendent of police (rural), said.The police shot at and arrested two persons in two different encounters in Noida and Greater Noida within 12 hours on Saturday.

In both cases, the police said the accused fired at a police party at check posts and were injured during retaliatory firing.

A police team shot at one accused at 12.10 am near Scholars Home Centre National School roundabout in Dadri on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Atul, a native of Firozabad, was arrested after he was shot in the leg by the police. He is said to be the third accused in the four-member gang that robbed a car from a cab driver on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday in Bisrakh. His two accomplices were arrested by the Dadri police after an encounter at 1 am on Friday.

We had set a check post near Scholars Home Centre National School roundabout after receiving a tip that an accused of the car robbery in Bisrakh was on the run in a white Santro car. The accused approached the check post and started firing at the police party. We fired back in retaliation and hit his leg, said Ram Sen Singh, station house officer, Dadri police station.

The accused was then rushed to the district hospital in Sector 30 for immediate medical attention.

We also recovered one countrymade pistol and live ammunition from the spot, along with the Santro car, said Singh.

In another encounter, the Phase 3 police arrested a person after he allegedly fired at a police party near a check post near Prithla Pushta road in Noidas Sector 119.

A check post had been put up at Prithla Pushta road in Sector 119 when at 11.30 am, two men approached the post on their motorcycle. Suddenly, the duo opened fire at the police party and in retaliation, we fired back. One accused  Dheeraj alias Kanpuriya, a native of Kanpur  was nabbed. The other accused managed to flee, said Amit Singh, station house officer, Phase 3 police station.

According to the police, Dheeraj has two cases of loot lodged against him at the Phase 3 police station.

We have booked him under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code for attempting to murder police personnel on duty. He has been arrested and will be produced in court, added Singh.In a diverse country like India, balanced growth is a prerequisite for overall development. The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) is a radical departure from the countrys previous development strategies in its scale, scope and ownership. Implicit in the design of the programme is the fact that Indias economy cannot sustain growth without improving human development for all its citizens. This landmark programme recognises the disparities in development across states and districts. It focuses on transforming 115 districts across 28 states that have witnessed the least progress along certain development parameters. These 115 districts account for more than 20% of the countrys population and cover over 8,600 gram panchayats.

The ADP brings together all levels of government, from central and state officers driving operations, to the district collectors implementing innovative measures on the ground. It also tracks progress through real-time data collection. A critical aspect of the programmes approach is its focus on district-specific strengths and the identification of low-hanging fruit. What are the areas that will yield immediate improvement in each district? In addition to tailoring interventions to districts, the programme is novel in four important ways: shifting the focus to socio-economic outcomes, placing data at the core of policymaking, emphasising collaboration across various levels of government, and partnering with civil society.

First, the programme shifts the focus away from output and draws attention to socio-economic outcomes. To provide an initial benchmark for the programme, the government has collected statistics on 49 indicators across five core dimensions: health and nutrition, education, financial inclusion, agriculture and water resources, skill development and basic infrastructure. Not all dimensions are considered equal in the construction of the composite index for each district, acknowledging the specific nature of Indias development challenges. For example, health and nutrition and education are each given a 30% weightage in the index. These two areas account for 21 of the 49 indicators.

Second, through its large-scale efforts to collect, distill and disseminate data, the programme is grounded thoroughly in evidence. The NITI Aayog has created a dashboard to monitor real-time progress in the districts. The districts themselves have started entering data at the beginning of this month. The availability of the latest district-level statistics in the public domain is not only enhancing transparency and accountability, but it is also ensuring that policy actions are backed by evidence. Till date, no other developing country has undertaken a data-driven programme of this massive scale to advance the holistic development of one-fifth of its population.

Third, the ADP echoes the governments belief that states and districts should have a greater voice in their development. It truly embodies Indias shift toward cooperative federalism. The local, state and central governments work together to design, implement and monitor measures to drive development in the districts. The strong belief that underlies this strategy is that each districts advantages and challenges are different. For instance, even within Jharkhand, the approach adopted in Sahebganj, where about 48% of deliveries are institutional, would differ from that in Purbi Singbhum that has nearly 82% of institutional deliveries.

The local government is in a unique position to understand the complexities of the districts. They can experiment with different measures to enhance socio-economic development on the ground. Therefore, district collectors play a central role in improving outcomes, monitoring progress and decision-making in their respective aspirational districts. The state and central governments rank different districts to promote competition, augment technical capacity and share best practices with the districts.

Fourth, the programme is a collaborative effort between government, various foundations and civil society. Through partnerships with several voluntary organisations, the programme benefits from different perspectives, technical skills and on-the-ground experience. For example, NITI Aayog is working with Piramal Foundation to strengthen public systems particularly in health and education. Similarly, Tata Trusts, IDinsight, L&T, ITC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are also playing key roles in the programme. These public-private partnerships will help boost implementation of the programme.

On April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bijapur in Chhattisgarh. The district, affected by Left-wing extremism and poor connectivity, is one of 115 districts identified under the ADP. Despite key challenges, the district has achieved progress along various parameters of development. The PM visit acknowledged the importance of such districts for Indias economy. Together, over 250 million people reside in these aspirational districts. Without improving human development and strengthening the economic situation of these regions, India as a whole cannot achieve significant progress.

Amitabh Kant is CEO, National Institution for Transforming India.

The views expressed are personal.Opportunities for women entrepreneurs have been growing globally. Women from different walks of life are seen experimenting with various business models and are carving a place for themselves with their entrepreneurial skills. In India too, the number of women entrepreneurs is growing, but it is very small when compared to the opportunities the market has to offer. Recently, Mastercard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry, released the second edition of the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE). Shamina Singh, president, Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth, speaks to Jui Dharwadkar about the findings of this index.

What has prompted Mastercard to survey the index of women entrepreneurs?

The survey aims at understanding the changing market trends and where women stand as entrepreneurs. Currently, globally and even in India, there are a lot of opportunities for women entrepreneurs which will continue to grow. Women also face certain unique challenges while starting a business such as that of getting loans from banks. The survey was carried out to understand all these facets. The index focuses on female entrepreneurs ability to capitalise on opportunities granted through various supporting conditions within their local environments.

Where does India stand in Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE)?

India ranks 52nd among the 57 countries studied. The index is not really about the ranks, but focuses more on understanding the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. The results suggest that the underlying conditions for women business ownership/entrepreneurship in India are less favourable as compared to countries with a high index score. According to the report, Indian women business owners, leaders and professionals exhibit less inclination towards business ownership owing to cultural bias. They are also less likely to grow their business, whether locally or overseas, and are more prone than other regions to discontinue their businesses due to unprofitability or lack of finance.

How good is the market scenario for women in India for starting their own businesses?

The opportunities for women entrepreneurs in India are plenty. The tourism sector in India is growing very fast and women can consider exploring it. Also, financial literacy needs to grow. This will help build confidence in women. To help women entrepreneurs further, Mastercard will undertake a comprehensive research to understand the breakdown of digital payments within the supply chain. The research will help the company understand why and what are the perceived roadblocks that need to be overcome to digitise an entire supply chain.

What are the initiatives of Mastercard in strengthening women entrepreneurs?

Mastercard is committed to bringing 500 million people globally into the financial mainstream by 2020 and connecting 40 million micro and small merchants to its electronic payments network by 2021. The Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth works closely with the business to advance equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. We will also scale up partnership with Mann Deshi, an NGO dedicated to the economic empowerment of rural women. Under this partnership, Mastercard will support 10,000 women business owners to connect with new customers and suppliers. Apart from this, through Industree Foundation, an NGO with a mission to foster an ownership-based and organised creative manufacturing ecosystem for micro-entrepreneurs, we will connect over 20,000 women producers to domestic and international markets in the next year.April 13 is a special day for Chandigarh lad and Punjabi television actor and anchor Sahil Vedoliyaa as he makes his silver screen debut with Shoojit Sircars film, October. One of HTs Top 30 Under 30 awardees of 2014, the actor started his career in 2007, gathering valuable experience in the film, television and music industries.

October released on April 13. What should the audience expect from the film?

For October, I would like to say that we all are really excited. People love the trailer. Also, Shoojit Sircar and Varun Dhawan have a huge fan following; and Shoojit Sir has made some brilliant hit films. This is an unusual love story that has got people talking. I think we will get a good response from the audience and itll be a big hit.

How was the experience of working with Shoojit Sircar and the co-stars?

The experience was really nice. I feel blessed to be debuting in Bollywood under Shoojit Sirs banner. When I got a call from him about being cast in the film, he said, Meri film mein tumhe ek cheez nahi karni hai. Aur wo hai acting. Be natural. (Theres one thing you dont need to do in my films and thats acting). I got to learn a lot while shooting. He taught me to speak with my eyes while delivering dialogues. And Varun is a really humble guy, he gives good fitness tips. Varun, Banita and I were like friends on the set. I am thankful to them for this experience.

How do you strike a balance between anchoring and making films?

Your work speaks for you. When you are onstage as an anchor, you play that character and are spontaneous. And when you are acting, you should live and breathe that character. Its quite easy to maintain this balance. When you are acting or anchoring, focus solely on that. I would like to do both in future as well; because I love anchoring as well as acting.

What are your upcoming projects after October?

I have a few anchoring assignments and I am working for two to three television shows. After auditioning for four to five films I was doing anchoring for regional (Punjabi) channels. Now I will focus on more national platforms.

What advice would you give to people who wish to pursue acting as a career?

I have been auditioning for the past five to six years. People who want to act need to be really focused and patient. You have to keep on working hard and be persistent. Theres a lot of work out there in the form of films, web series, short films, TV series, etc.

Is there any difference between the work culture in the Hindi film industry and its Punjabi counterpart?

I had done one Punjabi film, Pooja Kiven Aa, in 2013. The Punjabi industry has changed a lot now. But I have not worked much in this industry, so I cant comment.Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that infighting among top brass of Punjab Police showed that chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has lost control over his departments.

He was talking to the media on the sidelines of the BJP protest here at Bhandari Bridge over repeated disruptions in the budget session of Parliament. Puri said CMs of other states hold regular meetings with director general-level officers of the police to know about their concerns and issues, but the Punjab CM was not even sparing time to meet his own MPs and MLAs.

He said Punjab Police are an efficient and disciplined and force, but due to the bad political class at the helm of affairs, the force is losing its sheen.

Referring to the media reports about Captains recent meeting with Punjab Police top officials in which he reprimanded them or face the axe in the wake of infighting, Puri said: I never heard that a CM talks with top police officers in such a manner and the issue is flaunted in public. Rather, it should have been handled internally. If anyone does illegal task, action should be taken under civil service laws instead of making the issue public.

Puri said Punjab Congress president and Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar left the office of Punjab CM in a huff after waiting some time on Wednesday but Captain didnt bother to meet him. He said it was a result of absent governance in the state. If a CM does not meet his partys MP, what the people of the state can expect from him? he questioned.

GST exemption on langar items

Asked about his stand on waiving GST (goods and service tax) on langar items at the Golden Temple, Puri said, the Centre will soon respond on the Punjab assemblys resolution seeking complete waiver of GST on langar.

Addressing protesters, the minister said the budget session of Parliament could not run a single day due to disruptions by Congress MPs, especially belonging to Punjab  Ravneet Singh Bittu, Gurjeet Singh Aujla and Sunil Jakhar. He said instead of highlighting public issues, the Congress MPs disrupted the session unnecessarily.

He said: The Congress killed democracy in Parliament and the BJPs protest via fasting is to bring its crime in front of the people.

Punjab BJP president and member of the Rajya Sabha Shwait Malik said the state government has failed to implement the central governments people-friendly and welfare schemes. He said before coming into power, the Congress had promised to waive Rs 90,000 crore worth of loans of farmers, but it is now backtracking on its promise.A day after the Punjab government favoured a court verdict convicting Navjot Singh Sidhu in a 1998 road rage case, the local bodies minister on Friday said he was not consulted by the government before going to the Supreme Court.

You ask Punjab CM (Capt Amarinder Singh) or advocate general (Atul Nanda), as to how they took up the plea in the Supreme court without consulting me, said a visibly upset Sidhu.

Couldnt have taken any other stand in SC on Navjot Sidhu issue, says @capt_amarinder, but hopes judge will take into consideration the contribution of @sherryontopp to the country in deciding the case. (sic) Raveen Thukral, CMs media adviser, tweeted

The case against Sidhu was heard by the Supreme Court on Thursday, where the state government favoured the Punjab and Haryana high court verdict convicting and awarding a three-year jail term to Sidhu.

To a question about a news channel quoting him saying that he was backstabbed by the Punjab government, Sidhu refused to comment.

Whether I am unhappy, shocked, astonished or hurt or whatever it is on account of what the Punjab government has said in the SC, my shoulders are strong enough to carry that burden ...If there is any burden, I will prefer to carry on my shoulders, said Sidhu.

The minister also cautioned people against jumping to a conclusion, saying last word on the matter has not been heard. This is a 30-year-old matter. There is some time left for the conclusion of this matter. It will be concluded with the majesty of law. I have submitted to the majesty of law.

As far as what the Punjab government said in the Supreme Court, Sidhu said: It was said openly. Everything has come before all. What is left for me to say?

The Punjab government on Thursday opposed Sidhus plea to overturn his conviction in the 1998 road rage case in which a man, Gurnam Singh of Ghalouri village near Patiala, had died allegedly after being beaten up by Sidhu and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu.

A trial court in Patiala acquitted Sidhu and Sandhu, but in 2006 the HC reserved the finding and declared them guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, sentencing them for three years in jail. Sidhu moved the SC challenging HC orders, which stayed the conviction. Sidhu, who was then MP from Amritsar, resigned and went for repoll after the apex court stayed the HC orders.

On Thursday, state counsel Sangram Singh Saron told a SC bench of justices J Chelameswar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul that the trial courts verdict was unreasonable and was rightly reversed by the Punjab and Haryana high court.

(With PTI inputs)A lone candle is lit on what could be a slice of cake. Or is it the edge of a stone; a stone which is used to kill a little girl? One is not sure because all perception is lost and words seem to have deserted one. What does one say as she looks at you with her wide guiltless eyes? But something must be said. How can words desert one when needed the most? But those eyes will haunt, stab the heart for all times. Her beauty and her innocence questions the world around her. And I shudder thinking that if this could happen to her, it could well happen to my granddaughter who loves animals just as much as she did.

The animals she tended and brought back from the meadows were gentle creatures. Those who desecrated her in the temple were something else. I lament again: What does one say? So I turn to other voices one knows in the virtual world. All seem tongue-tied and are barely managing to find a few words in expression. Oriya poet Durga Prasad Panda who has lit a candle in memoriam musters a few words that say much: I am ashamed of being a man (male)? When someone points out to him that those who desecrated a temple and a little girl were animals, the poet retorts in angry broken phrases: To equate them with animals will be a gross disrespect to  animals ...even animals seem more civilised.. they never do such things as rape. They court for hours n days to woo the opposite sex...

My granddaughter loves animals and whenever she goes to her fathers village in the hills she plays with the buffaloes, the cows, the goats, the dogs and the cat. Only the other day she went to the zoo to see other animals. Nothing to be afraid of, they were all in a jail, a big jail with water, grass and trees.

This little Heidi from the Gujjar nomadic tribe, so like writer Johanna Syprys fictional child in the Swiss Alps, adored animals because she had grown with them. Her foster father says that on the day she disappeared, she had gone back to the jungle to bring home a horse that had strayed. But alas! Our little Heidi unlike the one in the Alps did not have the fortune of meeting a goat boy and growing up to build a love nest. Love is a lost word too. I glance at a post by poet-translator Sukrita Paul and I find more broken words: Deeply anguished. Sleepless & Helpless. Shamed as a human... An anxious reply to this post is by an anxious father: I tossed and turned in my bed last night... I too have 7-year-old twin daughters... Prayed for every girls safety.

If only prayers could help. Why didnt an idol come alive in the temple? Another voice cries out in anguish , So much for religion yet neither her God nor the others came to her help. Painter Gogi Saroj Paul in her series of works on Nirbhaya had shown a bare-bodied woman walking with a sickle in hand. These figures are so different from her clement Nayika of the seventies and the eighties.

We will light candles, hold marches and twitter for a while and then all will be forgotten. But what about her eyes that are looking at us so earnestly? Well these eyes may become a memory forever in a Mangalesh Dabral poem or an NS Madhavan short story as the shame of a people who worship the Mother Goddess or Gogi will paint an altar for her: Her eyes looking out of a witness box demanding justice.

nirupama.dutt@htlive.comVeteran hunter of man-eating leopards and tigers, Parwanoo-based Ashish Dasgupta, can tell from the blood trail of a wounded big cat where the bullet has struck home. A blackish, coagulated blood trail augurs a stomach wound while lipstick pink, lassi-like frothy blood implies the rifle slug pierced the lungs. Only a flesh/muscle wound spews the normal red blood.

A long-standing member of the Himachal Pradesh Wildlife Advisory Board and honorary wildlife warden for that state, Dasgupta was consulted on the ballistics of the rifle used by unknown poachers to kill a female leopard on Tuesday in Hoshiarpurs Shahpur village. He conclusively refuted the opinion of Punjab wildlife department officers that a small-calibre .22 rifle had been fired. Instead, Dasgupta cited use of a .30 calibre rifle and that assessment was consistent with the gaping dimensions of the bullets entry and exit holes.

Dasgupta has been a member of expeditions that have brought down 50 man-eating leopards and seven tigers across India. He has tracked maneaters on foot, including wounded ones, but his steely heart melted during the course of a Kinnaur tour. He was in the high mountains to probe the poaching of a female leopard.

Forest officers showed me the dead female while Kinnaur villagers told me that a chhe-chhe sound kept coming from jungles. I examined the leopards inflated teats and realised she had littered and had left behind a cub, which was crying for help. It took me two days to locate the male cub but instant love and a protective feeling overwhelmed me. His fearlessness and naughty playfulness led me to christen him, Bandit. I brought him up, took him for walks at Parwanoo and handed him over to the Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Tutikandi in Shimla, where he has settled down. Bandit promises to blossom into a handsome fellow studded with startling rosettes. His mothers spirit rekindles in him, Dasgupta told this writer.

Prisoner of love

The Indian Grey hornbill is a charismatic avian commonly observed paragliding between tall trees straddling the avenues while emitting a peculiar, squealing cry. This species is bestowed with the titular title of Chandigarhs State Bird. In natures roll of honour, hornbills tilt towards monogamy and the male is unsurpassed when it comes to patni sewa. In late spring, hornbill couples commence the build up to nesting in tree hollows. The female will erect a self-imposed barricade in the hollow with faecal matter, soil and mud pellets, leaving a slit for the male to deliver food. Once entrenched in the hollow, the female leaves herself entirely to the males mercy.

An Indian Grey hornbill lends grace to Jacaranda blooms at Leisure Valley, Chandigarh. (Photo: Dalvinder Singh)

Since 2004, wildlife photographer Vinod Goel has spent many happy hours on breeding hornbills. During courtship, a male is seen chasing a female and gifting her bark of a tree, petals of flowers or fruits to please her. They are in their own world and least bothered about anything else. The female was preening and loving the male as if she knew that on that day she would enter the cavity and remain there for more than two months. To me it appeared, on one occasion, as if she was kissing the eyes of the male. Both of them were trying to spend as much time together and then the female starts making efforts to enter the tree cavity. The male was watching her and helping her sometimes. Slowly, slowly the female entered the cavity as her tail outside shrunk continuously until it disappeared. The male made sure that his mate was comfortable and peeped inside to reassure himself. He brought a mulberry fruit to offer her as if to celebrate a big occasion in their life cycle, wrote Goel.

Just how hard the male works can be gauged from a study conducted by E Santhoshkumar and P Balasubramanian. During the 720 hours spent at 10 hornbill nests to monitor nesting behaviour over two breeding seasons, males visited nests 1,015 times to feed inmates, at an average of 17 times per day, and 13,680 food items were delivered, the study revealed.

Surely, hornbills are a marriage made in heaven and worthy of poetic rapture! As hornbill field researcher, Ajay Gadikar, wryly remarked: The female trusts the male blindly and the male does not commit breach of trust! A lesson to mankind!

Moved by the above glowing accounts, some readers may wish to bestow Pati Vishisht Sewa Medal on the male hornbill. However, wayward human hubbies may not relish wide publicity to such love stories.

vjswild1@gmail.comIndian scientists and scholars took to the streets on Saturday demanding better funding and a more conducive environment for scientific research in the country, and to show solidarity with demonstrations across the world under the banner of March for Science.

The demonstrators also decried the unscientific statements made by Indian leaders, such as junior human resource development minister, Satyapal Singh and science and technology minister, Harsh Vardhan.

There is an assault on scientific research and science under this government, Raghu Nandan (66), member of Delhi Science Forum who took part in a march in the capital, said. From smart cities to bullet trains and development projects, there is no scientific input.

Demonstrations were planned in over 35 Indian cities and 600 cities globally.

The organisers demanded that funds for research and development in India, that remains a paltry 0.8% of the GDP, be ramped up to at least 3% of the GDP and for education to 6%. They also raised concerns about education material being manipulated to suit ideologies.

The Delhi march saw the congregation of 200 participants from IITs, Delhi University, JNU, Ambedkar University and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and several associations working to promote scientific temperament.

Singh had invited controversy earlier this year when he suggested that Indias mantras codified the laws of motion before Newton.

They make it seem like everything was discovered in the olden ages. It discourages research and hampers the development of a scientific temper, Nandan said.

He also lamented the promotion of pseudoscience by the current administration, including the push for research on cow urine.

Last year, Singh termed Charles Darwins theory of evolution scientifically wrong. His comments on Darwin were roundly criticised by Indian scientists.

Science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan sparked a stir at the India Science Congress in March suggesting that renowned astrophysicist, Stephen Hawking thought Vedic theories were superior to Einsteins famous formulation: e=mc2.

Parag Banerjee (31), a doctoral student at JNU in labour studies and an engineer by training, said that the problem was not limited to leaders making nonsensical statements.

Earlier there was more freedom to choose your research topics. More students are doing projects that are in line with private companies agenda, he said. Only those fields were immediately converted to industrial goods. This is true of government funds. They are heavily lobbied by private interests.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Western strikes on government military installations today only made him more keen to fight back against his opponents, in comments published by his office.

This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country, Assad, in his first reaction to the strikes, told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.

The United States, France and Britain on Saturday struck targets in Syria with airstrikes in retaliation for an apparent chemical weapons attack outside Damascus by Bashar al-Assads regime that had left more than 40 people dead last week.

Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assads programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

A Syrian military statement said in all, 110 missiles were fired by the U.S., Britain and France and that most of them were shot down or derailed. Russias military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the U.S. and its allies.

The Syrian statement read by Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub said three civilians were wounded in one of the strikes on a military base in Homs, although the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile. He said another attack with a number of missiles targeting a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. Mayhoub said the building housed an educational center and labs.

(This story has not been modified from its original version)The United States, Britain and France launched strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack after mulling military action for nearly a week.

Targets

The strikes were aimed at chemical weapons infrastructure in what the US billed as a warning against Assad employing such weapons in the future -- a warning he has not heeded in the past. (Live updates)

They targeted a scientific research facility in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs and a third location that contained both a command post and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility in the same area, the US military said.

AFPs correspondent in Damascus said several consecutive blasts were heard at 4:00 am, followed by the sound of air planes overhead. Smoke could be seen rising from the northern and eastern edges of the capital.

British jets struck a former missile base... where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors, the countrys defence ministry said, while France said the military action was aimed at the secret chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime.

Damascus is seen as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital early Saturday. (AP Photo)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said that scientific research centres and several military bases were hit in the strikes.

Assets involved

US, British and French naval and air assets took part in the strikes, which US defence chief James Mattis said employed more than twice the amount of munitions used in American strikes in Syria last year, in which 59 Tomahawk missiles were fired.

Britains defence ministry said that four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles, while the French defence ministry released video footage of Rafale warplanes taking off to carry out the strikes.

The US reportedly used B-1 bombers in the strikes, but the American military declined to provide specifics.

This photograph obtained April 14, 2018 from the Twitter account of French defence minister, Florence Parly, shows French military aircraft ahead of strikes on Syrian military bases and research centres in Damascus. (AFP Photo)

Reaction

Syria fired surface-to-air missiles in response to the attacks but Russia apparently did not, the US said, despite a threat from the countrys ambassador to Lebanon that Moscows forces would do so.

Syrian state news termed the strikes a flagrant violation of international law and said the intervention is doomed to fail.

Russias foreign ministry said the strikes came as Syria -- which has been wracked by seven years of civil war -- had a chance of a peaceful future, while Moscows ambassador to Washington warned of unspecified consequences.

Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus. (AP Photo)

And opposition American Democratic lawmakers warned that any broader military campaign required authorization from Congress, as well as a well-formulated strategic vision.British Prime Minister Theresa May faced a backlash from the domestic opposition after launching military strikes Saturday on Syria without consulting parliament.

Syria air strikes LIVE updates

As the Conservative leader explained her rationale for the airstrikes, opposition parties claimed the attacks were legally dubious, risked escalating conflict and should have been approved by lawmakers.

The shadow of the 2003 invasion of Iraq still lingers in the corridors of Britains parliament, when MPs backed then-prime minister Tony Blair in joining US military action.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace, said Jeremy Corbyn, the veteran leftist leader of the main opposition Labour Party.

This legally questionable action risks escalating further... an already devastating conflict.

Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump.

Stop the War, a pacifist coalition once chaired by Corbyn, has called a demonstration outside the British parliament on Monday to protest the strikes.

Read | Why Donald Trump changed his tune on Syria and ordered the US-led air strikes

The group said it strongly condemned the action and accused May of sanctioning killing at US President Donald Trumps behest.

Often when the British government decides on military action, the opposition offers its full support. However, that has been less the case in recent years.

British MPs voted down taking military action against Damascus in 2013, in what was widely viewed as an assertion of parliamentary sovereignty on the use of force.

It was the first time parliament had voted against a British government taking military action.

David Cameron, who was prime minister in 2013, tweeted on Saturday: As we have seen in the past, inaction has its consequences.

Lawmakers backed action in Iraq in 2014, and again in Syria in 2015, strictly limiting strikes in both countries to targets of the Islamic State jihadist group.

The rush to swift action following an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma on April 9 was condemned by several British opposition parties who wanted parliament recalled.

It does not sit again until Monday, when May will face MPs questions on the strikes.

Right and legal

May held an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday to discuss a potential military response.

After hearing legal, security and defence advice, she concluded it was right and legal to take military action.

Deploying the armed forces is a prerogative power, meaning the prime minister can launch action without backing from MPs.

But after the Conservatives entered office in 2010, the government suggested that since the 2003 vote on the war in Iraq, a convention had emerged that MPs should have a say, except in cases of emergency.

In attacks alongside US and French allies on Saturday, four British Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles at a Syrian military base suspected of holding chemical weapons ingredients. The strikes at 0100 GMT were 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Syrias use of chemical weapons could not be tolerated but questioned whether the strikes would halt their use or contribute to ending the civil war.

This action risks not just further escalating the civil war in Syria but also a dangerous escalation of international tensions, said the leader of the left-wing Scottish National Party, the third-biggest force in the British parliament.

There must be urgent confirmation from the prime minister that there will be no further action... without a full parliamentary debate.

Riding Trumps coat-tails

Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the fourth-biggest party in parliament, accused May of riding the coat-tails of an erratic US president.

It shows a weak government putting short term political expediency before democracy and in so doing further diminishing the standing of Britain in the world, Cable said.

Before Saturdays attacks, Kenneth Clarke, the Conservative former finance minister, insisted that failing to consult MPs first would be a very retrograde step that made parliamentary accountability pathetic.

However, there was some support for May.

The centre-right Conservatives rely on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party, Northern Irelands biggest party, for a majority in parliament.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said she had spoken to May and the airstrikes were limited but proportionate and justified.

Nigel Dodds, the DUPs leader in parliament, said May had the full authority required to carry out the strikes.

We reject any suggestion that she was not entitled to do so, the partys deputy leader said.

Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chairman of parliaments foreign affairs scrutiny committee and a former army officer, said May had taken the correct decision.

(This story has not been modified from its original version.)There is much poignancy to the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting next week - an Indian minister visiting in 1973 told London not to neglect the group soon after the UK joined the European Union on January 1 of that year.

The caution was delivered in a light-hearted way: When you find a new girlfriend, you should not forget your wife, the minister told his British counterpart. But decades went by as the EU occupied centre-stage in London, and the Commonwealth of mainly former colonies of the British Empire fell into some neglect.

Now Britain is poised to leave the EU and London finds itself heading an organisation of 53 countries that have much in common, capped by its potential to compensate for some of the economic loss that will hit Britain on leaving the European Single Market.

The neglect was also in evidence elsewhere, with limited awareness of the word Commonwealth in member states (mainly due to games), as the organisation trundled on and contributed particularly to smaller countries on best practices for issues such as elections, corruption and youth mobility.

But the Commonwealth has long been plagued by the existential question: What is the point of it? Even Philip Murphy, director of the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, insists the Commonwealth is a myth.

In this context, CHOGM 2018 reflects some congruence of interests, with revival being the buzzword. The Theresa May government sees it as a trading bloc for post-Brexit Britain, India is keen to play a greater role in global organisations and leverage its engagements, and 31 small island states (many battling the effects of climate change) are hoping to benefit the most from its theme of towards a common future.

The organisation is at an inflection pointIndia is prepared to step up to the plate and play its due role in re-energising the CommonwealthIndia would like to explore the possibility of an enhanced economic engagement, said YK Sinha, Indias high commissioner to the UK.

Londons eagerness is reflected by Tariq Ahmad, minister for the Commonwealth, who admits that we have neglected (the Commonwealth) in terms of other prioritieswe havent paid attention to our relationships, but there are huge opportunitiesthe person who is overseeing (CHOGM) is the prime minister (Theresa May) herself.

There are already a large number of studies, documents and proclamations with lofty words on various issues: business, people, youth and women. As Sinha put it, the advocacy agenda of the Commonwealth has focused for too long on a prescriptive approach. The grouping lacks a mechanism for enforcement and is not a major funder.

What shape the re-energised Commonwealth takes remains to be seen, but India  with its long and defining engagement in the group's early years  is expected to be at the centre-stage in framing and taking forward CHOGM 2018s focus areas of security, prosperity, sustainability and fairness.

Modi is likely to lead some sessions on April 19 and go through a busy diary of individual meetings with other heads of state or governments, before joining them at the retreat in Windsor on April 20, when a declaration will conclude the event.

Commonwealth facts:

Founded: 1949

Head of the Commonwealth: Queen Elizabeth

Secretary-general: Patricia Scotland

Member-states: 53 (31 small states, many of them islands)

Population: 2.4 billion (60% under the age of 30)

Smallest country: Tuvalu (11,000); largest: India (1.3 billion)

GDP: $13 trillion by 2021

Commonwealth secretariat: Marlborough House, London

Commonwealth organisations: more than 80

CHOGM 2018: April 16 to 20, in London and Windsor, to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and heads of state or government of 52 member-states.Hundreds of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital Saturday, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance that followed unprecedented joint airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain.

Syria air strikes LIVE

A few hours earlier, before sunrise, loud explosions jolted Damascus and the sky turned orange as Syrian air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and what appeared to be a fire lighting up the sky. From a distance, U.S. missiles hitting suburbs of the capital sounded like thunder. Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrias presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents gathered in Damascus landmark Omayyad square, celebrating what they said was the armys success in shooting down or derailing some of the missiles. Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance.

We are not scared of Americas missiles. We humiliated their missiles, said Mahmoud Ibrahim, half his body hanging outside his car window, waving a Syrian flag. The crowd then moved toward the nearby Damascus University where pro-government fighters danced, waving their automatic rifles over their heads.

Syrians wave the national flag and portraits of President Bashar al-Assad as they gather at the Umayyad Square in Damascus on April 14, 2018 (AFP)

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday night that the three allies had launched military strikes to punish Assad for alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again. Trump said Washington is prepared to sustain pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons. A fact-finding team of inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog was in Damascus and had been expected to head to the town of Douma on Saturday, scene of the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed more than 40 people.

The seemingly limited strikes with no apparent future strategy for how to deal with the wider civil war was a cause for relief and celebration by Assad supporters but criticized by the Syrian opposition.

Mohammad Alloush, spokesman for the Army of Islam rebel group, called the airstrikes a farce in a Twitter posting. Nasr al-Hariri, a senior opposition leader, said Syrians need a strategy that leads to a political solution to save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime.

Al-Hariri, in a tweet, suggested the strikes send the wrong message that while it is not OK to use chemical weapons, the Syrian government can continue to use explosive barrels and cluster bombs.

A Syrian military statement said in all, 110 missiles were fired by the U.S., Britain and France and that most of them were shot down or derailed. Russias military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the U.S. and its allies.

The Syrian statement read by Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub said three civilians were wounded in one of the strikes on a military base in Homs, although the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile. He said another attack with a number of missiles targeting a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. Mayhoub said the building housed an educational center and labs.

The attack began at 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of Damascus, shaking the grounds from a distance. The sky looked orange over eastern Damascus, apparently as a result of fires. Air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles from different directions toward incoming missiles.

At about sunrise, the sound of explosions could be heard just as the loudspeakers from the citys mosques called for morning prayers.

A car with loudspeakers blaring the national song Oh Syria, You Are My Love could be heard driving through central Damascus during the attack.

Syrians wave the national flag and wave portraits of President Bashar al-Assad as they gather at the Umayyad Square in Damascus on April 14, 2018. (AFP)

Syrian TV called the attacks a blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses during the initial airstrikes.

Right now this is a one-time shot, he said but did not rule out further attacks. He said the airstrikes were launched against several sites that helped provide Assads ability to create chemical weapons.

Frances foreign minister said the chemical escalation in Syria is not acceptable because it violated the rules of war and of humanity. Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters Saturday that the joint military operation in Syria is legitimate, limited and proportionate.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as neither about intervening in a civil war nor about regime change but a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trumps second order to attack Syria; he authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assads use of sarin gas against civilians.

Trump chastised Syrias two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting murderous dictators, and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the attack on Syria was a crime and declared the leaders of the U.S., France and the U.K. criminals, according to Irans state-run IRNA news agency. The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the strikes and warned of unspecified consequences.

Russias U.S. embassy released a statement warning that the airstrikes will not be left without consequences. It said that all responsibility rests with Washington, London and Paris.

The U.S. missile strike in April 2017 was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. That operation targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

Fridays strikes were aimed to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks. The Pentagons Gen. Joseph Dunford said they a scientific research center in the Damascus area that was involved in research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology; a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs he said was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin production equipment; and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs.

(This story has not been modified from its original version)The US, France and Britain unleashed air strikes on Syria early on Saturday targeting the Damascus regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack on civilians.

Western powers said the strikes were necessary to halt the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Here is a selection of responses from across the world:

Russia

Damascuss ally Moscow reacted with fury to the strikes and said it was calling an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council.

Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Russias ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said such actions will not be left without consequences.

Syria

The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, the foreign ministry said.

State news agency SANA said the attack was doomed to fail.

Iran

Iran, another key backer of Assads regime, warned the US and its allies were responsible for the regional consequences of this adventurist action, the foreign ministry said, condemning a clear violation of international rules and laws.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced US President Donald Trump, Frances Emmanuel Macron and Britains Theresa May as criminals in remarks published on his Telegram channel.

China

China said it was opposed to the use of force following US-led air strikes against Syria and called for a return to the framework of international law. We consistently oppose the use of force in international relations, and advocate respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on its website.

NATO

I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France... This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

NATO considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security, and believes that it is essential to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention, the statement added.

This calls for a collective and effective response by the international community.

United Nations

I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.

He urged the UN Security Council to agree on establishing an inquiry that would identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks.

Russia this week vetoed a US proposal to set up such a panel on the suspected attack in Syria.

Turkey

We welcome this operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

It accused Damascus of carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syrias seven-year civil war.

European Union

European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter that the European Union supported the strikes and will stand with our allies on the side of justice.

Germany

German chancellor Angela Merkel backed what she called a necessary and appropriate military intervention. We support the fact that our American, British and French allies have taken responsibility in this way as permanent members of the UN Security Council, Merkel said.

Amnesty International

All precautions must be taken to minimise harm to civilians in any military action, Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at rights watchdog Amnesty International USA said in a statement.Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

Syria air strikes LIVE

Todays dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals, Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits, Khamenei said.

Iran - the dominant Shiite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States other Sunni Arab friends - has fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Irans pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani also warned that the U.S.-led missile attack on Syria would lead to further destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks, Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Rouhani signalled that Irans support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would grow.

The Syrian nation will continue to resist against foreign aggression ...Iran has always helped and will continue to support oppressed nations in the region and around the globe, Rouhani said.

Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said: The Syrian people will certainly answer these attacks and the people of the world should condemn this aggression, Fars news agency reported.

An official in Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republics most powerful arm, said the fallout from the attacks will be at Washingtons expense.

With this attack ... the situation will become more complex, and this will surely be at the expense of the United States, which will be responsible for the aftermath of upcoming regional events that will certainly not be in their interest, Yadollah Javani, the Guards deputy head for political affairs, told Fars news agency.

The resistance front will be strengthened and it will have more capacity to act against (U.S.) acts of intervention. Americans should expect the consequences of their actions, Javani said.

Iran often refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the United States as a resistance front.

Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism, Irans Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state, it said.

Iran has been Assads most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict. Iran-backed militias helped his army stem rebel advances and, following Russias entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in Assads favour.

Analyst Hossein Sheikholeslam, a former Iranian ambassador to Damascus, told state television the attacks would help unite Syrians behind the government.

These attacks will stabilise the Syrian government... and unite the different tribes in Syria as Syrians become aware of their honour and come to the defence of the independence, territorial integrity and the government of their country, Sheikholeslam said.

(This story has not been modified from its original version)Loud explosions rocked Syrias capital and filled the sky with heavy smoke early Saturday after US President Donald Trump announced air strikes in retaliation to the countrys alleged use of chemical weapons. Syrian television reported that air defences responded to the attack.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and the sky turned orange. A huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. Syrian television reported that a scientific research centre had been hit.

Syrian media reported that air defences hit 13 rockets south of Damascus. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrias presidency tweeted after airstrikes began.

Trump announced Friday night that the three allies had launched military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for the alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again.

Damascus is seen as the US launches an attack on Syria. (AP Photo)

The US president said the U.S. is prepared to sustain pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.

Trump said the joint attack was expected to include barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace. He described the main aim as establishing a strong deterrent against chemical weapons use.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trumps second order to attack Syria; he authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assads use of sarin gas against civilians.

Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo)

Trump chastised Syrias two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting murderous dictators, and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

The allied operation comes a year after the US missile strike that Trump said was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The one-off missile strike in April 2017 targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

Fridays strikes appear to signal Trumps willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a long-time fight with Syria.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances, he said. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home.

The US has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli

Kathmandu, Nepal: Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli has reiterated his commitment on behalf of Nepal government to fulfill all the basic needs of all the nationals within a short span of time.





Addressing to the nation from Rara Lake, of Mugu district on the eve of the new Nepali New Year- 2075 on Saturday, Prime Minister Oli, who is also the chairman of the CPN UML, claimed that the government has already initiated works to eradicate absolute poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, lack of basic health facilities and others.





No people will deprive from minimum facilities like employment, transportation, electricity, drinking water and many others, Oli said during his first address to the nation after his emergence as the Prime Minister for the second term.





Primer Oli also inaugurated the Karnali Rara Tourism Year-2075 in Rara Lake. He is also scheduled to launch the School Admission Campaign too from Mugu district.

This is the link to view the detail text of the address of Prime Minister Oli :-A new UN report puts Myanmars armed forces on a UN blacklist of government and rebel groups credibly suspected of carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence in conflict for the first time.

An advance copy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres report to the Security Council, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, says international medical staff and others in Bangladesh have documented that many of the almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled from Myanmar bear the physical and psychological scars of brutal sexual assault.

The UN chief said the assaults were allegedly perpetrated by the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, at times acting in concert with local militias, in the course of military clearance operations in October 2016 and August 2017.

The widespread threat and use of sexual violence was integral to this strategy, serving to humiliate, terrorise and collectively punish the Rohingya community, as a calculated tool to force them to flee their homelands and prevent their return, Guterres said.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar doesnt recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic group, insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. It has denied them citizenship, leaving them stateless.

The recent spasm of violence began when Rohingya insurgents launched a series of attacks last Aug. 25 on about 30 security outposts and other targets. Myanmar security forces then began a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages that the UN and human rights groups have called a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Violence was visited upon women, including pregnant women, who are seen as custodians and propagators of ethnic identity, as well as on young children, who represent the future of the group, Guterres said. This can be linked to an inflammatory narrative alleging that high fertility rates among the Rohingya represent an existential threat to the majority population.

The report, which will be a focus of a UN Security Council meeting Monday on preventing sexual violence in conflict, puts 51 government, rebel and extremist groups on the list.

They include 17 from Congo including the armed forces and national police, seven from Syria including the armed forces and intelligence services, six each from Central African Republic and South Sudan, five from Mali, four from Somalia, three from Sudan, one each from Iraq and Myanmar, and Boko Haram which operates in several countries.

As a general trend, Guterres said, the rise or resurgence of conflict and violent extremism, with its ensuing proliferation of arms, mass displacement, and collapsed rule of law, triggers patterns of sexual violence.

This was evident in many places in 2017 as insecurity spread to new regions in Central African Republic, violence surged in eastern and central Congo, conflict engulfed South Sudan, violence wracked Syria and Yemen, and ethnic cleansing in the guise of clearance operations unfolded in Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, he said.

Guterres said most victims are politically and economically marginalised women and girls concentrated in remote, rural areas with the least access to services that can help them, and in refugee camps and areas for the displaced.

The year 2017 also saw sexual violence continue to be employed as a tactic of war, terrorism, torture and repression, he said, citing conflicts in CAR, Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan as examples of this alarming trend.

Guterres said sexual violence continues to serve as a push factor for forced displacement in places such as Colombia, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Syria. And he said it remained a heightened risk in transit, refugee and displacement settings.

The secretary-general said the effects of sexual violence can impact generations as a result of trauma, stigma, poverty, poor health and unwanted pregnancy.

In South Sudan, for instance, Guterres said sexual violence is so prevalent that a Commission of Inquiry described women and girls as collectively traumatised. He said children born of this violence have been labelled bad blood or children of the enemy and warned that this vulnerability may leave them susceptible to recruitment, radicalisation and trafficking.

Guterres said many women, including Rohingya refugees, are reluctant to return to locations they fled where forces including alleged perpetrators remain in control.

Colombia is the only country in which children conceived through wartime rape are legally recognised as victims, though it has been difficult for them to access redress without being stigmatised, he said.

The secretary-general lamented that most incidents of mass rape continue to be met with mass impunity.

For example, Guterres said, not a single member of the Islamic State extremist group or Boko Haram has been prosecuted for sexual violence offences to date.President Donald Trump on Saturday hailed a US-led missile assault on Syrias regime as perfectly executed, despite the limited nature of the strikes and Russias condemnation, which further heightened tensions between the Cold War foes.

Syria LIVE

The UN Security Council was set to meet at Moscows request at 1500 GMT over the operation, which was unleashed by the US, Britain and France in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.

The strikes were targeted to inflict maximum damage on sites linked to chemical weapons development. A top Pentagon official, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, said the action would set back Syrias chemical weapons program for years.

The sounds of massive explosions rang out across Damascus just before dawn on Saturday, ushering in 45 minutes of explosions and the roar of warplanes, AFPs correspondent in the city said.

Flashes flared in the distance and by daybreak, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the citys north and east.

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military, Trump tweeted early Saturday.

Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White later told reporters: We successfully hit every target.

Both the regime of Syrias Bashar al-Assad and its ally Russia have denied all responsibility for the deadly Douma attack, and Moscow slammed the aggressive actions of the Western coalition, but it has not yet responded militarily.

In May 2003, President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant Mission Accomplished banner and declared that major combat operations in Iraq have ended  just six weeks after the invasion.

But the war dragged on for many years after that and the banner became a symbol of U.S. misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly conflict. Bush was heavily criticized for the move.

Crimes of a monster

US President Donald Trump announced the joint action against Assads regime from the White House late Friday.

Trump said the strikes were a direct response to the April 7 attack on Douma, outside Damascus, that rescuers and monitors say killed more than 40 people.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead, Trump said.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called the strikes a one-time shot with no additional military action planned for now.

Smoke rises as the U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey fires Tomahawk land attack missiles in this still image from Pentagon's video released on April 14, 2018 (REUTERS)

The strikes were the biggest foreign military action so far against Syrias regime.

The targets included a scientific research facility near Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs, and a third location near Homs that contained both a command post and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility, the US military said.

The facilities hit had however reportedly been evacuated in recent days.

Syrian state media reported only three people injured, while Russias defense ministry said there were no victims among Syrian civilians and military personnel.

Defiant Assad

Assad, who has denied ever using chemical weapons against his opponents, responded to the strikes with a defiant vow.

This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country, he said.

Assads key ally Iran also slammed the attack, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing Western leaders as criminals.

The targets appeared to steer well clear of any Russian personnel or equipment in Syria, where Moscow launched a military intervention in support of Assad in 2015.

The Russian military claimed Syrian air defense systems had intercepted 71 Western missiles, though the Pentagon disputed that.

Rally in Damascus

In central Damascus, dozens of Syrians arrived on bicycles, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white, and black colors of the Syrian flag, blaring patriotic tunes.

Nedher Hammoud, 48, claimed to have seen missiles being shot down like flies.

Let them do what they want, kill who they want... History will record that Syria shot down missiles -- and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance.

Despite the strikes, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it was still planning on carrying out its investigation into the Douma attack.

Thousands of rebels and civilians have since been bussed out of the town under a Russian-brokered deal. Syrian internal security forces entered Douma on Saturday and were poised to declare their control over it within hours.

Jaish al-Islam, the group that held Douma, said it only abandoned the town because of the chemical attack.

Leading Jaish al-Islam member Mohammad Alloush said Saturday the Western strikes had not gone far enough.

Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal -- a farce, Alloush wrote on Twitter.

And Ahmad, a 25-year-old mechanic who had been displaced from Douma, told AFP the Western strikes were too little, too late.

Assad wont collapse. Theyll bomb for a day or two and then the regime will take it out on us, he said.

The specter of military strikes had hung over Syria since harrowing footage of victims in Douma sparked outrage from Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

France said it fired cruise missiles from frigates in the Mediterranean and deployed fighter jets from home bases on Saturday.

Britains defense ministry said four British Tornado jets had fired Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Homs.

UN chief urges restraint

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and President Vladimir Putins administration had repeatedly warned Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

Despite the warnings, Washington, Paris and London insisted their own secret intelligence belied Assads guilt. A US spokeswoman said Friday the allies had proof.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who delayed a planned trip to Saudi Arabia and was to brief the Security Council, called for calm.

I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances, he said in a statement.

(This story has not been modified from its original version)The United States, France and Britain on Saturday struck targets in Syria with airstrikes in retaliation for an apparent chemical weapons attack outside Damascus by Bashar al-Assads regime that had left more than 40 people dead last week.

Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assads programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrias presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Here are the LIVE updates:

11:50pm: UN Security Council rejects Russian resolution condemning aggression against Syria by the US and its allies

10:31pm: U.S.-led strikes in Syria are an important signal to Iran, Syria and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a senior Israeli cabinet minister said on Saturday.

10:30pm: Pakistan today expressed grave concern over the situation in Syria and urged all sides to follow the UN Charter and resolve the crisis in the war-torn country.

9:26pm: Saudi Arabia on Saturday extended support to the coordinated missile strikes by the US, Britain and France on military targets in Syria.

9:25pm: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that U.S.-led strikes on Syria were unacceptable and lawless.

9:25pm: The United States is locked and loaded to strike again if Syrias President Bashar al-Assads government again uses chemical weapons, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council on Saturday.

9:01pm: U.N. chief urges restraint, avoid escalation in Syria .

9:00pm: French Army head says two sites hit by strikes near Syrias Homs were used to stick and assemble chemical weapons.

8:55pm: UN Security Council opens meeting at Russias request to discuss military strikes carried out by the US, France and Britain in Syria.

8:36pm: Algeria has criticized air strikes carried out by the United States, France and Britain against Syria, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said.

8:35pm: Germany says only political solution will bring lasting peace to Syria.

7:49pm: The Pentagon says none of the missiles fired by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. The Russian military had previously said Syrias Soviet-made air defense systems downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the United States and its allies.

7:48pm: The Pentagon said it destroyed three chemical weapons facilities of the Syrian regime.

7:40pm: Strikes will set Syria chemical weapons program back for years says Pentagon.

6:59pm: The Pentagon says that U.S. strikes in Syria overnight had successfully hit every target.

6:52pm: Pentagon says, has not seen any military response from actors in Syria since strikes.

6:51pm: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed U.S., British and French forces airstrikes on Syria, saying that the operation sent a message to Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

6:47pm: Indias External Affairs Ministry says, We have taken note of the recent strikes in Syria. India is closely following the situation. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable. We call for an impartial and objective investigation by the OPCW to establish the facts says.

6:02pm: US President Donald Trump tweets, So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There wont be anything, or anyone, even close.

5:59pm:

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

5:44pm: Egypt said on Saturday it was deeply concerned over a military escalation in Syria which could affect the safety of Syrian people and threaten agreements to curb tension.

5:20pm: UNSC to meet at 1500 GMT on Syria strikes at the request of Russia.

5:13pm: Russia deputy foreign minister says Moscow in contact with US and other countries involved in Air strikes on Syria.

4:55pm: British Prime Minister Theresa May faced a backlash from the domestic opposition after launching military strikes Saturday on Syria without consulting parliament.

4:29pm: The Fact-Finding Mission team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma, the OPCW said in a brief statement.

4:20pm: Air strikes carried out by the United States, France and Britain against Syrian military targets could give terrorism an opportunity to expand in the region, the Iraqi foreign ministry said on Saturday.

4:19pm: Saudi Arabia on Saturday expressed its full support for US-led strikes on Syrian government military installations, saying they were a response to regime crimes against civilians.

4:07pm: Jordan says political solution is only way to gurantee Syria security and its territorial integrity.

3:30pm: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says, This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country.

3:16pm: China is opposed to the use of force in Syria, says foreign ministry. We consistently oppose the use of force in international relations, and advocate respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying says.

3:15pm: Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani quoted as saying by semi-official Tasnim news agency.

3:10pm: Security permitting, a team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will deploy briefly to the site where dozens of people were allegedly gassed on April 7, two diplomatic sources say.

3:00pm: French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says missile strikes destroyed a large part of the Damascus governments stocks of chemical weapons. More strikes possible if Syria uses chemical weapons again, the minister adds.

2:35pm: A prominent Syrian rebel faction says Western strikes against government positions were a farce as long as President Bashar al-Assad remained in power. Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal -- a farce, writes Mohammad Alloush, a key member of the Jaish al-Islam rebel group.

2:30pm: The French military fired 12 missiles during its air strikes on Syria, defence ministry officials say.

2:13pm: Russia may consider supplying S-300 missile systems to Syria and other countries, Russian Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi says.

2:12pm: After technical analysis of open sources and reliable intelligence, France concludes that a chemical attack on Douma on April 7 was carried out by Syrian government forces, a declassified intelligence report shows.

2:10pm: The Russian military says Western allies fired 103 cruise missiles including Tomahawk missiles at Syria but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them.

2:00pm: This (strikes) collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons, says British Prime Minister Theresa May, calling the military action right and legal.

1:55pm: According to preliminary information, there were no victims among peaceful civilians and the Syrian military, senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi says at a briefing in Moscow.

1:50pm: The current escalation of the situation in Syria has a destructive effect on the whole system of international relations, the Kremlin says.

1:49pm: British opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn says Prime Minister Theresa May should have sought approval from parliament before ordering cruise missile strikes against Syria. Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, Corbyn, a veteran anti-war campaigner, says.

1:46pm: The European Union will stand with our allies over Syria strikes, says Donald Tusk, president of the European Council.

1:45pm: Germany backs necessary and appropriate military intervention in Syria, says Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Syrians wave the national flag and wave portraits of President Bashar al-Assad as they gather at the Umayyad Square in Damascus to condemn the strikes carried out by the United States, Britain and France against the Syrian regime. (AFP photo)

1:30pm: Russian President Vladimir Putin says strike on Syria by US and its allies will exacerbate humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

1:15pm: Russia is calling an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions of the US and its allies, the Kremlin says in a statement.

1:10pm: Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism, the Kremlin says.

12:50pm: US allies will not gain any achievements from crimes in Syria. Attacking Syria is a crime. US president, UK prime minister and the president of France are criminals, Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says in a speech cited by Iranian TV.

12:43pm: Missile strikes against Syria have had a significant impact on what the government of President Bashar al-Assad can do in the future, Britains defence secretary Gavin Williamson says.

12:30pm: Emphasising that the strikes are directed at the Syrian regime, Mattis says in conducting these strikes, the US has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties. But it is time for all civilised nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process.

12:10pm: The US has a large body of evidence indicating that the Assad regime was responsible for the April 7 chemical attack in Duma and that Syrian military officials coordinated the attack, the White House says.

12:05pm: Russia has not used its air defence systems in Syria in response to Western air strikes targeting the Damascus regime, news agencies quoted the defence ministry as saying.

12:00pm: Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people, Trudeau says.

11:35am: France wants to start working right now on resuming the political process aimed at ending the conflict in Syria, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says.

11:32am: Turkey welcomes strikes on Syria as appropriate:, says its foreign ministry.

11:30am: The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah praises the Syrian air defence for confronting the attack and says a US war against Syria and resistance movements will fail to achieve its objectives.

11:25am: Hundreds of Syrians gather at landmark squares in Damascus, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance that followed the airstrikes. We are your men, Bashar, they shouted.

A Syrian soldier holds up his weapon during demonstrations. (AP Photo)

11:20am: The Western attack on Syria will not have any impact on the Syrian armys resolve to press the fight against militants and restore control of the entire country, the Syrian foreign ministry says.

11:07am: The French military targeted Syrias main chemicals research centre as well as two other facilities, French defence minister Florence Parly says. We are not looking for confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation, that is the reason why we, with our allies, ensured the Russians were warned beforehand, Parly adds.

11:05am: Syria condemns brutal, barbaric aggression by Western powers. A statement carried by state news agency SANA says the strikes aimed to block a probe by the OPCW global chemical watchdog into an alleged gas attack outside Damascus. The attack aims at hindering the missions work and pre-empting its results, says the statement quoting a source at the Syrian foreign ministry.

11:00am: Syria represents the most serious threat to international peace and security, says UN chief Antonio Guterres. I have been following closely the reports of air strikes in Syria conducted by the US, France and the UK. Theres an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nations and with international law in general. The UN Charter is very clear on these issues, he says.

10:55am: Russian lawmaker Vladimir Dzhabarov says Russia is likely to call for a meeting of the United Nations security council to discuss the air strikes: RIA news agency.

A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria on Friday night. (AFP Photo)

10:50am: French defense minister says Russia was warned ahead of joint US, UK, French military attacks on Syria. French foreign minister says joint military operation is legitimate, limited and proportionate.

10:45am: More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets, the Russian defence ministry says in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, adding that a significant number were shot down by Syrian air defences.

10:35am: US-led strikes have enforced a red line set for President Bashar al-Assad on the use of chemical weapons, an Israeli official says. Last year, President Trump made clear that the use of chemical weapons crosses a red line. Tonight, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom enforced that line, Israeli official says.

10:25am: UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres calls for restraint and for countries to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation in Syria.

10:18am: The United States and its allies have no proof and, without even waiting for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to take a position, have carried out this military attack... and are responsible for the regional consequences, says Iran foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi on his Telegram channel.

Syrian people protest against US-led air strikes in a street in Damascus, Syria , on Saturday. (Reuters photo)

10:15am: I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France... This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons, head of NATO, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg says.

10:13am: We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons, says French President Emmanuel Macron.

10:12am: British Prime Minister Theresa May says she had authorised British forces to conduct precision air-launched cruise missile strikes on Syria to degrade its chemical weapons capability, saying there was no alternative to military action.

10:10am: US, British and French air strikes are a violation of international law and are likely meant to prevent investigators from the global chemical weapons watchdog from doing their work, a senior Russian lawmaker says.

10:08am: Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov says Russia has warned that such actions will not be left without consequences and all responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. He adds that insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.

10:06am: Syrian state-run TV says three civilians have been wounded in the US-led missile attack on a military base in Homs.

10:05am: Sites hit in the US-led strike in Syria included an air base west of Damascus near the Lebanese border, a commander in the regional military alliance that backs President Bashar al-Assad says.

The sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of Damascus, early on Saturday. (AP Photo)

10:00am: Syrian state media slams Western strikes as illegal and doomed to fail. The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international communitys will, and it is doomed to fail, said state news agency SANA.

9:55am: The Russian defence ministry says none of the strikes had hit areas near to Russias air and naval bases.

9:50am: Russias foreign ministry says Western strikes on Syria came as the country had a chance of a peaceful future. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook: Those behind all this claim moral leadership in the world and declare they are exceptional. You need to be really exceptional to shell Syrias capital at the moment when it had gained a chance of a peaceful future.

9:45am: Human rights watchdog Amnesty International says air strikes on Syria should minimise harm to civilians and urged US President Donald Trump to take in Syrian refugees. The people of Syria have already endured six years of devastating attacks, including chemical attacks, many of which amount to war crimes, Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for Middle East North Africa at Amnesty International USA says.

What we know so far:

*The strikes were aimed at chemical weapons infrastructure in what the US billed as a warning against Assad employing such weapons in the future -- a warning he has not heeded in the past.

*They targeted a scientific research facility in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs and a third location that contained both a command post and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility in the same area, the US military said.

*US, British and French naval and air assets took part in the strikes, which US defense chief James Mattis said employed more than twice the amount of munitions used in American strikes in Syria last year, in which 59 Tomahawk missiles were fired.

*Britains defense ministry said that four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles, while the French defense ministry released video footage of Rafale warplanes taking off to carry out the strikes.

*Syria fired surface-to-air missiles in response to the attacks but Russia apparently did not, the US said, despite a threat from the countrys ambassador to Lebanon that Moscows forces would do so.British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday said she had authorised British forces to conduct precision air-launched cruise missile strikes on Syria to degrade its chemical weapons capability, saying there was no alternative to military action.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets using Storm Shadow missiles had taken part in the attack on a military facility near Homs where it was assessed Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britains Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The strike, conducted with the United States and France, was limited and targeted, designed to minimise any civilian casualties, May said. The MoD said the initial indications were that the precision weapons and meticulous target planning had resulted in a successful attack.

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change, May said in a statement.

She said the strike was a response to significant evidence including intelligence showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government was responsible for attack using chemical weapons in Douma in Syria last Saturday that killed up to 75 people including children.

May added Britain and its allies had sought to use every diplomatic means to stop the use of chemical weapons, but had been repeatedly thwarted, citing a Russian veto of an independent investigation into the Douma attack at the UN Security Council this week.

So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime, she said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France had joined the US and Britain in an ongoing operation of strikes to target the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons.

We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons, he said in a statement issued shortly after huge explosions were heard in Syrias capital early Saturday followed by the sound of airplanes overhead.

For Macron, the facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime are not in doubt, concerning the deaths of dozens of men, women and children in what he said was a chemical weapons attack on April 7 in Douma.

The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed, he said.

The French presidency on Saturday issued a video on Twitter showing what it said were Rafale war planes taking off in an intervention against the chemical weapons facilities of the Syrian regime.

The Western missile strikes demonstrate the volatile nature of the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011 as an anti-Assad uprising but is now a proxy conflict involving a number of world and regional powers and a myriad of insurgent groups.

US President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until the government of Assad stopped its use of chemical weapons.

Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, has denied there was a chemical attack and has accused Britain of helping to stage the Douma incident to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

Chemical weapons targets

Britains defence ministry said very careful scientific analysis had been applied to maximise the destruction of stockpiled chemicals while minimising any risk of contamination to surrounding areas.

The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk, the MoD said in a statement.

Missiles streak across the Damascus skyline as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital, early on Saturday. (AP Photo)

May said while the strike was targeted at Syria, it sent a message to anyone who used chemical weapons. Britain has accused Russia of being behind last months nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, southern England, a charge Moscow has rejected.

This is the first time as prime minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly, she said.

I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britains national interest. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world.

Many politicians in Britain, including some in Mays own Conservative Party, had called for parliament to be recalled from a break to give authority to any military strike.

May is not obliged to win parliaments approval before ordering military action, but a non-binding constitutional convention to do so has been established since a 2003 vote on joining the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had said Britain should press for an independent U.N.-led investigation into the suspected chemical attack in Douma rather than wait for instructions from Trump on how to proceed.The United States said on Saturday it dealt a severe blow to the heart Syrias chemical weapons infrastructure in a joint military strike it carried out early in the morning with allies Britain and France in retaliation for a suspected gas attack earlier in the month that killed more than 40 people and injured hundreds.

The US and its allies have accused Syrias Bashar al-Assad of ordering a chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town Douma, just outside Damascus, on April 7 that killed more than 40 people. They have alleged the Syrian government used chlorine gas in that attack, and possibly others

These are not the actions of a man, Trump said in an address to the nation on Friday from the White House Diplomatic Room. They are crimes of a monster instead.

Mission accomplished, he wrote on Twitter on Saturday, forgetting perhaps that the last time a US president used those two words, things had not gone too well  when President George W Bush declared victory in the Iraq war just weeks after the 2003 invasion. The war dragged on for years.

Syrias chief allies, Russia and Iran, called the use of force by the United States, Britain and France a military crime and act of aggression with the potential to worsen a humanitarian crisis after years of civil war. The UN Security Council planned to meet later Saturday at Moscows request.

Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrian President Bashar Assad tweeted, while hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus, the capital, where they flashed victory signs and waved flags in scenes of defiance after the one-hour barrage launched early Saturday.

Officials in the Indian government said the situation was being closely monitored. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable. We call for an impartial and objective investigation by the OPCW to establish the facts, said a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, adding that New Delhi would also urge all parties to show restraint and avoid any further escalation in the situation.

OPCW is short for Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The matter should be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, and on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter and in accordance with international law, said the official.

For now though, the allies were done. Defense secretary James Mattis said the Friday strikes were a one-time shot. But more could follow if there were more CW attacks, American officials have said, The United States had first struck Syria in April 2017 after a chemical weapons attack, launching 58 Tomahawk missiles against a an airbase.

Before a planned Pentagon briefing on Saturday, American officials said Air Force B-1B strategic bombers launched JASSM standoff missiles for the first time in combat, evading Syrian air defences. In all, the Navy launched a little more than 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles from destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea. The officials, who provided details on condition of anonymity ahead of public announcements, said Syrias air defences were ineffective.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma, where the apparent use of poison gas against civilians on April 7 that killed more than 40 people compelled the Western allies to launch their attack. Syria has denied the accusation.

But Frances foreign minister said there was no doubt the Assad government was responsible, and he threatened further retaliatory strikes if chemical weapons were used again, as did Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who said the assault was a one-time shot, as long as chemical weapons werent used again.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlins skepticism about the allies Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to visit the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May cited reports she said indicated the Syrian government used a barrel bomb  large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal  to deliver the chemicals. No other group could have carried out that attack, she said, adding that the allies use of force was right and legal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Wests response was necessary and appropriate.

(With inputs from Associated Press in Washington and HT Correspondent in New Delhi)The following is the full text of US President Donald Trumps remarks on Friday announcing military strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assads chemical weapons capabilities after a poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last week.

The President:

My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.

Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action.

One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian Air Force.

Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians -- this time, in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead.

Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.

To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?

The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.

In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syrias chemical weapons. Assads recent attack -- and todays response -- are the direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise.

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday well get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran -- but maybe not.

I will say this: The United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.

In Syria, the United States -- with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS -- is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.

The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home. And great warriors they are.

Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil, or act everywhere there is tyranny.

No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. Its a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of the World War I, more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return.

So today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.

Tonight, I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions.

We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

Thank you, and goodnight. Thank you.About 10 days ago, US President Donald Trump told national security aides that he wanted US forces out of Syria in six months or so, adamant that it was time to bring them home after largely defeating Islamic State militants.

Very soon, very soon, were coming out, Trump said in telegraphing his thoughts to a crowd in Richfield, Ohio, on March 30. Were going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.

Now, Trump has abruptly deepened US involvement in Syria, mustering a coalition of US, French and British forces to attack Syrian facilities related to production of chemical weapons after a poison gas attack last week killed dozens of people in Douma, Syria.

Read| Syria air strikes LIVE: Assad says US-led attack increases resolve to continue fighting, crushing terrorism

Aides said Trumps attitude changed when he was shown images of Syrians killed by the chemical weapons last Saturday, about a year after he first ordered air strikes against Syrian targets to retaliate for an earlier use of the banned substances.

When he sees these sorts of things, they outrage him, said a source familiar with the internal debate at the White House.

Trump had also grown exasperated with Russia for doing nothing to stop the Syrian government from using the weapons.

He first made clear that he intended to launch new attacks in a series of tweets earlier this week, issuing warnings against not only Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but also Russia and Iran.

It was an unusual strategy, a departure from the usual US practice of launching surprise attacks.

Hounded by controversies related to a federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, Trump stayed out of the public eye much of this week, locked in White House Situation Room meetings about Syria.

Defense Secretary James Mattis, new national security adviser John Bolton, Vice President Mike Pence and US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley were all involved in the talks.

Behind closed doors, Trump pushed for a more aggressive response than the one taken last year, wanting options that would involve attacks on targets in Syria associated with Russia and Iran, officials said.

His generals pushed back, not wanting to escalate tensions with those two countries, the officials said.

Hours after the first missiles fell on Friday night, it was not yet clear how extensive the attacks were.

Mattis described them as a one-time shot to send a strong message to Assad not to use chemical weapons again.

That appeared to contradict Trumps own pledge that the United States, France and Britain would sustain the military campaign until Assad stops using prohibited chemical agents.

While Trump was determined to respond to the chemical attack, he also said the United States does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances.

As Trump announced the military action, Pence was in Peru attending the Summit of the Americas. Trump had been scheduled to attend but stayed in Washington to focus on Syria.

Pence abruptly left the summits opening ceremonies and returned to his hotel in time to make secure phone calls to congressional leaders to tell them about the strikes.

Pence was in constant contact with Washington on his trip, speaking multiple times to Trump and also to Bolton. He again spoke to Trump after the attacks were launched, an aide said.A chap in my office is going on a three-week business trip next month, so he decides he will let his one-bedroom flat in a trendy part of south London via Airbnb while he's gone.

But when he uploads his property details on to the short lettings company's website, he is appalled that its automated pricing system suggests he charges a nightly rate of just 27.

Twenty-seven quid? he shouts. I'd rather leave it empty, it's not worth the hassle. I agree with him, it's not worth it.

Even if his flat is let every night for three weeks, he will only earn 567, so after he has paid the energy bills, a cleaning company, insurance and storage costs for all his personal clutter and valuables that he wants to remove from the flat, plus Airbnb's commission, he'll end up with about 200.

Actually, he could earn far less because the flat probably won't be let every single night.

My co-worker is shocked because three years ago he let a similar one-bedroom flat in the same area for more than 100 a night on Airbnb, but I think the market in London has since been flooded with holiday rentals, forcing prices down.

If you have a high-end flat or luxury house in central London or one of the smarter suburbs, you might still be able to make a killing, but not if you have a property in deepest suburbia.

When my two-bedroom rental was empty for a couple of weeks recently, I advertised it on Airbnb and regretted it afterwards.

One group of three paid 175 for five nights, most of which went on the cost of cleaning and heating the flat. I also had to wash and change the linen on two beds and launder three sets of towels.

One afternoon I received a phone call from the group to say the front door key had jammed in the lock so they couldn't get in. However, when I hurried over there with a spare key I found them trying to get into the wrong house.

The day after they left I had a message from another guest who said he was standing outside the flat and he wanted to book it immediately for five days, which was my minimum booking period.

After checking his profile on Airbnb, I rushed over to let him and his girlfriend into the property and everything seemed fine, but the following morning he wanted to move out and asked for a refund for the unused nights.

I realised then that the cheeky sod had never intended to stay for more than 24 hours  he had just used the place as somewhere cheap to shack up for the night.

When I refused him a refund he asked for a discount instead. Given that he was only paying 35 a night I laughed, so he complained to Airbnb that the property was so dirty he couldn't be expected to stay.

The flat had been professionally cleaned and the guest was unable to provide any evidence to back up his claim, but Airbnb suggested that either I paid for a second clean to keep him happy or I refund him. I was incensed.

The guy was a chancer, but I decided that life is too short to try to win every battle and agreed to the refund. Life is also too short for me to waste any more time trying to run an Airbnb flat. It's back to long-stay tenants for me.WARNING for European visitors European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.

As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.President Trump ordered a military attack against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday, joining France and the United Kingdom in launching missile strikes in retaliation for last weekend's chemical weapons attack.

Trump addressed the nation on Friday night, saying the strike was a joint operation with France and the United Kingdom. "A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said.

Trump said that the "massacre" last weekend in Syria "was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man," Trump said, referring to Assad. "They are crimes of a monster instead.

Tonight, I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions. We pray that god will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that god will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

Trump said the mandate for an allied attack was open-ended, but Pentagon chiefs later said the strikes Friday would be repeated only if Assad took further action that warranted a response.

Check out Trump address the nation (below), and say a prayer that we don't go into WWIII anytime soon.Meek Mill has been receiving a ton of support from behind bars as he serves his controversial sentencing for violating probation. Everyone from Jay Z, T.I., Wale, Rick Ross, Ben Simmons, Joell Embiid, and even Patriots owner Robert Kraft have all showed their support and/or visited the MMG rapper in the Pennsylvania state prison. As of lately however, weve been getting a few more updates than usual, as NBCs Lester Holt got on the phone with the Philly rapper yesterday and talked with Meek about his sentencing. Then on Friday, just 24 hours after Lester Holt called in, Meek decided to hop back on the phone with fellow Philadelphia superstar Kevin Hart, who took to his Instagram to share a couple things from their chat.

Just got off the phone with @meekmill ....I love my guy...Hes in a really good space and wanted me to share some things with you guys!!!!! #FreeMeekMill #Philadelphia #MyBrother #PositivityBeatsNegativityEveryDayOfTheWeek, Kevs captions read.

Kevin says Meek isnt allowing this minor setback to break him, and is displaying another level of mental toughness. Kev added: Meek wanted me to tell all of his fans and supporters that he truly appreciates all of your support & that he loves all of you for that.

As for when hell be out remains to be seen as rumors were saying that Meek could be released as early as next week, but we found out that isnt going to be happening unfortunately.

While we wait for further updates, check out Kevins lengthy message (below). #FreeMeekMillYesterday had to have been an awkward day for the Kardashians with Tristan Thompson standing by his girlfriend Khloe as she gave birth to their daughter. This week, Tristan has been under fire with accusations of him being a serial cheater erupting as he has reportedly been spotted kissing five different women during Khloe's pregnancy. Spotted leaving the hospital after the birth of his daughter, we can't imagine it to have been a comfortable situation in the delivery room. With security cam footage as evidence and a posted-and-deleted sex tape, the future of Khloe and Tristan's relationship is up in the blue, and the Kardashian sisters allegedly had no interest in breathing the same air as him.

According to The Sun, Kim and Kourtney "felt sick" at the idea of striking up conversation with the Cleveland Cavalier as Khloe went into labor. While they found his mere presence to be repulsive, they sucked it up as they agreed that unnecessary tension was not appropriate during such an important landmark in Khloe's life. Giving birth to a healthy baby girl, Kim and Kourtney tellingly acted like nothing had happened in their attempt to create a stress-free environment, but insiders told The Sun that the pair were "sick" at the thought of what Tristan may have done to their sister.

Khloe is expected to fly back to Los Angeles later tonight with her newborn baby, with a private jet waiting for her at the airport. Whether or not Tristan and Khloe stick together is yet to be determined.After hopes were high that Meek Mill would finally be released from prison, the rumors have been shut down by his attorney, Joe Tacopina. The rapper is currently serving a two-to-four-year sentence for violating his probation but it has been proven that one of his arresting officers is on a list of "corrupt cops." The rumors picked up steam quickly that Meek could potentially get out of jail as soon as Monday with T.I. sharing a headline that states exactly that. While it looked promising, the Philadelphia rapper will reportedly not be released next week.

Meek has been receiving support from the unlikeliest of sources as political figures have visited him, as well as Philadelphia 76ers team owner Michael Rubin. Attorney Joe Tacopina has been publicly open about the trial, speaking to us about the details of the case, and he is refuting claims that Meek could be released Monday. Vulture reports that Tacopina has stated that there is "no truth" to any rumors that his client will walk free next week. Meek is still scheduled to appear in court on April 16 for the post-conviction relief act that was filed earlier this year as his entire defense team hopes for the case to be overturned.

The trial has been controversial since it began, with Meek believing that the judge is biased against him. It remains to be seen if any updates arise in the rapper's case Monday as we will continue to keep you posted.After Meek Mill was arrested for violating his probation earlier this year, his case has been a talking point regarding the broken justice system in the U.S. In a new interview with PageSix, Meek discussed the original charges in 2008 of which his probation stems from. According to the rapper, his arrest ten years ago was itself unjust, and the result of framing by corrupt police officers. Meek has argued that he did not pull a gun on officers, nor did he sell crack to an informant, as the police claimed at the time.

In the middle of a full-blown raid, do you believe that I could point a gun at two officers, when theres 10 other officers in attendance with firearms in the air?," he said. Do you believe in America that I could point a gun at two officers and not be killed or at least shot at? They are trainedto shoot into the target and neutralize, thats why you are seeing young black men who are shot 20 times, 15 times, for reaching for their cellphone in their pocket or running from police."

Meek goes on to say that the police never provided evidence of the drug handoff he was alleged to have had with an informant. The arresting officer, Reggie Graham, was placed on a "tainted" list four months after he left the force. An officer who worked with Graham stated in a sworn affidavit signed in February that Graham had "fabricated search warrants, stole property while on those searches, [and] beat people." The affidavit also states that Graham bragged: I arrested that rapper boy Meek Mill and whooped his ass. An officer who was present for Meek's arrest also stated that he never saw [Meek] lift his gun and point it, and that Graham had fabricated the story. According to Meek, he was handcuffed and beaten by cops in a nearby house.

As we've seen in previous reports, the judge in Meek's case, Judge Genece Brinkley, has also been accused of corruption. "I am a political prisoner," says Meek. "Yes, Im frustrated theres no way in a million years I could get a fair trial in front of this judgeYeah, I am angry, but I am a prisoner of politics  me being in this situation, has brought light to the people who are serving time because of other corrupt cops.

Once officers are corrupted, they say it is fruit from a poisonous tree, anything that he ever did is poisonous, and the cases are supposed to be retried or thrown out," he continued. "I did not point a gun at policeand they arrested me outside, they handcuffed me, they took me into the house and they beat me upand when I came out my face was bloody, I had abrasions to my facemy hair pulled out of my head. The way the cops treated me, they were the thugs, they beat me, they lied about it, and they sent me to jail.

Last month, Meek's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, was optimistic following his discovery that Meek's arresting officer had been outed as corrupt. While the development bodes well for the case, Meek will not be released on bail this month, contrary to reports.Rae Sremmurd are gearing up for their biggest album to date with Sr3mm. The third album from the collective is set to be packaged as a three disc project with one part specifically made for Rae Sremmurd while Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi's solo albums make up the other two discs. After the release of their solo singles, many fans were confused by the credits. For example, Swae's latest single, "Guatemala" is credited as Swae Lee Ft. Slim Jxmmy & Rae Sremmurd. Swae has now taken it upon himself to thoroughly explain why the credits are the way they are.

Swae Lee drew a diagram to break down the three parts of Rae Sremmurd's forthcoming Sr3mm. In a very professor like manner, the rapper broke down the three parts of the album, Sr3mm, Swaecation and Jxmtro to formally explain how it works.

"Our album's a triple disc. Jxmmi side, Rae Sremmurd side and Swae's side, my side. So when we dropped "Powerglide," it said Rae Sremmurd featuring Swae Lee featuring Slim Jxmmi featuring Juicy J. Because that's a song off of Sr3mm side. So that's the Rae Sremmurd side but, it's also featuring Slim Jxmmi on his side and Swae Lee on his side." He said.

Hopefully, his breakdown can help the misguided but, it's clear that with this one, they're not only capitalizing on themselves as a duo but individual artists. He later used "Guatemala" as an example for a solo cut that'll feature both artists and Rae Sremmurd. He says that because a song features both him and Jxmmi, it'll also have Rae Sremmurd credited as a feature because they make up the group.

Peep his breakdown below and let us know you're still confused or not.One of the most anticipated albums of the year remains Travis Scott's Astroworld. Named after a defunct Six Flags amusement park in his hometown of Houston, Travis announced the project's name years ago and fans have been waiting ever since. We have not received many hints regarding the project other than some rumored features. With a Yung Bans collaborative snippet emerging just a few days ago, the excitement has risen yet again for Trav to offer any type of news surrounding the album. Updating his Snapchat story last night, La Flame played a short clip of an unreleased song, possibly being considered for Astroworld.

While we only hear one of Travis' bars from the song, it sounds as though he is using a similar flow to that used on "Motorcycle Patches" from Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho. Although it's impossible to form a complete opinion on the snippet thus far, one thing that is clear is the spacey instrumentals in the background. Cactus Jack raps over a beat that seems tailor-made for him, evoking an expanded galaxy vibe that Travis has proven to be fond of in the past.

The teaser is short but it promises an inevitable release of new music from La Flame. While we are not predicting anything imminently, Astroworld is expected to release before the end of this year and, in the past, September has been a go-to month for releases. Could we be looking at another fall drop for the Texas rapper?Shirley Contreras lives in Orcutt and writes for the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society. She can be contacted at 623-8193 or at shirleycontreras2@yahoo.com. Her book, The Good Years, a selection of stories shes written for the Santa Maria Times since 1991, is on sale at the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society, 616 S. Broadway.Apple warned employees to stop leaking internal information on future plans and raised the specter of potential legal action and criminal charges, one of the most-aggressive moves by the world's largest technology company to control information about its activities.

The Cupertino, California-based company said in a lengthy memo posted to its internal blog that it "caught 29 leakers," last year and noted that 12 of those were arrested. "These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere," Apple added. The company declined to comment on Friday.

Apple outlined situations in which information was leaked to the media, including a meeting earlier this year where Apple's software engineering head Craig Federighi told employees that some planned iPhone software features would be delayed. Apple also cited a yet-to-be-released software package that revealed details about the unreleased iPhone X and new Apple Watch.

Leaked information about a new product can negatively impact sales of current models, give rivals more time to begin on a competitive response, and lead to fewer sales when the new product launches, according to the memo. "We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else," Greg Joswiak, an Apple product marketing executive, said in the memo.

The crackdown is part of broader and long-running attempts by Silicon Valley technology companies to track and limit what information their employees share publicly. Firms like Google and Facebook are pretty open with staff about their plans, but keep close tabs on their outside communications and sometime fire people when they find leaks.

Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg last week talked about her disappointment with leakers. In 2016, Google fired an employee after the person shared internal posts criticizing an executive. The employee filed a lawsuit claiming their speech was protected under California law.

In messages to staff, tech companies sometimes conflate conversations employees are allowed to have, such as complaining about working conditions, with sharing trade secrets, said Chris Baker, an attorney with Baker Curtis and Schwartz, PC, who represents the fired Googler. "The overall broad definition of confidential information makes it so employees don't say anything, even about issues they're allowed to talk about," he said. "That's problematic."

Apple is notoriously secretive about its product development. In 2012, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook pledged to double down on keeping the company's work under wraps. Despite that, the media has continued to report news on the firm to satisfy demand for information on a company that's become a crucial part of investment portfolios, many of which support public retirement funds for teachers and other essential workers.

In 2017, Apple held a confidential meeting with employees in another bid to stop leaks. Since then, publications, including Bloomberg News, published details about the iPhone X, a new Apple TV video-streaming box, a new Apple Watch with LTE, the company's upcoming augmented-reality headset, new iPad models, software enhancements, and details about the upcoming iPhones and AirPods headphones.

Last month, Apple caught and fired the employee responsible for leaking details from an internal, confidential meeting about Apple's software roadmap. Hundreds of software engineers were in attendance, and thousands more within the organization received details of its proceedings. One person betrayed their trust.

The employee who leaked the meeting to a reporter later told Apple investigators that he did it because he thought he wouldn't be discovered. But people who leak -- whether they're Apple employees, contractors or suppliers -- do get caught and they're getting caught faster than ever.

In many cases, leakers don't set out to leak. Instead, people who work for Apple are often targeted by press, analysts and bloggers who befriend them on professional and social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and begin to pry for information. While it may seem flattering to be approached, it's important to remember that you're getting played. The success of these outsiders is measured by obtaining Apple's secrets from you and making them public. A scoop about an unreleased Apple product can generate massive traffic for a publication and financially benefit the blogger or reporter who broke it. But the Apple employee who leaks has everything to lose.

The impact of a leak goes far beyond the people who work on a project.

Leaking Apple's work undermines everyone at Apple and the years they've invested in creating Apple products. "Thousands of people work tirelessly for months to deliver each major software release," says UIKit lead Josh Shaffer, whose team's work was part of the iOS 11 leak last fall. "Seeing it leak is devastating for all of us."

The impact of a leak goes beyond the people who work on a particular project - it's felt throughout the company. Leaked information about a new product can negatively impact sales of the current model; give rival companies more time to begin on a competitive response; and lead to fewer sales of that new product when it arrives. "We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else," says Greg Joswiak of Product Marketing.

Investments by Apple have had an enormous impact on the company's ability to identify and catch leakers. Just before last September's special event, an employee leaked a link to the gold master of iOS 11 to the press, again believing he wouldn't be caught. The unreleased OS detailed soon-to-be-announced software and hardware including iPhone X. Within days, the leaker was identified through an internal investigation and fired. Global Security's digital forensics also helped catch several employees who were feeding confidential details about new products including iPhone X, iPad Pro and AirPods to a blogger at 9to5Mac.

Leakers in the supply chain are getting caught, too. Global Security has worked hand-in-hand with suppliers to prevent theft of Apple's intellectual property as well as to identify individuals who try to exceed their access. They've also partnered with suppliers to identify vulnerabilities - both physical and technological - and ensure their security levels meet or exceed Apple's expectations. These programs have nearly eliminated the theft of prototypes and products from factories, caught leakers and prevented many others from leaking in the first place.

Leakers do not simply lose their jobs at Apple. In some cases, they face jail time and massive fines for network intrusion and theft of trade secrets both classified as federal crimes. In 2017, Apple caught 29 leakers. 12 of those were arrested. Among those were Apple employees, contractors and some partners in Apple's supply chain. These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere. "The potential criminal consequences of leaking are real," says Tom Moyer of Global Security, "and that can become part of your personal and professional identity forever."

While they carry serious consequences, leaks are completely avoidable. They are the result of a decision by someone who may not have considered the impact of their actions. "Everyone comes to Apple to do the best work of their lives - work that matters and contributes to what all 135,000 people in this company are doing together," says Joswiak. "The best way to honor those contributions is by not leaking."

---

Bloomberg's Mark Bergen and Sarah Frier contributed.If every picture tells a story, so does every art car.

Eve Maulsby is living proof of that. Saturday marks her second consecutive year taking part in the Houston Art Car Parade, a quirky H-Town tradition of rolling, automotive creativity through downtown Houston thats been going on for 31 years now. Shes driving a dull blue minivan springing to eye-catching life with drawings of fantastical creatures she and her family call hippocampocorns.

But it wasnt just the desire to be goofy that pushed her to join 250 other participants sporting equally dazzling designs. I survived two cancers, she said Thursday night at the free art-car parade preview at Discovery Green where roughly 50 cars were on display. It was through my childrens teenage years. It was all a very difficult, five-year period and when that was all over, it was like we just came out of the darkness and the sadness and did this car. We had so much fun.

Maulsby and her two daughters drove the car to Seattle last summer. We camped along the way, spreading smiles everywhere we went, she said. Its one of those things thats very meaningful to me and my family.  Thats icing on the cake that it brings other people joy.

There are many such origin stories among the art-car crowd, a close-knit community of both dedicated artists and recreational fans who come together throughout the year for meet-ups, meals and events.

More Information 31st Houston Art Car Parade When: Noon Saturday Where: Starts at Bagby and Dallas streets near downtown Houston Information: Go to www.thehoustonparade.com for route and more information. See More Collapse

The thing is that people who are in the art-car club and the people who have art cars in Houston, theyre just great people. Theyre people who arent afraid to express themselves, said Randy Blair, whose glass-and-longhorn-and-trinket bedecked Toyota Yaris looks like a cross between Mad Max: Fury Road and an upended toy box. Theyll send an email (saying) Everybody meet at the Sonic on Washington on Sunday at 2 and all these art cars will show up.

Blair has been bringing his car to the parade since 2009 and every year, his little car gets a little more elaborate with a Darth Vader head here, a Daffy Duck there. For Blair, a private chef by trade, the art-car bug bit him after he developed an interest in glassmaking a decade ago. He started transforming the interior of his car and then began working on the exterior.

I didnt do it with the goal of Im going to be in the Art Car Parade,  he said. (But) people started stopping me, saying Are you in the parade? I thought, Maybe I should look into this parade thing.

Aurora Porschie Alice

Nicole Strine and Ben Gibson, whose psychedelic Aurora Porschie Alice will be the car mayor Sylvester Turner rides in on Saturday, met, fell in love and got married through the art-car community. But the family connection goes even deeper.

The Porsche Boxsters colorful cladding is inspired by a similarly striped plaque Strines father received in 1971 for winning a Porsche race. He won this award from the Porsche Club and I always loved it, said Strine, who recruited artist Robynn Sanders  who has designed art cars for Houstons St. Arnold Brewery  to transform the car.

The result is so impressive that the prestigious Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, where someone there caught what Sanders was doing on Instagram, wants to put the car on display, and Strine is happy to oblige. After all, Strine and Gibson have three other art cars, including a Honda wrapped in what looks like cracked glass and bears the name Shattered Vanity. That one is also in this years parade.

For Cason Hancock, a senior at Houstons Carnegie Vanguard High School, the parade is a chance to make a statement about the environment. As part of a school project, funded by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, he and up to 15 other students transformed a Nissan Maxima into a vehicle showing the perils of single-use plastic. Disposable water bottles are stacked on the roof in the shape of an ocean wave but it doesnt stop there in the surf-and-sand-themed design.

We have bottle caps on the turtles and we have single-use plastics in the cooler, he pointed out.

Art car the movie?

This is the first year that retired photographer Ken Hoge will take part in the parade, though he has been an art car groupie for seven years, he says.

Now, he has taken the plunge, turning his Hyundai Sonata into a celebration of cats, Texas and rhinestones with the license plate blaring Catboy. His car was even used as part of the Horn Concerto, a musical piece written for car horns and performed on Thursday night.

The hardest thing was coming up with a theme, he said of how he came up with the design. Im thinking Rhinestone Cowboy and I was looking at cats on the internet, like we all do, and I went, Wait a minute! Cat, cow, rhinestone catboy. Its got cats, rhinestones, Texas, all the things I love.

While the art cars are mere diversions for some participants, Hoges is a daily driver. So, youll see me out there going to Kroger, he said. The biggest change in my life has been if I start to become an ugly driver, I realize Im in a very memorable car  and it looks like a friendly car  so its done wonders for my road rage.

One of Hoges friends, writer and retired IT professional Ed Draper, has even written a script partly inspired by the art-car subculture. Called Recharge, its set in a tumbledown future Houston where everyone has moved out of homes and into cars. Fort Worth-based producer Tom Huckabee, who came down for the parade, said hes interested in getting involved and could be found Thursday taking photos and talking to participants. Hes impressed with the art-car scene here.

Randy Blair is at a loss to explain why art-car culture and the parade, sponsored by The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and reportedly the largest art-car parade in the world, have found such a connection in Houston. The funny thing about Houston is a lot of times people will stop you (when in your car) and say, Are you from Austin?, Blair said with a laugh. The keep-Austin-weird thing is just a myth. People from Austin come here to Houston, learn how to be weird, and then take it back to Austin.

cary.darling@chron.comIm not sure many people notice birds along the shoreline other than gulls. After all, beaches are for sunbathing and launching oneself into the buoyancy of ocean waves.

Nothing against fun in the sun, but lets take a moment to watch the birds scurrying along the shores muddy tidal flats.

Collectively called shorebirds, many migrate this time of year from winter grounds along Latin American coasts to breed on our shores or to sojourn here before heading to northern breeding grounds as far away as the Arctic tundra.

Shorebirds like cardinal-size dunlins abide through winter on Texas shorelines. Their backs turn from a nonbreeding drab gray in winter to a breeding rusty-red in spring, giving them the erstwhile name of red-backed sandpiper.

Dunlins can be distinguished by an off-kilter black patch on a white belly and a long beak curving slightly downward. They will soon head to breeding grounds in northern Alaska and Canadas Northwest Territories.

Wilsons plovers migrate from winter homes on Mexicos shoreline to breed on the Texas coast. They resemble killdeers, with a single black breast band and an outsized bulky beak.

More Information About shorebirds Shorebirds include plovers, oystercatchers, stilts, avocets, phalaropes, and sandpipers. Intertidal mud flats provide migratory shorebirds with energy-rich food in the form of invertebrates, such as marine worms, insects and snails. Shorebirds deposit huge amounts of guano in estuaries and Gulf waters to foster the growth of phytoplankton, the base food chain for fish. Migrating shorebirds also stop off at lake shores, flooded rice fields, shallow ponds and muddy fields. Convenient places to watch shorebirds include beaches, coastal wildlife refuges and Houston Audubon Society's Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary on Bolivar Peninsula. See More Collapse

The sparrow-size, sand-colored piping plovers, with orange legs and stubby, black-and-orange beaks, are cute but highly endangered.

Disruption of shorelines due to vehicular traffic, foot traffic and rampant housing development have reduced their numbers to about 3,000 pairs. More than half the population depends on Texas shores for winter homes.

Piping plovers migrate to breeding grounds on North Carolinas Atlantic Coast, Canadas eastern coast and on inland lakeshores of the Northern Great Plains.

Shorebirds are mostly the color of the beach, which helps to camouflage them from predators but also makes them difficult to identify.

Case histories in shorebird identification problems include twinlike short-billed and long-billed dowitchers. Both have brownish bodies the size of mockingbirds, with varied hues of orange on the belly. Dowitchers have tellingly long beaks that jab up and down like thick sewing machine needles into shallow pools and soft mud to feed on worms and crustaceans.

They migrate to breeding grounds on the sub-Arctic and high Arctic from winter homes along Texas shores down to South American shores.

Its OK if we cant tell one dowitcher from another, or pick out a plover from a dunlin. But dont overlook shorebirds; they need our beaches as much as we do.

Email Gary Clark at texasbirder.net.BEIRUT - U.S.-led strikes against Syrian chemical weapons facilities prompted defiant celebrations in Damascus on Saturday as it became clear that the limited attack posed no threat to President Bashar al-Assad's hold on power and would likely have no impact on the trajectory of the Syrian war.

Fears of a wider escalation faded after it emerged that the locations targeted by the United States, Britain and France had been confined to three sites associated with the Syrian chemical weapons program, had caused no serious casualties and had probably not destroyed Syria's capacity to develop and deploy banned chemical substances.

There were expressions of anger from Syria's allies, with Russia labeling the attack an "act of aggression," Iran calling it "a war crime" and Syria describing it as "barbarous." President Trump called the attacks an "enormous success," tweeting that they represented a "Mission Accomplished."

But on the streets of Damascus, there was jubilation. Residents gathered in central squares and danced to patriotic songs, waving Syrian flags alongside those of Russia and Iran, Syria's allies in the fight against the anti-Assad rebellion.

"The honorable cannot be humiliated," said a tweet by the Twitter account maintained by Assad's office shortly after the attack. A few hours later, the account tweeted a video of him walking nonchalantly to work through the halls of the Syrian presidential palace.

Though the strikes appeared to have satisfied the conflicting agendas of the world powers competing for influence in Syria, they won't make any difference to the war on the ground - which Assad is steadily winning, said Amr al-Azm, a professor of history at Shawnee University in Ohio.

"This was more about the Western allies making sure their red lines were addressed rather than trying to seriously damage the Assad regime, prevent the further killing of civilians or reduce the capacity of the Assad regime to keep fighting," he said.

"From Assad's perspective, this was a big win. He must be thinking, this is good, I came out on top, I gained much more than I lost."

It was unclear even whether there would be a long-term impact on Syria's capacity to develop and use chemical weapons. Trump had telegraphed for days the likely response of the United States to the alleged chemical attack that killed civilians in a rebel stronghold last Saturday, giving the Syrian authorities and their Iranian and Russian allies time to vacate the facilities that were targeted - and perhaps also to remove vital equipment and stores.

Russia said that the damage had been minimal, and that most of the more than 100 missiles fired were intercepted. According to the Syrian army command, three civilians were injured, in the vicinity of one of the strikes against Homs.

"It remains to be seen whether the allied attack fulfilled all its intended goals," said Karl Dewey of Jane's by IHS Markit defense consultancy.

This was the second strike against Syria in a little over a year, in response to the second alleged use by the government of a poison gas against its citizens. Last April, the United States bombed the Shayrat air base in the province of Homs in retaliation for a sarin gas attack that killed around 70 people in the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun.

This time, videos emerged of men, women and children slumped dead, with foam on their mouths, after a bomb containing toxic gas allegedly was dropped in a residential neighborhood of the rebel-held town of Douma in the eastern suburbs of Damascus.

A day later, the rebels in the town surrendered, making the use of chemical weapons in this instance, if confirmed, an example of the successful tactical use of poison gas, Azm said.

These latest strikes went further than last year's attack, targeting production and research facilities as well as command centers from which attacks are launched. The Pentagon said the locations hit were a scientific research center in the Barzeh suburb of Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and a command post, also near Homs.

But although Defense Department spokeswoman Dana White the strikes had "set the Syrian chemical weapons program back for years," Pentagon officials acknowledged that a "residual" capacity remained.

Seeking to tamp down the global tensions that soared after Trump's tweet last week that missiles are "coming, nice and new and smart," the United States and its allies stressed the limited nature of their goals.

"This was not about interfering in a civil war, and it was not about regime change," Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May told a news conference in London.

White echoed the comment, saying the attack "does not represent a change in U.S. policy, nor an attempt to depose the Syrian regime."

In Damascus, residents jolted awake by explosions at 4 a.m. expressed relief that the attack was short-lived.

"Thank God this was less than we had feared. We were scared of a bigger assault that could be devastating, but we are happy it was limited and less powerful," said Mayda Kumejian, a Damascus resident contacted by telephone. She described being waked by explosions and the sound of jets roaring overhead, only to realize about an hour later that there would be no prolonged attack.

"This strike is only muscle flexing by Trump to show his power," she said. "Assad's regime is much stronger now."

The crowds that gathered in the Damascus also expressed scorn, waving portraits of Assad and mocking Trump.

"We tell Trump, you can do nothing. Here we are celebrating to show that you are bankrupt," said a woman interviewed on state television.

For Syrians who had welcomed the prospect of an American attack - and in many cases, called for them over many years - hopes that the U.S. threats might make a difference quickly soured into disappointment.

"We thought it would be much bigger than this," said Ahmed Primo, a journalist and activist now living in the Turkish city of Gaziantep. "Assad might have used chemical weapons this time, but he's been indiscriminately targeting civilians for years. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, hundreds of thousands of people have been disappeared. After seven years of war, we don't believe that anyone will come to help the Syrian people anymore."

The strikes give Assad a green light to sustain his pursuit of a military solution against opposition areas in which many more civilians may die even if chemical weapons aren't used, other rebel supporters said.

"According to the cowardly statements and the weak strike by the West, Assad is allowed to use all kinds of weapons to kill us except chemicals," tweeted Syrian opposition journalist Hadi Abdallah. "The international community has set him free as a monster to annihilate the Syrian people."

The United States and its allies said they hoped the attack would propel momentum toward the revival of peace talks in Geneva that have so far proved fruitless.

But there was no reason to believe these strikes would give any new incentive to Assad to cooperate with a peace process that Washington says should result in his removal from power, said Emile Hokayem from the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"Assad has absorbed worse before, and he will absorb this," he said.

- - -

The Washington Post's Anton Troianovski in Moscow, Suzan Haidamous in Beirut and Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul contributed reporting.WASHINGTON  On the morning after, President Donald Trump declared success. The surgical strike against chemical weapons facilities in Syria had been executed perfectly, he said Saturday. Mission Accomplished! he wrote on Twitter.

Thats a phrase presidents and politicians have studiously avoided since President George W. Bushs ill-fated aircraft carrier visit prematurely declaring success in the Iraq War. But aside from the curious choice of words, it raised the essential question regarding Syria going beyond the one-time strike: What exactly is the mission?

For most of Trumps presidency, it has been to defeat the Islamic State and then get out. But what Trump outlined in his televised speech to the nation Friday night was something more complicated. He promised a sustained campaign to stop Syrias government from again using chemical weapons on its own people, while also emphasizing the limits of the United States ability or willingness to do more to stop the broader bloodletting that has devastated that country for seven years.

Trump finds himself in a position not all that different from that of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, and with no easier answers. The strike brought home Trumps competing impulses when it comes to Syria  on the one hand, his manful chest-thumping intended to demonstrate that he is the toughest one on the international block, and on the other, his deep conviction that U.S. involvement in the Middle East since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been a waste of blood and treasure.

He did little to reconcile those impulses with his retaliatory strike to punish the government of President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack a week ago that killed dozens of people. But then again, he reflected the contradictions of a U.S. public that is tired of trying to solve other peoples problems in the Middle East yet recoils at the haunting images of dead children choked by gas.

Veterans of Washington policymaking in the Middle East offered conditional praise for Trumps restrained approach to the strike, if not necessarily his more bellicose rhetoric. In hitting three sites associated with Assads chemical weapons capabilities, limiting it to a single night and conducting it in conjunction with Britain and France, they said it sent a message while avoiding a deeper involvement and minimizing the risk of provoking Syrias patrons, Russia and Iran, into retaliating themselves.

However, I dont think the strike clarifies U.S. policy, said Meghan OSullivan, who oversaw the Iraq War as Bushs deputy national security adviser. In theory, there is not necessarily an inconsistency between a targeted, multilateral strike against chemical weapons sites and the withdrawal of troops that have been fighting ISIS. But the strike does really call into question the wisdom of pulling back American forces now in highlighting the question of what our objective really is in Syria.

Others argued that the strike was a waste that accomplished little and, in the process, exceeded the presidents authority as commander in chief since he did not obtain authorization from Congress first. Critics said that if Trump was truly moved by humanitarian concern over the victims of last weekends attack, he should reverse his policy of barring virtually any new Syrian refugees from the United States.

The ongoing bloodshed and war crimes in Syria are a stark reminder that Syrian civilians need our support now more than ever, Noah Gottschalk of Oxfam America said in a statement. Yet the Trump administration still lacks a coherent strategy to actually bring an end to the conflict and instead has sought to slash humanitarian aid and slam the door on Syrian refugees.

By most accounts, the strike essentially left in place the status quo on the ground. It did little if anything to weaken Assad beyond any chemical weapons stores it destroyed, leaving him to continue waging war on his own people through conventional means. It did nothing to exact the big price Trump promised to impose on Russia and Iran for enabling Assads chemical attacks.

Indeed, Trump has shown little interest in trying to steer Syria to a resolution of its civil war, eschewing the sort of Geneva diplomacy that absorbed Obamas last secretary of state, John F. Kerry, to little apparent effect. Trump sees Syria in two boxes  the fight against the Islamic State, in which he has declared near victory, and the multisided civil war that he wants no part of, saying as he did just days ago, Let the other people take care of it now.

But that is an artificial bifurcation in a country torn by violence on all sides. The civil war affects the ability of the Islamic State to operate and vice versa. Trump may have opted for the more cautious approach urged by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis instead of a more crippling attack that may have been favored by his new national security adviser, John R. Bolton, but he did not settle the larger question.

Asked Friday before the missiles began flying to explain the United States strategy in Syria, Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman, demurred. Im not going to get ahead of the president, she said.

Even when the president spoke later that night, he was somewhat vague in describing his own strategy. While he said he was prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, he did not explain what he meant or how far he was willing to go beyond saying he would also use economic and diplomatic tools.

Colin H. Kahl, who was the national security adviser to former Vice President Joe Biden, said Trump wisely avoided hitting regime targets where there was a significant risk of killing Russians, but for that very reason did little real harm to Assad.

Indeed, the relatively cautious nature of the strike signaled that we were deterred from taking larger action, potentially undercutting the credible U.S. threat of doing more down the line if the regime continues to use chemical weapons, he said.

Fundamentally, these factors are not that different than they were during Obamas presidency, but Trump often seems unaware of history, even recent history. His use of the phrase mission accomplished on Saturday, for example, invited unwelcome comparisons to Bushs experience. Bush appeared on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 after U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq and declared the end of major combat operations. Behind him was a large banner declaring Mission Accomplished, which White House aides later said was meant as a congratulations to the carrier crew returning home but became a metaphor for miscalculation as a virulent insurgency consumed Iraq.

Um ... I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words, Ari Fleischer, who was Bushs White House press secretary at the time, wrote on Twitter on Saturday. When Bush made his appearance in spring 2003, he said, the words seemed fitting. By the Fall, he added, the shot of Bush with the banner became a symbol of what went wrong.

Phillip H. Gordon, who was Obamas White House coordinator of Middle East policy, said one of the challenges for Trump was calibrating his language with his actions. In effect, Gordon said, the president seemed to be trying to find a reasoned middle ground in Syria that belies his own tough talk.

You can make a case that we are trying to thread a needle thats tough to thread, but the needle is to do enough to deter the regime from using chemical weapons but not so much that sucks us into the Syrian civil war and gets us into conflict with Iran and Russia, he said.

Rather than pay attention to Trumps words, Gordon said the strategy was better articulated by Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain and Mattis, who described the strike as an effort to stop Assad from using chemical weapons but noted that it was not intended to achieve broader goals.

What May and Mattis said could be considered a legitimate strategy, Gordon said. The risk is, with this president and this administration, is he going to be disciplined enough and restrained enough to thread that needle? Those are not his fortes.

This article originally appeared in The New York TimesThe Syrian war has been a slowly unfolding catastrophe, one that has embroiled nearly the whole world. Here's a look at how it started, why it became so complicated and what might happen next.

How did the war in Syria start?

In March 2011, peaceful protests broke out around the country as part of the Arab Spring uprisings. Organizers called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to make democratic reforms, but his government responded with violence. In response, some of the protesters teamed up with military defectors to form the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group that wanted to overthrow the government. By 2012, this armed struggle had devolved into a full-blown civil war.

What is Russia doing in Syria?

Russia has long supported Assad's government. According to one scholar, Russia helped build the modern Syrian military, and Assad is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's strongest allies in the Middle East. Russia has often blocked meaningful international action on Syria by vetoing proposals at the U.N. Security Council, and Moscow changed the course of the war in Assad's favor with a military intervention in 2015.

Why is the United States involved?

The United States has been reluctant to become too entangled in Syria, but it has acted for two main reasons.

First, the Islamic State began developing a foothold in the country in 2013. The next year, the United States launched airstrikes against the militant group. It eventually sent ground troops into the fight, and about 2,000 U.S. forces are now deployed there.

Second, the United States has acted to punish the Assad government for using chemical weapons such as sarin and chlorine gas on Syrian civilians.

What were those specific actions?

In 2012, President Barack Obama called the use of chemical weapons a "red line" that would prompt military intervention. The following year, a sarin gas attack in Eastern Ghouta killed about 1,400 people, according to the U.S. government's assessment. Obama pushed for a strike but couldn't get congressional approval.

Instead, he came up with a diplomatic solution. The U.N. Security Council ordered Assad to destroy his chemical weapons stockpile and sign the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits countries from producing, stockpiling or using chemical weapons.

There have been several reports of chemical weapons attacks since then. One particularly bad strike took place April 4, 2017. Nearly 100 people were killed in the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun in an apparent sarin attack. It garnered worldwide headlines and the attention of President Trump, who expressed horror at the images of "innocent children, innocent babies" poisoned by a nerve agent. Just a few days after that attack, Trump authorized a cruise-missile strike on a Syrian air base. It was the first direct U.S. strike on the Syrian regime in the war.

Who are the key regional players helping Assad?

One of Assad's key allies is Iran. Iran needs Syria to move its weapons and proxy militias across the Middle East. So when Assad seemed threatened, Iran stepped in to support him. So did Hezbollah, the Lebanese political party and militia that is a close ally of Tehran.

That upset Iran's rivals in the region, like Saudi Arabia and Turkey. So they began sending arms and money to anti-Assad rebels, including extremist militias. Israel's begun attacking Assad bases with airstrikes.

That means that today, there are many wars being fought inside Syria. The Syrian government is still at war with the rebels. Israel is at war with Iranian-backed forces. And the United States is trying to kill off the Islamic State.

What has life been like for Syrians?

Horrible. Syrian families often don't have basic necessities, like food, shelter and medical care. Children can't go to school. The war is being fought in towns and on the streets.

Since the start of the war, more than 465,000 Syrians have been killed, 1 million more have been injured, and 12 million - more than half the country's population - have been forced to flee their homes. More than 5.5 million have moved abroad and registered as refugees.For eight-straight years, Cypress-Fairbanks and Conroe ISDs earned the Texas Smart Schools Award, bestowed on school districts with prudent financial practices and high academic achievement.

Now, Cypress-Fairbanks faces a $50 million deficit next school year, and Conroe is projected to face its first deficit in nearly a decade in the next two to four years.

They are not alone.

As the Texas Legislature studies potential changes to the states school funding mechanisms, the majority of large Houston-area school districts are facing budget shortfalls they say stem from a lack of state aid. Of the 10 largest Houston-area school districts, all but three approved budgets last summer that included deficits of more than $1 million, according to a Chronicle review. At least nine say they may have to dip into reserve funds within the next three to five years if revenues do not increase.

For some, it is more dire. If nothing changes at the state or local level, district officials say Spring Branch ISD in west Houston will be financially insolvent in three years. Cypress-Fairbanks ISD will use up all its reserve funds in four or five years. Pasadena ISD only avoided a $20 million shortfall for the next school year by passing a tax hike referendum, and multiple districts are considering similar measures to keep their schools afloat.

Report: Holding back students cost Texas $384 million last year

That pain is felt in large and small districts across the state. North East ISD in San Antonio expects to cut $12 million from its budget next year, likely leading to teacher layoffs, according to the San Antonio Express-News. By 2020, budget documents in Ysleta ISD near El Paso show the district likely will draw down its reserve funds by $12 million. Friendswood ISD, which educates roughly 6,000 students in a sliver of southeast Greater Houston, is facing a $1.9 million budget shortfall next year.

If weve been one of the most efficient districts in the state, and were facing this crisis, imagine what other districts are dealing with, Cy-Fair ISD Chief Financial Officer Stuart Snow said.

While school district officials place blame on the Legislatures failure to pass meaningful changes to Texas school finance scheme since the 1990s, the state itself is facing budget difficulties of its own.

Lawmakers will start the next legislative session with an estimated $7.9 billion hole in their budget, according to the non-partisan Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, a situation that will make finding meaningful additional dollars for education unlikely.

Hurricane Harvey may have made it all but impossible.

Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Humble, said the states budget deficit will be compounded by issues and expenses related to the storm that pounded much of southeast Texas last August. Millions of dollars in property taxes will be erased from revenues after the storm damaged buildings and ruined property values across much of the Gulf Coast, he said, and the cost of rebuilding could prove monumental.

Were going to have a very tough session in being able to make sure we fund those needs out there and, at the same time, create at least a blueprint as we go forward for how do we properly create the weights and mechanics for our education system, Huberty said. Do we have the resources to fund the (education) system? The answer is no, we dont have the resources right now, especially after Harvey.

As the state wrestles with how to prioritize limited dollars, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said 52 percent of Texas budget already goes to education, and most of that flows into K-12 schools.

"Most comparisons and media reports of state and local education funding only reflect the state school funding formula. They do not include technology and instructional materials, grant programs and other state funding which boosts the state percentage of funding, Patrick said.

Fixing the finance formula

Texas school finance formula depends largely on property values within a districts boundaries, student attendance and the types of students a district educates. Districts with high property values  or property rich districts  get less state aide than those with low property values. Districts that meet a certain ratio of property wealth as it relates to student enrollment must give local tax dollars to the state through what is known as recapture, or the Robin Hood tax. That money is redistributed to property-poor districts.

Houston ISD was forced to write its first recapture check to the state last year for $77.5 million. Other local districts that pay recapture include Spring Branch, Tomball, Barbers Hill, Deer Park and Sheldon ISDs.

The more local property taxes districts take in, according to the Texas Education Agency, the less the state pays toward public education. It has been that way since 1993, the last time legislators significantly updated Texas public education funding system.

Daniel Casey, a Texas school finance expert with the Austin-based Moak & Casey firm, said the current state funding system was created after Texas Supreme Court found the previous scheme unconstitutional. Since the 1990s, Casey said state funding increases often came at the prodding of the court, which has ruled several times that the state has failed to adequately fund public schools or that the states school finance system needs tweaking. The last such court battle in 2016 halted that, with the Texas Supreme Court ruling that while the states school finance system was deeply flawed, it was not unconstitutional. Fixing it, the justices said, is the Legislatures job.

Without a high court mandate, lawmakers did not pass school finance reform in the 2017 legislative session. Instead, they created the Texas Commission on Public School Finance to study the issue. The commission has not yet released recommendations for changes.

Meanwhile, some state leaders, including Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott, continue to push for local property tax cuts.

In January, Abbott proposed capping the tax revenue growth districts can collect at 2.5 percent. In Houston, property tax revenues grew by about 6 percent between 2015 and 2016, according to the governors office.

Huberty said issues relating to property taxes and school finance often are inseparable.

You cant have property tax relief without school finance reform  you have to figure out both of those issues, Huberty said. Do you have more of a consumption tax to reduce property tax? Those are the kind of discussions you have to have, and weve had those discussions on the commission.

Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, who sits on the Commission of Public Education Funding, said districts should expand their revenue streams to include sources other than local property taxes and the state.

He pointed to Dallas ISD and Dallas schools, which he said pull in about $10 million annually in philanthropy. Dallas ISD officials told the Dallas Morning News that they did not raise that much each year, and Senate testimony shows the $10 million figure is the amount distributed by a couple nonprofits to schools throughout Dallas-Fort Worth, not just those in Dallas ISD.

Still, Bettencourt said the philanthropy model could be another way districts can fill budget gaps. In another example, Bettencourt said American Airlines also staffed one of DISDs schools with 25 full-time employees, a partnership he said should inspire districts elsewhere.

Its not going to be one-size fits all  there are many, many ways to do it right, Bettencourt said. At end of the day, we want the education system to get students the best educations they can get for best deals taxpayers can support. But we need to look for all the ways we can do it right.

While the commission studies new ways school districts and the state can pull in more money, school district officials say they continue to feel the pinch from declining state funds.

As recently as 2008, the state provided about 48 percent of funding for school districts throughout Texas. Next year, state funding will account for about 38 percent.

In Conroe ISD, the states share of funding has fallen from about 36 percent five years ago to 26 percent this year, a difference of about $50 million.

The story needs to get out there that as property values increase, its not school districts benefiting from those increases, said Darrin Rice, Conroe ISDs chief financial officer. The state is taking that revenue, and theyre not putting it back into schools. Theyre offsetting the state budget with those funds.

Classroom cuts, rising taxes

The last major decline in state funds came in 2011, when the Texas Legislature cut biennial education funding by $5.4 billion. At the time, the state still was reeling from fallout of the Great Recession coupled with rapidly declining oil and gas prices, effectively delivering a one-two punch to the states revenues.

Even as oil prices have rebounded and Texas economy continues to grow, the state has not returned to its pre-recession per-student funding levels of 2008, according to a report by the University of Texas and the Center for Public Policy Priorities.

Without changes to the states funding formula or the amount of funding it contributes, school districts worry they soon will face budget shortfalls similar to those in 2011.

The 2011 cuts led school districts to lay off thousands of teachers, increase class sizes and cut programs.

Some districts, including Conroe ISD, were able to stave off staff cuts by not replacing teachers and staff who left at the end of the 2010 school year. Alief ISD cut about 200 positions.

Were not there yet in that scenario, Alief ISD Superintendent HD Chambers said, but it is not far off.

This year, Houston ISD is eyeing lay offs as it faces a $115 million budget shortfall. Fort Bend ISD, which must cut about $13 million from its budget, is hoping to avoid layoffs by not replacing teachers who leave at the end of this school year.

This is a slow bleed, Chambers said. Back then, cuts were made quickly. Now every biennium its no new money, no new money, but were actually losing ground because we have more kids.

Cy-Fairs enrollment has increased by 11 percent over four years, leading expenditures to increase about 4 percent each year. Over the same time period, state and local revenues have increased about 2 percent each year.

You can cut supplies all you want, you can turn off the lights in the classrooms, and it still wont make up the deficits were looking at, said Snow. When the operating budget is over 86 percent in salaries in benefits, theres no other place to get that money than by cutting positions.

Instead of relying on legislative action in the 2019 session, school districts across Houston are starting to look at whether to ask voters to tax themselves more via referendum elections. Cypress-Fairbanks may put one on the ballot as soon as next year, likely asking voters to increase their maintenance and operations tax from $1.04 per $100 of property value to $1.17.

That would push the district into recapture, but Snow said it may be worth it.

If we increase our tax rate to $1.17, that would provide us with about $55 million, he said. Recapture would be about $5 million off of that, so we would net about $50 million in additional tax revenue.

Huberty said he understands the frustrations of local school district officials. He said they have been asked to be patient for 30 years while the Legislature has waffled on meaningful school finance reforms.

The reason most of the formulas havent been address is because its hard, he said. Its a hard thing to fix.

shelby.webb@chron.com

twitter.com/shelbywebb

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included a graphic indicating Clear Creek ISD approved a budget for the 2017-2018 school year with a $25 million deficit. That figure came from a budget document that included bond debt. Without the debt, the CCISD board of trustees passed a budget that included a small surplus.

Editor's note (11:50 a.m. April 20): This story has been updated to clarify comments by Sen. Paul Bettencourt regarding Dallas schools.CALVERT  Loitering at an intersection on Main Street (otherwise known as Highway 6) in this historic hamlet halfway between Bryan-College Station and Waco, I watch a tractor-trailer loaded with live chickens try to merge into northbound traffic. Im thinking that if those doomed birds somehow escaped their crowded crates and tried to cross the road, as chickens are wont to do, theyd meet their demise much sooner than planned.

SLOW DOWN! I want to shout at tractor-trailers loaded with gravel, huge trucks ferrying what appears to be oilfield equipment and, of course, pickups and cars roaring past Under the Chandelier gift shop, Mud Creek Pottery, Common Scents Saloon and other small businesses in the historic downtown district. Sarah Stem, owner of an attractive antique shop called Southern Plantation Studios and vice president of the Calvert Chamber of Commerce, tells me she feels like she takes her life into her hands whenever she crosses the street to her business on the west side of Highway 6.

Calvert, celebrating its 150th anniversary next weekend, is worth slowing down for  and not just to be safe or to avoid the two police cruisers invariably lurking at both ends of its stretch of Highway 6. In its historic residential district east of Main Street are some of the most gracious Victorian and early-20th century homes youll find anywhere in small-town Texas.

More Information For information about "Calvert 150: A Texas Celebration - Fit for a Queen," on Saturday, April 21, go to Calvert Main Street Preservation on Facebook or call 979/364-2323. See More Collapse

A number have been lovingly restored in recent years by Dallasites, Houstonians and other urbanites looking for a slower pace of life (as long as they stay off 6). Other historic homes have passed down from one generation to the next. The Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian church buildings (all still in use), the Masonic Lodge building, a bank building thats now City Hall, a Victorian bandstand built in 1895 and eight blocks of store fronts along Main Street all have a past.

Belle Starr, the notorious Bandit Queen, passed this way; her father owned a livery stable during the Civil War. Tex McCrary was born here. A New York public relations man and political strategist, he and his wife Jinx Falkenberg hosted the first radio talk show, Meet Tex and Jinx in the 1940s and 50s. The late Tom Bradley was born in a log cabin on the edge of town. The grandson of slaves and the son of poor sharecroppers, Bradley served five terms as mayor of Los Angeles (1973-1993).

What you can say about a lot of small Texas towns, you can say about Calvert: There was a time when. . . . There was a time when Calvert was one of the largest towns in the state, with a population of about 4,000; a time when it was a prosperous railroad town, home to hotels, restaurants, a spacious opera house and briefly the Robertson County Courthouse; when the Gibson Gin & Oil Co. on Main Street was the largest cotton gin in the world.

Until fire destroyed the gin in 1965 - only an office and weigh station remain  the slow, chug-chug-chug of steam (and, later, diesel) engines turning the giant flywheel was the background sound of everyday life in Calvert. Louise Grigsby, who moved back to her childhood home after 35 years in Houston, recalls that the steady noise soothed her when she went to sleep at night as a little girl. Twenty years after coming home, she runs a real estate business, serves on the school board and works to keep her beloved hometown alive.

The gin was an ever-present reminder that Calvert owes its origins to King Cotton. The original settlers were southern planters drawn to the fertile Brazos bottomlands. Their plantations averaged 1,500 acres and relied on the hard work of at least 20 slaves.

Robert Calvert, a planter from Arkansas who owned thousands of acres along the Brazos, persuaded the Houston and Texas Central Railway to build a rail link, which would drastically cut shipping times to market in Houston. Hauling cotton bales via ox cart took about two weeks, one way; a freight train took a half day.

Working with a consortium of Houston businessmen, including William Marsh Rice, Calvert acquired 1,107 acres of relatively flat land for a town site three miles west of the river and conveniently adjacent to his plantation. He died in 1867; the town was named in his honor when the railroad arrived the next year. Area plantation owners built a number of Calverts beautiful homes, in part because the town was secure from the floods that frequently inundated the bottomland.

Cotton produced Calverts wealth; it also sealed its fate, architectural historian John S. Garner wrote in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly some years back. Those enterprising planters and merchants who were quick to realize the profits of a single-crop economy, and who devoted their full attention to its potential, were also blinded by its promise. The town sought no other industries; nor did public institutions locate there - in spite of the fact that it was the largest town in the county. When the cotton industry became unstable, the town suffered.

In recent years, Calvert residents have banked their communitys future on its past. The beautiful homes under spreading live oaks and the charming antique shops along Main Street attract visitors, including a goodly number making the pilgrimage to Magnolia Market at the Silos, Chip and Joanne Gainess home-decor empire in Waco.

We welcome old-house and old-building nuts, Mike Hensarling told me, taking a break from renovating the back porch of the magnificent Gibson House he and his wife Elaine bought when they moved from College Station 25 years ago. John H. Gibson, the cotton-gin owner, built the house in about 1902.

I would like to see Calvert became another Fredericksburg, with more shops, more tourists, said Brenda Van de Walle, who owns Under the Chandelier and serves as the Chambers president. If TxDot would lower the speed limit, the way they did in Fredericksburg, it would make a huge difference. Or maybe they could put in two blinking lights. That would slow it down.

The little town has challenges to deal with, in addition to the speeding traffic. Highway 6 separates black Calvert from white Calvert like a straight-edge, and the twains dont seem to meet. The tiny school district is perennially problematic, and neighboring districts cherry-pick Calverts most promising students. Despite Calverts charm, families with children are reluctant to move in.

Still, its an alluring little town. Residents are hoping that next weekends all-day festival, complete with historic home tours, a parade, an outdoor evening concert and a fireworks display, will entice visitors interested in staying.

Calvert has more history than most, good and bad, Mike Hensarling said. A construction engineer and connoisseur of old houses, he believes the little towns past is something worth celebrating, something worth building on.

If visitors slow down long enough, they just might agree.

djholley10@gmail.com

twitter.com/holleynewsWASHINGTON  The United States and European allies launched strikes Friday against Syrian research, storage and military targets as President Donald Trump sought to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people.

Britain and France joined the United States in the strikes in a coordinated operation that was intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called persistent violations of international law. Trump characterized it as the beginning of a sustained effort to force Assad to stop using banned weapons.

These are not the actions of a man, Trump said of last weekends attack in a televised address from the White House Diplomatic Room. They are crimes of a monster instead.

While he has talked as recently as last week about pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, he vowed to remain committed to the goal of preventing further attacks with deadly poisons. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, Trump said.

The strikes, carried with ship-based cruise missiles and manned aircraft, targeted three facilities associated with Syrias chemical weapons arsenal, including a scientific research facility around Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility around Homs alleged to be used for sarin gas and a nearby command post, the Pentagon said.

The Syrian Observatory said the Syrian armys 4th Division and Republican Guard was among the targets.

Residents of Damascus, the capital, woke to the sounds of multiple explosions shaking the city before the dawn call to prayer. The city and the hills are surrounded by military facilities, and it appeared that these were among the first targets.

Syrian state television said government air defense systems were responding to the American aggression and aired video of missiles being fired into a dark night sky. It was not clear if they hit anything. It reported that 13 missiles had been shot down by Syrian air defenses near Al-Kiswa, a town south of Damascus.

The targets were chosen to minimize the risk of accidentally hitting Russian troops stationed in Syria, according to Gen. James F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday night that the strike was completed and was designed as a one-night operation. Right now this is a one-time shot and I believe it has sent a very strong message to dissuade him to deter him from doing it again, he said.

Trump called on Syrias patrons in Russia and Iran to force Assad to halt the use of poison gas in the seven-year civil war that has wracked his country.

To Iran and to Russia I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? he said. The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by supporting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.

The strikes risked pulling the United States deeper into the complex, multisided war in Syria from which Trump only last week said he wanted to withdraw. They also raised the possibility of confrontation with Russia and Iran, both of which have military forces in Syria to support Assad.

In choosing to strike, it appeared that Trumps desire to punish Assad for what he called a barbaric act  and make good on his tweets promising action this week  outweighed his desire to limit the U.S. military involvement in the conflict, at least in the short term.

The strikes marked the second time that Trump has attacked Syria to punish the government after it was accused of using chemical weapons. The White House had sought to craft a response that would be more robust than the attack in April 2017, when the United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base that was back in use a day later.

While France and Britain joined the United States in retaliating for the suspected chemical attack in the town of Douma outside Damascus last Saturday, Germany refused to take part, even though Chancellor Angela Merkel called the use of chemical weapons unacceptable.

Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain said Syria had left the allies no choice. This persistent pattern of behavior must be stopped  not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons, she said.

But she also emphasized the limits of the operations goals, reflecting the reluctance in London as well as Washington to become too immersed in the fratricidal war in Syria.

This is not about intervening in a civil war, she said. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

British defense officials said four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s participated in the strike, launching Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility about 15 miles west of Homs where they said Syria was believed to keep chemical weapon precursors stockpiled in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Early reaction to the strikes from Capitol Hill appeared to break down along party lines, with Republicans expressing support for the president and Democrats questioning whether Trump has a well-thought-out strategy for what happens after the military action is over.

President Trumps decision to launch airstrikes against the Syrian government without Congress approval is illegal and  absent a broader strategy  its reckless, said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who has long argued that presidents should request permission from Congress before taking military action.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said that one night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House Republican majority whip, wrote in a statement: President Trump is right to assert that the Assad regimes evil acts cannot go unanswered.

The missiles struck Syria shortly after 4 a.m. local time Saturday. A fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was to begin investigating the incident Saturday in Douma, which had been held by rebels before the suspected attack. The missions job was only to determine whether chemical weapons had been used, not who had used them.

Medical and rescue groups have reported that the Syrian military dropped bombs that released chemical substances during an offensive to take the town. A New York Times review of videos of the attacks aftermath, and interviews with residents and medical workers, suggested that Syrian government helicopters dropped canisters giving off some sort of chemical compound that suffocated at least 43 people.

On Friday, U.S. officials said they had intelligence implicating the Syrian government. We have a very high confidence that Syria was responsible, said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary. She said Russia was part of the problem for failing to prevent the use of such weapons.

At the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the world body, accused the Syrian government of using banned chemical arms at least 50 times since the countrys civil war began in 2011. State Department officials said the United States was still trying to identify the chemical used April 7.

President Emmanuel Macron of France on Thursday cited proof that the Syrian government had launched chlorine gas attacks. The same day, the British Cabinet authorized May to join the United States and France in planning strikes against Syria.

Leaders in Syria, Iran and Russia denied that government forces had used chemical weapons, and accused rescue workers and the rebels who had controlled Douma of fabricating the videos to win international sympathy.

On Friday, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said images of victims of the purported attack had been staged with Britains direct involvement. He provided no evidence.

Karen Pierce, Britains ambassador to the United Nations, called those allegations bizarre and a blatant lie.

Mattis had sought to slow down the march to military action as allies compiled evidence of Assads role that would assure the world the strikes were warranted. Mattis also raised concerns that a concerted bombing campaign could escalate into a wider conflict between Russia, Iran and the West.

Before the strikes, the United States had mostly stopped aiding Syrias rebels, like those who were in Douma, who want to topple Assads government. The Pentagons most recent efforts in Syria have focused on the fight against Islamic State militants in the countrys east, where it has partnered with a Kurdish-led militia to battle the jihadis. It is the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops there that Trump has said he wants to bring home.

In his televised address Friday night, Trump sought to repeat his desire to disentangle the United States from the Middle East at some point. Its a troubled place, he said. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

Russian forces and Iranian-backed militias also are deployed around Syria to help fight the rebellion  including the Islamic State and other extremist groups  that has surged against Assad since the conflict started more than seven years ago.

Last years U.S. attack on Syria came after a chemical attack on the village of Khan Sheikhoun killed scores of people. Trump ordered a cruise missile strike against the Al Shayrat airfield in central Syria, where the attack had originated. The base was damaged but Syrian warplanes were again taking off from there a day later.

Still, the response set Trump apart from President Barack Obama, who declined to respond with military force after a chemical weapons attack in August 2013 killed hundreds of people near Damascus, even though Obama had earlier declared the use of such weapons a red line.

Obama ultimately backed off a military strike and reached an agreement with Russia to remove Syrias chemical weapons arsenal. That agreement was said to have been carried out, although a series of reported chemical attacks since have raised doubts about its effectiveness.

Both U.S. presidents have sought to keep United States involvement in Syria focused on the battle against the Islamic State, and not on toppling Assad or protecting civilians from violence.

The question now for Trump is whether his intervention against Assad will make it harder to keep the United States from slipping deeper into the Syrian war.If you drive around Galveston next week, you might encounter gaggles of tourists visiting the island for an attraction all too many of us overlook.

These visitors are a pleasant crowd of mostly older folks casually dressed for the outdoors. Theyre often spotted carrying expensive binoculars and cameras equipped with huge lenses. And theyve got money.

Next week, birdwatchers  they prefer to call themselves birders  will flock to the island for FeatherFest 2018, an ecotourism event that attracts visitors from across the nation and around the world. Last year, they traveled from 22 states and as far away as Canada and Australia, drawn by the plethora of migratory birds flying through the Texas Gulf Coast.

As Houston tries to lure visitors with everything from its restaurants to its museums to that giant metal bean on Montrose, Galveston has learned how to tap into the big money in birds. Odd as it may seem, birdwatching is a lucrative niche of the tourism industry. Houston should take advantage of this springtime natural resource by marketing our area as a must-see mecca for birders.

If you picture birdwatchers as a bunch of nebbish homebodies, think again. About 18 million Americans take this hobby seriously enough to travel away from home on birding trips, according to a 2011 study conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A disproportionate number of them are retirees with higher-than-average incomes. That study estimated they spent a whopping $15 billion on food, lodging, transportation and other travel expenses related to birdwatching.

Houston is perfectly poised to exploit this multi-billion-dollar market. The upper Texas coast is renowned as a bird lovers paradise, a crash pad for countless species of migratory birds crossing the Gulf of Mexico. On High Island, birdwatchers can peer into a rookery crowded with nesting egrets, great blue herons and roseate spoonbills. At the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, they can witness the mating dances of endangered whooping cranes.

Meanwhile, the Bayou Greenways 2020 initiative promises to draw even more migratory birds into the inner city. Tom Bacon, the head of the Houston Parks Board, enthusiastically calls it the Bayou Flyways initiative. By planting vegetation that will attract birds to 3,000 acres of greenspace along our bayous, Houston will serve up a buffet attracting more migratory birds into the heart of Houston.

Birders are accustomed to visiting remote places and sleeping in rugged accommodations, but Bacon envisions Houston becoming an upscale alternative. He foresees bird enthusiasts from around the world traveling here to stay in five-star hotels and dine at great restaurants, spending their days spotting the migrating species that will nest and feed along the citys bayous.

Houston in April and May becomes the birding capital of the world, Bacon hopes.

That will happen only if Houston aggressively markets itself as a prime destination for birdwatchers. As chicks hatch in the nests of migratory birds along the gulf coast this spring, and as visitors sporting binoculars and big cameras gather in Galveston, we suggest our fair city consider yet another tourism slogan: Houston: Its for the birds.

The target date for the Bayou Greenways initiative is 2020, but the bumper stickers could be ready for next years FeatherFest.Hugh Rafferty is chairman of the Committee to Improve North County, and a member of the board of the Santa Barbara County Chapter of the California Special Districts Association.Bond Girl Ana De Armas Looks Stunning in Plunging Gown With High-Slit at No Time to Die PremiereAs entrepreneurs, it's easy to get so caught up in urgent day-to-day business decisions and deliverables that suddenly the years seem to be whizzing past. It can be hard to find time to review and analyze outcomes, but such reflection is critical to success. Realizing this, Cedric Waldburger, an Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) member from Switzerland, essentialist and serial entrepreneur, developed a system for self-reflection. We asked Cedric about his insights and process. Here's what he shared.

Last year I traveled on 120 flights, barely spending two consecutive nights in the same bed. And even though no two days were the same, it felt like time was flying by at an incredible speed. And life hasn't slowed down since. Jumping from one task to the next seems to make time shrink: Months and years blend together and disappear, leaving us wondering where all of our time went.

It's easy to get so wrapped up in running a business that we lose perspective about our ultimate goals and how we'll get there. If we lose direction, we may end up in a situation where we don't want to be. To avoid this, it's important to step back at regular intervals and make sure we're on the right track.

That's why I developed a simple exercise in self-reflection that helps align my goals and actions once every 90 days. This structured approach helps me live each day to the fullest and reminds me of the targets I'm working toward.

Why every 90 days? In our fast-paced world, it's difficult and potentially ill-advised to stick to one path for a full year without adjusting course. On the other hand, weekly or daily planning is rarely enough to spur lasting change. I've found that 90 days is the sweet spot that lets me "reset" effectively, providing a motivational boost four times each year instead of just once.

The 90-day Review

The following framework is the simplest I've found for staying on track with goals and regaining control over my time. The process can and should be modified to fit your individual needs. I'm most comfortable using a four-step process:

Step 1: Define areas of importance.

I always start by defining the main areas of importance in my life. Currently, the list consists of 12 categories broken down into four sections:

Family, Relationships, Friends Experiences, Passions, Emotions Business, Money, Growth Nutrition, Fitness, Health

Your categories may be different, but I find that breaking down my life into its key components makes self-reflection much easier.

Step 2: Review the status quo for each area.

Next, I examine the current state of affairs for each area and write down my thoughts and observations. Answering purposeful questions can help you analyze each area. Here are some sample questions from my Business category:

Which clients occupied most of my focus?

Which clients do I need to spend more time with?

Which projects positively surprised me?

Which projects didn't achieve the desired outcome?

Which areas have the strongest growth potential?

The questions will vary for each category, but the goal is to understand how you feel about the area and consciously review it. If you can't think of specific questions, a good universal one is:

If I learned that I would die tomorrow, how would I feel about this area?

Reflecting on the key areas of your life provides a well-rounded overview of what you achieved in the last 90 days and reveals which areas need attention in the upcoming 90 days.

Step 3: Set intentions for the next 90 days.

Once you've clarified the status quo for each area, set your intentions for the next 90 days. Which areas do you want to change? Which do you want to stay the same? What are you avoiding? What's hindering your progress?

It's important to limit big changes to just one or two areas. Otherwise you risk becoming overwhelmed and not hitting your goals. The aim of this "preview" is to outline what you want the next 90 days to look like in each area.

Step 4: Schedule your next review.

With these three steps completed, your goals and intentions will become a lot more clear, as will the path toward achieving them. However, to make sure you stick to that path, it's important to repeat the process regularly. Schedule your next self-review now so it automatically pops up in your calendar. This ensures that even if you deviate from your intended path, it will be for a maximum of a few weeks. I block off time once every 90 days and schedule an email to myself for the same day to make sure I do the review.What are the best places in the United States to live and work? Every year, U.S. News & World Report sets out to answer that question, ranking the 125 most populous metropolitan areas in the nation to determine which make the best choice for a home.

How do they define "best"? It's impressively scientific. They begin by looking at the job market (i.e., low unemployment) but balance that against average salaries--not only will you get a job there but it will pay well. Then they compare local cost of living with average local incomes to determine whether most people who live in the city can afford to have comfortable lives. This may be why only two of the nation's 10 most expensive cities made the list.

Next, they measure quality of life by looking at the crime rate, the general happiness and well-being of the people in the city, access to high-quality education and health care, and average commute times. Finally, they test the desirability of a location both by surveying people across the country about whether they would like to live there and using Census Bureau data to determine whether people are actually moving there.

Then U.S. News & World Report puts all those numbers together and compares them to rank the 125 most populous urban areas in the nation from best place to live to worst place to live. You can find the full ranking here. These are the top 10:

1. Austin

Consider Austin if you love live music (it's everywhere), mostly warm weather that gets good and hot in summer, food trucks, and festivals. South by Southwest, Austin City Limits, and the Fun Fun Fun Fest all happen here. Nicknamed "Silicon Hills," it's also a great place to get a job with a high-tech company or startup--or start a company yourself. Google, already a solid presence, recently expanded its Austin footprint.

2. Colorado Springs, Colorado

This quiet, wholesome town puts you near both Denver and the upscale ski resorts of Vail and Aspen, but with more affordable housing and less horrible traffic. Military bases, defense contractors, and colleges provide local employment.

3. Denver

The "Mile-High City" is a great place for outdoor enthusiasts, with the Rocky Mountains within an hour's drive. It's also the epicenter of the legal recreational marijuana industry, since Colorado and Washington legalized recreational pot in 2012. The new legal marijuana industry is creating lots of jobs. Other local employers are the University of Colorado, the University of Denver, and Lockheed Martin.

4. Des Moines

You might not expect the Iowa capital to pop up on a list of best places to live. But it has low unemployment, parks, lakes, bike trails, elegant homes from the 1900s, and downtown lofts. And people in Iowa are just plain nice. Local employment comes from the insurance industry, financial services, logistics, and health care.

5. Fayetteville, Arkansas

Arkansas is another place you might not think of as a best place to live. But the surrounding Ozark Mountains appeal to outdoorsy types and the city has been growing rapidly. Walmart, Tyson Foods, and J.B. Hunt transport services are all based in Fayetteville, offering employment opportunities. The University of Arkansas is another major employer.

6. Portland, Oregon

This is the place that gave birth to the comedy series Portlandia, so you expect it to be offbeat, and Portland does not disappoint. Food trucks and a youthful culture happy to experiment are part of what make Portland fun, but so is the nearby Pacific Coast and the grand forests and mountains inland. There are many high-tech employers here, most notably Intel. And Nike is headquartered in nearby Beaverton.

7. Huntsville, Alabama

During the 1960s, Huntsville became home to the NASA center where the Saturn V, which took astronauts to the Moon, was designed. NASA is still a major employer in the area, as is the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal. The downtown is gentrifying, with an old cotton mill turned to a performing arts center, and a renovated school now home to craft breweries and bars.

8. Washington, D.C.

It's the nation's capital, but local residents say there's more than that to this city. An excellent public transportation system, restaurants, and museums add to quality of life here, as do cherry blossoms that outclass even those in Japan. The federal government and state governments are, needless to say, the area's biggest employers. But the hospitality and financial industries also have a big presence.

9. Minneapolis-St. Paul

It seems Mary Richards of the iconic Mary Tyler Moore Show was onto something. The Twin Cities are a great place to live, with (two) appealing downtowns and a Midwestern feel. Biotech and life sciences are major industries here, and there are retail and manufacturing giants, including 3M.

10. SeattleMilos Forman, the Czech-born film director known for Oscar-winning classics One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Amadeus, has died at the age of 86, Czech news agency CTK has reported.

Formans wife Martina told CTK that he died yesterday (Friday 13) in the United States after a short illness. She said his departure was calm, and he was surrounded the whole time by his family and his closest friends.

Forman had only made one American film when he was enlisted to direct the adaptation of Ken Keseys novel Cuckoos Nest  the ironic 1971 comedy Taking Off.

Yet 1975s One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest proved a critical and commercial success, with Jack Nicholson as its star. It went on to become the first film since 1934s It Happened One Night to scoop up the top five Oscar prizes, for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screeplay (adapted).

Then on Amadeus, his most financially successful film after Cuckoos Nest, Forman returned to Czechoslovakia in 1983 and brought two relatively little-known theatre actors to play Mozart (Thomas Hulce) and his bitter rival Antonino Salieri (F Murray Abraham), together for an adaptation of Peter Shaffers award-winning play.

Forman took his second Best Director Oscar for the film, which also won awards for Best Picture, Actor (Abraham) and Screenplay  eight awards in total.

His other English-language films included 1996s The People vs Larry Flynt, which earned him his third Best Director nomination, and 1999s Man on the Moon.

27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Show all 27 1 /27 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Black Panther Released: 12 February 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh 12 JanuaryMartin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Coco Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p>Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renee Victor 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Downsizing Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Early Man Released: 26 January 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Annihilation Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Dark River Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson

Film critics, actors and fans were quick to pay tribute to Forman following the news of his death.

Critic Guy Lodge wrote: Farewell to Milos Forman, who never made the same film twice, and never made one without interest. Nows a good time to seek out the wonderful TAKING OFF if youve never seen it.

English director, screenwriter and producer Edgar Wright said: Very sad to hear that the great director Milos Forman has passed away. He had a tremendous filmography that documented the rebel heart and human spirit. I have seen One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest enough times to be able to silently mouth along with the movie. RIP.

Forman was jury president at the Cannes Film Festival in 1985 and the Venice Film Festival in 2000.

He was married twice in Czechoslovakia, first to actress Jana Brejchova (his lead actress in 1965s Loves of a Blonde) and then to Vera Kresadlova, the mother of his twin sons Peter and Matej.

In 1998 he had another set of twins, Andrew and James, by his third wife, Martina Zborilova.Richard Morgan is an award-winning British street and social documentary photographer. After receiving a PhD from University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, and prompted by the Brexit vote in June 2016, Morgan moved to the heart of Europe.

Just as his own country was moving away from the continent, Morgan was moving closer with his camera. Influenced by Robert Franks The Americans and Ian Berrys The English, The Poles documents Morgans journeys in Poland during 2016 and 2017.

The result is an intimate portrait of the country and its people; it is the impression of an outsider looking in through a foreign lens. Shot predominantly on black-and-white film, Morgans photographs are characterised by their humour and sadness, by their split-second contradictions and ambivalence.

His picture of Poznan (above) earned him 2018 Urban Photographer of the Year from the professional services firm CRBE.

(Richard Morgan)

I experienced the Brexit aftermath from an unusual, but inspiring and stimulating position, writes Morgan. It was a form of therapy to me that, on any particular occasion, instead of being wrapped up in the repetitive, self-obsessive discussions and reporting about Brexit, I might be, for example, walking the streets of Lodz, captivated by some moving, compelling human interaction or scene, which, however seemingly insignificant compared to Brexits vast, macro-level socioeconomic and political scope, could mean everything to me in that moment, and might convey more to me about humanity, and the world, and my place in it, than discussions about Brexit ever could.

And I think thats what the pictures in The Poles are: split-second moments, or scenes, or occasions to which Ive been drawn, which have arrested my attention, because I noticed in them something I thought to be fundamental, if only a fragment, not only about Poland, but about modern society in general.

Themes of ambivalence, social contrast, irony, and intensity  those things I recognise as fundamental and important  permeate all of my work, from St. Petersburg to Barcelona, from Bangkok to New York City, from London to Shanghai.

And these same themes unite the photographs in The Poles, but are shaded by, dressed up in, and coloured with the context of contemporary Poland. Its as if Ive been trying to find out how the fundamental, universal themes of ambivalence, social contrast, irony, and intensity play out in a Polish setting, what they look like in Poland.

The Poles by Richard Morgan Show all 18 1 /18 The Poles by Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan The Poles by Richard Morgan Richard Morgan

I didnt set out to represent Poland and Polish people in a specific way. There was no agenda in that sense. When I look at the collection of images I have produced, I see photographs connected by themes of humour and sadness, by unity and division, by contrast.

So I think the version of Poland and of the Polish people you get from looking at this body of work is characterised by ambivalence: a place of loneliness and togetherness, of control and freedom, of violence and delicate care, of immobility and transition, of hopelessness and faith.

I guess, in the end what I have produced is a record of what I think is worth looking at in Poland, of what has affected me there, of what has moved me in various ways. I have chosen my favourite photographs from 18 months of work to include in the final project, a selection that will always rub against any idea of objectivity or truth, but will be instead a glimpse of what I have seen and of what can be seen.

You can follow more of Richard Morgan's work on Facebook and Instagram.Two years after going into administration, American Apparel is relaunching in the UK with a new online store.

Set to launch on April 23, the new website follows the brands closure of all stores in the UK and the US in November 2016.

The clothing brand had courted controversy for its use of young female models in advertising that was deemed inappropriately sexualised.

However the new campaign, created by UK agency Thinking Juice, is set to take a different approach.

Whilst it will still be sexy, the goal is not to sexualise women in an exploitative fashion, according to the brands new owners, Gildan Activewear.

Recommended Why British millennials fell out of love with American Apparel

After the controversy surrounding American Apparels risque images, Gildan brought in an all-female executive board in the hope of doing away with the advertising often considered for the male gaze.

The new aim, they say, is not to cover women up but to treat men and women equally.

We dont believe in covering up, Sabina Weber, head of brand marketing at Gildan, told Adweek.

Women feel so conflicted about being sexual right now, but were taking a position to still be sexy, unapologetically so, but from an empowered female perspective.

Fans of the fashion brand need not worry too much though as the clothing style and design appears much the same as it was before the brands disappearance from the high street.

Only this time, hopefully there will be more focus on the clothing than the poses of the women wearing it.This week saw the first of what could be a new round of energy price hikes with British Gas announcing a 5.5 per cent increase for customers on its standard variable tariff from the end of May.

Price increases like this always get some negative news coverage but they sting less going into the summer months, so its possible that customers notice less. However, its also very possible that that other energy firms could follow suit.

Martin Lewis from the website MoneySavingExpert suggests that now that British Gas is facing the first-mover flak others will be able to sneak hikes in afterwards for less, for a PR cost.

Georgie Frost of GoCompare Energy agrees that this could be the starting gun for a fresh round of hikes: What tends to happen when one big-six energy provider increases prices is that the rest follow in fairly quick succession.

However, Lewis also suggests that customers must recognise that some of the blame for paying more must be directed towards themselves.

Millions of customers will rightly be furious with British Gas when they hear the news of this price hike  yet some of the ire must also be turned upon themselves, he said.

We live in a market where the do-somethings pay far less than the do-nothings.

Mr Lewis added: For someone with typical use, British Gas customers can save over 350 a year by ditching and switching, and many firms who are far cheaper have vastly better customer service ratings. Therefore the message is plain. If you do nothing you will be taken advantage of.

Cap in hand?

Some customers may be planning to await the planned price cap for standard variable tariffs, that is set to be implemented before the end of the year. Some 11 million households could benefit by up to 100 a year when such a cap is rolled out.

However, some analysts have expressed concern that such a cap could reduce competition within the sector, meaning people who actively switch dont have the chance to benefit from the cheap deals they usually move to.

Price comparison websites and Ofgem have pointed out that customers could save as much as 300 by switching away from standard tariffs to more competitive suppliers and deals.

British Gass parent company Centrica said that the price increase was reflective of costs beyond its own control, while the firm itself blamed the cost of energy and government policies such as plans to tackle carbon emissions and the rollout of smart meters for the hike.

It has called for the government to move the cost of such policies onto taxation rather than energy bills.

However, the government has been scathing of this latest jump in prices. Energy minister Claire Perry said: We are disappointed by British Gass announcement of an unjustified price rise in its default tariff when customers are already paying more than they need to.

The cost of inaction

British Gass price hike will add around 60 to typical dual fuel customers bills and almost 4.1 million households will be affected.

However, this is the second jump in costs within a relatively short stretch and so customers could find it bites particularly hard.

Frost explains: British Gas has bookended a very cold winter with two significant energy price rises. It was only on 15 September 2017 that they increased dual fuel prices by 7.3 per cent, so customers are facing their second price hike in just 8 months  a total increase of 12.8 per cent.

Alex Neill, spokesperson for Which?, says: This price rise will be a bitter blow for customers who have now seen their bills hiked by an average of 136 in nine months. They won't care about who is to blame, but they will question why they're being squeezed financially without seeing any difference in the value or service they're receiving.

Before the energy price cap comes into effect later this year, customers still stuck on poor value standard tariffs should look to switch now as they could potentially save up to 359 a year.

Customers can almost always save by switching away from a standard tariff. In the past, many have chosen inaction over savings but the numbers suggest that could now be shifting. In 2017 figures from Energy UK show that a record 5.5 million customers switched electricity supplier, a 15% increase on 2016.

And that customer movement could be putting pressure on the big-energy suppliers, as there now almost 60 energy firms to choose from. Almost three out of 10 customers who switched last year moved to small and mid-tier providers.

Hikes may happen but if more customers respond by switching then the market could respond by becoming more competitive. Dont wait for winter to worry about bills; move now.President Donald Trump has said he supports states deciding whether to legalise marijuana or not.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president supports states rights on the matter despite a threat made just three months ago by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Republican Senator Cory Gardner from Colorado, one of the states that has already benefited from legalising and regulating the sale and distribution of the drug, said Mr Trump made the pledge to him in a conversation between the two earlier this week.

Mr Gardner has been pushing to reverse a decision made by Mr Sessions in January that allowed federal prosecutors to pursue cases against people who were following marijuana laws in states that have legalised it.

The drug has been fully legalised in eight states, and 24 states allow some form of marijuana use.

"President Trump has assured me that he will support a federalism-based legislative solution to fix this states' rights issue once and for all," Mr Gardner said in a statement. In a bit of Washington drama, Mr Gardner had used his clout as a Senator to block any nominees for Department of Justice positions which Mr Sessions made after the marijuana announcement.

 Cynthia Nixon wants to legalise marijuana in New York

Though it may sound petty, the state has seen a large revenue increase from legalisation. According to Marketwatch: The state of Colorado pulled in nearly $200m in tax revenue last year thanks to its $1.3bn in marijuana revenue. In Washington state, the current legalisation policy funnels revenue to the states ailing public school system.

After the conversation with Mr Trump, Mr Gardner said he was fully releasing his holds on nominations.

Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry Show all 8 1 /8 Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry 5591453.jpg Sam Adams Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry 5591446.jpg Sam Adams Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry 5591448.jpg Sam Adams Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry 5591452.jpg Sam Adams Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry 5591449.jpg Sam Adams Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry 5591450.jpg Sam Adams Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry 5591451.jpg Sam Adams Mile high city: Inside Denver's billion-dollar marijuana industry 5591454.jpg Sam Adams

States autonomy on the matter was actually a promise Mr Trump made on the campaign trail as well, in opposition to some Republicans position on the drug including Mr Sessions. The presidents comment also comes on the heels of news about John Boehner, the former Republican House Speaker who had branded himself as unalterably opposed to legalisation. Mr Bohner joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, the largest legalised weed business, in order to promote the study of using the drug for medicinal purposes.

Mr Gardner hopes to introduce bipartisan legislation keeping the federal government from interfering in state marijuana markets going forward.(Tom Ford)

More than 500,000 people have died since the Syrian conflict began in 2011. This week that number rose yet again, with dozens of civilians killed in an alleged chemical attack in Douma.

With thousands of men imprisoned or killed at the hands of Isis and the Syrian army, many women are left behind fighting for survival, without even the solace of knowing whether their husbands and sons are dead or alive.

This months Forgotten Women is about one such mother, Om Mohammed, who through truly remarkable means managed to find out the fate of her missing son.

Despite reeling from the horrific discovery of her husbands body, and constantly fighting to protect her five other children, she never gave up searching for her boy.

***

Daughter to a successful cotton and wheat farmer, Om Mohammed and her three siblings lived in a small Syrian village. With picnics on the sunny green, crisp clean school uniforms and a lust for learning, those were happy days.

Even when at 16 she was married to her mothers cousin and she had to stop school, she enjoyed life.

When I got married, I lived in Shaam, Damascus, and my husband was working and we had a good salary.

I lived there for 17 years, then the protests started and life started to change. My husbands work started to decrease, we were forced to downsize, and because of the continuous bombings we stopped sending our daughter to work.

One day my husband didnt come home.

Remembering the weight of the day hung heavy in Om Mohammeds voice.

There had been an explosion at a garage close to where her husband worked and he wasnt answering his phone.

Om Mohammed and her family were all too familiar with Syrias missing people, with thousands disappearing since the start of the uprising.

They spent nearly two months searching police stations and hospitals, until eventually they began to look in morgues.

We went to 10 hospitals and looked at so many dead men to find my husband, so many people were dying around me. At one hospital we went to the basement to look at the bodies and I found him. I fell down to the ground without even feeling myself falling when I saw him.

When I found his body and took him home we couldnt even wash him in the proper Islamic way for the burial because his body was so changed.

Even when I first started looking for him I had a feeling Id already lost him (Tom Ford)

Before the gruelling search, Om Mohammeds eldest son Aran had moved several hours away to work in a restaurant and had no knowledge of his fathers death.

As Om Mohammed prepared to tell him, she was once again forced to face the unthinkable.

One day a group from Isis went into the restaurant Aran worked in for lunch and the government heard about this. A fight broke out between them; some ran away, some died, but my son couldnt get out.

So the Syrian government captured those working there. My son defended himself, saying he was just working there, but the government said if the restaurant didnt have a good relationship with Isis then they wouldnt be confident enough to dine there, so they arrested him.

They imprisoned them, they tortured them, they hit them, they hanged them from walls and ceilings. They would only be given a small piece of bread to eat every day. They were doing everything they could to be sure these people didnt belong to Isis.

During this time Om Mohammed had no idea what had happened. She had no way of reaching him, and despite constant searching she could find no trace of Aran.

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She broke down in tears thinking about the unrelenting search.

Every day, nothing. I could do nothing. I thought the same thing had happened to me again  I have lost my son.

With no income, dwindling food supplies amid raging violence and five other children to look after, Om Mohammeds brother persuaded her to move to Iraqi Kurdistan.

The family lived in the sprawling, overpopulated Domiz camp, known as Little Syria for its huge population of Syrian refugees.

Her brother promised to keep looking for Aran, even if it meant returning to the morgues. He kept his promise.

Four months after coming to the camp, my brother called with news that my son was still alive. We didnt know where he was, or how he was, but we knew he had been fighting on the front lines.

My brother got the number of a military person, an officer, and after so much calling we eventually managed to find my sons branch, and I kept trying for three days.

On the third day, at 8pm, I remember it, a man answered. I asked if he had Aran in his battalion  he said yes, I have heard that name.

Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Show all 14 1 /14 Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A Syrian woman and children run for cover amid the rubble of buildings. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Smoke rises from buildings following the attack on the village of Mesraba in the rebel-held besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascu. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Injured children receive medical treatment. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A Syrian man carries a child injured. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures An injured child receives treatment following bombings on several areas of eastern Ghouta. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A child reacts inside a hospital after relatives were injured in the bombing. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian children cry at a make-shift hospital in Douma following air strikes on the Syrian village of Mesraba. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian Civil Defense group extinguishing a store during airstrikes and shelling by Syrian government forces. AP Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A wounded 12-year-old Syrian boy, cries as he receives treatment at a make-shift hospital. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrians carry a wounded man. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures An injured man covered with blood at a medical point. Reuters Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures People sit a medical point in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Reuters Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian Civil Defense running to help survivors. AP Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Injured children receive medical treatment. EPA

The line was bad and the man was whispering to me. He said I will look for him; when I call you with one ring, you call me back and hung up.

Om Mohammed waited in the camp, praying the man would call before someone stopped him.

Eventually there was one ring on the phone, but she had no credit left or money to get more.

She quickly got some sugar and took it to a small shop, begging them to exchange it for credit.

I managed to call back. The line was poor, and there were so many voices. Suddenly through the noise I heard, My mother, my heart and I started crying. That was what my little boy always said to me, so I knew immediately without him saying another word. I had found him.

I heard, My mother, my heart, and immediately I knew I had found my little boy (Tom Ford)

He straight away asked to speak to his dad, he had no idea he was dead, and I couldnt tell him, I just couldnt.

Om Mohammed spent the following months selling rice and sugar to get more credit and keep secretly speaking to her son.

Every phone call he would ask where his father was, and every phone call she would lie, unable to share the truth.

His voice had changed over the phone from the boy I knew. One day he kept telling me how worried he was about me, and to look after myself and his siblings. I asked him what was wrong and all he said was I know and hung up.

Om Mohammed did everything she could to get her family out of the refugee camp and to see Aran again.

After a year and nine months, having moved into a house with her siblings and other children, the family managed to save the equivalent of 1,300  enough to attempt the dangerous process of smuggling her son out of Syria.

We gave the money to a man who would help us smuggle him from Syria to Erbil, where I had moved to. Aran had broken his arm in a battle and had been relocated, so that made it easier to get to him. Because he wasnt smuggled out from the military, he was in a civilian area, thats the only reason it was possible. And we did it.

Om Mohammed pulled out pictures of her son, smiling with pride.

Now I have been out of the camp for five years and my son lives with me in Erbil, in a proper house.

I have a small sewing machine and sew for neighbours and relatives, and my son is selling tea for 100 Syrian pounds (13p) a cup in the parks. Our life is really difficult, but at least my son is with me, thats all that matters. He has come back to me.

Om Mohammed is now part of Women for Women International, an organisation which supports and educates women who live in some of the worlds most dangerous places.

From numeracy to reproductive health, hygiene to voting rights, Om Mohammed is soaking up as much knowledge as she can from the courses and teaching everything to her children.

This is one womans story, and every one is different, but Om Mohammed wants women to know they are not alone.

Im sending a message to all the women who have been in my shoes, who have gone through all the things Ive been through, to stand up and keep going. Push back, have hope for a better future. Im so glad I got reunited with my son, Im so happy about that.

Names and certain locations have been changed to protect the identity of those still fleeing conflict

Om Mohammed is attending the year-long training programme provided by Women for Women International

Women for Women Internationals work in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is generously supported by players of the Peoples Postcode LotteryBritish Prime Minister Theresa May said there was no practicable alternative to the use of force to stop the use of alleged use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad, as the UK joined the US and France in launching strikes against targets in Syria associated with the use of such substances.

As explosions were being from several locations in Syria, Ms May said she had sought to use every diplomatic channel to avoid the use of force.

This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped - not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons, she said.

 Alexander Yakovenko: No evidence Syrian government was behind chemical attack

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

Mrs May said the action would also send a clear signal to anyone else who believed they could use chemical weapons with impunity.

She said: This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat - and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.

I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain's national interest.

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

We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world.

Earlier on Friday, the UK cabinet agreed on the need to take action in Syria to deter the further use of chemical weapons, Downing Street said.

Ministers at a cabinet meeting said it was highly likely the Assad regime was responsible for a suspected chemical attack.

They agreed that the use of chemical weapons must not go unchallenged.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused the government of waiting for instructions from US President Donald Trump and said military action was unlikely to solve the situation in Syria.

He said: More bombing, more killing, more war will not save life. It will just take more lives and spawn the war elsewhere.A pair of robbers who stuffed stolen money down their trousers, were caught on camera chasing it down the street as it blew away.

CCTV footage shows the two men walking down a street in Droylsden, Greater Manchester, before the notes begins streaming out behind them.

One of the men can be seen crouching down in what appears to be an attempt to stop any more of their bounty escaping from his trousers. The other chases after the bank notes as they tumble away in the wind.

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Greater Manchester police released the footage after two men forced staff to hand over money at a travel agent on in Droylsden last month.

Police say the men ran down Craven Street before the notes started dropping from their trousers.

They later got into a silver car which sped off.

This duo threatened innocent people working in the travel agents and should know their actions are utterly unacceptable," said Detective Constable Phil Scargill of GMPs Tameside borough.

Greater Manchester Police released CCTV footage of two men chasing after stolen cash after dropping it in the street in Droylsden (Greater Manchester Police)

They took every step to secure the money in the shop, but left the stolen notes in their wake as they fled from the scene.

Id urge anyone who saw the two men, or caught sight of them dropping notes as they ran from the travel agents, to please get in touch with police and share what you know.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0161 856 9262, quoting incident number 1122 of 17/03/18.

Reports can also be made anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.Concerns have been raised about the number of pregnant women who have served short-term prison sentences in Scotland in the last five years.

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that since 2013 there have been 104 pregnant women in prison.

Of these, 37 were given sentences of less than 12 months and 31 gave birth while in prison.

The partys justice spokesman, Liam McArthur, urged the Scottish government to press ahead with its plan to introduce a presumption against prison sentences of less than 12 months.

He said: The fact that 37 expectant mothers have been given destructive short-term sentences in recent years should have alarm bells ringing.

All the evidence shows that short-term sentences dont work and are less effective than robust community-based disposals in reducing reoffending.

Rates of reoffending among those who have served short stints in prison are sky high.

That is why Scottish Liberal Democrats have consistently urged the Scottish government to introduce a presumption against sentences of less than 12 months, something ministers now accept would be a positive step.

If, in the process, it means more pregnant women pay for any crime they have committed through robust means short of prison then that has to be in everyones interests.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA 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

A Scottish government spokesman said: Reducing the use of ineffective short-term imprisonment and increasing the use of robust community sentences, is part of our smarter approach to tackling offending.

That is why we have announced our intention to extend the presumption against short custodial sentences from three months to 12 months or less.

Our new female custodial estate is designed to support family contact. Dedicated mother and baby facilities will be provided in the national facility, HMP Grampian and both community custodial units for those women who need them.Mass job losses caused by advancing technology could lead to a rise of Marxism, the governor of the Bank of England has warned.

Mark Carney said the automation of millions of jobs could lead to mass unemployment, wage stagnation and the growth of communism within a generation.

He warned Marx and Engels may again become relevant.

Speaking at the Canada Growth Summit, Mr Carney said increases in artificial intelligence, big data and high-tech machines could create huge inequalities between the high-skilled workers who benefit from the advances and those who are sidelined by them.

Recommended Cryptocurrency exchanges to face regulatory clampdown says Mark Carney

He said: The benefits, from a workers perspective, from the first industrial revolution, which began in the latter half of the 18th century, were not felt fully in productivity and wages until the latter half of the 19th century.

If you substitute platforms for textile mills, machine learning for steam engines, Twitter for the telegraph, you have exactly the same dynamics as existed 150 years ago  when Karl Marx was scribbling the Communist Manifesto.

The industrial revolution saw a then-unparalleled growth in production during the late 18th and early 19th centuries  but wages failed to increase for decades as machines meant the jobs created were low-skilled.

Many believe the resulting inequalities were a direct precursor to the rise of both left- and right-wing extremism across Europe.

Mr Carney, who is due to leave his post in 2019, said the years of weak salary growth since the financial crisis suggested this 19th-century experience was already being repeated.

The governor also added there were signs of hollowing out in the job market as mid-level workers find computers able to complete specific tasks  even some previously considered skilled work.

He said: There is a disconnect in expectations. In surveys, over 90 per cent of citizens dont think their jobs will be affected by automation, but a similar percentage of CEOs think the opposite, in the number of jobs which will be materially affected.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA

He pointed out how law firms were already using artificial intelligence to comb through documents and read evidence, something traditionally done by junior lawyers. And he added that banks have used a combination of artificial intelligence and big data to computerise large swathes of customer service departments, resulting in staff being made unemployed.

Jobs such as a taxi or lorry drivers could also be scrapped, as self-driving technology improves, he added.

Mr Carney said the trends go against previous ideas which suggested only manual tasks would be given to machines.

The end result, he indicated, might mean more workers need to prepare for jobs which require a higher emotional intelligence, in sectors such as care and leisure.The government has been accused of failing to act on serious concerns raised by doctors and MPs about an NHS policy that sees patient details shared with immigration authorities.

The Health and Social Care Committee warned earlier this year that NHS Digital was failing to uphold the interests of patients with the existing memorandum of understanding (MoU), through which patient data held by NHS Digital is shared with the Home Office for immigration tracing purposes.

It followed an evidence session on the subject in January, which heard that illegal immigrants were too frightened to access healthcare because of the data-sharing agreement, with many being driven underground by the legislation.

This led the committee to write to NHS Digital requesting it to suspend its involvement in the MoU and undertake a further review of the implications of sharing addresses with the Home Office.

But the government rejected the request, which the committee has deemed a wholly unsatisfactory response. The chief executive of NHS Digital was subsequently summoned to give further evidence to the committee.

The MPs have now repeated their call for NHS Digital to suspend its participation in the memorandum of understanding until the current review of the NHS code of confidentiality is complete.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, chair of the committee, said: There is a clear ethical principle that address data held for the purposes of health and care should only be shared for law enforcement purposes in the case of serious crime.

NHS Digitals decision to routinely share information with the Home Office with a lower threshold is entirely inappropriate. This behaviour calls into question NHS Digitals ability to robustly act on behalf of patients in the event of other data-sharing requests including from other government departments in the future.

A new report by the committee states that there must be a proper consultation with all interested parties, with the full involvement of experts in medical ethics, and that the decision should also take full account of the public health concerns raised by Public Health England.

It is absolutely crucial that the public have confidence that those at the top of NHS Digital have both an understanding of the ethical principles underpinning confidentiality and the determination to act in the best interests of patients, Ms Wollaston added.

The demand is backed by doctors and charities, who said the MoU is already having a detrimental impact, with patients refraining from accessing the care they need and doctors feeling pressured to share patient data with the Home Office.

Recommended NHS told to stop handing over patient data to immigration enforcement

Dr John Chisholm, medical ethics committee chair of the British Medical Association (BMA), which has been vocal in its opposition to this data-sharing arrangement, said it risked undermining the very foundation of the doctor-patient relationship and urged NHS Digital to suspend the MoU immediately.

We welcome this report, which echoes many of our key concerns over the ill-thought out and potentially destructive agreement that NHS Digital is yet to resolve, he continued.

As stated by the committee, most immigration offences clearly do not meet the high public interest threshold for releasing confidential data, which according to NHS England, the General Medical Council and even NHS Digitals own guidance, should be reserved for cases which involve serious crime.

The issue of data sharing raises a number of ethical issues for doctors, who are bound by principles of confidentiality, so it is quite simply astounding that no professional medical ethicist was approached in the supposed meaningful consultation ahead of the MoUs introduction.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, meanwhile warned that the Home Office was displaying a blatant disregard for the GP-patient relationship, warning that the policy risked alienating highly vulnerable patients.

It is treating GP patient data like the Yellow Pages, and we are calling on NHS Digital to take urgent measures to suspend the agreement that is allowing them to do so, she said, adding that the examples the college was hearing about were becoming increasingly alarming.

Deborah Gold, chief executive of National Aids Trust (NAT), highlighted that mistrust in the NHS risked work being undone and could lead to a public health risk.

As an HIV charity, we understand the importance of treating infectious conditions and limiting the spread of epidemics. When people cant trust the NHS with their data, that good work is undone and we face a public health risk.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters 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

There is nothing to be said for this practice, which deters people from accessing healthcare. Data sharing should have been stopped when the Health and Social Care Committee first called for it, and it certainly should stop now they have, for a second time, demanded an end to this short-sighted and unethical practice.

Lucy Jones, director of programmes at Doctors of the World, which runs clinics for undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, said she saw the incredibly harmful impact the data-sharing deal has on patients day in, day out.

It has reached a point where people do not want to give the NHS their contact information out of pure fear. While confidentiality is in such a precarious state, mothers are not accessing the antenatal care they need, public health is put at risk, and we fear this is only going to get worse, she added.

The government has been approached for comment.Five officers will face gross misconduct charges over the death of a mentally ill man in custody, the police watchdog has announced.

Sean Rigg, who suffered with schizophrenia, died from cardiac arrest at London's Brixton police station in August 2008, after being heavily restrained by officers.

An inquest later found that unsuitable and unnecessary force had been used on the 40-year-old.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), formerly known as the Independent Police Complaint's Commission, has directed the Metropolitan Police to begin hearings against five officers involved.

It said questions need to be answered about why they had allegedly failed to identify Mr Rigg was suffering from mental health problems, failed to protect him from harm, and failed to treat him once it became clear he was ill.

But one of the five may not face the charges after he made a successful High Court challenge to the grounds of his suspension from the Met.

PC Andrew Birks, who has been suspended on full pay since 2014, could now apply to retire from the force, putting him beyond the reach of its disciplinary process. He has since become a Church of England priest.

IOPC regional director Sarah Green said she had directed the Met to bring the charges against Mr Birks and four other officers last month. In February she further directed that two of the officers should face disciplinary hearings over allegations they "knowingly misled" an inquest into Mr Rigg's death and the IOPC during its investigation.

Both directions were made public during the High Court hearing.

Mr Rigg  who was living in a hostel in Balham, south London, at the time of his death  was arrested after allegedly smashing up a gazebo and making karate moves that hostel staff found threatening.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA

In 2012, an inquest concluded that police left him unattended face down in a van, with his hands bound, for eight minutes. Shortly afterwards, he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.

His sister Marcia Rigg-Samuel said she and her family "welcomed" the decision to bring charges.

She said: "As we approach 10 years since my brother died following unnecessary and unsuitable restraint, we hope that the hearings will take place as soon as possible and provide some much-needed accountability. Ten years on and my family is still suffering delay after delay."

She added that she hoped a decision on Mr Birks' resignation could be made "immediately".

She said: "The only sensible decision in the public interest, with the gross misconduct charges having been directed by the IOPC, is for PC Birks to remain suspended, so that he can face those charges."Russias foreign minister has claimed Sergei and Yulia Skripal were not poisoned by nerve agent novichok, but a separate chemical possessed by the UK and US.

Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had received information from a laboratory in Spiez, Switzerland suggesting the Russian double agent and his daughter were exposed to a non-lethal substance known as BZ.

He claimed the laboratory had passed Russia confidential information after analysing samples of the agent used in the attack on the Skripals in Salisbury last month.

Mr Lavrov said the toxin was not produced in Russia, but was in service in Britain, the United States and other Nato nations, Russian state media reported.

"Based on the results of the examination, traces of the toxic chemical BZ and its precursors, related to chemical weapons of the second category in accordance with the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, were found in the samples, Mr Lavrov said, according to state-owned Sputnik News.

BZ is a nerve agent temporarily disabling a person. The effect is achieved within 30-50 minutes and lasts up to four days."

Mr Lavrov noted the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had mentioned neither novichok, nor BZ in its independent report into the poisoning.

However, the OPCW did say its scientists had confirmed the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical.

Mr Lavrov nonetheless insisted: If, of course, the OPCW refutes the fact of using the laboratory of Spiez, it will be interesting to listen to its explanations."

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

Britain has accused Russia of carrying out an attempted assassination of Mr Skripal, an allegation Moscow has routinely denied.

He was found unconscious with his 33-year-old daughter on a park bench on 4 March, with medical staff later determining they had been exposes to a nerve agent.

Ms Skripal is recovering from the attack at a secure location after being discharged from hospital on Monday. Mr Skripal remains seriously ill in hospital, although his condition is longer thought to be critical.

Government ministers say there military grade nerve agent used in the poisoning was of a type known to be manufactured in Russia and would have required state resources to produce at the purity observed in samples.Air strikes carried out against Syria should serve as a warning to Russia over its use of chemical weapons, Theresa May has said.

The Prime Minister drew connections between the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury and the bombing carried out overnight during a press conference at Downing Street.

The United States, Britain and France launched a joint attack on Syrian military targets during the early hours of the morning, in response to a suspected poison gas attack that killed dozens of people in Douma last week.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the air strike had been "a highly successful mission", while US Joint Staff director, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, said Syrias chemical weapon programme had been set back three years.

We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere, Mrs May told reporters.

When asked if the strikes could be seen as a warning to Russia, the Prime Minister said the military action should send a message that chemical weapons could not be used with impunity.

The action that took place last night was an action which was focused on degrading and deterring the operational capability and the willingness of the Syrian regime to continue to use chemical weapons, she added.

"There have been many instances when we have seen them using those chemical weapons.

"But I believe it should also be a message to others that the international community is not going to stand by and allow chemical weapons to be used with impunity."

The UK has accused Russia of carrying out an attempted assassination of former double agent Mr Skripal, a claim Moscow vehemently denies.

An independent investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons had added weight to British conclusions after it confirmed the Skripals were poisoned using novichok on Thursday.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

Ministers say the military grade nerve agent is of a type known to be manufactured in Russia and would have required state resources to produce.

Russia has refused to accept the results of the results of the independent tests unless it is given access to the investigation.

Meanwhile, Britain has said in a letter to Nato that Russia had been spying on the Skripals since at least 2013 and investigated how to launch nerve agents attacks by applying poisons to door handles.

Ms Skripal is recovering from the attack at a secure location after being discharged from hospital on Monday. Mr Skripal remains seriously ill in hospital, although his condition is longer thought to be critical.Its a 16th-century Scottish fortress which once thrived amid war, attack and treason, but now parts of Craignethan Castle have been abandoned because of a somewhat different invader  a very angry badger.

Historic Scotland was forced to shut tunnels which are popular with the public after staff discovered the unexpected guest.

If youre heading to #CraignethanCastle over the next few days you might find the Cellar Tunnel closed due to the presence of a very angry badger, the heritage organisation tweeted. Were trying to entice it out with cat food and send it home.

Recommended Badger caught on camera burying cow in world first

It did not elaborate on why the badger was angry, but it is thought the animal may live in surrounding woodland and became lost.

Staff first spotted some dug-out earth and saw the badger after closer inspection. They have been trying to lure it out with cat food and honey ever since.

The animal is said to have caused a mess, digging up through loose soil into stonework.

The castle, managed by Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which was built around 1530, has a tower house, ramparts and a caponier (a stone-vaulted shooting gallery).

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA

It saw action during Battle of Langside in 1568 and the Marian civil war of 1568-73.

The tunnel was closed around midday on 12 April after our site staff discovered a badger had made itself at home, a spokesperson for HES said. The castle is surrounded by woodland and we believe the badger may have become lost.

Staff have been in contact with local wildlife authorities and have tried to lure the badger out with cat food and honey.

The rest of the castle remains open.A midwife who was sacked for taking too many sick days after she fell ill because of a lack of toilets at work has won an employment tribunal.

Jane Greaves was sacked from Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, after contracting a kidney infection because the birthing centre where she worked did not have a staff toilet.

The 46-year-old said low staffing levels meant she was unable to leave the unit to go to the toilet, which was a two-minute walk away in another department.

Her dismissal led to an online petition calling for her reinstatement, which attracted more than 40,000 signatures.

And at an appeal hearing this week, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust overturned its decision, meaning the midwife can now return to work.

Ms Greaves, who has 16 years midwifery experience, fell ill on 30 December following a night shift at the hospital.

She was rushed to A&E on New Year's Eve and was reportedly told by a urologist that she had not been emptying her bladder often enough over a period of time and had contracted a kidney infection.

The midwife said she was handed a seven-day sick note on 2 January this year, taking her total number of sick days to 14 in the 12 months from January 2017 to January 2018.

Pinderfields Hospital midwife Jane Greaves who was fired in a move union Unison dubbed ''outrageous'' has won her job back (Yorkshire Evening Post/ SWNS)

She had been off sick with migraines caused by stress for seven days over five separate occasions.

Ms Greaves was stunned when the head of midwifery told her during a disciplinary meeting that she was being sacked with immediate effect on 15 March because of her poor sickness record.

The sacking came despite the hospital advertising job vacancies for midwives.

Mothers meeting their newborn babies Show all 9 1 /9 Mothers meeting their newborn babies Mothers meeting their newborn babies Fermont Fotographie Mothers meeting their newborn babies Fermont Fotographie Mothers meeting their newborn babies Fermont Fotographie Mothers meeting their newborn babies Fermont Fotographie Mothers meeting their newborn babies Fermont Fotographie Mothers meeting their newborn babies Fermont Fotographie Mothers meeting their newborn babies Fermont Fotographie Mothers meeting their newborn babies Mothers meeting their newborn babies

Work is all I have got so to take it away from me is horrendous, Ms Greaves said after her dismissal.

Its the best job in the world and I've just been in a daze, I cannot sleep and cannot think.

Ms Greaves said when the birthing centre opened in September 2016 it had three midwives and two health carers, which has since been slashed to just two midwives and one health carer.

She said she informed management at least 49 times about issues with high workload and not enough staff at the unit.

The unit I work on does not have a staff area or staff toilet, she said. You just ignore it; you cant just say to a woman stop pushing, Im going for a wee.

Adrian OMalley, of trade union Unison, described Ms Greavess dismissal as the most unjust I have witnessed in over 35 years as a steward at Pinderfields Hospital.

Trudie Davies, chief operating officer at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: After careful consideration, it was decided that the sanction applied to Ms Greaves be downgraded in order to allow her to return to work.

We look forward to Ms Greaves returning to the Trust.

SWNS contributed to this reportThe whistleblower at the heart of the scandal surrounding the main Brexit campaign has called for a police investigation into allegations that the group breached electoral spending rules.

Former activist Shahmir Sanni said he believed the referendum result had been tainted by allegations that Vote Leave had flouted spending limits by making a 625,000 donation to the pro-Brexit youth group BeLeave shortly before the 2016 vote.

Lawyers acting for several whistleblowers have argued there is a case to prosecute Vote Leave for allegedly using the smaller outfit to get around the 7m spending limit, which is put in place to prevent campaigns with wealthy supporters from gaining an unfair advantage in elections.

In a 50-page submission to the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Matrix Chambers said the donation  which was then paid to digital firm AggregateIQ by BeLeave  should have been declared as part of Vote Leaves expenditure, which could have taken it above the limit.

It comes as the Electoral Commission probes possible spending breaches, and as a third whistleblower came forward with new allegations about how closely the campaigns were linked.

Vote Leave figures have repeatedly denied all the allegations and said the 625,000 donations was within spending rules, which allow donations to independent campaigns.

In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Mr Sanni said: How can you sit there and pretend like its all Remoaning or its all a lie, or its just me trying to find my 15 minutes of fame or its just me trying to get attention, when you have lawyers and QCs and the committee saying there are reasonable grounds to investigate or even prosecute  now they are saying there are reasonable grounds to prosecute.

So, its not a joke anymore, its not politics anymore. This has actually become about protecting the integrity of democracy and protecting our systems.

Mr Sanni and Christopher Wylie, another whistleblower embroiled in the Facebook data scandal, have passed a dossier to the Electoral Commission, which they claim points to close coordination between Vote Leave and BeLeave.

Asked if he would welcome a criminal probe, Mr Sanni said: Yes, of course I would, because I was there. I know that we were coordinated, I know what happened.

While being a committed Leave voter, he said the allegations taint the result, adding: The entire scandal, in my view, delegitimises the vote.

Mr Sanni also declared he would never have spoken out if he had known the levels of abuse to which he would be subjected.

He said: It hasnt been fun. If I had known the consequences, if I had known it would be this bad in terms of the abuse, the vitriol, the outing  if I am being frank  I probably wouldnt have come forward.

Mr Sanni described his distress at discovering his sexuality was being discussed in the media because of his former relationship with Stephen Parkinson, a senior Vote Leave official who now works at Downing Street.

He accused Mr Parkinson of knowing his family in Pakistan were unaware of his sexuality when Mr Parkinson released the statement saying the two men had been in a relationship.

Mr Sanni added: For me, even doing after all of that, after doing everything Ive sort of come forward with, Ive thrown away the career Ive built for the past two years, the network Ive thrown away for the past two years. Ive thrown away everything, Ive thrown away the one part of my life that I had kept for myself and not made a decision to disclose it to my family members.

Ive been stripped of nearly everything that I have built over the past few years, and even since my childhood.

Theresa May stood by her aide, who denied outing Mr Sanni. Mr Parkinson said it was impossible for the relationship to have remained private once Shahmir decided to publicise his false claims in this way.

 Chris Wylie: The Brexit outcome 'could have been different' had there not been 'cheating'

It comes as a third whistleblower, Mark Gettleson, came forward with new claims that he was paid by Vote Leave to do work for the youth group.

Lawyers acting for Mr Gettleson confirmed that he provided web design and communications services for Vote Leave between February and April 2016, and created the BeLeave campaign concept.

His evidence demonstrates how closely linked the Vote Leave and BeLeave campaigns were during the period he worked there, and leading counsel relied on this evidence in coming to conclusions that there are grounds to suspect overspending offences in the referendum, said Tamsin Allen, partner at Bindmans LLP.

The Fair Vote project has published parts of Mr Gettlesons evidence on its website.

Legal opinion submitted to the culture committees inquiry into fake news said: We consider that there is a prima facie case that ... electoral offences were committed by Vote Leave in the EU referendum campaign and that these require urgent investigation so that consideration can be given to whether to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision on whether to prosecute.

It also said there was there are strong grounds to infer that Vote Leave was involved in the decision by which the AIQ payments were made ... that it was aware of the scope of the work which would be conducted pursuant to those payments, and that the payments were incurred by Vote Leave to promote the outcome for which Vote Leave campaigned, and/or in concert with BeLeave.

Vote Leave has denied any allegations of wrongdoing and of illegal coordination with other groups.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

Brexiteer cabinet ministers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have both spoken out in defence of Vote Leave, with Mr Johnson describing the claims as utterly ludicrous. He said Vote Leave won fair and square  and legally.

An Electoral Commission spokesman said there was an ongoing investigation and declined to comment further.

Representatives for former Vote Leave officials and for Mr Parkinson were contacted for comment but did not respond at the time of publication.Cabinet members are supplementing their salaries by letting properties to tenants, figures show, leading to questions about how suited they are to represent the interests of millions of people locked out of the housing market by high prices.

Theresa May, Philip Hammond and Liam Fox are among landlords benefiting by at least 10,000 a year, according to the parliamentary register of MPs interests.

Critics said it was unfair that people who could afford to invest in the housing market were able to earn from a second home while younger workers struggled to get a foot on the ladder after prices soared to unattainable levels.

Housing minister Sajid Javid and transport secretary Chris Grayling were among the Conservative MPs earning healthy incomes from property investments, a report in The Guardian highlighted.

Labour MPs receiving more than 10,000 a year from second homes include Emily Thornberry and Keith Vaz.

The names emerged after Labour this week demanded an investigation into Jeremy Hunts oversight in failing to register an interest in a firm that bought seven luxury flats.

The health secretary blamed an honest administrative mistake but Labour said it would refer Mr Hunt to parliaments standards watchdog.

The Register of Members Financial Interests shows that since last summer the prime minister and her husband let out a flat in central London, giving them an income of more than 10,000  the threshold of declarable earnings.

Mr Hunt has a half-share of a holiday house in Italy and a half-share of an office building in Hammersmith as well as the interest in the seven apartments in Southampton.

Chancellor Mr Hammond rents out his house in London, earning above the threshold since February last year. He is also a beneficiary of a trust with a controlling interest in property development firm Castlemead.

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson, trade secretary Mr Fox, Mr Grayling, Mr Javid and former attorney general Dominic Grieve also have tenants in London homes, according to the register.

But Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi appears to have the largest property interests, with 10 listings, which include a home and 31 acres of land in Warwickshire, with stables run as a livery yard by Zahawi and Zahawi Ltd; a residential buy-to-let property in London, divided into three flats and a house in London rented out since 2015. He has also declared a string of commercial property interests.

Shadow foreign secretary Ms Thornberry jointly owns with her family a flat in Guildford, Surrey, that provides an income of at least 10,000, and Keith Vaz rents out two flats in London, the register shows.

Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Show all 10 1 /10 Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Villa Vals  Vals, Switzerland Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Villa Vals  Vals, Switzerland Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Fiscavaig  Isle of Skye, Scotland Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Fiscavaig  Isle of Skye, Scotland Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Solo House  Cretas, Spain Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Solo House  Cretas, Spain Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes The Mirror Houses  Bolzano, Italy Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Estate Bungalow  Matugama, Sri Lanka Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Estate Bungalow  Matugama, Sri Lanka Mountain View: the worlds most secluded homes Estate Bungalow  Matugama, Sri Lanka

One critic tweeted: Whilst this is not illegal, it does feel morally reproachable that cabinet members, intent on wrecking the economy and our prosperity through Brexit, should be feathering their nests so nicely for themselves.

Another said: I wonder why theres a housing shortage and rising private rents.

User @jo55adams attacked the rich millionaires buying extra houses so young people can never buy.

But other people said they saw nothing wrong. Just investing intelligently, I would do same, said another Twitter user.

The Independent has asked the Conservative Party to comment.Theresa May warned that the West has the resolve to take further military action if chemical weapons are used again in the Syrian civil war.

The Prime Minister said the regime of Bashar al-Assad should be under no doubt that additional strikes would come if it tried to deploy the toxic weapons in the future.

After Britain joined the US and France in the first wave of strikes, the government released the legal case it says it has for them.

Directly linking the strikes to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma, it says that the continued use of chemical weapons by Bashar as-Assad's regime is "a war crime and a crime against humanity."

Read the legal case in full:

1.This is the Governments position on the legality of UK military action to alleviate the extreme humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people by degrading the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deterring their further use, following the chemical weapons attack in Douma on 7 April 2018.

2.The Syrian regime has been killing its own people for seven years. Its use of chemical weapons, which has exacerbated the human suffering, is a serious crime of international concern, as a breach of the customary international law prohibition on the use of chemical weapons, and amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity.

3.The UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering. The legal basis for the use of force is humanitarian intervention, which requires three conditions to be met:

(i) there is convincing evidence, generally accepted by the international community as a whole, of extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale, requiring immediate and urgent relief;

(ii) it must be objectively clear that there is no practicable alternative to the use of force if lives are to be saved; and

(iii) the proposed use of force must be necessary and proportionate to the aim of relief of humanitarian suffering and must be strictly limited in time and in scope to this aim (i.e. the minimum necessary to achieve that end and for no other purpose).

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

4.The UK considers that military action met the requirements of humanitarian intervention in the circumstances of the present case:

(i) The Syrian regime has been using chemical weapons since 2013. The attack in Eastern Damascus on 21 August 2013 left over 800 people dead. The Syrian regime failed to implement its commitment in 2013 to ensure the destruction of its chemical weapons capability. The chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 killed approximately 80 people and left hundreds more injured. The recent attack in Douma has killed up to 75 people, and injured over 500 people. Over 400,000 people have now died over the course of the conflict in Syria, the vast majority civilians. Over half of the Syrian population has been displaced, with over 13 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The repeated, lethal use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity. On the basis of what we know about the Syrian regimes pattern of use of chemical weapons to date, it was highly likely that the regime would seek to use chemical weapons again, leading to further suffering and loss of civilian life as well as the continued displacement of the civilian population.

(ii) Actions by the UK and its international partners to alleviate the humanitarian suffering caused by the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime at the UN Security Council have been repeatedly blocked by the regimes and its allies disregard for international norms, including the international law prohibition on the use of chemical weapons. This last week, Russia vetoed yet another resolution in the Security Council, thwarting the establishment of an impartial investigative mechanism. Since 2013, neither diplomatic action, tough sanctions, nor the US strikes against the Shayrat airbase in April 2017 have sufficiently degraded Syrian chemical weapons capability or deterred the Syrian regime from causing extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale through its persistent use of chemical weapons. There was no practicable alternative to the truly exceptional use of force to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their further use by the Syrian regime in order to alleviate humanitarian suffering.

(iii) In these circumstances, and as an exceptional measure on grounds of overwhelming humanitarian necessity, military intervention to strike carefully considered, specifically identified targets in order effectively to alleviate humanitarian distress by degrading the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deterring further chemical weapons attacks was necessary and proportionate and therefore legally justifiable. Such an intervention was directed exclusively to averting a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons, and the action was the minimum judged necessary for that purpose.

14 April 2018Only a quarter of Britons backed the UKs decision to launch air strikes in Syria to punish the countrys regime for allegedly using chemical weapons, a new poll has revealed.

The exclusive survey for The Independent shows more people opposed than supported the action, which saw US, British and French forces fire more than 100 missiles at three Syrian government facilities.

Theresa May told a press conference at Downing Street yesterday: While the full assessment of the strike is ongoing, we are confident of its success.

But the new polling will be a blow for the prime minister, who threatened further strikes and prepared to justify the attack to MPs, whom she has so far denied a vote on the matter.

Recommended The latest airstrikes in Syria were only a gesture of disapproval

Moscow threatened consequences, but the political fallout was already clear with Western diplomats at the UN Security Council clashing with officials from Russia, which backs the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Respondents to the BMG Research poll were still being questioned as RAF fighter jets were fuelling up in Cyprus for their mission on Friday morning.

The survey was carried out during days in which Ms May made the case for action in response to the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma during a repeatedly broadcast interview, but it seems to have had little impact.

Asked to what extent people would back UK forces conducting targeted air or missile strikes on Syrian government military targets, just 28 per cent supported them, while 36 per cent opposed, 26 per cent neither opposed nor supported the strikes and 11 per cent did not know.

 Syrian state TV shows footage of 'destroyed scientific research centre hit by air strike'

Interestingly, a no-fly zone over Syria policed by Western allies received far greater support, suggesting large numbers of people are convinced of a need to act.

Almost half of people asked (47 per cent) backed a no-fly zone to protect civilians in Syrias civil war, just 11 per cent opposed, 9 per cent neither opposed nor supported and 12 per cent did not know.

There was an even split when asked if people would back some troops in Syria in non-combat roles, with a third backing the idea and a third against, but there was strong opposition to deploying soldiers in combat roles  with 48 per cent disapproving and just 19 per cent approving.

Britain used four Royal Air Force Tornados with Storm Shadow missiles in the air strikes, which they launched from the British RAF base in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

At the press conference hours later, Ms May warned the Assad regime that the UK and its allies would take further action if toxic weapons were used again.

Asked if there was more to come, she said: The Syrian regime should be under no doubt of our resolve in relation to this matter of the use of chemical weapons.

 World reacts to Syria air strikes

But the BMG poll results could temper Ms Mays approach, as she now faces having to spend political capital to justify the attacks in the Commons  where some Tories and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were angry at being denied a vote in advance of the strikes.

The prime minister began on Saturday by publishing the elements of the governments legal case for the operation, including that there had been convincing evidence of extreme humanitarian distress, no alternative but to act and an operation that was proportionate to relieve humanitarian suffering.

At the press conference earlier, Ms May said her cabinet had considered the legal advice and intelligence around the Douma incident before acting.

She went on: And based on this advice we agreed that it was both right and legal to take military action, together with our closest allies, to alleviate further humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deterring their use.

This was not about interfering in a civil war and it was not about regime change.

That did not stop Mr Corbyn branding the action as legally questionable, before adding: Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace.

Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harms way.

 Jeremy Corbyn condemns UK involvement in 'legally questionable' air strikes

Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump.

The prime minister also prepared for a Commons statement on Monday in which she is likely to set out who was privy to the legal advice and the process which led to the decision to act  taken by her from her Chequers country retreat on Friday evening.

She, French president Emmanuel Macron and Mr Trump were sure of the success of the operation, with the US leader tweeting on Saturday: A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine military. Could not have had a better result. Mission accomplished!

The Pentagon reported that, despite claims in Syria, not a single one of the 105 missiles fired were intercepted by Assad forces, while Russian assets were not engaged.

 Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad releases footage of him walking into work hours after air strike

US military officials confirmed that deconfliction lines had been used to minimise the chances of a clash between Russian and US planes, but said the mission destroying three chemical weapons facilities had set back Assads chemical weapons programme by years.

But Syrian state TV, which earlier in the day broadcast pictures of Mr Assad calmly arriving at work, called the attacks a blatant violation of international law.

The Russian embassy in the US said it had warned that such actions would not be left without consequences, adding that insulting President Vladimir Putin was unacceptable and inadmissible.

At around 3.30pm the UN Security Council brought diplomats from the world powers together after a Russian request for an emergency meeting following the strikes.

BMG interviewed a representative sample of 1,562 adults living in Great Britain between 10th and 13th April. Data are weighted. BMG are members of the British polling council and abide by their rulesTheresa May has warned that the West has the resolve to take further military action if chemical weapons are used again in the Syrian civil war.

The Prime Minister said the regime of Bashar al-Assad should be under no doubt that additional strikes would come if it tried to deploy the toxic weapons in the future.

She spoke from Downing Street following limited action by US, UK and French forces overnight, with RAF jets targeting a chemical weapons base near Homs.

Ms May said the action had now created the space for diplomatic pressure to prevent the future use of chemical weapons and went on to send a message to Moscow, that it must now take seriously its role as UN Security Council member.

But as the prime minister promised a statement to Parliament on Monday, questions were still being asked in the UK as to why she refused to give MPs a vote on whether to push ahead with the operation.

She also indicated that little extra planning had been done to account for any increased refugee movement due to the action.

With pictures of the operation starting to emerge, Ms May called a press conference at Number 10 where she blamed the Assad regime for the Douma attack a week ago which left between 40 and 70 people dead and injured hundreds more.

 Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad releases footage of him walking into work hours after air strike

Officials said operations had ended for now, but asked if further strikes would follow if chemical weapons were used again, Ms May did not deny the suggestion.

Instead she said while answering questions from journalists: The purpose of the action that took place last night was to degrade and deter the capability of the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons.

The Syrian regime should be under no doubt of our resolve in relation to this matter of the use of chemical weapons Prime Minister Theresa May

A full assessment has not yet been conducted, but we believe that the action has been successful.

But the Syrian regime should be under no doubt of our resolve in relation to this matter of the use of chemical weapons.

It was before 8pm on Friday night that Ms May, who was staying at her Chequers country retreat, finalised the decision to send RAF jets into action.

 Defence secretary Gavin Williamson says allied forces strike in Syria was 'highly successful mission'

The UKs role involved four Tornado fighters launching Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility some 15 miles west of Homs.

Intelligence assessments suggested the Assad regime was keeping chemical weapons at the site, which Ms May said was a breach of Syrias obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The US part of the operation used twice as much weaponry as the attack Washington launched unilaterally last year, with missiles and planes involved hitting research sites.

France also targeted alleged chemical weapons facilities, after President Emmanuel Macron said the country had proof the Assad regime was involved in Douma.

 Donald Trump addresses the nation following military strikes in Syria

The Syrian regime said it had successfully repelled the attacks, meanwhile Ms May herself indicated that Russian authorities were given prior notice of the strikes to avoid the countrys personnel or assets stationed in the Middle East being damaged.

Citing the Salisbury poisoning, Ms May said the operation should also deter any international actor from using chemical weapons.

In a direct message to the Kremlin, which she accused of blocking attempts to prevent and investigate the use of chemical weapons at the UN, she said: Permanent membership of the Security Council is given only to a limited number of countries.

I think its important that those who sit around that Security Council table take seriously the responsibility they have to the wider international community for decisions that are taken.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

She indicated that there would now be a renewed diplomatic push to try and secure greater assurances that toxic weapons would not be used and would be destroyed  something she said Syria and Russia had promised a year ago.

But domestic pressure is likely to increase on the prime minister for her decision to refuse MPs a vote ahead of the action, her failure to say they would be given a retrospective vote, or indeed that they will have a vote on any further action.

 Syria strikes: US Defence Secretary James Mattis says 'this was a one-time shot'

Instead she highlighted that the decision to launch military action does not require parliamentary approval in British convention, saying: The decision was taken because I believe it was the right thing to do. The power to take this decision is obviously a prerogative power.

And at the first opportunity, Parliament will have an opportunity to question this, and I will be in Parliament on Monday in order to do so.

Asked by The Independent what additional planning had been done for any increase in the refugee crisis on the back of the action and potential further strikes, she said little more than that the UK has always focussed on addressing the needs of refugees in neighbouring countries and argued that the strikes would prevent human suffering.

When she does arrive in the Commons next week, she will also face intense questioning over the legal basis for the action, which officials are due to publish, and over the UKs broader strategy.

Her statement on Monday is likely to be modelled on one David Cameron gave in the wake of drone strikes in Syria in 2015, which set out the legal basis and process for action taking account for obligations cemented in the wake of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq War.Almost half of people in the UK approve of the way that Theresa May has handled the Salisbury chemical weapons incident, an exclusive poll has revealed.

Of those surveyed some 46 per cent said the prime minister had dealt with the incident well, after weeks in which she has accused Moscow of the attack and led an international coalition to expel Russian diplomats.

According to the poll by BMG Research, the same proportion also disapprove of the way that Jeremy Corbyn has handled the affair, with the Labour leader having refused to directly blame the Kremlin for the incident.

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It may be because almost half of those who took part in the survey are also convinced Russia was behind the attack, according to the survey.

The poll asked respondents how well or badly they thought different politicians had handled the incident in Salisbury and its aftermath  which saw ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter poisoned with a novichok nerve agent.

For Ms May, 46 per cent said she had handled the situation well, with 27 per cent saying she handled it badly and 26 per cent saying that they did not know.

When it came to Mr Corbyn less than a quarter, 23 per cent, said he had handled it well, while 44 per cent said it had been handled badly and 33 per cent said they did not know.

 Theresa May fist bumps a fan in Salisbury on visit for Russian ex spy attack

The Labour leader can take comfort in that the public thought the foreign secretary had dealt with the situation even worse.

Some 45 per cent said Boris Johnson handled Salisbury badly, while 23 per cent said he handled it well and 32 per cent said they did not know.

The prime minister scored an international coup when she convinced the leaders of the US, France and Germany to join her in making a joint statement for the first time, condemning Russia for the attack.

She later expelled Russian diplomats from the UK, with a string of her allies including the US, France and Germany following suit.

Mr Corbyn on the other hand was plunged into party infighting when he refused to blame the Russian regime in the House of Commons for the attack, with his spokesman instead suggesting that it could have been down to criminal gangs.

But according to the BMG poll only 6 per cent of the public believed that suggestion. More people, 7 per cent, thought MI6 might be behind the attack and 33 per cent did not know.

BMG interviewed a representative sample of 1,562 adults living in Great Britain between 10 and 13 April. Data are weighted. BMG are members of the British polling council and abide by their rulesThe family of one of the worlds leading elephant conservation pioneers has pledged that her legacy will live on for generations to come following her death.

Wildlife lovers around the world are mourning the passing of Dame Daphne Sheldrick DBE, founder of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT), who dedicated her life to saving young elephants and rhinos and pioneered ways to rear newborn animals by hand.

Thousands of tributes from across the globe poured in to the Kenya-based charity, which describes itself as today the most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world and one of the pioneering conservation organisations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa.

Dame Daphne, 83, had been suffering from breast cancer.

Her daughter, Angela, who has run DSWT for 17 years, wrote on the trusts website: It is all very raw but I must share with you the passing of my incredible mother, Daphne Sheldrick. What an example she was to us all, and I feel blessed to have been able to call her my Mum because she was quite simply one of a kind. She was a national treasure and a conservation icon.

The trust added: Her legacy is immeasurable and lives on in the tiny steps of baby elephants for generations to come.

Dame Daphnes work raised the global profile of conservation concerns, and her special bottled milk formula, created to raise orphaned elephants, led to more than 230 baby pachyderms being saved in Kenya as well as countless others in Africa and India.

Two years ago, Dame Daphne warned that if poaching for ivory continued at the same rate, African forest elephants  the smallest of the three elephant species  could be extinct by 2025.

The trusts work featured in television programmes including the BBCs Elephant Diaries, 60 minutes  The Orphanage on American network CBS, and the Canadian documentary For the Love of Elephants. Her books included her 2012 autobiography An African Love Story: Love, Life and Elephants.

Dame Daphne founded the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in 1977 in honour of the memory of her late husband, who founded Tsavo East National Park.

Angela Sheldrick said the difference her mother made for conservation in Kenya was unparalleled. This is what Daphne drew the most comfort from in her final weeks: knowing that her memory and work would continue with the tiny steps of baby elephants for generations to come and that the work that she pioneered has been able to achieve so much for wildlife and wild places throughout Kenya. She died knowing that she will continue to make a difference each and every day.

Trustees said they were grateful for the numerous condolences.

We are so deeply touched and moved by the thousands of comments we have received over the past few hours, sharing your condolences, your stories of Dame Daphne and the many ways in which our matriarch inspired people from all corners of the globe, they tweeted.

The Jane Goodall Institute, a global wildlife and environment conservation organisation, paid tribute to a much beloved voice for elephants, and Kaddu Sebunya, president of the African Wildlife Foundation, wrote: Her determination, courage & commitment to #wildlifeconservation are qualities that should be replicated in her honour to ensure that Africas wildlife survives.The US, Britain and France have launched a series of military strikes in Syria  ending days of speculation and anxiety as to how the the West would respond to Bashar Al-Assads alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians.

While Syria and their Russian allies had denied chemical weapons were deployed a week ago in the Damascus suburb of Douma, the three Western nations claimed they had proof they had been used against civilians and had no alternative but to act.

Syrian television reported that Syrias air defences, which are substantial, responded to the attack. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

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US President Donald Trump delivered a televised address in which he said the US was prepared to sustain pressure on Mr Assad.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead, Mr Trump said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the West had tried every possible diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted by Syria and Russia, she said.

 Theresa May says Syrian air strikes are in Britain's national interest

So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, Ms May said. This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian governments clandestine chemical arsenal.

The Associated Press said Mr Trump did not provide details on the joint US-British-French attack, but it was expected to have included barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace. He described the main aim as establishing a strong deterrent against chemical weapons use. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Mr Trumps second order to attack Syria. He authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Mr Assads aleged use of sarin gas against civilians.

At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said the strike was harder on the Syrian regime than the 2017 strike and targeted Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure. He described it as a one-time shot. adding: I believe it has sent a very strong message.

Mr Mattis said there were no reports of losses on the part of US and allied forces participating in the strike, which included manned aircraft. Mr Mattis estimated the air campaign was about twice the size of the 2017 strike. He added that the US expected the Syrian government and its allies to conduct a significant disinformation campaign.

The strikes that hit early on Saturday in Syria came hours before inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were set to arrive to inspect the site of the apparent attack.

Gen Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace de-confliction communications.

In his speech, broadcast at 9pm on the US east coast, Mr Trump said: To Iran and Russia, I ask, what kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children? The nations of the world will be judged by the friends they keep.

Mr Trump publicly confronted the countries that have been on the side of Mr Assads regime. Russia has repeatedly blocked measures regarding Syria in the United Nations Security Council as well. Mr Trump said Russia must decide whether it wants to continue down this dark path or join with civilised nations in combating the use of chemical weapons and ending the ongoing conflict.

The two countries have repeatedly exchanged barbs at the UN the last week over setting up an investigation mechanism regarding the latest suspected attack. Russia has argued specifically over what US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has called an attribution mechanism, an investigation to figure out which party actually carried out the supposed chemical weapons attack.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya had turned the focus to the bellicose rhetoric of the US and Mr Trumps hint at a possible missile strike akin to what took place last April after a chemical attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, adding that not only the use of force, the threat of force, flies in the face of the UN charter. He spared no words of caution to US allies as well, saying: There are those with tacit consent that are...possibly becoming complicit in a possible military misadventure.

 Emmanual Macron says France has prood the Assad used chemical weapons in Syria

Experts have noted this strike will have more impact than the strike in response to Khan Sheikhoun, where 86 civilians were reported dead in April 2017. The US, just three months into Mr Trumps presidency, had launched 59 Tomahawk missiles to strike the to strike Shayrat air base, where US intelligence pointed to as the source of the chemical weapons attack. However, unlike that missile strike, the precision strike in response to the Douma attack, which killed 60 people and injured 1,000, will not take place on just one night, but multiple.

For its part, Russia has repeatedly denied that the Assad regime, what it calls the legal government of Syria, has anything to do with the attack in Douma and that there is no trace of chemical weapons use. Mr Nebenzya said earlier today at the UN that neither the residents of Douma nor Russian investigators found evidence of an attack and had weighty justification to believe, we have even information to believe, that what took place is a provocation of participation of certain countries intelligence services. Ms Haley retorted that Russia simply wants to protect Mr Assad.

According to the Associated Press, reporters in Damascus saw smoke rising from east Damascus early Saturday morning local time. Syrian state TV says the attack has begun on the capital, though it was not immediately clear what was targeted.A powerful lobbyist for the National Rifle Association in Florida says she was forced to skip a gun control hearing after receiving a deluge of death threats.

Marion Hammer, who is a well known and successful gun rights advocate in the state, was unable to attend a hearing with the Leon County Commission, saying that several issues  she would have been unable to bring her gun inside the legislative chamber, security at the event was minimal, and hundreds of citizens were expected to pack into the event  weighed on her decision.

When contacted for comment, Ms Hammer emphasised that she only missed a single event as a result of the disgusting emails she had received, and noted the apparent hypocrisy of the threats.

I find it amazing and concerning that those who claim to want to stop violence and gun violence are the ones who are threatening to use violence including gun violence, Ms Hammer told The Independent in the email.

Ms Hammers absence from the commission hearing on a local gun control ordinance Tuesday was first reported by the Tallahassee Democrat, which obtained an email exchange between County Commissioner Bryan Deslodge, a Republican, and Ms Hammer. Mr Deslodge had contacted Ms Hammer Saturday to express regret that she was being threatened.

The death threats come with the job, Ms Hammer wrote in an email the next day. Ive dealt with it for many, many years. But it is so ugly this time NRA is insisting that I listen to my security advisers.  I have never been afraid of them but it really makes me angry when they threaten my family.

March for Our Lives  in pictures Show all 13 1 /13 March for Our Lives  in pictures March for Our Lives  in pictures Demonstrators chant during the protest for gun legislation and school safety AP March for Our Lives  in pictures Trevon Tre Bosley, 19, of Chicago, the brother of Terrell Bosley who was killed in 2006 in a case of mistaken identity, speaks during the rally AP March for Our Lives  in pictures Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Delaney Tarr speaks at the rally AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Protestors line the streets in Washington Getty Images March for Our Lives  in pictures People arrive for the March For Our Lives rally against gun violence in Washington, DC AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Protestors carrying placards in Washington AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Protestors hold up placards in Washington AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Schoolchildren wear targets ahead of the rally Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Attendees congregate in preparation for the march Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Students brought a host of innovative placards AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures The movements main demand is the banning of assault rifles Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Since the Florida shooting, students have called for urgent gun reform AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures In the wake of the Florida attack, President Donald Trump called for teachers to be armed AFP/Getty

The county commission ultimately voted Tuesday night 6-to-1 to adopt an ordinance that requires background checks and a three-day waiting period for all private firearm sales on publicly accessible property.

Florida state law generally restricts counties and municipalities from enacting stricter gun control measures than provided by state law, but makes an exception for those types of restrictions.

The vote comes in the aftermath of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, a shooting that left 17 people dead  including 14 teenagers  and sparked an intense national debate around gun control.

Since that shooting, Florida  known for having lax gun control laws, partly because of Ms Hammers outsized influence on state politicians and the gun bills they do or do not bring forward  enacted a rare bill that curbed access to guns, including raising the legal age to buy a rifle in the state, and imposing a three-day waiting period.

The bill, which also allows teachers to carry a firearm at school if trained, has been challenged by Ms Hammers NRA in court.The United States is locked and loaded if Syria uses chemical weapons again, Donald Trump has threatened.

While Syria and Russia have insisted they had no hand in an alleged chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, the US, UK and France said they were convinced they had, something that led them to hit three Syrian targets overnight associated with the weapons production and storage.

The US defence secretary said the strikes, that involved the firing of 105 cruise missiles from planes and ships, were for the time being a a one-time shot.

Yet at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, hours after the hour-long strikes had concluded, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said Washington was ready to attack again if there was further use of chemical weapons.

Ms Haley said she had spoken earlier in the day with Mr Trump.

We are confident that we have crippled Syrias chemical weapons programme. We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will, she said.

If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded.

 World reacts to Syria air strikes

Russia responded by demanding a UN resolution that would condemn the aggression against Syria by the United States and its allies. The short draft resolution called the action a violation of international law and the UN charter.

Russias UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council the US and its allies struck without waiting for an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, calling the attack hooliganism.

This was blatant disregard for international law, he said.

The 105 missiles launched overnight in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Syria targeted three chemical weapons facilities, including research and development buildings in Damascus Barzeh district and two facilities near Homs, Pentagon officials said.

Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Show all 13 1 /13 Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, which was targeted by the US, UK and France air strikes. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center surrounded by papers and rubble. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound . AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Part of a building collapsing, surrounded by the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damaged to the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier sprays water on the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syrian state news agency SANA reported several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre". AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Damage to the Scientific Research Center building that was hit by the strikes. EPA Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The Scientific Studies and Research Centre was one of the targeted buildings by the US, UK and France. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damage to the centre. EPA

We believe that by hitting Barzeh in particular weve attacked the heart of the Syrian chemicals weapon programme, Lt Gen Kenneth McKenzie told reporters.

However, Mr McKenzie acknowledged elements of Syrias chemical weapons programme remained in place and he could not guarantee that Syria would be unable to conduct a chemical attack in the future. Mr Trump called the operation a success in a morning Twitter post and proclaimed: Mission accomplished, a phrase that called to mind a claim made by George W Bush in the early stages of the US and UK invasion of Iraq that proved to be badly wrong.

On Saturday, Syria released a video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of Mr Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption Morning of resilience.

Ten hours after the missiles hit, smoke was still rising from the remains of five destroyed buildings of the Syrian Scientific Research Centre in Barzeh, in which a Syrian employee said medical components were researched and developed, Reuters said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Damascuss allies said the buildings hit had been evacuated in advance. Russia had promised to respond to any attack on its ally, and said on Saturday that Syrian air defences had intercepted 71 of the missiles fired.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that US-led strikes on Syria were unacceptable and lawless.The US has claimed that both sarin and chlorine were used by Syria in an attack that killed dozens of civilians in Douma, an attack America, France and Britain said led them to carry out retaliatory air strikes, but which which the Syrian government denies having a role in.

On Friday night, barely an hour after the multi-nation attacks on three Syrian targets allegedly linked to the production, use and storage of chemical weapons were completed, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the US was certain one deadly compound was used and that there may have been more than one. We are not clear on that yet. We know at least one chemical agent was used, he said.

Yet on Saturday, an unidentified US official told the media the US had now assessed that sarin and chlorine were used in the attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

We do have significant information that also points to sarin use, the official said, citing symptoms described in reporting from media, non-governmental organisations and other open sources, according to CNN. The official apparently provided no other evidence.

Last night, operations were very successful, said Pentagon spokesperson Dana White. We met our objectives. We hit the sites, the heart of the chem-weapons programme. So it was mission accomplished.

Vice President Mike Pence said the strikes, degraded and crippled chemical weapons capabilities of Syria.

 Syrian state TV shows footage of 'destroyed scientific research centre hit by air strike'

I think the Presidents expressions this morning were a strong affirmation that the mission that he gave our military to go in and destroy key elements of the chemical weapons infrastructure in Syria was completely and professionally and swiftly accomplished, said Mr Pence, who was on a foreign trip to Peru for the Summit of the Americas.

At the UN, US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said she had spoken earlier in the day to Mr Trump.

We are confident that we have crippled Syrias chemical weapons programme. We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will, she said.

Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Show all 13 1 /13 Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, which was targeted by the US, UK and France air strikes. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center surrounded by papers and rubble. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound . AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Part of a building collapsing, surrounded by the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damaged to the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier sprays water on the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syrian state news agency SANA reported several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre". AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Damage to the Scientific Research Center building that was hit by the strikes. EPA Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The Scientific Studies and Research Centre was one of the targeted buildings by the US, UK and France. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damage to the centre. EPA

If the Syrian regime uses this poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded.

Russias UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council that the US and its allies struck without waiting for an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, calling the attack hooliganism. This was blatant disregard for international law, he said.

The heated words came as official from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrived in Syria to carry out an investigation into the incident in Douma, located in eastern Ghouta where the Syrian government recently ousted the final pockets of anti-government rebels.

The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma, the group said, adding on Twitter that its team had arrived in Damascus.

The OPCW has been working in close collaboration with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security to assess the situation and ensure the safety of the team.A sperm bank the Chinese capital Beijing has insisted that would-be donors love the socialist motherland and embrace the leadership of the Communist Party.

Posting a list of requirements for donors on its social media account the Third Hospital of Peking University said they were also required to be loyal to the partys tasks, be decent, law-abiding and be free of any political problems.

To be successful, they also had to be over 20 years old and show no signs of hair loss, colour blindness or weight problems.

They were put through two rounds of tests  one which checked the quality of their semen and one for general health and fitness.

Those who passed the tests could expect to be paid 200 yuan (23) immediately and 5,500 yuan (620) once they successfully donated their semen.

Fertilization of human egg cell by spermatozoan (Getty Images/iStockphoto) (Getty/iStock)

There did not appear to be a test to check donors political loyalty.

A doctor on the hospital helpline told the South China Morning Post that no additional tests would be conducted for political requirements as long as donors considered themselves suitable.

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. 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The demand for donated sperm surged after Beijing relaxed its one-child policy in 2015, allowing two children in most families, according to a report by Beijing Youth Daily from 2016.

China bans the sale of human semen and women looking for fertility treatment must use non-profit sperm banks.Moscow has described the overnight coalition operation in Syria as a flagrant violation of international law and has promised consequences. But while the official reaction was loud, it was also markedly measured.

In a statement issued on Saturday morning, Russian president Vladimir Putin described the strike as "an aggressive action." Russia condemned the attack "in the most serious of terms," the statement read.

Konstantin Kosachyov, the influential head of the Federation Councils Council on International relations said that the attack was an unjustified attack on a sovereign state. Its aim was to complicate the mission of international inspectors, he said, due to begin their work investigating the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, near Damascus. This line was repeated several times on state television broadcasts.

But, Mr Kosachyov added, now was not a time for emotions. Russias reaction should instead be guided by the professional evaluation of military specialists

Those military specialists seemed to put clear blue water between Russia and the coalition operation. In statements that will reassure Washington  which emphasised targets had been chosen away from Russian infrastructure  the Russian Ministry of Defence said it had consciously not engaged its own defence systems. None of the missiles landed in any of the areas under the responsibility of Russian air defence systems in Tartus and Khmeimime," it said in a statement.

Syrian sources also emphasised that Russia had warned them in advance of the likelihood of air attacks, and had evacuated all military installations. According to Reuters, their air defences managed to shoot down a third of the coalition missiles  a much better success rate than 2017 Shayrat missile strike, when almost all of 59 US Tomahawk missiles landed.



At a press conference later in the morning, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed Syrian air defences had intercepted 71 of 103 cruise missiles fired by coalition forces.

Maria Zakharova, the excitable spokesperson of Russias Foreign Ministry said that the West claimed moral leadership but had struck a blow to the capital of a sovereign state. The coalition had, she said, had attacked just at a time when Syria held the chance of a peaceful future.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

Russias ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov also said that actions would not be without consequences.

But the statements seemed many notches down from earlier angry rhetoric  including yesterdays claims the UK had itself staged the chemical attack itself.

In the context of those earlier claims, Russias Foreign Ministry seemed to be issuing a holding statement.French president Emmanuel Macron has said a red line had been crossed after the chemical weapons attack in Douma.

He spoke following the air strikes carried out by the US in conjunction with France and the UK on targets in Syria.

Mr Macron issued the following statement:

"On Saturday 7 April 2018, in Douma, dozens of men, women and children were massacred with chemical weapons, in a total violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions.

The facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime are beyond doubt.

The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed.

I therefore ordered the French armed forces to intervene tonight, as part of an international operation in coalition with the United States of America and the United Kingdom and directed against the clandestine chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime.

Our response has been limited to the capabilities of the Syrian regime relating to the production and use of chemical weapons.

We cannot tolerate the trivialisation of the use of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and for our collective security.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

This is the aim of the initiatives constantly put forward by France to the United Nations Security Council.

Since May 2017, the priorities of France in Syria have been constant: to end the fight against Daesh, to allow the civilian population to access humanitarian aid, to initiate a collective dynamic to reach a political settlement, so that Syria finally find peace and ensure the stability of the region.

I will pursue these priorities with determination in the days and weeks to come."

PAThe Islamic Jihad militant group said four of its members were killed in a work accident in the southern Gaza Strip along the border with Israel.

The explosion struck a three-wheeled vehicle near one of the five protest camps Palestinians have set up along the volatile Gaza-Israel border in recent weeks.

Islamic Jihad said all four were killed during preparations without elaborating, implying they were preparing an attack against Israel.

The Israeli military said it was unaware of any activity in the area of the blast.

It comes a day after another mass gathering along the border area in which thousands of Palestinians, some burning Israeli flags and torching tyres, staged a protest against the 10-year-old blockade. Israel has accused Hamas and other militant groups of using the protests as a cover for attacks and says its snipers have only targeted main instigators.

One protester was killed on Friday, bringing the death toll to 28 over the last two weeks, with more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli fire since 30 March.

The marches have been organised by Gazas militant Hamas rulers, but large turnouts on two preceding Fridays were also driven by Gazas dire living conditions and desperation among the territorys two million residents who have been enduring a crippling border closure by Israel and Egypt since 2007.

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Show all 10 1 /10 Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters flee from teargas AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers stand as Palestinian protesters gather on the Israel Gaza border AP Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations A Palestinian is carried on a stretcher after being injured during the demonstration AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers take aim as they lie prone over an earth barrier along the border with the Gaza strip in the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nahal Oz as Palestinians demonstrate on the other side commemorating Land Day AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian paramedics evacuate an injured man on the Gaza side of the Israel-Gaza border Reuters Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians demonstrate with crossed-out posters depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, during a tent city protest near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip AFP/Getty Images Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters flee from teargas AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers shoot tear gas grenades towards the Palestinian tent city protest commemorating Land Day AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters take cover from Israeli troops AP Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians chant slogans as they attend a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border AP

Rights groups have described the Israeli militarys open-fire regulations as unlawful, saying they permit soldiers to use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters.

Hamas leaders have sent mixed signals about whether they plan an eventual mass breach of the border fence. The protests are to culminate in a large rally on 15 May, the 70th anniversary of Israels creation.

Palestinians mourn the event as their nakba or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 war over Israels creation.Air strikes by a US-led coalition including Britain and France have taken place against a number of targets in Syria.

US defence secretary James Mattis said strikes had been directed against the Syrian regime and those planning the attack had gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joe Dunford, said the allies had targeted three facilities in Syria in the operation:

A map showing the location of the air strikes carried out in Syria overnight (US Department of Defense)

Scientific research centre in the Damascus area

Missiles targeted what General Mattis said was a military facility on the outskirts of the Syrian capital.

Allies believe the government installation was a centre for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological agents.

US Joint Staff director, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, said the strikes completely destroyed the base and have "set the Syrian chemical weapons programme back three years".

Chemical weapons storage facility near Homs

Missiles also struck what is thought to be a chemical weapons storage facility around 15 miles outside of the city Homs, in the west of the country.

The Ministry of Defence says four Tornado jets from the RAFs Akrotiri base in Cyprus carrying Storm Shadow missiles were part of the attack.

We assess this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, Gen Dunford said.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

Command post near Homs

A strike was carried out against what the US described as an important command post for the Syrian armed forces.

Gen Dunford added that allied forces believed the government base also contained another chemical weapons storage facility.

Some seven cruise missiles were used against the command post, which is thought to have been completely destroyed in the strike.

Participants

The United States, Britain and France took part in the attack, launching more than 100 cruise missiles using air and naval forces.

French defence ministry officials said its military personnel had fired 12 missiles during the assault.

It added there was no indication any of the missiles had been intercepted, despite Russian claims to the contrary."The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economic and diplomatic.

"We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the regime. To Iran and to Russia I ask - what kind of regime wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?

"The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No state can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators. In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons. Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace.Hopefully some day we'll get along with Russia and maybe even with Iran. But maybe not.

"I will say this, the United States has a lot to offer. With the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world, in Syria the United States, with but a small force being used to eliminate Isis, is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year nearly 100 per cent of the territory once controlled by the so-called Isis caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.

"The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East, we have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment and all of the anti-Isis effort. Increased engagement from our friends including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and others can ensure that Iran cannot profit from the eradication of Isis.

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home, and great warriors they are. Looking around our troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It's a troubled place. We can try to make it better but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

"In the last century we looked into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of World War One more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly spectre return.

"So today the nations of Britain, France and the United States of America have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. Tonight I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions, We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria, we pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace and we pray that God continue to watch over and will bless the United States of America. Thank you and good night."A diverse range of global leaders have responded to the US-led coalition air strikes in Syria that were orchestrated by the US, Britain and France in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The offensive was staged in response to last weeks chemical attack in Douma, Syria, which is believed to have killed at least 75 people.

Canada, China, the European Union, Germany, Iran, Israel, Russia and Turkey issued the following statements:

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

Canada

Prime minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement issued from Lima, Peru: Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons in last weeks attack in Eastern Ghouta, Syria.

Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom and France to take action to degrade the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people.

We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice.

China

Chinas foreign ministry said on Saturday they are opposed to the use of force in Syria, AFP has reported.

European Union

President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement on Saturday: Last night, France, the United Kingdom and the United States responded in a coordinated military action to the heinous chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime against civilians in Douma on 7 April.

As the European commission has stated, the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable in any circumstances and must be condemned in the strongest terms. The international community has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable those responsible of any attack with chemical weapons.

This was not the first time that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons against civilians but it must be the last.

As it enters its eighth year of conflict, Syria desperately needs a lasting ceasefire respected by all parties that paves the way for achieving a negotiated political solution through the United Nations-led Geneva process, to bring peace to the country once and for all. After the suffering they have endured, Syrians deserve nothing less.

Germany

German chancellor Angela Merkel supports air strikes by the US, France and Britain as necessary and appropriate to warn Syria against further use of chemical weapons.

Iran

Irans supreme leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the aggression is a violation of international law, state agencies reported. I clearly declare that the US president, the French president and the UK prime minister are criminals and have committed a crime.

Commenting on the events, Irans foreign ministry also said in a statement: The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law and a disregard of Syrias right to national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Based on religious, legal and ethical regulations, Iran opposes any use of chemical weapons, but at the same time strongly rejects and condemns the fabrication of excuses to invade an independent country.

There is no doubt that the US and its allies that are engaged a military intervention in Syria without any substantiated document and before any final report of the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and have supposed themselves as the world police and judge, are responsible for regional and international repercussions of the adventure and should be held accountable.

Israel

Yoav Gallant, a member of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus security cabinet, said on Twitter: The use of chemical weapons crosses a red line that humanity can no longer tolerate.

An Israeli official said Israel was notified of the strikes ahead of time. Asked how much advanced warning Israel had received, the official told Reuters: Between 12 and 24 hours, I believe.

Asked whether Israel helped choose targets, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: Not to my knowledge.

Russia

In a statement issued on Saturday morning, Russian president Vladimir Putin described the strike as an aggressive action and condemned the attack in the most serious of terms.

Konstantin Kosachyov, the influential head of the Federation Councils Council on International Relations, said that the attack was an unjustified attack on a sovereign state but now was not a time for emotions.

Russias ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said: The worst apprehensions have come true. Our warnings have been left unheard. A predesigned scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened.

We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

Insulting the president of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.

Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Show all 14 1 /14 Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A Syrian woman and children run for cover amid the rubble of buildings. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Smoke rises from buildings following the attack on the village of Mesraba in the rebel-held besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascu. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Injured children receive medical treatment. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A Syrian man carries a child injured. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures An injured child receives treatment following bombings on several areas of eastern Ghouta. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A child reacts inside a hospital after relatives were injured in the bombing. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian children cry at a make-shift hospital in Douma following air strikes on the Syrian village of Mesraba. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian Civil Defense group extinguishing a store during airstrikes and shelling by Syrian government forces. AP Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A wounded 12-year-old Syrian boy, cries as he receives treatment at a make-shift hospital. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrians carry a wounded man. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures An injured man covered with blood at a medical point. Reuters Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures People sit a medical point in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Reuters Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian Civil Defense running to help survivors. AP Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Injured children receive medical treatment. EPA

Turkey

Turkeys foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday: Turkey considers the operation carried out early this morning by the United States, United Kingdom and France to be an appropriate response to the chemical attack which caused the deaths of many civilians in Douma on 7 April. We welcome this operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime.

Attacks with weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, that indiscriminately target civilians constitute crimes against humanity. The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannising its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The conscience of the international community carries no doubt to that effect.

Turkey believes that it is of critical importance that such crimes do not go unpunished and that accountability is ensured in order to prevent the recurrence of similar crimes.

In light of this experience, it is essential for the international community, in particular the members of the UN Security Council, to agree upon joint steps to ensure that the use of chemical weapons does not go unpunished.

With additional reporting from agenciesIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US led air strikes on Syrian targets, but warned that Irans presence in the country further endangered it.

Early this morning, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom demonstrated that their commitment is not limited to proclamations of principle, he said in a statement.

He added that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad must understand that his provision of a forward base for Iran and its proxies endangers Syria.

An Israeli official said Israel was notified of the strikes ahead of time, adding they believed it was around 12 to 24 hours in advance.

Asked whether Israel had helped to choose targets, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added: Not to my knowledge.

A US embassy spokeswoman later confirmed to the Reuters news agency that Israel had been notified before the strikes, but provided no further details.

Irans involvement in Syria in support of Assad has alarmed Israel, which has said it will counter any threat. The armed Iranian-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah, which has an extensive missile arsenal, last fought a war with Israel in 2006.

Syria, Iran and Russia say Israel was behind an air strike on a Syrian air base earlier this week that killed seven Iranian military personnel, something Israel has neither confirmed nor denied.

Russian President Vladimir Putin subsequently spoke to Mr Netanyahu and urged him to do nothing to destabilise Syria, the Kremlin said in a statement.

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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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Mr Netanyahu said Israel would not allow Iran to establish itself in Syria, according to his office.

Israel has mounted air strikes in Syria on a regular basis, targeting suspected weapons shipments to Lebanese Hezbollah.

US President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Mr Assads government stopped its use of chemical weapons.

Reuters contributed to this reportSyrian President Bashar al-Assad has said US-led air strikes have only increased his resolve to continue fighting and crushing rebel forces in the country.

He was speaking hours after the US, France and the UK carried out missile attacks in response to his alleged use of chemical weapons in the city of Douma.

Assad said he would not change his course of fighting "terrorists in every inch of the nation, according to the Reuters news agency.

Earlier, the Syrian government had posted a video online appearing to show the president arriving for work in the capital Damascus.

Footage shows Assad wearing suit and tie and carrying a briefcase as he walks into a marble-floored building.

 Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad releases footage of him walking into work hours after air strike

It was captioned the morning of resilience and circulated on the presidencys social media feeds.

The show of defiance came as hundreds of Syrians gathered in squares across the capital in support of the regime.

Men and women waving Syrian flags  as well as those of allies Russia and Iran  were seen in film captured by the AP news agency.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

In scenes which appear to have an almost carnival-like atmosphere, posters of Assad are waved, car horns are honked and victory signs are flashed by government supporters.

We are not scared of the American missiles, we humiliated its missiles, we are in the streets, in the squares, we are not in shelters, says one protestor Mahmoud Ibrahim. They laughed on them."

Another, Abdulhamid Salhab said the one-hour bombing  which included use of Britains bunker-busting Storm Shadow cruise missiles  would not affect the steadfast of the Syrian Arab people and will not affect the morale of the brave Syrian Arab Army."

A few hours earlier loud explosions jolted Damascus and the sky turned orange as Syrian air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons last week.

The western allies said the strikes were precision hits aimed specifically at destroying the regimes chemical weapon facilities.

But Syria claims 71 out of the 103 missiles were shot out the sky. Shortly after the attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers drove around the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.Rebel fighters in Syria have said US-led air strikes against President Bashar al-Assad will only lead to more civilian deaths as his government seeks revenge.

The action by the US, France and the UK targeted the regimes chemical weapons in response to an alleged gas attack in the city of Douma a week ago.

But both rebels and opposition politicians say the Western allies should have also hit Mr Assads conventional weapons  which they say will now be used to target more people.

Maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons again, but it will not hesitate to use other weapons... such as barrel bombs, said leader of the opposition Nasr al-Hariri on Twitter.

Rebels said they were bracing themselves for revenge action in territory in the north-west of the country which a senior Iranian official had earlier indicated could be the next target, Reuters reported.

I am expecting an escalation by the regime against civilians in Idlib and in the areas of northern Syria and the liberated areas, because the regime always takes revenge on civilians, one senior rebel in Hama province told the news agency.

He added: More was expected from the American strike to affect the path of the war and to curb Assads crimes.

Another rebel, Mohammad Alloush of the Jaish al-Islam group, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying: Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal  a farce.

The fears appeared to be confirmed within hours of the strikes, as Mr Assad declared the action  carried out in the early hours of Saturday morning  would only strengthen his resolve to continue fighting and crushing terrorists in every inch of the nation.

Earlier, the Syrian government had posted a video online appearing to show the president, unperturbed, arriving for work in the capital Damascus.

Footage shows Mr Assad wearing a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase as he walks into a marble-floored building.

It was captioned the morning of resilience and circulated on the presidencys social media feeds.

The defiance was supported by key regional ally Iran.

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 Hassan Rouhani said the country would remain standing by Syria and expressed his confidence that this aggression would not weaken the determination of the Syrian people in its war against terrorism.

A few hours earlier loud explosions jolted Damascus and the sky turned orange as Syrian air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes designed to punish Mr Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons last week.

But Syria claims 71 out of 103 missiles were shot out the sky. Shortly after the attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers drove around the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.The Western air strikes in Syria that took place after days of accusations and recriminations with Russia were, in the end, relatively limited in scale, focusing on sites linked to chemical weapons and carefully attempting to avoid Russian and Iranian casualties.

Missiles were fired along with sorties by aeroplanes  including four RAF Tornados and four French Rafales and Mirages  in a mission lasting 68 minutes aimed at air bases, command-and-control centres and storage facilities. But crucially, despite the Twitter threat from Donald Trump about dealing with gas killing animal Bashar al-Assad, there was no targeting of the Syrian president or his coterie.

After the raids, Mr Trump declared that the US and its allies had marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. But the US defence secretary James Mattis was quick to stress that the one-off operation was not aimed at Syrias political leadership, but solely on military installations.

This is a reassurance to the Russians and the Iranians that the West was not seeking regime change. What took place was in contrast to the beginning of the 2003 Iraq invasion, in which shock and awe had started with an attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein by bombing one of his palaces.

Moscow was not warned specifically about the mission and there was no coordination before they took place, said the Pentagon. But the deconfliction line that has been put in place to avoid clashes between Russian and Western jets was in use and, according to Washington and Moscow, functioned effectively.

In any event the element of surprise in the operation had been lost once Mr Trump tweeted the missiles are coming. Syrian forces and militia have been busy since then, evacuating bases and emptying them of valuable equipment with the more advanced warplanes moved to the Russian base in Latakia. The Russian military said that preliminary reports show that there had been no military or civilian casualties from the raid.

The Syrian regime claimed that 12 missiles have been successfully intercepted. But the formidable Russian air defences appear not to have been used and it is likely that the Americans and the French, who had been liaising with the Moscow, had obtained agreement that they would not be. It is highly unlikely that manned aircraft, susceptible to being shot down by the Russians, would have been deployed had that not been the case.

In Moscow, Vladimir Putin condemned the attack as an act of aggression and called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations. The Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said they would not be left without consequences. The Syrian regime charged that there had been a flagrant violation of international law. Also, Irans president Hassan Rouhani charged US attacks in the Middle East have no effect other than annihilation and devastation. But in reality Damascus, Moscow and Tehran would not be too concerned about what has unfurled under the circumstances.

The overnight strikes were larger in scale than the ones carried out by the US against a Syrian air base  also in response to a chemical attack  in April last year. On that occasion 58 Tomahawk missiles were fired, destroying a dozen jets. It did not significantly damage the Assad regimes military capabilities or its ability to carry out further chemical attacks.

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

On this occasion the missile count had gone up to around 100, with a scientific research facility in Damascus, an alleged chemical weapons storage facility, a storage site near Homs and a command post in the same area being hit. The situation on the ground is unlikely to change by much, even if all these places have been destroyed, especially if valuable weaponry and personnel have been moved thanks to Mr Trump.

Meanwhile, inspectors from the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have arrived in Douma to ascertain whether a chemical attack had taken place, as the West claims, or that it was all a hoax, which is the position of the Russians and the Syrian regime.Russia has claimed the majority of missiles fired overnight in a joint air strike on Syria by US, British and French forces were intercepted - despite the Western countries' hailing of the operation as a success.

Moscow said on Saturday the Syrian government had been able to shoot down 71 of the 103 Cruise missiles used in the attack with their Soviet-era air defence systems.

The weapons were launched from ships and manned aircraft in a targeted attack on Syrias main chemical weapons facilities, according to the US defence ministry.

However, allied forces have disputed the Russian account of events, with France saying there was no indication any of the 12 missiles its military fired during the attack were intercepted.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday morning the air strike had been "a highly successful mission", while US Marine Corps General Joe Dunford said targets identified by the three nations had been "struck and destroyed".

However, Russias ministry of defence claims none of the rockets launched entered areas where Russian air defence equipment was protecting military facilities in Tartus and Hmeimim.

Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi, of the Russian military's general staff, said the attack had not caused any casualties and Syrian military installations had only suffered minor damage.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

Col Rudskoi said Syrian forces used ground-to-air missile defence systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the rockets aimed at four key Syrian air bases.

He added that Russia had refrained in the past from providing Syria with its state-of-the-art S-300 air defence missile systems, but could reconsider its decision following the strike.

Russias claims a defence system designed in the 1950s had taken down allied missiles could be interpreted as a swipe at President Donald Trump, who had boasted on Twitter Russia would be unable to down "nice, new and smart" US weapons.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has condemned the strike, launched in response to a suspected poison gas attack that killed dozens of people in Douma last week, as an "act of aggression" that will exacerbate humanitarian catastrophe in the war-torn nation.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader said Moscow would be calling an emergency meeting of the United Nations' Security Council over the attack.

Mr Putin added that the strike had a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations."The US military has revealed the three-nation stake on Syria targeting alleged chemicals assets is over for now  declaring right now this is a one-time shot.

Defence Secretary James Mattis said the US, UK and France had acted together, having determined that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons against civilians a week ago. He said it would depend on Mr Assad if there were further strikes.

Right now this is a one-time shot, he told a briefing on Friday night at the Pentagon.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, said the targets included a Syrian research facility, a chemical weapons storage facility and a command post. The first of these was located in Damascus, the first time that the US had struck close to the capital.

Asked whether the US and its allies was planning further attacks, Mr Mattis said: That depends open Assad.

The Defence Secretary said he was certain the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons in an attack on civilians, something that Mr Assad and its Russian allies have denied.

 Alexander Yakovenko: No evidence Syrian government was behind chemical attack

He said the US was still investigating what sort of chemical weapons had been used. We are aware of one of the chemical agents that was used, but further assessments were continuing.

While it was reported that Russian forces were not warned in advance of the strike, he said that usual deescalation communications did go ahead, the process Moscow and Washington use to avoid unintentional attacks on each others forces, or accidental clashes or their aircraft.

The strikes were the biggest intervention by Western powers against Mr Assad in the countrys seven-year-old civil war and pitted the United States and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Mr Assad.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

In a statement US President Donald Trump said the intention of the strikes was to degrade the capability of Syria to produce and use such weapons. He and British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was no desire to push for regime change, something that would be of comfort to those concerned about the US and UK getting more deeply involved in Syria.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, Mr Trump said in a televised statement.

A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking of Mr Assad and his suspected role in last weeks chemical weapons attack, Mr Trump said: These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.

Reuters quoted a US official as saying the strikes were aimed at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.Russia has warned of consequences for the US-led military strikes on its ally Syria, saying the strikes on chemical weapons assets were an insult to Vladimir Putin.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

He added: Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible. The US  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries.

Since it entered the Syrian war on the side of Bashar al-Assad, the Russian leader has been crucial to the survival of Syrias president. Barely two years ago, it seemed that Mr Assads survival was under threat, as his forces were stretched thin by anti-government rebels and Isis fighters.

Russias provision of troops and air support, has meant Mr Assads forces have been able to regain control of large swathes of the country, undermining the energy of rebels who believed he was on the way out.

 Donald Trump: US will make decision on military action in Syria 'fairly soon'

Mr Putin has repeatedly denied that Syria has used chemical weapons in its battle against anti-government forces.

This week, Russias military says its personnel in the Syrian city allegedly hit by a chemical weapons attack had not found evidence to support the claim, the Associated Press said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Maj Gen Yuri Yevtushenko, head of the Russian centre for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria, said on Friday: According to the results of a survey of witnesses, studying samples and investigating locations undertaken by Russian specialists and medical personnel in the city of Douma, where chemical weapons purportedly were used, the use of poisonous substances was not shown.

Russias UN Ambassador said on Friday the United States appeared to have adopted a policy to unleash a military scenario against Syria, saying Moscow continues to observe dangerous military preparations.

Vassily Nebenzia told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday that bellicose rhetoric is being ratcheted up at all levels, including at the highest levels.

He said these developments cannot be tolerated and are fraught with grave repercussions for global security.The US has hit three targets in Syria in what President Donald Trump called precision strikes in coordination with the UK and France.

The Pentagon confirmed the first wave of strikes is complete as a response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on the city of Douma, where 60 people were reported killed and 1,000 injured. The three targets hit included a scientific research centre in the greater Damascus area used for research, development, production and testing of chemical weapons; a facility just west of Homs which is thought to be centre for sarin gas production and precursor production equipment; and a command post located near the first facility, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford.

Defence Secretary James Mattis repeatedly said at a news conference that the targeted but heavy strike tonight was directed at the Syrian regime and that the allies have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. However, he was unable to guarantee that there were no caches of already-produced chemical weapons in these facilities that, if destroyed during the strike, could leak and harm nearby civilian populations.

The allies reviewed several sites, but these three were chosen because of the significance to the overall chemicals weapons programme of President Bashar al-Assad.

The US, just three months into Mr Trump's presidency in 2017, had launched 59 Tomahawk missiles to strike the Shayrat air base in the Idlib province, where US intelligence pointed to as the source of a chemical weapons attack on the town of Khan Shiekhoun last year, where 86 civilians had been reported dead from the use of sarin gas.

"Clearly the assad regime did not get the message last year," Mr Mattis said.

 Emmanual Macron says France has prood the Assad used chemical weapons in Syria

Mr Dunford explained the 2017 strike was a unilateral use of force with a single target, whereas todays strike was in coordination with two allies, had multiple targets, and sought the long term degradation of the regimes chemical weapons capabilities.

Important infrastructure was destroyed, the regime has lost years of research, data, and expensive equipment, Mr Dunford said.

In his announcement earlier, Mr Trump blamed Russia for the regime's use of chemical weapons on civilians. The US and Russia have exchanged several diplomatic barbs at the United Nations over the past week over the matter investigating the alleged Douma attack.

The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Show all 14 1 /14 The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Douma, the largest town in the Eastern Ghouta area with more than 100,000 residents, is surrounded and regularly shelled by regime forces EPA The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria EPA The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria EPA The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria A Syrian man searches for victims as fire spreads following a reported government airstrike on the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Members of the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, extinguish fire following a reported government airstrike on the rebel-held town of Douma Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Members of the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, extinguish a fire following a reported government airstrike on the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Syrians run for cover following a reported government airstrike on the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria An injured Syrian man receives treatment at a makeshift hospital following a reported government airstrike on the rebel-held town of Douma Getty The White Helmets assist in Douma, Syria EPA

He noted that there had been no Russian response to the strikes that he was aware of at the time, but that there was "surface to air missile activity" from Syrian forces that the US had observed. Mr Dunford also explained that the US did not warn Russian forces on the ground about the strikes aside from using a "deconfliction channel," or a continuously open line of communication between parties, to clear up airspace. Using that channel is a standard procedure for all US operations in Syria.

The US strike did involve manned aircraft, but neither Mr Mattis nor Mr Dunford was able to comment on further details. There are no losses to report at the moment.

Until yesterday, Mr Mattis had not been confident there was enough evidence to suggest Mr Assad's regime was responsible for the Douma attack, but tonight said he had an "intelligence level of confidence" it was. He noted that chlorine gas was likely one of the agents used in the attack as well, though there could have been others. Investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), endorsed by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, have asked for access to Douma to the rebel-held town as well.

Mr Mattis also praised the UK and France for their cooperation, calling them allies "through thick and thin...[who] will be there when the chips are down".Since a round of strikes began in February, hundreds of thousands of passengers on Air France have had their travel plans wrecked. This is your guide to whats going on at the airline, and your rights.

Q Why are Air France staff taking action?

In February, the Air France group (which includes KLM) reported a 42 per cent rise in operating profit to 1.49bn (1.3bn). At the time, the chief executive, Jean-Marc Janaillac, praised the commitment of employees and the continuing focus on the quality of customer service.

But pilots, cabin crew and ground staff say their pay has been steadily eroded since 2011 while shareholders are gaining. They are demanding a 6 per cent pay rise. The company describes the demand as unrealistic and initially offered only a 1 per cent increase.

Recommended Air France strikes see a third of flights cancelled

On 10 April, that was doubled to 2 per cent, with M Janaillac calling it strong and reasonable and saying the trades unions would be irresponsible not to talk.

But Philippe Evain, president of one of the pilots unions, the Syndicat National des Pilotes de Ligne (SNPL), said the offer is not serious and does not address the gravity of the problem.

The unions met management again on Monday 16 April. The airline offered further increase from 2019 to 2021, contingent on what is called a growth pact: an agreement on increasing productivity, subject to financial results. Air France management is proposing a final agreement for signature up to Friday 20 April 2018 at midday.

A two-day stoppage on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 April went ahead, with another planned for the following Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 April.

Q What is the likely effect?

Pilots and other Air France staff who intend to strike are obliged to inform the airline in advance, sending a message saying: Je me declare greviste le 17 avril 2018 de 00h00 a 23h59. Once Air France knows how many staff will be staying away, it starts cancelling dozens of flights.

During previous rounds of strikes, around 30 per cent of flights have been grounded, both on Air France and its low-cost Joon subsidiary. Every stoppage so far has led to the cancellation of some links connecting Paris with Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Other UK airports are unaffected because services are operated by Hop!, which is not included in the action, or code-share partners such as Flybe and CityJet.

With a 30 per cent cancellation rate across the schedules, on a typical flight from one of these points via Paris to another destination, it is more likely than not that at least one of the flights will be grounded.

Q How do I know if my flight is cancelled  and what happens if it has been?

You should be informed the afternoon before departure if the flight has been grounded. If that happens, says Air France: "We recommend that you do not travel to the airport. Our staff will do their utmost to offer you an alternative solution."

In order of priority (from the airlines perspective, and possibly yours), the best option is a different flight on Air France or KLM  if the latter, you may find yourself flying on the Dutch airline via Amsterdam at pretty similar timings. You might instead be re-booked on another airline. Or you could be told you will be flying on a different day.

If you are not assigned an alternative flight, contact Air France (though staff who are working will be very busy) or your travel agent.

You can opt for a full refund if you prefer. Tickets booked through agents may take some time to process.

Q I have a forward booking with Air France. What are my options?

If you are booked on a flight departing on one of the strike dates, Air France is offering the chance to rebook for any date this month, with the recommendation "to avoid a rebook on another day impacted by the strike.

Alternatively, you can ask for the value of your ticket to be converted into a voucher valid for one year on Air France, Hop!, Joon or KLM flights.

Q Why does Air France warn that the number of passengers on some flights might be restricted?

Because with a significant number of cabin crew on strike, some departures may be below full strength.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The general rule is that there must be one member of cabin crew for every 50 seats on the plane. But in some circumstances, an airline is permitted to operate with one fewer member of cabin crew  so long as the ratio does not fall below one per 50 passengers, rather than seats.

So on an Air France Caribbean configuration Boeing 777 flight, with 468 seats, there must normally be at least 10 cabin crew. On a full 777 from Havana to Paris, 18 people would need to be offloaded in order for the flight to operate with just nine cabin crew.

Q What compensation can passengers claim if their journey is disrupted by the Air France strike?

Under European passengers rights rules, no cash compensation is payable when industrial action triggers cancellations, delays or (in the case of flights where the number of passengers must be reduced) overbooking.

Strikes are classified as extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken, which means airlines are off the hook for compensation claims. As you may observe, that seems an odd judgment since one reasonable measure to avoid flight disruption would be to settle with the trades unions.

But besides cash compensation, the passengers rights rules also impose airlines with a clear duty of care: to provide meals and accommodation as necessary until the carrier can get you to your destination, possibly on a different airline.

If you can demonstrate actual financial loss as a result of an Air France strike cancellation, it may be that you could claim under the Montreal Convention for damages. But that could require the services of a lawyer.

Q I read someone was told to stay in Caracas for an extra week when Air France cancelled their flight. Is that allowed?

Not that I can see. The European passengers rights rules insist that if a flight is cancelled, the passenger is entitled to re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity.

While that might seem clear enough, airlines have made some fairly liberal interpretations of what Europe means by the earliest opportunity: easyJet insists it has 48 hours to try to get you to your destination on its own services, while Ryanair will try to get you on an alternative flight on the same day or the following day, and will only consider alternative airlines if nothing else is available.

Seven days might be regarded as reasonable if the location was a remote island with only one flight a week, but Caracas has nightly departures to Europe on airlines such as Iberia, Air Europa and TAP Portugal.

Q Should I avoid booking with Air France over the next few months?

You could, but that would mean opting out of some useful flights, often at good fares. For example, later in the year Air France/KLM has deals from Manchester to Beijing for under 450, and from Heathrow to New York for under 350 return.

Q How long can strikes drag on?

That is up to Air France management and the unions. The net cost of a days strike has been estimated by the airline at around 25m (22m) per day. That is mainly comprised of lost revenue, but care costs and re-booking on other airlines are also significant. The annual cost of paying the full 6 per cent increase would be around 250m (220m), roughly the same as 10 days of strike.

In addition, there is always an unquantifiable cost of an airline strike. As soon as a carrier is seen to be vulnerable to strikes, passengers will tend to book away  especially if they are business travellers, who pay the highest fares.

In the past three months, Air Frances share value has slumped by one third. With conflict in the Middle East threatening to push up fuel prices, Air France management is certainly keen to settle.

Q How relevant is Air France?

Very. The Air France group, including KLM, Joon and Transavia, carries almost as many passengers as IAG (British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Vueling and Level). Through its Paris CDG hub, it offers UK passengers a vast range of destinations, with the added possibility of KLM connections via Amsterdam (so you could fly Manchester-Paris-Hong Kong-Amsterdam-Manchester).

But competition from other airlines will only intensify. Ryanair and easyJet are growing relentlessly, having already forced Air France of routes from anywhere in the UK to airports outside Paris. From July, British Airways sister airline, Level, starts flying from Orly airport in Paris to New York, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Montreal  all key Air France routes.Big noise on the stairs, but nobody comes into the room, runs an old Chinese saying. This is an apt description of the very limited airstrikes on Syria launched by the US, Britain and France overnight, which came after apocalyptic tweets from President Trump and threats of military retaliation by Russian diplomats.

In the event, the fears of a Russian-American clash and runaway confrontation leading to a third world war have turned out to be overblown. They did not look quite so exaggerated earlier in the week when Trump tweeted about US missiles: Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart'.

The Russians hinted that their retaliation might include American targets.

Of all the options available, the US-led coalition chose the one involving minimal action and geared not to provoke Russia or Iran. This was a one-off attack on three suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities, one in Damascus and two west of Homs. It was more of a gesture of disapproval than an attempt to damage President Bashar al-Assads military machine. Hours after the missiles had struck, his supporters were understandably demonstrating their defiance in the centre of Damascus.

Trump, reportedly under pressure from his military chiefs, may have chosen the most cautious option, but in fact there were no good options. Assad has all but won the civil war. Even if it was possible to weaken him, this might present opportunities to Isis and al-Qaeda, which are battered but not entirely out of business.

The attacks may or may not deter Assad from using poison gas in future, but they will not change the balance of power against him. Chemical weapons are only a small part of his arsenal and have played only a minor military role in the war. Out of the half million Syrians who have died in the conflict over the last seven years, just 1,900 are estimated to have been killed by chemical weapons.

Yet the military balance of power really has changed in Syria over the last week, although the reason for this has largely passed unnoticed internationally because of the focus on the gas attack in Douma and its consequences. The big development is that Douma, the last armed opposition stronghold in Eastern Ghouta, surrendered to the Syrian armed forces on 8 April. The remaining Jaysh al-Islam fighters have been taken by bus to Turkish-held territory in northern Syria during the course of the week. This is Assads greatest victory of the war, surpassing in importance even the recapture of East Aleppo at the end of 2016.

The Syrian army began its so-called Rif Dimashq offensive against the towns and villages of Eastern Ghouta on 20 February. For seven years, the survival of this opposition enclave in east Damascus had been a sign that Assad did not control all of his own country. There were rebels within mortar range of the heart of his own capital who regularly bombarded the Old City. In the past there were other such opposition enclaves, but they have fallen one by one.

Eastern Ghouta had a population of 400,000 and was partly agricultural so could feed itself to some degree. It was at first blockaded rather than besieged, with supplies coming in through a vast tunnel network and permissive or corrupt government checkpoints.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

But in the last year the government has closed entry and exit through its checkpoints and has blocked the tunnels. Inhabitants started to suffer from an acute shortage of food, fuel and medical supplies. The scarcity got worse when the government began its offensive in February. Much of the population took refuge in basements where they could only see in the dark by using small torches. Those who lived there complained of the lack of fresh water and food, the stench because of broken sewage pipes and the presence of venomous scorpions.

Possibly it was the Syrian government's frustration at the continued resistance of part of Jaysh al-Islam, the Saudi-backed jihadi movement in Douma, that led it to use chlorine gas. It had done so before without provoking an international reaction, but this time authentic-looking video was broadcast around the world showing dying children gasping for breath. The pictures provoked a wave of international fury which culminated in the US-led airstrikes on 14 April.

If the Syrian governments purpose in launching a chemical weapons attack was to force the final surrender of the Douma rebels, then it succeeded. Within hours of it happening, Russian military police moved into Douma to supervise the departure of rebel fighters and to suppress looting by government forces. On 12 April, the Syrian national flag was finally raised over a building in central Douma and the long siege was over.Anyone at the opening night of Tina Browns ninth annual Women in the World Summit in New York could only have been humbled by a conversation on stage, moderated by journalist Ronan Farrow, with three Italian women, two of whom are accusers of Harvey Weinstein, the other a feminist politician. Their bravery was matched only by the bleakness of their stories.

Some of the discussion was almost familiar. Two of the women, Ambra Gutierrez, a model, and Asia Argento, an actress, activist and screenwriter, were pivotal in what became Farrows astounding take-down of Weinstein in The New Yorker last year. Gutierrez wasnt able to address her own experience directly because of legal issues, but instead spoke of a deeply disturbing encounter with Silvio Berlusconi. What surprised me was the struggle they, as well as Laura Boldrini, a journalist and politician, still face in getting Italy to take sexual abuse and harassment seriously.

Boldrini, until recently president of the Italian parliaments chamber of deputies, said the pushback she had earned for promoting womens rights went as far as being burnt in effigy and getting a bullet in the post. Argento, who has accused Weinstein of forcing her into oral sex when she was 21, said some of the slurs she has endured were unrepeatable in polite New York company.

Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Show all 42 1 /42 Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Harvey Weinstein Harry Weinsteins reputation as one of Hollywoods leading executives was long cemented in stone. The acclaimed movie mogul, who produced Oscar-winning films Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, and The Artist, clocked up box office successes and accolades aplenty. But this has quickly changed since a chorus of women have come forward to accuse the Hollywood producer of sexual harassment and assault. Since the New York Times bombshell report disclosed sexual harassment and rape allegations against the film mogul dating back decades, Weinstein has been fired from his namesake company, expelled from the Oscars and has had his wife leave him. Weinstein has apologised for having caused a lot of pain but has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Annabella Sciorra The Sopranos actor alleged Weinstein raped her after shooting The Night We Never Met, a 1993 movie that Weinstein produced. Similar to the stories told by other women, Weinstein drove the actor home, only to reportedly burst into Sciorra's apartment and start unbuttoning his shirt. He shoved me onto the bed, and he got on top of me, Sciorra said. I kicked and I yelled. Weinstein then allegedly locked her arms and forced sexual intercourse on her. After the incident, Sciorra found it increasingly hard to get work, many filmmakers saying 'We heard you were difficult', something the actor claims was because of the 'Weinstein-machine'. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Natassia Malthe The model and actress, who has appeared in around 50 films, said she met Weinstein at a BAFTA after party in 2008 while she was working as a spokeswoman for LG. She told a press conference in New York that she felt pressured into telling Weinstein she was staying at the Sanderson Hotel after being put on the spot. Malthe, now 43, said after her shift on February 10 she went back to her room and went to sleep, but was awoken by "repeated pounding" on her door, from someone yelling: "Open the door Natassia Malthe, it's Harvey Weinstein." Feeling humiliated, she said she opened the door. She alleged Weinstein began implying sex would get her a role in an upcoming film while semi-undressed and then he began to masturbate. "I was sitting on the bed talking to Harvey when he pushed me back and forced himself onto me. It was not consensual. He did not use a condom," she said. AP Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Sean Young The actor, best known for her role in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, said that Weinstein exposed himself to her in the early 1990s, when she was starring in the Miramax-produced Love Crimes - a production company that Weinstein headed at the time. "I personally experienced him pulling his you-know-what out of his pants to shock me," she said. "My basic response was, 'You know, Harvey, I really dont think you should be pulling that thing out, its not very pretty.'" Young never worked with Weinstein again after the incident. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mimi Haleyi Mimi Haleyi said she was assaulted by Weinstein in what appeared to be a child's bedroom in his New York City apartment in 2006 when she was in her 20s. She said she was aspiring to work in television and film production when she was first introduced to him at the London premiere of The Aviator around two years earlier and he helped her get experience on the set of a TV show being produced by The Weinstein Company. But, she added, he repeatedly hassled her and even tried to force himself through her front door in an effort to get her to join him on a trip to Paris. At one point he allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on an aspiring production assistant while she was on her period. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lupita Nyong'o In an op-ed for The New York Times, the Oscar-winning actor said she was invited to Weinsteins family home in Connecticut on the premise of watching a film shortly after they met in 2011. But she said shortly after it started he "insisted" in front of his children that she follow him and she was led to his bedroom. The Kenyan-Mexican actress, now 34, said she felt pressured into giving him a massage after he offered her one. "Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants," she wrote."I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that." Over the years that followed, he continued to get in touch, Nyong'o said, and when she declined another proposition she felt her career was threatened. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lena Headey Writing on social media, the Game of Thrones actor claims she first met Weinstein at the Venice Film Festival in 2005 where, after taking her for a walk by the water, he made some suggestive comment and gesture. Headey claims she bumped into Weinstein years later where he kept asking her questions about her love life. She alleges that, when Weinstein invited her to his hotel room to show her a script, the "energy shifted. The actor notes how, after saying she was not interesting in anything but the work, Weinstein was furious, apparently marching her back to a lift, "grabbing and holding tightly to the back of [her] arm." She claims that, after paying for her car, he whispered in her ear: "Don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent. Headey finished the post, writing: I got in the car and I cried. Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lucia Evans The actor told The New Yorker that after a meeting to discuss casting her in various projects, Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him. I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont. She added: Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Laura Madden Madden, a production assistant who worked at Miramax for a decade, told the Times that Weinstein allegedly prodded her for massages at hotels, a common theme among the sources the Timess reporters spoke with. On one occasion, she claims she locked herself in his hotel bathroom, sobbing Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ashley Judd Judd recounted for the Times how Weinstein allegedly harassed her while she was filming Kiss the Girls in 1996, inviting her to his hotel room and asking her for a massage, then inviting her to watch him shower. Judd first went public with the allegations in a 2015 interview with Variety during which she discussed the experience without naming the producer involved. She described Weinsteins alleged behaviour as coercive bargaining; I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back at me with some new ask, she told the Times AFP/Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Rose McGowan McGowan reportedly reached a previously undisclosed $100,000 settlement with Weinstein in 1997, over an incident that occurred in a hotel room Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mimi Haleyi Mimi Haleyi said she was assaulted by Weinstein in what appeared to be a child's bedroom in his New York City apartment in 2006 when she was in her 20s. She said she was aspiring to work in television and film production when she was first introduced to him at the London premiere of The Aviator around two years earlier and he helped her get experience on the set of a TV show being produced by The Weinstein Company. But, she added, he repeatedly hassled her and even tried to force himself through her front door in an effort to get her to join him on a trip to Paris. At one point he allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on an aspiring production assistant while she was on her period. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Emily Nestor Nestor had been temping at the Weinstein Company for only one day in 2014 when Weinstein allegedly offered to boost her career in return for sexual favours, according to the Times. She declined and reportedly complained of his behaviour to colleagues, who later passed the information on to senior executives. An internal Weinstein Company document cited by the Times describes Nestors encounter with Weinstein as follows: She said he was very persistent and focused though she kept saying no for over an hour Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ambra Battilana In March 2015, Battilana, an aspiring model and actress, was reportedly summoned to Weinsteins office on a Friday night to discuss her career. According to a police report cited by the Times, Battilana claimed she was assaulted by Weinstein, who grabbed her breasts after asking if they were real and put his hands up her skirt. Weinstein later claimed that Battilana had set him up, according to colleagues of his who were interviewed by the Times. The Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, later declined to press charges, and according to the Times, made a payment to Battilana. On 5 October, the International Business Times reported that after Vance dropped the charges, he received $10,000 from Weinsteins lawyer Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lauren OConnor Lauren OConnor, an employee of the Weinstein Company, penned a memo to executives alleging a toxic environment for women at the company. The memo cited numerous incidents of Weinstein harassing or coercing women who worked for him. She expressed fear that Weinstein was using her and other female employees to facilitate liaisons with vulnerable women who hope he will get them work. That same year, Weinstein allegedly reached a settlement with OConnor Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Kate Beckinsale The actor, who starred in the Weinstein Company films Serendipity and The Aviator, alleges that she was invited to Weinsteins hotel room at the age of just 17. When she approached the door, the producer reportedly greeted her dressed in just a dressing gown. I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him, she wrote on Instagram. After declining alcohol and announcing that I had school in the morning I left, uneasy but unscathed. Theo Wargo/Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Gwyneth Paltrow The actor alleges that after he cast her in the title role of the film Emma when she was 22, he took her to his hotel room, placed his hands on her and suggested massages. I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified, Paltrow told the New York Times. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Asia Argento Italian actress Asia Argento has alleged that in 1997 Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop. When I see him, it makes me feel little and stupid and weak, Argento told The New Yorker. After the rape, he won. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Cara Delevigne The British model and actress penning an Instagram post claiming that Weinstein had ordered her to kiss another woman in his hotel room, and tried to kiss her on the lips. AFP/Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ashley Judd Ashley Judd said she rebuffed Harvey Weinsteins unwanted sexual advances by offering to consent only after she had won an Oscar. When she was initially invited to a meeting with Weinstein, Judd said, she was surprised to learn the producer was in his hotel room - a tactic that recurs in other womens accounts. Echoing the accounts of other women, Judd said Weinstein suggested she give him a massage and then invited her to watch him shower. After a volley of nos she said she would only after she wins an Oscar, fleeing after making the comments. Reuters/Mike Segar Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Judith Godreche French actress Judith Godreche said when she was 24 Weinstein invited her to his hotel room and asked to give her a massage. The next thing I know, hes pressing against me and pulling off my sweater, she told the New York Times. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mira Sorvino The Oscar-winning actor said she found herself in a hotel room with Weinstein in 1995 where he started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around. According to an interview in The New Yorker Weinstein subsequently arrived at her apartment late at night and she had to call a friend to come over to pose as her boyfriend in order to get Weinstein out of the house. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Katherine Kendall The actress said Weinstein undressed and chased her around a living room when she was just 23. She subsequently felt that telling others meant Ill never work again and no one is going to care or believe me, she told the New York Times. WireImage Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Tomi-Anne Roberts As an aspiring actress and working in a restaurant in New York, Tomi-Ann Roberts encountered Weinstein who encouraged her to audition for one of his films back in 1984. She subsequently went to meet him and found him naked in the bath and invited her to get naked and get into the bath with him, she told the New York Times. She said she left feeling manipulated. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Myleen Klass It has also been alleged that the disgraced film producer propositioned Myleene Klass with a sex contract at Cannes Film Festival in 2010. One of the singer and television personalitys friends reportedly told The Sun, Klass had told Weinstein to f*** off. Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Sophie Dix Sophie Dix, best known for her role as Captain Sadie Williams in Soldier Soldier, described her encounter with Weinstein when she was 23 as the single most damaging thing thats happened in my life. She told The Guardian Weinstein had pushed her to her bed and was tugging at her clothes. She rushed to the bathroom to escape, but when she came out she found him standing there masturbating. I quickly closed the door again and locked it, she said. Then when I heard room service come to the door I just ran. Rex Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lea Seydoux The actor and director claims she had to fight off Weinstein after he brought her to his hotel room during what she remembers to be 2012. He suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me. I had to defend myself. Hes big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him. I left his room, thoroughly disgusted, she wrote in The Guardian. AFP/Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Claire Forlani British actress Claire Forlani wrote on Twitter that she had evaded Weinsteins advances on five occasions at the age of 25. At meetings with the Hollywood a-lister, she says massage was suggested, and that Weinstein had boasted of all the women hed had sex with. Mark Douet Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Florence Darel French actress Florence Darel claimed Weinstein relentlessly pursued her in the mid 1990's and propositioned her while Eve Chilton, his wife at the time, was in the hotel room next door. I was astonished, she told People magazine. When you have someone so physically disgusting in front of you, continuing and continuing as though this was all perfectly normal What happened to me may not be illegal but it was inappropriate. Very inappropriate. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lysette Anthony Lysette Anthony, who starred as Marnie Nightingale in Hollyoaks, has claimed Weinstein raped her in the late 1980's after turning up to her London home in the late 1980s. She described the disgraced film producers alleged attack as pathetic and revolting and said it left her feeling disgusted and embarrassed. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Dawn Dunning Dunning said she met Weinstein in 2003 when she was 24-years-old and the disgraced film producer suggested she have a threesome with him and someone else. She told the New York Times Weinstein got angry when she refused. Youll never make it in this business, she said he told her as she left. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Rosanna Arquette Rosanna Arquette was already well known for her role in Desperately Seeking Susan, when she said she met Weinstein at his hotel to pick up a script in the early nineties. Weinstein was dressed only in a dressing gown, and tried to put her hand on his erect penis. Speaking to the New York Times, Arquette said as she left she told him: I will never be that girl. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Emma de Caunes Caunes, a French actor, claimed Weinstein took her to his hotel room in 2010 supposedly to retrieve a book he was making into a film, but once there he went into the bathroom. De Caunes said he then emerged naked, with an erection and told her to lie on the bed. She fled the room. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Zoe Brock Model Zoe claimed that she had to lock herself in a bathroom at Weinsteins hotel in 1997, after the mogul had sent all of the assistants out of the room, and then appeared naked. I was alone with Weinstein, she told ITVs This Morning programme. He very quickly left the room and came back naked. He chased me naked. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Jessica Barth Actress Jessica Barth described an encounter with Weinstein in 2011 in an interview with The New Yorker in which she said Weinstein veered between offering her roles in films and demanding a naked massage. She alleges the producer said to her: So, what would happen if, say, were having some champagne and I take my clothes off and you give me a massage? When she tried to leave, he then promised to give her the number of a female executive at the company. He gave me her number, and I walked out and I started bawling, Barth said. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Romola Garai The actress told The Guardian she felt violated after she went to a meeting with Weinstein at the age of 18 and he met her in his hotel room wearing nothing but a dressing gown. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Heather Graham Graham claimed that during a casting opportunity in the early 2000's Weinstein had told her he had an open relationship with his wife. He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy, Graham told Variety. There was no explicit mention that to star in one of those films I had to sleep with him, but the subtext was there. Graham was never hired to work in a Weinstein film. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Jessica Hynes Spaced and W1A star Jessica Hynes tweeted about an encounter with Weinstein earlier this week, but subsequently deleted the tweet. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lucia Evans The actor told The New Yorker that after a meeting to discuss casting her in various projects, Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him. I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont. She added: Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Louisette Geiss The former actress said she met Weinstein to pitch a film script she was working on. During the meeting, Weinstein allegedly went out and reappeared naked and got into a jacuzzi where he masturbated in front of her and said he would make the script into a film if she stayed and watched. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Liza Campbell Liza Campbell, a British writer and artist, alleged that Olympically ugly Weinstein asked her to join him in the bath and began getting undressed at a hotel. In a piece for The Times, Campbell claimed she was forced to sprint to the door to escape. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Louise Godbold Writing in a blog post, Louise Godbold, a non-profit director in Los Angeles, said her encounter with Weinstein took the form of an office tour that became an occasion to trap me in an empty meeting room. She said then Weinstein was begging for a massage, his hands on my shoulders as I attempted to beat a retreat.

She acknowledged having ignored friends, including Farrow, whod urged her to leave Italy for her own safety in favour of remaining and fighting. If we stop this conversation then were really doomed. Its the one chance Ive had in my lifetime to advance the whole human species because the betterment of the position of women in society is the betterment of all society. The #MeToo movement, she added, is the biggest thing to happen to women since the right to vote.

It almost made me grateful to be in the United States and not Europe. Here there is a genuine and crucial conversation going on about women facing acts of sexual harassment by men, most often men who wield power over them. Its a moment of national reckoning and its clearly healthy, despite the potential danger it brings to survivors who speak out.

But the process has only just begun, and in one respect the US lags spectacularly. I am talking about its president, who is now, almost on a daily basis, the target of lurid and shocking reports of disgusting behaviour towards women and who has not been held to account or fired from his job like so many others have. Or not yet.

Just before Browns conference began, Farrow released another in his series of reports on the topic, this time alleging that a doorman at one of Donald Trumps New York towers was paid $30,000 early in the presidential campaign to keep quiet about a housekeeper with whom he, Trump, had allegedly had a baby. Its far from clear that the love-child part is true, but that money was exchanged is convincing. According to Farrow it came not from Trump but from The National Enquirer, a tabloid owned by American Media, Inc (AMI), whose CEO is a friend of Trump.

Simultaneously, first reviews appeared of a memoir by James Comey, the FBI director fired by Trump last summer. Called A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership, the book is due out this Tuesday. In it, we learned, Comey compares Trump to a mob boss. One passage concerns Trump keeping Comey behind after a meeting with senior intelligence officials shortly before his inauguration to talk about allegations that had surfaced about his once being in the company of prostitutes in Moscow, the more lurid details of which involved them peeing on each other.

According to Comey, Trump strongly denied the allegations, asking  rhetorically, I assumed  whether he seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes. He then began discussing cases where women had accused him of sexual assault, a subject I had not raised. He mentioned a number of women, and seemed to have memorised their allegations. Trumps response came in a tweet, in which he called Comey, wait for it, an untruthful slimeball.

You get what you pay for, or in this case the country gets whom they elect. That slimeball would be better applied to Trump than Comey was already plain to see when voters made their choice in November 2016. They had heard Trump boasting about grabbing womens body parts in that infamous Access Hollywood taped conversation with Billy Bush but then elected him anyway. No matter the number of lurid stories there are about Trump, he seems just to forge on.

But we may be at a pivotal moment. Last week the FBI raided the offices of the man who has done more than anyone else to protect Trump from scandal fallout  his private lawyer, Michael Cohen. Things agents were looking for reportedly included any materials about other sums of money allegedly paid to the porn actress Stormy Daniels (by Cohen) and Karen McDougal (by AMI), another porn actress and a centrefold, to stay mum about affairs the women had allegedly had with him. The agents were also after anything on the leaking in 2016 of the Access Hollywood tape. If it appears these payments were made to help save Trump from defeat then election laws may have been broken.

And now a new grenade in Washington DC: a top donor to the Republicans, Elliott Broidy, who has close ties to the White House, was forced to resign as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee after it emerged he paid a former Playboy model $1.6m in late 2017 after impregnating her. Guess who negotiated the deal: Michael Cohen, of course.

Italy may be in the dark ages, but the US will only be able to claim it is truly addressing injustice suffered by women when members of its political class are held to account and their secret settlements to silence them are exposed. And that may be starting to happen.No one could accuse The Independent of being gung-ho for military solutions to complex problems. We opposed the invasion of Iraq a decade and a half ago and have been critical of western intervention in Libya since. However, there is an argument for punitive air strikes against the Assad regime in Syria that ought to be heard.

When Theresa May says that the international community must not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons, she cannot be dismissed as a warmonger or an American poodle. She is entitled to be taken seriously when she says that we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere.

It is right in principle that when that red line, as Barack Obama called it, is crossed there should be consequences. It may be, however, that there are more powerful arguments for restraint.

 Syrian state TV shows footage of 'destroyed scientific research centre hit by air strike'

One of them is not that made by Jeremy Corbyn, when he describes last nights US, French and British air strikes as of questionable legality. That is a curious phrase, when the one thing that is unquestionably illegal is the use of chemical weapons, banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

There is plainly a moral case for enforcing that ban, and if the United Nations will not do it  as it cannot while Russia has a veto on its Security Council  then it must fall to the worlds leading democracies to do so instead. The attorney general has dressed this up in his advice to the government, saying an exceptional measure on grounds of overwhelming humanitarian necessity is legally justifiable.

The larger argument, though, is whether military action is wise. That is what parliament could have debated.

Patrick Cockburn, our experienced reporter and commentator on the Middle East, argues that the only realistic rulers of Syria are Bashar al-Assad or the various al-Qaeda clones, such as Isis and al-Nusra. Any serious attempt to weaken the Syrian leader, therefore, risks prolonging the agonies of the Syrian people  although he writes today that these strikes were more of a gesture than an attempt to damage Mr Assads military machine.

Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Show all 13 1 /13 Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, which was targeted by the US, UK and France air strikes. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center surrounded by papers and rubble. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound . AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Part of a building collapsing, surrounded by the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damaged to the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier sprays water on the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syrian state news agency SANA reported several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre". AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Damage to the Scientific Research Center building that was hit by the strikes. EPA Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The Scientific Studies and Research Centre was one of the targeted buildings by the US, UK and France. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damage to the centre. EPA

It may be, then, that the Western response was calibrated to minimise the risk of a Russian reaction. But we cannot know if such a reaction will come at any point in the future. If it does, a cyber-attack may not be easily identifiable. We have no idea what effect the chilling of the new cold war might have on Russian gas supplies to Europe, or on attempts to encourage Iran to respect international norms.

It is worth pointing out, too, that the punishment strikes launched unilaterally by Donald Trump a year ago failed to deter Mr Assad from using chemical weapons  although that would not necessarily mean a further attempt is futile.

But it is also possible that diplomatic efforts would have been less risky and that they could have been more productive. In any case, there is a good argument that these should have happened first.

What should be clear is that the question of how to respond to the horrors of Ghouta, Khan Shaykhun and now Douma is a complex one and that we should be suspicious of glib answers.

All the more reason, then, for the House of Commons to meet and debate these difficult questions. There was time for parliament to be recalled this week. As John Rentoul argues, the only reason the prime minister refused to do so was that she feared she might lose a vote to approve military action. The BBC even reported that Theresa May urged President Trump to launch the strikes before parliament reconvened on Monday, to avoid the prospect of such a vote. When Mr Corbyn accused Ms May of following Mr Trumps timetable, it could be that the truth was the other way round.

This is a democratic outrage. If parliament  certainly reflecting public opinion on this occasion  would not support air strikes, then British forces should not have taken part in them, no matter how compelling the arguments may seem to the prime minister.

We respect the view that the use of chemical weapons should be punished, but the democratic principle must come first.When countries engage in military action, some people can get very excited. The media often becomes gung-ho, forgetting that the institutions waffling on about surgical strikes and zero civilian casualties, have frequently misled them in the past. There is an obsession about platforms used, the number of missiles dropped, and from which ships and planes. There are fewer questions about the wisdom of such operations.

Politicians, often those in opposition parties, suddenly become silent and compliant in the name of the national interest.

Some leaders  Donald Trump, for instance  make claims that are patently ridiculous and which elide the historical record. Others, such as Theresa May, adopt a more in sorrow than in anger mode, and insist their actions were aimed solely at helping the people theyve just bombed.

In short, people can lose their heads. Very often, literally.

The US has claimed the 105 cruise missiles that American, UK and French forces fired at three targets in Syria associated with the production, storage and use of chemical weapons, resulted in no civilian casualties. We have no way of independently confirming this, but an Associated Press report out of Damascus suggested that while a handful of people there were injured, there were no reported deaths.

At a Pentagon briefing on Saturday morning, officials insisted their strikes had set back President Bashar al-Assads chemical weapons capability by several years. I think weve dealt them a severe blow, said Lt Gen Kenneth McKenzie.

In Damascus, reports suggest it did not appear that way. Hundreds gathered at landmark squares to honk horns and flash victory signs. Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrias presidency tweeted after the air strikes began.

 World reacts to Syria air strikes

It is easy to be cynical about these latest Western strikes. It is easy to be cynical about the very prominent marketing of the weapons systems highlighted by the different governments (Raytheons Tomahawk cruise missiles by the Americans, Rafale jets by the French, and the European-produced Tornado fighter jets equipped with British, French and Italian produced Storm Shadow missiles by the British). The Canary reported that Raytheons share price had just struck a 20-year high.

And it is easy to point out that if Trump was so moved by the pictures of dead Syrian children at Douma, the location of the alleged chemical weapons attack currently being investigated by officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), he could alter his policy that suspended the Syria refugee programme and banned citizens from a bunch of countries (including Syria) from entering the US.

Rather, it was reported that the US has so far this year accepted just 11 refugees from Syria, about a tenth of the number of bombs it and its allies fired last night.

The truth of the matter is that dropping bombs on countries rarely does any good, especially in a situation as complex and muti-layered as Syria: a US-Russia proxy war that involves dozens of factions as well as the schism of Islam.

Indeed, those Pentagon briefers appeared to admit as much when they spoke today. No, they said, the US mission in Syria had not changed. It remained to confront and crush Isis, and was not to get rid of Assad.

And as the limited nature of the strikes revealed  there were approximately twice as many missiles fired as this time last year, but none anywhere close to Russian assets  the US knows these operations can only do so much.

It should be said that Trump, May and Emanuel Macron would have been criticised if they had done nothing. Eight years into a war that left 500,000 dead and displaced up to 12 million people, many rightly ask what the West is doing to help those being terrorised by Assad and his Russian backers.

Everyone knows the West has few good options, but it could try and hurt Syria more financially. Just yesterday, the British-French journalist Ben Judah outlined a way the West could increase the pain for the Syrian regime by hitting the Russian state banks that Assad has used for his financing structure.

In particular, he mentioned Russian state bank VTB, which faces US sanctions, and the way it could be targeted to try and force Assad to the negotiating table.

Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Show all 13 1 /13 Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, which was targeted by the US, UK and France air strikes. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center surrounded by papers and rubble. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound . AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Part of a building collapsing, surrounded by the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damaged to the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier sprays water on the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syrian state news agency SANA reported several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre". AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Damage to the Scientific Research Center building that was hit by the strikes. EPA Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The Scientific Studies and Research Centre was one of the targeted buildings by the US, UK and France. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damage to the centre. EPA

VTB is a pillar of the Russian economy and Russias oligarchic structure: the smart threat from the West should not be theatrics on a terrain where Russia is in charge, but surprise sanctions where Russia is vulnerable, he wrote.

The line is simple: Assads Russian bankers should not be in London or New York. The message to Russia clear: if you want your client to bomb and gas civilians, VTB gets it.

There is a lot less drama in enforcing financial sanctions than in launching military strikes, of course. The media doesnt get to use footage of jets soaring off into the night from aircraft carriers, we dont get to see plumes of smoke rising from foreign cities thousands of miles away.

And we dont get to see the satellite images of the targets that have been hit  always with utter precision, remember  to ease our consciences about minimising civilian casualties.

The West ought to be ashamed of the way it has responded to the crisis in Syria. It should be ashamed of the hundreds of thousands killed on our watch, of the scores of fleeing refugees washing up on the beaches of the Mediterranean.

And we should be ashamed of our double standards in the Middle East, our relative silence over the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces and our active support of Saudi Arabias bombing of Yemeni rebels that has resulted in a perhaps unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

So its about time we did something that helps. That is why dropping bombs is not the answer.On the gravestone of Robin Cook, leader of the House of Commons at the time of the invasion of Iraq, is an inscription: I may not have succeeded in halting the war, but I did secure the right of parliament to decide on war.

It wasnt true, as was confirmed last night. The evolution of the convention that the House of Commons should approve military action is more complicated than most people, including Cook, realised.

Legally, the decision to go to war is taken by the Queen acting through and on the advice of her ministers. It is a decision of her government, which derives its authority from its command of a majority of MPs in the Commons, but it does not require a vote of MPs beforehand.

Clement Attlee did not ask the House to vote to join the US in the Korean war in 1950, although Winston Churchill, who supported it as leader of the opposition, argued that the prime minister should have done. It is better to have a division so that everyone can know how the House of Commons stands and in what proportion, Churchill said, despite the danger that a handful of dissenters might create false impressions abroad that the country was disunited.

Anthony Eden did not put Suez to a vote. Margaret Thatcher didnt ask for a vote before dispatching the task force to retake the Falklands, although parliament was recalled on a Saturday when the Labour opposition led by Michael Foot urged her on. John Major did not have a vote on the Gulf War in 1991, although 57 MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, recorded their opposition by the procedural device of voting against a motion to adjourn.

 Robin Cook's Resignation Speech

Then came Tony Blair and Robin Cook. Cook was foreign secretary when Saddam Hussein defied the UN by expelling its inspectors from Iraq in February 1998. For the first time, the prime minister agreed to put the question of the use of force to an explicit vote of MPs on a government motion. It was carried by 493 votes to 25, and Saddam backed down, but Blair regretted giving the 25, again including Corbyn, the chance to express their opposition. He would not do so again until 2003.

When Saddam again ended cooperation with UN inspectors at the end of 1998, Blair refused to give the Commons a new vote, and resorted to a procedural ambush to prevent Corbyn and others voting on a motion of their own. British jets joined the US air force in a four-day bombing campaign called Operation Desert Fox.

Blair denied MPs a vote on action in Sierra Leone and Kosovo. Corbyn was again among the handful of Labour MPs who engineered a protest vote after the bombing of Serbia had started in 1999  at the time enraging Clare Short, international development secretary, who called them a disgrace to the Labour Party and, in an interview the next day, like those who appeased Hitler.

It wasnt until the Iraq war of 2003 that MPs were again to vote on a government motion explicitly to approve military action. This was the basis of Cooks posthumous claim: but the vote was a product of its time. Partly because that invasion was so long in preparation, contrary to the cliche of the rush to war, it became impossible for Blair to avoid a vote. His cabinet and party would not have allowed it: as it was, half of his backbenchers voted against the government.

Nearly a decade later, David Cameron held a vote on Libyan air strikes in 2011  but after the event, rather than before, on the grounds that it was urgent action to avert a massacre. Then, in 2013, he lost a vote to authorise strikes in Syria that would have been similar to last nights: designed to deter Assads use of chemical weapons. That vote had consequences, in tipping Barack Obama away from launching US strikes himself.

On that occasion, Ed Miliband changed his position late in the day after opinion polls suggested strikes were unpopular. But the decisive group were the 30 Conservative MPs who voted against Cameron  a group that Theresa May knows are still there, even if some of the faces are different after two elections.

She knew, too, that Labour interventionists (many of whom bitterly regret obeying the party whip in 2013) and the DUP (who voted against in 2013 but support her today) were not enough to guarantee that she would win a vote this time.

That is why, although she could have recalled parliament on Thursday, when the cabinet held an emergency meeting, she chose not to.

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

No wonder she was so inarticulate when asked this morning why she hadnt gone to parliament. She said the response had to be timely and she was working with international partners. The first is unconvincing and the second, that the timetable  as Corbyn alleges  was set by President Trump, is worse.

Last year, Donald Trump launched strikes within three days of a chemical weapons atrocity, but this time he waited a week, giving Britain and France time to join him  but also giving May time to consult parliament if she wanted to.

She could have had a vote on the principle of punitive strikes designed to deter Assad from breaking the Chemical Weapons Convention again. Just as Blair held that vote in 1998 on the principle of strikes to force Saddam to comply with the UN. But she might have lost, whereas Blair won overwhelmingly.

She will have to explain, when she faces the House and the ghost of Robin Cook on Monday, why she chose to defy parliament and public opinion. In a democracy, there ought to be a price to pay.Shares in company that operates and part-owns Dundrum Town Centre and Swords Pavilions plunged yesterday, after a French would-be buyer walked away.

UK-based and London listed Hammerson's stock dropped as much as 14pc in London trading after Klepierre abandoned its pursuit of the UK company - a deal that would have created one of the largest retail-property owners in Europe.

Klepierre's decision paves the way for Hammerson to proceed with its own acquisition of rival Intu Properties which it put on hold last week while the French bid played out.

The French landlord had made two verbal bids for Hammerson, both of which were rejected by the UK mall owner. The second offer valued the company at about 5bn (4bn).

"The board of Hammerson did not provide any meaningful engagement with respect to the increased proposal and, after careful consideration, Klepierre has concluded that it does not intend to make an offer," the Paris-based company said in a statement.

Klepierre had been seeking to exploit weakness in Hammerson's share price caused by concerns over online rivals and the company's plan to acquire Intu.

The offer, which values Intu at about 3.5bn, would create Britain's largest publicly traded landlord.

Intu shares rose as much as 2.9pc to 216.70 pence, the highest in three weeks.

That's despite wider fears for the health of the UK's brick-and-mortar retail sector.

"The pall over UK retail calls into question the wisdom of increasing exposure when structural change in retail is at its most destructive," Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sue Munden wrote in a note, referring to the Intu purchase.

However, the deal would give Hammerson a chance to "enhance the quality of the company's capital-constrained malls, unlocking potential in the 21bn of combined assets", she said.

Hammerson's shares had been buoyed by Klepierre's efforts to buy the company.

The stock had gained 19pc since it received an initial offer from Klepierre.

Hammerson's board carefully evaluated Klepierre's second bid, which "very significantly undervalued" the company, the UK landlord said in response to Klepierre's announcement.

Hammerson said it will continue to engage "intensively" with shareholders. (Bloomberg)"If you're not changing, you're standing still and eventually going backwards." This philosophy is what drove dairy farmer Patrick Traynor's decision 10 years ago to expand his dairy herd.

Based in Corduff, Co Monaghan with his wife Mairead and four-month old daughter Siomha, Patrick originally started with 50 acres but over the years he has bought 30 acres to facilitate expanding the herd. He has also leased and swapped land to increase the milking platform.

Patrick is now milking 130 crossbred Holstein and Jersey cows in a spring calving system.

The reasons he was eager to expand were linked to wanting a better lifestyle and he admits that the changes he made to his farm were gradual.

"I did it as opportunities arose; 30 cows would've been average enough at the time but now that's quite small. I did it because I wanted a better lifestyle and wanted to be able to come to a point where I would be able to afford help and it wouldn't be a one-man job," says Patrick.

His milking operation is certainly no longer a "one-man job". Every spring a student from the nearby Ballyhaise Agricultural College in Co Cavan works on his farm during calving time, and he also gets help from his nephew and brother.

The biggest outside help comes from his contract rearer for heifers.

"The contract rearing is brilliant and saves me time. I'm not thinking of all the things I have to do. Instead I can focus on grass management and milking the cows," he says.

Patrick hopes to have a grass growth rate of 15 tonnes per hectare over the next five years and plans to achieve it by focusing more on soil fertility.

"We're getting there slowly. It's about improving and building on what you've got all the time and using better fertilisers," he says.

Patrick has recently built a 20-unit milking parlour, and like all dairy farmers he has to deal with milk price volatility.

With all this in mind, the Monaghan man believes that proper financial management is key to farm survival

"I don't like to be cash stretched so I'm lucky enough that I haven't been in much debt. When it comes to milk price you just have to get on with it and try and remain in a low level of debt.

Efficiency

"You need to be conscious of the bad times during the good times and cushion yourself for the future," explains Patrick.

While the building of the new parlour faced setbacks such as Storm Ophelia and Storm Emma, Patrick aims that the new milking parlour will save him two hours each day and that it will further increase labour efficiency on the farm.

He also urged any young farmer out there to get as much experience as possible farming in different locations before running their own farm as it's something he would've liked to have done more of.

"Young farmers should get away from home and see different ways of doing things and get as much experience as possible. It's something I didn't do as my father became ill and I had to take over when I was quite young.

"It's not only good for your development as a farmer but as an individual," he adds.

It's clear that Patrick is what Teagasc research officer Laurence Shalloo calls a resilient dairy farmer.

Speaking at a recent dairy day in Ballyhaise Agricultural College, Laurence said: "A resilient dairy business will achieve high farm profitability per hectare on average while also minimising the impact of low milk prices.

"There also needs to be an emphasis on producing high-quality milk without adverse impact on the welfare of animals or the environment."

He added: "Increasing labour efficiency by operating more streamlined work practices, using contractors and contract rearing of heifers will have a major impact on reducing requirements and costs and will ultimately improve the efficiency of the overall business."

If you want to be a resilient farmer you should be aiming for a net profit of 2,500/ha, and this can be achieved by maximising grass performance and matching the feed available on farm with demand by operating the appropriate stocking rate.

"Realistically, setting a net profit target of 2,500/ha and achieving that target is based on significant attention to detail across all of the components of the farm business.

"However, the rewards are huge and place the business in a very positive position when dealing with milk price volatility as well as realising returns from the business on or off farm," said Laurence.The first shipment of fodder arriving in Buttevant County Cork for farmers. Pic:Mark Condren.

Farmers in the west of Ireland are paying up to 40/bale - four times the usual price, while one knackery yard has reported that animals are starving to death in 'alarming' numbers.

Galway Bay FM reports that the matter has been raised this week by Ballinasloe area councillors and it's understood they are writing to the Agriculture Minister in an effort to get meal vouchers for affected farmers.

Councillor Dermot Connolly says dealers from the south and south-east are now charging up to four times more than the normal rate.

Meanwhile, one midlands-based knackery yard has said there has been "unprecedented" numbers of fallen animals in recent weeks, as animals are starving to death in "alarming numbers".

John Hastings, of Beechfield Products and Transport, Roscrea, told the Midland Tribute that he has seen a "dramatic increase in the last six weeks", with 200 animals a day coming to his facility on a daily basis.

He said the picture is very bleak on farms around the midlands at the moment and that other knackeries are inundated with sheep.

"What's around our area is mostly cattle, and the really bad part of the last six to eight weeks here is that it's mostly cows coming into our facility in Roscrea," he told the paper.It took Bridget Murphy two years to re-acclimatise to the wet and windy hills of the West of Ireland when she arrived "home for a visit" from South Africa in 1998.

"I was going around the place in heavy fur-lined coats all the time. The locals must have been gob-smacked at seeing a woman in her 20s rambling about the place in such heavy clothes," she recalls.

She had come home to visit her parents, who had returned two years earlier to take care of two elderly relations who lived on the farm that has been in the family for nine generations.

As fortune would have it, her father "put his back out" during the visit and asked Bridget to extend her vacation to help out on the farm.

It was a big ask for a lawyer dealing with human rights and land tenancy issues during the final years of the South African apartheid regime but it was one she readily answered.

Today, Bridget runs a flock if 75 Cheviot sheep close to the Ox Mountains along with some hill ponies and a beehive enterprise.

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She has able assistance from her daughter Skye (24), a recent winner of the Farm Relief Services All-Ireland memorial scholarship.

Bridget is also applying her legal experience to land use, tenure and management issues.

She has clear-cut views on land issues here and believes that farming should be carried out in tune with nature.

She feels that a regime has to be put in place which rewards sustainable rather than production-line farming, which she believes is creating serious problems, not least the potentially massive EU fines Ireland faces for failing to meet emissions targets.

She also says commonage rules and regulations will have to be reviewed in terms of sustainability and proper management.

And she also raises issues on agricultural grants, which she argues should be front-loaded to enable farmers minimise bank borrowings.

Back on the farm, she is practising sustainable models of production.

"My rams are sold before they leave the farm so I know where they are going and the ewes are sold through the local marts and factories," she explains. "But I would like to see the hill ponies being treated as a livestock number when it comes to the Farm Payment.

"The hill ponies here are like Welsh ponies but are not given the same status in terms of payments."

The bee-keeping, which Bridget sees as critical to sustainable hill farming, has seen some reverses this year, She had 14 hives at the beginning of this winter but six were frozen during 'the Beast From the East' storm.

"Overall, it has been a big change for me given my work in South Africa but it is a change that I totally embrace," she says.

And she adds that she does miss the deep-sea diving and snorkelling which she enjoyed so much when working as a lawyer in South Africa 20 years ago.Bank of Ireland has named long-time board member Patrick Kennedy as its new chairman.

The former Paddy Power CEO's appointment follows the February confirmation by Bank of Ireland that Archie Kane was to stand down as chairman later this year.

The Irish Independent had previously reported that Mr Kane was planning to stand down and named Patrick Kennedy as the favourite to replace him.

Mr Kane will now retire as chairman and governor of the bank on July 31.

Mr Kennedy joined the Bank of Ireland board in 2010, and was appointed deputy governor - or deputy chairman, in 2015.

The 48-year-old's appointment completes a generational shift at Bank of Ireland, where Francesca McDonagh (43) took over as CEO last year.

Mr Kennedy was chief executive at Paddy Power from 2006-2014, after spending seven years working at Greencore, including as chief financial officer.

He was also a non-executive director of Elan Corporation from 2008 to 2013.

Trustee

At Bank of Ireland, he's served on a number of committees, including the risk committee, nomination and governance committee, and the bank's remuneration committee.

He has also been a trustee of the bank's staff pension fund since 2015.

Commenting on the appointment, Patrick Haren, a senior independent director who led the succession process, said that Mr Kennedy combined deep knowledge of the bank with "exceptional commercial acumen gained from a highly successful career in national and international business".

"We look forward greatly to working with Patrick as chairman and governor, as Bank of Ireland makes progress on its three strategic priorities - to transform the bank, to better serve our customers, and to grow sustainably," Mr Haren said.

Mr Haren also wished outgoing chairman Archie Kane well.

"His considerable experience and sound judgment have been of great assistance to the bank through a challenging period," Mr Haren said.For bondholders in Irish billionaire Denis O'Brien's mobile-phone empire, it's been a rollercoaster few months. Now, they're looking for reassurance that the rough ride is almost over.

Within the next month, Digicel executives will brief investors worldwide, introducing them to its new management and beginning to lay the ground for an eventual $2bn (1.62bn) refinancing of a bond maturing in 2020, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The so-called 'non-deal roadshow' comes after the 2020 yield rose as high as 15.4pc from 8.5pc - making it the worst emerging markets performer this year.

"What needs to happen is for the company to come out now with something positive," said Till Moewes, an analyst at Schroder Investment Management, which holds a share of the debt.

"They need to produce some new positive news to stop this negative chain reaction."

Digicel has a history of refinancing bonds early, and some investors might have hoped the company would move to redeem the 2020 bond this year. While no final decision has been taken, that probably won't happen soon should yields remain close to their current level, even after a recent dip, according to the person who asked not to be identified.

Businessman Denis O'Brien, the single biggest shareholder in INM, which publishes this newspaper, built his mobile phone empire, which stretches from Haiti to Papua New Guinea, on high-risk, high-yield debt.

His wealth is estimated at about $4.3bn. Since 2001, Digicel has accumulated about $6.5bn of borrowings, mostly to build out networks across 31 regions. More than two years after the company shelved a planned share sale in New York that was in part designed to pay down debt, and with recent earnings disappointing investors, bondholders want a positive catalyst. Digicel faces a $1.3bn debt maturity in 2021, as well as the 2020 payment.

"We expect Digicel to address that with anticipation," said Marie Fischer-Sabatie, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service.

"If the company doesn't make material progress in 2018 and does not start to address the issue by the middle of this year, then we could start to see some pressure on ratings."

Digicel, which declined to comment for this article, faces no immediate pressure, as its next big bond maturity is over two years away and it has pushed out its timetable to reduce borrowings, which amount to about 6.5 times earnings. (Bloomberg)Pre-tax profits more than doubled to 2.45m last year at the Irish arm of WH Smith as the company benefited from record numbers of passengers going through Dublin Airport.

New accounts show that the company enjoyed a 120pc increase in pre-tax profits to 2.45m in the 12 months to the end of August last.

The jump in profits followed revenues at the company increasing by 7pc, going from 26.86m to 28.8m last year.

The increased profits and revenues coincided with 29.6m passengers going through Dublin Airport, where WH Smith has a number of outlets.

Numbers employed by the firm last year increased from 150 to 163, with staff costs increasing from 2.8m to 3m.

The firm also benefited from bumper sales of Paul O'Connell's memoir, Jamie Oliver's '5 Ingredients' and Graham Norton's fiction debut 'Holding' during the year under review.

The WH Smith business here was also helped by the books market growing in 2016, with overall sales increasing by 9pc to 131m.

JK Rowling's Harry Potter books were the most popular in the country in 2016 - the 'Cursed Child' sold 69,890 copies and took just over 1.3m, according to Nielsen BookScan.

The accounts disclose that the company paid a dividend of 2.5m in October 2016.

The profit last year takes account of non-cash deprecation costs of 511,717. The firm's rental payments increased from 6.11m to 6.17m.

WH Smith's 's shareholder funds at the end of August last year totalled 4.74m. The firm's cash pile increased, going from 3.3m to 3.5m.

The company increased its gross profit from 12.73m to 15.7m after the bookseller's cost of sales declined from 14.13m to 13m.

The firm recorded post tax profits of 2.14 after incurring a tax charge of 301,314.

Distribution costs totalled 12m and 1.184m in administrative expenses.

In 2009, WH Smith opened its first two stores at Shannon Airport before opening its outlets in Dublin Airport.

The strong performance by WH Smith here last year offers further confirmation of the benefits to UK booksellers expanding into Ireland.

Earlier this year, Waterstones Ireland reported that it increased its pre-tax profits by 31.5pc to 2.48m in 2017.Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has met with senior management as concern grows that US sanctions on Russia will have an impact on 450 jobs at Aughinish Alumina.

Mr Varadkar revealed he has been liaising with officials at the Limerick plant since last week.

He held a meeting with senior staff there yesterday to discuss protecting investment and jobs at the company.

Mr Varadkar said that he was aware of the risk the sanctions would have on the plant's Russian-owned parent company Rusal.

Ireland would not copy the US by imposing its own trade sanctions, he added.

"We are very much aware of the risks and we'll do everything we can to assist the company and to ensure that it can continue to operate as normal," said Mr Varadkar.

A party of Aughinish Alumina officials travelled to Russia in recent days to assess the possible impact on the plant before returning to meet the Taoiseach yesterday.

Concerns about the 450 jobs spread to neighbouring counties with much of its staff are from areas dotted throughout the Midwest.

Workers from Limerick, Tipperary, Kerry and Clare would be affected by any fallout as a result of major customers reviewing their contracts with the company and the London Metal Exchange distancing itself from the aluminium giant because of the trade sanctions.

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Fianna Fail TDs Niall Collins and Stephen Donnelly visited the plant in recent weeks as part of a Brexit-focused energy security study.

They were given a presentation by bosses that showed the geographical spread of its workers.

"As part of that presentation they were able to tell us it is a very profitable entity within the Rusal group," said Mr Collins.

"The view or the hope here is that [the plant] will be too big to fail.

"The spread of its workforce goes up in to Clare, Tipperary and south down in to Kerry too. It has a big employee footprint."

He called on Mr Varadkar to offer support to staff working at the plant.

Reopen

Mr Collins said: "I think he and his Government must give every available support to Aughinish Alumina to ensure the sanctions being imposed by the US don't result in any job losses or impact negatively on the region."

Locals with a knowledge of the plant said there were concerns it would not be able to reopen if it was forced to close.

They said restarting work at Aughinish Alumina would be "cost prohibitive" if it was brought to a halt.

Mr Varadkar said efforts were being made to protect jobs.

"Everyone including the IDA, and the Department of Foreign Affairs are very aware of the situation and the Government will do everything we can to protect the investment there and protect the jobs," he said yesterday.

Kerry TD John Brassil said there was concern in northern parts of his county about job losses.

"It would have a huge impact here," said the Fianna Fail TD.

"This is skilled and technical work on that site and it brings a significant amount of money into the region."THE scenes of people camping out in the rain this week, for a chance to put a deposit down on a new house, were an ugly reminder of the property boom years.

Around 20 people queued to buy houses in a development in west Dublin several days before they were due to go on sale.

It was not the first house-hunter queue in the last two years, and it is worth noting the developer and selling agents could have avoided a line forming by putting a ticketing system in place to deal with advanced demand for house sales.

That aside, the queuing-for-a-home phenomenon has echoes for many of the panic of the property bubble a decade ago.

Queueing for houses was a regular occurrence in the Celtic Tiger years as prices spiralled and people were desperate to get on the property ladder.

And it seems we are fast heading back to Celtic Tiger-type property nonsense, such is the jet-fuelled acceleration in property prices in the last three years.

Prices are rising so fast, they will be above the Celtic Tiger peak by the end of next year.

They jumped by 13pc in the year to February, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show. The rise is faster than previous months.

Economist with stockbroker Merrion Capital Alan McQuaid said: "If prices continue at the current pace they will be above Celtic Tiger levels within 18 months."

Overall, the national index is 22pc lower than its highest level in 2007.

Prices in the capital have now risen by over 90pc since the low-point of the crash. But they are still 23pc below their 2007 peak.

And house prices here are rising three times faster than in the rest of the European Union.

One of the reasons for this is pent-up demand for property, from both first-time buyers and movers.

Logjam

More than 80,000 want-to-be buyers are ready to purchase immediately as suppressed demand has created a housing logjam, according to the latest KBC Homebuyer report.

But it could be four years before the backlog of potential buyers is cleared, said KBC Bank economist Austin Hughes.

The survey found a wide range of factors have come together to create exceptional demand for homes, but a desire to "put down roots" is one of the key reasons.

Most potential buyers want a home that they will stay in for the rest of their lives, with few considering starter-type homes.

But they are having to compromise heavily on their preferred place to live.

Buyers are being forced into long commutes. That is why prices in the likes of Laois, Longford, Westmeath and Offaly have shot up by 15pc in the past year.

As many as 300,000 buyers are likely to seek to purchase by 2020, KBC said.

With just 50,000 transactions a year, it will take at least two years for the majority of these to realise their dreams.

Few existing homes are on sale.

What Mr Hughes calls the "locked-in syndrome" is clogging up the market as it is stopping people moving home.

People want to move, but they are unable to get a big enough deposit together.

Movers need a 20pc deposit and many have not got sufficient equity in their homes or enough spare cash to cover this.

Want-to-be movers also cannot find a suitable property to down size to, or are reluctant to move as it will mean losing a good-value tracker mortgage.

Trickle

And the supply of new homes is only a trickle, when we need a flood of properties.

Only around 20,000 new homes a year coming on the market, Mr Hughes said.

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has been issuing more reports this week as he flails around seeking solutions to a problem that has been allowed to fester for too long.

Alan McQuaid, an economist with Merrion Stockbrokers, said housing had overtaken health as the main political issue.

And he warned: "Prices are only going one way in the short-term until the supply issue is resolved.

"There are shades of the Celtic Tiger era regarding the property market at the moment, and we all know how that ended."

He said prices would continue to rise at double-digit rates until recent changes in regulations act to spur greater housing supply.

Investment firm Friends First expects prices to rise by 10pc this year.

In many ways we are back where we started a decade ago when the Celtic Tiger bubble blow up in our faces.

Prices are rising at unsustainable rates. A decent three-bed property in Dublin and other cities is now priced at 10 times the industrial wage.

No wonder there were warnings this week that housing is now the biggest social and economic issue in the country.

What all this means is that we can expect more house hunters to be forced to queue in the rain for the chance to buy a home, as the cycle repeats itself.If you have seen recent films Dunkirk or Darkest Hour, you'd be forgiven for thinking that World War II was a struggle in which half the human race was missing. Its soldiers and strategists, politicians and prisoners, workers and wounded are all men, and while the odd wife or secretary is there to murmur supportive admiration, the crucial roles played by women are completely overlooked.

Yet in the past year, increasing numbers of books and films have begun to give us a very different portrait of what happened, both closer to home and abroad.

Women at war is becoming a hot new genre, as a blend of both crime and historical fiction, with the inevitable dash of romance.

Last year, Their Finest, the film of Lissa Evans' novel about a propaganda scriptwriter played by Gemma Arterton, captivated audiences. We may similarly fall for the big screen adaptation of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows' book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society about a female writer in the aftermath of World War II, starring Lily James and released on April 20. This month also sees the publication of AJ Pearce's debut novel about wartime female friendship, Dear Mrs Bird, which was the subject of a seven-way bidding war won by Picador.

It will come hot on the heels of Jane Thynne's five bestselling Clara Vine spy novels, and Elizabeth Buchan's wartime romances I Can't Begin to Tell You and The New Mrs Clifton.

All are enthralling, meticulously researched and vividly imagined. And all shine a fresh light on to the experience of women during one of the most harrowing times in human history. So why has this new sub-genre suddenly emerged almost 80 years after the event?

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Lissa Evans' novels are pin-sharp, with details like the sound of London's broken glass being swept up, and the buses brought in from all over the country to struggle through the capital's streets. They also feel real in their domestic detail about how wives, mothers, daughters and sisters kept the home fires burning during black-outs, tragedy and rationing.

Evans has been fascinated by the war ever since she came across a book called How We Lived Then by Norman Longmate when she was 13, but she thinks that "part of the current interest has to be Brexit. The parallels are so clear. It makes me think of the famous cartoon of a soldier shaking his fist across the Channel saying, 'Very Well, Alone', after the fall of France. There is something of that feeling now."

Many of the novelists currently addressing the war in fiction felt inspired by asking parents and grandparents about their experiences or failing to before they died. For Elizabeth Buchan, writing about female spies was partly out of regret at not having asked her own father, who fought in a reconnaissance unit "from El Alamein all the way up Italy to Monte Cassino", about his experience.

He had survived Dunkirk, while her aunt married a German soldier and had to adapt to life in post-war Berlin, just as the German heroine of The New Mrs Clifton must adapt to life in post-war London. Like most men and women of that generation, Buchan says "they wanted to forget and live a normal life once the war ended".

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Yet her novels also emerged out of "a kind of apprehension".

"The war feels much closer to us now," she says. "When the squeeze on incomes began, it felt quite familiar - even if austerity now is nothing like what our parents and grandparents experienced with one tin of Spam having to last a whole week. Those grey, despairing lives are almost comforting to contemplate now."

Her heroine in I Can't Begin to Tell You was inspired by Monica de Wichfeld, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat who married a Danish aristocrat and spied (without her husband's knowledge) for the British in Denmark.

A tiny woman, she would row out into the estate's lake to collect arms for the Resistance dropped by the RAF; unlike Buchan's heroine, de Wichfeld was betrayed to the Nazis and died in prison.

"They were just so unbelievably brave. Whether it was the decoders working on indecipherable messages, tackling them 10,000 times because lives depended on it, or women like my mum who was a nurse in the Middlesex hospital during the Blitz, or those keeping their families alive making a meal out of so little - they were amazing. Though I'm profoundly thankful not to be them," Buchan adds.

Jane Thynne's richly complex spy novels have made her the female John le Carre of the genre. Her heroine, Clara Vine, is based on the many real-life British women from good families, for whom it was fashionable to learn German in the 30s.

However, they were not considered spy material for the Allies until MI5 spymaster Maxwell Knight (supposedly the model for 'M' in James Bond) realised "that women would make the best spies because they were resourceful, observant, empathetic and - crucially - overlooked", says Thynne.

Recent biographies such as Clare Mulley's The Spy Who Loved (about Christine Granville, the Polish-Jewish aristocrat who was reputedly Churchill's favourite spy) have revealed how astute his decision was.

"What has been left out of history is the women's experience - the way ordinary people coped, which is much more relatable than stories about soldiers," adds Thynne.

"Most of us haven't been in a tank, but we've all been to shops and thought about what it would be like if there was suddenly no butter." An enchanting new addition to the genre, Dear Mrs Bird initially seems more light-hearted. It recounts the adventures of heroine Emmeline on a failing woman's weekly magazine in 40s London. Emmy surreptitiously answers the letters that her agony aunt boss Henrietta Bird is too prudish and snobbish to give time to, combining her job with working nights at the fire station.

The sorrow of losing friends, family and lovers to the Blitz is balanced by youthful energy and kindness. The advance interest in the novel has taken A J Pearce by surprise. "I started writing this years ago as a story of an ordinary young woman in extraordinary times, really because I was looking back at my grandparents and wondering how they got through," she explains.

"When I looked at the problem pages of magazines of the time I saw that their letters could be from any woman now, falling in love with the wrong bloke or worried about children. It was a way of celebrating and admiring them. They just got on with it, keeping families together and hoping their husbands would come back."And so the drama continues. The most dysfunctional pop/rock band of the past 50 years has yet again triggered a tripwire by sacking their long-time guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. In even more surprising news, the band has replaced Buckingham with not one, but two musicians: Crowded House's Neil Finn and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell.

Even if he isn't the first or last name that would spring to mind as a replacement, Finn will certainly add to the innate pop sensibility that has made Fleetwood Mac such an enduring act. Campbell, meanwhile - a long-established friend of the band's Stevie Nicks - will deliver a tailored facsimile of Buckingham's exceptional guitar work, which acted as the fuel that powered the band's catchy pop songs.

In a surprisingly terse statement, Fleetwood Mac announced: "Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour. The band wishes Lindsey all the best."

But how did it come to this? And why did the 'Mac' fire not only one of its recognised primary members but also a person that had a hand in writing many of their most famous tunes?

It's ironic that the last song Fleetwood Mac performed live (on January 26 last, when they were being honoured at the MusiCares Person of the Year event at New York's Radio City Music Hall) was 'Go Your Own Way', written by Buckingham about the complex personal relationship between him and Nicks.

To make it even more curious, Buckingham alluded to the personal issues that have simmered beneath the band and then erupted. Just like many a Mac song he has helped to shape, his words came back to snap at him: "Not very far below the level of dysfunction, what we are feeling more than ever in our career is love." You just can't make it up, can you?

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Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac began their lengthy association as far back as 1974. Up until then, the Mac had been a band of two halves: in the 60s, they were a blues/rock band that had substantial chart success with hit singles such as 'Albatross', 'Oh Well' and 'Black Magic Woman'. Come the early 70s, however, the band relocated to Los Angeles, dropped a couple of members and began to search around for suitable alternatives.

Nominal band leader Mick Fleetwood was introduced to the songwriting (and real-life) partnership of Buckingham and Nicks, whose West Coast folk-rock leanings perfectly matched the band's shifting musical priorities. Thus began a chain of events that would not only alter the course of Mac's history but also make them one of the most commercially successful pop/rock bands of the past 50 years.

Albums such as Fleetwood Mac (1975), Rumours (1977) and Tusk (1979) became immensely successful, but each was created by levels of emotional tension and anxiety that contributed something very unusual in commercial music - a valid confessional backstory that fans could either relate to or empathise with.

With songs inspired by intra-band infidelities and extra-marital affairs - all of which were numbed by cocaine abuse - the Mac became rock music's version of Dallas. The angst that lay between the band members rarely surfaced on stage, but the songs were dynamically inspired by it. The success of Rumours, in particular, spun on the contradictions of having almost a dozen perfect radio-friendly pop songs underpinned by genuine unease, blame and bitterness.

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If there was ever a definitive or classic line-up (arguably there has never been one, such was, and is, the revolving-door approach to membership) then it is one that has had Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks continuously in its ranks. Buckingham took a decade-long break in 1987 before returning to the fold - and in the wake of his latest departure, fans can take comfort in the fact that from 1998-2014 Christine McVie removed herself from the band.

Now once again a full-time member, McVie will be around for Fleetwood Mac's autumn tour, the dates of which will be announced over the next month or so. Considered by fans, as much as the band, as their 'farewell' tour, whether Buckingham will join his former band mates on stage again (or, more crucially, in the studio) is anyone's guess.

"This has always been a group of chemistry," Buckingham informed the Radio City Music Hall audience in January.

The thing about chemistry, though, is that it either settles down or explodes. Watch this space for further will-he/won't-he updates on the man who wrote - what else? - 'Never Going Back Again'.Young Irish actor Barry Keoghan told Ryan Tubridy on Fridays Late Late Show that he used his upbringing as ammunition to excel in his career.

Following two major roles last year in Dunkirk and the The Killing of a Sacred Deer, the Dublin native spoke of how his mothers early death and his time in multiple foster homes helped inspire him to succeed.

Keoghan and his brother spent time in 13 different foster homes following his mothers death when he was 12.

The rising star spoke of the effect of drugs on his mother in Summerhill, where he was growing up at the time: The drugs hit the area, it affected all the families, she was one of them that got caught, so you know we went into foster care. And the families were good to us that we went to. And we went to a few of them.

Keoghan explained how he hopes his story inspires younger generations: 13 homes, you know? If that was on paper, youd think hes destined to mess up.

But, I went against it, I didnt dwell on it. I used it as ammunition almost, I hope I inspire younger ones. Whatever youre into  sports, whatever - just do. I just used it. And now Im representing in the Hills.

Speaking about the future, Keoghan previewed the trailer for his new film, American Animals.

Its a true story. Its a heist film - entertaining - its unreal, he said.

Tubridy praised the young actor for his positivity and invited him back in the future: With your positivity, your skill and everything thats going on in your world at the moment, I think youre going to be very successful. I want you to come back here when you start winning loads of awards and be a friend of ours.

Keoghan smiled and hit his fists on the Late Late Show desk. Ill put the Oscar there. Put the other one there, and the other one there, he said.

Video of the DayRTE hasn't "reinvented the wheel" by appointing more female news anchors, according to Grainne Seoige, who says she anchored the news on TnaG more than 20 years ago.

Grainne, who now runs a bespoke diamond business in South Africa, is delighted to see RTE appointing more women to prominent roles.

The Galway woman, who will present the Rehab People of the Year awards tomorrow, said it is a step forward.

"I have to say this. When TnaG launched in 1996 there were two female anchors, myself and a girl called Gillian Ni Cheallaigh, so RTE aren't exactly reinventing the wheel there," she said.

"I think it's wonderful though, I think it's brilliant. Wonderful people are getting the right jobs and I think that it's an amazing step forward in this country".

When asked about the possibility of returning to television in Ireland, she said the future was difficult to predict.

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"Life is full of twists and turns," she said. "Who knows what's going to happen? The older you get, the more flexible you learn to be. Don't bother planning."

However, she said she had no immediate plans to return to Ireland to live.

Thanks to social media she does not feel homesick and is able to keep in touch with friends and family back home.

"I come home fairly often, but I think the thing nowadays with social media is you're so connected," she said.

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"WhatsApp is the most amazing way of staying in touch with your family, so I don't really get homesick."

The People of the Year awards had been due to take place last month.

However, the snowstorm that caused havoc across the country meant it had to be postponed.

However, the presenter had returned home in anticipation of it.

"I was home, watching the TV like everybody," she said.

"I was sending back the pictures to all my friends in South Africa who were in 30 degree heat and they couldn't believe it."

The Gaeilgeoir is engaged to South African Leon Jordaan, who she began dating in October 2011.

They will have to fit in a date for the wedding that suits families from both countries.

"The hemispheres are literally opposite seasons," she said.

"It will happen, but when is the thing."

Grainne also joked that she would love it if someone booked a place and made her "turn up in a white guna and I'll go great".

The People of the Year awards take place tomorrow and will be broadcast live on RTE One at 9.30pm.

"Talking to people on the street after the awards, people say it makes you proud to be Irish," said Grainne.Bank of Ireland (BOI) has issued a warning to customers as fraudsters are using a new technique called number spoofing to steal account information.

A BOI spokesperson told Independent.ie that number spoofing is quite a common type of fraud in which fraudsters deliberately change the telephone number to match that of a legitimate organisation and ask for personal information.

According to the spokesperson, number spoofers use a device that can copy any number to make it look like they are calling from a business or location they are not.

Ken Hayes said his mother was almost involved in a number spoofing scam when she received a call from fraudsters that reflected BOIs real number.

They called my elderly mother a few weeks ago. When I called the number back I got through to the head office number. Bit scary especially if you have the head office number in your contacts, said Mr Hayes.

A BOI spokesperson said that anyone with concerns should contact them immediately.

We would remind customers that we will never phone or email and ask them to share account details, passwords or confidential information. If customers have any concerns please call 014885466 or 365security@boi.com, said the BOI representative.

The warning comes less than 48 hours after another BOI cautionary statement advising customers of a fraudster who is allegedly making calls on the banks behalf.

A BOI spokesperson said this type of fraud is referred to as vishing or voice phishing, where people can be manipulated into providing bank details over the phone.

"Vishing doesnt indicate a data breach or account compromise  in the vast majority of cases fraudsters are simply cold calling and hoping that the victim has an account with a particular company. Business customers can often be targeted as their contact details are in the public domain," said the spokesperson.

The banks warned their customers to be very careful of any offers you may be asked to take up and never disclose any serial numbers of log in details to your accounts.Irish Coast Guard crews think of their fallen Rescue 116 colleagues all the time, search and rescue operations manager Gerard O'Flynn has said.

The Irish Coast Guard was honoured for its bravery ahead of the annual Rehab People of the Year awards. Speaking ahead of the ceremony - which will take place tomorrow night - Mr O'Flynn said it was particularly harrowing to lose people that you know so well.

"It's very fresh in our minds because the accidents are quite recent and investigations are ongoing, so every other day there is something that happens that triggers the memory outside of one's own personal memories," he said.A girl (17) who as a young child was attacked and bitten about the lips by a dog has settled her High Court action for 92,000. Stock photo: PA Archive

A girl (17) who as a young child was attacked and bitten about the lips by a dog has settled her High Court action for 92,000.

Aoife Walsh was three-and-a-half when a Jack Russell called Trigger bit her on the lips, the court heard.

Oonah McCrann SC said the child suffered injuries to her lips and has been left with some scarring and she has difficulty wearing lipstick. She said Aoife was now afraid of dogs.

Ms Walsh, of Oldbridge Grove, Lucan, Co Dublin, through her father Liam Walsh, sued the dog owners, Aishling Fagan and Paul Barry, of Oldbridge View, Lucan, following the attack on September 19, 2004.

The case was before the court for assessment of damages only.

It was claimed there was a failure to keep proper control of the dog or take adequate steps which would have prevented the accident from taking place.

It was further claimed a dangerous animal had been allowed to roam in a premises where children would be present.

Approving the settlement Mr Justice Kevin Cross, said the scarring was only noticeable when pointed out.Independent News & Media (INM) plans to pursue other parties for its legal costs should wrongdoing be proven as part of an investigation into a range of corporate governance issues at the company.

INM could face substantial costs if the State's corporate watchdog succeeds in an application to the High Court for the appointment of inspectors to the company next week.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said yesterday he shared concerns expressed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar about a suspected data breach at the company.

Mr Donohoe said the independence of journalists was "of the highest level of importance for good democracy".

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) wants inspectors to investigate the suspected data breach, during which it is feared data relating to journalists, former board members and staff, as well as other individuals, was "interrogated" by outside companies. In a statement to the stock exchange this week, INM said IT back-up tapes, containing back-up copies of electronic data stored on the company's servers, were provided to a third party service provider on the instructions of then INM chairman Leslie Buckley in 2014.

Mr Buckley stepped down from INM's board last month.

The ODCE also wants inspectors to examine issues relating to INM's proposed purchase of Newstalk and to investigate whether "inside information" was unlawfully disclosed to third parties in breach of EU market abuse regulations.

At a meeting with staff yesterday, INM chief executive Michael Doorly was asked if the company was looking at a mechanism to recover its costs from wrongdoers should wrongdoing be proven.

"If there is wrongdoing every mechanism under law will be pursued to recover those costs," Mr Doorly responded.

The comments came as the INM Editor-In-Chief Stephen Rae informed staff of a number of initiatives to safeguard against unauthorised access to the data of journalists.

These include the appointment of external experts to examine governance of editorial data. A "triple-lock" mechanism will also be introduced where approval will be needed from three senior executives if any editorial employee's data is to be accessed by the company. There are rare circumstances where this may be necessary, such as in the defence of litigation or complying with court orders.

"These are amongst the first steps we are taking to address the issues that have arisen in the last few weeks," he announced to staff.

INM publishes the Irish Independent, 'Sunday Independent', 'Sunday World' and 'The Herald', all of which are based on Dublin's Talbot Street, as well as a number of regional titles and the 'Belfast Telegraph'.

It is understood the suspected data breach is confined to some of the Talbot Street titles and does not involve other INM titles. It is also believed the private email accounts of employees, such as Gmails, were not accessed.

Mr Buckley has told the ODCE the data interrogation was related a "cost reduction exercise" during which information about a professional services contract was sought.

However, INM's statement to the stock exchange said ODCE correspondence suggested the data may have been "searched more extensively and for a different purpose". Mr Buckley declined to comment, but has previously said he plans to robustly defend his position.

According to an affidavit filed by the ODCE, invoices associated with the data interrogation were discharged by Blaydon Limited, a company owned by Denis O'Brien, INM's largest shareholder. Mr O'Brien has yet to comment.Vikhat Bhagat, accused of raping and murdering Danielle McLaughlin, is escorted by a police officer in India

A FRIEND of murdered Irish backpacker Danielle McLaughlin has said the 28-year-old knew the man who is accused of her rape and murder.

Two of the Donegal native's friends attended the second day of the murder trial of Vikat Bhagat in south Goa yesterday.

Mr Bhagat has been charged with the murder and rape of Ms McLaughlin, whose body was discovered on an isolated patch of land between the Agonda and Canacona beaches.

Australian citizen Sun Ithilwen (49), who works as a yoga teacher, and Deanne Evenrud (40) were present for the second evidentiary hearing yesterday.

American Ms Evenrud lives in the Canacona area and had met Ms McLaughlin at the same Holi party where Ms McLaughlin was last seen.

"It was a children's Holi party that had been happening every year for the last 10 years, till last year. [It was] not the kind of wild tourist parties where everyone would be drinking," said Ms Evenrud.

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She added: "The accused, Vikat Bhagat, was locally known as a criminal and committed petty crimes such as thefts and burglaries.

"But we had never thought that he could be such a violent aggressor, who could pose a danger to someone's life.

"Danielle knew him from her previous visits to India and was taking his help looking for emergency accommodation in the area."

Earlier at the Sessions Court in Margao a farmer who found the body of Ms McLaughlin gave evidence.

Ms McLaughlin was found dead in a pool of blood, with her hands and legs outstretched, in a secluded area.

Prashant Komarpanth, the farmer who found the body on the way to his farm on the morning of March 13, about 150 metres off of the main road, was the first witness presented by the state.

His cross examination was carried over from the first hearing on April 6 by the defendant's attorney - advocate Arun Brar De Sa.

At a previous hearing it had been established that the witness could not be clearly identified in the photos from the crime scene.

The attorney resumed his cross examination yesterday, focusing mainly on panchanama, which means the record of observation by five people at the crime scene.

This is also known as the mediator's report and forms an important piece of documentation for criminal legal proceedings in India.

It is used by the courts to check veracity and truthfulness of the action taken by the officers at the scene, and is required to be noted by two independent witnesses. Mr Komarpanth told the court: "The photos of the body being taken and the panchanama was completed between 9.30pm and 10pm though the body was left untouched.

"The police removed the body only by 2pm the same afternoon."

Body

The defending attorney questioned him about the location where Ms McLaughlin's body was found.

Mr Komarpanth noted: "A secluded stretch of land, off of the highway, is where Danielle's body was found.

"The area is often visited by couples and groups (of tourists).

"They sit around and drink, and leave empty bottles around."

The cross examination ended at that point, as the courts set the date for the next hearing on April 24.

At the next hearing the court will call upon the second witness, one of the mediators at the crime scene who wrote the mediator's report.Gardai are investigating if a man discovered with fatal injuries in a south Dublin park was the victim of a violent assault. Stock photo

Gardai are investigating if a man discovered with fatal injuries in a south Dublin park was the victim of a violent assault.

The body of the man, named locally as Loan-Artenne Idroubob, was discovered in Sean Walsh Park, Tallaght, at around 8am yesterday.

Gardai were last night attempting to contact authorities in the country to verify identification found on the deceased.

A member of the public who was walking through the park discovered the man with critical injuries and alerted emergency services.

He was rushed to Tallaght Hospital where he was treated in the intensive care unit before being pronounced dead.

Officers from Tallaght garda station have launched an investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding the man's death.

A source said that there is no definite line of inquiry in early stages of the investigation, but it is being probed if the man was the victim of an attack.

"He was discovered with serious injuries which could be consistent with an assault, but a post-mortem examination will be needed to conclusively determine the cause of death," the source said.

"An examination of the scene will also be carried out, and it is feared that he may have been lying there undiscovered for several hours."A YOUNG house hunter claims her vendor is deliberately delaying the sale process of her dream home because she refuses to buy the old furniture with it.

The young professional, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Independent.ie that her vendor is delaying signing their contract after she refused to take a number of items left in the house.

"I've been looking for a house in Dublin for nearly two years and it has been a nightmare. I was picky at the start but then my expectations soon dwindled. I was hoping for a two-bedroom house in the Stoneybatter area but all of the houses were tiny. They were smaller than the apartment that I was living in. I decided to expand my search and was looking anywhere on the north side close to the city centre.

"I finally found a four-bedroom house in north Dublin but there was a lot of competition for it. There was a constant flow of people viewing the house and the process seemed never-ending. I was finally told that I had got the house and the sale was agreed on February 5. I met the vendor, agreed on a price and shook hands."

However, she added that as soon as the sale was agreed, the vendor "started pushing the furniture on me".

"I asked if I could go to the house to take measurements for furniture as I wanted to do the house up to match my style. The vendor was there when I arrived and she started pushing all the furniture on me. She asked me to buy the dining table and chairs, the armoire furniture in the living room and the media system. She was very pushy and was pressuring me a lot to buy the furniture but I don't want any of it.

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"When I refused, she started delaying the signing process. We had agreed that I would move in on April 23 but now she has delayed it to May 7. She said she needs time to sell the furniture and that I won't be able to move in until she sells it which is ridiculous. I'm already spending almost half-a-million euro on the house, I don't want to buy furniture that I don't want too. I'm really frustrated and angry."

The young buyer said that although she has spent over 3,000 on the house sale already, she is willing to walk away.

"I've spent money on a valuation report, my solicitor and a structural report but I can't take the mental anguish of the constant delaying. I'm convinced that if I agreed to buy the furniture she'd agree a move-in date no problem. It's a nightmare."

Pat Davitt, CEO of the Institute of the Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAC), told Independent.ie that vendors have to abide by the rules.

"If an agent is selling a property, they usually fill out a PSRA form which sets out the terms of engagement listing what furniture and fittings are to go with the house. It is common practice that if a vendor is selling a house, they must set out what furniture/fixtures will be available before a price is agreed with a buyer.

"If agents are saying after a price is agreed with a buyer, that the buyer then has to pay extra money for furniture and fixtures then that is very sharp practice. I'm not sure if it is illegal because the seller of the house can decide what does or doesn't go with the house but it should be set out from the very beginning."

A spokesperson for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said that house hunters should seek legal advice if vendors don't abide by legal processes.

"It is important to stress that agreeing a price and having a binding contract which reflects the agreed price can be some distance apart. The drawing up of a contract for the sale of a property is generally done towards the end of the process. Exchanges of documentation in relation to the sale/purchase will generally carry a notification/declaration that the correspondence is subject to contract'."

The spokesperson added that this declaration ensures that the seller is not bound by any such exchange of correspondence until the final contract has been signed by both parties.

"The inclusion (or exclusion) of fixtures and fittings would be provided for as a special condition. Where they are included in the sale there will be another general condition that any such chattels (as they are referred to) are not subject to any financial accommodation such as HP or Consumer Hire etc. When all of this is included in the contract of sale and the contract becomes binding (signed, exchanged and full deposit paid) then both parties are bound.

"If there was nothing in the contract of sale that provided for the items that are referred to in the query and the contract has taken effect, then the purchaser is entitled to proceed with the sale of the property for the agreed price. It is too late for the seller to demand additional payments or to introduce additional contractual obligations at that stage as the contract is binding."

Have you been pressured into buying furniture or fittings after agreeing to buy a house? Get in touch at cdevine@independent.ieTHE school at the centre of a 'rape list' controversy has confirmed that two previous lists had apparently been in circulation.

Davis College in Mallow, Co Cork, is investigating who was behind the lists, which featured the names of schoolgirls.

Education Minister Richard Bruton confirmed he ordered special supports to Davis College, as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted the incident was "very worrying".

The school said on Thursday it was aware of only one list - the so-called 'rape list' found in the boys' toilets.

However, following inquiries it has emerged two other objectionable lists were in circulation.

"School management has now been made aware that there were two other lists and a thorough investigation is under way to investigate who may have been the author(s) of the lists," a spokesperson said.

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It is understood that social media searches will be crucial to the inquiry into who was responsible for the lists.

Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar said the alarming incident underlined the need for an overhaul of the sex education regime.

"I have absolutely no doubt that the school's authorities will take it in hand, and take whatever appropriate action is necessary," he said.

"But, it does further emphasise the need to modernise and improve relationships and sexual education in our schools.

"Minister Burton announced we were going to do this anyway, but I think this really does emphasise that even more so in the age of social media and in the age of prevalent pornography.

"We've an obligation, I think, both as parents, and as educators, to really educate our kids more about appropriate behaviour," Mr Varadkar said.

Mr Bruton confirmed he had ordered special resources to Mallow.

"In relation to the Davis College issue, I have asked NEPS, the National Educational Psychology Service, to visit the school and to support the school in what it is doing," Mr Bruton said.

"This is obviously a serious incident. The school has taken it very seriously and acted upon it and we will ensure they get the supports to ensure appropriate action is taken," he vowed.

The names of some female Davis College students - all minors - were found on a list in a cubicle in the boys' toilets.

The list asked others to place a 'tick' beside a chosen name.

A note on the list then advised that: "The ones with the most ticks is going to get raped."

One female student at the school, whose name was not included, confirmed she had seen the list shared on social media.

"It is quite public. If I was on the list I probably wouldn't want people seeing the list. Some of the girls may be afraid that it might get out. I don't mean by the media but on social media," she said.

"The reason I saw the list is because it was shared on Snapchat... a boy sent it to a girl to show her what was going on."

The girl stressed that urgent lessons needed to be learned from the incident - and that boys needed to understand the seriousness of what was involved.

"They cannot get away with saying this sort of stuff - threatening rape is just so serious. Boys need to learn that they can't talk about girls like that."

A statement was issued via Davis College on behalf of the girls named on the list, saying they were appalled by the publicity and the fact people with no connection to the incident had spoken out about it.

Davis College confirmed the incident had been referred to gardai. Mallow and Fermoy gardai are aware of the matter and are liaising with the school probe, but a full criminal investigation will only be launched now if a formal complaint is received from one of the girls or families directly involved.

The female students involved said they were left feeling "devastated and vulnerable".

"We greatly appreciate all the work and the support the school has given us," they said.

"We are devastated that incorrect information has been given to the media. We are angered that people with no connection to the incident took it upon themselves to contact the media and speak about our situation."

Davis College stressed that it had taken the matter very seriously. "The safety and well-being of all of our students is our top priority," principal Stephen Gilbert said.Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe (left) and Glasnevin Trust chairman John Green look out from OConnell Tower. Photo: PA Wire

A time capsule containing a school uniform, 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' and Irish Independent reports on Donald Trump's threat to bomb Syria has been placed at the base of O'Connell Tower in Glasnevin Cemetery.

A time capsule containing a school uniform, 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' and Irish Independent reports on Donald Trump's threat to bomb Syria has been placed at the base of O'Connell Tower in Glasnevin Cemetery.

The tower was opened to visitors yesterday for the first time since 1971, when it suffered extensive damage in an explosion.

The Loyalist bombing was allegedly in retribution for the attack on Nelson's Pillar by republicans in 1966.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe cut the ribbon on the entrance to the 55 metre round tower, which has cost 400,000 to repair.

It was originally built in the 1850s in honour of Daniel O'Connell. Visitors will be able to get a 360-degree view stretching from Wicklow to Meath.

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The reopening was marked by the laying of a time capsule at the base of the tower by the students from the local O'Connell School in Glasnevin.

Each class in the school, along with staff and past pupils, were asked to contribute something to the capsule which is to remain closed until 2068.

Last Thursday's Irish Independent was included "to reflect the times we live in", along with a smartphone and headphones.

Sixth year students selected Zambian artwork, while the teachers put forward a staff handbook "to show the daily activities" in the school.

Books written by Pope Francis were also included and an Irish language biography of O'Connell.

Among those in attendance at the official opening were former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson.

Mr Donohoe said: "In recent years, Glasnevin Cemetery has become a unique and unmissable Dublin attraction."

Tours begin today and run between 1-3pm with six to eight visitors per 10-minute tour.Gardai are investigating if a man discovered with fatal injuries in a south Dublin park was the victim of a violent assault. Stock photo

Gardai have launched a murder investigation after a man was found with serious injuries in a Dublin park.

Ioan Artene Bob, a Romanian national, was discovered injured in Sean Walsh Park, Tallaght at 8.30am on Friday.

He was removed to Tallaght Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

It is understood he had worked as a construction worker.

Gardai yesterday launched a murder investigation following a post mortem examination. Gardai believe that the man was a victim of a physical assault.

The last confirmed sighting of Ioan was at 8.30pm on Thursday 12th April 2018 in the Moore Street area of Dublin.

Gardai are asking anyone with information to contact the incident room at Tallaght Garda Station on 01 666 6000, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.Garda Maurice McCabe with wife Lorraine at the tribunal in Dublin Castle yesterday. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins.

Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy told the Charleton Tribunal that former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan told him there were sexual offence allegations against whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy told the Charleton Tribunal that former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan told him there were sexual offence allegations against whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

He also told Mr McCarthy that Sgt McCabe was not to be trusted, in what Mr McCarthy felt was an attempt to shake his "conviction" in his report on cancelled penalty points, the tribunal heard.

The tribunal is looking at allegations that senior gardai were smearing the whistleblower to politicians, journalists and others.

It has heard previously that the DPP directed no prosecution after a historic abuse allegation was made against Sgt McCabe in 2007, saying that the Garda investigation found no evidence of a crime.

Mr McCarthy told the tribunal that his office received a file of 4,000 cancelled penalty points notices from Sgt McCabe in August 2012.

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Sgt McCabe alleged that some of the notices were cancelled illegally and corruptly. A second, similar file was received in October of that year from Noel Brett, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority.

Mr McCarthy told of an exchange outside the hearing room of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

He said there were several officers with Mr Callinan, among them then deputy commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan, assistant commissioner John Twomey, Supt David Taylor, and assistant commissioner John O'Mahoney.

Mr McCarthy said the commissioner approached him and raised Sgt McCabe's name.

"[He said] He was not to be trusted, that he had questions to answer, and that there were sexual offence allegations against him," Mr McCarthy said.

Mr McCarthy was concerned, as his office had not identified the whistleblower publicly. He said that the office had conducted its own investigation, and not relied on the whistleblower, and did not confirm the whistleblower was Sgt McCabe.

He said he had not spoken to anyone about what Mr Callinan told him before the tribunal was set up.

Conor Dignam SC, representing Mr Callinan, put it to Mr McCarthy that his client did not mention Sgt McCabe by name outside PAC, and had said that the allegations were "questionable", not that he had questions to answer.

Mr McCarthy said that was not what he recalled.

Meanwhile, the Garda head of communications has said he would have been "appalled" if told the Garda commissioner wanted to brief journalists about sex abuse allegations against Sgt McCabe.

Michael P O'Higgins SC, on behalf of Supt David Taylor, put it to Andrew McLindon that two or three weeks into the job, Mr McLindon got a full briefing on issues including Sgt McCabe.

Mr O'Higgins put it to Mr McLindon that his reaction was "matter-of-fact, sanguine" and he did not raise questions.

But Mr McLindon said: "I would have been appalled and highly concerned."

Mr McLindon said he had never been told by Supt Taylor of any instructions to brief negatively against Sgt McCabe.

"I would have been seriously concerned, it would have been anathema to me as a public relations professional," Mr McLindon said.

Asked if Sgt McCabe was seen within the force as "a bitter little man", Mr McLindon said that would be the view held among some.

"I couldn't say that that was the view held generally," he added.Ministers will try to guilt Fianna Fail into extending the lifespan of the Government in order to ensure stability throughout the Brexit negotiations.

The UK is set to formally leave the European Union in March next year, around the same time many are predicting a general election here.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has committed to facilitating the passage of one more budget through the Dail, which effectively stalls an election until early next year.

But there is a growing narrative in Government circles that having the country go to the polls on the eve of Brexit would be a dangerous manoeuvre.

Last night Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he would like to negotiate on extending the agreement "because we will be heading into Brexit next March (then) we will be heading into local and European elections".

Already, Independent Alliance Minister John Halligan has expressed a preference to extend the confidence and supply arrangement between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail until at least next summer.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said yesterday he believes "that when we get into 2019, stability in the context of what will be happening with Brexit, in particular, will be really important".

"I hope discussions that take place later in the year can reflect that and deal with that," he said.

However, Fianna Fail has ramped up its criticism of Mr Varadkar over his approach to Brexit in recent weeks.

The party's new Brexit spokesperson, Lisa Chambers, said yesterday she is concerned the Government is "not doing enough domestically to prepare for a hard Brexit".

"Our businesses and SMEs need to see more leadership, support and guidance from the Government in this regard," she said.

Mr Donohoe insisted the Government is "working well" and denied Fianna Fail claims that his party is cosying up to Sinn Fein ahead of a general election.

The minister declined to criticise his colleague, Older People Minister Jim Daly, for raising the prospect of a Fine Gael/Sinn Fein coalition - but he emphatically stated: "Sinn Fein is not fit for government."

Mr Donohoe said he will work to ensure Fianna Fail is in a position to back another budget and hopes for the confidence and supply deal to be extended. He will bring a Stability Programme Update to Cabinet next week which outlines his growth predictions.

Fianna Fail education spokesman Thomas Byrne said that the party is sticking to the text of the agreement with Fine Gael, adding: "It says three budgets and then a review thereafter. That's what's going to happen."

He insisted that Fianna Fail has been "wearing the green jersey" on Brexit and has given "absolute support" to the Government on that issue at an international level while subjecting it to "rigorous scrutiny".

"We're not looking beyond the Budget at all. I just can't be clearer than that I think."THE Taoiseach has backed Children's Minister Katherine Zappone's decision to suspend funding for Scouting Ireland.

Concerns have been raised about its handling of a complaint of rape against one of its senior officials.

State funding of nearly 1m a year is to be withheld from the organisation until concerns surrounding governance issues are resolved.

Leo Varadkar said Scouting Ireland's handling of an allegation made by a female scout leader about a rape during a scout camping trip was a "concern".

He acknowledged the Government had only been made aware of the issues "in the last day or two". Speaking in Limerick

Children's Minister Katherine Zappone yesterday, the Taoiseach said: "We only found out in the last day or two that that person was reinstated without Garda vetting and indeed perhaps even promoted. Of course that causes concern."

Scouting Ireland received Government funding of 876,337 last year. Since 2010, the Government has assisted it to the tune of more than 9m.

Many in the organisation - which has 40,000 juvenile members - have been rocked by the controversy.

The alleged male offender was suspended during the investigation and was reinstated last year after the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to proceed with the case.

The Taoiseach added: "Minister Zappone has taken the decision to suspend funding for Scouting Ireland until we can really get the facts. I think that's an appropriate decision and swift action by her."

Earlier Ms Zappone said she had "grave questions in relation to the governance of the organisation".

Scouting Ireland said that an external review was being carried out into the handling of a complaint made by an adult volunteer in 2015.Fatal collision happened in Cavan in the early hours of this morning

A man has died after he was punched and fell backwards during an apparent road rage incident in Co Wexford.

The two men involved in the incident were both lorry drivers in their 50s. The two vehicles were being driven into Rosslare Europort shortly before 7pm yesterday when an incident took place as the lorries came close together.

The two vehicles were then driven into the port and parked.

The drivers of the lorries jumped out of their cabs and came face to face.

After an argument in which witnesses said that blows appeared to have been exchanged, one driver fell backwards and hit his head on the ground.

The other driver then climbed back into his cab and drove back out of the port, apparently unaware of the injuries sustained by the other.

The injured driver, who was Romanian, was found lying on the ground. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his body remained there more than two hours later.

Meanwhile, gardai had been contacted and stopped the other lorry a short distance from the port. The driver, who is Irish, was arrested and taken for questioning to Wexford Garda station.

He was being detained there last night under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be held without charge for a maximum of 24 hours, excluding rest periods.

Efforts were being made late last night to contact the dead man's family after he was identified.

The scene was preserved for forensic examination, as part of a Garda investigation led by Supt James Doyle, of Wexford station.

A post-mortem examination of the body is expected to be carried out later today at Wexford General Hospital.

Gardai last night described the incident as an alleged assault and said the local coroner had been contacted.

Wexford Councillor Ger Carthy offered his condolences to the man's family and friends.

"This evening's news came as a massive shock. My sympathies of course go out to this man's friends and family.

"It's deeply concerning that something like this has happened in this locality."Psychotherapist Stella OMalley feels that Irish parents of children under-12 should feel comfortable to discuss the abortion referendum with their children on some level.

Ms OMalley, author Cotton Wool Kids, says most of all, the time leading up to the abortion referendum on May 25, is an opportunity for Irish parents to help their children foster their critical thinking.

This is a huge opportunity for critical thinking to be fostered between the seven- and twelve-year-olds of Ireland.

Its also an opportunity to encourage the child to think for themselves, and also encourage the child to think that there are inappropriate images all over the place. Theyre going to be faced with inappropriate images online many, many times over the next ten years, and you could say as a parent you know the way Im always bleating on about parental controls its because I dont want you to see certain images that maybe youve already just recently seen.

It gives them a context to what this famous word inappropriate is, and it gives them a way to realise oh I see what shes talking about. Its not necessarily funny or anything, its actually not very nice.

It also gives your children an opportunity to get an insight into extremism, into politics, into the way people will use scare tactics to try to convince you over to their side. And to how its their job to hold their own, and listen to points, and not necessarily go on one side or the other. So you can really, really empower your children with this. So long as you say, if youre scared, youve got a choice to look away just like you will have online.

Ms OMalley told Newstalk presenter Ciara Kelly yesterday that children under 7 or 8 years of age will be happy with a simplistic conversation around the abortion referendum.

Its different for different ages. Up until the ages of 7 or 8 really its quite a simplistic conversation where you talk about maybe mammy had a pregnancy, a person had a pregnancy, and they didnt want it to continue, and so they went to the doctor and the doctor fixed it up.

The conversation can become more complex for children between the ages of seven and 13, Ms OMalley advises.

Yeah, a lot of parents strongly believe that there hand has been forced into conversations that they didnt want.

But she added: The referendum is coming. I think youre doing these children a favour by bringing it on and having the conversations, saying do you know theres a referendum coming up? Do you know what a referendum is?

I think this very strongly, that between the ages of 7 and 13, theyre learning hopefully how to think for themselves, and youve an opportunity as a parent to give your child the gift of thinking for themselves and not to indoctrinate them.

Parents, Ms OMalley suggests, should tell their children: [A referendum is] when nobody can agree and they need to ask everyone in the country. So youre talking about politics there, youre opening it up [to your children].

You might say that people are so polarised that they go from one very, very stark truth to a complete opposite. And these people can be angry, and sometimes they might put up inappropriate pictures to convince people their way. That can upset children and it can upset people, what do you think of that? [So] youre actually talking [to the children] about politics and fundamentalism.

Its a very interesting conversation for children to hear that theres such a thing as polarised opposites, and theres such a thing as the middle ground where theres a whole wealth of people who you wont hear about, who wont be on the radio, who dont get their voice heard as much.

Youre bringing in conversations in quite a nice way where theyre thinking about the world, theyre thinking about politics, theyre thinking about how to conduct yourself in the political world. And then youre coming to the issue of abortion. Rather than going straight in (heres abortion, this is my view and this is what you should think.

Irish parents should feel confident to offer their children a spectrum of views around the abortion referendum, and to ask them what they themselves think.

The good news is theres a wealth of ways to go at this. There isnt only one way, Ms OMalley told Newstalk.

You could say some people believe this is all about the womans body and its all about the right for a woman to make decisions of her own, and bodily autonomy is what thats called.

However, other people say well if the Mommy is carrying a baby, that might infringe on that womans rights. And thats a huge thing, and thats why people get into politics because theyre interested in these subjects.

Questions are more interesting for children than answers, so you could say, one of the big aspects of this abortion referendum is when does life begin. When do you think life begins? you could ask the child, because some people think life begins when, as it were, you were the sparkle in daddys eye, or was it when the egg fertilised, or was it further on? And thats a huge, huge issue in the abortion referendum, because I would say for most children thats news for them. When does life begin is a big question.

I wouldnt say and this is what I think. Id say: Im not going to tell you, because if I say this, youll think that

She added: I would give them a spectrum of views because I think its very interesting for the child to know that theres an argument going on, theres a lot of different people who really disagree, there are a lot of fundamentalist views, and on some level, the child will need on some level to have thoughts that there isnt just one truth on this, there isnt just one answer, and that its perfectly OK for an eight-year-old or a 12-year-old not to be sure where they are.Low-cost carrier Norwegian is to fly daily between Shannon Airport and New York from winter 2018, the airport has announced.

The airline, which began services at Shannon in July 2017, is increasing its New York Stewart International Airport to a daily service from October 28.

Seats are on sale from around 119 each-way as we publish (as with WOW air, checked luggage and meals are extra).

189-seater Boeing 737-MAX aircraft will service the route to Stewart, located a 90-minute transfer from Midtown Manhattan by express bus.

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Norwegian is also set to run double-daily flights from Dublin to Stewart International Airport from April 26, making daytrips to New York a possibility, and last month upped its services from Shannon to Boston Providence from two to four weekly.

With six airlines operating to seven transatlantic destinations, Shannon now has its largest number of North American services in over 17 years.

"It clearly demonstrates Norwegians commitment at Shannon and will bring our transatlantic capacity to 565,000 seats, said the airport's managing director, Andrew Murphy, noting the opportunities for in and outbound tourism.

Low-cost transatlantic air travel is hotting up, with Aer Lingus now offering 'saver' fares from 159 and its parent company IAG launching both launching a Barcelona-based budget carrier in Level and acquiring a 4.61pc stake in Norwegian, indicating the possibility of a full offer for the airline.

Shannon recently launched a Ryanair service to Barcelona Reus, with further new routes to Liverpool and Bristol on the way this summer.

Read more:Once known as boring old Hogtown,Toronto is now a sparkling, bustling metropolis, says Donal Lynch.

Is Canada having a moment?

While Australia currently looks like an expensive, anti-immigrant nightmare and America convulses with news of travel bans and rabid nationalism, 'America junior' (as The Simpsons once condescendingly dubbed it) suddenly seems like a reliably sane alternative - it was recently reported that almost a third of British travellers say they'd prefer it to the US.

Canada has all of the things that really make its southern ally great - spectacular natural scenery, buzzing multi-cultural cities and an English-speaking population - but without the seething culture wars that define its neighbour. Canadian pop culture is all the rage, too, thanks to hip acts such as Drake, the Weeknd, Grimes and the still-huge-but-now-slightly credible Justin Bieber.

As the lumbersexual slowly replaces the hipster, the country that is synonymous with lumberjacks has new cachet. The recent visit to the White House by Canada's premier highlighted other unflattering (for America) comparisons between these two great North American nations.

While America has a ranting orange reality TV star at the helm, Canada is ruled by a baby-kissing, puppy-hugging, equal-opportunity-loving liberal piece of beefcake called Justin Trudeau. And to paraphrase Joni Mitchell in her song about Canada, we could drink a case of him and still be on our feet.

If Canada is suddenly in vogue, then Toronto - or "Trawno" as the locals pronounce it - has quietly been coming into its own for about a decade now.

Once known as boring old Hogtown, the city is now a sparkling, bustling metropolis of 2.8m people that feels more like Dubai or Shanghai, but without the corporate sterility of either of those places.

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For the past few years the skyline of Toronto has been dark with cranes, looming over a city which has become the fourth biggest in all of North America, eclipsing Chicago. If you approach from the water, almost every building you see will have been constructed in the past two decades, and they've done a lot with the waterfront too. The city has been booming for so long and so consistently that few can remember what Toronto was like when it wasn't booming.

There were 13 skyscrapers in 2005; there are now close to 70, with 130 more under major buildings construction. Like LA, Toronto sprawls in all directions and seems to be almost permanently booming.

As many of the Irish who have made their homes in the city have also found, it's a city built on contradictions. Toronto boasts of how clean and energy efficient it is but Torontonians spend most of their brutal winters living and moving beneath their city, in an ever-growing labyrinth of well heated corridors (which, be warned, are also very confusing to navigate if you've never been in them before).

It's a place renowned for its safety - even to the point of being dull - but its most famous politician was undoubtedly its crack-smoking mayor Rob Ford, who died last year. And it's a place which has managed the magical feat of becoming interesting through being so predictable.

The city's reputation for reliable inclusiveness has made it by many metrics the most diverse city in the world, beating out opposition from obvious contenders. It is a melting pot like no other and everywhere you walk in the city you see it. While Montreal, where I landed before connecting onward, is unabashedly French-Canadian, Toronto is a global city. And in an era when public discourse never seemed so shrill and rude, the sheer politeness of Toronto is suddenly chic.

Of course one of Toronto's biggest selling points for international visitors is Niagara Falls, which is a day trip out of town. Canada wins here again over America - the best views are from the Canadian side of the border - but it's important to arrive with an open mind about nature and commerce co-existing.

The falls themselves are spectacular, but the town itself is certainly a little kitsch, full of T-shirt shops, fast-food joints and amusement fairs. Still, nothing can detract from the awe-inspiring power of the falls, and the sight of millions of gallons of water cascading just feet away from an ordinary road and pavement.

A trip on the Maid of the Mist is essential, to experience the force and beauty of the water. The cloud of spray throws spectacular double rainbows. There is also a new zip-line experience over part of the Falls. It isn't as scary as it sounds, though you need a head for heights. The gorge is about 60m below the launch platform and you can control your descent, up to a point, and it's certainly a great selfie-ready update on the standard activities here.

On dry land, the IMAX cinema tells the stories of some of the people who have gone over the falls, and survived, and the various vessels in which they did so are on show in the museum there. Avoid both the American and Canadian cities of Niagara Falls, both are full of tacky casinos. Instead, if your legs are up to it, take a hike into the Niagara Gorge at Devil's Hole State Park, to see the whirlpools and rapids in a more natural setting. The town of Niagara Falls plays host to five restaurants owned by Niagara Parks and all are certified by Feast On, an Ontario scheme under which at least half of ingredients used have to be sourced locally.

As I waited for my ride back to the city I logged into my email and looked at the news and social media websites for a few hours. This was a vacation mistake that I think we should all strive not to make, despite the understandable temptation to make everyone at home jealous with some well chosen shots. There is something gloriously freeing about being unplugged from the digital world for a few days. Rather than looking on oppressive North American roaming charges as an outrage, we should embrace them as an opportunity to liberate ourselves from our devices. Our phones might seem like comforts, but they are hidden sources of stress.

Back in the city I took a walking tour of Toronto, which took in some of the homes of some of the city's most famous entertainers - Mike Myers, Jim Carrey and Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels among them.

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We swung by the Eaton Centre, which, depressingly, is still one of the biggest tourist attractions - it's just a huge generic mall, the likes of which you have seen many times. For serious shoppers and fashionistas the place to begin is West Queen West. Recently dubbed "the second hippest neighbourhood in the world" by Vogue, this very cool enclave is home to independently-owned art galleries and boutiques.

Quentin Crisp, when he visited Toronto, found it's inhabitants to be, in the main, in "very self-indulgent physical shape" - but when you see what's on offer food wise you can understand why.

These days many Toronto chefs treat the country's iconic French fries-based dish, poutine, in a less than deferential manner. Instead of the traditional cheese curds and gravy, more creative toppings are being used, from brie to jerk chicken, reflecting the city's multi-cultural dining scene.

For an even deeper dive into this scene it's of course worth scouting the ethnic areas of the city. Toronto has five Chinatowns, but you might want to head for the speciality shops and traditional Oriental stores in the "newer" Chinatown, in particular, around the busy intersection of Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street. Nearby, Kensington Market is a veritable United Nations of stalls, shops and restaurants with Middle Eastern, Thai, Cajun, Vietnamese, African, Caribbean, Portuguese and Jewish traders. Toronto is also home to the biggest Italian population outside Italy and much of Little Italy (College Street west of Bathurst) seems to be painted in sepia tones, with many specialist stores and plenty of mom and pop cafes with good coffee and luxurious gelati.

Alternatively, stroll along Gerrard Street and you'll find a small enclave with Indian shops and food stalls in Little India. The Distillery District is a pedestrianised, cobble-stoned heritage area with galleries, cafes and breweries, where the movie Chicago was shot (Toronto doubles as a lot of American cities in the movies, because of generous tax breaks for filming). The district was home to the British Empire's largest whisky distillery in the 1860s, although it must be said that modern Canada's connection to its British heritage seems tenuous (less than a fifth of the population now have British ancestry).

Like Niagara Falls, the famous CN Tower - the signature building of Toronto's skyline - has been given an update. Once the world's tallest tower, the 553m landmark offers panoramic views over the city and Lake Ontario and the views from the glass floor would be more than scary enough for most of us. But real thrill-seekers can now sign up for the EdgeWalk (edgewalkcntower.ca). Harnessed and tethered, you move around the ledge, 356m up: lean out, look down, wave to the camera. Or, at sunset, just enjoy a drink and dinner in the 360 restaurant, from which you can appreciate the gargantuan scale of Toronto.

The one criticism I would make of Canada is that, despite recent appearances to the contrary, it is not necessarily an easy place to get in to. They may be fine with refugees, but on the day I travelled, the customs and immigration queues at the airport were like something from the launch of a new iPhone. I waited for four-and-a-half-hours in Montreal before being allowed to travel on to Toronto, and the processing took longer than it has for any country I've visited.

Yet I'd return to Toronto more quickly than I would to almost anywhere else. When you return from a trip people often ask you about the weather or what you did, but they don't ask the real question: whether, despite the inherent hassles of travel, you felt at least for a short time really free. By this metric Toronto was a success.

The leisurely lie-ins, the casually discovered treasures of a strange city, the reconnection with old friends all added immeasurably to the holiday vibe. And the amiable nature of Canadians, the intuitive user-friendly nature of their de facto capital and the memorable beauty of a blazing Canadian fall made this a holiday that burns brightly in the memory.

Get there

There are several daily direct flights from Dublin to Toronto, with a few cheaper options if you are willing to fly via Montreal. As with the US the return flights are usually red-eye  overnight.

Air Transat (airtransat.ie / 00 800 872 672 83) offers return flights direct from Dublin to Toronto for 502.60pp, based on travel in April 2017.

Toronto is nothing like New York or Paris in terms of getting bang for the buck: you can get a decent-sized room for a reasonable price. For room rates and information for the Chelsea Hotel, where I stayed, visit chelseatoronto.com.

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For further information on Toronto and the surrounding province of Ontario, visit SeeTorontoNow.com and ontariotravel.net.

TAKE TWO: Top attractions

On cruise control

A cruise with Toronto Harbour Tours lets you enjoy the scenic Toronto skyline, and gives you a close up look at the beautiful Toronto Islands (toronto.ca/parks/island)

Living the high life

Experience Niagara Falls as you glide along a 67m high line at speeds of 40mph, along the edge of the vast Niagara river gorge to the Falls observation landing. Visit: wildplay.com/niagarafalls.

Read more:Creativity has been a constant in the life of Dundalk woman Emer Lawless. She was just in her teens when she began dabbling with words and her love of language has led her on many journeys.

Now she has fulfilled a long held dream of publishing a book, 'Our Diligent Souls', the result of four year's work.

'I've always worked as a writer to one degree or another,' she says.'I've always been writing and yers ago, when I was young kid, I used to spend the weekends writing dogs' names into columns for my Dad who was a professional gambler,' she recalls.

'That's what gave me a love of language.'

'My first play was staged in the Town Hall when I was 16 or 17 and the writing just went on from there.'

After a stint as writer in residence with a local theatre company, and the Patrick Kavanagh Centre in Inniskeen, Emer then spent seven years travelling, starting out in New York, before exploring most of Europe before living in India for a year.

'A lot of that time was about trying to educate myself to be a writer,' she says. 'I wanted to go out and travel and see the world.'

Motherhood saw her settle down as she devoted herself to her son, whom she describes as 'an exceptionally gifted young man with ADHD and Asperger's'.

Having befriended a collective of first and second generation hippies, she went on to live in Dublin for six years, working in Gill's public house on the North Circular Road, where Brendan Behan held his wedding reception and associated with the likes of Kavanagh, Casey and Joyce.

She also worked as woman's officer for the James Larkin Centre, and writer in residence to Stoneybatter's Stoneleaf project, the first community arts gallery in Ireland, and then worked with special needs children through the Art Squad, in Clondalkin.

Returning to Dundalk she opened a mosaic art studio, teaching mosaic in schools, Woman's Aid and Traveller's Associations in Louth.

With all her endeavours based around creativity, Emer then decided to do a degree in Business Studies but found it hard to get work due to being older than most graduates.

'I was in my early forties which meant I was regarded as a bit long in the tooth and I found it really difficult to get any opportunities.'

Then, four years ago, she decided that she would do what she always wanted to do - to write a book.

The result is 'Our Diligent Souls', which she describes as 'a very Irish love story'.

It's an exploration of traditions of town and city life as the central character of Mark, a Dundalk native living in Dublin, navigates challenges in his work and personal life. The plot contains a tapestry of characters representing modern day Ireland while there are set pieces such as a three day Irish wake, the returning emigrants, a night out at the dog track and a trip to the St George's Market in Belfast which will resonate with Irish readers.

'Our Diligent Souls' is available from Amazon, featuring a cover designed by Spudgun.On Friday night I headed for the Clans Clubrooms where a very special 90th birthday party was being held for Lillie Dullaghan from St. Alphonsus Road and there to make sure she had a fantastic night was her sister Anne McKeown from St. Alphonsus Road, brother-in-law Brendan Dullaghan from Dublin and sister-in-law Eileen Dullaghan from St. Alphonsus Villas and a huge collection of family and friends.

I wasn't too long in the door when I met up with Lillie's niece Philomena McArdle from Greenacres who was with husband Peter and great grandniece Amber who assured me it was going to be a fantastic night and no mistake.

After this I caught up with my old mate Pat Clarke from Bay Estate who was with Lillie's niece, his wife Kathleen and their son Sean who is currently teaching in Dublin and came down specially to be there on the night and assured me it was going to be an epic night for sure.

Making my way over to another table I then got talking to nephew Diarmuid Dullaghan from St. Alphonsus Road who was with his mum Eileen, sisters Clare ad Kathleen and nephew Michael who wanted to wish Lillie all the best on her big night and they were there to make sure she did.

Not too far away I then caught up with family friends Patsy and Rita Dullaghan from Ashbrook and Joe McNally from Beechmount Drive who agreed the night was 'but a pup' and was going to be something special for their friend Lillie.

Seated close by were neighbours Joe and Sheila Kelly from St. Alphonsus Villas who wanted to wish her all the best on her big night.

After this I caught up with the birthday girl's good friend Martina Grant from Avenue Road who was enjoying the company of her kids Gavin and Caroline as well as Paddy McKeown from Avenue Road with his kids Amy and Molly who were definitely up for making it a real night to remember and assured me things would really kick off when the lights go down later on.

Heading for another table I then met up with Mary Clifford from Lordship and Andy McGreehan from Castletowncooley who told me that Mary works with Lillie's sister Anne and they were definitely up for making it a good night.

Meanwhile up at the bar I then got talking to Frank McPhillips from Clones and Paddy Grant from Avenue Road who are long time friends of Lillie's and said they used to star with her all those years ago and certainly weren't going to miss such a momentous night.

Not too long later I met up with Tommy Bailey originally from Chicago but now hanging his hat along with Pauline Clinton in Avondale Park who told me they used to be neighbours of Lillie's and said that she really is 'The Best'!

I then headed over for a chat with Maeve Egan from Moynalty who told me her husband John used to stay with Lillie when he was stationed here and was delighted to be able to come down and see Lillie again.

Finally I met up with great nephew Glen McArdle who was with Grace Maddy both from Marian Park who wanted to wish Lillie a very happy 90th and were there to make sure she had an amazing night.Micheal MacLiammoir's acclaimed 1960s one-man show 'The Importance of Being Oscar' comes to An Tain Arts Centre, on Saturday in a well received revival by actor Michael Judd.

The original production directed by Hilton Edwards, was an outstanding success when it was staged at the 1960 Dublin Theatre Festival and they went on to stage it all over the world, wooing audiences and critics alike.

Dublin native Michael Judd worked in Irish theatre and tv before emigrating to the United States where he continued to work as an actor, particularly in New York, where he co-founded the theatre company Banba's Crown with his wife Sinead Colreavy and four other actors. In 2002, he returned to Ireland and has taken on many roles including that of Oscar Wilde in his and Sinead's own adaptation of Micheal MacLiammoir's play.

The production captures the wit, genius, and tragedy of Oscar Wilde with excerpts from 'The Importance of Being Ernest, An Ideal Husband' and 'Ballad of Reading Goal'.

Tickets 15/12, from 9332332 or www.antain.ieA secret wedding which took place in Dundalk Goal in 1918 is recalled in the new film by local documentary film maker Marcus Howard.

A multimedia and business teacher at O Fiaich Institute of Further Education and co-author of the Louth Volunteers 1916 book, he has completed his film 'Michael Collins Part 2 1918 Acquisition and Analysis.

'The Irish War of Independence which began in 1919 could not have happened without the pre-planning and organisation carried out in 1918,' says Marcus who has made over 100 films about the Easter Rising and its aftermath, which can be seen on his YouTube channel.

This new feature length film covers 1918, presenting Michael Collins never seen before with new information, unseen photographs, and interviews with his close relatives such as Pol O'Murchu, Aengus O'Malley and Mary Clare Collins Powell. Interesting historical perspectives are given by respected published historians and film also features interviews the Lord Mayor of Dublin Micheal Mac Donncha, Ronnie Daly and Liam Neeson. 'This film presents Collins, the administrative genius who ran the revolution as a modern day CEO,' says Marcus.

It includes details of about the secret marriage of Diarmuid Lynch who was in prison in Dundalk Gaol, which Collins helped to plan. Lynch was very close to Collins, having collaborated on the revision of the Sinn Fein Constitution, the IRB Constitution. Lynch was arrested in February 1918 for seizing and slaughtering pigs and when he learned that he was to be deported to the USA he asked for permission to marry Kathleen 'Kit' Quinn so she could travel with him to the US as his wife. This was refused , so with the help of his Republican comrades he secretly made the marriage arrangements in Dundalk Gaol. After he announced his marriage Lynch was immediately moved to Dublin where he was met by Collins, De Valera and Harry Boland at Connolly Station. Collins and Boland had marched in front of the car that took Lynch to the Bridewell and on the following day Collins also joined Lynch as he was brought to Kingstown before leaving Ireland.RTE star, Daithi O Se launched the Vintage Tea Tour in aid of Alzheimer's Tea day, with a host of events expected to take place in Louth.

Alzheimer's Tea Day, which is held on Thursday May 3rd, is the Alzheimer Society of Ireland's (ASI) largest annual fundraising campaign, and helps to raise money for the services operating in Louth.

Alzheimer services in Louth include day care, support groups and the Alzheimer Cafe.

New figures have shown that for everyone person diagnosed three people are directly affected. Every year thousands of people host tea parties in their homes, offices and schools.

Daithi O Se said: 'I'm delighted to support Alzheimer's Tea Day again this year. There's 1,198 people living with dementia in Louth today so that's 1,198 good reasons to get the kettle on. What alarms me is that this number is set to double in the next 20 years. By taking part in this campaign you are helping to raise vital funds and awareness of a condition that is affecting so many of our family, friends and neighbours. What's important to remember is that money raised locally stays locally, so by getting involved you'll be supporting your own community.'

Operations Manager for the north east, Donal Murphy said: 'The importance of the wonderful support that people give towards our national Tea Day must be recognised as it makes such a huge difference to People with Dementia in Ireland. Without this generous support we would not be able to provide much needed services.'

For more information or to register for Alzheimer's Tea Day fundraising pack, visit www.teaday.ie or call (01) 207 3800 #timeforteaThe Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) are appealing for donors at their upcoming Dundalk clinics.

Every day, patients in hospitals throughout Ireland require blood transfusions. Sometimes it may be for a routine surgical procedure such as a hip operation. Other times it may be for someone recovering from a road traffic accident, major surgery such as a heart bypass or perhaps a transfusion is needed to enable a patient to tolerate the effects of cancer treatment. The IBTS provides the blood and blood products needed in hospitals to help these patients.

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda required 2,711 units in 2017.

Anyone wishing to donate blood must be 18 or over and under 65 to give blood for the first time. If you are aged between 65 and 70 years (up to, but not including your 70th birthday) and you have donated in the last 10 years, you can give blood. In selected cases, you can give blood if you are 70 years or over.

The IBTS mobile clinic will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Tuesday 17th April, and Wednesday 18th April, from 4:30pm to 8pm, and at the Clan Na Gael G.A.A. Centre, Thursday 19th April, from 4:30pm to 8pm and Sunday 22nd April from 11:30am to 3pm.

For further details, contact the lo-call donor information line 1850 - 73 11 37 or check out the website www.giveblood.ieThe Louth Rose, Aoife Heffron and Kevin White in the pop-up shop in aid of Little Princess Trust and Pieta House in The Longwalk

Louth Rose Aoife Heffron celebrated the huge success of her charity pop up shop venture last weekend.

In her last public appearance as Louth Rose before she hands over her crown later this month, the Dundalk woman said the was 'thrilled' with the response to the pop up shop held at the Long Walk Shopping centre as a fundraiser for two vital charities.

'A total of 1,560 was made, that is 780 each for Pieta House, preventing suicide and self harm and the Little Princess Trust, which I am going to round off to 800 each,' said Aoife.

She told how 'trolleys full' of clothing and goods were also donated to Cara Cancer Support Centre' following the event.

A car full of donated children's clothes was also available to drop off to Womens Aid Dundalk with the remaining number of bags of donated goods being distributed to Enable Ireland.

'Thank you so much to everyone who donated bags of items and clothes, it was because of you this was a success and all of these charities benefitted.

'To everyone who volunteered throughout the three days, I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!'

Thank you to everyone who called in, and all those who helped promote the event,' said Aoife.

Applications for the new Louth Rose are now open.Gardai have yet to confirm the true identity of a youth charged with the murder of a Japanese man in a stabbing in Dundalk in January.

The accused, who has been named as Mohamed Morei and believed to be aged 18, was remanded in custody on January 4 after being charged with the murder of 24-year-old Yosuke Sasaki on the Avenue Road.

He was unable to attend the six subsequent hearings and was deemed not fit to appear at his eighth scheduled hearing at Cloverhill District Court on Thursday last.

The defendant, whose nationality the court heard has not yet been confirmed, has been receiving ongoing medical care in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) in Dundrum where he could remain for several months. Judge Victor Blake was told by the Prison Service that youth was still unwell and unable to attend court.

At an earlier stage, Judge Blake had asked for an update on the progress of the case and the court Garda Sergeant Stephen Nalty told him today that there were approximately 400 statements 'a significant number of reports.'

It was expected that the case file would be completed within a week and submitted to the State solicitor's office.

'Enquiries are on-going to establish the defendant's proper identity but significant progress has been made in the file,' the court was told. Judge Blake also heard that some forensic and toxicology reports were still awaited.

Judge Blake agreed to the prosecution's request to remand the accused in continuing custody in his absence for two weeks for formal directions from the DPP to be obtained.As another successful season draws to a close, Dundalk Photographic Society members have all eyes on their Annual Exhibition in Basement Gallery at the Tain Arts Centre. This exhibition, which opens on Friday night and runs until April 28th, gives an opportunity for members to present their best work and also gives the viewing public an opportunity to enjoy the talents of some nationally and internationally renowned local photographers.

The exhibition also serves as a competition of sorts as an International Judge chooses their favourite images in a number of categories with their favourite image winning the accolade of 'Image of the Year'. This year the judge is the esteemed UK creative photographer Vicki-Lea Boulter. Vicki specialises in Digital Art and Portraiture and Dundalk Photographic Society are very honoured to have her join them on her first visit to Ireland.

The club have also recently held their Photographer of the Year competition. In the non advanced section Barry Kieran won the Mono Photographer of the Year and Pete Rowland won the Colour Photographer of the Year and also won the title of non advanced Photographer of the Year.

In the intermediate section Ger Lyons won the Mono Photographer of the Year, Mark English won the Colour Photographer of the Year and Simon Mullen won the title of Intermediate Photographer of the Year.

And finally in the senior section Arthur Carron won the Mono Photographer of the Year and Dave Martin won the Colour Photographer of the Year. David Martin also lifted the crown of Dundalk Photographic Society overall Photographer of the Year for the second year running, his 4th title in total. Congrats to all who reached the final and the eventual winners in each section.

Dundalk Photographic Society also have an iron firmly in the fire on the International scene. Following on from winning the 2017 Photographic Society of America International Inter Club Projected Image Competition, the first Irish club to have won this prestigious title, they are leading the competition going into the final round and hopes are high that they can replicate the success of last year.Knockbridge father and daughter Dave and Aislinn McCooey return to Haiti as volunteers with the Irish NGO Haven on Friday April 13th.

They are among a group of 36 volunteers who are travelling to the small commune of Gressier, located two hours south-west of Haiti's capital, Port au Prince, where people are still working to rebuild their lives after the devastating earthquake in 2010.

While there they will lead the refurbishment and upgrade of the main building of the local school which was badly damaged in the earthquake and provide new classroom equipment including books and blackboards. They will also repair the kitchen on the school grounds and build a covered area for children to eat in and enjoy shelter from the searing afternoon heat, a safe play area, and a new toilet block.

'This year's Volunteer Programme marks my eighth time travelling to Haiti with Haven, and my daughter Aislinn is travelling with me for her fourth time,' said Dave. 'We're both really looking forward to returning to Haiti. The Volunteer Programme is so rewarding. It is truly eye-opening to see what families like ours face every day in Haiti, and we feel very fortunate to share this experience together. We know the work we will do in Haiti will transform the local school in Gressier and it's great to be a part of that.'.Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuiness is currently joint favourite to be the next President of Ireland.

The Ardee native joins former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Barnardos CEO Fergus Finlay and EU ombudsman Emily O'Reilly at odds of 8/1 to be the next resident of Aras an Uachtarain.

Ms McGuiness didn't rule herself out of a possible contest when asked about it earlier this year.

Last January, she said she believes 'there will be a contest' and 'she will be guided by her party's wishes as to whether it will contest the position'.

"The fact that I put my name forward the last time clearly shows that I had an interest," she told the Examiner. "At the moment I am vice president of the European Parliament, so I would have to look at this, but I would really be guided by the party and what the party wishes are.'

The four frontrunners found themselves leading the field, after previous favourite Miriam O'Callaghan ruled herself out of contention.

Ms O'Callaghan tweeted on Friday that she would not be a candidate and her removal from the betting has left four candidates sharing favouritism to replace Michael D. Higgins.

McGuinness was the first female graduate of University College Dublin's Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics in 1980. In 1984, she completed a diploma in accounting and finance and followed a career in the media before entering politics in 2004. She worked as a researcher on The Late Late Show, as a presenter on RTE's Ear to the Ground and Celebrity Farm, a journalist with the Irish Farmers Journal and editor of the Irish Independent's farming supplement.

In early 2004, McGuiness declared her intention to seek a nomination for the European Parliament election for Fine Gael, where she is now Vice President of the European Parliament.

In April 2011, McGuiness announced that she wished to run for President of Ireland and would seek the Fine Gael party nomination for the 2011 presidential election. She was defeated for the nomination by Gay Mitchell.

However, there is speculation the Louth woman could also be the new president of the European Parliament, pending the results of this weekend's Italian election.

Reports about Ms McGuinness taking over from current President Antonio Tajani have increased in recent weeks.

Other runners tipped to be in the race for the Irish Presidency include Sean Gallagher, Gerry Adams and Enda Kenny.

President Michael D Higgins could have at least two challengers should he decide to run for a second term. Senator Gerard Craughwell has already confirmed his intention to seek a nomination, as has artist Kevin Sharkey.Martin Napier (back, third from left) enjoying his 40th birthday celebrations with (back, from left) Michael Napier, Helena Napier, Ann and Niall Geraghty, Ben Napier, (front) Jackie and Josie Napier, Mary Napier and Phyllis Barry.

Martin blows out the candles on his cake.

Martin Napier from Kilcoole celebrated his 40th birthday at the Royal Hotel in Bray last weekend with his family and friends.

Martin was joined by his parents Jackie and Josie, his sister Mary and many relatives and friends for the occasion.

A resident of Lower Green in Kilcoole, Martin works as a manager in Dunnes food store on Bray's Quinsboro Road.

Around 30 of his colleagues from the store attended the party, as did plenty of his friends from home.

Some of his cousins came all the way from Cork for the celebration, and an aunt and uncle travelled from Galway to join cousins from Newtown and Kilcoole.

Everyone was looking forward to the party and it was Martin's sister Mary who took the lead in terms of the planning.

The evening included a slideshow of photographs of the birthday boy over the years.

Martin said a few words to the gathered crowd, thanking everyone for coming along to mark the happy occasion.

His actual birthday falls this week, so his family expect to mark the milestone birthday once again.

Martin had a fantastic night with plenty of chatting and dancing.

He received lots of generous gifts from everyone. The party included a bit of finger food, and a DJ who ensured the dance floor was full from start to finish.

Everyone enjoyed catching up, and spending some time with Martin.Sixth class pupils at Bray School Project have made 'worry friends' for their Junior Entrepreneur Programme.

They recently invited their families to the school for a special showcase day for their product. The day was a great success and the children sold plenty of the hand-made toys.

This Junior Entrepreneur Programme gives children an opportunity to set up their own business, invest their own money and produce and sell a product or service to the children in the school and community with a view to making a profit and learning all that goes in to setting up a business and being an entrepreneur. They worked in teams to design and make a prototype for five different product ideas, which they presented to a panel of judges, local entrepreneurs, at their 'Dragons Den' showcase in January.

Each team produced an impressive PowerPoint slideshow as well as a number of sample products, and they had to answer questions from the Dragons around pricing, sales, marketability, unique selling points and other aspects of business.

The Dragons chose the Worry Friends as the overall winning product.

They then formed five project teams including design and production, sales, marketing and finance, and prepared to produce and sell the product on showcase day.In January 1973 a ground-breaking musical score that is today recognised as one of the seminal compositions in the history of Irish folk rock was premiered in the town of Fermoy.

Penned by local man Brian O'Reilly 'The Children of Lir', regarded as Ireland's first folk opera, was an immediate success with Polydor Records signing Brian and his bother Paud's band Loudest Whisper up to make an album of the music.

Released in 1975 on a limited run of just 500 copies, the album has become one of the most sought after LP's in Ireland and ranks among the top 100 rarest albums in the world.

Still going strong after more than five decades together, Loudest Whisper regularly perform the 'Children of Lir', with Sunbeam Records contacting Brian in 2005 regarding a re-issue of the 1975 album on vinyl.

'The Children of Lir' was re-mastered at the famous Abbey Road studios in London and a limited edition of the album on 180g virgin vinyl was issued in 2006. Needless to say this edition was also a sell out.

Over the years the popularity of the opera has never waned, with Loudest Whisper staging regular performances of it in addition to maintaining their reputation as one of the country most exciting live acts.

In fact the prestigious Record Collector magazine described Loudest Whisper as "a band that has consistently produced fine and passionate music over the years and captured the imagination of collector's world wide."

Brian has said that Loudest Whisper like to bring new and innovative ideas for the work itself and the production each time they bring to the live stage, while at the same time remaining true to the original score. This was no more apparent than last year when they premiered 'The Children of Lir Celtic Concert' for three magical performances at the National Opera House in Wexford.

Described by Brian O'Reilly as "one of the more creative and magical home-grown presentations that Ireland has seen in a long while" it saw Loudest Whisper joined on stage by an 80-strong choir, a string quartet, four ballerinas and a narrator.

Cork audiences will get the chance to enjoy the spectacle when it comes to the Cork Opera House on Friday, May 18 & Saturday, May 19, with a special lunchtime school matinee show on the Friday. Brian said the subtle tapestry of instrumentation and the human voice has brought a new dimension to an ancient story, with the lonely wail of the swans represented by the uileann pipes and the plaintive sound capturing the very essence of the pain at the heart of Celtic migration.

"Yet overall, the tone of the music is celebratory and positive as good triumphs over evil and light defeats the darkness," said Brian. "The concert is a unique mystical Celtic experience, the music is hauntingly lyrical and spiritual, yet in idiom it is contemporary and vital in a recognisable Celtic style," he added.

Joining Loudest Whisper for the Cork shows will be folk legend and fellow North Cork resident Donovan, who will reprise his role as the Narrator when he featured both in the stage production and CD recording of the folk opera that the band did in the mid 1990s.

Also joining Brian and Paud and bassist Paul McCarthy on stage in an expanded Loudest Whisper will be Brian's son, Oran on guitar and keyboards, Frances Foley and Melaine Quann on vocals, Eelco Beckers on mandolin and guitar and Lisa Howard on whistle and Uillean pipes.

The band will also be supported by a string quartet as well a choir of 100 voices drawn from the Loreto School Choir in Fermoy and the Cork Prison Officers Male Voice Choir as well as young Cork ballerinas Tamsin Giltinan, Niamh Kehoe, Laura Hayes and Sofia Rea. Tickets for 'The Children of Lir Celtic Concert at the Cork Opera House House are available from the venue on 021 427 0022 priced at 27 (evening) and 12 (matinee). Early booking is advised the show are expected to sell-out.

A magical folk story of love, sorrow and betrayal

Heralded as Ireland's first folk opera, 'The Children of Lir' retells a famous Irish legend of love, sorrow and betrayal - with the swans representing freedom, beauty, jealously and everlasting youth.

Brian O'Reilly explained where the idea for the folk opera came and, perhaps somewhat surprisingly given his love of rock music, it was his involvement in Fermoy Choral Society and its productions of shows such as 'The White Horse Inn' and 'Hello Dolly' that proved the inspiration for The Children of Lir.

"I was always interested in Celtic mythology but I was reading a lot of stuff by Lady Gregory and the Children of Lir jumped out at me because when Aoife, the wicked stepmother turned them into swans, she allowed them have human voices and sing melodious music," he said.

"When I read that I said this has to be done so I stuck as rigidly as possible to the background - I was working on it from late 1971 into 1972 and we first staged in Fermoy in January 1973 - I've added to it since then but it's great to revive it now again and perform it at the Cork Opera House again."

Brian has gone on to write, perform and stage a number of other major productions including 'Perseus', based on the classic Greek legend Maiden of Sorrow; a folk opera on Deirdre of the Sorrows and 'Buskin' a light-hearted contemporary jazz/folk piece with a Faustian theme.

Brian works as a musician/arranger/producer at Studio Fiona, which he founded in 1979. Over the years he has worked with a wide cross section of artists including the Irish Chamber Quartet, string quartets, choirs and brass ensembles.

The studio spans different musical genres from trad to jazz to folk to rock, with clients that it has worked with over the years including Sinead O'Connor, Donovan, The Frank and Walters, John Prine, Jimmy Crowley and Richie Kavanagh to name but a few.

Brian is also known and respected as the creative driving force behind Ireland's legendary folk/rock band Loudest Whisper.With the much-hyped Ed Sheeran concerts at Pairc Ui Chaoimh just a few weeks away, Iarnrod Eireann has announced details of special post-concert services it is laying on to help get concert-goers back home again.

Tens of thousands of music fans will descend on the venue for the three eagerly-awaited sold out concerts over the first weekend of May.

In order to cope with demand additional late night train services will leave from Kent Station in Cork on each night going to Mallow, Midleton and Cobh.

Customers can also avail of free parking at the Irish Rail commuter stations at Little Island, Glounthaune, Carrigtwohill and Midleton.

Following the introduction of new technology last year, Iarnrod Eireann is now able to offer its customers the opportunity to pre-purchase rickets for the Cork Commuter Rail Network (Cork-Midleton & Cork-Cobh).

This facility has already been successfully operating for some time from Mallow. Once pre-purchased, these tickets can be downloaded from any of the ticket vending machines in north and east Cork (except Fota).

Concert goers can use the tickets on any scheduled commuter service prior to the concert and on the late-night return services.

Bus Eireann is also planning to operate a shuttle bus service from Kent Station to Pairc Ui Chaoimh before the concert.

Iarnrod Eireann spokesman Ray Foley urged people to pre-book tickets online to ensure a their place on the services.

For more information about services and to buy tickets visit www.irishrail.ie.The month of April is seeing plenty of activity with regard to heritage throughout the County. One day of note is April 16th, the 50th anniversary of the official opening of Cork County Council's HQ - the County Hall.

Designed by Cork County Architect Patrick McSweeney, Cork County Hall was at the time of its completion in 1968 the tallest building in Ireland at 64.3 metres, retaining this status up to 2008 when surpassed by The Elysian.

In recognition of the occasion, an exhibition will go on display on April 16th at 1pm in the foyer telling the story of County Hall, from inception to completion. Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Declan Hurley together with Chief Executive of Cork County Council will also unveil a commemorative plaque.

Another day this April to take note of is Wednesday 18th, which is the International Day for Monuments and Sites, established under the 22nd UNESCO General Conference in 1983. This international date is organised by ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), who work for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places. It is the only global non-government organisation of this kind, which is dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage.

The 2018 theme for the ICOMOS International Day for Monuments and Sites is Heritage for Generations, recognising that sharing stories and the transfer of knowledge between generations is a crucial step in cultural development, characterising the human experience since time immemorial. For more information on the day itself and/or the work of ICOMOS visit www.icomos.org/en.

Here in the County of Cork there are over 19,000 recorded monuments and sites included in the national Archaeological Inventory, which is called the Sites and Monuments Record or SMR for short. The SMR contains details of all monuments and places where it is believed there is a known monument pre-dating AD 1700, from the earliest monuments in existence right up to the turn of the 18th century. In Cork, our earliest archaeological sites date back over 9,000 years extending into the 19th century, including prehistoric tombs, mines, ritual sites, Early Christian Ringforts and monasteries, medieval castles, churches, and abbeys.

Across Ireland there are in excess of 150,800 records in the SMR database. Every one of these monuments and sites has a story to tell and it is important to pass these stories on to the next generation. For further information on archaeology and to see the archaeology that exists in one's own locality visit www.archaeology.ie.

Storytelling, and using our country's heritage as the muse is very much part and parcel of Irish culture. Indeed, Irish culture consists of a plethora of different activities and undertakings, values and means of expression. In order to encourage creative endeavour through the medium of culture, during mid-April 2018 Cork County Council is set to announce the Creative Ireland County Cork Grant Scheme 2018. This grant scheme will seek to encourage individuals and groups throughout the County to really embrace the County's culture and to support their many undertakings, projects, events and initiatives.

Culture within the County of Cork is already faring very well with thanks to so many different groups and it is hoped that this scheme will add even greater value to the cultural output and indeed values within the County.

The Scheme will be guided by the key five themes of the National Creative Ireland Programme and will support many of the main priorities and actions set out in the County Cork Culture and Creativity five-year Strategy. These five-year strategies will set out the values and vision for culture within each of Ireland's Counties and will include a number of key actions. Plans to launch these strategies at the national level will be announced shortly.

With regard to heritage events scheduled for the coming weeks, there are certainly a few to take note of. On Thursday 12th April in Blarney a wonderful talk organised by Blarney & District Historical Society will take place in Blarney Secondary School, titled 'J.C. Fitzmaurice and the Flight of the Bremen'. On 15th June 1919, Alcock and Brown made the first successful non-stop crossing of the Atlantic, West to East, by aeroplane, making land near Clifden, Co. Galway. On the 12th April 1928, exactly 90 years ago this month, an Irishman, Commandant J.C. Fitzmaurice, an Irish aviation pioneer, along with two German aviators, Captain Hermann Koehl and Baron Gunther von Huenefeld, became the first airmen to make the much more difficult East to West trans-Atlantic crossing from Baldonnel Aerodrome to Greenly Island, Newfoundland.

After a series of hair-raising events, the trio eventually arrived in New York, to be greeted by dignitaries, vast crowds and ticker-tape parades. They received many awards and accolades in America and Germany, including Fitzmaurice being promoted to Major by the Irish Government. On the 12th of April at 8pm, historian Liam O'Brien will tell the fascinating story of this famous flight and what became of the now almost forgotten heroes. All welcome.

On Wednesday 18th April the annual County lecture of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society will take place at 8pm in the Independence Museum, Kilmurry. The talk is titled 'Mapping the Irish Revolution' and will be given by Donal O Drisceoil.

Donal was one of the Editors of the Award-winning publication 'Atlas of the Irish Revolution'; a 984 page tome that provides an overwhelming insight into the Irish Revolution from many different perspectives, published by Cork University Press in 2017. The talk is set to be a fascinating one and both prior to and after same, from 19:30 to 20:00 and again from 21:00 to 21:30, the museum exhibits of the Independence Museum will also be open and available to see.

Towards the end of the month there is a very useful day taking place for those around the country, including County Cork, who would like to get involved in Heritage Week 2018 (August 18th to 26th) by organising their own local event(s). Taking place in the National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin, on Friday April 27th, the Heritage Council has organised a day of training for Heritage Week organisers/local community groups. The day, which runs from 10:00 to 16:00, will include talks and workshops, with practical event planning advice, and the opportunity to share experiences with other organisers and the Heritage Council. Spaces at the event are limited and places can be booked by visiting www.heritageweek.ie.A leading Rebel business innovation hub aptly named, 'Republic of Work,' recently celebrated its first anniversary and along with way has created more than 70 new jobs.

The number of members of Republic of Work has grown to over 120 members - with many expected to join in the coming months as other leading companies are opting to place staff in the unique business hub of Cork's business district.

The industries which have joined up include those from the healthcare, beauty, food, communications, fashion, banking, insurance, law, accounting to recruitment. The size of the businesses varies from freelancers to solopreneurs to teams from some of the country's biggest companies.

Republic of Work has hosted over 300 public and community events which have been attended by over 5,000 people.

Chief Executive, DC Cahalane said: "Like any new business surviving the first year is a great milestone to be celebrating. It has been fantastic to see how Cork has embraced the new way of networking, scaling and innovating that we've introduced at Republic of Work."

He said it is a place for all kinds of businesses - not only to work but to meet other companies and share experiences and advice.

"We're catering for everyone from across all industries, from start-ups to multinationals, in helping them discover what the future of their businesses look like and the steps they need to take to get there," he said.

Staff and members of Republic of Work are spending this week fundraising for the mental health charity, Pieta House via a wide range of activities and free events. In addition, companies and individuals are being offered free co-working spaces throughout this week to experience all that Republic of Cork has to offer first hand.

There are seven people employed directly by Republic of Cork, with plans to further increase that number. The team is led by General Manager, Frank Brennan.The three lionesses and eight cubs were found dead near Hamukungu fishing village in the park, a popular tourist destination.

"An investigation has been opened but we suspect poisoning," Bashir Hangi, a communications officer with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), told AFP.

"It is still only a suspicion. We will try to establish the real cause of death," he added.

Lions have been killed in a number of poisoning incidents in Uganda.

In May 2010, five lions were killed in the park in another possible poisoning case.

Between May 2006 and July 2007, 15 lions were also killed in the area in attacks blamed on landless herdsmen defending their cattle.

The parks grasslands are home to more than 600 species of birds and around 100 mammals including buffalo, waterbuck, leopards, hyena and elephants.

Source from Vietnamnews.Tony Wilkinson (far left), Ted Horgan, Chairman of Cork Parkinsons Support Group and Michael Collins TD. Tony wants the HSE to provide three trained nurses to help over 900 Parkinsons patients in Cork. Tony and the support groups are willing to fundraise for the training of the trained nurses

When Tony Wilkinson began to drop things, freezing for no apparent reason when walking, they were he now knows the early symptoms of Parkinson's.

Tony (now 59) was living in London three years ago with his Bandon-born wife Kate when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

Parkinson's Disease is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system which mainly affects the motor system. Symptoms generally come on slowly over time and symptoms include shaking, rigidity, shuffling gait with short steps, a forward tilt of the body, and reduced arm-swinging and stiffness of the body. There is no cure.

He was working in the highly skilled network of fibre optics and devised planning routes of cables throughout London. He said with a smile that he knows every inch of city and where its fibre cables lie. However, he told The Corkman, that the couple decided to return to Kates native Bandon two years ago as he didnt feel secure going on the underground anymore as his Parkinsons became worse.

When he began living in Bandon, a place he had visited with Kate countless times, he soon realised that there wasn't a Parkinson's Support Group in the region, so he set one up and soon others followed in Bandon, Skibbereen, Youghal and Fermoy.

He also organised a meeting in Mallow on Wednesday, April 11 and it's his aim that anyone who has Parkinson's needs support, as do their families and loved ones.

"People with Parkinson's need a lot of support. In the UK, there are specialist Parkinson's nurses who work in the community but not in Ireland. There are 920 people living with Parkinson's in Cork but if we had just three nurses that would be one nurse to every 300 patients; it would make a great difference. It is cost-effective rather than keeping a person in hospital," he said.

"We are prepared to fund-raise for especially trained Parkinsons nurses. It would truly make the world of difference if a person can be seen in their own home by a nurse," said Tony.

He explained that in the UK a nurse visits the home and can adjust medications. They also attend support-group meetings.

"Ireland in reality needs 32 nurses as the number of people with Parkinsons is set to double in the next decade due to the demographic age profile," he said. "We want the Government to give these nures. In fact, if we do get the nurses and they are not trained, then the support groups will send them to the UK for training."

Living with Parkinsons is extremely difficult, which Tony readily agrees and recognises. "I love Bandon where I live, as I said I couldn't continue to live in London," he said. "But, I have to fight to get out of bed every day to go and do my exercises and attend the support groups. I also run a fitness club, the movers and shakers, and we use smovies, which are specialist equipment for people with Parkinson's."

Tony showed The Corkman a video of him out walking with a smovey ring. A Smovey ring combines exercise and vibrations which have beneficial applications for Parkinsons. Inside the hand-held rings are steel balls. Once the rings begin to swing,the balls move up and down in the tube which cause vibrations to travel up the arms and into the brain and body

According to Tony, the smovey has greatly improved his life but using them consistently is one key to retaining muscle tone and they provide a great feel good factor.

Along with getting three nurses for the Cork region, Tony is hoping that anyone who has Parkinson's in the Mallow or North Cork region will join the group in Mallow.

"It is so important that people and their families meet up. I was diagnosed three years ago and will be 60 years old in May. I have got so many phone calls from people looking for help and when there's a group of people together it makes all the difference," he said.

Anyone who has Parkinson's or has a family member with Parkinson's can contact Tony on 083 8643676.Ardee Concert Band have just gone and won Platinum again!

Yes the highest award of the day; The Platinum award was bestowed on the Ardonians in the Finals of the National Concert Band Festival in the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on Sunday 8th April 2018 just before 11.30 am, that's not bad for a Sunday mornings work!

After an early start the band of 47 musicians took to the college of music stage and performed 4 pieces under the baton of their MD Brendan Breslin in the community wind band section.

Partaking in an Irish themed programme they began with 'Finnegans wake' a song famous for providing the basis of James Joyce's final work. They followed with 'An Irish ayre', A warm and lyrical composition. 'Sarah's Delight' preceded the finale of the winning programme.

The winning penultimate piece 'Gather the Gaels', is a piece written for the coming together of wind, brass and swing bands from all over Ireland for the Gathering Of The Gales' Festival In Strabane 2013.

Ardee pipped Strathclyde University Concert Band and their MD Chris Mitchell to the post with their Scottish counterparts taking gold back up North.

Friends to Ardee, Strathclyde hosted the champions in October 2015 in Glasgow for a penultimate concert in St Andrew's in the Square with Ardee returning the gesture in 2016 in the Bohemian Centre.

Returning in the early hours of Monday morning after a long ferry crossing home the band were greeted at the Bandrooms on Ashwalk with banners and balloons adorning the building to celebrate their huge efforts and success.Duleek Parish Choir presents 'All in the April Evening' - A Musical Journey - in Duleek Church on Friday 20th April at 7.30pm. Admission, adults 10, Children 5, Family 25.

All proceeds in aid of vital church repairs. Tickets at Parochial House, Dave Cleaners Main Street, Duleek BNS or any Choir Member.

Spring clean in Julianstown

Julianstown & District Community Association are organising the Annual Spring Clean on Saturday 21st April, 2018. Starting 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Meet at Whitecross National School. Bags, Gloves, Litter Pickers and High Vis Jackets supplied. Please wear suitable clothing and sturdy footwear

Many thanks to Meath County Council who are supplying the skip and equipment. This is a great opportunity to get Julianstown's roads and back roads cleaned.

Fill the bags, leave them at side of road and they will be picked up. Please tell your friends and neighbours and encourage them to come along. Tea/Coffee and chat afterwards.

Lime Kiln wins again

The first of four regional finals in this year's Irish Restaurant Awards took place in the Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, on Wednesday March 7, where 165 awards were presented to the country's leading chefs, restaurants and pubs. Over 550 people attended the Leinster Regional Final where the top establishments in each county were named. The Lime Kiln Julianstown win Best Gastro Pub in Meath.

White Cross welcomes Spanish teachers

Four Spanish teachers have joined Whitecross for a 3 month internship until the beginning of May. Marta and Amaia will be working with the infant classes and Julen and Ane will be working with classes between 1st and 6th. It will be an opportunity for pupils and teachers to pick up a little Spanish, learn a little about Spain and also these teachers will provide valuable support and help in the classrooms.

The students themselves have completed 4 years at the University of Navarre which is located in Pamplona, Spain. The internship is their last assignment on their qualification process.

Julianstown Badminton

Badminton takes place each Tuesday evening at 7.45 pm new members 18yrs + always welcome. Insurance for the year is a mere 30 and is due now. All standards welcome.The 2018 Louth Rose will be crowned in a selection night later this month, with potential Roses across the county now invited to apply.

The 2017 Rose, Dundalk woman Aoife Heffron will hand over the sash and crown to the new Louth Rose on Saturday, April 21st, 2018 in the Four Seasons Hotel, Carlingford.

It's been an incredible year for Aoife who has represented her county around Ireland, and across the world.

Having led Louth's hopes in the International Rose of Tralee festival in what she described as 'an extraordinary experience' Aoife used her role to raise the profile of many charitable organisations, including the LSPCSA, Pieta House, and the Little Princess Trust.

And in February she travelled to Belarus to volunteer at the International Chernobyl Children's orphanage.

An 'emotional, life changing trip,' said Aoife. 'It was absolutely the highlight of my time as Louth Rose.'

She added: 'I'd really emphasise to anyone who is thinking of going for the Rose of Tralee this year to do it, as this experience alone will make all of it worthwhile.'

Rose of Tralee regional selections are currently taking place all over the world and anyone interested in entering the Louth Rose of Tralee event can do so online at www.roseoftralee.ie.

As the lead sponsor of the Rose of International Festival, Tipperary Crystal will present, the 2018 Rose of Tralee with a complete collection of Tipperary Crystal Fine Jewellery, a range of high-quality products from their Giftware and Homeware Collections. The new Rose of Tralee will be crowned with the splendid tiara featuring the Rose motif.

The 2018 Rose of Tralee Festival will run from Friday 17th to Tuesday 21st August.During the past few days, two of the most hotly-tipped presidential election candidates - Miriam O'Callaghan and Bertie Ahern ruled themselves out of any potential race.

It seems, however that this isn't enough and there will be an election, despite the stark reality that there is an extremely slim chance of anyone knocking Michael D off his perch.

Miriam and Bertie are wise enough to know that despite their public profiles, they would have a massive challenge ahead of them to swoop in ahead of the current president, and that they might seem almost vain to take it away from him, while he wishes to continue, and is doing a rather good job.

There has been hardly any negativity towards Michael D's performance and most will agree that he has done the country proud during his first term.

Any concerns of poor health or of having an older president have dissipated as he continues to balance the workload and international travel with aplomb.

While Miriam O'Callaghan is a fine broadcaster, having someone who is also a celebrity in Ireland move into the Aras might not be the best move, and of course she has more class in her little finger than other international leaders - it would still propel us into the sphere of having a well-known personality rather than someone of political substance as the figurehead of our country.

Many will say that it would be undemocratic not to have an election, but others are just baffled at the calls for one and of candidates being suggested when in reality there will be no competition.

Nobody can say that an election should not go ahead, but will the whole thing just be a waste of money?

The last time around, we knew we were getting a new president - the stakes were high and the campaign was awfully dirty so anybody considering throwing their hat in the ring wouldn't want to have any skeletons in the closet.

Today, Michael D has a successful term without incident under his belt coupled with the experience of contesting and winning a presidential election previously.

It would take a very confident and self-assured candidate to go up against him. After all who wants to be the candidate simply running so that an election can take place?An exhibition titled 'Early Christian Swords' is set to open at in St Cronan's Pastoral Centre.

It will run from Saturday, April 14 to Saturday, April 27.

The Swords area is steeped in history and it was an important centre for Christianity in the early days of the Irish Church.

The town is probably best known historically as the resting place of Brian Boru following his death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. His body lay overnight in the church at Swords and later processed to Armagh where the High King was buried.

The exhibition will feature displays on St Colmcille's Monastery, Glasmore Abbey/The Nunnery, and the local Holy Wells of St Colmcille, St Cronan and St Werburgh. The exhibition will also feature information on recent important archaeological findings in the Swords area.

These include the discovery in 2003 of a previously unknown cemetery at Mount Gamble. This cemetery was in use from the arrival of Christianity in circa AD 550 until 1150.

There will also be displays on the recently rediscovered Ecclesiastical complex in the Mooretown/Oldtown area, on either side of the Rathbeale Road.

Since 2010 Fingal county council has a Conservation and Management Plan in place for this area. The plans include the establishment of four archaeological parks to preserve the historical sites.

Exhibition co-ordinator Paddy O'Byrne has thanked Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy who carried out the design and editorial for the exhibition.

The organisers would like to thank Fingal County Council and Creative Ireland for their generous grant of 1,500, as well as annon Homes for their kind donation of 2,000 towards the cost of the exhibition.

The exhibition is open to all and there will be no entrance charge.The Quinn sisters have more than your average sibling bond thanks to the courageous gesture of Bernie Quinn who donated a kidney to her sister, Margaret and saving her years on dialysis and ultimately, saving her life.

Margaret was first diagnosed with a kidney condition in her early 20s but the condition can be traced back to a childhood illness she had when she was six. Year after year, her kidney function declined until she reached just 10% function a couple of years ago and a life on dialysis was looming and a long wait to receive a kidney from a deceased donor.

Organ donation from a living donor was something Margaret had never really considered, and certainly not from a family member but her strong-willed sister, Bernie had other ideas.

Quietly, Bernie was wrestling with the idea of donating her kidney to her sister and began to research how it would work.

Bernie told the Fingal Independent: 'When I first heard the notion of a living donor, I was horrified at the thought of it and thought no way would I do that.

'But time went on and I heard about other people's experiences, and everyone spoke so positively about it. I spoke to other donors and heard some of the speak in previous Organ Donor Weeks and that motivated me to do it. So when Maggie was put on a transplant waiting list, I made the initial phone call and then just took each step as it came and thought if it was meant to be, it would happen. Kind of instinctively, at that stage, it felt like the right thing to do.'

It was only after making those initial contacts with the hospital, that Bernie offered her kidney to Margaret.

She said: 'I first rang up in August (2016) after she was put on the transplant list in June. I rang the transplant co-ordinators in Beaumont and they started the process and I think I said it to Maggie after that.

'They asked me a few questions first to see if I might be suitable and then they asked me to go in for blood tests and stuff. So, I think that was when I told Maggie about it.'

Margaret was initially reluctant to involve her sister in the process. She told the Fingal Independent: 'My kidney function was going down quite low and the consultant told me I had about 18 months before I would have to go on dialysis.

'So he suggested a pre-emptive transplant and asked if I had anyone in the family that might be suitable. Initially, I said I didn't have anyone - I suppose I didn't want to ask anyone. I just didn't want to even think about it.

'Six months passed and I went to see him again and he suggested I'd have to start dialysis soon. My condition was getting worse and I was getting sicker and then Bernie said to me, she would donate a kidney to me, if I wanted.

'So I went back to the hospital and produces this sister and said, well, actually I do have a sister who is willing to donate.'

Margaret remained unsure about the idea initially and tried to put her sister off the idea. She recalled: 'I suppose, I put her off initially because she just had a baby - I wasn't that keen on the idea.'

But after Bernie explained she felt good about the decision and felt she was in the right place to do it, Margaret agreed to go ahead with it and the process was set in train.

There followed months of tests, primarily on the donating sister, Bernie who was constantly advised that at any time, she could drop out of the process and change her mind but Bernie's mind was not for changing.

She said: 'I probably had made my mind up so I didn't really talk to many people I would have spoken to some friends and family alright, but more saying to them that I was thinking of doing it. My main concern was that it wouldn't work for her - that was the biggest thing.

'I can't remember the exact percentages but it has a very high success rate. I felt sure they wouldn't do it otherwise - if they thought it wouldn't work, they wouldn't do it. Of course, sometimes it doesn't work so that's the first quest I asked when I woke up after the surgery - I was saying: 'Did it work? Did it work?'

The answer was a resounding yes and while talking separately to the two sisters about the moment it became clear that the operation had been a success, it seems they were both focused on the other's well-being.

Bernie said: 'I was out of the operation first and I was back a good few hours before her so I didn't see her until the next day, when she was up and about. She came into me the next day, I wasn't able to get out of bed for a couple of days. It was a relief. I was in some pain myself but just ordinary post-surgery pain and suddenly that didn't matter then, I knew that was going to ease off in a matter of days or weeks so once it worked out for her, that was great - I was so relieved.'

Margaret talked about feeling that same relief but for different reasons. She said: 'It happened pretty quick in the end. We were brought in and given our own rooms. Bernie was wheeled down to the operating theatre about three hours before me and I think that wait was the worst - it seemed like a whole day.

'The night before, I was kind of pacing and walking around and there was a guy in the opposite room about my own age and he looked very grey. Everyone talks to each other in the hospital and I looked in the door and asked him how he was getting on.

'He said he had the transplant six weeks before but it didn't really kick in. That worried me but he said it would kick in - there is a thing called 'lazy kidney' where it takes a while longer to kick in. I asked him, did he know immediately when he woke up and he said yes. 'He explained that if you wake up with three tubes coming out of your neck, the kidney isn't working yet. The first thing I did when I woke up is check my neck and there was only one tube so I knew it must have worked. But to be honest, the minute I opened my eyes I knew it had worked - I felt great.

'I was happy and happy for Bernie that it hadn't been rejected, I asked my husband how Bernie was and he told me she was great and she was awake and talking. I think she rang me on the phone actually and we had a conversation before the morphine kicked in. We were delighted.'

Both sisters then began the recovery phase for Bernie in particular, that recovery has gone pretty smoothly. She said: 'Every week I improved but nervous to see if the kidney would be rejected, because that can happen in the first couple of months but otherwise I was fine and now I feel fantastic.

'I've forgotten about it really, at this stage. The recovery was very quick and I don't think of it now on a daily basis and I'm doing everything I was doing beforehand.'

For Margaret, there has been a couple of setbacks along the way with a thankfully temporary rejection and an episode of sepsis but she said that ups and downs are normal in the first year. Currently, she feels great and is looking forward to a long and healthy life, thanks to her sister.

Both sisters praised the living donor system here and the doctors, nurses and transplant co-ordinators of Beaumont Hospital and the Irish Kidney Association who helped them through it all.

Bernie says she has 'no regrets' about her decision and addressing her comments to other potential living donors, she said: 'If it feels like the right thing to do, then go for it. I would recommend it. It might not be for everyone but I think if it is something you feel you might be interested in then talk to the transplant co-ordinators in Beaumont. They talked me through everything and they are brilliant. They are there at the end of the phone and no matter how daft your questions are, they will answer them.'

On organ donation from deceased donors, Margaret appealed to families making that difficult decision, not to let their loved one's organs 'go to heaven'. 'There are so many people out there waiting for a new heart, kidney or lung, standing by the phone and waiting for that call, you can really make a difference,' she said.

On the courage of her sister, she simply said: 'She's the real hero of this story.'Community spirit is alive and well in Swords after local people pulled together to raise money to help a charity that provides practical and financial support to children suffering from cancer in Ireland and their families.

The fundraising efforts in aid of Aoibheann's Pink Tie held at The Ploughman pub raised a phenomenal 4,000. In an emotional evening, little inspirational two-year-old Evie Groves, her parents Lorraine and John and brother Sean, aged eight, as well as their aunts, uncles and grandparents attending the evening.

Evie is a princess at St John's Ward at Crumlin Children's Hospital and she was the guest of honour on the evening. As part of the fundraising efforts on Easter Sunday, three large hampers worth over 250, as well as a 150 voucher from Perfect Parties, were raffled. A total of 1,800 was raised from the raffle, while Evie's brother Sean and his uncle Jonathan's company 'Millennial Homes' donated 100 each.

Sean explained to the assembled audience that he had saved 100 towards a new Playstation but he had decided to donate it to Aoibheann's Pink Tie, which is supporting his family. As well as donating the hampers, The Ploughman donated an additional 1,000, while the Merchant Arch Bar and Restaurant in Temple Bar donated a fruther 1,000. The whole day was full of surprises.

During the afternoon, there were some pink-themed family fun during the afternoon with kids nail polishing, face-painting, colouring, balloons and sweets. Before the raffle Jimmy spoke beautifully about his charity and about his amazing daughter Aoibheann whom he set up the charity in her memory.

Fianna Fail TD Darragh O'Brien said some very kind words about the generosity of the customers in the Poughman and all the families like The Grove's whom they are helping by supporting Aoibheann's Pink Tie. Sean Groves helped to pick out the raffle tickets and that was when we started to get word that The Merchant Arch and The Ploughman wanted to donate a 1000 each! Two cheques totalling 4,000 were handed over to Jimmy Norman, the CEO of Aoibheann's Pink Tie by Jackie Costello and then the celebrations began.

The band Revival started playing music and everyone at the Ploughman started singing and dancing for evening. Guests were joined by more special guests throughout the night, Fianna Fail Cllr. Eoghan O'Brien, Warner Brothers CEO Lisa Del Campo and Mark Prendergast of Kodaline. The Poughman want to especially thank all their staff and customers for their continued help and loyalty.

Aoibheann's Pink Tie help sand offers practical support to the families of children diagnosed with cancer and who are attending St John's Oncology Ward in Our Lady's Children's Hospital. Focused on children attending the only treatment centre for childhood cancer in Ireland, we will support the complete family unit, of parents and siblings, who may not understand what is happening to their brother or sister. For more visit www.aoibheannspinktie.ie.The 2018 SuperValu TidyTowns competition is now open for entries following the launch of the this year's contest.

Now in its 60th year, the competition is administered by the Department of Rural and Community Development and is sponsored by SuperValu.

Over the lifetime of the SuperValu TidyTowns competition, generations of TidyTowns volunteers up and down the country have worked to improve the appearance of their locality and make their town or village more attractive for residents and visitors alike.

Speaking at the launch, Martin Kelleher, Managing Director, SuperValu said: 'This year is an important milestone for SuperValu TidyTowns as it marks the 60th anniversary of the competition. Reaching this landmark is a remarkable achievement both for the competition and the TidyTowns committees who have worked tirelessly over the year to enhance their towns and villages.'

Mr Kelleher added: 'We are delighted to continue our long-running partnership with the competition to help make the communities we live in even better and to recognise the efforts of thousands of volunteers across the country who put in countless hours every week. This year, as we mark the 60th anniversary of TidyTowns, we are calling on volunteers in Dublin to get involved.

'As Ireland's leading independent grocery retailer, with our stores owned by entrepreneurs from the local community, we understand the importance of improving the quality of life in the towns and villages that our retailers work and live in.'

Minister for Regional Economic Development, Michael Ring, said: 'The SuperValu TidyTowns Competition is built on the voluntary effort of ordinary people across Ireland. Its success is a result of that selfless effort. It is a competition which brings neighbours, with shared values and shared interests, together to improve their locality.

'In recognition of the hard work and dedication of the volunteers who have worked tirelessly over the past 60 years, I provided a once-off grant scheme of between 1,000 and 4,000 for TidyTowns committees last November.

'Over 1.3 million was provided to 900 Tidy Towns Committees to spend on improving their communities and I have no doubt that this investment had a significant positive impact on communities throughout the country.'

The closing date for receipt of entries for this year's competitions is May 23. Entry forms can be obtained from the TidyTowns Unit in the Department of Rural and Community Development - phone (076 100 6912) or by visiting www.tidytowns.ie or www.supervalu.ie.

For entry download your entry form at www.tidytowns.ie.Volunteers across Ireland who want to get involved or set up a TidyTowns Committee can find more information at: www.supervalu.ie/real-people/sponsorship/tidytowns/how-to-get-involved.The Government's Pyrite Remediation Scheme has now repaired 1,000 homes across the country infected by the wall-cracking disease and two-thirds of those homes are in Fingal.

That is according to Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal, Alan Farrell, who has welcomed confirmation that the number of homes remediated under the Pyrite Remediation Scheme has passed 1,000, with 666 of these completed homes being in Fingal.

Deputy Farrell said: 'I am pleased to receive confirmation from my colleague, Minister Damien English that the number of homes where remediation works have been completed, under the Pyrite Remediation Scheme, stands at 1003. Of these 1,003 homes, 666 are in the Fingal Local Authority Area.'

He explained: 'Since the Pyrite Remediation Scheme opened, it has received a total of 2,029 applications for remediation. Of these, remediation works on 1,003 of these homes have been finished, 215 are currently under remediation, 74 are at tender or tender analysis stage, and 300 are now at the remedial works planning stage.

'It is certainly positive that the number of completed homes has surpassed 1,000, however, many homeowners are still living in pyrite affected homes, and where they are eligible for remediation, I believe these works must take place urgently.'

The Fine Gael TD, whose own property was affected by pyrite, said: 'In this regard, Fine Gael in Government allocated 30 million under Budget 2018 to provide for the remediation of a further 430 pyrite affected homes this year.

'While this is positive, many homeowners in the North County are living in homes which have a category 1 rating under the Pyrite Remediation Scheme and, as such, are not eligible for remediation at this time.

'This is a matter which I will continue to work on as the local Fine Gael TD in Dublin Fingal.'

Deputy Farrell concluded: 'Having experienced the impact of pyrite first-hand in my family home, I appreciate how stressful the presence of pyrite can be for homeowners, and how significant the process of remediation can be.

'Providing support to all pyrite affected homeowners must be a matter of priority, and we must work to provide support to every individual and family impacted by pyrite regardless of whether their houses are category 1 or category 2.'Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.



Trump said in a primetime televised speech to the nation that he had ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian regime.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," he said.

A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen.

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the alleged toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which took place a week ago, and Trump reacted in an emotional tweet.

"Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he declared.

"President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay."

Trumps anger and apparent determination was quickly matched by Frances President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

Britains Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition.

May said there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force against Assad.

Trumps language was more brutal: "They are crimes of a monster."

Proof

In the six days between the attack and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling press statements and US debates.

Moscow denied its ally Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain had staged the event.

More practically, at the United Nations, Russias diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assads guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned that the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putins administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

That concern was mirrored by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday warned the rival camps against "full-blown military escalation."

"Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," he urged the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

And he stressed the need "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control."

Decision to act

But Trump has long criticised his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a previous US "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assads forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, who took office on Monday, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimise the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syrias civil war.

But other advisors want to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Irans growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia

Source from VNSA third-level Skerries student has clinched top prize at an inaugural internationally flavoured culinary competition.

In his second year of his culinary arts degree at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), Derek McClelland was part of the winning pair that has won the inaugural Dairy Chef 2018 competition along with his partner on the day, Pierre-Louis Delacroix from Universite de Cergy-Pontoise.

A total of 10 students, five from France and five from Ireland, were selected to take part in the 2018 finale of Dairy Chef.

This competition was organised in a partnership between the Embassy of France in Dublin, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), the National Dairy Council (NDC) and the French Dairy Council (Cniel).

Culinary students from top colleges in France and Ireland were invited to champion their institution by creating a three-course menu celebrating Irish and/or French dairy produce. Each dish had to include dairy as the main ingredient

For the finale, each Franco-Irish pair of students was given a mystery basket of ingredients and asked to produce a three-course meal of their choice with dairy produce included in each course.

Derek, a past pupil of Skerries Community College, who currently works as a pastry chef in Waterford's Bay Tree Bistro is delighted with his win.

He said: 'Winning the Dairy chef 2018 was a huge achievement for me personally and for my career. I've worked hard over the last three years to get myself to the position I'm in now, hearing my name being called out was a relief and I was overcome with happiness and excitement. I couldn't have done it without the continued education and support from my lectures at WIT, my current head chef Keith Boyle and of course my French partner on the day, Pierre.'

Derek's prize is a week-long "stage" within the prestigious kitchen of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs in Paris, France followed by a weekend of travel to experience the best of French gastronomic culture.A Fine Gael representative for Swords and Donabate has joined calls for a third-level education facility for Swords.

It is an idea that has been promoted heavily on the council in recent years, particularly by Cllr Justin Sinnott (NP) and Cllr Duncan Smith and now a Fine Gael local representative with a background in education has added his voice to calls for a third level institution for the county capital of Swords.

Fine Gael Local Area Representative for Donabate and Swords, Bob Dowling is urging the Department of Education and Skills to 'fast track' the establishment of a third-level institution in Swords.

Mr Dowling believes that the area warrants a third-level facility, to serve its ever growing young population and also to serve the wider Fingal area.

He told the Fingal Independent: 'The Greater Swords Area, like many other areas has seen a huge increase in its population.

'Swords is now the second biggest town in Ireland and also there are over 11,000 people living in the Greater Swords Area under the age of 20.

'We need to plan for these young people and provide them with the services they need.'

Mr Dowling has called for a third-level institution for Swords to be included in immediate infrastructural planning, and stressed how we must provide for our young people and establish an educational hub as a source of high quality graduates.

The local Fine Gael representative said: 'I am reliably informed that some institutions are considering locating split campus facilities and Swords is the ideal location with Lissenhall located close to the proposed Metrolink, now is the time to start serious planning.

'This is essential to encourage high tech employers into the area.'

Mr Dowling made the point that while an area such as Blanchardstown is fortunate enough to have its third level institution, the growth in the population of Swords has long merited the same consideration.

The Fine Gael local area representative for Swords and Donabate said he has contacted Mary Mitchell O'Connor TD, the Minister of State with special responsibility for higher education to make representations on the issue and make a case for the location of a third-level facility in Swords.

He concluded: 'I believe we can ensure the Government delivers on this issue and I wish to meet with the Minister as soon as possible to discuss these proposals with her.'The chief executive of Fingal Dublin Chamber has expressed confidence that the new plan Metrolink will be realised this time and says it is part of a 'new dawn' as Ireland wakes up to he importance of investing in infrastructure.

Fingal Dublin Chamber CEO, Anthony Cooney spoke to the Fingal Independent at chamber offices in Swords and said he is confident that Metrolink will happen.

Mr Cooney said: 'It's going to be a long road - it's nine years to completion and for the first couple of years I don't think there will be a shovel going into the ground. The good thing is that it is very firmly on the agenda and from the top down in the Government it is a very clear project now because they see it as good not only for the airport, but for the greater Dublin Area and for the whole country.'

Commenting on the project's importance for the region, and in particular, for Fingal's main economic driver, Dublin Airport, Mr Cooney said: 'It gives us access (to the city centre) which is really what the business community is looking for. The big issue for the airport now, with an annual growth rate of 6%, it will go over 30 million passengers this year and the issue then is how you get people from there, in and out of the city.

'You can't just keep putting on more and more taxis and buses - it's just not doable. It's actually an impediment to the growth of the airport, Fingal and of Dublin and Ireland if we don't have that access. Don't forget that Dublin Airport accounts for 5% of GDP so it is a big player.'

Mr Cooney attended the launch of the public consultation phase of the Metrolink project which bids to link Swords and Sandyford, via Dublin Airport and the City Centre along a new Metro line.

On the project itself, he said: 'It's really a comprehensive project and they seem to have their numbers done on it and the big win for us, as a region is the access it gives us from the estuary, all the way to the south-side of Dublin. It's a real boost for us and it's a boost to the economy.'

He added: 'I think it will be a huge boost to the local economy, not only from the capital investment in the project itself but I think when you get good access from the airport, and when people can go north or south out of the airport very easily, it will encourage people to come here. I know for a fact, from doing business for years, that people always had an issue getting off at the airport and wondering what happens then. There's over 1,000 buses a day coming out of Dublin Airport, let alone the number of taxis and that's something that can't continue.'

Expressing confidence that this is a new dawn and not a false dawn, Mr Cooney said: 'I think it's going to happen. To be honest, I've said it before that it takes us too long in this country to get projects from concept to completion but I think genuinely, we are in a bit of a new dawn here and we are realising it is all about access, it is all about infrastructure. We can't keep attracting FDIs here without putting investment in the country.'Over 1,000 people across Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford are expected to take part in a major collaboration which celebrates the unique character of rural towns and examines how the layout and design of their public spaces impacts on how people engage, gather and move.

The landmark Bring Your Own Chair project is funded by the Arts Council and will foster greater civic engagement and participation in public spaces across the three counties. The community project runs from now until the end of September and focuses on the decline of small towns and revival of traditional meeting places. It will see a performance in 12 parts taking place at three locations this summer following a series of coordinated design, craft and performance scoping workshops and residencies.

In Wexford, participating areas hand-selected to take part are Ballyhack, Taghmon, Bunclody and Courtown.

Visual artist Michelle Browne said organisers want the business, farming and wider community to engage with those traditionally involved in the arts in what is expected to be a major community initiative across the south east region and beyond.

When cinema started out in Ireland, it was also a time when few households had a television set. Cinema-goers or potential television viewers would therefore bring their own chair to a hall or a neighbour's front room to view a film or watch a programme. People attending the pop-up performances will also be required to bring along their own chair and appreciate how while we've come a long way since then, little has actually changed.

The project will highlight the realities of rural living when rural amenities such as post offices, shops, bus routes and schools are closing and people have fewer meeting places.Students Cathy Challoner and Eimear OHagan, with NWSPCA Kennel Manager Stephen Whyte, NWSPCA Fund-Raising Manager Tracy Smith, and teacher Liz Russell from Gorey Community School

A transition year student from Gorey Community School donated 350 last week to the North Wexford SPCA.

Eimear O'Hagan, and her classmates Cathy Challoner and Katie Fitzpatrick, held a fundraiser in the Community School to raise money for the Gorey-based charity.

The animal-loving trio organised the sale of Irish tricolour pins to mark the anniversary of Young Irelander Thomas Meagher.

They discovered through their history class that this year is the 170th anniversary of the flying of the tricolour by Young Irelander Thomas Meagher.

The enterprising transition year girls, led by Eimear, sold the colourful pins in Gorey Community School, which were kindly produced by the Thomas F Meagher Foundation.

The pins were a big hit with the Community School students, many of who could be seen sporting the tricolour badges on their uniforms.

History teacher Liz Russell said it was a great opportunity to re-examine the flag and all its significance to our modern state.

'The tricolour is so ubiquitous, we don't really think about it anymore and yet this project will engender respect and pride in our flag,' added Ms Russell.

The Thomas F Meagher Foundation generously provided the pins, leaving the students to decide on their chosen charity.The future of the Millrace Hotel in Bunclody is in serious jeopardy following widespread reports that the business is to close at the end of this week, bringing 14 years of trading in the town to a conclusion.

The hotel had been listed for sale in July of 2017 with a guide price of 2million, just three years after it was purchased by an 'overseas investor with strong ties to Ireland', who also owned Jury's Hotel in Limerick and the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny.

All three were operated by Dublin based McGettigan Management Services.

Staff were supposedly informed of the impending closure last week, however, management at the hotel cannot be reached for comment on the situation.

Meanwhile, a number of angry customers who had booked their wedding for the Bunclody Hotel have been left devastated and frustrated by a lack of communication, taking to the hotel's Facebook page to vent their fury.

The hotel posted on Thursday that they were having 'technical difficulties' with their phone lines and provided a mobile number for anyone wishing to get in touch. Up until the weekend, it seemed possible to book a room.

Customer Jessica O'Sullivan commented: 'Hi could you please answer my question. I have my wedding booked for June.

'I have heard so much about the hotel closing down. Can you please confirm this?'

Later when she had still received no reply, she said: 'Very unprofessional when people are worried about their wedding. As if we don't have enough to be worrying about.'

A day later, it appears that it had been confirmed that she would have to make alternative arrangements, when she said: 'Have to find somewhere else now. It's ridiculous.'

Another poster, Breda O'Sullivan, said: 'Whoever is in charge of this place, should be ashamed of themselves. So many couples have booked their wedding here and now have to go elsewhere, very unprofessional.'

Finally, a Michelle O'Brien said that she had been told all weddings were cancelled and asked when customers could expect to be refunded, saying that no managers were available to speak to when she called. Similarly, when contacted by this newspaper, the person charged with answering the mobile number said that no manager was available to take the call.

Local councillor Barbara Anne Murphy confirmed that staff had been told that the hotel was closing last week and described the situation as a 'huge loss to Bunclody'.

'It's a devastating blow,' she said. 'In terms of tourism locally, that hotel is worth its weight in gold. They had cut back on staff in recent years, but having said that there were some people, in the gym and that especially, who had been there for ten or twelve years.

'It's a loss to the whole community. There's nowhere now to have dinner dances and functions. People are left worried about their weddings. Some people had paid their gym memberships for the year. I know of one lady who hosted a dance class there and now needs to find somewhere else. It's a real mess.'

Cllr Murphy says that there had been rumours that a consortium from Cork was going to purchase the ailing hotel, but these had failed to materialise. Rumours are now circulating that the hotel is to be turned into a nursing home, however, no planning application has been lodged to change the use of the building and it could prove to be a major undertaking to make the necessary changes to the building.

'Obviously, I'd hate to see the building left idle and become derelict,' said Cllr Murphy. 'But a hotel is defintely of more economic benefit to the area. In terms of bringing tourists to the area it's vital. Obviously if it were to change to a nursing home the staff would all be out of work too. It's such a major blow to the town.'Boats returned to the harbour at Courtown on Saturday as draining and dredging works finally came to an end.

Water levels are now back to normal in the harbour and it will open later this week ahead of its busiest season.

Local councillor Robbie Ireton welcomed the good news and said at the end of the week the harbour will be back to normal.

'They are just finishing off near the entrance of the harbour,' said Cllr Ireton. 'The contractor did a very good job despite the numerous setbacks they had with the bad weather.'

Boat owners were delighted to finally return to the harbour on Saturday, as the harbour had become heavily stilted and almost unusable for the boats that moored there.

The larger yachts were unable to use most of the moorings, and at low tide, many of them were left sitting on the ground, risking great danger.

The draining began late last year, due to the bad weather Ireland experienced in November and December.

It was announced three years ago that Courtown Harbour would be drained and dredged and it is four decades since it was last completely drained of its water.

Delays on the dredging project have long been a source of frustration for harbour users.

The work involved included the damming of the harbour and diversion of the two rivers - the Ounavarra River and Aughboy River.

The contractor then pumped out the water in the harbour to sea, before repairing and re-pointing the harbour walls.A fun and thrilling night is promised along with the chance to win thousands with the Ballycanew-Ballyoughter Community Development Association 'Who Wants to be a Thousandaire' event.

The 'Who Wants to be a Thousandaire' show, created by Pallas Marketing, has attracted large audiences all over Ireland over the past 16 years. Now for the first time Ballycanew/Ballyoughter will have its opportunity to play for big money on Saturday, May 5, at 8 p.m., in the Ashdown Park Hotel.

Ten lucky contestants will be drawn exclusively from the audience on May 5 to have the opportunity to play for 1,000 on the night.

With the well-loved '50/50' and 'Ask the Audience' favourites along with video-linked 'Phone a Friend' option to assist in answering the more difficult questions, 'Who Wants to be a Thousandaire' is the full game show experience from start to finish.

CEO of Gorey Chamber of Commerce Diarmuid Devereux said all proceeds will go towards local facilities in Ballycanew.A large crowd gathered in Gorey Library recently for the North Wexford Historical Society's talk on Major Willie Redmond.

Historian Jarlath Glynn delivered a very well received lecture entitled 'Redmond 100' about the life and death of Major Redmond.

Major Redmond, brother of John Redmond the Wexford politician and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, was killed at the Battle of Messines Ridge in June, 1917, at the age of 57.

At the outbreak of World War One, John called on the Irish Volunteers to enlist in the new British Army in the hope that this would strengthen the cause of implementing the Home Rule Act, suspended for the duration of the war.

This caused a split in the Volunteers movement and Willie, who was also an MP, was the first to volunteers for the army as a member of the National Volunteers.

As an MP Willie was an outspoken and passionate Irish nationalist. He was one of the first wave of nationalists who sat for an Ulster seat in Westminster. His years as an MP for North Fermanagh affected him and made him realise how difficult it would be for Ulster unionists to accept Home Rule. His death made a greater international impact than the death of any other British soldier at the time. He was buried in outside the official war cemetery in Locre, Belgium where his fellow troops are buried.Pictured at the launch of Don ONeills fundraising dinner dance, in memory of his mother Mim ONeill and in aid of Recovery Haven Kerry, are (l-r) Ballyroe Heights Hotel manager Jonathan Collins, Recovery Haven Pr & Marketing Manager Marisa Reidy, Pascal Guillermie, Pascal Guillermie, designer Don ONeill, and best-dressed lady judge Orla Diffily. Photo by Domnick Walsh

Fashion Designer to the stars, Don O'Neill, will return to his culinary past for one night only this July for what promises to be an unforgettable fundraising event in memory of his beloved mother, Mim O'Neill.

The renowned designer, who trained as a chef before embarking on a stellar fashion career, has joined forces with cancer support charity Recovery Haven Kerry to host a spectacular dinner dance at Ballyroe Heights Hotel, Tralee on Friday, July 20.

The Ballyheigue designer, who lost his mother to cancer in 2012, will be joined by family, friends and loyal supporters to celebrate his beloved mother Mim on the eve of her sixth anniversary, where he will set a stunning four-course dinner menu of her favourite dishes.

A number of local businesses have also eagerly come on board to sponsor six remarkable spot prizes, which include a half day 'For Ladies Only' spa package for two at Nadur Spa at Ballygarry House Hotel, including a two-course lunch in the Brasserie and a table d'hote dinner in Restaurant 58; an exquisite pamper package from Expose Beauty; a stunning gold Fuschia (Mim's favourite flower) pendant from Brian de Staic Jewellers; and a 200 holiday voucher courtesy of Noreen Lane Travel Counsellors.

In addition, there will be two amazing hotel getaways up for grabs, including an overnight stay and full Irish breakfast for two at the five-star Dromoland Castle, and two nights' B&B for two people at Limerick's four-star Absolute Hotel.

And while fashion will be off Don's menu that evening, it should certainly be a top priority for the lady attendees, as the best dressed lady - chosen by Orla Diffily- will win a dream prize of a THEIA evening gown of her choice, kindly donated by Don.

The event will kick off with a champagne and cocktail reception at 6.30pm. Upon arrival, guests will have the opportunity to be photographed with Don and Pascal on the red carpet .

"Although my mom was not well enough to use Recovery Haven, as she had only three months from diagnosis to passing, the charity is a cause close to our hearts," Don said. "My dad and my brother went there for counselling after my mom passed away and my cousin Jackie Crowe, to whom Pascal and I were very close, completely availed of their services and raved about them during her brave fight with cancer.

"Cancer affects way, way too many families and we are all blindsided by it, not knowing where to turn, what to do or how to even begin to cope. Thankfully we have Recovery Haven in Kerry to offer support, advice, counselling and many therapeutic treatments to comfort cancer patients who are undergoing treatment or are in recovery, as well as providing support to their families."

Close friend of the couple and Recovery Haven PR & Marketing officer, Marisa Reidy, said the excitement surrounding the event is already incredible, adding that the charity is indebted to Don and Pascal and the extended O'Neill family for their amazing support.

"When Don and Pascal agreed to come on board with us to organise a fund-raiser we were absolutely over the moon, but when they came up with the idea of honouring Mim and making it so personal, we were truly humbled," Marisa said.

"That Don, Pascal and the O'Neill family thought so highly of Recovery Haven to make this amazing gesture is an absolute privilege for us and we cannot wait for what promises to be a truly unforgettable night."

Tickets for this unique event, priced at 75 each, are now available from Recovery Haven at 5 Haig's Terrace, Tralee on 066 7192122 or via email at: marisa@recoveryhavenkerry.com

Guests of the event can also avail of a special overnight accommodation rate by phoning Ballyroe Heights Hotel on 066 7126796Silence is golden - and imperative for survival - in John Krasinski's nerve-shredding horror thriller about a family battling against sightless otherworldly creatures, which hunt by sound.

A single sneeze or cough could be fatal, and the lean, propulsive script co-written by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and Krasinski takes sadistic delight in prickling our discomfort till we're ready to scream on the characters' behalf.

In the opening hour, A Quiet Place is a masterclass in old-fashioned scares and suspense including a horrific scene with a nail protruding from a wooden basement staircase, which begs to be glimpsed through trembling fingers.

The gasp-inducing pay-off is telegraphed in advance and Krasinski confidently tightens the screw with slickly engineered set pieces, which punctuate the heart-rending human drama. In the absence of dialogue, the film relies on beautifully calibrated gestures to convey emotion.

Krasinski's real-life wife Emily Blunt delivers a powerhouse performance as a mother hen, who is dedicated to preparing her children for a bleak future without her guiding influence.

She gels magnificently with expressive young co-stars Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, who milk every tear and shudder of anguish from their characters' nightmarish predicament.

Eighty-nine days after first contact with the monsters, resourceful father Lee Abbott (Krasinski), his wife Evelyn (Blunt), deaf daughter Regan (Simmonds), eldest son Marcus (Jupe) and four-year-old Beau (Cade Woodward) have adapted to the omnipresent threat.

The family communicates via sign language and silently scours for provisions in abandoned stores, treading carefully on paths of sand to dampen the gentle thud of bare feet.

Alas, the electronic beeps from a battery-powered space shuttle toy prove little Beau's downfall.

More than a year later, the Abbotts regroup in grief under the eaves of an old farmhouse.

Evelyn is heavily pregnant and a newborn baby's cries could draw the hunters to their provision-stocked hiding place unless they can sound-proof the basement.

Time is of the essence and Lee actively involves Regan and Marcus in preparing escape routes and diversion tactics.

Despite these best laid plans, Evelyn fears her brood will lose the deadly game of hide and seek.

'Who are we if we can't protect them?' she tearfully pleads with her spouse.

A Quiet Place bides its time, relishing nervous calms before the storm of sickening violence that consumes the final act.

Tense sequences in a grain silo and a water-logged nursery draw favourable comparisons with the Jurassic Park and Alien franchises.

The script's logic frays in places - it's unlikely a mattress would keep the beasties at bay and the Abbotts' newborn conveniently slumbers through some of the tensest exchanges without a single giveaway gurgle.

However, it's impossible not to be held in a vice-like grip by the family's white-knuckle ordeal.

Don't speak, don't breathe, and pray. Silently.Boat owners have been warned they face prosecution if they continue to organise trips to an historic island off the Sligo coast.

In a letter sent by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, boat owners were warned that the Marine Survey Office does not allow plying consent to the island due to "concerns for safety during embarking and disembarking at the island."

The department has warned boat owners who provide regular trips for visitors that until suitable landing facilities were in place this practice must cease "with immediate effect or the Marine Survey Office will have no alternative but to prosecute the vessel owner."

The department stated that it was aware the boat owners were advertising trips to the island.

The matter was raised at Monday's meeting of the County Council where Cllr Declan Bree said the small number of commercial boat owners who provide visitors with the opportunity of visiting Inishmurray Island were informed last week by the Marine Survey Office that they could no longer bring visitors to the island.

"Needless to say the boat operators and people involved in the local tourism trade in North Sligo are shocked at this move which comes at a time when Sligo is attempting to grow the numbers of tourists visiting the area.

"For 1500 years inhabitants of the island and people visiting embarked and disembarked at the natural harbours at the island, particularly at Clashymore.

"In days gone by horses, sheep and cattle and kegs of the best illicit whiskey were transported from the natural harbours on the island.

"To my knowledge, in living memory there has never been a fatality or serious injury to anyone while embarking or disembarking at the island.

"In this context I am at a loss to understand why this warning and threat of prosecution has been issued by the Department.

"This decision essentially stops the families of those who lived on the island up until 1948 from visiting the island in future.

"It also blocks all others who wish to visit the islands historically important early Christian monastic settlement.

Given that the Department has stated that passenger boats will not be allowed visit the island until suitable landing facilities are in place I believe there is now an onus on the Department and on Minister Shane Ross, to provide a suitable landing facility as a matter of urgency.," he said.

Cllr Bree proposed that the council asks the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when his Department intended to provide the mooring facilities at Inishmurray Island.

Inishmurray is an uninhabited island situated about four miles off the North Sligo coast and there are remains of an early Irish monastic settlement there.Aurivo has taken a decision to close its four marts following an incident last Saturday morning when a farmer was seriously injured when apparently attacked by a bull.

Investigations are underway after the incident involving a farmer in his 70s who was airlifted to Sligo University Hospital.

Aurivo has announced that its four livestock marts at Ballymote, Mohill, Ballinrobe and Balla will remain closed this week following the accident.

In a notice published in this week's The Sligo Champion, Aurivo says it apologies for any inconvenience caused to its customers.

"The decision taken by management is prudent as the health and safety of our customers, members and employees is of paramount importance," the notice states.

Investigations into the incident are underway by the Co-op and the Health and Safety Authority is also believed to have been informed.

In a statement, an Aurivo spokesperson said: "The gentleman concerned was airlifted from the site by the emergency services to Sligo University Hospital and his condition is being monitored.

"Management and staff at Aurivo will offer their full support to the gentleman and his family, and will be co-operating with the relevant authorities as an investigation is conducted into the accident."Surfers from around Europe will be gathering in Sligo this month to tackle the problem of plastics being dumped in the oceans.

The contentious topics of beach pollution and marine waste are among the issues that will be covered in a busy weekend of talks, films and presentations that celebrate surfing, marine photography and the art and music that go along with the surf lifestyle.

Taking place from April 20-22 at The Model in Sligo, this is the sixth year of the Shore Shots Irish Surf Festival with guests and speakers arriving from all the world's surf capitals to take part.

Award winning photographer George Karbus will deliver a talk on his time swimming with Orcas in the Arctic while South African waterman Ian Mitchinson will be talking about his time documenting the Irish surf scene and the big wave pioneers of our own west coast.

Sunday April 22nd is also Earth Day at the festival, part of a global initiative to raise awareness of environmental and green issues that are affecting surfers and communities around the planet.

To mark it, there will be a special screening of the award-winning movie A Plastic Ocean, along with a talk chaired by Irish Climate Ambassador Niamh Smyth and a panel of activists and environmentalists.

Surfer and activist Easkey Britton will be hosting a story-telling workshop on the Saturday while top film-makers while be introducing their films across the weekend as well as showcasing their latest works in surf and photography.

Saturday at the festival is a fun-filled day out of movies, talks and short films celebrating the Irish surf lifestyle that will also be previewed on the Wild Atlantic Way Instagram account over the coming weeks.

Also included in the festival is live music, a pub trail around Sligo and a book launch for pioneering Donegal-based artist Barry Britton.

Festival organiser Allan Mulrooney said: The reason we think the event has survived into its sixth year is because it brings the community together under one roof to celebrate a common love for the ocean."The welcome news that the Sligo Leitrim Mountain Rescue Team (SLMRT) has recovered the equipment that had been stolen from them recently was a positive note on which to end the week.

The surge of public support which was very evident online in the week or so since the equipment went missing from the service's base in Sligo underlines the importance the public sees in this vital service, and our anger towards those who think it's acceptable to put lives at risk in this way.

At least the SLMRT can return to doing what they have been doing every day and night for the past 25 years or so, that is provide a free, 24 hour service to anyone who walk or climb the mountains for recreational or other purposes.

No matter what level of expertise a walker or mountaineer has, it's always reassuring to know that a highly skilled team is just a phone call away if you get into bother while out on the mountain.

The robbery also serves to remind us of how challenging it is for the team of volunteers involved with the SLMRT to stay on top of the rising costs of maintaining this service.

At the start of the year, Sligo Walks heard from members of the team who described the work they do.

The interview was done on a dark and wet evening as the team was about to head out on a training exercise while the rest of us were looking forward to putting the feet up at home for the evening.

Like most people involved in voluntary groups, they spoke enthusiastically about the work they do and the service provided to the public, but they did also speak about the challenges of maintaining the service in the face of rising costs.

They receive some public funding - almost all of which is set against their annual insurance costs.

This means that outside of donations and occasional once-off grants, all of the funding they need to run the service, buy and service equipment, is done by the team themselves and their supporters.

On average the team is called out to help members of the public at least once a month, and these incidents can range in gravity from the straightforward to the extreme - but often they will not know until they are on site what degree of difficulty is to be overcome to effect a successful rescue, and how long that operation might last for.

To have to set out without some of their most important equipment would have meant not only heightening the risk

for those being rescued, but I'm sure could also have put the rescue team itself into even more challenging situations than they would have expected.

So, thanks to the great work done in co-operation with the Gardai, the SLMTR can now resume their duties in the coming days.

And if this distasteful incident had one other positive outcome, it heightened the awareness of the importance of the work that rescue teams all around the country do to keep members of the public safe.

We owe them - and their colleagues around the north west who were on standby while the equipment was missing - a debt of gratitude for their continued service to the walking and mountaineering communities.

On social media during the week, people had organized some fundraising events in light of the robbery, and it's good to see that despite the happy outcome, these events will still go ahead.

It's also worth pointing out that there are three main events which take place every year to raise funds for the SLMRT. The first of these takes place next month - a pub quiz in Connolly's Bar in Sligo on May 26th at 8pm.

All are welcome, just turn up on the night. Teams of 4, cost 20.

The annual Ben Bulben night walk will take place on July 15th next and registration is now open on www.sligoleitrimmrt.ie.

The next street collection will take place in October, so if you see a member of the SLMRT on a corner holding a bucket, give as generously as you can to sustain a vital - and often forgotten - service that any of us might need some day.Almost 1.5 tonnes of litter was collected along the N4 dual carriageway in Sligo. Pic: Donal Hackett

Almost 1.5 tonnes of litter was gathered from alongside the N4 dual carriageway before the Easter break, the April meeting of Sligo County Council was told yesterday (Monday).

Director of Infrastructure, Environment and Fire Services Tom Kilfeather was responding to a motion from Cllr Sinead Maguire which called for the organisation of teams to pick litter from roadsides, or for the council to assist local community groups in their efforts.

Cllr Maguire said that the litter issue is particularly apparent at present on roadsides, but acknowledged the "remarkable" work that community groups such as the Tidy Towns do in their respective areas.

Cllr Hubert Keaney called for an awareness or education campaign in relation to littering, while Cllr Michael Clarke said it could be useful to designate a day for communities to engage in a countywide clean-up.

Mr Kilfeather said that twice yearly a council team helps collect litter from the roadsides of the N4, and also confirmed that funding had been made available for the cleaning of Carrowtemple Bog and Rathbraughan in Sligo town.

Responding to a question from Cllr Maguire about the possible use of CCTV for monitoring littering, Mr Kilfeather said the council has used cameras already in certain areas and this has resulted in prosecutions. Cllr Maguire also called on the Council to apply for funding to implement anti-dumping initiatives at known black spots to stamp out illegal dumping.Meet Theo Ford  the Irish star of adult film who says his wholesome Waterford upbringing nurtured his sexuality and inspired his 130-movie career in international porn.

Theo, 29, travels the world on a French passport but he credits his teenage years spent in Waterford city for allowing him to safely explore his sexuality and instill the confidence needed to take on a successful career in X-rated film.

Born to French parents in Nice, Theo and his sister spent their secondary years in Munster, as his father's work brought the family to Ireland.

After a brief stint in Dublin City University, a 19-year-old Theo was signed to a French modelling agency in 2007 and moved to Paris.

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In 2013, the then 24-year-old was approached by an adult film producer who had come across his pictures.

Since landing his first role, Theo has starred in 130 films and travelled the globe, settling in stints in Sydney, Los Angeles and New York.

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Speaking to Independent.ie, Theo said: I grew up in Waterford in the most incredible environment thanks to the private Quaker school I attended. Waterford was such a safe environment to grow up in and explore my sexuality.

It was a boarding school but I was a day pupil as I lived just down the road. We had huge freedoms and I took my fair share of it, and then some. I was allowed to grow into myself in the most special ways and for that I will be eternally blessed. Even though I dont limit myself to nationality I always say Im Irish.

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When I moved to Paris I was signed to a modelling agency. I had professional pictures online and those caught the attention of a producer for a new studio. When he contacted me online I didnt know what to think. I guess my deeply curious nature just wanted to hear him out. I had no idea what was to come.

That first time on set, I was petrified. Im not exactly sure what happened. I think I left my body half way through. Thankfully I kept filming and I became a true professional and a hard worker pun intended. I love being on set now. I feel fulfilled. I know what I am doing.

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While unwilling to discuss income, Theo divulges that he is paid by scene, which can range from a few hundred pounds to a few thousand depending on the films budget and take between two hours and a whole day to film.

And while his latest flick Paris Perfect, in which he plays an insatiable French butler, has been nominated in several categories at the Grabby Awards (the Oscars of gay porn), Theo sees the fun in some of the more quirky roles hes taken on.

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Most of the time Im goofing around and making jokes. Mostly to the dismay of my producers.

I shot an incredible series for the studio MEN.COM, it was a parody of Game of Thrones called Gay of Thrones. I played the male version of Red Priestess Melisandre.

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Naturally, Theo says his career is extremely physically demanding and he works out daily, often with a trainer, to make sure his rock hard abs are a permanent fixture.

But his mental health can be harder to keep in check.

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The star  who goes by an alias to protect his personal life  said he was devastated when his short-lived marriage to an American model ended in divorce in 2016.

When I moved to Sydney that was to please my husband at the time. We separated soon after moving there and I sent him back home to Los Angeles.

That left me deeply alone and truly scared. I cannot recollect a time where I felt so raw emotionally. On top of it all I was in a foreign land where my differences were not celebrated.

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Thankfully my resilience has held me together.

You shed your soul on camera and that can be taxing so you really do need to feel empowered and in control of yourself.

I have been filming much less which is essential to build myself back up after the tough couple of years I have had.

While he often tackles his career with his tongue in cheek, Theo is very serious when it comes to sexual health and refuses to work with studios who dont prioritise safety.

HIV-negative Theo has been open about taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily drug which dramatically reduces the risk of a contracting the infection, and says it has made the adult film world a much safer professional space.

For me it is essential to be in control of my own health.

There are some studios who do not care at all about testing models. For me that is simply heinous and simply a gross negligence.

Some studios will either lie or not care so they can shoot the scene they want. With regular testing, PrEP and condoms the industry is mainly a safe environment to be in which I am grateful for.

The star has amassed almost 120k fans on Twitter and Instagram and says a hugely positive aspect of his career has been to help educate younger LGBTQ youth.

I have amazing fans. I would never be here without them. They send me so much love and support especially through social media. They are so loving and respectful that I can only be thankful in return.

To me the most valuable part of my career is having a platform to promote education," said Theo who has also studied fashion design at Studio Bercot in Paris and creative writing at London City University in the past.

Education encompasses sexual health, diversity, acceptance, and tearing down misconceptions.

I was given a voice through my job to promote positivity and its simply about speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves; showing people you can be happy and successful no matter what path you want to take.

The sculpted star, who now bases himself in London, said hes lucky to have been surrounded by family who are supportive of his career.

My family knows. They find it somewhat interesting. My sister is my biggest supporter. She is smart enough to see my career for what it is.

I make my own way in life so they are happy I am accomplished and proud to own who I am and what I do.

Theos job might be a far cry from the standard nine to five, but his aspirations are closer to earth.

Id love to learn a fourth language if my brain can cope and I would like to get married again for sure and start a family with the man I love and continue my travels.

Theo says his future travels will certainly take him back home to Waterford which he has mentally made a priority.

I had a family weekend last October in Waterford which was very pleasant. I do need to make it a priority to come back on a more regular basis.

Theres amazing places to film in Ireland after all!Born in the USA: Elizabeth Bruenig came into the world during the first Gulf War in 1991, where a soldier looks on as the Kuwaiti oil fields burn after Saddam Husseins Iraqi forces set them ablaze

I was born during a war, though you wouldn't have known it. There was clean water and electricity and nutrition enough to see an eight-pound baby girl into the world on a cold December night in Texas. It was the Gulf War. The devastation was somewhere over there, not here.

Two more wars began before I went into middle school; one ended - formally, anyway - after I had gone to college. The other continues to this day.

While I was in college, we took military action in Libya, too. Again, there was no rupture on the home front, no rationing. There were more proximate troubles at home: the 2008 financial crisis, for instance, which directly imperilled more Americans than all the far-flung, never-ending war. It hurt in a way anyone could see.

Whatever the reason - maybe it is because the wars tend to bleed together now in a haze of background noise; maybe it is because their pretexts are increasingly flimsy; maybe it is because more than half of Americans feel we failed in Iraq - these late wars have coincided with a wide demoralisation of the American people. Confidence in our national institutions is historically low; so is trust in our government.

Perhaps because we were so often told it was necessary to wage war to build democracies an entire generation now seems disenchanted with the very system. We have been spared combat on the home front, but we have been damaged all the same.

Nonetheless, we find ourselves on the verge of uncertain escalation in Syria. Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump tweeted: "Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!' You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"

Currently, Trump has committed himself (as much as tweets commit a person) only to retaliatory missile strikes to enforce international norms against the use of chemical weapons. But Trump himself has also warned in the past that escalating involvement in Syria could be the prelude to a longer, more embroiled entanglement, and all the White House can promise for the moment is that "all options are on the table".

Meanwhile, hawks have lately been gathering around the president; with "ultra-hawk" John Bolton advising Trump on national security, it is difficult to tell which impulses - or whose - will win out. With this administration, plans and execution are often wildly different, and not always in predictable ways; it is sensible at this point to consider the possibility of something more than symbolic strikes.

All the usual reasons to resist bombing still exist. All those remote wars that leave American soil undisturbed still ravage the territories of the nations on the unhappy receiving end of our engagement, and soak the ground in blood - theirs and ours. It isn't at all clear that, at this point, escalating military intervention would actually save lives or accomplish any humanitarian goals.

Even if it were possible to conceive of a kind of military intervention that would achieve those goals, it would be madness to entrust that kind of precision to our current administration.

There is the possibility of provoking a spiralling conflict with Russia, triggering further escalation.

Then there are the souls still trapped in place. If the US is bent on turning away refugees, and European politics has already lurched toward incipient fascism in response to their own influxes, what will become of a new wave driven from their homes by a war that never seems to end?

None of this is to suggest the horrors inflicted on the Syrian people are minor or acceptable, or humanitarian aid is inappropriate; it just is not clear to me that expanded American military intervention would leave conditions much better, or we are at all in any shape to try, either practically or morally.

The moral sense is worth emphasising. Trump's White House is characterised not only by permanent chaos but constantly shifting flickers of vision - will it be right-populism, typical business conservatism, ultra-patriotic nationalism or something else?

One waits to find out each day, which doesn't bode well for a regime contemplating military action. Moreover, Trump's campaign - and his presidency - both rested on his gleeful indifference to people fleeing violence, be they immigrants from the global south or refugees from the Middle East.

In what world could his administration be expected to become a just steward of their interests now? Is it really possible a government that can't rush to turn back or exile the helpless fast enough has the moral capability to attempt any kind of just war, much less the practical means to carry it out? I doubt it.

And I worry. Careful restraint is harder than impulsive action; doubting one's own moral capacities harder than ignoring the matter.

This means that governments least equipped to execute just action on the international stage may be the most likely to give it a try anyway, no matter its cost in blood and souls. ( Washington Post)A group of adorable therapy dogs are being brought into Vancouver International Airport to help ease the stress and anxiety that travellers may encounter on their journeys.

Seven pups, including two labradors, a Newfoundland landseer, a great Pyrenees and a shih tzu, make up the group of ambassador dogs from the airports newly launched Less Airport Stress Initiative (Lasi).

Norman, aka Big Norm, Bailey, Kermode, Molly, Grover, Mira and Soda are on hand to offer support, and it sounds as though their presence is making the terminal itself an ideal holiday destination.

#BIGNORM is now my favourite part of my favourite airport #YVRhasdogsnow https://t.co/3g88JKGbxY  Rebecca Bollwitt (@Miss604) August 24, 2017

I leaving on a jetplane, but petting a dog first - love it, and Norman :) @yvrairport @dog_rates pic.twitter.com/vaNNpwdcO2  Kimanda Jarzebiak (@KimandaJ) August 23, 2017

The scheme, which has brought in five dogs from the St John Ambulance Therapy Dog Programme, aims to uplift passengers and provide some furry relief during travels.

The programme has been incredibly well-received with passengers requesting visits via social media while they wait, and Norman aka #BIGNORM becoming a bona fide rockstar in the process, a spokesman for the airport told the Press Association.

Meet Norm:

@dog_rates please note Big Norm is now in the house at YVR! #BIGNORM is part of our LASI program and is for sure 13/10 doggo. pic.twitter.com/9SeQjFgfOT  YVR (@yvrairport) August 23, 2017

The dogs have been quite the hit on social media, drawing attention from passengers of all ages.

The best part about the initiative? The dogs are trained to play and interact with people, so will happily receive all the pats, nose boops and belly rubs theyre given.

The puppers will roam the terminal, alongside their minders, during weekdays. They are set apart by their St John Ambulance bandannas, which have their names emblazoned on them.THE United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the Cold war is back with a vengeance, as he issues a warning that the world is at risk of full-blown military escalation over the latest suspected chemical attack in Syria.

Speaking during the second meeting of the Security Council this week on the conflict in Syria and possible missile strikes by the West, Mr Guterres said: Increasing tensions and the inability to reach a compromise in the establishment of an accountability mechanism threaten to lead to a full-blown military escalation if parties cannot figure out a way to agree on how to investigate the claims of a 7 April chemical weapons attack on the Syrian town of Douma during which 60 people died and up to a 1,000 were injured.

Mr Guterres said: "The Cold War is back with a vengeance, but with a difference. The mechanisms and the safeguards to manage the risks of escalation that existed in the past no longer seem to be present."

In a moment of hope, the Security Council adopted a resolution for a humanitarian pause, he said, adding that unfortunately, no such pause actually took place as Syrians continue to face a litany of horrors.

Russia, the main opposition to setting up an independent investigation mechanism within the UN, has said the US and its allies are simply using this diplomatic chaos as a pretext for an attack on Syria.

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The Secretary-General reiterated his support for an investigation being carried out by the Organisation on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), who sent one team already in the conflict zone with another expected to be there in the next few days. However, Russia has argued specifically over what US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has called an attribution mechanism, an investigation to figure out which party actually carried out the supposed chemical weapons attack.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya turned the focus to the bellicose rhetoric of the US and Mr Trumps hint at a possible missile strike akin to what took place last April after a chemical attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, adding that not only the use of force, the threat of force, flies in the face of the UN charter. He spared no words of caution to US allies as well, saying: There are those with tacit consent that are...possibly becoming complicit in a possible military misadventure.

Mr Nebenzya said the US was, as a result, unworthy of a permanent seat on the Security Council. At the last Syria meeting, both Ms Haley and Karen Pierce, UK Ambassador to the UN, had questioned the credibility of Russias membership to the group as well.

The right to sabre-rattle ... Does not exist in international law, Mr Nebenzya forcefully said, adding that setting up the investigation and presenting resolutions in front of the Security Council the US and its allies know will not pass are just part smokescreens  the real goal is to oust the Syrian government.

He brought up issues of the Iraq war and the US using test tubes as evidence of weapons of mass destruction and justification for defying the Security Council. It is Russias contention that the Douma attack was simply staged by anti-government forces, forces who have an interest in the development of such events and the US is supporting terrorists against the legal government of Syria.

He said neither the residents of Douma nor Russian investigators found evidence of an attack and had weighty justification to believe, we have even information to believe, that what took place is a provocation of participation of certain countries intelligence services.

Ms Haley, in a response statement said: Im in awe, Vasily, of how you say that with a straight face.

As US Defence Secretary James Mattis has also repeatedly said, Russia has failed to guarantee the removal of chemical weapons in Syria, and under a 2013 agreement in fact it did the opposite Ms Haley said. The US estimated that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons 50 times in Syria  with public estimates as high as 200, Ms Haley added.

It is Russia alone that used its veto six times to prevent the condemnation of use of chemical weapons in Syria, she noted. We must not stay silent in the face of chemical weapons use in our own time, Ms Haley said as she recounted the horrors of chemical weapons use during the First and Second World Wars. No country can be allowed to use chemical weapons with impunity, she added.

Though she agreed with Mr Guterres point that there is probably not a single military solution to the Syrian conflict, at one point you have to do something, she said. She did not address Mr Trumps tweets and public statements threatening to attack, however. Our president has not yet made a decision about possible action in Syria. But should the US and our allies decide to act in Syria, it will be in defence of a principle on which we all agree. All nations and all people will be harmed if we allow [Mr] Assad to normalise the use of chemical weapons, she said. Mr Trump tweeted the attack could happen soon or not so soon at all.

France has said it has proof that Mr Assads government used chemical weapons in the attack in Douma. Frances ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre, told the Security Council that the Syrian governments decision to use chemical weapons again meant they had reached a point of no return.

The world must provide a robust, united and steadfast response, he said. Since 2015 France has carried out air strikes against Islamic State in Syria as part of allied forces linked to the US-led coalition, conducting about 5 per cent of total coalition air missions.

Mr Guterres urged all members that the norms against chemical weapons must be held. He had warned last year to avoid the situation spiralling out of control  the exact situation we face today.The Russian Defence Ministry has accused Britain of staging a fake chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma last weekend.

A day before a team from the international chemical weapons watchdog was to arrive in Douma, just east of Damascus, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said images of victims of the purported attack were fakes staged with "Britain's direct involvement", without providing evidence.

White Helmets first-responder volunteer and activists claimed the alleged chemical attack on April 7 by the Syrian government killed over 40 people.

Gen Konashenkov released statements by medics from Douma's hospital who said a group of people toting video cameras entered the hospital, shouting its patients were struck with chemical weapons, dousing them with water and causing panic.

According to the statements, the medics said none of the patients had any symptoms of chemical poisoning.

Expand Close A young boy keeps an hand on the family luggage as Syrian families gather at a camp for displaced people from Douma yesterday. Photo: Nazeer al-Khatib/Getty / Facebook

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Gen Konashenkov said "powerful pressure from London was exerted on representatives of the so-called White Helmets to quickly stage the premeditated provocation".

He added the Russian military has proof of British involvement, but didn't immediately present it.

The accusations followed an earlier statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said that "intelligence agencies of a state that is now striving to spearhead a Russo-phobic campaign were involved in that fabrication". He didn't elaborate or name the state.

Mr Lavrov said Russian experts have already inspected the site of the alleged attack and found no trace of chemical weapons, adding without elaboration that Moscow has "irrefutable information that it was another fabrication".

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his "deep concerns" over the situation in Syria in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Macron called for dialogue between France and Russia to "continue and intensify" to bring peace and stability to Syria. The Kremlin's readout said Mr Putin warned against rushing to blame the Syrian government before conducting a "thorough and objective probe".

The Russian leader warned against "ill-considered and dangerous actions...that would have consequences beyond conjecture."

Presidents Putin and Macron instructed their foreign and defence ministers to maintain close contact to "de-escalate the situation", the Kremlin claimed.

Russian officials - both from Moscow and speaking at the United Nations - alleged soon after Saturday's suspected attack that the images of the victims in Douma were fake.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also said following Syrian rebels' withdrawal from the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, stockpiles of chemical agents were found there. The ministry pointed to previous alleged use of chemicals by the rebels in fighting with Syrian government troops.

Mr Lavrov reiterated a strong warning against military action in Syria, saying any such "adventures" would increase flows of refugees into Europe.

In a reference to the US, he said that "it would only benefit those who are protected by the ocean and expect to sit there and engage in continuous efforts to stir up the region in order to advance their geopolitical goals".What will Hungary under a Viktor Orban riding high on his fourth term as prime minister look like? An assessment of the campaign that led to his far-right Fidesz party and its allies garnering more than 49pc of the votes cast in last weekend's election offers some clues.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which deployed observers to the poll, described the run-up as marked by "intimidating and xenophobic rhetoric, media bias and opaque campaign financing", with Hungary's public TV channel "clearly favouring the ruling coalition".

I observed the hollowing out of Hungarian media during Orban's three consecutive terms in office (he also held the post from 1998 to 2002 and now holds the record for the country's longest serving prime minister since the end of communism) through the stories of friends who worked as journalists there. Several have now changed careers, unwilling to participate any longer in what they see as an ugly charade.

And it's not just the media. As the 'New York Times' recently reported, schoolbooks have also been infused with Orban's own particular brand of xenophobia. In the latest edition of a history book compiled for 13-year-olds, refugees are presented as a threat to Hungary. "It can be problematic for different cultures to co-exist," the school text reads.

Orban's version of "illiberal democracy" has not just delivered him a landslide victory at home, it has made him a totemic figure for the far-right elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's former strategist, described Orban as a hero during a recent tour of Europe. Bannon hailed Orban as "the most significant guy on the scene right now".

Last Sunday's election gave Orban and his allies a two-thirds majority in parliament, giving Orban an even stronger mandate to tweak Hungary's constitution to suit his authoritarian agenda, undermine the independence of the judiciary and further restrict the media.

His party could also push through what is known as the "stop Soros" law - a reference to George Soros, the Hungarian-American billionaire and philanthropist - which could effectively ban non-governmental organisations without government approval, particularly those that work on migration issues or are deemed a "national security risk".

Orban has been clamouring to shut down the Central European University - founded by Soros - which has become a hub of anti-Orban activism.

The Orban campaign against Soros has been criticised by human rights groups for its anti-Semitic messaging.

It was in Hungary's small towns and their rural hinterlands that Orban's party polled best last weekend and where the central theme of his campaign - a shrill call against immigration which Orban describes as "infiltration by Islamic invaders" - seems to have resonated most, despite the fact that less than 6pc of the country's population is foreign-born.

It's not just rhetoric. In pledging to "keep Hungary as Hungary" as he puts it, Orban has refused to participate in the EU's 2015 quota plan which aimed to resettle migrants across the bloc to help ease the burden on member states like Italy and Greece.

During his election campaign, Orban indicated he would attempt to amend Hungary's constitution in order to side-step this quota system.

He also built a barrier along Hungary's border with Croatia and Serbia to keep migrants out, a move that appalled many inside and out of the country but which appealed to his base.

Orban - buoyed by his resounding electoral victory - is likely to adopt an even more confrontational approach when it comes to dealing with Brussels this time round.

He has already declared since Sunday's election he intends to further undermine the EU and oppose what he calls attempts to develop a "United States of Europe".

Not everyone is anxious about what Orban's Hungary means for the EU. His fellow travellers in the European far-right applauded his win. And his anti-immigration stance is shared with those currently governing Poland and Austria and is also likely to chime with whatever coalition might emerge in Italy after its recent elections.

How much such elements - with their varying hues of Euroscepticism - can forge common purpose beyond shared rhetoric remains to be seen but taken together they are a reminder that while Emmanuel Macron's election in France last year was a reality check for what appeared to be a wave of ultra-nationalism, such sentiment still exists and is strengthening in certain corners of the continent.Yulia Skripal had her emails hacked by Russia for five years. Photo: AP

Downing Street yesterday took the highly unusual decision to release previously classified information about the Salisbury poisonings in order to debunk Russian propaganda.

In a letter to Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, Theresa May's national security adviser gave the most detailed assessment to date of why the UK has blamed Russia for the attack.

The letter from Mark Sedwill set out in clinical terms why Russia had the means, the experience and the motive to carry out the attempted murders of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Scientists at Porton Down defence laboratory identified the nerve agent used in the March 4 attack as belonging to the Novichok family, a finding which was confirmed by Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) investigators on Thursday.

Mr Sedwill made clear in his letter that "a combination of credible open-source reporting and intelligence shows that in the 1980s the Soviet Union developed a new class of 'fourth generation' nerve agents, known as Novichoks".

Russia claimed to have destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles but the letter says it has "produced and stockpiled" small quantities of Novichok "within the last decade".

It added: "The Russian state has previously produced Novichoks and would still be capable of doing so.

"Russia's chemical weapons programme continued after the collapse of the Soviet Union. By 1993, when Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), it is likely that some Novichoks had passed acceptance testing, allowing their use by the Russian military.

"Russia further developed some Novichoks after ratifying the convention. It is highly unlikely that any former Soviet republic (other than Russia) pursued an offensive chemical weapons programme after independence. It is unlikely that Novichoks could be made and deployed by non-state actors (eg a criminal or terrorist group), especially at the level of purity confirmed by OPCW."

The origin of the nerve agent has been a source of intense speculation.

The failure to specify exactly where the substance was made has been used by critics to question the UK government's decision to formally blame Russia for the poisonings.

But Mr Sedwill's letter suggested the nerve agent used was most likely to have been made at a laboratory in Shikhany, near Volgograd, a branch of the State Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology.

It states it is "highly likely that Novichoks were developed to prevent detection by the West and to circumvent international chemical weapons controls".

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who served as a KGB operative between 1975 and 1991, said Moscow "does not possess such agents" and dismissed claims of Russia being behind the attack as "nonsense".

But Mr Sedwill's letter claimed that "in the mid-2000s, President Putin was closely involved in the Russian chemical weapons programme".

The Kremlin has also been linked to the deaths of numerous prominent Russian dissidents and Mr Sedwill said "Russia has a proven record of conducting state-sponsored assassination".

Testing

Police have said that the highest concentrations of the Novichok nerve agent were found on Mr Skripal's front door, suggesting that was where the nerve agent had been deposited.

Mr Sedwill revealed in his letter: "During the 2000s, Russia commenced a programme to test means of delivering chemical warfare agents. This programme subsequently included investigation of ways of delivering nerve agents, including by application to door handles."

Perhaps the most explosive claim in his dossier was that Russian security services had hacked Yulia Skripal's email accounts for at least five years before she and her father were found slumped on a park bench in Salisbury.

Mr Sedwill concluded: "We therefore continue to judge that only Russia has the technical means, operational experience and motive for the attack on the Skripals and that it is highly likely that the Russian state was responsible.

"There is no plausible alternative explanation."The Damascus sky lights up missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria (Hassan Ammar/AP)

Loud explosions rocked Syrias capital and filled the sky with heavy smoke early Saturday after US president Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the countrys alleged use of chemical weapons.

Syrian air defences responded to the joint strikes by the United States, France and Britain.

Smoke was seen rising from east Damascus and the lit-up sky turning orange for the blasts while a huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east.

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Syrian television said the attacks targeted a scientific research centre in Barzeh, near Damascus, and an army depot near Homs while it was reported air defences had hit 13 incoming rockets south of Damascus.

After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrias presidency tweeted after airstrikes began.

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Syrian state TV called the attacks a blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy.

Mr Trump used an address on Friday night to say the three allies had launched military strikes to punish Syrian president Bashar Assad for the alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again.

The US president said Washington is prepared to sustain pressure on Mr Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

Expand Close General Joseph Dunford, said targets included a scientific research centre in greater Damascus (Carolyn Kaster/AP) / Facebook

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The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Mr Trumps second order to attack Syria.

He had previously authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assads use of sarin gas against civilians.

Mr Trump chastised Syrias two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting murderous dictators, and noted that Russian president Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Mr Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstancesDonald Trump

He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

Russias US embassy released a statement warning that the airstrikes will not be left without consequences, adding that all responsibility rests with Washington, London and Paris.

In his nationwide address, Mr Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances, he said. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home.

The US has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.A missile flies over the Syrian capital Damascus during air strikes by the United States, France and Britain (Syrian Central Military Media/AP)

Frances foreign minister has threatened further missile strikes against Syria if Bashar Assads government uses chemical weapons again.

France joined the United States and Britain in a joint operation to destroy what French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said is a good part of the Syrian governments chemical weapons arsenal.

He said France has no doubt that the Syrian government was behind a suspected chemical attacks last weekend. Syria denies responsibility.

Expand Close French defence minister Florence Parly and foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian give an official statement (AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp French defence minister Florence Parly and foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian give an official statement (AP)

Mr Le Drian told BFM television that the goal for the allied mission had been attained, but that if Frances red line is crossed again there could be another attack.

Earlier, the French government said it has no samples of the chemical weapons it believes were used in Syria, but launched its military response based on open-source information and intelligence gathering.

France has released its assessment of what happened in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7  which was the basis for Frances involvement in the joint military operation with the US and UK.

Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom and France to take action against the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks. Statement: https://t.co/P5jkVJPriv  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 14, 2018

The assessment cites the absence to date of chemical samples analysed by our own laboratories. It said the government evaluated publicly available information from nongovernmental organisations and other sources as well as unspecified French intelligence.

It concludes that there is no plausible scenario other than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces.

The assessment notes eight chlorine attacks ahead of the major attack on Douma and 44 allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria over the past year.

Meanwhile, Germanys chancellor said the air strikes are a necessary and appropriate response to the attack on Douma.

Tonight, at the order of @POTUS, U.S. Armed Forces, with Britain and France, launched strikes against chemical weapon sites in Syria. America and our allies will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against men, women and children. God bless our courageous troops & allies.  Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) April 14, 2018

Angela Merkel said the US, Britain and France took responsibility in this way as permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Mrs Merkel said the strikes were needed to maintain the effectiveness of the international rejection of chemical weapons use and to warn the Syrian regime against further violations.

She had said earlier this week that Germany would not join allied military action against Syrian government forces.

The European Commissions president said those who rely on chemical warfare must be held to account by the world.

Jean-Claude Juncker said the suspected use of poison gas last week in the Syrian city of Douma was  as he puts it  a heinous chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime.

Mr Juncker said the world has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable those responsible for that kind of attack.BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday she had authorised British forces to conduct precision air-launched cruise missile strikes on Syria to degrade its chemical weapons capability, saying there was no alternative to military action.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets using Storm Shadow missiles had taken part in the attack on a military facility near Homs where it was assessed Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

Britain joined the United States and France in what May cast as a "limited and targeted" strike after intelligence indicated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government was responsible for an attack using chemical weapons in Douma last Saturday.

May said the missile strike was designed to minimise any civilian casualties and was not an attempt to change the Syrian government.

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change," May said in a statement.

Britain's defence ministry said initial indications were that the precision weapons and meticulous target planning had "resulted in a successful attack".

Expand Close British Ministry of Defence handout photo of a RAF Tornados sitting on the pan taking-off on a sortie at RAF Akrotiri to conduct strikes in support of Operations over the Middle East. Photo: Cpl L Matthews/PA Wire / Facebook

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May said Britain and the West had an obligation to deter both Assad and others from using chemical weapons after the poison gas attack in Douma near Damascus killed up to 75 people including children.

May added Britain and its allies had sought to use every diplomatic means to stop the use of chemical weapons, but had been repeatedly thwarted, citing a Russian veto of an independent investigation into the Douma attack at the U.N. Security Council this week.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," she said.

The Western missile strikes demonstrate the volatile nature of the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011 as an anti-Assad uprising but is now a proxy conflict involving a number of world and regional powers and a myriad of insurgent groups.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until the government of Assad stopped its use of chemical weapons.

Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, has denied there was a chemical attack and has accused Britain of helping to stage the Douma incident to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS TARGETS

Britain's defence ministry said "very careful scientific analysis" had been applied to maximise the destruction of stockpiled chemicals while minimising any risk of contamination to surrounding areas.

Expand Close Anti-aircraft fire is seen over Damascus,Syria early April 14, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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"The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk," the MoD said in a statement.

May said while the strike was targeted at Syria, it sent a message to anyone who used chemical weapons. Britain has accused Russia of being behind last month's nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, southern England, a charge Moscow has rejected.

"This is the first time as prime minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly," she said.

"I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain's national interest. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world."

Many politicians in Britain, including some in May's own Conservative Party, had called for parliament to be recalled from a break to give authority to any military strike.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron lost a parliamentary vote on air strikes against Assad's forces in 2013 when 30 Conservative lawmakers voted against action, with many Britons wary of entering another conflict after intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya failed to bring stability to the region.

May is not obliged to win parliament's approval before ordering military action, but a non-binding constitutional convention to do so has been established since a 2003 vote on joining the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

A YouGov poll for The Times newspaper this week indicated that only a fifth of voters believed that Britain should launch attacks on Syrian military targets and more than two-fifths opposed action.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had said Britain should press for an independent U.N.-led investigation into the suspected chemical attack in Douma rather than wait for instructions from Trump on how to proceed.

Former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband, now head of humanitarian relief group the International Rescue Committee, said military action needed to be part of a wider political strategy.

"Bombing cannot substitute for diplomacy," he said.Left: The scene above Damascus after Donald Trump (top right) announced US-led coalition strikes on Syria, which led to protests (bottom right)

Western powers said on Saturday their missile attacks struck at the heart of Syria's chemical weapons program, but the restrained assault appeared unlikely to halt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's progress in the 7-year-old civil war.

The United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles overnight in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Syria a week ago, targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities including a research and development in Damascus' Barzeh district and two installations near Homs.

The bombing was the biggest intervention by Western countries against Assad and his superpower ally Russia, but the three countries said the strikes were limited to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities and not aimed at toppling Assad or intervening in the civil war.

The air attack, denounced by Damascus and its allies as an illegal act of aggression, was unlikely to alter the course of a multi-sided war that has killed at least half a million people.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the operation a success.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP Damascus is seen as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital early Saturday. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP Syria air defences strike back after air strikes by US, British and French forces in Damascus, Syria in this still image obtained from video dated early April 14, 2018. Anti-aircraft fire is seen over Damascus,Syria early April 14, 2018. Photo: Reuters US President Donald Trump makes a statement about Syria at the White House in Washington. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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He proclaimed on Twitter: "Mission accomplished," echoing former President George W. Bush whose use of the same phrase in 2003 to describe the U.S. invasion of Iraq was widely ridiculed as violence there dragged on for years.

"We believe that by hitting Barzeh in particular we've attacked the heart of the Syrian chemicals weapon program," Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said at the Pentagon.

However, McKenzie acknowledged elements of the program remain and he could not guarantee that Syria would be unable to conduct a chemical attack in the future.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Trump told her that if Syria uses poisonous gas again, "The United States is locked and loaded."

The Western countries said the strikes were aimed at preventing more Syrian chemical weapons attacks after a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7 killed up to 75 people. They blame Assad's government for the attack.

In Washington, a senior administration official said on Saturday that evidence showed both chlorine and the nerve agent sarin were used in that attack, prompting the strikes.

Expand Close Damascus is seen as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital early Saturday. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP / Facebook

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But speaking at a summit in Peru, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence seemed less sure of the use of sarin, saying that Washington may well determine that it was used along with chlorine.

ASSAD 'RESILIENCE'

Ten hours after the missiles hit, smoke was still rising from the remains of five destroyed buildings of the Syrian Scientific Research Center in Barzeh, where a Syrian employee said medical components were developed.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Syria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption "Morning of resilience".

Russian and Iranian military help over the past three years has let Assad crush the rebel threat to topple him.

The United States, Britain and France have all participated in the Syrian conflict for years, arming rebels, bombing Islamic State fighters and deploying troops on the ground to fight that group. But they have refrained from targeting Assad's government, apart from a volley of U.S. missiles last year.

Although the Western countries have all said for seven years that Assad must leave power, they held back in the past from striking his government, lacking a wider strategy to defeat him.

Syria and its allies also made clear that they considered the attack a one-off, unlikely to do meaningful harm to Assad.

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the strikes were "unacceptable and lawless."

Syrian state media called them a "flagrant violation of international law," while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called it a crime and the Western leaders criminals.

Russia had promised to respond to any attack on its ally, but the Pentagon said no Russian air defense systems were used. Syria fired 40 unguided surface to air missiles - but only after the Western strikes had ended, the Pentagon said.

"We are confident that all of our missiles reached their targets," McKenzie said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as "limited and targeted", with no intention of toppling Assad or intervening more widely in the war.

Washington described the strike targets as a center near Damascus for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weapons, a chemical weapons storage site near the city of Homs, and another site near Homs that stored chemical weapons equipment and housed a command post.

The Pentagon said there had been chemical weapons agents at one of the targets, and that the strikes had significantly crippled Syria's ability to produce such weapons.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Trump and May to discuss results of the strikes.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged all Security Council members to exercise restraint and avoid escalation in Syria, but said allegations of chemical weapons use demand an investigation.

WEAPONS INSPECTIONS

Inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW were due to try to visit Douma on Saturday to inspect the site of the suspected gas attack. Moscow condemned the Western states for refusing to wait for their findings.

Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated to levels of Cold War-era hostility, has denied any gas attack took place in Douma and even accused Britain of staging it to whip up anti-Russian hysteria.

The Western countries took precautions to avoid unexpected conflict with Russia. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Russians was warned beforehand to avert conflict.

Dmitry Belik, a Russian member of parliament who was in Damascus and witnessed the strikes, told Reuters: "The attack was more of a psychological nature rather than practical. Luckily there are no substantial losses or damages."

In Douma, site of the suspected gas attack, the last buses were due on Saturday to transport out rebels and their families who agreed to surrender the town, state TV reported. That effectively ends all resistance in the suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta, marking one of the biggest victories for Assad's government of the entire war.

The Western assault involved more missiles than a U.S. attack last year but struck targets limited to Syria's chemical weapons facilities. The U.S. intervention last year had effectively no impact on the war.

Syria agreed in 2013 to give up its chemical weapons after a nerve gas attack killed hundreds of people in Douma. Damascus is still permitted to have chlorine for civilian use, although its use as a weapon is banned. Allegations of Assad's chlorine use have been frequent during the war although, unlike nerve agents, chlorine did not produce mass casualties as seen last week.Planned American airstrikes on Syria are being co-ordinated with Russia, it has emerged.

The US has identified eight potential targets in Syria, it was reported, as the Kremlin claimed a secure hotline for the US and Russia to communicate over their operations in Syria was "active" and being used by both sides.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expects allied forces to reveal the location of the targets in advance, to avoid bloodshed and restrict damage to legitimate military assets.

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According to US reports, the targets selected include two Syrian airfields, a research centre and a chemical weapons facility.

The Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed that Russia and the US were talking on a "deconfliction line" set up in 2015 to co-ordinate air strikes, which operates between US central command in Qatar and Russia's equivalent in Syria.

He said: "The line exists and it is active. In general, the line is used by both sides."

The affirmation by Mr Putin's spokesman that communications with the US were ongoing showed "they understand there's danger and are trying to avoid it," according to defence analyst Alexander Golts.

The US gave Russia around 90 minutes warning for a strike with 59 Tomahawks against the Shayrat airbase in April last year after another chemical weapons attack.

'Kommersant' newspaper reported Russia "is expecting to receive co-ordinates of the targets at which the United States is planning to launch strikes".

Expand Close RAF Tornado GR4s, which could be deployed against Syria. Photos: PA / Facebook

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Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the priority in Syria was "to avert the danger of war".

Following a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council, he was asked if he was referring to a war between the United States and Russia, and said: "We cannot exclude any possibilities unfortunately."

The dialogue between Washington and Moscow is understood to have enabled UK Prime Minister Theresa May to assure her cabinet that adequate plans are now in place to restrict the fallout from any British participation in airstrikes on Syria and that any military response to last week's chemical attack will not escalate into war.

During a two-hour emergency cabinet meeting, Mrs May secured the backing of ministers to join an international response "to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime", Downing Street said.

A spokesperson said: "The prime minister spoke to President Trump about Syria. They agreed that the Assad regime had established a pattern of dangerous behaviour in relation to the use of chemical weapons.

"They agreed it was vital the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged, and on the need to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime. They agreed to keep working closely together on the international response."

President Donald Trump - who had warned Russia on Wednesday that missiles "will be coming" - toned down his rhetoric on Thursday by saying that a missile strike could be "very soon or not so soon at all".

The US is moving 10 warships and two submarines into position armed with up to 700 Tomahawk cruise missiles, while Mrs May has ordered at least one British submarine to the area with a capability to fire up to 38 Tomahawks against Assad regime targets.

Before chairing the meeting of his National Security Council, Mr Trump said: "We're looking very, very seriously, very closely at that whole situation. It's too bad that the world puts us in a position like that."

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to join any allied response, and said he had "proof" that the Syrian government used chemical weapons.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said on Thursday evening: "President Trump just finished a meeting with his national security team to discuss the situation in Syria. No final decision has been made. We are continuing to asses intelligence and are engaged in conversations with our partners and allies."

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Syrian regime warplanes have carried out barely any raids since Mr Trump threatened strikes, as Assad forces scramble to move weapons and equipment away from sites they fear will be hit by US missiles.

Civilians in rebel-held areas and monitoring groups said that the skies had been quiet since Sunday, when Mr Trump warned the regime would pay "a big price" for a chemical weapons attack that killed 70 people in Douma.

Analysts believe the lull in the bombing is a result of Assad's forces rushing to move their aircraft to Russian bases in Syria, which are less likely to be targeted by American missiles.

"Since Trump tweeted his initial threats the regime has completely changed its military deployments, particularly its air force, which in turn disrupted its air campaign," said Michael Horowitz, a senior analyst at the Le Beck geopolitical consultancy.

"In a way, the mere threat of action has already been enough to save lives on the ground," he added.

Airstrikes by Russian and regime aircraft are normally a daily occurrence in Idlib, a rebel-held province in northwest Syria. But residents there said they had enjoyed several days of quiet since Mr Trump first issued his threats. ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

HUNDREDS of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital on Saturday, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance that followed unprecedented joint air strikes by the United States, France and Britain.

A few hours earlier, before sunrise, loud explosions jolted Damascus and the sky turned orange as Syrian air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and what appeared to be a fire light up the sky.

From a distance, US missiles hitting suburbs of the capital sounded like thunder.

Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

Expand Close Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital Syria, early Saturday, April 14 (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) / Facebook

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"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after the air strikes began.

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents began gathering in the landmark Omayyad square of the Syrian capital.

Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, other drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance.

"We are your men, Bashar," they shouted.

Syrian state TV broadcast live from the square where a large crowd of civilians mixed with men in uniforms, including an actor, politicians and other figures.

"Good morning steadfastness," one broadcaster said.

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday night that the three allies had launched military strikes to punish Assad for alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again.

Mr Trump said Washington is prepared to "sustain" pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

A fact-finding team of inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog was in Damascus and had been expected to head to the town of Douma on Saturday, scene of the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed more than 40 people.

Syrian TV said three civilians were wounded in one of the US-led strikes on a military base in Homs, although the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile.

It said another attack with "a number of missiles" targeting a scientific research centre destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. The network said the building in the research centre included an educational centre and labs.

It said earlier that the attacks targeted a scientific research centre in Barzeh, near Damascus, and an army depot near Homs.

Syrian media reported that air defences had hit 13 incoming rockets south of Damascus.

The attack began at 4am local time (0100 GMT) with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of Damascus, shaking the ground from a distance.

The sky looked orange over eastern Damascus, apparently as a result of fires caused by the missiles hitting Syria.

Air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles from different directions toward incoming missiles.

Around sunrise, the sound of explosions could be heard just as the loudspeakers from the city's mosques called for morning prayers.

A car with loudspeakers blaring the national song "Oh Syria, You Are My Love" drove through central Damascus amid the attack.

Syrian TV called the attacks a "blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy".

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said there were no reports of American losses during the initial air strikes.

"Right now this is a one-time shot," he said, but did not rule out further attacks. He said the air strikes were launched against several sites that helped provide Assad's ability to create chemical weapons.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said that while the effectiveness of the strike is still being analysed, "initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack".

Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as neither "about intervening in a civil war" nor "about regime change" but a limited and targeted strike that "does not further escalate tensions in the region" and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

"We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none," she said.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Mr Trump's second order to attack Syria; he authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

The US president chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators", and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

Russia's US embassy released a statement warning that the air strikes will "not be left without consequences". It said that "all responsibility" rests with Washington, London and Paris.

The allied operation comes a year after a US missile strike that Mr Trump said was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons.

Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The one-off missile strike in April 2017 targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

Friday's strikes appear to signal Mr Trump's willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. The participation of British and French forces enables him to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, the president stressed that he has no interest in a lengthy fight with Syria.

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances," he said. "As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home."

The US has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.British Ministry of Defence handout photo of a RAF Tornados sitting on the pan taking-off on a sortie at RAF Akrotiri to conduct strikes in support of Operations over the Middle East. Photo: Cpl L Matthews/PA Wire

THE US, UK and France have launched co-ordinated missile strikes on Syria following a "despicable" chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma.

Here is what we know so far:

- Strikes were launched at 2am Irish time at three sites connected with the Syrian regime's chemical weapons programme.

- The first was at a scientific research centre in greater Damascus involved in the development and production of chemical weapons, the second at a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs, and the third at a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post.

Expand Close Anti-aircraft fire is seen over Damascus,Syria early April 14, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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- The US said "important infrastructure" had been destroyed, resulting in the loss of years of research and development for the Syrian regime.

- Four Royal Air Force Tornados contributed to the strikes, launching Storm Shadow missiles.

- US Defence Secretary James Mattis said double the number of weapons had been used in the strikes compared with the 2017 Shayrat missile strike which involved 59 US Tomahawk cruise missiles and was launched in response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

- Mr Mattis and General Joseph Dunford said there were no reports of any allied losses. Syrian state-run TV later reported that three civilians had been wounded.

- General Dunford described the operation as a "one-time shot", and said no additional attacks were planned, but added that the powers that had signed the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons had every reason to challenge Syrian President Bashar Assad if he chose to violate it. The allies remained in close consultation, he said.

- The only retaliatory action was some Syrian surface-to-air missile activity, the US said.

Expand Close Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP / Facebook

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Whatsapp Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP

- General Dunford confirmed there was no co-ordination with the Russians and that they were not given prior notification of the strikes.

- British Prime Minister Theresa May said the decision to launch the strikes was not taken lightly, but she believed it to be in the UK's national interest.

- Every possible diplomatic channel had been explored prior to the strikes, Mrs May added.

- Syrian state TV called the attacks a "blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy".

- US President Donald Trump condemned Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for supporting "murderous dictators".

- In response, the Russian embassy in the US said it had warned that such actions would "not be left without consequences", adding that insulting President Vladimir Putin was "unacceptable and inadmissible".US President Donald Trump makes a statement about Syria at the White House in Washington. Photo: Reuters

ABOUT 10 days ago, US President Donald Trump told national security aides that he wanted US forces out of Syria in six months or so, adamant that it was time to bring them home after largely defeating Islamic State militants.

"Very soon, very soon, we're coming out," Trump said in telegraphing his thoughts to a crowd in Richfield, Ohio, on March 30. Were going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.

Now, Trump has abruptly deepened U.S. involvement in Syria, mustering a coalition of U.S., French and British forces to attack Syrian facilities related to production of chemical weapons after a poison gas attack last week killed dozens of people in Douma, Syria.

Aides said Trump's attitude changed when he was shown images of Syrians killed by the chemical weapons last Saturday, about a year after he first ordered air strikes against Syrian targets to retaliate for an earlier use of the banned substances.

"When he sees these sorts of things, they outrage him," said a source familiar with the internal debate at the White House.

Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP Damascus is seen as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital early Saturday. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP / Facebook

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Whatsapp Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Photo: AP

Trump had also grown exasperated with Russia for doing nothing to stop the Syrian government from using the weapons.

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He first made clear that he intended to launch new attacks in a series of tweets earlier this week, issuing warnings against not only Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but also Russia and Iran.

It was an unusual strategy, a departure from the usual U.S. practice of launching surprise attacks.

Hounded by controversies related to a federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, Trump stayed out of the public eye much of this week, locked in White House Situation Room meetings about Syria.

Defense Secretary James Mattis, new national security adviser John Bolton, Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley were all involved in the talks.

Behind closed doors, Trump pushed for a more aggressive response than the one taken last year, wanting options that would involve attacks on targets in Syria associated with Russia and Iran, officials said.

His generals pushed back, not wanting to escalate tensions with those two countries, the officials said.

Expand Close A Syrian soldier holds up his weapon during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes, in Damascus, Syria (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) / Facebook

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Hours after the first missiles fell on Friday night, it was not yet clear how extensive the attacks were.

Mattis described them as a "one-time shot" to send a strong message to Assad not to use chemical weapons again.

That appeared to contradict Trump's own pledge that the United States, France and Britain would sustain the military campaign until Assad stops using prohibited chemical agents.

While Trump was determined to respond to the chemical attack, he also said the United States "does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances."

As Trump announced the military action, Pence was in Peru attending the Summit of the Americas. Trump had been scheduled to attend but stayed in Washington to focus on Syria.

Pence abruptly left the summit's opening ceremonies and returned to his hotel in time to make secure phone calls to congressional leaders to tell them about the strikes.

Pence was in constant contact with Washington on his trip, speaking multiple times to Trump and also to Bolton. He again spoke to Trump after the attacks were launched, an aide said.Palestinian protesters evacuate a wounded man during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, yesterday. Photo: Khalil Hamra/AP

Thousands of Palestinians have staged a mass protest along Gaza's sealed border with Israel, some burning large Israeli flags and torching tyres while soldiers fired tear gas and live bullets.

Gaza's Health Ministry said a 28-year-old Palestinian man was killed and more than 500 wounded, including scores hit by live Israeli army fire.

The death brings to 28 the number of protesters killed in two weeks of border protests.

Among those hurt was a Gaza journalist who was shot in the abdomen, the officials said.

The Israeli military has argued that Gaza militant groups are trying to turn the border area into a combat zone, and said it has a right to defend its sovereign border.

It said soldiers fire live bullets as a last resort, in a "precise and measured manner".Mr Putin said the strike would only worsen international relations (AP)

Russian president Vladimir Putin has denounced an air strike on Syria by the United States and its allies as an act of aggression that will exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the country.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader said Moscow is calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the strike launched by the US, Britain and France.

Mr Putin added that the strike had a destructive influence on the entire system of international relations.

He reaffirmed Russias view that the purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake.

Mr Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of a chemical attack. He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

Meanwhile, the Russian military said Syrias Soviet-made air defence systems have downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies.

Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian militarys General Staff said Saturdays strike has not caused any casualties, and Syrian military facilities targeted by the US, UK and France have suffered only minor damage.

He said the Russian air defence assets in Syria monitored the strike but did not engage any of the missiles.

Col Gen Rudskoi said the Syrian military used Soviet-era air defence missile systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the missiles aimed at four key Syrian air bases.

He noted that Russia has in the past refrained from providing Syria with its state-of-the-art S-300 air defence missile systems at the insistence of the West, but could reconsider this decision now.Russian efforts to veto UN action against Syria left US, British and French allies no option but to launch airstrikes against key installations, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

After a debriefing of Nato ambassadors by the three allies on Saturday, Mr Stoltenberg said that before the attack took place last night, Nato allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue to the UNSC by diplomatic and political means.

He added: But since this was blocked by Russia, there was no other alternative.

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Mr Stoltenberg said: I am not saying that the attacks last night solved all problems but compared to the alternative to do nothing this was the right thing to do.

He said all 29 Nato members backed the airstrikes as a consequence of the country conducting a suspected chemical attack against its civilians last weekend.

The strikes were about making sure that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity, he added.

But Russia branded the airstrike an act of hooliganism and called for a vote on a UN resolution to condemn the aggression against Syria.

It was defeated at the end of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called by Russia.

It demanded that military action stop immediately and without delay.Selfies are the greatest threat to childhood, author Jacqueline Wilson has said.

The childrens author lamented the "awful kind of self-consciousness" among young girls who incessantly take photographs of themselves.

Speaking at the London Book Fair at Kensington Olympia, the 72-year-old told of how girls seem to have a special selfie face which they spend hours perfecting in front of a mirror.

Asked what she believes poses the greatest danger for young children, she said: "There are so many pressures - and I don't want to sound like this terrible technophobe - but I do think there is this awful way of looking at pictures.

"I find it really interesting when doing thousands of selfies with young girls and they all have this special selfie face that they've practiced in the mirror for ages and ages.

Dame Jacqueline, the former childrens laureate, warned that the preoccupation with uploading photographs to social media channels has led to teenage girls all wanting to look the same.

Now girls are expected all to have long gorgeous hair, to be relatively willowy, she said. "It's this awful kind of self-consciousness all the time whereas I don't remember worrying all the time about what other people thought of us. There doesn't seem a place for individuality anymore.

She added: And also with the whole Twitter thing, if you post something that doesn't try and immediately be what is considered valuable, kind and correct you are so hideously...trumped...it just seems sad."

Jacqueline was speaking about how to become a best-selling childrens author at the London Book Fair. She said that while girls today face challenges with social media, she praised the positive developments that have changed women's position in society.

"I do think it is wonderful now that girls are expected to achieve and have brilliant careers," she said.

"When I was a girl if you were considered bright there were two occupations - do you want to be a nurse or do you want to be a teacher? Nothing else was ever considered so we have moved forward enormously.

"In many ways it is wonderful how much more open we are as a society and for young people and yet we're also closed because there is just a particular roof that we have to walk on."

Jacqueline, who has written more than 100 books over a 35-year career, has previously spoken about the disruption of modern technology.

Last year she complained that electronic life has wiped out books, as adults prefer to check their emails and smartphones to picking up a paperback while on the move.

Jacqueline said she finds it sad to see adults are not reading as much as they used to, claiming she is often the only one on a train journey now holding a book.

The writer said that while children still have huge appetite for reading, thanks in part to encouragement from their schools, adults increasingly appear to prefer their smartphones.

"I find it sad that adults aren't reading as much," she said. "On the train 10 years ago people were reading books - I would love trying to work out what titles they were reading.

"Now I'll be the only person with a book on my lap and everyone else is glued to their smartphones or checking emails. Electronic life has wiped out books."

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Hundreds of Syrians took to the streets of the capital in a show of defiance following joint air strikes by the United States, France and Britain hailed by President Donald Trump as Mission Accomplished.

Just hours earlier, Damascus was rocked by loud explosions and the sky turned bright orange as Syrian air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

A perfectly executed strike, Mr Trump tweeted after warplanes and ships launched more than 100 missiles.

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Russia and Iran called the use of force a military crime and hooliganism.

The UN Security Council met in emergency session to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the aggression by the three Western allies.

Mr Trumps UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, told the session that the president has made it clear that if Assad uses poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded.

The Syrian president denies he has used chemical weapons, and the Trump administration has yet to present hard evidence of what it says precipitated the allied missiles attack: a chlorine gas attack on civilians in Douma on April 7. The US says it suspects that sarin gas also was used.

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As the airstrikes began, Assad tweeted: Good souls will not be humiliated.

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents began gathering in the landmark Omayyad square of the Syrian capital.

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The strikes successfully hit every target, US officials said  the Barzah chemical weapons research and development site in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a chemical weapons bunker a few miles from the second target.

Neither Syria nor its Russian or Iranian allies retaliated, Pentagon officials said.

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The US-led operation won broad Western support. The Nato alliance gave its full backing; Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels that the attack was about ensuring that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the attack necessary and appropriate.

Pentagon officials said the action took out the heart of Assads chemical weapons arsenal.

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A former officer in Syrias chemical program, Adulsalam Abdulrazek, said the strikes hit parts of but not the heart of the program and were unlikely to curb the governments ability to produce or launch new attacks.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlins scepticism about the allies Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack.

He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to complete their visit to the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was little doubt the Syrian government used a barrel bomb  large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal  to deliver the chemicals at Douma.

No other group could have carried out that attack, Mrs May said, adding that the allies use of force was right and legal.

The attack began at 4am local time (0100 GMT) with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of Damascus, shaking the ground from a distance.

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Syrian TV called the attacks a blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Mr Trumps second order to attack Syria; he authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assads use of sarin gas against civilians.

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The strikes appear to signal Mr Trumps willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict.

The participation of British and French forces enables him to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, the president stressed that he has no interest in a lengthy fight with Syria.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances, he said. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.Former FBI director James Comey testifying before a Senate Intelligence committee hearing on Capitol Hill last June, Photo: Getty Images

US President Donald Trump yesterday called James Comey a "weak and untruthful slimeball" after the former FBI director's new book made a string of damning claims about the US president.

Mr Trump said Mr Comey, who he fired last May, should be prosecuted for leaking while in office, as other White House figures questioned the ex-intelligence official's integrity.

The furious response followed a string of details from Mr Comey's new book, 'A Higher Loyalty', emerging ahead of its publication on Tuesday.

In the book, Mr Trump is depicted as an "unethical" bully who is "untethered to truth" and has little regard for the institutions of US democracy.

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Mr Comey compares the president to a mob boss, writing: "The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview.

"The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organisation above morality and above the truth."

He mocks the president's physical appearance, saying his face was "slightly orange with bright white half-moons under his eyes where I assumed he placed small tanning goggles".

Mr Comey also jokes about Mr Trump's hand size, recalling: "It was smaller than mine, but did not seem unusually so."

Elsewhere, Mr Comey describes Mr Trump's fixation on claims he got prostitutes to urinate on each other in Russia - an allegation detailed by Christopher Steele, the ex-MI6 agent, which has always been denied.

ABC News released a clip of its interview with Mr Comey, to be broadcast tomorrow, where he says it is "possible" the allegation is true.

In his book, Mr Comey recalls the president saying, "I'm a germaphobe. There's no way I would let people pee on each other around me, no way" and asking if he "seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes".

Mr Comey says Mr Trump discussed the "golden showers thing" four times with him, expressing concern about the impact on Melania, his wife, and wondering if intelligence services could prove it to be untrue.The former FBI director also ruminates on his handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, which he announced had been reopened 11 days before the US 2016 election, boosting Mr Trump's campaign.

Mr Comey admits he thought Ms Clinton would win at the time, but defends how he acted, saying Barack Obama reassured him after Mr Trump won that he had acted with "integrity".

The president's response to Russia's election meddling is also questioned.

Mr Comey says when he detailed what the Kremlin had done, Mr Trump begun discussing how to spin the news rather than how to stop such attacks in the future.

Mr Comey also repeated claims that the president asked for him to pledge loyalty at a dinner between the pair, saying he felt Mr Trump wanted to establish a "patronage relationship".

The book, which has been much-anticipated in Washington, triggered a heated response from Mr Trump on Twitter.

He wrote: "James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did - until he was, in fact, fired.

"He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and ... untruthful slimeball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI.

"His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst "botch jobs" of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!"

Kellyanne Conway, a counsellor to the president, described Mr Comey as "self-aggrandising" and a "disgruntled ex-employee", questioning why he did not quit at the time of Mr Trump's alleged behaviour.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump yesterday pardoned Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, a former adviser to former vice-president Dick Cheney, convicted over a scandal about the leaking of a CIA officer's identity.

Commentators noted it was Mr Comey who appointed the special counsel in that case. ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Guwahati, Apr 14 (IBNS): People of Assam are celebrating Rongali Bihu festival across the state, which began on Saturday.

Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu, the harvest festival of Assam, inspires unity, humanity, bond of love, joy, expressed through intoxicating songs and dances.

The festival begins from the last day of the month of Chaitra.

The first day of the festival week is called Garu Bihu and it is dedicated to the cattle and livestock across the state.

During the Garu Bihu celebration, in the morning the cattles and buffaloes are taken to nearby ponds or river banks for a ceremonial bath.

The horns and heads of the animal are rubbed with the paste of newly harvested turmeric and black gram.

The cut pieces of brinjal, turmeric and laogourd are thrown on the animals and also feed them.

The animals are tethered with new ropes (Pogha) and garlands are made out of different kinds of leaves.

Meanwhile, preparations are in full swing across the state to celebrate one of the biggest festivals of Assam for next six days which marks the new year calendar of the Assamese society.

Over a thousand Bihu Sanmilans have organised various cultural events to celebrate the festival for the next six days.

In Guwahati, All Assam Students Union (AASU) has organised Mukoli Bihu (open Bihu) at Judge field on Saturday.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)New Delhi, Apr 14 (IBNS): After Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on Friday over the twin-rape cases- Unnao and Kathua- in the country, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has asked when the victims will get justice.

Modi on Friday said: "I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared and justice will be done. We all have to come together to stop these criminal acts happening in our society."

Attacking the PM, Rahul tweeted, "Dear Prime Minister, Thank you for breaking your long silence. You said our daughters will get justice. India wants to know: when?"

Dear Prime Minister,



Thank you for breaking your long silence.



You said our daughters will get justice.



India wants to know: when?#SpeakUp  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 13, 2018

Speaking at the inauguration of a memorial for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at Delhis Alipur Road a day ago, Modi said, "The kind of incidents we have witnessed in last few days are not desirable in any civilized society. The incidents that have been in discussion for the last two days are shameful."

This comes on the same day when Congress President Rahul Gandhi questioned the 'silence' of Modi in the two alleged rape incidents in Kathua and Unnao.

The incidents have left the nation shocked.

Asifa, the minor, was held captive by the accused at a temple and later she was raped, mutilated and murdered in Rassana village of Kathua months ago, crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir police stated.

However, several lawyers had stopped the police from registering cases against the accused in the case.

After six hours of ruckus, police could file the charge-sheets.

In another case, BJP lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly raping a minor girl in Unnao town of the state.New Delhi, Apr 14 (IBNS) : President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday greeted the nation on the occasioin of the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar and harvest festivals in different states.

Wishing people on Ambedkar's 127th birth anniversary, Kovind tweeted : " Homage to Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. An icon of our nation, Dr Ambedkar was a multifaceted personality who waged a life-long struggle for a modern India free of caste and other prejudices, ensuring equal rights to women and for the disadvantaged."

The President also paid floral tributes to Ambedkar at Parliament House Lawns, New Delhi.

Kovind also greeted the people on Vaisakhi, Vishu, Rongali Bihu, Naba Barsha, Vaisakhadi, Puthandu Pirappu. "These festivals reflect our countrys shared heritage amid diversity and plural traditions. May the occasion bring prosperity to all," he tweeted.

Prime Minister Modi said in his tweet : "Greetings on Ambedkar Jayanti. Pujya Babasaheb gave hope to lakhs of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society."

" We remain indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of our Constitution." he said.

The Prime Minister also greeted the people of Kerala on Vishu : "Happy Vishu! May the new year bring with it new hopes, more prosperity and good health."

He greeted the people of Assam on Rongali or Bohag Bihu which marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year.

He described Bihu as a festival characterised by energy and enthusiasm. "May this auspicious day bring happiness and good health in our society."

Modi greeted the Bengalis on Poila Boishakh and wished that this new year brings peace, prosperity and happiness in everyone's lives. "Shubho Nabo Barsho!"

He greeted the people of Odisha on the occasion of Maha Vishuba Sankranti :"To all my Odia friends across the world, greetings on Maha Vishuba Sankranti! Have a wonderful year ahead. We take immense pride in the rich Odia culture."

"Baisakhi Greetings to everyone. May this festival bring joy in everyone's lives. We also express gratitude to our hardworking farmers, who work continuously to feed our nation," he added.Bijapur, Apr 14 (IBNS) : Stating that he is Prime Minister because of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Narendra Modi on Saturday said the BJP Government is for the backward and the tribals.

Modi, who was on a visit to Chhattisgarh's Maoist dominated Bastar region to inaugurate a string of welfare schemes, including India's first wellness centre "Ayushman Bharat" on the birth anniversary of Dalilt icon B R Ambedkar, also assured development projects to Bijapur district.

Hailing BR Ambedkar's contribution for India, Modi said, "If there is a Prime Minister in India, it is because of Babasaheb's contributions."

Modi, who currently faces a countrywide unrest among Dalits protesting against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act, asserted that his Government is committed to the dreams and aspirations of people from all sections of the society. "I have come here to remove the backward tag attached to Bijapur," he said

"Ambedkar was highly-educated. If he wanted, he could've lived a comfortable life. But he didn't do so. He studied abroad, but he came back to India and gave his life to serve the poor," Modi said.

Promising that the age-old backwardness of the Bastar region, a breeding ground for leftwing extremists, will transform drastically, the PM said, "Bastar is changing. In future, Bastar's identity will be that of an economic hub."

" Connectivity will be to Hyderabad, Visakapatnam, Ahmedabad. New Bastar will be that of new hopes. The day is not far when the sun will rise from the west in Chhattisgarh's Bastar," Narendra Modi told a gathering.

He also assured that Bijapur district will no longer remain backward. "If Bijapur can see development in 100 days then why can't the other districts witness the same? I came here to assure you that with all the development projects now Bijapur district will no longer be know as a backward district."

"This Government is for the poor, the needy, the downtrodden, the backward and the tribals," Modi said.

Modi, who inaugurated various other programmes, including a dialysis centre at Bijapur Hospital and a Health and Wellness Centre, as part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, said efforts will be made to make major changes in primary health-related areas. "In every major panchayat of the country, sub centers and primary health centers will be developed as a health and wellness center in about 1.5 lakh places," he informed."

The Prime Minister stressed that the Government was working to develop the situation in the Naxal-affected Bastar district. "Naxals come from outside, not your region. Why are you giving them the authority to take over your children? The government is working so that your children get education, you get the right price for your crops and you live a respectable life," he said.

The PM is also set to dedicate the Bhanupratappur-Gudum Railway Line via video conference to the nation.

He will flag off a train between Dalli Rajhara and Bhanupratappur.New Delhi, Apr 14 (IBNS): On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a Health and Wellness Centre, to mark the launch of the Union Governments ambitious Health Assurance Programme  Ayushman Bharat.

The Centre was inaugurated at Jangla Development Hub, in the aspirational district of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh.

In the course of over one hour, the Prime Minister interacted with a number of people, and was briefed on several development initiatives at the development hub.

At the inauguration of the Health and Wellness Centre, he interacted with ASHA workers. He visited a model Anganwadi Centre, and interacted with Anganwadi workers and beneficiary children of Poshan Abhiyan.

He visited a Haat Bazaar Health Kiosk and interacted with health workers.

He inaugurated a bank branch at Jangla and distributed loan sanction letters under the Mudra Scheme to select beneficiaries. He also interacted with Rural BPO employees.

The Prime Minister then arrived at the venue of the public meeting.

He launched the Van Dhan Yojana, which aims at empowering tribal communities.

It envisages a mechanism for marketing of Minor Forest Produce through Minimum Support Price and development of value chain for MFP.

Via video conference, the Prime Minister dedicated to the nation, the Bhanupratappur-Gudum Railway Line.

He flagged off a train between Dalli Rajhara and Bhanupratappur.

He also inaugurated a dialysis centre at Bijapur Hospital.

The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for construction of 1988 km of PMGSY roads in LWE areas; other road connectivity projects in LWE areas; water supply scheme of Bijapur; and two bridges.

Addressing an enthusiastic gathering, the Prime Minister paid homage to the martyrs from the region who had fought against British Imperialism.

He also paid homage to the security personnel who laid down their lives in Naxal-Maoist attacks, in the region.

The Prime Minister noted that the Union Government had earlier launched two significant development initiatives, the Syama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission, and the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana, from Chhattisgarh.

Today he added, Ayushman Bharat and Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, are being launched from the State.

He said that the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan would ensure that all development initiatives launched by the Union Government in the last four years, reach the poor and disadvantaged sections of society.

He said that the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan would extend from today till the 5th of May.

The Prime Minister said Babasaheb Ambedkar had a key role to play in the establishment of "aspiration" in the hearts and minds of crores of people.

Explaining the significance of holding this event in Bijapur today, the Prime Minister said that Bijapur is one of the over 100 aspirational districts in the country, which have got left behind in the development journey.

He said he wants to convert these districts, hitherto labelled as "backward" into aspirational and ambitious districts. These districts will no longer remain dependent and backward, he asserted.

He said that if the district administration, the public representatives and the people all join hands in a mass movement, then, unprecedented results can be achieved.

He said the Government is working with a different approach on these 115 districts. He said each district faces its own challenges, and therefore, a different strategy is required in each case.

The Prime Minister said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme will go a long way in ending social imbalance, and ensuring social justice in the country.

He said that in the first phase of this scheme, an effort would be made to bring about a sea change in primary healthcare.

He said sub centres and primary health centres at 1.5 lakh places in the country would now be developed as Health and Wellness Centres. He said the aim is to complete this task by 2022. He said these Health and Wellness Centres would function like a family doctor for the poor.

He said the next target of Ayushman Bharat would be to provide financial assistance of upto Rs. 5 lakh to the poor, for medical treatment.

The Prime Minister appreciated the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Raman Singh, for the development work done in the State over the last fourteen years.

In particular, he appreciated the development initiatives carried out in the southern districts of Sukma, Dantewada and Bijapur.

He said Bastar would soon be recognised as an economic hub.

He emphasized the importance of connectivity for ending regional imbalances. In this context, he mentioned the connectivity projects launched today.

The Prime Minister asserted that the initiatives and decisions taken by the Union Government indicate its commitment to the welfare of the poor and weaker sections of society. In this context, he mentioned the Van Dhan Yojana, and other decisions taken for the benefit of the tribal communities.

He mentioned schemes such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Beti Bachao  Beti Padhao, and Ujjwala Yojana, which have benefited women.

The Prime Minister asserted that people's participation is the strength of the Government, which will help in the creation of New India by 2022.



Srinagar, Apr 14 (IBNS): The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said that it had no intention to meddle with the investigation conducted by Crime Branch pertaining to the Asifa rape and murder case.

Addressing a pressing conference here in Jammu, Party National General Secretary Ram Madhav admitted that there was lack of discretion on part of their two ministers, Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, but they had no intention to interfere in the investigation.

There was lack of alertness. Certain amount of discretion should have been maintained. But both these ministers cleared that it was not their intention to interfere in the Crime Branch investigation. It is wrong to say, they are pro-rapists, Madhav said.

He added that party state president Sat Sharma will hand over the resignation of the two ministers to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who will then decide.

I personally interacted with Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga who maintained that neither their intention was to save the accused nor interfere in the investigation. A kind of atmosphere was created that created misperception, he said.

Coming down heavily on Congress party, Ram Madahv alleged that the grand old party is playing a dual role.

The dual Congress has one role in Kashmir and in Jammu it plays a different role," he said. "This party is trying to politicize this ghastly rape and murder incident which has a potential to create law and order problem. One of its leaders through Jammu Bar Association tried to create ruckus here.

When asked, why the case wasn't handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Ram Madhav virtually ruled out that possibility and said State Crime Branch has investigated the Asifa rape and murder case and now only Court can decide about it.

The way investigation was completed in 90 days and bone-chilling charge sheet was presented imply that there was no interference from BJP. Our party supported our alliance partner in the investigation, Madhav added.

He said that Asifa rape and murder case has shaken the whole country and the culprits will be punished at any cost.



(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)



Ram Madhav's Image: Screengrab from YouTube

BJP flag Image: Narendra Modi/TwitterLucknow, Apr 14 (IBNS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials made a second arrest pertaining to the Unnao rape case on Saturday, reports said.

The nabbed person has been identified as Shashi Singh.

According to the CBI FIR, Singh has been named as an accomplice of BJP lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who was arrested on Friday.

Meanwhile, Sengar has been sent to a seven-day CBI custody on Saturday.

Singh is believed to have led the victim to Sengar's residence, where the alleged crime took place.

The minor girl had alleged that she was raped by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the BJP legislator from Unnao, and his brother last year, but the police refused to take any action against them.

On Apr 8, the rape victim along with his family tried to commit suicide in front of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence in Lucknow.

She also claimed that her family was being threatened after they tried to file an FIR.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was also formed on Tuesday to investigate the case after the father of the girl died on Monday morning at the district hospital.

The autopsy report revealed that the father succumbed to septicaemia.

According to the postmortem report, the father was not given proper treatment at the judicial custody.

The man was in judicial custody after a complaint was filed against his daughter's alleged rapists.

Earlier on Tuesday, the brother of Sengar was arrested by the police.

Image: WallpaperNew Delhi, Apr 14 (IBNS): Travelers planning to visit Ladakh in summer will be happy to note that travelling between Delhi and Leh will get a little more convenient with the addition of a new flight by Spice Jet.

Spice Jet, is scheduled to introduce a Delhi-Leh-Delhi flight beginning May 1 this year, according to media reports.

Leh is a top draw for tourists and one of the most popular cities of India. SpiceJet is delighted to begin services to this beautiful city. Our early morning connections have been planned keeping the convenience of leisure and business travelers in mind. said Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Sales & Revenue Officer, SpiceJet Limited.

SG 121 will take off from Delhi at 6.05 am and reach Leh at 7.25 am. The return flight, SG 122, will take off at 7.55 am and reach Delhi at 9.10 am.

Spice Jet will operate a Boeing 737-700 aircraft on the route, the company said in its release.

Spice Jet also recently announced the commencement of operations from Hubli effective May 14, 2018.

SpiceJet was awarded Hubli under the second round of UDAN, and it will be its fifth destination under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.

With the addition of Hubli-Chennai and Hubli-Hyderabad UDAN routes, SpiceJet will operate six daily UDAN flights.

The airline had launched services on the Mumbai-Porbandar, Mumbai-Kandla, Jaipur-Jaisalmer and Hyderabad-Puducherry routes under the UDAN scheme last year.

SpiceJet is the first and only airline to connect Hubli-Chennai and Hubli-Hyderabad with direct flights, the company said in its release.

The airline will also connect Hubli with key metro cities of Bengaluru and Mumbai, both of which are non-RCS sectors.New York, Apr 14 (IBNS): The United Nations refugee agency and the Government of Bangladesh on Friday signed a cooperation agreement on the safe, dignified return of Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar, once conditions there are conducive.

Noting that such conditions are not present at the moment, the UN refugee agency urged Myanmar authorities to create them as well as to take concrete measures to address the root causes of displacement.

The responsibility for creating such conditions remains with the Myanmar authorities, and these must go beyond the preparation of physical infrastructure to facilitate logistical arrangements, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stressed.

The agency also noted that in the absence of a UNHCR-Myanmar-Bangladesh agreement, it has continued to engage with both Governments in negotiations on two separate memoranda of understanding (MOUs), meant to ensure that any future returns are conducted in line with the international standards.

More than 670,000 members of the Muslim minority Rohingya community fled violence in Myanmar since August 2017, joining an estimated 200,000 Rohingya who have sought shelter in Bangladesh, arriving in waves over the past decades.

According to UNHCR, the refugees have said that before considering return to Myanmar, they would need to see concrete progress in relation to their legal status and citizenship, security, and their ability to enjoy basic rights at home in Rakhine state.

UNHCR also urged the Myanmar Government to immediately provide full and unhindered access to refugees places of origin in Rakhine, which would enable it to assess the situation and provide information to refugees about conditions in the places of origin, as well as to monitor any possible future return and reintegration of refugees.

Another practical measure would be to ease restrictions on movement for the internally displaced persons encamped in the central townships of Rakhine state, which would also help to build confidence among refugees in Bangladesh, it added.

Such concrete measures would help demonstrate to refugees that the Government of Myanmar is committed to a sustainable solution.



UNICEF/BrownNew York, Apr 14 (IBNS): The first-ever international conference to help the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) opened at the United Nations Office at Geneva on Friday amid dire warnings of a growing humanitarian crisis in the vast African country.

Despite massive natural resources and major socio-economic changes under Government-led initiatives, years of violence by armed groups vying for control  along with ethnic strife in the countrys restive east, and political and ethnic instability  has created massive food insecurity, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In Geneva, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock told donors that more than two million children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition in DRC and 13 million people require assistance there urgently  double the number of those in need last year.

He added that DRC is also facing the worst outbreak of cholera in fifteen years, as well as an epidemic of sexual violence, committed mainly against children.

As I speak, the resurgence of an inter-ethnic conflict in Ituri in February is killing many people and leading to internal and cross-border displacement of even more, he said.

Thousands of farmers in the crisis gripped Kasais have missed three successive agricultural seasons, resulting in a drop in agricultural production, he added.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva during a break in the conference, Mr. Lowcock said that he expected to confirm more than $500 million in pledges before the end of the day.

Total needs for the DRC for this year are estimated at $1.7 billion  nearly four times more than the amount secured last year.

An additional $500 million is needed to support 807,000 Congolese refugees in neighbouring countries and more than 540,000 refugees from other countries who are in DRC.

The question of securing sufficient funding was underlined by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his opening address to the pledging conference.

He urged Member States in Geneva via a video message to show solidarity for the millions of people who are suffering in one of the worlds largest humanitarian crises as the UN and the DRC Government work together to respond to needs.

During the conference, Jean-Philippe Chauzy, from the UN migration agency, spoke of the need to strengthen international support for the people of the DRC.

Confronted with rising intercommunal tensions, political instability and an increasingly insecure environment, the international humanitarian community needs to strengthen its support and commitment to the Congolese people, said Mr. Chauzy, who is DRC Chief of Mission for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

He added: We simply cannot ignore the speed, and magnitude of [this] crisis.

Alongside the UN, the pledging conference was co-hosted by the Netherlands and the European Commission.

Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, described the DRC as a forgotten conflict that desperately needed more support from the international community.

She highlighted the impact of gender-based violence on girls and young women whom she had met on a recent visit to DRC.

Some had requested help in the form of rape kits, while others had asked how to look after the babies they had given birth to after their sexual assault.

That message was underlined by conference co-host Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, who spoke of the violence and stories of unbelievable pain that he heard while visiting the country in recent weeks.

Asked at the press conference about the decision by the DRC authorities not to attend the pledging conference, Mark Lowcock underlined the scale of the problems in the country  and the importance of securing funding for some 150 organizations working to support humanitarian action under the leadership of the DRC authorities in 20 provinces.

I think everybody recognizes that there is a substantial crisis in the DRC, the Government recognizes that themselves, which [acknowledges] their own very substantial financial commitment to it, he said, in reference to its $100 million pledge to provide additional aid.



UNICEF/VockelNew York, Apr 14 (IBNS): While a moderate upturn in the world economy led to more development financing in 2017, a new United Nations report out Friday revealed that the vast majority of investment is still short-term oriented, putting global commitments to create sustainable economies at risk.

The world has the resources to deliver, but they are not allocated where they are needed most, said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the foreword to the 2018 report, Financing for Development: Progress and Prospects.

The report cites short-termism  an excessive focus on projects that will yield quick profit at the expense of long-term interests like infrastructure improvement and job training  as among the major funding challenges to implementing the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

The UN chief warned: The choices we make now on financing will be pivotal.

The prospects of some 800 million of the worlds poorest remain dire, as the annual progress report on how to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) revealed that the current system rewards investors, financiers and project managers that prioritize short-term profits  correlating to policy makers excessive focus on short-term considerations.

The results are shelved infrastructure projects in favour of short term priorities that leave small businesses and women excluded from the financial system.

The good economic news in some regions masks the very real risk that the poorest will be left behind, said Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

There is no room for complacency, he added.

According to the report, an increasing interest in socially responsible investing is no substitute for a broader transformation in the financial system.

Pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors hold around $80 trillion in assets. But the majority of their resources are invested in liquid assets, such as listed equities and bonds in developed countries.

Investment in infrastructure still represents less than three per cent of pension fund assets, with investment in sustainable infrastructure in developing countries even lower.

The lack of long-term investment horizons also means that major risks, such as those from climate change, are not incorporated into decision-making.

If we dont invest in infrastructure projects like bridges, roads and sewage systems, if the poorest and women are cut off from access to credit and other financial services, we have little prospect of achieving our global goals, stressed Mr. Liu.

Overcoming the short-term outlook

The report maintains that the solution to the issue lies in a multifaceted approach, which includes changing payment practices and becoming more transparent.

We have to reach beyond the quick fix if we are going to create a world that can sustain all of us, said Navid Hanif, Director of Financing for Sustainable Development Office. Political leadership and public policies are indispensable.

The report emphasized that in donor countries, political leaders must do more to meet their commitment to provide financial assistance to the worlds most vulnerable countries.

World Bank/Gerardo Pesantez



:New York, Apr 14 (IBNS): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged the world to reflect on the suffering of those who perished, as well as survived, the Rwandan genocide, and resolve to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again.

Speaking at an event commemorating the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, he also said reconciliation is possible, even after a tragedy of such monumental proportions.

Rwanda has learned from the events of 1994. So must the international community, said the Secretary-General.

Mr. Guterres said he was concerned about the rise of racism, hate speech and xenophobia around the world, such as the violence against the Rohingya community in Myanmar, unimaginable suffering in Syria, and the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Today, people are being killed, displaced and abused in many parts of the world, he noted, underscoring that States must uphold their fundamental responsibility to protect their people.

In parallel, preventing genocide, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international law is a shared responsibility, he added.

It is a core duty of the United Nations [and] our Human Rights Up Front strategy and several UN mechanisms aim to do just that  protect peoples lives and sound an early warning before abuses turn into atrocities, said Guterres, urging countries to pay heed to the warnings and follow-up with preventative actions to save lives.

Miroslav LajAak, President of the General Assembly, said: There are many things to say today. But, I want to start with the simplest, and hardest, message of all. Which is, that we failed. We failed Rwanda. We failed to keep our promises. And, simply, we failed to do our jobs.

The United Nations cannot run from this. We must face it  head-on, he continued, stressing that not only do must the international community focus more on people, it must also work to prevent their suffering.

This means stronger early warning systems. It means better mechanisms to flag  and respond to  early indicators of genocide, including human rights violations. And it means jumping into action  much sooner, and much faster, than we have in the past.

Estimates of the number of people killed vary from 800,000 to more than one million. The latest General Assembly resolution designating 7 April as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda cited more than a million people killed during the genocide, including Hutu and others who opposed it.

Also participating in todays commemoration were Issa Konfourou, Permanent Representative of Mali to the UN, in his capacity as Chair of the African Group; Consolee Nishimwe, author of Tested to the Limit: A Genocide Survivors Story of Pain, Resilience and Hope; and Valentine Rugwabiza, Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the UN. The event was moderated by Alison Smale, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications.



UNICEF/Giacomo PirozziUN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

New York, Apr 14 (IBNS): Mama Winnie  as she was affectionately known  was a towering figure in the struggle against apartheid, said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday, during a tribute held at United Nations Headquarters in honour of the late Winfred Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela.

She was an international symbol of resistance who left an indelible mark on the history of the 20th century, he added.

Guterres said the outpouring of condolences since her passing on 2 April, shows what an enormous impact Ms. Mandela had not only on the people of South Africa and on the African continent, but for millions around the world.

Faced with the most heinous of racist and discriminatory regimes, she helped lead the way in showing what it takes to overcome such tyranny  strength, defiance and courage, he said.

The UN chief outlined her personal sacrifices, such as enduring harassment, torture and imprisonment, while noting that her resistance inspired others to keep hope alive through the struggles darkest periods.

We are aware that the road before us is uphill, but we shall fight to the bitter end for justice, Guterres said, quoting Ms. Mandelas remarks following the Soweto uprising and student demonstrations in the mid 1970s.

Noting that while not all her actions could be condoned, the Secretary-General stressed Madikizela-Mandelas dedication as a strong, fearless woman, who had to fight patriarchys definitions of womanhood.

The combination of patriarchy and racism together meant that black women confronted enormous obstacles from the cradle to the grave  making her own achievements all the more exceptional, he stressed.

In the decades-long fight against apartheid, Guterres said that the UN stood with Ms. Madikizela-Mandela and South Africa, as they faced unrelenting racism and discrimination.

Today, as we remember her, he said, the United Nations reaffirms its commitment to the ideals of equality, justice and humanity for all.

Miroslav LajAak, President of the UN General Assembly, remarked that Madikizela-Mandela was willing to sacrifice everything to change the world around her.

And, we owe a great debt, to people like this, he said. Their sacrifices benefit all of those who come after them. And [] change the course of history.

LajAak elaborated that in standing up to the political and social structures of her own country, she met strong resistance.

She was taken away from her children. She was imprisoned. She was tortured, he maintained. Yet, she continued to demand an end to injustice. And she inspired many others to do the same  both within and outside the borders of South Africa.

By refusing to accept the limits of patriarchy, Madikizela-Mandela also changed the role of women. Her activism led to womens rights becoming enshrined in South Africas new constitution and also ensuring that the reconciliation process that followed was shaped by women.

And, I believe there were ripple effects, on the international stage, he argued, citing strengthened womens roles in peacebuilding and reconciliation processes.

Perhaps this is not something we immediately think of, when we pay tribute to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. But her contribution cannot be overlooked, he said.





Toronto Police Service

Toronto, Apr 13 (IBNS): Sixteen Canadians were arrested as part of Project Mercury, a three-year international investigation into online sexual abuse of children, according to Toronto police, media reports said yesterday.

A total of 153 people have been arrested as part of Project Mercury, a joint effort involving the Toronto Police Service, Ottawa police, Saskatchewan RCMP, United States Homeland Security and U.K. National Crime Agency.

Of the 16 in Canada, 13 had been convicted. Seven arrests were made in Toronto, two in Ottawa and one each in Belleville, Thunder Bay, Quebec, Edmonton, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Saskatoon.

Of those convicted, the sentences ranged from 30 months to 60 years, with many cases still before the courts.

The youngest victim was a 10-month-old.

"Its important to understand that this is happening to children all over the world," Toronto police Staff Supt. Myron Demkiw said at the news conference yesterday.

Police said that various social networking platforms were used by the suspects.

An undercover investigation was launched by Toronto police after the National Crime Agency in the UK alerted police agencies around the world in January 2015 of an online group using various social networking platforms to distribute child abuse material.

In July 2015, Toronto police witnessed a live-streaming event in which a six-year-old child was abused while others from around the world commented and directed the abuser.

The police said within hours the child was rescued and the abuser was caught in Pennsylvania. More than 20 other offenders were arrested, mainly in the US and UK.

"Unfortunately this was not the first time this happened, but I can tell you it was the last," Det. Const. Janelle Blackadar said.

Several other investigations had uncovered similar live-streaming events.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Quebec City, Apr 14 (IBNS): The Quebec Mosque shooter has stated that Canada's open immigration stance following US President Donald Trump's anti-Muslim laws in 2017 led to his act of crime, media reports said.

Alexandre Bissonnette said in an interrogation that his anxiety about his family becoming victims of a terrorist attack increased after Canada welcomed refugees.

The interrogation has reportedly been played in Quebec City courtroom on the third hearing day.

Bissonnette has been quoted by CBC News, "The Canadian government was, you know, going to take in more refugees, you know, those who couldn't go to the United States would end up here."

He said he became obsessed with the idea that an attack is necessary to prevent the countrymen from a terrorist attack, which he felt was imminent then.

The shooter said he was preoccupied with the idea for months that his family would be killed by the terrorists and he will have to do something.

Bissonnette said he became obsessed after 2016 chemical attack in the US that claimed 86 lives.

Welcoming the refugees, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada"

To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017

The shooting at a mosque left six people dead and nineteen others injured in Quebec City of Canada in Jan 2017. The fire was opened by a lone gunman after the evening prayer.

The 28-year old shooter pleaded guilty in March last year.

He pleaded guilty to six-counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder.



(Reporting by Suman Das)Ottawa, Apr 14 (IBNS): Canada has supported the decision taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France to take action against the Syrian chemical attacks.

In a press statement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people.

We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice.

Canada also condemned the chemical attack by Syria against its own people.

The strikes have been approved by the US in response to alleged chemical attacks in Syrian town of Douma last week.

"I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator of Bashar al-Assad," the US President was quoted as saying by CNN.

"The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economic and diplomatic," he said.

British PM Theresa May has also confirmed her country's involvement in the matter.

In a statement, she said: "This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use."

"We are acting together with our American and French allies," she said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday again called for the creation of an independent panel that could determine who used chemical weapons in Syria, as the absence of such a body increases the risks of a military escalation in a country already riven by confrontations and proxy wars.

Syria indeed today represents the most serious threat to international peace and security, the Secretary-General said in a briefing to the Security Council.

In Syria, we see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies, a number of armed opposition groups, many national and international militia, foreign fighters from everywhere in the world, and various terrorist organizations, he added.

His plea comes after the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), which was created as a body to attribute responsibility for the use of chemical weapons in Syria in 2015, expired in November 2017.

Due largely to divisions among its five permanent members  China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States  the Council could not adopt three draft resolutions that would have responded to a suspected chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma.

Guterres, in a letter to the Council two days ago, he expressed his deep disappointment at the failure of establishing an accountability mechanism similar to JIM.

A least 70 people were killed in alleged chemical strikes in Douma last week.

Syrian government has denied conducting any strike in Douma.

(Reporting by Suman Das)Toronto, Apr 14 (IBNS): Southern Ontario is facing the wrath of an ice storm that could lead to power failures, flight delays and dangerous driving conditions, media reports said.

Environment Canada has issued weather warnings from Windsor, Ontario, up to Muskoka and east to Ottawa.

The weather agency said southwestern Ontario in particular is facing a potentially historic ice storm, adding that freezing rain will likely cause widespread power outages.

Hydro One said it has crews ready to respond to outages round-the-clock, and additional resources are on standby this weekend.

Environment Canada said it expects ice buildup of up to 25mm, and wind gusts of up to 70-80km/ hr that could fell trees and power lines.

In the Greater Toronto Area, there is possibility of 15mm ice buildup, besides formation of ice pellets. Drivers have been urged to go slow on slippery roads.

The weather conditions might persist into Sunday, and there are likely chances of roads being flooded due to excessive rain.

The spring storm is a result of a moisture-laden low pressure area over the central US that is moving toward the Great Lakes this weekend.

(Reporting by Sayantan Banerjee)This is the story of two storks in Croatia, Klepetan and Malena, whose love and devotion have kept them together for 16 years, despite all odds.

For the 16th year in a row, male stork Klepetan had flown back to the tiny village of Brodski Varos in eastern Croatia after leaving behind his winter home in southern Africa.

afp

The love of his life, Malena - known as "Little One" in Croatian - was there, dutifully waiting for Klepetan so that the two birds could start making more babies and add to the already existing brood of 62.

Also read: 15 Heartbreaking Shayaris That You'll Understand Only If You've Lost Your Love

The devoted storks have made their long-distance relationship work better than most humans which has made them celebrities in Croatia.

A 71-year-old local school caretaker, Stjepan Vokic adopted an injured Malena in 1993 when he found her lying near a pond after hunters shot her.

afp

Vokic looks after Malena in an "improvised Africa" with a nest, heating, and aquarium situated in a storage building. In springtime, the caretaker dutifully makes a gigantic nest for the female stork on the building's roof.

Klepetan, on the other hand, teaches his baby storks to fly before migrating with them in early August to southern Africa. Meanwhile, Malena stays with Vokic in Croatia, who bathes the stork and puts cream on her feet to prevent them from drying out, since she is far away from her wetland habitat.

afp

Also read: Dating Advice From Couples Who Have Been In Love For More Than 25 Years

"I also take her fishing since I can't take her to Africa. We even watch TV together," Vokic told AFP. Had Vokic left her, foxes would have eaten her. So the caretaker feels responsible for Malena's life.

And just like that, our faith in love is restored.The Kathua rape case of an eight-year-old girl has sent people all over the nation in shock. From candle light protest to social media outrage, people are demanding justice for the innocent kid who was abducted, sedated, raped and murdered.

#justiceforasifa #actnow A post shared by BADSHAH (@badboyshah) on Apr 12, 2018 at 10:46pm PDT

A lot of Bollywood celebrities have also taken a stand in the case demanding justice for rape victims. One of them is Sonam Kapoor.

However, Koena Mitra isnt happy. She appreciates that people are taking a stand for this case, but she is unhappy that the outrage is being given a communal twist. Furthermore, she wonders why people stayed mum on other recent rape cases.

Any comments @sonamakapoor? You condemded a heinous crime(I appreciate) but gave it a communal twist "Fake Hindus " .

Kindly do the same for all . How can you blame an entire religion for this Rape.

These victims are ours too! #justiceForAll  pic.twitter.com/8tFtLWT1tL  KOENA MITRA (@koenamitra) April 12, 2018

While a lot of celebrities are demanding justice in the case, we wonder why Koena chose to only target Sonam Kapoor.Telugu actress Sri Reddy grabbed national attention as she dropped one bomb after the other in her fight against sexual harassment in Tollywood film industry.

After stripping off her clothes, she leaked chats with notable celebrities from the industry that included Rana Dagubbatis brother Abhiram Dagubbati and stated that many more people will be exposed.

(Also Read: After Rana Daggubatis Brother, Telugu Actress Sri Reddy Accuses Director Kona Venkat Of Sexual Exploitation)

While the Movie Artistes Association banned her from working in the industry, women activists and groups extended her support. Following which, MAA was left with no option but to lift the ban on the actress.

Just because she has made a mistake, we are not the kind of people who hold a grudge. In fact this afternoon, the industry bigwigs had asked us to ensure Sri Reddy remains a part of this industry and I felt really happy to hear them say that. From this moment, everybody is open to working with her and we are there for Sri Reddy for any help she needs. She is free to approach me, MAA President Sivaji Raja told TOI.

(Also Read: Victory For Telugu Actress Sri Reddy! MAA Lifts Ban On Her After NHRC's Notice To Telangana Government)

BCCL

(Also Read: Women Activists Extend Support To Sri Reddy After She Claims Rana Daggubatis Brother Used Her)

But is Sri Reddy happy? She says the fight is far from over.

They have not done me any favour by revoking this ban. By allowing me to act in films, which is my right, it is as though they are trying to assuage the situation by throwing alms at me. There was not one mention about putting safety mechanisms in place for women. Today, the industry is so unsafe that women are willing to enter a prostitution ring, but not the film industry.

They feel that by holding a press conference and by making these statements, they can absolve themselves. But hundreds of people continue to suffer injustice in the film industry and until a proper system is put in place, the fight will continue, she added.

(Also Read: Ram Gopal Varma Compares Sri Reddy To Rani Lakshmibai, Says They Both Used Their Body As Weapon To Fight)The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime on Saturday in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks that President Donald Trump branded the "crimes of a monster." The three countries - US, British and French "naval and air assets" took part in the strikes aimed at "chemical weapons infrastructure" in Syria.

reuters

Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square of the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance. France's defense minister says its joint military operation with the U.S. and Britain against Syria targeted three sites and that Russia was informed ahead of time.

Last week, a gas attack in Syria had killed at least 60 people and injured several others. The attack evoked large-scale criticism of President Bashar al-Assads regime. Trump condemned the attack calling it the work of a monster. He was also critical of both Russia and Iran, which have backed Assads government.

afp

Who are the targets

The targets were a scientific research facility in Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs and a third location that contained both a command post and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility in the same area were among the targets. The US reportedly used B-1 bombers in the strikes, but the American military declined to provide specifics, reported AFP.

Twitter/@h_Numairi

Syria in return, fired surface-to-air missiles in response to the attacks. Russia's foreign ministry said the strikes came as Syria -- which has been wracked by seven years of civil war -- had "a chance of a peaceful future.

What Russians are saying:

While none of the air strikes hit zones where Russian air defence systems protect the Russian bases of Tartus and Hmeimim, Russian news agencies cited the Ministry of Defence as saying

US, British and French air strikes on Syria are a violation of international law and are likely meant to prevent investigators from the global chemical weapons watchdog from doing their work, a senior Russian lawmaker was quoted by Interfax as saying on Saturday, reported Reuters The chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, described the air strikes as a groundless attack on a sovereign government, Interfax said.

afp

Here are some of the images and videos from Syria that are enough to terrify anyone:We call on the people of the United States to support and join our struggle. Already, allies from the Tohono Oodham people, the National Alliance of Domestic Workers, and the Palestine people have expressed solidarity. We hope that more people and organizations feel that our struggle is their struggle as well.

AFTER DAYS OF PROTEST & DIALOGUE IN MEXICO CITY, REFUGEE CARAVAN CARRIES ON TO DEFEND THE RIGHT TO SEEK ASYLUMApril 13, 2018Mexico City - We announce to the world that the 2018 Refugee Caravan Migrantes en la Lucha carries onward, steadfast in our goal of defending the dignity of all immigrants and the right to asylum for refugees. With more than 600 participants - most of them small children - we depart Mexico City today. From the bottom of our hearts we thank the Mexican people for their generosity and solidarity with our caravan, and may God bless them.Our gaze is now northward, where many of us will go to request asylum in the United States because we cannot go back to our countries and we cannot live safely in Mexico. As our companion Carolina, a Salvadoran mother of 50 years of age, said: there are 10 of us in my family, and if we go back to our country, I wont live to tell the tale. The MS even found us here in Mexico, so I have to go to the USA to seek refuge. Were not fleeing our countries because we feel like it, were fleeing because were forced to by the injustices in our countries.We call on the organizations of the United States and the world for solidarity and support for transport and food. We struggled and won transit permits from the Mexican government, so we can travel by bus, but dont have enough funds to pay the tickets. Were worried about the safety of the mothers, our children and the elderly and ill, because our only option, the train known as The Beast, is not adequate. For now we carry on as we are able.DONATE: https://www.youcaring.com/2018refugeecaravan-1164094 During the past few days in Mexico City: We visited the Basilica of Guadalupe to thank God for protecting our path. We held demonstrations at the National Immigration Institute, the Mexican Refugee Aid Commission (COMAR), the Senate of the Republic, and the United Nations, to demand that our rights be respected since we have been displaced from our countries. We denounced Mexicos militarized immigration policies which repress immigrant people under pressure from the United States, we denounced the lack of capacity and financing of the COMAR to attend to refugees, especially women, children, sick and LGBTQI. In a march outside the Honduran Embassy, we yelled for the Honduran ambassador to come outside and we insisted that he walk with us, so that he would feel a small part of what we suffer as migrants due to the injustice in our home countries. We made him march while carrying a child, so he would feel the weight that we carry as parents in this journey. We marched to the US embassy to tell President Trump that we are human beings who deserve dignity. We asked God to touch his heart and that he would stop treating us so unkindly.We have heard that Mexico and the United States are sending military troops to their borders. We reject the use of soldiers against the civilian population in border communities and we demand these soldiers be withdrawn, because we are a nonviolent movement. We condemn that these governments are using our movement as a pretext to apply military force against civilians, in the same style as the dictatorial regime of Juan Orlando Hernandez in Honduras.Now we are headed north, demanding that our rights be respected. In Puebla, Mexico, we spent 3 days in workshops with lawyers from the US and Mexico about refugee law and the right to political asylum. We also learned that these governments jail us without cause, expose us to abuse and discrimination, and that they may separate us from our children. Even so, while we are unable to return to our countries or to live safely in Mexico, we look north.We call on the people of the United States to support and join our struggle. Already, allies from the Tohono Oodham people, the National Alliance of Domestic Workers, and the Palestine people have expressed solidarity. We hope that more people and organizations feel that our struggle is their struggle as well.We ask the government of the United States to withdraw all economic support other than humanitarian assistance to the government of Honduras, because it uses those funds to murder and imprison us.We ask that the U.S. government stop using and manipulating Mexican institutions as an extension of its militarized and racist immigration policy.We ask that the U.S. government stop incarcerating immigrants in prisons, and respect our fundamental right to seek asylum.Sincerely,Caravan and Pilgrimage Migrants in StruggleContact: refugeecaravan [at] gmail.com Support: https://www.youcaring.com/2018refugeecaravan-1164094 ----Solidarity with the Refugee CaravanPueblo Sin Fronteras Denounces Calls for Violence Against the Refugee CaravanWhat Is an Activity Charge?

An activity charge is a fee charged by banks in response to specific account activities, such as transferring funds between accounts, withdrawing funds using an automated teller machine (ATM), or when a checking account does not meet its minimum deposit requirement.

The exact activity charges made by a bank will be outlined in the fee schedule associated with each of its bank accounts. Oftentimes to attract customers, banks will waive activity charges altogether or for a certain period of time.

Key Takeaways An activity charge is a fee charged by banks in response to specific transactions related to banking activity.

Common activity charges can be applied to withdrawing money from an ATM, not meeting minimum account requirements, and transferring funds between accounts.

The details of an account's activity charges will be laid out in its fee schedule and agreed upon when a customer signs account opening forms.

Because consumers naturally wish to minimize the fees they pay, banks will often compete with each other by offering discounted activity charges.

The advent of electronic banking has made it harder to justify some activity charges when customers can complete services themselves at home on their computers.

Understanding an Activity Charge

Depending on the fee schedule in question, activity charges may be based on individual transactions, such as fund transfers or withdrawals, or they may be triggered by the account holder exceeding a predetermined number of monthly transactions.

Understandably, customers will often seek to avoid paying activity charges as much as possible. For instance, consumers who want to avoid overdraft fees can sign up for overdraft protection policies; some banks will even waive overdraft fees for small transgressions, such as overdrafts of $5 or less.

In 2011, new federal regulations placed a limit of $0.21 per transaction on the activity charges permissible by banks on debit card transactions. Some banks responded to this cap by adding a new monthly fee for debit card users, in order to compensate for the lost fee revenues.

Another way that customers can reduce their activity charges is by specifically seeking out accounts with less onerous fee schedules.

Many financial institutions, especially small community banks and credit unions, offer checking and savings accounts that do not incur monthly maintenance fees.

Generally, however, accounts with low monthly fees will have relatively high activity charges, and vice versa. It is how banks set up ways to make money.

Overall, reduced activity charges are one of the main ways that banks seek to compete for new customers. This is particularly true in recent years, as federal regulations now limit the amount of money that banks can charge for certain transactions, such as making payments through debit cards.

Whereas some banks responded to these limitations by increasing their fee schedules in alternate areas, others have responded by keeping their fee schedules low and marketing themselves as a low-fee alternative.

With the advent of online banking, it has become harder to justify activity charges on some transactions. All it takes is a few clicks from a customer on their computer without the involvement of a bank representative or any additional paperwork to get the service completed; hardly enough to charge fees on.

Types of Activity Charges

One especially common type of activity charge is the fees levied for using an ATM operated by a bank other than your own. In these situations, the customer is often double-charged; once from their own bank and another from the bank operating the ATM. In addition, when traveling internationally, customers are double charged but the fee is usually significantly higher.

Aside from ATM-related activity charges, other examples include minimum balance charges, which are triggered when the balance of a given account falls below a predefined threshold; overdraft fees, which are incurred when account holders withdraw more funds than were held in their account; and account closure fees.

Oftentimes if a customer deposits a certain amount above a set threshold they are exempt from overdraft or minimum account requirement fees. These are often labeled as "Gold" or "Silver" accounts.

Additional examples include fees charged for making debit card transactions from savings accounts, fees for requesting paper copies of bank statements, fees for bounced or returned checks, fees for replacement cards, fees for sending or receiving wire transfers, and fees for dealing in foreign currencies.What Is the New York Clearing House Association?

The New York Clearing House Association, known since 2004 as the Clearing House Payments Company, is a private organization that was established in 1853 to simplify the settlement of interbank transactions in New York State.

Modeled after the London Clearing House, founded nearly one century earlier in 1773, the New York Clearing House Association was the first of its kind in the United States and helped to stabilize the nation's monetary system, prior to the Federal Reserve System (FRS) being set-up in 1913.

Key Takeaways The New York Clearing House Association organization, now known as the Clearing House Payments Company, was established in 1853 to simplify the settlement of interbank transactions.

It was the first clearinghouse in the United States and helped to stabilize the nation's monetary system , prior to the arrival of the Federal Reserve System (FRS).

prior to the arrival of the Federal Reserve System (FRS). Before 1853, banks sent porters out on the streets to exchange their checks for coin, with settlements occurring just once a week.

The New York Clearing House Association brought order, stamping out primitive, easy to abuse transactions and bringing much-needed stability to financial markets.

Understanding the New York Clearing House Association

A clearinghouse enters the picture after a buyer and seller have executed a trade. Its role is to act as an intermediary between both parties, consolidating the steps that lead to settlement of the transaction.

The New York Clearing House Association, or the Clearing House Payments Company as it is now known, is the oldest banking association and payments company in the U.S. It was initially created to streamline the bank settlement process during a period of rapid economic expansion and unregulated capitalism.

The New York Clearing House Association stepped in to ensure that basic banking transactions were conducted orderly. Acting as an impartial referee, it helped to stave off fraud and panic-induced crashes, bringing much-needed stability to financial markets.

The New York Clearing House Association is owned by the world's largest commercial banks, which combined hold more than half of all U.S. deposits.

These core duties have continued into the 21st century. On its first day of operation, the New York Clearing House Association swapped checks worth $22.6 million. Today, it handles approximately $2 trillion in transactions, largely electronically, each day.

History of the New York Clearing House Association

From 1849 to 1853, an economic boom, triggered by the California gold rush and construction of the transcontinental railroad, led the number of banks in New York to more than double from 24 to 57. However, the processes they used were inefficient and open to corruption.

Before the New York Clearing House Association was founded, procedures to settle accounts were primitive. Prior to 1853, banks sent porters out on the streets to exchange their checks for coin, with settlements occurring just once a week. As the number of banks increased and exchanges became more frequent, the potential for record-keeping errors and abuses grew.

Amid all this chaos, George D. Lyman, a bank bookkeeper, proposed the concept of a centralized clearinghouse. Eventually, his suggestion came to fruition and the entire archaic, malfunctioning system of before was gradually overhauled.

Specie certificates soon replaced the use of gold in the exchange process, reducing the likelihood of bank runs and helping to stabilize the monetary system. Requirements were also placed on member banks, including regular audits, minimum reserve levels, and daily settlement of balances.

Benefits of the New York Clearing House Association

The New York Clearing House Association's legacy extends beyond simply ensuring that people get paid the money they are owed. Before the FRS was established in 1913, it also functioned as a quasi-central bank.

In the period between 1853 and 1913, the U.S. experienced multiple financial panics. The New York Clearing House Association played a pivotal role in ensuring anxiety did not spiral out of control by issuing loan certificates that were backed not by gold but with bank notes held by member banks.

These certificates were a form of quasi-currency that helped support the monetary system and stabilize the currency through times of financial panic. When Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, the federal clearinghouse system that was established was modeled on the New York Clearing House Association, among other private clearinghouses that had emerged during the time of American expansion.

To this day, America's first clearinghouse continues to play an influential role. On its website, it claims to have "served as a resource" to policymakers and regulators, helping them to develop and implement appropriate regulations in the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession.By Eamon Quinn and Padraig Hoare

Potential plans by Aer Lingus-owner IAG to gobble up Norwegian Air Shuttle is bad news for Irelands consumers less than three years after the Government sold its 25% stake in the Irish airline, the Consumers Association of Ireland has said.

The share purchase by IAG in Norwegian comes as Shannon Airport enjoys its largest number of US services in over 17 years.

Dermott Jewell, who oversees policy and is council adviser at the Consumers Association, said it is the first clear example of the way the takeovers in huge industries like the airlines will lower competition while consumers are left on the sidelines as powerless observers because transatlantic fares will inevitably rise.

Mr Jewell called on the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to review whether its existing powers and competition law are adequate to protect consumers when a huge group like IAG takes out an upstart rival like Norwegian.

It just goes to show that consumers have no choice or power in a market where competition is below where it should be.

The scaling back by Norwegian of Corks first ever transatlantic flights to Providence has become more stark in contrast with Dublin, Shannon and Belfasts lucrative routes to the US.

Norwegian said yesterday it would expand its Shannon/New York flight from winter 2018 to a daily service, having scrapped its winter Shannon/Providence route.

It means Shannon now has its largest number of US services in over 17 years, with six airlines operating to seven destinations, including Aer Lingus, British Airways, American Airlines and United Airlines.

The 2015 takeover of Aer Lingus was dominated by a discussion on its valuable 24 slots at crowded Heathrow servicing Dublin, Cork, Belfast, and Shannon, and on whether then transport minister Paschal Donohoe was selling the stake far too soon and should wait to get more than the 350m for the Governments stake.

But Mr Jewell said by casting its eyes on Norwegian, IAG  which also owns British Airways, Iberian and Vueling and is run by Willie Walsh  would clearly affect Irish consumers.

IAG is valued at 12.49bn (14.37bn). In a statement earlier this week, IAG disclosed it had picked up over 4.6% in Norwegian and said it had not ruled out bidding for the rest of the company.

The minority investment is intended to establish a position from which to initiate discussions with Norwegian, including the possibility of a full offer for Norwegian, IAG said and confirmed no such discussions have taken place to date.

At the time of the 2015 sale, Ryanair owned just short of 30% in Aer Lingus but had been ordered on competition grounds by EU and UK authorities to sell down the stake.

Etihad, the Abu Dhabi airline, which owned over 4% of Aer Lingus at the time, also didnt oppose the takeover.

Dublin has 15 operators flying to US cities, with Delta, American and United Airlines all increasing their routes last year. Total transatlantic passengers grew to 3.5m last year, up 20%.

Belfast International Airport has flights to a number of US cities, including Las Vegas and Orlando.Tara Flynn didnt set out to become a face of the Repeal the Eighth campaign. She was just a woman, she says, who had a crisis pregnancy  and wrote a play about it.

I was really surprised. I expected it to be shouty and declamatory and extreme but it wasnt like that at all. It was funny!

A man in his late fifties or early sixties has clearly been dragged to Not A Funny Word against his will. Its the one-woman show based on my own real-life story of having to travel for an abortion, and hes at the work in progress version staged at the Abbey in 2017.

Its followed by a Q&A with me and our director, Phillip McMahon. This audience member is one of the first to raise his hand and Im relieved and flattered at his response. Mine to him?

Thank you. And now we need to talk about why youre so surprised it wasnt extreme.

For the longest time here in Ireland, we didnt say the A-word at all. It was completely taboo. Even saying you were pro-choice, pro someone elses right to make decisions for themselves, was seen as radical and confronting. I hadnt even discussed it with my own mother, so when I got pregnant in 2006 (despite having taken a morning after pill barely eight hours after the non-event) I didnt know who I could turn to.

I became like a secret agent, ferreting out information, doing research and getting a crash course on reproductive healthcare, alone and undercover. I ended up going to the Netherlands, flying back the same day. I couldnt afford to stay over. It was isolating, stigmatising, scary. But the care I got at the clinic in Utrecht, the non-judgemental compassion of the medical professionals, is with me still. The injustice of not being able to get that care here is also still with me. Once home, all I had to do was to lie to everyone forever; then everything would be all right, everything would be normal.

But our situation isnt normal; its not even in line with the basics of international human rights law or medical best practice. Weve heard that over and over again and we all know someone (even if we dont realise it), but it wasnt until some of us broke the silence that the conversation seemed to move. I once told my story anonymously to a journalist and it ended up in a national newspaper. Nothing. No shift, no change. Then in 2015, fed up with the hypocrisy that constitutionally allows us to travel for this procedure but leaves us to continue a pregnancy we cant cope with if we cant, I told my story in public. Put my name and face to it. It can seem to be all Im asked to do these days. That can be a strange contract to have with the world.

People come up to me now and share their own stories (we all know someone). Others arent backwards about coming forwards with unflattering opinions. Thats OK. Their rights and values are already protected and would continue to be should our laws change following repeal of the 8th amendment. Mostly, people are confused by conflicting stuff in the media where both extremes are pitted against each other in debates you could easily script in advance. You could definitely play debate bingo or a pretty dangerous drinking game. (Floodgates! *does shot*.)

Ive found myself front and centre as, based on evidence, facts and listening with an open mind, more and more people realise that pro-choice is the middle ground, the non-judgemental ground, the acknowledging reality ground. Abortion is already here, being undertaken every day: when someone cant cope with a pregnancy they will leave, or take illegal pills without medical supervision, or put themselves at risk taking matters into their own hands. Im not sure what Id have done if I hadnt been able to travel for help. I might not be here.

I was always careful, certain it couldnt happen to me. Maybe thats what I can lend to the campaign: my It Happened To Me-ness. The shock. The fear. The realising youre a second-class citizen and that everyone knows it, really, but chooses to look away (Look! A bird! A dog with a puffy tail!).

Since putting my head above the parapet and saying it happened to me, Ive found myself not just involved in the campaign, but having commentators remove my humanity to an extent. Im just a campaigner, hardline, shrill. I know Im not, but thats an impression you might get by pitting someone with lived experience against someone for whom its merely theoretical, someone who might not always come with facts.

I dont think Im a great campaigner, though Im certainly willing and its far too urgent to back away now. But Im a decent enough actor and writer. From the moment I travelled, I wanted to put the experience into my work; my comfort zone, my way of processing, healing. But it was too taboo. Until recently. Now Ive made a piece that not only explores the moral quandaries and terror generated by facing a crisis pregnancy in Ireland, but does it in a funny way. My way. The way I cope. And guess what? It turns out Not A Funny Word helps some other people to process, too.

Theres no lecturing in it: theres a person. A sometimes funny, messy person, but a rounded one all the same. Not just a campaigner - whatever that is - but someone who doesnt want to debate her life, simply to tell it and give others space to reflect. Plus laughs. Plus songs.

Id love to do Not A Funny Word all over the country. We need a break from the confrontational, nuance-free way traditional media pose these questions. We need to be able to breathe. To think. Its not 1983 anymore. Crisis pregnancy isnt funny  it happened to me, I should know. But every time I do this show, a few more of the wounds left on me by stigma and hypocrisy heal.

Id love you to come. You might be surprised.

- Not a Funny Word is at the Everyman, April 26 at 8pm.Rachel Marie Walsh looks at the latest beauty launches for men. The highlight? David Beckhams brand new line, House 99.

David Beckham has entered the mens grooming market with House 99, a LOreal-backed brand with a luxury barbershop vibe.

House expresses the stars inclusive aspiration for a line aimed at making the everyman adept with his appearance, supporting him with tips and advice as well as products.

99 is the year he became a husband, began a family, and won the treble.

His 25 tools span hair styling, shaving, and face and body care. It is an extensive roll-out for a first season. The barbershop theme inspired the pervasive amber-vetiver scent and is a savvy business angle.

In an October male grooming-market report by Kline, the analyst noted that the barbershop market in Europe and the States grew by more than 10% in 2016, fuelled by beard-wearing trends.

Unsurprisingly, given Beckhams famous head-game, haircare is the best of it. The Smooth Back Shaping Pomade, 19, is especially good, boosting strands with quinoa protein and providing medium hold with a matte finish.

The House99 fragrance is pleasant but very strong and there is alcohol in all of the leave-on products, even the eye and tattoo moisturisers. There are good buzz-worthy natural extracts  charcoal, spirulina  in the mix too but those arent redemptive when perfume and alcohol are both useless to your skin and harmful with regular use.

Better to separate care from scent, buy your cologne bottled, and treat skin with top-notch ingredients alone.

Essential Maintenance

Men often ask about eye and face creams but antioxidants and sun protection are more important for great-looking skin than moisturising daily.

You can always choose more emollient options if your type is extra-dry. Antioxidants do come in moisturisers but are more highly concentrated in serums.

It is sort of an Americano vs espresso situation: In a moisturiser the antioxidant effect is diminished by the more substantial amounts of water and fats in the mix, whereas serums are less or even non-aqueous and deliver more active ingredients per shot.

The purpose of these actives is to repair damage to existent cells and promote the healthy production of the new.

Serums are abundant in womens skincare but absent from most male-targeted lines.

Still fewer offer a solid basic serum, by which I mean one that provides of substantial amounts of one or two antioxidants established by lots of independent research (for example, vitamins A,C, E, and green tea) while remaining free from non-fatty alcohol (aka SD alcohol, alcohol denat) and fragrance.

Happily, the rise of gender-neutral skincare means there are serums focused entirely on issues. The Ordinary, for example, offers stripped-down formulas entirely devoted to the good stuff.

Its Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, from 6/30ml, works to refine pores, reduce redness, and balance excess oil.

Try applying The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 23% + Hyaluronic Acid Spheres 2%, from 5.88/30ml, for improved brightness and less noticeable lines.

Sun protection is essential in doing all you can topically to keep skin youthful. Non-genetic darkening of the under-eye area, for example, as well as wrinkles and loss of elasticity are all promoted by UV-damage.

Youre exposed whenever you step into daylight, regardless of the weather, so broad-spectrum SPF25 or higher is a must.

Anthony Skincare for Men Day Cream SPF30, 29.85 at thehut.com, is a particularly good option as it is lightweight, irritant free, and rich in Vitamin E, soy, and hyaluronic acid.

Pores and Polish

Large pores and dullness are best tackled with gentle lotion exfoliants.

These remove skins surface keratin in a more even, effective way than scrubs. PC4Men 2% BHA Exfoliant, 29.75 at paulaschoice-eu.com, decongests pores, prevents razor burn and leaves skin soft and calm.

Shaving is a form of exfoliation, making it smooth but vulnerable.

Aftershave balms and lotions are moisturisers by other names and tough to recommend.

From those that promise to soothe to those that energise (read: stimulate redness using ingredients that make your face cold or tingly), theres none Id recommend above the advised serum and/or SPF (depending on time of shave), especially as common occlusives like mineral oil risk pimples or keratosis pilaris bumps where the follicle is blocked with a mix of trapped oil and dead cells.

Moisturising and soothing shave products leave skin conditioned enough to go without aftercare.

Lab Series new The Grooming Oil, 30, available online from April 19 and in stores May 15 (left), is a triple-blend of sea buckthorn, jojoba, and sweet almond oils that you shake up to either shave or treat your beard.

It goes on transparent, allowing for a more precise, well-cushioned shave.

The formula contains additional vitamins and water-binding ingredients and is irritant-free.

Which is the best foundation for men?

Men wearing a little foundation at work is no news at this point, but adoption still has its challenges.

Colour-matching, while time-consuming, is key to achieving the best look possible without highlighting the cosmetic. John F Kennedy did not look more presidential than Richard Nixon in the 1960 election debate because he wore wore sweat-curbing makeup. Nixon elevated his look by trying to hide his own evening shadow with cake-y tan makeup (Max Factors Lazy Shave), which looked super-odd streaked down fair skin.

More recently, when George Osborne and Tony Blair shared a stage at a summit on education in Dubai last month, it was not age that made their looks contrast so much as Blairs yellow-toned makeup (a rare stumble in his solid grooming record).

Foundation in moderation can neutralise redness and make you look well-rested but a clashing shade is distracting. Male-specific foundation (as distinct from tint, tan or cover-up) exists but colour and undertone limitations make the unisex route more appealing.

CoverFX is the nonpareil of imperceptible makeup. Originally conceived to conceal burns, vitiligo and other sensitive skin issues without trace, their complexion products always look authentic. CoverFX Power Play Foundation, 42.50, is especially skin-like texture-wise and very lightweight.

It has a natural, sweat-proof matte finish and comes in 40 full-cover shades. Getting swatched at a counter (CoverFX is available at Arnotts, Harvey Nichols and SpaceNK) is ideal but the brand website offers both live advice and shade samples to help find the shade that is truly you.Youll always have Copenhagen, but Aarhus offers all the hygge (and Nordic cuisine) along with one of the most exciting design scenes on the continent, writes John Wogan.

SO closely associated is Denmark with its capital, Copenhagen, that most visitors unknowingly overlook the countrys second-largest city. Aarhus is another Viking-founded seaside port, this one 98 miles across the Kattegat on the eastern coast of the Jutland peninsula  a town whose modest size (327,000 people) can give it the feel of an overgrown village, complete with cobbled streets and 18th-century facades.

And yet over the past decade, as Copenhagen has reached hygge-seeker saturation point, Aarhus has emerged on its own terms as a design destination.

Consider Isbjerget, the ambitious 2013 architectural collaboration that consists of four faceted residential buildings meant to resemble floating icebergs, or the equally avant-garde Dokk1 in 2015, Scandinavias largest public library.

The Iceberg residental modern Housing in Aarhus, Denmark, is an ambitious 2013 architectural collaboration that consists of four faceted residential buildings meant to resemble floating icebergs.

Then theres the Michelin-starred restaurant scene, which takes full advantage of the surrounding countryside and waters bounty. Happily, however, new development hasnt detracted from the coziness that still distinguishes the city: Here, visitors can actually participate in everyday life, whether that means hunting for perfect peonies at Ingerslevs Boulevard farmers market, stopping for coffee on one of the narrow, medieval streets of the Latin Quarter, home to many of Aarhus Universitys politically active students, or biking through Marselisborg forest, south of the city and dense with elms, oaks and wildflowers.

Stay

Villa Provence: Dont come here expecting spare Scandi style; Villa Provences married owners have styled their homey, 39-room inn  a two-story 1820 rowhouse within walking distance of the harbour  in homage to their favourite region of France, with four-poster beds, claw-foot tubs and decorative antique birdcages. At breakfast, guests gather in the whitewashed dining room for fresh-baked baguettes and croissants, cured meats and cheeses. In the summer, drinks are served in the hotels hydrangea- and boxwood-filled courtyard.

Hotel Oasia: With its raw wood plank floors and clean white walls, its all crisp minimalism at this 65-room hotel, but that doesnt mean there arent playful flourishes as well, like caramel-coloured leather armchairs and fibre-concrete coffee tables that allude to iconic Modernist designs by the likes of Walter Gropius and Verner Panton. Located less than a 10-minute walk from the youthful, busy Jaegergardsgade neighbourhood, home to many of the citys best cafes (try Juliette for a morning latte and chocolate croissant), its perfectly firm, all-natural horse-hair mattresses (from the Swedish brand Hastens) are the ideal reward after a day of sightseeing.

Eat

Haervaerk: In addition to concrete floors, rough wood tables and a large meat locker thats fully visible from the dining room, this restaurant in culinary-centric Frederiksbjerg has a tasting menu that changes not just daily, but sometimes hourly. Thats because the chef-owners source virtually all of their highly seasonal ingredients from farms within a 40-mile radius, and when a certain type of prized produce is gone, its gone. Still, guests can always count on memorable, hearty dishes along the lines of haddock ceviche with blackcurrant vinegar and roast pigeon confit with kale and onions. The contents of the meat locker, meanwhile, are regularly transformed into venison tartar and pork kebabs served with a crispy Belgian waffle.

Frederikshoj: Compared to the new Nordic restaurants that have become Denmarks culinary signature, Frederikshoj, with its white tablecloths, quilted leather chairs and hushed dining room, feels comfortingly retro. Located a few miles outside downtown Aarhus, the restaurant provides views of the Marselisborg forest and tastes of the sea, with creative seafood dishes such as Norwegian lobster bisque and Jerusalem artichoke with fresh snow crab.

Aarhus Street Food: Located in a former bus garage in Aarhuss main business district, this 18-month-old food hall  inspired by Borough Market in London  is worth multiple trips. Many of the 30 or so stands specialise in ethnic and street food. Standouts include Tuk Tuk, popular for its curries, and Banh Mi Bandits, for Vietnamese sandwiches, while Mormors Kokken (Grandmas Kitchen) is the go-to for Danish comfort food like pastry tartlets filled with baked asparagus and chicken ragout.

Domestic: This popular Latin Quarter newcomer, located in an airy, exposed-brick loftlike space, is a temple to all things fermented  try the cod with pickled cabbage or the pickled gooseberries drizzled with pine oil. To drink, theres mead, a sweet and spicy brew made with fermented honey, and oolong-flavored kombucha. Just dont mistake Domestic for a casual joint  it was awarded a Michelin star last spring.

Shop

Lertoj: Of the citys many independent art and antiques shops concentrated in the Latin Quarter, the best might be Lertoj, which carries whimsical ceramic pieces made by a collective of eight designers. One maker-member, Sverre Tveito Holmen, tends toward faux bois vases glazed in rich earth tones; another, Henriette Duckert, embellishes bowls with delicate, meringue-like peaks. There are also dimpled teapots crawling with painted ants and paperweight-size sculptures of horses and birds.

S.T. Valentin: Youll find sophisticated, wearable mens wear at this boutique on Guldsmedgade. Along with sought-after Scandinavian brands like the preppy-sporty Les Deux and Wood Bird, which makes structured jackets and slouchy knitwear, there are also glossy ebony belts, messenger bags and metallic-gray wallets by the house line. Owners Nikolaj Valentin and Steffen Larsen also design a series of illustrated posters that offer witty instructions on such sartorial quandaries as How to Tie a Windsor Knot.

See

Moesgaard Museum: At this temple to archaeology, anthropology and ethnography, exhibits range from eerily realistic models of early humans to a full-scale recreation of a wooden Viking ship that visitors can steer through a digital simulation of coastal Norwegian fjords. Its main structure  with a dramatically sloped grass roof that doubles as a park during the warmer months  is a feat of futuristic architecture, and reason enough to make the 15-minute trek from downtown.

ARoS Aarhus Art Museum: Over a century after its founding, this museum helped put Aarhus on the map when it debuted a new building designed by the renowned Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen in 2004. The imposing 10-story brick-and-glass box is filled with work by both Danish and international artists, from Bjorn Norgaard to James Turrell. But the biggest attraction is the circular top-floor walkway, also known as Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliassons Your rainbow panorama (2011), a permanent installation enclosed in multicolored glass. Passing through the mesmeric space as the light shades from yellow to green to deep purple, you might feel as though youve travelled to another dimension.Alicia Mikielewska, aged 26, a Polish national who has lived in Ireland since she was 18 and who owns her own beauty salon in Portlaoise, told Judge Terence OSullivan in the Circuit Civil Court she was flung out of the kart when it collided with a barrier. Friends thought she was dead.

Ms Mikielewska, of Mell St, Kilminchy, Portlaoise, and formerly of Bluebell Way, Esker Hills, Portlaoise, and Maple Lawns, Oldtown Demesne, Sallins Rd, Naas, Co Kildare, said her helmet had gone one way, a shoe another as she was catapulted onto the Kylemore Karting track at the Kylemore Industrial Estate, Killeen Rd, Dublin.

Peter OBrien, counsel for Grovepark Services Limited, which trades as Kylemore Karting, told the court that a full defence had been entered to Ms Mikielewskas claims and negligence was denied.

Ms Mikielewska said her go-kart had been struck by another driver on the finishing straight, spinning her into a barrier.

She said she sustained a significant impact to her buttocks and tailbone and suffered soft tissue injuries which, for two weeks, had made it difficult for her to sit down because of the pain. She had also complained of pain in the mid-thoracic region of her spine.

Ms Mikielewska told Mr OBrien she had undergone an X-ray examination which showed some underlying scoliosis which, in itself, could cause pain. Her pain was consistent with the type of accident that had occurred.

She agreed she had been given a helmet, racing suit and driving gloves all of which she wore and that she had watched a seven-minute safety video about go-karting.

She told Mr OBrien she had go-karted on several occasions prior to her accident and on each occasion, the video, highlighting the risks and dangers of the activity, had been shown.

She said she had been treated at Naas General Hospital and had been told to take over-the-counter analgesics and anti-inflammatories. She had also undergone physiotherapy.

Cross-examined by Mr OBrien, she said she had made three previous damages claims against insurance companies, all of which had been settled for undisclosed amounts. She said that in the previous accidents, she had been a passenger in cars driven by others.

Judge OSullivan said there were certain risks and dangers attached to go-karting. Ms Mikielewska had participated in the sport on several previous occasions and he was satisfied she was aware of those risks. She had been torpedoed from the kart which, the court had been told, had not contained seat belts for specific safety reasons.

An expert on behalf of Kylemore Karting had stated the go-kart was treated similar to a motor bike or quad. It was safer that a driver be thrown clear rather than be strapped into a kart that may overturn.

Dismissing her claim, Judge OSullivan said she had failed to show negligence on the part of Kylemore Karting but he found her to be a genuine plaintiff and refused to grant an order for costs against her.Yesterday, An Bord Pleanala announced it had granted planning permission for the controversial plans.

Opponents to the plans, especially those living close to the factory, have expressed outrage at the decision, but Mr ODea, who has been a constant loud voice of opposition to the plans, said that a number of options still are open to residents, which he said he will help them pursue.

He said the matter now lies in the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who could decide not to grant Irish Cement a licence to carry out its proposed development.

There are still options. Im pinning my hopes on the EPA, who are not concerned with planning, but they are concerned with environmental aspects, he said.

Mr ODea, paraphrasing a quote from Winston Churchills 1942 speech on the Allied forces victory over the Axis powers in the Second Battle of El Alamein in the Second World War, added: Its not the end. Its not the beginning of the end. Perhaps, its merely the end of the beginning of our fight.

Mr ODea said he was absolutely stunned and gobsmacked by the granting of planning permission.

Limerick City and County Council initially granted permission for the development in March 2017, despite a number of public protests.

This was appealed to An Bord Pleanala by a group of local residents, as well as Limerick Against Pollution, which led to an oral hearing.

Irish Cement has always maintained its plans do not pose any threat to the local environment. It said the development is essential to ensure the long-term viability of the Mungret factory, which is currently the only cement factory in Ireland not using alternative fuels and one of the last in Europe not to be availing of these fuels.

It said the development would protect its current workforce of 80 and create further jobs.

Welcoming the An Bord Pleanala decision, Irish Cement stated: Replacing fossil fuels in cement factories is standard practice throughout Europe, and is in line with European, national, and regional waste management policy. Irish Cement already uses alternative fuels in our sister plant in Platin, Co Meath.

The development will reduce the companys dependence on fossil fuels, will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 40,000 tonnes per year, and will help recover valuable resources. It will also make the factory more competitive, and support existing and future employment.After viewing the video yesterday, the High Courts Mr Justice Michael Hanna commented the mans walk appeared to be bouncy and normal on the recordings.

Mr Justice Michael Hanna, addressing plaintiff Oleg Shevelov, said: One can get lost in the bits and pieces of these videos. The problem a person might have, looking at those videos, is that we are looking at someone who looks 100% normal carrying on normally, doing his biz, having a bouncy walking gait. That is what I saw there.

You are lifting box-chairs, lifting two bikes belonging to children. Never mind the minutiae. There is one point where you are bending in the car and you pivot on your knee and that might be supportive of stiffness in the back. But you seemed to be moving around doing stuff like any normal man might do.

Mr Shevelov replied: In some of the videos, I am limping.

Mr Justice Hanna said: I did not see any limping.

In relation to his concerns about the videos, taken by a private investigator, the judge said: My difficulty becomes your difficulty, only more so,

The plaintiff said: Also, on those videos, I was leaning on to seats to reach the items. I was not able to bend.

Mr Shevelov, a quality controller from Rathowen, Fermoy, Co Cork, brought his case against Kepak of Clonlee, Co Meath, over an alleged accident at Watergrasshill in August 2011. The case continues on Monday.

John Lucey, defending, put it to the plaintiff: You told Kepak you did not want to do lifting but the videos show you lifting.

Mr Shevelov replied: The tasks on video I could not do for eight hours a day as a job and those items were not heavyweights. Mr Justice Hanna said: That is the problem because you said that a small amount of (lifting) work could give rise to a significant amount of pain.

Mr Shevelov said: I did all those jobs with difficulty for myself, It was not just that I did the job without any consequences for me. I learned how to manage my pain.

He said the lifting activities shown in the video caused him pain but the primary reason for the pain was the lifting injury suffered at Kepak while he had to pull meat from large bins. He said the work should not have been done by one man with a hook.

Earlier, he told his counsel Sean Lynch, he advised his employers he needed assistance to lift meat out of the container.He said a micro-discectomy back operation in Kiev in 2003 had resolved his problems before the work accident in August 2011.Davis College in Mallow notified gardai after staff found out this week about graffiti in a cubicle that listed a small number of names under wording that suggested the one with most ticks would be raped. It is not clear if one or more people were involved in the graffiti and the 20-plus ticks.

But the principal Stephen Gilbert confirmed last night that it was the third such list at the school, which had said on Thursday that no other incident of this nature had been reported by teachers or students to management.

School management has now been made aware that there were two other lists and a thorough investigation is underway to investigate who may have been the author [or authors] of the lists, Mr Gilbert said.

The school has said the graffiti discovered on Wednesday was was removed immediately and the female students whose names appeared have been offered whatever support they need.

Education Minister Richard Bruton said yesterday it was obviously a serious incident, but noted the school was taking it very seriously and acting on it.

We will make sure they get the right supports that appropriate action is taken. Ive asked NEPS  the National Educational Psychology Service  to visit the school and support the school in what its doing, he told reporters.

NEPS staff do not usually work directly with students in situations like this, but typically work with teachers and management instead. They help schools to set up responses to serious incidents, including situations where the school community has been affected by a tragedy such as a death.

Mr Bruton also referred to the detailed well-being programme being rolled out to junior cycle students nationally, which includes social, personal and health education (SPHE).

On Thursday, Davis Colleges principal said in light of a spotlight nationally on the topic in recent weeks, SPHE teachers at the 800-student school were to facilitate discussions on the subject with every class.

Meanwhile, in Limerick yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said while he was sure the school authorities would take any appropriate action that was necessary, the incident was very worrying. It does further emphasise the need to modernise and improve relationships and sexual education in our schools. Minister Bruton announced we were going to do this anyway but I think this really does emphasise that even more so, (especially) in the age of social media and in the age of prevalent pornography, he said.

Weve an obligation, I think, both as parents and as educators, to really educate our kids more about appropriate behaviour, the Taoiseach said.

Also yesterday, the Oireachtas Education Committee invited submissions to a review it is carrying out into sexual health and relationship education at schools and organisations that interact with young people. Chairperson, Fianna Fail TD Fiona OLoughlin, described the events at the Mallow school as very shocking.

The review that will include what is taught to young people about contraception and consent had been included in the all-party committees 2018 work programme in January. But those wishing to make a submission have less than a week to do so. The committee may also invite some stakeholders to address their views to the committee in public hearings on the issue.

Ms OLoughlin expects the report on their deliberations to feed into the wider review of relationship and sexuality education (RSE).A team of experts in genomics from University College Dublin and Trinity College have challenged the findings of Ms Zappones expert technical group (ETG) advising Government about managing the Tuam site.

The ETG had said that the commingled nature of the remains made it particularly challenging to realistically isolate individual remains.

However, the report also pointed out that Ireland may be bound by human rights law to investigate the deaths to the fullest degree possible.

It had outlined five options which the Government could pursue when managing the location, ranging from doing no further investigative work, to a full forensic excavation and analysis of all human remains.

However, the UCD/TCD team of genomics experts said new advanced genomic technologies should allow for the identification of remains at the Co Galway site.

The findings are published in a submission to the public consultation process by Galway County Council. It is written by David MacHugh, Jens Carlsson, and Stephen Donoghue from UCD, and Trinitys Dan Bradley.

Ms Zappone has requested a copy of the submission so that it can be reviewed by the ETG. In a statement, the Department of Children said the minister had made it clear on publication of the ETG report that neither she nor her department had a preferred option in terms of the Tuam site, and that stance remains.

Historian Catherine Corless, whose work led to the discovery of a mass grave in Tuam, said the submission couldnt have come at a better time as a decision on how to proceed at the site will be taken next month.

You would wonder though, why the specialist team used an outdated report on the possibilities of DNA testing when up-to-date information on DNA testing was at hand, said Ms Corless. Also, why did they not consult with local DNA experts?Speaking yesterday at Glasnevin Cemetery, Mr Donohoe said that while ministers are entitled to espouse a personal view, the position of Fine Gael is that it does not see Sinn Fein as a suitable coalition partner.

Fine Gael is not going into government with Sinn Fein, he said.

When asked about comments made by junior minister and Cork South West TD Jim Daly, Mr Donohoe said he was just speaking his mind, which he has a right to.

I think all my colleagues are entitled to give views on matters that they are asked about. Ive done so myself in the past. Its Jims right to do so but the view of the party is very clear: We will not be going into government with Sinn Fein, he said.

Asked to respond to Fianna Fail deputy leader Dara Callearys comments that the Government is cosying up to Sinn Fein, Mr Donohoe said: Sinn Fein are not fit for government.

The Dublin Central TD also said he would like to see the current Government arrangement with Fianna Fail continued in order to let it deal with the Brexit deadline of March 29, 2019.

Yes, I do want to see the current arrangement extended. I believe the discussion in relation to the supply and confidence agreement should take place later in the year. We have a government in place that is working well, that is making progress on things that matter to the country.

Weve seen positive changes happen in our economy; were seeing improvements in public services. But we have many challenges and opportunities that we still have to grapple with, Mr Donohoe added.

I believe that when we get into 2019, stability in the context of what will be happening with Brexit, in particular, will be really important.

I hope discussions that take place later in the year can reflect that and deal with that, he said.

Mr Donohoe was the keynote speaker at Glasnevin to mark the official reopening of the tower at the grave of The Liberator Daniel OConnell.

Mr Donohoe paid tribute to former taoiseach Bertie Ahern for playing a crucial role in the redevelopment of Glasnevin.

Mr Ahern was among a number of dignitaries present, along with Martin Fraser, secretary general to the Government, and his predecessor, Dermot McCarthy.

Visitors to the countrys largest cemetery will now be able to climb the steps and view Dublin from the top of the OConnell Tower for the first time in more than 45 years.

Work began on the monument in 1854 and took 16 months to complete. It stands 180 feet high. The tower was damaged in 1971, when a 10lb gelignite bomb exploded at its base, causing extensive damage.

Forum: 14The award recognises the crew of Rescue 116, who lost their lives off the Mayo coast in March 2017, and volunteer member, Caitriona Lucas, who died during an earlier operation in Clare.

The community of Erris will also be recognised for their outstanding contribution to the search for the missing Rescue 116 crew.

On March 14, 2017, Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 disappeared off the north coast of Mayo.

The aircraft had been providing communications support for an offshore medical assistance operation.

On board were Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, Capt Mark Duffy and winch team members Paul Ormsby and Ciaran Smith.

Hundreds of volunteers, fishermen and colleagues supported the emergency services in the search for the missing crew.

The bodies of Capt Fitzpatrick and Capt Duffy were recovered but, sadly, and despite intensive efforts, the bodies of Ciaran Smith and Paul Ormsby are still missing.

Six months previously, the Irish Coast Guard community lost another brave colleague, Caitriona Lucas, who had been taking part in a search off the coast of Kilkee, Co Clare.

Irish Coast Guard search and rescue operations manager, Gerard OFlynn, said they had lost five colleagues in a relatively short period of time.

The selfless actions of those who put their lives on the line for the safety of others means Caitriona, Dara, Ciaran, Mark and Paul will remain an inspiration to us all, he said.

Our colleagues will always be sadly missed and we remain deeply saddened by the depth of this tragedy.

Grainne Seoige, who will co-present the event live on RTE, said it was fantastic that the Coast Guard was being honoured.

Mr OFlynn said they were very mindful of the families of the deceased and the loss that they had suffered.

There is great resilience in the organisation but, equally, the loss suffered by the families of our deceased colleagues is always uppermost in our minds.

Not a day goes by when what happened doesnt cross your mind in some way or another.

Mr OFlynn also paid tribute to the community of Erris who left no stone unturned in supporting one of the most extensive search and investigation operations ever conducted in the area.

Grainne Seoige, who will co-present the event live on RTE One from Dublins Mansion House with Aidan Power, said her mother was from the Aran Islands and that she grew up in the west of Ireland.

I grew up knowing about the Coast Guard and the valuable work they do. I think it is fantastic that we are getting an opportunity to honour them.Reddit Email 309 Shares

TeleSur |  

I have no fear of dying because there is no life in Gaza, one Palestinian told AFP.

As Friday protests resumed near the border fence between Gaza and Israel, occupation forces opened fire injuring at least 30 more Palestinians and killing two.

Mohammed Hamada Hijila, 36, was killed in an airstrike in East of Shujaya, and Abdullah Al-Shehri, 28 years old, was killed by Israeli sniper fire at the eastern border. According to the Gaza Strips Health Ministry, 112 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli army fire or treated for tear gas inhalation.

This is the third consecutive Friday in which Palestinians protest near the fence as part of the Great March of Return. Todays march has been named protest to burn the Israeli flag and hoist the Palestinian flag.

During the two previous Friday demonstrations, Israeli snipers killed at least 30 unarmed Palestinians in Gaza, including journalist Yasser Murtaja who was wearing a vest identifying him as PRESS.

Despite international condemnation, including warnings by the United Nations Human Rights Council against the use of lethal force against civilians, who do not pose an immediate threat to life or severe injury, Israeli authorities and politicians have praised the armys actions and vowed to continue repressing protesters to protect their border.

No Israeli soldiers or civilians have been wounded or killed during the protests in Gaza.

Criticism of Israeli use of live arms has come from within the country as well. On Thursday a group of former Israeli soldiers, members of the sniper teams, wrote in an open letter we are filled with shame and sorrow Instructing snipers to shoot to kill unarmed demonstrators who pose no danger to human life is another product of the occupation and military rule over millions of Palestinian people, as well as of our countrys callous leadership, and derailed moral path.

The March of return has mobilized tens of thousands demanding their right to return to the towns and cities from which they were expelled following the creation of the state of Israel.

Refugees have a universally recognized right to return to their places of origin, but Israel has denied this right to the over five million Palestinians who are currently living as refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and countries around the world after fleeing from cities like Jaffa in the context of violence.

Israel has been open about their fear that letting refugees return to current-day Israel would mean the end of the Jewish character of the state because they would lose Jewish peoples demographic dominance.

Over half of the 2 million people who live in Gaza are refugees.

The AFP has reported one man, 36-year-old Sumaya Abu Awad, saying I have no fear of dying because there is no life in Gaza.

Gaza has often been called the largest open-air prison because of the decade-long blockade imposed by Israel and enforced both by Israel and Egypt. Report by the U.N. have revealed that Gaza will be uninhabitable by 2020 due to the destruction of infrastructure in Israels periodic bombings of the Strip and the blockade, which has severely limited Gazans ability to rebuild. Furthermore, the Gaza Strip has been progressively running out of fresh water and electricity.

Protests are set to continue every Friday until May 15, which marks the 70th year of the Palestinian Nakba, or catastrophe, when over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from their lands.

The United States has announced they will move their embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem on May 14, in a move analysts believe will only heighten tensions.



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

Thousands flee gunfire on Gaza-Israel border | ITV NewsReddit 13 Email 905 Shares

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

President Trump along with allies British prime minister Theresa May and French president Emannuel Macron struck Syria on Friday evening.

It was not a piece of military strategy designed to win any war aims.

It will have no effect on the situation in Syria at all.

It was not authorized by Congress. The Republicans in Congress had threatened to impeach Barack Obama if he struck Syria in 2013 under similar circumstances.

It was not authorized by the UN. None of the three striking states had been attacked or harmed.

Then why?

In our age of politics as reality show, where we have hired the star of NBCs Apprentice to play president (apparently in large part because he is both consistently awful and highly entertaining at once), even geopolitics is done for show.

The United States, France and the UK lost the Syrian War to Russia and Iran. It is all over but the shouting. They had hoped that the al-Assad regime, which had been a thorn in their sides for decades, would be overthrown. It isnt an ignoble hope. It is a horrible, Stalinist regime with massive amounts of blood on its hands. But the reasons for which Washington, Paris and London wanted it gone were not necessarily noble ones. Syria is among the last states to reject Israel. Its secular elites reached out, isolated after the end of the Cold War, to Iran for support. Its system does not accommodate the Western corporate take-over of the countrys economy. Overthrowing countries that buck the neoliberal, barracuda capitalist Washington consensus and challenge the neocolonial order in the Middle East (with the assumption of Israeli hegemony in the Levant) is a no-brainer for the North Atlantic powers.

The Syrian revolution of 2011 was a homegrown revolt against a regime that had already largely abandoned its socialist policies in favor of the establishment of Alawite oligarchies, which imprisoned people for the slightest criticism of the regime, and under which the proportion of people living in absolute poverty was rapidly increasing. But when the regime cleverly maneuvered the revolutionaries into allying with Muslim extremists on the battlefield, even then the CIA went on supporting the rebels. Its officials would deny it, but they were one degree of separation away from al-Qaeda, just as they had been in Afghanistan in the 1980s. And even while the US FBI and right wingers in the Senate like Ted Cruz were darkly intimating that the Muslim Brotherhood and all its offshoots are terrorist organizations, the 40 vetted groups supported by the CIA were mostly Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.

No lesson of history is ever learned in Washington, D.C.

As I argued on Thursday, the Russo-Syrian military operation against the Saudi-backed Army of Islam in Douma, in the course of which chemical weapons appear to have been used, was a resounding success. Once the chem was released, the Army of Islam fighters, who had dug in their heels and inflicted substantial casualties on the elite Panther Brigade special ops forces of the Syrian Arab Army, abruptly surrendered. They turned over hundreds of their weapons, released dozens of captives, and agreed to exit north to Jarabulus in their thousands. It was one of the most ignominious defeats visited upon any guerrilla group in the course of the seven-year war.

If you had wanted to work against further such chemical use, the more effective method would have been to negotiate with Russia about it and apply pressure on Moscow.

The Tripartite missile attacks on Saturday will attrite some regime military capabilities in a small way. But since the Russian Federations Aerospace Forces are actually supplying the air power to defeat what is left of the rebels, the regimes loss of some facilities wont matter to the course of the war. I expect further Idlib and Deraa campaigns later this year, and I expect the regime over time to win them. I have to say that Im surprised by the resiliency of the al-Assad clan. You wouldnt have expected them easily to restore control over places like Homs (a largely Sunni Arab city with a strong Muslim Brotherhood movement). Security is no doubt fragile. But it appears that a reassertion of the regime is plausible in the short to medium term.

The missile attacks are for domestic politics, and perhaps to some extent a demonstration of political will to Russia and Iran. As military history they are a footnote.

Those who argue that they were necessary to show resistance to the use of chemical weapons are missing some things. The West backed Saddam Husseins use of chem in the Iraq-Iran War. It is hard to see why killing children with chlorine differs from the point of view of the children from killing them with bombs. Military action should be taken in accordance with international law. And, deploying missile strikes ineffectually renders them less effective politically down the road.

These strikes are like when a fistfight breaks out on the reality show Big Brother. The show will go on next week.



Bonus video:

guardian news: A strong deterrent: Trump announces strikes on SyriaReddit Email 311 Shares

By Alexandra Moore | (The Conversation) |  

President Donald Trumps nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, is reported to have overseen a U.S. site in Thailand where torture of a suspected terrorist took place. Later she allegedly helped destroy evidence of torture.

Her nomination, pending congressional approval, is viewed by many as further evidence of this administrations support of torture and an undoing of Obama-era efforts to end it. Her work was allegedly part of a program the CIA launched after 9/11 called Rendition, Detention and Interrogation. From 2002 to at least 2006, the CIA orchestrated disappearances, torture and indefinite detention without charge of suspected terrorists.

What can a small group of committed citizens who oppose these practices do to push back? A commission against torture in North Carolina may serve as a model for how citizen-led initiatives can create transparency and accountability for abuses of power in government.

North Carolinas involvement in CIA torture

In 2005, The New York Times reported that two planes used in the CIA torture program were operated by a contractor based in North Carolina. Forty-nine of the known 119 CIA prisoners were flown from two rural North Carolina airfields to secret prisons or nations with lax policies on torture for violent interrogation. Haspel allegedly oversaw the so-called black site in Thailand, starting in 2002 where two of those suspects were held for interrogation.

The revelation about the CIA program angered a number of North Carolinians. They condemned the use of tax dollars to fund an aviation facility that was involved in what they believed was illegal and immoral activity. They wanted to end the states participation in torture and hold accountable those who were responsible.

A grassroots movement began. Over more than a decade, it has evolved into a forceful voice against the use of torture. In 2017, organizers created the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry of Torture, an independent and nonpartisan group dedicated to transparency and accountability for the states role in the CIA program.

The commission compiled extensive research and appointed 11 commissioners to review the evidence. In November 2017, the commission held public hearings to investigate North Carolinas role in the CIAs program. My research explores the importance of understanding tortures wide-ranging implications for survivors, communities and human rights workers. I also volunteered as a note taker during the hearings.

The commission currently invites public input for its recommendations and will publish its report in fall 2018. With it, the commission will seek to determine North Carolinas responsibility and liability for its participation in the Rendition, Detention and Interrogation program.

Neighbor-to-neighbor activism

The nongovernmental, nonpartisan commission builds on the extensive work of North Carolina Stop Torture Now, a coalition of anti-torture citizens across the state. It started with a core group of 10, that expanded to protests of up to 250 people. The organization has partnered with as many as 75 organizations on various public actions. Over more than a decade, the group has staged public and legislative campaigns and educational conferences. The campaigns, described as neighbor-to-neighbor activism, have sought to focus public attention on state and citizen complicity with torture.

With other civic organizations, NC Stop Torture Now put pressure on state and county officials, as well as Aero Contractors  the company that owned the planes and hangar used to transport suspects. Activists publicized the CIAs actions and drew attention to laws against torture, enforced disappearance and indefinite detention without charge.

In 2007, Aero Contractors decided to sell its hangar at the Kinston, North Carolina air facility. That year, NC Stop Torture Now also helped generate bipartisan support in the state legislature for a bill that would have criminalized participation in CIA-sponsored disappearances and torture. However, the bill stalled the following year and never passed. To date, state officials have avoided any official or lasting response. The Johnston County commissioners have at times gone on record to defend Aero Contractors.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has attempted to shield itself from liability for its torture program. In three federal court cases, the government argued for immunity and for the protection of state secrets. A fourth lawsuit, Salim v. Mitchell, targeted the psychologists who designed the CIAs interrogation program. The case was settled in 2017 for an undisclosed sum.

Public hearings

In November 2017, the commission convened public and private stakeholders, survivors of disappearance and torture, former interrogators, legal and medical experts and citizens. Altogether, 20 witnesses gave testimony during the public hearings. Together with the research the commission has amassed, these efforts provide the fullest picture to date of the local dimensions of the CIA program. Representatives of Aero Contractors did not respond to an invitation to participate.

Testimony began with Professor Sam Raphael, co-director of the United Kingdoms Rendition Project. Synthesizing material from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligences report on the program, analysis of flight plans, corporate records and personal testimony, the Rendition Project has compiled extensive documentation of the CIA-sponsored flights.

Raphael detailed the Rendition Projects research on the scope of Aero Contractors participation. According to their analysis, Aero Contractors used publicly funded aviation facilities to launch abductions of suspected terrorists from around the world. They were taken to CIA secret prisons, or black sites, or to foreign sites where torture was the norm rather than the exception.

The researcher offered detailed testimony about abduction protocols, including abductors silence, failure to identify themselves and lack of arrest warrants. For the captives, Raphael testified, rendition flights involved removal of clothing, diapering, hooding, restraining, and the forced use of suppositories, which prisoners often experienced as sexual assault. Captives often had no knowledge of why they were being taken, where they were being transported, or how long they would be held, Rafael said.

Former counterintelligence, investigators and interrogators Steve Kleinman, Mark Fallon and Glenn Carle also testified. They spoke of the pressure they experienced either from their superiors in their agencies or from the Department of Defense to support the use of torture on captives.

All three witnesses drew on extensive research and their own experience to argue that coercive interrogation techniques do not yield valuable intelligence. Instead, according to the witnesses, coercive techniques impeded accurate recall, triggered resistance and produced false information aimed at ending the pain. All three also testified to the usefulness of rapport-building techniques in gathering actionable intelligence.

A survivors wife detailed her husbands lasting emotional and psychological damage after his rendition and 10 years of detention:

He is 44 years old. His hair and beard are graying; his gestures, his look betray the state of anxiety and pressure in which he has existed for many years. How will we live? We both ask, each on our own. I look at him, but I do not recognize him.  We struggle to understand each other. Day after day I realize that this condition will no longer leave us.

Another powerful statement came from Allyson Caison, a founding member of NC Stop Torture Now. She explained the difficulty of activism in a small community, in which Aero executives are prominent members.

She said, As a mother, I like to think if somehow my boys were kidnapped and tortured that there would be another mother out there where my boys were like me, trying to end an injustice that begins in my neighborhood.

Legal scholars Deborah Weissman and Jayne Huckerby, summarizing extensive research, concluded North Carolina has a duty to adhere to state, federal and international laws that prohibit kidnapping, enforced disappearance, extrajudicial detention, and torture or cruel and degrading treatment. The scholars believe North Carolina is liable for participation in those crimes.

Alberto J. Mora, the former chief legal officer of the U.S. Navy and Marines, detailed the costs of the program to national security.

From stealth torture to democracy

The CIAs rendition and torture program was notable for its use of what Darius Rejali, a scholar of international torture, has called stealth torture. These techniques, including waterboarding, stress positions and environmental extremes, are designed to inflict extreme physical pain and suffering without leaving visible traces.

Despite the challenge this presents to government transparency and accountability, the commission hearings have created a forum in which the scope of the CIA program can be disclosed and the public can debate the infrastructures that make torture possible.

Alexandra Moore, Professor of Human Rights in Literary and Cultural Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

Democracy Now! Will Senate Dems Block Confirmation of Climate-Denying, Torture-Backing State Dept Pick Mike Pompeo?The US, France and Britain unleashed air strikes on Syria early Saturday targeting the Damascus regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack on civilians.

Western powers said the strikes were necessary to halt the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Here is a selection of the main responses from across the world:

 Russia 

Damascuss ally Moscow reacted with fury to the strikes and said it was calling an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council.

Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Russias ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said such actions will not be left without consequences.

 Syria 

The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, the foreign ministry said.

State news agency SANA said the attack was doomed to fail.

 Iran 

Iran, another key backer of Assads regime, warned the US and its allies were responsible for the regional consequences of this adventurist action, the foreign ministry said, condemning a clear violation of international rules and laws.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced US President Donald Trump, Frances Emmanuel Macron and Britains Theresa May as criminals in remarks published on his Telegram channel.

 NATO 

I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

NATO considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security, and believes that it is essential to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention, the statement added.

This calls for a collective and effective response by the international community.

 United Nations 

I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.

He urged the UN Security Council to agree on establishing an inquiry that would identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks.

Russia this week vetoed a US proposal to set up such a panel on the suspected attack in Syria.

 Turkey 

We welcome this operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

It accused Damascus of carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syrias seven-year civil war.

 EU 

European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter that the European Union supported the strikes and will stand with our allies on the side of justice.

 Germany 

German chancellor Angela Merkel backed what she called a necessary and appropriate military intervention.

 Amnesty International 

All precautions must be taken to minimise harm to civilians in any military action, Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at rights watchdog Amnesty International USA said in a statement.

burs-klm/rlp/dlTurkey on Saturday welcomed Western strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime as an appropriate response to a suspected chemical attack that left dozens dead.

We welcome this operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of strikes against Assads regime on Saturday a week after the suspected deadly gas attack on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the strikes had not been launched via Turkeys southern Incirlik air base.

Turkey was informed ahead of the attack, he wrote on Twitter. The Incirlik base was not used in the attack.

Ankara said chemical weapons attacks that indiscriminately target civilians constitute crimes against humanity and should not go unpunished.

The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannising its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes, the foreign ministry said.

The conscience of the international community is in no doubt about that.

Turkey is a vocal critic of Assads regime in Damascus and backed rebels fighting for his ouster. In recent months however it has closely worked with Russia for a political solution in Syria even though Moscow remains a chief ally of the regime.China said Saturday it was opposed to the use of force following US-led air strikes against Syria and called for a return to the framework of international law.

We consistently oppose the use of force in international relations, and advocate respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on its website.

Hua said unilateral military action bypassing the UN Security Council would add new complicating factors to the resolution of the Syrian issue.

China believes that a political solution is the only realistic way out for the Syrian issue, she added.

China urges all the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation.

China is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Beijing has consistently said the Syrian crisis needs a political solution but has numerous times vetoed Security Council measures aimed at addressing the conflict  including an investigation of war crimes in the country.Here is a roundup of key reactions to the strikes by the United States, Britain and France against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad:

 Syria 

The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, the foreign ministry said.

 Russia 

Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism, the Kremlin said in a statement. It said it was calling an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council.

 China 

China said it was opposed to the use of force in international relations. It called for a political solution and a return to the framework of international law.

 Iran 

Assads key regional ally, Irans Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, branded US President Donald Trump, Frances Emmanuel Macron and Britains Theresa May criminals.

 Gulf 

Qatar was the first Gulf country to react. A statement published by the official news agency expressed support for strikes to stop attacks by the Syrian regime against civilians.

 NATO 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a statement backed the strikes, saying they will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons.

 United Nations 

I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.

 Turkey 

We welcome this operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. It accused Damascus of crimes against humanity.

 Europe 

European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter that the European Union supported the strikes and will stand with our allies on the side of justice.

German chancellor Angela Merkel called the strikes a necessary and appropriate military intervention.

The Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain defended the strikes as justified by evidence of a chemical attack.

 Amnesty International 

All precautions must be taken to minimise harm to civilians in any military action, Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at rights watchdog Amnesty International USA said in a statement.

burs-klm/rlp/eclTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday welcomed Western strikes against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assads regime as appropriate in retaliation for Damascus inhumane attacks.

We consider this operation as appropriate, Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling party in Istanbul.

The regime has seen that its mounting attacks in recent days against dissidents will not be left unanswered.

The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of pre-dawn strikes against the Assad regime Saturday in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians on April 7.

Erdogan said he had a sleepless night as he monitored all the developments.

It is not possible for us to approve the situation encountered by (Syrian) babies as a result of the use of chemicals weapons, he said.

Whoever the perpetrators they should pay a price.

Erdogan, who had a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Theresa May following the strikes, said he would also speak with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Turkish leader told May his country clearly condemned the use of chemical weapons since the very beginning, in a call with the British premier, a Turkish presidential source said.

He said the only way to long-lasting peace in Syria was a political solution, the source added. The Turkish leader also emphasised the importance of de-escalating the tension in the region.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the strikes had not been launched via Turkeys southern Incirlik air base.

Turkey was informed ahead of the attack, he wrote on Twitter. The Incirlik base was not used in the attack.

In a statement, the Turkish foreign ministry said the US-led operation has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the suspected chemical attack.

The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannising its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes, it said.

The conscience of the international community is in no doubt about that.

Turkey is a vocal critic of Assads regime in Damascus and backed rebels fighting for his ouster. In recent months, however, it has closely worked with Russia for a political solution in Syria even though Moscow remains a chief ally of the regime.Visiting hill tribes in Thailand to learn about their history, culture and cuisine was something I really wanted to do during our three week Thailand itinerary.

What is a Thai Hill Tribe?

Hill tribe (chao khao) is a modern-day term used in Thailand as a catch-all for the various ethnic groups that have mostly inhabited the mountainous regions of North Thailand, and both sides of the border areas between Thailand and Laos, and Thailand and Burma. In such remote and rugged places, the tribes have traditionally lived as subsistence farmers, some with a migratory history in which they moved when natural resources were depleted or they were forced to do so by conflict with other populations. Today, while some of the younger generation have left their tribal communities to live and work in the cities, others continue to maintain tribal traditions and culture in the modern-day world. Tourism has been an increasing source of income for some of the communities, both by hosting visitors, and selling traditional handicrafts.

Thailand is home to seven main hill tribes, these are the Akha, the Lahu, the Karen (of which one group, the Paduang, is often referred to as long-necks in reference to the distinctive neck rings worn by the women), the Hmong, the Lisu, the Palaung and the Yao. The tribes (and often even sub-groups within them) each have a distinct language, history, culture and traditional dress with significant variations across clans and regions.

A Sustainable Way to Visit Hill Tribes in Thailand

Unfortunately, a lot of the tours I found in my search take tourists to purpose-built tourist villages, many of them populated by hill tribe refugees from Burma (officially known as Myanmar). These villages seem to provide a pastiche of hill tribe tribal culture  a show for gaping tourists; the people in them are expected to wear traditional costume, and to allow tourists to take photographs. They are provided with basic food, a pittance of a wage and permission to sell craft souvenirs. I have read that most of the money (from entrance fees and souvenirs sold) goes to the owners that run the sites, and only a small amount to the community members themselves.

I also got the impression that these hill tribe tourist villages pretend to preserve an authentic experience by denying the reality of mobile phones, wi-fi, mass-produced clothing, modern electrics and plumbing But culture isnt stagnant and evolves as humanity implements new ways to improve quality of life. Preserving a tribes cultures and traditions should not be mutually exclusive with its people benefiting from modern technology, health and other developments.

Other tours I found require hardcore trekking to reach very remote villages (and I am not entirely convinced that some of these villages get much say in whether or not they wish to welcome tourists).

I wanted to visit a hill tribe in a sustainable way; I wanted to participate in the kind of tourism that is run by and supports the local community, gives the community a way to share their traditions and culture with visitors on their own terms, and gives younger generations a way (and for some, an incentive) to stay in their community and make a decent living  one of our village hosts explained how she had previously moved to a nearby city for work, but was truly delighted that the (recently launched) tourism initiative for her village allowed her to return home and create a viable business there.

In the community we visited, there was preservation and huge pride in the communitys history and culture, alongside adoption of many facets of modern-day life.

Organising a Hill Tribe Visit

Having read many online articles and debates about tourism to Thailands hill tribes, and how one might best plan a sustainable ethical visit that respects and supports the communities, I got in touch with Local Alike, a Bangkok-based social enterprise organisation that works with small villages across Thailand. Local Alike help villages to initiate and develop tourism on their own terms, assist with marketing, and also serve as an agency to bring tourists to those villages.

I explained that I was keen to learn about one hill tribe communitys history and culture. I added that I would love to observe small scale agriculture including production of coffee, and that Id love to learn how to make some of the traditional foods and crafts of that community. As I have some mobility issues, I also needed the village to be readily accessible by road.

I didnt stipulate which of the various hill tribes I wanted to visit, rather I was keen for Local Alike to suggest a community they felt would be a good fit for my interests and access criteria, and was open to overnight tourism.

They proposed an Akha hill tribe village in the mountains north of Chiang Rai, and organised a 2 day 1 night private trip with guide. As we also needed to transfer between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, they picked us up from one city and dropped us in the other at the end of the tour.

Our Experiences in Baan Pha Mee

The community we visited was Baan (village) Pha Mee, an Akha hill tribe located high in the mountains along Thailands border with Burma, just over an hours drive from Chiang Rai centre.

We travelled to Doi Pha Mee in a comfortable spacious passenger van, our driver and guide up front and us in the front row behind them.

Our Local Alike guide Krishna (nicknamed Bic) served as our translator, and we were hosted by two lovely ladies of the community, Ms Phakakan Rungpracharat (known as Meow) and Mrs Siriluck Borisutpot (known as Toy). They are both active members of the communitys nascent tourism initiative and accompanied us throughout our visit, enthusiastically telling us about their history, culture, crafts and food.

Once wed met Meow and Toy we switched to local vehicles better suited to the off-road terrain we navigated to visit some of the community members farms and to reach our overnight accommodation.

During our time in Baan Pha Mee, we experienced a traditional welcome ceremony, visited coffee and orange plantations and had a chance to pick some ripe fruit ourselves, and learned about how coffee is grown, picked and processed from freshly plucked berry to roasted bean.

We also observed and participated in tutorials for local handicrafts, took two cookery lessons where we made local dishes, and enjoyed more tribal dishes for lunch and dinner.

We spent the night in a beautiful home-stay high in the mountains, with the most stunning views of the landscape.

The homestay is situated at the villages original site, still culturally significant to the Pha Mee Akha, not least because its still the home to the Akha Swing. Much more than the childrens plaything a swing represents to me, our hosts related its role in their annual Swing festival in late-August or early-September, about 3 months after the village has planted its rice crop. The festival centres on offerings to the spirits for a good harvest, and also brings together the wider Akha community (not just from Baan Pha Mee but other Akha villages in the region) for a celebration culture and community.

Traditional costume is proudly worn; the young women in particular dress in ornate clothing and elaborate jewellery and head dresses which they have made by hand, and which give clear outward notice that that they are single and of marriageable age. This festival has traditionally been the time when Akha women seek prospective husbands, and this is where the swing comes into play; young men take turns in showing off their strength and balance by swinging as hard and high as they can. The better they are, the more desirable they are to Akha women (and yes, of course, theres more to it than that)!

We also learned about rituals associated with the Akha belief system. The Akha believe in a female creator god who gave life to Earth and the Akha people, and provided the guidelines for life, known as Akha Zang, (the Akha Way). There is a strong emphasis on respect for people, nature and natural resources, and a belief in the protective guardianship of spirits. We are taken through the Akha village gate, near the swing, and considered to be a representation of the boundary between the world of humans and the world of spirits. Akha life includes many rituals and offerings to the different spirits sharing their world.

As a food lover, one of the highlights of our visit was the opportunity to try the local cuisine and indeed to learn how to make some of the dishes.

For lunch, we visited a local cafe restaurant and were taught how to make Sa-Pee-Tong, a chilli paste served as a dip with Ho-Pa-So (a salad of local vegetables). We were also served Nga-Cha Si-Ma-Chae Tae-Eum (steamed fish with local herbs) and Ho Pa Ja (a vegetable and pork soup).

For dinner, we enjoyed Ho-Chae-Pa-Loo (stir-fried local vegetables), Theu-Kho-Ja (local melon soup), A-bae-Loo (stir-fried peanuts), Kajee-Cho-Jeu-Loo (stir fried ginger and chicken), A-La-Sa-Bien (spicy fried minced pork) and Sa-Chi-Loo-Ko (a spicy pork curry). All served with steamed rice, and enjoyed watching some of the community members demonstrate some traditional local dances for us.

We also learned how to make a pounded rice treat called Kao Pook, much like Japanese mochi. The rice was first crushed coarsely by a foot-operated pounder, before being pounded in a very large mortar and pestle until the rice was finely ground. Water was added and the pounding continued until the mixture was glutinously sticky. Pulled into small balls, rolled and patted in sesame seeds, each piece was wrapped in a leaf and ready to eat.

The History of the Akha of Doi Pha Mee

Meow and Toy were particularly keen to share the communitys recent history, telling us the stories of how the village came to move to its current location, and establish its coffee farms.

Baan Pha Mee is most of the way up a mountain, just half a mile as the crow flies from the border with Burma. Originally, the village was located even higher up the mountain, much closer to the border itself. In that location, the community experienced conflict with other minorities at the border, and struggled to find enough water to irrigate their farms.

The mountain is question is Doi (mountain) Pha Mee, part of the Daen Lao Range straddling Burmas Eastern Shan State and Thailands North Eastern Chiang Rai Province. The village and mountain are not marked on Google Maps (though some of the individual businesses there are), but its about 2 miles north of Doi Nang Non, 5 miles north of Doi Tung, as the crow flies. The village is within of the Wiang Phang Kham subdivision of Mae Sai District.

The villages move to the lower current-day location is thanks entirely to the late King Rama IX, his majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej (who passed away to intense mourning from his subjects in 2016). Having a genuine interest and concern for all the people living within his country, King Bhumibol made many visits to hill tribe communities in the northern provinces. When visiting Baan Pha Mee in 1970, he made the suggestion for the Akha community to relocate to a new site further down the mountainside; a far better location for farming, and crucially, also sufficiently removed from the border to avoid further skirmishes.

At the same time, he encouraged them to move away from the farming of opium by initiating the farming of Robusta coffee instead, providing the training and expertise needed for the communitys farmers to establish their coffee plantations, and learn how to best grow and process these new crops. This also heralded a move away from slash-and-burn farming methods that were contributing to deforestation.

During a subsequent visit to the village to check on progress, the King realised that Robusta was not the best fit for the local climate, and instead encouraged the community to switch to Arabica coffee, which they still grow today. They also started growing other crops such as lychee and citrus fruits, as well as peanuts, macadamia nuts and tea.

The eradication of opium farming and successful establishment of coffee and other crops was greatly assisted by the Doi Tung Development Project, initiated in 1987 by the Kings mother, her Royal Highness Princess Srinagarindra. She also moved her residence to the region at around this time, living here for the last several years of her life. Princess Srinagarindra was already heavily involved in social welfare and environmental conservation via her Mae Fah Luang Foundation (originally named the Thai Hill Crafts Foundation), and the work of these organisations encompassed environmental and agricultural initiatives (not just coffee but also flowers, fruit and vegetables), the preservation of hill tribe craft skills and assistance in marketing the products to generate income, education and healthcare for those who had scarce or no access previously, and a very successful drug rehabilitation centre that helped many of the Pha Mee community and others in the area overcome the addiction to opium that was rife at that time.

The more details we learned about this history, the more I finally appreciated the depth of reverence and love for their King that the Thai people hold. In his reign of 70 years, the King was devoted to improving the lot of his people, and there is a deep and lasting gratitude on the part of those he helped.

A Three Week Itinerary For Touring Thailand

We visited the Pha Mee Akha community as part of an independent holiday, which we organised and booked ourselves. Check out our comprehensive three week Thailand itinerary, including tips on sightseeing, hotels, food and transport.

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Have you ever had a prescription altered? I have, several times  all opioids. Despite making copies of every prescription to prove what I actually wrote for, dealing with everything from patients who threatened to sue me for false accusations to time spent with the DEA was a real pain. The good news is that during the pre pain as fifth vital sign era at least  since my prescribing habits were nominal  the process was handleable. I attribute this to the fact the prescribing decisions were entirely between me and my patients and no one else.

All that changed after so-called experts decided they knew better and started pressuring physicians to become more liberal with narcotics. I am proud to say that my narcotic prescribing did not change despite enormous pressure to do so. Strangely, at least in the beginning, I did not see one altered prescription. Perhaps it was because with liberal prescribing came more lax enforcement, so prescriptions were still being altered but were not caught. In any case, the disaster that ensued was so predictable a child could see it. The fact that our leadership went along with it was particularly galling.

In any case, physicians are now dealing with pressure from the exact opposite direction. We have passed through the eye of the hurricane, so to speak. Those storms are clearly getting worse, and if physicians are not careful, we will be the ones suffering the most legal and professional damage, especially since the government has gotten on the bandwagon. In typical politician fashion, the government is now claiming it is going to step in to fix the opioid crisis. That means they will be looking for scapegoats. That means lawyers will inevitably follow.

Despite one lawsuit in West Virginia against JCAHO, the current wave of lawsuits is against pharma and pharma chains. Of course, they will vigorously defend and inevitably that defense will be that they are not prescribers. Since politicians need to prove to the public they are doing something, and lawyers really dont care where their pound of flesh comes from, that means the hammer will inevitably come down on physicians.

So far the pressure on physicians has been regulatory. Some logical moves like strengthening pharmacy prescription tracking but some overreaching like blanket limitations on narcotics and some ridiculous like pain contracts.

Improvements may come from increasing addiction treatment, but the high recidivism rate may limit that success. What will physicians do when the government suspends their license on the mere suspicion of inappropriate narcotic subscribing? What happens when the lawsuits start? I suspect that our leadership will do nothing  which, once again, leaves us to fend for ourselves. For me, I have decided to go on another micro strike.

I have decided to stop prescribing narcotics altogether.

Granted, my current position allows me to do that and surgeons cant stop altogether, but even they can have strict rules regarding their narcotic prescribing.

I call on other physicians to do the same. We cant afford any additional contributors to burnout and narcotics are just too radioactive to touch right now. If we tell our patients it is our blanket policy, they will have to accept it.

Its time for physicians to send a clear message that we will no longer be political scapegoats or ATM machines for lawyers. With enough luck we may be able to achieve what is needed and to return to the pre- fifth vital sign era where pain control decisions were between physician and patient and no one else. Limit the government intervention to going after the pain mills where the real problems are and leave the rest of us alone.

Then I could return to the one narcotic prescribing problem I had, dealing with the occasionally altered prescription. Still annoying  but a small price to pay for being a physician again.

Thomas D. Guastavino is an orthopedic surgeon.

Image credit: Shutterstock.comParisian authorities are investigating the murder as being motivated by the membership, real or supposed, of the victim of a particular religion. But euphemisms should have no place in describing the nature of Mireille Knolls death. She was murdered by men apparently animated by the same hatred that drove Hitler. Two suspects, a 29-year-old and a 21-year-old, have been arrested. The older man is a neighbor Ms. Knoll has known since he was a child. The younger, according to reports, is homeless. One of the suspects told the investigators that the other had shouted Allahu Akbar while killing Ms. Knoll, according to Le Monde. (A lawyer for the Knoll family, Gilles-William Goldnadel, confirmed that in a phone call.) On Tuesday, Gerard Collomb, the interior minister, told Parliament that one of the attackers had told the other: Shes a Jew. She must have money.

The memes pushed about how Jews control the worlds wealth can have very nasty consequences.

In fact, Ms. Knoll was poor, according to her son, Daniel. Shed lived most of her life in the same apartment in the subsidized housing project where she was killed. Its a neighborhood that has already borne witness to a nearly identical crime. Almost exactly a year ago, a 65-year-old Jewish widow named Sarah Halimi was murdered by her neighbor, 27-year-old Kobili Traore. Other neighbors said they heard Mr. Traore scream Allahu Akbar as he beat Ms. Halimi, a retired doctor, to near death in the early hours of April 4, 2017. He then threw her body into the courtyard below.

Seems to have something in common.

Anti-Semitism was supposed to be a disease of the far right. But the people actually killing Jews in France these days are not members of the National Front. They are Islamists. The major crimes against the Jewish community  Ilan Halimi, the Toulouse killings, the Hyper Cacher killings, Sarah Halimi  all of them have all been carried out by radicalized Muslims, Robert Ejnes, the executive director of CRIF, an umbrella organization of French Jewish groups, told me in a call from Paris. These young people have French identity cards, but they hate what France stands for.

This is why immigration should take into account values. It shouldnt discriminate by race or religion. But it should discriminate on values.

Jews represent less than 1 percent of the population in France, yet in 2014, 51 percent of all racist attacks were carried out against them, according to the French Interior Ministry.

Terrible.By Kim Bo-eun



North Korean officials believe the former six-party talks format will not help resolve the nuclear standoff, implying it is likely to depend more on direct talks with the United States over denuclearization, a state-run think tank chief said, Friday.



They also want South Korea to play the role of mediator he added



Jo Dong-ho, president of the Institute for National Security Strategy, said Pyongyang has shown a strong commitment for a summit with Washington. Last month he led South Korean members in a meeting in Helsinki, Finland, where public and private sector security experts and former officials from South and North Korea and the U.S. took part.



"In the meeting, a North Korean official said, 'The six-party talks are dead. They are over,'" Jo told reporters during a press conference in Seoul.



He added he was unable to recall which official made the remark. North Korea's Deputy Director-General for North American Affairs Choe Kang-il led the team from Pyongyang.



"It appears North Korea's strategy is no longer seeking a path based on six-party talks or China's mediation."



Jo said North Korea seems to want to improve relations with the U.S., with the South Korean government playing a mediating role. "North Korean officials asked the South to make efforts for the Pyongyang-Washington summit to take place, and it was South Korea that arranged the summit by playing a mediator role."



The North Korean officials made these remarks after President Donald Trump accepted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's offer for talks on denuclearization.



There are concerns that the meeting may fall through because there were no reports of developments in preparation for the summit. But Trump recently spoke out about it, stating the summit it will be held in May or June and that preparations were taking place.



As part of efforts in the role of "mediator," South Korea's National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong visited Washington and met his new U.S. counterpart John Bolton to map out a plan for North Korea's denuclearization ahead of Pyongyang's summits with Seoul and Washington.



"Broad discussions took place on various ways to successfully host the two summits and to peacefully achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he told reporters at Washington Dulles International Airport before returning to Seoul.



Regarding the mediator issue, a Cheong Wa Dae official also said South Korea has "its own means to resolve the issue of North Korea's denuclearization," but did not elaborate further.



Surrounding the peninsula issue, a flurry of summit diplomacy is set to take place from April through June as the states involved in dealing with the Pyongyang nuclear issue share developments and seek a resolution.



Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet with Trump next week and an inter-Korean summit will be held on April 27. A summit between South Korea, Japan and China is set to take place in early May.



Russia and South Korea are also preparing for a meeting between their leaders in June.



Full-fledged preparations for the inter-Korean summit are also underway, with two weeks left to go. Working-level and high-level inter-Korean meetings are set to take place next week.

Kathmandu [Nepal], Apr 14 (ANI): Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali will be heading for six-day China visit on Monday.

Gyawali's visit will also finalise the date for the visit of Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's to China.

The visit of the Foreign Minister comes within a week of Oli's India tour.

Nepal which was supposed to attend the BOAO Summit in China remained absent this year.

Along with the talks about the summit, the visit will also be focusing on the visit of Nepal Prime Minister to China, sources inside the ministry have informed.

According to the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gyawali will be in China for six days which is said to be full of engagements between the counterparts of both the nations.

"At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Hon. Mr. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Foreign Affairs, is paying an official visit to China from April 16 to 21, 2018, leading a Nepali delegation," read the release, made late on Friday.

During the six-day visit, Gyawali is scheduled to hold the bilateral meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang on April 18 followed by a joint press address.

During his stay at Chinese capital, Beijing, Gyawali will be meeting with the state leaders of China along with an address to the roundtable meeting of the Chinese think tanks.

Apart from the engagements in Beijing, Gyawali will also be visiting Chengdu City of the Sichuan Province where he will meet the provincial leaders and address a program at the Sichuan University on April 20.

The Foreign Minister and his delegation comprising members from the Foreign Ministry are scheduled to return back on April 21, 2018. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)Bamako, Apr 15 (AFP) A rocket and car bomb attack left one UN peacekeeper dead, a dozen wounded and another dozen French soldiers hurt at Timbuktu's airport area, Mali's security ministry said today.

"A terrorist attack targeted" France's Barkhan camp as well as UN troops stationed outside the northern Mali city during the afternoon, the ministry said on Facebook.

A dozen rockets were fired at the two camps with gunmen dressed as UN blue helmets riding two vehicles rigged with bombs.

"One of the vehicles exploded, while the second bearing the UN sign was halted," the statement said.

The ministry said the latest casualty toll was one UN soldier dead, a dozen wounded, five of them seriously, and a dozen French soldiers also hurt.

"The fighting ended towards 18h30. The sector is being searched. The situation is under control," it added.

A foreign security source told AFP that the assault was "unprecedented" in Timbuktu.

The United Nations had earlier released the same toll for its troops.

In a tweet, the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali announced, "One blue helmet was killed in gunfire exchanges with the assailants, a dozen wounded." MINUSMA had earlier "confirmed a major and complex attack on the camp at Timbuktu this afternoon (mortars + exchanges of fire + suicide attack vehicle)".

"It's the first time there has been an attack on this scale against the MINUSMA in Timbuktu," the security source said.

"We've never seen an attack like this," an official from the Timbuktu governorate told AFP.

"Shell fire, rockets, explosions and perhaps even suicide bombers." Unrest in Mali stems from a 2012 Tuareg separatist uprising against the state, which was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

More than a dozen of Timbuktu's holy shrines, built in the 15th and 16th centuries when the city was revered as a centre of Islamic learning, were razed in a campaign against idolatry by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.

The United Nations has nearly 13,000 troops and police in Mali, many of whom are deployed in the country's lawless north.

Seven UN peacekeepers have been killed in attacks in Mali this year alone, serving in a mission that has been described as the UN's most dangerous.

A total of 102 have been killed since MINUSMA's deployment began in 2013.

Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

Insurgents remain active, linked to drug, arms and migrant trafficking in the vast Sahel region. (AFP) CK

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)Bamako, Apr 15 (AFP) An attempted suicide bombing and mortar fire left at least six UN peacekeepers wounded in northern Mali, a foreign security source told AFP.

"At least six blue helmets were wounded during an unprecedented attack in Timbuktu," the source said yesterday.

In a tweet, the UN force "confirmed a major and complex attack on the camp at Timbuktu this afternoon (mortars + exchanges of fire + suicide attack vehicle)".

It made no mention of casualties but said the situation was "under control".

"It's the first time there has been an attack on this scale against the MINUSMA in Timbuktu," the security source said, adding that the final casualty toll was still awaited.

"We've never seen an attack like this," an official from the Timbuktu governorate told AFP.

"Shell fire, rockets, explosions and perhaps even suicide bombers." Unrest in Mali stems from a 2012 Tuareg separatist uprising against the state, which was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

More than a dozen of Timbuktu's holy shrines, built in the 15th and 16th centuries when the city was revered as a centre of Islamic learning, were razed by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.

The United Nations has 13,000 troops and police in Mali, many of whom are deployed in the country's lawless north.

Seven UN peacekeepers have been killed in attacks in Mali this year alone, serving in a mission that has been described as the UN's most dangerous.

Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

Insurgents remain active, linked to drug, arms and migrant trafficking in the vast Sahel region. (AFP) CK

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)Swaziland, April 10: President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday expressed happiness over the popularity of yoga in Swaziland and said both the county has the potential to hold a win-win partnership. Addressing the gathering here, the President also underlined the benefits of Ayurveda and the traditional medicines of Swaziland. "We can combine the benefits of Ayurveda with your traditional medicines and provide sustainable living choices to many. I am happy that yoga is becoming popular in this country. We truly have the potential to hold a win-win partnership," said President Kovind, who is on his maiden official visit to Swaziland as part of his three-nation tour in Africa.

Meanwhile, the King of Swaziland Mswati III informed that they will also reciprocate gesture of India by opening a Swazi embassy in New Delhi. "President Kovind said that they will open a residential embassy in Swaziland to facilitate easier cooperation. As a kingdom, we have also resolved to reciprocate this gesture by opening our embassy in India," King Mswati said. Earlier, India and Swaziland signed two agreements on health and visa services. One of the agreement deals with granting of the visa waiver for the diplomats and officials holding relevant passports while the other is to ensure cooperation in the field of health and medicine.Apr 14, 2018, 5:06pm ET

Land Rover celebrates 70 years with snow drawing of Series I

It sits 8,860 feet above sea level on the side of a mountain in the French Alps.

If you flew over the French Alps this week, you might have noticed a large drawing of a Land Rover Series I in the snow, perched 8,860 feet above sea level on the side of a mountain. The company commissioned the "snow art" to celebrate its 70th anniversary.

The snow drawing is located at near the ski resort town of La Plagne, France. Now, it wasn't drawn by Land Rovers, mind you, but by snow artist Simon Beck. Beck walked 20,894 steps and covered a distance of 10.25 miles to create the illustration. It measures over 820 feet in width.

The drawing harkens back to the original Land Rover, which was conceived in 1947 as a line drawing on the Red Wharf Bay beach in Wales by Rover chief engineer Maurice Wilkes. Maurice had worked in the US and owned a Willys Jeep, and wanted to explain the concept of a simple, off-road vehicle to his brother Spencer, managing director of Rover at the time.

At the Amsterdam Motor Show in 1948, the Land Rover Series I was unveiled, and the rest is history. The snow drawing is meant to promote World Land Rover Day on April 30.Once again I have been pondering the pot problem, after reading how, in some towns in the United States, income tax from sales of legalised cannabis are filling a number of gaps for hard pressed local authorities.

The question here is, would the benefits outweigh the costs?

There are a lot of places which have 'gone to pot'.

In Ireland, pot or cannabis is, essentially, illegal, but despite plenty of attention from the law, every neighbourhood appears to have their own street corner dealer.

There is no doubt there can be disastrous side effects, for some, from taking cannabis.

In this country, too, if you buy in the illegal market, you are indirectly funding any illegal drug-related killings.

In the long run, Ireland will only properly fight the downsides of the illegal drug market by making that market unprofitable.

One way of doing this is to legalize cannabis.

I recently read of developments in the US state of Colorado, reported on by Justin Gardner of the USA Free Thought Project.

In recent years, Colorado began its first retail sales of cannabis. Towns and cities across the state began seeing upsides of this new veture.

Sales revenues have started to run into the billions and local authorities are getting tax revenues which have been funding education, recreation, infrastructure improvements, and even aid to the homeless.

One small town, Mountain View (population 523), has two pot shops. On its own website, Mountain View describes itself as a home rule city.

Its mayor, who initially opposed the pot revolution, said that medical and retail marijuana have definitely helped the towns bottom line.

Id be lying if I said it didnt, he said.

There are at least 22 counties and 62 cities that now allow retail cannabis sales across the pond.

Aurora City Council has collected millions in sales taxes and fees since October 2014. It planned to use $1.5 million to address the homeless issue, $2.8 million for a recreation centre, and $3.8 million for a road project.

Another county planned to spend $500,000 on scholarships for low-income students.

Other towns filled potholes (excuse the pun) and fixed roads.

Denver city collected $29 million last year through taxes and licensing fees and uses it for regulation, enforcement, public health and education efforts.

Gardner also said there is evidence suggesting that people are giving up prescription painkillers in favor of medical cannabis.

He argued that legal cannabis sales are hurting the illegal black market. Trafficking offenses have fallen sharply.

Legalisation has meant that consumers know where their product comes from and what is in it, including the THC content.

Some have warned however that taxation should not be the main reason for legalization.

A too high tax can drive some to go back to the illegal black market.

In the USA, some states, like Oregon, do not tax medical cannabis at all.

Given the abject failure to curtail the illegal drugs market in Ireland, where not only cannabis, but many other drugs are causing some much damage directly and indirectly, is it not time for us to be more courageous and create a legal regime? The tax benefits alone could solve a lot of local infrastructural problems.Orla Tinsley has appealed to members of the public to consider being organ donors in a moving appeal from New York, where she is continuing to recover from her own double lung transplant, which took place before Christmas.

The Newbridge woman has been at the forefront of the fight for improved services for Cystic Fibrosis patients in Ireland. She spent most of last year on a transplant waiting list as her own lungs worsened, and was on life-support before she underwent the lifesaving operation on December 20 last year. It was on the seventh time she was called for the transplant that the organs were deemed to be a suitable match.

Journalist and author Orla, who recently turned 31, moved to the US several years ago to study at Columbia University. She spoke to RTE news on Friday evening to mark Cystic Fibrosis Ireland's '65 Roses' awareness day, and described her recovery as "nothing short of a miracle".

She said that regaining her strength since the transplant made her "feel like a teenager again". A visibly healthier Orla said she is doing yoga and cardio three times each a week. She paid tribute to her donor and their family, and her transplant team.

'They gave me life': CF campaigner @orlatinsley urges people to carry an organ donor card pic.twitter.com/gq7iG3H6hY  RTE News (@rtenews) April 13, 2018

"I found myself walking in the park with my mum the other day, and I had to stop, and just... I was overwhelmed, because I wasn't getting tired and I wasn't getting breathless, which would be a normal occurance for the past two years, anytime I went anywhere, even with oxygen," she said.

"I was getting emotional because I was thinking of my donor, and of their sacrifice and their generosity and their forward thinking, and their ability to have that conversation with their family beforehand, and when tragically they died, they gave me life. It is the greatest legacy anyone could ever give to someone else."

Orla also said she has received tremendous support from people in Ireland via Twitter and social media, and letters, and was heartened by the number of people who have signed up as organ donors since hearing of her story.

Orla's parents Patricia and Brian have been back and forth to the States to help their daughter since her operation. A Gofundme fundraiser set up last July to raise money for Orla's additional expenses during her recovery period has raised over $97,000.Its almost like a vocation, says Noel McGloin. Were all very passionate about the fisheries habitat. The environment is always changing; nothing stays the same, so in this business colleagues would go the extra mile to help one another out.

As Senior Fisheries Environmental Officer with Inland Fisheries Ireland, Noel is involved in overseeing the environmental aspects of the fisheries habitats in the rivers Boyne, Nanny and Delvin. Its a role that combines office work (encompassing all the recent developments in Information Technology as well), while also getting out on the ground for observations and scientific analysis.

Aspects like oxygen levels in the rivers need constant monitoring, explains Noel, and its about always talking with local people. We have to protect our environmental resources, and relationships on the ground are important aspects of that. Over the years, Ive seen a much greater general awareness of the importance of the environment  and the connection between different elements of the environment.

Although born in Athlone, Noel regards Drumshanbo as home, for that is where he spent his formative years and attended the local National School. His father, Gerry, from Kinlough, grew up beside Lough Melvin, while his mother, Maureen, is from Oughterard.

All around Drumshanbo is full of rivers, including the important River Shannon and, of course, Lough Allen, with Lough Melvin to the north near Kinlough. My father was interested in fishing and I would have got on my bike and cycled to Lough Allen to fish by myself when I was growing up. I also went with friends out in a boat. I spent many, many happy days out on the lake. Brown trout would be our target, and pike as well, in Lough Allen. Wed also go to Lough Arrow, near Sligo. My mother is from Galway and my grandfather took me fishing there, too, to places like Lough Corrib.

So, from an early age, Noel had significant, influential people around him.

As a result of where I lived, Ive always had an interest in nature and the environment, with water and habitats everywhere in Leitrim. I also had a very good career guidance teacher and he mentioned a brand new BSc in Environmental Science course that had started in IT Sligo, so I became very focused on that. Some people at that age dont know what they want to do, but I was very lucky that I did. So, I started that four-year course in 1982 and it was only 45 minutes from Drumshanbo, so I was able to stay in touch with family and the local environment in Leitrim.

After he qualified, a lucky break came in 1986 through a government agency called NADCORP, the National Development Organisation, and Noel ended up working with them at a fish farm close to home in Lough Allen (Aquahatch Ireland Ltd).

My boss there was Dr. Pat Byrne, who later drowned tragically on the lake. A lot of people in the fisheries community knew him, studied under him. A very nice fellow. I was lucky that I was surrounded by good people, influential people, like Pat himself, Michael Keane and Dr Richard Fitzgerald, who died just last year. We were learning as we went along, too, and it threw almost any situation at you and you had to deal with it. There was great support from the community and it provided a lot of jobs locally and we used local products. I made many good friends there.

When NADCORP was wound up, Noel heard there was a suitable job going in the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board at the time, and so he secured a position there in June 1991, based out of Drogheda. When it was restructured and renamed Inland Fisheries Ireland, Noel had by then acquired the new title of Senior Fisheries Environmental Officer, but with an operational area that still covers, approximately, from Clogherhead down to Skerries, down as far as Edenderry, up to east of Mullingar and to Bailieboro.

In his role, Noel is on various national and regional committees to do with heritage, and the Water Framework Directive, and interacts with stakeholders like the National Parks and Wildlife Service, local authorities, the farming community, industry, and so on, and all to do with protecting the fisheries habitat, our tremendous national resource.

Given the positive focus on Climate Change in recent times, he has noticed impacts over the years and gives one example.

Floods impact the life in, and on, our rivers. If you have, say, insect invertebrates that the fish feed on and which are used to certain types of environments and not that many floods, then they could be all washed away when the floods happen because they might not be adapted to those conditions, then that has implications for the feeding of the fish, so all that has to build up again. A lot of these insects are quite complex and it might take them years to get to that stage.

For example, some of the Mayfly might only last a day when they hatch out but they might be three years in the water developing, so that affects feeding by trout and salmon. Its all interconnected. Obviously, where you have pollution incidents that create fish mortality, that impacts the whole food chain, and it could take five or six years for the habitat to recover, depending on the circumstances. That is why it is taken so seriously and that is why there are laws are in place. In general, we try to be proactive and try and foresee possible damaging events before they happen. Again, its about relationships and communicating.

And no prizes are being given out for guessing Noels favourite place.

I have a very strong attachment to Lough Allen. I worked there in aquaculture for four and a half years after I graduated and we were working there nearly 24 hours a day at the time. Its a historical place and its also very clean and in a beautiful setting. Of course, it also has the canal, part of the Shannon-Erne system, which the boats can navigate from Limerick to Leitrim.

Lough Allen is always close to my heart, no matter where I am.A MOTION calling on Limerick City and County Council to stop sending elected members to the United States of America was withdrawn from the formal agenda of a monthly meeting of the local authority, it can be revealed.

The proposed motion was submitted by Cllr Jerome Scanlan who says he will not be travelling to the US as long as Donald Trump remains president unless somebody takes my ashes over there.

Documents obtained by the Limerick Leader show the proposed motion was included on the draft agenda for a meeting of the full council on January 22, last.

It called on the local authority to refrain from funding any future trips by its members to the United States of America for the foreseeable future.

According to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, a decision was taken at a meeting of the Corporate Policy Group (CPG) to withdraw the motion from the final agenda which was circulated ahead of the full council meeting.

The minutes of the CPG meeting - which was held in private on January 15, 2018 - state it was agreed Cllr Scanlans motion would be withdrawn as it related to issues of foreign policy and was not considered to be relevant to the business of the Council.

The minutes do not reveal who contributed to the discussion about the proposed motions.

When asked about the matter this week, Cllr Scanlan said he was disappointed his motion was not included on the agenda and discussed at the meeting.

He says he has an issue with President Trump because of the way he communicates and publically ridicules and humiliates people on social media.

I have a problem with the man, he said,

I had put down a motion in January that we refrain from sending a bunch of councillors, excluding the Mayor, over to New York because I personally have an issue going to America while Mr Trump is president of the States and I would have thought it would be far more appropriate that we could visit cities in the UK to try and improve our relationship with them in advance of Brexit, he told the Limerick Leader.

The other CPG members seemed to think I was off the graph slightly in putting forward the motion and I was basically on my own so there was no point in putting the motion on the agenda and I withdrew it on that basis. he said.

Cllr Scanlan added that he has concerns that some members of Limerick City and County Council go looking for invites to visit the US rather than waiting for them to arrive.MARCH milk price-setting must take account of near catastrophic weather says the chair of ICMSAs dairy committee

Gerald Quain, Colmanswell, said: Against a background where the problems on farms seem to be growing by the day due to the atrocious weather conditions, the imminent round of March milk price announcements by processors will have to prioritise farm and farmer welfare.

Fodder is non-existent in many areas with many farmers sourcing supplies from anywhere possible to keep animals healthy, said Mr Quain.

ICMSA is receiving reports from members throughout the country in relation to their cattle having to be housed for months on end, reduced milk production, very poor grazing conditions - if any grass growth at all - increased concentrate feed bills and the sharp reduction in milk price which is being compounded by low constituents experienced over the last month. This is a daunting list of problems and it will have to be faced by everyone standing together and showing solidarity  the co-ops role in sourcing fodder is hugely important and is appreciated, he continued.

But the area where co-ops can  and must - show more support is milk price and the low constituents current are compounding the problem in that area, he said.

We want and expect co-ops to factor in the undeniable range and extent of the pressures on farmers and to set a March milk price that is informed by that situation.

The way to show farmers the support that everyone agrees is required right now is to hold March milk price at current levels. We have to go past declarations of support and into real tangible commitments  that means holding March milk price, concluded Mr Quain.

Meanwhile, Limerick IFA chair Shay Galvin called on the Minister for Agriculture to allocate a dedicated budget for farmers in urgent need of help to get them through the fodder crisis.

Mr Galvin said the department has an Early Warning System (EWS) that operates locally to provide assistance and support to farmers before any welfare problems emerge.

However, there is no specific fund allocated to this initiative. The minister needs to make a significant fund available immediately so that any issues can be dealt with effectively at local level, said Mr Galvin.

Limerick IFA animal health chairman Pius Horgan said in future the EWS needs to be put on a stronger financial footing with proper funding.

He said the EWS provides essential intervention and assistance in many cases. He said fodder and other measures are often provided on a voluntary basis and this approach could be improved and broadened out if the EWS had funds and a proper budget.WORK to build a new park in Shannon Town is scheduled to begin in the coming week.

The proposed works include formal footpaths and a cycle track, an adventure play area and a bandstand/performance area.

Also on the cards is the first cycle pump track to be built in the Mid-West Region, formal and informal seating areas, lighting and signage, the creation of a natural water feature and new native woodland planting.

The development will include a new Toucan pedestrian/cycle crossing on Bothar Linne.

The project  costing 910,000  has been developed with co-funding from the Southern Regional Assemblys operational programme.

Former Limerick council official Pat Dowling, now, the chief executive at Clare County Council confirmed his authority is funding half the cost of the project, with the remainder coming from EU coffers.

Cllr Mike McKee, the leader of the Shannon Municipal district, said: This is a very important and worthwhile local project that will deliver long term, positive benefits for the people of Shannon and surrounding areas. Once delivered, the Shannon Town Park will act as a focal point for the wider community, and will also enhance the recreational opportunities for children, youths and adults in the wider Shannon area.

Pat Dowling, Chief Executive of Clare County Council, explained the local authority is funding half of the overall cost of the project with the balance of the overall cost being provided in EU funding.



Following a competitive tender process, the construction contract has been awarded to the Crawford Group (County Wexford), which has extensive experience in the construction of several similar public parks.

The planned construction period is six months, giving completion of the Park towards the end of autumn 2018.THE organisers of the Bon Secours Great Limerick Run are calling on companies to take part in the fittest company challenge as part of the event again this year.

Holmes OMalley Sexton Solicitors (HOMS) is sponsoring the fittest company challenge for the fifth consecutive year.

Watch our video and read our brochure on how your company can join us in the @HOMSsolicitors Fittest Company Challenge #HOMSFCC on May 6th at the Bon Secours Hospital Great Limerick Run @BSHGLimerickRun. https://t.co/7TwCDl3jNv March 23, 2018

A fun, friendly and free competition amongst businesses and organisations that forms part of the Great Limerick Run on May 6, 110 companies of all sizes took part last year and the competition was intense, according to event director John Cleary, who said it had grown both in size and prestige over the last five years.

So many companies now leverage from this event to encourage employees to get active and work together.

HOMS managing partner Harry Fehily said the company was proud to be sponsoring a tremendously positive event for Limerick that is a positive initiative which promotes a healthy lifestyle for employees and is conducive for team building.

This year HOMS will have a team of runners raising funds for Temple Street University Childrens Hospital, with the firm to match the first 1,500 raised by staff members for the hospital.

Temple Street Foundation chief executive Denise Fitzgerald said the hospital was thrilled with the support.Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Remarks

2018/04/14

Q: On the morning of April 14 Beijing time, the US, the UK and France launched air strikes against Syria. What's your comment on this?

A: As always, we oppose the use of force in international relations and call for respect for other countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. Any unilateral military action bypassing the Security Council runs contrary to the purpose and principles of the UN Charter and violates the principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and will further complicate the Syrian issue. China urges the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation.

Q: The three countries including the US said the military strikes were launched in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria. What's your comment?

A: China believes that regarding the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, a comprehensive, impartial and objective investigation should be carried out to reach a reliable conclusion that can stand the test of time. Yet before that, a prejudgment should not be made.

China believes that political settlement is the only viable way out for the Syrian issue. Relevant parties of the international community should continue to support the role of the UN as the main channel for mediation and make relentless effort to facilitate the final settlement of the Syrian issue.

Q: Do you have any information about Chinese citizens in Syria? Are they affected by the air strikes?

A: The Chinese government takes the safety of Chinese citizens there very seriously, and the Chinese Embassy in Syria has maintained close communication with them. They are all safe so far.Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.



It may have been 117 days since driver George Napolitano Jr. and trainer Gilbert Garcia-Herrera were crowned tops in their respective categories for 2017 at Harrahs Philadelphia, but on Fridays opening card of the 2018 season, the duo showed 'no signs of a layoff,' combining to win the two featured races as an evening session kicked off the year at the suburban Philadelphia track.

In the $18,000 featured pace for distaffs, Napolitano and Garcia-Herrera combined with the Gotta Go Cullect mare Taketothesky N as the Kiwi import took a North American mark of 1:53. George Nap had the mare well-placed behind live cover, then tipped her wide and came from fifth at the stretch call, despite a good-sized wind up the lane, to catch pacesetting Juxta Cowgirl for owner/trainer Garcia-Herrera.

Trainer Garcia-Herrera is also the owner of the Sportswriter mare Windy Sport, whom Napolitano moved to the lead at the quarter, then urged home to withstand the late burst of Lil Miss Gorgeous in 1:52.3 to take the $16,000 co-featured pace. Both feature winners scored by a half-length.

The next card at Harrahs Philadelphia comes on Sunday at 12:40 p.m., when race nine will feature former North America Cup champion Wakizashi Hanover and the streaking Awesomeness, winner of two straight and four of his last six, trying to overcome their assigned outermost posts in a $22,500 Winners Over Handicap Pace.

Until Labor Day this year, Harrahs Philadelphias basic schedule will be Wednesday  Thursday  Friday at 12:25 p.m., with Sunday action set for a post of 12:40 p.m.

(PHHA / Harrahs Philadelphia)San Franciscos skirmish over scooters escalated Friday as the citys Public Works department seized several dozen of the two-wheelers it said were blocking sidewalks and fined the companies that own them in response to public protests.

And the city may not be done, said Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru.

The public has the right to use the sidewalks, Nuru said. We can have nothing obstructing the path of travel.

On Friday, just a little more than two weeks after three companies deposited hundreds of electric scooters throughout the city, a handful of inspectors swept in and impounded about 66 of them following complaints of blocked sidewalks and building entrances flooded City Hall.

In response, all three firms  Lime, Bird and Spin  vowed to cooperate with the city to find solutions. Rachel Starr, a spokeswoman for Spin, suggested city officials should have called the company before hauling away its scooters.

We would have loved the opportunity to address this ourselves instead of wasting valuable Public Works time and resources, she said. Had we been notified by Public Works, we would have quickly dispatched our operations team.

Kenneth Baer, a spokesman for Bird, said the company would step up efforts to educate riders not to block sidewalks and vowed to cooperate with the city.

We look forward to engaging with city officials in a fair process to review the reasons for impounding any of our vehicles that have been confiscated, he said.

Before Friday, the battle over the standup electric scooters, which are rented with an app and can be parked anywhere, had mostly been one of words.

The three firms that rent out the scooters  for $1 plus 15 cents a minute  and those who use them said the devices make it easier to get around town. They say the scooters reduce congestion and will help the city meet its goal of reducing the number of cars crowding the streets.

But city officials and pedestrians complained that users were dumping the scooters in the middle of sidewalks and in front of business entrances, blocking the public rights of way and creating hazards. The City Attorneys office said it was contemplating legal action, and the Board of Supervisors prepared to regulate the scooters.

On Wednesday, Bird officials released a breaking news alert accusing the Board of Supervisors of plotting an emergency ordinance to ban scooters. The boards leading scooter opponents denied the allegation, saying that they only want to regulate the two-wheelers.

The battle over the scooters started about two weeks ago when Lime, Bird and Spin dropped hundreds of scooters all over the city with heavy concentrations downtown, South of Market and in the Financial District. They were instant hits with people who used them to get from transit hubs to work, to meetings across town or to do a little sightseeing.

But one of their big selling points  that they can be dropped off anywhere  has proved to be one of their biggest problems.

During the citys sweep, scooters were picked up, placed on trucks and hauled away from the downtown, South Park, Financial District and Mission neighborhoods, all areas where the city had received complaints, said Rachel Gordon, a Public Works spokeswoman.

Nuru, her boss, said the confiscations were meant as a message that the city intends to keep its sidewalks from being strewn with scooters.

We did a first sweep this morning, and now were set up to take individual complaints, he said. He advised that people who want to complain about a scooter blocking a sidewalk or entrance should call 311.

The companies will be issued notices of violation and be fined a minimum of $125 for each scooter, Gordon said. They can either pay the fine, abate the problem to the departments satisfaction within 30 days or appeal.

The companies may retrieve the scooters, which are being held at an undisclosed location, as soon as they contact the Public Works Department. But if the scooters are found blocking sidewalks again, theyll be impounded once more.

No elected official ordered these, Gordon said of the sweep. They were done under the Public Works Code. One of our duties at Public Works is to protect the public right of way, and sidewalk obstruction is something we enforce.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, attending a Coastal Commission meeting in Southern California, learned of the departments sweep from a reporter who called seeking comment.

Good for them, he said.

On Monday, a committee of the Board of Supervisors will consider legislation by Peskin that would allow the Municipal Transportation Agency to require permits and regulate the electric shared scooters. It will likely move to the full board on Tuesday. MTA officials could start regulating scooters by mid-May, said Paul Rose, an agency spokesman.

Public Works doesnt plan any more sweeps, Gordon said. But it does intend to respond to individual complaints, send out inspectors and seize any scooters blocking sidewalks.

If our inspectors determine a scooter is obstructing the sidewalk or right of way, creating a potential hazard, we will remove it and issue a notice of violation, she said.

A business cant operate with impunity and put the public in potential danger.

By Friday afternoon, the neighborhoods were once again well-populated with scooters.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuanMEXICO CITY (AP)  Prosecutors are investigating the killing of two women and four men in the northern Mexico border city of Reynosa, apparently as the result of crossfire, officials said Thursday.

The Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office said state police had responded to a report of gunfire between gunmen in the area where the six bodies and a seventh wounded man were found.

The office said in an initial report that none of the six bodies tested positive for having a gun. Three were identified as members of a family passing through the area and three others were thought to have been employed at a nearby factory. All were believed to be bystanders.

READ ALSO: Police: Evidence found in Border Patrol vehicle linked to double homicide

It was not clear who killed them or why, but civilians in Tamaulipas have been injured and killed in the crossfire of drug gang battles and shootouts between criminals and law enforcement.

Last week, the Mexican marines accepted responsibility for the deaths of three civilians killed when they drove through a running gun battle between marines and cartel gunmen in the border city of Nuevo Laredo in late March. The family's car was hit by bullets from a helicopter that was battling gunmen nearby.

Also Thursday, gunmen killed a mayor near the colonial city of Puebla in central Mexico.

The Puebla state prosecutors' office said Jose Efrain Garcia was killed when gunmen blocked his vehicle on a road and opened fire.

Garcia was mayor of the town of Tlanepantla, just east of Puebla. The area has been a hotbed of thieves drilling illegal taps into state-owned pipelines to steal fuel.

RELATED: Mexican troops, police evacuate 92 people fleeing drug gangs

At least 55 mayors or mayors-elect have been killed in Mexico since 2006, often by criminal gangs or corrupt police.

On Wednesday, Mexico's Green party said a female state assembly candidate was killed in the neighboring state of Michoacan.

In February, two female state assembly candidates were slain in Guerrero.

Violence threatens Mexico's July 1 presidential and local elections./ STOCK XCHANGE

A Martinez pastor who fled to Mexico during his 2017 sexual molestation trial, only to be captured and extradited back to the U.S., was sentenced Friday to 34 years in prison.

A judge gave Fernando Maldonado, 37, the maximum sentence in a Richmond courtroom two weeks after he was captured in the resort town of Cancun.China's massive build program to recreate trade routes stretching from Asia to Africa and Europe is gaining momentum.

Since President Xi Jinping's flagship Belt and Road project was announced about five years ago, it gave impetus to billions of dollars of Chinese investment -- some of which were already in the pipeline for several years -- to build railways, roads, ports and power plants.

The program isn't without controversy: debt risk is rising, an influx of Chinese workers has fueled tension with locals, and there are worries about China's dominance in the region. And not all of the projects have succeeded.

"It's been a mixed bag so far," said Michael Kugelman, a senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. "There have certainly been success stories, and there will be more of them too, but there have also been setbacks."

With many projects in various stages of developments, measuring the success and potential benefits can be tricky. Here's a list of projects that analysts who track China's Belt and Road investments say will provide the most economic impact to countries by unlocking trade routes:

- Myanmar's Kyaukpyu pipeline:

The $1.5 billion oil pipeline that runs from Kyaukpyu to Kunming began operations last year, allowing crude supplies from the Middle East and Africa to reach China faster as shipments no longer need to be transported through the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. The pipeline is designed to carry 22 million tons of crude a year, representing about 5 percent of China's annual oil imports. Talks are also ongoing about building a $7.3 billion deep-water port, which would be China's largest investment in the Southeast Asian nation. Along with a natural gas pipeline, the project represents an alternative route for energy imports and an important access point for goods shipped via the Indian Ocean, said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and author of "The China-Pakistan Axis."

- Pakistan's Gwadar Port:

Sharing a border with China, Pakistan has projects that are among the most developed of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Gwadar deep sea port and a 1,865-mile- (3,000 kilometer)-long corridor of roads and railways links China with the Arabian Sea. Transshipment from the port has begun, giving China's western Xinjiang province closer access to a port than Beijing. It's located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, just outside the Straits of Hormuz, near shipping routes that accommodate more than 17 million barrels of oil per day and a large quantity of bulk, break-bulk and containerized cargo. With China expected to increase oil imports from the Middle East, Gwadar is seen as a potential trade route, said Hasnain Malik, head of equities research at Exotix Capital in Dubai.

- Asia Pacific rail links:

China has a plan to connect Southeast Asian countries with the southwest region of Yunnan through a series of high-speed railways. There are three routes planned: a central one that runs through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia to reach Singapore; a western route through Myanmar; and an eastern one through Vietnam and Cambodia. Projects are at various stages of development, with construction on the Thailand and Laos legs already progressing. The plan represents some of the most important and high impact of China's rail investments, said Small. In Indonesia, the $6 billion Jakarta-Bandung project is a flagship of President Joko Widodo's infrastructure program and expected to cut the travel time between the two traffic-clogged cities to 40 minutes, from about three hours by car. The project has so far stalled because of disputes over land clearance.

- Kenya railways:

China is replacing decrepit Colonial-era trains with new and faster ones in African countries from Ethiopia to Senegal. One of the key projects is the Standard Gauge Railway that links Kenya's port city of Mombasa to landlocked neighbors including Rwanda and Uganda via a network of high speed lines. The $3.8 billion passenger and cargo link between Mombasa and Kenya's capital Nairobi started last year. It cuts the journey time by about half to 5 hours, while also reducing the cost of transporting freight.

- Pakistan's Thar coalL

Pakistan is seeking to extract coal in the Thar desert at one of the world's biggest known deposits of lignite, a lower-grade brown version of the fuel. The project includes the building of power plants to expand electricity capacity in a country that faces chronic shortages. The first phase, which will add 660 megawatts of power, will be completed next year and can be scaled to 5,000 megawatts to make it the largest cluster of electricity production in Pakistan.

- - -

Bloomberg's Eric Ombok, Adrian Leung and Jing Yang contributed. Analysts interviewed for this article were from the Center for Global Development, Exotix, Business Monitor International, Boston University, Woodrow Wilson Center, German Marshall Fund of the United States.New York

Federal prosecutors revealed on Friday that their probe of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, involved suspected fraud and the attorney's personal business dealings and was going on long enough that investigators had already covertly obtained his emails.

The details in court papers came as lawyers for Cohen and Trump sought to block the Department of Justice from examining records and electronic devices, including two cellphones, seized by the FBI on Monday from Cohen's residences, office and safety deposit box.

The raids enraged Trump, who called them an "attack on the country." Trump, a Republican, sent his own lawyer to a hastily arranged hearing before a federal judge in Manhattan to argue that some of the records and communications seized were confidential attorney-client communications and off-limits to investigators.

Prosecutors blacked out sections of their legal memo in which they described what laws they believe Cohen has broken, but the document provided new clues about an investigation the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan had previously declined to confirm existed.

"Although Cohen is an attorney, he also has several other business interests and sources of income. The searches are the result of a months-long investigation into Cohen, and seek evidence of crimes, many of which have nothing to do with his work as an attorney, but rather relate to Cohen's own business dealings," said the filing, signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas McKay.

Prosecutors said they took the unusual step of raiding Cohen's residence and home rather than requesting records by subpoena because what they had learned led them to distrust he'd turn over what they had asked for.

"Absent a search warrant, these records could have been deleted without record, and without recourse," prosecutors wrote.

The document was filed publicly after lawyers for Cohen appeared before U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood to ask that they, not Department of Justice lawyers, be given the first crack at reviewing the seized evidence to see whether it was relevant to the investigation or could be forwarded to criminal investigators without jeopardizing attorney-client privilege.

Trump attorney Joanna Hendon told the judge that the president has "an acute interest in these proceedings and the manner in which these materials are reviewed."

"He is the president of the United States," she said. "This is of most concern to him. I think the public is a close second. And anyone who has ever hired a lawyer a close third."

McKay, the assistant U.S. attorney, told the judge that he believed the proceedings were an attempt to delay the processing of seized material.

"His attorney-client privilege is no greater than any other person who seeks legal advice," he said.

Cohen's lawyers, Todd Harrison and Joseph Evans, rejected that argument in a legal memo. They also asked that certain documents related to the case remain sealed to protect the privacy rights of "innocent third parties" who would be subjected to a media circus if their names became public.

"The documents seized by the government are uniquely sensitive because they contain documents relating to privileged communications between the President of the United States and his personal lawyer," they wrote. "The retention of such privileged information from the President presents not only routine attorney-client privilege and attorney work product issues, but also creates constitutional concerns regarding officers of the Executive Branch rummaging through the private and privileged papers of the President."

Cohen wasn't present for the hearing. The judge, who didn't immediately rule, ordered him to appear at another court hearing Monday on the issue to help answer questions about his law practice.

In forceful language, prosecutors struck back at claims by Trump and others that the Monday raids violated the attorney-client privilege between Trump and Cohen or amounted to an improper extension of the work of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

As part of the grand jury probe, they wrote, investigators had already searched multiple email accounts maintained by Cohen. Those emails, they said, indicated that Cohen was "performing little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump."

"This court should not accept Cohen's invitation to make new law and convert a duly authorized search warrant into a subpoena," prosecutors said, calling it a "dangerous precedent" to let defense lawyers delay a probe "in a case of national interest."

In a footnote, prosecutors wrote that although the investigation was referred to prosecutors by Mueller, it was proceeding independently.

People familiar with the investigation have told The Associated Press the searches carried out Monday sought bank records, records on Cohen's dealing in the taxi industry, Cohen's communications with the Trump campaign and information on payments made in 2016 to a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, and a porn actress, Stephanie Clifford, who performs under the name Stormy Daniels. Both women say they had affairs with Trump.

Clifford's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, spoke briefly in court. Outside court, he said: "We have every reason to believe that some of the documents seized relate to my client."

Avenatti said it's "very possible" that the porn actress would show up at Monday's hearing. He then followed with a suggestive tweet that "the weather forecast for Mon looks very Stormy."

Public corruption prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan are trying to determine, according to one person familiar with the investigation, if there was any fraud related to payments to McDougal and Clifford.McClatchy reported on Friday evening that special counsel Robert Mueller's team has evidence of a trip by President Donald Trump's personal lawyer to Prague in the late summer of 2016. Overseas travel to non-Russian countries might strike some observers as an incremental - if not unimportant - development in Mueller's probe. That is not the case. Confirmation that Cohen visited Prague could be quite significant.

A trip to Prague by Cohen was included in the dossier of reports written by former British intelligence official Christopher Steele. Those reports, paid for by an attorney working for Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, included a broad array of raw intelligence, much of which has not been corroborated and much of which would probably defy easy corroboration, focusing on internal political discussions in the Kremlin.

Cohen's visiting Prague, though, is concrete. Over the course of three of the dossier's 17 reports, the claim is outlined - but we hasten to note that these allegations have not been confirmed by The Washington Post.

It suggests that Cohen took over management of the relationship with Russia after campaign chairman Paul Manafort was fired from the campaign in August (because of questions about his relationship with a political party in Ukraine). Cohen is said to have met secretly with people in Prague - possibly at the Russian Center for Science and Culture - in the last week of August or the first of September. He allegedly met with representatives of the Russian government, possibly including officials of the Presidential Administration Legal Department; Oleg Solodukhin (who works with the Russian Center for Science and Culture); or Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign relations committee in the upper house of parliament. A planned meeting in Moscow, the dossier alleges, was considered too risky, given that a topic of conversation was how to divert attention from Manafort's links to Russia and a trip to Moscow by Carter Page in July. Another topic of conversation, according to the dossier: allegedly paying off "Romanian hackers" who had been targeting the Clinton campaign.

There is a lot there - but it hinged on Cohen having traveled to Prague. If he was not in Prague, none of this happened. If he visited Prague? Well, then we go a level deeper.

McClatchy notes that there is no evidence of who, if anyone, Cohen met with, but that the time frame was in late August or early September, as the dossier suggests.

Which brings us to the other reason this development could be significant.

Cohen, for months, has consistently argued that he never made any such trip.

When the dossier was first published by BuzzFeed, Cohen replied to this allegation specifically in a somewhat odd tweet.

"I have never been to Prague in my life. #fakenews," he said in a January 2017 tweet that also included a picture of the cover of his passport.

Since countries don't stamp the front of your passport when you visit, it is not clear what this was meant to show. Nor would showing his passport have been exculpatory if he'd shown, say, a stamp from having entered France or Spain, since travel within most of the European Union doesn't require additional checks at individual borders.

That, in fact, is what McClatchy alleges: That its sources say Cohen entered the Czech Republic through Germany. A Czech publication reported shortly after the allegation was made that government intelligence officials in that country had no record of Cohen's visiting. One source said that "if there was such a meeting, he didn't arrive in the Czech Republic by plane." McClatchy's report doesn't contradict that.

The day after Cohen's tweet, Trump held a news conference.

"He brings his passport to my office," the then president-elect said in response to a question. "I say, 'Hey, wait a minute.' He didn't leave the country. He wasn't out of the country. They had Michael Cohen of the Trump Organization was in Prague. It turned out to be a different Michael Cohen. It's a disgrace what took place. It's a disgrace, and I think they ought to apologize to start with Michael Cohen."

That part about the "different Michael Cohen" doesn't seem to be true. Nor does the part about Cohen not having left the country.

Cohen showed his passport to BuzzFeed. The only travel into the proper area indicated by passport stamps was a trip to and from Italy from July 9 to 17. But note that this is too early for Steele's time frame - and for the assertion that it was a response to the firing of Manafort. How Cohen would have gotten to Prague is still unclear.

But this contradiction between a clear allegation from the Steele dossier and the assertion that it wasn't true by Cohen and Trump helped drive the idea that the dossier was broadly discredited shortly after its release. Pick out the Prague trip and nothing that follows could have happened. Put the Prague trip back into the mix? A lot of the other parts of that allegation now become possible.* What's more, it undermines the credibility of those who insisted that the claim was completely without merit.

Look at it another way: If the central conceit of the Steele's claim were accurate - that Cohen was working with agents of the Russian government directly to aid Trump's candidacy - it would be very hard to argue that no collusion took place. That likely requires Cohen's having been in Prague.

This is our first significant indication that he might have been.

- - -

* It's easy to cherry-pick some aspects which ring true. For example: A source of leaked information from the Democratic National Committee who claimed to be Romanian was actually a Russian intelligence official. Carter Page denied having met with Russian officials during his trip in July, until the House Intelligence Committee got him to admit that he had, however briefly. But much more of the dossier's allegations lack any resemblance to what is known.MOSCOW - In the hours after American missiles rained down on Syria, Russia made clear it had no plans to respond in kind.

After all, Moscow still wields considerable control over the direction of the war.

Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, described the strike as an act of aggression against a sovereign state carried out on the pretext of a staged chemical attack. At the U.N. Security Council, Russia called on the world to condemn the United States. But there was a second, unspoken message: The incoming cruise missiles did not cross the threshold that would provoke a military response against Western forces.

Instead, it appears that the Western coalition's limited strikes did little to change the facts on the ground. Russia, negotiating primarily with Iran and Turkey, remains keen to forge a political settlement in Syria that would cement a long-term foothold for Moscow in the Middle East. The United States, with President Donald Trump's long-term strategy for the country still uncertain, is left as a less influential player.

Analysts say that Putin's Syria intervention is part of his effort to turn Russia into an actor known for asserting its interests on a global scale. Russia's insistent warnings that a U.S. airstrike could bring Russian retaliation - and the United States' apparent effort to avoid threatening Russian assets in its assault - showed that strategy at work.

During the Cold War, U.S. leaders "didn't love the Soviet Union, but they respected us and treated us as a serious partner," Andrei Klimov, deputy head of the foreign affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, said in an interview. "This perception that Russia is in ruins still lingers. You must look at reality."

But Russia's backing of Syrian President Bashar Assad and its contribution to massive civilian casualties in Syria, according to Western leaders, have taken a toll on the country's reputation. The Syrian conflict was one reason the United States imposed sanctions on members of Putin's inner circlethis month - causing the Russian stock market and currency to plummet.

"Bashar al-Assad is not our friend," Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posted Saturday on Twitter. "Putin is now saving Assad with the money of Russian retirees. This must be stopped."

British Prime Minister Theresa May, speaking Saturday about the aftermath of the airstrikes, tied Russia's support of Assad to what she described as a destructive pattern by Putin. She referred also to last month's poisoning in England of a former Russian double agent and his daughter - an incident that Britain blames on Russia. Moscow has denied involvement.

"The lesson of history is that when the global rules and standards that keep us safe come under threat - we must take a stand and defend them. That's what we've always done and will continue to do," May said. "The use of a nerve agent in the U.K. in recent weeks is part of a pattern of disregard for these norms."

Russia's response Saturday underscored Putin's effort to use Syria to help portray himself as a guarantor of global stability despite the torrent of Western criticism. He described the U.S. airstrike as the latest in two decades of American-led interventions that, in the Kremlin's telling, have unwound the international order.

"The current escalation of the situation around Syria is destructive for the entire system of international relations," Putin said in a statement read by Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, at an emergency Security Council session called by Russia on Saturday. "History will set things right, and Washington already bears the heavy responsibility for the bloody outrage in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya."

But while Russia slammed the missile attack rhetorically, it signaled that the strike had not crossed the threshold that would bring Russian retaliation. Moscow's response shows that Washington appears to have succeeded in delivering a blow that did not provoke Russia militarily.

"Before we took action, the United States communicated with the Russian Federation to reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties," the U.S. ambassador in Moscow, Jon Huntsman Jr., said in a video message to Russians posted on social media Saturday.

Over the past week, pro-Kremlin officials, independent analysts and the state-allied news media described the situation in Syria as a uniquely dangerous moment. Not for decades, they said, had the United States and Russia come so close to a direct military clash. The result, according to the worst-case predictions, could be a new world war.

"It was palpable, the fear," said Vladimir Frolov, an independent foreign-policy analyst in Moscow.

But after the attack, Russia's Defense Ministry quickly said that no Russian air defenses were deployed against the incoming fire, even though thousands of the country's troops are stationed across Syria.

Hours later, the Russian Embassy in Damascus said no Russians were known to have been hurt in the overnight airstrike. And the Defense Ministry even noted that while Syria shot down some cruise missiles, Damascus did so using its own Soviet-made - not Russian-made - equipment.

"Not a single one of the cruise missiles entered the zone of Russian air defense systems," the Defense Ministry said.Washington

President Donald Trump issued a pardon Friday to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, suggesting the former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney had been "treated unfairly" by a special counsel. The pardon comes at a moment when the president faces an escalating special counsel investigation of his own.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted the pardon was not intended to send a message to the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, saying, "One thing has nothing to do with the other." But critics noted the timing, coming as Trump fumes over Robert Mueller's probe.

Trump said in a statement that he didn't know Libby, "but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly."

Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, was convicted in 2007 of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak of the covert identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, though no one was ever charged for the leak. President George W. Bush later commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence but didn't issue a pardon despite intense pressure from Cheney.

In a statement, Libby thanked Trump, saying his family has "suffered under the weight of a terrible injustice." He said Trump "recognized this wrong and would not let it persist. For this honorable act, we shall forever be grateful."

Pardons are not a finding of innocence, but they do restore the civil rights that are normally lost because of a criminal conviction. The White House said a witness against Libby later changed her version of events and Libby had a decade of public service and an "unblemished" record since. He had been disbarred but was reinstated by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 2016.

Conservatives have rallied around Libby's case, arguing he was the victim of an overly zealous and politically motivated prosecution by a special counsel. In a twist, the special counsel in Libby's case, Patrick Fitzgerald, was appointed by James Comey, deputy attorney general at the time. Comey later became head of the FBI but was fired by Trump in 2017.

Fitzgerald denied Libby's prosecution was unjust. "While the President has the constitutional power to pardon, the decision to do so in this case purports to be premised on the notion that Libby was an innocent man convicted on the basis of inaccurate testimony caused by the prosecution," he said Friday. "This is false."

Libby's attorneys, Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, issued a statement thanking Trump for "addressing a gross injustice" they said was inflicted by Fitzgerald and Comey. Toensing told the Associated Press she submitted the pardon papers for Libby to the White House counsel's office last summer. She said the president called her Friday to deliver the news.

"He said, 'He got screwed,'" Toensing recalled.

Trump knows the attorneys and had sought to add them to his legal team in the Russian investigation, but it was determined diGenova and Toensing had conflicts of interest that would prevent them from joining.

A spokesman for Bush said the former president was "very pleased" for Libby and his family. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and daughter of the former vice president, said Libby was the victim of a "miscarriage of justice," and she thanked Trump for "righting a terrible wrong."

Critics questioned the timing of the pardon.

"It hasn't been done through the normal channels. He hasn't gone through the pardon office. And there's no particular reason to pardon Scooter Libby," Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler said Friday, amid reports that a pardon was planned. "So one certainly suspects there's a message."

And Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, vice ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Trump "is sending a clear signal to others that he will reward obstruction of justice. This is a sad moment for our democracy and justice system."Donors and victims of the November mass shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs have begun to question the distribution of funds from the church leadership.

The questions, sparked by the release of design plans for the new $3 million church, came to a head when Lisa McNulty and her granddaughter, Hailey McNulty, expressed to residents and on a local Facebook page that they were not getting church funds.

Haileys mother, Tara McNulty, was killed in the massacre. Hailey and her brother James now live with Lisa.

RELATED: Sutherland Springs family sues outdoors store where church shooter purchased gun

Others piled on, asking for transparency regarding how much money the church raised, how funds were being distributed, and whether survivors and family members of victims were getting their requests denied.

We just want to know how much, give us the amount, and then we want to know how much is left. Its simple, simple, math. And all you get is a runaround, McNulty said.

Pat Dziuk, who is head of the churchs Sutherland Springs Restoration Committee in charge of distributing funding, said they had not tallied the total count of donations made to the church just yet, and wants to announce that number to the congregation before he relays it to the media.

Gunman Devin Kelley killed 26 people and wounded 20 others when he opened fire on the congregation with an assault rifle on Nov. 5. Kelley was shot and then killed himself as he was chased from the church.

RELATED: Sutherland Springs killer accused of waterboarding then-wife

McNulty and others had wondered why the church cant just pool all its money and divide it up equally among the survivors and victims family.

But Dziuk said the Internal Revenue Services requires the church use a needs-based system.

How do you put a value on someone whose been killed versus someone whose wounded? How do you do that? Dziuk said.

You may have some victims who have very protracted needs, like Kris (Workman) or Zach (Poston), theyll have medical expenses for years. Then you have some folks like us, who lost Annabelle, said First Church Pastor Frank Pomeroy, referring to his 14-year-old daughter, who was killed. And how incredibly sad that is, but we have no needs like they do. Its not fair for us to take the same amount of money.

RELATED: Sutherland Springs conspiracy theorists charged, released

Of the approximately 50 need-based requests from survivors and family members of victims, the committee has only denied one of them, Dziuk said. To get approval, the requests require committee member signatures and reasonable evidence of need.

The review takes a maximum of two weeks, though it may have taken longer for some people if they applied and were rejected for funding from an H-E-B account or the Attorney Generals Crime Victims Compensation office first before coming to the church.

The needs-based application was only recently formalized, as Dziuk called it. Before that, people were sending in requests without an official form.

Pomeroy acknowledged that it might seem like filling out the forms and making requests with differing entities is a lot of bureaucracy, but its required by tax law.

RELATED: Air Force admits it failed to send Sutherland Springs gunman's records to feds

The attorney general can provide medical expenses, and sometimes funerals or lost wages, Dziuk said, and the churchs insurance company, Church Mutual, can also help compensate for lost wages.

But Lisa McNulty isnt worried about lost wages or immediate expenses like paying rent  which is what the church forms indicate. She is worried about James needing braces next year. Shes concerned about Hailey going off to college in two years. How is she going to afford these future, long-term expenses? Will the church be chipping in?

Dziuck said they havent gotten to figuring out these long-term needs for people.

McNulty provided the Express-News with evidence of a check that was sent to the church for her, but has not been transferred to her yet.

Dzuick acknowledged there was a check waiting for her, but that the committee had only just finished sorting through the donations and putting them in their designated funding accounts. (There are about three categories, which include an undesignated, general fund; and funds for victims funerals, building of the new church, and miscellaneous).

The church has been using Amegy Banks lockbox to sort through all of the mail and checks, and then its up to the church committee to ensure they get routed into the proper funding pots.

I know were not doing anything illegal or immoral, were doing our best to meet needs, Dziuk said. We owe that to the donors to be good stewards of the money they sent. So were doing our best to do that.

Funding for the new church and adjoining education center was to come from two sources: the North American Mission Board and a GoFundMe account established by Bradford Beldon, of the roofing company Beldon Enterprises Inc.

Beldon has been a key player in Sutherland Springs recovery after he transformed the sanctuary, which had been the scene of the mass murder, into a serene memorial.

The $1.1 million he raised consisted mostly of in-kind donations of services and materials his friends and colleagues had said they were willing to donate. His GoFundMe account raised $219,474 in cash.

When Beldon was informed that his money would be going to phase II of the project  the construction of a multipurpose facility, two years from now  and not phase I, the building of the church, he shut down the GoFundMe page. He said he couldnt guarantee that the services people offered would be available two years from now.

There were a lot of people who wanted to help. its a shame that  they didnt choose to capitalize on using that help, Beldon said.

Scott Gurosky, president of an Alabama firm managing the project, said they chose to separate their work with phases so there wouldnt be confusion between the two funding streams.

We thought it was cleaner and easier to separate the giving sources. One is NAMB, and the other is GoFundMe Sutherland springs. So theres no overlap. And thats what we did, he said.

But Beldon said there was a lot of secrecy surrounding those decisions, because he was told his fundraising wouldnt be used for the church construction until just before the Alabama firm announced its design plans, he said.

As for what came of that almost $220,000 in cash, he said some of the victims families were upset they didnt have access to the funds.

But there were other fundraisers for the victims. Ours was solely for the purpose of building a new church, he said.

He used $99,643 to pay off the debt on two acres of property where the new church and center will be built. He then sent the remaining $119,000 to the church under restrictive covenants  so the funds would only be used for construction.

Beldon said its a shame that they couldnt work on those projects in tandem, but said thats not stopping his company, Beldon Enterprises, from donating the roofing of the new church.

We very much wanted to help from the bottom of our hearts, but I completely understand them wanting to do something different. Theres no hard feelings, all we asked was for the opportunity to help them with the project, because we care.A post from Cossack Doc to a Facebook friend in July 2014 said the Cossacks Motorcycle Club had permission from the Bandidos to wear a patch saying Texas, a state the Bandidos consider their home and territory.

But nearly seven months later, things had gone south. There were a number of clashes or confrontations between the two biker clubs around the state, according to testimony at the racketeering trial for two former top Bandidos leaders.

RELATED: Bandidos' secrets spilled by ex-national ranking member

And on Friday, federal prosecutors played a recording from a body wire worn by a Bandidos national officer that captured then-Bandidos national vice president John Xavier Portillo discussing the ongoing battles. Portillo is on trial, along with Jeffrey Fay Pike, the former national president.

One of the clashes Portillo spoke about with Johnny Romo, a national sergeant at arms who had been secretly cooperating with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI, was an ambush by Bandidos at a Fort Worth bar in December 2014 that left a supporter of the Cossacks shot dead.

Were not going to (expletive) around with them Cossacks, dude. Its on, Portillo said in the March 3, 2015, recording. Our patch, our club, is at war with these (expletive).

One of the lead investigators, DEA agent Chad Lloyd, testified that the recording shows the Bandidos aimed to strip the Cossacks of their Texas patches, that Portillo had increased membership dues to help pay legal costs for Bandidos members who might end up in legal trouble in the fight with the Cossacks, and that Portillo had informed Pike to turn his back so that he could claim ignorance of plans to attack Cossacks.

In the recording, Portillo talks about how fellow Bandidos had been hearing that the Cossacks were trying to get the Vagos Motorcycle Club and the Hells Angels to side with the Cossacks against the Bandidos. But Portillo told Romo that he'd spoken to a high-ranking officer of the Hells Angels who said he told the Cossacks to "(expletive) off."

Portillo also talked about how Bandidos had already beaten some Cossacks and forced them to shut down chapters in parts of the state. He also said he was going to send several Bandidos to Odessa as a show of force against the Cossacks there.

"A lot of people that care about this club are gonna go to jail. The rest of you guys, if you don't care, just pay," Portillo said in the recording. "I asked the guy in Houston to turn his back from what I'm gonna do."

Lloyd said "the guy in Houston" is Pike.

Portillos attorney, Mark Stevens, and Pikes attorney, Dick DeGuerin, took turns attacking Lloyds interpretation of Portillos statements. DeGuerin also argued that Pike had taken a leave from the club to recover from surgery, so he was not involved in any of the alleged plans to attack Cossacks.

Both attorneys also argued that neither Pike nor Portillo were at the Fort Worth bar, Gators, when biker Geoff Brady, a member of the Ghost Riders Motorcycle Club, was shot. In fact, both lawyers suggested that it was difficult to discern what happened, who started the fight and who fired.

Our  defense is (Pike) didnt know about it, we didnt approve it and its just a regular bar fight, DeGuerin told Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra, during one break when jurors were not in the courtroom.

In its last witness Friday, the government called musician Justin Owen Blakely, who testified he had just finished a set at the Gators bar when 10 to 15 Bandidos or more, some with clubs, large flashlights and at least one carrying a gun, stormed in through the front, back and side doors, apparently intent on fighting supporters of the Cossacks gathered inside. Blakely, who played at other biker bars before, said he recognized one of the Bandidos, known as Drifter as Blakely tried to bolt from the bar.

As I hit the door, Drifter was face to face to me, Blakely said. I just stepped to the side and they came in and did what they did.

RELATED: FBI and DEA arrest top Bandidos Motorcycle Club leaders in San Antonio

Blakely said he heard two shots inside, but did not know who shot whom. But he said he peeked in and saw a wall of Bandidos shoving Brady out the door and beating him as the group fell over motorcycles parked outside. As Brady lay on the ground, Blakely said the Bandidos surrounded his body in a circle. Blakely said he heard about 20 gunshots and saw the flash from gunfire fire downward at or near Brady.

By the time police arrived, the Bandidos were gone. Brady, who was shot several times, died.

Last July, Howard Drifter Baker, president of the Bandidos Fort Worth chapter, was sentenced to 45 years in prison after being convicted at a trial for Bradys murder, newspaper stories show.

Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedlandA push to get work done before Fiesta gets underway means drivers will be dealing with several highway closures this weekend  but theres a silver lining for some drivers on the far West Side.

Friday night, Texas Department of Transportation were closing down the southbound lanes of Loop 410 and the westbound lanes of Texas 151 where they intersect to take care of the final touches of putting in a new connector.

But after dealing with the overnight doozy of a detour  as Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Josh Donat put it  commuters will be able to more easily get from southbound Loop 410 to westbound Texas 151 using that connector starting at noon Saturday.

RELATED: Road rage chase ends in flipped SUV, hospitalized driver

That doesnt mean the traffic nightmares are over for those passing through the area.

The connector from northbound Loop 410 to eastbound Texas 151 still needs to be built. That work is expected to be done in May, officials said.

In addition, workers need to build the ramp from Culebra Road to southbound Loop 410, Donat said. Concrete work also needs to be done at the turnarounds on both Loop 410 and Texas 151, and the final road surface needs to be laid.

Traffic tie-ups also are expected in the Northeast and far Northwest sides of town this weekend as drivers circumvent the closure of portions of Interstates 10 and 35 this weekend, according to Donat.

The main lanes of northbound I-10 will be closed in the Dominion Drive area, between Boerne Stage Road and Camp Bullis, through 5 a.m. Sunday while the northbound lanes for I-35 will be closed at Eisenhauer Road from 5 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Sunday, according to TxDOT.

Any time we close lanes of I-10 between San Antonio and Boerne, we see a pretty big impact. Donat said in an email. The closure on I-35 will be big as well.

I-35 drivers will also need to avoid the southbound exit to Walzem Road, which is being closed for resurfacing and striping. That ramp is scheduled to be closed all weekend, reopening 5 a.m. Monday. The right land of southbound I-35 also will be closed.

There are a handful of other closures scheduled as TxDOT tries to get projects to a stopping point going into Fiesta. Officials said there will be no major highway closures during the celebration.

jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSAA couple of ghosts  one a cowboy and the other a young woman from a South Texas tribe of days long past  bumped into one another along the first phase of San Pedro Creek Culture Park.

Nice, the woman said as the breeze swept through her ghostly hair.

The cowboy, walking alongside, responded with a tight smile.

Once its done, its supposed to tell the story of San Antonio, she continued as they hovered above the path, You know, with signs and art installations. Its meant to tell the story of how the water brought people here and how, eventually, all of those efforts became the San Antonio of today.

The cowboy pursed his lips in a forced, polite smile.

Its just getting started, she said, but this looks like its going to be really, really cool if they stay true to the plan to tell the story.

The cowboy stopped in his invisible tracks.

Yeah, its a nice park, he said, skipping a pebble into the water. But this is San Antonio. If theres something weve got fistfuls of, its historical narrative. Have you been to the Institute of Texan Cultures? The Witte? Mission Trail? Heck, go to the Alamo in February or March and chances are, youll run into a guy dressed just like me. If youre walking along a path in downtown San Antonio and you dont know the story of San Antonio, its not because youre reading historical markers. Its because youre either a lost tourist looking for a place to have dinner or youve got other things on your mind  because you have a life!

Ha! she responded. A life! I see what you did there. I had a life once and, youre right, it didnt involve historical markers along this same creek. It did, however, involve dreams of bigger and better things and a reality rife with danger. It involved good times and bad, and even terrible times filled with uncertainty. It involved wondering how to overcome problems bigger than Id ever imagined.

Alls Im saying is that all this storytelling is a way to justify more prettification of downtown. All of this, said the cowboy, picking up another tiny rock and waving it from one end of the creek to the other, its been done. And its not necessary.

I would argue it is, she said, taking the rock out of his hand and laying it down on the moonlit path, because San Antonios history is one of its biggest treasures.

They have other expenses, the cowboy said with a smirk.

OK, the woman said looking up at the moon, but there are always going to be other expenses. Investing in our story is investing in our people  your people and my people  because despite all of the challenges you and I faced, we shaped todays San Antonio. The art, the flood control and all the pretty plants are nice, but the real deal here is the free, open-to-the-public narrative along the lifeline that brought us here. History offers lessons but, above all, the hope that we can overcome anything, even each other, because we have done so before. I just hope that remains at the spirit of this project.

It will be a crying shame if it doesnt, the cowboy said. Speaking of which, I came down here looking for La Llorona. Have you seen her along the creek tonight?

Ha! the woman replied. No, you wont find her here. But if you hurry, you might catch her at the Taco Cabana on San Pedro and Hildebrand. She usually has dinner there with El Cucuy and those unruly kids from the railroad tracks.

mariaanglinwrites@gmail.comWas it racism and terrorism that threatened Austins people of color?

The question about the Austin bombings is foolish.

There have been two responses to this query.

The official response for nearly a month was a firm no until, on March 29, Interim Police Chief Brian Manley demurred that the bombs were domestic terrorism.

Yet, many people from the African-American and Latino community of Austin clearly believe it constituted racism and terrorism from the outset.

The answer to whether racism motivated the bomber is that the two responses reflect two distinct worlds and divergent places  but, yes, within a system of racism.

OPINION: Police should release video confession of Austin bomber

The evil deeds by Mark Anthony Conditt, who terrorized the city of Austin for nearly three weeks  and the official actions in the case  illustrate that system of racism.

Lets review some key sociological points about racism.

First, racism is a system that depends on the myth that racism does not exist. This illusion suggests that we are colorblind  that we do not see skin color differences  and that we are all equal. The myth prevents people, especially many of those who enjoy white privilege, from seeing inequalities based on race.

Second, the system of racism produces, regenerates and justifies racial inequality. The persistence of racism relies principally on institutional laws and practices, and on the passivity and the belief of ordinary people that racism does not exist.

ANOTHER TAKE: Homeschooling not to blame for Austin bomber

As Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, a sociologist at Duke University and president of the American Sociological Association, explains: Racism is a system without racists. The system of racism relies strongly on the passivity and denial of common people.

Third, the continuity of the system of racism depends on a framing in which white people get to say what is normal, what is known and what is empathetic, while the views of people of color represent what is alien, what is unknown and what is questionable.

Accordingly, whites are much more likely to be seen as objects of compassion and people who receive the benefit of the doubt more than do people of color.

Fourth, in the system of racism, people and organizations that insist and document that racism is real are seen as malcontents, agitators and people on the fringe.

Lets return to the city of Austin.

Early on March 2, Conditt, a 23-year-old white man, left a package on the porch of Anthony Stephan House, a 39-year-old man from a prominent black family living on the East Side of Austin.

EDITORIAL: Austin bombings show checks needed in Texas homeschooling

This is an area where African-Americans and Latinos are concentrated.

House opened the package, detonating a bomb. Bleeding and full of shrapnel, he died shortly afterward.

The police investigation suggested that the tragedy was an isolated incident and there was no evidence of terrorism. Part of the inquiry focused on House, the victim himself, insinuating he was involved in illicit matters or had put together the bomb. Investigation directed at the victim is common within the system of racism, and is congruent with stereotypes and the lack of empathy toward persons of color.

No? Recall how, too many times, after police have killed an unarmed African-American, the investigation quickly centers on the victim rather than the killer.

But the death of House was not an isolated incident.

Ten days later, early in the morning, Conditt dropped off another package on the East Side of the city. While he prepared to go to school, Draylen Mason, a 17-year-old from another prominent African-American family, opened the mysterious package. It exploded, killing him and seriously wounding his mother, Shamika Wilson. Mason was a talented youth who recently had been accepted to the University of Texas at Austin and to a prestigious university in Ohio to pursue his studies in music.

Conditt continued his evil, again on the East Side of Austin, that same morning. He left another package at another residence. As noon approached, Esperanza Hope Herrera, a 75-year-old Latina who was visiting her mother, opened the package. It exploded, seriously wounding her.

Four victims  all people of color and residents of the East Side of Austin. Two of them dead. These were not random acts, even if Conditt would ultimately plant bombs outside of Austins East Side.

Many people of color in Austin lamented that the police did not treat the explosion that took the life of House more seriously.

What would have been the police response if the first explosion had occurred on the West Side, where the citys white population is concentrated?

Six days after terrorizing people of color on the East Side of Austin, Conditt shifted to random attacks, first on the Southwest Side of the city, where he used a trip wire across a sidewalk that resulted in the wounding of two white men. Two days later, he wounded a Federal Express worker in Schertz, a suburb of San Antonio approximately 60 miles from Austin.

By then, police had a significant amount of data on Conditt, leading to a slow chase and then to him taking his own life in Round Rock by detonating a bomb in his vehicle.

The police searched Conditts cellphone trying to pinpoint a motive for the horror he unleashed on Austin. They discovered a video that Conditt had recorded on his cellphone hours before his death. The police declared that no words were found to suggest that Conditt had committed a racist or terrorist act. With seeming compassion for Conditt, the police described him as a troubled and anguished youth.

Where was that empathy and compassion toward Stephen, Draylen, Shamika and Esperanza, and toward people of color on Austins East Side who were traumatized by Conditt?

The premise that Conditts bombings were not racist rests with the fact that people of color were not exclusively the victims, though they were the ones who directly received packages with bombs at their residences and they accounted for all the deaths.

Question: Why choose the predominantly minority East Side and specific homes at the outset? Conditt could not reasonably have had any expectation that minorities wouldnt be casualties.

Yes, he moved on to where that was less likely, with more apparent randomness, but that doesnt negate his initial targeting  specific homes of people of color in a predominantly minority community.

The system of racism persists without racists, as Bonilla-Silva reminds us.

The people of color of Austin, the victims and the innocents who lost their lives demand respect and justice.Texas failure to adequately fund and support public education has been thrust in the spotlight with the plight of San Antonios North East Independent School District.

The second largest school district in San Antonio is losing students to charter schools, costing it millions in funding. Meanwhile, rising property values mean that in 2019, the district will pay the state millions of dollars under the so-called Robin Hood system.

This is when the state redistributes tax dollars from property-wealthy districts to property-poor districts.

RELATED: North East ISD must pay 'Robin Hood' and cut teaching positions amid shortfall

In short, the district is losing state funding and slashing teaching positions to fill a budget shortfall just as it soon will share its property tax revenue to support other districts. And even after identifying millions in cuts, NEISD may have to raise taxes to help balance the books.

Thats a potential triple-whammy.

As Express-News reporter Lauren Caruba has outlined, NEISD is bracing for $12 million in spending cuts next school year as part of a two-year $29 million budget shortfall. Its also expected to pay $7.7 million into the state system for the 2019-20 school year, and more than $33 million the next year.

The problem here is the state has done nothing to address its byzantine, antiquated, severely broken, but somehow constitutional, school finance system.

Its been two years since the Texas Supreme Court found the states school finance system to be deeply flawed, yet constitutional. But that ruling wasnt a free pass to do nothing. The Supreme Court urged lawmakers to fix the system:

Texas more than 5 million schoolchildren deserve better than serial litigation over the increasingly Daedalean system. They deserve transformation, top-to-bottom reforms that amount to more than Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid. They deserve a revamped, nonsclerotic system fit for the 21st Century, the court wrote.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas lawmakers have formed a commission to study the issue, which is laudable, but coming far too late. Lawmakers have frittered away precious time and resources debating which restrooms transgender people should use and how to cap property tax revenues for cities and counties.

EDITORIAL: Lack of school finance reform forcing districts to seek higher taxes

The proof will be in the pudding for this commission. If increased funding and an end to wealthier school districts helping poorer districts pay for their childrens educations arent part of the solution, its recommendations will have fallen short.

As for this proposal to cap property tax revenues for city, counties and school districts, it is misguided. School districts raise taxes because of inadequate school funding from the state. Capping these without adequate state funding is tantamount to sentencing our children to inadequate educations. And, since schools are the largest share of local taxpayers bills, capping revenues for cities and counties will be punishing them for a problem not of their making.

How inadequately is the state funding schools? Its share of funding is projected to fall to 38 percent in 2019. Districts have no recourse but to turn to increasing property taxes.

And thats exactly what may happen at NEISD, a well-run district. In addition to cutting 117 teaching positions, delaying expenses, freezing central office hiring and slashing other expenses, the district may have to consider a tax ratification election, Caruba reported.

Hundreds of such tax ratification elections have taken place since 2006 across the state, including in San Antonio Independent School District, Edgewood, Somerset, Southside, Harlandale and Alamo Heights.

South San Antonio and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City districts are also considering tax ratification elections.

North East ISD isnt alone in this quagmire. San Antonio Independent School District is facing a two-year, $31 million shortfall because its losing students to charter schools and suburban districts. Judson ISD is expecting a $13 million shortfall.

The Texas Commission on Public School Finance is attempting to craft recommendations to fix this broken system. But if the past is prologue, lawmakers wont act, continuing a legacy of failing millions of Texas schoolchildren.The Longford Leader found itself in the company of some of the great millers of our time during an open day at the newly restored mill on the the farm of Cecil and Karl Bleakley in Colmcille this afternoon.

They came from all over the country to see the beautifully restored mill nestled among the breathtaking hills of north Longford and John Flahavan of Flahavans in Co Waterford was among those gathered as was well-known Meath miller James Tallen of Martry Mill in Kells.

Meath miller, James Tallen.

The work on the mill was carried out by Cecil himself and he was not shy about highlighting his pride in those achievements when chatting with the large crowd that gathered in Colmcille today.

This mill was built in 1790 and ceased milling in 1958, but I started restoring it in 2005, the north Longford man added.

It had gone into complete disrepair and the roof was gone and the more I looked at it, the more I realised that the work would have to be done.

And work Cecil did.

The years of hard graft paid off, as they say and 13 years later, the mill is now fully operational as it sits along Smear stream basking in historical connections to the aviation world!

My uncle held the world aviation record for the height and speed achieved by the American Air Force back in the early 1900s, continued Cecile, before pointing out that the record was held by the same man for several years running.

There is a memorial to him in the Panama Canal.

For more on this story, see next week's Longford Leader on sale Wednesday!The word on the street is the HomePod isnt selling well so we must rush ourselves to the type-y machines and spread the bad word.

Writing for TNW, Abhimanyu Ghoshal says Apple sucks at selling HomePods.

[gif of whatever the character it is that Benicio del Toro plays in The Last Jedi pausing and then saying Maybe.]

Less than half a year since it became available, sales of Apples HomePod are already slowing to a crawl.

Yes, two and a half months is definitely less than half a year. That math checks out. Please proceed. Youre doing really great so far.

Bloomberg reports that the company has canceled orders with one of the manufacturers of its $350 smart speaker owing to low interest in the product.

This makes it sound like Apple has canceled all orders for the HomePod. The Bloomberg report, however, says the company lowered sales forecasts and cut some orders. The good Lord knows these reports are never inaccurate in any way ever, but the vagueness of the report on numbers and the middling reviews of the HomePod make the Macalope somewhat inclined to believe it, unlike the reports a few months ago that Apple was cutting iPhone X part orders in half because, yeah, sure, they thought theyd sell 50 or 60 million in a quarter, do you even hear yourself talking, Pamela?

But Ghoshal doesnt even do a good job of convincing us how bad off the HomePod is.

Just how bad are its sales, you ask?

Well, the Macalope did not ask, but forces beyond his control have brought us to this conversation so you might as well answer your own rhetorical question.

According to market research firm Slice Intelligence, it now commands only 19 percent of the voice-activated speaker market in the US.

19 percent?! And its $349?! That is actually really good. The problem is the trajectory, which is reportedly down sharply. But if Apple could maintain a 19 percent share, that would be cuckoo monkey cycle bananasly awesome.

There are very valid complaints about the HomePod, such as the price and Siri, and Ghoshal does not fail to mention them, of course.

it can ruin wooden surfaces around the house by leaving marks wherever its placed.

The Sonos One can also leave marks on wood but the facts, we do not speak of them. Please, we are opinionating. Go now with your unwanted facts and never return.

Does the Macalope think the HomePod is a good product? Not really, no, at least not right now. It doesnt seem so bad that Apple cant turn it around, but thats not how the company usually does business, something else he disagrees on with Ghoshal.

While Apple does have a reputation for getting its new products ahead of the competition a few generations in

The iPod, iPhone, and iPad were all terrific products right from the start, completely redefining the markets they entered. Even the original MacBook Air, which was not an instant hit per se, nailed the idea that an ultralight laptop should not compromise on performance as netbooks did.

Remember netbooks? Remember how doomed Apple was going to be if it didnt ship a netbook? Now just saying the word netbook is like unhinging your jaw to speak an ancient and long-dead language. Like you say the word netbook and it triggers a protection spell placed on the crypt the word is stored in and venomous bats come flying out of it attacking all they see.

No one says the word netbook anymore is the Macalopes point.

Hey, the horny one isnt here to defend the HomePod, particularly. Heck, even he said this about it back in January.

The Macalope personally thinks the HomePod and the Apple TV are overpriced.

It clearly was never going to sell in huge numbers and obviously nothing like the low-priced Echo. Thats simple economics. But its not a product that appears to be up to Apples usual standards and maybe it is selling worse than the company predicted. The Macalope would just prefer it if people complained about it more accurately.Elekta, the big name in radiotherapy, radiosurgery, and oncology informatics thats based in Sweden, recently partnered with IBM to offer the Watson for Oncology artificial intelligence (AI) platform along with its MOSAIQ Oncology Information System and other cancer care solutions. According to Richard Hausmann, the CEO of Elekta, it is the first radiation therapy company to offer capabilities that combine conventional health information systems with artificial intelligence and cognitive cloud computing. The hope is to introduce AI in a meaningful way to treatment planning and delivery so as to improve reliance on evidence-based care and lead to improved outcomes.

We spoke with Andrew Wilson, Elektas Vice President of Global Marketing for Software Solutions, to find out more about the new offering, what AI has in-store for oncology care overall, and how medicine will be affected more broadly by deep learning and related computing fields.

Medgadget: Artificial Intelligence is clearly a buzzword lately, and many companies claim to use the technology. It is not clear what the term means with respect to different applications. Can you give us an idea of what the AI is and its role in patient care?

Andrew Wilson, Elekta: There are a lot of companies that utilize AI or other tools that use machine enabled deep learning functionality in ways that can benefit the oncology treatment field. This is due to several factors: theres an expansion in the amount of data that is collected and there are potential questions around the amount of data that can be related to disease that we may not understand at this stage. Today we understand how a number of items contribute to improved patient outcomes or improved diagnostics surrounding particular diseases, but were sure that by the time we aggregate these data sets well start to see additional data sources providing information around patient outcomes and responses. Then well have to think differently about which data are going to change the way patients are managed, and what those changes will look like.

From a general teaching perspective, theres so much of this data being amassed so quickly that its going to be difficult for people to comprehend what all these sources are going to mean for improving care. Being able to identify which data sets are tags for particular aspects of a patients genetic information or impact treatment techniques will be important for determining the value outcome for any given analytic tool.

At Elekta, were looking at the AI landscape and working with our internal physics and AI teams to identify clinical need and opportunities to incorporate AI tools into our products. There are quite a few areas. The area of decision support is one where the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has several definitions on where decision support engines need to be utilized and how they can qualify appropriately, and 15 criteria that should preempt the capability of a decision support engine. Partnering with a company like IBM, which has already fulfilled these requirements and has a global footprint, gives us high confidence that we will effectively incorporate AI into our clinical workflow solutions.

Medgadget: More specifically, can you give an idea of what variables Watson for Oncology is looking at, what kind of guidance it provides, and what its role is in the clinical workflow?

Wilson: Watson for Oncology provides an assessment of patient data using natural language processing. Different views and inputs are provided on the patient regarding patient diagnosis, laboratory results, patient assessment charts and letters, and clinical reports that talk about the disease. Watson for Oncology takes all this data and reviews it against the corpus of information that it reads. Its a large corpus of over 300 journals and 250 textbooks, about 15 million pages of information, and Watson for Oncology will rapidly read all those pages and compare them with the patient data.

The system was trained by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to analyze patient information in the context of this tremendous body of literature and guidelines and provide to the clinical team with ranked treatment recommendations. The ranking is based on factors such as outcome information, potential for improved response to therapy, availability of resources, and other variables. Its a support tool, and the good thing about it is that all the evidence that contributes to the ranking is provided there for the physician to review. So its not just heres a top ten and take your pick. If you go into the system it will give you pages and pages of literature, and articles, and response documents that have been published and peer reviewed that will allow the physician to understand why the system ranked one particular technique over another. Then its up to the physician to determine the best therapeutic approach based on that ranking, also taking into account his or her clinical experience, and the patients stated goals and objectives. If the physician has specialized protocols, he or she can evaluate which of those protocols best aligns with the rankings that Watson for Oncology has provided.

Clinicians can use it as a second opinion, and it may also be an important source of clinical insight in care centers that dont have routine access to a vast number of experts. We believe that it will be an important tool for supporting clinical decisions that result in optimum care in a broad array of care settings.

Medgadget: Are there IT infrastructure requirements that the hospital has to fulfill?

Wilson: Watson for Oncology is cloud-hosted by IBM. Theres some configuration work that IBM will do with the customer site so that healthcare professionals at the hospital that want to use it have access to the system. Its really just a case of internet logins. Its very simple for departments to get cloud access. Theres some work that Elekta will do with our MOSAIQ customers as well.

Medgadget: Because theres so much data that is coming into AI systems, do you fear that one day it will be nearly impossible for a physician to have a grasp of how a medical AI product came up with its conclusions?

Wilson: I dont think that will be a problem the way Watson for Oncology is configured. Because the information in the Watson review is published data thats peer reviewed. Because the way Watson works, its an advisory tool and it provides a ranking and all the information that went into that ranking. So its up to the physician and department to review that and determine whether that ranking is relevant to their current patient cohort or how they would normally treat a patient. Watson doesnt force them to treat a patient in any specific way. It is even possible that there are five different ranked items that are acceptable to be delivered. So the department can review the data that exists or the evidence that appears with that data, and they can make the correct decision among the ranked options which is the most appropriate that the department can treat. Because the evidence is there, they actually have the ability to take that evidence up-front to the insurance provider in case there are any questions about insurance payment.

Medgadget: What is the future for AI in oncology care? Is Elekta working on its own technology in this field or do you intend to continue to partner with firms specializing in AI?

Wilson: I think the future of AI is an exciting topic for manufacturers, healthcare providers and patients. As a leader in RT for decades, we want to provide guidance on the data that we collect in the radiotherapy setting and the data that will provide influences, in terms of change, in terms of decisions made about how patients are treated, and what that can mean for the impact of treatment and the operational aspects of delivering that treatment.

We have a Memorandum of Understanding with IBM and expect to bring Watson into more multidisciplinary departments, which include radiotherapy and comprehensive oncology. The feedback that well receive about workflows and impact on radiotherapy delivery techniques from these efforts will allow us to provide more advisory information to IBM to help them create a broader tool in the Watson for Oncology model. For example, combining Watson for Oncology with MOSAIQ will soon make hundreds of attributes from the patients electronic health record, including physicians notes and laboratory data, available for analysis using IBMs Natural Language Processing technology. This will expand MOSAIQs capabilities while providing robust radiation oncology data sets that can be fed into IBMs machine learning algorithms to advance the functionality of Watson for Oncology. These are the types of transformative advances that can occur when you have pioneers such as Elekta and IBM working together to innovative 21st century solutions for todays patients and physicians.

Links: Watson for Oncology and Elekta MOSAIQ

Original announcement: Elekta taps IBM Watson Health to bring AI to comprehensive oncology fieldby Kaila Colbin , Featured Contributor, April 13, 2018

This is the most important principle for Facebook, said the man sitting before the Senate's Commerce and Judiciary committees. Every piece of content that you share on Facebook, you own, and you have complete control over who sees it and how you share it, and you can remove it at any time.

This was a repeated theme during Mark Zuckerbergs two days of hearings on Capitol Hill: You own your data. You decide who sees what. You can change any setting whenever you want. You can stop third parties from using your data to target you.

Its not our fault, he seemed to say. Its yours.

Here is a question I would have asked: What percentage of Facebook users access or adjust their controls more than once a month?

I suspect its a small number. Were set-and-forget-it creatures; we dont want to think too hard before we reshare the latest American Chopper meme.

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Behind Zuckerbergs overly solicitous proclamations of user control sits a hard truth: You can give people as much control you want over who sees their information. It wont make a dang bit of difference--because Facebook is asking the wrong questions.

The company is asking you whether you want this post to be seen by all friends, by specific friends, by all friends except specific ones, by a custom list of included and excluded friends, by everyone, by only you, by people you went to high school with, by people you went to college with, by close friends, by family.

You could specify those settings for each and every post  and it still wouldnt stop the likes of Cambridge Analytica and their ilk.

These are the questions Facebook should be asking:

Would you like us to show you content that makes you angry?

Would you like us to show you content that challenges your world view, or, instead, reinforces what you already believe?

Would you like us to show you content, including advertising, that makes you feel better about yourself  or worse?

Would you like us to encourage you to buy things you dont need?

Would you like us to show you content that makes you more informed  or less?

Would you like us to encourage you to be more compassionate  or less?

In other words, what kind of person do you want to become as a result of using Facebook?

These suggestions may seem shocking. Why would we ask Facebook to intentionally manipulate our emotions? We are lying to ourselves. It already does this.

I uninstalled the Facebook app on my phone, but I still access the platform through the phones browser. On a regular basis, I get a message at the top of the screen: There are posts from your friends you can only see on the app. Download it now!

You are missing out! Your friends are having fun without you! You should feel worse about yourself -- but you could feel better about yourself, if you use our product MORE!

Facebook will never ask the kind of questions Im proposing, because its business model would crumble. Facebook doesnt benefit if you feel better about yourself, or if youre a more informed, thoughtful person. It benefits if you spend more time on its site, and buy more stuff. Giving the users control over who sees their posts offers the illusion of individual agency while protecting the prime directive.

I dont want control over who sees my posts. I want control over the person I am, and the person I want to become. Give me that, and maybe Ill reinstall the app on my phone.by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, April 13, 2018

A UK judge has ruled that Google must honor a request to remove search results from its engine for a man convicted of conspiracy to intercept communications. The event occurred more than a decade ago.

While the judge ruled favorably on the unnamed plaintiff, who had shown remorse for his actions and spent more than six months in jail because the offense was relatively minor, another man who had been convicted of false accounting and still seemed content to mislead the public wasnt as lucky.

The right to be forgotten in Europe allows people to request information about themselves to be removed from the internet when it is no longer relevant. Since punishment was served, the two businessmen claimed the law should apply to reports about their respective crimes. But Google objected to both requests.

Google grants about 44% of right to be forgotten requests. It requires the company to delist the URLs from Google search for privacy. The ruling by the UK court dates back to 2014, when the Court found that individuals have the right to ask search engines to remove certain results for queries on the basis of a persons name.

Since 2014, requests have skyrocketed. Google notes that about 931,711 URLs not delisted between May 2014 and April 2018, and about 1.19 million, about 56.1%, total URLs delisted in that same time period.by Alex Weprin , April 13, 2018

Cable giant Comcast and streaming video giant Netflix are expanding on a partnership the two companies signed in 2016.



Later this month, Comcast will offer its customers the opportunity to bundle Netflix into new and existing Xfinity cable packages, including broadband-only packages.

In the 2016 deal, Comcast offered Netflix to certain subscribers of its premium X1 cable service. Xfinity covers all of the companys tiers of service.

In the announcement, the companies say that among households that have access to X1, Netflix is among the most popular services on the platform, while X1 has become the most popular place to watch Netflix among households that subscribe to the tier of service.

The deal comes as Netflixs subscriber rate in the U.S. appears close to maturity. While its international growth remains strong, the company has not added subscribers in the U.S. at the same rate. Deals like the one with Comcast could serve to help give a boost to domestic subscriptions

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Indeed, investment bank UBS, in a research note this week, suggested the company was in a position to sustain growth.

We see potential upside to NFLX's Q1 sub guide based on UBS Evidence Lab data & our analysis, which point to broad-based growth trends across regions sustaining into 18, the note said. On a QoQ basis, growth in older markets continues to mature but [is] sustaining at solid levels. For the second quarter in a row, we see strong sub momentum as an indicator of the platform's pricing power.

Partnering with cable companies like Comcast, among other partners, could convince some holdouts to give the service a try, drawn in by advertising, word of mouth or the ability to pay for TV, internet and Netflix in one bill.by Ray Schultz , April 13, 2018

Four high-tech companies  Braze, Amplitude, mParticle and AppsFlyer  have teamed up to launch OpenGDPR, a framework for complying with the EUs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The move comes amidst increasing concern that marketers, including those that rely on email, are not yet ready for the regulation that takes effect on May 25. Based on the growing Facebook scandal, some believe that GDPR-style regulation should be passed  or observed in spirit  in the U.S.

For example, UpGuard CEO Mike Baukes writes on Forbes: The dawning era of GDPR will have a global impact, dramatically altering how American companies handle data  a surprise for which not all domestic firms might be prepared.

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And Elena Souris and Hollie Russon Gilman write on Vox: While the US still lacks such data standards, the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), scheduled to take effect in May, demonstrates a path toward reliable online privacy balanced with transparency.

OpenGDPR provides a framework for brands and their technology partners to manage GDPR requests and communicate with each other, the firms claim. Among other things, this will cover data access, portability and erasure, they add.

In addition, the product will provide increased interoperability across the technology stack, the companies say.

OpenGDPR comes with a public API specification and a set of recommended best practices.

The firms contend that data subject requests requiring that companies act across multiple systems can be handled in real-time.

GDPR violations can lead to penalties running into millions of dollars, they note.

Michael Katz, CEO and co-founder of mParticle, states that its crucial for brands to not only have their own policies and processes in place to ensure compliance, but feel secure knowing their partners do as well.

Braze, formerly Appboy, is a customer engagement platform that delivers messages via email, push and apps. AppsFlyer specializes in mobile attribution and marketing analytics.

Amplitude offers product analytics helps product teams build digital products. mParticle is the customer data platform that helps firms integrate their growth stacks.New injectable biosensor has been recently developed that works silently, constantly monitors alcohol levels in patients. The sensor is powered wirelessly by a device such as a smart watch or patch worn by the person.



The biochip has been developed at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The project was led by Professor Drew Hall an electrical engineering professor at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering who is also affiliated with the Center for Wireless Communications and the Center for Wearable Sensors, both at UC San Diego. The team present their work at the 2018 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) in San Diego.



Aim of Current Study

The research teamto monitor alcohol levels of patients in treatment programs.Advertisement

"When Dan and Jeff's paper was published 10 years ago, there was great hope that nanocarriers in general and actively targeted nanocarriers in particular would transform cancer therapy," Rosenblum says. "We've made significant progress towards understanding the interaction of nanocarriers with tumor cells and tissues since then, but the clinical translation has been limited.""Few nanocarriers have been approved for clinical use, and none of the actively targeted nanocarriers have advanced past clinical trials," Dr. Joshi adds. In the new paper, the authors discuss several reasons for this, including a lack of preclinical models that accurately mimic human tumors. They also emphasize the need not only for patient evaluation before treatment with nanocarriers, but also for clinical trial pathways appropriate for this new generation of drugs."We detailed what existed in the arsenal at that time, the challenges that lay ahead and how we wanted the future of specific tumor-targeting to look," says Prof. Peer. "We explored all the available nanoparticle options with which to penetrate tumors. We were sure the future was bright."But in the past 10 years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved only 15 passively targeted nanocarriers. There have been some 40,000 studies published about active cellular targeting, but none of the approaches have advanced past clinical trials. What's wrong with this picture?"According to the new review, what's wrong is that cancers have flummoxed researchers by being even more complex in nature than previously believed. "They change and evolve all the time, are heterogeneous in composition and eventually gain resistance," Rosenblum says. "We need to be able to target many kinds of cancer cell types, and we need the systems to be as simple as possible. But they have to be versatile too. We emphasize the idea of developing personalized nanocarriers based on the type of cancer and its biomarker profile."The authors suggest that to move the field forward, the FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) must change their regulatory processes. "We have to adopt the regulation process to the new type of drugs," Dr. Joshi says."We need to conduct trials on humans -- trials that provide more insights into the interaction of nanocarriers with human biology," Prof. Karp says. "We can then use these to drive the development of next-generation nano-targeted platforms."Rosenblum says the key to future success also lies in developing animal models that better resemble human tumors and preselecting patients with a high likelihood of responding to nanocarrier-based cancer treatments.The authors argue that technological solutions such as focused ultrasound and companion diagnostics, coupled with biological solutions such as overcoming the cellular barriers and increasing particle payloads at the target site, will also increase the likelihood of successful treatment."The field continues to offer great potential for patients, and significant progress has been achieved. But new challenges have emerged during the past 10 years, and more support and work are required," Prof. Karp concludes.Source: EurekalertAdvertisement

"EVs could not only be used to identify cellular pathologies but because they carry essential information about cell development, we could engineer them for purposes of tissue repair."Associate Professor Chrzanowski from the University of Sydney Nano Institute and the Faculty of Pharmacy said the ability to identify individual EVs will provide biomarkers for diverse diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular, kidney and liver disease as well as dementia and multiple sclerosis He said it will also allow scientists to engineer EVs for use in tissue regeneration and help start a new chapter in stem-cell therapies and regenerative medicine."The human body naturally directs EVs from stem cells to damaged tissue to assist in its repair. By harnessing this knowledge, we could create a new generation of cell therapies," said Associate Professor Chrzanowski, who is the industry theme leader for Health and Medicine at Sydney Nano.Understanding the particular nature of EVs is therefore essential for developing their application for diagnostics and therapeutics. For instance, early-stage cancerous cells release EVs that indicate the presence of malignant tissue in the body.The study of extracellular vesicles is a relatively new field. It is only in the past decade that it has been known that cells communicate and transfer molecular and genetic information using EVs.The full potential to harness this knowledge for biomedical use has been hampered due to difficulties in establishing the heterogeneous nature of EV populations. Until now, they have only been analysed as large-scale populations with insufficient sensitivity.Lead author of the paper, doctoral candidate Sally Yunsun Kim, said: "To unlock the true potential of EVs, what is needed is a new approach to unequivocally define nanoscale differences at a single EV level - and that is what we have done."This is because it is the individual nature of the EVs as released by cells - affected by cellular morphology, genetics and environment - that give them their agency in human tissue repair.Ms Kim, Associate Professor Chrzanowski and their team have developed a way to identify individual EV nanostructures, through examination of human placental stem cells provided by co-author Dr Bill Kalionis from the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne.In the Nanoscale Horizons paper the team details a new method to identify the nanoscale composition of EVs using "resonance-enhanced atomic force microscope infrared spectroscopy" (AFM-IR).This involves isolating singular EVs, thermally agitating them and then reading the particular signal or 'fingerprint' from this thermal activity using a 20-nanometre-wide detector.Ms Kim, said: "We can do this using small amounts of human material, such as blood or urine samples. When cells create EVs they are spread throughout the body."Associate Professor Chrzanowski said this ability to determine the particular nature of EVs will also allow scientists to continue fundamental research into how and why EVs are created by cells."This is a new and exciting field for biomedical research. And Australia is playing a leading role in this area," said Associate Professor Chrzanowski, who is a joint organiser of an international conference on extracellular vesicles that will take place in Sydney in November."The best people in the world will be here sharing their knowledge in a field with such promise for biomedical treatments," he said.Source: EurekalertRajesh Kumar has had a successful stint as an actor but the world will always remember him as the loving Rosesh Sarabhai from the iconic 'Sarabhai vs Sarabhai'. That hilarious accent with that poignant poetry, there is no antidote for that! However, he's hung up his acting gloves for good to contribute in the making of a 'smart' village in Gaya, near Patna. The residents of Barma village followed his lead and now lead a life with organic farming. The actor wanted to give back to his hometown and played a major advocate in getting electricity to Barma. He is even setting up a Farmer Producer Organisation with the local farmers. In an interview to Mumbai Mirror, the actor explained how things fell into place. When I visited Barma last year, I couldn't believe my eyes. My father had converted our ancestral land from a wasteland to one capable of producing a range of vegetables, fruits, and crops in just five years  without using any chemicals for the most part.

 Mumbai Mirror

He read about organic farming and the dangers of climatic change that agricultural lands may face in the upcoming years. All this led to his epiphany to do something about it. Today, the village is flourishing under his eyes and now the people of the village are ready to dispatch the first set of chemical free, organic mangoes in the market this June. The farmers in my village may not be very educated, but they can tell you the moisture content which will determine the harvest without the help of any device, he explains.Life has obviously come full circle for him and he doesn't miss his life back in Mumbai. The actor closely works with the people of the village and is happy with the results which are now showing.

 Mumbai Mirror

Life may come to a standstill after sunset here but it's also undefinably peaceful and most of the time all you can hear here is your own voice, he says. If only more people in cities decided to give back to their hometowns, India's agrarian economy will be on a high pedestal.The horrific Kathua gang rape and murder case has shaken the entire nation just like the Nirbhaya incident. Our country is losing sleep over the perennial attitude of denying and delaying justice. While the 8-year-old deceased victim's family is currently in an inexplicable state of grief, the government's deafening silence is simply baffling. Amidst this horrific situation, one voice that is fighting hard to stay strong is that of Deepika Singh Rajawat. A young lawyer who is defying every death threat coming her way only to ensure the accused are punished and justice is delivered to the Kathua rape victim and her grieving family.

 Twitter

Rajawat is the chairperson of an NGO called 'Voice For Rights' which ardently works towards fighting for human rights. She is currently representing victims family in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and is trying to bring the accused to face a trial.The eight-year-old child was drugged and brutally gang-raped for days before she was killed and thrown in the forest. The criminals behind this monstrosity simply wanted to fulfill their lust and drive away the minority from that area. The gory details of the charge sheet are enough to send shivers down anyone's spine. However, Deepika's fight is not without hurdles, as she is facing a barrage of life threats ordering her to step away from the case.Deepika has now requested the Chief Justice of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court for additional security. The Jammu Bar Association has been protesting against the police and is even inviting a CBI probe into the matter. India stands united and is demanding justice for the child's murder. It is a situation of utter disgrace and shame for the police and the judiciary if Deepika has to guard her own life to fight for justice. A prompt action is yet awaited, but at least the authorities know that voices can no more be silenced.Greece unequivocally condemns the use of chemical weapons and supports the efforts to eradicate them.

The international community must thoroughly investigate every relevant incident and perpetrators must be held accountable.

At the same time, the international community must remain focused on finding a political and sustainable solution in Syria; a solution that will end the war and restore peace in the country and the region, that will allow for the return of millions of refugees to their homes, and that will protect the whole population, including all religious and cultural communities.

In this direction, everyone must contribute directly toward the de-escalation of the situation and the strengthening of efforts to reach a ceasefire. What is more, access to humanitarian aid for battered populations must be assured.

Diplomacy must return to centre stage, and the efforts within the framework of the UN must be continued.Editor's note: The following article has been changed from its original version to state the correct dates that Jack E. Leipert and Leonard F. Wilkuski stopped functioning as priests. It also clarifies the meaning of "laicized" and what it means when priests have their faculties withdrawn.

UPPER THUMB  Three priests who have been removed from the Saginaw Catholic Diocese for allegedly sexually abusing minors  and one who is currently under investigation for such alleged incidents  previously served in parishes in Huron County.

The following clerics were permanently removed from ministry due to "credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors," according to a recent news release from the diocese.

1. Jack E. Leipert: Served as pastor from July 1990 to January 2001 at Sacred Heart in Bad Axe. He had his faculties withdrawn in June 2001, which means at that time he stopped functioning as a priest. He was laicized in Feb. 2006, which means his ties with the Diocese were severed.

2. Leonard F. Wilkuski: Served as Pastor at St. Mary of Parisville from July 1983 to July 1990. He had his faculties withdrawn in April 2002. He was laicized in Feb. 2006.

3. Stanislaus A. Bur: Served as pastor of St. Edward in Kinde and St. Felix of Pinnebog from August 1973 to May 1974. He stopped functioning as a priest in October 1992, and underwent permanent suspension of faculties in November 2005. He died in February 2009.

Ronald J. Dombrowski, who served at several area churches, is under investigation, and has been put on administrative leave.

Dombrowski, 72, has been suspended by Bishop Joseph R. Cistone, as an allegation of sexual abuse against Dombrowski is being investigated. The diocese announced that "a self-identified victim, who was a minor at the time and is no longer a minor, was in contact with the diocese on Thursday, March 15."

Drombrowski was appointed pastor at St. Mary of Czestochowa, Kinde, and St. Edward the Confessor Parish, Kinde, from January 1978 to July 1980. He was administrator at Ss. Peter & Paul, Ruth, from July 1980 to January 1981. He was pastor of the following: St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Vassar, and St. Bernard, Millington, from January 1981 to July 1990; St. Mary, Parisville, July 1990 to July 1994; St. Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, Port Sanilac, July 1994 to July 2001; St. John Chrysostom, Forestville, August 1994 to July 2001.

Drombrowski also served as deacon at Sacred Heart Parish, Caro, from June 1971 to January 1972.

Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson told the Tribune that anyone who has been victimized by sexual assault or abuse should notify local law enforcement, and Saginaw area police have been making similar statements.

"The law is enacted by the people of the state of Michigan; not the Catholic Church," Hanson said.

"If people have been sexually assaulted or abused, etc., it's not for the church to decide what the course of action should be," he added. "It's not up to the church to decide if someone has been criminally sexually assaulted. That's up to the legal system."

Another priest from the diocese, Robert J. DeLand, is also under investigation for allegations of sexual abuse of minors, and is on administrative leave.

The Saginaw diocese reported Friday that former priest John E. Hammer and former deacon Richard L. Howard have also been removed from their posts as a result of such allegations.

The removals have occurred since the adoption of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and Essential Norms by the bishops of the United States in 2002.

Cistone announced Friday that Michael J. Talbot, soon-to-be retired chief judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals, was appointed special independent delegate for sexual abuse of minors and misconduct in the Saginaw Diocese.

The Associated Press reports that Cistone said Talbot will be independent and have "full authority" in all matters of alleged sexual abuse of minors.

"I need to hear from victims. ... I especially have to hear from people who have been hesitant to come forward," Talbot told reporters.

He promised to share information with police when necessary. But in response, a Saginaw-area police team that's continuing to investigate DeLand and the Diocese said the public should contact police with allegations of sexual abuse, not church representatives.

"We respectfully disagree with the procedure" announced by Cistone, investigators said in a statement released by the Saginaw County prosecutor. "The diocese cannot, and should not, be used as a clearinghouse for the reporting of crimes by victims. That is the function of law enforcement."

In response to public reaction that followed Friday's press release regarding the priests under investigation, the Diocese issued a press release late Monday afternoon stating Talbot (the independent delegate) will forward all reports of abuse to the proper law enforcement entities.

"I also intend to seek formal reporting agreements with the 11 county prosecutors in the Diocese of Saginaw," Talbot said in Monday's release. "Beyond the legalities involved, it has been my experience that communication and full cooperation with local law enforcement serves this process well."

Police recently seized records from church properties, including Cistone's home.

Cistone, who is being treated for cancer, said he appointed Talbot because the 11-county Diocese needs a "fresh start" during a "very distressing time."PIGEON -- Ryan Swartz and Daryl Ford, detectives with the Huron County Sheriff's Office, provided crisis planning training for Laker Schools staff this week.

Staff members learned about ALICE, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. It is the current approach to crisis planning for most schools. It focuses on actively defending and evacuating spaces in a crisis situation, rather than sitting and waiting as older training programs endorsed.

The presenters shared statistics, strategies, and videos related to school violence incidents and then dispersed Laker teachers and staff to the elementary and secondary buildings for active drill exercises. Following the training, employees returned to the auditorium for a time of questions and debriefing.

Areas for improvement were noted and will be turned over to the district's administrative team and Student Safety Committee (a school board group) for evaluation and future planning. The district is in the process of hiring a school security officer on a part-time basis for the remainder of this year, and the plan is to have the position become full time beginning next school year.

"There is nothing we can do that is more important than preparing to keep our students safe," said Superintendent Brian Keim. "We've had a significant number of new employees join our teaching and support teams, so it was good to get everyone on the same page again and work through all of our protocol."

"With our board's recent decision to hire a School Safety Officer, and our current bond proposal that includes multiple security enhancements, I think we're doing all we can to create a safe and secure environment for Laker students," he added.BAD AXE  Stepping into the prestigious United Nations General Assembly Hall is quite an experience.

Being there to engage in a two-hour forum with hundreds of other Lions Club delegates from around the world was the experience of a lifetime for Dr. Sami Makhoul.

Makhoul recently took part of the 40th annual Lions Day with the United Nations, at the UN Headquarters in New York City.

The Bad Axe chiropractor is a member of the areas District 11-D2 (Thumb District) Lions Club. It is believed he was the first person in the history of the district to have attended the event.

It was a very great experience, said Makhoul.

The theme for the event was Working Together Globally to Combat Diabetes. The forum at the UN General Assembly Hall focused on that important topic.

I was part of that discussion, and spoke about what I do here in this area, Makhoul said.

Each year, over 750 delegates from around the world attend the event. Makhoul applied and was selected to attend the event, where he spoke with other delegates and many world experts on the topic of diabetes.

For me, going to the United Nations, where humanity came together to build this great big organization, was one of the greatest honors of my life, Makhoul said.

In his discussion, Makhoul spoke about the need to find professional diabetes educators in your community to discuss proper nutrition, exercise, stress management techniques and proper medication. Makhoul said he received help with his talking points from Melanie Campbell, diabetes education coordinator for Marlette Regional Hospital.

Makhoul believes that education on the topic is paramount. He says using area experts such as Campbell to talk to various local organizations is a good way to start.

As a result of the event, International President Naresh Aggarwal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with International Diabetes Federation President Prof. Nam H. Cho, to establish a cooperative alliance in the global fight against diabetes. The two organizations will come together to help prevent diabetes and improve the quality of life for those living with diabetes worldwide.

Makhouls experience in New York was followed up with another honor, when last weekend he was elected the Lions Club Thumb Districts 2nd Vice District Governor at the annual district convention in Owosso.

To be honored like this  to go and be a delegate, and again to be the 2nd Vice Governor of the District  its monumental to me, Makhoul said.UBLY  An old family business is seeing new life with a new purpose.

Back when I was on the council, I felt it important that we (council members) show we support the town, so I bought the building and plan to teach yoga in it so the building isnt just sitting empty, said David Jaroch, who recently resigned from the Ubly Village Council.

The yoga studio will be at 2166 Main St., which is the site of a former grocery store.

It was built in 1910. My grandfather bought it in 1921," Jaroch said. "My father bought it from him after World War II and he ran it until the 1980s. There is a lot of family history in this building.

The building is about 2,000 square feet. The studio will be in the front, using 1,000 square feet with changing rooms in the back.

Jaroch has been a certified yoga instructor for two years and is a retired teacher from Ubly Community Schools.

I also went to India for a month to study yoga, said Jaroch. I hope to have the studio open in the fall. Right now, Im teaching in the Sleeper Public Library.

Yoga classes at the library are at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

I dont take any payments for my yoga classes at the library," he said. "Donations are accepted, and they go to the library."

When his yoga studio is open, he will accept donations to go toward the upkeep of the studio.

I dont accept money. Its like I said, its my way of giving back to the community where I have lived all my life, and my family before me, Jaroch said. This town was good to my grandfather, father, and me. The town is special to me.

For more information about yoga classes at Sleeper Public Library, call the library at 989-658-8901.Emma's planning new Pigeon location Bad Axes main coffee establishment will soon have a new location and is partnering with an area...

Long serving township trustee honored by state If it wasnt for wanting to be closer to family, Joan Sattelberg would still be serving the...

Sedentary life catching up to Nunn I have always been a big guy and I have never been particularly athletic. Despite my size, I...WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump ordered a military attack against Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday, joining allies Britain and France in launching missile strikes in retaliation for what Western nations said was the deliberate gassing of Syrian civilians.

The coordinated strike marked the second time in a year that Trump has used force against Assad, who U.S. officials believe has continued to test the West's willingness to accept gruesome chemical attacks.

Trump, speaking from the White House late Friday, said the attack last weekend was "a significant escalation" of Assad's use of chemical weapons and warranted a stepped-up international response.

The alleged chemical weapons use was not the work of "a man," Trump said. They were "the crimes of a monster instead."

Trump said the mandate for an allied attack was open-ended, but Pentagon chiefs later said the strikes Friday would be repeated only if Assad took further action that warranted a response.

Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. military, in conjunction with British and French forces, struck three sites - a scientific research center near Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a storage facility and command post also near Homs.

Dunford said that unlike the unilateral U.S. strike in Syria last year, in which only one site was attacked, the United States worked with two allies and hit the three sites in an operation that he said would result in the long-term degradation of Syria's ability to research, develop and deploy chemical weapons.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis declined to say whether he thought the attack would prevent Assad from using chemical weapons again.

"Nothing is certain in these kinds of matters. However, we used a little over double the number of weapons this year than we used last year," he said. "It was done on targets that we believed were selected to hurt the chemical weapons program. We confined it to the chemical weapons-type targets."

Mattis said that to his knowledge there were no U.S. or allied losses from the strikes Friday.

Dunford said that the only communications that took place between the United States and Russia before the operation were "the normal deconfliction of the airspace, the procedures that are in place for all of our operations in Syria."

It was not immediately clear how the Syrian military responded to the attack. Dunford said that Syrian forces fired surface-to-air missiles but that he did not have a full picture of the response. He said the Pentagon would provide more details Saturday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement saying the attacks were a response to "circumstances of pure horror."

In a statement, French President Emmanuel Macron said, "Our response has been limited to the Syrian regimes facilities enabling the production and deployment of chemical weapons."

Vice President Mike Pence left the opening ceremony of the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, to place calls to all four congressional leaders in advance of the airstrikes, speaking directly to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said that he was also notified just prior to Trump's statement.

The assault followed repeated threats of military action from Trump, who has been moved by civilian suffering to set aside his concerns about foreign military conflicts, since the reported chemical attack that killed civilians in a rebel-held town outside Damascus last weekend.

The operation capped nearly a week of debate in which Pentagon leaders voiced concerns that an attack could pull the United States into Syria's civil war and trigger a dangerous conflict with Assad ally Russia - without necessarily halting chemical attacks.

Both Syria and Russia have denied involvement in the attack, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov alleged had been staged.

The episode is the latest illustration of the hazards arising from a conflict that has killed an estimated half-million people and drawn in world powers since it began as peaceful protests in 2011.

The attack raised the possibility of retaliation by Russia or Iran, which also provides military support to Assad, threatening in particular to increase the risks facing a force of 2,000 Americans in Syria as part of the battle against the Islamic State. While the United States has not been at war with the Syrian government, U.S. troops often operate in proximity to Iranian- or Russian-backed groups.

In the wake of last weekend's gruesome attack, some U.S. officials advocated a larger, and therefore riskier, strike than the limited action Trump ordered in April 2017, also in response to suspected chemical weapons use.

That attack involved 59 Tomahawk missiles fired from two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea. It fulfilled Trump's vow that chemical weapons are a "red line" that he, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, would not allow Assad to cross. But the airfield targeted by the Pentagon resumed operations shortly after the attack and, according to Western intelligence assessments, chemical attacks resumed.

Assad's defiance has presented Trump with a choice of whether to make a larger statement and incur a larger risk this time. Planning for these strikes focused on ways to curb Assad's ability to use such weapons again.

Risks of a wider attack include the possibility of a dangerous escalation with Russia, whose decision to send its military to Syria in 2015 reversed the course of the war in Assad's favor. Since then, Russia has used Syria as a testing ground for some of its most sophisticated weaponry.

"Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!' " Trump tweeted Wednesday, referring to U.S. missiles.

That took military officials by surprise. But on Thursday, Trump said he did not mean to suggest missile strikes were imminent.

"Never said when an attack on Syria would take place," he tweeted. "Could be very soon or not so soon at all!"

Since last year's strike, multiple chemical attacks have been reported in opposition areas, most of them involving chlorine rather than the nerve agent sarin, as was used in 2017, suggesting the government may have adjusted its tactics.

Earlier Friday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, accused Russia of lying and covering up for the Assad government. Assad's government had used chemical weapons at least 50 times in the past seven years of warfare, Haley claimed.

"Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and its coverups," she said. "Russia was supposed to guarantee Assad would not use chemical weapons, and Russia did the opposite."

Russia had called for the emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria as military action seemed likely.

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, had accused the United States, France and Britain of saber-rattling.

"Why are you seeking to plunge the Middle East into such difficulties, provoking one conflict after another, pitting one state against another?" he said, claiming that anti-government militias had received "instructions" to begin an offensive as soon as an act of force begins. "Is the latest wave of chaos being unleashed only for the sake of that?"

Russia is Assad's most powerful ally and has thousands of troops and military advisers, as well as air defense systems, deployed in Syria.

Russia's military has threatened to shoot down any U.S. missiles that put Russian lives at risk. Russia could also fire at the launch platforms used - potentially U.S. planes or ships. Russian officials have said U.S. and Russian military staffs remain in contact regarding Syria, even as Russian media have carried stories in recent days about the potential outbreak of "World War III" as a consequence of a U.S. airstrike against Assad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Macron in a phone call Friday the situation remained tense, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"Most important, it is imperative to avoid badly planned and dangerous actions that would be crude violations of the U.N. Charter and would have unpredictable consequences," the Kremlin said. "Both leaders directed the ministers of defense and foreign affairs to maintain close contact with the goal of de-escalating the situation."

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council that he feared events could escalate rapidly into a regional and even global conflict, and urged all states "to act responsibly in these dangerous circumstances."

France's U.N. ambassador, Francois Delattre, said the Syrian government's decision to use chemical weapons meant that it had "reached a point of no return," necessitating a "robust, united and steadfast response."

"France will shoulder its responsibility to end an intolerable threat to our collective security," Delattre told the Security Council.

British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce noted that May's Cabinet "has agreed on the need to take action to alleviate humanitarian distress and to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime."

Announcement of that approval Thursday did not specify that the response should be military, although that was the expectation.

"We will continue to work with our friends and allies to coordinate an international response to that end," Pierce said Friday.

Opposition lawmakers urged May to first seek Parliament's consent before committing to any military action. Nothing requires that May do so, but the convention is for British lawmakers to be given the chance to vote. Parliament is in recess but could be recalled for an emergency session.

Meanwhile, a team of investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrived in Syria to look for evidence.

- - -

The Washington Post's Carol Morello and Paul Sonne contributed to this report.PENTAGON, Washington, D.C. -- Deliberate U.S. airstrikes were launched on three separate Syrian targets in response to a deadly chemical attack believed to be instigated by the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday night.

"These strikes are directed at the Syrian regime," Mattis told reporters during a briefing at the Pentagon alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford. "We looked at targets specifically designed to address the chemical weapons threat."

Citing defense officials, Fox News reported that, in addition to missiles launched from U.S. Navy warships, B-1B Lancer bombers took part in the strike, meant to send a mission of using strategic bombers against a chemical weapons attack. USNI News reported that the guided-missile destroyer Donald Cook (DDG 75) and an unidentified Ticonderoga-class cruiser launched Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria.

Neither Dunford nor Mattis would confirm which U.S. platforms were used in the strike, but acknowledged a mix of systems -- to include manned aircraft -- were used for the "heavy strike."

"Clearly, the Assad regime didn't get the message last year," Mattis said, referring to the missile strike last April in which two U.S. Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea fired 60 Tomahawks at a Syrian airfield in response to a previous chemical attack.

Dunford said initial military reports from officials in the Central Command area of operations suggest that Syrian surface-to-air missile artillery attempted to engage incoming targets. But the Pentagon has no reports of U.S. or allied losses at this time, he said.

Dunford said the U.S. had used deconfliction channels with Russia during the strike, but only to deconflict airspace.

"We did not coordinate targets or any planning with the Russians," the general said.

Pentagon leaders said the strike is intended to be limited in scope, and that no additional military strikes against the Assad regime are being planned at this time. Mattis and Dunford demurred on whether additional strikes could continue depending on Assads response, or a military response from Russian troops operating in the area.

More strikes "will depend on Mr. Assad should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future," Mattis said.

Earlier Friday night, President Donald Trump confirmed the strikes in a public address, saying the United States has launched "precision strikes" and was collaborating with France and the United Kingdom to respond to the recent "massacre" in Douma on April 7.

Trump did not say what U.S. weapons or platforms were employed, but said the targets were ones "associated with the chemical capabilities" of Assad.

Mattis said the allies struck chemical weapons-type targets at roughly 9 p.m. Eastern time, including a scientific research and chemical bio-weapons lab near Damascus, as well as two other chemical weapons storage and equipment facilities both near Homs.

"I am confident the Syrian regime conducted a chemical attack on the Syrian people," Mattis said. He added investigators on Thursday were "very confident" chlorine was used, but said officials were still looking into whether sarin was also used as an attack agent.

"Were not ruling out sarin," Mattis said.

In eloquent prepared remarks, Trump condemned Assad's activities and held Russia and Iran accountable for their support of the regime.

"This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," Trump said. "The evil and the despicable attack left mothers, fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. These are crimes of a monster instead."

Trump expressed thanks to both France and the United Kingdom for participating in the military effort.

The United States, he said, was prepared to sustain its military response "until the Syrian regime stops its use of ... chemical agents."

Trump had a strong rebuke for Russia and Iran, singling out Russia in particular for failure to hold Assad accountable.

"To Iran and to Russia I ask, 'what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men women and children?" Trump said. "No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators."

Mattis said the U.S. had gone to "great lengths" to avoid civilian and foreign casualties in conducting strikes on the Syrian regime.

The first Russian response to the strikes came from the Russian Embassy in Washington, about a half mile from the White House.

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the U.S., warned in a statement that the U.S., France and Russia would suffer undefined "consequences" for their joint action and accused the U.S. of hypocrisy for condemning the use of chemical weapons while maintaining its own arsenal of banned weapons.

"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented" by the U.S. and its allies, Antonov said. "Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences."

Trumps order to execute the strikes Friday night followed several consultations with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May to coordinate their actions. Trump spoke again with May late Thursday night and again with Macron on Friday afternoon, White House spokesperson Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Earlier this week, May gained the backing of her Cabinet to use both Royal Air Force attack aircraft and submarine-launched cruise missiles to strike Syrian targets once a decision was made to take action.

On Thursday, Mattis said the U.S. was still waiting on definitive proof that Syria was responsible but Sanders said "Were again confident that Syria had responsibility in this chemical weapons attack."

An updated briefing on how the U.S. and allies will progress in Syria is expected Saturday morning, Mattis said.

-- Hope Hodge Seck contributed to this report.Military personnel officials assured lawmakers on Friday that the services are not lowering standards to meet increased recruiting goals as each branch grows larger.

The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps plan to grow their active-duty ranks as part of their proposed fiscal 2019 budgets. The Navy plans to increase its active-duty force by 7,500 sailors. The Army and Air Force have requested 4,000 additional troops each and the Marine Corps will grow by 1,100 service members.

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colorado, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's personnel subcommittee, said he was "very concerned ... with the lowering of standards."

"When I meet these young men and women who serve in uniform today, they are extraordinary; we truly have talent. We have an elite force," Coffman said at the April 13 hearing.

"I would rather have fewer numbers and high quality than big numbers and low quality," Coffman added, seeking assurances from each service that they would resist the "great temptation" to lower standards just to meet their goals.

Marine Lt. Gen. Michael Rocco, deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs, was very confident in the quality of his force, saying that 99 percent of the 31,000 recruits the Marine Corps brought into service this year are at "tier one."

"Of that, only about 70 percent of them will serve past their first tour, and that is based on the personal requirements and based on the needs of the Marine Corps," Rocco said.

Marines that want to continue to serve past their first term must undergo a rigorous screening process, he said.

"We actually have the ability to take those Marines that want to stay in, have boards and only retain the highest quality of those Marines," Rocco said.

"Army leadership has been very clear to me and to recruiting command that it is quality over quantity," Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands, deputy chief of staff for the Army's G-1, said. "We will not sacrifice quality."

But it wasn't always like that, Seamands admitted.

"We went back and looked at the last time we grew, 2008," he said. "We made some mistakes back in 2008, and we are not making them now. Back in 2008, we were focused more on quantity than quality; that is not happening now."

Vice Admiral Robert P. Burke, chief of naval personnel, echoed Seamands' comments.

"We are not going to sacrifice quality," Burke said. "What we have done, though, is taken a good, hard look at self-imposed policies that limit the spectrum of candidates that we look at."

For example, Burke said, Navy recruiting officials are working with the service's medical experts to make sure that the "Navy's side of medical standards are up to date with societal norms."

"We are making sure we are not negatively impacting fleet readiness," he said. "Someone who may have used medication for bronchitis -- does that equate to having asthma, types of things at one point may have been medically disqualifying?"

The Navy has also shifted its recruiting techniques to include virtual tools, Burke said.

"We still rely on our recruiters as sort of the boots on the ground, deal-closers, but we are getting into new markets, places where we haven't been able to get our message through before. So we are getting that message through, and we are getting that talent that we couldn't," Burke said.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Gina Grosso, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, said the Air Force doesn't have "any real challenges" in recruiting quality individuals.

"We are recruiting the same quality, and we have been able to meet our recruiting goals across the total force," Grosso said.

"Much like the Navy, we are modernizing the way we find airmen as well."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.US Troops Go to Court Seeking Vaccine Exemption for Those Who've Had COVID-19

The service members want the Defense Department to exempt those with natural immunity from the coronavirus vaccine order.Editor's Note: On April 19, U.S. Air Forces Central Command released information contradicting Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie's initial statements about the variant of Joint Air to Surface Stand-Off Missile used in the Syria strikes. The standard JASSM-A missile variant was used, not the new extended-range variant, officials said.

It was the first operational use for any JASSM variant, according to AFCENT.

It was all over in two minutes.

U.S., French and British forces hit three suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities with a total of 105 weapons that all struck their targets within two minutes at about 4 a.m. local time, Pentagon officials said Saturday.

"Could not have had a better result -- Mission Accomplished!" President Donald Trump said in a Tweet early Saturday.

The attack involved ships, aircraft and one submarine operating from the Eastern Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Northern Arabian Sea against three targets -- one on the outskirts of Damascus and two others 90 miles to the north.

A total of 76 missiles -- 59 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMS) and 19 Joint Air to Surface Stand-Off Missiles-Extended Range (JASSM-ER) were fired at the sprawling Barzah Research and Development Center near Damascus, Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the Joint Staff Director, said at a Pentagon briefing.

At the same precise time, the Hims-Shinsar chemical weapons storage facility near Homs, about 90 miles north of Damascus, was hit with a total of 22 weapons -- nine Tomahawks, eight British Storm Shadow missiles, three French Naval Cruise Missiles and two French SCALP land attack cruise missiles, McKenzie said.

The third target, the Hims--Shinsar chemical weapons bunker facility also near Homs, was hit with seven French SCALP missiles, McKenzie said.

In the Red Sea, the Ticonderoga-class cruiser Monterey fired 30 Tomahawks and the Arleigh

Burke-class destroyer Laboon fired seven TLAMs.

In the North Arabian Sea, the Arleigh Burke- class destroyer Higgins fired 23 TLAMS, McKenzie said.

In the eastern Mediterranean, the French frigate Languedoc fired three naval versions of the SCALP missile and the Virginia-class submarine John Warner fired six TLAMs.

In the air, two B-1B Lancer Bombers fired 19 JASSMs. Britain flew a combination of Tornado and Typhoon fighters to launch eight Storm Shadow missiles. France flew a combination of Rafale and Mirage fighters to launch a total of nine SCALP missiles.

The strike represented the the first employment of JASSM-ER weapons in combat.

Currently, the B-1 can carry 75,000 pounds -- 5,000 pounds more than the B-52 Stratofortress -- of both precision-guided and conventional bombs. Its weapons include include the Mk-82 or Mk-84 general purpose bombs; the Mk-62 or Mk-65 Quick Strike naval mines bombs; cluster munitions such as the CBU-87, -89, -97 or Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispensers like the CBU-103, -104, -105; the GBU-31 or GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions; the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles; and the GBU-54 Laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions.

The JASSM-Extended Range has a higher survivability rate due to it its low-observable technology incorporated into the long-range, conventional air-to-ground precision-guided missile.

The non-nuclear B-1 bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, arrived at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, on March 31 for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half years to take over strike missions from B-52 Stratofortress bombers.

December, B-1 pilots and crew members told Military.com they were training round-the-clock for the evolving battlespace in the Middle East.

Despite claims by Syria, all of the allied missiles reached their targets without interference from air defense systems.

"We assess that over 40 surface-to-air missiles were employed by the Syrian regime," McKenzie said, and "most of these launches occurred after the last impact of our strike was over."

He said the Syrian launches were ineffective and "clearly increased the risk to their own people based on their indiscriminate response -- when you shoot iron into the sky without guidance, it will inevitably fall to earth."

Advanced Russian air defense systems of S-400 and S-300 missiles were believed to be out of range of the three target sites and were not activated, McKenzie said. "There's no indication the Russian air defense systems were deployed," he said.

At a Friday night briefing, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said that the estimated 2,000 U.S. troops in eastern Syria were put on heightened alert to guard against any retaliation for the missile strikes, but McKenzie said "we've not seen any military response to our formations."

McKenzie also said the U.S. was not immediately aware of any civilian casualties that may have resulted from the missile strikes.

"These strikes were a justified, legitimate and proportionate response to the Syrian regime's continued use of chemical weapons on its own people," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said. "We will not stand by passively while Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, ignores international law."

In addition to the strike aircraft, the mission involved a range of defensive counter-air, tanker refuelers and electronic warfare aircraft, including EA-6B Prowlers, to support the operation.

None of the aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defenses nor do we have any indication that Russian air defense systems were employed, McKenzie said. All of the allied aircraft returned safely to bases, he said.

McKenzie said the strikes were about double the size of the previous attack ordered by Trump last April 7 against a Syrian airfield in response to a suspected chemical attack north of Damascus with the nerve agent sarin.

In the 2017 response, a total of 59 Tomahawks were launched by the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Ross and Porter and at least one of the missiles was believed to have missed its target.

In the operation aimed at Syria early Saturday, we are confident that all of our missiles reached their targets, McKenzie said. None of our Toms experienced any problems.

As for the Barzah complex near Damascus, it does not exist anymore, McKenzie said. "They had three buildings there on the parking deck at Barzah and now they dont."

"I think the words cripple and degrade are accurate words, he said, to describe the impact on the three targets.

Without getting into specifics, McKenzie and White also said that the missile attacks were conducted in a way to limit the possibility that the explosions hitting chemical storage sites would trigger plumes that could cause civilian casualties.

Both White and McKenzie echoed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who said Friday night that the missile strikes were a one-off and would not repeated unless the regime of Russian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons again.

The April 7 suspected chemical attack on the town of Douma east of Damascus reportedly killed at least 40 and sickened more than 500.

White said the U.S. goal in Syria was to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and support a United Nations-brokered settlement to the seven-year-old civil war that has killed an estimated 450,000 and displaced millions.

The chemical attack was a separate issue that required a response from the U.S. on moral and humanitarian grounds to the use of a weapon banned by the international community since World War I, she said.

Our focus remains defeating ISIS; it is not to get involved in the Syrian civil war," White said.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

-- Oriana Pawlyk contributed to this report.Financial market trades are a risky business and it takes a special type of genius to succeed in this sector. Over the years, the world has seen some exceptional trades. Read on to know the best seven.

George Soros: In September 1992, George Soros made USD 1 billion in a day after his fund sold more than USD 10 billion in pounds. This led to the UK government exiting the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, devaluing the pound instantly and Soros minting money. (Reuters)

John Paulson: When the financial crisis of 2008 struck, John Paulsons fund made between USD 3 billion and USD 4 billion. Thinking that mortgage market will never collapse, banks were heavily investing in subprime mortgage-backed assets. He felt otherwise and started getting banks to write credit default swaps on these assets. All he had to do was cash in. (Reuters)

Kyle Bass: Similar to Paulson, Bass also made USD 3-4 billion by shorting subprime mortgages before the 2008 financial crisis. (Reuters)

David Tepper: Head of a New Jersey-based hedge fund, Tepper bought severely depressed bank stocks heavily in early 2009. By the end of the year, Bank of America quadrupled and Citigroup tripled from its post-crash lows. Teppers fund made USD 7 billion in the process. (Reuters)

John Arnold: In 2006, Centaurus Energys John Arnold began betting on its rival, Amaranth LLCs natural gas positions which later collapsed and lost USD 6 billion. Arnold netted a massive 200 per cent return from this trade. (Reuters)

Andrew Hall: In 2003, when crude oil was USD 30 a barrel, Hall, a trader with Citigroups trading division Phibro, correctly predicted that it would touch USD 100 a barrel in the next five years. He bought a lot of long-dated oil futures. Phibro made a lot of money and Hall alone made USD 100 million in bonus. (Reuters)live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Sumit Bilgaiyan

Next week will be quite important for Indian stock market due to results heavy week. On Monday, the market will react on Infosyss quarterly earnings.

Apart from that many prominent midcap companies will be out with numbers like Cyient, DCB Bank, ICICI Securities, Jay Bharat Maruti, 5PAISA Capital, CRISIL, Muthoot Capital, Tata Sponge.

Thursday, 19th will be the most crucial day for the market as two major Nifty companies, IndusInd Bank and TCS, will declare their quarterly numbers.

Apart from numbers, PM Narendra Modi will be visiting Sweden and UK from April 16 to 20. This visit will be closely watched as world markets are grappled with geopolitical tensions.

In the coming week, China will declare its GDP data that is expected to be around 6.7 percent YoY in Q1 while March IIP growth may slow. Bank of Indonesia will likely keep its policy rate unchanged at 4.25 percent at the April meeting.

Coming week is results-heavy and market has already rallied a lot. It is advisable to be cautious at this level. We might see increase in the volatility in India and as well as global markets.

We are closely watching at the levels of 10,360 on downside and 10,600 on upper side.

Here is the list of 3 fundamental picks which can give up to 18% return in short term:

Bombay Dyeing | Rating  Buy | Target  Rs 295 | Return  18%

Bombay Dyeing is a Wadia group company with broadly three business segments - polyester, textile and real estate. Interest in the company is primarily on account of the real estate business, however just to touch upon the other segments, they are the India's 4th largest producers of polyester staple fiber, textile business consists of their "home and you" brand in retail distribution and a manufacturing.

The textile business has a wide range of products such as stylish linen, towels, home furnishing, leisure clothing, kids wear and many more range of products which are available across it 350+ exclusive BDML Retail and 2000+ multi brand outlets.

The revenue of the company has grown at a CAGR of 14 percent over past 5 years due to significant marketing efforts and improved product mix. The company has shifted it's strategy to branded retail segment which will be much profitable business considering the demand for retail branded products.

We have buy rating on Bombay Dyeing with target price of Rs 295 in short term. Long term is also looking positive.

Future Market Networks | Rating  Buy | Target  Rs 147 | Return  9%

Future Market Networks Limited (FMNL), formerly Agre Developers Ltd, was incorporated in 2008. The company provides retail infrastructure and infra logistics. It has created a capital-light, partnered real estate development model, focussed on retail real estate, infra-logistic parks and the development of wholesale markets.

It is building capacity and enabling the infrastructure for future markets in a more efficient and cost effective manner. The Narendra Modi led government has put a lot of thrust on infrastructure development since it is critical to economic growth.

Logistics and wholesale trade infrastructure form the backbone that India needs to move its consumption-led retail growth story forward. However, since most of our infrastructure, especially wholesale trade markets, was designed and built decades before liberalization began, there is an urgent need to boost the wholesale trade and retail infrastructure network capacity to meet the demands of growth over the next decade.

We believe FMNL has potential to garner maximum benefits this due to its unique business model of creating a network of new markets by integrating and better organizing the modern wholesale trade, retail and logistics infrastructure in India.

FMNL has very smartly implement a logistics infrastructure strategy that maximizes efficiency and develops a wholesale network that enhances wholesale trade experience. It bridges the gaps in infrastructure or logistics to ensure supply remains in tandem with consumer demand.

Due to this unique business model and strong visibility of growth we are recommending a Buy with target price of Rs 147 in short term and long term is also looking bullish.

Bhagyanagar India | Rating  Buy | Target  Rs 55 | Return  12%

Established in 1985, Bhagyanagar India Limited (BIL), the flagship company of Surana group, is engaged in Copper and Wind Power business. Recently it has announced demerger of its solar and real estate business into two separate companies which will create a lot of value for its shareholders.

Post this scheme of arrangement Bhagyanagar India will be focused on copper business. It will continue to enhance its product mix according to the requirements of OEM clients. Bhagyanagar is looking at a minimum of 10 percent volume growth in this year.

The situation post GST looks very promising. The company currently has an overall installed capacity of 9 MW comprising of 7 wind turbines in state of Karnataka and 6.4 MW comprising 5 wind turbines in Tamilnadu. We have a Buy recommendation with target price of Rs 55, stoploss Rs 47.

Disclaimer: The author is Founder, Equity99. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.Moneycontrol News

The Indian market closed the week on a buoyant note with Nifty above 10400 and Sensex successfully reclaiming Mount 34K for the week ended 13 April but with the US, British and French forces launching air strikes on Syria, the bull run seen back home could come under threat.

US, British and French forces launched air strikes on Syria on Saturday morning in response to a suspected poison gas attack that killed dozens of people, aiming to degrade its chemical weapons capabilities in the biggest intervention yet in the conflict by Western powers, said a Reuters report.

More than 100 missiles were fired from ships and manned aircraft, the allies struck three of Syrias main chemical weapons facilities, Reuters said quoting US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford.

Equity market does not like uncertainty and with a war-like situation, things could get really volatile for markets not just for India but across the globe.

Historically, such attacks failed to derail the markets over a longer time horizon. But, in the short term markets may get rattled with such strikes. Hence, in other words, we can say that such incidents may provide a great buying opportunity for long-term investors, Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist  Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in told Moneycontrol.

Besides, this kind of information is already in public domain, although US President Donald Trump backtracked his words on Syria earlier this week which led to a rally in equity markets.

The strikes risked raising tensions in an already combustible region, but appeared designed not to trigger a military response from Russia and Iran, said a Reuters report. Nevertheless, Assads government and Russia responded angrily.

Russian officials on Friday warned of consequences after President Trump announced his approval of US-led military strikes in Syria against the Russian-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad, Fox News said.

Technically speaking, Indian markets are on a sustainable pull back mode as they are breaching critical resistance points on the upside successfully on a daily basis. The index is trading above its 200-days moving average (DMA), and 100-DMA last week.

Mohammad further added that as of now it appears that market shall find buyers on dips and 10350 itself can act as a strong support and in the worst case we may go down towards 10100-kind of levels and not more than that because of this issue.

Should investors back in India be worried?

Indian markets are trading above key support levels and although a knee-jerk reaction cannot be ruled out it would not be strong enough to derail the trend.

Nifty has not shown any correlation to such events in past. Syria is a relatively smaller country to be worried about and its impact should be very minimal to negligible for Indian markets.

Syrian attack on markets would be minimal. The stock markets are valued with its future cash flows discounted to present value and unless the cash flows are dependent on such geographies, the impact on the stock market will not be significant, Shubham Agarwal, CEO & Head of Research at Quantsapp Private Limited told Moneycontrol.

Syria is a crude oil exporter but its 34th on the rank for crude export and is not material enough to alter the crude oil price for any inter-correlation impact of the stock market with commodities, he said.

Agarwal further added that if Nifty does witness a selling pressure, it should find support within the 10200  10100 zone. Put congestions are extremely high in 10300 and lower strikes and there doesnt seem to be any un-winding pressure yet.By Nikhil Kamath

Currency derivatives are financial derivatives whose payoff depends on the foreign exchange rate between two currencies. In the Indian context, all the currency pairs have Rupee on one side of the pair.

These instruments can be used for currency speculation, arbitrage or hedging foreign risk.

Globally, this is the market which has historically seen the most amount of traction and liquidity; however, domestically most efforts to build a buoyant market for exchange-traded currency have missed the mark hitherto.

The government has taken a lot of steps to encourage activity in currency markets, with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently announcing that full rupee convertibility should be a reality in a couple of years.

Full capital convertibility means a foreign investor can repatriate his money into his own local currency at will, which is not allowed in the country now.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on the other hand, has extended concessions on transaction charges for currency derivatives by two months, a move that will help bring in more liquidity in the segment.

USD/rupee remains the most significant contract in this segment, with over 70 percent of volume coming in from this contract alone.

This contract has seen a lot of traction over the last couple of quarters, devaluation in the Chinese Yuan, stalled reforms process, falling exports and widening rainfall deficit has affected the rupee negatively.

The rupee is currently trading at multi-year lows around the 65.5 level. The market regulator, SEBI, has issued a circular revising the positional limits applicable to both domestic and foreign investors for exposure in currency derivatives.

After the formal approval, SEBI in a circular also revised the limits upwards to USD 15 million in conjunction with the RBI revision.

All these factors in conjecture could help the currency derivative market in India develop and evolve to match its peers in the western world.

: The author is Co-founder & Head of Trading, Zerodha. The views and investment tips expressed by brokerage firms on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.Loud explosions rocked Syria's capital and filled the sky with heavy smoke early today after US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Syrian air defences responded to the joint strikes by the United States, France and Britain.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and the sky turned orange. A huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. Syrian television reported that a scientific research centre had been hit and that Syrian air defences had hit 13 incoming rockets south of Damascus.

After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after airstrikes began.

Syrian state TV called the attacks a "blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy." Trump announced on Friday night that the three allies had launched military strikes to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for the alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again.

The US president said Washington is prepared to "sustain" pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called "a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons". It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial night-time round of missile strikes.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis said there were no reports of US losses during the initial airstrikes.

"Right now this is a one-time shot," he said, but did not rule out further attacks. He said the airstrikes were launched against several sites that helped provide Assad's ability to create chemical weapons.

Britain's defence ministry said while the effectiveness of the strike is still being analysed, "initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack." British Prime Minister Theresa May describes the attack as neither "about intervening in a civil war" nor "about regime change" but a limited and targeted strike that "does not further escalate tensions in the region" and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

"We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none," May said.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria; he authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.The United States launched an air strike on Syria this morning, with help from the UK and France. Donald Trump, Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron have stated that they have enough evidence regarding a chemical attack by Assad to authorize a strike against chemical weapons sites. The situation looks set to escalate as Russia promised consequences. So what exactly happened this morning and why?

Just after 4am Syrian local time (630 AM in India) American forces, along with their allies UK and France, launched precision strikes on targets associated with chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The air strikes lit up the night skies over Syrias capital Damascus and the town of Homs, as they targeted three suspected chemical weapons sites - a research center, a storage facility, an equipment facility and command post. Some civilian injuries were sustained but no loss of life has been reported so far from the air strikes.

This attack comes after six days of threats by the Americans, and President Donald Trump in particular, that there would be forceful retaliation in response to a chemical weapons attack in Douma on the outskirts of Damascus. The United States has accused Assad of using chemical weapons against locals outside Damascus, killing around 42 adults and children. Doctors and activists in Syria circulated pictures of men, women, and children foaming at their mouths and noses. They say this is evidence that the victims were exposed to a nerve agent.

Russia rejected the allegations and blamed British intelligence for staging the chemical attack to create grounds for a military assault. Moscow went so far as to say there were no traces of any chemical attack in Douma. On Thursday, the US announced that it was examining evidence of the chemical attack. The UK claims Russias accusations are a blatant lie. UK Prime Minister went hawkish, stating The fact of this attack should surprise no-one. Something tells me she cant wait to bomb Assad.

The most intriguing part of this all is that Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons or OPCW are due to visit the scene on Saturday, thats today. However, France, UK and the US have said their own evidence already points to Damascus. And the air strikes were launched this morning. Western diplomats did not categorically rule out military action while the inspectors were in the locations, but added that their governments would try to avoid a situation where the inspectors could be harmed or taken hostage.

Asked about Russian accusations against British intelligence, a White House spokeswoman said: Our intelligence tells us otherwise ... We have a very high confidence that Syria was responsible. Well, colour me cynical. We know what happened the last time the US was very confident about weapons in an enemy country.

Russias ambassador to the US issued a rather belligerent statement: A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

They do not seem impressed with the results of Americas investigation. The ambassador also said something about insulting the Russian president being unacceptable. Alright, slow down Rasputin. We dont need to escalate this. Things are already getting worse.

Oil, for starters. How can we have conflict in the middle-east and not have oil prices skyrocket? Once Donald trump tweeted that Syria and Russia better Get Ready, Brent prices shot up as high as December 2014 levels. Crude surged to $72 per barrel on Thursday while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate hit $67. The prices did level out during the day but, with conflict having broken out, crude oil prices will now trend higher until a resolution of the crisis.

In general, oil prices edge upwards when tensions heighten in and around the Middle East because it threatens oil supply. Crude oil prices also moved up after Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles over Riyadh.

War aside, there are the market and geopolitical considerations. In another bullish development, OPEC, the group of oil producing countries, said a global oil stocks surplus is close to evaporating. The cartel claimed this was based on healthy energy demand combined with its own supply cuts. It revised its forecast upwards for production from rivals who have benefited from higher oil prices. OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo had mentioned that the glut of crude oil is set to run out in September. And Saudi Arabia is said to be targeting prices in the range of $80 per barrel ahead of Aramcos IPO.

The oil price scenario just got a whole lot more interesting. Buckle up folks. With Americas bombing of Syria and Russias promise of consequences, were in for a rollercoaster ride.US President Donald Trump on Saturday made the following remarks shortly after the United States, in a joint operation with the UK and France, fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria:

My fellow Americans: On Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women, and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.

Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council.

Years of previous attempts at changing Assads behavior have all failed, and failed very dramatically. As a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the United States and its allies.

Tonight, I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. We ask for Gods wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed. And we hope that as long as America stands for justice, then peace and harmony will, in the end, prevail.you are here:19:52 Donald Trump: 'mission accomplished' on 'perfectly executed' Syria strike

United States President Donald Trump on Twitter praised Western air strikes against the Syrian government on Saturday as "perfectly executed", and added "Mission Accomplished".

"A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the

power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!" Trump said in a Twitter post.

Trump's message echoed the words of a banner that hung behind former President George W. Bush when he gave a speech in 2003 from the USS Abraham Lincoln, during the Iraq War, Reuters reports.

19:07 Turkey's Erdogan welcomes Western attack on Syria, says operation a message to Assad

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed U.S., British and French forces' airstrikes on Syria, saying that the operation sent a message to Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

"With the joint operation by US, UK and France on Saturday, the Syrian regime received the message that its massacres wouldn't be left unanswered," Erdogan told his ruling AK Party supporters in an Istanbul meeting.

"The innocent Syrian people should have been defended long ago," Erdogan added. (Reuters)

18:52 Jordan says political solution only path to stability in Syria

United States ally Jordan on Saturday said only a political solution would guarantee the stability of Syria and the territorial integrity of the war-torn country.

"Continued violence will only lead to more violence, conflict, fighting and displacement whose victim is the Syrian people," government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said in a statement carried by state-news agency Petra.

The statement did not refer to dawn air strikes on Syria conducted by the United States, France and Britain. (Reuters)

17:35 Russia calls for UN meet on Syria, mulls supplies of S-300 systems

Russia on Saturday called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council as Moscow said it would consider supplying S-300 missile systems to Syria following U.S.-led strikes.

"Russia convenes an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss aggressive actions of the U.S. and its allies," President Vladimir Putin said in a statement published on the Kremlin website.

"The current escalation of the situation around Syria has a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations," he added. (Reuters)

16:43 Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reacts, says Western attack on Syria a crime

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday was a crime and would not achieve any gains, according to Reuters.

"Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei said.

Iran - the dominant Shiite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States other Sunni Arab friends - has fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Iran's pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani also warned that the US-led missile attack on Syria would lead to further destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

16:37 France says its analysis points to Syria behind Douma gas attack

France has concluded after analysing "reliable intelligence" and open sources that a chemical attack on Douma on April 7 was carried out by Syrian government forces, a declassified intelligence report showed on Saturday, according to Reuters.

"On the intelligence collected by our services, and in the absence to date of chemical samples analysed by our own laboratories, France considers, beyond possible doubt, a chemical attack was carried out against civilians at Douma ... and that there is no plausible scenario other than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces," the report said.

It was released after coordinated air strikes by Britain, France and the United States on Syrian government targets overnight.

"After examining the videos and images of victims published online, they (intelligence services) were able to conclude with a high degree of confidence that the vast majority are recent and not fabricated," the report said.

France has warned of further air strikes in Syria in case of fresh chemical weapons attack, news agency AFP has reported.

16:02 Cyprus says had no prior briefing of Syria strikes

Cyprus distanced itself on Saturday from Britain's air strikes on Syrian targets, saying it had no prior briefing or involvement in the action launched from a British sovereign air base on the Mediterranean island, Reuters has reported.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

15:28 France has warned of further air strikes in Syria in case of fresh chemical weapons attack, news agency AFP has reported.

15:25 Strikes hit scientific research facility, chemical weapons storage and important command post

According to a BBC report, in a briefing held by the Pentagon, shortly after Donald Trump's announcement, Gen Joseph Dunford mentioned three targets that had been hit:

# A scientific research facility in Damascus, allegedly connected to the production of chemical and biological weapons.

# A chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs.

# A chemical weapons equipment storage site and an important command post, also near Homs.

15:14 Weapons inspectors plan to head to Syria's Douma on Saturday: Sources

Weapons inspectors aim to press ahead with plans to head to the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma on Saturday, sources have told Reuters.

Security permitting, a team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will deploy briefly to the site where dozens of people were allegedly gassed on April 7, two diplomatic sources said.

14:37 France says analysis of open sources, intelligence proved Syria gas attack



France concluded after technical analysis of open sources and "reliable intelligence" that a chemical attack on Douma on April 7 was carried out by Syrian government forces, a declassified intelligence report showed on Saturday. The report was released after coordinated strikes by Britain, France and the United States on Syrian government targets overnight.



14:29 Attack on Syria was 'right and legal': British PM May





"It was both right and legal to take military action together with our closest allies to alleviate further humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability," May said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday said it was right and legal to order cruise missile strikes against Syria after a chemical attack on civilians in the town of Douma. May said the aim was to deter the Syrian authorities from further use of chemical weapons and to send a message to the wider world that it was unacceptable to use such weapons."It was both right and legal to take military action together with our closest allies to alleviate further humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability," May said. She added that she would address parliament on Monday. May said intelligence and open source accounts indicated that the Syrian government was behind the attack in Douma last Saturday. "Reliable intelligence indicates that Syrian military officials coordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine in Douma on April 7. No other group could have carried this attack," May said. "The [Syrian] opposition does not operate helicopters or use barrel bombs."



14:17 UK Prime Minister Theresa May says need for fast action, operational security led to strike without vote in Parliament. She added that reports indicate barrel bomb used in Syrian regime chemical attack on Douma

14:11 Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the overnight US-led missile attack on Syria and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the Kremlin said on Saturday. Putin said the US actions in Syria made the humanitarian catastrophe worse and caused pain for civilians, as well has damaging international relations.

13:15 Britain had to act with speed, PM May will update parliament: Defence Minister



British Prime Minister Theresa May needed to act with speed when she ordered a missile attack on Syria and she will update parliament on Monday, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told BBC radio. All crews from the Royal Air Force Tornado jets returned safely, Williamson said. When asked if there would be more military action against Syria, Williamson said he thought the Western strikes had so far had sufficient effect.



13:00 Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday was a crime and would not achieve any gains. "US, allies will not gain any achievements from crimes in Syria. Attacking Syria is a crime. US president, UK prime minister and the president of France are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech cited by Iranian TV.

12:55 Syria strikes an 'important signal' to Iran and Hezbollah: Israeli minister





"The use of chemical weapons crosses a red line that humanity can no longer tolerate," Yoav Gallant, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, said on Twitter. "The American attack is an important signal to the axis of evil - Iran, Syria and Hezbollah," Gallant said.

An Israeli official said Israel was notified of the strikes ahead of time. Asked how much advanced warning Israel had received, the official told Reuters: "Between 12 and 24 hours, I believe."

US-led strikes in Syria are an "important signal" to Iran, Syria and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a senior Israeli cabinet minister said on Saturday."The use of chemical weapons crosses a red line that humanity can no longer tolerate," Yoav Gallant, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, said on Twitter. "The American attack is an important signal to the axis of evil - Iran, Syria and Hezbollah," Gallant said.An Israeli official said Israel was notified of the strikes ahead of time. Asked how much advanced warning Israel had received, the official told Reuters: "Between 12 and 24 hours, I believe." Asked whether Israel helped choose targets, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "Not to my knowledge."



12:36 Iran's Revolutionary Guards warn US, say aftermath will not be in their best interest: Fars



An official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Saturday said the fallout from US-led attacks on Syria will be at Washington's expense. "With this attack...the situation will become more complex, and this will surely be at the expense of the United States, which will be responsible for the aftermath of upcoming regional events that will certainly not be in their interest," Yadollah Javani, the Guards' deputy head for political affairs, told Fars news agency.



12:24 French Mirage, Rafale jets and frigates involved in strikes: Source





French Mirage and Rafale fighter jets were involved in air strikes on Syria together with four frigate warships, a presidency source said on Saturday. This included an air defence frigate, three multi-mission frigates, Mirage 2000 jets, Rafale, AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) and support and supply assistance, the source said. The strikes were aimed at a research centre and two production sites, the source said. The air strikes are over but the military is ready to act upon request, the source said.



12:17 Syria says 110 missiles fired in strikes



A Syrian military statement said the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub, who read the statement on Syrian TV, said "our air defenses effectively shot down most of them." He says one of the missiles hit the Scientific Research Center in Barzeh near Damascus, damaging a building. In Homs, one of the missiles was derailed injuring three people, he said. Mayhoub says the attacks "will not deter" the Syrian military from its ongoing war to eradicate "armed terrorists" from Syrian territory. Syria's Foreign Ministry earlier said the attack coincides with the arrival of a fact-finding mission from the international chemical weapons watchdog to inspect the site of the alleged attack in the town of Douma, and "aims to hinder its work." The OPCW had said that its experts would be visiting Douma on Saturday.



12:08 NATO chief 'supports' Syria strikes



The head of NATO expressed his support for Western strikes in Syria today after bombings targeting Bashar al-Assad's regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack. "I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France... This will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons," Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. "NATO considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security, and believes that it is essential to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention," the statement added. "This calls for a collective and effective response by the international community."



12:00 Syrians gather in capital in defiance after air strikes





"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after the air strikes began.

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents began gathering in the landmark Omayyad square of the Syrian capital. Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, other drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance. "We are your men, Bashar," they shouted.

Hundreds of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital on Saturday, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance that followed unprecedented joint air strikes by the United States, France and Britain."Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after the air strikes began.Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents began gathering in the landmark Omayyad square of the Syrian capital. Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, other drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance. "We are your men, Bashar," they shouted. Syrian state TV broadcast live from the square where a large crowd of civilians mixed with men in uniforms, including an actor, lawmakers and other figures. "Good morning steadfastness," one broadcaster said.



11:51 US, allies responsible for fallout of Syria strikes: Iran





"Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume the responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism," Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media. "Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state," it added.

Iran has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict. Iran-backed militias first helped his army stem rebel advances and, following Russias entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in Assads favour.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned the US-led attacks on Syria and said Washington and its allies would bear responsibility for the consequences in the region and beyond, state media said."Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume the responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism," Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media. "Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state," it added.Iran has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict. Iran-backed militias first helped his army stem rebel advances and, following Russias entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in Assads favour. Analyst Hossein Sheikholeslam, a former Iranian ambassador to Damascus, told state television the attacks would help unite Syrians behind the government. "These attacks will stabilise the Syrian government... and unite the different tribes in Syria as Syrians become aware of their honour and come to the defence of the independence, territorial integrity and the government of their country," Sheikholeslam said.



11:14 Over 100 missiles fired at Syria, 'significant number' intercepted, says the Russian defence ministry

11:12 Syria 'most serious threat' to international peace, security: UN chief



Syria represents the "most serious threat" to international peace and security, UN chief Antonio Guterres said today, urging all the member states to show restraint and avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen suffering of the Syrian people. "I have been closely following the reports of air strikes in Syria conducted by the US, France and the UK. There's an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with Charter of United Nations and international law in general. The UN Charter is very clear on these issues," he said. "I have repeatedly expressed my deep disappointment that Security Council failed to agree on a dedicated mechanism for effective accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. I urge the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and fill this gap," he said. Guterres said he will continue to engage with member states to help achieve this objective.



10:58 Russia likely to call UN meeting over Syria attack: Russian lawmaker



Russian lawmaker Vladimir Dzhabarov said Russia was likely to call for a meeting of the United Nations security council to discuss US, British and French air strikes on Syria, RIA news agency cited him as saying. "The situation is being analysed right now. Russia will demand a meeting of the UN security council, I am sure," Dzhabarov, who is the deputy head of Russia's foreign affairs committee, was quoted by RIA as saying.



10:44 US-led air strikes have enforced Syria red line: Israeli official





The US-led air strikes on Syria have enforced a red line set for President Bashar al-Assad on the use of chemical weapons, an Israeli official said on Saturday. "Last year, President Trump made clear that the use of chemical weapons crosses a red line. Tonight, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom enforced that line," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk," the official said.



10:34 Russian lawmaker: US strikes on Syria violate international law



US, British and French airstrikes on Syria are a violation of international law and are likely meant to prevent investigators of the global chemical weapons watchdog from doing their work, a senior Russian lawmaker was quoted by Interfax as saying on Saturday. The chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, described the air strikes as a groundless attack on a sovereign government, Interfax said. "It's also highly likely an attempt to create complications for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission which was just starting its work in Syria's Douma, or an attempt to completely derail it," Kosachev was quoted as saying. None of the airstrikes hit zones where Russian air defence systems protect the Russian bases of Tartus and Hmeimim, Russian news agencies cited the Ministry of Defence as saying.



10:04 Syrian TV says 3 civilians wounded in airstrikes by US, UK, France



Syrian state-run TV says three civilians have been wounded in the US-led missile attack on a military base in Homs. It says the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile but adds nonetheless that three people were wounded. It says another attack with "a number of missiles" targeting a scientific research centre destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. The network says the building in the research centre included an educational centre and labs.



09:46 Pro-Assad official says targeted bases were evacuated on Russian warning



The Syrian government and its allies have absorbed a US-led attack on Saturday and the targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia, a senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus said. "We have absorbed the strike", the official told Reuters. "We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago," the official said. Around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down, the official said. "We are carrying out an assessment of the material damages," the official added. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been backed in the seven-year-long Syrian war by Russia, Iran, and Iran-backed Shia groups from across the region, including Lebanon's Hezbollah.



09:26 Syria attacked just as it had chance for peace: Russian foreign ministry





"First the 'Arab spring' tested the Syrian people, then Islamic State, now smart American rockets. The capital of a sovereign government, trying for years to survive under terrorist aggression, has been attacked," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook.

Syria has been attacked just as it had a chance for peace, Russia's foreign ministry said on Saturday, hours after US, British and French forces pounded Damascus with air strikes in response to a suspected poison gas attack last week."First the 'Arab spring' tested the Syrian people, then Islamic State, now smart American rockets. The capital of a sovereign government, trying for years to survive under terrorist aggression, has been attacked," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook. "You have to be quite abnormal to attack Syrias capital just at the moment when it had a chance for a peaceful future," she wrote.



09:18 According to a CNN International report, a US official said the strikes targeted three sites:





A chemical weapons storage facility located west of Homs, Syria

A scientific research center in DamascusA chemical weapons storage facility located west of Homs, Syria A chemical weapons equipment storage facility and command post near second target



09:12 Red line set by France in 2017 has been crossed: French president Macron





French President Emmanuel Macron said France had joined the United States and Britain in an ongoing operation of strikes to target "the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons".

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons," he said in a statement issued shortly after huge explosions were heard in Syria's capital early Saturday followed by the sound of airplanes overhead.

For Macron, "the facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime are not in doubt", concerning the "deaths of dozens of men, women and children" in what he said was a chemical weapons attack on April 7 in Douma.

"The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed," he said. "I have ordered the French army to intervene tonight as part of an international operation in coalition with the US and Britain directed against the secret chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime," he said.







08:42 Russian Ambassador warns US of consequences





"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. "Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences."

Russia's ambassador to the United States has warned that there would be consequences for the US-led military strikes on Syria, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russia's president."A pre-designed scenario is being implemented," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. "Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences." "Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible," he added. "The US - the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons - has no moral right to blame other countries."



08:40 Strikes Violate International Law: Syria



Syrian state media lambasted U.S.-led air strikes on Saturday as a breach of international law and said the attack had targeted army depots in the Homs area. "The tripartite aggression is a flagrant violation of international law," state news agency SANA said.



07:57 According to media reports, missile trikes were launched after President Trump ordered a precise attack against Syrian military facility with Britain and France on Friday in retaliation for what Western nations said was the deliberate gassing of Syrian civilians.

07:44 US has taken decision to strike Syria: Report



The United States has decided to strike Syria, Fox News reported on Friday, citing an administration official. The United States earlier on Friday blamed the Syrian government for a deadly chemical weapons attack this month and slammed Russia for failing to stop its ally, President Bashar al-Assad. US officials have told Reuters that President Donald Trump had appeared to be weighing a forceful military response. Trump is expected to make a statement on Syria shortly, the New York Times reported.



07:39 Good morning! This blog will keep a track of recent developments around the US strike on Syria.It seems that all anyone can talk about  or write about  is the trade war brewing between the US and China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping eased a lot of fears on Tuesday, announcing he would open up market access to foreign companies in China. But both the US and China have put tariffs on imports.

So how does this affect Australia?

Well at first we were all a little worried about our own markets. And how we would suffer from a tug of war between our greatest ally and largest exporter.

But while there may be some losers regarding trade exports from Australia, surprisingly, there will also be some winners.

As previously stated, China is Australias largest trade partner. And the US is Australias third largest (with Japan coming in second).

The US is Australias biggest foreign investor. China comes in seventh spot.

So Australia could potentially have trade wins from both nations, if tensions increase between the two.

And according to IBISWorld senior Analyst, Jason Aravanis, as reported by Business Insider:

Australia is one of the best-placed countries in the world to reap the gains of a trade war, due to our natural advantage of having ease of access to maritime trading with both major economies In addition, Australia has beneficial bilateral free trade agreements with both China and the US, which provide more stability to international trade.

Due to Chinas tariffs on US food products, Australias agricultural sector looks to benefit. With products such as grain, wine, fruit and even pork.

And while Business Insider reports that there will be competition in the market with nations such as Canada, Brazil, and the European Union.

That doesnt mean that Australia cant profit from exporting in other sectors to the US. As Aravanis states:

As the United States has imposed a 25% tariff on steel and 10% tariff on aluminium from China, the Australian Black Coal Mining and Aluminium Smelting industries may experience greater demand from US clients In addition, US tariffs on Chinese chemicals, medicinal products, and electronic components are likely to create opportunities for Australian firms.

And while this is all great news, that doesnt mean there wont be losers.

If there is a slowdown in Chinas economic growth, then Australias mining sector looks set to suffer.

And if there is a slowdown in either, or both, causing GDP to fall, then Australia could see fewer tourists.

As Aravanis states:

On a macro-economic scale, a downturn in either Chinese or US GDP growth is highly likely to undermine the growth of Australias GDP. This could lead to an increase in unemployment, as well as a sustained hit to business confidence as the stability of trade liberalisation in undermined.

So there are both advantages and disadvantages for Australia from a potential trade war breaking out.

And while fears have eased in this past week. Its always good to be prepared, just in case.

And Vern Gowdie, Editor of The Gowdie Letter here at Port Phillip Publishing, has some advice.

Verns strategy includes being fearful when others are greedy. And being greedy when others are fearful.

But he understands that every strategy is different. He believes:

The important thing is to identify and evaluate the risks. If you do this correctly, the rewards will take care of themselves. Far too many people focus on the upside  the juicy return on offer  not realising the potential cost that comes with that few extra percent. This is why I prefer to err on the side of caution.

In times of volatility, as Vern explains, its best to be safe to protect your wealth.

If you want to learn more about how to potentially protect you wealth due to the increasing volatility from the markets. And the prospect of a trade war escalating between the US and China, then check out Vern Gowdies The Gowdie Letter here.

This Week in Money Morning

In Mondays Money Morning, Harje looked at the legitimacy of trade and how the tension the trade tariff back and forth was brewing between the US and China. But as Harje explains, its not the actual tariffs that are most concerning, but how itll affect the whole economy. To find out how these trade tariffs could affect the economy, stock markets and your wealth, go here.

In Tuesdays Money Morning, Harje discusses the stock market and how it handles uncertainty. Stock market uncertainty can be used as a guide to explain the trade to and fro between the US and China. However, with the trade war on hold for the time being, Harje looks at how the stock market will be affected. To find out more, click here.

On Wednesday, Harje delved into how China may be beating the US and the West at their own game. Previously, China would copy the innovative ideas coming from the West. However now, as Harje explains, China are becoming increasingly more innovative, and may not need to rely on the West for ideas. To read more about China and their innovations in tech, go here.

In Thursdays Money Morning, Harje considers that we may have to say farewell to rising stocks. As its been roughly 10 years since the GFC, Harje believes that the markets could be at the end of their bull run. And with the market having shown volatility in 2018 thus far, the outlook doesnt look all that optimistic. To find out more about where Harje believes the markets are going, go here.

On Friday, Harje began his Extreme Small-Cap Profits. This course will be done over the next 12 business days. On day one he introduced you to small-caps, and the returns a few small-cap stocks on the ASX could make. To find out more about small-cap stocks and how by just backing one you could benefit, go here.

Kinds Regards,

Alana Sumic,

Editor, Money WeekendThe Midland County Public Library hosted a party Friday to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the opening of the Centennial branch. The event included free cupcakes, and book bags were given to patrons throughout the day.

During the birthday party, Mike Bradford, Midland County judge, and John Trischitti III, library director, expressed appreciation for those who contributed to the success of the Centennial Branch.Employee robbed at knifepoint

A man armed with a knife robbed a South Jacksonville business Friday.

South Jacksonville Police Chief Tim Mann said South Jacksonville and Jacksonville police officers responded to a call in the 1800 block of South Main Street. Mann declined to identify the business.

An employee said a man forced her back into the business as she was closing and demanded all the money from her and the business, Mann said. He said the robber took an undetermined amount of cash and ran west from the business.

The robber is described as a tall, thin, black male in his mid- to late 20s who was wearing dark blue jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.



Morgan County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Robert William Zahm, 45, of 422 S. Job St., Virginia, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 10 a.m. Friday on a charge of driving while his license is revoked or suspended.

Jacksonville Police

ACCIDENTS

 William T. Hendricks, 72, of rural Rushville was cited on a charge of improper lane use after a two-vehicle crash in the 1700 block of West Morton Avenue.

Police said Hendrickss vehicle changed lanes and collided with the side of a vehicle being driven by Andrea R. Logan, 35, of South Jacksonville.

 A 17-year-old girl was taken to Passavant Area Hospital for non-life threatening injuries following a two vehicle accident at 2:57 p.m. Friday in the 400 block of South Main Street.

Police say the 17-year-old girl failed to yield when her vehicle hit a vehicle being driven by Rodolfo J. Zaragoza, 32, of Jacksonville as it was driving north on South Main Street.

Ryan D. Sommer, 27, of Jacksonville and James M. Bowen, 31, of Jacksonville, both passengers in Zaragozas vehicle were complained of minor injuries but declined transportation.

The 17-year-old girl was cited for failure to yield at a stop or yield intersection.

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Makayla D. Jorden, 23, of 432 S. Mauvaisterre St. was arrested about 7:50 p.m. Thursday on a retail theft charge.

 Toni J. Schubert, 37, of of 432 S. Mauvaisterre St. was arrested about 7:50 p.m. Thursday on a retail theft charge.

 Travis A. Copley, 23, of 815 Doolin Ave. was arrested about 9:10 p.m. Thursday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting a peace officer.

 Martha L. Staten, 58, of 301 W. Beecher Ave. was arrested about 12:20 p.m. Friday on two counts of manufacture/delivery of controlled substances and filing a false police report.

 Bobbie J. Roberts, 45, of 514 N. Fayette St. was arrested about 7:15 a.m. Friday on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

FIRES

 Fire heavily damaged a one-story, ranch-style house at 1597 Illinois Route 78 on Thursday.

Jacksonville firefighters were called at 3 p.m. and when they arrived found fire and smoke coming from the rear of the house owned by Kim Freitag of Jacksonville. Firefighters put out the blaze within a few minutes but remained on the scene for more than four and a half hours investigating the cause.

Firefigher Jon Stock suffered a right wrist injury when he fell, but he did not seek medical treatment.

The state fire marshal also was investigating the fire.

South Jacksonville Police

ACCIDENTS

 Police are investigating a hit-and-run crash that occurred about 11:15 a.m. Thursday at South Main Street and Greenwood Avenue.

Police were told that an older model Chevrolet passenger car collided with the left front wheel of a newer model Chevrolet being driven by Joanna M. Luttrell, 34, of Chapin, who was turning north onto South Main Street off of West Greenwood Avenue when the accident occurred.

Sgt. Brian Wilson said Luttrell told him the older model Chevrolet, which had been westbound on East Greenwood Avenue, turned south onto South Main Street and collided with her car.

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Hollye L. Wilson, 29, of 1418 Hardin Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 12:31 a.m. Friday on a theft charge.

Cass County

Beardstown Police

 Adam J. Blackwell, 20, of 1309 E. 6th Street, Beardstown, was booked into the Morgan County jail 12:06 p.m. Friday on charges of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, manufacture/ deliver cannabis, possession of narcotic instruments, possession of a firearm without a valid FOID, illegal possession of ammunition and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Compiled by Greg OlsonThere is a fine line between ...Sacramento, CA  At the request of a former Mother Lode congressman, the U.S. Department of Transportation is auditing federal funding for the California high-speed rail project.

U.S. Congressman Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) who now represents District 10 constituents in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties asked for the audit. He has been a very vocal critic of the project making it clear of his intent to derail it. The continued mismanagement and skyrocketing costs are unacceptable. Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent, blast Denham. He adds, I will continue to provide aggressive oversight and stop all federal funding.

Currently, the California state auditor is examining the project after repeated delays and cost overruns. The state has acknowledged that it is well short of the $77 billion needed to build a bullet train, which its tracks will run between Los Angeles and San Francisco. California has received more than $3 billion in federal grant money.

A key area auditors will be checking is whether the federal money used has complied with regulations and they will also be examining the Federal Railroad Administrations financial reporting. No deadline was established for the completion of the audit so it is unclear how long it might take.PNC/Getty Images

An Marin County Fire Department ambulance carrying an injured cyclist to the hospital collided with a private vehicle in San Anselmo Saturday morning, requiring three ambulances to be sent for the ambulance.

Three people were treated at Marin General Hospital following the collision on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Broadmoor Avenue, which occurred at 9:47, police said. Traffic in the area was tied up for hours.There are many options for transportation for those wanting to indulge in Fiesta cheer or who just dont want to mess with traffic or paid parking.

Why worry about parking and the expense of that when you can spend that money on tickets and contributing to great nonprofit causes, Amy Shaw, executive director of the Fiesta San Antonio Commission, said.

RELATED: San Antonio residents featured in new Fiesta mural on St. Mary's Strip after winning contest

For the second year in a row, sponsor Uber is the official ride of Fiesta, with designated drop off and pickup points at larger events including Fiesta Fiesta, the carnival, Oyster Bake, Fiesta De Los Reyes, NIOSA, Taste of the Northside, and the King William Fair. Rides are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Prices vary and users must download the Uber app.

Lyft rideshare is also available in the San Antonio area. Rides are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Prices vary and users must download the Lyft app. Lyft San Antonio is gearing up for a safe Fiesta with detailed plans soon to be announced.

We are working closely with our amazing community of Alamo City drivers to prepare for San Antonios largest celebration. It is our goal to make Fiesta an enjoyable and seamless experience for drivers and passengers alike," said Janet Peavy, Lyft San Antonio Market Manager.

VIA Metropolitan Transit is running Park and Ride to all major parades, Oyster Bake, Taste of New Orleans, NIOSA, Battle of Flowers Band Festival and the King William Fair. Most events depart and pick up from at least Crossroads and Madla Park and Ride; other locations are available. Times vary by event, so riders should check the VIAinfo.net website for first and last bus times. Cost is $2.50 each way with discounts available for children, seniors, students and active-duty members of the military. Cash and credit cards are accepted at the Park & Ride locations. VIAtrans customers and children under age 5 ride free. VIA bus passes are not valid for this service.

RELATED: 6 Fiesta events that won't break the bank

More Information For more information: fiesta-sa.org/plan-your-visit/ viainfo.net/park-ride-events/ See More Collapse

SWell Cycle (formerly B-Cycle), will be running its 60 predominantly downtown stations housing more than 500 bikes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. SWell Cycle requires the purchase of at least a 24-hour pass ($12) and then bikes may be used and parked at new SWell Cycle stations an unlimited amount of times, as long as not more than an hour passes between each time the bike is parked.

Yellow Cab San Antonio will also be offering a promotional code through the zTrip App, but details were not yet available at press time.Sen. Chris Murphy blasted Fridays U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria, calling the military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime constitutionally illegal and strategically counterproductive.

Murphy and other Democrats from Connecticut said Saturday President Donald Trump should meet with Congress to set a better strategy on Syria, and they called for more humanitarian efforts in the war-torn country.

But the states all-Democratic congressional delegation did not unanimously condemn the bombing.

Rep. Elizabeth Esty, while calling for congressional involvement in further military intervention, said the airstrikes were a measured and proportionate response to Assads alleged use of chemical weapons against Syrian people.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro took a position similar to Estys. Murphy and fellow Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, on the other hand, voiced no support for the airstrikes.

U.S. foreign policy today: we bomb your country, helping create a humanitarian nightmare, then we lock you inside, Murphy said Saturday morning on Twitter.

The airstrikes  carried out in what were the early morning hours in Syria by the United States, United Kingdom and France  were targeted on sites linked to a Syrian government chemical weapons program, U.S. officials said. They were in response to what the Trump administration claims was a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria on April 7, carried out by Assads regime.

We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, Trump said late Friday in announcing the strikes.

Calls for strategy

But Murphy said the president does not have authorization to take military action against Syria, and he should remember his own views during the last administration when he warned (President Barack) Obama that he could not strike Syria without Congressional permission. The precedent that Trump has set by taking out another large-scale strike without prior public debate should scare every member of Congress and every American.

Blumenthal said the military action lacks a coherent strategy, sending a message without real effect on Assads war capability.

Blumenthal said Trump must go to Congress, and set forth a consistent strategic path forward. Assad should be held accountable  tried and convicted of war crimes.

He called for robust diplomatic, economic, and humanitarian efforts, in Syria.

The Trump Administration has essentially slammed the door in the face of refugees fleeing Assads war crimes, Blumenthal said. Turning our back on children and families desperately seeking refuge is a shameful affront to our shared American values.

Esty was more supportive of the bombing, saying it was a measured and proportionate immediate response to Assads heinous use of chemical weapons against his own people, and I am encouraged that these actions were specifically targeted toward chemical weapon facilities and were carried out in concert with our allies in the United Kingdom and France.

But Esty  who has announced she will not run for re-election in the aftermath of an abuse scandal involving her former chief of staff  said Congress must approve any continued military engagement in Syria.

Having a debate and a vote is the right thing to do for our Constitution and our country. Congress has abdicated this responsibility for far too long, she said. We cant pour resources and risk the lives of our troops in a new military conflict without a clear, comprehensive strategy and full consideration of the long-term ramifications.

Condemning chemicals

DeLauro and Esty agreed the airstrikes were a timely and targeted response to the Assad regimes violation of international law.

DeLauro joined others in the Connecticut delegation in calling for a clear strategy on Syria.

(O)ur country cannot continue to conduct international relations reactively, DeLauro said. Nothing makes that point clearer than the fact that these strikes took place nearly one year to the day from President Trumps last decision to launch airstrikes in Syria following Assads previous chemical attack.

Rep. Jim Himes, whose 4th District is mostly in Connecticuts southwest corner, did not appear to have released a statement on the airstrikes as of mid-afternoon Saturday. He could not be reached for comment.

Murphy, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the use of chemical weapons evil, and he compared the situation in Syria to Vietnam.

Time has proven that surgical airstrikes, like the one launched by President Trump last night, have no deterrent effect on Assad, and instead, most likely quicken the pace of his assault on his own people, Murphy said in a statement. President Trump should read up on early days of the Vietnam war, when U.S. leaders were sure that airstrikes, along with a small presence of ground troops, would cause the North Vietnamese to end their assault on the South and come to the negotiating table.

Instead, the bombing campaign escalated the war, drawing our enemy and its sponsors more deeply into the fight, Murphy said. That is what is likely to happen in Syria  a bloodier, more brutal war as a result of continued U.S. half measures.

The senator more broadly criticized U.S. involvement in Syria, saying it has prolonged that countrys civil war.

From the start, under both a Democratic and Republican president, America has pushed back against Assad and supported the forces aligned against him with just enough effort to keep the conflict going but without committing the resources that would ever be necessary to cause the Assad government to fall, Murphy said.STAMFORD  The Rizzis wouldnt trade their trade for anything.

They are just as true to the place they learned it  J.M. Wright Technical High School, where Anthony Rizzi graduated as a barber in 1960.

Rizzi said he doesnt know what attracted him to barbering when he was a teenager at Wright Tech, where he sang with the school doo-wop group, The Starlights.

But years later, he learned that his grandfather and great-grandfather, both of whom died before he was born, were barbers in their hometown of Minturno in central Italy.

Rizzi has done his part to sustain the tradition. His son, Vinny, and daughter, Cabrina, cut hair with him in his downtown shops  Federal Hairstylists I in the Marriott Hotel on Tresser Boulevard, and Federal Hairstylists II in Landmark Square.

Like their father, Vinny and Cabrina Rizzi are Wright Tech graduates. Like their father, they love their trade.

Well, Cabrina likes hairstyling. Vinny likes barbering.

When I was at Wright Tech, it was combined. I had to study cosmetology, Vinny said. That was hard when all my friends were in plumbing and electrical. But they knew my father had barber shops and I wanted to be a barber  not do perms and stuff.

Yeah, Anthony said. Vinny didnt want to do pin curls.

That wasnt a problem when Anthony was a student at Wright Tech. Back then, the school offered barbering for boys and hairdressing for girls. It was tough to get into Wright Tech  you had to pass a test and there was a waiting list, Anthony said.

If you made it in, it was an honor, he said. Only 5 percent of Italian-Americans went to college then. You took up a trade. There was so much work, and not just for barbers. All the factories needed the trades. You could make a good living.

First you had to get through Wright Tech, Anthony said.

It was strict. You wore a jacket and tie to class and a uniform to shop, he said. We really got trained. We practiced on the kids in the school  on Tuesdays we cut the plumbers hair, on Wednesdays, we cut the electricians.

Tech woes

When Vinny arrived in 1984, it was still strict and the trades were still in demand.

A lot of kids couldnt get in to their first choice for a trade, Vinny said. They had to go with their second choice.

It was the same when Cabrina got there two years later.

Most of the girls were in cosmetology or fashion design, she said. A few took drafting and blueprint. They had a program that let you go to work in your senior year.

But it was about that time when Wright Tech began to go downhill. The job market was demanding trade workers with high-tech skills. The state, which had neglected the building for years, did not update course offerings.

Stamford Public Schools, however, started magnet programs in technology, drawing students from Wright Tech. Enrollment slipped so much that the state offered tech-school principals $1,000 bonuses for enrolling students.

Principals sent students to Wright Tech who failed to make it into Bullard-Havens Tech in Bridgeport. Many had elementary-level reading skills, so the state lowered Wright Techs admission standards. Test scores fell, discipline declined, teachers transferred, enrollment fell farther.

In 2005, the Legislature authorized a renovation, but then-Gov. Jodi Rell refused to release the money. In 2008, the recession hit and, a year later, Rell closed Wright Tech  the only time thats happened in Connecticut.

It was reported at the time that the Rell administration hoped to sell the Wright Tech property to a developer for $10 million, even though Stamford gave the state the 18 acres expressly for a technical school.

Resurrected

Finally, in 2010, the Legislature approved $90 million to renovate Wright Tech. It reopened in 2014 to freshmen, and Vinny Rizzis son  Anthony Rizzis grandson and namesake  was one.

The school now has about 430 students, and theres a waiting list again, a spokesman said.

In June, the younger Anthony Rizzi will be in the first class to graduate the reopened Wright Tech.

Its another tradition.

I was in the first class to graduate from what was then the new Wright Tech in Scalzi Park, Anthony said. The original building was on Schuyler Avenue. Now my grandson is in the first graduating class of this Wright Tech.

The younger Anthony, though, will be a plumber, not a barber.

Its all good, Vinny said.

One of my customers is a doctor. He tells me, My plumber makes more money than I do. And hes home for dinner with his family, Vinny said.

He hopes the same will be true for his daughter, Danielle, a Wright Tech ninth-grader studying health technology.

She wants to be a nurse or anesthesiologist, Vinny said. Those are good jobs.

A nice living

So is being a barber, Anthony said.

I like the interaction with people, he said. They tell you, My wife did this. My kid did that. They ask for your advice. They confide in you.

His son agreed.

I like talking to people  CEOs, kids just out of college, Vinny said. All kinds.

Cabrina likes it for the same reason.

With some clients, its almost like youre part of their family, she said. You do their wedding. You give their child their first haircut. You go to their home when they are elderly. You get invited to their family events. Its nice.

Vinny said many of his friends who work in the trades were able to buy houses when they were in their 20s. Cabrina said many of her friends who began working in high school stayed in Stamford, where theyd established a clientele.

So Wright Tech has continued to build the citys middle class, as graduates have said for generations. The Rizzis said customers who are new to Stamford often ask them if they know a mason, an electrician, an auto mechanic, and they always have someone to recommend  usually a Wright Tech grad.

Theres a particular perk to the Rizzis trade, Cabrina said.

Well never be taken over by computers, she said. No robot can do our job.

acarella@stamfordadvocate.com.The tawdriest detail in former FBI director James Comey's new memoir offers the perfect mix of sex, spies and kink - "Fifty Shades of le Carre" for the Trump era.

Comey describes President Donald Trump's obsession with uncorroborated intelligence suggesting that Russia had compromising material on him - specifically including footage of him watching prostitutes urinate on each other in a Moscow hotel room in 2013, while Trump was in town for the Miss Universe pageant.

The president has repeatedly denied the allegation - which emerged in early 2017 with news reports of a dossier funded by political opponents of his - and there currently exists no credible evidence to verify the claim. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders forcefully attacked the entire dossier in a news conference Friday.

And yet.

Many are debating just how much credence to give to this most explosive and lurid of details. This run-of-the-mill urban legend has taken on geopolitical significance.

Such is the problem for Trump. The rumored tape may be the rare bit of White House branded "fake news" that is, in fact, fake. But Trump has cried "fake news" so frequently that his angry denials have lost their wallop, part of a routine call-and-response with the media rather than evidence of legitimate inaccuracy.

For the president, the "fake" modifier frequently refers to news reports that he wishes were not true rather than those that are actually false. And the White House has a yawning credibility gap, with a long record of vociferously denying news reports - the shake-up of Trump's legal team, or the ouster of now-former national security adviser H.R. McMaster - that are proven true days later.

According The Washington Post Fact Checker, as of Friday, Trump had made 2,436 false or misleading claims in 406 days - a rate of exactly six whoppers a day.

The allegation has also become a shorthand for something even more problematic for the White House: The notion that Trump's reluctance to forcefully confront Russia on myriad fronts is rooted in some sort of compromising material that Russian president Vladimir Putin and allies have on him.

"The pee tape is also just an avatar for the idea that the Russians have kompromat on him, and people I think for very good reason suspect the Russians very well might have kompromat on him," said Tim Miller, a Republican strategist and Trump opponent, using the Russian word for intelligence used to blackmail targets. "But the most memorable potential element of it is this pee tape, what people kind of fall back on to represent that Putin may have something on him."

Even on the particulars of the alleged Moscow tape, discrepancies have emerged. In Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty," the FBI director fired by Trump recounts the president claiming the allegations couldn't be true because he never spent the night in the Moscow hotel room. That contradicts testimony Trump's longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller, reportedly gave to Congress late last year, when he seemed to acknowledge that Trump did stay overnight in the hotel while asserting that nothing sordid occurred.

Another challenge for the White House is the sheer number of seemingly outlandish stories involving Trump that turn out to be rooted in fact. The president did, in fact, abruptly hang up on one of the country's staunchest allies - the Australian prime minister - in a phone call shortly after becoming commander in chief, when the conversation turned contentious over refugees. He did, in fact, refer to some African nations as "shithole countries." And he did, in fact, congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his recent victory largely believed to be a sham after being expressly warned by his national security advisers to "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" him.

Such incidents have allowed the tantalizing possibility that the Russia tape just might be true to percolate on the fringes of respectability.

In an interview with ABC News, for instance, Comey teased that he could not definitively rule the rumor as false.

"I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013," Comey said. "It's possible, but I don't know."

So far, the GOP attack on Comey's memoir has largely steered clear of the Russian hotel room specifics. Talking points sent out by the Republican National Committee alleged Comey had a "long history of misstatements and misconduct" and noted that Democrats - many of whom fault him for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential loss - have also been critical of Comey. Sanders in her Friday news conference excoriated both the dossier and Comey.

"This is nothing more than a poorly executed PR stunt by Comey to desperately rehabilitate his tattered reputation and enrich his own bank account by peddling a book that belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section," Sanders said.

And in a duo of tweets Friday morning, the president called Comey "a proven LEAKER & LIAR" and "an untruthful slime ball."

"It was my great honor to fire James Comey!" Trump concluded.

But as a purely political matter, simply denying a falsehood is not necessarily sufficient.

Tommy Vietor, a host of "Pod Save America" who worked for former president Barack Obama, had to combat a number of fake rumors in the Obama White House - including the insidious falsehood fanned by Trump that Obama was not born in the United States. He said that once a narrative enters the media ether, it can become uncontrollable.

"The lesson for me during the White House years was that once a rumor gets some traction, it's almost impossible to fix it, even if it is false," he said. "The problem with the pee tape allegation is it is so graphic, it is so memorable, that it doesn't matter how many times you knock it down - people are going to remember it."

And, of course, some people are also relishing a golden moment of schadenfreude.

"This is the guy who said Ted Cruz's father killed Kennedy, and who said Barack Obama was an African-African who was an illegitimate president, and myriad other absurd attacks on his opponents that he knew were untrue but he advanced anyway because they lived up to a narrative he wanted to push," Miller said.

So, Miller added, "If the pee tape helps uphold a narrative that he's a Russian stooge and also an immoral cretin, well, I think a lot of people believe he sort of earned having to bat some of this down."BETHALTO  Plans are in the works for the creation of a lighted, multi-use trail that would run through the village and eventually connect at a trailhead near New Poag Road.

That connection would give riders in the north and western part of the county access to the 130 miles of trails in the Madison County Transit District system. Work on sections of the trail has already begun, though officials say the overall project could take up to eight years to complete.

Last year, for instance, work began at the Bethalto Arboretum, a 2 1/2-acre site that contains one of most popular walking trails in the village. The Arboretum was developed on the site of an old railroad right-of-way.

Mayor Alan Winslow said the long, narrow trail through the village will pay homage to an era when railroads crisscrossed the region.

When were done with this it will be the most scenic section of the entire trail, Winslow said following Mondays Bethalto Village Board meeting. It will be lit, and it will be like riding through a linear park. Just imagine the arboretum extending all the way to I-255. Thats what were after.

At the meeting, trustees approved an intergovernmental agreement allowing Wood River Township to develop a strip of land that it will be developing into a multi-use bicycle/pedestrian trail.

Wood River Township recently began construction of its own section of the trail at Kutter Park, in Cottage Hills. That section would go north for about 1/10th of a mile along Center Street and intersect with the former railroad bed. The trail would then head east for about a mile, ending just west of I-255.

Township Supervisor Mike Babcock has said that the goal is to connect to Bethalto and then move toward East Alton and Alton by crossing Wood River Creek.

Winslow said the railroad right-of-way extends all the way to Powder Mill Road, near Gordon F. Moore Park in Alton.

While Edwardsville and Glen Carbon already serve as a hub for seven trail loops, ranging from 10 to 31 miles in length, the north and west sections of Madison County presently have no multi-use trails that could tie into the system.

Once we make our connection, this opens up the unincorporated area and the city of Alton, Winslow said. If Godfrey, at some point, can figure out how to tie into it then they can get on board, too.

Work on Bethaltos portion of the trail has so far cost about $300,000. The path of the trail will follow Moreland Road over to Illinois Route 140, Winslow said. The village has applied for a grant, and when the grant money arrives the trail will be extended to Prairie Street.

Eventually, the various sections of the trail will be connected so that it ties in the to 130 miles of Madison County Transit District trails. Just how soon that all happens, though depends on when  or whether  additional grant money arrives.

The entire project is part of a master plan for regional trail system. The plan, Winslow said, has the approval of the Madison County Transit District, the Metro East Park and Recreation District, and the Madison County Highway Department.The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.President Donald Trump's outrage over another apparent chemical weapons attack by Syrian President Bashar Assad was clear. And for the second time in his presidency, the U.S. commander-in-chief demanded retaliation.

As images of sick or dying children flooded global media all week, the U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Winston Churchill was en route to the Mediterranean to join a flotilla of allied warships, including another U.S. destroyer, the USS Donald Cook.

It was a ruse.

While both vessels carry as many as 90 Tomahawk missiles -- the main weapon used in the Friday evening strike on Syria -- neither ship in the end fired a shot. Instead, according to a person familiar with White House war planning, they were part of a plan to distract Russia and its Syrian ally from an assault Assad's government could do little to defend itself against.

It worked. Pentagon officials on Saturday said they faced little resistance to their targeted attack on what they said were three Syrian chemical weapons facilities. Most of the Syrian countermeasures, including defensive ballistic missiles, were fired after U.S. and allied weapons hit their targets, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie told reporters on Saturday.

"No Syrian weapon had any effect on anything we did," McKenzie said. He described the joint U.S., French and U.K. strike as "precise, overwhelming and effective."

It wasn't a predetermined outcome. Earlier in the week Trump appeared to telegraph his intentions to the world with a tweet. "Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!"'

Analysts suggested Assad's regime would respond to Trump's threats by protectively moving weapons and personnel away from likely targets. An already difficult battle plan -- which required hitting Assad without provoking Russian reprisals or injecting the U.S. further into Syria's seven-year civil war - was getting harder.

In the White House, Trump met with military officials and made several calls to his French and British counterparts with the goal of following through on a threat to impose a "big price'' on Syria.

During a meeting with the National Security Council and top military leaders early in the week, Trump had been presented five large target options -- called sets -- for potential strikes, according to the person familiar with the plans. The president largely listened as Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Corps General Joe Dunford and other military leaders did most of the talking. New National Security Adviser John Bolton -- who started Monday -- and Vice President Mike Pence were also on hand.

The president asked Bolton and the military leaders to justify each potential target, and was particularly focused on limiting the risk of escalation by Russia. There was unanimity among Trump's top national security staff about conducting strikes but debate about how hard to hit the Syrians, the person said.

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley was especially blunt in her assessment of the Syrian regime during meetings with Trump, the person said.

Haley told the UN Security Council on Friday that Assad and his Russian backers were to blame for the deaths of thousands of Syrian civilians. In a private meeting with Trump and national security officials earlier in the week, Haley was a leading voice pushing for a robust military response to the chemical weapons attack on humanitarian grounds, the person said.

Dunford told reporters Friday that the U.S. sought targets that would limit any involvement with Russian military forces in Syria and reduce the risk of civilian casualties.

Trump, who just a week earlier said he wanted to pull U.S. troops out of Syria "very soon," didn't want to become drawn into the civil war there and instead focused the military response on deterring the use of chemical weapons, according to the official.

Trump spoke multiple times over the course of the week with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

With the allies on board and the USS Winston Churchill arriving in the Mediterranean region, the attack was nearly underway.

As the president addressed the nation at 9 p.m. Washington time, a barrage of 105 U.S., U.K. and French missiles converged on Syria. They came from the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean, homing in from three directions to overwhelm whatever missile defenses Assad's regime might employ. Russia's more advanced air defense system didn't engage the allied weapons.

According to the Pentagon, the allied weaponry included 19 new "Extended-Range" stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Attack Munitions launched by two B-1B bombers based out of Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, and six Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the Virginia-class USS John Warner submarine. The bomber-launched missiles, build by Lockheed Martin Corp., had never previously been used in combat.

The cruiser USS Monterey fired 30 Tomahawks and the destroyer USS Laboon fired seven Tomahawks from the Red Sea. The destroyer USS Higgins fired 23 Tomahawks from the North Arabian Gulf, according to McKenzie.

The weapons also included French SCALP-EG cruise missiles and British Storm Shadow standoff missiles launched by Tornado and Typhoon jets. Nine SCALP missiles were fired at what the Pentagon said was a chemical weapons storage complex at Hims-Shinshar, along with two SCALPS, nine Tomahawks and eight Storm Shadows.

The morning after the barrage, Trump tweeted "Mission Accomplished!", the same phrase President George W. Bush used after the Iraq invasion 15 years ago to signal the end of major combat operations.

That may be a phrase Trump, like Bush, learns to regret. The latest U.S.-led operation was narrow in scope, with little damage done to Assad's war-fighting capabilities. The country remains a melange of foreign forces, militias and terrorist groups. Haley, the UN ambassador, said this week that Assad has used chemical weapons dozens of times since war broke out in 2011. He might well use them again.Gunfire erupted at an east Houston bar Saturday morning, wounding a security guard and a man who police say opened fire after being kicked out of the club.

Houston Police were called to the 7700 block of the East Freeway, near Pleasantville, just after 2 a.m.After a standoff overnight with police and federal agents, five men were charged Friday in connection with the armed robbery of a West Side pawnshop in which 30 guns, hundreds of pieces of jewelry and $3,000 in cash were stolen.

Daniel Ray Rodriguez Sr., 40; Daniel Ray Rodriguez Jr., 22; Xavier Noel Musquiz 24; Cesar C Money Rodriguez, 36; and Martin Ramirez Hernandez, 22, are charged with robbery affecting interstate commerce.

RELATED: Officials ID suspects in armed robbery that led to SWAT standoff in San Antonio

A federal affidavit said five men arrived about 8:40 p.m. Thursday in a gold Toyota sedan to the Cash America Pawn in the 6800 block of West Military Highway. Armed with pistols, assault-style rifles and a shotgun, they robbed the store and left in the car, the affidavit said.

Later, police and agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives located the suspected Toyota at a home in the 600 block of Monticello Court on the Southeast Side and set up surveillance there overnight, leading to a standoff. Over the course of the standoff, law officers arrested all but Hernandez, the U.S. attorneys office said. Investigators also recovered two of the stolen guns and several pieces of jewelry that still had the pawnshops price tags on them, a federal affidavit said.

Under questioning later, Musquiz admitted to taking part in the heist and gave up his four accomplices, according to the affidavit.

Authorities asked anyone with information on Hernandez to call 911.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

If convicted, each face up to 20 years in prison.

Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedlandMeteorologists with the National Weather Service have elevated the fire weather threat to Bexar County from a watch to a red flag warning.

The warning goes into effect at 11 a.m. and will continue to 7 p.m.

RELATED: NWS: Bexar County to face 'fire weather watch,' possibility of 2-inch hail

Several other counties face similar warnings, the majority of which stretch from the Interstate 35 corridor to Del Rio and the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Eric Platt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said dry air and windy conditions will combine to raise the risk of minor fires spreading rapidly, making them resistant to control efforts.

"Avoid any kind of outdoor activities involving sparks," he said. "With these types of conditions, gusty winds and dry air, any fire that starts can spread rapidly. No outdoor burning for sure on a day like today."

RELATED: NWS: 2-inch hail, 'critical fire weather' possible in San Antonio area

Winds are expected to average between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts up to 35 mph.

The threat is expected to decline as the winds die down overnight, according to the National Weather Service. Weather conditions are forecast to be clear and sunny from Sunday to Tuesday.

Preceeding the fire weather warning were isolated thunderstorms that rolled through San Antonio on Friday evening. The storms produced 1-inch hail in Schertz and quarter-sized hail in Universal City and Converse.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdownsLooking for the vulture assist with Neolithic burials

1 year agoPresident Emmerson Mnangagwa has made tackling corruption his campaign platform but documents made available to Nehanda Radio show that within 55 days of the military coup that saw a change of government the wife of coup leader now Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was granted a multi-million dollar contract to provide travel arrangements for the Office of the President and Cabinet

A letter dated 10 January 2018 addressed to Mary Mubaiwa Chiwenga, the Group Chief Executive of East Town Holdings, signed by RC Ndhlukula (Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet) and c.ced to Mrs A.A Knuth (Principal Director  State Occasions) says;

Please be advised that you have been engaged to provide travel services and other services as prescribed by the Office of President and Cabinet.

On a recent trip to China, Mnangagwa snubbed the troubled national airline for a more expensive private jet. While the debt-ridden Air Zimbabwe had reportedly offered to take Mnangagwas delegation to China for $1,9m it was reported he opted for a luxurious private jet that cost $2,3m.

Even when he travelled to Davos, Switzerland in January this year, Mnangagwa hired a private jet.

Nehanda Radio also has documents showing that a company called Home Essentials run by a Janice Mitton (Director) was also granted a lucrative contract to provide services to State Residencies including Zimbabwe House.

The letter to Home Essentials, also signed by RC Ndhlukula (Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet) and c.c to Mr G.G Chijarira (Principal Director HR and Administration) says;

You have been engaged to provide floral arrangements services and other services as prescribed by Her Excellency the First Lady at State House and Zimbabwe House offices. Please be advised that this extends to state functions determined by the Department of Protocol and State Occasions.

Both letters for the two contracts go on to state that the companies need to submit the names of staff members you will be working with in all the assignments for security clearance purposes. This is to ensure that all possible threats are eliminated. Other requirements for the companies were listed as;

Bizarrely the companies were engaged to provide services and then asked to later register with the State Procurement Board (SPB), the agency that is supposed to award the contracts in the first place.

Following the expiry of the term of office of the State Procurement Board, in January this year, Mnangagwa appointed an eight-member board for the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) to oversee State procurement in the country.

Efforts to get a comment from PRAZ, Mrs Chiwenga and Ms Mitton where not successful. We will continue to seek their comment on the awarding of the tenders.

 Nehanda Radio

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Related Zimbabwe Latest NewsZimbabwes costly military adventure in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) two decades ago continues to haunt the country, with a group of retired soldiers now accusing ousted former president Robert Mugabe and top military chiefs of looting rich diamond mines that were allegedly given to Harare by Kinshasa for deploying its troops there.

The controversial deployment of at least 12 000 Zimbabwean soldiers in the DRC by Mugabe in August 1998  to rescue the regime of the late Congolese president Laurent Kabila from an offensive by Rwanda, Uganda and some rebel groups  massively contributed to the demise of the local economy, whose implosion escalated when the nonagenarian encouraged chaotic land reforms.

In a letter they wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, a copy of which is in the possession of the Daily News, the Congo war vets agitated for compensation from the government for their trauma, as well as the deaths of their colleagues there. And in a stunning claim, they also said they were entitled to the proceeds of the rich diamond pickings from the DRC, which they said ended up in the hands of Mugabe and his cronies, including top military bosses.

We as soldiers of the Zimbabwe National Army participated in the war of the DRC dubbed Operation Legitimacy and Sovereignty, from 1998 to 2002. However, and although the ZDF had promised to compensate us for defending the sovereignty of the DRC against foreign invasion, 16 years down the line nothing has been met with regards (to this compensation).

We remain in pain to this day because our cadres and comrades died in the war and never received decent burials, and worse off, these comrades had their families who are even today not cared for, and nothing has been paid by the State to cater for their families welfare and upkeep, the angry ex-soldiers said.

Since these cadres were breadwinners, their deaths meant a loss of incomes and livelihood in their respective families. We look forward to the new dispensation under  president Mnangagwa coming up with a solution to this anomaly, they added in their letter to Mudenda.

The Republic of Zimbabwe was  given diamond mines in DRC, Mbuji Mayi and Kabinda, which did not benefit us and the nation as a whole. These mines were manipulated by the former president  Mugabe and his lieutenants.

We therefore request you to resolve this anomaly so that the funds which were produced from the mines be accounted for and  be brought to the compensation of those (who) sustained injuries and deaths, the former soldiers said further.

The ominous letter was copied to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga in his capacity as Defence minister.

Against all advice, Mugabe, deployed the troops to the dense forests of the DRC in 1998, to help prop up Kabilas government which had come under attack from Uganda and Rwandese soldiers who were working with allied militia groups.

That deployment came on the back of the crash of the Zimbabwe dollar a year earlier, after Mugabes equally ill-advised decision to pay a once-off gratuity of Z$50 000 each to war veterans.

This resulted in the further weakening of the Zimbabwe dollar and the national economy, as the government funnelled millions of dollars towards the war.

A subsequent special United Nations Report, focusing on the war, implicated many generals and Mugabes allies in the alleged smuggling of millions of dollars of blood diamonds.

Mugabes 37 years of uninterrupted rule came to an end on November 21 last year, when he resigned moments after Parliament had started damaging proceedings to impeach him.

This followed a military intervention that was code-named Operation Restore Legacy, which saw the nonagenarian and his then influential wife Grace being placed under house arrest.

Several Cabinet ministers linked to Zanu PFs Generation 40 (G40) faction, which had coalesced around Mugabe and Grace, were also targeted in the operation, which ended just before Christmas  with the military only retreating back to their barracks after five weeks of executing the operation.

The annihilated G40 was, before the military intervention, locked in a bitter war with President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his supporters for control of both Zanu PF and the country.

In recent weeks Mugabe has complained about the manner in which he lost power, as well as the alleged harassment that he is suffering at the hands of the new authorities.

He has also complained bitterly to the African Union that Mnangagwas government is allegedly not treating him well  including through the supposed withholding of some of the eye-watering benefits that he was promised when he fell from power.

Apart from that, Mugabe has given his support to the fledgling National Patriotic Front (NPF) party, which this week unveiled members of the defeated G40 as its leaders.

Mugabe fell out with Mnangagwa when he fired the countrys then VP, both from being his deputy in government and from Zanu PF, as the nonagenarians long-drawn succession war boiled over late last year.

Mugabe and Mnangagwa had until then shared a very close relationship that dated back to the days of the liberation struggle when the latter was the formers aide.

 DailyNews

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Related Zimbabwe Latest News- A Nigerian virologist based in the US has identified the reasons why Nigeria has not been able to build vaccine factory

- He identified lack of political will and selfish interest among certain groups as the main reasons

- Tosan Erhabor, the CEO of MLSCN, however, said that the present Buhari-led administration will fix the problems facing the health sector

A United States-based Nigerian virologist and vaccinologist, Dr Simon Magaji Agwale has pointed lack of political will and selfish interest among certain groups as the main factors militating against the establishment of vaccine factory in Nigeria.

Agwale spoke on Friday, April 13 at the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) 12th Public Lecture Series held in Enugu, Daily Trust reports.

Legit.ng gathered that the theme of the lecture was: Vaccine Efficacy: Impact of Utilization of Indigenous Microbial Strains in the Formulation and Production of Vaccines in Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Just in: Finance minister removes acting SEC boss

The virologist said for the past seven years, there have been a series of talks on how to set up vaccine factory with its enormous benefits to the country and her citizens, but without success.

Dr Agwale, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the US-based Innovative Biotech USA, Inc said, despite all the human and material potentials Nigeria has, the country has not been able to set up a vaccine factory to manufacture vaccines that could take care of certain diseases in the country.

He said: There is no African country that has the kind of resources to build vaccine factory as Nigeria, yet we cant build a vaccine factory because of interest groups.

He added that those who are keen on importing materials into the country would always work against the establishment of such factory, regretting that even electoral microscope is not in Nigeria.

He said there was no reason why Nigerians should still die of Lassa fever, malaria or things like that, in this age when the rest of the world is moving forward in solving their health problems.

He said vaccines to treat diseases such as Lassa fever or monkeypox would better be developed and manufactured in the West African sub-region because it is where such problems exist, adding that no country can develop anti-Lassa vaccines if Nigeria does not do so.

However, the Acting Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (MLSCN)  the regulatory body for medical laboratory services  Tosan Erhabor said the current federal government with its change agenda would ensure that things worked out well in the sector.

Erhabor said:We are doing everything possible to make sure this is a reality; this current government is a change government and they are making everything possible to effect and reflect that change.

He added: We cannot continue to depend on the innovations of our counterparts in other climes whose primary interest is the well-being of their own people.

He said if the members unite, there was no limit to what they could achieve together. Let us begin to look inwards and resolve to find local solutions to local problems.

The president of AMLSN, Dr Bassey Enya Bassey called on the government and private individuals to unite for the establishment of a vaccine factory as well as develop and manufacture local vaccines for the benefits of the citizens.

He stressed that Nigeria has so much to benefit from local manufacture of vaccines rather than importation".

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The human capital flight will reduce. The tendency to travel to foreign countries for vaccines will reduce. And there will be employment opportunities when such vaccine factory is built, while the impact will be tremendous for all Nigerians, Bassey submitted.

Legit.ng previously reported that the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, advised Nigeria to speed up the investment of one percent of its Consolidation Funds intended for basic health provision.

Ghebreyesus gave this advice at the second THISDAY media parley in Abuja on Thursday, April 12.

The event was hosted by THISDAY newspaper was co-organised by the Federal Ministry of Health, the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, UNFPA and USAID/ the Health Finance & Governance.

N1,500 for health of Nigerians - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit Nigeria- A former wife of ex-President Obasanjo has advised President Buhari to drop his re-election bid

- She asked the president to tow the path of Nelson Mandela

- She, however, advised President Buhari and her ex-husband, Obasanjo, to unite to help move the country forward

A former wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Taiwo, has openly registered her opposition to the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigerias president in 2019.

In an interview with Punch, the former presidents ex-wife said though she loves President Buhari, her advice for the president is to drop his second term bid and retire to Katsina.

When asked if she is asking the president not to re-contest, she said: God forbid. Im saying it loud and clear without fear. He should just go back to Katsina. Im praying to God that as He (God) aborted the third term plan of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, God should also abort his re-election bid for 2019.

READ ALSO: Just in: Finance minister removes acting SEC boss

I respect the two of them, but they should stay out of power. Whoever is coming should be someone who would treat us well and remove the hardship. As a president, you are like an executive prisoner because you dont see what is happening. Chief Obasanjo is now out of office, so his eyes are wide open now.

I love President Buhari, but I dont want him to contest. When he goes back to Katsina, I would love to go with my children and grandchildren to visit him in Daura. In a nation of over 150 million people, both of them have ruled under two different dispensations, and I think the electoral process should be reviewed so that we would have only one term because its enough for anyone who has a plan.

Chief Lateef Jakande spent only one term in office as governor of Lagos State, but look at the wonders he performed. So, anyone that cannot do it in one term should leave peacefully. We need fresh hands and we need to abolish this do or die mentality.

Im not a hypocrite. I love him and I dont want people to be insulting him, but I dont want him again. We need a fresh person that can be corrected, a unifying figure who is not divisive or tribalistic. God has been very good to President Buhari; he was a Petroleum Minister, military Head of State and now hes the incumbent President. He should not be in the league of those desperate to do a second term at all cost because I want him to be another Nelson Mandela; to leave an enduring legacy of love, unity, humility, forgiveness and selflessness that succeeding generations can learn from.

Taiwo also appealed to Nigerians to stop abusing President Buhari has he is also human. She said: I like to use this medium to appeal to Nigerians not to abuse the President. Hes human and hes liable to make mistakes.

On Obasanjos recently formed coalition, she has this to say: I dont think hes the right person to be talking about the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, but I want to appeal to him to please use his coalition to unite the whole nation and his family. Daddy Obasanjo should let God use him to bring a peaceful change into this nation and his own family. However, I think that coalition should metamorphose into coalition for restoration of peace, reconciliation, unity and oneness, to bring everybody together because Nigeria is so divided now.

She advised both President Buhari and Chief Obasanjo to come together and work on how to make the country better.

What Chief Obasanjo and Buhari need to do is to come together because they have a lot in common. They are both very powerful and they have great influence in this nation. They have both served as military Heads of State and civilian presidents, she said.

On Boko Haram, she advised the federal government to look for the sponsors of the insurgents and have a peaceful dialogue with them

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She said: I also have an advice for the government as regards the herdsmen and Boko Haram crises; I feel they should look for the sponsors and call them into a dialogue. Nigeria needs peace. Specifically, on the herdsmen crisis, I believe modern ranching presents an investment opportunity and a way out of the crisis.

Legit.ng previously reported that President Buhari on Monday, April 9, in Abuja declared his intention to seek re-election in 2019.

Malam Garba Shehu, the presidents senior special assistant on media and Publicity confirmed this development in a statement in Abuja on Monday.

He said that the president made the declaration at a closed-door meeting of the National Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja.

The presidential aide quoted President Buhari as saying that he was responding to the clamour by Nigerians to re-contest in 2019, adding that he wanted to give the NEC, the honour of notifying them first.

Should President Buhari seek reelection in 2019? (Nigerian Street Interview) - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Afenifere has called for resignation of the AGF over his statement on Boko Haram trial

- The AGF had earlier reportedly complained that the ICCs investigation against Boko Haram is worrisome

- The Yoruba group said the AGF could not double as the countrys number one law officer and as Boko Haram defender

Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, has demanded the resignation of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, for asking the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to escalate its investigation against the Boko Haram sect.

The group, in a reaction by its spokesperson, Yinka Odumakin, on Friday, April 13 stated that Malami could not double as the countrys number one law officer and as Boko Haram defender, Punch reports.

Recall that the AGF had while hosting the new ICC president, Justice Chile Ebro-Osuji, in Abuja on Thursday, April 12, complained about the courts investigation against Boko Haram and the Nigerian military, describing it as worrisome.

READ ALSO: Just in: Finance minister removes acting SEC boss

Malami was quoted to have said: Presently, the ICC has escalated the eight potential cases against Nigeria  six against the Boko Haram and two against the military  from the initial preliminary examination to the preliminary investigation.

This is worrisome, as Nigeria has demonstrated beyond doubt, and in absolute cooperation with the ICC, that it is willing and able and, as a matter of fact, it is indeed arresting, investigating and prosecuting anyone that commits an offence that falls within the Rome Statute of the ICC.

The above being the case, Nigeria views the escalation of the eight potential cases as uncalled for in the circumstance.

However, Odumakin, in his reaction, accused the AGF of turning his office into Boko Harams media department, stressing that Nigerians should be worried by the release of many top insurgents in recent times by the government.

He stated: If the ICC is investigating Boko Haram, are they investigating the north and by extension, the Federal Government of Nigeria? This could have been a Freudian slip, but since we have not seen a denial from Malami, it means he is no longer the AGF of Nigeria, he cant be the nations AGF and be speaking on behalf of Boko Haram, he should therefore resign.

Odumakin added: For the attorney general to turn his office to the media department of Boko Haram is almost unheard of and Nigerians should be worried about this.

In recent times, we have seen notorious Boko Haram kingpins being set free by the courts and the government has released hundreds of Boko Haram into the system.

He also cited the reported payment of 3m to the sect by the federal government for the release of Chibok schoolgirls, some of whom are still being held by the insurgents.

He said: In 2013, the sect nominated the President as their negotiator, though he rejected the nomination, he was to later say any attack against Boko Haram was an attack against the north. Now, is what Malami doing now a continuation of that policy?

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Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) issued a red-alert on Thursday, March 15, as it warned residents of Borno state against an impending attack by the Boko Haram terrorist group using vehicles loaded with explosives.

According to the police, the planned attack may result in heavy casualty if it succeeds since the insurgents are suspected to be targeting strategic locations of the city that are densely populated.

A statement by the police command in Borno state, signed by Ahmed Bello, an assistant commissioner of police, said the attack could take place in different parts of the city.

As a result, the security organs in the state have been mobilised to strategic locations to avert its possible occurrence.

Exclusive: Freed Dapchi Girl Recounts Her Ordeal with Boko Haram (Nigeria Breaking News) - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ngGovernor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state has dissolved all education secretaries in the 23 local government areas of the state.

Daily Trust reported that the education secretaries were reportedly given letters of dissolution on Friday, April 13, prior to the completion of their five-year tenure.

Legit.ng gathered that in line with the Kaduna State Civil Service, the appointment of an education secretary is for a period of five years and is eligible for re-appointment for a further five years based on satisfactory performance.

READ ALSO: I love President Buhari, but I dont want him to re-contest - Taiwo, Obasanjos ex-wife

An official of the state ministry of education allegedly said that the education secretaries had been dissolved but did not give reasons.

It was however gathered that the dissolution may not be unconnected with the role they played during the recent teachers recruitment exercise where some of them were said to have sneaked in their candidates without following due process.

Daily Trust stated that efforts to reach the governors spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, failed before press time.

Legit.ng previously reported that Governor El-Rufai was given 14-day ultimatum to begin a scholarship scheme by a coalition of students in the state.

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The students, under the aegis of Coalition of Youth and Students in Kaduna state, threatened to launch mass protest to cripple government activities.

Adamu Adamu Matazu, the group's spokesperson claimed that Governor El Rufai, who rode on students platform to become governor, has not done anything to protect the interest of students in the state.

He alleged that the governor insisted on not paying bursaries or awarding scholarship to students of tertiary institutions since he became governor.

KADINVEST economic summit 2017 - on Legit.ng TV

Source: LegitSouth Africans on Saturday, April 14, stepped out to pay their last tribute to wife of their former president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. She died on Monday, April 2, at the age of 81.

Winnie who was referred to as the anti-apartheid icon was honored at Orlando stadium in Soweto, South Africa. She was reported dead after in a hospital in Johannesburg after a long illness.

Tens of thousands of mourners came out in loud cheers as the casket carrying Winnie Mandelas remains was wheeled into the stadium less than two kilometres from her home. The stadium was full.

Photos from Winnie Mandelas funeral in South Africa

READ ALSO: Late Winnie Mandelas granddaughter shares last conversation with her granny on Instagram

Her casket was draped with the multi-colored South African flag and placed in the middle of the 37,500-seater stadium in front of a stage, decked in white and yellow flowers. The emotionally charged official funeral began in Soweto, where she lived until her death. She will be buried as a national hero.

The deceased who was fondly called Mama Winnie also fought to keep South Africas anti-apartheid struggle in the international spotlight while her late husband, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.

Late Winnie Mandela's corpse at the Orlando stadium In Soweto, South Africa

Also in attendance of Winnies funeral was the civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. On Friday, April 13, he disclosed that the deceased was responsible for making the anti-apartheid movement a global struggle.

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See more pictures from the funeral below:

Officers leading the vehicle carrying late Winnie Mandela's corpse to the stadium

Late Winnie Mandelas remains accompanied by officers to the Orlando stadium in South Africa

Photos from Winnie Mandelas funeral in South Africa

South Africans out are the stadium to pay their last tribute to late Winnie Mandela

South Africa's Civil Rights leader present at the funeral of late Winnie Mandela

RIP!

Meet Bayo Adedeji, the Nigerian businessman making millions from selling yam (Success Story) - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit- Senator Ike Ekweremadu said Nigerias past leaders should be blamed for the nations problems

- He also blamed the military for distorting Nigerias federal structure

- The deputy Senate president reiterated his call for restructuring as the solution to the countrys diverse problems

Deputy Senate president, Senator Ike Ekweremadu said on Friday, April 13 that Nigerias former leaders be held responsible and blamed for the nations many problems which have always been associated with the nations diversity.

Ekweremadu also blamed the military incursion into the countrys politics for the distortion of Nigerias federal structure, which according to him, has now left Nigeria the Federal Republic in name, but the Unitary Republic in practice.

Speaking at the first Isawa Elaigwu Foundation Annual Distinguished Lecture themed Federalism, Diversity, and Nation-Building: Tackling the Challenges of integration in Nigeria, the deputy Senate president noted that it was sad that decades after Nigerias independence and the civil war, the crisis of identity, ethno-religious squabbles, debilitating nepotism, pampering and promotion of mediocrity, sectional segregation, and other factors that were responsible for the war have persisted.

READ ALSO: Tension in Mid East as US, UK, France bomb Syria over chemical weapons attack

The lawmaker added: The results of all the military adventures are structural imbalance, resource capture through the destruction of the principle of fiscal federalism, centralisation of the police system, and inequity in the distribution of opportunities.

He urged Nigeria to learn from the United States of America, which, according to her former vice president, Joe Biden, took a vast continent and diverse people and moulded them into a united representative of democracy, where people see themselves as Americans first.

He said: Moving forward, we have to accept the reality of our diversity. Since we cannot run away from that we are diverse, we must take urgent steps to salvage the nation and manage our diversity better for effective nation-building as many other nations have done.

During his second term bid in 1864 in the last days of the American civil war, Abraham Lincoln dropped his Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin, a fellow Republican. He settled for Andrew Johnson, who was not only from Tennessee, one of the Confederate States that opposed the Union, but also a Democrat as his running mate. Magnanimous in a virtually achieved victory, Lincoln wanted to rebuild trust and unity, ensuring that every American was given a sense of belonging, irrespective of the side he or she belonged to in the bloody war.

The current and first female President of Singapore, Halimah Yacob, is of Malay origin, a minority race in the country. Chinese constitute over 75% of Singaporean population, while Indians and Malays account for much of the rest.

Therefore, our diversity is not our problem in the real sense. We are instead the problem of our diversity. We can live together despite our challenges. We can forge a tightly knit union where no man feels oppressed. It only requires the political will to build a just and an equitable society to give every constituent part a sense of belonging.

Senator Ekweremadu insisted that not much could be achieved without an overhaul of the nations federalism.

He said: An overhaul of our federalism is at the heart of rebuilding Nigeria for equity, justice, and prosperity. If we restructure, the federating units will become the centres of development again, with little emphasis and pressure on the federal government.

If we restructure the security system, the constituent parts will take charge of their internal security alongside the federal police.

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If we reintroduce fiscal federalism, no people will feel robbed or cheated of their resources; every constituent part will earn its living. The best will be allowed to excel since only the best can increase productivity. As is the case in Canada, less endowed states will benefit from Equity Fund to ensure even development.

Legit.ng previously reported that a former vice president Atiku Abubakar restated his calls for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation and the devolution of powers to the lower tiers of government.

He also urged the countrys leaders to follow the letter and spirit of federal character and other affirmative action policies to help manage distributive conflicts until such a time when the country has done enough to enhance production in order to reduce the scarcity that drives the conflicts over distribution.

Watch a video below of Nigerians speaking about restructuring - on Legit.ng TV

Source: LegitAs Nigerias ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), gets set to elect a new set of leaders in June to run its affairs for the next four years, all eyes are on the partys highest office, the position of national chairman. Already, names of possible contenders for the post are already being bandied around among different interest groups in the party.

Among those who have been mentioned in the race is the current national chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who is eligible to seek another four years in office, the former governor of Edo state Adams Oshiomhole, a former governor of Cross River state in the Third Republic, Clement Ebri and an ex-minister of petroleum under General Sani Abacha's regime, Don Etiebet.

Timi Frank's interest in the APC chairmanship is seen as a generational shift for the ruling party.

Source: Original

READ ALSO: APC denies reaching out to Reno Omokri on Twitter

78-years Oyegun, was a former executive governor of Edo State between 1992 and 1993, during the aborted Nigerian Third Republic. He emerged the chairman of the party on June 14, 2014 as a consensus candidate for most of the senior chieftains of the party.

After he led the party to victory in the 2015 presidential election, analysts said Oyegun began to make certain moves that further polarized a party that was already struggling with various interests due to its merger before the elections. Activities in the last few months in the party, shows that Oyegun has lost the confidence of most members of the party and might be shown the way out of the party in June.

On his part, 66-years old Oshiomole, the immediate past governor of Edo state, is seen as a candidate of a certain bloc in the party. Critics say Oshiomole will only do the bidding of his sponsors if he gets the position. The former Edo state governor has also been described as one who hardly accepts criticisms, especially when they directly affect him.

For Ebri, he is seen generally as an unknown figure within the party and its structures nationally. Critics say he does not have the required national spread to appeal to the various political blocs within the ruling party. The question regarding his popularity and visibility nationwide is said to be a major obstacle to his ambition

As for Etiebet, his lack of consistency in terms of party loyalty might be his greatest undoing. He is also not in the thick of things in his home state of Akwa Ibom. Critics say Etiebet cannot be trusted with such a position even though he is said to be a close friend to the president. Many are of the opinion that, the president and other leaders of the party need someone who will tell them the truth to their faces.

One person whose name continues to spring up in this direction is the outgoing deputy national publicity secretary of the party, Comrade Timi Frank. Comrade Frank has been a consistent voice in the party, calling the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari and other national leaders to some of the injustices he had seen even before they became public knowledge. He has also cautioned the party severally on some moves that later backfired and came back to haunt its image.

A young but very experienced politician, Comrade Frank has seen it all in Nigerias politics having been a youth leader for the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for years. His experience in politicking spans almost two decades, and he has the ears of most political leaders spread across the six geo-political zones of the country.

In the last two years, there has been intense clamour from young Nigerians to occupy very senior political positions in the country. Comrade Frank is a perfect representation of this generational shift that young Nigerians seek to take them out of the present political quagmire across the country, that not only affect them presently, but also affects their future.

Comrade Franks disposition towards political party supremacy is also key to taking the party to the next level. Over time, political parties leaders in the country are not respected, and by extension the partys rules. The ruling APC needs a leader with the political will to insist on doing things right, especially as the 2019 general elections draws near.

His insistence on standing by the truth at all times no matter whose ox is gored, is also a reminder for the APC delegates that will be part of the fortcoming national convention to key into the aspiration of the Bayelsa-born politician who have been on both sides of the divide and have constant interaction with members of the public. Indeed, politicians of his like are rare in these times.

It is good to note that Comrade Frank acceptability is not limited to young stakeholders of the party, he has been seen also to be acceptable even to the elderly. He has wined and dined with all categories of politicians and will surely harmonise the divided interests in the APC if given the opportunity to lead the party.

Comrade Frank has always stood on the side of the Nigerian people at all times even at the expense of hurting his own party. It is to his credit that the outgoing APC leadership has been kept on their toes to ensure financial transparency in the party affairs, respect for rule of law, discipline of party members, respect for party elders and the need to shun imposition through his constant but constructive criticisms. This is the kind of character the ruling party needs to sail its ship especially as we approach an election year.

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Meanwhile, youths under the aegis of Younger Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress have called on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to constitute a formidable team that will include them to help his reconciliation assignment in the ruling party.

They made the demand during a press briefing on Tuesday, March 13, in Abuja through one of the leaders, Dominic Alancha, on the outcome of their meeting.

APC chieftains in Benue state say PDP has nothing to offer on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ngA young lady has just taken to social media to call out a man identified as Kingsley Obinna who wanted to scam her. She revealed that he told her stories of how he lost his wife in an accident and now taking care of his 8-year-old daughter.

The lady who was identified as Samaria Diala took to her Facebook profile to share pictures of the young man and narrated how he tried to defraud her. He scammed her after they agreed to date each other.

Diala disclosed that after the man agreed to come visit her in Enugu, he faked a call disclosing he accidentally hit a pregnant woman and has been arrested by the police. He then asked her to send the sum of N75,000.

READ ALSO: Hit and run driver kills female FUTA first class student in Ondo state

Her post reads: Hi friends please be careful of this guy, stories behind his late wife and his 8-year old daughter seeking for love she left behind. He came chatting me up with stories of how he lost his wife in an accident when his daughter was 2-year-old. He claimed he is being careful in terms of making choice of the next woman to call wife. He got me into talking to the fake child of his , her words were so touching also that of the grandma .He later claimed at some point to be in Nigeria ,that they would pay me a visit. On the agreed date of the visit from Enugu, he claimed to have ran down a pregnant woman crossing the road on his way coming. He rang me with siren blowing on the background and even claimed police got him arrested. So he needed money to pay the doctor as deposit before he would be allowed to continue with his trip. As the doctor assured him the victim will survive so far he deposits N75,000. He later called me with the request I make the transfer as he isnt allowed to leave the station. Well I knew he was a scam from when he gave an old woman the phone to speak with me. He fled after I made him understand I know what the time says. Please ladies beware of such scam they now come in different ways! His numbers are +19093755502 and 09065509968 please share that no one falls victim.

See post below:

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She also shared another post saying: Just because you forgive a person doesnt mean you have to be around them or let them be around you....accept the fact that some people are not for you...MOVE ON for there is a blessing waiting for you. (As the spirit directs to whom it may concern) natural me.

See post below:

Interesting!

What is the major reason why relationships crash? - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng- Nigerian Army says two persons connected with killings in Taraba state have been arrested by troops

- Army spokesperson, Brig Gen Texas Chukwu, says investigation shows that the two suspects were key players in the killings

- Femi Adesina blasts some Nigerians for their alleged misinterpretation of President Buhari's statement

The alleged masterminds of the killings in Taraba state have been arrested by the Nigerian Army.

The director of army public relations, Brig Gen Texas Chukwu, in a statement obtained by Legit.ng on Saturday, April 14, said that two persons connected with killings in Taraba state had been caught by troops involved in a military operation in the area.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Offa robbery - Police release names of 12 arrested suspects

He said: Troops on exercise Ayem Akaptuma on 12 April, 2018 arrested two persons, Mr Danasebe Gasama and Mr Danjuma, aka, American, in connection with the killings and uprising in Takum and Ussa Local Government Areas of Taraba State.

The two suspects were arrested at Takum following an intelligence that they were the coordinators of several attacks both on Fulani and the locals.

Chukwu said investigation revealed that the two suspects were key players in the killings and uprising in the two local government areas of the state.

He called on the public to always give useful and timely information to the security agency for prompt action.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, following the widespread criticism that followed President Buhari's statement about the influx of trained fighters from Libya posing as herdsmen to the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby in London, presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina has blasted some Nigerians for their misinterpretation of the statement.

Adesina who described Nigerians who misinterpreted the statement as intellectually lazy argued that a simple investigation would have shown that the death of Muammar Gaddafi of Libya was responsible for the proliferation of small arms all over Africa.

The presidential spokesman in a statement on Facebook said.

TY Danjuma, Nigerian army and the herdsmen crisis | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit Nigeria- Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbe, receives Yemi Osinbajo on arrival in Lome

- The presidency says the vice-president is expected back in the country later on Saturday, April 14

- Uche Ogar says President Buhari has revived some projects abandoned by the immediate past administration in the southeast zone

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has represented Nigeria at an emergency meeting of leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Lome, Togo.

Following his arrival, Osinbajo was received at the airport by Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbe on Saturday, April 14, The Punch reports.

READ ALSO: Army arrests alleged masterminds of Taraba attacks

Earlier, the vice-presidents spokesperson, Laolu Akande, stated that Osinbajo is expected back in the country later on Saturday, April 14.

Akande also disclosed that the ECOWAS meeting will touch on the developments in Guinea-Bissau and that ECOWAS leaders will receive a report on the situation, deliberate on the presentation and issue a communique at the end of the meeting.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Osinbajo, who is accompanied to the meeting by Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, is expected back in Abuja later today," the spokesperson said.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on his arrival in Lome, photo credit: The Punch

Osinbajo was received at the airport by Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbe, photo credit: The Punch

Osinbajo is expected back in Nigeria on Saturday, April 14, photo credit: The Punch

The ECOWAS meeting will touch on the developments in Guinea-Bissau, photo credit: The Punch

Meanwhile, Chief Uche Ogar, a former governorship candidate under the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abia state says that Igbos will benefit more under President Muhammadu Buhari if he emerges in 2019.

Ogar told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Saturday, April 14, that the president had revived some projects abandoned by the immediate past administration in the southeast zone.

According to him, President Buharis declaration for presidency in 2019 is good news especially for Igbos.

He urged people of the zone to support the presidents intention and vote for him massively when the time comes.

President Buhari on 2019 presidential election: will you vote for him? | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit20+ Rarely Seen Photos Of America In The 1950s Show How Different Life Was Before Bored Panda

Im British, and I experienced the biggest culture shock when I started working in the US Business Insider (Kevin W). I dunno. He must look too friendly. Its not difficult to discourage most people from chatting you up, save the insistent ones on airplanes.

Climate Change Is Messing With Your Dinner Bloomberg

Portugal reaches 100% renewables, ends fossil fuel subsidies RenewEconomy (UserFriendly)

Europe divided over robot personhood Politico (Dr. Kevin)

The long, slow demise of credit card signatures starts today CNET

Glutamatergic Signaling Drives Ketamine-Mediated Response in Depression: Evidence from Dynamic Causal Modeling International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology (David L)

E. Coli Linked to Chopped Romaine Lettuce Infects People in 11 States New York Times (David L)

China?

Is May 1968 About to Happen Again, or Be Surpassed? Mass Strikes, Occupations and the Fight for the Future Perfect in France Counterpunch

Brexit

Brexit: aviation hurdles Richard North. A must read if you have any interest in Brexit. Some readers have been skeptical about our earlier remarks about the looming clusterfuck of the UK withdrawing from EU aviation safety rules. More ugly details. Jaguar Land Rover to cut 1,000 UK jobs as Brexit hits the motor industry Independent

Free trade in Africa: An important goal but not easy to achieve Bruegel

Syraquistan

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Trump Transition

Watchdog: Fired FBI official McCabe leaked to media to help himself The Hill

Michael Cohens Attorneys Claim Thousands of Privileged Documents Scooped Up in Raid New York Law Journal Google the headline.

Economists understand little about the causes of growth Economist

Michael Bloomberg Takes on the Coal Industry New Yorker (furzy)

Tesla ships flawed parts from suppliers to a local machine shop for fixes, and theyre piled up outside CNBC (Kevin W)

Goldman Sachs: Curing Patients Illnesses Is Bad for Business GritPost (UserFriendly)

Apple threatens leakers with criminal action in leaked memo  report Guardian

Wells Fargo Says It Faces a $1 Billion Fine Over Its Loan Scandals Time. Gee, Paribas paid a $9.8 billion fine for violating sanctions against Sudan, Iran, and Cuba. You can see where our priorities lie..

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour. Crittermom: Apparently, fawns grow into their ears!

And a bonus video:

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.Yves here. Notice when this warning on fracking was reported and how little media attention had gotten.

By Sharon Kelly, an attorney and freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She has reported for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, National Wildlife, Earth Island Journal, and a variety of other publications. Originally published at DeSmogBlog

In 2011, a Cornell University research team first made the groundbreaking discovery that leaking methane from the shale gas fracking boom could make burning fracked gas worse for the climate than coal.

In a sobering lecture released this month, a member of that team, Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Professor of Engineering Emeritus at Cornell University, outlined more precisely the role U.S. fracking is playing in changing the worlds climate.

The most recent climate data suggests that the world is on track to cross the two degrees of warming threshold set in the Paris accord in just 10 to 15 years, says Ingraffea in a 13-minute lecture titled Shale Gas: The Technological Gamble That Should Not Have Been Taken, which was posted online on April 4.

Thats if American energy policy follows the track predicted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which expects 1 million natural gas wells will be producing gas in the U.S. in 2050, up from roughly 100,000 today.

The Difference of a Half Degree

An average global temperature increase of 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) will bring catastrophic changes  even as compared against a change of 1.5 C (2.7 F). Heat waves would last around a third longer, rain storms would be about a third more intense, the increase in sea level would be approximately that much higher and the percentage of tropical coral reefs at risk of severe degradation would be roughly that much greater, with just that half-degree difference, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained in a 2016 post about climate change.

A draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was leaked this January, concludes that its extremely unlikely that the world will keep to a 1.5 change, estimating that the world will cross that threshold in roughly 20 years, somewhat slower than Ingraffeas presentation concludes.

Earlier models, like an often-cited 2012 paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science, dramatically underestimated the rise in temperatures, when its projections are compared against more than a half-decade of additional temperature recordings, Ingraffea says. Every one of these scenarios under-predicted actual global warming, he points out as he describes the models presented in that landmark 2012 study.

Whereas the worst-case scenario brought us to 1.5 degrees Centigrade in 2040, he adds, were almost there today.

A Different Energy Future, if Not for Fracking?

So what happened?

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, U.S. natural gas production was flat or falling. If that trend had continued along the same track it was following from 2006-2008, then wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources might have had a chance to displace both natural gas and coal as major energy sources in America, according to Ingraffea.

Instead, the shale gas rush, propelled by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), swept across the U.S., with drillers snapping up land to drill for previously inaccessible fossil fuels locked in geologic formations of shale rock from coast to coast.

If the shale gas rush hadnt disrupted trends around that time, Ingraffea estimates that the wind energy sector alone could have produced roughly triple the amount of energy expected by the end of this coming decade, a difference of roughly 400 gigawatts.

We can easily see there is a loss of potential  large amounts of wind energy  because of the injection of shale gas into our energy economy, Ingraffea explains in the lecture.

While the shale gas industry promised benefits like jobs and American energy security, Ingraffea notes, those benefits would have been almost exclusively aimed at just 5 percent of the worlds population, North Americans. But the harms will affect the remaining 95 percent of the world as well.

Its an alarming message  even though the shale rush has stumbled somewhat as gas prices collapsed and many drillers went bankrupt, the cumulative impact of American fracking appears to have set the entire world on a collision course with climate changes most extreme effects.

The climate is changing faster and more dramatically than it might have otherwise, and  far from serving as a bridge fuel  fracking huge amounts of natural gas has already played a significant role in pushing the world toward a vastly more difficult future.

Ingraffeas lecture, part of the Spring Creek Projects Bedrock Lectures on Human Rights and Climate Change series, can be viewed below:

Main image: Screenshot, Shale Gas: The Technological Gamble That Should Not Have Been Taken by Anthony Ingraffea, published on YouTube.Valleytronics discovery could extend limits of Moore's law (Nanowerk News) Research appearing in Nature Communications ("Accessing valley degree of freedom in bulk Tin(II) sulfide at room temperature") finds useful new information-handling potential in samples of tin(II) sulfide (SnS), a candidate "valleytronics" transistor material that might one day enable chipmakers to pack more computing power onto microchips.

The research was led by Jie Yao of the Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Shuren Lin of UC Berkeley's Department of Materials Science and Engineering and included scientists from Singapore and China. The research team used the unique capabilities of Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office of Science user facility.

Valleytronics utilizes different local energy extrema (valleys) with selection rules to store 0s and 1s. In SnS, these extrema have different shapes and responses to different polarizations of light, allowing the 0s and 1s to be directly recognized. This schematic illustrates the variation of electron energy in different states, represented by curved surfaces in space. The two valleys of the curved surface are shown. (Image: Berkeley Lab)

For several decades, improvements in conventional transistor materials have been sufficient to sustain Moore's Law  the historical pattern of microchip manufacturers packing more transistors (and thus more information storage and handling capacity) into a given volume of silicon. Today, however, chipmakers are concerned that they might soon reach the fundamental limits of conventional materials. If they can't continue to pack more transistors into smaller spaces, they worry that Moore's Law would break down, preventing future circuits from becoming smaller and more powerful than their predecessors.

Thats why researchers worldwide are on the hunt for new materials that can compute in smaller spaces, primarily by taking advantage of the additional degrees of freedom that the materials offer  in other words, using a material's unique properties to perform more computations in the same space. Spintronics, for example, is a concept for transistors that harnesses the up and down spins of electrons in materials as the on/off transistor states.

Valleytronics, another emerging approach, utilizes the highly selective response of candidate crystalline materials under specific illumination conditions to denote their on/off states  that is, using the materials band structures so that the information of 0s and 1s is stored in separate energy valleys of electrons, which are dependent on the crystal structures of the materials.

In this new study, the research team has shown that tin(II) sulfide (SnS) is able to absorb different polarizations of light and then selectively reemit light of different colors at different polarizations. This is useful for concurrently accessing both the usual electronic and valleytronic degrees of freedom, which would substantially increase the computing power and data storage density of circuits made with the material.

"We show a new material with distinctive energy valleys that can be directly identified and separately controlled," said Yao. "This is important because it provides us a platform to understand how valley signatures are carried by electrons and how information can be easily stored and processed between the valleys, which are of both scientific and engineering significance."

Lin, the first author of the paper, said the material is different from previously investigated candidate valleytronics materials because it possesses such selectivity at room temperature without additional biases apart from the excitation light source, which alleviates the previously stringent requirements in controlling the valleys. Compared to its predecessor materials, SnS is also much easier to process.

With this finding, researchers will be able to develop operational valleytronic devices, which may one day be integrated into electronic circuits. The unique coupling between light and valleys in this new material may also pave the way toward future hybrid electronic/photonic chips.The Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D., has announced that he has allocated 1.5 million towards the introduction of a Fodder Import Support measure.

In light of poor weather conditions and an evolving fodder supply challenge across the country, I am introducing a support measure contributing to the cost of importing fodder from abroad.

The Minister added: I welcome the moves to import fodder by the co-operatives and this measures supports this initiative. The co-operative ethos remains very strong and vibrant in Irish Agriculture.

This measure is being introduced with immediate effect to reduce the cost to farmers of imported forage (hay, silage, haylage etc.) from outside the island of Ireland. The measure will operate through the dairy Co-operatives. It will cover forage imported by the co-ops from April 5 to April 30 and will be subject to EU State Aid (de-minimis) rules. Support under the measure will substantially reduce the cost to farmers of imported fodder by approximately one third. This initial allocation will support the importation of up to 20,000 tons of fodder into the country and this will be kept under ongoing review until the current crises is over.

The Minister stressed that while the measure will operate through the dairy Co-operatives, the actual beneficiaries will be farmers who urgently need supplies of forage. Minister Creed added: This measure will largely replicate the straightforward approach adopted in 2013 whereby a farmer approached a participating Co-op, purchased fodder and my Department subsequently paid the transport support element to the Co-op.

Application forms and terms and conditions will be made available through the Co-ops and on the Departments website.

This further measure builds on a range of supports to the agriculture sector, including the Fodder Transport Support measure introduced last January. Minister Creed also took the opportunity to enhance the flexibility of this measure in light of the on-going weather difficulties. Specifically, the Minister said that this national measure would now apply to all counties with immediate effect, remove the need for a fodder budget and the minimum distance requirement would be reduced to 50 km. The reduction in minimum transport distance will provide greater flexibility in both sourcing and supplying fodder but will ensure that the measure, which is a transport support, continues to respect the normal local trading arrangements that apply in the case of fodder.

Regarding GLAS, the Minister has announced an extension to the closing date for grazing livestock on land containing the Traditional Hay Meadow action under the scheme. Grazing by livestock is now permitted up to May 1 this year.I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France against the Syrian regimes chemical weapons facilities and capabilities. This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons.

NATO has consistently condemned Syria's continued use of chemical weapons as a clear breach of international norms and agreements. The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, and those responsible must be held accountable.

NATO considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security, and believes that it is essential to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention. This calls for a collective and effective response by the international community.The North Atlantic Council will meet at Ambassadorial level this afternoon at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. The objective of the meeting is for France, United Kingdom and the United States to update the Council on the latest developments in Syria.

After the meeting, there will be a press point by the NATO Secretary General at the NATO Main Entrance - estimated time : + 17:45.

Note

The event will be available live on satellite and on the NATO Website.

Photos, video and audio files from NATO will be available after the event on the NATO website and via NATO TV Channel.

Language feeds on the website

The press point will be available in English, French and Russian during the live web streaming, and in original sound, English, French and Russian after the event.In the North Atlantic Council today the United States, France and United Kingdom briefed Allies on their joint military action on 14 April. They briefed that a significant body of information indicated that the Syrian regime was responsible for the attack against civilians in Douma on 7 April, and that their military action was limited to the Syrian regimes facilities enabling the production and employment of chemical weapons. The three Allies emphasized that there was no practicable alternative to the use of force.

Allies expressed their full support for this action intended to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter further chemical weapon attacks against the people of Syria. Chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity or become normalized. They are an immediate danger to the Syrian people and to our collective security. Allies regret that the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism, established by UNSC Resolution 2235 (2015), to identify perpetrators of chemical attacks, was not renewed in November 2017. Allies support international mechanisms to establish responsibility and prevent impunity for the use of chemical weapons.

Allies strongly condemned the repeated use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, and called for those responsible to be held to account. Allies also called on the Syrian regime and its backers to allow rapid, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access.

Despite sustained diplomatic efforts, the Syrian regimes repeated use of chemical weapons against civilians has contributed to appalling human suffering since the start of the conflict in 2011. The use of such weapons is in flagrant violation of international standards and non-proliferation norms, multiple UN Security Council Resolutions, and the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria ratified in 2013. NATO considers any use of chemical weapons by State or non-State actors to be a threat to international peace and security.

Allies reiterate their support for UN-led efforts to achieve a lasting political resolution to the conflict that is consistent with UNSCR 2254 (2015) and the Geneva Communique (2012) and call on all members of the UN Security Council to uphold their responsibilities. In this regard, the Allies call on all supporters of the Syrian regime, notably Russia, to exercise responsibility to ensure that the Syrian regime participates constructively in the UN-led Geneva process.

Allies took this opportunity to restate our commitment to the Coalition to Defeat ISIS/Daesh, as defeating terrorism in all its forms remains a key objective for our countries and a key challenge for the stability of the region.Good evening.

The North Atlantic Council has just met. France, the United Kingdom and the United States briefed Allies on their joint military action in Syria overnight. They also briefed on the additional, non-military measures taken to reinforce the Chemical Weapons Convention. The three Allies stressed that a significant body of information indicated that the Syrian regime was responsible for the horrendous attack against civilians in Douma on 7 April. Which killed a large number of children, women and men. They also made clear that their military action was limited to the Syrian regimes facilities enabling the production and employment of chemical weapons. They emphasized that there was no practicable alternative to the use of force.

All NATO Allies expressed their full support for last nights actions. Which was intended to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability. And to deter further chemical weapon attacks against the people of Syria. NATO strongly condemns the repeated use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. Chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity. They cannot become normalized. They are an immediate danger to the Syrian people, and to our collective security. And those responsible must be held to account.

We call on the Syrian regime and its backers, Russia and Iran, to allow rapid, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access. NATO has consistently condemned Syrias continued use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security. Such outrageous actions call for a collective and effective response by the international community. We support international mechanisms to establish responsibility and prevent impunity on the use of chemical weapons. We regret that the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism, to identify perpetrators of chemical attacks, was not renewed last year. Even though it was established by a Resolution of the United Nations Security Council three years ago.

Despite sustained diplomatic efforts, the Syrian regimes repeated use of chemical weapons against its own people has contributed to appalling human suffering since the start of the conflict. The use of such barbaric weapons is in flagrant violation of international standards and international norms. It is in breach of multiple United Nations Resolutions. And of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria ratified in 2013. A hundred years after the end of the First World War, we must do all we can to uphold, and not to erode, the Chemical Weapons Convention. NATO fully supports the efforts led by the United Nations to achieve a lasting political solution to the conflict in Syria. We call on all members of the UN Security Council to uphold their responsibilities.

At the same time, we call on all supporters of the Syrian regime, notably Russia, to exercise responsibility to ensure that the Syrian regime participates constructively in the UN-led Geneva process. NATO remains committed to the Coalition to Defeat ISIS, of which we are part. Defeating terrorism in all its forms remains a key objective for our countries and a key challenge for the stability in the region.

And with that Im ready to take a few questions.

OANA LANGESCU [NATO Spokesperson]: We'll start with the BBC at the very end.

QUESTION [BBC]: Thank you. It's Adam Fleming from the BBC. How much of the chemical weapons capability has actually been degraded or destroyed in these strikes? I mean, in other words, could the regime still carry out another Douma even after these airstrikes?

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: The NATO Allies that conducted a strike last night, the United States, the United Kingdom and France, briefed us in detail about the strikes and they assessed that it was a very successful action and it has significantly degraded the capabilities of Syria to conduct chemical attacks. And at the same time, it had also sent a very clear message helping to deter any future use of chemical weapons. But I will leave it to the three Allies which actually conducted the airstrikes to comment on details when it comes to the outcome and the effects of the attack, but all NATO Allies welcome that three Allies conducted attacks which has degraded the capabilities of Syria to conduct chemical attacks.

Let me also underline that this is about making sure that the use of chemical weapons cannot be something that happens with impunity. It has to be reactions, it has to be a strong reaction from the international community and thats exactly what we saw last night.

OANA LANGESCU [NATO Spokesperson]: Wall Street Journal?

QUESTION [Wall Street Journal]: Mr Secretary General, youve been out here several times in recent weeks, talking about the use of chemical weapons in attacks on people, both in the UK and now in Syria. Do you feel that the norms against the use of chemical weapons are weakening? You spoke about the need to strengthen deterrence in this. Do you feel that nations are more willing to use chemical weapons now?

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: The ban on the use of chemical weapons is under pressure because we have seen several examples of state actors, Syria, using chemical weapons, and thats also the reason why we have to uphold and support the ban on chemical weapons, and not erode it. And thats exactly why NATO Allies strongly condemn any use of chemical weapons and thats also why all NATO Allies support the actions taken by three Allies last night.

It is important, especially a hundred years after we saw the barbaric effects of chemical weapons used not far away from Brussels, in Flanders fields, where chemical weapons were used during the First World War, to do whatever we can to support, to uphold the ban on chemical weapons. So, thats exactly what the actions last night helped to do and thats exactly also why we will continue to work to strengthen the Chemical Weapons Convention.

OANA LANGESCU [NATO Spokesperson]: NRK, in the centre?

QUESTION [NRK]: Secretary General. If the proof is in the pudding, so to say, what have you what is in the pudding? What have you been able to see? What kind of evidence has been shared with you and why are you convinced, based on this evidence, that this was a correctly timed and correctly carried out attack?

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: We were briefed by the three Allies. They have provided a lot of information. We have no reason to doubt the assessments and the findings of our Allies, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. We also have to understand that the chemical attack took place in an area where the Assad regime forces are operating, supported by Russia and Iran. We have seen that the Syrian regime, the Assad regime has used chemical weapons before. We have seen multiple open sources confirming the use of chemical weapons and also the World Health Organisation has confirmed that chemical weapons were used.

So, all of this creates a picture which is more than enough for us to support the actions conducted by three NATO Allies last night. There have also been of course consultations between NATO and many NATO Allies since the attacks on 7th April. I was also briefed by Secretary Mattis last night, before the attacks, and we have also been of course in close contact with both the United Kingdom and France over the last days.

OANA LANGESCU [NATO Spokesperson]: Al Arabiya in the centre?

QUESTION [Al Arabiya New Channel]: Mr Secretary General, you describe the last night military operation as a successful operation. Do you believe after the briefing that you had with the from the three states that the stockpile of chemical weapons has been destroyed and there is no more need for further military attacks against the Syrian regime? And dont you think that this limited operation may complicate the search for a political solution? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: The last I didnt get the last question.

QUESTION [Al Arabiya]: Don't you think that the this military operation, even if it is a limited one, may threaten the search for a political solution by the United Nations?

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: No. Actually on the contrary, I think if we had just been silent and accepted the use of chemical weapons, it will had undermined the efforts to find a political solution. So, we strongly express support for a UN-led political process. There is no military solution to the conflict in Syria, but at the same time I think it really will be dangerous if the international community accepts use of chemical weapons. And therefore we support the actions taken last night, which were very targeted, measured and proportionate, and actually targeted at chemical weapon facilities.

We have been briefed by the Allies that conducted these strikes that they assessed them as very effective. They have been able to degrade the capabilities of the Syrian regime, and we are of course glad and we welcome the detailed briefs we have received from our Allies on the effect of the attacks.

QUESTION: [ITAR-TASS, Denis Dubrovin]: Thank you very much. Mr Secretary General, has United States explained why they decided to strike today, on Saturday, when the group of the international inspectors from the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have just arrived in Syria to verify all the details of the presumed chemical attack? And a second question, whom do you intend to bomb in case the information about this chemical attack would be proven to be wrong? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: We welcome the fact that the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, is on the ground in Syria. We have been calling for that for a long time. But it is important to understand the difference between OPCW and an independent investigation, because the OPCW doesnt have a mandate to attribute, to say who's behind the attack. They can provide analyses, assessments, about whether a chemical attack has taken place, but they cannot attribute who is behind. Thats exactly and who is responsible thats exactly why NATO Allies in the Security Council, and all NATO Allies, have supported repeated calls and repeated initiatives to have an independent investigation into the chemical attacks in Syria. And these initiatives have been blocked again and again by Russia, by using the veto in the Security Council. So, actually before the attack took place sorry, before the strikes took place last night, the NATO Allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue through the UN Security Council, by diplomatic and political means.

But since this was blocked by Russia, there was no other alternative than to react the way they reacted this night.

OANA LANGESCU [NATO Spokesperson]: Politico, last question?

QUESTION [Politico]: David Herszenhorn with Politico. Two quick questions: this is not the first time we're here. A little more than a year ago, President Trump ordered strikes because of a chemical attack. Understanding your point that there needs to be an answer from the international community, what gives you any reason to believe that this restrained, limited strike won't have us back here again in six months or a year, when there's another reason that the Assad regime may see for using chemical weapons? And also, can't help but notice that you have Russia on the mind. To what extent do you hold Moscow responsible for the attacks that took place, the use of chemical weapons, which they had obviously committed to removing in Astana?

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: So, Russia provides supports to the Assad regime and they have done that again and again, and they continue to do so. And in the area where the chemical weapon attack happened, or took place, on 7th April is near where Assad regime operates with support of Russia.

The attacks last night degraded the capabilities of Syria to conduct new attacks. And, at the same time, it sends a clear message which deter further attacks. But of course, we will never have a total guarantee against new attacks, as long as we have regimes or state and non-state actors which are willing to use chemical weapons. Thats exactly the reason why we need to continue to work hard to protect and uphold the ban on chemical weapons. War and weapons is barbaric, but chemical weapons are in particular barbaric and thats the reason why we have a specific ban on chemical weapons.

And if the international community just accepted the use of chemical weapons without doing anything it would be obvious that we would have risked escalation and more and more use of chemical weapons. So, I'm not saying that the attacks last night solve all problems, but compared to the alterative, to do nothing, this was the right thing to do. It deters further attacks, it degrades the capabilities of the Syrian regime to conduct new attacks, and it's a way to support the ban on chemical weapons.

OANA LANGESCU [NATO Spokesperson]: Thank you very much. This concludes this press point. Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: Thank you.(Natural News) The New York state medical board was dangerously allowing a doctor to practice medicine even after this doctor was caught abusing drugs, performing operations intoxicated, and stealing blood from patients. The doctors actions are not simple human error that can be forgotten. This doctor deliberately and repeatedly committed crimes and should never be trusted to care for patients again.

Dr. Richard Wessels history of unethical behavior began in 1999. After becoming intoxicated on wine one Friday night, he ventured into a North Carolina hospital to implant a pacemaker in a patient. When he was questioned about his blood alcohol level after the operation, Dr. Wessel agreed to give a blood sample. When hospital officials received the blood sample, they found out it was from one of Wessels patients. After the deceit, Wessels medical license was suspended for only two months. The suspension gave him some time off, but the unethical behavior continued.

A few years later in 2006, the heart doctor tested positive for cocaine. He also had hydrocodone in his system and some improperly prescribed drugs. Dr. Wessels was stripped of his medical license for two years for this. With the kind of salaries he received, these suspensions were like sabbaticals or vacations.

After the two year break, Dr. Wessel was back at it again. In 2014, the New York State medical board gave him a medical license to practice in the state. A review process that investigated prior misconduct ultimately determined that Dr. Wessel was of good moral character. Twelve years after his cocaine bust, he would go on to make more than $814,000 a year at the Canton-Potsdam Hospital in St. Lawrence County. Not long thereafter he was caught stealing prescription painkillers from patients. Wessel was recently caught possessing 118 hydrocodone-acetaminophen pills and none were prescribed for him. Now he faces five counts of petit larceny and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Lacking true standards, the New York State medical board has put numerous patients in harms way, subjecting them to a thief and criminal drug dealer who has a history of drug abuse and deceit. The department has refused to discuss Wessels medical license application and why he so easily waltzed into the state to practice medicine on a criminal record. Even though his suspensions are documented by the North Carolina Medical Board, the New York Medical Board permitted Wessel to do what he does best  get intoxicated, put patients in harms way, and violate doctor-patient relationships.

These state review applications are supposed to investigate a doctors track record. In the application, Dr. Wessel was required to list any prior suspensions. The state medical board is currently refusing to reveal Dr. Wessels application, but must reveal it after May 4th, when a Freedom of Information Act request goes into effect.

The other party that is mum on Dr. Wessels criminal conduct is the Canton-Potsdam Hospital, which hired Wessel in 2014. The hospital said it would not comment on personnel matters and refuses to say if they conducted a background check on the doctor. The hospital is required by law to check the National Practitioner Data Bank before hiring any doctor. This system checks for malpractice payments, suspensions, and other disciplinary actions.

Why are the authorities so quick to defend Dr. Wessel and conceal their review and oversight processes? Maybe its because these entities really dont have any ethical standard to go by. Their oversight is a facade and they dont want the public to know that anyone, regardless of their history, can waltz into a medical practice and begin putting patients lives at risk.

Youve heard the phrase on television, Ask your Doctor. Wouldnt it be more prudent to instead question your doctor? Not all doctors are ethical or principled people. Some are spoiled brats. Some are criminal drug users. There should be a zero tolerance policy for doctors who steal prescriptions, abuse cocaine, get drunk on the job, and steal blood from patients to pass drug tests.

For more on corruption in medicine and government, visit Corruption.News.

Sources include:

Syracuse.com

NCMedBoard.org

Hector Barajas, a deported veteran, was sworn in as an American citizen today in San Diego. Hed been working on regaining legal status in the United States for 14 years. Surrounded by his family, supporters, and dozens of TV cameras, he began with a tearful prayer, Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you today, for this opportunity to be home with my family.

Its a major turn of events for a man who has been cut off from his family in California for the past 14 years, and forced to scratch out a living in Tijuana Mexico. My dream is to put my daughter through college, find a job, continue to help others, he said.

NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit first visited Barajas in Tijuana, Mexico in early 2017, revealing that he was among more than 60 veterans who were deported to Mexico. More than 300 have been deported to other countries.

Barajas was a decorated soldier in the Army, where he served from 1995 to 2001 as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne. Like a lot of veterans, he developed problems with drugs after leaving military service. He was arrested in 2002 and charged with firing a weapon into a vehicle. No one was hurt, but Barajas went to prison for a year, followed by another year of probation.

Then came the stunning news. All along Barajas believed that as a soldier he was automatically a U.S. Citizen. His Army recruiters, he said, had promised citizenship. But Barajas crime was among a list of offenses known as Aggravated Felonies. That list was expanded in the 1990s during the Clinton presidency to include even minor crimes like drug possession and failure to appear in court. Under those laws, a non-citizen who commits such a crime can be deported.

Barajas was brought to the United States as a child by his parents, and established legal residency. But after his run in with the law, an immigration judge revoked his green card. Barajas was deported in 2004 to Mexico, a country he barely knew.

Once in Mexico, he found dozens of other vets who suffered the same fate. Barajas organized meetings and clinics on how to survive in Mexico, where jobs pay a small fraction of U.S. wages. The small shop where he works and sleeps came to be known as the Bunker, a place where veterans regularly go for job leads, immigration advice and camaraderie.

Its a horrible injustice, said Nathan Fletcher, a Retired Marine and former State Legislator. Hes been help Barajas and other veterans by raising funds for legal help and pushing for new laws that would grant citizenship to all veterans who have been honorably discharged from military service. Anyone willing to die for their country should have a country willing to give them citizenship, he said.

NBC San Diego (Apr 13, 2018)

For Hector Barajas, that battle is over. A pardon from Governor Jerry Brown gave him a clean slate, and allowed him to apply for citizenship. He plans to continue working in Tijuana to help his fellow deported veterans.

My biggest dream, he said, is to see all my brothers and sisters (deported veterans) go home.The U.S. Department of Justice has sent a letter to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf seeking information about her city's sanctuary policy.

The letter from Jon Adler, the department's director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, says the department is concerned that Oakland's policy may violate a federal law that bars local governments from preventing their employees from communicating with federal immigration agents.

Compliance with the law, known as Section 1373, is a condition of Justice Department grants to local governments under a program known as the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Program.

Similar letters previously have been sent to other cities and counties, including San Francisco, Berkeley, Fremont and Watsonville and Contra Costa, Monterey, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement, "When cities and states enact policies that thwart the federal government's ability

to enforce federal immigration law, they choose to place the protection of criminal aliens over the safety of their communities."

"The Justice Department will not tolerate this intentional effort to undermine public safety and the rule of law, and I continue to remind all jurisdictions to reconsider policies that put their residents in harm's way," Sessions said.

Adler's letter asks for Oakland to submit a response by May 14 explaining whether Oakland has laws, policies or practices that violate Section 1373.

Adler wrote, "The department is concerned that the city of Oakland's laws, policies or practices may violate Section 1373, or, at a minimum, may be interpreted or applied in a manner inconsistent with Section 1373."

However, Adler said, "Please be advised that the department has not made a final determination regarding the city of Oakland's compliance with Section 1373" and the letter "does not constitute final agency action."

A spokesman for Schaaf said she has forwarded the letter to City Attorney Barbara Parker to review it. A spokesman for Parker wasn't immediately available for comment.

Adler's letter cites the Oakland Police Department's policy manual, which states, "Officers shall not share non-public information about an individual's address, upcoming court date, or release date with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).

Officers shall respond to an ICE or CBP request for non-public information only when a judicial warrant accompanies the request."

Adler said, "This appears to restrict the sending of information regarding immigration status, in violation of Section 1373."Before Fridays game, Bruce Bochy said he was okay with the start the Giants have gotten off to given all the injuries in the rotation. He could not have been okay with their performance a few hours later.

The lineup wasted several opportunities and never got to Tyson Ross or the San Diego bullpen, falling 5-1 at Petco Park. The Giants have played 13 games and failed to score more than one run in seven of them. Thats very 2017 of them.

Here are five more takeaways from yet another lackluster performance in what used to be known as AT&T Park South...

Great start for Blach, but...

Ty Blach had a no-hitter going through four and the Padres had hit just one ball out of the infield at that point. Christian Villanueva scuttled any Hey, it is the Padres  thoughts while leading off the fifth. He hit a slow 63 mph grounder between the mound and third for an infield single. It had a hit probability of just 13 percent.

Not the best ending

The rest of the inning was much louder. Blach ended up giving up four singles in the two-run fifth, which also included an error by Brandon Belt. The killer was an RBI single by Ross. Blach left an 89 mph fastball up in the zone and Ross rocketed it to right.

Buntin' Brandon Belt

On a 1-1 count in his first at-bat, Brandon Belt put down a bunt, beating the shift for a single. Thats something the staff would like him to do often, and Belt has tried it at least three other times this season without getting the bunt down. He later bounced a single through the shift.

McClutch?

The big comeback opportunity came in the seventh when an error put two on with no outs. After a Joe Panik single got the Giants on the board, Belt went down looking. Andrew McCutchen bounced into a double play. McCutchen has two walk-offs this year, but hes also just 3-for-21 with runners in scoring position.

Dyson trending down

Sam Dyson entered in the seventh. Franchy Cordero immediately took him deep. The Dyson thing is going to get interesting. Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija are due back next week and Will Smith is right behind them, so eventually the Giants are going to start making cuts to their bullpen. Dyson has allowed five earned runs in five appearances.Some bad habits die hard when it comes to U.S. politicians traveling to Latin America.

The latest faux pas came from the White House ahead of Vice President Mike Pence's trip to Peru to attend the Summit of the Americas. Guidance sent to the press by Pence's office on Thursday said the vice president would attend a Friday banquet hosted by Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. But Kuczynski resigned last month amid a corruption scandal and was replaced by his vice president, Martin Vizcarra.

By Friday the mistake had been corrected.

Latin Americans have long been accustomed to such snubs from their powerful neighbors to the north.

President Ronald Reagan in 1982 famously raised his glass in the company of Brazil's president to toast the people of Bolivia. When the slip was pointed out, he quipped "Sorry, we're going there next." Except he wasn't and instead continued on to Colombia.

But errors in the age of Twitter aren't a monopoly of U.S. leaders. The official summit schedule released by Argentine President Mauricio Macri's office on Friday said he would be holding a bilateral meeting with Mike "Pince."

Pence's office had no immediate comment on the mistake.Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the strike on Syria launched by the United States and its allies as an "act of aggression" that will exacerbate humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

Putin slammed the attack as a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations."

He reaffirmed Russia's view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake. Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syrian President Bashar Assad tweeted.

Moscow called an emergency meeting of the United Nations' Security Council over the strike launched by the U.S., Britain and France, but the council rejected Russia's resolution to condemn the strikes. Only three countries  Russia, China and Bolivia  voted in favor, eight countries voted against and three abstained.

And the U.S. made clear that Russia was working to bury the truth, with the Pentagon saying a Russian "disinformation campaign" had already begun over the strikes. Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said Saturday that "there has been a 2,000 percent increase in Russian trolls in the past 24 hours."

The Russian Embassy in the U.S. piled on to the condemnation, saying President Donald Trump's criticism of Putin is "unacceptable and inadmissible."

The embassy said in a statement the president's airstrikes represent Russia's warnings "left unheard."

"Again we are being threatened," ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in a statement. "We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris."

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the attacks hit a long-troubled country "that for many years has been trying to survive terrorist aggression."

Zakharova also took Western media reports to task, saying, "The White House stated that its assuredness of the chemical attack from Damascus was based on 'mass media, reports of symptoms, video, photos as well as credible information.' After this statement, the American and other Western mass media should understand their responsibility in what is happening."

Sakharova compared the situation to the start of the Iraq War in 2003, which she said was based on claims Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.

A highly placed Russian politician even likened Trump to Adolf Hitler. Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, said Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time  because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union."

Sherin was referring to the time of day in Syria Trump chose to launch the strikes, according to state news agency RIA-Novosti. The Nazi forces' opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4 a.m.

Trump had chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that the Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. And on Friday, Trump called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," Trump said. "Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran  but maybe not."

A top Russian lawmaker said Moscow's response to Western airstrikes must be carefully considered.

"Emotion is not what's needed now, but professional assessment by military specialists working on the scene," Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee of the upper house of parliament, said Saturday, according to state news agency RIA-Novosti.

However, Kosachev said, the attack's meaning was clear: "It's a scandalous violation of international law and this is an attack on a sovereign state without an underlying basis."

Kosachev reiterated the view of other lawmakers that the attack's intent was to interfere with international investigators who want to probe whether a chemical weapons attack took place in the town of Douma last week.

Iran also joined Russia in denouncing Trump's decision. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the airstrikes a "military crime," speaking at a meeting with Iranian officials and ambassadors from some Islamic countries.

The report quoted Khamenei as calling the leaders of the United States, Britain and France "criminals."

Iran is a key ally of Assad and has sent troops to bolster his forces. Iran insists its soldiers are only in Syria in an advisory role, but hundreds have been killed since the civil war began in 2011.Hundreds of Syrians poured into the streets of Damascus on Saturday, dancing and chanting in defiance of what they called the West's "failure" to shake their nation's resolve with airstrikes that jolted the capital only hours earlier.

The demonstrations in support of President Bashar Assad were carried live on state TV, which also reported that Syrian air defenses had intercepted most of the missiles fired by the United States, Britain and France to punish Syria's purported use of chemical weapons. The broadcaster also urged people not to believe media reports that exaggerated the results of the airstrikes.

"We are not scared of America's missiles. We humiliated their missiles," said Mahmoud Ibrahim, who waved a Syrian flag as he hung out of his car window.

As car horns blared, the crowd moved toward nearby Damascus University where pro-government fighters danced and waved their automatic rifles over their heads. Many denounced U.S. President Donald Trump and also waved flags of Syria's allies, Iran and Russia, as they cheered Assad.

The display of national fervor later mixed with celebrations over the news that the Syrian army declared the eastern suburbs of Damascus "fully liberated" after the last group of rebels left the town of Douma. Its recapture marks the biggest victory for Assad's forces since the capture of the eastern half of the city of Aleppo in 2016.

The fall of Douma came after a punishing government offensive and a surrender deal struck with rebel groups. It also followed the purported use of chemical weapons there on April 7, which activists say killed over 40 people in the town and led to Saturday's airstrikes by the West.

"Trump failed in his aggression," said 51-year-old civil servant Mohammed Hammad. "Trump's failure came with the victory of our army in Douma, which marks the biggest victory for the Syrian Arab Army."

The bombardment began at 4 a.m., with loud explosions thundering in Damascus and the sky turning orange as fires raged in the distance.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising above eastern Damascus and spotted fiery streaks of surface-to-air missiles. The call to morning prayers at dawn mixed with the whoosh of missiles.

Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers blared nationalist songs.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidential account tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Later, a video showing Assad walking into his office carrying a briefcase was posted on the same account. "Good morning, steadfastness," the caption read.

As the sun rose, hundreds had gathered in Damascus' landmark Omayyad Square, celebrating what they said was the army's success in foiling the U.S-led military action.

The widely broadcast celebrations and the hastily organized police deployment in Douma appeared to be the government's response to the airstrikes.

The limited airstrikes came at a time when the Assad government is feeling empowered after having secured the region near the capital following other military victories backed by Russia and Iran in seven years of civil war.

Trump announced the airstrikes Friday night to attack Syria's chemical weapons program. He said Washington is prepared to keep pressure on Assad until he ends a "criminal pattern of killing his own people" with the internationally banned weapons.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted "Mission Accomplished," and the Pentagon said the strikes hit the "heart" of Syria's chemical program.

The U.S. had fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

Syria has repeatedly denied using banned weapons. Inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog group were in Damascus and had been expected to head to Douma on Saturday.

The limited strikes were deplored by the Syrian opposition, which saw the West as lacking an international strategy for dealing with the civil war.

Nasr al-Hariri, a senior opposition leader, said the international community must take responsibility for any retaliation by the Syrian government against civilians in opposition areas. He called for a strategy that leads to a political solution to "save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime."

Mohammad Alloush, spokesman for the Army of Islam rebel group that was expelled from Douma, tweeted that the airstrikes were a "farce."

A Syrian military statement said 110 missiles were fired Saturday by the U.S., Britain and France and that it shot down most of them. Russia's military said Syrian air defense units downed 71 of the missiles.

Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said no missiles were stopped. He added that Syria's air defenses were ineffective and that many of the more than 40 surface-to-air missiles fired by the Syrians were launched after the allied attack was over. He said the U.S. knew of no civilians killed by allied missiles.

The Syrian military said three civilians were wounded in one of the strikes in Homs.

A "number of missiles" targeted a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, and destroyed a building housing an education center and labs and caused other damage, the military said.

An AP reporter who went to the Center for Scientific Research on the northeastern edge of Damascus found the three-story building almost completely destroyed and still smoking hours after it was hit. An official there said the facility was used by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and helped develop cancer drugs.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs also was targeted and was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin production equipment. A chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, west of Homs, also were targeted, he said.

Russia and Iran called the use of force a "military crime" and "act of aggression." The U.N. Security Council met to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the "aggression" by the three Western allies.

Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Zeina Karam in Beirut, and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, contributed.A new robocall is circulating that calls on Chicagoans to register to vote. The controversial call uses salty language to blame Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council for squeezing every nickel out of voters from red light cameras to the bag tax.

Former State Senator Rickey Hendon, who is advising mayoral candidate Willie Wilson, forwarded the call. Heres the transcript:

Hello this is retired State Senator Rickey Hendon, and I have an urgent message. It is time for us to get up and get busy and register people to vote. If you are progressive, Black, White, Latino or otherwise  I know you feel like I feel; youre tired of this bullshit, the Rahm Emanuel and this sorry-ass City Council is doing to our people and to our city. If you feel like I feel, its time to register people to vote. Its time to stand up and fight the power. The time is now. Weve just proven in this last election, get rid of the Chairman of the Democratic Party Joe Berrios that we can do it if we just try, if we just make up our minds. Its time to get rid of Rahm Emanuel and those puppets in City Council that are holding him in power. We have a good candidate, his name is Willie Wilson. Willie Wilson thats who we need as the mayor of the city of Chicago and let me say to Black people, share this message with everybody. Everybody share this message, Black, White or otherwise. But specifically to you Black people. Listen, I know youre tired about children dying in the streets, I know youre tired of them closing our schools, I know youre tired of moving us out, running us down to Mississippi and Alabama, and out of the city of Chicago. Now if you want to live down south, fine, but if you want to stay in the city of Chicago, join with me, help stop Rahm Emanuel from selling us out of the city of Chicago like Egyptians did to Jews, like were running away, forced from our land. We should fight against this! I need your help. You can go to WillieWilson.com, WillieWilsonforMayor.com that is, and help fight these people. Share this message. Black, White, Latino, if youre progressive, share this message. Send it out to everybody. We have to stop this mess, that they got us in, cant you hear our children crying from the grave, being shot down by their own people, being shot down by the police, our babies cant even go to a party and have a good time anymore. I am tired of these red light cameras. Arent you tired of them just squeezing every nickel they can get out of us, bag tax, sugar tax, every damn tax they can think of? This is Rickey Hendon, join me, fight these people, fight these people, share the message, all summer long register your friends, register your enemies, register everybody, lets fight the power!"

In an interview, Hendon says people are ready, millennials are definitely ready, theyre just tired, no more of these excuses.

When Wilson ran for mayor in 2015, Emanuel initially challenged Wilsons petitions and Wilson said he kept me tied up for four or five weeks, before I could really try to make my case. Candidate petitions need signatures from registered voters with accurate addresses. In 1983, Harold Washington benefited from a surge in registered voters. Then there were 1.6 million registered Chicago voters. Theres been a population loss since then; today, there are 1.5 million registered.

Jim Allen, the spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections notes it is much easier today to register since if you have a drivers license or state ID you can go online. Also, unlike the olden days when you had to register 30 days before Election Day, you can register all the way up to and including Election Day.

Hendon says the Wilson campaign is starting early, we got yard signs early, we got buttons early, were going to fight all summer long.

With some six or seven candidates interested in running for mayor, Allen says the chances for a run off in April 2019 are simple, if somebody doesnt get 50 percent plus one, were going to have a runoff.Global warming is likely slowing the main Atlantic Ocean circulation, which has plunged to its weakest level on record, according to a new study.

The slowdown in the circulation  a crucial part of Earth's climate  had been predicted by computer models, but researchers said they can now observe it. It could make for more extreme weather across the Northern Hemisphere, especially Europe, and could increase sea level rise along the U.S. East Coast, they said.

The slowdown also raises the prospect of a complete circulation shutdown, which would be a dangerous "tipping point," according to a study in Wednesday's journal Nature.

Such a shutdown was the premise of the scientifically inaccurate 2004 disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow." Study authors said a collapse is at least decades away but would be a catastrophe.

"We know somewhere out there is a tipping point where this current system is likely to break down," said study co-author Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. "We still don't know how far away or close to this tipping point we might be. ... This is uncharted territory."

Some other scientists are skeptical, citing a scarcity of data.

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, called AMOC, is a key conveyor belt for ocean water and air, creating weather. Warm salty water moves north from the tropics along the Gulf Stream off the U.S. East Coast to the North Atlantic, where it cools, sinks and heads south. The faster it moves, the more water is turned over from warm surface to cool depths.

"This overturning circulation redistributes heat on our planet," said study lead author Levke Caesar, a physicist at the Potsdam Institute. "It brings heat from the tropics to the high latitudes."

The Caesar study and another one published in the same issue of Nature by a different team indicate that the Atlantic's circulation is the weakest it's been in about 1,500 years. And the slowdown is intensifying.

Since the middle of the 20th century, the speed at which the ocean moves water in the AMOC has dropped 15 percent, the study found, using cold subpolar water temperatures as an indirect measurement. And it has plummeted in recent years, the study concluded.

The Gulf Stream, the warm water current where hurricanes can power up, historically veers away from the United States around the Carolinas or Virginia. The Gulf Stream now hugs closer to coast around New York, and there's a significantly warmer bulge around Maine related to the circulation slowdown, Rahmstorf and Caesar said. The northern U.S. Atlantic coastal waters have warmed faster than most parts of the ocean in recent decades, researchers said.

Scientists blame global warming in a couple of ways.

Warmer water lessens the amount of cooling and makes it harder for the water to sink and turn over. Ice sheets and glaciers in Greenland are melting and the fresh water is pouring into the area where the water turns over, making it less salty, less dense and therefore less likely to sink. There's also more rain and snow in northern areas and more evaporation in southern areas, altering the flow, Rahmstorf said.

"It's a slow change at the moment, but we're changing it," Caesar said. "One danger is in the unknown of what will happen. We should expect changes."

Rahmstorf and Caesar looked at an established cold patch  about 2 million square miles (5.2 million square kilometers), or the size of India and Mexico combined  as the indirect measurements for the speed of the AMOC, calling it a fingerprint of the ocean circulation.

It's clear that the circulation is weakening, said Colorado State hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach, who wasn't part of the studies. Decades ago, that would have meant weaker Atlantic hurricane activity, but that hasn't been happening and it could mean there is a difference in weakening in winter and summer, he said.

Andreas Schmittner at Oregon State University, who also wasn't part of the studies, said the Potsdam group's analysis makes sense, adding that as the world emits more greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels, we can expect it to slow further.

But MIT's Carl Wunsch said that the paper's "assertions of weakening are conceivable, but unsupported by any data."

And Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research said his recent work faults regular cycles in the atmosphere more than the ocean. He said the Potsdam study doesn't explain year to year variability, while atmospheric cycles do.

Rahmstorf said his study averages data over a decade at a time to render year-to-year changes less meaningful. The work shows that it is ocean circulation that drives the changes in atmosphere, not the other way around, he said.Using those hot-air hand dryers in restrooms actually spread bacteria, including fecal bacteria on your hands, according to a new study conducted at UConn.

In most institutions, toilets dont have lids and when you flush them you get a little bit of an aerosol, said Dr. Peter Setlow, a molecular biology and biophysics professor at UConn Health.

So, where does that toilet plume go?

The hand dryers grab that air in the bathroom and accelerate it, Setlow said.

During the study, plates were placed under hand dryers to collect the bacteria being blown out of the hand dryer.

Wed get up to 150, 200 individual bacterial colonies and obviously different because they were different colors, different shapes, different smell, Setlow said.

They tested 36 bathrooms multiple times and got similar results. The study was done in a research area in the academic building at UConn Health in Farmington not open to the public. However, Setlow said hand dryers in most public bathrooms work the same way.

The bacteria that are blown from the hand dryers are coming from the bathroom air, said Setlow.

Setlow has been studying molecular biology for 50 years. He said of the nearly 500 papers hes helped author, this one, published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, has gotten the most attention.

People who spoke with NBC Connecticut said news of the study may make them change their habits.

It definitely makes me hesitate to use them, Amy Anderson, of West Hartford, said.

"Id just shake off your hands maybe. Just dry them on your sweatshirt, said Sean Brierty, of Barkhamsted.

Setlow said adding HEPA filters to the hand dryers reduced the amount of bacteria four-fold when they were attached to the same dryers previously tested.Richwood, TX (77531)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early giving way to steady rain after midnight - it will be heavy at times. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early giving way to steady rain after midnight - it will be heavy at times. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.Gun rights advocates gathered for a rally at the State Capitol in Hartford on Saturday.

Hundreds of people showed up for the event organized by the Connecticut Citizens Defense League.

Organizers said the rally was to show lawmakers that there is support for the Second Amendment in Connecticut.

"We have watched as law-abiding individuals have become vilified simply because they wish to have the means for self-protection. This is why we are rallying," CCDL President Scott Wilson said in a release. "Those who support our rights will not simply sit back and let those very rights be trampled on."

The rally was scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.The banks of the Farmington River will be filled with people starting Saturday for opening day of trout season.

It was a long winter. It snowed three days ago. So, people have been itching to get out, Vincent Lodovico, a New Hartford resident, said.

Bait and tackle shops are always a busy place right before opening day as people line up for a fishing license.

A lot of licenses, a lot of the new five-dollar trout stamps, new fishing line, hooks, sinkers, flies, new fly line, new waiters to replace their leaky waiters. Just about anything you can think of, Up Country Sport Fishing's Torrey Collins said.

Its just about tradition. Im 59 years old and since I was five years old, this is Christmastime for us, Jeffrey Musumano, a Bristol resident, said.

Those looking to come home with more than just fish tales should take this advice.

Just remember that the waters still cold even though the air temps are warming up, Collins said. Make sure youre doing what you need to do to get your fly, bait, or lure down to the bottom where the fish are.

Predicting a packed river bank, some said theyll wait until the waters are less crowded.

Youll see people from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, we were just talking about the plates that we see from people whove made this a destination, Lodovico said.

Its been a while since Ive been here last, it used to be elbow to elbow, added Gary Englert, who lives in Cadott, Wis.

More than a decade after he moved to the Midwest, the Bristol native said its a part of Connecticut hes missed.

Its coming back. Its coming back. Its small town. Its New England. Its everything I grew up loving, Englert said.

DEEP said Connecticuts lakes, streams, rivers, and ponds will have 550,000 new trout when theyre finished stocking.Thousands of miles from home, Vice President Mike Pence was thrust into a new, more immediate, role on the world stage Saturday: explaining President Donald Trump's military strike in Syria to a summit of Latin America leaders.

Hours after Trump hailed the missile strike targeting the Syria's suspected chemical weapons  tweeting, "Mission Accomplished!"  Pence defended the president while building support among U.S. allies for the joint strikes with Britain and France.

"The objective of the mission the commander in chief gave our military forces and our allies was completely accomplished  with swift professionalism," Pence told reporters, noting there were "no reported civilian casualties."

Later, speaking in a cavernous hall of world leaders at the Summit of the Americas, Pence expressed gratitude to Canada, Colombia and other nations that had voiced support for the strike and urged "every nation in this hemisphere of freedom" to support the military action.

Pence's to-do list included smoothing over differences with Mexico, America's southern neighbor, amid unease over Trump's decision to send troops to the border and harsh rhetoric on immigration. And with tensions simmering over trade, Pence expressed hope alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the three nations could soon agree to a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement.

And while Trump grapples with the ongoing Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, Pence sought to draw a bright line against Vladimir Putin's alliance with Syria following the suspected chemical attack. "Our message to Russia is that you're on the wrong side of history," Pence said.

Trump often improvises his remarks and is known for bold declarations in person and on his Twitter account. Pence, meanwhile, tends to be more scripted in his exchanges and frequently glanced down at highlighted index cards as he spoke to Latin American leaders here.

Shortly before Trump's address to the nation Friday night, Pence was whisked away from the summit in his motorcade so he could return to his hotel to inform congressional leaders of the pending missile strikes. Pence watched Trump's speech from his hotel suite, joined by aides.

Unlike past appearances at international summits, the vice president had to dive into the packed agenda on short notice. He learned only Tuesday that he would be attending in Trump's place so the president could manage the U.S. response to Syria.

In meeting after meeting, Pence offered a low-key, extended hand.

Seeking rapprochement with Mexico, which has been at odds with Trump over the border wall and immigration, Pence said the topic of funding for Trump's long-promised border wall did not come up in his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Pence said they simply had a difference of opinion and some issues were "set aside, for a later date." Left unsaid was whether Pence's overtures might eventually lead to a joint Trump-Pena Nieto meeting, their first.

Seated alongside Trudeau, Pence said there was a "real possibility" the U.S. could reach a deal with Canada and Mexico on NAFTA "within the next several weeks." Trump has long assailed the trade deal's impact on U.S. workers and threatened to pull the U.S. out if he's unhappy with the terms.

The summit also gave Pence an opportunity to press the case for tougher sanctions and more isolation of Venezuela across the region.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was barred from attending the summit over his plans to hold a presidential election that the opposition is boycotting and that many foreign governments consider a sham.

Pence urged Maduro to accept humanitarian aid as the once-prosperous nation deals with humanitarian and economic crises. But he called on the region to take a harder line on Maduro's government, a message he intends to deliver in Brazil next month.

"The United States believes now is the time to do more, much more," he said.U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Deputy Commissioner Ron Vitiello and El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Hull detailed the impending deployments of National Guard elements in New Mexico and West Texas Friday morning, highlighting their job responsibilities.

"The acquisition of National Guard personnel in a support capacity will be a welcome asset in providing: additional surveillance, engineering, administrative and mechanical expertise, mobile communications, border-related intelligence analysis and repair of border infrastructure in west Texas and southern New Mexico," officials said in a news release Friday morning.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said more than half of roughly 1,400 National Guard members the state wants to put on the U.S.-Mexico border are already on the job.

Abbott said Thursday in the Texas border city of Weslaco that morale is high among troops. He spoke to reporters after a briefing with National Guard officers and Border Patrol agents.

The Republican defended President Donald Trump's military deployment plan to fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Abbott said about 450 people each day are apprehended crossing the border in the Rio Grande Valley alone.

Abbott said 1,400 troops in Texas may be the final size of the operation but that the number could change "depending on circumstances on the ground."A Fort Worth man has spent 21 years behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. Now he may get a chance to prove it.

But his appeal rests on a very small amount of DNA evidence and prosecutors are making the case that overturning his conviction on that basis would set a dangerous example.

NBC5 sat down for an exclusive interview with the man fighting to clear his name.

Behind the barbed wire of the Terrell Unit state prison near Houston, there is a lot of time to think.

"I could have been here, I could have done that," said inmate Johnnie Dunning. "There's so many things I could have done, but I was here for something I didn't do."

Dunning is there for a terrible crime, raping a mentally-challenged 12-year-old boy back in 1996 in the laundry room of the Taj Mahal Apartments in West Fort Worth.

Prosecutors say the boy told family members Dunning did it and picked him out of a photo line-up.

"I don't know who he was at all," Dunning said. "How he picked me out of the lineup, I don't know."

Dunning initially pled not guilty. But on the morning of the trial, his defense cratered when the judge disallowed key evidence about the victim's stepfather, a three-time convicted child sex offender.

Dunning, who already had two felonies on his record for credit card abuse, says he feared getting a life sentence for a third strike. So, on his lawyers advice, he took a deal: the minimum sentence of 25 years for a guilty plea.

"I pled guilty because I knew that somewhere down the line I would have the appeal process and I would be exonerated," Dunning said.

But years of appeals were denied until last month when the 2nd Court of Appeals said Dunning should get a new trial, based on previously-untested DNA from the victim's shorts.

Dunning's new attorney, Bill Ray, believes the DNA clears him. It doesn't match his client.

"There were at least two people's DNA on there, Ray said. Of course one of them is going to be the victim's, and the other one is not Johnnie Dunning. That seems pretty clear."

But the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office argues the DNA evidence isn't strong enough. An expert testified it was "trace levels" that could have come "from all sorts of sources."

Dr. Roxanne Zascavage is an assistant professor in UT Arlington's Criminology and Criminal Justice Department, with a focus on forensic DNA analysis. She was not involved in Dunning's case but says relying on trace DNA can be risky.

"There are so many things you don't know, said Dr. Zascavage. It can say that an individual has touched this desk. It cannot say whether they touched it today or whether they touched it three years ago."

And it leaves other open questions.

"You pick up my DNA and it shows that I've been here. Just because I didn't pick up yours doesn't mean that you weren't," said Dr. Zascavage.

By now Dunning has served close to his full sentence, 21 out of 25 years behind bars. He's been up for parole but says he didn't want to take it because it would have meant confessing again.

"I pled guilty for something I didn't do, strike one, Dunning said. I'm not gonna put strike two, strike three on me."

Dunning may well finish his sentence before the appeals process is done, but he says he'll never stop fighting to clear his name, and he had a message for the victim of that terrible crime 21 years ago.

"I'm sorry about the hurt that you went through, Dunning said. Im sorry that someone violated you and I feel for you but I'm so sorry, I didn't do that to you."

The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office declined an interview because the case is still ongoing. They are preparing to appeal to a higher court.

As for that "trace DNA evidence" there was so little of it, it doesn't meet the scientific standards to be reliably compared to any other potential suspects. Essentially, experts say, it couldn't be used to convict someone else.President Donald Trump on Saturday declared "Mission Accomplished" for a U.S.-led allied missile attack on Syria's chemical weapons program, but the Pentagon said the pummeling of three chemical-related facilities left enough others intact to enable the Assad government to use banned weapons against civilians if it chooses.

"A perfectly executed strike," Trump tweeted after U.S., French and British warplanes and ships launched more than 100 missiles nearly unopposed by Syrian air defenses. "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

His choice of words recalled a similar claim associated with President George W. Bush following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Bush addressed sailors aboard a Navy ship in May 2003 alongside a "Mission Accomplished" banner, just weeks before it became apparent that Iraqis had organized an insurgency that tied down U.S. forces for years.

The nighttime Syria assault was carefully limited to minimize civilian casualties and avoid direct conflict with Syria's key ally, Russia, but confusion arose over the extent to which Washington warned Moscow in advance. The Pentagon said it gave no explicit warning. The U.S. ambassador in Moscow, John Huntsman, said in a video, "Before we took action, the United States communicated with" Russia to "reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties."

Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, said that to her knowledge no one in the Defense Department communicated with Moscow in advance, other than the acknowledged use of a military-to-military hotline that has routinely helped minimize the risk of U.S.-Russian collisions or confrontations in Syrian airspace. Officials said this did not include giving Russian advance notice of where or when allied airstrikes would happen.

Russia has military forces, including air defenses, in several areas of Syria to support President Bashar Assad in his long war against anti-government rebels.

Russia and Iran called the use of force by the United States and its allies a "military crime" and "act of aggression." The U.N. Security Council met to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the "aggression" by the three Western allies.

Trump's U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, told the session that the president has made it clear that if Assad uses poison gas again, "the United States is locked and loaded."

Assad denies he has used chemical weapons, and the Trump administration has yet to present hard evidence of what it says precipitated the allied missiles attack: a chlorine gas attack on civilians in Douma on April 7. The U.S. says it suspects that sarin gas also was used.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Assad tweeted, while hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus, the capital, where they flashed victory signs and waved flags in scenes of defiance after the early morning barrage.

The strikes "successfully hit every target," White told reporters at the Pentagon. The military said there were three targets: the Barzah chemical weapons research and development site in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a chemical weapons "bunker" a few miles from the second target.

Although officials said the singular target was Assad's chemical weapons capability, his air force, including helicopters he allegedly has used to drop chemical weapons on civilians, were spared. In a U.S. military action a year ago in response to a sarin gas attack, the Pentagon said missiles took out nearly 20 percent of the Syrian air force.

As of Saturday, neither Syria nor its Russian or Iranian allies retaliated, Pentagon officials said.

The U.S.-led operation won broad Western support. The NATO alliance gave its full backing; NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels that the attack was about ensuring that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the attack "necessary and appropriate."

In his televised address from the White House on Friday evening, Trump said the U.S. was prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until the Syrian leader ends what Trump called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. That did not mean military strikes would continue. In fact, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said no additional attacks were planned.

Asked about Trump's "Mission Accomplished" assertion, White said it pointed to the successful targeting of three Syrian chemical weapons sites. What happens next, she said, is up to Assad and to his Russian and Iranian allies.

Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said the allied airstrikes "took out the heart" of Assad's chemical weapons arsenal. He said the missiles hit the "sweet spot," doing the expected level of damage while minimizing the unintentional release of toxic fumes that could be harmful to nearby civilians.

When pressed, he acknowledged that some unspecified portion of Assad's chemical arms infrastructure was not targeted.

"There is still a residual element of the Syrian program that is out there," McKenzie said, adding, "I'm not going to say they're going to be unable to continue to conduct a chemical attack in the future. I suspect, however they'll think long and hard about it."

Assad's Barzah research and development center in Damascus was destroyed, McKenzie said. "It does not exist anymore."

A former officer in Syria's chemical program, Adulsalam Abdulrazek, said Saturday the joint U.S., British, and French strikes hit "parts of but not the heart" of the program. He said the strikes were unlikely to curb the government's ability to produce or launch new attacks. Speaking from rebel-held northern Syria, Abdulrazek told The Associated Press there were perhaps 50 warehouses in Syria that stored chemical weapons before the program was dismantled in 2013.

Vice President Mike Pence, in Peru for a meeting of regional leaders, said "there will be a price to pay" involving military force if Syrian chemical weapons are used again.

Disputing the Russian military's contention that Syrian air defense units downed 71 allied missiles, McKenzie said no U.S. or allies missiles were stopped. He said Syria's air defenses were ineffective and that many of the more than 40 surface-to-air missiles fired by the Syrians were launched after the allied attack was over. He said the U.S. knew of no civilians killed by allied missiles.

McKenzie said 105 U.S. and allied missiles were fired, of which 66 were Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from aboard three U.S. Navy ships and one Navy submarine. U.S., British and French attack aircraft, including two U.S. Air Force B-1B strategic bombers, launched stealthy, long-range missiles from outside Syrian airspace, officials said.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlin's skepticism about the allies' Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to complete their visit to the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was little doubt the Syrian government used a barrel bomb  large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal  to deliver the chemicals at Douma. "No other group" could have carried out that attack, May said, adding that the allies' use of force was "right and legal."

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.Hundreds of students at California Polytechnic State University held an emergency town hall at the San Luis Obispo campus to denounce racism and intolerance after social media posts showed a fraternity member in blackface and others dressed as gangster stereotypes and throwing gang signs.

The Tribune reports that students demanded action during the meeting Monday night.

The Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity has been placed on interim suspension while the university reviews the situation.

Cal Poly Dean of Students Kathleen McMahon says in a news release that racism and hate are unwelcome and the university is focused on enhancing diversity.

In a statement to the school newspaper, the Mustang News, the fraternity said it was sorry and embarrassed for failing to recognize the racial impacts this brought forth.

The statement says the photo was taken at a fraternity event Saturday.The city of Beaumont on Tuesday could become the first Inland Empire municipality to oppose California's so-called sanctuary state law, joining Orange County and a number of its cities in challenging the statute's validity.

The council is set to debate a resolution that would assert Beaumont's belief that Senate Bill 54, the "California Values Act," is incompatible with federal law and, therefore, illegitimate.

At the council's April 3 meeting, members of the Banning-Beaumont-Cherry Valley Tea Party spoke against SB 54 and presented a model ordinance for the council to consider. The submission underscores that the U.S.

Constitution's Supremacy Clause, contained in Article Six, makes it unlawful for any state to ratify laws that undermine constitutional provisions.

San Diego County's Board of Supervisors is slated to take up a similar resolution Tuesday. Orange County recently passed its own, with the supervisors voting to join a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit filed against California last month seeking to invalidate SB 54, which Attorney General Jeff Sessions compared to an act of "secession" from federal jurisdiction.

Cities that have passed resolutions backing the lawsuit include Aliso Viejo, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange and San Juan Capistrano.

Sen. Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, who authored SB 54, has been stumping against surging opposition to the bill, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law on Oct 5.

De Leon argued in literature attached to SB 54 that "65-75 percent of all deportations nationwide are the result of collaboration between law enforcement agencies and Immigration Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection,'' and the practice must be stopped to prevent the "devastating impact deportations have'' on undocumented immigrants and their families.

Most components of the legislation were opposed by the California State Sheriffs' Association over concerns about the ability of law enforcement officers to apprehend criminal immigrant offenders and coordinate with federal agents to ensure they face prosecution.

SB 54 makes it illegal for county or municipal peace officers to do any of the following: -- ask about an arrestee's immigration status; -- honor a federal immigration hold request or detainer, unless it's specifically authorized by a judge; -- arrest a person based on a civil immigration warrant; -- notify federal authorities about the pending release of a jailed illegal immigrant, with a couple of exceptions based on criminal history; -- participate in task forces that target illegal immigrant offenders; and -- utilize immigration officers as interpreters during interactions with suspects.

SB 54 also mandates that schools, health facilities, libraries and courthouses serve as "safe zones," where undocumented immigrants can come and go without risk of detention.

The legislation was an expansion of Assembly Bill 4, the so-called "Trust Act" of 2013, which prohibits honoring federal detainer requests, specifically for foreigners arrested or suspected of minor offenses.

The cities of Loma Linda, Redlands and Yucaipa may be considering anti-SB 54 resolutions of their own soon.Los Angeles-area residents are kicking local organizations into high gear to help the innocent after U.S and its allies sent missiles to Syria Friday in a strike approved by President Donald Trump.

Syrian Institute 4 Progress, a Foothill Ranch-based organization dedicated to delivering relief to Syrian children affected by chemical weapon attacks, are preparing to send helpful supplies after the recent strike. It hopes its mission to help the innocent will inspire others to participate and donate. Another organization, Save Syrias Children, shares the same mission and hopes.

"I think once people learn whats happening in Syria, thats when they open up their hearts and a lot of times, their pocketbooks," Phil Koosed of Save Syria's Children said.

Phil Koosed, a Sherman Oaks resident, founded Save Syrias Children alongside his wife, Tamar. The couple use international connections to ship supplies to those in need in Syria.

Saed Moujtahed, the CEO of Syrian Institute 4 Progress, is not a fan of Trump, but feels the action taken was necessary.

"There's no time to go to Congress. People are dying in hundreds of thousands," Moujtahed said. "If we stand up for our American value, the president did the right things."

Moujtaheds group, Syrian Institute 4 Progress, helps civil war victims by bringing burn victims stateside for treatment.

"We really hope we will be out of business very soon," Tamar Koosed said. "We dont know if it will be because of the recent strikes, but we hope the killings stop in Syria so that these supplies are no longer needed."

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the targets selected by the U.S., which were mainly in western Syria, were selected to minimize civilian casualties.

Mattis said the attack was a "one-time shot" if Syrian President Bashar Assad does not use chemical weapons on his people.

If you would like to donate to Syrian Institute 4 Progress, you may do so here.

Those who would like to contribute to Save Syrias Children can do so here.A decorated U.S. Army soldier died Tuesday, April 10 during training at the National Training Center in Californias Fort Irwin, according to officials.

Nineteen-year-old Julian Diaz, a Private who enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2017, was an Arizona native who was awarded the National Defense and Army Service Ribbons. The teen was a 7th Infantry Division Soldier who was killed in a car incident, according to statement released by officials.

Major General Willard Burleson III, the 7th Infantry Division commanding general, offered his sympathies to Diazs loved ones.

"The soldiers of 1-2 SBCT honor Private Diaz through their steadfast commitment, care for each other and their will to get better every day," Burleson said.

Details on Diazs death were not immediately available pending investigation.The search has been called off for a man who jumped overboard his cruise ship Friday as it traveled to Cape Liberty, New Jersey, from the Bahamas.

The 24-year-old man from the U.S. was seen "intentionally going overboard" the Anthem of the Seas ship just after 4 p.m. Friday when the vessel was off the coast of Virginia, Royal Caribbean Cruises manager Owen Torres said.

"The ship immediately began a search for the guest and notified the U.S. Coast Guard," he said. "After several hours of searching, the Coast Guard released Anthem to resume its scheduled itinerary while USCG search operations continue," Torres said.

The Coast Guard searched overnight for the young man by helicopter and sea, but by 11 a.m. Saturday the search was called off, NJ.com reports.

"There's not a possibility that he is alive," a Coast Guard spokesman said.



Torres said the ship's "Care Team" was providing support to the guests family. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time."



The cruise ship was set to leave New Jersey Saturday evening, per its scheduled itinerary.What to Know The NYPD said it is deploying counterterrorism units around New York City after President Trump announced military strikes in Syria

There are no specific threats to the New York City at this time, according to a NYPD spokesman

The strikes in Syria come in retaliation to a suspected chemical attack on civilians on April 7

Counterterrorism officers have been deployed around New York City as a precaution following President Trump's announcement of military strikes in Syria, the NYPD said.

Department spokesman Phillip Walzak said in a statement Friday night that there were no credible threats to New York City at this time, and that the officers are being deployed "out of an abundance of caution."

"The NYPD is working with our intelligence bureau liaisons stationed abroad as well as our federal partners, and closely monitoring the U.S. military action in Syria," Walzak said.

The police action comes about an hour after Trump announced the strikes in retaliation to a suspected chemical attack on civilians on April 7.

Defense Department officials said the strikes targeted three sites related to the production and storage of the suspected chemical weapons.

There were "no reports of losses" on the part of the U.S. and its allies, according to Defense Secretary James Mattis. He added that "right now this is a one-time shot" but the military is not ruling out further attacks.What to Know Officer Sean Gannon, a member of the K9 unit at the Yarmouth Police Department, was serving a warrant a Marstons Mills home when he was shot

The 32-year-old was taken to Cape Cod Hospital where he later passed away

Following a standoff, police arrested Thomas Latanowich, 29. He is being charged with murder. Latanowich has had more than 100 prior arrests

A police officer was shot and killed while serving a warrant at a Cape Cod home on Thursday afternoon.

Officer Sean Gannon, 32, a member of the Yarmouth police K9 unit, was serving a warrant at a home on Blueberry Lane in the Marstons Mills area of Barnstable when he was shot. Gannon was taken to Cape Cod Hospital, where he later died.

Gannon's police dog Nero was also shot. He underwent emergency surgery and is recovering at an undisclosed location on Cape Cod.

Police Pay Tribute to Fallen Yarmouth Officer

"With deep sorrow and heavy hearts the Yarmouth Police Department reports the loss of Officer Sean Gannon," the department wrote on Facebook Thursday night.

"I treat all of my officers like they are my own sons and daughters," Yarmouth Police Chief Fred Fredrickson said. "To lose one is like losing my own."

The suspect, 29-year-old Thomas Latanowich, of Somerville, was taken into custody after a standoff with police.

Sharon Ellis, who lives on Blueberry Lane, looked out her window Thursday and saw three people enter the home where the shooting took place. The next thing she knew, there was chaos.

"We did hear what I believed to be a couple of gunshots," she said. "It was all kinds of crazy."

Latanowich has been charged with murder in Gannon's death. He was ordered held without bail at his arraignment Friday in the First District Court of Barnstable.

When Latanowich was arrested in December of 2016 and charged in a non-fatal stabbing, Yarmouth police described him as a "notorious and violent criminal" with over 100 prior criminal charges in Massachusetts.

A warrant was issued for his arrest last week after he violated his probation by being absent for a home visit and missing drug test.

Yarmouth Police

Fellow police departments and other public officials have been showing their support for Gannon, his family members and his colleagues on social media.

Gannon's cruiser is on display outside the Yarmouth Police Department, covered in black-and-purple bunting. A makeshift memorial has been set up in his honor, and flags at the station are flying at half-staff.

"I am heartbroken to learn of the passing of Officer Gannon," Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement Thursday. "My thoughts and prayers are with his family, loved ones and the Yarmouth Police Department after this tragic loss. The Commonwealth is blessed to have courageous men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our communities every day."A Mexican-born veteran who was twice deported and waged a years-long fight to return to the U.S. became an American citizen Friday in a ceremony in San Diego.

"The citizenship only validates what Ive always felt in my heart: Im a proud American patriot," Hector Barajas-Varela said to cheers from supporters and veterans groups outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) building.

Barajas-Varela was sworn in at a private naturalization ceremony surrounded by loved ones, a move made possible by Gov. Jerry Browns pardon of a criminal offense last year.

"I want to thank Gov. Jerry Brown for this historic pardon, which was my biggest barrier," Barajas-Varela said. "He showed that California has upheld its values and is supportive of immigrants like me."

Barajas-Varela was departed in 2004 after serving two years in prison for shooting at an occupied vehicle in 2002. He made his way back to the U.S. before being deported again in 2010.

Last month, Barajas-Varela learned he was granted U.S. citizenship. Brown removed a major obstacle to citizenship by pardoning him last year, noting his distinguished military service and advocacy work.

"I'm in the United States," Barajas-Varela said in a Facebook Live post shortly after crossing the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a crowd of friends, community members and other deported veterans gathered for a sendoff outside the Deported Veterans Support House in Tijuana, which Barajas-Varela founded in 2013.

"All the brothers that are still here, you know, we have the motto of 'leave no man behind.' But, I told you guys I wish could take you  take you guys with me." Barajas-Varela said choking back tears, to which a man in the crowd replied, "well get there, buddy."

He then departed Tijuana en route to downtown San Diego, where he would pledge his allegiance to the U.S. and be sworn-in as an American citizen.

During his eight years living in Tijuana, Barajas-Varela worked directly with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in San Diego to launch the Deported Veterans Support House health clinic.

Through the clinic, he helped dozens of veterans receive benefits, including psychological exams, employment counselors and help from lawyers.

"My biggest dream is to see all my brothers and sisters go home to the country theyre willing to die for," Barajas-Varela said Friday.



He is believed to be the first deported veteran that has been granted U.S. citizenship. His story is bringing hope to other deported veterans and veterans stateside facing deportation proceedings.

"Now finally we can say 'yes,' he has opened the doors for the other veterans," said Manuel Valenzuela, a veteran facing possible deportation.

Valenzuela vowed to Barajas-Varela that he would make it to San Diego for his U.S. arrival, and made the trip from Colorado Springs to follow through on a promise he made nine years earlier when the two first met.

Valenzuela told NBC 7 after the ceremony the two will go to church together.

Barajas-Varela was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and arrived in the U.S. with his parents when he was 7. He grew up in the U.S. and enlisted in the Army in 1995. He received numerous accolades and awards, including the Army Commendation Medal and Humanitarian Service Medal.

He was honorably discharged in 2001.

Following his service in the Army, Barajas-Varela said he had difficulty adjusting to civilian life. He became addicted to drugs, and in 2002, was sentenced to two years in prison and nearly a year in detention after he pleaded no contest to shooting at an occupied vehicle.

Once released, he was placed in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who deported him to Nogales, Sonora.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Barajas-Varela said that he was unable to adjust to life in Mexico, a country he was unfamiliar with, and made his way back into the U.S. before being deported again in 2010.

Barajas-Varela is eager to change his circumstances this time around.

"Im an all-American patriot I proudly serve my adopted country as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne. I believe I am no less of an American because of the mistakes that Ive made," he said Friday.

He plans to serve with the Deported Veterans Support House for one more year before returning to his family. He wants to go back to school, continue supporting the community and put his daughter through college.The executive director of Philadelphia's animal shelter is out of a job after questions arose about financial management and staff well-being during his tenure.



Vincent Meadley left ACCT on Friday after three years with the shelter, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney's administration and the shelter's board confirmed Friday afternoon. ACCT, which is based in the city's Hunting Park section, has a contract with the City of Philadelphia to provide shelter and animal care services.

An ACCT spokesman described Meadley's leaving as "mutual" in a statement.



Meadley's departure came hours after he finished an interview with the NBC10 Investigators regarding the shelter's finances and the treatment of staff and volunteers who worked there.

Meadley denied any financial mismanagement, but said he regretted some of his actions concerning staff and volunteers.

ACCT's board and the city will conduct a national search for a replacement, officials said. Operations director Audra Houghton will lead the shelter in the interim.

When a Vista woman took off in her camper to visit her nephew in Washington State for Easter, she envisioned a memorable trip but not the kind making headlines.

Penelope Bax, 63, got lost in Shasta County on the way to Bellingham, Washington and was reported missing by her family when they hadn't heard from her in two days.

Bax's last known location before her discovery was at the Hirz Bay Campground on April 5, according to her sister, Toni Monaco.

Turned out she had taken an ill-fated advice of a fellow camper offering a shortcut to the general store. Bax, who owns the Rancho Santa Fe Flowers and Gifts shop, was on her way to getting lost but what she did next turned out to be the clue that helped rescuers locate her.

She was driving across a bridge and decided to take a picture.

"I shot a picture of that bridge and I sent it off to my nephew's wife," Bax told NBC 7.

The road soon narrowed to a point of no return. Bax was stuck and couldn't turn her camper around.

"I literally just ran out of road," she said. "I just couldn't go any further getting out of my RV and moving rocks out of the way."

When Bax's family hadn't heard from her in two days, they called the Shasta County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) to do a welfare check at the campground. When deputies couldn't locate her, the family filed a missing person's report. That was on April 7.

The US Forest Service (USFS) checked the campground and could not find Bax either. At that point, an all-points bulletin was issued for her in California, Oregon and Washington, according to her family.

Luckily, Bax had someone to keep her company, her golden retriever, Walter.

"He was not on a leash, but stuck to me like glue entire time," she said. Walter made her feel more secure, she said.

While friends, family members and employees back at her flower shop in Rancho Santa feared the worst, she only worried they'd stop looking for her and there was something else  bears.

"I knew they were coming out of hibernation, I knew they're gonna be hungry," Bax said.

With an RV full of people and dog food she worried they'd break in at night. So despite the comforts of a bed, she slept outside on the ground  on rocks.

"Which was not fun," she said.

Fortunately, the bears never came and the rescuers did. Bax was in the RV getting food for her and Walter when she heard the helicopters outside.

I hit that door so hard running outside and grabbed two little rugs he'd been laying on and started waving those and going crazy," she said.

Bax was finally rescued on April 9, four days after she went down that ill-fated road. She never made it Washington. After four nights in the middle of nowhere, the trip had already been memorable enough, she said.A D.C. firefighter is fighting for his life on Saturday after a roadside crash in Pennsylvania.

The firefighter remains in critical condition, D.C. fire officials confirm.

He was standing in front of his truck along Interstate-81 when another truck rear-ended the vehicle, causing the truck to strike him.

D.C. Fire and EMS called for prayers for the firefighter's family Saturday on Twitter.

The firefighter is a 20-year veteran of the department.

His name has not been released.Police say a Baltimore man is accused of fatally stabbing a former Washington advisory neighborhood commissioner.

Prince George's County police say 23-year-old Canaan Peterson is charged with first-degree murder in the death of boyfriend 27-year-old Antonio Barnes, of Beltsville, Maryland.

Police say Peterson stabbed Barnes on March 14, following an argument. Barnes was found that night with a stab wound and taken to a hospital, where he died.

Barnes was a former ANC commissioner and an active member of the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union, The Washington Post reported. SEIU 32 Vice President Jaime Contreras said Barnes was a custodian in downtown Washington and passionate about union work, affordable housing and tackling street violence.

It's unclear whether Peterson has a lawyer.A Maryland man has been arrested on charges of producing child pornography after he allegedly filmed children in the bathroom of his home and hid a camera in a bathroom at a gymnastics center in Silver Spring.

Jonathan Oldale, 54, was arrested Friday after the FBI, U.S. Attorney for Maryland and local police were warned of a suspicious incident and then uncovered evidence of illegal dark web activity.

Investigators say they found footage at Oldale's home of at least 30 children undressing after "splash parties" at his home.

Local police began investigating in October when an employee of Silver Stars Gymnastics and Fitness in Silver Spring reported finding a backpack with a hidden camera in a bathroom, prosecutors said. An investigation revealed the backpack and camera belonged to Oldale. His children reportedly took classes at the gym.

News4 reported that Oldale was arrested and charged with conducting visual surveillance of an individual in a private place without his/her consent with prurient intent. He was released on bond.

Police previously said detectives had not found any video of victims from the gymnastics studio.

Police searched Oldale's home in May 2017 and the electronic crimes unit seized and examined digital devices. A program had been used to wipe files from the computers, prosecutors said, but investigators say they found evidence that the computer had accessed files named consistently with child porn. References were also found to a dark web site that had hosted child porn before authorities shut it down in 2016.

Authorities also say they found evidence of a dark web browser installed on the computer. Dark web browsers are regularly used in the distribution of pictures and videos that exploit children.

Oldale's home was searched again the following July. Police found memory cards and cameras holding hundreds of videos filmed in Oldale's bathroom, prosecutors said.

The videos showed at least 30 different children undressing, showering and getting dressed. Investigators later discovered that Oldale hosted "splash parties" where kids got covered in grass. A witness told prosecutors Oldale made the children shower before they went home from the parties.

Investigators say Oldale used multiple cameras and can be seen on video checking the angles.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) officials say they banned Oldale from all school property when they learned of the charges.

"While the charges are connected to Mr. Oldales private residence, they involve dozens of school-aged children, many of whom attend MCPS schools. It is alleged that Mr. Oldale videotaped children during parties that he hosted at his home," school superintendent Jack R. Smith said in a letter to parents.

If convicted on charges of producing child pornography, Oldale faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

The FBI, Montgomery County Police and the U.S. District Attorney for Maryland all helped to investigate.

Montgomery County schools are offering counseling to families and students.

CORRECTION (April 16, 2018, 2:48 p.m. ET): A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Oldale allegedly filmed children at Silver Stars Gymnastics and Fitness. While police say he hid a camera in a bathroom at the gymnastics studio, no video showing victims there was found.

What to Know Federal prosecutors say 27 people conspired to traffic heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine.

A Prince George's County Public Schools teacher is among those accused.

Eight suspects remain at large.

More than two dozen people in D.C. and Maryland face federal charges for allegedly conspiring to traffic heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine in the D.C. area.

Twenty-seven people, including a Prince George's County teacher, are accused of participating in the drug ring, the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. announced Friday.

Federal agents and local police officers searched a whopping 21 locations in the D.C. area on Thursday, including 11 sites in Prince George's County, four in D.C. and one each in Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles and Montgomery counties. They seized more than four pounds of cocaine, 200 grams of heroin, 16 guns, six vehicles and $40,000 in cash.

Prince George's County Public Schools teacher Zenja Truitt, 47, of Upper Marlboro, was arrested and charged with distributing cocaine and heroin.

A total of 17 people were arrested Thursday. Another suspect turned himself in on Friday, another already was in custody and eight suspects remain at large.

Terrance Antonio Thomas, 46, of Temple Hills, and Darius Wilson, 40, of Waldorf, were charged in two indictments unsealed Thursday. Eleven other people were charged in one of the two cases; fourteen others were charged in the second case.

U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu said the arrests help protect D.C. residents.

"By breaking up these trafficking networks, we hope to cut off supply of heroin, cocaine and other drugs, and make our neighborhoods safer," she said in a statement.

Truitt, the PGCPS teacher, remains employed by the school district, a district spokesman said. She appeared in court Friday afternoon and was ordered held pending a hearing Monday afternoon.A man is in critical condition after a shooting outside the Greenbelt Metro Station during the Friday evening rush, fire officials say.

The man, who is in his 20s, was shot multiple times in his leg and lower back, police said. Medics took him to a hospital and he was conscious and alert, police said.

Metro Transit Police said the shooting happened in a parking lot outside the station in Greenbelt, Maryland, about 5 p.m.

A suspect ran from the scene toward the Beltway. He was described as a black man in his late teens or early 20s who was wearing dark-colored jeans and a sweatshirt that has a gray hood and sleeves and a dark chest and back.A man serving sentences at Maine State Prison for probation revocations was pronounced dead Saturday, the Maine Department of Corrections confirmed.

Jeremiah F. Young, age 48, had been at the facility since September 2015 for sentences stemming from probation revocations for robbery, misuse of identification, and theft, according to a press release from the state. His longest sentence was for less than 5 years.

The Maine Department of Corrections did not release a cause of death at the time.

The Bangor Daily News reported this was the second inmate to die at that facility this week. On April 8, a 57-year-old man convicted of sexual assault was found dead in his cell.Police in Manchester, New Hampshire, say there has been a dramatic uptick in car rims and tires being stolen recently, with people waking up to find their vehicles on milk crates.

The number of incidents has increased to 14 in the last two weeks.

Abel Emanuelli bought a 2016 Honda Accord for he and his fiancee just a few months ago to get back and forth from work. On March 21, he woke up to find his car on three black crates, the tires and rims gone.

"The window was smashed," Emanuelli said. "The lug nut was taken. All the lugs were everywhere on the ground."

Emanuelli was one of the first people to be affected by what is now a rash of car vandalism.

Police say the thieves typically break the window and go into the glove box, and take the toll that's provided by the manufacturer and remove the tires and rims.

"I figured by me trying to report earlier and say we need to do something about it, that this wouldn't happen, and it did," Emanuelli said.

The latest incident happened April 12 on 1200 Elm Street to a Hyundai. Police say the theives have been targeting upscale apartment complexes all over the city around 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.

Emanuelli lives in the Mill West Lofts at 195 McGregor St. That parking lot has been hit twice. The three other places Manchester Police said have been targets are English Village Road, Elm Street and Kidder Street and Easten Avenue.

"I shouldn't have to run every single time to the window to see if my car's going to be safe or wake up in the middle of the night 3 o'clock to make sure my car is still out there with wheels," Emanuelli said.

Manchester Police said they've been in touch with the National Insurance Crime Bureau to see if there have been any trends to correlate what's happening in the city.

Now, police say they are stepping up their activity.

"We're going to start increasing patrols in those areas," Manchester Police Lt. Paul Thompson said. "We're going to have unmarked units in those areas."

Residents like Emanuelli and his fiancee can feel safe in those areas again.

"We're looking forward to planning our wedding and moving on from this," Emanuelli said.

Police are asking the publicist if you, "see something, say, something." They say if you see a car driving around multiple times in the middle of the night, call police.Police in Vermonts Northeast Kingdom are looking for help from the public in identifying a burglary suspect they say stole from a non-profit that supports community members in need of assistance.

Lyndonville police say the man in this surveillance video broke into the H.O.P.E. thrift shop on Depot Street shortly after midnight on Saturday morning.

Lyndonville VT Police Dept.

Police say the man stole frozen meat that was to be distributed to low-income people experiencing hunger. They say he also stole two cameras and money from the shops cash register and charity collection jar.

The H.O.P.E. shop sells donated items to benefit the basic needs of people in the Lyndonville area. For more information on their work, visit this website.

If you recognize the suspect, Lyndonville police would like to hear from you at 802-626-1271.New policies from the Vermont State Police are aimed at ensuring the mental health of troopers following traumatic incidents  such as officer-involved shootings.

"To make sure everyone is well and healthy in this job," Maj. Ingrid Jonas of the Vermont State Police said, describing the goal of a newly-enacted package of approaches.

The recommendations follow a string of officer-involved shootings in Vermont, including the killings of a suicidal man on I-89 in Bolton in February, and of a robbery suspect outside Montpelier High School in January.

One trooper, Christopher Brown, was involved in both of those cases, as well as another fatal shooting in a Poultney standoff last year, and in non-fatal gunfire in 2015.

"I'm concerned about his mental health," Col. Matt Birmingham, the commander of the Vermont State Police, said of Trooper Brown in February.

Following the Bolton incident, Birmingham noted that each case is different, but said the force needed a close look at the way troopers return to duty after what it calls "critical incidents."

"That's not to insinuate we are doing anything wrong," Birmingham said on Feb. 12. "It's the responsibility of the command staff of the state police to ensure that we are always evolving and learning and trying to make these situations safer."

The new recommendations that came out of a recently-completed report have troopers getting five days' paid leave following a use of force that results in injury or death. Previously, a member of VSP could be back on the job in just three.

And now, officers won't return to the streets right away, either. They'll be processing evidence, and doing office work or special jobs like school safety assessments.

That's what Jonas said Trooper Brown is doing, as he awaits reviews from the office of Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan and from county prosecutors, who will look into the two most recent shootings.

"It's really unfair to put somebody back in the potential to be a first responder to a critical incident when they're either still recovering or under review for that event," Jonas said.

The new report also recommends a long series of other steps to improve officer health following traumas, including greater access to psychological care.

Jonas said that focus on mental health will extend to other situations troopers find themselves in, such as investigations of crimes against children, homicides, or other incidents that may stay with a person for a while.The Yarmouth Police Department had strong words Saturday for the Massachusetts criminal justice system and the alleged suspect who shot and killed one of their own in the line of duty Thursday.

"Less than 48 hours ago, a coward took the life of one of our Police Officers. The attack stunned us and brought to our knees" Deputy Chief Steven Xiarhos said in a statement posted to the department's Facebook page.

Officer Gannon was killed Thursday when he and two other officers were trying to serve 29-year-old Thomas Latanowich with an arrest warrant. Gannon was shot in the attic during a sweep of the suspect's Barnstable home. Officer Gannon's K9 Nero was also shot in the incident and had to undergo emergency surgery. It's hoped he will make a full recovery.

"The name of person who attacked our beloved Police Officer Sean Gannon, and our innocent Police dog K9 Nero, will never be uttered in our building or in any of our Media Releases or Facebook posts," Xiarhos said of Latanowich. "We only refer to him as 125...which stands for the number of prior criminal charges he has on his Board of Probation criminal record in Massachusetts."

Latanowich does have an extensive criminal record, and according to the Massachusetts Probation Service, a warrant was issued for his arrest after he wasn't home for a probation visit and failed to appear for a drug test.

"The Massachusetts Criminal Justice System has let us down and failed to protect our community and our Yarmouth Police Department," Xiarhos said of the suspect's lengthy criminal history.

Latanowich was arraigned Friday on a murder charge and one count of mistreating a police dog. He is being held without bail.

"Our organization is pushing forward as we have broken families to supporta community who loves us," Xiarhos said, "and coward known as 125 behind bars who has earned the death penalty."

The Yarmouth Police Department has planned a Saturday night memorial candlelight vigil for Officer Gannon, and Xiarhos is encouraging everyone to attend.

"The men and women of the Yarmouth Police Department remain steadfast to our commitment to excellence in policing and we invite all peoplefrom all walks of lifeand all over our nationto stand strong together with us at our Candlelight Vigil."



The vigil will take place at 7 p.m at the Town of Yarmouth 911 Memorial, which is located on the grounds of the Yarmouth Police Department headquarters, which Xiarhos said is the "home of Yarmouth Police Officer Sean M. Gannon and K9 Nero."

Hunstanton pastors walk equips Indian orphans for school Hunstanton pastors walk equips Indian orphans for school

Pastor Daniel Holland of The Way Christian Fellowship in Hunstanton has returned from visiting an orphanage in Hyderbad this April, where he was able to gift the proceeds of his sponsored 30 kilometre walk along the North Norfolk Coastal Path.

Pastor Daniel Holland, Leader of The Way Christian Fellowship in Hunstanton has returned from his fourth trip to India. Over a series of visits Pastor Daniel has formed close links with Pastor Moses, who leads a church and an orphanage in Kukatpally, Hyderabad in Southern India.

Before Pastor Daniel travelled to India he raised 1,500 for new clothes and school equipment for the orphanage by undertaking a sponsored 30 km walk from the far side of Wells to Hunstanton on Saturday, March 10.

Pastor Daniel said: From myself, and on behalf of pastor Moses, I want to say a big thank you to those who sponsored my 30 kilometre walk. My friend pastor Moses will be buying new clothes and school equipment with this money. The children will have their new items as they return to school from their current summer holiday.



During his visit to the church and orphanage Daniel preached at a pastors conference, visited various church projects, opened a Christian training centre and spoke at the childrens church with approximately 80 kids. He said: It was particularly gratifying to visit the childrens church and see it developing so well, having opened it three years ago on my last visit.



I also got to spend some time relaxing with the orphans, sharing the ubiquitous Hyderabad Biryani, eating ice creams at the park and showing them pictures of my baby daughter. Their simplicity and apparent enjoyment of life, however difficult it has been for them, is humbling and convicting.



He said: Once again I take away from my mission trip and from India much more, than the little I am able to give there. What a privilege to serve the children in some small way! God is so good.



Photo: Pastor Daniel spends time with the children from the orphanage in Hyderbad.DANBURY  A special hotline started by Danbury High School senior Olivia Alessandro will provide a new resource for siblings of children with Down syndrome.

The program is called Siblings First Call and launched late last month with the help of the Down Syndrome Association of Connecticut.

While there are resources for parents of children with Down syndrome, Alessandro, 18, noticed there are fewer resources for the other children in those families trying to adjust to their new siblings needs.

Alessandro, whose 10-year-old brother Luke was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth, decided she could use her experience making that adjustment to help others do the same.

Within the first day of launching the support program, I received an email from a local family with a new baby with Down syndrome who wanted support for the older siblings in the family, she said. This shows the need for the program was immediate. I am very excited that this project is beginning to make an influence on my statewide community.

The hotline is modeled after the associations Parents First Call, which Alessandros mother, Patricia, facilitates. Through both hotlines, parents and now siblings can leave messages or emails with the association and the Alessandros will either help those families themselves or connect them to a volunteer closer to wherever they live in the state.

So far, one New Fairfield family of six children has reached out because their newest sibling has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. Olivia Alessandro will meet with them in the next few weeks to help answer their questions.

But a slew of other emails have landed in the associations inbox from siblings as young as 12 and as old as 18 who want to volunteer to mentor others, she added.

She pointed out that while parents are juggling the myriad health issues that often accompany a Down syndrome diagnosis, they may not have time to help their other children adjust, which is why its important to have a chance to talk with someone who can relate.

I think it is important to share the experience of having a sibling with Down syndrome and show that their diagnosis will not define them, Olivia said. They, too, can excel in school, be social and important community members. These are the expectations that my family has for my brother. Hearing how families work with their children may lessen any fears and feelings of the unknown they may have for their new siblings.

This fall, Alessandro plans to head to Fairfield University to study nursing, a decision also inspired by her brother, Luke.

The Siblings First Call hotline number is 888-486-8573 and general questions can be emailed to siblingsfirstcall@mydsact.org.

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.comHARTFORD  Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim thinks if Hartford is going to receive millions in state debt assistance, his city should get more money from the state, too.

Its a message hes repeated ad nauseum of the past several weeks, especially as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and some legislators appear at odds over whether the Hartford commitment made in an October state budget is for two years or for two decades.

Malloy, for his part, has responded to the appeals of the mayor  who is a Democratic candidate for governor  with equal consistency: no oversight, no more money.

I know that people are saying that they want to get the same treatment as Hartford has gotten, he said Friday, but when we tell them that that would mean the state government in essence would review and approve their municipal budgets, review and approve their financial plan, approve contracts  and by the way exercise the ability to reject those contracts  and limit a communitys ability to take on additional debt, we have not had people whove asked for that.

Ganims latest effort was a letter sent Thursday to the state Office of Policy and Management proposing a deal.

He suggested the cash-strapped state hand his cash-strapped city $20 million each of the next two years and issue $300 million in bonds to retire Bridgeports remaining interest on outstanding bonds.

In return, the city would pay back the interest on the state bonds and use the funds to reduce property taxes and fund youth programs and education.

The largest city in the state of Connecticut is receiving less than half the aid per capita of our sister city of Hartford, Ganim wrote.

But despite the fact that 15 percent of the citys budget is debt payments and its mill rate is 54, Bridgeport does not need oversight like its sister city, Ganim said.

Bridgeport is viewed as one of the best run cities in the country posting balanced budgets despite these enormous financial challenges, Ganim said.

Speaking to press at the Capitol Friday, Malloy responded If the mayor would like to put Bridgeport under MARB (Municipal Accountability Review Board) control, we can have those discussions... on the other hand, if you are talking about additional dollars for their education system, Im all in.

Kelly Donnelly, communications director for Malloys office, said his education reference referred to the governors desire to increase education cost sharing grants for Bridgeport and other urban schools, and was not in support of Ganims proposed grant.

The state agreed to pay Hartford $40 million in 2018-19 in its budget. A refinancing agreement between the city and its bondholders also included a pledge from the state to provide debt payment assistance for the next two decades; that could approach $550 million. The goal is to prevent the capital city from defaulting on its debt, which lawmakers say would be bad for the whole state.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunsonNEWTOWN - While Carolyn McCarthys son was learning to speak again, after being shot in the head by a deranged gunman, she was growing angry with her congressman for voting against a ban on assault weapons.

Two years had passed since her sons wounding in the 1993 Long Island Railroad massacre, which also took the life of McCarthys husband and five others on a crowded train leaving Manhattan, and she was thinking about making her own bid for Congress. Her son urged her to run.

He said to me, Mom, if you dont do this now, youll never know what might have been,  McCarthy recalled last week.

Those familiar with the result  McCarthy served nine terms in Congress  might not know how much the grieving widow struggled with the decision to run before her son spoke those words.

But its the same struggle facing three Connecticut parents who lost loved ones in two of the most barbaric crimes in state history, following U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Estys scandal-driven exit from the Fifth District race,

Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden, who both lost first-grade sons in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, and state Rep. William Petit, who lost his wife and two daughters in the 2007 Cheshire home invasion, are mulling whether their stories of transformation will make a difference in Washington, D.C.

Thats a decision McCarthy, too, had to make.

More for you Nicole Hockley, Mark Barden considering run for Esty's seat

It was the hardest decision I ever made, said McCarthy, 74, living the retired life in Florida. But I have to say, if they have that fire in them that all of us do when we make a decision to run, then they need to run.

It was unclear last week whether Petit would run for the GOP nomination, or whether Hockley or Barden would run for the Democrats. All three have suggested they might not.

But if one or more of them do run, it could energize voters who feel disenchanted with congressional gridlock and galvanize those who feel disengaged from the democratic process.

It would be an amazing spectacle to see a wide-open race for the Fifth with both parties dumping in money to support two spectacular people running as candidates, said Scott McLean, a professor of political science at Quinnipiac University. But these people are accidental politicians, so they represent far more than two political parties; they represent major social issues in America today.

Through their homegrown nonprofit, Sandy Hook Promise, Hockley and Barden have become two of the countrys most visible advocates of gun violence prevention, launching peer-based programs to help schools recognize red-flag behavior before it ends in violence.

Petit, who lobbied unsuccessfully against Connecticuts repeal of the death penalty, has helped guide policy as a member of the Connecticut General Assemblys Public Health Committee.

Pat Llodra, the former Newtown first selectman who led the community during its initial recovery from the Sandy Hook massacre, cautioned that the parents considering a run for Estys seat will have to resist being labeled as single-issue candidates.

We want legislators who have passion, and oftentimes a single life-changing event stimulates that passion, said Llodra, who retired last year. But single-issue legislators do not make good policymakers, so we want them to hold onto their passion but to think broadly.

McCarthy said that was one lesson she learned while pushing for gun policy reform  and losing all but a few fights.

They called me The Gun Lady, and said I only had one issue, but I said, Theres no such thing as a woman who has only one issue,  McCarthy recalled. Whether it was education or health care or getting Hurricane Sandy relief, I made sure I was helping out all of my constituents.

While Petit, Hockley and Barden have not signaled to party leaders in Washington or Hartford when they will decide, timing is everything.

Only a month remains before the major parties hold nominating conventions, and both have other candidates who have either declared or could declare their interest in Estys job. The two declared candidates are former Meriden mayor Manny Santos, a Republican, and former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, a Democrat

Voters meanwhile are looking for candidates who are brave, authentic, and service-minded, observers and party leaders say. Voters are weary of sending politicians to Washington who campaign on principles, only to practice expediency once they get there.

Esty admitted to mismanagement of allegations against a former chief of staff, who she kept on board three months after learning that he punched and threatened to kill a former aide in the D.C. office. Worse, for some constituents, was that Esty wrote a glowing recommendation that helped him land a job with Sandy Hook Promise.

The former chief of staff, Tony Baker, was fired by Sandy Hook Promise shortly before Hearst Connecticut Media broke the scandal story late last month. Esty has since said she would not seek a fourth term, and would spend her remaining time in office making amends.

As a result, the race for the most competitive House district in Connecticut is wide open.

The pain never goes away

When McCarthy was deciding whether to run for Congress, she was balancing anger over the murder of her husband, anxiety about her sons future and her own deep emotions of grief.

The turning point came when GOP Congressman Daniel Frisa broke a promise to her and voted to repeal the federal assault weapon ban in 1996. McCarthys son, Kevin, then 25, implored his mom to run.

Long Island Republicans wouldnt let McCarthy run in a primary against Frisa, so she switched parties and beat the incumbent with 57 percent of the vote.

We dont talk a lot about victims, but there are a lot of us out there, and the pain never ends, said McCarthy, who retired from Congress in 2015. I was furious, and that passion I had was that another family wouldnt have to go through this.

But in 2012, a chronically isolated 20-year-old took his mothers AR-15-style rifle from an unlocked closet, shot his way into Sandy Hook School and committed the worst crime in Connecticut history, killing 26 first-graders and educators.

To be very honest, after what happened in Newtown, I broke down, McCarthy said. All those years I fought trying to get a ban on assault weapons and fighting for victims of gun violence.

McCarthy said she has been encouraged to see the families who lost the most in the Sandy Hook massacre turn the corner on their grief and take up the fight she chose a generation ago.

Making the next step to seek a seat in Congress represents a commitment to the greater good, McCarthy said.

Llodra, a Republican, agrees.

When you have a personal tragedy, it changes how your brain is hard-wired, and the depth of that hurt changes forever how we see things, Llodra said. That tragedy for Mark and Nicole opened them up to a broader understanding of how things can go differently - not just about weapons and guns.

Hockley said as much last week after speaking with Democratic leaders in Washington D.C., about a potential run for Estys seat.

If Mark or I decided to go for it, we might not have the broad political experience, but we have the ability to learn quickly and exercise good judgment, Hockley said. We could have a core issue and still be effective on opioids and immigration and trade.

If it sounds like Hockley is speaking for both of them, she is. Hockley and Barden, who have developed a close friendship as co-founders and managing directors of Sandy Hook Promise, will decide either that one of them will run or that neither will, she said.

A top state Democrat said he could support either candidate.

Its still early and the race is still shaping up, but they are both great activists for issues that Democrats believe in, state Democratic Party Chairman Nick Balletto said. They would be great candidates.

Petit, a first-term state legislator representing Plainville, did not respond to a request for comment late last week, but this is not the first time Republicans have urged him to run for Congress. In 2014, he told the GOP it was too soon after his marriage and the birth of his son to run.

Although Petits profile is similar to Hockleys and Bardens, as a man who has publicly transformed his tragedy into a selfless concern for others, he differs from them because he has experience in elected office, a top state Republican said.

Bill has been in state politics and has worked on the public health committee, said J.R. Romano, the states GOP chairman. So in that respect he is different.

Quinnipiacs McLean said the appeal of Petit, Hockley and Barden would be hard for voters to ignore, were the parents to become candidates.

They have used their pain and anger to really inspire people, because they have not allowed their tragedies to paralyze them, McLean said. Their life stories and political activism are going to gain a lot of notice from voters who would otherwise see this as a boring race.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342A chocolate and bourbon tasting will be held April 14 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Hopkins Vineyard in New Preston.

Laura Graham of Drink with Food will lead the program at the vineyard on Hopkins Road.The Community Culinary School of Northwestern Connecticut, based in New Milford, is accepting applications for its next session.

The next 12-week program will start April 23 at St. Johns Episcopal Church along Whittlesey Avenue.

If you love to cook and are interested in an exciting new career opportunity, you may be a good candidate for the Community Culinary School, said Dawn Hammacott, executive director of the school.

The New Milford/Danbury area has more than 500 businesses that employ food service personnel, Hammacott said.

The industry is always in need of reliable, trained employees, she said.

The school trains people ages 18 and older for jobs in food service.

Instructed by chef Justin Elander, a 2008 graduate of the Community Culinary School, the students will learn a range of cooking techniques in a full-scale kitchen.

The school also arranges internships for all students, trains them in the life skills necessary to getting and keeping a job and assists with job placement.

Additionally, the meals students prepare are distributed to those in need through the New Milford Food Bank.

Tuition is free for qualifying candidates.

The school was established in 2007 to provide unemployed and underemployed men and women with the skills they need to find jobs with career paths in the food service industry.

Classes will be held Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at St. Johns Episcopal Church, 7 Whittlesey Ave.

The school is modeled on the Community Kitchen program of the anti-hunger organization Feeding America.

It relies largely on donations and grants, and has received support from the Connecticut Community Foundation, the Harcourt Foundation, the Meserve Memorial Fund, Union Savings Bank, Savings Bank of Danbury, Diebold Foundation, Womans Club of Danbury/New Fairfield, and other area foundations and civic organizations.

For more information, call Dawn Hammacott at 203-512-5791 or email culinaryschool@sbcglobal.net.The Washington Volunteer Fire Department will hold its annual fishermans breakfast April 14 from 5:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the New Preston firehouse on Route 202.

The menu will consist of eggs or French toast, home fries, bacon, toast, coffee and juice.Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is planning to cut jobs as it scales back production at some of its UK sites amid what it termed as "headwinds" impacting the automotive industry. While Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is yet to confirm the exact number of jobs to be lost, some reports indicate that around 1,000 temporary workers are likely to be hit.

The luxury carmaker said the "review" of its production schedules is being undertaken to ensure market demand is balanced globally and that it will lay out its 2018-19 production plans to the workforce on Monday.

"In light of the continuing headwinds impacting the car industry, we are making some adjustments to our production schedules and the level of agency staff," a JLR statement said. "We are however continuing to recruit large numbers of highly skilled engineers, graduates and apprentices as we over-proportionally invest in new products and technologies, it added.

The company stressed it remains committed to its UK plants, having invested more than 4 billion pounds since 2010 to future-proof manufacturing technologies to deliver new models. Solihull and the nearby Castle Bromwich site are expected to be hit by production cuts. There are 3,200 people employed at the Castle Bromwich site and a further 10,000 at Solihull. The job cuts are expected largely at Solihull in the West Midlands region of England, with mostly agency staff not having their contracts renewed. JLR employs around 40,000 people across six sites in the UK.

Earlier this year, Britain's largest car manufacturer had announced plans to cut production at its Halewood plant in Merseyside and pointed to "uncertainty" around the Brexit vote as well as the future of diesel vehicles as the main factors behind the "temporary adjustments".

Following a review of planned volumes, we are planning to make some temporary adjustments to the production schedule at Halewood in Q2. These changes have been communicated to our workforce," a JLR spokesperson said in January.

JLR's global sales grew by 7 percent in 2017 with the sale of 621,109 cars in a year the company branded as its "best ever" and the seventh consecutive year of successive growth.

However, the Tata Group company said the automotive industry continues to face a "range of challenges" which are adversely affecting consumer confidence.

The knock-on effects of the referendum in favour of Britain's exit from the European Union in June, 2016 and a hike in diesel taxation have hit the auto industry hard in the UK. The latest set of cuts come in the wake of a weak UK market, with Jaguar sales down 26 percent so far this year, compared with last year, while demand for Land Rovers in Britain is down 20 percent.

Also Watch: Karlmann King - World's Most Expensive SUV First Look | Cars18Jamshedpur: The police have arrested a youth on the charge of killing her 5-year-old cousin following an abortive attempt to rape her earlier this month.

The 19-year-old man was taken into custody from his house in Das Bustee under Burmamines police station area Thursday evening, police said on Friday.

He allegedly slit the throat of the girl with a knife after she resisted his move to rape her on April 4 in an abandoned building and dumped the body in a dustbin, Senior Superintendent of Police Anoop Birtheray told a press conference.

After the killing, he returned and joined his relatives and local people in searching for the girl.

During an investigation, the police found one person who had seen him coming out of the abandoned building at that time of the day.

Birtheray said the police then picked him up and questioned him.

Initially, he tried to mislead the investigators but later confessed his crime, he said.

Police had recovered two silver bangles of the victim, amulet and the knife used in the killing from near the spot, Birtheray added.Jagdalpur, Bastar: Over 7,000 security personnel, including CRPF and Chattisgarh Police men, have been deployed across Bijapur District to ensure there is no lapse in security ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the area. The PM will launch his flagship health care scheme, the Ayushman Bharat scheme, from Bijapur.

The region is tense ahead of Modi's visit since on April 9, two District Reserve Guards (DRG) Jawans were killed in a Maoist attack in the district. Naxals had targeted a bus ferrying nearly 30 jawans with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur, leaving two of them dead and five injured.

Bijapur which was part of Dantewada district till 2007, will host a Prime Minister for the first time ever, since the inception of the district 11 years ago. After Monday's Maoist attack, the security apparatus has been on edge. Several rounds of sanitation operations have been carried out within a 10 km radius of the PM's venue.

While in Bijapur, Modi will visit the Jangala Development Hub, situated in a panchayat that has emerged as a model panchayat, where he would be interacting with people. Bijapur has been designated by the government as an 'Aspirational District' - a group of the poorest districts of India that have shown remarkable improvements on several parameters over the last few years.

It was the district's improvements in health care that led to it being picked as the venue for the launch of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. In addition to Ayushman Bharat, Modi will announce a slew of sops for the tribal belt of the poll-bound state of Chattisgarh. Among those is the 'Bastar Net Programme', an ambitious project to lay down optical fibres to connect the villages of Naxal-affected Bastar district with broadband Internet services. The PM will also announce a passenger train for North Bastar.Chandigarh: A day ahead of Ambedkar Jayanti, four persons, including a police officer, were injured during a clash between members of the Dalit community and scores of upper caste men in Kapurthala districts Phagwara town on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

The incident occurred when a flex board was allegedly put up by the members of Dalit community at Paper Chowk, renaming the area as Samvidhan Chowk. The move was initiated to mark the birth anniversary of Father of the Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.

A group of men from the upper caste objected to the board, leading to a clash between the two sides.

The groups pelted stones at each other and opened fire, leaving four persons injured. Two of them are stated to be critical. Among them, an assistant sub-inspector of police was also wounded while trying to pacify the groups, a police officer said, adding that injured have been admitted to hospitals in Phagwara and Jalandhar.

Heavy police force has been deployed in the area to avoid any untoward incident. Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Tayab and SSP Sandeep Sharma also arrived at the spot.

The flex board was put up without official permission, which led to the clash, the SSP said, adding that an FIR will be lodged soon.New Delhi: Only on exceptional occasions does one find the two-km long Sansad Marg full of protesters. On Saturday, this historic road leading up to the Parliament was overflowing with a sea of blue.

At least 10,000 supporters, gathered from across the country to commemorate Ambedkar Jayanti, filled up the Parliament Street leaving not enough room for visitors to even walk.

Though Dalit rights activists and Dalits themselves have been assembling at Parliament Street for over last five decades, this Ambedkar Jayanti had a bigger turnout than many previous years. The participants talked about the dilution of punishment in the SC/ST Act and of police atrocities during the April 2 'Bharat Bandh' protests.

This Ambedkar Jayanti had a bigger turnout than many previous years. (Photo: Rounak Kumar Gunjan/News18)

Dalits traversed a long distance to reach here, not just to commemorate their idol's birth anniversary, but to join forces and assert their identity.

"This year's gathering is different because it comes after an especially tough spell for Dalits. We are protesting against what happened on April 2. There are more protests to follow. This gathering also gives us an opportunity to unite and spread the word," said Ashok Das, editor and publisher of Dalit Dastak, a magazine focused on Dalit issues, who was present at the venue.

A little away from the crowd, 72-year-old Tej Singh was waiting for the gates of Parliament to open. Singh has been coming to Sansad Marg on every April 14 for the last 50 years.

The 14 April assembly at the Parliament Street was a pilgrimage of sorts. (Photo: Rounak Kumar Gunjan/News18)

"This is year is not just about Dr. Ambedkar's birthday. We are also here to showcase our anger against what happened. I know of people who were out on the streets protesting and were injured due to the attacks on them by the upper castes. We will continue to protest till the guilty are held accountable," says Singh, a resident of Rohini in Delhi.

The 14 April assembly at the Parliament Street is a pilgrimage of sorts. Dalits, Ambedkarites, and anti-caste activists arrive at Parliament streets every morning on every Ambedkar Jayanti, walk down to the Parliament, whose gates are opened to allow the visitors to have a look at BR Ambedkar's statue, and pay their respects.

At the far end of the queue, waiting to walk down to the Parliament, a group of young Ambedkarites are shouting slogans against the dilution of the SC/ST Act. Every member in the group has a blue flag in his hand. Everyone in the group is wearing black tee etched on which is an image of Ambedkar.

"We are here to voice our opinion on the Supreme Court tweaking the SC/ST Act. Ambedkar himself taught us to struggle for our rights. That's what we are doing," said Rakesh Kumar, a student of Ambedkar University.

Moving further ahead one encounters stalls providing free food and water for everybody who turns up. Jitendra Kumar is a teacher with East Delhi Municipal Corporation. The East Delhi SC/ST teacher association has set up a food stall in the carnival. Kumar tells News18 that while they do not collect money from upper caste colleagues at school, they do invite them to Parliament Street on every April 14.

Kumar tells News18 he came here for the first time four years back. Next year he got a few people along and distributed free water bottles in a car. Aiming for more, Kumar got in touch with Samas, the group that allots places and organises the huge April 14 events.

The fag end of the street had sections of the crowd dancing to folk music, some singing while others playing songs on speakers lauding Dalits. (Photo: Rounak Kumar Gunjan/News18)

"We do not collect money from the upper castes, friends, neighbours or colleagues, to show that we are also able to organise these things. It is all the more important during this time to put out the message that look, we are no less," said the teacher.

The teachers started with a total collection Rs 10,000 four years ago. This year they have accumulated approximately Rs 1.5 lakh. The association has organised for 75 kg of sweets and 75 kg of rice.

Once the participants have had a mouthful, they move towards stalls selling Ambedkar posters, keychains, paintings, bandanas and other mementos.

The largest stall in the carnival is that of Sukhbeer Singh Baudh. It has been put up right at the end of the street. The Meerut-based trader has been setting up his stall of Ambedkar-related-showpieces for the last three decades, after he adopted Buddhism in 1990.

Dalits traversed a long distance to reach New Delhi, not just to commemorate Baba Saheb's birth anniversary, but to join forces and assert their identity. (Photo: Rounak Kumar Gunjan/News18)

"My guru showed me a video consisting of photographs of Dr. Ambedkar. I thought if Baba Saheb can work then why not me. I started writing, making audio CDs and setting up this stall everywhere I deemed fit. I travel the country and set this up in all gatherings such as World Book Festival," said the Dalit man.

As one reaches the end of the street, there are still more people pouring in. The gathering is getting bigger. The fag end of the street has sections of the crowd dancing to folk music, some singing while others playing songs on speakers lauding Dalits. Between pauses of music and revelry, one hears the crowd shouting "Jai Bhim" in unison.

The sun setting on the street means just the end of the day. Events to mark Dalit anger are scheduled through the coming weeks. One such event has been scheduled on May 1, the International Labour Day. National Coalition of Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe organisations announced a nationwide peaceful protest on International Labour Day.

Dalit activists marched ahead amidst loud chants of 'Jai Bhim'. (Photo: Rounak Kumar Gunjan/News18)

"We will observe one day peaceful demonstrations in all the district and state headquarters, including New Delhi, against the Supreme Court's decision to dilute certain key provisions of the SC/ST Act 1989," said Ramesh Nathan, general secretary, National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, part of the National Coalition.Srinagar/Jammu: Two controversial BJP ministers, who participated in a rally in support of the people arrested for the rape-cum-murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Kathua, on Saturday exited from the PDP-BJP alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir, ending a simmering political crisis in the state.

A much-relieved Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for defusing the situation and said the unfortunate incident had brought the people of the state and the rest of the country "together".

She said a sense of justice had been reinforced in the state and urged "New Delhi to wake up to the Kashmir cauldron".

Both the alliance partners -- the BJP and the PDP -- had separate legislature party meetings in Srinagar and Jammu to discuss the situation arising out of the polarisation in the state over the rape-cum-murder of the girl after some leaders of the lesser-known Hindu Ekta Manch were arrested in connection with the case.

BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, who flew in to Jammu this morning, had a meeting with party leaders as well as legislators after which a decision to hand over the resignations of ministers Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga to the chief minister was taken.

Both Ganga and Singh had participated in the rally on March 1 after the Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police had arrested the nephew of a caretaker of a 'devisathan' (temple) in connection with the kidnapping and rape of the little girl.

Later, during investigation, the police arrested the caretaker and alleged that he was the mastermind of kidnapping, rape and killing of the girl from a nomadic tribe with an ulterior motive of terrifying the community and drive them out of the village.

The BJP sent the resignations to the chief minister who in turn will pass it on to Governor N N Vohra for acceptance, PDP leaders said.

Madhav, who has been the BJP's pointsman on scripting the agenda with the PDP, told reporters in Jammu that the resignations of the two ministers would be handed over to Mehbooba Mufti for further action and also admitted that the two ministers had displayed a lack of discretion by taking part in the rally.

However, he made it clear that there was no attempt to sabotage the investigations as charged by the Congress party.

"The charge that the two ministers were pro-rapist is absolutely wrong. It was sheer indiscretion on their part," he said.

He rejected reports that there was any pressure from his alliance partner PDP for withdrawal of the two ministers. "No pressure, no ultimatum. This is all your figment of imagination," Madhav said in his reply to a query from a reporter that the PDP had threatened to walk out of the alliance if the two ministers did not resign.

Asked whether a dent has been created in the alliance after the Kathua case, Madhav said, "As far as this case is concerned, we have done our bit by allaying the fears and misconception created in the minds of not only the people of Jammu and Kashmir but also in the entire country by asking our two ministers to resign. Beyond that, I don't think there will be any impact of this incident or these developments on the coalition."

Mehbooba Mufti, who chaired the party's meeting in Srinagar, thanked the prime minister and the national media and said the unity in ranks was an emotional reach out to protest against the heinous crimes.

She said the unfortunate incident changed the discourse and brought the people of the state and the rest of the country together.

The chief minister said that she was in constant touch with BJP president Amit Shah and Madhav as well as Home Minister Rajnath Singh. "I want to thank people of Jammu for standing united against the gory crime," she said.

Madhav maintained that the two BJP leaders had gone to Kathua in March to pacify the public and also to look into the matter of the gruesome crime.

The girl was kidnapped on January 10 and her body was found on January 17. During investigation, the crime branch alleged that the girl was drugged and repeatedly raped before being killed by hitting her head with stones.

To a question that the two ministers had participated in the rally in support of the accused in the rape case where the national tricolour was being waved, Madhav said, "That is why they had to resign. During my visit last month here, I made it clear to everyone that in this matter no one speaks and let us allow the investigations to complete."

"Certain amount of discretion should have been maintained. Certainly, there was a lack of discretion. Sometimes a lack of discretion does not tantamount of any guilt...that has led to certain misconceptions about them (two ministers) also, so they decided they will quit as ministers," he responded, when asked about the two ministers having termed the action of the Crime Branch as "jungle raj" and warned police from arresting anyone.

He cautioned that there should be no communal politics played over the ghastly crime and everyone should ensure speedy justice and exemplary punishment to the culprits.

Madhav accused the Congress party of playing double standards. "In Jammu, the Congress leaders are casting aspersion over the probe and their senior leaders were creating law and order situation through Bar Council," he alleged.

He said the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government in the state had been told to withdraw the directive concerning Tribal with regard to encroachments in Jammu.New Delhi: A day after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradeshs Unnao district, BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Saturday claimed innocence and said he has faith in the judiciary.

The four-time MLA, who was produced before a Lucknow Court earlier in the day, has been sent to seven-day police custody.

"We support fair investigation. He has been sent to seven-day CBI custody," said BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar's lawyer.

Sengar was arrested after the Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered the CBI to "arrest, not detain" the BJP MLA.

The court said that it will monitor the probe and asked the authorities to submit a progress report in the matter by May 2.

Taking a strong objection to the UP government's submission that Sengar would not be arrested on mere registration of the FIR, the court said this approach is "not only appalling but shocks the conscience of the court in the backdrop of the instant case."

The CBI also made a second arrest in the case as it took into custody Shashi Singh, the woman who allegedly took the victim to BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on the day of crime, officials said.

In her complaint to UP Police, now part of the CBI FIR, the victim's mother has alleged that Shashi Singh had lured her daughter and took her to Sengar's residence where he raped her.

She has also alleged that while the MLA was raping her daughter, Shashi Singh stood outside the room as a guard.

After a massive public outrage over the inaction of the UP police, the case was handed over to the CBI on April 12. The agency took over the investigation in three cases related to the alleged rape of the 17-year-old girl by the BJP MLA.

The agency, which was referred the matter on Wednesday, took immediate action by re-registering the FIRs filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

The first FIR pertains to the alleged rape of the girl in which Sengar and Shashi Singh have been named as accused.

The second pertains to rioting, in which four locals have been booked, and the alleged killing of the victim's father in judicial custody. Since the murder charge was added later by the state police, it does not reflect in the CBI FIR.

The third case pertains to the allegations against the victim's father, who was arrested by the police under the Arms Act and put in jail, where he died. According to the post-mortem examination report, he had suffered serious injuries.

According to the rules, the CBI re-registers the FIRs filed by a state police when taking over a probe, but remains at freedom to arrive at its own conclusions, which are filed before a special court in its final report.

The final report can either be a closure report or a chargesheet.

The victim has alleged that on June 4, 2017, she was raped by BJP MLA Sengar at his residence, when she had gone to meet him, along with a relative, seeking a job.

In February, the girl's family had moved the court, seeking to include the MLA's name in the case. Subsequently, the victim's father was booked by the police under the Arms Act on April 3 and put in jail on April 5.

Frustrated with the alleged police inaction and coercion from influential people, the victim attempted self-immolation in front of Chief Minister Adityanath's residence on April 8.

The next day, her father died in jail with the post-mortem examination report suggesting serious injuries on his body.

Sengar, a four-time MLA, enjoys an immense clout, cutting across party lines, in rural areas of Unnao district, a semi-urban area about 70 km from Lucknow.

(With PTI inputs)Vadodara: Members of Dalit community on Saturday "cleansed" B R Ambedkar's statue here soon after Union minister Maneka Gandhi and some BJP leaders paid floral tributes on his 127th birth anniversary, a Dalit leader said, claiming that their presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

Thakor Solanki, general secretary of SC/ST the Employees Union of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, claimed that they had gathered at the venue to pay their tributes before the BJP leaders. The members of the Dalit community raised slogans at the GEB Circle area on Race Course against other party leaders and Gandhi, the Women and Child Development minister who is in the city to attend a number of events.

She arrived at Ambedkar's statue along with BJP MP Ranjanben Bhatt, city mayor Bharat Dangar, BJP MLA Yogesh Patel and others. The members of the Dalit community, led by Solanki, started raising slogans against them. An argument broke out between them and the police personnel, but no untoward incident took place.

After Gandhi and other leaders garlanded the statue around 9 am and left the venue, the members of the community washed it with milk and water, saying the BJP leaders' presence had "polluted" the atmosphere.

"We told the police that since we had gathered there much before the BJP leaders came, it was our right to pay tributes first. However, police prevented us from garlanding the statue stating that as per the protocol, it was the mayor's right. This angered our members," Solanki said.

"The statue and the atmosphere in the GEB circle area was polluted after the arrival of Gandhi and other BJP leaders. Therefore, we cleansed Ambedkar's statue with milk and water after it was garlanded by the BJP leaders," he added.

Before Gandhi's arrival, Jivraj Chauhan, general secretary of SC/ST cell of BJP's state unit, was also gheraoed by the Dalit members, who shouted slogans against him, forcing him to leave the venue.Kolkata: The Royal Bengal tiger, which remained elusive for the last 42 days in West Bengals Lalgarh was found dead at the Bhaghora-adjacent Kanandiha forest near Jhargram districts Kotawali area on Friday morning.

Speaking to News18, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife and Chief Wildlife Warden, West Bengal, Ravi Kant Sinha said, The tiger was killed by a section of local people. It happened around 11.30 am when our officers were patrolling inside the jungle. They heard the local people shouting inside the jungle some distance away. When they reached the spot, they saw the tiger lying dead.

He said, There were three sharp weapon injury marks on tigers body, one each on the back, ear and neck. We have sent the body for post-mortem examination. The local people prevented our officers and refused to hand over the body. They attacked our men too. Two of them received injuries. A wild boar was also found near tigers body. It seems that the local people killed the tiger when the tiger was preying on the boar.

The tiger was first spotted on 2 March in the forest covered area of Lalgarh and was presumed to have strayed in from the forests of Jharkhand. But the big cat managed to escape despite several attempts to capture it by the state forest department officials.

Recently, the beast attacked three villagers and managed to flee reportedly through a culvert inside a forest near Kotawali area.

On Friday, the villagers managed to surround the cat after they located it feasting on a wild boar. The villagers were armed with traditional weapons like spears and clubs on account of the ongoing local tribal hunting festival. Eyewitnesses said the tiger attacked and severely injured two villagers who had to be moved to the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital following which the villagers lynched the cornered beast.

Questions have, however, been raised on why forest officials failed to track down the endangered animal and capture it alive despite knowing its presence for so long.Ahmednagar: In a shocking instance of corporal punishment, a government school teacher allegedly pierced a wooden cane into a students throat for failing to do a maths problem on Friday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday in the Zilla Parishad School in Pimpalgaon village in Karjat sub-district, said Karjat Police Station official S. B. Mhetre.

During a maths class session in Class II, Rohan D. Janjire apparently failed to solve a problem which enraged the teacher Chandrakant Sopan Shinde.

In a fit of rage, he picked up his cane and shoved it into the childs throat, piercing it and seriously damaging both his wind-pipe and food-pipe and rendering him speechless.

The 8-year-old boy fell in the class, choking, writhing in pain with blood oozing out of his severely punctured throat and unable to speak.

There was an uproar and all the other horrified students from the classroom and the school ran out.

The school authorities arrived soon after and rushed the boy to a hospital in Rashin, where he was said to be serious and was advised to be rushed to Pune for treatment.

He is currently undergoing treatment in the ICU at a Pune hospital, said Mhetre.

Meanwhile, the school authorities suspended the teacher and launched a probe into the incident. The police have lodged a complaint by the childs mother Sunita Janjire.

The accused has been booked on charges of assault but has not yet been arrested. We are monitoring the students condition. After we record his statement, and if required, the charges may be enhanced, Mhetre added.United Nations: Terming as "horrific" the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

The girl from the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community disappeared near her house on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area.

She was allegedly raped by six men who had held her in captivity in a village temple for a week in January. The victim was drugged, rapped repeatedly before being bludgeoned to death.

The incident has sparked outrage across India.

"I think we've seen the media reports of this horrific case, of the abuse and the murder of a young girl. We very much hope that the authorities will bring the perpetrators to justice so they can be held accountable for the murder of this young girl," Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric told reporters at his daily press briefing here on Friday.

Dujjaric was responding to a question about the Secretary General's response to the rape and murder of the girl.

A Special Investigation Team of Crime Branch, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable and a sub-inspector, who were charged with destroying evidence.

Expressing anguish over the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called it as a "shame" for the country and asserted that the guilty will not be spared.

"I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared. Justice will be done. Our daughters will get justice," he said.Sweta Yadav, a popular, fiery 30-year-old independent journalist who regularly reports on Dalit atrocities is disadvantaged thrice over. Being a Yadav who talks about Dalits makes her a suspect in the eyes of both communities, she says. Plus being a woman, she's often subjected to a lot of sexual abuse.

Yadav has previously worked with news websites like National Dastak that talk of Bahujan samaj. Recently, she started her own YouTube channel and website focusing on Dalit and women's issues, provocatively titled 'Tedhi Ungli'.

She's part of a growing community of solo journalists who've found in YouTube and other social media platforms a medium to talk of issues that mainstream didn't allow her.

"Just having your own YouTube channel isn't enough. There are a lot of other challenges I have to face as a journalist. Identity being one of them. Those from my community call me a blot on Yadavs, those from Dalit community suspect me of working for an ulterior motive," she told News18.

Pointing towards the rise in awareness towards feminism, she says that the medium has become indispensable.

"I don't think many young people knew what feminism was before 2009. This concept was restricted to certain academic circles and elites only. But now there is a transformation setting in. Women are beginning to object to the manner in which they're spoken to. This has happened because of the internet and online portals that spoke about minority issues," Yadav says.

She adds that Dalit men and women are increasingly gravitating towards online portals to exchange their views and discuss issues that affect them. "If you observe closely, you'll inadvertently find Dalit women talk incessantly about politics on Facebook and Dalit portals because an awareness is setting in. Maybe you won't find those views palatable but tell me how many mainstream publications will publish such subversive stuff? she asks.

Portals that focus exclusively on Dalit atrocities, Yadav says, are getting bigger audiences than ever before.

"I get calls from people I don't know asking me to write about such and such atrocity. The other day a couple called me to inform me about rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh. When I see such things, it empowers me. I feel that the importance of web journalism is only going to increase. And this is the right time to claim one's space and find audiences that one never had through television," she says.

But to some, these portals are more than just a means of exchanging views and information. People like Ashok Das, who runs Dalit Dastak, thinks that online portals have become tools of applying pressure on mainstream media. He feels that growing audiences of such portals are forcing big media houses to take note of issues they would otherwise have ignored.

"A lot now depends on what's going viral on Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter groups. Dalit oriented groups have started applying pressure here. Whenever some big incident happens, these groups ensure that the event gets talked about and eventually news organisations are forced to take notice," he says, adding, "Our web portal, that earlier was not read by many people, now has its every article shared at least five to six thousand times."

The increasing coverage of Dalit related issues in mainstream publications has also led to more curiosity among the general public about Dalit icons and their contribution to the society.

"Take the case of Savitri Bai Phule, for instance. Very few people had heard her name till a few years ago. Now Google was also made to take notice of her and on her birth anniversary dedicate their doodle to her. Our medium is spreading awareness and changing the discourse on a very fundamental level," said Das.

But news and opinions, at least in the traditional form in which we understand them, aren't the only ways in which the internet-age Dalit activists express themselves.

In a tiny corner of cyberspace, a website gives space to Sumeet Samos, a rapper who regularly sings about Dalit atrocities. He covers centuries of anger and anguish in under two-and-a-half minutes.

"we grow up with casteist slurs ringing in our ears

have you ever thought it cost us our tears

I'm sure it sounds very normal

'cause you've been doing it for years

...when sati was a norm, women studying a taboo

then did Savitri mai fight with savarna babu

...you claim yourself progressive, it stinks of Brahminism

there are no Dalits in your radical feminism

...you keep blaming us doing politics of identity

this is to transform the social reality

a battle to reclaim human personality"

This is a sample of his song. Round Table India, the website, uses not just such performances, which have been viewed several thousand times, but editorials, unreported atrocity stories and documentaries to highlight the plight of Dalits in India. It is one of the many websites dedicated run by activists to provide 'space for the widest expression of Dalit-Bahuan samaj'.

With ever-increasing penetration of mobile phones, increasing literacy rates, and an active social media, such projects  like Dalit web portals, YouTube channels, news websites - and their audiences are increasingly rapidly.

"The Dalit and marginalised consciousness is rising, and writers and artists are deeply involved in its evolution. Their writings reflect the mood of the moment. Whether it be Una beatings, Rohith Vemula incident, anti-reservation campaigns or issue over beef, only spaces like these portals provide a space to discuss such issues," says Kuffir, who runs Round Table India.

Kuffir is not the first, but he is one of the most experienced editors of web portals oriented towards Dalit issues. He started his portal in 2009 when the only other thing of this kind were a few online archives documenting the writings of BR Ambedkar.

"It was not question of lack of resources, but lack of social acceptance. Mainstream media had consistently been ignoring our issues. Then we realised that there was this area, an unorganised media on the internet, that we could stake claim to," Kuffir says.

When he started out, Kuffir was alone. But the 53-year-old now has over 500 contributors to help him. "There are Sikhs, tribals, Christians, Dalits, Brahmins and Khatris from ages 18 to 80, who now work with us. We have brought this online Dalit consciousness movement to a point where our voices cannot be ignored anymore," says Kuffir.

But while activists like Kuffir have established an online presence, the ever-changing, chaotic online world, is also preparing to accommodate voices such as those of Sweta Yadav.

HL Dusaad who has written dozens of books on BSP and on Dalit politics doesn't think that one should measure the relevance of online Dalit awareness with the yardstick of UP polls, in which the Bahujan Samaj Party was trounced.

"A lot of people had seen Mayawati's fall coming. She had abandoned caste-based politics altogether and was punished for it. She gave people reasons for not voting for SP or BJP but did not claim her space among Dalits and OBCs, she took them for granted. But this doesn't mean that Dalits have started losing interest in their identity. They have started reading more and grouping together on the internet," he says.

And this phenomenon will only give rise to many more Dalit voices, which may be placed thousands of miles away geographically, but will find a common platform online.

Dharma's case is a classic illustration of this. He had never met Ravi Chandran, the founder of Dalit Camera  a YouTube channel documenting Dalit voices and stories, personally. But he found a connection after watching the work done by Chandran and his team.

"I wrote an email to Chandran, offering to volunteer for Dalit Camera. He accepted it immediately and eventually I began going outdoors, interviewing victims of caste violence and documenting such cases," says the 28-year-old software engineer.

The Rohith Vemula incident, Dharma, says was not just a life changing moment for him, because he got to spend a lot of time on the ground and observing the movement up close, it was also an eye-opener for the society.

"It was only after portals such as ours started talking about this case that many people in privileged positions found out what being a Dalit was like. It was a big moment. Many people suddenly realised that an anti-caste struggle had been going on since independence. English media took notice of Dalit atrocities in a way it never had," he says.

To the question of who is listening to or reading news stories and opinions on such online portals, Dharma has an answer.

"Dalit Camera wasn't as popular as it is now. But after all this time we never observed a dip or even a stagnation in our subscriptions. Our readers and followers have been steadily increasing. More young people are engaging with our portal than ever before. Student population at large is taking notice of our work and discussing it. All this is quite encouraging," he says.

(#BeingADalit is a series on what it takes to be a persecuted minority in India. In an attempt to go beyond the numbers, News18 also mapped incidents of Dalit atrocities over the last one year across India.)Bijapur: Villagers from in and around Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh defied Naxals to attend the launch of the Ayushman Bharat scheme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday in Naxal-affected Bijapur's Jangla village.

During his hour-long address, Modi said the people of Bastar region had no reason to pick up a gun.

After paying tributes to Dr. BR Ambedkar, whose anniversary it was on Saturday, Modi said, "Babasaheb's Constitution has taken care of your rights and it is the government's duty to take care of that. You don't need to pick up the gun."

He then urged parents of children, who had joined Naxalism, do dissuade their children from the path of violence.

"I want to speak to the parents of children who are misguided. Think about who the leaders are. They are not from your region. They are from outside. They don't die. They let your children die," he said.

The region was tense ahead of Modi's visit since on April 9, two District Reserve Guards (DRG) Jawans were killed in a Maoist attack in the district. Naxals had targeted a bus ferrying nearly 30 jawans with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur, leaving two of them dead and five injured. While the district administration and the local BJP unit tried its best to get people to Bijapur's Jangla Development Hub, where Modi addressed his rally, the threat of Naxal violence kept several people indoors.

A resident of Bhopalpatnam village near Bijapur said, "We could only come because local BJP workers had sent cars. Naxals didn't want us to get to the rally. Despite the administration's plea, most villagers stayed back. Some cars came back empty."

A Bijapur resident said, "People were brought here a day before the rally. We stayed in tents through the night. The administration told us it was because they didn't want to take any chances."

Modi said the government was committed to ensuring that Naxal-affected regions of Chhattisgarh.

"Bastar will be connected to Raipur via rail. We are also building a steel plant here, which will generate employment. We are building an airport in Jagdalpur, which will give flight to the economy of Bastar," he said.

Bijapur was part of Dantewada district till 2007. Since its inception 11 years ago, Bijapur will host a Prime Minister for the first time ever.

After Monday's Maoist attack, the security apparatus has been on edge. Several rounds of sanitation operations have been carried out within a 10 km radius of the PM's venue.

This was Modi's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh and the second to Bastar division. The last Prime Minister to visit the area was Indira Gandhi in 1975, when the entire region was part of undivided Bastar district.Johannesburg: Five members of an Indian-origin family, including three children, have been killed in South Africa when their home was allegedly petrol-bombed by an unidentified arsonist.

Aziz Manjra, 45, who settled in South Africa 25 years ago, was found dead along with his South African wife Gori Bibi and their three children - Zubina, 18, Mairoonisa, 14 and Muhammad Rizwan, 10 - at their home in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday morning.

The family had moved into the house only a fortnight earlier.

Their friends said that they had saved every possible cent from Manjras earnings as a shop assistant to realise their dream of owning their own home.

A neighbour in the semi-detached house next door, who preferred to remain anonymous, told The Mercury newspaper that her sleep was broken around two in the morning when she heard what sounded like footsteps on her roof.

"I heard a man shouting Allah. This was followed by screaming. I was terrified and too scared to even go and check what was happening," she said.

The neighbour said that she realised that the screams were coming from the top floor of her neighbours house.

"I alerted another neighbour and asked her to phone the police," she said.

Although firemen arrived and put out the blaze quickly, it is believed that the family succumbed to smoke inhalation because of limited escape routes as all windows and doors were heavily covered with iron bars.

The original homeowners, Fabian and Ronwyn Visagie, told the paper that they had been in the final stages of selling the house to the Manjras.

"They were a nice, normal family who were looking forward to living in their own house," Ronwyn said.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Mthokozisi Ngobese said they were investigating five cases of murder and a case of arson.

"We are investigating the circumstances surrounding the matter. At this stage, there is evidence that a petrol bomb may have been thrown into the house," Police spokesperson Sergeant Mthokozisi Ngobese was quoted as saying by News24, South Africas online news service.Alappuzha: The Kerala police has begun investigation into the death of Gopinath Pillai, father of Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh who was shot dead in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, in a road accident.

Seventy eight year-old Pillai, who hailed from Charummodu in the district was involved in an accident on April 11 when he was on his way to Kochi for medical treatment.

He died yesterday.

Police said they have seized three vehicles involved in the mishap.

The probe was only to rule out any foul play in the mishap as some suspicions had been raised by some quarters.

However, investigation so far has revealed that it was an accident.

A case under 304A (causing death by negligence) has been registered, they said.

Pillai's younger brother, who was driving the car, has also said the family was not suspecting any foul play and it was an accident.

Javed Sheikh was among the four alleged terrorists shot dead on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The others gunned down were 19-year-old college girl Ishrat Jahan from Mumbra in Maharashtra, Zeeshan Johar and Amzad Rana.

The police termed them Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives allegedly on a mission to kill then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.Kutch, Gujarat: The Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch called off its protest and proposed blockade of the Samakhyali Highway in Kutch district after the state government began procedures to hand over actual possession of land to Dalit families in the district. The RDAM, headed by independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, has stated that Dalits receiving possession of the land that was allotted to them 35 years ago, is a huge victory as it coincides with Ambedkar Jayanti.

Speaking to News18 a fortnight ago, Mevani had stated that he will camp in Kutch and fight for the issue of Dalits not being allotted physical possession of the land that was assigned to them as long as 35 years ago. Earlier this week, Mevani had announced that Dalit activists will block the Samakhyali Highway on Ambedkar Jayanti as the government was dragging its feet on giving actual possession of land to Dalits for a long time.

In January this year, Mevani had written letters to the state government and the Kutch district administration, saying that the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch will resort to stringent methods of protest if physical possession of approximately 3700 acres of land allotted about 35 years ago, is not handed over to the recipients that include Dalits and those of the Thakore community.

We have called off the programme to block the Samakhyali highway. In the past 48 hours, the Kutch district administration has handed over possession of over 100 acres of land to recipients in Abdasa, Rapar and Mandvi talukas of Kutch district. This is a welcome move and I along with the Dalits who have actually received the land, will celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti by digging on these plots of land today. But at the same time, I am warning the government that if it discontinues this allotment or succumbs to pressure by anti-social elements who do not want the land transferred to Dalits, I will again resort to stringent forms of protest, Jignesh Mevani said on Saturday.

He personally visited villages in Rapar and other talukas of Kutch on Saturday to oversee the process of handing over of land possession to the local Dalits. Meanwhile, in Ahmedabad, Dalit activists including Subodh Parmar, Jagdish Chavda and Bharat Shah of the RDAM, along with Bipin Roy of the Dalit Panther organization and Adivasi rights activist Raju Valvaikar were detained from Sarangpur in Ahmedabad, when they raised slogans against BJP leaders who had arrived at the statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

After garlanding the statue of Dr Ambedkar, BJP MP Kirit Solanki, mayor Gautam Shah and other leaders were greeted by protests from the Dalit activists who shouted slogans against them. The police quickly stepped in and detained the five activists. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar is a hero not just for the Dalit community, but all Indians. Nobody can prevent me or anybody from garlanding his statue. For Dalits, the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar is as important as Diwali and these protests will not deter us, Dr Solanki said.

Jignesh Mevani, in a video appeal on Friday, had asked Dalits not to resort to any kind of violence, but at the same time, they should democratically protest against any BJP leader who garlanded the statue of Ambedkar. The BJP has failed the Dalits of this country and it is within our rights to democratically protest against leaders of the party, Mevani had said.New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has proposed a course that aims to make Sanskrit a more employable option for students.

The newly-founded School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies (SSIS) has proposed to introduce PG Diploma in Kalp Vedanga and offer courses to train pandits, who from across castes and gender, will comprise the next academic session of 2019. Girish Nath Jha, the first dean of the new SSIS told News18 that in future we can expect JNU-trained pandits to go to temples and perform rituals.

The students will dabble with the Srautasutras, based on the sruti, and the Smartasutras, rules based on the smriti or traditions to perform rituals, among other traditional texts. The proposal was made in the first meeting of School Coordination Committee, of School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies on February 23.

COURSES IN RELIGIOUS TOURISM, VAASTU SHASTRA

The school has proposed a PG Diploma course in Religious Tourism saying that the country has a rich tradition of dhams. Similarly, a PG diploma course in Vaastu Shastra is expected to bring viable options for students to get jobs with the civil engineering companies looking for experts in Vaastu Shastra.

With growing interest in Yoga Kendras, the MA course proposed in Yoga is expected to give the ancient heritage a push. The BSc course in Ayurveda has also been proposed to meet the demand of the growing industry.

In the next phase of additional courses, the administration plans a proposal for Sanskrit journalism and rich traditions of classical music. The School Coordination Committee has 9 members, including internal and external, and one of them is well-known Sanskrit scholar, Kapil Kapoor who was at the forefront of starting the special Sanskrit centre in JNU in 2001.

The SCC meeting also had some special invitees from the School of Sciences and e-learning courses. It approved some new programmes and courses, and now a sub-committee is drafting the additional courses. They are also adopting an inter-disciplinary approach to study the Indian past by reading the Sanskrit text.

Once the draft is ready, it will go to the Board of Studies and will be presented in the next academic council meeting. If Academic Council approves it, the school intends to start the additional courses from the beginning of the 2019 academic year.

UPGRADED FROM SPECIAL CENTRE TO SCHOOL

The School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies was created after it was upgraded from the Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies to a full-fledged school in December 2017. The earlier centre was set up in 2001 with the goal to bring together  through interactive projects traditional scholars and mainstream university scholars.

Currently, the school offers MA, MPhil, PhD programmes and five Certificate of Proficiency (CoP) courses in Sanskrit, Pali, Sanskrit Computational Linguistics, Yoga Philosophy and Vedic Culture. The new proposal that intends to broad base Sanskrit studies and make it employable includes, BA Sanskrit Online and Offline, MA in Yoga, which is right now being pursued as a certificate course, BSc Ayurveda Biology, PG Diploma Courses in Religious Tourism, Vaastu, Computational Linguistics and Kalp Vedanga.

The new uplift will give the school autonomy and power in academic and administrative departments. According to the JNU administration, it will soon have more power to plan and propose programmes to boost Sanskrit study.

BREAK THE IMAGE OF SANSKRIT

With the new courses, the dean of the new SSIS intends to break the image of Sanskrit. It is an ancient language, which is also ultra-modern and suitable for computers, said Girish Nath Jha.

Jha, who has completed his MA, MPhil Linguistics (Computational Morphology) and PhD in Linguistics (Machine Translation) from JNU and then went to University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA for MA Linguistics, said that that the new proposal to link the language with employment will attract more students to study Sanksrit. Students usually stop studying Sanskrit in Class 12. This will give them an incentive to opt for the language, he said.

The members of the draft committee are busy designing the courses so that it is presented in the next AC meeting.

I am sure JNU, which is such a liberal university, will certainly accept the radical proposal and take lead in making Sanskrit an employable option, Jha said, adding, JNU means radical, so we should do something as drastic as this.

The new SSIS dean said that there will be no restrictions on the admission of students. They can go to temples and perform rituals. Our courses would train experts in religious tourism, vaastu, Ayurveda and Yoga. Only the conservatives in the Academic Council would think that scholarship has been compromised, he said.

Jha insists that it is the need of the hour to widen our understanding of the ancient texts and look at it with fresh perspective and in an inter-disciplinary way  involve other disciplines like Environment, History, Biotechnology etc. The initial plan is to get potential donors to fund the new courses, and government funding will be seen as the last resort.Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala police have registered a case against Vishnu Nandakumar, the banker was expelled from his job allegedly for celebrating the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua on Facebook.

Nandakumar is also the nephew of BJP state general secretary A N Radhakrishnan.

While speaking to CNN-News18, Radhakrishnan said that he does not want to comment on the issue.

Police have registered a case under section 153a of the IPC, the section which deals with offence for promoting enmity between different religions. They said that they had received several complaints against Nandakumar.

After massive outrage against Nandakumar for his statement on social media, Kotak Mahindra Bank on Friday said they have already terminated him.

Nandakumar, who was working as an assistant manager in Palarivattom branch of Kotak Mahindra Bank in Kochi, had posted a comment on Facebook justifying the brutal act. Good that the girl has been killed at this age, otherwise she would have become a bomb against India in future, he said.

His comment drew massive outrage on social media as users launched a huge campaign demanding action against the accused. Users started posting comments on Kotak Mahindra's Facebook page seeking dismissal of Vishnu from the position.

Police have registered a case against Vishnu for making derogatory remarks. The case has been registered under section 153A of IPC for promoting enmity between different religions.

Kotak Mahindra put out a statement on their social media, saying they have terminated Nandakumar from his services two days back for poor performance.

We have terminated Vishnu Nandakumar from the services of the bank on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 for poor performance. It is extremely disheartening to see such comments being made in the aftermath of such tragedy by anyone including an ex-employee. We strongly condemn this statement, the Kotak Mahindra statement said.

Even though Kotak Mahindra says they have sacked him a day before, people alleged the decision to sack him could be taken after the outrage. Angry protesters had also stuck posters outside the bank branch in Palarivattom seeking his sacking.

Soon after the decision was made, Facebook users started pouring praise on the bank. Protests against the murder of the eight-year-old girl are being organised in different parts of the country.Mumbai: At a time when the country's commercial capital has been plagued by fires, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) has no information on the status of the mandatory fire audits for all buildings, an RTI response has revealed.

Right to Information (RTI) activist Anil Galgali had sought the information on the fire audits, entrusted to the MFB, in the wake of the devastating fire in Kamala Mills Compound in December 2017 and other subsequent fires which claimed many lives in the city.

"I sought details of the total number of buildings, the type, buildings where fire audits were completed or pending ward-wise on January 1 across the city," Galgali said.

However, even after a delay of three months, the MFB's Divisional Fire Officer S.D. Sawant merely replied that as per the Maharashtra Fire Prevention Life Safety Act 2006, it was now mandatory for the owners, occupiers or housing societies to get fire audits conducted by approved/licences auditors.

These reports would be submitted to BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation and to the MFB which, in turn, would upload them on their website, the official said.

"Strangely, despite such a serious issue with the lives of people at stake, the MFB has not collected details on the number of the audit reports of buildings which have been submitted to it or even uploaded on their website," Galgali said.

For Mumbai, a Nominated Officer under the Act has been authorised in all the 34 fire stations to conduct inspections of the buildings in their jurisdiction limits. Yet the MFB has no clue on the progress of the fire audits completed in their respective areas, he pointed out.

Galgali said he has now written to the Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta about the MFB's 'delay tactics'.

He said it was imperative to get the names of those buildings/societies not complying with the law published on the website to 'shame and force them' to act in the interests of their residents and overall safety of life and properties.New Delhi: Nobody is safe in the country if the judiciary is not strong and efficient, said Justice J Chelameswar on Saturday.

Delivering the N L Belekar memorial lecture on 'Rule of Law and Role of Bar' in Nagpur, the most senior judge of the Supreme Court maintained that a strong judiciary was a must for the future generations to live with dignity.

"If we want our grandchildren to stay in this country with dignity then we must protect, preserve and strengthen the judiciary in the country. If the judiciary is not strong, independent, responsive and efficient then nobody is safe in India, said Justice Chelameswar.

The judge said that excessive control by the executive poses a constant threat to the independence of the judiciary and thus, the Bar has a role to play by remaining vigilant.

"Remove the system of judicial scrutiny and all forms of government will exercise their power. Power be it in any hand, not just of the executive, has a tendency to corrupt," added the judge.

Justice Chelameswar has been in news recently for being one of most vocal judges in the top court. He has been extremely critical of the lack of objective criteria in appointing judges and has also reproached the Central government for trying to influence the judiciary through unwarranted interference.

Any bonhomie between the judiciary and the executive will sound the death-knell to the democracy, he has warned in his latest letter to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

It was at Justice Chelameswars residence that the unprecedented press conference of the four most senior judges in the Supreme Court took place in January.Saharanpur: "Baba Saheb ne humein sikhaya hai ki jo qaum apna itihaas nahi jaanti, who kabhi tarakki nahi kar sakti (Bab Saheb has taught us that a community that doesn't know its own history can never progress)," says Kamal Singh Walia, district president of the Bhim Army, as he leads the way to the Ravidas Temple at Hauzkhedi village in Saharanpur district.

"There is a big difference between the Dalits of the 20th Century and the Dalit children we are training to dominate in the 21st Century. For years, the confidence of Dalits has been shattered. They have been told that they are less than everyone else. But we are raising children who hold no fear in their hearts," he says.

At the Ravidas Temple, a community area for the village's Dalit residents, a 25-year-old graduate is helping children of all ages with their homework. This is a 'Bhim Pathshala', one of over 1,000 that are being run by the Bhim Army all over Uttar Pradesh.

It was the need to know their own history, which Walia talks about, and the glaring lack of facilities in government schools that gave birth to these Bhim Pathshalas in 2015. Now, for two hours a day, after school hours, Dalit children of all ages from across Western Uttar Pradesh gather under the shade of a tree or the courtyard of a Ravidas Temple or sometimes, even the house of a Bhim Army operative to learn.

"It costs around Rs 3,000 a month to run a Bhim Pathshala since we need money for stationery. The teachers who come here don't charge any money. Every Bhim Army member is expected to help out the Bhim Pathshalas in any way that they can. Those who are graduates or post graduates are expected to take out two hours in a day and teach children. Others can contribute whatever money they can spare. Some people give us Rs 50 a month, others give around Rs 200 or Rs 300. But everyone contributes in their own way," Walia says.

Sarita Ambedkar, a 25-year-old post-graduate, teaches children from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm every day at her native village of Hauzkhedi. For children of manual labourers, she says, the Bhim Pathshala is invaluable.

"The school and parents are the two pillars of education that make a good student. In the case of many Dalit children in UP, neither pillar is strong. The condition of government schools in UP is deplorable, since half the teachers don't even want to teach. All they ensure is that kids receive the khichdi in the mid-day meal. To add to this, parents of these children are uneducated so they can't even check if their child is receiving a proper education. Bhim Pathshalas fills these gaps. We are a bridge between home and school. Dalit children have been devoid of education for centuries. We plan to change that," she says.

Twenty-five-year-old Sarita Ambedkar, who teaches children from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm every day at Bhim Pathshala in Hauzkhedi, says the school is invaluable for children of manual labourers. (Photo: News 18)

Bhim Army and its founder Chandrashekhar shot to national prominence last year after a caste conflict broke out in Saharanpur. The Bhim Army, in protest against alleged atrocities on Dalits, had called for a Mahapanchayat in Saharanpur on May 9, 2017. While the police denied permission for the public meeting, invitations had already gone out on social media. Hundreds had started making their way to the venue of the meeting when things turned sour. Supporters of the Bhim Army clashed with the police, following which, Chandrashekhar was booked by the police.

A month later, he was arrested by a team of UP Police in Himachal Pradeshs Dalhousie. Chandrashekhar was booked by the UP Government under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and has been lodged in jail ever since.

Bhim Army and its founder Chandrashekhar shot to national prominence last year after a caste conflict broke out in Saharanpur. (Photo: News 18)

Walia spent eight months in jail with Chandrashekhar and claims he developed a limp while there. "A gift", he jokes, "from the Yogi Government."

Following the Saharanpur riots, most of the Bhim Army top leadership was either absconding or in prison. Even during this time, says Walia, the Bhim Pathshalas continued to function.

"Before Chandrashekhar and I went underground, we had passed instructions to some of our young boys and girls who did not have cases against them  make sure that the Pathshalas continue. The classes are not just some social work that we are doing. It is at the core of Bhim Army's entire ideology. Had Baba Saheb not fought to get himself educated, he would not be the Great Liberator of Dalits. If he could do it in the 20th Century, there is no reason why we shouldn't do it in the 21st," he says.

Sarita Ambedkar describes Bhim Pathshalas as "less than a school, more than just a tuition class". On a warm April afternoon, Sarita starts the class by going through what each child was taught in school that day. The focus is to get their homework finished on time. But as the lesson moves on, it is clear that there is a political undertone to this class.

"Most of the lesson focuses on what they learn in school. But we also focus on telling Dalit kids about their own history. They learn about Baba Saheb, Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule and Sant Valmiki Ji. There is very little mention of these people and their lives in mainstream education."

With this, she says, she is preparing a new generation of Dalits  a more confident, unafraid and unapologetic generation of Dalits.

Dr. B R Ambedkar was popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar. (News18 Creative)

"To this day, my students tell me that teachers discriminate against Dalit and Muslim kids. The children of Brahmins are given the first row, followed by Jats and Gujjars. Dalit and Muslim kids are seated at the back. They have to wait till the upper caste kids are done drinking from the school's handpump. This crushes the morale of a young Dalit. But when they come to my class, I make sure that I build their confidence again by telling them that great men and women come from their community too."

Gender sensitisation, too, is an important part of the curriculum. "We encourage boys and girls to learn to talk to each other and treat each other with respect. We even encourage some of the older students to read," she says as he flourishes a book called "Nari Kranti par Lenin ke vichaar" (Lenin's views on the feminist revolution).

It was the assertion of the Dalit identity and the need to redefine what it means to be Dalit that gave birth to the Bhim Army in 2015. This idea also percolates down to the Bhim Pathshalas. Vinay Ratan Singh, the National President of the Bhim Army, said, "In 2015, our founder Chandrashekhar Azad Raavan erected a board outside his native village Ghadkauli that said 'The Great Chamar Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Gram'. Thakurs objected to the board and said Chamars, a caste of Dalits, cannot be great."

Pradeep Narwal, a JNU research scholar and associate of the Bhim Army said, "The word 'Chamar' was used as a slur. Bhim Army's fight is to reclaim not just the word Chamar but all symbols associated with Dalit identity and turn them into Dalit pride."

Over the last year, as the Bhim Army grabbed national headlines, the number of Bhim Pathshalas has skyrocketed.

"Earlier, we were running a total of 350 Pathshalas in just two districts  Saharanpur and Haridwar. Today, a year since the 2017 riots, we are running over 1,000 Pathshalas across UP. The next step is to expand to other states. Really, I must thank Modi and Yogi. Thanks to their atrocities on our workers, Bhim Army has now become a household name."

While Bhim Army says its fight is mainly against an ideology of 'Manuwaad' and 'Hindutva', in their growth model, they are beginning to resemble their most bitter enemy  the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. A Bhim Army leader said, "RSS started around 90 years ago as a social movement. They started holding shakas and Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools. Today, they are ruling over the country. One day, the children of Bhim will run this country."

Political messaging, subtly inserted into greetings, is an important part of the Pathshalas. As Kamal Walia enters the Bhim Pathshala, children greet him with chants of 'Jai Bhim'. When four-year-old Varsha Ambedkar is asked to recite 'Baba Black Sheep', she begins by first saying, "Jai Bhim, Jai Bhim Army, Bhim Army Zindabad, Advocate Chandrashekhar Azad Zindabad! (Hail Bhim, Hail Bhim Army, Long Love Bhim Army, Long Live Advocate Chandrashekhar Azad!"

If the aim is to create the next generation of Bhim Army activists, the movement is already showing signs of success. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, 15-year-old Shilpi says, "When I went to school, my teachers treated my normally at first. However, the attitudes of some of them changed after they found out I was a Dalit. The Bhim Pathshala taught me that I was not less than anybody. That is why I want to join the Bhim Army and become a teacher at the Bhim Pathshala."Chandigarh: Punjab government has stopped all internet services in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, and Nawanshehr districts of the state on Saturday following communal clash in Phagwara late last night.

The decision was made by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh who is personally monitoring the situation, a press release said.

Singh was in Jalandhar for a function to mark the birth anniversary of the father of the Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar.

He appealed to people to maintain peace and harmony in the wake of the clash while warning of stringent action against anyone found disturbing law and order in the state.

In an apparent move to lure Dalits, the Chief Minister launched a scheme to waive debt for members of the Dalit community from Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.

At the state level function organized at DAV College, Singh launched a scheme to waive debt up to Rs 50,000 each of 14260 members of the Dalit community, totaling Rs 125 crore. This include debt waiver of Rs 52 crore for Dalits belonging to Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.

Singh has asked the police to thoroughly investigate the clash between some Dalit workers and so-called Hindu organisations on Friday.

The CM also announced that the state government would bear the entire expenses for the treatment of all those injured in the clashes, whether admitted to government or private hospitals.

He directed the Ludhiana district administration to ensure the best treatment for Yashwant Kumar Bobby, reported to be seriously injured in the clash and undergoing treatment at DMC Ludhiana.

Urging people to exercise restraint, the chief minister sought their cooperation to maintain peace and communal harmony, and thwart the nefarious designs of anti-national and anti-social elements. Four people were injured in a clash between two groups over the installation of a board and renaming of a chowk in Phagwara.Jangala (Bijapur): Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme here on Saturday.

He also visited Jangala Development Hub, situated in a panchayat that has emerged as a model panchayat. He interacted with local Champions of Change' in this Left Wing Extremism-affected district especially post the launch of Aspirational District programme on January 5.

He inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cables would be spread across seven districts of the tribal region. The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

Modi, who is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur, also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map.

This is the prime minister's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where Assembly elections are due later this year. He had visited Dantewada in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.

The prime minister also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. The BPO centre is provided Internet by the Bastar Internet scheme.

He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 1,700 crore. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Health Minister J P Nadda were also present on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government will open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre by 2022, which will be equipped to treat host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.

Also under the scheme, the government has prepared the broad contour of the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and the work is on to finalise parameters for identifying beneficiaries and hospital entitlement.

On January 5, Modi had asked officials to devote these coming three months in developing these less developed districts and had said he would like to visit one of these areas which would be well-performing.Ferozepur: Authorities at Ferozepurs civil hospital have suspended Dr Kushaldeep Singh for beating up a woman in public and in the presence of policemen. A video of the incident went viral showing him holding her by hair and beating her up, and pushing her out of the hospital premises.

The accused doctor said the woman in question was undergoing treatment for mental ailment from him for past 15 days.

He alleged when he refused to prescribe her more than the required dose of medicine, the woman started harassing him. She even sat on his seat when he left for a washroom break.

He then approached the hospital SMO after which the police was called in. In the meantime, the woman started hitting him and even tried to touch his turban.

He caught hold of her when she tried to flee, the accused doctor said. I know I should not have done this but she harassed me mentally, was the accused doctors retort. A team led by SPD Ajmer Singh is investigating the case.New Delhi: Pravin Togadias long yet at times tenuous relationship with the Vishva Hindu Parishad has come to an end.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has finally had its way in electing a VHP president of its choice  former Himanchal Pradesh governor Vishnu Sadasiv Kokje.

Togadia's nominee in the secret ballot managed to get 60 votes as against 132 for Kokje. This, despite RSS coming out in open support of the candidate of its choice, is indicative of the deep divisions within.

With Saturdays election, a long-drawn battle within the VHP comes to an end. Or, has it just started with Togadia vowing to go on an indefinite fast next week to press for the construction of Ram Temple?

The battle lines between Togadia supporters and the RSS were drawn at VHP national executive at Bhuvneshwar in December last year. Matters came to head in presence of RSS second-in-command Bhaiyyaji Joshi. The RSS-backed candidate Kokje was opposed by Togadia who insisted on division.

The larger worry for the RSS is that VHP  along with the BJP  is the only other Sangh affiliate with a large mass base. Such leadership issues raise fundamental questions in an organisation which gives precedence to the institution than an individual, a senior RSS leader told News18 just after the Bhuvneshwar confrontation.

Facing a stiff challenge, Joshi announced that elections were being postponed and would be held at a later date. Sangh was apparently caught off-guard, as never in the history of its affiliate, a secret ballot was held to nominate a new president and the team.

In fact, sources say Togadia had prior information about his removal. Ahead of the meeting, he had a conversation in this regard with Bhaiyyaji Joshi in Orissa.

But RSS thought that it would be able to oversee a change in VHP leadership without much resistance. What the Sangh did not take into consideration is that leaders working in mass based organisations develop a following of their own, senior RSS leader had told News18.

The VHP, although established in mid-60s, gained traction two decades later when the RSS handed over the leadership to its then prant pracharak of Himachal Pradesh, Ashok Singhal. Senior RSS leader Modopant Pingle was also deputed to oversee its proliferation in the aftermath of Meenakshipuram conversions of Dalits to Islam.

Sighal led the VHP during Ram Temple movement, and until the time he was around, his writ ran large in the organisation. After Singhals death, Togadia is seen to be the tallest leader within.

But Togadia, who hails from Gujarat, over the years has had his share of run-ins with the current leadership in the BJP.

With Lok Sabha elections due next year, the decision to replace Togadia came as the Supreme Court also began hearing the Ayodhya title suit.

Togadia was asked by the RSS to manage the Hindu Helpline, aimed at helping members of the community in cases of emergencies. The showdown in Bhubaneshwar was a message from the Togadia camp about their support base within, says an RSS leader aware of the developments.

So the RSS bided its time. The efforts to mobilise support for Kokje gathered momentum at its general Body meeting (Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha) at Nagpur last month.

When it was sure it had the numbers, VHP called for a vote at Gurugram this Saturday to inflict a comprehensive defeat on Togadias nominee for VHP Presidents post.Champaran: The residents of the historic Champaran district are facing a huge sanitation challenge as the municipality failed to hygienically treat temporary toilets installed for those attending the Prime Minister's 'Swachhagrah' programme.

As many as 20,000 'Swachhgrahis' or sanitation motivators, who arrived in Champaran on April 7 for the PM's April 10 programme, defecated in the open during their three-day stay.

Now, the city of Bapu, known for the historic Satyagraha movement in 1917, is grappling with the problem of human waste in a long stretch, starting from the tent city which was built near the airport. After the PM's visit, having failed to plan in advance, now the local administration has chosen a short cut which is more hazardous for the environment.

A long queue of septic tank cleaner vehicles used to flush the waste can be seen at bank of Dhanauti river near Bariarpur Chawk.

On April 10, PM Narendra Modi addressed Swachhagrahis , the messengers of cleanliness, with the message of 'Satyagrah se Swachhagrah'. People from 26 states, the sprawling tent city drew attention of outsiders as they arrived for the three days event.

During the event, all arrangements of food and lodging were in place, including a large number of portable toilets. However, many of these toilets ran out of capacity as faeces filled up quickly. So, they chose to defecate in open, making it evident that there was no plan in advance to decompose and treat the waste in an environment friendly manner.

The tent city officials evaded questions on the disposal of waste. Nikhil Aggrawal, a senior site manager, denied that waste was being disposed off into the river. However, the drivers of the septic tank vehicles admitted that they were told to empty the tanks, full of human excreta, into the Dhanauti river.

"Sir, We are continuously ferrying since Wednesday. Few local residents also objected as fetor coming out of it is unbearable. But what can we do? we are doing our duty", Sumit, one of the drivers told News18. Roushan Paswan , who was at the driving seat of the tanker just behind Sumit, echoed the same.

The place near Bariarpur Chawk, where the waste is being flushed into the river, is considered the entry gate of Motihari and the residents are visibly angry over the filthy scene.

Ashok Kumar Mishra, who lives adjacent to the Chawk, says, " we fear for our health. The way the municipality is dealing with the problem is an eye wash and a glaring example of their inefficiency. Our lives have become hell. We can't even breathe easily."

A group of residents submitted a petition to the district magistrate Raman Kumar on Friday who, after viewing the video clips assured them of immediate action, .

Talking to News18, Raman Kumar said, "I will discuss the matter with the Municipal officials and people's representatives of the local body and find out if there was any mismanagement."

However, the people of Champaran have a common feeling as a grocery shop owner Ajeet Kumar said, "please don't organise such programmes in future using the name of Champaran."New Delhi: A Chief Justice led bench of the Allahabad high court lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh government and police for working "directly in league" and "influence" of Unnao rape accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar.

Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale along with Justice Suneet Kumar on Friday said that even though the BJP legislator had been charged under the stringent sexual offences law, there was no development in the case as law and order and the state machinery were directly in league and under influence of Kuldeep Singh".

Terming the development as a disturbing feature of the case, the bench directed the CBI to complete the probe in the case by May 2.

Sengar is accused to raping an 18-year-old woman along with his brother and aides in June last year when she was a minor.

A year later, when the matter came to light, the survivors father was allegedly beaten to death by Sengars brother following a brawl between the families over the incident.

Taking cognizance of the fathers death, the court stated that the accused persons did not leave any stone unturned to terrorise the woman.

"This is a classic case where we find that the accused persons have not kept a single stone unturned to terrorize not only victim/prosecutrix but her family members and other witnesses. The victim has lost her father merely because cognizance was not taken of her complaint made in August 2017. Had the police taken cognizance of the complaint to the Chief Minister and forwarded to the concerned police station at that stage, perhaps, further damage, including the death of prosecutrix's father would not have taken place, the bench said in its order.

Lashing out at the administration for its laxity in the case, the court further said, The doctor did not examine the prosecutrix, nor did the Circle Officer, Shafipur, register the crime, though hand written complaint of the prosecutrix was sent from the office of the Chief Minister. On petty offence, father of prosecutrix was beaten up by the brother, and the goons of Kuldeep Singh and was arrested and in the custody was beaten mercilessly. It further appears that false cases were lodged against the family members.

The bench of the high court, while ordering Sengar's arrest, also expressed displeasure at the behaviour of the Advocate General appearing for the state.

"The approach of the learned Advocate General not only exudes an unpleasant flavour, but raises doubts about the bonafides of the police authorities at the highest level. We are unable to persuade ourselves in accepting the contention of learned Advocate General that the accused in the circumstances cannot be arrested. In our opinion, arrest of the accused in the present case is necessarily required to safeguard the majesty of law," noted the Chief Justice led bench.

On April 10, post-mortem report of the survivors father showed 14 injuries. The Uttar Pradesh government soon ordered the police to hand over the case to the CBI, following which the investigating agency handed arrested the BJP MLA on Friday.New Delhi: The verdict of Vishwa Hindu Parishads first secret ballot in 52 years is out: Justice VS Kokje has polled more votes than Raghava Reddy, who chose Pravin Togadia in his cabinet.

The process of electing VHP's international president, which was earlier occupied by Reddy, began in December last year in Bhubaneswar. But due to lack of consensus, the procedure was left midway.

Within an hour of being elected, Kokje announced his team that kept Togadia out.

The new cabinet selected by Kokje include Alok Kumar advocate (Working President); Ashok Chowgule (International Working President); Milind Parande (General Secretary); Vinayak Rao Deshpande (Joint General Secretary).

Angry at the poll results, Togadia has decided to launch a movement on April 17.

"I will undertake a fast on April 17. It will be a movement that will infuse 2019 elections. It is about demanding law for cow protection and Ram Mandir. These have been my past issues and I will continue to raise them," said Togadia.

A total of 192 votes were polled, one was declared invalid. Kokje won with 131 votes and Reddy got 60 votes.

The Board of Trustees 273 members felt the need of holding elections as there were two contenders. There were three booths inside the venue which allowed the voters to cast their votes.

In the past, the organisation has been selecting the international president through consensus and selection.

This time, in 52 years, there was a secret ballot because of lack of consensus. This election took place in Gurugram's PWD guest house amid high security.

When asked about VHP losing its face of Hindutva politics, Surendra Jain, joint general secretary, said, "Hindu society is our face, no one else is. In the work we do people can play different roles, but the larger programs and interests do not depend on any one person."

Though Togadia is unhappy with the results and not part of the cabinet of Kokje, Jain said, "VHP is one way route, you can only enter but cannot exit. In service of the Hindu society, we will work together. We will stick to our mandate and work for the establishment of Ram Mandir. Mandir wahin banayega, the land is not with us right now, but things will change. As per VHP mandate, there will not be any masjid in Ayodhya by the name of Babri.

A day before the elections there were scuffles in VHP headquarters in RK Puram, the bouncers blocked the entry of a karyakarta, which led to a showdown between the Kokje and Reddy camps.

Jain said, There are no camps in VHP. Our identity is Hindu society and we are now going to work for the nation. Whatever happened in the run up to elections is because things happen in the heat of elections, people do a lot of things that they wouldn't do otherwise. But like a bad dream, we have forgotten that incident.

Arvind Saini, one of the voters present, said, "This is the first time we voted for the international president. Togadia has worked for Hindutva, but he is not bigger than the organisation. Under the new leadership various programs will be pursued.Saharanpur: If protesting against the RSS makes me a Naxalite, then I am a Naxalite, Bhim Armys founder Chandrashekhar Azad Raavan thundered at his last public appearance at New Delhis Jantar Mantar, adding that he will continue to fight Bhagwa Aatankwaad (Saffron terror).

At every opportunity it has got, the Bhim Army has made no secret of who its enemy no. 1 is  the Hindu-Nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). But as it goes from being a Saharanpur-centric organisation to one with a national base, the growth pattern of the Bhim Army has ended up mirroring that of the same Manuwaadi RSS that it fights.

It was the need to re-assert Dalit identity that gave birth to the Bhim Army in 2015. Vinay Ratan Singh, the National President of the Bhim Army, said, In 2015, our founder Chandrashekhar Azad Raavan erected a board outside his native village Ghadkauli that said The Great Chamar Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Gram. Thakurs objected to the board and said Chamars, a caste of Dalits, cannot be great.

This was not unlike the Hindu awakening that the RSS was attempting to push for in the late 1920s. KB Hedgewar, founder of the RSS and its first Sarsanghachalak, felt Hindus were disunited and lacked parakram (valour). RSS gave its members uniforms that resembled those of the British Police and trained its cadre to wield lathis.

In similar fashion, the Bhim Army is attempting to change the image of the average Dalit by appropriating symbols that have been associated with the upper castes. That is why all members of the Bhim Army are encouraged to sport sunglasses and big moustaches that they twirl like a stereotypical Thakur would. As the RSS once asked Hindus to be united, the Bhim Army is now encouraging Dalits to band together to prevent exploitation.

Senior leaders of the Bhim Army admit that their growth mirrors that of the RSS. This, they say, is not by chance.

The RSS began in 1925. Nobody would have thought in those days that in 90 years, they would end up becoming the rulers of the country. We are not looking at 10 years or 20 years, but we are looking at the next 100 years. For all its faults, there are many lessons to be learnt from the RSS. Key among them is their discipline. Only when we are disciplined can the oppressed sections of society end up as its rulers, said Kamal Walia, the Bhim Armys Saharanpur unit chief who spent eight months in jail with the outfits founder.

Certainly, the Bhim Army has made no secret of its desire for Bahujan Raj (rule of the oppressed masses) in India. Mere saath kaho! Hum is desh ke shasak hain! (Repeat after me! We are the rulers of this country!), Chandrashekhar had said in his speech at Jantar Mantar on May 21, 2017.

In 1927, two years after he founded the RSS, Hedgewar started organising training camps for pracharaks. Members were told about Indias Hindu history and Hindu nationalist icons such as Shivaji and Maharana Pratap. To instill this discipline, Bhim Armys model seems like an early-prototype of the RSSs Shakha system.

Walia said, We hold weekly meetings. At these meetings, not only do we discuss the work of the organisation but we also have discussions on Dalit history, Dalit icons such as Baba Saheb BR Ambedkar and discuss how we have been subjugated for centuries.

But discussing historical perspectives with adults may not be as lasting as discussing it with children. Here, too, the Bhim Army and the RSS appear as mirror images of each other. In 1946, RSS chief MS Golwalkar opened a Gita School in Kurukshetra, Haryana. In 1952, the first ever Saraswati Shishu Mandir came up in Gorakhpur. Since then, nearly 15,000 Saraswati Shishu Mandirs have come up across India.

It was the need to know their own history and the glaring lack of facilities in government schools that gave birth to Bhim Armys Bhim Pathshalas in 2015. Now, for two hours a day, after school hours, Dalit children of all ages from across Western Uttar Pradesh gather under the shade of a tree or the courtyard of a Ravidas Temple or sometimes, even the house of a Bhim Army operative to learn. Most of the lesson focuses on what they learn in school. But we also focus on telling Dalit kids about their own history. They learn about Baba Saheb, Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule and Sant Valmiki Ji. There is very little mention of these people and their lives in mainstream education, said Sarita Ambedkar, a teacher at one such Bhim Pathshala

Bhim Army and its founder Chandrashekhar shot to national prominence last year after a caste conflict broke out in Saharanpur. It was after the riots and the subsequent arrest of Chandrashekhar that the outfit began to grab national headlines.

Since then, Bhim Army claims it has seen exponential growth. Pradeep Narwal, 26, a JNU research scholar who left the RSS student wing ABVP to become a member of the Bhim Army Defence Committee, said, Earlier, the Bhim Army was limited to two or three districts in Western UP and Uttarakhand, today, they have state units coming up in Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, MP, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and even Jammu. Any state which has a significant Dalit population is ripe ground for the Bhim Army. I think we have Modi and Yogi to thank for this. If they had not unfairly targeted Bhim Army, Dalits all over the country would not have known that there is an organisation that will stand with them."New Delhi: Two years on, the Supreme Court has reopened the contentious issue and sought setting up of a Constitution Bench to outline the distribution of powers between Centre and states.

On Friday, a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Kurian Joseph, reignited the legal debate over the issue, which was earlier ruled in favour of the Central government.

The bench, also comprising Justices MM Shantanagoudar and Navin Sinha, referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India for setting up a Constitution Bench to settle the issue.

The Court said that the matter should be placed before the CJI "emergently" in view of the fact that the counselling has either commenced or in some states, it is only about to commence.

The bench gave liberty to the petitioners to mention the matter before CJI Dipak Misra on Monday to enable them press for an interim order.

The main plank of contention, as raised by Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association and some doctors from Kerala, Maharashtra and Haryana, is over denial of reservation benefits to them for admissions in post-graduate degree courses although they are in-service candidates.

By a judgment in 2016, a three-judge bench had ruled that medial admission regulations issued by the Medical Council of India was a complete code on the subject and that only the Central government was empowered to make such rules.

This bench had held that the subject of determination of standards in higher and technical education was placed under the Union List and thus, states had no authority to frame laws or regulations therein.

It also maintained that when the Central government's regulation did not provide for reservation to in-service candidates, states could not do so within their authority.

However, arguing for a clutch of petitions, senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi, Arvind Datar and KV Vishwanathan pointed out that medical education was a subject mentioned in the Concurrent List, and hence it remains a subject on which both the Centre and states can make laws.

"Being an Entry in the Concurrent List, the State is not denuded of its power to legislate on the manner and method for admissions to postgraduate medical courses," argued the lawyers, adding that 50 per cent of the seats even otherwise were allotted under the All India category with no preference to states.

It was further argued that the MCI regulations in fact itself authorised states to provide reservation benefits to in-service candidates for diploma courses.

"If there can be such a reservation in the case of postgraduate diploma courses, there is no justification for denying such a reservation in case of the postgraduate degree courses," the petitioners said.

Lawyers for the Central government and MCI opposed their plea and said that 2016 judgment has settled the debate in favour of exclusive authority of the Centre in framing rules of admissions.

But the Court noted that the earlier judgment did not consider the legislative entry with respect to medical admission, as also certain other judgments of the larger benches discussing the authority of state governments to administer medical admissions.

"In the above circumstances, we are of the view that these writ petitions require consideration by a larger Bench. Accordingly, place the matters before the Honble Chief Justice of India for consideration by a larger Bench, emergently," directed the Court.Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was conferred with the Dalit Mitr award by the Ambedkar Mahasabha on the Dalit leaders birth anniversary in Lucknow on Saturday while several Dalit activists who were protesting against the move were arrested from near the Mahasabhas office.

Dalit activist SR Darapuri, along with retired IAS Harish Chandra, Gajodhar Prasad and NS Chaurasiya were arrested from the gates of Ambedkar Mahasabha office in Lucknow for opposing the Dalit Mitr award being given to Yogi Adityanath.

During the award ceremony, President of Ambedkar Mahasabha, Lalji Prasad Nirmal said, Yogi is doing far more work for Dalits than those who focus on building statues. Yogi will one day occupy the highest office.

The Ambedkar Mahasabha is an influential Dalit body of staunch followers of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and has been playing important role in the politics of Uttar Pradesh for quite some time now.

After receiving the award from the hands of Governor Ram Naik, Yogi said, The Modi government has worked for the Dalits and has helped 35 crore poor Dalits to open bank accounts. Post-Independence, it is Modi Ji who has given respect in real terms to Baba Saheb.

From the time Dalit Mitr award was announced for CM Yogi Adityanath, founding members of the Ambedkar Mahasabha raised questions and strongly opposed the move.

In a sharp reaction to the announcement made by Nirmal, senior members of the Mahasabha, Harish Chandra and SR Darapuri called for an annual general meeting to initiate disciplinary action against Nirmal. They alleged that the president had overstepped the boundaries of his authority.

Speaking to the media, retired IPS officer and founding member of Ambedkar Mahasabha, SR Darapuri said, No one was consulted before taking this decision. Every member of the organisation except the president is opposed to this decision. Dalit atrocities have been on the rise in the past one year. There is no way that Yogi Adityanath should be honoured at such a time.

Darapuri did not just stop there and went on to allege that Nirmal is hoping for rent concessions from the government on a building in which the Ambedkar Mahasabha is housed. Nirmal has told us that by being friendly with the government, he is hoping to get some kind of concessions on the building that our office is located in, Darapuri said.Newton director Amit V Masurkar on Friday said Rajkummar Rao deserved to win a National Award for best actor. Rao played the title role of a green-horn government clerk who perseveres to conduct fair, free elections Masurkar's dark comedy on Indian democracy.

Newton was named the best Hindi film and a special mention was given to its actor Pankaj Tripathi.

The filmmaker said Rajkummar, who already has a best actor National Award to his credit for Shahid, should have been recognised for the work he has done in the year gone by.

"I definitely feel Rajkummar should have been awarded, he has done a brilliant job not only in 'Newton' but others films like in 'Trapped', 'Bareilly Ki Barfi', he has done lot of good work this year (2017). And it would have been great if he would have got some award.

"(But) I don't think he holds such expectations. He is someone who does his work and moves on. He has worked on four-five films after 'Newton'," Masurkar said.

Actor Riddhi Sen was named the best actor for his performance in Bengali film Nagarkirtan at the 65th National Film Awards, that were announced on Friday.

He said Rajkummar is elated over how 'Newton' performed at the awards, saying "He is a very positive person. He has won National award before. For us, it is the first time."Internationally acclaimed Indian filmmaker and the jury chairperson of the 65th National Film Awards, director Shekhar Kapur is amazed at the quality and standard of regional cinema and believes that it is giving Hindi cinema a run for its money.

On Friday, Kapur, who announced the awards along with other jury members present at the Press Information Bureau here, was impressed with the scale of regional cinema.

Judging the outcome where most of the categories were dominated by regional cinema, especially by Malayalam, Assamese, Bengali and Marathi cinema, Kapur told IANS: "Regional cinema is giving Hindi cinema a run for its money."

The filmmaker said that he was amazed by the quality and standard of regional cinema.

"Ten days of watching films, talking to my jury members... I was stunned at the quality of films not in Hindi cinema, but regional cinema, cinema that has never come up before," he said before announcing the winners.

"I was stunned after 10 days and last night I thought it's time to make a film in India because the standard of regional cinema is world beating... It is so difficult to make regional cinema. I know we are all filmmakers... Give every filmmaker his or her due and that's what we are doing," he added.

Hailing Malayalam cinema especially, Kapur said that "Malyalam cinema is much better than the Hindi film industry... it is far ahead".

The filmmaker said that the most important problem that regional cinema makers face is finance for their projects.

"It is so difficult to make regional cinema, there are so many aspects to look into. We are all filmmakers, we know the bit on finance needed. The don't have a Shah Rukh Khan. It is so difficult," he said.

With his last film in India being "Bandit Queen" two decades ago, he says it is time for him to make a film here.

"'Bandit Queen' was the last film I made in India, after that I never made a film in India for a reason. I wanted to make better films than Hindi cinema offered me, and for years I wanted to come back here and make films in India. For years, I have been watching films and saying 'the standard of Hindi films is just not good enough. Why should I go back? ...' ten days ago I changed my opinion," said Kapur.

Kapur says that giving awards also means that those films are meant to be seen and that it is important to not go by the words of film critics as they are more or less prejudiced.

"Why only allow the film critics to see the films. There is a very thin line between prejudice and judgment. Film critics are usually very prejudiced. You must watch these films. A lot of people have done a lot of hard work," he said.A week after getting a bail in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan resumed the shoot of his upcoming film Race 3. Directed by Remo D'Souza, the film is a third installment in the popular action-thriller film franchise.

Salman, who will have to be present in Jodhpur on May 7 for the next hearing in the case, was spotted shooting with his co-stars Jacqueline Fernandez and Daisy Shah at a film studio in Mumbai.

Image courtesy: @Movie Freak

Image courtesy: @Sara Khan

The filming was reportedly to be done outside India but due to the actor's ongoing case, the makers of the film decided to shift the shoot to India. Earlier shot in Bangkok and Abu Dabhi, the third part is slated to release in June around Eid this year.The BJP stands stumped by 'The Dalit Question'. All mainstream political parties, in fact, are floored at the strength and reach of the closely networked Dalit organisations across India, evident in the protests against the perceived 'dilution' of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act earlier this month.

The agitations were not aimed so much at the Centre or the Supreme Court, as the politics of patronage and condescension. Tokenisms, like Rahul Gandhi's meal in a Dalit household in Mau, or BJP president Amit Shah's ceremonial dip in the Shipra with Dalit sadhus, will not suffice. The emergence of successful Dalit entrepreneurs and writers, enabled by digital technology and a diversified economy, is a visible aspect of the newly assertive subaltern narrative.

That said, which way will the Dalits vote in 2019? Conventional wisdom has it that the dalit vote will split. Under Narendra Modi, the BJP transcended its brahmin-bania roots and projected itself as a party of the OBCs, committed to empowerment of the socially deprived. In this, it was supported by the RSS' 'samajik samrasta' (social harmony) campaign.

As a result, the BJP won nearly half the SC seats in Parliament and gained substantially among Dalits (12 per cent overall, but more in the Hindi belt). All the 17 reserved seats in Uttar Pradesh went to the BJP, in the teeth of India's most dominant Dalit party. It forged alliances with small Dalit parties like the LJP, Hindustani Awam Morcha, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party and RPI, and filled its ranks with Dalit leaders, some seduced from the BSP.

Yet, it is on the BJP's watch that Dalits have been attacked and/or killed for sporting a moustache, skinning a dead cow, riding horses or watching a garba; Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad was arrested and a Dalit groom needed state intervention to ride to his wedding through an upper caste locality.

In addition to the death of Rohith Vemula and a string of highly publicised atrocities against Dalits, we have had a ban on sale of beef in two states and a short-lived ban on sale of cattle for slaughter, which hit the community economically.

The unrest is palpable: recently, Mahadalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi has gone over to the opposition, the Suheldev BSP is openly expressing unhappiness with the BJP and a Dalit MP from UP complained to the PM against the 'thakur' chief minister.

Such betrayals are hard to overlook. On the other hand, the Congress continues to be a party of the upper castes and classes. But where there is no third option, the Dalit votes will perforce go to one or the other.

The BJP has strained every nerve to present itself as an inclusive party. Dalit icon B R Ambedkar has had a 'cashless' payment app (BHIM) and an international think-tank named after him, pilgrimage centres set up in his honour and statues put up in Lutyen's Delhi. Taking to heart the motto of the Dalit India Chambers of Commerce & Industry (DICCI) president Milind Kamble  defeat caste with capital - the government set up a venture capital fund for Dalit entrepreneurs.

Despite these efforts, there is no gain saying the fact that the BJP has lost traction among Dalits in the Hindi belt. Ideology appears to have little to do with it. Liberals enjoy pointing to the contradiction between Dalits and the RSS' gauraksha agenda, but that didn't stop the party from doing spectacularly well in the North-East and UP.

It is the BJP's incompetence in protecting Dalit interests, perhaps owing to caste contradictions within its own set-up, which has sparked anger. Besides, the BJP-led government is at that peculiar point in its tenure, when it is held accountable for anything that goes wrong, whether or not it is directly responsible.

The immediate question for the BJP is whether it can win over the Dalits of Karnataka, who have been split between the two national parties, depending on whether they are right hand or left hand. It's certainly trying, by projecting a Dalit as deputy chief minister and seeking the support of the Dalit mutts, but the Congress is believed to have an edge.

This achieves importance amid reports that the caste census ordered by CM Siddaramaiah found the Dalits, rather than the Veerashaiva-Lingayats, have the dominant vote share in the state. The JD(S) clearly bought into the survey, judging from its pre-poll alliance with the BSP.

Both national parties are on a slippery slope vis-a-vis the Dalit question. Conventional vote bank politics, based on sops and lip-service, will not answer in the long run.

(The writer is a senior journalist. Views are personal)To be a Dalit in the 21st Century is to continue to suffer social oppression and discrimination and incessantly rebel, rise and question the oppressive social system and order armed with the Ambedkarite ideology.

Dalits or untouchables (called Harijans in Mahatma Gandhis usage, now officially banned) are officially known as Scheduled Castes since the Government of India Act,1935. Caste system, which according Dr BR Ambedkar is ordained by the Hindu religious scriptures, has placed untouchables outside the Chaturvarna system of social division and imposed oppressive and in human rules of treatment against them. These rules emanate from several other religious texts such as Manu Smriti, which has now come under renewed criticism. Its 2018 and the untouchability related oppression still continue in many forms and the oppressors reinvent modern methods of discrimination and inhuman treatment.

The primary classification of Dalit comes from untouchability, as if a Dalit is born impure and should be shunned from touch. It was up to a messiah  Dr Ambedkar to rescue the untouchables during the British colonial period. He firmed up the equality provisions and remedies to discrimination in the 1950 Constitution of India. But the Indian social order, as it exists, defies the equality enshrined in the Constitution and laws that emanated to protect the Dalits and continue to treat Dalits in an inhuman way.

An exhaustive and reflective list of treatment of Dalits in modern day India can be read from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as amended in 2016.

In the Act, atrocities against Dalits are listed as- Putting any inedible/obnoxious substance into the mouth; forces to drink/eat inedible or obnoxious substance; dumping excreta/sewage/carcasses/any other obnoxious substance in premises, or at the entrance of the premises and dumping excreta/waste matter/carcasses/ obnoxious substance in neighbourhood. Garlanding Dalits with footwear/parades naked or semi-naked; forcibly removing clothes/forcible tonsuring of head/removing moustaches/painting face or body on Dalits. On the economic side - occupying and cultivating land owned by Dalits, illegally taking possession or transferring land allotted to Dalits. Dispossessing of Dalits from their land and/premises ;destroying crops/taking away the produce; Forcing them to do inhuman work such as beggar/other forms of forced or bonded labour; compel Dalits to dispose/carry human or animal carcasses/to dig graves; make Dalits do manual scavenging. Forcing Dalit girls to become devadasis.

We have come a long way, but nothing much has changed. Modern form of untouchability is forcing Dalits not to vote; theres an institution of false/malicious/vexatious suit or cases against Dalits in government employment.

Its not just limited to a certain section of the society. Often, even top officials who are Dalits are insulted and humiliated with caste slurs. Sometimes, Ambedkar is abused too through destruction of objects related to him. There is a hatred against Dalits and that is often promoted through words and visuals. This is unabated.

The Dalit community also faces abuses in this age where their basic resourcessuch as waterare poisoned. They are often denied the right to access a public place.

Forcing them to leave their house, village or other place of residence, and sometimes even burning them down; obstructing them from using common properties such as burial and cremation grounds are cruel. But at the same time, the reality.

The more inhuman practices prevent Dalits from riding bicycles, wearing footwear, buying new clothes, taking out a wedding procession. They are often prevented from entering any place of worship which is open to the public and other persons from the same religion, they are not allowed to be a part of social or cultural processions, including jatras.

This atrocity against Dalits is very much prevalent in schools too. Dalit children are discriminated against when it comes to mid-day meals and getting access to clean toilets. The UGC guideline of prevention of discrimination in higher educational institutions came into light after University of Hyderabad student Rohit Vemulas suicide. Meanwhile, Dalit women are framed as witches; thereby ensuring that the family is socially ostracized in the village.

Even public servants who are supposed to protect Dalits sometimes fall prey to caste prejudice and work against their rights.

On paper, there are plethora of laws and related notification of government which list the practices against Dalits and try to prevent and punish the offenders. But too often, it doesnt quite work in the ground.

The Indian social order keeps reinventing itself as we progress to bring in equality. The growing insensitivity in the urban class towards the sufferings of Dalits as they attack constitutional remedies such as reservations is a fine example to show the problem in the 21st century.

So, what is it like to grow up as a Dalit and suffer these atrocities? How does the Dalit in India rise to oppose and seek equality as a human being? It is the faith in the Ambedkarite ideology  a Dalit resort which is primarily trusting the Constitutional mechanisms and scheme of remedies. Ambedkar guided Dalits to emancipation in several ways. The biggest of them was the packaging of remedies against discrimination and oppression within the 1950 Constitution.

Any tampering of that will bring Dalits back to medieval Indias oppressive levels. That is the reason why Dalits carefully guard the Constituent of Ambedkar and rise against any attempt to tamper with it.

Secondly, Ambedkar showed the path away from discriminative social order that is ordained by religious texts by moving to another Indian religion of Buddhism in 1956. Ambedkars greatest achievement is to bring in political equality by bringing in Dalit representatives in legislative bodies as early as 1937. As Dalits continue to struggle to seek equality in everyday life and in the social order, the mindset of both rural and urban class prevent it. And that is why Rohit Vemula happened, that is why Una happened, and that is exactly why Bhima-Koregaon happened in the second decade of the 21st Century.

Now we have two classes in the country. One, who wants to continue with the oppressive social order by social dominance because it suits their social status. The other class is the Dalits and the tribals who want to break this social order to bring in constitutional equality in reality. There is a third classthe one of passive urban watchers who are just not bothered about any social change, but who occasionally squeak and scream against Ambedkar and reservations.

This fight for equality is going to define the 21st century India for us, whatever might be the economic prowess we achieve. Being a Dalit today is an existential question.

(Dr.Raja Sekhar Vundru is an IAS officer and has recently published Ambedkar, Gandhi and Patel: The Making of Indias Electoral System. Views are personal.)

(#BeingADalit is a series on what it takes to be a persecuted minority in India. In an attempt to go beyond the numbers, News18 also mapped incidents of Dalit atrocities over the last one year across India)As the BJP leadership shouts from the rooftop that no one else ever respected and honoured Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar as much as they do, resentment among the Dalit masses keep haunting the party.

The party might distance itself from the Supreme Court ruling on the SC/ST Act, but it cannot stop its zealous supporters from painting Babasaheb in saffron or stop the numerous dignity-related flashpoints in which Dalits are getting restless.

In this backdrop, can the BJP sit pretty and hope to increase its vote share among the Dalits this time around? Can it still expect that with the help of Ramdas Athavale in Maharashtra or Ramwilas Paswan in Bihar, or with its Delhi-based MP, Udit Raj and many more MPs elected on its ticket from constituencies reserved for SCs, it can garner Dalit votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections?

Can the party still hope that Dalits would be swayed by the claims of the Prime Minister that only his party and government have given due respect to Babasaheb?

The question gains significance with the Modi charm starting to fade as far as the middle class is concerned and suddenly the BJP has to wake up to the growing need to get votes from the underprivileged  the poor, the Dalits, Adivasis and the likes.

If its core vote wavers and if political competition becomes close at the constituency level, then in sheer numeric terms, Dalit votes would become important for the BJP.

Even ideologically, Dalit vote is critical to the BJP because of its urge to exhibit how all sections of the Hindu society can be brought politically together under its auspices.

Its victory in 2014 saw a consolidation of upper caste and OBC votes (barring some major peasant OBC communities) but it cannot claim to have charmed the Dalit voters then.

Going by the findings of the National Election Studies (NES2014) conducted by Lokniti, under one person in every four Dalit voters chose the BJP in 2014. So, it is important for the BJP to now augment the Dalit votes if it wishes to claim that it is the sole claimant to the Hindu vote bank and to show that Dalits have no problems with its Hindutva agenda.

To say that under 25 percent Dalits voted for BJP last time is an incomplete, though accurate presentation of the picture.

The NES 2014 also allows us to look at the states. In states where the Scheduled Caste population is relatively higherUP, Punjab, Himachal, Haryanathe BJP did not actually get good support from the community. In UP, despite the watershed defeat of BSP, the party still received two Dalit votes from every three, thus, the BJP had a very limited share of Dalit votes in this crucial state. In Punjab, Dalit votes was split between AAP, Congress and the rest, again, BJP was only a minor player here as far as Dalit votes are concerned.

In Himachal, where there is a two-way contest between Congress and BJP while Congress was the main recipient of Dalit votes (55 percent as against 36 for BJP). In Haryana, just about one in every five Dalits voted for the BJP. In West Bengal, the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress were the main contenders for the Dalit vote.

Thus, the 24 percent vote that the BJP polled among Dalit voters came mainly from states where there is a two-way contest rather than the states where SCs constitute a larger share in the population, particularly Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (in Gujarat, Congress polled more SC votes than the BJP). In short, the Hindu rainbow of the BJP is still quite hazy at its margins.

The constant argument that Congress never paid enough respect to Dr Ambedkar as the BJP is doing now, comes from a similar background. But curiously, there are some inherent problems from the BJP to truly win Dalit hearts. One difficulty is that its core constituency consisting of upper castes and OBCs is not at all comfortable with the Dalits even today.

The BJP and RSS, despite their claims that they work assiduously for overcoming caste prejudices, simply do not have any effective strategy to forge a social coalition of these sections. Secondly, their efforts at a rhetorical level to appropriate Dr. Ambedkar have severe limitations given the fact that Ambedkar was a trenchant critique both of Hindu religious philosophy and of Hindutva. Therefore, BJPs appropriation of Dr. Ambedkar per force has to be only at a symbolic level and politically superficial.

Today, as the next Lok Sabha elections approach slowly, the Dalit voter is at the crossroads. She is not convinced that any one party would nationally represent the agony and anguish of the community; she is not sure that giving up concerns of the Dalits as a community and merger with the larger electorate would do them any good; the Dalit voter, though proud and enamoured of Ambedkar statues, is less than convinced that statues and memorials really help ameliorate the day-to-day indignities thrust on her.

This is not to say that Dalit voters are unaware of the larger issues of development and fair distribution. In fact, the intersection of the two concerns helps them make political choices of contingent nature, which are basically state level choices.

This situation implies that despite the throaty rhetoric of being pro-Ambedkar and pro-Dalit, the BJP would most likely find its weak Dalit base further dwindling. What the Dalits are facing today, appears to be at worst caused by the current dispensation and at best, conveniently tolerated by the establishment. It would surely require real political magic for the BJP to make the Dalits forget this.

(Author teaches Political Science and is co-director of the research programme, Lokniti.)Bhopal: With Assembly polls due in Madhya Pradesh later this year, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress tried hard to put forward their pro-Dalit face on the occasion of Dalit icon Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar anniversary on Saturday.

Smaller political players, including Samajwadi Party and Aam Aadmi Party, too exhibited their Dalit love on the occasion.

Leaders lined up in front of Dr Ambedkar statue in MP Nagar area of Bhopal one after another to pay floral tributes and obeisance to the architect of the constitution.

A kind of face-off was witnessed between BJP and Congress workers as senior leaders from both the parties reached the MP Nagar area almost at the same time.

Workers from both the parties raised slogans against each other.

BJP state president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan was even seen sporting a BSP trademark blue cap on the occasion.

"BJP has planned to turn the place into memorial where Dr Ambedkar had studied. It was our party which converted Baba Sahab's birthplace into memorial in Mhow. Congress did not put a single brick there during their government," Chauhan alleged.

Congress state head Arun Yadav and Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh also paid tributes to Dr Ambedkar.

"Dr Ambedkar was law minister and the Congress had implemented the constitution drafted by him. But since Modi government came to power in 2014, there have been concerted efforts to tamper with the constitution and an example of the resultant anguish was seen on April 2," senior Congress leader PC Sharma told the media.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan marked Dr Ambedkar birth anniversary through Mahakumbh in Mhow, the birthplace of Dr Ambedkar, in the presence of President of India Ram Nath Kovind; while the Congress kickstarted 'Samvidhan Bachao Abhiyan' from the same town in the presence of senior leaders.

Meanwhile, a relatively smaller player in MP, Samajwadi Party also jumped into the fray and held functions on the occasion.

We have organised functions across the state to commemorate Baba Sahab Ambedkar's birth anniversary, SP state president Gauri Singh Yadav said.

"The country could only be run only through constitution and it should not be tampered with at any cost," urged Yadav.

The Aam Aadmi Party busy consolidating its foothold in MP also did not miss out.

AAP workers celebrated Dr Ambedkar's birth anniversary in the state and pledged solidarity with the Dalit community while vowing to follow Dr Ambedkar's footsteps.Bengaluru: BJP national president Amit Shah toured MumbaiKarnataka region in one of his several rounds of the poll-bound state. But the latest visit was more Kannada-centric. Shah was busy visiting the memorials of Kannada icons in the region deftly playing the Kannada card. He even tweeted in Kannada quoting a famous poem of one of the all-time greats of Kannada literature, D R Bendre who was from Dharwad.

The local BJP strongman and former Chief Minister, Jagadish Shettar also displayed his love for Kannada and its literature by tweeting a few lines from Kumaravyasas Mahabharatha. Gadugina Naranappa known as Kumaravyasa wrote his own version of Mahabharatha also known as Karnata Bharatha Kathamanjari a few centuries ago.

Shah also visited Kumaravyasas birthplace, D R Bendres house, freedom fighters Sangolli Rayanna and Kittur Rani Chennamma memorials in the last two days.

The saffron partys Kannada-centric campaign has now led to a furious debate in both literary and political circles of Karnataka. Some argue that the same party stayed away from backing Kannada issues saying that Kannada was being used by activists and the ruling Congress to divide the country on language lines.

When public protests erupted over Centres Hindi imposition in last July and August, the BJP had taken a strong objection to it. Some of its leaders and social media handlers had even launched an attack on those who were demanding the removal of Hindi signboards from Bengaluru Metro.

     ||      ..       !   ,       . pic.twitter.com/qxBi92TWrU Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 12, 2018

The BJP had also opposed Siddaramaiah governments Kannada flag for the state. However, as we near the Assembly elections, BJP seems to have be realizing that the primacy of Kannada in Karnataka is a potential election issue and ignoring or opposing it can ultimately be counterproductive.

According to new age, tech-savvy Kannada activists, the same BJP youth wing and social media activists who called them Ganji Giraki or scums for taking up Kannada-related issues, have now gone silent over the last two months.

     ||      ..       !   ,       . pic.twitter.com/qxBi92TWrU Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 12, 2018

Arun Javagal, one of the leaders of Banavasi Balaga, an organization of young Kannada activists from IT and other fields said, We ask people to vote for the parties which fight for Kannada and Karnataka. We have no agenda. We support no political parties. The BJPs U-turn proves that they have also realized that there is a strong backing for our movement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with all top BJP leaders is busy playing the Kannada card in the election campaigns while PM Modi even managed to utter a few words in Kannada and also paid tributes to Kannada icons in his speeches.

Amit Shah took a helicopter ride to Kuppalli, the birthplace of Kannada poet laureate the late K V Puttappa known as Kuvepmu during his visit to Shimoga two weeks ago. Even party election in-charge, ministers Piyul Goel and Prakash Javadekar have also started tweeting in Kannada.

Commenting on their new found love for Kannada, a state BJP leader said, Initially we thought that it was a politically motivated agitation restricted only to social media. Later we realized that it is indeed a serious issue and a lot of people are backing it. The Siddaramaiah government has already hijacked it playing it to the Kannada sentiments. In a crucial election like this, we dont want to be seen as an anti-Kannada party.

Siddaramaiah has dismissed BJPs Kannada outreach as an election gimmick. He said that the entire state was aware of BJP and RSS disdain for regional languages, cultures and diversity.

No one will believe them. They are good at fooling people but they have been exposed this time. They opposed the Kannada flag. Did not they? the chief minister asked.

Meanwhile, the JDS, a Karnataka-based party, which had stayed away from Kannada movements has also joined the debate. JDS state chief H D Kumaraswamy has attacked both the Congress and BJP for using Kannada for the votes. Both are national parties and have no respect for Kannada or Karnataka. After elections, they forget Kannada and go back to the same old Hindi politics. Kannadigas should be careful about these Delhi people, he said.

Another prominent Kannada activist, Vasanth Shetty said that their fight for language equality and primacy of Kannada in Karnataka will continue irrespective of election results. Our movement is apolitical. We will continue to fight in a democratic manner till our goal is achieved, he said.Kochi: Senior Congress MP K V Thomas on Saturday said he had not praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a good administrator.

"He (Modi) is not a good administrator," Thomas said in a statement, a day after he reportedly mentioned at a function Kochi that he was comfortable with the prime minister, an able administrator who could convince others about his decisions.

"What I said was... many of his (Modi's) administrative decisions like demonetisation, GST have gone wrong, but he was able to manage (the situation) with his management skills," the former Union minister said.

Thomas, the former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, alleged that Modi, using his management skills, was able to manage the media and even the judiciary.

"That is a bad situation," he said.

Addressing the National Management convention in Kochi, Thomas had reportedly said that regardless of whether his decisions were right or wrong, Modi was able to do it.

Talking to reporters here, the Congress MP slammed the BJP-led central government for the disruptions witnessed in the second half of the Budget Session of Parliament, calling it a "government-sponsored stalling".

"In the second half of the Budget Session, it was the government that persuaded and managed the stalling of the House, using its allies on different issues like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu," he alleged.

Thomas also described the prime minister's day-long fast on Thursday against parliament disruptions as a "drama".

The government did not want any discussion on the burning issues facing the country, including farmers' suicide and atrocities against women, he alleged.Lucknow: Gearing up for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Samajwadi Party has come up with a new strategy to counter the BJP's communal politics. In pursuance of the new strategy, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is busy holding meetings and giving guru mantras to the communities.

At a time, when there is outrage over the Unnao rape and Kathua gang rape case, the party sources said that the remarks from Muslim leaders against PM Modi would further lead to communal polarisation.

In its bid to foil BJP's Hindutva plank, party leaders have been advised not to make remarks against PM or the BJP. The leaders from Muslim community were advised to stay silent on provocative statements by the BJP leaders They have been advised to work for the welfare of the Muslims, particularly in the field of education.

Talking about the holy month of Ramzan, it was also conveyed not to use former UP CM's photo with a skull cap and gamcha, instead a simple and plain picture was advised in the hoardings put up for congratulatory messages on Eid.

Akhilesh also had a closed-door meeting with the party members from Dalit and Yadav communities.London: British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday she had authorized British forces to conduct precision air-launched cruise missile strikes on Syria to degrade its chemical weapons capability, saying there was no alternative to military action.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets using Storm Shadow missiles had taken part in the attack on a military facility near Homs where it was assessed Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. The strike, conducted with the United States and France, was "limited and targeted", designed to minimise any civilian casualties, May said. The MoD said the initial indications were that the precision weapons and meticulous target planning had "resulted in a successful attack".

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change," May said in a statement. She said the strike was a response to significant evidence including intelligence showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government was responsible for attack using chemical weapons in Douma in Syria last Saturday that killed up to 75 people including children.

May added Britain and its allies had sought to use every diplomatic means to stop the use of chemical weapons, but had been repeatedly thwarted, citing a Russian veto of an independent investigation into the Douma attack at the UN Security Council this week. "So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime," she said.

The Western missile strikes demonstrate the volatile nature of the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011 as an anti-Assad uprising but is now a proxy conflict involving a number of world and regional powers and a myriad of insurgent groups. US President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until the government of Assad stopped its use of chemical weapons.

Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, has denied there was a chemical attack and has accused Britain of helping to stage the Douma incident to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS TARGETS

Britain's defence ministry said "very careful scientific analysis" had been applied to maximise the destruction of stockpiled chemicals while minimising any risk of contamination to surrounding areas.Beijing: China said Saturday it was "opposed to the use of force" following US-led air strikes against Syria and called for a "return to the framework of international law".

"We consistently oppose the use of force in international relations, and advocate respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on its website.

Hua said unilateral military action bypassing the UN Security Council would "add new complicating factors to the resolution of the Syrian issue".

"China believes that a political solution is the only realistic way out for the Syrian issue," she added.

"China urges all the relevant parties to return to the framework of international law and to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation."

China is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Beijing has consistently said the Syrian crisis needs a "political solution" but has numerous times vetoed Security Council measures aimed at addressing the conflict -- including an investigation of war crimes in the country.Washington/New York: President Donald Trump attacked James Comey as a "weak and untruthful slime ball" on Friday after the fired former FBI director castigated him as an unethical liar and likened him to a mob moss in a searing new memoir.

The president fired Comey last May while his agency was investigating potential collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia in the 2016 U.S. election in a move that led the Justice Department to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller to take over a probe that has hung over his presidency.

"This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values," Comey said in the book due out Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Trump has often publicly criticized Comey since firing him, but escalated his attacks in response to the book.

"It was my great honor to fire James Comey!" Trump said in one of a series of scorching Twitter messages, adding that Comey - now one of the Republican president's fiercest critics - had been a terrible FBI director.

The tirade followed news accounts of Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership," which paints a deeply unflattering picture of Trump, comparing him to a mob boss who stresses personal loyalty over the law and has little regard for morality or truth.

Mueller is looking into whether Trump has sought to obstruct the Russia probe, and Comey could be a key witness on that front. Comey last year accused Trump of pressuring him to pledge loyalty and end a probe involving former national security adviser Michael Flynn's contacts with Moscow.

"James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR," Trump wrote.

Trump accused Comey of lying to Congress, but did not specify was he was referring to, and said the former FBI chief should be prosecuted for leaking classified information.

Trump has denied any collusion and has called Mueller's investigation a witch hunt.

Comey is conducting a series of media interviews before the book's official release. Copies of the book were obtained by news outlets on Thursday.

The interviews are Comey's first public comments since he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last June, when he accused Trump of firing him to undermine the FBI's Russia investigation. Just days after Trump fired Comey, the president said he did it because of "this Russia thing."

Trump has launched a series of attacks since last year against U.S. law enforcement leaders and institutions as the Russia probe pressed forward, in addition to Comey and Mueller.

"People will rot in hell for besmirching the reputation the integrity and the professional history of these two men," Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Himes said on CNN, referring to Comey and Mueller, himself a former FBI director.

In an offshoot of the Mueller probe, Trump's longtime personal lawyer's office and home were raided by the Federal Bureau on Investigation on Monday.

'Really Weird'

In an interview broadcast on Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Comey discussed his initial encounters last year with Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, 2017.

He described Trump as volatile, defensive and concerned more about his own image than about whether Russia meddled in the presidential election.

American intelligence agencies last year said Russia interfered in the election through a campaign of propaganda and hacking in a scheme to sow discord in the United States and help get Trump elected. Moscow has denied meddling.

Comey said he cautioned Trump against ordering an investigation into a salacious intelligence dossier alleging an 2013 encounter involving prostitutes in Moscow.

The dossier was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele about Trump's ties to Russia and included an allegation that involved prostitutes urinating on one another in a hotel room while Trump watched.

Trump denied the allegations and said he might want the FBI to investigate allegations in the dossier to prove they were untrue, Comey told ABC.

"I said to him, 'Sir that's up to you but you want to be careful about that because it might create a narrative that we're investigating you personally and, second, it's very difficult to prove something didn't happen,'" Comey said.

Asked to describe that Jan. 6, 2017 meeting two weeks before Trump took office, Comey said: "Really weird. It was almost an out-of-body experience for me."

Comey was asked if he believed the dossier's allegations.

"I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013," Comey told ABC. "It's possible, but I don't know."

Comey said the dossier's allegations had not been verified by the time he left the FBI.

Before Trump and Comey met alone, U.S. intelligence chiefs briefed Trump and his advisers about the Russian election meddling. What struck him most, Comey told ABC, was that the conversation moved straight into a public relations mode, what they could say and how they could position Trump.

"No one, to my recollection, asked, 'So what's coming next from the Russians, how might we stop it, what's the future look like?'" Comey said.Tehran: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced US President Donald Trump, France's Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Theresa May after they launched strikes Saturday against the Syrian regime, branding them "criminals".

"The attack this morning against Syria is a crime," Khamenei said in remarks published on his Telegram channel.

"The American president, the French president and the British prime minister are criminals, they will gain nothing from it," he said.

Speaking during a meeting with high-ranking political and military figures, Khamenei added: "The American president says he attacked Syria to fight against chemical weapons. He is lying."

The United States, France and Britain said they launched the air strikes against Syrian government military installations in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack by the regime a week ago -- a claim dismissed by Damascus and its allies Russia and Iran.New Milford: A man killed his wife  who was also his daughter  and their 7-month-old son and then took his own life after she broke up with him, according to a 911 call.

Steven Pladl's mother called police in North Carolina to say she'd had a disturbing call from him and to ask officers to check on the well-being of her infant grandson.

The mother told police Pladl said he'd killed his baby in Knightdale, North Carolina, and his 20-year-old daughter and her adoptive father, who were shot in Connecticut. Pladl's mother said he was upset because his daughter had broken up with him. The slain infant had been born of the relationship between Steven Pladl and his daughter Katie Pladl.

"I can't even believe this is happening," said Steven Pladl's mother, whose name was redacted from the recording of the 911 call released by police in Cary, North Carolina.

The woman asked the police to check on her grandson, Bennett Pladl. She said Steven Pladl had told her that he left a key under the front mat.

"He told me to call the police, that I shouldn't go over there," she said.

Police found the baby dead, alone in the house. Authorities have not said how the baby was killed.

"We're trying to make sense of all the factors that led up to this senseless taking of life," Knightdale police Chief Lawrence Capps said.

The 911 call came shortly after witnesses in rural western Connecticut reported hearing what sounded like semi-automatic gunfire on Thursday morning. Inside a pickup truck with the window shot out police found the bodies of Katie Pladl and her adoptive father, 56-year-old Anthony Fusco.

Steven Pladl had contacted his daughter's adoptive family in Wingdale, New York, on Wednesday night and said he would be going to see them, said Shawn Boyne, chief of police in New Milford, Connecticut. Katie Pladl and Fusco were shot as they were out running errands.

Police said Steven Pladl later was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a minivan across the state line in Dover, New York.

Steven Pladl and Katie Pladl had been arrested on incest charges out of Henrico County, Virginia, in January.

Since the arrests, their son had been in the custody of Steven Pladl's mother. Knightdale police said the boy was last seen alive by his grandmother on Wednesday night, when Steven Pladl asked to take him home to Knightdale, telling his mother he planned to speak with his daughter via Skype.

Steven Pladl previously was married to Katie Pladl's mother. He told her last year that he had impregnated their daughter and planned to marry her after obtaining a divorce, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. As a child, Katie Pladl had been adopted by a family out of state, but after turning 18 she reached out to her birth parents through social media and expressed an interest in getting to know them.

Steven Pladl had two other children, ages 6 and 11 when Katie Pladl moved in with the family. Katie Pladl's mother initially learned Katie was pregnant by reading a journal of one of the younger children. Eventually, Steven Pladl told his other children they were not to refer to Katie as their sister, but rather as their stepmother, court documents said.

Attorney Rick Friedman, who had been representing Steven Pladl in the felony incest case, said he had breakfast with Pladl only a month ago and had no indication such violence was possible.

"This really bothers me a lot because nobody ever could have predicted this. If anybody had a remote idea anybody was in harm's way there would have been no bond set," he said. "There was just absolutely no prior notice anything would happen to these people."

As part of the bond requirements, Friedman said, the father and daughter were not supposed to communicate with one another. He said Katie Pladl had been living in New York with her adoptive parents.Lebanon:Syria's opposition Saturday said Western strikes on government military positions did not go far enough, with rebels casting them as a "farce" as long as President Bashar al-Assad remains in power.

The US, UK, and French strikes came after an alleged chemical attack a week ago on the rebel holdout of Douma outside Damascus, which rescuers and medics said killed more than 40 people.

"Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal -- a farce," wrote Mohammad Alloush, a key member of the Jaish al-Islam rebel group that was in control of Douma.

Other members of the opposition complained the strikes would not stop Assad from killing civilians with conventional weapons.

Nasr al-Hariri, president of the mainstream Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC), said Assad would keep using other deadly weapons.

"I think the regime will not risk using chemical weapons in Syria again. It will only use explosive barrels, cluster bombs," he said.

SNC member Hadi al-Bahra said the strikes did send a message to the Syrian regime, but not a strong enough one.

"The rocket attacks on Saturday sent one message to Assad: 'You cannot continue to kill Syrian children with chemical weapons, use only conventional weapons' -- a shame on humanity," he said.

The day after the alleged chemical attack on Douma on April 7, the regime and its Russian ally announced Jaish al-Islam had agreeed to withdraw from the town, the last rebel holdout in the former opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus.

The regime has won back almost all of Eastern Ghouta since it launched a deadly air and ground assault there in mid-February.

Since the civil war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests, Syria's opposition have repeatedly demanded Assad step down.

But he has managed to cling on to power, retaking swathes of territory with the help of air strikes from his ally Russia.Lebanon: From the bloody repression of peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime to several foreign interventions, below are key dates in Syria's civil war.

The conflict has left more than 350,000 people dead, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Millions more have been displaced and the country lies in ruins.

Revolt, repression

In March 2011, unprecedented protests break out to demand civil liberties and the release of political prisoners after four decades of repressive rule by the Assad dynasty.

The regime represses demonstrations but rallies continue.

A child is treated in a hospital in Douma, eastern Ghouta in Syria, after what a Syria medical relief group claims was a suspected chemical attack on April, 7, 2018. (Photo: White Helmets/Handout via Reuters)

In July a defecting army colonel sets up the Turkey-based rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Air strikes, Hezbollah, Iran

In March 2012 regime forces retake control of the third city Homs, which had fallen into the hands of the rebels. It carries out other bloody operations, notably in the central city of Hama, after massive anti-regime protests.

In July FSA fighters launch a battle for Damascus but the government holds firm.

From 2013 regime helicopters and planes unleash crude barrel bombs on rebel zones.

The same year Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah says it is fighting alongside Syrian government forces.

Iran also boosts its military support for longtime ally Assad.

A medical worker is seen giving oxygen to a toddler through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack in the opposition-held town of Douma, in eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, Syria. (Image: AP)

Chemical weapons

In August 2013 Washington accuses the regime of killing more than 1,400 people with chemical weapons in rebel-held districts near Damascus.

In September the United States and Assad ally Russia agree on a plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons, averting punitive US strikes against the regime for crossing a "red line".

But since then forces on the ground, in particular from the regime, have regularly been accused of using chemical weapons.

Rise of the jihadists

In January 2014 hostilities between jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and rebel groups turn into an open war in the north.

ISIL, the future Islamic State (IS) group, takes Raqa -- the first provincial capital to fall out of regime control -- from rebel forces.

The jihadist offensive allows Damascus to justify its fight as a battle against "terrorism".

In September 2014 a US-led coalition launches air strikes against IS in Syria.

The strikes benefit Kurdish groups, which since 2013 have run autonomous administrations in Kurdish-majority areas and go on to oust IS from key areas.

SANA said the strike has caused casualties, but did not give exact numbers. (Image: AP)

Russia to Assad's aid

In September 2015 Russia launches air strikes in support of Assad's troops, who are on the back foot.

Russian firepower helps turn the tables for the regime, which begins to retake rebel-held territory, including second city Aleppo in December 2016.

In January 2017 Syrian regime backers Russia and Iran, and rebel supporter Turkey organise peace talks in Kazakhstan.

The peace efforts run parallel those led by the United Nations.

US strikes

In April 2017 a sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun kills more than 80 people, prompting Washington to bomb a regime air base.

In retaliation, US President Donald Trump unleashes strikes by Tomahawk missiles against the regime's Shayrat airbase.

Turkish offensive

Turkey launches an operation in January 2018 against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) which played a key role in beating back IS with US support.

Ankara is wary of Kurdish aspirations for autonomy. In March it captures the Afrin region, chasing out YPG which it labels a "terrorist group".

Blitz of Eastern Ghouta

On February 18 the Syrian regime launches a ferocious assault on Eastern Ghouta, the final rebel-held enclave near Damascus.

In seven weeks the Russian-backed onslaught kills more than 1,700 civilians. The regime captures more than 90 percent of the area, securing negotiated withdrawals of hold-out rebels.

New chemical attack alleged

There are claims of a new chemical attack on April 7 in Eastern Ghouta's main town of Douma, still held by rebels, with first responders saying more than 40 people died.

The Syrian government and Russia reject the claims as the US, France, and Britain pledge a forceful response.

On Saturday the United States, Britain and France carry out a wave of punitive strikes in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks.Washington: President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Friday filed for a 90-day delay in porn star Stormy Daniels' defamation lawsuit, citing Monday's raids on his home, office and hotel room by U.S. prosecutors.

Cohen had already notified U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday that he intended to request a stay in Daniels' lawsuit against him and Trump "on the grounds that an ongoing criminal investigation overlaps with the facts of this case."

The Friday motion said that because of that overlap, "Mr. Cohens Fifth Amendment rights may be adversely impacted if this case proceeds," a reference to the possibility that his testimony could be used by prosecutors to build a related criminal case against him.

Cohen, who has denied wrongdoing, has been at the centre of a controversy surrounding a $130,000 payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. She has alleged that she had sex once in 2006 with Trump and was paid shortly before the 2016 election to keep quiet about it. Daniels claims Cohen's denials portray her as a liar and sued for defamation. Her allegation was based on a Feb. 13 statement by Cohen that she said hurt her reputation.

Cohen has admitted making the payment to Daniels and said he paid from his own pocket from a personal home equity loan.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Cohen's offices and home on Monday as part of a probe into possible bank and tax fraud and possible campaign law violation connected to the payment, a source familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

A lawyer for Cohen, Stephen M. Ryan, on Monday said that U.S. prosecutors conducted a search that was partly a referral by the Office of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.

In the defamation-case filing, Cohen raised the possibility of invoking his constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination if the stay is not granted, which would allow him to refuse to testify.

Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for Stormy Daniels, told Reuters on Thursday that Cohen's attorney told him that Cohen will plead the Fifth if his application for a stay is denied.

Cohen's attorney Brent Blakely said on Thursday, "No decision has been made for Mr. Cohen to assert his Fifth Amendment rights."

"It is common for a civil case to be stayed under these circumstances, and that is what we will be requesting of the U.S. District Court tomorrow," Blakely said in an email.

The judge in the suit had given Cohen until Friday evening to formally request the stay.

Daniels has until Monday evening to file her opposition, and then Cohen will have through Tuesday evening to respond.The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime on Saturday in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks that President Donald Trump branded the "crimes of a monster."

As Trump embarked on a White House address to announce the action -- taken in defiance of Russia's threat to respond -- explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.

The US and its allies fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Syria, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian air defences, the Russian defence ministry said Saturday.

"More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets," the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, adding that "a significant number" were shot down by Syrian air defences.

AFP's correspondent in the city said several consecutive blasts were heard at 4:00 am (0100 GMT), followed by the sound of airplanes overhead. Smoke could be seen rising from the northern and eastern edges of the capital.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said, in a primetime address from the White House.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both."

"This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," he said of the suspected deadly gas attack a week ago on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mother and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead."

HEAVY STRIKE

Joseph Dunford, Washington's top general, said the strikes hit three targets near Damascus -- a scientific research center, a storage facility and command post -- and a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

Syrian surface to air missile batteries had attempted to fire back, but there were no initial reports of allied losses, he added.

Syrian state media said air defenses were activated to block the attack as it published images of smoke clouds hanging over the capital.

"The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail," the official SANA news agency said.

The strikes were a marked escalation compared to a US strike a year ago, when only cruise missiles were used against a single airfield.

Dunford said Russia's forces in Syria had been warned through existing "deconfliction" channels that western planes would be in Syrian air space, but Washington had not revealed the target sites or timing in advance.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said no additional strikes were planned.

"We were very precise and proportionate, but at the same time, it was a heavy strike," he said.

UNITED FRONT

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the attack in Douma, which prompted a furious reaction from Trump.

Trump's anger was shared by France's President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons," Macron said in a statement.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world," May said, referring to a recent assassination attempt on a Russian double agent.

PROOF

In the days between the attack in Douma and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling statements and debates.

Moscow denied Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain staged the event.

At the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

After the strikes, Moscow's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said: "We warned that such actions would not be left without consequences."

And Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova ridiculed the allies for wanting to "claim moral leadership in the world" after the attacks.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday had warned the rival camps to prevent "the situation spiraling out of control."

- Decision to act -

Trump has long criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assad's forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Mattis had reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimize the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syria's civil war.

But other advisors wanted to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Iran's growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.Protesters run for cover as government forces chase them during a protest in Srinagar. A protest erupted between the locals and security forces against the recent killing of civilians in Soura. (Image: AP)All the new Star Wars comics, graphic novels, and collections arriving in 2021 and beyond

Feature Every single new Star Wars comic books arriving in the next few months that you need to get excited aboutNEWTOWN - While Carolyn McCarthys son was learning to speak again, after being shot in the head by a deranged gunman, she was growing angry with her congressman for voting against a ban on assault weapons.

Two years had passed since her sons wounding in the 1993 Long Island Railroad massacre, which also took the life of McCarthys husband and five others on a crowded train leaving Manhattan, and she was thinking about making her own bid for Congress. Her son urged her to run.

He said to me, Mom, if you dont do this now, youll never know what might have been,  McCarthy recalled last week.

Those familiar with the result  McCarthy served nine terms in Congress  might not know how much the grieving widow struggled with the decision to run before her son spoke those words.

But its the same struggle facing three Connecticut parents who lost loved ones in two of the most barbaric crimes in state history, following U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Estys scandal-driven exit from the Fifth District race,

Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden, who both lost first-grade sons in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, and state Rep. William Petit, who lost his wife and two daughters in the 2007 Cheshire home invasion, are mulling whether their stories of transformation will make a difference in Washington, D.C.

Thats a decision McCarthy, too, had to make.

It was the hardest decision I ever made, said McCarthy, 74, living the retired life in Florida. But I have to say, if they have that fire in them that all of us do when we make a decision to run, then they need to run.

It was unclear last week whether Petit would run for the GOP nomination, or whether Hockley or Barden would run for the Democrats. All three have suggested they might not.

But if one or more of them do run, it could energize voters who feel disenchanted with congressional gridlock and galvanize those who feel disengaged from the democratic process.

It would be an amazing spectacle to see a wide-open race for the Fifth with both parties dumping in money to support two spectacular people running as candidates, said Scott McLean, a professor of political science at Quinnipiac University. But these people are accidental politicians, so they represent far more than two political parties; they represent major social issues in America today.

Through their homegrown nonprofit, Sandy Hook Promise, Hockley and Barden have become two of the countrys most visible advocates of gun violence prevention, launching peer-based programs to help schools recognize red-flag behavior before it ends in violence.

Petit, who lobbied unsuccessfully against Connecticuts repeal of the death penalty, has helped guide policy as a member of the Connecticut General Assemblys Public Health Committee.

Pat Llodra, the former Newtown first selectman who led the community during its initial recovery from the Sandy Hook massacre, cautioned that the parents considering a run for Estys seat will have to resist being labeled as single-issue candidates.

We want legislators who have passion, and oftentimes a single life-changing event stimulates that passion, said Llodra, who retired last year. But single-issue legislators do not make good policymakers, so we want them to hold onto their passion but to think broadly.

McCarthy said that was one lesson she learned while pushing for gun policy reform  and losing all but a few fights.

They called me The Gun Lady, and said I only had one issue, but I said, Theres no such thing as a woman who has only one issue,  McCarthy recalled. Whether it was education or health care or getting Hurricane Sandy relief, I made sure I was helping out all of my constituents.

While Petit, Hockley and Barden have not signaled to party leaders in Washington or Hartford when they will decide, timing is everything.

Only a month remains before the major parties hold nominating conventions, and both have other candidates who have either declared or could declare their interest in Estys job. The two declared candidates are former Meriden mayor Manny Santos, a Republican, and former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, a Democrat

Voters meanwhile are looking for candidates who are brave, authentic, and service-minded, observers and party leaders say. Voters are weary of sending politicians to Washington who campaign on principles, only to practice expediency once they get there.

Esty admitted to mismanagement of allegations against a former chief of staff, who she kept on board three months after learning that he punched and threatened to kill a former aide in the D.C. office. Worse, for some constituents, was that Esty wrote a glowing recommendation that helped him land a job with Sandy Hook Promise.

The former chief of staff, Tony Baker, was fired by Sandy Hook Promise shortly before Hearst Connecticut Media broke the scandal story late last month. Esty has since said she would not seek a fourth term, and would spend her remaining time in office making amends.

As a result, the race for the most competitive House district in Connecticut is wide open.

The pain never goes away

When McCarthy was deciding whether to run for Congress, she was balancing anger over the murder of her husband, anxiety about her sons future and her own deep emotions of grief.

The turning point came when GOP Congressman Daniel Frisa broke a promise to her and voted to repeal the federal assault weapon ban in 1996. McCarthys son, Kevin, then 25, implored his mom to run.

Long Island Republicans wouldnt let McCarthy run in a primary against Frisa, so she switched parties and beat the incumbent with 57 percent of the vote.

We dont talk a lot about victims, but there are a lot of us out there, and the pain never ends, said McCarthy, who retired from Congress in 2015. I was furious, and that passion I had was that another family wouldnt have to go through this.

But in 2012, a chronically isolated 20-year-old took his mothers AR-15-style rifle from an unlocked closet, shot his way into Sandy Hook School and committed the worst crime in Connecticut history, killing 26 first-graders and educators.

To be very honest, after what happened in Newtown, I broke down, McCarthy said. All those years I fought trying to get a ban on assault weapons and fighting for victims of gun violence.

McCarthy said she has been encouraged to see the families who lost the most in the Sandy Hook massacre turn the corner on their grief and take up the fight she chose a generation ago.

Making the next step to seek a seat in Congress represents a commitment to the greater good, McCarthy said.

Llodra, a Republican, agrees.

When you have a personal tragedy, it changes how your brain is hard-wired, and the depth of that hurt changes forever how we see things, Llodra said. That tragedy for Mark and Nicole opened them up to a broader understanding of how things can go differently - not just about weapons and guns.

Hockley said as much last week after speaking with Democratic leaders in Washington D.C., about a potential run for Estys seat.

If Mark or I decided to go for it, we might not have the broad political experience, but we have the ability to learn quickly and exercise good judgment, Hockley said. We could have a core issue and still be effective on opioids and immigration and trade.

If it sounds like Hockley is speaking for both of them, she is. Hockley and Barden, who have developed a close friendship as co-founders and managing directors of Sandy Hook Promise, will decide either that one of them will run or that neither will, she said.

A top state Democrat said he could support either candidate.

Its still early and the race is still shaping up, but they are both great activists for issues that Democrats believe in, state Democratic Party Chairman Nick Balletto said. They would be great candidates.

Petit, a first-term state legislator representing Plainville, did not respond to a request for comment late last week, but this is not the first time Republicans have urged him to run for Congress. In 2014, he told the GOP it was too soon after his marriage and the birth of his son to run.

Although Petits profile is similar to Hockleys and Bardens, as a man who has publicly transformed his tragedy into a selfless concern for others, he differs from them because he has experience in elected office, a top state Republican said.

Bill has been in state politics and has worked on the public health committee, said J.R. Romano, the states GOP chairman. So in that respect he is different.

Quinnipiacs McLean said the appeal of Petit, Hockley and Barden would be hard for voters to ignore, were the parents to become candidates.

They have used their pain and anger to really inspire people, because they have not allowed their tragedies to paralyze them, McLean said. Their life stories and political activism are going to gain a lot of notice from voters who would otherwise see this as a boring race.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342Its a business strategy as old as capitalism: When an established company faces unwanted competition, it simply buys out the upstart competitor and absorbs it, returning the market to its former stability  and returning lower prices to their old (higher) levels.

That could be what International Airlines Group (IAG)  the parent of British Airways and Iberia  is thinking about low-cost transatlantic upstart Norwegian Air. Word came out this week that IAG has purchased a 4.6 percent equity stake in Norwegian.

In a statement, IAG said it considers Norwegian to be an attractive investment, but added that its new minority stake in the company is intended to establish a position from which to initiate discussions with Norwegian, including the possibility of a full offer for Norwegian.

IAG noted that no such discussions have yet taken place, that it hasnt decided whether or not to make an offer on the full company, and that there is no certainty that any such decision will be made.

For its part, Norwegian said it was unaware of IAGs equity purchase until it was reported in the news this week, and that it has had no discussions with IAG. Norwegian believes that interest from one of the largest international aviation groups demonstrates the sustainability and potential of our business model and global growth, the company said.

There were press reports a few months ago that Norwegian may be growing too fast for its own good. It added 25 U.S. routes in 2017, with more on the way this year. It also acquired 28 new takeoff and landing slots at London Gatwick, which it should start to use this summer. But Europes financial press noted that Norwegian was losing money in 2017 even as its unit costs were rising, and that its fleet is growing at an unsustainable level.

Norwegian has clearly been getting under IAGs skin as it attracts larger numbers of transatlantic travelers, and its growing presence at London Gatwick will likely eat into the dominant U.S.-London market share of British Airways and its joint venture partner American Airlines.

IAGs response so far has been to create a new low-cost subsidiary called Level that has started competing against Norwegian on routes to Barcelona from Oakland and Los Angeles, and has more aircraft joining its small fleet in the months ahead. And IAGs British Airways unit has been reconfiguring some of its Gatwick-based 777-200s, increasing their seat count from 280 to 336 in order to make them more cost-competitive with Norwegian.

Thoughts? Leave 'em in the comments.

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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.DERBY  Weeks of hope, fear and speculation came to an end when a federal bankruptcy judge authorized the June 10 closing of Birmingham Health Center on Chatfield Street.

This is sad  sad for the residents who have to be moved to a new facility and sad for the employees who have to find new jobs, said Mayor Richard Dziekan. Ive contacted our state legislators about setting up a job fair.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James J. Tancredis April 10 order authorizes Hartford-based Spectrum Healthcare, owners of the center, to lay off the nearly 120 employees of the facility and transfer residents by June 10, although that date could be extended.

The facility owes more than $1 million to creditors, reports show.

Dziekan said he was told that the residents, of whom there are 88 left in the 120-bed center, will be moved to facilities within 5 miles of the Derby facility.

That means residents could be sent to Shelton, where there are several options: Shelton Lakes Health Care Center on Lake Road, which has 59 beds; Hewitt Health and Rehabilitation Center on Maltby Street, which has 206 beds, or Gardner Heights Health Care Center on Rocky Rest Road, which has 130 beds. A fourth  Bishop Wicke on Long Hill Avenue  has 120 beds but offers only short-term care.

Or they could go to Stratfords Lord Chamberlain, or Seymours Shady Knoll in Seymour.

Lydia Douglas of Ansonia was not one to wait for her 89-year-old mother to be reassigned. Late Friday afternoon, she was moving her mother to a new facility.

Her roommate from here is already there, said Douglas. Theyre best friends. Both families felt they should stay together.

Douglas said her mother is in excellent physical health but suffers from slight dementia.

Meanwhile, Delia Fortier has not made any plans to move her husband, Robert, who suffers from numerous medical issues.

This is a shame, she said of the closing. Its so close to the ( Griffin) hospital and his doctors. The staff is great here, the aides are nice. We never had a problem. This is upsetting.

The patient moves will be coordinated by the state Department of Public Health and the Department of Social Services.

Several employees who declined to give their names said they were sad to see the facility close. Two had worked at Hilltop Health Care on Ansonias Ford Street, which was also owned by Spectrum. It closed in 2013, leaving 100 employees without jobs and 84 residents seeking new homes.

One employee said she was thankful she had another part-time job at a Milford nursing home.

But Im still going to miss the money, she said. I was just getting to know the residents.

Doug Melanson, Birminghams administrator, referred comments to Sean Murphy, a Spectrum official in Vernon. Murphy did not return calls Friday.

Nor did officials at New England Health Care Employees, District 1199, SEIO 77, which represents the workers.

Dziekan said he reached out to state legislators and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, for help in keeping the facility open or conducting a job fair for the employees.

Birmingham, once known as Derby Nursing Home, is the third Valley facility to close in recent years because of financial problems. In addition to Hilltop, which was once known as Mariner, Marshall Lane Manor closed in 2015 leaving 90 employees looking for work and 99 residents transferred to new facilities.

Its all about dollars and cents, said Anthony Simonetti, whose family built and operated Marshall Lane Manor for 50 years. I thought Birmingham was going to close last year ... My guess is youll see three or four nursing home closings every year.

And no new ones are being built since the state imposed a moratorium on licensing in October 1994.

Simonetti, who serves as a Shelton alderman, said it is financially difficult to operate a long-term facility with a large number of Title 19 patients because of a lack of increase in state funding.

The new model is to send people home with help or move them into a group facility, said Simonetti.

My mother and father demanded that we treat our patients like we would family, Simonetti said. I cant compliment my staff enough about the care they offered.

Simonetti said he often visited Birmingham where a friend was and found the staff very nice and friendly. I cant say enough about the good care he received.

In January, Simonetti and his family sold Marshall Lane Manor for $450,000. It is being converted by Apex International Education Partners into a dormitory for as many as 100 students from China attending private high schools here.

Theyre putting millions in renovations in, Simonetti said. Its going to look like a Class A hotel when theyre done.A few months after Ryan Fish was fired last year, police began to investigate stories they'd heard of the substitute teacher's unconventional math class at Montville High School - to ask about certain classroom videos officers had obtained.

Fish was an extremely laid back teacher, some boys from the Connecticut town told the police. He had been a popular sub with a certain crowd.

A 16-year-old said he considered the sub - who was 22, just a few years older than the student - to be his mentor. Another boy said he'd leave his civics class early and duck into what Fish called his "kick back class."

Whatever students wanted to do there, the boys said, Fish was "cool with it."

Police wrote much the same in their report. Fish reportedly let his students draw obscene pictures on the whiteboard, and told his classes stories about smoking marijuana and other drugs, and even shared his Snapchat address in a gesture of friendship.

"I just try to be the teacher that the kids could come to and actually express themselves and actually work through their issues," Fish told police when they first interviewed him in January. "Kind of have a social thing."

Fish was arrested on Thursday on multiple charges of reckless endangerment and risk of injuries to a child. What he called his "social thing" was actually a "fight club," according to police, in which Fish refereed as students beat themselves to the point of blood and vomit, while other children cheered and took cellphone videos.

Police collected at least eight videos over the course of their investigation, which chronicle several fights between students aged 14 to 16 last October. The videos have not been released, but are described in detail in Fish's arrest affidavit.

In one video, the report states, Fish sits at his desk "looking through some paperwork" while a 15- and 16-year-old openly slap each other, and at least two students record.

Fish at first denied to police that he organized the fights, but videos, as described, tell a different story. In one, the teacher stands between two boys, separating them with outstretched arms.

Then Fish moves back "while thrusting his hands down and gets behind his desk, while smiling and laughing." He watches as one boy charges the other, only to stop short at the last second. Police later interviewed one of the combatants, 16, who said in another fight he gave his opponent a bloody lip. Fish paused the fight to make sure the bleeding student was all right, the boy said, then resumed the match, which he allegedly referred to as his "kick back class."

In many of the fights police watched on video, they wrote, one of the boys was significantly smaller than the other. In one, a student was seen trying to retreat from the blows, and in another the sound of hard slaps and students' cheers can be heard - along with Fish allegedly saying, "Away from the door! Away from the door!"

They interviewed a 14-year-old who had been recording a battle with a 16-year-old - "swinging full force at each other's heads with open handed strikes," according to the description.

Fish had initiated that fight by counting to three, the 14-year-old told police. It ended when the older boy began throwing up into a trash can, then dry heaving over a desk, as seen in one video.

When the 16-year old "was done throwing up Mr. Fish tried to start the fight by saying 'Round Two,'" police wrote, but the bell rang so the match ended early.

An assistant principal at the school learned of the videos in early October, according to the police report, and had security escort Fish to her office.

"Boys will be boys," the substitute allegedly told her. He was fired the same day.

But no one at the school told police about the "fight club," according to the arrest affidavit. They only learned of the incidents in mid-December, when a social worker reported that a clearly traumatized 16-year-old had just been sent for a mental health evaluation, after reporting being beaten and robbed at school.

Investigators soon learned that the school had at least half a dozen videos of incidents on its servers, in addition to some sent to police by parents.

Before police were allowed to view the school's videos, they wrote, Superintendent Brian Levesque made them get a search warrant, citing Montville Public Schools policy.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Levesque said he understood some police were frustrated that "we didn't notify them of this so called 'student slapping horseplay' in a timely fashion."

"I took immediate action in firing the substitute teacher that allowed this to happen," Levesque said. "At the time, based on the initial video that I viewed and the information I was provided, I didn't feel that this was a law enforcement matter. Had I known then, what I know now, yes, I should have contacted police."

He said none of the students involved in the fights had been injured, though "this behavior is never tolerated in our district."

"I think we've all learned a valuable lesson here and our goal is to learn from our mistakes."

Police interviewed Fish multiple times between January and his arrest this week, and wrote in a report that his explanations changed.

The former substitute initially said he was unaware of most fights, or considered them "horse play." Later, the report states, Fish admitted that "I did at one point egg them on."

In total, he recalled at least four open-handed slap fights between September and his firing.

"The truth is I'm an idiot and I wanted to befriend them," Fish told police in January, according to the report. "I'm immature."

Fish couldn't be reached for contact after his arrest, but reporters interviewed him as he left a courthouse on Thursday, after being arraigned and released on $75,000 bond.

"I didn't realize what was happening at the time," he told Fox 61. "I didn't have the training to see what was going on."

He told other reporters that he had post-traumatic stress disorder, and at one point lamented with his hand on his head:

"I am so sorry. I'll be totally honest with you, I was just trying to reach the kids. I thought, 'These young kids are just being rambunctious.' I thought they just needed an out."Former New Haven Chief Public Defender Thomas Ullmann died Friday while hiking in New Yorks Adirondack Mountains, according to multiple sources.

New York State Police said Saturday they found the body of a hiker somewhere along the OK Slip Falls Trail, which begins outside of Indian Lake, New York. The hiker was identified as Thomas Ullmann, according to the New York State Police. The trail, which is about 6.7 miles long and ends near a waterfall, is located about 74 miles southwest of Lake Placid, New York.

Police have not released a cause of death.

Ullmann, 67, had retired from his job last August. He worked for 32 years with the New Haven Public Defenders Office, which handles defendants who are too indigent to hire private attorneys.

Members of the New Haven area legal community said Saturday they were stunned to learn of Ullmanns death.

Tommy was a giant and the notion that hes gone is hard to fathom, Norman Pattis, a friend of Ullmanns and a prominent New Haven area defense attorney, said Saturday. Life is very cruel.

Senior Assistant State's Attorney Eugene Calistro Jr. was another friend of Ullmann. Calistro called Ullmanns death a huge loss to the legal community.

I just talked to him the other day, Calistro said. He told me about the trip he had taken to Italy and all of the things he planned to do with his wife and kids.

Ullmann is perhaps best know for representing Steven J. Hayes in 2010 for murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17 following a botched 2007 home invasion in Cheshire.

Ullmann headed the New Haven Public Defenders Office for 25 years. Ullmann told the New Haven Register at the time of his retirement he had made the decision to leave his job two years earlier.

A close friend of mine got sick out of the blue and passed away within three months, Ullmann said.  Im leaving before something catastrophic happens. I have a lot of things I want to do: hiking, kayaking, traveling with my wife, seeing our sons.

More information will be added to this story as it becomes available.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.comEAST HAVEN  As the owner of Alisas House of Salsa on Whalley Avenue in New Haven, Alisa Bowens-Mercado has rhythm. Now she has put that into making beer.

Bowens-Mercado is the first African-American woman in Connecticut to brew beer and one of only a handful across the country. As the owner of Rhythm Brewing Co., she created the unfiltered lager, Rhythm, at Overshores Brewery in East Haven, celebrating her second canning day Friday.

Getting into this really is a passion, Bowens-Mercado said. Shes diversifying the industry as one of the few women and few people of color brew craft beer anywhere in the U.S. Im tapping into a national thirst of what the craft beer industry is lacking.

When the canning and labeling begins, Bowens-Mercado turns up Gloria Estefans Rhythm is Gonna Get You for good luck. And its working, she said.

Rhythm is in its second run after selling out 100 cases in only two weeks, which marks a very well-selling beer, Overshores Brewery lead production brewer Mike Dryburgh said. Overshores is a collaborative brewery that serves up its own brand but also works with other brewers producing their recipes. Overshores works with breweries such as Hulls, Armada, Charter Oak and more.

Rhythm Brewing Co. specializes in producing unfiltered beer, which means keeping the good stuff in, Bowens-Mercado said.

Most mass-produced beers are filtered and pasteurized. The filtration removes the yeast, giving the beer a bright clarity, while the pasteurization cooks the beer to kill any microorganisms that mightve gotten through the filtration. But filtration can go too far by stripping away the natural goodness of beer, according to Beer Magazine, and over-filtering can take out color, hop bitterness and proteins that add body and help form the beers head. Unfiltered beers, such as Rhythm, might be seen as more natural or even healthier than filtered beer.

Bowens-Mercado describes her beer as having a slight bite and it makes you want more.

It has a great flavor profile, Dryburgh said. Its a really good lager. He said a lot of people who drink lagers are drinking the big industry brands such as Samuel Adams and Budweiser and To do a craft lager and stay true to the form and put your own twist is fun and its ambitious.

Bowens-Mercado said her product gets back to basics.

With our brand, we wanted to go back to classic, with the logo and everything and make a timeless beer people wont get sick of, she said. Bowens-Mercado got into the craft beer scene as a way to pay homage to her grandmothers, who she remembers often drinking beer as they sat together talking.

More people are looking for something thats not mass produced, Dryburgh said. They want something local and people are pulling into their own community.

A trend in the craft beer industry is brewing IPAs, but Bowens-Mercado was insistent that she wanted to make a lager. As she researched the industry and a way to make a lager, she looked for someone to guide her in the process, which was hard since not many women are doing it, she said.

But eventually, she found Overshores, which took her vision and brewed it into a reality.

Bowens-Mercado is looking to make an unfiltered light lager as her next beer and as she grows her brewing company, she hopes to open doors for other women.

Being a chick, I want more women in the industry, she said. I want more women brewing, more women canning. I want them to have a significant role and not just consume it .... I want to let women out there know you can brew. We have our place in the industry.

As long as youre making quality beer, the markets there, Dryburgh said. Our consumer is wide ranging. Theyre not just white men anymore. To infuse more diversity is only a good thing.

Rhythm is sold at Amity Wine and Spirits in New Haven and Hamden, at all Total Wine locations, the Wine Cellar in North Haven, Temple Wine & Liquor and more liquor stores. Its also on tap at a number of bars and clubs including Diesel Lounge, Jacks Bar And Steakhouse, LTs Corner Bar and Grille and others.

Bowens-Mercados lager can be recognized by the illuminated LED tap handle.

Its the only one that lights up, so you will know you have found your Rhythm, she said.The walls in the office of New Haven Public Defender Beth A. Merkin are covered with colorful drawings by her daughter and son (now adults) as well as artwork by grateful people Merkin has represented in the courtroom.

These reminders help keep her going. Its a tough job.

You can probably imagine its not easy being one of the attorney-advocates for clients such as Edward M. Grant, who was convicted in 2002 of murdering Penney Serra in a New Haven parking garage. Merkin also was on the defense team that represented Raymond Clark III, who in 2011 pleaded guilty to murder and attempted sexual assault in the death of Yale graduate student Annie Le.

In late October, Merkin was named the new head of the Office of Public Defenders at New Haven Superior Court. The position became open when Thomas Ullmann retired in September.

During our talk last Wednesday in her office, Merkin called Ullmann my mentor, friend, colleague and role model.

But when I asked if its going to be a challenge filling Ullmanns shoes because he was so widely respected and had been there so long, Merkin showed her tough, independent spirit: I dont feel Im filling his shoes. I have to do it my own way, in my own style. I cant be him.

Here is one important difference: Merkin is a woman, the first ever to hold that position.

I think its wonderful a woman has taken over this office, said Assistant Public Defender Angelica Papastavros, one of the four attorneys now being supervised by Merkin. I like to see women succeed. I think her view as a female litigator will enhance this office even more.

Ullmann is pleased to see Merkin named to be in his former role. She is respected by the judges and prosecutors. Shes a tenacious advocate for her clients. She has a low-key personality but I watched her over the years; you could see an abiding confidence.

Merkin stands 5 feet tall, but people who for their first time see her walk into a courtroom quickly learn she is a formidable advocate for the many defendants she represents. As the court reporter for the New Haven Register over the past decade, I can attest to this.

When I asked Merkin about being the first woman to lead that office  Ullmann called it a big deal  she said what excites her more is the large number of female attorneys who now regularly appear before judges in New Haven Superior Court for criminal cases.

When I started here in 1989, very few of us were women, she noted. Now, there are many of us who do this work. Were good at it, were around, were accepted.

She recalled an encounter during her first or second year on the job when she came up against male chauvinism. I was on a trial in a double-homicide case, along with my boss, Don Dakers. I was arguing a motion to suppress, in front of Judge Martin McKeever. At one point he said: Sit down, young lady. I kept trying to pursue my argument. Don was pulling at my suit, also trying to get me to sit down. He, too, was an older gentleman.

But Merkin smiled as she added a follow-up to that incident. When that case went to the Connecticut Supreme Court, Justice Ellen Ash Peters, who was the first woman on our states Supreme Court, commented during oral arguments about how noticeable it was that the judge didnt allow me to make my argument. I felt vindicated by another female.

Merkin is settling into overseeing a staff of five attorneys (including herself), three investigators, a social worker and two administative workers. But she said, Its tough right now  because of state budget cutbacks, they have one less attorney. Another soon-to-retire attorney may or may not be replaced.

At any given time, each of us is handling 25-30 cases, she said. Im trying to organize administrative operations and still manage my own cases.

Merkin said she wants to bring about more collaboration between her attorneys on cases, also including the public defenders in the other Superior Court building on Elm Street, those handling juvenile clients and the public defenders in Meriden Superior Court. I want us to pool our resources and ideas, be more unified.

But with all those cases to juggle, the public defenders are in their offices on weekends during trial times and sometimes for other pressing work. Merkin estimates she works about 50 hours per week.

I asked her how she responds when a defendant who cannot afford a private attorney is told he or she qualifies for a public defender and says (as I have sometimes heard in court): I want a real attorney.

Ive learned not to take that personally, she said. I dont get a ton of that. Usually people do their homework by the time they meet with one of us. Theyve learned we work really hard, we fight hard for our clients.

The other thing Merkin and the other public defenders sometimes hear is from a member of the public, especially for the more serious alleged crimes that draw a lot of publicity: How can you represent those people?

I tell them: Everybody needs a fighter. Everybody needs an advocate. All of us can find some good in every person we represent. We try to connect with the good and build upon it.

Merkin added: And many of our clients are innocent. So we have to make sure we fight hard and hopefully avoid a conviction, hold the state to establishing its proof. Thats important for everybody.

When I asked how she dealt with the stress of the high profile Grant-Serra case, which ended with Grant receiving a sentence of 20 years-to-life, Merkin recalled, That case lasted for months. We were working day and night and weekends.

Merkin pulled out a card written to her during that time by her son, Aaron. He wrote, Dear Mommy: I love you very much. I dont see you very much because you go to your office, even on the home days. I dont like your office because you leave at night.

Merkin said she and her colleagues were deeply disappointed by the jurys verdict in the Grant case but she understands the jurors decision in light of the forensic evidence.

I also asked her about Clark, who decided in consultation with the attorneys to plead guilty and not go to trial because both sides worked out a negotiated sentence of 44 years rather than an even longer time if a jury had done the likely thing and convicted him. The victim, Le, was 24, a medical student. Clark was 26 when he pleaded guilty.

That was a very difficult case, Merkin said. He was a nice kid, with no criminal history. There were a lot of unanswered questions. How could something like this happen?

But there are also the acquittals to remember, including in murder cases. Its exciting because you feel its connected to all the hard work youve done. And then it pays off, to save somebodys life, really.

Merkin said its also rewarding to work out a plea agreement with prosecutors that avoids or cuts down on prison time. When they come back and thank me and say, Im doing this, Im doing that and theyve turned their lives around, thats an exciting part of the job  to see people do change and can learn from their mistakes.

She showed me a holiday card from a woman who is still in prison. It reads: It was so kind of you to visit me. It was great to sit and talk with you. Ill never forget all your hard work. Have a blessed season of love.

Merkin said of such appreciation: Thats what this is all about.

randall.beach@hearstmediact.comWEST HAVEN  The state review board working with the city to get its finances in order wants to see structural changes in both West Havens current budget and a five-year plan for recovery before it will provide the millions of dollars the city needs to get by.

And even then, its unlikely that the full $9 million Mayor Nancy Rossi has relied on in her 2018-19 recommended budget will be available, members and staff of the state Municipal Accountability Review Board told Rossi Friday.

West Haven, which last year sold deficit bonds to finance $17.35 of the citys accumulated deficit, is counting on $9 million from the MARB to balance its budget both this year and next.

One possibility raised by MARB member Tom Hamilton, a former West Haven finance director who now is chief financial officer for the Norwalk school system, to close the gap was a mid-year tax increase.

Rossi told the MARB that shes worried that many West Haven residents  some of whom have been scrambling to get car taxes paid by Sunday before the city resumes its boot campaign  are barely able to pay their bills now.

West Haven, unlike Hartford, the only other municipality in Connecticut under the supervision of the MARB, has yet to submit its five-year plan. Rossi told MARB members at a meeting of the MARBs Ad-Hoc West Haven Budget and Recovery Plan Review Committee in City Hall that shes working on it.

Mark Zaretsky / Hearst Connecticut Media

There is about $27.2 million in state municipal restructuring funds available in this years budget and a little more than that available in next years budget, said Robert Dakers, executive finance officer for the state of Connecticuts Office of Policy and Management, who is the MARBs top staffer.

Hartford has requested $24.985 million for the current year and $24 for next, said OPM Commissioner Ben Barnes, the MARBs chairman

We told Hartford yesterday that we are in the process of reviewing all of our resources for the two communities and the combined total is greater than the resources that we have, Barnes said.

Right now, we are oversubscribed by $4 (million) or $5 million for first year and a little less the second year, Barnes said.

So we are asking both Hartford and West Haven for what additional steps you can take to reduce it, Barnes said.

Dakers at one point asked Rossi, What other efforts is the city on its own taking to mitigate those deficits?

Hamilton said, What I would be looking for is a 5-year plan that shows how you get from where you are to a structual balance. Currently, assuming the city gets the MARB money, it would be OK for two years and then you hit the wall, he said.

Hartford is working on a major bond restructuring that would bring that city down to millions of dollars less in debt service, Hamilton said. Maybe thats something that you could do, also.

Rossi said she has Corporation Counsel Lee Tiernan looking permit fees the city might be able to raise. She said she has looked at Hartfords five-year plan and Hartfords doesnt show them getting out of it in five years, either.

She also said that as soon as she took office, I cut positions immediately. In addition, the city is doing a cellphone audit, an audit of Comcast cable service and an audit of city vehicles to see whether any of those expense lines can be cut.

Rossi told the MARB members that the 2016-17 audit, which she now expects to see around the end of April or beginning of May, is expected to show the city finished last year with a $1.4 million deficit.

For the current year, the city is projecting an $8 million deficit, with $7.2 million of that resulting from state aid that former Mayor Ed OBriens administration relied on, but which has not come. In addition, the school system is expected to overrun its special education line by $2.1 million.

The meeting took place Friday afternoon in a Board of Education meeting room packed with about 60 people, about half of whom were city, schools and police and fire department union members.

Rossi and the subcommittee went into executive session at the end of the meeting to discuss labor negoations and the citys labor contracts.

The other MARB members who attended were state Labor Commissioner Scott Jackson  former mayor of Hamden  and Patrick Egan, former assistant chief and executive officer for the New Haven Fire Department and former president of the New Haven Firefighters Union.WALLINGFORD  Two West Haven men were arrested Friday on drug charges after the police Narcotics Unit observed a drug transaction on South Main Street, according to a police press release.

A white, 2015 Toyota Camry fled as police attempted to intervene in the transaction, the release said. The Camry crashed into three vehicles, including undercover police vehicles, and continued to flee, according to the release. The car was later stopped on North Main Street, and the driver and a passenger were taken into custody.Peter Grunberg Biographical

A typical question I am often asked as a Nobel Laureate in physics is what brought you to physics? I am not sure but I do know that in school in geography when looking at the presentations of the planets orbiting around the sun I asked myself: What is the reason for this strange behavior? It was a real revelation when my physics teacher Mr. Roderer explained to me that this is caused by the balance of the attraction between masses and centrifugal forces. This roused my enthusiasm and whetted my appetite. Still, during my last few years in high school, I spent more time with sports, boy scouting, alpinism, music etc. so my performance in school was reasonable but not more.

Perhaps in this context, it might be of interest to know that my father held a diploma in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Bruenn (Cechia), and worked for the Skoda factory in Pilsen designing locomotives. He died during the last days of the war, so after our expatriation to the western part of Germany, my mother was left alone to take care of her two children, namely my two-year older sister and myself.

At the age of 19, I started to study physics at the University of Frankfurt and changed to the Technical University of Darmstadt three years later. I finished my diploma thesis there at the age of 26 and my PhD thesis at the age of 29. In both theses, I applied optical spectroscopy to determine crystal field split energy levels of rare earth ions in garnets. The director of the institute was Professor K. H. Hellwege. As I did a lot of computational work for the experiments, he used to say to me when he met me in the corridors: Above all mathematics, dont neglect the physical background which he called Physikalischer Hosenboden (lit. physical bottom). This must have made a lasting impression on me because I have a strong desire to explain new phenomena which I come across in simple physical pictures and do not feel comfortable with mathematical formalism alone. Today, I would like to pass this attitude on. In computer simulations in particular we would get lost in an abundance of results if we did not maintain a critical view for the source of the effects. This is especially true for phenomena caused by a constructive or destructive interaction of various mechanisms. My direct supervisor for my thesis work was Prof. Stefan Hufner.

The topics of garnets and crystal fields also brought me to the laboratory of Prof. A. Koningstein in Ottawa, Canada, where I worked as a postdoc for a little less than three years. As was the case until then my goal remained the determination of crystal fields, but here I used the electronic Raman effect to determine the energy levels experimentally. Since Raman scattering is mainly caused by the optical phonons, these were also included in my investigations. A photo of me at the age of 33 is shown in Figure 1.

In 1972, I was offered a position as a research scientist at the newly founded Institute for Magnetism at the research centre in Julich. The director was Prof. Werner Zinn. His picture (marked with WZ) is included in the group photo of Figure 2. He was mainly interested in investigating the model magnetic semiconductors EuO and EuS. I also started to work on these compounds, applying optical absorption spectroscopy as well as Raman scattering (RS) from phonons. The RS experiments were performed at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Physics in Stuttgart in the group headed by M. Cardona. My partner in Stuttgart was Gernot Guntherodt (marked GG in Figure 2) with whom I explored the magnon phonon interaction in EuO and EuS.

RS often causes a problem if we want to observe scattering with small frequency shifts below about 30 GHz (corresponding to 1 cm-1). This is the domain of Brillouin lightscattering spectroscopy (BLS), where instead of a grating monochromator as in RS, a Fabry Perot interferometer is used as the dispersive element. In the early 1970s in BLS instrumentation, an interesting development occurred due to the pioneering work of John Sandercock in Zurich. He invented the multipass operation, and later on, showed how two multipass interferometers could be used in tandem. Following this example we assembled our own setup, namely a triple-pass spectrometer without tandem operation. A schematic is shown in Figure 1 of [1]. John not only pioneered the experimental technique, he also demonstrated the improvement with the first BLS measurements of various phenomena in solid state physics. This work had a great impact on ours. At the same time, he established his own company. Researcher, inventor, entrepreneur, salesman  all at the same time: following in the footsteps of Alfred Nobel! I have the greatest respect for such people. He has since been awarded various prices, of which the David Richardson Medal of the Optical Society of America (2005) is the latest.

One of his experiments grabbed our attention in particular. It was the first measurement of acoustic spinwaves in Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) and there fore the first time that acoustic spinwaves were measured in ferro- or ferrimagnets by means of LS. This result encouraged us to try the same experiment with EuO. However, as this compound only orders ferromagnetically below 60 K, cooling was necessary. Fortunately, a cryostat with a superconducting magnet was available from the optical experiments, so it was brought to the BLS setup. Before long, we were able to detect BLS from the bulk spinwaves. Additional scattering with a very strong Stokes/anti-Stokes (S/aS) anomaly could finally be identified. This was due to a spinwave propagating along the surface in one direction only and not the opposite. The successful observation of spinwaves in the bulk and at the surface of EuO is described in [1]. It has the character of an anecdote that the clue for the interpretation of a certain peak, caused by a surface spinwave, was uncovered when the experimental setup broke down and had to be repaired.

Further important results in this context were obtained by John Sandercock together with Wolfram Wettling. They measured the bulk and surface spinwaves from ferromagnetic metals in the shape of platelets with thicknesses of the order of mm. Standing spinwaves in thin films with thick nesses of the order of 100 nm or less were seen by Marcus Grimsditch and Alex Malozemoff (AM in Figure 2) for the first time. References to all of this work can be found in reference 2 of [1]. From this period, I also would like to mention fruitful contacts with Burkhard Hillebrands (BHi in Figure 2), who later extended BLS to thin film structures with lateral confinement.

Often in experiments with light, strong metallic optical absorption is considered a disadvantage because it significantly reduces the interaction volume. In LS experiments on standing spinwaves, however, it turns out to be of advantage because the wavevector of the incident light is smeared out due to strong optical absorption. As a result, a whole band of wavevectors is available to fulfill total momentum conservation, which is one of the required experimental conditions in BLS. A BLS spectrum from spinwaves showing the surface  and a standing mode is displayed in Figure 2 of [1]. To emphasise the last point: the standing modes are only observed because the wavevector of the incident light is sufficiently smeared out due to strong metallic optical absorption. In contrast, unpinned standing modes with antinodes at the surfaces are not seen by microwave absorption because the total precessing moment cancels out. This aspect was later discussed by John Cochran and Bret Heinrich. Both are seen in Figure 2 on the upper right-hand side, marked JC and BH, respectively. Next, we extended the LS investigations of spinwaves to multilayered structures. We concentrated on magnetic double layers i.e. two ferromagnetic films separated by a non ferromagnetic interlayer. One main interest was the coupling of DE modes to the collective dipolar modes of the structure. The most important results of these investigations are summarized in Figure 3 of [1].

At this point, I wish to mention that my meanwhile permanent staff position in a government-funded research laboratory allowed me to make long-term planning and to build up equipment for sophisticated sample preparation. At that time, such components were only partly available on the market. In this endeavour, I was assisted by my technician Reinert Schreiber who designed, assembled and operated the machine to prepare the samples. A particular feature which he installed was the wedge technique. It provides the possibility of making thin-film samples with increasing thickness from one end to the other. Later, this turned out to be very helpful for the study of thickness dependencies. A picture of Reinert performing some leak testing is shown in Figure 3.

I did the first calculations on the dipolar-coupled DE modes, as displayed in Figure 3 of [1] myself. The extension to multilayers was done together with my colleague K. Mika from the mathematical department of our institute. Knowledge of the effect of dipolar coupling on the spinwave frequencies and the experimental result on standing modes was sufficient to be able to qualitatively predict their behaviour under the effect of ferro- or antiferromagnetic exchange coupling. This is explained in [1] in the context of Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Let us return to the trilayer or magnetic double layer structure as displayed in Figure 3 of [1]. It explains how F and AF coupling can be determined qualitatively from the frequency shift of the optic mode. What we observed at that time were only frequency upshifts. According to Figure 4 of [1], the coupling then is ferromagnetic.

In the early 1980s, it was believed that there were mainly two mechanisms that explained coupling. These were pinhole coupling via magnetic bridges across holes in the interlayers and orange peel or Neel-type coupling due to meandering interlayers. Remagnetization curves which can reveal antiferromagnetic-type coupling yield no information when the coupling is ferromagnetic. For these reasons, the situation concerning coupling was still rather uncertain in the early 80s. Under these conditions, we started a systematic search using the spinwave method. We also concentrated on the more unique case of antiferromagnetic (AF) type coupling, trying to find an example.

While on a years sabbatical leave at Argonne National Laboratory in the U.S. as a guest of Mervin Brodsky, this search was finally successful. We detected AF coupling in Fe/Cr/Fe structures on cleaved substrates of rocksalt. Details are found in [1]. Two of the colleagues I met at Argonne, with whom I worked on other topics namely Ivan Schuller (IS) and Sam Bader (SB), can also be seen in Figure 2. When I came back from the U.S., I continued working on the reproducibility of the effect, now using also epipolished GaAs substrates. At that time, Jozef Barnas, a theoretician from Poznan in Poland, joined my group and we started to work on a quantitative theory of the effect of coupling on spinwaves. A photo of Jozef is shown in Figure 4, and some results of our joint efforts have been published in ref. 2 of [1].

Furthermore, at that time, anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) was widely discussed by the community for applications in sensors for hard disk drives. So something was already in the air regarding MR effects and we decided to complement the available experimental techniques with magnetoresistance. Jean Pierre Renard (JR in Figure 2) had found an effect which later on turned out to be related to GMR. In our laboratory, Gaby Binasch installed the equipment during her diploma work and did the first measurements on permalloy films. Since Reinert Schreiber was now also able to make AF coupled Fe/Cr/Fe structures in a form suitable for measuring of electrical resistivity, GMR was seen before long as discussed in [1] and published in ref. 8 thereof. Gaby finished her thesis and received her diploma in physics (equivalent to masters). After this, she left Julich for an interesting job in industry. She can be seen in Figure 5 at the celebration for her diploma.

Before I come back to GMR, let me add a few more details on coupling. As mentioned in [1], at the same time that we were working on Fe/Cr/Fe, other groups found similar phenomena for rare earth layers (Gd, Y) separated by Y layers. An RKKY-type mechanism was proposed by Yako Yafet (marked YY in Figure 2) as an explanation. Even oscillatory behaviour as a function of the interlayer (Y) thickness had already been reported. However, it seems that only after the discovery of GMR, coupling per se also received general attention. And sure there were many results and surprises. The RKKY-type mechanism was applied to structures with magnetic 3d-transition metals by George Mathon (GM in Figure 2), David Edwards and Patrick Bruno (PB in Figure 2). With the permission of the colleagues involved, I may at this point tell the following anecdote. In the course of his search for AF couplings Stuart Parkin from IBM San Jose (SP in Figure 2) had found it also for sputtered Co films with [111] texture interspaced by Cu. The Dutch group from Philips Eindhoven established oscillatory coupling for this system also for epitaxial growth with [100] orientation. Bill Egelhoff from NIST in Gaithersburg, well-known for very fine work in epitaxy, however, reproached vigorously. I still remember a MRS meeting in San Francisco where he defended his point. Then Professor Gradmann (UG in Figure 2) from Clausthal University in Germany stood up and said: Bill I think I know what happened. Your samples are too good. You have very fine surfaces which nucleate antiphase domains that give large angle grain boundaries between the islands. Then you can get diffusion of Co along the boundaries and the formation of magnetic bridges. The resulting F-coupling swamps any possible AF coupling. Bill Egelhoff responded simply: I like that. Indeed, somewhat later, Jurgen Kirschner (JK in Figure 2) and his group from Freie Universitat in Berlin added further evidence to this case by showing that grain boundary formation comes from the usual competition between ABABA.. and ABCABC type stacking for hcp type structures along [111].

Coming back to Bill Egelhoff, it has also to be mentioned that he used oxygen as a surfactant to set the record values for GMR of 25% in the simple trilayer structures of Co and Cu and also dual spinvalves with two Cu interlayers. In multilayered structures, of course, the effect is much stronger.

This example demonstrates again that coupling can change drastically with growth, which makes comparison with theory ambiguous. Then how do we know that current theories on this phenomenon as proposed for the first time by Yako Yafet are in essence correct? An important contribution to this comes from Bob Celottas group at NIST. They grew trilayer-type samples, where one magnetic layer was replaced by a single crystal Fe whisker, which at the same time is used as a substrate. For the interlayer, various materials were chosen with an emphasis on good matching to Fe. Coupling is seen via magnetic domains, which are made visible using SEMPA. These indeed superb and celebrated experiments left no doubt that theories based on the RKKY interaction predict oscillatory coupling correctly. In real cases, however, the coupling could still be good for many surprises, as is clear from the anecdote above.

Another phenomenon which also finally turned out to be related to growth is that of 90 type coupling. This was proposed by A. Hubert and his group as the reason for special magnetic domain structures occurring in samples with wedge-shaped interlayers. Alex Hubert (AH) and his coworker Rudi Schafer (RS) can also be seen in Figure 2.

For the size of the GMR effect, there is a large difference between trilayers and multilayers, as shown in Figure 9 of [1]. This has been known since GMR was announced publically for the first time at the ICMFS in Le Creusot in France, organized by Irena Puchalska (IR) and Horst Hoffmann (HH). I also met Albert Fert there for the first time (as he attended the conference but was not in the original group photo, I added his photo (AF) on the right-hand side of Figure 2). After we had compared our results and came to the conclusion that we had seen the same effect and thus confirmed it to each other, we were ready for a glass of red wine from Burgundy. We were not the only ones who enjoyed that conference. A group of talented musicians among the participants entertained us with piano concertos (Alex Malozemoff-AM and Jaques Miltat-JM), Urich Gradmann (UG) and Mrs. Yafet on the violin and finally Klaus Rohrmann (KR) with a solo on a water hose. The arrival of GMR was adequately celebrated indeed!

When I returned home from the conference in Le Creusot, I was in a very fortunate situation that I had two excellent theoreticians as visiting scientists in Julich. A picture of Jozef Barnas has already been shown in Figure 4, a passport photo of Bob Camley is shown in Figure 6. I now had both previous collaborators on spinwaves together again in Julich, but now the new exciting topic was the GMR effect. Before long, they had worked out a theory based on Boltzmanns diffusion equation for the evaluation of the GMR experiments which became known as the Camley-Barnas model.

The title of my Nobel lecture includes the term beyond. The team with whom I obtained most of the results beyond can be seen in Figure 7. We conducted much work on Si interlayers, where we found very strong coupling but disappointingly weak tunnel magnetoresistance. We also started on current-induced magnetic switching (CIMS) as invented by John Slonczewski and Luc Berger. John and his wife Ester stayed with me various times in Julich. My successor as group leader, Daniel Burgler, can be seen in the middle of Figure 7 (3rd from the left).

In 1998, I was invited by Hiroyasu Fujimori (HF in Figure 2 and 3rd from left in Figure 8) to come to Sendai, Japan, for 6 months. During this stay, I also spent two months in Tsukuba as a guest of Yoshishige Suzuki. A group photo with my collaborators in Sendai is shown in Figure 8. Of these, Koki Takanashi in 1995 had spent a year in Julich as a postdoc. Terunobu Miyazaki is one of the inventors of tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) at room temperature and with Akira Yoshihara I worked on BLS from spinwaves.

I officially retired in 2004, but kept a desk and some office space in the research centre within the Institute for Electronic Properties headed by Claus Schneider (CS in Figure 2). In this way, I was able to maintain my contacts with the scientific community, of which I wish to mention only as example a visit to Vladimir Ustinov (VU in Figure 2) in Ekaterinenburg. Now  as a result of being awarded this great Prize, I have also received a new contract from my employer in the form of a Helmholtz professorship. As a result, I call myself jokingly a re-entrant magnetician. I should explain to the non-expert that re-entrant magnetism is where magnetism disappears as a function of some parameter (like pressure or temperature) at a certain value but comes back at another value. Obviously, the relevant parameter in my case is age!

I would like to add a remark on my religious believes. Brought up rather conservative catholique I see religions now more or less in the spirit of Lessings (German dramatist 1729-1781) ring parabola which I would top by saying that  not only does nobody know which is the right ring (standing for religion)  but there indeed is no such thing as a right or false ring. Per se they are all equivalent. What really counts is how religions are practised, for example, with tolerance. And yet I believe that there is more than what we see, hear etc., or can detect with instruments. But it is a feeling borne out of many details of my personal experience and therefore impossible to share or communicate.

References

[1] Nobel Lecture of P. Grunberg.

From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 2007, Editor Karl Grandin, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 2008

This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/ Nobel Lectures/The Nobel Prizes. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate.

Peter Grunberg died on 9 April 2018.

Copyright  The Nobel Foundation 2007

To cite this section

MLA style: Peter Grunberg  Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Thu. 30 Sep 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2007/grunberg/biographical/>Tim OConnor, a character actor who strove to bring nuance to scores of television roles, most memorably as the convict-turned-newspaperman Elliot Carson in the 1960s prime-time soap opera Peyton Place, died on Thursday at this home in Nevada City, Calif. He was 90.

The cause was cancer, his stepson Garth Kant said.

Mr. OConnor, who had piercing blue eyes and stern features, seemed a natural to play heavies and authority figures, and many of his parts fit those molds. Whatever the role, though, he tried to give depth to the character, even if it was underwritten, he said.

I would play it against what was written, Mr. OConnor told Stephen Bowie in an interview with The Classic TV History Blog in 2010. Thats in every part Ive ever played, anyplace. Particularly in episodic television.

Mr. OConnors television career began in the late 1950s on programs like The DuPont Show of the Month and Sunday Showcase. Over the next four decades he appeared in a litany of shows across different genres, among them The Defenders, Gunsmoke, Mannix, M.A.S.H., The Twilight Zone, Maude, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Dukes of Hazzard, Doogie Howser, M.D. and Murder, She Wrote.President Trump has sometimes seemed to view military action as a game and foreign policy as something set by online taunts. He seemed to think that as commander in chief he could simply follow his whims.

So it was reassuring that his military response to a suspected chemical attack that killed dozens of people in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma on April 7 was coordinated with Britain and France. In his address to the nation Friday night, he said that preventing the use of chemical weapons was in the vital national security interest of the United States.

Earlier this week we got his usual bluster. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart, the president said on Twitter on Wednesday, in his best movie tough-guy impersonation, after a Russian diplomat warned that his nations forces would shoot down any missile fired at their ally Syria. On Friday night his message to the Syrian regimes two main defenders, Russia and Iran, was more measured. What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? he asked. The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that while this was a one-off attack, like the airstrike against Syria a year ago, the targets were involved in the production and storage of chemical agents, not just an airfield. He warned of further attacks if Syria used chemical weapons again.Because the tunnel was man-made and contained few other species, it was a perfect testing ground for this agent. The tunnels tricolored bat population numbered over 5,000 in 2013 but was down to 152 in a count last year.

If the numbers are too low today, we may have to abandon the project, Pete Pattavina, a bat biologist for the federal government, told me as we drove to the site. Its hard to justify the continued expense if we only have a few survivors.

Not everyone thinks the efforts are worthwhile. The National Speleological Society, dismayed by the closing of caves on federal land in what it sees as a misguided effort to prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome, thinks the war has been lost, that the government efforts are putting bats at greater risk and that, in any event, the disease is going to run its course. This may be what happened in Europe, where bats appear have developed resistance to it.

I dont agree. While targeted cures like the one being tested in Black Diamond would likely be impractical for most wild caves, they could potentially slow the leading edges of the disease. Kelly Lutsch, a first-year graduate student of Dr. Cornelison, has been surveying concrete culverts along Interstates 75 and 95 through Georgias coastal plains. She believes that infected bats using the culverts could be carrying the pathogen south into cave-rich zones near the Florida panhandle. If so, spraying the culverts with B23 might be warranted. One Georgia cave near the Florida border hosts a robust colony of 90,000 southeastern myotis bats.

At the Black Diamond Tunnel, the results of the spraying were encouraging. After an hour, the team slowly paddled back to share its results: 178 bats, up by 26 from the last count.

Dr. Cornelison cautioned against interpreting this as a success for B23, since other factors could affect the count. Still, he declared himself ecstatic that the number was higher, not lower, and plans to test B23 again in the tunnel.WORCESTER, Mass.  On the night of his election to the Senate in 1976, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, declared: I ran as a liberal. I was elected as a liberal. This month, discussing her campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York, Cynthia Nixon called for progressive change. The distinction matters.

In recent decades, the label progressive has been resurrected to replace liberal, a once vaunted term so successfully maligned by Republicans that it fell out of use. Both etymologically and ideologically, the switch to progressive carries historical freight that augurs poorly for Democrats and for the nations polarized politics.

Historical progressivism is an ideology whose American avatars, like Woodrow Wilson, saw progress as the inevitable outcome of human affairs. Of course, liberals and conservatives believe that their policies will result in positive outcomes, too. But it is another thing to say, as American Progressives did, that the contemporary political task was to identify a destination, grip the wheel and depress the accelerator.

The basic premise of liberal politics, by contrast, is the capacity of government to do good, especially in ameliorating economic ills. Nothing structurally impedes compromise between conservatives, who hold that the accumulated wisdom of tradition is a better guide than the hypercharged rationality of the present, and liberals, because both philosophies exist on a spectrum.To adapt the old phrase to todays G.O.P.: The ships are leaving the sinking rat.

Thats the moral of Paul Ryans unexpected but not surprising announcement this week that he will give up the speakership  the second Republican speaker to do so in just three years  and retire after 20 years in the House. The Wisconsin congressman pleaded a desire to spend more time raising his children. This, presumably, after hed abandoned hope of raising the child in the White House.

Ryans departure comes atop the three dozen and counting House Republicans whove decided they have better things to do in life than either lose their seats in November or spend the next few years in the likely minority, carping about Nancy Pelosi and trying to stop the presidents impeachment.

Many of these Republicans once believed that Donald Trump alone possessed the kind of political virility needed to vanquish Hillary Clinton and make America great again. Only belatedly have they figured out that the virility comes with a case of syphilis.

Theres a lot of weariness and a lot of exhaustion, frankly, Charlie Dent, one of the retiring Republicans, told CNN this week. The litmus test for being a Republican these days is not about any given set of ideals or principles; its about loyalty to the man, and I think thats challenging.Mr. Trumps action does nothing to change the past.

But it might change the lives or convictions of people whom President Trump does know: his own personal firewall. By pardoning Mr. Libby, Mr. Trump sends a message to Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen and any of his other close aides who are facing or may face potential prosecution pursuant to the investigation by Robert Mueller, the special counsel.

Mr. Manafort was indicted in October for hiding that he was working for a Russian-backed Ukrainian party while lobbying in the United States; charges against him could put him away for the rest of his life. F.B.I. agents raided the home and offices of Mr. Trumps longtime lawyer Michael Cohen this week; according to the Department of Justice, he is under criminal investigation by the Southern District of New York, and he may face charges of bank and wire fraud for paying hush money to prevent news of past sexual affairs from becoming public during the election. By pardoning Mr. Libby, Mr. Trump sends a message to those who might incriminate him in crimes related to conspiring with Russians to tamper with the election: The message is that he will rectify any sadness that protecting a president might cause.

The thing is, Mr. Trump is unlikely to be able to use his pardon power to get out of his legal jam. Thats because several of his potential firewalls  Mr. Manafort, Mr. Cohen and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner  could be charged at the state level for the financial crimes theyre suspected of. A federal pardon would simply move their prosecution beyond Mr. Trumps control.

And there are many more people who can incriminate the president, whereas in the investigation into Ms. Plames exposure, Mr. Libby was one of the only people who could say whether the president had authorized the leak of a C.I.A. officers identity. Already, three key witnesses have agreed to cooperate with Mr. Mueller against the president, so its probably too late to start silencing witnesses.

Finally, neither Mr. Trump nor his thoroughly outmatched legal team knows the full exposure he or potential witnesses face. Given the involvement of Russians trying to undermine the United States, the evidence Mr. Mueller may already have collected could well be even uglier than deliberately burning a C.I.A. spy for political gain.

That makes it a lot harder to pull off what George Bush did  protect his firewall.

Finally, Mr. Trump is running out of time. As NBC reported this week, Mr. Mueller is already preparing the first of two reports to Congress. This one will lay out the ways the president has already obstructed his investigation into election tampering. It will reportedly include the discussion of pardons with Mr. Manafort and Mr. Trumps former national security adviser, Mike Flynn (who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in November). In other words, within weeks Mr. Mueller will inform Congress that President Trump has been offering pardons specifically to undercut the investigation into his actions.

Mr. Trumps pardon of Mr. Libby makes it crystal clear that he thinks even the crime of making the country less safe can be excused if done in the service of protecting the president. But it doesnt mean the pardon will protect him.It is a measure of how repressive Uzbekistan was under its first post-Soviet president, Islam Karimov, that the first, tentative steps by his successor to curb the secret police are raising high hopes of an Uzbek Spring in the making. Yet with democracy in retreat across much of the former Soviet empire and elsewhere in the world, President Shavkat Mirziyoyevs efforts bear watching and deserve support.

Little was expected of Mr. Mirziyoyev when he ascended  unconstitutionally  to the presidency on Mr. Karimovs death 19 months ago. He had long served the dictator as prime minister and was widely expected to maintain his despotic system. Yet he has unexpectedly taken a very different, and so far positive, path.

Most notable have been his steps to curb the huge powers and reach of the feared security apparatus. Mr. Mirziyoyev fired its long-serving chief and his deputy and signed a law that made protecting human rights one of the security services missions. He has released some political prisoners, including journalists; he has removed about 18,000 people from the security services notorious black list that made it impossible for them to travel or get work; he has curbed the use of forced labor in cotton fields; he has loosened controls on news media a bit; he has worked to mend fences with Uzbekistans neighbors.

Freedom House, the democracy watchdog, took note of Uzbekistans significant break with its past as the first, meager shoots of spring in its latest Nations in Transit report, though like others who have commented on the changes, it stressed that hard work lies ahead. The security apparatus is still largely intact, Mr. Mirziyoyev still exercises authoritarian powers and, as Human Rights Watch recently reported, censorship is still in force and journalists are still being arrested.INTERNATIONAL

An article on Thursday about gains made in solar power capacity worldwide misstated the proportion of solar powers share of worldwide energy consumption. All renewable energy sources together, with the exception of large hydropower projects, represent 12 percent of worldwide energy consumption. This is not the share of solar power alone.

WEEKEND ARTS

A review on Friday about the HBO documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher misstated the year of a film Elvis starred in. The movie, King Creole, was released in 1958, not 1956.



A review on Friday about the 1983 film Liquid Sky misstated the status of a club that was part of the club scene in Lower Manhattan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Pyramid Club is still open; it has not closed.



A review on Friday about the documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami misstated the title of one of Ms. Jones hit singles. It is Pull Up to the Bumper, not Pull Up to My Bumper.FRANKFORT, Ky.  With the chants of hundreds of teachers ringing in their ears, Kentucky lawmakers voted on Friday to override the Republican governors veto of a two-year state budget that increases public education spending with the help of a more than $480 million tax increase.

The votes came as thousands of teachers rallied at the Capitol, forcing more than 30 school districts to close as the state continued the chorus of teacher protests across the country.

The two-year state operating budget includes record new spending for public education, fueled by a 50-cent increase in the cigarette tax and a 6 percent sales tax on some services, including home and auto repairs. But Gov. Matt Bevin vetoed the budget and revenue bills, calling the latter sloppy and non-transparent. He said it would not raise enough money to cover the new spending.

The veto put Republican lawmakers in a tough position by asking them to vote a second time on a tax increase in an election year. But 57 House Republicans, later joined by just enough Senate Republicans, voted to override.MIAMI  Less than a minute after a sheriffs deputy screamed into his police radio that shots had been fired at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, backup arrived to help  so quickly that the sound of active gunfire could still be heard, according to newly released police accounts of the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.

The firsthand police accounts released Friday by the sheriffs office in Broward County make clear that the gunman was still carrying out his rampage as law enforcement officers started swarming into the school  yet he managed to slip away undetected. The accused gunman, a former student named Nikolas Cruz, was arrested about an hour later, walking down a residential street about two miles away.

A timeline of the police response released last month, citing police radio communications and school surveillance video, indicated that two deputies heard gunfire when they reached the school  one of them, Deputy Michael Kratz, two minutes after the shooting began and the other, Detective Brian Goolsby, three minutes later. The new reports show a third officer, Sgt. Brian Miller, also heard the shots.

Still, it took 11 minutes after the gunman opened fire for police officers from the neighboring city of Coral Springs to enter the freshman building where the shooting took place. By then, he had fled with other students running from the campus.Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain and President Emmanuel Macron of France issued statements following President Trumps announcement on Friday evening that the United States had launched airstrikes on Syria. The three governments said they were acting in response to a chemical-weapons attack carried out by President Bashar al-Assads government on April 7.

Mrs. May issued the following statement:

This evening I have authorized British armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical-weapons capability and deter their use. We are acting together with our American and French allies.

In Douma, last Saturday a chemical weapons attack killed up to 75 people, including young children, in circumstances of pure horror. The fact of this attack should surprise no one. The Syrian regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way.

And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian regime is responsible for this latest attack. This persistent pattern of behavior must be stopped  not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons. We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this.

But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted. Even this week the Russians vetoed a Resolution at the U.N. Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack. So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties. And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity.

At this time, my thoughts are with our brave British servicemen and women  and our French and American partners  who are carrying out their duty with the greatest professionalism. The speed with which we are acting is essential in cooperating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations. This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.

I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britains national interest. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized  within Syria, on the streets of the U.K., or anywhere else in our world. We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none. History teaches us that the international community must defend the global rules and standards that keep us all safe. That is what our country has always done. And what we will continue to do.WASHINGTON  In sending missiles and bombs at Syria, President Trump hit more targets and used more firepower than he did in a similar military strike last year. But in the end, he opted for what was still a restrained operation that was evidently calculated to avoid provoking Syrias patrons in Russia and Iran into retaliating.

The United States and its European allies chose three targets instead of the single air base hit last year and used twice as many weapons. Still, American officials said the attack was intended as a proportional strike aimed specifically at Syrias chemical weapons facilities rather than a broader set of targets and was a one-time, one-night assault to punish Damascus for a suspected gas attack last weekend.

In the days before the strike, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis cautioned against a quick assault without a more thought-through strategy. He expressed concern about the potential for escalating the conflict by drawing Russia and Iran into a deeper confrontation with the United States in a country where all three have forces on the ground. With Russian and Iranian forces supporting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the potential for miscues weighed on military planners.

For all of Mr. Trumps tough language this week, the variant he chose made no apparent effort to damage Mr. Assads broader war machine or his governments command and control of its forces beyond its chemical weapons. The one-night burst of ordnance appears unlikely to change the overall balance of forces in Syria seven years into its bloody civil war. But the president hoped it would be enough to deter Mr. Assad from using chemical weapons again without being so damaging as to compel Russia and Iran to intervene.A new documentary defines Elvis Presley as a musician first, superstar second. And the clever romantic drama Right Now, Wrong Then arrives on Mubi.

Whats on TV

ELVIS PRESLEY: THE SEARCHER (2018) 8 p.m. on HBO; also on HBO streaming platforms. Documenting Elvis Presleys life in a new light is no small feat. But the director Thom Zimny started working on this two-part portrait with one goal in mind: The Kings music comes first. The Searcher is a deeply personal look at Presleys creative process and musical influences, beginning with his childhood in Mississippi to his final recording sessions in 1976. Interviewees like Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Priscilla Presley recount how the rock legends music was often overshadowed by his image, emphasizing that he was most himself while creating and performing. Fans will surely appreciate the featured tracks; Presleys archivist generously offered 6,000 recordings to choose from.

LITTLEST PET SHOP: A WORLD OF OUR OWN 12 p.m. on Discovery Family. This spinoff series shifts focus from the human protagonist in the original Littlest Pet Shop to six pet friends in two back-to-back premiere episodes. A magical portal transports pets to a utopia equipped with ski slopes, animal-friendly apartments and a beauty salon where cats offer back massages. The series opens as the Boston terrier Roxie, house sitting for a pop star, is confronted by a group of snobs who may be using her to throw a house party.VARIETY PUZZLE  The passage in this puzzle is a grand example of one of my favorite genres, rhapsodic nature writing. Its from a 2018 book by Simon Barnes, The Meaning of Birds, that takes a big-picture look at the historical importance of birds as symbols, sustenance and inspiration for all manners of human endeavors from Poes doleful poetry to Darwins theory of natural selection.

The passage is about iridescence, and I couldnt resist including the above ScienceTake video of scientists studying peahens and what exactly they see in peacocks (there is a somewhat beleaguered-looking peahen wearing a knapsack and a head camera here, but she comes out of it about as all right as most of us on a tech-enabled date). The passage concerns a bird thats a lot less flamboyant, and who I often think looks like it fell in an oily puddle. Theyre talented though, and Ill try to remember this more lyrical description from now on.

I learned a few things in the clues today, including the fact that genu varum means BOWLEGGED, and the German word for girl is actually NEUTER. I started with NO REGRETS, IN CROWD, AL CAPONE and BOTSWANA. Im sorry this puzzle didnt run on either Easter or Orthodox Easter so I could make a groaner pun about Easter eggs, secrets that designers conceal in animation, computer games and the like, because theres a great one here that soared above me like an albatross for a long time but is after-the-fact evident in the clues I cited above.

The Cox Rathvon machine produced its usual cornucopia of cleverness and subtle misdirection, so it was a good enough fight for a lovely little bit of writing to  dare I dream  herald birdsong, warmth and Spring.The Fair Housing Act of 1968, which outlawed housing discrimination on paper, might have made amends for some of this history had the federal government actually enforced it. But studies continue to show pervasive discrimination in housing, and lower-income whites still have greater access than middle-class African-Americans to healthy mixed-income communities.

A study by the National Fair Housing Alliance of a dozen metropolitan areas  including Atlanta; Austin, Tex., Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; San Antonio; and the District of Columbia  showed that real estate discrimination was pervasive.

The alliance filed a federal fair housing complaint against a real estate group in Jackson, Miss., charging that real estate agents were denying African-Americans the right to buy homes in high-value areas that would provide greater returns on their investments after testers posing as home buyers established that black and white clients were treated very differently. The real estate group settled the case by agreeing to specific steps to expand equal housing opportunities.

A HOME MORTGAGE BLACK TAX

African-Americans who had amassed equity in their homes and who should have been offered safe, reasonably priced loans were set up for default in the run-up to the recession, when they were targeted for predatory loans that were often deceptively marketed. A study of the problem in Baltimore found that black residents were charged higher rates and discriminated against at every stage of the transactions compared with comparably qualified white customers.

The authors determined that the loan default rate would have been considerably lower for black customers had they been treated in the same fashion as whites. Most tellingly of all, the study took into account factors like credit scores, income and down payments that would have been known to brokers and lenders when these abusive loans were made.

It comes as no surprise that such tactics took a heavy toll on black homeowners, who already lagged far behind whites in terms of wealth and homeownership levels. An analysis by the nonprofit Urban Institute shows that between 2001 and 2016 the homeownership rate for African-Americans declined about five percentage points, to 41 percent, as opposed to just one percentage point for whites, whose rate fell to just over 71 percent. The nine percentage point decline for middle-aged black homeowners is particularly ominous, given that these people are closer to retirement with fewer resources to rely on.

The Urban Institutes analysis of the black-white homeownership gap in 100 cities across the country shows that none have actually closed the ownership gap. The gap was widest in Northeastern and Midwestern cities  with the widest gaps, listed in order of severity, found in Minneapolis; Albany; Buffalo; New York; Salisbury, Md.; and Bridgeport, Conn. The cities with the smallest gaps were Killeen, Tex.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Austin; and Augusta, Ga.This makes me think  have people who used this term ever actually met any Vietnamese people? Been to a Vietnamese restaurant, much less a Vietnamese household or Vietnam itself? Were really, really loud.

The situation, now and in the past, is that the minority and marginalized communities of this or any other country are often not voiceless. Theyre simply not heard.

Thats the problem with being called a voice for the voiceless, whose exceptional status is related to what we call genius. We would rather deal with a solo voice than a chorus, or a cacophony, of voices. And in praising todays voice for the voiceless, we would just as soon forget, or not even know about, all the other voices for the voiceless that came before.

I think back to Edith Maude Eaton, half-Chinese and half-white, who adopted a Chinese pen name and wrote as Sui Sin Far. She advocated for Chinese immigrants and chose to be Chinese in the early years of the 20th century, at a time when to be Chinese was to be despised in North America. She published one book of short stories, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, and died in poverty and obscurity at an early age in 1914.

I think back to Carlos Bulosan, who migrated from the Philippines in the 1930s as a colonial ward of the United States. He worked as a journalist and a labor organizer and became a nationally celebrated writer. His fame peaked with his book America Is in the Heart in 1946. By 1954, however, suspected of having Communist sympathies, he was a target of McCarthyism. He died poor and alone, of pneumonia.

I think back to John Okada, who fought in World War II even though his Japanese-American family was in an internment camp. Okada came back from the war and published No No Boy in 1957, the first novel dealing with the little-known story of Japanese-American draft resisters. America did not want to think about the internment, and the Japanese-American community, intent on being patriotic, did not want to acknowledge draft resisters. No No Boy immediately disappeared. Okada died relatively young and his widow, in despair at his rejection, burned his second manuscript.

Those are three of the most iconic Asian-American writers, and I wish genius grants were retroactive. It took genius to decide to write about Asian-Americans at a time when there was no market for Asian-American literature, no recognition for Asian-American writers, and when there werent even any Asian-Americans. (Until the 1960s, we were collectively Orientals.)Last month, the president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, unveiled the design for a national cathedral that the government will build in Accra. This is a huge deal. It signals that the country is poised to consolidate the gains of decades of democracy. And the new interdenominational Christian cathedral will inspire ambitious civic architecture projects across the continent that harness the talents of Africas emerging artists.

Not everyone is cheering, though. Some West Africans have complained that the mixing of church and state is ill advised. They argue that its a worrisome case of official partisanship in a part of the world rived by religious conflicts. Others say the money for the project should have instead been invested in schools, hospitals and infrastructure  stuff that, according to them, Africa really needs. They are right to point to these endemic problems; but they are wrong to connect them with the cathedral.

The cathedral is the first major project in Africa by the Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye, who was knighted last year for his services to his field. He is perhaps the most exciting architect in the world. His reputation is built on his stunning designs for Rivington Place in London, the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, and, most spectacularly, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.

This Accra commission is not just a recognition by his homeland of Mr. Adjayes acclaim. It also signifies that Africa can build a major work by a leading architect at the top of his game. This is a remarkable thing: Ghana will get to brag about a globally recognized architectural landmark.The mistake about Paul Ryan, the one that both friends and foes made over the years between his Obama-era ascent and his just-announced departure from the House speakership, was to imagine him as a potential protagonist for our politics, a lead actor in the drama of conservatism, a visionary or a villain poised to put his stamp upon the era.

This Ryan-of-the-imagination existed among conservatives who portrayed his budgetary blueprints as the G.O.P.s answer to the New Deal, among centrist deficit hawks who looked to him to hash out their pined-for grand bargain, and among liberals for whom Ryan was the most sinister of far-right operators, part fanatic and part huckster  a Lyle Lanley with Atlas Shrugged in his back pocket, playing everyone for suckers while he marched the country into a libertarian dystopia.

It existed among the donors who wanted him to run for president, the pundits who encouraged Mitt Romney to choose him as a running mate, the big names who pressured him into the speakership. And it existed among anti-Trump conservatives, finally, who looked to Ryan to be the Republican of principle standing athwart Trumpism yelling stop.

But the real Ryan was never suited for these roles. He was miscast as a visionary when he was fundamentally a party man  a diligent and policy-oriented champion for whatever the institutional G.O.P. appeared to want, a pilot who ultimately let the party choose the vessels course. And because the institutional G.O.P. during his years was like a bayou airboat with a fire in its propeller and several alligators wrestling midship, an unhappy end for his career was all-but-foreordained.I must also assume that our military policy is of direct concern to me, personally. And if a military man tries to leverage the authority and respect he is afforded to voice contempt for a vast majority of Americans, if he tries to stifle their exercise of self-governance by telling them that to question the military strategy of our generals and our political leaders is a slight to our troops, its my patriotic duty to tell him to go pound sand.

If we dont do this, we risk our country slipping further into the practice of a fraudulent form of American patriotism, where soldiers are sacred, the work of actual soldiering is ignored and the pageantry of military worship sucks energy away from the obligations of citizenship.

I understand why politicians and writers and institutions choose to employ the trope of veterans when it comes to arguing for their causes. Support for our military remains high at a time when respect for almost every other institution is perilously low, so pushing a military angle as a wedge makes a certain kind of sense. But our peacetime institutions are not justified by how they intermittently intersect with national security concerns  its the other way around. Our military is justified only by the civic life and values it exists to defend. This is why George Washington, in his Farewell Orders to the Continental Army, told his troops to carry with them into civil society the most conciliating dispositions and prove themselves not less virtuous and useful as citizens than they have been persevering and victorious as soldiers.

Besides, lets not pretend that living a civilian life  and living it well  isnt hard. A friend of mine, an officer in the Army Reserves, told me that one of his greatest leadership challenges came not overseas, but when a deployment to Afghanistan got canceled and his men were called to the difficult and often tedious work of being husbands, fathers, members of a community.

My wife and I are raising two sons  the older one is 2 years old, the little one 6 months. And as we follow our national politics with occasional disgust, amusement, horror and hope, we regularly talk about the sort of qualities we want to impress upon our boys so they can be good citizens, and how we can help cultivate in them a sense of service, of gratitude for the blessings they have, and a desire to give back. Its a daunting responsibility. Right now, though, the day-to-day work of raising these kids doesnt involve a lot of lofty rhetoric about service. It involves drool, diapers and doing the laundry. For me, it means being that most remarkable, and somehow most unremarkable of things  a dad.

Which is how I found myself that day, less a Marine veteran than a father, shopping with the other parents at Buy Buy Baby, recalling that old saying, Were at war while America is at the mall. I wondered about the anonymous grunt poet who coined it. Whoever he was, theres a good chance that even by the time I heard it, hed already done his four years and gotten out.

Maybe hed left the Corps, settled into civilian life. Maybe he was in school. Perhaps he was working as a schoolteacher, or as a much-derided civil servant in some corner of our government. Perhaps he found that work more satisfying, more hopeful and of more obvious benefit to his country than the work hed done in our mismanaged wars.

Or perhaps, if he was as lucky as I have been, he was in some other mall doing exactly what I was  trying to figure out the difference between 6M and 3-6M baby onesies. If so, I wish him well.When she breathed into the mic, youd hear five or six sounds come out at once, like John Coltrane playing the sax, he says. When I first called her, she said, Im in A.A. I had a serious drinking problem. I am a lapsed Catholic, but I still have strong ties to the church. So in order to do what you want, Im going to have to start drinking Jack Daniels again and smoking cigarettes and eating raw eggs. And she wanted to have her own two priests with her at all times.

Friedkin is chockablock with such tales.

He says the first of his four wives, Jeanne Moreau, installed a lifelong love of Proust in him by reading it aloud.

Happily married to Sherry Lansing for 26 years, Friedkin says, he wasnt really Hollywoods most combustible director, as The Telegraph once called him.

I dont drink, he says. Ive never done drugs. Ive never tried grass. But I think Miles Davis is a reason to live. He does cop to slapping a couple of people to get the sad and angry performances he wanted, noting that another word for director is manipulator.

He did not want Gene Hackman to play the iconic New York police detective Popeye Doyle in The French Connection.

He gave the role to Jimmy Breslin instead. He had exactly the look I had in mind, a Black Irishman, Friedkin says. The first day, he was great, great, great. The second day, he forgot what he did on the first day. The third day, he didnt show up. Comes Friday, he shows up and says, Hey, isnt there a car chase in this movie? I said, Yeah. He said, You know, I promised my mother on her deathbed I wouldnt drive, so I dont know how to drive. I said, Youre fired.

He gave Hackman the part, and they sparred so much during filming that at the end, he told a producer: I may get away with this thing, but if I had to do The Gene Hackman Story, I wouldnt hire this guy. He acknowledges now that Hackman is one of the greatest American film actors.HELENA, Mont.  The battle to save the so-called gray ghosts  the only herd of caribou in the lower 48 states  has been lost.

A recent aerial survey shows that this international herd of southern mountain caribou, which spends part of its year in the Selkirk Mountains of northern Idaho and Washington near the Canadian border, has dwindled to just three animals and should be considered functionally extinct, experts say.

The Selkirk herd had been disappearing for the last several years.

In 2009, the herd, the southernmost in North America, had about 50 animals and was declining. Wildlife officials in Canada began a last-ditch effort to protect them by killing wolves, which occasionally preyed on the few caribou that remained.

But the root cause of the extirpation of this herd and the decline of others in Canada is extensive industrial development in British Columbia, experts say.The couple met in 2015, the same year Mr. Kenworthy came out in ESPN the Magazine. Mr. Kenworthy had seen Mr. Wilkass movie Gayby and messaged him on Instagram. He was, like, the first gay person that I ever followed, Mr. Kenworthy said, because I was always very in the closet and scared that even following a bunch of hot guys would let everyone know that I was gay.

Mr. Kenworthy divides his time between his home state, Colorado; New York (where Mr. Wilkas has an apartment); and Los Angeles. He and Mr. Wilkas just got a rescue dog, a Great Pyrenees and Korean Jindo mix named Beemo, after a character in the cartoon series Adventure Time. Shes confident and cute and she doesnt give an F, Mr. Kenworthy said.

As the car lurched through Eighth Avenue traffic, he spun his head around and shouted, Look, theres Adam on the side of that building! He had spotted a screen showing the figure skater Adam Rippon, Pyeongchangs other gay breakout star. The two Olympians had met at the opening ceremony, where they bonded over RuPauls Drag Race and became fast friends, Mr. Kenworthy said.

At Nordstrom, Mr. Kenworthy and Mr. Wilkas were greeted with white wine and photographers. Upstairs, they browsed windbreakers and talked to Stefano Celsi, the salesman who had dressed Mr. Kenworthy that morning. Im obsessed with this jacket, Mr. Kenworthy told him, flipping through a Dior rack. Its honestly the sickest thing ever.

Partygoers included Ice-T and Coco Austin, but Mr. Kenworthy was more excited about another celebrity guest. Hes obsessed with Mark Ruffalo, Mr. Wilkas said.By contrast, this newest group of Democratic candidates seems more outspoken and unconventional. They do not appear to be concerned about research suggesting that motherhood should be conveyed in safe doses  some pictures of the children but not too many lest voters doubt womens credentials.

Take the breast-feeding videos. In one, Ms. Roys calmly lifts her sweater and lets her fussing baby nurse, while discussing a bill she helped pass in the Wisconsin Legislature banning BPA, a suspected carcinogen, from baby bottles.

In another, Krish Vignarajah, who is hoping to prevail in a crowded Democratic primary to face Marylands Republican governor, Larry Hogan, breast-feeds her baby and declares, There are no women in statewide or federal office in Maryland. A former policy director for Michelle Obama, Ms. Vignarajah cuts to other scenes of her behind a desk, lists policies, then ends with another breast-feeding shot: Some say no man can beat Larry Hogan. Well, Im no man. Im a mom, Im a woman and I want to be your next governor.

Political consultants say that they sense a hunger among many voters for breaking with political conventions and traditional backgrounds for office  the same impatience with politics as usual that made Mr. Trump appealing to his base. So mothers as well as business executives (and some are one and the same) can fit the bill.

Margie Omero, a political consultant, said such portrayals fit with more frankness about a range of topics in society now  sexual harassment in the #MeToo era and conversations about racism  feeling that your untold story is important to tell.

Motherhood has long been a political constraint as well as a political advantage. We dont see a celebration of women when they advocate for themselves and their grievances, we see it if they advocate for others, said Jill S. Greenlee, the author of The Political Consequences of Motherhood and a political scientist at Brandeis. When someone says Im running for office because Im a mom, it re-entrenches that women ought to be moms.

But she, like others, sees shifts in the political landscape. Some of the new female candidates are younger and have not spent years working their way up from local to state to national political posts. Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, said her mother, Ann Richards, the former governor of Texas, had to bank her political ambitions for years.Ambassador, which competed with other Broadway landlords to woo Cursed Child, overhauled the Lyric at the behest of the plays producers. A charmless barn of a theater (previously home to a series of flops, including the $75 million musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark), it was reconfigured to feel more like an old-fashioned opera house, with a vaulted ceiling, a necklace of boxes, and 1,622 seats (down from 1,896). Even the entrance was relocated, from crowded 42nd Street to the less dense 43rd Street.

The work on the building was expected to cost about $10 million, according to documents filed with the New York City Department of Buildings.

The play, a two-part experience with a running time of more than five hours, is a sequel to the series of young adult fantasy novels written by J.K. Rowling about a boy wizard. Cursed Child takes place 19 years after the final book, at a time when Harry and his friends have become parents.

Cursed Child was written by Jack Thorne, based on a story by Mr. Thorne, Ms. Rowling and the director John Tiffany. It was developed in Britain and has been sold out in Londons West End for 22 months, and last year it won a record nine Olivier awards  the British equivalent of the Tonys  including one for best play. A third production, in Melbourne, Australia, is scheduled to open next year.

In response to questions about the shows finances, two of the lead producers, Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, offered a tour of the renovated theater. Strolling through the theater, they showed off phoenix sconces and dragon lanterns and a lobby wall featuring prints of patronuses (silvery animal guardians).

The color scheme is rich and dark  most of the walls are painted a color called raven plume  and a custom carpet features H monograms (for Hogwarts, Harrys alma mater). The newly adorned exterior features giant wings and large sculptures of a child (symbol alert!) trapped in a nest.I think that weve been fortunate in Montana, and I hope we continue to be fortunate, Gov. Steve Bullock said in his office in Helena, where there are no metal detectors at the Capitol doors, just a few notices about weapons being barred from the building.

I think we always want to make sure that we can figure out ways to keep this the peoples building, and not make it too intrusive to get in to it, he said.

There has been a trend toward tightening. Fewer than two dozen states had metal detectors at the public entrances of their capitols in 2008, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures; now the figure is more than 30. The North Carolina General Assembly is putting them in this month at its building in Raleigh. Officials there said they were meant to make the building safe for all who have business with the General Assembly.

Security experts say state capitols could be appealing targets, and that screening visitors is a must. But some public officials worry that metal detectors  and long lines to get through them  might deter people from visiting and demonstrating in halls of power that have always been accessible.

Im afraid it will make us appear less open, said Darren G. Jackson, the Democratic leader of the North Carolina House of Representatives. But I hope the day-to-day impact will be less.Brennan Walker, 14, of Rochester Hills, Mich., woke up around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday  too late. He had slept through his alarm and was going to miss the school bus.

So he decided to walk to Rochester High School, where he is a freshman. That takes about an hour and a half, but he thought he would at least make it in time for his third-period class in world studies, his favorite subject.

Brennan did not have his smartphone that morning, and so, lacking assistance from GPS, he tried to follow the route his bus usually takes. He ended up in a quiet subdivision where the roads looped into each other, and when he noticed he had gone in a circle, he stopped to ask for help.

He tried one home, and then another. A woman answered the door, he said, and began yelling almost immediately, as if he were trying to break into her house.WASHINGTON  Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill offered varying degrees of support for the airstrikes on Friday night against Syria, but lawmakers almost universally pressed the administration for a broader strategy in confronting the war-torn region.

Top administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, gave advance notice on Friday to key congressional leaders from both parties about their decision to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people.

But as missiles and bombs hit research, storage and military facilities in Syria shortly after 4 a.m. local time on Saturday, even advocates of more aggressive intervention said that the attacks would mean little in the long run without a clear, comprehensive approach.

Comments by President Trump in recent days  at first calling for the removal of American troops from Syria, and then, on Friday, offering a commitment to preventing further chemical attacks  have only served to further confuse lawmakers.Why were they mentioned in the Facebook hearings?

The sisters received a note from Facebook on April 5 that said the company determined the content on their page to be unsafe to the community. They said the note, along with a decline in traffic to their page, was proof that Facebook has an anticonservative bias.

Their Facebook woes have been heavily covered on Fox News, and their case was taken up by Republican lawmakers during the hearings, including Representative Billy Long, Republican of Missouri. He asked Mr. Zuckerberg, What is unsafe about two black women supporting President Donald J. Trump?

Mr. Zuckerberg said nothing is unsafe about their support for the president. Diamond and Silk responded to two interview requests with an email that said, Statement: Weve made contact with Facebook and are looking to get this matter resolved.

On Thursday, a Facebook spokeswoman said the note the company had sent to the two women should not have been sent and was a result of a communications problem, not a partisan bias. She also said any dip in their traffic was caused by new policies that show Facebook users more posts from friends and fewer from public pages.

She said Facebook was investigating how the note came to be written and sent.

Do Diamond and Silk have critics?

Yes, they do. They have been criticized for supporting an administration deeply unpopular with African-Americans and being unrepresentative of African-American women (94 percent of female African-American voters cast ballots against Mr. Trump).

Bree Newsome, an artist and activist, described them in an interview as a modern-day minstrel show aimed at white conservatives who want to believe Trump cant be racist or they themselves cant be racist because there are these two black women named Diamond and Silk who are constantly rooting for Trump.

Ms. Newsome said their performances relied on stereotypical images of black women that would not be celebrated on conservative media if they were not Trump supporters.Federal officials said they were focusing on the anticompetitive practices of brand-name drug makers under the impetus of a vow by President Trump to hold down prices set by drug companies, which he has said are getting away with murder.

Legislation to ensure access to drug samples for generic drug manufacturers has broad support in Congress, from Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, on the left to Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, on the right. A similar bill in the House also has diverse backers, including Representatives Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, and Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina, who is the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Under the bill, a generic drug developer could file a lawsuit, and a federal court could require a brand-name drug maker to provide samples of its product to a generic company on commercially reasonable, market-based terms. The court could also award damages if it found that a drug maker had refused to sell samples without a legitimate business justification.

Brand-name drug companies make several arguments against the legislation. First, they say, it is not needed. The F.D.A. approved 1,027 generic drugs last year, a record number, and nearly 90 percent of prescriptions are filled with generic medicines, suggesting that generic manufacturers have generally been able to obtain the samples they need, the brand-name companies say.

Second, they say, the bill would be a boon to trial lawyers, giving them an incentive to sue brand-name pharmaceutical companies for damages, which could be worth more than sales of the proposed generic drug.WASHINGTON  When Syria shipped what it claimed was the last of its chemical weapons out of the country in 2014, John Kerry, the secretary of state at the time, declared that it showed that skillful diplomacy could achieve far more than attacks on a few facilities.

We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out, he said a few weeks later, as an American ship destroyed 600 metric tons of poisonous agents.

A year ago, after President Trump rejected the Obama-era approach as naive, he bombed an airfield where a new chemical attack by the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, had originated. Mr. Trumps newly appointed national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, predicted a big shift on Assads calculus, because it was the first time the United States has taken direct military action.

Years of bitter experience in Syria have shown that Mr. Kerrys assessment was wrong, and General McMasters was far too optimistic. Those lessons may now be inescapable: After Saturdays predawn strike in Syria on three suspected chemical weapons sites, government officials and outside experts agreed that the attack, while double the size of last years, was unlikely to eliminate Mr. Assads ability to gas his own people yet again.WASHINGTON  On the morning after, President Trump declared success. The surgical strike against chemical weapons facilities in Syria had been executed perfectly, he said on Saturday. Mission Accomplished! he wrote on Twitter.

Thats a phrase presidents and politicians have studiously avoided since President George W. Bushs ill-fated aircraft carrier visit prematurely declaring success in the Iraq war. But aside from the curious choice of words, it raised the essential question regarding Syria going beyond the one-time strike: What exactly is the mission?

For most of Mr. Trumps presidency, it has been to defeat the Islamic State and then get out. But what Mr. Trump outlined in his televised speech to the nation on Friday night was something more complicated. He promised a sustained campaign to stop Syrias government from again using chemical weapons on its own people, while also emphasizing the limits of Americas ability or willingness to do more to stop the broader bloodletting that has devastated that country for seven years.

Mr. Trump finds himself in a position not all that different from that of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, and with no easier answers. The strike brought home Mr. Trumps competing impulses when it comes to Syria  on the one hand, his manful chest-thumping intended to demonstrate that he is the toughest one on the international block, and on the other, his deep conviction that American involvement in the Middle East since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been a waste of blood and treasure.CAPE TOWN, South Africa  Her legacy contested in death as in life, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela  an antiapartheid activist and the former wife of Nelson Mandela who was known as the Mother of the Nation  was honored with an official funeral in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Ms. Madikizela-Mandela, who was 81 when she died this month, was to be laid to rest after the funeral, attended by more than 40,000 mourners at Orlando Stadium in the township of Soweto. The funeral was organized by the African National Congress, the governing party that for decades strove to keep her at arms length.BUENOS AIRES  Lucia Bulat, a 19-year-old medical student, was dancing on the steps of the congressional palace in Buenos Aires as she looked out on a crowd of abortion rights demonstrators who had gathered in Argentinas capital.

Its a beautiful day, Ms. Bulat said on Tuesday. Were empowering ourselves and demanding our rights. We cant let people keep telling us what we can and cannot do with our own bodies.

Not long ago, abortion rights activists in Argentina had little reason to believe they could make the polarizing issue a legislative priority.

But lawmakers in Pope Francis homeland began considering legislation this past week that would allow women to have an abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.RIO DE JANEIRO  Brazils attorney general on Friday charged Congressman Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right presidential candidate who has been running in second place in the polls, with inciting hatred and discrimination against blacks, indigenous communities, women and gays.

The case injected a new jolt of drama into Brazils presidential election, which will be held in October. The charge came less than a week after the front-runner in the race, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, began serving a 12-year sentence for corruption.

The charging document, which was signed by Attorney General Raquel Dodge, includes a long list of incendiary remarks by Mr. Bolsonaro, who has developed a strong and loyal following by using harsh language and vowing to adopt severe tactics to address Brazils epidemic of violence.

If convicted, Mr. Bolsonaro, 63, could face up to three years in prison and a $117,000 fine.

Ms. Dodge outlined several passages from a speech Mr. Bolsonaro gave a year ago in Rio de Janeiro, alleging that they constituted hate speech. Mr. Bolsonaro lamented the state of quilombolas, traditional communities of Afro-Brazilians that enjoy legal protections.NEW DELHI  The rape and killing of an 8-year-old girl is provoking major political fallout for Indias government, with an explosion of outrage reminiscent of the reaction several years ago after a young woman was brutally raped on a bus and later died of her injuries.

In the past few days, as protests erupted across the country, two high-level officials from the governing party have resigned, the Supreme Court has stepped in and opposition leaders have tried to push Indias prime minister, Narendra Modi, into a corner.

Mr. Modi issued brief remarks on Friday about the rape case and another recent one, but only after opposition leaders spoke out, criticizing his silence. His statement that the country was ashamed about the rapes and that our daughters will definitely get justice hardly doused the growing anger.

What happened to this one little girl, whose crumpled body was found in a blood-smeared dress in January, is now the biggest news in India. It taps straight into some of the most stubborn issues this country faces in the abuse of women and girls and the deep divisions between Hindus and Muslims.Forms of kepercayaan can include certain periodic religious observances, such as communal meals or acts that could be compared to Muslim men praying together on Fridays or Sunday Christian services. These may include ritual offerings to appease spirits, even though the practitioners could also be registered as Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists or one of the other recognized religions.

It is estimated that at least 20 million of Indonesias 260 million people practice local traditional beliefs, but the numbers could be much higher, according to analysts, as some are also followers of Islam, Christianity and other major religions.

Religion is so omnipresent in Indonesia that citizens are required to declare on their national ID cards which of the six approved religions they adhere to, though in some regions they are allowed to leave that section blank. However, doing so can invite discrimination and bureaucratic hassles, so many traditional believers simply state on their ID cards the religion that is dominant in the area where they live. In Java, it is likely to be Muslim, but in parts of the islands of Sumatra or Sulawesi, it could be Catholic or Protestant, while on Bali it would be Hindu.

But such workarounds should be unnecessary, some legal experts say.

The court decision underlines that freedom of belief is a constitutional right, not a right that is given by the government, said Bivitri Susanti, head of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Association of Constitutional Law Lecturers.

Second, it states that the right to belief in aliran kepercayaan, or faiths other than the six government-recognized religions, is inherent with the rights to religion as stated in Article 29 of the Indonesian Constitution, she added.OTTAWA  While much of the world may be focused on President Trumps threats of a trade war with China, Canadas attention right now is on a commercial feud within its own borders.

The provinces of British Columbia and Alberta are locked in a battle over a $7.4 billion expansion of a pipeline that runs from Albertas oil sands to a tanker port near Vancouver, a plan approved long ago.

Many British Columbians fear that increased tanker traffic could lead to spills along a coastline that is a global tourist attraction. Alberta argues that the pipeline is vital to its energy industry and the entire Canadian economy.

The rhetoric and threats from both provinces has often been intemperate, and the dispute has put Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a difficult situation, forced to choose sides in an argument that boils down to the economy on one hand and the environment on the other.Nick Burchill has been called the worst hotel guest ever.

It isnt because he left a suitcase filled with pepperoni in a hotel room in Canada in 2001.

Its because, as Mr. Burchill tells it, he left it next to an open window and about 40 sea gulls invaded the room, drawn by the smell of the cured meat.

The ensuing chaos  and most likely the cleanup bill  got Mr. Burchill barred for life from the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, according to him and the hotel.

His Facebook post about the strange saga and his plea for a pardon from the hotel last month unleashed an outpouring of appreciation online, and ruminations on forgiveness.COPENHAGEN  Long after his death, Hans Jonathan has, at last, gotten some attention. He is the subject of a well-received biography and a groundbreaking genetic study, and is something of a celebrity in Iceland, where he is thought to have been the first black person.

But in Denmark, where Hans Jonathan (he had no surname) was a slave, fought in a war, lost a noted case on slavery, and escaped bondage by fleeing to Iceland, his extraordinary story has not drawn much interest.

An American descendant got a polite rejection when she asked the Danish government to declare him, posthumously, a free man. When people stroll past a five-story mansion that sits less than 100 yards from the royal Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, there is no historical marker to tell of the Schimmelmann family who owned it, or the slaves they kept there, including Hans Jonathan.

People who speak or write about slave trade and Danish colonialism speak to deaf ears, said Gisli Palsson, a professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland, and author of The Man Who Stole Himself: The Slave Odyssey of Hans Jonathan.[Read statements by France and Britain, and a declassified French document on the airstrikes.]

For Mr. Macron, the move also had the salutary effect of shoring up his position as a broker between Russia and the United States and the European Union. Just hours before launching the strike, Mr. Macron was on the telephone with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to discuss Syria. And both Mr. Macron and his aides have said that he still plans to go ahead with a state visit to Moscow at the end of May.

At the same time, Mr. Macron is trying to reinforce Frances position as an enforcer of international treaties, which includes the Chemical Weapons Convention that 192 countries have signed.

Mrs. May is in a more precarious position, with a tense standoff developing with Russia over the poisoning of a former Russian spy, Sergei V. Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, with a weapons-grade nerve agent. Mrs. May has been under pressure to respond forcefully to Moscow for the attack, which exposed hundreds of citizens in southwest England to the deadly substance.

On Saturday, the British leader described the airstrikes in Syria as right and legal, drawing an explicit distinction between those and the poisoning of the Skripals  the first use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II.

Mrs. May also benefited from the timing of the airstrikes, two days before lawmakers were to return from vacation. While not obligated to consult Parliament, she may have felt constrained to do so and could easily have lost a vote on a strike. Another imperative for Britain was to reciprocate the support that London has received from the United States in the dispute with Russia over the poisoning.BUDAPEST, Hungary  Thousands of Hungarians took to the streets on Saturday, calling for Prime Minister Viktor Orban to step down just days after he was elected to a third consecutive term in office.

The protests, held in Budapest and several other cities, are unlikely to prompt the newly elected government to change course, but they reflect the deep divisions in this Central European country that has been at the forefront of a regional drift away from liberal Western values.

Democracy is just inconceivable without the rule of law and free media, said one protester, Levente Biro, 24. Well march as long as needed.

The demonstrations came a week after Mr. Orban and his Fidesz party secured a convincing victory in national elections, their power seemingly on the ascent. The political opposition is in disarray, civil society is under attack and the news media is almost fully under the control of the state.MOSCOW  Moscow met the limited American-led airstrikes against Syria before dawn on Saturday with plenty of bluster and heated rhetoric, starting with an uncharacteristically quick response from President Vladimir V. Putin condemning the attack and accusing the United States of aggravating the humanitarian situation.

But there was also a palpable sense of relief.

The sun was barely up before the Defense Ministry, not famous for speedy reactions, pumped out a statement underscoring that none of the thousands of Russian troops garrisoned in Syria had been threatened by the American, British and French attack and that none of its air defense systems had been mobilized.

It looks like both sides were playing according to their prescribed roles and managed to limit the harm from this kind of confrontation, said Aleksandr M. Golts, an independent Russian military analyst and deputy editor of Yezhednevny Zhurnal, an online current affairs magazine. Syria will not be the starting point for some kind of global confrontation.

The American ambassador to Russia, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., released a statement on Facebook on Saturday confirming that the two sides had taken steps before the assault to made sure they stayed out of each others way. Before we took action, he said, the U.S. communicated with the R.F. to reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties.WASHINGTON  Defense Department officials said on Saturday that American-led strikes against Syria had taken out the heart of President Bashar al-Assads chemical weapons program, but acknowledged that the Syrian government most likely retained some ability to again attack its own people with chemical agents.

Warplanes and ships from the United States, Britain and France launched more than 100 missiles at three chemical weapons storage and research facilities near Damascus and Homs, the officials told reporters, in an operation that President Trump and Pentagon leaders hailed as a success.

A perfectly executed strike last night, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

The president, in declaring the mission accomplished, invoked a phrase made infamous by President George W. Bush in 2003, when he declared success in an Iraq conflict that would end up continuing for more than eight years before American troops finally withdrew.JERUSALEM  A drone that took off from Syria and penetrated Israeli airspace in February was armed and on an Iranian mission to carry out an attack in Israeli territory, the Israeli military said Friday.

The drone was shattered by helicopter gunships, preventing the attack, according to the military, which did not disclose the supposed target.

The February episode set off a day of intense battle, escalating the conflict between Israel and Iran, one of several overlapping conflicts in the Syrian war. Israels announcement on Friday, hours before the American-led strikes against Syria, added another element of volatility into an already tense region.

The strikes launched by the United States, Britain and France against three chemical weapons storage and research facilities did little to assuage Israels concerns about the Iranian buildup across its northern frontier, according to experts, and the announcement could be intended to bolster Israels case for taking its own military action against Irans presence in Syria.After a heated two-hour debate, the United Nations Security Council rejected a Russian resolution on Saturday that would have condemned airstrikes carried out hours earlier by the United States, Britain and France against Syria.

Russia, China and Bolivia voted for the resolution, but eight members voted against and four abstained. Even a majority vote would have been largely symbolic, as the three Western powers that carried out the attack hold veto power and would certainly have blocked it.

Symbolic as the debate was, its ferocity underscored the bitter divisions within the Security Council over whether Syrias government had carried out a suspected chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma on April 7, and whether the three Western allies were justified in using force without a clear legal mandate.

The United Nations secretary general, Antonio Guterres, who had warned on Friday that the Cold War is back with a vengeance, urged the nations on Saturday to show restraint and to avoid a situation spiraling out of control.The United States, along with France and Britain, launched military strikes on Friday against three sites the Trump administration said were part of Syrias chemical weapons program.

TURKEY Hasaka Afrin Manbij KURDISH CONTROL Idlib Raqqa ISIS CONTROL REBEL CONTROL Latakia GOVERNMENT CONTROL Deir al-Zour SYRIA West of Homs Two storage facilities targeted 1 2 Abu Kamal LEBANON Sparsely populated areas April 7 Suspected chemical attack 3 Damascus Research center targeted IRAQ Sweida Dar'a JORDAN 50 MILES TURKEY Hasaka Manbij Afrin KURDISH CONTROL Raqqa REBEL CONTROL ISIS CONTROL SYRIA Deir al-Zour West of Homs Two storage sites 1 2 Abu Kamal GOVERNMENT CONTROL LEB. April 7 Suspected chemical attack 3 IRAQ Damascus Research center JORDAN 50 MILES TURKEY KURDISH CONTROL Syria REBEL CONTROL ISIS CONTROL GOVERNMENT CONTROL West of Homs Two storage sites 1 2 Damascus Research center 3 IRAQ 100 MILES JORDAN By The New York Times | Sources: Conflict Monitor by IHS Markit (control areas as of April 9, 2018).

The administration said the attacks were in response to a suspected chemical attack by Syria that killed more than 40 people near Damascus.

The three facilities are  or more appropriately, were  the fundamental components of the regimes chemical weapons warfare infrastructure, Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, the Pentagons Joint Staff director, said at a news conference Saturday morning.

But General McKenzie acknowledged that the Syrian government most likely retained some ability to attack its own people with chemical agents. And administration officials briefing reporters Saturday afternoon were careful not to claim that the facilities were actively in use at the time of the attack.

1 2 Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site and bunker

BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER Satellite images taken before and after the bombing of this storage facility. DigitalGlobe

BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER Another target appears to be located on the left side in these before and after images. DigitalGlobe

One of these sites was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, Gen. Joseph E. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference Friday night.

The other site contained both a chemical weapons storage facility and an important command post, General Dunford said.

3 Barzah research and development center

BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER A satellite image of the research center taken in 2017, and images taken before and after the bombings. DigitalGlobe; Planet.com (before and after)

This site was a military research facility near Damascus and a center for the development and production of chemical and biological weapons said Defense Department officials. There were previously three buildings at this site, and now there is nothing but rubble, according to the Pentagon.India would be unlocked in a staggered manner: Here is what the govt is planning

Get used to the idea that area wise lockdowns will continue for more time

Govt invites farmers for talks again at a time and date of the unions choosing

All options including ordinance route being explored to restore SC/ST Act: Paswan

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Union Government is committed to protecting the rights of Dalits and all steps would be taken to restore the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to its original form, Union Minister, Ramvilas Paswan said.

He said all options including an ordinance route too are being explored. The ordinance route would be taken in case the Supreme Court refuses to review its judgment, he also said.

"The government is committed to protecting the rights of Dalits. And whatever needs to be done, to restore the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to its original form, will be done, including bringing an ordinance," he also said.

A meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh was held on Wednesday to discuss the fallout of the agitations by various Dalit organisations on the Supreme Court ruling which effectively diluted the Act.

The Supreme Court had had directed that a preliminary inquiry must be conducted by the police within seven days of an alleged incident before taking any action. On April 2, the government filed a review petition against the Supreme Court ruling.

Paswan said that the question of a ordinance would only come up in case the SC does not review its order. The Centre had filed a detailed reply in the court on Thursday against the order.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 6:40 [IST]Ambedkar Jayanti: 10 facts you should know about 'Architect of Indian constitution'

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti is celebrated on April 14 to mark the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar or BR Ambedkar. Popularly known as Babasaheb, he was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement and campaigned against social discrimination against untouchables and also supported the rights of women and labour.

Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated every year with great enthusiasm more than like a festival on 14th of April in order to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and his contributions for the country. It would be 127th birthday anniversary celebration in the year 2018 to commemorate his memories.

Here are 10 interesting facts about BR Ambedkar that you need to know

Born on April 14, 1891, he was the 14th and last child of his parents. His father Ramji Maloji Sakpal was a Subhedar major. His mother's name was Bhimabai Murbadkar Sakpal.

BR Ambedkar's original name was Ambavadekar. His teacher who was fond of him changed it to his own surname 'Ambedkar'.

When he was 15-year-old he married nine-year-old Ramabai. After the death of his first wife in 1935, he later married Dr Sharada Kabir who took the name Savita Ambedkar.

He studied at University of Mumbai, Columbia University and London School of Economics. He was the first Indian to pursue a doctorate in economics abroad.

Popularly known as the Architect of Indian Constitution, Ambedkar wanted to burn the constitution if it did not take into consideration the welfare of the minorities.

He not just gave India its Constitution, but also played a key role in the formation of Reserve Bank of India which is the country's central banking institution.

Ambedkar opposed Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which granted a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and which was included against his wishes.

He steered the Dalit Buddhist Movement in India. Nearly half a million Dalits joined him in this movement and got converted to Navayana Buddhism or Neo-Buddhism, a re-interpretation of Buddhism by Dr Ambedkar.

Ambedkar passed away on December 6, 1956 in New Delhi where he was accorded a Buddhist cremation.

In 1990, Ambedkar was posthumously conferred with Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.Ambedkar Jayanti: From BJP to Congress why everyone wants to claim the legacy of the Dalit icon

India

oi-Maitreyee

New Delhi, April 14: This year, India is celebrating the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution, in the backdrop of rising Dalit anger and protests. If he would have been alive today he would have turned 127 years old on Saturday. In a way it is good that Babasaheb Ambedkar, as he is popularly known as, is not with us today. India's Dalit icon, whose efforts to eradicate untouchability and the caste system were phenomenal, would have been shell-shocked to see the never-ending agonies of Dalits and rising politics over them by almost all political parties.

India is marking his birth anniversary when his statues have been vandalised in several parts of the country in the last few weeks. On Friday, hours before politicians of all hues and colours were busy paying tributes to the Dalit icon on his birth anniversary to lure Dalit vote bank, reports stated that one more statue of Ambedkar was vandalised in Gajna village of Uttar Pradesh.

If that was not enough Congress workers in Aligarh, again in Uttar Pradesh, on Friday washed a statue of Ambedkar with milk in a park named, Ambedkar Park, after BJP leader Satish Gautam sat there on a fast on Thursday. A Congress worker told ANI, "The statue and the atmosphere in the park had turned polluted after BJP Satish Gautam sat here on a hunger strike yesterday. So this had to be done".

Incidents like the one in Aligarh reaffirm the sad reality of India that untouchability (be it social or political) is still practiced in the country and at times in the name of Ambedkar, who spent his entire life denouncing the custom.

While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is infamous for its anti-Dalit and pro-upper caste stand, the Congress too has equally failed Dalits since the times of Ambedkar. Recently, we have seen massive protests by Dalits in six different states over the alleged dilution of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The impromptu protests headed by no political or social organisation saw Dalits coming out in the open protesting against the ruling regime for a decision taken by the Supreme Court.

The protests which turned violent saw the deaths of 11 men. There have been reports that anti-social elements and goons of the BJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) entered the people's rallies and fired gun shots resulting in the unfortunate deaths. There are also allegations that police firing killed people, who were mostly Dalits, especially in Madhya Pradesh.

The angst of the Dalits against the BJP regime came out in the open in 2016 after the suicide of Hyderabad-based research scholar Rohith Vemula. Rohith committed suicide as he allegedly faced discrimination at the hands of authorities in his university for being a Dalit. Vemula's sad demise saw massive protests across the country.

Unfortunately, till date the authorities accused of being behind his death are scot-free. Close on the heels of Rohith's suicide, four Dalit men were publicly flogged by upper caste men in July 2016 in Una, Gujarat for skinning the carcasses of dead cows. The video of the men being beaten mercilessly went viral resulting in massive protests.

A lot of Dalits along with Muslims were allegedly beaten by cow vigilantes in the last two years. Under the current regime, Dalits have been regularly lodging their protests against discrimination in various spheres of life. Instead of listening to the issues of Dalit men and women, the Modi government is trying its best to appropriate Ambedkar.

On Friday, during the inauguration of BR Ambedkar memorial in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while asserting that his government was working for Dalits did not stop from launching a no-holds-barred attack on the Congress.

The PM said his government will not let the law to prevent atrocities on SCs and STs to be diluted after the Supreme Court laid down new guidelines to prevent its misuse. "I want to assure the nation that the law which has been made stringent by us will not be allowed to be affected (by the SC order)... Do not get trapped by the Congress and those parties who have surrendered to the Congress culture," he said.

It is astonishing to see leaders like Modi again and again politicising Ambedkar and Dalit angst for electoral gain. As per the 2011 Census, the country's Dalit population is around 300 million and thus form a huge chunk of the vote bank. As the all-important Lok Sabha elections are scheduled next year and the Karnataka Assembly elections will take place on May 12, Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi can't take the risk of losing Dalit votes.

Both the parties are fighting hard to own the legacy of Ambedkar because netas like Mayawati from the community have been politically relegated to the background. It is this "appropriation" of Ambedkar that needs to be stopped to help Dalits overcome ages of discrimination, poverty and illiteracy. Is this not what Ambedkar dreamt about all his life?Curfew in Ahmedabad extended till 6am on May 21; Night curfew to continue in 36 cities for another 3 days

Into the deep: Ahmedabads Science City gets a boost! Nature Park, Aquatic, Robotic Galleries and more!

Ambedkar Jayanti: Jignesh Mevani's supporters obstruct BJP MPs from garlanding statue in Ahmedabad

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Ruckus at an event in Ahmedabad on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti as MLA Jignesh Mevani's supporters tried to obstruct BJP MPs and members from garlanding BR Ambedkar's statue.

Five Dalit activists have been detained by police when they attempted to prevent BJP MP Kirit Solanki from putting a garland over BR Ambedkar's statue, CNN-News18 reported. The activists raised slogans against the BJP.

Mevani on Friday appealed the Dalit community to oppose BJP leaders in a democratic way. In a video message on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti, he expresses his fears and said that the anti-social elements within BJP may create trouble during the celebrations and might put the blame on him.

Ambedkar Jayanti: 10 facts you should know about 'Architect of Indian constitution'

The appeal comes a few days after Mevani had warned that BJP leaders would not be allowed to garland Ambedkar statue if the central government did not bring an ordinance to prevent dilution of Atrocities Act before Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14.

A statue of BR Ambedkar in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh in Greater Noida was found damaged on Friday. The incident came to light on Friday morning when the villagers spotted the statue of Ambedkar damaged. Heavy police force was deployed in view of the tense situation.

Suniti Singh, SP (rural), said a case was registered against unknown persons for vandalism and that the guilty would not be spared.

A large number of people from nearby villages had gathered after news of vandalism spread. Police, however, contained the mob. Singh said that the damaged statue was being replaced with a new one.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 10:49 [IST]'If Congress isn't doing anything, we can't be sitting ducks': TMC attacks grand old party

At Congress candidate selection meet, heated arguments as decision is put off

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The candidate selection process for the Congress was not a smooth affair. Immense differences were reported during the Central Election Committee meeting and senior leaders ended up arguing with each other as a result of which the announcement of the Congress list for the Karnataka election was held up.

The problem began when some senior leaders objected to Siddaramaiah contesting from both Chamundeshwari and Badami. Senior leaders, Mallikarjuna Kharge and Veerappa Moily said that it would convey a wrong message to the voter.

Further Kharge and Moily also objected to giving tickets to new entrants Anand Singh, Nagendra and Ashok Khenny. The leaders felt that this would help the opposition launch an attack on the Congress. While Singh and Nagendra are accused in the illegal mining case, Kheny is under the scanner for the controversial Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Project.

The arguments at one point of time were so heated that around 1 pm, Kharge stormed out of the meeting. The meeting had to then be postponed to 5 pm.

When the leaders met again at 5 pm, arguments continued over whether the 7 JD(S) rebel MLAs who recently joined the Congress must be given tickets. The Congress would meet again today. The committee has urged the leaders to set aside their differences and come for the meeting.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 10:11 [IST]BJP exerting pressure on media in Cgarh: Congress writes to Press Council over ad row

Attack on journalists: Press Council seeks report from West Bengal

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Press Council of India has sought a report from the West Bengal government over the alleged attacks on journalists while covering the nomination process for the panchayat elections.

The Media and Journalist's Welfare Association (India) had alleged that many scribes were attacked while covering the nomination filing process on April 9 at Alipur, the headquarters of South 24 Parganas district.

However, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee denied any such attack.

"The PCI chairman has noted with concern reports of the alleged attacks on journalists by activists of Trinamool Congress while covering of filing the nomination for Panchayati polls on April 9," the PCI said in a release.

Taking suo-motu cognisance of the issue, a report on facts of the case has been called along with written reply from the government of West Bengal through Chief Secretary, Secretary (Home), Director General of Police and Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, the release said.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 11:31 [IST]Bank employee in Kerala fired over uncharitable comments on Kathua rape and murder victim

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

A Malayali bank employees earned the wrath of the social media and later lost his job after he posted a comment on Facebook against the 8 year old girl who was gangraped and murdered in Kathua, Jammu.

Vishnu Nandakumar, an assistant manager of the Palarivattom branch of Kotak Mahindra Bank, made the post on FB spewing verbal abuse on the girl.

His comment went viral and scores of FB users came up against him. People started posting comments against him on the official page of the bank. Even the bank received calls demanding action against him.

The post by Vishnu reads: "Good that she was killed at this age. Otherwise, she would have grown up and come back as a suicide bomber against India."Over 34,000 comments were posted on the bank's FB wall seeking his dismissal. Many even threatened to close their account with the bank if action was not taken against him.

The bank which said that he was sacked for poor performance also condemned his post.

"We have terminated Vishnu Nandakumar from the services of the bank on Wednesday, April 11 for poor performance. It is extremely disheartening such comments are being made in the aftermath of such tragedy by anyone including an ex-employee. We strongly condemn this statement," the bank also said.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 11:50 [IST]Masarat Alam will remain a non-starter in J&K thanks to Centres zero tolerance towards separatism

Did not resign under pressure', says BJP J&K minister who quit over Kathua rape case

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Jammu and Kashmir Minister Chandra Prakash Ganga, who resigned after drawing criticism for allegedly participating in a rally in support of the accused in the Kathua rape and murder case, on Saturday (April 14) said that there was no pressure on him to quit. He said that if his resignation can save party's image, then he is "willing to make the sacrifice.

"I have demanded a CBI enquiry in this matter (Kathua rape and murder case). I have never done politics for power. There was no pressure on me to resign, I have done it by myself. If my resignation can save the image of my party, I will give this sacrifice," Ganga told the media.

Jammu and Kashmir ministers, Chaudhary Lal Singh and Chandra Prakash Ganga, who had drawn criticism from all quarters over their participation in a rally in support of the accused in the Kathua rape and murder case, submitted their resignations to state BJP president on Friday (April 13).

According to reports, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had expressed her displeasure and asked BJP to remove Ministers Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh from their positions.

"On 1 March, a huge crowd gathered in Kathua and our ministers went there to pacify them," BJP Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Ram Madhav said about the two BJP ministers.

"A misunderstanding took place, they should have been more alert. Their intention was not to hamper the investigation. Allegations on them being pro-rapists aren't true," Madhav added.

Opposition National Conference and the Congress had demanded that Mehbooba sack the two ministers.

The rape and killing of the girl, who belonged to the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community, has become a national issue. The gory details of the heinous crime surfaced following filing of charges. The girl had disappeared from a spot near her house on January 10. A week later, her body was found in the same area. A Special Investigation Team, formed to probe the incident, has arrested eight people, including two special police officers (SPOs) and a head constable, who was charged with destroying evidence.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 18:09 [IST]Formation of non-BJP, non-Congress front imperative: KCR

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao who extended support to the JD(S) in the May 12 Karnataka election said that the formation of a new non-BJP, non-Congress front has become imperative.

He accused both national parties of failing to resolve inter-state water disputes. He said the Third Front would ensure sufficient water for all states, including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Rao has already met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as part of the formal talks to float the front as an alternative to the national parties.

Rao said he had invited Prakash Raj, whom he termed the 'son of the soil', to join him in his discussion with the JD(S) leadership.

The actor maintained that he would not take a plunge into active politics. But he would, however, support the Third Front.

Rao while calling the Telugu people in Karnataka to vote for the JD(S) also said that he would campaign for the party in the elections. He said he would campaign for the JD(S) in key constituencies, including those in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.

Rao called on JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and party state president H D Kumaraswamy at the former prime minister's residence in Padmanabhanagar in the city. He was accompanied by two Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs and multi-lingual actor Prakash Raj. Rao held a detailed meeting with the JD(S) leadership.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 9:31 [IST]IIT Delhi: 21-year-old student hangs self in hostel, suicide note speaks of abuse

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

A 21-year-old student of Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his hostel room on Friday after a failed attempt on Tuesday.

The student, who hailed fom Hoogly in West Bengal was in his first year in the prestigious institution and was pursuing Masters of Science in Chemistry.

The suicide note, written in Bengali, found after the attempted suicide on Tuesday, which revealed he was suffering from depression over being sexually abused since he was a child.

After that, another cousin allegedly abused him for "sexual pleasures".

The victim also wrote that after constant sexual abuse by the men he got "addicted" to it and believed it was not normal.

The youth had attempted suicide earlier on April 10, 2018, by consuming sleeping pills. However, he was saved after being admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital. After this incident, his brother, Bachoo ram, stayed with him and counselled him.

His family members have told the police that he had completed his graduation from a well-known university in Kolkata and had joined IIT two months back for his masters, reports ToI.

On March, a 21-year-old student of IIT-Roorkee committed suicide in his hostel room by hanging himself from the ceiling fan. The deceased was identified as Abhijeet Singh Bansiya. Roorkee police had reported that although no suicide note was found in his room in the campus, it was possible that the victim was grappling with depression.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 10:28 [IST]Petitioner in Ishrat Jahan case dies in road accident at Kerala, police probes all angles

Ishrat Jahan encounter: CBI court to hear matter on April 27

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

A special CBI court will continue hearing in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case on April 27. The court adjourned hearing on the matter after the CBI sought time to respond to the discharge applications filed by former Gujarat police officers N K Amin and D G Vanzara.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought some time from the court to file its response on their discharge pleas and special CBI judge J K Pandya gave two weeks time to it and adjourned the hearing till then.

Both Amin and Vanzara had filed their discharge applications last month.

Amin is one of the seven police officials whom the CBI had named in its first charge sheet in the case.

Of them, the special court had recently discharged former in-charge DGP P P Pandey.

Amin had filed the discharge plea on multiple grounds and claimed that the process of law was not followed by the CBI in making certain accused persons as witnesses in the case.

He had alleged that the charge sheet was "fabricated" and most of the facts cited therein were "tampered with".

Amin had also said that the validity of the charge sheet was decided upon by the same court, which heard the discharge application of Pandey, who was recently discharged by the same court.

Amin, who retired in August 2016, was given an extension by the state government.

He was, however, forced to resign on the direction of the Supreme Court after a petition was filed challenging his as well as co-accused Tarun Barot's re-induction into the force.

In his plea, Vanzara had claimed that "the entire material on record of this case is nothing but a false story".

In his discharge application, Vanzara had said that the statements of the witnesses recorded by the CBI are "highly suspicious" and there is no prima facie prosecutable evidence to prove conspiracy.

Ishrat, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbra near Mumbai, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Amzad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Ahmedabad police on the outskirts of the city in June 2004.

The police had then claimed that they were terrorists affiliated to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The first charge sheet filed by the CBI had named seven Gujarat policemen -- Amin, Barot, Pandey, Vanzara, J G Parmar, K M Vaghela, and G L Singhal, for carrying out a fake encounter.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 12:11 [IST]Karnataka: Will Congress not allow Kumaraswamy to be CM for full 5-year term?

Is it chief minister Kumaraswamy or chief manager of Congress Ktaka ATM? BJP has an answer

All is well between Congress, JD(S)? Kumaraswamy meets Rahul as Karnataka waits for full cabinet

India

oi-Madhuri

It surely was a gruelling election which had all the essence that one could have asked for. Karnataka witnessed all the big wigs from all political parties hitting the campaign trail for the May 12 Karnataka elections.

We hope you enjoyed out LIVE coverage of the elections. Thank you for staying tuned with us.

Newest First Oldest First Election observer conducted a raid in Banaswadi area and seized Rs 19 lakh along with voter list and other election related materials. FIR registered. RR Nagar MLA Muniratna ran his constituency like an independent Republic where rule of law had no place. People were harassed and abused. False cases were filed against political opponents. Finally, seems like karma has caught up with Muniratna. Massive blow to Siddaramaiah, says BJP. Victory for Democracy! EC orders countermanding of RR Nagar polls after court ordered FIR against Congress candidate Muniratna Naidu for creating more than 10k fake voter ids. With Siddaramaiah's money bag, Muniratna in the dock, Congress is in a big soup in Karnataka, tweets BJP Karnataka. Polling in RR Nagar has been deferred. Polling to now be held on May 28 and counting on May 31. Earlier this week 9746 voter IDs were seized from a flat in the area. According reports, IT sleuths and district election commissioner conduct raids at Congress candidate Ashok Kheny's residence in Bidar. Kheny is contesting from Bidar South constituency. RSS ideologue Ram Madhav, says, "Karnataka Elections 2018 is an important election. Both parties, namely BJP & Congress have invested heavily in it. I am certain that BJP will be in a comfortable position & will get simple majority & will form the government in the state." Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) & Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) being dispatched from Smt. Kamala Bai Educational Institution to polling booths. The Congress has sought for the lifting of the ban on telecasting the Sriramulu video in which he is alleged to be discussing a pay off with a Supreme Court judge to bail out Janardhan Reddy in the illegal mining scam. Law and order is completely under control says Neelamanu Raju, Karnataka state police chief. 22,000 home guards have been deployed for security, she says. BJP MP, Prathap Simha urges EC to monitor religious places on polling day. He said that political parties would use these places to lure voters as there is no restriction on gathering there. Security has been tightened across the state ahead of polling to be held tomorrow. In Bengaluru, 14 additional commissioners, 1 joint Commisioner and 16 DCPs will oversee security. EC officials seize Rs 20 lakh unaccounted cash from a house in Bagalkote. The money was seized from the house of a man named Sandeep Maji. A Congress delegation has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The Congress has accused both of misleading people and launching personal attacks. Minister Viany Kulkarnis close aide raided by IT officials. Prashanth Kekare whose house was raided was taken into custody. Congress submits memorandum to the Election Commission regarding allegations of bribery of a Judge by BJP candidate B Sriramulu Income Tax Department conduct raids at house of Congress candidate Satish Sail's close associate Mangaldas Kamat in Ankola. According to reports, IT officials raid Prashant Kekare, a close associate of Congress minister Vinay Kulkarni in Dharwad. I-T sleuths raid a house belonging to a doctor in #Mangaluru. I-T officials scrutinise documents. EC officials seize innova car carrying unaccounted cash amount of around Rs 17 lakh in Devanahalli. Poll officials seize Rs 2.17 crore unaccounted cash in Molakalmuru, Chitradurga. Close associate of Congress leader Ramanath Rai, Kachigudda Sanjeev Kumar, allegedly attacked in Bantwal; 4 others including Kumar's wife injured, 2 cars damaged. Police arrest 2 men for trying to bribe voters at Chikkodi in Belagavi. Accused allegedly tried to bribe voters in favour of Rayabagh BJP candidate Duryodhana Aihole. The EC has directed television channels not to air the Sriramulu video in which allegations of him bribing a judge to bail out Janardhan Reddy was made. The direction comes hours after State Home minister Ramalinga Reddy called what the Congress described as an 'explosive press conference' and released the video clippings which were in circulation on social media. Congress claimed the 'sting operation' revealed that alleged attempts were made to bribe to seek a favourable verdict for Reddy. The party alleged that just one day before the then CJI retired, he passed an order in a case related to Reddy brothers' Oblapuram Mining Company. Here are some tips to vote if you do not have a voter ID card. You can vote as long as your name is on the electoral roll. If you do not have a voter ID, then alternative ID proofs can be carried. They are Passport, Driving License, Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt PSUs/Public Limited Companies, Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office, PAN Card, Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR, MNREGA Job Card, Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour, Pension document with photograph,Authenticated Photo Voter Slip issued by the election machinery, Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs. The big fear among the candidates especially those contesting from Bengaluru is that polling day is a Saturday. Bengalureans who have this habit of complaining about everything ironically are the worst when it comes to voting. They need to shrug off their weekend mode and go out and vote. In the 2013 assembly the voter turn in Bengaluru was 57 while in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls it was 54. Those are poor numbers. The Income Tax Department (ITD) today said that at Rs 37.33 crore, it has seized "six times" more cash and jewellery in poll-bound Karnataka this time as compared to the last elections in 2013. The poll campaign, for the 224-seat Assembly to be held on May 12, ended today. "From the beginning of the code of conduct period on March 27 to till date, the department has seized unaccounted cash of Rs 31.50 crore and unexplained jewellery worth Rs 5.83 crore. This is nearly six times the seizure made by the department in the last state assembly election in 2013," the department said in a statement. "The seizures are likely to further go up in the last days of electioneering," it added. Even in case, if the EC is able to ascertain that attempt was made to stop people from voting, it can cancel the poll. If the EC finds that a fraud was involved, it could even cancel election to the constituency. The Commission, the sources said, deliberated on the issue and decided to seek more information from the state election adminstration before arriving at a conclusion. The Election Commission tonight deferred a decision on the recovery of nearly 10,000 voter I-cards from a flat in Rajrajeshwari Nagar assembly seat of poll-bound Karnataka even as it sought fresh information from the state election machinery. The Election Commission of India has proposed 450 women-friendly booths. Known as Pink or Sakhi booths, these booths would be run by women only. A team of the EC is on a three day visit to Karnataka. Arrangements such as ramps, wheel chairs and magnifying glasses are also being made to ensure that differently abled persons have a smooth voting experience. Congress will have 35 manifestos. The manifesto committee headed by senior Congress leader, Veerappa Moily is already ready with the draft and the same will be released in another 2 weeks. The manifestos would be district and administrative region wise. There would be one common manifesto for the entire state. P.Muralidhar Rao, National BJP General Secretary and Karnataka in charge and N.Ravikumar, state General Secretary will address media at BJP media centre, Malleshwaram in Bengaluru. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on April 4 visited the Lingayat seminary Siddhaganga Mutt and met the 111-year old seer along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and KPCC President G Parameshwara. Gandhi's visit comes against the backdrop of the Siddaramaiah government's move to recommend to the Centre grant of religious minority status to Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats, who are politically powerful. Kannada actor, Sudeep who recently met with JD(S) chief, H D Kumaraswamy has now called on Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah at his residence. There has been a big push to rope in cine stars into this campaign. Following Sudeeps meeting with Kumaraswamy there were speculations of him either joining the party or campaigning for it. Rahul Gandhi accuses Narendra Modi of disrespecting various institutions by having RSS men sitting in every ministry and giving orders. He said if voted to power, Congress would free these institutions of RSS control. "I don't know if you all know that in every single minister's office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders. So what can you expect.... nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been demolished by having this structure. "18 lakh people are missing from the voting list. We met with the Chief Electoral Officer and urged him to look into it", said Congress spokesperson, Brijesh Kalappa. "At least 18 to 20 lakh names have gone mysteriously missing. It appears as though only members of a particular community find their names missing in the list", Kalappa said. "EC told us that there is still time to rectify this until April 14," he further added. Lies and only Lies!



See how @RahulGandhi fictitiously revokes the SC/ST Act to incite hatred in society. pic.twitter.com/4vcnM0zltM  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 5, 2018 BJP President Amit Shah attacks Congress President Rahul Gandhi in his latest tweet, says "Lies and only Lies". He claimed that the Congress president was "lying and fictitiously revoking the SC/ST Act to incite hatred in society." Karnataka Congress on Thursday tweeted saying, "Thank you Amit Shah for speaking the truth yet again. You are turning out to be our Star Campaigner! Karnataka's Silk production hit an all-time high in 2016-17. Major cocoon markets have been modernised & integrated with e-Mandi platform." Manickram Tagore, Secretary, All India Congress Committee, denied reports suggesting announcement of chief ministerial candidate on April 15. He tweeted, "I am surprised that I was misquoted in an article @thenewsminute about things I have neither said nor implied. Thank you @dhanyarajendran for immediately stepping in and clarifying the same and removing this article." Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of late Srikantadatta Narsimharaja Wadiyar, on Thursday ruled out her entry into politics. I am not entering politics. I have been saying this for a long time. I have no interest in contesting elections, she told the media persons as she ended speculations over her possible entry into politics. Amit Shahs visit, which came ahead of the state assembly elections had attracted unnecessary media attention, she felt. The scion of the erstwhile royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar too had no interest in joining politics, she added. Senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa on Thursday 'advised' Chief Minister Siddaramaiah not to contest from Chamundeshwari Constituency or face a defeat. Taking a dig at Siddaramaiah's statement to the effect that BJP and JDS have joined hands to defeat him from Chamundeshwari segment on the fringes of Mysuru city, the BJP leader said that by making such a statement Siddaramaiah had conceded his defeat. ''When such is the case why should he contest? That too when he has stated that this is his last election?" he asked. BJP General Secretary, incharge of North East and J&K Ram Madhav has been roped in for Karnataka and is looking at crucial aspects of BJP campaign. Madhav has been tasked to push for a decisive shift in BJP campaign efforts and work towards a repeat of Tripura type performance in Karnataka. He held a series of meetings in Bengaluru today with top Sangh functionaries, intellectuals and civil society members, reports ANI. The BJP's first list of candidates for the Karnataka assembly election 2018 is ready. The party has finalised the names of 130 candidates and would release it soon. The BJP has roped in its Tripura architect Ram Madhav for the Karnataka elections. Sources say he met with several eminent persons in the city to discuss the election strategy. Madhav who is the national general secretary will spend a considerable amount of time in the state, sources say. VS Ugrappa, MLC and Minister Sri HM Revanna to hold press conference at 1:30pm on Friday at KPCC Office today. The party claims that the leaders will give "Breaking News against BJP". The Ministry for Home Affairs has stayed clear of the Lingayat religious minority status issue. The issue is beyond it jurisdiction and the Ministry of Minority Affairs would look into it. An MHA spokesperson said that a decision to this effect would not be taken anytime soon as the model code of conduct is in force in Karnataka. We will win 150 seats in the elections. We will provide good and clean governance. We have to realise Narendra Modis and Amit Shahs dream of a "Congress mukt Bharat. Let also ensure that Karnataka is Congress mukt", B S Yeddyurappa said. "People are in distress because of Congress. Crime rate has gone up, farmers have committed suicide. The only solution to all these problems is the BJP", he also said. Karnataka Assembly Elections: Chamrajpet constituency in Bengaluru set to witness an interesting battle. Zameer Ahmed who quit the JD(S) to contest on Congress ticket while Altaf Khan who quit the Congress to quit on JD(S) ticket. The BJP will field a strong candidate to take advantage of the split in Muslim votes. Will the trick pay off? Let us wait and see. Congress MLC, V.S. Ugrappa and Minister Sri HM Revanna to hold press conference at 1:30pm on Friday at KPCC Office today. The party claims that the leaders will give, "Breaking News against BJP". LED van for BJP campaigning will be inaugurated at Bashan Circle in Bengaluru by B.S.Yeddyurappa, P.Muralidhar Rao, Shobha Karandlaje and other leaders today at 2.30 p.m "I will contest from Chamundeshwari constituency and I will definitely win," says CM Siddaramaiah in Mysore. "Son Dr. Yateendra will contest from Varuna constituency if only party high command decides," he said. CM Siddaramaiah visits famous Lingayat mutt in Suttur. Seeks blessings from the seer. The Election Commission of India has sacked Home Ministry Advisor Kempaiah. This action comes in the wake of JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda complaining to the poll body that Kempaiah was using government vehicles to transport money for the elections. Congress leaders begins press conference at KPCC office in Bengaluru. MLS VS Ugrappa releases 3 Income Tax documents against BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa. The party alleged that Yeddyurappa is involved in Rs 1033 Cores scam. Yeddyurappa as CM issued a tender worth Rs. 1033 cr to RNSIL in Upper Bhadra Project.



IT Depts order dated 28/03/2016 after a seizure operation states that Sunil(V.P,Finance,RNSIL) has on oath & based on diary jottings admitted to have paid bribe to BSY: MLC Ugrappa#BSY420 pic.twitter.com/WyydHmT00O  Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) April 6, 2018 Congress levels graft charges on BSY These are not our documents. This is an order against Shri Yeddyurappa by the Income tax department under the Central Govt. Yeddyurappa has even paid a fine for non-declaration, which is in itself an admission of guilt of receiving Rs. 4.11 crore bribe, Karnataka Congress quoted MLC Ugrappa as saying. Former TV journalist and MP Tejaswini is expected to take on HD Kumaraswamy in Ramanagara on a BJP ticket. BJP state general secretary CT Ravi demanded that Jignesh Mewani be barred from entering Karnataka till voting day on May 12. This comes a day after Dalit leader Mevani advised people to disrupt Prime Minister Narendra Modis upcoming rally on April 15. Mevani called for people to enter Modis rally, throw chairs in the air and question the prime minister's promise to generate two crores worth of employment in the state. He said that if Modi does not answer, then he should be asked to leave and take shelter at a Ram Mandir in the Himalayas. Mevani is currently in Chitradurga and he has been appealing to all Dalit groups in the state to not vote for the BJP in the assembly elections. Amit Shah said on Friday he is a Hindu Vaishnav, refuting Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiahs claim that the BJP chief is a Jain. Amit Shah is a Jain. He needs to clarify first whether he is AHINDU. Jain is a separate religion. How can he talk about me like that, Siddaramaiah had said.Karnataka election: What works for Siddaramaiah in Badami

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

With speculation rife that Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah is likely to contest from Badami, the entire focus has shifted to this constituency. The constituency known for its heritage structures which attracts tourists from all corners of the world comprises 143 villages.

What makes this constituency a safe bet for Siddaramaiah is the number of Kuruba voters in this constituency. Siddaramaiah himself belongs to the Kuruba community.

Looking at the statements made by Siddaramaiah in the recent past, it does not appear that his decision to contest this seat was a knee-jerk reaction. Two months back during an address, he apologised to the people for not visiting Badami for such a long time and assured them that he would spend more time in future.

Why is Siddaramaiah changing his constituency: Shah says it is due to BJP wave in Karnataka

For the Kuruba community, Siddaramaiah is a favourite. They have not had a mass leader from their community for a long time. They would like to re-elect the Congress so that he becomes the CM again. Moreover analysts are of the view that Siddaramaiah could have a sway over the voters in the Mumbai-Karnataka region, if he contests from Badami.

In Badami there are around 45,000 Kurubas. The next biggest community are the Lingayats with a population of 38,000. There are 36,000 SC/STs while the Muslims account for 18,000.

At Congress candidate selection meet, heated arguments as decision is put off

However for the voter in Badami, the election is not only about caste equations. They hope that if Siddaramaiah becomes CM again, he would focus on this constituency which has been deprived of development for long.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Karnataka: Will Congress not allow Kumaraswamy to be CM for full 5-year term?

Is it chief minister Kumaraswamy or chief manager of Congress Ktaka ATM? BJP has an answer

All is well between Congress, JD(S)? Kumaraswamy meets Rahul as Karnataka waits for full cabinet

Karnataka elections: Siddaramaiah set to contest from two constituencies

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah would contest from two constituencies, his office has confirmed. He would file his nomination from Chamundeshwari on April 20 and from Badami on April 23.

The Congress is however yet to announce the list of its candidates. The decision to contest from two seats was made after taking into consideration various factors.

Firstly Chamundeshwari was seen as an unsafe seat for the CM. A loss would mean that he would not longer be in contention for the CM's chair even if the Congress were to win the elections.

Secondly in Badami there is a strong Kuruba population which would help him win with ease. Moreover it falls in the Mumbai-Karnataka region which is a stronghold of the BJP. A campaign by Siddaramaiah in this region could boost the chances of the Congress, analysts feel.

From Chamundeshwari, Siddaramaiah has contested 7 elections and won 5. He moved to Varuna following delimitation in 2008. He won the polls in 2008 and 2013 from Varuna. This year, his son is expected to contest the seat.

This is however not the first time that he would be contesting from North Karnataka. In the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, he contested from Koppal in north Karnataka on a JD(S) ticket, but was defeated.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 17:06 [IST]Karnataka poll date leak based on mere speculation says EC committee

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Election Commission which probed the Karnataka election date leak said that it was based on mere speculation. The EC which had formed a committee to probe the poll schedule leak minutes before the official announcement was made said that it was based on speculation.

In its report the committee said, "historically, media has speculated the schedules of elections in the past. In the instant case, it seems similar attempts were made. However, as pointed out by Times Now channel in its response, The channel assessed the details from informed sources. Given that the information was not entirely accurate it is obvious it was not a leak, the alleged leak was not a leak and was mere speculation."

"Thus the committee is of the opinion that there was no leak of schedule of elections to the Karnataka legislative assembly, 2018," the report also said.

The committee however added that such a scenario was avoidable and the channel could have acted in a more responsible manner.

The committee also added that the existing process/system is "robust enough", but considering the secrecy of the process the Committee will "separately brief the Commission for further strengthening the process, if required".

A controversy had broken out on March 27 after the BJP's IT Cell chief, Amit Malviya tweeted that Karnataka would go to poll on May 12. The announcement on twitter was made as the EC was addressing the media and was yet to make the formal announcement. It also came to light that Srivasta Y B of the Karnataka Congress too had tweeted similar information and Kannada channels had flashed the news. In their defence both cited Times Now as their source of information. The channel had flashed the information at 11.06 while the EC made the formal announcement at 11.20 am.

Following this the EC had formed a committee to look into the possible leak of information. The committee was headed by Senior Deputy Election Commissioner, Umesh Sinha.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 8:11 [IST]Kerala HC says temporary govt employees not to be regularised

Rollout of New labour codes likely in October; Gratuity, PF contribution may rise

Layoffs a commonplace even as economy grows: Report

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Job layoffs continue to remain a commonplace even as the economy grows a report says. The report comes amid fears of 'jobless growth' being witnessed in the country at present.

Even as the economy grows, job layoffs continue to remain a "commonplace" with the automation prone information technology industry employees experiencing more pain than the others, the report said.

"Even as the economy improves, layoffs - due to cost cutting, reducing redundancies after a merger or acquisition, and restructuring events due to changes in the industry - remain commonplace," career transition company Risesmart said in a report after interviewing 1,000 executives.

"The survey concluded that employees in the IT sector experienced more layoffs in comparison to employees in other industries," a statement issued here said.

It, however, did not elaborate by quantifying the responses across sectors.

In May last year, the then Union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya had confirmed fears of the 'jobless growth' by stating that the economic growth was not translating into rise in employment opportunities.

"The current growth is a jobless growth. Many European and Asian countries, including India, are facing it. Growth is being reported but it is not reflecting in employment generation," he had said.

The government and the ruling party had later explained that jobs created in sectors such as tourism and aviation were not counted for the purpose.

In the statement, Risesmart said India has been one of the biggest employment creators globally but hiring has "plummeted" recently and the spectre of job layoffs is hitting both big and small companies.Maadi Maddi Matadana is Karnataka election anthem

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

"Maadi Maadi Matadana," is the election anthem for the Karnataka assembly elections 2018. The anthem which can be viewed on YouTube has been created by film director Yogaraj Bhat.

Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka. Sanjiv Kumar said that the anthem will also be made available in the form of ringtones and will be aired on various social media platforms.

The 4.5 minute anthem does not feature any celebrity including brand ambassadors Rahul Dravid and CNR Rao. The anthem is choreographed by Imran Sardariya while Hari Krishna has scored the music. Vijay Prakash has sung the anthem.

Karnataka goes to polls on May 12. The campaign has been a hectic one and the Congress is yet to release its list of candidates. The BJP which released its first list of candidates last week would come up with the second one in a day or two.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 9:28 [IST]A secret trip to an ISIS medical camp in Syria changed the course for this Bengaluru doctor

'Matter should be resolved through dialogue': India on US strikes in Syria

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

With the United States and allies having carried out missile strikes in Syria, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday (April 14) said "all parties" must show restraint so that the situation does not escalate further.

The US, UK and France have launched a coordinated strike by firing over a 100 missiles on, what Trump described as, targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

"We urge all Parties to show restraint and to avoid any further escalation in the situation. The matter should be resolved through dialogue & negotiations and on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter the in accordance with international law," an MEA statement said.

"We have taken note of the recent strikes in Syria. India is closely following the situation. The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable. We call for an impartial and objective investigation by the OPCW to establish the facts," the statement added.

The strikes mark the second time Trump ordered attacks against Syria to punish Assad's government.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, pledged to retaliate for what it described as a "fabricated" chemical gas attack.

Russia had previously threatened to shoot down U.S. missiles and aircraft that threaten the lives of Russian personnel in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said Russia will call an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, where it is a permanent member, over Western strikes on Syria.

It still remains to be seen how Moscow would react. There are fears that the situation may escalate, sparking a military clash between Russia and the US. Experts are divided over the matter, however, the danger of a clash still exists, as Russia's foreign ministry has warned repeatedly that strikes can lead to "the most grave consequences." A worst-case-scenario could see the war spill beyond Syria's borders and embroil many of the world's key military powers. Britain and France have indicated support for US air strikes. And with Russian and Iranian forces against them, it's not so far fetched to think an escalation in the war could be a precursor to world war three.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 19:50 [IST]Meet Indias youngest drone developer, Aryaman, whos vying to enter Guinness World Records

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Chandigarh, April 14: It was a proud moment for 13-year-old Aryaman Verma from Ludhiana, Punjab, who has been honoured with the title of "youngest drone developer" by the India Book of Records. The Punjab boy achieved the feat after building a quadcopter, capable of flying up to a height of 70 feet. Now, the 13-year-old is vying to enter the Guinness World Records, stated a report by ANI.

Speaking to the news agency, Aryaman's mother said, "We have sent the entry to the Guinness World Records. We're hopeful they'll accept it."

"Punjab: 13-yr-old Aryaman Verma from Ludhiana makes it to India Book of Records as 'youngest drone developer' after building a Quadcopter, capable of flying up to height of 70 feet. His mother says 'We've sent the entry to Guinness World Records. We're hopeful they'll accept it'," tweeted ANI.

Punjab: 13-yr-old Aryaman Verma from Ludhiana makes it to India Book of Records as 'youngest drone developer' after building a Quadcopter, capable of flying up to height of 70 feet. His mother says 'We've sent the entry to Guinness World Records. We're hopeful they'll accept it'. pic.twitter.com/nTiQ0VbwOb  ANI (@ANI) April 13, 2018

According to Wikipedia, a drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). "It is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system; which includes a UAV, a ground-based controller, and a system of communications between the two."

Drones are no more just for the supreme enthusiasts as these devices have penetrated the world of technology and a lot of businesses are looking forward to utilise the capacities of these machines to the best effects, stated a report by dronelab.

Drones are extensively used for military and surveillance purposes, bomb detection, air strikes, filming and journalism, shipping and delivery, disaster management, rescue operations and healthcare, archeological surveys, geographical mapping, law enforcement, safety inspections, agriculture, wildlife monitoring, weather forecasting and aerial photography, to name a few, added the report by dronelab.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 7:03 [IST]You know what this means: Arvind Sawant not getting appointment with PM

Not concerned with presser by senior judges for obvious and many reasons: SC

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

We are not concerned with the press conference addressed by four senior judges, a Bench of the Supreme Court said. In an unprecedented press conference on January 12, the four senior-most judges, had accused the Chief Justice of India (CJI) of arbitrarily allocating cases.

While hearing a PIL challenging the existing roster system and powers of the CJI to allocate cases, a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan made it clear that it was not concerned with the issue of the presser for "many reasons and obvious reasons".

"We are not going to go into it. We are not concerned with it for many reasons and obvious reasons. Do not say all this. Do not bring it here," the bench told senior advocate Dushyant Dave.

The observation by the bench came after Dave said, "Four of your colleagues have publicly took note of the failure of the system."

When the bench referred to the apex court verdicts which held that the CJI is the "master of roster", Dave said a judgement passed earlier this week was in his favour.

Bhushan's counsel raised the issue of allocation of cases in the apex court and said that matter was listed contrary to the rules of the Supreme Court.

"This court is the bedrock of the Constitution," he said, adding that the registry should follow the Supreme Court rules stipulating the procedure for the listing of cases.

Dave claimed that an apex court judge, who had served as a CJI for two weeks, had listed several business matters before himself and gave reliefs.

He said that after his retirement, the apex court had to reverse many of his orders.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said they were concerned about the institution and they were not permanent fixtures here.

To this, Justice Sikri said, "We will retire, but you are a permanent fixture".

In his PIL, Shanti Bhushan has stated that the "master of roster" cannot be unguided and unbridled discretionary power, exercised arbitrarily by the CJI by hand-picking benches of select judges or by assigning cases to particular judges.

The petition said the CJI's authority as the master of the roster is "not an absolute, arbitrary, singular power that is vested in the chief justice alone and which may be exercised with his sole discretion".

It said that such an authority should be exercised by the CJI in consultation with the senior judges of the Supreme Court in keeping with the various pronouncements of the court.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 12:31 [IST]Doval, Pak NSA to attend SCO meet: No bilateral, but a pull aside not ruled out

At SCO meet attended by NSA Doval, special attention on situation in Afghanistan

NSA Doval meets Chinese official Jiechi ahead of Sushma Swarajs Beijing visit

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval met with top Chinese diplomat Yang Jeichi in Shaghai ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Qingdao for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

The NSA's meet was bilateral and not part of the SCO arrangement. Doval's meeting with Yang, the Politburo member of the CPC, comes ahead of several key dialogues between the two countries, which are trying to reset the ties after the last year's 73-day long stand-off at Doka La.

The Indian Embassy in a brief statement said that Doval and Yang, both special representatives of the India-China boundary talks, held talks, but gave no details about the meeting.

Yang is also Director of Foreign Affairs Commission. Till last month, Yang was the State Councillor of the CPC, a top diplomatic post.

He was replaced by foreign minister Wang Yi. Wang will hold the dual posts of state councillor and foreign minister in a major reshuffle of top officials.

This is the second meeting between Doval and Yang after the Doka La standoff.

Yang attended the 20th round of boundary talks between the two countries in Delhi in December last year during which both sides decided to reset the ties with more interactions.

Since December, the two sides are trying to iron out differences on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group and China blocking the efforts to designate Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar as a terrorist by the UN.

The two countries are preparing for a series of high-level interactions leading up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman are scheduled to be in Beijing on 24 April to attend different meetings of the SCO and interact with their counterparts from the member states.

The eight-member SCO, in which India was the latest entrant along with Pakistan, is due to hold its summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao.

The SCO comprised of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

Ahead of the summit, the organisation which is focused on anti-terrorism cooperation is holding a host of ministerial and officials' meetings to work out a firm agenda for the summit to provide a new direction to the grouping.

SCO Foreign and Defence Ministers meetings are also scheduled on 24 April and almost around the same time, according to officials.

Both sides attach a lot of significance to these meetings to reset the ties as they were taking place after President Xi Jinping commenced his second-five-year tenure last month with the prospect of continuing in power for life following the removal of the two-term limit for the president.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 6:34 [IST]Dilip Kumar, The First Khan of Bollywood, no more: Remembering some of his top films

6-year-old girl in Kerala chokes to death after mixture gets stuck in trachea

Petitioner in Ishrat Jahan case dies in road accident at Kerala, police probes all angles

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

A petitioner in the Ishrat Jahan case died in a road accident in Kerala. Gopinath Pillai the father of Pranesh Kumar Pillai who along with Ishrat Jahan and two others was shot dead in Gujarat in 2004 met with an accident on Friday.

Gopinath Pillai, a retired teacher, was on his way to Kochi for a medical check-up on Wednesday morning when his Maruti car reportedly braked suddenly and was rear-ended by a truck.

He was rushed to hospital with multiple injuries. However he passed away in hospital. The police which has registered a case said that it was probing all angles into the case.

Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college student, Pranesh and the two others were shot dead near Ahmedabad in June, 2004. Gujarat police officers claimed that the four were Lashkar e Taiba terrorists who had planned to assassinate Narendra Modi, who was then Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Pillai had challenged this in court and demanded a CBI probe. The police said that Pranesh had changed his name to Javed Sheikh to marry a Muslim woman.School boundary wall collapse: Six killed, many feared trapped under debris in Bihar's Khagaria

Rajasthan: 2-storey building collapses in Kota, many feared trapped

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Several feared trapped after a two-storey building collapsed in the early hours of Saturday in Kota city of Rajasthan. The building located in Kota's Dhan Mandi housed a beer bar in the ground floor and a restaurant in the first floor.

There are no reports of casualties as of now. Early reports said that one person has been pulled out of the debris.

Teams of NDRF and SDRF have reached the spot and are carrying rescue operations. Investigation and rescue operations are underway.

The incident took place just two days after two buildings had collapsed in Dibai area of Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, killing two children.

More details are awaited.Are the clean chits to politicians linked to an alliance with the BJP

Saradha scam: Madras HC to pass orders on ED plea against Nalini Chidambaram

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Madras High Court will pass orders on April 17 on an Enforcement Directorate petition seeking to vacate the stay on the summons issued to Nalini Chidambaram, wife of former Union minister P Chidambaram, in connection with its money laundering probe in the Saradha chit fund scam case.

Justice S M Subramaniam today posted the petition to April 17 for passing orders after hearing the arguments of both the sides.

Earlier, in his oral observations, the judge said the summons was issued in 2016 and Nalini had gained two years by virtue of the interim stay granted by the court.

"Why cannot she appear before the ED and sort out the issue and help the investigation," he said.

The ED had on November 7, 2016, issued summons to Nalini to appear before its Kolkata office as a witness in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam.

She was allegedly paid a legal fee of Rs 1 crore by the Saradha group for her appearances in court and the Company Law Board over a television channel purchase deal.

The high court had on September 21, 2016, stayed the summons on a petition by Nalini that as per Section 160 of the CrPC a woman could not be summoned for inquiry and it has to be conducted at her residence.

Senior counsel Satish Parasaran, appearing for Nalini, today contended that section 160 clearly exempts women and men below 15 years and above 65 years from appearing for inquiry out of their place of residence.

The provision applies to the proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act also, he submitted.

He said his client had already submitted all documents and statements required by the agency through an authorised person.

"Even now, she has not approached the court to quash the summon. All that she insists is when there is a statutory protection, the agency cannot demand her personal appearance," Parasaran added.

Opposing the arguments, Additional Solicitor General G Rajagopalan, who appeared on behalf of the ED, submitted that the PMLA provisions empower the ED to summon any person and the Act does not require authorities to comply with section 160 of the CrPC.

He also said PMLA has overriding powers over inconsistent statues.

Justice Subramaniam intervened and said the ED authorities have their own powers and limitations.

The court can interfere only if they act excessively.

"If every woman in the country seeks protection under section 160 of the CrPC, will it be practically possible for the agencies to go to everyone of their locations to get statements, he observed orally.

Parasaran said if it was not possible, the law must be amended, which is for Parliament to decide.

He noted that as Parliament has considered women, children and senior citizens as vulnerable, as a policy, protection had been given to them under section 160 of the CrPC.Sikh riots: No allegation of instigation against me says Sajjan Kumar

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Congress leader, Sajjan Kumar has told the Delhi High Court that there was no allegation against him of instigating a mob against Sikhs on October 31 1984 after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra was informed by Kumar's counsel that initially, the victim had named several persons before the authorities but not the former Member of Parliament and that he had no connection with the co-accused.

Senior advocate Amit Sibal, appearing for Kumar, argued that there was also no allegation of any involvement of the leader in the October 31, 1984 incident either in the charge sheet in the court.

The trial court had framed charges of instigation and abetment against him but there was no allegation, he claimed.

Regarding the charge of criminal conspiracy, Sibal and advocate Anil Kumar Sharma, said no role was assigned to Kumar of his involvement with the co-accused and three prosecution witnesses had also not stated anything about him.

While Kumar was acquitted by the trial court, former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and two others were held guilty in the case.

The high court was hearing CBI's appeal against Kumar's acquittal in the murder of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984, after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

The trial court had awarded life term in May 2013 to Khokhar, Bhagmal and Girdhari Lal and three-year jail term to two others -former MLA Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar.

They have challenged their conviction and jails terms awarded by the trial court.

The CBI too has filed an appeal seeking enhancement of sentence of the convicts and the acquittal of Kumar, alleging that all of them were engaged in "a planned communal riot" and "religious cleansing".

The high court had on March 29 last year issued show cause notice to 11 accused, including Khokhar and Yadav, in five other 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases in which they had been acquitted by the trial court.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 11:11 [IST]TRS chief KCR calls on Gowda, pledges support, urges Telugus to vote for JD(S) in Karnataka

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief and Chief Minister of Telangana has assured JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda of support in the upcoming May 12 Karnataka Assembly election.

He had met with Gowda in a bid to garner support for this proposed federal front.

Pledging his support to the JD (S) in the coming elections to Karnataka state Assembly, Rao said: "I appeal to all the Telugu people living in Karnataka to vote for the JD (S).'' In turn, Rao got all praise from the veteran leader and his son and former Karnataka chief minister Kumara Swamy on his governance.

Rao, accompanied by his party MPs and actor Prakash Raj, held discussions with JD (S) leaders on his proposed Federal Front.

Speaking to reporters later along with Gowda and others, Rao appealed to all political parties to join hands to bring about qualitative change in the country. "We, whether the TMC, TDP, TRS, Left parties, will come out with a common agenda for the nation. Whoever is interested may join us in national interest. We are not interested in politics," said Rao who had met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee last month.

To the JD(S), Rao's visit and his announcement of support to it comes as a shot in the arm ahead of the elections. "I appeal to Telugu people to support JD (S). If asked by them (Deve Gowda), I will also campaign in some pockets where there are people of Telugu origin,'' Rao said.Meanwhile, sources said the JD(S) was likely to invite Rao to campaign in Kolar, Chikkaballapur and parts of Hyderabad-Karnataka region which have a sizeable Telugu population.

Kumaraswamy said, "Rao has given his valuable suggestions on some novel programmes to be included in the JD(S) manifesto and tips on tactics to be adopted in the electoral battle."CAUVERY: Blaming the Congress and BJP for the present situation in the country, Rao said the inaction and inefficiency of the two parties had ensured that there is no water for irrigation and drinking purpose across the country. "What we have only are water wars,'' he said.

Stating that India has 30,000 tmcft of surplus water, Rao wondered, "Why should there be a fight for Cauvery water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu? Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted with black flags during his visit to Tamil Nadu. The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal was constituted in 2004 but it has not given any solution. Generations will come and go; we will continue to fight and they (Centre) will just watch,'' Rao said and asked all political parties to join hands against the Congress and BJP.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 8:51 [IST]Unnao rape case: Kuldeep Sengar sent to 7-day CBI custody

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar, one of the accused in the Unnao rape case, was on Saturday (April 14) sent to seven-day CBI custody. He was arrested by the CBI on Friday after over 15 hours of questioning.

"We support a fair investigation. He has been sent to 7-day CBI custody," BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar's lawyer told the media today.

The Allahabad High Court on Friday directed the CBI to arrest Kuldeep Singh Sengar. A bench comprising Chief Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Suneet Kumar gave the direction to the agency after the counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government informed it that Sengar has been detained for interrogation and not arrested yet.

The court had earlier directed the CBI to carry out investigation strictly in accordance with law and to consider filing an application for cancellation of bail granted to other accused in the case. It had also directed the CBI to file a status report by May 2.

The CBI registered three separate cases in connection with the alleged rape and detained Sengar for questioning in the early hours today. The cases pertain to the alleged rape, killing of the girl's father and a case of arms act which was slapped on her father in which he was arrested by local police. He had subsequently died in judicial custody and the autopsy report showed serious injuries on his body.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 20:29 [IST]When will our daughters get justice?: Rahul attacks Modi after PM spoke on rape cases

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi, April 14: On Friday evening, finally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence over the horrendous rape cases in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao and Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua involving two minors. The details pertaining to both the cases have shocked the conscience of the nation as involvement of people belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindu right-wing groups have been establishment by the investigations.

Since justice has been delayed in the two cases, the people of India have demanded exemplary punishment to be meted out to the culprits. Earlier, on Friday, echoing the voice of the nation, Congress president Rahul Gandhi asked the PM to spoke on the rape cases.

"Mr Prime Minister, your silence is unacceptable. 1. What do YOU think about the growing violence against women & children? 2. Why are accused rapists and murderers protected by the state? India is waiting. #SpeakUp," Rahul tweeted.

Mr Prime Minister, your silence is unacceptable.



1. What do YOU think about the growing violence against women & children?



2. Why are accused rapists and murderers protected by the state?



India is waiting.#SpeakUp  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 13, 2018

However, it seems Rahul was not too happy with what Modi said on crimes against women/girls. Late on Friday night, Rahul again tweeted and asked the PM when the victims would get justice.

"Dear Prime Minister, Thank you for breaking your long silence. You said "our daughters will get justice". India wants to know: when? #SpeakUp," Rahul tweeted.

Dear Prime Minister,



Thank you for breaking your long silence.



You said our daughters will get justice.



India wants to know: when?#SpeakUp  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 13, 2018

Speaking at the inauguration of the Ambedkar Memorial in New Delhi, PM Modi said that the "guilty" will not be spared. He asserted that "daughters will get justice" and the government will ensure that happens. After the PM spoke at the event, the accused in the Unnao rape case, BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, was arrested by the CBI. Two of the BJP ministers who supported the accused in the Kathua rape case too have resigned from their posts on Friday.

In the last few days, the nation has been demanding justice for the 8-year-old girl from Jammu's Kathua, who was kidnapped, drugged, gang-raped and killed by eight men in January to instill fear in people belonging to the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community, and 16-year-old teenager from Uttar Pradesh's Unnao, who was allegedly raped last year by BJP MLA Sengar. Recently, the 16-year-old's father died in the police custody after being brutally beaten by the MLA's brother.

It was not that Rahul from the beginning has been standing in support of the rape victims. The Congress president was also silent before he was nudged on social media to break his maun vrat (vow of silence) too. On Thursday, Rahul tweeted and lead a midnight candlelight march to protest crimes against women in the national capital.

The leaders of the BJP have said that the Congress is trying to politicise the rape cases to score political points ahead of the crucial Karnataka Assembly elections on May 12 and the Lok Sabha elections next year.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 7:57 [IST]Where does Karnataka stand Tipu Jayanti: Majority give a thumbs down

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

44 per cent of the people from Karnataka opposed the decision of the Congress government to observe Tipu Jayanti. The India-Today-Karvy poll which predicted a hung house in Karnataka with Congress being the largest party also asked respondents about what they felt about the Tipu Jayanti celebrations.

Only 32 per cent said that they supported the decision of the Congress on this issue. 44 per cent were opposed to it. However 58 per cent Muslims said that they were in favour of the celebrations.

On the issue relating to the Karnataka flag, the Congress got a thumbs up for its decision. 59 per cent said that they supported the government's decision. 29 per cent were opposed to it while 12 per cent remained non-committal.

On the major issue regarding a separate minority tag for Lingayats, 52 per cent said that it would be a major issue during the elections.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Why is Siddaramaiah changing his constituency: Shah says it is due to BJP wave in Karnataka

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The BJP wave is what has forced Karnataka Chief Minister to re-think on his constituency, BJP chief, Amit Shah said.

Speaking to reporters after paying tributes to the statue of warrior-queen Rani Channamma at Kittur in the district, Shah said people of Karnataka want a change of guard and will thus oust the Congress from power.

He said that the people would bring the BJP to power with a huge majority and make B S Yeddyurappa the chief minister. Taking a dig at Siddaramaiah, Shah said that he had realised the mood of the people. This is what forced him to change his assembly constituency.

There has been speculation that Siddaramaiah may not contest from the Chamundeshwari constituency owing to a tough fight. With the seat not considered to be safe, his followers have advised him to contest from Badami in north Karnataka where the Kuruba population is high. Siddaramaiah is also said to have convinced sitting MLA of Badami B Chimankatti to vacate the seat for him.

Shah further said that he could feel the momentum and also added that the people were angry with the Congress. Our support has been increasing and the crowds at our rallies is evidence of this. This is a clear indication that the BJP is returning to power in the state.

He assured that the BJP in Karnataka would provide for a strong government under Yeddyurappa. All resources for the development of the state would be mobilised. Karnataka under the BJP will become a model state he also added.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Dilip Kumar, The First Khan of Bollywood, no more: Remembering some of his top films

Oscar-winning 'Cuckoo's Nest' director Milos Forman dies at 86

International

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Oscar-winning director Milos Forman best known for directing died at the age of 86 on Saturday.

Forman, also known for two biopics about controversial Americans - The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Man on the Moon (1999) - died Friday in the U.S. after a short illness, according to his wife, Martina, who broke the news to the Czech news agency CTK.

Milos Forman was born in Czech Republic in 1932. In 1968, after the Warsaw Pact invasion in Czechoslovakia, Foreman did not return from France, where he was negotiating on a new film. Later, he moved to the United States. The director is a two-time Oscar winner for the films "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus".

His career overseas started with "Taking Off" in 1971, followed by "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" four years later, which brought Forman his first Oscar for the best director.

Forman's other films include "Hair" (1979), "Ragtime" (1981), "Valmont" (1989) and "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (1996), which handed him another best director Oscar nomination, as well as "Man on the Moon" (1999) and "Goya's Ghosts" (2006).

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 13:09 [IST]A secret trip to an ISIS medical camp in Syria changed the course for this Bengaluru doctor

Bengaluru youth who joined ISIS suspected to have been killed in Syria

Desperate ISIS terrorist from Kerala who attempted to reach Syria twice sentenced

Syria strikes: Russia calls for emergency session of UN security council

International

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said Russia will call an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, where it is a permanent member, over Western strikes on Syria.

Putin said the strike on Syrian by the US, UK and France will exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

"Russia is calling an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions of the US and its allies," the Kremlin said in a statement.

"Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism," the Kremlin says.

The United States, France and Britain on Saturday struck targets in Syria with airstrikes in retaliation for an apparent chemical weapons attack outside Damascus by Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets," the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, adding that "a significant number" were shot down by Syrian air defences.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Syrian citizens are demonstrating in a landmark square of the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 13:48 [IST]Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

Thousands of terrorists might have been airlifted out of Kabul: Trump slams Biden

Never in history has withdrawal from war been handled so badly: Trump

Over 100 cruise missiles fired at Syria, many intercepted in US led strikes

International

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Several huge explosions were heard in Syria's capital early today, AFP's correspondent there said, as US President Donald Trump announced strikes on the country were under way. Syrian state television also reported a US attack on Syria, in coordination with France and Britain.

The US and its allies fired more than 100 cruise missiles at Syria, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian air defences, the Russian defence ministry said Saturday.

"More than 100 cruise missiles and air-to-land missiles were fired by the US, Britain and France from the sea and air at Syrian military and civilian targets," the ministry said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, adding that "a significant number" were shot down by Syrian air defences.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Syrian citizens are demonstrating in a landmark square of the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance.

Trump on Friday ordered the United States military - in conjunction with France and the United Kingdom - to launch strikes on Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad on a Damascus suburb last week.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a primetime televised address to the nation.

"These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," he added.

Describing the strike as a deterrent, Trump said the US would maintain pressure on Syria until the Assad regime suspends use of chemical weapons.

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria," he said, thanking the UK and France for joining the US in its fight against the Syrian regime.

"My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force in Syria as she announced Britain had joined France and the United States in launching strikes against Syria.

"This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deter their use," she said in a statement.

President Emmanuel Macron said that France had joined the US and Britain in an ongoing operation against Syria with strikes to target "the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a scientific research centre and military bases in Damascus were struck in the attack by the United States and allies.

The strikes were the biggest intervention by Western powers against Assad in the country's seven-year-old civil war and pitted the United States and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad.

Trump spent the last few days huddling with his senior military advisers, and speaking to allies France and Britain, in deciding what action to take after the deadly attack in Douma, the largest town in the former rebel-held bastion of Eastern Ghouta. Fox News reported that the Trump administration had taken the decision to strike Syria, citing an unnamed administration official, but without saying whether the attack had been launched.

US naval assets would be involved in the operation, including the USS Donald Cook which is in the region, while British Prime Minister Theresa May had authorised the use of submarines as a show of support, the official told the network.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)A secret trip to an ISIS medical camp in Syria changed the course for this Bengaluru doctor

US strikes on Syria: Who all are standing by Assad regime?

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The United States has finally carried out what it had been talking about. The US, UK and France have launched a coordinated strike by firing over a 100 missiles on, what Trump described as, targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The strikes mark the second time Trump ordered attacks against Syria to punish Assad's government.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, pledged to retaliate for what it described as a "fabricated" chemical gas attack.

Russia had previously threatened to shoot down U.S. missiles and aircraft that threaten the lives of Russian personnel in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said Russia will call an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, where it is a permanent member, over Western strikes on Syria.

It still remains to be seen how Moscow would react. There are fears that the situation may escalate, sparking a military clash between Russia and the US. Experts are divided over the matter, however, the danger of a clash still exists, as Russia's foreign ministry has warned repeatedly that strikes can lead to "the most grave consequences." A worst-case-scenario could see the war spill beyond Syria's borders and embroil many of the world's key military powers. Britain and France have indicated support for US air strikes. And with Russian and Iranian forces against them, it's not so far fetched to think an escalation in the war could be a precursor to world war three.

International reactions to US strikes:

Germany said it supports the action taken to deter the Syrian regime from using chemical weapons on its own citizens.

"The military operation was necessary and appropriate to preserve the effectiveness of the international ban on the use of chemical weapons and to warn the Syrian regime of further violations.100 years after the end of the First World War, we are all called upon to counteract the erosion of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Germany will resolutely support all diplomatic action in this direction," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has reportedly said that Tehran would continue to stand by Syria. Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Saturday that the country's Ministry of Health has offered to send medical aid to Syria should it be required.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the US and its allies of committing a "major crime" with its trilateral strikes on Syrian targets overnight, in a tweet on Saturday morning.

The European Union is supportive of all efforts aimed at preventing the use of chemical weapons, its High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said in a statement on Saturday.

The EU has called on "all countries, notably Russia and Iran" to use their influence in preventing any further use of chemical weapons, according to the statement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry said it believed political settlement is the only realistic way to resolve the Syrian issue and called for a fair probe into Syria's suspected chemical weapon attacks. It added that any military action that bypassed the UN Security Council violated the international law.

Isreal and Turkey have supported the airstrikes. Turkey has dubbed the strikes as "appropriate response".

OneIndia News with inputs

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Story first published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 17:16 [IST]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 Paul Craig Roberts Website

Here is "Mad Dog" Mattis, the US Secretary of War, stating that he has no evidence that there was a chemical weapons attack in Syria last week, but that he personally believes that there was one.

I remember when a person who claimed to believe something for which there was no evidence was either a religious fanatic or an ideologue. No serious person would express a conviction when there was no evidence to support it.

This raises questions as to Mattis' fitness for office. He is prepared to lead the US into war with Russia based on nothing but his belief. This is insanity.

Even a low-grade moron, which appears to be above the intelligence level of the current US Secretary of War, understands that Syria would not, within a few hours of its liberation of the Syrian people of Douma, have used chemical weapons against the civilian population for which its soldiers were dying in order to liberate.

According to RT, the Organization for the prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is on its way to inspect the site. I had read that the US had vetoed allowing an investigation. According to RT, the OPCW is only permitted by Washington to determine whether any chemical weapons were used, not, if they were, by whom. If the OPCW can be pressured to say evidence of chemical weapons use was found, Washington will seize on that as proof that Syria did it.

As the former head of the OPCW has made clear, the organization is not independent of Washington's control. It is supposed to be independent but is not. Jose Bustani, a Brazilian diplomat who was Director-General of the OPCW, reports that he was ordered to resign by John Bolton, the dangerous neoconservative warmonger who is currently National Security Adviser to President Trump. Bustani pointed out to Bolton that he was appointed by the OPCW member states, not by the US, and refused to resign. Here is Bolton's reply: "OK, so there will be retaliation. Prepare to accept the consequences. We know where your kids are."

This is American diplomacy at work. It is based entirely on lies, bribes, threats, coercion, murder. Remember the State Department official who told the president of Pakistan, do as I say now or we will bomb you into the stone age?

Bolton had Bustani voted out. The members of the OPCW preferred their Washington subsidies to being an honest organization.

It makes no sense for Russia to rely on "international organizations" that are under Washington's control.

It makes no sense for Russia to rely on common sense in the West. There is no common sense anywhere in the West. If the West had common sense, the West would not be sending a flotilla to attack Russian and Syrian forces.

It makes no sense for Russia to speak about their "American partners." No such partner exists. Russia has only American enemies.

The neoconservatives who control US foreign policy have stated it clearly in their declaration that the principle goal of US foreign policy is to prevent the rise of Russia and any other country that could serve as a constraint on US unilateralism. The neoconservatives have made it abundantly clear that Russia has to go. It is dangerous for Russia to disregard such a clear warning. Yet when I am interviewed by Russian media, the journalists are perplexed by "neoconservative." What is that, they ask.

How can it be that Russian journalists are unaware that the powerful interest group whose most warmonger member, John Bolton, sits as Trump's right-hand man, has marked Russia for vassalage, conquest, or annihilation? A country this uninformed hasn't much survival potential.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.



U.S. Navy Destroyers Launch Strikes on Syria

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On the eve of the arrival in Syria of the inspectors of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the UN chemical weapons agency, to investigate the use of chemicals in Douma, Syria last week that reportedly killed 42 persons, the decision for the US/UK/France to attack Syrian government chemical facilities, without United Nations authorization and for the US, without Congressional authorization, is a bit suspicious -- to put it mildly.

For the US/UK/French to attack Syrian government chemical facilities before the international inspectors could check the bodies of those killed for chemicals, talk to survivors and compare the results with what is in the Syrian government chemical facilities is bewildering -- unless the US/UK/France knew the UN inspectors were going to find NOTHING to substantiate their assessment -- and that without evidence, but merely a "high possibility," the three countries were going to attack Syria anyway.

With the alphabet soup of militias in Syria, hired and equipped by the US, UK, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Russia, UAE, Qatar, Israel, each group has the capability of executing a Douma attack. The chemical attacks are easy to do, especially by groups that have access to the targeted area.

The question of why a group would execute such an attack should be the fingerprints on the operation.

What would be the purpose for the Syrian government to use chemicals when they know the Western countries are itching to use missiles on locations where their militias have been unable to reach?

Would the Syrian government and their Russian allies purposefully use chemicals to invite an attack?

Are militia groups trying to keep their international sponsors and need an immediate reason to get continued funding especially when President Trump tweeted last week that he wants to get the US out of Syria?

The evidence of whom was responsible for the attack was still missing one day ago on Thursday, April 12, when Secretary of Defense Mattis said, "the US is looking for evidence," and the UK government said "it is highly likely the Syrian government did the attack."

This US attack follows in the line of other Presidential administrations that have ordered US military attacks that have gotten our country into civil wars, invasions, and occupations by telling our Congress and the American people lies:

Remember the Maine? (Cuba) Remember the "Tonkin Gulf Attack"? (Viet Nam) Remember US medical students "at risk" in Grenada? (Grenada) Remember "I saw Saddam's troops throw Kuwaiti babies out of incubators"? (Gulf War 1) Remember Iraq's "Weapons of Mass Destruction"? (Iraq war) Remember the earlier gas attacks in Syria in which the UK Parliament refused to authorize an attack on the Syrian government because it was unclear who was responsible -- and Obama threw the decision of a US attack to Congress -- which to their credit voted NO? Remember Gaddafi is going to massacre the people of Benghazi and is giving viagra to his troops to rape the women? (Libya) Remember the UK "nerve gas" attack that still has not been linked to Russia?

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A fresh war of words has broken out over the long-simmering border dispute between Beijing and New Delhi just weeks before an expected visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China, according to South China Morning Post.

Although the two sides have been working to repair relations since last year's stand-off in Doklam, analysts have cautioned there is still a high degree of mistrust between the two sides, especially given Delhi's concern about China's growing influence in India's backyard, the Chinese paper said.

China's investment and infrastructure works under the Belt and Road Initiative have strengthened its ties with Pakistan, India's main rival, as well as other countries in what Delhi sees as its backyard including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Officials in China and India have been working on a series of intense high-level engagements. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are expected to visit China later this month to attend ministerial meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

The visits are designed to pave the way for Modi to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping when he attends a summit of the bloc, which India and Pakistan joined as a full member last year, in the eastern port city of Qingdao in June.

In the latest test for their rapprochement efforts last year's stand-off, Beijing urged New Delhi to respect the so-called Line of Actual Control -- the de facto border between the two.

China is also reported to have protested over recent Indian military patrols in Arunachal Pradesh, a region that China has never recognized as Indian territory.

"Prior to the resolution of the border issue, it is hoped that the Indian side abides by the agreement protocol, respects and obeys the Line of Actual Control and refrains from hyping up the issue and works with China to jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas," Geng Shuang, the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Monday.

"China's position on the Sino-Indian boundary issue is consistent and clear. The Chinese government has never acknowledged the so-called Arunachal Pradesh," Geng told a press briefing in Beijing.

"Both China and India are negotiating to resolve the boundary issue between the two countries and seek a fair and reasonable solution acceptable to both sides."

Without a common understanding of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), tensions in the border areas remain deep and disputes will continue, said Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, a visiting fellow at Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a New Delhi-based think-tank.

"There is a greater acknowledgement of differences in perception about the LAC. Both countries' troops make patrols up to their perceived LAC," Chaturvedy said adding:

"As long as there is a political understanding between the top leaders, such matters will be kept under control."

Prateek Joshi

After relations between China and India reached a new low during last year's Doklam stand-off, New Delhi's China policy has taken a sharp turn this year, in what could be interpreted as a reversal of its previous stance, says Prateek Joshi, a research associate with VIF India, a New Delhi-based Public Policy Institution.

The change in India's approach has triggered a backlash in academic and strategic circles at home, with China skeptics expressing concern that Delhi was "surrendering" to Beijing. Such an observation isn't entirely accurate, writing in the South China Morning Post, Joshi argues adding:

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From WSWS

Excerpts from a new memoir by former FBI Director James Comey, leaked to the press on Thursday, have ignited a new round of attacks and counterattacks in the ongoing conflict within the US political establishment. Following Monday's FBI raid on Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, the Comey book is being used by the anti-Trump faction within the ruling class and the state to escalate a months-long campaign that increasingly appears aimed at removing Trump from office.

Anti-Trump forces within the establishment are focusing more and more on sensational sexual allegations, and Trump's responses are taking on an increasingly hysterical character, exposing the depraved and anti-democratic character of American bourgeois politics. In a series of tweets posted Friday, Trump denounced Comey, whom he fired last May, as a liar and "slime ball."

The book itself is not being released to the public until Tuesday, so the leaked excerpts represent an aggressive marketing campaign that will boost sales and pump millions into Comey's own pockets. This is combined with a series of television appearances, including an hour-long interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC scheduled for broadcast Sunday night.

Substantively, the Comey memoir apparently contains no significant revelations about Trump or his top aides and their connections to Russia or alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. There is much detail on Trump's appeals for loyalty from the then-FBI director. But Comey concedes that while offensive and possibly unethical, Trump's efforts to intercede with the FBI on behalf of his closest cronies, such as fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, may not have been illegal.

That has not stopped the media from picking up the most salacious and degrading sections of the book and flogging them. For their part, pro-Trump media and Republican Party publicists have launched a campaign to vilify "Lyin' Comey," frequently citing Democratic criticism of Comey for his earlier actions during the 2016 campaign in relation to the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

The main focus of the press coverage is Comey's claim that Trump approached him in January 2017, at a previously reported meeting at Trump Tower, and asked him to initiate an FBI investigation to discredit the so-called Steele dossier, which includes unverified material on Trump's activities in Russia collected by a former British spy working as a contractor for the Democratic National Committee.

According to Comey, Trump was most concerned about the claim that while in Moscow on a business trip in 2013 he had hired prostitutes to urinate on themselves in the same hotel suite used by President Barack Obama "as a way of soiling the bed." He asked Comey to have the FBI disprove this claim, which he said was very painful to his wife Melania.

This is presumably the low point of the 304-page book, and the first time that a top Washington insider has wallowed in such degrading material with so much detail. Reviews of the book based on advance copies suggest that Comey returns to the subject several times, relating at least four separate requests by Trump to rebut the Steele dossier on this point.

Press accounts have also cited Comey's comparison of the atmosphere of lies and flattery surrounding Trump in the White House to that of a Mafia clan. Comey, or a ghostwriter, describes feeling "flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob."

That Trump and his inner circle resemble a corrupt mob boss and his courtiers comes as no surprise. Trump was steeped in gangsterism and corruption in the course of his many decades in New York City real estate, casino gambling, "reality" television and their many intersections with capitalist politicians of both the Democratic and Republican parties.

There is a great deal of personal animus towards Trump in the excerpts from the book made public in the media, ranging from the trivial -- the size of Trump's hands, the marks on his face and the style of his hair -- to characterizations of the president as liar-in-chief, bullying boss and, occasionally, smarmy supplicant. All this seems well calculated to meet the demands of the market for an anti-Trump diatribe, where Comey can expect a significant monetary reward.

Beyond the immediate pecuniary motives and self-justification, the Comey book is intended to become a further weapon in the campaign to destabilize the Trump administration being waged by sections of the military-intelligence apparatus and the Democratic Party. The driving force of this campaign is a deep conflict over foreign policy, particularly in relation to US policy towards Russia, both in the Middle East and more broadly.

The timing of the book's publication is remarkable from a number of standpoints. It comes during a week of intensifying crisis over Syria, with Trump threatening imminent military action against the government of Bashar al-Assad that could lead to a direct conflict with Assad's principal allies, Iran and Russia.

It is also striking that Comey has issued this volume while the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russian interference in the US elections and possible collusion with the Trump campaign is at a critical point, following the raid on Cohen, which was based on a referral by Mueller to the US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

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From RT

France's President Macron raised the stakes for war in Syria by claiming to have proof chemical weapons were used by the "regime" last weekend. Macron is thus making a joint military strike on Syria with the US more likely.

From the outset of the dubious chemical weapons incident on April 7 in the city of Douma, near the Syrian capital Damascus, US President Donald Trump has relied heavily on his French counterpart for guidance on what military action to take.

Bloomberg has described Emmanuel Macron as Trump's "go-to guy in Europe." The American president is said to trust Macron more than any other European leader. When the news of the alleged chemical weapons incident broke, it was Macron whom Trump phoned first -- much to the chagrin of the British and their presumed "special relationship" with Washington.

In a series of follow-up calls, the French reportedly exchanged intelligence with the White House to show that chemical munitions had been used against civilians by the Syrian government forces of President Bashar Assad. It seems it was due to the French lead that Trump adopted such a bellicose position, blaming "animal Assad" and Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the "atrocity."

Trump went on to warn Russia to get ready for "new, smart missiles coming." However, the president then appeared to quickly back down, later intimating that a decision on whether or not to launch military strikes had not yet been taken.

Significantly, France's Macron then weighed in with his categorical claim to "have proof that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian regime." This was while US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that they are still making an assessment about the purported incident.

Macron has previously said that not implementing "red lines on chemical weapons" is a sign of "weakness" which he will certainly not balk at. Given his categorical claim about chemical weapons being used by the Assad forces, that can only mean one outcome -- military action.

So, it seems the French leader is indeed Trump's "go-to guy" in Europe -- for war on Syria. What the precise French intelligence on the Douma incident is based on, and from where it was sourced, is not publicly substantiated. It is unverified -- as with so much else Western governments claim these days. We are expected to simply take the word of the French president. Though, that's entirely questionable.

For its part, the Syrian government has unequivocally rejected accusations its forces used chemical munitions in recapturing Douma and its Eastern Ghouta environs. Syria and Russia say the alleged incident was a staged provocation carried out by the Western-backed insurgents. The strategic victory has routed the last-remaining stronghold of the anti-government militants near the capital. As President Assad remarked, the staged provocation was aimed at distracting from the military breakthrough against the Western-backed regime-change proxies.

Russian chemical warfare analysts, as well as locally-based Red Crescent medics at Douma City hospital, have also found no traces of chemical weapons, or people showing symptoms of poisoning. A World Health Organization claim that "500 people were injured with chemicals" is not based on its own on-the-ground information-gathering, but rather on the claims of "activists in the area" -- which probably means the notorious White Helmets, the so-called rescue group which is embedded with terrorist outfits like Al-Nusra Front and Jaysh al-Islam.

Therefore, how can President Macron be so confident to have proof under the circumstances? He cannot possibly have the evidence he claims to have. He is either lying or willfully peddling allegations communicated by the White Helmets and other proxies which have been exposed as on the payroll of the French government, as well as the CIA and Britain's MI6.

In this way, Macron is reprising the role played by former British leader Tony Blair when the latter served as the public relations manager to the George W Bush administration over the Iraq War. Like Blair, Macron lends Trump a certain gravitas upon which to launch a war.

If there is one outstanding trait in the 40-year-old French leader, it is his ruthless ambition. The former investment banker has a knack for climbing up greasy poles. He has endeavored to position himself as the pre-eminent European leader, eclipsing Germany's Angela Merkel or Britain's Theresa May, as the point man for Washington.

Later this month, he will be the first European leader to be given an official state reception in Washington -- a gesture from Trump in response to Macron's guest-of-honor invitation at the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris last year.

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By Dave Lindorff



A hastily called antt-Syria bombing protest in central Philadelphia

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The single most important thing that happened last night when the US military on President Trump's orders launched a wave of over 100 cruise missiles against Syria was that once again the US violated the most profound international law of war: initiating a war of aggression against a nation that posed no threat, imminent or otherwise, to the US or its allies.

Called a "Crime against Peace," this violation (whose perpetrators, under the precedent set in the Nuremberg Trials that followed World War II, can face capital punishment), is considered worse than any other war crime because, as US Nuremberg prosecutor Robert Jackson explained in his argument at the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals, a war of aggression is "not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

President Trump, during his televised White House announcement just after the launching of his bombing attack on Syria, said, "The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons"We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."

He was making the argument that the US, acting on its own authority without any sanction from the UN Security Council as required under international law, somehow had a duty to, on its own, punish Syria for its alleged violation of a Geneva Convention against the use of chemical weapons.

Putting aside for a moment the important question of whether the Syrian government actually did use chemical weapons in the Douma suburb of Damascus, which is in fact highly suspect, even if that country's leader, Basher al Assad, did order the use of a banned chemical weapon, Assad's crime would be far less serious than the crime Trump and the US perpetrated under international law.

Fortunately, it appears as if saner members of the largely crazy Trump administration -- notably Secretary of Defense James Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general -- prevailed over the neoconservative warmongering chicken hawk John Bolton, recently ensconced in the ever-changing National Security Advisor spot, with the result that the much ballyhooed US cruise missile attack on Syria's purported "chemical arms infrastructure" was limited to three sites.

More importantly, earlier talk of hitting "command-and-control" centers like government buildings in Damascus, or Syrian air bases -- places where Russia had warned that it had its own military personnel and that could have provoked a Russia military response -- was pushed aside and such targets were left off the hit list. That meant the risk, about which Mattis pointedly warned in recent days, of this US attack morphing uncontrollably into a war between the two nuclear superpowers operating in Syria, the US and Russia, was minimized"

For the rest of this article by DAVE LINDORFF in ThisCantBeHappening!, the uncompromised, collectively run, six-time Project Censored Award-winning online alternative news site, please go to: www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/3859Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

The US and its allies attacked Syria today (4/13/2018) and Russia did not respond.

The American Machiavellians prevail again. Russia obviously agreed behind the scenes to step aside to allow this attack to happen. Should they have risked WWIII to stop the US? I don't know. But they didn't and it seems clear that they won't. The major powers bluster and strut in front of the news cameras, but behind the scenes they make deals. Raw power wins the day. The Russian hope is down the drain.

All over the world we see the same thing. The wealthy live off the poor and encapsulate themselves in walled living areas for their protection against those whom they exploit. Increasingly we will see genocidal actions against the poor. If they are no longer needed for menial tasks they will be disposed of.

We who still want to fight this evil that has taken possession the world need to re-group. We cannot expect Russia to end the domination of the world by the US and Israel. Russia will capitulate in time. Nor can we look to China for real help. It is a totalitarian and capitalist state in its own right.

It is we ordinary citizens pushing the limits of what is possible in every country of the world who will do the job. We, or nobody.

We need to become clear regarding who the enemy is, and what the solution is.

The enemy is not people; it is a network of social systems. The enemy consists of the systems of unfettered capitalism and totalitarianism that dictate the ways in which we are forced to interact with each other.

Our task is to find non-violent ways of replacing our present elitist social systems with systems that implement shared decision-making and the equitable distribution of goods in ALL spheres of life: families, clubs, religious organizations, businesses, governments and schools. By non-violent, I mean avoiding attacks on people. No more killing. Killing as a political strategy is immoral and ultimately it backfires.

But non-violent techniques, to be effective, must be much more aggressive than anything we are seeing. A few polite electronic petitions won't cut the mustard. Non-violent resistance must disrupt systems. It must create discomfort. It must put an end to business as usual until such time as business as usual meets everybody's needs.

Is a non-violent revolution an impossible task? Perhaps. But if that is true, there is no hope at all. Nothing else will do the trick.Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

This is a good time to reflect on the beautiful monument that was built on the shores of New Jersey in commemoration of the events of 9/11. One large teardrop, appearing to form slowly, occupying a hideous crack where none should be in a human edifice.

How did this remarkable structure come to be? Russian artist Zurab Tseretelli came upon the idea as he walked the streets of Moscow and observed the grief on people's faces. This deep resonance of the Russian people with American agony was the inspiration for what followed.

Such a response came easily to the Russian people because of their own history of suffering. No people suffered more than the Russians at the hands of their own governments and of the Nazis during the twentieth century.

Let your gaze linger once again upon this gift, and see it as symbolizing our deeper human connection across superficial divides that can ever only have transient significance. Let us resolve to build upon that connection rather than be swept up in the accelerating drumbeat toward confrontation.



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(Article changed on April 14, 2018 at 20:03)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 Our Future

"Trade wars are good, and easy to win," tweeted Donald Trump when he threatened to slap tariffs on China and other nations he accused of "assaulting our country" last month.

Stock traders were spooked as China promised to retaliate. Commentators across the political spectrum warned of job losses, price increases, economic peril, and trade wars.

Progressives like Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren showed more sense, praising Trump for challenging China's mercantilist policies, as did Conor Lamb, the surprise Democratic victor in the House special election in Pennsylvania.

Just because Trump denounces our "lousy trade deals" doesn't mean Democrats have to defend them.

In fact, a majority of House Democrats has led the opposition to our corporate trade policies. Democrats torpedoed Obama's Trans Pacific Partnership, long before Trump became president. They've demanded the renegotiation of NAFTA, and the Korean Free Trade Accord.

Trump's challenges to our trade policies are long overdue. The problem is he and his crew have yet to define a sensible alternative. On China, Trump's posturing is likely to produce more theater than fireworks. Trump targeted "Made in China 2025," the nation's 10-year strategy to develop higher-value exports, when he announced his tariffs, but the Chinese aren't about to negotiate away their basic mercantilist economic strategy.

China's threatened retaliatory tariffs -- targeting products Americans grow in rural areas, like soybeans and pork -- show they know where Trump country is. Wall Street is already raising alarms. American companies, particularly those with supply chains dependent on China, including Apple and Walmart, will push hard for business as usual.

It is now reported that Trump may instruct aides to find a way to negotiate the U.S. back in to the TPP, showing once more that he isn't serious. The Chinese are likely to offer showy concessions, to allow Trump to save face. They'll even invite him to Beijing and roll out the red carpet, complete with a military parade. But, as Zhu Guangyao, vice minister of finance, boasted in response to Trump's tariffs, "China has never succumbed to external pressure." The Chinese leaders will continue to pursue their ambitious plans to dominate the industries of the future.

What's needed now is a fundamental debate: not about China's strategy, but about our own. Our globalization strategy, defined by and for global corporations and banks, has savaged working people, as the wealthy clean up.

Best estimates suggest the "China shock" alone -- the result of running the largest deficits with one country in the history of the world -- caused the loss of 2.4 million U.S. jobs between 1999 and 2011. And the effect was much broader. Companies used the threat of moving abroad to bludgeon workers into accepting cuts in wages and benefits.

Corporate globalization has allowed capital to run a race to the bottom on labor rights, environmental and consumer protections.

The defense of corporate globalization, as free-trade advocate Paul Krugman belatedly admitted, has been "basically dishonest," featuring "false claims of inevitability, scare tactics (protectionism causes depressions), vastly exaggerated claims for the benefits of trade liberalization and the costs of protection, hand-waving away the large distributional effects."

In fact, free-trade agreements, increasingly, have little to do with free trade. Tariffs were relatively low before NAFTA and its successors. Trade agreements consist of thousands of pages formalizing deals forged between powerful interests.

Multinational banks and drug companies made out like bandits. Corporations gained their own closed legal tribunals. Trade accords increasingly focus not on tariffs, but internal rules -- on investment guarantees, subsidies, health and safety, and intellectual property rights.

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(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) has announced a 15 per cent year-on-year increase in visitors for the 18th edition of Careers UAE, signalling a positive shift from both private and public organisations as a number of post-event interviews are secured by an expanding pool of talented UAE Nationals.

With high percentage of jobs on offer in a variety of industries, big players have used the three-day career exhibition to springboard their hiring process, locking in interviews for Emiratis in the weeks following the event, said the organisers.

Companies such as Emaar, DNV GL, Al Nabooda Automobiles and Maersk Line were among the participating organisations to follow up with Emiratis after Careers UAE, with the latter conducting 10 interviews with potential candidates.

Additionally, Maersk Line has since hosted an 'Open Day', inviting interviewees to introduce them to the company as part of the interview process, they stated.

Eloise le Conge Kleyn, the head of HR at Maersk Line, said: "It was our first year participating in Careers UAE at the InternsME stand and creative lab and was an amazing experience. We interviewed so many candidates and we were able to share what our company is all about."

"For a lot of UAE nationals, it is a new thing to look at multinationals and private companies as an employer so we are happy to be a part of this journey and to explain what the multinational can do for Emiratis career development," stated Kleyn.

Mariam Al Maeeni, the director of Industry Nationalisation at Dubai College of Tourism said Careers UAE, is an important event to meet students, graduates and talented youth who are seeking jobs in the industry and to give them some valuable guidance.

We provided them with valuable guidance through our awareness sessions and meetings giving an overview of how they could benefit and build a professional career by taking up a position in the tourism industry. Needless to say, Dubai College of Tourism & Medyafs initiative serves DTCMs objective to increase the number of Emiratis working in tourist facing roles by 2020, said Al Maeeni.

About 674 UAE Nationals registered in our Medyaf Database over the 3 days of the career fair, of which 436 were female and 238 male, remarked Al Maeeni.

"Of those, over 300 from those registered on the stand completed immediate interviews with several Industry leaders from Hospitality and Retail who were hosted at our stand," stated the official.

"We are now in the process of following up with our partners to get their assessment of the various applicants," he added.

On top of the range of participating exhibitors such as Dubai Police, UAE Armed Forces, Commercial Bank of Dubai and Etisalat, the show floor hosted a wealth of features including the Creativity Lab which was designed to take candidates through a step-by-step journey to hone their skills throughout the hiring process.

Onsite experts educated young Emiratis on how to enhance their CVs, interviewing skills and to give guidance on the roles best suited to their abilities.-TradeArabia News Service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.

"Congress must determine if and how we need to strengthen privacy standards to ensure transparency and understanding for the billions of consumers who utilize [technology] products," Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said at a US Senate hearing held to grill Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on April 10.

"[I]f Facebook and other online companies will not or cannot fix the privacy invasions," opined Bill Nelson (D-FL), "then we are going to have to -- we, the Congress."

Lindsey Graham (R-NC): "What do we tell our constituents, given what's happened here, why we should let you self-regulate?"

Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): "I think legislation is necessary. The rules of the road have to be the result of congressional action."

John Kennedy (R-LA): "I don't want to vote to have to regulate Facebook, but by God I will."

Back in early 2015, when then-president Barack Obama signed an executive order on cybersecurity "information sharing," I pointed out in a column that the federal government is the last organization any sane human being would trust to secure the privacy of his or her data.

My opinion was swiftly and irrefutably vindicated: That same year produced revelations of government database breaches compromising the personal information of 22 million former government employees, 330,000 taxpayers, and 191 million voters.

So here we are, three years later, and the US Senate wants you to believe that it can, if it deems itself called upon to do so, excel the efforts of Mark Zuckerberg to safeguard the information you entrust to social media.

Cue laughter, followed by horror as the realization dawns that yes, the US Senate will undoubtedly soon deem itself called upon to do that.

It's not that the rest of us need their help. We don't, and even if we did they couldn't help us.

It's that we don't understand the real problem, and they do.

The real problem is not with Facebook's handling of your information.

The real problem is that politicians never have as much power as they want to have.

The solution to that problem is obvious: All they need to do is just award themselves a little bit more power. More power over Facebook. More power over the Internet. More power over your information. More power over you.

You didn't really believe this was about your information, your privacy, or your freedom, did you? Politics is always about who's in charge, and politicians always sincerely believe that it should be them.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.



President Trump Announces Strikes Against Syria In an address to the nation, President Trump said the U.S., Great Britain and France had launched strikes aimed at crippling the Syrian government's chemical weapon capability. Originally...

(Image by YouTube, Channel: VOA News) Details DMCA



President Trump announcing missile strike on Syria last night, April 13, 2018

Let's face it, Trump backed himself into a corner. He had to launch a missile strike on Syria-to back up his tough talk earlier in the week- over the alleged chemical attack outside Damascus last Saturday accusing the Bashar Assad government of targeting his own people. The British and French joined in trying to give the appearance of a coalition strike but simply put this was a US led operation.

Apparently there were some 105 missiles fired from two US ships operating in the Red Sea but most were intercepted by Syrian government missiles causing some material damage to three areas struck. One was a scientific research facility 40 miles west of Damascus and two others a storage facility and weapons facility outside of Homs. Only a few minor injuries were reported and no deaths.

Significantly no Russian military facilities were hit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the attack as an unlawful violation of international law and not approved by the UN Security Council. He intends to bring it before Council this weekend.

So briefly what has occurred:

The strikes didn't cause much damage and no deaths.

No Russian military facilities were hit.

There apparently was extreme caution to avoid hitting any Russian military facilities.

The strikes did nothing to change the situation on the ground. Assad is still winning the war and all Damascus including E. Ghouda has been liberated by the Syrian Arab Army.

Putin and Russia are taking the high road acting diplomatically.

Russia doesn't seem intent to carry out any retaliatory military measures against the US in Syria.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is due to arrive in the Gouda area to assess where the alleged chemical attacks were supposed to have occurred.

In reality all out war has been averted. Some sanity has occurred in US military planning at least for the present. The OPCW is likely to find no chemical weapons attacks even occurred. Russia taking the high road diplomatically rather than taking retaliatory military action as unnecessary will show the world it's the US and the west that are the true aggressors in Syria. The Syrian people generally support Assad and regime change isn't going to happen.

This doesn't mean new US initiated false flag attacks then blaming Assad won't happen in the future. That may be too much to expect. But when the accusations and assertions prove false-as they always do- and Assad remains supported by the Syrian people Trump will follow what the US eventually did in Vietnam "declare victory" -as if they defeated ISIS and al Qaeda-and leave.

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April 13, 2018. Tonight the U.S., along with British and French forces, launched bomber and missile strikes on Syrian facilities the Trump/Pence regime claims are linked to chemical weapons production. It's not known at this writing how many Syrians have been killed or wounded, but there are breaking news reports that at least one strike, on the science institute in Damascus, hit a densely populated area.

This attack is an outrageous, naked act of imperialist aggression.It's a war crime. And it's an extremely dangerous escalation of the Syrian war, that has the potential to turn into a regional, even global conflagration.

The U.S. and its imperialist allies have no right to swagger across the planet, like global mafia bosses, to violently dictate and impose their reactionary interests and agendas on the rest of the world.

EVERYONE should speak out against U.S. aggression and war moves, and join protests taking place this weekend across the country. Click HERE for protests being organized by RefuseFascism.org.

This attack comes a week after reports, on April 7, of an apparent chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, outside the Syrian capital Damascus, that reportedly killed dozens and injured several hundreds more. The Trump/Pence regime immediately blamed the reactionary regime of Bashar al-Assad and threatened action.

Trump and Defense Secretary "Mad Dog" Mattis went on TV to justify their assault in the name of upholding international conventions and deterring the use of chemical weapons.

Since when have the U.S. and other imperialists given a flying f*ck about international laws and conventions, or abolishing chemical weapons for that matter? When they supplied Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons in the 1980s? When they flagrantly violated conventions against torture after 911? When they violated international law by launching a war of aggression against Iraq in 2003 based on lies about weapons of mass destruction?

Tonight Trump said Syria's reported chemical attacks aren't "the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead." Assad is a monster. He and his Russian and Iranian sponsors are butchers who have carried out atrocities against the Syrian people and all contributed to the staggering, criminal toll the 7-year long, reactionary Syrian war has taken.

But Assad's crimes and monstrosity pales in comparison--in fact there is no comparison--next to the monster imperialists--the U.S., Britain and France--who have carved up, exploited, plundered, and carried out one bloody atrocity after another against the peoples of the Middle East for the last century, including helping fuel the reactionary bloodbath in Syria. And this continues right up to the present day! As Trump bellowed about crimes and monsters, the U.S. was backing Saudi Arabia's genocidal war in Yemen and supporting Israel when it shoots down unarmed Palestinian demonstrators--like it did again today.

And Assad is no comparison to the monster now in the White House who calls for openly reinstituting torture, murdering families of suspected "terrorists," launching war on Iran and a nuclear holocaust on North Korea, and poses a threat to the whole planet and the future of humanity!

Tonight's attack was carried out to advance the imperialist interests of these monsters and to reassert their increasingly contested stranglehold on the Middle East--not to end the scourge of war, weapons of mass destruction or to aid the Syrian people.

This situation is extremely dangerous. What does it mean when Trump declares this an ongoing, sustained response? What happens if U.S.-led attacks on Syria lead to a direct clash between the U.S. and its allies, including Israel, with Russia and/or Iran? This would have the potential to spiral into a regional or global cataclysm that could end up taking many thousands, even millions of lives!

The Trump/Pence regime will also, no doubt, use this attack to tighten its grip on power, and push forward its efforts to consolidate fascism.

All this underscores the urgency of taking up and spreading RefuseFascism.org's call and plan to organize to drive the fascist Trump/Pence regime from power.

Stop Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!

In The Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America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.



Gas Victims

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EXACTLY ONE YEAR AGO THIS MONTH, I PUBLISHED THE STORY BELOW ON THIS SITE. TODAY, NOT ONE WORD NEEDS CHANGING. FOOL ME ONCE . . .

_______

Baby Victims -- Theirs & Ours: The Power of Photos

It is extremely interesting to compare the Trump administration's response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria and its apparent ignorance of similar weapons use by the U.S. and U.K. in Fallujah in March and November of 2004 under the leadership of Mad Dog Mattis, our current Secretary of Defense.

We all know about Mr. Trump's reaction a few days ago to the deployment of chemical weapons in Syria. In the face of denials by the Syrian government, and on evidence that remains undisclosed, the Trump crowd was determined to "punish" the al-Assad government for the heinous crime of using chemical weapons.

In his justification for "punitive measures" on April 6th, President Trump paid particular attention to the photographic evidence of chemical weapons use by the al-Assad government. Specifically, he reminded us of the child victims involved. The pictures Mr. Trump was referring to included these:







Haley Gas Victims

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Haley Gas Victims

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And this one:







Gas Victims

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Gas Victims

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And this one:







Baby Victims

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Baby Victims

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But what about the U.S.-inflicted atrocities behind photos like this one?:







Fallujah 1

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Fallujah 1

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Or this one?:







Fallujah 2

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Fallujah 2

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Or this one?:







Fallujah 3

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Fallujah 3

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According to a study published in 2010,"Beyond Hiroshima -- The Non-Reporting Of Fallujah's Cancer Catastrophe," those are pictures of the deaths and birth defects directly resulting from "American" use of depleted uranium and chemical weapons including white phosphorous in Fallujah in 2004.

And it's not simply a question of birth defects. According to the same study infant mortality, cancer, and leukemia rates in Fallujah have surpassed the rates recorded among survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Following the Fallujah offensives, the rates in question rose by 60%. Dr Mushin Sabbak of the Basra Maternity Hospital explained the rises as resulting from weapons used by the U.S. and U.K. "We have no other explanation than this," he said.

And the problem extends far beyond Fallujah. Increased cancer rates and astronomical rises in birth defects have been recorded in Mosul, Najaf, Basra, Hawijah, Nineveh, and Baghdad. As documented by Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist at the University of Michigan, there is "an epidemic of birth defects in Iraq." She writes,

"Sterility, repeated miscarriages, stillbirths and severe birth defects - some never described in any medical books - are weighing heavily on Iraqi families."

Australian anti-war activist, Donna Mulhearn, who has travelled repeatedly to Fallujah, talking with Iraqi doctors as well as affected families, added to the list: "babies born with parts of their skulls missing, various tumors, missing genitalia, limbs and eyes, severe brain damage, unusual rates of paralyzing spina bifida (marked by the gruesome holes found in the tiny infants' backs), Encephalocele (a neural tube defect marked by swollen sac-like protrusions from the head), and more."

Several highly remarkable aspects of the situation just described immediately present themselves. For one there is the almost total silence of the media about the crimes of the U.S. and U.K. Then there is the lack of outrage (or even awareness?) on the parts of President Trump and U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley.

And what about those members of Congress so concerned about damage and pain to unborn fetuses? (I mean, what we have here in effect is a massive abortion operation by the United States in an entirely illegal war which has already claimed more than a million mostly civilian casualties.)

However, what is most remarkable about the contrast between responses to Syria and Iraq is the continued surprise of "Americans" by reprisal attacks by Muslims, which continue to be identified by our media as irrational and evil "terrorist attacks." That is, on the one hand, the U.S. feels free to self-righteously rush to judgment and "punish" the suspected perpetrators of the Syrian attacks. But on the other, it downplays, classifies, or otherwise suppresses photographs and scientific reports testifying to its own much worse crimes. Once again, those outrages are carried out against unborn fetuses, living children, women, the elderly and male adults -- the very same population cohorts that so concern our "leaders" when they are attacked by designated enemies.

The logic is inescapable. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If the U.S. is outraged by the killing of innocents and feels the need to "punish" the suspected perpetrators, someone else has the right to treat the United States in the same way. (We might not know of the crimes of our government and military, but the whole Arab world knows!)

So we shouldn't be surprised by any "terrorist" attacks that mimic on a comparatively small scale the U.S. response to the killing of the "beautiful little babies" that so concern Mr. Trump.

That's the cost of hypocrisy, double standards, wars of aggression, and the use of outlawed weapons of mass destruction. In war ghastly offensives elicit ghastly counter-offensives.Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall's book, Bottom-Up, offers valuable ways of seeing and powerful tools for enabling new power and connectivity to work to change the hope and promise for the future."



Jeremy Heimans, CEO & Co-founder of Purpose and coauthor of New PowerQuicklink Not Found

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"Nothing will say more about who we've become as a nation than if a torturer is allowed to head the CIA"

(Peter Van Buren, 2018)

In 2002 Haspel, known to CIA colleagues as "Bloody Gina ," was working for Jose Rodriguez, the man in charge of implementing the torture program at secret locations around the world. Her cable, "Turning Up the Heat in AZ Interrogations," recommended torturing Abu Zubaydah , whom the CIA was interrogating at a "black site" in Thailand.

Andrew Sullivan reported in New York Magazine (4/6/18) that, "Three months after [Haspel's]cable . . . Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times. Haspel reported at one point that the CIA team conducted a 'dress rehearsal " which choreographed moving Abu Zubaydah in and out of the large and small confinement boxes, as well as use of the water board.'" As Raymond Bonner explains, the brutality was pointless "because he was not a member of al-Qaida, and had no knowledge of any plots against the United States."

Pro Publica has retracted its earlier report that Haspel was "chief of base" in Thailand while Zubaydah was tortured. But it and the New York Times affirm that she was in charge of the base during the subsequent interrogation of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. He was waterboarded three times, left nude in a "standing sleep deprivation position with his aims affixed over his head," threatened with mock execution by pistol and power drill, confined in a coffin-like box, forcibly bathed and scrubbed on his anus and in his mouth with a stiff-bristled brush, and had his body forced backward in a kneeling position until he screamed.

In 2005, according to John Rizzo, (then) CIA acting general counsel, Jose Rodriguez and his chief-of-staff Haspel engineered the destruction of 92 videotapes of the interrogations of Zubaydah and al-Nashiri. They "were the staunchest advocates inside the [CIA] building for destroying the tapes," Rizzo wrote in his 2014 memoir, Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA."On the edges of meetings on other subjects, in the hallways, they would raise the subject almost every week" (BuzzFeed NEWS,3/28/18).

Rodriguez and Haspel destroyed the torture tapes in violation of a court order and the repeated instructions of the Bush administration. Gina Haspel and Jose Rodriguez have gone unpunished despite committing war crimes and covering them up. Instead, Gina Haspel has now been rewarded with a nomination to head the CIA.

This 2007 campaign statement by Sen. John McCain shows how far we've sunk since the years following WWII: " ... following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding."

The UN Convention Against Torture was signed by Ronald Reagan in April 1988 and ratified by the United States in October 1994. Two of its provisions explicitly rule out the excuses that have been offered for Haspel's conduct:

Art. 2.2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

Art. 2. 3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture".

Our ruling class is averse to prosecuting its members for crimes. During the eight years of the Obama administration, only one low-ranking Wall Street executive has been convicted for the widespread fraud that led to the financial crisis of 2007-08, the most severe since the Great Depression. No one at GM went to jail for knowingly selling cars with defective ignition switches that caused 124 deaths. And no high-ranking government official has been prosecuted for documented acts of torture in violation of international and U.S. law.

This indulgence toward upper-class felony contrasts with our swelling population of lower-class prisoners. On any given day we have 2.3 million people locked up, 80,000 of whom are in solitary confinement (arguably a form of torture). We have the highest incarceration rate in the world.

The rule of law means that every person, regardless of political or economic status, is bound by the same set of laws. It is the foundation of our constitution and of any just society. The rule of law is always vulnerable to the demands of rich and powerful people who believe they are entitled to impunity. Their demands are harder to deny when economic inequality is as extreme as it is in today's America. Billions of dollars in personal wealth translates into a great amount of raw political power. If these people regularly get their way, our society becomes fundamentally corrupt.

If we as a nation are not ruled by laws, then we are subject to the will of a powerful minority of billionaires and their elected servants. Lawlessness in government means being governed by force, by the threat of punishment from those who control our police and armed forces. Torture is perhaps the purest expression of the brutality of power unchecked by law--power wielded by a government that has lost its respect for those it governs.

It is a brutality which Donald Trump seems to savor. As he said on the campaign trail, "I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." It was entirely in character for him to nominate Gina Haspel.

What Veterans say about war: Minnesota anti-war protesters in Washington DC

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First, let's be clear about what "shared security" is. A recent definition comes from the "Shared Security" program now being run by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC): "Shared security is a new paradigm for promoting the safety and well-being of people throughout the world. It is based on the simple understanding that shared problems require shared solutions, and that our interests are best served when we foster peaceful and just relationships and protect the natural resource we all depend on." Many specific examples of AFSC's methods and successes in creating "shared security" in countries around the world can be found at "Shared Security .".



The same goal inspires the work of two other organizations I'd like to spotlight here . World Beyond War publishes a comprehensive annual overview of what a truly war-freeglobal security system would look like. It includes efforts being made to create it now by a variety of stakeholders as well. The latest edition is A Global Security System: Alternative to War(2017). Then there is the inclusive peace-building program described (and costed!) in Scilla Elworthy's recent book, The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War . She is a distinguished, longtime peace builder at very high levels, as well as the founder of Peace Direct. Peace Direct specializes in "funding, promoting, and learning from local peace-builders in conflict areas." It's the manifestation of Scilla's main premise: peacebuilding begins at home. For almost every point she makes in her book, there is a concrete example of real peace-building action, at every level. (1)

All of these sources offer deep proof that shared security works a lot better than war to provide what people really need, including safety and jobs. As for the special case of preemptive war, recent U.S. history provides glaring examples of the way that tactic in particular can go devastatingly wrong:Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. (Bolton's often stated idea that we could fix Iraq and the Middle East by launching yet another preemptive Iraq war is a classic case of setting out to dig faster and deeper when you are already trapped in a hole!)



But can the idea of "shared security" work in a world in where great power rivalries, particularly between the U.S. and Russia and China, are getting newly pushy? What about North Korea, a newly fledged nuclear power, flexing its young muscles now? Obviously, preemptive strikes against any of these players would be extraordinarily stupid and dangerous. But what about other kinds of military response, say to the regional conflicts now boiling over--Syria, Yemen, and so on? A different kind of comprehensive answer to all of these questions comes from what might be considered an unusual source for me: The January 27, 2018 Issue of The Economist. Their special report on The Future of War reviews in important detail the new kinds of weapons, war-fighting strategies, and war plans that are now the cutting edge . The gist of The Economist's survey is that even all-out conventional war and the weapons designed for it are rapidly evolving toward automation and robotic control. This trend includes the certainty of weapons that can make their own decisions about whom and when to kill, independent of human oversight. In tandem with this development comes the same kind of high tech innovation in nuclear weapons technology.



To sum up the point of The Economist's special report on the future of war, the risk of accidental conventional war, as well of accidental nuclear war, is now racing further ahead of human arrangements and decision making than ever. Moreover, as Daniel Ellsberg makes clear in the introduction to his recent book, The Doomsday Machine , even with the reductions in nuclear weapons stocks we've had over recent years, a single great power nuclear exchange would destroy all life on this planet: omnicide in short. Ellsberg points out that because of the way both the U.S. and Russia have delegated their response to missile launches widely, that outcome is inevitable, even from a single missile launch by either side. Moreover, it has long been official policy to keep this fact from both the public, lawmakers, and even presidents.



But the Economist's report doesn't just stop with a warning about the risks of accidental war. It also includes an important analysis of exactly how Russia, China, and N. Korea are themselves carefully avoiding any appearance of preemptive strike by a set of civilian plus low grade military strategies nicknamed "hybrid warfare," plus the more familiar "salami tactics," slicing a little off at a time, like a sausage. Difficult to deal with as these tactics are, they are still firmly situated in a relatively low grade tit for tat kind of potential equilibrium. This situation is better dealt with by non-military measures like sanctions and other "diplomatic" pressures. (Of course, we'd have to restore our State Department to full functioning for that to really work!) Compared to what our potential opponents are doing, the ham-handed U.S. National Security Strategy released in November 2017 looks like a "cut off your nose to spite your face" loser's throwback to the 1950's. As reported by Professor Michael Klare, the plan imagines that we can keep or regain global dominance today by selling off all of our own fossil fuel resources. This is a move guaranteed to put us at the mercy of both our antagonists and throw away back-up fossil fuel supplies we might need if our necessary transition to a renewable energy economy stalls.(2) All just to put money in fossil fuel cabal pockets, it seems, not to create any real U.S. national security.



The final conclusion of The Economist's report is sobering. Given the incalculable risks of today's new war-fighting technologies , great power negotiations to create a new form of shared security are vital for humanity and our ecosphere. The last chapter of The Doomsday Machine also contains Daniel Ellsberg's recommendations for a program to reduce our nuclear risk, starting now. But before you throw up your hands in despair, given the international rivalries we face now and the current government of the U.S., let me point something out to those too young to recall it. A lot happened in the anti-nuclear, anti-Reagan "Star Wars," anti-cold war struggle of the 1980's and 1990's. As a veteran of that struggle, I sometimes feel a strong sense of de'j vu when I hear talk of "battlefield nukes" or "space as a war-fighting arena" today. This is an old movie, and it's where I personally came in during the spring of 1981. And I also know that we saw amazing, unexpected things happen during those two decades. Events and changes brought an end to the Iron Curtain control of Eastern Europe, the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the Cold War. These were changes we didn't even expect when we started organizing. (We responded to the new levels of government insanity then, because as American citizens, it was just who we were, unable to just sit back and take it.) The changes I mentioned above were in part the result of a mushrooming grass roots U.S. peace movement , combined with a strong, unofficial grass roots citizen diplomacy campaign. (Detailed accounts of these stories can be found in the work of David Cortright and accounts of the Citizen Diplomacy initiatives of that era.)



But just a few stories here will give the flavor of those times. The first Bay Area Citizen Diplomacy trip to the U.S.S.R. featured private citizens carrying pictures of their grandchildren to show to ordinary Russian people on the street. The first man they approached who ignored his mother's political fears to actually look at the photos marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Then there was the moment at the S.F. Masonic Auditorium when the Beyond War group of that era collaborated with the U.S. branch and the Soviet branches of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War(IPPNW) and some Silicon Valley innovators to create a "space bridge" event. During the presentation, the American audience could see the Soviet audience (with a slight time lag), and after a tense moment, the Soviets began to respond to the Americans waving at them with their own waves back (after the president of the Soviet IPPNW group led by waving back.)



My last story is about what happened when the Soviet bureaucrats we sponsored and funded on return citizen diplomacy visits to the U.S. were taken to the Marina Safeway (a particularly opulent branch in San Francisco.)They would ask us,"Who can come in here?" In the U.S.S.R. at that time, only the most high-ranking political elites would be able to go into a store like that. Our answer? "Anyone." That was it, I believe. The Marina Safeway was the real winner of the Cold War, at least in our area! As there were U.S. Citizen Diplomacy initiatives like this happening all over the U.S., there must be many stories like that one.

Yes, all the great powers, the U.S. included, need to get serious about developing a new "shared security" regime at every level, but they will only do it when the people start pushing for it from below. Divided and distracted as Americans are now by economic inequality among all the other outrages of the day, we must still start a new push for a safer international community. The marches to protest gun violence were a good start. We must take the next steps now. Today more than ever, "#shared security works" and "#preemptive war fails."





Susan C. Strong, Ph.D., is the Founder and Executive Director of The Metaphor Project, http://www.metaphorproject.org, and author of our new book, Move Our Message: How to Get America 's Ear. The Metaphor Project has been helping progressives mainstream their messages since 1997. Follow Susan on Twitter @SusanCStrong.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Notes:



General Comment re our new Syrian strikes: Immediate responses to the latest U.S. air strikes on Syria should include a demand that the Senate delay confirmation of Pompeo until they get a firm commitment from the Administration to seek congressional authority before any further expansion of the war.

(1) If anyone asks you how measures like the ones described in the body of the blog above can stop the many terrorist groups active worldwide, point out that these groups are fueled by injustice, the international arms trade, and foreign money. Action at every level to stop all of those flows, injustice, arms, and money, can go a long way toward reducing the amount of terrorist activity everywhere. Particular examples of success in doing this work can be found in all of these sources, but especially in Scilla Elworthy's book and her Peace Direct reports.



(2) Of course, such a strategy is also national insecurity madness, given the climate change impact of it. Right now it's being reported that the Gulf Stream "conveyer belt" is slowin g, with predictable damage to Europe's climate and crops, as well as to our own East Coast fisheries.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.



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"If we want to get out of the mess we're in, we better find out how we got into it." -- Mark Twain

Not sure Twain actually said that, but since so much witty wisdom is attributed to him, why not that one?

What could have been the Sage of Hannibal's advice is the premise behind the Real Democracy History Calendar, a daily description produced and distributed by the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy [POCLAD] of exactly how we got into our many legal, political, economic and social messes -- and what is being done in response.

Thankfully, many people have heard by now of "corporate personhood," that nonsensical development in U.S. history that gradually gave corporations (or legal fictions as we like to call them) the constitutional rights of real human beings. Just as thankfully, a lot of people can tell you what calamities corporate constitutional rights have caused, which seem to be expanding by the day, and, as a result, are increasingly taking action to end them.

What a lot of people don't know, however, is that it took a monumental effort to unearth that history and evangelize what was learned -- over two decades of research and organizing in fact -- long before more recent accounts of corporate history have received media attention. That research makes up a fair amount of the raw material for the Real Democracy History Calendar.

Eschewing all book and movie offers, POCLAD now offers that Calendar free to anyone. It's sent by email every Monday morning and provides 1-2 listings per day of activities, events, quotes from prominent individuals and other occurrences (both past and recent) on the themes of democracy, human rights, corporate power and rule, and wealth in society (especially in elections).

POCLAD began in the 1990's to share the stories of those who came before us who struggled and organized to fundamentally resist the British "Crown" corporations through revolution, then defined and authorized corporate actions by granting and revoking corporate charters by legislatures and courts, and then organized against and sought authentic democratic alternatives to a wide range of corporate-friendly Supreme Court decisions that repeatedly applied the Bill of Rights and other constitutional rights to business corporations. POCLAD and a few allied groups also contrasted the ease by which corporations were granted corporate rights with the built-in racism, sexism and classism of the US Constitution where only white, men of property -- roughly 5% of the original inhabitants of the new nation -- constituted the We the People that have been so lauded in our culture. Every other group of people have spent decades, if not, centuries trying to secure a seat at the human rights table through organized social movements where they should have been all along if ours had been an authentic democracy from the beginning.

POCLAD's research, writings, workshops, retreats, gatherings and talks over the past near quarter-century, including publication of Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy: A Book of History & Strategies in 2001, inspired countless individuals and several organizations to appreciate the importance of building a modern day democracy movement that is diverse, independent and powerful to end all corporate constitutional rights and create a real political and economic democracy.

The goals of the Real Democracy History Calendar are to inform, intrigue and inspire -- and to illuminate the reality that creating real democracy will not happen by changing any one politician, passing/repealing any one law or regulation, or reversing any single Supreme Court decision. It requires, rather, changing our political, economic and social culture -- one byproduct of which will be to democratize our legal structures through genuinely inclusive, multi-issue, nonviolent social movements.

To subscribe to the free Calendar, go to https://realdemocracyhistorycalendar.wordpress.com/about

A few entry examples of the Calendar's breadth of coverage:

- January 5, 2012 - The article, "Granting Corporations Bill of Rights Protections Is Not 'Pro-business'" is posted on the American Independent Business Alliance website.

"The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) says such a change would badly harm the majority of America's independent businesses. AMIBA's brief to the U.S. Supreme Court...argued that even with present limitations on corporate political power, large corporations have converted their economic power into political favors that consistently harm small businesses. "

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(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).Former Congressman and current Democratic Candidate for Governor of Ohio, Dennis Kucinich, was quick to issue a statement regarding Trump's ordering a military attack against Syria, saying that Trump's actions embolden ISIS, erode our democracy and violate our Constitution. Kucinich is well known for carrying a copy of the Constitution in his pocket, which he refers to often. He stated:

President Trump acted without congressional authorization in ordering a military attack against Syria tonight. This is a clear violation of the United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 which makes it clear that only Congress has the power to declare war.



The President's Article II authority as "Commander in Chief" does not give him the authority to act independent of Congress on matters of war. This is not a mere technicality. The doctrine of separation of powers is the only thing which protects the US from becoming a dictatorship. The President is subject to the law.



The gas attack on Douma must be dealt with in an international court of law. If the US does not stand for the rule of law, how can we demand other countries to do so?



The attack on Syria will embolden ISIS. Our military power should not be used to help, directly or indirectly, ISIS and those elements whose philosophy is inimical to the United States of America.



The President has violated the Constitution, usurping the power of Congress This is not about whether or not the President hates Syria's leaders. It is about whether or not he loves the US Constitution, which he took an oath to defend.







The war power is not for this President, or any President, to use at his instance, unless the United States itself is in danger and facing an imminent threat. US soldiers or US weapons must never be sent to war without congressional approval.



The President's confrontation with the Russian military based in Syria endangers American troops stationed there. There is a danger of a much wider war with both Russia and Iran



Congress must step up to its responsibilities and rein in this presidential abuse of power and violation of the US Constitution.The US and its allies edged toward punitive measures against Syria as President Donald Trump met his national security team to discuss a response to an apparent chemical weapons attack by the country and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa Mays cabinet said it is vital to react to the incident.

The timing of any action is uncertain. Before meeting his advisers on Thursday, Trump told reporters at the White House that were looking very very seriously, very closely at that whole situation, and well see what happens, folks, well see what happens. Its too bad that the world puts us in a position like that.

In London, Mays cabinet gathered in an emergency session and afterward issued a statement saying that it agreed on the need to take action to alleviate humanitarian distress and to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.

That suggests May is prepared to join Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron if military strikes are launched against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government. Germany and Italy have said they will not take part in military action in Syria, reported Bloomberg.

Tensions remained high in the Middle East as Western powers debated their next steps. Oil headed for the biggest weekly advance in more than eight months on speculation that conflict could lead to supply disruptions, reinforcing a buy call on commodities by Goldman Sachs Group. Futures have gained 7.8 percent this week in New York.

Experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons are expected in Syria this weekend for a fact-finding mission to Douma, where the alleged April 7 chemical attack took place.

Trump and May spoke late Thursday and agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged, and on the need to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, according to a statement from the UK.

With US ramping up its military presence alongside exploring diplomatic channels, the hope is they will get the result of the strike without doing it, said Sami Nader, head of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs in Beirut. The outcome could be a return to talks about the departure of Assad.

Earlier Thursday, Trump said on Twitter that a US attack on Assads forces could come very soon, or not so soon at all.

That tweet followed by about 24 hours another Twitter post in which he warned Russia to get ready for a missile attack on its ally to punish Assad for the presumed chemical weapons attack near Damascus, raising concerns about an imminent attack that could spark an uncontrolled confrontation between the two Cold War antagonists.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday that his greatest fear from a potential strike on Syria is that the conflict would escalate out of control, if you get my drift. Russian, Turkish and Iranian forces are operating in Syria along with American forces combating Islamic State militants, risking a conflagration if a US strike goes awry, reported Bloomberg.

Mattis said that the US aim in Syria is to defeat Islamic State, not to engage in the civil war itself. But referring to the use of chemical weapons, Mattis said that some things are simply inexcusable, beyond the pale and require a response.

President Vladimir Putin, Assads ally, has appealed for common sense, and his spokesman said that Russian and American armed forces were maintaining contact via a telephone hotline.

If these strikes start, it could end very tragically and its impossible to predict the outcome - thats the nature of military actions, Frants Klintsevich, a Russian senator and a member of the upper houses defense and security committee, said in a phone interview.

Among the US military top brass there are no madmen -- these are professionals who arent populists and know what this could lead to.

With the threat of a military response in the air, Macron said that theres proof that Assads government again used chemical weapons. The allies are working to decide what response would be useful and efficient, Macron said in a television interview.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the use of chemical weapons and cited very strong evidence that the Syrian regime has again deployed them, the country ruled out participating in any military action. At the same time, she made clear that Germany wouldnt stand in the way of a response by its allies.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 Paul Craig Roberts Website

Is it insane to push for war with Russia, a major nuclear power?

Is it insane to threaten Russia and bring false charges against her?

Is it insane to brag about killing "hundreds of Russians"?

A normal person would answer "yes" to the three questions. So what does this tell us about Trump's government as these insane actions are the principle practice of Trump's government?

Does anyone doubt that Nikki Haley is insane?

Does anyone doubt that John Bolton is insane?

Does anyone doubt that Mike Pompeo is insane?

Does this mean that Trump is insane for appointing to the top positions insane people who foment war with a nuclear power?

Does this mean that Congress is insane for approving these appointments?

These are honest questions.

Assuming we avoid the Trump-promised Syrian showdown, how long before the insane Trump regime orchestrates another crisis?

The entire world should understand that because of the existence of the insane Trump regime, the continued existence of life on earth is very much in question.

People such as Stephen Cohn and myself, who were actively involved throughout the entirety of the Cold War, are astonished at the reckless and irresponsible behavior of the US government and its European vassals toward Russia. Nothing as irresponsible as what we have witnessed since the Clinton regime and which has worsened dramatically under the Obama and Trump regimes would have been imaginable during the Cold War. In this brief video, Stephen Cohen describes to Tucker Carlson the extreme danger of the present situation.

The failure of political leadership throughout the Western world is total. Such total failure is likely to prove deadly to life on earth.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 Counterpunch

The current crisis in Syria provides Donald Trump with his first genuine test as president and commander-in-chief. On the basis of his first 15 months in the White House, there is no reason to believe that he is equipped to manage a complex geopolitical and military situation that involves a failed Arab state as well as the military and political interests of many non-Arab states such as Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Israel in addition to the United States.

The delayed response to Syria's unconscionable use of chemical weapons against its own people indicates that the U.S. national security bureaucracy as well as such key European allies as the UK, France, and Germany are trying to constrain the president and to limit the damage of greater U.S. involvement.

There is reason to believe that Trump lacks the cognitive ability to deal rationally, let alone successfully, with the complex Syrian situation. Trump's chaotic Twitter outbursts have already warned of "nice and new and 'smart'" weapons; his handling of numerous personnel challenges in the White House; his constant contradictions on issues both foreign and domestic; his fixation with the presidency of Barack Obama and his presidential rival Hillary Clinton offer a pattern of bizarre and impulsive decision making. His bombastic threats over the past year have been a particular worry.

The Syrian situation requires serious cognitive capabilities. The president must analyze and absorb large amounts of factual material, but Trump prefers to shoot from the hip without the benefit of background briefings. His angry and implosive manner will complicate the necessity for calm and reasoned discussion of sensitive political and military matters. His cavalier attitude toward the use of military force points to a reckless and aggressive manner that belies the seriousness of the crisis in the Middle East. He considers himself a "stable genius," but repeatedly displays limited cognitive capabilities.

Trump's manic behavior suggests that the White House and the United States would benefit from having key advisers around him who would be able to govern and moderate his behavior. We've been told that the so-called "adults" in the room have performed that function, although I remain skeptical. In the past month, in any event, we have lost two of those "adults" (Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster) and their replacements (CIA director Mike Pompeo and John Bolton) appear just as impetuous and authoritarian as the president himself. Trump's numerous references to himself as the only one "who can fix it" point to the difficulty of counseling an authoritarian president.

The stress of the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller adds to the danger of the current situation because President Trump may view the use of military force as buying time in a worsening domestic atmosphere. The fact that he views the Mueller investigation as "an attack on America" also points to his authoritarian style.

Any discussion of the Syrian situation involves a debate over the use of lethal military weaponry against a target where Russian and Iranian forces are deployed. There are few military plans that survive the first round of fighting, but the Syrian situation is particularly complicated in view of the presence of foreign air and air defense forces.

We were lucky in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis because President John F. Kennedy was open to the use of diplomatic tools to solve the crisis, and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was strong enough to reverse himself and withdraw strategic forces that shouldn't have been deployed in the first place. Ultimately, each side did an effective job of assessing the intentions and capabilities of its adversary, which is a fundamental issue in any foreign policy crisis.

There is no reason to believe that Donald Trump is capable of making such assessments, and the presence of too many military advisers and a dearth of diplomatic advisers only complicates the situation. President Kennedy had the advantage of a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, Llewellyn Thompson, to provide wise counsel and to give Russia the time and space to make a deliberative decision.

President Trump must rely on John Bolton and a hollowed out Department of State that is no position to contribute to a measured and realistic assessment of the problem. Of course, Donald Trump prides himself on not needing intelligence briefings or even intelligent advisers.

Over the past year or so, President Trump has displayed that he has virtually no capability to assess his adversaries at home or abroad. His grandiosity and his indifference to the concerns of others are obstacles to effective decision making. The Syrian crisis is already testing the mettle of his entire national security team. There is genuine reason for concern.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.





We should have seen this coming.

More than a decade ago, I. Lewis Libby -- a.k.a. Scooter -- was convicted in federal court of lying to a grand jury and to the FBI and of obstructing justice. Libby had been chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney and one of the leading architects of the US invasion of Iraq, which the Bush-Cheney administration sold to the public with false and hyperbolic claims regarding Saddam Hussein's (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction programs and his (nonexistent) alliance with Al Qaeda. President Donald Trump pardoned Libby on Friday.

There was no pressing reason for Trump to revive this matter. "I don't know Mr. Libby, but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly," the president said in a statement. That was hardly a rousing explanation. But there is this: Libby was prosecuted by US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who had been appointed as special counsel in 2003 by a deputy attorney general named...James Comey. Whatever Trump's intent, the Libby pardon was a raised middle-finger to the fellow who has just compared Trump to a Mafia chieftain. It also sent a troubling signal that this president is not offended by those who stonewall the FBI and special counsels. Get the picture?Infection Surveillance Solutions Market Outlook - Global Size, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2023

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The infection surveillance solutions market is segmented on the basis of product and end user. The products are sub categorized into software and services. The software used for infection surveillance solutions are on-premise and cloud based software. The services include product support & maintenance, training & consultancy and implementation services. These surveillance solutions include usage of algorithms with specialized data mining software, electronic medical records and fully automated healthcare acquired infection (HAI) surveillance by employing clinical support based knowledge, that helps in identification of certain clinical terms. Several developments in infection surveillance solutions is making it simpler for healthcare staff to better understand surveillance software and its usage, which results in creating a trained workforce in the healthcare industry.In June, 2017, Wolters Kluwer announced that Point of Care (POC) Advisor, its real-time clinical surveillance and analytics platform, was to integrate the Natural Language Processing (NLP) solution from Hiteks Solutions, Inc. for inclusion of unstructured and structured documentation to make them immediately come into action. The purpose of the integration was to enable real-time analysis of physician notes for infection sources, presence of one or more diseases occurring at the same time and other clues to the presence of sepsis.Some of the other key players in global market are, Premier Inc., Baxter International Inc., Gojo Industries, Inc., Truven Health Analytics (An IBM Company), DEB Group Ltd., Hygreen, Inc., Atlas Medical Software, and RL Solutions.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-Free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:Global Registration Software Market 2023 Overview, Growth and Analysis

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The latest intelligence on the Registration Software market is available in the Global Registration Software Market Research report. This report is a culmination of the key events from last decade to present day, and helps to formulate the best strategy catered to both established market players and new entrants.A birds eye view of the Registration Software industry made available in the report helps readers to understand the key drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities that are shaping the global Registration Software market. Furthermore, the report evaluates challenges experienced from buyers and sellers side. The report offers advice from key industry experts on how these challenges can be overcome.A major chunk of the report talks about the technologies that are and will influence the growth of the Registration Software market. Forecasts for these technology sectors are presented in the report. Integration is the key to advancement in technology in the global Registration Software market. Companies that offers the latest integrated technologies at an affordable cost are expected to thrive in the Registration Software market. The dominating technologies in the Registration Software market along with the upcoming technologies that are expected to revolutionize the market are explained in the reportKey Vendors:TeamSnap, Eventbrite, EventBank, Cvent, Ticket Tailor and othersFor Sample Copy of this report:This report covers North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. It focuses on the leading and the progressing countries from every region in detail. Thus, helping give right ideas about the present and the future market scenario for the given forecast periodMicroeconomic and macroeconomic factors which affect the Registration Software market and its growth, both positive and negative, are also studied. The report features the impact of these factors on the ongoing market throughout the mentioned forecast period. The upcoming changing trends, factors driving as well as restricting the growth of the market are mentioned.The report gives a SWOT analysis of the new projects in the international and Registration Software market, investment feasibility, development trends, and investment return analysis of these projects. Study of the Registration Software markets competitive landscape includes data facts and figures about leading countries and suppliers capacity, cost-structures, production values, profits, and gross margins of key businesses operating in the market over the reports review period. The report also provides details such as product picture and specification, and contact information of the companies profiled in the Registration Software markets manufacturer analysis segment.Avail 30% Discount on this Report:The report is presented in a clear and concise manner so that readers can understand the market structure and dynamics effectively. Recent trends and developments in the global Registration Software market have been analyzed. Opportunities leading to the growth of the market have been analyzed and stated. The report focuses on the global Registration Software market, and answers some of the most critical questions stakeholders are currently facing across the globe. Information about the size of the market (by the end of the forecast year), companies that are most likely to scale up their competitive abilities, leading segments, and challenges impeding the growth of the market are given.Drivers and restraints impacting the growth of the market have also been analyzed. A segmentation of the global Registration Software market has been done for the purpose of a detailed study. The profiling of the leading players is done in order to judge the current competitive scenario. The competitive landscape is assessed by taking into consideration many important factors such as business growth, recent developments, product pipeline, and others. The research report further makes use of graphical representations such as tables, info graphics, and charts to forecast figures and historical data of the global Registration Software market.Get Complete Report@:About QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.comThe Womens Entrepreneurship Day (WED) organization has announced Moza Saeed Bin Ahmed Al Otaiba, Founder & CEO of Al OtaibaInmaa Group, as its ambassador representing the UAE.

Al Otaiba will work in coordination with Sara Al Ayed, WED Mena Regional Ambassador, as part of the WEDO global strategy set by Womens Entrepreneurship Day Founder, Wendy Diamond.

On her appointment, Al Otaiba said she will effortlessly and efficiently work towards celebrating Womens Entrepreneurship Day set to be on November 19 each year.

The series of events held under Womens Entrepreneurship Day will take place until November 29, highlighting the support and empowerment of women entrepreneurs of all ages using Media and Social Media channels, said the organisation in its statement.

Furthermore, multiple training and qualification sessions will be held in coordination between the International Womens Day Entrepreneurship board and the authorized parties in UAE.

In addition, meetings with high-profile personnel in the community and officials will be held to stress on the goals of this initiative, along with the important role WED is playing in celebrating, supporting and empowering womens entrepreneurship.

Al Otaiba stressed on the importance of educating, empowering women, and encouraging them to pursue their dreams and enhance their abilities in both economic and educational sectors, to fulfill WED organizations goals of empowering women economically and alleviating poverty.

She also highlighted the great strides that UAE has made in the field of supporting female and male entrepreneurs through establishing Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, along with Dubai SME and many more funding organizations aiming to support growing small and medium enterprise sectors.-TradeArabia News ServiceBaby Shampoo and Conditioners Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2023

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The increasing urbanization in populous countries, such as China and India are driving the growth of the baby care products market, which is increasing the demand for baby shampoo and conditioners. The declining infant mortality rates globally are providing ample opportunities for the growth of the global baby shampoo and conditioners market.Explore Full Report Description At:Hygiene and sanitation are major parts of baby care, out of which shampoos and conditioners are inherent constituents. The hygiene and sanitation products for babies differ from those of adults. The parents are cautious about selecting the shampoo and conditioner brands for their babies, and they read the constituent list provided by the manufacturer. The demand for toxin and paraben-free baby shampoo and conditioners for babies is growing.Europe dominates the global baby shampoo and conditioners market; however Asia-Pacific is expected to become the market leader by 2020. The growing population in the developing countries, such as China and India is expected to drive the growth of the Asia-Pacific baby shampoo and conditioners market. Latin America is also expected to witness the growth of the baby shampoo and conditioners market in the region. The declining birth rate in Europe is one of the key concerns for the baby shampoo and conditioner providers and manufacturers in this region. Spain is one of the countries in Europe with lowest fertility rate. Approximately 1.6 children in Europe are born per woman of childbearing age, whereas it is 1.3 in Spain.Download Free Report Sample At:The key companies operating in the global baby shampoo and conditioners market are Johnson & Johnson, Beiersdorf, Unilever, LOreal, Burts Bees, California Baby, Chicco, Earth Mama Angel Baby, The Himalaya Drug Company, Pigeon, Mothercare, PZ Cussons, and Weleda.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide market research reports, industry reports, business intelligence and research based consulting services across a range of industries.With the help of our professional corporate relations with various companies, our market research offers the most accurate market forecasting. Our analysts and consultants interact with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every single data presented in our publication. Our research assists our client in identifying new and different windows of opportunity and frame informed and customized strategies for expansion in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY  10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals Market - Global Industry Analysis and Forecast - 2023

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The increasing demand of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical drugs are the major growth driving factors for the global pharmaceuticals fine chemicals market. In addition, the emergence of innovative drugs for the treatment of chronic diseases has fuelled the growth of the market.Read summary of report here :Fine chemicals are complex and pure chemical substances. Fine chemicals are manufactured in limited quantities in multipurpose plants by multistep batch chemical or biotechnological processes. Fine chemicals are made to high detail. These are picked precisely considering their particular molecular properties, dissimilar to claim to specialty chemicals, which are manufactured especially for their functional characteristics.The global pharmaceuticals fine chemicals market is segmented into active ingredients, pivotal or critical intermediates and basic intermediates. Active ingredients are mainly accountable for the initial activity of the finished formulation. Pivotal or critical intermediates are fine chemicals that are normally utilized in the production of one or two pharmaceutical actives.Fine chemicals industry is liable to a high level of regulations; significantly more so than the chemical industry all in all, especially if pharmaceutical fine chemicals production is involved. The most vital regulatory authorities are the (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and (Chinese) State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), respectively.Geographically, Europe and Asia-Pacific are the largest producers of pharmaceuticals fine chemicals. During the forecast period, the Asia-Pacific pharmaceuticals fine chemicals market is expected to grow at the fastest rate, owing to large consumption base, and growth of pharmaceutical industry.Request sample copy of report here :Some of the major competitors in the global pharmaceuticals fine chemicals market include The Dow Chemical Company, Akzo Nobel N.V., Lonza Group Ltd., Royal DSM N.V., Eastman Chemical Company, Clariant AG, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Albemarle Corporation, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., The Merck Group, and Lanxess Aktiengesellschaft.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-Free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:Global Employee Recognition Software Market 2018-2023 focuses On Top Companies, Research Methodology, Drivers and Opportunities

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Market OverviewThe global Employee Recognition Software market is growing, due to the high growth from end-user industries and huge developments in the developing economies across the globe. The Employee Recognition Software have several applications in different industries including agricultural, personal care and petroleum; therefore a high demand for Employee Recognition Software is projected during the forecast period.The report presents an overview of the historical growth trail along with the present situation and future progress of Employee Recognition Software Market. It further guesstimates the volume and revenue growth of the global market. The study also evaluates the key competitors in the market and their shares, strategies, and products. To offer a clear understanding of the Global Employee Recognition Software Market, the study thoroughly analyzes the competitive landscape.Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global market including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and import/export. The total market is further segmented by application/type, by company, and by country for the competitive landscape investigation.Request a Sample Report @Top Industry Players:Global Employee Recognition Software market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Employee Recognition Software volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players including: Terryberry, Motivosity, Ultimate Software, Peoplecart, Hoopla, Loyalty Gator, ComOn Labs, Wishlist Rewards, Kudos, Teamphoria, Appreiz, Paramax, Awardco, Workstars, Workfront, Rewardian.Key Benefits Quantitative analysis of the current trends and forecast from 2018 to 2023 are provided to showcase the Employee Recognition Software of the market. The study provides an in-depth analysis of the global water purifier market with current and future trends to elucidate the prominent investment pockets for investors. Current and future trends are outlined to determine the overall attractiveness and to single out profitable trends to gain a stronger foothold in the market. The report provides information regarding key drivers, restraints, and opportunities with impact analysis. Value chain analysis in the report provides a clear understanding of the roles of stakeholders involved in the value chain. Porters Five Force model of the industry and SWOT analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers & suppliers participating in the market and the competitive rivalry among them.Request Discount on this repots @Market SegmentsProduct Type Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Major Company of Product Type etc.): Web-based Cloud-basedApplication Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Different Demand Market by Region, Main Consumer Profile etc.): Small and Medium Enterprise Large EnterpriseRegion Coverage (Regional Output, Demand & Forecast by Countries etc.): North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico) Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia etc.) South America (Brazil, Argentina etc.) Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc.)Browse Report @About Future Genic ReportsFuture Generic Reports is a market research and consulting organization, offering premium collection of market research reports, custom research and consulting services to corporations, no-profit organizations and government institutions across the globe.The wide range of information is presented by a team of well-trained researchers of specific sectors through exhaustive research. We deliver premier market research services that cover all industry verticals, including chemicals and material, automotive, healthcare, electronics & semiconductor, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and technology and media.We believe in building an eternal bond with our clients through offering them inclusive research study meeting their specific requirements. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact us:Future Generic Reports244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email: sales@futuregenicreports.comGlobal Employee Monitoring Software Market 2025: Gain Full Visibility and Control over Your Employees' Computer Activities

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Market OverviewThe digital era has transformed the average workplace. Organizations are growing at an exponential rate, making work more dynamic and digitalized which is increasing management challenges for organizations around the world. Virtualization has changed the work environment. Companies are focusing on monitoring activities on servers especially to monitor employee activities. There are various hardware and software solutions available in the market to monitor a vast array of activities. These solutions can keep track of outgoing and incoming chats and e-mails, application and website usage, comprehensive file usage, interaction of windows with internet packet data, desktop screenshots, software installations, keystrokes typed and others. Employee monitoring software (EMS) provides the activities recorded in a readable graphical format. Managers can send specific signals to inform management when an employee performs an action which is not meeting productivity goals.Request a Sample Report @Market OutlookEmployee monitoring solutions helps in achieving maximum productivity at minimum cost while maintaining a high level of information security. It gives employers a chance to find talented and hard-working individuals from all over the world and use their potential. Monitoring solutions dramatically decrease non-work related computer usage, cutting productivity drain. There are different kinds of employee monitoring software solutions in the market. Some keep track of the internet used by employees. Some of the solutions provide tools that deny access to websites that the employees are not supposed to visit. EMS helps organizations in future strategies and interventions. Employee monitoring solutions can be used in silent mode permitting the employers to monitor employees undetected or in transparent mode.Top Industry Players:Global Employee Monitoring Software market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Employee Monitoring Software volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players including: Teramind, Veriato 360, SentryPC, NetVizor, InterGuard, Work Examiner, StaffCop, OsMonitor, iMonitor EAM, Pearl Echo. Suite, WorkTime, Symantec, Trend Micro Worry, BetterWorks, SpectorSoft, Monitis, Quest Foglight, StackDriverKey Benefits Quantitative analysis of the current trends and forecast from 2018 to 2022 are provided to showcase the Employee Monitoring Software of the market. The study provides an in-depth analysis of the global water purifier market with current and future trends to elucidate the prominent investment pockets for investors. Current and future trends are outlined to determine the overall attractiveness and to single out profitable trends to gain a stronger foothold in the market. The report provides information regarding key drivers, restraints, and opportunities with impact analysis. Value chain analysis in the report provides a clear understanding of the roles of stakeholders involved in the value chain. Porters Five Force model of the industry and SWOT analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers & suppliers participating in the market and the competitive rivalry among them.Request Discount on this repots @Market SegmentsProduct Type Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Major Company of Product Type etc.): Web-based Cloud-basedApplication Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Different Demand Market by Region, Main Consumer Profile etc.): Small and Medium Enterprise Large EnterpriseRegion Coverage (Regional Output, Demand & Forecast by Countries etc.): North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico) Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia etc.) South America (Brazil, Argentina etc.) Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc.)Browse Report @About Future Genic ReportsFuture Generic Reports is a market research and consulting organization, offering premium collection of market research reports, custom research and consulting services to corporations, no-profit organizations and government institutions across the globe.The wide range of information is presented by a team of well-trained researchers of specific sectors through exhaustive research. We deliver premier market research services that cover all industry verticals, including chemicals and material, automotive, healthcare, electronics & semiconductor, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and technology and media.We believe in building an eternal bond with our clients through offering them inclusive research study meeting their specific requirements. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact us:Future Generic Reports244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email: sales@futuregenicreports.comIn Depth Research on Global Flu Vaccine Market Trends, Growth, Overview, Analysis 2018-2022

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Global Flu Vaccine Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022, the report is a study of the market status on the basis of drivers, opportunities and constraints, market segmentation and competitive landscape. The study analyzes the top players in global and major regions that the market is expected to experience.Global Flu Vaccine Market study has taken help of info graphics, charts, and tables to present the historical data and projected figures of the global data service unit market. Additionally, the study offers input given by market professionals to guide the prevailing and new entrants in articulating effective business policies in the next few years.Get Sample Copy@:Global Flu Vaccine Market gives an essential diagram of the business along with, characterizations, industry chain structure, and definitions applications. The market report is adapted to the worldwide scenarios comprising development patterns, key regions improvement status and an inspection of numerous dynamics leading to the rise of the overall market, especially, North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.Key players in this market: CSL, GSK, Sanofi Pasteur, Mylan, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & JohnsonMarket Segment by Type, coversWhole Virus VaccinesSplit Virus VaccinesSubunit VaccinesLive Attenuated Virus VaccinesMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoFor Children (6 months to 3 years)For Adults and Children over 3 yearsAvail 20% Discount and Customization On This Premium Report@:One of the principal aspects of this intelligent research report is that the significance and demonstration reach of the market has been portrayed. Furthermore, procurement criteria and detached market dynamics have been specified.Global Flu Vaccine Market study further covers the competitive landscape of the data service unit market across the globe and offer a list of all the leading players operating in the market. The company profiles, product portfolio, business strategies, financial overview, SWOT analysis, and recent developments of the prominent players have been highlighted in the research report.Get This Report Now@:Table of Contents:Global Flu Vaccine Market Research Report 2018-2022Chapter 1: Global Flu Vaccine Market OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3: Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4: Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5: Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6: Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7: Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8: Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11: Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12: Global Flu Vaccine Market ForecastAbout HIM,HealthCare Intelligence Markets supply market intelligence reports in the domain of personalized drugs & diagnostics after going through a rigorous research process. The healthcare and pharma industry is constantly evolving as trends are getting replaced at a rapid pace.Name: Shreyas TannaCompany: Healthcare Intelligence MarketsAddress: 601, Winterberry Purple, Koregaon Park, Pune, 411001Mail Id: sales@healthcareintelligencemarkets.comContact No: +91 7400242424Global Spandrel Glass Market- Technology Innovation and Shifting Customer Requirements Drive New Wave of Growth

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Market OverviewThis report studies the Spandrel Glass market, Spandrel glass is used to prevent materials or construction elements from being viewed from the exterior of a building. The primary function of spandrel glass is to cover non-visible areas including the areas between floors, hung ceiling areas, knee-wall areas below vision lights, and sometimes even columns or partitions.Unlike vision glass, which is meant to be transparent, spandrel glass is designed to be opaque in order to help hide features between the floors of a building, including vents, wires, slab ends and mechanical equipment.To create this effect, the fabrication process for monolithic glass spandrels and insulated glass (IG) spandrels involves applying an opacifier, which is typically made from silicone-based paint or ceramic frits, to the indoor surface of a glass lite. The purpose of this process is to create tinted or colored glass panels that seamlessly blend with the other parts of a building facade. While spandrel glass is available in a wide array of colors, it should be evaluated for thermal stress to determine the level of heat treatment that is needed.Request Sample Report @Industry Top VendorsAsahi Glass Co., NSG Group, Guardian Glass, LLC, Saint-Gobain, Taiwan Glass, Viracon, Trulite Glass & Aluminum Solutions, Vitrum Glass Group, Toro Aluminum Group of Companies, J.E. Berkowitz, Padiham Glass Ltd, Northwestern Industries,IncWhat Information does this report contain? What was the historic market data from 2013 to 2016, what is the industry growth forecast from 2017 to 2024? A detailed analysis of regulatory trends, growth drivers, industry pitfalls, challenges and opportunities for participants Which are the leading market products, applications & regions and how will they perform by 2024? What are the technologies & innovation trends, how will they evolve by 2024? Which companies lead the industry, how are they positioned in the market in terms of sustainability, competency, production capacity and strategic outlook?Market SegmentsMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversCeramic Frit Spandrel Glass, Silicone Coated Spandrel Glass, OthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoCommercial Building, Residential Building, Public BuildingFor More Information @About Future Genic ReportsFuture Generic Reports is a market research and consulting organization, offering premium collection of market research reports, custom research and consulting services to corporations, no-profit organizations and government institutions across the globe.The wide range of information is presented by a team of well-trained researchers of specific sectors through exhaustive research. We deliver premier market research services that cover all industry verticals, including chemicals and material, automotive, healthcare, electronics & semiconductor, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and technology and media.We believe in building an eternal bond with our clients through offering them inclusive research study meeting their specific requirements. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact us:Future Generic Reports244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email: sales@futuregenicreports.comGlobal Intelligent Glucose Meter Market and also elements for its future market growth by focusing on Top Key Operating Vendors like ROCHE, LIFESCAN, BAYER, ABBOTT, ARKRAY, SENS, OMRON, company 8, company 9

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Global Intelligent Glucose Meter Market Research Report 2018 provides a unique tool to analyze the Intelligent Glucose Meter market along with its details from 2018 to 2023. These tools are used to highlight opportunities and supporting strategic and tactical decision-making. The study defines, describes and forecasts the Intelligent Glucose Meter market in terms of application area, manufacturers, region, and types.Request a Sample Report @Top Key Vendors:ROCHE, LIFESCAN, BAYER, ABBOTT, ARKRAY, SENS, OMRON, company 8, company 9This market research report on the Global Intelligent Glucose Meter Market is an all-encompassing study of the business sectors up-to-date frameworks, industry enrichment drivers, and manacles. It provides market forecasts for the coming years. It contains an analysis of late amplifications in innovation, Porters five force model analysis and advanced profiles of hand-picked industry competitors. The report additionally articulates a survey of minor and full-scale factors charging for the new candidates in the market and the ones as of now in the market along with a systematic value chain exploration.Global Intelligent Glucose Meter Market services are a combination of practices and processes adopted to protect systems, networks and data from intrusions, attacks and unauthorized access. Cyber security, a service for organizations, is an operating cost (Opex) rather than a capital cost (Capx) and can be used to manage network security, confidential data protection, and respond to an immediate incident in an organization. The market has been expanding at a prosperous pace over the past few years and continues to be very popular with small businesses as they demand cost-effective and reliable cyber security solutions.Enquiry before buying this premium report @The next section of the report analyzes the development plans and policies, manufacturing process, and product cost structure of the Global Intelligent Glucose Meter Market. The report specifically focuses on the leading regions and manufacturers engaged in the production of consumer devices along with the analysis of the competitive landscape, development trends, and prime regions status of development. The report also contains information such as company profiles, product specification and picture, production capacity, cost, revenue, and gross profit margin.Geographically, the market is in North America, and the market is expected to grow in the global market. The high level of digitization and the rising number of connected devices in counties such as the U.S. and Canada are expected to remain key to working in favor of the Global Intelligent Glucose Meter Market in North America.Get Up To 40% Discount @In the last sections of the report, the manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the Global Intelligent Glucose Meter Market have been presented. These manufacturers have been analyzed in terms of their manufacturing base, basic information, and competitors. In addition, the technology and product type introduced by each of these manufacturers also form a key part of this section of the report.Table of Content:Global Intelligent Glucose Meter Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Global Intelligent Glucose Meter Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixAbout Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact us:Mr. Sunny DenisContact No. +1-888-631-6977sales@researchnreports.com(ResearchnReports)Structural Electronics Market Size, Share, Trends, Key Players, Growth and Demand by 2023

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Structural electronics is referred as the structural components with electronics and electrical functionality. The types of functional architecture can be energy storage devices, energy harvesters, antenna, switches, and several others. The advantages of structural electronics such as design freedom, reliable operation, cost-effectiveness, and lighter weight is propelling its demand in a wide range of applications. The major applications of structural electronics are found in supercapacitors, photovoltaic, smart skins, and 3D printing. 3D printing is widely used application of the structural electronics technology in the present time. However, the market penetration of structural electronics is expected to be high for flexible and printed electronics, during the forecast period.Request for a free sample of this research report:Based on applications, the global structural electronics market can be broadly classified as, aerospace, cars, consumer goods, home appliances, bridges and buildings. On the basis of component type, the global structural electronics market can be classified as conductors, sensors, photovoltaic, battery, electroluminescent, electro chromic, electrophoretic, OLED light, OLED display, and logic/memory.The structural electronics market is a highly sophisticated technology market. The proprietary learning curve of the structural electronics market is extremely high, making it tough for the new entrants to enter the market. Moreover, before full commercialization of structural electronics, a scope for research and development prevails, especially for the automotive and consumer electronics segment. The photovoltaic segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the structural electronics market during the forecast period, owing to increasing demand from hybrid and pure electric vehicles. However, factors such as low level of technological awareness, complex manufacturing process, along with speculation over the practical efficiency of structural electronics is limiting its wide scale adoption.North America accounted for the largest market of structural electronics in 2014. The high penetration of structural electronics in the region is due to the higher adoption of structural electronics in conductors, sensors, and photovoltaic, which are used in the high end electric cars and space vehicles. Europe accounted for the second largest market of structural electronics, which was predominantly led by Germany and the U.K. in 2014. Asia-Pacific structural electronics market is still at its nascent stage with very low market penetration. Japan and China are some of the early adopters of structural electronics technology in the Asia-Pacific region. Country wise the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Italy, Canada, Japan, and China are some of the major markets for structural electronics.Explore report at:There are very limited numbers of players operating in the structural electronics market. Most of the major players reside in developed countries such as the U.S., Japan, and Germany. Some of the competitors in the structural electronics market are, Boeing, Canatu Oy, Neotech, Odyssian Technology, Paper Battery Co., TactoTek, Soligie, and T-Ink.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide market research reports, industry reports, business intelligence and research based consulting services across a range of industries.With the help of our professional corporate relations with various companies, our market research offers the most accurate market forecasting. Our analysts and consultants interact with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every single data presented in our publication. Our research assists our client in identifying new and different windows of opportunity and frame informed and customized strategies for expansion in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:Payment Security Solution Market Advancement in Technology, Emerging Trends, Industry Challenges and Cost Structure Analysis | Global Forecast 2018 - 2023

Payment Security Solution Market

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Businessindustryreports.com adds new report 2018 Global Payment Security Solution Industry Report - History, Present and Future which contains global key players survey information and forecast analysis to 2023.Global Payment Security Solution Industry Market Overview:The report spread across 146 pages is an overview of the 2018 Global Payment Security Solution Industry Report - History, Present and Future. Payment Security Solution Market Research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The Global Payment Security Solution Market is growing continuously and expected to grow healthy CAGR by Forecast year 2023. Payment Security Solution provide Security to Consumers Sensitive Data and enable Secure Transaction between a Merchant and its Customers through any of the various Digital Payment Modes, such as the Web, Smartphone and Point-of-Sale (POS) Machine. The Solution has gained much Popularity, as it is helping Organizations Comply with the PCI DSS Regulatory Compliances. With the implementation of Payment Security Platforms, Public and Private Organizations can prevent Payment Frauds and Secure Online Business Transactions.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @Global Payment Security Solution Market is broadly segmented on the based of Solution, Mode of Payment and End-User. Based on Solution, Software and Services are considered as the key segments of this market. Firewalls, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDS/IPS), Anti-Virus / Anti Malware, Data Encryption, Multi-Factor Authentication, Tokenization and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) are the main Payment Security Software available across the world.On the basis of Mode of Payment, the market is classified into Mobile Payment Security Software, Online Payment Security Software and Point-of-Sale (PoS) Systems and Security. The Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), Healthcare, Retail and the Government sectors have emerged as the Prime End-Users of Payment Security Software.Purchase this report online with 146 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on 2018 Global Payment Security Solution Industry Report - History, Present and Future @This study answers to the below key questions:1 What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate be?2 What are the key market trends?3 What is driving this market?4 What are the challenges to market growth?5 Who are the key vendors in this market space?6 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?7 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Any Query? Ask to our Expert @In the end, this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production, market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Payment Security Solution Market.Major Points in Table of Contents:Global Payment Security Solution Market Report 20181 Executive Summary2 Abbreviation and Acronyms3 Preface4 Market Landscape5 Market Trend Analysis6 Industry Chain Analysis7 Latest Market Dynamics8 Trading Analysis9 Historical and Current Payment Security Solution Market in North America (2013-2018)10 Historical and Current Payment Security Solution Market in South America (2013-2018)11 Historical and Current Payment Security Solution Market in Asia & Pacific (2013-2018)12 Historical and Current Payment Security Solution Market in Europe (2013-2018)13 Historical and Current Payment Security Solution Market in MEA (2013-2018)14 Summary for Global Payment Security Solution Market (2013-2018)15 Global Payment Security Solution Market Forecast (2019-2023)16 Company ProfileAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune  Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940Global Printed Circuit Borard (PCB) Design Software Market to grow at a CAGR of +21% by 2021 Along with Major Regions Analysis and Revenue Analysis Forecasts to 2025

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A comprehensive analysis of the Global Printed Circuit Borard (PCB) Design Software Market is been done in this intelligence report. It includes the investigations done on the past progress, ongoing market scenarios, and future prospects. An accurate data of the products, strategies and market shares of leading companies in this particular market is mentioned. This report presents a 360-degree overview of the competitive scenario of the Global market. The report further projects the size and valuation of the global market in the coming forecast period. The report also presents a thorough qualitative and quantitative data affecting to the projected impact of these factors on markets future growth prospects.Top Key Vendors in Market: Candence, Zuken, Altium, CadSoft, Novarm, Mentor Graphics, Shanghai TsingyueGet Sample Copy Of this Report @It explains a detailed outline of the Printed Circuit Borard (PCB) Design Software Market depending on the important parameters. End users, products, regions, and many other segments are studied and explained. A brief idea about the driving forces which help make the market more flourishing is discussed in order to help the client understand the future market position. Estimated revenue growth in terms of volume with respect to the market for the upcoming years has been mentioned in depth.The growing focus of several competitive players on consolidating their back-end supply chain management for faster shipping and at lower cost is a key factor favorably impacting the growth of the market. The robust growth of online retail in various industries, such as information and communication technologies, electrical and electronics, and apparel, in several developed nations has boosted the market. The rising adoption of advanced digital technologies has boosted online retail, thereby indirectly catalyzing the Printed Circuit Borard (PCB) Design Software Market.Get Reasonable Discount on This Premium Report @On the basis of geographical regions, the Global Printed Circuit Borard (PCB) Design Software Market is segmented broadly into Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The global market is still in its exploratory stage in most of the regions but it holds the promising potential to flourish steadily in coming years. The major companies investing in this market are situated in Canada, U.K., and the US, India, China and some more countries of Asia Pacific region. Consequently, Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are estimated to hold more than half of the market shares, collectively in coming years.In the last sections of the report, the manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the Printed Circuit Borard (PCB) Design Software Market has been presented. These manufacturers have been analyzed in terms of their manufacturing base, basic information, and competitors. In addition, the technology and product type introduced by each of these manufacturers also form a key part of this section of the report.Table of Content:Global Printed Circuit Borard (PCB) Design Software Market Research Report 2018-2025Chapter 1 Printed Circuit Borard (PCB) Design Software Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market ForecastChapter 13 AppendixAbout Us:We at IT Intelligence Markets conduct intensive market research and generate detailed reports about the products and services offered in the IT domain. Our team is devoted to providing custom reports that are taylor-made to suit the customers requirements. We make sure to keep our customers updated with the latest market dynamics as IT industry is undergoing sea change intrinsically & extrinsically by forces such as regulatory fluctuations, rapidly evolving consumer preferences, and newer technologies. Not only do our market research analysts scrutinize market requirements but also track competitors relentlessly for obtaining the most updated scenario of the market.Contact Us:Name: Vijay TannaCompany: It Intelligence MarketsAddress: Survey No-9/4, Flat# 6, Panchshil Park, Ganpati Marg, Nigidi, Pune 411044Mail Id: sales@itintelligencemarkets.comContact No: +91 705-760-0700Federation of Arab Engineers and IFP (International Fairs and Promotions) will jointly host a major summit in Baghdad this October to discuss the reconstruction of the destroyed cities in Iraq and Syria.

The event will attract industry specialists including engineers, architects, contractors, vendors, investors as well as government officials, according to the organisers.

The first edition of the Reconstruction of the destroyed cities and restoration of archeological sites affected by military actions in Iraq and Syria - Conference will be held on October 9 and 10 at the Baghdad International Fair Ground, in concurrence with the second edition of Project Iraq and Energy Iraq Exhibition 2018 with extensive international participation.

The exhibition covers the requirements of Iraqs construction market including: construction material and technology, electricity and power among others, said the organisers.

The announcement was made at a press conference held at the headquarters of the Order of Engineers in Beirut, which was attended by senior regional experts including Jad Tabet, the head of the Beirut Order of Engineers and Dr Ghayath Al Koutayni, the head of the Syrian Order of Engineers.

Dr Adel Ibrahim Al-Hadithi, the secretary-general of the Federation of Arab Engineers, emphasised the importance of the Iraq conference and the federations full support of the event, while Tabet stressed his organizations willingness to play an effective role in this conference.

Albert Aoun, the chairman of IFP Group, highlighted the importance of the partnership with the Federation for the event, given that the federation is a professional organization with a deep-rooted history in boosting the engineering profession in the Arab world, preserving Arab engineering heritage and its impact on the advancement of civilization.

Mohammed Saeed Fatha, the secretary of the Federation of Arab Engineers, praised the cooperation between the two parties that is based on mutual trust; especially that IFP belongs to IFP Group which has 36 years of experience, and has organized more than 500 local and international exhibitions and conferences.-TradeArabia News ServiceGlobal Threat Intelligence Solution Market: Impact of Existing And Emerging Flexible Market Trends, Forecast 2022 and Top Key Players

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The growing demand for threat intelligence is increasing owing to rise in cyber-crime, threat breaches and growing numbers of sophisticated attacks in leading security conscious sectors. Moreover, the breaches in most of the organizations have a financial or espionage motive which results in disruption of business and has become a major concern for them which is expected to contribute to demand of threat intelligence solutions and services immensely.This report includes an in-depth overview of the current state of Threat Intelligence Solution market and projects its growth and every other crucial elements across major regional markets. It presents a colossal amount of market data that has been gathered with the help of various number of primary and secondary research techniques. The data of this report has been narrowed down using several industry based analytical methodologies.Download PDF Sample Copy:Companies Profiled: The Top Key Players Included in this market are IBM Corporation ,Dell Technologies, Inc. ,McAfee LLC (US),Trend Micro Incorporated ,Symantec Corporation ,Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. ,Juniper Networks, Inc. ,FireEye, Inc. ,LogRhythm, Inc. ,LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, Inc.,Optiv Security, Inc. ,Webroot, Inc.This study provides an evaluation of aspects that are expected to impact growth of market in an undesired or constructive method. The Threat Intelligence Solution market has been consistently examined with respect to the corresponding market segments. Each year within the mentioned forecast period is concisely considered in terms of produce and worth in the regional as well as the global markets respectively.The report has been compiled using primary and secondary research methodologies. The information has been collected from reliable sources such as interviews with market leaders, journals, publications, conferences, and white papers. The report analyzes the historical data along with the current developments in the market to provide map a fair trajectory of the Global Threat Intelligence Solution Market for the coming few years.To Get 20% Discount on this Report:The report gives a SWOT analysis of the new projects in the international and Threat Intelligence Solution market, investment feasibility, development trends, and investment return analysis of these projects. Study of the Threat Intelligence Solution markets competitive landscape includes data facts and figures about leading countries and suppliers capacity, cost-structures, production values, profits, and gross margins of key businesses operating in the market over the reports review period.Buy Complete Report:The report also provides details such as product picture and specification, and contact information of the companies profiled in the Threat Intelligence Solution markets manufacturer analysis segment. Initially, the Threat Intelligence Solution producing an analysis of the most important trade players based on their company profiles, annual revenue, sales margin, growth aspects is additionally lined during this report, which is able to facilitate alternative Threat Intelligence Solution market players in driving business insights.Table of ContentsGlobal Threat Intelligence Solution Market Research ReportChapter 1 Threat Intelligence Solution Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Threat Intelligence Solution Market ForecastAbout QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.comAssociate Professor Angela Wanhalla

Raised in a house full of books and aware of her whakapapa, lecturer Angela Wanhalla knew she'd follow a history path.

"Dad was always interested in history and I knew where I came from, so history became part of the trajectory."

Of Ngai Tahu descent (Taumutu and Otakou), Angela grew up in the small Canterbury town of Rolleston.

While the subject history was dead certain, Angela took time to fine-tune her specific fields of interest. For her first degree - a BA(Hons) from the University of Canterbury - she took papers in Maori history, education, sociology and anthropology, before choosing feminist history for her honours project and MA.

Today, Angela specialises in the histories of cultural encounter in New Zealand's colonial past, with a focus on the history of interracial relationships and intermarriage in New Zealand. Her book, In/Visible Sight: The Mixed Descent Families of Southern New Zealand, based on her PhD, explores the history of interracial marriage between 1830 and 1940 in a community based at the Taieri Native Reserve.

With postdoctoral studies under her belt (she researched intermarriage in the Canadian prairies at the University of Saskatchewan), Angela's teaching focus at Otago is comparative indigenous histories. This includes teaching papers that introduce students to New Zealand history from a comparative perspective, and take a biographical approach to Maori history.

Dry facts it's not - history is about people's interaction with the world around them, she says.

"It's about reviving and reconstructing communities and looking at personal experiences."Nearly 60 people showed up Thursday to provide public input for future land use for the Waldo Avenue and Bay City Road Corridor. Grant Murschel, director of planning and community development for the city, hosted the open house at the Salvation Army.

"The intent is to hear what you envision for this neighborhood. We want to hear what the neighborhood wants," Murschel said as he fielded questions during the meeting.

The process is to compile the master plan by the first of September.

"About every three years the city reviews its master plan," Murschel added. "We look at the document to envision 15-20 years in the future."

Before fielding questions, Murschel explained the difference between future land use and zoning.

"Zoning is your regulations -- what you can and can't do on property," he said. "Your future land use is the vision of the city and the community, which is used to implement future zoning changes."

Faced with the looming closure of South Saginaw Road by DowDuPont, the majority of concerns Thursday focused more on the present than the future.

"What has provided the impetus for the discussion of the master plan for Waldo Road is the closure of South Saginaw Road by DowDuPont later on this year. The predicted traffic increases that will come onto Waldo Road as well as the property buyouts along Waldo Road," Murschel said.

It's those two actions that have led the city to review its master plan and seek public input.

"This is more about how the city wants to see this area of the city be developed in the future," Councilman Steve Arnosky said. "I'm hoping that the comments that are written down will get to that because I don't think we got that from the people. They did express legitimate concerns: How do we cross Waldo Road? What about school buses?"

Two residents inquired about future plans for green space.

"If there are certain uses you would like to have near you, like green space, that would be a very appropriate comment," Murschel responded as he continued to encourage attendees to think and comment about the future.

Other ideas received:

 Increased flow of traffic on Waldo Avenue. See related Daily News article at: https://bit.ly/2vcnPgP

 Better communication with area residents

 Coordinate with Midland Public Schools regarding traffic flow and school buses.

 Recording of future input meetings

The city also has two more sessions planned on future land use:

 Midtown -- Thursday, April 19, 6-8 p.m., Ashman Plaza, 711 Ashman St. The open house will be hosted in the maker's room next to Live Oak Coffeehouse.

 North Jefferson Avenue and Joe Mann-Eastman-U.S. 10 area -- Thursday, April 26, 6-8 p.m., Midland Evangelical Free Church, 7221 Jefferson Ave.

The city will be gathering comments through the end of May. Comments may be mailed to Murschel at: City Hall, 333 W. Ellsworth St., Midland, MI 48640; or via email at: gmurschel@midland-mi.orgThe 2017 United Way campaign served as a shining example of community collaboration and impact. Facing a variety of community challenges including a devastating flood, local organizations rallied together to lend a hand and lift up their neighbors in need. Due to this incredible generosity, United Way was able to exceed the $4.8 million goal by raising $4,814,517.

The Board of Directors held its Annual Meeting in March at the Strosacker Center. In addition to celebrating the impactful work taking place throughout the community, the board recognized outgoing board members and welcomed new board members.

The board recognized outgoing board members Cliff Block, Kent Holsing, Shawn Pnacek, Jack Telfer and Jen Lee, and thanked them for their dedication. Additionally, Mike Sharrow and Sarah Opperman committed to a second three-year term.

New board members were also elected at the Annual Meeting, including Ann Beck from Chemical Bank, Matt Granzo from A.S. Arbury Insurance, and Young Leaders United representative Nick Powell from The Dow Chemical Co.

Board officers were elected as well, including Tori Meyer as president, Sarah Opperman as vice president, Jim Nigro as treasurer, Mike Sharrow as secretary and Wally Mayton as past president.

"We're so fortunate to have a dedicated board filled with strong community leaders and advocates," added Ann Fillmore. "Along with our new officers elected for 2018, we're positioned to do great things in the coming year."

United Way also announced that Bridgette Gransden, Midland County administrator/controller, will serve as the campaign chair for the 2018 United Way of Midland County campaign. In addition, she is currently serving on the MidMichigan Medical Center Midland Board of Directors, Midland Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Community Success Panel, and the Midland Area Community Foundation's Impact Grant and Scholarship Selection Committees as well as the Michigan Municipal Executives Board of Directors.

"We're thrilled to have Bridgette on board as our Campaign Chair this year," Fillmore said. "She's a strong community advocate, a former Torch Bearer award recipient, and her eagerness to lead this campaign speaks to her passion for our community."

The 2017 Annual Report, allocations and financial statement can be downloaded via United Way's website at www.unitedwaymidland.org under About Us/Finances.Photoshop started the digital image manipulation revolution more than 30 years ago, and Adobe's groundbreaking application continues to be the best photo editing software money can buy (or rent, to be more precise). If you need layered image editing, typography, 3D modeling, drawing, and a multitude of effects, you need Photoshop. Designers and photographers alike find the mostand the most-advancedtools available for their crafts in this application. Mind-blowing AI-powered neural filters, sky replacement, live shapes, more control over cloud-stored files, and pattern preview all appeared in the major update released at the companys Max conference. New capabilities include a Super Resolution raw enlargement tool, support for Apple Silicon-based Macs, and 70 new Camera Raw presets. Photoshop remains PCMag's undisputed top choice for professional photo editing software.

How Much Does Photoshop Cost?

To get the latest version of Photoshop, you need a Creative Cloud subscription. This means you need to sign in with an existing Adobe ID or create a new one. The Photography plan is $9.99 per month, and that also gets you Photoshop Lightroom, our Editors' Choice winner for photo workflow software, and 10 Adobe Stock images.

You can no longer simply buy a one-payment license for Photoshop, which annoys some users who don't like the software-as-a-service model. Those who feel this way may want to consider options such as Corel's surprisingly capable PaintShop Pro, CyberLink PhotoDirector, or even Adobe's own Photoshop Elements, all of which can be purchased outright. And if you don't want to pay a cent, you can use the free, open-source GIMP software, though doing so can be a painful, counterintuitive experience if you're used to the convenience and polish of Photoshop.

To install the application, you first install the resident Creative Cloud helper program, which handles updates and syncing your files online. This is also where you can find Adobe news, stock images, and the Behance creative social community (more about this later). In the newest update of Photoshop, you also can browse and easily install plug-ins from the Creative Cloud utility.

You should only consider installing Photoshop on a fairly powerful PC or Mac. I tested on a 3.4GHz Core i7 PC running 64-bit Windows 10 with 16GB RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 1650 graphics card. Installation took about 10 minutes. Mac users must be running macOS 10.13 or later. New for the March 2021 update is support for Apple Silicon M1-based Macs. PCMag's Tom Brant ran some tests on that hardware and found it offered some performance advantages.

If you haven't boarded the Creative Cloud train yet and are still clinging to your ancient licensed version of Photoshop, you miss out on other recent features like Content-Aware Crop, Face-Aware Liquify, Artboards, Cloud Documents, touch and stylus input support, the Design Space view, synced libraries, a glyph panel, and lots more. Photographers and photo editors also benefit from tools for haze removal, more navigation options, and new raw camera file support.

The Photoshop Interface

Adobe keeps making Photoshop's interface more customizable and helpful. You can choose from among several targeted workspace layouts, including 3D, Graphic and Web, Motion, Painting, and Photography, or you can create your own custom layout of panels and windows. You can even rearrange the program's toolbar button rail to taste.

Choosing New Document presents a dialog offering templates such as Textured Geometric Masks, Instant Film Mockups, and Photo Collage Layouts. Category filters across the top let you restrict the proposed templates to Photo, Print, Art & Illustration, Web, Mobile, and Film & Video. If you've copied an image onto the clipboard, the software gives you an option to open a new image with its exact dimensions.

You can pick from thumbnails of your recent files, and access presets and libraries from the start page. The page shows personalized tutorial content at the bottom. Those who'd rather stick with the legacy starting experience can switch back to it, but I find that the start page makes it much easier to get to things I'm interested in, such as recent projects.

The ever-present search magnifying glass icon at the top right lets you find program functions, your own images, tutorials, or Adobe Stock images. For version 22, the resulting dialog becomes a detached Discover window, but it still presents command shortcuts and help. You can also click its Home icon to get to an index of tutorials, Whats New items, and the Help user guide. I think a search function in a complex desktop application is a great idea, and some big-league software developers agree. Microsoft helpfully introduced it to Office 2016, for example. For context-sensitive help, the lightbulb icon is always at the ready for quick demos of how to perform edits.

The interface also adapts to the purpose at hand. A case in point is the Select and Mask workspace, which is an available option whenever you have a selection tool active. This shows only the tools useful during selection, such as Refine Edge, Lasso, Brush, Hand, and Zoom, along with the relevant Properties panel. The interface's color themes offer a pleasing, context-sensitive consistency, too. If you set the window borders to be light gray, all dialogs will likewise be gray.

When it comes to touch input, Photoshop is keeping up with the times with excellent touch support for devices like the Microsoft Surface Pro. The company also now has a nearly fully functional iPad version of Photoshop. Not only can does it let you use touch to pan and zoom images, but it also recognizes gestures, such as a two-finger swipe to undo and a three-finger swipe to scroll through images. Larger tabs help touch-screen users, as do soft Shift, Ctrl, and Alt buttons. You can't yet use touch for finger painting, however. For that, you might try Adobe's Fresco app, available for iOS and Windows tablets.

Another input option is enabled by Photoshop's support for the Surface Dial, which offers a nifty way to adjust brush size, opacity, and more.

Selecting objects and people in photos is one of the top activities in the applicationand one of the top pain points. In the last few versions, Adobe has added Object Select, Subject Select, and the Select and Mask workspace just mentioned, along with its Refine Edge option.

Select Subject uses AI (called Sensei by Adobe) to automatically determine and select the main object in an image. Object Select lives in the same toolbar button as the Quick Selection and Magic Wand tools. When either of these is active, a Select Subject button appears in the options bar across the top of the program windows. In testing, pressing this did a remarkable job of selecting people when the background was relatively uniform. More complex backgrounds left some mis-selected areas.

The June 2020 update of Photoshop improved the Select Subject tool, addressing one of the most common selection tasks and pain points. Selecting peoples hair has long plagued photo editorseven with tools like Refine Edge. Adobe claims to have finally solved this problem for once and all with the update.

In my testing, the tool worked impressively, but we havent yet reached the holy grail of hair selection, one-and-done hair selection. There was still plenty that remained unselected in my test shot, and it was hair fibers on a plain background thats clearly hair to the human eye. I took screenshots of the tools handiwork, showing the original, the dotted-line selection, and the black-and-while mask view, which shows just the selected matter as white. I had similar not-quite-perfect result with both a low-res shot:

and a higher-resolution shot:

Heres a detail from that last one, showing the unselected fine hairs at top and top right:

And heres a use of the selection with a gradient background layer:

You can see white background areas that were missed in the selection, and some hair strands look smudged. Still, while its not yet perfect, it is getting better with every iteration, and the current one makes for a good first pass. It's the most automatic portrait selection tool, but Capture One's Refine Mask tool does an excellent job as well (below), even getting some hair strands missed by Photoshop. It originally selected some of the background, which I fixed with the eraser.

Neural Filters

The most exciting Photoshop features to come out of the companys MAX 2020 conference are neural filters, which magically let you change a portrait subjects mood, age, and gaze. Neural here is short for neural networka subset of AI machine learning. The tools actually take advantage of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), which in essence, use a technique of trying to trick the AI algorithm with incorrect (or adversarial) data. Most of the new Adobe effects do their processing in the cloud, so you may need to wait a bit for them to appear. The most interesting such filters are labeled as beta and included under an Erlenmeyer flask icon group; only Skin Smoothing and Style Transfer are not considered betas.

Several of the tools with entries in the panel are not even available (those marked with an i), but you can register your desire for Adobe to produce them. Some of the filters require an extra download. Other worthy options are Colorize, Super Zoom, and JPEG artifacts removal. Not yet available are the intriguing Photo Restoration, Dust and Scratches, and Face-to-Caricature options. The Super Zoom effect didnt do much aside from applying a blurry noise reduction.

The face tools are possibly more fun than practical. When I ramped up Happiness slider on most pictures, the result was more like a forced smile than a natural one, though it can be effective if you dont turn it all the way up. There are also sliders for Anger, and Surprise, which were surprisingly effective. The algorithm also failed to de-age the neck on some subjects. An interesting option is Retain Unique Details; if you uncheck this, your subject approaches a Barbie-doll appearance. One slider, Placement, can nudge the face selection box right or left, though it didn't do much in my test shots.

The Colorize tool, though impressive, failed to bring alive the hands as well as the head in an old photograph. Still, its clearly labeled as beta, so you cant take points off for that; I actually had better luck with Photoshop Elements Colorize tool. On a couple street- and beach-scene test photos it did nothing, but it convincingly colorized a snowy reindeer scene. The neural tools do have a Before-and-After button, but I wish it had a side-by-side view.

The Light Direction tool, when used judiciously, can work to good effect. The Gaze slider moves the eyes subtly, but the head direction tool wasnt convincing in my test photos.

The final neural filter Ill discuss is something thats been in other photo software for a few years, notably in Cyberlink PhotoDirector. Its the Style Transfer effect, which makes your photo look like the work of an artist such as Picasso or van Gogh. Its a 176MB download at the time of testing. Theres a good selection of looks, with over 30 to choose from already. You can not only choose the strength of the effect, but also preserve color, focus on the subject, change brush size, and blur the background. Its a good implementation of the effect type.

Though it's now packed with drawing and font tools, Photoshop got its start as a photo editing and printing application, and it remains the most powerful photo editing software. Along with its completely photography-focused sibling, Lightroom, Photoshop offers the most support for raw camera files, and the most in correction and effects. From removing or adding objects with content-aware tools to lens-profile-based geometry correction to histogram adjustments to stained-glass effect filters, Photoshop has it all. It's impossible to cover every feature here, but I'll take a closer look at a couple of the standout tools.

Sky Replacement. This is a new tool for the October 2020 version. Photoshop had been trailing software such as Skylum Luminar. Replacing a drab sky with a beautiful one used to be a many-step process involving manual masking and layers. The new tool is instantand awesome. You get many choices, ranging from pleasant to dazzling, and you can adjust the position, edge, brightness, and temperature of your chosen sky replacement.

Unlike some tools, which simply try to detect a horizon, Photoshops can handle images with foreground objects that block the sky, like the obelisk in the image above. You can move the sky around to get the best placement and even adjust the lighting and color of the foreground to better match the new sky. In the example, you can see how the pavement reflection changes to match the sky color.

Lens Blur. The AI-enhanced Lens Blur tool creates a more color-aware effect than its non-AI predecessor. The old lens blur is in the left above, and the newer is at the right. The newer tool also give you control over bokeh shapes, which would be created by the blades of a camera iris in real lens blur. Photoshop's simulated effects include a choice of polygons from triangles to octagons, and you can also adjust the blade curvature and rotation.

Content-Aware Crop. A few years ago, an app called Anticrop (since renamed to Recrop) gained momentary celebrity in the tech world. Why? As its name suggests, it lets change you change the aspect ratio of an image by adding to the sides instead of simply cutting them off. The Photoshop tool works similarly. Just check the Content-Aware box while using the crop tool, and the app fills in anything in the crop selection that falls outside your image's boundaries. Content-Aware Crop resembles the Content-Aware Fill tool. Like that tool, Content-Aware crop only works well with patterned image content, such as a forest, pavement, sea, or sky. It's particularly convincing with skies. Note in the image below all the extra clouds generated in the sky on the right to create a more spacious square composition.

Content-Aware Fill has also been updated, with an interface that shows you what source content it's using to replace the object you want to remove. You can edit the source area, but the program does a remarkable job with no helpit's even improved over last year's version, now identifying objects that shouldn't be part of the fill pattern.

Face-Aware Liquefy. Face detection has reached an increasingly high level of accuracy in recent years, to the point of recognizing individual facial features, as well as whole faces. Face-Aware Liquify resembles a feature we first saw demonstrated by Adobe at Apple's iPad Pro launch event in the app called Adobe Fix. Face-Aware Liquefy tool lets you convincingly transform facial expressions, turning, for example, an RBF into a smile.

This brilliant tool finds facial features like eyes and mouths and gives you the ability to manipulate them with sliders for resizing the eyes, nose, face width, and jawline. You can even edit the eyes independently with Face-Aware Liquefy. A chain icon lets you either lock together editing of both a subjects eyes or edit them separately.

You can apply some very flattering changes, or some ridiculously unflattering ones, as you can see in my test images. For me, the coolest part of this feature is that the resulting image still looks human. It's not like simply smearing a portrait with the old-fashioned, face-unaware Liquify tool. Note in particular the added smile at lower left.

Camera-Shake Reduction. One of the hottest features of Photoshop is camera-shake reduction. The tool analyzes the photo to find the path of shake motion, and then aligns the shifted pixels. It sounds simple, but it's harder to get right than it may seem. This is because the path won't be the same everywhere in the photo unless you shook it exactly along a single plane, which is highly unlikely. You can use the tool's best guess or select a region (or regions) in which you want the blur trace to be estimated.

You can also adjust Blur Trace Bounds, Smoothing, and Artifact Suppressionthe last two let me create a less sharpened-looking result. I'd love to see a simple effect-strength adjustment like you get with Smart Sharpen (which, by the way, has a Reduce Noise slider). Shake Reduction is not a panacea, but it's definitely a finer effect than even the Smart Sharpen tool. If the subject is simply out of focus, it won't help you; a simply blurry subject won't be fixed.

Camera Raw Features

The Adobe Camera Raw module that the program uses with, you guessed it, raw camera files like Canon's CR2 and Nikon's NEF, seems to become more of a full photo editing tool on its own with every Photoshop update. For example, it lets you make local hue adjustments, rather than having to change the hue values for the whole image. The tool lets you have more than one adjustment panel open, and you can switch between vertical and horizontal filmstrip thumbnail views. You can also create presets based on images' ISO settings and do panorama merges from a right-click.

Photoshop offers several advanced capabilities in its Camera Raw module, including a geometry correction tool called Upright. This lets you fix parallel vertical and horizontal lines. Its Auto setting attempts to fix perspective errors, but you can choose to align only verticals or only horizontals, or mess with the perspective to taste with transforming sliders for pincushion and barrel distortion, vertical, horizontal, and aspect ratio.

As mentioned, you can use Camera Raw as a filter, applying all its manifold photo adjustmentscolor temperature, exposure, geometry, all of itto any image layer, not just to raw camera files. You can apply Camera Raw adjustments to video, too, and use a non-circular healing brush. As in Lightroom, you also get a radial filter that lets you apply the adjustments to an oval shape, such as a person's headvery useful for highlighting that bit of anatomy.

Camera Raw Profiles give you options for how Photoshop converts raw files into viewable images. The default is Adobe Color, which produces a more vivid image than the old Adobe Standard profile. You also get Landscape, Portrait, Monochrome, and Vivid Profiles, along with a selection of retro and artistic Profiles that are essentially Instagram-style effect filters. The same Profiles feature appears in Lightroom. Read my review of that application for a more in-depth look at Profiles.

The module also now includes over 70 presets developed by pro photographers, in categories including portrait, travel, cinematic, future and vintage. Unfortunately, a lot of the presets use nondescriptive names like FT1, FT2, FT3, and so on. They're also a bit drab overall, with feweven in the Creative categoryresulting in particularly striking effects. The Travel presets seemed the most interesting.

Dehaze is a Camera Raw feature also offered by Lightroom. Open any photo, even if it's not in raw file format (I tried it on a mobile-phone JPG image), and this slider in the FX tool set does a pretty impressive job of removingor addinghaze. Above, you can see the before and after (left to right) on a sample.

Super Resolution

The March 2021 release added an intriguing feature called Super Resolution. It uses machine-learning AI to effectively double the resolution of your image, which is a great help if you need to print photos that you've cropped significantly. The update also added support for Apple's ProRaw format and gives you more control over the interface, letting you re-order edit panels and sort the filmstrip based on date, rating, and more.

Super Resolution (left) vs. standard raw conversion (right).

The Super Resolution feature is related to the Enhance Details that landed in Photoshop and Lightroom in 2019. In fact, you only see the Super Resolution as a check box option inside the Enhance dialog, which you won't see unless you right click on the image (Ctrl-Click on macOS). In my test shot above, I saw some smoothing, with the result that the enhanced image actually seemed to lose detail, though for printing, smoothing pixelated edges as in the Hoopoe's bill below, is a win. Note that it's not an instant effect: Creating the resulting DNG file tool about 7 seconds on my test PC.

It worked even better on the geometric patterns of an architectural shot. See belowThe enhanced version is on the right).

Mobile Design and Libraries

Photoshop has made great strides in the area of mobile design. Not only can you use views and tools intended to facilitate mobile and web design, such as Artboards and Design Space, but you can also install the Adobe Preview mobile app and see how your project looks on it. When I installed the app on my iPhone, I initially got a connection error. I was trying to connect by USB rather than Wi-Fi, though the Adobe documentation says both methods should work.

The Design Space workspace presents a smaller, simpler tool set, and it is geared to working with HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. A tutorial panel helps you get started with this interface option. In Design Space, you can search and sample anything you work with, including colors, effects, fonts, layers, and your Library. What you don't get are the standard Photoshop photo adjustments and effects, but you can easily switch back to the standard Photoshop interface from Design Space.

Artboards let you create Photoshop documents with multiple views for different device screens. An Artboard can also be thought of as a level above layers. In fact, they're accessible from the Layers panel. It sounds a little dry, but after playing with Artboards for a while, I find it to be a useful capability.

Design Space uses Artboards by default. It also includes templates for current iPhones, iPads, Surface Pros, and other mobile-device screens. While I appreciate the thought behind these tools, I still expect it's going to be a hard sell for designers who are used to the full Photoshop interface. It does offer a streamlined way to work with multilevel layer content, though. It also lets you manipulate multiple objects at once, or easily swap their locations.

For a few years, Adobe has offered a way to sync content across multiple installations of the Creative Cloud apps, but the current Libraries feature takes this a step farther. Libraries sync not only documents, but also brushes, font styles, and color themes. They can be created and accessed not only on the full Photoshop application, but also in mobile apps such as Capture, Hue, Photoshop Fix, Photoshop Mix, Photoshop Sketch, and Comp. The Adobe mobile apps support Libraries for acquiring, creating, or editing content. They're all free downloads, but most require a Creative Cloud account for full functionality.

Related to Libraries are Cloud Documents. Saving your project as a Cloud Document enables you to work on it in the iPad version of Photoshop as well as on other desktops. Cloud Documents are saved instantly and, as of the June 2021 update, allow collaboration among multiple creators, with an Invite to Edit option. You can also open documents in Adobe Fresco. You can access previous versions of cloud documents in a Version History panel; you can even name versions. You can also now make cloud documents available for offline editing.

One odd development for saving files has caused something of a tempest in a teacup recently: Adobe added a Save a Copy menu choice, since the macOS API the program used for standard Save As functionality was discontinued by Apple in Big Sur. The new Save a Copy choice is now in Windows as well, for consistency. Save a Copy offers more format choices, while Save As only lets you save in PSD, PDF, or TIFF.

Unfortunately, Adobe doesnt have a spotless record when it comes to storing your media in the cloud. Some Lightroom users were taken aback to find that their unsynced photos had been lost during an app update. Use Adobes cloud for convenience, but its still a good idea to back your work up.

Adobe XD (Experience Design) lets designers prototype and design interfaces for websites and mobile apps. It uses Artboards for the various app and site functions, and its work can also be shared via Libraries.

Photoshop Libraries support Adobe Stock templates (see below) and can share read-only access to a public Library and to follow others' Libraries. You can share a Library with anyone who has a Creative account and set permissions for collaborators, limiting them to read-only rights or granting them full edit privileges.

Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock, which emerged from Adobe's 2015 acquisition of Fotolia, is a repository of over 40 million images, vectors, illustrations, and video clips. Non-Creative Cloud members can still buy assets from Stock. Creators can also sell their assets and get a 33 percent cut of all sales. That's not bad, considering that the industry standard is 25 percent.

You can work within any Adobe desktop apps with Adobe Library support, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. The Search Adobe Stock menu choice opens the website, on which you can search for content and either download or sync it to your Creative Cloud Library. But you can also search Stock right in the Library panel and insert it into your image, where it will be watermarked until you license it. After you license it, it retains any edits you make.

Font Tricks

Photoshop keeps getting better at fonts. With the June 2020 update, your document's fonts are automatically downloaded, activated, and synced to your Library. You can also filter searches for fonts with attributes like serif, script, and blackletter, and you can even tell the program to show you fonts similar to one you've selected.

The Type>Match Font tool can actually identify fonts in images and find the closest match on your system or in Adobe's massive font collection. Its intelligent imaging analysis is improved in the June 2020 update with more fonts, vertical text, and multiple-line detection. I had better results in my testing this time around.

You can also designate fonts as favorites, which is particularly handy. Another nifty touch is the ability to hover over a font choice to see it previewed in your document. As you hover the mouse cursor over typefaces in the search panel, your selected text instantly switches to that typeface. The font size dropdown menu offers a 16-point option, a size commonly used for web content. Web designers will also rejoice now that Photoshop supports SVG OpenType fonts for those wildly popular responsive designs, as well as emoji fonts. You can search fonts.adobe.com for typefaces, and everything is licensed thanks to your Creative Cloud subscription.

Font fanciers who want to go even deeper than just standard typeface sets will love the Glyphs panel. This lets you substitute alternate characters, and even shows you those alternates when you select a character in a Type layer. The tool didn't always work reliably for me, though, sometimes proposing a previous letter when I selected a new one.

Photoshop also supports Variable Fonts. This is an OpenType font format that lets you play with custom attributes like weight, width, slant, and optical size using slider controls.

With higher-resolution displays becoming more common, your old images sometimes may not be good enough anymore. Photoshop's upsampling algorithm could be a lifesaver. The upscaler shows up when you resize an image, in the form of the Preserve Details resample setting. This also offers a Reduce Noise option, since the process may introduce noise. It's definitely clearer than the old bicubic algorithm.

Smart Objects make for nondestructive, reusable raster and vector images that update throughout your project. You can save formatting of type as styles that can be easily applied to other text later. You can also view type in a way that previews the antialiasing used in web browsers. For web designers, Photoshop can generate CSS code that produces the exact look designed in the software. Going in the other direction, the software can also import color from a website's HTML or CSS code.

Converting Smart Objects back to their components for editing is now a simple matter of using the Convert to Layers menu option. The default swatches, gradients, patterns, shapes, and styles have all been updated with more appealing options. Below you can see the gradient panel on the right, for example.

Photoshop offers a vast array of brushes and pencilsover 1,200 of them. These offer stroke smoothing options, and you can organize brush presets in folders. A recent capability is the Symmetry option. This works with Paint Brush, Mixer Brush, Pencil, or Eraser tools. To use it, you click the butterfly icon in the Options bar, and then choose the kind of symmetry you want: Vertical, Horizontal, Dual Axis, Diagonal, Wavy, Circle, Spiral, Parallel Lines, Radial, or Mandala.

A Pattern Preview feature simply repeats whatevers in your image as a gridoutside of the actual image boundary. You can then save the result as a reusable pattern. (As you can see, Im no artist.) This seems like a great tool for gift-wrap designers!

Of course you can simply use the Shape and Line tools from the left-hand toolbar. In the June 2021 update Adobe lets you draw raster lines as pixels. Prior to this, you could only draw vector lines, which makes more senseunless you're going for a pixel-art effect.

Behance

Behance is a social network for creative professionals, offering online portfolios and connections. It's built into all the Creative Cloud applications, letting users post projects for feedback from colleagues and clients. Users can post their files directly from Photoshop via a one-click share button. From Behance they can share and discuss the work and even connect with potential and existing clients and freelancers.

Behance is a great resource for burnishing your Photoshop skills, too: It offers a Daily Challenge (often hosted by the wonderful Adobe Principal Worldwide Evangelist Paul Trani) in which you can see an expert working the program's magic and interact with the presenter via a chat panel.

Behance's ProSites are customizable online portfolios, which Creative Cloud subscribers can use with their own URLs. Behance's presentation is elegant and clean, and incorporates all the essential social features du jour. I especially like that it offers statistics of your page activity. You can also export photos in Zoomify formata powerful viewer that lets viewers zoom deep into large images. I'd like to see more sharing options, however, such as built-in email and Flickr sharing. Of course, you can do all this from Photoshop's ancillary Bridge image organizer app.

You no longer need to drop a cool grand to get Photoshop's 3D image editing capabilities in an Extended Edition, as they come with all Creative Cloud or Photography subscription plans. Adobe has also improved Photoshop's 3D tools, with faster performance and more realistic shadow rendering. Thankfully, Adobe offers downloadable sample 3D documents to get you started.

Working in the program's 3D mode is not for the faint of heart: It's practically rocket science, and indeed, you could design an actual rocket with it! The 3D Scene panel eases using it somewhat, though, as it consolidates many typical 3D design functions. You can create instances and duplicate 3D objects, which reflect any edits that you perform on the mother object. You can even take a panorama photo and convert it into a 360-degree movie, or pin it to a shape like a sphere, cone, or doughnut.

3D printing still has its enthusiasts, and Photoshop's support for the technology continues to improve. Photoshop can produce support beams and repair surfaces that wouldn't print correctly without them. Photoshop even shows color-coded 3D print previews and can export 3D models as PDF or SVX files, control bump-map depth, and automatically simplify 3D meshes. It also supports 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF) files.

Video Editing

You can apply all of Photoshop's still-image adjustments to video clipsincluding exposure, cropping, and filters. Photoshop is even capable of multitrack and keyframing, using the same fast rendering engine that powers Adobe's Premiere Pro video editor. Only a few transition options are available, however, all of them variants of fades. Each video track you add becomes a Photoshop layer that can be individually adjusted.

You also get all the standard digital video editing tools, letting you join, split, and trim clips. Audio tools are minimal, but you can set an audio track's volume percent, fade it in, fade it out, or mute it. Movie files are saved as PSDs, but by choosing File/Export/Render Video you can create a video file with H.264, QuickTime, or DPX encoding. You also get a decent choice of resolutions targeting both big screens and mobile devices, including 720p, 1080p, and 4K options.

Export and Share

Photoshop's Export options are richer than ever, and the performance is better, too. It now supports the operating system's share feature. This comes in the form of an up-arrow icon at the top right, which opens macOS and Windows' built-in share targets. On the Mac, you can use AirDrop, and on Windows, you can use My People, email, and any other Store installed apps that accept photos. The Export option replaces the tried-and-true Save for Web option (though you can still use that if you prefer). It's faster and it delivers smaller files, especially when it comes to JPGs. You can also export and import SVG (scalable vector graphics) files, which are commonly used on websites.

You can export at multiple sizes simultaneously, convert to the sRGB color space, and export a single layer or Artboard. You can also set up a Quick Export option from the File menu to use the format of your choice. Finally, you can add metadata, such as copyright information, at export.

Beyond Mere Photoshopping

Photoshop makes it easier and easier do amazing things with digital images: Each time I investigate its features to review a new version, I discover new capabilitieseven ones that have long existedso great is the program's depth. Integrated stock photography, advanced font tools, and organizational and syncing features, such as Cloud Documents and Libraries, are unique to the application.

Beyond photography, you won't find photo editing software with better, more complete, or more precise tools for drawing and typography, both of which continually improve. Adobe also understands the move toward mobile and web-focused design, along with the need for 3D tools. Photoshop's position as the preeminent image editing tool remains secure. It earns a rare five-star rating and is the PCMag Editors' Choice winner for image editing software.

Adobe Photoshop 5.0 Editors' Choice Check Price Pros Many photo correction and manipulation tools

Slick interface with lots of help

Tools for mobile and web design

Rich set of drawing and typography tools

3D design capability

Synced Libraries and Cloud Documents View More Cons No perpetual-license option

Premium assets aren't cheap

Interface can be overwhelming at times The Bottom Line The world's best image editing software adds mind-blowing neural filters, automatic sky replacement, and even better selection tools.David Slade is a senior Post and Courier reporter. His work has been honored nationally by Society of Professional Journalists, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Scripps foundation and others. Reach him at 843-937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.comPASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Singing River retirees will see a dramatic decrease in their pension plan benefits to ensure the pension's longevity.

The state Chancery Court made serious changes to the embattled Singing River

Pension Plan on Thursday in an effort to insure the plan's survival. The changes include a 25 percent reduction in benefits, suspension of the cost-of-living benefit, and an option that allows no retirees to "cash out" of the Plan.

In January, court-appointed fiduciary Traci Christian issued a report stating the plan was in "dire" shape and if not attended to appropriately, the pension could potentially be depleted by the year 2025.

Attorney Jim Reeves issued the following statement on the court's ruling.

"The cut in benefits was more severe now than it would have been had the settlement been approved without objection. Unfortunately, the drawn out legal appeals have cost the pension enormously, and every day of delay means less benefits for all pension members. The court recognized that reality."

Because the pension plan was frozen from 2008-2014, contributions were not been funneled into the plan, leaving the pension plan in a dangerous state.

The settlement approved in February by Judge Louis Guirola, is under appeal by Barton and Co-attorney Earl Denham to the fifth U.S. circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.The US, UK and France jointly launched strikes against targets at three sites in Syria in the early hours of Saturday morning, following a week of threats of retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack on civilians in the Damascus enclave of Douma, reported CNN.

"I ordered the US armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said late Friday at the White House.

The strikes were launched at 9 p.m. ET, as most of Europe and the Middle East was shrouded in darkness. Photos showed missiles streaking over the night sky in Syria, and witnesses told CNN they heard explosions in the capital Damascus as Trump was making his address.

Russia's news agency TASS reported that none of the missiles fired by the three western nations struck areas near its naval and air bases in Syria. Those bases come under the protection of Russian air defense units.

Three targets were hit in Syria, including a scientific research center located in the greater Damascus area, and two sites near Homs, the Pentagon said.

Three civilians were wounded in Homs after "several" missiles were intercepted by Syria air defense systems, Syria State TV said.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis said "right now this is a one-time shot and I believe that it sent a very strong message" to the Syrian regime.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US strikes had hit the Syrian capital when the country "finally" had a chance at peace.

Iran's foreign ministry condemned the strikes. "The attack is the blatant violation of international laws, as well as ignoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said according to Iran's state news agency.

US defense and military officials told CNN that aircraft, including B-1 bombers, and at least one US Navy warship based in the Red Sea, participated in the strikes.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that the first allied strike targeted a scientific research center in greater Damascus involved in the development and production of chemical weapons.

The second site targeted was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, while the third was at a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post.

"Important infrastructure was destroyed which will result in a setback for the Syrian regime. They will lose years of research and development, storage and equipment," Dunford said.

Trump said that he decided to take action because last weekend's action by Assad "was a significant attack against his own people," and "not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster instead."

The US President said the strikes were in coordination with France and the United Kingdom, adding that the purpose of the campaign is to "establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons."

"The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economic and diplomatic," Trump said.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement that she "authorized British armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regime's chemical weapons capability and deter their use.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.Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine in the morning with more clouds for later in the day. High 83F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 69F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.Former U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings of South Carolina and current Attorney General Jeff Sessions of Alabama have unique drawls, but new College of Charleston research indicates voters may not like Southern dialects. File/APWASHINGTON (AP)  The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump spoke from the White House.

Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, have responded to the attack. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

Trump said the U.S. is prepared to sustain pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in London that the West had tried "every possible" diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted" by Syria and Russia, she said.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," May said. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change."

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."

Trump did not provide details on the joint U.S.-British-French attack, but it was expected to include barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace. He described the main aim as establishing "a strong deterrent" against chemical weapons use. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria. He authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said the strike was "harder" on the Syrian regime than the 2017 strike and targeted "Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure." He described it as a "a one-time shot," adding, "I believe it has sent a very strong message."

Mattis said there were "no reports of losses" on the part of U.S. and allied forces participating in the strike, which included manned aircraft.

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The air campaign could frustrate those in Trump's base who oppose military intervention and are wary of open-ended conflicts.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," Trump said. "Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran  but maybe not."

The U.S. missile strike a year ago was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The strikes that hit early Saturday in Syria came hours before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were set to arrive to inspect the sight of the apparent attack.

The one-off missile strike in April 2017 targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

A broader question is whether the allied attacks are part of a revamped, coherent political strategy to end the war on terms that do not leave Assad in power.

Friday's strikes appear to signal Trump's willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. Just weeks ago, Trump said he wanted to end U.S. involvement in Syria and bring American troops home to focus on the homeland. The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

"As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," Trump said. "And great warriors they are."

The U.S. has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A U.S.-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.

Jarrod Agen, Vice President Mike Pence's deputy chief of staff, said Pence called congressional leaders from his hotel suite in Lima, Peru, to notify them of the president's plan to address the nation about the Syrian air strikes.

Pence spoke to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi before Trump's speech. Agen said Pence was unable to reach Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer before the speech but planned to speak to him after.ADVERTISEMENT

SATIRE SATURDAY moves back to Lagos this weekend, after about three weeks in Abuja. Of course, the numero uno himself has moved away from the seat of power to London anyway, making the job of social criticism quite uninteresting for wailers, both online and elsewhere.

And talking about job, there have been talks about Nigerias unemployment figures and the zillions of jobs created by this government in the last few months, with many of such discussions throwing up controversies. From claims by the Agriculture minister, Audu Ogbe, to Chris Ngige of the Labour ministry and, ultimately, to Lai Mohammed, the figures churned out have largely been dismissed as unverifiable half-truths. As we move towards the elections, there will be more and more of such job-creation claims and therein lies the goldmine for smart Nigerian entrepreneurs.

Of course, even before elections, a few smart unemployed Nigerians especially in Lagos have devised an escape route away from the nations perennial problem of unemployment, by creating employment for themselves out of the unemployment crisis. In the spirit of sharing, SATIRE SATURDAY will highlight a few tips detailing how anyone could emulate these ingenious guys, quit lamentation and create a job for himself out of no job: by simply fleecing Nigerian job seekers in Lagos and elsewhere.

If you move through Ikeja, Ikoyi and Victoria Island, there are tons of consulting companies purportedly recruiting for oil majors, banks and other blue-chip companies. Due to their experience, many fresh NYSC members and other experienced members of the Association of Nigerian job seekers think they are scam but it doesnt matter. The branding and the returns are the essentials. And thats exactly where the goldmine lies. So if you yourself do not have a job, you may want to explore this job consulting job (never mind the repetition).

First, if you are thinking of embracing this money-spinning start-up (deceiving and fleecing unemployed Nigerians), you must know that the government is a strong ally. So you must pray that Nigerians continue to get the same kind of government they have always had for decades; the kind of government that creates jobs ONLY on the pages of the newspaper. That, frankly, remains the only way your ministry can grow and youd be assured of more clients. As we move into the election year proper, as my explanation will show, youd be moving into your own equivalent of oil boom era.

Two, morality is no virtue in this entrepreneural journey. Those who run the institution that would provide you the strongest supportthe government dont do morality. So it is important that there is a synergy between both parties, you and government; hence there may be miscommunication.

Three, to successfully scam Nigerian job seekers, one would need to work RELIGIOUSLY with the government memo. Since you do not originally have any job as the CEO of a job consultancy firm and there is a government that promises and delivers jobs ONLY in newspapers, which citizens may not be discerning enough not to believe, there is a perfect match here. But you have to ensure that there is no breakdown in communication so your clientsNigerias teeming unemployed populationdont identify you as the thieving scam artist that you are.

Having settled the corporate governance aspect of this scamming entrepreneurial project, lets look into the daily operations.

There are a few details that may damage your hustle like the location of your company, the way you word your messages to clients (read: unemployed youths), the entire design of your office, the name of your (thieving) consulting firm, among others. These are very important optics. They could determine the difference between a billionaire job consulting firm CEO and a poverty-stricken CEO. These, I presume, are tiny details that you wouldnt want to miss next week, no?

SERIOUSLY SPEAKING: Rogue SARS and the worthlessness of Nigerian life

If there was anything that exemplified the worthlessness of the Nigerian life this week, it would be the depressing detail of the ordeal of James Ibe-Anyanwu, that Lagos writer-businessman who was forced to hide inside a bank toilet by some rogue SARS officers in Okota. The bribe-seeking officers, who have been identified by the police, almost snuffed life out of the poor man in a hide-and-seek game that lasted for hours. Many commentators on the cyber space said many Nigerians have been shot and branded thieves in similar circumstances, especially in hidden places. Depressing.

While it is commendable that the police have identified the rogue officers, the matter must not for any reason be swept under the carpet as is typical of such cases in Nigeria. They must be dealt with severely if found guilty, to serve as deterrent to other rogue security operatives.

The incident brings to mind the legitimacy of the #EndSARS campaign launched by Nigerians a couple of months ago. Yet it is sad that a section of the nations security apparatus would become a deadly monster and be considered more dangerous that actual robbers among Nigerians at a time people are being killed in sporadic shootings and, ironically, officers in the Police Force are considered inadequate for proper policing. Sad details.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is on the verge of mission accomplished in its quest to clear the global oil glut that caused the worst industry downturn in a generation, reported Bloomberg, citing the International Energy Agency said.

Less than 10 per cent of the surplus in oil inventories remains, as Opec and its partners have cut production by even more than they intended while world demand soars, said the agency.

As Venezuelas unravelling economy hits its oil production, unplanned losses among the alliance exceed the cut pledged by Opecs biggest member, Saudi Arabia.

Since the start of last year, the Opec and Russia have been spearheading an effort by oil producers to offset the surplus unleashed by US shale drillers.

Oil futures climbed to a three-year high in New York this week, moving toward $70 a barrel, as political tensions in the Middle East threaten to strain supplies even further.

It is not for us to declare on behalf of Opec that it is mission accomplished, but if our outlook is accurate, it certainly looks very much like it, the IEA said in its monthly report. The Paris-based agency advises most of the worlds major economies on energy policy.

Oil inventories in developed nations are just 30 million barrels above their five-year average, the measure that Opec is using to gauge whether markets are balanced, the IEA said. Thats down from more than 300 million barrels when the group started its cuts.

Global inventories are on track to shrink by 600,000 barrels a day from this quarter through to the end of the year. As a result, data released in the next month or two could show stockpiles have dropped below the five-year average, said the report.

Nonetheless, as Opec gets closer to its goal, Saudi Arabia is increasingly eager to revise the target, arguing that the cuts need to continue to ensure markets have properly rebalanced.

The producers, who will meet in the Saudi city of Jeddah next week, have examined alternative metrics that filter out excessively-high stockpiles seen in recent years.

While Opec members agreed to reduce output by about 1.2 million barrels a day, their actual cut last month was more than 60 per cent bigger. The groups 14 members pumped 31.83 million barrels a day in March, the lowest in almost three years.

The 24 members bound by the wider accord have now cut output by almost 2.4 million barrels a day, more than their combined pledge of 1.8 million barrels, the IEA said.Details emerged late on Friday night why the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, wielded the big stick and removed the acting Director General, Abdul Zubair, and other top officials of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) from their positions.

On Friday, Mary Uduk was appointed as the new acting director general of the Commission, to replace Mr Zubair who was moved to the External Relations Department.

A statement by the Ministers spokesperson, Oluyinka Akintunde, named other top officials redeployed to include Reginald Karawusa as acting Executive Commissioner, Legal & Enforcement.

Others were Isiyaku Tilde as acting Executive Commissioner, Operations, and Henry Adekunle as acting Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services.

A reliable source close to the capital market regulator told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday the development was informed by the confusion that followed last Wednesdays sudden decision to lift the technical suspension on trading on Oando PLC shares.

The shares of the company were placed on technical suspension in October 23, 2017 following the announcement of a forensic audit in the wake of alleged massive manipulation of the companys shareholding structure.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) said the directive to lift the suspension Thursday and resume trading on the shares of the embattled oil and gas company came from SEC vide a letter dated April 9.

Hours after the initial announcement of the lifting of the suspension made the rounds, a counter order for its reversal followed. That, too was reversed again prior to a final order late in the evening of the same day.

The source who requested that his name should not be disclosed as he was not authorised to speak officially on the issue said the confusion had seriously embarrassed government .

SEC rallied late Wednesday night to offer an explanation, and also apologise for the confusion that ensued.

The Commission explained the decision to lift the suspension on the companys shares was in accordance with normal practice to protect investors interests as a short term measure.

Suspensions (of shares of companies) are typically intended for a short period to ensure market stability and thereafter lifted to allow market dictates, the statement said.

The suspension of the shares of Oando PLC, SEC pointed out, was however prolonged beyond the normal period due to several litigations by the company and some shareholders contesting the propriety of the forensic audit and technical suspension ordered by SEC.

Nigerian oil company, Oando. [Photo credit: Guardian Newspaper]

But, the explanation and apology appeared a have come a little too late to avert the serious sanctions that awaited the erring officials.

The source said Mrs Adeosun queried the Abdul Zubair-led management of SEC demanding explanation for the flip-flop.

The source told PREMIUM TIMES Mr Zubair in his reply denied any knowledge about the directive to the NSE DG to lift the suspension on Oando shares without official clearance and authorisation.

He however blamed an unnamed deputy director at the Commission for issuing the directive to the NSE DG without his authorisation as the chief executive of SEC.

Not convinced by the then acting DGs response to the query, the minister was said to have directed that he be redeployed as the head of the External Relations Department of the Commission to save the government further embarrassment.

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It was becoming obvious government was fast losing trust and confidence in the officials. The decision to shuffle the management of the commission appears to have confirmed fears in government circles that the top hierarchy of SEC may have been infiltrated by forces sympathetic to Oando who are not happy about the ongoing forensic audit of the company, the source said.

Besides, the re-shuffle appears to have put paid to the alarm raised by organised labour last week about plans by the federal government to reinstate the suspended Director General of the Commission, Mounir Gwarzo.

Sacked Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, [Photo credit: Pulse.ng]

Several media reports had carried the statement by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) warning against any attempt to reinstate Mr Gwarzo who was suspended last year following alleged corruption and abuse of office.

The ASCSN State Secretary in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Isaac Ojemhenke, said indications were that President Muhammadu Buhari was pressured by some forces in his inner cabinet to reinstate the embattled former SEC DG.Parents of the abducted Chibok girls have urged the federal government not to use the recent rescue of Dapchi schoolgirls as an excuse for relenting in the search for the remaining 109 Chibok girls still in captivity four years after.

They also urged the government to step up effort for the release of Leah Sharibu, the only Dapchi schoolgirl who was not released by Boko Haram because she refused to denounce her Christian faith.

The parents made the call in interviews with PREMIUM TIMES on the occasion of fourth year anniversary since the girls were abducted by the terror group.

On Saturday, the Chibok community held a service in commemoration of the mass abduction.

Of the over 200 girls kidnapped, the Nigerian government negotiated the release of 103 girls between October 2016 and May 2017.

Two of the girls, Amina Nkeki and Salomi Pogu, had earlier escaped from captivity and was later found in the bush by soldiers.

That brings the total number of the rescued girls to 105. At least 112 Chibok schoolgirls are believed to still be in captivity.

Some of the girls were recently shown on a Youtube video released by the Boko Haram claiming they would rather remain with their abductors-turned- husbands than return to their parents.

Many of the abducted girls are also believed to have died in captivity.

While the Nigeria government continued to assure the world of its commitment to secure the release of the remaining schoolgirls, the Boko Haram staged yet another phase of abduction when gunmen in about a dozen trucks stormed Dapchi village in neighbouring Yobe state and took away another set of 110 schoolgirls.

The girls were released 31 days after the government negotiated with Boko Haram. The group refused to release Leah Sharibu account of her not being a Muslim and being unwilling to denounce her Christian faith.

Chibok parents worry

What troubles and somehow make us feel sad is that it took only 31 days to rescue the Dapchi schoolgirls, while our own here in Chibok is taking up to four years now. What is the fate of the remaining 112 schoolgirls that are still remaining in captivity, asked Yakubu Nkeki, leader of the Chibok parents.

He said given the experience of Sharibu, Chibok parents were worried whether the remaining Chibok girls were being held back because of their faith.

The parents were crying bitterly when they saw the Dapchi girls being released by Boko Haram. And they became more devastated when they learnt that the girl only Dapchi girl that was not released, Leah, was because she was a Christian, he said.

Some of the Chibok parents have since that day began to lose hope and even more psychologically troubled thinking that if the girl Leah is being held back because she is a Christian, it means they may never see their daughters again, because most of them that are in captivity now are all Christians.

Disappointed

Mr Nkeki said members of his community were disappointed with government officials at the state and federal level for not attending the four-year commemoration of the abduction of their daughter Saturday.

Most of the parents of the abducted and missing girls converged at the premises of the Government Girls secondary school, Chibok, where they held a prayer session for the missing girls as well as the safety of their communities.

According to the organisers, all invitation were duly sent to both state and federal government officials as well as the local government council of Chibok to attend the commemoration service but the event turned out poorly attended.

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The attendance was too poor, said Mr. Nkeki. Most of those in attendance were the parents of the missing schoolgirls; not more than 30 persons joined us for the prayers.

We made it public even in the media that we are going to hold a commemoration service to mark the fourth year anniversary of the girls abduction. We invited everybody including the state governor, whom we learnt is out of the country at the moment. Sadly no representative was sent to attend the event, except the officials of the local government council who are here with us.

Danladi Saleh, a medical doctor and one of the community leaders in Chibok, told PREMIUM TIMES four years into the lives of parents whose missing daughters are yet to be found could be very devastating.

Mr Danladi was one of those that once offered both medical and psychosocial support to the parents of the abducted girls.

To us as a community and even the parents of these missing girls, four years of waiting in anticipation of seeing your missing child return home can be very traumatizing. It is usually very easy to manage a situation where one child is dead, that could be understandable. But when it comes to not knowing the faith that befell your missing child can be very tough, he said.

Some of the parents have died even before the second year of their daughters captivity, so one can only imagine what would be going on in the minds of the parents when they see other abducted girls return and theirs still being held in captivity.

He said federal government should also be forthcoming with credible information about the remaining girls.

We have heard several rumor that some of the girls are dead; to that effect the federal government should come clear with credible information on the true situation so that some of the parents whose daughters may have died, can put their minds to rest rather than continuing to suffer the trauma they have suffered all this four years.

On some of the girls that were shown on video pledging loyalty and allegiance to the Boko Haram, the medical personnel said it is normal that when someone finds himself in such kind of situation of captivity for that length of time, the person may one way or the other subscribe to what the person is doing either willingly or by coercion. But that does not set aside the need for all of them to be rescued by government.The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi , has boasted that the All Progressives Congress(APC) will deploy all the governmental advantages it has to wrest power in Ekiti from the Peoples Democratic Party come July 2018

He also threatened that once the PDP was roundly defeated, the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, would be prosecuted for mismanaging the economy of the state.

Mr. Fayemi, a former governor of the state, spoke on Saturday at a rally in Ado Ekiti, where he declared his ambition to seek the APC ticket for the July 14 governorship election.

He however assured that whoever emerged from the partys primaries would be supported by other aspirants to ensure victory at the polls.

Mr. Fayemi is the 37th aspirant seeking the APC governorship ticket.

He was governor between October 16, 2010 and October 15, 2014, after he was defeated by Mr. Fayose at the polls.

They said the June 21, 2014 governorship poll was free, fair and credible, so that of July 14, 2018 too will be free, fair and transparent, Mr. Fayemi said.

They will accuse us of so many things. They will accuse us of using federal might, but we will not care.

We will use local, state and federal powers to take over Ekiti from a rapacious and government being run by a brigand in Ekiti.

The rally, which was well attended by party supporters, created a traffic snarl that left motorists stranded for several hours.

The minister who used the declaration to highlight his achievements during his tenure as governor, said he would want to bring back the good days and ensure the state was rescued from the misrule the current government had brought the state to.

He however stressed the need for members of the APC to be united during and after the primaries.

Let me say this, I am a loyal party man and I am ready to support whoever the party fields as the candidate, he assured.

Yes, I am holding an important position in this government through the grace of God and by the magnanimity of our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, and I am satisfied with it if politics that I play is for me and my family alone.

But there is an unfinished business in our State. We have to complete and bring back those projects we initiated when we were in the saddle.

Again, politics to me, is not about title but about service and sacrifice.

On the rising acrimony among the APC aspirants, the Mr. Fayemi urged the

State Working Committee to set out a code of ethics to regulate the conducts of every contestant, describing the tirades against his

person as unacceptable.

It is absolutely unacceptable for aspirants to indulge in abuses, use intemperate languages against one another. If we do this, we will be damaging the brand the APC is known for, he said.

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Each contestant should sell his brand to the party delegates who will decide our fates.

We should be ready to support whoever the party picks as the candidate, provided the process is free, fair and transparent if truly we are loyal party men. I will see whoever fights after the primary as a mole who was sent to destroy our party.

The APC acting chairman, Kemi Olaleye, said the party would do its best to be transparent in the primary.

We are in a sensitive time and we need ourselves. No one can win

election alone, so I beg of you to not use your writeups on our platforms to destroy our party, she said.

Let us be united and know that we have only one enemy, which is Fayose for us to be able to win.

Our minister has been supportive of the party. We are proud of him for using his Ministerial position to help Ekiti and APC members.Following the one week Easter holiday, the Senate resumed on Tuesday.

The Senate was agog with several activities ranging from deliberations on issues of national interest to suspension of one of the lawmakers.

Below are major activities at the Senate this week:

Tuesday:

 The Senate President, Bukola Saraki mandated the Appropriation Committee to tidy up reports on the 2018 Budget latest by Friday, April 13 for submission to the Senate next week.

Mr Saraki gave the task during plenary shortly before suspending plenary.

 The Senate, thereafter, suspended its plenary as a mark of honour for two members of the National Assembly who passed away recently.

The lawmakers are Umar Jibril, member representing Lokoja/Kogi Federal constituency in the House of Representatives (and Deputy Majority Leader of the House) who died on March 30, 2018 and Bukar Mustapha, the senator representing Katsina North who died five days later, after a brief illness.

Wednesday:

 The Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, said the 2018 Budget of the National Assembly would be made public.

He made the revelation while briefing journalists on the objectives of the Open NASS initiative designed to increase public access to the operations of the National Assembly.

Thursday:

 The Senate suspended a lawmaker, Ovie Omo-Agege, for accusing his colleagues of working against President Muhammadu Buharis re-election plans in 2019.

Mr Omo-Agege in February accused colleagues of working against Mr Buhari by adopting the amendment to section 25 of electoral act outlining a change in the sequence of elections.

The Chairman, Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Sam Anyawu, recommended a suspension of 181 legislative days but was later reduced to 90 days after pleas from Mr Saraki.

Mr Saraki also ordered the disbandment of a parliamentary support group while urging Mr Omo-Agege to withdraw the court case.

The group, which was formed in March by pro-Buhari senators after a face-off with their colleagues on the amendment to the electoral act, emerged in public through an obituary advertisement placed in some national dailies on March 20 and 21 over the death of one of their members, Ali Wakili.

 Mr Saraki, on Thursday gave a warning to chairpersons of Senate committees on the need to submit their reports on the 2018 budget.

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Mr Saraki also listed 20 committees which are yet to make submissions to the committee on appropriation, stating that Friday 13th April remains the last date of submission.

 The Senate mandated its committee on police affairs and national security intelligence to investigate a bank robbery in Offa, Kwara State, that led to the death of many.

The senators also urged the affected banks to resume operations to forestall a crippling of commercial activities in the town.

 The Senate was thrown into a rowdy session on Thursday after a Senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe, described President Muhammadu Buhari, as incompetent.

Mr Abaribe, who had come under order 43 to discuss the issue of insecurity in Nigeria was interrupted by senators of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and his point of order was sustained while the commotion continued.

 The Senate on Thursday mandated its committee on Petroleum (Upstream) to investigate the contention over the oil producing status of Kogi and Anambra states.

The resolution came after three senators, Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu), Andy Uba (Anambra) and Dino Melaye (Kogi) argued about which of the states has attained the status of oil-producing state.

The matter was, however, referred to the Senate committee on Petroleum (Upstream).

 The Senate cautioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) to exercise restraint when dealing with sister security agencies.

The recommendation follows the adoption of the report of an ad-hoc committee set up to investigate a face-off between armed operatives of the EFCC, the State Security Service, (SSS) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).ADVERTISEMENT

A Rivers State High Court has granted the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, leave to issue a writ of summons to Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, and the Federal Government.

This was revealed via a statement issued by Ike Abonyi, special adviser on media to the National Chairman, PDP.

The River State Chief, A. I . Iyayi- Lamikanra, who also granted that the defendants be served by substituted means all the originating processes together with accompanying processes in Thisday newspaper.

The case was adjourned to Monday April 23, 2018.

Rivers state High court has granted the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Prince Uche Secondus leave to issue a writ of summons to Lai Mohammad and the Federal Government.

The PDP National Chairman had filed a suit against Mr Mohammed for alleged defamation of character following the release of alleged looters list which contained Mr Secondus name.

The Ministers list claimed the chairman had collected N200 million from the former National Security Adviser.

Mr Secondus, through his lawyer Emeka Etiaba, wrote to the Minister demanding the immediate retraction of his name from the list, payment of N1.5 billion damages and public apology within 48 hours.

The letter told Mr Mohammed that failure to meet this demand within 48 hours will force him (Secondus) to take the issue to court.

We shall within 72 hours from today, proceed to a court of competent jurisdiction to ventilate our clients right under the law and shall further seek the protection of the court against you, he said.

Having failed to meet the demand, Mr Secondus on Friday April 6 filed a suit at the Port Harcourt High Court, Rivers state, claiming among other things that the court awards to him the sum of N1.5 billion being damages for humiliation, castigation, vilification attack on his person and integrity as a result of the publication.

Joined in that suit also is the Federal Government through the Attorney General of the Federation and the Vintage Press Ltd, Publishers of the Nation Newspapers.ADVERTISEMENT

Nestle Nigeria Plc on Thursday reinstated its commitment toward enhancing the quality of life in Nigeria and contributing to a healthier future by creating shared values.

The company also said it would continue to enhance local capacity by patronising Nigerian entrepreneurs, farmers and vendors in its value chain.

Nestle head of corporate communications, Victoria Uwadoka, said this during a visit to PREMIUM TIMES Lagos office on Thursday.

The Nestle spokesperson came in the company of Uduak Bassey, the firms Business Excellence Manager and John Attu, a communications assistant.

She explained that as a means of giving back to the society, Nestle also organises training and programmes for Nigerians, patronises local farmers and works with the local suppliers in communities across the country to produce products of quality standard.

The spokesperson said Nestle would be glad to work with PREMIUM TIMES because of its integrity, and praised the paper for its tradition of fearless reporting hinged on ethics.

She added that because of the newspapers integrity, which resonates with the value of the company, Nestle would be glad to partner with PREMIUM TIMES on several projects to tell the stories of Nigerians whose lives the company had impacted.

Mrs. Uwadoka said Nestle sources most of its materials from Nigeria, with thousands of local farmers as partners benefitting in the value chain.

We also put them (the farmers) through a series of training on sustainable farming practices and business management skills, she said.

She explained further that in Nigeria, Nestle has over 100 distributors and thousands of resellers who have life-changing stories to tell about the companys impact in their lives.

We have a lot of beautiful stories from people across our value chain, she noted.

Weve helped people set up their factories and meet the quality standards for Nestle.

Speaking earlier in his welcome address, Nicholas Ibekwe, PREMIUM TIMES deputy head of investigations, noted that the newspaper was known for speaking truth to power and holding government accountable.

Nestle head of corporate communications, Victoria Uwadoka at the meeting

Mr. Ibekwe, who spoke about the exploits of the newspaper, also talked about the newspapers ethical standards, its clout and its numerous awards, making it one of Africas most respected news platforms.

Jide Alaka, who heads the papers digital marketing unit, said the newspapers reach is quite impressive, with consolidated network across social media platforms.

Mr. Alaka said brands were evolving and moving toward digital advertising, a terrain which he said PREMIUM TIMES operates as a leader and understands.

He also assured that the newspaper was willing to work with brands that places value on standards and integrity like Nestle.Joseph Achuzia, civil war veteran and retired colonel, who died in February at age 90, is being buried in Asaba, Delta state.

Mr Achuzia, also known as Hannibal, will be buried at Saturday midnight according to Asaba tradition in his family compound at No. 2 Idumojei Quarters, Asaba, his family said.

Onyeka Achuzia, the son of the deceased, said his father was Ikemba of Asaba and would be buried according to the tradition of Asaba.

The funeral ceremonies began on Thursday with a day of tributes.

The ceremonies continued on Friday with a funeral service conducted by the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star at Mr Achuzias residence.

The preacher at the service, Chukwuma Dike, cautioned against material acquisition, which he described as vanity.

Everything is vanity in this life. Your children cannot use your PhD to earn income when you are gone.

They cannot access your bank accounts unless they follow the processes to change the signatory, he said.

Mr Dike described the name, Achuzia, as a key that could open doors because of the legacies he left behind.

He urged his children to remain united to sustain the values Mr Achuzia represented.

At a reception held at St. Patricks College, Asaba, Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa was represented by his Commissioner for Water Resources, Fidelis Tilije.

The family received condolences from the governors of the five South-Eastern states, while the President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, John Nwodo, led executives of the socio-cultural organisation to the ceremonies.

Mr Achuzia was secretary-general of Ohaneze Ndigbo, where he further propagated the ideas of Igbo nation which he stood for till his death.

In a condolence message published in the burial brochure, Gov. Okowa, in a statement signed by Ovie Agas, the Secretary to the State Government, described Mr Achuzia as an epitome of virtues.

A veteran of the Nigeria civil war, a leader of thought, inspirational community leader, bridge builder, elder statesman and above all, selfless leader whose life time achievements transcended community and national boundary.

I recall that despite being a Deltan, Col. Achuzia rose to become the secretary-general of the pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, a platform from where he fought relentlessly for the advancement of his people, Mr Okowa said.

Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo Governor, in a message, said Mr Achuzia was a combatant and seasoned soldier whose precision in the discharge of his military duties was second to none.

His contributions toward a united and indivisible post-war Nigeria was unrivalled. This was evident in his pontifications on poignant contemporary political issues.

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His rare sense of diligence, organisational prowess, indefatigable and intrepidness during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war earned him the name, Hannibal, from his friends and foes.

In his capacity as a commander on the Biafran side, Hannibal displayed his administrative ingenuity and laid foundation for the prosecution of the 30 months war.

However, he surrendered and joined hands in the building of one Nigeria.

He was indeed a great patriot and worthy statesman, Mr Okorocha said.

Mr Achuzia was reputed for one of the most decisive ambushes against federal troops during the civil war.

(NAN)The 2018 Common Entrance Examinations witnessed higher enrolment of 79,887 candidates compared to 2017 with an enrolment of 78,378, while candidates with special needs were also given adequate consideration.

The Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwukah, disclosed this in Abuja on Saturday while monitoring some of the examination centres in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that prospective students for the Junior Secondary School (JSS) I of the 104 Unity Colleges in the country sat for the examination organised by the National Examinations Council (NECO).

Mr Anwukah observed that the examinations were conducted in good environments, while commending NECO for a hitch-free exercise.

According to him, the exam is taking place all over the country unlike that of 2017 in which the examinations was restricted in Borno and Adamawa states due to activities of the insurgents.

I came here to find out whether the exam is going on well and whether the candidates are well accommodated and the environment is good enough for them to take the exams.

And I have just confirmed that. They are doing the exam in a conducive atmosphere. I am also impressed with what I am seeing here.

He added that the number of successful candidates in the examination would determine the number of candidates to be admitted into the government secondary schools nationwide.

Also, Charles Uwakwe, the NECO Registrar, said the examination was on-going across the country, with adequate security in place.

He said the examination recorded the highest enrolment of pupils from Lagos State with 25, 800, while Zamfara state has the lowest enrolment of 28.

In my assessment, the enrolment is very satisfactory and the minister insisted that as matters of principle, we must keep the doors opened so that nobody will be disenfranchised.

There is no problem of enrollment in Borno State; they even had the head start in the Northeast.

79,887 is the current figure of enrolment. The state with the highest enrolment is Lagos with 25,800 enrolments and the lowest is Zamfara.

The minister added that there was also provision for students with special needs, saying that when the documentation was done we tried to put them into consideration

He said the ministry would determine the number of candidate to be admitted based on their performances in the examination.

NAN correspondents, who monitored the examination, observed that the examination started promptly as scheduled, in all the centres visited, with the presence of security personnel.

The exercise was hitch-free at Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 3, Government Secondary School, Garki and Tudun Wada Secondary School in Zone 4, Abuja, among others.

Pupils turned out in large numbers, wearing their school uniforms.

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Parents and guardians were also seen waiting patiently for their children and wards to finish the exam.

(NAN)President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday urged Nigerians to live in peace with one another for the progress of the country.

The president made the call in Kaduna in a message to the 32nd Maulud celebration of prominent Tijjaniya sect cleric, late Sheik Ibrahim Nyass.

Mr Buhari who was represented by the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, said Nigerians irrespective of their religious beliefs should live peacefully with one another and promote brotherliness and respect for each other.

He commended the group for organising the event, saying it would help in promoting love and respect among the followers.

The president urged Muslims to continue to pray for the nation and emulate the teaching of late Nyass, who propagated Islam with love and reached out to humanity across the globe.

I call on all Muslims to live in peace, love their neighbours and be united, he added.

In his remarks, a grandson of Nyass, Sheik Sharif Umar, expressed happiness at the hundreds of thousands of faithfuls that turned out for the event, describing the turn out as unprecedented.

He stressed that Ibrahim Nyass lived an exemplary life and preached love among Muslim faithfuls.

Mr Umar who urged the sect members to be law abiding and embrace peace, prayed for the success of the Nation and the good health of the president .

Abdullahi Aboki, a guest at the event said the late cleric was worth celebrating as he was an advocate of peace who encourages love between Muslims and other faiths.

We are gathered here because of the love we have for Shehu Nyass; he was a lover of Allah and Prophet Muhammad, he stated.

Saadu Tidibale, one of the sect followers, said he travelled from Sokoto to Kaduna to witness the event with his family, and described the event as memorable.

The Sheiks legacy of love cannot be forgotten, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Kaduna was virtually locked down by the multitudes of Tijjaniyya followers who thronged the city.

It was an opportunity for traders who lined up streets with their wares to make quick business.

Sammani Saleh, a shoe seller said: we are happy with this Maulud; I am recording huge sells, people are buying , we thank God.

Balarabe Maiwaina, a food seller also expressed joy over the boost of sells saying her food was almost finished even before noon.

A cloth seller, Musa Aliyu, said he had been making sells since the eve of the event and thanked God for the Maulud and prayed for safe return of those who turned up for the event.

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NAN reports that the sect followers from Senegal, Niger, Ghana, Cameroon and the U.K also attended the Nyass maulud celebration.(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

Uche Ogar, a former governorship candidate under the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abia State says that Igbos will benefit more under President Muhammadu Buhari if he emerges in 2019.

Mr. Ogar told the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu on Saturday that the president had revived some projects abandoned by the immediate past administration in the South East zone.

According to him, President Buharis declaration for presidency in 2019 is good news especially for Igbos.

What he has done in the South East zone is quite remarkable despite the fact that we did not support him in 2015.

He gave us substantive ministers, Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressways are all under construction including the 2nd Niger Bridge in Onitsha.

Most importantly, his emergence will give the zone the opportunity to produce the President in 2023, he said.

Mr Ogar urged people of the zone to support the presidents intention and vote for him massively when the time comes.

On plans to rerun in 2019, the political chieftain said he had not made up his mind adding that he would speak at the appropriate time.

Mr Ogar, who was in Enugu to attend the 43rd Annual Synod of the Methodist Church Nigeria, preached for peace in families and the country at large.

Speaking on the theme of the synod, `Strive for Peace and Holiness, the business magnate noted that the world presently was in crisis as nowhere on earth was safe.

We hear constantly about wars and rumours of war around the world. Our world is in trouble and the United Nations as a body is helpless in the face of it all.

I believe it will require reconciliation between man and his maker to bring or enthrone peace on earth.

For every child of God, peace is our vocation. Let us, therefore, do all in our power to live and make peace. Let us apply the dictum of `Live and let live, he said.

Mr Ogar used the occasion to appeal to the youth to show maturity, capability and ability in order to be involved in governance. (NAN)Big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are powering exciting innovations across the aerospace industry, many of which are happening in the background, invisible to everyday airline customers, said senior experts ahead of an industry event.

The 4th Global Aerospace Summit will be held at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort in Abu Dhabi from April 30 to May 1, to discuss the future of manufacturing and how it impacts the aerospace industry.

Local and international experts in aerospace manufacturing will be at the event to explore an environment where advanced digital technologies are used on the shop floor to optimize processes, avert assembly problems and reduce costs.

Often people think of big data and AI when interfacing with new services or products such as Amazons Alexa, Siri, or Google Now. However, the largest use of big data and AI technologies is happening in the background, where businesses use them to gain insight from their operations and customers to improve and streamline their manufacturing processes and operations, stated the experts.

Ismail Abdulla, the CEO of Strata, said: "Automation, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence have only recently become household buzz words. However, in the aircraft manufacturing industry we have for years been witnessing a transformation in operations as a result of the implementation of advanced technologies that provide actionable insights."

"Big data is at the heart of this manufacturing revolution, because the algorithms that give AI its intelligence are trained with vast amounts of existing examples of how the right and wrong outcomes look like for a particular situation," observed Abdulla.

"Once trained, these advanced AI solutions can help predict when variations in manufacturing processes occur, so manufacturing issues can be tackled earlier or prevented entirely, potentially saving both money and time," he added.

Advanced aircraft manufacturing was identified as a priority topic by experts on the Global Aerospace Summit Advisory Board, which helps shape the biennial programme. Among them is the Summits partner, Airbus.

Marc Fontaine, the digital transformation officer of Airbus, said: "Our strategy at Airbus is to improve our operational and products performance. We have based our digital strategy on these goals and we have made greatest progress in analytics and big data."

"Now, we will focus on industrialisation and deploying our most promising innovation and digital concepts. We have already integrated AI and Internet of things and demonstrated concrete value with proofs of concept in a pilot connected factory," he noted.

Oisin Commane, the managing irector of SMG Aerospace, which is organising the summit, said the event brings together thought leaders from the aerospace, aviation, defence and space industries, alongside key decision makers and officials, giving them a platform to discuss a wide range of subjects, including the future of aerospace manufacturing.

"It is evident that the use of automation and artificial intelligence has already begun to transform the industry, and it will be interesting to see how the industry takes this transformation to the next level," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceADVERTISEMENT

The Ondo State Government has reviewed downwards its new schedule of fees for the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akunga Akoko (AAUA) for returning students following pressure from students and parents.

Protests had greeted the increase in the fees from between N25,000 and N35,000 to between N150,000 and N200,000, as the students and parents demanded that the government revert to the old fees.

The students leadership had called for the suspension of the street protests after the government engaged them in a dialogue.

Releasing the reviewed schedule of fees on Thursday, the students said the government had agreed to reduce the fees to between N70,000 to N100,000.

A statement signed by the President of the SUG, Ijanusi Olawale; the General Secretary, Adekunle Ayo-Lawrence and the PRO, Adelowo Samson, said the review was in respect of the meeting held on Friday between the governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, and the leadership of the students, alongside members of the governing council of the institution.

The statement read in part: After much deliberation, the meeting resolved to review the tuition as follows; Returning students: Faculty of Law: N100,000; Faculty of Science: N100,000 ; Faculty of Social and Management Science: N100,000; Faculty of Education: N80,000; Faculty of Art: N80,000, with an option to pay twice i.e N50,000 and N40,000 per semester respectively.

Final year students across all faculties are to pay a sum of N70,000 with an opinion of paying twice i.e N35,000 per semester.

The governor said this is the lowest he can go and he urged every individual to should abide by this.

The president said no decision would be taken on behalf of the students, until after an aggregated opinion of majority of the students was sought.

The union leaders urged the students to send their opinions to designated numbers on WhatsApp to enable them take a firm decision.The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, on Friday spoke on his ambition to return as governor of the state, saying his declaration has created unease within the ranks of All Progressives Congress in the state.

Speaking on Adaba 88.9 FM, where he answered questions on his intention to run, the former governor said there had been a campaign to discourage him from joining the race.

There has been a propaganda machine by the sitting governor of Ekiti State, and I must say, even some members of my own party, who probably felt if the former governor joined the race, it will upset the apple cat, he said.

They think it will undermine their chances of selling themselves, which is not necessarily the case.

There are over 35 aspirants jostling for the ticket of the APC in Ekiti State ahead of the governorship campaign, the list which also includes another former governor, Segun Oni.

Mr Fayemi, who will be staging a rally on Saturday to mark his public declaration to run in the governorship race, also admitted making some mistakes when he was governor of the state, between 2010 and 2014.

The minister who had formally notified the leadership of APC and governors on Thursday, noted that the tour he made of the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State, afforded him the opportunity to explain his return bid to the people.

My reception during the tour of the local governments was beyond my expectation, he said.

The tour afforded me the opportunity to remind the people what we used to do and what we used to have.

I told them that I was not infallible as governor, I made my own mistakes, but I have also learnt my lessons in the course of my being out of office in the last four years.

On his indictment by the Ekiti State Panel of Inquiry, Mr. Fayemi said the white paper which indicted him, was a tissue paper.

He said the indictment and the 10-year ban by the panel, amounted to nothing, as it had no effect in the face of the law.

Mr Fayemi said the conclusions of the panel in missing funds were false and that it was biased and failed to ask the right questions.

You talked about a 10 year ban based on a certain white paper that the state governor came out with. With the greatest respect to his office, that white paper is tissue paper, he said.

It has no relevance anywhere. The law is clear. If you are sure of your facts and you have come out with a judicial panel of inquiry, it is a settled matter; the Supreme Court has ruled on this, this Constitution of Nigeria has been altered on this: it is only a court of record that can ban one from holding public office.

He also said there was a dire need to restore Ekiti State to its pride of place by enthroning a responsible government in the coming election.

He said he was offering himself to the people in order to ensure that the people returned to the path of development from which the present government veered off.

When I served as governor, I delivered on every aspect of my mandate, he said.

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Take the pain to read my inaugural speech on October 16, 2010. On every level, I had what I called an eight-point agenda. And that eight-point agenda focused on a wide range of developmental initiatives; on education, on health care, on industrial development and modernising agriculture on gender equality.

When I was leaving as governor in 2014, Ekiti has the lowest HIV prevalence in the country; the lowest maternal and child mortality. I can sit here in the studio and tell you all what I did as governor.

At the national level, the minister said the Buhari-led federal government had done well in ensuring that the country was rescued from the brink of collapse.For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.



SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the announcement that Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) is suspending AB 1745, his proposed ban on internal combustion engines, Ryan Hanretty, Executive Director of the California Independent Oil Marketers Association (CIOMA) issued the following statement:

"It is encouraging to hear of Assemblymember Ting's decision to suspend his crusade against CIOMA's small, family- and minority-owned businesses, as well as the hard-working, middle-class families of California.

"CIOMA was the first to warn how devastating this policy would be in California, and has since worked to inform Californians and the Legislature about the real-world impacts of a misguided bill like this.

"Last week, on the heels of CIOMA's Day at the Capitol, and in just five days, our members flooded the Capitol with over 400 letters, each explaining how idealist bills like this serve only the agendas of politicians and their wealthy political allies.

"While we are happy to no longer face this immediate threat, we are disturbed by Assemblymember Ting's enthusiastic commitment to sacrifice middle-class families for the benefit of the rich. AB 1745 comes after earlier attempts made by Asm. Ting to secure $3 billion in Electric Vehicle subsidies through 2017's AB 1184. While being advertised as a means of providing EV access to the most deserving, over 80% of all EV subsidies go to those earning over $100,000 a year.

"This is bad policy. Bills like these offer nothing more than sound-bites and self-fulfillment to out-of-touch politicians, while posing a very real and frightening threat to nearly every Californian family."

CIOMA is the industry's statewide trade association representing the needs of independent wholesale and retail marketers of gasoline, diesel, lubricating oils and other petroleum products; transporters of those products; and retail convenience store operators. CIOMA's members serve California's families, agriculture, police and fire, cities, construction, and delivery industries to name a few.

SOURCE California Independent Oil Marketers Association (CIOMA)

Related Links

http://www.cioma.com

TORONTO and SPOKANE, WA, April 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Hydro One Limited ("Hydro One") (TSX: H) and Avista Corporation ("Avista") (NYSE: AVA) today announced the achievement of an important milestone in the regulatory approval process of their proposed merger. The companies have filed an all-parties settlement agreement in the merger proceeding before the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (the "Commission"). This represents a full settlement which all parties have agreed is consistent with the public interest.

"I would like to thank all the parties in Idaho that worked together to reach this significant milestone," said Mayo Schmidt, President and CEO, Hydro One. "The settlement agreements we have obtained in Washington, Idaho and Alaska speak to the long-term benefits of the merger of Hydro One and Avista for customers, communities, employees and shareholders. We are optimistic that we will satisfy all reasonable concerns in all jurisdictions."

"We believe this settlement agreement represents a positive outcome that is broadly supported by the parties and meets the standards for approval in Idaho," Avista Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Scott L. Morris said. "The settlement agreement reinforces the commitments we've made to our stakeholders in each of the states we serve to maintain our local presence and decision-making, increase our charitable contributions and continue to support economic development, innovation and community involvement. We're confident our partnership with Hydro One enhances our ability to provide exceptional service and support to our customers and communities well into the future."

The settlement agreement includes financial and non-financial commitments that align in value with the settlement agreement reached in Washington. The settlement agreement in Idaho confirms our commitment to customers, community investment and long-term environmental protections. Under the settlement agreement, customers in Idaho would receive immediate financial benefits in the form of rate credits that would become effective at the close of the transaction. No costs associated with the transaction will be recovered from Avista or Hydro One customers.

Please refer to www.puc.idaho.gov for the joint applications and settlement agreement (which includes the complete list of commitments).

The settlement agreement is subject to Commission approval.

In addition to Hydro One and Avista, the parties to the merger proceeding in Idaho include Commission Staff, Idaho Forest Group, Clearwater Paper Corporation, Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho, Idaho Conservation League and the Washington and Northern Idaho District Council of Laborers.

Applications for regulatory approval of the transaction are still pending with utility commissions in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Alaska. An all-party, all issues settlement agreement was filed with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska on April 3, 2018. An all-party, all-issues settlement agreement was filed with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission on March 27, 2018.

Approval must be obtained from the Federal Communications Commission. Also required is clearance by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States as well as the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

Hydro One and Avista received antitrust clearance on April 6, 2018 after the expiration of the waiting period under the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended. The transaction received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on January 16, 2018 and from Avista shareholders on November 21, 2017. Hydro One and Avista continue to anticipate closing the transaction in the second half of 2018.

About Hydro One Limited

We are Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with more than 1.3 million valued customers, over C$25 billion in assets and 2017 annual revenues of nearly C$6 billion. Our team of over 7,400 skilled and dedicated regular and non-regular employees proudly and safely serves suburban, rural and remote communities across Ontario through our 30,000 circuit km of high-voltage transmission and 123,000 circuit km of primary distribution networks. Hydro One is committed to the communities we serve, and has been rated as the top utility in Canada for its corporate citizenship, sustainability, and diversity initiatives. We are one of only five utility companies in Canada to achieve the Sustainable Electricity Company designation from the Canadian Electricity Association. We also provide advanced broadband telecommunications services on a wholesale basis utilizing our extensive fibre optic network. Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: H).

Forward-Looking Statements and Information

This press release and the joint application and settlement agreement to which it refers may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Words such as "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "attempt," "may," "plan," "will", "can", "believe," "seek," "estimate," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking information. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or actions and involve assumptions and risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking information. Some of the factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from the results expressed, implied or forecasted by such forward-looking information, including some of the assumptions used in making such statements, are discussed more fully in Hydro One's filings with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Hydro One does not intend, and it disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking information, except as required by law.

About Avista Corporation

Avista Corporation is an energy company involved in the production, transmission and distribution of energy as well as other energy-related businesses. Avista Utilities is our operating division that provides electric service to 382,000 customers and natural gas to 347,000 customers. Its service territory covers 30,000 square miles in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of southern and eastern Oregon, with a population of 1.6 million. Alaska Energy and Resources Company is an Avista subsidiary that provides retail electric service in the city and borough of Juneau, Alaska, through its subsidiary Alaska Electric Light and Power Company . Avista stock is traded under the ticker symbol "AVA." For more information about Avista, please visit www.myAvista.com .

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the company's current expectations. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than historical facts. Such statements speak only as of the date of the news release and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, in addition to those discussed herein, all of the factors discussed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017.

SOURCE Hydro One LimitedZEISS will be presenting its complete portfolio of integrated diagnostic and surgical solutions that help cataract surgeons work more efficiently and deliver excellent outcomes for their patients. Using ZEISS Cataract Suite markerless, with the OPMI LUMERA surgical microscope and CALLISTO eye, the computer-assisted surgery system that enables the exchange of data between diagnostics and the OR, surgeons can more easily and precisely1 align toric IOLs, skipping the manual pre- and intra-operative marking steps and manual data transfer. IOLMaster 700 Swept Source Biometry, when integrated into the toric IOL workflow of ZEISS Cataract Suite markerless, helps surgeons achieve target refraction and reduce the risk of refractive surprises for improved refractive outcomes for their patients.

Also on display during ASCRS will be VERACITY Surgical from ZEISS, an intuitive cloud-based platform for cataract surgery planning, logistics, treatment, risk management, and analysis. This latest digital connected eye care technology from ZEISS provides personalized technology-enabled patient care, synthesizing critical data at each step of the procedure to help cataract surgeons work more efficiently and reduce risks.

"We are continuing to expand our portfolio of integrated digital solutions that span from the office to the OR," says Jim Mazzo, Global President Ophthalmic Devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec. "Digitalization presents many opportunities to improve treatment outcomes and increase the efficiency of clinical workflows. Our goal is to continue to provide doctors and surgeons advanced technologies to help them care for their patients in the best way possible."

Surpassing milestone of 1M procedures worldwide, ZEISS celebrates one year of SMILE laser vision correction in the USA

ZEISS ReLEx SMILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction) laser eye surgery is now being performed regularly around the world having been adopted by over 1300 surgeons in 69 countries, surpassing one million procedures worldwide. Using the VisuMax femtosecond laser from ZEISS, SMILE provides refractive surgeons an additional proven laser vision correction option to offer their patients. A new clinical trial has begun outside the USA for SMILE in hyperopic patients. VisuMax Intracorneal Tunnel Cutting Option (ICR), which allows versatile incisions for the implantation of intracorneal rings, is now 510(k) cleared.

Professor Dan Z. Reinstein will be moderating a panel of experts to look back at the last year of SMILE at the ZEISS Meet the Experts session, "SMILE Adoption: Critical First Steps." He will also be available during the ASCRS to sign copies of his newly released book, "The Surgeon's Guide to SMILE: Small Incision Lenticule Extraction."

ZEISS Swept-Source OCT advancements pushing forward discovery in retinal research

Since its inauguration in 2016, the A R I Network, a global consortium of renowned doctors, clinicians, and scientists, has collaborated with ZEISS to advance the field of retinal imaging to drive further discovery and breakthroughs of new clinical applications for diseases affecting the retina. Having access to the latest Swept-Source OCT technology from ZEISS and with its Open Innovation approach, the A R I Network enables the exchange of ideas between members from around the world, facilitating collaboration to accelerate OCT development with ZEISS scientists. To date, the A R I Network has over 90 ongoing collaborative efforts to advance clinical practice and patient care, with over 45 publications and 60 posters.

"The A R I Network is a perfect example of how ZEISS collaborates with experts in their fields to develop new innovative solutions to advance patient care and to bring these technologies to everyday clinical use," says Dr. Ludwin Monz, President, and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec.

As a result of the A R I Network collaboration, new advanced technologies are being integrated into the PLEX Elite 9000 Swept-Source OCT / OCTA platform from ZEISS to further doctors' understanding and analysis of the critical vasculature of the eye. Among these advancements include visualization tools enabling wider and deeper imaging of the eye for improved visualization of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy. These new visualization technologies developed for PLEX Elite have been integrated into the CIRRUS OCT and OCT Angiography platforms for use in daily clinical practice. Both instruments along with the recently launched ultra-widefield fundus imaging system, CLARUS 500, are part of ZEISS' comprehensive diagnostic portfolio.

For more information on ZEISS' scientific and educational program and events at ASCRS 2018: www.zeiss.com/ascrs.

1 Clinical data of Prof. Findl / Dr. Hirnschall presented at ESCRS 2013  technically verified pre- / intraoperative matching precision  1.0 in mean.

Not all products, services or offers are approved or offered in every market and approved labeling and instructions may vary from one country to another. For country specific product information, see the appropriate country website. Product specifications are subject to change in design and scope of delivery as a result of ongoing technical development.

Brief profile Carl Zeiss Meditec:

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ISIN: DE 0005313704), which is listed on TecDAX of the German stock exchange, is one of the world's leading medical technology companies. The Company supplies innovative technologies and application-oriented solutions designed to help doctors improve the quality of life of their patients. The Company offers complete solutions, including implants and consumables, to diagnose and treat eye diseases. The Company creates innovative visualization solutions in the field of microsurgery. With approximately 3,000 employees worldwide, the Group generated revenue of 1,189.9m in financial year 2016/17 (to 30 September).

The Group's head office is located in Jena, Germany, and it has subsidiaries in Germany and abroad; more than 50 percent of its employees are based in the USA, Japan, Spain, and France. The Center for Application and Research (CARIn) in Bangalore, India and the Carl Zeiss Innovations Center for Research and Development in Shanghai, China, strengthen the Company's presence in these rapidly developing economies. Around 41 percent of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG's shares are in free float. The remaining approx. 59 percent are held by Carl Zeiss AG, one of the world's leading groups in the optical and optoelectronic industries. For more information visit our website at: www.zeiss.com/med.

SOURCE Carl Zeiss Meditec

Related Links

http://www.zeiss.com

In Reporter (Knopf, June), investigative journalist Hersh recalls covering huge stories, from the Vietnam Wars My Lai massacre to the present-day war on terror.

Whats the hardest story you ever had to report?

The hardest emotionally was My Lai. I was dealing with people doing horrible things, killing women and children. I had a three-year-old son at home, and it was just so personal in a way, so grotesque.

How did you get American soldiers who participated in the massacre to talk about it?

You think they felt good about what they did? No matter how depraved they were at that time, and how crazed they were from the war, when an officer says to start opening fire on people in a ditch, you know thats wrong, even if you do it. So when I went to them later and said, Tell me what the hell happened, they wanted to talkit was expiation.

You pioneered a tougher, less trusting style of journalism. What sent you down that path?

When I covered the Pentagon for the Associated Press in 1966, Harrison Salisbury at the New York Times reported massive U.S. bombing of North Vietnam. The government denied it, but my sourcesa three-star admiral and a two-star Air Force generaltold me, theyre lying. I wrote stories about it and got in trouble with [Defense Secretary Robert] McNamara and others for challenging their integrity, but they were lying. That was important.

You worked with famous editors such as Abe Rosenthal at the New York Times and David Remnick at the New Yorker, but you fell out with them. Why cant you get along with editors?

Reporters like me, what we do for a living is we walk into the editors office on a nice sunny day, throw a dead rat full of lice and fleas on the desk, and say, I want to go report this. It may cost you customers, itll cost you a lot of money, and I may not get the story. Its inevitable that you wear out an editoryou just wear them out! Im mouthy, too, so there you are.The top-selling graphic novel on the 2017 NPD BookScan chart was not the latest volume of the Walking Dead or a classic like Batman: The Killing Joke. It was a kids book: Dog Man Unleashed, the second book in Dav Pilkeys Dog Man series.

The second and third bestsellers were also Dog Man titlesmore than one million copies altogetherfollowed by a parade of Raina Telgemeier books (Drama, Ghosts, Sisters, Smile, and her Baby-Sitters Club adaptations), as well as Shannon Hales Real Friends, Svetlana Chmakovas Awkward, Cece Bells El Deafo, and Victoria Jamiesons Roller Girl. According to BookScan, all these books sold more copies than the first adult title on the chart, Marjane Satrapis Persepolis.

Graphic novels for middle grade readers are the hottest category in books right now, but the category was almost nonexistent 15 years ago. In the 1940s and 50s, comics were a mass medium, with millions of copies sold at newsstands and on magazine racks. Research published in 2014 by Carol Tilley, an assistant professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, found that 95% of elementary school children and 90% of teenagers read comics.

The industry hit a downturn in the mid-1950s, when Frederic Wertham (a psychiatrist and author of the notorious 1954 anti-comics work, Seduction of the Innocent) and other social critics waged a widely publicized campaign against comics, claiming they led children to violence, crime, and sexual deviance. To avoid outside censorship, the Comics Magazine Association of America adopted the Comics Code, which prohibited any depiction of sex, violence, and even disrespect for authority figures. From 1954 on, wholesalers would only accept comics that bore the Comics Code Seal of Approval (with a few exceptions such as Classics Illustrated and Dell Comics).

Specialty comics shops began to appear in the early 1970s, and their business model allowed publishers to bypass wholesalers and therefore the Comics Code. These shops also purchased comics on a nonreturnable basis, meaning publishers could tailor print runs to orders. As comics moved from newsstands to specialty shops, the audience grew older and more adult, and publishers catered to those readers with darker, more complex story lines.

The manga boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s created a new format and a new audience for comics. Published as 200-page graphic novels and distributed mainly in bookstores (particularly Waldenbooks, which were mostly located in malls, and the now defunct Borders chain), manga was accessible to young readers (and girls in particular) in the same way that monthly comics had been to earlier generations.

Without manga, I think bookstores might still have been less open to the possibilities of selling graphic novels, and comics might have remained something more geared toward an adult readership, says JuYoun Lee, deputy publisher and editor-in-chief of Yen Press, who launched the middle grade imprint JY under Yen Press last year. JYs books include Svetlana Chmakovas original graphic novels, Awkward and Brave, and she is republishing the W.I.T.C.H. series, a graphic novel series produced in the mid-2000s by Disney.

According to Lee, Not only has manga shown that comics is a mediumnot a genrecapable of telling any kind of story, but its also cultivated a new generation of creators who understand the medium well and are ready to tell their own stories.

The growing success of manga during those years caught the eye of Terry Nantier, whose NBM Publishing was a pioneer in marketing graphic novels through bookstores, beginning in the late 1970s. Nantier cofounded Papercutz, a childrens graphic novel publishing house, with Jim Salicrup in 2005. It launched with Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys graphic novels, both done in a manga visual style.

It was a merger of the two styles of comics, with the page size and thicker books and stylized art coming from manga, but the storytelling approach and color coming from American-style comics, Salicrup says. Papercutz later switched to other graphic novel formats, and their current line is a mix of licensed titles, including the Smurfs and Nickelodeons The Loud House, imported titles from France (Ariol, Dance Class), and original graphic novels. In 2017, Papercutz launched the Charmz imprint, which specializes in graphic novels for preteen and early teenage girls.

Also in 2005, Scholastic v-p and creative director David Saylor launched Graphix, the graphic novel imprint of Scholastic. Saylor says he fell in love with comics when he was in elementary school, so that was the age group he focused on. It also felt like our first acquisition, Jeff Smiths Bone series, fell in there perfectlya creative-driven story for grade school kids that also can go older, he says. (In fact, Bone was originally self-published by Smith as single-issue comics and trade paperbacks aimed at a general audience.) Graphix has gone on to become the most successful publisher of childrens graphic novels, home to a lineup of bestselling creators, among them Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet), Dav Pilkey, and Raina Telgemeier.

From the beginning, Saylor had an eye on Scholastics book clubs and book fairs, which market a wide range of titles, including graphic novels, to elementary grade readers. When the clubs and fairs are on board with a book, it really helpsjust the number of impressions we are getting from kids and teachers and parents, he says. Indeed, in February 2007, when the childrens graphic novel market was still relatively small, Ed Masessa, the category manager for fantasy, graphic novels, and science fiction for Scholastic Book Fairs, estimated hed sold four million graphic novels since 2004.

Publishers took note. First Second, a graphic novel imprint under Macmillans Roaring Brook Press, was founded in 2006; its line includes Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosados Giants Beware!, Shannon Hales Real Friends, and Ben Hatkes Zita the Spacegirl and Mighty Jack series. Pioneering comics editor Francoise Mouly launched the independent Toon Books in 2008 as a publisher of hardcover comics for early readers, and she added a middle grade imprint, Toon Graphics, in 2014. The comics publisher Boom! Studios launched its kids imprint in 2007, starting with licensed comics and later branching out into original comics and graphic novels. It currently publishes the middle grade series the Backstagers, Goldie Vance, and Lumberjanes under its Boom! Box imprint.

Jeff Kinneys Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a runaway bestseller in 2007, helped pave the way for the category at Abrams Books Amulet imprint, which publishes a mix of prose and graphic novels. While not strictly a graphic novel, Wimpy Kid is more visually oriented than most chapter books and is often included in graphic novel sales charts. Other Amulet titles include the Nathan Hales Hazardous Tales series and the multiple-award-winning El Deafo, an autobiographical graphic work about living with deafness, created by Cece Bell.

More recent entries into the field are Amp! Comics for Kids, the childrens imprint of Andrews McMeel Syndicate and home of the Big Nate, FoxTrot, and Phoebe and Her Unicorn books, along with Lion Forge Comics, a startup that publishes middle grade graphic novels under its CubHouse imprint.

Raina Telgemeiers Smile, an autobiographical work about childhood dental misadventures, was the first true middle grade graphic novel to become a massive bestseller. It stayed on the New York Times paperback graphic novel chart for 240 weeks and would probably still be there if the Times hadnt discontinued its graphic novel charts. The success of Smile and her other booksDrama (2012), Sisters (2014), and Ghosts (2016)helped bring attention to the category. By the mid-2010s, graphic novels were being carried in chain and independent bookstores and mass market stores such as Walmart and Target, making them as accessible to young readers as any other type of bookand once the readers found them, they wanted more.

Library Demand Heats Up

Around the same time publishers were waking up to the potential of childrens graphic novels, libraries were getting on board as well. I can remember when we didnt have a graphic novel collection at all, says Eva Volin, supervising childrens librarian for the Alameda Free Library in Alameda, Calif.

In 2002, the Young Adult Library Services Association held a graphic novel preconference at the American Library Associations Annual Conference. That started the ball rolling, at least in the library world, Volin says. Once the format was accepted by teen librarians, we started seeing collections forming in childrens departments. There wasnt much out there, but the few books we had were so popular that I was buying multiple copies just to keep up with demand.

Abrams Books executive editor Maggie Lehrman, editor of the Nathan Hale books, has seen how the popularity of a graphic novel can grow organically. Abrams is also publisher of the Cece Bell's award winning graphic novel, El Deafo, edited by Susan Van Metre. What I think has been incredible about [the Nathan Hale] series is that its been such a slow but intense build, Lehrman says. We launched in 2012 with two titles and modest salesno chain or mass support, so mostly in the indies and libraries. And then every book has built on that to the point where the series will hit half a million copies sold soon.

She continues: I think its the teachers and librarians who put the books in kids hands and then the word of mouth from kid to kid. Plus, Nate has had an impressive school visit schedulehe sees hundreds of kids in person and gets them excited about drawing and history.

Lehrman touches on two important points: the gatekeepers who bring the books to the readers, and the authors who work hard to build a brand. Just as newsstands and magazine racks brought comics to the general public in years gone by, book fairs, book clubs, teachers, and libraries bring graphic novels to potential readers right in their schools. (The Scholastic Book Fairs alone reach 35 million schoolchildren with more than 130,000 book fairs nationwide per year.)

I run the book fair at my kids public school, and they just go straight for the comics at those things, says Andrea Colvin, v-p and executive editor at Lion Forge. Anything you put in there thats a comic is going to sell, and thats a great place for [kids] to find out about them. And we cant get enough of them. Rainas books still sell like crazy. And as Colvin explains, theres a secondary effect that may be even more important: I think kids main avenue of discovery is other kids, because kids are encouraged to read and bring books to school.

Bringing not just the books but also their creators to schools also helps boost sales. It helps increase the number of access points where kids see an authors work, says Graphix senior editor Cassandra Pelham Fulton. When they do an event, the school or library often orders books, and many kids are exposed to books for the first time in their schools. Its really cool to see Raina and Kazu on their book tours, interacting with kids directly and telling the story of their books and how they created them. She adds that even authors who dont do national tours but just engage their local library and bookstores can widen their audience.

The increasing recognition of graphic novels by mainstream literary awards programsstarting with the nomination of Gene Luen Yangs American Born Chinese for a National Book Award in 2006also gave the medium a boost. The profile of graphic novels has grown steadily since then; in 2015 Cece Bells El Deafo was a Newbery Honor Book and This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki was a Caldecott Honor Book and won a Printz Award. Noelle Stevensons Nimona was a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award, and in 2016, March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell became the first graphic novel to win a National Book Award.

In addition, Gene Luen Yang served as the 2016-2017 National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature, which brought wider attention to his work as he toured the country and promoted reading in generalincluding graphic novels. Though only El Deafo is a middle grade title, all these honors helped open the doors of libraries and classrooms to middle grade graphic novels.

While the audience has grown for graphic novels as a whole, its the middle grade books that dominate the category. Somehow graphic novels have turned out to be a natural fit for elementary school readers. That audience is open to anything, and the books you read at that age really help form your character, Lee says.

Colvin believes that students in the middle grades are still flexible enough to adapt to reading comicswhile older readers who are new to the medium may have a harder time. [Middle graders] are still young enough to assimilate this way of receiving and working with information, where its visual and textual at the same time, she says. Its not the same as a picture book, but youre coming off picture books, so you know you can read words and pictures and put them together to make something completely different.

Colvin adds, Kids are into authentic stories and nonfiction and memoir. Theres something about the way comics workits easier for them to project themselves on these kinds of characters. Kids are so interested in Rainas teeth. Everyone wants to know what her teeth look like. Its also because they are able to identify with this experience, and a lot of middle grade comics are cartoony enough that everyone can feel like they are Raina.

Some comic shops have tapped in to that audience as well. Boston comic shop Comicopia is located in an urban area that doesnt have a lot of children, but manga manager Morgana Rhalina Hartman (who also handles all-ages titles) says middle grade graphic novels are popular with customers in their late teens and early 20s. I think part of it is that a lot of stories are being told that readers have been waiting for a long time, like a lot of stories with LGBTQ themes, she says. We try to make our store a safe place for people of all identities, so for us to have a large selection of queer material is very important. Their most popular middle grade titles include Katie ONeills Princess, Princess Ever After and The Tea Dragon Society (both published by Oni Press), along with the Backstagers series by James Tynion IV, with art by Rian Sygh.

The childrens graphic novel market is still new enough that theres plenty of room for innovation. When Smile came out, it was unique, Colvin says. When Wimpy Kid came out, it was unique. The things that are going to do well are things we havent thought of yet. I dont want something thats like Smile, but its about my ankle instead of my teeth. I dont want to say there isnt a market for also-reads, but I also want something that is new and different and has a different take.

Salicrup offers a similar view. One of our biggest successes ever was the Lego Ninjago graphic novels, he says about the popular licensed property. If we made our decisions on what to publish based solely on what was most successful, we wouldve passed on Ninjago, as it didnt have that much in common with Raina Telgemeiers bestselling graphic novels. Yet our Ninjago graphic novels were right at the top of the charts with Rainas wonderful books for quite a while, and not a single Ninjago guy ever wore braces!

At the end of the day, kids have always loved comicsits just that the comics went away for a while. I havent really seen a surge in the popularity of graphic novels, Volin says. What Ive seen is that there has been a surge in books for people to buy. Id be willing to put money on graphic novels for kids being wildly popular since the dawn of time, if theyd only been available. Sigh.

Brigid Alverson writes regularly about comics for PW.

For more of the latest developments in the middle grade category, see our 2018 Spotlight on Middle Grade.Spurred on by the We Need Diverse Books movement, a crop of new imprints and initiatives reflect publishers ongoing efforts to expand the middle grade category, seeking out traditionally underrepresented voices and stories.

Recent years have brought the launch of a number of diversity-focused imprints for children and teens, including the following:

Salaam Reads, a Simon & Schuster venture, is the first imprint at a major publisher to shine the light on books featuring Muslim stories, themes, and characters. Launched in 2017, the imprint is helmed by publisher Justin Chanda and executive editor Zareen Jaffery.

Penguins Kokila imprint, which was announced in February, will also center its efforts on publishing diverse books for young readers. According to Penguin, the imprints mission is to add depth and nuance to the way children and young adults see the world and their place in it. The debut list will launch in the summer of 2019, under the direction of publisher Namrata Tripathi.

Poet, educator, and Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander will spearhead Versify, a new imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, which the publisher says will feature books that celebrate the lives and reflect the possibilities of all children. The imprint will debut in spring 2019 with four titles.

Diversity is also entering the realm of childrens fantasy, as evidenced by the launch of Riordan Presents, bestselling middle grade author Rick Riordans imprint at Disney-Hyperion. The imprint, which kicked off in March with the publication of Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi, will offer multicultural myth and fantasy for young readers.

Other well-established imprints or publishers with a focus on diversity include Arte Publico Press, Cinco Puntos Press, and Lee & Lows Tu Books.

Reaching Readers

National literacy initiatives that underscore the vital need for mirrors and windows in childrens literature have also surfaced in the past few years. Printz Award and Eisner Awardwinning graphic novelist and former National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature Gene Luen Yang has been a vocal advocate for getting more inclusive and authentic books into the hands of young readers. The Library of Congress, Macmillan Childrens Publishing Group, and the Childrens Book Council and Every Child a Reader have continued to support Yang in promoting his official platform, Reading Without Walls, which encourages children of all ages to pick up books that feature diverse subjects, characters, and formats.

Current national ambassador Jacqueline Woodson has chosen as her platform

Reading = Hope  Change, sharing with children across the country the power of books to inspire empathy and social transformation.

Meanwhile, one passionate middle grader, 13-year-old Marley Dias, has launched her own literacy campaign via social media, #1000BlackGirlBooks, in response to the dearth of diverse stories available to young readers. Since starting her initiative in 2015, Dias has far exceeded her goal of collecting 1,000 books with black girl protagonists to donate to libraries nationwide. Her debut book, Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You!, which was published by Scholastic Press in January, aims to inspire her peers to get active in their own communities.

Industry Activism

Launched in July 2017 by Patrice Caldwell, associate editor at Disney-Hyperion, People of Color in Publishing is committed to supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members throughout the industry, according to the groups mission statement. Though the grassroots organization encompasses both childrens and adult publishing professionals, a key part of its sponsorship and support comes from the heart of the childrens publishing communityfrom Scholastic, Lee & Low, the Childrens Book Council, and others. To date, People of Color in Publishing teamed up with like-minded groups such as Latinx in Publishing to host professional development and networking events, and continues to seek out new programs and partnerships through the outreach efforts of its subcommittees.

Books for the Resistance

Publishers and literary agents are taking note of the demand for diverse stories. Attendees of the recent Bologna Childrens Book Fair spoke to the global proliferation of books featuring timely topics of female empowerment, social and political activism. Narratives and anthologies with a social activist bent, whether fiction or nonfiction, are quickly gaining visibility and popularity in the childrens book market. Examples include You Are Mighty: A Guide to Changing the World by Caroline Paul, illustrated by Lauren Tamaki (Bloomsbury, May); The Radical Element: 12 Stories of Daredevils, Debutantes & Other Dauntless Girls, edited by Jessica Spotswood (Candlewick, out now); and What Would She Do? 25 Stories of Trailblazing Women by Kay Woodward (Scholastic, out now).

In order to better meet the call for more inclusive books that accurately reflect our world, many childrens editors and authors have taken up the practice of consulting with sensitivity or authenticity readers, for projects across all reading levels. There is also a growing movement for #OwnVoices worksthose that are created by authors writing from within their own lived experiences.

Publishers stress that these and other efforts are part of an increased awareness of the need for more diversityboth in the books that are created for young readers and within the publishing industrys workforcerather than a flash-in-the-pan trend.

For more of the latest developments in the middle grade category, see our 2018 Spotlight on Middle Grade.Binghatti Hospitality, the hospitality arm of Binghatti Holding, recently celebrated the opening of another Cupagahwa branch in Al Bahar Corniche in Abu Dhabi.



The well-established cafe and restaurant brand plans to expand in the UAE and Saudi Arabia with an investment value worth more than Dh500 million ($136.1 million).



With a vision to expand the Cupagahwa brand in the region, Binghatti Hospitality will soonly open the Sharjah Cupagahwa in Sharjahs University City, Cupagahwa JBR at The Walk Jumeirah Beach Residences, and a branch Cupagahwa DIFC in Dubai International Financial Centres Gate Avenue.



With an ambitious plan to open 200 Cupagahwa branches all over the UAE and Saudi Arabia within three years, Binghatti Hospitality is set to invest over Dh500 million, demonstrating the true extent of the companys commitment to adding the local flavor, and an Arabian-Culture twist, to its established international quality of foods, beverages and ambiance. This wide expansion will be supported by a 6,000-sq-ft central kitchen facility which will produce Cupagahwa signature menu offerings for the Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah branches. Expected to open soon, this facility will include a training and development centre capable of training the chains hand-picked serving and management staff to the first-class standard expected of all Binghatti Hospitality employees.



The Cupagahwa cafes and restaurants offer a range of exclusive dishes of local Emirati flavours prepared on site such as Shakshuka, Balaleet, Fish Machboos, Chicken Machboos, in an international-style cafe. In addition to fresh locally sourced dishes, Cupagahwa cafes and restaurants serve a plethora of salads, dishes, beverages, pastries, cakes and desserts inspired by western delights. In addition, curious foodies always rush to try Cupagahwas permanently evolving range of never done before dishes and treats that unexpectedly appear on the menu. These gastronomic pleasures will soon be served in newly opened branches in the UAE to expand Cupagahwas innovated gastronomies and beverages.



Cupagahwa cafes and restaurants offer many local flavorful drinks. These local beverages can be enjoyed with Middle Eastern pastries and cakes such as Cheesecake Kunaffa and Cocoa Rahash Kunafa, or western ones such as the Carrot Cake and Red Velvet Cake.



Sharing his thoughts on Cupagahwas new openings, Muhammad BinGhatti, Binghatti Holdings CEO, said: " We are proud to offer unique options to enjoy local Emirati flavours as well as western ones in the already operating Cupagahwa branches. We would like to expand the success of Cupagahwa all over the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Located in unexpected and exciting locations, Cupagahwa cafes and restaurants are excellent alternatives to fine-dining and fast-food restaurants.



Muhammad BinGhatti added: We are continuously looking to develop and expand our Hospitality portfolio in the UAE and other GCC countries to provide better products and value to our Cupagahwa enthusiasts. Determined to open 200 Cupagahwa branches in the UAE and Saudi Arabia during the three coming years, we are eager to take advantage of the great opportunities offered by the UAEs environment as well the economic dynamism witnessed Saudi Arabia. Our Cupagahwa brand added a great value to the UAEs hospitality sector and we would like to extend this success to neighbouring countries. - TradeArabia News Service

We asked editors and marketing and publicity teams to share their insights on middle grade marketing trends and to spotlight some recent successful efforts in this area.

According to Ben Rosenthal, senior editor at HarperCollins imprint Katherine Tegen Books, The marketing of middle grade is trying to balance between speaking directly to the readers and to the gatekeepers, as you need to be able to get both groups excited about a book or series. He offers a few examples of what seems to be working: I think were seeing more interactive content set in the world of the book or series, such as trailers and microvideos, or BuzzFeed-type quizzes, he says. For The Lost Rainforest: Mezs Magic by Eliot Schrefer [which published in January], our marketing team did these quizzes about what kind of rainforest animal you are. Thats a really fun idea, as it can engage both kids and gatekeepers and spark discussion.

Abby McAden, associate publisher at Scholastic, agrees that the marketing of middle grade books is multifaceted in terms of its targets. Middle grade books are probably the last category where adults control the purchasing, she says. Kids in upper elementary and middle school are still influenced by their classroom experiences too. So a lot of energy goes into reaching the gatekeepers. She spoke about her companys unique window on the school world via its book club and book fair business. Our Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs interact with kids more directly than we in the trade division do through our retailers. McAden describes how marketing through the school channel works, using a typical scenario that many adults still remember fondly. Kids receive the book club flyers and share with their parents, and kids actually experience the books directly at their schools book fair, she says. Even if a title isnt selected right then and there, representationfor every trade publisherin our clubs and fairs allows kids to consider the books and maybe come back later [to them] at the bookstore or library.

Over the past year, Scholastic rolled out an expansive effort to promote the I Survived historical fiction series by Lauren Tarshis, which has more than 25 million copies in print. The two newest titles are I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 (2017) and I Survived the Childrens Blizzard, 1888 (Feb.). Highlights included an author tour to multiple schools, libraries, and bookstores in October 2017 and March 2018, and Beyond the Battlefield, a virtual field trip to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, where kids hear from historians and see various relics of the era. The video has been viewed by close to two million teachers and students nationwide.

At Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, senior publicity manager Heather Moore detailed the strategy for the March launch of Switched, fourth in Jen Calonitas Fairy Tale Reform School series. We created a sampler that included chapters of Switched and a preview of Misfits, the first title in Jens new series, Royal Academy Rebels [due out in October], and used it to create excitement for both books and create a bridge between the two series, which are set in the same world, she says. The author gave away copies of the sampler at school visits throughout March, and Moore notes that the material was also helpful in driving preorders for Switched.

R.J. Palacios 2012 novel Wonder continues to sell extremely well, helped by the release of the November 2017 feature film. As part of its ongoing support for the book, Random House Childrens Books has been issuing a Certified Kind Classroom Challenge for the past three years, allowing classes to participate in various activities designed to spread kindness and qualifying them to win prizes. For the 20172018 school year, Lionsgate picked up and amplified the challenge idea as part of its marketing for the movie. A more general promotion continues to put forth the Choose Kind message that is at the heart of the book via such efforts as current N.Y.C. subway advertising.

At Macmillan Childrens Books, director of publicity Molly Brouillette Ellis notes a winning campaign for the graphic memoir Real Friends by Shannon Hale (2017), illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Elements included a digital advertising campaign on YouTube and SuperAwesome, featuring a book trailer; a National Best Friends Day program targeted toward summer reading; a craft activity kit, including friendship bracelets and draw-your-own-story starters; a national events strategy during Childrens Book Week; and a national media campaign.

Annie Nybo, editor at Albert Whitman, cited a recent major campaign for her company. We had the 75th anniversary of the Boxcar Children last year and found success by releasing an illustrated version of the first book and creating a miniseries where the Boxcar Children went on an international adventure, she explains. It was a moment to celebrate everything the fans know and love about the series, while simultaneously embracing the future with a new logo and series branding.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers rolled out its support for Peter Browns The Wild Robot Escapes, which published in March, 50 days prior to release with a countdown-to-publication campaign. Other marketing and publicity highlights included a national kid- and parent-targeted consumer advertising effort with a reach of four million; a holiday advertising campaign with a reach of 1.5 million (coming in fall 2018); a book club promotion, including a book club guide and a nationwide book club outreach with a reach of 275,000; and a two-week national tour visiting 10 markets, and additional events throughout the spring.

For more of the latest developments in the middle grade category, see our 2018 Spotlight on Middle Grade.Lim Gets Six Figures at Berkley



at Berkley paid six figures fors debut, Natalie Tans Book of Luck Fortune.at the Bent Agency sold U.S., Canadian, and translation rights to the novel in a two-book deal. Berkley called the book a heartwarming tale about a chef who returns to her hometown of San Francisco after the death of her estranged mother. There, the publisher continued, the heroine must master a series of enchanted recipes in order to revive her familys old Chinatown restaurant. The manuscript for the book was submitted to Bent via #DVPit, a Twitter event that highlights books by, per its creators, marginalized voices. The novel is set for a summer 2020 release.

MG Debut to Aladdin

In a deal for North American rights, Amy Cloud at Aladdin nabbed Jennifer Camiccias middle grade debut, The Memory Keeper, from Stacey Glick at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. The book, Glick said, is a sweet and heartfelt tale about a 12-year-old named Lulu who develops a photographic memory as her grandmother begins losing her memory. Wondering whether she is stealing her grandmothers memory, Lulu becomes obsessed with a finding that posits that memory loss can be attributed to an unaddressed trauma. Lulu then goes about excavating her grandmothers personal history in order to try to save her. Comparing the book to titles such as The Thing About Jellyfish and Walk Two Moons, Glick said the novel will make young readers think about the power of words and memory.

Bestsellers YA Adaptation to Delacorte

For Delacorte Press, Beverly Horowitz bought world rights to Just Mercy (Adapted for Young People) by Bryan Stevenson. The YA book, subtitled A True Story of the Fight for Justice, is based on the authors adult bestseller, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (Random/Spiegel & Grau, 2014), and examines the U.S. justice system. Stevenson, a lawyer, chronicles, the publisher said, the many challenges he has faced in court, especially on behalf of Americas most marginalized people. Doug Abrams at Idea Architects handled the sale of the book, which is set for a fall release.

Seal Takes on U.S. Gymnastics Scandal

Journalist Abigail Pesta sold a book about the trial of USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar and his conviction on hundreds of accounts of sexual abuse. Agent Lynn Johnston, who has an eponymous shingle, represented the author, who covered the story for Cosmopolitan and, she said, was one of the first journalists to write about it for a national publication. Johnston said the title will capture the tight-knit Michigan community where a group of brave young women found their voice and came together to bring down a serial predator. World English rights to the book, tentatively titled The Team, were acquired by Stephanie Knapp at Seal Press. The Team is slated for a 2019 publication.

Briefs

Carrie Regan, an executive at HGTV and DIY, sold her currently untitled debut novel to Dan Meyer at Seventh Street Books. Grace A. Ross at Regal Hoffmann & Associates, who sold world English rights to the mystery, said it follows a young master forger of high-end wine.

A romantic comedy called Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston was bought by Vicki Lame at Wednesday Books. The world English rights deal for the debut was handled by Sara Megibow at KT Literary, who said the title is about what happens when the U.S. presidents son falls for the prince of Wales, after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends.

For more childrens and YA book deals, see our latest Rights Report.

Correction: An earlier version of this article included the incorrect subtitle for Just Mercy (Adapted for Young People); it's A True Story of the Fight for Justice, not A True Story of Justice and Redemption.Persuasive Sales

The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolitzers first novel for adults since 2013s The Interestings, lands at #10 in hardcover fiction. Our starred review called it insightful and resonant, and it debuts with strong first-week sales compared with the authors previous books.

(See all of this week's bestselling books.)

How to Live

New books on our hardcover nonfiction list present different models for living. Heres a sample.

#2 The Rational Bible by Dennis Prager examines the Book of Exodus and calls the Bible the greatest moral guide ever written.

#3 Factfulness by Hans Rosling proposes that acknowledging humankinds progress is the key to solving the problems that still exist.

#8 Make Trouble by Cecile Richards is the Planned Parenthood presidents guide to activism as a tool for change.

#11 Unified by Tim Scott and Trey Gowdy, an African-American senator and a white congressman, respectively, shows how readers can follow their example and bridge differences.

#13 Strength in Stillness by Bob Roth introduces readers to transcendental meditation, a practice favored by unlikely fans including hedge fund manager Ray Dalio.

Rise Up

Kwame Alexanders Rebound, which our review called a multilayered coming-of-age story, debuts at #7 in childrens frontlist fiction. Its a prequel to his Newbery Medal winner, 2014s The Crossover, and like its predecessor, its a novel in verse.

The YA zombie novel Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, #25 in childrens frontlist fiction, earned a starred review from PW and launches a duology in which children of color in the postCivil War U.S. are sent to fight the undead. The author was the subject of a recent Vulture profile, Meet Justina Ireland, YA Twitters Leading Warrior.

New & Notable

True Roots

Kristin Cavallari

#1 Trade Paperback, #1 overall

Cavallari, who got her start on the MTV high school reality series Laguna Beach and has since built an Instagram following that numbers three million, offers a gluten-, dairy-, and sugar-free cookbook.

Varina

Charles Frazier

#11 Hardcover Fiction

The Cold Mountain authors first novel since 2011s Nightwoods fictionalizes the life of Varina Howell Davis before and after the death of her husband, Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Title Author Imprint Units 1 True Roots Kristin Cavallari Rodale 24,917 2 Ready Player One Ernest Cline Broadway 19,017 3 The Right Time Danielle Steel Dell 18,081 4 A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine LEngle Square Fish 17,852 5 Dog Man and Cat Kid (Dog Man #4) Dav Pilkey Graphix 15,936 6 12 Rules for Life Jordan B. Peterson Random House Canada 15,183 7 Ive Got My Eyes on You Mary Higgins Clark Simon & Schuster 14,963 8 Killers of the Flower Moon David Grann Vintage 14,892 9 All by Myself, Alone Mary Higgins Clark Pocket 14,792 10 Camino Island John Grisham Dell 14,663

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.By 2007 Mignon Fogarty, better known to her fans as Grammar Girl, had created the Quick and Dirty Tips network, a series of podcasts based on her tips on grammar and writing. She had also started adding podcasts on more topics hosted by a variety of experts. Impressed with Fogartys network and its potential to support authors, Macmillan entered a joint venture with her that year and began producing the QDT podcast network, as well as a series of Quick and Dirty Tips books by Fogarty.

The venture created an exciting new platform for Macmillan. According to Edison Researchs Infinite Dial, a March 2018 report on the podcast marketplace, podcast listening continues to grow, with an estimated 73 million people listening to podcasts of all kinds each month.

Since teaming with Fogarty, Macmillan has gained experience and data with the format, using podcasting to promote its authors and market its books. But podcasting has also provided a platform for the house to create original audio content, connect directly to readers, generate advertising revenue, and recruit new authors.

As of 2018, the Quick and Dirty Tips network has grown to 10 weekly podcasts hosted by a variety of distinguished experts, according to Macmillan Audio president Mary Beth Roche. QDT, Roche said, generates two million monthly downloads across its 10 weekly shows, and its websites attract more than three million unique visitors each month.

Roche said that last year Macmillan also launched a second podcast network, Macmillan Podcasts, in an effort to support a broader range of authors and titles and to develop different podcast formats. The QDT network, she explained, is based on providing short tips, and we needed a broader platform for all of our authors and for other types of shows.

Today, in addition to producing the 10 shows on the QDT network, the Macmillan Podcasts network produces seven weekly shows of its own, with more to come, said Kathy Doyle, v-p of Macmillan Podcasts and QDT, who manages the team that oversees both networks.

It was the experience of working with Fogarty and QDT, Roche said, that made the Macmillan Podcasts network possible. We got a lot of data and expertise working with podcasts, she noted.

One of QDTs most popular shows, Savvy Psychologist, began in 2014 and is hosted by Ellen Hendriksen, a clinical psychologist specializing in treating anxiety. The show became a hit and eventually led to a book deal for Hendriksen with St. Martins Press. Doyle and her team at Macmillan Podcasts worked with Hendriksen to create a six-part podcast on social anxiety, which debuted in March in conjunction with the release of the book How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety. (At the time of this writing, Savvy Psychologist is the #3 show on Apple Podcasts.)

The MP network showed us how to create a synergy between author, book, and podcast, Doyle said. The network supports websites for each podcast and turns transcripts of each show into blog posts, creating additional content. Listeners can go to the website and download the transcript of the showits bonus material for the podcast, Doyle noted.

But the Macmillan Podcasts network is not just a promotional and marketing platform for Macmillan titles: the network also creates original content. Macmillan Podcasts teamed with Tor Labs, a Macmillan imprint that specializes in experimental works, to create a podcast audio drama, or a radio play, titled Steal the Stars, which featured a cast of 24 voice actors. It ran for 14 episodes beginning in 2017, generating more than one million downloads. Macmillan Podcasts then used the podcast script to create a Steal the Stars novelization that was released in 2017 in trade paperback, e-book, and audiobook editions.

One of Macmillan Podcasts hosts is Will Schwalbe, Macmillan executive v-p of editorial development and content innovation, who is also a bestselling author. His podcast, But Thats Another Story, is an interview show that invites guests such as Katie Couric and Min Jin Lee to talk about the books that changed their lives.

Podcasts, Roche insisted, can boost a books sales. She cited Picador author Giles Milton, host of Macmillan Podcasts Unknown History show and the author of the Historys Unknown Chapters series. His most recent volume, When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep and Stalin Robbed a Bank, was released in 2016, and Roche said Picador believes the podcast kept the book going and helped increase sales.

The Macmillan Podcasts and QDT networks are managed by a staff of nine, which includes producers, editors, and audio engineers. The networks audio studios are in the Flatiron Building in Manhattan, and Doyle said that some hosts record in home studios as well.

All of this gives us a great edge in helping our authors to build their brands and build a fan base, Roche said.From premiering the first ever Turkish soap opera in Spain, Atresmedia has rapidly moved to acquire two new dramas at MIPTV 2018.

The series, Kara Para Ask (distributed by Inter Medya) and Ezel, have been produced by Ay Yapin , the house responsible for Fatmagul, which has also been the first contact of Spains audience with Turkish drama series.Both shows will premiere on Nova, the free-to-air DTT network through which Fatmagul has been delivering consistent ratings , averaging over 4% share and nearing one million viewers.Kara Para Ask and Ezel are not unfounded bets. The former has been sold to over 130 territories including the US, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Colombia, while Ezel was the first Turkish series to be sold in every Latin American country.In Nova, we have confirmed that Turkish fiction is a highly successful genre for our audience, said Jose Antonio Anton, director of programming, Atresmedia Television.The success of Turkeys series in Latin America opened a distribution window in Spain, proving that there is still room for an innovative, quality soap opera, added Laura Minarro, head of sales for LATAM and Iberia at Eccho Rights, Ezels international distributor.Whats going on in Illinois?

Pundits like to point to the recent Republican primary challenge to incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner as a sexy story of party infighting. Or the fact that the 2018 governors race will almost certainly be the most expensive in U.S. history.

But whats playing out in Illinois, a state with the biggest pension crisis in the nation and the countrys worst outmigration problem, isnt about party politics or campaign coffers.

Its about something much simpler than that, and much more important: faith in the future.

People here are wondering: Should I stay or should I go?

The states population has been shrinking for four consecutive years. Last year, 115,000 people on net made the choice to relocate. As a result of its rapid out-migration, Illinois dropped from the fifth-largest state to the sixth-largest, falling behind Pennsylvania.

But a lot of people here arent in a position to leave. They have work, families and lives built in Illinois, and theyre wondering how to improve their quality of life. Its a fundamental struggle, and it plays out in two policy arenas: jobs and take-home pay.

Illinois economy has picked up recently, but its still lagging the rest of the country. A 2017 report showed Illinois had the worst income growth of any state in the nation. And the fact that Illinoisans are shouldering one of the nations highest state and local tax burdens doesnt help.

People with white-collar jobs in Chicago and the suburbs are getting by, some of them quite well. But many households are struggling, particularly those in blue-collar areas. Many downstate communities are still reeling from the recession that began nearly a decade ago.

People are sick of hearing about the states problems, because theyve already been shouldering the effects of those problems for years. Illinoisans know their state has major issues  now they want to know whos going to fix it, and how.

As they look for answers and solutions, theyre facing two divergent paths forward.

On one hand, Democratic gubernatorial nominee J.B. Pritzker is pitching a temporary increase to the current flat income tax, with exemptions for low-income and middle-class earners (its unclear who is included in this group, but there you go). This is meant to buy time until lawmakers figure out how to pass a progressive income tax, one of the crown jewels of the policy platform upon which Pritzker is running.

On the other hand, Rauner is preaching what got him elected in 2014: pro-growth economic reforms, including lower taxes, and taking on the states most reviled political boss: Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan.

No matter who gets elected, Illinois will never have enough money to fund core government services and cover its monumental pension obligations if politicians dont address spending growth: From 2008-2015, state spending grew 25 percent times faster than incomes.

Politicians come and go, but problems like the ones Illinois is facing dont go away on their own. The people of the state know whats going on. Now what they need is simple: hope.

Things look bleak right now. But enact a few reforms, and all of the sudden Illinois looks like a totally different place.

Illinois has some of the most unfair laws in the region when it comes to negotiating with government worker unions. That, in turn, drives up the cost of operating government. But by taking a page from neighboring states  all of which have enacted laws that help rein in government worker union costs and power, including strike prohibitions and limits on what can be negotiated into government worker contracts  Illinoisans would see their state and local governments become more efficient and cost-effective.

Illinois pension debt has soared to $250 billion, affecting not only taxpayers but the men and women who have been promised a pension in retirement. Taxpayers continue to pour in more and more money to the system, yet debt continues to pile up. There will never be enough money to properly fund government pensions in Illinois, which is why the state should expand the 401(k)-style pension plan already offered to university workers to the rest of state government employees. Long-term, lawmakers must enact a constitutional amendment to allow for foundational pension reforms.

And ultimately, Illinois needs real fiscal responsibility. The state hasnt had a truly balanced budget for more than 15 years. A spending cap that ties government spending growth to what taxpayers can afford would provide certainty to the budgeting process, and would stave off future tax hikes.

These changes arent easy, and they certainly arent sexy. They dont capture the public imagination in the Land of Lincoln. But maybe, its finally time they should.Partisanship plagues the humanities. The proliferation of intensely politicized scholarship denouncing Israel as a criminal state exemplifies the conflation of activism with systematic inquiry and analysis. That conflation subverts the dedication to truth indispensable to the universitys mission.

Last fall in his book Industry of Lies, Israeli journalist Ben-Dror Yemini extensively documented the variety of falsehoods that established scholarsalong with seemingly reputable journalistspeddle to portray Israel, the only liberal democracy in a region awash in religious fanaticism and sectarian strife, as a uniquely racist country.

The slanders keep on coming. In January 2018, Critical Inquirya peer-reviewed journal published by the University of Chicagofeatured a 27-page cryptically titled essay, Apartheid / Apartheid/ [ ]. Edited by W.J.T. Mitchell, a University of Chicago professor of English and art history and a proponent of an academic boycott of Israel, Critical Inquiry boasts that it has been called one of the best known and most influential journals in the world (Chicago Tribune) and academes most prestigious theory journal (New York Times). With Apartheid / Apartheid/ [ ], the esteemed academic platform may have set a new low in passing off demonization of Israel as carefully researched and cogently argued scholarship.

The author, Saree Makdisi, maintains that Israel is a starkly racial state that embodies a form of apartheid, or institutionalized racial discrimination, that is worse and more relentless than that which prevailed in South Africa. While South Africa openly named its injustice, Makdisi argues that Israel at every possible turn resorts to linguistic tricks and verbal sleights of hand to disguise the racism that pervades it. Whereas South African apartheid was biopolitical in natureconcerned with the management and administration of living black labor, Israeli apartheid is, he writes, necropoliticalconcerned with the destruction and erasure of Palestinians.

Presumably, a scholar arguing in a respected academic publication that Israelon both sides of the Green Line that separates it from the West Bank and the Gaza Stripperpetrates injustices that exceed those of apartheid South Africa would possess broad training in history, comparative politics, and law. Makdisi, however, is a professor of English and comparative literature at the University of California, Los Angeles.

This is not to suggest that professors must stick to their specialties nor to deny the value of interdisciplinary study. Indeed, the lengthy, detailed, and devastating critique of Makdisis essay published earlier this month in the British journal Fathom by my colleague Russell Berman, professor of comparative literature and German studies and Hoover Institution senior fellow at Stanford, and Cary Nelson, emeritus professor of English at the University of Illinois, shows that scholars can productively venture beyond their expertise. Respect for facts, dedication to systematic and independent research, and commitment to the truthvirtues that, traditionally, all academic disciplines sought to instillmake the difference.

In Anti-Zionism and the Humanities: A Response to Saree Makdisi, Berman and Nelson exercise these virtues in demonstrating that Makdisis central claims, offered in a voice of unquestioning infallibility, are not merely dubious or incorrect but wildly at odds with the evidence. Determined to place Israel beyond the pale, Makdisi eschews the scholars obligation to grasp complexitiesin this case the tragic conflict between Israel and West Bank and Gaza Palestinians, and the nations struggle to ensure protection of the equal rights of its minority populations. He favors instead the crusaders moral certainties and the polemicists smokescreens and subterfuges.

To illustrate the racism that allegedly permeates Israel, Makdisi asserts that every major South African apartheid law has a direct equivalent in Israel and the occupied territories today. Berman and Nelson refute the absurd claim by providing numerous examples of South African apartheid laws that have no counterpart in Israel and the West Bank (Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005). They observe, moreover, that Israelin sharp contrast to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and still more Hamas in Gazaprotects fundamental freedoms beginning with speech and religion and guarantees the equal rights of all citizens. They note the 18 Arab members of Israels 120-seat Knesset, the three Arabs who have served as Supreme Court justices, numerous Druze military commanders, and an Arab who holds the number-two position in the police force. And they ask, What were the equivalent positions in public life for Blacks in apartheid South Africa?

To bolster his contention that Israel systematically enforces inequality, Makdisi writes, [N]owhere in Israeli law is the right to equality protected. In reply to this manifestly untrue statementwhich contradicts Makdisis charge that Israel conceals its racism by touting its righteousnessBerman and Nelson observe that Israels Declaration of Independence promises full equality of rights to all citizens. Former Israel Supreme Court President Aharon Barak has affirmed the declarations constitutional status and court decisions have frequently stated that Jewish and non-Jewish citizens are equal before the law. Israel has incorporated equality into major legislation. And Israels Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty (1992) proclaims, There shall be no violation of the life, body or dignity of any person as such.

To maintain that Zionism is a form of racism, Makdisi defines race in terms of national or ethnic origin. As Berman and Nelson indicate, [B]y this definition, the Danes, the Germans, and the Irish, among other nationalities, are each a race. In fact, the Jewish population of Israel comprises not only individuals of European descent. According to Berman and Nelson, [D]escendants of Jewish immigrants from Arab countries now constitute over half the population. Israel is also home to some 120,000 black Ethiopian Jews. Non-Jews of every race, nationality, and ethnic origin, Berman and Nelson stress, can convert to Judaism. And, contrary to what Makdisi implies, there is nothing unusual about a liberal democracy that is the nation-state of a distinct peopleconstituted by a common language, culture, religion, history, and sense of political destinyand which guarantees equal rights to all citizens regardless of race, national or ethnic origin, religion, or gender.

Even when Makdisi has a point, he obfuscates to vilify. For example, he condemns as an example of Israels surpassing racism a controversial law that allows rural communities to bar admission to those who do not suit the lifestyle and social fabric of the community. Such vague criteria are certainly open to abuse in a free society. Makdisi does not mention, however, that the law is restricted to communities of fewer than 400 families in the Negev and Galilee and it explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, or nationality; that the state is obligated to allocate land on a non-discriminatory basis; and, while declining to invalidate it, the Supreme Court indicated its willingness to review implementation of the law.

Berman and Nelson know that Israellike all liberal democraciesin practice falls short of its principles. They recognize the countrys continuing battle to protect minority rights. They welcome a rigorous accounting. Their objection is to Makdisis use of propaganda cloaked as scholarship to depict Israel as the embodiment of political evil in our time.

His Cultural Inquiry essay is, Berman and Nelson argue, symptomatic of a widespread institutional corruption that extends far beyond the debates over the Middle East. By giving an imprimatur to partisan broadsides that adopt the trappings of scholarshipuniversity validation, peer review, elaborate footnotes, authoritative pronouncementsacademic journals present a threat to the credibility of the humanities in the contemporary university and in the public eye.

Exposing the fabrications, omissions, and distortions that serve as tools of trade for the intensely politicized scholarship targeting Israel does more than protect the Jewish states interests. By defending the universitys mission to pursue truth, it also benefits liberal democracy in America.It seems that Indie South could not have chosen a better day to host the first day of its Springtacular market event than on Saturday, April 1The Dubai Cruise Terminal at Port Rashid, operated by DP World, had welcomed 625,000 holidaymakers in 2016-2017 cruise tourism season, doubling the 320,000 cruise visitors that arrived in Dubai in the 2013-2014 season.

Key to this growth is DP Worlds state-of-the-art Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal, T3, at Mina Rashid that is set to be the largest terminal in the world capable of handling 18,000 passengers a day, said a statement from DP World.

Since it was inaugurated back in 2014, there has been a 68 per cent increase in cruise ship calls to Dubai from 93 in the 2013-2014 season to 156 in 2016-2017.

Around 1.9 million cruise tourists visited Dubai on board a total of 489 cruise calls during the four seasons from 2013 to 2017. The number of cruise visitors is expected to touch 700,000 in the 2018-2019 season.

Infrastructure development is underway to add more capacity to DP Worlds Mina Rashid Cruise Terminal which is spread across two million sqm and is currently equipped to handle seven mega cruise vessels or 25,000 passengers simultaneously.

It has been voted the Middle East, Worlds Leading Cruise Port for the 10th consecutive year at the World Travel Awards.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World CEO and Group Chairman and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, said: "We are proud to support and contribute to Dubais vision to become the worlds leading cruise tourism hub."

"With a goal to attract 20 million tourists a year by 2020, of which at least one million are expected to be cruise tourists, we are committed to providing facilities that are the best in the world and create a truly luxurious cruise experience catering to the tastes and sophistication of visitors," stated bin Sulayem.

"Dubais cruise tourism market has grown rapidly over the past four seasons as the city is becoming a choice destination for cruise enthusiasts from Europe and the US, he added. "Our plans for further boosting the sector will certainly help achieve more growth in the coming years," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceThe campus and city news desks have compiled a list of events going on throughout the upcoming week that are open to Athenians and University a travel

Is your mother always on the go? Is she a business traveler or perhaps she'swriter dashing to exotic bucket list destinations, sharing her experience with others to help encourage them to explore the world. If you answered yes to one or both questions, then you would know how difficult it is to get a good Mother's Days gift for her.

Mother's day is just a couple of weeks away and you need to get a gift that your mom could actually use while she is traveling. Whether she is off to Asia or maybe Chile or maybe she's on assignment in the Caribbean. It has to be a gift that says you thought about it carefully, and that she would be able to use it during her trips.





Do not fear! We have looked at all the good travel gifts and selected some of the best ones to make it much easier for you to get a good one for your mom on her special day. We have even selected a couple of them for mothers who don't really travel that much. Hope we made your task a lot easier.





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Mother's Day Jewelry Gift Guide



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Hindu refugees from western Myanmar's Rakhine state wait in line for a food distribution at the Kutupalong Hindu village near Ukhia sub-district in southeastern Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, Sept. 26, 2017.

More than 60 houses in a predominantly Hindu village in the Maungdaw district of Myanmar's Rakhine state were gutted by fire on Thursday in an apparent act of negligence, a local community leader told RFAs Myanmar Service.

The blaze left more than more than 600 residents of Ngakura village homeless, said Ni Maul, a Hindu social worker and local community leader.

Maungdaw township's administrator has provided rice and other food to the victims, and a Hindu civil society organization has gone to the village to provide on-the-ground assistance, he said.

It occurred because of someones negligence, Ni Maul said about the fire. More than 600 people are staying at the village school.

RFA could not reach Maungdaw authorities for comment.

Maungdaw, along with neighboring Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships, was the focal point of a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military against Rohingya Muslims that began late last August following a deadly attack by a Muslim militant group.

Thousands of Rohingya, who comprise the majority ethnic group in Maungdaw, were killed in the violence, and nearly 700,000 others fled to safety in neighboring Bangladesh where they live in sprawling displacement camps.

Hindus and other non-Muslims residing in northern Rakhine at the time of the crackdown have accused members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the militant group that conducted attacks on police outposts northern Rakhine on Aug. 25, of invading their villages and driving out or killing residents.

Local Hindus, including Ni Maul, and the Myanmar government in late September said ARSA militants detained nearly 100 people from several Hindu villages in the Kha Maung Seik village tract on the same day that the attacks occurred, killed most of them, and dumped their corpses in mass graves.

The militants also forced the young Hindu women to convert to Islam and took them to a Muslim refugee camp in Bangladesh.

Other Hindus fled to Bangladesh or to other parts of Rakhine state to escape the violence.

As part of a repatriation program for those who fled to Rakhine state during the violence, Bangladesh in February sent Myanmar a list of 8,032 refugees who indicated that they wanted to return voluntarily to Rakhine state.

So far, Myanmar officials have verified some 500 Rohingya refugees as eligible for return as well as about 400 Hindu refugees who also fled to Bangladesh from northern Rakhine and had been approved for return prior to the issuance of the list, Myint Thu, permanent secretary of Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told RFA last week.

According to Myanmar's 2014 census, Hindus make up only 0.5 percent of the country's population, whereas 88 percent of the people identify as Buddhist and 4.3 percent as Muslim.

Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.Milo Djukanovic has declared victory in Montenegro's presidential election after preliminary projections showed he won the vote outright and avoided a runoff.

Djukanovic, a six-time prime minister who has been president once before, said his triumph in the April 15 vote was "confirmation of Montenegro's strong determination to continue on the European road."

Speaking to cheering supporters, he called it "another important victory for [Montenegro's] European future."

Citing the Center for Monitoring and Research (CEMI), an independent pollster, news agencies reported that Djukanovic had won around 54 percent of the vote and his main challenger, Mladen Bojanic, around 33 percent.

Bojanic conceded and said that "Montenegro has chosen what it has chosen," although he added that Djukanovic's victory was the result of "blackmail and pressure" and he would continue to "fight to free Montenegro of Djukanovic and his dictatorship."

The vote was seen to be key in determining whether Montenegro remains on a Western course headed toward European Union membership or drifts back into Russia's orbit even though relations have soured recently.

Nongovernmental election monitors reported a number of violations regarding voting procedures, but election authorities said the polls were running smoothly and without major irregularities.

The projected victory for the authoritarian Djukanovic will end his two-year absence from office, a rare gap in almost three decades of involvement in high politics in the tiny country of only about 640,000 people.

Polls before the election had indicated he could win more than half of the votes and avoid a runoff.

Bojanic was supported by most of the country's opposition parties, including pro-Russian groups who want to freeze Montenegro's NATO membership and organize a referendum on the issue if they take power.

None of the other five candidates, including lawmaker Draginja Vuksanovic, the first woman to run for Montenegro's presidency, reached double digits in preelection polling.

Upon voting on April 15, Djukanovic told reporters he was confident of an outright victory.

"I am convinced that Montenegro will confirm that it continues firmly on the path of European development," he said.

Meanwhile, Bojanic described Djukanovic as an "autocrat leading Montenegro into a dictatorship."

A former communist who rose as part of a group of young politicians to prominence in the late 1980s, Djukanovic became Europe's youngest prime minister in 1991 at the age of 29.

Yugoslavia collapsed the same year, but Djukanovic remained a close ally of rump Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic until beginning to cut his own path in 1998, eventually leading Montenegro into independence from Serbia in 2006.

He has since pushed the country through sometimes painful economic times and toward European integration, highlighted by the 2017 accession into NATO.

But it hasn't always been smooth sailing.

Djukanovic, 56, has been dogged by opposition accusations that he fosters cronyism and corruption.

He came under investigation and was indicted by prosecutors in the Italian city of Bari in 2008 for alleged tobacco smuggling. The probe was later dropped given Djukanovic's diplomatic immunity.

"He cannot be the solution because he is the creator of the instability and chaos that we witness in the streets of Montenegro," Bojanic said while campaigning.

"I agree with Djukanovic that the state is stronger than the mafia. But the problem is that I do not know which side he is on."

On the streets of the capital, Podgorica, campaign posters and billboards stare down at voters much the same way the 1.9-meter-tall Djukanovic towers over most of his rivals.

Sasa Petrovic, a 39-year-old farmer, said Djukanovic attracted voters because he touches a nerve with the passion they want in a leader.

Butsome felt that just as it was time for new blood when Djukanovic rose to power, new leadership is now needed in Montenegro.

"I think it's time to make some change. This is not good at all. Great countries change presidents every three to four years, not like this. Not every 30 years!" said Marko Veselinovic, a 44-year-old entrepreneur in Podgorica.

With reporting by Alan Crosby, AP, Reuters, dpa, and TASSEight Egyptian soldiers and 14 militants are reported to have been killed in fighting in central Sinai on April 14.

An army statement said the militants, some carrying explosive belts and grenades, attacked a military checkpoint at around dawn.

Four of them detonated their explosive belts, killing the soldiers and wounding 15 others, the army statement added.

The attack was the largest against Egyptian security forces since President Abdel el-Sisi won a second term in office last month.

It also came just hours after the country extended a state of emergency imposed last year.

Based on reporting by AFP and ReutersThe French government released video of military jets said to be taking off from a base in France ahead of air strikes against Syria. France joined Britain and the United States in the operation in response to a suspected toxic gas attack on the Syrian town of Douma. (AFP)An unmanned Iranian aircraft shot down in February in Israeli airspace was armed with explosives and on a mission to attack the Jewish state, Israel's military has claimed.

"The Iranian aircraft was armed with explosives and was tasked to attack Israeli territory," the Israeli army said on April 14, adding that its conclusion was based on an "operational and intelligence-based investigation" of the drone incident.

By downing the craft, Israeli "combat helicopters prevented the attack Iran had hoped to carry out," the army said.

The military said the February 10 incident over the northern town of Beit Shean marked the first time Iran has tried to directly strike Israel, rather than working through its close ally, the Lebanese Hizballah militia, or other proxies.

The Israeli statement came after the leader of Hizballah on April 13 called an alleged Israeli air strike in Syria that killed seven Iranians on April 9 a "historic mistake" that will lead to open conflict for the first time between the two Middle Eastern powers.

"The Israelis committed a historic mistake...and put themselves in direct combat with Iran" for the first time, Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address in Lebanon.

Nasrallah said that the Iranians killed in the attack on Syria's T-4 air base were members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

"This is unprecedented in seven years: that Israel directly targets Iran's Revolutionary Guards," Nasrallah said. "This is a turning point for the region, and what came before is not what will come after."

Russian, Iranian, and Hizballah fighters all have a presence at the T-4 base, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.

The Observatory said a total of 14 fighters, including Iranians, died in the air strike. No Russians were reported killed.

Leaders of Iran and Hizballah have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, though HIzballah has not engaged in an open conflict with Tel Aviv since losing a monthlong war in 2006.

Israel has not confirmed or denied carrying out the strike on the Syrian base, but Israel's military said the drone it downed in February was sighted taking off from that base.



Russia and Syria have blamed Israel for attacking the base, and the Kremlin this week said Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed it with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone conversation.

Israel has issued several stern warnings recently to Iran and has complained about increased Iranian activity along its northern border with Syria and Lebanon.

Israeli leaders have warned that they will not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence near its border in Syria, where it could stage attacks.

More broadly, they have voiced concern about Tehran fulfilling its ambition to establish a land corridor from Tehran through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, a corridor it could use to funnel fighters and transfer weapons to its allies Hizballah and Hamas.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested in Budapest on April 14 against what organizers said was an unfair election system that gave Prime Minister Viktor Orban a landslide victory at the polls.

Orban was reelected for a third term on April 8 after his anti-immigration campaign message secured a strong majority for his ruling Fidesz party in parliament.

Under the motto "We are the Majority," the protesters called for a recount of the votes in the country's election, a change to the electoral law, and the protection of press freedom.

Critics accuse Orban of dismantling democracy in Hungary and repressing the independent media.

Hes been also accused of being too accommodating to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Orban has promised that his new government will pass a series of laws restricting the work of independent nongovernmental organizations and penalizing organizations supporting migrants.

Many of the demonstrators were chanting "democracy" and brandishing Hungarian and European Union flags.

Following Orbans election, the European Union called on Hungary to help defend the blocs values.

"The EU is a union of democracies and values," European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said last week, adding that the defense of these values is a "common duty of all member states, without exception."

Based on reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AFPThe United States and Russia delivered drastically different accounts of the results of U.S.-led bombings of Syrian facilities that Washington called the "very heart" of Syria's alleged chemical-weapons program.

Moscow claimed on April 14 that Syrian air defenses intercepted 71 out of 103 missiles it said were launched in air strikes carried out in Syria earlier that morning in a joint operation by the United States, Britain, and France.

The Pentagon, however, contradicted that claim, with the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff telling a news briefing that "none of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defenses."

"The Syrian response was remarkably ineffective in all domains," Lieutenant-General Kenneth McKenzie said.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed earlier on April 14 that Syrian forces, using Soviet-made air-defense systems, demonstrated the "high effectiveness" of weapons in their possession and the "excellent training of Syrian military personnel prepared by our specialists."

That assessment was touted by Russian state media and officials who portrayed the air strikes -- aimed at punishing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack allegedly carried out by his forces -- as largely a flop.

"The missiles of Western aggressors proved to be less than effective" against Soviet-made missile-defense systems, Russian state television said.

Meanwhile, a senior foreign-policy voice in Russia's upper house of parliament riffed on U.S. President Donald Trumps tweet days earlier daring Moscow to try and shoot down "nice and new and 'smart'" U.S. missiles in Syria.

"Soviet interceptor missiles turned out to be smarter," the lawmaker, Aleksei Pushkov, wrote on Twitter on April 14.

Meanwhile, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford said late on April 13 that there was some "initial surface-to-air missile activity from the Syrian regime" in response to the operation.

McKenzie told the Pentagon briefing on April 14 that the U.S.-British-French operation "successfully hit every target."

He said that 105 missiles were launched against three targets in Syria in the operation, which he said would "set the Syrian chemical weapons program back for years."

McKenzie said Syrian forces fired only 40 surface-to-air missiles in response to the air strikes -- 31 fewer than the number of Western missiles that Russia said had been shot down by Syrian air defenses.

"Most of these launches occurred after the last impact of our strike was over," McKenzie said of the Syrian interceptor missiles, adding that "they were largely ineffective and increased risk to their own people."

McKenzie said Washington has no indication that Russian air-defense systems were deployed during the joint air strikes.Milo Djukanovic, who has led Montenegro from the presidency or the prime minister's office for decades, has been a master of change.

He has variously transformed himself from a communist to a friend of the super-rich, from an ally of ill-fated Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to the man who led his country away from Serbia and into NATO.

One of two Europeans to have dominated his country's politics for longer than Russia's Vladimir Putin, Djukanovic has been Montenegro's prime minister six times and president once, holding power with only brief interruptions since 1991.

Now, using his tried and true recipe of populism and patronage, he appears poised to win a presidential election on April 15 that will end a two-year hiatus at a key moment in the Adriatic nations history.

Djukanovic has been more skilled and less ideological than most other politicians in the region, allowing him to reshape his agenda, policies according to the prevailing influence, Florian Bieber, a Balkans expert at the University of Graz, said.

Djukanovic became the face of a new generation as part of a group of young communists who appealed to Montenegrins tired of an older generation of politicians who emerged after the 1980 death of longtime Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito.

He parlayed that into becoming the youngest head of government in Europe at the age of 29 in 1991, the year he backed the Yugoslav military action against Croatia, allowing Montenegrin forces to participate in the siege and bombardment of the historic port of Dubrovnik and other devastation in the former Yugoslav republic.

Then, when Djukanovic saw where Milosevics policies were headed, he jettisoned Milosevic in 1998 and turned to pro-Western reforms even as the country remained paired with Serbia in statehood.

The drive away from former eastern allies culminated last year in Podgorica's crowning diplomatic moment.

Montenegro became NATO's 29th member in June, marking a historic turn toward the transatlantic alliance amid protests from the country's political opposition and Moscow, which has long opposed any further enlargement of the military alliance.

Montenegrin officials claim that in the run-up to NATO accession, Serbian and Russian nationalists plotted to occupy parliament during the country's October 2016 parliamentary elections, assassinate Djukanovic, who then was the prime minister, and install a pro-Russian leadership to halt the bid.

He realized the importance of external legitimacy. To be seen as a reliable interlocutor by foreign partners, in particular the EU and the U.S., and that this strategic partnership offers domestic legitimacy. By pursuing a policy of good relations with neighbors, he has been able to receive credit abroad and be seen as a source of stability, Bieber told RFE/RL.

While the Kremlin has denied claims that "Russian state bodies" were involved in the alleged plot, 14 suspects in the case are currently on trial in Podgorica.

Djukanovics attention hasnt been solely focused abroad.

He has conducted politics skillfully at home, dividing the opposition, in particular on issues that will fragment Serbian nationalist and reformist opposition.

In tiny Montenegro, with a population of around 640,000, the boundary between knowing everybody and patronage is particularly blurred, arguably making entrenched party control more easy to sustain than in larger countries.

Djukanovic has been able to present himself as the only guarantor of stability in Montenegro, the one who gained independence for Montenegro, the one who led the country into the NATO and who is supported by the international community no matter the illiberalism in the country, said Vera Stojarova, assistant professor at the department of political science at Masaryk University and editor of Party Politics In The Western Balkans.

He is just basically able to sell himself better than the opposition, which offers better ties with Russia, is against NATO, and is Euroskeptic; liberal parties are fragmented and you also have minority parties -- so no chance for the opposition to unite and offer a credible alternative, she added.

While hes remained broadly popular, Djukanovic has also built up a cadre of enemies and naysayers who say hes never had a consistent ideology other than staying in power.

While multiparty democracy was introduced in Montenegro more than a quarter of a century ago, Djukanovic has faced repeated accusations of irregularities such as voter intimidation and vote buying.

He also came under investigation and was indicted by prosecutors in the Italian city of Bari in 2008. The probe was later dropped given Djukanovic's diplomatic immunity.

Charges of nepotism and shady links to tycoons continue to dog him. Some reports allege he and his family are the country's biggest tycoons.

According to the International Consortium of Investigative Reporters (ICIJ), Djukanovic has amassed assets worth millions of dollars, while his family members are said to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

How they accumulated their wealth, the ICIJ says, is unclear.

"For 27 years, the people have been cheated with a story that they have a plan to live better. Of course this better life is felt only by his close family and close friends," Djukanovics main rival in the presidential vote, Mladen Bojanic, said.

Rumors notwithstanding, Djukanovic still appears to be able to hit all the right notes as he once again blazes the campaign trail.

A dominating figure both physically -- hes about 190 centimeters tall -- and with his oversized personality, Djukanovic embodies the hot-blooded passion that many in the Balkans demand from their leaders.

"Djukanovic succeeds for many reasons, says Sasa Petrovic, a 39-year-old farmer.

Hes had this type of support for so many years because he has charisma. His leadership style is appreciated and it works for now. If hes been able to hold power for so long, it must mean that he has the ability to lead."

With reporting by RFE/RLs Balkan Service



Kyrgyzstan has a long history of a troubled mining industry which is at the center of another debacle this week after violence erupted at the Chinese investor funded gold-plant facility in the Toguz-Toro district of southeastern Kyrgyzstan.

The G.L. Makmal Developing company met fierce resistance from the local population months ago when hundreds of residents demanded closure of the gold project in their area out of environmental concerns.

Whether these concerns were addressed by the Kyrgyz authorities or not is unclear.

Previously, the country's media reported that construction of the gold processing plant was launched in September 2017 and planned to be operational in the first quarter of 2018. The government seems to have responded to the local protests only after an initial outburst of public anger in February this year.

It appears the State Committee for Industry, Energy, and Subsoil Use recommended G.L. Makmal Developing Company conduct an environmental impact assessment of the project on construction of a gold recovery plant and hold public hearings," according to a state agency official last month.

However, the Chinese investor had also requested assistance from law enforcement agencies last month, including the country's State Committee for National Security (GKNB), to settle tensions with local villagers and create a safe environment for workers.

"Such actions are dangerous for the companys employees. We ask you to initiate a criminal case, eliminate illegal actions, and take measures to avoid serious consequences," G.L. Makmal Developing said.

It didn't help.

On April 11, hundreds stormed into the gold plant and burned down the company facilities and equipment following a brief meeting with the interagency commission that ended with violent confrontation and three policemen wounded, one of whom was hospitalized.

The central government reacted by removing the head of the local district who was blamed for mismanagement of the crisis. Some in the Kyrgyz parliament called for swift punishment of the instigators who were orchestrating the protests against G.L. Makmal Developing.

Lawmaker Aitmamat Nazarov from the Kyrgyzstan faction in parliament criticized the central government's inaction regarding the "needs of the people" during the session on 12 April and proposed a review of the situation in the committee.

"Yesterday, we learned that this factory was built illegally, construction wasn't permitted by the authorities. Then why wasn't it suspended from the start? Nazarov asked. There was no public discussion whatsoever. No one talked to the people. More than two months have passed, he said and added, Not a single high-ranking official visited the district in the last two months.

Nazarov continued, People of the district are against this plant. Talking to people was the way, and it should have been resolved through communication. The governor of the province should have visited the district.

Nazarov pointed out: A district delegation came forward to speak with the government but no one met with them. As a result, we saw what happened."

Besides the escalation of the dispute in Toguz-Toro, there are two more mining conflicts in southern Kyrgyz provinces. Tiandi International Mining Co. Limited, a subsidiary of Chinas state-owned Guizhou Geological and Mineral Resources Development Co. Ltd that operates the Shambesai gold deposit, is reportedly negotiating with the local population that has been staging protests against the mining plans since March 2017.

Another Chinese firm, Full Gold Mining, is locked in a protracted dispute with the local villagers at the Ishtamberdy mine where the company's operations were met with roadblocks, protests, and so-called ninja mining.

Nonetheless, this latest conflict between a foreign investor and local population in Kyrgyzstan could be another example of policymaking that has been criticized by some for corrupt practices, questionable transparency, and flawed record of accountability.

The Kyrgyz Republic is consistently plagued by widespread corruption. According to the UNDP, the estimated damage from corruption in the country reaches $700 million annually. Corruption continues to be listed as the second-worst obstacle for doing business out of 16 systemic issues in the country.

Furthermore, 20 percent of foreign investors in Kyrgyzstan admit to paying bribes, according to research by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

An IFC representative indicated that the actual figure may be even higher, as investors are reluctant to confess to making unofficial payments.

Additionally, systemic risks in Kyrgyzstan include the mountainous nation's judiciary, which is deeply distrusted by the public and foreign investors alike.

I raised this structural issue in my opinion piece for The Diplomat Magazine in August 2017.

"The International Development Law Organization, an intergovernmental group in Rome, has stated that the Kyrgyz judiciary is not favorably viewed by the public and, at the same time, the public is not well-informed about the functions and duties of the courts.

The World Banks survey results also highlighted a low level of trust in the justice system of Kyrgyzstan within the domestic business community; firms avoid settling commercial disputes via the countrys courts.

The Kyrgyz government's conduct to the recurring mining conflicts resembles its previous demeanor in the run up to the mass protests against the Kumtor gold mine in 2013.

Just as in Toguz-Toro, the Kyrgyz government ignored demands by the local population which led to controversy and reports of abuse by police.

It also demonstrates that the Kyrgyz government has done little since then to reform itself.

In the absence of meaningful steps to prevent conflicts and adopt the necessary policies, it is more than likely that such incidents will continue to take place in the future.

Ryskeldi Satke is a Bishkek-based freelance writer for news organizations and research institutions in Central Asia, Turkey, and the United States. For many years he has been living in, and traveling around, "Inner Asia," and that means some time in Mongolia as well as Central Asia. Satke has been a leader in reporting on environmental issues in this region. He can be followed on Twitter @RyskeldiSatke

The views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily express the opinions or views of RFE/RL.



The U.S. Department of Defense on April 14 released video of the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey conducting strike operations into Syria while in the Arabian Sea. The United States, along with allies France and Britain, launched air and missile strikes on Syria early on April 14 in response to a suspected Syrian chemical attack that killed dozens of people last week.YEREVAN -- Thousands of people have jammed into a central square in the Armenian capital, protesting new government changes that could keep former President Serzh Sarkisian in power.

The demonstration is linked to a major constitutional change approved several years ago that weakened the president's powers and strengthened those of the prime minister.

Opposition activists assert that the changes were tailored specially to allow Sarkisian to continue after his two terms as president ended.

Armen Sarkisian, no relation to Serzh, became Armenia's new president on April 9. But Serzh. whose party holds a majority in parliament, is to be nominated to be prime minister this weekend.

The change in the governing system was approved in a referendum in 2015. Unlike previous post-Soviet presidents in Armenia, Armen Sarkisian was elected by parliament instead of by popular vote.

Protest leaders have vowed to hold demonstrations outside the building where Sarkisian is expected to be nominated.

Earlier this week, two opposition lawmakers set off smoke flares in parliament to protest plans for Serzh Sarkisian to become prime minister.U.S. President Donald Trump has praised an overnight military strike on Syria as a "perfectly executed" operation, and the United Nations Security Council has rejected a Russian effort to denounce it as an unjustified "aggression" against a sovereign state.

The United States, along with allies France and Britain, launched air strikes on Syria early on April 14 in response to a suspected Syrian chemical attack that killed dozens of people last week.

Trump announced the military action from the White House, saying it was aimed at ending the use of such weapons of mass destruction.

Trump had vowed to make Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who he called a "monster," a "criminal," and a "murderous dictator," pay a "big price" for an April 7 suspected toxic gas attack on the town of Douma that killed at least 43 civilians.

In a tweet later on April 14, Trump said the Syrian strike was "perfectly executed" and couldn't have achieved "a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

The Pentagon said that the joint U.S.-British-French operation against Syria's regime had "successfully hit every target," countering claims from Russia that dozens of missiles were intercepted.

Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said at a press briefing that the strikes were launched to "cripple Syria's ability to use chemical weapons in the future."

"The strikes were justified, legitimate, and proportionate, she said.

Lieutenant-General Kenneth McKenzie said at the briefing that three sites that are "fundamental components of the regime's chemical weapons infrastructure" were struck.

The operation was "precise, overwhelming, and effective," he said, adding it will set Syrias chemical-weapons program back "for years."

Assad said the strike would increase Syria's resolve to "fight and crush terrorism in every inch" of the country.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the U.S.-led military action as an "act of aggression against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of the battle against terrorism."

Putin also said Russia was calling an emergency session of the UN Security Council, which opened on April 14 shortly after 1700 CET.

Ahead of the meeting, Russia circulated a draft resolution calling for condemnation of the "aggression" against Syria in the form of military strikes carried out by the United States, Britain, and France, according to a draft resolution seen by AFP and Reuters.

The resolution was later rejected by council members. It won three votes, far below the nine votes required for adoption. Eight countries voted against and four abstained.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said after the vote that the meeting confirmed that the U.S. and its allies "continue to put international politics and diplomacy in the realm of myth-making -- myths invented in London, Paris, and Washington." He accused the allies of violating the UN Charter and international law.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council that the United States is "locked and loaded" to strike again if Assad's government again uses chemical weapons.

"We are confident that we have crippled Syria's chemical-weapons program. We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will," she said.

"If the Syrian regime uses this poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded," Haley said.

Syrian envoy to the UN Bashar Jaafari claimed that the Douma attack was a "masquerade" mounted by rebels.

NATO said all 29 of its members in the alliance back the air strikes on Syria as a consequence of the Syrian government conducting a suspected chemical attack against civilians last weekend.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the strikes were about making sure that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity.

"I am not saying that the attacks last night solved all problems but compared to the alternative to do nothing this was the right thing to do," he said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the air strikes in Syria sent a "clear message" against the use of chemical weapons.

"This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons," May said on April 14.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that the joint military strikes on Syrian targets was a success and that the mission's goals have been achieved.

"Syria's ability to design, produce, and stockpile chemical weapons has been greatly diminished," she said.

Speaking in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his support for the military operation but said more must be done to hold the Syrian regime accountable.

"The people martyred by chemicals is a certain amount, but the people martyred by conventional weapons is much, much more," he said.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the U.S.-led action in Syria was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry earlier warned the strike would have regional consequences, Iranian media reported.

Syrian television reported that Syria's air defenses, which are substantial, responded to the attack. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses in what he described as a heavy but carefully limited assault. The Syrian military said it had shot down 13 missiles.

A few hours after the strikes, hundreds of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs, and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance.

U.S. General Joseph Dunford said three sites involved in the research and production of chemical weapons in western Syria were the main targets of the attack.

Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said missiles first struck a scientific research center in the Damascus area that he said was a center of Syrias chemical and biological weapons program. The two other strikes targeted chemical-weapons storage facilities west of Homs, Dunford said.

Trump said the main purpose of the attacks was to establish "a strong deterrent" against chemical weapons use, which he said killed more than 1 million people during World War I a century ago before it was banned worldwide.

About an hour after Trump finished speaking, the Pentagon said the wave of more than 100 missile strikes was over and there were no reports of losses among U.S. and allied forces involved in the attacks.

The British Defense Ministry said initial indications were the attacks were "successful" in destroying their targets. Syrian officials reported injuries among civilians and military personnel.

Mattis said no further attacks are planned, and "right now this is a one-time shot." Any further military action would depend on whether Syria keeps using chemical weapons, he said.

The Pentagon said the strikes were twice as large as those Trump ordered on a Syrian airfield last year. It said targets were chosen so as to avoid hitting Russian forces in Syria, but it did not notify Russia of the targets in advance.

The Russian Defense Ministry said early on April 14 that none of the strikes hit areas near Russia's air and naval bases in Syria.

The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed a majority of the missiles fired by the United States and its allies had been intercepted by Syrian government air-defense systems, TASS news agency reported.

TASS reported that the business center of Damascus, where a parliamentary delegation from Russia was staying at a hotel, was not hit by the bombing.

Trump called on both Russia and Iran to stop supporting Assad's "murderous" and "terrible regime."

Trump said the two countries are "most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime."

"What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?" he asked. "The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep."

Addressing Moscow in particular, Trump said Assad's repeated use of chemical weapons against his own people is a "direct result" of Russia's failure to hold its ally to a 2013 agreement to abandon and destroy its chemical weapons.

Russia failed to keep its promise to restrain Assad, Trump said.

Now, he said, "Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace."

In his remarks quoted by Russian media on April 14, Putin said the strike had a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations."

He also reaffirmed Russia's view that the purported chemical attack in Douma that prompted the strike was a fake.

Earlier, Russian ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov strongly denounced the attacks, saying in a statement that "the worst expectations have materialized. Our warnings fell on deaf ears.... We are being threatened again."





"We have warned that such actions will not remain without consequences," Antonov said. "All responsibility for them rests upon Washington, London, and Paris."

Antonov added that "insulting the Russian president was inadmissible," in an apparent reaction to some of Trump's comments.



"The United States, a country that has the largest arsenal of chemical weapons, has no moral right to accuse other countries," Antonov said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded by questioning on Facebook why the West would stage such attacks at a time when Syria had "a chance for peace at last," in an apparent reference to the Syrian government's recent success at gaining an upper hand in the civil war.

In Iran, Khamenei said the U.S.-led strike was a "crime."

"I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France, and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

"They will not benefit [from the attack] as they went to Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei said.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani said the U.S.-led missile attack on Syria would lead to destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction...the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rohani was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Rohani told Assad in a telephone call that Iran would continue to stand by Syria, "expressing his confidence that this aggression would not weaken the determination of the Syrian people in its war against terrorism,"the Syrian presidency said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister May spoke in addresses to their nations within minutes of Trump's statement.

"A red line has been crossed," said Macron. "We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons."

French Defense Minister Parly told reporters that its joint military operation targeted three sites and that Russia was informed ahead of time.

Earlier, Dunford said the Russians had not been notified before the strikes, but normal deconfliction channels had been used for airspace issues.

May said the strikes were "limited and targeted" to "degrade the Syrian regime's chemical-weapons capability" while minimizing civilian casualties.

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change," she said.

The strike will send "a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity," she said.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized -- within Syria, on the streets of the U.K., or anywhere else in our world," she said.

May later told reporters on April 14 that reports indicate a barrel bomb was used in the Syrian regime chemical attack on Douma.

She said intelligence indicates that Syrian military officials coordinated what appears to have been the use of chlorine in Douma.

May said Russian claims the attack was fake were "grotesque and absurd."

The global chemical watchdog said in a statement that its factfinding mission into the Douma attack would continue.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, whose experts arrived in Syria earlier this week, said it was in talks with UN safety and security officials "to assess the situation and ensure the safety of the team."

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, the BBC, and OPCW statementAfter days of heated rhetoric between Washington and Moscow over the suspected Syrian chemical attack last week that left dozens of people dead, U.S. President Donald Trump made good on his threat to hit Syrian government targets with air strikes.

But the United States, Britain, and France appear to have taken strides to prevent a serious escalation with Russia in their joint bombing in the early hours of April 14 to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the alleged chemical attack they accuse his forces of carrying out.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said that the "targeted" air strikes on three western Syrian sites believed to be involved in researching and producing chemical weapons were carried out "with clear boundaries that expressly sought to avoid escalation and did everything possible to prevent civilian casualties."

While the Pentagon said Washington did not notify or coordinate with Russia concerning the operation -- with the exception of routine "de-confliction" coordination in Syrian airspace -- French Defense Minister Florence Parly said Russia was "warned beforehand."

"We are not looking for confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation," Parly told a news conference on April 14, Reuters reported.

The aerial bombardment came just days after Trump taunted Moscow on Twitter after its envoy to Lebanon was quoted as saying that Russia, which backs Assad militarily together with Iran, would shoot down any U.S. missiles launched against Syrian targets.

"Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'" Trump wrote, chastising Russia for supporting Assad, whom he called a "gas killing animal."

But Washington was clearly concerned about the potential of direct military confrontation with Russian personnel in Syria, where a U.S.-led counterattack in early February killed pro-Assad Russian fighters that Moscow says were private individuals and not uniformed Russian troops.

U.S. General Joseph Dunford said the three Syrian targets in the April 14 operation were "specifically identified" in order to "mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved."

"No one is interested in some kind of direct confrontation between Russia and the United States and its allies, because the consequences are unpredictable," Aleksei Malashenko, an analyst and leading Russian expert on the Syria conflict, told RFE/RL by telephone.

Russia's ambassador to the United States said following the air strikes that "such actions will not be left without consequences," and that "all responsibility for them rests with Washington, London, and Paris."

But President Vladimir Putin's statement on April 14 made no mention of a potential retaliation other than a convening of the UN Security Council "to discuss the aggressive actions" of the United States and its allies.

Malashenko said Putin's statement denouncing the U.S.-led air strikes as an "act of aggression against a sovereign state" was a predictable expression of outrage, but that Moscow was unlikely to respond militarily in defense of its ally.

"Putin's statement was, in such circumstances, pretty soft -- I would call it 'vegetarian.' Yes, there will be criticism, the [UN] Security Council -- there will be all sorts of things. It's already all over television, everyone is speaking out. But there's no talk of retaliation right now," Malashenko said.

Former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Twitter that the strike "ended up fairly limited and targeted" and was "clearly designed to reduce escalation risks."

Senior Russian Defense Ministry official Sergei Rudskoi told an April 14 briefing in Moscow that following the air strikes, Moscow could examine providing S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Syria and other nations. He said Russia had declined to do so previously based on requests from "Western partners."

Rudskoi said preliminary information showed that no Syrian civilians or military personnel were killed in the bombardment, which Trump called a "perfectly executed strike." Syrian officials, meanwhile, reported injuries among military personnel and civilians.

U.S. Lieutenant-General Kenneth F. McKenzie told a Pentagon briefing on April 14 that the air strikes would "cripple" and "degrade" Syria's ability to produce and use chemical weapons, which Assad denies having.

Reuters cited an unidentified senior official in a regional alliance backing Assad as saying that Russia had provided an "early warning" about the planned air strikes to its allies in Syria and that "all military bases were evacuated a few days ago."

Analysts said that the air strikes, which U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called a "one-time shot" aimed at dissuading Assad from deploying chemical weapons, are unlikely to have inflicted significant damage on the Syrian president's military capabilities.

Randa Slim, an analyst and the Washington-based Middle East Institute, wrote on Twitter: "If this is it, Assad should be relieved."

Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said supplies of chemical weapons, which Syria denies using, could have been moved from the sites prior to the bombing.

"I don't think that this would be a serious blow to Assad's capability, even as far as chemical warfare is concerned. And if you look at the overall scale, it would not be a serious degrading of his overall military capability or the ability of the government to inflict really horrible pain on civilian populations," Smith told RFE/RL in a telephone interview.

Smith added that he expects "more rhetorical heat" from Moscow rather than military action, but said escalating rhetoric also raises the risks of military escalation in the event that Russian officials or soldiers were injured or killed in a Western air strike in Syria.

"Heated rhetoric may well make it very difficult to handle and limit the escalation on that point," Smith said. "I don't think that one can relax about there being tougher words than action."Pininfarina, the iconic Italian design house which is now under the Mahindra Groups umbrella, has kick started its 90th Anniversary earlier this month.

To mark the milestone, Automobili Pininfarina has teased a limited edition of its already exclusive hypercar, the Battista. The Pininfarina Battista Anniversario will make its global debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week. Only 5 units will be made and these units will feature revised aerodynamic package to offer enhanced dynamic abilities.

Automobili Pininfarina has started on-track development of the Battista which is touted to be the fastest Italian car in the history. On the sidelines of the anniversary event which focused on Pininfarinas expanding architectural design vertical, the company also announced the appointment of Kevin Rice, a renowned automotive designer, as its new Chief Creative Officer.

Established in 1930 by Battista Pinin Farina, the Pininfarina brand started its journey as an Italian coach builder. Over these 90 years, Pininfarina has witnessed several ups and downs but continued to pen some of exquisite automotive designs. In the recent years, the brand also spread its presence in other verticals including industrial design, architecture and experience design, etc.

Mahindra Groups intervention in 2015 gave the Italian icon the much needed stability and resources to expand further. Now, the Turin-based company also has a comprehensive engineering department which is capable of developing a vehicle from the scratch. The company currently has sizeable number of automotive clientele for whom it not only takes care of the design aspect but also offers turn-key engineering services. Automobili Pininfarina, luxury EV brand supported by Mahindra, is one such client.

While the event in Milan kick started the 90th Anniversary celebrations, Pininfarina will continue to celebrate throughout the year with events in Geneva (motor show), Turin, Shanghai, Pebble Beach and Miami.

Coming back to Kevin Rice, he will assume charge as the new Chief Creative Officer from March 2020 and will report directly to CEO Silvio Angoni. The British and German national has been designing cars since 1986 and has spearheaded several high-profile projects across different brands in Germany, Italy, the UK and Japan. Rice played a key role in defining Mazdas widely acclaimed modern design language and even won the prestigious Red Dot design award for the MX-5 coupe in 2016.

Rice will be shifting to Pininfarina from Chery International where he was the Vice President and Global Head of Design. At Pininfarina, apart from being directly responsible for Mobility Design Business Unit, Rice will oversee other design verticals (Industrial, Experience Design and Architecture) as well.Disclaimer  The manufacturer (TVS Motor Company) has blacklisted Rushlane from its events/rides as a consequence of decisions based on restrictive practices. This blog is reliant on available UGC.

With thousands of private buyers waiting to get delivery of their new TVS Apache 310, it seems like TVS has started selling their flagship motorcycle commercially  which is now being used for the purpose of food delivery.

Youtuber Ssaajan Manoj Jogia has spotted a TVS Apache 310 with a black license plate (rental bike) being used for delivering food in the city of Bangalore. About 35 kms from here, is where the TVS plant is located, which is where the fastest TVS is produced, probably at the slowest rate. Watch TVS Apache 310 delivering food in the video below.

This brings the question, why is the bike being sold to commercial players while private owners are waiting in huge queues?

Over the last few weeks, many readers have voiced their opinion regarding the slow rate of delivery of TVS Apache 310. Some readers say that many of the allotted TVS dealers are yet to receive the test ride bikes.

In spite of that, some have paid full payment in advance  even then, there is no news of delivery. Some buyers who made payments in advance as early as Nov 2017, are still waiting to test ride the bike. When they question dealers, they say delivery will take about 6 months.

A popular Youtuber from Bangalore, Big Bang Biker had posted an interesting question about the BMW engineered TVS badged motorcycle 

Its almost 3 months now !!! And still I dont see this bike on the streets!! anything wrong with it ??? Has anyone booked this bike ??

This update got interesting responses from the community, which can be seen belowWhile global rates of mental disorders in children have remained stable over time, the decline of infectious diseases will place mental disorders among the main causes of disease in children aged 4-15 years, according to a study published in the open access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.

Marie-Laure Baranne and Bruno Falissard at INSERM, France described the prevalence of mental disorders among children aged 5-14 years in each of the six regions of the World Health Organisation -- Africa, the Americas, South-East Asia, Europe, the Easter Mediterranean, and the West Pacific Region. They found that even in emerging regions, the prevalence of mental disorders is high and constant over time.

Marie-Laure Baranne said: "We found that the prevalence of mental disorders in young people remained stable between 2000 and 2015, which suggests that mental disorders are not decreasing in young people despite the global improvement of their physical health. In the future, the decrease of other, preventable diseases, such as diabetes, will lead to an increase in the importance of treating mental disorders for public health."

The authors found that in 2000 in the Americas and Europe, mental disorders ranked third among the causes of disability adjusted life years (DALYs). DALYs can be thought of as lost years of healthy life due to disease or disability. They are a measure of disease burden -- the impact of a health problem in a population. By 2015, mental disorders had reached second place as causes of DALYs in the Americas and Europe, while the impact of infectious diseases decreased. The change from infectious diseases to mental disorders as the main cause of DALYs in children is called an epidemiological transition. The impact of mental disorders on child health is going to become more important in the future as more countries make the transition from infection diseases to mental disorders as major causes of ill-health, according to the authors.

Marie-Laure Baranne said: "Our study is intended as an urgent signal of alarm to international public health institutions and policy-makers. Given the impact of these mental disorders in the long term, organising a global policy to address this issue requires careful preparation."

In most regions, four mental disorders ranked among the 20 diseases associated with the most DALYs: conduct disorders, anxiety disorders, major depressive disorders and austism-Asperger syndrome. Among boys, the most common mental disorders associated with DALYs were conduct disorders, autism-Asperger syndrome and anxiety disorders. Among girls they were anxiety disorders, conduct disorders and major depressive disorder.

In addition to an effect over time, the authors also noticed an effect of income: regions with the highest gross domestic product were found to have fewer problems with infectious diseases and more problems with mental disorders.

The authors caution that that the calculation of DALYs relies on parameters that are only known as approximations and based on multiple sources of information containing potential errors that may introduce some uncertainty into estimates.Note: This blog contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me at no extra cost to you.These are tough days for the Internet and the tech moguls who run it. Everybody has seen the spectacle of Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg in the hot seat last week. Two days of testimony before Congress, bright lights in his eyes, the cameras clicking, senators boring in.

Let me cut to the chase, said Sen. Bill Nelson, If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of us are going to have any privacy anymore. Thats it exactly. The Internet is the new Evil Empire.

And not only that. Although Zuckerberg may have helped invent Facebook in his dorm room at Harvard, hes a San Franciscan now. He has a home near Dolores Park, like a lot of those tech zillionaires. San Francisco is at the northern tip of Silicon Valley.

A lot of San Franciscans hate the whole thing. The tech people have ruined the skyline and caused housing prices to skyrocket, they say. Look at the traffic. Look at the commuter shuttles. Look at all these techies. They are young, they are rich, and they are here.

But that is shortsighted. We should be grateful for being at the epicenter of an information explosion. It is like being present at the creation of something truly amazing.

Of course there are problems. If those annoying Wright Brothers hadnt invented the airplane we wouldnt have been able to bomb Iraq, or Syria.

We are at the center of a new world. And as a result, we are losing some privacy, among other things. What did you expect would happen when you typed your credit card information, your prescription for high blood pressure and your airline reservation for a getaway to Maui into a computer terminal? That no one would sell the information? Or pass it around? Or steal it?

Of course, we lost privacy, but it is a trade. It is the World Wide Web, something your grandmother never dreamed of.

Let me tell you how I found my own grandmother, a woman I had never seen. I barely knew her name. I found her and a whole family I never knew about. I discovered them only last week, using the Internet.

I am a fourth-generation San Franciscan on my fathers side. My late mother, however, was born in Ireland. She left the Old Country as a young woman at a time when Ireland was racked by rebellion and civil war. In those days, when you left Europe, you left for good. There were no low-cost airlines, no Skype, none of that. So our American family lost track of her Irish family.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

We talked about it a lot at family events  how we had grandparents in Ireland we had never seen  a green grandmother and a green grandfather. But we never could make the connection.

But one afternoon, just a week ago, I tried a couple of variations of Roche, the Irish family name. I have minimal computer skills, as anyone in The Chronicles IT department would tell you. But I am stubborn, and a little digging opened up a new world: an old census, a list of first names I recognized from my mothers stories. Her brothers and sisters, our green uncles and aunts. Within two hours, I had found my mothers name on the county birth register, even the register of my grandparents marriage.

The family lived in Callan, a small town in County Kilkenny. I sent an email to the Callan Heritage Society, and a kind member named Joseph Kennedy gave me all sorts of information about a family I had never seen.

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I discovered when my grandparents were born and when they died. I found a woman whose name I never knew. She was Ellen Walsh, and she was my great-grandmother.

Kennedy told me the people in town called my grandfather Jackie and that he died in 1957 at the age of 84. My grandmother lived to be 89 and died in 1961. In their last years, they lived at No. 10 Green Terrace in Callan. I found a picture of the house next door on the Internet because its on the market.

One click led to another, and I called up a picture of a young woman named Tara Roche, who was selected to be the Kilkenny Rose last April. She competed in the international Rose of Tralee competition for young women, lovely and fair as the rose of the summer, as the song goes.

Roche has a Facebook page, and I called up her picture. She is 24 and has startling blue eyes. I sent Taras picture around to my own daughters. They wanted to know who she is. She is a cousin we never knew we had, I said. I found her on the Internet.

So thats the other side of the privacy debate. Sometimes, you lose something when you open a door to a whole new world. But it is a door worth opening.

Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His column appears every Sunday. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesfFacebook chief Mark Zuckerbergs testimony tour before Congress was one of the best-staged appearances Ive seen in years.

Dressed in his new, slightly ill-fitting, off-the-rack suits, he did his best to appear as inoffensive and apologetic as possible.

When senators and House members hit him with questions about scooping up Facebook users personal information and selling to whoever met the companys price, Zuckerberg played rope-a-dope.

He bobbed and weaved with answers that, while appearing to be compliant, basically amounted to nothing.

Well get back to you on that, senator, or, Ill have my team provide you with that later, were his go-to responses when he was asked to provide specifics.

The only time Zuckerberg got nicked was when Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois asked the tech titan if would be comfortable revealing the name of the hotel where hed stayed the night before.

Um, no, Zuckerberg said after a pause.

Would you share with us the names of the people youve messaged? Durbin asked.

Senator, no, I would probably not choose to do that publicly here, Zuckerberg said.

Then Durbin made his point: Thats exactly the sort of information people fear is being sold on Facebook.

Maybe thats what all the fuss was about, Durbin said. Your right to privacy. The limits of your right to privacy and how much you give away in modern America in the name of quote, connecting people around the world.

It was a soft but effective hit that both got a big laugh in the committee room and at the same time went the heart of the issue.

Not that it mattered to Zuckerberg. He walked out, put his suit back on the hanger and learned that investors were so pleased by his performance, his Facebook holdings had gone up $2.8 billion.

Not bad for a days work.

Closing in: State politics are finally heating up. The latest Public Policy Institute of California poll showed Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom keeping a double-digit lead over his closest rivals in the governors race, John Cox and Antonio Villaraigosa  but there was a big surprise.

The surprise was that Villaraigosa, the former L.A. mayor, and GOP businessman Cox both inched up a bit, while Newsom dropped a couple of points  all before any serious campaign money has been spent.

Netflix founder Reed Hastings, a charter school advocate with a lot of money, just announced a $7 million independent expenditure for Villaraigosa. That means that there may well be some action between now and June. Its a good thing for Newsom that hes financially fully armed, because he may have to spend big.

Making friends: Gov. Jerry Browns decision to heed President Trumps call to send National Guard troops to the border  albeit on the condition they not be used to nab undocumented immigrants  came as no surprise.

For all his liberal image, Brown is a law-and-order guy, plain and simple.

He was pro-cop when he was mayor of Oakland, and hes a pro-cop governor. He rarely misses a fallen police officers funeral, and he almost never comments on a police shooting.

You havent heard Brown say a word about Black Lives Matter. You havent heard him issue one statement about the Sacramento police killing of Stephon Clark.

Surfs up: House Speaker Paul Ryans announcement that hes leaving office is a clear heads-up that Republicans are bracing for a loss in the midterm elections.

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Ryan is getting out before the Democratic blue wave washes him out of the speakers seat. He may hold onto the gavel until the end of the year, but its also possible the Republicans themselves will toss him before that, to avoid being led for the rest of the year by a hobbling duck.

If the Republicans fall, will it mean the return of Nancy Pelosi as speaker?

I must say, she seemed more relaxed at George and Judy Marcus Greek Orthodox Easter soiree in Los Altos Hills than I have seen her in some time.

Partying Penn: Herbst Theater and the Commonwealth Club have partnered up for events of all stripes. Last week, Sean Penn showed up for a one-hour session of questions and answers about his debut novel, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff.

It was well attended, and many in the audience retired to Tosca Cafe for a party led by former proprietor Jeannette Etheredge.

Tosca normally has a vacate hour of 11 p.m., but everyone was having such a good time that the doors stayed open until 2 a.m.

Ed Lee Fountain: When I was running for mayor, I promised the world that I would get Lottas Fountain running again. And when Ed Lee became public works director, he got it going.

That fountain is a demonstration of Eds effectiveness. So we are going to rename it after the late mayor when we gather for the annual memorial of the 1906 earthquake Wednesday at 5:12 a.m.

Come on down and join me and Eds widow, Anita, to watch the water flow from Ed Lee Fountain.

Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.comThe Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco loss of Director Max Hollein to New Yorks Metropolitan Museum was reported here by Charles Desmarais, and also, of course, from the East Coast, whence there were many stories about the move.

The New Yorkers Andrea Scott noted, for example, that the Met had been having major financial troubles and that Hollein, unlike his predecessor, is a fund-raiser with a proven track record ... not above an out-there development idea: in 2014, he proposed working with a drug-store chain to sell hundred-euro prints of works from the museums collection. While I hope not to encounter copies of the Mets Vermeers in my local Duane Reade any time soon, it will be thrilling to see what a man who once paraphrased Goethe to describe his twinned interest in art and finance  two souls are dwelling in my chest  has in store for the museum.

In the City Journal, an online magazine of civic affairs, Brian Allen reported that Hollein has the curatorial and political chops. ... In San Francisco, he dealt successfully with the imperious museum board president-for-life Diane Wilsey. Wilsey, the citys best fundraiser, has a history of intense involvement in the institutions operations. Hollein charmed this most intractable of mistresses so we know he is a courtier without peer.

(Wilsey, who has raised millions for the museum and for UCSF, is deserving of praise for her fundraising abilities. But best? Theres stiff competition for that crown: think Nancy Pelosi and Charlotte Shultz.)

The Tenderloin Museum has mounted a variety of exhibitions since its opening in 2015, but probably none as adventurous as Tender (n.): a person who takes charge. This will be a series of site-specific aerial dances, to be performed by Flyaway Productions June 7 to 16 in celebration of what the museum calls 100 years of outcast activism.

The museum is at the corner of Eddy and Jones. Performances by seven artists will be on the outside of the building on weekend nights and at 12:30 p.m. on Fridays. The project is undertaken by the museum in collaboration with Code Tenderloin and the Asian Art Museum.

The performance is divided into four historical segments: Nine Ladies Dancing, about young working men in the city in the early 1900s; The Queens Wave, about transgender activism in the 1960s; This Boat, about Vietnamese immigrant activists; and Kathys Dance, about Kathy Looper and the Cadillac Hotel.

The company describes itself as using the artistry of spinning, flying and suspension to engage political and social issues. Related events will include lecture-demonstrations at the Asian Museum on May 6 and curbside conversations with the artist on May 24 and 31.

Dannie Martin, who was in Lompoc prison when he began writing essays published in The Chronicle about everyday life there, died in 2013. Martins work, and the story of his collaboration with Chronicle editor Peter Sussman, was shared in Committing Journalism: The Prison Writings of Red Hog, which was published in 1993. A legal case over whether he had a right to publish his works under a byline and be paid was lost in a lower court, appealed by The Chronicle and the ACLU to the Ninth Circuit, and became moot when Martin was paroled in 1992.

In 2007, Martin began writing his autobiography, a transcription of which popped up unexpectedly last year in the computer of a man whod transcribed that prose from yellow legal pads. His friend Jan Sluizer subsequently arranged to have the Martin autobiography Incorrigible printed. Almost five years after his death, at his April 29 Celebration of Life, at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, copies of that book will be distributed.

Winner of the juried portion of April 8s Best Croissant contest sponsored by French Morning, a website for Francophiles and French expats living in the United States, was the croissant baked by Jane the Bakery on Geary Street (sister to Jane cafes on Fillmore and on Larkin). Let Oscar winners thank their directors, their publicists, their spouses. Founder Amanda Michael attributes the win (for both croissants and pain au chocolat) to French butter, such a lovely product, very extensible. ... Itll sheet out nicely. It gets very, very thin for layers. And also, to a lot of hard work. I think the secret is my staff, personally. (The Midwife and the Baker won the audience favorite part of the competition.)

Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik

Public Eavesdropping

Look, stick this out or were not going to Books Inc. OK?President Donald Trump declared victory Saturday in the largest application of military force he has ordered, as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations vowed that the United States is ready to launch another strike if the Syrian government uses chemical weapons again.

"Mission Accomplished!" Trump tweeted a day after the allied assault on Syrian facilities that the United States, Britain and France say are part of a large chemical weapons program. The phrase was the same one the last Republican president, George W. Bush, employed to his regret in 2003, when the Iraq War was far from over.

"I spoke to the president this morning, and he said, 'If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,' " U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said at an emergency Security Council meeting called by Russia, the Syrian government's most powerful ally.

"When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line," she added.

At the Pentagon, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., the director of the Joint Staff, said the United States, France and Britain fired more than 100 missiles, delivering a blow to the "heart" of Syria's chemical weapons network. He acknowledged, however, that Syria retains "residual" capacity, but gave no details aboutwhat could be left.

Although the attack may send a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad about future chemical use, it is unlikely to bring the wider Syrian conflict, which has killed upward ofhalf a million people since 2011 and destabilized the region, closer to an end.

For the time being, relief reigned as the West and most of its allies expressed support for action to curtail the threat of Syria's chemical warfare as backers of the Syrian government expressed outrage at what they considered an illegal aggression against Syria's sovereignty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the strikes would have "a destructive effect on the entire system of international relations."

In the end, Russia's plea for condemnation of the strikes as a violation of international law and the U.N. Charter failed in a vote among the 15 Security Council members, with only Bolivia and China joining Russia.

The town of Douma, the site of a suspected chemical attack last weekend, was among a dwindling number of rebel-held areas as Assad expands his control. Russian military assistance since 2015 has allowed Assad to break a stalemate with the rebels, some of whom are backed by the United States.

Faysal Itani, a scholar at the Atlantic Council, said that even if the U.S.-led strikesprevented new chemical attacks, it would not change Assad's larger strategy or halt his ongoing conventional assaults on rebel-held areas.

"If anything, the opposite is true: By setting these red lines and devising very narrow punishments for violating them, we essentially communicate to the regime what our priorities are and also our threshold for risk and level of interest in the broader Syrian war," Itani said. "Just as it did with the war on ISIS, the U.S. has compartmentalized the [chemical weapons] issue and isolated it from the broader Syrian conflict. So Assad will logically see he has a green light to continue to destroy the opposition," he added, referring to the Islamic State.

The Pentagon said more than 40 Syrian surface-to-air missiles had "no material effect" on the allied strikes, which McKenzie said hit their targets. None of the more sophisticated air defenses that Russia has positioned in Syria were employed, he said.

Pentagon officials said none of the 105 allied missiles fired were hit by Syria's Soviet-era antimissile fire.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under briefing rules, said it appeared that nearly all the Syrian surface-to-air defenses were fired after the allied missiles hit their targets.

McKenzie described one site, the Barzah Research and Development Center, near Damascus, as a "core" facility for Syria's chemical weapons program.

"They lost a lot of equipment. They lost a lot of material, and that's going to have a significant effect," he said.

The Pentagon said the strikes resulted in few, if any, casualties.

Syria disputed even the most basic facts about the assault. Bashar Jaafari, the nation's U.N. ambassador, told the Security Council that 110 missiles came at Syria, but that 100 were shot down. He said three civilians were injured during a strike at one site. U.S. officials said no one was hurt there.

In the wake of last weekend's attack, some U.S. officials advocated a larger strike than the limited action Trump ordered in April 2017, also in response to suspected chemical weapons use.

That attack involved 59 Tomahawk missiles fired from two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea. It fulfilled Trump's vow that chemical weapons are a "red line" that he, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, would not allow Assad to cross. But the airfield targeted by the Pentagon resumed operations shortly after the attack and, according to Western intelligence assessments, chemical attacks resumed.

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Since last year's strike, multiple chemical attacks have been reported in opposition areas, most of them involving chlorine rather than the nerve agent sarin, as was used in 2017, suggesting that the government may have adjusted its tactics.

Inspectors from the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were expected to make their initial visitto Douma on Saturday. They will collect soil samples and talk to witnesses to try to pin down what occurred.

The United States, France and Britain said they have proof, without identifying it, that chlorine gas caused victims to suffocate.

Another U.S. official, also briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, said Western nations strongly suspect that sarin gas was also used.

Britain and France hope that their participation in the strikes will go some distance in convincing Trump they are strong and dependable allies, and provide some leverage when the president decides next month whether the United States will remain part ofthe Iran nuclear deal. The subject will be at the top of the agenda when French President Emmanuel Macron comes to Washington for a state visit in late April.

Britain and France, along with Germany, have spent months negotiating with the State Department ways to satisfy Trump's insistence on "fixes" to the deal's sunset and verification provisions, and discussing its failure to address Iran's development and testing of ballistic missiles. Although the three European signatories have said that no changes can be made to the agreement itself, they think they and the United States are close to finishing a declaration outlining their joint positions on the matters.

The question is whether Trump is looking for a way to keep the deal, or if he and his two new hard-line aides - national security adviser John Bolton and secretary of state nominee Mike Pompeo, both of whom have advocated trashing it - are not interested in an agreement that would keep it alive.

- - -

The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung, Brian Murphy and Paul Sonne contributed to this report.There was a bit of good news for California in the federal governments latest round of academic test results: Its one of seven states that registered four-point gains in reading comprehension among eighth-graders.

But that positive morsel in the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing of fourth- and eighth-graders released this week was more than offset by stagnation in other overall trends and, even more unfortunately, by continuation of what educators call the achievement gap.

That is the yawning differential of academic skills within socioeconomic and ethnic subgroups.

Take, for example, that increase in eighth-grade reading, from a 2015 score of 259 on a 500-point scale to 263 in 2017.

Thats still below the designated proficiency level of 280 for the nation. And while Californias average scores for white and Asian students reach that level, those for black and Latino students are about 30 points lower, a gap that is fundamentally unchanged over the past 10 years of NAEP testing. Not surprisingly, eighth grade English-learners in California fall 50 points behind students deemed to be proficient in English.

The achievement gap in mathematics is even wider, with just 10 percent of Californias black eighth-graders rated as proficient, and 15 percent of Latinos, while 44 percent of white students and 29 percent of all California eighth-graders reach that mark.

The latter numbers are nothing to brag about, and California remains among the states at the lower levels of overall educational attainment in the NAEP testing, a position it has occupied for many years. But the results for non-white kids, except for Asians, are truly abysmal.

The latest numbers should be a civic embarrassment and are new ammunition in the bitter political and legal war over how to close Californias achievement gap.

Five years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature dramatically altered school finance with the declared goal of narrowing the gap. Most of the strings on state school aid were removed and school districts with large numbers of poor and/or English-learner students were given extra money to improve their achievement.

Tens of billions of extra dollars have been poured into the schools since then but so far, national and state testing have not shown any obvious results.

Brown has insisted that local school officials have maximum flexibility in how the funds are spent, with only light oversight from the state. But civil rights and education reform groups, calling themselves the Equity Coalition, have demanded tighter accountability.

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They want school officials to account more fully for how they spend the extra money and for results from that spending. Theyve pursued their cause in the Legislature, in the courts and in pleas to the state Board of Education, registering some individual wins, especially in the courts.

Overall, however, the coalitions foes in the education establishment have prevailed on the accountability issue. Brown has proposed only one mild change in his new budget, calling for more financial reporting by districts on how they spend funds from his Local Control Funding Formula.

Thus, the achievement gap still will be an issue for the next governor, and will be a conflict in this years battle for state superintendent of schools. It pits charter school advocate Marshall Tuck, who almost unseated state schools chief Tom Torlakson four years ago, against Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, a Richmond Democrat favored by the California Teachers Association and other elements of the education establishment.

Dan Walters is a columnist for CALmatters, a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentaryNearly three months after a landmark legal ruling upended the states cash bail system, the San Francisco robbery suspect at the center of the case remains in jail, his bail still set at $350,000, an amount the appeals court ruled was excessive and unfair.

But as Kenneth Humphreys attorneys are seeking to have their client released, prosecutors are fighting to keep him locked up until he can be tried.

Humphrey appeared briefly in San Francisco Superior Court for a bail hearing Friday, but a decision over the issue was postponed to allow the judge time to review the attorneys positions.

In the background is the ruling in January by the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco that cast doubt on the constitutionality of the bail system in California and ordered a new bail hearing for Humphrey. The court found that bail set so high that suspects cant raise enough to be freed is unjustified except for those who are too dangerous to be released before trial.

The ruling has left prosecutors and defense attorneys sparring not only over Humphreys immediate fate, but also over when and how authorities can justify keeping what they consider dangerous people off the streets as they await trial.

Humphrey, 64, who has a history of criminal arrests, has been in jail for 326 days as of Saturday since his latest arrest.

The retired shipbuilder with a history of drug addiction was taken into custody in May 2017, for allegedly following a 79-year-old neighbor into an elevator and his apartment, where he threatened to put a pillowcase over the victims head and demanded money before stealing the victims last $5 and a bottle of cologne. Charges include robbery, elder abuse and burglary  felony offenses involving violence.

Prompted by the appellate ruling, prosecutors are now requesting Humphrey be denied bail, saying there would be a substantial likelihood his release would cause great bodily harm to others. It is a high legal standard that requires prosecutors to prove the details of the current allegations and that the crimes, coupled with his prior criminal record, warrant denial of bail, something that has been historically used only for the most serious offenses such as murder.

That (the) Defendant would attack a particularly vulnerable victim during daylight in the sanctity of his own home shows that (the) Defendant acts so without regard for the laws and norms of society that there would be substantial likelihood that his release would result in great bodily harm, San Francisco prosecutors wrote in the motion Superior Court Judge Brendan Conroy is considering. Defendants prior record and pattern of behavior makes this even more certain.

Humphreys prior record, dating to 1980, includes several convictions for robbery, burglary and other offenses over a 25-year period. His last previous offense was in 2005.

The San Francisco public defenders office is requesting a reduced bail or his release.

We are extremely troubled, to say the least, that the D.A.s office says publicly that it supports bail reform, yet continues to oppose it for Mr. Humphrey, a senior citizen who hadnt been in trouble for a decade before his arrest, and who has a treatment program holding a spot for him the moment he is released, said public defender spokeswoman Tamara Aparton.

Humphreys case sits at the center of a statewide bail reform movement that has included legislative efforts as well as court cases aimed at replacing cash bail with pretrial monitoring or other safety measures.

The Humphrey ruling achieves, at least in part, what some of those legislative efforts are seeking by requiring trial judges to determine how much bail suspects can afford and whether they can be safely freed without bail. In order to set a higher bail under the ruling, judges must find by clear and convincing evidence that it is the only way to protect the public or to assure a return to court after release.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, who has favored bail reform in general, has asked the California Supreme Court to review the appeals court ruling, saying it restricts bail determinations to a financial decision that excludes a consideration of public safety.

Meanwhile, Humphey continues to remain behind bars without having had a valid bail hearing. Everybody in this case has agreed that Mr. Humphrey never received a constitutional bail hearing, said Deputy Public Defender Chesa Boudin.

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.

Yet the appeals court ruling on Humphreys case has had a significant impact on bail hearings up and down the state, with countless individuals benefiting from new hearings and bail set at a reasonable level based on ability to pay, Boudin added.

For decades, it has been common practice for judges to set bail to a fixed amount based on charges and prior criminal record. That system resulted in the poor remaining in jail while wealthier suspects charged with the same crime were freed, critics of the cash-bail system said.

But its a balancing act, said Gascon spokesman Max Szabo.

The D.A. is working to replace an inherently unfair cash-bail system with one that makes custody decisions based on risk, not money, Szabo said. But that means that those who are a flight risk or present a danger to public safety dont get out.

The state Supreme Court is expected to decide by the end of May whether to review the Humphrey ruling.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltuckerMuseum people dont turn down the top art job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and few cultural scholars would say no to the directorship of the Morgan Library & Museum. So, its no blemish on the record of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco that its last two directors left after short tenures to run those prestigious New York institutions.

If youre going to sit at the head of a table, beneath a dangling sword weighted with donors demands, community needs, staff ambition and everyones sense of entitlement  not to mention professional critical harping  you may as well do it in New York, a city built around great art offerings, collections, facilities and talent.

Yet that does leave the museums with a question I posed to the president of their board of trustees, Dede Wilsey, in an interview on Monday. What can be done not only to hire good people, but also to retain them?

I regret to report that it seems the board has given little or no thought to that challenge. One indication of willful disregard of the matter: Wilseys insistence that there has been little turnover at the top.

In my Tuesday piece on the appointment of Max Hollein as the new director of the Metropolitan, I stated that a new director of the Fine Arts Museums  the umbrella organization comprising the de Young and the Legion of Honor  will oversee the seventh administration in less than 10 years.

By Wilseys reckoning, her spokesman said in an email, there have been only two directors since (John) Buchanan passed away in 2011.

However, assuming a hire before 2021, in 10 years the museums will have had directors Buchanan, Colin Bailey, Hollein and the new person, as well as interim bosses for a year or more between each formal permanent appointment.

It matters little what titles those caretaker individuals bore, or even if the role was shared. Leadership changed at the top, and staff, board and the community were required each time to adapt to new management styles and ideas.

All this is important because, as much as I share the Bay Areas love for these two great museums, I see endemic weaknesses that threaten their otherwise promising future. The Fine Arts Museums board cannot control the ambition of its director, and shouldnt even try. What the board most needs at this crucial moment is not someone it can master, but a willing partner.

It is an instinct toward control, in fact, that underlies many of the museums false steps. It is, one assumes, the impulse that keeps the museums governing body from reaching for members much beyond a long-empowered circle. It is the root of the hubris that too often traps the trustees into singing the institutions praises, as they downplay its needs.

It is no surprise that the museums most generous individual donor is given wide berth and a strong voice in governance. It is, in fact, appropriate in some respects. Wilseys devotion to the institution is unparalleled, and the impact of her gifts on the museums capacity to do big things should not go unacknowledged. Moreover, she is completely within her rights to decide which programs, acquisitions and infrastructure she wishes to support with her own money. If she says no, it just may not happen if no one else steps up.

At the same time, by accepting the position, board members take on the responsibility for final governance decisions. If they abrogate that obligation, even in the name of pleasing their powerful and persuasive president, they fail their institution and their community.

At one point in my interview with Wilsey, the idea was broached that San Francisco is an inherently better place to be an art museum director than, say, Kansas City. It was an offhand comment, but an ironic one. I have spent a fair amount of time in the museums of Midwestern cities, both in their galleries and in their boardrooms. I can testify that the de Young and the Legion have been known to fall short of museums in far less cosmopolitan places.

Compared with San Francisco, those are often cities with far fewer eligible trustee candidates, circumscribed global interactions, constrained financial resources and limited traditions of art collecting and art making. There is no reason a San Francisco institution, with all the benefits of this environment, should be measuring itself against institutions that succeed despite their relative challenges and limitations.

There is no more provincial attitude than the conviction that what we have is of the highest quality, that we know best the definition of quality and that it is an unchanging ideal.

The most vital museums, wherever they might be located, are those that are governed by excited, engaged trustees. They travel widely to see art and learn about other programs, other institutions. They do the hard, sometimes humbling work of unflinching self-evaluation, with reference to aspirational, benchmark organizations.

A good new director will not want a meddling board that tells them how to do their job. Neither will they want a disengaged board, however.

Well hire the best person we can find, Wilsey said. Of course, she knows that what is best must also be a good pairing with president, board and institution. It was she, in fact, who drew an analogy to dating and marriage.

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.

She asked for my recommendations to the museums director search committee. I suspect she meant candidate names, but I thought I would take the opportunity to suggest a general approach to the task of recruiting and retaining a good match.

Cast a wide net. Every board these days will say that it wants to promote diversity, but in this most progressive of all cities, can the museums walk the walk? Expanding the number of women and people of color at the top level of museums is a social justice goal worthy of pursuit on its own terms. It can be a smart move, as well, since the biggest institutions seem caught in a (ahem) rut of their own contrivance. Want to show real leadership? Be sure that your idea of the best is not constrained by old habits and false assumptions.

Dont stop there. Diversity of opinion, experience, strategic skills is even more important than gender and ethnicity, though it can often accompany those characteristics. Can the board find someone who will leaven discussion and planning with new insights?

Choose for love. Youre not looking for a hot date  you want a long-term thing. Consider: What is the real basis of this relationship? Is it mere surface attractiveness or a deep, mutual understanding and shared definitions of success?

Choose for boldness. Can you find someone who will tell the board not what it wants to hear, but what it needs to hear? Clearly, she or he will have to be a team player, prepared to carry out policies developed ultimately by the trustees. But are you willing to solicit criticism of trustee-held assumptions and encourage challenge to long-standing governance process?

Dont be too impressed by pedigree. Its nice to announce the appointment of someone with a long list of accomplishments at prestigious posts. What, then, is left for them to prove?

Get in shape. No one wants a flabby partner. Any good director will want a board that is engaged and empowered, not in thrall to one major donor or a small group of the most vocal. At the same time, they are entitled to respect of their knowledge and experience  not to mention their prerogatives as the final word when it comes to management decisions.

Be transparent. Maybe this should be the first item on the list. Hollein was widely credited with bringing a breath of fresh air to the Fine Arts Museums. The reason was that everyone knew they could trust what he said and that he would share as much as he possibly could. Now, the responsibility for such openness shifts back to where it has always belonged: to the board of trustees.

Charles Desmarais is The San Francisco Chronicles art critic. Email: cdesmarais@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Artguy1The case against U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, as vigorously prosecuted by fellow Democrat and former state Senate leader Kevin de Leon, is that she is out of step with todays more liberal and diverse California Democrats. Its a way of making Feinsteins age and her politics part of the same complaint.

At 84, Feinstein is the oldest person in the U.S. Senate, which is saying a lot. That has allowed de Leon, at 51, to play the young Turk. It has also raised the question of whether Feinstein would stop short of finishing another term, clearing the way for a successor handpicked by the next governor. The senator says she is committed to serving all six years.

Feinsteins relative moderation, however, is not a function of her years. It dates to the tumultuous beginning of her political career in City Hall, where she became mayor in the wake of the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, and has persisted despite its political disadvantages in California under President Trump. The veteran senators now infamous expression of hope that Trump could learn, change, and be a good president was a gift to de Leon and other critics, for whom it proved her hopelessly outdated commitment to civility and compromise with a man who has no regard for either.

But Feinstein has a persuasive answer. People want me to be effective for California, she told The Chronicles editorial board. If she could steer a version of her landmark assault weapons ban through Congress again, for example, I need a president to sign it. I cant get there by calling him names.

Indeed, if moderation is now a relic, as de Leon and other Feinstein critics are suggesting, the country has bigger problems than electing Californias next senator. Feinsteins pragmatic, centrist approach may not be in fashion, but it is still better for the state and the country than separating into mutually hostile tribes with no interest in common ground or facts.

Not that de Leon doesnt make a fine Feinstein foil. A San Diego native who represents downtown and East Los Angeles in Sacramento, de Leon exudes a hungry energy and, as the son of an immigrant single mother, a personal story that contrasts sharply with his rivals mansion surrounded by a wall, as he put it. And he consistently offers the progressive counterpoint to the Feinsteinian centrism that so exasperates the left.

Two decades ago, while Feinstein was preaching border security and carefully framing her opposition to the popular anti-immigrant measure Proposition 187, de Leon was organizing a massive protest against it. While Feinstein voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq, an issue that divided Democrats at the time, de Leon maintains that he would have opposed not only that but also the post-9/11 measure authorizing the Afghanistan invasion  which all but one member of Congress, Oaklands Barbara Lee, supported. While Feinstein and other lawmakers have engaged in a fruitless back-and-forth with Trump over protecting young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, de Leon aimed a legislative finger at the administrations eye, spearheading the so-called sanctuary-state bill limiting law enforcement cooperation with immigration authorities.

Feinstein in recent years has toiled within the severe limitations of the U.S. Senates Democratic minority, even as de Leons Democratic supermajority helped pass landmark legislation on climate change, infrastructure funding, and housing. Feinstein has supported the Affordable Care Act and doubted the wisdom of a complete takeover by government of all health care, while de Leons state Senate passed universal health care without bothering to explain how the state would pay for it, leaving the Assembly to kill the bill.

Feinstein leaves so much room to her left that de Leon isnt her only more liberal challenger. Another, Los Angeles attorney Pat Harris, shares the legislators dissatisfaction with Feinstein and claims to be the true progressive in the race. He distinguishes himself from de Leon partly by eschewing corporate campaign support.

With no prominent Republicans in the running, the June top-two primary is most likely to yield a November contest between Feinstein and de Leon  and an invigorating debate between two very different facets of the same party. Speaking of which, Feinstein has yet to debate de Leon but has promised to by November if he remains her opponent. She should: No senator, even one as accomplished as Feinstein, should get a free ride in a democracy.

She is, however, our choice in the June 5 primary.

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.Two billionaire charter school advocates stirred up Californias gubernatorial race by pouring a total of $8.5 million into an independent expenditure campaign supporting former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings pledged $7 million and Los Angeles real estate entrepreneur Eli Broad promised $1.5 million to an independent expenditure organization called Families and Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018, which is run by the California Charter Schools Association Advocates.

Antonio Villaraigosa will be a governor for all Californians, keeping the American dream possible in California with good schools, safe neighborhoods, affordable health care, and opportunities for everyone to succeed, said Gary Borden, executive director of the charter schools group.

Hastings and Broad are longtime supporters of Villaraigosa, who was a union organizer early in his career but tangled with teachers unions as Los Angeles mayor from 2005 to 2013. The fact that they would donate to help his campaign is not a surprise, but the size of their contributions raised eyebrows.

That kind of money would be enough to launch TV ads for Villaraigosa in what has been a quiet campaign. By law, independent expenditure groups such as the charter school association cannot coordinate activities with a candidates campaign. A spokeswoman for the group declined to say how it intended to spend the money.

It seems like the charter schools association decided to make a statement, said Gale Kaufman, political consultant for the 300,000-member California Teachers Association, which has endorsed Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in the race. What that statement is, I dont really know.

What it means is that Antonio is in trouble, said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at California State University Los Angeles, who predicted that the contribution would trigger the start of TV ad wars. Even though the charter schools were going to help him eventually, nobody expected the race to be this tight or that the charters would have to come in this early and with this much money.

This may help him get into second place, because I dont think the Republicans will be able to match that kind of money, Regalado said.

Newsom is leading most polls, while his fellow Democrat Villaraigosa is fighting it out with Republican John Cox, a Rancho Santa Fe (San Diego County) businessman, for second place, according to a nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California survey this month. Only the top two finishers in the June 5 primary, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the general election in November.

Villaraigosas campaign had $5.9 million in the bank at the end of 2017, the most recent campaign finance disclosure period. Newsom had $19.5 million.

You knew it was going to happen. Here you have entrenched political interests where there are billions of dollars at stake, said state Treasurer John Chiang, who has been mired deep in the polls behind Newsom, Cox and Villaraigosa.

Villaraigosa has long been an advocate for charter schools. The education platform on his campaign website says that poor families also deserve the right to access high-quality schools and publicly chartered schools often provide that access. High-performing public charters playing by the same set of rules as other public schools are laboratories for innovation and creativity.

Steve Smith, spokesman for the 2.1 million-member California Labor Federation, which endorsed Newsom, said the cash infusion to the independent expenditure group shows that the Villaraigosa campaign hasnt gotten off the ground, so the billionaire charter school guys came to his rescue.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoliIn the past five years, the fashion and media spheres have become increasingly fascinated by San Francisco and Silicon Valley culture  its penchant for disruption, and the wealth that now affords fledgling disruptors material rewards such as luxury watches. (It was the San Francisco client, after all, who spurred Mr. Porter to sell $100,000 watches online for the first time in the history of the Internet.)

At the same time, the soft sell in retail has gained favor. Experiences, buzz and hashtags  these are the currencies that brands appear to court.

What does this all mean? It means that when luxury French jeweler Cartier introduces a new watch, it is competing with VIP fashion-week parties, jaded celebrities and Instagram influencers. And this cohort, to paraphrase 90s supermodel Linda Evangelistas infamous quip, wont show up to an event for less than $10,000.

It also means that when the brands Maison comes to relatively relaxed San Francisco, its looking to engage a local audience of recent transplants accustomed to the hysteria that greets Apples annual events, and thirsty for something glamorous and exciting, like what you might find in New York.

Last week, Cartier celebrated the (re)launch of its 114-year-old Santos de Cartier watch. Its named after aeronautic engineer Alberto Santos-Dumant, for whom it is said Louis Cartier created the first wristwatch by pivoting an inconvenient-for-flying pocket watch with a leather strap. The modern version, which costs about $7,000 to $52,000, has been updated with interchangeable straps made of steel, gold, calfskin or alligator skin.

Santos, whose own aesthetic reportedly favored function over fashion, inspired a series of Bay Area events with the theme of Bold and Fearless  a nod to the citys ethos.

Stephane Feugere

Home base for three days of invite-only events for both local and international guests was a 120,000-square-foot warehouse at Pier 48 with views of AT&T Park. Cartier overhauled it with a series of hallways and rooms, including a highly Instagrammable light installation from Nonotak Studio (a collaboration between illustrator Noemi Schipfer and architect musician Takami Nakamoto); living room-style leather lounge areas; a white audio room with records, speakers and a turntable; and a dining room for lunch and wine from chef Alice Waters and winemaker Sean Thackrey.

Panel discussions on April 5 and 6, called the Social Lab, featured speakers including actors Freida Pinto and Idris Elba, model and athlete Aimee Mullins, photographer David LaChapelle and art advisor Sabrina Buell speaking on topics like failure, art and popular culture.

The discussions were informal, and meaningful. Pinto shared that the lowest moment of her career was the 2 years she took off after the success of Slumdog Millionaire, when she refused to accept any conventional roles. Buell said some Stanford students are eschewing art in favor of engineering, which she sees as problematic. LaChapelle explained why, 11 years ago, he left photography and moved to Maui. (He thought hed said all he could say in fashion and celebrity photography, and didnt think hed be able to do gallery work if he was seen as an editorial photographer.) And Mullins, a double amputee, recalled the experience of collaborating with Alexander McQueen on a pair of prosthetic legs for a 1999 runway show.

Writer Neville Wakefield, who served as moderator, said that a goal of the conversations was to bring together people from different disciplines, and that San Francisco, where so many worlds converge, was an appropriate venue.

In the audience were a few dozen international journalists and friends of the Maison, put up at the Four Seasons and driven around in Uber SUVs. For many, it was their first visit to the city. Some spent Thursday having lunch in Napa with filmmaker Sofia Coppola.

To pull off a press event of this scale, brands strive to provide something experiential and emotional. We dont want to be another watch launch  they all look the same, said Arnaud Carrez, head of international marketing and communications of Cartier International. Instead, he said, this event was designed to be a Maison statement, guided by a desire to create surprises, to push boundaries and to innovate.

Still, Cartier is decidedly not into smart watches. It doesnt correspond to our spirit. When we think of new designs, we think about permanence  something you are proud to wear and transmit to the next generation, Carrez said.

Notably, there were no actual watches on display, aside from those on the wrists of Carrez and other notables such as Vogues Lynn Yaeger and new Cartier ambassador Jake Gyllenhaal. (The brands first celebrity campaign star.)

At Cartier, we like to party  to celebrate, Carrez said with a grin. He added that while the brand adapts to changing behaviors (it added an e-commerce component 10 years ago), he is aware of the tension in branding between contemporary content and being positioned as a classic icon. Cartier is not obsessed with Millennials, he said. Our success relies on our ability to remain both exclusive and inclusive.

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In the digital era, luxury brands such as Rolex, Tiffany and Cartier have leaned heavily on heritage and permanence; aside from different materials and interchangeable bands, a watch design can only change so much. (This is partly why it was significant that Louis Vuitton partnered with Google on a smartwatch in 2017.)

In addition to obviating the need for a timepiece, smartphones have, for many, replaced the wristwatch as a daily status symbol. Less than half of U.S. consumers wear watches, according to research firm NPD Group, and sales both in the mainstream watch market and the luxury segment have faced a tough couple of years. Thus, while loyal Baby Boomers were once the core market, watch brands are wise to appeal to Millennials, who like to switch up their style based on what they are doing, NPD found.

Apple has replaced Rolex as the worlds best-selling watch brand by revenue, and Cartier has been working since 2014 to reverse its own downward trend. This year, the luxury brand managed to grow its brand value an estimated 45 percent, to $9.8 billion, thanks in part to sales growth in China and the United Kingdom, consultant firm Brand Finance reported.

The launch culminated with an April 5 party. The crowd of about 500, dodging a downpour, ducked under red Cartier umbrellas (toted by a small army of Look models) to dance to music from Phoenix, Hot Chip and Jamie xx between visits to the (open) bars, or to pretend to dance and drink while hoping to run into Gyllenhaal, Elba, Chloe Sevigny, Sienna Miller or Lily Collins.

With each increasingly splashy event, celebrity investment or high-profile transplant who moves out here, there is an expectant, somewhat perplexing sentiment at parties: Does this mean San Francisco is becoming more fashionable?

As one former magazine editor-turned-entrepreneur remarked Thursday night: Im not really sure how this will increase sales, but it sure is a great party!

Maghan McDowell is a San Francisco freelance writer. Email: style@sfchronicle.com."So this," says Warren Winiarski, "is the moral center of the universe."

Winiarski is standing by the floor-to-ceiling Foucault pendulum he installed at the heart of the vaulted caves at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. It swings methodically, dominating the room. The irregular stones under his feet depict the Earth; feldspar flecks in the ceiling represent stars. Each hallway branching off denotes a Napa Valley appellation - Oak Knoll, Yountville and so on.

Certainly it was the center of Winiarski's universe until July, when the celebrated vintner sold his winery to Italian winemaker Piero Antinori and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Washington state's largest winery, for $185 million. For the next three years, Winiarski will remain as adviser, passing along nearly 40 years of collected wisdom about the vineyards that helped establish Napa Valley as a place for some of the world's best wine.

What comes next remains a puzzle, though Winiarski, 79, hints that there's more to come, possibly even a new wine. "Who knows?" he says. "It's entirely possible."

Few wineries so embody their creator as Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. It often seemed like the extension of Winiarski's will: built along the Silverado Trail in the location of his "epiphany" while tasting the 1968 Cabernet made by maverick winegrower Nathan Fay. Through the winery, Winiarski defined a winemaking style of balance, depth and subtle endurance rather than the overt power favored by many of his neighbors. Always he was synonymous with Stag's Leap wines, his signature right on the labels.

But as he walks around the property on a clear March day, weaving in and out of buildings, he no longer appears to be entirely of the place. Workers greet him politely but quickly stride along, seeming more focused on the day's tasks.

Soul of Stag's Leap

Clearly, it is an uneasy time for Winiarski, perhaps because he has always been the very soul of Stag's Leap, driving his staff toward perfection. Now his well-oiled machine is chugging on its own. Winiarski himself strove to orchestrate his legacy, spending years on a strategy to preserve the winery, and the wines, as he wished. Now he has handed it off, hoping his decisions were wise.

"People can dangle lots of money in front of somebody for their life's work," says Stag's Leap's winemaker Nicki Pruss, who first started in Winiarski's lab nine years ago. "He chose who he was going to hand the keys to, and that's critical."

For the moment, Winiarski and his wife, Barbara, still live in their renovated 1910 Craftsman atop a knoll above the winery. Robert Mondavi's house sits on the next rise over. Winiarski gazes out through a long set of windows onto the Fay vineyard, which first inspired him to uproot a nearby prune orchard. That orchard became Stag's Leap Vineyard, whose vines in 1973 provided Cabernet fruit for the wine that would win the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting in which California bested France.

Winiarski's small, bright eyes sweep across a vista that, he is slowly acknowledging, is no longer his.

"You know what is different?" he tells me later. "The sense of ownership is there, but the long-term horizon? It's only gradually beginning to sink in. However ill-advised it may have been, the horizon of eternity is not part of the equation."

Winiarski is in a contemplative mood these days. During the course of several interviews, he outlines his "concerns and wishes" for the winery he has just passed along, and for all of Napa Valley.

He arrived from Chicago in 1964, with Barbara and their children in a rickety station wagon to work at Lee Stewart's Souverain. From there he moved on to the Robert Mondavi Winery and several consulting jobs, eventually developing a plot on Howell Mountain he bought in 1965.

At the time, there were only suspicions - nothing more - that Napa had the makings of greatness. The Winiarskis' journey west was driven in large part by a desire to escape the city for an agrarian existence. "We did not come here for a lifestyle," Winiarski says, sitting in his drawing room overlooking the Fay vineyard. "We came here for a way of life, and that's why I had to do everything myself."

"There was no articulated sense of destiny," he continues, sounding much like the University of Chicago political science lecturer he once was.

Valley changes

What Winiarski sees now is a Napa Valley in the midst of a transfer to a handful of big companies, with corporate boards more concerned about leveraging brands and appeasing shareholders than preserving the area's winemaking legacy. Winiarski's own history reveals the scope of change: Souverain, now based in Sonoma County, is currently owned by Foster's Group; Mondavi was bought in 2004 by Constellation Brands. Even neighboring Stags' Leap Winery, which tangled with Winiarski in a lengthy lawsuit, is now owned by Foster's.

Then there are the wealthy arrivistes who seek ownership without sweat equity. Though Winiarski himself needed investors to build Stag's Leap, he sees few opportunities for young vintners to follow his path because land prices have been driven so high.

There will also be fewer people willing to adopt the fights he often waged to preserve Napa's rural roots: the 1968 agricultural preserve he and contemporaries like Schramsberg's Jack Davies worked hard to enact, and the successful 1990 passage of Measure J, meant to preserve agricultural lands by requiring a popular vote on zoning changes. Winiarski is now working to extend Measure J for another 50 years. But other battles loom, including one over plans by Pacific Union College to build nearly 400 housing units in the town of Angwin, in the eastern hills above the valley. "There's a singular lack of attentiveness to this sort of thing from the corporate world," he says.

Winiarski's other big worry has troubled him for years: big, alcoholic wines that have largely defined Napa Valley's recent successes but, in his view, betray its terroir. For years Stag's Leap wines had mixed success with critics, their polished style often speaking faintly in a world of brawny competitors. But sales have remained brisk, especially after the introduction of the lower-priced $55 Artemis bottling.

This isn't a new battle. As early as 1974, Winiarski was put off by the brute force of many California wines. But now, he believes, that high-extract, high-impact style has become an unsettling standard, guided by a "new parochialism" that encourages California winemakers to train their palates almost entirely on their own concentrated wines. "This is a moment whose time has to come to an end," he says. "The beauty of Napa fruit is not in that direction."

Model of restraint

In Winiarski's ideal scenario, Stag's Leap would be preserved as a beacon of restraint, proving the virtues of nuanced winemaking, a testament to his toil. "That would be, as Hamlet said, a consummation devoutly to be wished," he says.

Winiarski now spends much of his time working to pass along his collected wisdom, explaining vineyard nuances with Pruss, general manager Jeff McBride and Glenn Salva, who runs Antinori's Napa Valley operations. Winiarski has a three-year consulting contract, though he expects most work will occur this year.

The decision to sell wasn't one Winiarski wanted to make. But by late 2002, he and his family began meeting on Saturdays to discuss the winery's future. Winiarski brought in Tom Hakel, a longtime financial consultant who would take over as the winery's acting general manager in 2003.

One of Hakel's tasks was to help loosen the reins on Winiarski's famously exacting management style. Hakel convinced Winiarski that he needed to step back and manage staff in broad strokes, "rather than ... standing over their shoulder every minute," Winiarski says.

But the family had also begun to debate the winery's fate. Each of Winiarski's three children had worked at Stag's Leap: Stephen helped construct the caves but then turned to a business in Mexico; Julia worked in the cellar until 1999 but returned only occasionally afterward; Kasia worked in communications and wrote the newsletter, but didn't gravitate to winemaking. None were obviously on track to step into their father's shoes, so what ensued was "a lot of soul-searching," Hakel says. "At the end of it, Warren wasn't forcing someone to say, 'I want you to take it over,' and no one was saying, 'I want to take it over."

Over time, Winiarski says, "it became clear to everyone" that an outside investor was needed, either for a partnership or a sale.

But who? The realization came in the shadow of Constellation's purchase of Robert Mondavi Winery, and Winiarski's skepticism about corporate winemaking ran deep. He reached out to just one person: longtime friend Piero Antinori, who had been involved in Napa Valley since the 1980s. In mid-2007, the men met at Antinori's house above Foss Valley, near Atlas Peak, and Winiarski proposed the idea. Antinori suggested bringing in Ste. Michelle, his partner in the Col Solare winery in Washington.

Winiarski was intrigued - in particular by how Antinori's long-term vision paired with Ste. Michelle's pragmatism. But he was skittish about the corporate overtones. As Antinori said in an interview last fall, "He wanted a sort of reassurance of continuity of his philosophy and vision."

Winery's style preserved

Winiarski went to see Col Solare, "to see how serious they were," and came away impressed. The new owners have provided Winiarski plenty of reassurance. Changes thus far have been minor: new French oak barrels, a grape sorter, a new planned visitor's center. Ted Baseler, Ste. Michelle's president and CEO, says there's no interest in overhauling the Stag's Leap style. "Getting 96 points is not going to be the definition of whether we're successful in our quest," Baseler says.

Ste. Michelle also has a track record of letting its wineries run with local autonomy, which Winiarski felt distinguished it. Baseler seems to share Winiarski's concerns over development. "Particularly in Napa, with the explosive growth, it's more important than ever to be fanatical about the land and the use of land," he says.

Most crucially, winemaker Pruss (who finally won that title in November 2005) will keep making the wines in the manner she learned from Winiarski. "I think Warren will be very happy," she says. "We talk about the trust factor. I think he'll be comfortable that Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is in good hands."

Of course, there is the matter of the $185 million. Winiarski had already bought out his remaining partners and the winery has long been profitable, thanks in part to its Hawk Crest second label, launched in 1974. So there's plenty to go around. Though Winiarski wouldn't discuss specifics, he will give some to his alma mater St. John's College of Annapolis, Md., at whose summer seminar Winiarski continues to lecture. (This year he's teaching "Macbeth.") Otherwise, he says, "We haven't changed our way of life."

Each of Winiarski's three children will get a portion of the money. "But they haven't changed their way of living either," he notes.

The winery may not be his, but when Winiarski walks the Stag's Leap vineyards, it's hard to imagine that they belong to anyone else. He always distinguished himself by spending endless hours among the rows, sampling grapes, tending to the soil, trying to improve the fruit.

As we stand in Block 4 of Stag's Leap Vineyard, where gnarled specimens date back to 1972, Winiarski picks at a wizened knob on a vine, the victim of an old pruning cut. "This is all hollow," he says. These haggard vines form the core of Cask 23, Stag's Leap's top wine, at $175 a bottle.

Nearby sits Block 2, Winiarski's first planting in 1970, looking orderly and healthy after a replanting completed in 2000. Winiarski scoffs at the notion that only old vines make superior wine. History is on his side. At just three years of age, Block 2's vines bore the Cabernet grapes for the wine that swept Paris.

All winemakers rhapsodize about their soils. Winiarski turns it into an elemental clash. Standing in the Fay vineyard, he describes the volcanism that formed the ragged Stags Leap palisades above. Over time, the coarse, ruddy soils collided with finer alluvial soils dumped below by repeated flooding. What Winiarski has often described as "an iron fist in a velvet glove" is essentially a harmonious blending of the two. "They render Cabernet with a wonderful delicacy," he says, "and a song, really, that is moderate, elegant, yet forceful."

Winiarski's love of vineyards is most evident in the one asset he retained: the 128-acre Arcadia vineyard, located near Mount George, east of the town of Napa. It had already provided Chardonnay grapes for Mike Grgich when Winiarski bought it in 1996.

Named for Roman poet Virgil's idyllic land, Arcadia is the source for a minimally oaked Chardonnay that Winiarski portrays as Chablis-like. It's also the new target for Winiarski's often painstaking demand for detail. "I'm running it," he says, "making sure people are putting square knots on the ties and not granny knots. That level of attention."

The Stag's Leap sale precludes him from making wine commercially for three years. But what if an irresistible parcel comes along? "I'm trying to assimilate what we've got here," he replies, "but sure. I haven't precluded the possibility."

He's quick to note, though, that the years required to develop a new vineyard make for a daunting timeline. "That's almost a decade of a man's life," he says. "Of the typical 70 years, that takes an investment of some significance."

Moving on

We're at Bistro Don Giovanni off Highway 29, a regular Winiarski spot. The lunchtime crowd does its best to glance over for just a split second, when they think he's not looking.

Winiarski has brought a bottle of the 1976 Stag's Leap Vineyard Cabernet, from a drought year yielding half as much fruit as normal. The resulting wine was hard and tannic, and after 30 years is only beginning to soften. It's almost as dark as the new 2004, still fresh, packed with rich fruit and barely hinting at its maturity.

If Winiarski wants to manifest his beliefs about expressing a specific site, about Napa Valley's potential, I ask, wouldn't he do best to try his hand again? Wouldn't a new Warren Winiarski wine, even without the Stag's Leap name, be newsworthy?

He puzzles for a moment. "I guess I could make this point in a more public way and, as you suggest, through a specific vineyard."

This is why, he finally acknowledges, he's experimenting with Cabernet at Arcadia. The tannins are chunky, the wine in need of "generosity and openness" - requiring a blend with more supple fruit to achieve the balance he so craves. But the result "might be something that would be more interesting."

It's at this moment, considering the notion of a post-Stag's Leap chance to best everyone once again , that an inscrutable half-grin crosses Winiarski's face.

Any such project is "a work in surmise. A twinkle in the eye," he concludes.

"Stay tuned."Right at the northern edge of Daly City and the southern edge of San Francisco, hundreds came out to a gun show Saturday to look at the latest firearms on display. But they wouldnt walk out with any.

Theres a 10-day waiting period to get a gun in California  the state with some of the strictest laws in the country governing sales at gun shows.

Still, the Crossroads of the West gun show, which continues Sunday at the Cow Palace, always attracts a steady stream of more than 1,000 firearms enthusiasts  and this year a handful of protesters. As a national, youth-led movement on gun control and safety maintains its momentum, the controversial Daly City show brought out gun supporters ranging from families with young children to military veterans.

This tragic event in Parkland, Fla., has energized people on both sides. People are so polarized its difficult to have a dialogue, Bob Templeton, owner of the gun show, said Saturday. But I think theres a lot of common ground that we have. We all want to eliminate violence with guns, and misuse of guns, and we all want to protect our kids.

Some yards away from the entrance, a small group of Bay Area high school students stood in protest, arguing in particular that the show has dangerous rhetoric around anti-gun control.

David Gales, 17, held up a sign that said, Send the gun show packing. He and his classmate, Natalie Keim, organized the demonstration outside the show, just a couple of miles from Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, which they both attend.

People really dont like this gun show. Over the past couple of years its really kind of declined, Gales said. Theres been a lot of debate about whether or not the Cow Palace should be having gun shows at all and the local popular opinion has been pretty strongly against it.

At the arena, everything from ammo and holsters to rifles and handguns was on display  all compliant with California regulations. That means magazines at the event are limited to 10 rounds, for instance.

The show is monitored by enforcement officers with the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Daly City police officers to make sure the laws are being followed, Templeton said.

Crossroads of the Wests traveling gun show reaches across the nation, and this years San Francisco stop coincided with a day of rallies by gun rights supporters at state capitals across the country. The rallies serve as a response to protests against gun violence in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 17 people at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

As the gun debate magnifies, some at the show had a laissez-faire take. Longtime friends Robert Anderson and Randy McManus leaned against a railing outside the show, laughing as McManus smoked a cigar.

Anderson said he favors shooting with .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire cartridges. For McManus, its .22s. Theyve been attending the show off and on for 20 years and say its just a way to feed a hobby.

Gun stuff, Anderson said. It is what it is. Everybody has their opinions. Im OK with that. You have your opinions about guns. I have my opinions about guns.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJournoOakland Mayor Libby Schaaf excoriated City Councilwoman Desley Brooks on Friday, casting her as an abusive figure whose antics have hurt the reputation of city government and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Schaafs remarks were some of her harshest to date as mayor, including her criticisms of President Trump. Schaaf made the comments a day after her longtime City Council ally Annie Campbell Washington, citing an element of corruption in the council, said she would not seek re-election this fall.

No one is expected to agree on everything, but to stage dramas in our chambers  to turn it into a theater of abuse  is not serving our city, Schaaf said. Its unfair to paint with a broad brush of dysfunction every member of the council. ... I think it is important to call out the individual who is most responsible for creating dysfunction, drama and abuse.

Brooks did not respond to requests for comment.

Schaaf said Brooks has engaged in unethical behavior that has led to a ripple effect that really has infected the civility of the council chambers. And she said it was sad that Campbell Washington felt she could accomplish more away from City Hall than within it.

The City Council could get wonderful things done in a way that is uplifting for our community and not destructive if there were a different environment, Schaaf said. And without question, the person most responsible  not solely responsible, but most responsible  for creating that toxic environment is Councilmember Brooks.

A jury in Alameda County Superior Court awarded ex-Black Panther leader Elaine Brown $3.75 million in damages last year for injuries she suffered when Brooks pushed her during an argument in a downtown restaurant. Attorneys for the city are continuing to fight the judgment.

But if Brown prevails and the city has to pay her legal fees as well, Oakland could be stuck with an additional $1 million payout.

Brooks has also created a firestorm among city government watchdogs by putting forth a proposal that would divert millions in public funds from voter-approved projects such as street repairs and park improvements and give them to several private job-training organizations that have backed her.

Brooks is adept at rallying support when she needs it and recently called herself the most-loved member of the Oakland City Council during a vote on a rule-change item that she perceived would be used to dethrone her as chair of the Public Safety Committee  a move that has yet to happen. She has won the backing of some progressives through clashing with the Police Department and advocating racial equity programs.

On Tuesday, Brooks encouraged dozens of trainees of the job organizations and members of a union that would benefit from the proposal to pack a committee meeting in City Hall where the legislation was on the agenda. The attendance in the hearing room exceeded capacity and the meeting had to be moved to the larger council chambers, but the item ended up being pulled on the advice of a city attorney.

Schaaf said the proposal  with an end goal we all support  was an example of the toxicity and the deception practiced by Brooks.

To bring it forward in a way that creates discord, distrust ... to raise the hopes of residents that something like this can get done when the actual basis of the proposal is not possible under existing law, Schaaf said, is deceptive to residents and it is harmful to our democracy and our local government.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerovSunny skies Saturday will make way for two days of rain Sunday and Monday before another period of mostly dry Bay Area weather settles in, forecasters said.

Up to half an inch of rain could fall before the dark clouds go away late Monday, said Weather Service meteorologist Brian Mejia.

Theres a slight chance of thunderstorms on Monday, and it will be cooler, Mejia said. But were not expecting a whole lot of rain, compared to the last system.

High temperatures are expected to drop from the 60s Saturday to the upper 50s Sunday and to the mid-50s Monday before returning to the 60s Tuesday.

Its all due to a low-pressure system heading to the Bay Area from that traditional birthplace of low-pressure systems, the Gulf of Alaska.

There will be a slight chance of rain late Wednesday, but otherwise skies will be dry for a while, Mejia said.

In the Sierra, the snow level could drop as low as 5,500 feet Sunday and 3,500 feet Monday, Mejia said.

Ski resorts were expecting light snow and winds. A spokesman for Squaw Valley said Sunday would be windy and Monday would be breezy. A foot of snow could fall by Monday, the resort said.

Expect some upper mountain lift issues by Sunday afternoon with the winds, said resort spokesman Bryan Allegretto. Issues often means that ski lifts stop running, for safety, until the winds die down.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSFDoc Searls met with a group of fellow Internet privacy experts one recent afternoon at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. On a whiteboard were the words OUTRAGE and MAKE HAY  capitalized, underlined and surrounded by lines jutting in all directions like a cartoon BOOM!

For the first time in years, their field of expertise was front and center. Facebook had just come under intense scrutiny over how the political data firm Cambridge Analytica had improperly harvested the information of up to 87 million of its users.

Seated in a wide circle of folding chairs, members of the group excitedly discussed what they could do next.

A lot of geeks in the world are looking at Facebook as a redwood thats starting to fall, said Searls, whose given name is David and who created ProjectVRM, a program at Harvard Universitys Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society that wants to help Internet users protect personal privacy. Theyre saying, OK, its barn-raising time.

The scandal swirling around Facebook and Cambridge Analytica has begun to usher in a new era for this once-ignored community of privacy researchers and developers. After years of largely disregarding their warnings about exactly what companies like Facebook were doing  that is, collecting enormous amounts of information on its users and making it available to third parties with little to no oversight  the general public suddenly seemed to care about what they were saying.

The outcry over data privacy has been so strong that it pushed Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, into testifying on Capitol Hill last week over the companys failures to protect users information. Protesters rallied outside the Capitol during his testimony. Someone even arrived at a hearing dressed as a Russian troll.

In their own lives, privacy experts are now fielding calls from their relatives asking them for advice about protecting their personal data. Engineers are discussing new privacy projects with them. Even teenagers are paying attention to what they have to say.

For many developers, this is the right time to push ahead with testing more privacy protections, including more advanced advertising blockers; peer-to-peer browsers that decentralize the Internet; new encryption techniques; and data unions that let users pool their information and sell it themselves. Others want to treat tech giants more as information fiduciaries, which have a legal responsibility to protect user data.

And for the first time, many privacy experts think Internet users will be more willing to put up with a little more inconvenience in return for a lot more privacy.

This is the first blink of awakening of the world to a danger thats been present for a long time, which is that we are exposed, Searls said. Cambridge Analytica is old, old news to privacy folks.

John Scott-Railton, who researches digital rights and privacy at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, said he recently thought back to all the PowerPoint presentations and papers he had given and seen that cautioned about how third parties might access and abuse user data.

It didnt stick until now, he said. Now its changed, or at least people nod along when we talk about it.

Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, recalled the organizations years of efforts to get Facebook to monitor how third parties were using data. Yet few paid attention at the time, even though the group specifically warned about Facebooks quizzes in 2009. (Cambridge Analytica used a third-party quiz app from an independent researcher to harvest user data.)

The social network has said it will investigate many third-party apps that have had access to large amounts of users information. Nonetheless, the ACLU is pushing for users to have tighter control over what Facebook apps can do and arguing that Facebook ought to audit its developers. The organization also believes that more privacy protections should be enshrined in law.

Were having the conversation now that we should have had over a decade ago, Singh Guliani said.

One reason it has always been hard to get people interested in security and privacy is that the harms were vague and hard to understand. With Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, the harms are identifiable and frightening, said Ashkan Soltani, an independent researcher specializing in privacy and a former chief technologist of the Federal Trade Commission.

Much like a car accident, the harms on social media are low-probability events with extremely variable outcomes, he said. So what if my boss saw me doing a keg stand? But all of a sudden the so what if becomes more serious  I get denied insurance or my information is used by a nation state actor to manipulate me.

Cambridge Analyticas work, which included using Facebook data to build psychological profiles of voters, tapped into an anxiety many Americans already had over the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

This one stuck because it was Trump, and were looking for someone to blame, said Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer who runs the Schneier on Security blog and wrote Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World. If Hellmanns mayonnaise did this, wed be impressed.

Privacy experts said this shift in public opinion was what they had been waiting for, because it is the only way to bring about change. Facebook will not willingly change its policies without pressure from shareholders or regulators, they added.

For Rohit Ghai, president of cybersecurity firm RSA, whose SecurID technology has become an industry standard for companies protecting access to their internal systems, the change is evident, even inside his home in San Jose.

He previously tried to talk to his 13-year-old daughter about data privacy and social media  even providing examples of how much the tech companies know about people and what they can do with that information. She shrugged him off.

Then the Cambridge Analytica revelations happened. For once, Ghai said, his teenager came to talk to him.

She just asked me about Mark Zuckerberg, he said. Thats a sign.

Nellie Bowles is a New York Times writer.Airbnb Chief Financial Officer Laurence Tosi is leaving the company amid tensions and a shakeup in the senior ranks. His departure raises questions about the timeline for an initial public offering, which now wont come until at least next year.

The San Francisco company said Thursday that it named Belinda Johnson as chief operating officer. Johnson, 50, joined Airbnb in 2011 as the first executive hired by Brian Chesky, Airbnbs co-founder and CEO. As chief business affairs and legal officer, Johnson led efforts to work with city governments and is at the forefront of the companys many legal battles.

The COO is one of the most critical positions in any company, Chesky said in a statement. Before the holidays, I made a decision about who was right for this role, and Im incredibly excited to announce that we have appointed Belinda Johnson.

Tosi, who was CFO at Blackstone Group and one of the most visible executives on Wall Street before joining Airbnb in 2015, learned of Cheskys decision Monday evening, said people familiar with the matter. Tosi had envisioned the role for himself but was butting heads with Chesky recently as he jostled for more control, said the people, who asked not to be identified. Tosi told Chesky he would leave Airbnb later that night.

Although Airbnb grew up alongside Uber Technologies, the travel-accommodations company isnt known for palace intrigue. Chesky presented an amiable, mostly drama-free demeanor as he transformed his scrappy upstart into a global business valued at $31 billion. Also unlike Uber, Airbnb has been profitable since last year, thanks largely to Tosis financial discipline. Now the two most valuable U.S. technology startups are without financial chiefs.

I know people will ask what these changes mean for a potential IPO. Let me address this directly. We are not going public in 2018, Chesky said in the statement. Were working on getting ready to go public, and we will make decisions about going public on our own timetable.

While Tosi was at Blackstone, Apples Steve Jobs tried to hire him as CFO early this decade. Tosi told Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman and declined the Apple job. At Airbnb, Tosi was seen by employees as a shrewd operator who failed to adapt to Airbnbs progressive culture and follow Cheskys grand ambitions, said three people who worked with him. Tosi, who turns 50 next week, was focused more on cutting costs and pursuing businesses that were revenue-generating instead of world-changing, they said.

The two and half years Ive spent at Airbnb have been some of the most thrilling of my career, Tosi said in a statement. We achieved much of what I set out to accomplish when I joined. He declined to comment on the circumstances of his departure.

Tosi plans to spend more time on his personal investment fund, Weston Capital Partners. Airbnb has hired executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates to find a new CFO, according to company spokesman Nick Papas. Ellie Mertz, Airbnbs head of global financial planning and analysis, will serve as interim head of finance.

Olivia Zaleski is a Bloomberg writer. Email: ozaleski@bloomberg.netThe CEO of Backpage.com has pleaded guilty to state and federal charges including conspiracy and money laundering, and agreed to testify in ongoing prosecutions against others at the website that authorities have dubbed a lucrative nationwide online brothel, authorities said.

For far too long, Backpage.com existed as the dominant marketplace for illicit commercial sex, a place where sex traffickers frequently advertised children and adults alike, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. But this illegality stops right now.

Backpage brought in a half-billion dollars since it began in 2004, mostly though prominent risque advertising for escorts and massages, among other services, according to federal prosecutors. Authorities allege the site was often used to traffic underage victims, while company officials said they tried to scrub the site of such ads.

CEO Carl Ferrer will serve no more than five years in prison under a California agreement in which he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of money laundering in California. Also Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the company pleaded guilty to human trafficking.

And a federal judge in Phoenix unsealed a plea deal revealing that Ferrer pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and Backpage.com pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy.

Under his plea agreement, Ferrer agreed to make the companys data available to law enforcement as investigations and prosecutions continue. The guilty pleas are the latest in a cascade of developments in the past week against the company founded by the former owners of the Village Voice in New York City, Michael Lacey, 69, and James Larkin, 68.

The company founders were among Backpage officials indicted by a federal grand jury in Arizona. Attorneys for the company and Lacey, Larkin and Ferrer did not respond to telephone and email messages.

The Justice Department also seized and shut down the website, and Ferrers federal plea deal requires him to help the government seize all the companys assets.

Ferrer could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine in the federal case in Arizona, while Backpage.com could face a maximum fine of $500,000 for its money laundering conspiracy plea in the Arizona case.

The federal plea deal says any prison sentence Ferrer would face would run concurrent with his five-year terms in Texas and California.

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery, and it is happening in our own backyard, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement announcing the plea deal. He called Ferrers plea a game-changer in combatting human trafficking in California, indeed worldwide.

Lacey was freed from an Arizona jail after posting a $1 million bond. He declined to speak with reporters. Larkin remains in jail, and has a bail hearing scheduled Monday. The men pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging they helped publish ads for sexual services.

Five employees of the site also were arrested and pleaded not guilty.

Lacey and Larkin also earlier pleaded not guilty in California after Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Larry Brown last year allowed the state to continue with money laundering charges. The state attorney generals office, which is prosecuting the case, alleges that Backpages operators illegally funneled nearly $45 million through their companies and created websites to get around banks that refused to process their transactions.

But Brown threw out pimping conspiracy and other state charges against Backpages operators. The judge ruled that the charges are barred by a federal law protecting free speech that grants immunity to websites posting content from others.

President Trump signed a law this week making it easier to prosecute website operators.

Don Thompson is an Associated Press writer.Natalie Jacob has been selling jewelry on Etsy almost since its founding more than a decade ago. As Etsy grew, so did her business, until she could afford to do it full time. So when the company started Etsy Wholesale to link sellers with brick-and-mortar retailers looking for one-of-a-kind goods, Jacob jumped at the chance. Etsy Wholesale even got her jewelry into Macys flagship Herald Square store in New York during the holiday shopping season.

Then, about six months ago, Jacob, who designs at her Etymology studio in Brooklyn, and other Etsy merchants noticed mysterious changes to the wholesale service. Their emails to customer support started going unanswered. A popular Instagram account run by Etsy featuring merchants products went dormant and has since been deleted. Etsy stopped updating the Wholesale site.

Etsy hasnt formally shut down the service, but its seeming abandonment fits in with Chief Executive Officer Josh Silvermans efforts to refocus the handmade marketplace on areas that generate the most growth on the core e-commerce site. Its a tacit admission that Etsy has reined in an ambitious push into traditional retail. Closing the service could alienate makers who now have more options to reach shoppers  from easily setting up their own websites with Shopify to signing on with a host of startups pushing into the wholesale business even as Etsy pulls back.

Its the company picking its battles, said Tom Forte, an analyst with D.A. Davidson & Co. Helping online sellers get into physical stores is a smart idea, but he says its unlikely that Etsy Wholesale did much to boost revenue. In an email, the company said that Wholesale users rely on the service to find buyers and that Etsy will continue to help them do so. Meanwhile, executives are evaluating how best to align Etsy Wholesale with the core online marketplace and will update users when it has more information.

Wholesale came to Etsy by way of Trunkt, an app the company acquired in 2012 that had been helping Etsy sellers with wholesale for years. Etsy released the revamped app in 2014, a year before going public. Using Etsy Wholesale, retailers and big-box chains could search for Etsy merchants and place bulk orders at lower prices. Several national chains signed on, including Macys, West Elm and Willams-Sonoma. For sellers, the service obviated the need to visit trade shows or cold-call retailers.

People see us as an online handmade marketplace, but we really see ourselves as reinventing the whole retail supply chain, then-CEO Chad Dickerson said at a tech conference in 2013. The company wanted to transcend e-commerce, and Wholesale was a big part of doing that.

Three years later, Dickerson, speaking on a quarterly conference call, called Wholesale the companys biggest effort to bring new people into the Etsy economy. Were excited about the long-term potential this program has to create meaningful growth opportunities for sellers and for Etsy, he said.

Then Dickerson was ousted and replaced by Silverman, who took over last May amid slowing sales growth, a bottoming-out stock price and complaints from activist shareholders clamoring for change. Silverman set out to refocus Etsy on projects he deemed to have the best chance at re-igniting sales growth. He fired 8 percent of the workforce and canceled the companys internship program. Other side projects, including craft tutorial site Etsy Studio and a service that linked sellers up with local manufacturers are being cut.

Silverman has presided over three quarters of revenue growth and the companys first quarter selling more than $1 billion worth of goods on its site. For investors, who have pushed the stock up more than 160 percent since he joined, Silvermans plan is working. The shares closed at $28.97 Friday.

But not for Wholesale users like Rachel Wood, an Etsy merchant from Oklahoma City who sells key chains and coffee mugs emblazoned with captions like Worlds Most Okay Mom. Wood has been on the site since 2013 and Etsy Wholesale makes up the bulk of her business. Since the companys apparent abandonment of Wholesale, Wood said, her sales have taken a hit.

So Wood has already moved much of her business to Indigo Fair, a San Francisco startup founded in 2017 by former Square employees that says it has signed up 25,000 retailers and boutiques. Indigo Fair co-founder and CEO Max Rhodes said several of these companies have told him that theyre switching their orders from Etsy Wholesale to his company. Indigo Fair ads are the top result when searching for Etsy Wholesale in Google.

Indigo Fair is one of several new services eager to steal wholesale customers from Etsy. Torontos Hubba has raised $30 million from investors including Goldman Sachs to help craft brands sell through bigger retailers, and has 20,000 buyers already. Then theres Wholesale In A Box, a Kingston, N.Y., company that charges a monthly fee to do the legwork of researching and hunting down potential boutiques for makers.

Small merchants looking to hook up with retailers have many more options these days, said Emily Kerr-Finell, who co-founded Wholesale in A Box almost three years ago. Any experienced maker knows that its important to sell on Etsy in addition to their own website, usually built with Shopify, Kerr said. As people get more sophisticated, Etsy will become less relevant to the average maker-seller, she said.

More than a decade into its existence, Etsy still struggles to square its handmade ethos with the money-making imperatives of Wall Street. The companys decision to go public shook the faith of veteran sellers like Natalie Jacob, who want to believe Etsy is a different kind of company, one focused as much on doing good as on making money. Now, seemingly to please shareholders, Etsy appears to be abandoning one of its beloved programs.

Every day, Jacob said, she half expects to log on and find Etsy Wholesale gone. I dont want to jump ship, she says. But it just makes sense to diversify.

Gerrit De Vynck is a Bloomberg writer. Email: gdevynck@bloomberg.netComcast will add Netflix to subscription packages across the country, giving the worlds largest streaming platform another way to boost its viewer base in the U.S., its biggest market.

Customers, who can already watch Netflix series such as House of Cards or Stranger Things using the Comcast X1 cable box, will now be able to pay for it directly through a Comcast bundle, the two companies said Thursday.Technology companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon and Snap employ some of the most sought-after designers in the world to help them build their products.

These designers, using all the tools at their disposal, can wield enormous power, influencing what we click on, see, hear and buy. Their choices decide how we interact with the Internet.

With this power, there needs to be accountability, says Mike Monteiro, a designer who co-founded Mule design agency in San Francisco.

Monteiro says design should be a licensed profession, complete with training, testing and accreditation.

This interview with Monteiro has been edited for clarity:

Q: We know that design is powerful and it can herd people toward certain actions. So how do we encourage designers to make sure theyre wielding that power ethically and responsibly?

A: We shouldnt have to. We as designers should see this as part of the job.

We encourage children to behave better. We shouldnt have to encourage professionals to behave professionally.

Q: How do you encourage a doctor to do their job right?

A: The problem with designers and ethics is they see it as something to possibly strive for and maybe incorporate into their work, but they dont see it as core to what they do.

Q: How can we get designers to see that ethics are core to their work?

A: The problem is the profession isnt licensed. In the U.S. and in most places, I can call myself a designer, I can build myself a design portfolio, and I can find myself working at Facebook on a project that has severe implications, as weve seen in the last couple of weeks, and have absolutely no training on how to deal with the stuff Ive been given.

At no point is somebody going to see whether Im accredited. This is like a random person on the street putting up a shingle on their door and calling them an OB/GYN. Thats terrifying, right?

But you can be a designer and do that. You can put up a shingle and say, Im a UX designer and I deal in privacy, and all of a sudden you find yourself working at Facebook working on exactly that stuff.

Q: Given how high the stakes are for projects that designers work on, why isnt there a practice of licensing and accreditation?

A: When you look at the sorts of things designers used to do, it was stuff like make a rock show poster, or a website for a movie, or a dust jacket for a book. Those things dont kill people.

All of a sudden, were dealing with the user interface for driverless automobiles with absolutely zero training in that stuff. I could probably go out and get a job doing that, which should scare the hell out of anyone who finds that out because I have no training in it whatsoever.

But the counterargument is that these companies have been able to grow as fast as they have because they arent regulated and designers dont need to be licensed.

I dont care how big youve been able to grow. I dont care about you, or your company, or your stakeholders. That cant be our No. 1 concern. Our No. 1 concern needs to be society, the people in it, which, by the way, includes us.

As a society, we need to care more about than whether Twitter is profitable for a quarter. Who cares? Some rich people got richer. Fantastic. But at what cost?

Q: Youre saying that change is going to have to come from the outside in the form of regulation, and not from the inside?

A: Theres a book called The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It tells the story of the Chicago (meat processing) industry at the turn of the century, and how the diseased beef and pork being processed there was poisoning people.

People freaked out when they read the book. And because of that book, the government passed regulation on the meat industry.

We cannot expect tech to regulate itself, and we cant expect designers to regulate themselves, because they just dont do it. And it turns out when they dont regulate themselves, they behave abysmally because their job is to turn a profit, and in the end they will do whatever it takes.

Q: Regulation is one part. What else?

A: It also starts with design education. You can get through four years of design school and two years of graduate school in UX design without ever taking an ethics class. Its not a requirement to get that degree.

The problem is design education is stretched threadbare right now.

Despite the fact that itll cost you $80,000 to $100,000 to go to a good university, the first thing you find out is that the university has no actual money with which to teach you. It cant pay a professor decent wages. So if you want to get the best design professor in there to talk design ethics, good luck.

Q: Whats the most effective solution to all of this?

A: Speaking as a designer and only about designers, I think this field needs to be licensed. I think it needs to be treated with the same sort of seriousness in which we treat the legal profession and the medical profession  professions that have a serious impact on peoples lives.

Look, Im a designer, this is what I do for a living, and Im advocating for rules that make it harder for me to make a living. That should let you know how afraid I am of this stuff.

The design profession is evolving. Its changing drastically. Its gone from something thats essentially people making creative things that look pretty into a field where these are the people who build the rules of our digital products. Its serious and powerful stuff. And its being done by people who went to school to learn how to do book jackets.

Q: Are regulation and licensing realistic expectations for an industry with little of either today?

A: The most likely thing is that nothing changes. Absolutely nothing changes because people are making money off the way things are.

Theres a middle ground, and we might hit it. But why aim for it? I dont think licensing designers is extreme. I think its necessary.

Tracey Lien is a Los Angeles Times writer.In route news this week, Southwest Airlines jumped into several new markets at Mineta San Jose and elsewhere; British Airways is going seasonal at Oakland; a new small airline comes to Oakland with an intra-California route; Norwegian grows at Denver; and several East Coast routes to Europe will be suspended this coming winter.

In addition to its new daily service from Oakland International to Newark, Southwest Airlines also kicked off a big expansion at Mineta San Jose this week. The airline started new daily flights from SJC to Boise, Idaho; Houston Hobby; Spokane, Washington; and St. Louis. Southwest has also begun weekly Sunday-only flights from San Jose to Albuquerque and New Orleans.

The San Jose flights were only part of Southwests growth this week: It also started daily service from San Francisco International to Austin, Sacramento-Austin, Sacramento-St. Louis, San Diego-Newark and Kansas City-Raleigh/Durham. Weekly Saturday flights from Oakland to Orlando start April 14, increasing to daily frequencies July 15.

Besides its new service from Oakland International to Paris Charles de Gaulle, low-cost carrier Norwegian Air also added another Paris route this week, starting service between Denver International and CDG. The flights operate twice a week (Mondays and Fridays) using a 344-seat 787-9 Dreamliner, with an early evening departure from DEN. Last fall, Norwegian started flying from Denver to London Gatwick. The new Norwegian flights are the only non-stops between Denver and Paris  a market that in 2017 attracted some 250 people a day even without non-stop service, Denver airport officials noted.

British Airways, which competes with Norwegian on the Oakland-London Gatwick route, plans to convert that service to a seasonal basis, according to Routesonline.com. BAs three weekly 777-200 OAK-LGW flights will be discontinued after October 20, resuming again on April 1 of next year. Check out Chris' Review of the OAK-LGW flight last year.

Speaking of Oakland, a small carrier called Contour Airlines has started operating there, offering daily service on one route  to Crescent City, California, along the coast near the Oregon border. Fares range from $69 to $139 one way. Contours other routes are Nashville to Tupelo, Mississippi and Baltimore/Washington to Macon, Georgia. Its fleet consists of 30-passenger E-135s and nine-seat Jetstream 31 turboprops.

On the East Coast, some transatlantic routes are being dropped this coming winter. Delta reportedly plans to discontinue its daily Newark-Paris 757 flights effective October 28; SAS will drop its A330-300 flights between Boston and Copenhagen after November 18; and Norwegian will eliminate service for the winter season (October 28-March 30) between New Yorks Stewart Airport and Belfast; Providence and Cork, Ireland; Providence-Edinburgh, Scotland; and Providence-Shannon, Ireland.

In other developments, Philippine Airlines will change its Manila-New York JFK service starting October 28, converting it from a one-stop via Vancouver to a non-stop operation. The Philippine carrier will use a 777-300ER for the 15-1/2 hour JFK non-stop flights four days a week. And to Latin America, Avianca Brasil will boost frequencies on its Miami-Sao Paulo, Brazil route from one daily roundtrip to two starting November 30, using an Airbus A330-200.

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.Buy or sell a house in San Antonio, get a year's worth of free tacos.

That's the deal available to clients of Dillingham & Toone Real Estate if they work with Jeffrey P. Dillingham or one of his 17 realtors.

The San Antonio broker told mySA.com the idea was inspired by his love for tacos combined with his grandfather, Jimmy Toone's, legacy.

"I love tacos. Taco Palenque is on of my favorite places," he said. "I want to continue my grandfather's legacy of kindness. It's the little things that gives joy to people. We want give customers a great experience and joy and nothing says 'joy' like tacos."

Dillingham says the trade off is "as simple as it sounds."

RELATED: Bill Miller Bar-B-Q chorizo tacos are back

Clients will receive a $500 Taco Palenque gift card, which should pay for one taco a day for a year, if they buy or sell a home with Dillingham & Toone.

If they're selling a house with the firm, there are a few conditions: the home must be listed for at least 6 months, the client must agree to three marketable price changes and must approve all of the showings.

"Those would be things you do anyway in trying to sell a home," Dillingham said.

Dillingham said he plans on offering the taco deal throughout the year.

"My hope is that it works out and we always do this, forever," he said.

Check out the gallery above for a tour of some of the homes you can be eating free tacos in.

Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkyeWASHINGTON  The Republican National Committee has committed $250 million to a midterm election strategy that has one goal above all else: Preserve the partys House majority for the rest of President Trumps first term.

Facing the prospect of a blue wave this fall, the White Houses political arm is devoting unprecedented resources to building an army of paid staff and trained volunteers across more than two dozen states. The RNC is taking the fight to Senate Democrats in Republican-leaning states, but much of the national GOPs resources are focused on protecting Republican-held House seats in states including Southern California, Florida and New York.

Our No. 1 priority is keeping the House. We have to win the House, RNC political director Juston Johnson said. That is the approach we took to put the budget together.

RNC officials shared details of their midterm spending plan with the Associated Press as several hundred volunteers and staff held a day of action Saturday in competitive regions across the country. The weekend show of force was designed to train 1,600 new volunteers in more than 200 events nationwide.

There were more than three dozen events in Florida alone, a state that features competitive races for the Senate, the governorship and a half dozen House races.

Seven months before Election Day, there are already 300 state-based staff on the RNCs payroll. The committee expects to have 900 total paid staff around the country  excluding its Washington headquarters  before Novembers election, Johnson said. The number of trained volunteers, he said, has already surpassed 10,000.

The strategy is expensive. And it carries risk.

The RNCs focus on a sophisticated field operation designed to identify and turn out key voters, an approach favored by former chairman Reince Priebus and expanded by Trumps hand-picked chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, leaves the RNC with no additional resources to run advertising on television or the Internet. It also puts tremendous pressure on the president and senior party leaders to raise money to fund the huge operation.

Democrats need to pick up at least 24 seats to take control of the House for the last two years of Trumps first term. They need just two seats to claim the Senate majority, though the map makes a Democratic Senate takeover much less likely.

Our sweeping infrastructure, combined with on-the-ground enthusiasm for President Trump and Republican policies, puts us in prime position to defend our majorities in 2018, McDaniel said.

The resources are focused in some unfamiliar territory, including several House districts in Southern California, which Johnson described as a huge focus.

Steve Peoples is an Associated Press writer.Filmmaker Milos Forman, whose movies One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Amadeus won a deluge of Academy Awards, including best director Oscars, died Saturday. He was 86.

Forman died at Danbury Hospital, near his home in Warren, Conn., according to a statement released by the former directors agent, Dennis Aspland.

When Forman arrived in Hollywood in the late 1960s from what was then Czechoslovakia, he was lacking in both money and English skills, but carried a portfolio of Czech films much admired internationally for their quirky, lighthearted spirit. Among them were Black Peter, Loves of a Blonde and The Firemans Ball.

The orphan of Nazi Holocaust victims, Forman had abandoned his homeland after communist troops invaded in 1968 and crushed a brief period of political and artistic freedom known as the Prague Spring.

In America, his record as a Czech filmmaker was enough to gain him entree to Hollywoods studios, but his early suggestions for film projects were quickly rejected.

After his first U.S. film, 1971s Taking Off, flopped, Forman didnt get a chance to direct a major feature again for years. He occupied himself during part of that time by covering the decathlon at the 1972 Olympics for the documentary Visions of Eight.

Actor Michael Douglas gave Forman a second chance, hiring him to direct One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, which Douglas was co-producing.

The 1975 film, based on Ken Keseys novel about a misfit who leads mental institution inmates in a revolt against authority, captured every major Oscar at that years Academy Awards, the first film to do so since 1934s It Happened One Night.

The winners included Jack Nicholson as lead actor, Louise Fletcher as lead actress, screenwriters Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben, Forman as director and the film itself for best picture.

The director, who worked meticulously, spending months with screenwriters and overseeing every aspect of production, didnt release another film until 1979s Hair. Ragtime followed in 1981, an adaptation of E.L. Doctorows novel. And Forman returned to Oscar heights three years later when he released Amadeus.

Based on Peter Shaffers play, it portrayed 18th century musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a foul-mouthed man-child, with lesser composer Salieri as his shadowy nemesis. It captured seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best actor (for F. Murray Abraham as Salieri).

Never prolific, Formans output slowed even more after Amadeus. Valmont (1989) reached audiences a year after Dangerous Liaisons, both based on the same French novel. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) starred Woody Harrelson as the Hustler publisher. It garnered Oscar nominations for the actor and Formans direction. Man on the Moon (1999), based on the life of cult hero Andy Kaufman, won its star, Jim Carrey, a Golden Globe.

Anthony McCartney is an Associated Press writer.Head Over Heels, This Week column,

April 8, Datebook, Page 12

An item incorrectly described Head Over Heels. The San Francisco production company SHN has no connection with the musical.

Radio Waves, April 15, Datebook, Page 18

In todays Datebook, which prints in advance, an item in the Radio Waves column misidentifies the walk-on song selected by the late radio personality John Mack Flanagan for his entrance to a panel discussion. The title is Cowboys to Girls.

Vote with your pocketbook, Style, April 15, K6

A story on artist Michele Preds Power of the Purse collection in todays Style, which prints in advance, misstated the purses price. They are $2,000 each.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Taiko drumming, Japanese classical dancing and a ramen-eating contest are among the events on today's bill for San Francisco's 51st Annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which begins this morning.

The festival, which runs this weekend and next weekend, kicks off at 11 a.m. in Japantown at Post and Buchanan streets and runs all day, with a wide variety of performances and presentations.

This evening is 2018 Cherry Blossom Queen Program Night at the AMC Kabuki 8 at 1881 Post Street.

The crowning event of the festival is coming up next weekend - the Grand Parade on Sunday. The parade begins at the Civic Center at 1 p.m., proceeding up Polk Street and ending at Japantown at Post and Fillmore streets.

The Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the blooming of cherry blossoms at one of three remaining Japantowns in the United States.

###Code Pink activists are protesting the U.S. bombing of Syria outside the homes of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi today, then rallying in downtown San Francisco, organizers said.

The downtown San Francisco rally will be held at 5 p.m. at Powell and Market streets, according to organizers from Code Pink Women for Peace, the group that is putting on the actions.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

San Francisco firefighters responded to a one-alarm fire at a Laundromat in the city's Mission District this morning.

The fire was reported at 10:11 a.m. at 789 Valencia St., San Francisco Fire Department officials said. City Laundry Laundromat is listed at that location.

Once at the scene, firefighters were able to quickly bring the blaze under control in about 10 minutes.

Fire investigators believe the fire was accidental.

No one was injured and the building sustained minor damage, according to fire officials.

###SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Nine people were arrested this morning during a protest held by a Jewish activist group as they allegedly blocked the doors of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's San Francisco office, the organization said.

About 20 members of IfNotNow, a group that is made up of Jewish Americans and has chapters across the country, allegedly blocked the doors to Feinstein's office at 1 Post St. for nearly two hours starting at 9:30 a.m., leaders of IfNotNow said.

The protest was organized to demand that Feinstein condemn what they said is violence toward Palestinian protesters in Gaza at the hands of Israeli military forces during the Great March of Return, a large scale protest that began in late March, in which Palestinians demanded an end to Israeli occupation of Gaza.

Although Feinstein is in Washington D.C. this week, the protesters sought to speak to a staffer, but when they were refused the group blocked the elevator hall and read the names of the 31 Palestinian protesters who they say were killed by Israeli forces within the past two weeks.

In addition to the 31 killed, thousands have been injured in the Gaza protests, according to IfNotNow.

"We know that Senator Feinstein has spoken out against the U.S. embassy move from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem and the demolition of Palestinian villages - oppressive policies that harm Palestinians and Israelis. We commend her for that. But Senator Feinstein cannot pick and choose when she stands up for Palestinians and Israelis," IfNotNow organizer David Granberg said in a statement. "As American Jews and as her constituents, we demand that she condemn Israel's use of deadly force against Palestinian protesters."

According to IfNotNow, the Palestine protests are nonviolent but protesters are being met with live fire from Israeli snipers.

"Palestinians in Gaza came out by the thousands today to protest for their freedom. They were met with more live ammunition, more teargas, and more violence. If Senator Feinstein does nothing, this is going to continue happening," IfNotNow member Adam Hirsch said in a statement.

A call to Feinstein's San Francisco office was not immediately returned.

This afternoon, however, Feinstein, in reference to a news article about the deadly clashes at the Israeli-Gaza border said on social media, "This violence is exceptionally destructive for both the Palestinians and the state of Israel. It must end. Violence is not the pathway to reconciliation."

According to the IfNotNow, a total of 32 American Jews have been arrested in the last 10 days in protests condemning the violence in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, in addition to San Francisco.

###The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said an autopsy will be conducted Tuesday on a body found today that is assumed to be a member of the Thottapilly family that went missing last week ahead of a stop in San Jose.

Capt. Greg Van Patten said that rescue searchers came upon a body as they were looking for a vehicle seen going into the Eel River last week, which matched the description of the Thottapilly family car.

The body was found on exposed terrain, which apparently had been covered up by the Eel River within the last few days as a result of recent heavy rain, according to Van Patten.

On Thursday items found in the river revealed that the vehicle sought was the Thottapilly's when relatives positively identified the items as the family's. None of the items were described in detail, Mendocino County deputies said.

The body was found seven miles downstream from the location where it was reported to the California Highway Patrol at 1:10 p.m. last Friday that a car went over a steep embankment on U.S. Highway 101 south of Dora Creek, north of Leggett.

Sandeep, 41, Soumya, 38, Siddhant, 12, and Saachi, 9, and their maroon Honda Pilot have been missing since last Thursday, the last time they were seen or heard from, according to the CHP.

The family was heading home to Santa Clarita after a vacation in Portland, Oregon, and was last seen in Klamath in Del Norte County. A relative in San Jose called the city's Police Department on Sunday when the family still had not shown up for a visit that was supposed to take place Friday, police said.

Severe weather conditions hindered search efforts until Tuesday, when a dive team was able to search riverbanks and do limited probing underwater with a long pole, according to Mendocino County sheriff's officials.

The rescue teams have been using inflatable boats, river boards and a jet boat with a side scan sonar system and had canvassed 12 miles of the riverbank by Tuesday, the sheriff's office said.

###

(707) 463-4083FREMONT (BCN)

A man who was wanted on a felony probation violation and was a suspect in several cases but had fled from police numerous times in recent weeks has been arrested in Fremont with the help of a drone and a police K-9, authorities said.

At about 11:15 a.m. on Monday, Fremont police patrol officers responded to the 4800 block of Piper Street after they received a report that a man who was armed with a firearm was involved in an argument but by the time officers arrived the man had left, according to police.

Several residents in the area told authorities that the man was running through yards and jumping fences while still armed with the gun so additional officers, who used a K-9 trailing dog, responded to the area to help conduct yard searches, police said.

As a precautionary measure, three schools in the area were placed on lockdown.

Police said officers were able to identify the suspect as 31-year-old Marquise McClinton of Fremont but he was able to evade officers.

Authorities said McClinton was wanted on a felony probation violation warrant for possession of a firearm and was also a suspect in several recent cases in Fremont and Pleasanton in which he had fled from law enforcement.

Police said that on Jan. 9 McClinton allegedly fled from Pleasanton police in a vehicle and on Feb. 21 he allegedly fled from officers who attempted to stop him at the Fremont Hub shopping center.

Authorities also said that on March 16 McClinton allegedly fled from a home on Ogden Drive in Fremont when officers tried to locate him and on March 27 he allegedly fled from officers during a vehicle stop near Chapel Way and Bay Street.

Fremont police said that at about 10 p.m. on Monday members of their street crimes unit located McClinton at an address in the 4200 block of Ogden Drive.

They said patrol officers, several K-9 teams, and a Fremont Fire Department drone responded to serve the warrant but McClinton immediately fled out of the back of the home.

Police said the drone was able to track McClinton's movements until officers made contact with him.

McClinton fought with officers but a police K-9 detained him and patrol officers took him into custody, according to police.

McClinton was booked into the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and has been charged with two counts of resisting arrest, a felony probation violation and two misdemeanor probation violations, police said.

However, the gun he allegedly possessed has not been located.

Fremont police said they are also coordinating with the Pleasanton Police Department on their investigation into the Jan 9 incident.

Fremont police said anyone with information about any of the incidents that McClinton allegedly was involved in should call their investigative unit at (510) 790-6900.

###Late Friday night, President Trump authorized a series of airstrikes against the Syrian government in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed civilians in a rebel-held town outside Damascus.

The president's decision drew praise from members of the Republican establishment such as John McCain and Paul Ryan.

"I applaud the President for taking military action against the Assad regime, and I am grateful to our British and French allies for joining us in this action," McCain tweeted. "To succeed in the long run, we need a comprehensive strategy for Syria and the entire region."

FULL COVERAGE: US launches missile strikes in Syria

"In coordination with our allies, the U.S. took decisive action against the Syrian regime," Ryan tweeted. "The regime's unconscionable brutality against innocent civilians cannot be tolerated."

However, Trump's decision wasn't as well received among Democrats and members of his base.

"It is Congress, not the president, which has the constitutional responsibility for making war," Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted. "The international community must uphold the prohibition against the use of chemical weapons, but it is unclear how Trump's illegal and unauthorized strikes on Syria achieve that goal."

A number of other Democrats gave the president lukewarm praise for the attack, but stated that Trump needs to go to Congress before he considers escalating the conflict further.

"A pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate, but the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted.

ALSO: Trump uses phrase that haunts Bush: 'Mission Accomplished!'

Some of the president's most ardent supporters were also critical of the airstrikes.

"Americans should not die fighting a war that's NOT OURS TO FIGHT," conservative commentator Tomi Lahren tweeted.

"At least I won't feel bad when he gets impeached," alt right personality Mike Cernovich added.

Click through the slideshow above to see reactions to the Syria strike.Posted 4/13/18

The Missouri Job Center will host a celebration for Dallas County becoming a Certified Work Ready Community. Area leaders, elected officials and job center staff will come together to celebrate this  2017 by the California State Archives, a division of the Secretary of States Office

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McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 199,  California State Archives Exhibits, accessed December 20, 2017, http://exhibits.sos.ca.gov/items/show/4265,  2017 by the California State Archives, a division of the Secretary of States Office

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South Lake Tahoe's harsh new vacation home rental law was intended to crack down on the late night partying, noise disturbances and bad behavior that is supposedly plaguing the city's residential neighborhoods.

Instead, it's mainly been used to hand out $1,000 parking tickets to mostly respectful visitors for what are often trivial offenses, according to a new Reno Gazette Journal investigation.

The Gazette Journal looked at complaints filed against nearly 200 properties between Dec. 22  when the ordinance took effect  and late March. It found that a little more than half of all the complaints made by callers were about parking. Sixty percent of all citations given were for parking violations, resulting in $90,000 in fines.

A $1,000 parking ticket may seem outrageous, but it's actually much worse for renters who violate the ordinance. That's because the owner of the property also gets slapped with a $1,000 fine, which is then usually passed on to the renter. So each violation effectively means the renter must cough up $2,000.

As for all the partying that is destroying South Lake Tahoe's solitude, only three of 47 complaints about noise had to do with parties.

MORE: These people left the Bay Area for to live the Tahoe resort life full-time

Noise was the second-highest complaint, but just 10 of the 47 total noise complaints were found to be violations, including the three linked to partying. In the other incidents, noise levels were determined to be reasonable, the Gazette Journal reported.

Here are three examples of minor parking transgressions that led to whopping fines for tourists:

 While unloading cars at a property that allowed parking for three cars, the occupants were fined $1,000 because one car was parked on the street and another was on dirt next to the driveway. The third car was in the driveway. The property owner was also fined $1,000. (Gazette Journal.)

 A code enforcement officer responded to a neighbor's complaint about a property with too many cars, too many people and an incorrect sign. He woke a "peaceful church group" who admitted having one extra car, but there was no infraction regarding the number of occupants and signage. Nonetheless, he had to write the $1,000 citation. (Gazette Journal.)

 A San Jose family's Presidents Day vacation was ruined when they were fined $1,000 for having an extra car while unloading at their rental and using the bathroom. The extended family of six adults and four children had driven from the South Bay with three cars. Even though they explained they would be moving the third car after unloading it, the citation was issued. (San Francisco Chronicle.)

Code enforcement officers are not permitted to give warnings, and ignorance of the law is no excuse for violations.

MORE: A new breed of ski bum: Working for Silicon Valley, living in Tahoe

Under the ordinance, vacation rental owners lose their short term-rental permit permanently if they have three violations within 24 months.

That's opened an avenue for informant neighbors who want to oust a vacation rental near their homes.

"A lot of people have told us ... their (complaint) call is basically to get rid of the vacation rental that's near them," Maureen Stuhlman, vacation home-rental investigator for the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, told the Chronicle.

But vacation home rentals are a cash cow for South Lake Tahoe, bringing in $3 million in hotel taxes each year. Mayor Wendy David said losing that money "would be devastating for our city budget."

"It would equal at least 30 employees," she said.

South Lake Tahoe's new strict rules for vacation rental homes follow:

Each violation results in a $1,000 fine for the guest and an additional $1,000 for the homeowner.

No warnings; fines issued on first offense.

Owner's vacation rental permit revoked after three citations within 24 months.

Parties and weddings are prohibited.

Violations subject to $2,000 (split) fine are: street parking, excessive noise anytime but especially after 10 p.m., trash outside bear box, exceeding posted occupancy and vehicle limits, hot-tub use between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Citations can be appealed, but the full $2,000 penalty must be paid first.

Information from Chronicle reporter Carolyn Said's story "Tahoe ski town cracks down on vacation rentals: Too much tourism?" contributed to this article.HAVANA  Fidel and Raul Castro were scruffy young guerrillas in 1959 when they descended from Cubas eastern mountains, seized power and never relinquished it.

As they aged into their 80s and 90s, the Castros and their fellow fighters cast a shadow so deep that Cubans born in the first decades after the revolution became known as Cubas lost generation, men and women who spent their lives executing the orders of graying revolutionaries.

This week, Raul Castro will step down as president after a decade in office, handing the position to a successor widely expected to be 57-year-old Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel. The handoff on Thursday is the centerpiece of a broader transition to a group of leaders from the lost generation, who face an unprecedented test of their ability to guide a nation that has followed the same commandantes for 60 years.

Despite a series of reforms under Castro, Cuba remains locked in grinding economic stagnation that has driven hundreds of thousands to emigrate in search of better lives. Change will require potentially painful reforms, like the elimination of a dual-currency system that has created damaging economic distortions.

A great number of this countrys young people will be watching to see if theyre capable of changing things, of offering something new, of going beyond whats seemed like a great grayness until now, said Yassel Padron Kunakbaeva, 27, a blogger who writes frequently from what he describes as a Marxist, revolutionary perspective.

The world should expect no immediate radical change from a single-party system dedicated to stability above all else. Raul Castro will remain first secretary of the Communist Party, described by the Cuban constitution as the countrys highest guiding force. Castro has said nothing publicly about how he will use that position. But Cuban leaders have been making clear that a generational handover is under way.

Along with Diaz-Canel, a group of middle-aged leaders are being closely watched as candidates for more powerful positions. They include 60-year-old Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, 54-year-old Havana party leader Mercedes Lopez Acea, 57-year-old economic reform czar Marino Murillo and 63-year-old Lazaro Exposito, party head in Cubas second most-populated province, Santiago.

Michael Weissenstein and Andrea Rodriguez are Associated Press writers.LIMA, Peru  Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela says Trump Organization lawyers erred by sending a letter to his office directly appealing for help in a fight over control of a luxury hotel in what experts say was a flagrant mixing of the U.S. presidents business and government interests.

In Peru for the Summit of the Americas, Varela said he does not believe President Trump was directly behind the letter nor did he feel any added pressure to get involved in the dispute.

But without specifically mentioning Trump, Varela said he believed it is important for leaders to build a wall between their own private interests and those of the public when they enter office.

Thats a wall that must be built, he said. You have to leave your private interests aside and focus on the interests of your people.

The letter from a Panamanian law firm for Trumps company arrived at Varelas office after months of bitter dispute over a Panama hotel property. The Trump Organization contends the owners of the seaside hotel in Panama wrongly terminated their management agreement.

In March, Panamanian judicial officials sided with the majority owner, and a justice of the peace backed by police officers ordered the Trump management team to vacate the property. In video broadcast around the world, workers scrubbed Trumps signage from the hotel and gave it a new name.

Varela said he first heard about the letter when he saw a headline in a newspaper and that he never read the contents.

In the March 22 letter to Varela, lawyers for the Trump Organization URGENTLY requested the Panamanian leaders influence to help reverse the companys acrimonious eviction as managers of the 70-story luxury high-rise.

The letter never mentioned Trump or his role as president but did state that the organization was aware of the separation of powers in Panama and essentially asked Varela to intervene in the judicial process anyway.

It went on to state that the eviction violates an investment treaty signed between both nations and suggests the Panamanian government, not the hotels new management, could be blamed for any wrongdoing.

I think the lawyers made a mistake by sending that letter, Varela said.

Christine Armario is an Associated Press writer.LIMA, Peru  Leaders from throughout the Americas vowed Saturday to confront systemic corruption with an accord aimed at improving transparency and boosting civil society at a time when graft scandals plague many of their own governments.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra kicked off the Summit of the Americas first full session asking the Western Hemisphere leaders to approve 57 action points he said would constitute a base for preventing corruption.

The Lima Commitment: Democratic Governance Against Corruption was approved with a round of applause, though analysts are skeptical that it will lead to any tangible change. Many heads of state in attendance lead administrations that face allegations of misusing public funds, obstructing justice and accepting bribes.

The hard part will come when leaders return home, said Shannon ONeil, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. These initiatives will take much time and effort to implement, and will in many places face significant pushback.

As leaders launched into speeches promising to tackle corruption  the theme of this years summit  turmoil elsewhere threatened to overshadow any concerted effort to root out the deep-seated scourge.

Numerous leaders expressed concerns about an apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria and voiced support for military air strikes there by the U.S., France and United Kingdom. They also called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to accept humanitarian aid as his nation confronts a crippling economic crisis and urged those gathered not to accept the results of an upcoming presidential election in the embattled South American nation.

We wont recognize the results of an election designed to disguise a dictatorship, said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, one of the most outspoken on Venezuela.

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez were among the few voices of support for Venezuela, calling on the U.S. to drop sanctions against their ally.

Our region isnt the backyard of anybody, Morales said, echoing Maduros comments earlier in the week after President Trump decided to skip the summit, which some considered a snub to the region.

Trump bailed on this years summit, scrapping what would have been his first visit to Latin America as president in order to manage the U.S. response to the attack on civilians in Syria.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is filling in for Trump, spent part of the summit trying to drum up support for further isolating Venezuela, which faces mounting U.S. sanctions.

Christine Armario is an Associated Press writer.JOHANNESBURG  Tens of thousands of people sang, cheered and cried as the flag-draped casket of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was escorted from her official funeral Saturday.

Heads of state joined the five-hour celebration of the powerful figure who was buried as a national hero after lively debate over how she should be remembered after her death on April 2 at age 81.

Often called the Mother of the Nation and Mama Winnie, Madikizela-Mandela fought to keep South Africas anti-apartheid struggle in the international spotlight while her husband, Nelson Mandela, was imprisoned.

Long before it was fashionable to call for Nelson Mandelas release from Robben Island, it was my mother who kept his memory alive, elder daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini said as the crowd erupted in cheers.

Many South Africans have stood up for Madikizela-Mandelas memory against critics who characterized her as a problematic figure who was implicated in political violence after she returned from years of banishment.

Proud, defiant, articulate, she exposed the lie of apartheid, President Cyril Ramaphosa said during his tribute. Loudly and without apology, she spoke truth to power.

He recited Maya Angelous poem Still I Rise.

And as the casket left the stadium, another speaker read out Alice Walkers poem, Winnie Mandela We Love You.

Since her death, supporters have visited Madikizela-Mandelas family home in Soweto, the Johannesburg township where she lived, and condolences have poured in from around the world in remembrance of one of the 20th centurys most prominent political activists.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who attended the funeral, said Friday that Madikizela-Mandela was responsible for making the anti-apartheid movement a global struggle.

Many memorializing Madikizela-Mandela recognized her as a political force in her own right.

In apartheid South Africa, the combination of patriarchy and racism together meant that black women confronted enormous obstacles from the cradle to the grave, making her own achievements all the more exceptional, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday at a memorial in New York.

Krista Mahr is an Associated Press writer.WASHINGTON  Defense Department officials said Saturday that U.S.-led strikes against Syria had taken out the heart of President Bashar Assads chemical weapons program, but acknowledged that the Syrian government most likely retained some ability to again attack its own people with chemical agents.

Warplanes and ships from the United States, Britain and France launched more than 100 missiles at three chemical weapons storage and research sites near Damascus and Homs, the officials said, in an operation that President Trump and Pentagon leaders hailed as a success.

A perfectly executed strike last night, Trump wrote on Twitter. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

The strikes before dawn Saturday in Syria  which came in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack on civilians a week ago  were the second time in just over a year that Trump had sent missiles crashing into Syrian military targets, adding U.S. firepower to a civil war that is one of the most complex and multisided conflicts in a generation.

Beyond the immediate question of whether the new strikes actually accomplished the stated goal of diminishing Syrias capacity to make and use chemical agents, the attack posed the risk of drawing the United States more deeply into a conflict in which Russia and Iran have more invested than ever in keeping Assad in power.

The United States is locked and loaded to strike again if Assad is believed to renew his use of chemical weapons, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council at an emergency meeting Saturday called by Russia.

We are confident that we have crippled Syrias chemical weapons program. We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will, Haley said.

She said that Russia had failed to abide by a 2013 promise to ensure that Syria got rid of its chemical weapons stockpiles.

While Russia was busy protecting the regime, Assad took notice, she said. The regime knew that it could act with impunity, and it did.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that the U.S. government was confident that Syrian forces had used chlorine in the deadly attack on civilians last Saturday in Douma, but did not provide evidence.

The White House has cited photographs and videos from Douma to make the case, and has dismissed alternative explanations from the Syrian and Russian governments. It said that the nerve agent sarin may have been used in addition to chlorine.

A group from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which had announced a fact-finding mission to determine if chemical weapons were used in the Douma attack, arrived in Damascus on Saturday, the group said in a statement.

A statement by the Syrian military said 110 missiles had been fired in the U.S.-led strike. Three people were injured in Homs, it said. Videos from Damascus showed Syrian air defense missiles launching into a dark night sky, and the Russian military said that at one Syrian air base, all 12 cruise missiles that targeted the site had been shot down.

Defense Department officials dismissed those claims, saying the entire U.S.-led operation was over and the targets were destroyed before Syria launched any of the 40 missiles it fired into the air.

But the strikes were limited, with an eye toward making sure they did not draw retaliation from Russia and Iran and set off a wider conflict. For that reason, Assad may still be able to use chemical agents in the future.

I would say theres still a residual element of the Syrian program thats out there, McKenzie said. Im not going to say that theyre going to be unable to continue to conduct a chemical attack in the future. I suspect, however, theyll think long and hard about it.

The limited nature of the strikes left some members of Congress and other observers underwhelmed.

I fear that when the dust settles, this strike will be seen as a weak military response and Assad will have paid a small price for using chemical weapons yet again, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Early Saturday, Assads office posted a video that appeared to show him strolling into work in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase as if nothing had happened.

There were no signs of immediate retaliation, suggesting that Assad and his allies planned to weather the storm, perhaps in the belief that the United States was mostly concerned with avoiding deeper involvement.

Helene Cooper and Ben Hubbard are New York Times writers.

Mission Accomplished, president says

As he declared the U.S.-led air strikes against Syria a success, President Trump adopted a phrase that a previous president came to regret: Mission Accomplished.

In May 2003, President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant Mission Accomplished banner and declared that major combat operations in Iraq have ended  just six weeks after the invasion.

The war, however, dragged on for many years and the banner became a symbol of U.S. misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly conflict. Bush was heavily criticized for the move.

The Pentagon backed Trumps assertion in his tweet Saturday, with chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White saying: We met our objectives. We hit the sites, the heart of the chemical weapons program. So it was Mission Accomplished.

Ari Fleischer, who was White House press secretary at the time of the aircraft carrier speech, tweeted Saturday: I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words.Crowdsourcing has gone from a buzzword to a well-entrenched practice in the digital age to raise money, mostly for worthwhile causes.

Add the power of celebrity and the sums of money being raised can run into the millions.

But when rich and famous people rattle the charity can for rather questionable causes, the blowback can be harsh, as former champion surfer and one-time Bra Boy Koby Abberton discovered this week when he launched a GoFundMe page to raise $20,000 to fix up the rented Balinese villa he and has family had been living in until it was damaged in a fire.

Koby Abberton has not elaborated on why he is spending other people's money to make amends for his actions. Credit:Robert Pearce

He had already raised $11,000 when Abberton took to social media to defend his actions.Freelance photojournalist Justin Gilligan started taking snaps of marine life as a teenager and now, two decades on, still feels a sense of wonder when he slips below the waves.

"I was drawn to underwater photography because you can experience things that people don't get to see in their everyday life," he says. "Totally unexpected things can happen underwater."

Justin Gilligan captured this image of an unusual encounter between an aggregation of spider crabs and a predatory octopus off Maria Island, Tasmania. Credit:Justin Gilligan

And it was one of those unexpected encounters, between an octopus and a cast of crabs, that saw Gilligan chosen as a category winner in the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which recently opened at the Australian National Maritime Museum (until October 14).

Gilligan was shooting an artificial reef experiment off Maria Island in Tasmania when he found himself with a front row seat in a battle between the spider crabs and a rather hungry octopus.The local paper  the North Devon Gazette  was right on to it, partly thanks to emails pinging between dog-walkers and plane-fanciers up and down the county.

A film set just after World War II was being shot in the seaside town of Bideford. Rumour had it that a fighter plane would be landing on Saunton Sands, an extraordinary surf beach more than five kilometres long, as part of the film; the plane had been spotted at the local Royal Marines Base.

Lily James as Juliet in the film The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society.

You can do your best to keep a film set under the cone of silence, but it's not easy to hide a Douglas C-47 Dakota.

So the Gazette got it. The shot of the plane on the sands was brilliant; if nothing else, it should make everyone in the vicinity want to go and see The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when it finally comes out."Whose house? Mum's house!" declares Bryant-Smith on the opening Uplift, acknowledging their dependent circumstances while invoking Run DMC. A decade later he's finding a quiet corner at Adit's studio space in Enmore, where they're working on new tracks before an extended touring schedule takes over. The pair are playing The Grey Space in full live, which is getting them intimately reacquainted with their younger selves.

"There are certain songs on the album I hear that take me back to working in Adit's bedroom at his parents' house," says rapper Nick Bryant-Smith, who became MC Solo alongside producer Adit Gauchan. "I definitely wrote all my stuff at my parents' place and I had a very dodgy mic set-up inside my room  I hollowed out a set of shelves in a walk-in wardrobe. The record comes from the place of working in private, and that's why it's so personal."

Mostly recorded when they were still in high school, the retrospective reveals young artists who wouldn't leave their bedrooms because they were so busy creating music.

How would you feel about looking back and showing people your life as a teenager? It's something Sydney hip-hop duo Horrorshow have happily agreed to, undertaking a national tour to mark the 10th anniversary of their breakthrough debut album The Grey Space.

"We're both proud of how it stands up, especially since some of the songs are far older than 10 years," says Bryant-Smith. "We feel good about it as our starting point. We don't entirely cringe over it, and that says something about how much we put into it."

Debut albums by teenage musicians are often defined by extremes of emotion, whether it's joyous exuberance or unrelenting angst. But The Grey Space is different: it is watchful and considered  often the flaws it diagnoses are those of Bryant-Smith. Gauchan's sample-driven production is immersive, with an ear for grooves that can be melodic and melancholic. It's an old souls record.

"It was music that was made without an audience in mind," says Bryant-Smith. "There's an imaginary audience for the record, one from our daydreams, but it was literally composed at a time when we weren't showing what we were doing to anyone. I wasn't even telling people I rapped."

One of the album's most resonant qualities was the sense of physical identification it had for Sydney's inner west. Bryant-Smith, whose parents were teachers, had grown up in Haberfield and was going to school in Petersham, and on tracks such as Waiting for the 5.04, which documents a train commute home from Town Hall station, he describes individuals and locations with an adolescence's worth of observations scribbled in a notebook.

Australian hip-hop had never heard such a concentrated dose of site-specific artistry, and to this day Bryant-Smith meets people who tell him that The Grey Space was their introduction to the inner west, whether they explored it for the day or moved there. Even a reference to the first sightings of apartment developments now sounds prescient.Not that Neri Oxman, the raven-haired beauty in question, is likely to waste much head space on such frivolous considerations. For rather than a wide-eyed ingenue, Oxman is a 42-year-old professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the world's top-ranked university. She also happens to be an award-winning artist whose work has been displayed in New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Before the ink had dried on the divorce petition, gossip rags were falling over themselves to link the 54-year-old heart-throb to actresses such as Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson and 21-year-old British starlet Ella Purnell, currently in BBC drama Ordeal by Innocence. So it is only to be expected that Pitt's latest rumoured paramour, despite being virtually unknown, could comfortably give the former Mrs Jolie-Pitt a run for her money with her chiselled cheekbones and tumbling tresses.

Ever since the world's most celestially beautiful duo uncoupled 18 months ago, amid allegations of his drug-taking and her disregard for their children's privacy, there has been speculation as to who might supplant the ambrosial Angelina Jolie in Brad Pitt's affections.

Despite rarely having ventured outside the pristine waters of the Hollywood dating pool  before Jolie, he was married to Jennifer Aniston and he counts Gwyneth Paltrow and Juliette Lewis among his exes  Pitt is reportedly "smitten" with the Israeli-born professor, whom he is said to have met after seeking her expertise on an architectural project. The pairing is all the more extraordinary given that the actor has cultivated an image as something of a himbo, playing a series of delectable but dim characters in films such as Burn After Reading, as well as admitting to smoking "too much" marijuana.

Architecture professor Neri Oxman.

It seems, however, that Pitt is just the latest silver screen hunk to have swapped actresses for academics, in what has been called "the Clooney effect".

For it was the actor's close pal who started the trend five years ago, when he swept Oxford-educated barrister Amal Alamuddin off her (blue) stockinged feet. The romance signalled a shift among Tinseltown's leading men, a group never previously known for valuing a woman's IQ points over her vital statistics.

As well as the Clooneys, now parents to nine-month-old twins, there is Eddie Redmayne, who is married to Hannah Bagshawe  formerly the global head of PR at a financial media firm. Not to mention Benedict Cumberbatch, once named Empire's sexiest movie star, who has two sons with his Oxford-educated theatre director wife Sophie, and Inception actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is to married Silicon Valley robotics expert Tasha McCauley. Meanwhile, reformed philanderer Jude Law this year celebrates his third anniversary with Phillipa Coan, a business psychologist with a PhD.Money has run articles by Noel Whittaker in three consecutive weeks criticising Labors policy to remove cash payments for excess imputation credits where the individual involved has not paid income tax. Unfortunately, these articles have contained several errors or assumptions that mean his conclusions are just plain wrong. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen First, Mr Whittaker claims the budget savings are calculated on policy settings that exclude the Turnbull governments 2016 budget superannuation measures, including the $1.6 million tax-free superannuation balance cap. Wrong. Labors policies have been fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is independent and legally obliged to cost our policies taking account of government policies - including the $1.6 million superannuation balance cap, and other potential behavioural changes. Second, in his most recent article, he states that this policy is not a tax on the wealthy, it is a tax on widows. This is not only patently wrong, its offensive. The fact is, the largest beneficiaries of the refundable imputation credit arrangements are higher wealth individuals with large self-managed superannuation funds. In fact analysis by a former senior Treasury official shows that for people of retirement age, 95 per cent of the losses will be borne by the wealthiest 20 per cent. This means that wealthier people will shoulder the majority of the burden of the new policy settings. To suggest that widows will bear the brunt of the policy flies in the face of reality. While I understand not everyone will like it, it is necessary and Labor is prepared to be honest about our plans. Chris Bowen

Here are a few actual facts: Australia is the only country in the world with fully refundable imputation. Dividend imputation will remain, but cash payments will no longer be made to people who have managed to reduce their tax rate to zero or have paid no income tax. Double tax will continue to be avoided under Labors plans. As Mr Whittaker notes, Australias interest bill is more than $1 billion a month. Very true. He goes on to claim that policies should encourage people to become self-sufficient and get off welfare. Becoming self-sufficient and not having to rely on welfare is an admirable objective, but this claim misses the point. Labor is removing the ability to claim cash refunds for excess imputation credits because of its $6 billion annual cost to the budget. To suggest that people receiving the pension are somehow a drain on the budget, while self-funded retirees who access some of the most generous tax concessions in the Commonwealth Budget are not, is just plain wrong. Loading Labors reforms to excess dividend imputation credits will remove a fiscally unsustainable tax arrangement that is seeing billions of dollars in lost revenue, making it harder for the government to fund important services and return to surplus. Dividend imputation worked perfectly well between 1987 and 2000 when cash refunds werent sent to people who didnt pay income tax. Labor will return to that system. While I understand not everyone will like it, it is necessary and Labor is prepared to be honest about our plans in advance of an election and not surprise people afterwards. As the Grattan Institute has observed: Generous super and other age-based tax breaks have been funded by deficits. The accumulating debt burden will disproportionately fall on younger households. People in retirement pay less income tax now than they did two decades ago, this despite the increasing demand for more and better services. Even editor of Money, Caitlin Fitzsimmons, when asking whether Labors policy meets the fairness test, her answer was fundamentally, yes.A Canberra real estate agent is under investigation for allegedly underquoting the price of a property for sale by up to $150,000 under market value.

Access Canberra has confirmed it is looking into the allegations after a complaint was made earlier this year of a real estate agent underquoting the price to the seller.

The agent alleged undersold the property's value by up to $150,000. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

Underquoting is a practice where real estate agents deliberately undervalue the price of a property in order to attract as many buyers as possible.

An Access Canberra spokeswoman said it was the first underquoting complaint the body had received this year.A Canberra hospital employee said he has experienced a lot during multiple decades working in the health system, but there is one hospital that stands out for all the wrong reasons.

"I've worked in many hospitals around the country, and I've never seen it so bad as Calvary Hospital," he said.

The Calvary Hospital employee said false improper conduct claims were made up about him after he tried to report bullying. Credit:Jamila Toderas

After many years of working in the wards of Calvary's public hospital, the employee said the workplace culture had left him injured both physically and mentally, and he was still damaged by the experience.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the hospital employee told The Sunday Canberra Times he both witnessed and was subjected to bullying and mistreatment inside the hospital corridors.Employees tell a different story. "The staff members who complained have had the investigation turn on themselves," one employee said. "We have had several members of staff 'removed' for having the audacity to complain. Bullying within our department is rife. Nursing and administration workers are under tremendous pressure, not only from the work we do, but the bullying we experience or witness from our managers on a daily basis." Employees say hospital staff are targeted after they report bullying. Credit:Jamila Toderas Sources say bullying comes from both fellow employees as well as those in managerial positions, with the culture affecting more than just hospital staff.

"What you see in places like Calvary, it puts patients at risk," one employee said. 'An intimidation exercise' "I was astonished at the level of bullying at Calvary. It was quite extraordinary," one employee said. "There is a culture of bullying that goes on there and it is systemic. One thing they stamped out very quickly was anyone who got out of line." Male employees say allegations of improper conduct are falsified about them in a bid to smear them if they report bullying. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Throughout the many cases of bullying and harassment heard by The Sunday Canberra Times at Calvary Hospital over many years, a familiar pattern emerges. Staff who lodge complaints to HR or management about bullying incidents in hospital wards end up being the subject of a bullying complaint themselves. Multiple male employees have also said false claims of improper workplace conduct were made up about them in a bid to smear their reputation. "I saw it more as an intimidation exercise for them to tell me to shut up and mind my own business," one staff member said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "No one uses reporting methods for bullying incidents because anyone knows that if you use it, that will be the end of your career. "People there are disgruntled with their jobs and take out their frustrations with other staff."

Hospital sources have said many 'cliques' of bullies exist on several wards in the hospitals, often targeting employees. Many have said those in managerial positions are often part of bullying groups. Sources have also said that cliques of bullies would attempt to push out certain employees in a bid to replace them with friends. Sources say the bullying comes from those in managerial positions. Credit:Jamila Toderas Levels of bullying range from verbal altercations to falsifying work of other employees. "Calvary, like many institutions, has the same workplace pressures as other places, but I have not seen that level of bullying or workplace harassment from a managerial level before. I was quite astonished," one employee said.

"I witnessed wardsmen and nurses being harassed in the workplace fairly frequently, at least once a week there'd be an incident happen," another said. Loading Calvary Hospital has launched an internal investigation into the suicide of emergency department nurse Andrew Earl, who was allegedly bullied over the course of a year. 'If they don't like you, they push you out' Issues to do with bullying and harassment extend beyond the emergency department and wards at Calvary. Sources say bullying is also rife within other departments, including security, HR and administration.

Departments such as HR, administration and security have also said bullying is rife. Credit:Jamila Toderas Employees in those departments said allegations of bullying were "swept under the carpet" by management. One HR employee said staff within the department would write false reports on the files of other employees if they had made accusations of bullying. Loading "A lot of the bullying was coming from the top end. There were no avenues for bullying reporting," the employee said.

"If they don't like you, they push you out. The last few years has been very toxic." The employee said pregnant women were often the target of much of the bullying in the department. "They love to bully pregnant people. I had my baby early because of all of the stress at work," the employee said. "Another had a miscarriage while she was at Calvary because of all of the stress they had put her under." 'You would never want to go there'

While many of the issues within Calvary come from its public hospital, employees have detailed a litany of failings with its new private hospital that opened last year. Staff say there are many failings at Calvary's private hospital. Credit:Jamila Toderas Sources have told The Sunday Canberra Times the new hospital is understaffed, with nurses stretched to breaking point. One employee, who declined to be named, said the hospital opened to the public without basic supplies. "The place is diabolically bad, you would never want to go there."

Calvary have confirmed staff were exposed to dangerous anti-cancer drugs after a spill. Credit:Jamila Toderas The employee also detailed an incident at Calvary private where staff were exposed to a powerful anti-cancer drug, after no spill kit was on hand to clear it up. "You have spills in the operating theatre periodically but there are ways to clean it up, when you have no source for it, it becomes an issue," the employee said. "These are drugs that can eat you alive, and several staff members were exposed. Everyone was in tears because they had been exposed to this dangerous drug." Patients targeted

Calvary employees have also detailed that alleged bullies at the hospital were also investigated for several thefts of items belonging to patients. One incident dating back to 2012 involved one of the staff interviewed over the alleged theft of jewellery belonging to a patient. The same staff member was also interviewed by ACT Police later that year for the alleged theft of $300 from a patient. As a result of the incident, the hospital was forced to implement a procedure where the belongings of surgical patients would be stored under security card access. The patient was reimbursed with their money following the theft.

In a separate incident, staff members were interviewed by police over the theft of $800 from one of the drug safes on a ward. The money was later found in a medication room after the room had been searched by staff. Documents seen by The Sunday Canberra Times show employees also raised concerns with senior staff about the state of some of the surgeries inside Calvary Public Hospital. The document stated some of the surgeries at the hospital contained expired drugs and medication, expired syringes as well as blood-collection tubes that were six years past their expiry date. For many employees, the experiences of bullying and harassment within Calvary Hospital has left them damaged, although many more incidents are not being reported out of fear.Timing is everything when it comes to comedy, cooking and holiday planning with new data showing you can save more than 50 per cent by booking rooms either side of peak season.

The cheapest times to go on holiday this year at 50 of Australia's most popular tourist destinations along with the most popular places for the April school holiday break have been shared exclusively with The Sun-Herald.

This month is likely to be the cheapest time to visit Kangaroo Valley and Cairns, according to data based on the average daily rate for 3, 4 and 5 star-rated and self-rated accommodation demand on Wotif.com. A full table of all prices for all 50 destinations is provided at the end of this article.

The top destinations, excluding capital cities, for Sydney families these April school holidays, according to Wotif.com, in order of preference, are the Gold Coast in Queensland, followed by NSW destinations Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Port Stephens, Byron Bay, Dubbo, then Auckland in New Zealand, the Blue Mountains in NSW, and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.The last post: Wal Scott Smith prepares for his final Anzac Day as guardian of the Martin Place cenotaph. Credit:Dean Sewell

On the going down of the sun this Anzac Day, Wal Scott Smith will mark not only the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, but also his own retirement  after almost eight decades of unbroken service looking after the Martin Place Cenotaph in Sydney's CBD.

Chief custodian Smith, 96, has finally decided the days Last Post will signal his own final day on the job.

I started this work in 1940 as a 17-year-old, when there was a road either side of the Cenotaph and you had to be careful washing it down with a hose that you didnt get the cars, says Mr Smith, whos become, over the years, a firm favourite with the crowd. Sydney was a lot different back then.

But Anzac Day is still the same. I still have a tear in my eye every year for the memories of the people who have been lost.Families are taking shelter at an evacuation centre in Sydney's southwest as an out-of-control bushfire continues to burn.

More than 140 fire fighters are battling the blaze in Wattle Grove as around 200 evacuated residents wait in safety at Moorebank Sporting Complex, including many families with young children and some with pets in tow.

Residents in the area have evactuated. Credit:TNV

A NSW Rural Fire Service emergency warning was first issued after 3.30pm on Saturday for the fast-moving bushfire, with residents in the Wattle Grove community and Holsworthy military complex told to shelter in place.

Residents in Voyager Point, Pleasure Point and Sandy Point are being advised by the NSW RFS to leave south towards Heathcote and to not travel west.The bushfire threatening homes in south-western Sydney is worsening, with authorities issuing an emergency warning for some suburbs, telling residents it is "too late to leave" and advising them to seek shelter.

The fire is travelling in a north-easterly direction towards Georges River.

At 2.30pm on Sunday, residents in Voyager Point, Pleasure Point, Sandy Point and Illawong, as well as residents east of Alfords Point Rd in Menai and Bangor, were advised not to leave their properties and to protect themselves in expectation of an ember attack from the out-of-control fire.

In addition, residents west of Alfords Point Rd in Alfords Point and Barden Ridge were advised to shelter in place as the bush fire approached.A teenage girl is spending the weekend in custody after numerous police officers were attacked in Wollongong on Friday night.

The 14-year-old from the northern Wollongong suburb of Woonona will face the children's court next week after she was refused bail.

She will face multiple charges including five counts of assaulting police, resisting arrest and malicious damage.

Police were called to respond to reports of a brawl at the Wollongong Railway Station at 8.40pm on Friday where the girl was then arrested after authorities believed she was trying to run away from the scene following her alledged involvement in an altercation.

During the arrest, police allege, she punched a male police officer in the face before resisting again by kicking another officer and spitting in their eye.Brisbanes only ballet school for children and young people with special needs, The

Tippy Toe Co, is moving to Toowong to open an inclusive activities hub, Active

Eight, after winning a $25,000 funding boost from Sunsupers Dreams for a Better World.

Renovations will begin shortly at 80-88 Jephson Street to transform the space

into Brisbanes first one-stop NDIS health and wellbeing hub, which will offer a range of innovative therapeutic, social and extracurricular programs for children and young people with disabilities and those living in care.

The Tippy Toe Co provides dancing classes for children with disabilities.

Founded by Zachary Fook, Mikayla Ivanov, and Courtney Crack while studying at

the University of Queensland in 2013, the social enterprise's dance and movement program has captured hearts across the nation and caught the eye of Wesley Mission Queensland, which will come on board to help set up the Toowong hub.

Mr Fook said The Tippy Toe Co has worked with more than 130

Brisbane families and is a vibrant and inclusive community for families, children and young people of all abilities to come together in a supportive environment, build friendships, and achieve social, emotional and physical goals.As shaken Pacific Dawn passengers emerged from the cruise ship terminal at Brisbane on Sunday, police revealed the "tragic circumstances" that led to the death of a Brisbane mother who went overboard days before.

P&O staff and police have reviewed the CCTV aboard the ship, which they say showed Highgate Hill woman Natasha Schofield, 47, talking to her husband on the top deck on Thursday afternoon before she took her own life.

The liner was at sea about 300 kilometres off New Caledonia at the time.

Brisbane region duty officer Inspector Rob Graham said the woman's husband tried to grab her by the legs as she went over the railing, but it was too late.Sam O'Donnell, who died of a heroin overdose in 2016. His mother, Loretta, and grandfather Carl have worked to back a safe injecting room since Sam's death in a laneway only metres from where the safe injecting centre will be. Credit:Jason South

Substance abuse and addiction is one of the biggest preventable causes of premature death. Most of the fatalities are caused by licit drugs  alcohol, tobacco and prescription opioids. But many deaths also result from illicit drugs, particularly heroin. So, the state governments recent announcement of a two-year trial of a supervised injecting space in one of Melbournes worst-hit areas, Richmond, is welcome, albeit tardy.

Fears, though, have been fuelled by the governments decision to extend the trial to all injectable drugs, including methamphetamines, also known as ice. Such is the concern that the police union has withdrawn its initial endorsement, although Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton remains steadfast in his support. The concerns are utterly comprehensible  the centre is to be next to a primary school. But they are misplaced, and should be assuaged by evidence.

When the government announced the trial late last year  after long advocacy by health experts, the coroner, local residents and traders, law enforcers and lawmakers  it said drugs other than heroin would not be permitted. It has reversed that position on the recommendation of experts, and in light of bountiful evidence from Australias other safe injecting centre, in Sydney, and from other such spaces around the world.

In the past year alone, around three dozen people, the overwhelming majority in their youth, have been found dead in the gutters and laneways of Richmond, a tragic toll of preventable overdose. In almost every case, they had been using not only heroin, but other substances, including ice.

The fresh fear reflects the fact that heroin and ice are fundamentally different substances. Heroin is a depressant  it slows the bodys functions. Ice is a stimulant  it speeds up those functions. People who use it heavily and chronically can become violent. But the evidence shows that allowing the use of all injectable illicit drugs in safe injecting centres has neither led to violence towards staff and other clients, nor to locals. Rather, it brings people in need into contact with people who can help them find a path to recovery. That is one of the most compelling reasons for such centres. The Sydney one has been operating since 2001. Not one of the many thousands of people whove used it has died from an overdose there, despite there having been many overdoses. Three in four of those people have accepted professional support and embarked on attempts to end their problematic behaviour. Not a single overdose death has been reported in any safe injecting centre anywhere in the world.

This is not about condoning or encouraging the use of drugs. It is about harm minimisation, saving lives and helping people get well. It works. This is also about public safety. The government will provide security inside and outside the centre. We urge people to keep an open mind and to judge the trial on its results. Those needless, lonely, devastating deaths in public spaces are not statistics. They are our sons and daughters, our sisters and brothers, our friends and neighbours. They desperately need help.A 28-year-old man has been charged for attempting to rob a food delivery driver armed with a pair of scissors.

Around 10.30pm on Friday, a male pizza delivery driver approached a Hamilton Hill house on Carrington Street when he was threatened by the armed man.

The man is due in court on Saturday.

The victim ran away from the man, before calling police.

The man was arrested nearby a short time later and was charged with attempted armed robbery and possessing an article with intent to cause fear.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is preparing to back Prince Charles as the next head of the Commonwealth amid doubts over how a succession will be developed at a gathering of 53 world leaders this week.

Mr Turnbull is emerging as an important voice in the debate over the successor to Queen Elizabeth in a key test of whether her position at the head of the Commonwealth should be seen as hereditary.

The Australian Republican Movement has seized on the debate to step up its call for a vote on a republic while Queen Elizabeth is alive, arguing that the discussions at the Commonwealth show the wisdom of making a decision as soon as possible.

The Commonwealth nations should make a democratic decision about who should be their next head, said ARM national director Michael Cooney.

Mr Cooney said Australian voters should be able to make the same democratic decision about their head of state and that a national vote should be held in 2020 in order to clear the way for a referendum in 2022.Moscow: Russian Ambassador to the United Nations says US and allies have demonstrated a blatant disregard for international law.

Russia called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council as Moscow said it would consider supplying S-300 missile systems to Syria following US-led strikes.

"The current escalation of the situation around Syria has a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations," President Vladimir Putin said in a statement on Saturday published on the Kremlin website.

US, British and French forces pounded Syria with more than 100 missiles early on Saturday in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Alas, black humour cannot override the reality that such anti-Semitic tropes continue to exert power. Even in places where theres next to no Jews, Jew-hatred is again a convenient shorthand for illiberal politics. Sowing fear, building walls, trashing democratic institutions.

To the reader who sent me a drawing of the Statue of Liberty, with devils horns and tail, brandishing the Star of David, and a caption about Zionists running the show, a belated thanks. When life seems tough, I seek comfort in the idea my people nefariously control the free world. With tribal connections like these my bank balance is bound to improve, right?

Orban fingered one man as puppet-master behind a plot to overrun white, Christian Hungary with refugees: the Hungarian-born billionaire, philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros. Campaign posters depicted Soros embracing opposition figures and brandishing cutters for slashing through Hungarys border fence. A spokeswoman for Soros Open Society Foundations told Roger Cohen from The New York Times the images were doctored to elongate the financiers nose, right out of the Goebbels playbook.

The racist demonisation of Soros inspired even Israels Benjamin Netanyahu, who in February wrongly accused Soros of directly funding local protests against the planned deportation of African asylum seekers. Take it as read that Jews are themselves susceptible to the disease of anti-Semitism  hard to belong to one of the most despised people on earth without internalising some of the poison  although in Netanyahus case Id characterise his actions as try-hard flattery. He aspires to Orban and Cos budding autocrats club.

Next door to Hungary in Poland, the government passed the Death Camp law criminalising discussion about Polands complicity in Nazi atrocities  a truth as much a matter of historical record as the Polish peoples defiance of Hitler and saving of Jews. The law is an abomination but, Im guessing, a logical one. By whitewashing Polands past, its government is less exposed to charges of racism in the present.

Not long ago we might have minimised the significance of an extreme lurch in eastern Europe  even the Czech Republic, despite its inspiring legacy in the 1989 Velvet Revolution, has succumbed to a strongman  as symptomatic of its uneven and difficult post-communist trajectory. Thats a less viable position now given that the fringe, with its pronounced anti-Semitism, has moved to the centre of Western politics. In Germany and France nativists bearing nasty historical baggage lead the political opposition to centrist governments.Bassem is an activist and one-time politician, who was denied an Australian visa in April 2017 when he applied to deliver a series of lectures. He said jail visits were emotionally charged for him and his two young sons when they saw his wife and teenage daughter behind bars. Immigration minister Peter Dutton denied a visa to Bassem Tamimi. Credit:Andrew Darby The prison is about 35 kilometres [away] but with all the checkpoints and the separation wall we have to travel around 150 kilometres to get there, he explained. Tamimi last saw his jailed family members for about 45 minutes on March 21, and is hoping to see them again at the end of this month. There are over 350 Palestinian minors in custody according to Israeli human rights group Btselem.

My wife put her face on the glass barrier and wanted to kiss my younger son and hug him. I felt there was a volcano of emotions roiling inside her. It was hard to have a decent conversation on the phone handset with lots of visitors milling about he said. But this is what is in front of us now and we have to hold onto these brief moments of hope and joy seeing them. Tamimi is proud of his daughters steadfastness amid attacks by Michael Oren, Israeli deputy minister to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who asked if she was real, or an actor. Hollywood actors such as Rosario Dawson, Danny Glover and comedian Sarah Silverman have given her support. Ahed with her blue eyes and blonde hair has shaken the core racist belief of who is a Palestinian," her father says. Teen Palestinian protest icon Ahed Tamimi in a courtroom at the Ofer military prison near Jerusalem. Credit:AP

"They said our family is not real  but as Palestinians we are advancing in mobilising people worldwide and moving our cause forward. We will break the stranglehold of the occupation. In the Gaza Strip, the other disputed territory, a large movement of Palestinian demonstrations has been fomenting for two weeks. On March 30, thousands of Palestinian youth marched on the border of their blockaded enclave in protests dubbed "The Great March of Return", in reference to how more than 750,000 Palestinians were dispossessed in 1948. For Palestinians, the demonstrations are politically urgent, as May 14 is the scheduled date of the American embassys move from Tel Aviv to the historically fraught religious city of Jerusalem. The timing of the embassy move is conspicuous: it marks 70 years since Israel became a state. But for Palestinians, May 15 signals a mournful day on which they lost statehood, a moment they call Al Nakba (catastrophe).

There is something different about the protests this time. The Palestinian people themselves are turning to more effective and creative forms of resistance in order to move their struggle forward, says Saree Makdisi, a literature professor at the University of California in Los Angeles who has written extensively on Palestine. A Palestinian protester burns tyres next to Gaza's border with Israel earlier this month. Credit:AP These demonstrations, and especially the global Boycott Divestment & Sanctions movement, are manifestations of the break the people are making away from the total bankruptcy of their political leaders. Youssef Maima, a 24 year old nursing student in Gaza, participated in the first protests which were marked by stark images of billowing smoke rising from tyres, which were set alight in the attempt to interfere with the aim of Israeli snipers. He has not returned since, saying it was too dangerous.

I was running away from the bullets from Israeli snipers as they were whizzing past my ears, coming from everywhere. It was dangerous and I just retreated to the back because you are risking your life, he told Fairfax Media from Gaza City. I saw people killed in front of me. I saw one young man who was not actually in the front lines and an Israeli sniper shot him in the forehead. He was killed instantly. Loading There were ambulances everywhere carrying those fallen. In the space of five minutes, I must have seen around 20 people carried on stretchers Maima added. Israel has been roundly condemned internationally for its use force in killing 29 protesters and wounding more than 200. The United Nations secretary Antonio Gutierres called for restraint.

"I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force ... Civilians must be able to exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully, he said. One of those killed last week was Yasser Mortaja, a Palestinian journalist and film-maker who had worked with renowned Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei. Press groups have condemned Israeli forces for targeting a journalist who was wearing a flak jacket with PRESS clearly marked on it. Defence minister Avigdor Lieberman said the demonstrations were fuelled by the Islamist group, Hamas, and the shootings were an act of self-defence by Israel. He also noted that Israeli troops deserved medals for their use of force. But more violence and loss of life is likely as the protests continue at the border fence, and as May 14 approaches.

The IDF is preparing its forces in advance for a variety of scenarios, in anticipation of the protests expected this weekend on the security fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, an IDF spokesman told Fairfax Media. The IDF is prepared to prevent any breach of Israeli sovereignty or damage to the border fence. Gaza, home to two million Palestinians, and known by some as the worlds largest open-air prison with a decade long blockade over all its borders, is bursting at the seams. The UN deems it 'uninhabitable' by 2020. Ahed Tamimi and the Gaza protests have come together, along with the heightened political tensions ahead of the seventieth anniversary of the conflict to create a dangerous atmosphere.Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced strikes on Syria by the US, France and Britain as an "act of aggression" but made no mention of possible retaliation for the highly anticipated attack on his Middle Eastern ally, easing for the moment fears of a wider conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last Tuesday. Credit:AP

The dozens of missiles and bombs fired at a handful of sites early on Saturday didn't enter airspace guarded by advanced systems above Russian bases near the coast, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said. There were no casualties, either Syrian or Russian, or serious damage inflicted, the ministry said.

On Saturday, Putin reaffirmed Russia's view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake. Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack.

He said Russia called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss what he called the aggressive actions of the US and its allies.Washington: President Donald Trump praised Western air strikes against the Syrian government on Saturday as "perfectly executed", and added "Mission Accomplished".

"A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!" Trump said in a Twitter post.

He also praised the US military for their efforts.Washington: The tech industry's engineers and entrepreneurs saw the Facebook hearings this week as more than just the grilling of one of its stars.

To them, the congressional criticism against Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg felt like a referendum on the industry itself, and on the social network's growth-at-any-cost playbook that hundreds of startups have sought to emulate over the last decade - and that some have turned against.

"In a way, Silicon Valley is Facebook," said Max Motschwiller, a general partner with the venture firm Meritech Capital. "This is who we are. The whole identity is being challenged."

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc., listens during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, DC. Credit:Bloomberg

Motschwiller said the revelations about how Facebook allowed its users' data to be mishandled amounted to a broader questioning of the ways people's information is being used.Vladimir Putin has condemned overnight strikes by the US, UK and France, calling them an "act of aggression", in a statement released by the Kremlin.

It looks like a fully fledged world war is not (explicitly) imminent as reports out of Moscow suggest the western missiles did not target Russian military bases in the middle east.

According to reports, Russia will now convene an emergency session of the UN security council over the attack.

Putin has chosen a softer rhetoric than that of his peers. Shortly after the air strikes Russia's ambassador to the US warned of "consequences" and a high-ranking Russian politician compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.NASA's next planet-hunting telescope will swing its gaze from point to point in the sky, searching for worlds that could be habitable.

The telescope, known as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), will launch no earlier than Monday (April 16). Its ultimate goal is to provide a catalog of planets all over the sky. Then, even more-advanced missions can gaze at these worlds to learn more about their atmospheres.

"One of the follow-up goals is to understand the atmospheres of the planets," mission principal investigator George Ricker, a senior scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in an interview in March. "You can observe the light from the host star trickling through the ring of gas around the planet as it moves across the face of its host star. Then, you can see the spectral signature of the molecules that are in the atmosphere, essentially hydrogen signatures, or other interesting chemical disequilibriums." [Inside the Clean Room: NASA's Exoplanet-Hunter TESS Gets Prepped for Launch]

TESS is likely too small to get very much detail from a planet, but it can act as a finder scope and pave the way for more advanced observatories. A key follow-on telescope will be NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, whose launch was recently pushed to 2020. One of Webb's science goals is to better characterize the atmospheres of planets. Ideally, this will include potentially habitable planets  rocky worlds that orbit their star at a distance where water can exist on their surfaces.

Full-sky survey

TESS will perform an all-sky survey, starting with the Southern Hemisphere in its first year and then moving into the Northern Hemisphere in its second year. Over the course of its operation, it will point away from the sun and keep its gaze fixed in that direction for about 27 days, before moving to the next anti-solar pointing direction for another 27 days. While doing so, it will oscillate in a 13.7-day orbit between 67,000 and 232,000 miles (108,000 to 373,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface. [NASA's TESS Exoplanet-Hunter in PicturesGets Prepped for Launch]

Researchers will attempt to use TESS to identify about 50 worlds that are less than four times Earth's diameter. They hope at least a few of those planets will be in the habitable zone of their stars; if TESS achieves this goal, these worlds would add to a noteworthy catalog of nearby planet-hosting stars, including Proxima Centauri, which is just 4 light-years from Earth, and TRAPPIST-1. TESS should also find a few hundred worlds of all sorts, ranging from hot Jupiters (gas giants close to their star) to super-Earths, or worlds that are between the size of Earth and Neptune.

To find such planets, "we're going to focus on M dwarfs," Ricker said, referring to stars that are a little cooler and dimmer than our own sun. Potentially habitable planets must orbit closer to the star to get enough warmth, which means they will pass more frequently across their parent star's face. More transits mean there is a better chance that TESS will see the planet in its 27-day examination of a particular part of the sky.

"The advantage is that M dwarfs are about half the size of the sun," Ricker added, "and if you have a planet that is four times the size of the Earth, you get an [advantage] from the fact that the host star is smaller." Those planets are easier to spot because they dim the host star more than they would around a larger star, he said.

And there's another advantage, he noted. M dwarfs typically emit light with a wavelength of around 1 micron, which means that they are very visible in the infrared. This is the perfect spectrum for Webb, which is optimized for observations in that wavelength. This was a deliberate part of the mission design. "We wanted to find targets that are going to be optimized for follow-up observations with either existing resources on the ground or near-term space resources like [the] Hubble [Space Telescope] or Webb," Ricker said.

Investigators hope to operate TESS for longer than its planned two-year mission, especially so that its observations will overlap with Webb's. A more ambitious goal would be to have TESS and the European Space Agency's Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars (PLATO) observatory operate at the same time, since PLATO isn't launching until 2026. But Ricker said the engineers tried to keep consumables to a minimum; the TESS orbit will use minimal fuel, and other components of the spacecraft are built to last several years.

Visit Space.com Monday, April 16 for complete coverage of NASA's TESS mission launch. A live webcast on the launch begins at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT).

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.Welcome To SpoilerTV



We bring you a comprehensive and up to date spoiler service on all the major US TV shows and Movies. You can find specific show content by clicking the menu system at the top of the screen. We scour the Internet for spoilers as well as posting our own exclusive spoilers (Scripts, Casting Calls, Set Photos etc) as well as recaps and other fun articles and polls. We hope you enjoy your stay.



STAMFORD  In his 33 years as a police officer, Sgt. Robert Monck has seen a lot.

Friday was no different.

But a helicopter landing on the third story of a Ludlow Street building? Thats something Monck doesnt see everyday.

I do remember seeing one landing there  about 25 years ago, Monck said.

Monck was sent to the site after people in a nearby building called police.

And sure enough, there was a helicopter on a beat-up wooden helipad.

This used to be the Frank Mercedes and Son Construction Co. headquarters, Monck said. There is a helipad on the third story but it hasnt been used in years.

Finding the errant pilot was easier than expected. Karl Leinsing, who was in the city for a meeting, had left his business card in the machines door frame.

Leinsing, 50, of New Hampshire, is president of A-Tech Designs Inc., which manufactures and consults on medical devices. He also works as an engineering consultant for lawyers. Monck gave him a call.

He said he thought it was a valid helipad, Monck said.

Leinsing said he used a Federal Aviation Administration map listed the helipad. He said he had permission to land on it and was also given the security codes to the buildings doors.

City building officials, police, firefighters and the fire marshal were called to the scene and determined that the wooden pad, which had not been maintained, did not meet fire code standards.

Wooden pads are not allowed anymore, Monck said. This wood was bent and pulling out. We were afraid boards would hit the rotor or fly into the copter. There was no fire suppression near the pad.

So Leinsing was not permitted to fly away.

However, Leinsing said he was willing to buy fire extinguishers, remove or nail down the wood, soak it with water and foam and even make a donation to the fire department. But all those options were rejected.

Instead Frank Compo and Sons Crane and Rigging was called to bring a crane to lift the copter onto a flatbed sent by Bills Service.

It cost me $3,150, he said. There was only six inches of clearance on the sides of the flatbed. The helicopter could have easily tipped over with me inside.

But that didnt solve all the problems.

The height of the helicopter prevented the flatbed from driving on the highway. It was restricted to city streets.

We had to close some intersections briefly and get it to West Beach, Monck said. We closed the parking lot and let him take off from there.

By 6:30 p.m., the helicopter was back in the air.

Stamford police did not cite Leinsing.

We called the FAA, Monck said. Hell have to deal with them.

While Leinsing complimented Monck, the crane operation and the flatbed driver for their help, he said he does not plan to return to Stamford again.WASHINGTON  The chairman of the Democratic Partys congressional campaign arm said Friday he believes Connecticuts 5th District will stay in party hands, notwithstanding the abrupt decision of incumbent Rep. Elizabeth Esty to withdraw from the race.

I am confident we will hold this seat in Connecticut, said Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. This one matters to us. We need to pay very close attention to it.

Esty announced April 2 she would not run for a fourth term after acknowledging mistakes in handling the 2016 exit of her former chief of staff, Tony Baker, who was abusive to her former scheduler, Anna Kain.

Her withdrawal created a vacuum that both Democrats and Republicans in the district are scrambling to fill.

On the Democratic side, Mark Barden and Nicole Hockley, both of whom lost children in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, are contemplating bids to replace Esty. They are co-founders of Sandy Hook Promise, which offers training to teachers, schools, students and community groups on how best to identify and get treatment for troubled youth who may be prone to violence.

I think Nicole and Mark are incredible leaders, not only in the community and the district, but also across America, Lujan said in a briefing for regional reporters based in Washington. I think either one of them would be a very strong candidate to hold that important seat.

Other possible Democratic contenders include Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman.

In her bid for a third term in 2016, Esty won 58 percent of the vote  swamping GOP opponent Clay Cope. But the district as a whole went to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by a thin margin of just over 50 percent.

Esty herself has said parts of the Naugatuck Valley are a mini rustbelt, having never fully recovered from the decline in American manufacturing.

Republicans insist there is fertile ground there.

This is a toss-up district, said J.R. Romano, chairman of the state Republican Party. This is going to be a very, very interesting congressional race.

Former Meriden Mayor Manny Santos, a Republican, has declared himself a candidate. State Rep. William Petit, R-Plainville, who lost his family in a brutal 2007 home invasion in Cheshire, also is considering a run. Another possible Republican contender is Dan Carter, a Danbury state representative who lost to Sen. Richard Blumenthal in 2016.

Democrats enjoy a registration advantage in the district of eight percentage points. But in the wake of Estys departure, the authoritative Cook Political Report downgraded the district from Solid Democratic to Lean Democratic.

In light of her self-inflicted scandal, Estys exit is probably good news for Democrats chances of holding the seat, said David Wasserman, who monitors House races for the report. But even so, the open seat should draw a much higher caliber Republican into the contest.

As he ticked through many of the 104 races that the DCCC considers competitive, Lujan insisted Democrats were taking nothing for granted.

Nevertheless, with President Donald Trumps favorable-rating percentage hovering in the high 30s-low 40s, we have a national environment that is showing positive indicators that we can win in seats all across the country, said Lujan, whose district covers most of northern New Mexico, including Santa Fe.

Democrats need to turn over 24 Republican seats to win the majority, which political handicappers consider a possibility if Trumps favorability rating does not improve.

dan@hearstdc.comW e get it: Londons expensive and youre busy as a bee. But why should your beauty regimen suffer because of it?

Trying to squeeze a minute in for yourself between your job, your mates and eight hours of sleep can seem nearly impossible for the average working Londoner. Luckily, this citys designed for people on-the-go, which means that taking a minute to treat yourself has never been easier. Between express facials and cheap blowouts, Londons got plenty of places to pamper yourself without breaking the bank (or infringing on your nightly Netflix binge).

So next time you need a beautifying break from your daily bustle, book up at one of these cheap and speedy salon services in London. Your body will thank you.

For your nails...

Barber & Parlour

Barber & Parlour specialized in cheeky salon services. (Barber & Parlour) / Barber & Parlour

Head over to Redchurch Street in East London and check out the ever-cheeky Barber & Parlour. This retro hangouts got cocktails, coffee and, most importantly, a 15 nail file and paint that will get you in and out in no time.

64-66 Redchurch St, Bethnal Green E2 7DP, barberandparlour.com

Muse of London

Next time you have a tenner, check out Muse of London near Oxford street for a quick file and paint. And if you close your eyes, this trendy salon will make you feel like one of the Delevingne sisters about to rush off for a shoot in Paris.

24 Mortimer St, Fitzrovia, W1T 3JP, museoflondon.co.uk

For your face...

Clarins Beautybar

Head into the John Lewis Beauty Bar on Oxford Street for 30 minutes of luxe relaxation, courtesy of Clarins. They have eight express facials to choose from, each going for 25. Wed recommend the City Skin Rescue, perfect for high stress levels, late nights and blitz breakouts.

278 Oxford St, London, W1A 1EX, clarins.co.uk/treatments

Lavender on the Hill

If just saying the name of this salon doesnt calm you down, than perhaps their 30 minute MONU express facial for 40 pounds will. First-timers get 20% off, too, so youll leave feeling radiant, relaxed and pleased with the price.

50 Highgate West Hill, Highgate, N6 6DA, lavendaronthehill.com

For your hair...

Blo Bar

Blo Bar London specializes in quick blowouts for a decently cheap price. / Blo Bar

Dont have time to go home and change before your big date after work? Try Blo Bar for a quick fix thatll leave you feeling glamorous and fresh. For 28, you can get a voluptuous blow-out in the blink of an eye, but for 18, theyll give you a dry style thats just as chic.

81 Chiswick High Rd, Chiswick, W4 2EF, b1obar.com

Neville Hair and Beauty

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This ingenious shop does exactly what its name suggests. Next time youve had enough of your co-workers, head over to Piccadilly for a 10-minute back massage for 12 and some sweet relief.A British man suspected of murder has been named on a list of Europe's most wanted fugitives.

Shane O'Brien is the chief suspect in the murder of 21-year-old Josh Hanson, who was killed in an unprovoked knife attack in a bar in Hillingdon, west London, in 2015.

Europol, which has announced Europe's most wanted, said O'Brien is wanted for murder and grievous bodily injury.

A reward of up to 50,000 is available for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of O'Brien.

In February 2017, he was arrested in Prague for criminal damage and assault but used the Italian alias of Enzo Mellonceli, supported by false documentation, and was bailed pending further enquiries.

An image taken then shows he has grown his hair, has a full beard and has a distinctive new tattoo of an owl holding a skull, which covers up his previous "Shannon 15-04-06" tattoo.

O'Brien, originally from Ladbroke Grove, is said to use aliases including Enzo Mellonceli and Enzo Machado.

Mr Hanson, from Kingsbury in north-west London, was found with a serious wound to the neck at the RE Bar in Hillingdon at about 1.10am on October 11 2015. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as haemorrhage, inhalation of blood and an incised wound to the neck.S ix people have been seriously injured - with one fighting for their life in hospital - after a car "ploughed into a group of people".

Police in Essex said the vehicle collided with six pedestrians on Furtherwick Road, Canvey Island, at around 4.10pm.

One of the injured was described as being in a life-threatening condition, one has potential life-changing injuries, and four have serious injuries.

Four ambulances and five police cars are said to be on the scene.

One witness told the Mirror: "We just came down for the day and heard a bang and then saw all the air ambulances arrive."

A spokesman for Essex Police said: "A section of the road is currently closed while officers and paramedics deal with the incident."

A spokesman for for the Essex ambulance service said: "A number of resources attended including three air ambulances, four ambulances, the hazardous area response team (HART) and a number of ambulance officers.

"Ambulance staff worked with the police to treat causalities and make the area safe. A total of five casualties were treated by crews.

"A casualty in a critical condition has been flown to a London hospital. A second casualty with a potentially life-changing leg injury has also been flown to a London hospital.

"One casualty has been taken to Basildon and Thurrock Hospital in a stable condition and two other casualties have been taken to Southend Hospital in a serious condition. No further details of casualties or injuries are available."

Jon Moore, Deputy Director of Service Transformation, Specialist Operations and Resilience at the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: "The emergency services and critical care teams worked extremely quickly and professionally together at this incident to ensure patients received the right care as swiftly as possible."A group of cleaners stormed the Tate Modern gallery to demonstrate against their investment firm employer - a sponsor of a recently opened Picasso exhibition.

Workers from the Ernst & Young (EY) investment firm - based in London, with sites in London Bridge and Canada Water - began demonstrating at the gallery on Saturday evening.

EY is currently the main sponsor for the 'Picasso: 1932' exhibition, which runs until September. Security staff at the Tate were quoted as saying they had "never seen anything like this" as the demonstrators set up camp.

Members of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), told the Standard they were protesting an ongoing consultation by ISS, the firm that handles E&Y's cleaning contracts, which they fear could see many of them sacked.

Protesters demonstrate inside the Tate Modern / IWGB

Henry Lopez, President of the IWBG, told the Standard: "They are exploiting us. Ernst & Young is a multi-million pound company - why can't they afford to keep on a few more cleaners?

"We fear they're going to just get rid of half the staff and get those who are left on to pick up the slack. It's all about cutting costs.

"We really feel let down. They should be ashamed. It's outrageous."

Exterior view of the Tate Modern (PA ) / PA

A spokesman for EY told the Standard: "EYs UK cleaning contracts are undertaken by ISS, a leading global provider of facility services.

"ISS are currently conducting a consultation process with their employees and employee representatives about changes to their business, and are taking steps to support their people during this difficult time.

"EY is a committed supporter of the London Living Wage and this is part of our contractual agreement with ISS."

An ISS spokesman said: "ISS is managing a number of changes in consultation with its employees and their employee representatives.

"It is our sincere desire that we will avoid the need for redundancy and that suitable alternative employment can be found within ISS for any affected individual. We will be working with our employees and their representatives to this end."J eremy Corbyn has condemned a series of airstrikes against Syria as "legally questionable".

The Labour leader said the action makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

Britain should not be taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way, Mr Corbyn said.

"Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace," he said.

Mr Corbyn added: "This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely."

His response follows the launch of missile strikes by the US, UK and France overnight.

Corbyn on Syria: More bombing will not save life

Three waves of strikes destroyed important infrastructure at sites connected with the Syrian regime's chemical weapons programme.

British Tornado GR4s departed from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs, where the regime is said to have kept chemical weapon precursors.

Other sites near Damascus were also targeted in the assault which US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis called a "one-time shot".

Mr Corbyn added: "Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harms way.

"Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump.T he joint US, British and French air strikes on a Syrian chemical weapons plant have been celebrated by the world leaders behind it - despite concerns from political opponents at home.

The joint bombing campaign in Syria was hailed a "success" by Theresa May, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron in talks by telephone on Saturday afternoon.

Britain launched cruise missiles as part of the co-ordinated military operation with the United States and France in response to the chemical weapons attack in Douma one week ago.

Mr Trump declared it was "mission accomplished" and thanked the UK and France "for their wisdom and the power of their fine military".

Russia's UN ambassador condemns airstrikes on Syria

In separate calls, the Prime Minister spoke to the US and French presidents to discuss the offensive.

"The three leaders agreed that the military strikes taken against the Syrian Regime's chemical weapons sites had been a success," a No 10 spokesman said.

Donald Trump: Mission accomplished with Syria air strikes

All NATO allies had "given the action their full support", secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said.

Speaking in Brussels, he told reporters: "Before the strikes took place last night, Nato allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue through the UN Security Council by diplomatic and political means.

Downing Street said Mrs May has spoken by telephone to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, King Abdullah of Jordan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU President Donald Tusk, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

US, UK and French forces launch airstrikes on Syria 1 /15 US, UK and French forces launch airstrikes on Syria Images emerged showing the damage to a research lab near Damascus AP A fireman extinguishes smoke at a damaged lab in Damascus AP The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus Getty Images The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus Getty Images An RAF Tornado pilot checking his weapons before taking-off PA A missile lights up the sky over Damascus AP An image shows the release of a Tomahawk missile REUTERS Damage to a research lab near Damascus AP A Tomahawk missile pictured after being launched AFP/Getty Images French officials attend Defence Council in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump announces the launch of military action on Syria AFP/Getty Images Theresa May addresses a press conference in Downing Street AP Department of Defense spokeswoman Dana White and Joint Staff director Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. address reporters EPA Syrian state TV shows a missile over Damascus AP Protesters outside the Syrian Embassy, in Amman, Jordan EPA

Not everyone has been so positive, however.

At home, Mrs May faced scrutiny from Opposition members such as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Tottenham MP David Lammy.

Mr Corbyn said the military action against Syria was "legally questionable" and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

He said: "Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US Defence Secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely."

Nikki Haley: US is locked and loaded against Syria

While Mr Lammy asked on Twitter: "If...the Government won't take Syrian children stranded in Europe because this is apparently not 'right', how many have come directly from Syria?

"Look forward to publication of ambitious [Government] target and strategy for taking Syrian refugees when Parliament returns on Monday."

In the US, Mr Trump was slammed by Democrat politicians for refusing to consult Congress before moving ahead with the strike.

Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clintons 2016 running mate, questioned Mr Trump's increasing confidence as a military commander.

Trumps decision to launch airstrikes against Syria without Congresss approval is illegal. We need to stop giving presidents a blank check to wage war, he tweeted Friday night. Today its Syria, but whats going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?

Internationally, Syrian ally and Russian leader Vladimir Putin blasted the attacks as being "in violation of the UN Charter".

He said: An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei branded the strike a crime and said it would not achieve any gains.

He said in a speech: "Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals.

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits.R ussia president Vladimir Putin has condemned destructive US, UK and French strikes in Syria.

The action in retaliation to a suspected chemical attack in Douma saw more than 100 cruise missiles blasted at three key areas linked to the production of weapons around 2am BST today.

Russia, Syrias main backer, claimed the Kremlin had not received any warning prior to the strikes.

Theresa May told a press conference at Downing Street the action should be seen as a warning to Russia.

Syrian media shows a missile over Damascus / AP

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader said Moscow is calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

Mr Putin added that the strike had a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations".

He claimed the strikes were in violation of the UN charter.

Missiles streak across the Damascus skyline / AP

The Russian leader said: An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law.

He reaffirmed Russia's view that the purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake and added: Just as one year ago, when the Shayrat Airbase in Syria came under attack, the US used as a pretext a staged chemical attack against civilians, this time in Douma, a Damascus suburb.

Having visited the site of the would-be chemical attack, Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine or any other toxic agent. Not a single local resident was able to confirm that a chemical attack had actually taken place.

Syrian news release footage said to show anti-air missiles over Damascus

Meanwhile, the Russian military said Syria's Soviet-made air defence systems have downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies.

Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said Saturday's strike has not caused any casualties, and Syrian military facilities targeted by the US, UK and France have suffered only minor damage.

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He said the Russian air defence assets in Syria monitored the strike but did not engage any of the missiles.

Col Gen Rudskoi said the Syrian military used Soviet-era air defence missile systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the missiles aimed at four key Syrian air bases.T hree key sites of Syrias chemical weapons regime have been damaged in a series of successful US-led air strikes by UK, American and French forces.

The allies launched military action around 2am BST in retaliation to a suspected chemical attack in Douma last Saturday that is believed to have killed as many as 70 people.

Syria and main backer Russia said more than 100 missiles had been fired while footage from Syrian state TV appeared to show huge craters following the blasts.

Theresa May today said the strikes were limited and targeted.

She added that they were successful.

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Mrs told a press conference at Downing Street: We would have preferred an alternative path but on this occasion there was none.

The Prime Ministers words came as French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters: A large part of its chemical arsenal has been destroyed. A lot has been destroyed in last night's strikes.

The action comes in retaliation to the purported chemical attack that the Government said was clearly carried out by Bashar Assads regime.

World reacts to Syria air strikes

Mrs May said open source material showed barrel bombs had been used and a regime helicopter had been seen over the city on April 7.

She emphasised that none of the opposition forces used helicopters or barrel bombs, and that ISIS does not have a presence in the region.

While no further strikes have been planned, Mr Le Drian refused to rule out a further attack if Assad crossed the 'red line' of using chemical weapons again.

US President Donald Trump last night the Syria's use of chemical weapons was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime".

Missiles streak across the Damascus skyline / AP

Giving a statement at the White House, Mr Trump said: "This evil and despicable act left mothers and fathers and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.

"The combined American, British and French response will integrate all instruments of our national power."

Russian president Vladimir Putin condemned the destructive air strikes and threatened consequences for the allies.

Images provided by government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows a missile flying over the capital Damascus / AP

He claimed the strikes were in violation of the UN convention and called an emergency meeting of the security council later today.

Syria claimed three civilians were injured.

Assad said the military action came after the West realised it had "lost control and credibility in conflict", according to reports.

The leader has also vowed to "fight and crush terrorism in every inch" of the country, Reuters reported.

Syrian military has issued a statement saying three people were injured in the strikes / PA

The strikes came as the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were due to probe the site of the alleged chemical attack.

It said its fact-finding team will continue its work in Syria "to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma".

It added: "The OPCW has been working in close collaboration with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security to assess the situation and ensure the safety of the team."

A RAF Tornado taxis into its hangar at RAF Akrotiri as a series of missile strikes have been launched against Syria by the US / PA

The Prime Minister faced scrutiny for going ahead without consulting MPs and said she would address Parliament on Monday.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn branded the strikes "legally questionable" and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

He said: "Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely.

"Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way.

Air strikes launched in Syria after chemical weapon attack

"Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump. The Government should do whatever possible to push Russia and the United States to agree to an independent UN-led investigation of last weekend's horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account."

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also said questions remained about how peace could be brought to Syria.

She wrote: "My first thoughts this morning are with the service personnel called to action.

Syrian TV: Huge crater showing "aftermath of missile"

"Syria's use of chemical weapons is sickening - but the question that the PM has not answered is how this action, taken without parliamentary approval, will halt their use or bring long-term peace."

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson backed the PM, writing on Twitter that the world was "united in its disgust for any use of chemical weapons, but especially against civilians".

European Council president Donald Tusk said the European Union would stand with its allies "on the side of justice".

"Strikes by US, France and UK make it clear that Syrian regime together with Russia & Iran cannot continue this human tragedy, at least not without cost," he wrote on Twitter.

Nato Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg said in a statement: "I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France against the Syrian regime's chemical weapons facilities and capabilities. This will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons.

"Nato has consistently condemned Syria's continued use of chemical weapons as a clear breach of international norms and agreements. The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, and those responsible must be held accountable.T hese shocking images show the scale of destruction left by American, British and French forces in a series of targeted overnight strikes on Syria.

Soldiers can be seen inspecting the wreckage of buildings once part of the "Scientific Studies and Research Centre" in the Barzeh district of Damascus.

The US, UK and France launched strikes against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's regime in the early hours of Saturday morning in response to an alleged chemical attack on civilians.

US President Donald Trump praised the "perfectly executed strike" later in the day, adding "mission accomplished" in a string of tweets.

AP

Mr Trump thanked the UK and France "for their wisdom and the power of their fine military" in his first tweet since the US, UK and France launched missiles against Syria on Saturday.

He wrote: "A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

AP

The president also hailed the his country's "great military", which he said "will soon be the finest our country has ever had", in the second of two tweets on Saturday.

Meanwhile in Britain, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has written to Theresa May, branding the strikes "legally questionable".

The first images of the attack appear on Syrian TV

In the letter to Mrs May, Mr Corbyn wrote: "I believe that Parliament should have been consulted and voted on the matter. The UK Prime Minister is accountable to Parliament, not to the whims of a US President.

"I believe the action was legally questionable, and this morning the UN Secretary-General has said as much, reiterating that all countries must act in line with the UN Charter.

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"You assured me that the Attorney General had given clear legal advice approving the action. I would therefore be grateful if you would publish this advice in full today."

Russia called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in the aftermath of the strikes, denying a chemical attack had ever taken place.T he US Ambassador to the UN has said her nation's military is "locked and loaded" in the event of another chemical weapons attack.

Speaking at an emergency UN Security Council meeting, Nikki Haley said: "We are confident that we have crippled Syria's chemical weapons program.

"We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will.

"If the Syrian regime uses this poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded."

Syria air strikes: What do we know so far?

UK ambassador Karen Pierce told the meeting there had been "clear boundaries" in the action that had been taken in an attempt to avoid escalation.

She said repeated attempts to hold the Syrian regime to account had been met with Russian "obstruction and resistance".

US, UK and French forces launch airstrikes on Syria 1 /15 US, UK and French forces launch airstrikes on Syria Images emerged showing the damage to a research lab near Damascus AP A fireman extinguishes smoke at a damaged lab in Damascus AP The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus Getty Images The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus Getty Images An RAF Tornado pilot checking his weapons before taking-off PA A missile lights up the sky over Damascus AP An image shows the release of a Tomahawk missile REUTERS Damage to a research lab near Damascus AP A Tomahawk missile pictured after being launched AFP/Getty Images French officials attend Defence Council in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump announces the launch of military action on Syria AFP/Getty Images Theresa May addresses a press conference in Downing Street AP Department of Defense spokeswoman Dana White and Joint Staff director Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. address reporters EPA Syrian state TV shows a missile over Damascus AP Protesters outside the Syrian Embassy, in Amman, Jordan EPA

"We have repeatedly in this council attempted to overcome this obstruction, without success," she said.

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"We are faced with a litany of violations, no sense of guilt, no sense of regret, no sense of responsibility, a shameful record wrapped in a mix of denial, deceit and disinformation."

Ms Pierce added: "I will take no lessons in international law from Russia."

Mr Trump priased his international allies / AFP/Getty Images

Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's representative to the UN, accused the US, Britain and France of following a "well tried" pattern of provocation, "mendacious" accusation, verdict and punishment.

He said: "This is hooliganism in international relations, and not minor hooliganism given that we are talking about major nuclear powers."

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov meanwhile reiterated his claim that the UK was behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

Corbyn asks May for legal justification for Syria air strikes

In the first full response from Moscow since last night's co-ordinated airstrikes by the allied forces, minister Mr Lavrov also hit back at the "incontrovertible facts" the UK, US and France used to justify the strikes in Syria, and said they were not shared with the Russian government.

And he said that the Syrian government is ready to fully co-operate with an investigation into the use of chemical weapons in the city of Douma on April 7.

Following a press conference at Downing Street in which Theresa May linked the Salisbury nerve agent attack on the Skripals and the use of chemical weaponry by Syrian president Bashar Assad, Mr Lavrov again said Russia had evidence the West was responsible.

Highlighting documents presented to Moscow by Swiss researchers, he said: "We have received confidential information and these are questions that have something directly to do with life and death.U S president Donald Trump praised "a perfectly executed strike" carried out in Syria overnight, adding "mission accomplished", in a series of tweets.

Mr Trump thanked the UK and France "for their wisdom and the power of their fine military" in his first tweet since the US, UK and France launched missiles against Syria on Saturday.

He wrote: "A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

The president also hailed the his country's "great military", which he said "will soon be the finest our country has ever had", in the second of two tweets on Saturday.

He added: "So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There wont be anything, or anyone, even close!"

US, UK and French forces launch airstrikes on Syria 1 /15 US, UK and French forces launch airstrikes on Syria Images emerged showing the damage to a research lab near Damascus AP A fireman extinguishes smoke at a damaged lab in Damascus AP The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus Getty Images The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus Getty Images An RAF Tornado pilot checking his weapons before taking-off PA A missile lights up the sky over Damascus AP An image shows the release of a Tomahawk missile REUTERS Damage to a research lab near Damascus AP A Tomahawk missile pictured after being launched AFP/Getty Images French officials attend Defence Council in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump announces the launch of military action on Syria AFP/Getty Images Theresa May addresses a press conference in Downing Street AP Department of Defense spokeswoman Dana White and Joint Staff director Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. address reporters EPA Syrian state TV shows a missile over Damascus AP Protesters outside the Syrian Embassy, in Amman, Jordan EPA

It comes after the three nations launched strikes at three sites connected to the Syrian regime's chemical weapons programme.

The action was launched in retaliation to the purported chemical attack in Syria that the Government has said was "clearly" carried out by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday the strikes were "limited and targeted", adding that they were "successful".

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Syria and main backer Russia said more than 100 missiles had been fired while footage from Syrian state TV appeared to show huge craters following the blasts.

Mr Trump had earlier said that Syria's use of chemical weapons was a "significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime".

Giving a statement at the White House, the president said: "This evil and despicable act left mothers and fathers and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.

"The combined American, British and French response will integrate all instruments of our national power."

Russian leader Vladimir Putin condemned the strikes as an "act of aggression" and threatened "consequences for the allies".

He called an emergency meeting of the UN security council, which will be held at 4pm BST today.G lobal leaders have offered mixed reaction to US-led airstrikes on Syria by American, UK and French forces.

The action was in retaliation to an alleged chemical attack in Douma that is believed to have killed as many as 70 people.

Theresa May said there was no practicable alternative to the limited and targeted" strikes.

US President Donald Trump hailed the perfectly executed offensive and said in a tweet: Mission accomplished.

Leaders from Canada, China, Germany, Iran, Russia and Isreal were among those to comment on the strike.

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Russia

Russian president Vladimir Putin has condemned destructive US, UK and French strikes in Syria.

He said: An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law.

Valdimir Putin threatened 'consequences' / AP

He reaffirmed Russia's view that the purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake and added: Just as one year ago, when the Shayrat Airbase in Syria came under attack, the US used as a pretext a staged chemical attack against civilians, this time in Douma, a Damascus suburb.

Having visited the site of the would-be chemical attack, Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine or any other toxic agent. Not a single local resident was able to confirm that a chemical attack had actually taken place.

Global leaders have offered mixed reaction to US-led airstrikes on Syria by American, UK and French forces.

The first images of the attack appear on Syrian TV

Iran

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei branded the strike a crime and said it would not achieve any gains.

He said in a speech: "Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals.

US, UK and French forces launch airstrikes on Syria 1 /15 US, UK and French forces launch airstrikes on Syria Images emerged showing the damage to a research lab near Damascus AP A fireman extinguishes smoke at a damaged lab in Damascus AP The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus Getty Images The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus Getty Images An RAF Tornado pilot checking his weapons before taking-off PA A missile lights up the sky over Damascus AP An image shows the release of a Tomahawk missile REUTERS Damage to a research lab near Damascus AP A Tomahawk missile pictured after being launched AFP/Getty Images French officials attend Defence Council in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump announces the launch of military action on Syria AFP/Getty Images Theresa May addresses a press conference in Downing Street AP Department of Defense spokeswoman Dana White and Joint Staff director Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. address reporters EPA Syrian state TV shows a missile over Damascus AP Protesters outside the Syrian Embassy, in Amman, Jordan EPA

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits.

China

Chinas foreign ministry said on Saturday they are opposed to the use of force in Syria, AFP has reported.

Canada

Prime minister Justin Trudeau backed the action.

Donald Trump: Mission accomplished with Syria air strikes

He said in a statement from Peru: Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons in last weeks attack in Eastern Ghouta, Syria.

Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom and France to take action to degrade the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people.

We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice.

Germany

Angela Merkel backed the strikes calling them a necessary and appropriate warning against the use of chemical weapons.

Isreal

Missiles streak across the Damascus skyline / AP

A member of Isreals security cabinet Yoav Gallant said on Twitter: The American offensive is an important signal to the axis of evil-Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah. Use of chemical weapons is a red line crossing that humanity cannot tolerate anymore.

An Israeli official said Israel was notified of the strikes between 12 and 24 hours ahead of action being launched.

Turkey

Turkeys foreign ministry said in a statement that it believed the action was appropriate.

It added that the country welcomed the offensive.

The full statement read: Turkeys foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday: Turkey considers the operation carried out early this morning by the United States, United Kingdom and France to be an appropriate response to the chemical attack which caused the deaths of many civilians in Douma on 7 April. We welcome this operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime.

Images emerged showing the damage to a research lab near Damascus / AP

Attacks with weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, that indiscriminately target civilians constitute crimes against humanity. The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannising its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The conscience of the international community carries no doubt to that effect.

Turkey believes that it is of critical importance that such crimes do not go unpunished and that accountability is ensured in order to prevent the recurrence of similar crimes.

In light of this experience, it is essential for the international community, in particular the members of the UN Security Council, to agree upon joint steps to ensure that the use of chemical weapons does not go unpunished.

European Union

European Council president Donald Tusk said the European Union would stand with its allies "on the side of justice".I ve done enough camping to know that a devil-may-care attitude to your sleeping environment will never work out, no matter how optimistic your outlook.

You use more energy when youre exposed to the elements all day  rain or shine  so getting a decent amount of shut-eye is critical - not just for you, but also for your fellow campers too. After all, no one wants to go to the festival's main stage or head off on an hours-long hike with a sleep-deprived grump. Take it from someone who knows.



Foam roll mats are as effective in cushioning you against the cold, hard ground as a sheet of kitchen roll would be to soak up the Serpentine. Inflatable mattresses are a popular choice, but you really do get what you pay for  a poorly made one will leak air over the course of your trip, leaving you wobbling on top of it like blancmange in the early hours of the morning.

No, for a solid nights sleep, youll need a solid bed  and thats where camp beds come in.

Lightweight, easy to transport and simple to set up, they prop you up off the floor and come in different lengths to accommodate campers of all shapes and sizes.

You dont have to live like a wild animal just because youre in the great outdoors. A few creature comforts will make tent life far more comfortable.

From compact beds for single sleepers to designs big enough to share with someone special, here are our favourite camp beds.

See our favourites below

ALPIDEX Foldable Camping Bed Camp Cot

Useful for more than just camping, this fold up bed can be set up to accommodate unexpected overnight guests as well as taking to the beach as a sun lounger or somewhere to recline when fishing.

Weighing 120kg and folding down for easy storage, it features an angled headrest so that you can rest comfortably even without a pillow as well as a side pocket for essentials.

Also available in blue and grey.

TFG Chill Out Three Leg Bed

Technically a fishing bed, this roomy design guarantees a good nights rest thanks to the padded base, ample lumbar support, built-in plump neoprene headrest and robust super grip mud feet. Lightweight at 9.6kg, its a great purchase for anyone with a dodgy back.

Dimensions: L208 x W82 x H28 - 39cm.

Kampa  Together Double Camp Bed

Camping can be a romantic and relatively cheap weekend away, especially if you plan and pack the right equipment.

Couples heading for the great outdoors should consider this double-sized camp bed which folds out just as easily as a standard design. A central bar runs through the centre of the structure, isolating movement to each half of the bed - meaning you won't wake up when they go for a midnight loo run. There are two integrated pillows too, which are sufficient if youve forgotten to pack your own.

Naturally, a bed of this size (L193 x W130 x H48cm when opened) does weigh more than the average camp bed at 13.4kg but we dont think that will be an issue if youre driving to your campsite.

Comes with a carry bag.

Outwell Posadas Foldaway Bed XL

Sleeping in tents can be particularly difficult for taller people, who may find it difficult to nod off when their feet are dangling off the edge. Thats why we like this bed, which comes in a large size with a length of 212cm (6ft 9in). Its built to last through an endless number of demanding scenarios, from emergency sleeping to hiking trips in rural areas.

It can comfortably bear a weight of up to 120kg yet weighs just 9.6kg.

Hi-Gear Slumber Campbed

Save yourself the backache thats usually associated with outdoors sleeping with this basic but sturdy bed from camping specialists Go Outdoors.

Easily to set up and comfortable to sleep on, it can hold 110kg in weight and comes with rounded feet to try and spare damage to your tents groundsheet. When packed down it weighs 5.2kg, so one to save for camping trips with friends and family rather than big festivals. All in all, not bad for the price at all.

Measurements: 190 x 63 x 43cm.

Vango Laze XL Reclining Campbed

Seasoned campers know its better to invest in quality kit rather than buying cheap year after year - and anything with a dual function is a plus. Therefore weve included this camp bed, which is not only generously sized and can bear more than 18st, but it has the ability to recline at five different angles too - making it perfect for sunbathing on summer camping trips when youre not snoozing under the stars.

Eurohike Utah 4 Leg Campbed

If youre looking for something to keep you off the cold, hard ground but not a frequent enough camper to justify the cost of something pricey, this basic bed performs admirably. Delivered in a carry bag, set up is simple: roll out the water-repellent fabric base and start building the frame around it. The side poles are easy enough to attach, but youll need some elbow grease to jimmy the legs in properly.

The juice is most definitely worth the squeeze though: a sturdy bed to see you through a full weekend of use - or longer.

Milestone Camping Folding Camp Bed

Just like in the Scouts, it pays to be prepared when youre camping out. This aluminium and nylon portable bed will make sure youre ready for all the days adventures by offering a comfortable and stable place to rest at night. Sturdy yet lightweight and comfortable, Amazon reviewers love how easy it is to set up (quicker than blowing up an air mattress).

Dimensions: H42cm x W64cm x D189cm

Kid-O-Bunk Kids Bunk Bed Set

If youre preparing for a camping trip with excitable, little ones in tow, their faces are bound to light up at the thought of sleeping in this bunk camp bed. When constructed as a bunk its 81cm tall which may be too high for some tents, so its good to know theres also an option to have two beds side by side too.

Made from polyester and a tubular metal frame, everything packs down into a hand carry bag. Its an extremely useful piece of kit to have on standby; think sleepovers or just spare options for unexpected overnight guests.

Maximum load 90kg.

COVACURE Camping Hammock with Mosquito Net - 2 Person

This highly-rated hammock offers a different proposition to sleeping in the great outdoors. Made with high grade parachute nylon, it features a built-in mosquito net as well as various entry points using zips, so theres no need to worry about tumbling out when you need a late night loo visit. There are also a pair of aluminium stakes included to increase the stability of the design for extra peace of mind.

It sets up in three minutes and the stitched carry sack can be used as a handy storage pocket once youve got the hammock set up.

This wont work at campsites - unless there are trees in the vicinity - but if youre heading on a hike or climbing expedition, it ticks all the boxes.

VerdictW ith a new season of Britains Got Talent airing on Saturday, Standard Online caught up with Tokio Myers to see how life has changed since he won the show.

Myers stole the show at last years finale with his chilling performance mixing Rag N Bone Mans chart-topping hit Human and a powerful piano piece complete with choir.

Myers - real name - Torville Jones, first put his fingers to the keys at the age of nine and at the age of 32-years-old he auditioned for Britains Got Talent, taking the crown in 2017.

During his first audition Myers touched on his experience with music keeping him away from the rough estate he grew up on after witnessing his head teacher being stabbed in front of him.

He left the judges speechless with his and stunning musical ability on the piano encompassed with a mix of Ed Sheerans Bloodstream.

Music mogul Simon Cowell described Myers pyrotechnic mash-ups as something we have never really had on the show before.

Following his BGT win, Myers spoke to the Evening Standard about his aspirations for his future.

The classically-trained pianist promised a powerful album for the people that he hoped would resonate across the nation.

In November last year he released album Our Generation which peaked at number four in the UK charts.

As an advocate for change, he featured in and co-produced a charity single of Bridge Over Troubled Waters, in a bid to raise money for those impacted by the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Last month he bagged himself a collaboration with athlete Jazmin Sawyers to rehash Jerusalem for the official Commonwealth Games anthem.

Reflecting on the 12-months since his Britains Got Talent win he said: Looking back a year on from Britains Got Talent, I never imagined Id be in the position Im in now. I never went on the show to win. I did not have a clue.

[Ive done] a lot of amazing things, basically living the dream, its been incredible and it doesnt seem like its going to stop just yet and I dont want it to. I just thought going on the show would be a laugh, a bit of fun.

Britains Got Talent virtuoso Tokio Myers performs at Tube station

At that point in my life I had exhausted everything I was doing at that time and I needed to do something that was challenging and different [that would throw] me into the unknown. I had no plans. Just went to see what happens.

It wasnt until I just kept going further and further and this became exciting. It has massively changed my life, you hear that a lot but I never understood it and it has been life-changing on so many levels.

Myers is now set to headline his own 20-date tour, selling out all three London dates with venues including O2 Shepards Bush Empire, Printworks, O2 Forum Kentish Town and an additional stop at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Classic BRIT Awards.

Speaking to the Standard Online about the tour, Myers said: We basically only set out to do 5 to 7 dates and we put them online and they sold out and then we put some more out and then the same thing happened so what started off as a five-date tour has ended up as a whole month.

[Playing three different London venues] means I get to play in these venues that I love. I have so many memories of these venues. Im playing Royal Albert Hall too, its really cool for me, Its just nice for me to be able to feel a different vibe.

It could be like Royal Albert Hall which is all red and grand and then Printworks is an old industrial factory, really rough around the edges. I love to be able to go through those two exchanges to experience this music in different settings.

At the end of the year were talking about going even bigger, Brixton Academy. Ive actually created my music for these places, like the elements of classical and then I like to challenge those places like piano music in Printworks and then the opposite of that with big harsh drum beats in the Royal Albert Hall.

Myers is set to play O2 Forum Kentish Town on Friday 20 April and O2 Shepherds Bush Empire April 22 and the official Commonwealth Games single Jerusalem is out nowB ritains Got Talent returned to screens on Saturday night as the formidable judging panel began their search for the next Royal Variety performer.

Once again, Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and David Walliams took their seats and perched over their red buzzers ready to see what the nation had to offer.

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly returned to host the show, ready to talk to the acts before and after their performances, and one act in particular made a lasting impression on them as they pushed their golden buzzer.

McPartlin, who has since stepped down from television commitments, appeared jovial alongside his comedy partner Donnelly, who it was recently confirmed will host the live shows later this year on his own as McPartlin recovers.

Here are our five must-see auditions from the opening episode:

Calum Courtney

Essex schoolboy Calum wowed the judges with his powerful voice as he stunned with Michael Jacksons Whos Lovin You earning him a complete blanket of yeses.

After he sang, the 10-year-old received a standing ovation from the audience and coveted thumbs up from Cowell but it was Walliams comment about his talent that reduced Calum to tears, leading to an adorable moment as his brother and mum ran on to hug him. Aww!

Mr Uekusa

Kazuhisa Uekusa, complete with an interpreter to help him out, brought us our first unique audition of the series as the Japanese performer shed his clothes and performed a deluge of table cloth tricks, many involving him pulling the fabric out from underneath a glass.

But perhaps the most striking moment came as Kazuhisa removed his pants and lay on the floor, covering himself with three teacups to protect his modesty. He then removed the cloth over him to reveal his naked body  thankfully with the cups staying in place.

For his efforts, the International Variety Performer received three yeses and one no, the no being Cowell.

Marc Spelmann

The 46-year-old performed a mind-reading trick, with the accompaniment of his wife and daughters belongings, and even moving down to the judging panel to involve them in his trick.

His performance would have reminded many of last years finalists DNA at first but Marc soon dispelled any similarities with an emotional video saying he knew real magic, showing pictures of his baby daughter Isabella  who had been born after his wife underwent chemotherapy - whose favourite things are.the exact things that were on the judges desk and word Cowell had thought of.

In tears, the judges praised the North Londoner for his routine with Holden and Dixon fighting to hold back their tears.

They didnt even need to vote in the end to send the magician through the next round as Ant and Dec came bounding off the stage to press their golden buzzer and send him straight to the semi-finals.

DVJ

Ashley Banjo returned to the stage that made him famous in spirit as the next generation of dance superstars blew the judges away and got four yeses.

Diversity Juniors, ranging from 10 to 18, are spearheaded by Banjo and after just three weeks of rehearsal, pulled off a dance routine sent flying into the history books of BGT.

B-Positive Choir

Choirs are ingrained in the culture of BGT so it wouldnt have been an opening episode without one  in fact, B-Positive were the second to grace the stage, after DMU Gospel Choir got four yeses near the start of the show.

But what made this choir unique is how they were formed. Much like last years Missing Peoples Choir, B-Positive was put together by and with the NHS Blood and Transplant unit to encourage people to give blood.

All members of the group are impacted by Sickle Cell, either patients themselves or with loved ones who suffer from the condition.Countries & Areas

Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia ZimbabwePresident Klaus Iohannis stated on Saturday that Romania further condemns the use of chemical weapons in Syria and expressed his full solidarity regarding the actions of our strategic partners.

"Romania further condemns the use of chemical weapons in Syria, which is beyond any justification. We stand in solidarity with the actions of our strategic partners," Iohannis wrote on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening, in a speech he delivered at the White House, that a combined military operation against Syria is underway, alongside France and the UK, in order to punish Bashar al-Assad's regime, whom he is accusing of a chemical weapon attack against civilians, AFP informed.The offensive consisted of three airstrikes on facilities used to produce and store chemical weapons, the Pentagon informed.Romania endorses and stands in solidarity with the firm response action of the US, the UK and France in Syria, following the chemical attack on 7 April 2018, a release of the Government sent to STIRIPESURSE.RO on Saturday informs.

"Romania's Government condemns, in the most categorical terms, the chemical attack on 7 April 2018, which resulted in casualties among the civil population. Romania supports and stands in solidarity with the firm response action of the US, the UK and France, following the chemical attack, and reiterates its firm support for any effort of the international community destined to end the conflict in Syria," the Gov't release mentions.It would appear, on the available evidence, that the answer to our deliberately leading question is a resounding  Yes. On Monday, 9 April 2018, television viewers could follow the transmission of the UN Security Council debate in relation to the alleged use of toxic substances in the Syrian war theatre, by government forces which are supported by Russia. At a certain point during the heated proceedings, Russian Federation delegate Vassily Nebenzia turned to his Western diplomatic colleagues and referred sarcastically to an allegedly Russian coded intercept from Syria which had supposedly been recorded by British listening stations in Cyprus. It turns out that the very same day that the Security Council debate on the alleged mass poisoning was going on, the British media published an intercept concerning the delivery in Syria of a certain suspicious package in which Russia was said to be involved. The precise nature and composition of the package are yet to be clarified, but from the context of this revelation one could justifiably conclude that the mysterious parcel constituted something extremely compromising for Russia and the Syrian government.

Irrespective of whether one is prepared or not to attribute serious weight to this information as presented by the British media, it is highly unlikely that in the context of the Security Council debate the reference to the sinister package meant much, if anything at all, to the ordinary viewer. However, someone versed in the Srebrenica controversy recognized immediately the message embedded in the emerging narrative. The British intelligence Russian package intercept was the rehashing of a story already seen and heard before.

Under remarkably similar circumstances during the war in Bosnia, an allegedly intercepted conversation, also allegedly couched in highly coded language, and also referring to sinister packages, played a crucial role in the trial and conviction of Serbian General Radislav Krstic for aiding and abetting in the commission of Srebrenica genocide. In that alleged intercept which was, incidentally, accepted into evidence by the Hague Tribunal without ever being subjected to a proper forensic analysis, the conversation supposedly revolved around 3,500 packages that must be distributed. The trial chamber of the Hague Tribunal which heard the Krstic case deciphered these cleverly constructed shibboleths very conveniently to mean that the 3,500 packages was a reference to as many captured enemy soldiers, while the mysterious word distribution was held by the court to be a coded allusion to their imminent execution.

So, the lineage of the extraordinary information shared by the London Times on 9 April 2018 about the appearance of sinister packages in Syria takes us directly back to the Srebrenica genocide intercept hoax of two decades ago. The fact that the metaphor has now been resuscitated, at just the right time to be conveniently fitted into both false narratives de jour, the Sergey Skripal poisoning in England and the fabricated mass poisoning in Syria, points irrefutably to the advanced state of sclerosis gripping Western propaganda mavens. Their reserves of imagination are exhausted, so they invariably always return to yesterdays threadbare matrix. Whatever partial success in mass deception they are still having, the credit is due not to the brilliancy of their skills but exclusively to the publics notoriously short memory and even shorter attention span. For quite a long time they have not produced a single original idea. Another example comes to mind.

When the Norwegian documentary Srebrenica: A Town Betrayed, was broadcast in 2011, great offense was taken because testimony was included that Bosnian Muslim President Alija Izetbegovic used the occasion of a Muslim political gathering in Sarajevo in late September 1993 to discuss an amazing offer made to him by President Bill Clinton. If Serbs could be lured into capturing Srebrenica and then committing the slaughter of at least 5,000 residents  so this callous offer allegedly went  the massacre would impress American public opinion sufficiently to gain public support for President Clintons intervention in the war on the Bosnian Muslim side.

The probability that this version of events, shocking as it may be, might contain a grain of truth gained considerable corroboration somewhat later when another curious set of circumstance came to light. In the aftermath of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, it turned out that Kosovo Albanians were also being talked by someone into entertaining expectations very similar to those held by the Bosnian Muslims shortly before. They were told, as we subsequently learned, that if they managed to engineer the sacrifice of about 5,000 Albanian civilians at the hands of Serbian forces in Kosovo, the resulting outrage would ensure the intervention of NATO forces on their behalf. In a broadcast on BBC2, 12 March 2000, Kosovo Albanian negotiator Dugi Gorani expounds that proposition as follows: The more civilians were killed, the chances of international intervention became bigger, and the Kosovo Liberation Army [KLA] of course realised that. There was this foreign diplomat who once told me, 'Look unless you pass the quota of five thousand deaths you'll never have anybody permanently present in Kosovo from the foreign diplomacy.

It used to be possible to view a video clip of Goranis remarks until inexplicably it disappeared from the internet. Luckily, the transcript still survives on BBCs website.

For those inclined to believe that Izetbegovic and Kosovo Albanian leaders would have hesitated to inflict such an outrage on their own people for mere political gain, the following segment of the same BBC broadcast suggests otherwise:

ALAN LITTLE [programme announcer] : [ 1]

It was a calculated but dangerous gamble. The KLA's political leader Hashim Thaqi now admits that he knew the Serbs would retaliate against innocent civilians.

HASIM THACI [KLA leader]:

Any armed action we undertook would bring retaliation against civilians. We knew we were endangering a great number of civilian lives.

The calculating stance of the Albanian side, devoid of humanitarian compunctions, was reaffirmed by Gorani as follows: Every single Albanian realised that the more civilians die, intervention comes nearer

BBCs NATO bombing post-mortem in the year 2000 is of interest also for laying bare the interventionist rationale on the Western side.

ALAN LITTLE [programme announcer]:

The western world was still haunted by a profound collective guilt: it knew it had waited too long to intervene in Bosnia. Now one woman resolved not to make the same mistake again.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT [US Secretary of State]:

I believed in the ultimate power, the goodness of the power of the allies and led by the United States. We were dealing with such a basic evil that could not be tolerated I thought it behooved me to say to my colleagues that we could not repeat the kinds of mistakes that had happened over in Bosnia, where there was a lot of talk and no action and that history would judge us very, very severely.

That evil, it was helpfully explained by Little, were the designs of Slobodan Milosevic: He'd persuaded the Serbian people that they were surrounded by predatory enemies, and led them to war against their neighbours The world had failed to defend the Bosnians against Milosevic. In 1995, Serb forces marched into Srebrenica and murdered seven thousand Bosnian Muslim men and boys. In the West, many came to believe that the lessons of Bosnia could now be applied to the very different circumstances of Kosovo.

Referring to the factors that finally prevailed in favour of Kosovo intervention, Mrs. Albright declared in the BBC interview that I decided it was worth it, a deja vu if there ever was one from that lady [2]

The invocation of the 5,000 victim figure as a trigger for military intervention in the context of Kosovo not only lends corroboration to the report of an identical offer having been made during the war in Bosnia; it serves also as another striking illustration of Diana Johnstones thesis about the political uses of Srebrenica. Madeleine Albright repeatedly made it clear that she used the alleged failure to intervene to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Srebrenica as the rationale for later successfully advocating military action in Kosovo.

This also illustrates something else. In both cases, when the need arose to induce a Western humanitarian intervention, first in Bosnia, then in Kosovo, the magic number, 5,000 victims required to trigger political action, was invariably the same. Today, when the playbook calls for smearing Russia, they are engaged in the digging up and conceptual adaptation of intercepts dating back to the Krstic Srebrenica trial of almost two decades ago.

Western policy-makers and their media appendages are devoid of creative imagination. They can do little more than stick to the same, worn-out, constantly recycled templates. [3]

Endnotes:

[1] For a BBC background piece on presenter Alan Little, see here .

[2] It will be recalled that on May 12, 1996, Albright defended UN sanctions against Iraq on a 60 Minutes segment in which Lesley Stahl asked her: "We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" and Albright replied "we think the price is worth it."The Crown Princes of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and the Malaysian Sultanate of Johor are all staking their respective claims to authority that have far-reaching consequences beyond their own potentates. The princelings of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi are heirs apparent. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) is the designated heir to the aged and, reputedly, dementia-hobbled King Salman. Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan (MbZ) will eventually replace his ailing father, the Emir of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates, Khalid bin Zayed al Nahyan. Emir Khalid suffered a stroke in 2014 and his son, MbZ has been the de facto ruler of the UAE, in his fathers stead.

Both MbS and MbZ are flexing their political muscles, both domestically and internationally, as they seek to position themselves politically against internal rivals for power and international adversaries, including Iran, the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Lebanons Hezbollah, Qatar, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. MbS and MbZ can get away with outrageous moves and statements at home and abroad because they are effectively in charge of non-democratic countries. Those powers are not conferred upon the Crown Prince (Tunku Mahkota) of Johor, a member-state of the Federation of Malaysia, which is ostensibly a constitutional monarchy and democracy.

The Crown Prince, who has the unusually long name of Tunku Ismail Idris Abdul Majid Abu Bakar Iskandar ibni Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, recently enraged many Malaysians when he broke from precedent and criticized the opposition party and its leader, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Ismail called Mohamad a forked-tongue individual, in a clear endorsement by the Johor sultans family of the incumbent government of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his UMNO (United Malays National Organization) party. With elections looming and Mahathir receiving a well-spring of support as the leader of the opposition to Razaks rule, the Crown Princes delving into politics was unprecedented in recent years.

During his over two decades as prime minister, Mahathir moved to curb the powers of the royal families of Malaysia, including the Johor sultanate. The Crown Prince is piqued that, while in power, Mahathir attempted to eliminate the Johor Military Force (JMF), which has been in existence since 1886 and is the only state-level military force in Malaysia. The royal families of Malaysia, while not quite as internationally notorious as those of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, are, nevertheless, prone to scandal. In 2008 and 2009, Tunku Ismail was involved in two physical assaults of Tunku Nadzimuddin, a member of the royal household of the state of Negeri Sembilan. The second assault reportedly involved Tunku Ismail pointing a pistol at the head of the Negeri Sembilan royal. It was not Tunku Ismails only brush with scandal.

But it is Tunku Ismails Facebook posting in which he clearly played political favorites, supporting Najib over Mahathir, that has the voters of Johor and Malaysia fuming. Tunku Ismail also indicated that Malaysias neighbors also favor the incumbent prime minister over his predecessor and one-time mentor. Tunku Ismail wrote, Our neighboring countries and I believe that if a ship has been sailing fine for many years but has an issue due to its skipper, do not fix it with a new engine.

Some Malaysians responded to Tunku Ismails posting to tell him to stay out of politics. That earned them a full-blown investigation by the Johor police for insulting a member of the royal family. The concept of lese-majeste, which stipulates that insulting a member of royalty constitutes a legal offense, may have gone out of favor in most of the world, but it survives in Asian monarchies like Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, and Japan.

While insulting or criticizing a member of royalty might earn an offender, at a minimum, a fine in a country like Malaysia, or at the maximum, a prison sentence in a kingdom like Thailand, in Saudi Arabia, it can result in much worse. During his whirlwind visit to the United States, it was reported that MbS told several close colleagues, including Abu Dhabis MbZ, that he had Donald Trumps son-in-law and special adviser Jared Kushner in his pocket. During meetings held between MbS and Kushner in Riyadh in October 2017, Kushner provided intelligence from the Presidents Daily Brief to MbS. This included US National Security Agency (NSA) signals intelligence on communications between members of the Saudi royal family and other prominent Saudis opposed to MbSs rapid rise to power.

Not only did MbS use this information to draw up a hit list of Saudi princes, government officials, and businessmen who were arrested and detained in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, but on November 6, 2017, Trump tweeted out his support for the arrest of the prominent Saudis, some of whom were reported tortured by Saudi security agents loyal to MbS, I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing . . . Some of those they are harshly treating have been milking their country for years! Not only were some of the detained Saudis tortured but there were credible reports that MbS had some rival princes within the House of Saud executed. Major General Ali Al Qahtani of the Saudi royal guard force was reportedly tortured to death by the use of electric shocks and beatings.

Some Trump administration officials, including National Security Adviser Lt. General H.R. McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton, and White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert were reportedly livid over Kushners violations of national security. However, Trump had all of these naysayers fired.

During MbSs visit to Los Angeles, where he rubbed shoulders with Hollywoods gliteratti, including strongly pro-Israel Jewish movie moguls, the Crown Prince told the producers, directors, and actors exactly what they wanted to hear, including the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei, made Adolf Hitler look good because Hitler only tried to conquer Europe but Khamenei was trying to conquer the world." MbSs concept of history is laughable as it is deficient. The future Saudi King seemingly forgot that Hitlers troops drove deep into North Africa and were at the verge of crossing the Urals into Asia. Only someone engaged in hyperbolic propaganda would suggest that Iran has global conquest designs. The same cannot be said of the Saudis, who have bankrolled madrassas and mosques on every continent, except for Antarctica, that push radical Wahhabist Islamic religious doctrine.

MbS also said Palestinians and Israelis have the right to have their own land, the first time a Saudi leader ever acknowledged Israels right to exist. However, MbS was not so committed to the Palestinian cause as he kibitzed with Hollywoods Zionist movers and shakers. For MbS, his primary targets are Iran, the Houthis in Yemen, Qatar, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Assad government in Syria. MbS is willing to work with anyone, particularly the Israelis, to vanquish these five perceived threats to the Saudi regime. On June 6, 2017, Trump aided and abetted MbS by sending out tweets baselessly accusing Qatar of funding terrorism.

But MbSs closest ally in his subterfuge, along with the Israelis, is MbZ. The Abu Dhabi Crown Prince has his own high-level contacts in Washington, especially with the pro-Israeli and neo-conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a favorite pro-war think tank of Trumps third National Security Adviser, John Bolton.

MbZ is now at the center of attention of US federal investigators looking closely at a series of meetings held in Seychelles in 2017 between MbZ; Blackwater mercenary firm founder Erik Prince, who now uses Abu Dhabi as a base of operations for his new mercenary firms  after having sold Blackwater  and who served as a Trump presidential campaign surrogate; members of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency; nationals from Singapore, Russia, Dubai, and Egypt; and George Nader, a cagey Lebanese-American who advised MbZ in strategy against Qatar and who has an arrest rap sheet for pedophilic activities in the United States and Czechia. Former Seychelles President James Michel is a close friend of MbZ.

King Farouk of Egypt famously said to King Zog of Albania that, eventually, there would be left in the world only five Kings  the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds. King Farouk would have most certainly added the Crown Princes or Jacks of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Johor to his list of endangered royal species.

Photo: dailynewsWhat happened right after the second direct US-missiles invasion of Syria, which had occurred on the night of April 13th, could turn out to have momentous implications  far bigger than the attacks themselves.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons headlined on April 14th, in the wake of this US-UK-France invasion of Syria that was allegedly punishing Syrias Government for allegedly having used chemical weapons in its bombing in the town of Douma on April 7th, "OPCW Fact-Finding Mission Continues Deployment to Syria, and reported that:

The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma.

The OPCW has been working in close collaboration with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security to assess the situation and ensure the safety of the team.

This means that the effort by the US and its allies on the UN Security Council, to squash that investigation, has failed at the OPCW, even though the effort had been successful at blocking UN support for that specific investigation.

The OPCW is not part of the UN, nor of any country; it, instead (as introduced by Wikipedia):

is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 192 member states, has its seat in The Hague, Netherlands, and oversees the global endeavour for the permanent and verifiable elimination of chemical weapons.

In conformity with the unchallenged international consensus that existed during the 1990s that there was no longer any basis for war between the worlds major powers, the Convention sought and achieved a UN imprimatur, but this was only in order to increase its respect throughout the world. The OPCW is based not on the UN Charter but on that specific treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, which was formally approved by the UNs General Assembly on 30 November 1992 and was then opened for signatures in Paris on 13 January 1993. According to the Conventions terms, it would enter into effect 180 days after 65 nations signed it, which turned out to be on 29 April 1997.

So, although the treaty itself received UN approval, the recent Russian-sponsored resolution at the UNs Security Council to have the UN endorse the OPCWs investigation of the 7 April 2018 Douma incident, did not receive UN approval. It was instead blocked by the US and its allies. Nonetheless, though without a UN endorsement, the OPCW investigation into the incident will move forward, despite the invasion. This fact is momentous, because a credible international inspection, by the worlds top investigatory agency for such matters, will continue to completion, notwithstanding the effort by the US and its allies on the UN Security Council, to block it altogether. This decision was reached by the OPCW  not by the UN

Among the 192 signers of the Chemical Weapons Convention are US, Russia, and Syria, as well as China, Iran, and Iraq, but not Israel, nor North Korea and a very few other countries. So: all of the major powers have already, in advance, approved whatever the findings by the OPCW turn out to be. Those findings are expected to determine whether a chemical attack happened in Douma on 7 April 2018, and, if so, then perhaps what the specific banned chemical(s) was(were), but not necessarily who was responsible for it if it existed. For example, if the rebels had stored some of their chemical weapons at that building and then Syrias Government bombed that building, the OPCW might not be able to determine who is to blame, even if they do determine that there was a chemical attack and the chemical composition of it. In other words: science cannot necessarily answer all of the questions that might be legal-forensically necessary in order to determine guilt, if a crime did, in fact, occur, there.

If the investigation does find that a banned chemical was used and did cause injuries or fatalities, then there is the possibility that its findings will be consistent with the assertions by the US and its allies who participated in the April 13th invasion. That would not necessarily justify the invasion, but it would prove the possibility that there had been no lying intent on the part of the US-and-allied invaders on April 13th.

However, if the investigation does not find that a banned chemical was used in the Syrian Governments bombing of that building, then incontrovertibly the US-and-allied invasion was a criminal one under international laws, though there may be no international court that possesses the authority to try the case.

So: what is at stake here from the OPCW investigation is not only the international legitimacy of Syrias Government, but the international legitimacy of the Governments that invaded it on April 13th. These are extremely high stakes, even if no court in the world will possess the authority to adjudicate the guilt  either if the US and its allies lied, or if the Syrian Government lied.

For us historians, this is very important. And, for the general public, the significance goes much farther: to specific Governments, to their alleged news media, and to the question of: What does it even mean to say that a government is a democracy or a dictatorship? The findings from this investigation will reverberate far and wide, and long (if World War III doesnt prevent any such findings at all).Russia has been trying, since the late 1990s, to build replacements for Cold War era warships. Many of these have reached the end of their useful lives and many of them, while still listed as in service, rarely, if ever, seem to leave port. Russian admirals have been aware of the fact that they won't have much of a navy by the 2020s unless these older ships are replaced. The problem is that the older ships cannot be refurbished or upgraded because that would cost more than buying new ones, These older ships are not just falling apart, but because there was not any money available right after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, there were few repairs and no upgrades during the 1990s.

The Russian parliament finally came up with more money after 2000 to build enough surface ships to maintain a respectable fleet. But there's the other problem. Most of Russia's warship building capability (experience and kills) disappeared during 1991. Before 2014 the government thought it had a solution and that was to make a deal with France to import modern warship building techniques, by purchasing two Mistral amphibious assault ship/helicopter carriers, and the right to build two more in Russian shipyards. During that process, Russian shipbuilders would learn how it's done in the West. Since the late 1990s, most of the Russian construction effort went into finishing a few subs and building some surface ships for export. Even these subs had serious construction problems. Mainly it was quality control and the navy refused to accept ships, especially subs that could not pass sea trials. Apparently, the ship yards were ordered to put all their efforts into the subs and eventually some of these limped into service. But the deal to import French shipbuilding techniques disappeared when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. France refunded the billion dollars paid for the two Mistrals (and later sold them to Egypt) leaving the Russians on their own.

Now the Russian navy is in desperate shape. The latest example of how this is working out can be seen in the continuing delays getting the new class of 4,500 ton frigates (the Gorshkov class or "Project 22350") into service. Construction on these began in 2006 but by 2010 only one had been launched and it was still only half complete. The navy wanted twenty Gorshkovs to replace the Cold War era Sovremenny class destroyers and Burevestnik class frigates. The government has only promised money for twelve Gorshkov sand has since raised that to fifteen. But so far the first Gorshkov has not passed sea trials. This ship was commissioned in 2017 but could not enter service until it passed the sea trials. So far the Gorshkov has not done so. The latest delay is the failure of the anti-aircraft missile system to function properly. There are also problems with the engines. The builder says all will be ready by July. A second Gorshkov was launched in 2014 and is to be ready for sea trials in 2018. A third Gorshkov is under construction but the launch date is unknown because another side effect of the Ukraine invasion was Ukraine refusing to supply any more naval turbines. Russia said it was having a Russian firm begin construction but that is behind schedule and now it looks like no more Gorshkovs (aside from the first two) will be available for completion until the early 2020s.

The Gorshkov's are armed with a 130mm gun, two Kashtan autocannon systems for missile defense, 8 Yakhont 3M55 or PJ-10 BrahMos anti-ship missiles (both are three ton supersonic missiles, with the BrahMos being an advanced version of Yakhont developed in cooperation with India), a launcher for 24 Uragan 1 (SA-N-12) anti-aircraft missiles (30 kilometers range, 70 kg/154 pound warhead), four 533mm (21 inch) torpedo tubes, four RPK-9 (SS-N-29) anti-submarine rockets and a helicopter. These ships require a crew of 210 sailors and will have the latest electronics the Russians have available for anti-air and anti-submarine work. These ships cost about $400 million each and will replace larger ships like the 7,900 ton Sovremenny class destroyers. These older, larger, ships, were designed for high seas operations far from Russian shores. The new fleet will be a return to the traditional Russian navy job of defending coastal waters. Even accomplishing that mission is in doubt if Russian cannot get its shipyards up to speed. Russia has been able to build some new corvettes but these are smaller and much less capable ships than the Gorshkovs.

The Gorshkovs are not an isolated example. The same problems have been encountered with the Su-57 stealth fighter, the radical new T-14 tank, the new Borei SSBN and the Bulava ballistic missile it uses. In general Russian defense, industries continue to have problems developing new engines. The Russian space program is having similar problems with its rockets. The list goes on and on. Russia plays down all these problems but the net result is they have very little locally produced stuff to replace their Cold War designs. Worse, China is now producing improved and more reliable versions of those Cold War era weapons, along with new Western tech (like large, missile armed UAVs) that Russia cannot master.Pakistan still has a major Islamic terrorist problem, despite its two year campaign against Islamic terrorists in the northwest. That campaign has killed nearly 4,000 Islamic terrorists, but only those who are at war with the current government of Pakistan. So far this year Islamic terrorism related deaths are down some 55 fifty percent compared to 2015. Terrorist deaths are still more than ten times higher (on a per-capital basis) than neighboring India. The Pakistani Taliban recently released a video showing recent Taliban activity in North Waziristan and pointing out that the Pakistani Taliban are still carrying out attacks in Pakistan.

Mani Pakistanis still considers a lot of Islamic terrorism permissible for religious or political reasons. Thus Pakistan supports (and protects) Islamic terror groups that attack Afghanistan and India from sanctuaries in Pakistan. It actually gets worse inside Pakistan where there are laws that actually encourages religious violence. The most damaging instance of this are the blasphemy laws enacted in the 1970s. These allow for prosecution of anyone accused of speaking or acting against Islam. While no one had ever been executed because of these laws, many are accused and jailed each year, and often condemned to death (and later reprieved). But a growing number of those accused have been murdered by Islamic fanatics, who are a large, and violent, minority of the population. Accusations of blasphemy are mostly used by Moslems against innocent non-Moslems (usually Christians) or each other. Efforts to repeal these laws, or at least limit their misuse, are violently resisted by Islamic political parties and the military. It was the military that created these laws back when it decided to turn Islamic terrorism into a secret weapon for use against its enemies. The military still uses false blasphemy charges as an excuse to silence (of by death) media and political opponents.

Then there is the government sanctioned terrorism in southwest Pakistan. This area has long been called Baluchistan, or "Land Of the Baluchi", after a tribe ethnically related to the Pushtun in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as the Iranians. Baluchi separatists in Pakistan have been fighting the government for more autonomy, or even a separate state, since Pakistan was created in 1948. After the 1990s some Baluchi tribes tried to work with the Taliban and al Qaeda but that failed because the Taliban were created by the Pakistani military and al Qaeda depended on Pakistani government sanctuary and protection to survive. The Baluchi separatist problem is nothing new as Iran has been fighting such separatists for centuries. Baluchis comprise about two percent of the Iranian population. In Pakistan Baluchis are 3.5 percent of the population and are sympathetic to the fight of their fellow Baluchi in Iran, where Baluchi are a religious (Sunni) and ethnic minority in a Shia majority nation. In both countries the government efforts to suppress the Baluchi separatists is criticized for growing use of illegal methods like kidnapping, murder and tolerating Islamic terrorist violence against Baluchis (usually by pro-government groups hiding out in the area).

Pakistan continues to resist foreign (especially American) pressure to halt its decades long practice of secretly supporting Islamic terrorist groups. The United States openly accuses Pakistan of lying about shutting down some key Islamic terrorist groups (like the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda and several that operate against India) in Pakistan. This pressure is nothing new and has led to a sharp (73 percent) drop in American military assistance since 2011. That is now costing Pakistan over a billion dollars a year as well as access to high-tech American military equipment. The U.S. has also cut economic assistance by about half since 2011 and that is costing Pakistan another half billion dollars a year. Now the United States threatens to cut all aid and impose sanctions if Pakistan does not act. The main sore point here is continued Pakistani support for the Afghan Taliban (and their Baluchistan sanctuary), various Islamic terror groups that concentrate on India (with bases throughout Pakistan but especially in the north, near the border with Indian Kashmir) and the Haqqani Network.

Indian Terrorism Trends

For India Leftist rebel (Maoist) activity continues to decline but remain a bigger problem than Islamic terrorism, at least for India. While in 2015 the Indian Maoists were number four worldwide when it came to deaths caused, they have long been much less of a problem for India than Islamic terrorism is for many other countries. The Indian Maoists have no outside support while the Islamic terrorists have long, and very visibly been based in Pakistan. Nevertheless the Maoists this year are reversing several years of decline (in Maoist related violence). In 2015 there were 251 deaths related to Maoist violence, the lowest level in over a decade. But so far this year it looks like Maoist violence will increased about 40 percent going back to levels not seen since 2014. This is mainly because of the failure to deal with the corruption that kept the Maoists popular enough for decades to keep them going. Despite these increases overall terrorism related deaths for India will be about the same in 2016 as they were when 722 died in 2015.

India blames Pakistan for the sharp increase in separatist and Islamic terrorist activity in Kashmir this year. Pakistan has been sponsoring Islamic terrorism in Indian Kashmir since the 1980s but that approach had failed. Terrorism deaths in Kashmir peaked in 2001. By 2011 India had reduced Islamic terrorist related violence in Kashmir by over 95 percent. Pakistan keeps recruiting, training and sending Islamic terrorists into India without much success. Seeking an alternative method in the last few years Pakistan has been using cash (to buy more local support) and social media in an effort to encourage young Moslems in Kashmir to join Pakistani backed terror groups. That led to a popular (especially on social media) young (21) Kashmiri Islamic terrorist (Burhan Wani) becoming a local celebrity for his largely fictional effort. Then Wani got into a gun battle with police on July 8th and was killed. For an Internet celebrity getting killed unexpectedly can be a great career move, at least in the short term. In Kashmir this led to an outbreak of massive, and often violent protests that have left 78 dead and over 6,000 wounded so far. While alive Burhan Wani was seen as someone who could revive Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), which was once the most powerful Islamic terror group in Indian Kashmir. HM has been fading away since 2010 as more of its leaders were killed or captured and few replacements showed up. HM is unique in that it came to be dominated by Indian Kashmiris and resisted control by Pakistan. While still receiving personnel and other aid from Pakistan, HM was more sensitive to Kashmiri needs and desires, not what Pakistani foreign policy demanded. As a result, when the Kashmiri population turned against Islamic terrorism after 2001 HM began to decline but still retained more local support than the groups that were basically Pakistani inventions. Thus HM maintained its position as the major Islamic terror group in Kashmir because increased Indian success at border security hurt the groups more dependent on personnel and aid from Pakistan. The current increase in violence is declining. While young Kashmiris have little respect for the past, their elders do.

Over 50,000 have died in Islamic militant violence in Kashmir since the 1980s. This ruined the thriving tourism based economy of Kashmir, and eventually turned the largely Moslem population against the terrorists. While the Islamic terrorists have failed to drive India out of Kashmir, they have managed, since the 1970s, to drive most (95 percent) of the Hindus from the Kashmir Valley. But many Hindu shrines, some over 3,000 years old, remain. Thousands of Hindus return each year to pray at these shrines, and the Moslems have begun agitating to restrict access to these shrines. The most militant Moslems want the shrines destroyed. Although Moslem armies first entered this region a thousand years ago, the struggle between Islam and much more ancient Hindu religion continues.

September 15, 2016: In Pakistan (Lahore) police arrested four men they accused of belonging to ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and preparing to carry out terror attacks in the city with the explosives and target information they were caught with. Earlier this month the Pakistani military admitted, for the first time, that ISIL was still active inside Pakistan. This came as the military completed an increasingly visible operation that arrested several hundred ISIL members and supporters (mostly the latter). The arrests were described as a successful effort to prevent ISIL from carrying out attacks on embassies and the airport in Islamabad. The military also admitted that ISIL had carried out some small attacks in Pakistan during 2015 but nothing since then. Meanwhile Afghan and American intel officials agree that most (about 70 percent) of the ISIL members in Afghanistan are Pakistani, mainly former members of the Pakistani Taliban seeking a more hardcore group to work with. Since 2015 ISIL has been trying to establish a base area in eastern Afghanistan (mainly in Nangarhar province) but that has led to constant skirmishing with Pakistani Taliban hiding out there. The local tribes are also largely hostile to ISIL and all this has provided better intel for the security forces on what ISIL is up to and exactly where they are and who they are. Some of the tribes used their own militias to fight ISIL but more often just help set up defenses to keep ISIL out. This cooperation (and information) led to more effective and frequent American air strikes and raids by Afghan troops and American commandos and hundreds of ISIL men have been killed and many more wounded. Many of the wounded desert and there are fewer new volunteers. Cut off from Afghan recruits it makes sense that many of the thousand or so ISIL personnel still active in Afghanistan are from Pakistan. So are many other Islamic terrorists who operate in eastern Afghanistan. But Afghan intelligence believes the Pakistani intelligence (ISI) is now deliberately helping ISIL recruit in Pakistan as long as the recruits go to Afghanistan. It appears that some of those recruits return to Pakistan. ISIL is barely hanging on in Afghanistan and was largely absent, or at least quiet, in Pakistan. ISIL is not dead in Afghanistan but it isnt growing much either. In Pakistan this might be changing.

September 14, 2016: President Ghani of Afghanistan again publically criticized Pakistan for its efforts to use Islamic terrorism to justify opposition to closer economic and military ties between Afghanistan and India. Pakistan blames India for much of the Islamic terrorism violence occurring in Pakistan. This is a charge India, Afghanistan and most of the non-Moslem world considers absurd and unsupported by any evidence. Pakistan admits they created the Taliban, but only to stop the 1990s civil war in Afghanistan. That wasnt true. Pakistan expected the Taliban to ensure that no matter who was running Afghanistan, Pakistani needs would be tended to. That meant tolerance for the drug trade (which made many Pakistanis rich), no contacts with India and no criticism of the Pakistani military or its intelligence branch (the ISI). But the Taliban and the drug gangs have been tearing Afghanistan apart ever since the 1990s. Only about ten percent of Afghans got any economic benefit out of the drug business and millions of Afghans, Pakistanis and people throughout the region have become drug addicts. The majority of Afghans never supported the Taliban and dont consider the current fight against the Taliban, drug gangs and other Pakistan supported groups to be a civil war (which Pakistan calls it) but an undeclared Pakistani war on the Afghan people.

September 11, 2016: In southwest Pakistan (near the Iran border) Iranian troops clashed with a group of Jaish ul Adl Islamic terrorists, killing four of them, wounding three and arresting several others. Jaish ul Adl are one of several Iranian Baluchi groups operating on both sides of the Pakistan border. Apparently Pakistan helped Iran find Jaish ul Adl men when they were in Iran.

In northwest Pakistan (Peshawar) the Pakistani Taliban killed a senior official in the polio vaccination effort. This is the third fatal attack against polio vaccination personnel this year. Despite the anti-vaccination attacks polio cases in Pakistan continue to decline. Thats mainly because there have been fewer Islamic terrorist attacks on vaccination teams, especially in the northwest. Such attacks still occur throughout the country but with less frequency and impact. For years these attacks were mainly against polio vaccination workers who were treating children. Vaccinations had to be halted temporarily so police could search for the killers and determine when it was safe to resume. These killing usually occur in the tribal territories, where opposition to vaccination is more widespread and effective. This has led to a large number of polio cases (303 in 2014, the highest since 1998), mostly in the tribal areas. Among the refugees from the North Waziristan fighting are over 200,000 children who have never been vaccinated. Some of those refugees fled to Karachi where over a million people from the tribal areas have settled in the last decade. Some 80 percent of recent polio cases in Pakistan still occur in the tribal territories of the northwest. The continued vaccination effort makes the total elimination of polio a possibility once more. The Taliban, and many other Islamic terrorist groups believe polio vaccinations are a Western plot to poison Moslem children. Since 2012 68 polio vaccination workers in Pakistan have been killed by Islamic terrorists. Some of the recent attacks were claimed by one of the smaller Pakistani Islamic terrorist groups (Jundullah) and were not fatal. That, in Pakistan, is progress.

September 10, 2016: In Pakistan (the border area between Punjab and Baluchistan) an army search operation found some of the Islamic terrorist caches (containing many weapons plus ammo, explosives and other gear) and killed four Islamic terrorists and captured several more. One soldier was wounded. This was part of an effort to prevent Islamic terrorists from setting up bases outside the tribal territories of the northwest.

September 8, 2016: In northwest Pakistan (Peshawar) the Pakistani Taliban used a roadside bomb to attack a truck carrying police commandos, wounding eight policemen.

September 6, 2016: In Indian Kashmir (Poonch) Pakistani troops opened fire across the border and Indian troops responded. This was the second such incident this month. The first occurred on September 2nd and, as usual, Pakistan accused India of starting it. These incidents began again in mid-August and that ended a ceasefire arranged in April when two days of cross border shooting ended when commanders from both countries met and agreed to resume the 2003 ceasefire. Until April it had been over six months since the last such incident. There were 405 incidents like this in 2015. In December 2015 Indian and Pakistani military leaders met on the Kashmir border to reaffirm efforts to reduce violence on the LOC (Line of Control) in Kashmir. Such incidents still occur despite a 20o3 ceasefire. The current LOC negotiations have kept things pretty quiet on the LOC since a September 2015 meeting in which India threatened a major military response to almost daily Pakistani attacks. Apparently convinced (especially by the Indian politicians and media calling for war) this was serious the Pakistanis reduced the border violence although not the efforts to get Islamic terrorists across the LOC and into Kashmir. There were nearly a hundred of those in 2015.

August 31, 2016: In the southwest (Baluchistan) Pakistan reopened the Chamman border crossing it had closed on the 22nd when Afghanistan refused to punish civilians who had burned a Pakistani flag. Chamman is the second most active border crossing with Afghanistan. The most active crossing is Torkham Gate in northwest Pakistan. That one was closed several times this year because of ongoing border disputes between Pakistan and Afghanistan. This has been going on for years and is more about unresolved border disputes than anything else. Torkham is the main border crossing with Pakistan because on the Pakistani side is the Khyber Pass which has long been the easiest way to get from northern Afghanistan to the lowlands (most of Pakistan and all of India) beyond. Most of the Afghan-Pakistani border is still called the Durand Line. This was an impromptu, pre-independence invention of British colonial authorities and was always considered temporary (or at least negotiable) by locals. This was mainly because the line often went right through Pushtun tribal territories. However, the Afghans are more inclined to accept the Durand Line, and fight to maintain it. Thus recent Pakistani efforts to build more fences and other structures on their side of the border as an attempt to make the Durand line permanent and no longer negotiable. Afghans who use the border are also angry at a new Pakistani visa policy, which requires regular users of the crossings to get a visa. Officially this is a security measure, but given the rampant corruption in Pakistan Afghans see this as another opportunity for Pakistani border officials to demand bribes.

August 30, 2016: In eastern Pakistan (Karachi) soldiers escorted the newly elected (on August 24th) mayor (Waseem Akhtar) to a heavily guarded city park where he could take the oath of office. The mayor was then taken back to the prison where he has been confined since his July arrest on multiple terrorism (political, not religious) charges. He will run the city from his cell as he awaits trial. Meanwhile soldiers continue trying to shut down MQM, the political party the mayor belongs to. This has been going on since August 22nd when the army was ordered to shut down the MQM (one of the largest political parties in the country and a major participant in the violence in Karachi). The government said this operation was necessary because of a recent speech given by MQM leader Altaf Hussain, in which he accused the Pakistani military of being the cause of most problems in Pakistan as well as a supporters of Islamic terrorism. Altaf Hussain has long been hostile to the military and has been operating from Britain since 1991 to avoid assassination by the military or Islamic terrorists. As a result of the latest military offensive senior MQM officials in Pakistan rebelled against Altaf Hussain and declared him replaced. This was an attempt to stop the military from tearing MQM apart. Altaf Hussain also apologized to the military, which insists that all Pakistanis, at least in public, go along with the fiction that the military is not corrupt, does not support Islamic terrorism and exists to prevent India from destroying Pakistan. Those who refuse to go along, especially if they are journalists or prominent politicians, often end up dead or in exile. The Pakistani generals are willing to make deals with the MQM and they have done so before. While security forces continue shutting down MQM operations in Karachi negotiations appear to be underway as well. The military has made it clear that they do not like Altaf Hussain or Waseem Akhtar, despite the popularity of these two politicians. The army and political rivals have long been angry at MQM for using street violence and general strikes (enforced with the threat of violence) to control much of Karachi. MQM got away with this between 1999 and 2008 because MQM was a major supporter of military dictator Pervez Musharraf. The current elected government wants to deal with the various types of misbehavior Musharraf tolerated in an effort to retain power and MQM is high on the list. Even with Musharraf gone MQM remains a major power in Sindh province where it controls 41 percent of the seats in the provincial legislature. In the national parliament MQM controls nine percent of the seats. But in Karachi most residents see MQM as a bunch of gangsters pretending to be politicians. Despite the Musharraf connection the MQM is secular and has long been hostile to the army, particularly the pro-Islamic terrorist factions in the army and ISI. MQM was founded in the 1980s to protect the Muhajir (Moslems who fled to Pakistan after India and Pakistan were created in 1947) from discrimination. Muhajir are nearly eight percent of the population of Pakistan. MQM activists came to be known as rough operators who would use violence to get their way and often threatened to kill anyone who opposed them. Then again that sort of thing is not rare in Pakistan where politics is widely accepted as a blood sport. The government considers MQM a major source of all the violence in Karachi and the locals agree. The problem here is that the MQM is also opposed to Islamic radicalism while the army is not. The army will even tolerate Islamic terrorists as long as they direct their attacks outside of the country, preferably in Afghanistan and India. The MQM situation shows how the corruption problem is the underlying cause of all the problems in Pakistan. Corruption is also the most difficult problem to fix.

August 29, 2016: India and the United States signed a LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement) that enables both countries to depend on each other for military logistics support. Most frequently this means Indian ships can visit an American naval base and get emergency repairs, supplies and fuel and it will be billed to the Indian Navy at the same rates the U.S. Navy would pay. LEMOA also covers military aircraft and ground forces. The U.S. already has LEMOA agreements with over a hundred nations and the main reason other nations have LEMOA deals with the United States. Several prominent Islamic terrorists in Pakistan called this LEMOA against the interests of Islam. Many Moslem majority nations have signed LEMOAs with the United States. The one with India is mainly to deal with aggression from China and their allies Pakistan and Iran.

August 26, 2016: Pakistan responded to Afghan calls for some help in catching Islamic terrorists responsible for a recent attack in Kabul. Some of the dead attackers carried cell phones that had recently communicated with someone just across the border in Pakistan. In response to the Afghan request Pakistan sent troops to the border area but found nothing. The Kabul attack involved Islamic terrorists getting into the campus of the American University. After a ten hour gun battle the attackers were killed or driven from the campus. Nearly 20 died and over fifty were wounded. Most Afghans blamed Pakistan.

August 25, 2016: Iran revealed that security forces in the southeast had recently killed Abu Hafs al Baloushi, the leader of a local Sunni Islamic terrorist group called Ansar al Furqan. This group has been around since 2013 and was involved with drug smuggling and working with Iranian Baluchi separatists. Iran declared that Abu Hafs al Baloushi was actually a mercenary working for an unnamed foreign government. Iran portrayed Ansar al Furqan as paid killers rather than religious fanatics. No proof was presented but in this part of the world no proof is needed because many, if not most Moslems in the Middle East believe that groups like al Qaeda and ISIL were created and are controlled by Israel and the West as a means to attack Islam. In southeast Iran the reality is that the local Baluchis are Sunni and never got along with the Shia Iranians. Armed Baluchi groups often base themselves across the border in Pakistan, which has been unable to halt this sort of thing.The Israeli airstrikes against Iranian bases in Syria plus another Syrian gas attack on civilians has Israelis and Americans updating plans for joint military operations. This includes a major strike against the Syrian military and the possibility that this would result in a major Iranian escalation. Major Iranian operations are unlikely, if only because most European nations agree with attacking the Syrian military in response to the recent chemical weapon attack against civilians near Damascus. Iran prefers a more indirect and less risky approach to getting what it wants.

Russia is trying to dissuade Israel and its Western allies from attacking more Syrian targets, especially those that harm the many Iranians and Iranian mercenaries supporting the Syrian forces. Russia also does not want to put its high tech weapons to the test because so far these electronic and anti-aircraft systems have proved ineffective against Israeli attacks and probably wont do much better against the Americans. This is bad for business, as Russia has been touting the combat experience in Syria to get more sales for their new stuff. It would also be disastrous for Russian diplomacy which has presented Russia as a powerful and technically advanced ally for Syria, Iran and Turkey. Although Russia talks tough against Israel and the Americans it does not want to take this any further, nor does it want to appear like Russia is backing off. Russia is in an embarrassing situation and not getting much sympathy from anyone.

Israel (quietly) and Saudi Arabia (openly) are trying to persuade the Americans to keep their troops in Syria. The U.S. recently announced that withdrawing them was a possibility although it appears all this has more to do with negotiations with Turkey over a number of issues, like membership in NATO and relations with the EU and America. There is also little enthusiasm in the United States for continued American troop presence in Syria. The popular attitude is that Syria and Iraq are regional problems. The U.S. helped to destroy ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and that effort continues around the world. The U.S. remains committed to the defense of Israel and any Arab states who agree with that, but permanently stationing troops in the Middle East is very unpopular with Americans.

Hamas Puts On A Show

Despite the violent demonstrations in Gaza (technically because of the Israeli blockade), there has been nothing similar in the West Bank to show support for Gaza. Hamas declared there would be weekly demonstrations at the Israeli border starting on March 30 and continuing to May 15th (the day after the U.S. said it would open its new embassy in Jerusalem). So far about 33 Palestinians have died and 1,300 wounded. Many of the dead were identified by the Israeli as Hamas members getting up front and trying to urge more civilians to follow them right up to and through the fence. This enables Hamas operatives to bury bombs or try and cut the fence and make possible large numbers of Gazans to get into Israel. The weekly mass demonstrations will feature Hamas trying to adjust their tactics each week to obtain better results. But the Israelis also adapt and tend to do so more effectively.

In the West Bank Fatah leaders officially back the protests but privately admit that it is just a publicity stunt by Hamas that uses dead civilians to gain publicity as the victims of Israeli aggression. There are several reasons for this Fatah attitude. The most important one is the current crackdown on Hamas members in the West Bank. The Palestinian police have arrested over 200 suspects so far and that has sent the other West Bank Hamas agents and supporters into hiding. Since Hamas is organizing the Gaza demonstrations (and arranging the cash rewards for those who are killed or injured, especially those who manage to kill or injure Israeli personnel guarding the border) there is no incentive for West Bank Palestinians to attend violent demonstrations with Israeli forces. Moreover, living standards are much higher in the West Bank and that means fewer people are desperate enough to do anything to earn some money. Unlike Hamas, the people who run the West Bank (Fatah) are mainly into corruption and not imposing lifestyle rules on people and getting them killed because of a constant state of war with Israel.

The large Gaza demonstrations are mainly about providing cover so Hamas can get some operatives into Israel or at least plant bombs near the border fence for attacks on Israeli troops. In the last year, Israel has been increasingly effective at foiling Hamas efforts to build tunnels under the border fence or carry out smuggling operations or attacks off the coast. Without an occasional win, terror groups are seen as ineffective and unworthy of support. Hamas always has the option of launching a full scale rocket attack on southern Israel but the risk of massive Hamas defeat looms larger than ever before. That seems to be discouraging, but not eliminating, the major attack option.

Another thing driving the calls for violence in Gaza is an unresolved feud among senior Hamas leaders. There are several factions, divided largely by a willingness to make peace with Israel and Egypt and concentrate on economic issues in Gaza. Yet Hamas began as a local chapter of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood and has always put more emphasis on destroying Israel than in looking after the welfare of the Gaza population. Iran is again a major player in Gaza, supporting factions that are most willing to attack Israel. Then there are factions that want to at least try and make peace with Egypt (which has blockaded Gaza because of continued sanctuary provided Islamic terror groups operating in Egypt.

Iran Aroused

In the north (Lebanon) Iran has apparently ordered Hezbollah to make preparations for war with Israel. This can be seen by recent Hezbollah moves to take control of Lebanese Army forces on the Israeli border and to push the UN peacekeepers (who are supposed to prevent this sort of thing) out of the way. Hezbollah is building a new line of fortifications and anti-tank obstacles closer to the Israeli border.

Despite all the noise the Palestinians make Israel is concentrating on what it perceives is its greatest threat; war instigated and backed by Iran on two fronts. In the north, there are over 100,000 Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon and Syria aimed at Israel. In the south, there are over 50,000 rockets in Gaza, where Iran is once again a major backer of Hamas. Iran does not have sufficient ground forces available in Gaza (Hamas) and the north (Hezbollah and Iranian mercenaries in Syria) to invade Israel. The coming war involves Israel invading Lebanon, Syria and Gaza to stop the massive rocket attacks. Thus thousands of Israel ground troops are constantly taking short (usually a week or so) courses at special facilities that provide them realistic replicas of what they will face on the ground and instruction on how best to deal with it. There's some urgency to this training effort because Israel knows from recent experience (several wars with Hamas or Hezbollah since 2006) that the best preparation is detailed training based on the latest techniques the enemy is using and the latest tech and tactical ideas Israel has available. While Hezbollah seems prepared for this war Hamas is not. Hamas has a lot more political competition in Gaza and the competition is growing while Hamas fails to win even a token victory. Iran cannot provide a lot of support for Hamas because Gaza is more physically isolated than Lebanon, Syria or Yemen.

The Economic Impact

The West Bank Palestinians have tried to use all sorts of violence to kill Israelis or at least inflict economic damage. This sometimes has some impact, especially on tourism, but it is usually short lived. For example, in 2014 Fatah declared a new terror campaign that came to be known as knife terrorism. This emphasis on suicidal individual attacks soon lost their popularity despite Fatah still pushing them energetically in all the Palestinian media. This knife terror contributed to a 25 percent drop in tourist traffic to Israel during the first six months of 2015. In response, Israel publicized the fact that Israel is still the safest tourist destination in the region. By the end of 2015 tourist traffic was up and kept rising. So far this year tourism is up more than 50 percent over the previous 12 months. That was a continuation of the trend that began in late 2015. Palestinian terrorism efforts have never recovered from the defeat they suffered when Israel adopted new tactics that largely shut down the terror campaign that began in 2000. Fatah and Hamas have been trying to revive that effort ever since and have largely failed. Both Palestinian groups now openly admit that want Israel destroyed and will settle for nothing less and that is a poor strategy.

This cynical and self-destructive attitude by Palestinian leaders has led to more and more foreign donors to stop giving. Too much of the aid money was either stolen or diverted to finance violence against Israel. Hamas has been the worst offender and as a result economic conditions are worst in Gaza. The years of feuding between Fatah and Hamas has made it difficult for foreign aid groups to operate in Gaza. Add to that the sometimes violent disputes within Gaza between rival Islamic terror groups, some of them seeking to overthrow and replace Hamas. That has led to some violence (and kidnapping) against foreign aid workers and that led many foreign aid groups to just give up on Gaza. Even Egypt has turned hostile, especially since Gaza has long sheltered Islamic terror groups that regularly conducted attacks in Egypt.

April 12, 2018: For the fourth time this year Egypt temporarily (for three days) opened its Gaza border for carefully inspected movement in and out of Gaza.

April 11, 2018: In the south (Gaza) Hamas detonated a bomb at the border near Israeli troops. There were no casualties although a bulldozer was damaged. The Israelis responded with several air strikes. The bomb had apparently been placed during large demonstrations Hamas has been conducting along the border fence. The air strikes led to someone in Gaza firing a heavy machine-gun at Israeli aircraft and at least one bullet hit a house just across the border in Israel. That brought another airstrike that killed one Hamas man and wounded another.

Russia resumed commercial flights to and from Egypt after a two year suspension because of ISIL getting a bomb aboard a Russian airliner in 2015. That brought down the aircraft and killed 224 Russians returning from vacations. Egypt has handled ISIL and improved security since 2015

April 10, 2018: In the north (Syria) Russian ships have left the Russian naval base at Tartus. This is considered a standard move if major attacks are expected. European air control warned airlines to be careful over the eastern Mediterranean for the next 72 hours because there might be more air or missile strikes that would result in electronic countermeasures that could disrupt commercial navigations systems on airliners. Russia admitted that its electronic countermeasures were unable to stop the missiles, which they say were launched over Lebanon by Israeli F-15Is.

April 9, 2018: In central Syria, several missiles hit the Iranian T-4 airbase near Palmyra. Four Iranian IRGC personnel were killed, including a colonel known for his work with Iranian UAVs. There were at least ten other dead, all believed to be Iranian mercenaries. This is where Iran moved its UAV operations after its original UAV base in Syria was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on February 10th. The Americans said they had advance warning of todays attack while Russia complained that it was not advised even though it has some personnel at the T-4 base. Israel did not take credit for the attack, which is how Israel handles most of its airstrikes in Syria.

In Egypt, the security forces completed another large counter-terrorism operation. Over the last few days, this left four Islamic terrorists dead and over 250 suspects arrested. Soldiers also seized 46 vehicles, 114 motorcycles and large quantities of weapons and ammo. Since February 9th these operations in Sinai have left nearly 200 Islamic terrorists dead and several thousand suspects arrested. Large quantities of weapons, explosives and ammunition were also taken.

April 8, 2018: In the south (Gaza) Israeli security cameras captured video of three Gazans getting across the fence at night, burying two bombs on the Israeli side and then going back to Gaza. Israeli troops came and disabled the bombs. In response, an Israeli artillery hit a Hamas facility in Gaza.

April 7, 2018: In Syria, an airstrike against Douma, a rebel held town east of Damascus, apparently involved some type of chemical weapon. Medical aid workers report at least 70 dead, including many civilians. The airstrike, like many Syria, carries out against pro-rebel civilians, involved a barrel bomb (an empty oil barrel filled with explosives and whatever else was available). These are pushed out of helicopters or transports and are equipped with a contact fuze so they explode on impact. Russian and Iranian military personnel work closely with the Syrian air force and know what goes on (and into barrel bombs). Iran has military advisors assigned to all the senior Syrian military commands and many of the lower level ones. Syria has been accused of using primitive (World War I type) chemical weapons that attack the respiratory system. These older chemical weapons are often nothing more than industrial chemicals (like chlorine) in large (and dangerous) doses. Russia believes these dont count as chemical weapons (according to the 2013 Russian brokered deal to rid Syria of chemical weapons) and the Iranians apparently dont care. When pressed Iran will blame Israel or the Americans. In response, the United States said it would retaliate if the Douma attack did involve any kind of chemical weapon. The evidence indicates that the Douma attack involved a combination of chlorine and a nerve gas. Israel fears Iran is permitting Syria to use these chemical weapons to test their effectiveness and the degree of international outrage. Israel has always believed Iran planned to provide Syria and Hezbollah with chemical weapons for use in a major attack on Israel.

Israel blocked trucks moving four cargo containers full of automobile tires into Gaza. There is more demand for tires in Gaza since Hamas began using thousands of them to sustain smoky fires for the thousands of demonstrators at the border.

April 6, 2018: For the second Friday in a row Hamas organized mass (over 20,000 people) demonstrations at the border. Hamas provided tires to burn and cameramen to capture the violence.

April 5, 2018: Egypt and Saudi Arabia are trying to persuade Hamas to call off or tone down its large demonstrations along the Israeli border. The Saudis and Egyptians believe these demonstrations will not succeed and their failure will reflect badly on Hamas and the Palestinian cause. Meanwhile, Fatah, which runs the West Bank, has been blunter and wants Hamas replaced with more effective leadership for Gaza. That would be difficult to do since Hamas has over 10,000 armed men working full time to make sure Hamas stays in power. Fatah now says that it will not be responsible for what happens in Gaza if Hamas remains in power. Fatah offers to take control of Gaza and not punish Hamas leaders if Hamas cooperates but that is not likely to happen.

April 4, 2018: In the north (Syria) Assad forces have begun moving reinforcements towards the Israeli border, apparently with the intention of destroying rebel groups that have come occupy most of the southern border since 2011. This has been accompanied by increased Syrian air strikes against rebels near the border. This move by Syria alarms the UN because they fear for the safety of their peacekeepers. In late 2016 UN Peacekeepers returned to the Syrian side of the Israeli border for the first time since 2014. Initially, only 127 peacekeepers crossed the border and it wasnt until the end of 2016 before the full force of over a thousand troops returned to their Syrian positions. Back in 2014 UN peacekeepers from Fiji and the Philippines were forced out by al Qaeda (al Nusra) rebels, who wanted to ensure that the UN peacekeepers did not interfere with the rebel takeover of a border crossing. The Islamic terrorist rebels looted the UN camp. The rebels were driven away from the border in 2016 by the Syrian Army, which had regained control of the entire 70 kilometer long border with Israel. Up until 2014 the UN had 1,223 peacekeepers monitoring the Syrian/Israeli border and wanted that force returned. The UN troops have been there since 1974 to monitor a ceasefire between Israel and Syria. Israel defeated Syria in 1967 and took the Golan Heights from Syria. In 1973 Israel defeated a strong effort by Syria to regain the Golan Heights. Since then the UN has watched over an uneasy peace. From 2014 to 2016 the peacekeepers were only able to operate on the Israeli side of the border.

April 2, 2018: The Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview that Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. That was a first for any Saudi leader and something few other Arab leaders are willing to admit. There are many practical reasons for a Saudi leader to back Israel this way but the main one of Saudi Arabia and Israel have a mutual enemy, Iran which openly proclaims its intention of destroying Israel and doing the same to the Saudi royal family and all its supporters.

April 1, 2018: In Egypt, the current president (former general Sisi) won the presidential election to gain a second four-year term. Only 41 percent of eligible voters turned out but 97 percent of those who cast valid ballots chose Sisi. Nearly two million voters disqualified their votes by choosing write-in candidates, who were not allowed. Sisi succeeded in preventing any major candidates from registering to run against him in the late March presidential elections. All major candidates were either arrested on real or imaginary charges or withdrew under government pressure. Sisi appears to repeat the pattern established by previous Egyptian military dictators (Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak) and becoming what he promised to replace. Sisi got elected in 2014 because the Moslem Brotherhood won the national elections after the 2011 revolution and made the mistake of agreeing with their radical faction and trying to impose Islamic law on all Egyptians. This was very unpopular and the Moslem Brotherhood was overthrown by another popular uprising in 2013. After that, another military man (Sisi) was elected president and it was back to business as usual. One side effect of that 2013 coup was a court eventually dismissed most of the charges against Mubarak who is apparently going to escape any real punishment, as are his sons. Court decisions like that bring out more protestors but not enough to overthrow the new government run by a former general elected to the job. Most Egyptians wanted to see if the new general-in-charge could get the economy going and restore order. The new government made some progress on both counts, but at the cost of any real efforts to curb corruption or enact other needed reforms. Not a major issue as most Egyptians want peace and prosperity first. That means no Moslem Brotherhood, a group that still has a lot of popular support in Egypt. But the Brotherhood also has many factions, many of them unwilling to compromise.

March 31, 2018: In the north (Lebanon) an Israeli armed UAV bombed the crash site of an Israel UAV that went down because of technical problems earlier in the day.

March 28, 2018: Israel revealed that it had resumed airstrikes against targets in Syria. These air operations had been halted for several weeks after an F-16I crashed after returning from one of those missions. Israel rarely releases details of these missions but observers in Syria usually do and there have been reports in the last week that Hezbollah and Iranian targets are being hit from the air again.

March 27, 2018: In the south, three Palestinians from Gaza were arrested outside an army base 20 kilometers from the Gaza border. The three were carrying knives and grenades. The men had crossed the security fence several hours earlier and security forces had not acted as fast as they are supposed to. An investigation was ordered.

March 24, 2018: In the south, a number of rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. An Iron Dome battery shot down several rockets which were headed for residential areas. At least one additional Iron Dome was sent to the Gaza border because of this particular attack.

In Egypt (Alexandria) Islamic terrorists used a roadside bomb to attack the head of security for the port city. The security chief was unharmed but a policeman was killed and six wounded.

March 22, 2018: Air India began flying, for the first time, direct flights between India and Israel that pass over Saudi Arabia. This cuts about two hours from previous flight time where aircraft heading for Israel could not fly over Saudi Arabia and had to detour around it (via the Red Sea). While the Saudis allow Indian airlines to pass over now they will not allow Israeli airliners. As a result, Israeli airline El Al is suing to bar such shorter flights from landing in Israel because it puts El Al at an economic disadvantage.

In Baghdad police arrested Taha al Jubouri, a known Hamas bomb expert who had been deported from Turkey. Israel wants Jubouri. Iran tried to get Jubouri out of Iraqi custody but so far that has failed.

March 21, 2018: Israel admitted that it was responsible for the 2007 airstrike on a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in northern Syria. There was never much doubt that Israel was responsible but it wasnt until early 2011 that the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) announced that it believed the Syrian structure destroyed by an Israelis in 2007 was a nuclear reactor under construction. This was nothing new, as details of the IAEA have been leaked, but now the conclusion is official and shortly thereafter the UN released the official report on the Syrian nuclear facility. Israel apparently made this admission to send a message to Iran, which is building a lot of military facilities in Syria and still proclaims that Israel must be destroyed.

March 19, 2018: Fatah accused Hamas of being responsible for a March assassination attempt in Gaza when a convoy carrying the Palestinian prime minister was attacked by a roadside bomb. The explosion occurred prematurely and the prime minister, who traveled through Israel from the West Bank, was making a rare visit to Gaza. Hamas denies any responsibility but has been unable to pin the blame on anyone else.

March 18, 2018: During the night, on the Gaza border, sensors spotted an armed many trying to get past the security fence and into Israel. An Israeli warplane on patrol in the area fired on the intruder and killed him.Russia is taking another step to restore the Cossack community to their pre-communist role of voluntary militia that was always ready to serve the empire and defend Russia from external and internal enemies. The latest move allows all-Cossack units to be formed for the National Guard. This organization was created in 2016 as a paramilitary organization of some 400,000 soldiers and police. This National Guard is officially a rapid reaction force for dealing with terrorism or any other threat to Russia that requires quick and decisive action. There was opposition in parliament to proposed new laws that allowed the National Guard to fire on Russian citizens whenever the government wanted to without warning. In addition, National Guard leaders are to be immune to any prosecution for anything they are ordered to do. This reminds too many people of the kind of power the Soviet era KGB had. But it is also similar to the role the pre-communist Cossacks played in defending the czar and his government.

When the Czar was replaced by the Soviet Union a KGB army replaced czarist era secret police and Cossacks. The 2016 National Guard took most of the best trained and most effective units from the Interior Ministry. That was seen as weakening an existing force that could prevent a new KGB from misbehaving. Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, also made the National Guard immune to FSB (the post-Soviet KGB) oversight. Another interesting aspect of the National Guard is that the many para-military groups formed by the pro-Putin government of Chechnya are now considered part of the National Guard. A growing number of Russians are calling the National Guard Putins Private Army. The new Putin version of the KGB army already contains the most militarized police units available to the Interior Ministry (the national police and various riot control, SWAT and special operations forces) as well as investigators and intelligence experts. These personnel are assigned to the new National Guard which swears to protect the president of Russia (currently Putin), not the Russian people. This is how czarist era Cossacks operated. What a coincidence.

The Cossacks are a uniquely Russian paramilitary force. Originating in southern Russia. The Cossacks were, and still are, very nationalist, aggressive, persistent, independent minded and really keen on rebuilding the Russian empire (which is what Cossacks were invented for centuries ago). Thus when Russia ran into trouble taking Donbas (eastern Ukraine) away from Ukraine in 2014 Cossacks in the area were prominent among the Russian nationalists who volunteered to serve as irregulars in Donbas in an effort to restore the area to the empire. One reason for sending more Russian troops into Donbas was to try and get the Cossacks to do what Russia, not Cossack leaders, wanted.

Thats not the only problems the Russians are having with these guys. Cossacks are a number of things, including righteous. Although poorly treated by the communists, the Cossacks are believers in collectivism and tend to be very hostile to corrupt leaders they come across. This has caused problems in Russia and again in Donbas because some of the local separatist rebel leaders are, for want of a better term, quite corrupt. Cossacks accuse these leaders of stealing Russian aid and taking care of themselves and their armed followers rather than sticking with the goal of an independent Donbas or incorporation into Russia. But by 2015 it was feared that the troublesome and righteous Cossacks were triggering a civil war among the rebels.

The Cossacks were welcome arrivals when they showed up in 2014 because the original local Donbas rebels quickly lost their enthusiasm when their uprising triggered a nationalistic fervor throughout Ukraine and inspired Ukrainian troops and armed volunteers to fight a lot harder than the rebels expected. Russia, which sponsored and encouraged the rebels from the start soon found that the only way they could take territory was to send in Russian troops and heavy weapons (tanks, artillery, rocket launchers, missiles). The special operations units (Spetsnaz) were the best for this because these guys knew how to pretend (that they were Ukrainian rebels) and were very effective fighters. But there was not enough of them available and the most effective of the local Russian volunteers were the Cossacks, who proved effective in maintaining the peace among the civilians in the half of Donbas that the Russian backed rebels gained control of before a ceasefire halted offensive operations by both sides. There the situation remains, brought to you in part by Cossacks.

Elsewhere in Russia, the Cossacks have been less trouble and more useful. The Cossacks are also being used to try and replace all the Russian inhabitants of the Caucasus who have been driven out by nationalist rebels and Islamic terrorists. Russia had, over the last two centuries, encouraged ethnic Russians to settle in the Caucasus in order to help maintain Russian control of an often-hostile native population. With the collapse of the empire (the Soviet Union) in 1991, there was no money left to subsidize the ethnic Russians in the Caucasus. That, as much as the anti-Russian attitudes of the natives, prompted most Russians to leave. Now the Russian government is using an old solution to get more ethnic Russians back into the Caucasus; its sending in the Cossacks.

The Cossack people are ethnic Russians with a distinct language and culture (not quite Russian) and strong ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. There are currently about seven million Cossacks in Russia, Ukraine, and other portions of the former Soviet Union. Their involvement in Russian wars goes back centuries. During Tsarist times, Cossacks formed special cavalry units in the Imperial Russian Army, as well serving as instruments of state repression. The Russian Empire had a special arrangement with the Cossacks whereby, in exchange for frontier land, greater political autonomy, and special social status, Cossacks contributed military forces, providing their own horses, weapons, and equipment. The Cossacks were mostly reserve units but kept themselves ready so that when an emergency arose they were almost immediately ready to fight. The Czar and Russian military planners found this capability very useful. Unique, exclusively Cossack military formations have been a staple of Russian history in one way or another for many, many centuries. Cossacks were also notorious for their willingness to do the czars dirty work, especially in the Caucasus and whenever there were popular uprisings.

Opinions on the actual military value of Cossack units is widely divided, as are opinions of the Cossacks themselves. At many points in Russian military history, the Cossacks proved themselves to be determined and fierce, sometimes to the point of recklessness. They considered themselves warriors and there are examples of entire Cossack units fighting to the death against impossible odds. During the Napoleonic Wars and the French invasion of Russia in 1812 Cossack units, mostly as light cavalry, operated extremely effectively as scouts and raiders, harassing the retreating French army mercilessly. Their performance against regular troops in open battle was less than great, but then that wasn't their role anyway.

On the other hand, Cossack units, from the days of Peter the Great (czar 1682-1725) until modern time, have a well-deserved reputation for brutality, anti-Semitism, and looting. They have always been notoriously difficult to control, with Russian officers in past wars becoming frustrated and enraged with drunken, mutinous Cossack soldiers. During the Russian Civil War, Cossacks fought for both sides, especially for the anti-Communist White forces, but they were often divisive, unreliable, and preoccupied with looting and general mayhem. Also, many Russians regarded them as potential rebels, given their unruly history, large numbers, and independent-minded spirit, and those familiar with history know that for a two century period, every major rebellion against the Russian Empire was led by Cossack troops. During the Soviet period, Cossacks were among the many ill-treated minorities, having their distinct culture and language suppressed by the Communist authorities. Cossacks were not allowed to serve in the Soviet military until 1936 and proved particularly effective during World War II, but not as separate Cossack units but as individuals in the Red Army.

Since the 1990s Cossacks are once again involved in Russian conflicts. In an effort to bolster national pride and recover some of the distinct Russian heritage that was suppressed during 70 years of Soviet rule Russia has officially brought back the formation of exclusively Cossack military units, and in a big way. This has accompanied a general explosion of Cossack culture in recent years. Cossack military schools have been established, where student ages 10 to 17 attend classes in army fatigues and learn military tactics alongside regular academic subjects. An entire Kuban Cossack Army, headquartered in Krasnodar, has been established and is incorporated as a unique, but fully integrated, part of the Russian Army. The Russian Minister for Cossack Affairs, general Gennady Troshev (until his death in 2009) was a Cossack himself and had been instrumental in the remilitarization of the Cossack society.

Irregular Cossack paramilitary units fought on the Russian/separatist side in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, which saw South Ossetia taken from Georgia and made a de facto part of Russia. Cossack volunteers by the hundreds mobilized during the Georgian attack of South Ossetia and crossed the border to engage Georgian forces. Cossacks in nearby North Ossetia apparently organized a relatively efficient and rapid system for clothing, equipping and transporting their paramilitaries into the breakaway province to feed them into combat. Cossack fighters entered South Ossetia by bus, having been issued combat uniforms and gear on the way to the border, and were issued small arms and light weapons once they arrived at the border. Cossack volunteers formed the second major paramilitary force in the war, the first being the South Ossetian militias. According to reports, the Cossack forces fought with dogged determination. Russian army commanders noted the effectiveness of the Cossacks in Georgia which appears to be why the Cossacks showed up in Donbas so quickly. The big difference is that Russian forces soon withdrew from most of Georgia while in Donbas the conflict has gone on for years.

Paramilitary forces and semi-standing armies of "volunteers", of various ethnic and political lines, are a major part of the armed conflict in Russia and the former Soviet Union, particularly among Slavic ethnicities. Such forces exist in disputed territories between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where a majority of ethnic Armenians live in the unrecognized Republic of Nogorno-Karabakh. The Nogorno-Karabakh Defense Army is the formal defense force of the Nogorno-Karabakh Republic. Similar forces exist in both breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Azkaban. Now Cossacks are trying to settle down in eastern Ukraine (parts of which were once Cossack lands).

By 2015 the Russian policy was to encourage, with cash investments and monthly payments to adult Cossacks willing to undergo military training, the establishment of Cossack communities in the Caucasus. These towns and villages would be in touch with the surrounding non-Cossack population and able, if there were problems with the non-Russian natives, to defend themselves until Russian reinforcements show up. Thats a strategy that is centuries old and Russia sees it as succeeding again. The Caucasus natives have a long-standing dislike for the Cossacks, but at the same time fear and respect them, especially when the Cossacks are acting as paramilitary forces. But in Ukraine, the Cossacks often led Ukrainian rebellions against the Russian government. That distant memory is now being reexamined in Moscow and the policies of how to use the Cossacks were reconsidered and in early 2018 it was decided to try reviving some of the czarist traditions by forming all Cossack reserve units as part of the new National Guard. This plan involves moving slowly by forming small units (platoon and company size), noting how well they perform and then deciding how much to expand the program. Whatever the case since the 1990s the Cossacks have been returning to their traditional role as defenders of the Russian empire, a role that was merely interrupted for 70 years by the disastrous Soviet experiment, which collapsed in 1991.U.S. FIFTH FLEET AREA OF OPERATIONS (April 14, 2018) The guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) fires a Tomahawk land attack missile. Monterey is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of maritime security operations to reassure allies and partners and preserve the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in the region.(U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g Matthew Daniels)

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Source: The Critical Investor for Streetwise Reports (4/13/18)

The Critical Investor profiles a miner that is ramping up its gold mine in Nevada on time and on budget.





Pan Mine, Nevada

1. Introduction

Fiore Gold Ltd. (F:TSX.V; FIOGF:OTCQB) has progressed its Pan Mine in Nevada, U.S. in a very steady fashion, on time and on budget. Exploration for additional resources (and hopefully years of mine life as well) has been successful so far, and a new COO has been hired. Recently, the latest financials regarding the first quarter of the new year were released, which are always an interesting reference of the state of a company, especially with producers. Therefore, it was time to have a closer look at Fiore Gold, Frank Giustra's baby. Besides an update on proceedings, the other purpose of this article will be the outlining of future cash flow and valuation potential, as I view Fiore Gold as misunderstood by the markets at the moment.

All presented tables are my own material, unless stated otherwise.

All pictures are company material, unless stated otherwise.

All currencies are in US Dollars, unless stated otherwise.

2. Pan Mine

The ramping up of the Pan Mine is progressing according to plan, and the company is actually ahead of schedule, as the production rate increased from the planned 10,000 tpd capacity to 14,000 tpd, which was supposed to happen much later. The highlights of the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 are according to the news release:

Revenues of $8.26 million from the sale of 6,467 gold ounces with a gross margin of $2.54 million or 31%.

Inventory of 11,335 estimated recoverable ounces placed on the leach pad at Pan as of December 31, 2017.

Working capital of $13.51 million as of December 31, 2017.

The first full quarter of steady-state production at the Pan Mine in Nevada.

Operating costs ($/ore ton) 6.2% below budget for the quarter.

Successful construction of the Phase II heap leach pad at the Pan Mine, adding an additional 2.2 million square feet of leach pad space. Approximately $5.3 million of capital expenditures for the Phase II expansion was treated as sustaining capital costs for the quarter, resulting in significantly higher All-In Sustaining Costs (AISC) for the current period.

Let's dig a little deeper into the financials here. In the first quarter of the current financial year, Fiore was surprisingly able to report a comprehensive income of $3.05M, or roughly 3 cents per share. However, this strong net profit was predominantly caused by an unrealized benefit from the fair value of the warrants (in green) and the lack of any tax payments (in red):

The tax holiday is into effect as the company has substantial carry forward losses (in red):

The operating income in the first quarter was $780,000. Fiore Gold is debt-free though, as the long-term liabilities (in green) aren't long-term debt obligations.

The cash flow statements indicate a ramping up producer as well. The operating cash flow (or OCF, before changes in Fiore's working capital position, which is the most reliable figure for small producers, especially when ramping up, as OCF after changes can vary a lot in this case) was approximately $1.5M (OCF in orange, without changes in working capital in red, for an operating cash flow of approximately 225 dollar per ounce), and this wasn't sufficient to cover the $4.4M in capital expenditures (in green):

However, there are two important remarks to make here.

First of all, Fiore Gold plans to produce 35,000-40,000 oz Au this year. Even if the lower end of this guidance is used, Fiore Gold will still have to produce about 35,000 - 6,467 = 28,500 oz Au in the next three quarters of its financial year. This equates to an average of 9,500 oz Au per quarter, or an increase of almost 50% compared to the Q1 production rate.

This means that if production increases, the economies of scale will start to have an effect and the operating margins will improve. Keep in mind that the quoted margin of $225/oz in the first quarter includes $1.267M in G&A expenses. The G&A cost per ounce was $195 in Q1, when this fixed cost could be spread out over 9,500 oz, it drops to $133/oz, which is a pretty substantial improvement. On top of that, the other relatively fixed expenses will also be divided over more ounces. So, the margins will increase as more gold is being produced.

Second, Fiore Gold has guided for a full year capex of $5.5M (red):

On a side note but an important one: comparing the 2018 forecast for gold ounces mined vs gold ounces produced shows a global recovery target of about 50%. However, the Feasibility Study provides a recovery of 72% for an operation with crushers and an agglomerator, and 60% for a run-of-mine operation. As Pan is a heap-leach operation ramping up production, it is never easy to start up heap leach mines, and recoveries often seem a matter of trial and error it seems before all issues are ironed out. The option to add a $14M crusher and agglomerator is a likely one but still uncertain, depending on the outcomes of ongoing test work. A decision on the C&A circuit will likely be made mid-2018, and a realistic timeline on eventual completion of this will be Q1 2019 according to management. At the last PDAC I met with CEO Tim Warman, and he had this to add:

"The idea was always there to use the crusher and the belt agglomerator, but it was such a close call that we decided this could be best tested in a production environment using available space on our newly constructed Phase II leach pad."

As current working capital stands at $13.5M and the Pan mine is about to become free cash flow positive, the timing is perfect. Let's continue with the budgeted $5.5M. A big part of this was spent in Q1 alone which means the earlier planned capital expenditures in the next few quarters will be substantially lower as well. Fiore Gold has started a drill program but the combination of higher operating cash flows (due to production increases and margin expansions) and a lower capex should ensure Fiore Gold reaches positive free cash flow.

The interesting thing is that Fiore's operating costs are pretty much fixed which means the additional ounces will be high-margin ounces. Assuming a production increase of 3,000 ounces per quarter, the operating cash flow will very likely increase by $2.75-3.25M per quarter (assuming $1,300/oz Au, and no taxes will be due for the first few years as mentioned earlier) towards $4.25-4.75M per quarter. Besides this, keep in mind that gold stands at $1353/oz at the time of writing, which could add a further $0.5M per quarter. Furthermore, I'm also assuming the sustaining capex will reach an average of $1.5M per quarter; this should result in Fiore Gold generating approximately $2.75-3.25M per quarter in free cash flow until the taxes start to kick in. And on top of that, U.S. corporate taxes enjoyed a big haircut recently thanks to Trump, so this is beneficial for Fiore in the future. Production will probably improve according to guidance, resulting in an annualized $17-19M operating cash flow in H2, 2018. Using a $1350/oz gold price would result in an annualized $19-21M operating cash flow, which is huge for a small producer in Nevada with just a C$65M market cap. More on this later; let's have a look at ongoing exploration.

3. Exploration

Besides production, Fiore Gold is also busy with exploration on every asset at this time. I will focus on the infill- and stepout drilling on Pan, as management is looking to extend the mine life substantially. The results of the first six holes were released a month ago, and delivered good intercepts, the best ones highlighted in green:

As a matter of fact, all holes returned economic mineralization as the mine cut-off grade is 0.14-0.21g/t Au, according to CEO Tim Warman:

"These first six holes show excellent potential to increase the resource and reserve base both at depth and laterally beyond the current mine plan boundaries. We're extremely pleased with the success rate so far, with each of the first six holes encountering mineable widths of gold mineralization above the mine cut-off grade. This is a very good start to a program that we're confident will allow us to extend operations at Pan well beyond the current mine life."

In order to get an idea of locations of drill collars here is a map representing them:

To get a good impression about the significance of these intercepts, let's have a look at this section:

It will be clear that if Fiore manages to prove up sufficient mineralized tonnage below/west of the current pit outline between PND18-06 and PND18-01, a new and much deeper pit outline could be based on these intercepts and significantly expand mineable reserves/resources. In case ongoing drilling would generate the same kind of results for the entire southern part of the North pit, I wouldn't rule out an increase of 100-150koz Au, which in turn would extend the life of mine (LOM) to eight to nine years from the current six years.

As the company returned some good intercepts on Pan recently, I felt it was time to ask CEO Tim Warman for some color on proceedings:

TCI: 13 holes were completed, and 6 assays reported so far. When can we expect the remaining 7 assays?

TW: We expect to have those in early April. Through the end of March, we have drilled about 10,000 feet (about 3,000 m), and we expect to do 15,000-20,000 ft RC and DD combined.

TCI: Hole 5 and 6 seem to have resulted in economic mineralization, but hole 3 as an extension at depth at relatively low grade seems unlikely to be economic considering the increased strip ratio?

TW: We think the mineralization of hole 3 isn't too deep but this area needs more drilling for sure to define new resources.

TCI: Where exactly is further drilling targeted?

TW: Drilling in this first phase is targeting areas close to the North Pit, as well as some smaller future satellite pits in the central part of the deposit.

TCI: I see that RC drilling is used a lot in this round of drilling; don't you have the risk of contamination with this method in this environment? I recall the same thing happening when Gustavson was working out the resource estimate for Pan in the not-too-distant past.

TW: There is always a bit of smearing with RC, but we understand the deposit a lot better now than in the Midway days. For this type of resource expansion, doing only DD is too expensive now, although we will be doing about 5,000 ft of diamond drilling in key areas.

TCI: Is the Gold Rock resource update planned for late 2018?

TW: We are still planning the program for Gold Rock; we like to fund this from incoming Pan cash flow and use the rig from Pan when drilling is finished there. This will probably be April or May after the snow is cleared.

TCI: Do you have new plans for the Chile asset and the Washington asset?

TW: We are still reviewing plans for the Chilean assets, although we just announced some good exploration results from Rio Loa. As for the Washington asset, we're talking to a few people about it but it's still in the early stages.

TCI: The Gold Rock FEIS (= EIA) has been submitted for review, and the Federal Record of Decision should be received before mid-year. What is the status nowadays?

TW: The Record of Decision wraps up the Federal permit, which is the one that takes the longest. The various state permits typically take six to eight months, but we won't start applying for those until we've done a lot more engineering work, since they require fairly specific information.

TCI: Last question: what can you tell us about met work for Gold Rock so far?

TW: The recovery appears to be pretty good, actually a little better than at Pan, Gold Rock has a recovery of about 65-75%. And as you know we are looking at improving Pan recoveries by adding a crusher and an agglomerator.

This concludes the short interview with Tim Warman, which provided a solid update on exploration and related subjects. Now it's time to take a look at ways how to value Fiore Gold.

4. Valuation

When Fiore Gold is compared to a few other junior gold producers (some data coming from Haywood's weekly update the Weekly Dig) it can be seen that Fiore Gold is pro forma (as a ramping up producer) valued on EV/CF ratios comparable to the more adventurous jurisdictions like Turkey or Mexico:

And part II:

For the best jurisdictions in this list, Ontario/Quebec and Nevada, the EV/CF metric is substantially higher, and I don't even consider the corresponding companies top notch although Rye Patch got acquired by Alio Gold very recently.

At a current market cap of about C$61M, it seems that Fiore Gold is valued only on the Pan NPV, when using my estimate from another article on the company:

the current exploration assets, of which I estimate El Penon at C$1M and Cerro Tostado at C$4M

about C$7M in cash, zero debt

the Pan Mine with a C$65M NPV and ramping up production

the Gold Rock historical deposit and the exploration potential of both Pan and Gold Rock combined at C$20M

Golden Eagle at C$5M, bringing the total NAV at C$102M.

Obviously, Pan is discounted by investors, as it is still ramping up production and is looking at adding the crusher and agglomerator for better recoveries, and the market doesn't appear to assign much value to the other assets. Especially Gold Rock could be capable to add a $80-100M NPV in a few years as it is a bigger and higher grade mineralized project in my view. Nevertheless, the valuation of a producer is usually much better represented by the market cap to operational cash flow ratio (which varies from about 8 to 12 (even 16 for very profitable mines) in good jurisdictions at current gold prices/sentiment), which can be narrowed down further to EV/CF.

When looking at this metric and using the operating cash flow estimates mentioned earlier in this article, the re-rating potential becomes clear. With a potential estimated OCF of $17-19M (= C$22-25M), the company would be valued at 2.0/2.8 times cash flow which is very cheap on EV/CF and P/CF metrics for a profitable Nevada gold play. When Fiore Gold starts generating quarterly cash flows as estimated, and coverage picks up, I am happy to stick with my forecast for a potential double. Increased resources should be able to add LOM years for Pan, and a solid resource on Gold Rock could likely further support a higher valuation.

5. Conclusion

Ramping up to 14,000 tpd steady state went almost flawless for Fiore Gold, as the company did save on operational costs, but didn't reach its desired 60% run of mine recovery, as it expects to get to 50% for the full year 2018. Therefore, the option to add a crusher and an agglomerator is being evaluated at the moment, increasing recovery, hopefully in line with FS levels. When this staged development would be completed, Fiore Gold will likely boast an annualized cash flow of about C$22-25M, which in turn deserves a much higher share price based on producer average multiples. It is a stock that demands more patience than others, but in the current positive gold environment investors could very well be nicely rewarded in the not-too-distant future.



Pan Mine; scenery

I hope you will find this article interesting and useful, and will have further interest in my upcoming articles on mining. To never miss a thing, please subscribe to my free newsletter on my website criticalinvestor.eu, in order to get an email notice of my new articles soon after they are published.

Disclaimer:

The author is not a registered investment advisor. The author holds a long position in this stock. Fiore Gold is a sponsoring company. All facts are to be checked by the reader. For more information go to fioregold.com and read the company's profile and official documents on www.sedar.com, also for important risk disclosures. This article is provided for information purposes only, and is not intended to be investment advice of any kind, and all readers are encouraged to do their own due diligence, and talk to their own licensed investment advisors prior to making any investment decisions.

The Critical Investor is a newsletter and comprehensive junior mining platform, providing analysis, blog and newsfeed and all sorts of information about junior mining. The editor is an avid and critical junior mining stock investor from The Netherlands, with an MSc background in construction/project management. Number cruncher at project economics, looking for high quality companies, mostly growth/turnaround/catalyst-driven to avoid too much dependence/influence of long term commodity pricing/market sentiments, and often looking for long term deep value. Getting burned in the past himself at junior mining investments by following overly positive sources that more often than not avoided to mention (hidden) risks or critical flaws, The Critical Investor learned his lesson well, and goes a few steps further ever since, providing a fresh, more in-depth, and critical vision on things, hence the name.

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Images and charts provided by The Critical Investor.TICKERS: BTG; BTO; B2G

Source: Streetwise Reports (4/14/18)

Craig Stanley, an analyst at Eight Capital, reported this company's production figures and discussed the potential for expansion at its Mali mine.



Following B2Gold Corp.'s (BTG:NYSE; BTO:TSX; B2G:NSX) Q1/18 production beat, Eight Capital increased its target price on the Buy-rated company to CA$5.40 from CA$4.75 per share, as reported in an April 11, 2018 research note. B2G is currently trading at around CA$3.60 per share. Quarterly production of 240,000 ounces (240 Koz) gold exceeded Eight Capital's estimate by 4% and "tracked above the high end of full year guidance," wrote analyst Craig Stanley. About 260 Koz of gold were sold during Q1/18, taking quarterly revenue to a record $344.3 million ($344.3M).

The standout in Q1/18 was B2Gold's flagship Fekola mine in Mali, where 144 Koz were produced. This also surpassed expectations, by 13%, and was "well above" the high end of 2018 guidance, Stanley noted. Also, Fekola contributed 27 Koz to the total gold sold during the quarter.

The analyst speculated that the Fekola project likely could be expanded and indicated that B2Gold may address that very prospect at its Fekola site visit on May 23 to 24, 2018.

In support of a potential expansion, Stanley said that B2Gold plans almost 100 kilometers (100 km) of drilling in Mali this year, at a budget of about $15.1M. Drilling at the Fekola deposit would likely result in 1.29 million ounces of gold, ones not included in the mine plan, being upgraded from the Indicated category.

Also, Stanley explained, were drill results from the Fekola North Extension to show "sufficient economic mineralization, a potential low capex expansion of the plant from 5.5 million tons per annum to 7 could be justified." Whereas drilling of up to 900 meters of the resource pit boundary continues there, it already hit mineralized structures up to 1.8 km north of the main Fekola zone.

Stanley further pointed out that with the discovery of three mineralized bedrock zones beneath Anaconda, which is 20 km away from Fekola, the possibility exists for Fekola-style mineralization, which "could potentially be processed at Fekola." Already an initial resource estimate for that area has been released: an Inferred 21.59 million tons gold at grading 1.11 grams per ton for 767 Koz, cutoff grade 0.35 grams per ton. Drilling in Anaconda continues.

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5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article.

Disclosures from Eight Capital, B2Gold, Target Revision, Apr. 11, 2018

Conflicts of Interest: Eight Capital has written procedures designed to identify and manage potential conflicts of interest that arise in connection with its research and other businesses. The compensation of each Research Analyst/Associate involved in the preparation of this research report is based competitively upon several criteria, including performance assessment criteria, the quality of research and the value of the services they provide to clients of Eight Capital. The Research Analyst compensation pool includes revenues from several sources, including sales, trading and investment banking. Research analysts and associates do not receive compensation based upon revenues from specific investment banking transactions.

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The Research Analyst involved in the preparation of this research report does not have any authority whatsoever (actual, implied or apparent) to act on behalf of any issuer mentioned in this research report.Giving his remarks on Fridays verdict by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that his party accepts the decision regarding disqualification for life, however, public decision during general elections in July this year will be in Nawaz Sharifs favour.

Speaking on the issue of separate Punjab province after inaugurating the 45-kilometer long section of National Highway-5 linking Jalapur Pirwala with Uch Sharif areas of South Punjab, the prime minister said that new provinces should be created only through political consensus as no single party could bring about a constitutional amendment, nor it should do.

The prime minister said all political parties should incorporate the demand of new provinces in their manifestos and hold dialogue after general election to evolve consensus on the subject.

The same demand exists in KP, Sindh and Balochistan. People also talk of South Punjab. People also talk of Hazara and South KP. This is a political dialogue. All political parties should join their heads as no single party can decide it, he remarked.

Referring to some parliamentarians of the Pakistan Muslim League-N who had recently announced their resignations in a press conference, calling for a South Punjab province, the prime minister said they had been the part of the PML-N government for last five years and they should have raised the issue there.

Holding press conferences two months before the election will not help resolve public issues. Public representation is not made through press conferences but by public service, the prime minister remarked.

He recalled that it was only the PML-N that had got passed resolution for South Punjab and Bahwalpur provinces.

The prime minister, who earlier unveiled the plaque of the project, said the Seraiki people always showed loyalty to PML-N and elected the representatives who served them as well as the country. He hoped that the PML-N would stand victorious in next polls as the party had executed record development projects, having no comparison with the performance of governments during the last 65 years.

He said the PML-Ns performance always haunted its opponents and they very characteristic would take it to lead the next election.

He said the credit of accomplishing all half-complete projects of its predecessors also went to PML-N government, be it Lowari Tunnel, Kachi Canal, Neelum Jhelum or the one inaugurated on the day.

Prime Minister Abbasi told the gathering that the project had cost Rs 5 billion and said that his party always ensured the completion of development projects.

Since its inception, only 20,000 megawatt were produced in the country, but the incumbent government executed power projects to inject another 10,400MW to national grid, he added.

He also drew comparison between the development works, done in the opposition-led Sindh and KP provinces and those in the Punjab.As per sources, the meeting between the two senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders continued for two hours.

During the meeting, Nisar and CM Punjab discussed issues pertaining to the party.

Sources said that the two leaders also exchanged views over the disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for life, according to the Supreme Court verdict announced today.

Sources said that the two leaders discussed matters related to the Karachi visit.

Earlier this week, speculation was rife that the senior disgruntled PML-N leader will join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

PPP leader Nabil Gabol had claimed that recently Nisar met with Imran Khan, however, the news was denied by Nisar's spokesman.

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution will be unable to contest elections for the rest of their life.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial read out the verdict, which sealed the political fate of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Jahangir Tareen and other lawmakers disqualified under the said article.At least four Palestinian men have lost their lives and several others sustained injuries after Israeli battle tanks struck the southern part of the Gaza Strip as the Tel Aviv regime presses ahead with its acts of aggression against the besieged Palestinian coastal sliver.

The spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qidra, said in a statement that the Israeli tanks targeted a group of civilians in al-Awdah refugee camp east of Rafah city, located 30 kilometers south of Gaza City, on Saturday afternoon.

He identified three of those killed as Ayed Saleh al-Hamaydeh, Amjad Hosni al-Qatros and Hisham Mohammed Abdelal.

The injured Palestinians have reportedly been transferred to Martyr Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah to receive medical treatment.

On April 11, Israeli battle tanks targeted several positions of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military, in a statement released on Wednesday, asserted that the shelling came after Palestinians allegedly detonated a bomb near an Israeli construction vehicle adjacent to the border fence between the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, which caused neither injury nor damage.

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.Separately, an Israeli soldier was killed and three others wounded when their Merkava Mark III tank rolled down a ravine on the Egyptian border.

The Israeli ministry of military affairs said in a statement that the incident occurred after troops were called to a smuggling attempt near the Nitzana border crossing between the occupied territories and Egypts Sinai Peninsula.

The statement added that the tank deviated from its planned path while moving towards the scene, and rolled some three meters down a gorge.The legal team of diplomat Alex Saab denounced Thursday the failure of Cape Verde to comply with the court order to transfer, for health reasons, the Venezuelan dignitary, who has been... | Read MoreThe first tears I recall shedding over a book were reading of his daddy's cruel death, shot by a gun lover for pleasure. Such stories are meant to encourage kindness to animals but I suspect my sorrow over the pointless killing of a koala sparked an early interest in human, rather than animal rights. His mum's decision to run "far into the bush with Blinky, away from man, with his gun" was a first alert to the refugee experience.

Geoffrey Robertson, AO QC is one of the world's leading human-rights advocates, whose work as a barrister, author and judge has been a key inspiration for the global justice movement. His autobiography, Rather His Own Man, is published by Knopf.

The figure in this book that most intrigued me was the lawyer, Mr Jaggers. I was gripped, at the age of 14, by his self-controlled power and professional purpose, dedicated unemotionally to saving the necks of the wretches at the Old Bailey who managed to pay his fees. He is not one of Dickens' loveable characters, but he was the first lawyer I had come across and he was someone, I thought, one day I would like to be like.

THE TRIAL OF LADY CHATTERLEY

Ed. C.H. Walsh

Robert Menzies told his cabinet that he would not allow his wife to read D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, after its acquittal in England on charges of obscenity, and for good measure, he banned this edited transcript of the trial. A samizdat copy fell into my schoolboy hands and what I found exciting were the brilliant tactics of the book's defenders. It settled my ambition  to become a barrister at the Old Bailey.

THE STUART CASE

Ken Inglis

At Law School I read this account of Australia's most memorable legal proceeding  the struggle to save the life of an Aborigine, Rupert Max Stuart, sentenced to death for a murder he most likely did not commit. It took appeals to the Privy Council (then Australia's highest court), a royal commission and a campaign by the great journalist Rohan Rivett before the Adelaide Establishment gave up on the gallows. It inspired me to take up the defence of prisoners on death row in the Privy Council, their court of last resort.SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL spanishfilmfestival.com. Palace Cinemas Brighton Bay, Como, and Westgarth, The Kino, Astor Theatre, Thursday April 19 to Sunday May 6. Woody Harrelson plays US president Lyndon Baines Johnson in the biopic LBJ. Credit:Andy Kropa The Spanish Film Festival has featured strong police procedurals in recent years, and while Mist & the Maiden ( 18+, 104 minutes) doesn't reach the heights (or depths) of 2015's Marshland, it is a tense, knotty mystery that reveals more than just a culprit. Set amid the interlocked community on one of the smaller outposts of the Canary Islands, it begins with a murder whose initial arrest is repudiated in court before the investigation is reopened three years later. The mainland detectives dispatched to the case  Bevilacqua (Quim Gutierrez) and Chamorro (Aura Garrido)  are joined by a former local officer, Anglada (Veronica Echegui), and the dynamic between the three reveals friction derived from suspicion and gender that circle back to Latin machismo and Europe's north-south politics. With his directorial feature, set against the rugged shoreline and vertiginous peaks, debut veteran screenwriter Andres M. Koppel explores the uneasy connections that acquire intimacy and how that leads to betrayal. SCREAM FOR ME SARAJEVO

 E, 96 minutes. Village Cinemas Crown, Geelong, Fountain Gate, and Hoyts Melbourne Central, Wednesday April 18. Screening for one night only through Demand.Film (au.demand.film), this documentary revisits the 1994 concert in the city of Sarajevo  which at the time was besieged by Serbian forces as part of the Bosnian War  by the English heavy metal vocalist Bruce Dickinson. Tarik Hodzic's film, which reunited participants for the gig's 21st anniversary, is told from the viewpoint of local musicians and fans; Dickinson, who fills stadiums with Iron Maiden, doesn't appear until the 25th minute. It's a story that emphasises the sudden shocking reality of war ("the normal life you had was gone," recalls one local), and the value of recognition and respite. A peculiarly British optimism, from Dickinson and a surprisingly jolly UN officer, helped make an outlandish idea a reality, and if there's a misty-eyed triumph to the event it's easy to see why when the archival footage reveals a city under a brutally constant assault. Dichotomies of contradictory sound and situation aren't explored, but the story itself is vividly told. YOUNG AT HEART FILM FESTIVAL youngatheart.net.au. Palace Cinemas Balwyn, Brighton Bay, and Como, Tuesday April 17 to Wednesday April 25.1963: American actor Elizabeth Taylor in her role as Cleopatra. Credit:Keystone Another weird vision of Cleopatra came when Helen Morse did a scene from the play, solo, at a west Melbourne pub for one of those Shakespeare evenings organised by the actor Richard Piper. Morse did this snippet of Cleopatra and the whole crowd, which included Sigrid Thornton and Tom Burstall and the late Peter Corrigan, architect and stage designer  not an easy theatre crowd to please, this lot  were completely hushed. This was a Cleopatra full of all the quiet music in the world and all the sadness and all the desire, someone who carried every aspect of womanliness, all the sacredness of love and all the wantonness of lust in one comprehensive embrace and seemed to comprehend all that wisdom and wiliness and desolate desire in the turn of her voice and the twist of her mouth. Melbourne productions of Antony and Cleopatra have been a bit thin on the ground mainly because it is such a Ring Cycle of a play: so many roles, so many scenes, such opulence and decadence and grandeur. In 1912 Oscar Asche  the Melbourne Grammar boy who wrote the celebrated operetta Chu Chin Chow  did a spectacular and scenic version with his wife Lily Brayton as a redhead incarnation of Cleopatra at the Theatre Royal, a 4000-seater(!) at 246 Bourke Street. In 1910 he was Bolingbroke in Richard II with the legendary Herbert Beerbohm Tree  the original Henry Higgins in Pygmalion with Mrs Patrick Campbell. Keith Michell, that great expatriate classical actor, played Mark Antony in The Spread of the Eagle, the BBC 1963 TV series of all the Roman plays. And in 1964, the year of Shakespeare's 400th anniversary, Michell did an anthology of Shakespeare: The First Four Hundred Years, which culminated with an abridged Antony and Cleopatra with Googie Withers as Cleopatra. She had been in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. She was the original Queen opposite Alec Guinness in Ionesco's Exit the King and lived long enough to appear in Shine with Geoffrey Rush.

This lightning version was a marvel here in Melbourne. Michell was a superbly rugged Antony  the combination of swagger and restraint in this soldierly superstar seems suited to Australian actors (it's not hard to imagine Mel Gibson in the role opposite his old Juliet, Judy Davis) though it will be interesting if Cate Blanchett ever plays Cleopatra to see who her Antony is. But Withers was wonderfully regal and gleaming, an older woman who was every inch a queen dripping with sophistication and wit, by turns raging and indolent. I was grateful for the full-length Playbox Antony and Cleopatra with Lindy Davies, who possesses an intense and instinctive sense of dramatic space, playing Cleopatra to Frank Gallagher's Antony and with the young Robert Menzies as an authoritative Octavius. And then in 2001 Bell did it with Paula Arundell and William Zappa. As with any Shakespeare, any version that gets the words out in a way that resembles human speech and evokes human feelings will have something. But our sense of why Cleopatra is such a dazzling role often comes from DVDs and recordings and memories of great actors who have acted here but not as Cleopatra. And then there are the ones we imagine. It's one of the sad might-have-beens of history that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor who took the world by storm and sizzled into stardom with the '60s Hollywood epic Cleopatra (1963), didn't actually film Shakespeare's version  especially as Cleopatra was directed by Joe Mankiewicz, the man who had made the superb MGM Julius Caesar with Marlon Brando in a staggering performance as the young Mark Antony.

We know what Burton and Taylor were like in Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew and in Mike Nichols' version of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Imagine the shrieking and fury with which Taylor as Shakespeare's Cleopatra would have said "Some innocents 'scape not the thunderbolt" as she swears vengeance on the messenger. Imagine how she would have negotiated the irony with which Cleopatra greets that wiseguy, Dolabella, "You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams. / Is't not your trick?" or a moment later when she says, "I dreamt there was an emperor Antony  His delights / Were dolphin-like; they show'd his back above / The element they lived in." And then that extraordinary moment when Cleopatra holds the asp to her breast and says, "Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, / That sucks the nurse asleep?" Think of what Taylor who is such a devastation of poignancy when the spell is broken and we learn of Martha's imaginary son in Virginia Woolf could have done with that death scene  a moment as startling and heartbreaking as the "Howl" in King Lear. Burton would have had all the rhetorical grandeur for Antony but also the understatement when he thinks everything is over, his love is dead and he says, "Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done, / And we must sleep." Yes, that elegiac quality but also the scathing irony to criticise his own decadence, "O, my fortunes have / Corrupted honest men!" It helps a bit if Cleopatra is beautiful like Taylor. Vivien Leigh was and she didn't get to play the role on screen as she did Shaw's younger Cleopatra in Caesar and Cleopatra. When she did Shakespeare's Cleopatra on stage with her husband Laurence Olivier, Ken Tynan refused to accept her as a great Cleopatra. He said  it sounds sexist, now  that she was simply "narrow where a dame should be narrow and broad where a broad should be broad". She sounds a lot more than a dame in the abridged audio Antony and Cleopatra she recorded in 1960  and here's the Australian connection  with Peter Finch as her Antony, his Australianness evident in the leathery but still resonant and burnished quality he brings to Shakespeare's verse.

Finch  who had originally been cast as Antony in the Mankiewicz/Taylor version  impressed Olivier so much when he toured here in 1948 with Leigh that he took him back to Britain with him where he promptly became Leigh's lover. But he's an intimately familiar Antony to any Australian audience, grand and slouching at the same time. And with Leigh you can hear the not-quite-in-control sense of beauty, dazzling but disarrayed, that we get in her Blanche and in her Scarlett O'Hara. Is there a reluctance for great actors to tour in this role? Most of the great Cleopatras of the last few decades have graced our stages but not as the woman who says in one of her most nonchalant lines, "My salad days, / When I was green in judgment: cold in blood, / To say as I said then!" We all know that the greatest comic actor of her generation is Maggie Smith who did the Alan Bennett's tippling vicar's wife at Her Majesty's. It's not hard to imagine the wry crackle of recollected ridiculousness that Smith might have brought to that line when she played Cleopatra at Stratford, Ontario, in Canada in 1976. She was appalled when someone asked if it should have come to Britain. "Oh no!" she gasped and then added with that almost dormouse honesty she can muster, "I'm glad I had a go."BACK WITH THE EX

New series 

Wednesday 9pm, Seven

Does anyone seriously want to get back with an ex? Apparently so, and while the premise is the stuff of nightmares for most of us (and there's a chance things will indeed go pear-shaped for everyone by series' end) for any student of human nature, watching couples negotiate the process is fascinating. A couple of the men have clearly been living with a fantasy of what their ex was like and are now confronted with the reality; while one woman seems to have absolutely no appreciation of the hurt she caused her high-school sweetheart.

Back with the Ex.

AMBULANCE

New series 

Saturday 7.30pm, Ten

The Brits make fly-on-the-wall documentaries exceptionally well and Ambulance is a terrific addition to the lists. As the name suggests, it follows the work of London's paramedics from control room to streets to hospitals, and it's a compelling, moving and often entertaining journey. As well as the nitty gritty of saving lives we also get great insight into managing the emotional load (their own and that of their patients) along with the sadly familiar story of a service that's desperately overstretched.THE SIMPSONS  9pm, 7Mate

A special Christmas edition a fortnight after Easter? Well, we are in the Simpsons-verse where nothing makes a whole lot of sense anyway, and this particular episode is a cracker. From the elaborate opening credits to one of those kooky complex plots that starts with Homer renting an SUV for the family holiday and ends with Bart and Milhouse strapped to an ICBM (via Hitchcock and Alvin and the Chipmunks), it's a classic. Plenty of great sight gags, too.

Madam Secretary dabbles in Sri Lankan affairs and strays into dodgy territory.

MADAM SECRETARY  9.30pm, Ten

The main plotline is a bit of an odd one this evening, either deliberately or through ignorance painting the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka as a thoroughly dodgy character. But a highlight of this season has been seeing Sara Ramirez (Callie from Grey's Anatomy) with a role that allows her to be smart, no-nonsense and powerful (rather than the hot mess required of pretty much every actor in Grey's Anatomy). And tonight she gets to shine.Two comedians in town for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival have been attacked - one bashed badly - after their friend was racially abused in the city.

Comedian Peter Morley in a picture taken immediately after the attack.

Melburnian Peter Morley, his partner Rachel Kottkamp, who both live in Los Angeles, and their African-American friend were sitting on a bench outside St Paul's Cathedral just after midnight on Tuesday after a night out when they were approached by a young Caucasian man seeking directions.

"I was trying to give him directions up to Russell and Bourke [streets] and he wasn't understanding me. Our friend told him to leave us alone, that we weren't able to help him. When she spoke up, that's when he got really upset. Partly because she's a woman, but definitely because she's black," Mr Morley said.

Mr Morley and Ms Kottkamp said he told their friend she was a refugee and "Go back the f--- to your own country".Straight after winning the last Shares Race, Angie Ellis of 80 20 Investments starts the new four-week race in the lead, with her original $100,000 portfolio worth $108,192.

Her strongest performer is Novatti Group, a global finance software technology and systems integration provider. Her original $10,000 in Novatti is worth $13,261.

Ellis is getting a run for her money from Richard Pritchard, who plays as the Chartist, in second place thanks to his pick of Leigh Creek Energy, an emerging gas company focused on developing its Leigh Creek energy project in South Australia.

The company's share price shot-up after a favourable report by an independent publisher of

financial information and research. Leigh Creek is the best-performing stock of all, so far, and Pritchard's orignal $10,000 is worth $17,000 and his total portfolio is worth $107,516.Canberra reaffirmed its position as the rainbow city on Saturday with Australia's largest rainbow painted onto the lawns of the Arboretum to celebrate marriage equality.

People took advantage of the exceptional wind with rainbow kites soaring into the sky.

Sophia, 6 and Aurelia Gibbons, 1 of Palmerston play on the giant rainbow. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

Rainbow clad children, pets and a fair few adults too danced along thanks to a DJ, rolled down the enormous hill and enjoyed a sausage sizzle.

Local Shane McWhinney came to celebrate with a close friend and her children. Mr McWhinney, who is in a nine year same-sex relationship, said he volunteered with the Yes campaign as a strong believer in equality.Canberrans braved the wind on Saturday afternoon to hold a march near Regatta Point for greater acceptance of science in society and politics.

The March for Science phenomenon began in April last year in Washington D.C. before similar marches were held across the globe. Canberra also hosted an event last year.

March for Science Canberra lead organiser, Elizabeth Hallam with fellow marchers. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

The event is co-ordinated by volunteers who are either science professionals or passionate about science.

One of the organisers was Sean Geoghegan, the ACT's chief medical physicist, who said the event was to encourage governments to make informed, evidence-based decisions.Crisis accommodation services for women escaping domestic violence in Canberra are struggling to cope with the demand of migrant women needing assistance.

Migrant women, who often have no access to other forms of housing due to eligibility requirements excluding those on some types of visas, are staying for up to two years in refuges where as women with access to social housing would normally stay between three to six months.

Beryl Women's Shelter manager Robyn Martin. Credit:Jamila Toderas

The news comes as the federal government prepares to redirect funding from a support scheme to help migrant women, despite many in the migrant community suffering serious domestic violence often in silence as threats of deportation are used to control them.

While there are domestic violence provisions in the legislation for some women facing these situations, they're difficult to enact.Residents in the inner north have been told to expect noisy nights for two and a half weeks as the government plays catch-up due to slow progression of light rail work.

Some Braddon residents received a letter alerting them to the out-of-hours operation of machinery to take place from April 18 to May 5.

Braddon resident Liz Lanigan is one of a number of residents set to be affected by night works on the light rail line. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

Residents were told excavators and tunnelling machinery would operate between the hours of 6pm to 7am, except on Anzac Day.

The letter said the project team would limit these impacts wherever possible, including using non-tonal reversing alerts."The seven years that I spent in those tents were the most magnificent of my life. The pay was good, and life was terrific because we didn't drink but we did smoke though. That was important to us."

Carlo Aggio was just one of thousands of people who put their blood, sweat and tears into working on the Snowy Hydro scheme.

Carlo Aggio is one of 10 former Snowy Hydro workers sharing their stories as part of a new film project. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

After fleeing from war-torn Italy as a refugee during the 1940s and coming to Australia, Mr Aggio began work on the project in 1951 as an assistant surveyor, helping to build trig stations across the mountains.

"We learned that surveying was a possibility [as a career] to sustain yourself. We lived in tents and we worked from daylight to sundown, but the hours weren't important," he said.The federal government will deliver record funding to the ACT public hospital system with $2.6 billion to be spent over four years from 2020, Senator Zed Seselja announced on Friday.

But an ACT government spokesman said while the funding was welcomed, more was needed in the prevention space to reduce the increasing demand for acute care.

ACT Senator Zed Seselja announced "record funding" for ACT public hospitals. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Liberal Senator Seselja said it was "record funding".

"This is almost double what was delivered under the last ALP budget," Senator Seselja said.Almost four months after suffering life-threatening injuries in an horrific Kings Highway crash Thomas TJ Campagna is fighting an uphill battle to achieve his dream of playing professional rugby.

TJ was travelling with his mother, Alanna Davis, and a family friend to the south coast for a holiday before Christmas when a driver, allegedly under the influence of ice, veered to the other side of the road and caused a three vehicle collision.

Thomas 'TJ' Campagna prior to a hydrotherapy session. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

The 13-year-old was airlifted to Canberra Hospital and spent 20 nights there before being able to return home.

While it saved his life, TJs seatbelt caused him to suffer a perforated bowel, requiring a stoma, the loss of a major abdominal muscle, a collapsed lung and two fractured ribs.The council's plan to purchase the site with funds from the NSW government was backed by the Liberal member for Pittwater, NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes. Its vital that the low-key character of Church Point is maintained and its historic purpose as a community and commuter precinct continues, he said in 2017. Northern Beaches mayor Michael Regan said the site had become a terrible eyesore. The community called on the state government and council to take action and a resolution was passed at that time to return this important piece of the foreshore to the community, he said. The Pasadena was described as 'one of Sydney's most exclusive roadhouses' before World War II.

A masterplan for the site would be developed in consultation with the community if this acquisition is completed, Cr Regan said. A council spokeswoman said negotiations with Mr Peterkin to purchase the Pasadena were ongoing. Proper processes Mr Peterkin said the council was given the construction certificate in September 2017 and did not ask questions about it: "Similarly, council representatives attended the work site at various stages of the works and did not raise any concerns about the construction certificate." Mr Peterkin questioned whether the council followed proper processes in deciding to compulsorily acquire the site.

He expected the reinstatement and rectification works" to be completed shortly with the Pasadena re-opening in a few weeks. Not everyone is opposed to the re-opening of the Pasadena. A group of residents wrote to councillors in March to express concern about the councils proposed acquisition of the site. We are concerned that the views of a few small vocal groups who support acquisition may appear as the community view, the email said. In contrast, Church Point resident Rob Jeffress said a restaurant and hotel at the Pasadena would have a serious impact on the environment and residents quality of life. Mr Jeffress said residents feared an occupation certificate would be issued if council failed to act, which would allow the Pasadena to re-open and complicate the acquisition process.

Three Pittwater residents groups argue the re-opening the Pasadena does not comply with planning laws, and have demanded the Northern Beaches Council take legal action against Mr Peterkin. The council is the custodian of the public interest with respect to the development taking place there and it is inconceivable that council would turn a blind eye to the work being carried on there at present, the groups said in a letter to Cr Regan. Cr Regan said the council was investigating the lawfulness of current works being undertaken at the site. The residents groups have also raised questions about a 25-year Crown land lease, which they argue was improperly awarded to Mr Peterkin  a claim denied by the NSW Department of Lands. Colourful history

Mr Peterkins plan for the Pasadena is the latest chapter in the sites colourful and controversial history. Loading The Pasadena had been vacant for several years until it was purchased in 2012 for $2.4 million by Altius, a company part-owned by Mr Peterkin that outbid the former Pittwater Council. The site on prime waterfront land has been the subject of a number of failed development applications, which included proposals for a day spa, restaurant and bar, motel and apartment buildings of various sizes. Because these development applications have been rejected, Altius has been restricted to carrying out rectification and reinstatement works in accordance with a previous development consent obtained some time ago in the 1960s, Mr Peterkin said.WA artists will transform dull, grey wastewater cabinets into public art pieces in a new project.

The Water Corporations Splash of Colour project began as a trial in the South-West last year but will be rolled out in the metro area after it received positive feedback from the community.

The cabinets will get a splash of colour.

The first stage of the program involves painting cabinets, over the next four weeks, in prominent locations in South Perth, Mount Pleasant, Forrestfield, Marmion, Watermans Bay, Trigg and Canning Vale.

More than 50 artists came forward last month after the Water Corporation called for expressions of interest.The military strikes against Syrias chemical weapons program were also a message to Russia and others that the world would not allow such weapons to be used with impunity, British Prime Minister Theresa May says.

Britain strongly believes Russia is behind the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal on the streets of Salisbury in March, using a nerve agent developed deliberately to circumvent international bans on chemical weapons.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during a press conference in London on Saturday. Credit:AP

May said an international consensus that had stood for nearly a century against the use of such weapons was being eroded.

Although of a much lower order of magnitude [than Syria], the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK in recent weeks is part of a pattern of disregard for these norms, she said in a press conference on Saturday morning, London time.A fighter jet that took part in the attack against Syria. Credit:AP

The attack was launched in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians and rebels by Syrian forces in the city of Douma last Saturday, in which up to 75 people - including children - are thought to have been killed.

On Saturday, he praised Western air strikes against the Syrian government on Twitter as "perfectly executed", and added "Mission Accomplished".

US President Donald Trump has left the door open to further strikes against targets in Syria after the United States in conjunction with France and Britain targeted chemical weapons sites and military installations with a barrage of missiles.

In an address, Mr Trump said the attack had been undertaken "to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons".

But he added: "We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."

He said the actions of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were not the work of a man, but the "crimes of a monster instead".

British Prime Minister Theresa May said: "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties."

She said Russia had used its veto power in the United Nations Security Council to prevent a proper international investigation of the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime in its ongoing civil war.The broad public mandate for Mueller's investigation comes as many Trump allies are calling for the president to thwart the special counsel's work. Trump has considered ousting the Justice Department official overseeing the probe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein - a move that some Trump associates hope would cripple the inquiry.

Nearly 7 in 10 adults say they support Mueller's focus on possible collusion with Russia. Sixty-four per cent say they want the special counsel investigating Trump's business activities. And 58 per cent support investigating alleged payments by Trump associates to silence women who say they had affairs with him.

Trump this week blasted the Russia investigation as "never ending and corrupt."

The poll was conducted Sunday to Wednesday, with interviews overlapping the FBI's Monday raid of the home and office of Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime attorney. Agents seized communications between Cohen and Trump, as well as records related to a 2016 payment Cohen made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump. The Cohen inquiry was opened by the Manhattan-based US attorney's office following a referral from Mueller.

Mueller was appointed to investigate any links between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as any other matter directly arising from that probe. While Mueller has subpoenaed Trump Organisation documents related to business activities in Russia, there has so far been no confirmation that his investigation has expanded to cover Trump business activities that do not relate to Russia. There is also no indication that Mueller's team is exploring accusations by women about Trump's personal conduct.

Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey in May has also been probed by Mueller and is receiving renewed attention with the release next week of Comey's book and several media interviews surrounding its publication.

The Post-ABC poll finds Americans' views of Comey include division and indifference, with 3 in 10 seeing him favourably, just over 3 in 10 unfavourably and the rest offering no opinion. But by 48 per cent to 32 per cent, Comey is seen as more believable than Trump, and adults disapprove of Comey's firing by a similar margin, though a sizable share chose neither or had no opinion."You have to feel good about your work," Denise Gough says, "but never believe your own hype."

In the National Theatre of London production of Duncan Macmillan's People, Places & Things, Gough played Emma, a struggling actor with severe drug and alcohol addiction issues. Nearly overnight, Gough herself went from struggling to get people to even return her phone calls to, as she charmingly puts it, "the talk of the f*cking town," with an Olivier Award in hand for her awe-inspiring performance.

It would seem easy to buy into your own hype when everyone calls you a "genius." But Gough, currently playing Harper in Tony Kushner's Angels in America at the Neil Simon Theatre, will never let herself forget that less than five years ago, she was on the cusp of quitting her profession.

Born in Ireland as the seventh of 11 children, Gough always wanted to be an actor. Actually, "I wanted to be lots of things," she remembers. "I went through a phase where I wanted to be a lawyer, where I wanted to be a doctor, but I only wanted to look like those things. I wanted to pretend to be them." She made her family call her Richard for two years because of her obsession with TV's MacGyver. "I didn't even want to be MacGyver," she notes. "I wanted to be Richard Dean Anderson."

She moved to London at 15, determined to become a stage actor, and eventually earned a scholarship to the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. She landed a mix of stage roles and screen appearances, ranging from a TV miniseries about the Titanic to a production of The Duchess of Malfi at Shakespeare's Globe.

After that? "I just wasn't getting roles," she says with frankness. "I was auditioning all the time, going on tape for things, getting rejected, not even being rejected. You go to all this trouble to put your work out there, and they don't even say, 'Thank you, no.' They just disappear."

Denise Gough in People, Places & Things at St. Ann's Warehouse.

( Teddy Wolff)

Then, in 2015, she auditioned for the role of Emma, the protagonist at rock bottom in People, Places & Things and something clicked within her. "I just knew how to play that part," she says. For her audition, she read a monologue from the show about how hard it is to be an unknown actor. "I remember I couldn't stop crying. Nobody had ever hit it like this and allowed us to say it onstage in front of people."

If she didn't get the part, she had a backup plan. "I decided that if I didn't get Emma, I would teach, and I was OK with that. I wasn't desperate or begging them for the part. I wasn't going to do that ever again. If it didn't go my way, I had a whole new life waiting for me, so either way, something big was about to change."

It only took two auditions, the second only to prove that the first wasn't a fluke. When they opened, the reviews were rapturous, and she and her sister read them all the next morning in a cafe. But Gough found that what the critics had to say meant less to her than the reaction from the audience. "A group of people from a recovery center came, and they connected to it so much that they were shouting. Our critics were the people we were representing, and they felt like we were telling the truth."

People, Places & Things transferred to the West End in 2016, and to Brooklyn's St. Ann's Warehouse last fall. In between, she landed the role of Harper, the Valium-addicted Mormon housewife in Marianne Elliott's National Theatre revival of Angels in America.

In terms of struggle, Emma and Harper might seem similar, but Gough is quick to point out the opposite. "There's a different energy. Harper has lots of feelings of abandonment and paranoia, but EmmaNobody can f*ck with me when I'm playing Emma." For the Broadway run, Kushner has written Harper a new scene and, at Gough's request, re-added material that he cut for the National Theatre production because she needed it as a stepping stone in her performance.

Denise Gough and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in the Broadway production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America.

( Brinkhoff-Moegenburg)

"Harper's journey is much clearer for me here than it was in London," Gough explains. "It's really clear that in New York, everyone knows who Harper is, and that gives her strength, because people get behind her immediately. She seems to have a bit more agency this time around, which is great. She feels more empowered."

Gough's reviews for both Angels and People were just as ecstatic in New York as they were in England, and she just received a second Olivier Award for playing Harper. It's lovely, she says, to be branded a "genius," but what she doesn't like is how she keeps finding herself compared to other people. "When a great male performance comes along," she notes, "it's just a great male performance. It's great that I was compared to Mark Rylance, but a woman's performance can never just be allowed to stand up on its own. The language is very subtle, because it can seem like such a compliment to be compared to Glenda Jackson, but why am I being compared to anyone?"

When you watch her take the stage, you realize there really is no comparison. Denise Gough in a class of her very own, and though she may not believe her own hype, she's proud of all she's done. Gough is hoping to springboard herself into future roles and productions that speak to the moment we're living in. "I don't want to do things because I'm expected to do them," she concludes. "The women who need playing will find me."President Donald Trump arrives to address the nation on the situation in Syria at the White House in Washington on April 13, 2018. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

After Clobbering Amazon and USPS, Trump Moves to Fix Loopholes

President Donald Trump turned his criticism of Amazon.com and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to action on April 12 and ordered the formation of a task force to examine the mail carriers operations and finances.

The presidents executive order doesnt mention Amazon but does direct the task force to examine parts of the USPS business operations that could directly impact the e-commerce giants bottom line. The task force is ordered to prepare a report no later than Aug. 10 this year, with recommendations for reform.

Trump has long criticized Amazon because it takes advantage of USPSs below-market package delivery rates. A 2017 report by Citigroup (pdf) found that the USPS pricing model was unsustainable. If the model was adjusted to market rates, Amazons delivery costs would go up by $1.46 per package.

The impact of fixing the USPS pricing model would cost Amazon $2.6 billion annually. USPS lost $2.7 billion in 2017.

I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election, Trump tweeted on March 29. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!

Amazon isnt alone in exploiting USPS loopholes. The beneficiary of the biggest discount shipping rates is Americas major economic competitor: China.

Under the current arrangement with China, USPS ships packages arriving from China at American ports for a quarter of the market rate. Chinese merchants are aggressively taking advantage of the discount and are flooding the U.S. market with knockoffs at surreal prices with shipping included, like $0.20 iPhone cables and $1.78 4GB memory sticks.

The USPS has lost $65 billion since the 20072009 recession and is unable to pay retiree health benefits. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has considered the USPS a high risk every year since 2009.

In 2012 alone, the USPS lost $29.4 million from shipping e-Packets from China (pdf). Those losses had more than doubled by 2016, reaching over $60 million, according to a 2017 report by the GAO.

The USPS is on an unsustainable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout, Trump wrote in the executive order.

The president has also criticized Amazon for failing to pay state and local taxes. Amazon has shored up the practice by starting to charge taxes on goods it sells directly, but third-party merchants, who make up half of Amazons order volume, still dont charge taxes.

Theres no question that Amazon is capable of collecting these taxes, said Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit research organization. Its just not doing so. And the result is a price advantage over other businesses.

Emel Akan contributed to this report.

Recommended Video: President Donald Trumps Weekly Address, April 13, 2018Air Strikes Cripple Syria Chemical Weapons Program, Pentagon Says

WASHINGTON/BEIRUTWestern powers said on Saturday their missile attacks struck at the heart of Syrias chemical weapons program.

The United States, France, and Britain launched 105 missiles overnight in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Syria a week ago, targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities including a research and development in Damascus Barzeh district and two installations near Homs.

The bombing was the biggest intervention by Western countries against Assad and his ally Russia, but the three countries said the strikes were limited to Syrias chemical weapons capabilities and not aimed at toppling Assad or intervening in the civil war.

The air attack, denounced by Damascus and its allies as an illegal act of aggression, was unlikely to alter the course of a multi-sided war that has killed at least half a million people.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the operation a success.

A perfectly executed strike last night, Trump tweeted. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

Elements of Syrias chemical weapons program still exist and Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said at the Pentagon said that there is no guarantee that Assad would not conduct another attack in the future.

We believe that by hitting Barzeh, in particular, weve attacked the heart of the Syrian chemicals weapon program, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said at the Pentagon.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Trump told her that if Syria uses poisonous gas again, The United States is locked and loaded.

The Western countries said the strikes were aimed at preventing more Syrian chemical weapons attacks after a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7 killed up to 75 people. They blame Assads government for the attack.

In Washington, a senior administration official said on Saturday that evidence showed both chlorine and the nerve agent sarin were used in that attack, prompting the strikes.

But speaking at a summit in Peru, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence seemed less sure of the use of sarin, saying that Washington may well determine that it was used along with chlorine.

Assad Resilience

Ten hours after the missiles hit, smoke was still rising from the remains of five destroyed buildings of the Syrian Scientific Research Center in Barzeh, where a Syrian employee said medical components were developed.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Syria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption Morning of resilience.

Russian and Iranian military help over the past three years has let Assad crush the rebel threat to topple him.

The United States, Britain and France have all participated in the Syrian conflict for years, arming rebels, bombing ISIS terrorists and deploying troops on the ground to fight that group. But they have refrained from targeting Assads government, apart from a volley of U.S. missiles last year.

Although the Western countries have all said for seven years that Assad must leave power, they held back in the past from striking his government.

Syria and its allies also made clear that they considered the attack a one-off, unlikely to do meaningful harm to Assad.

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the strikes were unacceptable and lawless.

Syrian state media called them a flagrant violation of international law, while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called it a crime and the Western leaders criminals.

Russia had promised to respond to any attack on its ally, but the Pentagon said no Russian air defense systems were used. Syria fired 40 unguided surface to air missiles  but only after the Western strikes had ended, the Pentagon said.

We are confident that all of our missiles reached their targets, McKenzie said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as limited and targeted, with no intention of toppling Assad or intervening more widely in the war.

Washington described the strike targets as a center near Damascus for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weapons, a chemical weapons storage site near the city of Homs, and another site near Homs that stored chemical weapons equipment and housed a command post.

The Pentagon said there had been chemical weapons agents at one of the targets, and that the strikes had significantly crippled Syrias ability to produce such weapons.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Trump and May to discuss results of the strikes.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all Security Council members to exercise restraint and avoid an escalation in Syria but said allegations of chemical weapons use demand an investigation.

Weapons Inspections

Inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW were due to try to visit Douma on Saturday to inspect the site of the suspected gas attack. Moscow condemned the Western states for refusing to wait for their findings.

Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated to levels of Cold War-era hostility, has denied any gas attack took place in Douma and even accused Britain of staging it to whip up anti-Russian hysteria.

The Western countries took precautions to avoid unexpected conflict with Russia. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Russia was warned beforehand to avert conflict.

Dmitry Belik, a Russian member of parliament who was in Damascus and witnessed the strikes, told Reuters: The attack was more of a psychological nature rather than practical. Luckily there are no substantial losses or damages.

In Douma, site of the suspected gas attack, the last buses were due on Saturday to transport out rebels and their families who agreed to surrender the town, state TV reported. That effectively ends all resistance in the suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta, marking one of the biggest victories for Assads government of the entire war.

The Western assault involved more missiles than a U.S. attack last year but struck targets limited to Syrias chemical weapons facilities. The U.S. intervention last year had effectively no impact on the war.

Syria agreed in 2013 to give up its chemical weapons after a nerve gas attack killed hundreds of people in Douma. Damascus is still permitted to have chlorine for civilian use, although its use as a weapon is banned. Allegations of Assads chlorine use have been frequent during the war although, unlike nerve agents, chlorine did not produce mass casualties as seen last week.

Reporting by Phil Stewart and Tom PerryChinese missiles are seen on trucks as they drive next to Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People during a military parade on September 3, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Beijing Stages Live-Fire Drills For Propaganda, But Taiwan Says It Will Not Be Scared

The Chinese regimes Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Navy said in a high profile announcement that it will hold a live-fire military drill on the China side of the Taiwan Strait on April 18.

In response, Taiwan told its citizens that the drill is just a routine exercise and they have nothing to fear.

The April 18 drills were first reported by Global Times, the regimes state media outlet known for having a nationalist bent and often serving as a platform for nationalist agit props.

The Maritime Safety Administration of Fujian, the Chinese province that faces Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait, announced that the live-fire drill will take place in a small area of water next to the Fujian coast.

The drill, despite being set at only 12 nautical miles from Chinas coast and a long distance (100 nautical miles) from Taiwans main island, has been sensationally described by Global Times and other Chinese state media as to take place in the Taiwan Strait, amplifying the perceived threat of the exercise. International media have also been quick to pick up the term and describe the drill as a demonstration of Beijings will to provocate.

Taiwans government assured the people of the democratic island nation that the Chinese drill is a routine exercises, and said that its armed forces are closely watching the development and will respond to any contingency.

Some observers say Chinas use of the Taiwan Strait is a deliberate move by the regimes propaganda outlets to generate fear among the Taiwanese and the international community.

The PLA is using the media to generate a false sense of insecurity in Taiwan. This is an act of political warfare, said Ian Easton, a research fellow at the Project 2049 Institute. At this point, there is nothing to worry about other than Chinese ships or aircraft crashing into each other in the 8 a.m. fog at the mouth of Quanzhou Bay.

Easton, who also authored a recent book The Chinese Invasion Threat, which discusses the defense of Taiwan in the event of a PLA invasion, said that the planned exercise area is small and no major troop movements have been reported.

U.S. and Taiwanese military intelligence will be monitoring this exercise closely, just in case the PLA takes this opportunity to do something provocative, he said.

The Chinese announcement also came just hours after President Xi Jinping inspected a large naval parade held by the PLA around the southern island province of Hainan, which was widely televised to the world as a demonstration of the PLAs rapidly growing sea power.

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post cited one analyst who said the Chinese drill is meant to be a show of support to Chinas strategic partner Russia, in an effort to divert world attention from the ongoing crisis in Syria where an imminent U.S. strike is possible.

The report, however, has not been backed up by any other sources, and other observers such as Easton said that the plan for the drill was almost certainly planned many months ago.

In recent months, the Trump administration has taken various steps to affirm its support for Taiwan against Chinese regime aggression. Just last week, Taiwans long-standing request to solicit help from American companies in building its own indigenous submarines was approved by the U.S. government, a move that was strongly protested by the Chinese regime.

Trump has also signed into law the Taiwan Travel Actwhich was passed unanimously by the U.S. Congressand seeks to encourage high-level official exchanges between United States and Taiwan.

The act was also strongly protested by Beijing, which insisted that the U.S. government should refrain from any official engagement with Taiwan as it considers the island nation to be Chinese territory.British Jets Take off from Cyprus Base Before Hitting Targets in Syria

U.S., British, and French forces launched air strikes against targets in Syria in the first coordinated Western military action against the Damascus regime.

In the video, released by the British Royal Air Force, ground troops can be seen preparing to deploy Panavia Tornado GR4 jets.

The footage also shows pilots enter aircraft cockpits and take off with payloads that included Storm Shadow missiles, The Drive reported.

Over 100 missiles were fired on the morning of Saturday, April 14, targeting what representatives of coalition forces called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for an earlier poison gas attack.

#BREAKING  First photos of the #Syrian capital as the air defense struck #US, #UK and/or #French cruise missiles striking the city. Radar guided anti-air guns and anti-air missiles utilized in the air defense of the city. pic.twitter.com/2XUtU7Z8D7  SURA (@AlSuraEnglish) 14 kwietnia 2018

It is reported that in addition to the RAFs Storm Shadow projectiles, French SCALP-EG and the American JASSM were also likely used in the strike, as well as Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Speaking from the White House on Friday, president Donald Trump announced the military action, and said its intention was to degrade Syrian chemical weapons capabilities.

The targets included a Syrian center in the greater Damascus area for the research, development, production, and testing of chemical and biological weaponry as well as a chemical weapons storage facility near the city of Homs. A third target, also near Homs, reportedly contained both a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and a command post.

BREAKING: Shadow missiles used against military facility 15 miles west of Homs, believed to be site of chemical weapon precursors  UK Defence Ministry pic.twitter.com/zIKYE8jgPB  Reuters Top News (@Reuters) 14 kwietnia 2018

President Trump said the three allies had marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.

He also did not rule out future military action.

We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, the US president said in a televised address.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as limited and targeted.

She said she authorized British forces to join in the strikes after intelligence indicated Syrian president Bashar al-Assads government was responsible for an attack using chemical weapons in the Damascus suburb of Douma a week ago.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes had been limited so far to Syrias chemical weapons facilities.

Reuters contributed to this report

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Putin Responds to Speculation of New Cold WarMcCabe Leaked to the Media to Boost Himself and Lied to Cover It Up, Investigator General Finds

Former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe authorized a leak to the Wall Street Journal to boost his profile and then lied about it to his boss and investigators, according to a damning report by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe last month based on the findings of this report and the recommendation of the FBIs disciplinary office. Inspector General Michael Horowitz, a Barack Obama appointee, released the report to the public on April 13 (pdf).

DOJ just issued the McCabe report  which is a total disaster, President Donald Trump tweeted. 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 authorized FBI senior attorney Lisa Page to leak to Wall Street Journal reporter Devlin Barret, the report states. The leak led to an Oct. 30, 2016, article in the Wall Street Journal that disclosed for the first time the existence of an investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

Page is not named in the report, which refers to her instead as Special Counsel. Texts between Page and top FBI official Peter Strzok show that both were involved in executing the leak.

McCabe authorized the leak at a time in 2016 when his impartiality was in question. Wall Street Journal had just reported that Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe and the Virginia Democratic Party had donated $675,000 to the state senate campaign of McCabes wife, Jill McCabe.

As deputy director, McCabe was authorized to disclose the existence of the Clinton Foundation (CF) investigation, but only if the disclosure was a matter of public interest.

McCabe ordered the leak to rebut a narrative that questioned McCabes impartiality in overseeing FBI investigations involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and claimed that McCabe had ordered the termination of the CF investigation due to Department of Justice pressure, the Inspector Generals report states.

McCabe then proceeded to lie about ordering the leak. The Inspector General found that McCabe lied to Comey once and lied under oath to investigators on three different occasions in 2017.

However, we 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 stated.

McCabe announced that he would be stepping down from his role in January and went on leave, expecting to retire with a full pension in March. Sessions fired him days before he would become eligible for a lifetime pension.

McCabes lawyer, Michael Bromwich, issued a statement after the report was released, arguing that the report lacks a motive for McCabes alleged leak and subsequent lies.

It is undisputed that Mr. McCabe was one of three senior FBI officials authorized to share information with the media, including on sensitive investigative matters, Bromwich said in a statement, according to Fox News. He chose to exercise that authority in October 2016, during one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the bureau, with the knowledge of Director Comey and other senior members of FBI management. His purpose was to protect the institutional reputation of the FBI against false claims, including that a sensitive investigation was being shut down for political reasons.

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President Donald Trumps Weekly Address, April 13, 2018The New York Times vs. the Science on the Flu Shot

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone aged six months and up, including pregnant women, get an annual flu shot to protect against the influenza virus. The mainstream media characterize this recommendation as being firmly grounded in science. The demonstrable truth of the matter, however, is that what the government and media say science says and what science actually tells us are two completely different things.

By deceiving the public about what the science says, the media serve to manufacture consent for public vaccine policy. A useful illustration of how the media serve this function is a New York Times article published in January and written by Aaron E. Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine and regular Times blogger. The article is titled Why Its Still Worth Getting a Flu Shot, and Carrolls purpose in writing was to persuade his readers that, even though this seasons influenza vaccine was particularly ineffective, everyone should still get it.

Details and Deceptions

The argument Carroll presents is that, even in flu seasons like this past one when the vaccine is not well-matched to the predominant circulating strain of the influenza virus, since the vaccine is so extraordinarily safe, it still confers a great benefit to society.

To support his argument, Carroll cites two studies from the prestigious Cochrane collaboration, a global independent organization specializing in meta-analysis that does not accept any industry funding. (A meta-analysis is a kind of study in which researchers search the literature for relevant studies and review the body of evidence available by combining the results of studies that meet the inclusion criteria.)

According to Carroll, a 2010 Cochrane review of influenza vaccination in healthy adults found that 37 people need to be vaccinated in order for one person to see the benefit, which represents a big payoff in public health. Mistakenly describing it as having been published in 2016, Carroll also cites a subsequent 2012 Cochrane review of vaccine effectiveness in healthy children that found an astonishing payoff in medical terms: just six children aged six or younger had to be vaccinated in order to prevent one case of influenza. Carroll further claims that the science shows us that harms from the flu vaccine are almost nonexistent.

Carroll could have made his case stronger by citing the actual number from the 2010 Cochrane review, which is 33, not 37. This was an error Carroll evidently carried over from a secondary source, which is perhaps an indication that he never read the actual Cochrane review, which might also help explain how he could so grossly mischaracterize that reviews actual findings, as youre about to see.

For starters, it is curious why Carroll would cite the estimated effectiveness of the vaccine under ideal conditionswhich is to say when the vaccine completely matches the circulating virusin order to support his argument that its worth getting even in poorly matched years. Why didnt he instead cite the studys more relevant estimate of vaccine effectiveness under average conditions, when the vaccine only partially matches the circulating strains?

The most obvious answer is that relaying the reviews finding that 100 people need to be vaccinated to avoid one set of influenza symptoms would be counterproductive to his purpose.

And yet their review turned up no evidence that vaccines prevent viral transmission or complications

But thats just the start of Carrolls deception. Whereas he characterizes the 2010 review as though the science fully vindicates public policy, in fact the Cochrane researchers were highly critical of the CDCs recommendation and challenged the fundamental assumptions underlying it. They observed that the primary rationales the CDC has offered are that mass vaccination will (1) reduce transmission of the virus and (2) reduce the risk of potentially deadly complications from influenza. And yet their review turned up no evidence that vaccines prevent viral transmission or complications (emphasis added).

In fact, none of the studies they looked at even presented any results evaluating the ability of this vaccination to interrupt the spread of the disease. Likewise, none bothered to report any evidence of effect on complications. In other words, none of the studies the Cochrane researchers looked at in their comprehensive review of the literature even seemed to consider the question of whether the central assumptions underlying the CDCs recommendation were actually true.

This is a remarkable illustration of the institutional myopia that exists when it comes to the politically sensitive issue of vaccines.

Ignoring the Warnings

One recent study, however, did bother to look at the question of whether the vaccine prevents transmission. Published on January 18, 2018, in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PNAS, the studys authors screened volunteers with confirmed cases of influenza and took breath samples. And among their findings was an association between repeated vaccination and increased viral aerosol generation (emphasis added).

In fact, subjects who had received the influenza vaccine in both the current and the previous season were found to shed over six times more aerosolized virus than those who did not get a flu shot during either season.

The Cochrane researchers found not only that reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin, but also that there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies.

Another thing Aaron Carroll failed to disclose to Times readers is the rather important caveat that the Cochrane researchers attached to their findings of the vaccines effectiveness. And its not as though this caveat was easy for him to miss; its presented as an explicit WARNING right at the top of the review just below the abstract.

The authors warning notes that their review included numerous studies funded by the pharmaceutical industry, which independent studies have unsurprisingly shown to be biased in favor of their own products. The Cochrane researchers found not only that reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin, but also that there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies. The content and conclusions of this review should be interpreted in light of this finding. (Emphasis added.)

In other words, even the estimate of 100 people needing to be vaccinated for one person to receive a benefit may be overly optimistic.

Whereas the Times would have us believe that the Cochrane review found that the flu vaccine confers a big payoff in public health, in fact, the conclusion the review authors actually arrived at was that their findings seem to discourage the utilization of vaccination against influenza in healthy adults as a routine public health measure (emphasis added).

The Cochrane Collaboration in a 2014 update of their review even more bluntly concluded, The results of this review provide no evidence for the utilization of vaccination against influenza in healthy adults as a routine public health measure. (Emphasis added.)

And whereas the Times would have us believe that the science has been settled that harms from the vaccine are almost nonexistent, in fact, the 2010 meta-analysis expressed concern about the lack of safety data. The harms dataset from randomized studies is small, they observed, and the studies authors appear to regard harms as less important than effectiveness assessment. Even among the studies that werent funded by the industry, the quality of the majority of influenza vaccines studies is low.

Wheres the Payoff?

Turning to the second Cochrane study Carroll cites, the 2012 review did find that evidence from randomized controlled trials shows that six children under the age of six need to be vaccinated with live attenuated vaccine to prevent one case of influenza. However, they once again cautioned that this finding needs to be interpreted in light of the evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies tending to show favorable results.

While Carroll describes the finding of the vaccines effectiveness in children under six as an astonishing payoff in medical terms, he does not relay the reviews finding with respect to children aged two or younger, which was that the perceived benefit of the vaccine was not significantly more efficacious than placebo. In other words, there was no good evidence that the vaccine is effective at preventing influenza in children younger than three. One would think that information, too, would be worth relaying to the public; but, then, that disclosure would not align with his whole purpose for writing, so it is understandable why Carroll would choose not to mention it.

while the Cochrane researchers had intended to examine the question of safety as well as effectiveness, the absence of good quality data meant that they could not even carry out safety comparisons. Furthermore, specific influenza vaccines were known to be associated with serious harms such as narcolepsy and febrile convulsions.

Yet another fact the Times chose not to disclose to readers is that, far from science having established that harms from the vaccine are almost nonexistent, the 2012 review found that there was no usable data on the safety of the vaccine for children under two.

In other words, according to Carrolls own source, the flu vaccine has not been properly studied for safety in children aged six months to two years, despite the CDC recommending routine vaccination of children in this age group.

In fact, while the Cochrane researchers had intended to examine the question of safety as well as effectiveness, the absence of good quality data meant that they could not even carry out safety comparisons. Furthermore, specific influenza vaccines were known to be associated with serious harms such as narcolepsy and febrile convulsions.

Especially in light of such known risks, the review authors remarked that It was surprising to find only one study of inactivated vaccine in children under two years, given current recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months of age. If immunization in children is to be recommended as a public health policy, large-scale studies assessing important outcomes, and directly comparing vaccine types are urgently required. (Emphasis added.)

In addition to recommending the vaccine for infants as young as six, the CDC also advises pregnant women to get the flu shot, even during their first trimester. The aforementioned 2014 Cochrane review looked at the science specifically with this recommendation in mind. And what they found in their systematic review of the literature was that the number of randomized controlled trials assessing the effects of vaccinating pregnant women was zero.

The absence of proper safety studies is also noted right on the package inserts that the manufacturers include in the box with their products. For example, the insert for GlaxoSmithKlines inactivated influenza vaccine, Fluarix, discloses that Safety and effectiveness of FLUARIX have not been established in pregnant women or nursing mothers. While limited studies have been done on reproductive and developmental toxicity in rats, there are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Furthermore, caution should be exercised when vaccinating breastfeeding mothers since It is not known whether FLUARIX is excreted in human milk. Medical practitioners are advised to inform patients that safety and efficacy have not been established in pregnant women.

Mercury Menace

The CDCs recommendation that pregnant women get the flu shot is all the more disturbing given the fact that multi-dose vials of the flu vaccine contain the preservative Thimerosal, which is half ethylmercury by weight. Ethylmercury is a known neurotoxin that can cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in the brain. It can also cross the placental barrier and enter the brain of the developing fetus.

While Thimerosal-free single-dose versions of the vaccine are available, the CDC does not specify in its recommendation to pregnant women that they should opt for this version in order to avoid unnecessarily exposing their fetus to the toxic effects of mercury.

As a review published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in December 2017 noted, there are no safe blood-level values for any of the heavy metals during pregnancy, particularly since the placenta is incapable of protecting a human fetus with regards to neurotoxicants or most other heavy metals. The review stated that the practice of including known neurotoxins among vaccine ingredients has to be considered dangerous, irresponsible, and certainly should be ended.

The authors further commented that the use of mercury as a vaccine ingredient could explain the finding of a CDC-funded study published last September in the journal Vaccine that found an association between the influenza vaccine and spontaneous abortion. The CDC researchers looked at the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 flu seasons and found that women who received a flu shot had twice the risk of having a miscarriage within 28 days of receipt than women who did not get the vaccine. Looking just at the 2010-2011 season, vaccinated women had a 3.7 times greater risk of having a spontaneous abortion. Moreover, since the 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic, seasonal influenza vaccines have included a varying pandemic H1N1 (or pH1N1) antigen component; and most alarmingly, the CDC researchers found that vaccinated women who had also received a pH1N1-containing influenza vaccine in the prior season had a 7.7 times higher risk of spontaneous abortion.

the Cochrane researchers actually went so far in their criticism of the agency as to accuse the CDC of deliberately misrepresenting the science in order to support their policy.

Toeing the CDC Line

In sum, whereas the New York Times would have us believe the science is settled that the influenza vaccine confers a big payoff in public health and carries almost nonexistent risk, even its own sources from the medical literature found no scientific evidence to support the CDCs recommendation and highlighted the alarming lack of good quality safety studies despite the known serious harms associated with the vaccine.

In fact, whereas the New York Times characterizes the 2010 meta-analysis as though it vindicated public policy, the Cochrane researchers actually went so far in their criticism of the agency as to accuse the CDC of deliberately misrepresenting the science in order to support their policy.

Previous versions of their review, they noted, have been extensively misquoted especially in public policy documents. The specific example they presented of how their findings were being deceptively manipulated by public health officials was a 2009 CDC policy document outlining its rationale for universal influenza vaccination. As the Cochrane researchers stated, The CDC authors clearly do not weight interpretation by quality of the evidence, but quote anything that supports their theory.

It is perhaps not too surprising, therefore, that the New York Times would so deceptively mischaracterize the science regarding the effectiveness and safety of the influenza vaccine, given the fact that, by doing so, it was simply following the CDCs example.

This article is a condensed adaptation of part one of a multi-part expose on the influenza vaccine. Click here to read the full original essay. Click here to sign up for the authors newsletter to stay updated with his work on vaccines and receive his free downloadable report, 5 Horrifying Facts about the FDA Vaccine Approval Process.

[Correction: As originally published, this article stated that the 2012 Cochrane review found that the effectiveness of the vaccine in children aged six or older was not significantly more efficacious than placebo. This is incorrect. It was in children aged two or younger that no good evidence of efficacy was found. The above text has been corrected, and I bear sole responsibility for this error.  JRH]

Jeremy R. Hammond is a guest contributor to the World Mercury Project. Visit worldmercuryproject.org for more information.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.US, Britain, France Launch Air Strikes in Syria

WASHINGTONU.S., British, and French forces hammered Syria with airstrikes early Saturday, April 13, Syria time in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers in Syrias civil war.

President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House late on Friday.

Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stopped its use of chemical weapons.

The intervention was the biggest strike by Western powers against Assad in the countrys seven-year-old civil war and pitted the United States and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad.

A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Trump said in a televised address from the White House.

A U.S. official told Reuters the strikes were aimed at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.

At least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus in the early hours of Saturday and smoke was seen rising over the Syrian capital, a Reuters witness said. A second witness said the Barzah district of Damascus had been hit in the strikes. Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research center.

Speaking of Assad and his suspected role in last weeks chemical weapons attack, Trump said, These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, Trump said.

The U.S. president had sharply critical words for both Russia and Iran, which have backed Assads government.

To Iran and to Russia, I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children? Trump said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she had authorized British armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability. She described it as a limited and targeted strike aimed at minimizing civilian casualties.

The military action is not about intervening in Syrias civil war or changing its government, she said.

By Steve HollandLifestyle: Strewing: An Easy Way to Add Delight and Wonder to Your HomeschoolA few years ago, I attended an internship recruitment presentation by Goldman Sachs at the University of Pennsylvania. It was early in the fall semester, but the Wall Street investment bank was already focused on hiring interns for the following summer.

After the 45-minute presentation ended, I found a small group of students huddled in the back of the ballroom munching on free food. I discovered they were sophomores who weren't even eligible for the internship but had come to gather intelligence and get a head start for next year. When I asked them who had suggested they come, they all had the same answer: Their parents.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise. It has been well-documented that the generation of schoolchildren who went to college in the last decade were raised by "helicopter parents" (who helped their children do everything) and "snowplow parents" (who removed all barriers in front of their children). The question was what would happen when they left their childhood home and went to college.

A new study attempts to answer that question. It shows that hovering parents don't stop once their kids go off to college, and that's particularly true for affluent and upper middle-class parents. Such parents continue to help their children in college, the study found, because they "know the potential to make a misstep - and the costs of doing so - may be higher than before."

The study published this month in the journal Sociology of Education by three social scientists - Laura Hamilton of the University of California at Merced, Josipa Roksa of the University of Virginia and Kelly Nielsen of the University of California at San Diego - followed a group of female students (and their parents) from 41 families. The students lived on the same dorm floor at an unnamed prominent Midwest public university (some of Hamilton's research on this same group of women was featured in her 2013 book with Elizabeth A. Armstrong called "Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality").

As states have slashed their spending on colleges in recent years, public universities have become more "receptive" to the needs of affluent families, the authors noted. These schools have aggressively recruited out-of-state students, who pay more but whose parents also have higher expectations of services for their children.

On this dorm floor, the wealthiest students - defined as being in the top 15 to 20 percent of U.S. incomes - were all from out of state. In consultation with their parents, they chose to live in this dorm because of the popularity of its social scene. Their parents knew that college was about much more than just academics; it was also about the network that students connected to and that often started on the dorm floor. Meanwhile, all the middle- and working-class students on the floor were from in state and were assigned there by chance.

The academic and social experiences of the students on the floor differed greatly - and the students' parents played a big role in why. The authors divided the parents into two categories. One included the affluent parents, who served as "college concierges," using their resources to provide their kids with academic, social and career support, and access to exclusive university services.

The other group included the middle-income and working-class parents, some of whom didn't go to college. They were the "outsiders" who mistakenly assumed the university would provide the necessary resources for their children. But their kids were often excluded from specialized academic programs, such as honors colleges housed within the larger university that have smaller classes and top-notch faculty. They were left out because they didn't have the grades, test scores or recommendations before they arrived at college.

In many cases, no one told the outsiders while they were in high school about the opportunities available in college, and once those students were on campus, advisers didn't help them navigate their undergraduate careers (and sometimes, gave them bad advice that led to delays in graduating or poor career choices).

The experience of these students highlighted a truth evident in national statistics: Whether a student gets a degree depends almost entirely on how much their parents earn. Put simply, rich kids graduate and poor kids don't. Only one in four college freshmen from the bottom half of the income distribution get a bachelor's degree by 24. But 90 percent of freshmen from families in the top income quartile finish their degree.

At this Midwest university, the study found that wealthier parents talked and visited with their kids often, advised them to get tutors when needed (and paid for them) and directed them to the nationally ranked business school at this university, which offered smaller classes and career help that other majors didn't get. The parents even helped manage their kids' social lives, encouraging them to join sororities and advising them how to navigate college parties (only accept drinks from friends, they were told).

One example in the paper illustrates the real-life consequences of the class divide between the two groups of young women. One from an affluent family was accepted into the dental school of her choice after college because her parents had reviewed applications years earlier and knew what she needed to do to get in. Meanwhile, another woman on the same floor from a poorer family also wanted to go to dental school, but her parents didn't know what was required - such as job shadowing - nor did they realize her slipping grades would disqualify her from getting admitted. She ended up as a dental assistant making $11 an hour, a job that didn't even require a bachelor's degree.

Eventually, the women on the floor became part of the national statistics on college graduation rates by income. Seventy-five percent of the wealthiest students graduated in four years, compared to only 40 percent of the low-income students. And the lowest-income students? None of those whose families earned less than $40,000 a year ended up with degrees.

It turns out that what students do in college matters as much to career and life success as getting a degree, recent studies have shown. That includes the majors they choose, the activities they participate in, the internships they secure. Parents who went to college know this and help their kids navigate the shadow curriculum that exists alongside the more formal pathway through college.

We shouldn't belittle parents for being "college concierges" and wanting the best for their children (at least in moderation). Rather, colleges need to provide a similar lift for students who didn't get college advice in high school or support at home.

Several selective and elite colleges and universities are making attempts to become more welcoming to financially needy students, embarrassed at how the schools have become havens for wealthy and privileged students in recent years. But simply providing more aid or more help in getting admitted isn't enough, as this new study shows. Schools also need to put in place programs - and pay for them - that help middle- and lower-income students find the right mentors, get spots in study-abroad programs and internships, and navigate the often confusing and tricky journey to graduation.NORWALK  Winthrop Baum looks out a window of his office building on Van Zant Street and contemplates how the states upcoming replacement of the Walk Bridge will affect his property and East Norwalk.

The five-story, 250,000-square-foot office building and its parking lot at 25 Van Zant St. abut Metro-North Railroads New Haven Line. The lots western entrance is within feet of the Fort Point Street Bridge  also slated for replacement. The lots eastern entrance is near the Osborne Avenue Bridge, which will be rehabilitated.

The bridgework comes as Baum undertakes major renovations to his building, with scaffolding in place for roof, siding and window replacement.

Its hard to make plans, Baum said. Were spending $12 million to renovate this building  and the building needs it, weve been waiting on this long enough  but we dont know what the impact to the parking lot is going to be and how far that is going to go.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation, which is replacing the Walk Bridge, said Friday afternoon that it was unable to provide any definitive information about impacts to the property at 25 Van Zant St.

Trees replaceable, parking a concern

Replacement of the century-old Walk Bridge is to begin in 2019 and take four to five years to complete. The DOT has started staging for preliminary work, including installation of a new switch-and-signal system between the bridge and the Westport town line.

Baum said the 50-plus White Pine trees, which he and volunteers planted decades ago to shield his property from the train tracks, will be cut down. He said he can live without the trees and is considering installing a wall barrier after the rail work is complete.

Hes more concerned that the Walk Bridge project might reroute major power cables, which now run atop the bridge, under his parking lot.

We are still discussing it, Baum said. Eversource is talking about taking a cable from the Walk Bridge, cutting along the embankment and then cutting through our parking lot to lay this new line.

Initial drawings submitted by Eversource showed the new cables running beneath Norwalk Harbor and surfacing near the Visitors Dock at Veterans Memorial Park before moving north toward Fort Point Street.

Eversource, asked if the cables will run through 25 Van Zant St., released the following statement Thursday:

Discussions with Norwalk city officials regarding a route are ongoing. As the area adjacent to the bridge and along both shores of the Norwalk River is highly built up, were looking at numerous ways to minimize impacts to the SoNo neighborhood, while doing the work as quickly and safely as possible.

East Norwalk heavily impacted

Baum, also president of the East Norwalk Business Association, maintains the Walk Bridge project will disrupt East Norwalk more than South Norwalk, despite property easements and the razing and replacement of the IMAX Theater on the west side of the river.

On the east side of the river, A.J. Penna & Son Excavating Contractors has been forced out of Goldstein Place behind Liberty Square and relocated to the old National Guard Armory on New Canaan. Maritime Rowing Club, also on Goldstein Place, will move to the west bank of the river bank in order for the DOT to create staging space for the Walk Bridge project.

The owners of 19 and 21 Fort Point St.  home to a landscaping business and Mexican restaurant  recently learned that the DOT will take their properties in order to rebuild the Fort Point Street Bridge and realign the new structure with South Smith Street.

Baum, while sympathetic to those businesses, expressed hope that the DOT plan will allow traffic to continue to flow along Fort Point as a new bridge is built nearby. Traffic flow and the vitality of East Norwalk remain his foremost concerns as the Walk Bridge project nears.

The project wont be the first disruption to Baums world. He points to the new electric substation built by the DOT on the New Haven-bound side of the East Norwalk Train Station. He considers the train station vital to the city and the state, and welcomes Spinnaker Real Estate Partners recently approved plan to build 189 apartments, retail and office space at the station.

Were going to make due and were going to have to sacrifice because we recognize the importance of the Walk Bridge, Baum said. The Walk Bridge is a vital element to the commuters in this state. Thats got to be repaired. We understand that but how can we do it in the most efficient way and try to balance it? We just have to cope. And we will. Im sure we will.

DOT public outreach

The DOT this month launched an online survey aimed at gathering information from businesses in Norwalk and surrounding areas to identify and develop potential construction mitigation plans during the replacement of the bridge. The survey can be found at surveymonkey.com/r/WalkBridgeSurvey.

Information about the Walk Bridge project can be found at http://www.walkbridgect.com/.1 hour ago

Shortages, shipping, shutdowns hit Asian factory output

Shortages of power, computer chips and other parts, soaring shipping costs and shutdowns of factories to battle the pandemic are taking a toll on Asian economies. While business sentiment is improving in some parts of Asia as governments begin easing restrictions put in place to curb coronavirus infections, there is mounting evidence that such disruptions are slowing a return to business as usual.

Read ArticleManulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks. The Insurance and Annuity Products segment offers deposit and credit products; individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. The Corporate and Other segment is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. It also manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life and financial reinsurance, and fund management businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages oil and gas properties; holds oil and gas royalties, and foreign bonds and equities; and provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read MoreSchaeffler AG, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells precision components and systems for automotive and industrial applications in Europe, the Americas, China, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Automotive OEM division offers engine systems, including rolling bearing solutions, belt and chain drive products, valve train components, and systems for variable valve trains; and transmission systems, such as torsion and vibration dampers, clutches and double clutch systems, torque converters, CVT components, lightweight differentials, bearing solutions, and synchronizing and gearshift components. This division also provides chassis systems comprising wheel bearings, bearing solutions, steering components, electromechanical actuators for roll stabilizers, and power-assisted steering systems; and hybrid and electrical drive systems that include hybrid modules, electrical axle drives, and electrical wheel hub drives. Its Automotive Aftermarket division offers repair solutions for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, and tractors, as well as supporting services. The company's Industrial division provides components and systems. This division serves customers in the mobility, energy and raw materials, production machinery, aerospace, and industrial distribution. It has a strategic partnership with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The company was formerly known as INA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mit beschrAnkter Haftung and changed its name to Schaeffler AG in October 2014. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Schaeffler AG is a subsidiary of IHO Verwaltungs GmbH.

Read MoreCALGARY  Calgarys many planning projects, developments and quirks can be hard to follow on a good day, but the citys diverse citizens and leaders are speaking out and letting planners know theyre feeling left out.

People are really agitated and alienated, said Atiya Ashna, an active northeast community member. When it comes to issues like planing, infrastructure and addressing social challenges, we need to cross connect all of these communities  which were not doing.

Last month, George Chahal showed the need for better communication with those who dont speak English as their first language on the council floor when he helped translate a constituent concerns and questions about the secondary suite process in Punjabi for the rest of council to hear.

Coun. Jyoti Gondek also stood and responded to the mans questions in his own language  an unconventional but eye-opening first for many who follow municipal politics.

It started a broader conversation about how Calgary is speaking to and engaging immigrant and English as a second language populations.

Chahal told StarMetro that his office often receives calls from constituents and other Calgarians who need help with understanding how to navigate the city because they dont speak the language.

I get questions on one end about city services, what were offering, and having that knowledge on one end and being able to translate that in a format that they understand  I do that all the time, Chahal said. Various city-departments will lean on (my office) for our expertise, for lack of a better word, or who to talk to in one situation.

He said its a challenge and an issue.

The rookie councillor is working on a notice of motion he hopes will address some of the gaps he sees in the cities dealings with immigrant and non-English speaking communities when it comes to engagement.

He said some of the citys traditional engagement methods like directing residents to a web page might not work in different communities. Some of Calgarys immigrant hubs disseminate information by word of mouth, or on their own radio and newspaper networks in their own languages.

Derek Heric, leader of the citys Engage Resource Unit, said the city has had events where they offer translations and try to speak to residents in their own language. In China Town, and for an Attainable Homes development as well as the Rundle LRT Station consultations, they utilized non-traditional, cultural media methods to reach a more diverse population.

And the city chooses to bring in different cultural and language considerations based on community data. So, if a project is in a community where English isnt a first language, the strategy for how to communicate with those residents changes and gets worked into the engagement plan.

My job is to make sure that citizens get the opportunity to give our city staff all of their information and opinions on a project, Heric said. We need to be looking at including more and more people all the time. Were open to changing things and doing better.

According to the city, 30 per cent of Calgarys residents dont identify English or French as their primary language. And in Ward 5, Chahals area, that number jumps to 65 per cent.

The Canadian government predicts immigration will be the main driver of population growth in Calgary until at least 2036.

Sam Nammoura was on the front lines helping refugees settle in Calgary. He helped launch the Syrian Refugee Support Group, a grass-roots organization that helped thousands of refugees settle in the city.

He said participating in open houses and other forms of city engagement might not be a priority for a new refugee, but there are things that those settling in Canada and Calgary specifically might be interested to learn about their new home. For example, on his personal Facebook he often will translate any new legislation, changes in laws, and other rules to his audience, many who dont speak English.

A majority of newcomers, especially Syrian refugees, theyre not familiar with the language, said Nammoura. Social media was a really great help for us.

In her community, Ashna said the gap in communication has become so frustrating that many have given up on participating in civic discussions.

Unlike the cities traditional set up of finding stakeholders, like community associations, she believes there are many avenues yet to be tapped in the South Asian community.

There are lots of avenues that are underlapped by the city, she said. There are lots of places of worship in the northeast that have huge congregations ... theyre the community, go and consult with them.

Ashna said ethnic communities also dont usually stand up to authority figures or governments, and it can feel like uncharted territory for some.

Chahal said at the end of the day, its not about translating every bit of information the city has on offer.

Its about communicating to our public so they can be apart of our democracy, said Chahal. Integrate into our Canadian culture and society  but theres some challenges along the way.

Helen Pike is a Calgary-based reporter covering social justice, democracy and immigration. Follow her on Twitter: @Metropike

Read more about:CALGARY  Nearly three years after the death of their daughter, Ryan and Tanya McGrath are still looking for answers.

In November 2015, Ceira Lynn McGrath was found unresponsive in an unlicensed day home. The 18-month-old was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Ceiras passing began an investigation by police into the undetermined death, which they later found to be criminal in nature.

The day-home owner, Elmarie Simons, was charged by police more than nine months later with one count of criminal negligence causing death.

In August 2016, police told reporters there was no reason to believe any other children in Simons care at the time were in danger.

We believe the infant went into medical distress after being left in a car seat for a prolonged period of time, said Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus. The car seat was not in the car  it was in the day home.

The Calgary Police Service said they consulted with a biomechanics expert in this case who looked into the relationship between the car seat and Ceiras medical distress.

The 10-day trial is set for provincial court and will begin on Monday. There are approximately seven witnesses who will testify to a judge, including Ceiras parents.

To prepare, Ryan put new photos of his girl up around his family home. He told StarMetro that extended family members are on their way to help him and his wife, along with Ceiras twin brother, Colby, through a tough two weeks.

You learn to block things out, to try to move on, said Ryan. Im just reliving it a lot to prepare ourselves. That parts hard.

Ryan said Colby is asking more about his sister. The family have a bedtime ritual of saying goodnight to Ceira and when he asks where she is, the response is always that shes in a new home and happy place.

Hes a happy boy, but a boy who misses his sister, Ryan said. He doesnt know anything about (the trial) he just thinks his grandparents are coming for a couple-week visit.

Ryan said although they hope the trial will bring closure to the family, hes not sure when that closure will come.

We want answers, he said.

Helen Pike is a Calgary-based reporter covering social justice, democracy and immigration. Follow her on Twitter: @Metropike

Read more about:EDMONTON  Jason Kenneys legislature walkout has prompted a fundraiser for a Lethbridge pro-choice group.

The United Conservative Party leader announced Monday that his caucus would leave the legislature for Thursdays debate on Bill 9, the Protecting Choice for Women Accessing Health Care Act. It will create 50-metre buffer zones around Albertas two stand-alone abortion clinics, to prevent protesters from harassing clients.

The activist group Progress Alberta responded by setting up a GoFundMe page for Pro-Choice YQL Wednesday, which had raised close to $2,700 by noon Friday.

Since theyre not showing up for work, were showing up for the front line activists who actually escort people past these sidewalk harassers and protesters and intimidators, said the groups executive director Duncan Kinney.

The fact that (Kenney) thinks he can pick and choose what parts of public discourse he can engage in, just because his on-the-record views on this are admittedly unpopular and regressive, is frankly pretty shocking and despicable.

The GoFundMe campaign cheekily asks readers to tie their donations to Kenneys salary.

Using his official legislature salary and dividing it by 261 working days, Progress Alberta calculated that the UCP leader makes $548 a day, about $68 an hour based on an eight-hour day.

Pro-Choice YQL member Amberlea Parker said the GoFundMe could help the group put up inclusive ads telling people they have the right to access health care without harassment, which would counter anti-abortion ads that recently went up on public buses in Lethbridge.

Parker said the money will also help pay for gas to help people get to the nearest clinic in Calgary, which is one of just two in the province.

The other is at the Womens Health Options in Edmonton.

This is a legal service that people are trying to access, and theyre being harassed for it. Ive seen it first-hand and its horrible, Parker said.

She said she has seen people holding video and tape recorders to record those entering and leaving the clinic, while yelling and shouting at them and calling them murderers.

A lot of the time it just spikes anxiety. Sometimes theres tears, sometimes they shout back, Parker said. But I certainly dont see these protesters standing outside of clinics where they provide vasectomies to men.

When contacted by StarMetro, Kenney media secretary Annie Dormuth referred to the UCP leaders past comments, explaining that he viewed the bill as a divisive issue brought up by the NDP government to distract from their economic record.

Kenney also released a video Thursday titled The Biggest Womens Issue in Alberta, in which he says the economy is the biggest womens issue and does not mention reproductive rights.

Dormuth said in an email that the video speaks for itself.

As Jason has toured the province over the last 20-plus months, he heard this exact same message from Albertans of all genders, orientations and races. Albertans are worried about the state of the economy and their future economic prosperity, she wrote.

Under Bill 9, protesters who repeatedly violate the buffer zone rules could face a maximum fine of $10,000.

Read more about:HALIFAXPolice in Nova Scotia say they responded to reports this week of two people shooting at pigeons with a rifle.

The call came into Pictou Country RCMP on April 12 and police arrived at Depot Street to find a man and woman, who witnesses say were shooting at the birds.

It turns out the weapon they were using was a pellet gun, and the two people were arrested by police.

Charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and causing animals or birds unnecessary suffering are a 28-year-old man from Scotch Hill and a 44-year-old woman from Pictou. Both are scheduled to appear in court on June 6.

Police didnt specify if any pigeons were injured or killed in the incident.

Read more about:With their children grown and out on their own, Katie Saunders and Simon White moved back to Toronto in 2015 and planned to permanently settle in the city.

Instead, theyve found themselves, along with nine-year-old cockapoo Zoey, restoring an old schoolhouse in Marlbank, Ont., about 225 km east of Toronto.

I couldnt deal with the idea of condo fees: paying off your mortgage and still having fees for the rest of your life, said Saunders. She and her husband raised their family in Sunderland, about 100 km northeast of Toronto. I also missed being outside the city.

White, 55, a printing company administrator, was happy to see his three-hour, round-trip daily commute to Toronto evaporate. But he missed working on the restoration projects their Victorian home in Sunderland had demanded. Soon, the couple began looking for a property within a few hours drive of Toronto.

We had no grand plan, but we knew we wanted something unique: not just a small cottage on a slice of lake, but something more imaginative, White said.

When the 1905 Marlbank schoolhouse appeared on a real estate website, the couple drove out to see it. White was delighted by the 1,800-square-foot brick building that was sound, had a good roof and a dry, concrete basement.

Saunders, 53, an entrepreneur who has worked as a chef, caterer and program designer-manager, saw its business potential as a future site for craft classes or retreats. So the couple took the plunge and purchased the schoolhouse, and its three acres of land, for $133,000 in July, 2016.

It cant go really wrong for us, Saunders said. It has given us a project with no deadline, so its not stressful.

It is, however, labour intensive. To date, White has invested more than 1,000 hours of sweat equity into restoring the schoolhouse to its former glory. Saunders, and their two children, Natalie, 26, and Rudy, 23, have pitched in with another 200 hours of work. They have turned to contractors for the few jobs that need a professional touch.

Its not work, White said. Its something I look forward to. Nothing major needs to be done, and we get to do things with our own hands. Were working toward our future.

What White considers nothing major would cow most people. The rectangular interior originally housed two classrooms divided by a centre hall. Each classroom had been turned into a two-bedroom apartment after the schools closure in 1967. A false ceiling brought room heights down to eight feet from the original 14 feet, and hid the large pendant lights. The tall windows that wrapped around the building had been shortened with boards  or boarded up completely.

The couple turned one of the apartments into a single, open-plan living space with a kitchen, dining room and family room, and divided the other apartment into sleeping quarters with four bedrooms.

White and his son took down the false ceiling and punched out the interior drywall and the framing used to support it. White brought in scaffolding and, with the familys help, took down the original pendant lights for cleaning. He sanded and sealed the original wood floors, plastered the walls atop wooden wainscotting that emerged from behind the drywall and, with Saunders aid, installed and painted horizontal shiplap boards and gave a Cape Cod feel to the interior. Saunders and White also themselves installed an Ikea kitchen  and were still married, Saunders said, with a chuckle.

They hired a contractor to remove and replace the 20 boarded-up, 6.5-foot windows. The result is staggering.

All you can see now is the sky and the trees, Saunders said. You can watch the moon and the clouds go by.

Outdoors, they have begun landscaping, planting pink lilac bushes along the drive and relocating saplings and trees from elsewhere on the property. There are plans to replace the missing school bell.

We spend all of our free time on it. We look for old furniture and things to fix up the interior; were trying to recycle and reuse, Saunders said of their online searches.

After more than 18 months about $50,000 in materials and outside labour,the main room is finished, aside from a planned electric fireplace, and the bedrooms are in the works. They hope to be finished by years end.

Meanwhile, many weekend evenings are spent watching the myriad stars sparkle in the dark sky.

Justifiably, they are proud of their labour of love.

I love the idea of preserving a small part of Ontario history, White said.

THE NUMBERS

0: School bells

1: School bell tower

120: People who have asked about the bell

2  each: bathrooms, furnaces, washers and dryers, stoves and hot water heaters

3.7: Tons of drywall, old doors and debris hauled away

5  original schoolhouse lights remaining

7: Bats that have invaded the space, plus 70 wasps; thousands of ladybugs

11  people the beds will accommodate

20  lilac bushes planted

-6C: Coldest temperature indoors during restoration

-29C: Coldest temperature outdoors during restoration

Sources: Katie Saunders, Simon WhiteOur provincial and municipal governments choose what type of housing gets built, where it is built and how high it is built.

Understanding which level of government is responsible for those different aspects of homebuilding can be very confusing. But one thing is for certain: if municipal governments cannot align their zoning bylaws with provincial housing policy, it will impede the construction of much-needed housing in the GTA.

The province tells municipalities where it wants development and at what density. It has been doing this for more than a decade with its Places to Grow legislation that emphasizes intensification as a means of curbing perceived urban sprawl, and as a way to accommodate forecast growth in complete communities.

Yet municipalities are operating with badly outdated bylaws that do not support the provincial intensification policy.

Despite this, our industry does its best to comply with the provinces Places to Grow development policy with rezoning applications  which are costly and inefficient. Still, our industry has been building to a more intensive pattern of development for years, in an effort to meet provincial requirements.

Outdated zoning makes what already is a long approvals process even longer, and contributes significantly to delays in bringing projects to market. This, in turn, means additional costs for new homebuyers.

Having all GTA municipalities update their zoning bylaws would help to alleviate these issues and would enable the industry to build much-needed housing.

After amalgamation in 1998, Toronto had more than 40 zoning bylaws, some dating back to the 1950s, that were inherited from the six different cities. As you can imagine, community needs have changed dramatically over the years. Some areas of the city were updated with new zoning prior to Places to Grow but the changes raised density permissions only slightly.

The City of Toronto is projected to grow by an average of 70,000 people a year through to 2041. Proper steps are required to ensure that people have homes to live in. This becomes a challenge when zoning bylaws do not match with provincial intensification policies.

For example, areas on and around the Eglinton West LRT, which is part of the Citys SmartTrack initiative, traditionally were zoned for low-density development, while Places to Grow says it should be used for transit-oriented highrise communities.

There also is a clear disconnect between public policy and public perception. Community opposition to intensification is a growing challenge in the GTA, and outdated zoning bylaws contribute to this disconnect. New development in existing communities has many local residents worried about the growing impact higher densities could have on the established neighbourhoods.

Now, more than ever, zoning bylaws need to be updated. With municipal elections approaching this fall, BILD will be asking the tough questions about how we can work together to make this vision a reality.

Dave Wilkes is President and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), the voice of the homebuilding, land development and professional renovation industry in the GTA. For the latest industry news and new home data, follow BILD on Twitter, @bildgta, or visit bildgta.ca.

Read more about:LIMA, PeruCanada is the latest to lay the blame for a deadly chemical-weapons attack in Syria last week at Syrian President Bashar Assads doorstep, despite Russian suggestions to the contrary.

When it comes to this use of chemical weapons, it is clear to Canada that chemical weapons were used and that they were used by the Assad regime, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday.

More than 40 people were killed and 500 injured  including women and children  after poison gas was used in an attack on Douma, a rebel-held enclave near the Syrian capital of Damascus, on April 7.

Read more:

Trump orders military strikes on Syria in response to suspected chemical weapons attack

As global tensions escalate over possible military strike on Syria, Trump considers options

Opinion | Thomas Walkom: How Syria came to be the most dangerous place on Earth

Freeland made the comments on the sidelines of a major international summit, which U.S. President Donald Trump has skipped to oversee the military response to the chemical-weapons attack.

Trump announced Friday night that the U.S., along with Britain and France, launched precision strikes on targets associated with Syrian chemical weapons program. Trudeau has ruled out any Canadian participation.

The Syrian government has denied responsibility and Russia has suggested Israel or Britain was to blame, the latter to justify increased western intervention into the war-ravaged country.

Freeland did not specify how she knew that the Syrian government was responsible, though she said Canada is working with non-governmental organizations and others to collect evidence of war crimes and other atrocities in Syria.

We have seen as a pattern in the world today is actors who behave in a reprehensible manner, then can be quite clever in trying to muddy the waters and in trying to dodge responsibility, she added.

Of course, it is important for Canada to be a country that acts based on facts. But it is equally important for us to be aware of the distraction tactics that some of the actors in the world are using today and to not allow those tactics to work.

U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence is attending the Summit of the Americas in Trumps stead, and is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday.

I think it is completely understandable that the president would feel that, given this crisis situation, he would need to be at home, Freeland said, adding that the Canadian delegation is looking forward to its meeting with Pence.

Read more about:At the beginning of the year, a Brampton judge sounded the alarm over federal prosecutors taking far too long to disclose their evidence to the defence in drug cases, resulting in criminal charges being tossed due to delay.

There are other judges in this jurisdiction that have issued judicial condemnation about the period of time it has taken the federal prosecution service of Canada to complete the disclosure process to permit the parties to proceed and/or move the matter along in non-complex importing cases, wrote Ontario Court Justice Paul OMarra in a January ruling, staying a mans heroin-related charges due to unreasonable delay in getting his case to trial.

I join that chorus of condemnation. The period of time that it took to provide disclosure to counsel in this case was unacceptable.

The issue of court delays across the country has come under heightened scrutiny since the Supreme Court of Canada, in a landmark 2016 ruling known as R v. Jordan, set strict timelines to complete a criminal case in order to meet the constitutional right of an accused person to be tried in a reasonable time: 18 months in provincial court and 30 months in Superior Court. Unless the Crown can prove there were exceptional circumstances for the delay, the case is tossed.

As provincial governments pour millions of dollars into beefing up court resources and the federal government looks to amend the Criminal Code to speed up the trial process, judges and defence lawyers alike have pointed to serious delay issues in the Brampton office of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), the federal agency tasked with prosecuting drug offences.

The fact that Brampton is one of the busiest court jurisdictions in Canada and handles a large amount of drug smuggling cases given its proximity to Pearson airport in Mississauga makes the problem of delay even more pressing.

The history of delay in Brampton is well documented and well known, to the point where the bench recognizes that kind of embarrassing feature of the courthouse, said criminal defence lawyer Edward Prutschi.

One would have thought that by now the PPSC office operating out of Brampton knows all of these things: not a surprise that it is a busy jurisdiction, not a surprise that it is where the airplanes land and the drugs get brought in, so staffing and resourcing and being responsive to those kinds of cases ought to not be a surprise there.

Between July 8, 2016, when the Supreme Court handed down the Jordan ruling, and April 6 judges in Brampton have tossed 11 drug-related cases due to delay, according to the PPSC. Federal prosecutors have also entered 10 stays in cases affected by delay, meaning the prosecutor chose not to proceed.

The Star requested an interview with the head of the federal prosecution office in Brampton to inquire about how prosecutors are meeting their disclosure obligations and bringing cases to trial in a reasonable time, but was told an interview is not possible.

The PPSC is dedicated to ensuring that disclosure is collected and presented in a timely fashion and consistent with the timelines set by the recent jurisprudence, said spokeswoman Nathalie Houle in an email.

Meanwhile, the union representing federal prosecutors has complained that the Brampton office is overworked and has suffered from recruitment and retention problems, which is contributing to the delays.

In at least seven of the 11 drug cases tossed in Brampton since 2016, delays in the disclosure process were either one of the reasons or the main reason for the overall delay that led to the case being thrown out, the Star found.

Some of the cases involved smuggling offences (Justice OMarra referred to two other such cases in his January ruling), but others dealt with different drug offences such as possession for the purpose of trafficking.

While the federal prosecution office provided the Star with a list of the cases stayed by judges, it said a list of cases stayed by prosecutors is not available.

Cases stayed by the PPSC are the product of a decision-making process that considers the reasonable prospect of conviction, Houle said.

Crown attorneys are constitutionally obligated to disclose their evidence to the defence so that they can prepare their case, as guaranteed by an individuals charter rights when charged with a crime.

In an opium importation case that was stayed due to unreasonable delay last August, Ontario Court Justice Bruce Duncan found that following the accuseds arrest in Dec. 2015, there had been an unusually long delay in completing disclosure  a period of about nine months.

In that case, the accused was arrested in Markham after receiving a package containing 6.6 kilograms of opium sent from Istanbul via the United States. The RCMP had obtained judicial authorization to conduct a controlled delivery of the package after being alerted of its contents by U.S. customs agents, according to Duncans ruling.

The judge, finding that the case was not complex, referred to what is known as the information to obtain, a document prepared by police outlining their case and submitted to a justice of the peace in order to get a warrant. Duncan found the ITO should have been disclosed very early in the process.

The disclosure involved police officer notes and notes of customs officers in Canada and the U.S. plus the ITO and relevant videos. None of these items was exotic, unusual or difficult to obtain, the judge said. Notes of police officers involved in the case and the ITO for the warrant are items of first-tier disclosure and should have been provided spontaneously without the necessity of a request from the defence at all.

ITOs are common in drug prosecutions, and the significant delay in disclosing them also contributed to the collapse of two other Brampton cases within months of the Supreme Court releasing the Jordan decision.

In the first case, involving two people charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking drugs worth about $500,000, the nine-page ITO wasnt disclosed to the defence until eight months after the arrest.

The Crown states that this was because the ITO had to be vetted to protect the identity of a confidential informant and the Crowns office was short-staffed, wrote then-Ontario Court Justice Andras Schreck, who has since been elevated to the Superior Court in Toronto, in a December 2016 ruling.

I accept that such vetting is necessary at times. However, the ITO in this case was only nine pages long and only two small portions on the second page needed to be excised. I find it difficult to accept that the Crowns office was so short-staffed that it took eight months to vet nine pages. Even if it was, the Crowns failure to allocate sufficient resources to the prosecution of serious criminal offences cannot justify delay that is otherwise unreasonable.

Two months later, Ontario Court Justice Kathryn Hawke threw out trafficking charges against two individuals in a case where it took seven months to get the ITO to the defence. She noted that such disclosure is your bread and butter work if you are in the business of prosecuting drug cases.

Criminal defence lawyers have argued that some of the blame for the delay in cases rests at the feet of the police, as Crown attorneys first have to wait to get evidence from officers before vetting it and turning it over to the defence.

You can only surmise that the culture of complacency that was criticized by the Supreme Court of Canada has similarly infected the police agencies tasked with providing disclosure in a timely manner, said Michael Lacy, president of the Criminal Lawyers Association.

For the most part, what needs to be disclosed has already been gathered either before arrests are made or on the day of arrest. Police forces need to be mindful of the need to gather information in a manner that can be disclosed at the outset of an investigation.

The president of the union representing federal prosecutors said the Brampton federal prosecution office has a history of being overworked and under-resourced, which can lead to delay.

If you have 70 per cent of your complement trying to do 100 per cent of the work, those folks are overtaxed ... and we have a retention problem because our salaries and working conditions are unfavourable compared to our counterparts, said Ursula Hendel, president of the Association of Justice Counsel, referring to provincial Crown attorneys, who prosecute the bulk of criminal offences in Ontario.

I can walk across the street and make 30 per cent more money, and still be in the same courtroom the next day.

According to figures provided by the union, most federal prosecutors can receive a maximum annual salary of $138,000, compared to a maximum of $199,000 for provincial Crown attorneys doing comparable work.

(A spokesperson for the federal prosecution office said the agency has added to its complement of prosecutors in Brampton since July 2016, but would not say how many.)

Hendel said there are a number of factors that can lead to disclosure delays, including finding the time to sit down with the police officer to vet an ITO to ensure there is nothing in it that refers to a confidential informant, a key feature in many drug prosecutions.

There are a lot of confidential informers in search warrants and drug files, its very loaded, you cant get it wrong, she said.

You need to work closely with the police officers who are familiar with the circumstances because they are the only ones who can tell you whether the information is innocuous or whether its loaded. And that takes some time. As busy as we are, the police also have their pressures. And so trying to get everyone together at the same time, and to get the information that we need, is often time consuming.

She explained that recruiting and retaining senior Crowns has been particularly problematic in the Brampton office given the wage disparity versus the provincial Crown office, and she said there are less senior prosecutors readily available to review an ITO to ensure there is nothing in it that refers to a confidential informant.

When the new lawyers are hired, theyre junior, they cant carry the same load, so were getting back to the issue of warrants and confidential informers, she said. You cant give that work to a junior person.

Like other criminal defence lawyers who have done drug cases in Brampton, Jennifer Penman said she found it hard to believe that delays in disclosure were mostly the result of resourcing issues. She represented one of three accused men in a marijuana grow operation, a case where the defence was still receiving disclosure nearly a year after the three mens February 2013 arrest.

In a ruling delivered in April 2016, just two months before the Jordan ruling and so using the previous framework to calculate delay in a criminal case, Superior Court Justice John Sproat blasted the federal prosecution office for the disclosure problems.

There was no good reason why the Crown provided disclosure in dribs and drabs over such an extended period, he said, going on to say that Crown delay in the case had been both glaring and egregious.

Penman told the Star that getting the ITO in the case took forever, saying that the vetting process involving the Crown and police should be relatively simple in many cases.

She chalked up the problem to attitude.

I think theres an apathy, theres an attitude, regarding making disclosure and the rights of the accused a priority, she said. I dont know, maybe not enough of these cases are being tossed, they think they can get away with it.

Read more about:LIMA, PeruU.S. Vice-President Mike Pence is thanking Canada for supporting Friday nights airstrikes against Syria, and says a successful North American free trade deal is close.

The comments came today as Pence sat down with Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas, where the prime minister reiterated Canadas backing of the U.S., British and French attacks in Syria.

Trudeau described the strikes as unfortunate but necessary to stop the Syrian government from using chemical weapons, which Damascus has denied doing, while Pence said the U.S. was ready to sustain the effort to get results.

The two leaders also reiterated their mutual aspirations for a quick and successful NAFTA deal, with Pence saying the Trump administration was encouraged by the progress so far.

There had been hopes leading up to this weekends summit that an agreement might be signed, but that did not happen and Canadian, American and Mexican negotiators are currently in Washington working on a deal.

Pence also expressed condolences for those affected by the Humboldt bus crash.

Read more:

Trump orders military strikes on Syria in response to suspected chemical weapons attack

Trudeau supports U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria over chemical-weapons attack

Trudeau meets with Mexican President Nieto at critical time in NAFTA talks

Read more about:OTTAWAPrime Minister Justin Trudeau will hug just about anyone. But he is about to drop the niceties.

Hes asked B.C. Premier John Horgan and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley  NDP leaders both  to meet him in Ottawa Sunday to grapple with what seem like irreconcilable differences.

Texas-based Kinder Morgan Inc. announced last Sunday it is suspending the Alberta-B.C. Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project and setting a May 31 deadline for reassurance that its construction can proceed as approved in the face of growing opposition in B.C. where the minority government is vowing to halt it.

Read more:

There is one and only one solution: Hundreds rally for pipelines in Edmonton as feud with B.C. heats up

Work it out, demand pro-pipeline B.C. business leaders

Opinion | Editorial: Trudeau must lead on both pipeline and climate change

Alberta is apoplectic and threatens to throttle oil and gas supplies to B.C. residents, promising punitive legislation as early as next week in retaliation.

The showdown poses a crucial test of Trudeaus national leadership, whether he can fulfil his promise to expand economic growth while balancing the concerns of Indigenous and environmental opponents.

So forget social licence. Trudeaus got his sparring gloves on.

The prime minister, who once campaigned on a more collaborative approach to federalism, says the pipeline will get built and has called on B.C. to stop obstructing it.

Trudeau says he has a broad range of options  legal, regulatory and financial  to assert federal jurisdiction over an interprovincial pipeline expansion that was already approved by the National Energy Board and the federal cabinet.

So just what is on the table?

The government wont discuss any options under consideration, especially financial aid, given concerns about having an impact on the publicly-traded Kinder Morgan. But sources say a plan will be ready before the next cabinet meeting on April 24.

Here are some of the choices that a range of experts inside and outside government, most of whom agreed to speak only for background, suggested:

Legal and regulatory

The government could enact a new bill, call it, say, the Trans-Mountain Act to clearly define and assert federal jurisdiction on the project and hobble the B.C. NDPs planned reference to a B.C. court on the question of its jurisdiction. The federal government could take over permitting and other regulatory approvals for the project. It could clarify its own powers and add other burdens or outline penalties for the province if it tries to stand in the way of the pipeline.

Ottawa could withhold discretionary funds from B.C. such as spending on regional economic diversification, innovation or other monies.

The federal government could, counterintuitively, require further environmental controls on the project, say double-walled pipelines or increased marine protections to further address Indigenous and environmental concerns  beyond the $1.5-billion oceans protection plan it already promised to address the previous B.C. Liberal governments concerns  in exchange for some kind of guarantee the B.C. government would cease its opposition.

In theory, Ottawa could disallow a B.C. law or regulation that it declares as contrary to the national interest, but that kind of sledgehammer hasnt been used since the 1940s, and legal experts say convention suggests it should not be used.

Ottawa could, however, invoke federal emergency powers to deal with protests if they were to block construction. However the RCMP already has lawful powers to enforce a B.C. court-ordered injunction against protests within five metres of two work sites, and last month arrested dozens of protestors.

Federal sources dismiss talk of calling in the military. None of this uncertainty is about protests, said one official. Rather, Kinder Morgans uncertainty centres on B.C.s vow to put legal hurdles in the way of the project. Its making investors skittish, the official said.

Financial

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government is looking to de-risk the project so that it goes forward. In plain language, that means underwrite or assume some of the projects risk in some way.

Tim McMillan, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said there are a 1,000 permutations of what financial backstop could look like. Others inside government agree.

The federal government and/or the Alberta government could buy a partial or even a controlling stake (a highly unlikely, but not off-the-table option) in a project that is 30 per cent held by Kinder Morgan Canada Limited and 70 per cent owned by Texas-based Kinder Morgan, Inc., one of North Americas largest pipeline operators.

The upside: it would assure investors Canada is prepared to put its money where its mouth is to push the project through. The downside: the prospect of Justin Trudeau buying into an oilsands pipeline company would surely run counter to his partys flag-waving on climate change.

Ottawa could provide some kind of financial guarantee to backstop or insure any part of the project, such as construction costs, on a look-back or a go-forward basis  a kind of insurance policy for the $1.1 billion Kinder Morgan has already spent or against future spending on a project estimated to cost $7.4 billion. Right now, because the project is not full-steam-ahead, construction costs are estimated at about $20 million a month, but if the green-light is given to start large-scale construction, that is expected to run as high as $200 million to $300 million a month.

The federal governments options could include a loan guarantee. It could loan money to the project and collect interest or forgo interest in exchange for equity knowing the return on the investment would be secure. Kinder Morgan has secured commitments from 13 of Western Canadas largest oil producers that they will ship heavy and light crude through the pipeline once its capacity is tripled.

I think aside from words, actions are probably whats going to give them the most certainty, and I think for investors, actions for them probably looks like a financial guarantee, said one senior government official.

Kinder Morgan wont say publicly what action it wants Ottawa to take, or whether it even wants the government to take an equity stake. The company wont comment on Sundays summit in Ottawa.

In a statement to the Star, Kinder Morgan said it will continue to consult with various stakeholders to see if an agreement can be reached by June. The focus in those consultations will be on two principles: clarity on the path forward, particularly with respect to the ability to construct through B.C.; and, adequate protection of KML shareholders.

To be clear, Ottawa has already narrowed the range of options it is prepared to take.

Morneau dismissed outright B.C.s request that Ottawa ask the Supreme Court of Canada to decide whether the province has any environmental or marine protection jurisdiction that would allow it to put new controls on oil flows in the proposed expansion of the Alberta-B. C. pipeline, in the name of defending B.C.s coast.

We dont see a need to refer something to the Supreme Court of Canada when we already know that its a federal jurisdiction, said the finance minister. That from our standpoint is not a course of action that makes sense.

A Supreme Court of Canada reference wouldnt solve anything by May 31 in any case.

And for Justin Trudeau to claim success, let alone carry the banner of being a different kind of national leader  different than the polarizing figure that his father was  the answer would seem to lie in a political agreement to resolve differences, in the spirit of co-operative federalism, not in a judicially imposed resolution.

Read more about:Crown attorneys at a busy downtown Toronto courthouse are warning that understaffing and poor working conditions have thrown their office into crisis, potentially putting serious cases at risk, according to a letter obtained by the Star.

A lack of appropriate staffing has led to an unmanageable workload and intense stress for each and every one of us, says a March 15 letter sent to the Ministry of the Attorney General and Toronto head Crown Michael Cantlon.

Assistant Crown Attorneys at College Park do not receive adequate amounts of time to prepare for the cases that are assigned to them and are often assigned serious cases on the eve of trials or preliminary hearings, the letter says.

This crisis is compromising our ability to prosecute our cases properly and it is also compromising our health.

The letter is signed by 17 assistant Crown attorneys who work at the Ontario Court of Justice at 444 Yonge St. They conduct bail hearings, preliminary hearings and trials on a wide range of criminal matters including sexual and domestic assaults and fraud.

Cantlon has been appearing regularly at the College Park courthouse as the prosecutor assigned to the case of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur, who is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

The ministry has recently taken steps to address Crown staffing levels in order to alleviate resourcing and workload issues, a government spokesperson, Brian Gray, wrote in an email Friday.

An additional 32 new provincial Crowns have been hired since 2016, some deployed at College Park, he added.

Management is working closely and collaboratively with the Crowns in an effort to address the issues that have been raised, he wrote. Deputy Attorney General Paul Boniferro toured College Park courthouse this past week and heard from nearly all the Crowns and staff.

Gray noted construction of a new courthouse bringing together most of Torontos courts, including College Park, is expected to begin this fall.

The prosecutors who signed the letter say they have brought the crisis situation to the ministrys attention on two occasions, at a meeting last Sept. 29 and at a Nov. 10 meeting.

The lawyers say chronic understaffing at College Park is exacerbated by an exodus of more than a dozen experienced counsel over the last two years who are being replaced by a revolving door of less experienced part-time prosecutors.

There were previously at least 34 full-time Crowns assigned to College Park, twice the number there now, the letter says.

The prosecutors say an unprecedented amount of administrative work has been added to their crushing caseload, making grossly deficient working conditions unbearable and untenable for all of us, the letter continues.

Lawyers are crammed into small offices, which is having a negative impact on the mental and physical health of the team, it says.

Assistant Crown Attorneys at College Park are experiencing anxiety, depression and a sense of hopelessness, the lawyers write. They add its no wonder so many senior lawyers have left to join other offices within the ministry and beyond.

Fiscal restraint and vacancy management may be the Ministrys current guiding catchphrases, but they are irrevocably damaging our team.

The letter ends by telling Cantlon they were heartened after the September meeting that he acknowledged our stress and that you committed to working together to advocate on our behalf.Eight-year-old Azeriah Jeremiah is on the mend after hot asphalt fell on him and two of his classmates during gym class at North Yorks Derrydown Public School, in an incident that the TDSB says should not have happened.

The asphalt fell into the gym during a roofing project, sending two eight-year-old students to the hospital.

The incident is being investigated by the TDSB and the Ministry of Labour.

Jeremiahs mother, Nyoka Colman, was in Jamaica when she received word that her son was headed to SickKids with burns. Colman immediately flew back to Toronto.

I couldnt process it for maybe three or four hours, she said.

I couldnt understand, just the fact that theyre saying at school and Im thinking, theres no way this could happen to my son at school. Theres just no way. I dont send (my son to) school to get burned; I send him to school to learn. The schools there to protect him.

Friday afternoon, Jeremiah was still at SickKids, but expected to be discharged soon.

This shouldnt have happened and were taking it seriously to investigate what exactly caused it, TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said. In the meantime,  our thoughts are with the students that were injured and were just wishing for a speedy recovery.

Colman said her son smelt a strong smell in the gym on Monday.

They went towards the smell and thats when the tar (fell), she said. His exact words were, it came raining down on me.

Another eight-year-old boy was hospitalized briefly after the asphalt fell on Monday. The asphalt landed on the shirt of a third student, an eight-year-old girl, who was uninjured.

Bird said a community meeting for parents will be held at the school next week to provide information and answer any questions that parents may have.

Jeremiah is having fun at SickKids, his mother said, but is scared to go back to the school gym.

Hes more self-conscious, because, especially when they take off the dressing, he looks at it and he asks me if I think hes weird or he thinks people are going to make fun of him now, Colman said.

He keeps having nightmares . Last night, he woke up twice. He was having the nightmare that he was getting burned and he was getting trapped; he couldnt leave the school.

Jeremiah remains on pain medication. Hes had asphalt stuck in his hair all week, and on Friday, hospital staff were in the process of combing it out after soaking his head all week.

Colman hopes the investigation moves quickly.

How could you be doing construction on the roof and not block off that area? she asked.

Bird said the investigation is underway, and work on the roof has halted.

This should not have happened, he said. And thats why were investigating: to determine exactly what happened and how this came about.

Obviously, parents should be able to send their kids to school knowing that it is, indeed, safe, and the fact is: it is safe. But this specific incident, obviously, is concerning and thats why were investigating to determine exactly how it happened.

School staff, including a TDSB superintendent, have visited Jeremiah in hospital.

Before I sent my son to school, I didnt feel concerned; I just sent him to school. He was happy. I was happy, Colman said. Now, I just dont feel that same security that I felt before.Alex Oren insisted he wouldnt bring his wife and stepson to Canada from Belarus until he had a house ready for them here.

Now, after a tangled journey that involved buying a home in a pre-construction project that fell through, a new four-bedroom house is finally ready, but its sitting empty because his spousal sponsorship for Volha and Yaheni Oren was rejected by the Canadian visa post in Poland in March.

While the March 20 decision simply said the application was denied because the officer wasnt satisfied the relationship was genuine, the Toronto man says the officer questioned Volha repeatedly during an interview about why the sponsorship application was filed almost two years after their wedding in May 2015, when the husband and wife last saw each other.

I was waiting for the house to be almost done before I filed the application to sponsor Volha and her son, said Oren, 49, an IT consultant. I dont want to bring somebody to Canada without a place to put them.

In an interview with the Star, Oren said he paid a $75,000 deposit for a pre-built Urbancorp home near Lawrence Ave. and Black Creek Dr. in 2014, a year after he was introduced to his wife by a mutual friend.

However, the occupancy of his home was delayed and Urbancorp later sold the project to another builder after filing for restructuring under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in 2016. Oren said his family reunification plan was put off while he battled in court to get his refund and tried to find another home to welcome his family from Belarus.

In 2017, as he and other Urbancorp customers were closing in on getting the full refund from the builder, Oren filed the sponsorship application and a few months later, used the refund for the down payment of his current home, another pre-construction house near Keele St. and Wilson Ave.

I am a contractor and I dont get paid if I dont work. I havent been to Belarus to see my wife because I am a responsible person. I would rather spend my money on a nice house for my family than on a vacation trip, said Oren.

The Immigration Department declined to explain what led the officer to believe the marriage was bogus, saying the case is currently under appeal and it would be inappropriate to comment further when it will be before a tribunal.

A native of Gomel, Belarus like his wife, Oren said he immigrated to Canada in 2004 under the skilled worker class. He married a Russian woman in 2006 and sponsored her to Canada, but the two divorced in 2010.

Oren met his current wife, 41, in 2013 through a friend and he said the two fell in love. In total, they spent more than six weeks together over four visits, including the last time in the summer of 2015 at their wedding in Belarus, Oren said.

We talk and see each other almost daily on Viber and Skype and we provided the full transcripts to immigration in a thick file, said Oren, who claimed to have suffered depression and financial stress after Urbancorps cancelled development and the prolonged separation from his wife.

Oren said other evidence was also submitted to the Immigration Department: Volha changing her last name to Oren two months after their marriage, her CIBC credit card from him, as well as her being the beneficiary in his RRSP and his annual income tax returns.

Oren said he is appealing the decision on his spousal sponsorship, but for now, he can only return to an empty house to be with his 77-year-old mother, who sold her own condo to help him buy the bigger home they now share.I functioned by compartmentalizing. In therapy, I was willing to explore my hidden mind, but in my life I was still avoiding the memories. So much so, that as an active feminist for more than a decade, I had never gotten involved in issues that addressed violence against women; I hadnt even attended the Take Back the Night marches. Subconsciously, I feared they would bring up my own history of abuse.

All that changed on Dec. 6, 1989. It is a day I will never forget. I was driving home from work when I heard the news on the radio: a gunman was shooting students at the Ecole Polytechnique, an engineering school affiliated with the Universite de Montreal. I slowed down and turned up the volume. Who was he killing? How many? Why?

I parked my car in front of my apartment and listened to the radio. Then I heard it: the man had separated the men from the women, then shot 28 students, killing 14 women. While he was on his rampage, he said, Youre all a bunch of feminists and I hate feminists.

Read more:

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Montreal massacre commemorated in Toronto amid social media calls to end gender-based violence

Ecole Polytechnique presents $30,000 scholarship in honour of Montreal massacre victims

I could hardly breathe. A man had targeted the female students at a school where the vast majority were male. He killed them because he believed that feminists had ruined his life. He killed them because they were training for a mans job. He killed them because they were women.

I felt sick. I ran up to my apartment. The minute I got in I turned on the radio and the TV. I started feeling cold, really cold. I looked at the thermostat; it was at 21 degrees. The apartment wasnt cold. I was cold. A deep sorrow started to build in my belly. It grew and spread until I started to cry; the cry became a sob and the sob became a scream. I ran into the bedroom to get a pillow to stifle my screams.

Violence against women was epidemic but it wasnt until Dec. 6, 1989, that the veil covering misogyny was lifted through this act of fury and hatred. The media were saying this was the act of a madman but most feminists recognized that rage. We had been talking about it for decades. We knew that it was an extreme act of misogyny we had spent our lives fighting. It was a profound public moment that had a deep impact on anyone who had ever experienced male violence.

I was only just beginning to understand how my fathers rage and abuse had affected my life. The depth of grief I felt at the massacre was also personal grief. My father had not taken my life, but he had taken my innocence, my ability to love and be loved. He had taken my memory, my history. Up until that moment, my wounds were private. I had never consciously connected them to my politics. But now I was starting to make that link.

I called a friend to find out if there was a vigil or a rally. I needed to be with other women. A spontaneous memorial was planned for the next day. When I arrived at the location I saw about 100 women bundled up in winter coats, quietly talking in front of Crucified Woman, a statue at the University of Torontos Emmanuel College. It was late afternoon on a cold grey day. I hardly knew anyone. The first person I saw was Marilou McPhedran, a feminist lawyer whom I had debated recently on constitutional issues. Her usual confidence and energy were gone. It seemed as if the muscles in her face had collapsed. She was grief-stricken. I put my arms around her, not knowing what else to do. Neither one of us had ever cried in public. We came from the generation that believed tears showed weakness and we were strong women.

We didnt have a megaphone or a mic, so we gathered in circles around the Crucified Woman. There were a few men there, but it was the women I remember, their heads down, eyes lowered, soaked in sadness, still in shock. Some women were crying. Then someone began singing Holly Nears Singing for Our Lives. We were grieving together as women, as feminists, as mothers, as sisters.

Im pretty sure Marilou said a few words, or someone did, but mostly we talked about what had happened and what we were feeling. There were media asking questions and we answered in subdued voices, eyes downcast.

The week after the Dec. 6 massacre, I was invited to speak at a rally on abortion rights in Montreal. Initially, the rally was to focus on Chantal Daigle, whose right to abortion case was going to the Supreme Court. But since it was only a week after the Montreal Massacre, it became a huge feminist memorial. Every well-known Quebec feminist  in the arts, the unions, politics, and the womens movement  was there. When I walked into the huge auditorium on Saint Denis St., I was overwhelmed by the size of the crowd.

The womens movement in Quebec had been remarkably successful. They came from a highly patriarchal culture where women didnt even have the right to vote until 1940, 20 years after the rest of the country. The women in that room had fought for and won the same degree of equality as elsewhere in Canada in much less time. In one generation they went from the highest birth rate and the highest rate of weddings to the lowest. Womens status in society changed in a truly revolutionary way. Many feminists believed that the action of the assassin was part of a backlash against those dramatic changes.

However stunned we were in Toronto, it was much worse in Montreal. The hall was full, but it was quiet. In the bathroom, I ran into Francoise (David). She was a tough left-wing feminist who was never afraid to take a stand and speak her mind.

He hated feminists. She was slumped over the sink trying to stop crying. He hated us but he killed these young women. How do I deal with that?

I nodded sympathetically. I feel guilty, she continued. I know I shouldnt but I do.

I understand, Francoise, but it isnt your fault they died. Its his fault.

Yes, but one of the young women even said, We are not feminist. Imagine! They blamed us, too.

No, they didnt. She was just trying to save herself and the others.

That she felt guilty surprised me at first. But I found guilt in many of the women I talked to. He wanted to kill them, prominent feminists, but he couldnt get to them so he killed these innocent young women instead. Was it survivor guilt? No, it was another form of oppression. Blaming the victim is a component of oppression. Its part of patriarchy and sexism and it is part of colonialism and racism. What young women today call rape culture is full of this kind of shaming and blaming.

Radical feminists think all acts of violence against women are political. Violence against women exists to stop women from fighting back, from achieving equality both at a personal and at a societal level. Theres little question that the Ecole Polytechnique killers act was political, just as there is little question that it was also personal, coming out of a rage against women taking his place in society. With the exception of a few prominent feminists, at the time no one in Quebec was willing to accept this explanation.

The events of Dec. 6 reverberated through my body, my mind, and my memory. The pain of the original trauma of my fathers abuse and anger, and of all the male violence I had shut out of my mind for years and years, flooded my consciousness. Today we call it a trigger, but back then I didnt really understand what was happening to me.Ontarios public elementary and secondary teacher unions have filed a complaint with the labour board, saying provincial payouts to their Catholic counterparts are unfair.

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation say the Liberal government engaged in coercion and reprisals, and discriminated against ETFO and OSSTF members.

They allege thats because the two unions successfully challenged the violation of their members constitutionally protected rights under Bill 115, ETFO said in a written release.

Bill 115 was the 2012 legislation that forced contracts on elementary and secondary teachers, contracts based on a deal agreed to by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association.

It was recently revealed that the government settled a grievance based on the next round of bargaining, in 2014, and is giving many Catholic teachers a $2,000 payout  to a total of $31 million  to make up for salary increases that were delayed because of sluggish negotiations.

But the public school teacher unions say they were told by the government that their members were not allowed to grieve the 2014 salary delay.

They have accused the government of bargaining in bad faith in 2014 by consistently representing that all four of Ontarios teacher unions would be receiving substantially identical financial settlements for their 2014-2017 collective agreements.

These recent payouts are, essentially, very expensive thank-you cards from the Liberal government to unions that agreed to major financial concessions during 2012 and gave public legitimacy to a law, Bill 115, that the government used to impose those same concessions on others, said Sam Hammond, president of the elementary teachers union.

The elementary and secondary teachers unions, among others, won a court challenge to Bill 115, in which the 2012 law was deemed to have violated their constitutional rights. The secondary teachers union worked out a $50-million settlement with the government, but the elementary teachers have yet to reach one.

The government has said the Catholic teacher payouts, and others in the works, including to the provinces principals, are to mitigate future risk and challenges from the 2014 grievances, but the two public teacher unions called that a smoke screen.

Secondary teacher union President Harvey Bischof called the governments dealings unfair and dishonest.

The Catholic teachers union was upset when the 2014-15 school year started without a contract, with the government extending their existing agreements as negotiations were underway, which led union locals to later launch grievances.

But the extended agreements were simply a continuation of the 2012 deal when the Catholic teachers had actually agreed to the salary grid delay.

Salary grids are based on education and experience, and teachers move up it as they build years of service. Annual salary increases boost the grid overall.A new UN report puts Burmas armed forces on a UN blacklist of government and rebel groups credibly suspected of carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence in conflict for the first time.

An advance copy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres report to the Security Council, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, says international medical staff and others in Bangladesh have documented that many of the almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled from Burma, also known as Myanmar, bear the physical and psychological scars of brutal sexual assault.

The UN chief said the assaults were allegedly perpetrated by the Myanmar (Burma) Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, at times acting in concert with local militias, in the course of military clearance operations in October 2016 and August 2017.

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The widespread threat and use of sexual violence was integral to this strategy, serving to humiliate, terrorize and collectively punish the Rohingya community, as a calculated tool to force them to flee their homelands and prevent their return, Guterres said.

Buddhist-majority Burma doesnt recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group, insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. It has denied them citizenship, leaving them stateless.

The recent spasm of violence began when Rohingya insurgents launched a series of attacks last Aug. 25 on about 30 security outposts and other targets. Burma security forces then began a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages that the UN and human rights groups have called a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Violence was visited upon women, including pregnant women, who are seen as custodians and propagators of ethnic identity, as well as on young children, who represent the future of the group, Guterres said. This can be linked to an inflammatory narrative alleging that high fertility rates among the Rohingya represent an existential threat to the majority population.

The report, which will be a focus of a UN Security Council meeting Monday on preventing sexual violence in conflict, puts 51 government, rebel and extremist groups on the list.

They include 17 from Congo including the armed forces and national police, seven from Syria including the armed forces and intelligence services, six each from Central African Republic and South Sudan, five from Mali, four from Somalia, three from Sudan, one each from Iraq and Burma, and Boko Haram which operates in several countries.

As a general trend, Guterres said, the rise or resurgence of conflict and violent extremism, with its ensuing proliferation of arms, mass displacement, and collapsed rule of law, triggers patterns of sexual violence.

This was evident in many places in 2017 as insecurity spread to new regions in Central African Republic, violence surged in eastern and central Congo, conflict engulfed South Sudan, violence wracked Syria and Yemen, and ethnic cleansing in the guise of clearance operations unfolded in Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, he said.

Guterres said most victims are politically and economically marginalized women and girls concentrated in remote, rural areas with the least access to services that can help them, and in refugee camps and areas for the displaced.

The year 2017 also saw sexual violence continue to be employed as a tactic of war, terrorism, torture and repression, he said, citing conflicts in CAR, Congo, Iraq, Mali, Burma, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan as examples of this alarming trend.

Guterres said sexual violence continues to serve as a push factor for forced displacement in places such as Colombia, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Syria. And he said it remained a heightened risk in transit, refugee and displacement settings.

The secretary-general said the effects of sexual violence can impact generations as a result of trauma, stigma, poverty, poor health and unwanted pregnancy.

In South Sudan, for instance, Guterres said sexual violence is so prevalent that a Commission of Inquiry described women and girls as collectively traumatized. He said children born of this violence have been labelled bad blood or children of the enemy and warned that this vulnerability may leave them susceptible to recruitment, radicalization and trafficking.

Guterres said many women, including Rohingya refugees, are reluctant to return to locations they fled where forces including alleged perpetrators remain in control.

Colombia is the only country in which children conceived through wartime rape are legally recognized as victims, though it has been difficult for them to access redress without being stigmatized, he said.

The secretary-general lamented that most incidents of mass rape continue to be met with mass impunity.

For example, Guterres said, not a single member of Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, or Boko Haram has been prosecuted for sexual violence offences to date.

Read more about:WASHINGTONThe United States and European allies launched strikes against Syrian targets, President Donald Trump announced Friday, seeking to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people.

Trump said Britain and France had joined the U.S. in the strikes, which he said were underway. Ottawa had previously ruled out any Canadian participation.

These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead, Trump, in a televised nighttime address from the White House Diplomatic Room, said of the chemical attacks that he blamed on Assad.

He said the allied strikes of precision weapons sought to deter the production, spread and use of chemical weapons as a vital national security interest of the United States.

We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents, Trump said.

To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? he said. The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep.

The Damascus sky lights up with surface-to-air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria early Saturday.





The strikes risked pulling the United States deeper into the complex, multi-sided war in Syria from which Trump only last week said he wanted to withdraw. They also raised the possibility of confrontation with Russia and Iran, both of which have military forces in Syria to support Assad.

In an official statement, British Prime Minister Theresa May said British armed forces conducted their strikes to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use. The statement claimed non-violent methods to stop the use of chemical weapons in Syria had been thwarted, cited a Russian veto of a UN resolution this week to establish an independent investigation into the Douma attack.

May insisted the strike does not signify Britians entry into the Syrian conflict.

This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties, the statement reads.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that the strikes targeted the Syrian governments chemical weapons capacity. France, he said, cannot tolerate normalization of chemical weapons in the country.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement Friday night condemning last weeks chemical attack in eastern Ghouta, Syria, and support for the allied missile strike.

Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people.

We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice.

The Tomahawk missiles, launched from U.S. warships in the eastern Mediterranean, struck Syria shortly after 4 a.m. local time Saturday.

Syria said its air defences, which are substantial, were confronting the U.S.-French-British aggression, according to the state-run SANA news agency. Syrias Observatory for Human Rights, a group monitoring the conflict, reported that the strikes targeted several military bases, Republican Guards locations and the Scientific Studies Research Centre.

One of the strikes targeted a research facility in the greater Damascus area that the Pentagon said was used to research and produce chemical weapons. The other two strikes targeted a chemical weapons storage facility and a combined storage facility and command centre, both located near the Syrian city of Homs, said Gen. Joseph Dunford, U.S. joint chiefs of staff.

We did not do any co-ordination with the Russians on the strikes, nor did we pre-notify them, Dunford said.

We have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties, said James Mattis, the U.S. secretary of defence. Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year, he said, referring to last years chemical weapons attack.

Casualties from Saturday mornings attack werent yet known. Syrian government troops had evacuated airports and primary military air bases in government-held areas in anticipation of a U.S. air attack, and reportedly moved some Syrian warplanes to Russian-controlled airfields for protection.

A fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was to begin investigating the incident on Saturday in Douma, which had been held by rebels before the suspected attack. The missions job was only to determine whether chemical weapons had been used, not who had used them.

Medical and rescue groups have reported that the Syrian military dropped bombs that released chemical substances during an offensive to take the town. A New York Times review of videos of the attacks aftermath, and interviews with residents and medical workers, suggested that Syrian government helicopters dropped canisters giving off some sort of chemical compound that suffocated at least 43 people.

Syria has denied using banned chemical weapons in a war that has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced half of the prewar population of 23 million. Its official Sana news agency scoffed at the reports that chemical weapons had been used in Douma, citing an unidentified official who said government forces advancing on the town didnt need to use any chemical weapons as the media channels that support the terrorists are fabricating.

Russia has variously said there was no chemical attack in Douma or that the U.S. and its allies orchestrated it to undermine Assad. The footage that was shown was clearly staged, Russias Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the United Nations Security Council.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Russias U.S. ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, wrote on Twitter. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

Russian forces and Iranian-backed militias also are deployed around Syria to help fight the rebellion  including Daesh and other extremist groups  that has surged against Assad since the conflict started more than seven years ago.

Some U.S. Democrats criticized Trumps decision, saying the launch was reckless and conducted without congressional approval.

In the seven years since the beginning of Syrias civil war, the casualties have grown from the first handful of protesters shot by government forces to hundreds of thousands of dead. But as the war has dragged on, growing more diffuse and complex, many international monitoring groups have essentially stopped counting.

Even the United Nations, which released regular reports on the death toll during the first years of the war, gave its last estimate in 2016  when it relied on 2014 data, in part  and said it was virtually impossible to verify how many had died. At that time, a UN official said 400,000 people had been killed.

The last comprehensive number widely accepted internationally  470,000 dead  was issued by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research in 2016. The group, which was based in Damascus until that year, was long seen as one of the most reliable local sources because it was not affiliated with the government or aligned with any opposition group.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said last month that at least 511,000 people had been killed in the war since March 2011. Another group, the Violations Documentation Centre, which is linked to opposition groups, has a much lower estimate, tallying 188,026 conflict-related deaths from mid-March 2011 until March 2018.

With files from Bloomberg, The Associated Press and Star staff

Read more about:WASHINGTONU.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday declared Mission Accomplished for a U.S.-led allied missile attack on Syrias chemical weapons program, but the Pentagon said the pummeling of three chemical-related facilities left enough others intact to enable the Assad government to use banned weapons against civilians if it chooses.

A perfectly executed strike, Trump tweeted after U.S., French and British warplanes and ships launched more than 100 missiles nearly unopposed by Syrian air defences. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

His choice of words recalled a similar claim associated with President George W. Bush following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Bush addressed sailors aboard a Navy ship in May 2003 alongside a Mission Accomplished banner, just weeks before it became apparent that Iraqis had organized an insurgency that tied down U.S. forces for years.

Bush, in October 2003, disavowed any connection with the Mission Accomplished message. He said the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesperson later said the ships crew asked for the sign and the White House staff had it made by a private vendor.

Said former White House press secretary Dana Perino in 2008: We have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner.

The nighttime Syria assault was carefully limited to minimize civilian casualties and avoid direct conflict with Syrias key ally, Russia, but confusion arose over the extent to which Washington warned Moscow in advance. The Pentagon said it gave no explicit warning. The U.S. ambassador in Moscow, John Huntsman, said in a video, Before we took action, the United States communicated with Russia to reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties.

Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said that to her knowledge no one in the Defence Department communicated with Moscow in advance, other than the acknowledged use of a military-to-military hotline that has routinely helped minimize the risk of U.S.-Russian collisions or confrontations in Syrian airspace. Officials said this did not include giving Russian advance notice of where or when allied airstrikes would happen.

Russia has military forces, including air defences, in several areas of Syria to support President Bashar Assad in his long war against anti-government rebels.

Russia and Iran called the use of force by the United States and its allies a military crime and act of aggression. The U.N. Security Council met to debate the strikes, but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the aggression by the three Western allies.

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Trumps U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, told the session that the president has made it clear that if Assad uses poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded.

Assad denies he has used chemical weapons, and the Trump administration has yet to present hard evidence of what it says precipitated the allied missiles attack: a chlorine gas attack on civilians in Douma on April 7. The U.S. says it suspects that sarin gas also was used.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says President Donald Trump told her if the Syrian regime uses poisonous gas again, "the United States is locked and loaded" to strike again. (The Associated Press)

Good souls will not be humiliated, Assad tweeted, while hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus, the capital, where they flashed victory signs and waved flags in scenes of defiance after the early morning barrage.

The strikes successfully hit every target, White told reporters at the Pentagon. The military said there were three targets: the Barzah chemical weapons research and development site in the Damascus area, a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a chemical weapons bunker a few miles from the second target.

Although officials said the singular target was Assads chemical weapons capability, his air force, including helicopters he allegedly has used to drop chemical weapons on civilians, were spared. In a U.S. military action a year ago in response to a sarin gas attack, the Pentagon said missiles took out nearly 20 per cent of the Syrian air force.

As of Saturday, neither Syria nor its Russian or Iranian allies retaliated, Pentagon officials said.

The U.S.-led operation won broad Western support. The NATO alliance gave its full backing; NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels that the attack was about ensuring that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the attack necessary and appropriate.

Many other European leaders voiced support and understanding Saturday for the military action.

European Council President Donald Tusk said in a tweet that the strikes, make it clear that Syrian regime together with Russia & Iran cannot continue this human tragedy.

The Bulgarian government, which currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, condemned the Assad regime in a statement.

It has always been Bulgarias position that no cause justifies the killing of innocent people, including children; that the use of chemical weapons is a war crime and the strike on Syrian targets was a response to a war crime, the statement said.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said, What has occurred in Syria in recent days goes far beyond the constant violation of cease fires. The response to these atrocities is legitimate and proportionate.

Leaders from Italy and the Czech Republic were also among those who spoke out in favour of the strike in Syria.

In his televised address from the White House on Friday evening, Trump said the U.S. was prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until the Syrian leader ends what Trump called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. That did not mean military strikes would continue. In fact, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said no additional attacks were planned.

Asked about Trumps Mission Accomplished assertion, White said it pointed to the successful targeting of three Syrian chemical weapons sites. What happens next, she said, is up to Assad and to his Russian and Iranian allies.

Pentagon spokeperson Dana White told reporters Saturday that the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria "successfully hit every target." (The Associated Press)

Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said the allied airstrikes took out the heart of Assads chemical weapons arsenal. He said the missiles hit the sweet spot, doing the expected level of damage while minimizing the unintentional release of toxic fumes that could be harmful to nearby civilians.

When pressed, he acknowledged that some unspecified portion of Assads chemical arms infrastructure was not targeted.

There is still a residual element of the Syrian program that is out there, McKenzie said, adding, Im not going to say theyre going to be unable to continue to conduct a chemical attack in the future. I suspect, however theyll think long and hard about it.

Assads Barzah research and development centre in Damascus was destroyed, McKenzie said. It does not exist anymore.

A former officer in Syrias chemical program, Adulsalam Abdulrazek, said Saturday the joint U.S., British, and French strikes hit parts of but not the heart of the program. He said the strikes were unlikely to curb the governments ability to produce or launch new attacks. Speaking from rebel-held northern Syria, Abdulrazek told The Associated Press there were perhaps 50 warehouses in Syria that stored chemical weapons before the program was dismantled in 2013.

Vice-President Mike Pence, in Peru for a meeting of regional leaders, said there will be a price to pay involving military force if Syrian chemical weapons are used again.

Disputing the Russian militarys contention that Syrian air defence units downed 71 allied missiles, McKenzie said no U.S. or allies missiles were stopped. He said Syrias air defences were ineffective and that many of the more than 40 surface-to-air missiles fired by the Syrians were launched after the allied attack was over. He said the U.S. knew of no civilians killed by allied missiles.

The Syrian Central Military Media released a video showing missiles over the city of Damascus during the airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain. (The Associated Press)

McKenzie said 105 U.S. and allied missiles were fired, of which 66 were Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from aboard three U.S. Navy ships and one Navy submarine. U.S., British and French attack aircraft, including two U.S. Air Force B-1B strategic bombers, launched stealthy, long-range missiles from outside Syrian airspace, officials said.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlins skepticism about the allies Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to complete their visit to the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was little doubt the Syrian government used a barrel bomb  large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal  to deliver the chemicals at Douma. No other group could have carried out that attack, May said, adding that the allies use of force was right and legal.

Read more about:The UN Security Council rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the aggression by the United States and its allies against Syria on Saturday.

The vote reflected support for the airstrikes on Syrian chemical sites but it also demonstrated again the paralysis of the UNs most powerful body in dealing with the Syria conflict.

Russias demand for condemnation and an immediate halt to aggression and any further use of force by the U.S., Britain and France got support from only two other countries on the 15-member council  China and Bolivia.

By contrast, eight countries voted against the Russian draft  the U.S., Britain, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Kuwait, Poland and Ivory Coast. Four countries abstained  Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Equatorial Guinea and Peru.

The vote came at the end of an emergency meeting of the council called by Moscow, which saw Russia and its supporters clashing with the U.S. and its allies over a suspected poison gas attack last weekend in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

The U.S., Britain and France said they launched airstrikes against Syrian chemical sites after obtaining evidence that poisonous gas was used last weekend on the Damascus suburb of Douma by President Bashar Assads government. Russia and its close ally Syria called the attack fabricated and said no evidence of chemical weapons use in Douma exists.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council there is clear information demonstrating Assads culpability. She said President Donald Trump told her Saturday morning that if the Syrian regime uses poisonous gas again the United States is locked and loaded to strike again.

Russias UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after the vote the meeting confirmed that the U.S. and its allies continue to put international politics and diplomacy in the realm of mythmaking  myths invented in London, Paris and Washington. He accused the allies of violating the UN Charter and international law.

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Read more about:DAMASCUS, SyriaHundreds of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital Saturday, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance that followed unprecedented joint airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain.

A few hours earlier, before sunrise, loud explosions jolted Damascus and the sky turned orange as Syrian air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and what appeared to be a flame lighting up the sky. From a distance, U.S. missiles hitting suburbs of the capital sounded like thunder. Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

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Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrias presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents gathered in Damascus landmark Omayyad square, celebrating what they said was the armys success in shooting down or derailing some of the missiles. Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance.

We are not scared of Americas missiles. We humiliated their missiles, said Mahmoud Ibrahim, half his body hanging outside his car window, waving a Syrian flag. The crowd then moved toward the nearby Damascus University where pro-government fighters danced, waving their automatic rifles over their heads.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday night that the three allies had launched military strikes to punish Assad for alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again. Trump said Washington is prepared to sustain pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to the nation late Friday on U.S. missile strikes against the Assad regime in response to its purported chemical weapons attack against Syrian civilians. (The Associated Press)

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons. A fact-finding team of inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog was in Damascus and had been expected to head to the town of Douma on Saturday, scene of the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed more than 40 people.

The seemingly limited strikes with no apparent future strategy for how to deal with the wider civil war was a cause for celebration by Assad supporters but criticized by the Syrian opposition.

Mohammad Alloush, spokesperson for the Army of Islam rebel group, called the airstrikes a farce in a Twitter posting. Nasr al-Hariri, a senior opposition leader, said Syrians need a strategy that leads to a political solution to save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime.

A Syrian military statement said in all, 110 missiles were fired by the U.S., Britain and France and that most of them were shot down or derailed. Russias military said Syrian air defence units downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the U.S. and its allies.

The Syrian statement read by Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub said three civilians were wounded in one of the strikes on a military base in Homs, although the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile. He said another attack with a number of missiles targeting a scientific research centre in Barzeh, near Damascus, destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. Mayhoub said the building housed an educational centre and labs.

An Associated Press journalist arriving at the Center for Scientific Research on the northeaster edge of Damascus found it still smoking hours after it was hit. The three-story building appeared to be almost completely destroyed. Saeed Saeed, an official at the centre, told journalists the facility was for the development of chemical and pharmaceutical industries, including the development of cancer medicines and serum.

The attack began at 4 a.m. with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of Damascus, shaking the grounds from a distance. The sky looked orange over eastern Damascus, apparently as a result of fires. Air defence units fired surface-to-air missiles from different directions toward incoming missiles.

The Syrian Central Military Media released a video showing missiles over the city of Damascus during the airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain. (The Associated Press)

Syrian TV called the attacks a blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy.

U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses during the initial airstrikes.

Right now this is a one-time shot, he said but did not rule out further attacks. He said the airstrikes were launched against several sites that helped provide Assads ability to create chemical weapons.

Frances foreign minister said the chemical escalation in Syria is not acceptable because it violated the rules of war and of humanity. Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters Saturday that the joint military operation in Syria is legitimate, limited and proportionate.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as neither about intervening in a civil war nor about regime change but a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trumps second order to attack Syria; he authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assads use of sarin gas against civilians.

Trump chastised Syrias two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting murderous dictators, and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the attack on Syria was a crime and declared the leaders of the U.S., France and the U.K. criminals, according to Irans state-run IRNA news agency. The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the strikes and warned of unspecified consequences.

Russias U.S. embassy released a statement warning that the airstrikes will not be left without consequences. It said that all responsibility rests with Washington, London and Paris.

The United Nations Security Council is set to meet later Saturday following Russias request.

The U.S. missile strike in April 2017 was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. That operation targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

Fridays strikes were aimed at further degrading Assads ability to carry out such attacks. Pentagon Gen. Joseph Dunford said besides the scientific research centre, a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs was also targeted that he said I believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin production equipment. A chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs, were also targeted, he said.

Read more about:Apologies matter. I was taught this from my earliest years in Catholic schools and from the pulpit. The power of the apology is so central to the notion of healing and reconciliation in the Catholic tradition that it is given sacramental form in the rites of confession and penance.

It was Jesuit priests who taught me that the acts of apology and forgiveness cannot simply be personal. They must be systemic. This is how we make a broken world whole. The Church has a vital role to play by being rooted in justice through solidarity with the marginalized and oppressed.

And so I was shocked by the comments of Pope Francis  the first Jesuit Pope  that he is unwilling to make a public apology for the Churchs role in the horrors of the residential school system. The call for a formal apology from the Pope is one of the key calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions report. And yet, following discussions with the Canadian bishops, Pope Francis has said that the Church is not ready to take this step.

All but one of the Christian denominations involved in the crimes of the residential schools have taken part in the process of reparations and reconciliation. Yet the Catholic Church, which played the largest role in this evil system, has been the most recalcitrant when it comes to repentance.

In 2015, the Catholic bishops used a legal loophole to walk away from their legal obligation to pay $25 million in compensation to support survivors of horrific physical and sexual abuse in Church-run schools. The various Catholic orders involved in this abuse have also proved to be unwilling partners for reconciliation when it comes to turning over documents and evidence relating to the crimes committed in these institutions. Traditionally, it is a countrys bishops  in Canada, assembled in the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops  who must undertake the process of inviting the Pope to apologize on behalf of the Church. They have decided against this.

I have enormous faith in Pope Francis vision of a church that is actively engaged in the work of justice and healing. There are numerous precedents, such as when the Church apologized for systemic child abuse in Ireland, Pope Francis apology to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and the apology for the Churchs role in the stolen generation of Indigenous children in Australia. So why are Canadian bishops refusing to take this step in Canada?

In this coming week, my colleague Romeo Saganash will introduce a parliamentary motion calling on the Catholic bishops to recognize their obligation to begin the process for a formal papal apology.

Having Parliament publicly call on the bishops is not a step we take lightly. There is no legal lever to compel them to act. Some have pointed out that there is a longstanding tradition of the separation church and state in Canadian political life. That may be, but it was the deliberate blurring of church and state interests that allowed criminal actions in schools like St. Annes Indian Residential School in Fort Albany, Ont., to be carried out for decades.

Parliament needs to make itself heard because there is a moral urgency to the issue of reconciliation. There is no moving forward as a nation until all the parties to the brutalities of the residential schools come forward in a spirit of contrition and awareness for the damage done.

One of my proudest moments as a parliamentarian and Canadian was hearing Prime Minister Stephen Harper make Canadas official apology for the horrors of the residential school system. I talked to survivors in my region following that apology and one couple told me they wept for days because they never dreamed that anyone would stand up and take responsibility for the crimes committed against them at St. Annes.

Canadas Catholic community has an enormous role to play in the work of reconciliation. The Church in Canada has a long and proud tradition of justice and service. It is time for the bishops to step forward and do what we were all taught to do in Catholic schools from a young age: to apologize, and to promise an appropriate penance to restore what has been broken. Apologies matter.I sincerely believed, following my Nov. 28 meeting with Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, that he would have at least recognized the devastating human cost of flaws in Canadas current gun control laws and that, in spite of his evasive answers and dispassionate commitment regarding the scope and strength of the upcoming new measures, he would have enough empathy toward victims families to change something in relation to tragedies committed with legal firearms.

However, there is nothing in Bill C-71 that would have changed anything in connection with the violent and preventable death of my son, (Lac-Simon police officer) Thierry LeRoux.

What flaws am I talking about? Those that allow individuals to legally possess guns despite the fact that authorities are aware of violent or suicidal behaviour, as in the case of the man who killed my son.

Indeed, the police had had many interactions with Anthony Papatie. They confiscated his weapons barely five months before the tragic shooting of my son on Feb. 13, 2016.

But, apart from having a criminal record for the most severe crimes, the law only requires authorities to consider a relatively limited list of very serious risk factors. There is nothing in the law that mandates judges or firearms officers to prevent access to guns to those who display one or more of these factors.

So despite Papaties violent and suicidal past, it was Thierry himself, on the orders of his superiors, who had to return his guns to him, including the one that ended up killing him.

How can anyone not see a problem with this completely legal situation? Does the government really think that maintaining the status quo is in the publics interest?

Even the United States has stricter rules in some respects. For example, some states automatically prohibit gun ownership for anyone subject to a restraining order involving an intimate partner, anyone who has a history of abusing alcohol or drugs, or anyone who suffers from a mental disorder and has a history of violent behaviour against themselves or another.

Yet the only change Minister Goodale is proposing with respect to the legal access to firearms is to allow background checks to reach further back in time. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, this wouldnt have changed anything in Thierrys case, since authorities were already well aware of the mans violent past when they decided he could continue to own guns.

My family and I were counting on the Liberal party to make sure that Thierrys death was not in vain. I travelled to Ottawa to ask the minister in person to tighten the legal criteria for owning firearms, so that police and courts systematically prioritize public safety rather than gun ownership, especially when it comes to obvious risks. Such measures could have prevented my sons death at the age of 26.

Or, if the government prefers to rely on better enforcement instead of legislative solutions, where are the grand announcements, multimillion-dollar budgets and expert summits to better identify at-risk individuals, educate the courts and support preventative police interventions? Curiously, its only in connection with criminal gangs and guns that the minister has chosen to make this kind of investment, exactly the way the gun lobby likes it.

Is the Liberal party so afraid of the gun lobby that it prefers to maintain a system that costs the lives of innocent citizens? Based on public opinion polls, the Justin Trudeau government would have much more to gain by standing firmly on the side of public safety.

There is still time before the final vote to change track and bring in significant amendments to Bill C-71. By the time the bill is adopted, I hope to be able to revise my comments and applaud a government that seeks to protect the public, rather than denounce one that is bowing before the gun lobby, just like its predecessor.More than an hour after the provincial party leaders debate at the Jamaican Canadian Centre Wednesday night, Premier Kathleen Wynne was still engaged in huddles around the room with Black voters, arguing the issues.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who won the debate with strong, clear, well-prepared and targeted sound bites, had left by then. So had Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, a surprising sparring partner during the 90-minutes of political dodge and spin.

But the elephant in the room was who was missing from the debate  Doug Ford.

The Conservative leader skipped the debate, citing scheduling conflict as an excuse. As if that wasnt damaging enough to the psyche of a marginalized community, Ford added insult to injury in explaining his absence.

I love Black people and they love me, he told reporters. Hmmmm, sounds like Some of my best friends are . . .

Channeling his late brothers affinity with certain elements of the Black community and his facility with the street lingo, all that was left for him to say was: Yknow, Im down with the bros. Smoke a little weed. Throw back some white rum and a Red Stripe. We good.

Except, Doug Ford said so much more, in words worthy of the mendacious Trump times that overwhelm us.

Theres no other politician in this country, no other politician outside of Rob Ford, that has supported the Black community more than I have, Ford told reporters.

The audacious, impertinent, shameless haughtiness of the claim. His next pronouncement is certain to be that hes the best Conservative leader of all times in all the land.

Who says such things  even if he were responsible for ridding the landscape of anti-Black racism; or had discovered education reforms that doubled the graduation rates of Black boys; or installed employment equity tenets that slashed unemployment rates among Blacks.

Bear in mind that nobody had ever heard of Doug Ford before he showed up at Toronto city hall in 2010 to keep his little brother Rob Ford out of trouble. We know how that ended. Doug became enabler-in-chief and Rob flamed out.

Apart from bad-mouthing the need for libraries in his ward and voting to cut funds to social supports, and plotting to put Coney Island on the waterfront, Ford accomplished, well, near nothing.

We do recall a video of the Brothers Ford sprinkling dollar bills into the laps of housing-complex moms at Christmas, even as they opposed social supports needed to ease the burdens of the tenants.

And thanks for hosting Rexdale kids for a day up at your cottage, Doug, because, yknow, one day youd need to cite them as evidence of your love for Black people  even as you prepare to cut money for social services and funnel the tax savings to fund the most invasive, controversial and hated policing initiative of our time. TAVIS.

You remember TAVIS  the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy was abandoned last year following strident opposition from residents. Not to be deterred, Ford told a recent gathering of Somalis that he is 100 per cent in favour of resurrecting it.

Respectful to a fault, the audience groaned. But one brave soul couldnt hold his tongue, stopping Ford cold.

Actually, I disagree, said Walied Khogali. TAVIS has traumatized many community members. TAVIS is a racist police division. No way we should go back to it.

When Ford stammered something about maybe changing the name, if the name is the problem, someone corrected him: No, the approach.

It was a glimpse into Fords mind. What else is he thinking. What does he think of Employment Equity or the Diversity Office the province has. Will he re-instate carding or simply allow its rebirth by killing the regulations installed by the Wynne government? Will he cut funding to the Black Youth Action Plan, now financing neighbourhood services and employment initiatives.

Thats just the beginning of the questions that bubbled in the hearts and minds of the hundreds at the debate. Thats why they booed Fords no-show.

Ahead of the official start of the campaign leading to the June 7 election, a large array of Black community groups  as diverse as it gets  had coalesced to stage a leaders debate. They were orderly, astute, intelligent, energetic, funny, engaged and delightful as they rattled through issues of housing, transit, jobs, education, health, legalization of marijuana, poverty, youth, privatization and policing.

I moderated the debate so I know the questions were focused through their eyes, using the racialized lens that define their lived experience in Ontario. They needed answers.

There is so much pain and deferred dreams and wasted promise there. There was so much for our politicians to learn. By being absent Doug Ford learned nothing. And that means the Black community is as endangered as before because the absent politician is poised to become the one with the most authority to affect their lives.

Such a lost opportunity. Doug Ford the smiling assassin, professing love and delivering fear and dread.

At least Mike Harris didnt profess to like us.

Royson James is a former Star reporter who is a current freelance columnist based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @roysonjames

Read more about:York Universitys sprawling campus doesnt conjure up images of a grimy industrial park where unionized blue-collar workers set up picket lines against factory fat cats.

But Yorks ivory tower setting is ground zero for the most persistent labour relations quagmire in the province.

On Friday, the province reached into the past to rescue York from itself, announcing an old-fashioned Industrial Inquiry Commission to probe the academic impasse.

For the fifth time in the last two decades, its teaching staff are on strike. While walking the picket line over the past six weeks, they have forced its 50,000 students  many of whom have gone into debt to pay their tuition  to choose whether to cross their perennial line in the quicksand.

An industrial inquiry seems an ominous misnomer for a campus that aspires to equip tomorrows creative classes for the knowledge age, rather than revisit the industrial (and ideological) revolutions of old. But Ontarios biggest university campus is trapped in a death spiral within a time warp.

No other post-secondary institution in this province suffers from so many strikes affecting so many students. Given the frequency of the last five strikes (the previous one was in 2015), anyone considering a degree at York must bank on the probability of a major labour disruption during the average four-year term on campus.

Why would any student take such a risk? Why would any parent countenance it?

More to the point, why would Yorks teaching staff and administration allow it to keep happening, over and over?

The details of the latest labour conflict are a reprise of past battles: wages, job security, precarity. One of the biggest deadlocks is a demand by CUPEs union local, representing 3,000 contract faculty, teaching assistants and graduate assistants, for a higher share of highly coveted tenure-track professorships that the university wants open to outside competition.

But for all the legitimate grievances of teaching staff in colleges and universities across the province, for whom precarious work has become an understandable rallying cry, York remains a troubling outlier.

Yorks notoriety is impossible to ignore. After a bitter 2008-09 strike, the parent CUPE National union placed Yorks Local 3903 under administration after complaints about financial improprieties and internal disputes in a chaotic environment.

A subsequent forensic audit found nearly $300,000 misspent on food and beverages delivered to picketers, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in strike pay lacking documentation  contributing to an $800,000 debt to CUPE headquarters. The locals executive was disbanded.

Now the union is under new leadership, and it clearly has the support of todays membership, who heeded their call to reject Yorks latest offer in a resounding 86 per cent vote last week. The administration argues the deadlock is best resolved by arbitration, but the union refuses, insisting on waiting out the stalemate.

Judging by Fridays confrontation between CUPE members and York president Rhonda Lenton  picketers took their protest to a downtown panel on the future of universities and shouted her down until she cancelled her speech  theres not much dialogue. Its odd to see striking academics exercising the right of assembly only to deny another academic a similar right, but labour disputes arent picnics  not even at lunch speeches.

Whats noteworthy about the York strike is how different it is from most other public sector work stoppages, where workers hold monopoly powers that give them added leverage. In last years strike by 12,000 college teaching staff, for example, they were able to shut down all 24 colleges across the province  leaving students nowhere else to go.

Not so at York, which is carving out an unwelcome reputation as a centre of disruption, not innovation. Its workers appear oblivious to the economic reality that governs private sector unionists when walking the picket line:

Dont put yourself out of business to prove a point.

Labour disputes revolve around power dynamics. Wise private sector unions use their might to bring management to heel, but theres always a natural tension to avoid fatally wounding their employer by eroding market share to the point of jeopardizing jobs.

That axiom is absent from the calculus of Yorks leaders on both sides of the labour divide.

Yes, the strike is unfairly demoralizing for 50,000 students at the most vulnerable point in their academic year. But it is also discouraging for future students who might have been tempted to apply for admission and may now be inclined to take their business elsewhere.

At Fridays protest against Yorks president, CUPE members chanted lustily, York is not a corporation ... We are the future of education.

Yes, York is a university, but it is not immune to the laws of economics and the vagaries of the education marketplace. By hurting todays students and scaring away tomorrows students, this strike risks the future of the entire teaching staff.

At what point does a recurring standoff reach the point of diminishing returns  and no return?VANCOUVERWith a central location along the Vaisakhi parade route, Manjit Pabla has seen the face of the parade change over the years.

Theres always been different kinds of people coming here, but it used to be considered quite Indian, said Pabla, whose family runs the Himalaya Restaurant in the Punjabi Market. But now, everyone likes curry, everyone likes Indian food.

Pablas family has been running the restaurant for over 40 years, long before the parade started. Today, they are cooking up samosas, pakoras and a variety of traditional Indian sweets, all to be given away for free to thousands as part of sewa, or service, which is central to the Vaisakhi celebration this weekend.

The restaurant has been a mainstay of the parade, and its role in the community is one of the reasons the owners wont consider leaving. The neighbourhood is set to be completely changed with a new 75-unit rental housing complex at Main and 49th. It is expected to be finished by the fall of 2018, bringing a variety of new businesses and new competition.

Pall Beesla, a volunteer organizer at the Khalsa Diwan Society, said he has seen many of the original businesses of the Punjabi Market leave the area over the past decade.

Theres been an exodus of merchants from the area ... the rent is unaffordable, he said.

Beesla is happy that some restaurants like Himalaya have done well and have continued to be part of the Vaisakhi parade. But he fears that with the new changes, the original cultural significance to the Punjabi community could be lost.

Would there still be enough meaning left in Vancouver to still have a Vaisakhi parade? asked Beesla. I hope that isnt the case so we can preserve the community that is left, and we can continue to celebrate  not just with the South Asian community but the rest of the community in Vancouver.

Steve Ram, owner of All India Sweets and Restaurant, was hesitant about the changes at first, but now he welcomes them. All India Sweets was removed from its original location in 2016 to make room for the redevelopment.

When the building came down we were devastated, people were coming to us in tears. We didnt know what was going to happen, said Ram.

But since finding a new home across the street, Ram said business has been booming again. He thinks new businesses will liven up the community and create a more diverse neighbourhood which will only bring more people out to enjoy the Vaisakhi festivities. He doesnt think All India Sweets will be going anywhere.

For us, I think we have a place in this community, said Ram.

Cherise Seucharan is a staff reporter at the StarMetro Vancouver.

Read more about:VANCOUVER  Maxine Cunningham and Rainie Tian are on a mission to revolutionize how women understand the blockchain technology that allows cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to exist.

Blockchain is this technology that allows you to be pretty creative with problem solving and right now its only men solving those problems, said Cunningham, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur.

Cunningham and Tian believe that blockchain technology has the potential to change a swath of industries by decentralizing information and reducing inefficiencies. Tian, an experience researcher for mobile app development, compares it to Dropbox  a shared database where everyone has access to the same information. So far, statistics show that the new economy potentially worth trillions of dollars have astonishingly low participation by women.

According to Forbes, only five to seven per cent of cryptocurrency users are women, 1.76 per cent of which are in the Bitcoin community. When the value of Bitcoin exploded in 2017, only $5 billion out of $85 billion of that wealth belonged to women.

Cunningham, a fan of the peer-to-peer marketplace who bought her first Bitcoin in 2015, said the language used in the blockchain community is gamer-like, which could deter potential users.

It isnt until you start talking about the applications of it that I find that women completely understand it and what it can do, she said.

Thats when Cunningham had the idea to organize a series of events exploring blockchain technology and how women could invest in it safely. Following the success of the first womans perspective, especially popular among healthcare professionals, the pair are planning a followup on how to invest in blockchain-related companies. Their strategy is to focus on real-world applications by organizations like the United Nations and UPS, and less about how it works.

Bureaucracy is one area that could be made faster, said Tian. Especially in cases that involve immigration and how refugees are detained because IDs or passports that often go missing could be stored digitally instead. But changing the future on how blockchain is applied in different industries will need to start with getting more women involved, she said.

Caroline Brown, content and community manager at Ben, an app that helps to buy, sell and store Bitcoin believes that theres no better time to get involved in blockchain technology than now when the industry is in its nascent stages and everyone is still learning about its capabilities.

Being the only woman in a company with seven other men, she believes that the industry is more suitable for women than one would think.

The really cool thing about this new economy is that its such a collaborative, and sharing economy, really transparent and working together and hearing different voices and bringing different people into the mix. Thats a strong suit for women in general.

Read more about:New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has sent a cease and desist letter to the Donald J. Trump Foundation, citing the organization's failure to properly register to solicit contributions.

Donald Trump's awkward attempt to show how charitable he could be to U.S. armed forces veterans may be what has landed his foundation in trouble this week with the law.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has sent a cease and desist letter to the Donald J. Trump Foundation, citing the organization's failure to properly register to solicit contributions.

The letter, dated September 30 and first noted by NBC News' Katy Tur, requests the foundation immediately stop soliciting donations or engaging in any fundraising activities in New York. The state requires charitable organizations to register with its Charities Bureau and to provide annual financial reports and statements, which the Trump Foundation appears to have failed to do. The foundation has been given 15 days to properly register with the bureau for its 2016 activities and file all delinquent reports for previous years. Should it fail to do so, it will be deemed committing fraud.

It is worth noting that attorney general's letter focuses on the foundation's 2016 fundraising, not previous years. Leslie Lenkowsky, expert on philanthropy with Indiana University and former CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service under the George W. Bush administration, said the attention to 2016 may be tied to Trump's fundraising efforts for veterans earlier this year.

Trump skipped a Republican primary debate in January over a dispute with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, opting to host an event to raise money for vets instead. The website set up for the fundraiser where individuals could make donations that would go to the Trump Foundation, donaldtrumpforvets.com, clearly indicates it has been raising money from the public.

"That is definitely public fundraising, it occurred this year, and that would have been enough for a cease and desist order," he said.

He added, however, that the circumstances surrounding the Trump Foundation aren't exactly unprecedented, though that doesn't mean they are excusable, either.

It is likely that many charities fail to file such forms, and beyond the vet fundraisers, Trump's lawyers may have a case that donations were coming only from business associates and a close, tight-knit group, like Warren Buffett giving to Bill Gates' foundation, for example. "The bottom line is record-keeping in the nonprofit world and filing these kinds of forms leaves a lot to be desired," he said, adding, "It's not unique for people to contribute to other people's foundations."

Schneiderman was first revealed to be investigating the Trump Foundation in September, telling CNN's Jake Tapper his office was looking into the operation "to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York." The Trump campaign hit back at the time, calling Schneiderman a "partisan hack" and the investigation "another left-wing hit job designed to distract from [Hillary Clinton's] disastrous week." Related: Is the Fed Playing Politics? Experts Say, No

The Trump campaign did not immediately return request for comment on the cease-and-desist letter, but campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks told Politicothat "While we remain very concerned about the political motives behind AG Schneiderman's investigation, the Trump Foundation nevertheless intends to cooperate fully with the investigation."

Richard Marker, philanthropy adviser and founder of NYU's Academy for Grantmaking and Funder Education, emphasized in an email to TheStreet that the letter has not rendered the Trump Foundation invalid -- it simply means that if it wants to do fundraising, it needs to register, and if not, it needs to stay within the law.

"If the Trump Foundation wants to continue as a private foundation with money coming in from the Trump family and a restricted group of others, with no quid pro quo, etc., it can do so, but it cannot have the privileges of a private foundation and still openly solicit money," he said. "Now, whether the Trump Foundation follows the rules for a private foundation is also an open question. As many articles have pointed out, there are peculiar and questionable activities there as well. It is possible that there is supportive documentation that explains the very unusual grantmaking activity but none has yet surfaced and that which has has raised suspicions or worse. But the [New York attorney general] did not address that in the letter issued today."

The Washington Post's

David Fahrenthold reported just one day before the letter's date that the

Trump Foundation has never obtained the required

certifications in New York to solicit donations. Trump's son Eric's own foundation, also headquartered in New York, has filed the right paperwork.

Fahrenthold has dug deep into the ins and outs of the Trump Foundation, which the real estate magnate founded in 1987 to give away the proceeds from the Art of the Deal, uncovering a number of questionable activities in the process. He found that Trump appears to have used $258,000 from the charity to settle lawsuits involving his for-profit businesses, has often given away others' money while claiming credit for himself, and has likely given significantly less to charity than he has promised.ALTON  Police worked one fewer special patrol shift last year at two Alton Housing Authority complexes, but netted more arrests, charges and people on the ban list than in the previous year.

Last year was fairly quiet in all Alton Housing Authority properties, said Deputy Chief Terry Buhs of the Alton Police Department, with exception of four people shot July 8, 2017 during a large gathering that included gambling, near a playground at Oakwood Estates.

None was a fatality and the suspects were located and charged, he said.

The victims survived their wounds and authorities charged three suspects in the incident, who police arrested in Florida. None of the victims or suspects lived at the complex, in the 700 block of Oakwood Road.

That one incident boosted number of aggravated battery cases from four in fiscal year 2016-17 to seven in 2017-18.

Last fiscal year, from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018, there were no homicides, reported sex crimes, mob action, armed robbery, residential burglaries or vehicle burglaries at Oakwood or Alton Acres. Those figures are all according to the annual arrest and crimes report Buhs presented the AHA Board of Commissioners at their April 3 regular meeting.

The statistics time frame corresponds with the citys fiscal year and AHAs contract with Alton for the extra patrols at the two complexes.

In recent years, the AHA has been paying the Alton Police Department $35,000 per year for the supplemental patrols at times that Denton and Buhs or other police administrators determine.

The AHA has paid $35,000 for the patrols since 2013-14. During the two years prior to that, the AHA paid $40,000 for a boost in even more patrol hours; prior to that, the AHA paid $35,000.

This past year police worked 81 such shifts, down from 82 the previous year.

Following is additional data that Buhs gave commissioners, staff and The Telegraph, with numbers in parenthesis for 2016-17 that he provided last April: arrests, 147 (94); charges, 68 (64); people on ban list, 262 (255).

We try to keep the ban list updated on a weekly basis, Buhs said. People on the list will be arrested and charged with trespassing if found on one of the properties.

Nonviolent Offenses: criminal trespass to state-supported land, 15 (11); drug arrests, 7 (2); traffic citations, 33 (18); warrant arrests, 19 (15); weapons arrests, 4 (0); ordinance arrests, 2 (2), which Buhs said were for fireworks this year; contact cards 5, (3), which are records of people to whom police talked.

Other Violent Offenses: home invasion 1, (0); aggravated battery, 7 (4), with four of the seven related to the shootings at Oakwood; aggravated discharge of a firearm, 2 (0), likewise, with one of them related to the Oakwood incident; shots fired reports, 3 (9).

These are never confirmed, they are called in by residents, Buhs said of why the calls for shots fired are included on the report, despite not finding their source, any damage or injured people.

Calls for police service, including incident reports, increased at all AHA complexes, including Alton Manor where there are no supplemental patrols: Oakwood, 218 (172); Alton Acres, 168 (107); and Alton Manor, 74 (51).

At the meeting, no AHA staff or commissioners asked questions or commented.

AHA Executive Director Greg Denton later said the patrols are making a difference in preventing crime in the complexes.

We continue to work with the Alton Police Department to reduce crime in public housing and in Alton in general, he said last week. Were enhancing our cameras so they can review the pictures at the Police Department.

Part of that effort is Vision Link Technologies LLC recently installing 16 digital, 5-megapixel surveillance cameras at Oakwood, with 16 more to go up soon at Alton Acres. Denton said that second round of work is scheduled to begin this week, weather permitting.

The roughly, $64,000 in cameras and equipment are replacing 23 analog cameras at the two complexes that are more than 12 years old. The cameras feed live onto split screens at the APD command center.

To go back over old images that the dated equipment had recorded, police would have to go to the complex and have AHA staff retrieve them from secure storage. With the new camera system, officers can go back to view and freeze older images remotely from the police station with the new system.

Buhs also said cameras at The Landing at Belle Meadows, in the 3200 block of Belle Street adjacent to the north to Alton Acres, were helpful last fiscal year in providing a break in a criminal case.

We hope trouble-makers will take note and stay off the properties, he said.

Reach Linda N. Weller at 618-208-6450 or on Twitter @Linda_WellerIn 2017, Tara and Jacob Lowry established a partnership with Karen McGarvey and David Wiegand to expand their business with a new brand, The Wealthcare Group, offering services in navigating through insurance benefits and financial planning for the Riverbend area. They know that investments, insurance and employee benefits can be complex. Their teams of advisors assist each client in fulfilling their specific needs.

The Wealthcare Group reached out to the Illinois Metro East Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for guidance in the middle of last year. They have been working with the SBDC and receiving one-on-one counseling with director and business specialist Jo Ann DiMaggio May.

Tara Lowry is extremely appreciative of DiMaggio Mays availability and how much she cares about the Lowrys business.

Jo Ann has given us a tremendous amount of feedback. Shes reviewed all of our concerns and strategies, which will help us be more successful, Tara said.

DiMaggio May also discussed a variety of areas to assist the Lowrys and their partners in succeeding with their next business chapter. These areas ranged from strategizing their goals, networking, marketing, offering advice on how to leverage under one name to Taras attendance at SBDC training and resource seminars.

Lowry was involved in the SBDC and Kauffman Foundations FastTrac Growth Venture eight-week seminar series from January through March. The series assisted businesses in developing a growth plan, as well as the creation of a framework to better utilize decision-making and improve business performance.

Tara and Jacob are dedicated to exceptional client service, as well as educating their clients in the process, DiMaggio May said. With their care and motivation, I am confident they will be successful, and I look forward to supporting them further.

The Wealthcare Groups mission is to illustrate integrity, knowledge and trustworthiness, as it enables clients to achieve greater financial success and peace of mind. The team is focused on earning clients trust every day. Both financial planning and insurance require proactive preparation to offer each client clarity and customization to achieve the most benefit.

The Wealthcare Group welcomes the Riverbend community to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 1, at 2 Terminal Drive in East Alton. The Wealthcare Group can be contacted at 618-259-8920.

The Illinois SBDC for the Metro East assists start-up ventures, like, The Wealthcare Group, as well as existing businesses headquartered in the nine-county region of Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph. It is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and SIUE as a service to Illinois small businesses.

By aiding entrepreneurs and companies in defining their path to success, the SBDC network positively impacts the Metro East by strengthening the business community, creating and retaining new jobs and encouraging new investment. It enhances the regions economic interests by providing one-stop assistance to individuals by means of counseling, training, research and advocacy for new ventures and existing small businesses. When appropriate, the SBDC strives to affiliate its ties to the region to support the goals and objectives of both the SIUE School of Business and the University at large.

To learn about the SBDC, contact the IL SBDC for the Metro East at SIUE at 618-650-2929.EDWARDSVILLE  Madison County officials are striving to improve Horseshoe and Long lakes drainage systems to reduce flooding and protect properties in the American Bottoms during heavy rains.

We need to do more to improve drainage, County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler said. To start we are looking at dredging part of Horseshoe Lake and replacing the outfall structure.

Prenzler said last year Metro East Sanitary District made improvements in its system, but more work is needed. He said the level of Horseshoe Lake was lowered to increase water storage capacity and the ditches and canals were cleaned out to improve the flow of storm water.

Removing sediment and upgrading the outfall structure will increase the lakes capacity for flood control, he said.

Planning and Development Administrator Matt Brandmeyer said while levee improvements are being completed to protect low-lying areas, the interior flooding has not been addressed. He said drainage issues are what causes the interior, or surface, flooding.

An outfall is a discharge point of a waste stream into a body of water and within MESD its the storm sewers emptying into the lakes.

Brandmeyer said more comprehensive improvements are needed and include increasing Horseshoe Lake storage capacity, improving drainage of Long Lake, maintenance and improvements to Cahokia Canal, County Ditch and Brushy Lake would make a difference.

Stephen Adler, executive director of MESD, agreed. He said the flooding is caused when water in the canals and ditches are unable to drain into the lakes, which are the retention areas that absorb the influx of storm water.

We need to improve the flow of water and these projects will help with that, Adler said.

Prenzler said officials are looking into using sales tax monies as a way to pay for the projects.

The county collects a .25 percent sales tax that we believe can be used for flood prevention, he said.

In 2008, voters in Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties approved the .25 percent sales tax (Flood Prevention Retailers and Service Occupation Tax) in response to the Federal

Emergency Management Agencys announcement to de-accredit the 74-mile levee system protecting the American Bottoms. Each county maintains its own Flood Protection District and the three form the Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention Council, which uses the sales tax for repairs and restorations of the levees.

Brandmeyer said the county is evaluating the state statute and elements of the current framework in order to ensure all steps are properly completed. The County Board oversees the budget of the Flood Protection District.

These projects are important in improving drainage issues and protecting people in the American Bottoms, Prenzler said.Though they emitted smoke, trains looked good when they were pulled by coal engines. Those adorable Puffing Billys gave way to diesel demons which looked ungainly, but they still did not spoil the landscape.

Then came the electric locomotives with their ugly poles and power transmission lines, all of them spoiling our countryside skylines. One wonders whether R.L. Stevenson would have penned From a Railway Carriage, had he seen today's diesel and electric monsters.

But, our environmentalists, those eco-monsters who have no eye for beauty but only for carbon footprint, say that diesel is dirty and that coal power corrupts the air absolutely. Electric locomotion is cleaner, even if the electricity is generated by burning hydro-carbons, they say. So the poles and power lines are here to stay, though a few whizkids are now finding ways to run trains with no engine. They test-ran the Puri Express so last week, for full 15km from Titlagarh in Odisha. Bravo!

Piyush Goyal, who runs our trains, is one who believes that electric power is cleaner and cheaper. He knows what he is talking about. He had been handling the power portfolio for close to four years before he moved into the Rail Bhavan; so the gent knows which kind of power tends to corrupt, and which power corrupts absolutely. From the power ministry itself he had made an offer to the then railway minister Suresh Prabhu to pay the entire bill for electrifying India's rail network. Then, when Narendra Modi sent him to Rail Bhavan, Goyal thought it was a godsend.

Once he got things on track, Goyal began working furiously to charge up the entire rail network of India. He found that the railways ran 19,000 passenger and goods trains, of which 5,000 were still on diesel. Railways have a total route length of 67,000km, of which 38,000km are yet to be electrified.

Prabhu and his predecessors had been charging the remaining lines slowly and steadily with budgetary targets, but Goyal thought things ought to be on the fast track. So, he laid out plans to electrify the remaining 38,000km at the rate of 4,000km a year, and then advanced his own deadline to achieve total electrification from 2022 to 2020. He would spend Rs 35,000 crore to get it done, and that would save him Rs 11,000 crore a year on fuel alone.

Goyal was thus speeding like a bullet train when Bibek Debroy, who heads the PM's economic advisory council, raised the red flag. He dug out some old committee reports that had advised against full electrification, and wrote to the PMO that no country runs all its trains on electric current. China, Russia and Europe run a third or more of their trains on diesel. The North Americans and the Latin Americans run almost all their trains on diesel. And, the world over, more than half the trains are pulled by diesel locomotives.

Debroy asked for a 'strategic rethink' by another expert group, which could take up to six months, and till then, go slow on electrification. Meanwhile, Goyal would better spend his money on safety works, network decongestion, expansion works, scrapping old diesel and electric engines and buying fuel-efficient ones.

Once he read Debroy's note, Modi called Goyal and the entire railway board, and read the riot act. The railways still had a lot of good diesel engines left, and wasting them would not be a good idea, he said.

Poor Goyal is back on the slow track. But, where had he gone wrong?

Only two years ago had India signed a $2.5 billion contract with the US giant General Electric, under Modi's Make in India programme, to build 1,000 high-horsepower diesel engines over 10 years at the rate of 100 engines a year. What would the railways do with those engines, if Goyal were to run all his trains on electric power?

prasannan@theweek.inThe adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite...Filmmaker Raj Amit Kumar's debut feature Unfreedom on religious violence and homophobia was banned by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in March 2015. The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) which hears appeals against the CBFC also refused to relent. It said in a letter to Kumar that the film "incites baser passions of a different nature and has sexual perversions."

Starring Victor Banerjee, Adil Hussain. and Preeti Gupta, Unfreedom is a thriller set in New York and New Delhi and tracks two parallel stories which explode with political, religious and sexual turbulence. One follows a Muslim terrorist in his attempt to silence a liberal scholar of the same faith. The other traces the defiance of a young woman as she escapes an enforced arranged marriage and a rigid father to secretly pursue her lesbian romance. The politics of faith, love and family collide in an unflinching portrait of troubled times.

Undeterred by inane censorship rules, Kumar and his team campaigned for a year during time they held close to 100 screenings of the film around the world. The film released this month on Netflix internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Kumar says how internet television cannot be the answer to assaults on freedom on expression.

Excerpts:

Does Netflix have any obligations to host Indian films which are only certified by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)? What were some of the legal hurdles Unfreedom navigated to land on Netflix?

As far as I know, no internet content companies have to follow CBFC. If some are doing, that it is out of political pressure and not legal reasons.

Do you feel online subscription-based platforms are going to be a boon for Indian filmmakers who want to parse "taboo" subjects? How much of that has happened already? Is it commercially viable?

How can this be considered a boon? We are talking about freedom of speech and expression here. Would you say it's a boon that you can express yourself on internet but not in theatres? You can express yourself in private but not in public? Only boon for Indian filmmakers will be when censor board in India is thrown into the garbage and that institution does not exist. Period.

And no, online cinema is not commercially viable.

Do independent filmmakers or even documentary filmmakers no longer care for a theatrical/commercial release? Do you still look forward to releasing Unfreedom in theatres?

I believe every filmmaker cares and wants their films to be seen by as large an audience as possible. And on top, temple of cinema is theatre. A public space where people come together to watch a movie. I care for that. And I think most filmmakers do.

How much has changed in terms of audience receptivity and tolerance in India since Unfreedom was first shown in 2014?

The film just released on Netflix, so I have no way of knowing the response yet. By the way, Indian public is receptive and tolerant and open to watch any and all kinds of cinema. I don't think it's the public that has problem. The moral guardians of India who want to decide for the public what it should see or not are intolerant and have problems.

How and when did the idea for Unfreedom strike you?

It was somewhere in 2009 when I imagined a story about identity and violence after reading Amartya Sen's book by same title Identity and Violence.

Have you started working on your next project? What is it going to be on?

I am in the middle of shooting my second feature film titled Brown. It is the story of an illegal immigrant in America who meets a 11-year-old white American orphan girl. The film deals with their stories of abandonment.Even as the BJP went overdrive to honour B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary in an apparent effort to repair the perception that it was not sensitive to the issues of dalits, the Congress on Saturday attacked the ruling party for doing politics in the name of Ambedkar and accused the Narendra Modi government of taking anti-dalit steps.

The prime minister spoke a lot about Babasaheb yesterday (on Friday). But dalits all over the country heard him with a lot of sadness. The Modi government and the BJP are doing politics on every issue, including dalits, said Congress leader Kumari Selja.

Selja said the ideology of the BJP and the RSS was antithetical to the values espoused by Ambedkar and accused the ruling dispensation of making an attempt to appropriate the legacy of the dalit leader.

Reacting to Modi's charge that the Congress denigrated Ambedkar, the Rajya Sabha MP said, The Congress party, in recognition of Babasaheb's pre-eminence as a scholar and a thinker, gave him the responsibility of drafting the Constitution. And the BJP is talking about meddling with the same Constitution.

Selja said that the image of Ambedkar's statue being put in a cage so as to protect it from vandals is symbolic of the present state of affairs. The image is symbolic. It is not just the statue of Babasaheb that is enclosed in a cage. His ideas too are sought to be confined within a cage, she said.

The opposition Congress has attacked the Modi government for eliminating the budgetary sub-plan for scheduled castes and accused it of reducing the budget for the schemes meant for dalits and also doing away with schemes meant for dalits.

The Congress has been on the offensive against the Modi government on dalit issues, especially in the context of the Supreme Court's recent judgement on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The court order, which does away with 'automatic' arrests in cases registered under the act, has been largely seen as weakening a law that was put in place to protect the dalits and the tribals from caste-inspired atrocities. The Congress has accused the Modi government of not having forcefully defended the act in the Supreme Court.The crisis in the PDP-BJP coalition government over participation by two BJP ministers in a rally over the Kathua case subsided after the resignations of the two minister was accepted on Saturday.

The two ministers had participated in a rally on March 1 in support of the men who allegedly raped and murdered an eight-year-old Muslim nomad girl.

Minister for Forests and Environment Chaudhary Lal Singh and Industries and Commerce Minister Chander Prakash Ganga had supported a demand by the Hindu Ekta Manch that the case be handed over to CBI for investigation.

''Taking into consideration the situation and the general perception, the two ministers in consultation with party leaders decided to resign from their posts,'' said BJP's national general secretary Ram Madhav after chairing a meeting of the party leaders in Jammu. ''They have made it amply clear that they neither took any step to hamper investigation nor tried to save any of the accused.''

Madhav said the two ministers stepped down because of the perception about them.

He said the BJP president will forward the resignations to the chief minister for further action.

He said a perception was created by the opposition, particularly Congress, that the two BJP leaders were 'pro-rapists' and were trying to hamper the investigation.

''The campaign calling them pro-rapist is untrue and without any basis,'' Madhav said. ''Yes, there was some indiscretion but they never tried to hamper the investigation.

He said the two BJP leaders had visited the Hindu Ekta Manch rally to clam down the people and clear misgiving about the investigations.

I came last month and we had a meeting,'' Madhav said.

'We made it clear to everyone that it is a very serious crime and let the investigating agency complete the investigation.''

He said there is no threat to the coalition government and the two parties are working in coordination.

The PDP thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Ram Madhav for helping resolve the issue.

They took the resignation of two ministers because as per media, their role was not positive,'' said PDP leader and Works Minister Nayeem Akhtar. ''That is also a confidence-building measure.''A first year woman student of the Government Law College here was today suspended for allegedly attempting to create communal divide by her remarks over the rape incidents in Unnao and Khatua.

R. Priya was suspended following complaints from fellow students that she had been trying to force them to speak against the government and also asking them to boycott classes over the rape incidents, a release from the college principal K. Gopalakrishnan said.

She was trying to create a communal divide among the students, it said.

Besides, Assistant Professor, R. Ammu who was deputed to inquire into the students complaint was prevented by her from carrying out his work, the release said.

Considering the regulations of the college, she was placed under suspension, on apprehension that her acts would lead to caste, religious and communal clashes, it said.

Priya has been asked not to enter the college campus without permission from the Principal, the release added.

The brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, and Unnao rape case of a 17-year-old girl have sparked an outrage.Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme here on Saturday.

He also inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region.

The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

Modi, who is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur, also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map.

This was the prime minister's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are due later the year. He had visited Dantewada in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.

Modi also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. The BPO centre is provided Internet by the Bastar internet scheme.

He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 1,700 crore.

The prime minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh chaired the programme while Health Minister J.P. Nadda was the chief guest on the occasion.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government aims to open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre by 2022, which would be equipped to treat host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness.

Also under the scheme, the government has prepared the broad contour of the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and work is on to finalise parameters for identifying beneficiaries and hospital entitlement.Even 60 years after his death, Dr B.R. Ambedkar still remains a most politically relevant figure. As the events of the past few years have revealed and as increasing dalit assertion showsno one can rule India without invoking Ambedkar.

His 127th birth anniversary drew much more attention from the political class as they invoked his name by paying their respects to the founding father. After the massive April 2 Bharat Bandh organised to protest against the Supreme Court order on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the BJP particularly made sure that its leaders celebrated Ambedkar Jayanti on Saturday.

Starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, ministers and party MPs spread out in various areas, particularly those dominated by the dalits.

Modi was in Chhattisgarh on Saturday where he invoked the contribution of Ambedkar in his elevation as the prime minister. Amit Shah was at the party headquarters in Delhi to pay floral tributes to the leader.

A day earlier, the prime minister had travelled in a metro to inaugurate the newly constructed Ambedkar Memorial in Delhi. Modi even paid tributes to Ambedkar at the Parliament complex. Leaders from across the political spectrum also paid floral tributes to him inside the central hall of Parliament.

The BJP claims that it has brought Ambedkar back to political discourse, an icon whose contribution, the saffron party alleges, was earlier ignored by the Congress. Its ideological mentor, the RSS, too for the past few years, has shifted its focus to the dalit icon by including him in the pantheon of Hindu leaders.

The increasing awareness among the dalits is leading to their consolidation. During the 2014 elections and subsequent Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, a section of dalits voted for the BJP under a strong Hindutva wave. However, as caste differences surface after the incidents of atrocities against them in Gujarat, the dalits voted differently, which led to a scare for the BJP.

To calm the dalit anger, the government is already mulling bringing an ordinance in the SC/ST Act, if the Supreme Court sticks to its earlier stance on the misuse of the law. It would require much more deft handling on the part of the government to assuage the feelings of the community as voices of dissent have even arisen from among the BJP's dalit MPs.The sun is likely to be out in the clear blue Swedish skies this Tuesday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds his official meetings. And the weather reflects the mood, read warm, for Modi. It is after three decades that an Indian prime minister has stopped by in Stockholm. And Modi will be on a mission to woo and is likely to be wooed back.

He will also usher in a new beginning at the first Indo-Nordic Summit later in the day and will be keen to focus on better trade relations. The last time that such a summit was held was with the US under Barack Obama. And India being the only other country with which such a summit is being held, this is an acknowledgement of the growing might of India.

This grouping brings Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden togetherfor the first time as a bloc. A different way of looking at these countries even for the MEA, the summit is a positive step. However, the symbolism apart, in terms of economic partnership, Modi will need to achieve a lot.

He has his task cut out. The negotiations between India and the EU on trade have been stalled since 2013. There is no breakthrough in sight. Despite the strong economic message that Prime Minister Modi has been pushing for, trade between EU and India has not picked up much.

Data of the ministry of commerce pegs India's total trade with the E29 as standing at $37,557.03 million in 2016-17 (down from $38,481 million in 2015-16). In the case of individual countries like Sweden and Norway, there has been a steep decline in the same period. The trade with Norway fell by 27.98 per cent, and with Sweden by 13.76 per cent in the last year, according to the FICCI's India and Europe 29: Synergising Economic Vision for Expanded Economic Relations report.

This government has not signed any major free trade agreement in the last three or four years,'' said professor Gulshan Sachdeva, centre for European studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. All the FTAs have been signed under the Manmohan Singh government despite it being weak.

Prime Minister Modi, credited with re-energising Indian foreign policy, will need then to bring the full power of his charisma to go beyond just the optics especially at the Nordic Summit. There was great hope that Modiseen as a doerwill bring in an era of change. However, with trade negotiations not moving, there has been a sense of disappointment. This is a challenge that he will need to overcome.

In the first two years of his tenure, the thrust for diplomacy was closer home. There were visits to Europe, but it wasn't perceived as being high on the agenda. Things, however, have changed. In the last year or so, the government, having realised the gap, has chosen to turn its attention to the continent. The Rafale deal with Franceagain long overduehas set the right tone.

There will be deliverablestangible outcomesin the bilateral meetings with Sweden. On the cards is signing of an agreement to facilitate technology transfer as India looks at fighter jets from Saab. Modi is a post-Bofors prime minister and will be keen to showcase the 'Make in India' programme that Sweden seems to be interested in.

The interest in India from Swedish companies is growing. They perceive the global weight of India, compared with the last 10 years. The companies realise the need to have a relationship with the Indian market to be a global player,'' said Carsten Gronblad, trade commissioner to India for Business Sweden. He also added that The Swedish Chamber of Commerce India's Business Climate Study 2017/18 suggests that 71 per cent of the Swedish companies (160 SE- respondents, based in India) found the current business climate favourable.

The trip to Sweden will also test Modi's skills as a world statesman. While it isn't officially ever stated, there is a growing discomfort in the last two years in the Nordic countries with there being a crackdown on civil society in India. With the recent rape in Kathua, which has even provoked a response from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, there will be a need to project India as more than just a favourable destination for economic investment. Modi will need to make a bid to win the hearts and minds of his hosts, and not only their wallets.What is the religion of a tiger? When it comes to last rites, if a person is a Christian or Muslim he or she would be buried after death. A Parsi's mortal remains would be kept for vultures to eat after death. But Parsis are these days choosing electric crematorium and reduces the dead body to ashes like Hindus.

A Royal Bengal Tiger was cremated in Hindu way of rituals. A procession was taken out in the village of Midnapore on Friday night and the big cat was consigned to flames. A postmortem was done before that. This happened at a time when cats and dogs are mostly buried after their deaths.

The tiger, apparently fleeing from Simlipal forest, was found loitering in Junglemahal, once a Maoists citadel in Bengal. It travels from Lalgarh to Jharkgram and then to Bankura and Purulia at different times.

The forest department of West Bengal has been trying to net the tiger for last two months laying all kind of trap. It installed CCTV camera in the forest and even used camera-fitted drone at different parts of the forest to catch the tiger.

That also had created immense fear in the mind of people, mostly adivasis, living inside the forests. Children could not go out to reach school in day time. Many stopped entering the forests for work. The tigers roaming left them completely dismayed and confined into their thatched hut.

A few brave people, however, went deep into the forest to bring their daily items for business. Some of them saw the tiger and a couple of them were scratched by its paws. That none was killed by the tiger despite they came-face-to-face each other pointed to the fact that the tiger was tired, even lost strength to hunt and perhaps had an eyesight problem.

On Friday, the Royal Bengal tiger, known to be habitat of Sunderbans, was found lifeless. The name of the village itself is Bagh-dhora (tiger catching). The villagers faced the big cat with sharp implements. They hurled stones and stabbed the tiger to death.

As the incident came ahead of the Panchayat elections, political blame game has already started. Opposition parties criticised the Trinamool Congress pointing to the failure of the forest department.

Biman Bose, the left front chairman, said that it was a horrified failure on the part of the forest department.

They should have prevented the tiger from being killed. I also fail to understand why they blame adivasis, Bose told a TV channel.

Binay Krishna Barman, West Bengals forest minister, said that it was an utter shock to see the tiger being killed by hunters.

From the very beginning we had been telling adivasis to stop their traditional hunting for the time being, but they did not listen to us. An inquiry has been ordered and guilty will be punished under the Wildlife Act. We cannot tolerate this because Royal Bengal Tiger is an endangered species, said Barman.

The total number of Royal Bengal Tiger gone down to around 1,900 five years back before increasing to around 2,200 last year. However, there are significant number of population of such tigers in Bangladeshs part of Sunderbans and a few in Myanmar jungle.Too little too late. That hackneyed phrase does not apply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who finally broke his silence over the heart-rending story of the Kathua victim. For he said absolutely nothing. He promised justice, that the criminals will not be spareddoes he have a choice?

He possibly spoke on account of tremendous pressure from all sides. Part of the political pressure also came from the way Congress president Rahul Gandhi jumped into following up his tweets about the horrifying acts at Kathua and Unnao, with a midnight candlelight vigil at India Gate on Thursday. The turnout must have surprised Gandhi as much as it did others, but then people, including six-year-olds in night dresses, were there with a cause.

Modi would have assuaged the nation's anger, if he had, without mincing words, warned those supporting alleged culprits and told them to desist from such acts. He would have appeased some of the Twitterati and the crowds at India Gate that midnight, had he bluntly addressed the Hindu fringe groups and told them the horrifying rape was not a communal issue. Speak like a class teacher or headmaster, he should have.

Telling the world that it is a failing of our society and not at all fitting for any society that claims to be civilised and we are ashamed of it would make sense to people already sensitive and sensitised to this issue. He should address people who think that as supporters of the BJP, they have the right to do whatever they want, and tell them not to drum up support for culprits the way the Hindu Ekta Manch did outside the courts in Jammu.

In fact, Prime Minister Modi should put in as much into addressing this lot of supporters of the Hindutva brand of politics, as he puts into Congress bashing: where he repeats his points, reinforces them and ensures what he says is not lost on the target audience.

For a good communicator and a leader who got his party a clear majorityending three decades of coalition governmentsthis should not be difficult. Possibly, there are apprehensions that the Hindu fringe, being part of the BJP's vote bank, may let him down come Lok Sabha polls in 2019. But a confident Modi should in fact be positivelike he told students at his Mann ki Baat around the time of the board examsand confident that far from losing, he would have grabbed the moment that Indians are waiting for.Nowadays a section of [police] officers [in Tripura] are scared of contempt of court. I control the police. The way the officials are reacting is as if contempt of court is a tiger. I want to assure all of you that I am the tiger. Biplab Kumar Deb Tripura chief minister

Change in fashion killed my career. Women started wearing such short clothes, there was nothing left to pull. Ranjeet veteran actor, who played a rapist in many Bollywood films

When I started writing in the 1950s, there were no such things as literary festivals in India. Even book launches were rare. Those days writers were anonymous. We werent visual, we werent seen because there was no television, there was no internet. Ruskin Bond author

The BJP is the biggest jumla [false promise] party in the country. It is the party that has only lies and hatred to offer. If you speak against them, they will unleash central agencies against you. The BJP is a party of a dancing dragon. It doesnt follow human rights and democratic rights in states where it is in power. Mamata Banerjee West Bengal CMThe contrast could not have been starker. In two years, K.P. Sharma Oli is a changed man, and how. The man who visited India last week exuded self-confidence. He has come to power with a three-fourths majority, not seen in half a century in Nepal, as his delegation members repeatedly pointed out. And, with the same constitution that India has issues with, his country has conducted elections from local bodies right up to the parliament. He knew there was no coup waiting for him on his return.

We have gone through our cycle of ups and downs. Leaders can review and introspect where things went wrong and improve in future. - K.P. Sharma Oli, prime minister, Nepal

Cut back to 2016, when he came as heading an unstable government stitched with a patchwork of political parties, ready to split at every seam. He was coming from a country that was still reeling from the aftermath of the blockade that followed Indias irritation over Nepals newly drafted constitution. His visit was one of conciliation, to soothe ruffled feathers in New Delhi.

Oli 2.0 made it repeatedly clear that Nepal was not the poor cousin, but a siblingyounger, undoubtedlythat would not be bullied. Olis assertion for equality was clear during a meeting with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, where he launched the India-Nepal Business Forum. At first glance, Oli seemed lost, as he kept asking members of his delegation to answer queries that the Indian side raised. But, as the meeting progressed, it became clear that he would not be replying to questions posed by someone much lower in rank. And, after the Indian side finished its numerous presentations and sought Oli to address the gathering, he made another move. Very sweetly, but surely, he asked member after member of his delegation to address the group. It soon became clear that he was ensuring that for every member of the Indian side who spoke, there was a corresponding one from Nepal. Only then did he give his address. The Indian side, which was headed by Confederation of Indian Industry president Shobana Kamineni, had not expected this.

While Oli made the right noises about the cultural and historical ties that link the two nations during his visit from April 6 to 8, the subtext was loaded. Unlike the previous visit, there was no reference to the roti-beti ka naata (a bond of family and kinship) in the bilateral relationship. This time, it was more about friends and neighbours of Nepal, making it evident enough that India was only one among those. And, he made some pointed jibes about his countrys constitution which has been adopted by all, despite Indias reservations. He also gave another well-aimed punch while asking India to invest in Nepal. Indian investors have invested across the world, so why not next door? asked Oli.

At another event, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad spoke about the bilateral ties with platitudes such as that as long as Pashupatinath in Nepal and Kedarnath and Vishwanath temples stood in India, the connect would remain deep. Oli, instead, spoke about the glitches in the relationship. We have gone through our cycle of ups and downs, he said. Leaders can review and introspect where things went wrong and improve in future.

K.P. Sharma Oli

Three big takeaways from the visit, according to foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale, were the decision to link Kathmandu and Raxaul by rail, the decision to use inland waterways for connectivity and providing Indian aid in improving Nepals agriculture. The Himalayan nation is an agrarian economy. Oli, on the other hand, spoke of the need to generate success stories by sincere implementation and timely delivery of previously agreed upon projects, like the Pancheshwar dam.

Oli requested breathing space from India. He said the imbalance between the two economies was huge, and while Nepal cherished Indias progress, it was not a competitor.

Gokhale said while the two prime ministers spoke about regional issues and associations, China was not mentioned. Nepal has supported Chinas One Belt One Road initiative, which India opposes as it impinges upon Indias sovereignty. Oli had discussed the revival of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) with Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi, who had visited Kathmandu days before Olis India visit. India, however, expressed its inability to participate in SAARC talks in the prevailing atmosphere of cross-border terror.

The visit did not hide the differences between the two countries, said Major General (retired) Dipankar Banerjee of the Forum for Strategic Initiatives. The blockade of 2015 left a deep impact on Nepals elite, and strengthened their resolve to reduce Nepals dependance on India. We will have to be very careful in dealing with Nepal. He said after World War II, the US came to be known as The Ugly American despite all the aid it was pumping into nations, and had to introspect on why it happened. National sentiments are sensitive issues, and unfortunately, despite Modis best efforts, India is getting a similar reputation. Nationalism is growing across the world, people are more conscious of their sovereignty, Banerjee said.

Observers expect Oli to make a trip to Beijing shortly. His visit to New Delhi was largely about following an established convention of the India darshan first, as it was about reviewing ties. Despite Olis China leanings, however, Beijing is not going to find dealing with Nepal a cakewalk. There is geography, for starters. And, a large number of Nepalese are dependent on India for jobs. The military and paramilitary alone employ six lakh Nepalis. The money is welcome, so is the pension. A soldier in the Indian Army gets paid what a major in the Nepal Army would be getting.

Nepal also knows that although it is power deficient now, once the many proposed hydroelectric projects are commissioned, there will be a surplus and it will need a buyer. That will have to be India, more than any other nation. So, deals with China have to be assessed for viability. But, it will do India no good to rub this in with Nepal, said Banerjee.

In its ties with Nepal, India still has the upper hand. As Bhawani Rana, head of the Federation of the Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said, Nepal was yet to have a joint business chamber with China. But, Kathmandu is hosting an investors summit soon. Positioning itself as an investment-friendly nation, it will woo every country as it works with its aim of Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali. Where India stands in this Nepali dream will depend as much upon New Delhi as it will on Kathmandu.The kindergarten at the tribal village of Panapalli near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, is not just a place for the children of the village to spend a few hours every day. It is a health centre and a site for vaccination programmes. It runs regular awareness camps for mothers and medical checkups for children. The kindergarten was set up in 2014 by Making More Health (MMH), a philanthropic initiative by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim.

The idea behind MMH has been to tweak the traditional corporate social responsibility approach into one that is based on co-creation and sustainability. The long-term goal is to prepare a marketplace together, based on the needs and abilities of the people,said Manuela Pastore, global director of MMH. This approach allows local people to imagine their own future in a self-sustainable way.

Pastores emphasis on local solutions works in different ways at different places. For Syrian refugees in Germany, for instance, the road to self-sustenance translates into learning to integrate with German culture, or gaining job skills. For the remote communities, like the tribals in Panapalli, the needs are more basicaccess to primary health care and awareness about preventive health care. A sanitation project by MMH in the Anaikatti hills in Tamil Nadu arms villagers with information about early detection of diabetes, high blood pressure and infectious diseases. In the kindergartens run by MMH, children get a warm meal every day and basic health care facilities.

Pastore says MMHs projects are built on the philosophy of weaving a network of people from different sectors, such as businesses, NGOs, academia, local organisations, and startups, who come together to identify and create what is best for the area. For the kindergarten and other projects in Coimbatore, MMH collaborated with the NGO Karl Kubel Foundation, which had been working in the area for a while. Pastore says that the ideal way of scaling up would be on a partner approach, where social entrepreneurs or projects would not depend on a single source.

But, what makes MMH truly a departure from the traditional CSR is BIs idea of involving its own employees across different core businesses, so that those who givemoney also understand the situation on the field. The fund is not dependent on a CSR department, it is based on real engagement on the field. With the diverse expertise that people from a large company such as ours have, we can easily do more than just giving money,said Pastore. And, while doing so, we also learn together with and from the people in the project area. For people working in offices all day, understanding the real need is a huge advantage.Agilent Technologies, Inc. engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets; Diagnostics and Genomics; and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that enable to identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level. The Diagnostics and Genomics segment consists of activity providing active pharmaceutical ingredients for oligo-based therapeutics, as well as solutions that include reagents, instruments, software and consumables. The Agilent CrossLab segment includes startup, operational, training and compliance support, software as a service, and asset management and consultative services. The company was founded in May 1999 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA.

Read MoreThe YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga is marking Child Abuse Prevention Month with Five Days of Action, April 16-20. Leading up to Healthy Kids Day --a national initiative to improve the health and well-being of kids-- Five Days of Action focuses on preventing child sexual abuse by sharing tips on how adults can step up and speak out to prevent child sexual abuse.



During April and all year long, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga encourages adults and organizations in the community to play a vital role in making communities a safer place for children. "By encouraging adults to step up and speak out, we can bring awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities and foster conversations around how we can all work together to prevent it from happening," officials said.



Protecting children from sexual abuse must be the number one goal of every person who cares about the health and well-being of kids, said Janet Dunn, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. Together, we can stand up to demand that children are protected and speak out to encourage adults to make it happen in our community. It takes all of us.



Five Days of Action leads up to YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooas Healthy Kids Day, a free event to the public centered around family/kid-friendly activities, food, games and more. See the following branches on these days/times:



 Downtown Family YMCA: Saturday, April 28 from 1-3 p.m. on the Miracle League Field at Warner Park.

 Hamilton Family YMCA - Saturday, April 21 from 9:30-11 a.m. at the Hamilton Family YMCA

 YMCA Healthy Living Center at North River  Saturday, April 21 from 9-11 a.m. at the YMCA Healthy Living Center at North River

 Cleveland Family YMCA  Saturday, April 21 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Cleveland Family YMCA. Family Color Run begins at noon.

 J.A. Henry Community YMCA  Saturday, April 28 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Orange Grove Center, 615 Derby St.

The YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga and the YMCA Guardians for Child Protection, with support from YMCA of the USA, Darkness to Light, the Redwoods Group Foundation and Praesidium have made materials available to help adults learn more about preventing child sexual abuse.



For more information about preventing child sexual abuse visit www.fivedaysofaction.org.



Child Sexual Abuse Statistics - provided by Darkness To Light:



 One in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday.

 90 percent of child sexual abuse victims know their abuser.

 Approximately 30 percent of children who are sexually abused are abused by family members.

 60 percent of child sexual abuse victims never tell anyone.

 False reports are rare. Research shows that only four to eight percent of child sexual abuse reports are fabricated.



What to do if you believe a child is being abused - provided by Darkness to Light:



You do not need to have proof that abuse is occurring to make a report, only reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion means that you have witnessed maltreatment or boundary violations, either in the child or adult, or both. Or, you have received a disclosure from a child about abuse, neglect or boundary violations towards them.



Child sexual abuse reports should be made to the police and/or state child protective services. Contact the Darkness to Light Helpline at 866-FOR-LIGHT to have questions answered by trained counselors at no charge.First Data Corporation provides commerce enabled technology and solutions for merchants, financial institutions, and card issuers in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through three segments: Global Business Solutions, Global Financial Solutions, and Network & Security Solutions. The Global Business Solutions segment provides solutions to merchants, such as retail point of sale merchant acquiring, e-commerce, and mobile payment services, as well as cloud based point of sale operating system that include a marketplace for proprietary and third party applications. The Global Finance Solutions segment provides technology solutions for bank and non-bank issuers, such as credit, retail private label, commercial card, and loan processing, as well as licensed financial software systems; suite of account services that include card personalization and embossing, customer communications, and professional services; and call center solutions and back office processing. The Network & Security Solutions segment offers EFT network, stored value network, and security and fraud solutions, as well as other value added solutions to its clients in GBS and GFS segments, smaller financial institutions, and other enterprise clients. First Data Corporation was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Read MoreChristopher & Banks Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of private-brand women's apparel and accessories in the United States. The company designs and sells women's apparel and accessories to customers ranging in age from 40 and older. Its stores offer women's apparel consisting of casual clothing, everyday basics, wear-to-work, leisure/active wear, and sleepwear in missy, petite, and women sizes, as well as jewelry and accessories. As of December 4, 2018, the company operated 461 stores, including 314 MPW stores, 80 Outlet stores, 35 Christopher & Banks stores, and 32 stores in its women's plus size clothing division CJ Banks in 45 states. It also operates christopherandbanks.com, an e-commerce Website for its Christopher & Banks and CJ Banks brands. The company was formerly known as Braun's Fashions Corporation and changed its name to Christopher & Banks Corporation in July 2000. Christopher & Banks Corporation was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Read MoreNew York

Sally Yates, former acting U.S. attorney general, said Friday she is just as concerned President Donald Trump might fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as she is that he might move against Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading a Justice Department probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Yates warned the deputy attorney general has tremendous ability to influence the scope of the Justice Department's investigation, including whether to execute search warrants, bring charges and present articles of impeachment to Congress.

"The deputy attorney general can control a whole lot of this," Yates said as she condemned the president's behavior and policies during an appearance at a women's conference.

Trump has made no move to fire either Rosenstein or get rid of Mueller, who reports to Rosenstein. He has lashed out at both men on social media.

The president's anger was prompted by the FBI raid on his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who acknowledged paying $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an affair she said she had with Trump. Trump has denied an affair.

Asked Friday if Trump planned to fire Rosenstein, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "I don't have any announcements at this time."

Yates noted few Republican officials have spoken out against Trump's increasingly hostile stance against those running the Russia investigation. "Not speaking and not doing anything is a decision, and that makes you part of it," Yates said.

At a subsequent panel discussion, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska offered a direct warning to Trump when asked about the possibility that the president might remove Rosenstein.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

"Any action that would either throw a roadblock in or completely derail (Mueller's investigation), that, I think, takes us to another level," Murkowski said.

She added: "It is so imperative that this investigation be allowed to go forward."

Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, also on the panel, warned that such a move would constitute obstruction of justice that would likely trigger a constitutional crisis.

A longtime Justice Department official, Yates knows the system and key players well. Trump fired her last year she refused to defend his proposed travel ban. On Friday, she also strongly encouraged Trump to agree to be interviewed by the special counsel. The president's legal team has yet to say whether he will answer direct questions from Mueller.

Yates said Trump's oath of office requires his full cooperation in the Russia probe. "It seems to me, when the questions are so important here  it's about a foreign adversary attacking our democracy and whether he or members of his campaign were part of it  I don't understand how he would have the moral authority to lead this country if he didn't answer those questions," Yates said.Arthur "Jerry" Kremer is absolutely right about New York's need for natural gas pipelines and facilities to power our state after Indian Point closes (Opinion on the web: "Natural gas best to replace nuclear," March 2).

Those who disagree, including Riverkeeper, are irresponsibly dismissing facts. Worse, their opposition will set New York behind in meeting both its energy demands and its ambitious environmental goals ("Writer misstated facts on energy," March 18; "Renewable energy can meet future needs," March 20; "Clean energy can replace Indian Point's power," March 20).

The New York Independent System Operator says our needs can be met by a combination of three natural gas facilities. Their job is purely to make sure we have power; they're agnostic as to the source. I know this firsthand as former president and CEO of the Midwest Independent System Operator.

NYISO has a deadline: they need new power sources online by 2021. What's closest to being ready are three natural gas plants, but two of them are still under construction and they won't work without pipelines. The state, bowing to pressure from advocacy groups, has repeatedly refused to permit the pipelines.

Note that Brad Jones, NYISO CEO, has repeatedly stated renewable power is nowhere near ready to replace Indian Point.

Unlike the misguided opposition, NYISO isn't ideological, but it is responsible for getting the job done. NYISO says it needs no less than three natural gas plants online by 2021 or we'll risk reliability issues with our power grid.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

New York has no excuses and no time to waste.

Matthew C. Cordaro, Ph.D.

Shoreham

Former executive, utility industry; educator, scientist and researcher in the fields of business, energy and the environmentThe owner of The Tipperary Star came within millimetres of winning this year's Grand National but his horse was pipped at the post in one of the most dramatic finishes to the most famous horse races in the world.

Tiger Roll, owned by Michael O'Leary, won the race after a photo finish edging out Malcolm Denmark's Pleasant Company.

Pleasant Company had headed the race for most of the four plus miles but over the last fence, Tiger Roll took the lead and pulled away at the elbow.

With the race seemingly wrapped up, Pleasant Company made a remarkable comeback as the leader tired but the finish line came one stride too soon as Tiger Roll held on for the win. There was a tense pause as the judges looked at the photo before eventually giving the win to Tiger Roll.

Pleasant Company has won five of his 18 previous starts and he came within the shortest of distance of winning the biggest one of them all.door models. In 2018, Maybach is kicking things off at the Beijing Motor Show later this month with yet another opulent concept car. Previewed by a 30-second teaser video called "Luxury at its finest," the new vehicle seems to be the fanciest Maybach to date.

While it no longer functions as a stand-alone brand since its revival as Mercedes-Maybach, the German luxury marque has made a habit of launching at least one exotic concept car per year. Last year it was a sleek pair of

Luxury at its finest. Luxury at its finest. Coming soon. #AutoChina Posted by Mercedes-Benz on Friday, April 13, 2018

The video centers around the interior design, which seems to include several new ideas for the brand.

Unfortunately, the teaser does not reveal the identity of the car, and it doesnt provide hints as to what body style it has. However, we do know that the next-generation Mercedes-Benz GLS will get a Maybach version, so the concept could be an early preview of the luxury SUV.

The video centers around the interior design, which seems to include several new ideas for the brand. Theres a lot of aluminum on the dashboard and the center console, and leather covers almost every surface. The wide center console extends in the rear section, where we can see a pair of comfortable seats. Up front, the lower part of the center stack includes no fewer than three screens in addition to the usual infotainment display.

Fancy details include leather straps on the door panels, high-end wood trim, blue carbon-fiber, and a white steering wheel that can detect swipes like a smartphone

Fancy details include leather straps on the door panels, high-end wood trim, blue carbon-fiber, and a white steering wheel that can detect swipes like a smartphone. It even has flowers between the rear seats, so were talking Rolls-Royce stuff here. Naturally, it will also debut new technology and features that might make it into production models soon, but we wont find out until the vehicle breaks cover at the Beijing Motor Show. Make sure you stick around for more info.

References

Read our full review on the Mercedes-Maybach Vision 6 Concept.

Read our full review on the Mercedes-Maybach Vision 6 Cabrioelt.

Read more Mercedes-Benz news.

Read more 2018 Beijing Auto Show news.If you live in the countryside, the suburbs or even parts of urban areas, you would be familiar with some of our feathery, neighbourhood friends. There are several small-sized bird species which live around our homes, schools and workplaces.Do you have a news tip?

Want to share good news story, or do you have information that should see the light of day? Then we want to hear from you.

More hereChina will make the tropical island of Hainan  a province sometimes described as the countrys Hawaii  into a pilot free-trade port, President Xi Jinping announced on Friday. As South China Morning Post writes in an article "Chinas Hawaii set to become pilot free-trade port in next phase of countrys opening up", Xi unveiled the grand plan for the island of 9.3 million people when he attended a conference in Haikou, the provincial capital, to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Hainan special economic zone.

As well as becoming Chinas 12th free-trade zone, Hainan, a 35,000 square kilometre (13,500 square mile) island, will go a step further by becoming the largest free-trade port in the world and may challenge other regional trading ports from Hong Kong to Singapore. Xi did not specify what the change entailed, but said Hainan should become a pilot zone for deeper reform and opening up as well as for building ecological civilisation. There are also plans to turn the island into a global tourism hotspot and strategic base for the country.

Xi highlighted Hainans special advantages  including its status as Chinas biggest special economic zone, its geography and best ecological environment  as reasons to make it the test ground for reform and opening up. Xi said the Communist Partys Central Committee had high hopes for Hainan, adding that it was an important step in Chinas opening up to the world and advancing economic globalisation. He urged the island authorities to speed up reforms in urban-rural integration, human resources management, fiscal policy and finance, income disposal and state-owned enterprises. Exchanges in international energy, shipping, commodities and carbon trading will also be established.

Xi said Hainan would build a modern economy and develop information technology in fields such as big data, satellite navigation and artificial intelligence. The island will also focus on developing modern service industries such as tourism, the internet, health care, finance and hosting conferences and exhibitions. Direct international flights to the island will be increased and duty-free shopping will be expanded beyond the city of Sanya to the whole island. Authorities on the island will also be encouraged to pilot a scheme to attract foreign talent and technology experts. This will include measures to make it easier for people from overseas to find work and acquire permanent residency. Also, foreign students who have obtained masters degrees will be allowed to start their own companies.

In 1988, Hainan was separated from Guangdong to become a province in its own right and was made into a special economic zone. Talent and money poured into the island, but the process led to a property bubble rather than repeating the economic miracle of other special economic zones such as Shenzhen. In 2009, a new strategic plan was established to transform Hainan into an international tourist island, attracting huge investment into the local economy. The property market began to grow again and infrastructure  including motorways, a high-speed rail line and a new airport  were added. The island has also become an important military base because of its strategic location near the disputed South China Sea, with Vietnam to the west and the Philippines to the east.It would also make me extremely annoyed, Hamiriver.

Our Airlines have well published regulations regarding cabin bags. Yet, some people seem to think they dont apply to them - only to the rest of us.

I can never work out whether:

1) they think they are just too precious & special to have to adhere to the rules, or

2) are illiterate & unable to read & comprehend the plain English wording of the limits.

Either way, I would be highly unimpressed at having them delay our flight while they tried to bully their way past the FA & stated regulations.

OP, assume weighing, checking & counting will apply in your flight. Pre-pay checking anything in excess of the limits, because paying for checked luggage at the airport is much more expensive than online when you pay for your ticket.As Australians say: Yeh, nah. Stsy one night in Tin Can and have your early morning dolphin feeding, but for the rest, stsy in HB and save yourself the extra driving. You Are not missing anything spectacular on that drive so do it once only if you can.

Yes, definitely stay in Brisbane at least two nights before starting your drive. Jet lag is a killer - literally. IMO, i would tweek the trip to allow time in Noosa and HB.

Also, your trip plan does not show the actuL nights in each place, so we are guessing.

You would be benefitied by mapping out travel time and number of nights and then working out what you can fit in. Right now, we cant see how much time you have factored for transit drives, nor how realistic this is.

Could you please post an itinerary with details like:

10 July: pick up rental car and drive to Noosa two nights. 12 July: Drive to Tin Can, stay the night. 13 July See dolphins, drive to Hervey Bay, check in to hotel, explore town. 14 July: visit Fraser Island for overnight tour. 15: arrive back in HB, stsy the night.

You do need to think about the minutiae as you have limited time and distances are vast....and distance between interesting stuff is huge. It is not like Europe where every tiny town has a pub, interesting cemetary, a local statue of a poet/war hero to seek out. We do have some wee villages here, but they are wee for a reason, and you wont find accom or dining options, just a Servo And some dusty streets. The reason people on this forum recommend pretty much the same stuff is that we are a country/continent of similar size to USA or Western Europe, with a population of 25 million people. The big emply spaces you see on the map are really big and empty.

Cheers..-:- 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.Hi there!

My husband and I are on a 1-year long venture and in June, after Phnom Penh, we are headed to Vietnam. We have both never been to Vietnam, and I would need your advice in regards to best route and places.

A little bit about the two of us: We the convenience of cities. We've both lived in big cities around the globe (London, NYC, LA, etc.) and enjoy the convenience that comes with that. Public transportation, walking, you name it. We are both really into hiking, and enjoy parks and nature. We are both reliant on the internet and, therefore, wouldn't be able to visit a place where internet is not available.

We are both vegan (we don't consume animal products), enjoy strolling through local markets and prefer local accommodation over anything else any day. We mainly stay in rooms, apartments and the like, booked through Airbnb or booked on the day, offline. Our monthly expenses are around $800/month each. We consider ourselves budget travelers, looking for local experiences and tend to avoid places that are crowded with tourists whenever possible. We are also aiming to keep our footprint as low as possible - so buses/trains over flights it is.

I've looked into how to go about this and have asked friends for their recommendations. This is the route that I've come up with:

1) Ho Chi Minh City

2) Nha Trang

3) Hoi An

4) Da Nang

5) Hue

6) Tam Coc

7) Cat Ba (I read that Halong Bay is very polluted due to the amount of ships and wouldn't want to support that. I read that there is a local ferry that you can take. Is this ferry still in operation?)

8) Hanoi

9) Sa Pa

Apoligies if there are any spelling mistakes, I just quickly wrote all of these down. What places would you recommend for us in general and which places would you not recommend based on what you read above? We don't have a particular time frame for this, although we are thining of spending about 2 months in Vietnam, which brings me to my last question.

We were thinking of traveling through Vietnam for a bit and were also thinking to set up shop somewhere for a month. Is there a city in Vietnam you'd recommend for a month long stay? We are not ones to rush from thing to thing, we like to truly explore a place, and spending a month somewhere would be awesome.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated. Again, we've both never been to Vietnam and while I've done research and looked at photos and read about other people's experiences I'd appreciate yours as well.

Thank you so much!I have been on the Sanyo Expressway, which you would have to take, but there is really nothing inspiring or interesting about that road, which incidentally is a toll road, not to mention other smaller toll roads to get on to it from Kyoto (I get onto it out of Kobe).

A really poor idea.

I don't know what you intend to do in Kobe, but even with a toddler in tow, it is possible to see Himeji Castle in the morning (and I would get there early because there can be a wait) and be in Kobe in the afternoon. But only if you do that by train. BTW, it is really a steep climb up the keep of the castle, and I don't know the age or capability of your toddler, but you should be aware.In the theatrical style of a capricious reality-TV host, US President Donald Trump has been building up suspense over an American withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, CNN writes in the article Despite Trump's theatrics, the Iran deal can be saved. He has consistently called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- which was negotiated during Barack Obama's presidency by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) under the auspices of the European Union -- an "embarrassment" that needs to be "corrected" and is not in the US' interest.

What he is talking about here is the deal's "sunset" clauses -- expiration dates after which Iran could resume uranium enrichment. The US is looking for an extension of those dates beyond 2025. Trump also sees weakness in the inspection regime under which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verifies Iran's compliance with its commitments because it does not provide full access to military sites. Hardliners like Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, who have now joined Team Trump in leading roles, have said that this leaves Iran with too much leeway to cheat IAEA inspectors and the international community.

Facing a previous cliffhanger on the recertification of the deal, Trump passed the buck to Congress, only to discover that it was too divided to deal with the issue. When he grudgingly approved the sanctions waiver in January he threatened: "This is the last chance. I hereby call on key European countries to join with the United States in fixing significant flaws in the deal, countering Iranian aggression, and supporting the Iranian people. If other nations fail to act during this time, I will terminate our deal with Iran."

Trump's ultimatum -- and Iran's response that the US would pay a high price for breaking the deal -- have piled pressure on Europe to prevent the agreement and regional security from being plunged into even more uncertainty.

Appeasing or confronting Trump?

So far, the EU has said that it remains "fully committed" to implementing the nuclear deal -- just as Iran is, according to no fewer than 10 reports issued by the IAEA. Federica Mogherini, the EU's High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy, has conveyed the message that nixing a key element of the international non-proliferation architecture is not in the interest of anyone, including the US, which will soon enter into direct de-nuclearization talks with North Korea.

Mogherini has consistently argued that the JCPOA's nuclear focus should not be sullied by attempts to import other issues such as ballistic missile control and regional security, which can be addressed in other forums.

The US going it alone would fly in the face of the international law that workable agreements must be kept. It would also undermine the authority of the UN Security Council, whose members unanimously endorsed the agreement. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that a stronger accord could be built on the ashes of the JCPOA, which was the culmination of more than a decade of delicate multilateral talks.

The EU has long stood united on these issues. But similarly to 2003, when member states infamously split over the invasion of Iraq, EU unity is again being stress-tested by a US President. Member states closed ranks when Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement and UNESCO, but several of them abstained from a vote in the UN General Assembly condemning the unilateral decision by the US to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Brexit Britain now appears pliable to American pressure and has set up an expert group on "fixing flaws" in the Iran nuclear deal. France and Germany, however, are looking for ways to accommodate Trump while leaving the JCPOA -- and EU common positions -- intact. They have raised pressure on Iran over its ballistic missile program, while lobbying other member states to agree to new sanctions  on top of an existing EU arms embargo and sanctions on missile technology.

Of course, Trump may retaliate by imposing punishing tarrifs on European imports. European diplomats are lobbying US officials and members of Congress to create exemptions from enforcement for European companies that might be affected by a return of US sanctions against Iran.

They should go further and threaten the US with legal proceedings before the World Trade Organization and adopt a retaliatory system to reimburse European companies for damages they incur in the US by imposing penalties on US assets in the EU.

The latter should accompany a proposal for a "blocking regulation" like the one that made it illegal for European investors to adhere to the 1996 Helms-Burton Act imposing US sanctions on trade with Cuba, Iran and Libya. Past experience has taught the EU that such a strategy can be successful in protecting its interests while preventing a trade conflict with a belligerent White House.

Winning Tehran's trust

Extensive soul-searching back in 2003 led to the adoption of the first-ever European Security Strategy. This document was replaced by a more comprehensive Global Strategy for the EU's Foreign and Security Policy in 2016. European countries would do well to learn from the past, serve their shared strategic interests and adopt a common position independently of the US to protect the EU's flagship diplomatic achievement.

Europe should make common cause with Russia, China and other signatories that prize the JCPOA. If, together, the EU and the P5+1 manage to keep Iran wedded to the agreement, then the deal stands a chance of surviving.

They will have to persuade Tehran that, as long as it continues to honor its side of the bargain, Iran can continue receiving most of the benefits promised by the JCPOA, even if the US ceases to be a party.Hi,

I am a senior woman who so far have been to Japan twice alone. I was there for about 8days each time. I loved my time in Japan!! Everyone is interested in different things.

In Europe I usually stay in one city for at least a week but Tokyo didn't interest me so much so for my first trip I traveled around a bit. I went to the spring festival in Takayama and to the small city of Kanazawa and ended up in Tokyo for a weekend.

For my second trip I went to Kyoto and again to a small town , Shuzenji, and then ended up in Tokyo.

I loved Kyoto and would like to spend more time there!!

I spend about 60,000 yen after hotels and transportation were paid for. I like high end restaurants and so added some dinners onto my credit card in addition to that amount of yen.We're traveling to Tanzania with kids aged 9-16 in early August and are thinking of staying at Moshi to get a view of Mt Kilimanjaro. I've read in other posts about the poor chances of getting a good view from Moshi. Arusha seems a bit far for this purpose, though we are planning on staying in Arusha too. The primary purpose is to see the mountain. We're also thinking of other activities should we decide to stay in Moshi, such as Materuni waterfalls.

1. What are the chances of getting a good view of Mt Kilimanjaro from Moshi in early August?

2. If we stayed in Moshi, would we need to drive to the west side, towards Kambi ya Tembo for the view?

3. If not Moshi, what's an alternate place to stay? We're not thinking of crossing into Kenya.

Thanks in advance.One year we put away money to save for a Vegas trip. The money came from different sources and from different occasions, like birthday gifts, etc. As we finally brought it to Vegas, I used some in the Palazzo slot machines. Well, one $100 bill kept being rejected by any slot machine I tried to use it in. The atm/cash machine wouldnt even take it. So I brought it to the Cashiers Cage, and she surely took it, but passed it to Security! I never got that counterfeit bill back, nor knew where it came from, nor was compensated for it, nor arrested for it, nor kicked out of their hotel room for it. I do wonder if Palazzo Security still has my name and photo (they scanned my drivers license) in their computer system. I might be partly reiterating what others have stated...

- April is not as Spring-like as you may expect, especially up north and especially if it's early April. Your roadside scenery may be mostly bare trees. You could even have snow up north. DC and PA should be further along with spring foliage and milder weather.

- Allowing just one night in NYC, then spending a torturous long day driving the entire day (with jet lag) is IMO not a fun start.

- Have you priced out the cost of all of those one way car rentals that will be picked up in NYC and dropped in Buffalo? Be sure to read the fine print when looking at rates because I believe that some agencies add a big drop off fee as a line item while others build that extra drop off cost into the daily rate.

- You are basically investing 3 days of time in order to do Niagara Falls... with bare trees, possibly freezing temps, and some of the attractions closed. Compare that with what you might do with 3 additional days in NYC. Plus the benefit of traveling all that way and being able to settle in to get to know the city for a little while.

- Again, for rental cars, determine the cost for the one way rental from DC to NYC.

Have all of the families determined that these destinations should be your priorities? And that you want to spend so many days in places like Niagara Falls and Amish Country?

If you are convinced that NF is a must, it might make more sense to just fly to BUF on arrival day. Don't even bother getting everybody from the airport into Manhattan just to turn around and leave the next morning with an entire day of driving. Don't even leave the airport. Fly to BUF, then rent a car there. Return it to BUF when you are ready to fly to DC. Spend just two nights in NF (one is arrival night, then one more).

Tell us whether this will be early April. If so, really really really reconsider Niagara Falls. You could be driving through snow and ice.I went to NYC for the first time at your age. Back then, it was nowhere near as safe as it is now. 20 years on, and several trips later, I am going again solo in July for the first time. YOU WILL LOVE IT. Like you, I think it would be great to meet some others but not sure how to go about it.

I think you could do anything at all - I like to do a lot of tours, mainly because I like to get as much information about things as I can. There are some early morning entries that you can do to avoid crowds...MoMA and the 911 Memorial Museum do them. The Met also, but it appears there are no dates open after the end of April. When I asked about it they vaguely mentioned they could be renegotiating contracts so crossing my fingers this becomes available.

Food tours are great as a single person as it's basically a meal where you don't have to eat alone! I really enjoyed the one in Little Italy done by Foods of NY Tours. Ziggy's food tours have amazing reviews, I haven't been able to do one yet but would love to. He keeps his tours quite small so if you're lucky enough to be on a tour with others you get on with that could be good.

I haven't done this yet....I am determined to get over my awkward feeling on it though and try....apparently solo people sit at the bar rather than a table and it can be more social at times. Being young though, I do think you should be careful of how much you drink and keep your wits about you. No matter how safe somewhere is there is always a chance of someone looking to take advantage.

Have fun, you're going to love it!Hi Mary,

What time of year are you looking to travel?

Lady Elliot has rapidly become recognised as the best tourist accessible reef for snorkelling on the east coast.

With a 1 night stay you can go across on the 8:10am flight and back the next day on the 4:00pm flight, so you effectively get 2 full days.

For an international traveller with limited time that would be an "adequate" amount of time for a reef experience.

If you stay longer than 1 night you go across on a 10:30am flight and back on a 1:00pm (or 11:30am) flight, so you sort of lose half a day both ways ... so after 1 night you really need to jump to 3 nights from a value perspective.

If you visit Lady Elliot you should also consider a trip to Fraser Island (2 days much better than1), and if visiting from July - Oct then of course Hervey Bay is the best place in the world to see humpback whales up close and personal.

Time of year is a big factor in terms of recommending how long to stay ... (and how long is the overall trip) ... let us know some more info and we will be pleased to help.

Rob- The former prime minister left the country on Friday morning

- He will be leading other Kenyan leaders to the burial of the legendary leader

- Winnie passed away early this month in South Africa while undergoing treatment

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has jetted to South Africa to attend the burial of the late freedom fighter, Winnie Mandela who will be laid to rest on Saturday, April 14.

The former prime minister left the country on the morning of Friday, April 13, alongside his wife Ida Odinga and daughter Winnie Odinga.

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Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his wife Ida Odinga on Friday, April 13, left the country for South Africa to attend burial of Winnie Mandela.Photo: 254News.

READ ALSO: Winnie Mandela dies at 81

TUKO.co.ke understands the ODM party leader, who a day earlier held a surprise meeting with retired president Danie arap Moi in Nakuru, will be leading a delegation of other Kenyan leaders to the burial ceremony.

Besides Ida and his daughter Winnie, Raila was also reportedly accompanied by Kisii County senator Sam Ongeri.

READ ALSO: Uhuru, Raila lead Kenyans in mourning Winnie Mandela

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela passed away on the afternoon of Monday, April 2, 2018, at the Netcare Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa. Photo: New York Post.

Winnie, ex-wife of the late Nelson Mandela, passed away on Monday, April 2, at Netcare Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to her spokesperson Victor Dlamini, who confirmed her death, the anti-apartheid fighter "succumbed peacefully" after battling an unnamed illness for several weeks.

READ ALSO: Mandela, Great World Leaders Clung To Fiction

Leaders from across the world are already trooping to South Africa to pay their last respect to the fallen heroine.

She died at the age of 81 years old.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Kenyan man spending millions to transform into a woman - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke- The governor said residents of Kirinyaga will not trade off their birth-right

- She termed the move to allocate the land to 7200 beneficiaries a recipe for anarchy and chaos

- However, Mbeere South Deputy County Commissioner Oporwa dismissed Waiguru's allegations

- The subdivision of the 44,000 acre land has been a thorny issue for close to three decades now

The ownership dispute between Embu and Kirinyaga counties over Mwea Settlement Scheme has generated into a tense situation.

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru on Friday, April 13, termed the action by Embu county government to survey and allocate land at the scheme as unethical and an assault to the rule of law.

She siad the row was far from over due to irresponsible actions and utterances of some of the actors in the matter.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Ruto lectures Kirinyaga county politicians after youths interrupted his speech

Governor Waiguru said residents of Kirinyaga will not trade off their birth-right in exchange for unfair rushed solutions to dispute. Photo: Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru/Facebook.

READ ALSO: Meet the no nonsense Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru with her adorable sons

In a statement seen by TUKO.co.ke, the tough talking governor said residents of Kirinyaga will not trade off their birth-right in exchange for unfair rushed solutions to dispute.

Waiguru further noted the title deeds issued to at least 7200 beneficiaries will remain invalid until all stakeholders are involved in the matter.

"The purported surveying and allocation of land 7200 was was not inclusive since there was no genuine public participation and primary stakeholders who are the nine Kikuyu clans and the Mwea Settlement Scheme residents were neither involved nor consulted," read part of her statement.

READ ALSO: Waiguru explains why Raila 'HATES' her

Waiguru accused Embu Governor Martin Wambora of using security forces on the residents who opposed the their move into the disputed land. Photo: Martin Wambora/Facebook.

READ ALSO: High Court nullifies election of Embu Governor Martin Wambora

She also accused Embu Governor Martin Wambora of using security forces on the residents who opposed any move into the disputed land adding the action was a recipe for chaos.

"We are aware there are those who desire to cause anarchy and chaos...this is evident from attempts to use security forces to force compliance of those who stood their ground in defiance against injustice of dispossession about to be visited upon the people of Kirinyaga and the Mwea Settlement Scheme residents.

"However, the days of such people are numbered and their time is over bacause this issue must be resolved once and for all now," she ended.

But in a quick rejoinder, while speaking to Standard, Mbeere South Deputy County Commissioner Beverly Oporwa dismissed Waiguru's allegations.

The process started by erecting beacons in public utilities such as hospitals, schools and markets, among others. We conducted a series of public meetings to marshal support from the public ahead of the exercise, she said.

The demarcation and subdivision of the 44,000 acre land has been a thorny issue for close to three decades now.

Earlier attempts have been made futile due to new controversies every time plans are made.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Fred Matiang'i, Joseph Boinnet and Gordon Kihalagwa slapped with Ksh.200,000 fine

Source: Tuko Breaking News- Moses Kuria and Lillian Gogo were forced to land in Karachuonyo due to bad weather in the region

- The two were headed to Rangwe to preside over a fundraiser at Rangwe SDA church

- This marked the beginning of his rare tour in the vast Luo Nyanza region

- Kuria is also expected to inspect road projects in Rangwe whose construction is slated for May

Bad weather in Luo Nyanza Region on Saturday, April 14 forced Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria to land in Karachuonyo while on his way to Rangwe.

The controversial lawmaker was in the company of his Rangwe counterpart, Lillian Gogo who is expected to host him in Rangwe during his rare tour in Nyanza region.

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READ ALSO: Moses Kuria to inspect road project in Nyanza, hold fundraising during rare tour

Bad weather in Kenya's Wester Region on Saturday, April 14 forced Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria to and in Karachuonyo while on his way to Rangwe. Photo: Moses Kuria/ Facebook

READ ALSO: Rare birth as Mombasa woman gives birth to baby who grew outside womb?

In a Facebook post by Kuria and seen by TUKO.co.ke, the two were warmly received by residents of Karachuonyo who made the lawmaker forget about the bad weather.

"Bad weather forced Rangwe MP Hon Lillian Gogo and myself to land in Karachuonyo en route to Rangwe but the hospitality and warmth of Jakarachuonyo made that irrelevant," wrote Kuria.

READ ALSO: Power of a handshake: Raila receives State reception in South Africa

The two were warmly received by residents of Karachuonyo who made the lawmaker forget the bad weather. Photo: Moses Kuria/ Facebook

READ ALSO: We are the problem - Moral police Ezekiel Mutua blames Kenyans for teens immorality

Earlier reports by TUKO.co.ke indicated Kuria was expected in Homa Bay county on Saturday, April 14, to preside over a fundraiser at Odienya Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church in Rangwe where he was heading before the sudden stop..

The county Woman Representative Gladys Wanga will also play host to Kuria during his maiden tour of the region.

He was also scheduled to inspect road projects in the region during the tour of the region. Photo: Moses Kuria/ Facebook

The legislator in his capacity as the Vice Chairperson of the National Assembly Transport Committee, will also inspect the proposed site of the Nyaburu-Oboke-Rangwe Road whose construction is slated for May.

READ ALSO: Details of Uhuru's ambitious KSh 4 billion health insurance cover for students unveiled

Although the visit was purely on official purposes, the news of his visit was received with mixed reactions especially from the area residents.

The county Woman Representative Gladys Wanga will also play host to Kuria during his maiden tour of the region. Photo: Moses Kuria/ Facebook

Kuria had severally made mean statements about NASA leader Raila Odinga's Nyanza stronghold and the residents, in many occasions angering the Luo community.

But all these is now water under the bridge after the historic handshake between Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Miguna Miguna's return: Chaos at Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport (JKIA) - On TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke- Raphael Wanjala was arrested in Kisumu

- He was allegedly accused of inciting his supporters who attacked Namwamba the previous day

- The two leaders crossed paths in Budalang'i while Namwamba inspected ongoing work at Sigiri bridge

- Police were forced to use teargas and gunshots to scare away irate youth who accosted the CAS

Budalang'i Member of Parliament (MP) Raphael Wanjala was arrested by police on Saturday, April 14, in a Kisumu hotel.

The Budalang'i MP was accused of inciting his followers who attacked Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Ababu Namwamba.

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Gunshots rent the air on Friday, April 13, as police lobbed teargas in an attempt to quell the fracas after supporters of Wanjala violently confronted the Foreign Affairs CAS.

READ ALSO: Ruto, Oparanya grace Amina Mohamed's Kakamega grand homecoming party

The Budalang'i MP was accused of instigating his followers to attack Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Ababu Namwamba. Photo: Ababu Namwamba/Twitter

The two leaders crossed paths during an event organised by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure CAS Chris Obure.

READ ALSO: All the development projects in Kakamega county inspected by Alfred Mutua

Chaos ensued after angry youth accosted Namwamba following his arrival at Sigiri bridge with Obure to inspect ongoing road construction.

READ ALSO: Raila must run for presidency in 2022 or he tells us where to go - ODM MP

Chaos ensued after angry youth accosted Namwamba after arriving at Sigiri bridge with Obure to inspect an ongoing construction works of the road. Photo: Nation

Namwamba and Wanjala have been fierce political rivals since time immemorial and it is no surprise that violence erupted following their encounter.

Police apprehended Wanjala in a Kisumu hotel and transferred him to Kakamega police station where he is currently held as they proceed with investigations on what caused the ugly incident.

READ ALSO: Moses Kuria receives warm reception after landing in Nyanza

Reports reaching TUKO.co.ke indicate that police had earlier attempted to arrest Wanjala during Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed's homecoming.

However, the elusive MP caught wind of the police coming for him and escaped their clutches.

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

ALSO WATCH: From a House girl to an MCA. Tuko / Tuco - Kenya on TUKO tv

Source: Tuko.co.keBorder officials in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have agreed to intensify coordination following the recent fatal shooting of a Kyrgyz citizen by Uzbek frontier guards. As Eurasianet writes in an article "Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan agree to boost border cooperation after fatal shooting", following a meeting in the Uzbek city of Namangan this week, officials from both countries agreed to forbid the deployment of live fire against civilians except in exceptional circumstances.

Those were among the points of agreement to emerge from talks between Kyrgyz State Border Service chief Ularbek Sharsheyev and his Uzbek counterpart, Ruslan Mirzayev, this week. According to details provided by Kyrgyz border personnel, a man was fatally shot by Uzbek border guards on April 7 near the settlement of Mamai, in Kyrgyzstans Jalal-Abad region. The man was reportedly on Kyrgyz soil when he was shot, although Uzbek authorities have said they believe he had illegally crossed the border and refused to submit to authorities when he was intercepted. A bilateral investigation was subsequently organized to determine the exact sequence of incidents leading up to the shooting.

Vagueness over the border  from its precise whereabouts to how it should be policed  has led often to such episodes. Uzbek border troops have proven particularly trigger-happy in the past.

As part of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyevs signature policy of improving relations with neighbors, however, verbal commitments on measures to reduce border tensions may prove more productive this time than in the past.

There are plans to assemble a joint border commission later this month to discuss cooperation on broadening public awareness about proper conduct in border areas, coordinating patrols and the development of a unified code of conduct for border personnel.

The specifics of the April 7 incident, as related by the Kyrgyz ombudsmans office, neatly illustrate how a combination of fuzzy borders and imprecise rules of conduct can quickly threaten public order. Border officials say the trouble began when 34-year-old Farhad Myrzakulov leapt across a canal that informally serves as the border after visiting his aunt, who lives inside Uzbekistan. Border guards chased Myrzakulov and shot him, in the head. Upon seeing border guards dragging Myrzakulovs body back into Uzbekistan, the mans aunt began to cry for help. Two Kyrgyz citizens got involved, prompting the Uzbek troops to threaten to open fire once more. Only when yet more people arrived at the scene, did the border guards retreat to their side of the canal. Myrzakulov died of his wounds in the hospital.- The fire in Kasarani began at around 7 am in the morning

- Investigations indicate it was caused by a reckless driver who sped away with the fuel pump still connected

- Friction between the ground and the pump caused the fuel to ignite

- Thanks to swift responses from the fire brigade and police the fire was quickly extinguished

- No human casualties have been reported but the fire caused significant damaged to property

- The motorist responsible for the reckless act was arrested

A raging inferno engulfed Vivo Energy Shell petrol station located in Kasarani on Saturday, April 14.

The fire which broke out at around 7am in the morning caused extensive damage to the entire petrol station.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

According to a press release from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) seen by TUKO.co.ke, the blaze was caused by an absent minded motorist who took off with the pump still lodged in the tank.

READ ALSO: Ruto, Oparanya grace Amina Mohamed's Kakamega grand homecoming party

The preliminary report indicates that the fire started after a vehicle fueled at the petrol station and sped off while the pump was still inside the tank," the statement read.

The pump was then consequentially disconnected from the anchorage and dragged about 30 metres away.

READ ALSO: Budalang'i MP Raphael Wanjala arrested hours after attack on Ababu Namwamba

The pump was then consequentially disconnected form the anchorage and dragged about 30 metres away. Photo: MwendaMkenya-ma3route/Twitter

Friction between the ground and the pump produced sparks which ignited a fire that quickly spread," it said.

A swift response by the Nairobi county fire brigade who arrived in the scene about 20 minutes after the fire began quelled the fire from spreading and causing more destruction.

READ ALSO: Ruto, Oparanya grace Amina Mohamed's Kakamega grand homecoming party

A swift response by the Nairobi county fire brigade who arrived in the scene about 20 minutes after the fire began quelled the fire from spreading and causing more destruction. Kenya West/Twitter

At about 7: 25, the Nairobi county fire brigade arrived on site and extinguished the fire," the statement read.

Aside from the damage to the petrol station no human casualties were reported as police immediately cordoned off the area and establishing a perimeter around the blistering inferno.

READ ALSO: ODM declares it will sponsor presidential candidate in 2022 after Raila-Moi handshake

The police immediately cordoned the area, providing security and controlling both human and vehicle traffic," it stated.

The driver was identified and arrested for reckless behaviour that nearly cost the lives of innocent motorists and pedestrians.

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

From a House girl to an MCA - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko NewsMore assistance for the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Sector, and an increased focus on The delegation of the Slovak Republic led by State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs Lukas Parizek visited the entry-exit checkpoint Hnutove and frontline village Lebedynske in Donetsk region.

Chairman of the Donetsk Military and Civil Regional Administration Pavlo Zhebrivsky posted this on Facebook on Friday.

"The delegation of the Slovak Republic visited the entry-exit checkpoint Hnutove and frontline village Lebedynske in course of their working trip to Donetsk region. Broken houses, mined fields  the clear demonstration of what kind of trouble brings the so-called Russian World," Zhebrivsky wrote.

Slovakia supports Ukraine in its struggle against the aggressor and is committed to the restoration of Ukraines territorial integrity, leader of the delegation Parizek assured.

olOne Ukrainian soldier was wounded in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area in Donbas over the past day.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesman for ATO Dmytro Hutsuliak said this at a briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded in the ATO area in Donbas in last day. He was promptly delivered to medical institution and received the necessary medical assistance. His health status is satisfactory," Hutsuliak said.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesman noted that Russian-backed militants had launched 43 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbas over the past day.

olThe initiative on the deployment of the UN peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine should be based on a special approach, and the mission itself should be different from other peacekeeping formats.

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker said this at a briefing in Washington, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I do agree that a number of UN peacekeeping missions have been very expensive, theyve gone on a long time, and theyve served to create a frozen conflict rather than to solve a conflict. So I think those are very valid concerns. What were talking about in the case of eastern Ukraine is somewhat different from that, Volker said.

He stressed that it would not be a traditional UN peacekeeping operation run through the UN system, it would be on the basis of voluntary contributions by nations. It would only be there as a transition mechanism to go from the current situation of Russian control to a situation of Ukrainian control. And so it would be a transition mechanism, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations said.

He also stressed that Russia would need to see this as a constructive vehicle for implementing the Minsk agreements.

So theres no  the idea of a Russian veto doesnt even come up, because were not even going to be proposing it unless were already in agreement with Russia. So I think its a very different kind of peacekeeping arrangement that were talking about, the diplomat added.

olUkraine plans in 2018 to sign a free trade agreement with Turkey, following the EU, Canada and Israel.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said this on the air of a Ukrainian TV channel, the Government portal reports.

"We want to sign a free trade agreement with Turkey this year. This will positively influence the economy and, primarily, the quality of life of Ukrainians," Groysman said.

March 28, the Ukrainian Prime Minister announced that Ukraine and Israel had reached the final stage of signing the agreement on a free trade area.

The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement entered into force in 2017. Since then, the bilateral commodity turnover between Ukraine and Canada has increased by 60%.

olPresident of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko makes every effort for a peacekeeping mission to be deployed in Donbas in 2018.

The President said this in an interview with Ukrainian TV channels on Friday, April 13, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I make every effort so that the [peacekeeping] mission could be deployed in 2018," Poroshenko said.

As the Ukrainian President noted, a year and a half or two ago the world did not want to listen about peacekeepers.

"First, they argued it would be very expensive, about few billion dollars. Second, they said that nobody would go to Ukraine to help establish peace as a key element of the Minsk agreements and restore the Ukrainian sovereignty over the territories seized by Russians. To date, more than four dozen countries have agreed to participate in the peacekeeping operation: starting from Canada and other G7 countries ending with the EU countries that are not members of NATO," Poroshenko said.

The President noted that Ukraine was ready to submit the given issue to the UN Security Council immediately as soon as Russia accepts the position of the whole world.

Many members of the Security Council are willing to support the agreed project. I personally addressed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with a request to send a special assessment mission to the east of Ukraine to establish the required headcount of the peacekeeping mission, terms for its deployment, preconditions and cost.  he said.

olOn April 11, Azerbaijan held presidential elections, which Ilham Aliyev won. The Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan accredited 900 international observers to monitor the voting process. Many of them are parliamentarians from different countries. Speaker of the Milli Majlis Oktay Asadov discussed Russian-Azerbaijani parliamentary relations in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

- There Russian delegation at the elections, which included parliamentarians, senators. What can you say about cooperation between parliaments of Russia and Azerbaijan?

- The Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan maintains very close ties with the Federal Assembly. The Friendship Group is working with both chambers of the Russian parliament. There's also bilateral commission that holds meetings annually. Ilyas Umakhanov heads this commission on behalf of Russia, while vice-speaker of the Milli Mejlis Valeh Aleskerov represents our side. Their work brings results, they address global issues.

Parliamentarians of Russia and Azerbaijan demonstrate strategic partnership in all international parliamentary organizations by supporting each others' positions. For example, at a recent meeting of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Azerbaijan was a member of the executive committee and was among six countries that voted in favor of Russia's proposal. This is the format that shows how great our relations are.

- Our relations have a long history - Azerbaijanis participated in sessions of the first and second State Duma.

- Yes. In the first Duma, the Muslim faction was led by Azerbaijani MP Alimardan Topchibashev. His monument was erected at the Tauride Palace. Six deputies from Azerbaijan participate in the work of the first Duma, eight deputies participated in the work of the second Duma. We have very deep traditions - Azerbaijan was a part of tsarist Russia for about 100 years, a part of the USSR for about 70 years. Now Azerbaijan is an independent country, but we still maintain close relations between heads of our states and between our parliaments. We really appreciate it. Nothing can disturb our strategic partnership.

- How does parliamentary diplomacy affect Russian-Azerbaijani relations today?

- When Russia lost its right to vote in the PACE last year, Azerbaijan was among those countries that opposed it. Russian-Azerbaijani relations have deep roots, and although the USSR collapsed, Azerbaijan has great respect for Russian language. Azerbaijan has over 200 schools that teach in Russian, aroung 100 schools with Russian sector. Universities teach in Russian. There's a branch of the Moscow State University and a branch of the Sechenov Medical University in Baku. Azerbaijan has the largest Russian community in the South Caucasus with over 120 thousand people. There's a huge Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia. We must support each other in the international arena, because we're strategic partners.

- Azerbaijan is a multinational country with deep traditions of tolerance. What is the secret of this success?

- Azerbaijan pays a lot of attention to multiculturalism, interethnic and interreligious relations. All religions are respected here - there are Orthodox churches, Catholic church, six synagogues. People learned how to live together, respect each other.

- In 2018, Azerbaijan will celebrate many anniversary dates, including the 100th anniversary of the ADR. What traditions of parliamentarism currently exist in the republic?

- In our understanding, parliamentarianism is a parliamentary democracy, parliamentary diplomacy, rapprochement of peoples.

- This year Heydar Aliyev would have turned 95...

- Heydar Aliyev is our national leader. Without him Azerbaijan would fall apart. After he returned to power the country was able to rise. It was Heydar Aliyev who put Azerbaijan on the right track of sustainable development.Ukraine supports the decision from the United States, France and the United Kingdom to launch military strikes on Syria as the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances is a flagrant violation of the international law, and those responsible for such actions must be held accountable.

This is said in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

"Ukraine expresses solidarity with the United States, the United Kingdom and France and supports the actions of the Allies in response to the use of chemical weapons by Damascus in the Syrian city of Douma, which resulted in numerous civilian casualties," the statement reads.

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine also pointed to the purposeful support for the crimes of Damascus on part of the Kremlin regime, which by its actions, including in the UN Security Council, consistently makes it impossible to resolve the conflict in Syria in accordance with the UN Charter.

"Ukraine reiterates its firm stance that the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances is a flagrant violation of the international law, and those responsible for such actions must be held accountable," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, the United States, the United Kingdom and France launched strikes against several sites in Syria that could be used for the production of chemical weapons. According to France's Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly, Russia was warned of the attacks in advance.

NATO and a number of developed countries of the world supported such actions.

Russian President Putin called air strikes against Syria an act of aggression. The Syrian army stated that the strikes would not prevent Syria from fighting terrorists.

olSerhiy Pohoreltsev, the Director of the Consular Service Department of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, held a meeting with Director for Consular and Migration Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of Colombia Luz Stella Portilla and Director of the European Department of the Foreign Ministry of Colombia Juan Guillermo Castro.

"The parties noted the need to intensify the efforts aimed at early signing of a bilateral agreement on the abolition of the visa requirements for citizens of Ukraine and Colombia," the press service of the Ukraines Foreign Ministry reports.

Participants in the meeting agreed to facilitate the completion of all the necessary formalities to the greatest possible extent.

As reported, Ukraine agreed on the introduction of a visa-free regime with Peru and Uruguay in the near future.

olThe official noted that Russia's aggressive statements and warnings failed to stop the just punishment for the Assad regime.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov has called air strikes launched by U.S., Britain, and France on Syrian military facilities a professional and appropriate response to the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Read alsoTheresa May prepares Britain to launch assault on Assad regime in Syria  media

"The U.S. military and its allies, having targeted Syrian military facilities, demonstrated their professional and appropriate response to the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime," the NSDC secretary tweeted.

Turchynov also noted that the Kremlin's aggressive statements and warnings could not stop the just punishment for the Assad regime.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the United States, Great Britain and France pounded Syria with air strikes early on Saturday in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Council President Donald Tusk have already spoken in support of the allies' actions.

U.S. President Donald Trump has stated the U.S. is ready to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.This is a fair response to the fact of committing a brutal crime against humanity, that is a chemical attack in Douma on April 7, the president said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko considers a surgical strike by the international coalition against the Assad regime's chemical weapons facilities in Syria a forced yet justifiable step.

Read alsoTurchynov calls air strikes by U.S., UK, France in Syria professional, appropriate response

"We are considering a surgical strike by the international coalition against the objects of the military chemical infrastructure of the Assad regime as a compelled yet justified step," Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.

"This is a fair answer to the fact of committing a brutal crime against humanity  a chemical attack in Douma on April 7, which took the lives of dozens of innocent people," he added.

Ukraine calls for the use of all possible mechanisms and instruments of the UN, including the Security Council, to prevent such crimes of dictatorial regimes in the future, the head of state emphasized.The U.S. calls on Russia and its proxy authorities to act responsibly.

Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Heather Nauert says Russian-backed mercenaries' plans to flood the Yunkom coal mine in the occupied Donbas, could threaten drinking water because of radiation.

Read alsoU.S. envoy Volker calls on Russia, its proxies to stop threatening OSCE monitors

"Plans by Russian proxies to flood the abandoned Yunkom coal mine  site of Soviet nuclear test in 1979  could threaten drinking water of thousands of Ukrainians in Russia-controlled eastern Ukraine. We urge Russia and its proxy authorities to act responsibly," Nauert tweeted.

OSCE Special Monitoring Mission's observers earlier reported that the militants wanted to flood Yunkom coal mine in the town of Bunhe in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda wrote.

"Staff at the Yunkom mine in Bunhe (former Yunokomunarivsk, non-government-controlled, 43km north-east of Donetsk) told the SMM that some of the mine's pumps would be shut off around 14 April, and thus the mine would be gradually flooded. (In 1979, a nuclear device was reportedly detonated in a capsule inside the mine. Staff from the mine also told SMM that it is not clear how possible leakages or increased pressure from the flooding of the mineshaft could threaten the integrity of the capsule)," the report said.In the Luhansk sector, the enemy used proscribed 120mm and 82mm mortars, cannons of infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, and heavy machine guns.

Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 43 times in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action (WIA).

Read alsoEscalation in Donbas: Ukraine reports 66 enemy attacks, 1 KIA, 1 WIA in last day

"In the Luhansk sector, the occupiers used 120mm and 82mm mortars, cannons of infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, and heavy machine guns banned by the Minsk accords to attack Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Troyitske. The enemy also resorted to 82mm mortars near the village of Krymske, while grenade launchers and small arms were used near the village of Zaitseve. The defenders of the town of Svitlodarsk came under fire from heavy machine guns, the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations reported on Facebook Saturday morning.

In the Donetsk sector, the militants fired 82mm mortars on the Ukrainian positions near the villages of Opytne and Kamianka. In addition, grenade launchers were used to attack the Ukrainian army positions near the towns of Avdiyivka and Maryinka, and the villages of Vodiane, Kamianka, Pavlopil, Lebedynske, and Bohdanivka. The aggressor also used heavy machine guns near Nevelske, Avdiyivka, Maryinka, Pavlopil, and Butivka coal mine, as well as cannons of infantry fighting vehicles near Talakivka, Kamianka and Bohdanivka.

"The defenders of Kamianka, Opytne, Lebedynske, Talakivka, Pavlopil, Vodiane, and Butivka coal mine came under fire from small arms, while an enemy sniper was active near Avdiyivka," the headquarters said.

As UNIAN reported, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko earlier said that the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) would be changing its format to become the Operation of Joint Forces in Donbas as early as April 30.The enemy used weapons banned by the Minsk agreements along the entire contact line.

Russia's hybrid military forces mounted 28 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas on Saturday, April 14, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action (WIA).

Read alsoRussia fully responsible for "horrendous" humanitarian costs of Donbas conflict - Volker"In the morning, the Russian-backed militants failed to fully comply with the ceasefire. A total of 28 attacks on Ukrainian fortified positions have been reported as of 18:00," the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations said in an evening update on April 14, 2018.

In the Donetsk sector, the occupiers fired proscribed 122mm artillery systems at the defenders of the village of Shyrokyne. They also used grenade launchers and heavy machine guns near the town of Maryinka and the villages of Kamianka and Lebedynske. The aggressor opened fire from cannons of infantry fighting vehicles on the Ukrainian strong points near the village of Novotroyitske, as well as used heavy machine guns near Pavlopil, Hnutove, and Novotroyitske.

"In addition, the defenders of the town of Avdiyivka came under fire from grenade launchers of various systems and an anti-aircraft gun. The occupiers also opened fire from small arms on the Ukrainian strong points near Shyrokyne, Novomykhailivka, Kamianka, and Pavlopil, while enemy snipers were active near the villages of Vodiane, Talakivka, and Butivka coal mine.

In the Luhansk sector, the aggressor fired 120mm mortar at the defenders of the villages of Zaitseve and Luhanske, as well as used 82mm mortars three times near Luhanske. Moreover, the defenders of the village of Troyitske were attacked with the use of heavy machine guns.The objective of the meeting is to update the Council on the latest developments in Syria.

The North Atlantic Council will meet at Ambassadorial level at NATO Headquarters in Brussels today, April 14.

"The objective of the meeting is for France, United Kingdom and the United States to update the Council on the latest developments in Syria," reads a statement on NATO's website.

Read alsoNATO says Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations realistic

After the meeting, there will be a press point by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

As UNIAN reported earlier, overnight April 14, the U.S., U.K. and France launched airstrikes on the Assad regime's chemical weapons facilities in Syria. Three sites were targeted, namely a scientific research center near Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility, located west of Homs, as well as a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post near Homs.

U.S. President Donald Trump appealed to Iran and Russia, calling them "most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime."

He added that the strikes were a 'direct result' of Russia's failure to keep Syria's Assad from using chemical weapons.

NATO and the European Union have expressed support for overnight strikes against the Syrian regime by the U.S. and its allies.Despite sustained diplomatic efforts, the Syrian regime continues to use chemical weapons against its own people.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says all NATO allies have expressed their full support for last night's military actions to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability.

Read alsoKlimkin, Stoltenberg discuss further steps in Ukraine-NATO interaction

"All NATO allies expressed their full support for last night's actions, which were intended to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and to deter further chemical weapon attacks against the people of Syria," Stoltenberg said at a press point following the North Atlantic Council (NAC) meeting on Syria, April 14, as reported by an UNIAN correspondent in Brussels.

During the NAC meeting, France, the United Kingdom and the United States briefed Allies on their joint military action in Syria overnight, as well as on the additional, non-military measures taken to reinforce the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Read alsoNATO Secretary General accuses Russia of unleashing new nuclear race  media

"The three Allies stressed that a significant body of information indicated that the Syrian regime was responsible for the horrendous attack against civilians in Douma on 7 April, which killed a large number of children, women and men. They also made clear that their military action was limited to the Syrian regime's facilities enabling the production and employment of chemical weapons. They emphasized that there was no practicable alternative to the use of force," NATO Secretary General said.

At the same time, Stoltenberg expressed his conviction that those responsible for chemical attacks must be held to account. "NATO strongly condemns the repeated use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. Chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity. They are an immediate danger to the Syrian people, and to our collective security," the official stressed.

He also noted that despite sustained diplomatic efforts, the Syrian regime continues to use chemical weapons against its own people.

"We call on all members of the UN Security Council to uphold their responsibilities. At the same time, we call on all supporters of the Syrian regime, notably Russia, to exercise responsibility to ensure that the Syrian regime participates constructively in the UN-led Geneva process," he added.The Turkish Foreign Ministry has applauded the joint airstrikes on the Assad regime in Syria by the United States, United Kingdom, and France in the wake of a chemical weapons attack, Ahval reports with a reference to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.

More than 40 people were killed in a suspected chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus, on Apr. 7. On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S.-led group had launched strikes on what were believed to be chemical weapons production facilities.

We welcome this operation which has eased humanitys conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime, Turkeys statement said.

The Syrian regime, which has been tyrannizing its own people for more than seven years, be it with conventional or chemical weapons, has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The conscience of the international community carries no doubt to that effect.Vice Chancellors of all Pakistani universities unanimously appreciated Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman, Higher Education Commission (HEC) for his services to the higher education sector during VC's Forum here on the completion of his four-year term.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) :Vice Chancellors of all Pakistani universities unanimously appreciated Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman, Higher Education Commission (HEC) for his services to the higher education sector during VC's Forum here on the completion of his four-year term.

The forum was attended by a large number of VCs in person as well as through video conferencing facility, a news release said on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Masoom Yasinzai, Chairman, Vice Chancellors Committee said, "on behalf of all VCs, I thank Dr Mukhtar Ahmed for rendering remarkable services for the development of higher education sector in the country." He said, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed has served the sector in various capacities, worked a lot for the sector's development and brought about a number of reforms.

Expressing their views on this occasion, Vice Chancellors appreciated Dr Mukhtar Ahmed for his accessibility, commitment and dedication. They said universities, since the start of Dr Mukhtar Ahmed's term in 2013 as Chairman HEC, have never faced any hurdles in release of funds.

They said HEC, under his leadership, has made remarkable progress earning a good name to the sector nationally and internationally.

"Dr Mukhtar Ahmed played a pivotal role in strengthening liaison and coordination within the sector and among the sector, government and all stakeholders," they observed.

In his remarks, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed shared the overall background and achievements of HEC since its inception in 2002. He paid tribute to his predecessors who led the sector and contributed to the sector's uplift.

He said the incumbent government pays due importance to higher education sector, adding that the government has shown confidence in HEC and increased it's budget. He said HEC is committed to facilitating higher education institutions to serve as an engine of socio-economic growth of the country.

He urged the VCs to work together, promote ethics and values, and keep the house in order to ensure sustainability in the sector's development. He emphasised that universities should follow no-compromise policy on quality and governance.

"Work like a family to maintain the dignity of this sector," he underlined. Dr Arshad Ali, Executive Director, HEC also appreciated Dr Mukhtar Ahmed's efforts to enhance achievements of HEC, adding that he have proved to be "a good leader, administrator and friend".Safe Blood Transfusion Programme (SBTP) training was held here Saturday at Medical Teaching Institute-Khyber Teaching Hospital (MTI-KTH) aimed to enhance professional capabilities of TMOs', House officers, nursing and paramedical staff

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) :Safe Blood Transfusion Programme (SBTP) training was held here Saturday at Medical Teaching Institute-Khyber Teaching Hospital (MTI-KTH) aimed to enhance professional capabilities of TMOs', House officers, nursing and paramedical staff.

An expert Hematologist of Agha Khan University Prof Dr Bushra Moiz gave technical training on rational use of blood. Safe Blood Transfusion Programme (SBTP) Project Director Dr Shams-ur-Rehman Afridi, Technical Advisor GIZ Dr Uzma Anjum and Manager Regional Blood Center Dr Noor-e-Saba also shared their expertise knowledge to the trainees regarding blood transfusion.

Hospital Director Dr Nekdad Khan, Chairman Surgical Department and Acting Medical Director Prof Dr Mustaq Ahmed, senior faculty, managerial staff, TMOs, House officers, nursing and paramedics staff were present on the occasion.

The training was attended by faculty of Hayatabad Medical Complex, Lady Reading Hospital, Institute of Kidney Diseases, Govt Maternity Hospital and Naseerullah Babar Memorial Hospital. In-charge Blood Bank Dr Zafar Afridi thanked the speakers and highlighted the contributions made by Regional Blood Center (RBC) in KTH.

He said that the technical training is of great help for making KTH blood bank procedures according to International standards.AJK President Sardar Masood Khan Saturday strongly condemned the recent gang rape and brutal murder of a Kashmiri Muslim girl Asifa Bano by Hindu gangsters in Kathua town of Jammu region in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) , Apr 14 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point news - 14th Apr, 2018 ):AJK President Sardar Masood Khan Saturday strongly condemned the recent gang rape and brutal murder of a Kashmiri Muslim girl Asifa Bano by Hindu gangsters in Kathua town of Jammu region in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

The Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) president, in a statement, said the Hindu extremists, instead of expressing sympathy for the victim, were demonstrating against the arrest of eight Hindu accused. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) extremists, he said, had been terrorizing 1.1 million Gujjars in Jammu for years.

This time, he said, their persecution had moved to a higher pernicious level whereby they had used the rape of eight-year girl as an instrument of hatred, religious fanaticism and war against the Kashmiris.

Sardar Masood said the Indian occupation forces in Jammu and Kashmir had created a culture of impunity for crimes against humanity. Extremist gangs, therefore, felt encouraged to victimize young girls and that was why they were coming to the defence of the accused, he added.

Since 1989, he said, Indian occupation forces had raped and molested thousands of women to teach Kashmiris a lesson and to subjugate them. Sexual violence, he said, was used a weapon of war throughout the occupied territory.

The AJK president said over the years nomadic Muslim shepherds had been a target of Hindu extremists and Asifa Bano was the latest victim. They used such tactics to force Gujjars and Nomads out of Jammu, but they would never succeed because Kashmiris were determined to get their freedom.

He said it was also very disturbing to learn that the lawyer community in Jammu, who were supposed to uphold the law, were supporting Hindu extremists. Sardar Masood thanked political leaders and civil society activists in India, who were protesting against Asifa's rape and murder.

"It is high time the Indian civil society woke up and saved Kashmiris from bondage, killings, torture and rape. Women and children have no security", he added. The AJK president said the matter should be raised in the Human Rights Council, the UN General Assembly and the UN Commission on the Status of Women.(@rukhshanmir)

The Austrian Ambassador to Pakistan, Madame Brigitta Blaha Saturday called on Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir at the President House and discussed the matters of mutual interest.

MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) , Apr 14 (APP):The Austrian Ambassador to Pakistan, Madame Brigitta Blaha Saturday called on Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir at the President House and discussed the matters of mutual interest.

President Azad Jammu Kashmir on the occasion said that both Pakistan and Austria enjoyed friendly diplomatic relations which through mutual efforts will be further strengthened. Masood Khan said that AJK and Pakistan are on the cusp of an economic revolution and he invited Austrian investors and entrepreneurs in exploring new avenues for investment, especially in energy and the tourism industry.

The Austrian Ambassador said that steps are being taken to explore opportunities in enhancing people to people ties between the Austria and Pakistan in the fields of cultural and educational exchange programs, trade and other spheres of the socio-cultural corporation.

President AJK informed the Ambassador that Azad Kashmir having natural beauty has massive potential for a full-fledged tourism industry. He said that tourism in AJK is still in its embryonic state and with the backing of the government measures will be taken to encourage private investors in establishing quality motels, hotels, log huts, theme parks and organizing guided tours for visitors coming to AJK.

He added that plans are underway to construct a 200 km long tourism corridor passing through all the tourist sites and districts including Muzaffarabad, Sudhan Gali, Lasdana, Toli Peer, Banjosa and others.

He said this corridor will have all the necessary infrastructure for attracting domestic and foreign tourists. Priority, he said, is being given to the development of the road network, which would facilitate tourist traffic.A 71 percent majority of Americans say they are not satisfied with the way the vaccination process is going in the United States amid a parallel increase in the number of adults willing to be vaccinated, a new Gallup poll revealed on Wednesday

President Joe Biden has tapped David Turk for the post of Deputy Energy Secretary and Julie Su for Deputy Labor Secretary in an effort to turn around the worst energy and employment situation in the United States in nearly a century, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday

Some European lawmakers on Wednesday slammed the EU authorities for its handling of the coronavirus vaccination campaign, as well as accused them of refusing to purchase Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for ideological reasons

Greece's riot police have detained at least 30 people during a protest in central Athens against an education reform bill that is being debated by the parliament, Greek media reported on Wednesday

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Wednesday that it has not received an application from the developers of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for market authorization in the European Union

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews on Wednesday warned Myanmar security forces against the use of excessive force in mass protests given that such acts may amount to international crimes

At a meeting with chief editors of Russian media, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the details of the first phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, during which he offered Russian experts' assistance in studying the samples seized after the incident with Alexey Navalny and assured that if they found "at least something," a criminal case will be opened, one of the participants in the meeting told Sputnik

German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz was urgently summoned to the Bundestag for hearings on the situation in Russia and around the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the meeting is being broadcast on the parliament's website

Former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial resumed on Wednesday as the US Senate proceeds to hearing arguments for and against convicting him of instigating last month's violent attack on Congress

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Urdu Point gives unbiased, accurate and timely news world. It provides exclusive world news headlines for the users. CNN world newsis also a news group, covering whole world political and social events. PTV world news gives a little biased news towards government. Urdu Point provides world latest news for its users. All the important world breaking news are given by the site. CPEC is a project of global importance. Urdu Point gives accurate CPEC news. After a lot of proceedings in China Pakistan relationswhole world is looking forward to the results of these relations for both nations.

Urdu Point gives accurate news about Pak China relations. Urdu Point gives all the latest news about America and Pakistan relations. Indo Pak relations are of great importance for both states. Urdu Point provides news about India Pakistan relations. It gives all the scenario of India Pakistan dispute. As we are getting close to China, politically and socially. People of both states want to know the news about neighboring country. Urdu Point all the China news. The site also gives accurate India news. The site also provides perspective of Indian news Pakistan. Urdu Point gives all the accurate Kashmir news for the global readers.

There is no state who is not interesting in knowing USA news. Urdu Point gives American news. All the concerned countries wants to know white house news as soon as it is possible for them. Guardian is also covering news reports about global politics and society. Urdu Point gives accurate international news. The site have the privilege of breaking international news with great accuracy and timeliness. It also have the facility of breaking global news with accuracy. Urdu Point posts all the news from the world. People are concerned about knowing news from globe.ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) :Speakers at a condolence reference here Saturday paid tribute to the services of late nuclear scientist Ishfaq Ahmed, former Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) chairman, for building Pakistan's nuclear prowess. The reference was organized by Preston Institute of Nano Science and Technology (PINSAT) Preston University Islamabad, a press release said.

 Speaking on the occasion, chief guest Dr Samar Mubarakmand, founding Chairman of NESCOM, said Dr Ishfaq Ahmed was an invaluable asset of the country. He was an unparalleled scientist of Pakistan and a person of unmatchable values and principles.

He said Dr Ishfaq Ahmed played a key role in the atomic explosion of 1998, and due to his untiring and dedicated endeavours Pakistan emerged as a nuclear power in the region.  Dr Amir Muhammad, former Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Chairman, said Dr Ishfaq was a brilliant nuclear scientist, who enjoyed an impeccable reputation in the comity of world renowned scientists.

His services towards building Pakistan's nuclear prowess would be remembered for a long time to come, he added.  Highlighting Dr Ishfaq's contribution towards making Pakistan a nuclear power and making its defence impregnable, Dr Inam ur Rehman, founding Rector of PIEAS, and Dr Hafeez Hoorani, Director General of National Center for Physics (NCP) Islamabad, said Dr Ishfaq Ahmed was an iconic scientist whose brilliance was recognized with a sense of profound regard both at home and abroad.

They said icons like Dr Ishfaq Ahmed were a rare breed, who were born in centuries and remembered by the people with a sense of pride and respect for all times to come.  Earlier, in his welcome address Dr Abdul Basit, Chancellor Preston University, said it was an honour for PINSAT-Preston University to organize a reference to remember a personality of international stature like Dr Ishfaq Ahmed.

He said Dr Ishfaq's contribution towards development of Pakistan's nuclear programme was phenomenal. The nation owed its gratitude to him for playing a pivotal role in making Pakistan a nuclear power and enhancing its image in the comity of world nuclear powers, he added.

 Paying tribute to Dr Ishfaq Ahmed, Dr N M Butt, Chairman PINSAT-Preston University, said the vacuum created due to his death would take a long time to fill.The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Faisalabad arrested an alleged human trafficker, Naeem Shuja, from Kutchery Bazaar.

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) ::The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Faisalabad arrested an alleged human trafficker, Naeem Shuja, from Kutchery Bazaar. According to FIA spokesman, a team conducted raid at Sadique Plaza Office No 1 on getting information that some agents were receiving passports and money in an insurance company office from the people on the pretext of sending them abroad.

During the raid, the team recovered 152 passports, birth certificates, medical certificates and police character certificates from the possession of accused Naeem Shuja son of Shuja Din resident of Hajweri Town Faisalabad.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that he received these passports from Rana Tariq, owner of M/s Arshmaan Manpower Bureau Faisalabad, who has been receiving money from people on the pretext to send them abroad for overseas employment.

Therefore, a case vide FIR No 250/2018 under sections 17/18/22 Emigration Ordinance 1979, 6 Passport Act 1974 has been registered against Naeem Shuja and Rana Tariq and further investigation is under progress.

Three FIRs and many enquiries have already been registered in the past against M/s Arshman Manpower Bureau Faisalabad by FIA Faisalabad for their involvement in illegal immigration and human trafficking followed by defrauding innocent people on the pretext of overseas employment, spokesman added.Cyclist Irfan Sehwani, who started his journey from Lahore to perform Hajj on bicycle, reached here, on Saturday.

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) ::Cyclist Irfan Sehwani, who started his journey from Lahore to perform Hajj on bicycle, reached here, on Saturday. While talking to APP, Sehwani said that he decided to perform Hajj on bicycle to portray a soft image of the country with the slogan "Ambassador of Peace".

Irfan said that the purpose of his journey was to tell the world that we are a peaceful nation and Pakistan is a peaceful country. He said that his journey consisted on 100 days period adding that he would reach Karachi in 20 days.

The cyclist said that he himself was bearing all his expenses and people of Pakistan are hospitable and they were extending love to him during his journey. Irfan said that his travel documents were legal and complete and he would go to Saudi Arabia through Iran, Iraq and Kuwait. Later, he left for his next destination Muzaffargarh.Federal minister of Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf Saturday said that Sikhs and other minorities are enjoying complete religious freedom in the country

ATTOCK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) :Federal minister of Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf Saturday said that Sikhs and other minorities are enjoying complete religious freedom in the country.

Addressing concluding ceremony of Besakhi Mela, He said that Sikh pilgrims from India are always welcomed by Pakistan and never refused to issue them visas but Indian govt mostly refuses visas to Pakistanis intending to visit Muslim sacred places there.

Minister said that Pakistan has kept all the religious and sacred places of the Sikhs and other religions in better and renovated condition, adding that during Besakhi Mela more than three thousand Sikh pilgrims participated which include more than 1500 Indians.

He said that these pilgrims were provided all facilities free of cost and provided them fool proof security as well.

He said that in 2019 more than 20 thousand Sikhs will be invited from across the world to participate in 550th anniversary of Baba Gurunanak.

Secretary Evacuee Trust Property board Tariq Khan Wazir , Presodent Silh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Sardar Tara Singh also addressed the ceremony. On the occasion, Indian Sikh pilgrims group leaders in their address expressed their full satisfaction over the arrangements made for them.

Later, while talking to journalists, Minister said that across the country as many as 3.5 million students are studying in seminaries, adding that different issues regarding reforms and syllabus have been finalized between Ministry of education and advisor National security. He said that Pakistan is completely acting upon Liaqat Nehru pact while India is reluctant to act upon.Multan Waste Management Company (MWMC) will purchase 68 loader rickshaws to lift waste from Union council and ensure better cleanliness arrangements in the city

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) ::Multan Waste Management Company (MWMC) will purchase 68 loader rickshaws to lift waste from Union council and ensure better cleanliness arrangements in the city.

Manager Operation MWMC Usman Khursheed while talking to APP here on Saturday said the company's BoD had given approval for the purchase of loader rickshaws. He said that over Rs 18 million would be spent on the purchase of loader rickshaws to lift waste from Union council level.

He hoped that loader rickshaws would be helpful in improving cleanliness in the city more better way. He informed that over 600 sanitary workers would also be recruited on contract basis to meet the sanitary staff shortage through third party and advertisement of the posts has already been given.

The last date for submission of applications is April 24. While tenders for loader rickshaws would be opened on April 25.

He said that they were lifting 700 to 750 ton waste from city daily while their target is 860 ton daily.

He said that they had done 80 challans over throwing waste on roads from which 23 people have submitted it fee so far. Usman said that complaint cell was functional and over 60 complaints regarding cleanliness registering daily.

He informed that the complaint which came before 12 am addressed on same day while complaint after 12 am resolved other day. He said that capacity of dumping waste at Habiba Siyal landfill site has remained four to five months more adding that they have selected site for regional landfill site near Head Muhammad Wala consisting on 140 acre land.

He said that they would construct a park at Habiba Siyal landfill site after completion of filling capacity. He urged the citizens to cooperate with sanitary staff for swift cleanliness arrangements in city.lPresident of the European Council Donald Tusk congratulated President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on his victory in the election, Trend reports.

Dear President, dear Ilham. I would like to express my best wishes to you on the occasion of your re-election as President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Tusk said in his letter.

I hope that during your new term in office, the relationship between Azerbaijan and the European Union will be further deepened, including through the negotiations of a new ambitious bilateral agreement, based on shared fundamental values and principles and our global, political and economic interests, said President of the European Council.

I also look forward to continuing to work with you to develop our cooperation within the Eastern Partnership, with a view to further strengthening the European Union`s engagement and support, and to advancing our shared objectives of stability and prosperity in the region, said Donald Tusk.

Please accept the assurance of my highest consideration, added President of the European Council Donald Tusk.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Apr, 2018 ) :The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday issued notices to federation and attorney general for May 7 on a petition challenging National Accountability Ordinance (NAB) Ordinance 1999.

The single bench comprising Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh issued notices on a petition filed by Lawyers Foundation for Justice. Earlier, the petitioner's counsel AK Dogar arguing before the court submitted that the NAB Ordinance was promulgated under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) No.

1 as well as Order 9, in 1999. He submitted that Order No. 9 was promulgated to amend PCO No. 1, declaring that any ordinance by the president should not be subject to limitation of duration given in the Constitution.

He submitted that through 18th Amendment, PCO No. 1 of 1999 had been declared without lawful authority. He said that since the PCO No. 1 had been declared without lawful authority, the amendments made through Order No.

9 also stood lapsed. He contended that the 120 days limitation prescribed under Article 89 would be applicable to NAB Ordinance which had already stood lapsed. He pleaded with the court to declare that the NAB Ordinance had ceased to be the law and become non-existent.

He also pleaded that proceedings in all cases under NAB Ordinance should also be stopped. The court after recording initial arguments issued notice to the respondents for May 7 and sought their reply. APP/syh/zqrFAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Apr, 2018 ) ::Advisor to the Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Division Irfan Siddiqui Friday said only voters could decide about the disqualification of any political leader.

Talking to the media here after inaugurating Abdul Majeed Parveen Raqam Youth Calligraphy Exhibition, he said any attempt to deprive voters of their right to elect a leader had never succeeded. A most popular political figure was hanged some 30 years ago, but he could not be disqualified till date, he added.

Irfan Siddiqui said the caretaker set-up could not affect public opinion. In 2013, the caretaker prime minister and chief ministers had been proposed by the Pakistan People's Party but it was defeated badly in election, he added.

To a question, he said incidents of rape and murder of children were condemnable; however, civil society should also play their role to control such type of incidents besides law-enforcement agencies.

Irfan Siddiqui said that literary figures were being provided monthly stipend while efforts were being made to pay calligraphers also. He said that a special programme had been designed with huge funds of Rs500 million for promotion of literary and cultural activities. APP/asf/bl/rsdLAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) :Italian Ambassador to Pakistan Stefano Pontecorvo said on Saturday that Pakistan was the most important country of Asia with a bright future and its private sector had an ability to do economic miracles.

During an exclusive meeting with Director of Pakistan Stone Development Company (PSDC) and former EC member of LCCI Chaudhry Khadim Hussain, the Italian ambassador said that businessmen of Italy saw Pakistan as an emerging market and were keen to make investment and joint ventures in various economic sectors.

Both the countries must have strongest liaison with their Italian counterparts to extract huge benefits from Italian expertise, he added. The ambassador said that there was a huge business potential in the two countries that should be tapped.

He urged the PSDC Director Chaudhry Khadim Hussain to constitute a sector-specific business delegation for Italy to explore trade and investment opportunities. He said that there was a vast scope for joint ventures in energy, pharmaceutical, agro infrastructure, automobile, textile and marble sectors.

On this occasion, the PSDC Director said that Pakistan and Italy should hold sector-wise study to evolve a comprehensive joint strategy to enhance volume of trade between the two countries. He said that Italy had been very supportive to Pakistan within the European Union with special reference to trade-related issues.

He said Pakistan attached the highest importance to its relations with Italy. Chaudhry Khadim said that climate for foreign investors in Pakistan was much conducive and the Italian investors could invest in marble, energy, agro-based industries, construction, mining, textiles and tourism sectors, where Pakistan could contribute and find complimentary areas in design and fashion.

Other sectors included IT and telecommunication. He said that Italian businessmen could take advantage from the investment-friendly climate of Pakistan that offered best return on the foreign investment with economic policies providing for legal protection to foreign investment.

The PSDC director was of the view that it was high time for the Italian investors to come to Pakistan and make investments as the country was fast becoming hub of economic activities in the region.

He said that Pakistani businessmen should focus on Italy which was a diversified industrial economy, asserting that Pakistani businessmen should work hand in hand with their Italian counterparts in the fields of tourism, machinery, iron & steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear and ceramics.

He paid rich tributes to Italian Ambassador Stefano POntecorvo for working as a bridge between the private sectors of the two countries. APP/maa/asm(@ChaudhryMAli88)

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) ::Federal Minister for Water Resources Syed Javed Ali Shah has said that Pakistan Muslim League-N is interested in establishing new provinces on administrative basis instead of linguistic.

Addressing the PML-N youth convention here at Arts Council on Saturday, he said that a national commission was being formed to discuss the issues related to formation of new provinces. He said that some elements trying to do politics on new provinces issue but they had never raised their voice in favour of new provinces during the five-year tenure.

He said that water would be the main issue of the area in near future. The minister stressed the need for constructing Kalabagh Dam to resolve water related issues in future and added that the PPP and the PTI were not in favour of the dam.

He said Muhammad Nawaz Sharif lives in hearts of masses. He said that youth was an asset of the party and they would bring a revolution in the country.

He urged youth members of the party to launch door-to-door campaign to spread message of the leadership.

He claimed that 42 per cent budget had been allocated for development projects in South Punjab in the previous budget while agriculture university, Nishtar Medical university, different mega projects and upgradation of colleges have been initiated by the incumbent government.

Former Provincial Minister for Prisons Abdul Waheed Arrain while speaking on the occasion announced that the PML-N would organise a public gathering on May 4, 2018 in which Mian Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz and other leaders would address in Multan.

MNA Abdul Ghafar Dogar, MPAs Haji Ehsan Uddin Qureshi, Shahzad Maqbool Bhutta, former MNA Sheikh Tariq Rasheed and other party leaders also addressed the convention. APP/sak-thh/rsd(@ChaudhryMAli88)

RIYADH, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2018 ) :Saudi Arabia has started "Joint Gulf Shield" military exercise in collaboration with 24 countries to increase its defense cooperation with the leading countries of the world, which is being witnessed by the representatives of the world media including Pakistan.

The Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz has invited the leading countries to participate in the "Joint Gulf Shield" military exercise. A full day rehearsal of the military exercise is held here on Saturday along with the Arab allies of Saudi Arabia which are participating in the exercise.

The US, UK, UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Turkey are among the other participants of the month-long exercise that began on Mar 18. The exercise includes units from army, navy, air force and the "Special Forces".

The exercise is said to be the second stage of the "Joint Gulf Shield".

A high level delegation led by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is expected to arrive on Sunday to inspect the exercises of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC).

The representatives of world media lauded the professional skills and spirit of the armed forces representing different countries of the Arab allies. Prince Muhammad Bin Salman in a message said the purpose of the "Joint Gulf Shield" military exercise is to maintain security and stability within the participating countries.

He said it also aimed at strengthening security, coordination and cooperation of the member countries in the military field. The Crown Prince said the military and security integration in line with strengthening economy is the vision of the Gulf. He said stability in the region will generate investment opportunities by attracting capital. APP/tajBangladesh High Commission in Islamabad Saturday celebrated Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bengali calendar, with enthusiasm and festivity.

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) ::Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad Saturday celebrated Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bengali Calendar, with enthusiasm and festivity.

The Bengali New Year 1425 was celebrated in Bangladesh mission premises amid holding of various traditional programmes, said press release. The chancery building and premises were nicely decorated with colourful banners, festoons and traditional house-hold items of rural Bangladesh highlighting the Bengali culture and heritage.

Expatriate Bangladeshis, students and officials of the mission joined the Baishakhi programme with their family members. High Commissioner of Bangladesh Tarik Ahsan, while inaugurating the Baishakhi function, said Pohela Baishakh inspired the minds of Bengalis with the strength to change their future for the better.

Terming it the largest non-religious festival of Bengalis, he said the celebration of Pohela Baishakh promoted harmony and unity among people from all casts and creeds. The cultural event started with the famous Boishakhi song 'Esho He Boishakh Esho Esho' sung by the officials of the mission and the guests together.

Bangladeshi children and the officials also performed dances, folk songs, recitation from poem on Bengali New year and magic. The programmes also included presentation of traditional Bengali food festival. The guests were also entertained by different types of traditional Bengali food like Piaju, Jilapi, Jhal-muri, rice and fish, beef, vegetable and a number of Bhartas.Finland on Thursday granted its final approval for a pipeline dubbed Nord Stream 2, which will be used to pump Russian natural gas to Germany, to go through its waters in the Baltic Sea.

Helsinki, Finland, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Apr, 2018 ) :Finland on Thursday granted its final approval for a pipeline dubbed Nord Stream 2, which will be used to pump Russian natural gas to Germany, to go through its waters in the Baltic Sea.

The final green light for the Finnish stretch of the planned pipeline came from the Nordic country's environmental authorities, a week after the government in Helsinki gave its consent for a project that has sparked controversy in the European Union.

"The Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland has granted the permit required under the Finnish Water Act for construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany within the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone," the agency said in a statement.

But the plan to bring more Russian gas to Western Europe is facing headwind elsewhere in the bloc. Although German authorities gave Nord Stream 2 their green light at the end of March, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that the plan could not go forward "without clarity about the Ukrainian transit role".

If completed, the new pipeline would allow Russian gas to bypass its former route via Ukraine and Poland on its way to European markets. Ukraine and Poland have been critical of the project, which they claim to undermine the EU in the face of Russian aggression.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has urged Germany to abandon plans to build Nord Stream 2, saying it would amount to an "economic and energy blockade" of his crisis-torn country. Kiev has strongly condemned the approvals the project has been granted so far.

"It is important that Germany and all the other EU countries remember the principles on which the EU was built and understand that their authorisation for the construction of Nord Stream 2 deals a heavy blow to their allies, Ukraine being one of them," speaker of the Ukrainian parliament Andriy Parubiy declared in a speech, quoted by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Approvals are still needed from Russian, Danish and Swedish authorities. If approved, the pipeline's construction could begin as soon as this year, aiming for a commercial use in the beginning of 2020.(@rukhshanmir)

Unknown gunmen on Saturday blew up an oil pipeline in Yemen's southeastern province of Shabwa, causing a huge explosion, a local security official told Xinhua

ADEN, Yemen, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2018 ) ::Unknown gunmen on Saturday blew up an oil pipeline in Yemen's southeastern province of Shabwa, causing a huge explosion, a local security official told Xinhua.

"An explosion targeted the pipeline which connects the oil field in Oqla area with Aydh district of Shabwa Province," the security source said on condition of anonymity. "Security troops were deployed in the area and several firefighers went directly to the site to deal with the fire," the source added.

The Shabwa government said it suspects "sabotage elements" of "planting and detonating explosive devices" to destroy the pipeline.

No groups have so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but previous similar attacks in the region were claimed by al-Qaida militants.

Shabwa boasts five sectors of crude oil production, which produce about 15,000 barrels per day. The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch and the Islamic State (IS) militants are active in the mountainous areas in the provinces of Shabwa and Abyan and carry out sporadic attacks against government forces.Urges Special Economic Zones To Serve As Window On Reform, Opening-up

President Xi Jinping on Friday urged special economic zones (SEZs) to continue as important experimental platforms for reform and opening-up

HAIKOU, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Apr, 2018 ) :President Xi Jinping on Friday urged special economic zones (SEZs) to continue as important experimental platforms for reform and opening-up.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when delivering a speech at a gathering to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hainan Province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone.

"SEZs should stay true to their mission and make a good use of the new strategic position," said Xi. "SEZs should continue to be pioneers of reform and opening-up and places where things get done."

In honor of the 23rd birthday of the Wildlife Habitat, guests are invited to explore the hidden gem located at the iconic Flamingo Las Vegas in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. This tranquil, tropical attraction contains a number of fascinating animals (Photo credit: Patrick Gray / www.KabikPhotoGroup).

Photo credit: Patrick Gray / www.KabikPhotoGroupThe EU was informed about targeted US, French and UK airstrikes on chemical weapons facilities in Syria, High Representative Federica Mogherini said in a statement, News.am reports.

These specific measures were taken with the sole objective to prevent further use of chemical weapons and chemical substances as weapons by the Syrian regime to kill its own people, the statement says.

Mogehrini reiterated EUs support for the efforts aimed at the prevention of the use of chemical weapons.

The EU calls upon all countries, notably Russia and Iran, to use their influence to prevent any further use of chemical weapons, notably by the Syrian regime, and supports the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, Mogherini said.

The EU reiterates that there can be no other solution to the Syrian conflict than political. We have a common goal in preventing any escalation of violence that could transform the Syrian crisis into a wider regional confrontation, with incalculable consequences for the Middle East and indeed the whole world. The EU calls upon all parties to the conflict, especially the regime and its allies, to implement immediately the ceasefire, and to ensure humanitarian access and medical evacuations as unanimously agreed in UNSC Resolution 2401. The EU repeats that any sustainable solution to the conflict requires a genuine political transition in line with UNSCR 2254 and the 2012 Geneva Communique negotiated by the Syrian parties within the UN-led Geneva process.The United States, Britain and France launched military air strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, aimed at ending his governments use of chemical weapons. VOA's Bill Gallo looks at whether these strikes are likely to alter the situation on the ground and make a difference in finding a possible resolution to the six-year long Syrian conflictThe Islamic Jihad militant group says four of its members were killed Saturday in an accidental blast in Gaza near the Israeli border.



An explosion apparently struck a three-wheeled vehicle near a Palestinian protest camp. Islamic Jihad said the four were killed "during preparations" without elaborating.



On Friday the Gaza Health Ministry said one Palestinian was killed and more than 900 others were injured Friday by Israeli troops, who used gunfire and tear gas to repel numerous attempts by Palestinians to cross the border fence separating the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip from Israel.



The Friday violence erupted after thousands of Palestinians staged a protest along the border, the third weekly protest scheduled through mid-May. The protests already have resulted in dozens killed and thousands injured.



The protesters are demanding an end to a decade-old blockade and a return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel, where their ancestors lived before being forced to flee after the establishment of Israel in 1948. Israel repeatedly has ruled out any right of their return over concerns Israel would lose its Jewish majority.

Moments after President Donald Trump concluded his seven-minute broadcast Friday announcing the start of precision airstrikes on Syrian government facilities associated with the development of chemical weapons, loud explosions shook Damascus.

Among the sites struck in a coordinated operation by U.S., French and British forces shortly before dawn prayers was a scientific research center on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a nearby command post, the Pentagon said.

There were also reports by political activists that the Syrian Armys 4th Armored Division, an elite formation commanded by President Bashar al-Assads brother, Maher al-Assad, as well as the Republican Guard, were also hit in the strikes. But it remains unclear if they were struck by French and British manned aircraft and cruise missiles rather than by the U.S. military.

From the point of view of those on the receiving end of the one-night operation, the military retaliation by the Western powers may have seemed anything but restrained.

Restrained strike

The strike, intended to show Western resolve in the face of what Trump called persistent violations of international law by Assad, was larger than last years, when the United States fired 58 cruise missiles at Syria in retaliation for a purported chemical weapons attack by government forces on a rebel-held town in the north of the country.

This time about twice the number of cruise missiles were launched by the United States in response to last Saturdays alleged chemical attack by Assad on the town of Douma just outside of Damascus, in which at least 40 people died and hundreds were sickened.

But the coordinated strike, which included missiles fired from fixed-wing aircraft as well as from warships, has left some analysts puzzled, questioning the limited nature of the punitive raid.

To many peoples surprise this was somewhat limited. We were expecting at least more airfields, ground force and naval bases to come under attack, said Arash Aramesh, a national security and foreign policy analyst.

WATCH: U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis Briefs Reporters in Syria Strikes

Speaking in Washington as the operation was close to concluding, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis appeared somewhat at pains to explain what the objective had been, saying it focused on degrading the Syrian governments chemical weapons program only.

We confined it to the chemical weapons-type targets. We were not out to expand this, we were very precise and proportionate, but at the same time it was a heavy strike, he said.

In London, Britains Theresa May also emphasized that the retaliation was focused on Assads chemical weapons and ensuring a stop to the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons. In a television broadcast, May said: This is not about intervening in the civil war. This is not about regime change.

She added: It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

WATCH: President Trump Announces Strikes Against Syria

Too limited to deter?

Some critics question whether the scale of the reprisal may have been too limited to act as a deterrent. Asked whether he could guarantee Assad wouldnt use deadly poisons again, Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon, nothing is certain in these kind of matters.

U.S. officials later highlighted Trumps statement that the three Western allies were willing to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

For Steven Bucci, a former senior Pentagon official and a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, the U.S. president was sending a message that this isnt just firing and forgetting and everyone drives home. Clearly, hes prepared to continue this for some length of time.

Bucci believes the retaliation has the potential to force Assad to forgo the use of chemical weapons.

It appears from very initial reports that were hitting some very specific targets and facilities that seem to be connected to the production, development, and usage of chemical weapons, he said. What may change Assads behavior is removing the tools with which hes been using these horrible things. Thats kind of what you have to do  you cant just stomp your feet and wag your finger. You have to force him to stop.

PHOTOS: US, France and Britain Hit Syrian Chemical Facilities

Republican Senator John McCain also highlighted the promise of sustainability. He said: the United States and our allies have the will and capability to continue imposing those costs, and that Iran and Russia will ultimately be unsuccessful in protecting Assad from our punitive response.

There were concerns before the punitive strike of a Russian military response. Earlier this week Russian officials warned their forces in Syria would shoot down Western missiles and may even target the planes and ships launching them. On Thursday, a senior Russian official started to walk back that threat, saying the Kremlin would protect Russian personnel on the ground.

That message appeared to have been heard in Washington.

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, General Joseph Dunford, who took part in the briefing about the raids alongside Mattis, said the targets had been chosen to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved. Dunford said normal deconfliction channel was used to deconflict airspace with Moscow, but that the United States did not share with Russia what sites would be targeted.

Neither Washington nor Moscow want to see an escalation of the overall long-running conflict in Syria, say analysts. Trump has already indicated he would like to withdraw the estimated 2,000 U.S. ground troops in northern Syria, where theyve been assisting Syrian Kurds to defeat Islamic State militants.

Well be coming out of Syria very soon. Let the other people take of it now, the U.S. leader said earlier this month.

On a cost-benefit analysis the Kremlin has more to lose from any escalation  or a prolonging of the 7-year-old, multisided Syria conflict now that their longtime ally Assad, thanks to Russian and Iranian military assistance, has swung the battlefield decidedly in his favor and has all but won the civil war. Any major escalation risks reversing the military dynamic, say analysts.

Reactions

Hours after the strikes, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement condemning the military strikes, accusing Washington of launching "an aggression against a sovereign state which is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism." Putin said that the strikes were not sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council, and were carried out "in violation of the U.N. charter and principles of international law."



And he warned strikes would have a "a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations."



Kremlin officials claimed that Russian-supplied Syrian air defense systems intercepted 71 of the 103 Cruise missiles that were launched. But the Russian Defense Ministry said none of its own air defense units were involved as none of the missiles launched by the U.S., France and Britain entered Russian air defense zones around the naval port of Tartus or the air base at Khmeimim, the main facilities used by Russian forces in Syria.



The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, said the Western powers did everything they could to ensure there were no Russian casualties, saying the Kremlin was warned ahead of the strikes on Syria, a move emphasizing, he said, that the military action was not about "conflict between superpowers. Before we took the action, the United States communicated with the Russian Federation to reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties," said Huntsman in a video posted on Facebook.

William Gallo contributed to this article.A human rights group has released a lengthy report detailing, among other things, 45 high-profile forced confessions that were aired on Chinese media since Xi Jinping became China's top leader in 2013.

In a 106-page report entitled Scripted and Staged: Behind the Scenes of China's Forced TV Confessions, Safeguard Defenders argues that by airing the confessions, the media organizations have been complicit collaborators of the state's human rights violations and should face international sanctions.

The report further ties in with the current discussion in the United States about China's unfair trade practices a situation where, observers say, Chinese media can operate freely almost anywhere in the world, but where there is no similar access for foreign media in China.

Unfair trade practice

"This is just another area within [the] economy where China is allowed to act when it serves them according to the economic rules that most others play with, but they refuse to play on those rules for themselves. And it's obviously very unfair," said Peter Dahlin, one of the 45 individuals cited in the report.

He added the United States should ban all Chinese media until China grants equal access to American media.

Dahlin, a Swedish rights activist, said that during his 23-day detention in China in early 2016, he was forced to confess on CCTV that he had violated Chinese law and caused harm to the Chinese government through activities as a human rights activist.

He said the reason he agreed to such recording was to save his girlfriend, who committed no crime but was also taken into police custody. And he was neither told, nor was aware of the public use of the recording until he was led into a room where he met the CCTV crew for the first time.

According to Dahlin's testimony, while recording, he stumbled four times on the line "I have hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" and then the CCTV journalist leaned in and asked "you really don't want to say this line, do you?"  suggesting journalists were aware that such confessions were staged and words were put into the confessors' mouths.

Directly culpable

Safeguard Defenders argues that Chinese state broadcasters, including CCTV, the major vehicle for televised confessions, are directly culpable.

Calls and emails to both CCTV and China Daily for reaction to Safeguard Defenders' accusations went unanswered. Dong Qian, a veteran CCTV host, and Tammy Tam, editor-in-chief of South China Morning Post did not respond to private emails. The rights group accused both of involvement in the production of forced TV confessions. A lawyer at Beijing's DeHeng Law Offices, who represents CCTV, also refused VOA's request for an interview.

Safeguard Defenders urges the international community to pressure China into putting an end to the practice by utilizing, for example, the U.S.'s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to force responsible Chinese media to register as a foreign agent.

It also calls for sanctions, travel bans, and asset freezes on top Chinese state media executives, following the EU's precedent in 2013 to impose sanctions against top executives at Iran's Press TV after it broadcast a series of forced confessions.

According to Dahlin, the United States has applied the FARA against a few individuals with China Daily USA. Hence, the push for fuller sanctions on them to place them under closer scrutiny should be possible, he said.

Safeguard Defenders, moreover, has called on other countries to follow the United States' example and introduce Magnitsky-style legislation so as to pursue action against all Chinese state media.

Unacceptable practice

"We just urge this kind of action for one reason: to send Beijing a message this is not acceptable, this kind of human rights violations," said the report's editor, Rachael Tyrell at Safeguard Defenders.

"It's not acceptable being broadcast in our [China's] own country and also, in several cases, using citizens who are not even Chinese citizens, who are citizens of other countries, including Sweden, the U.S., UK and Taiwan," she added.

Tyrell called the practice a "systematic" problem that has victimized many dissidents in China, including domestic or foreign rights workers, lawyers, journalists and business people.

Among those profiled in the report were rights lawyer Wang Yu, Jaycee Chan, the son of actor Jackie Chan; internet celebrity Guo Meimei; Gui Minhai and students of jailed Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti.

Wang was the first lawyer targeted by China's sweeping crackdown on rights defenders in 2015. Chan faced marijuana charges and Guo was accused of organizing illegal gambling and charging for sexual services while Gui, a Swedish bookseller in Hong Kong, was arrested for selling gossipy books about Chinese leaders and confessed to drunk driving charges.

In particular, in Gui's third confession in February he was made to accuse Sweden of using him as a "pawn" and "spoiling his happy life in China," according to the report.

Gui disappeared from a vacation home in Thailand in 2015 only to resurface in police custody in China several months later.

Extralegal tactics

Rights lawyer Teng Biao said the practice of sham trials and forced confessions hadn't been popular since China's Cultural Revolution era.

"The use [of forced confessions] has been rare after the end of the Cultural Revolution until Xi came to power. It was, in particular, put into wide use [during the crackdown on rights lawyers] in 2015," said Teng, co-founder of the China Human Rights Accountability Center (CHRAC), which participated in recommending candidates for the Magnitsky-sanction list to the U.S. government.

"It was one of those extralegal measures the Chinese Communist Party has adopted to counter [opposition and] challenges from the private sector. Televised confessions result in the gravest, horrifying and intimidating effects," he added.

All in all, sanctions on Chinese human rights violators will be effective in curbing the practice, the lawyer said, although the international community has to show a commitment to address China's poor human right record.A Senior U.N. migration official says a main success of Friday's U.N. pledging conference for Democratic Republic of Congo is that it has put that country's forgotten humanitarian crisis back on the international agenda.

Donors have pledged $528 million for urgently needed humanitarian aid in DR Congo, making a significant dent in the U.N.'s efforts to raise $1.7 billion. Jean-Philippe Chauzy is the International Organization for Migration Chief of Mission in DRC. He tells VOA the conference also has succeeded in drawing international attention to the severity of the crisis in the country.

"Just over the past two years, the number of Congolese displaced by the violence has increased by more than 200 percent," said Chauzy. "As we talk now, we have about 4.5 million internally displaced Congolese and more than 13 million people in need. And the crisis also is affecting provinces, and until about one year ago that were relatively stable. The Kasai, for instance, or Tanganyika."

Six months ago, the United Nations declared the Kasai, Tanganyika and South Kivu as a level 3 emergency, its highest-level emergency. The DRC government, which has called this designation exaggerated and insulting, boycotted its own pledging conference.

Chauzy says the humanitarian crisis is spreading rapidly and the DRC government has a responsibility to protect its people from the violence generated by armed groups and ethnic tension.

During his three years as mission chief, Chauzy says he has traveled widely throughout the DRC. He says he continues to be shocked by the desperate conditions under which the displaced are forced to live, especially those who are crammed in communal centers.

"When you see Congolese families that are living literally under two pieces of sticks and a piece of cloth or plastic without any latrines, without any water and sanitation, without any proper food, without any health, it is profoundly shocking," said Chauzy. "And I would not hesitate to qualify some of these living conditions as absolutely inhuman."

Chauzy says IOM is in the process of moving people out of these atrocious collective centers into sites that meet proper international standards. He notes this is just one of the many essential aid projects that will be made possible by generous funding from donor countries.

Estonia's largest political party has chosen a new leader, its third one in four years, as it seeks to restore popularity and mend its tarnished image among voters ahead of a parliamentary election next year.

Delegates for the center-right Reform Party voted Saturday to elect Kaja Kallas. The 40-year-old lawyer and lawmaker at the European Parliament will be the first female leader of a major political party in the Baltic country.

Previous Chairman Hanno Pevkur said in December that he would step down after less than a year in the post.

Kallas is the daughter of former Prime Minister Siim Kallas, who was one of the founders of the Reform Party in the 1990s.

The Reform Party was the top vote-getter in the 2015 election and part of every Estonian government between 1999 and 2016. It held the prime minister's post between 2005 and 2016 but it saw its popularity wane because of several political scandals. It went into the opposition following a government crisis in late 2016.

Estonia will hold its next election in March 2019.Fresh fighting in northern Afghanistan has disrupted the electric supply to Kabul and several provinces for the second time in less than three weeks.



The hostilities come as the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday launched a long-delayed voters' registration process for parliamentary and district council elections scheduled for October 20.



A provincial police spokesman told VOA that a team of technicians from the state-owned electricity department has arrived in the Baghlan province to assess the damage and carry out the repair work, but heavy fighting prevented them from reaching the site in Dushi district.



Officials said the overnight destruction of the electricity tower plunged a vast area into darkness, including much of the Afghan capital, a city of more than 5 million people.Residents and businesses in Kabul said Saturday they were relying on private generators to run critical operations.



Transmission lines passing through Baghlan are used to import about 300 megawatts of electricity from neighboring Central Asian states of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.



The Taliban controls or contests several districts in the Afghan province and routinely launches attacks on security forces in government-controlled areas.



Last month, insurgents also had blown up a major electricity tower in the Kelagai area of Baghlan, cutting the power supply to Kabul and many Afghan provinces for several days.



The Taliban had justified their action at the time, saying the government was blocking supply of electricity to insurgent-controlled areas.



Separately, officials confirmed Saturday that an overnight Taliban attack in the western city of Farah killed at least seven Afghan soldiers and wounded several others.



Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday repeated his offer of peace talks for the Taliban and invited them to register as a political group to join the parliamentary elections for seeking resolution of their disagreements.



Ghani spoke shortly after launching the voters' registration process at the presidential place in Kabul. The two-months long exercise will enable the country to create for the first time in its history formal voters' lists  a move likely to address allegations of fraud and rigging, according to Afghan officials.



"We have placed before the Taliban a clear and comprehensive peace plan.If they believe in the betterment of the Afghan nation they should accept it and come to contest the elections," said the president.



Ghani was referring to his offer of unconditional peace talk she announced in February at an international conference in Kabul. His initiative received widespread domestic and international backing.



The Taliban so far has not publicly offered any reaction to the peace overture, however, and instead has intensified battlefield attacks across Afghanistan.



U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone to the leaders of Britain and France about the joint airstrikes the three nations launched on Syria Saturday morning.

The White House said Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron in separate phone calls. The three world leaders each affirmed that that the airstrikes were "successful and necessary" to deter Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from further use of chemical weapons on the Syrian people.

Earlier, U.S. President Trump commended Britain and France for the joint air strikes with a tweet that said, "A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

The U.S. Department of Defense said the strikes targeted three sites believed to be linked to the production of chemical and biological weapons. The attacks were retaliation for suspected chemical attacks near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Saturday that Trump informed her "the United States is locked and loaded" if Syria uses chemical weapons again.

International reaction to the airstrikes ranged from support to intense criticism.

Syrias Foreign Ministry said it "condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law."

Hundreds of Syrians gathered around the capital, Damascus, on Saturday, honking car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in defiance of the joint military strikes. Some shouted, "We are your men, Bashar," references to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attacks as an act of aggression against a sovereign government and accused the U.S. of exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Syria.

Russias foreign ministry said the airstrikes were a failure, maintaining the majority of the rockets fired were intercepted by the Syrian government's air defense systems.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the attacks constitute a criminal act and that U.S., France and Britain will not benefit from them.

This mornings attack on Syria is a crime, Khamenei said on Twitter. I firmly declare that the Presidents of U.S. and France and British PM committed a major crime. They will gain no benefit; just as they did not while in Iraq, Syria & Afghanistan, over the past years, committing the same criminal acts.

Chinas foreign ministry called Saturday for an independent investigation into the suspected chemical attacks and said a political solution is the only way to resolve the issue. Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China has consistently opposed the use of force in international relations and that any military action that circumvented the U.N. Security Council violated the basic norms of international law.

But Britain's Prime Minister May said there was no practicable alternative to the use of force against Syria.

I judge this action to be in Britains national interest, May said. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to be normalized within Syria, on the streets of the U.K., or anywhere else in the world. We would have preferred an alternative path but, on this occasion, there is none.

In France, reaction has been mixed. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday the joint military action was justified, limited, proportionate and successful.

But far left and far right lawmakers sharply criticized Frances decision to join the United States in the strikes.

Conservative National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who lost the 2017 presidential race to Macron, warned via Twitter France risked its status as an independent power and said the strikes could lead to unforeseen and potentially dramatic consequences.

Far left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon also denounced France's participation on Twitter, calling the strikes an irresponsible escalation that did not have European or French parliament support.

Germany, Canada, Australia and Japan expressed support for the airstrikes. European Council President Donald Tusk said the bloc "will stand with our allies on the side of justice."

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the attacks by the U.S., Britain and France on Twitter as proof "their commitment to combat chemical weapons is not limited to declarations alone."

Netanyahu wrote the airstrikes should remind Assad that "his irresponsible efforts to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction, his blatant disregard for international law and his willingness to allow Iran and its affiliates to establish military bases in Syria endanger Syria."

In Turkey, the air strikes were also well received.

"We welcome this operation which has eased humanity's conscience in the face of the attack in Douma, largely suspected to have been carried out by the regime," Turkeys Foreign Ministry said. The ministry added that Syria "has a proven track record of crimes against humanity and war crimes."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said those who use chemical weapons "must be held accountable."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned all sides must comply with international law and not dismiss Moscows warning that airstrikes on its ally could lead to war.

I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people, Guterres said in a statement.The County Schools are planning some school lunch price increases for employees and visitors.

Here is the new schedule:

Breakfast

Pre-K  12th Grade $2.00 $2.00 No Change

HCDE Employee $2.50 $2.75 $0.25

Visitor $2.75 $3.00 $0.25

Lunch

Pre-K  12th Grade $2.00 $2.00 No Change

HCDE Employee $3.75 $4.25 $0.50

Visitor $4.50 $5.00 $0.50

Holiday/Special Meal $5.00 $5.00 No Change

There will also be a tuition increase for county-of-county and out-of-state students.

Dr. Lee McDade, chief operations officer, said, "I recommend a 2018-2019 tuition rate of $3,314 for out-of-county students (in-state of Tennessee) and $8,800 for out-of-state students. Tuition is based on the revenues that are not received since the student resides either outof-county or out-of state.

"Out-of-county proposed tuition increased by $9 or 0.27% compared to last year; while the out-of-state proposed tuition increased by $230 or 2.68%.

"I further recommend that out-of-county or out-of-state exceptional education students, whose program may require additional support (transportation, attendants, special equipment, etc.), be evaluated for admission on a case-by-case basis."A fire broke out in a psychiatric hospital in Turkeys north-eastern Bursa province, Trend reported citing the Turkish media.

Reportedly, the fire broke out in the dining room of the hospital. Firefighters and rescuers arrived at the scene of the incident.

The patients of the hospital have been evacuated. The causes of the fire have not been reported.Gun rights supporters gathered in Atlanta and dozens of other U.S. state capitals Saturday at a time when many Americans are pressing for tougher restrictions on weapons.

According to a early Associated Press count, more than 135 people attended the rally in Atlanta, and more were arriving. Most of them were armed, and some held signs as they listened to speeches. A few people wearing "Black Lives Matter'' T-shirts made videos but didn't interact with the ralliers.

About 400 people, as estimated by an AP reporter, attended the rally in front of Delaware's statehouse to support the right to keep and bear firearms. Some of those participating on Dover's legislative mall openly carried rifles and handguns. Others carried American flags and flags reading "Don't Tread on Me.''

In all, a group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans said organizers had permits for gatherings in 45 states. They encouraged supporters to bring unloaded rifles in states where it's legal.

The rallies came less than three weeks after hundreds of thousands marched in Washington, New York and elsewhere to demand tougher gun laws after the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17.

Daniyel Baron helped organize the Delaware rally. The former Marine said he feared the current gun-restriction efforts were a precursor to eventual prohibition of all gun ownership.A new U.N. report for the first time puts Myanmars armed forces on a U.N. blacklist of government and rebel groups credibly suspected of carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence in conflict.

An advance copy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres report to the Security Council, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, says international medical staff and others in Bangladesh have documented that many of the almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled from Myanmar bear the physical and psychological scars of brutal sexual assault.

The U.N. chief said the assaults were allegedly perpetrated by the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, at times acting in concert with local militias, in the course of military clearance operations in October 2016 and August 2017.

The widespread threat and use of sexual violence was integral to this strategy, serving to humiliate, terrorize and collectively punish the Rohingya community, as a calculated tool to force them to flee their homelands and prevent their return, Guterres said.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar doesnt recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group, insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. It has denied them citizenship, leaving them stateless.

Recent wave of violence

The recent spasm of violence began when Rohingya insurgents launched a series of attacks last Aug. 25 on about 30 security outposts and other targets. Myanmar security forces then began a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages that the U.N. and human rights groups have called a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Violence was visited upon women, including pregnant women, who are seen as custodians and propagators of ethnic identity, as well as on young children, who represent the future of the group, Guterres said. This can be linked to an inflammatory narrative alleging that high fertility rates among the Rohingya represent an existential threat to the majority population.

Governments and extremists

The report, which will be a focus of a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday on preventing sexual violence in conflict, puts 51 government, rebel and extremist groups on the list.

They include 17 from Congo including the armed forces and national police, seven from Syria including the armed forces and intelligence services, six each from Central African Republic and South Sudan, five from Mali, four from Somalia, three from Sudan, one each from Iraq and Myanmar, and Boko Haram which operates in several countries.

As a general trend, Guterres said, the rise or resurgence of conflict and violent extremism, with its ensuing proliferation of arms, mass displacement, and collapsed rule of law, triggers patterns of sexual violence.

This was evident in many places in 2017 as insecurity spread to new regions in Central African Republic, violence surged in eastern and central Congo, conflict engulfed South Sudan, violence wracked Syria and Yemen, and ethnic cleansing in the guise of clearance operations unfolded in Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, he said.

Guterres said most victims are politically and economically marginalized women and girls concentrated in remote, rural areas with the least access to services that can help them, and in refugee camps and areas for the displaced.

The year 2017 also saw sexual violence continue to be employed as a tactic of war, terrorism, torture and repression, he said, citing conflicts in CAR, Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan as examples of this alarming trend.

Guterres said sexual violence continues to serve as a push factor for forced displacement in places such as Colombia, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Syria. And he said it remained a heightened risk in transit, refugee and displacement settings.

Impact lasts generations

The secretary-general said the effects of sexual violence can impact generations as a result of trauma, stigma, poverty, poor health and unwanted pregnancy.

In South Sudan, for instance, Guterres said sexual violence is so prevalent that a Commission of Inquiry described women and girls as collectively traumatized. He said children born of this violence have been labeled bad blood or children of the enemy and warned that this vulnerability may leave them susceptible to recruitment, radicalization and trafficking.

Guterres said many women, including Rohingya refugees, are reluctant to return to locations they fled where forces including alleged perpetrators remain in control.

Colombia is the only country in which children conceived through wartime rape are legally recognized as victims, though it has been difficult for them to access redress without being stigmatized, he said.

The secretary-general lamented that most incidents of mass rape continue to be met with mass impunity.

For example, Guterres said, not a single member of the Islamic State extremist group or Boko Haram has been prosecuted for sexual violence offenses to date.Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), an Islamist political party, has called off its protest in Pakistan following an agreement with the government.

The protest kicked off in early April in the eastern city of Lahore and continued for 12 consecutive days until late Thursday.

Before reaching an agreement, the party warned the Pakistani government that it would arrange a series of demonstrations across the country if their demands were not met.

Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the founder of TLP has demanded the government fully implement the Islamabad Agreement or face what he called consequences.

TLP and the government reached an agreement last year after TLP staged a three-week protest in Islamabad that turned violent toward the end.

An official from Punjab province told VOA that the government held rounds of negotiations with the Islamic cleric trying to get the group to end its protest.

Punjab government has had talks with Khadim Rizvi. We have tried to solve the matter as peacefully as we can, Malik Ahmad Khan, the spokesperson for Punjab government told VOA.

Unfortunately, these people play with peoples religious sentiments and you know how sensitive the matter of finality of Prophet Mohammad is in Pakistan, Khan added.

Khan said government must try to find a permanent solution to these problems.

We need a permanent political solution for such situations and this should end for once and for all, he said.

The protest

Thousands of TLP followers gathered in Islamabad last November and paralyzed the city for weeks. The protesters accused the government of committing blasphemy over modifying a parliamentary bill related to Khatam-e-Nabbuwwat oath that affirms the end of prophecy and Muhammad to be the last prophet.

The efforts to disperse the protesters by security forces turned violent and led to a series of reactionary protests in different parts of Pakistan.

In the end, the government accepted TLPs demands following Pakistans military intervention to strike a deal between both sides.

As part of the agreement, the government reportedly promised that criminal cases against Khadim Rizvi and his followers would be withdrawn, TLPs arrested members would be released and the government would also release the findings of an investigative report related to the modification of the parliamentary bill on Khatam-e-Nabuwwat oath.

Court orders arrest

The deal was dismissed last month after an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad declared Khadim Rizvi a fugitive and ordered the government to arrest him and present him before the court. The court is hearing three cases against Khadim Rizvi and his followers on charges of terrorism, violence and attacks on security forces during last years sit-in.

Despite his fugitive status, Rizvi lead a sit-in in Lahore for several days.

Its an irony that the government, despite having a court order for Rizvis arrest, is not able to arrest him, Punjab government spokesperson Khan said.

On Rizvis orders, hundreds of TLP supporters occupied the roads leading to Lahore and vowed that the protest would continue until government agreed to their demands.

Some analysts blame the government for its failure and inadequate actions against forces who play with religious sentiments in the country.

TLP will get what it wants because it is playing with religious sentiments in the country which is a highly sensitive matter in country like Pakistan. The government is afraid of them. The current government has a soft corner for right-winged religious parties, said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based analyst said.

Tehreek-e-Labbaik

TLP emerged last year in August and came into prominence after the Islamabad sit-in. Its leader Khadim Rizvi openly admires Mumtaz Qadri and vows to carry on his legacy through TLP.

Mumtaz Qadri killed Salman Taseer, Punjabs governor, in 2011 after Taseer demanded changes to countrys controversial blasphemy law.

Qadri was apparently unhappy with Taseers stance and believed no changes should be made to the blasphemy law.

Qadri was hanged after being found guilty of Taseers murder. Since then, his grave has turned into a shrine for those who agree with his position on Pakistans blasphemy laws.

Anti-blasphemy laws continue to be controversial in Pakistan. Rights groups say they have often been abused to settle personal vendettas and disputes. Due process is often ceremonial and decisions are often informed by the growing religious intolerance in the country. Even if courts do drop charges against defendants, mobs and local residents attack them.More trouble may be ahead for Facebook as the Philippine government said it is investigating the social media giant over reports information from more than a million users in the Philippines was breached by British data firm Cambridge Analytica.



The Phliippines' National Privacy Commission, or NPC, said it sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to let him know the NPC is requiring that the company "submit a number of documents relevant to the case, to establish the scope and impact of the incident to Filipino data subjects."

The privacy watchdog also said through its website it wants to determine whether there is unauthorized processing of personal data of Filipinos. The letter was dated April 11.



A Facebook spokesperson tells the Reuters news agency the company is committed to protecting people's privacy and is engaged with the privacy watchdog.

During U.S. congressional hearings this past week, Zuckerberg apologized for how Facebook has handled the uproar over online privacy and revelations the data breach allowed Cambridge Analytica to access the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users.



As Zuckerberg sat through about 10 hours of questioning over two days, nearly 100 members of Congress expressed their anger over Facebook's data privacy controversy and delved into the social media platform's practices.



And many legislators made it clear they did not think current U.S. laws were sufficient to protect users.

"As has been noted by many people already, we've been relying on self-regulation in your industry for the most part," said Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado. "We're trying to explore what we can do to prevent further breaches."



For Congress, the hearings proved to be an education in how internet companies handle user data and the legal protections for consumers.



While Zuckerberg said many times that Facebook doesn't sell user data, congressional leaders wanted to know how 87 million people's data ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica without their knowledge or permission.



"I think what we're getting to here is, who owns the virtual you? Who owns your presence online?" asked Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican.



"Congresswoman, I believe that everyone owns their own content online," answered Zuckerberg.



Shadow profiles?



But can Facebook users see all the information that the social media platform has about them, including what it has picked up from outside firms?



That is something congressional leaders probed in questions about "shadow profiles," information the social network has collected about people who do not have Facebook accounts.



Zuckerberg maintained that Facebook collects this information for security reasons but congressional leaders wanted to know more about what non-Facebook users can do to find out what the company knows about them.



New federal agency?



In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission has taken the lead in overseeing internet firms and is investigating Facebook in the Cambridge Analytica case. Congressional leaders, however, pointed out the FTC cannot make new rules. They asked whether the FTC should be given new powers, or whether a new agency focused on privacy in the digital age should be created.

"Would it be helpful if there was an entity clearly tasked with overseeing how consumer data is being collected, shared and used, and which could offer guidelines, at least guidelines for companies like yours to ensure your business practices are not in violation of the law?" Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-California), asked. "Something like a digital consumer protection agency?"

"Congressman, I think it's an idea that deserves a lot of consideration," Zuckerberg replied. "But I think the details on this really matter."

During the two days of hearings, congressional leaders repeatedly looked to Europe, where new regulation known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, governing people's digital lives, goes into effect May 25. Zuckerberg said the regulation would apply to people in the U.S.



Zuckerberg said the company already has some of the new regulation's privacy controls in place; but, the GDPR requires the company to do a few more things, "and we're going to extend that to the world."

A website dedicated to GDPR notes that organizations "in non-compliance may face heavy fines."



Analysts note the controversy may lead to changes in how digital privacy issues are handled.

"We saw during these hearings that many, many members of Congress are ready and willing to get to work on privacy legislation," said Natasha Duarte, a policy analyst at the Center for Democracy & Technology, an advocacy group focused on digital rights. "I think the details of what is the right legislation for the U.S. are very complex and we all need to come together and hammer it out."

User privacy vs. monetized data

Ideas such as an outside auditor who will be checking on Facebook's handling of user data will run into the business model of many internet firms that need data about people to offer them targeted ads.

"Monetizing data, for better or worse, is the model free services rely on," she said.

That tension was on display in questions from Rep. Anna Eshoo, (D-California), who counts Zuckerberg among her Palo Alto constituents.

"Are you willing to change your business model in the interest of protecting individual privacy," she asked.

In that instant, Zuckerberg demurred, saying he didn't understand what the congresswoman meant, but acknowledged that there likely would be more internet regulation.



"The internet is growing in importance around the world and in people's lives," he said. "And I think it will be inevitable that there will need to be some regulation. So my position is not that there should be no regulation. But I think you have to be careful about the regulation you put in place."



In light of the furor involving user data privacy, Facebook announced last month it was suspending Cambridge Analytica after finding such policies had been violated. Cambridge Analytica has counted U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign among its clients.



Separately, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has denied reports in the local media that his own 2016 election campaign worked with Cambridge Analytica. Duterte was quoted as saying, "I might have lost with them."Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned U.S. coalition airstrikes in Syria as a violation of international law.



In a statement posted to the Kremlin website, Putin called the coalition airstrikes an "act of aggression against a sovereign government" and accused the United States of compounding the humanitarian catastrophe in war-torn Syria.



Putin called for emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the attack.



"The current escalation of the situation around Syria has a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations," Putin said.



"History will put everything in its place, and it has already laid heavy responsibility on Washington for bloody reprisals against Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya."



What chemicals?



Putin said Russia's own military experts had traveled to the site of the alleged chemical attack in Douma and found no indication of chlorine or other toxic gases.



"Not even one local resident confirmed the fact of the chemical attack," said Putin.



The Russian leader also complained that the United States and its allies had "cynically" failed to wait for an assessment by inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons - currently on the ground in Syria.



Russia has long maintained that all chemical weapons stores held by its ally, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad were given up under a 2013 deal the Kremlin brokered with the Obama Administration.



Any remaining banned weapons in Syria, the Kremlin argues, are in the hands of either terrorists or Western-backed rebel groups, who deploy chemical weapons to undermine the Assad government.



Russian officials have repeatedly suggested that the aim of the latest U.S.-led airstrikes was to prevent the OPCW from carrying out its work.



Military matters



Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed that the U.S.-led airstrikes had avoided hitting Russian bases in the Syrian cities of Tartus and Hmeimim and that Russian air defenses had not been deployed.

Indeed, Russian newswires reported that Syria's government had largely fended off the airstrikes using Soviet-built air defenses that were nearly 30 years old.



Still, Defense Ministry officials accused Washington of striking "both military and civilian infrastructure" and suggested Moscow may help Damascus beef up its air defenses.



In a hastily arranged news conference Saturday, Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi said Russia was weighing deliveries of its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria and "other countries" in lieu of the attack.



Diplomacy back-channels



Despite the hostile rhetoric, there were signs of back-channel diplomacy as well.



In a video issued by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Ambassador John Huntsman said the United States had communicated with Russia "to reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties."



"This is not about a conflict between superpowers," said Huntsman, "but about the principle that the use of chemical weapons is simply unacceptable."



"We would still welcome cooperation with a Russia that will do the right thing."Reaction has been mixed in France to President Emmanuel Macron's decision to join the United States and Britain in launching strikes against the Syrian regime.



On Saturday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the joint military action as justified, limited and proportionate and said it's objectives had been realized.



"A large part of his chemical arsenal has been destroyed," Le Drian told France's BFMTV in an interview, referring to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.



On Thursday, Macron said France has proof," the Syrian regime used chemical weapons.

Macron's decision to join the military action is a sharp break from his predecessor, Francois Hollande. Hollande also pushed for strikes against the Syrian regime following a chemical attack. But when the United States did not act, under former President Barack Obama, France's military stayed put as well.



On Saturday, far left and far right lawmakers sharply criticized France's decision to join the United States in launching the strikes.



National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who lost to Macron's during France's 2017 presidential vote, warned via Twitter France risked losing its status as an "independent power," and the strikes could lead to "unforeseen and potentially dramatic consequences."



Far left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon also took to Twitter to denounce the French action, calling the strikes an "irresponsible escalation" that did not have European or French Parliament backing. Macron has promised a parliamentary debate on the strikes.



Not surprisingly, members of Macron's ruling centrist La Republique en Marche (LREM) party have backed the military action. Party head Christophe Castaner called them "necessary and life-saving," and said France could not remain "blind and dumb" in reaction to the suspected chemical weapons attack.



Similarly, Socialist Party head Olivier Faure said the "repeated" chemical attacks allegedly carried out by the Syrian government "demanded a reaction." But, Faure added, "it is urgent that new discussions open," at the United Nations.On Syrian state TV, President Bashar al-Assad strolls into his office carrying a briefcase around 9 a.m. Saturday, only hours after Western missiles rained down on suspected chemical weapons sites in Damascus and Homs.



They labeled the video on Twitter, "a morning of steadfastness."



But with the Middle East once again skirting the brink of an all out war between world powers, the region is anything but unwavering, with mounting fears that the attacks could cause dangerous ripple effects.



Some analysts are urging restraint, saying the consequences of escalation could be disastrous.



A large part of the reason that Syria is in ruins today is because nearly all actors have pursued military solutions instead of diplomacy aimed at halting the bloodshed, said Reza Marashi, the research director at the National Iranian American Council. An eye for an eye approach will not bring justice or peace to Syria.



Other analysts say the U.S.-led air strikes on Syria should have been broader.

I would have liked to have seen Iranian Revolutionary Guard command and control centers targeted and Iran punished, said Michael Pregent, a Mideast analyst at the Washington-based Hudson Institute. I believe you could have punished the Assad government and Iran without punishing Russia, which sat on its hands [during the air strikes] and didnt do anything.



The U.S., Great Britain and France launched the assault in response to alleged chemical attacks against civilians in Syria that killed dozens of people on April 7.



The U.S. said strikes could continue if the Syrian government continues to use chemical weapons, "they will be held accountable."



Russia  allied with Assad and Iran in Syria  responded by condemning the attacks, but did not repeat threats of retaliation made earlier this week.

"The current escalation around Syria is destructive for the entire system of international relations," said Russian President Vladimir Putin in a statement. He also called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the "aggressive actions."



Outrage and Glee



With nearly every country in the Middle East having a stake in the Syrian conflict, governments across the region are formulating responses to the attack, with some seeing it as a victory for human rights, and others as a war crime.



Saudi Arabia supported the attack wholeheartedly, as it considers Assad a proxy for Iran, its main rival in the region. A Saudi official told Gulf News that the strikes "came as a response to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including women and children."



Iran roundly condemned the attack, calling it a crime. "The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law and a disregard of Syria's right to national sovereignty and territorial integrity," reads a statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.



The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, which is fighting rebels and other groups with Assad in Syria, released some of the most vehement condemnations of the attacks.The strikes represent direct and forthright support to terrorist and criminal gangs reads a statement on al-Manar, a Hezbollah media company.The statement also said the Western strikes were related to aggression from Israel, Hezbollahs main enemy.



This once again put Israel on the same side as Saudi Arabia, as Iran and Israel continue to trade accusations and cross border attacks. One Israeli official said on Twitter early Saturday that the strikes sent an "important signal that using chemical weapons crosses a red line."



Caution



But other Middle East leaders are reacting with more caution, with making careful statements and calling for calm.



Egypt both expressed concern for the escalation and reaffirmed its condemnation of the chemical attacks. The United Nations says it has confirmed at least 34 chemical attacks in Syria since 2013.



The Iraqi Foreign Ministry released a statement calling the attack "a very dangerous development" and saying further destabilization in Syria could increase terrorism in the region. Iraq's military is both heavily supported by the U.S. and its Western allies, and by Iran, allied with Russia and the Syrian government led by Assad. Last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he plans to "keep away" from the U.S.-Iran conflict.

Turkey released a statement in support of the strikes, and has offered to mediate between the two sides squaring off on Syria, being allied with both NATO and Russia. Turkish officials have said the attacks were "appropriate" and that they were given advance warning, according to the Reuters news agency.



Arab leaders are meeting in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, and Syria is among the topics they are planning to discuss. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is taking a virtual victory lap, tweeting, "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

Farhad Pouladi of VOAs Persian Service contributed to this report from Washington.Hundreds of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital Saturday, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance that followed unprecedented joint airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain.

A few hours earlier, before sunrise, loud explosions jolted Damascus and the sky turned orange as Syrian air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and what appeared to be a fire light up the sky. From a distance, U.S. missiles hitting suburbs of the capital sounded like thunder. Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

Good souls will not be humiliated, Syrias presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Syrians celebrate

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents began gathering in Omayyad square of the Syrian capital, celebrating what they said was the armys success in shooting down or derailing some of the missiles. Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, other drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance.

We are your men, Bashar, they shouted. Others shouted: Oh Trump you are a monkey. Oh Trump you are an animal, as they stood in the square decorated with a giant colored I Love Damascus sign. The taunts were a clear retort to Trump calling Assad an animal in tweets following the suspected chemical weapons attack.

Syria: few injuries, little damage

A Syrian military statement said in all, 110 missiles were fired by the U.S., Britain and France and that most of them were shot down or derailed.

The statement read by Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub said three civilians were wounded in one of the U.S.-led strikes on a military base in Homs, although the attack was aborted by derailing the incoming missile. He said another attack with a number of missiles targeting a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. Mayhoub added the building in the research center included an educational center and labs.

The attack began at 4 a.m. in Damascus (0100 GMT) with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of the capital. The sky looked orange over eastern Damascus apparently as a result of fires caused by the missiles hitting Syria. Air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles from different directions toward incoming missiles.

Syrian TV called the attacks a blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses during the initial airstrikes.

Right now this is a one-time shot, he said but did not rule out further attacks. He said the airstrikes were launched against several sites that helped provide Assads ability to create chemical weapons.

France's assessment

Frances foreign minister said the chemical escalation in Syria is not acceptable because its violating the rules of war and of humanity. Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters Saturday that the joint military operation in Syria is legitimate, limited and proportionate.

On Saturday, Frances government released its assessment of what happened in Douma on April 7. It said that while it has no samples of the chemical weapons it believes were used in Syria, it evaluated publicly available information from non-governmental organizations and other sources as well as unspecified French intelligence.

It concludes that there is no plausible scenario other than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces. The assessment notes eight chlorine attacks ahead of the Douma attack and 44 allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria over the past year.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as neither about intervening in a civil war nor about regime change but a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

She cited reports she says indicate the Syrian government used a barrel bomb to deliver the chemicals used in an attack on Douma. Barrel bombs are large containers that are packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal.



May says the accounts suggest a Syrian government helicopter was seen flying above Douma just before last weekend's attack.

Britains defense ministry said that while the effectiveness of the strike is still being analyzed, initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack.

Iran, Russia condemn attack

The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria and warned of unspecified consequences.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced a strike on Syria launched by the United States and its allies as an act of aggression that will exacerbate humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader says Moscow is calling an emergency meeting of the United Nations' Security Council over the strike launched by the U.S., Britain and France.

Putin added that the strike had a destructive influence on the entire system of international relations.

He reaffirmed Russia's view that a purported chemical attack in Douma was a fake. Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack. He criticized the U.S. and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

The allied operation comes a year after a U.S. missile strike that Trump said was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The one-off missile strike in April 2017 targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.The United States, Britain and France, launched military airstrikes in Syria that targeted a scientific research center, a chemical weapons storage facility and another storage facility that also included an important command post.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said the decisive efforts were intended to send a clear message to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for its suspected chemical attack against civilians last week and to deter him from doing it again.

Mattis said at a briefing at the Pentagon late Friday that the targets were selected to inflict long-term degradation and maximum damage to Syrias stockpile of chemical weapons.

WATCH: U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis Briefs Reporters in Syria Strikes

The defense secretary said he is confident that chlorine was used in the chemical attack in the city of Douma last week that killed at least 40 people and sickened hundreds. He said he was also not ruling out the possibility that sarin was also used.

Mattis said the poison gas Assad said he had gotten rid of still exists.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more details about the strikes will be available Saturday morning.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and a huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. Syrian television said the attacks targeted a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, and an army depot near Homs.

Syrian media reported that air defenses had hit 13 incoming rockets south of Damascus.

WATCH: President Trump Announces Strikes Against Syria

US to sustain pressure

Earlier Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States was prepared to sustain pressure on Assad until he ended what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

Trump singled out Syrias biggest international supporters, Russia and Iran, for failing to stop the Syrian regimes use of banned chemical weapons.

Assads recent attack and todays response is a direct result of Russias failure to respond, Trump said.

Congressional support

Congressional leaders are supporting the presidents decision to launch airstrikes in retaliation for an apparent chemical attack against civilians  although there are some reservations.

House Speaker Paul Ryan is praising Trumps decisive action in coordination with our allies, adding, We are united in our resolve.

Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain is applauding the airstrikes but said they alone will not achieve U.S. objectives in the Middle East.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is calling the airstrikes appropriate, but said the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria.

And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

Not about regime change

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in her country Saturday, according to Reuters, that the attack was not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

We have to remember this is not an attack to institute regime change, said Brian Katulis of the Center for American Progress. Bombs from the sky is very different than boots on the ground. ... This is a very focused strike for one purpose: to make sure that countries around the world will not use weapons of mass destruction on a regular basis. I think thats what the president is trying to do and I think he did the right thing.

Steven P. Bucci, a retired Army Special Forces officer and former top Pentagon official who is a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundations Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, said the strikes may put a dent in Assads ability to use chemical weapons against Syrians.

What may change Assads behavior is removing the tools which hes been using, Bucci said. Thats kind of what you have to do. You cant just stomp your feet and wag your finger. You have to force him to stop.

Lawrence Corb with the Center for American Progress told VOA that the participation of Britain and France in the strikes may cause Russia to have some second thoughts because the last thing the Russians want is to provide an excuse for the United States and its NATO allies to get involved (in Syria) because (Russias) objective is to keep Assad in power.

Katulis said he does not expect Russia to react to the strikes as long as Russian soldiers are not harmed in any way and the attacks are not close to Russian assets. He said he thought the U.S. and its allies stopped the strikes just to make sure that the U.S. deconflicted with the Russians, that we communicate our intent very clearly and we didnt start World War III by accident.The United States, Britain and France said Saturday that their military strike on Syrian chemical weapons storage and research facilities was legal and justified.

At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting called by Russia, the three powers dismissed Moscow's accusations that they had violated international law and the provisions of the U.N. Charter.

"The United Kingdom, France and the United States acted  not as revenge, not as punishment, not as a symbolic show of force," said U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley. "We acted to deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the Syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity."

The allies dropped 105 missiles on three Syrian chemical weapons facilities early Saturday morning. The Syrian government repeatedly has denied using chemical weapons against its population and says the April 7 attack on Douma, near Damascus, was staged by "terrorists" with the assistance of foreign intelligence agencies.

Haley said the U.S. was "confident" the strikes "crippled" Syria's chemical weapons program.

Moscow's envoy said the three powers acted before allowing the fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a watchdog group, to carry out its investigation. The inspectors arrived in Damascus on Saturday. They are there to determine whether and what kind of a chemical attack took place, but not to attribute blame.

"This is how you want international affairs to be conducted now?" said an irritated Vassily Nebenzia.

"This is hooliganism in international affairs, and not minor hooliganism, as we are talking about major nuclear powers," the Russian envoy added.



Condemnation rejected

Moscow's efforts to win Security Council condemnation of the strikes in a resolution overwhelmingly failed. The draft, which sought to condemn the strikes as a violation of international law and the U.N. Charter, received only three votes in favor from the 15 council members. Russia, China and Bolivia supported the measure, while four members abstained and eight voted against  including the U.S., Britain and France.

"Some, who for years have flouted the most basic rules of international law, today are affirming that our action runs counter to the U.N. Charter," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre. "I would remind them that that charter was not designed in order to protect criminals."

Britain's ambassador said she would "take no lessons" in international law from Russia.

"It is hard to believe that it is in line with the principles and purposes of the [U.N.] Charter to use or condone the use of chemical weapons," Karen Pierce told council members.

She told reporters ahead of the meeting that London "believes it was both right and legal" to take military action "to alleviate further humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian regime's chemical weapon capability and deterring the use of chemical weapons."

WATCH: US, Allies Tell UN: Syria Strikes Legal, Justified

Political solution

The three allies have not given up on a political solution to the Syrian conflict. France said it was preparing a draft resolution to address chemical weapons use, the humanitarian crisis and the peace process in Syria at the Security Council.

Russia's ambassador was dubious, telling reporters the environment was "not very conducive for any rapprochement," and that "first we have to sort out the political and dangerous military situation we are in now."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged parties to exercise restraint and find a political solution. He said he would have his Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, travel to New York as soon as possible to consult with him on the most effective way to accelerate the political process.Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has condemned joint airstrikes by the US, the UK and France on Syria as crime, describing the leaders of the three Western states as criminals, PressTV reports.

I clearly declare that the US president, the French president and the UK prime minister are criminals and have committed a crime, the Leader said on Saturday.

The three countries, Ayatollah Khamenei said, "will achieve nothing and make no benefit, as they have been in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past few years, and committed such crimes but have not profited from them."U.S. officials are expressing "high confidence" that Syria carried out last week's chemical weapons attack in Douma, promising the West will respond and that all options remain on the table.

Despite tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week suggesting a missile strike might be imminent, the White House, State Department and Pentagon have been cautious in their language, emphasizing the need to forge an airtight case against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

By late Friday, there were indications such a case was coming together.

"We have a very high confidence that Syria was responsible," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at a briefing.

"We also hold Russia responsible for their failure to stop chemical weapons attacks from taking place," Sanders added. "Russia's failure to stop them and their continued [inaction] on this front has been part of the problem."

The State Department went one step further, claiming the U.S. now had definitive proof.

"We can say that the Syrian government was behind this attack," said spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

"We know that this was a chemical weapon that was used in Syria," Nauert said. "The kind or the mix  that we are still looking into."

A 'chess game'

Despite such confidence, other U.S. officials remained wary, warning that while Syria's use of chemical weapons could not be tolerated, much more was at stake, given the backing it gets from Moscow.

"This is a chess game and the Russians are ratcheting up the pressure," a U.S. official told VOA on the condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the situation.

"They're playing dirty," the official added. "We need to think two or three steps ahead."

Complicating any U.S. response is the presence of Russian and Iranian forces on the ground in Syria. One official said those foreign detachments had "grown and matured" since the U.S. carried out airstrikes against the Syrian government last April after a sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun.

"We're trying to stop the murder of innocent people," U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday. But on a strategic level, he said, the question is "how do we keep this from escalating out of control  if you get my drift on that."

Russia, long an ally of Assad, has warned that a military conflict could erupt if the U.S. and its Western allies take action in Syria.

"We hope that ... the U.S. and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state," Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia said Friday.

"We cannot exclude any possibilities, unfortunately, because we saw messages coming from Washington. They were very bellicose," he added.

Russia: Britain staged attack



Also Friday, Moscow alleged it had "proof that testifies to the direct participation of Britain" in staging the chemical attack in Douma.

Britain pressured the White Helmets, volunteers and activists who serve as first responders in rebel-held areas, to stage the attack, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Britain called the allegation a "blatant lie," while White House spokeswoman Sanders said, "Certainly our intelligence tells us otherwise."

Inspectors from an international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, are set to begin collecting samples from Douma on Saturday.

But the group said that while it could possibly determine what types of chemicals were used in the attack, it would not be able to assign responsibility.



VOA's Steve Herman at the White House and Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report.A U.S.-led coalition believes it sent a powerful message to Damascus and its backers, surgically slicing through the country's air defense systems to cripple the backbone of the Syrian government's chemical weapons apparatus.

The United States, France and Britain launched the strikes early Saturday morning, firing 105 missiles at three Syrian chemical weapons facilities  one in Damascus and two others near Homs, near the border with northern Lebanon  within minutes.

U.S. military officials said an initial assessment showed every one of the missiles struck its target, reducing the facilities to rubble while avoiding civilian casualties.

"We've attacked the heart of the Syrian chemical weapons program," Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie told Pentagon reporters Saturday. "This has dealt them a very serious blow."

"We believe that it has significantly eroded and crippled the ability of the regime to produce chemicals," U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told reporters in Lima, Peru. "And to be clear, the U.S. is also ready to take additional action in a sustained way to ensure that Syria understands that there will be a price to pay if they ever use chemical weapons again."

U.S. President Donald Trump sized up the impact of the strike on Twitter:

The U.S. said all three of the targets  the Barzah Research Center in Damascus and the storage facilities near Homs  were involved in the production and deployment of both chlorine and sarin gas. It said there were no indications any of the chemical agents had been released into the air as a result of the strikes.

"It is clear from those photographs that we've seen so far that we've been successful," said a senior administration official. "We've seen the facilities, and any equipment that was at those facilities has been eliminated."

U.S. officials said that as a result, the Syrian chemical weapons program had been set back by years.They also hoped that the ease with which the U.S. and its allies penetrated Syrian air defenses would make Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his key supporters in Russia and Iran think hard before launching another chemical attack.

Of the more than 40 surface-to-air missiles Syria launched in response to the U.S.-led strikes, the vast majority were fired after U.S., British and French cruise missiles had already hit their targets.

Still, U.S. officials admitted Assad might be tempted to launch more strikes with chemical weapons, saying his forces had shown they could not win on the ground without support from Russia and Iran, and the aid of its chemical arsenal.

And while the barrage of cruise missiles reduced three key Syrian facilities to rubble, the regime still has access to more.

"We do assess at the same time that Assad still has remaining aspects of his chemical weapons capabilities," the senior administration official said. "He has chemicals, sarin and chorine, and has chemical-capable munitions."

Also, unlike the last time the U.S. launched strikes at Syria for its chemical weapons use, these strikes did not touch Syrian aircraft or airbases.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned what it called "the brutal American-British-French aggression  which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law."

Russia also decried the U.S.-led operation as a failure, saying the majority of the rockets fired at Syria had been intercepted by the Syrian government's air defense systems.

WATCH: Allies Back US-led Strikes on Syria as Russia Expresses Fury

Syria and Russia also continued to deny chemical weapons had been used in an attack on the town of Douma last Saturday that killed more than 40 people and sickened hundreds more. More recently, Moscow accused Britain of staging the incident.

U.S. defense officials said that they had high confidence chlorine gas was used and that they were still assessing evidence indicating the presence of sarin gas.

But late Saturday, senior administration officials called the evidence "incontrovertible."

'Significant' indication of sarin

"We do have significant information that points to sarin use," a senior administration official said.

"We've got symptoms described in reports of media, NGOs and other open sources," the official added. "These symptoms don't come from chlorine. They come from nerve agents."

Additionally, U.S officials said the Assad government also appeared to have used sarin gas during an attack it launched against civilians in November.

U.S. officials also emphasized that Trump, along with Britain and France, was prepared to take additional, sustained steps to make sure Syria and its allies know there is a high price to pay for violating norms and using chemical weapons.

"He's prepared to do more if that's what's required," a senior U.S. official said late Saturday.

Yet there were questions about the long-term impact.

"If you're Assad, you've got to say, 'This is much less than I was expecting,' " said Barry Pavel, a member of the National Security Council under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

"They didn't hit any aircraft units that delivered the chemical weapons. They didn't hit any intelligence facilities," said Pavel, now with the Atlantic Council, a global policy research group in Washington.

Some current U.S. officials likewise remained wary, pointing to the backing the Syrian government gets from Moscow.

But even the Russians, despite their vocal opposition to the strikes, may be thinking twice.

"The last thing the Russians want is to provide an excuse for the United States and its NATO allies to get involved there, because their objective is to keep Assad in power," said Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress, a progressive public policy research group in Washington.

U.S. officials said that so far they had not seen any attempts by Syrian government forces or their allies to retaliate, though they have coordinated with U.S. allies in the region as a precaution.

"What happens next has everything to do with what the Assad regime decides to do. It has everything to do as well with what Russia decides to enable," chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters Saturday.

VOA's William Gallo and Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.President Trump announced Friday night a combined operation by the U.S., France and Britain against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, aimed at ending his governments use of chemical weapons.

As Trump spoke from the White House, explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital. The assault is now over.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and a huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. Syrian television said the attacks targeted a scientific research center in Barzeh, near Damascus, and an army depot near Homs.

Syrian media reported that air defenses had hit 13 incoming rockets south of Damascus.

In his White House address, Trump said the U.S. was prepared to "sustain'' pressure on Assad until he ended what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

WATCH: President Trump's statement

Last week, at least 40 people were killed and hundreds were sickened in the Syrian city of Douma, in what the U.S. and other nations said was a chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian government. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in her country Saturday, according to Reuters, that the allied response was "not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties."

Congressional support

Congressional leaders are supporting the presidents decision to launch airstrikes in retaliation for an apparent chemical attack against civilians  although there are some reservations.

House Speaker Paul Ryan is praising Trumps decisive action in coordination with our allies, adding, We are united in our resolve.

Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain is applauding the airstrikes but said they alone will not achieve U.S. objectives in the Middle East.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is calling the airstrikes appropriate, but said the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria.

And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.

WATCH: U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis Briefs Reporters in Syria Strikes

Syria's supporters singled out

Trump singled out Syrias biggest international supporters, Russia and Iran, for failing to stop the Syrian regimes use of banned chemical weapons. He particularly criticized Russia for not following through on its 2013 promise to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons.

"Assads recent attack  and todays response  are the direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise." Trump said.

The allied operation came a year after a U.S. missile strike that Trump said was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The one-off missile strike in April 2017 targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

Some information for this report came from Associated Press.Military planners and U.S. President Donald Trump are hailing the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syrian chemical weapons facilities as a complete success, with every missile hitting its target.



The United States, France and Britain launched the strikes early Saturday morning, dropping 105 missiles on three Syrian chemical weapons facilities  one in the capital of Damascus and two others near Homs, near the border with northern Lebanon.





U.S. military officials said all of the missiles hit their targets within minutes of each other, reducing the facilities to rubble.



"We've attacked the heart of the Syrian chemical weapons program," Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told Pentagon reporters Saturday.



"This has dealt them a very serious blow," he said. "I think the words cripple and degrade are good accurate words."



The U.S. said all three of the targets  the Barzah Research Center in Damascus and the storage facilities near Homs  were involved in the production and deployment of both chlorine and sarin gas, but that initial assessments of the strikes showed no indications any of the chemical agents had been released into the air as a result.



WATCH: President Trump Announces Strikes Against Syria



The U.S. rejected accusations that civilians may have been killed in the joint operation, but left open the possibility some civilians could have been hurt by Syria's counter measures.



McKenzie said Syria launched 40, non-guided, surface-to-air missiles in response to the strikes on the three chemical weapons facilities, and that the vast majority of them were fired after the U.S.-led strikes were over.



"When you shoot iron [missiles] into the air without guidance, it's going to come down somewhere," he said.



The Syrian Foreign Ministry Saturday condemned what it called "the brutal American-British-French aggression which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law."



Russia, Syria's ally and a key backer of President Bashar al-Assad, decried the U.S.-led operation as a failure, saying the majority of the rockets fired at Syria were intercepted by the Syrian government's air defense systems.



U.S. military officials dismissed such claims, calling the Syrian response "remarkably ineffective." Officials also said Russian air defense systems were not used to thwart the strikes.



Prior to the Pentagon briefing, U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to declare the strikes a success.



"A perfectly executed strike last night," Trump tweeted. "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"



The phrase "mission accomplished" has become somewhat notorious in U.S. political discourse after it was used on a banner that hung behind former U.S. President George W. Bush during a 2003 speech about the Iraq War. The war dragged on for years after, and the phrase became synonymous with the Bush administration's failures.



Still, Pentagon officials defended Trump's use of the words.



"Last night, operations were very successful. We hit our objections," said Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White. "So, it was mission accomplished."



"I'm not gonna say they'll be unable to conduct a chemical attack in the future," said Lt. Gen. McKenzie. "I suspect however they'll think long and hard about it based on the activities of last night."



Yet there are questions about the long-term impact.



"Strategy hasn't been this administration's strong suit  Assad and Putin aren't going to flinch fast and will easily endure military strikes," Brett Bruen, a former director of global engagement at the White House, told VOA.



"This only works if they can keep up strong diplomatic pressure on Syria, Russia," he said. "Otherwise, they will worsen our position and the situation on the ground."



Some U.S. officials likewise remain wary, warning prior to the strikes that while Syria's use of chemical weapons cannot be tolerated, much more is at stake given the backing the Syrian government gets from Moscow.



"This is a chess game and the Russians are ratcheting up the pressure," a U.S. official told VOA on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.



"They're playing dirty," the official added. "We need to think two or three steps ahead."



U.S. officials said, so far, they have not seen any attempts by Syrian government forces, or its allies to retaliate, though they have coordinated with U.S. allies in the region as a precaution.



President Trump warned Friday the U.S.-led strikes could be just the first step in a sustained response to Syria's ongoing use of chemical weapons. But just hours later, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis described the operation as a "one-time shot."

WATCH: U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis Briefs Reporters in Syria Strikes



"What happens next has everything to do with what the Assad regime decides to do. It has everything to do as well with what Russia decides to enable," the Pentagon's White told reporters Saturday.



The decision to strike, made after consultations between Washington, London and Paris, came after military and intelligence officials concluded the Assad government was indeed responsible for a chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma last Saturday that killed more than 40 people, including women and children, and sickened hundreds more.



The three nations have expressed a high degree of confidence the attack used chlorine gas, and that it also likely used another chemical agent, possibly sarin. But the Pentagon said Saturday it was still assessing the evidence.



The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement Saturday it will continue to investigate the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma.

The OPCW investigators who are in Syria on a fact-finding mission connected with last week's attack on Douma said they have been "working in close collaboration with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security to assess the situation and ensure the safety of the team."



Wayne Lee, Steve Herman at the White House; Katherine Gypson and Aru Pande in Washington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.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Saturday backed the joint airstrikes carried out by the U.S., U.K. and France in Syria, Albawaba News reports.

I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France against the Syrian regimes chemical weapons facilities and capabilities, Stoltenberg said in a statement. This will reduce the regimes ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons.

Recalling the consistent NATO condemnation of Syria's continued use of chemical weapons, the alliance chief said the alleged use of such weapons had been a clear breach of international norms and agreements. The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, and those responsible must be held accountable, Stoltenberg said.Todays Headlines

The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

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By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy PolicyOscar-winning director Milos Forman, known for works such as "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," has died at the age of 86, Channel NewsAsia reported citing Czech news agency CTK.

The Czech-American director died on Friday in the United States after a short illness, his wife, Martina, told CTK.Russia on Saturday demanded a vote at the UN Security Council on condemning the United States and its allies for carrying out military strikes on Syria, AFP reports.



Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the council should vote later Saturday on a Moscow-drafted resolution condemning the "aggression" and demanding that the allies refrain from any further strikes.

Meanwhile, world leaders have reacted to the strikes.The US and its allies do not justify the attacks on Syria, except for information taken from the media, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"In addition to mentioning the media and social networks and video, which is ridiculous for specialists, nothing more is done," Lavrov noted, speaking at a meeting of the Council of Foreign and Defense Policy (CFDP).

He also noted that French President Emmanuel Macron, who publicly announced the irrefutable facts confirming the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian authorities, had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before yesterday.HCM CITY  Many Czech firms are looking for investment opportunities in Viet Nam and Viet Nam could do more to show that it is looking to do business with them, the Czech Republics Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Vladimir Bartl has said.

Speaking at a conference in HCM City yesterday attended by Czech business delegations seeking customers and partners in Viet Nam, he said the Czech Republic has invested US$90 million in 36 projects in Viet Nam.

Viet Nam and the Czech Republic have been partners for nearly 70 years, and his country ranks Viet Nam among its most important business partners in Asia and ASEAN, he said.

But more can be done to reach their full bilateral trade potential, he said.

Czech businesses can invest in fields such as infrastructure, energy, insurance and environmental protection, he said.

We are also very competent in city planning, transport, public transport and traffic control. Those are the references we have in many countries, and we can bring that to your region.

The Vietnamese Government and businesses need to give a clearer signal that they are looking for investment and business opportunities, he said.

"The Vietnamese Government should continue to create a good business environment and strive to wrap up the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement as soon as possible," he said.

Vo Tan Thanh, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, invited more Czech businesses to invest and do business in Viet Nam, especially HCM City, adding that Vietnamese firms should be more pro-active and network with their Czech counterparts.

Statistics from the General Department of Customs revealed that bilateral trade turnover reached more than $257 million in 2017, representing a modest yearly increase of 3 per cent. Of the sum, Viet Nam exported $151 million worth to the Czech while its imports hit $106 million.  VNSHCM CITY  A campaign aimed at getting locals to buy locally produced goods has yielded positive results.

The Vietnamese give priority to using Vietnamese goods campaign took place in HCM City between 2015-17.

Speaking at a meeting in HCM City yesterday to review the campaign, Vice Chairman of the HCM City Fatherland Front Committee Tran Tan Ngoi said many activities like trade fairs and marketing campaigns were organised to promote the use of local products.

"Companies awareness of the importance of the domestic market has improved and they now pay attention to local customers tastes and seek to expand their distribution networks, even to remote areas," he said.

"Vietnamese goods now account for a large proportion of sales in the citys wholesale and retail system," he said.

At the end of last year the city had 239 traditional markets, 207 supermarkets and 43 shopping malls.

Most large distribution systems in the city actively participated in the campaign. The ratio of domestic goods sold at supermarkets is now between 65-95 per cent, he said.

At Co.opmart, Vietnamese goods account for 90-93 per cent, and the company organised mobile sales trips to take them to rural areas, he said.

According to permanent Deputy Secretary of Saigon Co.ops Party Committee Quach Cuong Saigon Co.op [which runs Co.opmart] has more than 300 outlets selling essential products and fresh foods, all of which meet safety standards.

It has invested in co-operatives and businesses to produce and supply more high-quality products to consumers.

It has also invested directly or indirectly in other provinces and plans to invest more to develop an organic agricultural model to better meet market demand.

Meanwhile Tran Tan Ngoi admitted that despite achieving encouraging results the campaign had shortcomings because some localities in the city had not implemented it well.

Most businesses were small or medium-sized with limited competitive capacity, so they faced difficulties in competing with imported products, especially amid deeper international integration, he said.

Though official agencies had made efforts to regulate quality and prices, a large number of fake and poor quality goods were still sold in the market, affecting the prestige of Vietnamese goods as well as causing difficulties for domestic businesses in expanding their production and trading, he added.

A certain segment of consumers, especially those with high incomes, preferred imported goods to those made domestically, he said.

The campaign continues, and in the next three years the city plans to enhance it to increase consumption and boost the production of high-quality goods to meet domestic and export market demands.

Vo Thi Dung, Deputy Secretary of the citys Party Committee and head of the campaigns steering committee, urged relevant agencies to review their publicity methods to improve efficiency.

They should intensify checks to prevent fake goods since they threaten consumers health. They also need to increase consumer confidence in local products, she said.

Enterprises should focus on improving their production technologies to produce consistently high quality products, she said.

At the meeting 68 businesses and organisations and 25 individuals received certificates of merit from the city Peoples Committee for their contributions to the campaign.  VNSHCM CITY  Social platforms are effective channels where online tourism firms interact with potential customers, and the travel industry must transform to keep pace with technological changes, experts have said.

La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Tourism, said the fourth industrial revolution is making its way into our lives, with almost every device being connected with the internet, representing a new way of communicating and doing business.

With Industry 4.0, the tourism industry must figure out how to adopt new technologies to engage with a customer and gain market share, he told an online tourism forum held yesterday (April 13) in HCM City.

The forum was held as part of the HCM City Tourism Fair.

Viet Nam ended 2017 with GDP growth of 6.8 per cent, Huynh Bich Tran, deputy director of Nielsen Viet Nam, a global information and measurement company, said.

The service sector also saw significant growth, and contributing to this was increasing tourism and a number of government initiatives, she said.

The number of domestic tourists reached 73 million last year, a year-on-year increase of 20 per cent, while the number of foreign tourists rose by 30 per cent to 13 million.

Vietnamese consumer confidence finished 2017 on a high note as Viet Nam continued to be ranked as the seventh most optimistic country in the world, according to the latest issue of the Conference Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey done in collaboration with Nielsen.

There was a sustained high confidence level among Vietnamese consumers through 2017, the survey found.

Vietnamese consumers were eager to spend on big ticket items to enhance the quality of life. Nearly half of all consumers were willing to spend their spare cash on buying new clothes (49 per cent) and on holidays (44 per cent).

There were 23 million connected spenders  referring to people who have access to the internet -- in Viet Nam in 2015 and the number is expected to nearly double to 40 million by 2025, according to Nielsen.

By 2025 their spending is expected to account for a half of all consumer spending.

Smartphones sustain the growth momentum as usage and ownership keep increasing in Viet Nam.

According to the 2017 Nielsen Vietnam Smartphone Insights Report, the number of people using smartphones accounted for 84 per cent of all phone users in 2017 compared to 78 per cent a year earlier.

In secondary cities, 71 per cent of people use smartphones out of the 93 per cent that use mobile phones.

More notably, in rural areas, while 89 per cent of the population own a mobile phone, 68 per cent of them possess a smartphone.

Social media could be a channel to bring customers to online tourism enterprises, and optimising access for connected customers holds the key to success, Tran said.

Some sources that customers consult before using services include social media (60 per cent), friends and relatives (48 per cent) and online travel forums (45 per cent), she said.

The feedback and comments on forums from earlier customers have a strong effect on the decision of new customers, she added.

According to Jennifer Chau, business manager of Facebook Viet Nam, on average Vietnamese customers spend three hours a day on mobile phones, more than on newspapers (56 minutes), television (1.4 hours) or radio (43 minutes).

It is expected that by 2021 half of online tourism revenues would come from mobile phones.

"There are 59 million active Facebook users in Viet Nam, with 97 per cent of them using smart phones to browse," she said.

All travellers are users of social platforms and Facebook is the top social platform, according to Chau.

Creative videos with good contents are the most effective way to touch potential customers. VNSBritish Prime Minister Theresa May said the strikes, in which the United Kingdom and France participated, would send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity. Referring to last months nerve-agent attack on a former Russian spy living in Salisbury, England, she said, We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized  within Syria, on the streets of the U.K. or anywhere else in our world.HA NOI  Start-ups in Viet Nam have invested US$129 million into the field of fintech, according to Varun Mittal, Ernst & Young (EY) ASEAN fintech leader.

EY Viet Nam announced the results of the ASEAN FinTech Census 2018 in Ha Noi on Thursday.

The survey was carried out on more than 250 fintech (technology used to support banking or financial services) companies in more than 10 countries, providing insights from regional fintech experts.

"With a population of young smartphone users, high consumer growth and low unemployment, Viet Nam is becoming a promising market for fintech developers," he said.

"Foreign investors are also more interested in buying some fintech companies due to the huge market potential," said Mittal.

The number of incubators and accelerators and innovation labs in Viet Nam is estimated at 24, the second most among ASEAN region, following Singapore.

However, another EY report showed that up to 90 per cent of payments in the country were made in cash.

Therefore, Vietnamese fintech companies are focusing on the field of payment with 47 per cent of Vietnamese companies working on payment services, the highest rate in the region.

The country has also launched a fintech club, which allows businesses to improve knowledge, support and share experiences. The most important thing though is to develop a legal framework for this service.

According to Nguyen Thuy Duong, EY Viet Nam deputy director and vice chairwoman of the club, Vietnam Financial Technology Club, said that fintech companies are currently small scale and policies for these companies are lacking.

In addition, many banks are still cautious about work with fintech companies as they do not realise that fintech can help them tap into the huge market of people who do not have bank accounts, but do have smartphones. FinTech is the bridge that can helps bring banking services closer to people," said Duong.

Apart from financial issues, shortages in staffs and governmental regulations are two major challenges that Vietnamese and regional fintech companies face.

According to EY experts, policy support from authorities will form the foundation for a fintech ecosystem that encourages creativity and healthy competition.

Talking about co-operation between banks and fintech companies, EY experts also said many banks want to hire fintech to provide digital banking services, instead of developing solutions themselves. This way will benefit both sides and help save costs.  VNSKind and caring Breda was always thinking of othersGuest Commentary Audio Article This is a short history of the Morgan family farm before the possible development of the remaining 49 acres east of Chesterton. Jesse and Jane Morgan arrived in Northwest Indiana in 1833 after traveling through Ohio, northern Indiana, stopping off in LaPorte County for a...

Echoes of the Past Audio Article 10 Years Ago Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011  Bethlehem Lutheran Church will host a wellness screening event. . . CHS girls soccer team beats LaPorte 5-0 and clinches a share of the DAC title. Scoring goals are Rosie Biehl (2), Hannah Kollar (2), and Sam...

Voice of the People I can drive on the left lane of Ind. 49 and not have to deal with the truck traffic any more. I dont think I know you Jim Ton but apparently youre the one that made this happen. My life is a little better now....

Guest Commentary Fair maps for our children, for our Hispanic communities, for our futures My son will vote for the first time next year. And for his first time, the state of Indiana will have brand new legislative and congressional districts. It should feel like a clean...The Vietnam Television Cable Corporation (VTVCab) will cancel its initial public offering (IPO) on April 17 as only one investor registered to attend the auction by the end of April 10, 2018. Photo VTVCab

HA NOI  The Vietnam Television Cable Corporation (VTVCab) will cancel its initial public offering (IPO) on April 17 as only one investor registered to attend the auction by the end of April 10, 2018  the deadline for investors to sign up for the IPO, the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) said in a statement on Thursday.

According to regulations, VTVCab is eligible to cancel an IPO as scheduled, HNX said.

At the end of March, the State-owned television company announced it would put more than 42.2 million shares or 47.84 per cent of the firms capital up for sale in an IPO at the starting price of VN140,900 (US$6.26) per share.

If the IPO of VTVCab were successful, the Government could earn nearly VN6 trillion ($264.2 million) from the sale and the value of the company would reach VN12.4 trillion.

Under its equitisation plan, which was approved by the Prime Minister in January 2016, VTV Cab will have charter capital of VN884 billion ($39.3 million), with the Government reducing its ownership to 51 per cent, or more than 45 million shares.

The total value of the company as of December 31, 2015, was more than VN7.9 trillion ($351 million), with the Government holding a stake of more than 80 per cent.

More than 1 million shares (1.16 per cent of the capital) will be sold to the pay TV providers current employees at cheap prices.

Unattractive business

The IPO of VTVCab has proven unattractive to investors as the starting price level for the share auction was considered higher than the firms actual performance and business conditions merited, local media cafef.vn reported.

During the 2014-16 period, VTVCab posted steady growth in its total revenue, but its post-tax profit showed some decline.

It earned an average of VN2 trillion in total revenue during that period. Its post-tax profit rose to VN130.5 billion in 2015 from VN126.5 billion in 2014 but fell sharply to VN76.5 billion a year later, in 2016.

During 2018-20, the company projects its total revenue to increase from VN2.95 trillion in 2018 to VN3.5 trillion in 2019 and VN3.96 trillion in 2020.

Its pre-tax profit for the next period is also expected to rise from VN74.3 billion (in 2018) to VN81 billion and VN106.6 billion in the next two years, respectively.

The targeted pre-tax profit for the next four years means the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of VTVCab would be five or six times the average figure of the Vietnamese stocks at the moment.

In addition, VTVCab has not become a dominant player in the local television market as its revenue and profit are being outpaced by the Saigon Cable Television (SCTV).

Data from cafef.vn showed pre-tax profit for SCTV in 2014-16 ranged between VN151-338 billion, while that for VTVCab was between VN105 billion and VN174 billion.

In addition, VTVCab has recently sparked a controversy in Viet Nam s television market after it removed a number of hot channels from its package and replaced them with others considered less popular to Vietnamese viewers.

The incident is expected to reduce the number of VTVCab customers as a number of them have already switched to other pay-TV providers.  VNSIt seems Canadian beef cattle have the same problem as many consumers  theyre getting heavier and fatter.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 14/4/2018 (1265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

It seems Canadian beef cattle have the same problem as many consumers  theyre getting heavier and fatter.

In an industry in which producers get paid by the pound, the trend towards heavier animals may sound like a good thing. But not when it comes to processing efficiency.

In fact, its costing the beef industry millions in lost revenue.

"One processor I talked to characterizes this as the greatest value destructor ever," Mark Klassen, director of technical services for the Canadian Cattlemens Association, told a recent industry seminar.

The average slaughter weights of cattle delivered to packing plants has been increasing by about seven pounds per year since the mid-1970s, Klassen said. The latest industry audit on beef quality found carcass weights increased 6.4 per cent  or 52 pounds  between 2010 and 2016.

Because much of the extra weight on these animals is external fat that is trimmed off before the meat is sold at retail, there has been a significant decline in the ratio of useable meat processors get from these larger animals. The external fat on carcasses has increased 76 per cent since 2011.

The ratio of carcasses that achieved the top yield grade in a 2016-17 audit was 37 per cent, down from 52 per cent in 2010-11 and 63 per cent in 2000.

"A very core attribute of the Canadian beef advantage, namely yield, is no longer what it once was," Klassen said.

However, whereas some quality defects, such as bruising or damaged hides, reduce how much the producer gets paid, packers are largely absorbing the hit from heavier carcass weights.

"The challenge for processors is that they need every animal they can get. So, at least in Western Canada, there is a reluctance to institute some of the traditional disincentives for producing heavier-than-desired carcasses," he said.

The Beef Cattle Research Council, with support from the federal government, conducts quality audits every five years. Technicians spend time at slaughterhouses monitoring the condition of the cattle as they enter, and how that correlates with the meat they produce.

The council also regularly does a retail audit in which consumers are provided with four types of steaks to cook at home and rank them on a score of one to 10. The latest audit in 2015 set consumer satisfaction at 79 per cent, a sign consumers are generally happy with the beef they buy.

While the ultimate goal of these efforts is to improve the quality of meat that ends up on a customers plate, these audits also serve as a report card on how the industry is doing on a whole host of metrics  everything from genetics, to handling practices, to feeding regimes.

Each quality defect is quantified in dollars to reflect the effect on the industrys profitability. It has implications for how producers, right through to processors, operate.

For example, animals arriving at the slaughterhouse with a lot of muck and manure on their hides reduces the value of the carcass by about $10. Dirty hides can be reduced with better drainage and more bedding in feeding pens.

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The industry is making progress in some areas, such as lower incidences of major bruising, but losing ground in others.

One area raising red flags is a doubling in the occurrence of abscessed livers deemed unfit for human consumption and either sent for pet food or rejected altogether. Klassen said more research is needed to better understand why this is happening, and to find alternatives to antimicrobials for controlling the problem.

Researchers believe its tied to how grain rations are used in feedlots. Cattle finished in forage-based systems have a lower incidence of liver issues, but the tradeoff is they take longer to reach market weight.

All in all, quality defects are costing the beef sector in Canada around $196 million annually, up 46 per cent over the last audit. Thats largely due to the fact that beef prices are at historically high levels, so the cost of mistakes is higher, Klassen said.

However, the more the supply chain knows about how management decisions affect final values, the more incentive there is to try harder.

Laura Rance is editorial director at Glacier FarmMedia. She can be reached at 204-792-4382 or laura@fbcpublishing.comPresidents and prime ministers who start wars still dont go to jail, but in democratic countries it is getting common to see presidents facing jail for corruption. In fact, we have had three this month alone.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 14/4/2018 (1265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Presidents and prime ministers who start wars still dont go to jail, but in democratic countries it is getting common to see presidents facing jail for corruption. In fact, we have had three this month alone.

In South Korea, former president Park Geun-hye was sentenced on April 6 to 24 years in prison and fined US$17 million for bribery, extortion, abuse of power and other offences. She is guilty as charged, but she is also a victim.

A day later, former South African president Jacob Zuma appeared in a Durban court to face corruption charges over a US$2.5-billion arms deal soon after his own party forced him to resign a year before his term ended. Since Zumas former financial adviser has already served jail time on identical charges, his chances of a happy retirement seem rather slim.

And the next day, former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, universally known as "Lula," began serving a 12-year prison term for corruption. However, hes probably not guilty of anything that would justify his imprisonment.

Thats three gone or going in one weekend, and there are others in the queue  such as former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who faces charges that the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi illegally funded his 2007 presidential campaign.

Running a country is clearly a high-risk job, and the people who get the job tend to be risk-takers. Not all of them are rich, and they are exposed to many temptations. Nevertheless, not all cases of corruption are about simple self-enrichment.

Ex-president Parks was not, although she collected at least US$35 million in bribes from major Korean companies, including Samsung, and the giant retailer Lotte. But Park Geun-hye was doing it all at the behest of her confidante, Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a preacher and cult leader who won the trust of Parks father more than 40 years ago.

The ex-presidents father, Park Chung-hee, ruled South Korea as a military dictator in the 1970s. When Park Geun-hyes parents were both assassinated, the orphaned girl was befriended by the preachers daughter, Choi Soon-sil, who established a comparable control over her.

In 2013, Park Geun-hye was elected to the presidency, but Choi Soon-sils influence never weakened. The bribes Park received while in office almost all went to foundations controlled by Choi. Both women have gone to jail, and both deserved to, but Park was as much a victim as a villain.

Zumas is a simpler story. He was a major figure in the African National Congress during the decades of struggle against apartheid, first in prison on Robben Island and then in exile as the ANCs head of military intelligence. (His former chief of staff in that job once described him to me as a "military genius.")

But Zuma had no money, and when he got political power in post-apartheid South Africa he set about to remedy that problem. There has never been any real doubt that he benefited enormously from the arms-purchase deal, and he was forced to resign the deputy presidency in 2005  but after he was elected as leader of the ANC in 2007, he managed to get the charges dropped.

By 2009, he was the president of South Africa, and for the next nine years the charges remained in abeyance. When he was forced out of office two months ago, for further brazen acts of corruption and for general economic mismanagement of the country, the charges were resurrected almost instantly, and now he faces a world of woe. About time, too, many would say.

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And Lula? There probably was no crime in the first place. Brazil is going through an enormous corruption scandal and more than half the members of congress face charges, but so long as they control congress and the presidency, they can probably stave them off. An election is due in October, however, and Lula would probably win it  if he were not in prison.

The crime he is charged with is petty by Brazilian standards: accepting free renovation work when his wife moved to a bigger holiday apartment in the seaside town of Guaraju. His judgment may have been clouded at the time, because he was fighting cancer, but in any case, he was no longer in office and unable to do any political favours in return. He denies the whole thing, but at worst it was foolish to accept the help, not corrupt.

Lula still lives in the industrial city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, 20 kilometres from Sao Paulo, in a modest house within walking distance of the steelworkers union headquarters where I first interviewed him almost 40 years ago. He is an honest man of simple tastes, but at the moment he is sitting in jail.

He still has an appeal working its way up through the courts, but its unlikely to set him free. The real reason he is in jail is to keep him from contesting the election, so there he will stay.

The rule of law is an excellent thing, but no system devised by humans is invulnerable to manipulation by other humans.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.It is never tougher to govern a province in Canada than the week the Canadian Institute for Health Information delivers a report on priority procedure wait times.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 14/4/2018 (1265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

It is never tougher to govern a province in Canada than the week the Canadian Institute for Health Information delivers a report on priority procedure wait times.

CIHI reports have become the standard for assessing the relative strengths or weaknesses of provincial health-care systems. And in these days of anemic government revenues and aging populations, the news CIHI brings is rarely good. This week is a case in point.

CIHI released what is commonly known in health-care circles as the priority procedures report. It is an analysis of the ability of provincial health systems to provide procedures such as hip and knee replacements and cataract surgeries within a prescribed wait time. A provinces performance is measured by the percentage of patients who receive a procedure within a prescribed time limit.

On the whole, it was not a banner year for the countrys health-care system. More procedures were done than ever before, but the wait times on average grew in every province, including Manitoba.

Across the nation, 71 per cent of Canadians requiring a hip replacement received it in a timely fashion; in Manitoba, only about half of hip-replacement candidates got their treatment within the prescribed wait time.

Why are wait times growing in Canada, and why is Manitoba among the worst performers? Its a complicated equation, but you could boil it down to two issues: a growing and aging population, and an inability of provincial governments to find the money to keep up with demand.

In Manitoba, that is a particularly good description of what is going on. The government of Premier Brian Pallister is working diligently to reinvent health care by reorganizing emergency departments in Winnipeg hospitals and applying all forms of new processes and technologies to make health services as effective and efficient as possible. And yet, the overall system is now performing worse than when Pallister took over in 2016.

This negative trend can be attributed to the fact Manitoba has added a measure of fiscal austerity to its management of health care. After promising in 2016 he would not cut funding to health or compromise front-line services, Pallister has effectively done both. Why has the government embraced austerity in health care after pledging it would not? To date, the Pallister government refuses to make a meaningful attempt to explain whats going on.

In keeping with the governments trend of hermetically sealing cabinet ministers in bubble wrap whenever controversy rears its head, Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen was not available for interviews when the CIHI priority procedure report came out. Instead, a "statement from the minister" was released.

By now we know that a "statement from the minister" is really a "statement written for the minister." We know this because the statement released on Goertzens behalf was brief, intellectually muddled and poorly argued. In general, reporters have come to understand that Goertzen is many things, but he is none of those things.

The statement reasoned that the CIHI results on hip and knee replacements "validates the work" already done through the provinces wait-times reduction task force, and repeated a commitment to follow through on all of the recommendations of that group to help squeeze more procedures out of existing dollars.

What the statement did not reflect, however, is the fact the medical professionals in charge of implementing the wait-time task force are already acknowledging that on their own, those recommendations will likely not bend the curve on wait times.

Dr. Jack McPherson, the head of the wait-times reduction task force and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authoritys head of surgery, conceded that while there is still a lot of good work left to do in streamlining processes and applying new technology, the unrelenting and increasing demand from population growth and demographics cannot be relieved by innovation alone.

"There is a limit to the efficiencies we can find," McPherson said. "If the demand is great enough, it will exceed the gains you can make through efficiencies."

The Tory government is not wrong to point to a handful of success stories and suggest that more efficiencies are yet to come. Through the work of the task force and Shared Services Manitoba, the new stand-alone agency that is driving system-wide changes in clinical standards and service delivery, important work has been done. This includes pilot programs to perform pre-operative assessments sooner to cull out patients who really dont need surgery, new cataract surgical procedures that require no anesthetic, and an increase in day surgery for hip and knee-replacement patients.

In the future, Shared Services is expected to bring forward a flurry of additional innovations  including the implementation of provincewide standards for laboratory tests and diagnostic imaging  to ensure that physicians are doing a better job of prescribing only what a patient really needs. Unnecessary tests and scans are among the health-care systems most wasteful practices.

However, the view from within the system is that all this innovation must be accompanied by an appropriate level of funding. In Manitoba, at least for the time being, that is not likely to be an option.

Last year, while wait times for priority procedures were growing, the provincial health system underspent its budget by $138 million. How and why that happened is also a mystery.

A request to speak with an official in the health department was declined. A statement attributed to a "government spokesperson" failed to make any meaningful attempt to explain the underspending. The statement said the surplus (money budgeted but not spent) was the result of "normal budgeting." Estimates of expenditure made in the 2017 budget were accurate at the time, but could not account for all factors. "There is no way to ensure the exact amount is budgeted."

No, but there is an exact way to determine where you didnt spent the money, and to date the Tory government refuses to identify the source of its savings. It remains a bit of a mystery why, for example, the government didnt plug some of that surplus back into priority procedures. There is capacity within the system as it stands to do more hips, knees and cataracts. For now, however, the province is happy to book the savings as it attempts to balance the overall provincial budget.

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Which brings us around to the political implications of CIHI, provincial budgeting trends and the next election.

There is quite a bit of time left to improve the overall performance of the health-care system, and the Pallister government is pursuing many promising avenues of improvement. However, its impossible to tell just how much further the current government is prepared to let the system erode before turning things around.

Over the last two fiscal years, funding for all surgical procedures has been effectively flat. Overall, the WRHA spent $215.1 million on its surgical program in 2017-18, only $216,000 more than it spent a year earlier. That is, by all reasonable measurements, a freeze. In the past, whenever the system was able to achieve cost savings through innovation or efficiencies, the surplus money was channelled back into procedures. That is clearly no longer the practice under the Pallister government.

There are two fundamental truths revealed by the CIHI report. First, that increasing wait times for certain procedures are not really the result of political ideology or partisan brand or regional proclivities. Some provinces do better than others, but the problems they face are all the same regardless of political stripe.

And second, that if you continue to spend the same amount of money to address a problem that is growing, any hope of achieving a "most-improved" status will be futile.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.caAboard the International Space Station, an astronauts life is typically work, exercise, rest, repeat. But what if your chance of having the right stuff for NASAs astronaut corps is, to say the least, minimal?

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 14/4/2018 (1265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Aboard the International Space Station, an astronauts life is typically work, exercise, rest, repeat. But what if your chance of having the right stuff for NASAs astronaut corps is, to say the least, minimal?

Aurora Station, billed as the "first luxury hotel in space," may be for you. Houston-based Orion Span hopes to launch the modular station in late 2021 and welcome its first guests the following year, with two crew members accompanying each excursion. The platform would orbit 320 kilometres above Earth, offering six guests 384 sunrises and sunsets as they race around the planet for 12 days at incredibly high speeds.

Once, such a thing would have clearly been the stuff of fiction. Now, in the age of SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, the idea that a private company would launch an orbiting hotel seems almost pedestrian.

"We want to get people into space because its the final frontier for our civilization," said Orion Spans founder and chief executive officer, Frank Bunger, a former software engineer. Orion Spans offering wont be for everyone, however: launch and re-entry are not for the faint of heart.

"Were not selling a hey-lets-go-to-the-beach equivalent in space," Bunger said. "Were selling the experience of being an astronaut. You reckon that there are people who are willing to pay to have that experience."

Beyond the physical limitations to embarking, there are also the fiscal ones.

The 12-day stay starts at US$9.5 million per person, or about US$791,666 a night. Aurora Station is planned as a 35-by-14-foot module, or roughly the interior volume of a Gulfstream G550 private jet, according to Bunger. The station would accommodate as many as four guests, plus the two crew. The company requires an US$80,000 deposit, which is fully refundable, and began accepting payments on Thursday.

Orion Span is assessing potential funding sources to get the endeavour off the ground, but wont disclose how much it wants to raise for the project, a spokeswoman said. It reflects the type of commercial venture thats become more common over the past decade, fuelled by decreases in launch costs and an influx of venture capital. Since 2015, startup space companies have attracted US$7.9 billion in investment, according to Bryce Space & Technology LLC, a consulting firm.

"The commercialization of LEO (low Earth orbit) is an exciting prospect, but it will be an exercise in determining what ideas are more real than others," said Phil Larson, a former space policy adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama who worked for Elon Musks SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. He is now assistant dean and chief of staff at the University of Colorado at Boulders College of Engineering and Applied Science.

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Orion Span has yet to contract with a launch provider, either for its initial flights to build the station or for customer flights. Its aggressive four-year time frame may be a ploy, Larson said, to assess "what kind of market might be out there for this."

Van Espahbodi, managing partner of Starburst Accelerator LLC, a consulting and venture firm, added that the public-relations push behind Orion Span may be an effective way to help the company attract funding, too.

Orion Spans chief architect and operating and chief technical officers are former NASA employees. The company said its "developed proprietary technology to drive a full order of magnitude of cost out of the design and manufacture of a space station." Bunger said the firms designs would work with most of the current launch configurations, such as Arianespace, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. It could also partner with a government space agency, he said.

One reason Orion Span can target a price of less than US$10 million per person is because of declining launch prices, Bunger said in an interview. "Everybodys forecasting that theyre going to fall," he said. "Almost every week, theres another rocket launch company thats starting up with a new way to get to orbit cheaper, faster, better."

But the new world of commercial spaceflight has yet to launch a human into space, let alone civilians and leave them there for two weeks. Prior to launch, Aurora Station travellers would have three months of training, beginning with online courses to understand "basic spaceflight, orbital mechanics and pressurized environments in space." Hotel guests will also have required exercises on spacecraft systems and contingency training at the companys Houston facility.

 BloombergHA NOI  Masses of dead fish were found in central Quang Tri Provinces communes of Trieu Van, Trieu An, and Gio Ha, as well as in Cua Viet Township late last month.

According to a report by the provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the fish deaths are suspected to have been caused by explosives. Fisherman have reportedly been throwing explosive devices into the water to kill the fish, but the boats were unable to collect them all, leaving the remaining fish to wash ashore.

The problem of harmful and unnatural fishing methods is not solely one of Quang Tri Province . Fish stocks in Thua Thien  Hue, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh provinces have also been affected by unsustainable fishing practices.

Le Van Loi, a fisherman from Trieu Phong District in Quang Tri Province , was the first to discover the mass fish death on March 30. He said that he had seen many vessels from other provinces fishing in Quang Tris sea recently. They used either explosives or trawlers to catch the fish, he said.

Loi said that the trawlers would catch all kinds of fish, big or small, and would carried nets of other fishermen along their ways.

In a single month, 30 fishermen in Trieu Lang Commune of Trieu Phong District lost their fishing nets, and one had his vessel sunk. All of this was due to the trawlers, he said.

A similar situation is reportedly unfolding in the provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Thua Thien - Hue.

Vice Chairman of the Nghe An Province Fishery Subdepartment Tran ang Tuan said that many farmers in the region had been using electric nets for fishing to add to their income.

Truong Viet Phuong, a fisherman in Tam Giang Lagoon, Thua Thien  Hue Province , said that there used to be a lot more fish in the past compared with today.

Fish stocks are decreasing in recent years. Fishing vessels use electric pulse nets to catch fish, no fish, big or small, can survive under such a method, he said.

Im afraid there will be no more fish in Tam Giang Lagoon in the future, he said.

Pham Ngoc ai from the Ha Tinh Fishery Subdepartment, said that such methods will seriously affect the sustainable development of fisheries in the area.

Fishermen are destroying their own future, he said.

In March alone, Quang Binh discovered seven fishing vessels violating fishing rules, and seized 15 electric pulse fishing kits.

The Viet Nam Fishery Association recently announced that in the past five years, 83 species of fish have disappeared from Viet Nam  sea. Deep sea fish are some of the most affected, with a 42 per cent reduction in species.

Solution

Chairman of the Peoples Committee of Phu Dien Commune, Thua Thien  Hue Province Pham Tang oan said that fishing vessels using illegal fishing methods mostly operate at night, making it difficult for authorities to catch them.

When we are able to reach them, they have already cut off the electric net or they flee the scene. Even if we do catch them in the act, the fine imposed is low compared to the profits they make, he said.

Tran ang Tuan from Ha Tinh Province said alongside an educational campaign and stricter punishments, supporting policies for offshore fishing vessels should be encouraged.

Offshore fishing is expensive, as fishermen need to invest in a vessel, and equipment. As such most illegal fishing happens onshore. Supporting locals to fish offshore could ease the burden of onshore fishing as well as reduce illegal onshore fishing. --VNSPetroChina Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in a range of petroleum related products, services, and activities in Mainland China and internationally. It operates through Exploration and Production, Refining and Chemicals, Marketing, and Natural Gas and Pipeline segments. The Exploration and Production segment engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. The Refining and Chemicals segment refines crude oil and petroleum products; and produces and markets primary petrochemical products, derivative petrochemical products, and other chemical products. The Marketing segment is involved in marketing of refined products and trading business. The Natural Gas and Pipeline segment engages in the transmission of natural gas, crude oil, and refined products; and sale of natural gas. As of December 31, 2020, the company had a total length of 31,151 km, including 22,555 km of natural gas pipelines, 7,190 km of crude oil pipelines, and 1,406 km of refined product pipelines. The company is also involved in the exploration, development, and production of oil sands and coalbed methane; trading of crude oil and petrochemical products; storage, chemical engineering, storage facilities, service station, and transportation facilities and related businesses; and production and sales of basic and derivative chemical, and other chemical products. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China. PetroChina Company Limited is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.

Read More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HCM CITY  All museums around the country will allow free entrance on May 18 to mark International Museum Day.

The Department of Cultural Heritage has called on museums to focus on the content of their websites, social networking and smartphone applications.

They need to study and identify their target visitors to develop appropriate IT tools, it said.

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) has encouraged museums around the world to adopt the theme of Hyper connected museum: New approaches, new publics this year to mark the day.

It said the aim of the day is to raise awareness that museums highlight cultural diversity and can bring about mutual understanding and peace among peoples.

The number of museums participating in International Museum Day is increasing every year. Last year more than 36,000 of them in 157 countries had participated.  VNSThe following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen Coding GmbH, Allen France SAS, Alpine Automation Limited, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Holdings Inc., Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Arylux Hungary Elektromechanikus Alkatreszgyarto Kft, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix (Suzhou) Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Holdings Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel (Ireland) Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Buell Industries Inc., CAPMAX Logistica S.A. de C.V., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS (Australia) Pty Limited, CS (Finance) Europe S.a.r.l., CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, CSMTS LLC, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures (Australasia) S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur (Shanghai) Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Dorbyl U.K. (Holdings) Limited, Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO (Holding) AG, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elga Skandinavian AS, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, FEG Investments L.L.C., Fasver, Filtertek, Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech (Taicang) Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart (Japan) K.K., Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart Foster Belgium, Hobart International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW (China) Investment Company Limited, ITW (Deutschland) GmbH, ITW (EU) Holdings Ltd., ITW (European) Finance Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW (Ningbo) Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Alpha Sarl, ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components (Chongqing) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components (Langfang) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium, ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS (UK) Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Contamination Control (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Delta Sarl, ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.A., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Finance Designated Activity Company, ITW Finance Europe S.A., ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW France Finance Alpha S.A.S., ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments II Inc., ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics (Thailand) Ltd., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Italy S.R.L. in liquidazione, ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France (Luxembourg) S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings UK, ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW Hungary Finance Beta Kft, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Finance Srl, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lombard Holdings Inc., ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW M FILMS II LLC, ITW MH LLC, ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology (China) Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Plastic (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Philippines Holdings LLC, ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Spraytec, ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Servicios Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Ideal Molding Technologies LLC, Illinois Tool Works (Chile) Limitada, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Norway AS, Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron (Shanghai) Ltd., Instron (Thailand) Limited, Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Holdings Limited, Instron International Limited, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, International Leasing Company LLC, International Truss Systems Proprietary Limited, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kester Components (M) Sdn. Bhd., Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems (Canada) Inc., Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MOA Enterprises Inc, Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, Norden Olje AB, North Star Imaging Europe, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited (Enping), Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Penta Dnepr LLC, Penta Sever OOO, Penta Volga OOO, Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., Ramset Fasteners (Hong Kong) Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco (Nederland) B.V., Simco Japan Inc., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Taiwan) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes BVBA, Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek (China) Limited, Teknek (Japan) Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V.B.A., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta (Guangzhou) Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Vesta Global Limited, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, ZF TRW (Engineered Fasteners and Components), and Zip-Pak International B.V..John Wood Group PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides consulting, project management, and engineering solutions to energy and built environment worldwide. It operates through four segments: Asset Solutions Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia; Assets Solutions Americas; Technical Consulting Solutions; and Investment Services. The company offers operations solutions, including maintenance, modifications, commissioning and decommissioning, and aftermarket services, as well as industrial services, such as painting, insulation, scaffolding, rope access, E&I, asbestos removal, and civil and earthworks services; engineering, procurement, and construction management; plant operations and life extension; technology solutions; supervision and management services; fabrication and inspection services; and construction and field services. It also provides environment and infrastructure solutions comprising environmental studies and compliance, environmental remediation, public infrastructure, and geotechnical and materials services; clean energy solutions; mine planning and design, mineral processing and metallurgy, mineral resources and project assessment services; and automation and control solutions, such as asset protection and facility and process automation solutions, as well as simulation, learning, and virtual systems. In addition, the company offers subsea and export systems, including subsea, umbilical, riser, and flowline design, as well as planning, design, and development of marine terminals and pipelines; and hull and marine services. It serves oil and gas, infrastructure, industrial and manufacturing, mining, power, and government sectors. John Wood Group PLC was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Aberdeen, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley  Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley  Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business.The following companies are subsidiares of BP: 200 PS Overseas Holdings Inc., 563916 Alberta Ltd., ACP (Malaysia) Inc., AE Cedar Creek Holdings LLC, AE Goshen II Holdings LLC, AE Goshen II Wind Farm LLC, AE Power Services LLC, AE Wind PartsCo LLC, AM/PM International Inc., ARCO, ARCO British International, ARCO British Limited, ARCO Coal Australia Inc., ARCO El-Djazair Holdings Inc., ARCO Environmental Remediation L.L.C., ARCO Exploration Inc., ARCO Gaviota Company, ARCO International Investments Inc., ARCO International Services Inc., ARCO Midcon LLC, ARCO Oil Company Nigeria Unlimited, ARCO Oman Inc, ARCO Resources Limited, ARCO Trinidad Exploration and Production Company Limited, ARCO Unimar Holdings LLC, Actomat B.V., Advance Petroleum Holdings Pty Ltd, Advance Petroleum Pty Ltd, Air BP Albania SHA, Air BP Brasil Ltda., Air BP Canada LLC, Air BP Croatia d.o.o., Air BP Finland Oy, Air BP Iceland, Air BP Limited, Air BP Norway AS, Air BP Sales Romania S.R.L., Air BP Sweden AB, Air Refuel Pty Ltd, Allgreen Pty Ltd, AmProp Finance Company, American Oil Company, Amoco (Fiddich) Limited, Amoco (U.K.) Exploration Company LLC., Amoco Bolivia Petroleum Company, Amoco Bolivia Services Company Inc., Amoco Canada International Holdings B.V., Amoco Capline Pipeline Company, Amoco Chemical (Europe) S.A., Amoco Chemicals (FSC) B.V., Amoco Cypress Pipeline Company, Amoco Destin Pipeline Company, Amoco Environmental Services Company, Amoco Exploration Holdings B.V., Amoco Guatemala Petroleum Company, Amoco International Finance Corporation, Amoco International Petroleum Company, Amoco Leasing Corporation, Amoco Louisiana Fractionator Company, Amoco MB Fractionation Company, Amoco MBF Company, Amoco Main Pass Gathering Company, Amoco Marketing Environmental Services Company, Amoco Netherlands Petroleum Company, Amoco Nigeria Exploration Company Limited, Amoco Nigeria Oil Company Limited, Amoco Nigeria Petroleum Company, Amoco Nigeria Petroleum Company Limited, Amoco Norway Oil Company, Amoco Oil Holding Company, Amoco Olefins Corporation, Amoco Overseas Exploration Company, Amoco Pipeline Asset Company, Amoco Pipeline Holding Company, Amoco Properties Incorporated, Amoco Remediation Management Services Corporation, Amoco Research Operating Company, Amoco Rio Grande Pipeline Company, Amoco Somalia Petroleum Company, Amoco Sulfur Recovery Company, Amoco Tri-States NGL Pipeline Company, Amoco Trinidad Gas B.V., Amoco U.K. Petroleum Limited, Amprop Illinois I Limited, Amprop Inc., Anaconda Arizona Inc., Arabian Production And Marketing Lubricants, Aral Aktiengesellschaft, Aral Luxembourg S.A., Aral Services Luxembourg Sarl, Aral Tankstellen Services Sarl, Arco Mediterraneo Inversiones S.L., Areas Noriega S.L., Areas Singulares Reyes S.L., Aspac Lubricants (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Atlantic 2/3 UK Holdings Limited, Atlantic Richfield Company, Atlantic Richfield Companyd, Autino Holdings Limited, Autino Limited, Auwahi Wind Energy Holdings LLC, B2Mobility GmbH, BASS Management Pty Ltd, BP (Abu Dhabi) Limited, BP (Barbados) Holding SRL, BP (Barbican) Limited, BP (China) Holdings Limited, BP (China) Industrial Lubricants Limited, BP (GTA Mauritania) Finance Limited, BP (GTA Senegal) Finance Limited, BP (Gibraltar) Limited, BP (Guangzhou) Advanced Mobility Limited, BP (Hunan) Petroleum Company Limited, BP (Indian Agencies) Limited, BP (Shandong) Petroleum Co. Ltd, BP (Shanghai) Trading Limited, BP - Castrol (Thailand) Limited, BP AMI Leasing Inc., BP Absheron Limited, BP Advanced Mobility Limited, BP Africa Limited, BP Africa Oil Limited, BP Akaryakit Ortakligi, BP Alaska LNG LLC, BP Alternative Energy Holdings Limited, BP Alternative Energy Investments Limited, BP Alternative Energy North America Inc., BP Alternative Energy Trinidad and Tobago Limited, BP America Chembel Holding LLC, BP America Chemicals Company, BP America Foreign Investments Inc., BP America Inc, BP America Inc., BP America Limited, BP America Production Company, BP Amoco Chemical Company, BP Amoco Chemical Holding Company, BP Amoco Chemical Indonesia Limited, BP Amoco Chemical Malaysia Holding Company, BP Amoco Exploration (Faroes) Limited, BP Amoco Exploration (In Amenas) Limited, BP Andaman II Ltd, BP Angola (Block 18) B.V., BP Argentina Exploration Company, BP Argentina Holdings LLC, BP Aromatics Holdings Limited, BP Aromatics Limited, BP Asia Limited, BP Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., BP Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BP Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, BP Australia Capital Markets Limited, BP Australia Employee Share Plan Proprietary Limited, BP Australia Group Pty Ltde, BP Australia Investments Pty Ltd, BP Australia Nominees Proprietary Limited, BP Australia Pty Ltd, BP Australia Shipping Pty Ltd, BP Australia Swaps Management Limited, BP Aviation A/S, BP Benevolent Fund Trustees Limited, BP Berau Ltd., BP Biocombustiveis S.A., BP Bioenergia Campina Verde Ltda., BP Bioenergia Ituiutaba Ltda., BP Bioenergia Itumbiara S.A., BP Bioenergia Tropical S.A., BP Biofuels Advanced Technology Inc., BP Biofuels Brazil Investments Limited, BP Biofuels Louisiana LLC, BP Biofuels North America LLC, BP Biofuels Trading Comercio Exportacao Ltda., BP Bomberai Ltd., BP Brasil Ltda., BP Brazil Tracking L.L.C., BP Bulwer Island Pty Ltd, BP Business Service Centre Asia Sdn Bhd, BP Business Service Centre KFT, BP CIV Pty Ltd, BP Canada Energy Development Company, BP Canada Energy Group ULC, BP Canada Energy Marketing Corp., BP Canada International Holdings B.V., BP Canada Investments Inc., BP Capellen Sarl, BP Capital Markets, BP Capital Markets America, BP Capital Markets America Inc., BP Capital Markets p.l.c., BP Car Fleet Limited, BP Caribbean Company, BP Castrol KK, BP Castrol Lubricants (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., BP Central Pipelines LLC, BP Chembel, BP Chemicals (Korea) Limited, BP Chemicals East China Investments Limited, BP Chemicals Investments Limited, BP Chemicals Limited, BP China Exploration and Production Company, BP Comercializadora de Energia Ltda., BP Commodities Trading Limited, BP Commodity Supply B.V., BP Company North America, BP Company North America Inc., BP Containment Response Limited, BP Containment Response System Holdings LLC, BP Continental Holdings Limited, BP Corporate Holdings, BP Corporate Holdings Limited, BP Corporation North America, BP Corporation North America Inc., BP D-B Pipeline Company LLC, BP D230 Limited, BP Danmark A/S, BP Developments Australia Pty. Ltd., BP Dogal Gaz Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, BP East Kalimantan CBM Limited, BP Eastern Mediterranean Limited, BP Egypt Company, BP Egypt East Delta Marine Corporation, BP Egypt East Tanka B.V., BP Egypt Production B.V., BP Egypt Ras El Barr B.V., BP Egypt West Mediterranean (Block B) B.V., BP Energy Asia Pte. Limited, BP Energy Colombia Limited, BP Energy Company, BP Energy Europe Limited, BP Energy Solutions B.V., BP Energy do Brasil Ltda., BP Energia Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., BP Espana S.A. Unipersonal, BP Estaciones y Servicios Energeticos Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, BP Europa SE, BP Exploracion de Venezuela S.A., BP Exploration & Production Inc., BP Exploration (Absheron) Limited, BP Exploration (Alaska), BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., BP Exploration (Algeria) Limited, BP Exploration (Alpha), BP Exploration (Alpha) Limited, BP Exploration (Angola), BP Exploration (Angola) Limited, BP Exploration (Azerbaijan), BP Exploration (Azerbaijan) Limited, BP Exploration (Canada) Limited, BP Exploration (Caspian Sea), BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Limited, BP Exploration (D230) Limited, BP Exploration (Delta), BP Exploration (Delta) Limited, BP Exploration (El Djazair) Limited, BP Exploration (Epsilon) Limited, BP Exploration (Gambia) Limited, BP Exploration (Greenland) Limited, BP Exploration (Madagascar) Limited, BP Exploration (Morocco) Limited, BP Exploration (Namibia) Limited, BP Exploration (Nigeria Finance) Limited, BP Exploration (Nigeria) Limited, BP Exploration (Psi) Limited, BP Exploration (STP) Limited, BP Exploration (Shafag-Asiman) Limited, BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Limited, BP Exploration (South Atlantic) Limited, BP Exploration (Xazar) Pte. Ltd., BP Exploration Angola (Kwanza Benguela) Limited, BP Exploration Argentina Limited, BP Exploration Australia Pty Ltd Level 15, BP Exploration Beta Limited, BP Exploration China Limited, BP Exploration Company (Middle East) Limited, BP Exploration Company Limited, BP Exploration Indonesia Limited, BP Exploration Libya Limited, BP Exploration Mexico Limited, BP Exploration Mexico S.A. De C.V., BP Exploration North Africa Limited, BP Exploration Operating Company, BP Exploration Operating Company Limited, BP Exploration Orinoco Limited, BP Exploration Personnel Company Limited, BP Exploration Peru Limited, BP Express Shopping Limited, BP Finance Australia Pty Ltd, BP Finance p.l.c., BP Foundation Incorporated, BP France, BP Fuels & Lubricants AS, BP Fuels Deutschland GmbH, BP GOM Logistics LLC, BP Gas & Power Investments Limited, BP Gas Europe S.A.U., BP Gas Marketing Limited, BP Gas Supply (Angola) LLC, BP Ghana Limited, BP Global Investments, BP Global Investments Limited, BP Global Investments Salalah & Co LLC, BP Global West Africa Limited, BP Greece Limited, BP Guangdong Limited, BP High Density Polyethylene - France, BP Holdings (Thailand) Limited, BP Holdings B.V., BP Holdings Canada, BP Holdings Canada Limited, BP Holdings International B.V., BP Holdings North America, BP Holdings North America Limited, BP Hong Kong Limited, BP India Private Limited, BP Indonesia Investment Limited, BP International, BP International Limited, BP International Services Company, BP Investment Management Limited, BP Investments Asia Limited, BP Iran Limited, BP Iraq N.V., BP Italia SpA, BP Japan K.K., BP Korea Limited, BP Kuwait Limited, BP LNG Shipping Limited, BP Latin America LLC, BP Latin America Upstream Services Inc., BP Lubricants KK, BP Lubricants USA Inc., BP Luxembourg S.A., BP Malaysia Holdings Sdn. Bhd., BP Management International B.V., BP Management Netherlands B.V., BP Marine Limited, BP Mariner Holding Company LLC, BP Maritime Services (Singapore) Pte. Limited, BP Marketing Egypt LLC, BP Mauritania Investments Limited, BP Mauritius Limited (in liquidation), BP Middle East Enterprises Corporation, BP Middle East LLC, BP Middle East Limited, BP Midstream Partners GP LLC, BP Midstream Partners Holdings LLC, BP Midstream Partners LP, BP Midwest Product Pipelines Holdings LLC, BP Mocambique Limitada, BP Mocambique Limited, BP Muturi Holdings B.V., BP Nederland Holdings BV, BP Netherlands Upstream B.V., BP New Ventures Middle East Limited, BP New Zealand Holdings Limited, BP New Zealand Share Scheme Limited, BP Nutrition Inc., BP Offshore Gathering Systems Inc., BP Offshore Pipelines Company LLC, BP Offshore Response Company LLC, BP Oil (Thailand) Limited, BP Oil Australia Pty Ltd, BP Oil Espana S.A., BP Oil Hellenic S.A., BP Oil International, BP Oil International Limited, BP Oil Kent Refinery Limited (in liquidation), BP Oil Llandarcy Refinery Limited, BP Oil Logistics UK Limited, BP Oil New Zealand Limited, BP Oil Pipeline Company, BP Oil Senegal S.A., BP Oil Shipping Company, BP Oil UK Limited, BP Oil Venezuela Limited, BP Oil Vietnam Limited, BP Oil Yemen Limited, BP Olex Fanal Mineralol GmbH, BP One Pipeline Company LLC, BP Pacific Investments Ltd, BP Pakistan (Badin) Inc., BP Pakistan Exploration and Production Inc., BP Pension Escrow Limited, BP Pension Trustees Limited, BP Pensions (Overseas) Limited, BP Pensions Limited, BP Petrochemicals India Investments Limited, BP Petroleo y Gas S.A., BP Petrolleri Anonim Sirketi, BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., BP Pipelines (BTC) Limited, BP Pipelines (North America) Inc., BP Pipelines (SCP) Limited, BP Pipelines (TANAP) Limited, BP Pipelines TAP Limited, BP Polska Services Sp. z o.o. Ul., BP Portugal -Comercio de Combustiveis e Lubrificantes SA, BP Poseidon Limited, BP Products North America, BP Products North America Inc., BP Properties Limited, BP Raffinaderij Rotterdam B.V., BP Refinery (Kwinana) Proprietary Limited, BP Regional Australasia Holdings Pty Ltd, BP River Rouge Pipeline Company LLC, BP Russian Investments Limited, BP Russian Ventures Limited, BP SC Holdings LLC, BP Scale Up Factory Limited, BP Senegal Investments Limited, BP Services International Limited, BP Servicios de Combustibles S.A. de C.V., BP Servicios territoriales S.A., BP Shafag-Asiman Limited, BP Shipping Limited, BP Singapore Pte. Limited, BP Solar Energy North America LLC, BP Solar Espana S.A., BP Solar International Inc., BP Solar Pty Ltd, BP South America Holdings Ltd, BP Southern Africa Proprietary Limited, BP Southern Cone Company, BP Subsea Well Response (Brazil) Limited, BP Subsea Well Response Limited, BP Taiwan Marketing Limited, BP Technology Ventures Inc., BP Technology Ventures Limited, BP Train 2/3 Holding SRL, BP Transportation (Alaska) Inc., BP Trinidad Processing Limited, BP Trinidad and Tobago, BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC, BP Turkey Refining Limited, BP Two Pipeline Company LLC, BP UK Retained Holdings Limited, BP Venezuela Investments B.V., BP West Aru I Limited, BP West Aru II Limited, BP West Papua I Limited, BP West Papua III Limited, BP Wind Energy North America Inc., BP Wiriagar Ltd., BP World-Wide Technical Services Limited, BP Zhuhai Chemical Company Limited, BP+Amoco International Limited, BP-AIOC Exploration (TISA) LLC, BPA Investment Holding Company, BPNE International B.V., BPRY Caribbean Ventures LLC, BPX (Eagle Ford) Gathering LLC, BPX (KCS Resources) LLC, BPX (Karnes) Gathering LLC, BPX (Permian) Gathering LLC, BPX (WSF Operating) Inc., BPX Energy Inc., BPX Midstream LLC, BPX Operating Company, BPX Production Company, BPX Properties (GP) LLC, BPX Properties (LP) LLC, BPX Properties (NA) LP, BTC Pipeline Holding Company Limited, BXL Plastics Limitedv, Bahia de Bizkaia Electridad S.L., Baltimore Ennis Land Company Inc., Black Lake Pipe Line Company, Brian Jasper Nominees Pty Ltd, Britannic Energy Trading Limited, Britannic Investments Iraq Limited, Britannic Marketing Limited, Britannic Strategies Limited, Britannic Trading Limited, Britoil Limited, Burmah Castrol, Burmah Castrol Australia Pty Ltd, Burmah Castrol Holdings Inc., Burmah Castrol PLC, Burmah Castrol South Africa (Pty) Limited, Burmah Chile SpA, Butamax Advanced Biofuels, CASTROL Austria GmbHb, CH-Twenty Inc., CNAA, Cadman DBP Limited, Casitas Pipeline Company, Castrol (China) Limited, Castrol (Ireland) Limited, Castrol (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Castrol (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Castrol (Tianjin) Lubricants Co. Ltd., Castrol (U.K.) Limited, Castrol Australia Pty. Limited, Castrol B.V., Castrol BP Petco Limited Liability Company, Castrol Brasil Ltda., Castrol Caribbean & Central America Inc., Castrol Colombia Ltda., Castrol Del Peru S.A., Castrol Egypt Lubricants S.A.E., Castrol India Limited, Castrol Industrie und Service GmbH, Castrol KK, Castrol Limited, Castrol Lubricants RO S.R.L, Castrol Mexico S.A., Castrol Namibia (Pty) Limited, Castrol Offshore Limited, Castrol Pakistan (Private) Limited, Castrol Philippines Inc., Castrol Servicos Ltda., Castrol Ukraine LLC, Castrol Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, Centrel Pty Ltd, Charge Your Car Limitedc, Chargemaster, Chargemaster (Europe) GmbH, Chargemaster Limited, Charging Solutions Limited, Clarisse Holdings Pty Ltd, Coastwise Trading Company Inc., Consolidada de Energia y Lubricantes (CENERLUB) C.A., Conti Cross Keys Inn Inc., Coro Trading NZ Limited, Cuyama Pipeline Company, DHC Solvent Chemie GmbH, Dermody Developments Pty Ltd, Dermody Holdings Pty Ltd, Dermody Investments Pty Ltd, Dermody Petroleum Pty. 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Ltd., Telcom General Corporation, Terre de Grace Partnership, The Anaconda Company, The BP Share Plans Trustees Limited, The Burmah Oil Company (Pakistan Trading) Limited, The Standard Oil Company, Toledo Refinery Holding Company LLC, Torrelavega 7 S.L., Union Texas International Corporation, Vastar Pipeline LLC, Veba Oel AG Veba Oel, Verenium, Viceroy Investments Limited, Villacarriedo 8 S.L., Warrenville Development Limited, Water Way Trading and Petroleum Services LLC, Welchem Inc., West Kimberley Fuels Pty Ltd, Westlake Houston Development LLC, Whiting Clean Energy Inc., Windpark Energy Nederland B.V., and Winwell Resources L.L.C.International Business Machines Corp. is an information technology company, which provides integrated solutions that leverage information technology and knowledge of business processes. It operates through the following segments: Cloud and Cognitive Software, Global Business Services, Global Technology Services, Systems, and Global Financing. The Cloud and Cognitive Software segment provides integrated and secure cloud, data, and solutions to the clients. The Global Business Services segment provides clients with consulting, application management, and business process outsourcing services. The Global Technology Services segment provides comprehensive IT infrastructure and platform services that create business value for clients. The Systems segment provides clients with innovative infrastructure platforms to help meet the requirements of hybrid cloud and enterprise AI workload. The Global Financing segment provides client financing, commercial financing, and participates in the remanufacturing and remarketing of used equipment. The company was founded by Charles Ranlett Flint and Thomas J. Watson Sr. on June 16, 1911 and is headquartered in Armonk, NY.

Read MoreHCM CITY  HCM City has a 115 emergency aid centre and 24 satellite stations throughout the city, but a shortage of personnel and ambulances has seriously affected the quality of service.

Speaking at a meeting between the Cultural and Social Affairs Board of the Peoples Council and the 115 emergency aid centre held on Tuesday (April 10), Dr Le Truong Giang, chairman of the citys Public Health Association, said that only 1 per cent of patients were transported by ambulance to hospitals.

The rest are transported by taxi or brought to hospitals by their relatives, according to Giang.

Dr Nguyen Duy Long, head of the 115 emergency aid centre, said the centre saw an increase in calls in the last three years, from 8,787 in 2015 to 20,827 in 2017.

The number of patients receiving emergency aid from the centre rose from 5,172 in 2015 to 12,176 in 2017.

However, Long said the centre and its stations lacked a sufficient number of personnel and ambulances. The centre has 11 ambulances, including six old vehicles. It has 110 staff, including 16 doctors, 60 nurses and 22 drivers.

Last year, 23 staff quit their jobs, including six doctors, mostly because of low salaries, high pressure, and risks in working.

The lowest salary is around VN1.6 million (US$70) per month and the highest is VN4 million to VN6 million ($175.4- 263) per month.

Most cases that need emergency aid from the centre are victims of traffic accidents involving drunk driving, Long said, adding that centre staff have to work with police to ensure safety for its workers in these cases.

In addition, the centre has faced problems attracting new doctors and nurses, as most doctors would prefer working at hospitals, Long said.

Even so, the centre has not contacted medical universities to help with recruitment of doctors and nurses, he added.

Long suggested that the city Peoples Council and Department of Health issue better policies such as higher salaries to attract personnel.

The centre also needs to receive more funds so that it can upgrade facilities and vehicles, and improve emergency aid services in ambulances and outside hospitals, as other countries do, according to Long.

Nguyen Hong Ha, deputy head of the Cultural and Social Affairs Board, said that salaries should be raised for the centres staff.

The departments of Health and of Finance are working together on a proposal to raise the salary to the same level as staff at hospitals. Ha said that a more appropriate recruitment plan should also be used.

Giang of the citys Public Health Association said that higher salaries would not necessarily attract more doctors because hospital doctors can open private clinics in evening hours to earn extra income.

He said that more paramedics should be trained to work in the pre-hospital and out-of-hospital environment, and as part of emergency medical services, as is done in Australia and other countries.

The city should have legal policy to allow paramedics to work, he said, adding that more ambulances with modern equipment should be provided to the centre and its stations.

Prof Dr Tang Chi Thuong, deputy head of the city Department of Health, said the citys Department of Finance did not agree to the his proposal to buy one more ambulance for each station. VNSExcerpts from a new memoir by former FBI Director James Comey, leaked to the press on Thursday, have ignited a new round of attacks and counterattacks in the ongoing conflict within the US political establishment. Following Mondays FBI raid on Trumps personal lawyer Michael Cohen, the Comey book is being used by the anti-Trump faction within the ruling class and the state to escalate a months-long campaign that increasingly appears aimed at removing Trump from office.

Anti-Trump forces within the establishment are focusing more and more on sensational sexual allegations, and Trumps responses are taking on an increasingly hysterical character, exposing the depraved and anti-democratic character of American bourgeois politics. In a series of tweets posted Friday, Trump denounced Comey, whom he fired last May, as a liar and slime ball.

The book itself is not being released to the public until Tuesday, so the leaked excerpts represent an aggressive marketing campaign that will boost sales and pump millions into Comeys own pockets. This is combined with a series of television appearances, including an hour-long interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC scheduled for broadcast Sunday night.

Substantively, the Comey memoir apparently contains no significant revelations about Trump or his top aides and their connections to Russia or alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. There is much detail on Trumps appeals for loyalty from the then-FBI director. But Comey concedes that while offensive and possibly unethical, Trumps efforts to intercede with the FBI on behalf of his closest cronies, such as fired National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, may not have been illegal.

That has not stopped the media from picking up the most salacious and degrading sections of the book and flogging them. For their part, pro-Trump media and Republican Party publicists have launched a campaign to vilify Lyin Comey, frequently citing Democratic criticism of Comey for his earlier actions during the 2016 campaign in relation to the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

The main focus of the press coverage is Comeys claim that Trump approached him in January 2017, at a previously reported meeting at Trump Tower, and asked him to initiate an FBI investigation to discredit the so-called Steele dossier, which includes unverified material on Trumps activities in Russia collected by a former British spy working as a contractor for the Democratic National Committee.

According to Comey, Trump was most concerned about the claim that while in Moscow on a business trip in 2013 he had hired prostitutes to urinate on themselves in the same hotel suite used by President Barack Obama as a way of soiling the bed. He asked Comey to have the FBI disprove this claim, which he said was very painful to his wife Melania.

This is presumably the low point of the 304-page book, and the first time that a top Washington insider has wallowed in such degrading material with so much detail. Reviews of the book based on advance copies suggest that Comey returns to the subject several times, relating at least four separate requests by Trump to rebut the Steele dossier on this point.

Press accounts have also cited Comeys comparison of the atmosphere of lies and flattery surrounding Trump in the White House to that of a Mafia clan. Comey, or a ghostwriter, describes feeling flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob.

That Trump and his inner circle resemble a corrupt mob boss and his courtiers comes as no surprise. Trump was steeped in gangsterism and corruption in the course of his many decades in New York City real estate, casino gambling, reality television and their many intersections with capitalist politicians of both the Democratic and Republican parties.

There is a great deal of personal animus towards Trump in the excerpts from the book made public in the media, ranging from the trivialthe size of Trumps hands, the marks on his face and the style of his hairto characterizations of the president as liar-in-chief, bullying boss and, occasionally, smarmy supplicant. All this seems well calculated to meet the demands of the market for an anti-Trump diatribe, where Comey can expect a significant monetary reward.

Beyond the immediate pecuniary motives and self-justification, the Comey book is intended to become a further weapon in the campaign to destabilize the Trump administration being waged by sections of the military-intelligence apparatus and the Democratic Party. The driving force of this campaign is a deep conflict over foreign policy, particularly in relation to US policy towards Russia, both in the Middle East and more broadly.

The timing of the books publication is remarkable from a number of standpoints. It comes during a week of intensifying crisis over Syria, with Trump threatening imminent military action against the government of Bashar al-Assad that could lead to a direct conflict with Assads principal allies, Iran and Russia.

It is also striking that Comey has issued this volume while the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russian interference in the US elections and possible collusion with the Trump campaign is at a critical point, following the raid on Cohen, which was based on a referral by Mueller to the US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Comey is an experienced prosecutor who led the FBI for five years. He well understands the potential impact of such a book. His dismissal by Trump triggered the appointment of Mueller as special counsel by the Department of Justice and his firing is one of the events portrayed in the media as obstruction of justice, a potentially impeachable offense. Under those circumstances, to have a major figure in the probe write a first-person account of these events, amid massive media attention, could be considered an effort to prejudice any future jurors and public opinion more generally.

The book itself, as well as the publicity campaign surrounding it, seems tailored to produce a subjective explosion from Trump in which he might make a damaging admission. Thus Comey appeared on ABC Newss Good Morning America Thursday to give an advance peek at his hour-long Sunday night interview, and the segment showed him declaring that it was possible that a pee tape exists of Trump with the Moscow prostitutes. Trumps seemingly unhinged tweets came only minutes after Comeys appearance.

Also on Friday, in a move clearly directed against the Mueller investigation, Trump pardoned Lewis Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff of Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby was convicted in 2007 of lying to a grand jury and obstructing justice and sentenced to a $250,000 fine and 30 months in prison. George W. Bush commuted Libbys prison sentence before he left office, but he rejected repeated appeals from Cheney to pardon the vice presidents former aide.

Libby was indicted, tried and convicted in connection with the leaking of the identity of a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame, in July of 2003. Plames husband, Joseph Wilson, a former US ambassador in Africa, published a column in the New York Times that month debunking Bushs claim that Saddam Hussein had purchased yellow cake uranium from Niger.

Shortly thereafter, syndicated columnist Robert Novak published a commentary outing Plame as a CIA operative, a breach of classified information. Comey, then deputy attorney general, appointed a special counsel to investigate the case, leading to Libbys indictment and conviction for perjury and obstruction.

Trumps pardon of Libby is a signal both to Mueller and to those targeted in his investigation that the president is prepared to pardon those who refuse to cooperate or give false information to prosecutors. That could potentially include former top aides such as fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to a perjury charge in a plea bargain with Mueller, and Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign manager who is fighting criminal charges brought by Mueller.The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fired live ammunition and tear gas on unarmed Palestinians protesting for the third Friday in a row near Gazas border with Israel.

At least 528 protesters were injured, 59 by gunshots and many others by tear gas, 107 of whom were hospitalized. At least one is in a critical condition. Ten of the wounded are nurses and paramedics in Khan Younis, while two are journalists.

This weeks unarmed protest, called Flag Day, has seen demonstrators burn Israeli flags and wave Palestinian ones.

Without providing a shred of evidence, Israel has accused Hamas, which governs Gaza, of using the protests as a cover for carrying out attacks on the border.

Sections of the Israeli media called yesterdays protest Molotov Dayand claimed that the Palestinians were planning to throw improvised incendiary devices (IEDs) towards Israeli forcesin an attempt brand the demonstrations as violent and justify Israels criminal response.

The IDF has killed 34 Palestinians, including 26 demonstrators, since the start of the March of Return just over two weeks ago. Yet not a single Israeli has been killed or even injured, and no Israeli property has been damaged or put at risk. Furthermore, the shooting of unarmed civilians constitutes a violation not only of Israels own standing orders, but of international humanitarian law.

The six-week peaceful protest is demanding the Palestinians right to return to their ancestors villages and towns in what is now Israela demand that Israeli officials reject because it would reduce Jewish citizens to a minority.

The March is also calling for the full implementation of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 of December 1948 stipulating that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.

The six-week campaign will conclude on May 15, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, which the Palestinians commemorate as Nakba (Catastrophe Day). The US is set to open its embassy in Jerusalem on that day. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Yesterdays casualties follow Israel Defence Minister Avigdor Liebermans earlier pledge of a reaction of the harshest kind and his warning that Israels open-fire rules for the Gaza bordera shoot-to-kill policywould remain in place and that anyone approaching the border was endangering their life.

Last Sunday, Lieberman said there were no innocent people in the Gaza Stripwhich is controlled by the militant bourgeois-Islamist group Hamas. He said, Everyones connected to Hamas, everyone gets a salary from Hamas, and all the activists trying to challenge us and breach the border are Hamas military wing activists.

Among the 26 demonstrators killed by Israels military forces was the well-known Palestinian video-journalist Yasser Murtaja. The 30-year-old father, who worked for Ein Media, had been covering all the protests at the border fence. He was shot in the abdomen by an Israeli sniper Friday, April 7, while wearing a flak vest clearly marked Press and holding his Canon 5D camera.

Ten journalists have been injured by live ammunition, with a further 18 injured by tear gas canisters since the beginning of the March of Return protests on March 30, in a blatant attempt to prevent the real story of Israels murderous suppression of the Palestinian protests emerging. Israel refuses to recognize Palestinian journalists as professionals or distinguish between demonstrators and photographers, while issuing press cards to Israeli and international journalists.

Lieberman sought to defend the IDFs cold-blooded murder of Murtaja by claiming he was operating a dronean assertion even Israels military has denied. Undeterred, he claimed, without providing a shred of evidence, that Murtaja was a member of Hamas, even though the latter had previously arrested and beaten him for carrying out his work.

An unlikely source contradicted Lieberman. A US State Department official said that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had recently vetted and approved an $11,700 grant to Ein Media. This would not have been possible if the organization were linked in any way to Hamas, which the US and Israel proscribe as a terrorist group.

Murtajas killing has been widely condemned by Israeli and international media organisations. Israels Union of Journalists wrote to IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot, protesting the killing and calling on the IDF to uphold the freedom of the press.

The General Federation of Arab Journalists is to include Murtajas killing in a prosecution it is launching against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

After initially refusing, the authorities announced on April 7 they would investigate Murtajas death. But this is unlikely to produce anything other than a whitewash.

The protests have seen some 2,870 people injured between March 30 and April 11. So great has been the scale of the casualties that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed its concern. It has questioned Gazas capacity to handle thousands of wounded in the light of the 12-year blockade of Gaza by Israel and latterly by Egypt.

OCHA said, Gazas health sector has struggled to cope with the mass influx of casualties, due to years of blockade, internal divide and a chronic energy crisis, which have left essential services in Gaza barely able to function. It added, The large number of casualties among unarmed demonstrators, including a high percentage of demonstrators hit by live ammunition, has raised concerns about excessive use of force.

Israel has aggravated the suffering of the Palestinians, refusing the injured permission to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment in Egypt or elsewhere, leaving two young Palestinians in danger of losing their legs. Israel has all but admitted to denying medical treatment as a form of punishment, in a response to a court petition on behalf of the injured.

According to Haaretz, Israel had refused requests for an exit permit for those injured despite their medical conditions meeting all the necessary criteria. The main consideration for the refusal stems from the fact that their medical condition is a function of their participation in the disturbances.

The human rights group Adalah, which had petitioned the Israeli government on behalf of the Palestinians, said, The wilful act of denying urgent medical care, in these circumstances, may constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and/or torture under the UN Convention Against Torture, ratified by Israel.

Within Israel, this onslaught has not gone unopposed. There was a small but significant protest in Sderotthe city most affected by the homemade rockets fired from Gazadenouncing the IDFs actions there and calling for an end to the Israeli military blockade of Gaza.

In the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authoritys security forces act as subcontractors for the Israeli army, demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza have been few and small.

In the wider Arab region, the March of Return is getting short shrift from the state and corporate-controlled media allied with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They are determined to secure US intervention against the Assad regime in Syria as part of a broader offensive against Iran. The protests are receiving only slightly more coverage on Al Jazeera, which is controlled by Qatar, supports Hamas in Gaza and is closer to Iran.Anyone who, at a meeting or through the distribution of writings, incites the crime of aggression will be punished with a custodial sentence of between three months and five years, states paragraph 80A of Germanys Criminal Code. The crime of aggressioni.e., the conducting of a war of aggression or any other act of aggressionis punishable by life imprisonment according to paragraph 13 of Germanys International Criminal Code.

These paragraphs trace their origins directly to the Nuremberg Trials against the Nazis. If they were taken seriously, numerous German politicians and newspaper editors would be behind bars.

The preparation of a military strike against Syria has unleashed war fever among Germanys political parties and newspapers.

Die Welt, the flagship publication of the right-wing Springer publishing house, is demanding the eradication of the Assad regime with a military engagement and the deployment of hundreds of thousands of soldiers to Syria to in the worst case scenario, fight Russians and Iranians.

This language recalls not only the language of Hitler and Goebbels, who also described their war aims with vocabulary like eradicate and exterminate. It is also comparable with Hitlers mad, criminal plans in terms of content. Hundreds of thousands of American and European troops fighting against Russians and Iranians would inevitably lead to a nuclear war that humanity would be highly unlikely to survive.

The statements appear in a comment published by Die Welt on Thursday from Jacques Schuster. Under the headline, A war cant begin with a mere symbolic strike, the chief commentator for the Welt Group declares, Assad must go!

Schuster writes that there can be no objections to a military strike. The lesson of history is not war, never again!, but aggression, never again! There are times when precisely such aggression has to be answered with forcewhether from Trump or Macron.

The lies and demagogy are breathtaking. Die Welt is justifying a war that would claim the lives of tens of thousands, if not millions, with an alleged gas attack in Syria, which has not been substantiated and bears all the hallmarks of a provocation. The orchestrated Racak massacre was used in a similar way to launch the war in Yugoslavia, and an alleged imminent massacre in Benghazi served to legitimise the destruction of Libya.

Schuster even manages to attack Trump from the right. He describes the US president intellectually speaking as half-hearted, and doubts whether he has the will and ability to conduct such a war. The cool sobriety, the geostrategic understanding, the ability to think things through at least halfway to the endhe doesnt have any of that. A war can not begin with such an obviously helpless symbolic strike, which will impress neither the Russians nor Assad. It should also not arise from the need to return to the world stage, as with France, the puffed-up military dwarf.

War with Assad, according to Schuster, should be conducted with one goal and question: Can the Assad regime be eradicated with one military engagement. Are the Americans and Europeans ready to deploy hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the country for this purpose and to fight Russians and Iranians if necessary? By contrast, an air attack alone will produce nothing. It can calm excited Western minds, but the risk is not worth it.

Other commentators are advancing an equally provocative line.

Carsten Luther declares in Die Zeit, The use of chemical weapons in Syria cannot be allowed to pass without consequences. He praises US President Trump, who entirely correctly maintained that whoever does such a thing must pay a high price so that they dont do so again. Force is a last resort. But you cant do without force all the time.

The editor for Die Zeit cynically attacks naive pacifism and spiritual nationalism, which always brandishes its favorite principle of international law: dont intervene To make this worldview fit, they then add a quick denunciation of US imperialism.

Like Die Welt, Die Zeit considers air strikes to be inadequate. The fear is, according to Luther, that this will not be the beginning of a more robust strategy from the West for this war, but merely the replacement for one. The demand for an intervention by the international community is not fulfilled with a one-off, negligible intervention.

Luther asserted that this is not an argument for a larger military operation which takes on the regime on all fronts and sets the goal of overthrowing Assad, because this would also mean war with Russia and Iran, which would be madness with incalculable consequences. But this is obviously what is being discussed in the well-connected circles of government representatives and journalists in Berlin who determine government policy.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) even manages to outdo the provocations in Die Welt. Newspaper editor Berthold Kohler accused Assad on Thursday of capturing one city after another with support from the Kremlin by laying waste to them or turning them into gas chambers.

As if the Syrian governments actions during a civil war, which has seen the Western-backed, financed and armed rebels brutally attack the population, is comparable with the industrial killing by the Nazis. The same newspaper defended the Berlin-based historian Jorg Baberowski against criticism of his statement, Hitler was not vicious, and his downplaying of the Nazi regimes crimes.

The FAZ also praises President Trump. Despite his incredible boasting, his willingness to act is finding support from important allies, writes Kohler, because there are reasons of morality and realpolitik to attack Assad.

Kohler knows full well that a war on Syria would be illegal under international law, but he still praises the German government for supporting the war, writing, Berlin wants to politically back the Americans, French and British, even though a strike against Assad would not be legal under international law.

The Green Party-aligned TAZ also leant its support to the war drive. Severe violations of human rights in the Syrian civil war should of course be punished, commented Beate Seel on Thursday. Like Die Zeit and FAZ, she criticised the absence of a strategy for the period thereafter. However, she cloaked this call for a war strategy in typical TAZ language about a peace process overseen by the UN.

In the end she made clear that what is at stake is the securing of imperialist control over the resource-rich and strategically important Middle East. It would be a grave mistake, she wrote, to leave the political terrain to the Astana group [Russia, Turkey and Iran], to determine Syrias future.With little attention from the media or the Democratic Party, the Trump administration and state governments are carrying out a ruthless campaign against Medicaid, the insurance program for the poor, disabled and elderly that is jointly administered by the federal government and the states. More than 75 million Americans are currently covered by Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Under the Obama administration-sponsored Affordable Care Act (ACA), 33 states have expanded Medicaid benefits to cover those earning up to $16,643 a year as an individual or $28,180 for a family of four.

A 2012 US Supreme Court decision ruled that the ACAs individual mandate, which requires those without insurance to purchase private health insurance or pay a penalty, was constitutional, but left it up to the states to decide whether or not to expand Medicaid. To date, 32 states and the District of Columbia have expanded the program, while 18 states, mostly led by Republicans in the South and Midwest, have not.

Some Republican-controlled states are now considering expanding Medicaid, but these moves come with attached stipulations, such as work requirements, aimed at limiting benefits and forcing recipients off of the rolls. The Trump administrations Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in January 2017 announced that it would allow states to impose work requirements.

On Tuesday, Trump took his crusade for work requirements one step further. He issued an executive order to six government departments to review all public assistance programs, with the aim of determining which programs currently have work requirements attached to them. Cabinet secretaries are required to issue reports listing programs to be eliminated and new restrictions to be imposed.

A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reveals that even people who work will be at serious risk of losing their health insurance under the new Medicaid work requirements. The analysis concludes that a significant number of poorer people on Medicaid who are regularly working might not meet the strict requirements imposed on them.

By the CBPPs estimate, one in four people who worked enough hours over the course of the year to meet the work requirements in Kentucky, the first state to impose them, would have at least one month in which they fell below the states 80-hour monthly work requirement, therefore putting them at risk of losing coverage. People working lower-wage jobs are more likely to have irregular working hours and gaps in their employment.

The Trump administration has so far approved Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky, Arkansas and Indiana, while several other states have waivers pending. Many people receiving benefits, including those with federally qualifying disabilities, the elderly, children and pregnant women, would be exempt from work requirements.

However, according to the CBPP, two-thirds of the remainder of beneficiaries who are subject to work requirements are actually working. Seventy percent of these people worked 1,000 hours over a year, which translates to 80 hours a month, Kentuckys threshold for meeting the requirement.

The CBPP found that nearly half of the people, or 46 percent, who could be subject to a work requirementand were workinghad at least one month when they failed to meet Kentuckys 80-hour requirement. The top industries for those facing work requirements are food services, retail and construction, occupations that are subject to seasonal and other work-hour changes.

Workers would also face onerous paperwork requirements and could lose benefits if they failed to file the proper forms or if states mismanaged forms that had been submitted. The Tennessee legislature is debating whether to take money from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the federal cash welfare program, to use it to pay for the administrative costs the state will bear to set up the Medicaid work requirements.

Work requirements that the White House and state governments claim will foster personal responsibility will, in fact, deepen the poverty and suffering of vulnerable sections of the population. The CBPP reports authors write: In states with work requirements, some workers who lose their jobs due to health setbacks may then lose their health coverage and access to treatment as well, which would make it far harder for them to regain their health and their employment.

Maine just recently expanded Medicaid, and ballot initiatives to do so in Idaho and Nebraska may also lead to expansion. According to the news website Vox, a dozen or more states are now applying for or considering seeking waivers to allow them to impose work requirements, time limits, or drug testing for Medicaid. These include Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas and New HampshireRepublican-led states that have already expanded Medicaid. Arkansas waiver includes a private option providing able-bodied adults on Medicaid with coverage through private insurers.

Kentuckys plan, in addition to implementing Medicaid work rules, requires premium payments for recipients and a lockout for those who dont make the payments. The CMS approved similar waiver requests from Indiana and Arkansas earlier this year.

The Virginia legislature is on the verge of approving some type of Medicaid expansion on a bipartisan basis. State Senator Frank Wagner, a Republican, has said he would back an expansion as long as it required able-bodied adults to work and taxed hospitals to pay the states share of the estimated $2 billion annual cost. A spokesman for Democratic Governor Ralph Northam said of the proposed work rules, There were things we didnt want to see in the deal but were important to Republicans. Northams election last November was hailed by the Democratic Party and its pseudo-left satellites as a victory for progressive opponents of Trump.

States are taking aim at Medicaid in other ways as well. Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, and the Florida legislature are proposing to slash the retroactive approval time frame for Medicaid claims from 90 days to 30. While Florida officials say the move would affect about 39,000 individuals, a state official made the preposterous claim that no Medicaid services are being reduced as a result of the amendment.

Montanas Department of Public Health and Human Services is cutting Medicaid provider rates and contracts as a result of $49 million in budget cuts mandated by the governor and state legislature to balance the budget. As a result, Helena Industries, a non-profit that provides services for people with disabilities, is closing and plans to file for bankruptcy protection on April 17. Nicole Edwards, a Helena Industries case manager whose last day on the job was April 11, told Montana Public Radio, It is going to be a rocky transition and people will fall through the cracks.

In Louisiana, state legislators are proposing deep cuts to Medicaid in the face of an estimated $1 billion budget deficit. The cuts stipulate that any patient receiving income between $750 and $2,250 a month will no longer be eligible for the Long Term Care Special Income Level Program (LTC). If passed, the cuts could force 46,000 Medicaid recipients out of facilities.

Beverly Everett has a loved one, Dan Coleman Jr., who has been living at a long-term facility in Pineville, Louisiana for more than 40 years, since he was six years old. Developmentally, he has the mind of an 8-month-old, Everett told KATC television. The $1,400 he receives from his late mothers Social Security could potentially force him to leave the facility.

Im 63 years old, my husband is 67 years old. Physically, I dont think I could handle him by bathing him, putting him up, feeding him, changing his diaper, watching him 24/7. Someone would always have to be with him, Everett said. It would basically destroy our lives.

After passing a tax cut for the rich costing $1.5 trillion over 10 years, Republicans in Congress and the corporate elite have only ramped up their campaign against so-called entitlement programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, told FierceHealthcare, These tax cuts have added so much to the deficit and I cant imagine them going after military spending or raising anyones taxes.

Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of mega-bank JPMorgan Chase, wrote in his annual letter to shareholders last week, The real problem with our deficit is the uncontrolled growth of our entitlements. The extraordinary growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security is jeopardizing our fiscal situation.

The Democratic Party and the mainstream media have next to nothing to say about the ruling class assault on Medicaid, instead focusing their fire on pressuring the Trump administration to invade Syria and repeating their claims of Russian hacking in the 2016 presidential election.Oklahoma teachers have reacted defiantly to the Oklahoma Education Associations (OEA) call to end their two-week strike. Thousands of teachers and their supporters converged on the state capitol Friday, the day after the union urged them to return to their classrooms.

After being given the green light by the OEA to force teachers back to work, school districts across the state, including the largest in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Broken Arrow, announced Friday that they were instructing teachers to return to work Monday.

The militant mood of teachers was spelled on the signs they were carrying Friday, including, OEA doesnt speak for me, The movement didnt start with the OEA and wont end with the OEA, and Were not leaving. Outside and inside the capitol, teachers held impromptu meetings to discuss how to sustain their walkout next week.

The unions dont want a popular outcry and they are trying to sabotage this struggle, Misty, a young teacher from the Oklahoma City area, told the World Socialist Web Site. Teachers in Louisiana and other states are looking for a way to fight, and they should be brought into this. The unions and the media dont want teachers in the rest of the country to know about our fight in Oklahoma, and they dont want us to know what is happening across the US.

The teachers walked out on April 2 to demand improved wages and the restoration of school funding following decades of budget cuts. The strike, which was initiated by rank-and-file teachers using social media, followed the nine-day strike by West Virginia teachers, one-day strikes at schools in Puerto Rico and Jersey City, New Jersey, and demands for walkouts by teachers in Kentucky, Arizona and other states.

Also on Friday, thousands of teachers, other school workers, public sector workers and supporters descended on the capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky to defend their pensions. Facing growing demands for a statewide strike, the Kentucky Education Association (KEA) called for a day of action, making clear it was not to be a strike and that only teachers who could legally attend should do so. Many teachers defied the KEA mandate, angrily stating on social media that they would stay out until their demands for pensions and education funding were won.

The National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and their state affiliates are doing everything they can to prevent joint action by educators across the country against the bipartisan assault on public education, which has been aided and abetted by the unions. In a New York Times article declaring the Oklahoma strike over, AFT President Randi Weingarten expressed hope that teachers anger could be diverted behind a campaign to elect Democrats in the 2018 elections.

On Friday, OEA President Alicia Priest was the main speaker at an event sponsored by the Tulsa County Democratic Party. She justified selling out the teachers by saying that nothing could be done to oppose the Republican-controlled legislature except to vote in Democrats in November.

The Democrats, however, have proven to be as ruthless an enemy of teachers and public education as the Republicans. In Oklahoma, former Governor Brad Henry, a Democrat, slashed capital gains and income taxes on the wealthy and carried out deep cuts to state funding, paving the way for current Republican Governor Mary Fallin.

On a national scale, the Obama administration oversaw the elimination of the jobs of some 300,000 teachers and other school employees and a vast expansion of for-profit charter schools, even as it handed over trillions to bail out the Wall Street banks. President Trump and his billionaire education secretary, Betsy DeVos, are now escalating the attack on public education.

The actions of the union have provoked an outpouring of anger among teachers. Misty, the Oklahoma teacher, said, I talked to [OEA President] Alicia Priest on Wednesday after the OEA said we had won 95 percent of our demands. She said we had done a good job. I suspected they were going to say, We are done with the strike. On Thursday, I went up to the OEA table around noon and asked if they were going to stop supporting the strike. They said, Absolutely not. We will continue this strike. By 4 p.m., Priest was holding a press conference calling it off.

I am not a member because the OEA wouldnt do anything to protect me. Its not a union for teachers like they portray themselves. Its a business, and theyve proven it again.

A veteran teacher from Oklahoma City added, Teachers from Massachusetts are talking to us about walking out and doing so without the union. Teachers are the sort that work within the rules. Weve been trying to work with the legislators and let the unions speak on our behalf, but nothing has stopped these budget cuts. We decided we werent going to take it anymore.

The Oklahoma City-American Federation of Teachers, which like the OEA opposed the strike from the beginning, acknowledged Friday that a poll it had conducted showed overwhelming support for the continuation of the strike. Despite this, school officials in the states largest school district announced Friday night that they would open schools Monday morning.

Explaining why she was still on strike, Rachel, a third-grade teacher, told the WSWS, My only purpose is for my students. Last night when Alicia Priest announced that OEA was dropping us and trying to push us out of this walkout, all I could think about was going back into my classroom and facing those 42 eyes and saying, Youre not worth it. Because they are worth it.

I will be here every day fighting for them, writing emails, whatever needs to happen to ensure they get the education they deserve. They deserve new textbooks, they deserve funding, they deserve materials. And teachers deserve that as well, so we can be the most effective teachers that we can and we can provide for our students in a way that they deserve.

Asked about teachers in other states, including Kentucky, Arizona and West Virginia, protesting and striking for better pay and funding, Rachel responded, I think that shows that in Oklahoma and all across the nation educators are rising up and saying that weve had enough, students are now more important and were going to do whatever it takes to make sure they get what they deserve. I feel inspired that teachers just like me are standing up in their states and against their legislators.

Hundreds of teachers gathered inside the state capitol during the protest Friday for a meeting to discuss their demands and the way forward. The meeting was called by Alberto Morejon, a teacher in Stillwater, Oklahoma who started the Facebook page Oklahoma Teacher WalkoutThe Time is Now! which quickly grew to 70,000 members.

To the applause of teachers, Morejon stated, Teachers started this and we are not ending it until teachers say so. However, he presented no viable strategy to advance the struggle, saying instead that teachers and parents should continue to lobby state legislators who are controlled by powerful corporate interests, including the oil and gas industry, and are determined to continue starving public education to fund corporate tax cuts.

Morejon told teachers that if their schools reopened Monday, they should appeal to their school superintendents to allow a few teacher-delegates to go to the state capital to continue lobbying. Multiple teachers insisted that they did not want to fund education by imposing regressive taxes on working-class families, let alone through other budget cuts to essential services like mental health.

During the discussion this reporter said that the most powerful action of the West Virginia teachers was when they defied the back-to-work order of the unions, and that Oklahoma teachers should do the same. Teachers shouted their support for the call to reach out to teachers in Kentucky, Arizona and other states and prepare a general strike by educators and all workers and a political struggle against the Democrats and Republicans.

If the struggle in Oklahoma is not to be defeated, teachers must elect rank-and-file committees in every school and community, not to lobby the politicians, but to mobilize the broadest support in the working class against any attempt to victimize striking teachers.

The struggle in Oklahoma will be immeasurably strengthened through establishing a network of rank-and-file committees across the country to prepare a nationwide strike to defend public education against both big business parties, which are squandering trillions on corporate tax cuts and new and even bloodier wars.

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Union seeks to shut down strike: The way forward for Oklahoma teachers

[13 April 2018]Billings, Montana police shot and killed two people earlier this week, Zachary Glen Hoven, 29, and Shawn Michael Hubbard, 44. The two shootings occurred on April 9 and 10, respectively, and no one else has been reported injured from either incident. They were the 352nd and 354th people killed by police this year nationwide and among the more than 20 people shot dead by police in past week.

In the first instance, police responded to a 911 call reporting that Hoven was erratically slashing a knife at various objects in his unit at the Sandra Apartments, at one point breaking his window. It was also reported that he was also shouting various phrases, including God will forgive me, among other things that were unintelligible. There was no other person in the room and it did not appear that anyone else was in danger before the police arrived.

When the police initially approached the building, according to the official report, Hoven threw three knives at police, all of which missed, and the officers responded with a Taser, which apparently had no effect. When the police entered the building and demanded Hovens surrender, he reportedly burst out of his apartment and advanced on the officers, still brandishing a knife. The two lead officers, Brian Weaver and Jairo Solorio, fired on Hoven simultaneously, Solorio using a Taser and Weaver firing three shots. Hoven died from his injuries at the Billings Clinic.

There has been so far no comment from the Billings Police Department as to why the officers chose both a nonlethal and lethal option to subdue Hoven. Billings Police Chief Rich St. John defended Weaver, claiming that even with access to Tasers a man with a knife was a lethal scenario for the officers.

The second shooting occurred at Lucky Lils Casino. Police initially responded to a call early Tuesday morning about a man with a gun involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife, banging on her door and windows. By the time the police arrived, Hubbard had left, and his ex-wife informed them that Hubbard announced he was going to rob a casino.

Police then began canvassing the area for Hubbard and encountered him in the Lucky Lils parking lot, reportedly ordering him to stop. Hubbard didnt listen and continued into the casino. When the officers finally entered the casino itself, being forced to break a window to enter because they were apparently not allowed into the building by the staff quickly enough, they reported seeing Hubbard waving a gun around and threatening to take hostages.

After Hubbard ignored verbal orders to disarm, Sergeant Bret Becker opened fire with his AR-15 assault riflethe same weapon used to gun down 17 people during the Parkland, Florida school shootinghitting Hubbard twice in the chest. Becker fired again while Hubbard, who was reportedly reaching for his weapon, was on the ground. The weapon later was determined to be a pellet gun, which police claim looked exactly like a black, semi-automatic handgun.

Hubbard was known previously to police, having criminal convictions of drug use and theft. At the same time, he may have been mentally ill, with one witness at the casino saying on Facebook that Hubbards actions indicated that he wanted to be shot by the police.

All the officers involved in both shootings have been placed on leave with pay, pending an internal investigation and investigation by the Montana Department of Justices criminal division. There will also be a review by a jury during a coroners inquest, which is required by Montana law. So far, there are no videos or photos that have been released from the incidents, including the body cam photos from the officers that will be viewed for the investigation.

Of the recent cases involving police shootings in Billings, four (including the two most recent) are still being investigated while eight have been declared justified. Given the pattern in Billings and nationally, it is likely that these killer cops will also avoid charges.

These are the eleventh and twelfth police killings in Billings, a city of 110,000, in the past six years. Two more people were shot by police but survived. According to toxicology reports, the majority of those previously killed were under the influence of methamphetamines. While this class of drug is less used nationally, it is the most commonly used illegal drug in Montana because it is inexpensive and more widely available in the US northwest. Toxicology reports for the two most recent victims of the Billings police have not yet been released, though it is suspected that Hubbard may have been under the influence of opiates when he was shot.

The erratic behavior by both Hoven and Hubbard also suggests that these police killings are among the many that involve officers responding to incidents where their victims were likely mentally disturbed. A report from 2016 by the Ruderman Family Foundation reveals that about half of the people that die at the hands of the police have some form of disability, either physical or mental. It reveals the fact that police are being more and more deployed to deal with those in need of medical treatment, not actual criminals.

These police killings also demonstrate yet again that the fundamental issue of police killings in America is not race, but class. In both cases, the victims were white and from working class backgrounds, which account for the largest number of police killings in the country.For the sixth time since 2007, an Australian prime minister faces the threat of possible removal, either by a landslide electoral defeat or a backroom coup. Internal divisions are shaking the Liberal-National Coalition government, with key cabinet ministers publicly jockeying to replace Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Treasurer Scott Morrison and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, each told media outlets on Monday they aspire to be prime minister, while insisting they would not try to topple Turnbull, at least not yet.

At the heart of the worsening political instability are mounting economic and geo-strategic pressures bound up with Australian capitalisms dependence on both the US and China, amid intensifying US preparations for trade war and war against China, Australias biggest export market.

These pressures are now taking an acute form. With a federal budget looming on May 8, Turnbull has been unable thus far to push through huge company tax cuts that the financial elite is demanding in order to compete globally and avert a feared withdrawal of investment to the US, which is Australias largest source of finance capital.

Turnbull also faces heightened demands from Washington to step up Canberras commitment to the US confrontation with China, including by massive military spending. This will mean further slashing social spending, and the passage of draconian foreign interference legislation directed against China.

Yet Turnbulls government already confronts displeasure in Beijing, which is provoking public voices of concern from sections of Australian big business, especially in mining, agriculture and education that rely heavily on Chinese markets.

The immediate trigger for the open jostling among ministers was a Murdoch media Newspoll showing the government trailing the opposition Labor Party, on a two-party preferred basis for the 30th consecutive month. Turnbull cited a similar 30-poll deficit as a pretext for deposing his predecessor, Tony Abbott, in September 2015, saying the people have made up their mind about Mr Abbotts leadership.

Such media polling gives a very distorted picture of popular disaffection. There is deep hostility toward the entire political establishment, driven by decades of declining working and living conditions and soaring inequality, which have accelerated since the 2008 global financial breakdown.

After Australia initially avoided the full impact of the 2008 meltdown, largely due to a mining boom fed by Chinas debt-fuelled expansion, an economic and social crisis is deepening. Millions of working-class households are experiencing financial stress, under-employment, job insecurity and deteriorating basic services and infrastructure.

For the first time since World War II, average real wages have fallen, now for seven years in a row. Permanent jobs are being eliminated in favour of lower-paid casualised or contract employment. Soaring housing, energy and childcare prices have pushed up average debt levels to the highest in the worldmore than 200 percent of household income.

Moreover, a housing market bubble, which kept much of the economy afloat after the mining boom collapsed, is showing signs of imploding, raising fears of widespread mortgage defaults and devastating financial fallout.

With parliament in recess until the week of the budget, no one is openly challenging yet for Turnbulls post, but a federal election loomsdue before mid-2019. For now, both the Murdoch and Fairfax Media outlets are urging the government to stop tearing itself apart and focus on the budget, which is being termed a major test for its survival.

Wednesdays Australian Financial Review editorial urged the Coalition to halt the killing seasons of removing prime ministers, and get ready to sell an election budget just a month away.

The comment reflects growing criticism in ruling circles that Turnbull, a former merchant banker, has failed to deliver on the promises he made when he ousted Abbott. Turnbull vowed to provide economic leadership and implement the sweeping budget cuts that Abbott, because of widespread public opposition, had proved unable to impose.

For the past 10 years, one prime minister after another, Coalition and Labor alike, has tried to push ahead with the sweeping pro-market agenda demanded by the corporate elite.

In mid-2016, in a bid to break through the impasse, Turnbull called a double dissolution election for all members of both houses of parliament. But that left the government in an even worse position, reduced to a wafer-thin majority of one seat in the House of Representatives and a minority of just 30 seats in the 76-member Senate.

As a result, rifts have deepened between, and within, the Liberal and National parties. In particular, the most overtly right-wing and socially conservative factions that abandoned Abbott in 2015, and agreed to back Turnbull, are agitating against him, despite his repeated efforts to appease them. Divisions are festering over a range of issues, including immigration levels, energy and climate policy.

Similar turmoil is engulfing the entire political establishment. Recent state elections have displayed hostility not only to the two traditional ruling parties, the Coalition and Labor, but also the myriad third parties that have claimed to provide alternatives.

Conscious of the growing discontent, Labor Party leader Bill Shorten is posturing as an opponent of cuts to corporate taxes and social spending. However, he was a key minister in the previous Labor government, whose anti-working class measures saw Labors vote crash to record low levels, where it remains.

Support for the Greens has continued to fall since they propped up the minority Labor government from 2010 to 2013. Following recent disastrous election results, internal brawling has broken out between supporters of party leader Senator Richard Di Natale, who advocates entering coalition governments, and layers who fear that this orientation is further discrediting the Greens in the eyes of youth and workers.

The state elections in Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia also showed a considerable decline in support for the various right-wing populists that have tried to emulate Donald Trump by depicting themselves as outsiders. Feeding off years of betrayals by Labor and the unions, these formations are seeking to divert the political disaffection in reactionary nationalist directions, but are increasingly seen to be serving as props for the existing order.

This includes Senator Pauline Hansons rabid anti-immigrant One Nation, the now-rebadged Nick Xenophon Team, the Jacqui Lambie Network, and Senator Cory Bernardis Australian Conservatives, which split from the Liberals last year.

Of immense concern in the parliamentary establishment are emerging struggles of workers that threaten to trigger a genuine revolt by the working class against the ruling elite, after decades of suppression by the trade unions. Rail workers in New South Wales last month, for example, reportedly voted by the narrowest of margins50.8 percentto accept a regressive workplace agreement backed by their trade unions.

The unions, together with the state and federal governments, feared that any resumption of industrial action by the railway workers could have spread to other sections of the working class confronting job losses, escalating workloads and the erosion of conditions. Such a movement would immediately heighten the crisis wracking the parliamentary establishment.HA NOI  The number of people living in poor districts who have taken up offers to work abroad remains very low.

Local authorities, enterprises and labour export co-operation programmes have in recent years offered assistance to help people find jobs in other countries.

Recently the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs offered 100per cent loans to help people pay for travel and accommodation while abroad.

In 2017, there were 134,751 labourers working overseas, an increase of 28.3 per cent against the years target. Women made up nearly 40 per cent of all Vietnamese people working in other countries.

Although the labour export activities in 2017 increased against 2016, labour export only developed in the low lying and urban areas, according to the ministry.

In Hoa Binh northern province although the Government had solutions to promote and prioritise the implementation of projects to send people in poor areas to work abroad, few people took up the offer.

Nguyen Thanh Thuy, deputy director of Hoa Binh Provinces Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs told Nong thon ngay nay ( Today Countryside) newspaper, said each year, the province spent VN500 million supporting labour-export enterprises but the result was still low.

As well as cultural issues, Vietnamese workers also had problems due to their limited social awareness and education.

Hoa Binh Province has coordinated with the Korean language training centre to organise a course for 100 local people, but, according to Thuy , only five passed.

Huynh Ho ai Nghia, from HCM Citys TEXGAMEX Labour Export Centre, said solutions to support poor labourers going abroad havent really been effective.

Many poor people who wanted to work abroad still couldnt access loan sources, Nghia said.

He also said support for the poor, underprivileged and people who had sold land for road or tourism projects, ethnic minorities, was different in each locality.

He used an example of a Cham ethnic minority man living in Cu Chi District, HCM City.

Cu Chi Districts Policy Bank would give loans to poor, ethnic minority people, but because this mans family had some money, they refused his loan.

Instead he had to borrow from friends to pay for his trip.

For many companies, it was difficult to find labourers in poor and difficult areas to go abroad. Le Nhat Tan, deputy director of LOD Corporation, said.

Whats the solution?

By the end of 2017, Thua Thien-Hue Province Peoples Committee issued a number of policies to support local workers going abroad in 2017-18, aiming for 2,600 labourers, including at least 300 people from ethnic minorities or with little wealth.

Ha Van Tuan, director of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Department of Thua Thien-Hue Province, said there had been a number of labour consultant bureaux and recruitment drives in the first two month this year in the province. The department co-operated with the local government to organise four job fairs and labour export recruitment drives.

More job fairs are planned in poorer areas.

According to initial statistics, this year there has been 99 cases of people going to work abroad under guest worker contracts.

The province set a year plan of sending 1,000 workers overseas.

Along with the Governments financial assistance to workers, the province also gives loans of VN50,000 million (US$2,200) to poor households, Tuan told the paper.

To push the activity, officials need to set plans to help the poor find work overseas which should be addressed in key communes. - VNSQUANG TRI Tran Van Phuc, a young man from central Quang Tri Province, has learned how to grow oyster mushrooms at his university thanks to an agricultural course created through an Israel-Viet Nam partnership.

When Phuc, who was born in 1993 in Lan inh Village, Gio Phong Commune, graduated from the Biotechnology department at a Nang City s Food and Foodstuffs College , many of his classmates sought jobs in the city. But he decided to return to his hometown in a poor commune in Quang Tri Province , to start career in mushroom cultivation with the hope of escaping poverty.

Thanks to his success, neighbours have praised Phuc for his creative mind. He dared to do and was determined to get rich. And he had a secret weapon: thet raining he had received during a one-year agricultural course in Israel .

Phuc said that when he was in college, he was chosen along with 17 other outstanding students to join the programme.

Throughout the one-year learning course in Israel , Phuc learned modern cultivation techniques by working on farms.

Phuc said the Israelis were farming with the latest scientific techniques. In the orchards, most processes were automated. In addition, due to the development of organic vegetables, Israel was very limited in the use of chemical fertilizers.

After a year in Israel , he returned home and graduated from college. Thanks to experiences on mushroom planting technology, Phuc decided to come back home to set up his own mushroom farm.

First, he visited some successful mushroom farms in Quang Tri to see how he might apply his knowledge from Israel to the Vietnamese mushroom industry.

In early 2017, he launched his career and chose oyster mushrooms as his first product, because this kind of fungus is popular and tasty.

With his familys financial support, along with savings from his time in Israel , Phuc and his brother set up a VN250 million oyster mushroom farm.

He said his business experienced losses in the initial period due to a lack of experience in mold treatment and understanding of climate conditions.

The mushroom cultivation process is also potentially risky, so the basic requirement is to treat insects, catch fungal diseases and adjust the temperature accordingly, Phuc said.

However, his first failures taught the young man lessons. For the following planting, he focused on giving care in the early growing stages to yield a strong harvest.

His farms oyster mushrooms have been present in all markets in the province. On average, he can harvest 200kg of mushroom each crop.

Oyster mushrooms are very easy to sell in the market, with the price per kilogram of about VN25,000-30,000, he said.

Phuc said he is now processing the soil to prepare for a new mushroom-growing season.

If the growers invest time and meticulous care, mushrooms will grow well, according to Phuc, because in Viet Nam the supply doesnt yet meet the increasing demand in big cities. That also motivates me to continue expanding the farm, he said.

In addition to oyster mushrooms, I will grow some other kinds."-- VNSPrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with key leaders of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union held yesterday in Ha Noi.  VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat

HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged youth unions at all levels to support young people, especially students and young employees in companies and factories, to conduct scientific studies and enhance start-up activities.

In the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, he said the effort and creativity of young people played an important part in the wealth of the country.

He made the statement at the annual meeting between the Government and key leaders of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union held yesterday in Ha Noi.

Phuc suggested some issues that need to be addressed, such as tackling the problems of young entrepreneurship, how to become global citizens for Vietnamese youth, and mobilising young people to contribute to the country.

First Secretary of the union Le Quoc Phong briefed about results of the unions activities. Of that, the start-up campaign among young people was widely deployed in all 63 cities and provinces.

However, Phong said many practical ideas could not be implemented due to restricted financial support. The union received thousands of loan applications from all over the country every year, but only a small amount received the fund.

At the meeting, Phuc highly appreciated the unions drastic activities for the community, such as consulting and distributing medicine for free, launching voluntary blood donation movements, training online to support young start-ups in 63 cities and provinces, and launching the creative start-up initiatives among rural young people.

He also praised the unions implementation of the inter-governmental resolution between the Government and the union, which completed nine out of 12 tasks assigned by the Prime Minister. Three unfinished tasks were due to lack of resources.

However, Phuc pointed out some of the shortcomings such as those in the ethical education for young people, limited support for the youth in setting up their own businesses, limited coordination between the youth union and some ministries and agencies in the implementation of the joint resolution and the task assigned by the Government.

He requested all levels of governments, and the labour, war invalids and social affairs sector to pay attention to vocational guidance and employment for young people. At the same time, it was necessary to pay adequate attention to cultural, art and physical training and sport activities.

He added the governments must talk with them to also understand their aspirations. He suggested the union should socialise resources to carry out its tasks, especially the promotion of start-up businesses.  VNSColbert: Trump Is Like a Zeppelin  Full of Hot Air and Were All Waiting for Him to Go Down in Flames (Video)

The U.S. may have waited until after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert taped Friday night to start shooting rockets at Syria, but Colbert soldiered on anyway. He slipped in jokes about President Trump preparing for those festivities by hanging out at Mar-a-Lago and skipping his planned trip to Peru and also landed a pretty solid Zeppelin zinger.

If you watch the show, you know we make our little jokes  ha ha  about Donald Trump on the show. But Im American. It is my right to go after our leaders. Its different when foreigners go after our leaders. For instance, Queen Elizabeth recently appeared in a nature documentary, and when a helicopter butted into the scene, she used that moment to take a swing at the colonies, Colbert said.

The Late Show then played the clip Colbert mentioned, in which the Queen quipped: Why do they always go round and round when you want to talk? Sounds like President Trump. Or Obama.

Hold on there, Liz. Im not sure about that comparison, Colbert said. Id say Trumps more like a Zeppelin  full of hot air, and were all waiting for him to go down in flames. Obama, though, yes. Obama, yes.

Also Read: Stephen Colbert Jokes That Trump's Wedding Vows Referenced the Pee Tape (Video)

Colberts monologue concluded with a faux-promo for the Queens new standup special, Queen Elizabeths Royal Beat Down, in which she delivers such insults as: Four words, Putin  put on a shirt. No one wants to see your saggy perogies.

His monologue started very casually before beginning his assault.

Ive got a honey-do list, my wife wants me to do some stuff. Im gonna do it because Im a good husband. What I will probably not be doing this weekend is bombing Syria, Colbert said. Ill tell you who might be, though  Donald Trump. Because he was supposed to fly down to Lima, Peru, for something called the Summit of the Americas, which would have been Trumps first visit to Latin America as president. Technically. He counts the Taco Bell drive-thru as a goodwill tour. Im so pleased to meet you, Ambassador Gordita.'

Story continues

Also Read: Jimmy Kimmel Uses Old Trump Tweets to Argue Against Trump's Newfound Desire to Bomb Syria

Colbert slipped in a combo slam at Trumps climate change denialism and his consequentially poor choice of location for his go-to vacation spot.

But on Tuesday, Trump cancelled his trip to monitor events in Syria. Sarah Huck-a-Sanders explained that Trumps national security team thought it was best he stay in the United States, adding, Mar-a-Lago happens to be within the United States. But thanks to global warming, itll soon be in international waters, Colbert joked before moving his aim to Vice President Mike Pence.

White House officials said that in Trumps place, the summit would be attended by Vice President Mike Pence. Perfecto por esta trabajo. They love him down there. Down in Latin America Pence is known as el guapo blanco, the white tortilla, senor salsa with extra mayonnaise. And hes proven hes fluent in Espanol, Colbert said as The Late Show played a clip of Pence at the White Houses Cinco de Mayo party last year, which took place on May 4, awkwardly trying to wish everyone a happy almost Cinco de Mayo in Spanish.

Also Read: Seth Meyers to Paul Ryan: 'You Gave Us Donald Trump. You Should Have to Live With Him' (Video)

Colbert finished with a really apt metaphor for Trumps overwhelming unpopularity.

According to Gallup, last year Trumps approval rating in Latin America was 16 percent. At this point, theyd rather be photographed next to someone more popular down there, like Ambassador Chupacabra.

You can watch the portions of Colberts monologue from Fridays episode of The Late Show in the videos embedded below.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Stephen Colbert Jokes That Trump's Wedding Vows Referenced the Pee Tape (Video)

Seth Meyers to Paul Ryan: 'You Gave Us Donald Trump. You Should Have to Live With Him' (Video)

Jimmy Kimmel Uses Old Trump Tweets to Argue Against Trump's Newfound Desire to Bomb SyriaMy fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.

Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action.

One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian Air Force.

Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians  this time, in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead.

Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power  military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.

To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?

The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.

In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syrias chemical weapons. Assads recent attack  and todays response  are the direct result of Russias failure to keep that promise.

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday well get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran  but maybe not.

I will say this: The United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.

In Syria, the United States  with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS  is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.

The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS.

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home. And great warriors they are.

Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil, or act everywhere there is tyranny.

No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. Its a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of the World War I, more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return.

So today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.

Tonight, I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions.

We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

Thank you, and goodnight. Thank you.Police have made an arrest in the homicide of a pregnant 18-year-old North Carolina woman found dead inside a car Sunday night who was carrying a full-term baby.

PEOPLE confirms Brian Little, 18, has been charged with first-degree murder and felony murder of an unborn child.

The Rockingham, North Carolina, man is accused of killing Aiyonna Clarice Barrett, whose body was found at around 8 p.m. Sunday in a car parked on a dirt road in Southern Pines.

Police have not yet specified how she or her unborn child died, and have also not revealed a possible motive.

It was unclear Friday if Little knew the victim.

Brian Little

Brian Little

An earlier statement from Southern Pines police says investigators plan to pursue justice not only for Aiyonna Clarice Barrett, a resident of Sanford, but for her full-term unborn child as well.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Little, who is being held without bond, has not entered pleas to the two charges he faces.

Information on his attorney was unavailable Friday. Little is set to appear in court for his arraignment on April 24.

This is devastating news for our family, reads a statement issued by Aiyonnas family in the wake of her death.

Aiyonna was a prized member of our family and we were also eagerly awaiting the arrival of her baby girl. We are in shock and are looking forward for more information to be revealed by the law enforcement investigation on how and why this happened, the statement continues. Nothing will justify Aiyonna and her unborn baby girl being taken away from us but we expect justice to be served on the person who took them from us.Russia, the Syrian regime's top ally, reacted strongly to the air strikes launched by the United States and its allies on Damascus and Homs early Saturday, warning of "consequences."

The U.S., U.K. and France launched a series of strikes on three locations identified as critical to Syria's production of chemical weapons, including a scientific research center in Damascus, and a production facility and storage facility in Homs, according to U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford.

The Russian embassy in U.S. wasted no time in reacting to the strikes late Friday in the U.S., with Ambassador Anatoly Antonov saying on Twitter, "The worst apprehensions have come true. Our warnings have been left unheard."

"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented," the statement continued. "Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences."

Statement by the Ambassador Antonov on the strikes on #Syria:

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. pic.twitter.com/QEmWEffUzx  Russia in USA ???? (@RusEmbUSA) April 14, 2018

Russia has long been an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syria serves as an important access point to the Mediterranean Sea for Russian ships and a hub for Russia in the Middle East. They have also supplied Assad with the military resources necessary to fight back against the rebels who nearly overthrew him in 2011.

President Donald Trump criticized Russia in his address to the country following the launch of missiles on Friday night.

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"In 2013, President [Vladimir] Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons," Trump said. "Assad's recent attack, and today's response, are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise."

Putin responded to Saturday's attack by calling the strikes "an act of aggression against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism."

"The current escalation of the situation around Syria has a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations," Putin said. "History will put everything in its place, and it has already laid heavy responsibility on Washington for bloody reprisals against Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya."

Putin also called for an emergency meeting U.N. Security Council.

US strike in Syria targets military, chemical weapons sites

Syria missile strike: The major players in the region

PHOTO: In this handout provided by the U.S. Navy,The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter fires a Tomahawk land attack missile at a Syrian military airfield in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed civilians, April 7, 2017. (Ford Williams/U.S. Navy via Getty Images, FILE)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the U.S. of attacking Syria when it finally had a chance for peace and likened the evidence of the April 7 chemical weapons attack in Douma -- which precipitated Friday's attack -- to the evidence that justified the 2003 Iraq invasion.

"It takes a very peculiar kind of uniqueness to attack Syrias capital at a time when the country has received a chance for peace at last," Zakharova said, in a statement translated by TASS, the Russian state-owned news agency.

"The White House says its certainty about a chemical attack by Damascus relies on the media, on reports about symptoms, videos and photos, and also on credible information," she continued. "After that statement, the U.S. and all other Western media should be aware of their responsibility for what has happened. Fifteen years ago the White House used a test tube and its secretary of state. Now Washington has used the media instead of the test tube."

Konstantin Kosachev, the head of International Affairs for Russias Federal Assembly, said, "There can be only one political assessment: It is a blatant violation of international law and it is an attack on a sovereign state without proper grounds.

PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hand with Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Nov. 20, 2017. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

President Trump's entire speech announcing airstrikes in Syria

Members of Congress react to US strike on Syria

France's defense minister said early Saturday that Russia was warned ahead of the joint attacks on Syria, though Dunford said earlier in the evening that the only warning Russia was given was "the normal deconfliction of the airspace -- the procedures that are in place for all of our operations in Syria."

Russian air defenses, stationed at a naval base and an airfield, were not triggered by any of the allied attacks.

"Cruise missiles launched by the U.S. and its allies did not enter the zone of responsibility of the Russian air defenses, covering objects in Tartus [a naval facility] and Hmeymim [an airbase located in the Latakia province]," the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, "over 100 cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles were fired by air and sea carriers" by the U.S., France and U.K. Both the Russian and Syrian governments said a significant number of missiles were shot down, though neither have offered proof of that.

ABC News' Kirit Radia, Tanya Stukalova, Max Karmen and Luca Balbo contributed to this report.President Donald Trump ordered a strike on Syria Friday in response to last weekend's chemical weapons attack.

Addressing the nation Friday evening, Trump said the strike was a joint operation with France and the United Kingdom.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump addresses the nation on the situation in Syria April 13, 2018 at the White House in Washington. Trump said strikes on Syria are under way. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump said that the "massacre" last weekend in Syria "was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man," Trump said, referring to Assad. "They are crimes of a monster instead."

In a later briefing, Defense Secretary James Mattis said the strike demonstrates the international resolve to prevent the use of chemical weapons, saying he is "confident the Syrian regime conducted a chemical attack on innocent people in the last week."

PHOTO: Damascus sky lights up with missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)

Russia responds to US attack on Syria: 'Such actions will not be left without consequences'

US strike in Syria targets military, chemical weapons sites

"Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said, adding that this time the U.S. struck harder.

"We have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties," he said. "... I believe that we sent a very strong message."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said the strike specifically hit three targets associated with the production and storage of chemical weapons: a scientific research center; a storage center for sarin and its precursor components; and a chemical weapons storage facility and command post.

"Important infrastructure was destroyed," said Dunford.

PHOTO: The Pentagon holds a briefing on situation in Syria after Trump announces airstrikes Friday evening, April 13, 2018. (ABC)

There were no reports of American losses, Mattis said.

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Russia was not notified before launching airstrikes against Syria, Dunford said, adding no additional strikes are planned.

Social posts out of Syria showed flames lighting up the dark skies. Explosions could be heard as well.

Syrian state media confirmed the scientific research center in Barzeh, north of Damascus, was targeted in the attack, adding that a number of rockets targeting warehouses belonging to the Syrian army in Homs were allegedly intercepted.

The Russian Defense Ministry held a briefing Saturday in which they said 71 of the 103 missiles that were fired were intercepted. The Syrian government offered similar claims, though neither provided evidence to back up the claims. Russia also said no one was killed by any of the strikes.

Syrian state media said it was a "cowardly terrorist attack," only done for America to save face.

PHOTO: Smoke rises after airstrikes in parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)

Who are the major players in the Syrian war?

What the US is doing in Syria

Trump's national security team meets as US says it has proof Syria carried out chemical attack

How Russia has hinted it could react to US strikes in Syria: ANALYSIS

In his remarks, Trump also delivered a message to Iran and Russia.

"To Iran and to Russia I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators," Trump said.

"In 2013, [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons," he continued. "Assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of Russia's failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia and maybe even Iran. But maybe not."

Putin responded to the attack against Syria on Saturday saying "an act of aggression against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism has been committed."

"Very quickly we need to put options on the table to see if Russia is willing to engage in a multilateral process," a source within the French presidency said Saturday.

PHOTO: A photo released on April 14, 2018 the twitter page of the Syrian governments central military media on April 14, 2018 shows an explosion on the outskirts of Damascus. (AFP/Getty Images)

Trump added that the U.S. "does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria."

"We look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," he said. "... We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East.

"... We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria," Trump concluded. "We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace. And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America."

The strike came as Trump has alluded to military action in Syria all week, even tweeting on Wednesday that Russia should be "ready" because "nice and new and 'smart'" missiles "will be coming." But Thursday, he seemed to walk back that statement, tweeting military action "could be very soon or not so soon at all."

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart! You shouldnt be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018

Trump has reportedly been moved by images of the suspected chemical weapons attack on the Syrian city of Douma outside of Damascus all week, calling it "atrocious."

"We cannot allow atrocities like that. Cannot allow it," Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on Monday, adding he expected to make a decision on a response in the next 24 to 48 hours.

PHOTO: The Pentagon holds a briefing on situation in Syria after President Trump announces airstrikes Friday evening, April 13, 2018. (ABC)

Images showed victims of the attack foaming at the mouth.

Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford met with the president at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Syria. There were additional National Security Council meetings on Thursday and Friday.

Trump also spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May several times by phone this week. The administration said previously any response Assad's alleged chemical weapons use would be done in consultation with allies.

PHOTO: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis briefs members of the media on Syria at the Pentagon April 13, 2018 in Arlington, Va. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In a statement Friday night, May called last weekend's chemical attack "pure horror."

"The Syrian regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way," May said. "And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack."

May held a press conference with reporters early Saturday morning for about 40 minutes, taking dozens of questions from reporters.

"There is no graver decision for a prime minister than to commit our forces to combat. And this is the first time that I've had to do so," May said.

May said the attack was designed specifically to damage chemical weapons facilities and "was not about interfering in a civil war" or "regime change." She said the best option remains a "political solution."

PHOTO: Map of locations of air strikes against Syria on April 14, 2018. (AFP/Newscom)

Perhaps in preparation for a strike, Syria repositioned some of its aircraft from bases earlier in the week, a U.S. official told ABC News. A second official said the Syrian military had gone into an increased defensive posture.

Macron, meanwhile, said the response is "limited to the Syrian regime's capabilities to produce and use chemical weapons."

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons, which is a direct threat to the security of the Syrian people and our collective security," he said.

PHOTO: This Jan. 20, 2018 photo, shows the destruction of the Salaheddin neighborhood in eastern Aleppo, Syria. (Hassan Ammar/AP, FILE)

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said that during the shelling of Douma, "an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals."

"More than 70 people sheltering in basements have reportedly died, with 43 of those deaths related to symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals," the organization said. "Two health facilities were also reportedly affected by these attacks."

On Friday, U.S. Ambassador the United Nations Nikki Haley said analysis done by the U.S., U.K. and France proved the chemical attack. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert also confirmed the use of chemical weapons, but said the U.S. was still looking into the exact kind or the mix of agent used.

Despite the air strikes Friday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it will continue its fact-finding mission in Syria to "establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma."The students that survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL are not Nazis. To most, this is an unnecessary statement. Simply put, they are young people who have experienced great trauma and loss that refuse to let gun violence continue to affect others the way it did them. These teens turned tragedy into an international conversation, but resistance to their message in the form of anti-Semitic and Nazi comparisons has made its way to the surface both online and offline.

Last week, police arrested a man for hanging anti-Semitic, anti-gun control flyers near the American University campus in Washington, D.C. The flyers use a photo of David Hogg, one of the survivors and most vocal advocates for the March for Our Lives movement. This is just one of many times these teenage activists have been verbally attacked. Late last month, a state senators aide compared Hogg to Adolf Hitler. Fellow survivor Emma Gonzalez was the target of a hateful comment from a candidate for the Maine state House of Representatives. A Minnesota representative compared students who participated in March for Our Lives to the Hitler Youth. Comments have ranged from mockery to hate-filled, but they all share a common thread  they all come from adults who should know better.

Yesterday, a bipartisan group of Congress representatives co-authored a statement condemning the recent attacks on the students, reports Tablet magazine. It is shameful for anyone to attack students  especially survivors of gun violence  with anti-Semitic slurs and Nazi comparisons, reads their statement. Policy differences are never an excuse for anti-Semitism. We condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms and reject any inappropriate evocation of the Holocaust or comparison to Nazis. It should be noted that 40% of the Stoneman Douglas student body is Jewish, five of the 17 people killed that day were Jewish, and a number of the leaders of the Never Again movement are Jewish as well, so accusations of anti-Semitism are not only unfounded but grossly insensitive.

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A survey released last week on Holocaust Remembrance Day found that many adults lack basic knowledge of what happened to millions of people only 70 years ago. While Holocaust denial is rare, the study found that the magnitude is largely underestimated with 31% of Americans believing that two million or fewer Jewish people were killed  it was around six million  and that 66% of millennials did not know what Auschwitz, the largest Nazi-run concentration camp, was.

In two short months, the Parkland students have initiated historic demonstrations of support for change, but some do not agree with their stance on gun reform. For the record, they advocate for stricter gun laws, more thorough licensing procedures, and the banning of military grade weapons from private citizens. Theyre not trying to make everyone hand over all their guns. Harkening back to my high school physics textbook, it is said that each action is met with an equal and opposite reaction.

The argument that these pro-gun control teens are tantamount to Hitler is a classic example of association fallacy. So common in fact that it has its own name:  reductio ad Hitlerum. The idea is that a policy or idea leads to, or is the same as, Hitlers institution of the Third Reich and therefore is wrong. Unfortunately, history shows that hate propaganda which has woven its way into meme culture and social media is effective. It is coloring the way people view the Never Again movement, often in place of researching it for themselves.

It is one thing to respectfully disagree with someone, it is another thing to launch hateful and insensitive attacks on students for trying to keep others from experiencing the same tragedy they did.

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Fraternity Hosts "Multicultural" Party With Members In Blackface And Gang CostumesA trio of sisters helped a young couple get engaged when one, Sharon Heinemann, offered her engagement ring. (Photo: WMUR)

A trio of sweet  and clearly cool  grandmothers on their way to a rock concert unexpectedly helped a young couple get engaged.

The sisters from Concord, N.H., were en route to an April 9 Pink concert in Boston when they stopped for a meal at Legal Sea Foods on State Street. Mattheus, a very handsome gentleman, came and waited on us and served us, and I got to chatting with him and asked him if he had a girlfriend, one of the sisters, Ginny Krowe, told New Hampshire local news station WMUR. And he said, Oh, yes. Maria. She works here. 

Through their conversation, the sisters learned that Mattheus wanted to propose to Maria but he couldnt afford a ring, so another sister, Sharon Heinemann, offered up her own diamond ring. I just did it, you know, Heinemann told the station. He loved her, and he didnt have a ring.

Sharon Heinemann gave her engagement ring to a server when she learned he couldnt afford to propose to his girlfriend. (Photo: WMUR)

Sister Rita Blanchette added: We all were so touched by it. Sharon didnt hesitate at all. She just took the ring right off her finger.

Mattheus got down on one knee and proposed in front of the sisters. And he says, Maria, I love you. Will you marry me?' said Krowe. She was crying. She says, Yes, yes, Mattheus.'

Legal Sea Foods paid for the womens lunches, and they scored an invitation to Mattheus and Marias upcoming wedding, according to WMUR. Mattheus did not return Yahoo Lifestyles request for comment.

Asked by the station how the gesture made her feel, Heinemann said: Immensely happy. It made me feel good. It was just the right thing to do.

A grandmother named Sharon Heinemann gave her engagement ring to a waiter who couldnt afford one for his girlfriend. (Photo: WMUR)

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.In a controversial move, the Oklahoma Education Association, the largest teachers union in the state, announced that they were ending the state-wide walkouts that began on April 2nd. The decision, which came nine days into the work-stoppage, was met with relief and anger by legislators and educators respectively.

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The OEA initially asked for a $10,000 raise for all teachers staggered over the course of three years as well a $5,000 raise for all support staff. They also sought $1.4 billion increase in general education funding over the period of three years, with the lions share of that funding increase coming in the 2019 fiscal year in the form of $812 million.

This funding was in part a restoration of the cuts that have drained education in the state over the past decade. The pressure of such cuts can be seen throughout the state with teachers rapidly leaving the state in search of better paying work, students learning out of decades-old textbooks, and class-sizes increasing significantly. In fact, some schools are only open four days week in the state because the district doesnt have enough money to stay open.

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As talks concluded, teachers received an average raise of $6,100 that will be added to their paychecks in the next fiscal year. School support staff will get a raise of just more than $1,200. Legislators also approved a $479 million dollar funding increase for the next year, which includes teacher raises, salaries, and $70 million for school funding. For the fiscal year of 2020, legislators approved a $22 million dollar funding infusion that would come from taxes on casinos in the state. In comparison, the OEA called for $75 million dollar in funding cut restorations alone for the fiscal year of 2020.

All in all, the full demands of the OEA were not met, but the decision to end the walkout came as the OEA believed that there would be no more progress made by keeping schools closed.

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Plenty of educators did not agree with the decision. One middle school teacher referred to the decision as a cop-out. The standstill between legislators and educators alludes to a larger problem in the state of Oklahoma. The state requires a 75 percent margin for all votes in the legislature to increase revenue (i.e. taxes). This is one of the highest standards to raise taxes in the United States. The same is not true, however, for cutting taxes in the state, which has occurred steadily over the past decade to encourage oil and gas drilling.

Although the walk-out is over, the organizing will continue. The OEA has called for educators to continue showing up on Capitol Hill, even as schools open. At the press conference where they announced their decision, OEA president Alicia Priest said that The legislature has fallen well short of its responsibility to Oklahomas students. She also called for each school district to send a team of lobbyists to Capitol Hill to keep working to get the funding that the OEA originally called for. The action points to a larger battle on election day, where teachers could start looking and supporting politicians with their education interests at heart.

It should be no surprise that the protests and walkouts that have swept the nation over the past few weeks have occurred exclusively in red states. After all, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona have all suffered under decades of tax cuts, growing classroom sizes, and stagnating wages.

And while Oklahoma educators will continue to organize, so will educators across the country. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, bowing under the pressure of a near-imminent educators strike in his state, announced his plan to give teachers a twenty percent raise by 2020. Kentucky teachers are swarming Capitol Hill in their own state today to demand a reversal of Kentuckys contested pension legislation for teachers.

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The post Oklahoma Teacher Walkout Ends, But the Education Funding Movement Doesnt appeared first on Fatherly.Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am at a dialogue held on Thursday in Ha Noi between leaders of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Viet Nam Social Security (VSS).  Photo VGP

HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am called for boosting cooperation in social insurance fund management to ensure both benefits and savings are maximised.

Balancing the health insurance fund is very important in the context of increasing medical costs and lowering health insurance premiums, he said.

He spoke at a dialogue held on Thursday in Ha Noi between leaders of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Viet Nam Social Security (VSS) and the Vietnam Private Hospital Association (VPHA) on problems related to private medical facilities.

Deputy PM am stressed that the policy of the Party and the State was to encourage the private health sector to develop and implement policies on protecting and improving the peoples health in accordance with the law and to ensure that policy makers take into account real-life conditions.

Currently, the number of private hospital beds accounts for about 5 per cent of the total number of hospital beds nationwide. There are more than 30,000 private clinics.

The VSS has signed medical examination and treatment contracts with more than 600 private medical facilities. In 2016, the health insurance program paid VN 6.6 trillion (US$286 million) for 17 million medical examinations and treatments in private sector.

Last year, as much as VN8.6 billion (approximately 10 per cent of total national health insurance spending) was paid for 24.8 million medical treatments in the sector.

At the dialogue, Nguyen Van e, chairman of the VPHA, raised 10 proposals that should be discussed. These included questions about the health insurance contract and the untimely payment for medical examinations and treatment, causing difficulties for private medical facilities. The fact that patients in private hospitals dont get the same support as public ones in terms of health insurance payment was also a matter of concern.

e suggested a number of mechanisms and regulations should be adjusted to support private health facilities, ensuring equity between private and public health care and better serving patients. He cited the signing of health insurance contracts as a typical example of discrepancies between public and private care.

e said a number of private health facilities were inferior in signing health insurance payment contracts with the social insurance agency or had their contracts suspended suddenly after violations were detected.

Pham Luong Son, deputy general of VSS, acknowledged that shortcomings in the signing and implementation of health insurance contracts had occurred in a number of localities.

He said the VSS would soon issue guidance documents and request health insurance offices at provinces and cities strictly follow articles in the signed contracts.

Son stressed that VSS always encouraged private hospitals to participate in medical examination and treatment so that people would have more choices and public hospitals wouldnt develop a monopoly in the health sector.

In response to opinions from representatives of private hospitals and clinics who expressed their anxiety over the delay in payment of health insurance for examinations and treatments, Phuc said it took a long time to reach an agreement between health insurance claims assessors and private health facilities.

He said due punishment had been imposed on health insurance offices at localities which experienced delays in making payments.

e also admitted that a number of private hospitals had submitted reports to the health insurance agency too late, leading to low payment, adding that the association has requested its members abide by approved regulations.

At the end of the dialogue, the Deputy PM said that in the future, the MoH, the VSS and the private medical facilities should increase dialogue and information in order to immediately handle problems which arise.

Hospitals urged to improve management of health insurance costs

Also on Thursday, the Viet Nam Social Security and Department of Health in HCM City instructed hospitals and other health facilities to improve management of health insurance funds used to cover insured patients.

Speaking at a meeting to review the years first quarter, Luu Thi Thanh Huyen, deputy director of VSS, said the fund this year would total around VN9.5 trillion (US$416.7 million).

Last year, the fund totalled VN14.3 trillion ($627 million), but the covered amount was VN16.4 trillion. As many as 273 hospitals and other health facilities, including 70 public and 73 private hospitals, exceeded insured costs last year.

The fund went over the allocated budget last year because too many patients were allowed to stay over at hospitals, especially for diseases related to eyes and for traditional treatment, she said.

Medicine prescribed at high prices was also a problem, while the monitoring was weak of patients who seek care at multiple facilities in a single day, according to Huyen.

inh Thi Lieu, head of the citys Department of Healths finance and planning division, said expenditures should be better managed as some hospitals would achieve financial autonomy this year.

If the situation does not improve, unlike in previous years, it will take time to be reimbursed to cover the excess costs because authorities will want to ask questions about why the costs were too high, she added.

Dr inh Thanh Hung, director of Tan Phu District Hospital, said that medical staff at the hospital were worried about what they see as unavoidable costs. As many as 200,000 outpatients, including those who are insured, who come from other areas in the city and provinces visit the hospital every day, Hung said.

He said the insurance fund payments for insured patients were too low. "The cost for surgery to remove a tumour in the chest, for instance, is VN120,000," he said.  VNSDonald Trump's long-time personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is a man who seems to be doing his best job of living life as a Barry Zuckercorn impersonator. And that's extremely unfortunate for him, because a more competent lawyer might be better equipped to deal with being squarely in the FBI's crosshairs.

On Monday, the FBI raided Cohen's office, and since then we've learned that they were specifically looking for any material related to paying off Stormy Daniels and another woman. The New York Times has also discovered that the warrant was surprisingly broad, also covering anything related to the infamous Access Hollywood tape. Per the Times:

The warrant also covered emails and other documents that could reveal Mr. Cohens private communications with Mr. Trump during a tense period in the presidential campaign when Mr. Trump confronted the possibility of embarrassing details of his extramarital affairs. And it delved deeply into Mr. Cohens past, including documents about Mr. Cohens personal and business finances, including his work as a New York taxi fleet manager.

But that's not the end of Cohen's headaches. The Associated Press reported on Thursday that the FBI is now also looking at Cohen's relationship with the National Enquirer, and to explain that, we need to back up a bit. Months before the election, the Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc., paid $30,000 to Trump's ex-doorman, Dino Sajudin. The money was part of a deal where Sajudin signed over all rights to a rumor he'd heard that Trump fathered a child with an employee at Trump World Tower. But the Enquirer never ran the story; they effectively bought it from Sajudin and sat on it, while Sajudin faced a $1 million fine if he shared the story or deal with anyone.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it's happened before. AMI paid a former Playmate, Karen McDougal, $150,000 for the rights to her story that she's had an affair with Trump, and that only became public when the Wall Street Journal published the story, not the Enquirer. As the AP reports:

Story continues

The parallel between the ex-Playmates and the ex-doormans dealings with the Enquirer raises new questions about the roles that the Enquirer and Cohen may have played in protecting Trumps image during a hard-fought presidential election. Prosecutors are probing whether Cohen broke banking or campaign laws in connection with AMIs payment to McDougal and a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels that Cohen said he paid out of his own pocket.

So on top of everything else, the FBI is now also looking at all correspondence Cohen and top brass at both AMI and the Enquirer. It's starting to make a lot more sense why Trump was spitting mad over Monday's raid.

Related Video: FBI Sought Access Hollywood Tape in Raid

Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View.- Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Russia received a series of crucial warnings from America of the imminent air strikes through a 24 hour hotline intended to limit the possibility of a direct military clash between the two superpowers, it has emerged.

In the aftermath of the bombing of Syrian targets, America, Britain and France were all at pains to point out that the so-called deconfliction channel - a continuously open line of communication between Washington and Moscow - had been repeatedly used.

The strategic hotline was set up after Russia began offering military support to President Bashar Assad in September 2015. It is intended to help avoid any potential misunderstandings as both sides operate over the region, ensure airspace control is respected and so prevent the possibility of clashes between Russian and Western forces.

Although the deconfliction line has occasionally been closed due to disputes between the two countries, it has proven invaluable while Russia targets those opposed to Assads rule, and the West has supported attacks against Islamic State in the region.

Prime Minister Theresa May during a press conference in 10 Downing Street after the air strikes Credit: Simon Dawson/PA

And, that hotline appeared to have played an essential role in ensuring that Russias high-tech defence systems and its military might understood to be in the north of Syria was not deployed against the allied forces during the air strikes.

In a press conference, Joseph Dunford, American's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US specifically identified targets to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved, adding that that in no way amounted to any consultation or planning with Moscow over the military action.

He said: We used the normal deconfliction channel to deconflict airspace, we did not coordinate targets.

Jon Huntsman, the US ambassador to Moscow, said: Before we took action the United States communicated with the Russian Federation to reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties.

This is not about a conflict between superpowers but about the principle that the use of chemical weapons is simply unacceptable, he said.

Story continues

A Typhoon aircraft prepares for landing at the British Royal Air Force base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Credit: Petros Karadjias/AP

Florence Parly, the French defence minister, also said: We do not seek confrontation and we refuse any possibility of military escalation and that is the reason why, with our allies, we have ensured that the Russians were warned beforehand.

The Russian defence ministry said that only Syrian forces came into direct conflict with allied forces launching the strikes, and not a single one of the cruise missiles entered the zone of Russian air defence systems.

Asked by The Sunday Telegraph whether either Moscow or the Russian military had been informed prior to the airstrikes, Theresa May said at a press conference, full and proper planning was put in place before the airstrikes were undertaken to ensure we could mitigate and minimise the impact on civilians and ensure the strikes were absolutely targeted at their aim, adding that UK had not been involved in those communications.

Intervention in Syria | Read more

Moscow appeared to be relieved that the damage from strikes appeared limited and no escalation threatening armed conflict with the United States was imminent.

Russian president Vladimir Putin condemned the strikes, but his remarks were relatively tempered, and he did not speak of retaliation.

Russian President Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are long standing allies Credit: Sputnik Photo Agency/Reuters

History will put everything in its place, he said in a statement, adding that Russia will call an urgent session of the United Nations security council to discuss the aggressive actions of the United States and its allies.

The Russian defence ministry, however, did threaten to reconsider giving advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria and other allies in light of the strikes. Russia cancelled a shipment of such missiles under Western pressure in 2013.

Later, a Pentagon spokesman said that line of communication between Russia and America remained open.Daniel R. DePetris

Security, Middle East

Here are three guesses as to why the regime rolled the dice.

3 Reasons Assad May Have Chosen Another Chemical-Weapon Attack

At the same time the Trump administration is discussing military strike options and deliberating over the extent of the retaliation for the Assad regimes latest chemical-weapons attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, the U.S. intelligence community is very likely at work trying to figure out why Bashar al-Assad would use his chemical arsenal at this point in the conflict. The attack, in addition to being barbaric and inhumane, was also puzzling. Why, despite winning the war and pushing his rebel opponents into ever smaller pockets of territory, did Assad find it necessary to leverage the most terrifying weapons at his disposal?

If Bashar al-Assad has exhibited any characteristic during this eight-year conflict, besides his complete disregard for human life, it is cleverness. He didnt get where he is in the war today by being stupidand yet dropping chemical munitions on a rebel-held city that his forces would have taken anyway is a decidedly stupid move. What possible motive did Assad have to launch a third, large chemical-weapons attack against civilians, particularly knowing that the United States would have no recourse but to respond with force of its own?

We may never know the full extent of the answer until Assad is captured and treated to a series of Saddam Husseinstyle interrogationsand even then, Assad may simply deny he is responsible for any of the atrocities. But here are three guesses as to why the regime rolled the dice and yet again deployed chemical weapons.

1. He Was Desperate to Clear Ghouta Once and for All

The eastern Damascus suburbs in Eastern Ghouta were some of the very first areas in Syria to join the anti-government demonstrations that began in 2011. The area was transformed into a staging ground and transit point for armed opposition battalions that attempted to break into the capital and take the fight to the governments seat of power. Indeed, when a bombing in July 2012 took out intelligence chief Assef Shawkat and wounded Maher al-Assad, Bashars ruthless younger brother, residents of Douma took to the streets and openly celebratedassuming (understandably) that the assault would deal a mortal wound to Assads ability to survive.

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That assumption, of course, didnt bear fruit. The suburbs surrounding downtown Damascus, including Douma and Harasta in the northeast and Kaff Batna in the east, were pummeled mercilessly by airstrikes and artillery by the Syrian army in the years since. Assads troops surrounded the area in 2013 and relied on siege tactics to starve the opposition into surrendering or reconciling on the governments terms. And yet the constant indiscriminate bombing and security cordon were still not enough to cow one particular rebel group, Jaish al-Islam, into agreeing to evacuate.

Assad may have grown tired of waiting, perhaps calculating that a gas attack would break the will of Doumas fighters once and for all. If that was his assumption, it turned out to be right; a few hours after the chemical strike, Jaish al-Islam finally agreed to throw in the towel, hand in their weapons and be bussed to miserable exile in the northern countryside. As a spokesman of the group commented, The chemical attack is what pushed us to agree.

2. He Thought He Could Get Away with It

When the Syrian Air Force dropped sarin on the rebel-controlled town of Khan Sheikhoun last year, President Trump responded several days later with a barrage of missile strikes on the Syrian airfield where the attack originated. It was the first time Washington took military action against the Syrian government since the civil war began. The retaliation, however, was minimala Trumpian version of President Bill Clintons cruise-missile strikes against Al Qaeda in 1998. Assad stopped using chemicals on the battlefield for a few months, but the Tomahawk missiles had little deterrent impact on how the regime pursued its war strategy.

Assad may have believed that he could get away with employing chemical weapons again due to the considerable Russian protection he has received ever since Vladimir Putin deployed Russian bombers to assist the regimes air campaign. It is not an unreasonable thought; the last thing Washington wants to do is pick a fight with Moscow over a subject like Syria that is far more vital to Russias foreign-policy interest than Americas. Extensive retaliation from the United States runs the considerable risk of killing Russian troops or destroying Russian assets that are stationed at Syrian military bases.

To Assad, clearing the last major opposition holdout near Damascus and solidifying his control over the most important part of the country could have been worth the trouble caused by the Trump administrations response. With a Russian security blanket cloaked over him, Assad feels immune from extreme punishment.

3. Keep the Alawites On His Side

Writing in the Atlantic, reporter Sam Dagher posits another theory for Assads chemical warfare: the Alawite community wants the war finished and wants the regime to do everything it can to free the thousands of Alawite prisoners who were thought to be held by Jaish al-Islam in Douma. In his travels in western Syria, Dagher encountered a lot of angry and upset Alawite families who were wondering why Assad was not doing more to get their sons and daughters released. Many in the community believe they have come to the regimes rescue and sacrificed mightily in order to preserve their coreligionist Assads grasp on power, and are not receiving much from the strongman in return other than men coming back in coffins (in April 2015, the Telegraphciting Western diplomats and local sourcesreported that a third of the 250,000 Alawites of fighting age have been killed).

Without the Alawite community on his side, Assads reign would have likely ended years ago. It is this imperative for him to keep his supporters happy, lest they ditch him entirely. Dropping gas canisters on Douma may appear to be a strange way to fulfil that task, but if it compels the rebels to hand detainees back to their families after years in captivity, perhaps the ends justify the means.

Could there be other motives for Bashar al-Assads latest war crime? Certainly. There is always the chance that the Syrian dictator enjoys killing his people with poison gas, as President Trump suggested on Twitter. Maybe the incident in Douma was a case of a Syrian military commander making his own decisions without Assads explicit authorization?

Whatever the reasons, the gas was usedadding one more grisly scene to a war that has long descended into a horror show.

Daniel R. DePetris, a fellow at Washington-based think tank Defense Priorities. He is a columnist for the National Interest and the American Conservative. Follow him on Twitter at @dandepetris.

Image: A boy looks through a bus window during evacuation from the besieged town of Douma, Syria, March 22, 2018. Reuters/Bassam Khabieh.

Read full articleSOUDA BAY, Crete (Jun 10, 2008) The Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Norfolk (SSN 714) heads to sea after a routine port visit. Norfolk is on a scheduled six-month independent deployment operating in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibil

David Axe

Security,

Music to Russia and China's ears.

The Navy Has a Big Problem: Not Enough Attack Submarines

In 2018, the U.S. Navy has finally begun to come to terms with a long-term problem that has been decades in the making.

The fleet has too few attack submarines. And arresting the growing shortfall  never mind reversing it  could prove too expensive.

The Navy needs 66 nuclear-powered attack and guided-missile submarines according to a 2016 assessment by then-Navy secretary Ray Mabus. But in mid-2018 the sailing branch possessed just 56 attack and guided-missile boats  SSNs and SSGNs, respectively, in Navy parlance.

The current force includes 13 Virginia-class vessels, 36 boats of the Los Angeles class, three Seawolfs and four former Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines that, in the early 2000s, the Navy converted into SSGNs carrying non-nuclear Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Recommended: China's H-6K: The 'Old' Bomber That Could 'Sink' the U.S. Navy

Recommended: Why an F-22 Raptor Would Crush an F-35 in a 'Dogfight'

Recommended: Air War: Stealth F-22 Raptor vs. F-14 Tomcat (That Iran Still Flies)

Despite the Navy purchasing two new Virginias every year on average since 2012, the 10-sub gap is likely to widen in the 2020s as older Los Angeles boats, which the Navy bought at high rates during the 1980s and 1990s, reach the end of their useful service lives.

Likewise, the converted Ohios are scheduled to decommission in the late 2020s.

The submarine shortage is the result of a long break in U.S. submarine production in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War. The fleet received just five new SSNs between 1990 and 1999. In the 1990s, the Navy took a procurement holiday, the Congressional Budget Office explained in a 2003 report.

The Navy anticipates that, with current average production rates, the combined SSN and SSGN force could decline to just 41 by 2029, a staggering 25-vessel shortfall.

Where we sit today is, we cant build ships and deliver them in time to fill in that dip, Vice Adm. Bill Merz, a deputy chief of naval operations, told U.S. senators.

Story continues

The Navy has, for years, known that it could suffer an attack-boat shortage. Prior to 2016, the Navy believed it needed just 48 SSNs and SSGNs over the next 30 years. But with the resurgence of Russias undersea fleet and Chinas sustained production of better submarine models, the U.S. Navys needs changed  and underpinned Mabuss new, larger force-structure goal.

Growing military budgets in recent years have allowed the Navy to invest in the submarine industrial base, which centers on General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Connecticut and the Huntington Ingalls Newport News yard in Virgina.

Newport News alone began hiring 7,000 additional workers.

But much of the new investment is flowing into the expanding effort to replace the Navys 14 1980s-vintage Ohio-class ballistic-missile boats  the Navys contribution to Americas nuclear deterrent  with a dozen new Columbia-class vessels starting in the mid-2020s.

In 2018 the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated it could cost $128 billion to develop and build the Columbias  more than $10 billion per ship, compared to an average cost of $2.7 billion for a Virginia.

The high cost of the Columbias has stymied Congressional efforts to add Virginias to the Navys shipbuilding plan. The House of Representatives Armed Services Committee voted to spend around a billion dollars buying long-lead components for a third Virginia each in the 2022 and 2023 budgets, potentially cutting the 2029 shortfall to just 22 vessels.

But the full House voted to strip that funding. The Senate has an opportunity to restore the funding, but it was unclear as of July 2018 whether senators would approve such a measure  and whether the House would ultimately agree to the change.

In the absence of dramatically larger budgets, the Navy is struggling to make up the attack-boat shortage in other ways. The fleet has five spare nuclear reactor cores and could use them to extend, by a the lives of five younger Los Angeles-class boats starting in 2019.

That will not solve the problem, James Geurts, an assistant secretary of the navy, told senators. It will mitigate a little bit the worst part of the dip.

The decommissioning of the SSGNs starting in the late 2020s poses its own unique problem, on top of the overall loss of submarine hulls. The SSGNs carry as many 154 Tomahawks apiece, compared to just 12 on an early-model Virginia.

Submarines account for around a fifth of the fleets total cruise-missile capacity.

The Navy has a vague plan to build new SSGNs on the Columbia-class production line sometime in the 2030s. But those boats wouldnt be ready until the 2040s. In the meantime, the service is buying as many as 20 enhanced Block V Virginias that can carry 40 Tomahawks apiece.

The Navy hopes the Block V boats will help to mitigate a looming cruise-missile gap, in the same way that longer-serving Los Angeleses and a few extra Virginias might partially alleviate a shortage of attack submarines.

But no one pretends that the U.S. fleet will have nearly enough submarines over the next two decades.

This first appeared in WarIsBoring here.

Read full articlePope Francis wrote in a letter that he made serious errors in handling Chiles sex abuse scandal due to what he called a lack of truthful and balanced information. (Photo: Remo Casilli / Reuters)

Advocates say Pope Francis apology to Chilean sex abuse victims is a good first step  but theyre expecting much more action from the pontiff on a scandal that has thoroughly rocked Chiles Catholic Church.

In a letter published on Wednesday, the pope admitted that he made serious errors in handling Chiles sex abuse scandal due to what he called a lack of truthful and balanced information. The pope has summoned all 32 members of Chiles bishops conference to Rome in May to hear the results of an investigation into the crisis and to discuss short- and long-term changes. Francis is also planning to meet personally with abuse victims and ask for their forgiveness.

The Vatican said on Thursday that Pope Francis letter to Chilean bishops effectively declared a spiritual state of emergency for the countrys Catholic Church. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told The Associated Press that Francis is taking the situation seriously and assuring the victims that Yes, we believe you, you have your place in the church.

Tim Lennon, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), told HuffPost that he is waiting for the pope to take concrete action, and not just offer expressions of thoughts and prayers.

We hope this is a first step, Lennon said about the popes letter. Victims of sexual abuse need help and support, not just a show of concern.

People protest against Juan Barros, current Bishop of Osorno, in front of a cathedral in Osorno, Chile, on Feb. 23, 2018. Abuse victims say Barros witnessed abuse by Chiles the Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was convicted in 2011. (Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Francis has been dealing with the fallout from a rocky January trip to Chile, where he was caught on tape accusing Chilean abuse victims of slander. In follow-up interviews, Francis defended Bishop Juan Barros, whom victims say witnessed abuse by Chiles most notorious pedophile priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima.

The Vatican convicted Karadima of sexual abuse in 2011. But Barros has long enjoyed Francis favor  the pope appointed him to lead the diocese of Osorno in 2015, ignoring the protestations of Chilean politicians and even some Catholic church leaders.

Story continues

Francis actions this week are long overdue but welcome the research organization BishopAccountability, which tracks clergy sex abuse worldwide, said in a statement.

The popes tone seemed strikingly different from his previous approach toward the Chilean victims, Anne Barrett Doyle, the organizations co-director, told HuffPost.

It is clear that Pope Francis is trying to convey a change of heart, Doyle wrote in an email. While papal apologies in the abuse crisis are nothing new, this is the first time we can recall that a pope has conceded error in how he personally handled a situation of abuse.

The bishop of Osorno, Juan Barros, takes part in an open-air mass celebrated by Pope Francis near the Chilean city of Iquique on Jan. 18, 2018. (Photo: VINCENZO PINTO via Getty Images)

However, Doyle said that Francis claim that he lacked information about the allegations against Barros beggars belief.

Victims and other witnesses of Karadimas crimes testified extensively during church, criminal and civil trials, Doyle said.

A committee from Chiles bishops conference had recommended that Barros resign, according to the AP. The pope also received a letter from a victim in 2015 that outlined how Barros witnessed the abuse carried out by Karadima. Its unclear whether the pope actually read that letter.

Few abuse cases in the global Catholic church have generated as much information, testimony and documentation as the Karadima case, Doyle wrote. If Francis was misinformed or inadequately informed, it was because he chose to be so.

On Thursday, Burke explained to the AP that the pope receives a lot of information from many sources. The pontiff has now read a 2,300-page dossier about the Barros case.

Lets just say its very clear now the pope has a complete picture of the situation, the Vatican spokesman said.

People protest against Bishop Juan Barros in Osorno, Chile, on Feb. 23, 2018. (Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

For Lennon and other members of SNAP, true progress on this issue would mean a church-wide commitment to turning over all reports of abuse, both new and old, to local law enforcement for investigation.

Doyle said she hopes to see Barros removed from his post and to see the Vatican order an investigation into the Marist Brothers in Chile, a religious order that is also facing allegations of child sexual abuse. Another step would be the establishment of tribunals for judging and disciplining bishops and religious superiors who enable the sexual abuse of children.

The cover-up by church officials, and the sexual assault of children and vulnerable adults by clergy, is a persistent and catastrophic situation, Doyle said. Only systemic reform of this magnitude will begin to resolve it.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Pope Francis, with Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, speaks to reporters during his return flight from a trip to Chile and Peru on Jan. 22, 2018. (Photo: VINCENZO PINTO via Getty Images)

But creating any kind of change at the Vatican is a notoriously slow process. In 2014, Francis formed a commission on sex abuse to offer advice on how to protect children. Commission members sought to encourage changes that would hold bishops accountable for protecting predators and send a strong message that bishops were obligated to notify police when they discovered predator priests.

Two members of the commission, both abuse survivors, were frustrated by the slow pace of change and resigned. The commissions mandate expired in December and it lapsed into an inactive state. Francis revived the commission this February amid growing criticism that the Vatican wasnt doing enough to address clergy sexual abuse.

Marie Collins, an Irish victim of clerical abuse and former commission member, said she resigned due to the Vaticans unacceptable resistance to change.

Collins told HuffPost the serious mistake that Francis referred to in his letter had caused Chilean survivors a great deal of unnecessary hurt.

He took far too long to realize he was being misled by his clerical advisors, Collins wrote in an email. His first priority now must be to do everything possible to heal the hurt he has caused. He must also make those guilty of negligence or untruths accountable without delay.

Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website.

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Ace Hardware has reportedly decided to resume advertising on Laura Ingrahams Fox News talk show, a week after announcing it would quit ads with the conservative commentator.

A spokeswoman for the hardware chain told The Wrap the company had incomplete information when it decided to stop advertising on The Ingraham Angle.

Ace was among numerous companies that fled Ingrahams show after she mocked David Hogg, a survivor of the February mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.

Advertising on any network or show, is in no way an endorsement from Ace of the content contained or spoken within that program, the Ace spokeswoman said in a statement.

We appreciate the different points of view from our customers, and believe people should be treated with respect and civility. ... At this time, we have not altered our current media schedule; however, we regularly review our media strategy.

A week ago, an unnamed Ace spokeswoman confirmed we do not have any plans to nationally advertise on Ingrahams show in the future, according to The Wrap.

HuffPost couldnt immediately reach an Ace representative for comment.

(Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

People on social media quickly vented their outrage with Aces reversal, with some vowing to boycott:

Ace is the place with the spineless, weak-kneed twits. https://t.co/4iZC2nwoYM  Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) April 13, 2018

.@AceHardware LIED!



They tried to trick #TheResistance by pulling their ads from Laura Ingrahams show, but reversed course a week later. 



They must think we're as gullible & misinformed as Fox viewers. Ace is the place FOR FOOLS!#BoycottAceHardwarehttps://t.co/vicgKgcy6x  Wes Jordan (@wesley_jordan) April 13, 2018

@AceHardware , Id like to know as well, since I started shopping there instead of Home Depot. I guess it will be Lowes now. https://t.co/wSc9RzLAxN  Always_Windy (@AlwaysCadena) April 13, 2018

Hey @AceHardware, why are you *still* advertising on child-bully Laura Ingraham's show?  William LeGate (@williamlegate) April 13, 2018

Sorry @AceHardware that you have shown your true colors by reversing your decision to stop advertising on Laura Ingraham's show. I will be reversing my decision to return to your stores and will encourage my friends and family to do the same. #BoycottAceHardware #BoycottIngraham https://t.co/0aKTZWoZb4  Susan Littlehales  #BoycottNRA (@SusanLittlehal1) April 13, 2018

In a callous move, @Acehardware has reversed its decision to stop advertising on Laura Ingraham's Fox News show. Just one week after announcing they'd no longer run ads on @IngrahamAngle, Ace had a change of heart & will resume ads. #BoycottAceHardwarehttps://t.co/xIl1nD1bKH  Jon Cooper  (@joncoopertweets) April 13, 2018

Hey @AceHardware why are still advertising with child-bully @IngrahamAngle ?? I guess I'm going to @HomeDepot for my home remodel...#LauraIngrahamIsABully  ResistingTeacher (@LeslieLaFayette) April 13, 2018

The Ace flip-flop comes after other Ingraham advertisers, including Red Lobster, Blue Apron and SlimFast, announced that their ads will no longer appear on her program.

Story continues

The advertisers abandoned Ingrahams show after she tweeted that Parkland teenager Hogg, a high school senior, was whining about rejections from four California colleges:

David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY  Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018

Hogg, who has become a recognizable gun-control activist since the school shooting, called for a boycott of Ingrahams show. The host later apologized, but only after sponsors started to drop out. Hogg called the apology disingenuous and wouldnt accept it.

Other advertisers that dropped her show include Nutrish, TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Expedia, Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, Stitch Fix, Jenny Craig, Hulu and JoS. A. Bank. My Pillows founder vowed to continue advertising on Ingrahams show.

Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy told the Los Angeles Times the network is standing by Ingraham: We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts, he said.

Ingraham this week returned to the air after a vacation. A spokesperson for Fox News told HuffPost the shows ratings have been strong.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Also on HuffPost

Parents wait for news after a reports of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018.

Medical personnel tend to a victim outside of Stoneman Douglas High School.

Waiting for word from students at Coral Springs Drive and the Sawgrass Expressway just south of the campus of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after a shooting on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. (Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)

People are brought out of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Students are released from a lockdown outside of Stoneman Douglas High School.

An officer tells parents waiting at Coral Springs Drive and the Sawgrass Expressway to go to the Marriott hotel to meet up with their kids from Stoneman Douglas High School.

Waiting for word from students at Coral Springs Drive and the Sawgrass Expressway just south of the campus of Stoneman Douglas High School.

Students are evacuated by police out of Stoneman Douglas High School.

A family reunites outside of Stoneman Douglas High School.

A video still shows students being evacuated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Students and adults leave following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Students are released from a lockdown outside of Stoneman Douglas High School.

Parents meet at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs Hotel.

Students react following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

A young woman who just walked out from the direction of the high school, who refused to give her name, gets a hug as she reaches the overpass at Coral Springs Drive and the Sawgrass Expressway just south of the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Students react at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Students are brought across Coral Springs Drive from the the campus of Stoneman Douglas High School.

People embrace while leaving the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs Hotel after a deadly shooting at Marjory Soneman Douglas High School.

Students react following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Waiting for word from students at Coral Springs Drive and the Sawgrass Expressway just south of the campus of Stoneman Douglas High School.

Students react at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Rescue workers help a victim near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Police put a suspect in handcuffs near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Soweto (South Africa) (AFP) - South Africans turned out in thousands to bid final goodbyes to anti-apartheid icon and Nelson Mandela's former wife Winnie Mandela who was laid to rest with full state honours on Saturday.

Mourners filled the 37,500-seater Orlando Stadium in the township of Soweto where Winnie lived and erupted into loud cheers as the casket carrying her remains was wheeled in.

The casket draped with South Africa's national colours was placed in the middle of the stadium in front of a stage, decked in white and yellow flowers.

Mourners dressed in the colours of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), as well those of the radical opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), sang "there's no-one like Winnie", an adapted popular liberation struggle song.

In a moving, yet fiery eulogy, her daughter slammed her mother's critics.

"It was my mother who kept his (Nelson Mandela's) memory alive," said a teary Zenani. "South Africa, and indeed the world, holds men and women to different standards of morality."

She added that "praising her now that she is gone shows what hypocrites you are."

"They robbed my mother of her rightful legacy during her lifetime," she said of Winnie, who she praised for taking on "one of the most powerful and evil regimes of the past century".

- 'She died a revolutionary' -

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office two months ago, offered an apology for the country's failure to honour Winnie for her contribution to the liberation of the country.

"I'm sorry Mama that your organisation (ANC) delayed in according you its honour. I'm sorry that we delayed this much, to this point," he said in an eulogy.

Firebrand opposition politician Julius Malema, who was expelled from the ANC, but who remained close to Winnie, said "she died a revolutionary... she never sold out".

Story continues

As soon as speeches drew to a close, stormy clouds formed over the stadium, followed moments after by heavy rains that drenched mourners and the funeral procession as it drove out to a cemetery 40 kilometres away.

Mourners broke into another liberation song chanting in Xhosa: "this is the Winnie we know".

The ceremony concluded 10 days of national mourning during which time hundreds of thousands of South Africans have paid tribute to the "Mother of the Nation" at her Soweto home and elsewhere.

Winnie Mandela, who died in Johannesburg aged 81 on April 2 after a long illness, has been celebrated for helping keep Nelson Mandela's dream of a non-racial South Africa alive while he was behind bars for 27 years.

- 'Go well Mama' -

"She was one of the most profound leaders of the ANC," said 53-year-old mourner Brian Magqaza. "She fought from beginning to the end. Go well Mama."

Former South African presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki also attended the funeral. Mourners booed when the presence of scandal-tainted Zuma was publicly acknowledged.

Foreign dignitaries at the funeral include the leaders of Namibia, Swaziland and the Republic of Congo, as well as American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and international supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Her "steely leadership...gave strength to us all. She taught us not to be limited in our thoughts," said Campbell.

The township of Soweto is hugely symbolic in South Africa as it became a crucible of black resistance against white minority rule, which ended with elections in 1994.

Winnie Mandela's husband became the first black president of democratic South Africa, but she refused to follow many other struggle-era politicians who moved from townships like Soweto to formerly white-only suburbs after the end of apartheid.

Instead she remained embedded in the community where she met Nelson Mandela at a bus stop in 1957.

Her body was buried at a privately run graveyard in Johannesburg's upmarket Fourways suburb where two of her great-grand children are also buried.

- 'Symbol of resistance' -

The funeral closes the final chapter in the history of a woman who was exalted for her fearless defiance of apartheid rule but also implicated in violence and corruption in later life.

In 1991, she was convicted for kidnapping and being an accessory in the assault of a 14-year-old boy.

But her controversial reputation was largely brushed aside in the wake of her death with tributes to her bravery, independence and integrity dominating public commemorations.

In old age, Winnie Mandela emerged as a respected elder who was feted as a living reminder of her late husband -- and of the long and celebrated struggle against apartheid.

Most of their 38-year marriage was spent apart, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone as she kept his political dream alive.

But when Nelson Mandela died in 2013, it emerged he had left Winnie nothing in his will.

On Saturday, a 21-gun salute will be fired at her final resting place.WASHINGTON  The United States, Britain and France launched punitive military strikes against Bashar al-Assads Syrian regime in response to its latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity, President Donald Trump announced on Friday (local time).

Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.

Trump said in a primetime televised speech to the nation that he had ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian regime.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," he said.

A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen.

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the alleged toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which took place a week ago, and Trump reacted in an emotional tweet.

"Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he declared.

"President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay."

Trumps anger and apparent determination was quickly matched by Frances President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

Britains Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition.

May said there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force against Assad.

Trumps language was more brutal: "They are crimes of a monster."

Proof

In the six days between the attack and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling press statements and US debates.

Moscow denied its ally Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain had staged the event.

More practically, at the United Nations, Russias diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assads guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned that the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putins administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

That concern was mirrored by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday warned the rival camps against "full-blown military escalation."

"Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," he urged the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

And he stressed the need "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control."

Decision to act

But Trump has long criticised his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a previous US "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assads forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, who took office on Monday, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimise the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syrias civil war.

But other advisors want to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Irans growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.  AFPThe new House farm bill could have a major impact on the supplemental nutrition assistance program, also known as food stamps. The stocks of grocers that accept SNAP benefit cards  such as Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT), Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), Kroger Co (NYSE: KR) and SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE: SVU)  could be negatively impacted by the new bill, but Height Capital Markets analyst Stefanie Miller said the bill is unlikely to pass.

The legislation would significantly reduce SNAP benefit spending by enacting work requirements for eligible recipients. Even a Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to vote in favor of such restrictions, Miller said; instead, the analyst expects Congress to go with what it does best: the status quo.

We expect Congress will instead extend the current farm bill, which expires on Sept. 30, into mid-2019, she said. Next year, Congress must draft a new farm bill; if either or both chambers have a Democratic majority, we would not expect legislation will contain similar restrictions that effectively reduce SNAP benefits.

In other words, SNAP benefits and SNAP spending appear safe for now, which is good news for grocery investors. In 2017, 42 million Americans received SNAP benefits. Walmart is the single biggest beneficiary of SNAP spending. The company has estimated that roughly 18 percent of all food stamps are redeemed at Walmart.

The House bill that reduces benefits may not ever make it to the Senate for a vote. Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson of North Dakota has said he believes as many as 50 Republicans could vote against the bill in the House.

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See more from Benzinga

 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.Congress has warned Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook Inc. chief executive, that the era of self-regulation for social media is likely over, following Facebooks data breach and Russias use of the social-media behemoth in its disinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential election. Zuckerberg agreed regulation is inevitable, even desirable. But how far it should go  and the implications for his companys $55 billion in projected revenue this year  are far from settled. Heres a rundown of whats being considered.

Improve Privacy Protections for Social Media Users

The personal data of up to 87 million Facebook users, mostly in the U.S., was obtained by Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm that, among its other work, helped elect President Donald Trump. Some lawmakers and privacy experts are calling for more consumer protections, as theyve done many times in the past after data leaks. Such legislation has gone nowhere in Congress, so whats different this time?

For one thing, tougher rules for companies that collect and use consumer data go into effect in the European Union next month and the Facebooks, Googles and Twitters of the world are already figuring out how to comply. The General Data Protection Regulation sets new standards for any holder of sensitive data, from Amazon to local government councils. They must post clear terms and conditions for users and get unambiguous consent. Opting out of data collection should be as easy as opting in. Consumers must get free access to whats been collected and how its being used; data will be destroyed when no longer needed. Consumers also get to have some information erased under a right to be forgotten. Fines for the most serious violations can go as high as $24.7 million (20 million euros) or 4 percent of annual revenue.

The U.S. has avoided these types of laws, but those days may be numbered. Your user agreement sucks, Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, told Zuckerberg during an April hearing. The purpose of the agreement is to cover Facebooks rear end, not to defend privacy rights, he said. I dont want to have to vote to regulate Facebook, but by God I will.

Story continues

Enacting sweeping new privacy laws in the U.S. is a tall order. Many members of Congress, though they might not like Facebook, are still skeptical of regulation. The legislature is controlled by Republicans, many of whom oppose the government telling companies how to run their businesses. Whenever a controversy like this arises, theres always the danger that Congresss response will be to step in and overregulate, Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said at the first of two congressional hearings featuring Zuckerberg in April.

Digital Protection Agency

A few members of Congress raised the idea of starting a whole new agency to police how Americans data is shared online. A Digital Protection Agency would have the power to penalize companies for data breaches and set rules for what data corporations can collect and how they can use it. When Representative Raul Ruiz, a Democrat from California, broached the idea with Zuckerberg, the CEO said the idea deserves a lot of consideration, but he also wanted to give more thought to the details.

Regulate Digital Ads

Facebook and Twitter have come out in support of the Honest Ads Act, a transparency measure co-sponsored by two Democratic senators, Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner, and Republican John McCain. The bill would bring disclosure requirements to online political ads, like those required now for such ads on TV and radio. The idea is to let voters know who is trying to influence them. Critics say the measure addresses only part of the problem, since groups can offer names that give little hint to whos actually behind an ad.

Already Facebook has announced changes to its advertising policies that it says will make it harder for rogue operatives to push divisive points of view. Advertisers touting social or political issues will need to verify their identity and location.

The legislation and Facebooks action aim to help prevent a repeat of 2016, when Russian operatives used ads and bogus accounts in a bid to shape voter opinion. Facebook turned over to Congress more than 3,000 ads purchased by Russian parties that reached 10 million users during the presidential race.

Separately, the Federal Election Commission is moving toward requiring online political ads to show details of sponsorship  a proposal that even commission members characterize as a narrow reform.

Meanwhile, Maryland is poised to be the first state in the country to regulate political ads on Facebook and other social media sites with a law that would require them to quickly post public information about who bought the advertisements, whom they benefit and how much was spent. Illinois has the only law in the country that offers users the right to legal action when a company fails to protect their data, including the likeness of their eyes, fingers or face. The unique law is being invoked in a lawsuit against Facebook that aims to collect as much as $5,000 from the social media giant for each instance in which a users image has been used without consent.

Regulate Digital Content by Holding Websites Liable

Trump on April 11 signed a bill to combat online sex trafficking that opens websites to liability if they knowingly facilitate such crimes. The bill is supported by Facebook and the Internet Association, a trade group that counts Facebook, Alphabet Inc.s Google and Twitter Inc. as members. But several tech companies and trade groups are concerned that the law would harm innovation by opening large websites to legal sanctions caused by bad actors.

The measure isnt just about sex trafficking. Its the first step toward holding internet companies responsible for their websites content. It could also be a harbinger of efforts to control other illegal activity online, such as the drug trade.

Limit Their Size

Some lawmakers have started to talk about reining in the size of the tech Goliaths. The 20-year dry spell in U.S. monopoly cases has led economists and even some tech experts to conclude that enforcement has been too timid, with negative economic effects. Facebook and Google control more than half of U.S. internet mobile ad spending. Facebooks share of mobile social-media traffic, including its WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram units, is about 75 percent, by one estimate. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, pressed Zuckerberg during the April hearing about whether his company has any competitors. You dont think that you have a monopoly? Graham said. It certainly doesnt feel that way to me, Zuckerberg responded.

Tech giants argue that their dominance is hardly durable because barriers to entry are low for new competitors. Google is fond of saying competition is just one click away. The companies also say they are successful because of the quality of their offerings, so why punish success?

The last big tech case was in 1998, when the Justice Department successfully challenged Microsoft Corp.s dominance of computer operating systems but lost on appeal and eventually settled.

Enforce Existing Agreements

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Facebook breached a 2011 consent agreement to safeguard users personal information and former FTC officials say that the Cambridge Analytica scandal appears to violate that settlement. The agency could fine Facebook up to $40,000 per violation per day  which could add up quickly with millions of users involved. Under the settlement, Facebook agreed to get consent from users before sharing their data with third parties. It also required Facebook to establish a comprehensive privacy program, block access to a users account within 30 days of it being deleted and barred it from making any deceptive claims about its privacy practices. Facebook says it didnt violate the consent agreement.

Reference Shelf

QuickTake explainers on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach and the European Unions coming privacy-protection rules. More QuickTake explainers on whether Facebook and Google are too big and should be broken up, addictive apps and the global backlash against big tech. A Bloomberg Intelligence analyst writes that antitrust is a bigger threat to Facebook and Google than EU privacy rules. A Bloomberg News article summarizes the big takeaways from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs April 10 Senate testimony. A Bloomberg Government transcript of the April 10 hearing. A New York Times op-ed on regulating the big five tech companies as monopolies. What Bloomberg reporters gleaned from Zuckerbergs notes left open at the Senate hearing.YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's ruling Republican party nominated former President Serzh Sarksyan as its candidate for prime minister on Saturday, drawing renewed criticism from opponents who accuse Sarksyan of engineering a power grab. Sarksyan's ally Armen Sarkissian, a former prime minister and ambassador to Britain, was sworn in as president on Monday after being elected by parliament in a vote that was meant to herald the start of a power shift to the premier and parliament. Under the terms of an amended constitution approved in 2015 by referendum, the presidency will become largely ceremonial. "The (party's) council discussed this issue and unanimously supported (Sarksyan's) candidacy," the Republicans said in a statement. Parliament, which is dominated by the ruling party, is due to make a final decision on April 17. The Dashnaktsutsiun Party, the Republicans ruling coalition ally, also backs Sarksyan's candidacy, meaning he should easily secure the simple majority needed for election. No other candidates are running. Opposition leaders have accused Sarksyan of changing the nation's political system to ensure he can remain in power, and have been holding protest rallies in recent weeks. Sarksyan, who became president in 2008, had denied any intention of becoming premier until March, when he said his appointment would allow him to share the benefit of his experience. Hundreds of opposition protesters marched in the center of the capital, Yerevan, on Saturday, waving national flags and chanting: "Make a stand, say "No" to Serzh!" Armenia, a country of around three million people in the southern Caucasus, seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991, but remains dependent on Russia for aid and investment. Many Armenians accuse the government of corruption and mismanaging the economy. (Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan; Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Helen Popper)President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Friday to arrest the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, who is probing his deadly drug war, telling her to stay away from the Philippines.

Fatou Bensouda launched a preliminary investigation in February into allegations that Filipino police were murdering thousands of drug suspects, prompting Manila last month to withdraw from the Hague-based tribunal.

"What is your authority now? If we are not members of the treaty... you cannot exercise any proceedings here without basis," Duterte told a news conference in his southern home city of Davao.

"That is illegal and I will arrest you," he added, according to official transcripts.

Philippine police say they have killed roughly 4,000 drug suspects who fought back during arrest. Rights groups claim the actual number is three times higher, accusing authorities of murder.

In the face of widespread international criticism of its drugs war, Manila has described its withdrawal from the ICC as a "principled stand against those who would politicise and weaponise human rights".

The ICC has urged Manila to reconsider its decision, while warning that the move does not prevent the tribunal from continuing its investigation into the killings.

"You, Ms Fatou, do not come here because I will bar you," Duterte said.

"Not because I am afraid of you (but) because you will never have jurisdiction over my person, not in a million years."

The ICC opened in 2002 to try abuses in countries where national courts cannot or will not prosecute.

Manila ratified the Rome Statute that created the treaty in 2011, but Duterte has insisted it cannot be enforced in the Philippines on a technicality.

Buoyed by high domestic popularity ratings, Duterte has fiercely defended his drug war as a battle to provide security for the nation's 100 million people.

He has frequently urged authorities to kill drug suspects while promising to protect police from legal repercussions.Today in 5 Lines

President Trump called James Comey an untruthful slime ball following the release of excerpts of his book, A Higher Loyalty , in which the former FBI director claims that the president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values.

Donald Trumps personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who was the target of an FBI raid earlier this week, is under criminal investigation, according to court documents.

Trump pardoned Lewis Scooter Libby, the chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who in 2007 was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. I dont know Mr. Libby, Trump said in a statement, but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly.

The Justice Department inspector general transmitted a report to Congress accusing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe of misleading investigators.

At a United Nations Security Council meeting, Ambassador Nikki Haley accused the Syrian government of using banned chemical weapons at least 50 times during its civil war.

Today on The Atlantic

Deployment Has Benefits: The former national chief of the Border Patrol reflects on the deployment of the National Guard in 2006, and explains why President Trumps recent call to send troops to the southern border has merit. (David Aguilar)

Missing Morale: America purports to support its troopsbut fails to take two decades of war seriously. For that, the clarity of purpose so central to bonding men in combat is rotting away. (Phil Klay)

Beleaguered but Employed: Trump has repeatedly criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but has stopped short of firing him. There are two major reasons why. (Natasha Bertrand)

James Comey Is No Hero: The former FBI directors disregard for Justice Department rules helped put Trump in the White House. (Adam Serwer)

Radio Atlantic: In this Radio Atlantic news update, Robinson Meyer shares what he learned from his exclusive interview with Mark Zuckerberg, and from the CEOs testimony before Congress. We discuss with Atlantic senior editor Gillian White whether Facebook can be regulated, and whether it will.

Snapshot

Story continues

Michael Cohens Attorneys Todd Harrison and Joseph Evans walk to the U.S. District Court in New York City. Jeenah Moon / Reuters

Recommended: James Comey Is No Hero

What Were Reading

Another Hush Agreement: Michael Cohen reportedly negotiated a deal to pay a former Playboy model $1.6 million to keep her from disclosing her alleged relationship with Elliott Broidy, a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee with ties to Trump. (Joe Palazzolo and Michael Rothfeld, The Wall Street Journal)

The Creeping Border: Under the Trump administration, the official U.S. border zonein which agents can question anyone suspected of being in the country illegallyhas started expanding. So, too, has a widespread feeling of paranoia among undocumented immigrants. (Emily Gogolak, Politico)

Success by Trump Eau de Toilette: In 2015, 19 companies were producing or distributing Trump-branded consumer goods like underwear, deodorant, and steaks; now, only two are. That rapid decline is an example of how politics has transformed Trumps business empire. (Zane Anthony, Kathryn Sanders, and David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post)

A Striking Difference: The United States was a leader in the percentage of women in the job market in the 1990s, but it has fallen behind other developed countriesa consequence, according to a new report, of its lack of paid-parental-leave policies. (The Economist)

Visualized

Fed Up: Strikes across the country are signaling that teachers are frustrated. These seven charts explain why. (Brandon Griggs, CNN)

-Written by Lena Felton (@lenakfelton)

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.NYON, Switzerland (Reuters) - Favourites Atletico Madrid will face Arsenal in the Europa League semi-finals with Olympique de Marseille taking on Austrian outsiders Salzburg following Friday's draw at UEFA's headquarters. Atletico are bidding to reach their third European final in four years having been runners-up in the Champions League in 2013-14 and 2015-16. Arsenal are not only hoping to win a first European trophy since 1994, but know their hopes of qualifying for next year's Champions League depend on winning the Europa League in the French city of Lyon next month. The Gunners are currently sixth in the Premier League with little prospect of finishing in the top four and taking one of the Champions League qualification spots. Salzburg, who scored three times in five minutes on Thursday to beat Lazio 6-5 on aggregate and become the first Austrian side to reach a European semi-final since 1996, will fancy their chances of reaching the final. The Austrian league leaders beat Marseille 1-0 at home in this season's group phase and drew 0-0 away in France. Marseille, for whom captain Dimitri Payet was inspirational in their comeback 5-3 aggregate win against RB Leipzig in the quarter-finals, are currently fourth in Ligue 1. Arsenal and Marseille will both be at home in the first legs which take place on April 26 with the return games on May 3. Diego Simeone's Atletico side, second in La Liga, have already faced English opposition this season in Europe, losing 2-1 at home to Chelsea and drawing away as they bowed out of the Champions League at the group stage. They have a strong recent record against English opposition in knockout ties, however, winning their last three and have a formidable attack featuring Diego Costa and Fernando Torres. Atletico also beat Liverpool in the Europa League semi-finals in 2010 before going on to lift the trophy. Salzburg, backed by energy drinks giant Red Bull, have an enviable record in Europe this season, losing only once in 21 matches, that defeat coming away to Lazio 4-2. Marco Rose's side produced a stunning fightback to win the second leg 4-1 on Thursday, having slipped 5-2 behind on aggregate in the 55th minute. Marseille are unbeaten at home in this season's Europa League and will have the backing a fanatical crowd when they host Salzburg in the first leg. A European club record 58,897 turned out to roar them home in the second leg against Leipzig on Thursday. (Reporting by Martyn Herman and Simon Evans; Editing by Christian Radnedge)By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - A co-founder of now-shuttered Backpage.com charged with helping mastermind a scheme to use the website to sell sex was freed from an Arizona jail on Friday after posting a $1 million bond secured by real estate. Michael Lacey, who has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges stemming from a wide-ranging investigation into the site, was ordered by a U.S. magistrate judge to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and disclose all his foreign and domestic financial assets. Lacey wore black-and-white striped jail garb and stood calmly before the judge answering questions about the terms of his conditions. He declined to speak with reporters as he left the federal courthouse in Phoenix about three hours later, holding hands with his wife and dressed in street clothes. "I am pleased he is going to be released, so he can set about defending his case," his attorney, Janey Cook, told reporters after the hearing. Lacey's release came one day after prosecutors announced that the website's chief executive, Carl Ferrer, 57, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money-laundering charges in both Sacramento County Superior Court and U.S. District Court in Arizona under deals with state and federal prosecutors that call for him to serve five years in prison. As part of his agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and prosecutors from California and Texas, Ferrer agreed to cooperate in the criminal case against Lacey and his Backpage co-founder, James Larkin. Larkin, who has also pleaded not guilty, is scheduled for a detention hearing on Monday. The 93-count federal indictment accuses Ferrer, Lacey and Larkin of knowingly facilitating prostitution on the website. Also charged in the case are Backpage.com Executive Vice President Scott Spear, Chief Financial Officer John "Jed" Brunst, Sales and Marketing Director Dan Hyer, Operations Manager Andrew Padilla and Assistant Operations Manager Joye Vaught. Prosecutors say the website has generated some $500 million in prostitution-related revenue since its launch in 2004 and has laundered the funds by routing them through seemingly unrelated entities, using foreign accounts and converting it into and out of cryptocurrencies. Backpage.com was used primarily to sell sex and was the second-largest classified ad service in the United States after Craigslist. The online resource and its affiliated websites were seized last week by U.S. federal law enforcement authorities and taken off the internet. Ferrer agreed to permanently shut the website as part of his plea deal. (Reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Writing by Gina Cherelus in New York and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Dan Grebler and Richard Chang)US giant Boeing will partner with India's state-run Hindustan Aeronautics and Mahindra Defence Systems to build F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets in India, the companies said Friday.

The deal comes after India said it would need 110 combat jets, worth about $15 billion, to bolster its defences.

Boeing has offered to build the jets locally to comply with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make-in-India" campaign, which aims to cut imports and build a domestic defence industry.

India, the world's biggest arms importer, is in the midst of a multi-billion dollar upgrade of its largely elderly military equipment.

"Our partnership with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) and Mahindra will enable us to optimise the full potential of India's public and private sector to deliver next-generation F/A-18 fighter capabilities," Pratyush Kumar, president of Boeing India, said in a statement.

Under the deal, Boeing will build a production facility in India where other fighter jets could also be built.

Boeing is competing with Lockheed Martin of the United States, Sweden's Saab and Dassault of France to supply fighter jets to the Indian Air Force.

Lockheed is partnering with Tata Advanced Systems to build single-engine F16 fighter planes in India. Saab has said it will build its planes with India's Adani Group.

India has said the jets must be produced by a foreign aircraft maker with an Indian company under a strategic partnership deal that brings high-tech defence technology to India.MOSCOW (Reuters) - Boeing Co said on Friday it was aware of an "anti-American" legislation proposal in Russia and was studying the possible impact on its business in the country. Russia's lower house of parliament is to consider draft legislation that would give the Kremlin powers to ban or restrict a list of U.S. imports, reacting to new U.S. sanctions on a group of Russian tycoons and officials. "Boeing is aware of the draft bill and is monitoring the situation to understand what impact there may be to our ongoing business and partnerships in the region," it said. (Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov and Polina Ivanova; Writing by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Vladimir Soldatkin)BRASILIA (Reuters) - Leaders of Brazil's northern state of Roraima on Friday asked the Supreme Court for permission to temporarily close the only land border crossing with neighboring Venezuela to halt the massive and disorderly arrival of refugees. Brazil's President Michel Temer, attending the Summit of the Americas in Lima, said closing the border was "unthinkable." Roraima Governor Suely Campos petitioned the high court to order the federal government to step up assistance for her state to deal with what she called a humanitarian crisis. She also asked that the border be closed until orderly immigration procedures could be put in place. Campos said she had to resort to the top court because the federal government had not acted on her state's requests. It is not clear if the court with take up her plea. More than 50,000 Venezuelan refugees have arrived in Roraima since last year, fleeing an economic crisis and political strife in their country, the governor told reporters. The influx was nearly equal to 10 percent of the state's population of 520,000 inhabitants. The refugees have overloaded health, housing and education services, Campos said, bringing the threat of disease and social disorder. Many of the refugees have walked hundreds of kilometers (miles) to reach the state capital Boa Vista and have been sleeping in squares and other precarious areas in the city. Campos said every day more than 500 Venezuelans crossed the open border, where immigrants are allowed to enter with no visa, just by showing a Venezuelan document. "We have to require more documents, vaccination cards, criminal background checks, the inspection of cars. There has to be a way to contain this influx," Campos said. The federal government declared an emergency in February to boost funding for Roraima and doubled the number of troops at the border. It has also begun to use Air Force planes to move Venezuelan refugees to larger Brazilian cities. But it has said it will not close the border because that would violate international treaties. Temer said his government was delivering assistance requested by Roraima, and he hoped the Supreme Court would deny the state's plea to shut the border. "It is not Brazil's way of doing things, closing borders," he told reporters. (Reporting by Mateus Maia and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, and Lisandra Paraguassu in Lima; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)DAMASCUS  The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of pre-dawn strikes against Syrias regime Saturday in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack, lighting up the sky of Damascus as explosions shook the city.

Branding the alleged gas attack the crimes of a monster, US President Donald Trump announced the action against President Bashar al-Assads regime in a White House address, defying fierce warnings from Damascus ally Russia.

A few minutes later, an AFP correspondent in Damascus heard a series of huge blasts and residents rushed to their balconies. For around 45 minutes, explosions echoed and the sound of warplanes roared over the city, as flashes flared in the distance.

As dawn broke, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the citys north and east. In the biggest foreign military action so far against Syrias regime, Western officials said a barrage of cruise and air-to-land missiles hit targets near Damascus and in Homs province including a scientific research centre, storage facilities and a command post.

Trump had suggested US military action could be on a large scale, but Saturdays attacks were narrowly targeted and the facilities hit had reportedly been evacuated in recent days. Syrian state media reported only three people injured and Russias defence ministry said there were no victims among Syrian civilians and military personnel.

Vietnamese citizens warned not to travel to Syria The Consular Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned Vietnamese citizens not to travel to Syria or regions in its vicinity until stability is re-established in this Middle East nation.



The move aims to prevent possible dangers and risks.



In case of emergency, Vietnamese citizens are recommended to contact the Vietnamese Embassy in Iran (cum Syria) via its hotline +98.21.2411670 or their relatives in Vietnam can call the citizen protection hotline +84.981.84.84.84 for timely support.-VNA

Evil and despicable attack

Trump left no doubt the strikes were a direct response to an alleged April 7 chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma that rescuers and monitors say killed more than 40 people.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said no additional strikes were planned for now.

Right now this is a one-time shot, he said. Syrias regime, which has repeatedly denied any use of chemical weapons, immediately denounced the strikes as a brutal, barbaric aggression that was doomed to fail.

Russia said it was calling an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions of the United States and its allies.

Without the sanction of the UN Security Council, in breach of the UN charter and the norms and principles of international law, an act of aggression was committed against a sovereign state, the Kremlin said.

Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also denounced the leaders of the United States, France and Britain as criminals.

Joseph Dunford, Washingtons top general, said Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries had attempted to fire back, but there were no initial reports of losses, he added.

The Russian military said the allies had fired 103 cruise missiles including Tomahawk missiles but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them.

Defiant rally in Damascus

At a rally in central Damascus, 48-year-old Nedher Hammoud claimed to have seen missiles being shot down like flies.

Let them do what they want, kill who they want History will record that Syria shot down missiles  and not just missiles. It shot down American arrogance.

The impromptu early morning rally saw crowds of people heading to the famed Umayyad Square to show their support for Assad.

Draped in government flags and blaring patriotic tunes, dozens of Syrians arrived on bicycles, on foot and in cars spray painted with the red, white, and black colours of the Syrian flag. Inspectors with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were due later Saturday to start work on a probe into the events of April 7 in Douma, the last rebel-held pocket of the onetime opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

The Jaish al-Islam rebel group in control of Douma said the attack forced them to agree to a Russia-brokered evacuation deal, paving the way for Syrias government to secure Eastern Ghouta. Mohammad Alloush, a key member of Jaish al-Islam, said Saturday the Western strikes had not gone far enough.

Punishing the instrument of the crime while keeping the criminal  a farce, Alloush wrote on Twitter.

Syrian state media reported that internal security forces had entered Douma on Saturday and that the town would be secured within hours.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the attack in Douma, which prompted a furious reaction from Trump.

Trumps anger was shared by Frances President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons, Macron said in a statement. France said it fired cruise missiles from frigates in the Mediterranean and deployed fighter jets from home bases as part of its strikes.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said a large part of the Damascus governments stocks of chemical weapons had been destroyed. Britains defence ministry said that four British Tornado jets had fired Storm Shadow missiles at a base 15 miles (25 kilometres) west of Homs city.

This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons, Prime Minister Theresa May said at a press conference after the strikes.

UN chief urges restraint

In the days between the attack in Douma and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling statements and debates.

Moscow denied Assad had any role in the alleged attack, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain staged the event. Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assads guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had proof.

The Western leaders apparently found the evidence conclusive enough to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putins administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for calm, delaying a planned trip to Saudi Arabia to deal with the aftermath of the military action.

I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances, he said in a statement.  AFPLONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May needed to act with speed when she ordered a missile attack on Syria and she will update parliament on Monday, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told BBC radio. Britain joined the United States and France on Saturday in what May cast as a "limited and targeted" strike after intelligence indicated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government was responsible for an attack using chemical weapons in Douma. All crews from the Royal Air Force Tornado jets returned safely, Williamson said. When asked if there would be more military action against Syria, Williamson said he thought the Western strikes had so far had sufficient effect. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Michael Holden)London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May faced a backlash from the domestic opposition after launching military strikes on Syria without consulting parliament.

As the Conservative leader explained her rationale for the air strikes, opposition parties claimed the attacks were legally dubious, risked escalating conflict and should have been approved by lawmakers.

The shadow of the 2003 invasion of Iraq still lingers in the corridors of Britain's parliament, when MPs backed then-prime minister Tony Blair in joining US military action.

"Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace," said Jeremy Corbyn, the veteran leftist leader of the main opposition Labour Party.

"This legally questionable action risks escalating further... an already devastating conflict.

"Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump."

Corbyn has written to May seeking assurance that there would be no further bombing raids and urged the government to negotiate a pause in the Syrian civil war.

The British, US and French bombings on Saturday followed an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma on April 7.

May's government has insisted the punitive strikes were legal, releasing a statement that said they were aimed at alleviating the "extreme humanitarian suffering" of the Syrian people by reducing the chemical weapons capabilities of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"The UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering," the statement said.

It added that it believed the Syrian government had committed a "war crime and a crime against humanity" with chemical weapons use and that attempts to find a unified international approach through the United Nations had been blocked by Damascus-ally Moscow.

May will face questions from MPs on Monday, when parliament reconvenes after a break.

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Stop the War, a pacifist coalition once chaired by Corbyn, has called a demonstration outside the British parliament on Monday to protest against the strikes.

The group said it "strongly condemned" the action and accused May of "sanctioning killing" at Trump's behest.

- 'Dangerous escalation' -

Deploying the armed forces is a prerogative power, meaning the prime minister can launch action without backing from MPs.

But after the Conservatives entered office in 2010, the government suggested that since the 2003 vote on Iraq, a convention had emerged that MPs should have a say, except in cases of emergency.

British MPs voted against taking military action against Damascus in 2013, in what was widely viewed as an assertion of parliamentary sovereignty on the use of force.

David Cameron, who was prime minister in 2013, tweeted on Saturday: "As we have seen in the past, inaction has its consequences".

Lawmakers backed action in Iraq in 2014, and again in Syria in 2015, strictly limiting strikes in both countries to targets of the Islamic State jihadist group.

Four British Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles at a Syrian military base suspected of holding chemical weapons components. The strikes at 0100 GMT were 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Syria's use of chemical weapons could not be tolerated but questioned whether the strikes would halt their use or contribute to ending the civil war.

"This action risks not just further escalating the civil war in Syria but also a dangerous escalation of international tensions," said the leader of the left-wing Scottish National Party, the third-biggest force in the British parliament.

Both Syria and Russia have denied all responsibility for the alleged chemical attacks.

- Riding Trump's coat-tails -

Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the fourth-biggest party in parliament, accused May of "riding the coat-tails of an erratic US president".

"It shows a weak government putting short term political expediency before democracy and in so doing further diminishing the standing of Britain in the world," Cable said.

The Green Party, which has one MP, said May had "trampled over parliamentary democracy" and demanded a vote in the House of Commons on the strikes.

However, there was some support for May.

The centre-right Conservatives rely on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party, Northern Ireland's biggest party, for a majority in parliament.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said the air strikes were "limited but proportionate and justified".

Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chairman of parliament's foreign affairs scrutiny committee and a former army officer, said May had "taken the correct decision".

Peter Felstead, editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, said he did not think May would face a "serious backlash", as the strikes ultimately were politically and operationally "the right thing to do".

"Corbyn will rail against military action, claiming it could widen the conflict, but if he won't sanction military action against a regime that is using chemical weapons on its own people, when would he ever sanction it?" he told AFP.

"If the West had acted against Assad's chemical weapons attacks in 2013, we might not have had to embark on military action now."LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday the British military had joined the United States and France in carrying out an attack on Syria to target its chemical weapons capability. Here is the full text of her statement: "This evening I have authorized British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use. "We are acting together with our American and French allies. In Douma, last Saturday, a chemical weapons attack killed up to 75 people, including young children, in circumstances of pure horror. "The fact of this attack should surprise no-one. The Syrian regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way. "And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian regime is responsible for this latest attack. "This persistent pattern of behavior must be stopped  not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons. "We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted. Even this week the Russians vetoed a Resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack. "So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime. This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. "It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties. "And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian Regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity. "At this time, my thoughts are with our brave British servicemen and women  and our French and American partners  who are carrying out their duty with the greatest professionalism. "The speed with which we are acting is essential in co-operating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations. "This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly. "I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britains national interest. "We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world. We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none. "History teaches us that the international community must defend the global rules and standards that keep us all safe. That is what our country has always done. And what we will continue to do." (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Nick Tattersall)Facebook DMs

Facebook/Business Insider

Aleksandr Kogan, the academic who harvested Facebook data for Cambridge Analytica, also took users' private messages.

He collected private messages sent from and received by people who downloaded his app, This Digital Life.

Facebook hinted that inboxes may have been compromised earlier this week, and further reporting from The Guardian confirmed it.



The data-harvesting app which gathered private information for Cambridge Analytica also collected users' private messages, The Guardian reported on Friday.

This Is Your Digital Life, a quiz app developed by Cambridge academic Aleksandr Kogan, pulled in both incoming and outgoing messages from several thousand accounts of people who downloaded the app.

The number who had messages taken is a small proportion of the total 87 million people whose data was harvested in some fashion.

But it represents a much more intrusive collection than the page likes, birthdays, locations, and personality traits and so forth which were taken from other profiles.

Cambridge Analytica Aleksandr Kogan

CNN

Facebook warned users earlier this week that people who used Kogan's app "may have" shared messages from users inboxes. He appeared to confirm this in an interview with the New York Times.

Kogan denied handing over the information to Cambridge Analytica for use on any of its campaigns.

However, the Guardian said that whistleblower Christopher Wylie had looked at some direct messages on Kogan's database, and concluded it was "unclear" whether they had been using by Cambridge Analytica and its associates.

Facebook and Britain's Information Commissioner's Office is still investigating the Cambridge Analytica brief. The fallout from the scandal also precipitated Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before the US Congress this week.

NOW WATCH: Google, Apple, and Amazon are in a war that no one will win

See Also:Mexicos most popular tourist town Cancun has been rocked by a record number of killings in a single day as drug trafficking gangs step up violence fueled by the U.S. opioid epidemic.

On April 4 alone, nine people were killed, almost twice the previous record of five, with a total of 14 people being executed in 36 hours, Noticaribe reported.

The news outlet reported on April 11 that the corpse of a woman, aged around 40, was found beaten, with a rope around her neck and a note that said go to hell. These letters left by bodies are called narco mantas and are often used by cartel gangs.

Trending: The Human Brain Can Get Confused About What's Real and Imagined, Says New Study

RTXXD50

REUTERS/Gerardo Garcia

However the U.S. Department of State has not advised against travel to Cancun, host to around 4.8 million visitors per year, because homicides appeared to be targeted, criminal organization assassinations.

Last month, it did warn against travel in the states of Sinaloa, Michoacan, Colima, Guerrero and Tamaulipas, issuing them with a do not travel advisory, the same warning it would give to prospective travelers to war-torn Syria.

Don't miss: Margaret Atwood Defends Controversial Star Wars Influenced 9/11 Comment: Exclusive

Also, the U.S. consulate in Cancun was closed temporarily following a tourist ferry explosion in February, which injured 24 people. In March, cartel boss Alfonso Contreras Espinoza was shot dead in hospital.

The British governments travel advice warns there are frequent shootings in Playa del Carmen and downtown Cancun and says that visitors should monitor local advice, remain vigilant and follow the advice of the local authorities.

U.S.A. Today reported that the spike in violence is due to cartels fighting to seize opium-producing poppy territories for heroin production.

Story continues

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Leticia Rodriguez Lara is the alleged leader of the drug gang that dominates the city and faces trial on drug trafficking charges, along with her son. Known as "Dona Lety, she is said to be a former police officer and allegedly heads the gang that controls drug sales in Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

She was arrested last August and is accused of bribing officials and managing a drug network linked to the notorious Sinaloa cartel, headed by El Chapo.

Cancuns murder rate has doubled. So far in 2018, 113 people have been executed. In 2017, Mexico had its record number of murders on record, with 29,158 homicides.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekAntonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, recently said the Cold War was back with a vengeance but also with a difference. This is correct but belatedly so. The new confrontation between Russia and the United States started already in 2014 and has been intensifying ever since, culminating in Friday evenings U.S.-led strikes on Syria, which the Trump administration blamed on the Syrian government and its Russian allies and vowed to sustain indefinitely, if it deemed necessary. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded, in turn, that the attacks were an act of aggression that would have a destructive effect on the entire system of international relations.

The new confrontation between Russia and the United States has thus reached its first missile crisis moment. The way it is handled  whether it produces a direct military collision between the armed forces of the United States and Russia  will matter gravely for the entire world.

The original Cold War was very different from todays confrontation between Washington and Moscow. There is no longer symmetry, balance, or respect between the parties. There is also no heightened fear of a nuclear Armageddon, which has the paradoxical effect of making it far easier to slide beyond the point of no return.

Taking on Russia, for many in the West, has become a continuation of the war on terror, with Putin cast in the role of Saddam Hussein. Thus, unlike the Soviet Union, Russia is dealt with as a rogue state. In this very unequal contest, the United States has essentially excluded the possibility of a strategic compromise with its unworthy adversary: For U.S. leaders, to compromise with Russia means to compromise oneself. This raises the stakes for the Kremlin to the absolute maximum.

Professional military and national security officials in the United States probably realize the dangers of the situation far better than politicians and public opinion leaders. In Syria, deconfliction between U.S. and Russian military forces has worked rather successfully. The chief of the Russian General Staff has had regular contacts, including face-to-face meetings, with the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of defense, and is about to meet with NATOs supreme allied commander in Europe. At the beginning of the year, the heads of Russias principal intelligence agencies  the Federal Security Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the Main Intelligence Directorate  made an unprecedented joint visit to the United States.

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In the atmosphere of rampant hysteria and bluster, these channels of communication look much more solid than the famous back channel in Washington between Robert Kennedy and a Russian intelligence operative that served to relay messages between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. Yet, unlike in the original Cold War, which was mostly a war by proxy, the new confrontation is a more direct engagement. In the fields of information, economics and finance, politics, and the cyberdomain, the U.S.-Russian fight is already direct. In the military sphere, Russia and the United States are for the first time since World War II fighting in the same country, but now their goals and strategies are vastly different, if not opposed to each other. The military leaders on both sides can do much to avoid incidents, but making policy is above their pay grade.

What has just played out is the least bad scenario: a series of U.S. and allied strikes that are largely symbolic, targeting some Syrian military facilities but sparing the main command and control centers and avoiding any potential Russian targets  not just Russian bases or forces but the Russian personnel and civilians who are widely spread throughout the Syrian military and government infrastructure. Such an attack would send the Russian-Western relationship to a new low point and lead to even more recrimination, sanctions, and countersanctions, but it would not endanger peace.

The worst scenario, by contrast, would do precisely that. Many people may have missed the warning by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, who, a few weeks before the alleged chemical attack in Douma, painted exactly the scenario of a staged chemical attack in the then-rebel-held enclave, which in his scenario would have served as a pretext for massive U.S. strikes against the Syrian leadership in Damascus. Should Russians be targeted in such an attack, Gerasimov said, the Russian military in the region would respond by intercepting the incoming missiles and firing at the platforms from which they were launched.

Some commentators have since dismissed these warnings as bluff. They point to Russias clear inferiority in advanced conventional weapons in comparison with the United States. Should the Russians try to implement what Gerasimov has outlined, the argument goes, their entire military contingent in Syria would be wiped out in minutes, and Moscow would have to accept a humiliating defeat, which might as well be the end of its ill-conceived challenge to Americas dominant might. Perhaps. But there is a chance that the regional conflict may not stop there and instead escalate to a wholly different level.

Even if the current standoff in Syria does not lead to the worst-case scenario becoming a reality, the U.S.-Russian situation will remain not only dire but essentially hopeless for the indefinite future. Americas approach toward Russia will likely consist of a methodical mounting of pressure on it in multiple domains  in anticipation that, at some point, the pressure will become unbearable for Moscow. The Kremlin, for its part, is adamant that it will not surrender, knowing that the adversary will be merciless even after its victory.

The outcome, for now, is wide open. Whats clear is that periodic tests of will and resolve will continue to lead to international crises, whether in Syria, Ukraine, or elsewhere. Policymakers need to learn from their military subordinates: They should keep their heads cool and think of the consequences of their actions, both intended and unintended. Allowing the new U.S.-Russian global confrontation to run its course is much preferable to a sudden head-on crash.As Facebook FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg finished his forced march through Congress, his inquisitors were left mumbling confusedly about data-scraping and the Dark Web. Meanwhile, the rest of us were left to ourselves, asking hard questions about how we should react to the way Facebook seems to run its business.

Do you have any idea what the Cambridge Analytica data breach, Russian election meddling, and fake news should mean for your own online presence? What about all the other scandals we havent yet discovered, or never will? Should you delete Facebook? Should you stop searching for unmentionables on Google? Are you already toast?

Only one thing is clear: Our elected representatives lack both the technical aptitude and the wisdom to provide the answers for you. When it comes to the hard questions surrounding data use and privacy, we are on our own.

Most of us ignored these questions 20 years ago when we first Googled something. We ignored them 10 years ago when we first signed up for Facebook. And we ignored them again five years ago when we first let our iPhones have our thumbprints.

But we cant ignore these questions any longer, because they are about to get a lot more important. Facebook is the canary in the coalmine for the future of artificial intelligence.

Facebook became a successful company by mastering the art of artificial intelligence for targeted marketing. It fed masses of your personal data into powerful statistical models to yield targeted content recommendations. So did Amazon AMZN and Google GOOG and countless other companies. Many of the best minds in AI cut their teeth trying to get you to click on ads.

But AI will soon be used to help make decisions far more consequential than the ads you see on Facebook or the products Amazon recommends for you. It will inform what medical treatments you receive, the jobs you are offered, and what colleges accept your application. And at the heart of every such system will sit one thing: your data.

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Are you prepared to leave these matters to 30-year-old CEOs? The stakes are huge. If we get this right, AI could offer us safer workplaces, better health care, freedom from drudgery, and fewer language barriers. It could bring us a world where people and machines work together to reach fairer decisionsabout hiring, scholarships, loans, and so much more.

But it could all go so badly wrong. Imagine a hospital thats as cavalier with your data as Facebook. Or a college admissions officer whos as lax about algorithmic bias as Googles ad-targeting systemwhich, according to a recent study from Carnegie Mellon University, showed online ads for high-paying executive jobs five times as often to men as to women. Thats the treacherous path were walking now.

It does not need to be this way. We might, for example, look to Sweden as a model. Witness Spotify, a notably scandal-free Swedish company built on data science and AI. Sweden has some of the worlds strictest data-privacy laws, but also one of the worlds most advanced digital economies. The law gives people the right to opt out of the use of their digital data for marketing purposes. It treats digital firms like Facebook much more like old-economy professionals, such as lawyers or accountants, who hold sensitive personal information on their clients, and who therefore have specific fiduciary duties to protect that information. It is surely no coincidence that 80% of Swedes express positive views about robots and artificial intelligenceand that 75% believe that AI requires careful oversight.

So what can you as an ordinary citizen do to nudge us in the right direction? Im a college professor, so it will not surprise you that my answer is education. Culture is more effective than law at enforcing good behaviorand abuse nearly always trades on a culture of ignorance, credulity, and inertia.

The ideas behind AI may be surrounded by a force field of technical jargon, but theyre surprisingly simple. How does AI work? Why does it depend so strongly on data? When and where does it go wrong? I promise you the answers are within your reachand if you care about the world, few questions are more urgent today.

With a bit of knowledge, youll be much more prepared to play an informed role in the coming age of thinking machines. Just as importantly, you wont be such a mug when the next Facebook comes around.

James Scott is an associate professor of statistics and data science at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the co-author of the forthcoming book AIQ: How People and Machines are Smarter Together.The man behind the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida would like to donate any money he stands to inherit to a charity chosen by the families of the 17 victims.

Nikolas Cruzs public defender Melisa McNeill told a Florida judge of her clients wishes on Wednesday during a hearing to determine whether Cruz has enough funds to hire his own lawyer.

Cruz, 19, and his brother stand to receive $25,000 from their late mothers life insurance policy, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Cruzs mother, Lynda Cruz, died in November 2017. Lynda also had an annuity that, according to Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, could be worth up to $800,000, per ABC News.

Whatever money he is entitled to, he does not want that money, McNeill said. He would like that money donated to an organization that the victims [families] believes would be able to facilitate healing in our community or an opportunity to educate our community about the issues that have ripened over the last four or five months.

Nikolas Cruz sits with attorneys Melisa McNeill (left) and Diane Cuddihy (right), appointed by the Broward Public Defender's Office, on April 11. (Photo: POOL New / Reuters)

The 19-year-old confessed shooter is accused of 17 counts of murder and faces a maximum sentence of either execution or life in prison without parole if convicted.

He is currently represented by the Broward Public Defenders Office, which handles clients who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

Attorneys representing Nikolas said he is willing to plead guilty if he can avoid the death penalty. When Finkelstein mentioned that during Wednesdays hearing, prosecuting attorney Shari Tate cut him off.

The state of Florida is not allowing Mr. Cruz to choose his own punishment for the murder of 17 people, Tate said, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Although Nikolas may have significant funds available to him over his lifetime, he is currently cash poor.

McNeill said that her client has $353 in a bank account as of April 5 and a possible claim to 24 shares of Microsoft stock purchased in 2003 that are currently worth around $2,227, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

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Neither of Nikolas lawyers mentioned a charity that might receive his inheritance, and it is unknown whether the victims families would even consider the gesture, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Also on HuffPost

Donna Ali holds a candle at a vigil for those who lost their lives in Wednesday's school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Jay Eaton, 19, prays at a vigil Thursday night, one day after a school shooting left 17 people dead.

A couple mourns the loss of their high school friends after Wednesday's school shooting.

A group of Muslim students gather in remembrance of those who died in Wednesday's school shooting.

A cross adorned with lit candles was one of many seen at Thursday night's vigil.

Rabbi Mendy Engel and his daughter, 18-year-old Chaya Itta Engel, came to the vigil to show their support for the families of those who died.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Mr Mueller's team provided to federal prosecutors who raided Mr Trump's personal attorney's office: Getty

As President Donald Trump seeks to deny the idea he is looking to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, a growing chorus of voices in Congress are warning the president how bad that would be for the country's democracy  and are considering ways to protect the Justice Department-appointed investigator.

After an FBI raid on his personal attorney Michael Cohen's office earlier this week, Mr Trump linked it to Mr Muellers investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, calling it a TOTAL WITCH HUNT and claiming that attorney-client privilege is dead. But on Thursday, he was challenging reports that he considered firing Mr Mueller as recently as December.

If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him, Mr Trumps account tweeted Thursday. Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper!

Mr Trump also appeared to take on a more conciliatory tone over the investigation, even as reports swirled that an interview between Mr Trump and Mr Mueller, which the president has repeatedly said he is willing to do, looks a far dimmer possibility in the wake of the Cohen raid.

I have agreed with the historically cooperative, displayed approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!), Mr Trump tweeted. I have full confidence in [White House Counsel] Ty Cobb  and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process.

His comments came after Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan delivered a feeble denunciation of the presidents anti-Mueller rhetoric, and after Senator Orrin Hatch  the longest serving Republican in the Senate  warned that Trump allies who might be telling the president to fire Mr Mueller to cut it out.

Anyone advising the president  in public or over the airwaves  to fire Bob Mueller does not have the president or the nations best interest at heart, Mr Hatchs Twitter account posted. Full stop.

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I obviously dont think he should do that, Mr Ryan said during an appearance on CBS, referring to firing Mr Mueller. He knows what I think about that. And I think Bob Mueller and the career professionals at the [Department of Justice] should be left to do their jobs.

A bipartisan group of senators on that chambers Judiciary Committee have pushed for a vote on a measure that would protect Mr Muellers job by imposing restrictions on the presidents ability to fire him.

The Senate measure  sponsored by Republicans Thom Tillis and Lindsey Graham, and Democrats Chris Coons and Cory Booker  would write into law Justice Department regulations that say a special counsel can only be fired for good cause. The committees chairman, Republican Chuck Grassley, says that the measure could see a vote as soon as April 26.

Whether there are legal protections in place or not, firing Mr Mueller could have tremendous political consequences for the president.

Political activist groups have already signed up around 300,000 people to be ready for a swift demonstration of anger to any attempt to get rid of Mr Mueller. Those efforts are being spearheaded by the liberal group MoveOn.org, which has a list of planned rallies in all 50 states and Puerto Rico should the special counsel be ousted.

Donald Trump could be preparing to put himself above the law. We wont allow it, the groups rapid response plan on the website reads. Our response in the hours following a potential power grab will dictate what happens next  whether Congress will stand up to Trump or alls him to move our democracy toward authoritarianism.

Several Republicans have indicated they think firing Mr Mueller would be the end of Mr Trumps presidency. At the very least, the decision would give Democrats political cover to pursue possible impeachment charges should they gain control of the House and Senate in November's midterm elections.

I think itd be devastating, former Watergate prosecution lawyer Nick Ackerman said of a possible Mueller firing, having seen former President Richard Nixon ultimately resign months after a similar move in 1973.As the nation has mourned the 14 students and three staff members killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida and marched on their behalf, a remarkable national consensus formed around the need for gun safety legislation. In a recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, an astonishing 97% of those surveyed said that they support requiring background checks for all gun buyers. More broadly, a Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 68% support stricter gun laws.

Despite such broad support and public mobilization, it looks like Congress and the President will do nothing to address the issue. There is no indication Republican leadership in the House of Representatives will even bring legislation that creates universal background checks forward for a vote, let alone consider other commonsense measures that are also widely supported. Across the country, people are rightly asking how this is possible. In addition to being the right thing to do, wouldnt it make good political sense to implement policies that nearly everyone wants?

While considerable attention has been given to the power of special interest groups like the National Rifle Association, political spending only tells a part of the story. Theres something deeper thats taken place, a more fundamental warping of our legislative branch that has put Congress entirely out of step with the American people on a variety of issues, including immigration, health care and gun safety.

One of the defining characteristics of American democracy in the last decade has been the loss of the House of Representatives as a responsible legislative body that reflects the will of the people. This has happened because of gerrymandering. And thats a big part of why my colleagues and I cant get anything done.

Every ten years, new Congressional lines must be drawn to reflect changes in the population  which effectively means that every ten years, the political party in control of each state has a new opportunity to draw lines to their advantage. Weve long had gerrymandering  the term itself dates to 1812  but in the age of big data and sophisticated voter-tracking, its easier than ever to do effectively. The latest round of gerrymandering, implemented in 2012, has filled the House with safe one-party seats, where primary voters  typically the most ideological  are the only voters that really matter.

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According to the ratings done by Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia, only 90 House seats out of 435 are considered competitive, with the incumbent party having even a risk of losing the seat. The other 80% of the body are in safe Democratic or Republican seats  and in many of the Republican ones especially, you have to take extreme hardline positions to survive a primary, stances with which even most Republicans dont always agree. The same phenomenon exists in Democratic seats as well, but you can really see how strong of an impact it has on gun safety especially.

The House wasnt designed to work like this. With more frequent elections and smaller jurisdictions than in the Senate, it was meant to be close to the people and subject to frequent change. But that isnt whats happening anymore. Republicans had a historically good year in 2010, gaining 63 seats in the House and 6 seats in the Senate. This success was mirrored at the state level, as they flipped six governors offices and 20 state legislative bodies nationwide, which gave them control of significant majority of statehouses across the country and an outsized influence on what congressional maps looked like starting in 2012. The result was a significant GOP tilt overall. During the last House election, Republican House candidates narrowly received more votes than Democratic candidates, winning the national total of the vote share 49.1% to 48%. Nevertheless, that vote share translated into a crushing majority in the House, with Republicans holding a 241194 advantage. In 2012, it was even worse. That year, Democratic House candidates actually received more votes (48.8% to 47.6%), but still ended up with only 46% of the seats, a 234201 deficit in the chamber.

To be sure, the political map of the country creates certain inefficiencies, especially because of sorting that has taken place in recent decades with more left-leaning voters concentrating in urban areas. However, the Constitution is quite clear that the House of Representatives is supposed to represent people, not land.

Gerrymandering thus gives a small fraction of one party massive sway in Congress, and were once again seeing the results. As they have done on immigration, the House Freedom Caucus  the most right-wing portion of the GOP  has come out hard against any gun safety measures. As long as outgoing Speaker Paul Ryan hides behind the so-called Hastert Rule  not an actual rule but a philosophy that dictates that only bills that a majority of Republicans support should get a vote  it is unlikely that the wishes of the 90% will be heard. With real reforms unable to go anywhere in the House, it isnt surprising to see the White House back off of any real changes to our nations gun laws.

The truth is, both sides gerrymander, and until we do something about it, both sides will keep gerrymandering. In fact, in my own state of Maryland, Democrats drew a map that benefited them, and the district I hold flipped from red to blue when new lines were drawn. I wasnt in office during that process, but since coming to Congress, Ive made redistricting reform a priority. My Open Our Democracy Act kills the gerrymandering virus by requiring that states use independent commissions to draw congressional lines. A number of states already draw lines this way, so we know that it can work. The Supreme Court is also examining the lines in a number of states and there is the potential that they could end partisan gerrymandering forever. And as we head into the midterms, the races at the state level will be especially important, because a good cycle for Democrats could enable us to draw fairer maps. There are also redistricting reform efforts underway in Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Colorado and other states worthy of your support.

Heres a simple premise: If 97% of the American people want a straightforward policy, it shouldnt be unthinkable that Congress could implement it. Until thats the case, the House of Representatives doesnt deserve the title representative.Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

A new regime has been at the helm of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau these last five months, but it may take more time before consumers notice any difference.

John Michael "Mick" Mulvaney, a staunch foe of the bureau since its inception, has been running it since late November, when President Trump picked him to replace Obama appointee Richard Cordray, the bureaus first director.

Since then Mulvaney, who is also the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, has aggressively sought to rein in the CFPB, cheering many in the finance industry and outraging many consumer advocates.

Hes halted new enforcement actionspunishments of financial companies accused of wronging. Hes ended a CFPB probe of World Acceptance Corp., an installment lender accused of unfairly profiting off of low-income, repeat borrowers.

He also stopped the bureaus lawsuit against four other so-called payday lenders and postponed implementation of a rule to curb payday lending practices industrywide. And hes restructured an office that investigates auto-lending violations, a move opponents say hamstrings its work.

The bureaus mission statement now focuses less on consumers and more on deregulating consumer markets. A five-year strategic plan excludes enforcement entirely.

Supporters of Mulvaney say the reforms are overdue.

He is reining in one of the most anti-consumer, anti-business and truly unconstitutional agencies we have seen in American history, states Steve Forbes, honorary chairman of Americans for Hope, Growth and Opportunity, a public policy organization.

But consumer advocates are sharply critical of Mulvaney's actions.

"He has directed the CFPB to prioritize easing the rules that banks and other lenders must follow," says Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union, the advocacy division of Consumer Reports, which is pushing for President Trump to name a permanent successor. "Consumers need a CFPB director committed to carrying out its mission, not someone intent on muzzling this critical watchdog."

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At a Senate hearing on Thursday Mulvaney, a former Tea Party-affiliated Republican congressman from South Carolina who once called the bureau a sad, sick joke, told lawmakers he was using his statutory authority to revisit any and all CFPB rules.

In particular, he wants to change bureaus approach to what he called regulating by enforcement, which he said unfairly penalized financial companies.

Regulating by enforcement means we dont have a rule or regulation in place but were going to sue you and tell you what the law was that you broke after we sue you, he said.

He repeatedly emphasized his view that the independent agency has too much unchecked power. His wish list for Congress includes changing the law to require major CFPB rules to be approved by lawmakers; give the president authority to fire the director at will, and make the bureaus funding dependent upon Congressional appropriation. Currently the CFPB gets its money from the Federal Reserve.

I dont know if any agency director has ever come to you to say Take my power away, he told members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. But thats what Im doing.

Republicans committee members were unanimously supportive. You bring a ray of sunshine to a black hole of bureaucracy, commented Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Al.

You are hurting real people to score political points, countered Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts who pioneered the CFPB.

Advocates and Industry Feel the Change

Those who work with or closely watch the CFPB feel the changes Mulvaney has instituted. For instance, monthly reports on consumer complaints to the bureau about their experiences with financial companies are more skeletal and have less detail than in the past, observes Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center, which is based in Boston.

Though Mulvaney has said the CFPB will continue to provide consumer education, its online educational materials don't appear to be updated as often, say Ruth Susswein, deputy director of national priorities at Consumer Action, an advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

Mulvaney has begun review of numerous aspects of the bureaus work, including consumer-protection rules that have been in place for years and gone through years of preparation and public review.

Theyre trying to call into question every tool the bureau was given to protect consumers, says Rebecca Borne, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham, N.C.



Jonathan Foxx, chairman of Lenders Compliance Group in New York City, a consulting company for banks and other lenders, says the changes have created confusion for his clients.

When you dont really know what the regulatory framework will hold and what will be maintained, its hard for a bank or nonbank to plan, he says.



Will Consumers Notice the Difference?

For all the changes going on behind the scenes, consumers may not immediately notice a difference when they contact the CFPB.

The popular Consumer Complaint Database is still available online to accept consumers gripes against banks, mortgage and auto lenders, student-loan servicers, and other financial services companies.

Bureau staff are still assigned to follow up on those complaints, encouraging financial companies to address them. Consumers can read others verbatim accounts of problems theyve had with financial companies. Researchers outside the CFPB can mine and analyze the data.

On the CFPB website, consumers can still search for answers to questions about auto loans, credit cards, credit scores, and numerous other topics; download educational brochures on managing a senior citizens or someone elses money, use a tool to compare college costs and financial-aid offerings; and view current mortgage rates in their state based on credit scores.

The bureau still operates special offices for economically vulnerable consumers, students, seniors, and active and veteran military; those offices were established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the 2010 law that created the CFPB.

Bigger Shifts Down the Road

Its what will happen down the road that will make a bigger difference, consumer advocates say.



The CFPB says that during Cordrays tenure, nearly $12 billion was returned to some 29 million Americansmostly directly to their pocketsthrough penalties, fines, and reparations that the bureau levied on financial firms it found to be in violation of federal laws and rules.

With no new enforcement actions in the pipeline, that kind of redress will eventually stop, Banks of Consumers Union says.



Numerous protections could get rolled back and new ones might never get implemented at all in the Mulvaney CFPB, Banks adds.

With the rollout of the payday lending rule suspended until next year, lenders still will not have to verify borrowers ability to pay, Banks says, which can lead to their entering an inescapable cycle of debt.

Hardworking families will be vulnerable to scams and rip-offs and shady practices will go unchecked," she says.







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Best used cars for $25,000 and less

7 best mattresses for couples





Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright  2018, Consumer Reports, Inc.(Photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

A high court in London ruled Friday that some lawbreakers have a right to be forgotten on Google  but not everyone should be allowed to scrub their criminal histories from the web.

Justice Mark Warby of the High Court of England and Wales ruled in favor of a businessman whod asked Google to remove search results related to a past criminal conviction. The man, who has not been publicly identified for legal reasons, was convicted more than a decade ago of conspiracy to intercept communications, reported The Guardian. He served a six-month prison sentence.

Google had refused the mans request to remove the information about his criminal past, but Warby ruled the demand was reasonable as the crime and punishment information has become out of date, irrelevant and of no sufficient legitimate interest to users of Google search to justify its continued availability.

The judge said hed also taken the nature of the mans conviction into consideration, as well as his demonstrated remorse for the crime.

There is not a plausible suggestion ... that there is a risk that this wrongdoing will be repeated by the claimant, Warby said, according to The Guardian. The information is of scant if any apparent relevance to any business activities that he seems likely to engage in.

Warby, however, refused the request of another unnamed businessman whod also asked Google to remove search results related to a prior criminal conviction. That man, referred to in the media as NT1, was convicted of conspiracy to account falsely in the late 1990s and spent four years behind bars.

Warby said NT1 had continued to mislead the public and this court, and had shown no remorse over any of these matters. The information available online about his past conviction was useful for people who might work with him in the future, the judge added.

He remains in business, and the information serves the purpose of minimizing the risk that he will continue to mislead, as he has in the past, Warby said of NT1. Delisting would not erase the information from the record altogether, but it would make it much harder to find.

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Reacting to Warbys ruling on the two cases, a Google spokesperson said the company would respect the judgments.

We work hard to comply with the right to be forgotten, but we take great care not to remove search results that are in the public interest and will defend the publics right to access lawful information, the spokesperson said. We are pleased that the court recognized our efforts in this area, and we will respect the judgments they have made in this case.

Open Rights Group, a digital rights organization based in Britain, said Warbys rulings set a legal precedent and could have far-reaching consequences.

The right to be forgotten is meant to apply to information that is no longer relevant but disproportionately impacts a person, Jim Killock, the groups executive director, told the BBC. The Court will have to balance the publics right to access the historical record, the precise impacts on the person, and the public interest.

In 2014, the European Court of Justice, the supreme court of the European Union, had ruled that people and corporations had a right to request the delisting of information on search engines that is inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive, but that public interest also had to be considered.

That ruling, however, has been criticized as being too vague, making it challenging for companies like Google to figure out how to find a balance between privacy protection and providing information for the public good.

As Engadget noted, the London high court ruling could force internet companies to not immediately dismiss conviction-related delisting requests. They may have to weigh the seriousness of crimes and the convicts willingness to reform, the site said.

Reactions to the rulings were mixed on social media. Some advocates celebrated the courts decision, calling it a win for people with criminal records who face discrimination because of their past misdeeds. Others, however, expressed concern that the ruling could harm free press and speech rights.

Google loses landmark 'right to be forgotten' and spent convictions case. Read the comment from our co-director @ChrisStacey at https://t.co/he51gZ56al pic.twitter.com/hkaRvYqGTg  Unlock (@unlockcharity) April 13, 2018

So dangerous to journalism and knowledge. Can we not remember the risks that come from rewriting and erasing history and controlling knowledge?



Google loses landmark 'right to be forgotten' casehttps://t.co/j97YHyTL8s  Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) April 13, 2018

Google has received requests to remove more than 2.4 million links from its search results in Europe since the 2014 ECJ ruling. The tech company says it has removed more than 800,000 pages so far.

Surveys show a majority of Americans support the right to be forgotten, but observers have said its unlikely that such legislation would pass here because of possible violations of the First Amendment.

Regulators in France, however, are currently pushing to extend the EUs right to be forgotten ruling to apply to websites globally, which would include the United States. Some free speech advocates have argued that could infringe upon the U.S. Constitution.

Also on HuffPost

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Danilo Masoni and Julien Ponthus

MILAN/LONDON (Reuters) - European shares rose on Thursday alongside a relief rally across global markets after U.S. President Trump signalled that military strikes in Syria may not be imminent.

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) index closed up 0.7 percent after a negative start as sentiment improved during the day and Wall Street bounced higher with an easing of nerves over a confrontation between the U.S. and Russia in Syria.

"We saw global risk appetite improve markedly today, as Donald Trump stepped back from the brink on the topic of Syria", commented IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.

Trump toned down his threats of a swift military strike on Syria, tweeting "Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!".

Shares in Sulzer (SUN.S) rallied 19.5 percent after the Swiss pumpmaker said it freed itself of U.S. sanctions after authorities approved its buyback of shares that has reduced to less than 50 percent the stake of Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of holding company Renova.

The relief bounce however made up for only part of the 22 percent share price drop Sulzer suffered since the sanctions were announced last week, as some investors remained cautious.

"The fact that renewed sanctions could be imposed at a future point in time cannot be ruled out," Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst Armin Rechberger said in a note.

Leaving aside geopolitical concerns, merger and acquisition headlines animated the session.

Micro Focus (MCRO.L) surged 7.5 percent as traders cited a Bloomberg report that hedge fund Elliott Management had taken a stake in the UK software firm.

Firstgroup (FGP.L) spiked 8.1 percent after news it rejected a takeover approach from Apollo, while Playtech (PTEC.L) rose 5.7 percent after it agreed to buy Italian betting firm Snaitech (SNAI.MI) in a $1 billion deal. Snaitech was up 14.6 percent.

Shire (SHP.L) rose 2.6 percent after sources told Reuters Takeda had sounded out creditors for loans to help finance a possible bid for the British rare disease specialist.

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Man Group (EMG.L), the world's largest listed hedge fund, posted the best performance on the STOXX 600 index with an 8 percent rise after it reported strong first-quarter net inflows.

Analysts were dissapointed with France's Carrefour (CARR.PA) quarterly sales and the retailer lost 3.4 percent.

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni and Julien Ponthus; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)Senior Democrats criticized President Donald Trump Friday for launching air strikes against the Syrian government without first consulting Congress.

Trump announced Friday that the U.S. and its allies the U.K. and France were launching "precision" air strikes in response to Syrias alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on civilians in Douma, eastern Ghouta, a week ago.

12_20_Nancy Pelosi Chuck Schumer

Getty

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Minority House Leader Nancy Pelosi said that though the Syrian governments use of poison gas was a brutally inhuman war crime, she warned, Yet one night of airstrikes is no substitute for a coherent strategy.

The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians, Pelosi added.

Speaking shortly after the president announced the airstrikes, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the military strikes as appropriate, but warned against further embroilment in the Syrian civil war.

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A pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate, but the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria," Schumer said in a statement.

Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clintons 2016 running mate, had stronger criticism for the president.

Trumps decision to launch airstrikes against Syria without Congresss approval is illegal. We need to stop giving presidents a blank check to wage war, he tweeted Friday night. Today its Syria, but whats going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?

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Vice President Mike Pence, who is currently on an official trip to Peru, reportedly called congressional leaders to notify them military action was going to be taken on Friday night. He spoke to Pelosi, but was unable to reach Schumer who was on a flight at the time.

Trumps Syria policy has contrasted with that of former President Barack Obama, who took no military action against the Syrian government during his time in the White House despite declaring the use of chemical weapons by the regime constituted a red line in 2013.

Obama mulled military action against Syria in 2013 following a Sarin attack on civilians in a Damascus suburb and even prepared Congress for an emergency vote on the issue. But he backed away at the last minute when the Assad regime declared that it would give up its chemical weapons and allow international inspectors to search its munitions sites for banned chemical agents.

Only months into his presidency, Trump authorized missile strikes against a Syrian airbase in response to the sarin gas attack on the town Khan Sheikhoun last April.

On Saturday morning Trump tweeted "mission accomplished," and praised the U.K. and France for their support in the military strikes.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekSince Monday's FBI raid of Michael Cohen's office, home and hotel room, President Donald Trump's inner circle has only added to its list of concerns for how the investigation could implicate the president.

New to the list: mounting fear that the FBI seized recorded communications between Cohen and his client.

"We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes," an adviser to the president told The Washington Post. "Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized?... Did they find his recordings?"

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Cohen has historically taped conversations with his associates, later storing them digitally and sometimes playing them back for his colleagues, sources close to Cohen told the outlet. No one is sure whether Cohen continued this practice during his meetings with his most powerful client, the president, but some say there's a good chance he did: Sources tell the Post that the Trump attorney recorded "both business and political conversations," including those with Trump's advisers.

Michael-Cohen-Trump-Tower

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The federal agents who descended on Cohen's residences this week were reportedly after records regarding an infamous Access Hollywood tape and Cohen's $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, as well as communications between Cohen and Trump.

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Cohen's laywer said the raid had stemmed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who pointed FBI officials in the direction of the president's attorney. Legal experts have previously suggested that picking off Trump's low-level associates is part of Mueller's strategy, and, ultimately, a way for his investigation to gradually close in on the president.

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The threat of tapes being seized is likely to further rile the president who, in the wake of the raid, tweeted that "attorney-client privilege is dead!" For the sake of protecting said privilege, any tapes seized by the FBI would first have to be reviewed by an independent, "clean" team, and, potentially, a federal judge.

Should FBI agents have gotten their hands on recorded conversations between Cohen and Trump, it could be just what Mueller needs to build his case against not just Trump's campaign staff, but Trump himself.

Speaking from experience, Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor, told the Post: "If you are looking for evidence, you cant do any better than people talking on tape."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPresident Donald Trump is expected to demand that Pyongyang abolish its nuclear weapons capability within a year when he sits down for talks with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, but will offer to open an embassy in the Norths capital and provide humanitarian assistance as an incentive.

The details offer a sense of the rapid pace of progress towards talks although analysts suggest the timetable may be overambitious.

Quoting sources in Washington, South Koreas Chosun Ilbo newspaper said Mr Trump rejected Pyongyang's proposals for phased and synchronised steps to eliminate the Norths nuclear arsenal and will instead insist that full denuclearisation is completed within 12 months of their meeting.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un appear on a TV screen at Seoul Railway Station Credit: AP

The Dong-A Ilbo newspaper added that North Korea and the US have already started discussing an outline of the agenda for when their two leaders meet - Mr Trump has suggested the summit is likely to take place in May or early June - and that Washington is willing to compensate Pyongyang by boosting the regimes standing by opening a liaison office and an embassy, as well as delivering humanitarian aid.

Analysts, however, say the time frame is unrealistic.

Donald Trump surprised the world when he agreed to meet Kim Jong-un Credit: Getty Images

Daniel Pinkston, a professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University, said: Complete denuclearisation will mean the North declaring all its nuclear facilities and programmes - military and civilian - and then having independent inspectors draw up inventories of everything they have.

Exports will need to be accounted for, nuclear cooperation deals will need to be examined - such as for the nuclear reactor agreement with Syria - and there will then need to be full dismantling of all facilities in accordance with [International Atomic Energy Agency] guidelines."

Verification would add another level of complexity.

That is not a trivial matter, as this comment seems to suggest, and it cannot be completed in that narrow a time frame," he said.

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North Korea's nuclear history: key moments

At a meeting with governors at the White House on Thursday, Mr Trump predicted the his summit with Mr Kim would be terrific and praised China for helping to crack down on the regime through sanctions.

Meetings are being set up right now between myself and Kim Jong-un, he said.

I think it will be terrific. I think well go in with a lot of respect and well see what happens, but China has really helped us at the border and we appreciate it."

Mr Trumps optimistic prediction followed-high level meetings in Washington between John Bolton, his newly appointed national security adviser, and his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

North Koreas nuclear progress - estimated yields per test

South Korean media reported on Friday that US and North Korean officials, known to be communicating through intelligence back channels, are likely to agree on the summit venue and dates as early as next week.

Currently Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar is a hot favourite for the unprecedented event, but Pyongyang, the militarised border between North and South, Sweden, Geneva and Iceland have all been touted as possibilities.

A number of those venues may immediately be off the list, however, because there are questions over how Mr Kim would reach them.

How North Korea's airline keeps its Soviet-era fleet ready for service

Mr Kim has three personal aircraft, although the most modern is an Ilyushin IL-62 that was built by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and all three jets have a habit of being out of operation due to a shortage of spare components.

Without the range to reliably reach Europe or North America - and fearful of being embarrassed by a breakdown - it is believed that Mr Kim will opt for a venue closer to home.Kananga (DR Congo) (AFP) - Hundreds of former child fighters in Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile Kasai region face an uncertain future, spurned by their families and their dreams brutally shattered.

Antho Panu, a 17-year-old, remembers the day when Kamwina Nsapu militia came to her village to recruit fighters to battle government soldiers.

"After the war, we will build a house for your parents. You will have a better life when we win the war," one of them told her.

"I wanted to make my parents happy so I accepted," Panu told AFP. "We went to enrol -- me, my brother and a neighbourhood friend.

"There were some initiation rites and then we became Kamwina Nsapu fighters," the smiling and plump adolescent said, speaking in Tshiluba, the main language in Kasai.

The vast Kasai region plunged into violence in September 2016, a month after government troops killed an influential local chieftain, Kamwina Nsapu, who was opposed to the government in Kinshasa.

The militia, which also goes by the same name, took in children as fighters. The unrest has claimed more than 3,380 lives and displaced at least 1.4 million people, according to the Catholic church.

The escalating crisis has spurred efforts to raise funds for humanitarian aid for DR Congo, a mineral-rich yet deeply poor and chronically unstable country.

Donors meeting in Geneva on Friday pledged $528 million (428 million euros) -- a major step, but still less than a quarter of the $2.2 billion that the UN says is needed to help people in the DRC and hundreds of thousands of refugees abroad.

- Ordeal by fire -

Panu's parents didn't want her to go but eventually gave in.

Like many other girls, she was sent to the front line.

"The first time we went to fight the soldiers, several of us were killed," Panu said.

Panu said she and her peers wore traditional magic fetishes that they believed would protect them.

"We served as shields for the fighters. I was never hit by a bullet because I respected the taboos: I did not eat meat or certain vegetables and I also shunned oil that had been used for frying," she said.

Story continues

But she left their ranks when she learned that army soldiers were rounding up children who were fighting alongside militiamen.

Panu returned to her family. A sister took her in and then made her go to a priest who stripped off her magic charms.

She dreams of joining a music school and "becoming a big artist."

"This time around, I want to earn my living properly and not harm anyone. I want to please my parents," she said.

- 'Just want to be normal' -

But Angele, also 17, whose full name was withheld, was not so lucky.

A soldier's daughter, she left the militia last year and went to live with her uncle and aunt.

"My aunt always regarded me as a criminal. She always said she didn't want a fighter in the house," Angele said.

"I just want to become the normal girl I used to be," she said in a quavering voice. "I want people to see me as just a girl and love me like they used to."

About 500 child soldiers -- 93 of them girls -- have left the militia since April last year and registered with the UNICEF-supported National Catholic Child Association (BNCE) in Kananga, a major city in Kasai.

Housed at the centre, many children show signs of trauma and have behavioural problems including aggression, panic attacks, insomnia and bouts of crying, said Rebecca, a woman working at the centre.

"We provide therapy on a case-by-case basis," she said.

Some children are still being tracked by the authorities, according to the BNCE. Kasai prosecutors for instance want to jail 11 ex-child fighters who had been released from custody, it said.

Djikenga Ilungu said he had been recruited by force and escaped when he learnt that "NGOs were asking children to leave" the Kamwina Nsapu.

"We've done and seen horrible things -- killed people, seen others die. It was really very difficult. I now hope to learn tailoring and want a normal life and to be accepted by others," the 17-year-old said.By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The woman behind the wheel of an SUV that careened off a coastal roadside cliff in Northern California last month, killing her and seven family members, was driving drunk at the time, police said on Friday.

The finding from toxicology tests performed on the body of Jennifer Jean Hart marked the latest clue divulged by investigators seeking to unravel the fate of the woman, her wife and their six adopted children.

The family's demise in late March came just days after child welfare authorities in their home state of Washington opened an inquiry into allegations that the children were being abused or neglected, according to police and social services agencies.

The remains of Jennifer and Sarah Margaret Hart, both 38, and three of the children were found in the wreckage of a GMC Yukon after it ran off California Highway 1 and plunged over a steep embankment onto the rocky shoreline below.

The crash scene, about 200 miles (322 km) north of San Francisco, was discovered by a passing motorist on March 26.

The three other children, who were believed to have also been in the SUV when it went over the cliff, remained missing but were presumed killed, police have said.

The remains of a girl believed to be among them was found washed up on the banks of an adjacent creek days later, but California Highway Patrol Sergeant Robert Powers said she has not yet been positively identified.

One of the two still missing was 15-year-old Devonte Hart, an African-American youth who gained attention in 2014 after being photographed embracing a white police officer during a protest following the fatal police shooting of a young black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman has said he considers the crash probe a criminal investigation.

He noted that the Yukon had traveled some 75 feet along an unpaved roadside pullout before running off the cliff, leaving behind no skid or brake marks, indicating the vehicle may have been driven off the cliff intentionally.

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Lab results on the driver's body found she had a blood-alcohol concentration above the state's legal limit of 0.08 percent, Powers said. But he declined to say precisely how high it was.

He said examiners also found traces of an over-the-counter antihistamine that can cause drowsiness in the systems of the wife and two children.

Police have said a search of the family's home in Woodland, Washington, turned up no suicide note.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)Cairo (Egypt) (AFP) - Egypt's army said jihadists wearing explosive belts tried to storm a military camp in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday in an assault that left eight soldiers and 14 attackers dead.

The militants blew themselves up outside the camp after they were prevented by security forces from entering, an army statement said.

"The armed forces were able today to foil a large terrorist operation," the military said.

Jihadists who have declared allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS) have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in the Sinai since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, following mass protests against him.

More than 100 jihadists and at least 22 soldiers have been killed in an ongoing operation launched on February 9 against the jihadists, according to army figures.CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt is to extend its nationwide state of emergency for three months from April, the official gazette said early on Saturday. Egypt first imposed the current state of emergency in April 2017 after two church bombings killed at least 45 people. It was extended in July and again in October then January. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree on Saturday to extend a curfew already in place in a new declaration. The latest extension was to allow security forces to "take (measures) necessary to confront the dangers and funding of terrorism and safeguard security in all parts of the country," the official gazette said. Egypt faces an Islamic State insurgency in the remote North Sinai region that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in recent years and has expanded to include attacks on civilians. Other Islamists operating in the western desert bordering Libya have also attacked security forces. Egypt also extended a curfew on parts of North Sinai that included areas of the border town of Rafah near Gaza from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. and around EL-Arish from 1.am. to 5 a.m., the official gazette said. (Reporting by Mohamed El-Sherif; Editing by Sandra Maler)Cairo (Egypt) (AFP) - Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi extended for three months from Saturday a state of emergency for the fourth time since it was first declared last year, the official gazette said.

A nationwide state of emergency was first imposed in April last year after two church bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 45 people, and was renewed in July, in October and in January.

"The armed forces and the police will take the necessary measures to confront the dangers of terrorism, its financing, and preserving security across the country," the official gazette said.

It cited a decree issued by Sisi stating that the renewed three-month state of emergency would take effect from 1:00 am on Saturday (2300 GMT Friday).

The emergency law expands police powers of arrest, surveillance and seizures and can limit freedom of movement.

Under Egypt's constitution, the three-month state of emergency can only be renewed once, but the president can subsequently reinstate it.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail also extended an overnight curfew in parts of North Sinai, where IS's Egypt affiliate is based, according to another decree published Saturday by the official gazette.

It would take place in areas including around the town of Rafah bordering the Palestinian Gaza Strip, and around El-Arish, the capital of North Sinai, according to the gazette.

The curfew would stay in effect for as long as the three-month state of emergency, according to the decree.

The jihadist group said it was behind the bombings in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria, and it threatened further attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.

Egypt had been ruled for decades under a state of emergency, which was cancelled a month before Islamist president Mohamed Morsi took power in 2012.

Following Morsi's overthrow by Sisi in 2013, when the president was army chief, a state of emergency was declared for a month.

It came after clashes between police and Islamist protesters that killed hundreds and after Islamist mobs attacked Christian properties.

Sisi was re-elected for a second term with 97 percent of votes in a March 26-28 election, amid a sweeping military operation in Sinai against extremist militants based in the north of the Peninsula.Its no secret Elizabeth Hurley can make anything look sexy. But if there was any doubt, the actor and model proves it once again by sharing a hip-shaking video on her Instagram in which she is wearing a white one-piece swimsuit.

The 52-year-old swimsuit designer needs no models for her pieces. Obviously, there is no one better to model the Elizabeth Hurley Beach swimwear line than Hurley herself.

Her latest selfie gathered over 52,662 likes, 300,000 views, and 1,700 comments at the time of this story.

Insane, absolutely, the most exquisite lady on the planet, wrote a commenter. As usual, incredible, Liz, added a fan.

If white suits didnt convince you that one-pieces are totally sexy, Hurley also shared a red-hot number with gold details.

The mother of one also shared a candid video on her Instagram story of her blowing kisses to her fans from a breathtaking ocean backdrop from Spain. Talking to the camera, she says, Good morning Ibiza! before blowing a kiss.

Hurley was accompanied by her son, 16-year-old Damien, and her nephew Miles Hurley. Her son shared a photo of the two posing for a mirror selfie on his Instagram.

Miles, 21, is recovering from a multiple stabbing attack he suffered in London last month.

Its nice to see the family spending quality time together in paradise.

Story continues

What a place  Tagomago Island, 900m from Ibiza. One of the most glorious places Ive visited pic.twitter.com/qL0acY23db  Elizabeth Hurley (@ElizabethHurley) April 10, 2018

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

 Elizabeth Hurley, 52, breaks the internet with bikini dance

 Elizabeth Hurley slammed for wearing inappropriate plunging dress with 16-year-old son

 Elizabeth Hurley, 52, says shes not on a mad ego trip when she posts bikini photos

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



What Were Following

Comey Again: President Trump responded to the upcoming release of a book by James Comey by railing against the former FBI director on Twitter, going so far as to call him an untruthful slime ball. Such comments appeared to confirm Comeys highly critical portrayal of the president as an ego driven leader whos untethered to truth and institutional values. Yet other passages of the book, which describe Comeys thought process when he announced in October 2016 that the FBI was reopening its case into the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, indicate that Comey himself may have influenced the 2016 election by disregarding Justice Department rules.

State of the States: Missouri leaders are calling for the states governor, Eric Greitens, to resign in the wake of a report that reveals he allegedly committed a sexual assault. Maine is preparing to implement a new voting process in its June primaries, to some candidates dismay. And Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, is still struggling to repair infrastructure that was destroyed by Hurricane Mariameaning that some people still need to travel at least 12 hours for lifesaving dialysis treatments.

Recommended: Was There a Civilization On Earth Before Humans?

The Syria Dilemma: Should the U.S. strike the Syrian regime in retaliation for last weekends suspected chemical attack on civilians? Such a strike is unlikely to stop the crisis in Syria, and it wouldnt meet the criteria for a humanitarian war, argues Peter Beinart. Yet reports of atrocities in the country make many observers feel the U.S. has a duty to intervene. Moral philosophers from around the world say there might not be an ethical course of action in Syria. Wed like to hear your thoughts at letters@theatlantic.com.

Rosa Inocencio Smith

Snapshot

Getty photographer Mikhail Svetlov captured this young girls reaction at an Easter service for Russian Orthodox believers on April 8, 2018. See more of the weeks best photos.

Evening Read

Phil Klay tells a story from the Iraq War:

Story continues

South of Fallujahs Route Fran were hundreds of insurgents whod spent months digging trench lines, emplacing roadside bombs, barricading streets, training with their weapons, reading the Koran, and watching videos of suicide bombers to inspire them for the fight to come. North of Route Fran were the roughly 1,000 men of 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, preparing themselves for the assault. Route Fran itself was a wide, four-lane highway. On November 9, 2004, the highway was wetitd rained the previous dayand the sky was gray and foreboding. You just know that this whole company crossing this road, marine Justin Best later told a reporter, someones gonna get hit.

Keep reading, as Klay describes what happened nextand how American troops are losing morale after almost two decades of stories like this one.

Recommended: James Comey Is No Hero

What Do You Know  About Culture?

The deaths of two creative giants last week marked a good time to look back on how they shaped the cultural landscape. David Sims explored the late director Isao Takahatas moving body of animated films, and David Graham delved into the impact of musician Cecil Taylors innovative free-jazz compositions. And recent developments may change the way we understand artists livesfor example, Mariah Careys admission of having bipolar disorder could affect the way people talk about her diva persona in the future.

Can you remember the other key facts from this weeks culture coverage? Test your knowledge below:

1. Together, the Yankees power hitters Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge struck out ____________ times in 2017.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

2. In 1999, Rosa Parks sued the rap duo ____________, claiming one of their songs demeaned her.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

3. The British show Kiri is written by Jack Thorne, who also wrote the follow-up play to the beloved fantasy series ____________.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

Tori Latham

Poem of the Week

From our April 1974 issue, C Minor, by Richard Wilbur:

Shall a plate be broken? A new thing understood?

Shall we be lonely, and by love consoled?

What shall I whistle, splitting the kindling wood?

Shall the night-wind be cold? How should I know? And even if we were fated

Hugely to suffer, grandly to endure,

It would not help to hear it all fore-stated

As in an overture.

Read more.

Recommended: The Plunging Morale of Americas Service Members

Reader Response

When Caroline Kitchener wrote about how relationship conflicts can erupt over dishwashing, one sentence stood out to Sara Loy, a reader in Indiana:

I always love reading The Atlantic, but today I take issue with some of the wording in your article Doing Dishes Is the Worst. You say (both in the article and in the Facebook status promoting the article), Women who wash the vast majority of the dishes themselves report more relationship conflict, less relationship satisfaction, and even worse sex, than women with partners who help (emphasis added). While your article points out that women traditionally are the ones doing dishes, using phrases like partners who help reinforces the idea that women are managers in charge of household duties, and the best men can do is helprather than take an equal role in both the mental and physical labor of chores. This excellent comic explains it perfectly.

Find more reader discussion, and Carolines response, here, and write to us at letters@theatlantic.com.

Adjectives

Oozy insult, noisy nothing, telltale fingerprints, stagnant scores.

Time of Your Life

Happy birthday to Frans son David (a year younger than cell phones).

Tomorrow, happy birthday to Stevens wife, Courtney (twice the age of websites); to Jacquelina (a year younger than Toy Story); to Carol (twice the age of Macintosh computers); and to Georges father, Dan (a year younger than VCRs).

Do you or a loved one have a birthday coming up? Sign up for a birthday shout-out, and explore the Timeline feature for yourself.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.By Ian Simpson (Reuters) - Kentucky state officials have agreed to hold off enforcing a new law that bans a common abortion procedure from the 11th week of pregnancy until a federal judge rules on a request by a civil liberties group challenging it, according to court papers. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued this week in U.S. District Court in Louisville on behalf of Kentucky's sole abortion provider to halt enforcement of the law restricting abortion access. State officials, including Attorney General Andrew Beshear, agreed not to enforce the new until a judge rules on the ACLU's request for a temporary order stopping enforcement, according to a consent order filed late on Thursday. A hearing is set for June 5 before U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley Jr. ACLU lawyer Andrew Beck said that the order brought relief to women who have had appointments canceled and care delayed under the law. "In the meantime, we'll continue to fight this law and look forward to seeing the state in court," he said in a statement. Kentucky General Counsel Steve Pitt said the order would speed a final decision. "The sooner this case is decided, the sooner the Commonwealth can stop this horrific and barbaric practice of ripping unborn babies limb by limb," Pitt said in a statement. The Kentucky law bans the procedure known as dilation and evacuation for women in their second trimester except in cases of emergency. The procedure uses a combination of suction and forceps to bring tissue through the cervix and accounts for 16 percent of all abortions performed in Kentucky. The law took effect on Tuesday after Bevin signed the measure. Last year, a similar Texas measure was struck down by a federal judge. Similar bans in other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma, have also been struck down by the courts. Mississippi's governor last month signed into law the most restrictive abortion measure in the United States, banning all abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. Mississippi's only abortion clinic has sued to block that law, and a federal court this week extended a restraining order until 30 days after conclusion of a Sept. 24 hearing. Since last year, when Republicans took control of the Kentucky House of Representatives for the first time since 1921, the legislature has passed several measures to restrict access to abortion, including banning all abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. (Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and David Gregorio)BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's ambassador to Russia, Markus Ederer, has returned to Moscow, an aide said on Friday, some three weeks after being recalled in symbolic retaliation by the bloc for the Salisbury spy poisoning. Britain in March blamed Moscow for a toxin attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in England that has left them critically ill for weeks. The EU's other 27 members took the same stance as Britain and most went on to expel Russian diplomats suspected to be working as spies on their territory. The poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March has plunged relations between Moscow and London to new lows. [nL8N1R42Y5] (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) - Sensing the Facebook scandal has shifted the transatlantic winds, the EU is asserting itself as a forward-looking regulator rather than a retrograde bulwark against Silicon Valley's innovative might.

After years of mounting concern, the European Union will introduce tough new data protection rules next month, which Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg himself has welcomed in the face of the latest scandals.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on May 25, gives web users much greater control over how their personal information is stored and used, with big fines for companies that break the rules.

"I was really desperate about thinking how to make the best possible campaign for GDPR so now this is well done, so thank you Mr Zuckerberg," the EU's justice and consumer affairs commissioner Vera Jourova told reporters in Brussels this week.

"His declaration that they want to expand our European rules globally, it's only good news, it sounds very nice to me."

The GDPR is not the only EU action that has triggered accusations of protectionism against the new digital economy. It has also drawn fire over its massive anti-trust fines against Google and Apple as well as plans to tax internet giants.

During questioning by US senators on Tuesday over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Zuckerberg said Facebook was "committed to rolling out the controls and the affirmative consent" required by the new EU rules "around the world".

Under the new rules, companies will need explicit consent from users to share their data with third parties and people will have the right to know what personal information is stored about them and to ask for it to be deleted.

Breaches can lead to heavy fines -- up to four percent of a company's global turnover.

Zuckerberg said he took personal responsibility for the fact that 87 million people's personal data was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a firm which worked for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Story continues

- 'Wake-up call' -

The Facebook chief "had always said the opposite, that it was going to kill the internet," said Viviane Reding, the centre-right European Parliament member who initiated the GDPR when she was a European commissioner in 2012.

"Now our regulation is seen as a positive step for the internet's future development," she told AFP.

Reding said the Cambridge Analytica scandal was a "wake-up call" to the United States in the same way that whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations about mass US intelligence surveillance was to Europe.

The US senators who questioned Zuckerberg "studied closely the European legislation," Reding said. "They understood that this model is not an internet killer, but the basis for its balanced development."

European Parliament member Maria Joao Rodrigues, a Portuguese socialist, said times have changed, recalling how even some European governments had initially opposed the GDPR.

"US congressmen are contacting us at the European Parliament to learn about our experience," Rodrigues told AFP.

Jan Albrecht, a German MEP from the Greens party, said Europeans have demonstrated they have taken a "necessary step" to protect data, not stall the economy.

"The far-sightedness that the EU has shown is confirmed," Albrecht told AFP, recalling those who said "we must not create any hurdles for the digital economy".

- 'Extremely proud' -

He said Europeans should stop doubting themselves and "be extremely proud" that they are leading the way and that their market is big enough to "set standards" for the rest of the world.

"The US Congress has failed to do so for years and left legislative initiatives untreated," Albrecht said.

Guillermo Beltra, a legal expert with the European consumers association BEUC, said the GDPR is a great example of the EU showing industry where "innovation should go towards", with society demanding citizen privacy first.

"What the EU does is try to make technology developments adapt to society's social values, as opposed to the society having to adapt its values to accept the new technology," Beltra said.Evangelical leaders might be using the Stormy Daniels scandal as a bargaining chip to get President Donald Trump to enact policies they want. (Photo: Gabe Ginsberg via Getty Images)

Just when you think President Donald Trump couldnt enact more hostile policies against LGBTQ people  from banning transgender people in the military to arguing that gay and bisexual workers shouldnt be protected from workplace discrimination  evangelical leaders may be plotting to get him to take an even harsher stand, using the Stormy Daniels scandal as a bargaining chip.

According to an intriguing report from NPR last week, evangelical leaders are quite worried that the nonstop news of Trumps alleged sexual relationship with the adult film star  she was paid $130,000 by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, which she says was in exchange for her silence in the days before the 2016 election will depress turnout among evangelical voters for the midterm elections this fall.

NPR quotes one unnamed leader of a faith-based ministry as saying, Were very concerned ... that 2018 could be very detrimental to some of the other issues that we hold dear. The leaders are reportedly so filled with anxiety about the possibility that white evangelicals will stay home in November that they are planning a summit at the White House with Trump in June to talk about ways to rally the base, even amid the scandal.

One source told NPR theres a fear some leaders might not even show up at the meeting, stating that its a liability, though Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins played up the idea that about 1,000 evangelical leaders would come to Washington. You better believe those at the White House meeting will give Trump a slew of ideas on how he can attack LGBTQ civil rights and abortion rights in even more extreme ways, all in an effort to get evangelicals motivated.

But the fear that evangelicals are depressed as a voting bloc for Trump is quite laughable considering what they have stomached so far. They turned out massively to vote for a man who is twice divorced, was accused of sexual misconduct by over a dozen women whose stories were corroborated, and was infamously caught on tape admitting to grabbing women by their vaginas.

Story continues

Add to that Trumps coddling of racists and white supremacists, the tearing apart of families of immigrants, the vicious condemnation of shithole countries, and many other not-so-Christian actions and statements. Yet evangelical support has hardly budged. Over 78 percent of white evangelicals who turned out voted for Trump in 2016, according to exit polls. Sure, there was some slippage in the polls among evangelicals over the past year, as was true with much of Trumps base. But a Pew Research poll taken after the Daniels story erupted this year shows support among evangelicals for Trump back up to 78 percent.

The supposed concern here about voter enthusiasm is more likely a ploy  a message telegraphed via the media to the White House  to get Trump to do more of what evangelical leaders want him to do, and that would include taking a much harder line on LGBTQ rights. They have wanted a sweeping religious liberty executive order signed since early last year, for example, which would provide exemptions on recognizing marriage equality, permit federally funded adoption and family services organizations to discriminate against same-sex couples, and allow much other discrimination in the name of religious liberty.

Trump is so afraid of losing his base  and so easily played  that they know hell fall for it. In recent weeks, the angry, hardcore anti-immigration crowd among Trumps base was able to get him to declare the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to be dead, send troops to the border with Mexico and double down on demands to build his wall. All of this came about after Ann Coulter and other hard-right pundits and activists railed against Trump for getting no funding for his wall and no extreme immigration policies in the recent spending bill, which he reluctantly signed. In a New York Times interview, Coulter warned Trump of Former Trumpers who should keep him awake at night.

 I will never sign another bill like this again



Yeah, because youll be impeached.  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) March 23, 2018

Evangelical leaders are likely taking a page from Coulter. Certainly, they know which buttons to push to get Trump scared. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, a social conservative whos nonetheless been critical of Trump, picked up on the NPR report and ran with a column this week headlined Why Not Mike Pence?

Referring to the FBIs investigations of both the Trump campaign and Cohen  whose hotel and office were raided this week by FBI agents who reportedly seized files related to the payment to Daniels  Douthat argued in the column that evangelicals should welcome the possibility that our first openly Hefnerian president gets impeached for illegalities related to an adult entertainer and her charms.

And that, he notes, while also pointing to some evangelical leaders hypocrisy in supporting Trump, will bring us all President Pence:

That God would offer religious conservatives in danger of selling their souls a chance not just to step back from the brink but to literally replace Donald Trump with a fellow religious conservative  well, that seems like just the kind of opportunity that a beneficent deity would grant to erring members of his flock.

The mere thought of that is surely enough to drive Trump nuts. Its true that raising the specter of President Pence could backfire and cause Trump to turn on Pence, just as hes turned on so many others before who stole his spotlight  like President Bannon  though its not possible to actually fire the vice president.

Or, as with the anti-immigration faction of his base, by merely suggesting they stay home because of the Daniels affair  and floating the idea of Pence becoming the true evangelical president via Trumps impeachment, as unlikely as that may now seem  evangelicals could make Trump promise even more of a crackdown on LGBTQ rights and abortion rights.

White evangelical leaders ravenous quest for power and Trumps paranoia, desperation and willingness to lash out at the most vulnerable is a toxic combination. We should be prepared for any possibility.

Follow Michelangelo Signorile on Twitter @msignorile.

ALSO ON HUFFPOST OPINION

How Trump vs. Amazon Explains His Entire Presidency

'Different But Equal' Feminism Isn't Closing The Pay Gap

Steve Bannon Was Right About Paul Ryan

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Then-U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius attends a meeting in Hanoi in 2015. He quit his post in October. (Photo: HOANG DINH NAM via Getty Images)

As deportations and detentions continue to rock the Vietnamese community in the U.S., the former ambassador to Vietnam has revealed that those repatriations were the reason for his October departure.

Writing in the April issue of Foreign Service Journal, Ted Osius said he was instructed to press the Vietnamese government to repatriate more than 8,000 people  most of whom were refugees who had fled South Vietnam on boats and through the jungle after the Vietnam War.

The majority targeted for deportation  sometimes for minor infractions  were war refugees who had sided with the United States, whose loyalty was to the flag of a nation that no longer exists, Osius wrote. And they were to be returned decades later to a nation ruled by a communist regime with which they had never reconciled. I feared many would become human rights cases, and our government would be culpable.

The former diplomat said a number of the Trump administrations foreign policy decisions didnt sit right with those in the foreign relations field. Among those moves, he said, were the United States exit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, its abdication of responsibility on climate change, and the travel ban targeting mostly Muslim-majority countries.

What happened to the nation that welcomed your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free? Osius asked.

But the former ambassador said he reached his limit when he was told to push for the repatriations. Not only did he feel this was a human rights issue, Osius said, but also that this repulsive policy would interfere with President Donald Trumps other goals in Vietnam, like reducing the trade deficit and bolstering military relations.

I voiced my objections, was instructed to remain silent, and decided there was an ethical line that I could not cross if I wished to retain my integrity, he wrote. I concluded that I could better serve my country from outside government, by helping to build a new, innovative university in Vietnam.

Story continues

A State Department spokesperson gave HuffPost a statement that said Osius is entitled to his personal views as a private citizen, but doubled down on the Trump administrations deportation policy.

We respect Ambassador Osius many years of service to the U.S. government, the statement said. Facilitating the removal of aliens from the United States who are subject to a final order of removal, particularly those who pose a danger to national security or public safety, is a top priority for the U.S. government.

The statement also said that each country has an international legal obligation to accept the return of its nationals whom another state seeks to expel, remove, or deport, and claimed that the U.S. has been cooperating with foreign governments in documenting and accepting our citizens.

Many of the refugees who are facing deportation entered the U.S. legally in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and obtained green cards as well. After being convicted of crimes, many of which occurred decades ago, the refugees received orders of removal due to their criminal records.

But many have not had contact with the criminal justice system for years and have been leading new lives, advocates say. Nancy Nguyen, the executive director of a nonprofit VietLead, explained that the greater Southeast Asian community is grappling with many of the issues Osius raised.

Osius writings reflect the concerns and worries of many Vietnamese and Southeast Asian families who are now threatened with deportation, she told HuffPost in an email. Folks are being forced to return to a country they do not know, being separated from families in the U.S. that depend on them.

Nguyen noted that several of these deportations violate a 2008 agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam. That Memorandum of Understanding allowed for the deportation of Vietnamese nationals who face removal orders only if they arrived in the U.S. on or after July 12, 1995.

However, she said, there have been several recent cases where authorities detained Vietnamese nationals who arrived before 1995. A few have also been deported. The MOU is still in force, according to Nguyen.

A few weeks ago, around 40 Vietnamese refugees who came to the U.S. before the 1995 cutoff sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for unlawful, prolonged detention. The lawsuit noted that many more could be in a similar situation. In total, about 8,000 to 10,000 Vietnamese refugees have orders of removal and are at risk for detention.

The mass roundups and detentions have spanned the Southeast Asian community, likely affecting U.S. relations with several other nations, Nguyen said. More than 40 Cambodians were deported earlier this month.

The United States is continuing to bully these countries. This is not just about Vietnam, but about all the countries that the U.S. is now bullying to take back more and more of our community members  this includes Cambodia, this includes Laos, Nguyen told HuffPost. We fear that the U.S. will continue to retreat from its responsibilities to these countries and our community members who bore witness to mass carnage and war only decades ago.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Mark Zuckerberg has been under intense scrutiny, testifying Tuesday and Wednesday to Congressional lawmakers about Facebook's privacy practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal .

Former Facebook board member, Don Graham, spoke out Monday, defending Zuckerberg against those who think the Facebook CEO is a "bad person" or believe he's more interested in profits than users  and also to recall what Zuckerberg was like as a 20-year-old on the verge of something huge.

Graham, who was on the board of Facebook for six years until 2015, first says he met Zuckerberg in January 2005. At the time, Facebook was only nine months old and Graham had never seen the site because it was only available to college students.

Zuckerberg was shy and pensive, Graham writes in a Facebook post .

"The youngest of my four children was two years older than Mark; through my kids and their friends, I had an extensive experience of shy, awkward 20-year olds. Mark was, by a mile, the shyest, most awkward 20-year-old I had ever met," writes Graham.

"When I asked a question, there was sometimes a long, long pause before he answered. I wondered: had I somehow offended him? Did he not hear?

"Actually, he was thinking. I'm from Washington, where opinions are on the tip of people's tongues," writes Graham, a former journalist and ex-executive of his family business, The Washington Post. "Listening  and thinking before answering  wasn't something I was used to seeing."

Graham, who attended Harvard like Zuckerberg, commented to the young founder that the rise of Facebook (95 percent of Harvard's students were on the platform at the time, Zuckerberg informed him) would be the downfall of the Crimson, the university newspaper.

"Mark, wiser than I, laughed and said yes, Facebook could pause and pick up some ad revenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But it was much, much more important to reach other colleges before similar products could arise there and get entrenched.

Story continues

"Users before revenue," writes Graham. "We talked a little bit about Facebook as a business. The future tech titan did not then know the difference between revenues and profits."

Graham says he tried to invest in Facebook, but Zuckerberg turned him down for a better offer. Then Zuckerberg revealed a "moral dilemma," remembers Graham. "He worried he had been too encouraging in our earlier conversations. I was disappointed but quite impressed by the maturity with which he handled the matterpretty good for a 20-year old," he writes.

Two years later, Graham says he met with Zuckerberg in Palo Alto and noticed the tech titan's spartan accommodations.

"We met at his apartment, in which there were four pieces of furniture: a mattress (on the floor), a kitchen table and two wooden chairs. It was about at this time that Mark turned down a billion-dollar offer for Facebook. I noted that he wasn't letting success go to his head," says Graham. (In July of 2006, Zuckerberg rejected a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo .)

Sheryl Sandberg , the chief operating officer of Facebook, shared the post by Graham on her own Facebook page, noting Graham has been a trusted advisor. "Don's recommendation of Mark was a big part of why I joined Facebook," Sandberg wrote.

Graham is not an impartial observer of Zuckerberg: "Watching him close up, I came to believe he is someone of great decency and good character," he writes.

But Graham does acknowledge the lack of foresight that caused the Facebook privacy breach.

"Why was Cambridge Analytica permitted to make off with so much user data? Does Facebook tilt us towards polarization and political intransigence?" Graham writes.

"There's much more. Slowly and patiently, Mark, Sheryl and their team will make Facebook much better. Should they have acted sooner? Of course. Do they understand how angry many of their users are? I would bet a lot that the answer is yes. Watch the changes they will make," says Graham.

See also:

Mark Zuckerberg's second day in Congress: Here are the key points you need to know

Mark Zuckerberg's testimony: Here are the key points you need to know

Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'Privacy to us is a human right...a civil liberty'

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, excluded from the Summit of the Americas due to regional censure of his democratic record, mocked the meeting in Lima as a "complete failure" on Saturday. Addressing red-shirted supporters at an "anti-imperialist" rally in Caracas, Venezuela's socialist leader said other Latin American presidents were wasting their time criticizing him. "Everyone who attacks Venezuela ends up losing," he said "The Summit of the Americas has been a complete failure." U.S. President Donald Trump's last-minute cancellation weakened the summit's importance, then overnight western air strikes on Syria overshadowed it. Even so, opposition to Maduro's autocratic government around Latin America is strong, with various leaders viewing an upcoming May 20 presidential election as a farce intended to legitimize his rule. Authorities have banned the two most popular opposition leaders from running for election. "I was seeing reports of some empty speeches by right-wing, unpopular, murderous, imperialist lackey presidents," Maduro told the rally. "It's shameful seeing those presidents, hated by their peoples, speak about Venezuela's noble people." Maduro, 55, who is being targeted by Washington with sanctions due to accusations of corruption and rights abuses, condemned as a "criminal act" the air strikes on Syria over a suspected poison gas attack. "Violating international law, they launched missiles to inflict panic and terrorism on Syrians and destroy scientific centers," he said. "There has been powerful global revulsion around the planet." Standing in for Trump at the Lima summit, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told regional leaders on Saturday that more must be done to isolate Maduro, and Washington would not stand "idly by" as the country crumbles. Pence also said Russia was spreading misinformation about the U.S. missile attacks on Syria. (Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Jonathan Oatis)Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before a House Energy and Commerce hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP)

Its no secret that Facebook spies on everything that you do online with a chilling efficiency  whether youre using apps, or browsing the web.

But does the social media giant listen to every word you say near your smartphone  and track you even if youre logged out?

Mark Zuckerberg addressed both these questions this week as the Facebook chief faced questioning from American politicians.

Does Facebook listen to your microphone?

Lots of people claim theyve witnessed it happening, with hundreds of anecdotes shared online about Facebook hearing a word, then serving people adverts.

This week, Mark Zuckerberg flatly denied that Facebook listens to phone microphones to target adverts at users.

The tech giants chief executive this week testified before US Congress.

Senator Gary Peters said, Yes or no, does Facebook use audio obtained from mobile devices to enrich personal information about users?

No, said Zuckerberg.

People often claim that Facebook has begun to display adverts after they said something near a mobile  but Facebook has always denied this.

MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO

Experts suggest that these coincidences are caused by a sort of confirmation bias known as Frequency Illusion  where you learn about something, and then start seeing it everywhere.

Rob Goldman, the companys vice president of advertising, said in 2017, I run ads product at Facebook. We dont  and have never  used your microphone for ads. Just not true.

Facebook said in 2016, We only access your microphone if you have given our app permission and if you are actively using a specific feature that requires audio.

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This might include recording a video or using an optional feature we introduced two years ago to include music or other audio in your status updates.

Does Facebook track you when you are logged out?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing regarding the companys use and protection of user data on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

When asked if Facebook tracked users who are logged out, Zuckerberg seemed not to want to answer the question  and in the end suggested that someone else would follow up.

Senator Roger Wicker asked, There have been reports that Facebook can track users browsing activity even after the user has logged off the Facebook platform. Can you confirm whether or not this is true?

Zuckerberg replied, Senator, I want to make sure that I get this accurate, so itll probably be better to have my team follow up with you on this.

Wicker said, You dont know this?

Zuckerberg then replied, I know that people use cookies on the Internet and that you can probably co-relate activities between sessions.

We do that for a number of reasons including security and measuring ads to make sure that the ad experiences are most effective, which people can of-course opt out of.

But I want to make sure that Im precise with my answer so let me follow up with you on this.

In 2016, Facebook announced that it would track non-users as well as users via its online ad network  using cookies, Like buttons and other plug-ins on third-party sites.

If youre using Facebook, you can switch off some of this functionality.

The option (which you can find by going to the lock icon in Facebook on your PC, then to Settings, then to Ads) says, Your Facebook ad preferences can be used to show you ads on apps and websites off of the Facebook Companies.

Switching it off will mean that you dont see ads personalised to you on other sites.

The company said its goal is to serve relevant adverts to people who dont use Facebook  using the data it has on its 1.7 billion users to make inferences about non-users.

This approach is known as lookalike targeting.MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers said on Friday they had drafted legislation in response to new U.S. sanctions that would give the authorities the power to ban or restrict imports of a raft of U.S. goods and services to Russia.

Below are the goods that can be banned and cooperation areas which could be affected by the legislation:

IMPORTS OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD PRODUCTS

Many U.S. agricultural imports to Russia have been banned since 2014 as part of wider restrictions Moscow imposed on Western food in retaliation for international sanctions over Ukraine. The products banned include milk and dairy, beef, pork, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetables, and nuts.

New restrictions could affect food products which have not been targeted by the existing ban, such as tea, coffee, confectionery, although no detailed list was unveiled.

According to the Russian Agriculture Ministry, U.S. imports of agricultural products stood at $930 million in 2017.

IMPORTS OF ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS

Russia imports U.S. spirits including whiskeys Jim Beam and Brown-Forman's Jack Daniels. U.S. cigarette brands are mostly produced locally.

U.S. imports of tobacco products and hard liquor to Russia amounted to $76 million and $53 million respectively last year, the Russian Agriculture Ministry said.

IMPORTS OF PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS

The proposed measures envisage a full or partial ban on imports of U.S. pharmaceutical products, with the exception given to drugs that have no alternatives produced in Russia or elsewhere.

The lawmakers said "any other" U.S.-made products could be banned, without elaborating. The list has to be defined by the Russian government.

TECHNOLOGICAL EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE

Russia may ban state entities from procuring U.S. technological equipment and software, potentially targeting Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Cisco and others.

CONSULTING AND AUDIT

The measures include a proposed ban for U.S. companies or companies in which U.S. direct or indirect ownership exceeds 25 percent to provide consulting, audit and legal services to Russian state and municipal entities.

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RUSSIAN EXPORTS OF RARE EARTH METALS TO USA

The measures include restrictions on Russian exports of products and equipment made of rare earth metals. A Russian senator said on Friday that could mean a ban on titanium exports from VSMPO-Avisama to Boeing.

MUTUAL COOPERATION

The proposed measures suggest Russia should suspend cooperation with the United States on atomic energy, rocket engines and aircraft manufacturing.

The latter could have an impact on Irkut's MS-21 medium-range passenger plane, powered by engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney which is owned by Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. Irkut's state-controlled parent company United Aircraft Corporation declined comment.

Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is also a major supplier of enriched uranium to the United States. Russia supplies meet around 20 percent of U.S. uranium needs. Rosatom also cooperates with General Electric Co on turbines through GE's French subsidiary Alstom.

The new legislation could also hurt the U.S.-Russia initiative to prevent nuclear terrorism.

RUSSIAN PRIVATISATION

Russian lawmakers suggest Russia should ban U.S. companies or entities in which U.S. companies have more than 25 percent from taking part in privatisation of state and municipal assets.

Such companies also should not help arrange Russian privatisation deals - a measure likely targeting U.S. investment banks J.P.Morgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley

AIR NAVIGATION

The lawmakers suggested raising air navigation services charges for U.S. planes using the Russian airspace.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova, Polina Devitt and Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Toby Chopra)Indian activists and students protest the rape of an 8-year-old child and a rape case in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, in New Delhi on Thursday. (Photo: SAJJAD HUSSAIN via Getty Images)

In a grim development to a sexual assault case involving a state lawmaker in India, the alleged victims father died in police custody on Monday after sustaining injuries that his family said were from retaliatory beatings ordered by the lawmaker and his supporters.

Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a member of the legislative assembly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, has been accused of raping the mans teenage daughter. Sengar has been defiant in his denial of the alleged assault, which reportedly took place last summer in the city of Unnao and had been largely ignored by the public and media until last weekend, when the alleged victim attempted to burn herself to death near the residence of the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

The self-immolation was in protest of what the teenager said was indifference and inaction by politicians and law enforcement officials whod failed to pursue  and, in some cases, even abetted  the man she said raped her.

Lucknow: A woman & her family allegedly attempted suicide outside CM Residence. Her family alleges the woman was raped by a BJP MLA & his accomplices & no action is being taken. pic.twitter.com/Srl5yQqhXP  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 8, 2018

A day after her attempted suicide, the girls father, identified by local news outlets as 55-year-old Pappu Singh, died while in police custody. His family, who The Guardian reported had tried for months to get police to investigate the rape allegations against Sengar, said Pappu Singh was attacked by the lawmaker and a group of men, including Sengars brother, last Tuesday after they barged into the familys home.

The men also molested two young girls in the home, the family said.

Kuldeep Singh Sengar speaks to the media in Lucknow, India, on Wednesday. (Photo: Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Sengar, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was charged with rape, criminal intimidation and abduction of a minor on Thursday, reported The Hindustan Times. The Central Bureau of Investigation, Indias top investigative body, is now investigating the charges against the lawmaker.

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Sengar told reporters this week that the charges are part of a conspiracy being leveled against him by low-status people.

On Thursday, Sengar told the Times of India that the teen had been tutored to build rape case against me.

Sengars alleged victim told reporters this week that police officers had been there when her father was beaten but did nothing.

[They] took him to the police station and put him in jail, the teen said. They did not take him to hospital  maybe if they had, he could have been saved.

The girl said her father was beaten again while in prison. According to NDTV, a postmortem report showed the man had multiple wounds and bruises on his body. The report said he died of shock and septicemia.

Kuldeep Singh (Sengar) isn't being arrested. I don't know if his brother is arrested. I demand that they be hanged till death. They've made my life miserable. I want justice. They killed my father: Woman who has leveled rape allegations against BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar #Unnao pic.twitter.com/fHJBcjrj52  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 10, 2018

Six police officers have reportedly been suspended, and a number of other men, including Sengars brother, Atul Singh Sengar, have been arrested in connection with the mans death.

Pappu Singhs family has called for justice this week, and people across India have reacted with fury to what has been described as a cover-up by law enforcement officials of Sengars alleged crime and a failure of the state to protect the teenager and her family.

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BRK: BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who has been accused of rape by a Unnao woman, reached UP secretariat to meet CM. Defends himself over allegations pic.twitter.com/TtCWyq6mcr  Rohan Dua (@rohanduaTOI) April 9, 2018

The police facilitated the beating to death of the father of the girl, Vrindra Grover, an Indian supreme court lawyer who specializes in sexual assault cases, told Al Jazeera. If the police is going to not act according to the law but at the behest of the accused, then there can be no hope for justice. Today law and justice are a mirage that we are offering the women of this country.

The state is supposed to protect the people. This lawmaker is shamelessly flaunting his power by saying that he has the blessings of the entire state government, Grover added.

On Thursday night, Rahul Gandhi, head of the opposing Congress party, led a candlelight vigil in New Delhi to call for justice for sexual assault victims, including the teenager in Unnao and an 8-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in January.

This is not a political protest, this is a national matter. The government should be able to protect the dignity of women in this nation, Gandhi told reporters during the march.

Like millions of Indians my heart hurts tonight. India simply cannot continue to treat its women the way it does.



Join me in a silent, peaceful, candlelight vigil at India Gate at midnight tonight to protest this violence and demand justice.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 12, 2018

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Among the documents seized during an FBI raid targeting President Donald Trumps personal attorney are recordings of conversations Michael Cohen had with the former lawyer to two women who claim to have had affairs with Trump, according to a CNN report.

The FBI raided Cohens New York office and hotel room on Monday seeking, among a number of things, information regarding the role he may have had in attempting to suppress information about the alleged affairs. Agents seized Cohens computers and phones, as well as documents related to a payment of $130,000 he said he made to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.

A source familiar with the matter told CNN on Friday that the FBI had also seized recordings Cohen made of his communications with Keith Davidson, who had represented both Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Attorney Davidson never consented to any recordings of his conversations with Mr. Cohen, a spokesman for Davidson told CNN. If they in fact do exist, Attorney Davidson will pursue all his legal rights under the law. It is illegal in some states  including California, where Davidson is based  to record phone conversations without both parties consent.

Cohen is known to tape conversations with associates and store them, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Experts described the recordings to the Post as a potential gold mine for the FBI, saying that if they exist and are admissible in court, they could prove valuable to prosecutors.

Trump expressed outrage after the FBI raid, calling it a disgraceful situation and a total witch hunt during off-the-cuff remarks to reporters. On Tuesday, he tweeted that attorney-client privilege is dead!

Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who currently represents Daniels, responded to the CNN report in a tweet on Friday.

If this is true, let me be clear. I will bring the weight of the world down upon Mr. Cohen, together with any other party that violated my clients rights or conspired against her. #thug #zerotolerance #bastahttps://t.co/yfkZ4aI3ig  Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 13, 2018

Both Daniels and McDougal were reportedly paid large sums of money to keep their stories about the alleged 2006 affairs with Trump quiet. The women are now pursuing litigation in order to be released from their agreements.

Story continues

Trump reportedly called Cohen on Friday to check in, The New York Times said Friday, citing two people briefed on the call. The call could prove to be problematic depending on what the two discussed, given that Cohen is currently under criminal investigation.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Photo: Melissa DePino via Twitter

A viral video of two men being arrested in a Starbucks has raised questions about police procedure and created a firestorm of debate online.

Footage of the startling incident was shared on Twitter by writer Melissa DePino. The video of the event, which reportedly took place on Thursday inside a Philadelphia Starbucks, has been viewed almost two million times (as of this writing) since it was uploaded. DePino wrote in her tweet that The police were called because these men hadnt ordered anything.

@Starbucks The police were called because these men hadnt ordered anything. They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why its never happened to us when we do the same thing. pic.twitter.com/0U4Pzs55Ci  Melissa DePino (@missydepino) April 12, 2018

The clips show the two black men being removed from the restaurant as another man is seen talking to a police officer, telling him the situation is ridiculous.

The officer says, We got called. We didnt just come out here.

But the man doesnt back off, asking the officers, What did they get called for? Because they were two black guys sitting waiting to meet me? What did they do? What did they do? Tell me what they did.

You can hear a woman saying, They didnt do anything, I saw the entire thing,

DePino claimed on Twitter that a Starbucks employee phoned police. A debate about the cause of the arrest started almost instantly, with DePino tweeting people have assumed there must be something more to this story.

Ever since I posted this, Ive had white strangers AND friends say there must be something more to this story. That assumption is a big part of the problem. It does happen. All the time. Just not to you and me. Believe it and speak up.  Melissa DePino (@missydepino) April 13, 2018

Some wrote exactly that.

Story continues

There has to be more to the story. I promise you.  Soheezy (@Sohezy) April 12, 2018

Not going to judge this one too quickly would like to know the full story but this is still wrong if they werent doing anything.  Benny (@BennyIsALad) April 12, 2018

Others pointed out that witnesses said the two men were minding their own business.

There are two people in the video who watched the entire thing happen who have clearly stated these two men were not doing anything.  Leigh Shulman (@TheLeighShulman) April 14, 2018

Lets not jump the gun! Not gonna judge yet! The they had to be doing something wrong. Same thing as just color film. Face it. America just hates black ppl. pic.twitter.com/gVcFxkLQA6  Bumpy Johnson (@UnplugNeo) April 14, 2018

The two men were released early on Friday morning, reportedly with the help of a local attorney, who tweeted that The video speaks for itself.

The video speaks for itself. What took place at the 18th and Spruce #Philly @Starbucks was reprehensible. Two young black men, who were simply waiting to be joined by a friend, were blatantly discriminated against based on their race. Not only is this inexcusable, its illegal.  Lauren A. Wimmer (@LAWimmerESQ) April 14, 2018

The Philadelphia police department said in its own tweet that its reviewing the incident.

We are aware of an incident that occurred on 4-12-18 at the Starbucks Cafe at 18th and Spruce. The entire incident, including the actions of the responding officers, is under internal investigation. Once we gather all the facts, we will comment further.  Philadelphia Police (@PhillyPolice) April 14, 2018

Starbucks told Yahoo Lifestyle, We strive to create a culture in our stores where everyone is welcome, and where everyone belongs. We believe in treating each other with dignity and respect, and will thoroughly investigate this incident.

Updated April 14, 4:00pm:

The Associated Press reports that Philadelphias police commissioner is defending his officers decision to arrest the two men in Starbucks.

Commissioner Richard Ross, who is black, said police asked the men to leave three times but they refused. They were arrested and released. Ross said his officers did absolutely nothing wrong.

There was no mention of the white man in the video who said he was meeting with the men. He called the arrest ridiculous on video.

Starbucks tweeted an additional message, further apologizing for the incident.

We apologize to the two individuals and our customers for what took place at our Philadelphia store on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/suUsytXHks  Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) April 14, 2018

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.There were moments over the past few years when it seemed like misogynist in chief Donald Trump would be held accountable for the way he has treated women. But at each turn, the president emerged unscathed.

Then on Monday, the FBI raid on Trump lawyer Michael Cohens office and hotel raised the prospect once again. Cohens apparently been under criminal investigation for months, according to court papers prosecutors released on Friday. It is incredibly early to say this with any certainty, but its starting to look possible that women could ultimately topple the Trump presidency.

Not Russia. Women.

The scandals prompted by two women, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, reportedly led the FBI to Cohens door. Federal agents were reportedly seeking information on hush agreements the adult film star and the former Playmate signed to stay silent about their alleged affairs with Trump. The agreements may have violated federal campaign finance laws, raising the real possibility of criminal charges for Cohen  and maybe even for Trump himself.

The nonprofit Common Cause filed complaints with the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission in January over the hush agreements, alleging they are campaign finance violations. The punishment for breaking such laws includes fines and even jail time.

At a time when the Me Too movement has brought down many powerful men for sexual misconduct, the alleged violations raise the prospect of bagging the biggest whale of all.

Though the raid this week was a sign of how serious the situation is, there are a million caveats going the other way: First, there is no publicly available evidence that Trump knew about these payoffs. He didnt even sign the agreement with Daniels and denies he knew about it or had an affair with her or McDougal. Cohen said he paid Daniels without Trump knowing.

Even if the feds nail the evidence, successfully pressing the case in court would be technically pretty tricky, legal experts say. Recently, former presidential candidate John Edwards was charged with campaign finance violations and went to trial, but the jury couldnt agree on his guilt.

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Also, recall that no sitting U.S. president has ever been charged with a crime.

The more obvious punitive route would be impeachment, which seems unlikely at the moment because Trumps party runs Congress. And even if the Dems were running the show, its not clear theyd want to make a whole thing out of what seems to be essentially a sex scandal  20 years after the Lewinsky debacle. (Though not everyone sees this as simply a salacious story.)

Further, campaign finance violations arent exactly the sexiest, most outrageous crimes around.

And of course, no one knows what special counsel Robert Mueller  whos already done a lot of damage to the Trump administration with indictments and criminal charges  still has up his sleeve.

And yet, right now, the campaign finance violations do seem further along than the Russia case to a number of experts.

(Photo: Gabe Ginsberg via Getty Images)

The public evidence we know on the campaign finance issue is more clear to us at this moment, said Liam Brennan, a former federal prosecutor who was the lead attorney in the prosecution of former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland (R) for campaign finance violations. From what is publicly known, there is fairly compelling evidence that campaign finance laws were broken, he said.

Cohen has already admitted he paid Daniels $130,000, but said the president was not involved. McDougals $150,000 came from the folks at American Media Inc., home to the National Enquirer, but McDougals lawsuit says the company acted in coordination with Cohen. American Media Inc. denies all of this.

Though the alleged affairs happened more than a decade ago, the payoffs came right before the election: McDougals just after the Republican National Convention in August 2016, Daniels a week before the general election, right when the Access Hollywood tape was imperiling Trumps campaign.

The maximum amount an individual can contribute to a campaign is $2,700  obviously, far less than $130,000. Corporations are prohibited from making donations to individual candidates.

The timing of the payouts increases the likelihood that theyll be seen as money spent on getting Trump into office  if the womens stories had emerged prior to the election, the reasoning goes, they wouldve hurt Trumps chances. Particularly Daniels story, which was kaiboshed during Pussygrab-gate.

In fact, according to reporting from The New York Times, FBI agents were also looking for information tied to that infamous recording, wherein Trump brags to host Billy Bush that he is very famous and can just kiss women without asking and grab them by their genitals.

If prosecutors are able to build a compelling case against Cohen  and possibly Trump  around these payments, its plausible that the president could find himself facing criminal charges, legal experts told HuffPost.

That road leads to possible impeachment and even a criminal trial, where the president and his lawyer could face fines and even, yes, jail time  up to five years, said Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause. Imprisonment is exceedingly rare, but it happens occasionally, he said.

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Still, a case would hardly be a slam dunk. Proving intent in white-collar cases is extremely difficult, Brennan, the former prosecutor, said.

While it seems obvious the intention was to protect the Trump campaign, it can be hard to prove, he said. The keys will be: Will Cohen talk and will agents find compelling hard proof to back up the case?

And its an open question as to how seriously anyone is going to take these scandals. The sexual nature of Daniels and McDougals stories may make prosecutors and Congress squeamish, Brennan added.

(Remember, its mostly men making these decisions.)

And to get to Trump, legal experts said, there needs to be more evidence. In order to pin any of this on Trump, he would have needed to know whats going on, said Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Thats why its key to find a link, she said  possibly paperwork of some sort, an email or a letter.

At this point, the worst-case scenario for Trump would be a finding that Cohen and others were involved in illegal activity, Levenson said  some kind of criminal activity, maybe campaign finance violations, but possibly bank fraud, which FBI agents are reportedly also looking into. If Cohen or others talk, they could end up pointing a finger at Trump and saying not only did he know, but he was orchestrating all of this.

You have to make a lot of jumps and assumptions, she said.

Still, the prospect remains delicious.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said the Lewinsky scandal was 30 years ago. It was 20 years ago.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Reality TV star and former supermodel Janice Dickinson took the stand before a jury in Pennsylvania on Thursday on the fourth day of comedian Bill Cosby's retrial on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. (The first trial was declared a mistrial last summer after a jury failed to reach a verdict.)

On the stand, Dickinson described an incident in which she alleges comedian Bill Cosby raped her in a Lake Tahoe hotel room in 1982.

Dickinson, who is now 63, has spoken publicly about her allegations against Cosby in the past, saying that he drugged her and raped her when she was 27 years old. According to The New York Times, Dickinson described what she remembered from that encounter to the jury, claming that Cosby sexually assaulted her after giving her a pill that she believed to be for menstrual cramps. "He smelled like cigar and espresso and his body odor," she described.

According to CNN, Dickinson said she passed out and woke up feeling sore. On the stand, she said she confronted Cosby and told him, "Do you want to explain what happened last night, because that wasn't cool." In her testimony CNN reports she said, "I wanted to hit him, I wanted to punch him in the face."

The New York Times reports that Cosby's defense attorney Tom Mesereau cross-examined Dickinson and asked about passages from her 2002 book, which don't include details about the alleged assault. You told a tale to the jury today that is completely different from the book, he said, according to The New York Times. You made things up to get a paycheck.

Dickinson testified that her publishers advised her to leave the assault out for legal reasons, explaining, "You take poetic license in what you do. Today I am on a sworn Bible.

Dickinson is one of the most high-profile women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault; 35 women shared stories with New York Magazine back in 2015. The charges in this current trial were brought by a woman named Andrea Constand, who says Cosby drugged and assaulted her in January 2004. Several media outlets have noted that unlike the first trial, the retrial has started in a post-#MeToo environment, as the country reckons with widespread accusations of sexual assault in Hollywood.SheKnows

Donald Trump had more than his share of infidelity allegations while he was in the White House. For some people in that position, they might be on their best behavior, knowing that America was watching their every move. But for Donald, he reportedly doubled down on his bad behavior by trying to get the attention []ANKARA (Reuters) - Three Turkish nationals detained in Gabon over links to the Fethullah Gulen movement that Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup have been brought to Turkey, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. Speaking to lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, Erdogan vowed to continue to seek supporters of the U.S.-based cleric "no matter where they run." "Gabon has returned three important Gulenists to our country. No matter where they run or how much they run, we will go after them," he said. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency, citing security sources, said the three suspects had been captured in an operation carried out by Turkish intelligence. It said the three were brought back to Turkey and handed over to authorities for questioning. The suspects, identified as Osman Ozpinar, Ibrahim Akbas and Adnan Demironal, were involved in the administration of schools run by Gulen's network, Anadolu said, adding that they were also users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app the government says is used by the cleric's supporters. It said the three were detained by authorities in Gabon on March 23 and also faced charges of membership in an armed terrorist organization. Ankara blames Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, for orchestrating a failed coup in 2016 and has carried out a widespread crackdown on alleged supporters of the cleric's network. Gulen denies any involvement. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag, the government's spokesman, said last week 80 people suspected of links to Gulen's network had been brought back to Turkey from 80 different countries. Last month, Kosovo authorities arrested six Turkish nationals linked to schools financed by Gulen's movement and extradited them to Turkey, prompting Kosovo's prime minister to dismiss his interior minister and secret service chief. Kosovo's parliament also voted to investigate the arrests. "We've gotten six Gulenists from Kosovo and three from Gabon. Let's see where the next ones come from," Erdogan said. Since the abortive putsch in July 2016, nearly 160,000 people have been detained and a similar number of civil servants sacked from their jobs, a United Nations report found last month. Ankara says the measures are necessary given the extent of the security threats it faces, including from Gulen's network, which it considers a terrorist group. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Tulay Karadeniz; Editing by David Dolan)Dozens of Palestinians have been wounded along the Gaza-Israel border as Land Day demonstrations ran into their third week.

Estimates from Palestinian Health Ministry suggest that over 500 Palestinians had been wounded while taking part in protests at five different sites along the border on Friday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded with live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas, The Washington Post reported.

Friday is the day of Muslim congregational prayer and often is when the largest crowds gather and spikes in deaths and injuries among the protesters occur. At least 34 people have been killed since the demonstrations began on March 30, and thousands reportedly have been injured.

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Gaza protests

JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images

The IDF reported that some protestors had thrown stones, Molotov cocktails, flaming tires and an explosive device at the border fence in attempts to breach it. An IDF spokesperson said troops were responding with riot dispersal means while also firing in accordance with the rules of engagement, according to Reuters.

Israel says that militants from Hamasan Islamist political party and militant group that controls the Gaza Strip and its 2 million peopleare using the protests as cover to plan and execute attacks on the border fence and Israeli troops.

Palestinians are protesting for the right of return for refugees and their descendants who fled or were forced to leave their homes after the creation of Israel, in 1948, 70 years ago. The demonstrations have been dubbed the Great March of Return. Israel has consistently refused to grant the right, fearing that Jews could become a minority within Israel if tens of thousands of Palestinians are allowed to settle in the country.

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In a statement to the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres repeated his calls for an independent and transparent investigation into the shootings, and urged both sides to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties. Amnesty International said Israeli authorities must put an immediate end to the excessive and lethal force being used to suppress Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza.

Don't miss: Trump Has 'No plan, No Exit Strategy and No Authorization' to Attack Syria, Kirsten Gillibrand Says

Wounded Palestinian protester

REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

The IDF has previously stated that only people trying to damage the border fence or posing a threat to its soldiers have been targeted. In a Friday briefing, senior Israeli army officials told reporters that 33 protesters had been killed. Of those, 26 were unarmed and threatening the border and six were armed with weapons or explosives, they said.

Breaking the Silence, an Israeli non-governmental organization made up of IDF veterans, released a statement midweek, describing the use of live ammunition on unarmed protesters as the transgression of yet another red line.

Last Friday, several Palestinians were shot and killed by IDF forces. Among the dead was photojournalist Yasser Murtaja. The 30-year-old was shot in the abdomen while wearing a blue flak vest bearing the word press in white letters. The killing drew condemnation and calls for an investigation from journalist groups.

Yasser Murtaja

REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

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Defending the IDF's actions, Israel's far-right defense minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israels public radio on Sunday, There are no naive people in the Gaza Strip, and suggested Murtaja was killed while working for Hamas. Everyones connected to Hamas, everyone gets a salary from Hamas, and all the activists trying to challenge us and breach the border are Hamas military wing activists, Lieberman alleged.

On Thursday, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that two wounded Palestinian protesters had legs amputated after Israel denied them passage to the West Bank for medical treatment. The main consideration for the refusal stems from the fact that their medical condition is a function of their participation in the disturbances, an Israeli statement said.

The U.S. has criticized those organizing the protests. President Donald Trumps Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt condemned Palestinian leaders who call for violence or who send protestersincluding childrento the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed. Greenblatt said the U.S. would offer an outstretched hand to Gaza only when Hamas renounces violence and ceases to threaten its neighbors.

The protests will end on the on May 15, the anniversary of the establishment of Israel, which Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or the catastrophe.

Palestinian protestor

REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade for more than 10 years, combined with restrictions at the Egyptian border. The public health infrastructure in terms of water, drainage and sewage are virtually nonfunctioning, electricity is restricted to just a few hours each day and 95 per cent of the water is undrinkable, United Nations Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness told Newsweek.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekLome (AFP) - Guinea-Bissau's President Jose Mario Vaz has nominated another new prime minister, the West African bloc said on Saturday, after talks aimed at ending years of political crisis.

The Economic Community of West African States said Vaz had nominated Aristide Gomes as "prime minister of consensus" after consultations with political actors and civil society.

"This nomination will be taken by presidential decree on April 17, 2018 in Bissau," it added in a final communique after the closed-door talks in Togo's capital, Lome.

Gomes previously served as prime minister of the former Portuguese colony from 2005 to 2007.

Parliament would resume on April 19 and Vaz also announced that parliamentary elections would be held on November 18, 2018.

Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe, who holds the rotating presidency of ECOWAS, and nine other regional heads of state met in extraordinary session to try to end the impasse.

Guinea-Bissau has been in the grip of a power struggle since August 2015, when President Vaz sacked his then prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira.

Vaz has since nominated several prime ministers but he has failed to gain the support of political parties.

ECOWAS has stipulated a consensus candidate who has the president's trust was needed to be a new head of government, and stay in the post until the next elections.

An ECOWAS delegation was in Bissau on Wednesday to meet Vaz and key parties in the dispute.

Regional leaders said they "noted these decisions and dates which will be part of the roadmap" and called on "all actors to work together to bring stability to the country".A young man with Invisalign. (Photo: Getty Images)

A selfless teenager got the surprise of a lifetime when he got called to the school resource office at Albuquerque High School. Senior Josh Baumgardner thought he was in trouble, but as he entered the office he was welcomed with a check for $6,750 toward getting his teeth fixed, KRQE reports.

Despite not liking his crooked smile, Josh gave up his turn to get braces, as he was next in line in his family, so his younger sister could get her bad overbite fixed. His parents could not afford for both of their children to get their smile aligned at the same time.

My younger sister had an overbite to where it would be hitting the bottom of her gums, the teenager from said, explaining why he gave up his turn to have his smile fixed.

Josh entered an Invisalign contest at his local orthodontists office, never thinking hed win. But as soon as the employees of Harnick Orthodontics read his entry, they knew he was the clear winner of the treatment.

Your story touched our hearts, and were so excited to work with you, Orthodontist Kari Harnick said to Josh. Congratulations! you won!

His parents are incredibly proud of him for putting his sisters well-being before his own.

Being a dad, for him to sacrifice something like that and to pass up his chance, said Mark Baumgardner, Joshs dad. Now I have a son, when we take pictures, he doesnt like to smile.

Im speechless, said Josh.

The entire Baumgardner family is excited about Joshs soon-to-be perfect smile, Well get that smile back, thats what were excited for, said Mark Baumgardner.

Harnick Orthodontics posted the video on their Facebook page:

We reached out to Josh, and Harnick Orthodontics will update this story once we hear back.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to be his successor, NBC News reported on Friday.

"We all think that Kevin is the right person," Ryan said in an interview airing on Sunday on Meet the Press.

Ryan said on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election in November, dealing a blow to fellow Republicans and President Donald Trump before the congressional elections.

The announcement dismayed some Republicans already concerned about their prospects with U.S. voters in November. Now they fear they may have to deal with a House of Representatives leadership struggle when the party should focus on defending its congressional majorities and advancing Trump's agenda.

Ryan's endorsement, however, gives McCarthy an edge in the leadership contest.

Ryan told NBC he believed having McCarthy step in would work toward a more smooth transition in House leadership.

"We have made a huge positive difference in peoples lives, and people are more confident as a result of it," Ryan said. "This leadership team has done that, and so I really do envision a more seamless transition, versus say the time when I came in."

Another name circulating as a possible Ryan replacement was House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who was wounded by a gunman last year. He and McCarthy are expected to wage a furious effort to raise campaign funds for fellow House Republicans to shore up support for their potential leadership aspirations.

Representative Jim Jordan, a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, whose members have at times clashed with Ryan and other Republican leaders, said he is also open to pursuing the role of speaker.

We have six more months to prove Republicans deserve to keep the majority. If and when there is a Speakers race, colleagues have approached me about running and thats something Im open to doing, Jordan said in an emailed statement on Friday to Reuters.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and David Gregorio)Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday voiced his "total support" for US-led air strikes against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons.

"A year ago I gave Israel's total support for (US) President Donald Trump's decision to mobilise against the use of chemical weapons," he said, referring to American strikes against the Syrian regime in April 2017 after a sarin gas attack on a rebel-held town.

"Israel's support remains unchanged," Netanyahu said.

"This morning the United States, France and the United Kingdom showed that their commitment is not limited to declarations of principles," he added in a statement.

The three countries had carried out a wave of pre-dawn missile strikes, hitting targets near Damascus and in Homs province, Western officials said.

Netanyahu warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that his "ceaseless efforts to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction... put Syria in danger."

Israeli public radio reported that Western allies had given Israel, which remains technically at war with neighbouring Syria, advance notice of the air strikes.Smoke rises after the Syrian army shelled Douma, Eastern Ghouta - Photoshot/Avalon.red

Italy has emerged as a weak link as the West gears up to launch military action against Syria in retaliation for chemical attacks on civilians.

Paolo Gentiloni, who is caretaker prime minister after last months inconclusive general election, on Thursday said Italy would not participate in any bombing campaign against Syria.

It would only offer logistical support to allies like Britain.

"Italy will not participate in Syrian military actions," Mr Gentiloni said in a statement.

"Based on current international and bilateral accords, Italy will continue to offer logistical support to allied forces."

That was an apparent reference to two strategically-important air force bases used by the Americans - Sigonella in Sicily and Aviano in the north of the country.

Italy has traditionally been a staunch ally of Britain and the US but there is little appetite this time around for the country to get involved in a strike on Syria.

RAF Tornado GR4 landing at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, which could be deployed against Syria Credit: Nick Ansell/PA Wire

The election last month produced a hung parliament in which no political force won a majority.

Since then, political parties have spent weeks bickering and insulting each other, in a vain attempt to form a new government.

Adding to the lack of clarity and resolve, the two most popular parties are to varying degrees sympathetic towards Russia and Vladimir Putin.

Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Right-wing League, is an open admirer of the Russian president and said the allegation that the Syrian regime had deployed chemical weapons against civilians was fake news.

He said any allied attack on Syria could trigger an extremely dangerous conflict and rebuked Donald Trump for tweeting about the impending launch of US missiles as though he was talking about roast chicken and chips.

Mr Salvini added: Bombs and missiles are rarely intelligent and rarely resolve problems.

Mr Salvini is an admirer of Putin's Credit: PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP/Getty Images

He is vying with Luigi Di Maio, the leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, to become Italys next prime minister.

Story continues

Five Star, which won the most votes of any single party, has also been sympathetic to Moscow in the past.

As political parties wobbled on Italys traditional allegiance to the US and Nato, Sergio Mattarella, the president, was said to be increasingly concerned.

You know that we cannot report what the president says, but it doesn't take much imagination to know he's worried about this escalation and how Italy's political forces will respond," Senator Juliane Unterberger, a member of a small minority party, said after meeting the head of state.

What happens next in Syria  could Britain be drawn into World War Three?First daughter Ivanka Trump is being accused of acting like the U.S. secretary of state in Peru, where she is attending a conference that her father President Donald Trump canceled his appearance for.

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One such attack on Ivanka Trump was posted Friday morning by Scott Dworkin, co-founder of the Democratic Coalition resisting the president. He worked during Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, as well as the "Draft Biden" and "Run Warren Run" campaigns, according to the coalition's website.

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Dworkin embedded a video that the first daughter posted on social media, in which she says in a peppy tone, Buenos dias, I am here in Lima, Peru, for the Summit of the America conference. Im really excited about my first stop, which is the Lima Stock Exchange, where Im going to be with some incredible women business leaders from right here in Lima, Peru.

Here she is, our new Secretary of State, @IvankaTrump repping us in Peru. This is an international disgrace. Congress didnt confirm her for the gig. She isnt qualified. Has zero true diplomatic experience, Dworkin tweeted. America is a laughingstock.

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The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) tweeted, Ivanka Trump doesnt speak Spanish, doesnt have foreign policy experience, and doesnt have a full security clearance. Why is she representing the United States at an international summit in Peru?

Ivanka Trump does not speak Spanish and did not have any government experience prior to becoming a senior White House adviser.

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Story continues

It is not the first time that Twitter users have suggested Ivanka Trump is acting like a fake secretary of state. CREW last month tweeted that the president sent his daughter to meet South Koreas Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha after abruptly ousting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Ivanka Trump on Wednesday said she would announce an economic empowerment program in Peru for women in the region, and that her husband and fellow senior White House adviser would accompany her on the trip. The president said Vice President Mike Pence would fill in for him at the two-day summit.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekJennifer Hart was intoxicated when she drove her wife and six children off a California cliff nearly three weeks ago in a crash that appears to have been intentional, authorities said Friday.

Jennifer and Sarah Hart and three of their children were killed in the car crash. Three of the Hart children are still missing.

Jennifer Hart had a blood alcohol level of .102 at the time of the crash, California Highway Patrol Capt. Bruce Carpenter said at a press conference Friday. The legal limit for driving in California is 0.08.

Carpenter also said that Sarah Hart and two of the couples children had a significant amount of an ingredient found in Benadryl in their system, the Associated Press reported.

Beginning in 2008, Sarah and Jennifer Hart faced repeated child abuse allegations from teachers and neighbors as they moved from Minnesota to Oregon to Washington with their six adopted children. Child services officials attempted to visit the Harts on March 23, after neighbors reported that one of the children, Devonte, had come to their house multiple times asking for food. None of the Harts answered the door.

Hours later, Sarah Hart sent an alarming text message to a friend in the middle of the night, saying she was so sick she might have to go to the hospital, according to a 911 call obtained by the Oregonian. The friend was unable to reach her after that.

By the next morning, the Harts had left town. The wreckage of their car crash was discovered on March 26.

Investigators have been concerned by several details about the crash  no one in the SUV was wearing seat belts, there were no skid marks at the site of the crash, and there were no suitcases to suggest the family had planned to go on a trip.

There are more reasons to believe that this was intentional than there are to believe that this was an accident, Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman told TIME last week.Jeremy Corbyn urged Theresa May to postpone what he described as the "legally questionable" Syrian air strikes during last-minute talks with Downing Street Friday night.

The Labour leader said the missile attack by Britain and the USA on Syria will make it less likely the Assad regime will be held accountable for war crimes.

He also criticised Theresa May for taking instructions from Washington and said the Prime Minister should have obtained Parliaments backing before launching the strikes.

Speaking after the US, UK and France bombed multiple Syrian government targets in an early morning operation aimed at destroying alleged chemical weapons sites, Mr Corbyn said: "Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace.

This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely.

Mr Corbyn added: Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way.

Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace.



My statement responding to air strikes on Syria: https://t.co/R6Yqkk4MV3  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) April 14, 2018

"Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump. The Government should do whatever possible to push Russia and the United States to agree to an independent UN-led investigation of last weekend's horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account."

The leader of the opposition was visiting to Huddersfield on Saturday and spoke to his Conservative counterpart late on Friday.

Story continues

He said: "I had a late night conversation with the Prime Minister and my whole point is that Parliament should be consulted, parliament should be allowed to take a view on this but, instead, the strikes were launched last night.

"Parliament is in session on Monday. She could have come to Parliament on Monday to discuss the whole situation. Instead, they've launched these strikes.

"She claims there's a legal basis for it.

"I've asked her in a letter I've just to sent her this morning to publish in full the legal basis and justification for it."

During the Yorkshire visit, Mr Corbyn added: "Also, why she hasn't heeded the words of Antonio Guterres - the general secretary of the United Nations - who wanted the strikes to be stopped, who wanted the UN charter to be observed, and give time for the OPCW to do its inspection of chemical weapons in Syria?

"And, also, to work again to get a ceasefire in Syria so that no more people are killed in this ghastly civil war in Syria."

Profile | Antonio Guterres

He said: "We'll be pushing for publication of the legal advice that the government has given.

"We will be demanding that the government goes back to the United Nations with the support of the Swedish government, or in support of the Swedish government in order the get a new UN resolution and bring Russia and the United States together along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey - all the neighbouring states there. This civil war is ghastly. It's killed hundreds of thousands.

"It's driven millions into refuge in other countries and the chemical weapons are obviously appalling and disgusting and completely illegal within international law."

Mr Corbyn said there was only a legal basis for action if there was a direct threat to the UK.

He said: "You could only do it under the basis of self-defence - if there was a direct threat to us, and there wasn't."

Intervention in Syria | Read more

Stewart McDonald, the Scottish National Party spokesman for defence, said UK forces had been engaged in "gesture bombing with no major international consensus".

"Most worrying is that she has acted at the behest of presidential tweets and sidelined Parliament," he said on Twitter.

"What does this new bombing campaign do to help move Syria towards peace? Nothing.

"Instead, it has the potential to dangerously complicate the war, making matters on the ground worse for the people that the strikes are supposed to help. There is no peace strategy."

Owen Smith, the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, also attacked the decision, writing on Twitter: "The House of Commons is elected to represent the people of our country and to hold our Executive to account.

"Parliament should have been recalled and consulted before we engaged in this military action in Syria."

But Carwyn Jones, Labour's First Minister of Wales, backed the action, as long as it was part of a wider plan to bring peace to the region.

Mr Jones said: "I spoke with the PM late last night about the action in Syria. I offered my support to any intervention that could prevent a further atrocity, but it is vital that any action forms part of a wider long-term plan for the region.

"I have urged the Prime Minister to do all she can to avoid civilian casualties given the complicated picture on the ground in Syria, and she has given me assurances in that regard.

"Our thoughts today are with our service personnel and the people of Syria, who have endured beyond all measure."

At a Pentagon briefing shortly after President Trump announced strikes had taken place, Gen Joseph Dunford said a scientific research facility in Damascus, allegedly connected to the production of chemical and biological weapons, had been hit, along with a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs and a chemical weapons equipment storage site and command post, also near Homs.

Syrian state television said government forces had shot down more than a dozen missiles, and claimed only the research facility in Damascus had been damaged. It said three civilians had been injured in Homs.Lima (Peru) (AFP) - A summit of Latin American, US and Canadian leaders on Saturday vowed a tougher political stance against corruption with a document making a common "commitment" but offering no enforcement measures.

The Lima Commitment on "Democratic Governability Against Corruption" was a sign of the "firm will" of the region to vanquish graft, Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra told the gathering.

The adopted text, containing 57 points, amounted to a policy statement setting a goal for all the countries to follow.

It had been negotiated over the past seven months.

During that time, Latin America has seen turmoil in many countries related to corruption -- including the resignation of Peru's previous president three weeks ago, the jailing of Brazil's former president a week ago, and increased scrutiny on Guatemala's current president by a UN-backed body.

The region also came under a cloud of malaise linked to a massive political bribery scheme with the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht at the center.

And in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, US sanctions were imposed on powerful family businesses in Central America allegedly linked to drug trafficking. Rising global concerns over money laundering have added to the malaise.

- Anti-bribery efforts -

A meeting of foreign ministers on Friday had reached consensus on the document.

"The fact that after several summits, in this one we have a consensus document worked out by the foreign ministers is a signal of the efforts and search for common ground by us, the countries of the Americas," Vizcarra said.

The document calls for stepped-up efforts to prevent the bribery of public officials, legal norms holding companies responsible for acts of corruption, greater transparency in political financing, and anti-corruption clauses in public contracts.

Yet the document set out no enforceable measures to meet the goal, leaving it up to the countries to implement the commitment.

Story continues

The two-day Lima summit, which was to wrap up later Saturday, took place without its most prominent guest: US President Donald Trump.

The US leader had canceled on Tuesday, sending his Vice President Mike Pence instead. Trump stayed in Washington to oversee the military preparations that resulted in air strikes on Syria in alliance with Britain and France, in response to a suspected poison gas attack on Syrian civilians.

Pence on Saturday said the military action "degraded and crippled the chemical weapons capability of Syria," and he hoped that Syria, as well as "their patrons in Russia and Iran, once and for all abandon the use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians."

Pence was to leave Lima late Saturday after bilateral meetings with other leaders.

One planned meeting gathering attention was to be with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Ties between the United States and Mexico have been tense since Trump took power, frayed by issues that include the US president's desire to build a wall along the shared border and US demands to revisit the North American Trade Agreement.Laura Ingraham may have pulled off an impressive broadcasting feat Thursday night.

The Fox News host, who has endured a two-week long advertiser boycott, managed to throw some shade at departing sponsors as well as her critics without ever mentioning the boycott itself.

During a new installment of her segment called Defending the First, where she promises to expose enemies of the First of Amendment, free expression and free thought, Ingraham talked about the dark forces behind organized efforts to silence conservatives.

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In a discussion with conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, Ingraham focused on billionaire financier George Soros, who gave a $1 million donation to liberal watchdog group Media Matters.

You have these corporations that just wilt, Ingraham said. They just wilt. They get a hundred emails from some left-wing activist and they wilt. Meanwhile millions of conservatives are like, Are you kidding me? That makes no sense.

Ingraham has been hit hard by an advertiser boycott campaign spearheaded by Parkland student David Hogg after she mocked him for whining about his rejection by several California colleges. Since the campaign began, most of her biggest sponsors, including Mitsubishi, Blue Apron, SlimFast, Ace Hardware, and IBM have bailed, and ad time on The Ingraham Angle has been cut roughly in half.

Thursday nights episode of The Ingraham Angle show featured ads from 14 mostly lesser-known companies, several Fox News promos, and a more than a couple of repeated ads.

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The list of advertisers included: BASF, Ace Hardware (which reversed its decision to cease advertising on the show), Gilead, Spectrum, Ovation Hair, Invisalign, Beaches Resorts, MyPillow, Tac Light Elite, Senekot, Cabelas, several local spots, and last but not least hemorrhoid care system Recticare.

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The commercial breaks added up to just under 10 minutes total. By contrast, data from the tracking firm Kantar showed that The Ingraham Angle averaged 14 and a half minutes of ads prior to the boycott campaign.

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Fox News Cuts Sean Hannity Tirade Against Jimmy Kimmel From Online BroadcastBy Krishna N. Das and Rupam Jain NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A lawmaker from India's ruling party was arrested on Friday in connection with the rape of a teenager, police said, after days of protests by activists accusing authorities of failing to investigate the case and other attacks. Campaign groups called more rallies over the weekend, demanding justice for the young woman and for an eight-year-old Muslim girl who was gang-raped and murdered in the divided state of Kashmir. The rallies, which echoed mass protests against sexual violence in 2012, have piled pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who, hours earlier on Friday, had promised to take action. The BJP lawmaker, Kuldeep Singh Sengar from the legislature of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, was arrested in connection with the rape case, senior state police officer Rahul Srivastav told Reuters. "He will be presented before the court and charges will be pressed on Saturday," the officer added, without saying what charges he would face. Sengar's lawyer, R.K Singh, earlier said his client was innocent and the case was a conspiracy to harm his political career. Opposition groups have joined protests and vigils in cities across India, calling for tougher action. We are urging every rights group to seek public support and take to the streets across India, the guilty must be punished as soon as possible, said Ramya Varshney, a member of Awaaz, a voluntary organization providing legal advice to rape victims. POLITICALLY CHARGED Rights groups have accused the police of taking too long to investigate the attack on the teenager, who reported she was raped in June last year. The eight-year-old Muslim girl, Asifa, was found dead in a Hindu-dominated area of Jammu and Kashmir state in January. Anger erupted this week when details of her ordeal were released in a police charge sheet. Underlining the political tensions over the case, some members of the ruling BJP party joined a rally organized by a hardline Hindu group earlier this week to show support for eight Hindu men accused of the crime, including a former bureaucrat and four police officers. On Friday, two of those BJP members resigned as anger mounted over the rally. Amid fears the case could escalate unrest in Kashmir where security forces are battling a long-running insurgency, separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq vowed to launch a mass agitation if any attempt was made to shield culprits or sabotage investigations. Thousands of Kashmiris joined street protests in Srinagar this week, following the death of four protesters in a clash with security forces. "MY HEART HURTS" "Yet again we've failed as a society," Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar said in a Twitter message. "Can't think straight as more chilling details on little Asifa's case emerge ... her innocent face refuses to leave me. Justice must be served, hard and fast!" Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi held a candlelit vigil at midnight on Thursday at India Gate in New Delhi, the same site where thousands of people demonstrated in 2012 against a brutal gang-rape in the capital. "Like millions of Indians, my heart hurts tonight," Gandhi wrote on Twitter after addressing an estimated crowd of 5,000 people at the event. "India simply cannot continue to treat its women the way it does." Meenakshi Lekhi, a senior BJP leader, accused Gandhi's Congress party and other opposition groups of "playing politics". Ministers have said justice will be done no matter who committed the crime, while defending the government's record on fighting violence against women. Maneka Gandhi, the minister for women and child development, said her ministry planned to propose the death penalty for the rape of children younger than 12. The maximum punishment now is life imprisonment. India registered about 40,000 rape cases in 2016, up from 25,000 in 2012, government data show. Rights activists say thousands more go unreported. (Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Andrew Heavens)When President Donald Trump announced on Friday night that he had ordered airstrikes on Syria, he explained the decision with an appeal to a longstanding international consensus that the use of chemical weapons  such as were used a week ago on Syrian opposition forces and civilians in Douma, per the assessment of the U.S., despite denials from the Syrian regime  is a wrong that merits such a forceful response. Frances President Emmanuel Macron and Britains Prime Minister Theresa May have made it clear that they essentially feel the same.

Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare, Trump noted in his speech, later adding that the world never wants to see the ghastly specter of those weapons return.

The indications that such an announcement might be coming had been present for days since the initial report of the attack, which left Trump once again considering how such news might change his plans, as he had formerly expressed a desire to get the U.S. out of Syria.

Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018

The news follows a similar pattern to the events of about a year ago, when the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the resulting horrific imagery of the dead seemed enough to prompt a reversal in President Trumps stated aversion to U.S. intervention there.

And yet noncombatants are killed in the course of war in countless other fashions, and attempting to rank the cruelest ways to kill is an exercise in both futility and inhumanity. So why is it that chemical weapons spark such automatic revulsion when years of bombs and bullets have not? Though Trump correctly pinpointed World War I as a turning point, in fact the story is even older than that.

Story continues

Early Developments

Chemical and biological weapons predate even our modern understanding of what those terms mean; theres evidence of the use of noxious gas as a weapon in the ancient world and, as TIME has pointed out, the purposeful spread of smallpox in the 18th century as a tactic against American Indians was its own kind of biological warfare.

The feeling that such poisons are not an appropriate or honorable tactic of warfare is also an old one. As Julian Perry Robinson has written in his history of the subject, the earliest example of that idea might possibly be found in ancient Indian epics. And in Greek mythology, the use of poison as a weapon of war was often considered cowardly, a tricky technique used by those who were not heroes. By 1675, according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, France and Germany had signed what was the first international treaty that limited such weapons (in this case, poisoned bullets).

So it should be no surprise that in 1899, during a conference at the Hague on the laws of war, it was decided by the signatory nations that it would be especially prohibited to employ poison or poisoned arms. Though the convention they signed did not come with any enforcement mechanism, the moral imperative to avoid using poison during wartime had been established by that point.

But, during the 19th century, the technology that could be deployed in the use of chemical weapons underwent a shift. Pressurized canisters of noxious gas could replace the poisoned arrow tips of the past. As Robinson describes, Germany had an industrial edge in the development of such technology, and soon enough a reason to want to take advantage of that edge. The infamous trench-based stalemates that quickly set in after the 1914 beginning of World War I made the combatants eager to try something new  and that something included gas, even despite those centuries of history condemning such an idea.

Read More: These Battlefields Were Devastated in World War I. See What They Look Like Today

The World Wars

On April 22, 1915, German infantrymen gave the world its first whiff of poison-gas warfare, as TIME later recalled, by sending a huge, grey-green cloud of noxious chlorine rolling over two French divisions in the trenches at Ypres, killing 5,000, incapacitating 10,000, and cutting a 31-mile swath in Allied lines. Chlorine, phosgene, chloropicrin and mustard gas were all used during the Great War, though all involved  both sides developed and used chemical weapons  discovered that gas could be a difficult tool to use well, as the wind had to cooperate to make it work and developments such as increased use of tanks mitigated some of the chemicals impacts.

By TIMEs later estimate, that war saw 124,000 tons of chemical weapons used, between both sides, and the resulting deaths of 91,000 soldiers.

So it was that, in the wake of that conflict, the Treaty of Versailles included a ban on Germany manufacturing any poison gas. In addition, as members of League of Nations met in Geneva in 1925, delegates from 45 countries sought to find a out a way to come up with what TIME called back then a protocol generally prohibiting chemical and bacteriological warfare.

[The] use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world, the protocol proclaimed. The Geneva Protocol, however, did not end the history of chemical weapons. It had no teeth, per TIME, and allowed nations to make and keep such agents as long as they promised not to use them. (The U.S., which had not actually ratified its membership in the League, did not sign the Geneva Protocol at the time.)

And, before the League of Nations participants would have hoped, the world had cause to put the Protocol to the test. The Great War turned out not to be, as had been hoped, the war to end all wars.

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When World War II began, as TIME noted in 1944, the horror and repugnance aroused by the use of gas in World War I [was] still alive, though some Americans argued that using chemical weapons would be a more modern and humane approach to warfare. Yet, though soldiers had gotten much better prepared to withstand a gas attack since the 1915 Ypres battle that was still so fresh in humanitys collective memory, chemical weapons still held the deadly threat of death for civilians. Nor was it necessary to use chemical weapons, one military official told the magazine: in order to really make a difference the gas must be used by a combatant with a superior air force, and having a superior air force meant there was no reason to use gas.

In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt warned the Axis powers not to use poison gas during war, and promised that the U.S. would only do so in retaliation:

Use of such weapons has been outlawed by the general opinion of civilized mankind. This country has not used them, and I hope that we never will be compelled to use them. I state categorically that we shall under no circumstances resort to the use of such weapons unless they are first used by our enemies.

As President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the American armed forces, I want to make clear beyond all doubt to any of our enemies contemplating a resort to such desperate and barbarous methods that acts of this nature committed against any one of the United Nations will be regarded as having been committed against the United States itself and will be treated accordingly. We promise to any perpetrators of such crimes full and swift retaliation in kind and I feel obliged now to warn the Axis armies and the Axis peoples, in Europe and in Asia, that the terrible consequences of any use of these inhumane methods on their part will be brought down swiftly and surely upon their own heads. Any use of gas by any Axis power, therefore, will immediately be followed by the fullest possible retaliation upon munition centers, seaports, and other military objectives throughout the whole extent of the territory of such Axis country.

Even as Nazi scientists were experimenting with new and potent poison gases, including nerve agents like sarin, some of which were manufactured by concentration camp prisoners, Hitler chose not to endorse their use against Allied soldiers. (Although many senior military officers encouraged Hitler to deploy their powerful new chemical weapon, he waffled, likely for two reasons, according to Sarah Everts summary of the history for the Chemical Heritage Foundation. Those reasons were Hitlers own experience as a victim of battlefield gas in World War I and his worry that the Allies might have developed similar technology and would retaliate in kind.)

But despite what happened on the battlefield, deadly chemicals were widely used by the Nazi regime as part of their effort to wipe out the population of Jews and other minorities from the area they controlled. For example, in 1944, when TIMEs Moscow Correspondent Richard Lauterbach visited the Majdanek concentration camp and reported on the tour he received from Dmitri Kudriavtsev, Secretary of the Soviet Atrocities Commission, he saw the bathhouses in which Nazis had used Zyklon B to kill as many as 250 people at a time. He was told that on Nov. 3, 1943, alone, they annihilated 18,000 people  Poles, Jews, political prisoners and war prisoners with the gas.

New Agreements, New Trespasses

After World War II, as proud as the world powers may have been to have avoided the use of chemical weapons during the battles, the Cold War arms race extended to chemical-weapons research competition, too. One rationalization for that research was helped along by the widespread Cold War idea that, as long as one didnt strike first, any weapon could be on the table. Plus, the Geneva Protocol only prevented the use of those weapons, not the creation or storage of them.

So it should perhaps be no surprise that the late 20th century was a time of both new diplomatic advances and new uses of new weapons, despite those advances.

On the one hand, the U.S.  after decades of supporting the doctrine voiced by Roosevelt  signed agreements that barred the use of chemical weapons, as did other nations. On the other hand, research continued apace, and the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons did not completely stop them from being put into action.

Controversy over whether the U.S. was using gas in Vietnam raged during the 1960s  that the U.S. was using chemicals such as Agent Orange was clear, but whether that herbicide counted as a chemical weapon as governed by the Geneva Protocol was disputed  and by the end of that decade the U.S. was spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on its chemical and biological weapons program, stockpiling the results. Then, in the wake of that controversy, President Nixon resubmitted the Geneva Convention to the U.S. Senate, shortly before the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention  which strengthened the biological-weapons portion of the Geneva protocol  was submitted, too. Both were approved by the Senate in late 1974 and ratified by President Ford in early 1975.

In 1988, Iraq used poison gas on Kurdish towns during the course of its war with Iran. The bloated bodies of Kurdish residents littered the silent streets of the northern Iraqi town of Halabja. A dead turbaned man who had tried to shield a porcelain-faced infant in his arms from a cloud of poison gas lay frozen in time on a road. Families died together in their homes or in cars. The dead were among the hundreds and possibly thousands of victims of one of the worst chemical-warfare attacks since World War I, TIME reported. The weapons used were primarily mustard gas. The worlds response was somewhat muted  perhaps due to a lack of desire to take the side of Iran among many of the Geneva Protocol signatories who might have otherwise spoken up  but President Ronald Reagan said in a speech that year that the use of those weapons jeopardizes the moral and legal strictures that have held those weapons in check since World War I.

In 1993, after the fall of the Soviet Union, an even tougher U.N. Chemical Weapons Convention was created. This agreement prohibited stockpiling. At the time of the signing, both the U.S. and Russia had tens of thousands of metric tons of chemical weapons in store. Following through on the timely destruction of the chemical agents, as required by that agreement, has proved difficult.

And yet one question, raised by Julian Perry Robinson, has remained unanswered through these many decades: if chemical weapons were more tactically useful, easier to control and harder for armies (if not civilians) to guard against, would those who make such decisions have come up with justifications for their use?

After all, as a TIME essay in 1969 began, The dark side of progress is mans spectacular skill at devising better and better ways to kill other men.BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe must set a minimum price for carbon, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, something that would require a new tax on imports from non-EU countries that are not doing enough to tackle climate change. Since his election in May, Macron has championed policies to combat climate change, putting him at odds with President Donald Trump who pulled the United States out of the 2015 Paris Climate accord. Macron reiterated that France would increase the price of carbon emitted there to 84 euros per tonne in 2022 from 44 euros this year. But he said the carbon trading market was not working efficiently at the European level. "We need a European price floor for carbon. I know it won't be easy, there will be resistance from all around," Macron told a conference on financing sustainable growth in Brussels ahead of a summit of European Union leaders. Such a minimum price would incentivise greener investments, but would need to be accompanied by a tax on goods from countries beyond Europe's borders who do not "make the same environmental choices", he said. Macron also said there should be a target for EU budget spending to help a transition to a green economy and no EU spending should be "hostile" to the environment. "I think a target of 40 percent of the budget would allow for this transition to be ambitious rather than measured, as it is today." (Reporting by Richard Lough and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron stressed on Friday concerns about the deterioration of the situation in Syria in a phone call with his Russia counterpart Vladimir Putin and called for more dialogue with Moscow, his office said. Macron, who on Thursday said France had proof the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in an attack last week, also expressed regret at Russia's use of its United Nations Security Council veto on the attack. "The president of the republic called for dialogue with Russia to be maintained and stepped up to bring peace and stability back to Syria," a statement from Macron's office said. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Ingrid Melander)Budapest (Hungary) (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Hungarians thronged Budapest on Saturday in anger at strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orban's crushing re-election victory.

The crowd, around 100,000 strong according to organisers and AFP reporters, marched through the city centre in sunshine to parliament for a rally under the motto "We are the majority".

"We want to live in a state of law, where checks and balances are present.. We want to live in a real democracy," said protest organiser Viktor Gyetvai, 20, a student.

"If the demands are not met then we cannot live in this country, this is our last chance to do something for this country," he told AFP.

Many of the demonstrators, most of whom were young, were chanting "democracy" and brandishing Hungarian and European Union flags.

They demanded a recount, a non-partisan public media service, fresh elections and for the opposition to unite. Singing the national and EU anthems, they vowed to return for another demonstration next week.

There was a strong police presence, with riot officers at the ready, rows of police vans in streets nearby and a helicopter overhead. The demo remained peaceful, however.

"If there is no new free and fair election I don't see any other option but to make plans to leave," said Andrea Varkonyi, 26.

"I've already been looking for job opportunities abroad."

- Bannon's man -

The fiercely nationalist Orban, 54, a "hero" for US President Donald Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon, secured a third straight term in the election last Sunday.

He has been in power since 2010 and according to critics has curbed judicial independence, muzzled the press and rigged the electoral system.

Campaigning hard against the "poison" of immigration, Orban's overwhelming victory saw his Fidesz party secure around half the vote.

This means Fidesz with small junior coalition partner the Christian Democrats will have 134 seats in the 199-seat legislature, a two-thirds majority.

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This will allow Orban, who with Poland's like-minded government has regularly clashed with Brussels, to steamroll legislation through parliament.

Already he has readied legislation that will make life harder for civil society groups operating in the central European country of 10 million people.

In the crosshairs in particular will be groups funded by Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros, whom Orban says wants to destroy Europe though mass immigration.

- 'Intimidating' -

Images of Soros, 87, were plastered on billboards in the election campaign and Orban depicted opposition figures running in the election as "Soros candidates".

On Thursday a list of some 200 "Soros enemies" was published in a pro-government magazine owned by a close Orban ally.

Several Western ambassadors criticised the list, with the US embassy in Budapest saying it condemned an "attempt to intimidate these citizens".

OSCE observers said this week that the election campaign was marked by "intimidating and xenophobic rhetoric, media bias and opaque campaign financing".

The findings were derided by Orban as "political".

With 99 percent of votes counted, Fidesz is far ahead of the nationalist Jobbik party (19 percent) and a Socialist-led centre-left alliance (12 percent).

But the result has been disputed by civil society groups and opposition parties.

Alleged irregularities were reported at some polling stations last Sunday as well as an IT system outage at the National Elections Office.

Concerns about the media were heightened after the election with the closure of Magyar Nemzet, one of Hungary's few remaining opposition dailies.

Magyar Nemzet is owned by Lajos Simicska, an oligarch and former Fidesz treasurer who fell out spectacularly with Orban in 2015.

The number of independent outlets has dwindled as business interests close to Orban have bought up TV stations and national and regional newspapers.If President Donald Trump fires Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or any other officials involved in the Russia investigation, he faces the prospect of hundreds of thousands of activists immediately turning out to protest all over the country.

A coalition of grassroots activists, unions, policy organizations and good governance groups have, for months, been plotting to quickly and forcefully respond to any perceived interference with the investigation. And with Trump increasingly vocal about his displeasure with the inquiry, these organizers say theyre stepping up their efforts.

The coalition, calling its would-be gatherings Nobody Is Above The Law protests, released red lines that it said the president or his administration would have to cross to trigger the protests. These include firing any of the investigators or their supervisors, pardoning key witnesses or otherwise interfering with the investigation.

Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs at Public Citizen, a government accountability group and one of the leading protest organizers, attributed the coalitions diverse membership to a growing sense among it members that the threat to the investigation represents a structural challenge to civil society.

Its a constitutional crisis and different from anything else weve had to react to, said Gilbert.

Among the coalitions members are the American Federation of Teachers, MoveOn.org, the Sierra Club, the Center for American Progress, anti-Trump grassroots group Indivisible and the womens rights advocacy organization Ultraviolet.

That so much activity has occurred for an event that has yet to actually transpire is indicative of the increasing organization and savvy of the protest movement against the Trump administration.

Gilbert added that people are growing more comfortable with, and accustomed to, protesting in the Trump administration.

Were in a new protest culture, that is just part of how we react now, she said. You take a stand to show that this issue is huge.

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The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Trump administration officials and allies are planning a coordinated attack on Rosenstein to lay the groundwork for his firing. Rosensteins sacking, one official told the Journal, is a matter of when, not if. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation in 2017, giving Rosenstein oversight of former FBI Director Robert Muellers inquiry.

Special counsel Robert Mueller departs after briefing the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in June 2017. (Photo: Aaron Bernstein / Reuters)

The investigation received renewed attention this week after the office of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York ordered a raid of the office belonging to Trumps personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Also fueling the attention is the arrival of former FBI Director James Comeys memoir, A Higher Loyalty, which details his interactions with President Trump before being fired by the commander in chief in May 2017. Comeys interview promoting the book on ABCs Good Morning America Friday morning has received widespread attention.

President Trump attacked the erstwhile FBI director in several tweets Friday morning.

James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR, the president wrote. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst botch jobs of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!

Stephen Spalding, chief of strategy and external affairs at Common Cause, a good government advocacy group and another leading organizer of the rallies, said the presidents behavior is exacerbating activists sense of alarm.

[Trump is] clearly feeling cornered by events that have taken place this week, Spaulding said. We know in the past that when he feels this kind of pressure, he tends to act out.

With former FBI director James Comeys memoirs being released, Spaulding added, Trump is going to feel a lot of pressure.

Also on HuffPost

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.After thousands of teachers rallied at Kentuckys state capitol on Friday, the states governor said their absence from the classroom did serious harm to children. Nearly 40 school districts closed Friday because teachers requested leave to go to the rally in Kentuckys capital city, Frankfort. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, the closures included some of the largest districts in the state.

You know, heres whats crazy to me: You know how many hundreds of thousands of children today were left home alone? I guarantee you a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was no one there to watch them, Gov. Matt Bevin told Marcus Green, a reporter with Kentuckys Fox-affiliated station WDRB. I guarantee you a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were home alone because a single parent didnt have any money to take care of them. Im offended by the idea that people so cavalierly and flippantly disregarded whats best for children.

Trending: New York Lawyer Burns Himself To Death To Protest Fossil Fuels

He stated that due to financial pressures, some single parents probably had no choice but to leave their children home alone in communities where people knew that for a fact and took advantage of it. As surely as were having this conversation, children were harmedsome physically, some sexuallysome were introduced to drugs for the first time because they were vulnerable and left alone.

According to Kentucky Youth Advocates, about 37 percent of children in the state lived in a single-parent home in 2012. The national rate is similar. Children are asked to take care of themselves even when there aren't teacher rallies happening, of course. A survey done in 2011 and summarized in 2013 found that two percent of 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds who lived with their mother were left alone some of the time they werent in school; that proportion increased to nearly 30 percent of 14-year-olds. The average time children were left to care for themselves was seven hours per week.

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According to the Kentucky Education Association, Friday's rally was meant to encourage legislators to override Bevin's veto of budget and tax bills. Both vetoes were overridden on Friday. "We acknowledge neither bill gives the citizens of the Commonwealth everything that our students, their parents and our communities need. Some aspects of the revenue bill are regressive, and other provisions give tax breaks to top earners that dont need them. Both are serious concerns," the Association posted on Facebook. However, the association added, both bills include "much needed" funding.

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Districts also closed on March 31another Fridayafter Bevin and Kentuckys Republican-controlled state legislature passed a pension reform law on March 29, according to CNN. One of the major changes in that law was introducing a new, hybrid cash balance pension plan for new teachers. According to the IRS, these plans blend aspects of two more common types of pension plans known as defined benefit and defined contribution plans. People who oppose the plan are concerned it will discourage younger people from becoming teachers, according to the Washington Post.

Kentucky isnt the only state where politicians are facing off against teachers. The New York Times reported that Oklahoma teachers ended a nine-day walkout on Thursday after winning $6,000 raises. West Virginia teachers went on strike for more than a week in March, eventually receiving a 5 percent pay increase, Politico reported.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekFitness influencer Shan Michael Hefley is keeping it real. (Photo: Shan_hefley via Instagram)

Its not often you hear about a mans Photoshop fail or a male model criticizing a brand for editing his appearance without permission. Thats because many of the manipulated images involve women, with or without their consent.

But men, in fact, also Photoshop their bodies to look better on social media. In fact, one Instagram influencer thinks its just as common for men as it is among women.

On Thursday, fitness influencer Shan Michael Hefley shared a side-by-side comparison of two almost identical selfies on Instagram. The images show a shirtless, buff, and bearded Hefley, and the only difference is some definition and saturation. He captioned the one of the left, NO EDIT, and the one on the right, EDITED.

Be real Thursday!! he wrote. On the left is how I look pretty much every day. [P]hoto has no editing whatsoever. He claimed he only edits his photos because I enjoy being an artist and changing the looks and effects of a photo, not to be untruthful.

Regardless of the reason, it was important for him to remind his fans that images on Instagram are less perfect than they appear. [S]o remember as you look through your Instagram feed and compare yourself to other bodies 99% of the time thats not how they look in real life.

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His 43,000 followers appreciated his honesty. Love the honesty Mike!! I see so many people photoshop their photos, wrote one follower named Josh. Looking amazing my brother on either. The way you edit is just accentuating the shadow and edges. Not like others who exaggeratedly editing their photos which way far from how they really look, said a fellow male fitness buff.

I have received almost 100 percent positive responses. People respect honesty, Hefley tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

Revealing that your photos are edited is a big deal, not to mention a bit brave, considering how cruel social media can be. Some women have been copping to it more recently, but men also need to be relieved of the pressure to be perfect. On my Instagram I want to be as open and honest as I can be, just as I am in person, Hefley explains. I want my followers to know I am someone who can be trusted as they follow my page and my life.

Hefley says its all about the art when it comes to changing his images. For me, I edit my photos more for artistic value than anything else, the 55-year-old says. I do not use Photoshop to make myself more muscular, more handsome, or less aged. I apply edits that change the lighting and details because I like the look of the after photo.

He explains that while his posts are very truthful to how he looks on most days, he does make himself look tan on Instagram. If someone were to see me in person, they may notice that Im not as tan as I am in my photos, he says, but as far as muscularity, they would not be disappointed.

As for why looking tan is important to him: Muscle definition shows better the darker the skin is, Hefley explains. Dont get me wrong  I dont dramatically darken my skin but lightly. The more defined a muscle is, the larger it appears to be.

While Hefley says he doesnt feel pressured to look a certain way for social media, as an influencer who wants to motivate, having a well-defined musculature is important  it is the look that the followers are after.

However, he does admit that men do feel some pressure, just like women, on social platforms. I would love to have a page with 100K plus followers, and look like my physique is cut from granite. But I care more about letting my followers know that at 55 years old, they can look like me.

Hefley shares that hes always edited his photos. Again, it wasnt to hide anything, he notes. But being a little creative, I enjoyed tweaking details and color saturation, never size.

He adds: If you want to influence, dad bods may be the in thing, but they wont make you an influencer.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, accused embattled Trump attorney Michael Cohen of organizing a protest against his client. It's the latest development in both a legal battle and a war of words between the two lawyers.

Avenatti tweeted a picture of a small group of pro-Trump protesters in Florida and poked fun at the dismal turnout.

"The fixer Mr. Cohen (aka the real Ray Donovan) organized a protest - BIGLY - in Florida last night against my client," Avenatti tweeted. "As usual, his execution was flawless. #impressive."

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The picture attached to the tweet showed four protesters. All held pro-Trump signs, some of which featured pointed attacks against Daniels, the adult film star locked in a legal dispute over an alleged affair she had with the president in 2006.

"Stormy Weathered! Full of Silicone," one sign read. "Sold to the highest bidder!" said another.

Avenatti, who has previously come under scrutiny for teasing information without providing supporting evidence, did not provide proof that Cohen was behind the protest.

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It's been a long week for Cohen, who once described himself as the president's right-hand man. Avenatti's pithy tweet comes after investigators conducted a far-ranging raid on Cohen's home, his office and his hotel room earlier this week, reportedly looking for tax records, business documents and other information regarding the $130,000 Cohen paid to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Stormy-Daniels

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

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On Friday, federal investigators revealed in court documents that Cohen has been under criminal investigation for months. He is also facing accusations that he organized a $1.6 million payoff to a former Playboy model who said she was impregnated by a top Republican fundraiser. On Tuesday, he admitted that the swirling investigation into his financial dealings has given reason to worry.

"I would be lying to you if I told that I am [worried]," Cohen said on CNN. "Do I need this in my life? No. Do I want to be involved in this? No."

Avenatti, meanwhile, has been continuing to run the talk-show circuit. On Saturday, he claimed that Cohen has hush agreements numbering in the "double-digits" with former Trump paramours. Earlier in the week, on Thursday, he said he believes more raids are imminent, although he failed to provide evidence.

"I will tell you, these raids that occurred on Monday, they're not the last raids," Avenatti told CNN host Anderson Cooper. "I know that for a fact.There are other raids that are contemplated. I anticipate them coming within the next week."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekTrump appointee Mick Mulvaney appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday to discuss his record as acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But the star of the show was seated behind him.

Dressed as Monopoly board game mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags, Amanda Werner of the nonprofit Public Justice spent the two-hour hearing quietly mocking Mulvaney as a defender of the rich. Take a look at some of Werners best material in the video above. We were particularly impressed with the use of multiple mustaches.

Since he was named to the top CFPB job in November, Mulvaney has not taken a single enforcement action against payday lenders, banks or any other financial firms. He has stalled the agencys rule targeting abusive payday loans and put an investigation into the massive Equifax hack on ice. Mulvaney, who also serves as director of the Office of Management and Budget, is friendly with the financial industry and does not believe the CFPB should exist.

Earlier this week, Werner made an appearance at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs Senate hearing dressed as a Russian troll. Werner previously donned the Monopoly Man outfit to attend a Senate hearing featuring former Equifax CEO Richard Smith.

Monopoly aficionados will note that Werner has taken a few liberties with the outfit. Rich Uncle Pennybags does not sport a monocle on official Monopoly merchandise, but Werner does. It is an improvement.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - A handful of quiet memorials took place in Rio de Janeiro Saturday remembering Marielle Franco, the black councilor gunned down a month ago in a killing that made international headlines but for which no-one has been arrested.

The 38-year-old, who was a critic of police brutality and an outspoken advocate for minorities, was shot dead on March 14 in an assassination-style killing with four bullets to the head.

At one ceremony in Largo do Machao Square, people had hung up swathes of brightly-colored fabrics and balloons alongside messages asking: "Who ordered Marielle's murder?"

"Our day-to-day existence is about activism. It comes from pain, from longing," said Marcelo Freixo, a state legislator and friend of Franco who was among the mourners.

"We feel embraced by events like these because it shows that our work wasn't in vain," said Franco's sister, Anielle Barboza.

Other tributes included a mass held in the center of Rio and a walk following Franco's final path on the day she lost her life.

Although the murder of Franco and her driver sent shockwaves through Brazil, the police investigation appears to have stalled.

Public Security Minister Raul Jungmann confirmed that the bullets used were police issue, but he claimed they had been stolen from the force "years ago" in an area more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away.

As the one-month anniversary of her killing loomed, Amnesty International urged the government to solve the crime.

"Brazilian authorities must prioritize solving the killing of human rights defender Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, and bring all those responsible to justice," it said.

"Society needs to know who killed Marielle and why. Every day that this case remains unsolved the level of risk and uncertainty surrounding human rights defenders grows worse," said Jurema Werneck, executive director at Amnesty International Brazil.

As a black woman from the Mare favela, one of the city's most violent areas, Franco stunned many when she was elected to a city council seat in 2016.

She won fame as a rights activist, particularly for highlighting police brutality in the impoverished, sometimes lawless favela districts.Moscow (Russia) (AFP) - Moscow on Saturday accused the chemical weapons watchdog of manipulating the results of its probe into the poisoning of a former Russian spy, saying his samples had traces of a nerve agent used by the West.

Britain says former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were last month targeted with a nerve agent of the Novichok family which was developed in the Soviet Union.

The attack shredded ties between Russia and Britain and led to a severe crisis in relations between Moscow and the West including a huge wave of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has said it confirmed "the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical" without naming the substance involved.

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the OPCW had sent the Skripals' biomedical samples to Swiss experts who found they contained traces of the nerve agent BZ used by the West.

"According to the results of the examination, the samples had traces of toxic chemical BZ and its precursors," Lavrov said, citing what he said was "confidential information."

"BZ is a nerve agent that temporarily incapacitates a person," Lavrov said, adding that the chemical was used by the military of the US, Britain and other NATO members.

"Russia and the USSR never developed such chemical substances."

"In this regard we are asking the OPCW why the information which reflected the conclusions of specialists from the Spiez Laboratory was completely omitted from the final document."

"And of course if the OPCW decides to deny that it used the Spiez Laboratory then it would be interesting to hear those explanations too."

Lavrov appeared to be referring to the Swiss institute for the protection of the population against nuclear, biological and chemical threats and dangers located in the Swiss town of Spiez.

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It is known as the Spiez Laboratory.

Lavrov also said that the Swiss experts had found that the Skripals' samples contained traces of A-234 -- one of the nerve agents of the Novichok group -- "in its original form" and in considerable quantities.

Lavrov cast doubt on that conclusion, saying a big dose of that substance would have killed the Skripals.

He said that claim was "extremely suspicious" because the highly volatile A-234 nerve agent could not have been found at the scene in large quantities given that more than two weeks had passed between the attack and the collection of the samples.

"The clinical picture," he added, showed that the nerve agent BZ had been used on the Skripals.YANGON (Reuters) - The government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi expressed "serious concern" on Friday over a move by the International Criminal Court prosecutor seeking jurisdiction over alleged deportations of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Since August, nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar, the United Nations and aid agencies have said. The refugees have reported killings, rape and arson on a large scale. The United States and the United Nations have described the situation as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has denied nearly all allegations, saying it waged a legitimate counter-insurgency operation. The government has said the army crackdown was provoked by the attacks of Rohingya militants on more than two dozen police posts and an army base last August. In a filing made public on Monday, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the court to rule whether it has jurisdiction over the alleged deportations. An affirmative decision could pave the way for her to investigate the alleged deportations as a possible crime against humanity. One reason for the question over jurisdiction is that, while Bangladesh is a member of the court, Myanmar is not. "The Government of Myanmar expresses serious concern on the news regarding the application by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor to claim jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Muslims from Rakhine to Bangladesh," the administration said in a statement. In her application, Bensouda argued that, given the cross-border nature of the crime of deportation, a ruling in favor of ICC jurisdiction would be in line with established legal principles. "Nowhere in the ICC charter does it say the court has jurisdiction over states which have not accepted that jurisdiction. Furthermore, the 1969 UN Vienna Convention on International Treaties states that no treaty can be imposed on a country that has not ratified it," the Myanmar government said in its statement. Bensouda was trying "to override the principle of national sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, in contrary to the principle enshrined in the UN charter and recalled in the ICC charters preamble," it said. In a statement late on Friday, the prosecutor's office said the fact that Bensouda was seeking a judicial opinion whether the ICC had jurisdiction over alleged Rohingya deportations showed the carefulness of her approach. The prosecutor is required to "robustly" prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity, but "with full respect for the sovereignty of states and the limits of its jurisdiction", it said in an emailed response to Reuters. While Myanmar is not a member of the ICC, Bangladesh is, it said, adding, "An essential element of the alleged crime takes place on the territory of Bangladesh." The Myanmar government said in its statement it was working on repatriation of the Rohingya with Bangladesh and its minister had just visited refugee camps in Bangladesh. Bensouda's request is the first of its kind filed at the court. She asked the ICC to call a hearing to hear her arguments, as well as those of other interested parties. The magistrate assigned to consider the request, Congolese judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua, will determine how to proceed. (Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in AMSTERDAM; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)Lagos (AFP) - Nigeria on Saturday marked four years since Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the remote town of Chibok, with renewed calls for their release and that of thousands of others seized in the bloody conflict.

A total of 219 girls were taken from the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote town in Borno state on the evening of April 14, 2014 and have become an enduring symbol of the Islamist insurgency.

Four years on, 112 are still being held.

On Friday night, about 100 people attended a vigil in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, under a busy flyover whose pillars are now adorned with brightly painted murals of the missing girls.

"We are here to show (the) government that we are still missing our sisters," Zakaria Galang, a brother of one of the students who is yet to return, told AFP.

Further events are planned in the capital, Abuja, on Saturday.

- 'All hope is not lost' -

Nigeria's president in 2014, Goodluck Jonathan, was heavily criticised for his response to the abduction but the man who replaced him, Muhammadu Buhari, has had more success.

Since 2016, 107 girls have been found, released or escaped as part of a government deal with Boko Haram and the administration has said back-channel talks are ongoing for further releases and a possible end to the wider conflict.

Another activist, Habiba Balogun, said she hoped that would happen after nearly nine years of violence that has left at least 20,000 dead and made more than 2.6 million homeless.

"The government has said that they are ready to negotiate; they want to bring this nightmare to an end," she said.

Buhari pledged to the Chibok girls' parents that their daughters "will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate" despite the time that had passed.

The former military ruler has repeatedly claimed Boko Haram was virtually defeated but while there have been clear army gains, security threats remain.

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In February, fighters loyal to a Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Mus'ab al-Barnawi seized 112 schoolgirls and one boy from the town of Dapchi, in Yobe state.

One hundred and seven were returned in mid-March. Five reportedly died, while one girl -- the only Christian in the group -- is still being held.

Buhari said the return of so many students from Dapchi and Chibok "should give confidence that all hope is not lost" and showed the government was "doing its very best".

There had been "unexpected setbacks" in talks because of infighting within Boko Haram.

But he added: "We will continue to persist, and the parents should please not give up. Don't give up hope of seeing our daughters back home again."

- 'Meaningful action' -

Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war during the conflict, seizing women and girls to act as sex slaves or suicide bombers, and men and boys to fight.

UNICEF said this week more than 1,000 children had been verified as abducted in northeast Nigeria since 2013, although the real figure is estimated to be much higher.

Amnesty International's Nigeria director, Osai Ojigho, said the Chibok abduction was a small part of a bigger issue.

The government needed to deliver "meaningful action on behalf of all these victims of Boko Haram's crimes".

"Far more support must also be provided for past victims," she said, proposing a register for abducted people.

The International Crisis Group meanwhile said the copycat abduction in Dapchi showed more needed to be done to protect schoolchildren in the restive region.

"The abductions illustrate that Boko Haram remains a menace to swathes of northeast Nigeria," it added in a report published on Thursday.

"They throw into doubt the government's claim to have defeated the movement; instead, insurgents may be newly emboldened to keep fighting.

"The kidnappings cast a pall over education, particularly of girls, and thus the prospects for socio-economic development of the region."Berlin (Germany) (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday an alleged toxic gas attack blamed on Damascus showed that President Bashar al-Assad's regime failed to eradicate its chemical arsenal, but she ruled out joining any military action against Syria.

"We... must now acknowledge that it is obvious that the destruction was not completely carried out," she said, noting that there is "strong evidence" that Damascus deployed the chemical weapons.

Damascus narrowly avoided US and French air strikes in 2013 in retaliation for a suspected sarin attack by agreeing to hand over its chemical arsenal.

Following Saturday's alleged chemical attack in rebel-held Douma, US President Donald Trump this week ratcheted up the pressure on Damascus, warning in a series of tweets that "missiles will be coming" in retaliation.

Merkel said a "full spectrum of measures" will be considered in response to the gas attack, but ruled out any military deployment.

"Germany will not participate militarily, but we will provide our support if the representatives in the UN Security Council ... were to take steps beyond diplomatic measures," she stressed.

Germany has deployed reconnaissance and refuelling flights as part of the international anti-jihadist operation in Syria.

But any further military role would require parliamentary approval.A key current in the planets ocean circulatory system, including the Atlantics Gulf Stream, is the weakest in at least 1,600 years  a decline that could significantly worsen the effects of climate change, according to new research.

Two studies published in the journal Nature this week say the global system of ocean currents known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, has dropped in strength by some 15 percent since the mid-20th century to a record low.

The currents, part of the so-called global ocean conveyor belt, transport warm water from the equator to the North Atlantic, where heat released into the atmosphere warms western Europe. The cooler water then sinks and travels south in the deep ocean to Antarctica, and eventually back up to the equator.

A disruption in the system could have cataclysmic effects on weather patterns, including hurricanes, swings in temperatures and ocean levels, and even survival. The 2004 science fiction film Day After Tomorrow addressed catastrophic weather events triggered by a collapse of the AMOC.

The strength of the AMOC strength has plunged in the last 150 years, according to one of the studies by researchers from the University College London and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

The currents began to weaken near the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850 as melting freshwater in the Arctic diluted saltwater and made it less dense, so it didnt sink as usual to help drive the circulatory pattern.

The other new study, by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found that the circulation has weakened since 1950 because of global warming due to the use of fossil fuels.

Warming and melting are predicted to continue in the future due to continued carbon dioxide emissions, David Thornalley of London, who led the first study, said in a statement.

The findings are especially troubling because the AMOC decline is so dramatic, and because the extent of the slowdown isnt explained by current climate models.

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North Atlantic circulation is much more variable than previously thought, and its important to figure out why the models underestimate the AMOC decreases weve observed, said Jon Robson from the University of Reading, a co-author of the first study.

Thornalley told The Guardian that the AMOC has played an important part in abrupt climate change in the past. He said that while current climate models dont predict a circulation shutdown, the problem is, how certain are we it is not going to happen? It is one of these tipping points that is relatively low probability, but high impact.

Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute told The Washington Post its still unclear whether a slowdown was really happening.

He added: I think it is happening. And I think its bad news.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Saad Sayeed and Syed Raza Hassan ISLAMABAD/KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court disqualified deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif from holding office for life on Friday amid an ongoing corruption trial and ahead of general elections due this year. The Supreme Court barred Sharif, 67, from politics in July over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, even though he is no longer its leader. Friday's ruling addressed an ambiguity over whether he was barred for life or for a specific period for not being honest. The ruling was an interpretation of a constitutional article that has been used to remove legislators from office before, a senior lawyer said. Sharif and his family have called the corruption proceedings a conspiracy, hinting at intervention by the military, but opponents have hailed them as a rare example of the rich and powerful being held accountable. The military denies any such intervention. Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb told reporters "nameless and faceless people" had interfered to orchestrate Sharif's political demise and the downfall of the PML-N. "Now today they disqualified (Sharif) for life. But people of Pakistan will decide whether the disqualification of an elected prime minister is for one day or for life," she added. Sharif is currently appearing before an accountability court in Islamabad on other charges linked to London properties his family owns - proceedings ordered by the Supreme Court last July - that could see him jailed if found guilty. Sharif has served as prime minister three times and each time was removed from office - in 1993 by presidential order, in 1999 by a military coup that saw him jailed and later exiled before returning when General Pervez Musharraf stepped down, and in 2017 over the corruption probe. His allies have called the proceedings a political vendetta. "It's a significant decision because it will ... also have implications for the future," senior lawyer and former president of Pakistan Wasim Sajjad told Reuters. "If it is found by a court of law that any person wanting to be a member of parliament has furnished particulars which are found false or omitted to furnish particulars which are necessary, then he will come under that category of persons disqualified for life." Sharif was also removed as head of the party he founded when the courts overturned a legal amendment by PML-N lawmakers in February that allowed him to remain party president despite being disqualified from public office. Despite not being party leader, Sharif has considerable sway over the workings of the PML-N and enjoys the support of its core leadership. A lawmaker from Sharif's party filed a complaint late last year alleging opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leader Imran Khan and secretary general Jahangir Tareen owned offshore companies and had not disclosed their assets. Khan was cleared by the courts but Tareen was disqualified in December under the same constitutional article used to remove Sharif from office. (Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Nick Macfie)David Jungerman reportedly forgot to turn an audio recorder off: Kansas City Police Department

An 80-year-old man has been charged with fatally shooting a man in his front yard after he allegedly recorded himself saying he had committed murder.

Tom Pickert, a 39-year-old lawyer, was shot dead in October 2017 in Kansas City, shortly after walking his children to school.

David Jungerman, 80, has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

A court heard how Mr Jungerman implicated himself when he accidentally recorded himself saying he had killed someone. Prosecutors said he appeared to have forgotten to switch off an audio recorder he had been using.

People uh know that I murdered that son of a... he said, the Kansas City Star reported.

Before his death, Mr Pickert had won a lawsuit for a client in which Mr Jungerman was ordered to pay out more than $5m.

Mr Jungerman had shot two homeless men who he said broke into his business in 2012.

Mr Pickert, a father of two, was found dead outside his home the day after a judge ordered that Mr Jungermans property be seized to pay off his debt.

Although Mr Jungerman was not initially considered a suspect, a van belonging to him was found, connecting him to the lawyers death, police said.

Witnesses had reported seeing an older man with grey hair parking a white van across the street from the victims home on the morning of the shooting.

A similar van was seen driving away in the moments after Mr Pickert was shot.

Mr Jungerman also reportedly told an employee he had killed a lawyer with a gun and had got away with it, the court heard.

His lawyer said he emphatically denies the allegations against him.

Mr Jungerman is already being held in prison after being accused of shooting a man he suspected of stealing an iron pipe from his building.Telegram CEO Pavel Durov

Flickr/TechCrunch

Popular messaging app Telegram has become a new haven for people sharing pirated movies and shows, in addition to stolen login credentials for services like Netflix and Spotify, according to an investigation by The Outline.

The Outline explored some of the groups and channels created for the purpose of sharing pirated content, and, in some instances, even managed to obtain stolen login details for streaming sites.

Telegram has also been in the news this week following a court-ordered ban in Russia.

Popular messaging app Telegram has become a haven for people sharing pirated movies and shows, in addition to stolen login credentials for services like Netflix and Spotify, according to a recent investigation by The Outline.

The Outline explored some of the groups and channels created for the purpose of sharing pirated content, and, in some instances, even managed to obtain stolen login details for streaming sites.

They also interviewed more than a dozen creators of those channels and groups. The takeaway? Those using Telegram for illicit purposes say they view Telegram as a platform that offers increased anonymity compared to other alternatives, and one that isn't as heavily policed when it comes to removing groups and channels focused on sharing pirated or illegal material.

The main selling point of Telegram has always been privacy, so it's not entirely unexpected that those looking to share copyrighted or illegal material (stolen account details) would gravitate toward it. To be clear, using Telegram to share pirated or stolen material violates the app's terms and service, which clearly states the company has a "zero tolerance" policy.

In a statement to The Outline, a Telegram spokesman acknowledged that the app has experienced "new challenges" as it has grown. In May, the site tallied its user-base at 200 million monthly active users.

While its privacy-focused features have also drawn journalists, politicians, and privacy enthusiasts to the app, the company has also faced criticism when groups such as ISIS began using it. In September, The New York Times reported that Telegram was widely used among terrorist groups like ISIS, and the service was faced with the task of trying to scrub its channels clean of terrorist-related activity following a June attack in Paris.

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Telegram has also been in the news this week following a court-ordered ban in Russia. On Friday, a Moscow court ruled in an 18-minute hearing to block the popular cloud-based messaging service following an extensive dispute around government access to messages. The court had demanded access to Telegram's encryption keys and messages, which they say they need in order to investigate crime and terrorist attacks. Telegram refused, and pointed out that what the court is asking for is impossible due to the way the service is built.

As The New York Times points out, this puts the Russian governement in an unusual position, as the messaging app has been known to be used by Russian government officials, including President Vladimir Putin's press office.

You can read The Outline's full investigation into Telegram here.

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See Also:By Lidia Kelly and Wojciech Zurawski OSWIECIM, Poland (Reuters) - The presidents of Poland and Israel marched together at the Auschwitz concentration camp on Thursday, putting aside their differences over a new law that makes it a crime to suggest there was any Polish complicity in the Holocaust. Poland's Andrzej Duda and Israel's Reuven Rivlin joined some 15,000 people - mostly young Jews from around the world and some camp survivors - in a 3-km (2-mile) walk from the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" ("work sets you free") gate to the site of the gas chambers. The show of unity on International Holocaust Remembrance Day may help soothe diplomatic tensions caused by the law which the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party says is needed to defend Polish honor, but which Israel said could criminalize research into the role some Poles played in the war crimes. Speaking at a joint news conference, Rivlin said Israel respected what he called Poland's soul-searching efforts. "But we also disagree ... We demand that Poland is responsible for the completeness of research into the Holocaust," he said. Duda said Poland's intention was not to restrict Holocaust remembrance. "On the contrary, we want to defend historical truth ... including those elements that are difficult for the Poles," he said. "But there was never a systemic enmity towards the Jews." More than 3 million of Poland's 3.2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust. Jews from across Europe were sent to be killed at death camps built and operated by the Germans on Polish soil, including Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor. According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Nazis also killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians. Thousands of Poles risked their lives to protect their Jewish neighbors; Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust center recognizes 6,706 Poles as "righteous among nations" for bravery in resisting the Holocaust, more than any other nationality. But in recent years research showed thousands of Poles participated in the Nazi atrocities, a challenge to the national narrative that the country was solely a victim. Government critics accuse the PiS of politicizing World War Two to build a nationalist sense of grievance among Poles. Alongside the presidents at the annual "March of the Living", many people waved or were draped in the Israeli flag. "I was 13 years old when they took us all in, in 1944," said Zoltan Matyah, 87, a Jewish Russian survivor of the camp where 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were killed. Matyah's mother, four sisters and a brother perished in Auschwitz. "I came here this morning - looked at the crematorium - do you know how difficult it was for me to breathe?" (Writing by Lidia Kelly; Additional reporting by Anna Koper; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)(WASHINGTON) President Donald Trump plans to pardon I. Lewis Scooter Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a person familiar with the presidents decision.

The person said the announcement could come as early as Friday. The person, who wasnt authorized to discuss the decision ahead of its public announcement and demanded anonymity, said the pardon has been under consideration at the White House for months. The plans were first reported by ABC News.

Libby, Cheneys former chief of staff, was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame. President George W. Bush later commuted Libbys 30-month prison sentence, but didnt issue a pardon despite intense pressure from Cheney. No one was ever charged for the leak.

Since then, the Libby case has been criticized by conservatives, who argue he was the victim of an overly zealous and politically motivated prosecution by a special counsel. Another twist is that the special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, was appointed by James Comey, deputy attorney general at the time. Comey later became head of the FBI, but was fired by Trump, and has since written a book highly critical of the president.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Friday declined to confirm Trumps plans for a pardon.

Still, she said, many people think that Scooter Libby was the victim of a special counsel gone amok. Asked if a pardon was about Comey, Conway said no.

The move would mark the third pardon by Trump. He granted one last year for former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was awaiting sentencing for contempt of court. Trump also has pardoned a U.S. Navy sailor, who was convicted after taking photos of classified portions of a submarine.

Conservative criticism of the special counsel in the Plame case echoes critiques of Robert Muellers Russia probe. Mueller is special counsel leading an investigation into Russian election interference, possible coordination with Trump associates and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Trump has called that probe a witch hunt.A close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin whose companies face charges in Special Counsel Robert Muellers probe of election interference could potentially expose intelligence gathered and practices by the investigation without even setting foot in the U.S., legal experts told Newsweek.

Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, better known around the world as Putins chef, was one of the 13 Russians charged by Mueller in February with funding the social media operation intended to tip the 2016 elections scales in favor of President Donald Trump. Prigozhins company, Concord Management and Consulting, also was one of the three Russian entities charged in the probe. The company hired two Washington, D.C. lawyers seemingly with the intent of defending itself in court, according to official court documents filed Wednesday in federal court.

Legal experts said Concords apparent attempt to challenge Muellers charges could be a way for documents and details about the special counsels investigation to be released in discovery. Russia could potentially glean information about how the U.S. gathers intelligence, or even about its sources, Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, a professor of law and Miller Center Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia, told Newsweek.

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Two things could happen. Now that they know this is being contested, the government could decide its not worth us revealing this information, and were not going to prosecute these people, Prakash said. Which, of course, would look bad, because it would suggest they didnt have the goods on them in the first place.

Or they could actually have a trial and reveal why it is they indicted these people, and what crimes they committed, and would force the government to reveal intelligence they had gathered," Prakash continued. "And you might be able to figure out sources and methods of the American intelligence agencies."

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An attorney representing Concord did not respond to Newsweeks request for comment.

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GettyImages-699354966 (1)

Getty Images/Alex Wong

Prigozhin would likely be arrested if he came to the U.S. and appeared in federal court. But Concord could instead send a corporate representative who would not be in danger of detention, Barbara McQuade, professor from practice at University of Michigan Law School and former U.S. attorney, told Newsweek.

The person who serves in this role does not face personal criminal exposure, so he [or] she could come to court without worrying about being arrested, as long as he [or] she is not named in the indictment or has individually committed crimes, McQuade wrote in an email. Often a corporate secretary or even general counsel is used for this purpose. So someone could come in and represent Concord for purposes of arraignment, and then that could trigger discovery and motions.

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Motions in another case brought by Mueller's team have already resulted in additional disclosures. Attorneys representing embattled former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort filed a motion to dismiss the numerous financial charges levied against him last month, claiming Muellers team had been given a blank check to go after the longtime lobbyist.

Muellers team countered earlier this month by including a heavily redacted August 2017 memo authored by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that specifically directed the special counsel to investigate if Manafort had engaged in collusion with Russian government officials to meddle in the 2016 election and his well-known work in Ukraine. The memo clarified the increased scope of the investigation.

The full memo appeared to be more than two pages long, but most of the section titled allegations pertaining to Manafort had been blacked out, leaving open what else Muellers team was looking into.

The price of a lawyer seems like a small price to pay, Prakash said about the apparent value Russia could gain by finding more out about the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekThe Assad Regime fired 40 defensive missiles at thin air in a failed attempt to save the three Syrian chemical weapons sites destroyed by allied air strikes, the Pentagon said.

A total of 105 missiles rained down on a research centre in Damascus as well as a storage site and a bunker 15 miles west of Homs at 4am Syrian time.

Britain launched eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles from the sky as the US and France provided support from the sea and jets.

France fired 12 cruise missiles, three from a frigate and nine from aircraft, while the US provided the bulk of the firepower with 85 missiles in total.

A Typhoon aircraft prepares for landing at the British Royal Air Force base in Akrotiri, near costal city of Limassol, Cyprus. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes

The attack targeted Syria from all angles, with ships and submarines firing from the Red Sea, North Arabian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean and jets which took off from Cyprus, France and, reportedly, Qatar.

Addressing the media in Virginia, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr, the director of joint staff, said he would pick three words to describe the attack: Precise, overwhelming and effective".

He said Syria had launched 40 surface-to-air missiles in an attempt to shoot the allied weapons down, but that most of them had been fired after the last Syrian target had already been destroyed.

The three bases targeted were the Barzah Research and Development Centre in greater Damascus, the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Facility, west of Homs, and the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Bunker Facility, just more than four miles from the storage facility.

A map displaying areas targeted in U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria Credit: Department of Defense

Britain's involvement comprised of the Royal Air Force sending four Tornado GR4s to attack the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Facility.

With a maximum speed of Mach 1.3 and capable of carrying more than eight tonnes of weapons, the GR4 is the latest phase in the evolution of the Tornado - the RAF's strike aircraft of choice for the last three decades.

The GR4s involved in the overnight attack deployed eight "bunker busting" Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

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Weighing in at 2,866lb (1,300kg), measuring 16.7ft (5.1m) in length and with a range in excess of 150 miles (240km), it has been described by the air force as "arguably the most advanced weapon of its kind in the world".

The range means that none of the GR4s would have been required to cross into Syrian airspace to launch the assault and they were provided with air support by four Typhoons.

Intervention in Syria | Read more

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Meanwhile, the French scrambled Mirage and Rafale fighter jets for their part in the Syrian air strikes together with four frigate warships, launching a total of 12 cruise missiles.

The multi-purpose Rafale is used for reconnaissance, ground support as well as air strikes. It is capable of carrying missiles of a similar capability to the Storm Shadows used by the UK.

Alongside the Rafale, France deployed its supersonic Mirage 2000 fighter jets - which have a maximum speed of Mach 2.

Both jets have the capacity to carry missiles capable of reaching their Syrian targets without entering Syrian airspace.

Syria: timeline of British involvement since 2013

The Americans deployed their B-1B Lancer bombers for the strike and also launched missiles from the Ticonderoga-class cruiser Monterey, the Virginia-class submarine John Warner, and two other warships.

In total, the US launched 66 Tomahawk missiles, and 19 joint air-to-surface stand-off missiles.

Nicknamed "the Bone", the B1-B is capable of carrying the most weapons of any bomber in a modern air force.

It is prized for its speed, manoeuvrability and long range.

Like the jets deployed by France and Britain, the B1-Bs would not have been required to cross into Syrian airspace to strike.

Earlier this month, the US Air Force released footage of two B-1Bs arriving at the Al Uldeid air base in Qatar.

The Barzah facility was hit by 76 US missiles in total, the storage facility was hit by 22 weapons from all three nations and seven French missiles fell on the bunker.

Earlier, Russia had claimed its Syria's Cold War era air defence system shot down 71 of the missiles launched by the US, Britain and France in retaliation for Bashar al-Assad's attack on civilians in Douma last Saturday.

Russia's senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi conducts a briefing at the defence ministry headquarters in Moscow following the overnight strikes Credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images

The US's top general played down the Syrian response, and asked if there had been any Russian retaliation, General Dunford said: "We did have some initial surface-to-air missile activity from the Syrian regime. That's the only retaliatory action we're aware of at this time.

"We've completed the targets that were assigned to the United States central command. Those operations are complete."

He added: "We specifically identified these targets to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved. We did not do any co-ordination with the Russians on the strikes, nor did we pre-notify them."

Syrian state media had earlier claimed to have shot down 13 cruise missiles, but Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that last night's air strike against the Syrian regime was "a highly successful mission".

The destroyed Scientific Research Centre is seen in Damascus. Donald Trump said the attack was 'perfectly executed' Credit: Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

He said: "The reason we have taken this action is because we all saw the images last week of the suffering that had been inflicted on innocent men, women and children, and there has been a need to act.

"That's why last night we deployed four Tornados armed with Storm Shadow cruise missiles. You will be pleased to hear all of those crews have returned safely and every early indication is that is has been a highly successful mission.

"This is something we have been in discussion with the US and French over the last few days but obviously the meeting of Cabinet is where this was properly discussed."

Mr Williamson said the service personnel involved in last night's attack have played "an important role in terms of degrading the Syrian regime in using chemical weapons in the future".

Russia had boasted of its S-400 surface-to-air defence system, but it does not appear to have been used in the overnight strikes in Syria.

Great Britain's arsenal in the Syrian conflict

Tornado GR4

The Tornado has been carrying out air strikes in Syria and Iraq over the past few years.

Set to be retired from service next year, after almost four decades on operations, the Tornado, with a maximum speed of Mach 1.3, has also seen action in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq.

It can be loaded with a mix of weapons which include Paveway II, III and IV series GPS/laser-guided bombs, Brimstone air-to-ground missiles and Storm Shadow air-launched long-range strike missiles.

An RAF Tornado lands at Akrotiri in Cyprus, April 14, 2018 Credit: Reuters

The main Tornado squadrons are based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, which will become the new home of the cutting-edge of the F-35 Lightning stealth fighter jets.

There are currently six of the jets based at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, a location some 315 miles (510km) from Syria.

Eurofighter Typhoon

With a maximum speed of Mach 1.8, the Eurofighter Typhoon was first deployed in combat in Libya in 2011, and is also the jet used for Britain's Quick Reaction Alert squadrons based at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland, and RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, with a presence also in the Falkland Islands.

Typhoons are armed with an internal 27mm Mauser cannon, plus Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles, as well as Enhanced Paveway II and Paveway IV precision-guided bombs. Future weapons on the jet will also include Storm Shadow and Brimstone, as well as Meteor air-to-air missiles.

A Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet taking off from RAF's Akrotiri base in Cyprus Credit: Petros Karadjidas/AFP

There are currently eight of the jets based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, used in the air campaign against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Submarines

Another potential option could be to use Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from Royal Navy attack submarines.

British submarines have been equipped with the missiles since the late 1990s.

The Tomahawk IV has a range of well over 1,000 miles (1,610km) and can be redirected to a new target in mid-flight - it is known as a strike first weapon and could be a likely option for use in Syria as they can be launched unalerted.

Used during operations in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq in 2003, it is understood there is always a submarine available to be deployed for such tasks, and one could be sent to the Eastern Mediterranean should it be required.

Storm Shadow cruise missiles

Described as a "long-range deep-strike weapon" by MBDA systems, which produces the missile, the company states on its website that it is "designed to meet the demanding requirements of pre-planned attacks against high-value fixed or stationary targets".

Weighing in at 2,866lb (1,300kg), measuring 16.7ft (5.1m) in length and with a range in excess of 150 miles (240km), it is operated from Tornado jets and in future will be carried on Eurofighter Typhoon.

In this picture taken in 2005, visitors pass behind the French made Storm Shadow/Scalp EG cruise missiles Credit: Rabih Moghrabirabih/AFP

The long-range air-to-surface missile, designed as a "bunker buster", is understood to be the weapon likely to be used if allied military intervention in Syria is agreed upon, and could be useful to potentially penetrate underground chemical weapon stockpiles.

It was first brought into service in 2003 and has previously been described by the RAF as "arguably the most advanced weapon of its kind in the world".

Paveway bombs

The RAF said Paveway IV "offers huge tactical flexibility", and, as the impact angle and direction can be programmed from the cockpit, it gives a "precisely tailored strike on planned and unplanned targets".

As an air-to-surface weapon it offers improvements over older weapons, including greater accuracy.

It requires no maintenance, has a higher resistance to GPS jamming and a lower cost. But to be effective, the jet carrying it has to be over or within vicinity of the target, which could mean the aircraft it is being launched from becomes vulnerable to surface-to-air retaliatory missiles or fire.

Brimstone

Noted as a "precision attack weapon" by Stevenage-based MBDA, the company said Brimstone can be used to target fast-moving vehicles, tanks, armoured cars and bunkers, as well as naval vessels.

Each missile weighs 110lb (50kg), measures 6ft (1.8m) and is 7in (180mm) in diameter, and is a short-range missile.

The weapons Donald Trump has at his disposal to attack the Assad Regime

Tomahawk cruise missiles

The Tomahawk IV has a range of well over 1,000 miles and can be redirected to a new target in mid-flight - it is known as a strike first weapon and is a likely option for use.

Manufactured by Raytheon, the company states on its website that the cruise missile can "circle for hours, shift course instantly on command and beam a picture of its target to controllers".

With an ability to be launched from ships or submarines, the weapon can "fly into heavily defended airspace" and at extremely low altitudes, according to Raytheon.

The US has previously launched Tomahawk missiles at targets in Syria, including 59 on Shayrat air base in April last year from US Navy destroyers, USS Ross and USS Porter.

US, UK and French launch Syria airstrikes, in pictures

The strike targeted the airfield, warplanes and hangars on the base, south-east of the city of Homs, following an alleged sarin gas attack on civilians.

Tomahawks each weigh 3,300 lbs (1500 kg) with a rocket motor, and can travel at the subsonic speed of 550 mph.

In 2004 the British Government agreed a 70 million deal with the United States government to purchase 64 upgraded Tomahawk missiles.

Raytheon said the Tomahawk is a "highly-accurate, GPS-enabled precision weapon", which has been used more than 2,000 times by the US and allied militaries.

The US Navy states on its website that the primary function of the missiles is for "striking high value or heavily defended land targets".

It has been reported that two US cruise missile destroyers, armed with Tomahawks, have been dispatched or are already in the region, ready for if military action is given the go ahead.

F-16 fighter jets

There are a number of the aircraft at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey which have been supporting global coalition efforts to eradicate Islamic State from Syria and Iraq.

Known as the fighting falcon, the US Air Force (USAF) describes the jet on its website as being able to fly more than 500 miles and "delivers its weapons with superior accuracy" and can "defend itself against enemy aircraft".

A US-made F-16 fighter jet launches flares during a drill above the sea near the Suao navy harbour in Yilan, eastern Taiwan, on April 13, 2018 Credit: Sam Yeh/AFP

Described as a multi-role fighter, it can carry a payload which includes the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), a stealthy missile which uses an infrared seeker, as well as four air-to-air missiles and reach Mach 2 when flying at altitude.

Lockheed Martin, the company behind the JASSM missile, said it is long-range and "designed to destroy high-value, well-defended, fixed and relocatable targets".

B-1 Bomber

The B-1B Lancer is capable of carrying the "largest conventional payload" according to the USAF, and is the "backbone of America's long-range bomber force".

Although the Department of Defence has said it will "not confirm locations of specific assets", in September last year it announced that one of the aircraft had flown in a mission off the North Korean coast amid Kim Jong-un's weapons programme.

A US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber (right), US F-35B stealth jet fighters (bottom) and South Korean F-15K fighter jets (top) flying over South Korea Credit: AFP

The warplane is capable of being packed with 24 of the long-range Joint Air-to-Surface Staff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER), according to the USAF, which has a longer range than the JASSM.

Flying "missions daily in support of continuing operations" according to the USAF, even though it is not known if there are any in the Middle East, it could potentially be deployed if strikes occur.

F-22 Raptor

Built by American aviation giant Lockheed Martin, according to the Department of Defence the stealth fighter jet has "unprecedented survivability and lethality".

It has been reported that America has a number of the warplanes based in Qatar, which have been used in the global coalition effort to eradicate Islamic State - the first use of the jet in a combat role by the US.

According to the USAF, the F-22 "cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft", and can cruise at supersonic airspeeds greater than Mach 1.5.

A US Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet at Santiago international airport earlier this month Credit: Ivan Alvarado/Reuters

In September 2015 the USAF said it had 183 of the jets, with each one costing 143 million dollars (100 million).

It can carry two 1,000 lb (450 kg) Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs, which "autonomously navigates to the designated target coordinates", the USAF said.

Russia's S-400 surface-to-air defence system - one of the most advanced on the planet

The latest generation in a series of increasingly sophisticated systems, the S-400 is considered one of the most advanced air defence systems in the world, reportedMike Wright, Roland Oliphant and video news producer Charlotte Krol.

It comes equipped with a sophisticated radar and control array that allows it to target dozens of enemy aircraft simultaneously at ranges of up to 250 miles.

And while its missile interceptor capability is shorter range - about 75 miles - its missiles travel at a thousand metres a second and can hit low-flying targets at just a few metres of altitude - perfect for killing sub-sonic Tomahawks.

Russia deployed the S-400 to its Hmeymim airbase in Syria in 2015 after a Turkish jet fighter shot down a Russian bomber.

How Russia's S-400 missile defence system could stand up in Syria

Moscow is believed to have at least one partial battery, consisting of several launchers with up to 60 missiles, at the Hmeymin airbase near Latakia.

It can fire several kinds of missile. The 9M96, which the S-400 generally uses against incoming cruise missiles, has an (official) successful interception rate of about 70 percent, so doctrine calls for two missiles to be fired at each target to guarantee a hit.

But US commanders may plan to overcome that impressive hit rate by firing an overwhelming number of Tomahawks.

"The system should have plenty of capacity to shoot down individual missiles. But it is fairly easy to swamp it just in terms of the sheer number of interceptors required," said Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute.

A strike of the magnitude seen at the Shayrat airbase last year, when 60 Tomahawks were used, would be far beyond the missile capacity of the S-400 battery that we know to be in Syria."

An S-400 versus Tomahawk showdown in Syria would be the first time the systems have been properly tested against one another - and could have a profound impact on military thinking in Moscow and Washington.

"The performance of the S-400 would be very significant for Nato. The system is feared in Europe and Kaliningrad. If it was shown to be incapable of stopping significant numbers of Tomahawks it would have implications for Russia's deterrence capability," said Mr Bronk.

"That could be why the Russians refrained from intercepting the Tomahawks fired at Shayrat last year - nothing is more terrifying than the unknown."

They are yet to face off, as it appears Moscow did not deploy the system in the most recent air strikes on the Syrian bases.

At a glance | Sanctions against Russia

Syria's Cold War-era missile interceptors and launchers

S-75 Dvina

Damascus has 320 S-75 Dvina launchers as part of its air defence system designed to combat air strikes.

It is understood the Soviet designed weapons are currently being updated. Since its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most widely deployed air defence systems in history.

At 2.3 tons, the weapon weighs more than twice that of Great Britain's new missile - the Storm Shadow cruise missile.

S-200

Syria has 48 Soviet-built S-200 missiles which were built back in 1967 and each one measures more than 10 metres.

The S-200 Angara is a long rage, medium-to-high altitude surface-to-air missile system designed in the Soviet Union.

While it is no longer used by the Russian army, it is a vital cog in Bashar al-Assad's military wheel.

The missile's range is impressive, but its reliability has been called into question after two people were killed and one injured after an apparently stolen warhead from the surface-to-air missile exploded at a scrap yard in the Siberian city of Chita.

A criminal investigation was opened into the "illegal acquisition and storage of explosive device" after two warheads from a S-200 Angara missile were found at the blast site.

Douma chemical attack

Local authorities said it appeared that the warhead had detonated while workers were cutting it down for scrap metal.

On Saturday morning, The Kremlin revealed it was considering supplying the updated S-300 missile systems to Syria.

In response to the Western strikes, Russia threatened to give Syria and other allies its advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles.

Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi: A few years ago, considering the insistent requests of some of our Western partners, we decided not to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria.

"Considering what has happened, we think it's possible to once again consider this question, and not just for Syria, but other countries.

Half of France's military planes 'unfit to fly'

French warplanes and helicopters may be asked to join the fight against the Assad Regime, but the French Air Force on the whole is in a disastrous state, according to a report by Rory Mulhollandfrom Paris in December.

More than half - 56 per cent - of all France's aircraft were deemed unfit to fly at any given moment, according to a senior minister.

If I compare the current situation  of our planes with a car, it is as if I wanted to have a car every morning that works, I would have to own four cars, Florence Parly, the armed forces minister, said during a visit to an air base in Evreux in Normandy in December.

She made the remark in a scathing speech about the state of the French fleet, where aircraft availability has gone from bad to worse despite a 25 per cent boost to the maintenance budget over the past five years that brought the total to 4 billion (3.5 billion) in 2017.

Ms Parly went to Evreux to announce wide-ranging plans to cut soaring costs and free up more aircraft by streamlining the current maintenance programme, which is so complex that it can take 30 different contracts to get a helicopter repaired.

Britains Royal Air Force, whose aircraft have been in constant use for many years in Afghanistan and Iraq, was criticised earlier last year when it was revealed that on average one in three of its multi-role Typhoon fighters and Tornado combat jets was unfit to fly.

Overall figures for the air readiness of the RAF fleet are not publicly available, but the figures for its fighter jets suggest that it is in far better shape than its French counterpart.

Eighty per cent of the French fleet is operational in the battle zones of west Africa, Iraq and the Middle East, according to official figures in December, but in bases in France the figure plummeted to 30 per cent.

The overall figure for aircraft ready to fly stood at 44 per cent, down from 55 per cent in 2000.

On average, just one Caracal - a long-range tactical transport helicopter - in four was ready for action, while just one or two A400M turboprop transport planes out of a total of twelve were ready to take to the air.

An Airbus Helicopter H225 Caracal takes part in a flying display at the first day of the 52nd Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport near Paris Credit: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

The Rafale, which is seen as one of the best multi-purpose fighter jets in the world, scored a respectable 49 per cent availability.

But the figures for a range of other aircraft were disastrous: 22 per cent for the C-130 transport plane, 25 per cent for the Tiger attack and reconnaissance helicopter, and 26 per cent for the Lynx helicopter.

The consequences of this are that (flight) teams train less  and the cost of an hour of flight time has gone up, Ms Parly said at the time

An hour of flight time for a Caracal, for example, rose from 19,000 in 2012 to 34,000 in 2016.

This situation is no longer tenable, and I have therefore made it a personal priority, said the minister.

She announced that a new aeronautic maintenance department would be set up in March but that there would be no increase in the maintenance budget as it was deemed sufficient if the process was properly reorganised.

The planned department, whose boss will report to the joint chief of staff, would make the company that makes the aircraft responsible for their maintenance from start to finish, Ms Parly said.

The aim is to avoid the case of the Tiger helicopter, whose maintenance is currently split between so many different firms or military offices that it requires more than 30 separate contracts.

Profile | Bashar al-Assad

Pierre Tran, a specialist on French military issues, said at the time in theory the ministers plans were sound but that in practice there was a high risk.

They (defence contractors) will likely be thinking that Christmas came early this year, he said, noting that the huge sums involved meant that there was a high risk of taxpayers money being wasted.

The key to success for the government is to exercise extreme caution when negotiating the new maintenance contracts with the firms involved, which include Airbus, Dassault, Thales and Air France Industries, said Mr Tran.

In a message clearly directed at aircraft makers, the Armed Forces Minister said she wanted results by 2020.

We buy to fly, not to stock planes in hangars or parking spots, said Ms Parly.UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia proposed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on Saturday, seen by Reuters, that would condemn "the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the U.S. and its allies in violation of international law and the U.N. Charter." It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. It was unlikely to get the minimum nine votes needed to force a veto by the United States, France or Britain, said diplomats. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, France, Britain or the United States to pass. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Diane Craft)LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's intelligence agencies spied on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia for at least five years before they were attacked with a nerve agent in March, the national security adviser to Britain's prime minister said. Mark Sedwill said in a letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday that email accounts of Yulia had been targeted in 2013 by cyber specialists from Russia's GRU military intelligence service. Sedwill also said in the letter, which was published by the government, that it was "highly likely that the Russian intelligence services view at least some of its defectors as legitimate targets for assassination." The Skripals were targeted by what London says was a nerve agent attack that left both of them critically ill for weeks. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said it is highly likely that Moscow was behind the attack. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted on Friday that a report this week by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) did not confirm the origin of the poison used against the Skripals. Lavrov said the report only confirmed the composition of the substance and that Britain's claim that it confirmed the UK position on the Skripal case was overstated. Separately on Friday, Russia's ambassador to Britain said he was concerned the British government was trying to get rid of evidence related to the case. "We get the impression that the British government is deliberately pursuing the policy of destroying all possible evidence, classifying all remaining materials and making an independent and transparent investigation impossible," Alexander Yakovenko told reporters. He also said Russia could not be sure about the authenticity of a statement issued by Yulia Skripal on Wednesday in which she declined the offer of help from the Russian embassy. (Reporting by Kate Holton; Writing by William Schomberg and Elisabeth O'Leary; Editing by Stephen Addison)Women walking past a giant poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Aleppo - AFP

Moscow on Thursday night warned against any US move that could trigger a conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Russia's UN ambassador warned the priority in Syria was to avert US-led strikes that could lead to a confrontation between the world's two preeminent nuclear powers.

"The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war," said Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia following closed-door Security Council talks, refusing to exclude the possibility of US-Russian clashes.

Donald Trump, the US president, has slammed Russia for its partnership with "Gas Killing Animal" Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, spurring concerns that a US strike could lead to a conflagration with Russia, which has major military facilities at Tartus and Khmeimim and works cheek-by-jowl with Syria forces that could be targeted.

US officials have refused to rule out direct military engagement with Russia, with the White House saying "all options are on the table."

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Mr Trump would continue to assess intelligence and engage with allies.

US-Russia weapons in Syria

"No final decision has been made," she said, adding that Mr Trump was scheduled to confer with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Later, a White House readout of their call said Mr Trump and Mrs May "continued their discussion of the need for a joint response to Syria's use of chemical weapons."

A Downing Street spokesperson added: "They agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged, and on the need to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime."

The military drumbeat appeared to reach crescendo ahead of the meeting, with US action seeming imminent as Russia stonewalled diplomatic efforts at the United Nations and France cited "proof" that Moscow's Syrian ally carried out a deadly chemical weapons attack.

Story continues

Western officials believe chlorine was used in a Saturday attack on Douma, the main city in the longtime rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta, where the British government now estimates 75 people were killed, and that the Assad regime was responsible.

On the ground in Syria, rebels in Eastern Ghouta surrendered their heavy weapons and their leader left the enclave, signaling the end of one of the bloodiest assaults of the seven-year war and a major win for the Assad regime.

Syrian territory - April 2018

A top leader of Jaish al-Islam, a group which controlled Douma for years, told AFP it was Saturday's attack that forced them to accept a Russian-brokered deal and evacuate.

At the United Nations meanwhile, diplomats were mulling a draft resolution put forward by Sweden and obtained by AFP, that would dispatch a "high-level disarmament mission" to rid the country of chemical weapons "once and for all."

The UN Security Council, tasked with maintaining international peace and security, has been riven, with Moscow virulently denying the Douma attack took place, or postulating that it was carried out by rebels.

In Paris, Mr Macron upped the pressure on Moscow by stating he had "proof" that Mr Assad's regime had used chemical weapons, and vowing a response "at a time of our choosing."

In London, Mrs May's cabinet agreed in an emergency meeting "on the need to take action" against the Syrian regime.

But across Western capitals opposition to military action also grew. US lawmakers questioned whether Mr Trump has the legal authority to order strikes without Congressional approval and opposition parties voiced concern.

National security experts worried whether strikes would actually serve to deter Mr Assad.

In April last year Mr Trump ordered Tomahawk strikes on the Shayrat Airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack on rebel-held Khan Sheikhun.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say they have since investigated as many as 10 suspected chemical attacks.

What happens next in Syria  could Britain be drawn into World War Three?Since the U.S. and its allies attacked Syria Friday in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks on its own people, there has been a significant surge in Russian trolls promoting fake news, the Pentagon announced Saturday.

As Secretary Mattis said last night, the Russian disinformation campaign has already begun, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a press conference. There has been a 2,000 percent increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours. Therefore, we will keep you all abreast of the facts moving forward.

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Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Friday announced the press briefing would be held Saturday for the specific reason of dispelling false information about the strike coming from Russia, which is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime.

Based on recent experience, we fully expect a significant disinformation campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime, said Mattis, adding that White and Lieutenant General Kenneth F. McKenzie would speak in effort to maintain transparency and accuracy.

White said the U.S. does not seek conflict with Syria but cannot allow such grievous violations of international law and attacks on innocent Syrians.

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We will not stand by passively while Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, ignores international law, White said. We call upon Russia to honor its commitment to ensure the Assad regime dismantles its chemical weapons program and never uses chemical weapons again.

The U.S. had no coordination or agreements with Russians before the strike, McKenzie said.

Were not cooperating with them in Syria. We dont want to get into a fight with them, they dont want to get in a fight with us, he said.

Story continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin called strike an "act of aggression against a sovereign state" and claimed they went against the United Nations charter. Putin demanded a United Nations Security Council immediately.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekUpdated | Former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired by President Donald Trump for defying his travel ban, blasted him on Friday as the nation waits to see whether Trump will also fire Russia probe special counsel Robert Mueller.

Related: Trump Firing Mueller or Rosenstein Would Bring Hundreds of Thousands of Americans Onto Streets in Mass Protest

Journalist Tina Brown asked Yates if she thinks Mueller will be able to complete his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election during a conversation at the Women in the World summit in New York City.

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I think we should have some live news feed in case something happens as were speaking, Yates responded, adding that the situation creates a tremendous amount of anxiety.

Weve been holding our breaths, and it feels like were teetering on the brink of the demise of the rule of law, Yates said. And certainly if he could get away with it, he would fire Bob Mueller.

I think its a question of whether he can do it and get away with it, Yates concluded.

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After the FBI raided the office and home of Michael Cohen, Trumps personal lawyer, on Monday, the president said friends had suggested that he fire Mueller. Trump reportedly also is considering firing deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the investigation.

The deputy attorney general controls whether a public report on the investigation is prepared and if information is presented to Congress for articles of impeachment, Yates explained.

Regarding reports that Trumps legal team drafted a proposal for the president to be interviewed by Mueller, Yates said of Trump, I dont understand how he would have the moral authority to lead this country if he didnt answer those questions.

Story continues

Trumps lawyers have reportedly pulled back from that proposal.

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Yates said Mueller is just the person that we should all want in that position as special counsel.

He is going to look at the facts, he is going to look at the law, he is going to do the job and he doesnt care what the noise out there might be, Yates said.

If theres a case to be had, hes going to make it, but at the same time, if theres not a case to be made, if theres really offensive things that happened but theres not violations of the law, Bob Mueller is not going to gin up a case to justify his existence, she said. So I have tremendous confidence in him. Just leave him to do his job.

Brown asked Yates if she ever imagined her career at the department of justice would end the way it did. Yates served as acting attorney general for only 10 days, after serving as deputy, and was the first to be fired by Trump for refusing to uphold his first ban on travel from several majority-Muslim nations and denouncing it as unlawful.

No, I never expected, and in fact did not want, to end my 27 years with the Department of Justice being fired, Yates said. But at the same time, I felt that to have done anything other than what I did and make the decision that I made would have betrayed those 27 years prior to that.

This story has been updated with more of Yates' comments from the summit.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekMark Zuckerberg barely even thought of Facebook as a business. The first time I met him, in September 2006, he effused in big-picture terms about what he called Facebooks mission: Helping people understand the world around them.

His scope and focus impressed me, so I gave him what I meant as a big compliment. I told him he seemed like a natural CEO. He wrinkled up his face as if I had insulted him. I never wanted to run a company, the then 22-year-old replied, even as he admitted that a business is a good vehicle for getting stuff done. As I covered his company as a journalist in the months and years that followed, it became clear that doing something meaningful was his highest priority. But as crisis envelops Facebook, the question of its nature as a business is still not completely answered. This is uniquely odd, given the scale of the firms success.

A chain of revelations has befallen Facebook since the Observer of London and the New York Times reported on March 17 that data about tens of millions of users had escaped the companys control in 2014 and was likely exploited by Cambridge Analytica in efforts to push Britons to vote their way out of the E.U. and Americans to elect Donald Trump. (The firm has stated it did not break any laws and neither worked on the Brexit referendum nor used the data in any form during the U.S. presidential election.) Then we learned that all of Facebooks users have probably had their public data harvested by outsiders at some stage because of ill-conceived product designs. Its stock dropped 20% before bouncing back a bit. And Zuckerberg, famously uncomfortable under the spotlight, was summoned for grilling before both houses of Congress.

In response, Facebook has rushed through reforms at an unprecedented rate. New regulation appears certain, both in the U.S. and in many of the other 190 or so countries where Facebook operates. (See Can Congress Rein in Big Tech? on page 46.) In all of them, political campaigns use Facebook ads and posts to sway voters. Zuckerberg was emphatic before Congress that he welcomes regulation and that he and the company are willing to help craft it.

Story continues

Still, how could Facebook have let the way it handles personal data get so out of control? How could a company founded by an idealist reach a point where its widely accused of putting democracy at risk? How did Facebook end up here?

The answer, I believe, lies in that ambivalence about the companys status as a business, an ambivalence that has existed since its founding. Is Facebooks purpose humanitarian, to make the world more open and connected, as Zuckerberg has said for years? Or does it want to be the most efficient money machine in the history of capitalism? Up until now it has tried to have it both ways. And that has made it hard to avoid trouble.

Zuckerberg and Sandberg celebrate Facebooks May 18, 2012, IPO, which would come to be seen as a wild success

Once Facebook caught on, doing something meaningful quickly got expensive. Even so, Zuckerberg hardly prioritized the companys bottom line. According to a recent Facebook post by former board member Don Graham, in 2005, a full year after founding the company, Zuckerberg did not know the difference between revenues and profits. He had hired an advertising team but frequently overruled it when it proposed ads he considered intrusive. When the company was about two years old, he brought on a veteran to run sales and found it necessary to explain, I dont hate all advertising. I just hate advertising that stinks. A few months later, Sprite offered to pay $1 million to turn Facebooks homepage green for a day. Zuckerberg didnt even consider it.

This all changed when Sheryl Sandberg, a master advertising strategist responsible for much of Googles advertising platform, joined the company in March 2008. She wrote a question in big letters on a whiteboard at the front of the room where executives had gathered for brainstorming sessions: What business are we in? Sandberg had no doubt that Facebook was an advertising gold mine, but she needed support from numerous top leaders at the company who felt otherwise.

Zuckerberg had departed on an around-the-world backpacking trip, deliberately ceding the field so Sandberg could settle in and establish her authority. The reality was that he didnt really want to think that much about how the company would make money. But in traveling alone to the ashram in India where his hero Steve Jobs had found inspiration, he kept discovering more evidence of how much the world needed to get connected.

Sandberg, as chief operating officer, has consistently cared deeply about how the company makes money. That was and is her job. There has been this myth that everyones waiting for our revenue model, she told me in 2009, when I was reporting my book The Facebook Effect. But we have the revenue model. The revenue model is advertising. This is the business were in, and its working.

Zuckerberg had bequeathed her a data-rich environment, which emerged because users made available to Facebook the information they shared with their friends. It was the first Internet site that people trusted enough to use their real names and identities on. The data they created turned out to be eminently exploitableparticularly if you wish to target specific groups of people to sell products, ideas or political candidates. It was better than anything advertisers had ever seen.

Wall Street analysts expect Facebook to earn more than $21 billion this year after taxes on about $55 billion in revenue, almost all from advertising. That margin of almost 40% makes it the most profitable company of its size in the history of capitalism, and almost twice as profitable per dollar of revenue as Apple. The profits generated by all those ads have funded rapid expansion and growth into almost every country on earth. Facebook now connects about 2.1 billion people, the largest aggregation of humans ever assembled.

Its hard not to conclude that this success is at least one reason why Facebook failed to protect user privacy or take more steps to make it hard to interfere with democratic processes. The company was making heady progress on two distinct but, until now, mutually beneficial goals: growth (Zuckerbergs obsession) as well as the ad revenue that paid for it (Sandbergs department). Vigilance about security and privacy and controls on speech took a backseat. The serious steps that might have prevented the current crisis would have added cost and delay to their grand accomplishments. Protecting people might also have reduced the amount of time they spent on the service.

Two days after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, I interviewed Zuckerberg onstage at the Techonomy conference in Half Moon Bay, Calif. I asked him whether he worried that false information planted on his service could have played a role in the unexpected results. The idea that fake news on Facebook  influenced the election in any way I think is a pretty crazy idea, he said. He has spent much of the subsequent year and a half apologizing for that statement.

Facebooks crisis is one of governance. The company faces excruciating choices in how to manage itself, what to communicate with users, what content to allow or ban and how to deal with governments. In many ways, it is more powerful than those governments, in that its reach expands beyond borders to take in the entire world. And yet this indispensable communications service for humanity operates as a big commercial company.

Zuckerberg was aware of the nature of what he was building for a decade, at least. A year after he hired Sandberg, he told me that one of the reasons he selected her was that he was especially impressed with her experience in government, which he believed would become increasingly relevant to running the company. Sandberg had served as Larry Summers chief of staff when he was President Bill Clintons Secretary of the Treasury. In a lot of ways, Facebook is more like a government than a traditional company, said Zuckerberg. Were really setting policies. Sandberg proved to be near miraculous at building an ad business, and she is rightly an icon. But whatever she did in governance was clearly inadequate, as she has come to admit.

Make no mistake: Zuckerberg maintained absolute voting control of the company even after it went public. Everything rests on the inclinations and decisions of one 33-year-old. Luckily, he is far from the anxiety-ridden, Machiavellian caricature of the 2010 blockbuster The Social Network.

Even as Facebook continued in early 2017 to downplay the significance of Russian manipulation on its service, Zuckerberg surprised many by publishing an extraordinary 5,700-word document, titled Building Global Community. The manifesto was hardly what youd expect from the CEO of a mammoth company. It was extraordinarily idealistic about Facebooks opportunity and even obligation to address the challenges facing the world. It talked about reducing the scourge of fake news. It promised to introduce a large-scale democratic process inside Facebook, surveying users to enable them to help set standards to govern issues like permissible nudity, profanity or graphic content. (So far this appears not to have happened.) But curiously, it omitted any mention of advertising. It portrayed Facebook almost as if it were an NGO. Nowhere did its founder address how the company would pay for all these efforts or whether it would sacrifice ad revenue to pursue them.

Ambivalence about being a business whose shareholders want it to make ever more money is further manifested in a claim Facebooks leaders have made throughout its history: they insist it is not a media company, even though, along with Google, it is one of the two primary beneficiaries of a systemic shift toward targeted advertising. But thats been a convenient argument for why the company should not be subject to regulation. Zuckerberg allowed a gaping crack to emerge in this long-held axiom when he conceded to Senator John Cornyn of Texas on April 10 that I agree that we are responsible for the content on the service.

Some have called Zuckerberg naive, in attempting to explain his privacy oversights, but if so it is a naivete reinforced by the sense of destiny that comes from making so much money, so quickly. Zuckerberg today is worth almost $67 billion, down from $70 billion before the crisis, but he is still the seventh-richest man on earth. Sandberg has garnered over $1 billion in Facebook stock. The CEO has promised to give away 99% of what he has to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a charity he created with his wife Priscilla Chan (which would still leave him with $650 million). The initiative aims, among other things, to cure all diseases by 2100. Yet this wealthy idealist seems a bit perplexed that the world is not as good as he would have expected it to be by now. In a recent interview for the Freakonomics podcast, he conceded that the world is today more divided than I would have expected for the level of openness and connection that we have.

Although Zuckerberg and Sandberg always strive to present a united front, increasingly there appears to be a genuine possibility that their interests could diverge. For 14 years, Zuckerberg has avoided or misunderstood the decision that confronts him now. Which will Facebook optimize for: The privacy and well-being of its users? Or for the continued growth of its profits? How he reconciles that question will determine the future of the company. (A company spokesperson disputed this analysis but declined to comment for this story.)

Since Sandberg arrived, exactly a decade ago, there have been two distinct camps inside Facebook. Zuckerberg still considers himself above all a product person, a code-wielding engineer. Among the product people who report to him, most of them engineers, connecting all of humanity is the holy grail, and Zuck is a near god. They consider their top priority to be user growth. This group in some ways thinks of Facebooks users as in fact its customers, and in general views their data as a precious asset that merits respect and care. Revenue and profit are not their concern. To the degree they understand themselves to have erred in creating the current mess, its because, they think, they were too trusting of peoples behavior and intentions.

Then there is the advertising side, under Sandbergs supervision. They are, for all their successes, second-class citizens. They are resolutely focused on building revenue and serving advertisers. These people, most of them concerned with business, strategy or sales, view data as a tool. But for all Sandbergs brilliance, she may find her world-class sales organization restrained by the controversy now raging.

The factions inside the company seem to be evolving a new relationship in real time. Part of the reason the entire crisis spun so far out of control is because for five days after the first reports of the Cambridge Analytica breach, the company issued nothing but reassuring bromides and a few fitful tweets. According to those close to the company, unresolved arguments raged internally about how to respond. According to one well-informed source, those on the product side generally advocated a forthright and contrite stanceafter all, it was a product problem that had mostly been fixed. The advertising and marketing teams, by contrast, generally held that the concerns of the press and public were overblown and that the best stance would be to hold tight and concede little until it all blew over.

None of this diminishes the fact that Zuckerberg on repeated occasions has proved himself oblivious or inattentive to user-privacy concerns, or heedless of warnings about threats to democracy. (After all, back in 2007 he was the most ardent advocate for the open and lightly regulated applications that enabled collecting the kind of personal data that made its way to Cambridge Analytica.) He also has to pay the bills somehow. However much ads fail to excite him, he knows they do that best.

One of the most impressive things about Zuckerberg is his capacity to learn and to change, even if belatedly. He is clearly arriving at a new place. Many of his statements before the Senate and House stepped considerably beyond what the company has been previously willing to concede or advocate. Heres how he formally concluded his prepared testimony before the House: My top priority has always been our social mission of connecting people, building community and bringing the world closer together. Advertisers and developers will never take priority over that as long as Im running Facebook.

Does that mean hes decided that the customer is the user, not the advertiser? Perhaps. Zuckerberg has repeatedly told investors in the past year that he expects profits will fall considerably as the company spends whatever is necessary to remedy the problems that led to the current crisis. He has estimated that it could take at least two more years to institute reform. That may be conservative. This is likely to be an ongoing, continuous calibration that will eventually lead to a fundamentally different relationship between Facebook and its various constituenciesusers, advertisers and governments.

For too long, the maturation of Facebooks management has failed to keep pace with its rise in global influence. Even insiders concede that. By being forced to answer questions he may have previously considered a distraction, Zuckerberg seems, to me, to have matured a great deal over the past few weeks. He is still, as he was when he was toiling in his Harvard dorm room, a true believer. But he is now realizingby finally confronting the bad and not just marveling about the goodthe full scale of what he created. He will take whatever measures he thinks necessary to achieve what he considers community and brings people closer together. For Mark Zuckerberg, buy-in from advertisers may well be less important now than buy-in from the world.

David Kirkpatrick is the author of The Facebook Effect and founder and CEO of Techonomy MediaParis (France) (AFP) - Who wants a piece of the Ritz?

The legendary Paris hotel, home for a while to Ernest Hemingway, Marcel Proust and Coco Chanel, is auctioning off 10,000 pieces of furniture and decor through the auction house Artcurial.

The hotel's reputation for luxury and celebrity has already created global buzz around the sale.

Although the pieces that will be on sale from April 17 to 21 might not have exceptional monetary value, they also pack a certain je ne sais quoi of something from the iconic Place Vendome establishment.

"The resonance of the Ritz abroad is very important," Stephane Aubert, one of the two auctioneers, told AFP. "The first client who called me to ask about the auction was an American from Texas. We've also been in contact with some Australians."

The 3,500 lots up for grabs are on display this weekend at Artcurial, which used stools from the Hemingway Bar, a 19th-century bathtub, and sofas and a harp from the Proust Lounge to recreate various rooms.

The Ritz decided to sell the pieces when it reopened in June 2016 after four years of extensive renovations.

Buyers can bid on objects ranging from velvet security cordons and curtain ties, to rugs, bedframes and sets of bathrobes and slippers embroidered with the Ritz insignia.

Price estimates run from 100 euros ($123.40) for a pair of tablecloths to 10,000 euros ($12,341) for a pair of nymph sculptures carrying bronze candelabras that used to decorate the lobby.

Opened in 1898 by Swiss entrepreneur Cesar Ritz the Ritz has served as the backdrop to several key moments in French history.

The Nazis requisitioned it during World War II but had cleared out by the time Ernest Hemingway burst in with a group of Resistance fighters on August 25, 1944, gun in hand, to "personally liberate" it.

Realising he was too late Hemingway took to the bar where he is said to have run up a tab for 51 dry Martinis.

In 1997, tragedy befell the hotel when Britain's Princess Diana, who had been staying there, was killed in a car accident in a Paris tunnel while being pursued by paparazzi.

The hotel made global headlines again in January, when robbers armed with guns and hatchets ransacked jewellery shops on the ground floor, making off with over four million euros ($4.9 million) in gems and watches.By Katanga Johnson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. senator on Thursday criticized Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp's restrictions on lending to firearm makers and sellers, saying the new policies were wrongly politicizing banking services. Speaking during a hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Republican Senator John Kennedy said he planned to personally file complaints with the U.S. consumer watchdog regarding the firearm policies. Our friends at Citigroup and Bank of America apparently arent busy enough with their banking business; they have decided that they are going to set policy for the second amendment, the Louisiana lawmaker said, referring to the component of the U.S. constitution that protects citizens' rights to bear arms. On Tuesday, Bank of America said it planned to stop lending to companies that make military-style firearms for civilians, making it the second major U.S. lender to address gun sales after the Florida high school shooting that left 17 dead in February. Last month, Citigroup added restrictions on firearm sales for new retail-sector clients, requiring them to sell firearms only to customers who passed a background check, restrict sales for buyers under 21, and not sell so-called bump stocks or high-capacity magazines. "Do you think thats appropriate?, Kennedy asked Mick Mulvaney, the interim head of the CFPB who was testifying before the panel on Wednesday. Kennedy said he believed it was wrong that the lenders, both of which received taxpayer-backed funds during the 2007-2009 financial crisis, seemed to be politicizing banking services. Consumers are able to file complaints about banking and financial services providers via the CFPBs public complaints database which can lead to formal investigations by the bureau. Mulvaney said to the best of his knowledge the CFPB had not yet received a complaint regarding Citigroup and Bank of Americas stance on providing services to companies that sell firearms. Kennedy said he planned to file such a complaint against the banks and hoped the CFPB would consider it. As we have with other industries that have reputational implications, we created standards based not on ideology, but on established best sales practices, which most of the businesses we work with currently follow, said a spokesman for Citigroup. A spokesman for Bank of America said he did not have any additional comment beyond Tuesday's announcement. Mulvaney said he found the banks' decision "troubling" but he was not inclined to wade into the issue. (Reporting by Katanga Johnson; Editing by Michelle Price)Cell phone video captured a bewildered man at Starbucks this week asking Philadelphia police why they were arresting his two black friends.

Onlookers said there didn't appear to be a reason for the arrest. The men were simply sitting at the coffee shop, waiting for their business associate  the aforementioned bewildered man  to show up before placing their orders.

SEE ALSO: The tech talent gap is real. Increased diversity is the solution.

Now, Starbucks has confirmed that the incident was a mistake, and "are disappointed this led to an arrest."

The three-sentence apology, however, is short on details or a even just a blunt admission of guilt. The company did not reply to Mashable's request for more details at the time of this publication.

We apologize to the two individuals and our customers for what took place at our Philadelphia store on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/suUsytXHks  Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) April 14, 2018

On April 12, a Twitter user posted a 45-second video of the arrest online, in which she commented: "All the other white ppl are wondering why its never happened to us when we do the same thing."

@Starbucks The police were called because these men hadnt ordered anything. They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why its never happened to us when we do the same thing. pic.twitter.com/0U4Pzs55Ci  Melissa DePino (@missydepino) April 12, 2018

The "same thing," specifically, is waiting for a friend or sitting at Starbucks before ordering a drink. This is obviously common in many Starbucks scenarios, as Starbucks is one of the nation's most popular meeting places.

Story continues

As the company states on its website:

Details are still lacking, but it appears a Starbucks employee may have called the police on the two black men who  according to Commissioner Richard Ross  didn't leave the establishment after they were refused access to the bathroom because they weren't paying customers.

In the tweeted statement, Starbucks apologized to the two customers. It's unlikely such a public apology would have occurred if Starbucks wasn't directly responsibly for the arrest.

It's also unlikely that Starbucks would have been forced to publicly apologize for the event had the video of the wrongful arrest not been published to social media. It became an issue they couldn't ignore.

As of 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on April 14, the Twitter video has accumulated nearly four million views and the social media conversation around it continues.

How revealing that a @Starbucks employee, who works in a place where people spend hours sitting around using the wifi and tapping away on their laptops with or without coffee, gets alarmed enough to call the cops just because black men enter the space and dont order right away. https://t.co/pdzXYfMc09  Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 14, 2018

You'll notice that nowhere in this "apology" was an admission of wrongdoing. Starbucks doesn't think the employees were wrong to call the cops on those men, they're just sorry the men got arrested over it. https://t.co/wcE6s20lwk  EricaJoy (@EricaJoy) April 14, 2018

This is an example of saying a lot but saying nothing. Who called the cops, why did they call the cops, why were the black men targeted for minding their business. I have been to starbucks all over the country 50% of people there not doing nothing but chilling. Need better answer https://t.co/SdfDHSxK0C  Robert Littal (@BSO) April 14, 2018

It took Starbucks two days to issue a paragraph.  Mohamed Salih (@MohamedMOSalih) April 14, 2018

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson addressed the situation that occurred in Philadelphia later on Saturday with a statement posted in the company's newsroom. It owns what happened more explicitly than the initial statement, notably in this passage.

UPDATED April 15, 2018, 11:12 a.m. ET with Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson's statement.ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey welcomes air strikes on the Syrian government as an "appropriate" response, a foreign ministry source said on Saturday. "We see the operation carried out against the Syrian government by the United States, the United Kingdom and France... as an appropriate response," the source said. U.S., British and French forces hit Syria with air strikes early on Saturday in response to a suspected poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (Reporting by Umit Bektas; writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; editing by Jason Neely)An unidentified volunteer holds an oxygen mask over a child's face at a hospital following an alleged chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma on April 7, 2018 (AFP Photo/)

Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) - As Western leaders consider military action over a suspected poison gas attack in Syria -- with US President Donald Trump leading the charge -- chemical weapons inspectors are due to start work in the country on Saturday.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed that a fact-finding mission team is on its way to Syria and due to begin its probe almost a week after the alleged attack.

Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May have been categorical in saying the attack took place. Damascus and its allies Russia and Iran have denied any use of chemical weapons, with Moscow suggesting the attack was staged to prompt international military action.

Much is still not clear about what happened on Saturday in the town of Douma, access to which is controlled by the regime, making it extremely difficult for journalists to independently verify claims. But here's what we know so far:

What happened?

- Douma, the last rebel-held town in the onetime opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, was under intense bombardment on April 7 after Russian-brokered talks on the evacuation of the Jaish al-Islam Islamist group had stalled.

- At approximately 4:00 pm, an air strike hit near a bakery on Omar bin Al-Khattab street in Douma in a first attack that caused breathing difficulties, according to several monitors including the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Two other monitors, the Syrian Network for Human Rights and the Violations Documentation Centre, said it appeared chlorine may have been used.

- At approximately 7:30 pm, a second strike hit near Martyrs' Square in the Numan area, apparently using chlorine and, based on symptoms shown by the victims including foaming at the mouth and burning of the cornea, another more potent chemical such as sarin, according to the monitors and medical experts.

- A doctor interviewed by AFP the next day said waves of patients began to arrive on Saturday evening, many of them with breathing difficulties and "there was a strong smell of chlorine".

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- Several witnesses spoke to AFP after their evacuation from Douma, largely corroborating the circumstances and describing similar symptoms. One of them was a 51-year-old man who gave his name as Abu Mohammed: "I was coming up the stairs from the basement and got an indescribable tightness in the chest, inability to breathe, and headache... I went back downstairs and started splashing water on myself, wiping my face, and splashing more water."

- By Sunday morning, Syria's government and its ally Russia announced a deal was reached for the town's evacuation. Jaish al-Islam confirmed the deal days later, saying the alleged chemical attack had forced them to accept Russia's terms. Thousands of rebels and civilians have been bussed out of Douma, including Jaish al-Islam's chief, and rebels have surrendered their heavy weapons.

How many people were allegedly exposed and died?

- Tens of thousands of civilians remained in the town, with many having spent weeks in shelters and basements after regime forces, backed by Russia, launched a major offensive to retake Eastern Ghouta in February.

- Monitors, rescuers and medical groups have given varying tolls for the number of people affected by the attack but have all reported hundreds exposed and dozens dead. The White Helmets civil defence organisation and Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) said 500 cases of suspected exposure to chemical substances were observed and more than 40 people killed. The Britain-based Observatory said at least 21 people were killed and 70 suffered breathing difficulties. The World Health Organization said based on reports from local partners: "More than 70 people sheltering in basements have reportedly died, with 43 of those deaths related to symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals."

- Graphic pictures and videos shared on social media, including by activists and the White Helmets, showed piles of bodies on the floors of shelters and entire families lying dead, their mouths and noses covered with foam. One of the videos showed a large number of bodies spread across several rooms in what appeared to be a residential building, indicating that many of the deaths may have been from a localised strike. Other videos showed victims including children being treated for breathing problems and hosed down. It has not been possible to independently verify the contents of these videos.

Who was responsible?

- Opponents said the attack was only the latest use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which has repeatedly been accused of using sarin, chlorine and poison gases during the country's seven-year civil war. The OPCW has confirmed the use of sarin gas in an attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun a year ago that left dozens dead. UN inspectors also confirmed the use of sarin in a 2013 attack near Damascus, including Ghouta, that killed hundreds.

- Aircraft observers from the Sentry Syria network, which is linked to the White Helmets, observed military helicopters and warplanes heading southwest from the Dumayr airbase near Damascus in the direction of Douma. The observers saw them above the town around the time of the second attack, according to open source investigation website Bellingcat.

- A video shared by the White Helmets after the alleged attack shows a large yellow canister, apparently on the roof of the building where most of the bodies were found. A second video shared on social media shows a similar canister that appears to have crashed through a wall into a bedroom at an undisclosed location. Both appear to be compressed gas cylinders. The contents of the videos have not yet been verified.

- Syria's regime and its allies Moscow and Tehran have denied any use of chemical weapons in Douma on Saturday, accusing opposition activists of fabricating reports in order to win support from the West. Regime supporters have said its forces already had the upper hand in the battle to retake Ghouta and there was no reason for it to take the risk of deploying chemical weapons.

- Moscow and Damascus suggested in recent months that Syria's rebels, who have been steadily losing ground since Russia intervened in 2015 to support the regime, were preparing a "provocation" to prompt Western military action. The Russian military said Friday it had proof Britain had ordered the White Helmets, accused by Moscow of being a front for jihadists, to "stage" the attack. Online, regime supporters have rushed to discredit the rescue force by posting pictures that appear to show the first responders on a film set. It later emerged the photographs were from the set of a Syrian government-sponsored film about opposition groups fabricating a chemical attack.

What could investigators find?

- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week that Moscow's military specialists had already visited the site and "did not find any trace of chlorine or any other chemical substance". A video released by the Russian defence ministry showed a Russian military police vehicle and personnel in the area. It has offered to take the investigators to the area of the alleged attack, where Russian military police are deployed.

- The OPCW has been tight-lipped about how exactly its investigators will work, saying it does not disclose "operational details" of its investigations in order to preserve their integrity. Damascus, which invited the investigators in to Douma, has said it will cooperate with the probe.

- The Hague-based body has however outlined its usual modus operandi: "Members of the team may take chemical, environmental and biomedical samples for analysis on-site or off-site at an OPCW-designated laboratory. Team members may also interview victims, eyewitnesses and medical personnel and participate in autopsies." It adds that the inspection team is expected to send a situation report within 24 hours of starting its work, a preliminary report within 72 hours of returning to The Netherlands and a final report within 30 days.Donald Trump has hailed coordinated US, British and French air strikes on Syria as "mission accomplished".

The military action was launched in the early hours of Saturday morning to punish the Syrian regime for a chemical weapons attack.

The US president said the military action by US, British and French jets had been "perfectly executed".

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

At a press conference in Downing Street on Saturday morning, Theresa May said: "There is no graver decision for a prime minister than to commit our forces to combat and this is the first time I have had to do so."

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said the strike had a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations" and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

Three Syrian sites involved in the use of chemical weapons were targeted in the attack - one scientific facility near Damascus and two storage facilities near Homs. Pentagon officials said that 105 missiles had been fired in the strike at the three targets.

Addressing the nation in a televised statement late on Friday evening, Mr Trump said it was a response to the evil and despicable chemical attack by the Syrian regime last Saturday.

Story continues

He said: "The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States.

Mr Trump added: To Iran and to Russia I ask - what kind of regime wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?

"The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No state can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.

Mrs May said on Saturday morning that the UK was "confident" that the strikes had succeeded in degrading Assad's chemical weapons stockpile and in deterring future use.

US, UK and French launch Syria airstrikes, in pictures

She said the strikes were not about intervening in a civil war or regime change but to ensure chemical weapons were not used again.

She said: It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian Regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, called the strikes "legally questionable" and said Mrs May should have sought Parliamentary approval for the attack "not trailed after Donald Trump".

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said: The facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime [for Saturday's attack] are not in any doubt. The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed.

Anatoly Antonov, Russias ambassador to the United States, condemned the attack and said there would be consequences.

He said: "The worst apprehensions have come true. Our warnings have been left unheard. A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened.

"We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.

Intervention in Syria | Read more

Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal.

"The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail," said state news agency SANA.

The missiles were launched around 9pm, Washington DC time, as Mr Trump stepped before the cameras in the White House to address the nation.

Some missiles were targeted by surface-to-air missile systems controlled by the Syrian regime, according to the Pentagon.

The sites chosen were involved in the research, development and deployment of chemical weapons, a Pentagon official said.

One target was a scientific facility in the greater Damascus area which had been involved in researching and testing chemical weapons.

Damascus sky lights up with surface to air missile fire Credit: AP

Two targets were near the city of Homs. Both were chemical weapons storage facilities, one had also been used as a command post.

The sites had been chosen to minimise civilian casualties and avoid Russian troops stationed on the ground in Syria.

James Mattis, the US defence secretary, said more than double the number of missiles were used than in the US air strike against Syria in April 2017, when 59 missiles were launched. He also confirmed that the strike was over during a Pentagon briefing at around 10.10pm, meaning it lasted no more than 70 minutes.

US-Russia weapons in Syria

Russia was not warned before the air strikes were launched and there was no explicit coordination over the attack, a Pentagon official said.

A US-Russia deconfliction line to avoid crashes over Syrian airspace was used, the official said, but he stressed it is used most days.

A fighter jet lands at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus Credit: AP

Britain used Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s to launch Storm Shadow missiles at one of the facilities near Homs, the Ministry of Defence said.

Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, said the strikes were "highly successful" and that all RAF crews had returned safely. He said the strikes played "an important role in terms of degrading the Syrian regime in using chemical weapons in the future".

Latest updates....

9:22PM

Trump's call with May

President Trump spoke over the phone with the Prime Minister. The President thanked Mrs May for her support to rid Syria of chemical weapons, the White House said.

"The President and the Prime Minister affirmed that our recent airstrikes in Syria in response to the April 7 chemical weapons attack on the besieged enclave of Douma were successful and necessary to deter their further use."

8:17PM

Syrian army declares Ghouta fully retaken

The Syrian army on Saturday declared that all anti-regime forces had left Eastern Ghouta, nearly two months into a blistering offensive on the rebel enclave.

"All terrorists have left Douma, the last of their holdouts in Eastern Ghouta," state news agency SANA quoted an army spokesman as saying, using the regime's usual term for rebels.

"Areas of Eastern Ghouta in rural Damascus have been fully cleansed of terrorism," an army spokesman also said in a statement delivered on state television.

8:06PM

Syria: 'Stop the aggression'

The Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari, said the military action that took place overnight will not prevent Syria from achieving its aim of "defeating the terrorists" in the country.

He said the strikes by the US, France and the UK was "very strange" and asked those involved to "stop the aggression".

Mr Jaafari also presented three copies of the UN charter outlining its position regarding international law, and urged the US, UK and France to "re-read" it.

He said the "attacks" on Syria, were an attack on the entire UN Security Council.

6:38PM

Macron: UN must take initiative

"It is now for the United Nations Security Council, in unity, to take initiative again political, chemical and humanitarian questions in Syria," the French presidency said in a brief statement.

6:26PM

UN rejects Russian bid to condemn military strikes on Syria

The UN Security Council has rejected Russia's motion to condemn the military strikes on Friday evening.

6:25PM

May, Macron and Trump agree strikes were 'success'

The three leaders spoke over the phone this afternoon and agreed the military strikes were a success, Downing Street said.

A spokesperson for Mrs May said: "In separate calls, the Prime Minister this afternoon spoke with President Macron and President Trump.

"The three leaders agreed that the military strikes taken against the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons sites had been a success.

"The Prime Minister welcomed the public support which had been given by fellow world leaders for the strong stand the UK, France and the United States had taken in degrading Syrias chemical weapons capability and deterring their use; defending global rules; and sending a clear message that the use of chemical weapons can never become normalised."

6:14PM

Tusk backs Britain

European Council President Donald Tusk has spoken to May on the phone. They "have a shared assessment of the situation," he said.

Phone call with PM @theresa_may to discuss Syria. We have a shared assessment of the situation.  Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) April 14, 2018

6:12PM

Assad's chemical capabilities crippled

Mike Pence, the US Vice President, has said Syria's chemical weapons capabilities have been "degraded and crippled" by the strikes.

4:58PM

UK: missile strikes were legally justified

The UK's ambassador, Karen Pierce, says Britain met all three conditions in which to justify strikes.

France's Ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre, says that the suspected chemical attack on Douma called for a "strong response".

"France has absolutely no doubt about the Assad regime's accountability in the chemical attack [in Douma]," he said.

4:45PM

Haley attacks Russian fake news

Ms Haley told the chamber: "The US and its allies did everything we could to use diplomacy to get rid of Assad's chemical weapons."

"We gave diplomacy chance after chance," she said, adding that Russia had blocked six attempts at action on Syria's chemical weapons in the UN security council.

"We cannot stand by as Russia trashes every international norm that we stand for."

4:36PM

Haley: US is 'locked and loaded'

Ms Haley said: "We can all see that a Russian disinformation campaign is in full force this morning. But we cannot change facts." But she said the victims of chemical weapons attacks in Douma were not "fake news".

The UN ambassador stated that there is "clear" evidence showing the Syrian regime used chemical weapons, calling the action "barbaric inhumanity".

The diplomat said at the heart of the allies "carefully planned" attack was a desire to minimise civilian casualties. "The US, France and the UK acted after careful evaluation of these facts," she said.

"We are confident that we have crippled Syria's chemical weapons program."

She added that America was "locked and loaded" to strike again if Mr Assad repeated the atrocities.

If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded. When our president draws a red line, the president enforces the red line.

4:33PM

Nikki Haley: 'Strikes were legitimate'

Nikki Haley told the UN: "A week has gone by in which we have talked. We've spent a week talking about the unique horror of chemical weapons.

"The time for talk ended last night. We're here because last night three permanent members of the security council acted."

4:10PM

Strikes 'broke international law' Russia tells UN

Russia's UN Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Saturday. He told the chamber that Russia "condemns in the strongest possible terms" the military action in Syria.

"The US panders to the terrorists and the current situation is destructive," he said.

"The US and its allies continue to demonstrate blatant disregard for international law."

Mr Nebenzia told the chamber it was "shameful that the US constitution was cited as a reason to launch military action.

"It's interesting what the UK and France will think when they realise they have broken international law while citing the US constitution."

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, is due to address the security council shortly. She is expected to strongly rebuke Mr Nebenzia's comemnts.

3:04PM

Footage shows destroyed chemical weapon research facility, Syrian state television says

Syrian state television has broadcast footage of what it claims are the ruins of a chemical weapons research centre near Damascus, Camilla Turner writes.

The images purport to show the damage to the Barzah research facilities following the US, British and French air strikes.

The footage, broadcast by Syrias Al-Ikhbariya TV, shows piles of rubble outside a destroyed building as well as a burned out vehicle.

In some shots, smoke appears to be rising from the shattered remains of hollowed out structures.

The bombed out remains of the research facility in Barzah, as shown by Syrian state TV

Separate images from satellite technology appear to depict the multiple buildings that were bombed.

Read the full story.

2:53PM

'2000% increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours'

Dana White, the Pentagon spokeswoman said there has been a 2000% increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours as the Kremlin ramped up its "disinformation" campaign over the Syria strikes.

2:45PM

'It was mission accomplished'

Dana White, the Pentagon spokeswoman, has defended Mr Trumps use of the phrase mission accomplished in a tweet - words George W Bush infamously used after the Iraq invasion in 2003.

She said: We hit the heart of the chemical weapon programme so it was mission accomplished.

2:13PM

Pentagon: 'Every target hit'

The Pentagon confirmed on Saturday that the US, UK and French forces successfully hit every target" in Friday night's strike.

"We do not seek conflict in Syria, but we cannot allow such grievous violations of international law," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters.

"We successfully hit every target," she said. "The strikes were justified, legitimate and proportionate."

Pentagon officials said that 105 missiles had been fired in the strike at the three targets.

They said that the Syrians had shot 40 missiles into the air in response but mostly after the strike was complete - and that to the best of their knowledge no Syrian weapon had any effect on anything we did.

The Pentagon said that they believed Russia did not fire any missiles in response to the attack.

Officials said they were not aware of any casualties.

Ms White said they were "very confident" to have "significantly crippled" Assad's ability to produce chemical weapons.

This is about values. We did this because its intolerable for any civilised nation to tolerate the use of chemical weapons, she said.

Pentagon image showing air strikes on Syria

Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr, the director of joint staff, said he would pick three words to describe the attack: Precise, overwhelming and effective".

He said the US was ready for any military retaliation from Syria and its allies.

Were ready for it.  We're on the balls of our feet and were ready for anything," he said.

1:47PM

Images reportedly showing damage to the Barzah research facilities following the air strikes

Barzah

Satellite imagery from @planetlabs 3m resolution satellites show multiple buildings destroyed at Barzah scientific research centre, consistent with photographs of the area. Left, April 13th. Right, April 14th. https://t.co/QlMO9OGqhzpic.twitter.com/mk1VtJmkZe  Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) April 14, 2018

1:22PM

Donald Trump: 'Mission accomplished!'

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There wont be anything, or anyone, even close!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

Mr Trump is adopting a phrase that a previous president came to regret - "mission accomplished."

In May 2003, President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" - just six weeks after the invasion.

In this May 2, 2003 file photo, President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast Credit: AP

But the war dragged on for many years after that and the banner became a symbol of U.S. misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly conflict. Bush was heavily criticised for the move.

After shifting explanations, the White House eventually said the "Mission Accomplished" phrase referred to the carrier's crew completing its 10-month mission, not the military completing its mission in Iraq.

Bush, in October 2003, disavowed any connection with the "Mission Accomplished" message. He said the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesman later said the ship's crew asked for the sign and the White House staff had it made by a private vendor.

12:42PM

Corbyn says he wants proof of legal justification for air strikes

12:41PM

OPCW: fact-finding mission to Syria to go ahead this weekend

A global chemical warfare watchdog group says its fact-finding mission to Syria will go ahead even after the US-led airstrikes.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says in a statement that its team will stick to its plan to investigate last weekend's suspected poison gas attack in Douma.

The group says the mission "will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma."

Russia and Syria disagree with Western allies that gas was used by Assad's forces to suppress opposition close to Damascus in an April 7 attack.

12:15PM

Iran's supreme leader says Western attack on Syria a crime

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

"Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei said.

Iran - the dominant Shiite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States other Sunni Arab friends - has fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

11:46AM

Saudi says strikes on Syria retaliation for regime 'crimes'

Saudi Arabia on Saturday expressed its full support for US-led strikes on Syrian government military installations, saying they were a response to "regime crimes" against civilians.

"Saudi Arabia fully supports the strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain against Syria because they represent a response to the regime's crimes," a foreign ministry statement said.

The statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said the strikes were prompted by the "Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including women and children".

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have been key backers of Syrian opposition groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

11:41AM

Analysis: 'Western air strikes a painless way out of a tense spot for Vladimir Putin'

Alec Luhn reports from Moscow:

The Western strikes on Syria looked like a fairly painless way out of a tense spot for Vladimir Putin on Saturday, with Russia claiming minimal damage to its ally and no apparent danger of the situation spiraling out of control. Judging from reports in the Russian media this week, Moscow's most pressing concern in the run-up to the airstrikes was to obtain advance warning, including coordinates of targets, so that Russian troops would not suffer casualties and force it into an unpredictable escalation. Now that the French defence minister has said Paris and its allies warned Moscow in advance, it appears it received the information it wantedand passed it along to Damascus. Speaking to Al Jazeera, a Syrian official claimed that it had gotten early warning of the strike from the Russians and evacuated the military bases that were hit. At a briefing on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry couldn't resist a little boast, claiming that 71 of 103 missiles were intercepted, but insisted it was Soviet-made Syrian air defence systems, not Russian ones, that had come into direct conflict with the West. It claimed that Syrian troops and civilians had not borne any casualties, and damage to infrastructure was limited. Mr Putin condemned the strikes as expected, but his words were more tempered than some of the Kremlin's previous rhetoric on Syria. History will put everything in its place, he said in a statement, adding that Russia will call an urgent session of the United Nations security council to discuss the aggressive actions of the United States and its allies. Despite the more or less positive outcome for Russia, the defence ministry threatened to reconsider giving advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria and other allies in light of the strikes. Russia cancelled a shipment of such missiles under Western pressure in 2013.

10:52AM

China says Syrian strikes violate international law

China's foreign ministry has said that it believes a political settlement is the only way to resolve the Syrian issue and called for a full, fair and objective investigation into suspected chemical weapon attacks in Syria.

Hua Chunying, the ministry's spokeswoman, made the comments at a press conference according to a transcript posted on its website. US, British and French forces struck Syria with more than 100 missiles on Saturday in the first coordinated Western strikes against the Damascus government.

Hua said that China has consistently opposed the use of force in international relations and that any military action that bypassed the United Nations' Security Council violated the principles and basic norms of international law.

10:44AM

Cyprus says had no prior briefing of Syria strikes

Cyprus distanced itself on Saturday from Britain's air strikes on Syrian targets, saying it had no prior briefing or involvement in the action launched from a British sovereign air base on the Mediterranean island.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

"Cyprus did not have any participation in this operation and conditions of full security exist in our country," Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said in a statement.

"The Authorities of the Republic of Cyprus have been monitoring the situation from the first moment, however, Cyprus did not receive any prior briefing," he said.

Neither the airspace of Cyprus, or its flight information region - a huge swathe of eastern Mediterranean airspace - was used, he said.

"We hope that it will subsequently be possible for military operations to be avoided in Syria and that sources of danger in this neighboring country will be addressed with peaceful means and through dialogue."

Britain retains two sovereign bases in Cyprus, a colony until independence in 1960. There are about 3,100 British troops on the island.

A fighter jet prepares to land at RAF Akrotiri, a military base Britain maintains on Cyprus Credit: Reuters

10:39AM

France has 'solid intelligence' that Assad regime behind chemical attacks

Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, has now told BFM TV that France has solid intelligence that the Assad regime was behind the chemical weapons attacks and a large part of its chemical weapons arsenal has been destroyed, David Chazan reports from Paris.

Asked which chemical weapons were used in the attack that prompted the strikes, Mr le Drian said chlorine was certainly used and other substances were being analysed.

Mr Le Drian said the French president would go ahead with his visit to Moscow at the end of May as planned.

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes Credit: AP

10:20AM

EU meeting to be dominated by use of chemical weapons

Boris Johnson will meet with European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday at a meeting to dominated by the strikes on Syria, James Crisp reports from Brussels.

Through the weekend, British diplomats and ministers will be in touch with their EU counterparts to lay the groundwork for discussion over Friday night's air strikes. EU Ministers are expected to back language condemning the use of chemical weapons in the conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council.

Before the joint US-UK and French attack, London and Paris was pushing to toughen up the language of the draft joint statement, which will decry the use of chemical weapons and the greying of the international line against their use. Those efforts are continuing.

The debate among ministers will include discussion over the strike but also how to prevent the use of chemical weapons in the future and secure a ceasefire in Syria.

Mr Johnson can expect support from other EU member states such as Belgium and the Netherlands.

The meeting was always going to be important for Britain as it is the first Foreign Affairs Council after Theresa May secured EU support for condemning Russia for the Salisbury attack.

The Telegraph understands the conclusions will take a tougher line on Russia and Iran than the statement agreed by EU leaders on March 21.

This will not include sanctions at this stage but there is likely to be language stating that option remains on the table.

10:17AM

Russia may consider supplying S-300 missile systems to Syria

In response to the Western strikes, Russia is threatening to give Syria and other allies its advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles, Alec Luhn reports from Moscow.

Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi: A few years ago, considering the insistent requests of some of our Western partners, we decided not to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Considering what has happened, we think it's possible to once again consider this question, and not just for Syria, but other countries

S-300 long range surface-to-air missile systems seen during a rehearsal of a Victory Day military parade commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany Credit: Getty

10:00AM

Russia military says Syria air defence intercepted 71 of 103 cruise missiles

The Russian military has said that Western allies fired 103 cruise missiles including Tomahawk missiles at Syria but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them.

"All together, 103 cruise missiles were deployed," senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi said at a briefing in Moscow. "Seventy-one cruise missiles were intercepted."

Russia's senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi sits bellow a map of Syria screened during a briefing at the Russian Defence Ministry headquarters in Moscow on April 14, 2018 Credit: AFP

9:53AM

Vladimir Putin condemns airstrikes on Syria

The Russian president condemned the overnight US-led missile attack on Syria and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the Kremlin has said.

Mr Putin said the US actions in Syria made the humanitarian catastrophe worse and caused pain for civilians, as well has damaging international relations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) welcomes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia November 20, 2017 Credit: Reuters

9:49AM

Germany's Merkel backs air strikes on Syria as 'necessary and appropriate'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed air strikes by the United States, France and Britain as a "necessary and appropriate" action to warn Syria against further use of chemical weapons.

"We support the fact that our American, British and French allies have taken responsibility in this way as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council," Merkel said. Merkel this week had said Germany would not take part in any military action against Syria.

9:30AM

Theresa May: UK 'confident' of success of strikes

The Prime Minister has said she is "confident" that the strikes succeeded in degrading Assad's ability to launch chemical weapons attacks and in deterring their future use. She said the strikes were and "limited and targeted" and not intended to spark further conflict.

The Prime Minister said the Douma attack had caused "harrowing" scenes of innocent civilians foaming at the mouth.

Mrs May said all the indications were that it was a chemical weapons attack and the Government was "clear" Bashar Assad's regime was responsible.

She said open source material showed barrel bombs had been used and a regime helicopter had been seen over Douma on April 7.

The PM added: "No other group could have carried out this attack."

9:09AM

Jeremy Corbyn: strikes are 'legally questionable'

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said the military action against Syria was "legally questionable" and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

Mr Corbyn said Britain should not be taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way.

Jeremy Corbyn said the military strikes in Syria were "legally questionable" Credit: REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

He said:

"Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely. "Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way. "Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump. The Government should do whatever possible to push Russia and the United States to agree to an independent UN-led investigation of last weekend's horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account."

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, also said Mrs May should have gone to Parliament for a vote before launching strikes.

8:36AM

Defence secretary: strikes "highly successful"

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that last night's air strike against the Syrian regime was "a highly successful mission".

Speaking to presenter John Humphrys, he said: "The reason we have taken this action is because we all saw the images last week of the suffering that had been inflicted on innocent men, women and children, and there has been a need to act.

"That's why last night we deployed four Tornados armed with Storm Shadow cruise missiles. You will be pleased to hear all of those crews have returned safely and every early indication is that is has been a highly successful mission.

"This is something we have been in discussion with the US and French over the last few days but obviously the meeting of Cabinet is where this was properly discussed."

Mr Williamson said the service personnel involved in last night's attack have played "an important role in terms of degrading the Syrian regime in using chemical weapons in the future".

7:53AM

Regime lives to fight another day

The Syrian regime knew there was little it could do to stop the incoming barrage of Western missiles. But it also knew that the hours afterwards would be crucial in terms of reassuring its own base.

As well as posting a video of Assad going to work as normal, the regime has organised "spontaneous" demonstrations on the streets of Damascus. Soldiers and regime supporters paraded with the red-and-black Syrian government flag.

As expected, and in line with a long lasting Arab dictatorships tradition, the #Assad regime orchestrates popular festive gatherings in Damascus, at dawn, after and in defiance of #SyriaStrikes mocked as inefficient and useless. pic.twitter.com/UDeoqrAr0c  Joseph Bahout  (@jobahout) April 14, 2018

The message they are trying to send is clear: the regime is stable and it lives to fight another day.

7:41AM

Russia: Missiles intercepted by air defences

Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday that the majority of missiles fired during the overnight attack on Syria by US, British and French forces were intercepted by Syrian government air defence systems, TASS news agency reported.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has responded angrily to the strikes, while Syrian state media called them a "flagrant violation of international law."

More than 100 missiles were fired from ships and manned aircraft, and the allies struck three of Syria's main chemical weapons facilities, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford said.

According to Interfax news agency, Russia's defence ministry also said that Syria intercepted the US and allied attacks using Soviet-produced hardware, including the Buk missile system.

7:29AM

Assad off to work

Video has emerged apparently showing President Bashar al-Assad going to work as normal.

 ..



    pic.twitter.com/hhIZT6cOTe  Syrian Presidency (@Presidency_Sy) April 14, 2018

7:22AM

Reaction in Britain

UK forces have been engaged in "gesture bombing with no major international consensus", the Scottish National Party spokesman for defence said.

Stewart McDonald wrote on Twitter: "Most worrying, is that she has acted at the behest of presidential tweets and sidelined parliament.

"What does this new bombing campaign do to help move Syria towards peace? Nothing."

What does this new bombing campaign do to help move Syria towards peace? Nothing. Instead, it has the potential to dangerously complicate the war, making matters on the ground worse for the people that the strikes are supposed to help. There is no peace strategy.  Stewart McDonald MP (@StewartMcDonald) April 14, 2018

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he welcomed the military strikes on Syria.

Welcome the news of UK military strikes against major chemical weapons facilities in Syria alongside our US and French allies. The world is united in its disgust for any use of chemical weapons, but especially against civilians  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 14, 2018

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said questions remained about how peace can be brought to Syria.

Writing on Twitter, she said: "My first thoughts this morning are with service personnel called to action".

Air strikes have not resolved situation in Syria so far - nothing Ive heard persuades me they will do so now. An international strategy for peace must be pursued - not a course that risks dangerous escalation. UK foreign policy should be set by Parliament, not US President.  Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 14, 2018

6:47AM

MoD releases images of attack

The Ministry of Defence has released images and footage of the strike on a chemical weapons facility.

RAF Tornados launched Storm Shadow missiles at a regime chemical weapons facility fifteen miles west of Homs, Syria. See images and video here: https://t.co/uSI3loV6Q0pic.twitter.com/Rd85WLScSR  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 14, 2018

6:46AM

France: Russia was warned ahead of strikes

France's defence minister says its joint military operation with the US and Britain against Syria targeted three sites and that Russia was informed ahead of time.

Defence Minister Florence Parly told reporters on Saturday that the French military sent fighter jets from multiple bases in France and used missile-equipped frigates in the Mediterranean in the operation.

Decollage, cette nuit, des forces armees francaises qui interviennent contre larsenal chimique clandestin du regime syrien. Declaration du President de la Republique @EmmanuelMacron : https://t.co/HNSK0FmZIOpic.twitter.com/DEAW7R50aC  Elysee (@Elysee) April 14, 2018

She said strikes targeted the "main research center" for the Syrian chemical weapons program and "two important production sites."

She added that "with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the operation did not target Syria's allies or civilians but President Bashar Assad's government because of its alleged use of chemical weapons. Syria's government denies using them.

6:19AM

Syrians take to streets after attacks

Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square of the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance

Syrians wave Russian and Syrian flags during a protest against U.S.-led air strikes in Damascus Credit: Reuters

In Damascus, the president's seat of power, hundreds of residents gathered in Omayyad Square, many waving Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns.

"We are your men, Bashar," they shouted.

State TV broadcast live from the square where a large crowd of civilians mixed with men in uniforms, including an actor, lawmakers and other figures.

"Good morning steadfastness," one broadcaster said.

5:34AM

Democrats warn Trump over Syria

Mr Trump's announcement of airstrikes in Syria triggered swift warnings from opposition Democrats that any broader military campaign there would require a well-formulated strategic vision - and authorisation from Congress.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi led calls for the US president to map out a detailed plan and present it to Congress if he wants to expand military action.

"One night of air strikes is no substitute for a coherent strategy," Ms Pelosi said in a statement.

Mr Trump "must come to Congress to obtain a new AUMF (authorization for use of military force), present a clear set of objectives, & ultimately hold Putin accountable for the bloodshed he has enabled," she added, referring to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, the Syrian regime's most powerful ally.

.@realDonaldTrump must come to Congress to obtain a new AUMF, present a clear set of objectives, & ultimately hold Putin accountable for the bloodshed he has enabled. https://t.co/Mwdwbs289Xpic.twitter.com/9f3AB1SJnX  Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) April 14, 2018

US military forces have largely been operating under AUMFs passed by Congress shortly after the 9/11 attacks to conduct operations against extremist groups like the Islamic State, including in Syria.

Some Democrats like Senator Tim Kaine, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2016, said although last week's deadly apparent chemical attack was an abomination, Trump's air strikes were illegal.

"The last thing Congress should be doing is giving this president a blank check to wage war against anyone, anywhere. We need to put clear limits in place before he starts another war," said Kaine.

"Today, it's a strike on Syria - what's going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?"

5:05AM

Western allies back strikes

International reaction has started coming in, with Western allies backing the military action.

The head of NATO expressed his support for strikes in Syria after bombings targeting Bashar al-Assad's regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack.

"I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France... This will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons," Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau also backed the strikes.

Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom and France to take action against the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks. Statement: https://t.co/P5jkVJPriv  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 14, 2018

4:47AM

David Miliband responds

David Miliband, CEO of the International Rescue Committee, has issued this response to the strikes.

Now that the US, France and the UK have decided on their reaction to the use of chemical weapons last weekend, the need for a diplomatic offensive is more imperative than ever. Military action is only ever successful when it is part of a political strategy, for peace-making, humanitarian aid and regional security. Bombing cannot substitute for diplomacy, military reactions a substitute for a peace plan. Syrian civilians need urgent humanitarian aid to relieve poverty, Syrias neighbors need support for the refugees they are housing.

4:35AM

Trump 'can be called Adolf Hitler'

A highly placed Russian politician is likening President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler after the launch of airstrikes against Syria, and says he regards the action as a move against Russia.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, says Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time - because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union."

That's according to state news agency RIA-Novosti. The Nazi forces' opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4 a.m.

4:13AM

Syria's response

Syrian state media has slammed Western strikes as illegal and "doomed to fail".

"The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail," said state news agency SANA.

State media published images of a cloud of reddish smoke hanging over the capital and said that air defences were activated to block the attack.

Smoke rises after airstrikes targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus Credit: AP

SANA reported the joint operation hit a research centre northeast of the capital as well as other military installations around Damascus, but said missiles targeting army depots in Homs had been intercepted.

It said skies were clear over Aleppo in the north, Hasakeh in the northeast, and Latakia and Tartus along the western coast, where key Syrian and Russian military installations are located.

3:57AM

Details of US strikes

The US Pentagon announced that three sites used by the Syrian regime for the research, development and deployment of chemical weapons had been targeted, writes Ben Riley-Smith.

One target was a scientific facility in the greater Damascus area which had been involved in researching and testing chemical weapons.

Two targets were near the city of Homs. Both were chemical weapons storage facilities, one had also been used as a command post.

The Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria Credit: AP

The sites had been chosen to minimise civilian casualties and avoid Russian troops stationed on the ground in the country. James Mattis, the US defence secretary, announced that the strike was a one-time attack designed to deter Assad from using chemical weapons again.

He said that the strikes were over during the briefing, meaning at most the attack lasted around an hour and 10 minutes. Mr Mattis said that twice as many missiles were used than last years US attack on a Syrian regime airfield, meaning more than 100 missiles were fired. Russia was not warned before the air strikes were launched and there was no explicit coordination over the attack, a Pentagon official said.

An explosion on the outskirts of Damascus Credit: AFP

A US-Russia deconfliction line to avoid crashes over Syrian airspace was used, the official said, but he stressed it is used most days. The Pentagon also confirmed that Syria had used surface-to-air missiles to counter the attack.

Mr Mattis said: "Right now, this is a one-time shot, and I believe it has sent a very strong message to dissuade [Assad], to deter him from doing this again." It is unclear how that comment matches with Mr Trumps earlier statement that the US was prepared to sustain pressure on the Assad regime.

US media have also reported that the US Congress was notified just minutes before the attack was launched. Mr Mattis also said that the Trump administration was confident chlorine had been used in the original Douma attack, but said they were not sure that Sarin gas had been used.

3:46AM

Russia responds angrily

Russia's embassy in the US has issued its response to the airstrikes, saying "such actions will not be left without consequences".

Statement by the Ambassador Antonov on the strikes on #Syria:

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. pic.twitter.com/QEmWEffUzx  Russia in USA  (@RusEmbUSA) April 14, 2018

3:18AM

First wave of strikes over

The Pentagon has said the first wave of airstrikes are over.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said no additional strikes on Syria were planned:

"Right now this is a one-time shot", he saud, adding there were "no reports of losses" on the part of the US and its allies.

He called on the international community to "urgently" unite and bring an end to Syria's civil war.

"It is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process," Mattis said.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis on strikes in Syria: Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year. This time, our allies and we have struck harder. Together, we have sent a clear message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants https://t.co/PnsXoooAMC  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 14, 2018

3:12AM

Williamson describes strikes as 'legal and proportionate military force'

Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, has issued a statement.

"The reprehensible use of chemical weapons in Douma is further evidence of the Syrian regimes appalling cruelty against its own people. We will not stand by whilst innocent civilians, including women and children, are killed and made to suffer. "The international community has responded decisively with legal and proportionate military force. Let these united actions send a clear message to the regime  the use of chemical weapons is categorically unacceptable and you will be held to account."

British forces joined Allies in a precision strike on Syrian installations involved in the regimes use of chemical weapons against its own people. Read more: https://t.co/Pf7HxIG1UXpic.twitter.com/5kx3xshZLA  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 14, 2018

2:58AM

Blasts in Damascus

Several huge explosions have been heard in Syria's capital.

Consecutive blasts were heard at 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT), followed by the sound of airplanes overhead. Smoke could be seen emerging from the northern and eastern edges of the capital.

Syrian state television simultaneously reported a US attack on Syria, in coordination with France and Britain.

"Syrian air defence blocks American, British, French aggression on Syria," state television said.

Footage from #Damascus shows air defence missiles being launched. Location not specified. #SyriaStrikespic.twitter.com/EqTUYBeNq0  Riam Dalati (@Dalatrm) April 14, 2018

2:55AM

Details of airstrikes

The Ministry of Defence [MOD] revealed some details of UK involvement in the strikes in a statement released 45 minutes after Mr Trump addressed the nation spoke.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s launched Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility and former missile base some 15 miles west of Homs.

An MoD spokesman said the Syrian regime "is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors stockpiled" at the facility, breaching the Chemical Weapons Convention. The spokesman added:

"Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area. "The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk."

2:54AM

Macron issues statement

French President Emmanuel Macron said late on Friday that France had joined the US and Britain in an ongoing operation against Syria with strikes to target "the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons".

"We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons," he said in a statement.

2:23AM

Statement from the prime minister

Theresa May has issued a statement on the Syrian airstrikes.

Here it is in full.

This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use.

We are acting together with our American and French allies. In Douma, last Saturday a chemical weapons attack killed up to 75 people, including young children, in circumstances of pure horror.

The fact of this attack should surprise no-one. The Syrian Regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way. And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack.

This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped  not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons.

We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this. But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted. Even this week the Russians vetoed a Resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack.

So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime. This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian Regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity. At this time, my thoughts are with our brave British servicemen and women  and our French and American partners  who are carrying out their duty with the greatest professionalism.

The speed with which we are acting is essential in co-operating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations. This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.

I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britains national interest. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world. We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none.

History teaches us that the international community must defend the global rules and standards that keep us all safe. That is what our country has always done. And what we will continue to do.

2:11AM

A 'sustained' response

Mr Trump said U.S., allies were prepared for a "sustained" response until Syrian government stops use of chemical weapons.

He added that the strikes were a 'direct result' of Russia's failure to keep Syria's Assad from using chemical weapons.

2:04AM

Trump has ordered strikes

Donald Trump has announced he has ordered military action against Syria, in co-ordination with Britain and France.

1:59AM

Trump 'approves military action'

US media outlets are reporting that Trump has approved air strikes against Syria.

President Trump has approved U.S. military strikes in Syria: administration official  Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) April 14, 2018

1:54AM

Trump set to make statement

The New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump is set to make an announcement about Syria in about 10 minutes from the White House.

action

Donald Trump has hailed coordinated US, British and French air strikes on Syria as "mission accomplished".

The military action was launched in the early hours of Saturday morning to punish the Syrian regime for a chemical weapons attack.

The US president said the military action by US, British and French jets had been "perfectly executed".

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

At a press conference in Downing Street on Saturday morning, Theresa May said: "There is no graver decision for a prime minister than to commit our forces to combat and this is the first time I have had to do so."

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said the strike had a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations" and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

Three Syrian sites involved in the use of chemical weapons were targeted in the attack - one scientific facility near Damascus and two storage facilities near Homs. Pentagon officials said that 105 missiles had been fired in the strike at the three targets.

Addressing the nation in a televised statement late on Friday evening, Mr Trump said it was a response to the evil and despicable chemical attack by the Syrian regime last Saturday.

He said: "The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States.

Mr Trump added: To Iran and to Russia I ask - what kind of regime wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?

"The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No state can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.

Mrs May said on Saturday morning that the UK was "confident" that the strikes had succeeded in degrading Assad's chemical weapons stockpile and in deterring future use.

Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire Credit: AP

She said the strikes were not about intervening in a civil war or regime change but to ensure chemical weapons were not used again.

She said: It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian Regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, called the strikes "legally questionable" and said Mrs May should have sought Parliamentary approval for the attack "not trailed after Donald Trump".

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said: The facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime [for Saturday's attack] are not in any doubt. The red line set by France in May 2017 has been crossed.

Anatoly Antonov, Russias ambassador to the United States, condemned the attack and said there would be consequences.

He said: "The worst apprehensions have come true. Our warnings have been left unheard. A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened.

"We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.

Intervention in Syria | Read more

Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal.

"The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail," said state news agency SANA.

The missiles were launched around 9pm, Washington DC time, as Mr Trump stepped before the cameras in the White House to address the nation.

Some missiles were targeted by surface-to-air missile systems controlled by the Syrian regime, according to the Pentagon.

The sites chosen were involved in the research, development and deployment of chemical weapons, a Pentagon official said.

One target was a scientific facility in the greater Damascus area which had been involved in researching and testing chemical weapons.

Damascus sky lights up with surface to air missile fire Credit: AP

Two targets were near the city of Homs. Both were chemical weapons storage facilities, one had also been used as a command post.

The sites had been chosen to minimise civilian casualties and avoid Russian troops stationed on the ground in Syria.

James Mattis, the US defence secretary, said more than double the number of missiles were used than in the US air strike against Syria in April 2017, when 59 missiles were launched. He also confirmed that the strike was over during a Pentagon briefing at around 10.10pm, meaning it lasted no more than 70 minutes.

US-Russia weapons in Syria

Russia was not warned before the air strikes were launched and there was no explicit coordination over the attack, a Pentagon official said.

A US-Russia deconfliction line to avoid crashes over Syrian airspace was used, the official said, but he stressed it is used most days.

A fighter jet lands at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus Credit: AP

Britain used Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s to launch Storm Shadow missiles at one of the facilities near Homs, the Ministry of Defence said.

Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, said the strikes were "highly successful" and that all RAF crews had returned safely. He said the strikes played "an important role in terms of degrading the Syrian regime in using chemical weapons in the future".

Latest updates....

2:53PM

'2000% increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours'

Dana White, the Pentagon spokeswoman said there has been a 2000% increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours as the Kremlin ramped up its "disinformation" campaign over the Syria strikes.

2:45PM

'It was mission accomplished'

Dana White, the Pentagon spokeswoman, has defended Mr Trumps use of the phrase mission accomplished in a tweet - words George W Bush infamously used after the Iraq invasion in 2003.

She said: We hit the heart of the chemical weapon programme so it was mission accomplished.

2:13PM

Pentagon: 'Every target hit'

The Pentagon confirmed on Saturday that the US, UK and French forces successfully hit every target" in Friday night's strike.

"We do not seek conflict in Syria, but we cannot allow such grievous violations of international law," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters.

"We successfully hit every target," she said. "The strikes were justified, legitimate and proportionate."

Pentagon officials said that 105 missiles had been fired in the strike at the three targets.

They said that the Syrians had shot 40 missiles into the air in response but mostly after the strike was complete - and that to the best of their knowledge no Syrian weapon had any effect on anything we did.

The Pentagon said that they believed Russia did not fire any missiles in response to the attack.

Officials said they were not aware of any casualties.

Ms White said they were "very confident" to have "significantly crippled" Assad's ability to produce chemical weapons.

This is about values. We did this because its intolerable for any civilised nation to tolerate the use of chemical weapons, she said.

Pentagon image showing air strikes on Syria

Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr, the director of joint staff, said he would pick three words to describe the attack: Precise, overwhelming and effective".

He said the US was ready for any military retaliation from Syria and its allies.

Were ready for it.  We're on the balls of our feet and were ready for anything," he said.

1:47PM

Images reportedly showing damage to the Barzah research facilities following the air strikes

Barzah

Satellite imagery from @planetlabs 3m resolution satellites show multiple buildings destroyed at Barzah scientific research centre, consistent with photographs of the area. Left, April 13th. Right, April 14th. https://t.co/QlMO9OGqhzpic.twitter.com/mk1VtJmkZe  Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) April 14, 2018

1:22PM

Donald Trump: 'Mission accomplished!'

A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There wont be anything, or anyone, even close!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018

Mr Trump is adopting a phrase that a previous president came to regret - "mission accomplished."

In May 2003, President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" - just six weeks after the invasion.

In this May 2, 2003 file photo, President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast Credit: AP

But the war dragged on for many years after that and the banner became a symbol of U.S. misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly conflict. Bush was heavily criticised for the move.

After shifting explanations, the White House eventually said the "Mission Accomplished" phrase referred to the carrier's crew completing its 10-month mission, not the military completing its mission in Iraq.

Bush, in October 2003, disavowed any connection with the "Mission Accomplished" message. He said the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesman later said the ship's crew asked for the sign and the White House staff had it made by a private vendor.

12:42PM

Corbyn says he wants proof of legal justification for air strikes

12:41PM

OPCW: fact-finding mission to Syria to go ahead this weekend

A global chemical warfare watchdog group says its fact-finding mission to Syria will go ahead even after the US-led airstrikes.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says in a statement that its team will stick to its plan to investigate last weekend's suspected poison gas attack in Douma.

The group says the mission "will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma."

Russia and Syria disagree with Western allies that gas was used by Assad's forces to suppress opposition close to Damascus in an April 7 attack.

12:15PM

Iran's supreme leader says Western attack on Syria a crime

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

"Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei said.

Iran - the dominant Shiite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States other Sunni Arab friends - has fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

11:46AM

Saudi says strikes on Syria retaliation for regime 'crimes'

Saudi Arabia on Saturday expressed its full support for US-led strikes on Syrian government military installations, saying they were a response to "regime crimes" against civilians.

"Saudi Arabia fully supports the strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain against Syria because they represent a response to the regime's crimes," a foreign ministry statement said.

The statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said the strikes were prompted by the "Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including women and children".

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have been key backers of Syrian opposition groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

11:41AM

Analysis: 'Western air strikes a painless way out of a tense spot for Vladimir Putin'

Alec Luhn reports from Moscow:

The Western strikes on Syria looked like a fairly painless way out of a tense spot for Vladimir Putin on Saturday, with Russia claiming minimal damage to its ally and no apparent danger of the situation spiraling out of control. Judging from reports in the Russian media this week, Moscow's most pressing concern in the run-up to the airstrikes was to obtain advance warning, including coordinates of targets, so that Russian troops would not suffer casualties and force it into an unpredictable escalation. Now that the French defence minister has said Paris and its allies warned Moscow in advance, it appears it received the information it wantedand passed it along to Damascus. Speaking to Al Jazeera, a Syrian official claimed that it had gotten early warning of the strike from the Russians and evacuated the military bases that were hit. At a briefing on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry couldn't resist a little boast, claiming that 71 of 103 missiles were intercepted, but insisted it was Soviet-made Syrian air defence systems, not Russian ones, that had come into direct conflict with the West. It claimed that Syrian troops and civilians had not borne any casualties, and damage to infrastructure was limited. Mr Putin condemned the strikes as expected, but his words were more tempered than some of the Kremlin's previous rhetoric on Syria. History will put everything in its place, he said in a statement, adding that Russia will call an urgent session of the United Nations security council to discuss the aggressive actions of the United States and its allies. Despite the more or less positive outcome for Russia, the defence ministry threatened to reconsider giving advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria and other allies in light of the strikes. Russia cancelled a shipment of such missiles under Western pressure in 2013.

10:52AM

China says Syrian strikes violate international law

China's foreign ministry has said that it believes a political settlement is the only way to resolve the Syrian issue and called for a full, fair and objective investigation into suspected chemical weapon attacks in Syria.

Hua Chunying, the ministry's spokeswoman, made the comments at a press conference according to a transcript posted on its website. US, British and French forces struck Syria with more than 100 missiles on Saturday in the first coordinated Western strikes against the Damascus government.

Hua said that China has consistently opposed the use of force in international relations and that any military action that bypassed the United Nations' Security Council violated the principles and basic norms of international law.

10:44AM

Cyprus says had no prior briefing of Syria strikes

Cyprus distanced itself on Saturday from Britain's air strikes on Syrian targets, saying it had no prior briefing or involvement in the action launched from a British sovereign air base on the Mediterranean island.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

"Cyprus did not have any participation in this operation and conditions of full security exist in our country," Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said in a statement.

"The Authorities of the Republic of Cyprus have been monitoring the situation from the first moment, however, Cyprus did not receive any prior briefing," he said.

Neither the airspace of Cyprus, or its flight information region - a huge swathe of eastern Mediterranean airspace - was used, he said.

"We hope that it will subsequently be possible for military operations to be avoided in Syria and that sources of danger in this neighboring country will be addressed with peaceful means and through dialogue."

Britain retains two sovereign bases in Cyprus, a colony until independence in 1960. There are about 3,100 British troops on the island.

A fighter jet prepares to land at RAF Akrotiri, a military base Britain maintains on Cyprus Credit: Reuters

10:39AM

France has 'solid intelligence' that Assad regime behind chemical attacks

Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, has now told BFM TV that France has solid intelligence that the Assad regime was behind the chemical weapons attacks and a large part of its chemical weapons arsenal has been destroyed, David Chazan reports from Paris.

Asked which chemical weapons were used in the attack that prompted the strikes, Mr le Drian said chlorine was certainly used and other substances were being analysed.

Mr Le Drian said the French president would go ahead with his visit to Moscow at the end of May as planned.

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes Credit: AP

10:20AM

EU meeting to be dominated by use of chemical weapons

Boris Johnson will meet with European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday at a meeting to dominated by the strikes on Syria, James Crisp reports from Brussels.

Through the weekend, British diplomats and ministers will be in touch with their EU counterparts to lay the groundwork for discussion over Friday night's air strikes. EU Ministers are expected to back language condemning the use of chemical weapons in the conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council.

Before the joint US-UK and French attack, London and Paris was pushing to toughen up the language of the draft joint statement, which will decry the use of chemical weapons and the greying of the international line against their use. Those efforts are continuing.

The debate among ministers will include discussion over the strike but also how to prevent the use of chemical weapons in the future and secure a ceasefire in Syria.

Mr Johnson can expect support from other EU member states such as Belgium and the Netherlands.

The meeting was always going to be important for Britain as it is the first Foreign Affairs Council after Theresa May secured EU support for condemning Russia for the Salisbury attack.

The Telegraph understands the conclusions will take a tougher line on Russia and Iran than the statement agreed by EU leaders on March 21.

This will not include sanctions at this stage but there is likely to be language stating that option remains on the table.

10:17AM

Russia may consider supplying S-300 missile systems to Syria

In response to the Western strikes, Russia is threatening to give Syria and other allies its advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles, Alec Luhn reports from Moscow.

Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi: A few years ago, considering the insistent requests of some of our Western partners, we decided not to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Considering what has happened, we think it's possible to once again consider this question, and not just for Syria, but other countries

S-300 long range surface-to-air missile systems seen during a rehearsal of a Victory Day military parade commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany Credit: Getty

10:00AM

Russia military says Syria air defence intercepted 71 of 103 cruise missiles

The Russian military has said that Western allies fired 103 cruise missiles including Tomahawk missiles at Syria but that Syrian air defence systems managed to intercept 71 of them.

"All together, 103 cruise missiles were deployed," senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi said at a briefing in Moscow. "Seventy-one cruise missiles were intercepted."

Russia's senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi sits bellow a map of Syria screened during a briefing at the Russian Defence Ministry headquarters in Moscow on April 14, 2018 Credit: AFP

9:53AM

Vladimir Putin condemns airstrikes on Syria

The Russian president condemned the overnight US-led missile attack on Syria and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the Kremlin has said.

Mr Putin said the US actions in Syria made the humanitarian catastrophe worse and caused pain for civilians, as well has damaging international relations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) welcomes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia November 20, 2017 Credit: Reuters

9:49AM

Germany's Merkel backs air strikes on Syria as 'necessary and appropriate'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed air strikes by the United States, France and Britain as a "necessary and appropriate" action to warn Syria against further use of chemical weapons.

"We support the fact that our American, British and French allies have taken responsibility in this way as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council," Merkel said. Merkel this week had said Germany would not take part in any military action against Syria.

9:30AM

Theresa May: UK 'confident' of success of strikes

The Prime Minister has said she is "confident" that the strikes succeeded in degrading Assad's ability to launch chemical weapons attacks and in deterring their future use. She said the strikes were and "limited and targeted" and not intended to spark further conflict.

The Prime Minister said the Douma attack had caused "harrowing" scenes of innocent civilians foaming at the mouth.

Mrs May said all the indications were that it was a chemical weapons attack and the Government was "clear" Bashar Assad's regime was responsible.

She said open source material showed barrel bombs had been used and a regime helicopter had been seen over Douma on April 7.

The PM added: "No other group could have carried out this attack."

9:09AM

Jeremy Corbyn: strikes are 'legally questionable'

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said the military action against Syria was "legally questionable" and makes real accountability for war crimes less likely.

Mr Corbyn said Britain should not be taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way.

Jeremy Corbyn said the military strikes in Syria were "legally questionable" Credit: REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

He said:

"Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace. This legally questionable action risks escalating further, as US defence secretary James Mattis has admitted, an already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less, not more likely. "Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way. "Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump. The Government should do whatever possible to push Russia and the United States to agree to an independent UN-led investigation of last weekend's horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account."

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, also said Mrs May should have gone to Parliament for a vote before launching strikes.

8:36AM

Defence secretary: strikes "highly successful"

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that last night's air strike against the Syrian regime was "a highly successful mission".

Speaking to presenter John Humphrys, he said: "The reason we have taken this action is because we all saw the images last week of the suffering that had been inflicted on innocent men, women and children, and there has been a need to act.

"That's why last night we deployed four Tornados armed with Storm Shadow cruise missiles. You will be pleased to hear all of those crews have returned safely and every early indication is that is has been a highly successful mission.

"This is something we have been in discussion with the US and French over the last few days but obviously the meeting of Cabinet is where this was properly discussed."

Mr Williamson said the service personnel involved in last night's attack have played "an important role in terms of degrading the Syrian regime in using chemical weapons in the future".

7:53AM

Regime lives to fight another day

The Syrian regime knew there was little it could do to stop the incoming barrage of Western missiles. But it also knew that the hours afterwards would be crucial in terms of reassuring its own base.

As well as posting a video of Assad going to work as normal, the regime has organised "spontaneous" demonstrations on the streets of Damascus. Soldiers and regime supporters paraded with the red-and-black Syrian government flag.

As expected, and in line with a long lasting Arab dictatorships tradition, the #Assad regime orchestrates popular festive gatherings in Damascus, at dawn, after and in defiance of #SyriaStrikes mocked as inefficient and useless. pic.twitter.com/UDeoqrAr0c  Joseph Bahout  (@jobahout) April 14, 2018

The message they are trying to send is clear: the regime is stable and it lives to fight another day.

7:41AM

Russia: Missiles intercepted by air defences

Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday that the majority of missiles fired during the overnight attack on Syria by US, British and French forces were intercepted by Syrian government air defence systems, TASS news agency reported.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has responded angrily to the strikes, while Syrian state media called them a "flagrant violation of international law."

More than 100 missiles were fired from ships and manned aircraft, and the allies struck three of Syria's main chemical weapons facilities, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford said.

According to Interfax news agency, Russia's defence ministry also said that Syria intercepted the US and allied attacks using Soviet-produced hardware, including the Buk missile system.

7:29AM

Assad off to work

Video has emerged apparently showing President Bashar al-Assad going to work as normal.

 ..



    pic.twitter.com/hhIZT6cOTe  Syrian Presidency (@Presidency_Sy) April 14, 2018

7:22AM

Reaction in Britain

UK forces have been engaged in "gesture bombing with no major international consensus", the Scottish National Party spokesman for defence said.

Stewart McDonald wrote on Twitter: "Most worrying, is that she has acted at the behest of presidential tweets and sidelined parliament.

"What does this new bombing campaign do to help move Syria towards peace? Nothing."

What does this new bombing campaign do to help move Syria towards peace? Nothing. Instead, it has the potential to dangerously complicate the war, making matters on the ground worse for the people that the strikes are supposed to help. There is no peace strategy.  Stewart McDonald MP (@StewartMcDonald) April 14, 2018

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he welcomed the military strikes on Syria.

Welcome the news of UK military strikes against major chemical weapons facilities in Syria alongside our US and French allies. The world is united in its disgust for any use of chemical weapons, but especially against civilians  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 14, 2018

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said questions remained about how peace can be brought to Syria.

Writing on Twitter, she said: "My first thoughts this morning are with service personnel called to action".

Air strikes have not resolved situation in Syria so far - nothing Ive heard persuades me they will do so now. An international strategy for peace must be pursued - not a course that risks dangerous escalation. UK foreign policy should be set by Parliament, not US President.  Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 14, 2018

6:47AM

MoD releases images of attack

The Ministry of Defence has released images and footage of the strike on a chemical weapons facility.

RAF Tornados launched Storm Shadow missiles at a regime chemical weapons facility fifteen miles west of Homs, Syria. See images and video here: https://t.co/uSI3loV6Q0pic.twitter.com/Rd85WLScSR  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 14, 2018

6:46AM

France: Russia was warned ahead of strikes

France's defence minister says its joint military operation with the US and Britain against Syria targeted three sites and that Russia was informed ahead of time.

Defence Minister Florence Parly told reporters on Saturday that the French military sent fighter jets from multiple bases in France and used missile-equipped frigates in the Mediterranean in the operation.

Decollage, cette nuit, des forces armees francaises qui interviennent contre larsenal chimique clandestin du regime syrien. Declaration du President de la Republique @EmmanuelMacron : https://t.co/HNSK0FmZIOpic.twitter.com/DEAW7R50aC  Elysee (@Elysee) April 14, 2018

She said strikes targeted the "main research center" for the Syrian chemical weapons program and "two important production sites."

She added that "with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the operation did not target Syria's allies or civilians but President Bashar Assad's government because of its alleged use of chemical weapons. Syria's government denies using them.

6:19AM

Syrians take to streets after attacks

Hundreds of Syrians are demonstrating in a landmark square of the Syrian capital, waving victory signs and honking their car horns in a show of defiance

Syrians wave Russian and Syrian flags during a protest against U.S.-led air strikes in Damascus Credit: Reuters

In Damascus, the president's seat of power, hundreds of residents gathered in Omayyad Square, many waving Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns.

"We are your men, Bashar," they shouted.

State TV broadcast live from the square where a large crowd of civilians mixed with men in uniforms, including an actor, lawmakers and other figures.

"Good morning steadfastness," one broadcaster said.

5:34AM

Democrats warn Trump over Syria

Mr Trump's announcement of airstrikes in Syria triggered swift warnings from opposition Democrats that any broader military campaign there would require a well-formulated strategic vision - and authorisation from Congress.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi led calls for the US president to map out a detailed plan and present it to Congress if he wants to expand military action.

"One night of air strikes is no substitute for a coherent strategy," Ms Pelosi said in a statement.

Mr Trump "must come to Congress to obtain a new AUMF (authorization for use of military force), present a clear set of objectives, & ultimately hold Putin accountable for the bloodshed he has enabled," she added, referring to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, the Syrian regime's most powerful ally.

.@realDonaldTrump must come to Congress to obtain a new AUMF, present a clear set of objectives, & ultimately hold Putin accountable for the bloodshed he has enabled. https://t.co/Mwdwbs289Xpic.twitter.com/9f3AB1SJnX  Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) April 14, 2018

US military forces have largely been operating under AUMFs passed by Congress shortly after the 9/11 attacks to conduct operations against extremist groups like the Islamic State, including in Syria.

Some Democrats like Senator Tim Kaine, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2016, said although last week's deadly apparent chemical attack was an abomination, Trump's air strikes were illegal.

"The last thing Congress should be doing is giving this president a blank check to wage war against anyone, anywhere. We need to put clear limits in place before he starts another war," said Kaine.

"Today, it's a strike on Syria - what's going to stop him from bombing Iran or North Korea next?"

5:05AM

Western allies back strikes

International reaction has started coming in, with Western allies backing the military action.

The head of NATO expressed his support for strikes in Syria after bombings targeting Bashar al-Assad's regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack.

"I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France... This will reduce the regime's ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons," Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau also backed the strikes.

Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom and France to take action against the Assad regimes ability to launch chemical weapons attacks. Statement: https://t.co/P5jkVJPriv  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 14, 2018

4:47AM

David Miliband responds

David Miliband, CEO of the International Rescue Committee, has issued this response to the strikes.

Now that the US, France and the UK have decided on their reaction to the use of chemical weapons last weekend, the need for a diplomatic offensive is more imperative than ever. Military action is only ever successful when it is part of a political strategy, for peace-making, humanitarian aid and regional security. Bombing cannot substitute for diplomacy, military reactions a substitute for a peace plan. Syrian civilians need urgent humanitarian aid to relieve poverty, Syrias neighbors need support for the refugees they are housing.

4:35AM

Trump 'can be called Adolf Hitler'

A highly placed Russian politician is likening President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler after the launch of airstrikes against Syria, and says he regards the action as a move against Russia.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, says Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time - because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union."

That's according to state news agency RIA-Novosti. The Nazi forces' opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4 a.m.

4:13AM

Syria's response

Syrian state media has slammed Western strikes as illegal and "doomed to fail".

"The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail," said state news agency SANA.

State media published images of a cloud of reddish smoke hanging over the capital and said that air defences were activated to block the attack.

Smoke rises after airstrikes targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus Credit: AP

SANA reported the joint operation hit a research centre northeast of the capital as well as other military installations around Damascus, but said missiles targeting army depots in Homs had been intercepted.

It said skies were clear over Aleppo in the north, Hasakeh in the northeast, and Latakia and Tartus along the western coast, where key Syrian and Russian military installations are located.

3:57AM

Details of US strikes

The US Pentagon announced that three sites used by the Syrian regime for the research, development and deployment of chemical weapons had been targeted, writes Ben Riley-Smith.

One target was a scientific facility in the greater Damascus area which had been involved in researching and testing chemical weapons.

Two targets were near the city of Homs. Both were chemical weapons storage facilities, one had also been used as a command post.

The Damascus sky lights up with service to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria Credit: AP

The sites had been chosen to minimise civilian casualties and avoid Russian troops stationed on the ground in the country. James Mattis, the US defence secretary, announced that the strike was a one-time attack designed to deter Assad from using chemical weapons again.

He said that the strikes were over during the briefing, meaning at most the attack lasted around an hour and 10 minutes. Mr Mattis said that twice as many missiles were used than last years US attack on a Syrian regime airfield, meaning more than 100 missiles were fired. Russia was not warned before the air strikes were launched and there was no explicit coordination over the attack, a Pentagon official said.

An explosion on the outskirts of Damascus Credit: AFP

A US-Russia deconfliction line to avoid crashes over Syrian airspace was used, the official said, but he stressed it is used most days. The Pentagon also confirmed that Syria had used surface-to-air missiles to counter the attack.

Mr Mattis said: "Right now, this is a one-time shot, and I believe it has sent a very strong message to dissuade [Assad], to deter him from doing this again." It is unclear how that comment matches with Mr Trumps earlier statement that the US was prepared to sustain pressure on the Assad regime.

US media have also reported that the US Congress was notified just minutes before the attack was launched. Mr Mattis also said that the Trump administration was confident chlorine had been used in the original Douma attack, but said they were not sure that Sarin gas had been used.

3:46AM

Russia responds angrily

Russia's embassy in the US has issued its response to the airstrikes, saying "such actions will not be left without consequences".

Statement by the Ambassador Antonov on the strikes on #Syria:

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. pic.twitter.com/QEmWEffUzx  Russia in USA  (@RusEmbUSA) April 14, 2018

3:18AM

First wave of strikes over

The Pentagon has said the first wave of airstrikes are over.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said no additional strikes on Syria were planned:

"Right now this is a one-time shot", he saud, adding there were "no reports of losses" on the part of the US and its allies.

He called on the international community to "urgently" unite and bring an end to Syria's civil war.

"It is time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations backed Geneva peace process," Mattis said.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis on strikes in Syria: Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year. This time, our allies and we have struck harder. Together, we have sent a clear message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants https://t.co/PnsXoooAMC  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 14, 2018

3:12AM

Williamson describes strikes as 'legal and proportionate military force'

Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, has issued a statement.

"The reprehensible use of chemical weapons in Douma is further evidence of the Syrian regimes appalling cruelty against its own people. We will not stand by whilst innocent civilians, including women and children, are killed and made to suffer. "The international community has responded decisively with legal and proportionate military force. Let these united actions send a clear message to the regime  the use of chemical weapons is categorically unacceptable and you will be held to account."

British forces joined Allies in a precision strike on Syrian installations involved in the regimes use of chemical weapons against its own people. Read more: https://t.co/Pf7HxIG1UXpic.twitter.com/5kx3xshZLA  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 14, 2018

2:58AM

Blasts in Damascus

Several huge explosions have been heard in Syria's capital.

Consecutive blasts were heard at 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT), followed by the sound of airplanes overhead. Smoke could be seen emerging from the northern and eastern edges of the capital.

Syrian state television simultaneously reported a US attack on Syria, in coordination with France and Britain.

"Syrian air defence blocks American, British, French aggression on Syria," state television said.

Footage from #Damascus shows air defence missiles being launched. Location not specified. #SyriaStrikespic.twitter.com/EqTUYBeNq0  Riam Dalati (@Dalatrm) April 14, 2018

2:55AM

Details of airstrikes

The Ministry of Defence [MOD] revealed some details of UK involvement in the strikes in a statement released 45 minutes after Mr Trump addressed the nation spoke.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s launched Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility and former missile base some 15 miles west of Homs.

An MoD spokesman said the Syrian regime "is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors stockpiled" at the facility, breaching the Chemical Weapons Convention. The spokesman added:

"Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area. "The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk."

2:54AM

Macron issues statement

French President Emmanuel Macron said late on Friday that France had joined the US and Britain in an ongoing operation against Syria with strikes to target "the capacities of the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons".

"We cannot tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons," he said in a statement.

2:23AM

Statement from the prime minister

Theresa May has issued a statement on the Syrian airstrikes.

Here it is in full.

This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regimes chemical weapons capability and deter their use.

We are acting together with our American and French allies. In Douma, last Saturday a chemical weapons attack killed up to 75 people, including young children, in circumstances of pure horror.

The fact of this attack should surprise no-one. The Syrian Regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most cruel and abhorrent way. And a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack.

This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped  not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons.

We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this. But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted. Even this week the Russians vetoed a Resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack.

So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime. This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

And while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian Regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity. At this time, my thoughts are with our brave British servicemen and women  and our French and American partners  who are carrying out their duty with the greatest professionalism.

The speed with which we are acting is essential in co-operating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations. This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat  and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.

I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britains national interest. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world. We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none.

History teaches us that the international community must defend the global rules and standards that keep us all safe. That is what our country has always done. And what we will continue to do.

2:11AM

A 'sustained' response

Mr Trump said U.S., allies were prepared for a "sustained" response until Syrian government stops use of chemical weapons.

He added that the strikes were a 'direct result' of Russia's failure to keep Syria's Assad from using chemical weapons.

2:04AM

Trump has ordered strikes

Donald Trump has announced he has ordered military action against Syria, in co-ordination with Britain and France.

1:59AM

Trump 'approves military action'

US media outlets are reporting that Trump has approved air strikes against Syria.

President Trump has approved U.S. military strikes in Syria: administration official  Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) April 14, 2018

1:54AM

Trump set to make statement

The New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump is set to make an announcement about Syria in about 10 minutes from the White House.Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) - The United States, France and Britain launched retaliatory strikes on the Syrian regime early Saturday, a week after an alleged chemical attack on an ex-rebel town, despite warnings from Russia.

Here is a recap of a week of high-stakes international drama:

- 'Toxic gas' -

On April 7 the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and Syria's White Helmets rescue force jointly say more than 40 people have died in a "poisonous chlorine gas attack" in Douma, the last opposition-held town in Eastern Ghouta near the capital.

Blaming the government, they say there are "more than 500 cases" of people with "symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, does not confirm a chemical attack. It reports however at least 70 cases of respiratory difficulties among civilians after regime air strikes, saying 11 people had died.

The regime and its key ally Russia deny any chemical attack.

- 'Big price to pay' -

The following day, US President Donald Trump tweets that there will be a "big price to pay" after a "mindless CHEMICAL attack".

Moscow warns Washington against carrying out a "military intervention on fabricated pretexts" which "could have the most dire consequences".

- Military alert -

On April 9, US ambassador at the UN, Nikki Haley, says Washington is determined to "see the monster who dropped chemical weapons on the Syrian people is held to account".

The USS Donald Cook -- a guided-missile destroyer -- leaves Cyprus, moving within easy striking range of Syria.

On April 10, the Syrian army puts its airports and military bases on alert, the Observatory reports.

The global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, announces a fact-finding mission to Douma.

- Missiles 'coming' -

On April 11, Trump tells Moscow to be prepared for a retaliatory missile strike. "Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart!" he says on Twitter.

Story continues

But the White House says later that no final decisions on a response have been made.

The Russian defence ministry dismisses footage of attack victims as "yet another fake" and a staged "provocation" to justify Western intervention.

- Ghouta retaken -

On April 12, Russia announces the whole of Ghouta is all but under pro-regime control as more rebel fighters leave Douma.

"Of course, the chemical attack is what pushed us to agree" to a withdrawal, a top rebel official tells AFP.

President Emmanuel Macron says France has "proof" the Syrian regime used chemical weapons and would respond.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls Macron on April 13 to warn against any "dangerous actions" with "unpredictable consequences", the Kremlin says.

- 'Staged by London' -

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has "irrefutable" evidence the alleged attack was staged as part of a "Russophobic campaign".

The Russian military points the finger at London.

At the Security Council, UN chief Antonio Guterres warns the spiralling tensions could lead to a "full-blown military escalation".

- Strikes launched -

Several consecutive blasts are heard in Damascus at 4 am (0100 GMT), with airplanes overhead and smoke rising from certain areas, an AFP correspondent says.

At the same time Trump announces he has "ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad."

Britain and France confirm their participation and their allies line up behind the action.

More than 100 cruise missiles were fired, a significant number of which were intercepted by Syrian defences, Russia's defence ministry says.

There were no victims among the Syrian civilians or military, it says.

Syria's government denounces the strikes as "barbaric" and Iran warns of "regional consequences".

Russia calls for an emergency session of the UN Security Council.Russia has warned of consequences for the US-led military strikes on its ally Syria, saying the strikes on chemical weapons assets were an insult to Vladimir Putin.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

He added: Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible. The US  the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons  has no moral right to blame other countries.

RUSSIA warns of consequences for Syria strikes.



Anatoly Antonov, Russian ambassador to U.S., says:



We are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.  Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 14, 2018

Since it entered the Syrian war on the side of Bashar al-Assad, the Russian leader has been crucial to the survival of Syrias president. Barely two years ago, it seemed that Mr Assads survival was under threat, as his forces were stretched thin by anti-government rebels and Isis fighters.

Russias provision of troops and air support, has meant Mr Assads forces have been able to regain control of large swathes of the country, undermining the energy of rebels who believed he was on the way out.

Mr Putin has repeatedly denied that Syria has used chemical weapons in its battle against anti-government forces.

This week, Russias military says its personnel in the Syrian city allegedly hit by a chemical weapons attack had not found evidence to support the claim, the Associated Press said.

Maj Gen Yuri Yevtushenko, head of the Russian centre for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria, said on Friday: According to the results of a survey of witnesses, studying samples and investigating locations undertaken by Russian specialists and medical personnel in the city of Douma, where chemical weapons purportedly were used, the use of poisonous substances was not shown.

Story continues

Russias UN Ambassador said on Friday the United States appeared to have adopted a policy to unleash a military scenario against Syria, saying Moscow continues to observe dangerous military preparations.

Vassily Nebenzia told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday that bellicose rhetoric is being ratcheted up at all levels, including at the highest levels.

He said these developments cannot be tolerated and are fraught with grave repercussions for global security.The US military has revealed the three-nation stake on Syria targeting alleged chemicals assets is over for now  declaring right now this is a one-time shot.

Defence Secretary James Mattis said the US, UK and France had acted together, having determined that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons against civilians a week ago. He said it would depend on Mr Assad if there were further strikes.

Right now this is a one-time shot, he told a briefing on Friday night at the Pentagon.

Decollage, cette nuit, des forces armees francaises qui interviennent contre larsenal chimique clandestin du regime syrien. Declaration du President de la Republique @EmmanuelMacron : https://t.co/HNSK0FmZIO pic.twitter.com/DEAW7R50aC  Elysee (@Elysee) April 14, 2018

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, said the targets included a Syrian research facility, a chemical weapons storage facility and a command post. The first of these was located in Damascus, the first time that the US had struck close to the capital.

Asked whether the US and its allies was planning further attacks, Mr Mattis said: That depends open Assad.

The Defence Secretary said he was certain the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons in an attack on civilians, something that Mr Assad and its Russian allies have denied.

He said the US was still investigating what sort of chemical weapons had been used. We are aware of one of the chemical agents that was used, but further assessments were continuing.

While it was reported that Russian forces were not warned in advance of the strike, he said that usual deescalation communications did go ahead, the process Moscow and Washington use to avoid unintentional attacks on each others forces, or accidental clashes or their aircraft.

Story continues

The strikes were the biggest intervention by Western powers against Mr Assad in the countrys seven-year-old civil war and pitted the United States and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Mr Assad.

In a statement US President Donald Trump said the intention of the strikes was to degrade the capability of Syria to produce and use such weapons. He and British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was no desire to push for regime change, something that would be of comfort to those concerned about the US and UK getting more deeply involved in Syria.

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, Mr Trump said in a televised statement.

A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking of Mr Assad and his suspected role in last weeks chemical weapons attack, Mr Trump said: These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.

Reuters quoted a US official as saying the strikes were aimed at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian air defenses shot down 13 missiles fired in a U.S.-led attack on the country on Saturday, Syrian state TV said. It said the missiles had been shot down in the Kiswah area south of Damascus, the capital. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a total of three scientific research centers had been hit in the attacks - two in Damascus and one in the Homs area - in addition to military bases in Damascus. The Observatory said all the bases and facilities struck in the attack had been evacuated by the Syrian government earlier this week. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's army command on Saturday announced that the eastern Ghouta region was free of militants, following the departure of the last rebel fighters from the city of Douma towards the north of the country, state media reported, citing a statement by the Syrian army general command. "All the terrorists have left Douma city, their last bastion in eastern Ghouta," the statement said. On Sunday, the Jaish al-Islam rebel group, which had controlled the city, reached an agreement with the government and its Russian military allies to leave the city shortly after an alleged chemical attack on April 7 that killed dozens of civilians. The attack prompted a joint military operation by the United States, Britain and France that targeted several facilities near Damascus and the city of Homs on Saturday. Buses carrying rebels and their families and civilians who did not wish to stay in Douma under President Bashar al-Assad's rule have left the city in batches over the past few days to travel to opposition-held areas in northern Syria, near the border with Turkey. The government forces launched their offensive against eastern Ghouta in February, backed by Russian firepower. The Syrian Observatory for Human rights, a British-based war monitoring group, says the campaign killed more than 1,600 civilians. The conquest of Douma underlines how Russia's entry into the fray in 2015 on Assad's side has now helped him to an unassailable position in a conflict that mushroomed out of protests against his rule seven years ago. (Reporting by Dahlia Nehme; Editing by Kevin Liffey)By Tom Perry and Ellen Francis BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian opposition said Western strikes on Saturday would not change the course of the seven-year-old war as the army said it would crush remaining rebel parts of the country. The missiles by the United States, Britain, and France targeted President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capabilities in response to a deadly poison gas attack near Damascus a week ago, Washington said. But rebels and opposition politicians said the Western powers should also hit Assad's conventional weapons which have killed many more people during the war. Some insurgent officials said they feared an onslaught against the rebel bastion of Idlib, which a senior Iranian official has indicated could be the next target. "Maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons again, but it will not hesitate to use weapons," opposition leader Nasr al-Hariri said. A rebel fighter said he was bracing for further attacks as "revenge" by the government with its allies on rebel territory in the northwest, including the Idlib region. "More was expected from the American strike to affect the path of the war and to curb Assad's crimes," he told Reuters from Hama province. Damascus and its allies have said reports about poison gas in Douma were fabricated as a pretext for Western strikes. After the suspected gas attack, which medical relief groups said killed dozens, rebels holed up in Douma finally surrendered the town. That clinched a big victory for Assad, wiping out the last insurgent pocket in the eastern Ghouta region near the capital. The war has been going Assad's way since Russia intervened on his side in 2015. From holding less than a fifth of Syria in 2015, Assad has recovered to control the largest chunk of the country with Russian and Iranian help. Mohamad Alloush, political chief of the Jaish al-Islam faction that had controlled Douma, said the Western strikes on Saturday would not be enough. "As long as this regime and its security agencies exist, the chemical (attacks) will continue because there is safety from the consequences that would end it," he said. "And (Assad) is portraying what happened as a victory." The Syrian presidency posted a video appearing to show Assad arriving for work on Saturday morning a few hours after the U.S.-led attack, dressed in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase. Though swathes of Syria remain beyond his grasp, the insurgency currently poses no military threat to his rule. The opposition has praised President Donald Trump for taking action against Assad after criticizing former U.S. President Barack Obama for failing to enforce his own red line when Assad was accused of using gas in 2013. But they want more. "The strike has weakened the regime, but has not strengthened the opposition," said another rebel commander. Trump last year decided to halt a CIA program that had funneled weapons and cash to some Free Syrian Army rebels. "LIBERATING IDLIB" Having driven rebels from eastern Ghouta, Assad and his allies are expected to soon retake the last few insurgent pockets around Damascus and nearby. The bigger challenge will be rebel territory at the frontiers with Turkey, Jordan and Israel, and the swathe of eastern and northern Syria which Kurdish-led militias control with support from the United States. Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, on a visit to Damascus this week, said he hoped Syria and its allies would soon drive U.S. troops from the country. He also said he hoped the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria would be captured from rebels very soon. The Syrian army said air defense systems brought down most of the U.S., British and French missiles. "Such attacks will not deter our armed forces and allied forces from persisting to crush what is left of the armed terrorist groups," the military said. The foreign ministry said the Western strikes would only "lead to inflaming tensions in the world" and threaten international security. "The barbaric aggression...will not affect in any way the determination and insistence of the Syrian people and their heroic armed forces," state media said, citing a ministry source. (Reporting by Ellen Francis and Tom Perry; editing by Angus MacSwan)Voters could soon decide on whether California should be split into three states this November after a proposal to divide the Golden State received enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Venture Capitalist Tim Draper, who launched the initiative dubbed "CAL 3," said his petition has surpassed more than 600,000 signatures and will be submitted to election officials next week.

The bid reached nearly double the 365,880 signatures required (five percent of the total votes cast in California in the 2014 midterm elections).

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GettyImages-483022680

Frederick M. Brown/Getty

Draper said in a press statement that the petition's success signaled an "unprecedented show of support on behalf of every corner of California to create three state governments that emphasize representation, responsiveness, reliability and regional identity."

Draper, the founding partner of Draper Associates and venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), was once listed as Harvard's 46th most "outstanding" alumni. He served on California's State Board of Education from 1998 to 1999 and launched a non-profit for children to learn about business and entrepreneurship called BizWorld in 1994.

His proposal calls for California to be split into three new states to be named by their residents. The central state would include Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura, among other cities, while a southern state would include Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Fresno and others. The remaining 40 counties would be grouped into a northern state.

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cal

CAL 3

The CAL 3 initiative, which is not related to "Calexit," the movement in favor of California seceding from the U.S., aims to solve the state's "most pressing issues, including the state's failing school systems that impact more than 6 million kids, highest-in-the-nation taxes, deteriorating infrastructure and strained government," according to Draper's press statement.

Story continues

Its supporters believe partitioning California into three states would allow regional communities to make "better, fairer and more sensible decisions for their citizens," it states.

Read more: What Is Calexit? New California Independence Movement Willing to Negotiate With Trump

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However, longtime Democratic Party political consultant Steven Maviglio, who helped lead the effort to oppose a 2014 initiative from Draper to split California into six states, told ABC News: "Splitting California into three and creating three new governments does nothing to solve our states challenges other than tripling them.

If Draper's measure is supported by voters in November, it will then need to be approved by Congress in order to be enacted.

If it is approved by the federal government and allowed by courts, all tax collections and spending by California would come to an end, a summary of the measure prepared by Attorney General of California Xavier Becerra states.

The Golden State's existing assets and liabilities would be divided among the three new states and the states would be left to make their own decisions about state and local taxes and spending.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekA 15-year-old from Canada will be one of the lucky guests attending Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys wedding as an acknowledgement to her charitable impact on the world.

Faith Dickinson, of Peterborough, Ontario, will be one of seven philanthropic teens representing The Diana Award at the royal wedding on May 19.

She received the award for her non-profit Cuddles for Charity last year at St. Jamess Palace in London, where she was also named the Legacy Award winner.

"Prince William told me I was just doing such an amazing thing," Faith told CBC News last year. "And Prince Harry told me that I was the most impressive redhead there tonight."

Faith started her organization when she was just 9 years old, after her aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. She recalled her aunt telling her how cold she was when receiving treatments and ever since, Faith dedicated herself to making fleece blankets to distribute to cancer patients around the world.

She also launched a second project, where she sends blankets out to soldiers overseas who are suffering from injuries or PTSD.

Ever since the projects conception, she created more than 3,500 personalized blankets and raised more than $30,000 to pay for fleece and delivery fees.

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Related Articles:In what Michigan police are calling a "disgusting" incident, a 14-year-old boy from Rochester Hills was walking to school on Thursday morning when he was fired upon after approaching a house to ask for help with directions.

According to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, Brennan Walker overslept Thursday morning and missed his usual bus to school. The teen, whose mother confiscated his cellphone, was without directions and attempted to walk the bus route through a sprawling subdivision.

After getting lost, he knocked on the door of a nearby home, police said. A woman allegedly answered and immediately began accusing Walker of trying to break into her home. She then called over her husband, who chased the boy into the street, shooting at him, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told Newsweek.

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Police have yet to release the man's identity. Before firing the weapon, he struggled with the gun's safety, giving the teen time to run away.

Bouchard told Newsweek he reviewed security footage that confirmed Walker's account. After police arrived at the scene, the man was taken into custody, pending criminal charges.

"There can be no world where this behavior is acceptable," Bouchard said. "You had a young man who was walking to school, didn't have a cellphone, got lost, and was trying to go through a subdivision to shorten the 3- to 4-mile walk and got turned around. And he was shot at."

Bouchard said his initial reaction after hearing the case was "disgust" and "anger." When asked if he believed race had anything to do with the shooting, Bouchard said it "certainly draws that into question." Walker is black, and about 80 percent of residents in Rochester Hills are white, according to census data.

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"It loses all sense and any rationality when [the man] exits the home, sees a young kid running away who poses no threat and still shoots," Bouchard said.

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Walker and his mother told Detroit's Fox affiliate that they think race was a factor in the incident.

"After watching the video and hearing the wife say, 'Why did these people choose my house?' I knew it was racially motivated," Lisa Walker told the station. "I don't know what other 'these people' she could possibly have been talking about. He was by himself."

Her son, meanwhile, said he feels lucky to be alive.

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"My mom says that black boys get shot because sometimes they don't look their age, and I don't look my age. I'm 14; but I don't look 14. I'm kind of happy that, like, I didn't become a statistic," he said.

Tremaine Phillips, who grew up only a few miles from the Walker family and took a similar bus route every day, told Newsweek that the incident makes him worry for his children. He said it immediately reminded him of the shooting deaths of Renisha McBride and Jonathan Ferrell, who both were shot dead when they approached homes after getting into car accidents in Michigan and North Carolina, respectively.

"It doesn't surprise me that an incident like this could happen in the Rochester area," Phillips said. "Frankly, I don't think any part of our country is immune to gun violence and racial bias."

Phillips said he'll be warning his daughter about asking for directions when she grows older, just to be safe.

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Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBudapest (Hungary) (AFP) - Many tens of thousands of Hungarians protested in Budapest on Saturday against newly re-elected Prime Minister Viktor Orban, accusing him of rigging last weekend's vote, AFP reporters said.

The crowd marched through the centre of the Hungarian capital to the parliament where they were due to hold a rally under the motto "We are the majority".

"We want to live in a state of law, where checks and balances are present.. We want to live in a real democracy," said protest organiser Viktor Gyetvai, 20, a student.

"If the demands are not met then we cannot live in this country, this is our last chance to do something for this country," he told AFP.

Around 100,000 people took part in the march, according to an AFP reporter.

Orban's resounding win handing him a third consecutive term has been disputed by civil society groups and opposition parties, who say Orban does not represent the majority of Hungarians.

OSCE observers sharply criticised the election as being marked by "intimidating and xenophobic rhetoric, media bias and opaque campaign financing".

There was also "a pervasive overlap of state and ruling party resources," the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said in a report rejected by Orban's ruling party Fidesz.

Orban, 54, has been in power since 2010 and according to critics has curbed judicial independence, muzzled the press and rigged the electoral system.

Campaigning hard against the "poison" of immigration, Orban looks to have retained last Sunday his two-thirds majority in parliament, giving him a legislative free rein.

With 99 percent of votes counted, Fidesz won around 50 percent of the vote, far ahead of the nationalist Jobbik party (19 percent) and a Socialist-led centre-left alliance (12 percent).

Alleged irregularities at some polling stations last Sunday as well as an IT system outage at the National Elections Office have prompted some opposition parties to demand a recount.

Protest organisers, mainly students who have led a series of demos this year, want a recount, a non-partisan public media service, fresh elections and for the opposition to unite.Evidently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk doesnt think very much of The Economist.

Tesla stock spiked 2% after Musk blasted out a snarky tweet at the business publication early Friday morning, predicting a profitable, cash flow positive Tesla in the second half of 2018. The mini-spat was set off by a story The Economist tweeted out, citing investment bank Jeffries prediction that Tesla would have to raise $2.5 to $3 billion this year.

The Economist used to be boring, but smart with a wicked dry wit. Now its just boring (sigh). Tesla will be profitable & cash flow+ in Q3 & Q4, so obv no need to raise money, wrote Musk in his tweet.

The Economist used to be boring, but smart with a wicked dry wit. Now its just boring (sigh). Tesla will be profitable & cash flow+ in Q3 & Q4, so obv no need to raise money.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2018

Whether or not Musks bullishness is warranted is an open question. Tesla is carrying a heavy debt burden, fueled in part by its costly acquisition of SolarCity, a purchase that came with a $2.9 billion debt load. Tesla is also burning through piles of cash as it attempts to land its production targets for the Model 3 electric sedan (the automaker portion of Tesla holds the majority of its debt).

Tesla shipped about 4,360 units of the Model 3, meant to be its mass market darling, from January through February. The company missed its Model 3 guidance for 2017.The U.S. special counsel in the Russia probe has evidence that President Donald Trumps personal lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague in 2016, refuting Cohens claim that he never visited the Czech capital and bolstering an intelligence dossier that first described the trip, McClatchy reported on Friday.

Investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller have evidence that Cohen entered the Czech Republic through Germany in late summer 2016, McClatchy reported, citing two unnamed sources.

Germany and the Czech Republic are part of the 26 nation Schengen Area of European nations that operate with open borders.

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The news agency said it was unclear whether Muellers investigators have evidence that Cohen met with a prominent Russian as the dossier claimed.

04_11_18_CohenCNN

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Mueller is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Russia has denied meddling in the election and Trump has said there was no collusion.

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The special counsel and an attorney for Cohen did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. Cohen has vehemently denied for months he traveled to Prague in 2016 or colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.

"I have never been to Prague in my life," he tweeted in January, 2017, with a photograph of his U.S. passport.

The dossier by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele alleged that Cohen met with Russians closely allied to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Cohens New York office and home this week, partly based on a referral from Mueller.

They were seeking information on payments made by Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels, who has said she had sex with Trump in 2006, a person familiar with the matter said.

Investigators have also looked for a possible broader pattern of fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and other crimes in Cohens private dealings, including his work for Trump and real estate purchased by Russian buyers.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekNEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Cohen, an attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump, has been under criminal investigation for months, federal prosecutors disclosed in a filing in Manhattan federal court in Friday. Prosecutors said the investigation focuses on Cohen's "own business dealings" rather than his work as an attorney. The filing came in response to Cohen's effort to block prosecutors from reviewing documents seized in searches of his home and office on Monday. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Susan Thomas)YouTube/NOLA.com

One of Donald Trumps federal judicial nominees has failed to say she supports the landmark US Supreme Court ruling that outlawed racial segregation in schools.

Wendy Vitter, Mr Trumps nominee for the US District Court for Eastern District of Louisiana, dodged questions about the historic Brown v Board ruling during her confirmation hearing.

I dont mean to be coy, but I think I get into a difficult area when I start commenting on Supreme Court decisions, which are correctly decided and which I may disagree with, she said, when asked whether she thought the ruling had been decided correctly.

She added that she would set aside her personal, political or religious views if confirmed, and would of course uphold the ruling. The decision has been the law of the land since 1954, when the Supreme Court ruled that establishing separate but equal schools for black and white students was unconstitutional.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, seemingly dumbfounded, asked Ms Vitter again if she thought the ruling had been correctly decided.

"I would respectfully not comment on what could be my boss ruling, the Supreme Court, she said. I would be bound by it. And if I start commenting on, I agree with this case, or dont agree with this case, I think we get into a slippery slope.

WATCH: During her confirmation hearing this morning (yes, this morning  in 2018), judicial nominee Wendy Vitter refused to say whether she agreed with the result in Brown v. Board of Education. #UnfitToJudge pic.twitter.com/RWroh0XUIC  The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) April 11, 2018

Ms Vitter is a New Orleans-based attorney who serves as the general counsel of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans. She is married to former Louisiana Senator David Vitter, who was involved in a 2007 scandal concerning a Washington prostitution ring.

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Ms Vitter was also questioned on Wednesday about some of her past comments on abortion. In a May 2013 speech protesting a new Planned Parenthood clinic in New Orleans, Ms Vitter claimed the womens health clinic kill[s] over 150,000 females a year.

In her hearing, Ms Vitter confirmed she was referring to foetuses at the time, but declined to say that she stood by the claim.

My pro-life stance has been very clear, she told Mr Blumenthal. I have been very upfront with this committee about my views and about how serious I take it, and that I would set aside any personal or religious views if I were to be confirmed.

Her comments were a source of particular interest, as Vice News revealed she had failed to disclose this speech  and many other pro-life speeches  to the Senate Judiciary Committee before her hearing.

Asked if she had purposefully omitted these speeches in order to avoid tough questions, Ms Vitter responded: "My life has been an open book. It was always my intent to provide this committee with a full background and explanation of both my personal and professional life."

Ms Vitters confirmation requires only 51 votes in the Senate, meaning Republicans could easily approve her if none deviate from the party line.Only President Donald Trump knows for sure if he has decided to fire special counsel Robert Mueller or senior staffers at the U.S. Department of Justice.

But White House aides and members of Congress, responding to the presidents angry tweets and to on-the-record statements by his spokespeople, are scrambling to prepare themselves for the possibility, and its fallout.

Asked about fresh investigative steps by U.S. law enforcement agents against the Presidents personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders on Friday said, The presidents been clear that he has a deep concern about the direction the special counsel has taken.

She declined to say whether Trump intended to fire Mueller or his immediate superior, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Trump himself has sent mixed signals. In a tweet on Wednesday, the President called Muellers investigation Fake & Corrupt and said the special counsel was the most conflicted of all. But on Thursday he tweeted what sounded like an endorsement of the approach advocated by his lawyers of maintaining a cooperative, disciplined approach to engagement with Muellers investigation.

I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!). I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2018

The uncertainty has some at the White House hoping that the crisis that would follow a firing of the special counsel or others at Justice might be averted. Im not anticipating that, legislative affairs director Marc Short told TIME Friday when asked about the prospect of Trump firing Mueller or top Justice Department officials any time soon.

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And some members of Congress appear to be trying to talk the president down from any dramatic moves. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley have said that firing Mueller or Rosenstein would be very damaging for the president. In response to a question from TIME Friday, Sanders said that Trump speaks with lawmakers regularly and would continue consulting with them on the Mueller investigation and other issues.

At the Capitol, members of Congress are nevertheless coming up with action plans for how to respond to any Trump firings, including advancing legislation to protect Mueller.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is moving forward a bipartisan bill, co-authored by Graham and fellow Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey, that is a combination of two prior legislative efforts to safeguard the special counsel. The new bill would codify existing Justice Department regulations saying that the special counsel can only be fired by a senior Justice Department official for good cause, and would add a 10-day window during which Mueller could appeal his firing to a panel of judges to determine whether the good cause standard was met.

Staffers for both Booker and Coons, the two Democratic sponsors, note the judicial review window as one of the key aspects of the bill. We think it makes sense to spell out what happens next, says an aide to Coons. Because there will be a lot of uncertainty and frankly panic in the country if something like that were to happen, and that doesnt serve anyones interest.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday the consequences of firing Mr. Rosenstein, Mr. Mueller, or issuing political pardons would be dire for our democracy. The New York Democrat applauded the bill and said, We in Congress have that power to prevent that constitutional crisis and to do it right away. We have the power to protect the Special Counsels investigation.

But even among those who want to protect Muellers probe, there is distrust.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who said this week it would be suicide for Trump to try to fire Mueller, has pushed to bring the bipartisan bill before his committee. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the committees top Democrat, has slowed it down over concerns about an amendment Grassley wants to add. The amendment, which as of Friday Democrats havent seen, would require reports be submitted to Congress at major junctures in the investigation, according to a Republican Judiciary Committee aide, including if the investigation changes scope or in advance of the firing the special counsel.

What that does is it allows Congress to exercise its constitutional oversight authorities; [its] just a general check and balance process to ensure that we are well informed of whats going on, says the aide. It is a way, the aide says, to ensure theres a good justification for whatever is being done.

Democrats fret that Grassleys amendment could be too broad, requiring regular updates to Congress on the investigations progress in a way that would hinder it rather than provide oversight. Im worried about an amendment we havent been able to review that could undermine the investigation, Feinstein said in a statement Thursday.

Shes worried that more information to Congress would be not good? the Republican judiciary aide asks incredulously. I would think that people on both sides of the aisle in Congress would want more information rather than less about decisions made in the course of the investigation.

Some senators also have constitutional concerns about the bill limiting the Presidents authority to fire executive branch officials, concerns that Grassley has recognized.

For all that, even as Grassley brings the bill to his committee next week, theres broad recognition that it has a slim chance of passage. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who would make the decision to bring it to a vote by the full Senate, said this week he hasnt seen a clear indication yet that a bill like this is necessary. And in the end, absent a veto-proof supermajority in the Senate, Trump would have to sign the bill for it to become law, an event many view as unlikely.

Nevertheless, senators have been raising this issue for months; the original bills that were merged into the current effort were introduced last August. And aides for both Booker and Coons say theyre seeing more emphasis on this issue now and more openness from Republicans to take it up. We think its really important in a highly polarized time to send a bipartisan message about the special counsel investigation and its role in upholding the rule of law in this country, says the Coons staffer. And while this bill would serve future special counsels as well, the aide notes, Whats happening now shines a spotlight on the need and creates a sense of urgency.

On Friday, the White House announced the pardon of Scooter Libby, a former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice as part of an investigation undertaken by another special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, who is a Comey pal. President George W. Bush commuted Libbys sentence of 30 months in prison, but did not pardon him. Some worried that Trump was trying to signal a willingness to others involved in special counsel investigations that he wasnt afraid of using his pardon powers. Its not about me, its absolutely not about Scooter Libby, its about Donald Trump and his future, Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent whose identity was leaked by Libby, told MSNBC on Friday. Its very clear that this is a message he is sending that you can commit crimes against national security and you will be pardoned. Sanders denied that the Libby pardon was a message to Mueller. One thing has nothing to do with the other, she said.

As of 6 p.m. on Friday, both Mueller and Rosenstein still had their jobs. That left most in Washington holding their breath into the weekend, at the end of an extraordinary week.

With reporting by Brian Bennett and Philip Elliott/Washington(Reuters) - President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Friday filed for a 90-day delay in porn star Stormy Daniels' defamation lawsuit, citing Monday's raids on his home, office and hotel room by U.S. prosecutors. Cohen had already notified U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday that he intended to request a stay in Daniels' lawsuit against him and Trump "on the grounds that an ongoing criminal investigation overlaps with the facts of this case." The Friday motion said that because of that overlap, "Mr. Cohens Fifth Amendment rights may be adversely impacted if this case proceeds," a reference to the possibility that his testimony could be used by prosecutors to build a related criminal case against him. Cohen, who has denied wrongdoing, has been at the center of a controversy surrounding a $130,000 payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. She has alleged that she had sex once in 2006 with Trump and was paid shortly before the 2016 election to keep quiet about it. Daniels claims Cohen's denials portray her as a liar and sued for defamation. Her allegation was based on a Feb. 13 statement by Cohen that she said hurt her reputation. Cohen has admitted making the payment to Daniels and said he paid from his own pocket from a personal home equity loan. The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Cohen's offices and home on Monday as part of a probe into possible bank and tax fraud and possible campaign law violation connected to the payment, a source familiar with the investigation told Reuters. A lawyer for Cohen, Stephen M. Ryan, on Monday said that U.S. prosecutors conducted a search that was partly a referral by the Office of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller. In the defamation-case filing, Cohen raised the possibility of invoking his constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination if the stay is not granted, which would allow him to refuse to testify. Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for Stormy Daniels, told Reuters on Thursday that Cohen's attorney told him that Cohen will plead the Fifth if his application for a stay is denied. Cohen's attorney Brent Blakely said on Thursday, "No decision has been made for Mr. Cohen to assert his Fifth Amendment rights." "It is common for a civil case to be stayed under these circumstances, and that is what we will be requesting of the U.S. District Court tomorrow," Blakely said in an email. The judge in the suit had given Cohen until Friday evening to formally request the stay. Daniels has until Monday evening to file her opposition, and then Cohen will have through Tuesday evening to respond. (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Leslie Adler)President Donald Trumps reported White House invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin has generated intense debate about the essence of U.S. Russia policy. For good reason: Its painful to think back to the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, when candidate Trump insisted that Putin was a strong leader. Trump seemed to have an odd definition of leadership; the fact that Putin has invaded neighboring countries, jailed or exiled his political opponents, and extinguished media freedom in Russia did not seem to factor into his evaluation of the Kremlin strongman.

Simultaneously, as Trump was praising Putin, the Republican Partys commitment to provide Ukraine with lethal military assistance mysteriously disappeared from its platform. Even more egregious was Trumps explicit comparison of the United States to Russia. You think our countrys so innocent? he asked Fox Newss Bill OReilly, drawing an unthinkable equivalence between the two countries governments and actions.

More than a year into Trumps presidency, however, none of the fears generated by his early statements on Russia have become a reality. If you strip away his ostensibly chummy personal relationship with Putin, Trumps Russia policy has been drastically more assertive than that of his predecessor. In 14 months, here is what his administration has done:

Authorized lethal military aid to Ukraine. While former President Barack Obamas administration continuously rejected lethal weapons exports after Russias invasion of Ukraine in 2014, Trump is said to have personally approved the policy. Whether he told his staff to downplay the decision is immaterial. In fact, Trump has gone even further, selling Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. These moves could fundamentally change the balance of power on the ground. To be sure, Moscow retains substantial military advantages, but U.S.-made Javelins in Ukrainian hands will reduce the Kremlins incentive for large-scale hostilities.

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Shuttered two Russian consulates, multiple diplomatic annexes, and expelled 60 diplomats. While Obama did shut down Russian government installations in Maryland and New York, Trumps closure of consulates in Seattle and San Francisco and the expulsion of dozens of diplomats are unprecedented and important punitive measures.

Sanctioned Russian oligarchs and officials. This month, Trump sanctioned nearly 40 oligarchs, the businesses they own or control, and numerous Russian officials. Significantly, the administration justified its latest sanctions in uniquely broad terms, suggesting that future sanctions need not be tied to specific Russian actions.

Expanded the Magnitsky sanctions list. Trump could have easily refused to expand the Magnitsky sanctions, a list of corrupt Russian officials and human rights violators. Instead, he added names, including Chechen dictator and close Putin associate Ramzan Kadyrov and the son of Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika.

Forced the U.S.-based subsidiaries of Russian state-backed propaganda outlets RT and Sputnik to register as foreign agents. Despite Kremlin complaints, the Justice Department ordered RT America, RIA Global, Reston Translator, and T&R Productions to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. All are now required to disclose their finances and activities in the United States.

Targeted Russia with sanctions over North Korea, Iran, and Ukraine. The White House sanctioned additional Russian companies and individuals in connection with Moscows continued occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Those targeted included heavy hitters such as Russian Deputy Energy Minister Andrey Cherezov. The administration has also gone after entities known to aid the North Korean and Iranian ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

More than tripled defense initiatives to deter Russian aggression in Europe. Trumps 2018 budget request for the European Reassurance Initiative totaled nearly $4.8 billion. Thats $1.4 billion more than the Obama administration allocated for the 2017 fiscal year.

Formally blamed Russia for the NotPetya cyberattack last year. The virus, intended to disrupt the Ukrainian financial system, quickly spread to computers around the world including Denmark, India, and the United States. The Trump administration was unambiguous in its determination that the attack was part of the Kremlins ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine and demonstrates ever more clearly Russias involvement in the ongoing conflict.

Killed or injured hundreds of Russian mercenaries and dozens of Russian troops in Syria. Under the Obama administration, the United States was primarily interested in deconflicting with Russian operations in Syria, lest an incident occur. Now, U.S. military posture is less preoccupied with Russian actions. Instead, its attitude is that Putin should be the one on the defensive. The U.S. militarys looser rules of engagement and direct response to Russian forces in Syria have conveyed just that.

More than a year into his presidency, Trumps Russia policy is far more forceful than that of his predecessor. It is substantive, antagonistic to Russian aims, and not at all to the Kremlins liking. Still, this fact has been buried by politics, optics, and the presidents own behavior. Some in the Russian government, however, continue to cling to the idea that Trump is on their side. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently voiced his own theory of the relationship. He explained in an interview with Russian newspaper Kommersant that Trump knows perfectly that the Congress would make him [take action]. If the U.S. president refuses to do what the overwhelming majority of congressmen want, and there is such a majority, I say once again, his veto will be overcome.

Lavrov is right that Congress supported and adopted many of the new Russia sanctions, and it deserves credit for those moves. This does not, however, negate the presidents own policy choices. Trump was not required to provide lethal military aid to Ukraine. He did not have to expand the Magnitsky list and could have made use of national security waivers to avoid adding new names. His Justice Department did not have to force RT to register as a foreign agent or cease its operations in the United States. He could have easily stayed quiet on Moscows poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal in Britain rather than crack down on Russias diplomatic presence in the United States.

After all this, if Lavrov still believes that Trump is eager to pursue some kind of detente with Russia, his denial borders on delusion. Trumps Russia policy is his own. Either Lavrov is playing to a domestic audience and refusing to admit the Kremlins mistaken faith in Trump or getting played.

Trumps policy toward the Kremlin should be evaluated on its merits. If you extract partisan politics and strip away justifiable distaste for his general conduct, what remains is arguably the most effective Russia policy since the end of the Cold War.By David Brunnstrom and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea should not expect rewards from talks with the United States until it takes irreversible steps to give up its nuclear weapons, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, said on Thursday. Pompeo said the historical analysis was "not optimistic," when asked at his Senate confirmation hearing if he believed North Korea would agree to dismantle its nuclear program. But he said that in past negotiations the United States and the world had relaxed sanctions too quickly. "It is the intention of the president and the administration not do that this time to make sure that  before we provide rewards, we get the outcome permanently, irreversibly, that it is that we hope to achieve. "It is a tall order, but I am hopeful that President Trump can achieve that through sound diplomacy." Trump has said he plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in May or early June and hopes the discussions will ultimately lead to an end of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, which Washington sees as its most pressing security threat. On Thursday, Trump said meetings were being set up between him and Kim, and the United States would go into those with "a lot of respect." He thanked China for its help in trying to resolve the crisis over North Korea's development of nuclear weapons capable of hitting the United States, saying, "they've been really terrific at helping us get to some kind of settlement." "Meetings are being set up right now between myself and Kim Jong Un. I think it will be terrific. I think we'll go in with a lot of respect and we'll see what happens," he said. Trump also said trade "negotiations" between Washington and Beijing were going well, conflicting with China's statements since the president's announcements of plans to impose billions of dollars of tariffs on Chinese goods, which have fed fears of an all-out trade war. We are getting along very well, think we're going to do some great things," Trump said, adding that getting rid of nuclear weapons was "very good for them, good for everybody." NO ILLUSIONS Pompeo said he was optimistic a course could be set at the Trump-Kim summit for a diplomatic outcome with North Korea but added that no one was under any illusion that a comprehensive deal could be reached at that meeting. He brushed aside concerns that the administration's moves to modify a nuclear deal with Iran could make an agreement with North Korea more difficult. He argued that Kim would be looking to his own interests, including his country's economy and the "sustainment of his regime," not other historical agreements. Pompeo stressed that the aim of a Trump-Kim summit was to get North Korea to step away. Under questioning, he would not take any option off the table, including military ones. At the same time, he said he was not advocating regime change for North Korea and had never done so. Last year, North Korea accused Pompeo of favoring such a policy after he told a forum in July it was important to separate the country's nuclear weapons from the "character who holds the control over them." In May, North Korea accused the CIA and South Korea's intelligence service of a failed plot to assassinate Kim at a military parade in Pyongyang. On Thursday, Trump's new national security adviser, John Bolton, met separately with South Korea's National Security Office Director Chung Eui-yong, who led a South Korean delegation that met Kim Jong Un last month, and his Japanese counterpart Shotaro Yachi. "The national security advisers committed to continue coordinating closely," a White House official said. Bolton, who took up his post on Monday, has called for North Korea regime change in the past and has previously been rejected as a negotiating partner by Pyongyang. At a separate congressional hearing, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the aim was for a negotiated solution to the North Korean crisis. "We're all cautiously optimistic that we may be on the right path for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," he told the House Armed Services Committee. (Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland, Doina Chiacu, Lesley Wroughton and Idrees Ali; Writing by David Brunnstrom and Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman)By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for a Turkish banker convicted of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions told a Manhattan federal judge on Friday it would be unfair to subject their client to a long prison stay, given the "leniency" afforded many large banks and their employees for similar conduct.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan, lawyers for Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a former deputy general manager at Turkey's state-controlled Halkbank, said "notions of comity" weighed against a stiff punishment at his May 7 sentencing.

U.S. prosecutors accused Atilla, 47, a Turkish citizen, of conspiring with wealthy gold trader Reza Zarrab and others in using fraudulent gold and food transactions to help Iran evade sanctions.

They have said a roughly 20-year prison term for Atilla would be appropriate.

"Despite the involvement of numerous large international banks in past large-scale sanctions violations no banker other than Mr. Atilla has ever been charged for such conduct, much less sent to prison," Atilla's lawyers said in the latter.

Berman, they added, "can prevent further disparity in Mr. Atilla's treatment" by taking into account the leniency afforded those banks and their employees, both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens, who violated sanctions.

Zarrab has pleaded guilty and testified against Atilla for several days as the U.S. government's star witness.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has denounced the case, calling it a politically motivated attack on his government.

The letter from Atilla's lawyers came in response to a request by Berman that they and prosecutors answer several questions about the case.

Asked who were the "chief financial beneficiaries" of the sanctions evasion scheme, prosecutors said, "First and foremost, the scheme benefited the Iranian government entities whose access to oil revenue and to the U.S. financial system was restricted under the sanctions laws."

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has asked his trade advisers to look at rejoining the Trans Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade pact he withdrew the United States from last year, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said. Republican senators met with Trump on Thursday and he told them that he has asked United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow to re-open negotiations. "The president has consistently said he would be open to a substantially better deal, including in his speech in Davos earlier this year," Walters said. The TPP had aimed to cut trade barriers in some of the fastest-growing economies of the Asia-Pacific region and to counter China's rising economic and diplomatic clout. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the pact in early 2017, citing concerns about jobs. Even prior to Trump's official withdrawal, U.S. participation in the pact was dead due to opposition in the U.S. Congress. The United States entered the TPP negotiations in 2008 and took until late 2016 for the then-Obama administration to abandon its attempt to push the pact through Congress. "It is good news that today the president directed Larry Kudlow and Ambassador Lighthizer to negotiate U.S. entry into TPP, Senator Ben Sasse, a pro-trade Republican, said in a statement after the meeting between Trump and the senators. At his Senate confirmation hearing for the post of Trump's next secretary of state, CIA Director Mike Pompeo was asked about reports that Trump planned to re-engage on TPP and replied: That news was news to me. However, Pompeo said he had supported TPP as a member of Congress and added: There is an economic component to what China is trying to do. We need to be engaged. There is a diplomatic component to the economic activity as well. We need to be deeply engaged there, and Im confident this administration will do that." Since the U.S. withdrew from the TPP talks, the other 11 countries have forged ahead with their own agreement, and in the process eliminated chapters on investment, government procurement and intellectual property that were key planks of Washington's demands. The pact includes Mexico and Canada which are renegotiating the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States. When asked to comment on Thursday's comments on the TPP, a Canadian government official said there had not been any formal outreach so it was not possible to speculate on what a new pact would look like. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Trump next week. Japan, a close U.S. ally, signed up for the 11-country trade pact. During his election campaign in 2016, Trump was frequently skeptical of the value of multilateral trade pacts, arguing instead that bilateral deals could offer better terms. But Trump is struggling to get support from other countries for his recent threat to impose import tariffs on China and the U.S. farm lobby is arguing that retaliation by China would hit American agricultural exports. (Reporting by David Chance, Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom in Washington and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Susan Thomas and Phil Berlowitz)President Donald Trump had made up his mind about Syria. It was March 29, and to the cheers of the crowd at a campaign-style stop in Richfield, Ohio, the Commander in Chief declared that after 3 years and billions of dollars sunk into the Middle Easts bloodiest civil war, Americas troops would soon be coming home. Were knocking the hell out of ISIS, Trump said. Were coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now.

Caught off-guard, Trumps advisers scrambled through the Easter weekend both to craft an exit strategy to fulfill his vowand to come up with arguments on why pulling out might not be wise. Trump did not want to hear it. During a meeting with his national-security principals in the Situation Room in the White House the following Tuesday, the President laid into his military leaders, fuming about the U.S. costs in Syria and demanding a clearer time frame for withdrawal.

At one point, General Joseph Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an opponent of a rapid pullout, responded to Trumps venting by asking what, exactly, the President wanted to see happen in Syria. Trump said he didnt want a drawn-out nation-building exercise, nor did he want to telegraph a pullout that would leave a power vacuum that militants could fill, according to two people familiar with the deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Other advisers, like Defense Secretary James Mattis, who also sat in on the meeting and sided with Dunford, recognize that a Trump decision can be a bit like the weather: if you dont like it, just wait, it may change. Indeed, on April 9, two days after an apparent chemical-weapons attack on Syrian civilians in the western town of Douma, Trump was preparing the public for a new engagement in the country. Were the greatest fighting force anywhere in the world, Trump said, promising to act forcefully and soon.

But the about-face on Syria was about more than the indiscipline of a reliably inconstant presidency. The harder truth is that a U.S. President has no attractive options in Syria. Pulling out completely would cede the field to Iranwhich Trump has sworn to combat everywhere in the regionand give new life to the ISIS and al-Qaeda elements that remain in the country. A deeper military engagement carries dangers as well. Every airstrikeand the U.S.-led military coalition has made more than 11,000 in Syria since 2014risks drawing the U.S. into direct confrontation with the Russian forces that are backing Syrian leader Bashar Assad and working with Iran. Yet Trump called out Russia in tweets launched before the missiles he hinted at: Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart!' the President warned on April 11. You shouldnt be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

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Trump convened senior leaders on the issue of Syria, including new National Security Adviser John Bolton (in red tie) on April 9

Trump is navigating a stubborn reality with a new team of advisers chosen for their alignment with his worldview. At the State Department, former CIA chief Mike Pompeo, an inveterate Iran hawk, spent the days after the Douma attack assembling a coalition of forces to join in military action. Even more important, John Bolton has taken the reins as head of the National Security Council, which makes him Trumps close strategic adviser on the Syria strategy. A longtime believer in the use of U.S. military force but an ardent opponent of nation-building, Bolton may well be in sync with Trumps conflicting desires to retaliate against Assad, but also find a way to withdraw.

The first time Trump tried to project force in Syria, it took just three days for him to authorize missile strikes against Assad. He acted almost impulsively, without seeking congressional authorization, in what was the most significant military action of his then 11-week-old presidency.

Trump made that decision following a briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he was hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump was told that American radar and surveillance systems had detected a Syrian attack aircraft taking off from Shayrat air base before dawn, flying 75 miles north to a rebel-held area in Khan Sheikhoun and dropping a bomb. While the intelligence was convincing, it was the images posted to social media that tipped the scales.

Dina Powell, who was then the deputy National Security Adviser, had learned from Trumps daughter Ivanka that photographs and charts could move him on foreign-policy questions. When Powell wanted Trump to respond to Syrias use of chemical weapons, she showed him a presentation with photographs of children injured in the attack. The President quickly reversed course on his years-long campaign against unprovoked military involvement overseas.

I will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on mebig impact, Trump told reporters before authorizing the missile strikes. My attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much  Youre now talking about a whole different level.

The next day, Trump selected from three attack options, each intended to thread the needle between deterring Assad from using chemical weapons again without fracturing his grip on power. There were real fears that ISIS, al-Qaeda affiliates or other extremist groups would fill a vacuum. Just four hours later, two American naval destroyers launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat air base, destroying 20 Syrian aircraft, aircraft shelters, Russian-made radars and surface-to-air missile systems. The Pentagon later said that one-fifth of Syrias jets were wiped out.

But Assad was not deterred from using chemical weaponsthe forbidden munitions that were supposed to have been removed from Syria in a 2013 deal brokered by President Obama to prevent further attacks. Since Trumps missile strikes, Assad has allegedly launched dozens of chlorine-gas attacks. Mattis holds Russia responsible. The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all the chemical weapons, Mattis told reporters on April 9. And so, working with our allies and our partners from NATO to Qatar and elsewhere, we are going to address this issue.

If last years strikes werent enough to deter Assad, then a repeat performance is unlikely to send the message, even if more allies are involved, says Frederic Hof, who advised Obama on Syria and worked on Middle East issues under the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations. If Assad comes to the conclusion that it is a one-off strike, the Trump Administration will have accomplished nothing, Hof says. The message to Assad, and the world, frankly, needs to be clear: There is a high price to pay if you develop and use these weapons against civilians.

Any operation is likely to be fraught with risk, Hof says, because Assads forces are so tightly entwined with Iranian and Russian troops at various bases. The airfield that is believed to have launched the Douma attackal-Dumayr air base, about 25 miles north of Damascushas hosted Russian advisers. Russia and Iran have become the arbiters of Syrias future, with their militaries having saved Assad in 2015, when his regime seemed to be on the brink of defeat.

A target list by the U.S. and its allies might include not only whats left of Syrias dwindling number of attack jets, but also the Russian warplanes at Hmeimim air base in northwestern Syria, or the facilities where Irans Revolutionary Guard officers advise Assads forces. Elimination of any of those targets would not break Assads hold on powerthe Islamist-dominated rebel groups arrayed against him now having nearly been defeatedbut it would greatly risk escalating American involvement. Either Iran or Russia could retaliate against U.S. ground forces, aircraft or warships in the region.

Still, there is consensus within the Administration that, even in a conflict that has killed some 400,000 people, the use of forbidden and horrifically damaging weapons must be punished. The Trump Administration has calculated that Assads defiance risks a domino effect around the globe.

The last attack intended to degrade Assads ability to launch chemical-weapons attacks and deter him from using the weapons, says Jennifer Cafarella, a senior intelligence planner at the nonpartisan Institute for the Study of War. The Administration accomplished the first part of the mission, but obviously didnt convince Assad not to use chemical weapons. We should expect a more convincing response this time.

Conspicuous military action would also limit the damage done by Trumps talk of walking away from Syria. The campaign-style statement was a dangerous message to be sending to three regimes that are looking for any sign of American weakness and lack of American resolve and may be increasingly convinced Trump is a paper tigeror maybe a Twitter tiger may be more apt, says Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the conservative think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Bolton, even before his first official day on the job, worked feverishly on Syria policy proposals over the weekend and attended his first White House meeting as a leading player the night of April 9. Bolton supports plans for Syria that are aimed at blunting Tehrans influence there, of which it has a great deal. Through proxy militias and regional allies, Iran has established an overland supply route that runs from Tehran, across Iraq and Syria, to Beirut, where Hizballah dominates both politically and militarily. It is a land bridge that has replaced air flights as a supply corridor in the region. On maps, it follows the same path as the Shiite crescent that Sunni rulers warned would come into being after the U.S. invaded Iraq and deposed Saddam Hussein, the Sunni despot who helped check Irans influence.

The Trump Administration wants more involvement from Sunni Arab countries to roll back Iran, says Luke Coffey, director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation. They need to step up to the plate, he says. This is their backyard, so they should have just as much of an interest in confronting Syria and Iran as we do.

Indeed, one Washington think tank recently presented the White House with a detailed plan centered around a phased American withdrawal from Syria that hands peacekeeping operations in eastern Syria to Sunni Arab allies. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has said the U.S. military should maintain a presence in Syria, has also indicated a willingness to participate in a military operation against Assad for the chemical attack. Trumps instincts are always, I want other people involved, and, I want someone else to pay for this,' says Jim Hanson of Security Studies Group, another right-wing think tank close to the White House. Saudis are our new best friends, and it is definitely in their neighborhood.

That may not be quite what Trump had in mind when he breezily told Ohioans that it was time to let the other people take care of it now. But it begins to square wishes with reality.

With reporting by BRIAN BENNETT/WASHINGTONWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has proof at "a very high level of confidence" that the Syrian government carried out the recent chemical weapons attack in Douma but is still working to identify the mix of chemicals used, the State Department said on Friday. "We can say that the Syrian government was behind the attack," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a briefing. Asked if the United States had proof of that, she said, "Yes." Nauert said a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would arrive in Syria on Saturday to collect evidence. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Bill Trott)By Phil Stewart and Tom Perry WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Western powers said on Saturday their missile attacks struck at the heart of Syria's chemical weapons program, but the restrained assault appeared unlikely to halt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's progress in the 7-year-old civil war. The United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles overnight in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Syria a week ago, targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities, including a research and development center in Damascus' Barzeh district and two installations near Homs. The bombing was the biggest intervention by Western countries against Assad and his superpower ally Russia, but the three countries said the strikes were limited to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities and not aimed at toppling Assad or intervening in the civil war. The air attack, denounced by Damascus and its allies as an illegal act of aggression, was unlikely to alter the course of a multisided war that has killed at least half a million people. U.S. President Donald Trump called the operation a success. He proclaimed on Twitter: "Mission accomplished," echoing former President George W. Bush, whose use of the same phrase in 2003 to describe the U.S. invasion of Iraq was widely ridiculed as violence there dragged on for years. "We believe that by hitting Barzeh in particular we've attacked the heart of the Syrian chemicals weapon program," U.S. Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said at the Pentagon. However, McKenzie acknowledged elements of the program remain and he could not guarantee that Syria would be unable to conduct a chemical attack in the future. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Trump told her that if Syria uses poisonous gas again, "The United States is locked and loaded." The Western countries said the strikes were aimed at preventing more Syrian chemical weapons attacks after a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7 killed up to 75 people. They blame Assad's government for the attack. In Washington, a senior administration official said on Saturday that "while the available information is much greater on the chlorine use, we do have significant information that also points to sarin use" in the attack. Speaking at a summit in Peru, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence seemed less sure of the use of sarin, saying that Washington may well determine that it was used along with chlorine. ASSAD 'RESILIENCE' Ten hours after the missiles hit, smoke was still rising from the remains of five destroyed buildings of the Syrian Scientific Research Center in Barzeh, where a Syrian employee said medical components were developed. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Syria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption "Morning of resilience". Late on Saturday Syria time, a large explosion was heard in a Syrian government-controlled area in a rural region south of Aleppo, according to the Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory said the cause of the explosion was unknown, as well as its target. Russian and Iranian military help over the past three years has allowed Assad to crush the rebel threat to topple him. The United States, Britain and France have all participated in the Syrian conflict for years, arming rebels, bombing Islamic State fighters and deploying troops on the ground to fight that group. But they have refrained from targeting Assad's government, apart from a volley of U.S. missiles last year. Although the Western countries have all said for seven years that Assad must leave power, they held back in the past from striking his government, lacking a wider strategy to defeat him. Syria and its allies also made clear that they considered the attack a one-off, unlikely to do meaningful harm to Assad. A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the strikes were "unacceptable and lawless." Syrian state media called them a "flagrant violation of international law," while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called it a crime and the Western leaders criminals. Russia had promised to respond to any attack on its ally, but the Pentagon said no Russian air defense systems were used. Syria fired 40 unguided surface-to-air missiles - but only after the Western strikes had ended, the Pentagon said. "We are confident that all of our missiles reached their targets," McKenzie said. British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as "limited and targeted," with no intention of toppling Assad or intervening more widely in the war. Washington described the strike targets as a center near Damascus for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weapons; a chemical weapons storage site near the city of Homs; and another site near Homs that stored chemical weapons equipment and housed a command post. The Pentagon said there had been chemical weapons agents at one of the targets, and that the strikes had significantly crippled Syria's ability to produce such weapons. Trump spoke to May and French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss results of the strikes, the leaders' offices said. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all Security Council members to exercise restraint and avoid escalation in Syria, but said allegations of chemical weapons use demand an investigation. WEAPONS INSPECTIONS Inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW were due to try to visit Douma on Saturday to inspect the site of the suspected gas attack. Moscow condemned the Western states for refusing to wait for their findings. Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated to levels of Cold War-era hostility, has denied any gas attack took place in Douma and even accused Britain of staging it to whip up anti-Russian hysteria. The Western countries took precautions to avoid unexpected conflict with Russia. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Russians was warned beforehand to avert conflict. Dmitry Belik, a Russian member of parliament who was in Damascus and witnessed the strikes, told Reuters: "The attack was more of a psychological nature rather than practical. Luckily there are no substantial losses or damages." In Douma, site of the suspected gas attack, the last buses were due on Saturday to transport out rebels and their families who agreed to surrender the town, state TV reported. That effectively ends all resistance in the suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta, marking one of the biggest victories for Assad's government of the war. The Western assault involved more missiles than a U.S. attack last year but struck targets limited to Syria's chemical weapons facilities. The U.S. intervention last year had effectively no impact on the war. Syria agreed in 2013 to give up its chemical weapons after a nerve gas attack killed hundreds of people in Douma. Damascus is still permitted to have chlorine for civilian use, although its use as a weapon is banned. Allegations of Assad's chlorine use have been frequent during the war although, unlike nerve agents, chlorine did not produce mass casualties as seen last week. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Tom Perry; additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland, Idrees Ali, Yara Bayoumy, Matt Spetalnick and Joel Schectman in Washington; Michelle Nichols in New York; Samia Nakhoul, Tom Perry, Laila Bassam, Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall in Beirut; Kinda Makieh in Barzeh; Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge in London; and Jean-Baptiste Vey, Geert de Clerq and Matthias Blamont in Paris; Polina Ivanova in Moscow; writing by Doina Chiacu; editing by Yara Bayoumy, Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis)By The Associated Press Apr. 11, 2018 | 11:02 AM | FRANKFORT, KY

Kentucky's Democratic Attorney General and unions representing teachers and police officers have sued to block a bill that would make changes to one of the country's worst funded public pension systems.

Andy Beshear filed a lawsuit Wednesday morning, less than a day after Republican Gov. Matt Bevin signed the bill into law. The bill protects most benefits for current and retired workers. But it would move all new teacher hires into a hybrid plan that puts less risk on the state but doesn't guarantee them the same benefits.

Thousands of teachers have protested the bill with marches at the state Capitol, part of ongoing protests across the country. Beshear is asking a judge for a temporary injunction to block the bill's implementation until the court can make a final ruling.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has canceled his attendance at the Summit of the Americas in Peru starting on Friday, a USTR spokeswoman said on Thursday, after President Donald Trump pulled out of the meeting earlier this week. The move will leave Lighthizer's two NAFTA counterparts, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, to meet without him in Lima. The three had been expected to discuss the progress of talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement at the end of a high-level negotiating round in Washington this week. USTR spokeswoman Emily Davis said that Lighthizer will send Deputy USTR C.J. Mahoney to Lima in his place "due to a change in Ambassador Lighthizers schedule." White House officials declined to elaborate on the sudden change. Lighthizer had been scheduled to attend this summit as recently as Wednesday. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who is going in place of Trump, will meet separately with four leaders of major economies in the region  Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru, according to White House officials. But Pence is not scheduled to meet with Mexicos President Enrique Pena Nieto, who ordered a review of all forms of Mexican cooperation with the United States in a sign of mounting frustration over Trump's antagonistic attitude toward Mexico. Guajardo will still travel to Lima on Thursday with Pena Nieto, Mexico's Economy Ministry said. Freeland was also expected to attend the summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Davis declined to say when Lighthizer would next meet with Guajardo and Freeland. In recent weeks, Lighthizer had been pushing for the three ministers to reach a deal in principle, and said in late March he believed that could be possible "in the next little bit." Mexican and Canadian officials have been more cautious. Guajardo said on Monday the three countries were "weeks away" from an agreement in principle, but added there was an 80 percent chance of one by early May. Sources close to the talks have said the discussions on autos content rules have not advanced far enough for a deal. Details were still coming together this week on a U.S. proposal aimed at shifting production of high-value automotive components such as engines to high-wage areas. Mahoney, one of three new deputies to Lighthizer at USTR, was sworn into office on March 13. The former international arbitration lawyer is in charge of USTR negotiations in Africa, China and the Western Hemisphere. (Reporting by David Lawder and Roberta Rampton in Washington, Dave Graham in Mexico City and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)The U.S., U.K. and France bombed multiple targets in Syria Friday night in response to an alleged chemical weapons attacks by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Where did the missiles hit?

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said three main chemical weapons facilities were targeted at 9 p.m. EST by missiles from both the sea and aircraft, which triggered Syrian air defenses.

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The Pentagon could not confirm how many missiles hit their targets.

General Dunford listed the targets:

A scientific research facility in Damascus, allegedly connected to the production of chemical and biological weapons

A chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs

A chemical weapons equipment storage site and an important command post, also near Homs

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) told Reuters a second research facility was also struck in Damascus, in addition to a third in the Homs area, and five military bases and depots used by elite army divisions in the Mezzeh area of Damascus.

Syrian state TV said air defenses were confronting the attack and had shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area south of Damascus. It said a pro-Damascus anti-terror axis was confronting the attack, language suggesting that Assads ally Russia may be helping to fend off the assault.

U.S. officials said there was no indication so far that Syrian air defenses struck attacking Western aircraft or ships.

French and British planes also took part in the operation, marking the first time the western powers have engaged in coordinated military action against the Assad regime.

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Last year, the U.S. launched missile strikes on a Syrian air base in response to a sarin gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun.

Friday's strikes were launched in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, one week ago, which the U.S. and its allies have blamed on the Syrian government. Damascus has denied responsibility for the attack, and Russia said that a western military response risked provoking war.

Mattis said Friday's attack was about double the size of that launched by the U.S. in April, 2017, and that Tomahawk cruise missiles were used against multiple Syrian targets.

Were there any casualties?

Mattis and Dunford acknowledged the strike was designed to degrade Syrias chemical weapons capability without killing civilians or the many foreign fighters in Syrias multi-sided civil war, particularly those from Russia.

We specifically identified these targets to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved, Dunford told reporters, adding the U.S. military advised Russia of airspace that would be used in the strike but did not pre-notify them.

The Russian Defence Ministry said there was no evidence of civilian or military casualties from the airstrikes.

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Mattis said there was no evidence of U.S. losses in the operation.

SOHR Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters all the targeted locations were evacuated three days ago after the Russians told the government they had intelligence that bases including the research centers would be hit. He said there were so far no reports of civilian or military casualties,

Will there be more strikes?

Mattis said that "right now, this is a one-time shot". Gen Dunford confirmed the wave of strikes had ended.

In an address Friday night, President Donald Trump said that Washington was prepared to sustain pressure on the Assad regime until it stopped its use of chemical weapons against its own people.

What has the reaction been?

Russia warned of consequences in the wake of the attack.

"The U.S. - the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons - has no moral right to blame other countries," the Russian embassy in the U.S. said in a statement.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia will call an emergency session of UN Security Council over strike on Syria, adding that the airstrikes on Syria early Saturday is an "act of aggression" against a sovereign state.

Syria released video of President Bashar al-Assad, whose Russian- and Iranian-backed forces have already driven his enemies from Syrias major towns and cities, arriving at work as usual, with the caption morning of resilience."

The NATO Secretary General, Jen Stoltenberg, tweeted support for the strikes, saying those who use chemical weapons "must be held accountable."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekLONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Ministry of Defence said the strike against Syria on Saturday had been aimed at a military facility where the Syrian government was assessed to have stockpiled chemicals. The MoD said four Tornado jets had carried out the attack using Storm Shadow missiles on a military facility some fifteen miles west of Homs, some distance from known concentrations of civilian habitation. "Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximize the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimize any risks of contamination to the surrounding area," the MoD said in a statement. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British jets fired missiles at a Syrian military base suspected of holding chemical weapons ingredients on Saturday in Britain's first military action against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the "limited and targeted strike" was part of joint action with France and the United States in response to Syria's latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity.

"There is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," May said in a televised statement.

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.

"It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties," she said.

May said "a significant body of information including intelligence" pointed to Syrian government responsibility for a suspected chemical attack in Douma last Saturday.

She said the strikes would "send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity".

"This is the first time as prime minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat a- and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.

"I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain's national interest," she added.

- 'Meticulous target planning' -

Britain's defence ministry said in a statement that four British Tornado jets had fired Storm Shadow missiles at the base 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs at 0100 GMT.

The ministry said the facility was "a former missile base... where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors".

"Initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack," it said.

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"Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area.

"The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk," it added.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said in the statement that the strikes were a "legal and proportionate" response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.

May held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss possible action on Thursday and there had been calls for the British parliament to be consulted before any air strikes.

Polls in recent days have shown public wariness of military intervention in Syria, with Britain still haunted by its participation in the US-led invasion of Iraq.

A YouGov poll in The Times conducted this week found that 43 percent of voters opposed strikes in Syria, with 34 percent unsure and only 22 percent supportive.

British lawmakers voted down taking military against Damascus in 2013, in what was widely viewed as an assertion of parliamentary sovereignty on the use of force.

But they backed action in Iraq the following year, and again in Syria in 2015, strictly limiting strikes to Islamic State (IS) group targets.

Britain continues to support the US-led coalition targeting IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria, and has conducted more than 1,700 strikes.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had on Friday accused the government of "waiting for instructions" from US President Donald Trump on what to do over Syria.

"Further UK military intervention in Syria's appalling multi-sided war risks escalating an already devastating conflict," he said.London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British, French and US air strikes in Syria on Saturday sent a "clear message" against the use of chemical weapons, said British Prime Minister Theresa May.

"This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons," May told a press conference.

British jets fired missiles at a Syrian military base suspected of holding chemical weapons components, in the UK's first military action against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

May said that at an emergency cabinet meeting in London on Thursday, following an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held Syrian town of Douma on April 7, "we agreed that it was both right and legal to take military action" after hearing legal advice.

The strikes "will have significantly degraded the Syrian regime's ability to use chemical weapons", she said.

Four British Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles at a Syrian base 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs at 0100 GMT.

The prime minister has faced a domestic backlash, with the main opposition parties claiming Saturday's attacks were legally dubious, risked escalating conflict and should have been approved by lawmakers first.

- 'No practicable alternative' -

Asked why she had proceeded without consulting parliament, May cited operational considerations.

"It was right to take the action that we have done in the timing that we have done," she said.

May said she would address parliament on Monday about the strikes and face MPs' questions.

She claimed there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.

May insisted that the strikes were not about intervening in the Syrian civil war or regime change.

She also alluded to a nerve agent attack in Britain last month on a former Russian spy and his daughter.

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Britain has blamed Russia for the poisoning -- a charge vehemently denied by the Kremlin in an escalating diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West.

The Russian military on Friday insisted it had proof that the Douma alleged chemical weapons attack was faked by the White Helmets first responders -- on orders from London.

May called the claim "grotesque and absurd".

Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded that the government publish the legal basis for the strikes, which it swiftly did.

"The UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering," the document said.

It said there had to be "convincing evidence" of extreme humanitarian distress, it must be "objectively clear that there is no practicable alternative", and any action "must be necessary and proportionate" and "limited in time and scope".

"The UK considers that military action met the requirements of humanitarian intervention," said the document.

- MoD claims success -

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said initial indications showed that the strikes had been "successful".

"Very careful scientific analysis was applied to determine where best to target the Storm Shadows to maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area," the ministry said.

Peter Felstead, editor of Jane's Defence Weekly military magazine, said the strikes were specifically about chemical weapons use and were not about "wider geopolitical goals".

"The strikes would also have been planned to minimise any chance of causing Russian casualties on the ground, lest that widen the conflict," he told AFP.

The Henry Jackson Society foreign policy think-tank said inaction would have been "grossly irresponsible".

Executive director Alan Mendoza added: "This cannot be a token effort to demonstrate our outrage. We need a serious and sustained response to deter further unacceptable and intolerable actions by a reckless regime."By Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain struck Syria with air-launched cruise missiles on Saturday to cripple President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons facilities and prevent what Prime Minister Theresa May cast as a global slide towards their greater use.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

May said the strike was "limited and targeted" and came after intelligence indicated that Syrian military officials had co-ordinated a chlorine attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma on April 7.

Missile attacks by the United States, France and Britain had been aimed at deterring Assad's further use of chemical weapons and were not an attempt to topple the Syrian government, May said. The mission had been a success, she said.

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change," May said in a statement made from her country residence at Chequers just minutes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the strikes from the White House.

May later told reporters in her Downing Street office that the Western missiles struck a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a chemical weapons research centre and a military bunker involved in chemical weapons attacks.

By launching strikes without prior approval from parliament, May dispensed with a non-binding constitutional convention dating back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She said speed was essential and that military action was in the national interest.

"It was both right and legal to take military action," May said, adding that she would update parliament on Monday.

The Western missile strikes demonstrate the volatile nature of the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011 as an anti-Assad uprising but is now a proxy conflict involving a number of world and regional powers and a myriad of insurgent groups.

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Assad, May said, should not doubt the resolve of Britain, France and the United States but made clear that the strike was a specific response to the Douma attack which killed up to 75 people, including children.

May dismissed as "grotesque and absurd" a claim by Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, that the Douma attack was staged by Britain. But she declined to give any signal about the future of Assad.

May's office issued a statement detailing what it said was the justification for military action under international law, saying Assad had used chemical weapons since 2013 and the blocking of United Nations action by Russia and other allies of Syria left no alternative to "truly exceptional" use of force.

"Such an intervention was directed exclusively to averting a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons, and the action was the minimum judged necessary for that purpose," Downing Street said.

"RIGHT AND LEGAL"

May referred specifically to last month's nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the southern English cathedral city of Salisbury that she has blamed on Russia. Moscow has denied any involvement.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised  either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere," May told reporters in Downing Street.

She said almost a century of global acceptance about not using chemical weapons had been eroded in Douma and Salisbury.

May said Britain and its allies had sought to use every diplomatic means to stop the use of chemical weapons, but had been repeatedly thwarted, citing a Russian veto of an independent investigation into the Douma attack at the U.N. Security Council this week.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," she said.

BOMBS DON'T BRING PEACE

The small Northern Irish political party that props up her government said May was justified in taking such action though it said wider intervention in Syria would be counter-productive.

However, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a fervent anti-war campaigner, called the strikes "legally questionable" and said May should have recalled parliament from a holiday and "not trailed after Donald Trump".

"Bombs wont save lives or bring about peace," he said. "Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm's way."

Many politicians in Britain, including some in May's own Conservative Party, had backed his call for parliament to give the authority for any military strike.

A YouGov poll for The Times newspaper this week indicated that only a fifth of voters believed that Britain should launch attacks on Syrian military targets and 43 percent opposed action.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron lost a parliamentary vote on air strikes against Assad's forces in 2013 when 30 Conservative lawmakers voted against action, with many Britons wary of entering another conflict after intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya failed to bring stability to the region.

Cameron, though, gave his support of May on Saturday.

"As we have seen in the past, inaction has its consequences," he said.

(Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill, William James and William Schomberg; Writing by Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Peter Graff and Toby Chopra)Washington (United States) (AFP) - The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime on Saturday in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks that President Donald Trump branded the "crimes of a monster."

As Trump embarked on a White House address to announce the action -- taken in defiance of Russia's threat to respond -- explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.

AFP's correspondent in the city said several consecutive blasts were heard at 4:00 am (0100 GMT), followed by the sound of airplanes overhead. Smoke could be seen rising from the northern and eastern edges of the capital.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said, in a primetime address from the White House.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both."

"This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime," he said of the suspected deadly gas attack a week ago on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mother and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead."

- 'Heavy strike' -

Joseph Dunford, Washington's top general, said the strikes hit three targets near Damascus -- a scientific research center, a storage facility and command post -- and a chemical weapons storage facility near Homs.

Syrian surface to air missile batteries had attempted to fire back, but there were no initial reports of allied losses, he added.

Syrian state media said air defenses were activated to block the attack as it published images of smoke clouds hanging over the capital.

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"The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail," the official SANA news agency said.

The strikes were a marked escalation compared to a US strike a year ago, when only cruise missiles were used against a single airfield.

Dunford said Russia's forces in Syria had been warned through existing "deconfliction" channels that western planes would be in Syrian air space, but Washington had not revealed the target sites or timing in advance.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said no additional strikes were planned.

"We were very precise and proportionate, but at the same time, it was a heavy strike," he said.

- United front -

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the attack in Douma, which prompted a furious reaction from Trump.

Trump's anger was shared by France's President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

"We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons," Macron said in a statement.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized  within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world," May said, referring to a recent assassination attempt on a Russian double agent.

- 'Proof' -

In the days between the attack in Douma and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling statements and debates.

Moscow denied Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain staged the event.

At the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

After the strikes, Moscow's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said: "We warned that such actions would not be left without consequences."

And Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova ridiculed the allies for wanting to "claim moral leadership in the world" after the attacks.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday had warned the rival camps to prevent "the situation spiraling out of control."

- Decision to act -

Trump has long criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assad's forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Mattis had reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimize the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syria's civil war.

But other advisors wanted to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Iran's growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.Washington (United States) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump and his British and French allies on Saturday hailed their joint strikes in Syria in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons, warning Damascus that any repetition would be met with renewed firepower.

Hours later, the allies signaled their resolve to return to diplomacy, launching a new bid at the United Nations to investigate the chemical weapons attacks.

They circulated a joint draft resolution at the Security Council that also calls for unimpeded deliveries of humanitarian aid and enforcement of a ceasefire and demands that Syria engage in UN-led peace talks, according to the text obtained by AFP.

The narrowly targeted pre-dawn military operation, which took aim at three alleged chemical weapons facilities, earned quick scorn from Russia, but a push by Moscow for condemnation of the strikes at the Security Council fell far short.

Trump and his allies ordered the mission in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack a week ago on the rebel-held town of Douma that left more than 40 people dead.

Washington believes both sarin and chlorine were used in the April 7 attack, a senior US administration official told reporters on Saturday.

Both the regime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and its ally Russia have denied all responsibility. Moscow slammed the "aggressive actions" of the Western coalition but has not yet responded militarily.

US ambassador Nikki Haley warned her UN counterparts that although the mission was designed as a one-off, that did not preclude further action against Assad.

"I spoke to the president this morning and he said: 'If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,'" Haley said at emergency Security Council talks.

- Fresh diplomatic push -

Negotiations on the draft resolution put forward by the US, France and Britain are set to begin on Monday.

Among the contentious proposals, it would establish an independent investigation into allegations of toxic gas attacks in Syria with the aim of identifying the perpetrators.

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On the humanitarian side, the measure demands medical evacuations and safe passage for aid convoys to be allowed to all areas.

Diplomats said it remained unclear when the council would vote on the proposal, and they were ready to allow time for negotiations to bring Russia aboard.

- 'Perfectly executed' -

Just before dawn on Saturday, the sounds of massive explosions and the roar of warplanes rang out across Damascus for about 45 minutes.

"A perfectly executed strike last night," Trump tweeted early Saturday.

"Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"

The targets included a scientific research facility near Damascus, and two chemical weapons facilities outside the city of Homs, the US military said, though reports said the buildings had been evacuated in recent days.

Syrian state media reported only three people injured, while Russia's defense ministry said there were "no victims" among Syrian civilians and military personnel.

According to US officials, the operation involved three US destroyers, a French frigate and a US submarine. The vessels were located in the Red Sea, the Gulf and the eastern Mediterranean.

British Tornado and Typhoon warplanes, American B-1 bombers and French Rafale jets also took part in the strikes.

- Assad defiant -

The strikes were the biggest foreign military action so far against Syria's regime.

On Saturday Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron huddled by telephone to discuss their joint action.

"By working together, in a coordinated fashion, we can definitively prevent the Syrian regime from carrying out chemical attacks against its own people," Macron said on Twitter.

May has faced a backlash from her domestic opposition for launching the strikes without consulting parliament, while opposition lawmakers in the US warned Trump that any broader military campaign would require a well-formulated strategic vision -- and authorization from Congress.

Assad responded to the strikes with a defiant vow.

"This aggression will only make Syria and its people more determined to keep fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country," he said.

Assad's key ally Iran also slammed the attack, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing Western leaders as "criminals."

The targets appeared to steer well clear of any Russian personnel or equipment in Syria, where Moscow launched a military intervention in support of Assad in 2015.

The Russian military claimed Syrian air defense systems had intercepted 71 Western missiles, though the Pentagon flatly dismissed the claim and said all missiles hit their targets.

- Too little, too late? -

Despite the strikes, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it was still pursuing its investigation into the Douma attack.

Thousands of rebels and civilians have been bussed out of the town under a Russian-brokered deal. Syrian internal security forces entered Douma on Saturday and later said the town had been fully retaken.

Jaish al-Islam, the group that held Douma, said it only abandoned the town because of the chemical attack.

Ahmad, a 25-year-old mechanic who had been displaced from Douma, told AFP the Western strikes were nevertheless too little, too late.

"Assad won't collapse. They'll bomb for a day or two and then the regime will take it out on us," he said.

burs-wd/smLima (Peru) (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence held brief bilateral talks with the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Saturday about the state of play in their NAFTA renegotiations, saying he was "encouraged" by recent progress towards a deal.

The discussions on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Peru came as US officials said they believed they were narrowing differences over a revised North American Free Trade Agreement, 24 years after its inception.

But US relations with Mexico had soured in recent weeks as US President Donald Trump has sought to link the trade talks to Mexican efforts to stop migrants illegally crossing the border into the US, and ordered National Guard troops to the border.

Reporters travelling with Pence said the vice president first saw Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and then met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto half an hour later.

Pence's demeanor with Trudeau was notably warmer than with Pena Nieto.

"We are neighbors, we are cherished friends," Pence said after shaking hands with the Canadian leader.

"We think we're close" on a new NAFTA arrangement, Pence said.

"We are encouraged with the progress of our negotiations, and we are hopeful that we can conclude a successful renegotiation."

- 'Very productive' -

Trudeau echoed Pence's assessment, telling reporters he believed "good progress" was being made on NAFTA.

"There is a definite positive momentum," he said, adding there was "potential progress" on issues related to the auto sector.

"We will continue to work hard at the negotiating table, we will continue to negotiate in good faith and hope to reach a win-win-win renegotiation of NAFTA."

With Pena Nieto, meanwhile, Pence said: "I look forward to a discussion not only on NAFTA but on a broad range of issues."

The Mexican leader emphasized the need to talk about "the bilateral relationship we want to have of cooperation and mutual respect."

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Neither man responded when reporters asked questions about the wall Trump wants to build along the US-Mexico border, or if Pena Nieto still rejected Trump's demand that Mexico pay for the barrier.

Later, Pence told reporters that the meetings were "very productive."

He confirmed that he and Pena Nieto did not discuss the contentious issue of Trump's border wall.

"I think President Pena Nieto understands that he and President Trump have a difference of opinion on that," he said.

Instead, the pair talked about a recent migrant "caravan" march that left from Central America and was heading to the US before dissipating in Mexico after Trump became agitated over it, and "a great deal about NAFTA," Pence said.

"I'll leave this summit very hopeful that we are very close to a renegotiated better deal for the American people" that is "mutually beneficial" for Mexico and Canada, he said.

"It's not done yet. There are still issues that need to be resolved. But we believe there is a real possibility that we could arrive within the next several weeks at a renegotiated NAFTA."

Mexico has already said it hopes to get agreement on the revised NAFTA deal next month -- but Pena Nieto told reporters there is "absolutely no date" set to sign a new treaty.

The Mexican president has ordered his government to carry out a sweeping review of its cooperation with the United States amid rising tensions.

However, he said in Lima that during his meeting with Pence, he noted a "very positive, receptive and above all understanding attitude" to Mexico's position.

Pence was accompanied by several US officials to Peru, including Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor tasked with handling various international foreign policy issues.

Kushner also took part in the bilateral talks with Trudeau and Pena Nieto, Pence aides said.past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 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22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)President Donald Trump has said a decision over Syria will come 'fairly soon': AP

The Russian ambassador to the United Nations has urged the US and its allies not to take military action over the apparent chemical attack in Syria, saying the immediate priority was to avert the danger of war.

International tensions have spiked over the attack, with Washington holding Russia partially culpable for what they believe is the use of chemical weapons on the town of Douma by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Moscow has backed Syria in denying allegations of the attack, and Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he cannot exclude war between the US and Russia if President Donald Trump uses missile strikes on Syria, as he has threatened.

The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war, Mr Nebenzia said after a behind-closed-doors meeting of the UN Security Council. We hope there will be no point of no return.

He added that the presence of Russian troops in Syria, with Moscow backing the government of Mr Assad in the countrys civil war, meant that the world was facing a dangerous situation.

Pressure has been mounting for a coordinated international response, with Mr Trump putting himself front-and-centre on Wednesday in tweeting missiles will be coming. On Thursday, in an early tweet, the president made it clear he was still assessing what action to take. Never said when an attack on Syria would take place, he tweeted. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! He added.

Speaking later from the White House he said: We'll see what happens. Now we have to make some ... Decisions, so they'll be made fairly soon.

In the wake of a meeting between Mr Trump and his national security team on Thursday afternoon, the White House said no final decision has been made over what to do regarding Syria, and that the president was still assessing intelligence and speaking to international partners.

Mr Nebenzia has called for another emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday to hear from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on threat to international peace and security from possible military action against Syria by the US and its allies.

Story continues

Both Theresa May and French president Emmanuel Macron have said that they are working with Mr Trump to craft a response. Mr Macron has declared that France has proof that Mr Assads government was behind the attack in Douma, which is believed to killed dozens of people.

We have proof that last week ... chemical weapons were used, at least with chlorine, and that they were used by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Mr Macron said. We will need to take decisions in due course, when we judge it most useful and effective, he told broadcaster TF1.

According to reports by NBC News, US officials are in possession of samples of blood and urine from victims of the attack which suggested the presence of both chlorine gas and an unnamed nerve agent. Two unnamed officials told the outlet they were confident in the intelligence, though not 100 per cent sure.

A team of inspectors from international watchdog the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was on its way to Syria on Thursday to begin an investigation into the suspected chemical weapons attack.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that it was obvious that Mr Assads government had not eradicated all its chemical weapon stocks, as mandated by a 2013 agreement brokered by Russia - which averted possible strikes by both the US and France

We... must now acknowledge that it is obvious that the destruction was not completely carried out, Ms Merkel said, noting that there is strong evidence that Damascus deployed the chemical weapons, but she ruled out being involved in any military action.

Back in Washington, US Defense Secretary James Mattis told Congress that he believes there was a chemical attack in Syria, but he has concerns over the use of military force.

Mr Mattis, addressing a hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, declined to discuss US military planning on Syria, but acknowledged his two main concerns over military action: protecting civilians and avoiding triggering a military escalation that gets out of control.

I believe there was a chemical attack and we are looking for the actual evidence, Mr Mattis said. He added that the use of chemical weapons was inexcusable and claiming that with Russia blocking action being taken by the UN Security Council the US can sit acquiescent or do something about it.

US House Speaker Paul Ryan said that Mr Trump has the authority to take action against Syria under Congressional legislation and was against changes to legislation that ties the hands of the US military.

He added that the US has an obligation to lead an international response to the apparent chemical attack and that president Trump was being deliberate and careful in weighing up his options.

Agencies contributed to this reportBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Air strikes carried out by the United States, France and Britain against Syrian military targets could give terrorism an opportunity to expand in the region, the Iraqi foreign ministry said on Saturday. The air strikes marked a "a very dangerous development", the ministry said in statement. "Such action could have dangerous consequences, threatening the security and stability of the region and giving terrorism another opportunity to expand after it was ousted from Iraq and forced into Syria to retreat to a large extent," it said. The ministry called on Arab leaders to discuss the situation at a summit due to be held in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. Iraq's position is in line with those of Russia and Iran, the main backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war which has raged in his country since 2011. The United States, France and Britain have accused Assad of attacking the Douma suburb of Damascus with chemical agents on April 7. They say the air strikes on Saturday had been aimed at deterring his further use of chemical weapons. Shi'ite-led Iraq has kept good relations with Assad's government and Iran, while also receiving massive military and financial support from the United States, Britain and France. A U.S-led military coalition provided key air and ground support to the Iraqi government forces last year to recapture Mosul and other cities seized by Islamic State in 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi last month said he wants "to keep away" from the conflict between the United States and Iran. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Jason Neely)Morning breaks over an industrial plant in South Carolina. (Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein via Getty Images)

With little notice, President Donald Trump ordered the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to dramatically overhaul national clean air standards and make it easier for industry to pollute in areas where its already dangerous to breathe.

The executive order  titled Promoting Domestic Manufacturing and Job Creation  Policies and Procedures Relating to Implementation of Air Quality Standards  reverses an Obama-era decision. The 2015 decision allowed the EPA to intervene in states that fail to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards, forcing them to adopt federal regulatory plans to reduce ozone emissions that generally come from power plants, refineries and cement factories.



It opens the door to drastic changes in how science is used to set clean air rules, disqualifying huge amounts of peer-reviewed public health research in favor of industry-backed studies in a move that builds on steps EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has already taken.

The order requires the EPA to speed up reviews of state plans to reduce air pollution, setting a strict 18-month deadline, and complete reviews of all pre-construction permits for industry within a year. Construction permitting is primarily a state-level issue; the language in the order, critics say, appears to be a dog whistle to polluters, suggesting the EPA would pull back on any oversight.

The purpose is that if states make determinations that are somewhat less than the rigor of what might be expected, EPA wont second guess it, Stan Meiburg, a former acting deputy EPA administrator who spent 39 years at the agency, told HuffPost by phone. Its a go-ahead for industry that if they take their best shot at states, the EPA wont be getting in the way.

The order instructs the EPA to consider what countries that dont border the United States are doing to reduce pollution, allowing the agency to compare U.S. regulations to those in developing nations like China and India. It also directs Pruitt to allow states to trade pollution permits, a move environmentalists warn could make offsets nearly impossible to track and police.

Story continues

This is really just a backdoor attack on national clean air protections, Frank ODonnell, president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch, told HuffPost. It is a polluters dream.

In what could be the most controversial part, the order requires the EPAs science advisers to consider the downside of cleaner air rules, something for which industry groups have clamored for years. They argue the policies could raise electricity costs and make things like air conditioning more expensive.

That directive is likely to prompt watchdog groups to sue. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2001, in a decision written by late Justice Antonin Scalia, that the EPA cannot consider the costs of implementation when setting air quality standards.

Thats frankly illegal, Meiburg said.

President Donald Trump's new order puts poor people and communities of color at risk from increased air pollution. (Photo: SAUL LOEB via Getty Images)

The order came as the Senate debated the nomination of Andrew Wheeler, the EPAs newly approved deputy administrator, and environmentalists picked through a new letter from congressional investigators detailing fresh allegations of corruption against Pruitt.

This memorandum helps ensure that EPA carries out its core mission, while reducing regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturing, Pruitt said in a statement.

It marks the latest assault on clean air rules, putting poor people and communities of color particularly at risk. People living below the poverty line were exposed to 1.35 times more particulate matter than those living above it, according to a landmark EPA study released in February.

People of color breathe in 1.2 times more particulate matter pollution, and black people, in particular, are on average exposed to 1.54 times more particulate matter pollution than the general pollution. The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People released a report in February that found black people are exposed to air that is 38 percent more polluted than white people on average, and they are 75 percent more likely to live in communities abutting industrial sites.

People who are most affected by air pollution are the most vulnerable and these policy changes would mean even less protection for those people, Janet McCabe, who served as the assistant administrator for the EPAs Office of Air and Radiation until 2017, told HuffPost by phone. It could mean yet more pollution in their neighborhoods.

The order came nearly two weeks after the EPA announced plans to gut the only major federal rule to cut greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

That decision reversed a 2012 compromise between the Obama-era EPA, automakers and California regulators, who have the right to set stricter emissions standards under the Clean Air Act, over tailpipe rules. California officials vowed to defend the existing standards.

The new order could put the administration at loggerheads with California regulators again. But the quiet rollout of the memorandum avoided swift criticisms. The California Air Resources Board told HuffPost the agency had not yet reviewed the ordered by Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, the agencys chair, Mary Nichols, issued a statement calling the order a cave to a minority of industries who claim Clean Air Act standards are too strict, too costly and too burdensome.

The truth is a large body of research shows the Clean Air Act dramatically improves public health, especially among our most vulnerable populations, she said. The consequences of inaction are irresponsible  unhealthy people, shortened lives, and greater demands on our health care system.

This story was updated to include Mary Nichols statement.

Related...

Senate Confirms Controversial Former Coal Lobbyist As Next-In-Line To Lead EPA

EPA To Gut The Only Major Federal Rule To Cut Climate Pollution From Vehicles

Former EPA Aide Accuses Scott Pruitt Of 'Unethical, Potentially Illegal' Behavior

Also on HuffPost

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Baoding, China -- 126

A woman fixes a protective mask on a baby during an extremely polluted day in Baoding, China.

Xingtai, China -- 128

Residents ride bicycles along a street amid dense smog in Xingtai, China.

Bamenda, Cameroon -- 132

Bamenda, Nord-Ouest, Cameroon, Africa.

Raipur, India -- 144

People stand on top of a house during a movie shoot in Raipur, India.

Patna, India -- 149

A boy flies a kite near a brick factory on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Patna.

Jubail, Saudi Arabia -- 152

A petrochemical factory in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- 156

A thick haze hangs over the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Allahabad, India -- 170

A man covers his face as he walks through a dust storm on the banks of the Ganga river in Allahabad, India.

Gwalior, India -- 176

Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.President Trump had asked two of his economic advisers to explore rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement he withdrew from shortly after taking office last year.

Last year, the President kept his promise to end the TPP deal negotiated by the Obama Administration because it was unfair to American workers and farmers, White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said in a statement Thursday. The President has consistently said he would be open to a substantially better deal, including in his speech in Davos earlier this year. To that end, he has asked Amb. Lighthizer [who is U.S. Trade Representative] and [National Economic Council] Director Kudlow to take another look at whether or not a better deal could be negotiated.



Earlier in the day, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse had told reporters that Trump was reconsidering the withdrawal from the trade agreement, which Obama Administration had negotiated with 11 other Pacific Rim countries to promote free trade by reducing barriers between them. The President multiple times reaffirmed in general to all of us, and looked at Larry Kudlow, and said Larry go get it done, Sasse said after exiting a White House meeting with the President about trade and agriculture that he attended with several governors and congressional leaders who represent states that they say will be adversely impacted by the Presidents recently announced tariffs.

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who also attended the meeting, said afterwards that she had urged the President to reconsider negotiating the TPP because of concerns by constituents about the tariffs. Im so pleased that the President asked his administration to reengage in these discussions with other TPP countries, and is continuing his work to negotiate a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal. There is a growing demand for U.S. agricultural products around the world, and American farmers and manufacturers should be able to compete in these markets, Ernst said in a statement.

Trumps decision to withdraw from the TPP was among his first actions after he was inaugurated in 2017. During the campaign, he had criticized the agreement, calling it a product of the special interests that was a continuing rape of the country.

But the White House downplayed this latest reversal, pointing to Trumps remarks in Davos, Switzerland in January, where he stressed the need for trade agreements. As I have said, the United States is prepared to negotiate mutually beneficial, bilateral trade agreements with all countries. This will include the countries in TPP, which are very important. We have agreements with several of them already. We would consider negotiating with the rest, either individually, or perhaps as a group, if it is in the interests of all, Trump said at Davos.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's pardon of former George W. Bush administration official Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Friday has nothing to do with Trump's views on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign, a White House spokeswoman said. "One thing has nothing to do with the other and every case should be reviewed on its own merits. Pardoning Libby was the right thing to do after the principle witness recanted her testimony," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in response to a question at a regular news briefing. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Eric Walsh; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned former Vice President Dick Cheneys onetime Chief of Staff Lewis Scooter Libby, who was convicted in 2007 of perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation of the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plames identity.

President George W. Bush had already been accused of showing favoritism to someone within his administration when he commuted Libbys sentence, which saved Libby from serving two-and-a-half-years in jail. But pardons go further, restoring some rights that are usually revoked for those with criminal convictions as well as reducing the stigma that comes with the offense.

Thats what Cheney wanted for his former aide. But Bush thought Libby didnt deserve a pardon, and Cheney never forgave him.

Heres why, as TIME explained in its Aug. 3, 2009, cover story on the feud:

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Hours before they were to leave office after eight troubled years, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney had one final and painful piece of business to conclude. For over a month Cheney had been pleading, cajoling, even pestering Bush to pardon the Vice Presidents former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. Libby had been convicted nearly two years earlier of obstructing an investigation into the leak of a covert CIA officers identity by senior White House officials. The Libby pardon, aides reported, had become something of a crusade for Cheney, who seemed prepared to push his nine-year-old relationship with Bush to the breaking pointand perhaps past itover the fate of his former aide. We dont want to leave anyone on the battlefield, Cheney argued.

Bush had already decided the week before that Libby was undeserving and told Cheney so, only to see the question raised again. A top adviser to Bush says he had never seen the Vice President focused so single-mindedly on anything over two terms. And so, on his last full day in office, Jan. 19, 2009, Bush would give Cheney his final decision.

Story continues

These last hours represent a climactic chapter in the mysterious and mostly opaque relationship at the center of a tumultuous period in American history. It reveals how one questionwhether to grant a presidential pardon to a top vice-presidential aidestrained the bonds between Bush and his deputy and closest counselor. It reveals a gap in the two mens views of crime and punishment. And in a broader way, it uncovers a fundamental difference in how the two men regarded the legacy of the Bush years. As a Cheney confidant puts it, the Vice President believed he and the President could claim the war on terrorism as his greatest legacy only if they defended at all costs the men and women who fought in the trenches. When it came to Libby, Bush felt he had done enough.

But the fight over the pardon was also a prelude to the difficult questions about justice and national security inherited by the Obama Administration: How closely should the nation examine the actions of government officials who took stepslegal or possibly illegalto defend the nations security during the war on terrorism? The Libby investigation, which began nearly six years ago, went to the heart of whether the Bush Administration misled the public in making its case to invade Iraq. But other Bush-era policies are still coming under legal scrutiny. Who, for example, should be held accountable in one of the darkest corners of the war on terrorismthe interrogators who may have tortured detainees? Or the men who conceived and crafted the policies that led to those secret sessions in the first place? How far backand how high up the chain of commandshould these inquiries go?

Click here to read the whole articleDramatic footage shows a group of rescue workers running from a monster avalanche in the ski resort of Tignes in France Tuesday afternoon.

The workers can be heard casually chatting in French, having cleared a path from an earlier avalanche. All of a sudden, they are taken by surprise by a cascade of heavy snow down the mountainside and forced to run for their lives.

Video circulating on social media shows the workers, donning hi-vis jackets, running away from the tumbling snow as it hurtles over a transit tunnel and rapidly scatters across the main road. Fortunately no one was injured in the incident, ABC reports.

??MUST WATCH?? #Avalanche in #France sends rescue crews running. We have the story and the full video on our website: https://t.co/6vDIbcMcce pic.twitter.com/RfnsN8hi2g  WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) April 12, 2018

In February 2017, four French snowboarders, including two teenage boys, were killed by an avalanche in Tignes. The group had been walking off-piste when the 400-meter-wide avalanche hit, the BBC reported at the time. It appeared to have been set off by a group of skiers higher up mountain.

Earlier this month, three Spanish skiers were killed in an avalanche in the Swiss Alps, and two others were taken to a hospital with light injuries.China is set to hold live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait next week in a move certain to ratchet tensions with Taipei, after Chinese president Xi Jinping oversaw the biggest naval exercises in the country's history.

The new drills, which are planned for Wednesday, come as tensions between Beijing and Taiwan simmer over increased American support for the government of the self-ruled island.

Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's president, on Friday presided over her first military drills since she took office in 2016, but those exercises did not involve live fire.

Tensions between Beijing and Taipei have escalated in recent weeks amid speculation of a visit to Taiwan by new US national security adviser John Bolton and Washington's backing of Taiwan's plans to build an indigenous submarine force.

Chinese media said a decision by Donald Trump's administration to give the go ahead for US defence contractors to help Taiwan build the submarine fleet has made war between Taiwan and China "more probable".

China's drills next week will be the first in the Strait since just before the 2015 presidential election, which saw Mrs Tsai, the candidate for the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), sweep to power.

Beijing has viewed the Taiwanese president with suspicion and believes she is preparing to move Taiwan towards formal independence - a move that would represent a red line for China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech as he reviews a military display of Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy in the South China Sea Credit: Li Gang/Xinhua via REUTERS

China views Taiwan as a renegade province which will one day be reunited with the mainland - by force if necessary.

On Thursday President Xi presided over huge exercises in the South China Sea in an unmistakable show of force to Beijing's regional rivals.

The drills involved 48 ships, among them China's sole operating aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, along with 76 helicopters, fighter jets and bombers, and more than 10,000 personnel.

Chinese media said it was the largest of its kind.

"The mission of building a mighty people's navy has never been more urgent than it is today," Mr Xi, dressed in army fatigues, said in remarks on the helicopter deck of one of China's most advanced destroyers. "Strive to make the people's navy a first-rate world navy."

Story continues

The nationalist Global Times newspaper warned in a commentary on Taiwan's drills that the island's leaders were making a gamble they couldn't afford to lose.

The Liaoning aircraft carrier is accompanied by navy frigates and submarines Credit: Li Gang/Xinhua via AP

"The mainland has abundant capability to take back the Taiwan authorities' bargaining chips one at a time until it deals a decisive blow to 'Taiwan independence'," the state-run newspaper said.

China's state television broadcaster cited China's Taiwan Affairs Office as saying that Beijing had firm will and the ability to "thwart any kind of Taiwan independence separatist plot and action, and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Beijing has claimed Taiwan since defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after losing the civil war with Mao Tse-tung's Communists.

China has become increasingly assertive on the world stage since Mr Xi assumed power five years ago.

The Chinese president has also oversaw the rapid modernisation of China's military - which is the world's largest.

China's increasing power has caused concern among its neighbours in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims nearly all of the strategic waters, despite partial counter-claims from Taiwan and several south-east Asian nations including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

The US Navy has been confronting China in the region with 'freedom of navigation' exercises.

The US aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Carl Vinson have sailed through the South China Sea in recent months, angering Beijing.Aden (AFP) - The Yemeni government on Saturday accused Iran of supplying Shiite Huthi rebels with drones used for cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh said Wednesday it had shot down two drones in the south of the kingdom as well as intercepting ballistic missiles fired from rebel-held parts of Yemen, the latest in a series of similar incidents.

The Saudi-backed government said in a statement Saturday that the drones are "made in Iran".

It added that Yemen's military did not possess such aircraft and it was "impossible to manufacture them locally".

Iran backs the Huthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military coalition to intervene against the rebels the following year.

But Tehran has repeatedly denied arming the rebels, which would violate a United Nations weapons embargo slapped on Yemen in 2015.

Riyadh said its air defences between Wednesday and Friday intercepted five ballistic missiles and two drones launched from rebel-held northern Yemen.

Saudi Arabia in March 2015 launched a coalition of Arab states fighting to roll back the Huthi rebels in Yemen and restore the country's internationally-recognised government to power.

Nearly 10,000 people have since been killed in Yemen's conflict, in what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

Facial expressions and body movements, whether we make them knowingly or not, can persuade people.

As experts in political discourse and facial displayshow scientists often refer to facial expressionswe have analyzed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs five-hour Senate hearing on April 10. We looked at what kinds of questions senators asked and how Zuckerberg answered them.

Trending: Why Do Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi Remain Republicans Biggest Targets Ahead of 2018 Midterms?

Mark Zuckerberg

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

What matters most in this kind of analysis is determining whether a persons facial expressions are appropriate for what is being stated and whether their muscular movements reliably reflect their intentions.

While an individual may be smiling, that expression doesnt always mean they are happy. They could be expressing sarcasm or politeness, depending on the context.

These facial clues can help viewers figure out whether a speakerZuckerberg in this caseis saying what he means. Zuckerberg was reserved but not impenetrable. His facial displays, while slight and subtle, were revealing.

Unenthusiastic frowning

Zuckerberg began his hearing with the senators by indicating he was not excited to be there.

Sen. Chuck Grassley opened the joint session by welcoming the CEO. During Grassleys statements, Zuckerberg pulled the corners of his lips downward, a muscular movement associated with an encounter with something unpleasant. Even without a verbal response, we can already see Zuckerbergs displeasure at sitting in front of the committee.

Don't miss: 11 Lions Killed in Suspected Mass Poisoning

Amused smiling

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, complimented Zuckerberg by calling attention to his success, rhetorically asking if it could happen only in America. When Zuckerberg tried to tell the senator that there are successful Chinese tech companies, Sullivan jokingly told Zuckerberg that he is supposed to answer yes to this question.

Story continues

In response, Zuckerberg gave an amused smile and laughed. Sullivan and much of the joint committee and the audience laughed too.

When laughing, the corners of Zuckerbergs lips were pulled up and at an angle, the muscles around his eyes were contracted, and his jaw dropped.

The combination of these facial muscular movements show that a person is likely feeling amused. Between the jovial laughter shared between Zuckerberg and Sullivan, and Zuckerbergs seemingly happy facial expression, he appears glad to be laughing at a comment at his own expense rather than taking hard questioning.

Some of Zuckerbergs smiles were quite subtle throughout the hearing, but this smile indicated an exchange of humor.

Most popular: Kyle Plush, Ohio Teen Who Died After Being Pinned by His Minivan Seat, Called 911 Twice

Uncertain lip-pursing

Throughout the hearing, Zuckerberg is seen pursing and pulling his lips into his mouth, particularly when senators posed negatively framed questions.

Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida, asked about Zuckerbergs accountability to the 87 million people whose information was breached by Cambridge Analytica, the incident which led to Zuckerbergs appearance before Congress. The senator began with confrontational statements about Facebooks pattern of lax data practices and asked Zuckerberg why Facebook hadnt informed users about the breach when it happened.

Zuckerberg pushed his lower lip upward and both lips together. This suggests he was feeling vexed about Nelsons statement that the recent scandal is frustrating not only because it affected 87 million, but because it seems to be part of a pattern of lax data practices by the company going back years. This indicated a degree of angereither at the question, the breach or both.

Zuckerberg did not provide a complete reply to Nelsons question. By not completely answering the question, Zuckerbergs tells us he doesnt want to supply Nelson with a straightforward answer. Instead, he described the process Facebook went through to punish the developer who sold users personal information to Cambridge Analytica.

This moment revealed how the question of accountability is still a touchy point for him.

Nichole Russell, M.A. Candidate in Political Science, University of Arkansas.

Patrick A. Stewart, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Arkansas.

The Conversation

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekMichael Cohen, an attorney for US President Donald Trump, has been under criminal investigation for months, federal prosecutors disclosed in a filing in Manhattan federal court in Friday.

Prosecutors said the investigation focuses on Cohen's "own business dealings" rather than his work as an attorney. The filing came in response to Cohen's effort to block prosecutors from reviewing documents seized in searches of his home and office on Monday.The United States has proof at "a very high level of confidence" that the Syrian government carried out the recent chemical weapons attack in Douma but is still working to identify the mix of chemicals used, the State Department said on Friday.

"We can say that the Syrian government was behind the attack," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a briefing. Asked if the United States had proof of that, she said, "Yes."

Nauert said a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would arrive in Syria on Saturday to collect evidence.US President Donald Trump is slamming fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Twitter, saying McCabe "LIED! LIED! LIED!"

Trump's tweet comes after the Justice Department inspector general found that McCabe misled investigators multiple times about his role in a news media disclosure about Hillary Clinton just days before the 2016 presidential election and authorized the release of information to "advance his personal interests."

Trump tweets: "DOJ just issued the McCabe report - which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED!"

Trump claims "McCabe was totally controlled" by former FBI Director James Comey, adding, "McCabe is Comey!!"

The president is linking the report on McCabe to the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, tweeting, "No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!"Bereaved parents protested opposite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem Friday over the court's decision to prevent them from using his sperm to produce a grandchild.

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Fallen IDF soldier Omri Shahar's parents, Asher and Irit, protested demanding to change the state's verdict, and allow them to use the sperm to create a new generation.

Omri, A naval officer, was killed in June, 2012 on his way back to base in a car accident together with officer Refael Bublil. Omri was their eldest son, and brother to Inbarwho recently gave birth herselfand Lotem.

Omri's father Asher in front of PM's Residence (Photo: Shachar family)

Prior to his burial, Omri's parents decided to draw sperm from his body. Six months later, they petitioned the state to use his sperm for the creation of a new generation, but the state objected. Omri's parents have been fighting the courts for four years to get the state's permission to create life from their son's sperm.

Fallen naval officer Omri Shahar (Photo: Ido Erez)

The Magistrates Court in Petah Tikva had finally accepted their petition, but the state submitted an appeal and the District Court in Lod ruled in favor of the state. Recently, the parents tried to appeal the district court's decision to the Supreme Court, but they allege Justice Menachem Mazuz refused to discuss their appeal.

This week they demonstrated in front of Netanyahu's residence in the hopes of somebody understanding and helping them. "I'm demonstrating over the deceased's right to bear children and want this matter to be legislated," said Omri's mother. "Time has come for the state not to send its bereaved parents to the courts, where they fritter away time and money, but rather to engage in legislation on the matter."

(Photo: Shachar family)

The parents explained they had decided to demonstrate over this past week since due to the proximity to the Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers, a time of year when the Israeli public would be more attentive to their plight.

"We chose to protest now since in a few days, they will stroke our shoulders, but after that they will just forget about us," said Irit.

"We thought perhaps we shouldn't demonstrate on Holocaust Remembrance Day," said Asher, "But then we realized today is precisely the day to demonstrate as it symbolizes continuity. We don't understand why the state appealed the court's decision in our favor and why Meni Mazuz refuses to let us appeal to the Supreme Court. As long as I live I'll continue to fight for this because bereaved parents also deserve continuity. The public has to keep in mind Omri was our son, and not that of the State Attorney's Office."

.

Omri (L) and his parents

China: Son born four years after couple died

The British newspaper The Guardian reported Thursday that the son of a Chinese couple who died more than four years ago was born to a surrogate mother, according to Chinese media.

Shen Jie and Liu Xi had been married for two years when they decided to try in vitro fertilization. In March, 2013, five days before they were scheduled to transplant one of the fertilized embryos into Liu, the couple died in a car accident in the province of Jiangsu.

For the next three years, the parents of Shen and Liu fought for the rights to four frozen embryos left by their late children in a complicated and unprecedented legal case in China.

After several court battles, both sets of parents finally won custody of the embryos, and in January of 2017, with the help of a surrogacy agency, they drove to Laos to find a mother, as surrogacy is illegal in China.

In December of last year, Shen and Lius baby, a boy, was born in a hospital in Guangzhou. Lius mother gave him the name Tiantian, or sweet. Last month, the family celebrated Tiantians first 100 days by holding a small party.

The grandmother told Beijing News, Tiantians eyes look like my daughters but overall, he looks more like his father.

After the birth, there were still legal complications. The new grandparents had to carry out DNA tests to prove their relationship to Tiantian and maintain custody.

They have not yet decided how to tell Tiantian about his background. Shen Xinan, Tiantians paternal grandfather, said, This boy is destined to be sad on his arrival into the world. Other babies have their fathers and mothers, but he doesnt. We will definitely tell him in the future. How can we not? Shen said.The United States, the United Kingdom and France fired more than 100 missiles at Syria early on Saturday in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

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US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said three main chemical weapons facilities were targeted at 4am local time (1am GMT) by missiles from both the sea and aircraft, which triggered Syrian air defenses. Mattis said there were no reports of US losses.

The Pentagon could not confirm how many missiles hit their targets.

Western strike in Syria

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US President Donald Trump said the US is prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons.

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said.

US President Donald Trump in address to the nation following Syria strike

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A US official familiar with the military planning said there could be more air strikes if the intelligence indicates that Assad has not stopped manufacturing, importing, storing or using chemical weapons, including weaponized chlorine.

The official acknowledged that could require a more sustained US air and naval presence in the region, as well as intensified satellite and other surveillance of Syria.

Mattis, however, said the assault was a "one-time shot," so long as Assad does not repeat his use of chemical weapons.

"If it is finished, and there is no second round, it will be considered limited," a US official told Reuters.

Mattis and Dunford acknowledged the strike was designed to degrade Syria's chemical weapons capability without killing civilians or the many foreign fighters in Syria's multi-sided civil war, particularly those from Russia.

The strikes were carried out by manned aircraft and from ships that launched cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea.

Mattis acknowledged that the US had not yet confirmed that the most recent suspected Syrian chemical weapons attack, on April 7 in the Damascus suburb of Douma, included the use of sarin gas. He said at least one chemical was used -- chlorine, which also has legitimate industrial uses and had not previously triggered a US military response.

Allegations of Assad's chlorine use are frequent in Syria's conflict, raising questions about whether Washington had effectively lowered the threshold for military intervention.

Last year, the United States only waged strikes in Syria after determining that more deadly sarin gas was used. Some US media had said Washington was confident Assad had also used sarin on April 7.

Mattis, however, suggested the evidence of sarin was so far inconclusive.

"We are very confident that chlorine was used. We are not ruling out sarin right now," Mattis said.

Syrian state TV called the attacks a "blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy."

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

The Syrian government and its allies said they have "absorbed" the strike, adding that the targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.

"We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago," a senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters. Around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down, the official claimed.

Video purporting to show Syrian interception of Western missiles

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"We are carrying out an assessment of the material damages," the official added.

The Syrian conflict pits a complex myriad of parties against each other with Russia and Iran giving Assad military and political help while fractured opposition forces have had varying levels of support at different times from the West, Arab states and Turkey.

The strikes risked raising tension in an already combustible region but appeared designed not to trigger a military response from Russia and Iran.

The United States, Britain and France have all bombed the Islamic State group in Syria for years and had troops on the ground to fight them, but refrained from targetting Assad's government apart from a volley of US missiles last year.

Although the Western countries have all said for seven years that Assad must leave power, they held back in the past from striking his government with no wider strategy to defeat him.

The bombing represents a major escalation putting the West in direct confrontation with Assad's superpower ally Russia, but is unlikely to alter the course of a multi-sided war which has killed at least half a million people in the past seven years.

That in turn raises the question of where Western countries go from here, after a volley of strikes denounced by Damascus and Moscow as both reckless and pointless.

Carefully selected targets

Mattis said the targets selected by US, British and French officials were meant to minimize civilian casualties. "This is difficult to do in a situation like this," he said, in light of the volatility of chemical agents.

The Pentagon said one of the targets was a scientific research center located in the Barzeh district of Damascus, which it described as a Syrian center for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weaponry.

Syrian state media said the US-led air strikes caused material damage only at the scientific research center, destroying a building that includes a learning centre and laboratories.

The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs. "We assess that this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment," Dunford said.

The third target, which was also near Homs, contained both a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and a command post.

"The missiles that targeted a military position in Homs were thwarted and diverted from their path, and injured three civilians," Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

US officials said there was no indication so far that Syrian air defenses struck attacking Western aircraft or ships.

"We were very precise and proportionate," Mattis said. "But at the same time, it was a heavy strike."





A commander in the regional military alliance that backs Assad told Reuters the al-Shirai air base in al-Dimas, west of Damascus and near the Lebanese border, was one of the strike's targets.

The attack also hit a site in Masyaf, about 170 km (100 miles) north of Damascus, army depots in the eastern Qalamoun region northeast of the capital, the Kisweh area south of Damascus, and a site in the Qasyoun hills overlooking the capital, he said.

May: UK had no choice but to launch strike

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in London that the West had tried "every possible" diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted" by Syria and Russia, she said.

"We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none," May said.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," she added. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change."

British Prime Minister Therea May comments on Syria strike

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Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets using Storm Shadow missiles had taken part in the attack on a military facility near Homs, where it was assessed Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defense (MoD) said.

Britain's MoD said initial indications were that the precision weapons and meticulous target planning had "resulted in a successful attack," which May cast as a "limited and targeted" strike.

The British defense ministry said "very careful scientific analysis" had been applied to maximise the destruction of stockpiled chemicals while minimizing any risk of contamination to surrounding areas.

Royal Air Force Tornado jet before leaving for Syria strike (Photo: EPA)

"The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk," the MoD said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said the mission had been highly successful and implied that no further action was imminent.

"We don't expect that we'll be a position where we're having to make further strikes," he told LBC radio. "We believe that the strikes we have taken last night had a significant impact in terms of what the Syrian regime can do in the future."

May said while the strike was targeted at Syria, it sent a message to anyone who used chemical weapons. Britain has accused Russia of being behind last month's nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, southern England, a charge Moscow has rejected.

Britian used Storm Shadow missiles in Syrian strike (Photo: EPA)

"This is the first time as prime minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat, and it is not a decision I have taken lightly," she said.

"I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain's national interest. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world."

Macron: Strike targeted Assad's clandestine chemical arsenal

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."

"We cannot tolerate the recurring use of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security," a statement from the Elysee presidential office said.

French fighter jets take off for Syria strike

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"On April 7, dozens of men, women and children were massacred in Douma, with the use of a chemical weapon in a total violation of international rules ... The red line established by France in May 2017 was crossed," Macron said.

He added that the facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime were beyond doubt.

Macron, who tweeted a picture of himself in a meeting room with military and diplomatic advisers, said a debate about France's military involvement would take place in parliament.

French President Macron with military and diplomatic advisers during the strike (Photo: AFP)

While there had been general public warnings broadcast by US President Donald Trump, Macron himself and other Western leaders, a French presidency source clarified that the French leader did not tell Russian President Vladimir Putin the allies would strike overnight when they talked over the phone on Friday.

Regular "deconfliction" contacts were made with the Russian military once the operation had been kicked off to make sure that they would not be accidentally hit, the source said.



France's Defense Minister Florence Parly said the French military sent fighter jets from multiple bases in France and used missile-equipped frigates in the Mediterranean in the operation.

"We are not looking for confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation, that is the reason why we, with our allies, ensured the Russians were warned beforehand," Parly told journalists in a short statement alongside Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

France's Defense Minister Florence Parly and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (Photo: AP)

Le Drian said the operation did not target Syria's allies or civilians but Assad's government because of its alleged use of chemical weapons.

"It was limited to specific objectives: the destruction of the Syrian regime's chemical capabilities to stop it from committing new chemical massacres," he said.

According to a French presidency source, French Mirage and Rafale fighter jets were involved in air strikes on Syria together with four frigate warships.

This included an air defense frigate, three multi-mission frigates, Mirage 2000 jets, Rafale, AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) and support and supply assistance, the source said.

The French military fired 12 missiles during its air strikes on Syria, defense ministry officials said, adding there was no indication the missiles had been intercepted.

Twice as many weapons as last year's strike

Mattis and Dunford characterized this year's strikes as more significant than the one waged last year, saying double the number of weapons were used this time.

Last year, 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the guided missile destroyers USS Porter and the USS Ross struck Syria's Shayrat air base.

The targets of that strike included Syrian aircraft, aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage facilities, ammunition supply bunkers, air defence systems and radar.

At the time, the Pentagon claimed that a fifth of Syria's operational aircraft were either damaged or destroyed.

Last year's US strike was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

Although Syria's military had moved aircraft and other military assets in the days preceding Friday's strike, Dunford said he did not believe it had moved chemical weapons materials.

Mattis added that the US expects the Syrian government and its allies to conduct a "significant disinformation campaign," which the Pentagon would rebut with additional information Saturday morning.

The air campaign could frustrate those in Trump's base who oppose military intervention and are wary of open-ended conflicts.

Trump chastized Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators."

"To Iran and to Russia, I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?" Trump said.

The US president noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," Trump said. "Hopefully, someday we'll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran -- but maybe not."

Russia to call UN Security Council meeting

Russia's military said 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies were intercepted by Syrian government air defense systems using Soviet-made air defense missile systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the missiles aimed at four key Syrian air bases.

Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said the strike hasn't caused any casualties and Syrian military facilities targeted by the US, Britain and France have suffered only minor damage.

He said the Russian air defense assets in Syria monitored the strike but didn't engage any of the missiles.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said none of the air strikes hit zones where Russian air defense systems protect the Russian bases of Tartus and Hmeimim.

Col. Gen. Rudskoi noted that Russia in the past refrained from providing Syria with its state-of-the-art S-300 air defense missile systems on Western prodding but could reconsider it now.

The Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, condemned the airstrikes and warned that "such actions will not be left without consequences."

Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, has denied there was a chemical attack and has accused Western nations of staging the Douma incident to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

The chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, described the attacks as groundless attack on a sovereign government, saying the strikes were a violation of international law and are likely meant to prevent investigators from the global chemical weapons watchdog from doing their work.

"It's also highly likely an attempt to create complications for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission, which was just starting its work in Syria's Douma, or an attempt to completely derail it," Kosachev was quoted as saying.

A team of inspectors from the OPCW arrived in Syria on Thursday and Friday and had been expected to start their investigation into the alleged Douma attack on Saturday.

The OPCW did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the work would go ahead.

Russian lawmaker Vladimir Dzhabarov said Moscow was likely to call for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the strike.

"The situation is being analyzed right now. Russia will demand a meeting of the UN Security Council, I think, for sure," Dzhabarov, who is the deputy head of Russia's foreign affairs committee, was quoted by RIA as saying.

A broader question is whether the allied attacks are part of a revamped, coherent political strategy to end the war on terms that do not leave Assad in power.

The strikes appear to signal Trump's willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. Just weeks ago, Trump said he wanted to end US involvement in Syria and bring American troops home to focus on the homeland. The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria.

"As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," Trump said. "And great warriors they are."

Trump addressing nation after Syria strike (Photo: AFP)

The US has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the ISIS grip on both Syria and Iraq.

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances," Trump stressed.

"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons," he said.

Jarrod Agen, Vice President Mike Pence's deputy chief of staff, said Pence called congressional leaders from his hotel suite in Lima, Peru, to notify them of the president's plan to address the nation about the Syrian air strikes.

Opposition to strike in Britain

In Britain, many politicians, including some in Prime Minister May's own Conservative Party, had called for parliament to be recalled from a break to give authority to any military strike.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron lost a parliamentary vote on air strikes against Assad's forces in 2013 when 30 Conservative lawmakers voted against action, with many Britons wary of entering another conflict after intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya failed to bring stability to the region.

May is not obliged to win parliament's approval before ordering military action, but a non-binding constitutional convention to do so has been established since a 2003 vote on joining the US-led invasion of Iraq.

A YouGov poll for The Times newspaper this week indicated that only a fifth of voters believed that Britain should launch attacks on Syrian military targets and more than two-fifths opposed action.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had said Britain should press for an independent UN-led investigation into the suspected chemical attack in Douma rather than wait for instructions from Trump on how to proceed.

Former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband, now head of humanitarian relief group the International Rescue Committee, said military action needed to be part of a wider political strategy.

"Bombing cannot substitute for diplomacy," he said.An IDF soldier was killed and three others were injured early Saturday in an accident involving a tank. Two of the injured were in serious condition.

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The accident happened near the Nitzana border crossing connecting Israel and the Sinai Peninsula, while a tank force from 74th Battalion of the 188th Brigade, under the command of the Caracal Battalion, was conducting routine operations in the area.

According to an initial investigation into the incident, IDF forces were called to the scene at around 1am to help thwart a smuggling after a previous attempt had already been foiled.

The tank at the scene of the accident

The smugglers were trying to sabotage security infrastructure, and tanks were called to the scene to stop them from using the smuggling attempt as cover for a terrorist attack.

As the forces were maneuvering, one Merkava Mark III tank moved towards one of the military posts when it rolled three meters down a slope at the Nitzana stream, even though according to the IDF the tank was supposed to be able to handle such an incline.

The tank at the scene of the accident

A blaze then broke out inside the tank, caused by one of its shells catching fire for reasons yet unknown. The tank's Spectronix fire detection system extinguished the fire, saving the lives of the three soldiers who were injured in the incident.

The tank driver was killed, but it is yet unclear if he died in the fire or as a result of the fire suppression materials. He was not hurt when the tank rolled down the slope.

The tank at the scene of the accident

In the wake of the incident, an investigation was launched by the IDF's criminal Investigation Division (CID), the army established an inquiry team, and the Southern Command and 188th Brigade launched their own probes as well.

The injured soldiers were taken to the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva for treatment, with an IDF statement saying they were in moderate and light condition.

But the hospital said two of them were in serious condition and had to be sedated and put on ventilators at the ICU. The third injured soldier was admitted to the plastic surgery department.

The tank at the scene of the accident

"The IDF shares in the grief of the killed soldier's family and will continue accompanying the families of the injured," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said.

The father of one of the soldiers who was lightly hurt said his son "called us from the ambulance at 2:30am. We realized something was wrong, but he calmed us down."

The father said the soldier was suffering from burns. "His condition is good, we experienced a big miracle. We saw he was smiling and laughing and that calmed us down. They only fell. they did what they needed to, but I don't know exactly what happened," he said.Abroad during a major military strike, US Vice President Mike Pence plans to address Latin American leaders Saturday President Donald Trump's decision to launch air strikes in Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack in the war-torn nation.

Pence was whisked away from the Summit of the Americas late Friday so he could inform US congressional leaders by phone of Trump's plans to announce the missile strikes. The vice president spoke to top Republican and Democratic leaders from his hotel suite before attending a banquet hosted by Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra.

For Pence, the calls and schedule changes served as the latest example of his supporting role here in place of Trump, who pulled out of the summit so he could manage the US response to the suspected chemical attack in Syria.

Jarrod Agen, Pence's deputy chief of staff, said the vice president planned to address the gathering of Latin American leaders about the strikes on Saturday.Israel has been notified US-led strikes in Syria ahead of time, Israeli and American officials confirmed on Saturday morning.

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US, British and French forces hit Syria with air strikes overnight in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week. US President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Assad's government stopped its use of chemical weapons.

US-led strike in Syria

Asked how much advanced warning Israel had received, an Israeli official told Reuters: "Between 12 and 24 hours, I believe."

Asked whether Israel helped choose targets, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "Not to my knowledge."

The Israeli official said the punitive US-led strikes were justified because of the "murderous actions" of the Damascus government.

"Last year, President Trump made clear that the use of chemical weapons crosses a red line. Tonight, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom enforced that line," the official said.

"Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk," the official added.

Western forces attack in Syria

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Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Galant said the strike sends an important signal to the axis of evil - Iran, Syria and Hezbollah."

The use of chemical weapons crosses a red line that humanity can no longer tolerate, Gallant, a member of the security Cabinet and a former IDF general, wrote on Twitter.

The IDF has increased the level of alert among its forces on the northern border over the weekend, fearing harsh Iranian retaliation in the wake of the US-led strike as well as another strike earlier this weekwhich was attributed to Israelof an Iranian drone base at the T-4 complex in Syria.

Israel did not deny or confirm any responsibility for the Monday attack, which killed 14 military personnel, seven of them Iranians.

On Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urged him to do nothing to destabilize Syria, according to a Kremlin statement.

Israel has mounted air strikes in Syria on a regular basis, targeting suspected weapons shipments to Hezbollah.The Russian military said Saturday that Syria's Soviet-made air defense systems have downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the United States and its allies.

Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said the strike hasn't caused any casualties and Syrian military facilities targeted by the US, Britain and France have suffered only minor damage.

He said the Russian air defense assets in Syria monitored the strike but didn't engage any of the missiles.

Rudskoi added the Syrian military used Soviet-made air defense missile systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the missiles aimed at four key Syrian air bases.

He noted that Russia in the past refrained from providing Syria with its state-of-the-art S-300 air defense missile systems on Western prodding but could reconsider it now.Syrian President Bashar Assad told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani that the unprecedented US-led air strikes on Saturday would increase Syria's resolve to "fight and crush terrorism in every inch" of the country, the Syrian presidency said.

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The United States, Britain and France struck Syrian military targets before dawn over a suspected gas attack last week, which Western powers blamed on Assad and his allies.

Scientific research center in Damascus destroyed in strikes

Assad also said the US, UK and France decided to attack after realizing they have lost control of the area and their credibility.

Rouhani told Assad that Iran would continue to stand by Syria, "expressing his confidence that this aggression would not weaken the determination of the Syrian people in its war against terrorism."

Scientific research center in Damascus destroyed in strikes

The Syrian military delivered a similar message in a televised statement, saying "Such attacks will not deter our armed forces and allied forces from persisting to crush what is left of the armed terrorist groups."

Scientific research center in Damascus destroyed in strikes

In an effort to show it was business-as-usual for Assad following the strike, the Syrian presidency posted a video of him arriving for work on Saturday, just hours after the attack.

Assad arriving at work hours after attack

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"The morning of resilience," declared a caption accompanying the video circulated on the presidency's Telegram feed, which showed Assad in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase as he walked into the marble-floored entrance of a building.

Syrian soldiers waving Syria, Iranian and Russian flags (Photo: Reuters)

Russia said 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies were intercepted by Syrian government air defense systems using Soviet-made air defense missile systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the missiles aimed at four key Syrian air bases.

Damascus with key allies Russia and Iran, have lambasted reports of the suspected gas attack as bogus. The Syrian government has accused Washington of seeking to use it as a pretext for attacking.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Saturday that the US-led strikes would only "lead to inflaming tensions in the world" and threaten international security.

"The barbaric aggression ...will not affect in any way the determination and insistence of the Syrian people and their heroic armed forces," state media cited an official source in the ministry as saying.

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the Syrian government and its allies had "absorbed" the attack. The sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia, the official said.

Defiance on the streets of Damascus

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of Syrians began gathering in the landmark Omayyad square in the Syrian capital of Damascus, celebrating what they said was the army's success in shooting down or derailing some of the missiles.

Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, other drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance.

"We are not scared of America's missiles. We humiliated their missiles," said Mahmoud Ibrahim, half his body hanging outside his car window, waving a Syrian flag. The crowd then moved toward the nearby Damascus University where pro-government fighters danced, waving their automatic rifles over their heads.

"We are your men, Bashar," they shouted. Others shouted: "Oh Trump you are a monkey. Oh Trump you are an animal," as they stood in the square decorated with a giant colored "I Love Damascus" sign. The taunts were a clear retort to Trump calling Assad an "animal" in tweets following the suspected chemical weapons attack.

Syrian state TV broadcast live from the square where a large crowd of civilians mixed with men in uniforms, including an actor, lawmakers and other figures.

The attack began at 4am (1am GMT) with missiles hitting the eastern suburbs of Damascus, shaking the grounds from a distance. The sky looked orange over eastern Damascus apparently as a result of fires caused by the missiles hitting Syria. Air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles from different directions toward incoming missiles.

At about sunrise, the sound of explosions could be heard just as the loudspeakers from the city's mosques called for morning prayers.

A car with loudspeakers blaring the national song "Oh Syria, You Are My Love" could be heard driving through central Damascus amid the attack.

Syrian TV called the attacks a "blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy."

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Rebels say strikes not enough

The Syrian opposition said the US-led strikes would not change the course of the seven-year-old war, urging Western powers to also hit Assad's conventional weapons which have killed many more people during the war.

Some insurgent officials said they feared an onslaught against the rebel bastion of Idlib, which a senior Iranian official has indicated could be the next target.

Nasr al-Hariri, a senior opposition leader, said Syrians need a strategy that leads to a political solution to "save it from the brutality of the Syrian regime."

Syrian rebels in Idlib (Photo: AFP)

Al-Hariri, in a tweet, suggested the strikes send the wrong message that while it is not OK to use chemical weapons, the Syrian government can continue to "use explosive barrels and cluster bombs."

"Maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons again, but it will not hesitate to use weapons," opposition leader Nasr al-Hariri said.

A rebel fighter said he was bracing for further attacks as "revenge" by the government with its allies on rebel territory in the northwest, including the Idlib region.

"More was expected from the American strike to affect the path of the war and to curb Assad's crimes," he told Reuters from Hama province.

Syrian rebels in Idlib (Photo: AFP)

The war has been going Assad's way since Russia intervened on his side in 2015. From holding less than a fifth of Syria in 2015, Assad has recovered to control the largest chunk of the country with Russian and Iranian help.

Mohamad Alloush, political chief of the Jaish al-Islam faction that had controlled Douma, said the Western strikes on Saturday would not be enough.

"As long as this regime and its security agencies exist, the chemical (attacks) will continue because there is safety from the consequences that would end it," he said. "And (Assad) is portraying what happened as a victory."

The opposition has praised President Donald Trump for taking action against Assad after criticizng former US President Barack Obama for failing to enforce his own red line when Assad was accused of using gas in 2013. But they want more.

"The strike has weakened the regime, but has not strengthened the opposition," said another rebel commander.

Trump last year decided to halt a CIA program that had funnelled weapons and cash to some Free Syrian Army rebels.LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May declined to say on Saturday whether Syrian President Bashar Assad should stay in power and said talks with allies would continue on finding a political solution to the civil war.

When asked if Syria's Assad could remain leader as long as he refrained from further use of chemical weapons, May said: "This was about, as I have said and you have recognized, this was specifically about the use of chemical weapons."

"There is a wider question on the future political solution for Syria and that is a matter that we will continue to pursue in diplomatic and political channels with our international partners and allies," May said.

May has repeatedly said that the missile strike on Syria was not about "regime change."Israel closed the air space over the Golan Heights east of the Jordan River on Saturday morning in the wake of the Western strike in Syria.

Airlines were told that they were not allowed to fly in the area at altitudes surpassing 5,000 feet.

The air space will remain closed until the end of April.

Ravi Tejas upcoming film Amar Akbar Anthony is making brisk progress in US these days. Directed by Sreenu Vaitla, the film was recently shot in New York and now, the team has moved to Michigan state to continue the rest of the shoot.

Earlier this month, Sreenu Vaitla had revealed that he had shot certain portions in a mansion that is owned by Jennifer Lopez in Long Island, and the director revealed that it was a dream come true for him since he is big fan of J Lo. More details about the film are awaited.

Anu Emmanuel is the lead actress in this family entertainer. Incidentally, Ravi Teja and Sreenu Vaitla are uniting after a decade. In the past, they had worked together for films like Nee Kosam, Venky, and Dubai Seenu.









Articles that might interest you:AKROTIRI - Cyprus distanced itself on Saturday from Britain's air strikes on Syrian targets, saying it had no prior briefing or involvement in the action launched from a British sovereign air base on the Mediterranean island.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.

"Cyprus did not have any participation in this operation and conditions of full security exist in our country," Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said in a statement.

"The Authorities of the Republic of Cyprus have been monitoring the situation from the first moment, however, Cyprus did not receive any prior briefing," he said.

Neither the airspace of Cyprus, or its flight information region - a huge swathe of eastern Mediterranean airspace - was used, he said.

"We hope that it will subsequently be possible for military operations to be avoided in Syria and that sources of danger in this neighboring country will be addressed with peaceful means and through dialogue."ANKARA - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned on Saturday that a US-led missile attack on Syria would lead to destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim.Russia on Saturday called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council as Moscow said it would consider supplying S-300 missile systems to Syria following a US-led strike. The meeting will be held at 11am (3pm GMT) on Saturday.

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"Russia convenes an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss aggressive actions of the US and its allies," President Vladimir Putin said in a statement published on the Kremlin website.

"The current escalation of the situation around Syria has a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations," he added.

Left: Russian President Putin and Syrian President Assad; center: images from Western attack on Syria; right: US President Trump, British PM May and French President Macron (Photos: AP, EPA, MCT, AFP, Reuters)

US, British and French forces pounded Syria with more than 100 missiles early on Saturday in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Putin said the US actions in Syria made the humanitarian catastrophe worse and caused pain for civilians.

"Russia in the most serious way condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military servicemen help the legitimate government to fight terrorism," Putin said.

He reaffirmed Russia's view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake. Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack.

He criticized the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

A team of inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Syria on Thursday and Friday and are expected to start their investigation into the alleged Douma attack on Saturday.

The OPCW did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the work would go ahead.

Footage from scene of alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma (: )

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Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, has denied there was a chemical attack and has accused Western nations of staging the Douma incident to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

Moscow may consider supplying S-300 surface to-air missile systems to Syria and "other countries," Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi told a televised briefing on Saturday.

Russia had "refused" supplying those missiles to Syria a few years ago, he added, "taking into account the pressing request of some of our Western partners."

Following the US-led strikes, however, "we consider it possible to return to examination of this issue not only in regard to Syria but to other countries as well," Rudskoi said.

Russia's military said 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the US and its allies were intercepted by Syrian government air defense systems using Soviet-made air defense missile systems with high efficiency, shooting down all of the missiles aimed at four key Syrian air bases.

Syrians say this is one of the Western missiles after it was shot down

Rudskoi said the strike hasn't caused any casualties and Syrian military facilities targeted have suffered only minor damage.

He said the Russian air defense assets in Syria monitored the strike but didn't engage any of the missiles.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said none of the air strikes hit zones where Russian air defense systems protect the Russian bases of Tartus and Hmeimim.

The Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, condemned the airstrikes and warned that "such actions will not be left without consequences." He said that "all responsibility" rests with Washington, London and Paris.

A spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry said the US-led attack will negatively impact peace negotiations. "This action gives a strong signal to extremists and militants that they are doing right things," the state-run RIA news agency quoted Maria Zakharova as saying.AMSTERDAM - Weapons inspectors will try on Saturday to reach the site of a suspected poison attack in the Syrian town of Douma, hours after Western countries launched air strikes in retaliation over the gassing.

The OPCW's fact-finding mission "will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma," the agency said in a statement.

Security permitting, a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will deploy briefly on Saturday to the site.

The team will work with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security ensure the safety of the team, it said.

The OPCW will determine whether chemical weapons were used, but will not assign blame.CAIRO - Egypt's military says eight soldiers have been killed and 15 wounded after militants wearing explosive belts blew themselves up as they tried to infiltrate a military base in central Sinai.

A Saturday military statement says that clashes at dawn with militants accompanying the suicide bombers left 14 militants dead.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the extremist Islamic State group now spearheading an Islamic insurgency in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

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"Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei said.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Photo: AP)

Iran's pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani also warned that the US-led missile attack on Syria would lead to further destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Syrian President Assad and Iranian President Rouhani (Photos: AP, EPA)

Rouhani signaled that Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar Assad would grow.

"The Syrian nation will continue to resist against foreign aggression ...Iran has always helped and will continue to support oppressed nations in the region and around the globe," Rouhani said.

Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said: "The Syrian people will certainly answer these attacks and the people of the world should condemn this aggression," Fars news agency reported.

US-led strike in Syria (Photo: AP)

An official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic's most powerful arm, said the fallout from the attacks will be at Washington's expense.

"With this attack ... the situation will become more complex, and this will surely be at the expense of the United States, which will be responsible for the aftermath of upcoming regional events that will certainly not be in their interest," Yadollah Javani, the Guards' deputy head for political affairs, told Fars news agency.

"The resistance front will be strengthened and it will have more capacity to act against (US) acts of intervention. Americans should expect the consequences of their actions," Javani said.

Iran often refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the United States as a "resistance front."

Scientific research center in Damascus destroyed in strikes

"Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism," Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

"Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state," it said.

Iran has been Assad's most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict. Iran-backed militias helped his army stem rebel advances and, following Russia's entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in Assad's favor.

The Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah praised the Syrian air defense for confronting the strikes, and said a US war against Syria and "resistance movements" would fail to achieve its objectives.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

"The war that America is waging against Syria, against peoples of the region and resistance and liberation movements will not realize its goals," Shi'ite Hezbollah, which fights in support of the government in Syria's civil war, said in a statement.

Analyst Hossein Sheikholeslam, a former Iranian ambassador to Damascus, told state television the attacks would help unite Syrians behind the government.

"These attacks will stabilize the Syrian government... and unite the different tribes in Syria as Syrians become aware of their honor and come to the defense of the independence, territorial integrity and the government of their country," Sheikholeslam said.CAIRO - Egypt said on Saturday it was deeply concerned over a military escalation in Syria which could affect the safety of Syrian people and threaten agreements to curb tension.

US, British and French forces struck Syria with more than 100 missiles on Saturday, targeting what they called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for a poison gas attack.

Without specifically mentioning Saturday's missile strikes, Egypt's foreign ministry said it was deeply concerned "at the current military escalation in Syria". It also rejected the use of internationally banned weapons on Syrian territory and demanded a transparent international investigation.

"The Arab Republic of Egypt expresses its solidarity with the brotherly Syrian people in their aspirations to live in security and stability," the ministry said in a statement.

It called for a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis and efforts to ensure humanitarian aid reaches those affected by the conflict.The IDF reportedly attacked a Hamas position with tank fire east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing four Palestinians, according to reports from Gaza.

After checking the Palestinian report, the IDF said it did not attack. The army said a fire broke out near the fence in the southern Gaza border, and it is checking whether it originates in a burning kite flown from the strip towards Israel.

The Hamas force stationed at that position is tasked with controlling the border fence area and prevent infiltration and rocket fire into Israel.Four Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed and several other Palestinians were injured Saturday afternoon in an explosion in the southern Gaza Strip, east of Rafah.

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The four were likely killed in a work accident, by either an explosive device or a rocket blowing up in their three-wheeled vehicle.

Local residents at the hospital morgue identified the four dead men as members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. Islamic Jihad did not immediately confirm the men were members.

The terrorists' improvised vehicle

Initially, the Palestinians tried to pin the incident on the IDF, saying the Israeli army attacked a Hamas position with tank fire.

The IDF denied the claim. "We have no knowledge of any Israeli strike in the area," an IDF spokesperson said.

The incident comes a day after some 10,000 Gazans gathered at the border with Israel to stage another protest as part of their "March of Return" for a third consecutive week.

The IDF said that a number of protesters attempted to damage and cross security blocks set up ahead of the demonstrations, while others attempted to carry out terror attacks by hurling explosive devices and Molotov cocktails.

One such explosive device planted in the vicinity of the Karni crossing ended up injuring several demonstrators by mistake after detonating prematurely.

Friday clashes on Gaza border (Photo: AFP)

The protests included a new method aimed at harming Israel beyond the fence in the form of kites being set alight and flown over the fence onto Israeli territory. A video demonstrating this method was published on Wednesday in a bid to encourage the residents to fly the burning kites into Israel. The video shows a kite landing in Israeli territory and causing a fire to the vegetation fields surrounding a military base, before spreading and promting the arrival of Israeli firefighters.

The soldiers responded with live rounds towards main perpetrators and riot dispersal measures.

A 28-year-old Palestinian man was killed, while about 30 protesters were wounded by IDF gunfire, the IDF confirmed. Gaza health officials say 528 Palestinians were hurt, including 122 by Israeli army fire.US President Donald Trump praised the "perfectly executed strike" in Syria carried out by Washington and its Western allies early Saturday.

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The United States, United Kingdom and France fired missiles at the heart of Syrian chemical weapons arsenal in a show of force and resolve aimed at punishing the Assad government for a suspected poison gas attack against civilians and deterring the possible future use of such banned weapons.

Launch of one of the French missiles at Syria

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"Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!" Trump tweeted Saturday in the aftermath of his second decision in two years to fire missiles against Syria.

President Trump (L) said the strike on Assad's facilities 'could not have gone better' (Photo: AP, AFP)

His choice of words recalled a similar claim associated with President George W. Bush following the US-led invasion of Iraq. Bush addressed sailors aboard a ship in May 2003 alongside a "Mission Accomplished" banner, just weeks before it became apparent that Iraqis had organized an insurgency that tied down US forces for years.

Trump previously authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

The Pentagon said Saturday the airstrikes "successfully hit every target," rejecting claims by Moscow and Damascus that most Western missiles were intercepted by Syrian air defenses.

Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said that "None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defenses." He says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria.

Ruins of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center in Syria (Photo: AP)

The Russian military had previously said Syria's Soviet-made air defense systems downed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the United States and its allies. McKenzie said 105 weapons were launched against three targets in Syria.

Characterizing the strike as a success, McKenzie noted, "As of right now we're not aware of any civilian casualties."

Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said that the strikes were launched to "cripple Syria's ability to use chemical weapons in the future."

White stressed the strikes do not "represent a change in US policy or an attempt to depose the Syrian regime," adding however that "We cannot allow such grievous violations of international law."

She also called on Russia to "honor its commitment" to ensure the Assad regime gives up chemical weapons.

Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said that the strikes were launched to 'cripple Syria's ability to use chemical weapons in the future' (Photo: AFP)

Before the Pentagon briefing, officials said Air Force B-1B strategic bombers launched JASSM "standoff" missiles for the first time in combat, evading Syrian air defenses. In all, the Navy launched a little more than 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles from destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea.

Syria's chief allies, Russia and Iran, called the use of force by the United States, Britain and France a "military crime" and "act of aggression" with the potential to worsen a humanitarian crisis after years of civil war. The UN Security Council planned to meet later Saturday at Moscow's request.

"Good souls will not be humiliated," Syrian President Bashar Assad tweeted, while hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus , the capital, where they flashed victory signs and waved flags in scenes of defiance after the one-hour barrage launched early Saturday.

Syrians celebrating their 'victory' after the Western strike (Photo: AP)

A global chemical warfare watchdog group said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma, where the apparent use of poison gas against civilians on April 7 that killed more than 40 people compelled the Western allies to launch their attack. Syria has denied the accusation.

But France's foreign minister said there was "no doubt" the Assad government was responsible, and he threatened further retaliatory strikes if chemical weapons were used again, as did Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who said the assault was a "one-time shot," as long as chemical weapons weren't used again.

NATO representatives planned a special session to hear from US, British and French officials.

In an address to the nation, Trump said the US was prepared to sustain economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Assad until he ends what Trump called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. That did not mean military strikes would continue; in fact, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said no additional attacks were currently planned.

President Trump's address before the strike

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Russian leader Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the Kremlin's skepticism about the allies' Douma claim, saying Russian military experts had found no trace of the attack. He criticized the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for international inspectors to visit the area.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May cited reports she said indicated the Syrian government used a barrel bomb -- large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal -- to deliver the chemicals. "No other group" could have carried out that attack, she said, adding that the allies' use of force was "right and legal."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the West's response was "necessary and appropriate."

German Chancellor Merkel said the strike was 'necessary and appropriate' (Photo: AFP)

Mattis disclosed that the US had not yet confirmed that the Douma attack -- the most recent suspected Syrian chemical weapons attack, on April 7 -- included the use of sarin gas. He said at least one chemical was used -- chlorine, which also has legitimate industrial uses and had not previously triggered a US military response.

He said the targets selected by US, British and French officials were meant to minimize civilian casualties. "This is difficult to do in a situation like this," he said, in light of the volatility of chemical agents.A global chemical warfare watchdog group said its fact-finding mission would go ahead as planned in Douma, where the apparent use of poison gas against civilians on April 7which killed more than 40 peoplecompelled the Western allies to launch their attack. Damascus and Moscow deny blame for any such attack.

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Security permitting, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons' (OPCW) fact-finding mission "will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma" on Saturday, the agency said in a statement.

Scenes from the alleged chemical attack in Douma (: )

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Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons arsenal in 2013 and submit to OPCW inspections. It is meant to have destroyed all of its stockpiles of nerve agents. In the case of chlorine, it is permitted to possess it for civilian use, but not to use it as a weapon.

OPCW's probe into alleged chemical weapons use in Douma will proceed as planned Saturday (Photo: AP)

The OPCW will determine whether chemical weapons were used in the country's protracted civil war, but will not assign blame.

Despite a US-Russian agreement to completely eliminate Syria's chemical weapons program after hundreds of people were gassed with sarin in Ghouta on August 21, 2013, the OPCW had been unable to verify that all manufacturing, storage and research facilities were destroyed.

Among the sites reportedly hit overnight Friday was the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), a facility that has played a key role in Syria's chemical weapons program since the 1970s.

OPCW inspectors have raised questions about the SSRC since 2013, when Damascus joined the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention and agreed to do away with its stockpile to avert threatened strikes under President Barack Obama.

Syria has been unable to explain several findings by inspectors, including undeclared research and development sites, the presence of banned chemicals and missing munitions, sources have told Reuters.

France: 'No doubt' Assad regime behind Douma attack

Washington says it has confirmed that chlorine gas was used in the April 7, 2018 attack in Douma, and has unconfirmed suspicion that nerve agents may also have been used.

But France's foreign minister said there was "no doubt" the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible, and threatened further retaliatory strikes if chemical weapons were used again.

"On the intelligence collected by our services, and in the absence to date of chemical samples analyzed by our own laboratories, France considers, beyond possible doubt, a chemical attack was carried out against civilians at Douma ... and that there is no plausible scenario other than that of an attack by Syrian armed forces," according to a declassified intelligence report.

"After examining the videos and images of victims published online, (intelligence services) were able to conclude with a high degree of confidence that the vast majority are recent and not fabricated," the report said.

Launch of French missile during US-led strike on Syria

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The report added no deaths from mechanical injuries were visible and all symptoms were characteristic of a chemical weapons attack, particularly choking agents and organophosphorus agents or hydrocyanic acid.

"Reliable intelligence indicates that Syrian military officials have coordinated what appears to be the use of chemical weapons containing chlorine on Douma, on April 7," it said. It gave no other details on the intelligence.

The report, which provided a broad outline of the Syrian government-backed offensive supported by Russia on the eastern Ghouta region over recent months, also said French services had assessed that not all Syrian government chemical stockpiles and capacities had been declared to the UN.

Syria had omitted to declare many of the activities of its SSRC, the report said.

Syrian President Assad's regime had not abandoned its chemical weapons program, France accused

It said Syria had not answered questions on matters including possible remaining stocks of yperite (mustard gas) and DF (a sarin precursor), undeclared chemical weapons of small caliber and signs VX and sarin on production and loading sites.

British PM May: Strike not about 'civil war, regime change'

Britain participated in the US-led strike on Syria Saturday by firing air-launched cruise missiles to cripple President Assad's chemical weapons facilities and prevent what Prime Minister Theresa May cast as a global slide towards their greater use.

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility near Homs, where it was assessed that Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.

May said the strike was "limited and targeted" and came after intelligence indicated that Syrian military officials had coordinated a chlorine attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma on April 7.

Missile attacks by the United States, France and Britain had been aimed at deterring Assad's further use of chemical weapons and was not an attempt to topple the Syrian government, May said. The mission had been a success, she added.

British PM May said strike was intended to deter further use of chemical weapons (Photo: EPA)

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change," May said in a statement made from her country residence at Chequers just minutes after US President Donald Trump announced the strikes from the White House.

May later told reporters in her Downing Street office that the Western missiles struck a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a chemical weapons research center and a military bunker involved in chemical weapons attacks.

By launching strikes without prior approval from parliament, May dispensed with a non-binding constitutional convention dating back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She said speed was essential and that military action was in the national interest.

"It was both right and legal to take military action," May said, adding that she would update parliament on Monday.

The Western missile strikes demonstrate the volatile nature of the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011 as an anti-Assad uprising but is now a proxy conflict involving a number of world and regional powers and a myriad of insurgent groups.

The strike was unrelated to the broader context of the protracted civil war, May said (Photo: AFP)

Assad, May said, should not doubt the resolve of Britain, France and the United States but made clear that the strike was a specific response to the Douma attack that killed up to 75 people, including children.

May dismissed as "grotesque and absurd" a claim by Russiawhich intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assadthat the Douma attack was staged by Britain. But she declined to give any signal about the future of Assad.

'Right and legal'

May referred specifically to last month's nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the southern English cathedral city of Salisbury that she has blamed on Russia. Moscow has denied any involvement.

"We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized "either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere," May told reporters in Downing Street.

She said almost a century of global acceptance about not using chemical weapons had been eroded in Douma and Salisbury.

The poisoningallegedly by Russiaof spy Sergei Skripal was part of the reappearance of chemical weapons use, according to May (Photo: AFP)

May said Britain and its allies had sought to use every diplomatic means to stop the use of chemical weapons, but had been repeatedly thwarted, citing a Russian veto of an independent investigation into the Douma attack at the UN Security Council this week.

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," she said.The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting following the strike carried out in the early hours of Saturday by the United States , Britain and France against Syria as a punitive measure for its alleged use of chemical weapons on Douma residents last weekend.

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The special meeting, convened at the behest of Russiachief ally to Syrian President Bashar al-Assadbegan at 6pm Israeli time.

The Reuters news agency reported that Russia intended to bring up to a vote in the council a draft resolution condemning the Western attack and maintaining that it was "aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the US and its allies in violation of international law and the UN Charter."





US Ambassador to the UN Haley (L) and Russian Ambassador Nebenzia clashed at the UN's Security Council (Photo: AFP)

The Russian-drafted resolution failed to pass. Only Russia, China and Bolivia voted in favor of the draft resolution. Eight countries voted against the draft, while four abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, France, Britain or the United States to pass.

The Security Council's session was opened by Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who said that the attack was "an aggression (against) a sovereign state, which is on the front line of the fight against terrorism" and accused the US and its allies of "diplomatic hooliganism" for their "blatant disregard of international law."

Nebenzia also added that the military action threatened the UN's attempts to bring about a political resolution to the years' long civil war in Syria.

The Security Council voted down the Russian draft resolution to condemn the strike on Syria (Photo: AP)

Speaking after the Russian was US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who said the attack was carefully planned to minimize the number of civilian casualties. She stressed the strike was justified, legal and proportional, saying, "The time for talk ended last night. We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will "

"The United States is locked and loaded," she stated. "When our president draws a red line, our president enforces a red line."

Britain's Ambassador Karen Pierce, for her part, rebuffed Russia's allegations, saying, "A use of force intended to prevent the murder of so many innocents cannot be deemed to be 'illegal.'"

Pierce also stressed that London has tried repeatedly to halt the Syrian regime's actions by utilizing the Security Council, but failed to do so. "We're dealing with a long list of violations, with no remorse or feeling of responsibility showna long list of shameful actions enveloped in a mixture of denial, fraud and misinformation. I will not accept chastisements from Russia regarding international law."

Scenes following the Western strike in Syria (Photo: AP)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, urged "all Member States to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people."

Guterres then added that allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria necessitated an inquiry by the United Nations, whose investigators stood ready to visit the site of the purported attack.

The Syrian crisis, now in its eighth year, was "the most serious threat to international peace and security," Guterres maintained.

UN Secretary-General Guterres urged member states to 'show restraint in these dangerous circumstances' (Photo: AFP)

In Syria, we see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies, a number of armed opposition groups, many national and international militia, foreign fighters from everywhere in the world, and various terrorist organizations, he said.

The secretary-general reiterated that there was no military solution to the crisis, only a political one.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can breathe easily Saturday morning, as can his Russian and Iranian benefactors.

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The strike landed overnight by the United States, France and Britain on chemical weapons facilities in Syria was too limited in scope to cause any lasting damage to the regime, and has certainly not exacted such a price so as to make Assad think thrice before deciding to deploy such weapons again.

Explosions over Damascus overnight

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The Western allies did intend to deter Assadto make it clear that using chemical weapons will cost him dearly, and that the international community will respond with force to any further violations of the treaty banning the manufacture and deployment of chemical weapons.

The strikes against Syrian facilities Saturday were overly cautious (Photo: AP)

The leaders of the US Britain and France Donald Trump, Theresa May and Emmanuel Macronintended to give both Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin a red card, but it turned out to only be a pale yellow.

True, the Syrian regime's higher-ups, Assad included, now realize that the West will not remain silent in the face of another chemical attackeven if it is carried out using chlorine gas, which is supposedly non-lethal (the attack in Douma last week was lethal possibly because it used an especially high concentration of chlorine against people in closed underground shelters).

The meager price the murderous regime was forced to pay, however, has also shown that so long as Assad enjoys Russian patronage, he can continue on his path undisturbed.

A British jet participating in the strike (Photo: EPA)

If the Western allies intended to send a a message of deterrence to Assad by circumscribed military action , it should be remembered Trump did just that, exactly a year ago, with 55 Tomahawk missiles launched at a Syrian airport under similar circumstances

Assad ignored the previous strike, and double the number of missiles on chemical weapons facilities will not change his attitude. The message will continue falling on deaf ears, so long as the Russians are behind him.

Assad speaks only one languagethat of mightand his regime's senior officials only fear one thing: loss of control over Syria. Anything short of threatening the regime's survivability is simply not considered a threat.

They prepared for a serious blow to the regime's symbols, possibly even a missile hitting Assad's presidential palace, the destruction of airstrips in major airports or of antiaircraft batteries, but none of that came to pass.

Assad (center) and his people fear only one thing: being deposed (Photo: AFP)

In addition, the Russians have cautioned against conclusions and ramifications, but it does not appear as if they actually intend on following through with their threats, as it does not appear Trump will make good on his threat to levy further economic and diplomatic sanctions against the Russian bear.

Far from the move Israel expected

The "one time shot" announced by US Secretary of Defense James Mattis hit only Syria's chemical weapons infrastructures and little else. It's far less than what could haveand should havebeen done, especially considering the fact the targets hit do not threaten the regime's survivability or its ability to continue its victory tour over rebel groups.

If anything, those deterred are the Americans, French and British, who were overly cautious with their choice of targets out of fear of angering Putin. Defense Secretary Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford claimed the strike was limited to avoid harming civilians or other collateral damage.

In reality, however, the true fear was awaking the dormant Russian bearwhich served as chief consideration when selecting targets and methods for the strike. The armaments dropped near Damascus and Homs overnight were indeed " nice, new and smart " as Trump tweeted several days ago, but their deterrence effect was nil.

Further footage from the strike on Syria

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The strike overnight was heavy in the number of precise armaments the US and its allies launched at Syria. the sheer amount and weight of the explosives ensconced in the missiles and guided bombs exploding on the four scientific research installations and production, storage and control facilities for chemical weapons, were double those the US used last year in the aforementioned strike.

Even if we assume that the strike has achieved its goal, and not a single research lab or "medication factory" were left standing, Syria still has vast scientific knowhow to manufacture additional chemical armaments and dozens of scientists who have made unconventional arms their specialty.

Moreover, inventory for the production of such weapons and raw materials related to same are extremely easy to obtain on the international market under the guise of drug production.

If the West embargoes exporting such materials and machinery to Syria, Russia and Iran will fill the void created. The strike against the facilities, therefore, is a temporary setback at best and Assad will attain an arsenal of chemical arms again in short order.

PM Netanyahu (L) expected a more significant US strike (Photo: AFP, EPA)

These are not ill tidings only to the people of Syria, but to Israel as well. Those who used chemical weapons to kill their own people will certainly not hesitate to launch it against Israel if their regime's very existence was in peril.

The weak-willed Western response, then, for more than 50 instances of chemical weapons use by Assad, is far from the deterrent Jerusalem and other Middle Eastern capitals expected.

Israel, once again, has naught else to do but to count on its own power and prepare both offensive and defensive measures to ensure Syria does not cross the chemical red line vis-a-vis its neighbor to the south.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented Saturday evening on the American-led strike on Syrian chemical weapons manufacture and research facilities earlier in the day, tweeting, "A year ago, I declared Israel's full support for President Donald Trump's decision to take a stand against the use and spread of chemical weapons. President Trump's resolve and Israel's support remain unchanged."

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"Early this morning," the premier continued, "under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom demonstrated that their commitment is not limited to proclamations of principle."

Launch of missiles at Syria

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Netanyahu then directed his comments at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying, "It should be clear to President Assad that his reckless efforts to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction, his wanton disregard for international law and his provision of a forward base for Iran and its proxies endanger Syria."

PM Netanyahu (L) commended President Trump and his allies for the strike on Syria (Photo: AFP, EPA)

The United States, the United Kingdom and France fired more than 100 missiles at Syria early on Saturday in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against President Assad.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said three main chemical weapons facilities were targeted at 4am local time (1am GMT) by missiles from both the sea and aircraft, which triggered Syrian air defenses. Mattis said there were no reports of US losses.

Aerial view of some of the facilities targeted (Photo: AFP)

The Pentagon said Saturday the airstrikes "successfully hit every target," rejecting claims by Moscow and Damascus that most Western missiles were intercepted by Syrian air defenses.

A global chemical warfare watchdog group said its fact-finding mission would go as planned in Douma, where the apparent use of poison gas against civilians on April 7 that killed more than 40 people compelled the Western allies to launch their attack. Syria has denied the accusation.

Russian President Putin criticized the West for not allowing a fact-finding mission in Douma to go ahead before the strike (Photo: MCT)

Putin said the US actions in Syria made the humanitarian catastrophe worse and caused pain for civilians.

"Russia in the most serious way condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military servicemen help the legitimate government to fight terrorism," Putin said.

He reaffirmed Russia's view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma that prompted the strike was a fake. Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack.

He criticized the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

A map of the strike supplied to journalists (Photo: EPA)

Moscow may consider supplying S-300 surface to-air missile systems to Syria and "other countries," Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi told a televised briefing on Saturday.

Russia had "refused" supplying those missiles to Syria a few years ago, he added, "taking into account the pressing request of some of our Western partners."

Following the US-led strikes, however, "we consider it possible to return to examination of this issue not only in regard to Syria but to other countries as well," Rudskoi said.

President Assad, for his part, alleged the US, UK and France decided to attack after realizing they have lost control of the area and their credibility. Consequently, Syrian state television broadcast footage of many Syrians celebrating in the streets following the strike.UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Security Council failed to adopted a Russian-drafted resolution on Saturday that would have condemned "the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the US and its allies in violation of international law and the UN Charter."

Only Russia, China and Bolivia voted in favor of the draft resolution. Eight countries voted against the draft, while four abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, France, Britain or the United States to pass.Some 12,000 youths from 41 countries, joined by President Reuven Rivlin and heads of the Israeli defense establishmentthe chief of staff, police chief and heads of the Shin Bet and Mossadwalked the three kilometers separating Auschwitz and Birkenau, the extermination section of the infamous death camp in Poland, as part of the March of the Living.

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The marchers, many of them draped in Israeli flags, viewed with their own eyes the place that has become synonymous with hell on earth.

Signs on the Birkenau train tracks (Photo: AFP)

The Israeli delegation's visit came in the wake of a speech by President Reuven Rivlin, who attacked his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in his speech at Birkenau: "The Nazi death machine would not have been able to achieve its terrible vision, if it had not received help; if it had not found a fertile ground of hatred for Jews, in which to take root."

Rivlin added: True, it was Germany that established the camps, but our people were not murdered only in the camps. The members of our nation were betrayed by the people amongst whom they lived, in France, in Holland, and in Belgium. They were murdered by Ukrainians, Lithuanians and yes  also by Poles.

My very presence here is our revenge

Ruth Feiglin, a Ramat Gan resident whose parents are Holocaust survivors, was one of the marchers. My parents' families were exterminated in Auschwitz. I came here because it's my revenge. This is my first and last time in this place," she said.

Feiglin, originally from Australia, said she immigrated with her family to Israel many years ago. "I have three sons and two daughters. All my sons enlisted in the IDFand two of them became officersand I am very proud of them.

The 2018 March of the Living (Photo: Reuters)

According to her, the fact that this is the 30th year that the "March of the Living" is being held and that next week Israel will celebrate 70 years of independence is proof that "we must not rely on anyone, let alone forget what happened here. We must inform our children what occurred here. My son told me that he feels so proud to serve in the IDF, to go to Auschwitz and say: 'We are here, despite everything.'"

Becky, a participant from the United States, explained her decision to come to Poland: "I am here to honor my father, whose family perished in the Holocaust. Thank God that Israel exists, thank God we continue to win. My father waited for many years for the establishment of the State of Israel."

This is the first year that I am marching, said Giselle Cartela from Venezuela . I am very excited and I am doing it on behalf of those who did not survive. I am lucky to be here.

She said that she will attend Israels 70th anniversary next week: "I am going to celebrate, my husband was president of the Jewish National Fund in Venezuela for 20 years. He died ten years ago and his wish was to be buried in Jerusalem," she said.

According to her, the most important lesson the world has to learn from history is that "we will never give up, we started from nothingand we will always survive. The nation of Israel lives!





IDF chief of staff: Guaranteeing states survival most important thing

The marchers were joined by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot. He viewed the book of names at the Jewish barracks in the camp, noting, "It is very moving to return as chief of staff at the head of the IDF delegation to Poland.

"The most empowering and potent thing is the composition of the delegation, which actually expresses the text 'From Shoah (Holocaust) to rebirth. This is the power that enabled us to establish a state with an army that confers meaning to the words Never again! The most important thing is guaranteeing the states continued existence, Eisenkot said.

The general was joined by his son, a sergeant in the Maglan unit. This is the second time the chief of staff brought one of his children to the March of the Living. The previous time it was with his daughter Vered, also a soldier.

Rivlin meets granddaughter of Holocaust survivor killed in Paris

On the sidelines of the march, President Rivlin met intelligence officer Captain Keren Brosh, granddaughter of Mireille Knoll, the Holocaust survivor murdered in Paris last month. "I'm sure Grandmother was very proud of you," Rivlin told Keren.

"I was so horrified and hurt at the difficult news, I ask you to give your family our support." Last week, Rivlin sent a condolence letter to Mireille Knoll's family, in which he wrote: "On behalf of the entire State of Israel, I extend our sincere condolences for her terrible death."

"The fact that the terrible event took place only two weeks before the date when we commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day and mourn the victims is even more heartbreaking," added Rivlin.

"The growing anti-Semitic attacks throughout Europe, with rising support for racist-minded parties, are of particular concern, and we do not cease for a moment the demand, to all European leaders, to intensify the struggle to eradicate the phenomenon. It is so difficult to comprehend that the life of one who survived the horrors of the Holocaust, and whose home was open to all who were in need, ended so brutally," the president concluded.Arabic-language media outlet reported Saturday evening that an explosion took place in one of the large storehouses used by Iranian forces in Syriaone located in Jabel Azzan in the southern suburbs of the Aleppo district. Several people were reported wounded and killed, including Iranian officers.

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It was further reported by "field activists" that the blast was the result of a fighter jet's attack or missiles launched at the base.

Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights corroborated the report, saying a huge blast was heard in a Syrian government-controlled area in a rural region south of Aleppo.

The Observatory said the cause of the explosion was unknown, as well as its target.

A Western fighter jet and Tomahawk missile used in the attack in Syria (Photo: AP, AFP)

Several days ago, Iranian and Syrian regime forces evacuated the base out of fear of an American strike.

Word of the purported attack came less than 24 hours following a joint American strike on Syria , with several targets hit by more than 100 missiles.

Several targets in Damascus and its vicinity were hit, official Syrian sources said, including a research center and military base.

The Pentagon said the strike was a success, and that its efficacy was so great that it set back the Syrian chemical weapons program a decade.

The strike came in retaliation to chemical weapons allegedly used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Douma , on the outskirts of Damascus, last week.

The Douma attack last week prompted the Western retaliation (Photo: AP)

response to the strike was scathing, with a statement put out Saturday morning on behalf of President Vladimir Putin saying it was a "violation of international law" that will "exacerbate the humanitarian disaster in Syria."

Moscow may consider supplying S-300 surface to-air missile systems to Syria and "other countries," Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi told a televised briefing on Saturday.

Russia had "refused" supplying those missiles to Syria a few years ago, he added, "taking into account the pressing request of some of our Western partners."

Following the US-led strikes, however, "we consider it possible to return to examination of this issue not only in regard to Syria but to other countries as well," Rudskoi said.

President Assad, for his part, alleged the US, UK and France decided to attack after realizing they have lost control of the area and their credibility. Consequently, Syrian state television broadcast footage of many Syrians celebrating in the streets following the strike.News

Lima, Peru - Acting Secretary of State John J. Sullivan met with Haitian President Jovenel Moise yesterday on the margins of the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru to discuss security and economic growth in Haiti, as well as democracy in the region.

Acting Secretary Sullivan thanked President Moise for his leadership as Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and urged consensus within the organization to promote and defend democracy. The Acting Secretary and President Moise also discussed the importance of continued support for the Haitian National Police.

The two leaders agreed that Haiti and its partners should increase efforts to improve the investment climate in Haiti to create jobs for Haitians and increase economic prosperity.News

Washington, DC - U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced the government of Argentina has finalized technical requirements that will allow U.S. pork to be imported into Argentina for the first time since 1992.

Since the White House announced an agreement with Argentina last August, technical staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have been working with Argentinas Ministry of Agro-Industry on new terms for market access that are practical, science-based and consistent with relevant international animal health standards. The finalization of these technical requirements means that U.S. exports of pork and natural swine casings can now resume.

This breakthrough is the result of efforts by this Administration to help Americas farmers and ranchers reach new markets and ensure fair trade practices by our international partners, Perdue said. Once the people of Argentina get a taste of American pork products after all this time, were sure theyll want more of it. This is a great day for our agriculture community and an example of how the Trump Administration is committed to supporting our producers by opening new markets for their products.

I welcome Argentinas decision to allow imports of U.S. pork products and the economic opportunity it will afford to U.S. pork producers, said Lighthizer. This effort demonstrates the Trump Administrations continued commitment to address foreign trade barriers to American agriculture exports.

The United States is the worlds top pork exporter, with global sales totaling $6.5 billion last year. Argentina is a potential $10-million-per-year market for Americas pork producers, with significant growth opportunities possible in subsequent years.

More details on Argentinas export requirements are available from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service Export Library at: www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/international-affairs/exporting-products/export-library-requirements-by-country/Argentina .

courtesy of Valley GrowerNews

San Luis, Arizona - Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a gang member belonging to the Mara Salvatrucha-13 Gang, along with 60 other subjects, after they illegally crossed into the United States Monday.

At approximately 12:05 p.m. Monday, Yuma Station agents arrested a male 18-year-old El Salvadoran national and 60 other subjects all whom voluntarily surrendered to agents after the group illegally entered the United States east of the San Luis, Arizona Port of Entry. All 61 subjects were transported to the Yuma Station for processing.

Agents identified the El Salvadorian man as Herberth Geovani Argueta-Chavez. During initial interviews, he falsely claimed to be an unaccompanied juvenile in hopes of being released. Agents continued questioning Argueta-Chavez and confirmed that he was in fact an adult. He also admitted to being a member of MS-13, although he claimed he was trying to separate from the gang. Arguenta-Chavez stated that his intentions in crossing were to get to Los Angeles, California.

Argueta-Chavez and the and the 60 other migrants, comprised of one Mexican national and 59 Guatemalan nationals, are being processed for immigration violations.

Federal law allows agents to charge individuals by complaint, a method that allows for the filing of criminal activity charges without inferring guilt. An individual is presumed innocent unless or until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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.Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Philip Anthony Osife, 28, a member of the Gila River Indian Community, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi to 25 years in prison. Osife had previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

On March 23, 2017, Osife shot one victim twice in the face, and he shot a second victim in the neck, killing them both. Osife took the one victims car and left the victims there near a canal bank. A passing motorist found the victims two days later and then called the police.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Gila River Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Raynette Logan and Todd Allison, Assistants U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.Border News

Santa Teresa, New Mexico - As part of the President's Executive Order 13767, and at the direction of the Department of Homeland Secretary, construction for a border wall replacement in Santa Teresa with new bollard style wall began Monday.

We need effective barriers to deny the entry of illegal aliens and contraband, said Chief Patrol Agent Aaron A. Hull, U.S. Border Patrol, El Paso Sector. Our agents know that a balance of physical infrastructure, technology and personnel is key to securing the border and keeping our communities safe.

CBP awarded a construction contract January 22 to Barnard Construction of Bozeman, Montana. The area of the border wall replacement will be a 20-mile section of existing vehicle barrier located just west of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry and extending westward. The existing barrier will be replaced with an 18- to 30-foot high bollard-style wall. The contract also includes removal of existing vehicle barrier as well as roadway and drainage improvements.

Construction is slated to run for approximately 390 days. The project cost is approximately $73.3 million.

To begin to meet the need for additional border infrastructure in this area, DHS is replacing legacy vehicle barriers that no longer meet the Border Patrols operation needs with new bollard wall.

The ability to see through into Mexico is a concept supported by the bollard style wall included in this project. This style of wall has proved beneficial to the Border Patrol to detect illegal entries and the smuggling of narcotics into the United States.

El Paso Sector continues to experience a high number of apprehensions of illegal immigrants and drug smuggling. In fiscal year 2017, the El Paso Sector apprehended 25,193 illegal aliens, seized 34,189 pounds of marijuana and 140 pounds of cocaine. During that fiscal year, there were 54 assaults against El Paso Sector agents.

Leadership within the El Paso Sector has made great efforts to collaborate with local and state authorities to address any issues that may occur during the construction period.

Concerns regarding the environment have been and are constantly being addressed to cover all bases during this process. For years, the Border Patrol has worked diligently with supporting agencies to ensure its presence minimally disturbs the surrounding environment and habitat.

The operational control of the border is of highest priority for El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents, and with the construction of the replacement wall, agents will be better equipped to complete their mission.Border News

San Luis, Arizona - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a border crosser Friday in connection to a failed drug smuggling attempt at Arizonas Port of San Luis.

A CBP canine alert led officers to

search a border-crossers' bicycle

Officers working the pedestrian lanes referred a 50-year-old Mexican male bicyclist for an additional search as he attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico on Friday evening. A CBP canine alert to the bicycle frame, led officers to discover just more than 1 pound of methamphetamine, worth $3,200.

The bike and drugs were seized. The subject was arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations.Border News

Nogales, Arizona - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizonas Port of Nogales apprehended a pair of Mexican nationals involved in a failed attempt to smuggle $221,000 worth of methamphetamine into the United States Tuesday.

Officers working at the Mariposa Crossing referred a 19-year-old male driver & his 19-year-old male passenger for further inspection of an Oldsmobile sedan yesterday afternoon. A CBP narcotics detection canine alerted to an odor it was trained to detect, resulting in the seizure of nearly 74 pounds of meth, worth more than $221,000 from the vehicles seats and quarter panels.

Officers seized the drugs and vehicle, and turned both arrested subjects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations.Latest News

Washington, DC - Today, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Grant of Clemency (Full Pardon) to I. Scooter Lewis Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Richard Cheney, for convictions stemming from a 2007 trial. President George W. Bush commuted Mr. Libbys sentence shortly after his conviction. Mr. Libby, nevertheless, paid a $250,000 fine, performed 400 hours of community service, and served two years of probation.

In 2015, one of the key witnesses against Mr. Libby recanted her testimony, stating publicly that she believes the prosecutor withheld relevant information from her during interviews that would have altered significantly what she said. The next year, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals unanimously reinstated Mr. Libby to the bar, reauthorizing him to practice law. The Court agreed with the District of Columbia Disciplinary Counsel, who stated that Mr. Libby had presented credible evidence in support of his innocence, including evidence that a key prosecution witness had changed her recollection of the events in question.

Before his conviction, Mr. Libby had rendered more than a decade of honorable service to the Nation as a public servant at the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the White House. His record since his conviction is similarly unblemished, and he continues to be held in high regard by his colleagues and peers.

In light of these facts, the President believes Mr. Libby is fully worthy of this pardon. I dont know Mr. Libby, said President Trump, but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly. Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life.Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - The Yuma Armed Forces Memorial Park has been selected by the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program to receive official national designation as a World War I Centennial Memorial.

The City of Yuma and the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Committee will receive a $2,000 matching grant for the restoration, maintenance and conservation of the Yuma Armed Forces Memorial Park, 291 S. Gila St. The Park honors military veterans living and deceased, including all military branches of service.

The one-acre park is located on the site of a former railroad and includes more than 2,600 granite plaques honoring living and deceased military veterans from all military branches. About 260 of these granite plaques honor World War I veterans.

Each plaque has an individual engraving of a veterans name, rank, dates of service, and his/her service emblem. It was constructed in 2000 by local business owners, the Chamber of Commerce, service organizations and community members. Community volunteers participated in its design, construction, funding and upkeep since inception.

"The Park is certainly a point of pride, and this award truly exemplifies Yuma's support of our military. We are so grateful for the designation," said Executive Director of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce John Courtis. The Chamber manages the park in partnership with the City of Yuma.

The 100 Cities/100 Memorials program is sponsored by the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library. The program aims to draw attention to WWI memorials across the U.S., and enables all of America to take part in the WWI centennial commemoration.

The Yuma Armed Forces Memorial Park Protection and Restoration Project plans to utilize the grant funding for needed security enhancements to help protect the Armed Forces Park from vandalism and misuse. Additionally, the funding will help restore and maintain the memorial park sign.

I am impressed by the community involvement that has sprung from this project, noted Executive Director of the U.S. WWI Centennial Commission Dan Dayton. By focusing on restoring these community treasures, local cities, veterans groups, historical society and citizens have come together to remember the communitys heritage  and that was really a key goal of the program."

Armed Forces Park will receive a bronze medallion officially designating it as a WWI Centennial Remembrance Memorial during a national press conference on Nov. 11, 2018, the date of the national commemoration of the WWI armistice.

A local event is being planned to honor the designation and award.The 2018 VGMAs comes off at the Accra International Conference Center (AICC) on Saturday, April 14, 2018.

This year's awards ceremony is the 19th edition and it is under the theme Our Music Beyond Borders.

Undoubtedly, the biggest night in Ghana's music industry, it will honour players in the industry for their works over the 2017/2018 music year.

YEN.com.gh takes a look at some of the records of the 18-year-old awards scheme organised by Charterhouse Ghana which may be broken this time.

1: Retention of Artiste of the Year award (Back to back winner):

Last year, Joe Mettle won the artiste of the year award to become the first ever gospel artiste winner of the awards scheme.

This year, he is in the run for the ultimate award.

Though not likely, a win for Joe Mettle will make him the first artiste to ever retain the award.

READ ALSO: AUDIO: Owusu Bempah caught pants down as Prophet Nigel exposes him in latest interview

2. First posthumous winner:

In the history of the VGMAs, there has never been a posthumous awardee.

But that will likely change after Saturday Night.

With her six nominations, the late Ebony Reigns who died in a tragic accident on February 8 will likely take one home to become the first posthumous winner.

3. First female Artiste of the Year:

Ebony Reigns is also in a pole position to become the first-ever female winner of the ultimate award of the night.

Though some female artistes have got nominated for this award in previous years, none of them had the brightest chance of winning than Ebony Reigns in this edition.

If a woman would ever win the Artiste of the Year award, then it definitely should be now.

READ ALSO: "It feels great to be alive" - Moesha Boduong says as she drops wild photo after CNN troubles

4. Most awards won a night:

In 2005, Highlife stalwart Ofori Amponsah set the record for the most wins by an artiste in one night. He took home seven awards.

Sarkodie is hoping to break that record this year as he guns for honours in nine categories.

Though it looks very difficult a task, Sarkodie is formidable and can actually win his categories on any day.

5. First ever hat-trick of 'Artiste of the Year' awards:

Since the awards started only two artistes have won the ultimate prize twice.

VIP in 2004 and 2011; and Sarkodie in 2010 and 2012.

While VIP which has metamorphosed into VVIP is not in contention for the Artiste of the Year this term, Sarkodie prominently featured.

A win for the rapper will make him the only three-time winner of the main award.

READ ALSO: 13 wild photos of Moesha Boduong that no Ghanaian man can resist

Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below:

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh?

Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now

Source: YenCathy Rentzenbrink in Prospect:

In the summer of 1990 my brother, Matty, was knocked over by a car. He was 16 and I was 17 and we lived in a little village in Yorkshire above the pub our parents owned. I knelt by Mattys unconscious body in the road and travelled with him in the ambulance. I could tell by the demeanour of the ambulance men how serious it was. Weve got a bad one here, said the driver, into the radio. The other man was slicing off Mattys T-shirt which was now entirely dark red. Why is there so much blood? I asked, I cant see any cuts. Its coming from the back of his head, lass, he said. Talk to him, love, keep talking. Keep him with us.

I laid my hand on Mattys bare, bloodstained chest and I talked and talked until we arrived at hospital. Then Matty was rushed away from me. I filled out forms with a nurse and rang my parents. I can still hear my mothers voice as I delivered the information that would throw a grenade into our lives.

After my parents arrived a surgeon came to see us. Ive saved your sons life, he said. We dont know yet whether that was the right thing to do. He told us that the next 48 hours were crucial. We commenced what the newspapers called our bedside vigil. More talking. I held Mattys hand and watched his chest rise and fall as a ventilator pumped air into his lungs. All we wanted was for Matty not to die. Moving around the hospital in the night I stumbled into the chapel. I was an atheist but had been to a Catholic school and I knew the prayers. I prayed that my brother would not die. I believed we were in a binary situation. I only knew about life and death, I knew nothing of the in-between.

Nowolder, wiser, sadderI know that I was praying for the wrong thing. It would have been better for my poor, lost brother and for everyone who loved him if hed died when he was knocked over by the car.

More here.There are many good people making the world a better place, and Kerrie Mercel, the founder of the new brand Clarity is one of them. She has donated a large amount of money to the Mera2018X exhibition that is working with the CDCA Kapan Project. A vital and effective initiative, the Center For Disabled Children Assistance in Nepal rehabilitates, educates, and empowers disabled children so they too can lead lives with dignity and respect.

Kerrie is working with Petra Williams and Heather A.Thomson, two strong females in the MERA2018X who have been raising money prior to the Nepal trip. Petra and Heather will deliver their time, energy, the money that has been donated by Kerrie Mercel and other sponsors during their upcoming charity trek in Nepal.

The Mera2018X exhibition is led by celebrity Heather A. Thomson who will bring her substantial fan following. Heather is a high profile celebrity that starred in 4 seasons of Housewives of New York. She is also a motivational speaker, designer, entrepreneur, TV personality and philanthropist.

Petra, Heather and the other MERA 2018X team members have organised a trip to Nepal to rebuild an orphanage for disabled children and are currently seeking more sponsors and donations to raise money for the cause. The donations contribute to giving the children new wheelchairs, medical resources and helps rebuilding of the orphanage.

Kerrie Mercel is the founder and owner of Clarity Cards strongly aligns with the CDCA Project. She designed Clarity Cards for women seeking to create a clear mind, new direction and clarity. She is also a motivational speaker and her passions include helping others realise and reach their full potential which is why the MERA 2018X initiative is close to her heart.

Unfortunately, Nepal, a land abundant in natural beauty and rich culture, is also affected by poverty. There are a large number of children deprived of quality education, nutritious food, love and care. The Center For Disabled Children Assistance (CDCA) helps children with physical disabilities and helpless children by providing them a nurturing environment, rehabilitating them, providing education, medical treatment and psycho-social counselling to enable them to an live an independent life full of dignity and respect.

About:

The Clarity Cards brand was created and designed by Kerrie Mercel to help people release damaging thoughts, emotions and beliefs from their past instantly easing pain and suffering.

For more information, Please Visit: https://claritycards.com.au/clarity

Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/clarityresources/

Page: https://www.facebook.com/ClarityReading/

Media Contact

Company Name: Clarity Cards

Email: Send Email

Phone: +61-422-695171

Country: Australia

Website: https://claritycards.com.au/clarityElectric vehicles has gained immense popularity among consumers with e-scooters accounting for major unit share. Global Electric Scooters Market witnessed 40% increase in sales in 2017 than that in 2014. The trend is expected to further continue with 2.4X higher unit sales by 2028 as compared to 5 million units in 2017.

Rise In electric scooters market sales has brought new industry opportunity for manufacturers and suppliers, however, at same time has posed challenge for leading companies to implement technological changes to establish business presence worldwide. Despite the drop in oil prices post 2014, two wheeler electric vehicles managed to witness 40% increase in sales in 2017 as compared to that in 2014. Thus, clearly suggesting the optimistic consumer outlook towards electric vehicles.

The industry is primarily driven by presence of OEM and government initiative towards alternative sources. Growth in electric scooters market will further be supported by changing consumer outlook, rise in per-capita income and declining battery costs. As of 2017, electric scooters market accounted for over 2.5% of overall two wheeler on road. This share is expected to touch 6-8% by 2023.

Download Electric Scooters Market Report Sample: https://bekryl.com/sample/sample-request/?bekryl=Get-Electric-Scooters-and-Motorcycles-Sample-Report.



Much of the sales will take place in Asia Pacific with China accounting for major regional share. China does not only dominates the global share in terms of overall sales but also in production capacity. Sales is substantially fragmented with presence of mid scale and large scale players. Yadea, Aima, Zhejiang Luyuan collectively accounted for over 23% of overall sales in China. Yangtze River Delta and Bahai Economic Rim are two special zone in China, wherein, much of the production takes place. Most of these companies are prioritizing on product level strategy to capture a major chunk of regional makret. For instance, Chinese firm Niu is using a combination of big data and IoT to create smart e-scooter.

Some key trends in the global electric scooters market are:

Trend #1 Strategic Focus on Product Differentiation

The electric scooters market is getting competitive with technological advancement. At the same time, the industry is offering favorable business environment for new entrants to capitalize the market. As such, companies are focusing on product level strategies to offer smart e-vehicles. While few companies are focusing on development of renewable batteries, others are integrating artificial intelligence including big data to create AI based e-two wheeler vehicle.

Trend#2: Inorganic Growth Approach by Leading Companies

Industry giants are adopting inorganic growth strategy in order to capitalize the market and strengthen market presence globally. Mergers and acquisitions is a key part of strategy to strengthen position worldwide. For instance, in 2017, Taiwan based electric scooter company  Gogoro  raised US$ 300 million in series C funding from Temasek Holdings. In 2015, Polaris acquired Brammo to strengthen its position in e-motorcycle segment. Similar such developments are expected to be seen in next 10 years.

Key electric scooters market industry players are Niu, Yadea, Aima, Zhejiang Luyuan, Amego Electric, Alta Motors, Victory Motorcycles, Yamaha Motors, Zero Motorcycle, Z Electric Vehicle, Energica Motor Company, BMW, Govecs Group, Honda Motors, KTM, Mahindra GenZe, Sunra, Suzuki Motors Corporation, Terra Motors Group, and Shandong Incalcu Electric Vehicle.

To know more about the industry and download sample visit: https://bekryl.com/industry-trends/electric-scooters-and-motorcycles-market-size-analysis



Brief Research MethodologySecond Selves: Keep Them Guessing is a documentary that looks into the lives of impersonators.

Milena Rimassa and Marco Grujic have joined forces to delve into the lives of doppelgangers who assume the lives of celebrities. They bring the story of one of the quirkiest celebrity impersonators out today,Pavel Sfera.

The Art of Impersonation

Impersonation goes far beyond mimicking a persons talk, swagger, and public persona. The difference between a good and great impersonator is that the latter gets inside the psyche of the front-liner to get to the gritty behind the act.

Second Selves: Keep Them Guessing is a gritty, long-form documentary that takes a voyeuristic look into what people adopt, replicate, and project in their daily lives by deconstructing the lives of impersonators. The filmmakers are on a quest to find out how the line between reality and impersonation blends, blurs, and sometimes confounds those who have made their lifes calling to be a famous person or a second self. Additionally, they seek to expose the strange intersection of impersonation and reality, and the many shades of grey within and beyond assumed identities.

Sfera, a Bono impersonator, recently passed the first round of Romanias Got Talent. The documentary follows him as he prepares and then performs for the second round. Contributions made will allow the filmmakers to capture his performance on Romanias Got Talent, while documenting his homecoming to Serbia, his birthplace.

Located on the web at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milenarimassa/second-selves-keep-them-guessing-impersonator-docu, pledge levels range from $25 to $2,500, and include everything from:

Production Crew  $25  VIP access to Los Angeles premiere of the documentary and a signed DVD by Director Grujic and Bono impersonator Sfera.

Groupie  $50  VIP backstage pass with all-access to pre-screening concert by Bono impersonator Pavel Sfera, two premiere tickets, and 1 signed DVD.

All Access VIP  $100  Pre-screening concert backstage VIP, 4 premiere tickets, signed DVD, personalized song at the concert.

Associate Co-producer  $250  Pre-screening concert backstage VIP, 6 premiere tickets, signed DVD, name on end credits.

Mack Daddy Associate Co-producer  $1,000  Same as Associate Co-producer with verbal thank you at premiere, name on T-shirt, a mention in limited edition poster, and 8 VIP premiere admissions.

Super Mack Daddy Associate Co-producer  $2,500  Same as Mack Daddy Associate Co-producers, with name in press releases announcing premiere, 10 VIP premiere admissions.

About:

Second Selves: Keep Them Guessing is a documentary that follows a Bono impersonator as he goes back to his birthplace in Serbia and competes on Romanias Got Talent.

Media Contact

Company Name: Milena Media Services

Contact Person: Milena Rimassa

Email: Send Email

Phone: 985-789-7082

City: Redondo Beach

State: California

Country: United States

Website: https://kck.st/2uJ2sgHA little boy from thousands of miles away is getting a life-changing surgery on Long Island.

The hospital staff calls him their wonder patient, due to his similarities to the character, Auggie, in the book and movie "Wonder."

Rokas Zalaga is just five years old and has Goldenhar syndrome, a very rare disease.

His family is from Lithuania, and he was brought to Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park for a pro-bono surgery by Dr. James Bradley.

"He's missing his right ear. He's missing his right jaw," Bradley told CBS2's Cindy Hsu. "Rokas had trouble breathing. He had trouble eating and speaking. He had trouble hearing. From the surgery, now he can breathe."

Zalaga has undergone six surgeries, starting when he was just three months old.

"The surgery came out successful, so that's what makes us really happy. And because Rokas began to sleep good now," his mother, Ruta Zalage, said.

Zalaga told Hsu he was feeling well and he liked his doctors and nurses.

Just like Auggie in the movie, his parents said he just wants to be a normal kid.

"He likes to play, he likes a lot of cartoon characters, he likes LEGOs, games," his father, Vytenis Zalaga, said. "He's very sweet, he's very kind to his sister, he likes to share."

He also really loves Spider-Man. So the hospital arraigned for a big surprise, making the little boy's dream come true.

Zalaga returns home to Lithuania on Friday, but he will be coming back to Cohen in about six months for more surgery.

Doctors say he will likely be finished with his reconstructive facial surgeries by the time he's a teenager.SYRIA (CBS) - The U.S. and its European allies launched precision air strikes in Syria early Saturday morning. The mission is in retaliation for last Saturday's suspected chemical attack that killed dozens of Syrian civilians, including children.

U.S., British, and French forces unleashed more than 100 missiles on Syria - targeting and destroying a scientific research center and two suspected chemical weapons storage facilities.

These strikes were justified - legitimate and proportionate response to Syria using chemical weapons on its own people, said Dana White, a Pentagon chief spokesperson.

President Trump ordered the military action one week after a suspected chlorine gas attack that killed more than 40 people. Britain says there's proof Syria is responsible, not the rebels because a government helicopter delivered the chemicals inside a barrel bomb.

Pentagon officials called the retaliatory operation, precise, overwhelming and effective."

They've lost a lot of equipment, a lot of material, and it's gonna have a significant effect on them, so I think the words cripple and degrade are good accurate words, said General Frank McKenzie.

The Pentagon rejected Russian claims that many of the missiles were shot down by Syria.

In Damascus, hundreds of Syrians are protesting the U.S. led strikes honking horns in a show of defiance and shouting we are your men, Bashar.

America and its allies insist they're not calling for regime change but say Syrian president Bashar al Assad will be held accountable if he continues gassing his people.

Russia and Iran condemned the strikes on Syria and vowed to stand by their ally - warning -- there will be consequences.

Russia called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council today to discuss the coalitions' military action.

Last year, the U-S launched cruise missiles after Assad used sarin gas on civilians. The strike was double the size of last year's assault.April 14, 2018



The United States Of Hurt Feelz

Presidents are a product of their times and, generally, probably try -- and tried -- to do the best they could in their times.

The LAT Editorial Board lays out the ridiculous push to tear down a statue of President McKinley:

McKinley was the last U.S. president to have served in the Union Army. A former Ohio governor, he won the White House in 1896 while the nation was in the throes of a depression, and rode the recovery to reelection in 1900. He led the nation into the Spanish-American War, and its first full steps onto the international stage and into modern imperialism with the takeover of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. What's causing concern now is that McKinley also oversaw federal policies that undercut Native American tribal authority and reduced reservation lands by as much as 90 million acres. Those and related actions led the Tribal Council of the Wiyot Tribe in Northern California to join the campaign to have the statue of McKinley (who had no personal ties to the city) removed. Arcata was built on land seized from the Wiyot Tribe. This is where the move to un-do historical markers veers into dangerous waters. Were McKinley only known or even best known for objectionable and inhumane policies, there might be a strong argument against the statue. But McKinley stood for much more than that, and a decision on whether to topple his statue ought to embrace the wholeness of his history and impact. Abraham Lincoln, for all that he is revered today, had his own problematic past. Though he claimed to always have opposed slavery, he embraced many of the white supremacist beliefs that predominated in America in his time. He also personally signed off on the hanging of 38 Dakota Indian men convicted of being involved in an uprising in Minnesota. Should we topple statues of Lincoln because of that?

We all have a "problematic past" to some degree, because we're human.

But the idea that every person needs to have a perfect "report card" is just ridiculous.

Take Martin Luther King. Should we toss out his beautiful words (and guideline for living) in his "I Have A Dream" speech because he had affairs?

Who's clean enough to have a statue in the public square?

The answer: Probably nobody.

Finally: What statues might have, in some cases, is a plaque with a sort of explainer.

*by Ginger Taylor

I mean... we know that, right? We live in it. The individuals reading these words right now have spent years, even decades, fighting the "health care" system to make it do what it is being paid trillions of dollars to do, which is to make people healthier. Even having to fight just to get permission to make their own individual family members healthier at their own expense. To us the claims from government and industry officials care about the health of Americans and the advancement of science to actually improve health outcomes for Americans is laughable.



But rarely do we get to see the industry saying that profits are more important than patient health out loud and in public where everyone can hear them. And even when they do, rarely does the press cover it. But they all did this week.



I mean, usually health care corporations and their financial partners are smart enough to hide their cynical money grubbing, but one set of analyists apparently forgot to do so, not only pointing out that cures hurt profits, but LAMENTING THAT ONE NEW TREATMENT HAD DONE SUCH A GOOD JOB AT CURING A COMMUNICABLE DISEASE, THAT THERE WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH CARRIERS OF THE DISEASE TO KEEP SPREADING IT AROUND TO OTHERS, IMPAIRING THEIR ABILITY TO CONTINUE TO MAKE MONEY OFF THE CURE! After which they make the observation that well... if you do gotta cure stuff make it cancer or something that can come back, just dont wipe the disease completely out of the population. Because you need to stay in business.



Behold with your own eyes:



Goldman Sachs asks in biotech research report: 'Is curing patients a sustainable business model?'Goldman Sachs asks in biotech research report: 'Is curing patients a sustainable business model?'

Tae Kim | @firstadopterPublished 3:15 PM ET Wed, 11 April 2018 Updated 7:20 PM ET Wed, 11 April 2018

CNBC.com



Goldman Sachs analysts attempted to address a touchy subject for biotech companies, especially those involved in the pioneering "gene therapy" treatment: cures could be bad for business in the long run.

"Is curing patients a sustainable business model?" analysts ask in an April 10 report entitled "The Genome Revolution."

"The potential to deliver 'one shot cures' is one of the most attractive aspects of gene therapy, genetically-engineered cell therapy and gene editing. However, such treatments offer a very different outlook with regard to recurring revenue versus chronic therapies," analyst Salveen Richter wrote in the note to clients Tuesday. "While this proposition carries tremendous value for patients and society, it could represent a challenge for genome medicine developers looking for sustained cash flow."



Richter cited Gilead Sciences' treatments for hepatitis C, which achieved cure rates of more than 90 percent. The company's U.S. sales for these hepatitis C treatments peaked at $12.5 billion in 2015, but have been falling ever since. Goldman estimates the U.S. sales for these treatments will be less than $4 billion this year, according to a table in the report.



"GILD is a case in point, where the success of its hepatitis C franchise has gradually exhausted the available pool of treatable patients," the analyst wrote. "In the case of infectious diseases such as hepatitis C, curing existing patients also decreases the number of carriers able to transmit the virus to new patients, thus the incident pool also declines  Where an incident pool remains stable (eg, in cancer) the potential for a cure poses less risk to the sustainability of a franchise."

The analyst didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.



The report suggested three potential solutions for biotech firms:

"Solution 1: Address large markets: Hemophilia is a $9-10bn WW market (hemophilia A, B), growing at ~6-7% annually."

"Solution 2: Address disorders with high incidence: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) affects the cells (neurons) in the spinal cord, impacting the ability to walk, eat, or breathe."

"Solution 3: Constant innovation and portfolio expansion: There are hundreds of inherited retinal diseases (genetics forms of blindness)  Pace of innovation will also play a role as future programs can offset the declining revenue trajectory of prior assets."

I know right? I can't believe they said this out in the open either.

But the report only confirms the assertions made by the notable bioethicist Christ Rock for years, "Ain't no money in the cure, the money's in the medicine...that's how a drug dealer makes his money, on the comeback."



So when you walk into a pharmacy to fill a perscription, be honest with yourself about who you are doing business with, and what their real motives are about healing what ails you.

When people show you who they are, believe them the first time. - Maya AngelouToday was different for Matthew Mubarak, a new graduate of Innovate Birmingham.

He had just spent the last 14 weeks with a "very talented group of people," he said, working his way through a "difficult and grueling experience."

Mubarak was one of 28 who completed the course at Innovate Birmingham, a program to train an information technology workforce and help retain the Birmingham's native-born talent.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin speaks to the 28 graduates of Innovate Birmingham Friday, April 13, 2018. (William Thornton / wthornton@al.com)

Families and friends gathered today for the ceremony at Alabama Power's corporate headquarters auditorium. Friday saw the fourth graduating class of Innovate Birmingham, which was made possible through a $6 million grant from the Department of Labor.

The program features I AM BHAM, a 14-week coding "boot camp," and the 12-week Generation IT program. It offers IT specialist training with certification. The programs are held at Innovation Depot and allow students to interact daily with companies that may eventually employ them.

Like Mubarak, Kenisha Yarbrough was another graduate. She knew it would be difficult, she said. She just didn't think it would be difficult for her.

But it's not everyday someone accepts a job with Apple, as Yarbrough has. Other graduates have applied for internships and accepted positions with Protective Life, Shipt, BBVA Compass and other companies.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin called on the graduates to take their newly earned degrees and transform the city with their talents.

"This is not a stopping point - if anything it's a starting point," Woodfin said. "You can not only hustle up a job, but my expectation for some of you all is to start creating your own lane, your own path and become an entrepreneur in this space.

"This city is starving for people who have the entrepreneurial spirit, who have the passion and commitment to start their own path. One of you all, or more than one of you all, has that entrepreneurial spirit," he said.

Those interested in the upcoming Innovate Birmingham Workforce Development Program class can enroll until April 20. For more information, visit here.A judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday to halt printing of June primary ballots in the Bessemer Cutoff after a candidate for district attorney in the Birmingham division filed a lawsuit.

Jefferson County Probate Judge Alan King was temporarily restrained from printing the ballots for the June 2018 primary election for the precincts in the Bessemer Division of the county, according to the order issued at 2:50 p.m. Friday by Presiding Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Boohaker.

A hearing is set for 10 a.m. April 27 to decide the issue.

Bill Veitch, a Republican candidate for the Birmingham division of Jefferson County, basically argues in his lawsuit, also filed Friday, that all voters in Jefferson County, not just the ones in the Birmingham division, should be allowed to vote in the primary.

In his lawsuit Veitch asks a judge to declare unconstitutional a 1953 law - or that it was repealed by a later law - and order King to place the names of candidates in the upcoming primary for District Attorney on ballots for both the Bessemer and Birmingham divisions. He also asked for the temporary restraining order.

"Without your knowledge and consent someone in Birmingham decided your cut-off votes don't matter. Every single voter in the cut-off from Hoover, McCalla, Hueytown, Bessemer, Midfield and Brighton matter to me and your voice should be heard," Veitch wrote on his FaceBook page Friday.

In general elections, voters throughout the county can vote on Birmingham division district attorney candidates. The lawsuit only addresses this year's Republican and Democratic parties' primaries.

Bessemer division voters were allowed to vote in the Democratic Primary in 2016, Veitch said. There wasn't a Republican primary that year.

"Now suddenly they decide they don't want to do that anymore," Veitch said.

Veitch lives in the Bessemer Cutoff, which means if the names of the District Attorney candidates were left off the ballot, he couldn't vote for himself in the Republican Primary. It also means Democrats in the Bessemer division couldn't vote for the district attorney candidates in Birmingham in their primary, he said.

The Bessemer District Attorney is listed in the state code as an assistant, Veitch said. The district attorney for the Birmingham division, however, has authority over all the county. "If that's true that the (Birmingham) district attorney has jurisdiction all over the county shouldn't they (Bessemer voters) be allowed to vote on those who have jurisdiction over all of them?" Veitch said.

Gov. Robert Bentley in January 2016 appointed Veitch to the position of District Attorney in the Bessemer Division to replace longtime D.A. Arthur Green Jr., who retired. Veitch had been chief assistant district attorney.

Veitch, a Republican, narrowly lost the November 2016 election to retain the seat for the Bessemer Cutoff to Lynneice Washington, a Democrat. Her six-year term ends in January 2023.

Veitch then qualified with the GOP earlier this year to run for District Attorney of the Birmingham division of Jefferson County, a job that came open after the man elected in 2016 - Charles Todd Henderson - was convicted and sentenced to jail for a perjury conviction. Henderson, whose law license was suspended, has appealed.

The special election for the Birmingham division attorney general is being held in November to fill the seat.

In the Republican Primary Veitch will face Mike Anderton, the deputy district attorney for the Birmingham division who was appointed District Attorney by the governor after Henderson was convicted.

The winner of the Republican Primary will face the winner of the Democratic Primary between Danny Carr and Raymond L. Johnson, Jr. Carr, a long-time deputy district attorney in the Birmingham division, had served as district attorney pro-tem while charges were pending against Henderson.

Bill Veitch lawsuit by KentFaulk on ScribdThe wife of an Alabama evangelist arrested this week on multiple child sex charges involving a teen boy is seeking a divorce from her husband of just over two years, and said in court papers that she fears for safety.

Ashley Nabors Bowen filed for divorce from Acton Bowen on Thursday in Etowah County, according to court records made public Friday. The couple married in 2015 and lived together until Tuesday, when the 37-year-old founder of Acton Bowen Outreach Ministries was taken into custody by Hoover police.

Also Friday, two of the ministry's board members stepped down, including Gadsden attorney Trenton Garmon, who worked as an attorney for former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore during his failed campaign for U.S. senate last year.

Acton Bowen is charged with second-degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house for immoral purposes, and second-degree sex abuse. The victim was a young male, but police did not release his age except to say he is over 12 and under 16.

Court records say he engaged in deviate sexual intercourse with the teen boy, and also enticed him into getting into a 2010 Jeep Wrangler for the purpose of sodomy. Police have said the victim is a family acquaintance of Acton Bowen.

He has previously denied the accusations against him. "I have not done what I am accused of and have not acted inappropriately in any way,'' Bowen said in a press statement issued Wednesday night. "My family and I trust the legal system and the people who are entrusted with the duty of protecting each of our rights. I believe the truth will stand and I will be vindicated of this false accusation. We ask that each of you keep everyone involved in this process in your prayers."

Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector said the department's Special Victim's Unit first launched an investigation three weeks ago. The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office issued the warrants on Monday. "This is certainly one of the more disturbing cases that we've investigated in quite some time,'' Rector said. "Mr. Bowen is in a highly-respected position of influence and he is trusted by many. We believe he betrayed that trust in the worst kind of way."

Bowen was taken into custody in Pelham and transported to the Hoover City Jail. He was moved to the Jefferson County Jail where he was released shortly before 5 a.m. Wednesday on $90,300 bond. As a condition of his bond, he is prohibited from having any contact with anyone under the age of 18, including electronic and social media communication.

In his earlier statement, Bowen said he wanted to say "thank you" to the countless number of people who have prayed for his family. "My wife, Ashley, and I along with our incredible family are so grateful for your prayers,'' he said. "I'm also thankful for the countless calls of support from those who have walked a lot of life with me and know me best,'' he said. "Your steadfast, unshakable support gives me strength. For almost 20 years (since I was 18) my life has been committed to serving Jesus by serving people."

"When this accusation was made known to me I was hurt, confused, and heartbroken,'' he said. "Prior to the arrest only one side of the story was heard."

Ashley Bowen's divorce complaint mentions the criminal charges against her husband and notes, "she has fully cooperated with law enforcement with regards to any information requested from her related to the investigation of the crimes for which (Acton Bowen) is alleged to have committed."

In addition to the divorce complaint, Ashley Bowen also asked for emergency temporary possession of their Etowah County home. ""She fears for her immediate safety from (her husband) and any third parties that may attempt to contact (her husband) as a result of the crimes for which he has been alleged to have committed."

The complaint notes that Acton Bowen is living with other family members. It also asks for an immediate order prohibiting Acton Bowen from any communication or contact for the purposes of harassing, threatening, intimidating or assaulting her.

She is asking that, in light of the allegations against him, her husband be prohibited from taking any money from their joint bank accounts other than for living expenses and she wants back her maiden name.

A judge on Friday issued the order granting Ashley Bowen's requests. Acton Bowen didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the divorce complaint.

As for the resignation of ABO board members - Garmon and Josh Dodd - Garmon said he has served the ministry and Acton Bowen as an individual with pro bono legal services for nine years.

"And for the duration of my service to him as a board member, I have believed that Acton's intent was to advance the Gospel. Which is the message that Jesus has come, died for our imperfections and risen from the grave,'' Garmon said in an email statement Friday night. "And even with the allegations that have come to light against him, I do in fact believe that it was Acton's intent and I still consider him to be a personal friend."

Garmon said he and Dodd maintained, among others, two very clear standards which they asked Acton to abide by.

The first was to maintain on all his electronic devices a paid internet monitor program called "Covenant Eyes". That was intended to protect Bowen from any allegation that he had viewed or was viewing pornography. And to protect the integrity of the ministry. Garmon said he personally received reports each month via email and never had a report that indicated any issue.

As a second means of ensuring the sexual integrity of the ministry was protected, Dodd and Garmon requested that Acton implement an advanced version of the Billy Graham Rule which they called the "Guardian Policy."

"We requested that he never be alone with any female other than his wife. And we requested that he never be alone with a male minor which I considered to be someone under 16 years old,'' Garmon said. "I was told that these minimums were being followed. Yet, in light of the allegation, it appears that the Guardian Policy was not always honored. This is not to imply criminal guilt by any means, yet our policy was not abided by. As you may be aware he has publicaly denied the criminal allegations."

Still, Garmon said, given the weight and gravity of the allegations," it does not seem wise nor prudent to maintain my status as a Board Member for the Acton Bowen Outreach. Mr. Dodd is of the same opinion and is also stepping down from the Board of ABO."

Garmon went on to say that in his many years in legal work, given the delicacy and potential explosiveness of sex abuse allegations, he has maintained a personal policy that he would only accept an accused sex offender if, in fact, he would be willing to submit to and did pass a private polygraph examination via a certified polygraph examiner.

During my time as an attorney, my legal representation has been requested by approximately ten (10) men accused of sex offenses. In each instance, I have shared and maintained this personal minimum.

He said during his time as an attorney, his legal representation has been requested by about 10 men accused of sex offenses. After sharing with them his requirement of a passed polygraph test, more than half never returned to his office.

He went on to say only three out of the 10 actually submitted and took the private polygraph examination and did, in fact, pass that polygraph examination.

"This personal minimum for me has never been compromised. To include during my representation of Chief Justice Roy Moore who took and has passed a polygraph examination with a certified polygraph examiner,'' Garmon said. "And I consider it a great honor to stand with any client of mine regardless of the heat in their case so long as this and my other personal minimums are met."

Garmon no longer practices criminal defense work. He said Bowen did not ask him to represent him in the child sex charges, nor would he agree to.

"Acton and I over the past couple of days have maintained phone contact and he has indicated that he is interested in taking a polygraph examination,'' Garmon said. "But yet again I do not represent him professionally and I advised that he convey that desire to whoever he retains to conduct his criminal defense."

"With that said, I do have a clear conscious and am at peace in my decision to step away as a board member of the Acton Bowen Outreach. I will maintain my friendship with him as life and time allows,'' he said. "Yet professionally, such does not seem wise."

"I will ensure that the retained accountant for the Acton Bowen Outreach is aware of my and Josh Dodd's resignation. My hope from this is that the message of the man that Jesus Christ is God's son died and rose from the grave is not be maligned in the minds of those he shared the gospel with by the misunderstandings or mistakes of the man,'' Garmon said. "We will be in prayer for him and all others involved in the legal process."Keith Earle, the longtime Huntsville police who died earlier this week, was laid to rest today surrounded by family, friends and law enforcement officers.

Officer Keith Earle

Earle was 46 when he died Monday at Huntsville Hospital. He had been hospitalized since March 26 when he was injured in an on-duty crash.

A 26-year veteran of the police department, Earle spent his entire career patrolling in northwest Huntsville.

"It was his commitment to serve those that he grew up around," Chief Mark McMurray said after the service at Valhalla Cemetery today. "He's a northwest Huntsville resident that grew up in this area and already knew everyone. He took pride in his uniform and his duties. He's been a mentor and a leader in northwest Huntsville."

McMurray previously worked patrol shifts with Earle. The chief described Earle as a community policeman and who led "a life of service."

"He knew everyone" in northwest Huntsville, the chief said. "He knew every kid. He knew their kids and grand kids, aunts and uncles."

Today, Earle's family and friends gather for a service at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in New Market. A police-escorted procession led to the cemetery at Valhalla Funeral Home in Huntsville.

Police officers from Huntsville and other departments around Alabama joined the family to grieve and honor Earle. An honor guard team fired a three-gun report, and buglers played "Taps."

"We're going to miss Officer Earle," McMurray said.The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge is taking place this weekend at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Close to 100 high school and college teams from the USA as well as international teams from around the world are competing.

Each year the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge features an engineering design challenge to engage students worldwide in the next phase of human space exploration. The annual event is a more complex follow-up to the successful NASA Great Moonbuggy Race. The competition challenges high school and college students to create a vehicle designed to traverse the simulated surface of another world.

During its 20-year run, the Great Moonbuggy Race engaged more than 10,000 students and demonstrated that these budding scientists and engineers were capable of complex work.

The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge continues that tradition by providing an authentic engineering experience. The student teams design, build, and test technologies that enable rovers to perform in a wide variety of environments. The Rover Challenge will inspire participants to become the engineers to design NASA's next-generation space systems.

Each year the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge features an engineering design challenge to engage students worldwide in the next phase of human space exploration. The annual event is a more complex follow-up to the successful NASA Great Moonbuggy Race. The competition challenges high school and college students to create a vehicle designed to traverse the simulated surface of another world.

During its 20-year run, the Great Moonbuggy Race engaged more than 10,000 students and demonstrated that these budding scientists and engineers were capable of complex work. The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge continues that tradition by providing an authentic engineering experience. The student teams design, build, and test technologies that enable rovers to perform in a wide variety of environments. The Rover Challenge inspires participants to become the engineers to design NASA's next-generation space systems.

NASA is taking a stepping-stone approach to building capabilities necessary for sending astronauts to Mars. Likewise, the newly redesigned the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge is a next logical step toward emulating planetary exploration. It continues the agency's effort to use the appeal and intrigue of its space missions and programs as catalysts for engaging students in STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

This student design challenge looks to the next generation of scientists and engineers to aid in the design process by providing innovative designs and unique perspectives. The challenge also continues the agency's legacy of providing valuable experience to students who someday may be responsible for planning future space missions, including crewed missions to other worlds.

For more information visit the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge websiteRain and strong winds have entered Alabama Saturday morning as the state braces for a day of potentially severe weather.

Portions of the state are under an enhanced risk with numerous severe storms possible. The remainder of the state is under a slight risk with scattered severe storms possible. You can see the latest forecast here.

A tornado watch is in effect for a large portion of the western half of Alabama until 7 p.m., and will likely be extended both eastward and with expiration time later this afternoon, according to the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

When will severe weather arrive where I live?

North Alabama

Marginally severe storms will be possible until 10 a.m. this morning in North Alabama, according to the National Weather Service in Huntsville. The highest severe threat will be moving into northwest Alabama from 1-3 p.m. and northeast Alabama from 6-9 p.m.

Uncertainly is still high with these systems, however.

A flash flood watch is in effect through Sunday at 1 a.m. for the northwest portion of the state.

Central Alabama

The western portions of the central part of the state, including Tuscaloosa, will see storms starting around 11 a.m. and lasting until 5 p.m. Heavy rains and winds will enter the central part of the state, including Birmingham, from 3-8 p.m. before moving east from 5-11 p.m. The eastern portion of the state will see severe weather from 9 p.m.-2 a.m., according to the National Weather Service in Birmingham.

NWS said torrential rains and gusty winds up to 50 mph can be expected in central Alabama, including the I65 corridor, between 2:30-3 p.m.

South Alabama

The National Weather Service in Mobile said severe weather will entre the southern portions of Alabama from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. before moving into the Mobile area from 2-8 p.m. The storms will go through Gulf Shores and the Florida Panhandle from 6 p.m.-midnight.A 67-year-old former business owner from Florence was found guilty today of 56 child pornography charges.

Pete Wesson has been convicted on 56 child pornography charges.

William "Pete" Wesson was on trial this week in Lauderdale County Circuit Court, charged with more than 150 child pornography crimes. A jury returned guilty verdicts on 55 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of possession with intent to distribute child pornography, prosecutors said.

"The jury made the right decision based on overwhelming evidence," Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said in a statement to AL.com.

The jury began deliberating Friday afternoon.

Wesson first came under investigation more than two years ago when a federal special agent was doing electronic surveillance and found the man's IP address associated with child pornography, according to court papers.

The federal agent contacted Florence police Investigator Drew Harless in April 2016 and described finding pornography that contained incest and young children, according to court papers. In May 2016, a judge issued a search warrant for Wesson's home on West Alabama Street. Police seized hard drives, cellphones and portable storage devices.

A forensic exam of the devices found 55 videos or photos that depicted child pornography, Harless wrote in court papers. Harless interviewed Wesson at the police department.

Wesson was arrested on 55 charges at the time. Later, a grand jury indicted him on another 100 charges because investigators found more videos, officials said. Connolly previously told AL.com Wesson was downloading images or videos from the internet and reproducing them.

For years, Wesson owned a sign company in Florence. He's now retired.

Wesson will be sentenced later by Circuit Judge Ben Graves. Possession of child pornography carries a sentence of up to 10 years for each count.The joint U.S., French and U.K. missile barrage on Syria this week included the battlefield debut of a stealthy new Lockheed Martin air-launched cruise missile produced as part of a $4.6 billion defense program.

Nineteen missiles fired outside Syrian airspace by two B-1B bombers targeted the Barzah Research and Development Center located in the greater Damascus area. Those Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missiles, or JASSMs, joined 57 Raytheon Tomahawks that Pentagon officials also said targeted the site.

Produced at a Lockheed plant in Troy, Alabama, the JASSM has a low radar cross-section that makes it difficult to detect and is designed to penetrate as far as 200 miles (322 km) into an adversary's territory. The extended version fired late Friday night U.S. time can fly more than 500 miles.

Tracking a pre-planned route from launch to target using Global Positioning Satellites and an internal navigation system, the missile is designed to strike with a 1,000-pound penetrating warhead.

While Pentagon officials didn't specifically single out the JASSMs performance in their briefing on Saturday, the "before" and "after" photos of the chemical-weapons facility provided by the Pentagon suggested they were effective.U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) said in a statement that he supports President Trump's Friday night military strikes on Syria in response to the alleged chemical weapons use by President Bashar Assad although Trump did not seek congressional approval.

Trump announced Friday night that the U.S., Britain and France had launched military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for the alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again.

"While I prefer that President Trump, and President Obama before him, consult with Congress and obtain an unambiguous Authorization for the Use of Military Force from Congress before engaging in acts of war against a foreign nation, I support President Trump and American troops as they engage in military action in Syria," Brooks said.

He continued, saying there is strong evidence the Assad Regime used chemical agents, "causing many of them to die horrific deaths."

"Regardless of whether they are nuclear, biological or chemical, weapons of mass destruction simply cannot be tolerated in a civilized world."

Brooks said he was pleased France and Britain joined the United States in the strikes.

"It is long past time that the world join American efforts to promote a more peaceful world. I am thankful our British and French allies stood strong in our fight against Syria's barbaric use of chemical weapons on civilian men, women and children. It is one thing for America to fight solo. It is quite another for other major nations to share our burden in the fight for liberty and freedom."

The U.S. president said the U.S. is prepared to "sustain" pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.

Trump said the joint attack was expected to include barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace. He described the main aim as establishing "a strong deterrent" against chemical weapons use.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.Jarrod Rodriguez wanted to know why hecklers drowning out Richard Spencers speech at the Phillips Center for Performing Arts werent asked to leave.

Wouldnt they have been kicked out? he asked David Parrott, UFs vice president for student affairs. Rodriguez, a member of Young Americans for Freedom, wanted to understand how chants from counter-protesters in the audience didnt infringe on Spencers First Amendment right to speak freely in October.

The 18-year-old UF business management freshman was one of about 30 students who came to Pugh Hall on Wednesday night for UFs first Campus Conversations, an event that aimed to get students debating their stances on mental health, free speech zones and gun control. Parrott fielded questions after students had a chance to discuss the topics in small groups.

Its a tough call when we want to be protective of the First Amendment, Parrott said. He said police officers decisions of whether to ask people to leave or not are subjective. Because Spencer continued speaking, he was never totally silenced.

Student fellows for the Bob Graham Center for Public Service decided to model the conversation after a conference at Harvard University where more than 60 student ambassadors from 30 universities met to talk about issues affecting their college campuses and how to effectively engage with people who have different opinions, said Brett Steinfeld, a fellow who helped organize the event.

One of the things Im really interested is why the campus seems so divided, the UF political science sophomore said.

During the event, participants gathered around pizza and lemonade before splitting off and taking seats at the eight small tables spread out around the room. Everyone was given a sheet of talking points, or sample opinions to serve as starting points for discussion.

They read things like, Free Speech Zones are too disruptive. or Teachers should be armed.

However, rather than sparking heated debate, the crowd generally agreed on most issues. More often, students asked questions of Parrott than they did challenge one another.

Bob Graham fellow, Sara Henley said she was satisfied with how the night unfolded but would try improve the event next time by inviting organizations that clearly do have different opinions.

As a pilot program you never know how its going to go, the 20-year-old UF public health and business management sophomore said.

Contact Elliott Nasby at enasby@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @_ElohEl.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe NowHow The US Will Impose Russian Sanctions On British Banks

The Americans are really rather pissed off at the Russians these days. To the extent that theyve decided to impose sanctions on a number of Russian oligarchs and their companies. Hmm, OK, well, that harms the Americans rather more than anyone else, right? Because it is those USians who cannot work with Russia, while the rest of the world is entirely free to do so. Sadly though, thats not quite how it works. The secret is here:

A senior American official has warned that British banks will face consequences if they flout new sanctions against some of Russias wealthiest businessmen and biggest companies. In words that are likely to cause concern in the boardrooms of financial services groups, Sigal Mandelker, under-secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said that US authorities would be on the lookout for any breaches of their Russian sanctions. The penalties for banks caught doing business with those sanctioned could include heavy fines, as well as the loss of their US banking licence.

The way this does work is that the US claims authority over any business taking place in US dollars. Theyre, well, just about right in this. People who swap cash dollars with each other arent covered. But anything which works through the banking system in dollars is. They proved this when they fined BNP Paribas billions for trading with Sudan. BNP is a French bank, Sudans not part of America either. There were US sanctions on not trading with Sudan. A French bank should not be covered then, should it? But it was and when caught it paid up too.

For the US says, as above, that transactions in dollars fall under US laws. The link being that in order to settle a transaction it will go through New York. Thats just the way the international banking system works. Transactions in  sterling go through London, in Yen through Tokyo, in $ through New York. So, even if a French bank, in France, lends to Sudan, if they do it in $ then thats a transaction that goes through New York and is subject to US law. Including those sanctions  pay up buddy for breaking them.

The same is true of these sanctions against Russia and Russians. Anything done in $ is regarded as being under US law. So, no one can deal with these Russians in $.

But it gets worse than that. For, obviously enough, this doesnt cover people who deal with the Russians in , or  or Yen. So, everyone can still deal with the Russians, right? Except no, and this is where the US gets a little controversial. For just about every bank even with pretensions to doing international business does some business in dollars, thus some business in the US. Meaning that theyve got a US banking licence and a business in the US to protect.

What the US says is, yup, sure, strictly speaking our sanctions only apply to business in $ and if you work in another currency then youre fine. Except thats not the way we work, if you work in those other currencies then were going to have a good hard look at whether you can continue to do business in the US. And guess what, we bet we could find a reason why you cant.

And thats how the US will impose their Russian sanctions on British and global banks. Youve sure got a nice US business here, be a shame if anything happened to it, wouldnt it? The tactics of the Mob being used by a government, such a pleasant sight.

Tim Worstall

Posted: 14th, April 2018 | In: Money, News Comment | TrackBack | PermalinkThank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has denounced recent airstrikes by the United States, Britain and France against Syria, saying such attacks run counter to the principles of worldwide law and are considered a blatant support for terrorism. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported -and will continue to support- the oppressed peoples in the region and the world and responses positively to the call of help coming from the governments of the region to fight terrorism".

He also posed the question of haven't the US, the Zionist Regime and their supporters, especially the United Kingdom and France, learned lessons from incidents that happened in the region 17 years ago, Dr Rouhani said: "The US aggression will have no result in the region except for destruction and annihilation and they want to justify their presence in the region with these aggressions".

The strikes, which hit the capital Damascus as well as two locations near the city of Homs, came following a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma last week.

They "are responsible for the regional consequences of this adventurist action", it added.

The US, UK and France struck multiple government targets in Syria in an early morning operation targeting alleged chemical weapons sites.

Rouhani also said that presence of the foreign forces in Syria without Damascus' permission runs contrary to worldwide law.

President Rouhani underlined that the West is angry at the defeat of the terrorist groups in Syria's Eastern Ghouta by the Syrian army.

The US, Britain and France launched airstrikes against multiple places in Syria early Saturday following US President Donald Trump's order despite worldwide warnings against further escalation of the situation in the Arab country and across the Middle East.

He noted that no foreign country can decide about the future of Syria, saying that it is the Syrians who should decide for their country.

He also expressed confidence that the US-led airstrikes would not weaken the determination of the Syrian people in its war against terrorism.

For his part, Assad praised Iran's support for Syria.

The Syrian leader also noted that the attacks have had no achievement for the aggressors.Around 11 Air India unions have formed a joint forum to fight against the government's decision.

The meeting is expected to take place on April 17.

Mumbai: Air India has called a meeting of its pilot unions in New Delhi next week to discuss about the proposed strategic disinvestment amid opposition from other employee unions.

On April 5, Air India chairman and managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola had held a meeting with representatives of four employee unions on the proposed privatisation and their concerns.

"Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) have been called by the Air India chairman and managing director next week to discuss about the proposed privatisation," sources at the airline told PTI here.

The meeting is expected to take place on April 17, they said.

On March 28, the civil aviation ministry came out with the preliminary information memorandum on Air India's strategic disinvestment.

As per the memorandum, the government plans to offload 76 per cent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control.

The proposed transaction would involve Air India, its low-cost arm Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services, which is an equal joint venture between the national airline and Singapore-based SATS.

The two pilot unions - IPG and ICPA - together claim representing around 1,400 non-executive pilots of Air India's wide and narrow-body aircraft fleet.

These two unions are understood to be in favour of privatisation provided all their pending dues are cleared.

On the other hand, the employee unions opposed to the privatisation have intensified their stir against the move.

Around 11 Air India unions have formed a joint forum to fight against the government's decision to handover the national airline to private players amid improvement in its fiscal and operational performance.

Kharola had yesterday said, "Air India improved performance on key parameters in FY18", adding that the revenue spiked by 11 per cent on higher passengers traffic across its network.

The forum has already held lunch hour protest meetings at four places in Mumbai and plans to hold similar meetings at other stations also, according to its leaders.Certificate of Incorporation (COI) issued by MCA contains a mention of both PAN and TAN,

Finance Act, 2018 amended section 139A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and removed the requirement of issuing PAN in the form of a laminated card.

New Delhi: The Income Tax department today said certificate of incorporation issued by the Corporate Affairs Ministry will be considered sufficient proof of PAN or TAN for corporates.

The Finance Act, 2018 amended section 139A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and removed the requirement of issuing PAN in the form of a laminated card.

"Hence, it is clarified that PAN and TAN mentioned in the COI issued by MCA shall also be treated as sufficient proof of PAN and TAN for the said company assessees," it said.

An application for incorporation, allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN) and allotment of Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN) may be made through a Common Application Form submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in case of corporates.

The Certificate of Incorporation (COI) issued by MCA contains a mention of both PAN and TAN, the I-T department said.Kopp Investment Advisors Llc who had been investing in Intersect Ent Inc. for a number of months, seems to be less bullish one the $1.16 billion market cap company. About 60.69 million shares traded. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) has declined 54.35% since April 11, 2017 and is downtrending. It has underperformed by 30.04% the S&P500.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management Lp decreased its stake in Reinsurance Group Amer Inc (RGA) by 14.61% based on its latest 2017Q4 regulatory filing with the SEC. Dimensional Fund Advisors Lp sold 143,792 shares as the company's stock declined 1.01% with the market. The insurance provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $2.84 by ($0.24). Rafferty Asset Management Llc who had been investing in Reinsurance Group Amer Inc for a number of months, seems to be bullish on the $9.74 billion market cap company. The stock increased 0.56% or $0.84 during the last trading session, reaching $151.85. 181,275 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 368,276. Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (NYSE:RGA) has risen 23.42% since April 12, 2017 and is uptrending. It has outperformed by 11.87% the S&P500.

During 2017 Q4 the big money sentiment decreased to 1.16. It fall, as 15 investors sold RGA shares while 145 reduced holdings. The fund owned 121,700 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 47,700 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley has "Overweight" rating and $130 target. 45 were accumulated by Carroll Fin Inc.

Shares of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (NYSE:RGA) traded down 0.116% during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $124.785.

Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (NYSE:RGA)'s earnings release is anticipated by WallStreet on April, 26, Zacks reports. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.92 earnings per share. analysts forecast that Reinsurance Group of America will post 12.4 earnings per share for the current year. Pacad Inv Ltd holds 0.06% or 1,800 shares. The Company provides traditional life and health reinsurance and financial solutions with operations in the United States, Latin America, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Aviance Mngmt Ltd Liability Company, Florida-based fund reported 14,334 shares. After $-0.11 actual earnings per share reported by Intersect ENT, Inc. for the previous quarter, Wall Street now forecasts 109.09% negative EPS growth. Dynamic Capital Limited owns 1.33% invested in Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (NYSE:RGA) for 24,792 shares. State Treasurer State Of Michigan reported 23,100 shares or 0.03% of all its holdings. State Treasurer State of MI now owns 25,800 shares of the company's stock worth $2,785,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Globeflex Capital Lp holds 6,650 shares. Howe & Rusling has 37 shares. Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Company LTD now owns 35,441 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $5,526,000 after purchasing an additional 18,008 shares in the last quarter.

Since February 16, 2018, it had 0 buys, and 1 sale for $62,104 activity.

A total of 7 analysts rate Reinsurance Group (NYSE:RGA) as follows: 2 "Buy", 4 "Hold" and 1 "Sell". Therefore 18% are positive. Medtronic had 82 analyst reports since August 10, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel. The firm has "Sector Perform" rating given on Thursday, April 28 by RBC Capital Markets. The company was downgraded on Tuesday, October 4 by JP Morgan. As per Tuesday, January 5, the company rating was initiated by Deutsche Bank. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings holds 0.04% of its capital in Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (NYSE:RGA) for 216,737 shs. As per Friday, October 7, the company rating was initiated by Credit Suisse. The firm has "Buy" rating by Goldman Sachs given on Friday, July 15. The stock rating was maintained by Morgan Stanley with "Underweight" on Thursday, April 5.

In terms of CCI levels, Reinsurance Group of America I (RZA) now has a 14-day Commodity Channel Index (CCI) of -86.3. The stock has "Neutral" rating by Goldman Sachs on Tuesday, January 3. On Friday, November 10 Keefe Bruyette & Woods maintained the shares of RGA in report with "Hold" rating. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. General Electric Company had 97 analyst reports since July 21, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel. The company rating was maintained by RBC Capital Markets on Friday, December 8. The rating was upgraded by JMP Securities to "Market Outperform" on Tuesday, February 20. Goldman Sachs maintained it with "Buy" rating and $120 target in Friday, August 12 report.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Its down 0.02, from 1.18 in 2017Q3. It worsened, as 65 investors sold MDT shares while 427 reduced holdings. 25 funds opened positions while 50 raised stakes. Retail Bank owns 182,446 shares for 0.34% of their portfolio. Whittier Tru invested in 0% or 4,000 shares. Metropolitan Life Insur New York holds 39,083 shares. Fincl Services Corporation holds 0.02% or 225 shares in its portfolio. 27,000 were accumulated by Lord Abbett & Limited Liability Corporation. France-based Bnp Paribas Asset Mngmt Holdg Sa has invested 0.19% in General Electric Company (NYSE:GE). (NYSE:ALEX). Manufacturers Life Insurance Co The holds 110,939 shares or 0% of its portfolio. (NYSE:CVS) by 4,924 shares to 101,386 shares, valued at $7.35M in 2017Q4, according to the filing. Barings LLC now owns 4,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period.

Park Circle Co, which manages about $180.66 million US Long portfolio, upped its stake in Hsbc Hldgs Plc (NYSE:HSBC) by 119,330 shares to 198,230 shares, valued at $10.24 million in 2017Q4, according to the filing.As for Sridevis best actress award for Mom, Shekhar candidly admits he had reservations.

As the chairperson of the jury of the recently-concluded 85th National Awards, Shekhar Kapur cant stop raving about the quality of work in non-Hindi language movies. What was, till very recently, known as regional cinema, has left him stumped.

I cannot tell you what an enriching experience these last few weeks have been for me. I was actually supposed to be at the Boston MIT as an honorary professor. When Smriti Irani insisted I be on jury duty, I relented and postponed by Boston assignment, he says. The kind of cinema I saw just blew my mind. Sorry, but regional cinema is no longer regional. Very soon Bollywood, as we call Hindi cinema, will become regional. The films in non-Hindi Indian languages are taking us back to the cinema of Raj Kapoor films that are from the heart, for the heart.

He adds that hes now decided to champion the cause of non-Hindi cinema. They have such gifted directors! The girl Rima Das, whose Assamese film Village Rockstars has won the best film award, is self-trained. And a what a film shes made. The quality of cinema and the performances in regional movies is so much higher than the Hindi ones. I mean, with all due respect, Newton and Rajkummar Rao were fine. But I saw better performances, he says.

He also heaps praise on the actors, Sometimes Id see two actors in one language and talk about how good they were, only to be told it was the same actor! Theyre so dedicated to doing their jobs, not bothered with success, not peering anxiously over their shoulder to see whos looking. And the actor (Riddhi Sen) who won best actor, he was so brilliant in the Bengali film Nagarkirtan. This is not self-conscious cinema. Nothing in Hindi cinema is comparable, Shekhar sighs, adding that its time we bring these movies to the fore.

As for Sridevis best actress award for Mom, Shekhar candidly admits he had reservations. Brilliant as she is, every morning Id remind the jury that I had been closely associated with her and it might look improper to give her the award. But the jury was adamant, he concludes.Currently busy with work preparations and travel, she has two movies coming up  My Story and the much-awaited Anjali Menon movie.

In less than a few hours after the 65th National Awards were announced and she received a Special Mention for her role in Take Off, Parvathy Thiruvoth Kottuvata performed her most special act. She posted on social media a photo of her holding a placard that read I am Hindustan. I am ashamed. #justiceforaasifa. 8 years old. Gangraped. Murdered. In Devi-stan Temple. #Kathua.

To an award that comes just days after the world was shaken by one of the most heinous hate crimes that happened in the country  the torture-gang rape-murder of an eight-year-old Bakherwal nomad girl in a temple in Kashmir  the actress, known for her bold and uncompromising stance responds in typical Parvathy style. Like the rest of her countrymen, Friday happens to be a day of mixed feelings for her too. Yes, it is a day for pride that our films have been recognised on a national level. But it never takes away the pain of what actually happens around us. The artist and citizen in me are extremely saddened and angered by how things are at the moment, she says.

Parvathy adds that theres still hope left. Yes, I am hoping for a change, she stresses.

In Take Off, Parvathy plays Sameera, a pregnant nurse caught in a warzone, where she apart from taking care of her young son and looking for her missing husband, leads a rescue operation in Iraq by transporting to safety her colleagues who are held hostage by ISIS.

The fiery actress, who was hailed for her powerful act as a gritty nurse, had earlier won the Best Actress Award at the 48th International Film Festival of India, becoming the first Indian actor to have won the Silver Peacock. Sameera had also won Parvathy her second Kerala State Award for Best Actress in 2017.

Like laurels, Parvathy is no stranger to brickbats and she knows nothing can pull her down. She says, Acknowledging and respecting an award is what I would do as an artist. But I will not back down in voicing what I feel should be done.

Currently busy with work preparations and travel, she has two movies coming up  My Story and the much-awaited Anjali Menon movie.Trolling celebs has becomE the new online fad. Many stars suffer from poor mental health due to bullying and hateful words.

While the phenomenon of celebrity trolling is terribly common on social media these days, we often forget (conveniently so) that no matter how confident they may appear on the outside, bullying and hateful words targeted at them can affect them mentally.

In this light, a Twitter user named Emily Klee recently explained how trolling Katy Perry was highly insensitive. She wrote in a series of tweets, Katy Perry literally live-streamed her therapy session, showed the world inside her mental health, showed the world shes human with human emotions and is impacted by the words of heartless people. Yet you cruel people are still going to attack her over and over again. Yet suddenly youre also all advocates for suicide prevention? News flash! Celebs have feelings and poor mental health too! They are affected just as easily as others! Its still bullying (sic).

Perry was subjected to heavy trolling on Twitter soon after the American pop star tweeted about anxiety.

Psychologist Richa Khetawat agrees that some celebrities are sensitive and rude remarks and comments can get overwhelming for them. It can be extremely traumatic and stressful. When you try to take down the trolls, it can sometimes be unsafe as there are severe cases of cyber-bullying. While its best to ignore trolls, you dont need to completely chicken out either, she says.

Shockingly, 40 per cent of American adults have reportedly personally experienced online abuse, with almost half of them experiencing severe forms of harassment, including physical threats and stalking. Further, 70 per cent of women described online harassment as a major problem, according to a report on The Independent.

Dont waste your time on trolls

On the other hand, Twinkle Khanna says that people who take trolls seriously are foolish. They (trolls) are like cockroaches. Once in a while, you spray repellent and they scamper out of your way and you go on. But, I do look at criticism and I examine it very carefully. Sometimes its valid and it always tells me about the world around me or myself, she says.

Actress Rakul Preet Singh, who was also trolled nastily for posting her photos online, says, As celebrities, we often get nasty comments on various social media platforms and I just dont read them. I think its best to avoid trolls and let what they say not affect you. Dont take them personally. You are entitled to your opinion.

Malayalam actress Malavika Mohanan, too, condemned the trolling culture down south. She spoke about how actress Parvathy was viciously trolled and abused by fans on various online platforms for her comments against some dialogues in actor Mammoottys film.

Hyderabad-based model and actress Swetha Jadhav believes that people troll others to get attention and often have issues themselves. Trollers are frustrated with their own lives and they vent their frustration on others, especially on celebrities as they are easy targets. Its better to avoid them and not waste time replying to their messages, she strongly feels.

Meanwhile, supermodel Deborah Doris Fell, who has thousands of followers on social media, says that one should rather concentrate on the love that you receive from other fans. Fortunately, I havent received hate on social media. I do receive a lot of proposals from fans and I just thank them for their love. I would say, instead of focusing on the hate, focus on the love you receive from so many other fans, she explains.

12

As celebrities, we often get nasty comments on various social media platforms and I just dont read them. I think its best to avoid trolls and let what they say not affect you. Dont take them personally. You are entitled to your opinion.

 Rakul Preet Singh, actress

Twinkle Khanna

They (trolls) are like cockroaches. Once in a while, you spray repellent and they scamper out of your way and you go on. But, I do look at criticism and I examine it very carefully

 Twinkle Khanna, actress

Celebs trolled online

1 Upcoming actress Sri Reddy is being brutally bashed on social media for opening up about the ugly casting couch in Tollywood.

2 At the Golden Globes this year, Kendall Jenner walked the red carpet with some visible acne on her face. Soon, the supermodel was heavily trolled on social media and fans even made memes on her

Michael Jordan

3 Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan was attacked by an Internet troll for revealing that he lives with his parents

and loves anime.

4 Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Mithali Raj, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Jahnvi Kapoor are some of the Indian celebrities who were trolled in recent times.

Kendall JennerBoth Doval and Yang are special representatives for India-China boundary talks representing their respective countries.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday held talks with top official of China's ruling CPC Yang Jiechi in Shanghai, the Indian Embassy in Beijing said. (Photo: Twitter/@EOIBeijing)

New Delhi/Beijing: In an indication that India is moving fast to repair ties with China, the external affairs ministry said on Friday that national security adviser Ajit Doval had visited China on Thursday and Friday. Speculation is rife that several issues could have been discussed during the visit, including ways to avoid Sino-Indian military faceoffs like the one at Doklam in Bhutanese territory last year, Indias efforts to gain entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), efforts to get Pakistan-based terror outfit JeMs chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN, and New Delhis request to Hong Kong for the provisional arrest of PNB scam accused Nirav Modi. China is stonewalling Indias moves on NSG entry and Masood Azhar issues.

Mr Doval held talks Friday with a top official of Chinas ruling Communist Party, Yang Jiechi, in Shanghai when both sides agreed to maintain the pace of high-level exchanges after last years Doklam standoff. Mr Dovals visit was part of regular high-level engagements between India and China, an Indian embassy press release said in Beijing. Mr Yang Jiechi is a member of the politburo and director of the foreign affairs commission of the CPC central committee.

The visit was part of regular high-level engagements between India and China. The discussions covered a wide agenda spanning bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest. The two sides agreed to maintain the pace of high-level exchanges, with a view to fully realise the potential of Closer Development Partnership between India and China, the MEA said.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman are due to be in Beijing on April 24 to attend different meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and interact with their counterparts on the sidelines.

The eight-member SCO, in which India is the latest entrant along with Pakistan, is due to hold its summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to take part and hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two officials met in Shanghai instead of Beijing as Mr Yang preferred to hold it there as he is on his way back from Chinas Hainan province after attending the Boao Forum for Asia, official sources said.

Both Mr Doval and Mr Yang are special representatives for India-China boundary talks representing their respective countries. This is the second meeting between Mr Doval and Mr Yang after the Doklam standoff.Ram Madhav, who is also the BJP in-charge of J&K, said there is no threat to PDP-BJP alliance in the state.

BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav said the allegation on BJP minister being pro-rapists are not true and that the lawmakers had no intention to hamper the investigation in the Kathua rape case. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Mumbai: BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday came out in defence of the BJP ministers in Jammu and Kashmir over their alleged participation in a Hindu Ekta Manch march defending the rape accused. Madhav said the two ministers had participated in the rally to pacify the crowd.

Ram Madhav said the allegation on BJP minister being pro-rapists are not true and that the lawmakers had no intention to hamper the investigation in the Kathua rape case.

Madhav said the BJP will forward resignations of the two ministers -- Commerce and industries minister Chandra Prakash Ganga and forest minister Chaudhary Lal Singh -- to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for further action.

Also Read: Two BJP ministers, who supported Kathua gangrape accused, resign

On March 1, a huge crowd gathered in Kathua and our ministers went there to pacify them. A misunderstanding took place, they should have been more alert. Their intention was not to hamper the investigation. Allegations on them being pro-rapists arent true, news agency ANI quoted Madhav as saying.

A rally was organised by Hindu Ekta Manch in favour of the men accused of raping and killing an eight-year-old girl from the Bakerwal community.

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister had expressed her displeasure and asked BJP to remove ministers Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh from their positions.

BJP ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government, Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh, tendered their resignation on Friday and defended their participation in the rally by saying, I had gone there, (ministers) Bali (Bhagat) and (Abdul Gani) Kohli had gone to Nowshera and Sunderbani to listen to people. Should we not listen to them? For what are we peoples representatives? Should we allow people to burn the state and die.

Lal Singh said their primary responsibility was to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state. Is it fine that state keeps on burning and the people become violent I do not believe in Hindu-Muslim politics. Everybody is equal for me, he added.

Ram Madhav, who is also the BJP in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, said there is no threat to the PDP-BJP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir.

"There is no trouble in the BJP-PDP alliance. We are in touch with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is of the view that the BJP should take a stand on these two ministers and the Prime Minister also advised us to take appropriate action to send a right message to people," Ram Madhav said.

Ram Madhav Singh further said that the Jammu and Kashmir government will ensure justice for the 8-year-old rape victim and said that culprits should be punished.

The 18-page charge sheet in the Kathua rape case stated that the girl was gang-raped inside a temple, where she was confined using sedatives. The accused then strangled and hit her on the head twice with a stone.'We are not going to go into it,' the bench said against a PIL challenging the roster system and powers of the CJI to allocate cases.

While hearing a PIL challenging the existing roster system and powers of the CJI to allocate cases, a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan made it clear that it was not concerned with the issue of the presser for 'many reasons and obvious reasons.' (Photo: File | Representational)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday took umbrage when an attempt was made to raise before it the issue relating to the unprecedented January 12 press conference by the four senior-most judges, who had accused the Chief Justice of India (CJI) of arbitrarily allocating cases.

While hearing a PIL challenging the existing roster system and powers of the CJI to allocate cases, a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan made it clear that it was not concerned with the issue of the presser for "many reasons and obvious reasons".

"We are not going to go into it. We are not concerned with it for many reasons and obvious reasons. Do not say all this. Do not bring it here," the bench told senior advocate Dushyant Dave, who was representing Bhushan.

The observation by the bench came after Dave said, "Four of your colleagues have publicly taken note of the failure of the system."

When the bench referred to the top court verdicts which held that the CJI is the "master of roster", Dave said a judgement passed earlier this week was in his favour.

Bhushan's counsel raised the issue of allocation of cases in the top court and said that matter was listed contrary to the rules of the Supreme Court.

"This court is the bedrock of the Constitution," he said, adding that the registry should follow the Supreme Court rules stipulating the procedure for listing of cases.

Dave claimed that a top court judge, who had served as a CJI for two weeks, had listed several business matters before himself and gave reliefs.

He said that after his retirement, the top court had to reverse many of his orders.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said they were concerned about the institution and they were not permanent fixtures in Delhi.

To this, Justice Sikri said, "We will retire, but you are a permanent fixture".

In his PIL, Shanti Bhushan has stated that the "master of roster" cannot be unguided and unbridled discretionary power, exercised arbitrarily by the CJI by hand-picking benches of select judges or by assigning cases to particular judges.

The petition said the CJI's authority as the master of roster is "not an absolute, arbitrary, singular power that is vested in the chief justice alone and which may be exercised with his sole discretion".

It said that such an authority should be exercised by the CJI in consultation with the senior judges of the Supreme Court in keeping with the various pronouncements of the court.PV Dinesh submitted that the J&K police was not allowed to file the chargesheet in the court by the lawyers

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of the Kathua rape incident and directed the members of the Jammu Bar Association not to obstruct access to justice and prevent lawyer from appearing for rape victims family in Kathua court.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud took suo motu cognisance after the incident was brought to its notice by a group lawyers led by P.V. Dinesh.

Mr Dinesh submitted that the J&K police was not allowed to file the chargesheet in the court by the lawyers and a lady advocate was prevented from appearing for the victims family. The accused persons threatened the lady advocate.

Taking on record the submissions, the bench in a brief order said, Some lawyers practising in this court have brought to our notice that the members of the Kathua District Court Bar Association, Jammu and Kashmir, are obstructing the lawyer who is appearing on behalf of the family of the victim in the court. It is also set forth that there is support from the High Court Bar Association at Jammu.

The bench asked the members of the Bar Associations to conduct themselves and not to obstruct the smooth functioning of the justice delivery system which includes the presence of the persons aggrieved or accused in court or for that matter the presence of investigating agency and the witnesses.

The bench said it is settled in law that a lawyer who appears for a victim or accused cannot be prevented by any Bar Association or group of lawyers, for it is the duty of a lawyer to appear in support of his client, once he accepts the brief.

If a lawyer, who is engaged, is obstructed from appearing in the court or if his client is deprived of being represented in the court when he is entitled to do so in a lawful manner, that affects the dispensation of justice and would amount to obstruction of access to justice.The Prime Minister challenged the Congress to name even a single thing which it may have done to honour the legacy of Dr Ambedkar.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured that his government will not let the law to prevent atrocities on SCs and STs to be diluted after the Supreme Court laid down new guidelines to prevent its misuse.

Mr Modis dalit outreach comes just days after a violent Bharat bandh was observed on April 2 by various SC/ST organisations over the apex courts ruling on the aforementioned legislation, and after some Dalit lawmakers of the BJP had complained of being discriminated upon. Incidents of desecration of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkars statues in some of parts of the country also occurred over the past few days.

The Prime Minister also launched a full scale assault on the Congress for humiliating dalit icon Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and alleged that successive Congress regimes right from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, tried to erase his legacy of nation building.

The Prime Minister challenged the Congress to name even a single thing which it may have done to honour the legacy of Dr Ambedkar. He said that it was Congress political compulsion that it has to take Dr Ambedkars name as it plays votebank politics to woo SCs and STs during elections.

He also accused the opposition party of spreading lies to create fissures.

I want to assure the nation that the law which has been made stringent by us will not allowed to be affected (by the SC order)... Do not get trapped by the Congress and those parties who have surrendered to the Congress culture, he said at the inauguration of B.R. Ambedkar memorial here.

His remarks on the SC verdict and the resultant protests marred by violence assume significance as several opposition parties have accused the BJP and the government of being anti-dalit.

The Prime said in 2015, it was his government which included several new crimes under the ambit of the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. From 22, the crimes to be covered under the law were increased to 47 by our government... We also enhanced the compensation to be aid to the victims, he said.

Mr Modi reminded the gathering that when the government amended the law, it allowed the provision of denial of interim bail to remain to ensure that it remains effective. He said while the Supreme Court delivered its verdict on March 20, the government acted fast to file a review petition. He said people often wonder about the delay in moving the top court.Police viewed CCTV footage of the area and the accused was identified as Rohit Agarwal, a 3rd yr commerce student of a college in Kolkata.

The middle-aged woman had filed a complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani police station stating that she was molested by a man while she was walking on the street on Wednesday, Joint Commissioner (crime) Praveen Tripathi said. (Photo: File | Representational)

Kolkata: A senior official of a foreign Consulate in Kolkata was allegedly molested by a college student close to the office, police said on Saturday.

The middle-aged woman had filed a complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani police station stating that she was molested by a man while she was walking on the street on Wednesday, Joint Commissioner (crime) Praveen Tripathi said.

Police then viewed CCTV footage of the area and the accused was identified as Rohit Agarwal, a third-year commerce student of a college in south Kolkata.

He was arrested on Thursday and is currently in judicial custody, Tripathi said.The mission covers 10 Cr poor families and provide a cover of Rs 5 L per family per year for secondary, tertiary care hospitalisation.

The Prime Minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar. (Photo: DC)

Jagdalpur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Saturday, inaugurated the "Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission" and other development projects, officials said.

The mission aims at covering 10 crore poor and vulnerable families and provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

The scheme was launched by Modi at Jangla village in Bijapur, officials said.

The Prime Minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar.

The PM will launch the Ayushman Bharat scheme from a sub-health centre at Jangla and later inaugurate bank branches in seven villages, including Jangla, of Bijapur district, he said.

A newly-laid railway line between Gudum and Bhanupratappur will be commissioned through video-conferencing, the official said.

He said the line, part of the Dallirajhra-Rowghat railway project, will help connect the people of north Bastar.

The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the first phase of the state government's Bastar Net Project, which aims at expanding the reach of the Internet to the remote villages of the division.

As part of the project, an optical fibre cable network is being laid over an area of 40,000 square kilometres in Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada districts of Bastar division, the official informed.

"The PM will address a public gathering at Jangla and then proceed to Jagdalpur from where he will leave by an Air Force plane for New Delhi at around 4pm," the official said.

This is the PM's fourth visit to the state since the NDA came to power in 2014 and second one to Bastar, having visited the area earlier on May 9, 2015.

The visit will be conducted under a massive security umbrella which will see the deployment of 10,000 personnel, including commandos from the elite Special Protection Group and jawans from the state's Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF).

CCTVs, drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been deployed as part of security arrangements during the visit, said officials.

Naxal groups active in the area have opposed the PM's visit and have pasted pamphlets in several interior pockets of the district asking people to boycott the visit.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 14)  Its been two years after its release but Die Beautiful is still alive and winning awards abroad.

The Newscastle International Film Festival awarded the film Best Feature during the four-day event held from March 29 to April 1. According to its website, the festival aims to provide a unique platform for the industry to showcase excellence in filmmaking.

Directed by Jun Lana, Die Beautiful tells the story of Trisha Echevarria (played by Paolo Ballesteros), a transgender woman.

On Instagram, Lana congratulated the whole Team Beautiful.

In 2016, Ballesteros won Best Actor at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The same year, he likewise won Best Actor at the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). His co-star Christian Bables, meanwhile won Best Actor in Supporting Role at the 2016 MMFF.

A TV spin-off, Born Beautiful, is set to air in May.Earlier in the day Congress president Rahul Gandhi had put pressure on the PM on Twitter.

New Delhi: After facing scathing criticism over his silence on the horrific Kathua and Unnao rape cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday finally made a statement on the issue and called the rapes a shame. He also assured that the guilty would not be spared.

Earlier in the day Congress president Rahul Gandhi had put pressure on the PM on Twitter. He had posed two questions and dared Mr Modi to answer them. Mr Prime Minister, your silence is unacceptable. 1) What do you think about the growing violence against women & children? 2) Why are accused rapists and murderers protected by the state? India is waiting, Mr Gandhi had tweeted.

I want to assure all that justice will be done and the guilty will not be spared, Mr Modi said while addressing a gathering after inaugurating an Ambedkar Memorial at Alipur Road in the national capital.

The incidents of the last two days are shameful for any civil society. These (incidents) also dishonour the sacrifices of all our freedom fighters. He added that the nation was shaken by the gruesome incidents. We are ashamed as a society and nation. Our daughters will get justice. We all will have to work together to end this internal evil.

Before the Prime Ministers reaction on the twin incidents, the BJP leadership, after being slammed from all sides for maintaining a stoic silence, started speaking up on the issue.

New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, while seeking stringent punishment for the guilty, defended two Jammu and Kashmir ministers of the party who had joined a rally against a police probe into the Kathua gangrape and murder case.

She claimed that they were misled into attending the protest. Ms Lekhi also accused the Opposition of indulging in dangerous politics over the Kathua and Unnao cases.

Her comments evoked a sharp reaction from the Congress which said on Twitter, BJPs MP Meenakshi Lekhis insensitive remark is an insult to Indian citizens standing up for their rights. Her statement reflects her partys regressive ideology. She must take back her words and apologise immediately.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh said that the Kathua gangrape victim should get justice. He told reporters that he had spoken to BJP president Amit Shah and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on the Kathua incident.

Information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani said stern action would be taken against those found guilty in the Unnao rape case and condemned what she said were efforts to politicise such cases.

The law and the administration will work according to the Constitution and an appeal in this regard has been made by senior persons in the BJP. There are some people who want to politicise such incidents, but as a woman, I believe and it is my request that victim-shaming should not be done, she said, responding to reporters questions in Amethi.

Sensing the prevailing anger over the rapes, Union women and children development minister Maneka Gandhi asked her ministry to work on a proposal to amend the Pocso law to bring in the provision of death penalty for those who rape a girl below the age of 12 years.

I have been deeply, deeply disturbed by the rape case in Kathua and all the recent rape cases that have happened on children. I and the ministry intend to bring an amendment to the Pocso Act asking for death penalty for rape of children below 12 years, she said. Her ministry will move a Cabinet note on Monday to amend the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, she said, responding to media persons queries.Both Centre and the J&K government has been able to give a major push to development activity in the state in the last almost two years.

New Delhi: Thirty-one per cent of the Prime Ministers Rs 80,000-crore development package for Jammu and Kashmir has been released to the state and 25 per cent of the total amount utilised so far, officials said on Friday.

Both Centre and the J&K government has been able to give a major push to development activity in the state in the last almost two years.

Out of the total package, Rs 62,991 crore (79 per cent) has been sanctioned, Rs 24,443 crore (31 per cent) has been released. Union home ministry officials claimed that out of the Rs 24,443 crore released so far under the scheme, Rs 20,417 crore (25 per cent) have been utilised for various projects. Similarly, out of the 63 projects which are covered under PMs special package as many as 13 have either been fully completed or are nearing completion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in a major initiative to boost development activity in J&K, where BJP is power in coalition with the PDP, announced a special package of Rs 80,068 crore at a function in Srinagar in November, 2015. Sources said of the total package nearly Rs 62,991 crore has already been sanctioned. Most of the funds have been utilised for constructing bunkers in border areas, providing assistance to victims of cross-border firing, constructing roads and power sub stations in all three regions of Jammu, Srinagar and Ladakh.

Sources in the home ministry also claimed that the importance Centre is giving to development work in J&K can be judged from the fact that till March this year 11 review meetings have been held with various stake holders for utilisation of funds and execution of various projects.

Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba held the last such meeting on March 26 in Srinagar. These various projects in J&K, officials added, are being implemented by 15 Central ministries and the state government.

Both the Centre and state are giving a lot of importance to projects being carried out under PMs special package scheme. Most of the funds released have also been utilised and 13 of these projects have either been completed or nearing completion. Work on the remaining 50 projects is also going on. Both Centre and state have agreed that irrespective of problems in the Valley, particularly elated to terror, development activity should not be hampered, a senior ministry officials said.In a fit of rage, teacher of Zila Parishad School in Pune's Pimpalwadi pierced throat of Class II student, with a wooden cane.

8-year-old Rohan D Janjire is currently admitted in the ICU in a city hospital. (Photo: ANI)

Pune: An 8-year-old student of a school in Pune's Pimpalwadi has become the recent victim of corporal punishment after being thrashed by his teacher for failing to solve a question in the mathematics paper.

In a fit of rage, teacher Chandrakant Shinde of Zila Parishad School in Pimpalwadi pierced throat of Class II student, Rohan D Janjire with a wooden cane.

According to reports, the harrowing incident took place on April 10 after which the boy's wind-pipe and food-pipe got damaged rendering the child speechless.

The family got to know about the incident after the child vomited at home and blood oozed out of his mouth.

School authorities arrived following an uproar by fellow classmates after the boy was left choking in pain, with blood oozing out of his throat. The class 2 student was then rushed to the hospital.

Noting his condition as serious, doctors asked for the boy to be rushed to Pune for treatment. He is currently admitted in the ICU in a city hospital.

"His situation is still serious and he is not able to eat anything. At present, he is survived by providing artificial oxygen and is kept in ICU. He is not allowed to eat anything as the throat injury is very serious and he can not even speak unless he is recovered", Dr Murarji Ghadge told ANI.

An FIR has been registered against the teacher at the Karjat police station.

According to reports, the accused has been booked on charges of assault but has not yet been arrested. "We are monitoring the student's condition. After we record his statement, and if required, the charges may be enhanced," a police official told news agency IANS.

The incident comes days after a four-year-old nursery student was thrashed in Hyderabad for not paying the school fee. The child's back was allegedly struck repeatedly with a hard object resulting in bruises. The skin on his calf muscles also were seen having long, slightly swollen lines due to the beating he received.

(With inputs from agencies)Dave cited the 1998 judges case in which the Supreme Court itself had interpreted the CJI to mean collegium of judges.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine a plea challenging the existing roster system and powers of the Chief Justice of India to allocate cases.

A Bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, after hearing senior counsel Kapil Sibal and Dushyant Dave for former Union law minister and senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, sought the assistance of attorney-general K.K. Venugopal and additional solicitor-general Tushar Mehta to decide this important constitutional issue.

Mr Bhushan is challenging the roster system notified by the registry and sought a direction that in future listing of cases before the appropriate benches should be decided by collegium of five judges.

In his writ petition, Mr Bhushan raised substantial question of law as to scope and ambit of the administrative powers and their exercise by the Chief Justice of India, going to the root of the functioning of the Supreme Court of India and as such is very critical to the interpretation of the Constitution of India and the Rule of Law in India.

Mr Dave cited the 1998 judges case in which the Supreme Court itself had interpreted the CJI to mean collegium of judges. Justice Sikri pointed out that it was for the purpose of appointment and transfer and has nothing to do with the CJIs administrative power in allocation of cases. It is settled law that CJI is the `master of roster, Justice Sikri added.

Mr Dave argued that certain sensitive cases were allocated to Benches as per the special orders of the CJI. The CJI should not be left with absolute discretion in such cases which should be allocated by collegium of five judges.Singh and Ganga have submitted their resignations to their party president Sat Sharma who has, however, not forwarded these to the Chief Minister yet.

The Supreme Court also stepped in on Friday and sent notices to the Jammu High Court Bar Association and Kathua Bar Association for preventing the J&K police from filing a charge-sheet against the accused, striking work over the issue and obstructing the victim's counsel from representing the family in the case. The top court also decided to examine, of its own accord, the gang-rape and murder case.

Srinagar: Two BJP ministers in the Mehbooba Mufti government have resigned amid criticism over their publicly supporting the accused in the alleged gang-rape and murder of an 8-year-old nomad girl in Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua district.

The incident took place in Rasana village of Hiranagar tenshil of Kathua in January this year. It is after nearly three months that the gory incident has evoked widespread outrage across the country with strong voices being raised by political leaders, social activists, civil society groups and Bollywood celebrities for awarding severe punishment to the perpetrators of the crime. They have also demanded against those who supported them.

The Supreme Court also stepped in on Friday and sent notices to the Jammu High Court Bar Association and Kathua Bar Association for preventing the J&K police from filing a charge-sheet against the accused, striking work over the issue and obstructing the victim's counsel from representing the family in the case. The top court also decided to examine, of its own accord, the gang-rape and murder case.

Forest Minister, Choudhary Lal Singh, and Industry and Commerce Minister, Chander Prakash Ganga had participated in a rally held in Kathua on March 3 in support of a Special Police Officer Deepak Khajura and some others arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in the crime.

Singh and Ganga have submitted their resignations to their party president Sat Sharma who has, however, not forwarded these to the Chief Minister yet. The party sources said that Sharma has convened an emergency meeting of the party legislators including ministers and seniors leaders in Jammu on Saturday to discuss the issue.

The sources said that the duo has submitted resignations after being asked by the party high command amid increasing outrage and sustained media pressure across the country over the rape and murder incident.

Singh had, before the investigation of the case was assigned to the Crime Branch of the J&K police, also allegedly pressurised the local police not to make any arrests and instigated residents to violate prohibitory orders imposed in the area in view of tensions over the incident and police action. He had also reportedly said that raping and murdering the girl was not a big issue as such incidents do happen in the world on daily basis.

The duo had accused the J&K police of unleashing jungle raj and asked for handing the investigation of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) on the plea the local people had expressed lack of faith in police investigation. But Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, had categorically rejected the demand for a CBI probe made by a delegation of BJP ministers which met her in winter capital Jammu later.

Prior to the controversial rally, the incident had taken a strange turn when large number of local Hindus took to the streets, waving the national flag and demanding unconditional release of the main accused Khajuria. The photographs of the protest march went viral on social media and Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, shocked over the abuse of the national flag hit out at the protesters and reiterated that the law will take its own course.

The BJP ministers have tendered their resignations hours after opposition National Conference (NC) warned of launching a civil disobedience movement against the government if it failed to act against two the duo.In March, the Gujarat state government halted irrigation and appealed to farmers not to sow crops.

According to the developers of the new satellite, early warning system for the world's 500,000 dams, shrinking reservoirs in India, Morocco, Iraq and Spain could spark the next 'day zero' water crisis, The Guardian reported. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: A new satellite study warns of shrinking reservoirs in India, Morocco, Iraq and Spain which could result in water taps going completely dry in these four countries.

According to the developers of the new satellite, early warning system for the world's 500,000 dams, shrinking reservoirs in India, Morocco, Iraq and Spain could spark the next "day zero" water crisis, The Guardian reported.

The system has named countries where shrinking reservoirs could lead to the taps completely drying up, the study said.

Tensions have been apparent in India over the water allocations for two reservoirs connected by the Narmada river, it said.

Poor rains in 2017, left the upstream Indira Sagar dam in Madhya Pradesh a third below its seasonal average.

When some of this shortfall was passed on to the downstream Sardar Sarovar reservoir, it caused an uproar because the latter is a drinking supply for 30 million people.

In March, the Gujarat state government halted irrigation and appealed to farmers not to sow crops.

Cape Town recently grabbed global headlines by launching a countdown to the day when taps would be cut off to millions of residents as a result of a three-year drought.

Drastic conservation measures have forestalled that moment in South Africa, but dozens of other countries face similar risks from rising demand, mismanagement and climate change, say the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The US-based environmental organisation is working with Deltares, the Dutch government and other partners to build a water and security early warning system that aims to anticipate social instability, economic damage and cross-border migration.

A prototype is due to be rolled out later this year, but a snapshot, unveiled on Wednesday, highlighted four of the worst-affected dams and the potential knock-on risks.

The starkest decline is that of Morocco's second-largest reservoir Al Massira which has shrunk by 60 per cent in three years due to recurring drought, expanding irrigation and the increasing thirst of neighbouring cities such as Casablanca.

Spain has suffered a severe drought that has contributed to a 60 per cent shrinking of the surface area of the Buendia dam over the last five years.

In Iraq, the Mosul Dam has seen a more protracted decline but it is also now down 60 per cent from its peak in the 1990s as a result of low rainfall and competing demand from Turkish hydropower projects upstream on the Tigris and Euphrates.After the killing, the accused returned and joined his relatives and local people in searching for the girl.

He slit the throat of the girl with a knife after she resisted his move to rape her in an abandoned building and dumped the body in a dustbin. (Representational Image)

Jamshedpur: The police have arrested a youth on the charge of killing her 5-year-old cousin following an abortive attempt to rape her in Jamshedpur earlier this month.

The 19-year-old man was taken into custody from his house in Das Bustee under Burmamines police station area Thursday evening, police said on Friday.

He allegedly slit the throat of the girl with a knife after she resisted his move to rape her on April 4 in an abandoned building and dumped the body in a dustbin, Senior Superintendent of Police Anoop Birtheray told a press conference.

After the killing, he returned and joined his relatives and local people in searching for the girl.

During investigation, the police found one person who had seen him coming out of the abandoned building at that time of the day.

Birtheray said the police then picked him up and questioned him.

Initially he tried to mislead the investigators but later confessed his crime, he said.

Police had recovered two silver bangles of the victim, amulet and the knife used in the killing from near the spot, Birtheray added.Victims die due to suffocation n 8 fire tenders take 2 hrs to douse flames.

Businessman Rakesh Nagpal (above) and his wife Tina. Eight-year-old son Himanshu and and three-year-old daughter Shreya (right).

New Delhi: Four family members, including two minor children, were killed and three injured in a major fire that broke out in a multi-storey building in Northwest Delhis Pitampura area on Friday morning.

The injured, including a 90-year-old man, who was rushed to Rohinis Ambedkar Hospital, are reported to be out of danger.

The tragedy struck Kohat Enclave at about 2.40 am when a fire broke out on the stilt floor where cars had been parked. Investigation reveal that a security guard, who saw a spark in the electricity meter on the ground floor of the building, had alerted the residents.

While the residents moved out of the building, witnesses said that the victims family did not respond either to the doorbell or phone calls. By the time the victims realised they had been trapped, it was too late for them to move out to a safer location.

The police has identified the deceased as Rakesh Nagpal (40), a businessman who ran a clothing shop in Chandni Chowk; his wife Tina (37); their eight-year-old son Himanshu; and three-year-old daughter Shreya.

Eight-year-old son Himanshu and and three-year-old daughter Shreya

A senior police officer said that the victims died owing to suffocation after they were trapped inside their flat on the first floor of the building. Their bodies have been sent for autopsy. A forensic team has also picked up samples from the spot to determine the cause of the fire.

The residents alleged that though the fire station was only 2 km from the spot, it took nearly an hour for the fire tenders to reach the site. They also alleged that the caller, who informed the control room, received a cold response from the fire department.

The person who attended the call at the fire department asked the caller whether it was necessary for them to visit the spot, a resident is said to have told police.

The police are also trying to ascertain whether there was any delay in the rescue operations.

Residents said that the timely alert by the security guard saved the lives of the other families. The guard reportedly ran to each floor, rang the doorbells and asked the families to evacuate the building.

While the families living on the first floor, third floor, and fourth floor managed to save themselves, Mr Nagpals family woke up too late. The guard reportedly woke up Mr Nagpals wife and two children. But by then smoke had engulfed their entire flat, a witness told the police. It took nearly two hours for the firefighters to douse the flames. In all, eight fire tenders were pressed into service to bring the fire under control.Mr Tawde said he would have a word with university officials to discuss the request put forth by the fraternity.

Mumbai: Soon, colleges will conduct first-year and second-year exams instead of Mumbai University (MU) so that the varsity can concentrate on final-year and post-graduate exams and declare results on time sans hurdles. On Friday, state education minister Vinod Tawde approved the request put forth by teachers and the college fraternity. For the past five years, the MU has been managing the syllabus, exam timetable, and conduct of first-year and second-year exams. Mr Tawde said he would have a word with university officials to discuss the request put forth by the fraternity.

For the past five to six years, apart from deciding the syllabus, exam papers and exam timetable for under-graduate and post-graduate students, the MU has also been in charge of designing the curriculum and question papers and conducting exams for final-year and post-graduate students. In addition, the university has been looking into declaration of results and distribution of mark sheets of students. Meanwhile, the colleges have only been entrusted with the job of internal exams including vivas, projects, assignments, attendance and submission of marks to the varsity at the end of every semester. Now, colleges and teachers have requested Mr Tawde to let them manage chores related to first-year and second-year degree students so that the MU can focus on final-year and PG students.

Anil Deshmukh, president, MJCTU, said, Final-year and PG exams are crucial. These marks are important for students future academics and jobs. Any mistake during these can affect their career. Hence, we feel that the MU should put its entire focus on these exams and let the colleges manage FY and SY exams and other things.

Mr Deshmukh expressed the view that teachers who have to otherwise work during vacations will get a break with colleges taking up this responsibility. Once we get the freedom to make timetables of our own, we will schedule in such a way that the exams do not clash with final-year students. This will give breathing space to teachers, he said.In a leaked internal memo, the company had reportedly told employees it caught 29 leakers last year and 12 were arrested.

The company has stated that the 'leakers' are getting caught faster than ever, on its internal memo released to the employees.

Apple has decided to harsh on its employees who leak the information, the company had issued an internal memo regarding this notice to all the members of their firm. The memo obtained by Bloomberg states that the company has reportedly warned employees that it caught 29 leakers last year and that 12 were arrested amongst them.

Apple has really gone harsh on its employees who were part of leaks last year, "These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere. The potential criminal consequences of leaking are real, says Tom Moyer of Global Security, and that can become part of your personal and professional identity forever, Apple said in its memo.

According to Bloomberg, in the memo, Apple has also described the circumstances in which information was dripped to the media, including a meeting earlier this year where Apples software engineering head Craig Federighi told employees that some planned iPhone software features would be delayed.

Apple on its memo also mentioned that the leaked information about a new product can negatively impact sales of the current products.

We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else, Greg Joswiak, an Apple product marketing executive, said in the memo.

The company has also mentioned about the last year's major leak about iOS 11 that states, "leaking Apples work undermines everyone at Apple and the years theyve invested in creating Apple products. Thousands of people work tirelessly for months to deliver each major software release, says UIKit lead Josh Shaffer, whose teams work was part of the iOS 11 leak last fall. Seeing it leak is devastating for all of us.

Apple seems to be notorious for its culture of secrecy and has reportedly made employees sign non-disclosure agreements specific to projects and even used black cloths to cover unreleased products.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 13)  The Department of Agriculture's loaning program for farmers and fisherfolk affected by the Boracay closure will be ready as early as next week, Secretary Manny Pinol said Friday.

Pinol said the DA was offering two programs: the first a production loan with a 39 million budget, and another called the Survival and Recovery (SURE) Assistance program.

Under the production loan, farmers could borrow between 15,000 to 50,000.

"Ibig sabihin gusto mong magtanim ng palay pero wala kang pambili ng binhi, access mo lang. It's 6 percent interest per annum, walang collateral," said Pinol.

[Translation: That means if you want to plant rice but you don't have money to buy seeds, you can access it. It's 6 percent interest per annum, no collateral.]

"The SURE program gives 25,000 to a farmer family or a fisherfolk family so that they will be able to tide over the period na wala silang [where they don't have] income," he continued.

In 2006, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Proclamation No.1064 classifying Boracay into forestland and agricultural land. The Supreme Court upheld the proclamation in 2008.

The 1,028-hectare island was classified into two areas: 400 hectares (40 percent) of Boracay forestlands were for "protection purposes," while the 628-hectare agricultural land (60 percent) was "alienable and disposable."

According to its website, the province of Aklan produces rice, coconut, bananas, mangoes, rambutan, lanzones, and fiber crops. It also has a total fishpond area of over 7,800 hectares.

Boracay is located in Malay, a first class municipality in Aklan.

The loaning program is only one of the government's plans to assist residents of Boracay during its six-month closure beginning on April 26.

A 2-billion calamity fund is also expected to assist more than 35,000 displaced workers.

The controversial shutdown comes amid efforts to clean up the island destination. President Rodrigo Duterte in February called it "a cesspool," and threatened to shut it down permanently if its pollution problem went unsolved.

Duterte also considered making the island a land reform area for farmers after its rehabilitation.

Related: Duterte mulls giving Boracay land to farmers

Pinol maintained that this statement was not official and it was just a go-signal to conduct a study on agrarian reform in Boracay.

"May mga statements si Pangulong Duterte na minsan intriga... But at the end of the day, the president listens to people who conduct complete staff work to help him make a final decision," said Pinol.

"I'm not worried at all... yung ganyang issue actually kailangan pa ng malalim na pagsusuri yan."

[Sometimes President Duterte makes statements that cause intrigue... But at the end of the day, the president listens to people who conduct complete staff work to help him make a final decision. I'm not worried at all... This issue still needs deeper assessment.]After a complaint filed, Microsoft is looking into the methods that KPMG uses to crack down on the illegal use of its software in India.

A pirated compact disc of Microsofts Windows 10 can be bought for around $2 in New Delhi.

Microsoft Corp is investigating the methods partner KPMG uses to crack down on the illegal use of its software in India, after a complaint from a senior member of the countrys ruling political party.

India is one of the US technology firms biggest markets in Asia, yet over half of all software installed on computers in the country is unlicensed, advocacy group Business Software Alliance said in 2016.

A pirated compact disc of Microsofts Windows 10 can be bought for around $2 in New Delhi, compared with $130 needed to buy the operating system from Microsofts online portal.

To ensure compliance, Microsoft runs a global software asset management (SAM) program under which it partners global consultants, such as KPMG in India, which sought permission from business owners to check for the use of unlicensed software.

Last month, Vinit Goenka, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and technology adviser to the government, complained to both companies that a KPMG employee barged in to his Mumbai recruitment firm without an appointment to check its software.

Rajiv Sodhi, a senior Microsoft India executive, told Goenka in a March 20 email that the company was looking at the issue with utmost seriousness.

We are also getting an assessment agency to carry out an audit of the process delivery at KPMG to identify and correct gaps if any, Sodhi wrote.

Sodhi did not respond to a request for comment.

Microsoft told its SAM program is run as per global standards, while KPMG said it follows appropriate procedures agreed in our engagement with clients. Both declined to comment on the alleged incident and probe. The employee, who identified himself in the emails as Srijesh, declined to comment.

Goenka confirmed the incident and complaint, telling Reuters the handful of computers at his company, Ratein Infotech, used genuine software. He said he planned to file a police complaint against both companies.

Ratein Infotech last month received a letter from the U.S. software firm saying it needed help in interpreting licensing policies of Microsoft, the emails showed. The issue escalated when the KPMG employee entered Ratiens office on March 15.

Microsoft and KPMG apologized and the employee, Srijesh, resigned, the e-mails showed.

This is part of my regular job, that I do on a daily basis as directed by KPMG and Microsoft, Srijesh wrote in an apology email to Goenka.

Goenka is a former employee of International Business Machines Corp and advises government committees on information technology initiatives.Russian ambassador to the US said that insulting the Russian president is unacceptable and inadmissible.

'Such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris,' the Russian ambassador said. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Syria ally Russia warned Friday of "consequences" following the launch of US-led strikes against Bashar al-Assad's regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack.

"Again, we are being threatened," Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said in a statement.

"We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris," he added.

"Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible," added the envoy, after President Donald Trump directly called out his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over his support for the Assad regime.Reports say large part of Syrian regimes chemical arsenal has been destroyed during coordinated strikes by US, Uk and France.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Friday, April 13, 2018, in Washington, about the United States' military response to Syria's chemical weapon attack on April 7. (Photo: AP)

US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to hail a perfectly executed strike after he had authorised a series of missile attacks against Syria. The move was a response to Assad regimes chemical attack against its own people.

Trump took to Twitter and thanked his allies in the attack as well. He tweeted, Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

According to reports, a large part of the Syrian regimes chemical arsenal has been destroyed during the coordinated strikes by US, Uk and France on facilities that produced deadly weapons.

The combined forces launched airstrikes on two chemical weapons facilities and a military command post in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for a chemical attack that left up 75 civilians dead last week.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that a large part of Syrias chemical arsenal had been destroyed in the strikes.

While no further strikes have been planned, Le Drian refused to rule out a further attack if Assad crossed the 'red line' of using chemical weapons again.

It comes after Trump addressed the U.S. while British Prime Minister Theresa May and President Emmanuel Macron both gave speeches justifying the use of force in response to the 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack.Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital.

A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: The United States, Britain and France launched punitive military strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in response to its latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity, President Donald Trump announced Friday.

Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said in a primetime televised speech to the nation.

"A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way. We thank them both. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen.

Trump also warned Russia and Iran not to stand by their ally in Damascus.

"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace," he argued.

The strikes had been expected since harrowing footage surfaced of the aftermath of the alleged toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which took place a week ago, and Trump reacted in an emotional tweet.

"Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he declared.

"President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay."

Trump's anger and apparent determination was quickly matched by France's President Emmanuel Macron, who signed his country up for a joint response.

(Photo: Twitter | AFP)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was more cautious, but by the time the first precision cruise missile was launched, Trump had a mini-coalition.

May said there was "no practicable alternative" to the use of force against Assad.

Trump's language was more brutal: "They are crimes of a monster."

'Proof'

In the six days between the attack and the US-led response, Washington and Moscow clashed repeatedly in duelling press statements and US debates.

Moscow denied its ally Assad had any role in the outrage, pushing a variety of alternative theories that peaked with a claim that Britain had staged the event.

More practically, at the United Nations, Russia's diplomats vetoed a US motion to re-establish an international investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria that could have established blame.

Washington, Paris and London have nevertheless insisted that their own secret intelligence points to Assad's guilt, and on Friday, a US spokeswoman said they had "proof."

The western leaders apparently found this convincing enough reason to launch a punitive strike, but other observers are concerned that the crisis could escalate.

The Russian military had vowed to respond to any attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration had repeatedly warned that Trump was taking America down a dangerous path.

That concern was mirrored by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday warned the rival camps against "full-blown military escalation."

"Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," he urged the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

And he stressed the need "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control."

Decision to act

But Trump has long criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to enforce a previous US "red line" in 2013 after earlier chemical attacks blamed on Assad's forces.

And he set his own precedent just over a year ago when he ordered a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base after sarin was fired at civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Backed by his hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton, who took office on Monday, Trump has been meeting with advisors and generals all week to plan.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reportedly been arguing for a cautious response that would minimize the risk of the US being dragged deeper into Syria's civil war.

But other advisors want to use the opportunity to convince Trump, who wants to pull US forces out of Syria once the Islamic State jihadist group is defeated, to take a tough stance.

These hardliners, along with influential US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, want Washington to counter Iran's growing power in Syria -- even if it means risking a perilous stand-off with Russia.The story of Marvia Malik's life, and her demeanour, impressed the selection panel at Kohenoor News, which hired her as a trainee anchor.

Opinions are mixed about the slim 21-year-old who appears regularly on the Kohenoor News channel in Lahore, capital of Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, but Malik says she has achieved her childhood dream. (Photo: Twitter | @Marvia_Malik)

Lahore: Marvia Malik made headlines when she debuted in March, on a private television channel in Pakistan, becoming the conservative country's first transgender news anchor.

Opinions are mixed about the slim 21-year-old who appears regularly on the Kohenoor News channel in Lahore, capital of Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, but Malik says she has achieved her childhood dream.

"I thought that our transgender community was lagging behind in education and jobs, and they are not strong enough politically," she said. "So I wanted to do something for my community."

Many transgender individuals in Pakistan live in secluded communities and have no choice but to beg on the streets or sing and dance at private parties to earn a living. Some also turn to prostitution to make ends meet.

Also Read: Pakistan's first trans TV anchor hopes to change perceptions

Malik says she was disowned by her family when she was 16, following years of being forced to dress and act like a boy.

She sought a different route for herself, so she trained and then found work as a makeup artist to fund her journalism degree at Punjab University.

Through her connections in the beauty industry, she landed a modelling job and became the talk of the town.

The story of her life, and her demeanour, impressed the selection panel at Kohenoor News, which hired her as a trainee anchor.

Kohenoor Chief Executive Junaid Mehmood Ansari says he had apprehensions about Malik going on air, but his worries were put to rest by social media praise for his efforts to promote transgender people after her first appearance, on March 23.

Recent legislation has made clear that transgender individuals in Pakistan are guaranteed all the citizens' rights enshrined in its constitution, with national identity cards providing for a category of "third gender".

But not all Pakistanis are so accepting.

"This new transgender thing is the influence of Western culture, and this is totally wrong," said Ayaz Khan, a resident of the southern commercial hub of Karachi.

Trans Action Pakistan, a campaign group, estimates there are at least 500,000 transgender people among Pakistan's population of 208 million.by Anna Chiara Filice

Fr. Jyoti Francis Costa is one of the two missionaries chosen by the Vatican in his country. Over the past two years he has preached the love of God in the parishes, in the dioceses and in pilgrimage centers. "I saw the joy in the faces of the faithful who come to know that God is merciful". "God forgives us and welcomes us as we are".

Rome (AsiaNews) - "I am nothing but an instrument in Gods hands, a channel to show the world His mercy", Fr. Jyoti Francis Costa, tells AsiaNews. We met the assistant to the general secretary of the Bengali Episcopal Conference (Cbcb) in Rome, where he participated in the meeting convoked by Pope Francis with the Missionaries of Mercy. The Pope created this body of priests during the Extraordinary Jubilee of 2016 to "absolve even the most serious sins". Fr Costa is one of the two missionaries chosen for Bangladesh.

Reflecting on his delicate assignment he states: "I am superior to none. I am there to listen, console the anxieties, welcome the faithful who want to be reconciled with God. I have no merit, it is the love of God that converts hearts ".

The priest is incardinated in the archdiocese of Dhaka, but thanks to the assignment he has been able to visit "parishes, dioceses and pilgrimage centers. Here the local Churches have organized masses, meetings, seminars and retreats ". In particular, he recounts, "I went on several occasions to the dioceses of Barisal [in the south of the country, ed] and Sylhet [to the east]. Some meetings have been dedicated to religious and consecrated persons, others to all the local faithful and neighboring parishes ".

With the papal mandate, since 2016 he has been able "to preach to thousands of people the teachings of the Gospel and the mercy of the Lord. Moreover, thanks to the special faculties granted us by the pope, I have been able to confess to many faithful and absolve the sins reserved for the Apostolic See. I have listened to many personal stories and experiences ".

During these meetings, continues Fr. Costa, "I could see the joy in the faces of those who came to know that God is merciful, that He expects nothing in return but that people should come to Him and be reconciled with Him". The reason for this contentment "probably derives from the fact that the faithful had never before heard the message of God's mercy. He does not care what sin is committed: He forgives and welcomes us as we are, with our defects and merits. What matters is that we are human beings ".

In turn, he argues, "the Missionaries of Mercy's task is to be loving, merciful, good hearers, generous, patient with anyone approaching, listening to their stories and not judging. The repentant person must never feel rejected or abandoned by the love of God ". Our ministry, he admits, "is really an important work and we are the first to be available to help, to make people understand that in us they can find the support they seek".

In this way, "people feel the touch of God, who are loved and welcomed. And this generates in them a transformation: the awareness that their life has value and meaning and they have a new reason to live. They understand that their life is a gift from God and they try to nourish it in a new way, like good Christians. In them there is a conversion of hearts and minds, which they share first of all with the families, the relatives, those with whom they live every day. Also in us missionaries a conversion takes place: we learn to be more patient, to dedicate more time to people who seek the love of God ".

Speaking of families, "my long experience as secretary of the Bishops' Conference Commission for Families has made me notice the same thing: when there are tensions and divisions in couples, what helps most is to know that God welcomes them with open arms. . Spouses begin to speak and share difficulties, and gradually reconcile. And later I am able to help other couples in crisis ".

Pope Francis "encourages us in our task, he wants us to share our experiences in every part of the world and encourage other religious to do the same, to become missionaries in their own contexts. He made us think about one aspect: when a penitent comes to us to confess his sins, it is as if he were naked before God. At that moment he must not feel the vergona for the fait accompli. We must understand it and be even more compassionate, because he has already acted in the love of the Lord who made him convert ".

It is "an interior conversion, not the Christian faith", he stresses. During these years he was able to meet many people, "but above all they are Christians, not faithful of other religions. At the same time, I happened to meet people who were affected by what I was preaching and they told me that they had reported the lessons learned to other acquaintances. Among these, I believe that there are not only Christians".

In any case, he admits, in his lengthy experience of social work, which started as a young boy when he coordinated the group of young Catholics of Cbcb, "what I transmit are my Christian values, my culture, my faith. Indirectly, this is what the people I meet learn from me ". Although he would like to clarify when he talks about his relationship with the population (mostly Muslim), "I prefer to use the term evangelize, not evangelization, in the sense that the first goal is not to convert people. First of all, we want to transmit values, to teach people to be good people ".Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 13)  State prosecutors are asking the Sandiganbayan to deny motions filed by suspects in a P50-million corruption scandal to be transferred to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center.

In a comment filed before the anti-graft court Thursday, the Office of the Special Prosecutor said former Bureau of Immigration deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles, and former police officer Wally Sombero must stay at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

The prosecution said: "The security reason advanced by accused-movants to justify their transfer to PNP Custodial Center appears to be speculative for want of evidence showing the existence of actual threat that will imperil their safety."

It added that Argosino failed to substantiate his claim that he is undergoing medication for diabetes and hypertension, while Sombero's illnesses can be controlled through prescription drugs given to him as maintenance.

"He can take his medicine while detained at any BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) facility," the prosecution said of Sombero, whose medical certificate states he has "coronary disease, cardiac dysrhythmia, sick sinus syndrome, severe sleep apnea, exoneous obesity, and had suffered two heart attacks."

Sombero, Argosino, and Robles wanted to stay at the PNP Custodial Center, saying they feel safer there since it is near the PNP General Hospital. The Custodial Center is where high-profile suspects like Senator Leila de Lima and former Senator Bong Revilla are detained.

The head of the PNP Custodial Center, however, agrees the three suspects must stay at a regular detention facility along with other detainees.

Police Chief Inspector Romulo Flores II said they failed to prove that they are not safe under the custody of the BJMP.

Sombero, Argosino, and Robles are facing plunder and bribery charges. Sombero is accused of being the middleman of Macau-based gaming tycoon Jack Lam in bribing then Immigration officials Robles and Argosino with 50 million. The amount was supposedly in exchange for the release of more than 1,300 illegal Chinese workers who were arrested from Lam's casino in Clark, Pampanga in November 2016.

Argosino and Robles admitted in Senate hearings to receiving money from Sombero, but they said they only took the money as evidence in an investigation they were conducting on Lam.

Sombero, meanwhile, denied bribing the former immigration officials and instead accused them of extorting money from Lam.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 13)  The Wikipedia page of Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux "Mocha" Uson is now locked from those who plan to edit it due to "persistent vandalism."

Her page was modified 47 times in six hours on April 11 before it was locked. Wikipedia's contents are user-generated.

The modifications to Uson's page include the removal of the section "Fake News and Misleading Information," where the contributor listed instances when she allegedly spread false information.

Mocha Uson's Wikipedia page had 47 back-and-forth edits in a span of six hours before it was locked.

At 5:19 p.m. of Wednesday, the entire section was removed. The unidentified user who removed it explained, "(I) deleted fabricated information and petty complaints like the use of stock photo of a Honduras soldier."

Some authenticated users re-uploaded the section.

It was followed by other attempts to remove the section from the edit log, which included comments from unidentified editors such as, "she is a blogger and she tells her own opinion on politics and other stuff."

Uson has been accused of peddling fake news, to which she has consistently asserted her right to free speech. Senators have called her out for spreading misinformation on her Facebook page MOCHA USON BLOG. The blogger-turned-official is also facing an administrative complaint for some of her false statements.

At 8:49 p.m., the edit wars stopped when an authenticated Wikipedia user imposed a "semi-protection lock" on the page, preventing edits from users who are not registered with the website.

"This level of protection is useful when there is a significant amount of disruption or vandalism from new or unregistered users, or to prevent sock puppets of blocked or banned users from editing, especially when it occurs on biographies of living persons who have had a recent high level of media interest," Wikipedia explained.

Wikipedia is one of the Internet's most visited free encyclopedia, with over 240 million users viewing their pages daily. It is the fifth most visited page in the world according to information company Alexa.

The online encyclopedia allows users to edit information freely, as part of its community standards.Freezing preserves product quality. Properly freezing baked goods prevents microbial growth and locks in moisture that contributes to the texture and taste people expect from their bread and rolls. The amount of moisture in the product directly impacts its texture, quality and freshness, said Peter White, president, IJ White Systems, Farmingdale, NY. Bakers can only reap the rewards of locking in moisture with freezing, however, if its done properly.

Whether bakers freeze bread and rolls before or after the oven, the products face a number of risks: diminished quality, premature staling, compromised crust integrity, sticking, loss of toppings and active yeast killed off. All these concerns and more can be avoided with speed adjustments, indirect or direct freezing or even airflow and product positioning.

Its critical that when choosing a method of freezing or chilling, bakers are up front with suppliers about their needs and expectations. Testing products on a variety of equipment with different conditions, whether its a cryogenic or mechanical freezer, fast or slow, linear or spiral, can help bakers discover just the right freezing or chilling methods their products need to meet expectations.

Preserving yeast life

Freezing or chilling raw bread and roll dough comes with the unique challenge of maintaining the life of the active yeast contained in that dough. Overfreezing, or going beyond 0F, will kill yeast cells. Without them, the bread and rolls wont proof properly once the dough is thawed.

When youre dealing with anything thats yeast-based, its a challenge because you have to slow down the process of the bread rising, but you cant kill it, said Brendon Somerfield, freezer applications engineer, JBT FoodTech, Sandusky, OH. He said the key is balancing the temperatures and speed of the freezing process, thus JBT FoodTech usually recommends higher discharge temperatures and a gentler approach.

If youre talking about raw dough, most bakers would prefer to freeze quickly, although they will not freeze it to a core temp that we would typically freeze other products, said Daniel Plante, JBT FoodTechs director of sales and marketing for North America. Most bakers would prefer to leave the core temp a little warmer than that because they dont want to overfreeze the product. They want to let it equilibrate over time.

Mr. White also understands the importance of temperature when it comes to keeping yeast alive. IJ Whites blast freezers are designed to maintain and control temperature, allowing bakers the ability to protect a doughs yeast cells.

Cryogenic freezing can also be used to freeze raw dough, if applied properly. Cryogenic gases can be applied using either direct or indirect spray. While direct spray is a fast way to freeze product, it is too harsh for the active yeast. Ed Cordiano, program manager, Bakery & Prepared Foods for Linde North America, Inc., Murray Hill, NJ, suggested indirect spray of the cryogenic gases to protect rising capabilities.

Saving the crust

On the other side of the oven, bakers can freeze or chill par-baked or fully baked bread and rolls. When freezing proofed products, bakers no longer need to consider the life of the yeast; however, they need to consider the heat transfer rate of each product and their goals to determine which freezing rate and system is right for them. Whether a baker wants to preserve crust integrity or lock in moisture will determine how the products will be frozen or chilled.

Locking in moisture preserves product quality. The faster you freeze something, in general, the more water molecules you lock in, and in doing that, you preserve the product taste and texture profile so you create a higher value, better-tasting product, Mr. Cordiano said. Bakers want to freeze products as fast as possible for the freshest taste but without causing damage to the bread or roll.

Bread and rolls are more sensitive to the freezing process due to lack of fat, and they have air pockets that slow down freezing rates, said Frank Martin, marketing manager, food refrigeration, Praxair, Danbury, CT.

Finished baked goods often act as an insulator to themselves, trapping in heat. Freeze too fast and that heat will expand and try to escape. Baked bread and par-baked bread are susceptible to cracking if you shock them too quickly, Mr. Plante said. For the most part, a lot of people use a prechilling or precooling stage with a fully baked bread before freezing.

With slower freezing rates, the heat dissipates from the product completely preventing any damage to the crust.

Keeping air flowing

While sealing in moisture by freezing preserves finished product quality, airflow in a freezing or chilling system can dry out dough, nullifying this benefit of the process.

By drying it out, youre promoting staling the bread, Mr. White said. So by controlling the airflow, air temperature and the humidity, youre able to improve the quality of the product. Improper airflow, temperature and humidity will shorten the products shelf life.

IJ Whites Variable Airflow (VAF) technology can reduce the chance of this happening. The VAF system provides control of the airflow across the product zone to inhibit staling.

Improper airflow within a freezing or chilling system can also cause logistical challenges such as product blowing off the belt or losing toppings or egg washes. If units sit too close to each other on the belt within a freezer, the lack of airflow between them can cause them to freeze together.

Airflow can also be the difference between efficient and inefficient freezing. With JBT FoodTechs GYRoCOMPACT product line, the freezers employ vertical down airflow to ensure fast and uniform freezing throughout the system.

Linde also pursued even and efficient airflow with the development of its new Cryoline Crossflow Spiral Freezer. Youre getting an even airflow across the entire belt within a spiral, which is an extremely difficult thing to do, Mr. Cordiano said.

Alit, Marsongo, Italy, designed its spiral freezers to give the baker full control of the airs direction. The open design of the spiral optimizes the air handling including speed.

At the end of the day, to get a proper freeze or chill on either raw, par-baked or fully baked bread and rolls, bakers need to communicate their needs to their equipment suppliers. Mr. Cordiano said its important that suppliers understand each product and the bakers expectations and needs.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 14) - The Ateneo de Manila University urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the quo warranto or the petition to oust Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

University President Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin announced this in a memo to the Ateneo community Saturday.

"At this point, the legal and proper process is impeachment and not quo warranto. We thus categorically call on the Supreme Court to dismiss the quo warranto petition filed against the Chief Justice," he said.

Villarin echoed Sereno, an economics graduate in Ateneo, in pointing out the bias of several justices in the quo warranto proceedings that began April 10.

"The University expresses its dismay and disappointment at how vicious and malicious the search for accountability has become," he added.

Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam, and Teresita de Castro testified against Sereno before the impeachment hearings by the House Committee on Justice.

They all refused to inhibit from the hearing of the petition filed by the Solicitor General Jose Calida. The country's top government lawyer wants to invalidate Sereno's appointment, citing her alleged failure to fully disclose her wealth by not submitting some of her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

"It should alarm us when several justices who will decide on whether the Chief Justice has sufficiently complied with the requirement are among those who have accused her of wrongdoing in that regard, during hearings conducted by Congress, thus effectively prejudging the matter," he added.

Alleged violations in Sereno's SALNs also form part of the articles of impeachment against her.

"Let us allow the impeachment to unfold, to guarantee the impeachable officer due process of fundamental law," Villarin said. "As the nation's highest court, the Supreme Court's main focus should always be to keep the freedoms of each person inviolable and sacred."

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has said the impeachment will be tackled and voted by the plenary when Congress resumes session on May 15.

If at least one-third of the members of the House of Representatives vote to impeach Sereno, the complaint would go to trial at the Senate.

The Senate, convening as an impeachment court, will need a two-thirds vote or 16 of 23 senators to convict the Chief Justice.HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY  Six months after Hurricane Maria, a Bay area nonprofit is stepping in to help migrants in Hillsborough County still having a tough time getting settled.

Latino Coalition of Tampa Bay focusing on need in schools

Coalition holding community fairs to help families

For more information, contact the Coalition at 813-274-7982

Ana Cirilo is just one of the thousands who came to the mainland after Maria devastated her island home. She has been looking for a place to live in the Bay area since, but she's running out of time.



I have until April 20th to leave the hotel," Cirilo said. "I dont have any place to go."



We met Cirilo today while visiting Mujeres Restauradas Por Dios, one of many local organizations working with the Latino Coalition of Tampa Bay.



We noticed right away that there were families asking for resources, so what the Latino Coalition started doing was compiling a resource guide to help those families with the resources that they needed, said coalition chair Monica Rodriguez.



The Coalition has been providing these resources to Puerto Rican migrants since October, but is now focusing on a specific need within Hillsborough County -- its schools.



Hillsborough County Public Schools says it has had 1,000 additional new students enrolled since October. District leadership says those students all came from Puerto Rico.



The district is thus partnering with the Coalition to host a series of community fairs to help those students' families. The fairs provide everything from free health screenings to employment opportunities.



We have done two other events and [they were] very well attended, Rodriguez said.



The Coalition says they've since managed to help 350 families.



If we see the need, Im sure well plan another [fair], she said.



For more information, you can contact the Latino Coalition of Tampa Bay at 813-274-7982.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 14)  The Department of Tourism (DOT) downplays the effect of Boracay's impending closure on the country's tourism.

The DOT is confident the government can still meet the target of 7.4 million foreign tourists this year despite Boracay's closure during the summer or peak season.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo in a press briefing on Saturday said the island was in fact not the top destination in 2017.

Data show around 986,000 foreign tourists visited Boracay last year, or only 15 percent of the total number of tourist arrivals at 6.6. million.

She said Cebu even had more foreign visitors at 2.2 million.

"Huwag na lang isipin na pag sinara ang Boracay, wala nang tourism, meron pa po. Marami pang product and DOT na pwedeng i-carry," Teo said in a press briefing Saturday.

[Translation: "People should not think that tourism will suffer when Boracay is shut down. The DOT has more products to offer."]

She said foreign tourists are going to Bohol, Cebu, and Palawan instead as Boracay is set to close starting April 26.

"(But) when we reopen Boracay, I'm sure there will be more that would want to come and see Boracay by the end of the year," she said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered Boracay's temporary closure after calling it a "cesspool."

The world-renowned tourist destination will be closed for a maximum period of six months as the government cleans it up.

Teo explained that during this time, tourists will be barred from entering the island and residents and workers will be given an ID so they can stay there.

In the same press briefing, Teo said the government eyes hosting the Miss Universe pageant again either this year or in 2019. If that pushes through, the swimsuit competition will be held on the island to promote its reopening.

READ: Gov't wants Miss Universe pageant back in PH, swimsuit competition on Boracay islandPINELLAS PARK  The man accused of shooting and killing Pinellas Park Civic Orchestra member Caroline Morton-Hicks was killed Friday by police in Pennsylvania.

Family of slain orchestra member still asking 'why?'

Caroline Morton-Hicks was killed Feb. 12

Suspect Siddeeq Ma'Shooq was killed by police April 13

It was an outcome the family of Morton-Hicks said they hoped wouldn't happen. They wish police could've gotten some answers from the man who reportedly killed the mother and friend who only wanted to help him.

Along with DNA found in her burned car and cell phone records that paint a picture of the night Morton-Hicks was murdered after orchestra practice, but there is still no why.

Why did Siddeeq Ma'Shooq reportedly murder his landlord who hired him as a handyman to pay off his past due rent? -- That's a question people close to the victim say they probably would've never found out.

"As heartless as he seemed to be, I don't think he would've been accessible to answer questions that the family had. I really don't think he would've cared what they wanted to know," said Pam Hugart, the victim's friend.

Law enforcement ended up tracking Ma'Shooq all the way to Alabama where he held an elderly couple hostage, before fleeing again to Pennsylvania where he was shot and killed by police during a shootout.

"It's nice to have that, but at the same time we're certainly pleased that his reign of criminal activity will no longer continue in that regard, so it brings our case to a closure but we still want to know those investigative questions," Pinellas Park PD Sgt. Michael Lynch said.

Police said Morton-Hicks filed an eviction notice against Ma'Shooq a couple of days before her murder.

Friends of the victim said she did background checks on her tenants but was very understanding to someone who wanted to rent one of her properties.

Ultimately, the man who already served time for murder is the man who police say took her life.Pinellas Animal Control said Friday they seized nearly 30 dogs that were living in a filthy St. Petersburg home.

Home located on 2000 block of 69th Avenue S.

Animal Control: Owner was operating nonprofit shelter

Residents given 7 days to vacate building

Animal Control personnel took a total of 28 dogs from a home on the 2000 block of 69th Avenue South. They also took photos of the conditions in which the animals were living inside the home, photos showing puppies in a soiled crate and dog feces on the home's floor.

The home's owner, Rose Romano, was running a nonprofit shelter out of her home called "Happy Hounds Rescue," according to Animal Control Director Doug Brightwell. Romano reportedly took in stray animals from all over Florida and Georgia.

Neighbors told us that sometimes the dogs would escape.

"A couple of weeks ago, 12 dogs roaming up and down the street," said resident Michael Brendla. "It was just a crazy, ridiculous scene."

The City of St. Petersburg declared the home unfit for human habitation, and gave the residents, Romano and her two children, seven days to vacate the building. Even with all the dogs taken away, a strong odor still emanates from the house, one neighbors can smell even from the street.

"You walk by the house and it just reeks," Brendla said. "Just a real bad ammonia smell coming out of it. It's just, I'm not surprised to see what happened here today."

Another neighbor, Marc Stratton, expressed relief that the city had taken action.

"I'm glad to see it happening, to tell you the truth," Stratton explained. "There's a time and a place for everything, and a neighborhood is not a place to try to rescue dogs."

Romano was cited for numerous violations, including animal cruelty and neglect and creating a public nuisance.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 14)  The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said there are no reports of casualties from the airstrikes in Syria early Saturday morning.

In a series of tweets, the department said it is looking into the condition of the more than 1,000 Filipinos located in Damascus through the Philippine Embassy in the city.

"So far, the Embassy has not received any reports of Filipino casualties in the attacks that appear to have targeted military installations in and around Damascus," the DFA said.

The DFA said the Philippine Embassy, led by Charge d'Affaires Crescente Relacion, also contacted members of the Filipino community in Damascus.

"The Philippine Embassy in Damascus also has not received any requests for assistance from any of the estimated 500 Filipinos in Damascus and the other 500 in other parts of Syria," the tweet read.

Relacion also reported the missiles hitting as close as a kilometer away from the Embassy in Damascus, as relayed by DFA Assistant Secretary Elmer Cato to CNN Philippines Saturday.

He said there are many Filipinos living in and around Damascus.

Cato also said more than 16,000 Filipinos have been repatriated from Syria since the war broke out in 2011.

"According to Ambassador Relacion there are about 30 Filipinos in the Embassy right now awaiting repatriation. Those who are still there include Filipinos who are spouses of Syrian nationals, so the rest would be household service workers who have not requested to repatriated or refused to be repatriated," Cato said in an interview Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday he and allies ordered strikes on the Syrian regime in response to a chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in Eastern Ghoutta last weekend. Trump indicated the strikes would continue until the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons ends.

READ: Trump: U.S., France and UK launch strikes on SyriaSnoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr., caused quiet a stir in Hollywood after declaring himself to be a born-again Christian. He recently just released his first gospel album Bible of Love.

The album features a wide range of other gospel artists, including Fred Hammond, The Clark Sisters, Pastor John P. Kee and Marvin Sapp.

He first dropped the news of a gospel album during an interview with Beats 1 Radio, where he said Im working on a gospel album. I need to do it now.

He added: Its always been on my heart. I just never got around to it because I always be doing gangsta business and doing this and doing that. But I just feel like its been on my heart too long.

Many have been incredibly critical of the religious switch and his decision to put out a gospel album. In 2009 he announced that he had joined the Nation of Islam, then in 2012 he became a Rastafarian. Now, he claims to be a born-again Christian.

However this isnt the first time that Snoop has talked about Christianity. In 2016 he posted a video on his Instagram account that featured him singing along to the gospel song Id Rather Have Jesus.

His fans were thrilled to see him profess his faith in God. With the platform you have, imagine how many people you will reach with the gospel message of Salvation! Come on now! Give our heavenly Father glory through your rap skills Snoop! a fan wrote.

Snoop Dogg responded to his critics and those who doubted his conversion at the 33rd Annual Stellar Awards held in Las Vegas. After he performed at the gospel music event, he said The devil is a liar. I thought the church was supposed to welcome sinners.

If the church was full of saints it wouldnt be right. So, if you find someone trying to find their way back home, the natural thing to do is to be warm welcoming, open your arms and say Brother, we accept you for who you are and what youre going through. Come as you are. We know youve been doing wrong and you want to get right and we want to help you get right.'

Were not gonna throw stones on you when youre trying to get right and walking back into the church house. Thats whats running people out the church right now as we speak.

The only negativity I get is when a question is asked, But I have never been confronted with anybody in the gospel world, the rapper says.

At the end of the interview Snoop adds, What about you? Have you checked your status? Are you going to heaven? Why are you judging me? How much have you done for the Lord?

When you take a deeper dive into the album, you can find an impressive amount of Christian theology in his lyrics that show is journey through the faith. From beginning to end the album is a beautiful testimony from Snoop encountering Gods love in his own life.

Relevant writer Mai Perkins took a deeper dive into his album and wrote: Hes not selling prosperity Gospel. Hes not shaming people for where theyve been, considering how far out there and out of control hes been. (And hes been OUT there!)Hes simply sharing his relatable experiences as a tremendously flawed character who happens to deeply love God. At the same time, hes providing an environment for others to feel comfortable enough to do the same.

Religion has changed Snoops life completely, from his view on the gangster lifestyle to guns. Snoop even said that religion changed the way he thinks of women. Before, he would have no trouble disrespecting women in his songs.

Because I was making music for me, speaking from my perspective, he explained. My music represented that, until I got to the point where I wanted to show love and appreciation for the woman.

Snoop also made the song No Guns Allowed which features his daughter Cori B.

We keep hearing about schools getting shot up, venues being shot up, public places being shot up, and we have to address that. Who better to do it than me because I come from the gangsta lifestyle, carrying a gun every day of the week lifestyle? he said.

I used to answer hate with hate. Like if you hate me, I hate you more. But now I answer hate with love, he told The Guardian.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 14)  The country's top diplomat does not see anything wrong with President Rodrigo Duterte's praises for his Chinese counterpart.

Duterte hogged global headlines yet again, for his statements before flying to China for the Boao Forum for Asia on April 9.

"I just simply love Xi Jinping. He understood, he understands my problem, and he's willing to help. And I would like to say thank you, China," he said in his speech.

Duterte added he needs China "more than anybody else."

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano was asked about the President's remarks in a recent interview with CNN's Kristie Lu Stout.

"Shouldn't we love everyone and don't we need everyone?" Cayetano said, adding that the two countries are close neighbors.

This led Stout to ask, "Does Duterte love China more than his own sovereignty, sovereignty of the Philippines?"

Cayetano disagreed.

"He loves the Filipino people. He's said he will die for the Filipino people. He'll not die for America, for China, for Japan but he'll die and give his life for the Filipino," Cayetano said.

The Duterte government has been criticized for its soft stance on China amid the long-standing maritime dispute over the South China Sea.

Duterte has said the Philippines cannot afford to declare war against China, saying it was best to stay friends with the Asian giant.

Cayetano said the relationship between the two countries has "blossomed," but reiterated this does not mean the government is giving up on its claims in the West Philippine Sea.

"We say the same thing and we mean it. We're not gonna give a single inch of our territory and we're not gonna give up our sovereignty rights," he said.

In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague awarded to the Philippines areas in the South China Sea that lie within the country's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

Read: What you need to know about the Arbitral Tribunal's ruling

However, China has refused to acknowledge the arbitral ruling and continues to claim almost the entire South China Sea. Duterte promised to bring the ruling up with China during his term.

During Duterte's visit to China last week, he and Xi held talks for a possible joint energy exploration in the South China Sea.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 14)  The government is in talks with the Miss Universe Organization to hold the international pageant again in the Philippines, with at least one event on Boracay.

"Hindi pa sigurado (This is not yet sure) but I'm working on the Miss Universe. I want the Miss Universe to be here," Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said in a press briefing Saturday.

She said she understands that the organizers are also eyeing China as the venue for this year's pageant. If that pushes through, the Philippines could be the host in 2019, she added.

Teo said the government wants the swimsuit competition to be held on Boracay to help promote the reopening of the island destination.

She said the idea was brought up during the April 4 Cabinet meeting where President Rodrigo Duterte and his officials decided Boracay's temporary shutdown.

"There was one Cabinet Secretary asking me na ,'This is for you, Secretary. Will you be able to promote Boarcay once you close it? Mahirap i-promote ang isang island pag sinara mo (It is hard to promote an island once you close it),'" Teo said, without naming the government official.

She recalled answering that "Boracay is Boracay," a world-renowned tourist destination that does not need further promotion.

It was the President who then raised the possibility of holding an activity of the Miss Universe pageant on the island.

"O sige kung gusto niyo ilagay natin ang Miss Universe dun, papuntahin natin ang Miss Universe para pag nag-open 'yan lahat magsipuntahan," Teo quoted Duterte as saying.

[Translated: "If you want, let us bring the Miss Universe there so everyone will go there."]

After calling it a "cesspool," Duterte ordered the closure of Boracay for a maximum period of six months while it undergoes rehabilitation.

The Philippines hosted the Miss Universe pageant in January 2017 where Miss France Iris Mittenaere received the crown from Philippines' Pia Wurtzbach.

Teo said this resulted in a 10-11 percent increase in tourist arrivals that year.

She said the organizers then wanted the next pageant to be held in the Philippines again, but Duterte begged off since the country was also hosting world leaders as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in November 2017.

CNN Philippines' Makoi Popioco contributed to this report.Blog Archive Mar 2006 (32) Apr 2006 (43) May 2006 (58) Jun 2006 (67) Jul 2006 (96) Aug 2006 (122) Sep 2006 (93) Oct 2006 (92) Nov 2006 (111) Dec 2006 (82) Jan 2007 (93) Feb 2007 (104) Mar 2007 (96) Apr 2007 (83) May 2007 (130) Jun 2007 (103) Jul 2007 (88) Aug 2007 (139) Sep 2007 (112) Oct 2007 (91) Nov 2007 (71) Dec 2007 (32) Jan 2008 (65) Feb 2008 (43) Mar 2008 (56) Apr 2008 (79) May 2008 (66) Jun 2008 (25) Jul 2008 (48) Aug 2008 (68) Sep 2008 (101) Oct 2008 (71) Nov 2008 (63) Dec 2008 (69) Jan 2009 (96) Feb 2009 (68) Mar 2009 (69) Apr 2009 (74) May 2009 (76) Jun 2009 (70) Jul 2009 (47) Aug 2009 (62) Sep 2009 (86) Oct 2009 (80) Nov 2009 (56) Dec 2009 (54) Jan 2010 (91) Feb 2010 (79) Mar 2010 (53) Apr 2010 (66) May 2010 (55) Jun 2010 (54) Jul 2010 (55) Aug 2010 (90) Sep 2010 (73) Oct 2010 (124) Nov 2010 (89) Dec 2010 (83) Jan 2011 (105) Feb 2011 (89) Mar 2011 (81) Apr 2011 (63) May 2011 (63) Jun 2011 (70) Jul 2011 (56) Aug 2011 (40) Sep 2011 (30) Oct 2011 (38) Nov 2011 (64) Dec 2011 (63) Jan 2012 (68) Feb 2012 (52) Mar 2012 (88) Apr 2012 (71) May 2012 (85) Jun 2012 (111) Jul 2012 (95) Aug 2012 (99) Sep 2012 (60) Oct 2012 (66) Nov 2012 (86) Dec 2012 (62) Jan 2013 (82) Feb 2013 (44) Mar 2013 (27) Apr 2013 (90) May 2013 (55) Jun 2013 (69) Jul 2013 (77) Aug 2013 (72) Sep 2013 (40) Oct 2013 (54) Nov 2013 (86) Dec 2013 (68) Jan 2014 (75) Feb 2014 (52) Mar 2014 (72) Apr 2014 (41) May 2014 (59) Jun 2014 (45) Jul 2014 (37) Aug 2014 (82) Sep 2014 (59) Oct 2014 (62) Nov 2014 (53) Dec 2014 (25) Jan 2015 (46) Feb 2015 (45) Mar 2015 (43) Apr 2015 (76) May 2015 (43) Jun 2015 (31) Jul 2015 (19) Aug 2015 (5) Sep 2015 (1) Oct 2015 (9) Nov 2015 (21) Dec 2015 (9) Jan 2016 (17) Feb 2016 (9) Mar 2016 (10) Apr 2016 (9) May 2016 (4) Jun 2016 (2) Jul 2016 (3) Aug 2016 (7) Sep 2016 (2) Oct 2016 (1) Nov 2016 (3) Dec 2016 (2) Jan 2017 (2) May 2017 (1) Jun 2017 (4) Sep 2017 (1) Nov 2017 (3) Dec 2017 (1) Apr 2018 (1) Jun 2018 (1)For Immediate Release, April 13, 2018



Contact: Virginia Cramer, Sierra Club, (804) 519-8449, virginia.cramer@sierraclub.org

Randi Spivak, Center for Biological Diversity, (310) 779-4894, rspivak@biologicaldiversity.org

Jonathan B. Ratner, Western Watersheds Project, (877) 746-3628, jonathan@westernwatersheds.org Opposition Renewed to Trump's Attack on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument WASHINGTON The Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project today renewed their opposition to President Trumps illegal proclamation to strip protections from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. The conservation groups, which submitted comments as the first round of public input closes today, also criticized the Interior Departments disregard for preserving irreplaceable objects of cultural and natural value and its destructive push for dirty fuel development. This process is a sham and an insult to millions of Americans who have told Trump to leave these national monuments as they were, said Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The original boundaries of these spectacular monuments must be protected, along with the wildlife and cultural resources within them. Going through bureaucratic motions doesnt change the fact that Trumps actions are illegal. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is pushing ahead with the planning process for the former Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, even though several tribal nations and conservations groups are suing over Trumps actions. Trump last year ordered more than 2 million acres stripped from the national monuments. This fast-tracked planning process is a huge waste of taxpayer money as all the time and money will be for nothing once our challenge to the illegal gutting of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument is over, said Jonathan Ratner, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado office director for Western Watersheds Project. In todays comments the groups urged the Bureau of Land Management to ban mineral extraction and consider the significant harm any new fossil fuel development would have on the climate. Places like Grand Staircase-Escalante must remain protected from outdated dirty fuel development. We have an obligation to leave these places for future generations to experience  an obligation that was recognized by the original monument designation which must be upheld, said Ashley Soltysiak, Utah Sierra Club chapter director.

WATCH: Syria's most controversial war tactics (GRAPHIC CONTENT)

(CNN)  President Bashar al-Assad is warning the West against attacking Syria as President Donald Trump's international allies make preparations to join the United States in any military action against the regime in response to last week's suspected chemical attack.

British Prime Minister Theresa May's senior ministers agreed on the need for action against Syria at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, but Downing Street did not specify what measures the UK would take.

May spoke with Trump on Thursday night about the international response to Syria, and they "agreed that the Assad regime had established a pattern of dangerous behavior in relation to the use of chemical weapons," according to a statement a Downing Street spokesperson shared with CNN.

"They agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged, and on the need to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime. They agreed to keep working closely together on the international response," the statement said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier that any French strikes would target chemical facilities in the wake of Saturday's attack on the city of Douma.

Assad said the threats by Western countries against Syria were "on the basis of lies they have fabricated," denying any responsibility for the suspected chemical attack.

"Any possible action will only cause more instability in the region and threaten international security and peace," Syrian state TV quoted Assad as saying at a meeting with a high-level Iranian delegation in Damascus.

On Wednesday, Trump appeared to suggest airstrikes were imminent, warning Russia, Syria's key ally, to "get ready" for military action. But after being criticized for apparently telegraphing US intentions, Trump on Thursday attempted to blur the timing of any potential airstrikes on Syria.

"Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!" he tweeted, without ruling out attacks.

The suspected use of chemical weapons has drawn the West back into Syria's seven-year conflict. There are concerns, however, that further international intervention risks a confrontation between Russia and the United States. Russia has provided Assad with strong military backing.

What might France and the UK do?

Macron said France had proof the Syrian regime has used chlorine as a weapon, and told French TV channel TF1 that he was in close discussions with Trump. "Yes, every day since the beginning of the week, our teams are working closely together and we will have decisions to make when the times comes, when we will judge it to be useful and effective," Macron said.

Macron said earlier this week that France was ready to attack the "chemical capabilities" of the Assad regime.

In London, it was unclear whether May would seek parliamentary support for any UK involvement. May is not required by law to consult the House of Commons, but by convention, members of Parliament expect to be consulted.

In 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron lost a vote on airstrikes on Syria, thwarting an effort then by President Barack Obama to attack the Assad regime.

On Wednesday, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn urged May to recall Parliament -- which is on recess -- to hold a vote before taking any action.

Any potential strike against Syria could be carried out by extensive US and UK military assets already in the region, including two US Navy destroyers armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles. British media reported that May has also ordered British submarines to move within missile range of Syria.

International warnings

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he spoke to Trump on Wednesday and that he planned to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin. While he condemned Assad for killing "innocent kids in the Douma chemical attack," he also warned against using Syria as a place to flex military muscle.

"The developments in Syria led to a regional and worldwide security crisis. We are extremely uncomfortable about the fact that some countries who have confidence on their military power are using Syria as their arm-wrestling field," he said.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons tweeted that a team of its investigators will start work Saturday in Douma. Earlier, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, told reporters in New York that those investigators were to arrive Thursday and Friday.

Russia called for a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, with Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia saying he believed a military strike on Syria would violate the UN charter and international law.

"We hope that there will be no point of no return, that the US and the allies will refrain from military action against sovereign states," he said.

The World Health Organization estimated Wednesday about 500 people could have been affected by the suspected chemical attack in Douma, citing reports from its health partners on the ground.

In a statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Security Council to reach an agreement on the "continued use of chemical weapons" in Syria and cautioned the situation could quickly spiral out of control if it didn't.

"Let us not forget that, ultimately, our efforts must be about ending the terrible suffering of the Syrian people," Guterres said.

Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have expressed concern about the "erosion" of the international ban on chemical weapons in discussions, according to the German government.(CNN)  The U.S., UK and France launched strikes against targets at three sites in Syria in the early hours of Saturday morning, following a week of threats of retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack on civilians in Douma.

"I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator of Bashar al-Assad," Trump said late Friday at the White House.

The strikes were launched at 9 p.m. ET, as most of Europe and the Middle East was shrouded in darkness. Photos showed missiles streaking over the night sky in Syria, and witnesses told CNN they heard explosions in the capital Damascus as Trump was making his address.

Latest developments

Three targets were hit in Syria, including a scientific research center located in the greater Damascus area, and two sites near Homs.

Three civilians were wounded in Homs after "several" missiles were intercepted by Syria air defense systems, Syria State TV said.

Air launched cruise missiles were among the munitions used in the strikes, according to two US defense officials.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said "right now this is a one-time shot and I believe that it sent a very strong message" to the Syrian regime.

The UK Ministry of Defence said the strikes were intended to "send a clear message to the regime."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on members of the Security Council to show restraint to avoid escalating the conflict.

Three chemical sites targeted

U.S. defense and military officials told CNN that aircraft, including B-1 bombers, and at least one U.S. Navy warship based in the Red Sea, participated in the strikes.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that the first allied strike targeted a scientific research center in greater Damascus involved in the development and production of chemical weapons.

The second site targeted was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, while the third was at a chemical equipment storage facility and important command post.

"Important infrastructure was destroyed which will result in a setback for the Syrian regime. They will lose years of research and development, storage and equipment," Dunford said.

Trump said that he decided to take action because last weekend's action by Assad "was a significant attack against his own people," and "not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster instead."

Trump said the strikes were in coordination with France and the United Kingdom, adding that the purpose of the campaign is to "establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons."

"The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economic and diplomatic," Trump said.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement that she "authorized British armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regime's chemical weapons capability and deter their use."

"The UK element of the carefully coordinated joint action was contributed by four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s," a statement from the UK Ministry of Defense said. "They launched Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility  a former missile base  some fifteen miles west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors stockpiled in breach of Syria's obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention."

French President Emmanuel Macron said he "ordered the French armed forces to intervene" after a "red line set by France" on the use of chemical weapons had been crossed.

The office of the French President posted a video of a squadron of French military jets taking off to launch their part of the strikes.

Trump indicated the strikes would continue until the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons ends. "We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents," he said.

A senior administration official said "what you've seen tonight is not the end of the U.S. response. They have built a lot of flexibility into the plan to allow for further strikes based on what they've hit tonight."

However, Trump added the U.S. "does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria." He has previously told his national security team he wants U.S. troops to exit Syria within six months.

Russia denounces U.S. 'threats'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the U.S. strikes have hit the Syrian capital of Damascus when the country "finally" had a chance at peace, she posted on Facebook on Saturday.

"One must be really exceptional to strike Syria's capital when the country finally got a chance for a peaceful future," she wrote.

The Russian embassy in Washington tweeted a statement attributed to Ambassador Anatoly Antonov that said "our warnings have been left unheard."

"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris," Antonov said.

Trump earlier criticized Russia's support of the Syrian regime saying "Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path," adding Russia had failed in its 2013 promise to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons.

Part of the calculation this week has also been gaming out how Russia will respond.

"We are watching what Russians do in the next 24 hours," the official said, adding that there will be intelligence collection to see what Russians are up to in the wake of the strikes, such as turning on their systems or talking about retaliating.

A U.S. official says a big concern is how much more sophisticated Russia's capabilities are now compared to last year. A senior U.S. administration official said they are "significantly enhanced" in terms of anti-strike and anti-aircraft capabilities.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Joseph Dunford, said the U.S. "specifically identified" targets to "mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved" and that the normal communication line to avoid problems in the airspace over Syria was used in the run up to the strike.

"We used the normal deconfliction channel to deconflict airspace, we did not coordinate targets," Dunford said.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "US, UK and France launch Syria strikes targeting Assad's chemical weapons."